annexed from it.

Alfred, however, knew the popular heart--he was very close to the common
people. He had slept on the ground with his soldiers, fared at table
with the swineherd's family, tilled the soil with the farmer folk. His
heart went out to humanity. He did not overrate the average mind, nor
did he underrate it. He had faith in mankind, and knew that at the last
power was with the people. He did not say, "Vox populi, vox Dei," but he
thought it. Therefore he set himself to educating the plain people. He
prophesied a day when all grown men would be able to read and write, and
when all would have an intelligent, personal interest in the government.

There have been periods in English history when Britain lagged woefully
behind, for England has had kings who forgot the rights of mankind, and
instead of seeking to serve their people, have battened and fattened
upon them. They governed. George the Third thought that Alfred was a
barbarian, and spoke of him with patronizing pity.

Alfred introduced the system of trial by jury, although the fact has
been pointed out that he did not originate it. It goes back to the hardy
Norseman who acknowledged no man as master, harking back to a time when
there was no law, and to a people whose collective desire was supreme.
In fact, it has its origin in "Lynch Law," or the rule of the
Vigilantes. From a village turning loose on an offender and pulling him
limb from limb, a degree of deliberation comes in and a committee of
twelve are selected to investigate the deed and report their verdict.

The jury system began with pirates and robbers, but it is no less
excellent on that account, and we might add that freedom also began with
pirates and robbers, for they were the people who cried, "We
acknowledge no man as master."

The early Greeks had trials by jury--Socrates was tried by a jury of
five hundred citizens.

But let the fact stand that Alfred was the man who first introduced the
jury system into England. He had absolute power. He was the sole judge
and ruler, but on various occasions he abdicated the throne and said: "I
do not feel able to try this man, for as I look into my heart I see that
I am prejudiced. Neither will I name men to try him, for in their
selection I might also be prejudiced. Therefore let one hundred men be
called, and from these let twelve be selected by lot, and they shall
listen to the charges and weigh the defense, and their verdict shall be
mine."