barons gave to the marshal, meant something more than the ordinary position of a justiciar.  William’s friends had some difficulty in persuading him to accept the office.  He was over seventy years of age, and felt it would be too great a burden.  Induced at last by the legate to undertake the charge, from that moment he shrank from none of its responsibilities.  The personal care of the king was comprised within the marshal’s duties, but he delegated that branch of his work to Peter des Roches.[2] These two, with Gualo, controlled the whole policy of the new reign.  Next to them came Hubert de Burgh, John’s justiciar, whom the marshal very soon restored to that office.  But Hubert at once went back to the defence of Dover, and for some time took little part in general politics.

    [1] The fears and hopes of the marshal’s friends are well
    depicted in Histoire de Guillaume le Marechal, lines
    15500-15708.

    [2] The panegyrist of the marshal emphasises strongly the fact
    that Peter’s charge was a delegation, ibid., lines
    17993-18018.

On November 12, the legate and the regent issued at Bristol a confirmation of the Great Charter.  Some of the most important articles accepted by John in 1215 were omitted, including the “constitutional clauses” requiring the consent of the council of barons for extraordinary taxation.  Other provisions, which tied the hands of the government, were postponed for further consideration in more settled times.  But with all its mutilations the Bristol charter of 1216 marked a more important moment than even the charter of Runnymede.  The condemnation of Innocent III. would in all probability have prevented the temporary concession of John from becoming permanent.  Love of country and love of liberty were doubtless growing forces, but they were still in their infancy, while the papal authority was something ultimate against which few Christians dared appeal.  Thus the adoption by the free will of the papal legate, and the deliberate choice of the marshal of the policy of the Great Charter, converted, as has well been said, “a treaty won at the point of the sword into a manifesto of peace and sound government".[1] This wise change of policy cut away the ground from under the feet of the English supporters of Louis.  The friends of the young Henry could appeal to his innocence, to his sacred unction, and to his recognition by Holy Church.  They offered a programme of limited monarchy, of the redress of grievances, of vested rights preserved, and of adhesion to the good old traditions that all Englishmen respected.  From that moment the Charter became a new starting-point in our history.

    [1] Stubbs, Const.  Hist., ii., 21.