sellors that he could find. Wise as his counsellors were, he did not trust in them alone. He thought, as Earl Simon had thought, that what was intended for the good of all should be submitted to the counsel of all. He did not for a long time summon a parliament in which all classes of men were found; but he summoned just those men who knew anything about the matter he wanted advice on. In this way he became a great lawgiver, because he never made a law without hearing what those people had to say whom the law principally concerned. In his hands England prospered as it had never done before. Edward kept the peace well, and in his days the barons did not dare either to oppress the freeholder and the citizen, or to resist the authority of the king. 2. The Conquest of Wales.-Edward enjoyed the sight of a people living peacefully and orderly. He fancied that the best thing that could happen to people who were not under his rule would be to be brought under it. Of all the Britons who were found on the south of the Solway Firth, at the coming of Hengist and Horsa, those of North Wales only still retained their independence under their own princes, though even there the princes acknowledged the superiority of the English King. Edward resolved to make this superiority felt as a real authority. Two princes in succession resisted the attempt. Edward overpowered them, and united the hills round Snowdon to his English kingdom. He showed his infant son to the Welsh, and offered the child to them as their prince. From that time the eldest son of the English kings has always borne the title 3. Edward's Interference in Scotland.--Wales was a small country, and its conquest was not very hard. Later in his reign Edward attempted a more difficult task. Alexander III., King of Scotland, fell with his horse over a high cliff on the coast of Fife. He was taken up dead, and his grand-daughter, known as the Maid of Norway, was sent for to succeed him. The poor child died before she reached Scotland, and as there were none but distant relations to claim the Crown, it seemed likely that there would be a bloody civil war to decide who was to wear it. To avoid this the Scots called in Edward to act as umpire between the claimants. The two chief competitors were John Balliol and Robert Bruce. Edward summoned the leading men of Scotland to meet him under the walls of Norham Castle by the Tweed. Before he would give his decision he asked them a question. Would the future king of Scotland accept the king of England as his Lord Paramount or superior, and do homage to him, and swear to be his man, as John had sworn to the pope, and as the dukes of Normandy had sworn to the kings of France? The demand was not altogether without foundation. In the days of Edward, the son of Alfred, the Scots were in fear of the Danes, and their king had, as we are that Edward as their father and lord. always behave like very dutiful sons. not want anything from England, and when the king of England was weak, they gave him no respect or obedience. When the king of England was strong, the Scots were forced to acknowledge his superiority. Henry II. was the last who had enforced the claim. Richard I. had abandoned it. The Scots now ac told, chosen They did not When they did knowledged the claim again. Edward declared John Balliol to be the true heir of Alexander. Balliol accordingly did homage to Edward, and was crowned King of Scotland. - 4. Edward subdues Scotland. In the time of Edward the Elder, the submission of the Scots did not bring with it any strong duty of obedience. The England of the Edward who now reigned was far stronger than the England of those earlier days, and Edward I. meant his superiority to be marked by the submission of Scotland to the English Courts of Law. When men went to law in Scotland, those who lost their cause asked that it might be heard again in England, and Edward insisted that it should be as they asked. The Scots were very angry. They declared that they had never meant anything of the kind. Rather than submit they forced Balliol to lead them in war against England. Edward was wrathful when he heard the news of what he called rebellion. He marched to Scotland, overpowered Balliol, and deposed him. He left Scotland to be ruled by English governors, and he carried off that stone on which the Scottish kings had always been crowned at Scone, and which now is to be seen under the coronation chair of the sovereign of Great Britain in Westminster Abbey. The fable ran that it was the very stone on which Jacob laid his head when he saw the angels ascending and descending at Bethel. Scotsmen boldly prophesied that wherever that stone was found kings of Scottish blood would reign. Three centuries later their descendants boasted that the prophecy had been |