D.Page 21.The intentions of Edward to curtail the power of his barons, and render them more subservient to his will, were most unequivocally displayed in his proceedings towards Bigod, Earl of Norfolk, immediately after his return from the conquest of Scotland. The imperious language of the tyrant, and the bold and determined conduct of the vassal, the reader will find narrated in the extracts from Dr Lingard, inserted in the concluding chapter of the narrative. The plans of Edward for the extinction of British freedom, were such as have been generally resorted to by other despots, who have encroached upon the rights of their subjects or neighbours. While the Scots were summoned to fight his battles in France, the Welsh were marched to Scotland to assist in the subjugation of that country; and had the former remained passive under the yoke, there is every reason to believe that they would soon, in their turn, have been employed to enforce the arbitrary measures of the ambitious monarch upon the subjects of his native kingdom. Thus Scotland, England and Wales, would have mutually assisted in rivetting the fetters of each other.
The intentions of Edward to curtail the power of his barons, and render them more subservient to his will, were most unequivocally displayed in his proceedings towards Bigod, Earl of Norfolk, immediately after his return from the conquest of Scotland. The imperious language of the tyrant, and the bold and determined conduct of the vassal, the reader will find narrated in the extracts from Dr Lingard, inserted in the concluding chapter of the narrative. The plans of Edward for the extinction of British freedom, were such as have been generally resorted to by other despots, who have encroached upon the rights of their subjects or neighbours. While the Scots were summoned to fight his battles in France, the Welsh were marched to Scotland to assist in the subjugation of that country; and had the former remained passive under the yoke, there is every reason to believe that they would soon, in their turn, have been employed to enforce the arbitrary measures of the ambitious monarch upon the subjects of his native kingdom. Thus Scotland, England and Wales, would have mutually assisted in rivetting the fetters of each other.