of France, they offered to acknowledge Lewis, the eldest son of
Philip, for their sovereign, on condition that he would afford them
protection from the violence of their enraged prince. Though the sense
of the common rights of mankind, the only rights that are entirely
indefeasible, might have justified them in the deposition of their king,
they declined insisting before Philip on a pretension which is commonly
so disagreeable to sovereigns, and which sounds harshly in their royal
ears. They affirmed that John was incapable of succeeding to the crown,
by reason of the attainder passed upon him during his brother's reign;
though that attainder had been reversed, and Richard had even, by his
last will, declared him his successor. They pretended, that he was
already legally deposed by sentence of the peers of France, on account
of the murder of his nephew; though that sentence could not possibly
regard any thing but his transmarine dominions, which alone he held in
vassalage to that crown. On more plausible grounds, they affirmed, that
he had already deposed himself by doing homage to the pope, changing the
nature of his sovereignty, and resigning an independent crown for a fee
under a foreign power. And as Blanche of Castile, the wife of Lewis,
was descended by her mother from Henry II., they maintained, though many
other princes stood before her in the order of succession, that they
had not shaken off the royal family, in choosing her husband for their
sovereign.

Philip was strongly tempted to lay hold on the rich prize which
was offered to him. The legate menaced him with interdicts and
excommunications, if he invaded the patrimony of St. Peter, or attacked
a prince who was under the immediate protection of the holy see; but as
Philip was assured of the obedience of his own vassals, his principles
were changed with the times, and he now undervalued as much all papal
censures, as he formerly pretended to pay respect to them. His chief
scruple was with regard to the fidelity which he might expect from the
English barons in their new engagements, and the danger of intrusting
his son and heir into the hands of men who might, on any caprice or
necessity, make peace with their native sovereign, by sacrificing
a pledge of so much value. He therefore exacted from the barons
twenty-five hostages of the most noble birth in the kingdom; and having
obtained this security, he sent over first a small army to the relief
of the confed