some of whose deeds we have recorded. There was a
clearer sense of national feeling and national unity than ever before, a
recognition of the method of conciliation and mutual understanding,
rather than the old appeal to armed force, as under the genius of tribal
strife. We see Ruaidri convoking the kings, chieftains and warriors to a
solemn assembly, presided over by the king and the archbishops of the
realm, and "passing good resolutions" for the settlement of religious
and civil matters, and the better ordering of territories and tribes.
That assembly was convened a half-century before the famous meeting
between King John and his barons, at Runnymead among the Windsor
meadows; and the seed then sown might have brought forth fruit as full
of promise and potency for the future as the Great Charter itself. The
contrast between these two historic assemblies is instructive. In the
one case, we have a provincial king from the rich and beautiful country
beyond the Shannon, gradually gaining such influence over the kings of
the provinces and the chieftains of the tribes that he had come to be
regarded as in a sense the overlord of the whole land, not through
inherent sovreignty or divine right, but first as the chosen chief of
his own tribe, and then as the elect of the whole body of chieftains,
first among his peers. In this character we see Ruaidri settling
disputes between two sections of the great Northern clan, and fixing a
boundary between them; giving presents to the chieftains of the south
for their support in this difficult decision, and exercising a
beneficent influence over the whole people, a moral sway rather than a
sovereign and despotic authority. It is pleasant to find the same king
establishing a college foundation for the instruction of the youth of
Ireland and Scotland in literature.

This is what we have on the one hand. On the other, we have the Norman
king surrounded by his barons, over whom he claimed, but could not
exercise, despotic authority; and the Norman barons taking advantage of
his necessity to extort promises and privileges for their own order
rather than for the whole people. For we must remember that the Angles
and Saxons had been reduced by conquest to a servile condition, from
which they never wholly recovered. The ruling classes of Britain at the
present day are at least nominal descendants of those same Norman
barons; and between them and the mass of the people--the sons of the
Saxons