agent, William de Mauclerc, in order to appeal to the Pope against the
violence of his barons, and procure him a favorable sentence from that
powerful tribunal. The barons, also, were not negligent on their part
in endeavoring to engage the Pope in their interests. They despatched
Eustace de Vescie to Rome; laid their case before Innocent as their
feudal lord, and petitioned him to interpose his authority with the
King, and oblige him to restore and confirm all their just and
undoubted privileges.

Innocent beheld with regret the disturbances which had arisen in
England, and was much inclined to favor John in his pretensions. He
had no hopes of retaining and extending his newly acquired superiority
over that kingdom, but by supporting so base and degenerate a prince,
who was willing to sacrifice every consideration to his present
safety; and he foresaw that if the administration should fall into the
hands of those gallant and high-spirited barons, they would vindicate
the honor, liberty, and independence of the nation, with the same
ardor which they now exerted in defence of their own. He wrote
letters, therefore, to the prelates, to the nobility, and to the King
himself. He exhorted the first to employ their good offices in
conciliating peace between the contending parties, and putting an end
to civil discord. To the second he expressed his disapprobation of
their conduct in employing force to extort concessions from their
reluctant sovereign; the last he advised to treat his nobles with
grace and indulgence, and to grant them such of their demands as
should appear just and reasonable.

The barons easily saw, from the tenor of these letters, that they must
reckon on having the Pope, as well as the King, for their adversary;
but they had already advanced too far to recede from their