[Sidenote: First true Parliament.] Philip IV., the new King of France, was as legal in his mind as Edward, but more dishonest. It was as plain to him that it was desirable to unite France by annexing Guienne, as it was to Edward that it was advantageous to England to annex Scotland. They set about their designs in somewhat the same way. The sea was at this time regarded as a sort of no man’s land, where incessant fighting little short of piracy was allowable. There were plenty of instances of battles between English and French merchant-ships. The Normans are said to have infested the whole coast of France from Holland to Spain. The Cinque Ports mariners were probably not much behind them. At last a formal meeting was arranged in 1293, where the matter was to be fought out. An empty chip marked the point of contest, and there the fleets of France and England fought a great battle, which terminated in the defeat of the French. Edward, who knew Philip’s character and the resources of the feudal law, was anxious to do what he could to clear himself of complicity in the quarrel; but no representations of his were attended to by the French King, and Philip summoned him to appear before the French Parliament. As the English offenders were not given up, and as Edward declined to appear, the Constable of France took possession in the King’s name of Edward’s French provinces. With much more important matters in hand, and with the knowledge probably of what Balliol’s conduct was going to be, Edward tried all he could to settle the matter peacefully. He sent over to France his brother Edmund, whose wife[48] was the mother of the French Queen. Through the instrumentality of these Queens a treaty was arranged, by which the summons to Paris was annulled, and a personal meeting at Amiens arranged, pending which the strongholds of Gascony were to be put in Philip’s hands. Edmund withdrew the English army, and dismissed the commander, St. John, and at the same time demanded a safe conduct for his brother at the proposed meeting. But Philip refused the safe conduct, declared himself dissatisfied with the surrender of the towns, and refused to leave the country which he had occupied. Fresh insulting messages were sent to Edward, and, in 1294, Edmund returned to England, and war became necessary. Great preparations were made; alliances were formed on the north-east of France; money was granted by Parliament. This proving insufficient, no less than half their property was demanded from the clergy. An insurrection in Wales, and the news that an alliance had been formed between Philip and the Scotch, rendered the preparations useless.