But when the sentiment of right lives in the souls of men, when the citizen meets with no power in his country which he is bound to consider as infallible and absolutely sovereign, liberty can never fail to spring up. It has developed itself in England less universally, less equally, and less reasonably, we venture to believe, than we are permitted to hope will be the case at the present day in our own country; but, in fine, it was born, and increased in growth in that country more than in any other; and the history of its progress, the study of the institutions which served as its guarantees, and of the system of government to which its destinies seem henceforward to link themselves, is at once a great sight and a necessary work for us. We shall enter upon it with impartiality, for we can do so without envy. {270} Lecture II. Sketch of the History of England, from William the Conqueror to John Lackland (1066-1199). William the Conqueror (1066-1087). William Rufus (1087-1100). Henry I. (1100-1135). Stephen (1135-1154). Henry II. (1154-1189). Constitutions of Clarendon. Richard Cœur de Lion (1189-1199). Early History Of England. Before entering upon the history of representative government in England, I think it necessary, in the first place, to remind you of the facts which served, as it were, as its cradle--of the movements of the different nations which successively occupied England--the conquest of the Normans--the state of the country at the period of this conquest, about the middle of the eleventh century--and the principal events which succeeded it. A knowledge of facts must always precede the study of institutions. The Britons,--Gauls or Celts in origin,--were the first inhabitants of Great Britain. Julius Caesar subjugated them, and the Roman dominion substituted a false and enervating civilization in the place of their barbarian energy. On being abandoned by Rome, when that city abdicated piecemeal the empire of the world, the Britons were unable to defend themselves, and summoned the Saxons to their assistance. The latter, finding them already conquered, from their allies became ere long their masters, and exterminated or drove back into the mountains of Wales, the people whom the Romans had subdued. After a long series of incursions, the Danes established themselves in the north of England, during the ninth century, and in the latter part of the eleventh century, the Normans conquered the whole country. The Norman Conquest.