The barons were compelled to do something, or to pretend to do something, for their under-tenants. Apparently they did as little as they, with safety or decency, could. ----- Footnote 210: _S. de Montfort_, 17. Footnote 211: _English Constitution_, I. 383. Footnote 212: Bishop Stubbs, Preface to _W. Coventry_, II. lxxii., represents the barons, in their fervour for abstract law, as actually supporting their own vassals against themselves: “the barons of Runnymede guard the people against themselves as well as against the common tyrant.” ----- (4) Something was also done for the _merchant and trading classes_, but, when we subtract what has been read into the Charter by democratic enthusiasts of later ages, not so much as might reasonably be expected in a truly national document. The existing privileges of the great city of London were confirmed, without specification, in the Articles of the Barons; and some slight reforms in favour of its citizens (not too definitely worded) were then added. An attentive examination seems to suggest, however, that these privileges were carefully refined away when the Articles were reduced to their final form in Magna Carta. The right to tallage London and other towns was carefully reserved to the Crown, while the rights of free trading granted to foreigners were clearly inconsistent with the policy of monopoly and protection dear to the hearts of the Londoners. A mere confirmation to the citizens of existing customs, already bought and paid for at a great price, seems but a poor return for the support given by them to the movement of insurrection at a critical moment when John was bidding high on the opposite side, and when their adherence was sufficient to turn the scale. The marvel is that so little was done for them.[213] ----- Footnote 213: For details, see _infra_ under cc. 12, 13, 35, and 41. It is instructive to compare these chapters with the corresponding provisions of the Articles of the Barons (viz. articles 32, 12, and 31). The alterations (though slight) seem to show that some new influence affecting only the later document was inimical to the towns. -----