Such then was the London whose privileges were confirmed by Magna Carta—a city which had slowly grown to greatness, obtaining after many struggles a complete municipal constitution in the form of a commune with annually elected mayor and council, as well as sheriffs of its own appointment, who excluded the Crown’s financial officers not only from the district within its walls but from the whole of Middlesex. The Great Charter, avoiding details, confined itself to a general confirmation to the men of London of their ancient “liberties and free customs,” two words[492] whose vagueness ought in this connection to receive a liberal interpretation.[493] ----- Footnote 492: Both words are discussed _infra_, c. 39. Footnote 493: The Charter mentions neither mayor nor commune, but probably by implication confirmed both. Prof. G. B. Adams finds such confirmation, not in c. 13, but in c. 12 (by its application of the word _auxilium_ to London); and maintains that with the omission of this word from subsequent charters "London’s legal right to a commune fell to the ground." _Engl. Hist. Rev._, XIX. 706. ----- London, in this respect, was not to stand alone; a similar concession was explicitly made in favour of all other cities, boroughs, towns, and sea-ports. This was a mere confirmation, however, not to be read as conferring new privileges or exemptions, each borough being left to prove its own customs as best it might. In the reissues of Henry, the distinction of being mentioned by name was shared by these “barons of London,” with “the barons of the Cinque ports,” who from their wealth, their situation, and their fleet, were allies well worth conciliating. They played, indeed, a prominent part in the decisive naval victory gained by Hubert de Burgh on 24th August, 1217.[494] ----- Footnote 494: See _supra_, p. 170. ----- Other portions of John’s Great Charter which specially affected the Londoners were the last clause of chapter 12, and chapters 33 and 41; while many of the privileges granted or confirmed in other chapters were shared by them. The Mayor of London, it should be added, was one of the executive committee of twenty-five, entrusted with wide powers to enforce the provisions of the Charter.[495] ----- Footnote 495: See _infra_, c. 61. -----