To the student of American institutions it must appear singularly impressive and instructive that the members of the Constitutional Convention of the state of New York have paused in their important work to celebrate the seven-hundredth anniversary of the Great Charter of English Liberties and to look back reverently through the centuries to the sources of our constitutional law and to the days when our ancestors were laying the foundations of civil liberty and political justice. It is, indeed, no exaggeration to assert that Magna Carta marked the greatest political epoch in the history of our race, in that it saved England from becoming one of the arbitrary and degrading despotisms which arose in Europe after the overthrow of the feudal system, and that from its principles sprang representative and constitutional government, with all that these terms have grown to mean to Americans. This ceremony must again emphasize the great truth that everything which has power to win the obedience and respect of men must have its roots deep in the past, and that the more slowly institutions have grown, so much the more enduring are they likely to prove. Two hundred and eighteen years ago the royal governor of New York is reported to have exclaimed to the legislature of the colony: "There are none of you but are big with the privileges of Magna Carta." And to-day, Mr. President, can it not be said with equal force and pride that there are no Americans but are big with the privileges of Magna Carta? Long may that continue to be true! To provide that the spirit of these privileges shall endure forever, so far as lies in human power, is the highest and noblest duty of every American constitutional convention. Other speakers will treat of the historical and political aspects of Magna Carta and of its reissues and confirmations by king after king and parliament after parliament. I am to speak of the legal value of some of the cardinal features of the Great Charter as antecedents of principles which are closely connected with our present political life and which continue to invigorate our system of constitutional law. But my treatment of this large and important aspect of the subject must necessarily be inadequate, in view of the limited time at your disposal.