It is reasonable to assume and, in view of the surrounding circumstances and the language then employed, it is highly probable that, under the lead of Langton, who was born of English parents and intensely patriotic, probably himself the author of the clause, the churchmen of that day conceived that the religion of the English people ought to be free from governmental control, and that the English church had interests and privileges independent of the crown and independent likewise of the interests and policies of Rome. At that very time the English churchmen, in cooperating with the barons and people of England to secure Magna Carta, were acting against the will of Rome; indeed, as we know, the Pope promptly denounced the Great Charter and the patriot primate, because the Pope considered that the Great Charter was derogatory to the dignity of King John as a vassal of the Holy See. In this provision of Magna Carta relating to the English church, even though it was disregarded for centuries, we recognize the idea of religious liberty and the American political principle of the separation of Church and State, as also, though vaguely, the great principle underlying the noble declaration in our own state constitution that "the free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship, without discrimination or preference, shall forever be allowed in this state to all mankind." The provisions of the Great Charter relating to the administration of justice were undoubtedly those which were of chief concern to the people at large, as they were certainly, if observed, those most essential for the security of their liberties. The framers knew that it was in the courts that the king of England would keep his promises, if at all, and that the king's government would only be as good as his judges were learned, independent and impartial. In these provisions of Magna Carta we find the principle of the separation and independence of the judicial power and the soundest and highest conceptions of the administration of justice, conceptions far in advance of those to be found in any other document or enactment of that age.