In England the nobles and the people drew closer together, resolved to defend themselves from a vicious king, and this determined effort to curtail the royal prerogative produced the _Magna Charta_, which forever secured the liberties of Englishmen (1215).

In France, on the contrary, the power was moved in one volume toward the king and despotism.

Both nations were in the hands of fate--a fate, too, which was using unscrupulous men to accomplish its great purposes for each.
But however we may disparage Philip's heart and aims, no one can deny the breadth and superiority of his mind and his statesmanship.

He was a Charlemagne made on a smaller scale, and without a conscience.

Not one of the successors of Clovis or of Pepin had so intelligently grasped the sources of permanent growth in a nation.