Selected quad for the lemma: power_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
power_n	law_n	prince_n	sovereign_a	3,774	5	9.4515	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A85750	A treatise of the antiquity of the commonwealth of the Battavers, which is now the Hollanders first written in Latin by Hugo Grotius, advocat fiscall of Holland, Zealand, and Westfriesland, &c. And afterwards translated into the Netherlandish Dutch, and perused by the author himselfe. And now again translated out of both the Latin and Dutch, into English, by Tho. Woods, Gent.; De antiquitate Reipublicae Batavicae. English.	Grotius, Hugo, 1583-1645.; Woods, Thomas.; Cross, Thomas, fl. 1632-1682, engraver.	1649 (1649)	Wing G2127; Thomason E1303_2; ESTC R202252	40,326	171

either in time of necessity or for some certaine consideration were brought thereunto who depending upon the Emperours have desired their protection which so happening without the consent of the States the same could neither prejudice the priviledge of the Common-wealth nor yet of the succeeding Princes In every respect we are certainly assured that neither those Earles of the house of Burgundy nor yet those Earles of the house of Austria the memory whereof is yet unfallible that they never in respect of Holland have done any homage unto the Emperours And that Holland never was subject neither to the Lawes nor Customes of the Emperour nor of the Empire which is the very principall point of all and that the Germanes themselves doe confesse from whence it is manifest that the principall Soveraignty over the Hollanders hath been among themselves and never depended upon any forraigne Authority It remaineth now that we consider the other that is what priviledge and authority the Princes had in the Common-wealth and what was the Authority of the States the which we should very particularly know if in case those Lawes were to bee found which concerning the Authority were given unto Dederick But besides that which formerly hath beene spoken that by the Germans books aswell of publike as of particular matters but very lately began to be registred so is also the memory of all those times excepting only of some certaine Warres and of some other matters which do not concerne this purpose utterly lost Yet even before these times there was not given so great a power as there was authority unto the Kings of the Battavers the which even in our fathers dayes hath been registred up by forraigne Writers That the command of the Princes of these Lands was as well limited with Lawes as it was moderated by the resolution of the States from whence we may assuredly collect that the Government of the time which was betwixt them both hath been the very same Government as was received from our Ancestors and left againe unto posterity Neither is it lightly to be credited that those worthy Cities and the Inhabitants that were so noble and so mighty as we have shewn to have been in those former times did fall from that equality of power whereunto they were accustomed unto such a sodaine unequality And on the contrary part it is manifest that afterwards when as the magnificence of the Earles by the adjoyning of other Principalities thereunto greatly increased and especially in the House of Bourgondy and of Austria that then the freedom or liberty rather decreased then increased These were then the principall Lawes of the Governement viz. That no Countesse should marry unto any man but with the consent and good liking of the States That none of the Officers as of the Counsell and Rent-masters and Pretorship should be confer'd upon no other but unto those that were born within the Land That the States shall have liberty to assemble upon the affaires of the Land and State and that as often as it shal please them without need to have consent of the Earle for that end That no new Tolls might be imposed neither any man freed from those that formerly were ordained but by consent of the States That the Prince should undertake no warre neither defensive nor offensive otherwise then by the consent of the States That the Princes should in all their writings use the Dutch Language That the Coine should be altered and appointed by the Prince according as the States find it convenient That the Prince might not make away any part of his Principality That the States may not bee warned to assemble upon any convocation out of the Provinces That when as the Prince shall have need of any impositions or collections that he himselfe personally and not by the mediation of his Lieutenant shall make intercession unto the States without exacting any thing otherwise then by a willing and voluntary free consent That he exercise and administer Justice and Law by the hands of ordinary Justices That the ancient Lawes and customes being holy should be inviolably observed and if the Prince should ordaine any thing contrary the reunto that no man is bound to observe the same These Lawes having been long maintained by meer custome were afterwards registred into Articles and subsigned by the Princes from time to time to this end that the natures of the same Princes might not be infected by the evill incitatations of flattering Courtiers unto the hope of an unlawfull domination And at the last in regard that the States made complaint of their grievances that most of the fundamentall points of the ancient Government were overthrowne by innovations even then was there a collection made of all these aforesaid Lawes and so by some others before but chiefly by Mary Countesse of Bourgondy they were sealed up for an everlasting memory And although the Hollanders now in the succession of the Earledome followed the order of lineall discent yet neverthelesse to the end they might shew that the command and authority did not proceed from a fatherly inheritance but from the consents of the people that is of the States therefore they never esteemed any for their Prince before that they had bound themselves by an oath unto the States to maintaine the Lawes and Customes of the Land the which being thus performed they promised againe to him fidelity and obedience in whatsoever the Lawes should command them Wherefore in regard that those Lawes being conditions and precontracts are connexed unto the Authority then hereby is manifest that those Princes had no power of themselves to loose or to dispence themselves from the aforesaid Lawes as it hath been very much discoursed and concluded upon by those that have written much of Government From whence it followeth that since the chiefe Power or Soveraignty cannot be in such a one as is bound unto any Civill Lawes or institutions like as most of the Northerne Princes be that even also the Earle of Holland being bound unto so many Lawes hath not had the right of the Soveraign power onely in himselfe All that which we now have declared from the words of the Laws or from other Covenants or Contracts even all them and divers other points of no lesse consequence are all approved by very old examples For whereas Arnoulffe the third of the Princes had two sonnes the eldest who was called Sifrid and of some Sicco for some certaine fault was denied the command and the Principality by the consent of the States was conferred upon the yonger whose name was Dederick Dederick the fourth dying without issue although there were as yet no example of a brotherly succession the States proclaimed Florence the brother of the deceased to be Prince The Wardship of Dederick the fift of that name whose yeares being yet unfit for government the States conferred upon his Mother the Lady Geertright and also married her unto Robert the sonne of an Earle of Flanders

case I should seek for a Forraign example to this purpose I can finde none more like hereunto then in the Common-Wealth of the Lacedemonians the which by Plato Polybius and very many wisemen yea by Apollo himselfe is affirmed so to be and is by them commended before all other for in these the Kings succeeded one after another by the order of their Consanguinity in so much that in place of the Kings those that were the Protectors or Dictators which they called Prodicos had the Authority in their hands But the Kings were not admitted to the Authority before they had taken their Oath to use their Authority according to the Custome of the Lawes of the Land Now the Kings had power over each one but above the Kings were the Survayers or Ephori together with the Councell The Ancient Fathers doe very much commend a notable Speech of Theopompus King of the Lacedemonians who being disdainfully reproved by his own wife because that hee had diminished his own Highnesse by the Institution of the Office of the Survayers hee Answered thereunto That he should leave unto his Children a lesser but yet a more permanent Authority For of a truth it is even so as the Ancient Fathers used truly to report That every Common-wealth consisteth in a certain melody or consort the which being once broken all cometh to naught which melody in my opinion consisteth not in any sound or in strings but in the well tempered unity of the Prince with the People and of the People with the Prince or of severall States the one with the other In this melody have the Princes the Nobility and the Comonalty long time flourished when as each one respected the Prince and the Prince himself respected the Laws and the common Assemblies and whilst the Nobility kept their Reputation and the Comonalty their Liberty From hence issued the good successe of Warre from hence it proceeded that this Nation like as in former times they were Confederates with the Romans even so thereafter though being little have sought unto great Alliances Hereof the Treatises of the Confederacies do plainly shew for presently at the very birth as it were of the Principality there were two Dedericks as it is generally believed who were Brothers in-law unto the Kings of France Arnolffe the third Earl had to wife a daughter of the Emperour of Constantinople whose sister was marryed unto the Emperour of Germany Divers others that succeeded were marryed unto the House of Saxon who then possessed the Empire Florence the third was marryed unto the House of the King of Scotland William the Second of that name Earl of Holland was elected Emperour of Germany and as I think for no other cause but for that he was used in his own Countrey unto such a moderate Government This mans Sonne Florence the Fourth was earnestly solicited unto on the one side by the King of England and on the other side by the King of France for his Confederacy with the presentation of each of their Daughters in marriage with great gifts But Iohn his Son with the advice of the chiefest Nobles of the Land marryed the daughter of England And presently after William the Sixth marryed the daughter of the King of France Again the daughters of the Earls were bestowed into very great Houses as the Lady Margarite the daughter of William the Fourth unto an Emperour of the House of Beyeren Iacoby unto a Dolphin of France And all these whilst they were but only Earls of Holland and Zealand and some of Henault After that by the daughter of Albrecht who was marryed unto one of the house of Burgondy did Holland obtain the same Prince who was before Prince of Brabant and of Flanders and many other Nations And by this meanes were severall Nations not differing in manners Lawes and Customes from each other being at a speciall unity and under one publick Authority thereby the more fortified Thereafter the Lady Mary of Burgondy had by her Husband the Arch-Duke of Austria a Sonne unto whom befell for his marriagegood the greatest part of Spaine and with Spaine the expectation of Terra nova and many other Titles which are spread far and wide over divers Countreys But from this great Magnificence of the Prince proceeded a great alteration in the Government the which I will briefly touch The sixth Chapter How that the intended Alteration of the Government was the occasion of the Warres THe nature of man is much addicted and is easily inclined to domination from whence according to the saying of Aristotle proceedeth Tyrannicall Government especially when as the Prince transgresseth the limits of the Laws of the Land And it seldom hapneth but that men attempt the taking of more in hand then they are able to perform unless the very hope of the performance of that which is desired be utterly extinguished Therefore those ancient Princes whose hope and repose depended altogether upon their Native Countrey as having no expectation of Forraign power to relie upon were obedient unto the Lawes were lovers of equity were respecters of the States as well knowing upon whose power and meanes both their honour and reputation consisted The Burgondians descended of Royall Progeny were the first that climbed up the first step unto domination yet very secretly the Liberty continuing never the lesse not only in outward shew but also for the greatest part thereof in her full face Afterwards Charls being Emperour and King of other Countrys was not therewithall well contented that herewithall he should be called but a Prince But yet he for affection and some certaine respects was restrained in regard that he was born and brought up here in the Countrey and besides did exceedingly respect this People as being very convenient Instruments for the enterprising of any great exploit and such as were of themselves very faithfull but yet very soon displeased and exceeding powerfull when as their Liberty should be but once toucht Now the Church of God at that time being overwhelmed and poysoned with palpable Heresies and longing for a wholsome medicine to purge the same yet he resolving by violence to maintaine that which was in use amongst them sent his bloody Commissions that whosoever should bee found to be of any other Religion should bee punished with death never respecting nor enquiring what was the meaning and resolution of the States in so weighty a businesse But his Son Philip being of that unsatiable nature that was content with nothing else but with an absolute power envied all Nations that would prescribe a Law unto their Prince The which the People of Aragon to their great ruine have proved The Spaniards who had the Education of King Philip in his youth took hold of this occasion very earnestly to prosecute the same against the Hollanders and the rest of the Netherlanders since which time there hath been a continuall jealousie and contention betwixt them which of them should bee best in the Princes favour whereupon

of one man but then the counsell and advice for the effecting of businesses was in the persons of many At other times the Soveraigntie was in many but the Administration in the person of one man At some times the Lawes were subject to the Prince at other times the Prince subject to the Lawes All which if a man will deliberately ponder hee shall easily find that that Commonwealth which is at this present among us hath not had its begining now of late but that the very same Commonwealth that in former times hath been is now made more manifest and appeareth more cleare and evidenter then ever before For like as a house may continue standing though some parts thereof be altered and changed but if the foundation bee overthrowne it cannot continue standing Even so the altering and changing of names and Offices of some Magistrates doth not make presently another Common-wealth in regard that the principall Power and Soveraignty and as it were the very soule of that whole body which hath its being moveth and keepeth together and doth remain and continue one and the very self-same It remaineth then Noble and most worthy Lords that we pray unto the Lord God who is the establisher and maintainer of this State That it will please him to defend and maintaine that Liberty the which is not so much defended by your especiall providence and the worthy valor of the Burgesses and Souldiers as it hath been hitherto and is yet defended by his heavenly assistance and may yet extend it selfe for many yeeres to come and GOD grant that it may continue among us and be made our owne even all these blessings that we now at this present do enjoy but before all things grant us as an assured pledge of the common Tranquillity Piety Equity and Vnity thus prayeth he who is Your Lordships Servant THO. WOODS A TREATISE OF The Antiquity of the Common-Wealth of the Battavers which is now the Hollanders The first Chapter What a Principality is in a Government of Nobles And what they be that are called States ALI Nations are governed either by the Common People or else by the Nobles or else by one Man only The Government of the Nobles is either with a Principality or else without a Principality I call that a Principality which is a more excellent and eminent Authority in the person of one man only being limited by the Power and Laws of others By which markes this is different from that which is called properly a Regall Authority And for this occasion it is that Tacitus maketh mention how that Piso had reported of Germanicus that hee was the sonne of a Prince of the Romans and not of a King of the Parthians And Suetonius reporteth of Caligula that it wanted but a very little but that he had transformed the shape or frame of the Principality into a Regall Authority even as Caesar also reporteth of the Father of Vercingetorix that he being a Prince of the Walloons for divers Considerations suing to have brought the same to a Regall Authority was made away by the Burgesses And Pliny speaking of Trajan reporteth that hee possessed the Seat of the Prince because that there should bee no place for a Lord Yet neverthelesse the Principality being improperly spoken is called a Regall Authority And in like manner saith Aristotle it was in the dayes of the Worthies that the Regall Authority had his originall beginning and that when as the People having gotten and received any exceeding great benifit from them their Parents or Ancestors as for example By whom they had gotten and obtained good Lawes or by whom in time of Warre they were protected and defended them they gave the ful Authority of the War with the power of judging of the Affaires which Regall Authority hee reporteth to bee over them that voluntarily consented thereunto and were also limited with Lawes The same also reporteth Thucidides that amongst the Greeks the Authority of the Kings is the most Ancient the which descended from the Parents unto the Children by Succession being clad with certain Titles of Honour From whence then appeareth that in the Government of the Nobles the Principalities were distributed according to the order of the kindred from whence we have an excellent example from them of Lacedemonia Moreover the Nobles in whom the Soveraignty consisteth doe give their voyces either each of them apart like as the Venetians doe or else in the behalf of any Society which Societies are either of one or else of divers sorts Those that were of one sort were like unto those of Achaia whose Convocation consisted of the Deputies of the Cities The other which were of divers sorts were of the Burgesses and of the Societies consisting of the Burgesses arising from the diversities of the Qualities according unto the which some of them were ordained to the Government some by one meanes and some by an other meanes And for this occasion those same Qualities and also those Societies themselves were called by the Latins Ordines which in Common Language wee doe usually call the States Which States Hippodamus made of three sorts as of the Artificers the Husbandmen and the Souldiers Plato made the Survayers the Souldiers and the Husbandmen The Egyptians made the Priests the Souldiers and the Tradesmen The old Walloons made the Druides the Horsemen and the common People So that oftentimes the Nobles then were different and apart in respect of the States Those that have then the chief sway in the Government wee call a Government of States Like as at this present in Germany where the chiefest sway consisteth together in the Princes Electors the Princes the Cities If in case then that this Authority of the Nobles being united together with the States whereunto also appertained a lawfull Principality then such a Government must bee esteemed for the most choyse and best tempered Government For since in all matters mediocrity is most commended and that mediocrity is nominated sometimes from that which is separated from both the Ends and sometimes from that which is partaking of both the Ends so that then it appeareth that this Government in such manner is placed between the Regall Authority and the Authority of the Common People so that it avoideth the evils of both of them and draweth unto it selfe from them all which is good after it For first of all since that it tolerateth not all things neither only one man to govern which is subject to many errours not yet the Common People who are ignorant so that by this meanes without all doubt much danger is avoyded Again in regard that a Regall Authority is commended in respect of the exceeding Majesty and Dignity thereof And the Authority of the Common People commended in respect of the equall Liberty Yet the Government of the Nobles obtaineth that exceeding Majesty and Dignity by the Principality and also giveth as much equall Liberty as is convenient when as they unto every one

wherefore that these old Customs were so strictly maintained by these People as well in particular as also in publick matters which tend more to an outward shew then to any powerfull effect of Government I could easily perswade my selfe that even of old time they have had such Lawes concerning the Government as the Custome of succeeding times hath declared Yet must wee make enquiry in whom was this highest power or Soveraignty besides in the Kings and Generals I finde that by the Germans excepting the Clergy that there was two sorts of States amongst them viz. the Princes and the Comonalty now when I speak of Princes I do not understand nor mean those that each of them had their Authority over a whole Nation like as that name is commonly used for such Princes were the Kings and the Generals themselves whereof we have already spoken But they were such as that each of them took care for one part of the Nation which parts being great were called Quarters and being little were called Villages of which Caesar thus speaketh They have no common Magistrate but the Princes of the Countreys and of the Quarters doe minister Justice unto them which are under them and doe decide the Controversies Tacitus saith that those Princes doe minister Justice both in the Quarters and in the Villages Tacitus also sheweth unto us that those Princes were usually chosen where he saith In that Convocation were also the Princes chosen But they went so to work that ever after they had regard unto those that were nobly born and of the choycest of the Nobility or rather the meritorious deeds of their Predecessors being applyed even to their young Youths did afford them that worthinesse to bee Princes From whence I believe is come that those Jurisdictions both of Quarters and Villages having long continued in the Houses of the Nobility are at last become hereditary By reason whereof those Princes by the worthinesse of their Offices their ensuing Posterity afterwards were those which were called Barrons and Nobles yet the Government was not so much in their persons that the Common People were held as Slaves like as the Walloons were in the time of Caesar But unto each Prince as Tacitus testifieth were adjoyned a hundred men which were chosen out of the Comonalty to be as their Companions serving for Counsell and Estimation Those were the Princes that Caesar reporteth who together with the Officers divided the Lands into Portions and Pastures So then were those same Regions governed partly by those which were chosen out of the Common People and partly by those Princes of each Common-Wealth And they in this manner governed each of them their Quarters having being altogether the Soveraignty of the whole Common-wealth and that by a form of Convocation Tacitus saith that of all the small matters the Princes did consult upon but the great Affairs were dispatched by the Princes in generall yet in such a manner that whatsoever was decreed by the generall Princes the Comonalty was acquainted withall He saith that the Convocations of the Germans was of two sorts whereof the one was little in the which the daily Affairs which often hapned were decided and this Convocation consisted only of the Princes And the other was greater in whom was the power of deciding even of the most highest and weightiest Affairs and this consisted of both the States For whereas Tacitus saith in generall that same is not so to be understood as if every one should come thither like as it usually hapned upon the Assemblies of the Romans in such manner that every man should leave his house and home for such could not conveniently be amongst so great a popularity especially like as the Battavers were among whom Pliny reckoneth up seven Nations as the Battavers which were properly so called the Kennemers the little Freises the Friesiabonds the little Cauches the Tusians and the Marsacians Now these altogether were called the Convocation it self whereunto some persons were sent from each Region and State Tacitus expoundeth that same where hee speaking of the Semnomes saith that all the people of one discent assembled together at appointed times by those that were deputed thereunto in a wood the which was sanctified by the old Devotion and Prophecies of their Ancestors And of the Germanes in generall hee saith thus that they assembled upon certaine days unlesse that accidentally any thing happened which required haste and was some extraordinary matter And there after he saith thus This abuse proceeded of their liberty that they did not assemble altogether nor yet when as they were commanded or warned but oftentimes they let passe two or three dayes before they did assemble so that then the Soveraignty was in the persons of this Assembly of both the Estates whereupon he saith thus Before this Assembly was any man to be accused and challenged upon life and death Againe hee saith In this same Assembly the Princes were elected and also those hundred men which were chosen out of the Commons and adjoyned as companions unto them The Kings themselves and the Generals were heard in this Assembly as is before said more with Authority to counsell then with any power to command And although this was common unto all the Germanes and not appertaining unto the Battavers as being not able to attaine thereunto Yet the History of Civilis approveth that the Battavers had this manner of Government to the end that the wars might orderly be decreed against the oppression of the Romanes for that end saith he hee assembled together the Princes of the Nations and the ablest of the common people Wherein appeareth then that the Battavers used the government of Nobles and yet in such sort that there was a Principality annexed thereunto which was either continually under the name of a King or temporally under the name of a Generall That also the Nobles were of two sorts that is of the Princes the which were called the first and the greatest and those that were elected out of the Common people these two being conjoyntly in the Assembly had the Soveraignty of the publike matters but in regard that this same Assembly did seldome meet the matters were commonly dispatched by the Kings according to the advice of the Princes That also the Government of each quarter was in such manner in each of these Princes which had their owne Jurisdiction as in those Magistrates which were chosen out of the second State the which in such a wonderfull musicall consort doth expresse that Government which Plato so much commendeth in which the Nobles together with the mutuall agreement of the Common People had the Soveraignty Yet this must be added hereunto That in one matter the Battavers doe seeme to differ from other Germans as namely That the Germans dwelt all in open Villages and had no fenced Cities nor walled Towns On the contrary part it is apparent that the Battavers as soon as they had Possessed the Iland made fenced Cities to

who hereby got the surname of the Friese because that he governed the Hollanders who at that time were yet called the Freises Ada the daughter of Dederick the seventh because that she married the Earle of Loen against the States will was deposed from the Principality and in her place succeeded William the brother of Dederick the sixth Florence the fourth being yet but young his Unckle Florence was ordained Protector after whose death because that Alidt his Aunt administred in the Protectorship not according to the counsell of the States but after her owne will the Government was committed unto Otto Earle of Gelder who was the neerest though very farre of kindred unto the young Earle Afterwards the Principality being void by the death of Florence the fourth the Common-wealth was governed by the Nobles and the Cities untill that Iohn the son of Florence who travelling abroad returned out of England whose Wardship was concredited unto Iohn Earle of Avennes Afterwards the Lady Margaret because it seemed that she was not fit for government was deposed and in her place they accepted her sonne Duke William for their Earl who afterwards being mad the charge of the Common-wealth was committed unto Duke Albrecht his Brother as Steward providing that he should govern the Common-wealth by the Counsell of the Barons Lords Knights and Squires which are degrees of the Nobility and of good Townes This Albrechts sonne Duke William perceiving that he should dye without leaving any Heire-male after him assembled a Convocation of all the Nobles and of the Cities and there intreated and obtained that the succession of the Earledome might be granted unto his Daughter the Lady Iacobey but in regard that this Iacobey abused her selfe by marrying without the consent of the States she was reputed unworthy of the Government so that in her life time shee must endure to see the Government of Holland transported unto Duke Philip of Bourgondy This Philip his sonnes daughter the Lady Mary was married unto Maximilian Archduke of Austria which Maximilian after his wives death desiring to keep the agreement in his hands and administring in the same not as being administrator and Protector of his sonne Philip the second of that name nor yet according to the good liking of the States but after a kingly manner then the States of Holland and of the adjoyning Provinces valiantly resisted the same The same States of the Netherlandish Provinces appointed the Protectors unto the Emperour Charls the fifth of that name when he was but young and came first to the Principality The same Charles the Emperour having in an Assembly of the generall States resigned his Principality recommended very earnestly his Son Philip unto the fidelity of the said States All these are tokens that the Princely Authority like as it had the originall beginning from the States that even so it returned againe unto them as often as there was no Prince to succeed Moreover we shall not finde any Act or Condition of any of the old Earls of any importance but that it was Authorized and ratified by the consent of the Barrons and Nobles who sealed and gave vertue unto the same for these were the Ancientest Councell of the Earls like as it was also in former times of the Germane Kings Now concerning the Cities their number and with the number their worthinesse is from time to time augmented for even of old time each City had their own Councell of Senators one of those Senators dying the place was supplied by another of the ablest and wealthiest of the Burgesses And in some places that same Councell ordaineth the principall Magistrates which are called the Burgh-Masters And in some other places they present the names of the same Burgh-Masters and also of the Jurats which sit to doe Justice unto the Prince for the electing of them yet in such a manner that they have the nomination of as many more as are chosen which the Prince may not exceed the which is no little assurance of their Liberty It appeareth also by very many examples that not only the great Cities as now in these latter times hath happened but even the little ones also doe take their turns at the Convocations and Assemblies of the States Philip of Leyden before named making often mention of the Nobles and the Governours of the Cities calleth them the great ones of their native Countrey saying that their care was the Prince neglecting the same to see that the Common-wealth should suffer no wrong I finde also that in the dayes of William the Fourth who was the last of the House of Henault about two hundred and thirty years ago That at Dordrecht there was an exceeding great Convocation of the three Nations of Holland Zealand and Henault where the Deputies of the Cities being very many were Assembled about the Toles And this Assembly was called the High Councell Moreover no Imposions nor Contributions were imposed without the consent of the States as appeareth by all those reckonings which are found in the Courts whereof the consent thereunto of the same was alwayes openly published And from hence it proceedeth that even of old and from all times the afore-said Contributions and Impositions were called nothing else but the Intreaties the which name is often found in Philip of Leyden in regard that they as hath been shewed already were granted at the intreaties of the Princes The same being also a sufficient demonstration how the Principality must strike saile unto the Authority of the States Yea even in Philip himselfe who was the last Earle and maintaining Warres in France those nine years Impositions were not consented unto by the States no otherwayes but by the prescription of certain Laws and amongst others this That the money should be at the disposition of such persons that should be appointed thereunto by the States Like as it is manifest that the States have held and maintained that Priviledge that they may assemble at their own pleasures even in the very latest times that were before the Warres From all that which hitherto hath been spoken appeareth that the Earles of Holland have differed almost nothing at all from the old Kings but that they only used a name which was not so eminent nor yet so suspitious for the Liberty as the Kingly Title was Moreover that the same Earles were elected according to the succession of blood as the same is used by many free Nations but yet neverthelesse the Authority was not given unto them without exception in regard that there were Lawes appointed thereunto and were confirmed by Oath That herewithall the Authority of the Earls was not so extenuated but that the power of the States was such and that in divers matters and especially concerning the Coyne which is the sinnews and strength of a Common-Weath And that may wee truly say of the Earles which in former times was said of the Germane Kings that they had Authority but it was by entreaty or permission If in

we look after examples wee have such as were very worthy and very famous As of Candy Lacedemon Carthage Rhodes Marselles Thessaly Achaia Samos Cnydos Chio Corfu and as many think even the Romans themselves at such time as they most flourished in Vertues Yea and that which is more it sufficiently appeareth that the Common-wealth of the children of Israel even as it was ordained of God before that the people desired a King was governed by the Nobles Neither wanteth hereunto any fresh examples as of Ragusa Luca Genua Geneva and the principall Cantons of the Swisers and of Venice which testifie their stability by the continuance of a thousand yeares Hereunto may be added the whole corporation of the Germane Empire being full of majesty and estimation and many of the Northen Kingdoms which though they be called Kingdoms are in very deed Principalities If in case yet we will prosecute examples that are more neare home The Soveraignty of the assembly of the States was in use by the ancientest Nation of the Walloons and of the Brittons and is yet at this present used in Germany For so much as concerns the Government which is administred by the Cities we therein agree very well with them of Achaia Etolia and Licia whose Common-wealth consisting of certain Cities conjoyned together have governed the same by their Assemblies and by Deputies whereof that of Achaia is set as a pattern and commended by Polybius Strabo and Plutarch to bee the best representation of an absolute uniforme Common-wealth Also that unto the power of the Nobles be added a Principality limited with Lawes that very same is common unto us as it was unto the ancient Israelites in the days of the Judges unto the Lacedemonians and the people of Achaia and unto the Venetians and unto the Germane Empire and unto the Northerne Kingdomes as wee have said before and unto many others The assembling of the generall States with the Councell of State by whom is dispatched or decided the common affaires which concerne the union setting the Soveraignty of each Province aside agreeth very well with the Amphictiones Assembly by whose bond the Common-wealths of Grecia being knit up together did for a long time beat back the Medes and all other forraigne powers In like manner also have they of Ionia with 13 Common-wealthes Those of Hetruria with twelve the old Latines with eight and fortie Commonwealths And in former time many of the Nations of Germany of the Walloons and of the Brittaines have had their generall Assemblies by vertue of their Confederacie and the very like have the Swisers and Grisons to this very day in use Now whereas we do very much commend this manner of Government yet we may nor will not discommend nor speak against that which is used by another for wee must confesse that all manner of things are not convenient for all sorts of people and that there are many Nations which serve farre better to be under an absolute Kingly Power then to be left to their owne liberty in regard whereof it was more profitable for the people of Asia to have Kings and on the contrary the Grecians could endure no Kings Now that this manner whereof wee have beene speaking is the most convenientest for us the experience of so many hundred years hath testified the same As long as this continued all things went well but when the contrary was sought then presently hath there Commotions and troubles arisen neither were or could they by any meanes be remedied untill that the Government was suited againe into her old habit Those that have very diligently looked into the severall dispositions natures and manners of people have perceived that those people lying Northward and especially adjoyning unto the Sea-coasts among whom we are reckoned have ever had an antipathy of the absolute authority of one man onely and have a greater pleasure in their owne Liberty Also there are some that approve that great Lands and Kingdomes are best governed by Kings the lesser Lands by the common people but that those Nations which are of an indifferent greatnesse and in speciall doe know how to keep that which they have well and warily and not coveting that which is anothers are best content with the Government of the Nobles Moreover there must be had great regard unto the use and customes for that which is commonly said of all Lawes is most commonly true in these Lawes wherein the principall point of the Government consisteth that is That it is better to use such Lawes which are of themselves not the best then to change and alter those which are received and have beene long practised For it is with Lawes even as it is with the Plants there must be of necessity time for the establishing and fastning of the Roots and contrarily if they be often removed they lose their vertue power and efficacy For this cause are wee very much bound unto our Fore-fathers who have left unto us a Government that is very good of it selfe and exceeding well agreeing unto our nature and manner of life having re-obtained the same by Warre and preserved the same in time of peace And this ought to bee our indeavours if wee will neither prove unthankfull nor unprovident that wee constantly maintaine that Common-wealth whereunto wee are counselled by Reason approved by Experience and recommended by Antiquity FINIS