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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
state_n	council_n	king_n	privy_a	1,162	5	9.8102	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A70329	The benefit of the ballot, with nature and use thereof particularly in the Republick of Venice.	Harrington, James, 1611-1677.	1680 (1680)	Wing H806A; ESTC R19369	6,026	6

then to see others go before them in the Princes Favour who come behind them in Virtue and Worth The Kingdom being in this Distemper and the King incircled in so many Infelicities Vanly a Persian an excellent Person and a great friend to Galgee advis'd him not to Dissolve his great Council for in that Juncture it might hazard his Dominions and prove fatal to him it being the great Idol of the People but to continue them during his Life And the better to reconcile all Interests to cause 30 to be chosen out of the Conciliado to be of his Council Di Stado or Privy Council as we call it whereof 15 to be Lords and 15 to be Commons and all those to be Elected by themselves by the Ballot out of the most Virtuous and publick Spirited persons amongst them And every Year 10 of those to be remov'd out of the Council Di Stado and to return to the Conciliado or Great Council and by the Ballot to make choice of other 10 of the most Eminent amongst them for Integrity and Parts King Galgee gave an exact observance to his sober Council and by these means he united all Parties in his Council and there was such a due administration of Justice in his Dominions and such virtuous Persons were chosen for the management of Publick Affairs that in a short time King Galgee became so potent and belov'd of his People for that Prince who will gain their affections must give them ease and plenty that when Badurius King of C●mbaia invaded Mindao with an Army of 150000 Horse and 500000 Foot that Prince by the assistance of his own Subjects and of some mercenary Persians and Zagathay defeated and destroy'd that great Army Certainly as it was great wisdom in Vanly to give this Council so it was great prudence in King Galgee to follow it for the great Council consisting or at least presum'd to consist of the most wise and sufficient Persons of all his Dominions the Privy Council and others the great Officers of State being by the Ballot chosen out of the most eminent of them for Parts and Integrity there must needs be a rare felicity of Government There could be no complaints of the male-administration of the Ministers of State which usually makes the greatest noise they being virtuous and wise and chosen out of the Ballot by themselves neither were they who were advanc'd to honour envied which is ever an Attendant upon Greatness by any of the Conciliado because they themselves in time might attain to that dignity if their wisdom and integrity should in worthy them Which was a rare happiness for great men may secure themselves from guilt but not from envy And we have observ'd that the greatest in trust of Publick Affairs are ever shot at by the aspirings of those who deem themselves less in imployment than they are in merit Therefore it highly concerns great Ministers of State to keep Sentinel for every step they tread is pav'd with Fate and every misfortune of theirs commonly procures them as much dishonour as if they had been perfidious in their practice and their unhappiness is deem'd for a crime Therefore let those who are rais'd to the height of their greatness consider that Princes Favours are always perillous and that it 's a difficult thing to stand long firm upon Ice and that the Fall how gentle soever will never suffer them again to rise But King Galgee by his prudent Government had a peculiar felicity in his Reign and establish'd his Dominions upon the Center of a flourishing happiness yet we cannot but observe one great Soloecism in point of State in King Galgee's rewarding so many persons for being troublesome unto him for that Prince who does practise it shall find that no sooner he takes off one but presently another gets up and it will animate others to do so when they find such encouragement for being troublesome and at last if the Prince be notable to gratifie all which is impossible for him to do it may turn to the dissolution of the Government But certainly King Galgee could have no kindness for those persons he had so advanc'd Preferment being the reward of Virtue and not to gratifie disquiet Spirits and the People who are ever jealous of their Rights must look upon them as betrayers of their Liberties and the end of such persons if one well observe it is commonly very miserable And the Subjects never so much repine at their Contributions as when they observe them to be the rewards of persons to whom Fortune not Merit gives a growth It was a Remark of Henry the Fourth of France that such persons who made the greatest noise in the Parliament of Paris were men of the least sufficiency but they had soft tongues and hard faces they did not vent their own conceits but the projections and designs of others and they were like hollow singing Bullets which usually flew but half way to the Mark whereas the Designer doth execution but makes no report It was afterwards observ'd that the Successors of this great Galgee not imitating his excellent Arts of Government and neglecting the choice of the great Ministers of State by the Ballot by reason whereof men of no sufficiency were promoted to the highest Offices of State which gave discouragement to others of more desert and by their male-administration discontent to all Thereby their Countrey in a short time was overcome by Merhamed the Mogul Tartar Whereas if they had observ'd the prudentials of Galgee and us'd the Ballot which had been a Wall of Steel to them they had been invincible There is no Government but this of the Ballot may suit with if the Prince and his great Council please to make a Law for the practice of it neither is it any diminution to the Prince's Dignity to depart with the conferring of Offices when by the use of the Ballot all things will multiply to Honour and the aggrandizing of his Name For many times it 's as fatal to a Prince to have bad Officers under him as for himself not to be good The Revolt which was made from Richard the Second was more for the displeasure taken against Sir John Bushy Sir William Bagot and Sir Henry Green c. who manag'd the publick Offices under him than against the King himself For Princes in the Elections of their Officers do more respect their particular affections and to serve their turns than the sufficiency of the persons elected and more Kingdoms and Dominions have been overthrown by the ill management of Officers than by the severity of the greatest Tyrants and the Investiture of the meanest persons to great Commands hath often prov'd fatal to the greatest undertakings An Instance whereof is that of James the Fifth of Scotland who in the year 1542. invaded England with an Army of 60000 Horse and Foot and was met with the Lord Wharton then Warden of the North-West Marches the Battel being ready to joyn one Sir Oliver Synclere the Scottish King's Minion but of no great Extraction or Skill in Martial Affairs was by the King's Order proclaim'd General which the Scottish Nobility took in such indignation that they threw down their Arms and suffer'd themselves to be taken Prisoners there being not one man slain on either side Whereas if they had made choice of a Captain-General themselves by the Ballot one who had good skill in Martial Affairs and whom they would willingly have follow'd what Actions of Grandeur they might have effected we leave it to the judicious to consider The Practice and Method which the State of Venice useth in their Elections by the Ball may be read at large in Contarini Gianotti and Sansovinus but in case these Authors be wanting Mr. John Ray's Observations printed Anno 1673. will fully inform you who hath folio 157. exactly collected out of the said Authors all the Observables in their Elections which would be over-tedious to express here the same having been perform'd so particularly and excellently by that learned Gentleman We will here set down in a few lines somewhat of the Practick Part for it is us'd in some Cases with more nicety than in others in great Councils of State we will mention the most facile here The Electors being assembled in some convenient Place as a great Hall c. the doors are shut up and the Prime Officers who assemble or call together the Electors keep the Keys till the Election be over The Syndick or chief Officer for that purpose takes the Ballot-Box and opens it in the view of all the Company to see that it is empty and without secret Conveyances then placeth it on a Table for that purpose at one end of the Room and calls such of the Company as he thinks may make most dispatch gives to each a Ball in the fight of the People a little Ball made of fine Linnen as at Venice he puts into the Box either the Affirmative or Negative and so departs to one side from the rest and then he calls the next and does the like to him and so of the rest till all are call'd all who have voted stand apart by themselves The Box is somewhat long and hath a partition in the midst the which hath two holes to drop the Balls in which are Taper-wise broader at the top and narrower at the bottom the right-hand hole is for the Affirmative and the left for the Negative And because that no man shall know on which side a man puts his Ball who is giving his Vote there is a place roundish made in the Box to put in the Hand and Arm almost half way to the Elbow so as the Hand being in the Party may let his Ball drop as he pleaseth When all have done Ballotting the Box is open'd and what is in the Affirmative noted down Then the next Competitor is Ballotted for as the former and so of the rest and he who hath most Votes in the Affirmative is elected All very easily perform'd in a short time without noise without tumult without animofities and the most deserving always is elected FINIS * In some Places they use Beans * They may also be distinguished by the Colours black and white

THE BENEFIT OF THE BALLOT WITH The Nature and Use thereof Particularly in the Republick of VENICE THe Use or Practice of the Ballot hath been very Ancient in the Eastern Countries And Postellus conceiveth that the Venetian use of the Ball is the same with that which was of the Lot in the Commonwealth of Israel and of the Bean in Atthens Cicero himself doth give a very good account and a very great Encomium of the Table or Ballot of the People of Rome And certainly Rome nor Carthage had ever attain'd to their Grandeur and Reputation in the World had it not been for the Ballot By this only Art we had almost said the Commonwealth of Venice hath preserv'd it self against the most potent enemies for these 1300 Years and it hath flourished in the greatest splendour of any State in Europe Where the Ballotting is us'd those States are most free from all Factions and Rebellions There Persons of the most accomplisht Parts are advanc'd for their Integrity and Worth There Virtue is as speedy a Ladder to climbe unto Honour as Nobility of Birth and a good Man is as much respected as a great Every one giveth his Election and Vote freely and that without the fear of Great-ones or Favour to Freinds But according to the Value and Worth of the Persons do they give their Suffrages and for those who are of the most Noble Spirits Not for persons designing their own private Interest to the impoverishing of the Publick There is not a place for Pensioners who are the Burs of a Nation and the Suckers which hinder the growth of any State They are very just in their Rewards and Punishments which rightly laid do ballance Government By these means their Councellors are of great Honour and Wisdom For mean Men make it their Master-piece of Credit to give venturous Councils which no great or wise man would or durst And Princes usually find Instruments more for their Will and Humour then for their Service and Honour which never can be so in this State For they ever prefer safe Councils with Reason before rash which only Chance can make prosperous Their management of their Treasure is prudent and their Officers frugal in the disposal of it Knowing well that good husbandry may stand with great Honour as well as Breadth with Height And certainly nothing doth consume it self like Prodigality which some by mistake call Liberty For if it be long us'd it takes away the means to continue it and consequently it does make a State poor or else to avoid poverty it 's often enforc'd to oppression and thereby becomes odious It is necessary like Venice for every State to have a full Treasure if it be but for the keeping up of its Reputation abroad For the power of a State is valued according to the fulness of its Purse rather than the largeness of its Teritories The Officers in that State are but few and they make choice of such as are knowing For being rich they need not abuse the State themselves and being knowing they will not suffer others do do it But in some Monarchies where there are such multitudes of Officers which is a great calamity they serve for nothing but to rifle the Princes Purse and the fuller they fill their Coffers the more facile is their Justification when question'd Neither are they for making of Parties or for Debaucheries in Elections as it is observ'd to our great grief in some other places There are no Tumults or noise at their Votes or Suffrages which in some places are so great that Strangers hearing the shouts and noise they make have conceiv'd themselves to be at Ephesus That State that useth it must needs have the greatest advantages against others which use it not Neither is it possible to be destroy'd but by another State which useth the ●ame Carthage had never been subdu'd by the Romans but that the Romans us'd the Ballot as well as they themselves And that makes us often to think that Venice preserving her ancient Rules and Methods of Balloting must be immortal Let us consider that Anno 1508. when the Emperour and most of the Kings and Princes of Europe entred into a League against Her by this one practice how prudently she behav'd her self against them all We need not instance the prudent conduct and the management of their Affairs against the most formi●●●ble power of the Sultan which would have been a terrour if not a Confusion to the greatest Princes of Europe if we consider the Ottoman power and the continuance of those Wars And we are apt to conceive that by this Art they have done more severe execution and given the greater disturbance to the Ottoman Forces than all the Princes of Europe tho all conspir'd against them during the Holy War For by reason of their Divisions Piques and animosities among themselves which by the Ballot would easily have been prevented they never effected any Action of Grandieur or gain'd any place but to lose again Whether the Ballot be so practicable in a Monarchy where all great Offices and Honours are at the disposal of a Prince and by Him conferred as a reward of Services We must submit that to their pleasures But certainly to that State wherein it is entertain'd the advantages which thereby accrew must needs be very great and would be the best expedient to establish Monarchy for ever For Monarchy can never be destroy'd but by Factions and Divisions which can never happen in that State where the Ballot is used Galgee the King of Mindao a Prince who had many Kingdoms and great Dominions being in a War and for the better carrying on of the same assembled his Grand Conciliado or Convention of States for without them no Money could be rais'd which consisted of Magnifico's and Populo's as with us in England that is of Lords and Commons They being assembled granted many Royal Aids to the King But being continued together over long they fell into Parties as great Bodies are very apt to do Some accusing the most eminent Ministers of State for their ill Councel and male administration of publick Affairs Others opposing the granting of any further Aid affirming that Taxes and Impositions ought to be in the State as Sails in a Ship not to charge and over-lade it but to conduct and assure it The King finding so many of them to be Troublesom the better to obtain his own ends took them off by Honours Preferments and Pensions But thereby the King became Indigent the Subjects miserably poor and the great Council which ever us'd to be a Medicine to heal up any Rupture in a Princes Fortune were grown worse than the Malady broken into Parties because others were prefer'd in Honours before them who as they conceiv'd were much inferior to themselves in Merit and commonly the People cannot endure excessive Fortune any where so ill as in those who have been in equal Degree to them and nothing begets more disdain