Selected quad for the lemma: state_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
state_n	great_a	province_n	unite_a	1,718	5	9.9410	5	true

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

Dominators undertook the warre against the Duke of Alba re-establishing againe the persons that were unlawfully banished and acknowledged William Prince of Orange for their Governour and Generall The seventh Chapter In what estate the Common-wealth of the Battavers was in the time of Warre and is now at this present since the Warre SInce which time the Soveraignty of the States which was not a little obscured and darkned by that usurped Authoritie of the last Princes is brought againe shining more cleare in the light And afterwards when as the States of the neighbouring Provinces had taken Armes with them of Holland for the maintenance of their Liberty and were knit together by an assured alliance and confederacie And that King Philip whose reputation even yet hitherto hath not been toucht neither by intreaties nor by admonition could bee brought into a better minde then at last the generall States upon the 26. of Iuly in the yeare 1581. declared that King Philip by reason of the nullifying of their Lawes of Government according to all Lawes and ipso jure had forfeited his Principality in the same manner like as many free Nations have oftentimes condemned their Prince as the Lacedemonians condemned Pausanias the Romanes Nero the Venetians Falerius and the Danes Christiern Yet neverthelesse these Nobles did not govern the Commonwealth without a Principality But like as in former times in place of the Kings succeeded the Generalls even so did the Prince of Orange the title of Earle being taken away obtained the lawfull Authority under the Title of Governour This Prince his singular unity with the States whilst hee gave place unto their Mightinesse and they on the contrary part both loved and respected him as being their common Father brought the affaires of Holland from little beginnings to a great growth wherefore although the neighborings Provinces had ordained first Matthias Archduke of Austria and after him the Councell of State and yet after them the Duke of Anjoy over them yet neverthelesse the States of Holland and Zealand maintaining firmly the confederacie with their Neighbours and never consenting unto any alteration in their own lands continually maintained not only the same manner of Government but even also the very outward form of the Government After the death of the Prince of Orange the generall Government was resign'd unto the Earle of Leicester who had brought over English Souldiers with him to aide these Lands but in regard that he being of a Kingly prodigality and unacquainted with our Customes and following evill Counsellors began to speak against the Government of the States and to bring in many innovations therupon the States took occasion to shew that their power from the which Leicester had received his Commission was the most righteous and the most ancient power Also certaine persons who to pleasure him sought by uproars to bring in alterations they punished with death which the Earle of Leicester understanding left both the Government and the Land And thereupon Prince Maurice the sonne of William Prince of Orange took upon him the chief government over Holland and of certaine of the Neighbouring Provinces Under his Government hath been great concord so that by the twenty yeeers tranquillity of the Commonwealth and by the inlarging of their borders by fortunate Battales by Seidges so ably enterprized as also more ably resisted have the States obtained the fame of exceeding wise Governors and Prince Maurice the fame of the worthiest Generall The Reputation of this Commonwealth is yet augmented since that Kings have accepted the same into confederacy with themselves For in the yeer 1597. was a Confederacy agreed upon betwixt the King of France the Queen of England and the States of the united Netherlandish Provinces Yet neverthelesse the States did so reverence their deposed Prince that whilst King Philip lived the habilities of these Lands contained themselves within the necessity of their owne defence but after his death was the Warre more openly manifested and that warre was sent back againe into Spaine which first came from themselves Yea and even unto the very furthermost parts of India is our Trafficque sailed being defended with Armes And in those places also by the occasion of the common enemy and by the known valour and fidelity of the Hollanders is there occasioned both friendships and Confederacies with Kings and Nations so that the Lords the States have been saluted by Embassadours comming so farre as out of the other world Hitherto hath the warres continued There hath been often dealing for peace both whilst King Philip lived as since his death As also when as the Netherlands were resigned unto his daughter and son in-law But ever the States disdained those conditions whereby either their Liberty or that lawfull resolution which they had justly decreed and pronounced against King Philips Authority might any way be impeached or toucht like unto the example of the Ancient Romans who never esteemed any Peace so highly that they therefore would receive in again the banished Tarquins Lastly when as the Archduke Albertus and Isabel and King Philip the Second Philips Son shewed themselves to be ready to acknowldge the freedome and Liberty of the States then through the Intercession of the Kings of France of Great Britaine and of Denmark and of some other Princes did begin a communication And in regard that many difficulties hindred the Peace there was lastly in the year 1609 a Truce concluded upon for the space of 12 years with a formall Declaration of the Archduke both in their own names as also in the name of King Philip from whom to that very end they had received Commission and procuration that they should make Truce with the Lords the States Generall of the United Provinces as respecting and holding them to be in quality of free States of their Lands Provinces and Cities where over they have nothing to pretend This short Relation beginning long before the time of Iulius Caesar and ending at these times sheweth that continually during more then 1700 years the Battavers which now are called the Hollanders have used the same Government the Soveraignty whereof hath alwayes remained in the States hands and so is it at this present So that neverthelesse a Principality hath belonged thereunto sometimes in a greater and sometimes in a lesser manner of administration In former time comming thereunto by Succession but very often and at this present by voyces being ever subject under the Laws This then is the shape or rather to say the face of the whole Government Now if any man would know all the particular members thereof They are these as followeth Holland is very populous and exceedingly well stored with Cities and Villages The especiall care of the Cities is committed to the Senators and Magistrates of each City unto whom it is permitted within their own Liberties to make certain Laws and Forfeitures and to ordain certain Impositions for the Cities necessaries The Senators are perpetuall The Magistrates are yearly

HVGO GROTIVS Aet. 49 Ao 1632 De positum coeli quod jure Batavia mater Horret et haud credit se peperisse sibi Talem occulis talem ore tulit se maximus Hugo Instar crede hominis caetera crede Dei So●ld by Io Walker Tho C●●ss sculpsit A TREATISE OF The Antiquity of the Common-wealth 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. LONDON Printed for Iohn Walker at the signe of the Starre in Popes Head Alley MDCXLIX To the most famous and Illustrious Lords my Lords the States of Holland and West-freisland NOble and mighty Lords I present unto your Lordships a little Book or rather it presents it selfe which though the quantity thereof bee very small yet being of a great quality and altogether appropiate unto your Lordships for it maintaineth your command your Right and Soveraignty The scope and drift thereof is to demonstrate and prove as it were cursively and running over the times past even from the beginning of this so famous Nation unto this very present day how that the chief Soveraignty of the publike affairs hath ever had place in the principall of the two States which were then the Battavers but now are the Hollanders and the West Freises The which Soraignty through a long continuall consequent Succession is now at this present established in your Lordships This Soveraignty and power of the States hath been the foundation of the Common-wealth the harbour of perfect moderated equity and the bridle of the Principalities prodigality This power in former times hath been a terror and for feare thereof even the chiefest Commanders and those Regents of the State of the Land have willingly submitted their magnifience thereunto yea whether they were Kings or Generals or those which in these latest times were called the Earles thereof The very Lawes and Priviledges thereof which are holy and unviolable have likewise also continually been preserved safely in the custody and possession and as it were in the bosome of the States By the resolutions of their Lordships is that Liberty which in former times the Hollanders have had and is now againe so farre famous sailed through those mighty raging tempests even unto these happy dayes and times For what greater dangers could have hapned to any for their Liberty then that which hath hapned unto them as first that the Romish power and afterwards that of the Spanish power which is the next unto the Romish or else according unto their own opinion farre greater then the Romish power it self was Yet neverthelesse that Liberty hath wrestled and strugled it self through both of those hideous dangers and when they were enforced to take Arms They first opposed against the violence of their Oppressors the reasonablenesse of their Cause a good politick Order and an invincible courage The happy event thereof hath declared it self at two severall times unto the admiration of all Nations upon the face of the Earth and with the Warre is the fame and power thereof encreased even as it pleaseth the wisedome of God commonly first to prove and assay those with great travels and dangers whom hee will afterwards advance to great honours Under the condition of those same Lords and Governours hath ever appeared that great fidelity of the Battavers which was never lesse then the valiantnesse of their deeds in Warre which fidelity the Romans can sufficiently testifie of in the times of your Lordships Predecessors And the Neighbouring Kings doe now acknowledge the same in your Lordships And not only they but also even those which are our Antipodes and which behold another Firmament and Stars The recitation of all which things according unto their deserts would be matter for the furnishing of a great History It may suffice for this present shortly and summarily to relate the Antiquity of this Government which hapned under the Government of the Nobles or States the labour whereof I doubt not but it will be profitable for the Inhabitants and very acceptable unto Strangers for although it be very true that which in old time was reported of Alcibiades and also Augustus which is That a good Subject is bound to defend the present estate of the Common-wealth and to seek for no Alteration Yet neverthelesse we desire and more earnestly affect such a kinde of Government as we our selves enjoy and besides we perceive hath been pleasing to our fore-fathers whether it be as the best in it self or whether it be that which is most convenient for them the which our Fathers have maintained and defended even with their dearest lives having left the same as their own proper inheritance unto their succeeding posterity Hereunto may also be added that in all matters Antiquity is much respected and of great worth yea so much esteemed that they of Marseilles whose Common-wealth is anciently reported to be so exceeding famous and for which they are so highly commended that they even from the first foundation of that City have themselves used the sword for the execution of Justice upon Malefactors shewing thereby that also even in the smallest matters all the least points of Ancient Custome ought to be maintained for Antiquity in some respects commeth nearest unto God by way of resemblance that it hath with Eternity From whence also it proceedeth that in our hearts there is bred a reverentnesse and respect unto Antiquity which Antiquity in the Common-Wealth ought much more to bee had in estimation rather then in the persons of men in regard that in the persons of men which are mortall their Antiquity or Antientnesse is a sign of their approaching Death But Antiquity in the Common-wealth being once settled and grounded upon hope of never to die doth beget from time her vertue and force and becommeth the more old the more able for continuance is an infallible demonstration of a well framed policy from hence proceedeth an assurance and affection unto the Government even from the very hearts of the Inhabitants And this is the very principall occasion of the continuance and standing of a Common-wealth because that in former times it so continued It was also reason that I had some respect unto Strangers to the end that those which are exceeding desirous to be informed of the state of this Common-wealth by reason of the greatnesse of those famous Acts atchieved by the same might not only know the estate thereof as it is at this present but also in what estate the same hath been in times past Also taking away an abuse which oftentimes proceedeth from names that are alike in matters that are differing for the Princes themselves were not alwayes alike nor yet the States neither for sometimes the Chief Power and Soveraignty was in the person

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

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

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

they sought to make the Liberty of the Netherlands very hatefull And on the contrary to demonstrate how that the Cities in Italy and the Countreys of America and the West-Indies in such and such manner were kept in subjection with their Garrisons and that there was an absolute obedience without any limitation At what time as the warres in France ending and King Philip being requested in behalfe of the States that hee would draw the Garrisons of the Spaniards out of the Countrey which reasonable request of theirs hee took very hainously and in ill part and being returned againe into Spaine from that time for the most part after never permitted the publike affaires of Holland nor of the Netherlands to be governed by the Lords that were the Inhabitants and borne in the Countrey whereof according to old custome the principall and permanent Councel of the State of this Land did ever consist but by the resolutions which were concluded in Spaine leaving heere the Cardinall Granvell to bee the executioner of the Spanish Precepts The matters concerning Religion were brought to that passe that although it had bin a matter of great offence to have beleeved any otherwise then the Pope of Rome should thinke convenient yet neverthelesse a good Prince should not have atempted to have punished the same in regard of the great multitudes of those that might be accused therewithall from whose consciences that Religion of what sort soever it might be would never by no feare have been extinguished or qualified For this occasion the principall Lords and also the chiefest Cities and Provinces made their Declaration that neither their traffique nor yet the common tranquillity of the Land could bee maintained unlesse those corrisive Commissions concerning the Religion were lenified and mitigated the which was so farre contrary to his minde that King Philip should follow their counsell therein that hee contrary thereunto ordained that such a search and inquisition should be made even to the very secret motions and cogitations of the heart and that after a very new strange and unusuall manner of proceeding the like whereof was never heard before in such manner as if it had been against those Jews or Mahumetists which shelter secretly in some parts of Christendome and is practised in Spaine To this end and purpose were there here and there new Bishoprickes erected and distributed with great contradicting and in despite of the States without whose consent in former time the Clergy-men might not bee augmented considering now that all this without all doubt tended to the great confusion of the publike affaires and first of all those Lords that were in the Councell of State and afterwards a great number of noble personages assembling to this end and purpose under whom also was the Lord of Brederode descended of the Family of the Princes of Holland who did both counsel and entreat that they should proceed unto that remedy the which in former times was very often used in matters of lesse moment viz. to a Convocation of the Generall States although King Philip before his departure and at his departure had excessively commanded to hinder the same that there might be no Convocation of the Generall States from hence there arose an uprore not by any common consent but by the enterprise of some certaine particular persons of the poorest and common people about the taking away of the Images out of the Churches in regard that it was a high trespasse and sinne to make supplication and intercession unto them And after that this uprore was pacified by the authority of the principall Lords it pleased the King of Spaine and the Spaniards under the pretext of this one inconsiderate particular contrary to all right and reason to charge the whole Nation generally with the offence of Rebellion whereupon the Duke of Alba was sent with a very rigorous Commission to take possession of the absolute Soveraignty being naturally a very rigorous man as all Germany can testifie he very openly published that both the States Cities and People of the Netherlands and every person in particular had forfeited all their priviledges and that from hence forward they were to expect no other Lawes but what it pleased the King to command whereof he himselfe was a sufficient testimony that the Lawes were abolished he being a stranger and none of the Princes blood and yet neverthelesse against all right and custome was sent to possesse the generall Government The judgement of matters was also withdrawne from the lawfull and ordinary Colledges and by the erection of a new Judgement Seat or Bench where the matter of Lesae Majestatis or the abusing of His Highnesse should be decided by the Spaniards and by their adherents such as made themselves slaves unto the Spaniards having gotten under their power not only the lives but also the goods of all the inhabitants whereof not onely many thousands of the common people were executed but also the very Earles themselves of Egmond and Horne being condemned by false accusations were forced to present their necks to the violent stroak of the Hangman William Earle of Nassaw Prince of Orange being one of the chiefest Lords of the Netherlands with divers others were banished of wch persons Egmond had his Earldome in Holland and the Prince of Orange was Governour of Holland The Marquesse of Berghen and the Lord of Montignie who had carried the Requests and Remonstrations of the people and of the States into Spaine were both made away the one being openly executed and the other according to common report poysoned Thereafter according to the custome of all those that will bee Dominators the Cities were planted with Spanish Garrisons or else Cittadels and Castles built therein Moreover and above to the end that this Nation which before to this present time had been a free people might the more openly publish their slavery by maintaining and providing for themselves food and rayment they were inforced at that time by the terrible threatnings of their Deputy to bring up the twentieth penny at the sale of every house or parcell of Land and every tenth penny of all Moveables which their Princes themselves in former times were accustomed to Then the Fidelitie and the Liberty of those people were long contending with each other but in regard it was not possible to endure any longer the oppression of their Lawes and they setting at nought of the States and the Governement which had continued so many hundred yeeres and that the Libertie of their posteritie could not longer bee maintained then the States of Holland unto whom appertained the protection as well both of the Lawes as also of the generall and their owne particular Rights in the yeere 1572. upon the 19. of Iuly in the Assembly at Dordrecht consisting of certaine Nobles and of the Deputies of the greatest part of the Cities according to the example of their Fore fathers who tooke up Armes against the Romanes when as they pressed to bee

having very little or no allowance at all therefore Their chiefe Burgh-masters have their Authority from the higher Magistrates for to maintaine the good of the Cities and of the common Burgesses The Jurats which are called Schepens are ordained for the Law as well over Civill as over criminall matters whereof the Baliffs and Scoutes by one Authority doe serve in that publike Office of Plaintiffs or Accusers The Magistrates have in their Councell learned Lawyers called Pensionaires The Jurisdiction of the Villages both as well in the High Lordships called Hooghe Heerlyecheyden as also in the Ambachs Heerlycheden is partly either in the Common-wealth or in the Principality and partly in the chiefe of the Nobility who have received the same from their fore-Fathers The affairs of the Ambachs Heerleycheden are commonly decided by the Schouts and the Schepens The Hooghe Heer lycheyden by the Baliffs and the Tenants or else by the Gentility Moreover and above there is the Forresters and the Rangers of the Woods and Wildernesses and the Stewards of Noblemens houses have each one their own Laws concerning Hunting c. and their own fellow servants And the Dykegraves and Heemraden those that have the Authority over the Seadykes and the River bancks wherein consisteth the speciall preservation of Holland from all these sentences excepting in criminall matters whereof the condemned very seldome is granted any appeale they make their appeale unto the Court of Holland the which is also acknowledged by Zealand The controversies of Cities and other matters of great importance are also decided there In this Councell according to ancient Custome doth sit certain of the Nobility with certaine Lawyers and men experienced in all Customes The chief head of this Councell is the Stadthouder or the Governour of Holland himself who moreover and above hath the power to command over the Garrisons To elect the Magistrates of the Cities after a former nomination thereof and also to give remission and pardon to Malefactors all which are tokens of an exceeding high Authority There is also a Counting House of the Principalities own proper Rents and Revenews which is governed by the Rent-Masters The Convocation of the States the chiefe power whereof they of Holland have hapneth three or four times yearly or as often as is required The State of the Nobility and of the Gentility is represented by some certain who are the chief thereof as well in respect of their noble descent as of the Lordships which they possesse being in number about twelve whereof one of them dying they chuse another unto themselves The Cities that commonly send their Deputies unto this Convocation being warned thereunto are these Dordrecht Haerlem Delffe Leyden Amsterdam Goude Rotterdam Gorchum Schiedam Schoonhoven Breill Alckmaer Horne Enckhuysen Edam Monickendam Medenblick Purmerendt Those that are deputed are commonly Burgh-Masters now and then accompanied with some of the Senators or else pensionary The Nobility gives their voice first then the Cities every one according to their turnes All this is even now as it was in the dayes of the Earls excepting that the Administration of the publike matters which formerly the Earls performed is now inherent in the States and in the Governor From the aforesaid Court of Holland there was wont to have been appealed unto the great Councell of Mechlen which Councell in former time the States of the severall Provinces at the request of the Princes of the House of Bourgondy had condescended unto to abide unto that common Law Instead of this Councel they of Holland of Zealand about eight and twenty years since have ordained the high Councel consisting of certain famous learned persons from whose sentence there can be no appeale but yet there may be a supplication presented unto the States to th' end that certain other Lawyers Judges or Revisers might be added unto that Colledge which might diligently and considerately peruse and examine whether in that sentence there might be any errour or fault Moreover since the warres both the charges and also the businesses are very much encreased that in respect thereof there is yet another Colledge instituted to have the survey of the common Treasure of Holland and to decide all Controversies arising thence This Colledge consisteth of persons which are deputed thereunto by the Gentility and by each severall City and are now and then changed These doe warn the States to assemble as need requireth and doe execute that which the States doe decree There are yet other Deputies appointed for the surveying of these which have the hearing of the reckonings of the Receivers of the common Treasure Now since Utrecht continuing still in the union with the other Provinces which are Gelderland Holland Zealand Vtrecht Friesland Over-Isell and Groning who in former time were all called by the names of the Battavers Mattiacks and Frieses there hath bin a Community or Fellowship both of Warre Peace and forraign Alliances and Confederacies as also of all other affairs they have been alike partakers with each other These same Provinces are also accustomed to send their Deputies for the consultation of the generall good of the Lands This assembly seldome separateth and are called the general States By these the points that fall into Controversie betwixt the Provinces are disputed and decided The next unto these and by the same Commission the Councell of State hath the survey of the affairs of the union and the Government of the Souldiers and of the Military businesses This Councell is come instead of the Councell of State which in the time of the Earls had the survey of all the affairs of all the Netherlands The Councellors being a certain number are chosen by the States of each Province and also sometimes changed they give their voyces not by the Provinces as in the Convocation but man for man The heads of this Councell are the Governors of the Provinces Moreover there is divided in Holland Zealand and in Freisland certaine Colledges of the Admiralty that look unto the affaires of the Sea and of the Customs and Commodities that come out of the Sea They have their Commission from the generall States every Province sends their Deputies thither and now and then changeth them The Admirall-ship which is the highest command at Sea hath Prince Maurice The reckonings of the Cantoor of the generality are looked unto by certain persons deputed thereunto These things being sufficiently known to the Inhabitants I have handled the same more particularly for the use of strangers not doubting when they shall have narrowly looked into these matters but that they shall very much commend the formes and frames of the Government of this Common-wealth for if wee would but alledge reason hereunto reason teacheth us that Authority is best of all there where it is conferred upon the principall best men If we look about us concerning the Authority That Government which consisteth of the Nobles hath in commendation thereof the wisest in former times If