The Roman Drusus, who made war in these regions, had a canal cut from the Rhine into the Flevo, the present Zuyder Zee, through which the Roman fleet penetrated into the North Sea, and from thence, entering the mouths of the Ems and the Weser, found an easy passage into the interior of Ger

many.

Through four centuries, we find Batavian troops in the Ro man armies, but after the time of Honorius, their name dis appears from history. Presently we discover their island over run by the Franks, who again lost themselves in the adjoining country of Belgium. The Frieses threw off the yoke of their distant and powerless rulers, and again appeared as a free, and even a conquering people, who governed themselves by their own customs and a remnant of Roman laws, and extended their limits beyond the left bank of the Rhine. Of all the provinces of the Netherlands, Friesland, especially, had suf fered the least from the irruptions of strange tribes, and foreign customs; and for centuries retained traces of its original institutions of its national spirit and manners, which have not, even at the present day, entirely disappeared.

The epoch of the immigration of nations, destroyed the ori ginal form of most of these tribes; other mixed races arose in their place, with other constitutions. In the general irruption, the towns and encampments of the Romans disappeared, and with them, the memorials of their wise government, which they had employed the natives to execute. The neglected dikes once more yielded to the violence of the streams, and to the encroachments of the ocean. Those wonders of labour, and creations of human skill, the canals, dried up, the rivers changed their course, the continent and the sea confounded their olden limits, and the nature of the soil changed with its inhabitants. So, too, the connexiou of the two eras seems effaced, and with a new race a new history commences.

The monarchy of the Franks, which arose out of the ruins of Roman Gaul, had, in the 6th and 7th centuries, seized all the provinces of the Netherlands, and planted there the Chris tian faith. After an obstinate war, Charles Martel subdued to the French crown Friesland, the last of all the free provinces and by his victories, paved a way for the gospel. Charle

D

magne united all these countries, and formed of them one division of the mighty empire, which he had constructed out of Germany, France, and Lombardy. As under his descendants, this vast dominion was again torn into fragments, so the Netherlands became at times German, at others French, or then again Lotheringian Provinces, and at last we find them under both the names of Friesland and Lower Lotheringia.

With the Franks, the feudal system, the offspring of the North, also came into these lands, and here, too, as in all other countries, it degenerated. The more powerful vassals gradually made themselves independent of the crown, and the royal governors usurped the countries they were appointed to govern. But the rebellious vassals could not maintain their usurpations, without the aid of their own dependants, whose assistance they were compelled to purchase by new concessions. At the same time, the church became powerfu. through pious usurpations and donations, and in its abbey lands and episcopal sees acquired an independent existence. Thus were the Netherlands, in the tenth, eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries, split up into se. veral small sovereignties, whose possessors did homage, at one time to the German Emperor, at another to the Kings of France. By purchase, marriages, legacies, and also by conquest, several of these provinces were often united under one suzerain, and thus in the fifteenth century, we see the house of Burgundy in possession of the chief part of the Netherlands. With more or less right, Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, had united as many as eleven provinces under his authority, and to these his son, Charles the Bold, added two others, acquired by force of arms. Thus imperceptibly a new state arose in Europe, which wanted nothing but the name, to be the most flourishing kingdom in this quarter of the globe. These extensive possessions made the Dukes of Burgundy formidable neighbours to France, and tempted the restless spirit of Charles the Bold to devise a scheme of conquest, embracing the whole line of country from the Zuyder Zee and the mouth of the Rhine down to Alsace. The almost inexhaustible resources of this prince, justify in some measure this bold project. A formidable army threat ened to carry it into execution. Already Switzerland trembled for her liberty; but deceitful fortune abandoned him in three

terrible battles, and the infatuated hero was lost in the melée of the living and the dead *.

The sole heiress of Charles the Bold, Maria, at once the richest princess and the unhappy Helen of that time, whose wooing brought misery on her inheritance, was now the centre of attraction to the whole known world. Among her suitors appeared two great princes, King Louis XI. of France, for his son, the young Dauphin, and Maximilian of Austria, son of the Emperor Frederic III. The successful suitor was to become the most powerful prince in Europe; and now, for the first time, this quarter of the globe began to fear for its balance of power. Louis, the more powerful of the two, was ready to back his suit by force of arms; but the people of the Netherlands, who disposed of the hand of their princess, passed by this dreaded neighbour, and decided in favour of Maximilian, whose more remote territories, and more limited power, seemed less to threaten the liberty of their country. A deceitful, unfortunate policy, which, through a strange dispensation of heaven, only accelerated the melancholy fate which it was intended to prevent.

To Philip the Fair, the son of Maria and Maximilian, a Spanish bride brought, as her portion, that extensive kingdom which Ferdinand and Isabella had recently founded; and Charles of Austria, his son, was born lord of the kingdoms of Spain, of the two Sicilies, of the new world, and of the Netherlands. In the latter country, the commonalty emancipated themselves much earlier than in other feudal states, and quickly attained to an independent political existence. The favourable situation of the country on the North Sea, and on great navigable rivers, early awakened the spirit of commerce, which rapidly peopled the towns, encouraged industry and

* A page who had seen him fall, a few days after the battle conducted the victors to the spot, and saved his remains from an ignominious oblivion. His body was dragged from out of a pool in which it was fast frozen, naked, and so disfigured with wounds, that with great difficulty he was recognised, by the well-known deficiency of some of his teeth, and by remarkably long finger nails. But that, notwithstanding these marks, there were still incredulous people who doubted his death, and looked for his re-appearance, is proved by the missive, in which Louis the Eleventh called upon the Burgundian States to return to their allegiance to the Crown of France. "If," the passage runs, "Duke Charles should still be living, you shall be released from your oath to me." Comines, t. iii., Preuves des Mémoires, 495, 497.

the arts, attracted foreigners, and diffused prosperity and affluence among them. However contemptuously the warlike policy of those times looked down upon every peaceful and useful occupation, the rulers of the country could not fail altogether to perceive the essential advantages they derived from such pursuits. The increasing population of their territories, the different imposts which they extorted from natives and foreigners, under the various titles of tolls, customs, highway rates, escort money, bridge tolls, market fees, escheats, and so forth, were too valuable considerations to allow them to remain indifferent to the sources from which they were derived. Their own rapacity made them promoters of trade, and as often happens, barbarism itself rudely nursed it, until, at last, a healthier policy assumed its place. In the course of time, they invited the Lombard merchants to settle among them, and accorded to the towns some valuable privi leges, and an independent jurisdiction, by which the latter. acquired uncommon extraordinary credit and influence. The numerous wars which the counts and dukes carried on with one another, or with their neighbours, made them in some measure dependent on the good will of the towns, who, by their wealth, obtained weight and consideration, and for the subsidies which they afforded, failed not to extort important privileges in return. These privileges of the commonalties increased, as the crusades with their expensive equipment augmented the necessities of the nobles; as a new road to Europe was opened for the productions of the East; and as wide-spreading luxury created new wants to their princes. Thus, as early as the eleventh and twelfth centuries, we find in these lands a mixed form of government, in which the prerogative of the sovereign is greatly limited by the privileges of the estates, that is to say, of the nobility, the clergy, and the inunicipalities. These, under the name of States, assembled as often as the wants of the province required it. Without their consent, no new laws were valid, no war could be carried on, and no taxes levied, no change made in the coinage, and no foreigner admitted to any office of government. All the provinces enjoyed these privileges in common; others were peculiar to the various districts. The supreme government was hereditary, but the son did not enter

on the rights of his father, before he had solemnly sworn to maintain the existing constitution.

Necessity is the first lawgiver: all the wants which had to be met by this constitution, were originally of a commercial nature. Thus the whole constitution was founded on commerce, and the laws of the nation were adapted to its pursuits. The last clause, which excluded foreigners from all offices of trust, was a natural consequence of the preceding articles. So complicated and artificial a relation between the sovereign and his people, which in many provinces was further modified, according to the peculiar wants of each, and frequently of some single city, required for its maintenance the liveliest zeal for the liberties of the country, combined with an intimate acquaintance with them. From a foreigner, neither could well be expected. This law besides, was enforced reciprocally in each particular province; so that in Brabant no Fleming, in Zealand no Hollander, could hold office; and it continued in force, even after all these provinces were united under one government.

Above all others, Brabant enjoyed the highest degree of freedom. Its privileges were esteemed so valuable, that many mothers from the adjacent provinces removed thither about the time of their accouchement, in order to entitle their children to participate, by birth, in all the immunities of that favoured country; just as, says Strada, one improves the plants of a rude climate by removing them to the soil of a milder.

After the House of Burgundy had united several provinces under its dominion, the separate provincial assemblies which, up to that time, had been independent tribunals, were made subject to a supreme court at Malines, which incorporated the various judicatures into one body, and decided in the last resort all civil and criminal appeals. The separate inde pendence of the provinces was thus abolished, and the supreme power vested in the senate at Malines.

After the death of Charles the Bold, the states did not neglect to avail themselves of the embarassment of their Duchess, who, threatened by France, was consequently in their power. Holland and Zealand compelled her to sign a great charter, which secured to them the most important sovereign rights. The people of Ghent car