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A. D.1663.

SECTION VIII.

SWITZERLAND AND HOLLAND.

THE Swiss confederacy concluded an alliance with Lewis. This nation was too little unanimous, and the governments, which were becoming more aristocratical, were not sufficiently secure of the support of their subjects, to excite any apprehension on the part of their neighbours: it was only necessary to respect their national independence.

The Dutch formed their constitution on the model of that of Switzerland. Frederick Henry, the old prince of Orange, equally respectable for his virtues and his political talents, and content with his constitutional authority, was now deceased. This event was soon succeeded by the peace of Westphalia; upon which the states-general reduced their army to less than thirty thousand men: this proceeding displeased the stadtholder, William the Second, the son of Frederick Henry, who ventured to imprison six of the deputies as they were repairing to that assembly, and endeavoured to make himself master of Amsterdam. The prince, however, died in the midst of this idle and unworthy attempt at tyranny, and his son, William the Third, was born after his decease.

As the Dutch were now at peace, they resolved to abolish the stadtholdership: every city was governed by its own magistracy, and the affairs of the whole community were administered by the states-general. The manners of the people were republican: John de Wytt, the grand pensionary of Holland, who had the chief influence in the commonwealth, lived like a private citizen, attended by only a single servant. The admiral de Ruyter was never seen in a carriage; but was observed, on returning from a naval victory, to carry his own portmanteau from the vessel to his house.

Notwithstanding all this moderation, the affai republic were not prosperously conducted: becaus appointments to public offices, more regard was pa families than to the qualifications of the candidat military spirit was lost in the pursuits of comm nothing remained of the ancient victories but the membrance of them; by which Holland was so that she ventured to offend even Lewis the Fourte

THE Commonwealth of England, after the exe the king, displayed a preternatural vigour, like th efforts in the paroxysm of a fever. Cromwell, who had overturned the and who, under the title of protector, reigned with power than a king, vanquished Holla compelled the Dutch vessels to stri flags to those of England: the northern courts his power, and the republics of Switzerland and sought his friendship; Cardinal Mazarin ackno him, and did not venture, even after his death, respect to the exiled son of the unfortunate king. the island of Jamaica from the Spaniards: the s Morocco treated him with reverence; and the ral nasseh Ben Israel, pleaded before him the caus people. Cromwell, who before his fortieth year was distinguished in the crowd of the country gentleme the English nation excellent laws, obtained for it fame, and tranquillity, and became the equal and th of the greatest potentates.

The peaceable disposition of Richard Cromwell equal to the conduct of great affairs, quickly laid down the protectorate. I was forming schemes for getting possession of the

power, when general Monk declared against him. Thomas Fairfax, the old champion in the cause of liberty, who had always endeavoured to promote the freedom of his country, regardless of his private interests, perceived the design of Lambert, and rose up against him, seconded by all the strength of Yorkshire. As soon as the name of Fairfax was heard again in the field, a great part of the army hastened to his standard; and while the commission which had been nominated on the abdication of Richard Cromwell to protect the liberty of the people, were summoning the commons, Fairfax prevailed on Monk, who was either undecided or dilatory, to declare for the restoration of a regular constitution. Charles the Second, son of Charles the First, with his two brothers, the dukes of Gloucester and York, were invited by a deputation to leave the Hague and repair to England.

The parliament immediately acknowledged Charles the Second as the legitimate and hereditary sovereign of the realm. The administration of the government and the liberty of the people were regulated by new laws, designed to render the power of the throne and the influence of the nobility and of the people equiponderant in the constitution: the king was sufficiently powerful to be formidable to the enemies of the state, though not to his own subjects; and consistency and moderation pervaded every department of the state. The person of the king was declared inviolable, because a principal member of the constitution would otherwise have been deprived of freedom. It was also declared, that no law should be enacted without the express consent of all the three estates; that no law could exist without the concurrence of parliament, nor any parliament without the king. The lords were also reinstated in their former privilege, as hereditary members of the upper house.

The right of petition was confirmed to the people, but with limitations which were intended to prevent it from being exercised in an imperative or tumultuary manner.

Every private person is secured by the act of Corpus from being imprisoned, either by the his ministers, or in any other manner than by the of a jury of his peers. The judges were rendered dependent of the executive power; and all privilege from feudal claims, or from the practice of the star-c abolished: in compensation for the former of wh king was presented with the customs, a tax upon w fifteen pence upon every cask of beer. The exc thus rendered perpetual; a tax which is consid many authors as the most reasonable of all, but v the most obnoxious to the people, from the ma which it is levied, the number of persons employ collection, the vexations attendant on the right of and especially because the legal actions arising operation are not determined by a jury: the latter posed to be capable of deciding according to the common law of the land; and the excise is of more origin than the common law.

The military department remained entirely un controul of the king: but it was enacted, that a n a certain force should be balloted in each distric third year, and exercised in arms.

One of the most important points was the confi of the act of navigation, passed by Cromwell. T tector was induced by dislike of the sugar colonies were chiefly of the royalist party, and the parlian jealousy of the Dutch, to pass a law by which all ships were forbidden to trade with any of the Britis tations and colonies; or to convey to England its other commodities than such as were the products country to which the vessel belongs: it was also that the third part, at least, of the ship's company, English subjects. This law created the naval pow bulwark of England, and gave rise to that accurate ledge of the ocean and that extensive commer

school of naval skill, which are at the same time the cause and the result of national industry, the great pursuit and the vital support of the English people. It was a thunderstroke to the northern powers and to Holland. But at length the Danes obtained by treaty permission to convey to England any of the productions which come to them down the Elbe; the Swedes, those of the sea-coast; and the Dutch, all such as pass through their hands in the way of com

mission.

The colonies arose to importance together with the fleet. Virginia acquired fresh life by the number of emigrants. New York and the neighbouring islands were taken from the Dutch. A number of puritans who fled from persecution, and disdained to remain any longer in their native country since they had lost the ascendancy in her government, who were rigid in their private manners and intolerant towards opinions different from their own; the virtuous William Penn, who was disgusted with the wars and corruptions of Europe and anxious to provide an asylum for innocence; the restless Shaftesbury, who had perplexed the affairs of his own country by his ambition; together with Lord Baltimore and many other noblemen, impelled by the desire of riches, fame, or adventures, and discontented with the king, the nation, Europe, and themselves, betook themselves to North America, in order to live among Englishmen and according to English manners, out of England. Thus the gates of the new world were opened to the citizens of oppressed nations, who were intolerant of restraint. The spirit of the independents, as displayed in the earliest laws of Connecticut, showed what a character the colonies were likely to assume in future times. According to this code, all kings are the enemies of God and of human nature; and every citizen was obliged to take an oath, that he would never acknowledge a prince, or contribute to maintain a parson or a priest.

Great Britain and Ireland flourished under the dominion