A Republic which not only established its own independent existence as one of the nations of Europe, but humbled forever the pride and power of Spain then one of the greatest of those nations. A Republic which founded in the New World a system of government, the principles of which to-day form

1 Maasilorp's Introduction to his translation of Grotius" treatise on I)iitcU Jurisprudence, p. iv.

the [basis, upon which rests the constitution of that greater Republic which under the name of the United States of America dominates the Western Hemisphere.

The Republic of the Netherlands was a small country, in area but a trifle larger than Wales, but its population of about two millions in 1609, of Teutonic origin, was dense, reliant, and self-supporting. Each of the seven provinces into which it was divided contained a number of cities and large towns, each governed by a Board of Managers styled a ' Vroedschap.' These Boards of Managers were self-electing close corporations, the members of which were appointed for life from the general body of the citizens. Whenever vacancies occurred these Boards either filled them by a direct election of new members, or by making a double or triple nomination of names, and submitting them to the Stadtholder, or Governor, of the province, who selected one to fill the vacancy. This Stadtholder was, originally, the representative of the Count, or the Sovereign, but at the period of which we are treating, he was elected by a body called the " States-Provincial" of each Province, which consisted of deputies elected by the Boards of Managers and Nobles of the Province. These " States Provincial" managed all the affairs of each Province for itself, the Provinces in their domestic concerns being entirely independent of each other. They were the representative assemblies of the numerous Municipalities and Nobles of which each Province was composed.