NOTE XVIII. SECT. I. p. 39.

[S].

THE Spanish historians are almost entirely silent concerning the origin and progress of communities in that kingdom; so that I cannot fix, with any degree of certainty, the time and manner of their first introduction there. It appears, however, from Mariana, vol. ii. p. 221. fol. Hagæ, 1756, that in the year 1350, eighteen cities had obtained a seat in the Cortes of Castile. From the account, which will be given of their constitution and pretensions, Seet. III. of this volume, it appears that their privileges and form of government were the same with those of the other feudal corporations; and this, as well as the perfect similarity of political institutions and transactions in all the feudal kingdoms, may lead us to conclude, that communities were introduced there in the same manner, and probably about the same time, as in the other nations of Europe. In Aragon, as I shall have occasion to observe in a subsequent Note, cities seem early to have acquired extensive immunities, together with a share in the legislature. In the year 1118, the citizens of Saragossa had not only attained political liberty, but they were declared to be of equal rank with the nobles of the second class; and many other immunities, unknown to persons in their rank of life in other parts of Europe, were conferred upon them. Zurita Annales de Aragon, tom. i. p. 44. In England, the establishment of communities or corporations was posterior to the Conquest. The

practice was borrowed from France, and the privileges granted by the crown were perfectly similar to those which I have enumerated. But as this part of history is well known to most of my readers, I shall, without entering into any critical or minute discussion, refer them to authors who have fully illustrated this interesting point in the English history. Brady's Treatise of Boroughs. Madox Firma Burgi, cap. i. sect. ix.

Hume's

It

A

History of England, vol. i. append. i. and ii. is not improbable that some of the towns in England were formed into corporations under the Saxon Kings, and that the charters granted by the Kings of the Norman race were not charters of enfranchisement from a state of slavery, but a confirmation of privileges which they already enjoyed. See Lord Lyttelton's History of Henry II. vol. ii. p. 317. The English cities, however, were very inconsiderable in the twelfth century. clear proof of this occurs in the history to which I last referred. Fitzstephen, a contemporary author, gives a description of the city of London in the reign of Henry II. and the terms in which he speaks of its trade, its wealth, and the splendour of its inhabitants, would suggest no inadequate idea of its state at present, when it is the greatest and most opulent city of Europe. But all ideas of grandeur and magnificence are merely comparative; and every description of them in general terms is very apt to deceive. It appears from Peter of Blois, archdeacon of London, who flourished in the same reign, and who had good opportunity of being well informed, that this city

of which Fitzstephen gives such a pompous ac+ count, contained no more than forty thousand inhabitants, Ibid. 315, 316. The other cities were small in proportion, and were not in a condition to extort any extensive privileges. That the constitution of the boroughs in Scotland, in many circumstances, resembled that of the towns in France and England, is manifest from the Leges Burgorum, annexed to the Regiam Majestatem.

NOTE XIX. SECT. I. p. 45, [T].

SOON after the introduction of the third estate into the national council, the spirit of liberty which that excited in France began to produce conspicuous effects. In several provinces of France the nobility and communities formed associations, whereby they bound themselves to defend their rights and privileges against the formidable and arbitrary proceedings of the King. The Count de Boulainvilliers has preserved a copy of one of these associations, dated in the year 1314, twelve years after the admission of the deputies from towns into the States General. Histoire de l'ancien Gouvernement de la France, tom. ii. p. 94. The vigour with which the people asserted and prepared to maintain their rights, obliged their sovereigns to respect them. Six years after this association, Philip the Long issued a writ of summons to the community of Narbonne, in the following terms: "Philip, by the grace, &c. to our well-beloved, &c. As we desire with all our heart, and above all other things, to govern our kingdom and

people in peace and tranquillity, by the help of God; and to reform our said kingdom in so far as it stands in need thereof, for the public good, and for the benefit of our subjects, who in times past have been aggrieved and oppressed in'diverse manners by the malice of sundry persons, as we have learned by common report, as well as by the information of good men worthy of credit, and we having determined in our council which we have called to meet in our good city, &c. to give redress to the utmost of our power, by all ways and means possible, according to reason and justice, and willing that this should be done with solemnity and deliberation by the advice of the prelates, barons, and good towns of our realm, and particularly of you, and that it should be transacted agreeably to the will of God, and for the good of our people, therefore we command," &c. Mably, Observat. ii. App. p. 386. I shall allow these to be only the formal words of a public and legal style; but the ideas are singular, and much more liberal and enlarged than one could expect in that age. A popular monarch of Great Britain could hardly address himself to parliament, in terms more favourable to public liberty. There occurs in the history of France a striking instance of the progress which the principles of liberty had made in that kingdom, and of the influence which the deputies of towns had acquired in the States General. During the calamities in which the war. with England, and the captivity of King John, had involved France, the States General made a bold effort to extend their own privileges and ju

risdiction. The regulations established by the States, held A. D. 1355, concerning the mode of levying taxes, the administration of which they vested not in the crown, but in commissioners appointed by the States; concerning the coining of money; concerning the redress of the grievance of purveyance; concerning the regular administration of justice; are much more suitable to the genius of a republican government than that of a feudal monarchy. This curious statute is published, Ordon. tom. iii. p. 19. Such as have not an opportunity to consult that large collection, will find an abridgment of it in Hist. de France par Villaret, tom. ix. p. 130. or in Histoire de Boulainy. tom. ii. 213. The French historians represent the bishop of Laon, and Marcel Provost of the merchants of Paris, who had the chief direction of this assembly, as seditious tribunes, violent, interested, ambitious, and aiming at innovations subversive of the constitution and government of their country. That may have been the case, but these men possessed the confidence of the people; and the measures which they propos ed as the most popular and acceptable, as well as most likely to increase their own influence, plainly prove that the spirit of liberty had spread wonderfully, and that the ideas which then prevailed in France concerning government were extremely liberal. The States General held at Paris A. D. 1355, consisted of about eight hundred members, and above one half of these were deputies from towns. M. Secousse Pref. a Ordon. tom. iii. p. 48. It appears that in all the different assemblies of