not for their leader, but for themselves; and being free in their own country, renounced not their liberty when theyacquired newsettlements. They did not exterminate the ancient inhabitants of the countries which they had subdued, but seizing the greater part of their lands, they took their persons under protection. And the difficulty of maintaining a new conquest, as well as the danger of being attacked by new invaders, rendering it necessary to be always in a posture of defence, the form of government which they established, was altogether military, and nearly resembling that to which they had been accustomed in their native country. Their general still continuing to be the head of the colony, part of the conquered lands were allotted to him ; the remainder, under the name of beneficia or fiefs, was divided amongst his principal officers. As the common safety required that these officers should, upon all occasions, be ready to appear in arms, for the common defence, and should continue obedient to their general, they bound themselves to take the field, when called, and to serve him with a number of men in proportion to the extent of their territory. These great officers again parcelled out their lands among their followers, and annexed the same condition to the grant. A feudal kingdom was properly the encampment of a great army; military ideas predominated, military subordination established, and the possession of land was the pay which soldiers received for their personal service. In consequence of these notions, the possession of land was granted during pleasure only, and Kings were elective. In other words, an officer disagreeable to his general was deprived of his

pay, and the person who was most capable of conducting an army, was chosen to command it. Such were the first rumiments, or infancy, of feudal government.

But long before the beginning of the 14th century, the feudal system had undergone many changes, of which the following were most considerable. Kings formerly elective, were then hereditary; and fiefs granted at first during pleasure,, descended from father to son,and were become perpetual. These changes, not less advantageous to the nobles than to the prince, made no alteration in the aristocratical spirit of the feudal constitution. The King, who at a distance seemed to be invested with majesty and power, appears, at a nearer view, to possess none of those advantages, which bestow on monarchs their, grandeur and authority. His revenues were seanty; he had not a standing army; and he enjoyed no proper jurisdiction.

At a time when pomp and splendor were unknown, even in the palaces of Kings; when the officers of the crown received little salary besides the fees and perquisites of their office; when embassies to foreign courts were rare; when armies were composed of soldiers who served without pay; it was not necessary that a King should possess a great revenue; nor did the condition of Europe, in those ages, allow its princes to be opulent. Commerce made little progress in the kingdoms, where the feudal government was established. Institu tions, which had no other object but to inspire a martial spirit, to train men to be soldiers, and to make arms the only honourable profession,naturally discouraged the commercial arts.

The revenues, arising

arising from the taxes imposed on the several branches of commerce, were by consequence inconsiderable, and the prince's treasury received little supply from a source, which, among a trading people, flows with such abundance, and is almost inexhaustible. A fixed tax was not levied even on land; such a burthen then would have appeared intolerable to men who received their estates as the reward of their valour, and who considered their service in the field as a full retribution for what they possessed. The King's demesnes, or the portion of land which he still retained in his own hands unalienated,furnished subsistence to his court, and defrayed the ordinary expences of government*. The only stated taxes which the feudal law obliged vassals to pay to the King, or to those of whom they held their lands, were three; one when his eldest son was made a Knight; another when his eldest daughter was married; and a third to ransom him if he should happen to be taken prisoner. Besides these the King received the feudal casualties of the ward, marriage, &c. of his own vassals. And, on some extraordinary occasions, his subjects granted him an aid, which they distinguished by the name of a benevolence, in order to declare that he received it not in consequence of any right, but as a gift, flowing from their good will. All these added together, produced a revenue, scanty and precarious, which far from enabling the King to attempt any thing that could excite the jealousy or fear of the nobles,

* Craig, de Feud, lib. i... Deig. 14., + Du Cange voc. Auxilium..

kept him in continual indigence, anxiety, and dependence.

Nor could the King supply the defect of his revenues, by the ter ror of his arms. Mercenary troops and standing armies were unknown as long as the feudal government subsisted in vigour. Europe was peopled with soldiers. The vassals of the King, and the sub-vassals of the barons, were all obliged to carry arms. And while the poverty of princes prevented them from for tifying their frontier towns, while a campaign continued but a few weeks, and while a fierce and impetuous courage was impatient to bring every quarrel to the decision of a battle, an army, without pay, and with little discipline, was suffi'cient for all the purposes both of the security and of the glory of a nation. Such an army, however, far from being an engine at the King's disposal, was often no less formidable to him, than to his enemies. The more warlike any people were, the more independent they became; and the same persons being both soldiers and subjects, civil privileges and immunities were the consequences of their victories, and the reward of their martial exploits. Conquerors, whom mercenary armies, under forms of government, often render the tyrants of their own people, as well as the scourges of mankind, were commonly,under the feudal constitution, the most indulgent of all princes to their subjects, because they stood

most in need of their assistance. A prince whom even war and victory did not render the master of

Du Cange Gloss, voc. Dominicum.

his

others into regalities. The jurisdiction of the former was extensive, that of the latter, as the name implies, royal, and almost unbounded. All causes, whether civil or criminal, were tried by judges, whom the lord of the regality appointed; and if the King's courts called any person within his territory before them, the lord of the regality might put a stop to their proceedings, and by the privilege of repleadings, remove the cause to his own court, and even punish his vassal, if he submitted to a foreign jurisdictiont. Thus almost every question, in which any person, who resided on the lands of the nobles, was inte

rested, being determined by judges appointed by the nobles themselves, their vassals were scarce sensible of being, in any degree, subject to the crown. A feudal kingdom was split into many small principalities, almost independent, and held together by a feeble and commonly an imperceptible bond of union. And the King was not only stripped of the authority annexed to the person of a supreme judge, but his revenue suffered no small diminution, by the loss of those pecuniary emoluments, which were, in that age, due to the person who administered justice."

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