There are four councils: 1. The doge and ſix ſignoria. 2. The conſiglio grande, in which all the nobles have ſeats and voices. 3. Conſiglio de pregadi, of 250, and is the ſoul of the republic. 4. Conſiglio proprio delli dieci—and the ſtate inquiſitors.
THE REPUBLIC OF THE UNITED PRO-
VINCES OF THE LOW COUNTRIES.
Here were a Stadtholder, an aſſembly of the States General, a council of ſtate: the Stadtholder hereditary had the command of armies and navies, and appointment of all officers, &c.
Every province had an aſſembly beſides, and every city, burgomaſters, counſellors, and ſchepens or judges, beſides an hooft officer, and his dienders, for the police.
The hiſtory of this country, and its complicated conſtitutions, affords an inexhauſtible ſtore of materials to our purpoſe, but, conſidering the critical ſituation of it, prudence dictates to paſs it over: with all the ſagacity, and more wiſdom than Venice or Berne, it has always had more conſideration of the people than either, and has given more authority to the firſt magiſtrate: they have never had any excluſive preferences of families or nobles. Offices have, by law at leaſt, been open to all men of merit.
