Page:John Adams - A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America Vol. I. (1787).djvu/116

Every ſupply was accompanied with a liſt of grievances, and produced a diminution of the royal prerogative. The barons, at the head of their vaſſals, were bound to fight, and the king could require ſuch feudal ſervices in defence of the kingdom: but Caſſimir the third, to obtain pecuniary aids, gave up the power of ſummoning the nobles to his ſtandard, and of enacting any law without the concurrence of the diet. John Albert, to procure an election in preference to his elder brother, aſſented to all the immunities extorted from his predeceſſors, and ſwore to their obſervance, in 1469. Alexander, his ſucceſſor, declared in 1505, the following limitations of ſovereign authority to be fundamental laws of the kingdom. 1. The king cannot impoſe taxes. 2. He cannot require the feudal ſervices. 3. Nor alienate the royal domains. 4. Nor enact laws. 5. Nor coin money. 6. Nor alter the proceſs in the courts of juſtice. Sigiſmund the firſt, ſucceeded Alexander, and under his reign the Poliſh conſtitution was the moſt tolerable, as the property of the ſubject was beſt ſecured, and the crown had conſiderable influence: but this did not ſatisfy the nobles. Under Sigiſmund Auguſtus, ſon and ſucceſſor of Sigiſmund the firſt, that favourite object of the Polilh nobles, the free election of the king, was publicly brought forward, and the king obliged to agree, that no future monarch ſhould ſucceed to the throne, unleſs freely elected by the nation: before this, the ſovereigns upon their acceſſion, though formally raiſed by the conſent of the nation, ſtill reſted their pretenſions upon hereditary right, always ſtiling themſelves heirs of the kingdom of Poland. Sigiſmund Auguſtus was the laſt who bore that title; at his death, in 1572, all title to the crown

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