382 POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS. 



possible, and eventually becoming maritime and commerciol, 

 these people, in course of time, rendered their land more 

 habitable by damming out the sea ; and they long enjoyed a 

 partial if not complete independence. In the third century, 

 &quot;the low countries contained the only free people of the 

 German race.&quot; Especially the Frisians, more remote than 

 the rest from invaders, &quot; associated themselves with the tribes 

 settled on the limits of the German Ocean, and formed with 

 them a connexion celebrated under the title of the Saxon 

 League. &quot; Though at a later time, the inhabitants of the low 

 countries fell under Frankish invaders ; yet the nature of 

 their habitat continued to give them such advantages in 

 resisting foreign control, that they organized themselves after 

 their own fashion notwithstanding interdicts. &quot; From the 

 time of Charlemagne, the people of the ancient Menapia, now 

 become a prosperous commonwealth, formed political associa 

 tions to raise a barrier against the despotic violence of the 

 Franks,&quot; Meanwhile the Frisians, who, after centuries of 

 resistance to the Franks, were obliged to yield and render 

 small tributary services, retained their internal autonomy. 

 They formed &quot;a confederation of rude but self-governed 

 maritime provinces : &quot; each of these seven provinces being 

 divided into districts severally governed by elective heads 

 with their councils, and the whole being under a general 

 elective head and a general council. 



Of illustrations which modern times have furnished, must 

 be named those which again show us the effects of a moun 

 tainous region. The most notable is, of course, that of 

 Switzerland. Surrounded by forests, &quot;among marshes, and 

 rocks, and glaciers, tribes of scattered shepherds had, from the 

 early times of the Roman conquest, found a land of refuge 

 from the successive invaders of the rest of Helvetia.&quot; In the 

 labyrinths of the Alps, accessible to those only who knew the 

 ways to them, their cattle fed unseen ; and against straggling 

 bands of marauders who might discover their retreats, they 

 had great facilities for defence. These districts which 



