CONSULTATIVE BODIES. 399 



too, up to the beginning of the sixteenth century, &quot;lea 

 eisgneurs, a cheval et armes de pied en cap comme pour aller 

 en guerre, se reunissaient dans le champ de courses de Rakes, 

 pres de Pesth, et la discutaient en plain air les affaires pub- 

 liques.&quot; Again, &quot;the supreme political council is the nation 

 in arms,&quot; says Stubbs of the primitive Germans ; and though, 

 during the Merovingian period, the popular power declined, 

 yet &quot; under Chlodovech and his immediate successors, the 

 People assembled in arms had a real participation in the 

 resolutions of the king.&quot; Even now the custom of going 

 weapon in hand, is maintained where the primitive political 

 form remains. &quot; To the present day,&quot; writes M. de Laveleye, 

 &quot;the inhabitants of the outer Rhodes of Appenzell come to 

 the general assembly, one year at Hundwyl and the other at 

 Trogen, each carrying in his hand an old sword or ancient 

 rapier of the middle ages.&quot; Mr. Freeman, too, was witness 

 to a like annual gathering in Uri, where those who joined to 

 elect their chief magistrate, and to deliberate, came armed. 



It may, indeed, be alleged that in early unsettled times, 

 the carrying of weapons by each freeman w r as needful for 

 personal safety ; especially when a place of meeting far from 

 his home had to be reached. But there is evidence that 

 though this continued to be a cause for going prepared for 

 fight, it was not by itself a sufficient cause. While we read 

 of the ancient Scandinavians that &quot;all freemen capable of 

 bearing arms were admitted&quot; to the national assembly, and 

 that after his election from &quot; among the descendants of the 

 sacred stock,&quot; &quot; the new sovereign was elevated amidst the 

 clash of arms and the shouts of the multitude ;&quot; we also read 

 that &quot; nobody, not even the king or his champions, were 

 allowed to come armed to the assizes.&quot; 



Even apart from such evidence, there is ample reason to 

 infer that the council of war originated the consultative body, 

 and gave outlines to its structure. Defence against enemies 

 was everywhere the need which first prompted joint deli 

 beration. For other purposes individual action, or action in 

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