20§ DEFECTION OF THE NETHERLANDS 



which they had never approved* tie puniftied the de- 

 linquencies of a free Irate, like an abfolute monarch ; 

 and the terrible chaftifemeiit of Ghent, loudly declaied 

 to them the great alteration their confutation had 'al- 

 ready undergone. Some hiftorians even charge hiiri 

 with having attempted to purloin the fundamental 

 charters and archives of the provinces from the monaf- 

 teries where they were depofited — a mean and daftardiy 

 act for fo great a prince to commit, but which how- 

 ever jfhews that he was {till awed by thefe charters ! 



The weal of the country was fo far fecured as it was 

 necefTary to the political projects of its lord ; and he 

 was too wife to injure the health of the body whofe lit- 

 moft exertions he was always in want of. Happily the 

 moll: oppofite fc hemes of ambition and the moft diftn- 

 terefted philanthropy are often in agreement together ; 

 and the civil welfare which a Marcus Aurelius propofed 

 for his object, is eventually promoted by an Auguftus 

 or a Lewis, The territory of a fenfible defpot fre- 

 quently wears the fmiling outiide of a happy country 

 for which a philofopher has made a code of laws, and 

 this deceitful appearance may eaiily miflead the judge- 

 ment of the hiftorian* But, on removing the fallacious 

 exterior, a fecond view will inform him, how little the 

 welfare of the individual is concerned in the glory of 

 the ftate, and how widely different a flourifhing empire 

 may be from a happy one. Charles the fifth was per- 

 fectly well acquainted that commerce was the ftrength 

 of the nation, and liberty the groundwork of its com- 

 merce. He fpared its liberty, becaufe he was in need 

 of its ftrength. More politic, though not more equi- 

 table than his fon, he made his maxims fubfervient to 



the 



