PROM THE SPANISH MONARCHY. 21$ 



project. An exemption was therefore ordered in be- 

 half of foreigners, and the name of inquifitors was 

 changed for the milder appellation of fpiritual judges. 

 But in the other provinces this horrid tribunal conti- 

 nued to rage with that inhuman defpotifm which is pe- 

 culiar to it. It is affirmed that, during the reign of 

 Charles the fifth, no lefs than a hundred thoufand per- 

 fons fell by the hands of the executioner on account of 

 religion alone. 



When we turn our view to the violent procedures of 

 this monarch, it is difficult to conceive what it was 

 that kept that rebellion under during his reign, which 

 broke out fo furioufly in that of his fucceffor. A 

 nearer examination will folve this myftery. The for- 

 midable fuperiority of Charles in Europe had railed 

 the trade of the Netherlands to a pitch of greatnefs it 

 had never been at before. The majefty of his name 

 opened every harbour to their vefTels, cleared every 

 fea to them, and enabled them to make the moll fa- 

 vourable treaties with foreign powers. By this they 

 overthrew the fovereignty of the Hanfa in the Baltic, 

 He, farther, united the remaining fix provinces to the 

 burgundian inheritance, and gave that Hate an extent, 

 a political confequence which let it on a par with the 

 firft monarchies of Europe. By this means he flattered 

 their national pride. When once Gueldres, Utrecht, 

 Friefland, and Groningen were incorporated with his 

 dominion, an effectual ftop was put to all the private 

 wars among the provinces, which had fo long diilurbed 

 their commerce : an uninterrupted internal peace al- 

 lowed them to reap all the fruits of their induftry. 

 Accordingly^ Charles was really the benefactor of thefc 



p 4 people. 



