Gazette Of The United States

DISCOURSES ON DAVILA.
No. XXI.

My soul aches,
To know, when two authorities are up,
Neither supreme, how soon confusion
May enter 'twixt the gap of both, and take
The one by the other.
SHAKESPEARE.

When the King is of age, and assists at the
States General, the deputies had the power
to consent to his demands; to propose what
they judge necessary for the good of the different
orders of the state; to make their submissions
in the name of the people to new imposts; to
establish and accept of new laws, and new regulations;
but when the minority of the Prince,
or some other incapacity hinders him to govern
by himself, the states have a right in case of contestations,
to elect the regent of the kingdom, to
nominate to the principal offices, to form a council,
and, if the masculine posterity have failed in
the royal family, they may elect a new Monarch,
following however, the dispositions of the Salique
law. Excepting these cases of necessity, the
Kings were accustomed to assemble the States General,
in urgent conjunctures, and to determine,
according to their advice, in affairs of most importance.
"In effect?" says Davila, "what
energy may not the resolutions of the Prince derive,
from the concurrence of his subjects? What
can be more conformable to the true spirit of
monarchical government, than this harmony between
the sovereign and the people?" In truth,
Davila, tho thou art a profound Historian, thou
art but a superficial Legislator. History answers
the question, that no energy at all, nor any thing
but division, distraction and extravagance were
derived to the resolutions of the Prince, till the
states were laid aside. In the language of my
motto, two authorities were up, neither supreme,
and confusion entered 'twixt the gap. Nothing
can be more directly repugnant to monarchical
government than such assemblies, because they
set up rivals to the King, and excite doubts and
questions, in whom the sovereignty resides. If a
negative is given by them, to the will of the Prince,
they become a part of the sovereignty, annihilate
the Monarchy and convert it into a Republic.
If they are mere councils of advice, they become
scenes of cabal, for aspiring grandees to force
themselves into the ministry.—Never indeed was
it more necessary to new model the government,
and regenerate the nation, than in the present
conjuncture, when the rivalries of the grandees,
and the differences in religion, disturbed the
whole kingdom, and demanded the prompteft remedies.

Upon the reiterated orders of the court, the
deputies of the Provinces, had resorted to Orleans,
from the beginning of October 1560, and
the King having arrived in person, accompanied
by the most of the Lords and great officers of the
crown, they waited only for the discontented
Lords and Princes, to open the Assembly. The
Constable and his sons, were, as usual, at Chantilly.
The King of Navarre and the Prince of
Conde, were still at Bearn. The King had written
to them all, to invite them to the States; and
altho they had not explicitly refused, they invented
pretexts upon pretexts, to excuse themselves,
and gain time. These affected delays distressed
the King and the ministry. They apprehended,
with reason, that the refusal of the Princes
of the blood, arising from their own suspicions,
or upon some certain information of what was intended
against them, would defeat all the projects
and preparations, founded only on the hope
that they would assist at the States General. The
Prince of Condé, could not be in doubt that they
had drawn, either from the prisoners of Amboise,
or from La Sague, or from the conspirators at arrested
at Lyons, evidence sufficient to discover his
designs. No motive, therefore, could determine
him to place himself a second time, at the discretion
of a court where his enemies were all powerful.
The King of Navarre thought differently.
Less culpable, or more credulous than his brother,
he believed, that by going to the States,
they should obtain, without difficulty, that reform
in the government, which had already cost
them so much labor; whereas, by refusing to be
present, they would betray their own interests,
and leave the field open to the ambition and violence
of the Princes of Lorrain. He could not
believe, that under the eyes of the whole nation
assembled, a King scarcely out of his infancy, an
Italian Princes, and two strangers, would dare
to imbrue their hands in the blood of the Princes
of the royal house, which the Monarchs the most
absolute and the most vindictive, had ever regarded
as sacred. All these motives determined
him to venture to the States, with the Prince. to
whom he represented, that they would infallibly
condemn him unheard, if he continued obstinately
to absent himself from court: whereas, by appearing
there, and gaining to his interests the
deputies in the States, there was every reason to
hope, that if, on judging him with rigor, they
should blame his proceedings, the equity of his
pretensions, would afford him a favourable colour,
and in the last extremity, his birth would
obtain him a pardon. All the confidants and
partizans of the Princes, supported this advice,
except the wife and mother-in-law of the Prince
of Conde, who constantly rejected it, and judged
that his life was aimed at, and that of all the
courses he could take, that which was recommended
to him was the most dangerous.

(To be continued.)