Cambrai, the
Cambresis, and the County of Burgundy, though a separate territory, were
considered to be appendages, but not part of them.
V. 3.
_Brief View of the History of the Netherlands, till the acknowledgement
of the Independence of the Seven United Provinces by the Spanish
Monarch._
The laws, the customs, and the government of all these provinces were
nearly alike: each had its representative assembly of the three orders,
of the clergy, nobility, and burghers: each had its courts of justice;
and an appeal from the superior tribunal of each lay to the supreme
court at Mechlin.
Public and fiscal concerns of moment fell under the cognizance of the
sovereign. The people enjoyed numerous and considerable privileges: the
most important of them was the _Droit de Joyeuse entree_, the right of
not being taxed without the consent of the three estates. Commerce,
agriculture, and the arts, particularly music and painting, flourished
among them. The people were honest, frugal, regular and just in their
general habits; more steady than active; not easily roused; but, when
once roused, not easily appeased.
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