[012]
The year after his publication of his "Treatise on the Freedom of the
Sea," Grotius printed his work on the "_Antiquity of the Batavian
Republic_." He gives in it an account of the antient _Batavians;_ he
professes to shew that they were the allies, not the subjects of the
Romans; that, after a period of anarchy, during which little is known of
their history, they became subjects of the Counts of Holland; that these
were not vassals of the empire, but independent princes; and, strictly
speaking, elected by the people, although, in the election of them,
great regard was always shewn to the hereditary line: that they were
bound to conform to the laws of the state; and always required, before
their election, to swear to the observance of the constitution; that the
taxes were always imposed by the States, and that Philip the Second had
occasioned the grand war, by repeated infractions of the public and
private right of the people of the United Provinces.
[Sidenote: The early Publications of Grotius.
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