one deputy or several. The nobles represented not only their own order,
but were supposed to act also in behalf of the rural population. On the
whole, there was a tolerably fair representation of the whole nation.
The people were well and worthily represented in the government of each
city, and therefore equally so in the assembly of the estates. It was
not till later that the corporations, by the extinction of the popular
element, and by the usurpation of the right of self-election, were
thoroughly stiffened into fictitious personages which never died, and
which were never thoroughly alive.

At this epoch the provincial liberties, so far as they could maintain
themselves against Spanish despotism, were practical and substantial.
The government was a representative one, in which all those who had the
inclination possessed, in one mode or another, a voice. Although the
various members of the confederacy were locally and practically republics
or self-governed little commonwealths, the general government which they,
established was, in form, monarchical. The powers conferred upon Orange
constituted him a sovereign ad interim, for while the authority of the
Spanish monarch remained suspended, the Prince was invested, not only
with the whole executive and appointing power, but even with a very large
share in the legislative functions of the state.

The whole system was rather practical than theoretical, without any
accurate distribution of political powers. In living, energetic
communities, where the blood of the body politic circulates swiftly,
there is an inevitable tendency of the different organs to sympathize
and commingle more closely than a priori philosophy would allow.
It is usually more desirable than practicable to keep the executive,
legislative, and judicial departments entirely independent of
each other.