William Temple

“ The Burgomasters are chosen by most voices of all those Persons in the Senate, who have been either Burgomasters or Eschevins; and their Authority resembles that of the Lord Mayor and Aldermen in our Cities. They represent the Dignity of the Government, and do the Honour of the City upon all occasions: They dispose of all Under-Offices that fall in their time; and issue out all Monies out of the common Stock or Treasure, judging alone what is necessary for the Safety, Convenience, or Dignity of the City. ”

“ By this means it comes to pass, that, though perhaps the Nation generally be not wise, yet the Government is, Because it is composed of the wisest of the Nation; which may give it an advantage over many others, where Ability is of more common growth, but of less use to the Publique; if it happens, that neither Wisdom nor Honesty are the Qualities, which bring men to the management of State-Affairs, as they usually do in this Common-wealth. ”

“ When the Deputies of the States agree in Opinion, they send some of their number to their respective Towns, proposing the Affair and the Reasons alledged, and desiring Orders from them to conclude; Which seldom fails, if the necessity or utility be evident: If it be more intricate, or suffers delay, The States adjourn for such a time, as admits the return of all the Deputies to their Towns; where their influence and interest, and the impressions of the Debates in their Provincial Assemblies, make the consent of the Cities easier gain'd. ”

“ The Salary of a Burgomaster of Amsterdam, is but Five hundred Gilders a year, though there are Offices worth Five thousand in their disposal; But yet none of them known to have taken Money upon such occasions, which would lose all their Credit in the Town, and thereby their Fortunes by any Publick Employments. They are obliged to no sort of expence, more than ordinary modest Citizens, in their Habits, their Attendance, their Tables, or any part of their own Domestick. They are upon all Publick Occasions waited on by Men in Salary from the Town ”

“ All which could never be atchieved without a Charge much exceeding what seems proportioned to the Revenue of one single Town.
The Senate chuses the Deputies, which are sent from this City to the States of Holland [2] ; The Soveraignty whereof is represented by Deputies of the Nobles and Towns, composing Nineteen Voices; Of which the Nobles have only the first, and the Cities eighteen, according to the number of those which are called Stemms; The other Cities and Towns of the Province having no voice in the States. ”

“ For as the States-General cannot make War or Peace, or any new Alliance, or Levies of Money, without the consent of every Province; so cannot the States-Provincial conclude of any of those points, without the consent of each of the Cities, that, by their Constitution, has a Voice in that Assembly. And though in many Civil Causes there lies an Appeal from the Common Judicature of the Cities, to the Provincial Courts of Justice; yet in Criminal, there lies none at all ”

“ The Eschevins are the Court of Justice in every Town. They are at Amsterdam nine in Number; of which Seven are chosen Annually; but two of the preceding year continue in Office. A double number is named by the Senate, out of which the Burgomasters now chuse, as the Prince of Orange did in the former Constitution. They are Soveraign Judges in all Criminal Causes. In Civil, after a certain value, there lies Appeal to the Court of Justice of the Province. But they pass sentence of Death upon no Man, without first advising with the Burgomasters ”

“ Whilst no Man is exempted from the danger and current of Laws; Whilst Soldiers are confin'd to Frontier-Garisons, (the Guard of Inland, or Trading, Towns being left to the Burghers themselves;) And whilst no great Riches are seen to enter by Publique Payments into private Purses, either to raise Families, or to feed the prodigal Expences of vain, extravagant, and luxurious Men; But all Publique Monies are applied to the Safety, Greatness, or Honour of the State, and the Magistrates themselves bear an equal share in all the Burthens, they impose. ”

“ But the Burgomasters only having the inspection of this Bank, and no Man ever taking any particular account of what issues in and out, from Age to Age, 'tis impossible to make any calculation, or guess what proportion the real Treasure may hold to the Credit of it. Therefore the security of the Bank lies not only in the effects that are in it, but in the Credit of the whole Town or State of Amsterdam, whose Stock and Revenue is equal to that of some Kingdoms; and who are bound to make good all Moneys that are brought into their Bank ”

“ But Monies are Levied by Arbitrary Resolutions, and Proportions, according to what appears convenient or necessary upon the change or emergency of occasions. These Senators are for their lives, and the Senate was anciently chosen by the Voices of the richer Burghers, or Freemen of the City, who upon the death of a Senator met together, either in a Church, a Market, or some other place spacious enough to receive their numbers; and there made an election of the person to succeed, by the majority of Voices. ”

“ This makes duller Men more constant and steddy, and quicker Men more inconstant and uncertain: whereas the greatest ability in business seems to be the steddy persuit of some one thing, till there is an end of it, with perpetual application and endeavour not to be diverted by every representation of new hopes or fears of difficulty, or danger, or of some better design. ”

“ Gelderland sends Two, Holland Three, Zealand and Utrecht Two apiece, Friezeland, Overyssel and Groninghen, each of them One, making in all Twelve. They Vote not by Provinces, but by Personal Voices; and every Deputy presides by turns. In this Council the Governour of the Provinces has Session, and a decisive voice; And the Treasurer-General, Session, but a voice only deliberative; yet he has much credit here, being for life; and so is the person deputed to this Council from the Nobles of Holland, and the Deputies of the Province of Zealand. ”

“ Though they have all together but one voice equal to the smallest Town; yet they are very considerable in the Government, by possessing many of the best Charges both Civil and Military, by having the direction of all the Ecclesiastical Revenue that was seized by the State upon the change of Religion; and by sending their Deputies to all the Councils both of the Generalty and the Province, and by the nomination of one Counsellor in the two great Courts of Justice. They give their Voice first in the Assembly of the States, and thereby a great weight to the business in consultation. ”

“ But in the Assemblies and Debates of their Senates, every Man's Abilities are discovered, as their Dispositions are, in the conduct of their Lives and Domestick, among their fellow-Citizens. The observation of these either raises, or suppresses, the credit of particular Men, both among the People, and the Senates of their Towns ”

“ And, besides this Trust, they have the absolute disposition of the ancient Demesn of Holland, without giving any account to the States of the Province. Only at times, either upon usual intervals, or upon a necessity of Money, the States call upon them for a Subsidy of Two or Three Hundred Thousand Crowns, or more, as they are prest, or conceive the Chamber to be grown rich, beyond what is proportioned to the general design of encreasing the ease and fortunes of those Persons who compose it. ”

“ And I have heard it affirmed, That what is paid of all kinds to Publick Uses of the States-General, the Province, and the City in Amsterdam, amounts to above Sixteen hundred thousand pounds Sterling a year. But I enter into no Computations, nor give these for any thing more, than what I have heard from Men who pretended to make such Enquiries, which, I confess, I did not. 'Tis certain, that, in no Town, Strength, Beauty, and Convenience, are better provided for, nor with more unlimited Expence, than in this, by the Magnificence of their Publick Buildings, as Stadthouse and Arsenals ”

“ The Council of State disposes of all sums of Money destin'd for all extraordinary Affairs, and expedites the Orders for the whole expence of the State, upon the Resolutions first taken, in the main, by the States-General. The Orders must be Signed by Three Deputies of several Provinces, as well as by the Treasurer-General, and then Registred in the Chamber of Accounts, before the Receiver-General pays them, which is then done without any difficulty, charge, or delay.
Every Province raises what Monies it pleases, and by what ways or means ”

“ It may be said further, that the heat of the Heart commonly goes along with that of the Brain; so that Passions are warmer, where Imaginations are quicker: And there are few Men, (unless in case of some evident natural defect) but have sense enough to distinguish in gross between right and wrong, between Good and Bad, when represented to them ”

“ Which makes the Government a sort of Oligarchy, and very different from a popular Government, as it is generally esteemed by those, who, passing or living in these Countries, content themselves with common Observations, or Inquiries. And this resolution of the Burghers, either was agreed upon, or followed by general Consent or Example, about the same time, in all the Towns of the Province, though with some difference in number of their Senators. ”

“ The Members of all these Councils are placed and changed by the several Provinces, according to their different or agreeing Customs. To the States-General every one sends their Deputies, in what number they please; some Two, some Ten or Twelve; Which makes no difference, because all matters are carried, not by the Votes of Persons, but of Provinces; and all the Deputies from one Province, how few or many soever, have one single Vote. The Provinces differ likewise in the time fixed for their Deputation; some sending for a Year, some for more, and others for life. ”

“ The States of Holland dispose of these charges to Men grown aged in their service, and who have passed through most of the Employments of State, with the esteem of Prudence and Integrity; and such persons find here an honourable and profitable retreat. ”

“ At other times, they appear in all places with the simplicity and modesty of other private Citizens. When the Burgomaster's Office expires, they are of course disposed into the other Charges or Employments of the Town, which are very many and beneficial; unless they lose their Credit with the Senate, by any want of Diligence or Fidelity in the discharge of their Office, which seldom arrives. ”

“ For the First proceeds from heat of the brain, which makes the Spirits more airy and volatile, and thereby the motions of Thought lighter and quicker, and the range of Imagination much greater than in cold Heads, where the Spirits are more earthy and chill ”

“ So as this Bank is properly a general Cash, where every Man lodges his Money, because he esteems it safer, and easier paid in and out, than if it were in his Coffers at home: And the Bank is so far from paying any Interest for what is there brought in, that Money in the Bank is worth something more in common Payments, than what runs current in Coyn from Hand to Hand ”

“ One has thinness of edg, and fineness of metal and temper, but is easily turn'd by any substance that is hard, and resists. T'other has toughness and weight, which makes it cut thorough, or go deep, wherever it falls ”

“ When the States are convoked, every Bailly assembles together all the persons of what quality soever, who possess a certain quantity of Land within his district, and these Men, by most voices, name the Two Deputies which each Baillage sends to the Assembly of the States. ”

“ Nor any Person to represent the Port and Dignity of a Soveraign State; Both which could not fail of being sensibly missed by the People; since no Man in particular can be secure of offending, or would therefore absolutely despair of impunity himself, though he would have others do so ”

“ The Tickets or Bills hereof make all the usual great Payments, that are made between Man and Man in the Town; and not only in most other places of the United Provinces, but in many other Trading-parts of the World. ”

“ Besides, though these People, who are naturally Cold and Heavy, may not be ingenious enough to furnish a pleasant or agreeable Conversation, yet they want not plain down-right Sense to understand and do their Business both publick and private, which is a Talent very different from the other ”