hat the hereditary title of overlord to each political unity
had lodged upon a head already dignified by a plurality of similar
titles, was a mere chance and viewed by the burghers in a wholly
different light from that in which this same overlord regarded it. The
fishers in Holland, the manufacturers in Brabant, the merchants in
Flanders, the vintners in Burgundy, cared nothing for being the wings
of an imperial idea. They wanted safe fishing grounds, unmolested
highways of commerce, vineyards free from the tramp of armies. And
with their desires fixed on these as needful, their attitude towards
the political centralisation planned by their common ruler, often
betrayed both ignorance and inconsistency. At various epochs some
degree of imperialism for the Netherland group had been quite to
popular taste. In Holland, Zealand and Hainaut, it had been conceded
that Jacqueline of Bavaria was less efficient to maintain desirable
conditions than her cousin of Burgundy, and the exchange of sovereigns
had been effected in spite of the manifest injustice involved in the
transaction. But while there was willingness to accept any advantages
that might accrue to a people from the reputation of a local overlord,
it was never forgotten for an instant that his relation to his
subjects was as their own count and strictly limited by conditions
that had long existed within each petty territory. While Charles
seemed to be on the straight road towards his goal, the people within
each body politic of his inherited states were profoundly preoccupied
with their own local concerns, and only alive to his schemes when they
feared demands upon their internal revenues for external purposes.

It does not seem probable, however, that the abstract question of the
projected kingdom was ever taken very seriously among those to be
directly affected by the proposed change. The bars interposed by his
own subjects in the duke's progress towards royalty were obstructions
to his successive steps rather than to his theory. Indeed, strenuous
opposition to details was allied to a vague and passive acceptance of
the whole. Moreover when the idea was phrased it was distinctly as
a revival, not as a novelty. The previous existence of a kingdom of
Burgundy was undoubtedly a potent factor in the degree of progress
made by Charles towards conjuring into new life a reincarnation of
that ancient realm. Yet it was a factor clothed with a shadow rather
than with the subst