t might concern the people; to raise their own taxes, both
local and for the central government; to administer justice in their
own way, and to manage their own police system. The relations of the
municipality to the central government or the feudal lord forced them
to pay a certain tribute, which gave them a legal right to manage
themselves.

Their pathway was not always smooth, however, but, on the contrary,
full of contention and struggle against overbearing lords who sought to
usurp authority. Their internal management generally consisted of two
assemblies--one a general assembly of citizens, in which they were all
well represented, the other an assembly of notables. The former
elected the magistrates, and performed all legislative actions; the
latter acted as a sort of advisory council to assist the magistrates.
Sometimes the cities had but one assembly of citizens, which merely
elected magistrates and exercised supervision over them. The
magistracy generally consisted of aldermen, presided over by a mayor,
and acted as a general executive council for the city.

Municipal freedom gradually declined through adverse circumstances.
Within the city limits tyranny, aristocracy, or oligarchy sometimes
prevailed, wresting from the people the rights which they had purchased
or fought for. Without was the pressure of the feudal lord, which
gradually passed into the general fight of the king for royal
supremacy. The king, it is true, found the towns very strong allies in
his struggle against the nobility. They too had commenced a struggle
against the feudal lords, and there was a common bond of sympathy
between them. But when the feudal lords were once mastered, the king
must turn his attention to reducing the liberties of the people, and
gradually, through the influence of monarchy and centralization of
government, the rights and privileges of the people of the towns of
France passed away.

{341}

_The States-General Was the First Central Organization_.--It ought to
be mentioned here that after the monarchy was moderately well
established, Philip the Fair (1285-1314) called the representatives of
the nation together. He called in the burghers of the towns, the
nobility, and the clergy and formed a parliament for the discussion of
the affairs of the realm. It appeared that the constitutional
development which began so early in England was about to obtain in
France. But it was not to be realized, for in the th