the heart of the
empire to its limits. Thus it was only by perpetually interposing
his personal efforts, and flying, as it were, from one end to the
other of his dominions, that Charlemagne succeeded in preserving
his authority. As for the people, without any sort of guarantee
against the despotism of the government, they were utterly at
the mercy of the nobles or of the sovereign. But this state of
servitude was quite incompatible with the union of social powers
necessary to a population that had to struggle against the tyranny
of the ocean. To repulse its attacks with successful vigor, a
spirit of complete concert was absolutely required; and the nation
being thus united, and consequently strong, the efforts of foreign
tyrants were shattered by its resistance, as the waves of the
sea that broke against the dikes by which it was defied.

From the time of Charlemagne, the people of the ancient Menapia,
now become a prosperous commonwealth, formed political associations
to raise a barrier against the despotic violence of the Franks.
These associations were called Gilden, and in the Latin of the
times Gildonia. They comprised, besides their covenants for mutual
protection, an obligation which bound every member to give succor
to any other, in cases of illness, conflagration, or shipwreck.
But the growing force of these social compacts alarmed the
quick-sighted despotism of Charlemagne, and they were, consequently,
prohibited both by him and his successors. To give a notion of
the importance of this prohibition to the whole of Europe, it is
only necessary to state that the most ancient corporations (all
which had preceded and engendered the most valuable municipal
rights) were nothing more than gilden. Thus, to draw an example
from Great Britain, the corporative charter of Berwick still
bears the title of Charta Gildoniae. But the ban of the sovereigns
was without efficacy, when opposed to the popular will. The gilden
stood their ground, and within a century after the death of
Charlemagne, all Flanders was covered with corporate towns.

This popular opposition took, however, another form in the northern
parts of the country, which still bore the common name of Friesland;
for there it was not merely local but national. The Frisons succeeded
in obtaining the sanction of the monarch to consecrate, as it
were, those rights which were established under the ancient forms
of government. The fact is undoubted; but the means wh