historical and political thought in the seventeenth - RePub - Erasmus ...

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Chapter 5. Times of trouble. Taking a stand
sovereignty proved to be hardly applicable to the Dutch situation. 123 In the
Commentariolus Boxhorn, who refers to the powers or the rights of the provincial
States and the town councils with the Latin terms summum imperium (the
supreme power to command), seems to subscribe to this point. 124
Finally, Boxhorn addresses an issue that Vranck leaves unmentioned,
namely that in matters concerning war and peace, taxation, and alliances decisions
in the provincial States, unlike those in the town councils, had to be
unanimous. 125 The requirement of unanimity was inspired by the lovely ideal
that ‘strength lies in unity’. 126 In practice, however, it often proved difficult to
meet this requirement. Each town had its own special interests and was reluctant
to concede them for the greater common good, or was only willing to do
so if duly compensated. Thus, the decision-making process in the province of
Holland often involved a lot of bickering, bargaining, and mediation, which
brings us to the office of the stadholder. 127
The tension between the need for unity and unanimity on both the Generality
and the provincial level, on the one hand, and the diversity of power
on the provincial level and the local level, on the other, is reflected in the
image that Boxhorn provides of the two most important offices that existed in
the Dutch Republic, namely the offices of captain-general and stadholder. 128
The first office falls under the responsibility of the Generality. It provides its
office-holder with a certain majestas that is acquired during accomplishments
in wartime. However, the captain-general does not represent the majestas of
the Union itself. That is done by the three or four delegates from the States
General who accompany the captain-general during the Republic’s war campaigns.
The prerogatives of the captain-general are restricted: he is not allowed
123 Van Gelderen, “Aristotelians, Monarchomachs and Republicans”, pp. 197-204. Grotius, for
example, used the words summa potestas instead of majestas to indicate what he saw as the ‘supreme
power’ in political society. See, for example, Grotius, The Rights of War and Peace, I.3.6, pp. 257-59.
124 The powers or rights Boxhorn assigns to the provincial States and the town councils are similar
to the prerogatives he assigns to a sovereign. See chapter 8.
125 Boxhorn, Commentariolus, X.28, p. 161. ‘In rebus tamen maximi momenti, ut novis tributis & vectigalibus,
bello indicendo aut finiendo, novis foederibus ineundis non ratum habetur, quod sola major
pars decreverit, sed omnium consensus necessario expectatur.’ See also idem, Institutiones politicae, I.8,
pp. 113-14.
126 According to the famous adage, taken from Sallust: ‘Nam concordia paruae res crescunt, discordia
maxumae dilabuntur.’ ‘In harmony, small things grow; in disharmony, the greatest are dissipated.’
Latin text taken from Sallust, Ivgvrtha, X.6, p. 60. English translation taken from Sallust, The Jugurthine
War, X.6, p. 57. ‘Concordia res parvae crescunt’ was the adage of the Dutch Republic. For ‘unity’ as a
goal of local Dutch politics, see Judith Pollmann, “Eendracht maakt macht: stedelijke cultuuridealen en
politieke werkelijkheid in de Republiek”, in Bos, Ebben and Te Velde (eds.), Harmonie in Holland, pp.
134-51, 254-57.
127 As Lesley Price holds, the principle of unanimity ‘meant that reaching decisions, particularly on
important issues, could be difficult, but it prevented a dictatorship of the majority and put a premium
on negotiation, compromise, and realism’. Price, Holland and the Dutch Republic, p. 125.
128 In the Commentariolus the stadholder is styled as ‘supremus gubernator’.