ministred the Kingdom upon the same Terms and
Conditions. For the _Appendix_ to _Aimoinus_, lib. 5. cap. 10. tells us,
that when _Charles_ was dead, _Lewis_ the Emperor, thro' a certain Kind
of Foreknowledge, summon'd the general Council of his People to meet at
_Doue_, near the _Loire_. And again, _cap._ 38. where he makes Mention
of the Articles of Peace, concluded between King _Lewis_ and his Cousin
_Lewis_, "--They summoned, says he, a PLACITUM, and in that PLACITUM, by
the Advice and Consent of their faithful Subjects, they agreed to
observe and keep the Articles which follow. In which _Placitum_ it was
also by common Consent found convenient, that both Kings should return
with a Guard [_redirent cum scara_] _&c._" Also _cap._ 41. where he
speaks of _Carloman_ the Son of _Lewis the Stammerer_,--"And so (says
he) he departed from the _Normans_, and returned to _Wormes_, where he
was on the Kalends of _November_ to _hold his Placitum_." Also in the
following Chapter, where he speaks of _Charles_ the Simple,--"Whose
Youth (says he) the great Men of _France_ thinking unfit for the
Administration of the Government, they held a _Council_ concerning the
State of the Nation."

But it would be an infinite Labour, and indeed a superfluous one, to
quote all the Instances which might be given of this Matter: From what
we have already produced, I think 'tis apparent to every man, that till
_Charles_ the _Simple_'s Reign, that is, for more than 550 Years, the
Judgment and Determination of all the weighty Affairs of the
Commonwealth, belonged to the _great Assembly_ of the _People_, or (as
we now call it) to the _Convention of the Estates_: And that this
Institution of our Ancestors was esteemed _sacred_ and _inviolable_
during so many Ages. So that I cannot forbear admiring the Confidence of
some Modern Authors, who have had the Face to publish in their Writings,
That King _Pipin_ was the first to whom the Institution of the _Publick
Council_ is owing. Since _Eguinarthus_, _Charles_ the _Great_'s own
_Chancellor_, has most clearly proved, that it was the constant Practice
of the whole _Merovingian Line_, to hold every Year the _Publick
Convention_ of the People on the _Kalends_ of _May_; and that the
_Kings_ were carried to that Assembly in a Chariot or Waggon drawn by
Oxen.

But to come to a Matter of greater Consequence, wherein the Prudence and
Wisdom of our Ancestors does most clearly shew it self. Is it not
apparent how g