♦How composed.♦ Besides the bishops there were three great orders in the administration, of which only the first two had seats in the Senate. These were the palatines, the castellans, and starosts. Each palatine, like a Norman baron, was the military commander and supreme judge in his province or palatinate; he was also its recognised political head. The castellans were his deputies, who discharged the same functions in a more confined area. The starosts were inferior magistrates, with military and judicial duties, whose chief privilege was the high value of their benefices. ♦The officers of state.♦ There were twelve great dignitaries who were entrusted with the higher executive,--six for the kingdom of Poland, viz., the Grand Marshal, the Grand General,[8] the Second General, the Chancellor, the Vice-Chancellor, and the Grand Treasurer, and six parallel officers for the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The latter, when incorporated with Poland in 1386, had insisted on a distinct administration; but the arrangement proved most unfortunate, for the Polish magnate had no authority over his Lithuanian compeer. In the army, as in the administration, they might act quite independently of each other, and the very equality made a collision inevitable. Over the Senate as a whole the king had no real power, but the Diet exercised a rigid supervision. This body--the third estate of the realm--had originally been composed of the whole adult nobility. So jealous were the Poles of their privileges that it was not till 1466--two hundred years after the foundation of the House of Commons--that they consented to form a representative system. ♦The Diet.♦ A Diet of 400 deputies met every two years, and was liable to be summoned on extraordinary occasions. The members of this assembly were absolutely without discretionary powers. They were elected in the dietines or provincial assemblies, and received minute instructions as to their course of action. After the dissolution of the Diet they had to appear again before their constituents and give an account of their stewardship. Those who had offended found their lives in peril. ♦Its dependence upon the nobility.♦ Thus the Diet took its stamp from the prevailing temper of the nobility, and, as this was almost always quarrelsome, the place of meeting often resounded with the clang of sabres. ♦Results of this dependence.♦ During the period which we shall have to consider, this dependence will explain the constant neglect of proper means for the national defence. The cavalry of the nobles--the flower of the troops--displayed all the disadvantages, and none of the merits, of a standing army. They were always under arms, and ready to use them in any feud; but they could not brook strict discipline, and as they grew more luxurious their disinclination[9] to a long campaign was duly reflected in the ranks of the Diet. The national haughtiness found its vent in intestine strife. ♦The veto.♦ A most disastrous