Algernon Sidney
Manus haec Inimica Tyrannis Ense petit placidam sub Libertate Quietem
DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT, BY Algernon Sidney, Son to
Robert
Earl of
Leicester,
and Ambassador from the Commonwealth of
England
to
Charles Gustavus
King of
Sweden.
Publish'd from an Original Manuscript. The Second Edition carefully corrected. To which is Added, The Paper He deliver'd to the Sheriffs immediately before his Death. And an ALPHABETICAL TABLE.
Dulce & decorum est pro Patria mori.
Hor.
LONDON,
Printed by
J. Darby
in
Bartholomew-Close.
MDCCIV.
THE PREFACE.
HOW highly the Writings of wise and good Men concerning Government have bin esteem'd in all Ages, the testimony of History, and the preservation of so many Books compos'd by the Antients on that Subject, do sufficiently manifest. And it may be truly said, that unless men have utterly abandon'd themselves to all that is detestable, they have seldom attempted to detract from the worth of the Assertors of Liberty, tho Ambition and other passions have influenc'd them to act in opposition to it. When
Augustus
had surpriz'd a young
Roman
who was related to him, reading a political Discourse of
Cicero,
he commended his judgment in that choice. The History of
France,
written by the President
de Thou,
with a spirit of Freedom that might have bin worthy of those who liv'd before the violation of their Liberty, has bin so generally valu'd by men of all ranks in that Nation, that 'tis hard to find a Book on any important Subject which has had so many Editions. And the just esteem that the Emperor
Charles
the Fifth made of the Memoirs of
Philip de Commines
(tho that Author has given so many instances of his detestation of Tyranny) may be enough to put this matter out of dispute. But if all other proof were wanting, the implacable hatred, and unweary'd industry of the worst of men to suppress such Writings, would abundantly testify their excellency.
That Nations should be well inform'd of their Rights, is of the most absolute necessity: because the happiness or infelicity of any People intirely depends upon the enjoyment or deprivation of Liberty; which is so invincibly prov'd in the following Discourses, that to endeavour to make i
more clear, would be an unpardonable presumption.
If any man think the publication of this Work to be unseasonable a
this time, he is desir'd to consider, that as men expect good Laws only from a good Government, so the Reign of a Prince, whose Title is founded upon the principle of Liberty which is here defended, cannot but be the most proper, if not the only time to inform the People of the
just
, that from a due sense of their inestimable value, they may
encourag'd to assert them against the attempts of ill men in time to
ome.
'Tis not necessary here to say anything concerning the Person of the Author. He was so well known in the world, so universally esteem'd by those who knew how to set a just value upon true Merit, and will appear so admirable in the following Discourses, as not to stand in need of a flattering Panegyrick. But it may not be amiss to say something of the Discourses now publish'd.
The Paper deliver'd to the Sheriffs immediately before his death informs us, that he had left a Large and a Lesser Treatise written against the Principles contain'd in
Filmer
's Book; and that a small part of the lesser Treatise had bin produc'd for evidence against him at his Trial. 'Tis there also said, that the lesser Treatise neither was, nor probably ever should have bin finish'd. This therefore is the Large Work mention'd in that Paper, and not the Lesser, upon part of which the wicked Sentence pronounc'd, and executed against him, was grounded.
It remains only to add a few words for satisfaction of the Publick, that these Discourses are genuine. And here I shall not need to say, that they were put into the hands of a Person of eminent Quality and Integrity by the Author himself; and that the Original is, in the judgment of those who knew him best, all written by his own hand: His inimitable manner of treating this noble Subject, is instead of a thousand demonstrations, that the Work can belong to no other than the Great Man whose Name it bears.
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The CONTENTS.
CHAP. I.
SEction 1.
The Introduction,
Page 1.
Sect. 2.
The common notions of Liberty are not from School-Divines, but from Nature,
p. 3.
Sect. 3.
Implicit Faith belongs to Fools, and Truth is comprehended by examining Principles,
p. 6.
Sect. 4.
The Rights of particular Nations cannot subsist, if general Principles contrary to them are receiv'd as true,
p. 8.
Sect. 5.
To depend upon the will of a man is slavery,
p. 9.
Sect. 6.
God leaves to man the choice of forms in Government; and those who constitute one form may abrogate it,
p. 11.
Sect. 7. Abraham
and the Patriarchs were not Kings,
p. 14.
Sect. 8. Nimrod
was the first King during the life of
Chush, Cham, Shem,
and
Noah, p. 15.
Sect. 9.
The Power of a Father belongs only to a Father,
p. 18.
Sect. 10.
Such as enter into Society, must in some degree diminish their Liberty,
p. 19.
Sect. 11.
No man comes to command many, unless by consent, or by force.
p. 20.
Sect. 12.
The pretended paternal Right is divisible or indivisible: if divisible,
extinguish'd▪ if indivisible, universal,
p. 21.
Sect. 13.
There was no shadow of a paternal Kingdom amongst the
Hebrews,
not Precept for it,
p. 23.
Sect. 14.
If the paternal Right had included Dominion, and was to be transfer'd to a single H
ir, it must perish if he were not known; and could be apply'd to no other person,
p. 25.
Sect. 16.
The Antients chose those to be Kings, who excel'd in the Vertues that are most beneficial to Civil Societys,
p. 30.
Sect. 1
.
God having given the Government of the World to no one man, nor declar'd how it should be divided, left it to the will of man,
p. 35.
Sect. 18.
If a right of Dominion were esteem'd hereditary according to the Law of Nature, a multitude of destructive and inextricable Controversys would thereupon
p. 38.
Sect. 19.
Kings cannot confer the Right of Father upon Princes, nor Princes upon Kings.
p. 4
.
Sect. 20.
All just Magistratical Power is from the People,
p. 47.
CHAP. II.
SECT. 1.
That 'tis natural for Nations to govern, or to chuse Governors▪ and that Vertue only gives a natural preference of one man above another, or reason why one should be chosen rather than another,
p. 51.
Sect. 2.
Every man that has Children, has the right of a Father, and is capable of preferment in a Society compos'd of many,
p. 58.
Sect. 3.
Government is not instituted for the good of the Governor, but of the Governed; and Power is not an advantage, but a burden,
p. 60.
Sect. 4.
The paternal Right devolves to, and is inherited by all the Children,
p. 62.
Sect. 5.
Free men join together, and frame greater or lesser Societys, and give such forms to them as best please themselves,
p. 65.
Sect. 6.
They who have a right of chusing a King, have the right of making a King,
p. 73.
Sect. 7.
The Laws of every Nation are the measure of Magistratical Power,
p. 76.
Sect. 8.
There is no natural propensity in man or beast to Monarchy,
p. 82.
Sect. 9.
The Government instituted by God over the
Israelites
was Aristocratical,
p. 84.
Sect. 10. Aristotle
was not simply for Monarchy, or against Popular Government, but approv'd or disapprov'd of either according to circumstances,
p. 90.
Sect. 11.
Liberty produces Vertue, Order and Stability: Slavery is accompany'd with Vice, Weakness and Misery,
p. 92.
Sect. 12.
The Glory, Vertue and Power of the
Romans,
began and ended with their Liberty,
p. 99.
Sect. 13.
There is no disorder or prejudice in changing the name or number of Magistrates, whilst the root and principle of their Power continues intire,
p. 103.
Sect. 14.
No Sedition was hurtful to
Rome,
till thro their prosperity some men gain'd a Power above the Laws,
p. 105.
Sect. 15.
The Empire of
Rome
perpetually decay'd, when it fell into the hands of one man,
p. 108.
Sect. 16.
The best Governments of the World have bin compos'd of Monarchy, Aristocracy and Democracy,
p. 115.
Sect. 17.
Good Governments admit of changes in the Superstructures, whilst the Foundations remain unchangeable,
p. 118.
Sect. 18. Xenophon
in blaming the disorders of Democracys, favors Aristocracys,
p. 122.
Sect. 19.
That corruption and venality which is natural to Courts, is seldom found in Popular Governments,
p. 128.
Sect. 20.
Man's natural love to Liberty is temper'd by Reason, which originally is his nature,
p. 133.
Sect. 21.
Mix'd and Popular Governments preserve Peace, and manage Wars better than Absolute Monarchys,
p. 136.
Sect. 22.
Commonwealths seek Peace or War, according to the variety of their Constitutions,
p. 141.
Sect. 23.
That is the best Government, which provides best for War,
p. 146.
Sect. 24.
Popular Governments are less subject to Civil disorders than Monarchys, manage them more ably, and more easily recover out of them,
p. 152.
Sect. 25.
Courts are more subject to venality and corruption than Popular Governments,
p. 179.
Sect. 26.
Civil Tumults and Wars are not the greatest evils that befal Nations,
p. 185.
Sect. 27.
The mischiefs and crueltys proceeding from Tyranny, are greater than any that can come from Popular or Mix'd Governments,
p. 188.
Sect. 28.
Men living under Popular or Mix'd Governments, are more careful of the Publick Good, than in Absolute Monarchys,
p. 193.
Sect. 29
There is no assurance that the distempers of a State shall be cur'd by the wisdom of a Prince,
p. 200.
Sect. 30.
A Monarchy cannot be well regulated, unless the Powers of the Monarch are limited by Law,
p. 207.
Sect. 31.
The Libertys of Nations are from God and Nature, not from Kings,
p. 220.
Sect. 32.
The Contracts made between Magistrates and the Nations that created them, were real, solemn, and obligatory,
p. 224.
CHAP. III.
gs not being Fathers of their People, nor excelling all others
can have no other just power than what the Laws give, nor any
Privileges of the Lord's Anointed,
p. 227.
The Kings of
Israel
and
Judah
were under a Law not safely to be transgrest,
p. 238.
Sect. 3. Samuel
did not describe to the
Israelites
the glory of a free Monarchy, but the evils the People should suffer, that he might divert them from desiring a King,
p. 240.
Sect. 4.
No People can be oblig'd to suffer from their Kings what they have not a right to do,
p. 242.
Sect. 5.
The mischiefs suffer'd from wicked Kings are such as render it both reasonable and just for all Nations that have Vertue and Power, to exert both in repelling them,
p. 245.
Sect. 6.
'Tis not good for such Nations as will have Kings, to suffer them to be glorious, powerful, or abounding in Riches,
p. 249.
Sect. 7.
When the
Israelites
ask'd for such a King as the Nations about them had, they ask'd for a Tyrant tho they did not call him so,
p. 252.
Sect. 8.
Ʋ nder the name of Tribute no more is understood, than what the Law of each Nation gives to the supreme Magistrate for the defraying of publick Charges; to which the customs of the
Romans,
or sufferings of the
Jews
have no relation,
p. 257.
Sect. 9.
Our own Laws confirm to us the enjoyment of our native Rights,
p. 262.
Sect. 10.
The words of St.
Paul
enjoining obedience to higher Powers, favour all sorts of Government no less than Monarchy,
p. 266.
Sect. 11.
That which is not just is not Law, and that which is not Law ought not to be obey'd,
p. 273.
Sect. 12.
The right and power of a Magistrate depends upon his Institution, not upon his Name,
p. 275.
Sect. 13.
Laws were made to direct and instruct Magistrates, and if they will not be directed, to restrain them,
p. 278.
Sect. 14.
Laws are not made by Kings, not because they are busy'd in greater matters than doing Justice, but because Nations will be govern'd by Rule, and not arbitrarily,
p. 282.
Sect. 15.
A general presumption that Kings will govern well, is not a sufficient security to the People,
p. 286.
Sect. 16.
The observation of the Laws of Nature is absurdly expected from Tyrants, who set themselves up against all Laws: and he that subjects Kings to no other Law than what is common to Tyrants, destroys their being,
p. 289.
Sect. 17.
Kings cannot be the interpreters of the Oaths they take,
p. 294.
Sect. 18.
The next in blood to deceas'd Kings, cannot generally be said to be Kings till they are crown'd,
p. 301.
Sect. 19.
The greatest enemy of a just Magistrate is he who endeavors to invalidate the Contract between him and the People, or to corrupt their manners,
p. 311.
Sect. 20.
Ʋ njust commands are not to be obey'd; and no man is oblig'd to suffer for not obeying such as are against Law,
p. 314.
Sect. 21.
It cannot be for the good of the People, that the Magistrate have a Power above the Law: And he is not a Magistrate who has not his Power by Law,
p. 317.
Sect. 22.
The rigor of the Law is to be temper'd by men of known integrity and judgment, and not by the Prince, who may be ignorant or vicious,
p. 323.
Sect. 23. Aristotle
proves, that no man is to be intrusted with an Absolute Power, by shewing that no one knows how to execute it, but such a man as is not to be found,
p. 326.
Sect. 24.
The Power of
Augustus Cesar
was not given, but usurp'd,
p. 328.
Sect. 25.
The Regal Power was not the first in this Nation, nor necessarily to be continu'd, tho it had bin the first,
p. 329.
Sect. 26.
That the King may be intrusted with the power of chusing Judges; yet that by which they act is from the Law,
p. 336.
Sect. 27. Magna Charta
was not the Original, but a Declaration of the
English
Libertys. The King's Power is not restrain'd, but created by that and other Laws; and the Nation that made them, can only correct the defects of them,
p. 343.
Sect. 28.
The
English
Nation has always bin govern'd by it self, or its Representatives,
p. 345.
Sect. 29.
The King was never Master of the Soil,
p. 357.
Sect. 30. Henry
the First was King of
England
by as good a Title as any of his Predecessors or Successors,
p. 360.
Sect. 31.
Free Nations have a right of meeting, when and where they please, unless they deprive themselves of it,
p. 363.
Sect. 32
The Powers of Kings are so various, according to the Constitutions of several States, that no consequence can be drawn to the prejudice or advantage of any one, merely from the name,
p. 368.
Sect. 33.
The Liberty of a People is the Gift of God and Nature,
p. 369.
Sect. 34.
No veneration paid, or honor confer'd upon a just and lawful Magistrate, can diminish the Liberty of a Nation,
p. 372.
Sect. 35.
The Authority given by our Law to the Acts perform'd by a King
de facto,
detract nothing from the Peoples Right of creating whom they please,
p. 374.
Sect. 36.
The general revolt of a Nation cannot be call'd a Rebellion,
p. 376.
Sect. 37.
The
English
Government was not ill constituted; the defects more lately observ'd proceeding from the change of manners and corruption of the times,
p. 380.
Sect. 38.
The power of calling and dissolving Parliaments is not simply in the King. The variety of Customs in chusing Parliamentmen, and the Errors a People may commit, neither prove that Kings are or ought to be absolute,
p. 383.
Sect. 39.
Those Kings only are Heads of the People, who are good, wise, and seek to advance no Interest but that of the Publick,
p. 388.
Sect. 40.
Good Laws prescribe easy and safe Remedys against the Evils proceeding from the Vices or Infirmitys of the Magistrate; and when they fail, they must be supply'd,
p. 393.
Sect. 41.
The People for whom and by whom the Magistrate is created, can only judg whether he rightly performs his Office, or not,
p. 397.
Sect. 42.
The Person that wears the Crown cannot determin the Affairs which the Law refers to the King,
p. 401.
Sect. 43.
Proclamations are not Laws,
p. 405.
Sect. 44.
A People that is not free, cannot substitute Delegats,
p. 409.
Sect. 45.
The Legislative Power is always Arbitrary, and not to be trusted in the hands of any, who are not bound to obey the Laws they make,
p. 414.
Sect. 46.
The coercive Power of the Law proceeds from the Authority of Parliament,
p. 416.
DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT.
CHAP. I.
SECTION I. INTRODUCTION.
HAVING lately seen a Book intitul'd
Patriarcha,
written by Sir
Robert Filmer,
concerning the Universal and undistinguish'd Right of all Kings, I thought a time of leisure might be well employ'd in examining his Doctrin, and the Questions arising from it; which seem so far to concern all Mankind, that, besides the Influence upon our future Life, they may be said to comprehend all that in this World deserves to be car'd for. If he say true, there is but one Government in the World that can have any thing of Justice in it: and those who have hitherto bin esteem'd the best and wisest of Men, for having constituted Commonwealths or Kingdoms; and taken much pains so to proportion the Powers of several Magistracys, that they might all concur in procuring the Publick Good; or so to divide the Powers between the Magistrats and People, that a well-regulated Harmony might be preserv'd in the whole, were the most unjust and foolish of all Men. They were not builders, but overthrowers of Governments: their business was to set up Aristocratical, Democratical or mix'd Governments, in opposition to that Monarchy which by the immutable Laws of God and Nature is impos'd upon Mankind; or presumptuously to put Shackles upon the Monarch, who by the same Laws is to be absolute and uncontrol'd: They were rebellious and disobedient Sons, who rose up against their Father; and not only refus'd to hearken to his Voice, but made him bend to their Will. In their Opinion, such only deserv'd to be call'd Good Men, who endeavour'd to be good to Mankind; or to that Country to which they were more particularly related: and in as much as that Good consists in a Felicity of Estate, and Perfection of Person, they highly valued such as had endeavour'd to make Men better, wiser and happier. This they understood to be the end for which Men enter'd into Societys: And tho
Cicero
says, that Commonwealths were instituted for the obtaining of Justice, he contradicts them not, but comprehends all in that word; because 'tis just that whosoever receives a Power, should employ it wholly for the accomplishment of the Ends for which it was given. This Work could be perform'd only by such as excell'd in Virtue; but lest they should deflect from it, no Government was thought to be well constituted,
Potentiora Legum quam hominum Imperia.
Tacit.
unless the Laws prevail'd above the Commands of Men; and they were accounted as the worst of Beasts, who did not prefer such a Condition before a Subjection to the fluctuating and irregular Will of a Man.
If we believe Sir
Robert,
all this is mistaken. Nothing of this kind was ever left to the Choice of Men. They are not to inquire what conduces to their own good: God and Nature have put us into a way from which we are not to swerve: We are not to live to him, nor to our selves, but to the Master that he hath set over us. One Government is establish'd over all, and no Limits can be set to the Power of the Person that manages it. This is the Prerogative, or, as another Author of the same Stamp calls it, the
Royal Charter
granted to Kings by God. They all have an equal right to it; Women and Children are Patriarchs; and the next in Blood, without any regard to Age, Sex, or other Qualitys of the Mind or Body, are Fathers of as many Nations as fall under their Power. We are not to examin, whether he or she be young or old, virtuous or vicious, sober minded or stark mad; the Right and Power is the same in all. Whether Virtue be exalted or supprest; whether he that bears the Sword be a Praise to those that do well, and a Terror to those that do evil; or a Praise to those that do evil, and a Terror to such as do well, it concerns us not; for the King must not lose his Right, nor have his Power diminish'd on any account. I have bin sometimes apt to wonder, how things of this nature could enter into the head of any Man: Or, if no Wickedness or Folly be so great, but some may fall into it, I could not well conceive why they should publish it to the World. But these thoughts ceas'd, when I consider'd that a People from all Ages in love with Liberty, and desirous to maintain their own Privileges, could never be brought to resign 'em, unless they were made to believe that in Conscience they ought to do it; which could not be, unless they were also persuaded to believe, that there was a Law set to all Mankind which none might transgress, and which put the Examination of all those Matters out of their power. This is our Author's Work. By this it will appear whose Throne he seeks to advance, and whose Servant he is, whilst he pretends to serve the King. And that it may be evident he has made use of Means sutable to the Ends propos'd for the Service of his great Master, I hope to shew that he has not us'd one Argument that is not false, nor cited one Author whom he has not perverted and abus'd. Whilst my work is so to lay open these Snares that the most simple may not be taken in them, I shall not examin how Sir
Robert
came to think himself a Man fit to undertake so great a Work, as to destroy the Principles, which from the beginning seem to have bin common to all Mankind; but only weighing the Positions and Arguments that he alledges, will, if there be either truth or strength in them, confess the Discovery comes from him that gave us least reason to expect it; and that in
p
e of the Antients, there is not in the World a Piece of Wood out of which a
Mercury
may not be made.
SECT. II. The common Notions of Liberty are not from School-Divines, but from Nature.
IN the first Lines of his Book he seems to denounce War against Mankind, endeavouring to overthrow the Principle of Liberty in which God created us, and which includes the chief Advantages of the Life we enjoy, as well as the greatest helps towards the Felicity, that is the end of our hopes in the other. To this end he absurdly imputes to the School-Divines that which was taken up by 'em as a common Notion, written in the Hearts of all Men, denied by none but such as are degenerated into Beasts, from whence they might prove such Points as of themselves were less evident. Thus did
Euclid
lay down certain Axioms, which none could deny that did not renounce common Sense, from whence he drew the Proofs of such Propositions as were less obvious to the Understanding; and they may with as much reason be accus'd of Paganism, who say that the Whole is greater than a Part, that two Halfs make the Whole, or that a streight Line is the shortest way from Point to Point, as to say, that they who in Politicks lay such Foundations as have bin taken up by Schoolmen and others as undeniable Truths, do therefore follow them, or have any regard to their Authority. Tho the Schoolmen were corrupt, they were neither stupid nor unlearned: They could not but see that which all Men saw, nor lay more approv'd Foundations, than, That Man is naturally free; That he cannot justly be depriv'd of that Liberty without cause, and that he dos not resign it, or any part of it, unless it be in consideration of a greater good, which he proposes to himself. But if he unjustly imputes the Invention of this to School-Divines, he in some measure repairs his Fault in saying,
This has bin foster'd by all succeeding Papists for good Divinity: The Divines of the reformed Churches have entertain'd it, and the Common People every where tenderly embrace it.
That is to say, all Christian Divines, whether reform'd or unreform'd, do approve it, and the People every where magnify it, as the height of human Felicity. But
Filmer
and such as are like to him, being neither reform'd nor unreform'd Christians, nor of the People, can have no Title to Christianity; and, in as much as they set themselves against that which is the height of human Felicity, they declare themselves Enemys to all that are concern'd in it, that is, to all Mankind.
But, says he,
They do not remember that the desire of Liberty was the first cause of the Fall of Man:
and I desire it may not be forgotten, that the Liberty asserted is not a Licentiousness of doing what is pleasing to every one against the Command of God; but an Exemption from all human Laws, to which they have not given their assent. If he would make us believe there was any thing of this in
Adam
's Sin, he ought to have prov'd, that the Law which he transgrest was impos'd upon him by Man, and consequently that there was a Man to impose it; for it will easily appear that neither the reform'd or unreform'd Divines, nor the People following them, do place the Felicity of Man in an exemption from the Laws of God, but in a most perfect conformity to them. Our Saviour taught us
not to fear such as could kill the Body, but him that could kill and cast into
Hell:
And the Apostle tells us that
we should obey God rather than Man.
It has bin ever hereupon observ'd, that they who most precisely adhere to the Laws of God, are least sollicitous concerning the Commands of Men, unless they are well grounded; and those who most delight in the glorious Liberty of the Sons of God, do not only subject themselves to him, but are most regular Observers of the just Ordinances of Man, made by the consent of such as are concern'd according to the Will of God.
The Error of not observing this may perhaps deserve to be pardon'd in a Man that had read no Books, as proceeding from Ignorance; if such as are grosly ignorant can be excus'd, when they take upon them to write of such Matters as require the highest knowledg: But in Sir
Robert
'tis prevarication and fraud to impute to Schoolmen and Puritans that which in his first Page he acknowledg'd to be the Doctrin of all Reform'd and Unreform'd Christian Churches, and that he knows to have bin the Principle in which the
Grecians, Italians, Spaniards, Gauls, Germans,
and
Britans,
and all other generous Nations ever liv'd, before the Name of Christ was known in the World; insomuch that the base effeminate
Asiaticks
and
Africans,
for being careless of their Liberty, or unable to govern themselves, were by
Aristotle
and other wise Men call'd
Slaves by Nature,
and look'd upon as little different from Beasts.
This which hath its Root in common Sense, not being to be overthrown by Reason, he spares his pains of seeking any; but thinks it enough to render his Doctrin plausible to his own Party, by joining the Jesuits to
Geneva,
and coupling
Buchanan
to
Doleman,
as both maintaining the same Doctrin: tho he might as well have join'd the
Puritans
with the
Turks,
because they all think that one and one makes two. But whoever marks the Proceedings of
Filmer
and his Masters, as well as his Disciples, will rather believe that they have learn'd from
Rome
and the Jesuits to hate
Geneva,
than that
Geneva
and
Rome
can agree in any thing farther than as they are oblig'd to submit to the Evidence of Truth; or that
Geneva
and
Rome
can concur in any Design or Interest that is not common to Mankind.
These Men allow'd to the People a liberty of deposing their Princes. This is a desperate Opinion.
Bellarmin
and
Calvin
look asquint at it.
But why is this a desperate Opinion? If Disagreements happen between King and People, why is it a more desperate Opinion to think the King should be subject to the Censures of the People, than the People subject to the Will of the King? Did the People make the King, or the King make the People? Is the King for the People, or the People for the King? Did God create the
Hebrews
that
Saul
might reign over them? or did they, from an opinion of procuring their own Good, ask a King, that might judg them, and fight their Battels? If God's interposition, which shall be hereafter explain'd, dos alter the Case; did the
Romans
make
Romulus, Numa, Tullus Hostilius,
and
Tarquinius Priscus
Kings? or did they make or beget the
Romans?
If they were made Kings by the
Romans,
'tis certain they that made them sought their own good in so doing; and if they were made by and for the City and People, I desire to know if it was not better, that when their Successors departed from the End of their Institution, by endeavouring to destroy it, or all that was good in it, they should be censur'd and ejected, than be permitted to ruin that People for whose good they were created? Was it more just that
Caligula
or
Nero
should be suffer'd to destroy the poor Remains of the
Roman
Nobility and People, with the Nations subject to that Empire, than that the Race of such Monsters should be extinguish'd, and a great part of Mankind, especially the best, against whom they were most fierce, preserv'd by their Death?
I presume our Author thought these Questions might be easily decided; and that no more was requir'd to shew the foremention'd Assertions were not at all desperate, than to examin the Grounds of them; but he seeks to divert us from this enquiry, by proposing the dreadful Consequences of subjecting Kings to the Censures of their People: whereas no Consequence can destroy any Truth; and the worst of this is, That if it were receiv'd, some Princes might be restrain'd from doing Evil, or punish'd if they will not be restrain'd. We are therefore only to consider whether the People, Senat, or any Magistracy made by and for the People, have, or can have such a Right; for if they have, whatsoever the Consequences may be, it must stand: And as the one tends to the Good of Mankind in restraining the Lusts of wicked Kings; the other exposes'em without Remedy to the Fury of the most savage of all Beasts. I am not asham'd in this to concur with
Buchanan, Calvin,
or
Bellarmin;
and without Envy leave to
Filmer
and his Associats the Glory of maintaining the contrary.
But notwithstanding our Author's aversion to Truth, he confesses,
That
Hayward, Blackwood, Barclay,
and others who have bravely vindicated the Right of Kings in this Point, do with one consent admit, as an unquestionable Truth, and assent unto the natural Liberty and Equality of Mankind, not so much as once questioning or opposing it.
And indeed I believe, that tho since the Sin of our first Parents the Earth has brought forth Briars and Brambles, and the Nature of Man has bin fruitful only in Vice and Wickedness; neither the Authors he mentions, nor any others, have had impudence enough to deny such evident Truth as seems to be planted in the Hearts of all Men; or to publish Doctrins so contrary to common Sense, Virtue, and Humanity, till these Times. The production of
Laud, Manwaring, Sibthorp, Hobbs, Filmer
and
Heylin,
seems to have bin reserv'd as an additional Curse to compleat the Shame and Misery of our Age and Country. Those who had Wit and Learning, with something of Ingenuity and Modesty, tho they believ'd that Nations might possibly make an ill use of their Power, and were very desirous to maintain the Cause of Kings, as far as they could put any good colour upon it; yet never denied that some had suffer'd justly (which could not be, is there were no Power of judging them) nor ever asserted any thing that might arm them with an irresistible Power of doing mischief, animate them to persist in the most flagitious Courses, with assurance of perpetual Impunity, or engage Nations in an inevitable necessity of suffering all manner of Outrages. They knew that the Actions of those Princes who were not altogether detestable, might be defended by particular Reasons drawn from them, or the Laws of their Country; and would neither undertake the defence of such as were abominable, nor bring Princes, to whom they wish'd well, into the odious extremity of justifying themselves by Arguments that favour'd
Caligula
and
Nero,
as well as themselves, and that must be taken for a Confession, that they were as bad as could be imagin'd; since nothing could be said for them that might not as well be applied to the worst that had bin, or could be. But
Filmer, Heylin,
and their Associats, scorning to be restrain'd by such considerations, boldly lay the Ax to the Root of the Tree, and rightly enough affirm,
That the whole Fabrick of that which they call Popular Sedition would fall to the ground, if the Principle of natural Liberty were remov'd.
And on the other hand it must be acknowledg'd that the whole Fabrick of Tyranny will be much weaken'd, if we prove, That Nations have a right to make their own Laws, constitute their own Magistrats; and that such as are so constituted, owe an account of their Actions to those by whom, and for whom they are appointed.
SECT. III. Implicit Faith belongs to Fools, and Truth is comprehended by examining Principles.
WHILST
Filmer
's business is to overthrow Liberty and Truth, he, in his Passage, modestly professes
not to meddle with Mysterys of State,
or
Arcana Imperii.
He renounces those Inquirys thro an
implicit Faith,
which never enter'd into the head of any but Fools, and such as, thro a carelesness of the Point in question, acted as if they were so. This is the Foundation of the Papal Power, and it can stand no longer than those that compose the
Roman
Church can be persuaded to submit their Consciences to the Word of the Priests, and esteem themselves discharg'd from the necessity of searching the Scriptures, in order to know whether the things that are told them are true of false. This may shew whether our Author or those of
Geneva
do best agree with the
Roman
Doctrin. But his Instance is yet more sottish than his Profession:
An Implicit Faith,
says he,
is given to the meanest Artificer.
I wonder by whom! Who will wear a Shoo that hurts him, because the Shoo-maker tells him 'tis well made? or who will live in a House that yields no defence against the extremitys of Weather, because the Mason or Carpenter assures him 'tis a very good House? Such as have Reason, Understanding, or common Sense, will, and ought to make use of it in those things that concern themselves and their Posterity, and suspect the Words of such as are interested in deceiving or persuading them not to see with their own Eyes, that they may be more easily deceiv'd. This Rule obliges us so far to search into Matters of State, as to examin the Original Principles of Government in general, and of our own in particular. We cannot distinguish Truth from Falshood, Right from Wrong, or know what Obedience we owe to the Magistrat, or what we may justly expect from him, unless we know what he is, why he is, and by whom he is made to be what he is. These perhaps may be call'd
Mysterys of State,
and some would persuade us they are to be esteem'd
Arcana;
but whosoever confesses himself to be ignorant of 'em, must acknowledg he is uncapable of giving any judgment upon things relating to the Superstructure, and in so doing evidently shews to others, that they ought not at all to hearken to what he says.
His Argument to prove this is more admirable.
If an Implicit Faith,
says he,
is given to the meanest Artificer in his Craft, much more to a Prince in the profound Secrets of Government.
But where is the Consequence? If I trust to the judgment of an Artificer, or one of a more ingenuous Profession, 'tis not because he is of it, but because I am persuaded he dos well understand it, and that he will be saithful to me in things relating to his Art. I do not send for
Lower
or
Micklethwait
when I am sick, nor ask the Advice of
Maynard
or
Jones
in a Suit of Law, because the first are Physicians, and the other Lawyers; but because I think them wise, learned, diligent, and faithful, there being a multitude of others who go under the same name, whose Opinion I would never ask. Therefore if any Conclusion can be drawn from thence in favour of Princes, it must be of such as have all the Qualitys of Ability and Integrity, that should create this confidence in me; or it must be prov'd that all Princes, in as much as they are Princes, have such Qualitys. No general Conclusion can be drawn from the first Case, because it must depend upon the Circumstances, which ought to be particularly prov'd: And if the other be asserted, I desire to know whether
Caligula, Claudius, Nero, Vitellius, Domitian, Commodus, Heliogabalus,
and others not unlike to them, had those admirable Endowments, upon which an Implicit Faith ought to have bin grounded; how they came by them; and whether we have any Promise from God, that all Princes should for ever excel in those Vertues, or whether by experience we find that they do so. If they are or have bin wanting in any, the whole falls to the ground; for no Man enjoys as a Prince that which is not common to all Princes: And if every Prince has not Wisdom to understand these profound Secrets, Integrity to direct him, according to what he knows to be good, and a sufficient measure of Industry and Valour to protect me, he is not the Artificer to whom the Implicit Faith is due. His Eyes are as subject to dazle as my own. But 'tis a shame to insist on such a Point as this. We see Princes of all sorts; they are born as other Men: The vilest Flatterer dares not deny that they are wise or foolish, good or bad, valiant or cowardly, like other Men: and the Crown dos neither bestow extraordinary Qualitys, ripen such as are found in Princes sooner than in the meanest, nor preserve them from the decays of Age, Sickness, or other Accidents, to which all Men are subject. And if the greatest King in the World falls into them, he is as uncapable of that mysterious Knowledg, and his Judgment is as little to be relied on, as that of the poorest Peasant.
This Matter is not mended by sending us to seek those Vertues in the Ministers, which are wanting in the Prince. The ill effects of
Rehoboam
's Folly could not be corrected by the Wisdom of
Solomon
's Counsellors: He rejected them; and such as are like to him will always do the same thing.
Nero
advis'd with none but Musicians, Players, Chariotdrivers, or the abominable Ministers of his Pleasures and Crueltys.
Arcadius
his Senat was chiefly compos'd of Buffoons and Cooks, influenc'd by an old rascally Eunuch. And 'tis an eternal Truth, that a weak or wicked Prince can never chuse a wise Council, nor receive any benefit by one that is impos'd upon him, unless they have a Power of acting without him, which would render the Government in effect Aristocratical, and would probably displease our Author as much as if it were so in name also. Good and wise Counsellors do not grow up like Mushrooms; great Judgment is requir'd in chusing and preparing them. If a weak or vicious Prince should be so happy to find them chosen to his hand, they would avail him nothing. There will ever be variety of Opinions amongst 'em; and he that is of a perverted Judgment will always chuse the worse of those that are propos'd, and favour the worst Men, as most like to himself. Therefore if this Implicit Faith be grounded upon a supposition of profound Wisdom in the Prince, the Foundation is overthrown, and cannot stand; for to repose confidence in the Judgment and Integrity of one that has none, is the most brutish of all Follys. So that if a Prince may have or want the Qualitys, upon which my Faith in him can be rationally grounded, I cannot yield the Obedience he requires, unless I search into the Secrets relating to his Person and Commands, which he forbids. I cannot know how to obey, unless I know in what, and to whom: Nor in what, unless I know what ought to be commanded: Nor what ought to be commanded, unless I understand the Original Right of the Commander, which is the great
Arcanum.
Our Author finding himself involv'd in many Difficultys, proposes an Expedient as ridiculous as any thing that had gone before, being nothing more than an absurd begging the main question, and determining it without any shadow of proof. He enjoins an active or passive Obedience, before he shews what should oblige or persuade us to it. This indeed were a compendious way of obviating that which he calls
Popular Sedition,
and of exposing all Nations, that fall under the Power of Tyrants, to be destroy'd utterly by them.
Nero
or
Domitian
would have desir'd no more, than that those who would not execute their wicked Commands, should patiently have suffer'd their Throats to be cut by such as were less scrupulous: And the World that had suffer'd those Monsters for some years, must have continu'd under their Fury, till all that was good and virtuous had bin abolish'd. But in those Ages and Parts of the World, where there has bin any thing of Vertue and Goodness, we may observe a third sort of Men, who would neither do Villanys, nor suffer more than the Laws did permit, or the consideration of the publick Peace did require. Whilst Tyrants with their Slaves, and the Instruments of their Crueltys, were accounted the Dregs of Mankind, and made the objects of detestation and scorn, these Men who deliver'd their Countrys from such Plagues were thought to have something of Divine in them, and have bin famous above all the rest of Mankind to this day. Of this sort were
Pelopidas, Epaminondas, Thrasibulus, Harmodius, Aristogiton, Philopemen, Lucius Brutus, Publius Valerius, Marcus Brutus, C. Cassius, M. Cato,
with a multitude of others amongst the antient Heathens. Such as were Instruments of the like Deliverances amongst the
Hebrews,
as
Moses, Othniel, Ehud, Barac, Gideon, Sampson, Jephtha, Samuel, David, Jehu,
the
Maccabees
and others, have from the Scriptures a certain Testimony of the Righteousness of their Proceedings, when they neither would act what was evil, nor suffer more than was reasonable. But lest we should learn by their Examples, and the Praises given to them, our Author confines the Subject's choice to acting or suffering, that is, doing what is commanded, or lying down to have his Throat cut, or to see his Family and Country made desolate. This he calls giving to
Cesar
that which is
Cesar
's; whereas he ought to have consider'd that the Question is not, whether that which is
Cesar
's should be render'd to him, for that is to be done to all Men; but who is
Cesar,
and what doth of right belong to him, which he no way indicates to us: so that the Question remains intire, as if he had never mention'd it, unless we do in a compendious way take his word for the whole.
SECT. IV. The Rights of particular Nations cannot subsist, if General Principles contrary to them are receiv'd as true.
NOtwithstanding this, our Anthor, if we will believe him,
dos not question or quarrel at the Rights or Libertys of this or any other Nation.
He only denies they can have any such, in subjecting them necessarily and universally to the will of one Man; and says not a word that is not applicable to every Nation in the World, as well as to our own. But as the bitterness of his malice seems to be most especially directed against
England,
I am inclin'd to believe he hurts other Countrys only by accident: as the famous
The Marchioness of
Brinvilliers.
French
Lady intended only to poison her Father, Husband, Brother, and some more of her nearest Relations; but rather than they should escape, destroy'd many other Persons of Quality, who at several times din'd with them: and if that ought to excuse her, I am content he also should pass uncensur'd, tho his Crimes are incomparably greater than those for which she was condemn'd, or than any can be which are not of a publick extent.
SECT. V. To depend upon the Will of a Man is Slavery.
THis, as he thinks, is farther sweeten'd, by asserting, that he dos not inquire what the Rights of a People are, but from whence; not considering, that whilst he denies they can proceed from the Laws of natural Liberty, or any other Root than the Grace and Bounty of the Prince, he declares they can have none at all. For as Liberty solely consists in an independency upon the Will of another, and by the name of Slave we understand a Man, who can neither dispose of his Person nor Goods, but enjoys all at the will of his Master; there is no such thing in nature as a Slave, if those Men or Nations are not Slaves, who have no other title to what they enjoy, than the grace of the Prince, which he may revoke whensoever he pleases. But there is more than ordinary Extravagance in his Assertion, That
the greatest Liberty in the World is for a People to live under a Monarch,
when his whole Book is to prove, That this Monarch has his Right from God and Nature, is endow'd with an unlimited Power of doing what he pleases, and can be restrain'd by no Law. If it be Liberty to live under such a Government, I desire to know what is Slavery. It has bin hitherto believ'd in the World, that the
Assyrians, Medes, Arabs, Egyptians, Turks,
and others like them, liv'd in Slavery, because their Princes were Masters of their Lives and Goods: Whereas the
Grecians, Italians, Gauls, Germans, Spaniards,
and
Carthaginians,
as long as they had any Strength, Vertue or Courage amongst 'em, were esteem'd free Nations, because they abhor'd such a Subjection. They were, and would be govern'd only by Laws of their own making:
Potentiora erant Legum quam hominum Imperia.
Even their
Princes had the
C. Tacit▪ Ibid.
Authority or Credit of Persuading, rather than the Power of Commanding.
But all this was mistaken: These Men were Slaves, and the
Asiaticks
were Freemen. By the same rule the
Venetians, Switzers, Grisons,
and
Hollanders,
are not free Nations: but Liberty in its perfection is enjoy'd in
France,
and
Turky.
The Intention of our Ancestors was, without doubt, to establish this amongst us by
Magna Charta,
and other preceding or subsequent Laws; but they ought to have added one clause, That the Contents of 'em should be in sorce only so long as it pleas'd the King. King
Alfred,
upon whose Laws
Magna Charta
was grounded, when he said the
English
Nation was as free as the internal thoughts of a Man, did only mean, that it should be so as long as it pleas'd their Master. This it seems was the end of our Law, and we who are born under it, and are descended from such as have so valiantly defended their Rights against the Encroachments of Kings, have follow'd after vain shadows, and without the expence of Sweat, Treasure, or Blood, might have secur'd our beloved Liberty, by casting all into the King's hands.
We owe the discovery of these Secrets to our Author, who after having gravely declar'd 'em, thinks no offence ought to be taken at the freedom he assumes of examining things relating to the Liberty of Mankind, because he has the Right which is common to all. But he ought to have consider'd, that in asserting that Right to himself, he allows it to all Mankind. And as the temporal good of all Men consists in the preservation of it, he declares himself to be their mortal Enemy, who endeavours to destroy it. If he were alive, this would deserve to be answer'd with Stones rather than Words. He that oppugns the publick Liberty, overthrows his own, and is guilty of the most brutish of all Follys, whilst he arrogates to himself that which he denies to all Men.
I cannot but commend his Modesty and Care
not to detract from the Worth of Learned Men;
but it seems they were all subject to error, except himself, who is render'd infallible thro Pride, Ignorance, and Impudence. But if
Hooker
and
Aristotle
were wrong in their Fundamentals concerning natural Liberty, how could they be in the right when they built upon it? Or if they did mistake, how can they deserve to be cited? or rather, why is such care taken to pervert their Sense? It seems our Author is by their Errors brought to the knowledg of the Truth.
Men have heard of a Dwarf standing on the Shoulders of a Giant, who saw farther than the Giant; but now that the Dwarf standing on the Ground sees that which the Giant did overlook,
we must learn from him. If there be Sense in this, the Giant must be blind, or have such eyes only as are of no use to him. He minded only the things that were far from him: These Great and Learned Men mistook the very Principle and Foundation of all their Doctrin. If we believe our Author, this misfortune befel them, because they too much trusted to the Schoolmen. He names
Aristotle,
and I presume intends to comprehend
Plato, Plutarch, Thucydides, Xenophon, Polybius,
and all the antient
Grecians, Italians,
and others, who asserted the natural Freedom of Mankind, only in imitation of the Schoolmen, to advance the Power of the Pope; and would have compast their design, if
Filmer
and his Associats had not oppos'd 'em. These Men had taught us to make the
unnatural Distinction between Royalist and Patriot;
and kept us from seeing,
That the relation between King and People is so great that their well-being is reciprocal.
If this be true, how came
Tarquin
to think it good for him to continue King at
Rome,
when the People would turn him out? or the People to think it good for them to turn him out, when he desir'd to continue in? Why did the
Syracusians
destroy the Tyranny of
Dionysius,
which he was not willing to leave, till he was pull'd out by the heels? How could
Nero
think of burning
Rome?
Or why did
Caligula
wish the People had but one Neck, that he might strike it off at one blow, if their Welsare was thus reciprocal? 'Tis not enough to say, These were wicked or mad Men; for other Princes may be so also, and there may be the same reason of differing from them. For if the Proposition be not universally true, 'tis not to be receiv'd as true in relation to any, till it be particularly prov'd; and then 'tis not to be imputed to the Quality of Prince, but to the personal Vertue of the Man.
I do not find any great matters in the passages taken out of
Bellarmin,
which, our Author says, comprehend the strength of all that ever he had heard, read, or seen produc'd for the natural Liberty of the Subject: but he not mentioning where they are to be found, I do not think my self oblig'd to examin all his Works, to see whether they are rightly cited or not; however there is certainly nothing new in them: We see the same, as to the substance, in those who wrote many Ages before him, as well as in many that have liv'd since his time, who neither minded him, nor what he had written. I dare not take upon me to give an account of his Works, having read few of them; but as he seems to have laid the Foundation of his Discourses in such common Notions as were assented to by all Mankind, those who follow the same method have no more regard to Jesuitism and Popery, tho he was a Jesuit and a Cardinal, than they who agree with
Faber
and other Jesuits in the Principles of Geometry, which no sober Man did ever deny.
SECT. VI. God leaves to Man the choice of Forms in Government; and those who constitute one Form, may abrogate it.
BUT Sir
Robert desires to make Observations on
Bellarmin
's words, before he examins or refutes them;
and indeed it were not possible to make such stuff of his Doctrin as he dos, if he had examin'd or did understand it. First, he very wittily concludes,
That if by the Law of God, the Power be immediatly in the People, God is the Author of a Democracy:
And why not as well as of a Tyranny? Is there any thing in it repugnant to the Being of God? Is there more reason to impute to God
Caligula
's Monarchy, than the Democracy of
Athens?
Or is it more for the Glory of God, to assert his Presence with the
Ottoman
or
French
Monarchs, than with the popular Governments of the
Switsers
and
Grisons?
Is Pride, Malice, Luxury and Violence so sutable to his Being, that they who exercise them are to be reputed his Ministers? And is Modesty, Humility, Equality, and Justice so contrary to his Nature, that they who live in them should be thought his Enemys? Is there any absurdity in saying, that since God in Goodness and Mercy to Mankind, has with an equal hand given to all the Benefit of Liberty, with some measure of understanding how to employ it, 'tis lawful for any Nation, as occasion shall require, to give the Exercise of that Power to one or more Men, under certain Limitations or Conditions; or to retain it in themselves, if they think it good for them? If this may be done, we are at the end of all Controversys concerning one Form of Government establish'd by God, to which all Mankind must submit; and we may safely conclude, that having given to all Men in some degree a Capacity of judging what is good for themselves, he has granted to all likewise a Liberty of inventing such Forms as please them best, without favouring one more than another.
His second Observation is grounded upon a Falsity in matter of Fact.
Bellarmin
dos not say, that Democracy is an Ordinance of God more than any other Government; nor that the People have no Power to make use of their Right; but that they do, that is to say ordinarily, transmit the Exercise of it to one or more. And 'tis certain they do sometimes, especially in small Citys, retain it in themselves: But whether that were observ'd or not by
Bellarmin,
makes nothing to our Cause, which we defend, and not him.
The next Point is subtile, and he thinks thereby to have brought
Belarrmin,
and such as agree with his Principle, to a Nonplus. He doubts who shall judg of the lawful cause of changing the Government, and says, It is
a pestilent Conclusion to place that Power in the Multitude.
But why should this be esteem'd pestilent? or to whom? If the allowance of such a Power to the Senat was pestilent to
Nero,
it was beneficial to Mankind; and the denial of it, which would have given to
Nero
an opportunity of continuing in his Villanys, would have bin pestilent to the best of Men, whom he endeavour'd to destroy, and to all others that receiv'd benefit from them. But this Question depends upon another; for if Governments are constituted for the Pleasure, Greatness or Profit of one Man, he must not be interrupted; for the opposing of his Will, is to overthrow the Institution. On the other side, if the Good of the Governed be sought, care must be taken that the End be accomplish'd, tho it be with the prejudice of the Governor: If the Power be originally in the Multitude, and one or more Men, to whom the exercise of it, or a part of it was committed, had no more than their Brethren, till it was confer'd on him or them, it cannot be believ'd that rational Creatures would advance one or a few of their Equals above themselves, unless in consideration of their own Good; and then I find no inconvenience in leaving to them a right of judging,
Cujus est instituere, ejus est abrogate.
whether this be duly perform'd or not. We say in general,
He that institutes, may also abrogate,
most especially when the Institution is not only by, but for himself. If the Multitude therefore do institute, the Multitude may abrogate; and they themselves, or those who succeed in the same Right, can only be fit Judges of the performance of the Ends of the Institution. Our Author may perhaps say, The publick Peace may be hereby disturb'd: but he ought to know, There can be no Peace, where there is no Justice; nor any Justice, if the Government instituted for the good of a Nation be turn'd to its ruin. But in plain English, the Inconvenience with which such as he endeavour to afright us, is no more than that He or They, to whom the Power is given, may be restrain'd or chastis'd, if they betray their Trust; which I presume will displease none, but such as would rather subject
Rome
with the best part of the World depending on it, to the Will of
Caligula
or
Nero,
than
Caligula
or
Nero
to the Judgment of the Senat and People; that is, rather to expose many great and brave Nations to be destroy'd by the rage of a savage Beast, than subject that Beast to the Judgment of all, or the choicest Men of them, who can have no interest to pervert them, or other reason to be severe to him, than to prevent the Mischiefs he would commit, and to save the People from ruin.
In the next place he recites an Argument of
Bellarmin,
That
'tis evident in Scripture God has ordain'd Powers; but God has given them to no particular Person, because by Nature all Men are equal; therefore he has given Power to the People or Multitude.
I leave him to untie that Knot if he can; but, as 'tis usual with Impostors, he goes about by Surmises to elude the Force of this Argument, pretending that in some other place he had contradicted himself, and acknowledg'd that every Man was Prince of his Posterity;
because that if many Men had bin created together, they ought all to have bin Princes of their Posterity.
But 'tis not necessary to argue upon Passages cited from Authors, when he that cites 'em may be justly suspected of Fraud, and neither indicates the Place nor Treatise, lest it should be detected; most especially when we are no way concern'd in the Author's Credit. I take
Bellarmin
's Argument to be strong; and if he in some place did contradict it, the hurt is only to himself: but in this particular I should not think he did it, tho I were sure our Author had faithfully repeated his words; for in allowing every Man to be Prince of his Posterity, he only says, every Man should be chief in his own Family, and have a Power over his Children, which no man denies: But he dos not understand Latin, who thinks the word
Princeps
doth in any degree signify an absolute Power, or a right of transmitting it to his Heirs and Successors, upon which the Doctrin of our Author wholly depends. On the contrary, The same Law that gave to my Father a Power over me, gives me the like over my Children; and if I had a thousand Brothers, each of them would have the same over their Children.
Bellarmin
's Argument therefore being no way enervated by the alledg'd Passage, I may justly insist upon it, and add, That God has not only declar'd in Scripture, but written on the Heart of every Man, that as it is better to be cloth'd, than to go naked; to live in a House, than to lie in the Fields; to be defended by the united Force of a Multitude, than to place the hopes of his Security solely in his own strength; and to prefer the Benefits of Society, before a savage and barbarous Solitude: he has also taught them to frame such Societys, and to establish such Laws as were necessary to preserve them. And we may as reasonably affirm, that Mankind is for ever oblig'd to use no other Clothes than leather Breeches, like
Adam;
to live in hollow Trees, and eat Acorns, or to seek after the Model of his House for a Habitation, and to use no Arms except such as were known to the Patriarchs; as to think all Nations for ever oblig'd to be govern'd as they govern'd their Familys. This I take to be the genuin sense of the Scripture, and the most respectful way of interpreting the Places relating to our purpose. 'Tis hard to imagin, that God who has left all things to our choice, that are not evil in themselves, should tie us up in this; and utterly incredible that he should impose upon us a necessity of following his Will, without declaring it to us. Instead of constituting a Government over his People, consisting of many Parts, which we take to be a Model fit to be imitated by others, he might have declar'd in a word, That the eldest Man of the eldest Line should be King; and that his Will ought to be their Law. This had bin more sutable to the Goodness and Mercy of God, than to leave us in a dark Labyrinth, full of Precipices; or rather, to make the Government given to his own People, a false Light to lead us to destruction. This could not be avoided, if there were such a thing as our Author calls a
Lord Paramount over his Childrens Children to all Generations.
We see nothing in Scripture, of Precept or Example, that is not utterly abhorrent to this Chimera. The only sort of Kings mention'd there with approbation, is such a one
as may not raise his Heart above his Brethren.
Deut. 17.
If God had constituted a Lord Paramount with an absolute Power, and multitudes of Nations were to labour and fight for his Greatness and Pleasure, this were to raise his Heart to a height, that would make him forget he was a Man. Such as are vers'd in Scripture, not only know that it neither agrees with the Letter or Spirit of that Book; but that it is unreasonable in it self, unless he were of a Species different from the rest of Mankind. His exaltation would not agree with God's Indulgence to his Creatures, tho he were the better for it; much less when probably he would be made more unhappy, and worse, by the Pride, Luxury and other Vices, that always attend the highest Fortunes. 'Tis no less incredible that God, who disposes all things in Wisdom and Goodness, and appoints a due Place for all, should, without distinction, ordain such a Power, to every one succeeding in such a Line, as cannot be executed; the Wise would refuse, and Fools cannot take upon 'em the burden of it, without ruin to themselves, and such as are under them: or expose Mankind to a multitude of other Absurditys and Mischiefs; subjecting the Aged to be govern'd by Children; the Wise to depend on the Will of Fools; the Strong and Valiant, to expect defence from the Weak or Cowardly; and all in general to receive Justice from him, who neither knows nor cares for it.
SECT. VII.
Abraham
and the Patriarchs were not Kings.
IF any Man say, that we are not to seek into the depth of God's Counsels; I answer, That if he had, for Reasons known only to himself, affix'd such a Right to any one Line, he would have set a Mark upon those who come of it, that Nations might know to whom they owe Subjection; or given some testimony of his Presence with
Filmer
and
Heylin,
if he had sent them to reveal so great a Mystery. Till that be done, we may safely look upon them as the worst of Men, and teachers only of Lies and Follys. This persuades me little, to examin what would have bin, if God had it once created many Men, or the Conclusions that can be drawn from
Adam
's having bin alone. For nothing can be more evident than that if many had bin created, they had bin all equal, unless God had given a Preference to one. All their Sons had inherited the same Right after their death; and no Dream was ever more empty, than his Whimsy of
Adam
's Kingdom, or that of the ensuing Patriarchs. To say the truth, 'tis hard to speak seriously of
Abraham
's Kingdom, or to think any Man to be in earnest who mentions it. He was a Stranger, and a Pilgrim in the Land where he liv'd, and pretended to no Authority beyond his own Family, which consisted only of a Wife and Slaves. He liv'd with
Lot
as with his Equal, and would have no Contest with him, because they were Brethren. His Wife and Servants could neither make up, nor be any part of a Kingdom, in as much as the despotical Government, both in Practice and Principle, differs from the Regal. If his Kingdom was to be grounded on the Paternal Right, it vanish'd away of it self; he had no Child:
Eliezer
of
Damascus,
for want of a better, was to be his Heir:
Lot,
tho his Nephew, was excluded: He durst not own his own Wife: He had not one foot of Land, till he bought a Field for a burying-place: His three hundred and eighteen Men were Servants, (bought according to the custom of those days) or their Children; and the War he made with them, was like to
Gideon
's Enterprize; which shews only that God can save by a few as well as by many, but makes nothing to our Author's purpose. For if they had bin as many in number as the Army of
Semiramis,
they could have no relation to the Regal, much less to the Paternal Power; for a Father dos not buy, but beget Children.
Notwithstanding this, our Author bestows the proud Title of Lord Paramount upon him, and transmits it to
Isaac,
who was indeed a King like his Father, great, admirable, and glorious in Wisdom and Holiness, but utterly void of all worldly splendor or power. This spiritual Kingdom was inherited by
Jacob,
whose Title to it was not founded on Prerogative of Birth, but Election and peculiar Grace; but he never enjoy'd any other worldly Inheritance, than the Field and Cave which
Abraham
had bought for a burying-place, and the Goods he had gain'd in
Laban
's Service.
The Example of
Judah
his Sentence upon
Thamar
is yet farther from the purpose, if it be possible; for he was then a Member of a privat Family, the fourth Son of a Father then living; neither in possession, nor under the promise of the Privileges of Primogeniture, tho
Ruben, Simeon
and
Levi
fell from it by their Sins. Whatsoever therefore the Right was, which belong'd to the Head of the Family, it must have bin in
Jacob;
but as he profest himself a keeper of Sheep, as his Fathers had bin, the exercise of that Employment was so far from Regal, that it deserves no explication. If that Act of
Judah
is to be imputed to a Royal Power, I have as much as I ask: He, tho living with his Father, and elder Brothers, when he came to be of Age to have Children, had the same Power over such, as were of, or came into his Family, as his Father had over him; for none can go beyond the Power of Life and Death: The same in the utmost extent, cannot at the same time equally belong to many. If it be divided equally, it is no more than that Universal Liberty which God has given to Mankind; and every Man is a King till he devests himself of his Right, in consideration of something that he thinks better for him.
SECT. VIII.
Nimrod
was the first King, during the Life of
Chush, Cham, Shem,
and
Noah.
THE Creation is exactly describ'd in the Scripture; but we know so little of what past between the finishing of it and the Flood, that our Author may say what he pleases, and I may leave him to seek his Proofs where he can find them. In the mean time I utterly deny, that any Power did remain in the Heads of Familys after the Flood, that dos in the least degree resemble the Regal in Principle or Practice. If in this I am mistaken, such Power must have bin in
Noah,
and transmitted to one of his Sons. The Scripture says only, that he built an Altar, sacrific'd to the Lord, was a Husbandman, planted a Vineyard, and perform'd such Offices as bear nothing of the Image of a King, for the space of three hundred and fifty Years. We have reason to believe, that his Sons after his Death continu'd in the same manner of Life, and the Equality properly belonging to Brethren. 'Tis not easy to determin, whether
Shem
or
Japhet
were the Elder; but
Ham
is declar'd to be the younger:
Gen. 9.
and
Noah
's Blessing to
Shem
seems to be purely Prophetical and Spiritual, of what should be accomplish'd in his Posterity; with which
Japhet
should be persuaded to join. If it had bin worldly, the whole Earth must have bin brought under him, and have for ever continu'd in his Race, which never was accomplish'd, otherwise than in the Spiritual Kingdom of Christ, which relates not to our Author's Lord Paramount.
As to earthly Kings, the first of 'em was
Nimrod,
the sixth Son of
Chush
the Son of
Ham, Noah
's younger and accursed Son. This Kingdom was set up about a hundred and thirty Years after the Flood, whilst
Chush, Ham, Shem
and
Noah
were yet living: whereas if there were any thing of Truth in our Author's Proposition, all Mankind must have continu'd under the Government of
Noah
whilst he liv'd; and that Power must have bin transmitted to
Shem,
who liv'd about three hundred and seventy Years after the erection of
Nimrod
's Kingdom; and must have come to
Japhet
if he was the Elder, but could never come to
Cham,
who is declar'd to have bin certainly the Younger, and condemn'd to be a Servant to them both; much less to the younger Son of his Son, whilst he, and those to whom he and his Posterity were to be Subjects, were still living.
This Rule therefore, which the Partizans of Absolute Monarchy fancy to be universal and perpetual, falling out in its first beginning, directly contrary to what they assert; and being never known to have bin recover'd, were enough to silence them, if they had any thing of modesty or regard to Truth. But the matter may be carried farther: For the Scripture not only testifys, that this Kingdom of
Nimrod
was an Usurpation, void of all Right, proceeding from the most violent and mischievous Vices, but exercis'd with the utmost fury, that the most wicked Man of the accursed Race, who set himself up against God, and all that is good, could be capable of. The progress of this Kingdom was sutable to its Institution: that which was begun in wickedness, was carried on with madness, and produc'd Confusion. The mighty Hunter, whom the best Interpreters call a
cruel Tyrant,
receding from the simplicity and innocence of the Patriarchs, who were Husbandmen or Shepherds, arrogating to himself a Dominion over
Shem,
to whom he and his Fathers were to be Servants, did thereby so peculiarly become the Heir of God's Curse, that whatsoever has bin said to this day, of the Power that did most directly set it self against God and his People, has related literally to the
Babel
that he built, or figuratively to that which resembles it in Pride, Cruelty, Injustice and Madness.
But the shameless rage of some of these Writers is such, that they rather chuse to ascribe the beginning of their Idol to this odious Violence, than to own it from the consent of a willing People; as if they thought, that as all Action must be sutable to its Principle, so that which is unjust in its practice, ought to scorn to be deriv'd from that which is not detestable in its principle. 'Tis hardly worth our pains to examin whether the Nations, that went from
Babel
after the confusion of Languages, were more or less than seventy two, for they seem not to have gone according to Familys, but every one to have associated himself to those that understood his Speech; and the chief of the Fathers, as
Noah
and his Sons, were not there, or were subject to
Nimrod;
each of which Points doth destroy, even in the Root, all pretence to Paternal Government. Besides, 'tis evident in Scripture, that
Noah
liv'd three hundred and fifty Years after the Flood;
Shem
five hundred;
Abraham
was born about two hundred and ninety Years after the Flood, and liv'd one hundred seventy five Years: He was therefore born under the Government of
Noah,
and died under that of
Shem:
He could not therefore exercise a regal Power whilst he liv'd, for that was in
Shem:
So that in leaving his Country, and setting up a Family for himself, that never acknowledg'd any Superior, and never pretending to reign over any other, he fully shew'd he thought himself free, and to owe subjection to none: And being as far from arrogating to himself any Power upon the Title of Paternity, as from acknowledging it in any other, left every one to the same liberty.
The punctual enumeration of the Years that the Fathers of the holy Seed lived, gives us ground of making a more than probable conjecture, that they of the collateral Lines were, in number of days, not unequal to them; and if that be true,
Ham
and
Chush
were alive when
Nimrod
set himself up to be King. He must therefore have usurp'd this Power over his Father, Grandfather, and great Grandfather; or, which is more probable, he turn'd into Violence and Oppression the Power given him by a Multitude; which, like a Flock without a Shepherd, not knowing whom to obey, set him up to be their Chief. I leave to our Author the liberty of chusing which of these two dos best sute with his Paternal Monarchy; but as far as I can understand, the first is directly against it, as well as against the Laws of God and Man; the other being from the consent of the Multitude, cannot be extended farther than they would have it, nor turn'd to their prejudice, without the most abominable ingratitude and treachery, from whence no Right can be deriv'd, nor any justifiable Example taken.
Nevertheless, if our Author resolve that
Abraham
was also a King, he must presume that
Shem
did emancipate him, before he went to seek his Fortune. This was not a Kingly posture; but I will not contradict him, if I may know over whom he reign'd. Paternal Monarchy is exercis'd by the Father of the Family over his Descendents, or such as had bin under the Dominion of him whose Heir he is. But
Abraham
had neither of these: Those of his nearest Kindred continu'd in
Mesopotamia,
as appears by what is said of
Bethuel
and
Laban.
He had only
Lot
with him, over whom he pretended no right: He had no Children till he was a hundred Years old, (that is to say, he was a King without a Subject) and then he had but one. I have heard that
Omnisque potestas impatiens consortis erit.
Lucan.
Sovereigns do impatiently bear Competitors;
but now I find Subjection also doth admit of none.
Abraham
's Kingdom was too great when he had two Children; and to disburden it,
Ishmael
must be expel'd soon aster the birth of
Isaac.
He observ'd the same method after the death of
Sarah:
He had Children by
Keturah;
but he gave them Gifts and sent 'em away, leaving
Isaac
like a Stoical King reigning in and over himself, without any other Subject till the birth of
Jacob
and
Esau.
But his Kingdom was not to be of a larger extent than that of his Father: The two Twins could not agree:
Jacob
was sent away by his Mother; he reign'd over
Esau
only, and 'tis not easy to determin who was the Heir of his worldly Kingdom; for tho
Jacob
had the birth-right, we do not find he had any other Goods than what he had gotten in
Laban
's service. If our Author say true, the right of Primogeniture, with the Dominion perpetually annex'd by the Laws of God and Nature, must go to the eldest:
Isaac
therefore, tho he had not bin deceiv'd, could not have conser'd it upon the younger; for Man cannot overthrow what God and Nature have instituted.
Jacob,
in the Court-Language, had bin a double Rebel, in beguiling his Father, and supplanting his Brother: The blessing of being Lord over his Brethren, could not have taken place. Or if
Isaac
had Power, and his Act was good, the Prerogative of the Elder is not rooted in the Law of God or Nature, but is a matter of conveniency only, which may be chang'd at the Will of the Father, whether he know what he dos or not. But if this Paternal Right to Dominion were of any value, or Dominion over Men were a thing to be desir'd; why did
Abraham, Isaac,
and
Jacob,
content themselves with such a narrow Territory, when after the death of their Ancestors, they ought, according to that rule, to have bin Lords of the World? All Authors conclude that
Shem
was the eldest by birth, or prefer'd by the appointment of God, so as the Right must have bin in him, and from him transmitted to
Abraham
and
Isaac:
but if they were so possest with the contemplation of a Heavenly Kingdom, as not to care for the greatest on Earth; 'tis strange that
Esau,
whose modesty is not much commended, should so far forget his Interest, as neither to lay claim to the Empire of the World, nor dispute with his Brother the possession of the Field and Cave bought by
Abraham,
but rather to fight for a dwelling on Mount
Seir,
that was neither possest by, nor promis'd to his Fathers. If he was fallen from his Right,
Jacob
might have claim'd it; but God was his Inheritance, and being assur'd of his Blessing, he contented himself with what he could gain by his Industry, in a way that was not at all sutable to the Pomp and Majesty of a King. Which way soever therefore the business be turn'd, whether, according to
Isaac
's Blessing,
Esau
should serve
Jacob,
or to our Author's opinion,
Jacob
must serve
Esau,
neither of the two was effected in their Persons: And the Kingdom of two being divided into two, each of them remain'd Lord of himself.
SECT. IX. The Power of a Father belongs only to a Father.
THIS leads us to an easy determination of the Question, which our Author thinks insoluble;
If
Adam
was Lord of his Children, he dos not see how any can be free from the subjection of his Parents.
For as no good Man will ever desire to be free from the respect that is due to his Father, who did beget and educate him, no wise Man will ever think the like to be due to his Brother or Nephew that did neither. If
Esau
and
Jacob
were equally free; if
Noah,
as our Author affirms, divided
Europe, Asia,
and
Africa,
amongst his three Sons, tho he can't prove it; and if seventy two Nations under so many Heads or Kings went from
Babylon
to people the Earth, about a hundred and thirty years after the Flood, I know not why, according to the same rule and proportion, it may not be safely concluded, that in four thousand years Kings are so multiplied, as to be in number equal to the Men that are in the World; that is to say, they are, according to the Laws of God and Nature, all free, and independent upon each other, as
Shem, Ham,
and
Japhet
were. And therefore, tho
Adam
and
Noah
had reign'd alone when there were no Men in the World except such as issu'd from them, that is no reason why any other should reign over those that he has not begotten. As the Right of
Noah
was divided amongst the Children he lest, and when he was dead, no one of them depended on the other, because no one of them was Father of the other; and the Right of a Father can only belong to him that is so, the like must for ever attend every other Father in the World. This paternal Power must necessarily accrue to every Father: He is a King by the same Right as the Sons of
Noah;
and how numerous soever Familys may be upon the increase of Mankind, they are all free, till they agree to recede from their own Right, and join together in, or under one Government, according to such Laws as best please themselves.
SECT. X. Such as enter into Society, must in some degree diminish their Liberty.
REASON leads them to this: No one Man or Family is able to provide that which is requisite for their convenience or security, whilst every one has an equal Right to every thing, and none acknowledges a Superior to determin the Controversys, that upon such occasions must continually arise, and will probably be so many and great, that Mankind cannot bear them. Therefore tho I do not believe that
Bellarmin
said, a Commonwealth could not exercise its Power; for he could not be ignorant, that
Rome
and
Athens
did exercise theirs, and that all the Regular Kingdoms in the World are Commonwealths: yet there is nothing of absurdity in saying, That Man cannot continue in the perpetual and intire fruition of the Liberty that God has given him. The Liberty of one is thwarted by that of another; and whilst they are all equal, none will yield to any, otherwise than by a general consent. This is the ground of all just Governments; for Violence or Fraud can create no Right; and the same consent gives the Form to them all, how much soever they differ from each other. Some small numbers of Men, living within the Precincts of one City, have, as it were, cast into a common Stock, the Right which they had of governing themselves and Children; and by common Consent joining in one body, exercis'd such Power over every single Person as seem'd beneficial to the whole: and this Men call perfect
Democracy.
Others chose rather to be govern'd by a select number of such as most excell'd in Wisdom and Vertue; and this, according to the signification of the word, was call'd
Aristocracy:
Or when one Man excell'd all others, the Government was put into his hands under the name of
Monarchy.
But the wisest, best, and far the greatest part of Mankind, rejecting these simple Species, did form Governments mix'd or compos'd of the three, as shall be prov'd hereafter, which commonly receiv'd their respective Denomination from the Part that prevail'd, and did deserve praise or blame, as they were well or ill proportion'd.
It were a solly hereupon to say, that the Liberty for which we contend, is of no use to us, since we cannot endure the Solitude, Barbarity, Weakness, Want, Misery and Dangers that accompany it whilst we live alone, nor can enter into a Society without resigning it; for the choice of that Society, and the liberty of framing it according to our own Wills, for our own good, is all we seek. This remains to us whilst we sorm Governments, that we our selves are Judges how far 'tis good for us to recede srom our natural Liberty; which is of so great importance, that from thence only we can know whether we are Freemen or Slaves: and the difference between the best Government and the worst, dos wholly depend upon a right or wrong exercise of that Power. If Men are naturally free, such as have Wisdom and Understanding will always frame good Governments: But if they are born under the necessity of a perpetual Slavery, no Wisdom can be of use to them; but all must for ever depend on the Will of their Lords, how cruel, mad, proud or wicked soever they be.
SECT. XI. No Man comes to command many, unless by Consent or by Force.
BUT because I cannot believe God has created Man in such a state of Misery and Slavery as I just now mention'd; by discovering the vanity of our Author's whimsical Patriarchical Kingdom, I am led to a certain conclusion, That every Father of a Family is free and exempt from the domination of any other, as the seventy two that went from
Babel
were. 'Tis hard to comprehend how one Man can come to be master of many, equal to himself in Right, unless it be by Consent or by Force. If by Consent, we are at an end of our Controversys: Governments, and the Magistrats that execute them, are created by Man. They who give a being to them, cannot but have a right of regulating, limiting and directing them as best pleases themselves; and all our Author's Assertions concerning the absolute Power of one Man, fall to the ground: If by Force, we are to examin how it can be possible or justifiable. This subduing by Force we call Conquest; but as he that forces must be stronger than those that are forc'd, to talk of one Man who in strength exceeds many millions of Men, is to go beyond the extravagance of Fables and Romances. This Wound is not cur'd by saying, that he first conquers one, and then more, and with their help others: for as to matter of fact, the first news we hear of
Nimrod
is, that he reign'd over a great multitude, and built vast Citys; and we know of no Kingdom in the World, that did not begin with a greater number than any one Man could possibly subdue. If they who chuse one to be their Head, did under his conduct subdue others, they were Fellow-conquerors with him; and nothing can be more brutish, than to think, that by their Vertue and Valour they had purchas'd perpetual Slavery to themselves and their Posterity. But if it were possible, it could not be justifiable; and whilst our Dispute is concerning Right, that which ought not to be is no more to be receiv'd, than if it could not be. No Right can come by conquest, unless there were a Right of making that Conquest, which, by reason of the Equality that our Author confesses to have bin amongst the Heads of Familys, and as I have prov'd goes into Infinity, can never be on the Aggressor's side. No Man can justly impose any thing upon those who owe him nothing. Our Author therefore, who
ascribes the enlargement of
Nimrod
's Kingdom to Ʋ surpation and Tyranny,
might as well have acknowledg'd the same in the beginning, as he says all other Authors have done. However, he ought not to have imputed to Sir
Walter Raleigh
an Approbation of his Right, as Lord or King over his Family; sor he could never think him to be a Lord by the right of a Father, who by that rule must have liv'd and died a Slave to his Fathers that overliv'd him. Whosoever therefore like
Nimrod
grounds his pretensions of Right upon Usurpation and Tyranny, declares himself to be, like
Nimrod,
a Usurper and a Tyrant, that is, an Enemy to God and Man, and to have no Right at all. That which was unjust in its beginning, can of it self never change its nature.
Tempus in
e,
saith
Grotius, nullam habet vim effectricem.
He that persists in doing Injustice, aggravates it, and takes upon himself all the guilt of his Predecessors. But if there be a King in the World, that claims a Right by Conquest, and would justify it, he might do well to tell whom he conquer'd, when, with what assistance, and upon what reason he undertook the War: for he can ground no title upon the obscurity of an unsearchable antiquity; and if he dos it not, he ought to be look'd upon as a usurping
Nimrod.
SECT. XII. The pretended Paternal Right is divisible or indivisible: if divisible, 'tis extinguish'd; if indivisible, universal.
THis paternal right to Regality, if there be any thing in it, is divisible or indivisible; if indivisible, as
Adam
has but one Heir, one Man is rightly Lord of the whole World, and neither
Nimrod
nor any of his Successors could ever have bin Kings, nor the seventy two that went from
Babylon: Noah
surviv'd him near two hundred years:
Shem
continu'd one hundred and fifty years longer. The Dominion must have bin in him, and by him transmitted to his Posterity for ever. Those that call themselves Kings in all other Nations, set themselves up against the Law of God and Nature: This is the Man we are to seek out, that we may yield obedience to him. I know not where to find him; but he must be of the race of
Abraham. Shem
was prefer'd before his Brethren: The Inheritance that could not be divided must come to him, and from him to
Isaac,
who was the first of his Descendents that outliv'd him. 'Tis pity that
Jacob
did not know this, and that the Lord of all the Earth, thro ignorance of his Title, should be forc'd to keep one of his Subjects Sheep for wages; and strange, that he who had wit enough to supplant his Brother, did so little understand his own bargain, as not to know that he had bought the perpetual Empire of the World. If in conscience he could not take such a price for a dish of Pottage, it must remain in
Esau:
However our Lord Paramount must come from
Isaac.
If the Deed of Sale made by
Esau
be good, we must seek him amongst the
Jews;
if he could not so easily devest himself of his Right, it must remain amongst his Descendents, who are
Turks.
We need not scruple the reception of either, since the late
Scots
Act tells us,
That Kings derive their Royal Power from God alone; and no difference of Religion, &c. can divert the right of Succession.
But I know not what we shall do, if we cannot find this Man; for
de non apparentibus & non existentibus eadem est ratio.
The Right must fall if there be none to inherit: If we do not know who he is that has the Right, we do not know who is near to him: All Mankind must inherit the Right, to which every one has an equal title; and that which is Dominion, if in one, when 'tis equally divided among all Men, is that universal Liberty which I assert. Wherefore I leave it to the choice of such as have inherited our Author's opinions, to produce this
Jew
or
Turk
that ought to be Lord of the whole Earth, or to prove a better title in some other Person, and to persuade all the Princes and Nations of the World to submit: If this be not done, it must be confest this Paternal Right is a mere whimsical Fiction, and that no Man by birth has a Right above another, or can have any, unless by the concession of those who are concern'd.
If this Right to an universal Empire be divisible, and
Noah
did actually divide it among his three Sons: if seventy and two absolute Monarchs did at once arise out of the Multitude that had assembl'd at
Babel; Noah,
nor his Sons, nor any of the holy Seed, nor probably any elder than
Nimrod
having bin there; many other Monarchs must necessarily have arisen from them also.
Abraham,
as our Author says, was a King:
Lot
must have bin so also; for they were equals: his Sons
Ammon
and
Moab
had no dependence upon the Descendents of
Abraham: Ismael
and
Esau
set up for themselves, and great Nations came of them:
Abraham
's Sons by
Keturah
did so also; that is to say, every one as soon as he came to be of age to provide for himself, did so, without retaining any dependence upon the Stock from whence he came: Those of that Stock, or the Head of it, pretended to no Right over those who went from them. Nay, nearness in Blood was so little regarded, that tho
Lot
was
Abraham
's Brother's Son,
Eliezer
his Servant had bin his Heir, if he had died childless. The like continu'd among
Jacob
's Sons; no Jurisdiction was given to one above the rest: an equal division of Land was made amongst 'em: Their Judges and Magistrats were of several Tribes and Familys, without any other preference of one before another, than what did arise from the advantages God had given to any particular Person. This I take to be a proof of the utmost extent and certainty, that the Equality amongst Mankind was then perfect: He therefore that will deny it to be so now, ought to prove that neither the Prophets, Patriarchs, or any other Men did ever understand or regard the Law deliver'd by God and Nature to Mankind; or that having bin common and free at the first, and so continu'd for many hundreds of years after the Flood, it was afterwards abolish'd, and a new one introduc'd. He that asserts this must prove it; but till it dos appear to us, when, where, how, and by whom this was done, we may safely believe there is no such thing; and that no Man is or can be a Lord amongst us, till we make him so; and that by nature we are all Brethren.
Our Author, by endeavouring farther to illustrate the Patriarchical Power, destroys it, and cannot deny to any Man the Right which he acknowledges to have bin in
Ismael
and
Esau.
But if every Man has a Right of setting up for himself with his Family, or before he has any, he cannot but have a right of joining with others if he pleases; as his joining or not joining with others, and the choice of those others depends upon his own will, he cannot but have a right of judging upon what conditions 'tis good for him to enter into such a Society, as must necessarily hinder him from exercising the Right which he has originally in himself. But as it cannot be imagin'd that Men should generally put such Fetters upon themselves, unless it were in expectation of a greater good thereby to accrue to them, no more can be requir'd to prove that they do voluntarily enter into these Societys, institute them for their own good, and prescribe such Rules and Forms to them as best please themselves, without giving account to any. But if every Man be free, till he enter into such a Society as he chuses for his own good, and those Societys may regulate themselves as they think sit; no more can be requir'd to prove the natural Equality in which all Men are born, and continue, till they resign it as into a common stock, in such measure as they think fit for the constituting of Societys for their own good, which I assert, and our Author denies.
SECT. XIII. There was no shadow of a Paternal Kingdom amongst the Hebrews, nor precept for it.
OUR Author is so modest to confess, that
Jacob
's Kingdom, consisting of seventy two Persons, was swallow'd up by the power of the greater Monarch
Pharaoh:
But if this was an Act of Tyranny, 'tis strange that the sacred and eternal Right, grounded upon the immutable Laws of God and Nature, should not be restor'd to God's chosen People, when he deliver'd them from that Tyranny. Why was not
Jacob
's Monarchy confer'd upon his right Heir? How came the People to neglect a Point of such importance? Or if they did forget it, why did not
Moses
put 'em in mind of it? Why did not
Jacob
declare to whom it did belong? Or if he is understood to have declar'd it, in saying the Scepter should not depart srom
Judah,
why was it not deliver'd into his hands, or into his Heirs? If he was hard to be found in a People of one kindred, but four degrees remov'd from
Jacob
their Head, who were exact in observing Genealogys; how can we hope to find him after so many thousand years, when we do not so much as know from whom we are deriv'd? Or rather how comes that Right, which is eternal and universal, to have bin nip'd in the bud, and so abolish'd before it could take any effect in the World, as never to have bin heard of amongst the
Gentiles,
nor the People of God, either before or after the Captivity, from the death of
Jacob
to this day? This I assert, and I give up the Cause if I do not prove it. To this end I begin with
Moses
and
Aaron
the first Rulers of the People, who were neither of the eldest Tribe according to birth, nor the disposition of
Jacob,
if he did, or could give it to any; nor were they of the eldest Line of their own Tribe: and even between them the Superiority was given to
Moses,
who was the younger; as 'tis said,
I have made thee a God to
Pharaoh,
and
Aaron
thy Brother shall be thy Prophet.
If
Moses
was a King, as our Author says, but I deny, and shall hereafter prove, the matter is worse: He must have bin an Usurper of a most unjust Dominion over his Brethren; and this Patriarchical power, which by the Law of God was to be perpetually fix'd in his Descendents, perish'd with him, and his Sons continu'd in an obscure rank amongst the Levites.
Joshua
of the Tribe of
Ephraim
succeeded him;
Othniel
was of
Judah, Ehud
of
Benjamin, Barak
of
Napthalim,
and
Gideon
of
Manasseh.
The other Judges were of several Tribes; and they being dead, their Children lay hid among the common People, and we hear no more of 'em. The first King was taken out of the least Family of the least and youngest Tribe. The second, whilst the Children of the first King were yet alive, was the youngest of eight Sons of an obscure Man in the Tribe of
Judah: Solomon
one of his youngest Sons succeeded him: Ten Tribes deserted
Rehoboam,
and by the command of God set up
Joroboam
to be their King. The Kingdom of
Israel
by the destruction of one Family pass'd into another: That of
Judah
by God's peculiar promise continu'd in
David
's race till the Captivity; but we know not that the eldest Son was always prefer'd, and have no reason to presume it.
David
their most reverenced King left no precept sor it, and gave an example to the contrary: he did not set up the Eldest, but the Wisest. After the Captivity, they who had most wisdom or valour to defend the People, were thought most fit to command; and the Kingdom at the last came to the
Asmonean
Race, whilst the Posterity of
David
was buried in the mass of the common People, and utterly depriv'd of all worldly Rule or Glory. If the Judges had not a Regal Power, or the Regal were only just, as instituted by God, and eternally annex'd to Paternity, all that they did was evil: There could be nothing of Justice in the Powers exercis'd by
Moses, Joshua, Gideon, Samuel,
and the rest of the Judges. If the Power was regal and just, it must have continu'd in the Descendents of the first:
Saul, David,
and
Solomon
could never have bin Kings: The Right failing in them, their Descendents could inherit none from them; and the others after the Captivity were guilty of the like injustice.
Now as the Rule is not general, to which there is any one just exception, there is not one of these Examples that would not overthrow our Author's Doctrin: If one deviation from it were lawful, another might be, and so to infinity. But the utmost degree of impudent madness to which perhaps any Man in the world has ever arriv'd, is to assert that to be universal and perpetual, which cannot be verify'd by any one Example to have bin in any place of the World, nor justify'd by any Precept.
If it be objected, That all these things were done by God's immediat disposition: I answer, that it were an impious madness to believe that God did perpetually send his Prophets to overthrow what he had ordain'd from the beginning, and as it were in spite to bring the minds of Men into inextricable confusion and darkness; and by particular Commands to overthrow his universal and eternal Law. But to render this point more clear, I desire it may be consider'd, That we have but three ways of distinguishing between good and evil.
1. When God by his Word reveals it to us.
2. When by his Deeds he declares it; because that which he dos is good, as that which he says is true.
3. By the Light of Reason, which is good, in as much as it is from God.
And first; It cannot be said we have an explicit word for that continuance of the Power in the eldest; for it appears not, and having none, we might conclude it to be lest to our liberty: For it agrees not with the goodness of God to leave us in a perpetual ignorance of his Will in a matter of so great importance, nor to have suffer'd his own People, or any other, to persist, without the least reproof or admonition, in a perpetual opposition to it, if it had displeas'd him.
To the 2
d.
The Dispensations of his Providence, which are the emanations of his Will, have gone contrary to this pretended Law: There can therefore be no such thing; for God is constant to himself: his Works do not contradict his Word, and both of them do equally declare to us that which is good.
Thirdly; If there be any Precept that by the light of Nature we can in matters of this kind look upon as certain, 'tis that the Government of a People should be given to him that can best perform the Dutys of it: No Man has it sor himself, or from himsels; but for and from those who before he had it were his Equals, that he may do good to them. If there were a Man, who in Wisdom, Valour, Justice and Purity, surpass'd all others, he might be call'd a King by Nature, because he is best able to bear the weight of so great a charge; and like a good Shepherd to lead the People to good.
Detur digniori
is the voice of Reason and that we may be sure
Detur seniori
is not so,
Solomon
tells us,
That a wise Child is better than an old and foolish King.
But if this pretended Right do not belong to him that is truly the eldest, nothing can be more absurd than a fantastical pretence to a Right deduc'd from him that is not so. Now lest I should be thought to follow my own Inventions, and call them Reason, or the Light of God in us, I desire it may be observ'd that God himself has ever taken this method. When he rais'd up
Moses
to be the leader of his People, he endow'd him with the most admirable gifts of his Spirit that ever he bestow'd upon a Man: When he chose seventy Men to assist him, he endow'd them with the same spirit.
Joshua
had no other title to succeed him than the like evidence of God's Presence with him. When the People thro sin fell into misery, he did not seek out their Descendents, nor such as boasted in a prerogative of Birth; but shew'd whom he design'd for their Deliverer, by bestowing such gifts upon him as were requir'd for the performance of his work; and never fail'd of doing this, till that miserable sinful People rejecting God and his Government, desir'd that which was in use among their accursed Neighbours, that they might be as like to them in the most shameful Slavery to Man, as in the Worship of Idols set up against God.
But if this pretended Right be grounded upon no word or work of God, not the reason of Man, 'tis to be accounted a mere figment, that has nothing of truth in it.
SECT. XIV. If the paternal Right had included Dominion, and was to be transfer'd to a single Heir, it must perish if he were not known; and could be applied to no other Person.
HAving shew'd that the first Kings were not Fathers, nor the first Fathers Kings; that all the Kings of the
Jews
and
Gentiles
mention'd in Scripture came in upon Titles different from, and inconsistent with that of Paternity; and that we are not led by the Word nor the Works of God, nor the Reason of Man, or Light of Nature, to believe there is any such thing; we may safely conclude there never was any such thing, or that it never had any effect, which to us is the same. 'Tis as ridiculous to think of retrieving that, which from the beginning of the World was lost, as to create that which never was. But I may go farther, and affirm, that tho there had bin such a Right in the first Fathers of Mankind exercis'd by them, and for some ages individually transmitted to their eldest Sons, it must necessarily perish, since the Generations of Men are so confus'd, that no Man knows his own original, and consequently this Heir is no where to be found; for 'tis a folly for a Man to pretend to an Inheritance, who cannot prove himself to be the right Heir. If this be not true, I desire to know from which of
Noah
's Sons the Kings of
England, France,
or
Spain
do deduce their original; or what reason they can give why the title to Dominion, which is fancied to be in
Noah,
did rather belong to the first of their respective Races, that attain'd to the Crowns they now enjoy, than to the meanest Peasant of their Kingdoms; or how that can be transmitted to them, which was not in the first. We know that no Man can give what he has not; that if there be no giver, there is no gift; if there be no root, there can be no branch; and that the first point failing, all that should be deriv'd from it must necessarily fail.
Our Author, who is good at resolving difficultys, shews us an easy way out of this strait.
'Tis true,
says he,
all Kings are not natural Parents of their Subjects; yet they either are, or are to be reputed the next Heirs to those first Progenitors, who were at first the natural Parents of the whole People, and in their right succeed to the exercise of the supreme Jurisdiction: and such Heirs are not only Lords of their own Children, but also of their Brethren, and all those that were subject to their Father, &c. By this means it comes to pass, that many a Child succeeding a King, hath the right of a Father over many a grey-headed multitude, and hath the title of
Pater Patriae.
An Assertion comprehending so many Points, upon which the most important Rights of all Mankind do depend, might deserve some proof: But he being of opinion we ought to take it upon his credit, dos not vouchsafe to give us so much as the shadow of any. Nevertheless being unwilling either crudely to receive, or rashly to reject it, I shall take the liberty of examining the Proposition, and hope I may be pardon'd, if I dwell a little more than ordinarily upon that which is the foundation of his Work.
We are beholden to him for confessing modestly that all Kings are not the natural Fathers of their People, and sparing us the pains of proving, that the Kings of
Persia,
who reign'd from the
Indies
to the
Hellespont,
did not beget all the Men that liv'd in those Countrys; or that the Kings of
France
and
Spain,
who began to reign before they were five years old, were not the natural Fathers of the Nations under them. But if all Kings are not Fathers, none are, as they are Kings: If any one is, or ever was, the Rights of Paternity belong to him, and to no other who is not so also. This must be made evident; for matters of such importance require proof, and ought not to be taken upon supposition. If
Filmer
therefore will pretend that the right of Father belongs to any one King, he must prove that he is the Father of his People; for otherwise it dos not appertain to him: he is not the Man we seek.
'Tis no less absurd to say he is to be reputed Heir to the first Progenitor: for it must be first prov'd, that the Nation did descend from one single Progenitor without mixture of other races: That this Progenitor was the Man, to whom
Noah
(according to
Filmer
's whimsical division of
Asia, Europe,
and
Africa
among his Sons) did give the Land now inhabited by that People: That this Division so made was not capable of Subdivisions; and that this Man is by a true and uninterrupted Succession descended from the first and eldest Line of that Progenitor: and all fails, if every one of these points be not made good. If there never was any such Man who had that Right, it cannot be inherited from him. If by the same rule that a parcel of the World was allotted to him, that parcel might be subdivided amongst his Children as they increas'd, the subdivisions may be infinite, and the right of Dominion thereby destroy'd. If several Nations inhabit the same Land, they owe obedience to several Fathers: that which is due to their true Father, cannot be render'd to him that is not so; for he would by that means be depriv'd of the Right which is inseparably annex'd to his Person: And lastly, whatsoever the Right of an Heir may be, it can belong only to him that is Heir.
Lest any should be seduc'd from these plain Truths by frivolous suggestions, 'tis good to consider that the title of
Pater Patriae,
with which our Author would cheat us, has no relation to the matters of Right, upon which we dispute. 'Tis a figurative speech, that may have bin rightly enough applied to some excellent Princes on account of their care and love to their People, resembling that of a Father to his Children; and can relate to none but those who had it. No man that had common sense, or valu'd truth, did ever call
Phalaris, Dionysius, Nabis, Nero,
or
Caligula,
Fathers of their Countrys; but Monsters, that to the utmost of their power endeavour'd their destruction: which is enough to prove, that sacred Name cannot be given to all, and in consequence to none but such, as by their Virtue, Piety, and good Government do deserve it.
These matters will yet appear more evident, if it be consider'd, that tho
Noah
had reign'd as a King; that
Zoroaster,
as some suppose, was
Ham,
who reign'd over his Children, and that thereby some Right might perhaps be deriv'd to such as succeeded them; yet this can have no influence upon such as have not the like Original: and no man is to be presum'd to have it, till it be prov'd, since we have prov'd that many had it not. If
Nimrod
set himself up against his Grandfather; and if
Ninus,
who was descended from him in the fifth Generation, slew him, they ill deserv'd the name and rights of Fathers; and none, but those who have renounc'd all Humanity, Virtue, and common Sense, can give it to them, or their Successors. If therefore
Noah
and
Shem
had not so much as the shadow of Regal Power, and the actions of
Nimrod, Ninus,
and others who were Kings in their times, shew they did not reign in the right of Fathers, but were set up in a direct opposition to it, the titles of the first Kings were not from Paternity, nor consistent with it.
Our Author therefore, who should have prov'd every point, dos neither prove any one, nor assert that which is agreeable to divine or human Story, as to matter of fact; and as little conformable to common sense. It dos not only appear contrary to his general Proposition, That all Governments have not begun with the Paternal Power; but we do not find that any ever did. They who according to his rules should have bin Lords of the whole Earth, liv'd and died private men, whilst the most wicked and boisterous of their Children commanded the greatest part of the then inhabited World, not excepting even those Countrys where they spent and ended their days; and instead of entring upon the Government by the right of Fathers, or managing it as Fathers, they did by the most outrageous injustice usurp a violent Domination over their Brethren and Fathers.
It may easily be imagin'd what the Right is that could be thus acquir'd, and transmitted to their Successors. Nevertheless our Author says,
All Kings either are, or ought to be reputed next Heirs,
&c. But why reputed, if they are not? How could any of the accursed race of
Ham
be reputed Father of
Noah
or
Shem,
to whom he was to be a Servant? How could
Nimrod
and
Ninus
be reputed Fathers of
Ham,
and of those whom they ought to have obey'd? Can Reason oblige me to believe that which I know to be false? Can a Lie, that is hateful to God and good Men, not only be excus'd, but enjoin'd, when (as he will perhaps say) it is for the King's Service? Can I serve two Masters, or, without the most unpardonable injustice, repute him to be my Father, who is not my Father; and pay the obedience due to him who did beget and educate me, to one from whom I never receiv'd any good? If this be so absurd, that no man dares affirm it in the person of any, 'tis as preposterous in relation to his Heirs: For
Nimrod
the first King could be Heir to no man as King, and could transmit to no man a Right which he had not. If it was ridiculous and abominable to say that he was Father of
Chush, Ham, Shem
and
Noah;
'tis as ridiculous to say, he had the Right of Father, if he was not their Father; or that his Successors inherited it from him, if he never had it. If there be any way thro this, it must have accru'd to him by the extirpation of all his Elders, and their Races; so as he who will assert this pretended Right to have bin in the
Babylonian
Kings, must assert, that
Noah, Shem, Japhet, Ham, Chush,
and all
Nimrod
's elder Brothers, with all their Descendents, were utterly extirpated before he began to reign, and all Mankind to be descended from him.
This must be, if
Nimrod,
as the Scripture says, was the first that became mighty in the Earth; unless men might be Kings, without having more Power than others: for
Chush, Ham
and
Noah
were his Elders and Progenitors in the direct Line, and all the Sons of
Shem
and
Japhet,
and their Descendents in the Collaterals, were to be prefer'd before him; and he could have no Right at all that was not directly contrary to those Principles which, our Author says, are grounded upon the eternal and indispensable Laws of God and Nature. The like may be said of the seventy two Heads of Colonys, which (following, as I suppose, Sir
Walter Raleigh)
he says went out to people the Earth, and whom he calls Kings: for according to the same Rule,
Noah, Shem
and
Japhet,
with their Descendents, could not be of the number; so that neither
Nimrod,
nor the others that establish'd the Kingdoms of the World, and from whence he thinks all the rest to be deriv'd, could have any thing of Justice in them, unless it were from a Root altogether inconsistent with his Principles. They are therefore false, or the Establishments beforemention'd could have no Right. If they had none, they cannot be reputed to have any; for no man can think that to be true, which he knows to be false: having none, they could transmit none to their Heirs and Successors. And if we are to believe, that all the Kingdoms of the Earth are establish'd upon this Paternal Right; it must be prov'd that all those, who in birth ought to have bin prefer'd before
Nimrod,
and the seventy two, were extirpated; or that the first and true Heir of
Noah
did afterwards abolish all these unjust Usurpations; and making himself Master of the whole, left it to his Heirs, in whom it continues to this day. When this is done, I will acknowledg the Foundation to be well laid, and admit of all that can be rightly built upon it; but if this fails, all fails: The poison of the Root continues in the Branches. If the right Heir be not in possession, he is not the right who is in possession: If the true Heir be known, he ought to be restor'd to his Right: If he be not known, the Right must perish: For nothing can be said to belong to any man, if no man knows to whom it belongs, and can have no more effect than if it were not. This conclusion will continue unmovable, tho the division into seventy two Kingdoms were allow'd; which cannot be without destroying the Paternal Power, or subjecting it to be subdivided into as many parcels as there are men, which destroys Regality; for the same thing may be requir'd in every one of the distinct Kingdoms, and others deriv'd from them. Or we must know who was that true Heir of
Noah,
that recover'd all: How, when, and to whom he gave the several Portions; and that every one of them do continue in the possession of those, who by this prerogative of Birth are rais'd above the rest of mankind: and if they are not, 'tis an impious folly to repute them so, to the prejudice of those that are; and if they do not appear, to the prejudice of all mankind; who being equal, are thereby made subject to them. For as Truth is the Rule of Justice; there can be none, when he is reputed superior to all who is certainly inferior to
[In this place two Pages are wanting in the Original Manuscript.]
—degenerated from that Reason which distinguishes men from beasts. Tho it may be fit to use some Ceremonys before a man be admitted to practise Physick, or set up a Trade, 'tis his own Skill that makes him a Doctor or an Artificer, and others do but declare it. An Ass will not leave his stupidity, tho he be cover'd with Scarlet; and he that is by nature a Slave, will be so still, tho a Crown be put upon his Head: and 'tis hard to imagin a more violent inversion of the Laws of God and Nature, than to raise him to the Throne, whom Nature intended for the Chain; or to make them Slaves to Slaves, whom God has endow'd with the Virtues requir'd in Kings. Nothing can be more preposterous, than to impute to God the frantick Domination, which is often exercis'd by wicked, foolish and vile Persons, over the wise, valiant, just and good; or to subject the best to the rage of the worst. If there be any Family therefore in the world, that can by the Law of God and Nature, distinct from the Ordinance of Man, pretend to an hereditary Right of Dominion over any People, it must be one that never did, and never can produce any Person that is not free from all the Infirmitys and Vices that render him unable to exercise the Sovereign Power; and is endow'd with all the Virtues requir'd to that end; or at least a Promise from God, verify'd by Experience, that the next in Blood shall ever be able and fit for that work. But since we do not know that any such has yet appear'd in the World, we have no reason to believe that there is, or ever was any such; and consequently none upon whom God has confer'd the Rights that cannot be exercis'd without them.
If there was no shadow of a Paternal Right in the Institution of the Kingdoms of
Saul
and
David,
there could be none in those that succeeded.
Rehoboam
could have no other than from
Solomon:
When he reign'd over two Tribes, and
Jeroboam
over ten, 'tis not possible that both of 'em could be the next Heir of their last common Father
Jacob;
and 'tis absurd to say, that ought to be reputed which is impossible: for our thoughts are ever to be guided by Truth, or such an appearance of it, as dos persuade or convince us.
The same Title of Father is yet more ridiculously or odiously apply'd to the succeeding Kings.
Baasha
had no other Title to the Crown, than by killing
Nadab
the Son of
Jeroboam,
and destroying his Family.
Zimri
purchas'd the same honour by the slaughter of
Elah
when he was drunk, and dealing with the House of
Baasha,
as he had done with that of
Jeroboam. Zimri
burning himself, transfer'd the same to
Omri,
as a reward for bringing him to that extremity. As
Jehu
was more fierce than these, he seems to have gain'd a more excellent recompence than any since
Jeroboam,
even a conditional Promise of a perpetual Kingdom; but falling from these glorious Privileges, purchas'd by his Zeal in killing two wicked Kings, and above one hundred of their Brethren,
Shallum
must have inherited them, by destroying
Zachary
and all that remain'd of his Race. This in plain English is no less than to say, that whosoever kills a King, and invades a Crown, tho the act and means of accomplishing it be never so detestable, dos thereby become Father of his Country, and Heir of all the Divine Privileges annex'd to that glorious Inheritance. And tho I cannot tell whether such a Doctrin be more sottish, monstrous or impious, I dare affirm, that if it were receiv'd, no King in the World could think himself safe in his Throne for one day: They are already encompast with many dangers; but lest Pride, Avarice, Ambition, Lust, Rage, and all the Vices that usually reign in the hearts of worldly men, should not be sufficient to invite 'em perpetually to disturb Mankind, thro the desire of gaining the Power, Riches and Splendor that accompany a Crown, our Author proposes to 'em the most sacred Privileges, as a reward of the most execrable Crimes. He that was stir'd up only by the violence of his own Nature, thought that a Kingdom could never be bought at too dear a rate;
—Pro Regno velim
Patriam, Penates, conjugem flammis dare:
Imperia precio quolibet constant bene.
Senec. Theb.
But if the sacred Character of God's Anointed or Vicegerent, and Father of a Country, were added to the other Advantages that follow the highest Fortunes; the most modest and just men would be fill'd with fury, that they might attain to them. Nay, it may be, even the best would be the most forward in conspiring against such as reign: they who could not be tempted with external Pleasures, would be most in love with divine Privileges; and since they should become the sacred Ministers of God, if they succeeded, and Traitors or Rogues only if they miscarried, their only care would be so to lay their Designs, that they might be surely executed. This is a Doctrin worthy of
Filmer
's Invention, and
Heylin
's Approbation; which being well weigh'd, will shew to all good and just Kings how far they are oblig'd to those, who under pretence of advancing their Authority, fill the minds of men with such Notions as are so desperatly pernicious to them.
SECT. XVI. The Antients chose those to be Kings, who excell'd in the Virtues that are most beneficial to Civil Societys.
IF the
Israelites,
whose Lawgiver was God, had no King in the first Institution of their Government, 'tis no wonder that other Nations should not think themselves oblig'd to set up any: if they who came all of one stock, and knew their Genealogys, when they did institute Kings, had no regard to our Author's Chimerical right of Inheritance, nor were taught by God or his Prophets to have any; 'tis not strange that Nations, who did not know their own Original, and who probably, if not certainly, came of several Stocks, never put themselves to the trouble of seeking one, who by his birth deserv'd to be prefer'd before others: and various Changes happening in all Kingdoms (whereby in process of time the Crowns were transported into divers Familys, to which the Right of Inheritance could not without the utmost impiety and madness be imputed) such a fancy certainly could only enter into the heads of Fools; and we know of none so foolish to have harbour'd it.
The
Grecians,
amongst others who follow'd the Light of Reason, knew no other original Title to the Government of a Nation, than that Wisdom, Valour and Justice, which was beneficial to the People. These Qualitys gave beginning to those Governments, which we call
Heroum Regna;
and the Veneration paid to such as enjoy'd them, proceeded from a grateful sense of the Good receiv'd from them: They were thought to be descended from the Gods, who in Vertue and Beneficence surpass'd other men: The same attended their Descendents, till they came to abuse their Power, and by their Vices shew'd themselves like to, or worse than others. Those Nations did not seek the most antient, but the most worthy; and thought such only worthy to be prefer'd before others, who could best perform their Duty. The
Spartans
knew that
Hercules
and
Achilles
were not their Fathers, for they were a Nation before either of them were born; but thinking their Children might be like to them in Valour, they brought them from
Thebes
and
Epirus
to be their Kings. If our Author is of another opinion, I desire to know, whether the
Heraclidae,
or the
Aeacidae
were, or ought to be reputed Fathers of the
Lacedemonians;
for if the one was, the other was not.
The same method was follow'd in
Italy;
and they who esteem'd themselves
—Qui rupto robore nati
Compositi
Luto, millos habuere parentes.
Juven. Sat. 6.
Aborigines,
could not set up one to govern them under the Title of
Parent.
They could pay no veneration to any Man under the name of a common Father, who thought they had none; and they who esteem'd themselves equal, could have no reason to prefer any one, unless he were distinguish'd from others by the Vertues that were beneficial to all. This may be illustrated by matters of fact.
Romulus
and
Remus,
the Sons of a Nun, constuprated, as is probable, by a lusty Soldier, who was said to be
Mars,
for their Vigour and Valour were made heads of a gather'd People. We know not that ever they had any Children; but we are sure they could not be Fathers of the People that flock'd to them from several places, nor in any manner be reputed Heirs of him or them that were so: for they never knew who was their own Father; and when their Mother came to be discover'd, they ought to have bin Subjects to
Amulius
or
Numitor.
They could not be his Heirs whilst he liv'd, and were not when he died: The Government of the
Latins
continu'd at
Alba,
and
Romulus
reign'd over those who join'd with him in building
Rome.
The Power not coming to him by Inheritance, must have bin gain'd by Force, or confer'd upon him by Consent: It could not be acquir'd by Force; for one Man could not force a multitude of fierce and valiant men, as they appear to have bin. It must therefore have bin by Consent: And when he aim'd at more Authority than they were willing to allow, they slew him. He being dead, they fetch'd
Numa
from among the
Sabines:
He was not their Father, nor Heir to their Father, but a Stranger; not a Conqueror, but an unarm'd Philosopher.
Tullus Hostilius
had no other Title:
Ancus Martius
was no way related to such as had reign'd. The first
Tarquin
was the Son of a banish'd
Corinthian. Servius Tullus
came to
Rome
in the belly of his captive Mother, and could inherit nothing but Chains from his vanquish'd Father.
Tarquin
the Proud murder'd him, and first took upon himself the Title of King,
sine jussu Populi.
If this
T. Liv.
Murder and Usurpation be call'd a Conquest, and thought to create a Right, the effect will be but small: The Conqueror was soon conquer'd, banish'd, and his Sons slain, after which we hear no more of him or his Descendents. Whatsoever he gain'd from
Servius,
or the People, was soon lost, and did accrue to those that conquer'd and ejected him; and they might retain what was their own, or confer it upon one or more, in such manner and measure as best pleas'd themselves. If the Regal Power, which our Author says was in the Consuls, could be divided into two parts, limited to a Year, and suffer such restrictions as the People pleas'd to lay upon it, they might have divided it into as many parcels, and put it into such form, as best suted with their Inclinations; and the several Magistracys which they did create for the exercise of the Kingly, and all other Powers, shews they were to give account to none but themselves.
The
Israelites, Spartans, Romans
and others, who thus fram'd their Governments according to their own Will, did it not by any peculiar Priviledg, but by a universal Right confer'd upon them by God and Nature: They were made of no better Clay than others: They had no Right, that dos not as well belong to other Nations; that is to say, The Constition of every Government is refer'd to those who are concern'd in it, and no other has any thing to do with it.
Yet if it be asserted, that the Goverment of
Rome
was Paternal, or they had none at all; I desire to know, how they came to have six Fathers of several Familys, whilst they liv'd under Kings; and two or more new ones every Year afterwards: Or how they came to be so excellent in Vertue and Fortune, as to conquer the best part of the World, if they had no Government.
Hobbs
indeed dos scurrilously deride
Cicero, Plato
and
Aristotle, Caeteros
que
Romanae & Graecae Anarchiae fautores.
But 'tis strange that this Anarchy, which he resembles to a Chaos, full of darkness and confusion, that can have no Strength or regular Action, should overthrow all the Monarchys that came within their reach,
If
(as our Authors says)
the best order, greatest strength, and most stability be in them.
It must therefore be confest, that these Governments are, in their various Forms, rightly instituted by several Nations, without any regard to Inheritance; or that these Nations have had no Governments, and were more strong, vertuous and happy without Government, than under it, which is most absurd.
But if Governments arise from the Consent of Men, and are instituted by Men according to their own Inclinations, they do therein seek their own Good; for the Will is ever drawn by some real Good, or the appearance of it. This is that which man seeks by all the regular or irregular motions of his mind: Reason and Passion, Vertue and Vice do herein concur, tho they differ vastly in the Objects, in which each of 'em thinks this Good to consist. A People therefore that sets up Kings, Dictators, Consuls, Pretors or Emperors, dos it not, that they may be great, glorious, rich or happy, but that it may be well with themselves and their Posterity. This is not accomplish'd simply by setting one, a few, or more men in the administration of Powers, but by placing the Authority in those who may rightly perform their Office. This is not every man's Work: Valour, Integrity, Wisdom, Industry, Experience and Skill, are requir'd for the management of those Military and Civil Affairs that necessarily fall under the care of the chief Magistrats. He or they therefore may reasonably be advanc'd above their Equals, who are most fit to perform the Dutys belonging to their Stations, in order to the publick Good, for which they were instituted.
Marius, Sylla, Catiline, Julius
or
Octavius Caesar,
and all those who by force or fraud usurp'd a Dominion over their Brethren, could have no Title to this Right; much less could they become Fathers of the People, by using all the most wicked means that could well be imagin'd to destroy them; and not being regularly chosen for their Vertues, or the opinion of them, nor prefer'd on account of any Prerogative that had bin from the beginning annex'd to their Familys, they could have no other Right than Occupation could confer upon them. If this can confer a Right, there is an end of all Disputes concerning the Laws of God or Man. If
Julius
and
Octavius Caesar
did successively become Lords and Fathers of their Country, by slaughtering almost all the Senat, and such Persons as were eminent for Nobility or Vertue, together with the greater part of the People, it cannot be denied, that a Thief, who breaks into his Neighbour's House, and kills him, is justly Master of his Estate; and may exact the same obedience from his Children, that they render'd to their Father. If this Right could be transfer'd to
Tiberius,
either thro the malice of
Octavius,
or the fraud of his Wife; a wet Blanket laid over his face, and a few corrupted Soldiers could invest
Caligula
with the same. A vile Rascal pulling
Claudius
out by the heels from behind the Hangings where he had hid himself, could give it to him. A dish of Mushrooms well season'd by the infamous Strumpet his Wife, and a Potion prepar'd for
Britannicus
by
Locusta,
could transfer it to her Son, who was a stranger to his Blood.
Galba
became Heir to it, by driving
Nero
to despair and death. Two common Soldiers by exciting his Guards to kill him, could give a just Tittle to the Empire of the World to
Otho,
who was thought to be the worst man in it. If a Company of Villains in the
German
Army, thinking it as fit for them as others to create a Father of Mankind, could conser the Dignity upon
Vitellius;
and if
Vespasian,
causing him to be kill'd, and thrown into a Jakes less impure than his Life, did inherit all the glorious and sacred Privileges belonging to that Title, 'tis in vain to inquire after any man's right to any thing.
But if there be such a thing as Right or Wrong to be examin'd by men, and any Rules set, whereby the one may be distinguish'd from the other; these Extravagancys can have no effect of Right. Such as commit 'em, are not to be look'd upon as Fathers, but as the most mortal Enemys of their respective Countrys. No Right is to be acknowledg'd in any, but such as is confer'd upon them by those who have the right of conferring, and are concern'd in the exercise of the Power, upon such conditions as best please themselves. No Obedience can be due to him or them, who have not a right of commanding; which cannot reasonably be confer'd upon any, that are not esteem'd willing and able rightly to execute it. This ability to perform the highest Works that come within the reach of Men; and integrity of Will not to be diverted from it by any temptation, or consideration of privat Advantages, comprehending all that is most commendable in Man; we may easily see, that whensoever men act according to the Law of their own Nature, which is Reason, they can have no other rule to direct them in advancing one above another, than the opinion of a man's Vertue and Ability, best to perform the Duty incumbent upon him; that is, by all means to procure the good of the People committed to his charge. He is only fit to conduct a Ship, who understands the Art of a Pilot: When we are sick, we seek the assistance of such as are best skill'd in Physick: The Command of an Army is prudently confer'd upon him that has most Industry, Skill, Experience and Valour: In like manner, He only can, according to the rules of Nature, be advanc'd to the Dignitys of the World, who excels in the Vertues requir'd for the performance of the Dutys annex'd to them; for he only can answer the end of his Institution, The Law of every i
stituted Power, is to accomplish the end of its Institution, as Creature are to do the Will of their Creator, and in deflecting from it, overthro
their own being. Magistrats are distinguish'd from other men, by th Power with which the Law invests them for the publick Good: He tha cannot or will not procure that Good, destroys his own being, and becomes like to other men. In matters of the greatest importance,
Detudigniori
is the Voice of Nature; all her most sacred Laws are perverted if this be not observ'd in the disposition of Governments; and all ar
neglected and violated, if they are not put into the hands of such as exce in all manner of Vertues: for they only are worthy of them, and they only can have a right who are worthy, because they only can perform th
end for which they are instituted. This may seem strange to those, wh
have their heads infected with
Filmer
's whimsys; but to others, so certainly grounded upon Truth, that
La razon es porque siempre se ha de tener respeto al fin y causa final, por el qual, el tal supremo y universal Sennor se les pone, que es su bien y utilitad; y a que no se le conv
erte el tal supremo Sennorio in danno, pernicie y destruycion. Porque si assi fuesse, no ay que dudar, que non desde entonces inclusivamente ser
a injusto, Tyrannico y iniquo tal Sennorio, come mas se enderezasse al proprio interesse y provecho del Sennor, que al bien y utilitad comun de los Subditos; lo qual de la razon natural y de todas las Leyes humanas y divinas es abhorrecido y abhorrescible.
Bar. de las Casas destr. de las Indias, pag. 111.
Bartolomeo de las Casas
Bishop o
Chiapa,
in a Treatise written by him, and dedicated to the Empero
Charles
V. concerning the
Indies,
makes it the foundation of all his Discourse, That notwithstanding his grant of all those Countrys from the Pope, and his pretensions to Conquest, he could have no right over any of those Nations, unless he did in the first place, as the principal end, regard their Good:
The reason,
says he,
is, that regard is to be had to the principal End and Cause, for which a supreme or universal Lord is set over them, which is their good and profit, and not that it should turn to their destruction and ruin; for if that should be, there is no doubt but from thence forward, that Power would be tyrannical and unjust, as tending more to the interest and profit of that Lord, than to the publick good and profit of the Subjects; which, according to natural Reason, and the Laws of God and Man, is abhor'd, and deserves to be abhor'd.
And in another place, speaking of the Governors, who, abusing their Power, brought many troubles and vexations upon the Indians; he says,
El yugo y governacion de Vuestra Magestad importable, Tirannico y degno de todo abhorrecimiento. Pag. 167.
They had rendred his Majesty's Government intolerable, and his Yoke insupportable, tyrannical, and most justly abhor'd.
I do not alledg this thro an opinion, that a
Spanish
Bishop is of more Authority than another man; but to shew, that these are common Notions agreed by all Mankind; and that the greatest Monarchs do neither refuse to hear them, or to regulate themselves according to them, till they renounce common sense, and degenerate into Beasts.
But if that Government be unreasonable, and abhor'd by the Laws of God and Man, which is not instituted for the good of those who live under it; and an Empire grounded upon the Donation of the Pope, which amongst those of the
Roman
Religion is of great importance, and an intire conquest of the People, with whom there had bin no former Compact, do degenerate into a most unjust and detestable Tyranny, so soon as the Supreme Lord begins to prefer his own interest or profit before the good of his Subjects; What shall we say of those who pretend to a right of Dominion over free Nations, as inseparably united to their Persons, without distinction of Age or Sex, or the least consideration of their Infirmitys and Vices; as if they were not plac'd in the Throne for the good of their People, but to enjoy the Honours and Pleasures that attend the highest Fortune? What name can be fit for those, who have no other Title to the Places they possess, than the most unjust and violent Usurpation; or being descended from those, who for their Vertues were, by the Peoples consent, duly advanc'd to the exercise of a legitimate Power, and having sworn to administer it, according to the Conditions upon which it was given, for the good of those who gave it, turn all to their own Pleasure and Profit, without any care of the Publick? These may be liable to hard Censures: but those who use them most gently, must confess, that such an extreme deviation from the end of their Institution, annuls it; and the Wound thereby given to the natural and original Rights of those Nations cannot be cur'd, unless they resume the Libertys of which they have bin depriv'd, and return to the antient Custom of chusing those to be Magistrats, who for their Vertues best deserve to be prefer'd before their Brethren, and are endow'd with those Qualitys that best enable men to perform the great end of providing for the publick Safety.
SECT. XVII. God having given the Government of the World to no one Man, nor declar'd how it should be divided, left it to the VVill of Man.
OUR Author's next Inquiry is,
What becomes of the Right of Fatherhood, in case the Crown should escheat for want of an Heir? Whether it doth not escheat to the People?
His answer is,
'Tis but the negligence or ignorance of the People, to lose the knowledg of the true Heir, &c.
And a little below,
The Power is not devolv'd to the Multitude: No; the Kingly Power escheats on independent Heads of Familys: All such prime Heads have Power to consent in the uniting, or conferring their Fatherly Right of Sovereign Authority on whom they please; and he that is so elected, claims not his Power as a Donative from the People, but as being substituted by God, from whom he receives his Royal Charter of Universal Father, &c.
In my opinion, before he had ask'd, What should be done in case the Crown should escheat for want of an Heir? he ought to have prov'd, there had bin a Man in the world, who had the Right in himself, and telling who he was, have shew'd how it had bin transmitted for some Generations, that we might know where to seek his Heir: and before he accus'd the Multitude of ignorance or negligence, in not knowing this Heir, he ought to have inform'd us, how it may be possible to know him, or what it would avail us if we did know him; for 'tis in vain to know to whom a Right belongs, that never was, and never can be executed. But we may go farther, and affirm, that as the Universal Right must have bin in
Noah
and
Shem
(if in any) who never exercis'd it; we have reason to believe there never was any such thing: And having prov'd from Scripture and Human History, That the first Kingdoms were set up in a direct opposition to this Right, by
Nimrod
and others, he that should seek and find their Heirs, would only find those, who by a most accursed Wickedness, had usurp'd and continu'd a Dominion over their Fathers, contrary to the Laws of God and Nature; and we should neither be more wise, nor more happy than we are, tho our Author should furnish us with certain and authentick Genealogys, by which we might know the true Heirs of
Nimrod,
and the seventy two Kings that went from
Babylon,
who, as he supposes, gave beginning to all the Kingdoms of the Earth.
Moreover, if the Right be Universal, it must be in one; for the World being butone, the whole Right of commanding it cannot at the same time be in many, and proceed from the Ordinance of God, or of Man. It cannot proceed from the Ordinance of God; for he dos nothing in vain: He never gave a Right that could not be executed. No man can govern that which he dos not so much as know: No man did ever know all the World; no man therefore did or could govern it: and none could be appointed by God to do that which is absolutely impossible to be done; for it could not consist with his Wisdom. We find this in our selves. It were a shame for one of us poor, weak, short-sighted Creatures, in the disposal of our Affairs, to appoint such a method, as were utterly ineffectual for the Preservation of our Familys, or destructive to them; and the blasphemy of imputing to God such an Ordinance as would be a reproach to one of us, can sute only with the wicked and impudent Fury of such as our Author, who delights in Monsters. This also shews us that it cannot be from Men: One, or a few, may commit Follys, but Mankind dos not universally commit, and perpetually persist in any: They cannot therefore, by a general and permanent Authority, enact that which is utterly absurd and impossible; or if they do, they destroy their own Nature, and can no longer deserve the Name of reasonable Creatures. There can be therefore no such man; and the Folly of seeking him, or his Heir that never was, may be left to the Disciples of
Filmer.
The Difficultys are as great, if it be said, The World might be divided into parcels, and we are to seek the Heirs of the first Possessors; for besides that no man can be oblig'd to seek that which cannot be found, (all men knowing that
Caliginosa nocte haec premit Deus)
and that the Genealogys of Mankind are so confus'd, that, unless possibly among the
Jews,
we have reason to believe there is not a man in the world who knows his own Original, it could be of no advantage to us tho we knew that of every one; for the Division would be of no value, unless it were at the first rightly made by him who had all the Authority in himself, (which dos no where appear) and rightly deduc'd to him, who, according to that division, claims a right to the Parcel he enjoys. And I fear our Author would terribly shake the Crowns, in which the Nations of
Europe
are concern'd, if they should be persuaded to search into the Genealogys of their Princes, and to judg of their Rights according to the proofs they should give of Titles rightly deduc'd by succession of Blood from the seventy two first Kings, from whom our Author fancys all the Kingdoms of the World to be deriv'd.
Besides, tho this were done, it would be to no purpose; for the seventy two were not sent out by
Noah,
nor was he or his Sons of that number; but they went, or were sent, from
Babylon
where
Nimrod
reign'd, who, as has bin already prov'd, neither had, nor could have any right at all, but was a mighty Hunter, even a proud and cruel Tyrant, usurping a Power to which he had no right, and which was perpetually exercis'd by him and his Successors against God and his People. From whence I may safely conclude, That no right can ever be deriv'd; and may justly presume it will be denied by none who are of better Morals, and of more sound Principles in matters of Law and Religion than
Filmer
and
Heylin;
since 'tis no less absurd to deduce a right from him that had none, than to expect pure and wholesom Waters from a filthy, polluted, and poisonous Fountain.
If it be pretended that some other man since
Noah
had this universal Right, it must either remain in one single person as his right Heir, or be divided. If in one, I desire to know who he is, and where we may find him, that the Empire of the World may be deliver'd to him. But if he cannot be found, the business is at an end: for every man in the World may pretend himself to be the person; and the infinite controversys arising thereupon can never be decided, unless either the Genealogys of every one from
Noah
were extant and prov'd, or we had a Word from Heaven, with a sufficient testimony of his mission who announces it. When this is done, 'twill be time to consider what kind of obedience is due to this wonderfully happy and glorious Person. But whilst the first appears to be absolutely impossible, and we have no promise or reason to expect the other, the Proposition is to be esteem'd one of our Author's empty whimsys, which cannot be receiv'd by mankind, unless they come all to be possest with an Epidemical madness, which would cast them into that which
Hobbs
calls
Bellum omnium contra omnes;
when every man's Sword would be drawn against every man, if God should so abandon the World to suffer them to fall into such misery.
If this pretended Right be divided, it concerns us to know by whom, when, how, and to whom: for the division cannot be of any value, unless the Right was originally in one; that he did exercise this Right in making the division; that the parcels into which the World is divided are according to the allotment made; and that the Persons claiming them by virtue of it are the true Heirs of those to whom they were first granted. Many other difficultys may be alledg'd no less inextricable than these; but this seeming sufficient for the present, I shall not trouble my self with more, promising that when they shall be remov'd, I will propose others, or confessing my errors, yield up the cause.
But if the Dominion of the whole World cannot belong to any one man, and every one has an equal title to that which should give it; or if it did belong to one, none did ever exercise it in governing the whole, or dividing it; or if he did divide it, no man knows how, when, and to whom; so that they who lay claim to any parcels can give no testimony of that division, nor shew any better title than other men deriv'd from his first Progenitor, to whom 'tis said to have bin granted; and that we have neither a Word, nor the promise of a Word from God to decide the controversys arising thereupon, nor any Prophet giving testimony of his mission that takes upon him to do it, the whole Fabrick of our Author's Patriarchical Dominion falls to the ground; and they who propose these Doctrins, which (if they were receiv'd) would be a root of perpetual and reconcilable hatred in every man against every man, can be accounted no less than Ministers of the Devil, tho they want the abilitys he has sometimes infus'd into those who have bin imploy'd upon the like occasions. And we may justly conclude, that God having never given the whole World to be govern'd by one man, nor prescrib'd any rule for the division of it; nor declar'd where the right of dividing or subdividing that which every man has should terminate; we may safely affirm that the whole is for ever left to the will and discretion of Man: We may enter into, form, and continue in greater or lesser Societys, as best pleases our selves: The right of Paternity as to Dominion is at an end, and no more remains, but the love, veneration, and obedience, which proceeding from a due sense of the benefits of Birth and Education, have their root in Gratitude, and are esteem'd sacred and inviolable by all that are sober and vertuous. And as 'tis impossible to transfer these Benefits by inheritance, so 'tis impossible to transfer the Rights arising from them. No man can be my Father but he that did beget me; and 'tis as absurd to say I owe that Duty to one who is not my Father, which I owe to my Father, as to say, he did beget me, who did not beget me; for the obligation that arises from benefits can only be to him that confer'd them. 'Tis in vain to say the same is due to his Heir; for that can take place only when he has but one, which in this case signifies nothing: For if I being the only Son of my Father, inherit his Right, and have the same power over my Children as he had over me; if I had one hundred Brothers, they must all inherit the same; and the Law of
England,
which acknowledges one only Heir, is not general, but municipal, and is so far from being general, as the precept of God and Nature, that I doubt whether it was ever known or us'd in any Nation of the World beyond our Island. The words of the Apostle,
If we are Children, we are therefore Heirs and Co-heirs with Christ,
are the voice of God and Nature; and as the universal Law of God and Nature is always the same, every one of us who have Children, have the same Right over them, as
Abraham, Isaac,
and
Jacob
had over theirs; and that Right which was not devolv'd to any one of them, but inherited by them all (I mean the right of Father as Father) not the peculiar promises, which were not according to the Law of Nature, but the election of Grace, is also inherited by every one of us, and ours, that is, by all Mankind. But if that which could be inherited was inherited by all, and it be impossible that a right of Dominion over all can be due to every one, then all that is or can be inherited by every one is that exemption from the Dominion of another, which we call Liberty, and is the gift of God and Nature.
SECT. XVIII. If a right of Dominion were esteem'd Hereditary according to the Law of Nature, a multitude of destructive and inextricable Controversys would thereupon arise.
THere being no such thing therefore, according to the Law of Nature, as an Hereditary Right to the Dominion of the World, or any part of it; nor any one man that can derive to himself a title from the first Fathers of Mankind, by which he can rightly pretend to be prefer'd before others to that command, or a part of it; and none can be deriv'd from
Nimrod,
or other Usurpers, who had none in themselves, we may justly spare our pains of seeking farther into this matter. But as things of the highest importance can never be too fully explain'd; it may not be amiss to observe, That if Mankind could be brought to believe that such a right of Dominion were by the Law of God and Nature hereditary, a great number of the most destructive and inextricable Controversys must thereupon arise, which the wisdom and goodness of God can never enjoin, and Nature, which is Reason, can never intend; but at present I shall only mention two, from whence others must perpetually spring. First if there be such a Law, no Human Constitution can alter it; no length of time can be a defence against it: All Governments that are not conformable to it are vicious and void even in their root, and must be so for ever: That which is originally unjust may be justly overthrown. We do not know of any (at least in that part of the World in which we are most concern'd) that is establish'd, or exercis'd with an absolute Power, as by the Authors of those opinions is esteem'd inseparable from it: Many, as the Empire, and other States, are directly contrary; and on that account can have no Justice in them. It being certain therefore that he or they who exercise those Governments have no right: that there is a Man to whom it dos belong, and no man knowing who he is, there is no one man who has not as good a title to it as any other: There is not therefore one who has not a right, as well as any, to overthrow that which has none at all. He that has no part in the Government may destroy it, as well as he that has the greatest; for he neither has that which God ordain'd he should have, nor can shew a title to that which he enjoys from that original Prerogative of Birth, from whence it can only be deriv'd.
If it be said, that some Governments are arbitrary, as they ought to be; and
France, Turkey,
and the like be alledg'd as instances, the matter is not mended: for we do not only know when those, who deserve to be regarded by us, were not absolute, and how they came to be so; but also, that those very Familys which are now in possession are not of very long continuance, had no more title to the original right we speak of than any other men, and consequently can have none to this day. And tho we cannot perhaps say that the Governments of the barbarous Eastern Nations were ever other than they are, yet the known Original of them deprives them of all pretence to the Patriarchical Inheritance; and they may be as justly as any other depriv'd of the Power to which they have no title.
In the second place, tho all mens Genealogys were extant, and fully verifi'd, and it were allow'd that the Dominion of the World, or every part of it, did belong to the right Heir of the first Progenitor, or any other to whom the first did rightly assign the Parcel, which is under question; yet it were impossible for us to know who should be esteem'd the true Heir, or according to what rule he should be judg'd so to be: for God has not by a precise word determin'd it, and Men cannot agree about it, as appears by the various Laws and Customs of several Nations, disposing severally of Hereditary Dominions.
'Tis a folly to say, they ought to go to the next in blood; for 'tis not known who is that next. Some give the preference to him who amongst many Competitors is the fewest degrees remov'd from their common Progenitor who first obtain'd the Crown: Others look only upon the last that possest it. Some admit of Representation, by which means the Grandchild of a King by his eldest Son, is prefer'd before his second Son, he being said to represent his dead Father, who was the eldest: Others exclude these, and advance the younger Son, who is nearer by one degree to the common Progenitor that last enjoy'd the Crown than the Grandchild. According to the first rule,
Richard
II. was advanc'd to the Crown of
England,
as Son of the eldest Son of
Edward
III. before his Uncles, who by one degree were nearer to the last Possessor: And in pursuance of the second,
Sancho
sirnam'd the Brave, second Son of
Alphonso
the Wise, King of
Castile,
was prefer'd before
Alphonso
Son of
Ferdinand
his eldest Brother, according to the Law of
Thanestry,
which was in force in
Spain
ever since we have had any knowledg of that Country, as appears by the contest between
Corbis
and
Orsua,
decided by Combat before
Scipio Africanus;
continu'd in full force as long as the Kingdom of the
Goths
lasted, and was ever highly valu'd, till the House of
Austria
got possession of that Country, and introduc'd Laws and Customs formerly unknown to the Inhabitants.
The Historys of all Nations furnish us with innumerable Examples of both sorts; and whosoever takes upon him to determin which side is in the right, ought to shew by what authority he undertakes to be the Judg of Mankind, and how the infinite breaches thereby made upon the rights of the governing Familys shall be cur'd, without the overthrow of those that he shall condemn, and of the Nations where such Laws have bin in force as he dislikes: and till that be done, in my opinion, no place will afford a better lodging for him that shall impudently assume such a Power, than the new buildings in
Moor-Fields.
'Tis no less hard to decide whether this next Heir is to be sought in the Male Line only, or whether Females also may be admitted. If we follow the first as the Law of God and Nature, the title of our
English
Kings is wholly abolish'd; for not one of them since
Henry
the 1
st
has had the least pretence to an inheritance by the Masculine Line; and if it were necessary, we have enough to say of those that were before him.
If it be said, that the same Right belongs to Females, it ought to be prov'd that Women are as fit as Men to perform the Office of a King, that is, as the
Israelites
said to
Samuel,
to go in and out before us, to judg us, and to fight our Battels; for it were an impious folly to say that God had ordain'd those for the Offices on which the good of Mankind so much depends, who by nature are unable to perform the dutys of them. If on the other side, the sweetness, gentleness, delicacy, and tenderness of the Sex render them so unfit for manly exercises, that they are accounted utterly repugnant to, and inconsistent with that modesty which dos so eminently shine in all those that are good amongst them; that Law of Nature which should advance them to the Government of Men, would overthrow its own Work, and make those to be the Heads of Nations, which cannot be the Heads of privat Familys; for, as the Apostle says,
The Woman is not the head of the Man, but the Man is the head of the Women.
This were no less than to oblige Mankind to lay aside the name of reasonable Creature: for if Reason be his Nature, it cannot enjoin that which is contrary to it self; if it be not, the definition
Homo est animal rationale,
is false, and ought no longer to be assum'd.
If any man think these Arguments to be mistaken or misappli'd, I desire him to enquire of the
French
Nation on what account they have always excluded Females, and such as descended from them? How comes the House of
Bourbon
to be advanc'd to the Throne before a great Number of Familys that come from the Daughters of the House of
Valois?
Or what title those could have before the Daughters of the other Lines, descended from
Hugh Capet, Pepin, Meroveus,
or
Pharamond?
I know not how such questions would be receiv'd; but I am inclin'd to think that the wickedness and folly of those who should thereby endeavour to overthrow the most antient and most venerated Constitutions of the greatest Nations, and by that means to involve them in the most inextricable difficultys, would be requited only with Stones.
It cannot be denied, that the most valiant, wise, learned, and best polish'd Nations have always follow'd the same Rule, tho the
Reginarum
que
sub armis
Barbaries pars magna jacet.
Lucan. P
ar
.
weak and bar
arous acted otherwise; and no man ever heard of a Queen, or a man deriving his title from a Female among the antient civiliz'd Nations. But if this be not enough, the Law of God, that wholly omits Females, is sufficient to shew that Nature, which is his Handmaid, cannot advance them. When God describes who should be the King of his People (if they would have one) and how he should govern; no mention is made
Deut. 17.
of Daughters. The
Israelites
offer'd the Kingdom to
Gideon,
and to his Sons: God promis'd, and gave it to
Saul, David, Jeroboam, Jehu,
and their Sons. When all of them, save
David,
by their Crimes fell from the Kingdom, the Males only were extirpated; and the Females who had no part in the Promises, did not fall under the Penaltys, or the Vengeance that was executed upon those Familys: and we do not in the Word of God, or in the History of the
Jews,
hear of any Feminin Reign, except that which was usurp'd by
Athaliah;
nor that any consideration was had of their Descendents in relation to the Kingdom: which is enough to shew that it is not according to the Law of God, nor to the Law of Nature, which cannot differ from it. So that Females, or such as derive their right by inheritance from Females, must have it from some other Law, or they can have none at all.
But tho this question were authentically decided, and concluded that Females might or might not succeed, we should not be at the end of our contests: for if they were excluded, it would not from thence follow, as in
France,
that their Descendents should be so also; for the Privilege which is denied to them, because they cannot, without receding from the modesty and gentleness of the Sex, take upon them to execute all the Dutys requir'd, may be transfer'd to their Children, as
Henry
the second and
Henry
the seventh were admitted, tho their Mothers were rejected.
If it be said that every Nation ought in this to follow their own Constitutions, we are at an end of our Controversys; for they ought not to be follow'd, unless they are rightly made: They cannot be rightly made, if they are contrary to the universal Law of God and Nature. If there be a general Rule, 'tis impossible but some of them, being directly contrary to each other, must be contrary to it. If therefore all of them are to be follow'd, there can be no general Law given to all; but every People is by God and Nature left to the liberty of regulating these matters relating to themselves according to their own prudence or convenience: and this seems to be so certainly true, that whosoever dos, as our Author, propose Doctrins to the contrary, must either be thought rashly to utter that which he dos not understand, or maliciously to cast balls of Division among all Nations, whereby every man's Sword would be drawn against every man, to the total subversion of all Order and Government.
SECT. XIX. Kings cannot confer the right of Father upon Princes, nor Princes upon Kings.
LEST what has bin said before by our Author should not be sufficient to accomplish his design of bringing confusion upon Mankind, and some may yet lie still for want of knowing at whose command he should cut his Brother's throat, if he has not power or courage to set up a title for himself, he has a new project that would certainly do his work, if it were receiv'd. Not content with the absurditys and untruths already utter'd in giving the incommunicable right of Fathers, not only to those who, as is manifestly testify'd by sacred and profane Historys, did usurp a power over their Fathers, or such as ow'd no manner of obedience to them: and justifying those Usurpations, which are most odious to God and all good men, he now fancys a Kingdom so gotten may escheat for want of an Heir; whereas there is no need of seeking any, if Usurpation can confer a Right, and that he who gets the Power into his hands, ought to be reputed the right Heir of the first Progenitor; for such a one will seldom be wanting, if violence and fraud be justified by the command of God, and Nations stand oblig'd to render obedience, till a stronger or more successful Villain throws him from the Throne he had invaded. But if it should come to pass that no man would step into the vacant place, he has a new way of depriving the People of their Right to provide for the Government of themselves.
Because,
says he,
the dependency of antient Familys is oft obscure, and worn out of knowledg; therefore the Wisdom of all or most Princes has thought fit many times to adopt those for Heads of Familys, and Princes of Provinces, whose merits, abilitys, or fortunes have ennobled them, and made them fit and capable of such Royal Favours: All such prime Heads and Fathers have power to consent to the uniting and conferring of their fatherly Right and Sovereignty on whom they please,
&c.
I may justly ask how any one or more Familys come to be esteem'd more antient than others, if all are descended from one common Father, as the Scriptures testify; or to what purpose it were to inquire what Familys were the most antient, if there were any such, when the youngest and most mean by usurpation gets an absolute right of Dominion over the eldest, tho his own Progenitors, as
Nimrod
did: but I may certainly conclude, That whatever the Right be that belongs to those antient Familys, it is inherent in them, and cannot be confer'd on any other by any human Power; for it proceeds from Nature only. The Duty I owe to my Father dos not arise from an usurp'd or delegated Power, but from my birth deriv'd from him; and 'tis as impossible for any man to usurp or receive, by the grant of another, the right of a Father over me, as for him to become, or pretend to be made my Father by another who did not beget me. But if he say true, this right of Father dos not arise from Nature; nor the obedience that I owe to him that begot me, from the benefits which I receiv'd, but is merely an artificial thing depending upon the Will of another: and that we may be sure there can be no error in this, our Author attributes it to the wisdom of Princes. But before this comes to be authentick, we must at the least be sure that all Princes have this great and profound Wisdom, which our Author acknowledges to be in them, and which is certainly necessary for the doing of such great things, if they were refer'd to them. They seem to us to be born like other men, and to be generally no wiser than other men. We are not oblig'd to believe that
Nebuchadnezzar
was wise, till God had given him the heart of a man; or that his Grandson
Belshazzar,
who being laid in the balance was found too light, had any such profound Wisdom.
Ahasuerus
shew'd it not in appointing all the People of God to be slain, upon a Lie told to him by a Rascal; and the matter was not very much mended, when being inform'd of the truth, he gave 'em leave to kill as many of their Enemys as they pleas'd. The hardness of
Pharaoh
's heart, and the overthrow thereby brought upon himself and People, dos not argue so profound a Judgment as our Author presumes every Prince must have: And 'tis not probable that
Samuel
would have told
Saul, He had done foolishly,
if Kings had always bin so exceeding wise: Nay, if Wisdom had bin annex'd to the Character,
Solomon
might have spar'd the pains of asking it from God, and
Rehoboam
must have had it. Not to multiply examples out of Scripture, 'tis believ'd that
Xerxes
had not inflicted Stripes upon the Sea for breaking his Navy in pieces, if he had bin so very wise.
Caligula
for the same reason might have sav'd the labour of making love to the Moon, or have chosen a fitter Subject to advance to the Consulat than his Horse
Incitatus: Nero
had not endeavour'd to make a Woman of
Sueton.
a Man, nor married a Man as a Woman. Many other Examples might be alledg'd to shew that Kings are not always wise: and not only the
Roman
Satyrist, who says
Quicquid delirant Reges,
&c. shews that he did
Horat.
not believe them to be generally wiser than other men; but
Solomon
himself judges them to be as liable to infirmitys, when he prefers a wise Child before an old and foolish King. If therefore the strength of our Author's Argument lies in the certainty of the Wisdom of Kings, it can be of no value, till he proves it to be more universal in them than History or Experience will permit us to believe. Nay, if there be Truth or Wisdom in the Scripture, which frequently represents the wicked Man as a Fool, we cannot think that all Kings are wise, unless it be prov'd that none of them have bin wicked; and when this is perform'd by
Filmer
's Disciples, I shall confess my error.
Men give testimony of their Wisdom, when they undertake that which they ought to do, and rightly perform that which they undertake; both which points do utterly fail in the subject of our Discourse. We have often heard of such as have adopted those to be their Sons who were not so, and some Civil Laws approve it. This signifies no more, than that such a Man, either thro affection to one who is not his Son, or to his Parents▪ or for some other reason, takes him into his Family, and shews kindness to him, as to his Son: but the adoption of Fathers is a whimsical piece of nonsense. If this be capable of an aggravation, I think none can be greater, than not to leave it to my own discretion, who having no Father, may resolve to pay the Duty I ow'd to my Father to one who may have shew'd Kindness to me; but for another to impose a Father upon a Man, or a People compos'd of Fathers, or such as have Fathers, whereby they should be depriv'd of that natural Honour and Right which he makes the foundation of his Discourse, is the utmost of all absurditys. If any Prince therefore has ever undertaken to appoint Fathers of his People, he cannot be accounted a man of profound Wisdom, but a Fool or a Madman; and his Acts can be of no value. But if the thing were consonant to Nature, and refer'd to the Will of Princes (which I absolutely deny) the frequent Extravagancys committed by them in the elevation of their Favorites, shews that they intend not to make them Fathers of the People, or know not what they do when they do it.
To chuse or institute a Father is nonsense in the very term; but if any were to be chosen to perform the Office of Fathers to such as have none, and are not of age to provide for themselves (as men do Tutors or Guardians for Orphans) none could be capable of being elected, but such as in kindness to the person they were to take under their care, did most resemble his true Father, and had the virtues and abilitys requir'd rightly to provide for his good. If this fails, all Right ceases; and such a corruption is introduc'd as we saw in our Court of Wards, which the Nation could not bear, when the Institution was perverted, and the King, who ought to have taken a tender care of the Wards and their Estates, deliver'd 'em as a prey to those whom he favour'd.
Our Author ridiculously attributes the Title and Authority of Father to the word
Prince;
for it has none in it, and signifies no more than a Man, who in some kind is more eminent than the Vulgar. In this sense
Trecenti Romanae juventutis Principes.
T. Liv.
Mutius Scaevola
told
Porsenna,
that
Three hundred Princes of the
Roman
Youth had conspir'd against him:
By which he could not mean that three hundred Fathers of the
Roman
Youth, but three hundred
Roman
young men had conspir'd; and they could not be Fathers of the City, unless they had bin Fathers of their own Fathers.
Princeps Senatus
was understood in the same sense; and
T. Sempronius
the Censor, chusing
Q. Fabius
T. Liv.
l. 7.
Maximus
to that Honour, gave for a reason,
Se lecturum Q. Fabium Maximum, quem tum Principem Romanae Civitatis esse, vel Annibale judice, dicturus esset;
which could not be understood that
Hannibal
thought him to be the Father or Lord of the City (for he knew he was not) but the Man who for Wisdom and Valour was the most eminent in it.
The like are and ought to be the Princes of every Nation; and tho something of Honour may justly be attributed to the Descendents of such as have done great Services to their Country, yet they who degenerate from them cannot be esteem'd Princes; much less can such Honours or Rights be confer'd upon Court-creatures or Favorites.
Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero, Galba,
and others, could advance
Macro, Pallas, Narcissus, Tigellinus, Vinnius, Laco,
and the like, to the highest degrees of Riches and Power; but they still continu'd to be Villains, and so they died.
No wise or good Man ever thought otherwise of those, who thro the folly of Princes have bin advanc'd to the highest places in several Countrys. The madness of attributing to them a paternal power, seems to have bin peculiarly reserv'd to compleat the insamy of our Author; for he only could acknowledg a cooptitious Father, or give to another man the power of chusing him. I confess that a man in his infancy may have bin expos'd, like
Moses, Cyrus, Oedipus, Romulus:
He may have bin taken in War; or by the charity of some good person sav'd from the teeth of wild Beasts, or from the Sword by which his Parents fell, and may have bin educated with that care which Fathers usually have of their Children: 'tis reasonable that such a one in the whole course of his life should pay that veneration and obedience to him, who gave him as it were a second birth, which was due to his natural Father; and this, tho improperly, may be call'd an Adoption. But to think that any man can assume it to himself, or confer it upon another, and thereby arrogate to himself the service and obedience, which, by the most tender and sacred Laws of Nature, we owe to those from whom we receive Birth and Education, is the most preposterous folly that hitherto has ever enter'd into the heart of man.
Our Author nevertheless is not asham'd of it, and gives Reasons no way unsutable to the Proposition.
Men are,
says he,
adopted Fathers of Provinces for their Abilitys, Merits, or Fortunes.
But these Abilitys can simply deserve nothing; for it they are ill employ'd, they are the worst of Vices, and the most powerful Instruments of Mischief. Merits, in regard of another, are nothing unless they be to him; and he alone can merit from me the respect due to a Father, who has confer'd Benefits upon me, in some measure proportionable to those which we usually receive from our Fathers: and the world may judg, whether all the Court-Ministers and Favorites that we have known, do upon this account deserve to be esteem'd Fathers of Nations. But to allow this on account of their Fortunes, is, if possible, more extravagant than any thing that has bin yet utter'd. By this account
Mazarin
must have bin Father of the
French
Nation: The same Right was inherited by his chast Niece, and remain'd in her, till she and her silly Husband dissipated the Treasures which her Uncle had torn from the Bowels of that People. The Partizans may generally claim the same Right over the Provinces they have pillag'd:
Old Audley, Dog Smith,
Bp
Duppa, Brownloe, Child, Dashwood, Fox,
&c. are to be esteem'd Fathers of the People of
England.
This Doctrin is perfectly Canonical, if
Filmer
and
Heylin
were good Divines; and Legal, if they judg'd more rightly touching matters of Law. But if it be absurd and detestable, they are to be reputed Men, who, by attributing the highest Honours to the vilest Wretches of the world, for what they had gain'd by the most abominable means, endeavour to encrease those Vices, which are already come to such a height, that they can by no other way be brought to a greater. Daily experience too plainly shews, with what rage Avarice usually fills the hearts of men. There are not many destructive Villanys committed in the World, that do not proceed from it. In this respect 'tis call'd
Idolatry,
and
the root of all evil. Solomon
warns us to beware of such as make hast to grow rich, and says, they shall not be innocent. But 'tis no matter what the Prophets, the Apostles, or the wisest of men say of Riches, and the ways of gaining them; for our Author tells us, that men of the greatest Fortunes, without examining how they came to them, or what use they make of them, deserve to be made Fathers of Provinces.
But this is not his only quarrel with all that is just and good: His whole Book goes directly against the letter and spirit of the Scripture. The work of all those, whom God in several Ages has rais'd up to announce his Word, was to abate the Lusts and Passions that arise in the hearts of men; to shew the vanity of worldly Enjoyments, with the dangers that accompany Riches and Honors, and to raise our hearts to the love of those Treasures that perish not. Honest and wise men, following the Light of Nature, have in some measure imitated this. Such as liv'd private lives, as
Plato, Socrates, Epictetus,
and others, made it their business to abate mens Lusts, by shewing the folly of seeking vain Honors, useless Riches, or unsatissying Pleasures; and those who were like to them, if they were rais'd to supreme Magistracys, have endeavour'd by the severest Punishments to restrain men from commiting the Crimes by which Riches are most commonly gain'd: but
Filmer
and
Heylin
lead us into a new way. If they deserve credit, whosoever would become supreme Lord and Father of his Country, absolute, sacred and inviolable, is only to kill him that is in the head of the Government: Usurpation confers an equal Right with Election or Inheritance: We are to look upon the Power, not the Ways by which it is obtain'd: Possession only is to be regarded; and men must venerate the present Power, as set up by God, tho gain'd by Violence, Treachery or Poison: Children must not impose Laws upon, nor examin the Actions of their Father. Those who are a little more modest, and would content themselves with the Honour of being Fathers and Lords only of Provinces, if they get Riches by the savour of the King, or the favour of the King by Riches, may receive that honour from him: The Lord Paramount may make them peculiar Lords of each Province as sacred as himself; and by that means every man shall have an immediat and a subaltern Father. This would be a Spur to excite even the most sleeping Lusts; and a Poison that would fill the gentlest Spirits with the most violent Furys. If men should believe this, there would hardly be found one of whom it might not be said,
Hac spe, minanti fulmen occurret Jovi.
Senec. Theb.
No more is requir'd to fill the World with Fire and Blood, than the reception of these Precepts: No man can look upon that as a Wickedness, which shall render him Sacred; nor fear to attempt that which shall make him God's Vicegerent. And I doubt, whether the wickedness of filling mens heads with such Notions was ever equal'd, unless by him who said,
Ye shall not die, but be as Gods.
But since our Author is pleas'd to teach us these strange things, I wish he would also have told us, how many men in every Nation ought to be look'd upon as adopted Fathers: What proportion of Riches, Ability or Merit, is naturally or divinely requir'd to make them capable of this sublime Character: Whether the Right of this Chimerical Father dos not destroy that of the Natural; or whether both continue in force, and men thereby stand oblig'd, in despite of what Christ said, to serve two Masters. For if the Right of my Artificial Father arise from any Act of the King, in favour of his Riches, Abilitys or Merit, I ought to know whether he is to excel in all, or any one of these Points; How far, and which of 'em gives the preference; since 'tis impossible for me to determin whether my Father, who may be wise, tho not rich, is thereby devested of his Right, and it comes to be transfer'd to another, who may be rich tho not wise, nor of any personal merit at all, till that Point be decided; or, so much as to guess when I am emancipated from the Duty I owe to him, by whom I was begotten and educated, unless I know whether he be fallen from his Right, thro want of Merit, Wisdom or Estate; and that can never be, till it be determin'd, that he has forfeited his Right, by being defective in all, or any of the three; and what proportion of Merit, Wisdom or Estate is requir'd in him, sor the enjoyment of his Right, or in another that would acquire it: for no man can succeed to the Right of another, unless the first Possessor be rightly depriv'd of it; and it cannot belong to them both, because common sense universally teaches, that two distinct Persons cannot, at the same time, and in the same degree, have an equal Right to the same individual thing.
The Right of Father cannot therefore be confer'd upon Princes by Kings, but must for ever follow the Rule of Nature. The Character of a Father is indelible, and incommunicable: The Duty of Children arising from Benefits receiv'd is perpetual, because they can never not have receiv'd them, and can be due only to him from whom they are receiv'd. For these Reasons we see, that such as our Author calls Princes, cannot confer it upon a King; for they cannot give what they have not in themselves: They who have nothing, can give nothing: They who are only supposititious, cannot make another to be real; and the Whimsy of Kings making Princes to be Fathers, and Princes conferring that Right on Kings, comes to nothing.
SECT. XX. All just Magistratical Power is from the People.
HAVING prov'd that the Right of a Father proceeds from the Generation and Education of his Children: That no man can have that Right over those, whom he has not begotten and educated: That every man has it over those who owe their Birth and Education to him: That all the Sons of
Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob,
and others, did equally inherit it: That by the same Reasons, it dos for ever belong to every man that begets Children; it plainly appears, that no Father can have a Right over others, unless it be by them granted to him, and that he receive his Right from those who granted it. But our Author, with an admirable sagacity peculiar to himself, discovers, and with equal confidence tells us, that that which is from the People, or the chief Heads of them, is not from the People:
He that is so elected,
says he,
claims not his Right from the People as a Donative, but from God.
That is, if I mistake not,
Romulus
was not made King of the
Romans
by that People, but by God: Those men being newly gather'd together, had two Fathers, tho neither of them had any Children; and no man knew who was their Father, nor which of 'em was the elder: But
Romulus
by the slaughter of his Brother decided all Questions, and purchas'd to himself a Royal Charter from God; and the Act of the People which confer'd the Power on him, was the Act of God. We had formerly learnt, that whatsoever was done by Monarchs, was to be imputed to God; and that whosoever murder'd the Father of a People, acquir'd the same Right to himself: but now it seems, that Nations also have the same privilege, and that God dos what they do. Now I understand why it was said of old,
Vox Populi est Vox Dei:
But if it was so in regard of
Romulus,
the same must be confest of
Tullus Hostilius, Ancus Martius, Tarquinius Priscus,
and
Servius Tullus;
who being all strangers to each other, and most of them Aliens also, were successively advanc'd by the same People, without any respect to the Children, Relations or Heirs of their Predecessors. And I cannot comprehend, why the Act of the same People should not have the same Virtue, and be equally attributed to God, when they gave the same or more power to Consuls, Military Tribunes,
Decemviri,
or Dictators; or why the same Divine Character should not be in the same manner confer'd upon any Magistracys, that by any People have bin, are, or shall be at any time erected for the same ends.
Upon the same grounds we may conclude, that no Privilege is peculiarly annex'd to any Form of Government; but that all Magistrats are equally the Ministers of God, who perform the Work for which they were instituted; and that the People which institutes them, may proportion, regulate and terminate their Power, as to time, measure, and number of Persons, as seems most convenient to themselves, which can be no other than their own good. For it cannot be imagin'd that a multitude of People should send for
Numa,
or any other Person to whom they ow'd nothing, to reign over 'em, that he might live in Glory and Pleasure; or for any other reason, than that it might be good for them and their Posterity. This shews the Work of all Magistrats to be always and every where the same, even the doing of Justice, and procuring the Welfare of those that create them. This we learn from common sense:
Plato, Aristotle, Cicero,
and the best human Authors lay it as an unmovable Foundation, upon which they build their Arguments relating to matters of that nature: And the Apostle from better Authority declares,
Rom. 13.
That Rulers are not a terror to good Works, but to Evil: Wilt thou then not be afraid of the Power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same; for he is the Minister of God unto thee for good: But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he bears not the Sword in vain; for he is the Minister of God, a revenger to execute Wrath upon him that doth evil.
Tim. 2.
And the reason he gives
for praying for Kings, and all that are in Authority,
is,
that we may live a quiet and peaceable life, in all godliness and honesty.
But if this be the Work of the Magistrate, and the glorious Name of God's Minister be given to him for the performance of it, we may easily see to whom that Title belongs.
His Children and Servants ye are; whose Works ye do.
He therefore, and he only, is the Servant of God, who dos the Work of God; who is a terror to those that do evil, and a praise to those that do well; who bears the Sword for the punishment of Wickedness and Vice, and so governs, that the People may live quietly in all godliness and honesty. The order of his Institution is inverted, and the Institution vacated, if the Power be turn'd to the praise of those that do evil, and becomes a terror to such as do well; and that none who live honestly and justly can be quiet under it. If God be the Fountain of Justice, Mercy and Truth, and those his Servants who walk in them, no exercise of Violence, Fraud, Cruelty, Pride, or Avarice, is patroniz'd by him: and they who are the Authors of those Villanys, cannot but be the Ministers of him, who sets himself up against God; because 'tis impossible that Truth and Falshood, Mercy and Cruelty, Justice and the most violent Oppression can proceed from the same Root. It was a folly and a lie in those
Jews,
to call themselves the Children of
Abraham,
who did not the Works of
Abraham;
and Christ declar'd them to be the Children
John 8. 39.
of the Devil, whose Works they did; which words proceeding from the Eternal Truth, do as well indicate to us whose Child and Servant every man is to be accounted, as to those who first heard them.
If our Author's former Assertions were void of Judgment and Truth, his next Clause shews a great defect in his Memory, and contradicts the former:
The Judgments of God,
says he,
who has Power to give and take away Kingdoms, are most just; yet the ministry of Men, who execute God's Judgments without Commission, is sinful and damnable.
If it be true, as he says, that we are to look at the Power, not the Ways by which it is gain'd; and that he who has it, whether it be by Usurpation, Conquest, or any other means, is to be accounted as Father, or right Heir to the Father of the People, to which Title the most sublime and divine Privileges are annex'd; a man who by the most wicked and unjust Actions advances himself to the Power, becomes immediatly the Father of the People, and the Minister of God; which I take to be a piece of Divinity worthy our Author and his Disciples.
It may be doubted what he means by a Commission from God; for we know of none but what is outwardly by his Word, or inwardly by his Spirit; and I am apt to think, that neither he nor his Abettors allowing of either as to the Point in question, he dos foully prevaricate, in alledging that which he thinks cannot be of any effect. If any man should say, that the Word of God to
Moses, Joshua, Ehud, Gideon, Samuel, Jeroboam
and
Jehu,
or any others, are, in the like cases, Rules to be observ'd by all; because that which was from God was good, that which was good, is good; and he that dos good, is justified by it: He would probably tell us, that what was good in them, is not good in others; and that the Word of God dos justify those only to whom it is spoken: That is to say, No man can execute the just Judgments of God, to the benefit of mankind, according to the Example of those Servants of God, without damnable sin, unless he have a precise Word particularly directed to him for it, as
Moses
had. But if any man should pretend that such a Word was come to him, he would be accounted an Enthusiast, and obtain no credit. So that, which way soever the Clause be taken, it appears to be full of Fraud, confessing only in the Theory, that which he thinks can never be brought into practice; that his beloved Villanys may be thereby secur'd, and that the glorious Examples of the most heroick Actions, perform'd by the best and wisest men that ever were in the World for the benefit of mankind, may never be imitated.
The next Clause shews, that I did our Author no wrong in saying, that he gave a right to Usurpation; for he plainly says,
That whether the Prince be the supreme Father of his People, or the true Heir of such a Father; or whether he come to the Crown by Ʋ surpation, or Election of the Nobles or People, or by any other way whatsoever, &c. it is the only Right and Authority of the natural Father.
In the 3
d Chap.
Sect. 8.
It skills not which way the King comes by his Power, whether by Election, Donation, Succession, or by any other means.
And in another place,
That we are to regard the Power, not the Means by which it is gain'd.
To which I need say no more, than that I cannot sufficiently admire the ingeniously invented Title of Father by Usurpation; and confess, that since there is such a thing in the World, to which not only privat men, but whole Nations owe obedience, whatsoever has bin said antiently, (as was thought to express the highest excess of Fury and Injustice) as,
Jus datum sceleri; Jus omne in ferro est situm;
Lucan. &c.
Jus licet in jugulos nostros sibi fecerit ense; Sylla potens Marius
que
ferox & Cinna cruentus, Caesareaeque domus series;
were solid Truths, good Law and Divinity; which did not only signify the actual exercise of the Power, but induc'd a conscientious Obligation of obeying it. The Powers so gain'd, did carry in themselves the most sacred and inviolable Rights; and the actors of the most detestable Villanys thereby became the Ministers of God, and the Fathers of their subdu'd People. Or if this be not true, it cannot be denied, that
Filmer
and his followers, in the most impudent and outragious Blasphemy, have surpast all that have gone before 'em.
To confirm his Assertion, he gives us a wonderful explanation of the fisth Commandment; which, he says, enjoins Obedience to Princes, under the terms of,
Honour thy Father and thy Mother;
drawing this Inference,
That as all Power is in the Father, the Prince who hath it, cannot be restrain'd by any Law; which being grounded upon the perfect likeness between Kings and Fathers, no man can deny it to be true.
But if
Claudius
was the Father of the
Roman
People, I suppose the chast
Messalina
was the Mother, and to be honour'd by virtue of the same Commandment: But then I fear that such as met her in the most obscene places, were not only guilty of Adultery, but of Incest. The same Honour must needs belong to
Nero
and his vertuous
Poppaea,
unless it were transfer'd to his newmade Woman
Sporus;
or perhaps he himself was the Mother, and the glorious Title of
Pater Patriae
belong'd to the Rascal, who married him as a Woman. The like may be said of
Agathocles, Dionysius, Phalaris, Busiris, Machanidas, Peter
the Cruel of
Castile, Christiern
of
Denmark,
the last Princes of the House of
Valois
in
France,
and
Philip
the Second of
Spain.
Those Actions of theirs which men have ever esteem'd most detestable, and the whole course of their abominable Government, did not proceed from Pride, Avarice, Cruelty, Madness and Lust, but from the tender care of most pious Fathers.
Tacitus
sadly describes the state of his Country:
Ʋ rbs incendiis vastata, consumptis antiquissimis delubris, ipso Capitolio Civium manibus incenso; pollutae Ceremoniae; magna Adulteria; plenum Exiliis mare; infecti caedibus scopuli; atrocius in Ʋ rbe saevitum; Nobilitas, opes, omissi vel gesti honores pro crimine, & ob virtutes certissimum exitium:
But he was to blame; all this proceeded from the ardency of a paternal Affection. When
Nero,
by the death of
Helvidius Priscus
and
Thraseas,
endeavour'd to cut up Vertue by the roots,
ipsam exscindere virtutem,
he did it, because he knew it was good for the World that there should be no vertuous man in it. When he fir'd the City, and when
Caligula
wish'd the People had but one Neck that he might strike it off at one blow, they did it thro a prudent care of their Childrens good, knowing it would be for their advantage to be destroy'd; and that the empty desolated World would be no more troubled with popular Seditions. By the same rule
Pharaoh, Eglon, Nebuchodonosor, Antiochus, Herod,
and the like, were Fathers of the
Hebrews.
And without looking far backward, or depending upon the Faith of History, we may enumerate many Princes, who in a perpetual care of their People, have not yielded to
Nero
or
Caligula.
If our Author say true, all those Actions of theirs, which we have ever attributed to the utmost excess of Pride, Cruelty, Avarice and Perfidiousness, proceeded from their princely Wisdom and fatherly Kindness to the Nations under 'em: and we are beholden to him for the discovery of so great a Mystery, which has bin hid from mankind from the beginning of the World to this day: if not, we may still look upon them as Children of the Devil; and continue to believe, that Princes as well as other Magistrats were set up by the People for the publick Good; that the Praises given to such as are Wise, Just and Good, are purely personal, and can belong only to those, who by a due exercise of their Power do deserve it, and to no others.
CHAP. II.
SECT. I. That 'tis natural for Nations to govern, or to chuse Governors; and that Vertue only gives a natural preference of one man above another, or reason why one should be chosen rather than another.
IN this Chapter our Author fights valiantly against
Bellarmin
and
Suarez,
seeming to think himself victorious, if he can shew that either of them has contradicted the other, or himself; but being no way concern'd in them, I shall leave their followers to defend their Quarrel: My work is to seek after Truth; and, tho they may have said some things, in matters not concerning their beloved Cause of Popery, that are agreeable to Reason, Law, or Scripture, I have little hope of finding it among those who apply themselves chiefly to School Sophistry, as the best means to support Idolatry. That which I maintain, is the Cause of Mankind; which ought not to suffer, tho Champions of corrupt Principles have weakly defended, or maliciously betray'd it: and therefore not at all relying on their Authority, I intend to reject whatsoever they say that agrees not with Reason, Scripture, or the approv'd Examples of the best polish'd Nations. He also attacks
Plato
and
Aristotle,
upon whose Opinions I set a far greater value, in as much as they seem to have penetrated more deeply into the secrets of human Nature; and not only to have judg'd more rightly of the Interests of Mankind, but also to have comprehended in their Writings the Wisdom of the
Grecians,
with all that they had learn'd from the
Phaenicians, Egyptians,
and
Hebrews;
which may lead us to the discovery of the Truth we seek. If this be our work, the question is not, whether it be a
Paradox,
or
a receiv'd Opinion, That People naturally govern, or chuse Governors;
but whether it be true or not: for many Paradoxes are true, and the most gross Errors have often bin most common. Tho I hope to prove, that what he calls a Paradox, is not only true; but a Truth planted in the hearts of men, and acknowledg'd so to be by all that have hearkned to the voice of Nature, and disapprov'd by none, but such as thro wickedness, stupidity, or baseness of Spirit, seem to have degenerated into the worst of beasts, and to have retain'd nothing of men, but the outward shape, or the ability of doing those mischiefs which they have learn'd from their Master the Devil.
We have already seen, that the Patriarchical Power resembles not the Regal in principle or practice: that the beginning and continuance of Regal Power was contrary to, and inconsistent with the Patriarchical: that the first Fathers of mankind left all their Children independent on each other, and in an equal liberty of providing for themselves: that every man continu'd in this liberty, till the number so increas'd, that they became troublesom and dangerous to each other; and finding no other remedy to the disorders growing, or like to grow among them, join'd many Familys into one civil Body, that they might the better provide for the conveniency, safety, and defence of themselves and their Children. This was a collation of every man's privat Right into a publick Stock; and no one having any other right than what was common to all, except it were that of Fathers over their Children, they were all equally free when their Fathers were dead; and nothing could induce 'em to join, and lessen that natural liberty by joining in Societys, but the hopes of a publick Advantage. Such as were wise and valiant procur'd it, by setting up regular Governments, and placing the best Men in the Administration; whilst the weakest and basest fell under the power of the most boisterous and violent of their Neighbours. Those of the first sort had their root in Wisdom and Justice, and are call'd lawful Kingdoms or Commonwealths; and the Rules by which they are govern'd, are known by the name of Laws. These Governments have ever bin the Nurses of Vertue: The Nations living under them have flourish'd in Peace and Happiness, or made Wars with Glory and Advantage: whereas the other sort springing from Violence and Wrong, have ever gone under the odious title of Tyrannys; and by fomenting Vices, like to those from whence they grew, have brought shame and misery upon those who were subject to them. This appears so plainly in Scripture, that the assertors of Liberty want no other Patron than God himself; and his Word so fully justifies what we contend for, that it were not necessary to make use of human Authority, if our Adversarys did not oblige us to examin such as are cited by them. This, in our present case, would be an easy work, if our Author had rightly mark'd the passages he would make use of, or had bin faithful in his Interpretation or Explication of such as he truly cites; but failing grosly in both, 'tis hard to trace him.
He cites the 16
th
Chapter of the third Book of
Aristotle
's Politicks, and I do not find there is more than twelve; or tho that Wound might be cur'd, by saying the Words are in the twelfth, his Fraud in perverting the Sense were unpardonable, tho the other mistake be past over. 'Tis true that
Aristotle
dos there seem to doubt whether there be any such thing as one man naturally a Lord over many Citizens, since a City consists of Equals: but in the whole scope of that Chapter, Book, and his other Writings, he fully shews his doubt did not arise from an imagination that one man could naturally inherit a Right of Dominion over many not descended from him; or that they were born under a necessity of being Slaves to him (for such fancys can proceed only from distemper'd Brains) but that Civil Societys aiming at the publick good, those who by nature were endow'd with such Vertues or Talents as were most beneficial to them, ought to be prefer'd. And nothing can be more contrary to the frantick whimsy of our Author, who fancys an hereditary Prerogative of Dominion inherent to a person as Father of a People, or Heir, or to be reputed Heir of the first Father, when 'tis certain he is not, but that either he or his Predecessor came in by Election or Usurpation, than to shew that 'tis only Wisdom, Justice, Valour, and other commendable Vertues, which are not hereditary, that can give the preserence; and that the only reason why it should be given, is, that Men so qualify'd can better than others accomplish the end for which Societys are constituted:
Ar
st. Pol.
For
tho,
says he,
all are equally free, all are not equally endow'd with those Vertues that render Liberty safe, prosperous, and happy.
That equality which is just among Equals, is just only among Equals; but such as are base, ignorant, vicious, slothful, or cowardly, are not equal in natural or acquir'd Vertues, to the generous, wise, valiant, and industrious; nor equally useful to the Societys in which they live: they cannot therefore have an equal part in the Government of 'em, they cannot equally provide for the common good; and 'tis not a personal, but a publick Benefit that is sought in their constitution and continuance. There may be a hundred thousand men in an Army, who are all equally free; but they only are naturally most fit to be Commanders or Leaders, who most excel in the Vertues requir'd for the right performance of those Offices; and that, not because 'tis good for them to be rais'd above their Brethren, but because 'tis good for their Brethren to be guided by them, as 'tis ever good to be govern'd by the wisest and the best. If the nature of man be Reason,
Detur digniori,
in matters of this kind, is the voice of Nature; and it were not only a deviation from Reason, but a most desperate and mischievous madness, for a Company going to the
Indies,
to give the guidance of their Ship to the Son of the best Pilot in the world, if he want the skill requir'd to that employment, or to one who was maliciously set to destroy them: and he only can have a Right grounded upon the dictates of Nature, to be advanc'd to the Helm, who best knows how to govern it, and has given the best testimonys of his Integrity and Intentions to imploy his skill for the good of those that are imbark'd. But as the work of a Magistrat, especially if he be the supreme, is the highest, noblest, and most difficult that can be committed to the charge of a man, a more excellent Vertue is requir'd in the Person to be advanc'd to it, than for any other; and he that is most excellent in that Vertue, is reasonably and naturally to be prefer'd before any other.
Aristotle
having this in his view, seems to think, that those who believ'd it not to be natural for one man to be Lord of all the Citizens, since a City consists of Equals, had not observ'd that inequality of Endowments, Vertues and Abilitys in men, which render some more fit than others for the performance of their Dutys, and the Work intended; but it will not be found, as I suppose, that he did ever dream of a natural Superiority, that any man could ever have in a civil Society, unless it be such a superiority in Vertue as most conduces to the publick good.
He confirms this in proceeding to examin the different sorts of Governments, according to the different dispositions of Nations; and is so bold to say, That a
popular Government is the best for a People, who are naturally generous and warlike: that the Government of a few sutes best with those, among whom a few men are found to excel others in those Vertues that are profitable to Societys; and that the Government of one is good, when that one dos so far surpass all others in those Vertues, that he has more of them than all the rest of the people together.
And for the same reason that induc'd him to believe that equality is just amongst Equals, he concludes inequality of Power to be most unjust, unless there be inequality of Merit; and equality of Power to be so also, when there is inequality of Vertue, that being the only rule by which every man's part ought to be regulated.
But if it be neither reasonable nor just that those who are not equal in Vertue should be made equal in Power, or that such as are equal in Vertue should be unequal in Power; the most brutal and abominable of all extravagancys is to make one or a few, who in Vertue and Abilitys to perform Civil Functions are inferior to others, superior to all in power: and the Miserys suffer'd by those Nations, who, inverting the Laws of Nature and Reason, have plac'd Children or Men of no Vertue in the Government, when men that excel'd in all Vertues were not wanting, do so far manifest this Truth, that the pains of proving it may be spar'd.
'Tis not necessary for me to inquire, whether it be possible to find such a Man as
Aristotle
calls
Naturâ Regem;
or whether he intended to recommend
Alexander
to the world for the Man design'd by God and Nature to be King over all, because no man was equal to him in the Vertues that were beneficial to all. For pursuing my Position, that Vertue only can give a just and natural preference, I ingenuously confess, that when such a Man, or race of Men as he describes, shall appear in the world, they carry the true marks of Sovereignty upon them: We ought to believe, that God has rais'd 'em above all, whom he has made to excel all: It were an impious folly to think of reducing him to the ordinary level of Mankind, whom God has placed above it. 'Twere better for us to be guided by him, than to follow our own judgment; nay, I could almost say, 'twere better to serve such a Master, than to be free. But this will be nothing to the purpose, till such a Man, or succession of men do appear; and if our Author would persuade us, that all Mankind, or every particular, is oblig'd to a perpetual subjection to one Man or Family, upon any other condition, he must do it by the credit of those who favour his Design more than
Aristotle.
I know not who that will be, but am confident he will find no help from
Plato:
for if his Principles be examin'd, by which a grave Author's sense is best comprehended, it will appear, that all his Books of Laws,
Plato de Leg. c
de Republ.
and of a Commonwealth, are chiefly grounded upon this,
"That Magistrats are chosen by Societys, seeking their own good; and that the best men ought to be chosen for the attaining of it:"
whereas his whole design of seeking which is the best form of Government, or what Laws do most conduce to its perfection and permanency, (if one Rule were by nature appointed for all, and none could justly transgress it; if God had design'd an universal Lord over the whole World, or a particular one over every Nation, who could be bound by no Law) were utterly absurd; and they who write Books concerning Political matters, and take upon 'em to instruct Nations how to govern themselves, would be found either foolishly to mispend their time, or impiously to incite People to rebel against the Ordinance of God. If this can justly be imputed to
Plato;
he is not the wise Man he is suppos'd to have bin; and can less deserve the title of Divine, which our Author gives him: but if he remain justly free from such Censures, it must be confest, that whilst he seeks what is good for a people, and to convince 'em by reason that it is so, he takes it for granted, that they have a liberty of chusing that which appears to
Plato de Leg.
be the best to them. He first says,
"That this Good consists in the obtaining of Justice; but farther explaining himself, he shews that under the name of Justice, he comprehends all that tends to their perfection and felicity: in as much as every People, by joining in a civil Society, and creating Magistrats, doth seek its own good; and 'tis just, that he or they who are created, should, to the utmost of their power, accomplish the end of their Creation, and lead the People to Justice, without which there is neither perfection nor happiness: That the proper act of Justice is to give to every one his due; to Man that which belongs to Man, and to God that which is God's. But as no man can be just, or desire to be so, unless he know that Justice is good; nor know that it is good, unless he know that original Justice and Goodness, thro which all that is just is just, and all that is good is good, 'tis impossible for any man to perform the part of a good Magistrat, unless he have the knowledg of God; or to bring a People to Justice, unless he bring them to the knowledg of God, who is the Root of all Justice and Goodness."
If
Plato
therefore deserve credit, he only can duly perform the part of a good Magistrate, whose moral Vertues are ripen'd and heightned by a superinduction of Divine Knowledg.
"The misery of Man proceeds from his being separated from God: This Separation is wrought by corruption; his restitution therefore to Felicity and Integrity, can only be brought about by his reunion to the Good from which he is fallen."
Plato
looks upon this as the only worthy Object of Man's desire: and in his Laws and Politicks he intends not to teach us how to erect Manufactures, and to increase Trade or Riches; but how Magistrats may be helpful to Nations in the manner before mention'd, and consequently what men are fit to be Magistrats. If our Author therefore would make use of
Plato
's Doctrin to his end, he ought to have prov'd that there is a Family in every Nation, to the chief of which, and successively to the next in Blood, God dos ever reveal and infuse such a knowledg of himself, as may render him a Light to others; and failing in this, all that he says is to no purpose.
The weakness in which we are born, renders us unable to attain this Good of our selves: we want help in all things, especially in the greatest. The fierce Barbarity of a loose Multitude, bound by no Law, and regulated by no Disciplin, is wholly repugnant to it: Whilst every man fears his Neighbour, and has no other defence than his own strength, he must live in that perpetual anxiety which is equally contrary to that happiness, and that sedate temper of mind which is requir'd for the search of it. The first step towards the cure of this pestilent Evil, is for many to join in one body, that every one may be protected by the united force of all, and the various Talents that men possess, may by good disciplin be render'd useful to the whole; as the meanest piece of wood or stone being plac'd by a wise Architect, conduces to the beauty of the most glorious Building. But every man bearing in his own breast Affections, Passions, and Vices repugnant to this end, and no man owing any submission to his Neighbour; none will subject the correction or restriction of themselves to another, unless he also submit to the same Rule. They are rough pieces of timber or stone, which 'tis necessary to cleave, saw, or cut: This is the work of a skilful Builder, and he only is capable of erecting a great Fabrick, who is so: Magistrats are Political Architects; and they only can perform the Work incumbent on them, who excel in Political Vertues. Nature, in variously framing the minds of men, according to the variety of Uses in which they may be employ'd, in order to the institution and preservation of Civil Societys, must be our Guide, in allotting to every one his proper work. And
Plato
observing this Variety, affirms,
"That the Laws of Nature cannot be more absurdly violated, than by giving the Government of a People to such, as do not excel others in those Arts and Vertues that tend to the ultimate Ends for which Governments are instituted."
By this means those who are Slaves by Nature, or render'd so by their Vices, are often set above those that God and Nature had fitted for the highest Commands; and Societys which subsist only by order, fall into corruption, when all Order is so preposterously inverted, and the most extreme Confusion introduc'd. This is an Evil that
Solomon
detested:
Folly is set in great dignity, and the
Eccl. 10. 7▪
Rich sit in low places: I have seen Servants upon Horses, and Princes walking as Servants upon the Earth.
They who understand
Solomon
's Language, will easily see, that the Rich, and the Princes he means, are such only who are rich in Vertue and Wisdom, and who ought to be prefer'd for those Qualitys: And when he says, a Servant that reigneth is one of the
three things the Earth cannot bear,
he can only mean such as deserve to be Servants; for when they reign, they do not serve, but are serv'd by others: Which perfectly agrees with what we learn from
Plato,
and plainly shews, that true Philosophy is perfectly conformable with what is taught us by those who were divinely inspir'd. Therefore tho I should allow to our Author, that
Aristotle,
in those words,
It seems to some, not to be natural for one Man to be Lord of all the Citizens, since the City consists of Equals,
did speak the opinion of others rather than his own; and should confess that he and his Master
Plato
did acknowledg a natural inequality among men, it would be nothing to his purpose: for the Inequality, and the rational Superiority due to some, or to one, by reason of that Inequality, did not proceed from Blood or Extraction, and had nothing Patriarchical in it; but consisted solely in the Vertues of the Persons, by which they were render'd more able than others to perform their Duty, for the good of the Society. Therefore if these Authors are to be trusted, whatsoever place a Man is advanc'd to in a City, 'tis not for his own sake, but for that of the City; and we are not to ask who was his Father, but what are his Vertues in relation to it. This induces a necessity of distinguishing between a simple and a relative Inequality; for if it were possible for a man to have great Vertues, and yet no way beneficial to the Society of which he is, or to have some one Vice that renders 'em useless, he could have no pretence to a Magistratical Power more than any other. They who are equally free, may equally enjoy their freedom; but the Powers that can only be executed by such as are endow'd with great Wisdom, Justice and Valor, can belong to none, nor be rightly confer'd upon any, except such as excel in those Vertues. And if no such can be found, all are equally by turns to participate of the Honors annex'd to Magistracy; and Law, which is said to be written Reason, cannot justly exalt those, whom Nature, which is Reason, has deprest, nor depress those whom Nature has exalted. It cannot make Kings Slaves, nor Slaves Kings, without introducing that Evil, which, if we believe
Solomon,
and the Spirit by which he spoke,
the Earth cannot bear.
This may discover what Lawgivers deserve to be reputed wise or just; and what Decrees or Sanctions ought to be reputed Laws.
Aristotle
proceeding by this Rule, rather tells us who is naturally a King, than where we should find him; and after having given the highest Praises to this true natural King and his Government, he sticks not to declare that of one Man, in Vertue equal or inferior to others, to be a mere Tyranny, even the worst of all, as it is the corruption of the best, (or, as our Author calls it, the most Divine) and such as can be fit only for those barbarous and stupid Nations, which, tho bearing the shape of Men, are little different from Beasts. Whoever therefore will from
Aristotle
's words inser, that Nature has design'd one Man, or succession of Men, to be Lords of every Country, must shew that Man to be endow'd with all the Vertues that render him fit for so great an Office, which he dos not bear for his own Pleasure, Glory or Profit, but for the good of those that are under him; and if that be not done, he must look after other Patrons than
Aristotle
for his opinion.
Plato
dos more explicitly say, that the Civil or Politick Man, the Shepherd, Father, or King of the People, is the same, design'd for the same Work, enabled to perform it by the excellency of the same Vertues, and made perfect by the infusion of the divine Wisdom. This is
Plato
's Monarch, and I confess, that wheresoever he dos appear in the World, he ought to be accounted as sent from God for the good of that People. His Government is the best that can be set up among Men; and if assurance can be given, that his Children, Heirs or Successors, shall for ever be equal to him in the abovemention'd Vertues, it were a folly and a sin to bring him under the government of any other, or to an equality with them, since God had made him to excel them all; and 'tis better for them to be rul'd by him, than to follow their own judgment. This is that which gives him the preference:
He is wise thro the knowledg of the Truth,
Plato in Al
ib. l. 1,
.
and thereby becomes good, happy, pure, beautiful and perfect. The divine Light shining forth in him, is a guide to others; and he is a fit Leader of a People to the good that he enjoys.
If this can be exprest by words in fashion, this is his
Prerogative;
this is the
Royal Charter
given to him by God, and to him only, who is so adapted for the performance of his Office. He that should pretend to the same Privileges, without the same Abilitys to perform the Works for which they are granted, would exceed the folly of a Child, that takes upon him a burden which can only be born by a Giant; or the madness of one who presumes to give Physick, and understands not the Art of a Physician, thereby drawing guilt upon himself, and death upon his Patient. It were as vain to expect that a Child should carry the Giant's burden, and that an ignorant man should give wholsom Physick, as that one who lives void of all knowledg of Good, should conduct men to it. Whensoever therefore such a Man, as is above-describ'd, dos not appear, Nature and Reason instruct us to seek him or them who are most like to him; and to lay such burdens upon 'em as are proportionable to their strength; which is as much as to say, to prefer every man according to his merit, and assign to every one such Works as he seems able to accomplish.
But that
Plato
and
Aristotle
may neither be thought unreasonably addicted to Monarchy; nor, wholly rejecting it, to have talk'd in vain of a Monarch, that is not to be found; 'tis good to consider that this is not a siction.
Moses, Joshua, Samuel,
and others, were such as they define; and were made to be such, by that communion with God which
Plato
requires: And he in all his Writings, intending the institution of such a Disciplin as should render men happy, wise and good, could take no better way to bring his Countrymen to it, than by shewing 'em that Wisdom, Vertue, and Purity only could make a natural difference among men.
'Tis not my work to justify these Opinions of
Plato
and his Scholar
Aristotle:
They were men, and, tho wise and learned, subject to error. If they err'd in these Points, it hurts not me, nor the Cause I maintain; since I make no other use of their Books, than to shew the impudence and prevarication of those, who gather small scraps out of good Books, to justify their Assertions concerning such Kings as are known amongst us; which being examin'd, are found to be wholly against 'em; and if they were follow'd, would destroy their Persons and Power.
But our Author's intention being only to cavil, or to cheat such as are not vers'd in the Writings of the Antients, or at least to cause those who do not make Truth their Guide, to waver and fluctuate in their Discourses, he dos in one page say,
That without doubt
Moses
his History of the Creation guided these Philosophers in finding out this lineal Subjection.
And in the next affirms,
That the Ignorance of the Creation occasion'd several among the Heathen Philosophers to think that men met together as herds of Cattel.
Whereas they could not have bin ignorant of the Creation, if they had read the Books that
Moses
writ; and having that knowledg, they could not think that men met together as herds of Cattel. However, I deny that any of 'em did ever dream of that lineal Subjection, deriv'd from the first Parents of mankind, or that any such thing was to be learn'd from
Moses.
Tho they did not perhaps justly know the beginning of Mankind, they did know the beginnings and progress of the Governments under which they liv'd: and being assur'd that the first Kingdoms had bin those, which they call'd
Heroum Regna,
that is, of those who had bin most beneficial to Mankind; that their Descendents in many places degenerating from their Vertues, had given Nations occasion to set up
Aristocracys;
and they also falling into corruption, to institute
Democracys,
or mix'd Governments; did rightly conclude, That every Nation might justly order their own Affairs according to their own pleasure, and could have neither obligation nor reason to set up one man or a few above others, unless it did appear to them that they had more of those Vertues which conduce to the good of Civil Societys, than the rest of their Brethren.
Our Author's cavil upon
Aristotle
's Opinion,
That those who are wise in mind are by nature fitted to be Lords, and those who are strong of body ordain'd to obey,
deserves no answer; for he plainly falsifies the Text.
Aristotle
speaks only of those Qualitys which are requir'd for every purpose; and means no more, than that such as are eminent in the Virtues of the mind deserve to govern, tho they do not excel in bodily strength; and that they who are strong of body, tho of little understanding, and uncapable of commanding, may be useful in executing the commands of others: But is so far from denying that one man may excel in all the perfections of mind and body, that he acknowledges him only to be a King by nature who dos so, both being requir'd for the full performance of his Duty. And if this be not true, I suppose that one who is like
Agrippa Posthumus, Corporis viribus stolide ferox,
may be fit to govern many Nations; and
Moses
or
Samuel,
if they naturally wanted bodily strength, or that it decay'd by age, might justly be made Slaves, which it a discovery worthy our Author's invention.
SECT. II. Every Man that has Children, has the right of a Father, and is capable of preferment in a Society compos'd of many.
I Am not concern'd in making good what
Suarez
says: A Jesuit may speak that which is true; but it ought to be receiv'd, as from the Devil, cautiously, lest mischief be hid under it: and Sir
Robert
's frequent prevarications upon the Scripture, and many good Authors, give reason to suspect he may have falsify'd one, that few Protestants read, if it serv'd to his purpose; and not mentioning the place, his fraud cannot easily be discover'd, unless it be by one who has leisure to examin all his vastly voluminous Writings. But as to the point in question, that pains may be sav'd; there is nothing that can be imputed to the invention of
Suarez;
for,
that
Adam
had only an Oeconomical, not a Political Power,
is not the voice of a Jesuit, but of Nature and common Sense: for Politick signifying no more in Greek, than Civil in Latin; 'tis evident there could be no Civil Power, where there was no Civil Society; and there could be none between him and his Children, because a Civil Society is compos'd of Equals, and fortify'd by mutual compacts, which could not be between him and his Children, at least if there be any thing of truth in our Author's Doctrin,
That all Children do perpetually and absolutely depend upon the Will of their Father. Suarez
seems to have bin of another opinion; and observing the benefits we receive from Parents, and the Veneration we owe to 'em to be reciprocal, he could not think any Duty could extend farther than the knowledg of the Relation upon which it was grounded; and makes a difference between the Power of a Father, before and after his Children are made free; that is in truth, before and after they are able to provide for themselves, and to deliver their Parents from the burden of taking care of them. Which will appear rational to any who are able to distinguish between what a Man of 50 years old, subsisting by himself, and having a Family of his own, or a Child of eight, dos owe to his Father: The same reason that obliges a Child to submit intirely to the Will of his Parents, when he is utterly ignorant of all things, dos permit, and often enjoin men of ripe age to examin the Commands they receive before they obey them; and 'tis not more plain that I owe all manner of duty, affection, and respect to him that did beget and educate me, than that I can owe nothing on any such account to one that did neither.
This may have bin the opinion of
Suarez:
but I can hardly believe such a notion, as,
that
Adam
in process of time might have Servants,
could proceed from any other brain than our Author's: for if he had liv'd to this day, he could have had none under him but his own Children; and if a Family be not compleat without Servants, his must always have bin defective; and his Kingdom must have bin so too, if that has such a resemblance to a Family as our Author fancies. This is evident, that a hard Father may use his Children as Servants, or a rebellious, stubborn Son may deserve to be so us'd; and a gentle and good Master may shew that kindness to faithful and well-deserving Servants, which resembles the sweetness of a fatherly rule: but neither of 'em can change their nature; a Son can never grow to be a Servant, nor a Servant to be a Son. If a Family therefore be not compleat, unless it consist of Children and Servants, it cannot be like to a Kingdom or City, which is compos'd of Freemen and Equals: Servants may be in it, but are not Members of it. As Truth can never be repugnant to Justice, 'tis impossible this should be a prejudice to the paternal Rule, which is most just; especially when a grateful remembrance of the benefits receiv'd, dos still remain, with a necessary and perpetual obligation of repaying them in all affection and duty: whereas the care of ever providing for their Familys, as they did probably increase in the time of our first long-living Fathers, would have bin an insupportable burden to Parents, if it had bin incumbent on 'em. We do not find that
Adam
exercis'd any such power over
Cain,
when he had slain
Abel,
as our Author fancies to be Regal: The Murderer went out, and built a City for himself, and call'd it by the name of his first-born. And we have not the least reson to believe, that after
Adam
's death
Cain
had any Dominion over his Brethren, or their Posterity; or any one of them over him and his. He fear'd that whosoever saw him would kill him, which language dos not agree with the Rights belonging to the haughty Title of Heir apparent to the Dominion of the whole Earth. The like was practis'd by
Noah
and his Sons, who set up Colonys for themselves; but liv'd as privat men in obscure places, whilst their Children of the fourth or fifth Generation, especially of the youngest and accursed Son, were great and powerful Kings, as is fully prov'd in the first Chapter.
Tho this had bin otherwise, it would have no effect upon us; for no argument drawn from the examples of
Shem, Ham,
and
Japhet,
if they and their Children had continu'd under the Dominion of
Noah
as long as he liv'd, can oblige me to resign my self and all my concernments absolutely into the hands of one who is not my Father. But when the contrary is evidently true in them, and their next ensuing Generations, 'tis an admirable boldness in our Author to think of imposing upon us for an eternal and universal Law (when the knowledg of our first Progenitors is utterly extinguish'd) that which was not at all regarded by those, who could not be ignorant of their own Original, or the Duty thereby incumbent upon them, or their immediate Fathers then living, to whom the Rights must have belong'd, if there had bin any such thing in nature, or that they had bin of any advantage to them: whereas in truth, if there had bin such a Law in the beginning, it must have vanish'd of it self, for want of being exercis'd in the beginning, and could not possibly be reviv'd after four thousand years, when no man in the world can possibly know to whom the universal right of Dominion over the whole World or particular Nations dos belong; for 'tis in vain to speak of a Right, when no one man can have a better Title to it than any other. But there being no precept in the Scripture for it, and the examples directed or approv'd by God himself and his most faithful Servants, being inconsistent with, and contrary to it, we may be sure there never was any such thing; and that men being left to the free use of their own understanding, may order and dispose of their own Affairs as they think fit: No man can have a better title than another, unless for his personal Vertues; every man that in the judgment of those concern'd excels in them, may be advanc'd: and those Nations that thro mistake set up such as are unworthy, or do not take right measures in providing for a succession of men worthy, and other things necessary to their welfare, may be guilty of great folly, to their own shame and misery; but can do no injustice to any in relation to an hereditary Right, which can be naturally in none.
SECT. III. Government is not instituted for the good of the Governor, but of the Governed; and Power is not an Advantage, but a Burden.
THE Follys with which our Author endeavours to corrupt and trouble the World, seem to proceed from his fundamental mistakes of the Ends for which Governments are constituted; and from an Opinion, that an excessive Power is good for the Governor, or the diminution of it a prejudice: whereas common sense teaches, and all good men acknowledg, that Governments are not set up for the Advantage, Profit, Pleasure or Glory of one or a few men, but for tho good of the Society. For this reason
Plato
and
Aristotle
find no more certain way of distinguishing
"between a lawful King and a Tyrant, than that the first seeks to procure the common Good, and the other his own Pleasure or Profit; and doubt not to declare, That he who according to his Institution was the first, destroys his own being, and degenerates into the latter, if he deflect from that rule: He that was the best of Men, becomes the worst; and the Father or Shepherd of the People makes himself their Enemy."
And we may from hence collect, that in all Controversys concerning the Power of Magistrats, we are not to examin what conduces to their Profit or Glory, but what is good for the Publick.
His second Error is no less gross and mischievous than the first; and that absolute Power to which he would exalt the chief Magistrate, would be burdensom, and desperately dangerous if he had it. The highest Places are always slippery: Mens eyes dazle when they are carried up to them; and all falls from them are mortal. Few Kings or Tyrants, says
—Sine caede & sanguine pauci
Descendunt reges, & sicca morte Tyranni.
Juven. Sat.
Juvenal,
go down to the Grave in peace; and he did not imprudently couple them together, because in his time few or no Kings were known who were not Tyrants.
Dionysius
thought no man left a Tyranny, till he was drawn out by the heels. But
Tacitus
says,
Nescit quam grave & intolerandum sit cuncta regendi onus. Moses
could not bear it:
Gideon
would not accept of any Resemblance of it. The moral sense of
Jotham
's wise Parable is eternal: The Bramble coveted the Power, which the Vine, Olive and Figtree refus'd. The worst and basest of men are ambitious of the highest places, which the best and wisest reject; or if some, who may be otherwise well qualify'd—
[In this place two pages are wanting in the Original Manuscript.]
—as the fittest to be follow'd by Mankind. If these Philosophers and Divines deserve credit,
Nimrod, Ninus, Pharaoh,
and the rest of that accursed Crew, did not commit such excesses as were condemn'd by God, and abhor'd by good Men; but gaining to themselves the glorious Character of his Vicegerents, left their practices as a perpetual Law to all succeeding Generations; whereby the world, and every part of it, would be for ever expos'd to the violence, cruelty and madness of the most wicked men that it should produce. But if these Opinions comprehend an extravagancy of wickedness and madness, that was not known among men, till some of these Wretches presum'd to attempt the increase of that corruption under which Mankind groans, by adding fuel to the worst of all Vices; we may safely return to our Propositions, That God having establish'd no such Authority as our Author fancies, Nations are left to the use of their own Judgment, in making provision for their own Welfare: That there is no lawful Magistrate over any of them, but such as they have set up; that in creating them, they do not seek the advantage of their Magistrate, but their own: And having found that an absolute Power over a People, is a burden which no man can bear; and that no wise or good Man ever desir'd it; from thence conclude, that it is not good for any to have it, nor just for any to affect it, tho it were personally good for himself; because he is not exalted to seek his own good, but that of the Publick.
SECT. IV. The Paternal Right devolves to, and is inherited by all the Children.
THO the perversity of our Author's Judgment and Nature may have driven him into the most gross Errors, 'tis not amiss to observe, that many of those deliver'd by him, proceed from his ignorance of the most important Differences between Father and Lord, King and Tyrant; which are so evident and irreconcilable, that one would have thought no man could be so stupid, as not to see it impossible for one and the same man, at the same time, to be Father and Master, King and Tyrant, over the same Persons. But lest he should think me too scrupulous, or too strict in inquiring after Truth, I intend for the present to wave that inquiry, and to seek what was good for
Adam
or
Noah:
What we have reason to believe they desir'd to transmit to their Posterity, and to take it for a perpetual Law in its utmost extent; which I think will be of no advantage to our Author: for this Authority, which was universal during their lives, must necessarily after their decease be divided, as an Inheritance, into as many parcels as they had Children. The Apostle
Rom. 8. 19.
says,
If Children, then Heirs, Heirs of God, and joint Heirs with Christ;
which alluding to the Laws and Customs of Nations, could have bin of no force, unless it had bin true and known to be so. But if Children are Heirs, or joint Heirs, whatsoever Authority
Adam
or
Noah
had, is inherited by every man in the world; and that title of Heir which our Author so much magnifys, as if annex'd to one single person, vanishes into nothing; or else the words of the Apostle could have neither strength nor truth in them, but would be built upon a false Foundation, which may perhaps agree with our Author's Divinity.
Yet if the Apostle had not declar'd himself so fully in this Point, we might easily have seen that
Adam
and
Noah
did leave their Children in that equality; for Fathers are ever understood to embrace all their Children with equal Affection, till the discovery of personal Vertues or Vices makes a difference. But the personal Vertues, that give a reasonable preference of one before another, or make him more fit to govern than the others, cannot appear before he is, nor can be annex'd to any one Line: Therefore the Father cannot be thought to have given to one Man, or his Descendents, the Government of his Brethren and their Descendents.
Besides, tho the Law of
England
may make one man to be sole Heir of his Father, yet the Laws of God and Nature do not so. All the Children of
Noah
were his Heirs: The Land promis'd to
Abraham, Isaac,
and
Jacob,
was equally divided among their Children. If the Children of
Joseph
made two Tribes, it was not as the first-born, but by the Will of
Jacob,
who adopted
Ephraim
and
Manasseh;
and they thereby became his Sons, and obtain'd an Inheritance equal to that of the other Tribes. The Law allow'd a double Portion to the first begotten; but this made a difference between Brothers only in
proportion,
whereas that between Lord and Servant is in
specie,
not in degree. And if our Author's Opinion might take place, instead of such a division of the common Inheritance between Brothers, as was made between the Children of
Jacob,
all must continue for ever Slaves to one Lord; which would establish a difference in
specie
between Brethren, which Nature abhors.
If Nature dos not make one man Lord over his Brethren, he can never come to be their Lord, unless they make him so, or he subdue them. If he subdue them, it is an act of Violence, contrary to Right, which may consequently be recover'd: If they make him Lord, 'tis for their own sakes, not for his; and he must seek their good, not his own, lest, as
Aristotle
says, he degenerat from a King into a Tyrant. He therefore who would persuade us, that the Dominion over every Nation dos naturally belong to one Man, Woman or Child, at a venture; or to the Heir, whatsoever he or she be, as to Age, Sex, or other Qualifications, must prove it good for all Nations to be under them. But as Reason is our Nature, that can never be natural to us that is not rational. Reason gives
Paria paribus,
equal Power to those who have equal Abilitys and Merit: It allots to every one the part he is most fit to perform; and this fitness must be equally lasting with the Law that allots it. But as it can never be good for great Nations, having men amongst 'em of Vertue, Experience, Wisdom and Goodness, to be govern'd by Children, Fools, or vicious and wicked Persons; and we neither find that the Vertues requir'd in such as deserve to govern them, did ever continue in any race of men, nor have reason to believe they ever will, it can never be reasonable to annex the Dominion of a Nation to any one Line. We may take this upon
Solomon
's word,
Wo to thee, O Land, when thy King
Eccl. 10. 16.
is a Child, and thy Princes eat in the morning!
And I wish the experience of all Ages did not make this Truth too evident to us. This therefore can never be the Work, much less the Law of Nature; and if there be any such thing in the world, as the Dominion over a Nation inseparably united to a Man and his Family, it can have no other Root than a civil or municipal Law, which is not the subject of our Discourse.
Moreover, every Father's Right must cease, when he ceases to be; or be transmitted to those, who, being also Fathers, have the same Title to it. And tho the contrary method of annexing the whole Inheritance to one Person, or exposing all his Brethren to be destroy'd by his rage if they will not submit, may conduce to the enlargement of a proud and violent Empire, as in
Turky;
where he that gains the Power, usually begins his Reign with the slaughter of his Brothers and Nephews: yet it can never agree with the piety, gentleness and wisdom of the Patriarchs, or the Laws of God and Nature.
These thing being agreed, we need not trouble our selves with the Limits or Definition of a Family, and as little with the Titles given to the Head of it: 'Tis all one to us, whether it be confin'd to one Roof and Fire, or extended farther; and none but such as are strangers to the practice of mankind, can think that titles of Civility have a power to create a right of Dominion. Every man in Latin is call'd
Dominus,
unless such as are of the vilest condition, or in a great subjection to those who speak to them; and yet the word strictly taken, relates only to
Servus,
for a Man is Lord only of his Servant or Slave. The
Italians
are not less liberal of the Titles of
Signore
and
Padrone,
and the
Spaniards
of
Sennor;
but he would be ridiculous in those Countrys, who thereupon should arrogate to himself a right of Dominion over those who are so civil. The vanity of our Age seems to carry this Point a little higher, especially among the
French,
who put a great weight upon the word
Prince;
but they cannot change the true signification of it; and even in their sense,
Prince du Sang
signifys no more than a chief Man of the Royal Blood, to whom they pay much respect, because he may come to the Crown; as they at
Rome
do to Cardinals, who have the Power of chusing Popes, and out of whose number, for some Ages, they have bin chosen. In this sense did
Scevola,
when he was apprehended by
Porsenna,
T. Liv. l. 2.
say,
Trecenti conjuravimus Romanae juventutis Principes;
which was never otherwise understood, than of such young Citizens as were remarkable amongst their Companions. And nothing can be more absurd than to think, if the name of Prince had carried an absolute and despotical Power with it, that it could belong to three hundred in a City, that possest no more than a ten miles territory; or that it could have bin given to them, whilst they were young, and the most part of their Fathers, as is most probable, still living.
I should, like our Author, run round in a Circle, if I should refute what he says of a Regal Power in our first Parents; or shew, that the Regal, where it is, is not absolute as often as he dos assert it. But having already prov'd, that
Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob,
&c. enjoy'd no such Power; transmitted to every one of their Sons that which they had, and they became Fathers of many great Nations, who always continu'd independent on each other; I leave to our Author to prove, when and by what Law the Right of subdividing the Paternal Power was stop'd, and how any one or more of their Descendents came to have that Power over their Brethren, which none of their immediate Children had over theirs.
His question to
Suarez,
how and when Sons become free, favours more of Jesuitical Sophistry, than any thing said by the Jesuit; but the Solution is easy: for if he mean the respect, veneration and kindness proceeding from gratitude, it ceases only with the Life of the Father to whom it is due, and the memory of it must last as long as that of the Son; and if they had bin possest of such an absolute Power as he fancys, it must have ceas'd with the reasons upon which it was grounded.
First, Because the Power, of which a Father would probably have made a wise and gentle use, could not be rightly trusted in the hands of one who is not a Father; and that which tended only to the preservation of all the Children, could not be turn'd to the increase of the Pride, Luxury and Violence of one, to the oppression of others who are equally Heirs.
In the second place, Societys cannot be instituted, unless the Heads of the Familys that are to compose them, resign so much of their Right as seems convenient into the publick Stock, to which every one becomes subject: But that the same Power should, at the same time, continue in the true Father, and the figurative Father, the Magistrate; and that the Children should owe intire Obedience to the Commands of both, which may often cross each other, is absurd.
Thirdly, It ceases when it cannot be executed; as when men live to see four or five Generations, as many do at this day; because the Son cannot tell whether he should obey his Father, Grandfather, or Great-Grandfather, and cannot be equally subject to them all; most especially, when they live in divers places, and set up Familys of their own, as the Sons of the Patriarchs did: which being observ'd, I know no place where this Paternal Power could have any effect, unless in the fabulous Island of
Pines;
and even there it must have ceas'd, when he died, who, by the Inventor of the story, is said to have seen above ten thousand Persons issued of his body.
And if it be said, that
Noah, Shem, Abraham,
&c. consented that their Children should go where they thought fit, and provide for themselves; I answer, that the like has bin done in all Ages, and must be done for ever. 'Tis the Voice of Nature, obey'd not only by Mankind, but by all living Creatures; and there is none so stupid as not to understand it. A Hen leaves her Chickens, when they can seek their own nourishment: A Cow looks after her Calf no longer, than till it is able to feed: A Lion gives over hunting for his Whelps, when they are able to seek their own Prey, and have strength enough to provide what is sufficient for themselves. And the contrary would be an insupportable burden to all living Creatures, but especially to Men; for the good order that the rational Nature delights in, would be overthrown, and Civil Societys, by which it is best preserv'd, would never be establish'd.
We are not concern'd to examin, Whether the Political and Oeconomical Powers be intirely the same, or in what they differ: for that absolute Power which he contends for, is purely despotical, different from both, or rather inconsistent with either as to the same Subject; and that which the Patriarchs exercis'd, having bin equally inherited by their Children, and consequently by every one of their Posterity, 'tis as much as is requir'd for my purpose of proving the natural, universal Liberty of Mankind; and I am no way concern'd in the Question, Whether the first Parents of Mankind had a Power of Life and Death over their Children, or not.
SECT. V. Freemen join together and frame greater or lesser Societys, and give such Forms to them as best please themselves.
THis being establish'd, I shall leave
Filmer
to fight against
Suarez
and
Bellarmin;
or to turn one of them against the other, without any concernment in the Combat, or the success of it. But since he thereupon raises a Question,
Whether the supreme Power be so in the People, that there is but one and the same Power in all the People of the World; so that no Power can be granted, unless all Men upon the Earth meet, and agree to chuse a Governor:
I think it deserves to be answer'd, and might do it by proposing a Question to him; Whether in his opinion, the Empire of the whole World dos, by the Laws of God and Nature, belong to one Man, and who that Man is? Or, how it came so to be divided, as we have ever known it to have bin, without such an injury to the Universal Monarch, as can never be repair'd? But intending to proceed more candidly, and not to trouble my self with
Bellarmin
or
Suarez,
I say, that they who place the Power in a Multitude, understand a Multitude compos'd of Freemen, who think it for their convenience to join together, and to establish such Laws and Rules as they oblige themselves to observe: which Multitude, whether it be great or small, has the same Right, because ten Men are as free as ten Millions of Men; and tho it may be more prudent in some cases to join with the greater than the smaller number, because there is more strength, it is not so always: But however, every Man must therein be his own judg, since if he mistake, the hurt is only to himself; and the ten may as justly resolve to live together, frame a Civil Society, and oblige themselves to Laws, as the greatest number of Men that ever met together in the World.
Thus we find that a few Men assembling together upon the Banks of the
Tiber,
resolv'd to build a City, and set up a Government among themselves: And the Multitude that met at
Babylon,
when their design of building a Tower that should reach up to Heaven fail'd, and their Language was confounded, divided themselves, as our Author says, into seventy two parcels, and by the same Right might have divided into more, as their Descendents did into almost an infinite number before the death of their common Father
Noah.
But we cannot find a more perfect Picture of Freemen, living according to their own Will, than in
Abraham
and
Lot;
they went together into
Canaan,
continu'd together as long as was convenient for them, and parted when their Substance did so increase, that they became troublesom to each other. In the like manner
Ismael, Isaac,
and
Abraham
's six Sons by
Keturah,
might have continu'd together and made one Nation;
Isaac
and
Esau, Moab
and
Ammon,
might have done so too; or all of them that came of the same Stock might have united together; but they did not: And their Descendents by the same rule might have subdivided perpetually, if they had thought it expedient for themselves: and if the Sons of
Jacob
did not do the like, 'tis probable they were kept together by the hope of an Inheritance promis'd to 'em by God, in which we find no shadow of a despotical Dominion, affected by one as Father or Heir to the first Father, or reputed to be the Heir; but all continu'd
Gen. 13.
in that fraternal equality, which according to
Abraham
's words to
Lot
they ought to do. There was no Lord, Slave or Vassal; no strife was to be among them: They were Brethren; they might live together, or separate, as they found it convenient for themselves. By the same Law that
Abraham
and
Lot, Moab
and
Ammon, Ismael, Isaac,
and the Sons of
Keturah, Jacob, Esau,
and their Descendents, did divide and set up several Governments, every one of their Children might have done the like: and the same Right remain'd to their Issue, till they had by agreement engag'd themselves to each other. But if they had no dependence upon each other, and might live together in that fraternal equality which was between
Abraham
and
Lot;
or separate, and continue in that separation, or reunite; they could not but have a right of framing such conditions of their union as best pleas'd themselves. By this means every number of Men, agreeing together and framing a Society, became a compleat Body, having all Power in themselves over themselves, subject to no other human Law than their own. All those that compose the Society, being equally free to enter into it or not, no Man could have any Prerogative above others, unless it were granted by the consent of the whole: and nothing obliging them to enter into this Society, but the consideration of their own Good; that Good, or the opinion of it, must have bin the Rule, Motive and End of all that they did ordain. 'Tis lawful therefore for any such Bodys to set up one, or a few Men to govern them, or to retain the Power in themselves; and he or they who are set up, having no other Power but what is so confer'd upon them by that Multitude, whether great or small, are truly by them made what they are; and by the Law of their own Creation, are to exercise those Powers according to the proportion, and to the ends for which they were given.
These Rights, in several Nations and Ages, have bin variously executed, in the establishment of
Monarchys, Aristocracys, Democracys,
or
mix'd Governments,
according to the variety of Circumstances; and the Governments have bin good or evil, according to the rectitude or pravity of their Institution, and the vertue and wisdom, or the folly and vices of those to whom the Power was committed: but the end which was ever propos'd, being the good of the Publick, they only perform'd their duty, who procur'd it according to the Laws of the Society, which were equally valid as to their own Magistrats, whether they were few or many.
This might suffice to answer our Author's Question; but he endeavours further to perplex it, by a fiction of his own brain,
That God gave this Power to the whole Multitude met, and not to every particular Assembly of Men:
And expects a proof,
That the whole Multitude met, and divided this Power which God gave them in gross, by breaking it into parcels, and by appointing a distinct Power to each Commonwealth.
He also fathers it upon the Assertors of Liberty;
and dos not see,
as he says,
how there can be an Election of a Magistrate by any Commonwealth, that is not an Ʋ surpation upon the Privilege of the whole World, unless all Mankind had met together, and divided the Power into parcels which God had given them in gross.
But before I put my self to the trouble of answering that which is but an Appendix to a whimsy of his own, I may justly ask, What hurt he finds in Usurpation, who asserts, that the same Obedience is due to all Monarchs, whether they come in by Inheritance, Election or Usurpation? If Usurpation can give a Right to a Monarch, why dos it not confer the same upon a People? Or rather, if God did in gross confer such a Right upon all Mankind, and they neither did, nor can meet together by consent to dispose of it for the good of the whole; why should not those who can, and do consent to meet together, agree upon that which seems most expedient to them for the Government of themselves? Did God create Man under the necessity of wanting Government, and all the good that proceeds from it; because at the first all did not, and afterwards all could not meet to agree upon Rules? Or did he ever declare, that unless they should use the first opportunity of dividing themselves into such parcels as were to remain unalterable, the right of reigning over every one shall fall to the first Villain that should dare to attempt it? Is it not more consonant to the Wisdom and Goodness of God, to leave to every Nation a liberty of repairing the Mischiefs fallen upon them thro the omission of their first Parents, by setting up Governments among themselves, than to lay 'em under a necessity of submitting to any that should insolently aspire to a Domination over them? Is it not more just and reasonable to believe, that the universal Right not being executed, devolves upon particular Nations, as Members of the great Body, than that it should become the reward of Violence or Fraud? Or is it possible that any one Man can make himself Lord of a People, or parcel of that Body, to whom God had given the liberty of governing themselves, by any other means than Violence or Fraud, unless they did willingly submit to him? If this Right be not devolv'd upon any one Man, is not the invasion of it the most outrageous Injury that can be done to all Mankind, and most particularly to the Nation that is enslav'd by it? Or if the Justice of every Government depends necessarily upon an original Grant, and a Succession certainly deduc'd from our first Fathers, dos not he by his own Principles condemn all the Monarchys of the World, as the most detestable Usurpations, since not one of 'em that we know do any way pretend to it? Or, tho I, who deny any Power to be just that is not founded upon Consent, may boldly blame Usurpation; is it not an absurd and unpardonable impudence in
Filmer,
to condemn Usurpation in a People, when he has declar'd that the Right and Power of a Father may be gain'd by Usurpation; and that Nations in their Obedience are to regard the Power, not the Means by which it was gain'd? But not to lose more time upon a most frivolous fiction, I affirm, that the Liberty which we contend for is granted by God to every Man in his own Person, in such a manner as may be useful to him and his Posterity, and as it was exercis'd by
Noah, Shem, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob,
&c. and their Children, as has bin prov'd, and not to the vast Body of all Mankind, which never did meet together since the first Age after the Flood, and never could meet to receive any benefit by it.
His next Question deserves scorn and hatred, with all the effects of either, if it proceed from malice; tho perhaps he may deserve compassion, if his Crime proceed from ignorance:
Was a general Meeting of a whole Kingdom,
says he,
ever known for the Election of a Prince?
But if there never were any general Meetings of whole Nations, or of such as they did delegate and entrust with the Power of the whole, how did any Man that was elected come to have a Power over the whole? Why may not a People meet to chuse a Prince, as well as any other Magistrate? Why might not the
Athenians, Romans,
or
Carthaginians,
have chosen Princes as well as Archons, Consuls, Dictators or Suffetes, if it had pleas'd them? Who chose all the
Roman
Kings, except
Tarquin
the proud, if the People did not; since their Historys testify, that he was the first who took upon
T. Liv. l. 1.
him to reign
sine jussu populi?
Who ever heard of a King of the
Goths
in
Spain,
that was not chosen by the Nobility and People? Or, how could they chuse him, if they did not meet in their Persons, or by their Deputys, which is the same thing, when a People has agreed it should be so? How did the Kings of
Sweden
come by their Power, unless by the like Election, till the Crown was made hereditary, in the time of
Gustavus
the First, as a Reward of his Vertue and Service, in delivering that Country from the Tyranny of the
Danes?
How did
Charles Gustavus
come to be King, unless it was by the Election of the Nobility? He acknowledg'd by the Act of his Election, and upon all occasions, that he had no other right to the Crown than what they had confer'd on him. Did not the like Custom prevail in
Hungary
and
Bohemia,
till those Countrys fell under the Power of the House of
Austria?
and in
Denmark
till the Year 1660? Do not the Kings of
Poland
derive their Authority from this popular Election, which he derides? Dos not the stile of the Oath of Allegiance us'd in the Kingdom of
Arragon,
as it is related by
Antonio Perez
Secretary of State to
Philip
2
d,
shew, that their Kings were of their own making? Could they say,
Nos que val
mos tanto come vos, os hazemos neustro Rey, con tal que no
guardeys nuestros suero
libertades,
no, no.
Relacion. de Ant. Perez.
We who are as good as you, make you our King, on condition that you keep and observe our Privileges and Libertys; and if not, not;
if he did not come in by their Election? Were not the
Roman
Emperors, in disorderly times, chosen by the Soldiers; and in such as were more regular, by the Senate, with the consent of the People?
Our Author may say, the whole Body of these Nations did not meet at their Elections; tho that is not always true, for in the Infancy of
Rome,
when the whole People dwelt within the Walls of a small City, they did meet for the choice of their Kings, as afterwards for the choice of other Magistrats. Whilst the
Goths, Franks, Vandals
and
Saxons,
liv'd within the Precincts of a Camp, they frequently met for the Election of a King, and rais'd upon a Target the Person they had chosen: but finding that to be inconvenient, or rather impossible, when they were vastly increas'd in number, and dispers'd over all the Countrys they had conquer'd, no better way was found, than to institute
Gemotes, Parliaments, Diets, Cortez, Assemblys of Estates,
or the like, to do that which formerly had bin perform'd by themselves; and when a People is, by mutual compact, join'd together in a civil Society, there is no difference as to Right, between that which is done by them all in their own Persons, or by some deputed by all, and acting according to the Powers receiv'd from all.
If our Author was ignorant of these things, which are the most common in all Historys, he might have spar'd the pains of writing upon more abstruse Points; but 'tis a stupendous folly in him, to presume to raise Doctrins depending upon the universal Law of God and Nature, without examining the only Law that ever God did in a publick manner give to Man. If he had look'd into it, he might have learnt, That all
Israel
1 Sam. 10.
was, by the command of God, assembl'd at
Mispeth
to chuse a King, and did chuse
Saul:
He being slain, all
Judah
came to
Hebron,
and made
2 Sam. 2.
David
their King: After the death of
Ishbosheth,
all the Tribes went to
2 Sam. 5.
Hebron,
and anointed him King over them, and he made a Covenant with them before the Lord. When
Solomon
was dead, all
Israel
met together in
Shechem,
and ten Tribes disliking the proceedings of
Rehoboam,
1 King. 12.
rejected him, and made
Jeroboam
their King. The same People in the time of the Judges, had general Assemblys, as often as occasion did require, to set up a Judg, make War, or the like: And the several Tribes had their Assemblys to treat of Businesses relating to themselves. The Historys of all Nations, especially of those that have peopled the best parts of
Europe,
are so full of Examples in this kind, that no man can question them, unless he be brutally ignorant, or maliciously contentious. The great matters among the
Germans
were transacted
omnium consensu. De
C. Tacit. de mor. Germ.
minoribus consultant Principes; de majoribus omnes.
The
Michelgemote
among the
Saxons
was an Assembly of the whole People: The
Baronagium
is truly said to be the same, in as much as it comprehended all the Freemen, that is, all the People; for the difference between
Civis
and
Servus
is irreconcilable; and no man, whilst he is a Servant, can be a Member of a Commonwealth; for he that is not in his own power, cannot have a part in the Government of others. All the foremention'd Northern Nations had the like customs among 'em: The Governments they had were so instituted. The utmost that any now remaining pretends to, is, to derive their right from them: If, according to
Filmer,
these first Assemblys could not confer it upon the first, they had none: Such as claim under 'em, can inherit none from those that had none; and there can be no right in all the Governments we so much venerate; and nothing can tend more to their overthrow than the reception of our Author's Doctrin.
Tho any one Instance would be sufficient to overthrow his general negative Proposition (for a Rule is not generally true, if there be any just Exception against it) I have alledg'd many, and find it so easy to increase the number, that there is no Nation, whose Original we know, out of whose Historys I will not undertake to produce the like: But I have not bin solicitous precisely to distinguish, which Nations have acted in their own Persons, and which have made use of Delegats; nor in what times they have chang'd from one way to the other: for if any have acted by themselves, the thing is possible; and whatsoever is done by delegated Powers, must be refer'd to their Principals; for none can give to any a Power which they have not in themselves.
He is graciously pleas'd to confess, That
when Men are assembled by a human Power, that Power that dos assemble them, may also limit the manner of the execution of that Power, &c. But in Assemblys that take their Authority from the Law of Nature, it is not so; for what liberty or freedom is due to any man by the Law of Nature, no inferior Power can alter, limit or diminish: No one man, or multitude of men, can give away the natural Right of another,
&c. These are strong Lines, and such as, if there be any sense in them, utterly overthrow all our Author's Doctrin; for if any Assembly of men did ever take their Authority from the Law of Nature, it must be of such as, remaining in the intire fruition of their natural Liberty, and restrain'd by no Contract, meet together to deliberate of such matters as concern themselves; and if they can be restrnin'd by no one man, or number of men, they may dispose of their own Affairs as they think fit. But because no one of them is oblig'd to enter into the Society that the rest may constitute, he cannot enjoy the benefit of that Society unless he enter into it: He may be gone and set up for himself, or set up another with such as will agree with him. But if he enter into the Society, he is oblig'd by the Laws of it; and if one of those Laws be, that all things should be determin'd by the plurality of Voices, his Assent is afterwards comprehended in all the Resolutions of that Plurality.
Reuben
or
Simeon
might, according to the Laws of Nature, have divided themselves from their Brethren, as well as
Lot
from
Abraham,
or
Ismael
and the Sons of
Keturah
from
Isaac;
but when they, in hopes of having a part in the Inheritance promis'd to their Fathers, had join'd with their Brethren, a few of their Descendents could not have a right, by their dissent, to hinder the Resolutions of the whole Body, or such a part of it as by the first Agreement was to pass for an Act of the whole. And the
1 Sam. 10.
Scripture teaches us, that when the Lot was fallen upon
Saul,
they who despis'd him were stil'd
Men of Belial;
and the rest, after his Victory over the
Ammonites,
would have slain 'em if he had permitted. In the like manner, when a number of Men met together to build
Rome,
any man who had dislik'd the design, might justly have refus'd to join in it; but when he had enter'd into the Society, he could not by his Vote invalidate the Acts of the whole, nor destroy the Rights of
Romulus, Numa,
and the others, who by the Senat and People were made Kings; nor those of the other Magistrats, who after their expulsion were legally created.
This is as much as is requir'd to establish the natural Liberty of Mankind in its utmost extent, and cannot be shaken by our Author's surmise,
That a Gap is thereby open'd for every seditious multitude to raise a new Commonwealth:
For till the Commonwealth be establish'd, no multitude can be seditious, because they are not subject to any human Law; and Sedition implies an unjust and disorderly opposition of that Power which is legally establish'd; which cannot be when there is none, nor by him who is not a Member of the Society that makes it; and when it is made, such as enter'd into it, are oblig'd to the Laws of it.
This shewing the root and foundation of Civil Powers, we may judg of the use and extent of them, according to the letter of the Law, or the true intentional meaning of it; both which declare them to be purely Human Ordinances, proceeding from the will of those who seek their own good; and may certainly infer, that since all Multitudes are compos'd of such as are under some Contract, or free from all, no Man is oblig'd to enter into those contracts against his own will, nor oblig'd by any to which he dos not assent: Those multitudes that enter into such Contracts, and thereupon form Civil Societys, act according to their own will: Those that are engag'd in none, take their Authority from the Law of Nature; their Rights cannot be limited or diminish'd by any one Man, or number of Men; and consequently whoever dos it, or attempts the doing of it, violates the most sacred Laws of God and Nature.
His cavils concerning Proxys, and the way of using them, deserve no answer, as relating only to one sort of Men amongst us, and can have no influence upon the Laws of Nature, or the proceedings of Assemblys, acting according to such Rules as they set to themselves. In some places they have voted all together in their own persons, as in
Athens:
In others by Tribes, as in
Rome:
Sometimes by Delegats, when the number of the whole People is so great, that no one place can contain them, as in the Parliaments, Diets, General Assemblys of Estates, long us'd in the great Kingdoms of
Europe.
In other Parts many Citys are join'd together in Leagues, as antiently the
Achaians, Etolians, Samnites, Tuscans;
and in these times the States of
Holland,
and Cantons of
Switzerland:
but our Author not regarding such matters, in pursuance of his folly, with an ignorance as admirable as his stupidity, repeats his Challenge;
I ask,
says he,
but one Example out of the History of the whole World; let the Commonwealth be nam'd, wherever the Multitude, or so much as the major part of it, consented either by Voice or Procuration to the Election of a Prince:
not observing, that if an Answer could not be given, he did overthrow the Rights of all the Princes that are, or ever have bin in the World: for if the Liberty of one Man cannot be limited or diminish'd by one, or any number of Men, and none can give away the Right of another; 'tis plain that the Ambition of one Man, or of many, a faction of Citizens, or the mutiny of an Army, cannot give a Right to any over the Libertys of a whole Nation. Those who are so set up, have their root in Violence or Fraud, and are rather to be accounted Robbers and Pirats, than Magistrats.
Leo Africanus
observing in his History, that since the extinction
Leonis Afr. Hist. Africae.
of
Mahomet
's Race (to whom his Countrymen thought God had given the Empire of the World) their Princes did not come in by the consent of those Nations which they govern'd, says, that they are esteem'd Thieves; and that on this account, the most honourable Men among the
Arabians
and
Moors
scorn to eat, drink, or make Alliances with them: and if the case were as general as that Author makes it, no better Rule could be any where follow'd by honourable and worthy Men. But a good Cause must not be lost by the fault of an ill Advocate; the Rights of Kings must not perish, because
Filmer
knows not how to defend, or dos maliciously betray them. I have already prov'd that
David,
and divers of the Judges, were chosen by all
Israel; Jeroboam
by ten Tribes; all the Kings of
Rome,
except
Tarquin
the Proud, by the whole City. I may add many Examples of the
Saxons
in our own Country:
Ina
and
Offa
were made Kings,
omnium consensu:
These
All
are exprest plainly
Mat. Paris.
by the words,
Archiepiscopis, Episcopis, Abbatibus, Senatoribus, Ducibus & Populo terrae. Egbert
and
Ethelward
came to the Crown by the same Authority,
Omnium consensu Rex creatur. Ethelwolf
the Monk,
Necessitate
Guil. Ma
s. Polyd.
cogente sac
us est Rex, & consensus publicus in regem dari petiit. Ethelstan,
tho a Bastard,
electus est magno consensu Optimatum, & a Populo consalutatus.
Polyd. Huntingd. Mat. West. Hoveden.
In the like manner
Edwin
's Government being dislik'd, they chose
Edgar: Ʋ nanimi omnium conspiratione, Edwino dejecto, eligerunt Deo dictante Edgarum in Regem, & annuente Populo:
And in another place,
Edgarus ab omni Anglorum Populo electus est. Ironside
being dead,
Canutus
Florent.
was receiv'd by the general consent of all:
Juraverunt illi, quod eum regem sibi eligere vellent; foedus etiam cum principibus & omni populo ipse, &
Abbas Croyl. Huntingd.
illi cum ipso percusserunt.
Whereupon,
Omnium consensu super totam Angliam Canutus coronatur. Hardicanutus gaudenter ab omnibus suscipitur & electus est.
The same Author says that
Edward
the Confessor,
electus est
Ingulf.
in regem ab omni populo:
And another,
Omnium Electione in Edwardum concordatur.
Tho the name of Conqueror be odiously given to
William
the
Norman,
he had the same Title to the Crown with his Predecessors;
In magna exultatione a Clero & Populo susceptus, & ab omnibus Rex acclamatus.
I cannot recite all the Examples of this kind, that the History of almost all Nations furnishes, unless I should make a Volume in bulk not inferior to the Book of
Martyrs:
But those which I have mention'd out of the Sacred,
Roman,
and
English
History, being more than sufficient to answer our Author's Challenge, I take liberty to add, that tho there could not be one Example produc'd of a Prince, or any other Magistrate, chosen by the general consent of the People, or by the major part of them, it could be of no advantage to the Cause he has undertaken to maintain: For when a People has either indefinitely, or under certain Conditions and Limitations, resign'd their Power into the hands of a certain number of Men; or agreed upon Rules, according to which Persons should, from time to time, be deputed for the management of their Affairs, the Acts of those Persons, if their Power be without restrictions, are of the same value as the Acts of the whole Nation, and the assent of every individual Man is comprehended in them. If the Power be limited, whatsoever is done according to that limitation, has the same Authority. If it dos therefore appear (as is testify'd by the Laws and Historys of all our Northern Nations) that the power of every People is either wholly, or to such a degree as is necessary for creating Kings, granted to their several Gemotes, Diets, Cortez, Assemblys of Estates, Parliaments, and the like; all the Kings that they have any where, or at any time chosen, do reign by the same authority, and have the same right, as if every individual Man of those Nations had assented to their Election. But that these Gemotes, Diets, and other Assemblys of State, have every where had such Powers, and executed them by rejecting or setting up Kings; and that the Kings now in being among us have receiv'd their beginning from such Acts, has bin fully prov'd, and is so plain in it self, that none but those who are grosly stupid or impudent can deny it: which is enough to shew that all Kings are not set up by violence, deceit, faction of a few powerful Men, or the mutinys of Armys; but from the consent of such multitudes, as joining together, frame Civil Societys; and either in their own Persons at general Assemblys, or by their Delegats, confer a just and legal Power upon them; which our Author rejecting, he dos, as far as in him lies, prove them all to be Usurpers and Tyrants.
SECT. VI. They who have a right of chusing a King, have the right of making a King.
THO the Right of Magistrats dos essentially depend upon the consent of those they govern, it is hardly worth our pains to examin,
Whether the silent acceptation of a Governor by part of the People be an argument of their concurring in the election of him; or by the same reason the tacit consent of the whole Commonwealth may be maintain'd:
for when the question is concerning Right, fraudulent surmises are of no value; much less will it from thence follow,
that a Prince commanding by Succession, Conquest, or Ʋ surpation, may be said to be elected by the People;
for evident marks of dissent are often given: Some declare their hatred; others murmur more privatly; many oppose the Governour or Government, and succeed according to the measure of their Strength, Virtue, or Fortune. Many would resist, but cannot; and it were ridiculous to say, that the Inhabitants of
Greece,
the Kingdom of
Naples,
or Dutchy of
Tuscany,
do tacitly assent to the Government of the Great
Turk,
King of
Spain,
or Duke of
Florence;
when nothing is more certain than that those miserable Nations abhor the Tyrannys they are under; and if they were not master'd by a Power much too great for them, they would soon free themselves. And they who are under such Governments do no more assent to them, tho they may be silent, than a Man approves of being robb'd, when, without saying a word, he delivers his Purse to a Thief that he knows to be too strong for him.
'Tis not therefore the bare sufferance of a Government when a disgust is declar'd, nor a silent submission when the power of opposing is wanting, that can imply an Assent, or Election, and create a Right; but an explicit act of Approbation, when Men have ability and courage to resist or deny. Which being agreed, 'tis evident that our Author's distinction between
eligere
and
instituere
signifys nothing: tho, if the power of instituting were only left to Nations, it would be sufficient; for he is in vain elected who is not instituted; and he that is instituted is certainly elected, for his Institution is an Election. As the
Romans
who chose
Romulus, Numa,
and
Hostilius
to be Kings; and
Brutus, Valerius,
or
Lucretius
to be Consuls; did make them so, and their Right was solely grounded upon their Election. The Text brought by our Author against this dos fully prove it,
Him shalt thou set King over thee whom the Lord shall chuse;
Deut. 17.
for God did not only make the institution of a King to be purely an act of the People, but left it to them to institute one or not, as should best please themselves: and the words,
whom the Lord shall chuse,
can have no other signification, than that the People resolving to have a King, and following the Rules prescrib'd by his Servant
Moses,
he would direct 'em in their choice; which relates only to that particular People in covenant with God, and immediately under his Government, which no other was. But this pains might have bin sav'd, if God by a universal Law had given a rule to all. The
Israelites
could not have bin three hundred years without a King, and then left to the liberty of making one, or not, if he by a perpetual Law had ordain'd that every Nation should have one; and it had bin as well impertinent as unjust to deliberate who should be King, if the Dominion had by right of Inheritance belong'd to one: They must have submitted to him whether they would or not: No care was to be taken in the election or institution of him, who by his birth had a Right annex'd to his Person that could not be alter'd: He could not have bin forbidden
to multiply Silver or Gold,
who by the Law of his Creation might do what he pleas'd: It had bin ridiculous to say,
he should not raise his Heart above his Brethren,
who had no Brethren, that is, no Equals; but was rais'd above all by God, who had impos'd upon all others a necessity of obeying him. But God, who dos nothing in vain, did neither constitute or elect any till they desir'd it, nor command 'em to do it themselves, unless it so pleas'd themselves; nor appoint 'em to take him out of any one Line: Every
Israelite
might be chosen: None but Strangers were excluded; and the People were left to the liberty of chusing and instituting any one of their Brethren.
Our Author endeavouring by
Hooker
's authority to establish his distinction between
eligere
and
instituere,
destroys it, and the paternal Right, which he makes the foundation of his Doctrine.
Heaps of Scripture are alledg'd,
says he,
concerning the solemn Coronation and Inauguration of
Saul, David, Solomon
and others, by Nobles, Antients, and People of the Commonwealth of
Israel: which is enough to prove that the whole work was theirs; that no other had any title more than what they bestow'd upon him; that the Kings were set up by the Nobles, Antients and People: Even God did no otherwise intervene than by such a secret disposition of the Lots by his Providence, as is exercis'd in the Government of all the things in the World; and we cannot have a more certain evidence, that a paternal right to Dominion is a mere Whimsy, than that God did not cause the Lot to fall upon the eldest, of the eldest Line, of the eldest Tribe; but upon
Saul,
a young Man, of the youngest Tribe: and afterwards, tho he had design'd
David, Solomon, Jerobvam,
and others, who had no pretence to the paternal Right, to be Kings, he left both the election and institution of them to the Elders and People.
But
Hooker
being well examin'd, it will appear that his opinions are as contrary to the Doctrin of our Author, as those we have mention'd out
Hooker
Eccl. Pol. l. 1. c. 10.
of
Plato
and
Aristotle.
He plainly says,
It is impossible that any should have a compleat lawful power over a multitude consisting of so many Familys, as every politick Society dos, but by consent of Men, or immediate appointment from God: Because not having the natural Superiority of Fathers, their Power must needs be usurp'd, and then unlawful; or if lawful, then either granted or consented to by them over whom they exercise the same, or else given extraordinarily by God.
And tho he thinks Kings to have bin the first Governors so constituted, he adds,
That this is not the only Regiment that has bin receiv'd in the World. The inconveniences of one kind have caus'd sundry others to be devis'd. So that in a word, all publick Regiment, of what kind soever, seems evidently to have risen from deliberate advice, consultation and composition between Men, judging it convenient and behoofeful.
And a little below,
Man's Nature standing therefore as it doth, some kind of regiment the Law of Nature dos require; yet the kinds thereof being many, Nature ties not to any one, but leaves the choice as a thing arbitrary.
And again,
To live by one Man's will, became all Mens misery: This constrain'd them to come unto Laws, &c. But as those Laws do not only teach that which is good, but enjoin it, they have in them a constraining force. To constrain Men to any thing inconvenient seems unreasonable: Most requisite therefore it is that to devise Laws, which all Men should be forc'd to obey, none but wise Men should be admitted. Moreover that which we say concerning the power of Government, must here be apply'd to the power of making Laws, whereby to govern; which Power God has over all; and by the natural Law, whereunto he has made all subject, the lawful power of making Laws to command whole politick Societys of men, belongs so properly to the same intire Societys, that for any Prince or Potentate, of what kind soever upon Earth, to exercise the same of himself, and not either by express commission immediately from God, or else by authority deriv'd at the first from their consent, upon whose persons they impose Laws, it is no better than mere Tyranny. Laws therefore they are not, which publick consent has not made so.
The humour of our Age consider'd, I should not have ventur'd to say so much: But if
Hooker
be a Man of such great Authority, I cannot offend in transcribing his words, and shewing how vilely he is abus'd by
Filmer;
concluding, that if he be in the right, the choice and constitution of Government, the making of Laws, Coronation, Inauguration, and all that belongs to the chusing and making of Kings, or other Magistrats, is merely from the People; and that all Power exercis'd over them, which is not so, is Usurpation and Tyranny, unless it be by an immediate Commission from God; which if any man has, let him give testimony of it, and I will confess he comes not within the reach of our reasonings, but ought to be obey'd by those to whom he is sent, or over whom he is plac'd.
Nevertheless our Author is of another opinion; but scorning to give us a reason, he adds to
Hooker
's words,
As if these Solemnitys were a kind of deed, whereby the right of Dominion is given; which strange, untrue, and unnatural Conceits are set abroad by Seedsmen of Rebellion:
And a little farther,
Ʋ nless we will openly proclaim defiance to all Law, Equity, and Reason, we must say (for there is no remedy) that in Kingdoms hereditary, Birthright giveth a Right to Sovereign Dominion, &c. Those Solemnitys do either serve for an open testification of the Inheritor's Right, or belong to the form of inducing him into the possession.
These are bold Censures, and do not only reach Mr.
Hooker,
whose modesty and peaceableness of spirit is no less esteem'd than his Learning; but the Scriptures also, and the best of human Authors, upon which he founded his Opinions. But why should it be thought a strange, untrue, or unnatural Conceit, to believe that when the Scriptures say
Nimrod
was the first that grew powerful in the Earth, long before the death of his Fathers, and could consequently neither have a right of Dominion over the Multitude met together at
Babylon,
nor subdue them by his own strength, he was set up by their Consent; or that they who made him their Governor, might prescribe Rules by which he should govern? Nothing seems to me less strange, than that a multitude of reasonable Creatures, in the performance of Acts of the greatest importance, should consider why they do them. And the infinite variety which is observ'd in the constitution, mixture, and regulation of Governments, dos not only shew that the several Nations of the World have consider'd them; but clearly prove that all Nations have perpetually continu'd in the exercise of that Right. Nothing is more natural than to follow the voice of Mankind: The wisest and best have ever employ'd their studys in forming Kingdoms and Commonwealths, or in adding to the perfections of such as were already constituted; which had bin contrary to the Laws of God and Nature, if a general Rule had bin set, that had oblig'd all to be for ever subject to the Will of one; and they had not bin the best, but the worst of men who had departed from it. Nay, I may say, that the Law given by God to his peculiar People, and the Commands deliver'd by his Servants in order to it, or the prosecution of it, had bin contrary to his own eternal and universal Law; which is impossible. A Law therefore having bin given by God, which had no relation to, or consistency with the absolute paternal power; Judges and Kings created, who had no pretence to any preference before their Brethren, till they were created, and commanded not to raise their Hearts above them when they should be created; the Wisdom and Vertue of the best men in all ages shewn in the constitution or reformation of Governments; and Nations in variously framing them, preserving the possession of their natural Right, to be govern'd by none, and in no other way than they should appoint: The opinions of
Hooker, That all publick Regiment, of what kind soever, arises from the deliberate advice of men seeking their own good, and that all other is mere Tyranny;
are not
untrue and unnatural conceits set abroad
by the
Seedsmen of Rebellion,
but real Truths grounded upon the Laws of God and Nature, acknowledg'd and practis'd by Mankind. And no Nation being justly subject to any but such as they set up, nor in any other manner than according to such Laws as they ordain, the right of chusing and making those that are to govern them, must wholly depend upon their Will.
SECT. VII. The Laws of every Nation are the measure of Magistratical Power.
OUR Author lays much weight upon the word
Hereditary:
but the question is, What is inherited in an Hereditary Kingdom, and how it comes to be hereditary? 'Tis in vain to say
the Kingdom;
for we do not know what he means by the Kingdom: 'tis one thing in one place, and very different in others; and I think it not easy to find two in the World that in power are exactly the same. If he understands all that is comprehended within the precincts over which it reaches, I deny that any such is to be found in the World: If he refers to what preceding Kings enjoy'd, no determination can be made, till the first original of that Kingdom be examin'd, that it may be known what that first King had, and from whence he had it.
If this variety be denied, I desire to know whether the Kings of
Sparta
and
Persia
had the same power over their Subjects; if the same, whether both were absolute, or both limited; if limited, how came the Decrees of the
Persian
Kings to pass for Laws? If absolute, how could the
Spartan
Kings be subject to Fines, Imprisonment, or the sentence of Death; and not to have power to send for their own Supper out of the Common Hall? Why did
Xenophon
call
Agesilaus
a good and faithful King, obedient to the Laws of his Country, when, upon the command of the
Ephori,
he left the War that he had with so much glory begun in
Asia,
if he was subject to none? How came the
Ephori
to be establish'd to restrain the Power of Kings, if it could no way be restrain'd, if all ow'd obedience to them, and they to none? Why did
Theopompus
his Wife reprove him for suffering his power to be diminish'd by their creation, if it could not be diminish'd? Or why did he say he had made the Power more permanent in making it lefs odious, if it was perpetual and unalterable? We may go farther, and taking
Xenophon
and
Plutarch
for our guides, assert that the Kings of
Sparta
never had the powers of War or Peace, Life and Death, which our Author esteems inseparable from Regality, and conclude either that no King has them, or that all Kings are not alike in power. If they are not in all places the same, Kings do not reign by an universal Law, but by the particular Laws of each Country; which give to every one so much power, as in the opinion of the givers conduces to the end of their Institution, which is the publick good.
It may be also worth our inquiry how this inherited Power came to be hereditary. We know that the Sons of
Vespasian
and
Constantine
inherited the
Roman
Empire, tho their Fathers had no such title: But having gain'd the Empire by violence, which
Hooker
says is mere Tyranny that can create no right, they could devolve none to their Children. The Kings of
France
of the three Races have inherited the Crown; but
Meroveus, Pepin,
and
Hugh Capet
could neither pretend title nor conquest, or any other Right than what was confer'd upon them by the Clergy, Nobility, and People; and consequently whatsoever is inherited from them can have no other Original; for that is the gift of the People which is bestow'd upon the first, under whom the Successors claim, as if it had bin by a peculiar Act given to every one of them. It will be more hard to shew how the Crown of
England
is become hereditary, unless it be by the Will of the People; for tho it were granted that some of the
Saxon
Kings came in by inheritance (which I do not, having, as I think, prov'd them to have bin absolutely elective) yet
William
the
Norman
did not, for he was a Bastard, and could inherit nothing.
William Rufus
and
Henry
did not; for their Elder Brother
Robert
by right of Inheritance ought to have bin prefer'd before 'em:
Stephen
and
Henry
the second did not; for
Maud
the only Heiress of
Henry
the first was living when both were crown'd:
Richard
and
John
did not, for they were Bastards born in adultery. They must therefore have receiv'd their Right from the People, or they could have none at all; and their Successors fall under the same condition.
Moreover, I find great variety in the deduction of this hereditary Right. In
Sparta
there were two Kings of different Familys, endow'd with an equal power. If the
Heraclidae
did reign as Fathers of the People, the
Aeacidae
did not: if the right was in the
Aeacidae,
the
Heraclidae
could have none; for 'tis equally impossible to have two Fathers as two thousand. 'Tis in vain to say that two Familys join'd, and agreed to reign jointly: for 'tis evident the
Spartans
had Kings before the time of
Hercules
or
Achilles,
who were the Fathers of the two Races. If it be said that the Regal power with which they were invested did entitle 'em to the right of Fathers, it must in like manner have belong'd to the
Roman
Consuls, Military Tribunes, Dictators and Pretors; for they had more Power than the
Spartan
Kings; and that glorious Nation might change their Fathers every year, and multiply or diminish the number of 'em as they pleas'd. If this be most ridiculous and absurd, 'tis certain that the Name and Office of King, Consul, Dictator, or the like, dos not confer any determin'd Right upon the Person that has it: Every one has a right to that which is allotted to him by the Laws of the Country by which be is created.
As the
Persians, Spartans, Romans
or
Germans,
might make such Magistrats, and under such names as best pleas'd themselves, and accordingly enlarge or diminish their Power; the same Right belongs to all Nations, and the Rights due unto, as well as the Dutys incumbent upon every one, are to be known only by the Laws of that place. This may seem strange to those who know neither Books nor Things, Historys nor Laws; but is well explain'd by
Grotius,
who denying the Sovereign Power to be annex'd to any Name, speaks of divers Magistrats under several names that had, and others that under the same names had it not; and distinguishes
Grot. de Jur. bel. & pac. l. 1. c. 1.
those who have the
Summum Imperium summo modo,
from those who have it
modo non summo:
and tho probably he look'd on the first sort as a thing merely speculative, if by that
summo modo,
a right of doing what one pleases be understood; yet he gives many Examples of the other. Among those who had
liberrimum imperium,
if any had it, he names the Kings of the
Sabeans;
who nevertheless were under such a condition, that tho they were, as
Agatharchidas
reports, obey'd in all things, whilst they continu'd within the Walls of their Palace, might be ston'd by any that met 'em without it. He finds also another Obstacle to the Absolute power,
Cum Rex partem habeat summi Imperii, partem Senatus, sive Populus;
which parts are proportion'd according to the Laws of each Kingdom, whether Hereditary or Elective, both being equally regulated by them.
The Law that gives and measures the Power, prescribes Rules how it should be transmitted. In some places the supreme Magistrats are annually elected, in others their Power is for life; in some they are merely elective, in others hereditary under certain Rules or Limitations. The antient Kingdoms and Lordships of
Spain
were hereditary; but the Succession went ordinarily to the eldest of the reigning Family, not to the nearest in Blood. This was the ground of the Quarrel between
Corbis
T. Liv. l. 28.
the Brother, and
Orsua
the Son of the last Prince, decided by combat before
Scipio.
I know not whether the
Goths
brought that custom with 'em when they conquer'd
Spain,
or whether they learnt it from the Inhabitants; but certain it is, that keeping themselves to the Familys of
Saavedra corona Gothica.
the
Balthei,
and
Amalthei,
they had more regard to Age than Proximity; and almost ever prefer'd the Brother, or eldest Kinsman of the last King
Marian. Hist. Hispan.
before his Son. The like custom was in use among the
Moors
in
Spain
and
Africa,
who according to the several Changes that happen'd among the Familys of
Almohades, Almoranides,
and
Benemerini,
did always take one of the reigning Blood; but in the choice of him had most respect to Age and Capacity. This is usually call'd the Law of
Thanestry;
and, as in many other places, prevail'd also in
Ireland,
till that Country fell under the
English
Government.
In
France
and
Turky
the Male that is nearest in Blood, succeeds; and I do not know of any deviation from that Rule in
France,
since
Henry
the First was prefer'd before
Robert
his elder Brother, Grandchild to
Hugh Capet:
But notwithstanding the great veneration they have for the Royal Blood, they utterly exclude Females, lest the Crown should fall to a Stranger; or a Woman that is seldom able to govern her self, should come to govern so great a People. Some Nations admit Females, either simply, as well as Males; or under a condition of not marrying out of their Country, or without the consent of the Estates, with an absolute exclusion of them and their Children if they do; according to which Law, now in force among the
Swedes, Charles Gustavus
was chosen King upon the resignation of Queen
Christina,
as having no Title; and the Crown setled upon the Heirs of his Body, to the utter exclusion of his Brother
Adolphus,
their Mother having married a
German.
Tho divers Nations have differently dispos'd their Affairs; all those that are not naturally Slaves, and like to Beasts, have prefer'd their own Good before the personal Interests of him that expects the Crown, so as upon no pretence whatever to admit of one who is evidently guilty of such Vices as are prejudicial to the State. For this reason the
French,
tho much addicted to their Kings, rejected the vile remainders of
Meroveus
his Race, and made
Pepin
the Son of
Charles Martel
King: And when his Descendents fell into the like Vices, they were often depos'd, till at last they were wholly rejected, and the Crown given to
Capet
and to his Heirs Male as formerly. Yet for all this
Henry
his Grandchild, being esteem'd more fit to govern than his elder Brother
Robert,
was, as is said before, made King, and that Crown still remains in his Descendents; no consideration being had of the Children of
Robert,
who continu'd Dukes of
Burgundy
during the reigns of ten Kings. And in the memory of our Fathers,
Henry
of
Navarr
was rejected by two Assemblys of the Estates, because he differ'd in Religion from the Body of the Nation, and could never be receiv'd as King, till he had renounc'd his own, tho he was certainly the next in Blood; and that in all other respects he excel'd in those Vertues which they most esteem.
We have already prov'd, that our own History is full of the like Examples, and might enumerate a multitude of others, if it were not too tedious: and as the various Rules, according to which all the hereditary Crowns of the World are inherited, shew, that none is set by Nature, but that every People proceeds according to their own Will; the frequent deviations from those Rules do evidently testify, that
Salus Populi est Lex suprema;
and that no Crown is granted otherwise, than in submission to it.
But tho there were a Rule, which in no case ought to be transgrest, there must be a Power of judging to whom it ought to be applied. 'Tis perhaps hard to conceive one more precise than that of
France,
where the eldest Legitimate Male in the direct Line is prefer'd; and yet that alone is not sufficient. There may be Bastardy in the case: Bastards may be thought legitimate, and legitimate Sons Bastards. The Children born of
Isabel
of
Portugal
during her Marriage with
John
the Third of
Castile
were declar'd Bastards; and the Title of the House of
Austria
to that Crown, depends upon that Declaration. We often see that Marriages which have bin contracted, and for a long time taken to be good, have bin declar'd null; and the legitimation of the present King of
France
is founded solely upon the abolition of the Marriage of
Henry
the Fourth with
Marguerite
of
Valois,
which for the space of twenty seven Years was thought to have bin good. Whilst
Spain
was divided into five or six Kingdoms, and the several Kings link'd to each other by mutual Alliances, incestuous Marriages were often contracted, and upon better consideration annul'd; many have bin utterly void, thro the preingagement of one of the Partys. These are not feign'd Cases, but such as happen frequently; and the diversity of Accidents, as well as the humours of Men, may produce many others, which would involve Nations in the most fatal Disorders, if every one should think himself oblig'd to follow such a one who pretended a Title, that to him might seem plausible, when another should set up one as pleasing to others, and there were no Power to terminate those Disputes to which both must submit, but the decision must be left to the Sword.
This is that which I call the Application of the Rule, when it is as plain and certain as human Wisdom can make it; but if it be left more at large, as where Females inherit, the difficultys are inextricable: and he that says, the next Heir is really King when one is dead, before he be so declar'd by a Power that may judg of his Title, dos, as far as in him lies, expose Nations to be split into the most desperate Factions, and every man to fight for the Title which he fancies to be good, till he destroy those of the contrary Party, or be destroy'd by them. This is the blessed way propos'd by our Author to prevent Sedition: But, God be thank'd, our Ancestors found a better. They did not look upon
Robert
the
Norman
as King of
England
after the death of his Father; and when he did proudly endeavour, on pretence of Inheritance, to impose himself upon the Nation, that thought fit to prefer his younger Brothers before him, he paid the penalty of his folly, by the loss of his Eyes and Liberty. The
French
did not think the Grandchild of
Pharamond
to be King after the death of his Father, nor seek who was the next Heir of the
Merovingian
Line, when
Chilperic
the Third was dead; nor regard the Title of
Charles
of
Lorrain
after the death of his Brother
Lothair,
or of
Robert
of
Burgundy
eldest Son of King
Robert;
but advanc'd
Meroveus, Pepin, Capet
and
Henry
the First, who had no other Right than what the Nobility and People bestow'd upon them. And if such Acts do not destroy the Pretences of all who lay claim to Crowns by Inheritance, and do not create a Right, I think it will be hard to find a lawful King in the world, or that there ever has bin any; since the first did plainly come in like
Nimrod,
and those who have bin every where since Historys are known to us, ow'd their exaltation to the Consent of Nations, arm'd or unarm'd, by the deposition or exclusion of the Heirs of such as had reign'd before them.
Our Author not troubling himself with these things, or any other relating to the matter in question, is pleas'd to slight
Hooker
's Opinions concerning Coronation and Inauguration, with
the heaps of Scripture
upon which he grounds them; whereas those Solemnitys would not only have bin foolish and impertinent, but profane and impious, if they were not Deeds by which the Right of Dominion is really confer'd. What could be more wickedly superstitious, than to call all
Israel
together before the Lord, and to cast Lots upon every Tribe, Family and Person, for the election of a King, if it had bin known to whom the Crown did belong by a natural and unalterable Right? Or if there had bin such a thing in Nature, how could God have caus'd that Lot to fall upon one of the youngest Tribe, for ever to discountenance his own Law, and divert Nations from taking any notice of it? It had bin absurd for the Tribe of
Judah
to chuse and anoint
David,
and for the other Tribes to follow their example after the death of
Ishbosheth,
if he had bin King by a Right not depending on their Will.
David
did worse in slaying the Sons of
Rimmon,
saying, they had kill'd a righteous Man lying upon his bed, if
Ishbosheth,
whose Head they presented, had most unrighteously detain'd from him, as long as he liv'd, the Dominion of the ten Tribes: The King, Elders and People, had most scornfully abus'd the most sacred things, by using such Ceremonys in making him King, and compleating their Work in a Covenant made between him and them before the Lord, if he had bin already King, and if those Acts had bin empty Ceremonys conferring no Right at all.
I dare not say that a League dos imply an absolute equality between both Partys; for there is a
Foedus inequale,
wherein the weaker, as
Grotius
says, dos usually obtain protection, and the stronger honour; but there can be none at all, unless both Partys are equally free to make it, or not to make it.
David
therefore was not King, till he was elected, and those Covenants made; and he was made King by that Election and Covenants.
This is not shaken by our Author's Supposition,
That the People would not have taken
Joas, Manasseh
or
Josiah,
if they had had a right of chusing a King; since
Solomon
says, Wo unto the Kingdom whose King is a Child!
For, first, they who at the first had a right of chusing whom they pleas'd to be King, by the Covenant made with him whom they did chuse, may have depriv'd themselves of the farther execution of it, and render'd the Crown hereditary even to Children, unless the Conditions come to be violated upon which it was granted. In the second place, if the Infancy of a King brings Wo upon a People, the Government of such a one cannot be according to the Laws of God and Nature; for Governments are not instituted by either for the pleasure of a Man, but for the good of Nations; and their Weal, not their Wo, is sought by both: And if Children are any where admitted to rule, 'tis by the particular Law of the place, grounded perhaps upon an opinion, that it is the best way to prevent dangerous Contests; or that other ways may be found to prevent the Inconveniences that may proceed from their weakness. Thirdly, It cannot be concluded that they might not reject Children, because they did not: Such matters require positive Proofs, Suppositions are of no value in relation to them, and the whole matter may be alter'd by particular Circumstances. The
Jews
might reasonably have a great veneration for the House of
David:
they knew what was promis'd to that Family; and whatever respect was paid, or privilege granted on that account, can be of no advantage to any other in the world. They might be farther induc'd to set up
Joas,
in hope the defects of his Age might be supplied by the Vertue, Experience and Wisdom of
Jehoiada.
We do not know what good opinion may have bin conceiv'd of
Manasseh
when he was twelve years old; but much might be hop'd from one that had bin virtuously educated, and was probably under the care of such as had bin chosen by
Hezekiah:
and tho the contrary did fall out, the mischiefs brought upon the People by his wicked Reign, proceeded not from the weakness of his Childhood, but from the malice of his riper Years. And both the Examples of
Joas
and
Josiah
prove, that neither of 'em came in by their own right, but by the choice of the People. Jehoiada
gather'd the
Levites
out of all the Citys of
Judah,
and the chief of the Fathers
2 Chron. 23.
of
Israel,
and they came to
Jerusalem:
And all the Congregation made a Covenant with the King in the House of God, and brought out the King's Son, and put upon him the Crown, and gave him the Testimony, and made him King;
whereupon they slew
Athaliah. And when
Ammon
was slain,
2 Chron. 33.
the people of the Land slew them that had conspir'd against King
Ammon;
and the people of the Land made
Josiah
his Son King in his stead:
which had bin most impertinent, if he was of himself King before they made him so. Besides, tho Infancy may be a just cause of excepting against, and rejecting the next Heir to a Crown, 'tis not the greatest or strongest. 'Tis far more easy to find a Remedy against the folly of a Child (if the State be well regulated) than the more rooted Vices of grown men. The
English,
who willingly receiv'd
Henry
the Sixth,
Edward
the Fifth and Sixth, tho Children, resolutely oppos'd
Robert
the
Norman:
And the
French,
who willingly submitted to
Charles
the Ninth,
Lewis
the Thirteenth and Fourteenth in their Infancy, rejected the rude remainders of
Meroveus
his Race,
Charles
of
Lorrain
with his Kindred descended from
Pepin, Robert
Duke of
Burgundy
with his Descendents, and
Henry
of
Navarr,
till he had satisfy'd the Nobility and People in the point of Religion. And tho I do not know that the Letter upon the words,
Vae regno
Lamb. Leg. Saxon.
cujus Rex p
er est,
recited by
Lambard,
was written by
Eleutherius
Bishop of
Rome;
yet the Authority given to it by the
Saxons,
who made it a Law, is much more to be valu'd than what it could receive from the Writer: And whoever he was, he seems rightly to have understood
Solomon
's meaning, who did not look upon him as a Child that wanted years, or was superannuated, but him only who was guilty of Insolence, Luxury, Folly and Madness; and he that said,
A wise Child was better than an old and foolish King,
could have no other meaning, unless he should say, it was worse to be govern'd by a wise Person than a Fool; which may agree with the judgment of our Author, but could never enter into the heart of
Solomon.
Lastly, Tho the practice of one or more Nations may indicate what Laws, Covenants or Customs were in force among them, yet they cannot bind others: The diversity of them proceeds from the variety of mens Judgments, and declares, that the direction of all such Affairs depends upon their own Will; according to which every People for themselves do form and measure the Magistracy, and magistratical Power; which, as it is directed solely for the good, has its exercises and extent proportionable to the Command of those that institute it; and such Ordinances being good for men, God makes them his own.
SECT. VIII. There is no natural propensity in Man or Beast to Monarchy.
I SEE no reason to believe that God did approve the Government of one over many, because he created but one: but to the contrary, in as much he did endow him, and those that came from him, as well the youngest as the eldest Line, with understanding to provide for themselves, and by the invention of Arts and Sciences to be beneficial to each other; he shew'd, that they ought to make use of that understanding in forming Governments according to their own convenience, and such occasions as should arise, as well as in other matters. And it might as well be infer'd, that it is unlawful for us to build, clothe, arm, defend, or nourish our selves, otherwise than our first Parents did, before or soon after the Flood, as to take from us the liberty of instituting Governments that were not known to them. If they did not find out all that conduces to the use of man, but a Faculty as well as a Liberty was left to every one, and will be to the end of the World, to make use of his Wit, Industry, and Experience, according to present Exigences, to invent and practise such things as seem convenient to himself and others in matters of the least importance; it were absurd to imagin, that the political Science, which of all others is the most abstruse and variable according to Accidents and Circumstances, should have bin perfectly known to them who had no use of it; and that their Descendents are oblig'd to add nothing to what they practis'd. But the reason given by our Author to prove this extravagant fancy, is yet more ridiculous than the thing it self;
God,
says he,
shew'd his opinion,
viz. that all should be govern'd by one,
when he endow'd not only Men, but Beasts with a natural propensity to Monarchy: Neither can it be doubted, but a natural propensity is refer'd to God who is the Author of Nature:
Which I suppose may appear if it be consider'd.
Nevertheless I cannot but commend him in the first place for introducing God speaking so modestly, not declaring his Will, but his Opinion. He puts haughty and majestick Language into the mouth of Kings. They command and decide, as if they were subject to no Error, and their Will ought to be taken for perpetual Laws; but to God he ascribes an humble delivery of his Opinion only, as if he fear'd to be mistaken. In the second place, I deny that there is any such general propensity in Man or Beast, or that Monarchy would thereby be justify'd tho it were found in them. It cannot be in Beasts, for they know not what Government is; and being uncapable of it, cannot distinguish the several sorts, nor consequently incline to one more than another.
Salmasius
his story of Bees is only fit for old Women to prate of in Chimny-corners; and they who represent Lions and Eagles as Kings of Birds and Beasts, do it only to show, that their Power is nothing but brutish Violence, exercis'd in the destruction of all that are not able to oppose it, and that has nothing of goodness or justice in it: which Similitude (tho it should prove to be in all respects adequate to the matter in question) could only shew, that those who have no sense of Right, Reason or Religion, have a natural propensity to make use of their strength to the destruction of such as are weake
than they; and not that any are willing to submit, or not to resist it if they can; which I think will be of no great advantage to Monarchy. But whatever propensity may be in Beasts, it cannot be attributed generally to Men; for if it were, they never could have deviated from it, unless they were violently put out of their natural course; which in this case cannot be, for there is no Power to force them. But that they have most frequently deviated, appears by the various Forms of Government establish'd by them. There is therefore no natural propensity to any one, but they chuse that which in their judgment seems best for them. Or, if he would have that inconsiderate impulse, by which brutish and ignorant men may be sway'd when they know no better, to pass for a Propensity; others are no more oblig'd to follow it, than to live upon Acorns, or inhabit hollow Trees, because their Fathers did it when they had no better dwellings, and found no better nourishment in the uncultivated World. And he that exhibits such Examples, as far as in him lies, endeavours to take from us the use of Reason, and, extinguishing the light of it, to make us live like the worst of Beasts, that we may be fit Subjects to absolute Monarchy. This may perhaps be our Author's intention, having learn'd from
Aristotle,
that such a Government is only sutable to the nature of the most bestial men, who being uncapable of governing themselves, fall under the Power of such as will take the conduct of 'em: But he ought withal to have remember'd, that, according to
Aristotle
's opinion, this Conductor must be in nature different from those he takes the charge of; and if he be not, there can be no Government, nor Order, by which it subsists: Beasts follow Beasts, and the blind lead the blind to destruction.
But tho I should grant this Propensity to be general, it could not be imputed to God, since man by Sin is fallen from the Law of his Creation.
The wickedness of man
(even in the first Ages)
was great in the World: All the imaginations of his heart are evil, and that continually. All men are liars: There is none that doth good, no not one. Out of the heart proceed evil Thoughts, Murders, Adulterys, Fornications, Thefts, false Testimonys,
&c. These are the Fruits of our corrupted nature, which the Apostle observing, dos not only make a difference between the natural and the spiritual Man, whose proceeding only can be refer'd to God, and that only so far as he is guided by his Spirit; but shews, that the natural man is in a perpetual enmity against God, without any possibility of being reconcil'd to him, unless by the destruction of the old Man, and the regenerating or renewing him thro the Spirit of Grace. There being no footsteps of this in our Author's Book, he and his Master
Heylin
may have differ'd from the Apostle, referring that Propensity of Nature to God, which he declares to be utter enmity against him; and we may conclude, that this Propensity, however general it may be, cannot be attributed to God as the Author of Nature, since it cannot be more general than the Corruptions into which we are fallen.
SECT. IX. The Government instituted by God over the
Israelites
was Aristocratical.
NOtwithstanding all this, our Author is resolv'd that Monarchy must be from God:
What form of Government,
says he,
God ordain'd by his Authority, may be gather'd by that Commonwealth which he instituted amongst the
Hebrews;
which was not Aristocratical, as
Calvin
says, but plainly Monarchical.
I may in as few words deny the Government set up by God to have bin Monarchical, as he asserts it; but finding such Language ordinarily to proceed from a mixture of folly, impudence and pride, I chuse rather to shew upon what I ground my Opinions, than nakedly to deliver them; most especially, when by insisting upon the Government instituted by God over his People, he refers us to the Scripture. And I do this the more boldly, since I follow
Calvin
's Exposition, and believe that he having bin highly esteem'd for his Wit, Judgment, and Learning, by such as were endow'd with the like, and reverenc'd as a glorious Servant of God, might, if he were now alive, comfort himself, tho he had the misfortune to fall under the censures of
Filmer
and his followers. 'Tis probable he gave some Reasons for his Opinions; but our Author having maliciously conceal'd 'em, and I not having leasure at present to examin all his Writings to find 'em, must content my self with such as my small understanding may suggest, and such as I have found in approved Authors.
In the first place I may safely say, he was not alone of that opinion:
Josephus, Philo,
and
Moses Maimonides,
with all the best of the Jewish and Christian Authors, had long before deliver'd the same.
Josephus
o
. Ant. Jud.
says, that
Saul
's first Sin by which he fell, was,
that he took away the Aristocracy;
which he could not do if it had never bin establish'd.
Philo
imputes the institution of Kingly Government, as it was in
Israel,
neither to God nor his Word, but to the fury of the sinful People.
Abarbenel
says, it proceeded from their delight in the Idolatry to which their
Abar. in 1 Sam. 8.
Neighbours were addicted, and which could be upheld only by a Government, in practice and principle contrary to that which God had instituted.
Maimonides
frequently says the same thing, grounded upon the
Maim. More-Nevochim.
words of
Hosea, I gave them Kings in my Wrath;
and whosoever will call that a divine Institution, may give the same name to Plagues or Famines, and induce a necessity incumbent upon all men to go and search the one where they may find it, and to leave their Lands for ever uncultivated that they may be sure of the other: which being too bestial to be asserted by a man, I may safely say the
Hebrew
Kings were not instituted by God, but given as a punishment of their Sin, who despis'd the Government he had instituted: and the above-mention'd Authors agree in the same thing, calling the Peoples desire to have a King, furious, mad, wicked, and proceeding from their love to the Idolatry of their Neighbours, which was suted to their Government; both which were inconsistent with what God had establish'd over his own People.
But waving the opinions of men, 'tis good to see what we can learn from the Scripture, and inquire if there be any Precept there expresly commanding them to make a King; or any Example that they did so whilst they continu'd obedient to the Word of God; or any thing from whence we may reasonably infer they ought to have done it: all which, if I mistake not, will be found directly contrary.
The only Precept that we find in the Law concerning Kings, is that of
Deut.
17. already mention'd; and that is not a Command to the People to make, but Instructions what manner of King they should make if they desir'd to have one: There was therefore none at all.
Examples do as little favour our Author's Assertions.
Moses, Joshua,
and the other Judges, had not the name or power of Kings: They were not of the Tribe to which the Scepter was promis'd: They did not transmit the Power they had to their Children, which in our Adversary's opinion is a Right inseparable from Kings; and their Power was not continu'd by any kind of Succession, but created occasionally, as need requir'd, according to the Vertues discover'd in those who were rais'd by God to deliver the Nation in the time of their distress; which being done, their Children lay hid among the rest of the People. Thus were
Ehud, Gideon, Jephtha,
and others set up:
Whosoever will give battel
(say the Princes
Judg. 1
.
and People of
Gilead) to the Children of
Ammon,
shall be head over the Inheritance of
Gilead: and finding
Jephtha
to be such a man as they sought, they made him their Chief, and all
Israel
follow'd them. When
Othniel
had shew'd his Valour in taking
Kiriath Sepher,
and delivering his Brethren from
Cushan-Rishathaim,
he was made Judg: When
Ehud
had kill'd
Eglon;
when
Shamgar
and
Samson
had destroy'd great numbers of the
Philistins;
and when
Gideon
had defeated the
Midianites,
they were sit to be advanc'd above their Brethren. These Dignitys were not inherent in their Persons or Familys, but confer'd upon them; nor confer'd, that they might be exalted in Riches and Glory, but that they might be Ministers of Good to the People. This may justify
Plato
's opinion, that if one man be found incomparably to excel all others in the Vertues that are beneficial to Civil Societys, he ought to be advanc'd above all: but I think it will be hard from thence to deduce an Argument in favour of such a Monarchy as is necessarily to descend to the next in Blood, whether Man, Woman, or Child, without any consideration of Vertue, Age, Sex, or Ability; and that failing, it can be of no use to our Author. But whatever the dignity of a
Hebrew
Judg was, and howsoever he was rais'd to that Office, it certainly differ'd from that of a King.
Gideon
could not have refus'd to be a King when the People would have made him so, if he had bin a King already; or that God from the beginning had appointed they should have one: The Elders and People
1 Sam. 8.
could not have ask'd a King of
Samuel,
if he had bin King; and he could not without impiety have bin displeas'd with them for asking such a one as God had appointed; neither would God have said to him,
They have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me that I should not reign over them,
if he had ordain'd what they desir'd.
They did not indeed reject God with their Mouths: They pretended to use the liberty he had given them to make a King; but would have such a one as he had forbidden: They drew near to him with their Lips, but their Hearts were far from him; and he seeing their Hypocrisy, severely chastis'd 'em in granting their ill conceiv'd request; and foretold the Miserys that should thereupon befal 'em, from which he would not deliver 'em, tho they should cry to him by reason of what they suffer'd from their King▪ He was their Creature, and the mischiefs thereby brought upon them were the fruits of their own labour.
This is that which our Author calls God's institution of Kings; but the
Hos. 13.
Prophet explains the matter much better,
I gave them Kings in my anger, and took them away in my wrath:
in destroying them God brought desolation upon the people that had sinn'd in asking for them, and following their example in all kind of Wickedness. This is all that our Author has to boast of: but God who acknowledges those works only to be his own, which proceed from his goodness and mercy to his People, disowns this;
Hos. 8.
Israel hath cast off the thing that is good
(even the Government that he had establish'd)
the Enemy shall pursue him: They have set up Kings, but not by me; and Princes, but I know them not.
As if he sought to justify the severity of his Judgments brought upon them by the wickedness of their Kings, that they, not he, had ordain'd.
Having seen what Government God did not ordain, it may be seasonable to examin the Nature of the Government which he did ordain; and we shall easily find that it consisted of three parts, besides the Magistrats of the several Tribes and Citys. They had a chief Magistrat, who was
Numb. 11.
call'd Judg or Captain, as
Joshua, Gideon,
and others; a Council of seventy chosen men; and the General Assemblys of the People.
The first was merely occasional, like to the Dictators of
Rome:
and as the
Romans
in times of danger frequently chose such a Man as was much esteem'd for Valour and Wisdom, God's peculiar People had a peculiar regard to that Wisdom and Valour which was accompanied with his Presence, hoping for deliverance only from him.
The second is known by the name of the Great
Sanhedrin,
which being instituted by
Moses
according to the command of God, continu'd, till they were all save one slain by
Herod.
And the third part, which is the Assembly of the People, was so common, that none can be ignorant of it, but such as never look'd into the Scripture. When the Tribes of
Reuben, Gad,
and half that of
Manasseh
had built an Altar on the side of
Jordan,
Josh. 22.
The whole Congregation of the Children of
Israel
gather'd together at
Shiloh
to go up to war against them, and sent
Phineas
the Son of
Eleazer,
and with him ten Princes,
&c. This was the highest and most important action that could concern a People, even War or Peace, and that not with Strangers, but their own Brethren.
Joshua
was then alive: The Elders never fail'd: yet this was not transacted by him or them, but by the collected body of the People;
for They sent Phineas.
This Democratical Embassy was Democratically receiv'd: It was not directed to one Man, but to all the Children of
Reuben, Gad,
and
Manasseh,
and the Answer was sent by them all; which being pleasing to
Phineas,
and the ten that were with him, they made their report to the Congregation, and all was quiet.
The last eminent Act perform'd by
Joshua
was the calling of a like Assembly to
Shechem,
compos'd of Elders, Heads of Familys, Judges, Officers,
Jos. 24.
and all the People, to whom he propos'd, and they agreeing made a Covenant before the Lord.
Joshua
being dead, the Proceedings of every Tribe were grounded upon Counsels taken at such Assemblys among themselves for their own concerns, as appears by the Actions of
Judah, Simeon,
&c. against the
Canaanites;
and when the
Levite
complain'd that his Wife had bin forc'd
Judg. 1.
by those of
Gibeah,
the whole Congregation of
Israel
met together at
Mispeth
from all parts,
even from
Dan
to
Beersheba, as one man, and there resolv'd upon that terrible War which they made against the Tribe of
Benjamin.
The like Assembly was gather'd together for the election of
Saul,
every man was there: and tho the Elders only are said to have ask'd a King of
Samuel,
they seem to have bin deputed from the whole Congregation; for God said,
Hearken to the Voice of the People.
In the
1 Sam. 8. 7.
same manner the Tribe of
Judah,
and after that the rest, chose and anointed
David
to be their King. After the death of
Solomon
all
Israel
met together to treat with
Rehoboam;
and not receiving satisfaction from him, ten of the Tribes abrogated his Kingdom.
If these Actions were consider'd singly by themselves,
Calvin
might have given the name of a Democracy to the Hebrew Government, as well as to that of
Athens;
for without doubt they evidently manifest the supreme Power to have bin in the supreme manner in these General Assemblys: but the Government (as to its outward order) consisting of those three parts, which comprehend the three simple
species;
and no times having bin appointed, nor occasions specify'd, upon which Judges should be chosen, or these Assemblys call'd, whereas the
Sanhedrim,
which was the Aristocratical part, was permanent; the whole might rightly be call'd an Aristocracy, that part prevailing above the others: and tho
Josephus
calls it a Theocracy, by reason of God's presence with his People; yet in relation to man he calls it an Aristocracy, and says that
Saul
's first Sin by which he fell from the Kingdom was, that
Gubernationem optimatum sustulit;
which could not be, if they were govern'd by a Monarch before he was chosen.
Our Author taking no notice of these matters, first endeavours to prove the excellency of Monarchy from natural instinct; and then begging the question, says, that God did always govern his People by Monarchy: whereas he ought in the first place to have observ'd that this instinct (if there be any such thing) is only an irrational appetite, attributed to Beasts, that know not why they do any thing; and is to be follow'd only by those men who being equally irrational, live in the same ignorance: and the second being prov'd to be absolutely false by the express words of the Scripture,
There was then no King in
Israel, several
Judg. 18.
times repeated, and the whole series of the History, he has no other evasion than to say,
That even then the
Israelites
were under the
Kingly Government of the Fathers of particular Familys.
It appears by the foremention'd Text cited also by our Author, that in the Assembly of the People, gather'd together to take counsel concerning the War against
Benjamin,
were four hundred thousand Footmen that drew Sword: They all arose together, saying, Not a man of us shall go to his Tent.
So all the men of
Israel
were gather'd together against the City.
This is repeated several times in the relation. The
Benjamites
proceeded in the like manner in preparing for their defence; and if all these who did so meet to consult and determin were Monarchs, there were then in
Israel
and
Benjamin
four hundred twenty six thousand seven hundred Monarchs or Kings, tho the Scripture says there was not one.
If yet our Author insists upon his notion of Kingly Government, I desire to know who were the Subjects, if all these were Kings; for the Text says, that the
whole Congregation was gather'd together as one man from
Dan
to
Beersheba. If there can be so many Kings without one Subject, what becomes of the Right of
Abraham, Isaac
and
Jacob,
that was to have bin devolv'd upon one Man as Heir to them, and thereby Lord of all? If every man had an equal part in that inheritance, and by virtue of it became a King, why is not the same eternally subdivided to as many men as are in the World, who are also Kings? If this be their natural condition, how comes it to be alter'd, till they dethrone themselves by consent, to set up one or more to have a power over them all? Why should they devest themselves of their natural Right to set up one above themselves, unless in consideration of their own good? If the 426700 Kings might retain the power in themselves, or give it to one, why might they not give it to any such number of men as should best please themselves, or retain it in their own hands, as they did till the days of
Saul;
or frame, limit, and direct it according to their own pleasure? If this be true, God is the Author of Democracy; and no assertor of human Liberty did ever claim more than the People of God did enjoy and exercise at the time when our Author says they were under the Kingly Government; which Liberty being not granted by any peculiar concession or institution, the same must belong to all Mankind.
'Tis in vain to say the 426700 men were heads of Familys; for the Scripture only says,
They were Footmen that drew the Sword,
or rather all the men of
Israel
from
Dan
to
Beersheba,
who were able to make War. When six hundred
Benjamites
did only remain of the 26700, 'tis plain that no more were left of that Tribe, their Women and Children having bin destroy'd in the Citys after their defeat. The next Chapter makes the matter yet more plain; for when all that were at the Congregation in
Mispeth
were found to have sworn, they would not give their Daughters to any of the Tribe of
Benjamin,
no
Israelite
was free from the Oath, but
J
dg.
1.
the men of
Jabesh Gilead,
who had not bin at the Assembly: All the rest of
Israel
was therefore comprehended; and they continuing to govern in a popular way with absolute power, sent twelve thousand of their most valiant men to destroy all the Males of
Jabesh Gilead,
and the Women that had lain by Man, reserving the Virgins for the
Benjamites.
This is enough for my purpose: for the question is not concerning the power that every Housholder in
London
has over his Wife, Children and Servants; but whether they are all perpetually subject to one man and Family; and I intend not to set up their Wives, Prentices, and Children against them, or to diminish their Rights, but to assert them, as the gift of God and Nature, no otherwise to be restrain'd than by Laws made with their own consent.
Reason failing, our Author pleases himself with terms of his own Invention:
When the People beg'd a King of
Samuel,
they were govern'd by a Kingly power: God out of a special love and care to the House of
Israel,
did chuse to be their King himself, and did govern them at that time by his Viceroy
Samuel
and his Sons.
The behaviour of the
Israelites
towards
Samuel
has bin thought proud, perverse, and obstinate; but the fine Court-word
begging
was never before apply'd to them; and their insolent fury was not only seen against
Samuel,
but again&;st God;
They have not rejected thee,
1 Sam. 8.
but they have rejected me.
And I think
Filmer
is the first who ever found that Beggars in begging did reject him of whom they beg'd: Or if they were Beggars, they were such as would not be denied; for after all that
Samuel
had said to dissuade them from their wicked design, they said,
Nay, but we will have a King.
Ver. 19.
But lest I should be thought too much inclin'd to contradict our Author, I confess that once he has happen'd to be in the right.
God out of a special love to the House of
Israel
chose to be their King: He gave them Laws, prescrib'd a Form of Government, rais'd up Men in a wonderful manner to execute it, fill'd them with his Spirit, was ever present when they call'd upon him: He gave them counsel in their doubts, and assistance in all their extremitys: He made a Covenant with them, and would be exalted by them.
But what is this to an earthly Monarch? Who can from hence derive a Right to any one man to play the Lord over his Brethren, or a reason why any Nation should set him up? God is our Lord by right of creation, and our only Lord, because he only has created us. If any other were equal to him in Wisdom, Power, Goodness, and Beneficence to us, he might challenge the same duty from us. If growing out of our selves, receiving being from none, depending on no providence, we were offer'd the protection of a Wisdom subject to no error, a Goodness that could never fail, and a Power that nothing could resist; it were reasonable for us to enter into a Covenant, submit our selves to him, and with all the facultys of our minds to addict our selves to his Service. But what Right can from hence accrue to a mortal Creature like to one of us, from whom we have receiv'd nothing, and who stands in need of help as much as we? Who can from hence deduce an argument to persuade us to depend upon his Wisdom, who has as little as other men? To submit to his Will who is subject to the same Frailtys, Passions, and Vices with the rest of Mankind? Or to expect protection and defence from him whose life depends upon as slender threds as our own; and who can have no power but that which we confer upon him? If this cannot be done, but is of all things the most contrary to common sense, no man can in himself have any right over us; we are all as free as the four hundred twenty six thousand seven hundred Hebrew Kings: We can naturally owe allegiance to none; and I doubt whether all the lusts that have reign'd amongst Men since the beginning of the World, have brought more guilt and misery upon them than that preposterous and impudent pretence of imitating what God had instituted. When
Saul
set himself most violently to oppose the command of God, he pretended to fulfil it: When the
Jews
grew weary of God's Government, and resolv'd to reject him, that he should not reign over them, they us'd some of
Moses
his words, and ask'd that King of God, whom they intended to set up against him: But this King had not bin set up against God, the People had not rejected God, and sin'd in asking for him, if every Nation by a general Law ought to have one, or by a particular Law one had bin appointed by him over them. There was therefore no King amongst them, nor any Law of God or Nature, particular or general, according to which they ought to have one.
SECT. X.
Aristotle
was not simply for Monarchy or against Popular Government; but approv'd or disapprov'd of either according to circumstances.
OUR Author well observes that
Aristotle
is hardly brought to give a general opinion in favour of Monarchy, as if it were the best form of Government, or to say true, never dos it. He uses much caution, proposes conditions and limitations, and makes no decision but according to circumstances. Men of Wisdom and Learning are subject to such doubts; but none ought to wonder if stupidity and ignorance defend
Filmer
and his Followers from them; or that their hatred to the antient Vertue should give 'em an aversion to the Learning that was the Nurse of it. Those who neither understand the several Species of Government, nor the various Tempers of Nations, may without fear or shame give their opinions in favour of that which best pleases them; but wise men will always proportion their praises to the merit of the Subject, and never commend that simply which is good only according to circumstances.
Aristotle
highly applauds Monarchy, when the Monarch has more of those Vertues that tend to the good of a Commonwealth, than all they who compose it. This is the King mention'd in his
Ethicks,
and extol'd in his
Politicks:
He is above all by Nature, and ought not by a municipal Law to be made equal to others in Power: He ought to govern, because 'tis better for a People to be govern'd by him, than to enjoy their Liberty; or rather, they do enjoy their Liberty, which is never more safe, than when defended by one who is a living Law to himself and others. Wheresoever such a man appears, he ought to reign: He bears in his Person the Divine Character of a Sovereign: God has rais'd him above all; and such as will not submit to him, ought to be accounted Sons of
Belial,
brought forth and slain. But he dos withal confess, that if no such man be found, there is no natural King: All the Prerogatives belonging to him vanish, for want of one who is capable of enjoying them. He lays severe Censures upon those who not being thus qualified take upon them to govern men, equal to or better than themselves; and judges the assumption of such Powers by persons not naturally adapted to the administration of them, as barbarous Usurpations, which no Law or Reason can justify; and is not so much transported with the excellency of this true King, as not to
A
t.
o
t.
confess he ought to be limited by Law:
Qui legem praeesse jubet, videtur jubere praeesse Deum & Leges: qui autem hominem praeesse jubet, adjungit & bestiam; libido quippe talis est, atque obliquos agit, etiam viros optimos qui sunt in pot
state, ex quo mens atque appetitus Lex est.
This agrees with the words of the best King that is known to have bin in the world, proceeding, as is most probable, from a sense of the Passions that reign'd in his own breast;
Man being in honour, has no understanding, but is like to the beast that perishes.
This shews that such as deny that Kings do reign by Law, or that Laws may be put upon Kings, do equally set themselves against the opinions of wise Men, and the Word of God: and our Author having found that Learning made the
Grecians
seditious, may reasonably doubt that Religion may make others worse; so as none will be fit Subjects of his applauded Government, but those who have neither Religion nor Learning; and that it cannot be introduc'd till both be extinguish'd.
Aristotle
having declar'd his mind concerning Government, in the Books expresly written on that Subject, whatsoever is said by the by in his Moral Discourses, must be refer'd to and interpreted by the other: And if he said (which I do not find) that Monarchy is the best Form of Government, and a Popular State the worst, he cannot be thought to have meant otherwise, than that those Nations were the most happy, who had such a Man as he thinks fit to be made a Monarch; and those the most unhappy, who neither had such a one, nor a few, that any way excel'd the rest; but all being equally brutish, must take upon 'em the Government they were unable to manage: for he dos no where admit any other end of Just and Civil Government, than the good of the Governed; nor any advantage due to one or a few persons, unless for such Vertues as conduce to the common good of the Society. And as our Author thinks Learning makes men seditious,
Aristotle
also acknowledges, that those who have Understanding and Courage, which may be taken for Learning, or the effect of it, will never endure the Government of one or a few that do not excel them in Vertue: but no where dispraises a Popular Government, unless the Multitude be compos'd of such as are barbarous, stupid, leud, vicious, and uncapable of the Happiness for which Governments are instituted; who cannot live to themselves, but like a herd of Beasts must be brought under the dominion of another; or who, having among themselves such an excellent Person as is above describ'd, will not submit to him, but either kill, banish, or bring him to be equal with others, whom God had made to excel all. I do not trouble my self, or the Reader, with citing here and there a Line out of his Books, but refer my self to those who have perus'd his Moral and Political Writings, submitting to the severest Censures, if this be not the true Sense of 'em; and that Vertue alone, in his opinion, ought to give the preheminence. And as
Aristotle
following the wise Men of those times, shews us how far Reason, improv'd by Meditation, can advance in the knowledge and love of that which is truly good; so we may in
Filmer
guided by
Heylin,
see an Example of corrupted Christians, who extinguishing the Light of Religion by their Vices, and degenerating into Beasts (whilst they endeavour to support the personal Interest of some men, who are rais'd to Dignitys by the consent of Nations, or by unwarrantable ways and means) would cast all the Power into the hands of such as happen to be born in certain Familys; as if Governments had not bin instituted for the common good of Nations, but only to increase their Pride, and foment their Vices; or that the care and direction of a great People were so easy a work, that every Man, Woman, or Child, how young, weak, foolish or wicked soever, may be worthy of it, and able to manage it.
SECT. XI. Liberty produces Vertue, Order and Stability: Slavery is accompanied with Vice, Weakness and Misery.
OUR Author's judgment, as well as inclinations to Vertue, are manifested in the preference he gives to the manners of the
Assyrians
and other Eastern Nations, before the
Grecians
and
Romans:
Whereas the first were never remarkable for any thing, but Pride, Leudness, Treachery, Cruelty, Cowardice, Madness, and hatred to all that is good; whilst the others excel'd in Wisdom, Valour, and all the Vertues that deserve imitation. This was so well observ'd by St.
Augustin,
that
De Civ. Dei.
he brings no stronger Argument to prove, that God leaves nothing that is good in man unrewarded, than that he gave the dominion of the best part of the World to the
Romans,
who in moral Vertues excel'd all other Nations. And I think no Example can be alledg'd of a Free People that has ever bin conquer'd by an Absolute Monarch, unless he did incomparably surpass them in Riches and Strength; whereas many great Kings have bin overthrown by small Republicks: and the success being constantly the same, it cannot be attributed to Fortune, but must necessarily be the production of Vertue and good Order.
Machiavel
discoursing of these matters, finds Vertue to be so essentially necessary to the establishment and preservation of Liberty, that he thinks it impossible for a corrupted People to set up a good Government, or for a Tyranny to be introduc'd if they be vertuous; and makes this
Si puo far questa conclusione, che dove la materia non e corrotta, i tumulti ed altri scandali non nuocono: là dove la e corrotta le buone Leggi non giovano.
Machiav.
Disc. sopra
T. Livio,
lib. 1.
Conclusion,
That where the Matter
(that is, the body of the People)
is not corrupted, Tumults and Disorders do no hurt; and where it is corrupted, good Laws do no good:
Which being confirm'd by Reason and Experience, I think no wise man has ever contradicted him.
But I do not more wonder that
Filmer
should look upon Absolute Monarchy to be the Nurse of Vertue, tho we see they did never subsist together, than that he should attribute Order and Stability to it; whereas Order principally consists in appointing to every one his right Place, Office or Work; and he lays the whole weight of the Government upon one Person, who very often dos neither deserve, nor is able to bear the least part of it.
Plato, Aristotle, Hooker,
and (I may say in short) all wise men have held, that Order requir'd that the wisest, best, and most valiant should be plac'd in the Offices where Wisdom, Vertue and Valour are requisit. If common sense did not teach us this, we might learn it from the Scripture. When God gave the conduct of his People to
Moses, Joshua, Samuel,
and others, he endow'd them with all the Vertues and Graces requir'd for the right performance of their Duty. When the
Israelites
were opprest by the
Midianites, Philistins
and
Ammonites,
they expected help from the most vise and valiant. When
Hannibal
was at the Gates of
Rome,
and had fill'd
Italy
with Fire and Blood; or when the
Gauls
overwhelm'd that Country with their multitudes and fury, the Senat and People of
Rome
put themselves under the conduct of
Camillus,
Manlius, Fabius, Scipio,
and the like; and when they fail'd to chuse such as were fit for the work to be done, they receiv'd such defeats as convinc'd 'em of their Error. But if our Author say true, Order requir'd that the Power of defending the Country should have bin annex'd as an Inheritance to one Family, or left to him that could get it, and the exercise of all Authority committed to the next in Blood, tho the weakest of Women, or the basest of Men.
The like may be said of judging, or doing of Justice; and 'tis absurd to pretend that either is expected from the Power, not the Person of the Monarch; for experience dos too well shew how much all things halt in relation to Justice or Defence, when there is a defect in him that ought to judg us, and to fight our Battels. But of all things this ought least to be alledg'd by the Advocats for absolute Monarchy, who deny that the Authority can be separated from the Person, and lay it as a fundamental Principle, that whosoever has it may do what he pleases, and be accountable to no man.
Our Author's next work is to shew, that Stability is the effect of this good Order; but he ought to have known, that Stability is then only worthy of praise, when it is in that which is good. No man delights in sickness or pain, because it is long, or incurable; nor in slavery and misery, because it is perpetual: much less will any man in his senses commend a permanency in vice and wickedness. He must therefore prove, that the Stability he boasts of is in things that are good, or all that he says of it signifies nothing.
I might leave him here with as little fear, that any man who shall espouse his Quarrel, will ever be able to remove this Obstacle, as that he himself should rise out of his Grave and do it. But I hope to prove, that of all things under the Sun, there is none more mutable or unstable than absolute Monarchy; which is all that I dispute against, professing much veneration for that which is mix'd, regulated by Law, and directed to the Publick Good.
This might be prov'd by many Arguments, but I shall confine my self to two; the one drawn from Reason, the other from matters of Fact.
Nothing can be call'd stable, that is not so in Principle and Practice, in which respect human Nature is not well capable of Stability; but the utmost deviation from it that can be imagin'd, is, when such an Error is laid for a Foundation as can never be corrected. All will confess, that if there be any stability in man, it must be in Wisdom and Vertue, and in those Actions that are thereby directed; for in weakness, folly and madness, there can be none. The Stability therefore that we seek, in relation to the exercise of Civil and Military Powers, can never be found, unless care be taken that such as exercise those Powers, be endow'd with the Qualitys that should make them stable. This is utterly repugnant to our Author's Doctrin: He lays for a Foundation, That the Succession goes to the next in Blood, without distinction of Age, Sex, or personal Qualitys; whereas even he himself could not have the impudence to say, that Children, and Women (where they are admitted) or Fools, Madmen, and such as are full of all wickedness, do not come to be the Heirs of reigning Familys, as well as of the meanest. The Stability therefore that can be expected from such a Government, either depends upon those who have none in themselves, or is refer'd wholly to Chance, which is directly opposite to Stability.
This would be the case, tho it were (as we say) an even Wager, whether the Person would be fit or unfit, and that there were as many men in the world able, as unable to perform the Duty of a King; but Experience shewing that among many millions of men, there is hardly one that possesses the Qualitys requir'd in a King, 'tis so many to one, that he upon whom the Lot shall fall, will not be the man we seek, in whose Person and Government there can be such a stability as is asserted. And that failing, all must necessarily fail; for there can be no stability in his Will, Laws or Actions, who has none in his Person.
That we may see whether this be verify'd by Experience, we need not search into the dark relations of the
Babylonian
and
Assyrian
Monarchys: Those rude Ages afford us little instruction; and tho the fragments of History remaining do sufficiently show, that all things there were in perpetual fluctuation, by reason of the madness of their Kings, and the violence of those who transported the Empire from one Place or Family to another, I will not much rely upon them, but slightly touching some of their Storys, pass to those that are better known to us.
The Kings of those Ages seem to have liv'd rather like Beasts in a Forest, than Men join'd in Civil Society: they follow'd the Example of
Nimrod
the mighty Hunter; Force was the only Law that prevail'd, the stronger devour'd the weaker, and continu'd in Power till ejected by one of more strength or better fortune. By this means the race of
Ninus
was destroy'd by
Belochus: Arbaces
rent the Kingdom asunder, and took
Media
to himself:
Morodach
extinguish'd the Race of
Belochus,
and was made King:
Nabuchodonosor
like a Flood overwhelm'd all for a time, destroy'd the Kingdoms of
Jerusalem
and
Egypt,
with many others, and found no obstacle, till his rage and pride turn'd to a most bestial madness: And the
Assyrian
Empire was wholly abolish'd at the death of his Grandchild
Belshazzar;
and no Stability can be found in the reigns of those great Kings, unless that name be given to the Pride, Idolatry, Cruelty, and Wickedness in which they remain'd constant. If we examin matters more distinctly, we shall find that all things vari'd according to the humour of the Prince. Whilst
Pharaoh
liv'd, who had receiv'd many signal Services from
Joseph,
the
Israelites
were well us'd: but when another rose up who knew him not, they were persecuted with all the extremitys of Injustice and Cruelty, till the furious King persisting in his design of exterminating them, brought destruction upon himself and the Nation. Where the like Power has prevail'd, it has ever produc'd the like effects. When some great men of
Persia
had persuaded
Darius,
that it was a fine thing to command that no man for the space of thirty days should make any Petition to God or Man, but to the King only,
Daniel
the most wise and holy Man then in the world must be thrown to the Lions. When God
.
had miraculously sav'd him, the same Sentence was pass'd against the Princes of the Nation. When
Haman
had fill'd
Ahasuerus
his ears with Lies, all the
Jews
were appointed to be slain; and when the fraud of that Villain was detected, leave was given them, with the like precipitancy, to kill whom they pleas'd. When the
Israelites
came to have Kings, they were subject to the same Storms, and always with their Blood suffer'd the Penalty of their Princes madness. When one kind of Fury possest
Saul,
he slew the Priests, persecuted
David,
and would have kill'd his brave Son
Jonathan:
When he fell under another, he took upon him to do the Priest's Office, pretended to understand the Word of God better than
Samuel,
and spar'd those that God had commanded him to destroy: Upon another whimsy he kill'd the
Gibeonites,
and never rested from finding new Inventions to vex the People, till he had brought many thousands of them to perish with himself and his Sons on Mount
Gilboa.
We do not find any King, in Wisdom, Valour and Holiness, equal to
David;
and yet he falling under the temptations that attend the greatest Fortunes, brought Civil Wars and a Plague upon the Nation. When
Solomon
's heart was drawn away by strange Women, he fill'd the Land with Idols, and opprest the People with intolerable Tributes.
Rehoboam
's Folly made that Rent in the Kingdom which could never be made up. Under his Successors the people serv'd God,
Baal
or
Ashtaroth,
as best pleas'd him who had the Power; and no other marks of Stability can be alledg'd to have bin in that Kingdom, than the constancy of their Kings in the practice of Idolatry, their cruelty to the Prophets, hatred to the
Jews,
and civil Wars producing such Slaughters as are reported in few other Storys: The Kingdom was in the space of about two hundred years possest by nine several Familys, not one of 'em getting possession otherwise than by the slaughter of his Predecessor, and the extinction of his Race; and ended in the Bondage of the ten Tribes, which continues to this day.
He that desires farther proofs of this Point, may seek 'em in the Historys of
Alexander
of
Macedon,
and his Successors: He seems to have bin endow'd with all the Vertues that Nature improv'd by Disciplin did ever attain, so that he is believ'd to be the man meant by
Aristotle,
who on account of the excellency of his Vertues was by Nature fram'd for a King; and
Plutarch
ascribes his Conquests rather to those, than to his Fortune.
Plut. in Vic. Alex.
But even that Vertue was overthrown by the Successes that accompanied it: He burnt the most magnificent Palace of the world in a frolick, to please a mad drunken Whore: Upon the most frivolous suggestions of Eunuchs and Rascals, he kill'd the best and bravest of his Friends; and his Valour, which had no equal, not subsisting without his other Vertues, perish'd when he became leud, proud, cruel and superstitious; so as it may be truly said, he died a Coward. His Successors did not differ from him: When they had kill'd his Mother, Wife and Children, they exercis'd their fury against one another; and tearing the Kingdom to pieces, the Survivors left the Sword as an Inheritance to their Familys, who perish'd by it, or under the weight of the
Roman
Chains.
When the
Romans
had lost that Liberty which had bin the Nurse of their Vertue, and gain'd the Empire in lieu of it, they attain'd to our Author's applauded Stability.
Julius
being slain in the Senat, the first Question was, whether it could be restor'd, or not? And that being decided by the Battel of
Philippi,
the Conquerors set themselves to destroy all the eminent men in the City, as the best means to establish the Monarchy.
Augustus
gain'd it by the death of
Antonius,
and the corruption of the Soldiers; and he dying naturally, or by the fraud of his Wife, the Empire was transfer'd to her Son
Tiberius;
under whom the miserable People suffer'd the worst effects of the most impure Lust and inhuman Cruelty: He being stifled the Government went on with much uniformity and stability;
Caligula, Claudius, Nero, Galba, Otho, Vitellius
regularly and constantly did all the mischief they could, and were not more like to each other in the Villanys they committed, than in the Deaths they suffer'd.
Vespasian
's more gentle Reign did no way compensate the Blood he spilt to attain the Empire: And the Benefits receiv'd from
Titus
his short liv'd Vertue, were infinitly overbalanc'd by the detestable Vices of his Brother
Domitian,
who turn'd all things into the old Channel of Cruelty, Lust, Rapine and Perfidiousness. His slaughter gave a little breath to the gasping perishing World; and men might be vertuous under the Government of
Nerva, Trajan, Antoninus, Aurelius,
and a few more; tho even in their time Religion was always dangerous. But when the Power fell into the hands of
Commodus, Heliogabalus, Caracalla,
and others of that sort, nothing was safe but obscurity, or the utmost excesses of leudness and baseness. However, whilst the Will of the Governor pass'd for a Law, and the Power did usually fall into the hands of such as were most bold and violent, the utmost security that any man could have for his Person or Estate, depended upon his temper; and Princes themselves, whether good or bad, had no longer Leases of their lives, than the furious and corrupted Soldiers would give them; and the Empire of the World was changeable, according to the Success of a Battel.
Matters were not much mended when the Emperors became Christians: Some favour'd those who were call'd
Orthodox,
and gave great Revenues to corrupt the Clergy. Others supported
Arianism,
and persecuted the Orthodox with as much asperity as the Pagans had done. Some revolted, and shew'd themselves more fierce against the professors of Christianity, than they that had never had any knowledg of it. The World was torn in pieces amongst them, and often suffer'd as great miserys by their sloth, ignorance and co wardice, as by their fury and madness, till the Empire was totally dissolv'd and lost. That which under the weakness and irregularity of a popular Government, had conquer'd all from the
Euphrates
to
Britain,
and destroy'd the Kingdoms of
Asia, Egypt, Macedon, Numidia,
and a multitude of others, was made a Prey to unknown barbarous Nations, and rent into as many pieces as it had bin compos'd of, when it enjoy'd the Stability that accompanys Divine and Absolute Monarchy.
The like may be said of all the Kingdoms in the World: they may have their ebbings and flowings according to the Vertues or Vices of Princes or their Favorites; but can never have any Stability, because there is, and can be none in them. Or if any Exception may be brought against this Rule, it must be of those Monarchys only which are mix'd and regulated by Laws, where Diets, Parliaments, Assemblys of Estates, or Senats, may supply the defects of a Prince, restrain him if he prove extravagant, and reject such as are found to be unworthy of their Office, which are as odious to our Author and his Followers, as the most popular Governments, and can be of no advantage to his Cause.
There is another ground of perpetual Fluctuation in Absolute Monarchys; or such as are grown so strong, that they cannot be restrain'd by Law, tho according to their Institution they ought to be, distinct from, but in some measure relating to the Inclinations of the Monarch, that is, the impulse of Ministers, Favorites, Wives or Whores, who frequently govern all things according to their own Passions or Interests. And tho we cannot say who were the Favorites of every one of the
Assyrian
or
Egyptian
Kings, yet the Examples before-mention'd of the different method follow'd in
Egypt
before and after the death of
Joseph,
and in
Persis
whilst the idolatrous Princes, and
Haman,
or
Daniel, Esther
and
Mordecai
were in credit; the violent Changes happening thereupon, give us reason to believe the like were in the times of other Kings: and if we examin the Historys of latter Ages, and the Lives of Princes that are more exactly known, we shall find that Kingdoms are more frequently sway'd by those who have Power with the Prince, than by his own Judgment: So that whosoever has to deal with Princes concerning Foreign or Domestick Affairs, is oblig'd more to regard the humour of those Persons, than the most important Interests of a Prince or People.
I might draw too much envy upon my self, if I should take upon me to cite all the Examples of this kind that are found in modern Historys, or the Memoirs that do more precisely shew the Temper of Princes, and the secret Springs by which they were mov'd. But as those who have well observ'd the management of Affairs in
France
during the Reigns of
Francis
the First,
Henry
the Second,
Francis
the Second,
Charles
the Ninth,
Henry
the Third,
Henry
the Fourth, and
Lewis
the Thirteenth, will confess, that the Interests of the Dukes of
Montmorency
and
Guise,
Queen
Katherine de Medicis,
the Duke of
Epernon, La
osseuse, Madame de Guiche, de Gabriele, d' Entragues,
the
Marechal d' Ancre,
the Constable
de Luines,
and the Cardinal
de Richelieu,
were more to be consider'd by those who had any publick or private Business to treat at Court, than the Opinions of those Princes, or the most weighty Concernments of the State; so it cannot be denied, that other Kingdoms where Princes legally have, or wrongfully usurp the like Power, are govern'd in the like manner; or if it be, there is hardly any Prince's Reign that will not furnish abundant proof of what I have asserted.
I agree with our Author, that
good Order and Stability produce Strength.
If Monarchy therefore excel in them, Absolute Monarchys should be of more strength than those that are limited, according to the proportion of their Riches, extent of Territory, and number of People that they govern; and those limited Monarchys in the like proportion more strong than popular Governments or Commonwealths. If this be so, I wonder how a few of
those giddy Greeks who,
according to our Author,
had learning enough only to make them seditious,
came to overthrow the vast Armys of the
Persians
as often as they met with 'em; and seldom found any other difficulty than what arose from their own Countrymen, who sometimes sided with the Barbarians. Seditions are often rais'd by a little prating; but when one Man was to fight against fifty, or a hundred, as at the Battels of
Salamis, Platea, Marathon,
and others, then Industry, Wisdom, Skill and Valour were requir'd; and if their Learning had not made 'em to excel in those Vertues, they must have bin overwhelm'd by the prodigious multitudes of their Enemys. This was so well known to the
Persians,
that when
Cyrus
the younger prepar'd to invade his Brother
Artaxerxes,
Plut. vit. Artax.
he brought together indeed a vast Army of
Asiaticks;
but chiefly relied upon the Counsel and Valour of ten thousand
Grecians,
whom he had engag'd to serve him. These giddy heads, accompanied with good hands, in the great Battel near
Babylon,
found no resistance from
Artaxerxes
his Army; and when
Cyrus
was kill'd by accident in the pursuit of the Victory they had gain'd, and their own Officers treacherously murder'd, they made good their retreat into
Greece
under the conduct of
Xenophon,
in despite of above four hundred thousand Horse and Foot, who endeavour'd to oppose them. They were destitute of Horse, Mony, Provisions, Friends and all other help, except what their Wisdom and Valour furnish'd them; and thereupon relying, they pass'd over the Bellys of all the Enemys that ventur'd to appear against them in a march of a thousand miles. These things were perform'd in the weakness of popular confusion; but
Agesilaus
not being sensible of so great defects, accompanied only with six and thirty
Spartans,
and such other Forces as he could raise upon his personal credit, adventur'd without Authority or Mony to undertake a War against that great King
Artaxerxes;
and having often beaten
Pharnabazus
and
Tissaphernes
his Lieutenants, was preparing to assault him in the heart of his Kingdom, when he was commanded by the
Ephori
to return for the defence of his own Country.
It may in like manner appear strange, that
Alexander
with the Forces of
Greece,
much diminish'd by the
Phocean, Peloponnesian, Theban,
and other intestin Wars, could overthrow all the Powers of the East, and conquer more Provinces than any other Army ever saw; if so much order and stability were to be found in absolute Monarchys, and if the Liberty in which the
Grecians
were educated did only fit them for Seditions: And it would seem no less astonishing, that
Rome
and
Greece,
whilst they were free, should furnish such numbers of men excelling in all moral Vertues, to the admiration of all succeeding Ages; and thereby become so powerful that no Monarchs were able to resist them; and that the same Countrys since the loss of their Liberty, have always bin weak, base, cowardly and vicious, if the same Liberty had not bin the Mother and Nurse of their Vertue, as well as the root of their Power.
It cannot be said that
Alexander
was a Monarch in our Author's sense; for the power of the
Macedonian
Kings was small.
Philip
confest the People were Freemen, and his Son found them to be so, when his Fortune had overthrown his Vertue, and he fell to hate and fear that generosity of Spirit which it creates. He made his Conquests by it, and lov'd it as long as he deserv'd to be lov'd. His Successors had the same fortune: When their Hearts came to be fill'd with Barbarick Pride, and to delight only in rendring men Slaves, they became weak and base, and were easily overthrown by the
Romans,
whose Vertue and Fortune did also perish with their Liberty. All the Nations they had to deal with, had the same fate. They never conquer'd a Free People without extreme difficulty: They receiv'd many great defeats, and were often necessitated to fight for their Lives against the
Latins, Sabins, Tuscans, Samnites, Carthaginians, Spaniards;
and in the height of their Power found it a hard work to subdue a few poor
Etolians:
But the greatest Kings were easily overcome. When
Antiochus
had insolently boasted that he would
Plut. in vit. Q. Flamin.
cover
Greece
and
Italy
with the multitude of his Troops,
Quintius Flaminius
ingeniously compar'd his Army of
Persians, Chaldeans, Syrians, Mesopotamians, Cappadocians, Arabians,
and other base
Astatic
Slaves, to a Supper set before him by a Grecian Freind, which seeming to be of several sorts of Venison, was all cut out of one Hog, variously dress'd; and not long after, that vast multitude was as easily slaughter'd as the Hog had bin. The greatest danger of the War with
Mithridates
was to avoid his Poisons and Treacherys; and to follow him thro the Deserts where he fled. When
Lucullus
with less than twenty thousand men had put
Tigranes
Plut. in vit. Lucul.
with two hundred thousand to flight, the
Roman
Soldiers who for a while had pursu'd the chace, stood still on a sudden, and fell into a loud laughter at themselves for using their Arms against such wretched cowardly Slaves. If this be not enough to prove the Falshood of our Author's Proposition, I desire it may be consider'd whether good Order or Stability be wanting in
Venice:
Whether
Tuscany,
be in a better condition to defend it self since it fell under the power of the
Medices,
or when it was full of free Citys: Whether it were an easy work to conquer
Switzerland:
Whether the
Hollanders
are of greater strength since the recovery of their Liberty, or when they groan'd under the Yoke of
Spain:
And lastly, whether the intire conquest of
Scotland
and
Ireland,
the Victorys obtain'd against the
Hollanders
when in the height of their Power, and the reputation to which
England
did rise in less than five years after 1648. be good marks of the instability, disorder, and weakness of free Nations: And if the contrary be true, nothing can be more absurdly false than our Author's assertion.
SECT. XII. The Glory, Vertue, and Power of the
Romans
began and ended with their Liberty.
AMong many fine things propos'd by our Author, I see none more to be admir'd, or that better declares the soundness of his Judgment, than that he is only pleas'd with the beginning and end of the
Roman
Empire; and says,
that their time of Liberty
(between those two extremes)
had nothing of good in it, but that it was of short continuance.
Whereas I dare affirm that all that was ever desirable, or worthy of praise and imitation in
Rome,
proceeded from its Liberty, and grew up and perish'd with it: which I think will not be contradicted by any, but those who prefer the most sordid Vices before the most eminent Vertues; who believe the People to have bin more worthily employ'd by the
Tarquins
in cleansing Jakes and common Shores, than in acquiring the Dominion of the best part of Mankind; and account it better for a People to be opprest with hard labour under a proud Master, in a steril, unhealthy tenmile Territory, than to command all the Countrys that lie between the
Fuphrates
and
Britain.
Such Opinions will hardly find any better Patrons than
Filmer
and his Disciples, nor the matters of fact, as they are represented, be denied by any that know the Historys of those times. Many
Romans
may have had seeds of vertue in them, whilst in the insancy of that City they liv'd under Kings; but they brought forth little fruit.
Tarquin,
sirnam'd the Proud, being a
Grecian
by extraction, had perhaps observ'd that the Vertue of that Nation had render'd them averse to the Divine Government he desir'd to set up; and having by his wellnatur'd
Tullia
poison'd his own Brother her Husband, and his own Wife her Sister, married her, kill'd her Father, and spar'd none that he thought able to oppose his designs, to finish the work, he butcher'd the Senat, with such as seem'd most eminent among the People, and like a most pious Father endeavour'd to render the City desolate: during that time they who would not be made instruments of those Villanys, were oblig'd for their own safety to conceal their Vertues; but he being remov'd, they shin'd in their Glory. Whilst he reign'd,
Brutus, Valerius, Horatius, Herminius, Larcius,
and
Coriolanus,
lay hid and unregarded; but when they came to fight for themselves, and to imploy their Valour for the good of their Country, they gave such testimonys of Bravery as have bin admir'd by all succeeding ages, and settled such a Disciplin, as produc'd others like to them, or more excellent than they, as long as their Liberty lasted. In two hundred and sixty years that they remain'd under the Government of Kings, tho all of 'em, the last only excepted, were chosen by the Senat and People, and did as much to advance the publick Service as could reasonably be expected from them, their Dominion hardly extended so far as from
London
to
Hownslow:
But in little more than three hundred years after they recover'd their Liberty, they had subdu'd all the warlike Nations of
Italy,
destroy'd vast Armys of the
Gauls, Cimbri,
and
Germans,
overthrown the formidable power of
Carthage,
conquer'd the Cisalpine and Transalpine
Gauls,
with all the Nations of
Spain,
notwithstanding the ferocity of the one, and the more constant valour of the other, with the prodigious multitudes of both: They had brought all
Greece
into subjection, and by the conquest of
Macedon
the Spoils of the World to adorn their City; and found so little difficulty in all the Wars that happen'd between them and the greatest Kings after the Death of
Alexander
of
Epirus
and
Pirrhus,
that the defeats of
Siphax, Perses, Antiochus, Prusias, Tigranes, Ptolomy,
and many others, did hardly deserve to be number'd amongst their Victorys.
It were ridiculous to impute this to chance, or to think that Fortune, which of all things is the most variable, could for so many Ages continue the same course, unless supported by Vertue; or to suppose that all these Monarchys which are so much extol'd, could have bin destroy'd by that Commonwealth, if it had wanted Strength, Stability, Vertue, or good Order. The secret Counsels of God are impenetrable; but the ways by which he accomplishes his designs are often evident: When he intends to exalt a People, he fills both them and their Leaders with the Vertues sutable to the accomplishment of his end; and takes away all Wisdom and Vertue from those he resolves to destroy. The Pride of the
Babylonians
and
Assyrians
fell thro the baseness of
Sardanapalus;
and the great City was taken while
Belshazzar
lay drunk amongst his Whores: The Empire was transported to the
Persians
and
Grecians
by the valour of
Cyrus, Alexander,
and the brave Armys that follow'd them. Historys furnish us with innumerable examples of this kind: But I think none can be found of a cowardly, weak, effeminate, foolish, ill-disciplin'd People, that have ever subdu'd such as were eminent in Strength, Wisdom, Valor, and good Disciplin; or that these qualitys have bin found or subsisted any where, unless cultivated and nourish'd by a well-order'd Government. If this therefore was found among the
Romans,
and not in the Kingdoms they overthrew, they had the order and stability which the Monarchys had not; and the Strength and Vertue by which they obtain'd such success, was the product of them. But if this Vertue and the glorious effects of it did begin with Liberty, it also expir'd with the same. The best men that had not fallen in Battel were glean'd up by the Proscriptions, or circumvented for the most part by false and frivolous Accusations. Mankind is inclin'd to Vice, and the way to Vertue is so hard, that it wants encouragement; but when all Honours, Advantages and Preferments are given to Vice, and despis'd Vertue finds no other reward than Hatred, Persecution, and Death, there are few who will follow it.
Tacitus
well describes the State of the Empire, when the
Tacit.
Power was absolutely fallen into the hands of one:
Italia novis cladibus, vel post longam seculorum seriem repetitis, afflicta; Vrbs incendiis vastata, consumptis antiquissimis delubris, ipso Capitolio Civium manibus incenso; pollutae ceremoniae; magna adulteria; plenum exiliis mare; infecti caedibus scopuli; atrocius in urbe saevitum; Nobilitas, opes, omissi vel gesti honores pro crimine, & ob virtutes certissimum exitium.
His following words shew, that the rewards of these abominations were not less odious than the things themselves: The highest Dignitys were bestow'd upon the
Delatores,
who were a kind of Rogues like to our
Irish
Witnesses, or those that by a new coin'd word we call
Trepanners.
This is not a Picture drawn by a vulgar hand, but by one of the best Painters in the world; and being a Model that so much pleases our Author, 'tis good to see what it produc'd. The first fruit was such an intire degeneracy from all good, that
Rome
may be justly said never to have produc'd a brave Man since the first age of her Slavery.
Germanicus
and
Corbulo
were born
expirante Libertate;
and the recompence they receiv'd did so little encourage others to follow their example, that none have bin found in any degree like to them; and those of the most noble Familys applied themselves to sleep, laziness, and luxury, that they might not be suspected to be better than their Masters.
Thraseas, Soranus,
and
Helvidius
were worthy men, who resolv'd to persist in their Integrity, tho they should die for it; but that was the only thing that made them eminent; for they were of unknown Familys, not
Romans
by birth, nor ever employ'd in War: And those Emperors who did arrive to any degree of Vertue, were
Spaniards, Gauls, Africans, Thracians,
and of all Nations, except
Romans.
The Patrician and Plebeian Familys, which for many ages had fill'd the World with great Commanders, and such as excel'd in all Vertues, being thus extinguish'd or corrupted, the common People fell into the lowest degree of baseness:
Plebs sordida Circo & Theatris sueta.
That People which in
C. Tacit
magnanimity surpast all that have bin known in the World; who never found any Enterprize above their Spirit to undertake, and Power to accomplish, with their Liberty lost all their Vigor and Vertue. They who by their Votes had dispos'd of Kingdoms and Provinces, fell to desire nothing but to live and see
Duas tantum res anxius opta
,
P
nem & Circenses.
Juven. Sat.
Plays. Whether their Emperors were good or bad, they usually rejoic'd at their Death, in hopes of getting a little Mony or Victuals from the Successor. Tho the Empire was by this means grown weak and bloodless, yet it could not fall on a sudden: So vast a Body could not die in a moment: All the neighbouring Nations had bin so much broken by their Power, that none was able to take advantage of their Weakness; and life was preserv'd by the strength of hungry Barbarians, allur'd by the greatness of the Pay they receiv'd to defend those, who had no power left to defend themselves. This precarious and accidental help could not be durable. They who for a while had bin contented with their Wages, soon began to think it fit for them rather to fight for themselves, than for their weak Masters; and thereupon fell to set up Emperors depending on themselves, or to seize upon the naked Provinces, where they found no other difficulty than to contend with other Strangers, who might have the like design upon the same. Thus did the Armys of the East and West set up Emperors at their pleasure; and tho the
Goths, Vandals, Huns, Sueves, Alans,
and others, had cruel Wars among themselves, yet they fear'd and suffer'd little or nothing from the
Romans.
This state of things was so soon observ'd, that in the beginning of
Tiberius
his reign, they who endeavour'd to excite the
Gauls
to take Arms, us'd no other arguments than such as were drawn from the extreme weakness of the
Quam inop
Italia, Plebs urbana imbellis, nihil in exercitibus validum praeter externum▪
C. Tacit. An. l. 3.
Romans.
It was evident that after the Battels of
Philippi
and
Actium,
the strength of the
Roman
Armys consisted of Strangers; and even the Victorys that went under their name were gain'd by those Nations which in the time of their Liberty they had subdu'd. They had nothing left but Riches gather'd out of their vast Dominions; and they learn'd by their ruin, that an Empire acquir'd by Vertue could not long be supported by Mony. They who by their Valour had arriv'd at such a height of Glory, Power, Greatness, and Happiness, that was never equal'd, and who in all appearance had nothing to fear from any foreign Power, could never have fallen, unless their Vertue and Disciplin had decay'd, and the corruption of their Manners excited 'em to turn their victorious Swords into their own bowels. Whilst they were in that flourishing condition, they thought they had nothing more to desire than continuance; but if our Author's judgment is to be follow'd, there was
nothing of good in it, except the shortness of its continuance;
they were beholden to those who wrought the Change; they were the better for the Battels of
Pharsalia, Philippi, Munda,
and
Actium;
the destruction of two thirds of the People, with the slaughter of all the most eminent men among them, was for their advantage: The Proscriptions were wholsom Remedys:
Tacitus
did not understand the state of his own Country, when he seems to be
Ann
l. l. 4.
asham'd to write the History of it,
Nobis in arcto & inglorius labor;
when instead of such glorious things as had bin atchiev'd by the
Romans,
whilst either the Senat, or the Common Poople prevail'd, he had nothing left to relate, but
saeva jussa, continuas accusationes, fallaces amicitias, perniciem innocentium:
They enjoy'd nothing that was good from the expulsion of the
Tarquins
to the reestablishment of Divine absolute Monarchy in the Persons of those pious Fathers of the People,
Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero, Galba, Otho, Vitellius,
&c. There was no Vertue in the
Junii, Horatii, Cornelii, Quintii, Decii, Manlii;
but the generous and tender-hearted Princes before-mention'd were perfect examples of it: Whilst annual Magistrats govern'd, there was no stability;
Sejanus, Macro
and
Tigellinus
introduc'd good order: Vertue was not esteem'd by the antient Senat and People;
Messalina, Agrippina, Poppaea, Narcissus, Pallas, Vinnius,
and
Laco
knew how to put a just value upon it: The irregularitys of popular Assemblys, and want of Prudence in the Senat, was repair'd by the temperate proceedings of the
German, Pannonian
and Eastern Armys▪ or the modest discretion of the Pretorian Bands: The City was deliver'd by them from the burden of governing the World, and for its own good frequently plunder'd, fir'd; and at last, with the rest of desolated
Italy,
and the noblest Provinces of
Europe, Asia,
and
Africa,
brought under the yoke of the most barbarous and cruel Nations. By the same light we may see that those who endeavour'd to perpetuate the misery of Liberty to
Rome,
or lost their lives in the defence of it, were the worst or the most foolish of men, and that they were the best who did overthrow it. This rectifys all our Errors; and if the highest Praises are due to him that did the work, the next are well deserv'd by those who perish'd in attempting it: and if the Sons of
Brutus,
with their Companions the
Vitellii
and
Aquillii; Claudius Appius
the
Decemvir;
those that would have betray'd the City to
Porsenna; Spurius Melius, Spur. Cassius, Manlius Capitolinus, Saturninus, Catiline, Cethegus, Lentulus,
had bin as fortunate as
Julius Caesar,
they might as well have deserv'd an
Apotheosis.
But if all this be false, absurd, bestial, and abominable, the principles that necessarily lead us to such conclusions are so also; which is enough to shew, that the Strength, Vertue, Glory, Wealth, Power, and Happiness of
Rome
proceeding from Liberty, did rise, grow, and perish with it.
SECT. XIII. There is disorder or prejudice in changing the name or number of Magistrats, whilst the root and principle of their Power continues intire.
IN the next place our Author would persuade us that the
Romans
were inconstant, because of their changes from annual Consuls to Military Tribunes,
Decemviri,
and Dictators; and gives the name of Sedition to the complaints made against Usury, or the contests concerning Marriages or Magistracy: But I affirm,
1. That no change of Magistracy, as to the name, number, or form, dos testify irregularity, or bring any manner of prejudice, as long as it is done by those who have a right of doing it, and he or they who are created continue within the power of the Law to accomplish the end of their institution; many forms being in themselves equally good, and may be us'd as well one as another, according to times and other circumstances.
2. In the second place, 'tis a rare thing for a City at the first to be rightly constituted: Men can hardly at once foresee all that may happen in many Ages, and the changes that accompany them ought to be provided for.
Rome
in its foundation was subject to these defects, and the inconveniences arising from them were by degrees discover'd and remedi'd. They did not think of regulating Usury, till they saw the mischiefs proceeding from the cruelty of Usurers; or of setting limits to the proportion of Land that one man might enjoy, till the avarice of a few had so far succeeded, that their Riches were grown formidable, and many by the poverty to which they were reduc'd became useless to the City. It was not time to make a Law that the Plebeians might marry with the Patricians, till the distinction had rais'd the Patricians to such Pride, as to look upon themselves to have something of divine, and the others to be
Inauspicati,
or profane, and brought the City into danger by that division; nor to make the Plebeians capable of being elected to the chief Magistracys, till they had men able to perform the dutys of them. But these things being observ'd, remedys were seasonably apply'd without any bloodshed or mischief, tho not without noise and wrangling.
3. All human Constitutions are subject to corruption, and must perish, unless timely renew'd and reduc'd to their first principles: This was chiefly done by means of those Tumults which our Author ignorantly blames: The whole People by whom the Magistracy had bin at first created, executed their power in those things which comprehend Sovereignty in the highest degree, and brought every one to acknowledg it: There was nothing that they could not do, who first confer'd the supreme Honours upon the Patricians, and then made the Plebeians equal to them. Yet their Modesty was not less than their Power or Courage: and therefore when by the Law they might have made a Plebeian Consul, they did not chuse one in forty years; and when they did make use of their Right in advancing men of their own Order, they were so prudent, that they cannot be said to have bin mistaken in their Elections three times, whilst their Votes were free: whereas, of all the Emperors that came in by Usurpation, pretence of Blood from those who had usurp'd, or that were set up by the Soldiers, or a few Electors, hardly three can be nam'd who deserv'd that Honour, and most of them were such as seem'd to be born for Plagues to Mankind.
4. He manifests his fraud or ignorance in attributing the Legislative power sometimes to the Senat, and sometimes to the People; for the Senat never had it. The stile of
Senatus censuit, Populus jussit,
was never alter'd; but the right of Advising continuing in the Senat, that of Enacting ever continu'd in the People.
5. An occasion of commending absolute Power, in order to the establishment of Hereditary Monarchy, is absurdly drawn from their Custom of creating a Dictator in time of danger; for no man was ever created, but such as seem'd able to bear so great a burden, which in hereditary Governments is wholly left to chance. Tho his Power was great, it did arise from the Law; and being confin'd to six months, 'twas almost impossible for any man to abuse it, or to corrupt so many of those who had enjoy'd the same honour, or might aspire to it, as to bring them for his pleasure to betray their Country: and as no man was ever chosen who had not given great testimonys of his Vertues, so no one did ever forseit the good opinion conceiv'd of him. Vertue was then honour'd, and thought so necessarily to comprehend a sincere love and fidelity to the Commonwealth, that without it the most eminent qualitys were reputed vile and odious; and the memory of former Services could no way expiate the guilt of conspiring against it. This seeming Severity was in truth the greatest Clemency: for tho our Author has the impudence to say, that during the
Roman Liberty the best men thriv'd worst, and the worst best,
he cannot alledg one example of any eminent
Roman
put to death (except
Manlius Capitolinus)
from the expulsion of the
Tarquins
to the time of the
Gracchi,
and the Civil Wars not long after ensuing; and of very few who were banish'd. By these means Crimes were prevented; and the temptations to evil being remov'd, Treachery was destroy'd in the root; and such as might be naturally ambitious, were made to see there was no other way to Honour and Power, than by acting vertuously.
But lest this should not be sufficient to restrain aspiring men, what Power soever was granted to any Magistrate, the Sovereignty still remain'd in the People, and all without exception were subject to them. This may seem strange to those who think the Dictators were absolute, because they are said to have bin
sine provocatione;
but that is to be only understood in relation to other Magistrats, and not to the People, as is clearly prov'd in the case of
Q. Fabius,
whom
Papirius
the Dictator
.
av.
. 8.
would have put to death:
Tribunos Plebis appello,
says
Fabius Maximus
his Father, &
provoco ad Populum, eum
que
tibi fugienti exercitus tui, fugienti Senatus Judicium, judicem sero; qui certe unus plusquam tua dicta
ura potest polletque: videro, cessurusne sis provocationi, cui Tullus Hostilius cessit.
And tho the People did rather intercede for
Fabius
than command his deliverance, that modesty did evidently proceed from an opinion that
Papirius
was in the right; and tho they desir'd to save
Fabius,
who seems to have bin one of the greatest and best men that ever the City produc'd, they would not enervate that military Disciplin, to which they ow'd, not only their greatness, but their subsistence; most especially when their Sovereign Authority was acknowledg'd by all, and the Dictator himself had submitted. This right of Appeals to the People was the foundation of the
Roman
Commonwealth, laid in the days of
Romulus,
T. Liv. l. 1.
submitted to by
Hostilius
in the case of
Horatius,
and never violated, till the Laws and the Liberty which they supported were overthrown by the power of the Sword. This is confirm'd by the speech of
Metellus
the Tribune, who in the time of the second
Carthaginian
War, causelesly disliking the Proceedings of
Q. Fabius Maximus
then Dictator, in a publick Assembly of the People said,
Quod si antiquus animus Plebi
T. Liv. l. 22.
Romanae esset, se audacter laturum de abrogando Q. Fabii Imperio; nunc modicam rogationem promulgaturum, de aequando Magistri Equitum & Dictatoris jure:
which was done, and that Action, which had no precedent, shews that the People needed none, and that their Power being eminently above that of all Magistrats, was oblig'd to no other rule than that of their own Will. Tho I do therefore grant that a Power like to the Dictatorian, limited in time, circumscrib'd by Law, and kept perpetually under the supreme Authority of the People, may, by vertuous and welldisciplin'd Nations, upon some occasions, be prudently granted to a vertuous man, it can have no relation to our Author's Monarch, whose Power is in himself, subject to no Law, perpetually exercis'd by himself, and for his own sake, whether he has any of the abilitys requir'd for the due performance of so great a work, or be intirely destitute of them; nothing being more unreasonable than to deduce consequences from cases, which in substance and circumstances are altogether unlike: but to the contrary, these examples shewing that the
Romans,
even in the time of such Magistrats as seem'd to be most absolute, did retain and exercise the Sovereign Power, do most evidently prove that the Government was ever the same remaining in the People, who without prejudice might give the Administration to one or more men as best pleas'd themselves, and the success shews that they did it prudently.
SECT. XIV. No Sedition was hurtful to
Rome,
till thro their Prosperity some men gain'd a Power above the Laws.
LIttle pains is requir'd to confute our Author, who imputes much bloodshed to the popular Government of
Rome;
for he cannot prove that one man was unjustly put to death, or slain in any Sedition before
Publius Gracchus:
The Foundations of the Commonwealth were then so shaken, that the Laws could not be executed; and whatsoever did then fall out, ought to be attributed to the Monarchy for which the great Men began to contend. Whilst they had no other Wars than with neighboring Nations, they had a strict eye upon their Commanders, and could preserve Disciplin among the Soldiers: but when by the excellence of their Valour and Conduct the greatest Powers of the World were subdu'd, and for the better carrying on of foreign Wars, Armys were suffer'd to continue in the same hands longer than the Law did direct, Soldiery came to be accounted a Trade, and those who had the worst designs against the Commonwealth, began to savour all manner of Licentiousness and Rapine, that they might gain the savour of the Legions, who by that means became unruly and seditious; 'twas hard, if not impossible, to preserve a Civil equality, when the Spoils of the greatest Kingdoms were brought to adorn the Houses of private men; and they who had the greatest Citys and Nations to be their Dependents and Clients, were apt to scorn the power of the Law. This was a most dangerous Disease, like those to which human Bodys are subject, when arriv'd to that which Physicians call the Athletick habit, proceeding from the highest perfection of Health, Activity and Strength, that the best Constitution by Diet and Exercise can attain. Whosoever falls into them shews that he had attain'd that perfection; and he who blames that which brings a State into the like condition, condemns that which is most perfect among men. Whilst the
Romans
were in the way to this, no Sedition did them any hurt: they were compos'd without Blood; and those that seem'd to be the most dangerous, produc'd the best Laws. But when they were arriv'd to that condition, no Order could do them good; the fatal period set to human things was come, they could go no higher,
Lucan. l. 1.
—Summisque negatum
Stare diu;
and all that our Author blames, is not to be imputed to their Constitution, but their departing from it. All men were ever subject to error, and it may be said that the mistaken People in the space of about three hundred years did unjustly fine or banish five or six men; but those mistakes were so frankly acknowledg'd, and carefully repair'd by Honours bestow'd upon the injur'd Persons, as appears by the Examples of
Camillus, Livius Salinator, Paulus Emylius,
and others, that they deserve more praise than if they had not fail'd.
If for the above-mention'd time Seditions were harmless or profitable, they were also absolutely exempted from Civil Wars. Those of
Apulia
and
Greece
were Revolts of conquer'd Nations, and can no way fall under that name: But 'tis most absurdly apply'd to the servile and gladiatorian Wars; for the Gladiators were Slaves also, and Civil Wars can be made only by those who are Members of the Civil Society, which Slaves are not. Those that made the
bellum Sociale,
were Freemen, but not Citizens; and the War they made could not be call'd Civil. The
Romans
had three ways of dealing with conquer'd Nations.
1. Some were receiv'd into the body of the City,
Civitate donati,
as the
Latins
by
Romulus;
the
Albans
by
Hostilius;
the
Privernates
when their Ambassador declar'd, that no Peace could be durable unless it were just and easy; and the Senat said,
Se viri & liberi vocem audivisse, tales
que
dignos esse ut Romani siant;
and the like Favour was shown to many others.
2. By making Leagues with them, as
Livy
says,
Populum Romanum devictos bello populos, malle societate & amicitia habere conjunctos, quam tristi subjectos servitio:
Of which sort were the
Samnites,
who not liking their condition, join'd with
Hannibal;
and afterwards, under the conduct of the brave
Telesinus,
with other Nations that liv'd under the condition of
Socii,
made an unprosperous attempt to deliver themselves.
3. Those who after many Rebellions were
in Provinciam redacti,
as the
Capuans,
when their City was taken by
Appius Claudius,
and
Q. F
lvius Flaccus.
We osten hear of Wars made by those of the two latter sorts; but of none that can be call'd Civil, till the times of
Marius, Sylla,
and
Catiline:
and as they are to be esteem'd the last Struglings of expiring Liberty, when the Laws, by which it had subsisted, were enervated; so those that happen'd between
Cesar
and
Pompey, Octavius
and
Antonius,
with the Proscriptions, Triumvirate, and all the Mischiefs that accompany'd them, are to be imputed wholly to the Monarchy for which they contended, as well as those between
Nero, Galba, Otho, Vitellius,
and
Vespasian,
that hardly ever ceas'd till the Empire was abolish'd; for the name of a Commonwealth continu'd to the end; and I know not why
Tiberius
or
Nero
might not use it as well as
Sylla
or
Marius.
Yet if our Author be resolv'd to impute to Popular Government all that pass'd before
Cesar
made himself perpetual Dictator, he will find no more than is seen in all places. We have known few small States, and no great one free from Revolts of Subjects or Allies; and the greatest Empire of the East was overthrown by the rebellion of the
Mammalukes
their Slaves. If there is any difference to be observ'd between what happen'd at
Rome,
'tis chiefly, that whilst there was any shadow of Liberty, the Slaves, Gladiators, Subjects or Allies, were always beaten and suppress'd; whereas in the time of the Emperors, the Revolt of a Province was sufficient to give a new Master to the best part of Mankind; and he having no more power than was requir'd for a present Mischief, was for the most part, in a short time, destroy'd by another. But to please our Author, I will acknowledg a second defect, even that Wantonness to which he ascribes all their Disorders; tho I must withal desire him to consider from whence Wantonness dos proceed. If the People of
Turky
or
France
did rebel, I should think they were driven to it by Misery, Beggery, or Despair; and could lay Wantonness only to the charge of those who enjoy much Prosperity. Nations that are opprest and made miserable, may fall into Rage, but can never grow wanton. In the time of the
Roman
Emperors, the Pretorian Cohorts, or the Armys that had the liberty of ravaging the richest Provinces, might be proud of their Strength, or grow wanton thro the abundance of their Enjoyments: The Janizarys in later Ages may, for the same reasons, have fallen into the like excesses; but such as have lost their Liberty are in no danger of them. When all the Nobility of
Rome
was destroy'd, and those who excel'd in Reputation or Vertue, were fallen in the Wars, or by the Proscriptions; when two thirds of the People were slain, the best Citys and Colonys burnt, the Provinces exhausted, and the small remains left in them opprest with a most miserable slavery, they may have revolted, and sometimes did, as the
Britans, Batavians,
and others mention'd in the
Roman
History: But they were driven to those Revolts by Fury and Necessity, arising from the Miserys and Indignitys they suffer'd under an insupportable Tyranny; and Wantonness had no part in them. The People of
Rome,
when they were a little freed from the Terror of the Soldiers, did sometimes for the same reasons conspire against the Emperors; and when they could do no more, exprest their hatred by breaking their Statues: But after the Battels of
Pharsalia, Philippi,
and the Proscriptions, they never committed any folly thro Wantonness. In the like manner
Naples
and
Sicily
have revolted within these few years; and some who are well acquainted with the State of those Kingdoms, think them ready again to do the like: but if it should so happen, no man of understanding would impute it to Wantonness. The Pressures under which they groan, have cur'd 'em of all such Diseases; and the
Romans
after the loss of their Liberty could never fall into them. They may have grown wanton when their Authority was reverenc'd, their Vertue admir'd, their Power irresistible, and the Riches of the World were flowing in upon them, as it were, to corrupt their Manners, by inticing them to pleasure. But when all that was lost, and they found their Persons expos'd to all manner of Violence from the basest of men; their Riches exhausted by Tributes and Rapine, whilst the Treasures of the Empire were not sufficient to supply the Luxury of their Masters: the misery they suffer'd, and the shame of suffering it, with the contemptible weakness to which they were reduc'd, did too strongly admonish them that the Vices of Wantonness belong'd only to those who enjoy'd a Condition far different from theirs; and the memory of what they had lost, sharpned the sense of what they felt. This is the state of things which pleases our Author; and, by praising that Government, which depriv'd those who were under it of all that is most desirable in the world, and introduc'd all that ought to be detested, he sufficiently shews that he delights only in that which is most abominable, and would introduce his admir'd Absolute Monarchy, only as an Instrument of bringing Vice, Misery, Devastation and Infamy upon Mankind.
SECT. XV. The Empire of
Rome
perpetually decay'd when it fell into the hands of one Man.
IN pursuance of his Design our Author, with as much Judgment as Truth, denies that
Rome
became Mistress of the World under the Popular Government:
It is not so,
says he,
for
Rome
began her Empire under Kings, and did perfect it under Emperors: It did only increase under that Popularity: Her greatest exaltation was under
Trajan,
and longest Peace under
Augustus. For the illustration of which, I desire these few things may be consider'd.
1. That the first Monarchy of
Rome
was not absolute: The Kings were made by the People without regard to any Man's Title, or other reason than the common Good, chusing him that seem'd most likely to procure it; setting up at the same time a Senat consisting of a hundred of the most eminent Men among them; and, after the reception of the
Sabins
into the City, adding as many more to them, and committing the principal part of the Government to their care, retaining the power of making those Laws to which the Kings who reign'd by their Command were subject, and reserving to themselves the Judgment of all great Matters upon Appeal. If any of their Kings deserv'd to be call'd a Monarch, according to
Filmer
's Definition, it was the last
Tarquin;
for he alone of all their
. L
v. l. 2.
Kings reign'd not
jussu Populi,
but came in by Treachery and Murder. If he had continu'd, he had cur'd the People of all Vices proceeding from Wantonness; but his farthest Conquest was of the small Town of
Gabii
ten miles distant from
Rome,
which he effected by the fraud of his detestable Son; and that being then the utmost limit of the
Roman
Empire, must deserve to be call'd the World, or the Empire of it was not gain'd by their Kings.
2. The Extent of Conquests is not the only, nor the chief thing that ought to be consider'd in them; regard is to be had to the Means whereby they are made, and the Valour or Force that was employ'd by the Enemy. In these respects not only the overthrow of
Carthage,
and the Conquests of
Spain,
but the Victorys gain'd against the
Sabins, Latins, Tuscans, Samnites,
and other valiant Nations of
Italy,
who most obstinately defended their Liberty, when the
Romans
had no Forces but their own, shew more Vertue, and deserve incomparably more Praise, than the Defeats of any Nations whatsoever, when they were increas'd in Number, Riches, Reputation and Power, and had many other warlike People iustructed in their Disciplin, and fighting under their Ensigns. But I deny that the
Romans
did ever make any considerable acquisition after the loss of their Liberty. They had already subdu'd all
Italy, Greece, Macedon,
the Islands of the
Mediterranean
Sea,
Thracia, Illyrium, Asia
the Less,
Pontus, Armenia, Syria, Egypt, Africa, Gaul
and
Spain.
The Forces of
Germany
were broken; a Bridg laid over the
Rhine,
and all the Countrys on this side subdu'd. This was all that was ever gain'd by the Valour of their own Forces, and that could bring either Honour or Profit. But I know of no Conquest made after that time, unless the name of Conquest be given to
Caligula
's Expedition, when he said he had subdu'd the Sea, in making an useless Bridg from
Puteoli
to
Baiae;
or that of the other Fool, who enter'd
Rome
in triumph, for having gather'd shells on the Seashore.
Trajan
's Expedition into the East, was rather a Journy than a War: He rambled over the Provinces that
Augustus
had abandon'd as not worth keeping, and others that had nothing to defend them, but illarm'd and unwarlike Barbarians: Upon the whole matter, he seems to have bin led only by Curiosity; and the vanity of looking upon them as Conquests, appears in their being relinquish'd as soon as gain'd.
Britain
was easily taken from a naked and unskilful, tho a brave People; hardly kept, and shamefully lost. But tho the Emperors had made greater Wars than the Commonwealth, vanquish'd Nations of more valour and skill than their
Italian
Neighbours, the
Grecians
or
Carthaginians;
subdu'd and slaughter'd those that in Numbers and Ferocity had exceeded the
Cimbri, Gauls
and
Teutons,
encounter'd Captains more formidable than
Pirrhus
and
Hannibal,
it might indeed increase the Glory of him that should have done it, but could add nothing of Honour or Advantage to the
Roman
Name: The Nobility was extirpated long before, the People corrupted and enslav'd,
Italy
lay desolate, so as a
Roman
was hardly to be found in a
Roman
Army, which was generally compos'd of such, as fighting for themselves or their Commander, never thought of any thing less than the Interest of
Rome.
And as it is impossible that what is so neglected and betray'd, should be durable, that Empire which was acquir'd by the Valour and Conduct of the bravest and best disciplin'd People of the World, decay'd and perish'd in the hands of those Absolute Monarchs who ought to have preserv'd it.
3. Peace is desirable by a State that is constituted for it, who contenting themselves with their own Territorys, have no desires of enlarging them: Or perhaps it might simply deserve praise, if Mankind were so fram'd, that a People intending hurt to none, could preserve themselves; but the World being so far of another temper, that no Nation can be safe without Valour and Strength, those Governments only deserve to be commended, which by Disciplin and Exercise increase both, and the
Roman
above all, that excel'd in both. Peace therefore may be good in its season, and was so in
Numa
's Reign; yet two or three such Kings would have encourag'd some active Neighbours to put an end to that aspiring City, before its Territory had extended beyond
Fidenae.
But the Disciplin that best agreed with the Temper and Designs of a Warlike People, being renew'd by his brave Successors, the Dangers were put on their Enemys; and all of them, the last only excepted, persisting in the same way, did reasonably well perform their Duty. When they were remov'd, and the Affairs of the City depended no longer upon the Temper or Capacity of one Man, the ends for which the City was constituted were vigorously pursu'd, and such Magistrats annually chosen, as would not long continue in a universal Peace, till they had gotten the Empire to which they aspir'd, or were by ill Fortune brought to such weakness, as to be no longer able to make War. Both of these happen'd in the so much magnify'd Reign of
Augustus.
He found the Empire so great, that all Additions might rationally be rejected as useless or prejudicial; and
Italy
so exhausted, that Wars could only be carry'd on by the strength of Strangers: It was time to lie still when they had no power to act; and they might do it safely, whilst the Reputation gain'd by former Victorys preserv'd them from Foreign Invasions. When
Crassus, Pompey,
and
Cesar,
who had torn the Commonwealth into three Monarchys, were kill'd, and the Flower of the
Roman
Nobility and People destroy'd with them, or by them: When
Cato
's Vertue had prov'd too weak to support a falling State, and
Brutus
with
Cassius
had perish'd in their noble Attempt to restore their Liberty: When the best part of the Senat had bin expos'd for a Prey to the Vulturs and Wolves of
Thessaly,
and one hundred and thirty of those who deserv'd the hatred of Tyrants, and had escap'd the fury of War, had bin destroy'd by the Proscriptions: When neither Captains nor Soldiers remain'd in the desolate City; when the Tyrant abhor'd and fear'd all those who had either Reputation or Vertue, and by the most subtil Arts endeavour'd so to corrupt or break the Spirits of the remaining People, that they might not think of their former Greatness, or the ways of recovering it, we ought not to wonder that they ceas'd from War. But such a Peace is no more to be commended, than that which Men have in the Grave; as in the Epitaph of the Marquess
Trivultio
seen at
Milan, Qui nunquam quievit, quiescit, tace.
This Peace is in every Wilderness: The Turks have establish'd it in the empty Provinces of
Asia
and
Greece.
Where there are no men, or if those men have no Courage, there can be no War. Our Ancestors the
Britans
observ'd, that the Peace which in that Age the
Romans
establish'd in the Provinces, consisted in the most
C. Tacit.
wretched slavery and solitude:
Miserrimam servitutem pacem appellant.
And in another place,
Solitudinem faciunt, pacem vocant.
This is the Peace the
Spaniards
settled in their Dominions of the
West-Indies,
by the destruction of above
Barth. de las Casas, destruy
. de las Indias.
forty millions of Souls. The Countrys were very quiet, when wild Beasts only were left to fight in them, or a few miserable Wretches, who had neither strength nor courage to resist their violence. This was the Peace the
Romans
enjoy'd under
Augustus:
A few of those who made themselves subservient to his Pleasure, and Ministers of the publick Calamitys, were put into a flourishing condition; but the rest pin'd, wither'd, and never recover'd. If yet our Author will have us to think the Liberty and People of
Rome
oblig'd to
Augustus,
who procur'd such a Peace for them, he ought to remember that besides what they suffer'd in settling it, they paid dear for it even in the future; for
Italy
was thereby so weaken'd, as never to recover any strength or vertue to desend it self; but depending absolutely upon barbarous Nations, or Armys compos'd of them, was ravag'd and torn in pieces by every Invader.
4. That Peace is only to be valu'd which is accompany'd with Justice; and those Governments only deserve praise, who put the Power into the hands of the best Men. This was wholly wanting during the Reigns of
Augustus
and his Successors. The worst of men gain'd the Sovereignty by Alliance, Fraud, or Violence, and advanc'd such as most resembled themselves.
Augustus
was worse in the beginning than in the latter end of his Reign; but his bloody and impure Successor grew every day more wicked as long as he liv'd: Whilst he sat upon the Rocks at
Capreae
with his
Chaldeans,
he meditated nothing but Lust or Mischief, and had
Sejanus
and
Macro
always ready to execute his detestable Designs.
Caligula
could find none equal to himself in all manner of Villanys; but savour'd those most who were likest to him.
Claudius
his stupidity, drunkenness, and subjection to the fury of two impudent Strumpets, and manumis'd Slaves, prov'd as hurtful to the Empire, as the savage fury of his Predecessor. Tho
Nero
was a Monster that the World could not bear, yet the raging Soldiers kill'd
Galba,
and gave the Empire to
Otho
for no other reason, than that he had bin the Companion of his Debauches, and of all men was thought most to resemble him. With them all Evils came in like a Flood; and their Successors finding none so bad as themselves, but the Favorites, Whores and Slaves that govern'd them, would suffer no Vertue to grow up; and fill'd the City with a base, leud, and miserable Rabble, that car'd for nothing beyond Stage-plays and Bread. Such a People could not be seditious; but
Rome
had bin desolate, if they had not thus fill'd it. And tho this temper and condition of a People may please our Author; yet it was an incurable Wound to the State, and in consequence to the best part of the World.
When the City had bin burnt by the
Gauls,
it was soon restor'd: The Defeats of
Ticinum, Trebia, Thrasimene,
and
Cannae,
were repair'd with equal or greater Victorys: The War of the Allies ended in their overthrow: The Fury of the Gladiators was extinguish'd with their Blood: The Commonwealth lost Battels, but was never conquer'd in any War: and in the end triumph'd over all that had contended with them. Whilst Liberty continu'd, it was the Nurse of Vertue; and all the Losses suffer'd in Foreign or Civil Wars, were easily recover'd: but when Liberty was lost, Valour and Vertue was torn up by the roots, and the
Roman
Power proceeding from it, perish'd.
I have not dwelt so long upon this point to expose the folly of our Author, but to show that the abovemention'd Evils did proceed from a permanent cause, which will always produce the like effects; and Historys testify, that it has done the same in all places.
Carthage
was rebuilt, after i
had bin destroy'd by
Scipio,
and continu'd to be a rich City for almost a thousand years, but produc'd no such Men as
Amilcar, Asdrubal
and
Hannibal: Cleomenes
and
Euclidas
were the last that deserv'd to be call'd
Spartans: Athens
never had an eminent Man, after it felt the weight of the
Macedonian
Yoke, and
Philopemen
was the last of the
Achaians.
Tho the Commonwealths of
Italy
in later Ages, having too much apply'd themselves to the acquisition of Mony, wanted that greatness of Spirit which had reign'd in their Ancestors, yet they have not bin without Valour and Vertue. That of
Pisa
was famous for Power at Sea, till the
Genoeses
overthrew them.
Florence
had a brave Nobility, and a stout People.
Arezzo, Pistoia, Cortona, Sienna,
and other small Towns of
Tuscany,
were not without strength, tho for the most part unhappily exercis'd in the Factions of
Ghibelins
and
Guelphs, Neri
and
Bianchi,
that divided all
Italy;
but since the introduction of
Filmer
's divine Absolute Monarchy, all Power, Vertue, Reputation and Strength, are utterly perish'd from among them, and no man dares to oppose the publick Mischiefs. They usually decide private Quarrels by Assassination or Poison; and in other respects they enjoy the happiness of that Peace which is always found within empty Walls and desolated Countrys: And if this be according to the Laws of God and Nature, it cannot be deny'd, that Weakness, Baseness, Cowardice, Destruction and Desolation are so likewise. These are the Blessings our well-natur'd Author would confer upon us; but if they were to be esteem'd so, I cannot tell why those that felt them, complain'd so much of 'em.
Tacitus
reciting what past in his time, and somewhat before (for want of a Christian Spirit) in the bitterness of
. Tacit. l. 1.
his Soul says,
Nec unquam atrocioribus Populi Romani cladibus, magisque justis indiciis probatum est, non esse curae Deis securitatem nostram esse ultionem.
Some thought that no Punishments could be justly deserv'd by a People that had so much favour'd Vertue; others, that even the Gods they ador'd, envied their Felicity and Glory; but all confess'd they were fallen from the highest pitch of human Happiness into the lowest degree of Infamy and Misery: And our Author being the first that ever found they had gain'd by the change, we are to attribute the discovery of so great a Spirit to the excellency of his Wisdom. If, suspending my Judgment in this point, till it be prov'd by better Authority than his word, I in the mean time follow the opinion of those who think Slavery dos naturally produce meanness of Spirit, with its worst effect, flattery, which
Tacitus
calls
foedum servitutis crimen;
I must believe, that the Impudence of carrying it to such a height, as to commend nothing in the most glorious Liberty, that made the most vertuous People in the world, but the shortness of its continuance, and to prefer the Tyranny of the basest of Men, or worst of Monsters, is peculiar to
Filmer;
and that their wickedness, which had never bin equal'd, is surpast by him, who recommends as the Ordinance of God, the Principles that certainly produce them.
But,
says our Author,
tho
Rome
was for a while miraculously upheld in Glory by a greater Prudence than its own, yet in a short time, after manifold Alterations, she was ruin'd by her own hand.
But 'tis absurd to say, that the overthrow of a Government, which had nothing of good in it, can be a ruin; or that the Glory in which it continu'd, had nothing of good in it; and most of all, that it could be ruin'd by no hands but its own, if that Glory had not bin gain'd, and immediately or instrumentally supported by such vertue and strength as is worthily to be prefer'd before all other temporal Happiness, and dos ever produce it. This shews that Liars ought to have good memorys. But passing over such foolish Contradictions, I desire to know, how that
Prudence, greater than its own
(which till I am better inform'd, I must think to be inseparably united to Justice and Goodness) came miraculously to support a Government, which was not only evil in it self, as contrary to the Laws of God and Nature; but so perpetually bent against that Monarchy, which he says is according to them, as to hate all Monarchs, despise all that would live under them, destroy as many of them as came within their reach; and make a Law by which any man was authoris'd to kill him, who should endeavour to set up this Divine Power among them. Moreover, no human Prudence preserv'd the Roman Glory but their own: the others directly set themselves to oppose it, and the most eminent fell under it. We know of no Prudence surpassing the human, unless it be the Divine: But the Divine Prudence did never miraculously exert it self, except to bear witness to the Truth, and to give authority to those that announc'd it. If therefore the Glory of this Popular Government was miraculously supported by a more than human Prudence, it was good in it self; the Miracles done in favour of it did testify it, and all that our Author says against it is false and abominable.
If I lay aside the word
Miraculous,
as put in by chance, 'twill be hard to know how God (who in the usual course of his Providence guides all things by such a gentle and undiscern'd Power, that they seem to go on of themselves) should give such vertue to this popular Government, and the Magistrats bred up under it, that the greatest Monarchs of the Earth were as dust before them, unless there had bin an excellency in their Disciplin, far surpassing that of their Enemys; or how that can be call'd ill in its Principle, and said to comprehend no good, which God did so gloriously support, and no man was ever able to resist. This cannot be better answer'd than by our Author's Citation,
Suis & ipsa Roma viribus ruit;
That City which had overthrown the greatest Powers of the World must, in all appearance, have lasted for ever, if their Vertue and Disciplin had not decay'd, or their Forces bin turn'd against themselves. If our Author therefore say true, the greatest good that ever befel the
Romans,
was the decay of their Vertue and Disciplin; and the turning of their own Arms against themselves, was not their Ruin but their Preservation.
When they had brought the warlike Nations of
Italy
into subjection, or association; often represt the fury of the
Gauls, Cimbri
and
Teutons;
overthrown the Wealth, Power and Wit of
Carthage,
supported by the Skill, Industry and Valour of
Hannibal
and his brave Relations; almost extirpated the valiant
Spaniards,
who would no other way be subdu'd; defeated
Philip, Perses, Antiochus, Gentius, Syphax
and
Jugurtha;
struck an aw into
Ptolomy;
avoided the snares and poisons of
Mithridates;
follow'd him in his Flights, reveng'd his Treacherys, and carry'd their victorious Arms beyond his conquer'd Kingdoms to the Banks of
Tygris:
When neither the Revolt of their
Italian
Associats, nor the Rebellion of their Slaves led by
Spartacus
(who in skill seems to have bin equal to
Hannibal,
and above him in Courage) could put a stop to their Victorys: When
Greece
had bin reduc'd to yield to a Vertue rather than a Power greater than their own, we may well say that Government was supported by a more than human prudence, which led them thro Vertue to a height of Glory, Power and Happiness, that till that day had bin unknown to the World, and could never have bin ruin'd, if by the decay of that Vertue they had not turn'd their victorious Arms against themselves. That City was a Giant that could die by no other hand than his own; like
Hercules
poison'd and driven into madness, after he had destroy'd Thieves, Monsters and Tyrants, and found nothing on the Earth able to resist him. The wisest of men in antient times, looking upon this as a point of more than human Perfection, thought or feign'd to think, that he was descended from the Gods, and at his death receiv'd into their number, tho perhaps
Filmer
would prefer a weak, base and effeminate Slave before him. The matter will not be much different, if we adhere to the foremention'd similitude of the
Athletick Habit;
for the danger proceeds only from the perfection of it, and he who dislikes it, must commend that Weakness and Vice which may perish, but can never be chang'd into any thing worse than it self, as those that lie upon the ground can never fall. However this Fall of the
Romans,
which our Author, speaking truth against his will, calls their Ruin, was into that which he recommends as the Ordinance of God: Which is as much as to say, that they were ruin'd when they fell from their own unnatural Inventions to follow the Law of God and of Nature; that Luxury also thro which they fell, was the product of their Felicity; and that the Nations that had bin subdu'd by them, had no other way of avenging their Defeats, than by alluring their Masters to their own Vices: This was the Root of their Civil Wars. When that proud City found no more resistance, it grew
—Saevior armis
Luxuria incubuit, victum
que
ulciscitur orbem.
Lucan.
wanton. Honest Poverty became uneasy, when Honours were given to ill-gotten Riches. This was so Monarchical, that a People infected with such a Custom must needs fall by it. They who by Vice had exhausted their Fortunes, could repair them only by bringing their Country under a Government that would give impunity to Rapine; and such as had not Vertues to deserve Advancement from the Senat and People, would always endeavour to set up a Man that would bestow the Honours due to Vertue, upon those who would be most abjectly subservient to his Will and Interests. When mens minds are fill'd with this Fury, they sacrifice the common Good to the advancement of their private Concernments. This was the temper of
Catiline
exprest by
Sallust,
Sallust. Bell. Catilin.
Luxuria principi gravis, paupertas vix à privato toleranda;
and this put him upon that desperate extremity to say,
Incendium meum ruinâ extinguam.
Others in the same manner being fill'd with the same rage, he could not want Companions in his most villanous Designs. 'Tis not long since a Person of the highest Quality, and no less famous for Learning and Wit, having observ'd the State of
England,
as it stood not many years ago, and that to which it has bin reduc'd since the year sixty, as is thought very much by the Advice and Example of
France,
said, That they were now taking a most cruel Vengeance upon us for all the Overthrows receiv'd from our Ancestors, by introducing their most damnable Maxims, and teaching us the worst of their Vices. 'Tis not for me to determin whether this Judgment was rightly made or not; for I intend not to speak of our Affairs: but all Historians agreeing, that the change of the
Roman
Government was wrought by such means as I have mention'd; and our Author acknowledging that change to have bin their ruin, as in truth it was, I may justly conclude, that the overthrow of that Government could not have bin a ruin to them, but good for them, unless it had bin good; and that the Power which did ruin it, and was set up in the room of it, cannot have bin according to the Laws of God or Nature, for they confer only that which is good, and destroy nothing that is so; but must have bin most contrary to that good which was overthrown by it.
SECT. XVI. The best Governments of the World have bin compos'd of Monarchy, Aristocracy, and Democracy.
OUR Author's cavils concerning I know not what vulgar Opinions that Democracys were introduc'd to curb Tyranny, deserve no answer; for our question is, Whether one form of Government be prescrib'd to us by God and Nature, or we are left according to our own understanding, to constitute such as seem best to our selves. As for Democracy, he may say what pleases him of it; and I believe it can sute only with the convenience of a small Town, accompany'd with such Circumstances as are seldom sound. But this no way obliges men to run into the other extreme, in as much as the variety of Forms between mere Democracy and Absolute Monarchy is almost infinite: And if I should undertake to say, there never was a good Government in the world, that did not consist of the three simple Species of Monarchy, Aristocracy and Democracy, I think I might make it good. This at the least is certain, that the Government of the
Hebrews
instituted by God, had a Judg, the great
Sanhedrin,
and General Assemblys of the People:
Sparta
had two Kings, a Senat of twenty eight chosen Men, and the like Assemblys: All the
Dorian
Citys had a chief Magistrat, a Senat, and occasional Assemblys: The
Ionian, Athens,
and others, had an
Archon,
the
Areopagi;
and all Judgments concerning matters of the greatest importance, as well as the Election of Magistrats, were refer'd to the People.
Rome
in the beginning had a King and a Senat, whilst the Election of Kings, and Judgments upon Appeals remain'd in the People; afterwards Consuls representing Kings, and vested with equal Power, a more numerous Senat, and more frequent meetings of the People.
Venice
has at this day a Duke, the Senat of the
Pregadi,
and the Great Assembly of the Nobility, which is the whole City, the rest of the Inhabitants being only
Incolae,
not
Cives;
and those of the other Citys or Countrys are their Subjects, and do not participate of the Government.
Genoa
is govern'd in like manner:
Luca
not unlike to them.
Germany
is at this day govern'd by an Emperor, the Princes or great Lords in their several Precincts, the Citys by their own Magistrats, and by general Diets, in which the whole Power of the Nation resides, and where the Emperor, Princes, Nobility, and Citys have their places in person, or by their Deputys. All the Northern Nations, which upon the dissolution of the
Roman
Empire possest the best Provinces that had compos'd it, were under that form which is usually call'd the
Gothick
Polity: They had King, Lords, Commons, Diets, Assemblys of Estates, Cortez, and Parliaments, in which the Sovereign Powers of those Nations did reside, and by which they were exercis'd. The like was practis'd in
Hungary, Bohemia, Sweden, Denmark, Poland;
and if things are chang'd in some of these places within a few years, they must give better proofs of having gain'd by the change than are yet seen in the World, before I think my self oblig'd to change my opinion.
Some Nations not liking the name of King, have given such a power as Kings enjoy'd in other places to one or more Magistrats, either limited to a certain time, or left to be perpetual, as best pleas'd themselves: Others approving the Name, made the Dignity purely elective. Some have in their Elections principally regarded one Family as long as it lasted: Others consider'd nothing but the fitness of the Person, and reserv'd to themselves a Liberty of taking where they pleas'd. Some have permitted the Crown to be hereditary as to its ordinary course; but restrain'd the Power, and instituted Officers to inspect the Proceedings of Kings, and to take care that the Laws were not violated: Of this sort were the
Ephori
of
Sparta,
the
Maires du Palais,
and afterwards the Constable of
France;
the
Justicia
in
Arragon;
the
Rijcshofmeister
in
Denmark;
the High Steward in
England;
and in all places such Assemblys as are before mention'd under several names, who had the Power of the whole Nation. Some have continu'd long, and it may be always in the same form; others have chang'd it: Some being incens'd against their Kings, as the
Romans
exasperated by the Villanys of
Tarquin,
and the
Tuscans
by the Crueltys of
Mezentius,
abolish'd the name of King: Others, as
Athens, Sicion, Argos, Corinth, Thebes,
and the
Latins,
did not stay for such extremitys; but set up other Governments when they thought it best for themselves, and by this conduct prevented the evils that usually fall upon Nations, when their Kings degenerate into Tyrants, and a Nation is brought to enter into a War by which all may be lost, and nothing can be gain'd which was not their own before. The
Romans
took not this salutary Course; the mischief was grown up before they perceiv'd, or set themselves against it; and when the effects of Pride, Avarice, Cruelty and Lust were grown to such a height, that they could no longer be endur'd, they could not free themselves without a War: and whereas upon other occasions their Victorys had brought them increase of Strength, Territory, and Glory; the only reward of their Vertue in this was, to be deliver'd from a Plague they had unadvisedly suffer'd to grow up among them. I confess this was most of all to be esteem'd; for if they had bin overthrown, their condition under
Tarquin
would have bin more intolerable than if they had fallen under the power of
Pirrhus
or
Hannibal;
and all their following Prosperity was the fruit of their recover'd Liberty: But it had bin much better to have reform'd the State after the death of one of their good Kings, than to be brought to fight for their Lives against that abominable Tyrant. Our Author in pursuance of his aversion to all that is good, disapproves this; and wanting reasons to justify his dislike, according to the custom of Impostors and Cheats, has recourse to the ugly terms of a
Back-door, Sedition,
and
Faction:
as if it were not as just for a People to lay aside their Kings when they receive nothing but evil, and can rationally hope for no benefit by them, as for others to set them up in expectation of good from them. But if the truth be examin'd, nothing will be found more orderly than the changes of Government, or of the Persons and Races of those that govern'd, which have bin made by many Nations. When
Pharamond
's Grandson seem'd not to deserve the Crown he had worn, the
French
gave it to
Meroveus,
who more resembled him in Vertue: In process of time when this Race also degenerated, they were rejected, and
Pepin
advanc'd to the Throne; and the most remote in blood of his Descendents having often bin prefer'd before the nearest, and Bastards before the legitimate Issue, they were at last all laid aside; and the Crown remains to this day in the Family of
Hugh Capet,
upon whom it was bestow'd on the rejection of
Charles
of
Lorrain.
In like manner the
Castilians
took
Don Sancho
sirnam'd the Brave, second Son to
Alphonso
the Wise, before
Alphonso el Desheredado,
Son of the elder Brother
Ferdinand.
The States of
Arragon
prefer'd
Martin,
Brother to
John
the first, before
Mary
his Daughter marry'd to the Count
de Foix,
tho Females were not excluded from the Succession; and the House of
Austria
now enjoys that Crown from
Joan
Daughter to
Ferdinand.
In that and many other Kingdoms, Bastards have bin advanc'd before their legitimate Brothers.
Henry
Count of
Trastamara,
Bastard to
Alphonso
XI. King of
Castile,
receiv'd the Crown as a reward of the good Service he had done to his Country against his Brother
Peter
the Cruel, without any regard had to the House of
La Cerda
descended from
Alphonso el Desheredado,
which to this day never enjoy'd any greater honour than that of Duke
de Medina Celi.
Not long after the
Portuguese
conceiving a dislike of their King
Ferdinand,
and his Daughter marry'd to
John
King of
Castile,
rejected her and her Uncle by the Father's side, and gave the Crown to
John
a Knight of
Calatrava,
and Bastard to an Uncle of
Ferdinand
their King. About the beginning of this age the
Swedes
depos'd their King
Sigismund
for being a Papist, and made
Charles
his Uncle King. Divers Examples of the like nature in
England
have bin already mention'd. All these transportations of Crowns were Acts perform'd by Assemblys of the three Estates in the several Kingdoms, and these Crowns are to this day enjoy'd under Titles deriv'd from such as were thus brought in by the deposition or rejection of those, who according to descent of blood had better Titles than the present Possessors. The Acts therefore were lawful and good, or they can have no Title at all; and they who made 'em, had a just power so to do.
If our Author can draw any advantage from the resemblance of Regality that he finds in the
Roman
Consuls and
Athenian
Archons, I shall without envy leave him the enjoyment of it; but I am much mistaken if that dos not prove my assertion, that those Governments
were compos'd of the three simple species:
for if the Monarchical part was in them, it cannot be deny'd that the Aristocratical was in the Senat or
Areopagi,
and the Democratical in the People. But he ought to have remember'd, that if there was something of Monarchical in those Governments when they are said to have bin Popular, there was something of Aristocratical and Democratical in those that were call'd Regal; which justifys my proposition on both sides, and shews that the denomination was taken from the part that prevail'd: and if this were not so, the Governments of
France, Spain,
and
Germany
might be call'd Democracys, and those of
Rome
and
Athens
Monarchys, because the People have a part in the one, and an image of Monarchy was preserv'd in the other.
If our Author will not allow the cases to be altogether equal, I think he will find no other difference, than that the Consuls and Archons were regularly made by the Votes of the consenting People, and orderly resign'd their Power, when the time was expir'd for which it was given; whereas
Tarquin, Dionysius, Agathocles, Nabis, Phalaris, Cesar,
and almost all his Successors, whom he takes for compleat Monarchs, came in by violence, fraud, and corruption, by the help of the worst men, by the slaughter of the best, and most commonly (when the method was once establish'd) by that of his Predecessor, who, if our Author says true, was the Father of his Country, and his also. This was the root and foundation of the only Government that deserves praise: this is that which stampt the divine character upon
Agathocles, Dionysius
and
Cesar,
and that had bestow'd the same upon
Manlius, Marius,
or
Catiline,
if they had gain'd the Monarchys they affected. But I suppose that such as God has blest with better judgment, and a due regard to Justice and Truth, will say, that all those who have attain'd to such greatness as destroys all manner of good in the places where they have set up themselves by the most detestable Villanys, came in by a
backdoor;
and that such Magistrats as were orderly chosen by a willing People, were the true Shepherds who came in by the gate of the Sheepfold, and might justly be call'd the Ministers of God, so long as they perform'd their duty in providing for the good of the Nations committed to their charge.
SECT. XVII. Good Governments admit of Changes in the Superstructures, whilst the Foundations remain unchangeable.
IF I go a step farther, and confess the
Romans
made some changes in the outward Form of their Government, I may safely say they did well in it, and prosper'd by it. After the Expulsion of the Kings, the Power was chiefly in the Nobility, who had bin Leaders of the People; but it was necessary to humble them, when they began to presume too much upon the advantages of their Birth; and the City could never have bin great, unless the Plebeians who were the Body of it, and the main strength of their Armys, had bin admitted to a participation of Honours. This could not be done at the first: They who had bin so vilely opprest by
Tarquin,
and harass'd with making or cleansing Sinks, were not then fit for Magistracys, or the Command of Armys: but they could not justly be excluded from them, when they had men who in courage and conduct were equal to the best of the Patricians; and it had bin absurd for any man to think it a disparagement to him to marry the Daughter of one whom he had obey'd as Dictator or Consul, and perhaps follow'd in his Triumph.
Rome
that was constituted for War, and sought its Grandeur by that means, could never have arriv'd to any considerable height, if the People had not bin exercis'd in Arms, and their Spirits rais'd to delight in Conquests, and willing to expose themselves to the greatest fatigues and dangers to accomplish them. Such men as these were not to be us'd like Slaves, or opprest by the unmerciful hand of Usurers. They who by their sweat and blood were to defend and enlarge the Territorys of the State, were to be convinc'd they fought for themselves; and they had reason to demand a Magistracy of their own, vested with a Power that none might offend, to maintain their Rights, and to protect their Familys whilst they were abroad in the Armys. These were the Tribuns of the People, made, as they call'd it,
Sacrosancti
or inviolable; and the creation of them was the most considerable Change that happen'd till the time of
Marius,
who brought all into disorder. The creation or abolition of Military Tribuns with Consular Power, ought to be accounted as nothing; for it imported little whether that Authority were exercis'd by two, or by five: That of the
Decemviri
was as little to be regarded: they were intended only for a Year; and tho new ones were created for another, on pretence the Laws they were to frame could not be brought to perfection in so short a time, yet they were soon thrown down from the Power they usurp'd, and endeavour'd to retain contrary to Law: The creation of Dictators was no novelty, they were made occasionally from the beginning, and never otherwise than occasionally, till
Julius Cesar
subverted all order, and invading that supreme Magistracy by force
Jura omnium in se
.
, usurp'd the Right which belong'd to all. This indeed was a mortal Change even in root and principle. All other Magistrats had bin created by the People for the publick good, and always were within the power of those that had created them. But
Cesar
coming in by force, sought only the satisfaction of his own raging Ambition, or that of the Soldiers, whom he had corrupted to destroy their Country; and his Successors governing for themselves by the help of the like Villains, perpetually expos'd the Empire to be ravag'd by them. But whatever opinion any man may have of the other Changes, I dare affirm, there are few or no Monarchys (whose Historys are so well known to us as that of
Rome)
which have not suffer'd Changes incomparably greater and more mischievous than those of
Rome
whilst it was free. The
Macedonian
Monarchy fell into pieces immediately after the death of
Alexander:
'Tis thought he perish'd by Poison: His Wives, Children and Mother, were destroy'd by his own Captains: The best of those who had escap'd his fury, fell by the Sword of each other. When the famous
Argyraspides
might have expected some Reward of their labours, and a little rest in old age, they were maliciously sent into the East by
Antigonus,
to perish by hunger and misery, after he had corrupted them to betray
Eumenes.
No better fate attended the rest; all was in confusion, every one follow'd whom he pleas'd, and all of them seem'd to be fill'd with such a rage, that they never ceas'd from mutual slaughters till they were consum'd; and their Kingdoms continu'd in perpetual Wars against each other, till they all fell under the
Roman
Power. The fortune of
Rome
was the same after it became a Monarchy: Treachery, Murder and Fury, reign'd in every part; there was no Law but Force; he that could corrupt an Army, thought he had a sufficient Title to the Empire: by this means there were frequently three or four, and at one time thirty several Pretenders, who call'd themselves Emperors; of which number he only reign'd that had the happiness to destroy all his Competitors; and he himself continu'd no longer than till another durst attempt the destruction of him and his Posterity. In this state they remain'd, till the wasted and bloodless Provinces were possest by a multitude of barbarous Nations. The Kingdoms establish'd by them enjoy'd as little Peace or Justice; that of
France
was frequently divided into as many parts as the Kings of
Meroveus
or
Pepin
's Race had Children, under the names of the Kingdoms of
Paris, Orleans, Soissons, Arles, Burgundy, Austrasia,
and others: These were perpetually vex'd by the unnatural fury of Brothers or nearest Relations, whilst the miserable Nobility and People were oblig'd to fight upon their foolish Quarrels, till all fell under the power of the strongest. This mischief was in some measure cur'd by a Law made in the time of
Hugh Capet,
that the Kingdom should no more be divided: But the
Appanages,
as they call them, granted to the King's Brothers, with the several Dukedoms and Earldoms erected to please them and other great Lords, produc'd frequently almost as bad effects. This is testify'd by the desperate and mortal Factions, that went under the names of
Burgundy
and
Orleans, Armagnac
and
Orleans, Montmorency
and
Guise:
These were follow'd by those of the League, and the Wars of the
Hugonots:
They were no sooner finish'd by the taking of
Rochel,
but new ones began by the Intrigues of the Duke of
Orleans,
Brother to
Lewis
the 13
th,
and his Mother; and pursu'd with that animosity by them, that they put themselves under the protection of
Spain:
To which may be added, that the Houses of
Conde, Soissons, Montmorency, Guise, Vendosme, Angouleme, Bouillon, Rohan, Longueville, Rochefocault, Epernon,
and I think I may say every one that is of great eminency in that Kingdom, with the Citys of
Paris, Bourdeaux,
and many others, in the space of these last fifty years, have sided with the perpetual Enemys of their own Country.
Again, other great Alterations have happen'd within the same Kingdom: The Races of Kings four times wholly chang'd: Five Kings depos'd in less than 150 Years after the death of
Charles
the Great: The Offices of
Maire du Palais,
and Constable, erected and laid aside: The great Dukedoms and Earldoms, little inferior to Sovereign Principalitys, establish'd and supprest: The decision of all Causes, and the execution of the Laws, plac'd absolutely in the hands of the Nobility, their Deputys, Seneschals, or Vice-Seneschals, and taken from them again: Parliaments set up to receive Appeals from the other Courts, and to judg sovereignly in all cases, expresly to curb them: The Power of these Parliaments, after they had crush'd the Nobility, brought so low, that within the last twenty years they are made to register, and give the Power of Laws, to Edicts, of which the Titles only are read to them; and the General Assemblys of Estates, that from the time of
Pepin
had the Power of the Nation in their hands, are now brought to nothing, and almost forgotten.
Tho I mention these things, 'tis not with a design of blaming them, for some of them deserve it not; and it ought to be consider'd, that the Wisdom of man is imperfect, and unable to foresee the Effects that may proceed from an infinite variety of Accidents, which according to Emergences, necessarily require new Constitutions, to prevent or cure the mischiefs arising from them, or to advance a good that at the first was not thought on: And as the noblest work in which the Wit of man can be exercis'd, were (if it could be done) to constitute a Government that should last for ever, the next to that is to sute Laws to present Exigences, and so much as is in the power of man to foresee: And he that should resolve to persist obstinately in the way he first enter'd upon, or to blame those who go out of that in which their Fathers had walk'd, when they find it necessary, dos as far as in him lies, render the worst of Errors perpetual. Changes therefore are unavoidable, and the Wit of man can go no farther than to institute such, as in relation to the Forces, Manners, Nature, Religion or Interests of a People and their Neighbours, are sutable and adequate to what is seen, or apprehended to be seen: And he who would oblige all Nations at all times to take the same course, would prove as foolish as a Physician who should apply the same Medicin to all Distempers, or an Architect that would build the same kind of House for all Persons, without considering their Estates, Dignitys, the number of their Children or Servants, the Time or Climate in which they live, and many other Circumstances; or, which is, if possible, more sottish, a General who should obstinately resolve always to make War in the same way, and to draw up his Army in the same form, without examining the nature, number and strength of his own and his Enemys Forces, or the advantages and disadvantages of the Ground. But as there may be some universal Rules in Physick, Architecture and Military Disciplin, from which men ought never to depart; so there are some in Politicks also, which ought always to be observ'd: and wise Legislators adhering to them only, will be ready to change all others as occasion may require, in order to the publick Good. This we may learn from
Moses,
who laying the Foundation of the Law given to the
Israelites
in that Justice, Charity and Truth, which having its root in God, is subject to no change, left them the liberty of having Judges or no Judges, Kings or no Kings, or to give the Sovereign Power to High Priests or Captains, as best pleas'd themselves; and the Mischiefs they afterwards suffer'd, proceeded not simply from changing, but changing for the worse. The like judgment may be made of the Alterations that have happen'd in other places. They who aim at the publick Good, and wisely institute means proportionable and adequate to the attainment of it, deserve praise; and those only are to be dislik'd, who either foolishly or maliciously set up a corrupt private Interest in one or a few men. Whosoever therefore would judg of the
Roman
Changes, may see, that expelling the
Tarquins,
creating Consuls, abating the violence of Usurers, admitting
Plebeians
to marry with the
Patricians,
rendring them capable of Magistracys, deducing Colonys, dividing Lands gain'd from their Enemys, erecting Tribuns to defend the Rights of the Commons, appointing the
Decemviri
to regulate the Law, and abrogating their Power when they abus'd it, creating Dictators and Military Tribuns with a Consular Power, as occasions requir'd; they acted in the face of the Sun for the good of the Publick; and such Acts having always produc'd Effects sutable to the rectitude of their Intentions, they consequently deserve praise. But when another Principle began to govern, all things were chang'd in a very different manner: Evil Designs, tending only to the advancement of private Interests, were carry'd on in the dark by means as wicked as the end. If
Tarquin
when he had a mind to be King, poison'd his first Wife and his Brother, contracted an incestuous Marriage with his second by the death of her first Husband, murder'd her Father and the best men in
Rome,
yet
Cesar
did worse: He favour'd
Catiline
and his villanous Associats, brib'd and corrupted Magistrats; conspir'd with
Crassus
and
Pompey;
continu'd in the Command of an Army beyond the time prescrib'd by Law, and turn'd the Arms with which he had bin intrusted for the service of the Commonwealth, to the destruction of it; which was rightly represented by his Dream, that he had constuprated his Mother: In the like manner when
Octavius, Antonius
and
Lepidus,
divided the Empire, and then quarrel'd among themselves; and when
Galba, Otho, Vitellius
and
Vespasian
set up Partys in several Provinces, all was manag'd with Treachery, Fraud and Cruelty; nothing was intended but the advancement of one Man, and the Recompence of the Villains that serv'd him: And when the Empire had suffer'd infinite Calamitys by pulling down or rejecting one, and setting up another, it was for the most part difficult to determin who was the worst of the two; or whether the prevailing side had gain'd or lost by their Victory. The question therefore upon which a Judgment may be made to the praise or dispraise of the
Roman
Government, before or after the loss of their Liberty, ought not to be, Whether either were subject to changes, for neither they nor any thing under the Sun was ever exempted from them; but whether the Changes that happen'd after the establishment of Absolute Power in the Emperors, did not solely proceed from Ambition, and tend to the publick Ruin: whereas those Alterations related by our Author concerning Consuls, Dictators,
Decemviri,
Tribunes and Laws, were far more rare, less violent, tending to, and procuring the publick Good, and therefore deserving praise. The like having bin prov'd by the Examples of other Kingdoms, and might be farther confirm'd by many more, which on account of brevity I omit, is in my opinion sufficient to manifest, that whilst the Foundation and Principle of a Government remains good, the Superstructures may be chang'd according to occasions, without any prejudice to it.
SECT. XVIII.
Xenophon
in blaming the Disorders of Democracys, favours Aristocracys, not Monarchys.
IN the next place our Author introduces
Xenophon disallowing Popular Governments:
Cites
Rome
and
Athens
as Places
where the best Men thriv'd worst, and the worst best;
and condemns the
Romans
for making it capital to pass Sentence
of Death, Banishment, loss of Liberty, or Stripes upon any Citizen of
Rome. But lest his Fraud in this should be detected, he cites no precise Passage of any Author, alledges few Examples, and those mistaken; never tells us what that Law was, when made, or where to be found: whereas I hope to prove, that he has upon the whole matter abominably prevaricated, and advanc'd things that he knows to be either impertinent or false.
1. To this end we are in the first place to consider, whether
Xenophon
speaks of Popular Governments simply, or comparatively: if simply, 'tis confest that a pure Democracy can never be good, unless for a small Town; if comparatively, we must examin to what he compares it: We are sure it was not to Absolute Monarchy; there was no such thing amongst the
Greeks
establish'd by Law: The little Tyrants who had enslav'd their own Countrys, as
Jason, Phaereus, Phalaris,
and the like, had no pretence to it, and were accounted as the worst of Beasts: None but such as in all bestiality were like to 'em, did ever speak or think well of them.
Xenophon
's Opinion in this point, may be easily found out by what pass'd between his Master
Plato
and the
Sicilian
Tyrant; and the matter will not be mended by referring to his own experience: He had seen the vast Monarchy of
Persia
torn in pieces by the fury of two Brothers, and more than a million of men brought to fight upon their private quarrel: Instead of that Order, Stability and Strength which our Author ascribes to Absolute Monarchy as the effect of Wisdom and Justice, he knew, that by filling one man with pride and cruelty, it brought unspeakable miserys upon all others, and infected 'em with all the Vices that accompany Slavery: Men liv'd like Fishes, the great ones devour'd the small; and as appear'd by
Tissaphernes, Pharnabazus,
and others with whom he had to deal, the worst and basest were made to be the greatest: The
Satrapes
insulted over those of meaner rank, with an insolence and cruelty that equal'd the depth of their servil submission to their proud Master. Luxury and Avarice reign'd in all: many great Nations were made to live for the service of one man, and to foment his Vices. This produc'd weakness and cowardice; no number of those Slaves were able to stand against a few free
Grecians.
No man knew this better than
Xenophon,
who after the death of
Cyrus
the younger, and the treacherous murder of
Clearchus,
and other Officers that commanded the
Greeks
who had serv'd him, made his retreat from
Babylon
to the
Hellespont
with ten thousand foot, and passed over the bellys of all that dar'd to oppose him. He would never have spent his life in exciting his Countrymen to attempt the Conquest of
Asia,
nor persuaded
Agesilaus
to put himself at the head of the Enterprize, if he had thought there was such admirable Order, Stability and Strength in that Monarchy, and in the
Greeks
nothing but
giddiness of Spirit, and so much Learning as made them seditious:
Nor could he, being a wise man and an excellent Captain, have conceiv'd such a design, if he had not by experience found that Liberty inspir'd his Countrymen with such solid Vertue, and produc'd such Stability, good Order and Strength, that with small numbers of them he might hope to overthrow the vain Pomp of the
Barbarians,
and to possess himself of their Riches, tho they could bring more than a hundred men to fight against one; which Design being interrupted in his time by domestick Wars, was soon after his death accomplish'd by
Alexander.
But that
Xenophon
's meaning may be better understood, 'tis good to consider, that he spoke of such Governments as were then in use among the
Greeks;
which tho mix'd, yet took their denomination from the prevailing part: so that the
Dorians,
who plac'd the Power chiefly in the hands of a few chosen men, were said to be govern'd Aristocratically; and the
Ionians
giving more Power to the common People, Democratically: And he, tho an
Ionian,
either thro friendship to
Agesilaus,
conversation with the
Spartans,
or for other reasons best known to himself, prefer'd the Government of
Sparta,
or some other which he thought he could frame, and desir'd to introduce, before that of
Athens;
as
Cimon, Thucydides,
and many other excellent men of that City are said to have done: And if I acknowledg they were in the right, and that
Athens
was more subject to disorder, and had less Stability than
Sparta,
I think it will be of little advantage to Absolute Monarchy.
2. The
Athenians
did banish some worthy men, and put others to death; but our Author, like the Devil, never speaking truth, unless to turn it into a lie, prevaricates in his report of them. The temporary banishment, which they call'd
Ostracism,
was without hurt or dishonour, never accounted as a Punishment, nor intended for any other end, than to put a stop to the too eminent greatness of a man, that might prove dangerous to the City; and some excellent Persons who fell under it, were soon recall'd, and brought home with glory. But I am not solicitous whether that reason be sufficient to justify it or not: We are upon a general
Thesis
relating to the Laws of God and Nature; and if the
Athenians,
by a fancy of their own, did make an imprudent use of their Liberty, it cannot prejudice the publick Cause. They who make the worst of it can only say, that by such means they, for a time, depriv'd themselves of the benefits they might have receiv'd from the Vertues of some excellent men, to the hurt of none but themselves; and the application of it as an injustice done to
Themistocles,
is absolutely false: He was a man of great Wit, Industry and Valour, but of uncertain Faith, too much addicted to his
Plut. in vit. Themist.
own Interest, and held a most dangerous Correspondence with the
Persians,
who then threaten'd the destruction of
Greece.
Thro envy and spite to
Aristides,
and to increase his own Power, he rais'd dangerous Factions in the City, and being summon'd to render an account of his Proceedings, he declin'd the Judgment of his Country, fled to their Enemys, and justly deserv'd the Sentence pronounc'd against him. Some among them were unjustly put to death, and above all
Socrates;
but the People, who, deceiv'd by false Witnesses, (against whom neither the Laws of God or Man have ever prescrib'd a sufficient defence) had condemn'd him, did so much lament their Crime, when the truth was discover'd to them, that I doubt whether a more righteous Judgment had given better testimony of their righteous Intentions. But our Author's impudence appears in the highest excess, in imputing the death of
Phocion
to the popular State of
Athens:
Their Forces had bin broken in the
Sicilian
War; the City taken, and the principal Men slain by
Lysander;
the remains of the most Worthy destroy'd by the thirty Tyrants set up by him; their ill-recover'd Liberty overthrown by the
Macedonians,
and the death of
Phocion
compast by
Polyperchon,
who with Foreign Soldiers, Slaves, Vagabonds, and Outlaws, overpower'd the People.
The proceedings of
Rome
may be more compleatly justify'd:
Coriolanus
was duly condemn'd, he set too great a price upon his own Valour, and arrogated to himself a Power in
Rome,
which would hardly have bin indur'd in
Corioli:
His violence and pride overbalanc'd his Services; and he that would submit to no Law, was justly driven out from the Society which could subsist only by Law.
Quintius
was not unlike him, and
Manlius Capitolinus
far worse than either. Their Vertues were not to be consider'd when they departed from them. Consideration ought to be had of human frailty, and some indulgence may be extended to those who commit Errors, after having done important Services; but a State cannot subsist, which compensating evil Actions with good, gives impunity to the most dangerous Crimes, in remembrance of any Services whatever. He that dos well, performs his Duty, and ought always to do so: Justice and Prudence concur in this; and 'tis no less just than profitable, that every Action be consider'd by it self, and such a reward or punishment allotted to it, as in nature and proportion it best deserves.
This, as I suppose, is enough for their Cases; but relates not to those of
Mamercus, Camillus, Livius Salinator,
and
Emylius Paulus;
their Vertue was compleat, they were wrongfully sentenc'd. But the best Princes, Senat or People that ever was in the world, by the deceit of evil men, may and have bin drawn out of the way of Justice: Yet of all the States that are known to us, none was ever so free from Crimes of malice and wilful injustice; none was ever guilty of so few Errors as that of
Rome;
and none did ever give better testimonys of Repentance, when they were discover'd, than the
Romans
did by the Veneration they shew'd to those worthy Persons, and the Honors they confer'd upon them afterwards.
Liv.
Mamercus
was made Dictator, to repair the unjust mark of Infamy laid upon him by the Censors.
Camillus
being recall'd from his banishment, often enjoy'd the same honour, and died the most reverenc'd Man that had ever bin in that City.
Livius Salinator
was not only made Consul after he had bin fin'd, but the People (as it were to expiate the guilt of having condemn'd him) suffer'd that asperity of speech and manners, which might have persuaded such as had bin less confident of his Vertue and their own, that he desir'd to be reveng'd, tho it were with the ruin of the City. They dealt in the like manner with
Paulus Emylius,
repairing the injury of a Fine unduly impos'd. Their generosity in leaving the Tribuns in the
Forum,
with their Accusation against
Scipio Africanus,
and following him to celebrate an annual Sacrifice in the Capitol, in commemoration of his victory against
Hannibal,
was no less admirable than the greatness of his mind, who thought his Vertue should be so well known, that no account ought to be expected from him; which was an Error proceeding from a noble Root, but not to be born in a well-govern'd Commonwealth. The Laws that aim at the publick Good, make no distinction of Persons; and none can be exempted from the Penaltys of them, otherwise than by approv'd Innocence, which cannot appear without a Trial: He that will not bend his mind to them, shakes off the equality of a Citizen, and usurps a Power above the Law, to which no man submits upon any other condition, than that none should be exempted from the power of it. And
Scipio
being the first
Roman
that thus disdain'd the Power of the Law, I do not know whether the prejudice brought upon the City by so dangerous an Example, did not outweigh all the Services he had done: Nevertheless the people contented with his retirement to his own house, and afterwards convinc'd of his Innocence, would probably (if he had not dy'd in a few months) have brought him back with the Honours that Fate reserv'd for his ashes.
I do not at present remember any other eminent men, who can be said in any respect to have
thriv'd ill,
whilst the People and Senat of
Rome
acted freely; and if this be not sufficient to clear the point, I desire to know the names of those
worst men that thriv'd best.
If they may have bin judg'd to thrive, who were frequently advanc'd to the supreme Magistracys, and enjoy'd the chief Honors; I find no men so eminent as
Brutus, Publicola, Quintius Cincinnatus,
and
Capitolinus,
the two
Fabii
sirnam'd
Maximi, Corvinus, Torquatus, Camillus,
and the like: and if these were the worst Men that
Rome
produc'd in those Ages, Valor, Wisdom, Industry in the Service of their Country, and a most intire Love to it, must have bin the worst of qualitys; and I presume our Author may have thought them so, since they were invincible obstacles to the introduction of that Divine Monarchy which
Appius Claudius
the Decemvir,
Manlius Capitolinus, Spurius Cassius, Sp. Melius,
and some others may be thought to have affected.
However, these instances are not to be understood as they are simply in themselves, but comparatively with what has happen'd in other places under absolute Monarchys: for our inquiry is not after that which is perfect, well knowing that no such thing is found among men; but we seek that human Constitution which is attended with the least, or the most pardonable inconveniences. And if we find that in the space of three hundred years, while the Senat, People, and legally created Magistrats govern'd
Rome,
not one worthy Man was put to death, not above five or six condemn'd to Fines by the beguil'd People, and those injurys repair'd by the most honourable satisfaction that could be given; so that Vertue continu'd ever flourishing; the best men that could be found were put into the chief Commands, and the City was fill'd with more excellent men than were ever known to be in any other place: And on the other side, if the Emperors so soon as the Government was chang'd, made it their business to destroy the best, and so far succeeded in their design, that they left none; and never fail'd to advance the worst, unless it fell out as to Queen
Katherine de Medicis,
who is said never to have done any good but by mistake, and some few may have prov'd better than was intended; it will appear, that our Author's Assertions are in the utmost degree false. Of this we need no better witness than
Tacitus.
The Civil Wars, and the Proscriptions upon which he touches, are justly to be attributed to that Monarchy which was then setting up, the only question being who should be the Monarch, when the Liberty was already overthrown. And if any eminent Men escap'd, it was much against the will of those who had usurp'd the Power: He acknowledges his Historys to be a continu'd relation of the slaughter of the most illustrious Persons, and that in the times of which he writes, Vertue was attended with certain destruction. After the death of
Germanicus
and his eldest Children,
Valerius Asiaticus, Seneca, Corbulo,
and an infinite number more who were thought most to resemble them, found this to be true at the expence of their lives:
Nero,
in pursuance of the same tyrannical design, murder'd
Helvidius
and
Thraseas,
that he might
Ipsam exscindere virtutem.
Tacit.
tear up Vertue by the roots: Domitian
spar'd none willingly that had either Vertue or Reputation; and tho
Trajan,
with perhaps some other, might grow up under him in the remote Provinces, yet no good Man could escape who came under his eye, and was so eminent as to be observ'd by him. Whilst these, who were thought to be the best Men that appear'd in the
Roman
Empire, did
thrive
in this manner,
Sejanus, Macro, Narcissus, Pallas, Tigellinus, Icetus, Vinnius, Laco,
and others like to 'em, had the power of the Empire in their hands. Therefore, unless Mankind has bin mistaken to this day, and that these, who have hitherto bin accounted the worst of Villains, were indeed the best Men in the world; and that those destroy'd by them, who are thought to have bin the best, were truly the worst, it cannot be deny'd that the best Men, during the Liberty of
Rome, thriv'd
best; that good Men suffer'd no indignity, unless by some fraud impos'd upon the well-meaning People; and that so soon as the Liberty was subverted, the worst men
thriv'd
best. The best Men were expos'd to so many Calamitys and Snares, that it was thought a matter of great wonder to see a vertuous man die in his bed: and if the account were well made, I think it might appear, that every one of the Emperors before
Titus
shed more noble and innocent Blood, than
Rome
and all the Commonwealths in the world have done, whilst they had the free enjoyment of their own Liberty. But if any man in favour of our Author seeks to diminish the vast disproportion between the two differing sorts of Government, and imputes the disorders that happen'd in the time of the
Gracchi,
and others, whilst
Rome
was strugling for her Liberty, to the Government of a Commonwealth, he will find them no more to be compar'd with those that fell out afterwards, than the railings of a turbulent Tribune against the Senat, to the Villanys and Crueltys that corrupted and dispeopl'd the Provinces from
Babylon
to
Scotland.
And whereas the State never fail'd to recover from any disorders, as long as the Root of Liberty remain'd untouch'd, and became more powerful and glorious than ever, even after the Wars of
Marius
and
Sylla;
when that was destroy'd, the City fell into a languishing condition, and grew weaker and weaker, till that and the whole Empire was ruin'd by the Barbarians.
3. Our Author, to shew that his memory is as good as his judgment, having represented
Rome
in the times of Liberty as a publick Slaughterhouse, soon after blames the clemency of their Laws: whereas 'tis impossible that the same City could at the same time be guilty of those contrary extremitys; and no less certain, that it was perfectly free from them both.
Sallust. Bell. Catilin.
His assertion seems to be grounded upon
Cesar
's Speech (related by
Sallust)
in favour of
Lentulus
and
Cethegus
Companions of
Catiline:
but tho he there endeavour'd to put the best colour he could upon their cause, it signify'd only thus much, that a
Roman
Citizen could not be put to death, without being heard in publick; which Law will displease none that in understanding and integrity may not be compar'd to
Filmer
and his Followers. 'Tis a folly to extend it farther; for 'tis easily prov'd that there was always a power of putting Citizens to death, and that it was exercis'd when occasion requir'd. The Laws were the same in the time of the Kings, when that Office was executed by Consuls, excepting such changes as are already mention'd. The
Lex perduellionis
cited by
Livy
in the case of
Horatius
who had kill'd his Sister, continu'd in force from the foundation to the end of that Government: the condemnation was to death, the words of the Sentence these,
Caput obnubito, infelici arbore reste suspendito; verberato intra Pomaerium vel extra Pomaerium.
He was try'd by this Law upon an appeal made to the People by his Father, and absolv'd
admiratione magis virtutis quam jure causae;
which could not have bin, if by the Law no Citizen might be put to death. The Sons of
Brutus
were condemn'd to death in publick, and executed with the
Aquilii
and
Vitellii
their Companions in the same Conspiracy:
Manlius Capitolinus
was put to death by the vote of the People:
Titus Manlius
by the command of his Father
Torquatus,
for fighting without order: Two Legions were decimated by
Appius Claudius: Spurius Melius
refusing to appear before the Dictator, was kill'd by
Servilius Ahala
General of the Horse, and pronounc'd
jure caesum: Quintus Fabius
was by
Papirius
the Dictator condemn'd to die, and could not have bin sav'd but by the intercession and authority of the People. If this be not so, I desire to be inform'd what the Senat meant by condemning
Nero
to be put to death
more majorum,
if
more majorum
no Citizen might be put to death: Why the Consuls, Dictators, Military Tribuns,
Decemviri,
caus'd Rods and Axes to be carry'd before them, as well within as without the City, if no use was to be made of 'em. Were they only vain Badges of a Power never to be executed; or upon whom was the Supreme Power signify'd by them, to be exercis'd within and without the City, if the Citizens were not subject to it? 'Tis strange that a man who had ever read a Book of matters relating to the Affairs of
Rome,
should fancy these things; or hope to impose them upon the World, if he knew them to be foolish, false, and absurd. But of all the marks of a most supine stupidity that can be given by a man, I know none equal to this of our Author, who in the same Clause wherein he says no Citizen could be put to death or banish'd, adds, that the Magistrats were upon pain of death forbidden to do it; for if a Magistrate might be put to death for banishing a Citizen, or causing him to be executed, a Citizen might be put to death; for the Magistrats were not Strangers, but Citizens. If this was not so, he must think that no Crime was capital, but the punishment of capital Crimes; or that no man was subject to the Supreme Power, but he that was created for the execution of it. Yet even this will not stop the gap; for the Law that condemn'd the Magistrate to die, could be of no effect, if there were no man to execute it; and there could be none if the Law prohibited it, or that he who did it was to die for it: And this goes on to infinity. For if a Magistrate could not put a Citizen to death, I suppose a Citizen could not put to death a Magistrate; for he also is a Citizen. So that upon the whole matter we may conclude, that Malice is blind, and that Wickedness is Madness. 'Tis hard to say more in praise of Popular Governments than will result from what he says against them: his reproaches are Praises, and his Praises reproaches. As Government is instituted for the preservation of the Governed, the
Romans
were sparing of Blood, and are wisely commended by
Livy
for it:
Nulli unquam Populo mitiores placuere poenae;
which gentleness will never be blam'd, unless by those who are pleas'd with nothing so much as the fury of those Monsters, who with the ruin of the best part of Mankind, usurp'd the dominion of that glorious City. But if the
Romans
were gentle in punishing Offences, they were also diligent in preventing them: the excellence of their Disciplin led the Youth to Vertue, and the Honors they receiv'd for recompence confirm'd them in it. By this means many of 'em became Laws to themselves; and they who were not the most excellent, were yet taught so much of good, that they had a veneration for those they could not equal, which not only ferv'd to incite them to do well according to their Talents, but kept them in such a w as to fear incurring their ill opinion by any bad action, as much as by the penalty of the Law. This integrity of manners made the Laws as it were useless; and whilst they seem'd to sleep, ignorant persons thought there were none: But their Disciplin being corrupted by Prosperity, those Vices came in which made way for the Monarchy; and Wickedness being plac'd in the Throne, there was no safety for any but such as would be of the same spirit, and the Empire was ruin'd by it.
SECT. XIX. That Corruption and Venality which is natural to Courts, is seldom found in Popular Governments.
OUR Author's next work is, with that modesty and truth which is natural to him, to impute Corruption and Venality to Commonwealths. He knows that Monarchys are exempted from those evils, and has discover'd this truth from the integrity observ'd in the modern Courts of
England, France,
and
Spain,
or the more antient of
Rome
and
Persia:
But after many falshoods in matter of fact, and misrepresentations of that which is true, he shews that the Corruption, Venality, and Violence he blames, were neither the effects of Liberty, nor consistent with it.
Cneius Manlius,
who with his
Asiatic
Army brought in the Luxury that gave birth to those mischiefs, did probably follow the looseness of his own disposition; yet the best and wisest men of that time knew from the beginning that it would ruin the City, unless a stop might be put to the course of that evil: But they who had seen Kings under their feet, and could no longer content themselves with that equality which is necessary among Citizens, fomented it as the chief means to advance their ambitious designs. Tho
Marius
was rigid in his nature, and car'd neither for Mony nor sensual Pleasures, yet he favour'd those Vices in others, and is said to be the first that made use of 'em to his advantage.
Catiline
was one of the leudest men in the world, and had no other way of compassing his designs than by rendring others as bad as himself: and
Cesar
set up his Tyranny by spreading that corruption farther than the others had bin able to do; and tho he,
Caligula,
and some others were slain, yet the best men found it as impossible to restore Liberty to the City when it was corrupted, as the worst had done to set up a Tyranny whilst the integrity of their manners did continue. Men have a strange propensity to run into all manner of excesses, when plenty of means invite, and there is no power to deter; of which the succeeding Emperors took advantage, and knowing that even their subsistence depended upon it, they thought themselves oblig'd by interest as well as inclination to make Honors and Preferments the rewards of Vice: and tho it be not always true in the utmost extent that all men follow the example of the King; yet it is of great efficacy: Tho some are so good that they will not be perverted, and others so bad that they will not be corrected; yet a great number dos always follow the course that is favour'd and rewarded by those that govern. There were Idolaters doubtless among the
Jews
in the days of
David
and
Hezekiah;
but they prosper'd better under
Jeroboam
and
Ahab: England
was not without Papists in the time of Queen
Elizabeth;
but they thriv'd much better during the Reign of her furious Sister. False Witnesses and Accusers had a better trade under
Tiberias,
who call'd them
Custodes Legum,
than under
Trajan
who abhor'd them; and Whores, Players, and Fidlers, with other such Vermin, abounded certainly more when encourag'd by
Nero,
than when despis'd by
Antoninus
and
Marcus Aurelius.
But as every one of these manifested what he was by those he favor'd or punish'd, and that a man can only be judg'd by his principles or practices, he that would know whether absolute Monarchys or mix'd Governments do most foment or punish Venality and Corruption, ought to examin the principle and practice of both, and compare them one with the other.
As to the Principle, the above-mention'd Vices may be profitable to ptivate men, but they can never be so to the Government, if it be popular or mix'd: No People was ever the better for that which renders them weak or base; and a duly created Magistracy, governing a Nation with their consent, can have no interest distinct from that of the Publick, or desire to diminish the strength of the People, which is their own, and by which they subsist. On the other side, the absolute Monarch who governs for himself, and chiefly seeks his own preservation, looks upon the strength and bravery of his Subjects as the root of his greatest danger, and frequently desires to render them weak, base, corrupt, and unfaithful to each other, that they may neither dare to attempt the breaking of the Yoke he lays upon them, nor trust one another in any generous design for the recovery of their Liberty. So that the same corruption which preserves such a Prince, if it were introduc'd by a People, would weaken, if not utterly destroy them.
Again, all things have their continuance from a principle in Nature sutable to their Original: all Tyrannys have had their beginnings from corruption. The Historys of
Greece, Sicily,
and
Italy,
shew that all those who made themselves Tyrants in several places, did it by the help of the worst, and the slaughter of the best: Men could not be made subservient to their Lusts whilst they continu'd in their integrity; so as their business was to destroy those who would not be corrupted. They must therefore endeavour to maintain or increase the corruption by which they attain their greatness: If they fail in this point, they must fall as
Tarquin, Pisistratus,
and others have done; but if they succeed so far that the vicious part do much prevail, the Government is secure, tho the Prince may be in danger. And the same thing dos in a great measure accidentally conduce to the safety of his Person: For they who for the most part are the Authors of great Revolutions, not being so much led by a particular hatred to the Man, as by a desire to do good to the Publick, seldom set themselves to conspire against the Tyrant, unless he be altogether detestable and intolerable, if they do not hope to overthrow the Tyranny.
The contrary is seen in all popular and well-mix'd Governments: they are ever establish'd by wise and good men, and can never be upheld otherwise than by Vertue: The worst men always conspiring against them, they must fall, if the best have not power to preserve them. Wheresoever therefore a People is so govern'd, the Magistrats will obviate afar off the introduction of Vices, which tend as much to the ruin of their Persons and Government, as to the preservation of the Prince and his. This is evidenc'd by experience. 'Tis not easy to name a Monarch that had so many good qualitys as
Julius Cesar,
till they were extinguish'd by his Ambition, which was inconsistent with them: He knew that his strength lay in the corruption of the People, and that he could not accomplish his designs without increasing it. He did not seek good men, but such as would be for him; and thought none sufficiently addicted to his Interests, but such as stuck at the performance of no wickedness that he commanded: he was a Soldier according to
Cesar
's heart who said,
Pectore si fratris gladium jugulo
que
parentis
Condere me jubeas, gravidaeve in viscera partu
Conjugis, invita peragam tamen omnia dextra.
Lucan.
And lest such as were devoted to him should grow faint in Villany, he industriously inflam'd their fury:
—Vult omnia Caesar
A se saeva peti, vult praemia Martis amari.
Ib.
Having spread this Poison amongst the Soldiers, his next work was by corrupting the Tribuns to turn that Power to the destruction of the People, which had bin erected for their preservation; and pouring the Treasures he had gain'd by rapine in
Gaul
into the Bosom of
Curio,
made him an instrument of mischief, who had bin a most eminent Supporter of the Laws. Tho he was thought to have affected the glory of sparing
Cato,
and with trouble to have found that he despis'd life when it was to be accounted his gift; yet in suspecting
Brutus
and
Cassius,
he shew'd he could not believe that vertuous men who lov'd their Country could be his Friends. Such as carry on the like designs with less Valor, Wit, and Generosity of Spirit, will always be more bitterly bent to destroy all that are good, knowing that the deformity of their own Vices is render'd most manifest, when they are compar'd with the good qualitys of those who are most unlike them; and that they can never defend themselves against the scorn and hatred they incur by their Vices, unless such a number can be infected with the same, and made to delight in the recompences of iniquity that foment them, as may be able to keep the rest of the People in subjection.
The same thing happens even when the Usurpation is not so violent as that of
Agathocles, Dionysius,
or the last King of
Denmark,
who in one day by the strength of a mercenary Soldiery overthrew all the Laws of his Country: and a lawfully created Magistrate is forc'd to follow the same ways as soon as he begins to affect a Power which the Laws do not confer upon him. I wish I could say there were few of these; but experience shews that such a proportion of Wisdom, moderation of Spirit, and Justice is requir'd in a supreme Magistrate, to render him content with a limited Power, as is seldom found. Man is of an aspiring nature, and apt to put too high a value upon himself; they who are rais'd above their Brethren, tho but a little, desire to go farther; and if they gain the name of King, they think themselves wrong'd and degraded, when they are not suffer'd to do what they
Sanctitas, pietas, sides
Privata bona sunt: Qua juvat reges eant.
Senec. Thyest.
please. In these things they never want Masters; and the nearer they come to a Power that is not easily restrain'd by Law, the more passionately they desire to abolish all that opposes it: and when their Hearts are fill'd with this fury, they never fail to chuse such Ministers as will be subservient to their Will: and this is so well known, that those only approach them who resolve to be so. Their interests as well as their inclinations incite them to diffuse their own manners as far as they can, which is no less than to bring those who are under their power to all that wickedness of which the nature of man is capable; and no greater testimony can be given of the efficacy of these means towards the utter corruption of Nations, than the accursed effects we see of 'em in our own and the neighboring Countrys.
It may be said that some Princes are so full of Vertue and Goodness, as not to desire more power than the Laws allow, and are not oblig'd to chuse ill men, because they desire nothing but what the best are willing to do. This may be, and sometimes is: the Nation is happy that has such a King; but he is hard to find, and more than a human Power is requir'd to keep him in so good a way. The strength of his own affections will ever be against him: Wives, Children, and Servants will always join with those Enemys that arise in his own breast to pervert him: if he has any weak side, any Lust unsubdu'd, they will gain the victory. He has not search'd into the nature of Man, who thinks that any one can resist when he is thus on all sides assaulted: Nothing but the wonderful and immediate power of God's Spirit can preserve him; and to alledg it will be nothing to the purpose, unless it can be prov'd that all Princes are blest with such an assistance, or that God has promis'd it to them and their Successors for ever, by what means soever they came to the Crowns they enjoy.
Nothing is farther from my intention than to speak irreverently of Kings; and I presume no wise man will think I do so, if I profess, that having observ'd as well as I can what History and daily Experience teach us concerning the Vertues and Religions that are or have bin from the beginning of the World encourag'd and supported by Monarchs, the methods they have follow'd since they have gone under the name of Christians, their moral as well as theological Graces, together with what the Scriptures tell us of those who in the last days will principally support the Throne of Antichrist; I cannot be confident that they are generally in an extraordinary manner preserv'd by the hand of God from the Vices and Frailtys to which the rest of mankind is subject. If no man can shew that I am in this mistaken, I may conclude, that as they are more than any other men in the world expos'd to temptations and snares, they are more than any in danger of being corrupted, and made Instruments of corrupting others, if they are no otherwise defended than the rest of men.
This being the state of the matter on both sides, we may easily collect, that all Governments are subject to corruption and decay; but with this difference, that Absolute Monarchy is by principle led unto, or rooted in it; whereas mix'd or popular Governments are only in a possibility of falling into it: As the first cannot subsist, unless the prevailing part of the people be corrupted; the other must certainly perish, unless preserv'd in a great measure free from Vices. And I doubt whether any better reason can be given, why there have bin and are more Monarchys than popular Governments in the world, than that Nations are more easily drawn into corruption than defended from it; and I think that Monarchy can be said to be natural in no other sense, than that our deprav'd Nature is most inclin'd to that which is worst.
To avoid unnecessary Disputes, I give the name of Popular Governments to those of
Rome, Athens, Sparta,
and the like, tho improperly, unless the same may also be given to many that are usually called Monarchys, since there is nothing of violence in either; the Power is confer'd upon the chief Magistrats of both by the free consent of a willing People, and such a part as they think fit is still retain'd and executed in their own Assemblys; and in this sense it is that our Author seems to speak against them. As to Popular Government in the strictest sense, (that is pure Democracy, where the People in themselves, and by themselves, perform all that belong to Government) I know of no such thing; and if it be in the World, have nothing to say for it. In asserting the Liberty, generally, as I suppose, granted by God to all mankind, I neither deny, that so many as think fit to enter into a Society, may give so much of their Power as they please to one or more men, for a time or perpetually, to them and their Heirs, according to such Rules as they prescribe; nor approve the Disorders that must arise if they keep it intirely in their own hands. And looking upon the several Governments, which under different forms and names have bin regularly constituted by Nations, as so many undeniable Testimonys, that they thought it good for themselves and their Posterity so to do, I infer, that as there is no man who would not rather chuse to be govern'd by such as are just, industrious, valiant and wise, than by those that are wicked, slothful, cowardly and foolish; and to live in society with such as are qualify'd like those of the first sort, rather than with those who will be ever ready to commit all manner of Villanys, or want experience, strength or courage, to join in repelling the Injurys offer'd by others: So there are none who do not according to the measure of their understanding, endeavour to set up those who seem to be best qualify'd, and to prevent the introduction of those Vices which render the Faith of the Magistrate suspected, or make him unable to perform his duty, in providing for the execution of Justice, and the publick defence of the State against Foreign or Domestick Enemys. For as no man who is not absolutely mad, will commit the care of a Flock to a Villain, that has neither skill, diligence, nor courage to defend them, or perhaps is maliciously set to destroy them, rather than to a stout, faithful, and wise Shepherd; 'tis less to be imagin'd that any would commit the same error in relation to that Society which comprehends himself with his Children, Friends, and all that is dear to him.
The same Considerations are of equal force in relation to the Body of every Nation: For since the Magistrate, tho the most perfect in his kind, cannot perform his duty, if the people be so base, vicious, effeminate and cowardly, as not to second his good Intentions; those who expect good from him, cannot desire so to corrupt their Companions that are to help him, as to render it impossible for him to accomplish it. Tho I believe there have bin in all Ages bad men in every Nation, yet I doubt whether there was one in
Rome,
except a
Catiline
or a
Cesar
who design'd to make themselves Tyrants, that would not rather have wish'd the whole People as brave and vertuous as in the time of the
Carthaginian
Wars, than vile and base as in the days of
Nero
and
Domitian.
But 'tis madness to think, that the whole Body would not rather wish to be as it was when Vertue flourish'd and nothing upon Earth was able to resist their power, than weak, miserable, base, slavish, and trampled under foot by any that would invade them; and forc'd as a Chattel to become a prey to those that were strongest. Which is sufficient to shew, that a People acting according to the liberty of their own Will, never advance unworthy men, unless it be by mistake, nor willingly suffer the introduction of Vices: Whereas the Absolute Monarch always prefers the worst of those who are addicted to him, and cannot subsist unless the prevailing part of the People be base and vicious.
If it be said, that those Governments in which the Democratical part governs most, do more frequently err in the choice of men, or the means of preserving that purity of Manners which is requir'd for the well-being of a People, than those wherein Aristocracy prevails; I confess it, and that in
Rome
and
Athens
the best and wisest men did for the most part incline to Aristocracy.
Xenophon, Plato, Aristotle, Thucydides, Livy, Tacitus, Cicero,
and others, were of this sort: But if our Author there seek Patrons for his Absolute Monarchy, he will find none but
Phalaris, Agathocles, Dionysius, Catiline, Cethegus, Lentulus,
with the corrupted Crew of mercenary Rascals, who did, or endeavor'd to set 'em up. These are they
quibus ex honesto nulla est spes;
they abhor the Dominion of the Law, because it curbs their Vices, and make themselves subservient to the Lusts of a man who may nourish them. Similitude of Interests, Manners, and Designs, is a link of Union between them: Both are Enemys to popular and mix'd Government; and those Governments are Enemys to them, and by preserving Vertue and Integrity, oppose both; knowing, that if they do not, they and their Governments must certainly perish.
SECT. XX. Man's natural love to Liberty is temper'd by Reason, which originally is his Nature.
THAT our Author's Book may appear to be a heap of Incongruitys and Contradictions, 'tis not amiss to add to what has already bin observ'd, that having asserted Absolute Monarchy to be
the only natural Government,
he now says,
that the nature of all People is to desire Liberty without restraint.
But if Monarchy be that Power which above all restrains Liberty, and subjects all to the Will of one; this is as much as to say, that all People naturally desire that which is against Nature; and by a wonderful excess of extravagance and folly to assert contrary Propositions, that on both sides are equally absurd and false. For as we have already prov'd that no Government is impos'd upon men by God or Nature, 'tis no less evident, that Man being a rational Creature, nothing can be universally natural to him, that is not rational. But this Liberty without restraint being inconsistent with any Government, and the Good which man naturally desires for himself, Children and Friends, we find no place in the world where the Inhabitants do not enter into some kind of Society or Government to restrain it: and to say that all men desire Liberty without restraint, and yet that all do restrain it, is ridiculous. The truth is, man is hereunto led by Reason which is his Nature. Every one sees they cannot well live asunder, nor many together, without some Rule to which all must submit. This submission is a restraint of Liberty, but could be of no effect as to the Good intended, unless it were general; nor general, unless it were natural. When all are born to the same freedom, some will not resign that which is their own, unless others do the like: This general consent of all to resign such a part of their Liberty as seems to be for the good of all, is the voice of Nature, and the act of Men (according to natural Reason) seeking their own Good: And if all go not in the same way, according to the same form, 'tis an evident testimony that no one is directed by Nature; but as a few or many may join together, and frame smaller or greater Societys, so those Societys may institute such an order or form of Government as best pleases themselves; and if the ends of Government are obtain'd, they all equally follow the voice of Nature in constituting them.
Again, if man were by nature so tenacious of his Liberty without restraint, he must be rationally so. The creation of Absolute Monarchys, which intirely extinguishes it, must necessarily be most contrary to it, tho the people were willing; for they thereby abjure their own Nature. The usurpation of them can be no less than the most abominable and outrageous violation of the Laws of Nature that can be imagin'd: The Laws of God must be in the like measure broken; and of all Governments, Democracy, in which every man's Liberty is least restrain'd, because every man has an equal part, would certainly prove to be the most just, rational and natural; whereas our Author represents it as a perpetual spring of disorder, confusion and vice. This consequence would be unavoidable, if he said true; but it being my fate often to differ from him, I hope to be excus'd if I do so in this also, and affirm, that nothing but the plain and certain dictates of Reason can be generally applicable to all men as the Law of their Nature; and they who, according to the best of their understanding provide for the good of themselves and their Posterity, do all equally observe it. He that inquires more exactly into the matter may find, that Reason enjoins every man not to arrogate to himself more than he allows to others, nor to retain that Liberty which will prove hurtful to him; or to expect that others will suffer themselves to be restrain'd, whilst he, to their prejudice, remains in the exercise of that freedom which Nature allows. He who would be exempted from this common Rule, must shew for what reason he should be rais'd above his Brethren; and if he dos it not, he is an enemy to them. This is not Popularity, but Tyranny; and Tyrants are said
exuisse hominem,
to throw off the Nature of men, because they do unjustly and unreasonably assume to themselves that which agrees not with the frailty of human Nature, and set up an Interest in themselves contrary to that of their Equals, which they ought to defend as their own. Such as favour them are like to them; and we know of no Tyranny that was not set up by the worst, nor of any that have bin destroy'd, unless by the best of men. The several Tyrannys of
Syracuse
were introduc'd by
Agathocles, Dionysius, Hieronymus, Hippocrates, Epicides,
and others, by the help of lend, dissolute, mercenary Villains; and overthrown by
Timoleon, Dion, Theodorus,
and others, whose Vertues will be remember'd in all ages. These, and others like to them, never sought liberty without restraint, but such as was restrain'd by Laws tending to the publick Good; that all might concur in promoting it, and the unruly desires of those who affected Power and Honours which they did not deserve might be represt.
The like was seen in
Rome:
When
Brutus, Valerius,
and other vertuous Citizens had thrown out the leud
Tarquins,
they trusted to their own innocence and reputation; and thinking them safe under the protection of the Law, contented themselves with such Honors as their Countrymen thought they deserv'd. This would not satisfy the dissolute crew that us'd to be
Sodales adolescentium Tarquiniorum assueti more Regio vivere, eam tum aequato jure omnium licentiam quaerentes, libertatem aliorum in suam vertisse servitutem conquerebantur. Regem hominem esse, a quo impetres ubi jus, ubi injuria opus sit. Esse gratiae locum, esse bene
i
io: & ira
i & ignoscere posse. Leges rem surdam esse & inexorabilem, salubriorem inopi quam potenti: nihil laxamenti nec veniae habere, si modum excesseris: periculosum esse in tot humanis erroribus sola innocentia vivere.
T. Liv. l.
2.
companions to the
Tarquins.
I cannot say that either of these sought a Liberty without restraint; for the vertuous were willing to be restrain'd by the Law, and the vicious to submit to the Will of a man, to gain impunity in offending. But if our Author says true, the licentious fury of these leud young men, who endeavour'd to subvert the Constitution of their Country to procure the impunity of their own Crimes, would have bin more natural, that is more reasonable than the ordinary proceedings of the most vertuous, who desir'd that the Law might be the rule of their Actions, which is most absurd.
The like vicious Wretches have in all times endeavour'd to put the Power into the hands of one man, who might protect 'em in their Villanys, and advance 'em to exorbitant Riches or undeserv'd Honors; whilst the best men trusting in their Innocence, and desiring no other Riches or Preferments than what by their Equals they were thought to deserve, were contented with a due Liberty, under the protection of a just Law: and I must transcribe the Historys of the World, or at least so much of them as concerns the Tyrannys that have bin set up or cast down, if I should here insert all the proofs that might be given of it. But I shall come nearer to the point, which is not to compare Democracy with Monarchy, but a regular mix'd Government with such an Absolute Monarchy, as leaves all to the will of that Man, Woman, or Child, who happens to be born in the reigning Family, how ill soever they may be qualify'd. I desire those who are lovers of Truth to consider, whether the wisest, best, and bravest of Men, are not naturally led to be pleas'd with a Goverment that protects them from receiving wrong, when they have not the least inclination to do any? Whether they who desire no unjust advantage above their Brethren, will not always desire that a People or Senat constituted as that of
Rome,
from the expulsion of
Tarquin
to the setting up of
Cesar,
should rather judg of their Merit, than
Tarquin, Cesar,
or his Successors? Or whether the leud or corrupted Pretorian, Bands, with
Macro, Sejanus, Tigellinus,
and the like, commanding them will not ever, like
Brutus
his Sons, abhor the inexorable Power of the Laws, with the necessity of living only by their innocence, and favour the Interest of Princes like to those that advanc'd them? If this be not sufficient, they may be pleas'd a little to reflect upon the Affairs of our own Country, and seriously consider whether
H—de, Cl—f—d, F-lm th, Arl-ng-n
and
D—nby,
could have pretended to the chief places, if the disposal of them had bin in a free and well-regulated Parliament? Whether they did most resemble
Brutus, Publicola,
and the rest of the
Valerii,
the
Fabii, Quintii, Cornelii,
&c. or
Narcissus, Pallas, Icetus, Laco, Vinnius,
and the like? Whether all men, good and bad, do not favour that state of things, which favours them and such as they are? Whether
Cl-v-l-d, P-rtsm-th,
and others of the same trade, have attain'd to the Riches and Honors they enjoy by Services done to the Commonwealth? And what places
Chiffinch, F—x
and
Jenkins,
could probably have attain'd, if our Affairs had bin regulated as good men desire? Whether the old Arts of begging, stealing and bawding, or the new ones of informing and trepanning, thrive best under one man who may be weak or vicious, and is always subject to be circumvented by Flatterers, or under the severe scrutinys of a Senat or People? In a word, whether they who live by such Arts, and know no other, do not always endeavour to advance the Government under which they enjoy, or may hope to obtain the highest Honors, and abhor that, in which they are expos'd to all manner of scorn and punishment? Which being determin'd, it will easily appear why the worst men have ever bin for Absolute Monarchy, and the best against it; and which of the two in so doing can be said to desire an unrestrain'd Liberty of doing that which is evil.
SECT. XXI. Mix'd and Popular Governments preserve Peace, and manage Wars, better than Absolute Monarchys.
BEing no way concern'd in the defence of Democracy; and having prov'd that
Xenophon, Thucydides,
and others of the Antients, in speaking against the over-great Power of the common People, intended to add Reputation to the Aristocratical Party to which they were addicted, and not to set up Absolute Monarchy, which never fell under discourse among them, but as an object of scorn and hatred, evil in it self, and only to be endur'd by base and barbarous People; I may leave our Knight, like
Don Quixote,
fighting against the Phantasms of his own brain, and saying what he pleases against such Governments as never were, unless in such a place as
San Marino
near
Sinigaglia
in
Italy,
where a hundred Clowns govern a barbarous Rock that no man invades, and relates nothing to our question. If his Doctrin be true, the Monarchy he extols is not only to be prefer'd before unruly Democracy, and mix'd Governments, but is the only one that, without a gross violation of the Laws of God and Nature, can be establish'd over any Nation. But having, as I hope, sufficiently prov'd, that God did neither institute, nor appoint any such to be instituted, nor approve those that were; that Nature dos not incline us to it, and that the best as well as the wisest men have always abhor'd it; that it has bin agreeable only to the most stupid and base Nations; and if others have submitted to it; they have done so only as to the greatest of Evils brought upon them by Violence, Corruption or Fraud; I may now proceed to shew that the Progress of it has bin in all respects sutable to its beginning.
To this end 'twill not be amiss to examin our Author's words.
Thus,
says he,
do they paint to the life this Beast with many heads: Let me give
the Cypher of their Form of Government; as it is begot by Sedition, so it is nourish'd by Crimes: It can never stand without Wars, either with an Enemy abroad, or with Friends at home.
And in order to this I will not criticize upon the terms, tho the Cypher of a Form, and War with Friends, may be justly call'd Nonsense; but coming to his Assertions, that popular or mix'd Governments have their birth in Sedition, and are ever afterterwards vex'd with Civil or Foreign Wars, I take liberty to say, That whereas there is no Form appointed by God or Nature, those Governments only can be call'd Just, which are establish'd by the consent of Nations. These Nations may at the first set up popular or mix'd Governments, and without the guilt of Sedition introduce them afterwards, if that which was first establish'd prove unprofitable or hurtful to them; and those that have done so, have enjoy'd more Justice in times of Peace, and managed Wars, when occasion requir'd, with more vertue and better success, than any Absolute Monarchys have done. And whereas he says, that
in popular Governments each man has a care of his particular, and thinks basely of the common Good; They look upon approaching Mischiefs as they do upon Thunder, only every man wishes it may not touch his own Person:
I say, that men can no otherwise be engag'd to take care of the Publick, than by having such a part in it, as Absolute Monarchy dos not allow; for under it they can neither obtain the Good for themselves, Posterity and Friends, that they desire, nor prevent the Mischiefs they fear, which are the principal Arguments that persuade men to expose themselves to labours or dangers. 'Tis a folly to say, that the vigilance and wisdom of the Monarch supplies the defect of care in others; for we know that no men under the Sun were ever more void of both, and all manner of vertue requir'd to such a work, than very many Monarchs have bin: And, which is yet worse, the strength and happiness of the People being frequently dangerous to them, they have not so much as the will to promote it: nay, sometimes set themselves to destroy it. Antient Monarchys afford us frequent examples of this kind; and if we consider those of
France
and
Turky,
which seem most to flourish in our Age, the People will appear to be so miserable under both, that they cannot fear any change of Governor or Government; and all, except a few Ministers, are kept so far from the knowledg of, or power in the management of Affairs, that if any of them should fancy a possibility of something that might befal them worse than what they suffer, or hope for that which might alleviate their misery, they could do nothing towards the advancement of the one, or prevention of the other.
Tacitus
observes, that in his time no man was able to write what past,
Inscitia Reipublicae ut alienae.
They
Tacit. An. l. 1.
neglected the publick Affairs in which they had no part. In the same Age it was said, that the People, who whilst they fought for their own Interests had bin invincible, being enslav'd, were grown sordid, idle, base, running after Stage-plays and Shows; so as the whole strength of the
Roman
Armys consisted of Strangers. When their Spirits were deprest by servitude, they had neither courage to defend themselves, nor will to fight for their wicked Masters; and least of all to increase their Power, which was destructive to themselves. The same thing is found in all places. Tho the
Turk
commands many vast Provinces, that naturally produce as good Soldiers as any, yet his greatest strength is in Children that do not know their Fathers; who not being very many in number, may perish in one Battel, and the Empire by that means be lost, the miserable Nations that groan under that Tyranny having neither courage, power, nor will to defend it. This was the fate of the
Mamalukes.
They had for the space of almost two hundred years domineer'd in
Egypt,
and a great part of
Asia;
but the people under them being weak and disaffected, they could never recover the Defeat they received from
Selim
near
Tripoli,
who pursuing his Victory, in a few months utterly abolish'd their Kingdom.
Notwithstanding the present Pride of
France,
the numbers and warlike Inclinations of that People, the bravery of the Nobility, extent of Dominion, convenience of Situation, and the vast Revenues of their King, his greatest Advantages have bin gain'd by the mistaken Counsels of
England,
the valor of our Soldiers unhappily sent to serve him, and the Strangers of whom the strength of his Armys consists; which is so unsteddy a support, that many who are well vers'd in Affairs of this nature, incline to think he subsists rather by little Arts, and corrupting Ministers in Foreign Courts, than by the Power of his own Armys; and that some reformation in the Counsels of his Neighbours might prove sufficient to overthrow that Greatness which is grown formidable to
Europe;
the same misery to which he has reduc'd his People, rendring them as unable to defend him, upon any change of Fortune, as to defend their own Rights against him.
This proceeds not from any particular defect in the
French
Government, but that which is common to all Absolute Monarchys. And no State can be said to stand upon a steddy Foundation, except those whose strength is in their own Soldiery, and the body of their own People. Such as serve for Wages, often betray their Masters in distress, and always want the courage and industry which is found in those who fight for their own Interests, and are to have a part in the Victory. The business of Mercenarys is so to perform their duty as to keep their Employments, and to draw profit from them; but that is not enough to support the Spirits of men in extreme dangers. The Shepherd who is a hireling, flies when the Thief comes; and this adventitious help failing, all that a Prince can reasonably expect from a disaffected and opprest People is, that they should bear the Yoke patiently in the time of his Prosperity; but upon the change of his Fortune they leave him to shift for himself, or join with his Enemys to avenge the Injurys they had receiv'd. Thus did
Alphonso
and
Ferdinand
Kings of
Naples,
and
Lodovico Sforza
Duke of
Milan
fall in the times of
Charles
the Eighth and
Louis
the Twelfth, Kings of
France.
The two first had bin false, violent, and cruel; nothing within their Kingdom could oppose their fury: but when they were invaded by a foreign Power, they lost all, as
Guicciardin
says, without breaking one Lance; and
Sforza
was by his own mercenary Soldiers deliver'd into the hands of his Enemys.
I think it may be hard to find Examples of such as proceeding in the same way have had better Success: But if it should so fall out, that a People living under an Absolute Monarchy, should thro custom, or fear of something worse (if that can be) not only suffer patiently, but desire to uphold the Government; neither the Nobility, nor Commonalty can do any thing towards it. They are strangers to all publick Concernments: All things are govern'd by one, or a sew men, and others know nothing either of Action or Counsel.
Filmer
will tell us 'tis no matter; the profound Wisdom of the Prince provides for all. But what if this Prince be a Child, a Fool, a superannuated Dotard, or a Madman? Or if he dos not fall under any of these extremitys, and possesses such a proportion of Wit, Industry, and Courage as is ordinarily seen in men, how shall he supply the Office that indeed requires profound Wisdom, and an equal measure of Experience and Valor? 'Tis to no purpose to say a good Council may supply his defects; for it dos not appear how he should come by this Council, nor who should oblige him to follow their advice: If he be left to his own will to do what he pleases, tho good advice be given to him; yet his judgment being perverted, he will always incline to the worst: If a necessity be impos'd upon him of acting according to the advice of his Council, he is not that absolute Monarch of whom we speak, nor the Government Monarchical, but Aristocratical. These are imperfect Figleave coverings of Nakedness. It was in vain to give good Counsel to
Sardanapalus;
and none could defend the
Assyrian
Empire, when he lay wallowing amongst his Whores, without any other thought than of his Lusts. None could preserve
Rome,
when
Domitian
's chief business was to kill Flies, and that of
Honorius
to take care of his Hens. The Monarchy of
France
must have perish'd under the base Kings they call
Les Roys faineants,
if the Scepter had not bin wrested out of their unworthy hands. The World is full of Examples in this kind: and when it pleases God to bestow a just, wise, and valiant King as a blessing upon a Nation, 'tis only a momentary help, his Vertues end with him; and there being neither any divine Promise nor human Reason, moving us to believe that they shall always be renew'd and continu'd in his Successors, men cannot rely upon it; and to alledg a possibility of such a thing is nothing to the purpose.
On the other side, in a popular or mix'd Government every man is concern'd: Every one has a part according to his quality or merit; all changes are prejudicial to all: Whatsoever any man conceives to be for the publick good, he may propose it in the Magistracy, or to the Magistrate: The body of the People is the publick defence, and every man is arm'd and disciplin'd: the advantages of good success are communicated to all, and every one bears a part in the losses. This makes men generous and industrious, and fills their hearts with Love to their Country:
Amor patriae, laudisque immensa cupido.
Virg.
This, and the desire of that praise which is the Reward of Vertue, rais'd the
Romans
above the rest of Mankind; and wheresoever the same ways are taken, they will in a great measure have the same effects. By this means they had as many Soldiers to fight for their Country as there were Freemen in it. Whilst they had to deal with the free Nations of
Italy, Greece, Africa
or
Spain,
they never conquer'd a Country, till the Inhabitants were exhausted: But when they came to fight against Kings, the success of a Battel was enough to bring a Kingdom under their power.
Antiochus
upon a ruffle receiv'd from
Acilius
at
Thermopylae,
left all that he possest in
Greece;
and being defeated by
Scipio Nasica,
he quitted all the Kingdoms and Territorys of
Asia
on this side
Taurus. Paulus Emilius
became Master of
Macedon
by one prosperous fight against
Perses. Syphax, Gentius, Tigranes, Ptolomy,
and others, were more easily subdu'd. The mercenary Armys on which they rely'd being broken, the Citys and Countrys not caring for their Masters, submitted to those who had more vertue, and better fortune. If the
Roman
Power had not bin built upon a more sure foundation, they could not have subsisted. Notwithstanding their Valor, they were often beaten; but their losses were immediately repair'd by the excellence of their Disciplin. When
Hannibal
had gain'd the Battels of
Trebia, Ticinum, Thrasimene,
and
Cannae;
defeated the
Romans
in many other Encounters, and slain above two hundred thousand of their Men, with
Paulus Emilius, C. Servilius, Sempronius Gracchus, Quintius, Marcellus,
and many other excellent Commanders: When about the same time the two brave
Scipio
's had bin cut off with their Armys in
Spain,
and many great Losses had bin sustain'd in
Sicily
and by Sea, one would have thought it impossible for the City to have resisted: But their Vertue, love to their Country, and good Government was a strength that increas'd under all their Calamitys, and in the end overcame all. The nearer
Hannibal
came to the Walls, the more obstinate was their resistance. Tho he had kill'd more great Captains than any Kingdom ever had, others daily step'd up in their place, who excel'd them in all manner of Vertue. I know not, if at any time that conquering City could glory in a greater number of men fit for the highest Enterprises, than at the end of that cruel War, which had consum'd so many of them; but I think that the finishing Victorys by them obtain'd, are but ill proofs of our Author's assertion, that they
thought basely of the common Good, and sought only to save themselves.
We know of none except
Cecilius Metellus,
who after the Battel of
Cannae
had so base a thought as to design the withdrawing himself from the publick ruin; but
Scipio
(afterwards sirnam'd
Africanus)
threatning death to those who would not swear never to abandon their Country, forc'd him to leave it. This may in general be imputed to good Government and Disciplin, with which all were so season'd from their infancy, that no affection was so rooted in them, as an ardent love to their Country, and a resolution to die for it, or with it; but the means by which they accomplish'd their great Ends, so as after their defeats to have such men as carry'd on their noblest Designs with more glory than ever, was their annual Elections of Magistrats, many being thereby advanc'd to the supreme Commands, and every one by the Honors he enjoy'd, fill'd with a desire of rendring himself worthy of them.
I should not much insist upon these things, if they had bin seen only in
Rome:
but tho their Disciplin seems to have bin more perfect, better observ'd, and to have produc'd a Vertue that surpast all others; the like has bin found, tho perhaps not in the same degree, in all Nations that have enjoy'd their Liberty, and were admitted to such a part of the Government, as might give them a love to it. This was evident in all the Nations of
Italy.
The
Sabins, Volsci, Aequi, Tuscans, Samnites
and others, were never conquer'd, till they had no men left. The
Samnites
alone inhabiting a small and barren Province, suffer'd more defeats before they were subdu'd, than all the Kingdoms of
Numidia, Aegypt, Macedon,
and
Asia;
and, as 'tis exprest in their Embassy to
Hannibal,
never yielded, till they who had brought vast numbers of men into the Field, and by them defeated some of the
Roman
Armys, were reduc'd to such weakness, that they could not resist one Legion. We hear of sew
Spartans
who did not willingly expose their Lives for the service of their Country; and the Women themselves were so far inflam'd with the same affection, that they refus'd to mourn for their Children and Husbands who dy'd in the defence of it. When the brave
Brasidas
was slain, some eminent men went to comfort his Mother upon the news of his death; and telling her he was the most valiant man in the City, she
Thucyd. de Bell. Pelopon.
answer'd, that he was indeed a valiant man, and dy'd as he ought to do, but that thro the goodness of the Gods, many others were left as valiant as he.
When
Xerxes
invaded
Greece,
there was not a Citizen of
Athens
able to bear Arms, who did not leave his Wife and Children to shift for themselves in the neighbouring Citys, and their Houses to be burnt when they imbark'd with
Themistocles;
and never thought of either till they had defeated the
Barbarians
at
Salamis
by Sea, and at
Platea
by Land. When men are thus spirited, some will ever prove excellent: and as none did ever surpass those who are bred under this disciplin in all moral, military and civil Vertues; those very Countrys where they flourish'd most, have not produc'd any eminent men since they lost that Liberty which was the Mother and Nurse of them.
Tho I should fill a Volume with examples of this kind (as I might easily do) such as our Author will say, that in Popular Governments men look upon Mischiefs as Thunder, and only wish it may not touch themselves: But leaving them to the scorn and hatred they deserve by their impudence and folly, I conclude this point with the answer, that
Trajano
Ragion. 99.
Boccalini
puts into the mouth of
Apollo,
to the Princes who complain'd that their Subjects had not that love to their Countrys, as had bin, and was daily seen in those who liv'd under Commonwealths; which amounted to no more than to tell them, that their ill Government was the cause of that defect, and that the prejudices incur'd by Rapine, Violence, and Fraud, were to be repair'd only by Liberality, Justice, and such a care of their Subjects, that they might live happily under them.
SECT. XXII. Commonwealths seek Peace or War according to the Variety of their Constitutions.
IF I have hitherto spoken in general of popular or mix'd Governments, as if they were all founded on the same principle, it was only because our Author without distinction has generally blam'd them all, and generally imputed to every one those Faults, which perhaps never were many; but most certainly are directly opposite to the temper and constitution of many among them. Malice and Ignorance reign so equally in him, that 'tis not easy to determin from which of the two this false representation proceeds. But lest any man should thereby be impos'd upon, 'tis time to observe, That the Constitutions of Commonwealths have bin so various, according to the different temper of Nations and Times, that if some of them seem to have bin principally constituted for War, others have as much delighted in Peace; and many having taken the middle, and (as some think) the best way, have so moderated their love to Peace, as not to suffer the Spirits of the People to fall, but kept them in a perpetual readiness to make War when there was occasion: and every one of those having follow'd several ways and ends, deserve our particular consideration.
The Citys of
Rome, Sparta, Thebes,
and all the Associations of the
Etolians, Achaians, Sabins, Latins, Samnites,
and many others that antiently flourish'd in
Greece
and
Italy,
seem to have intended nothing but the just preservation of Liberty at home, and making War abroad. All the Nations of
Spain, Germany,
and
Gaul
sought the same things. Their principal work was to render their People valiant, obedient to their Commanders, lovers of their Country, and always ready to fight for it: And for this reason when the Senators of
Rome
had kill'd
Romulus,
they persuaded
Julius Proculus
to affirm, that he had seen him in a most glorious form ascending to Heaven, and promising great things to the City,
Proinde rem militarem colant.
The
Athenians
were not less inclin'd to War, but apply'd themselves to Trade, as subservient to that end, by increasing the number of the People, and furnishing them with the means of carrying it on with more vigor and power. The
Phenician
Citys, of which
Carthage
was the most eminent, follow'd the same method; but knowing that Riches do not defend themselves, or scorning slothfully to enjoy what was gain'd by Commerce, they so far apply'd themselves to War, that they grew to a Power, which
Rome
only was able to overthrow.
Venice, Florence, Genoa, Lucca,
and some other Citys of
Italy
seem chiefly to have aim'd at Trade; and placing the hopes of their safety in the protection of more powerful States, have unwillingly enter'd into Wars, especially by Land; and when they did, they made them by mercenary Soldiers.
Again, some of those that intended War desir'd to enlarge their Territorys by conquest; others only to preserve their own, and to live with freedom and safety upon them.
Rome
was of the first sort; and knowing that such ends cannot be accomplish'd without great numbers of men, they freely admitted Strangers into the City, Senat, and Magistracy.
Numa
was a
Sabin: Tarquinius Priscus
was the Son of a
Grecian:
One hundred of those
Sabins
who came with
Tatius
were admitted into the Senat:
Appius Claudius
of the same People came to
Rome,
was made a Member of the Senat, and created Consul. They demolish'd several Citys, and brought the Inhabitants to their own; gave the right of Citizens to many others (sometimes to whole Citys and Provinces) and car'd not how many they receiv'd, so they could engraft them upon the same interest with the old stock, and season them with the same Principles, Disciplin, and Manners. On the other side, the
Spartans
desiring only to continue free, vertuous, and safe in the enjoyment of their own Territory; and thinking themselves strong enough to defend it, fram'd a most severe Disciplin, to which few Strangers would submit. They banish'd all those curious Arts, that are useful to Trade; prohibited the importation of Gold and Silver; appointed the
Helotes
to cultivate their Lands, and to exercise such Trades as are necessary to life; admitted few Strangers to live amongst them; made none of them free of their City, and educated their Youth in such exercises only as prepar'd them for War. I will not take upon me to judg whether this proceeded from such a moderation of Spirit, as plac'd Felicity rather in the fulness and stability of Liberty, Integrity, Vertue, and the enjoyment of their own, than in Riches, Power, and Dominion over others; nor which of these two different methods deserves most to be commended: But certain it is that both succeeded according to the intention of the Founders.
Rome
conquer'd the best part of the World, and never wanted men to defend what was gain'd:
Sparta
liv'd in such happiness and reputation, that till it was invaded by
Epimanondas,
an Enemys Trumpet had not bin heard by those within the Town for the space of eight hundred years, and never suffer'd any great disaster, till receding from their own Institutions, they were brought by prosperity to affect the principality of
Greece,
and to undertake such Wars as could not be carry'd on without Mony, and greater numbers of men than a small City was able to furnish; by which means they were oblig'd to beg assistance from the Barbarians, whom they scorn'd and hated, as appears by the Storys of
Callicratidas, Lysander,
and
Agesilaus,
and fell into such straits as were never recover'd.
The like variety has bin observ'd in the Constitutions of those Northern Nations that invaded the Roman Empire: for tho all of them intended War, and look'd upon those only to be Members of their Commonwealths who us'd arms to defend them, yet some did immediately incorporate themselves with those of the conquer'd Countrys. Of this number were the
Franks,
who presently became one Nation with the
Gauls;
others kept themselves in a distinct Body, as the
Saxons
did from the
Britains:
And the
Goths
for more than three hundred years that they reign'd in
Spain,
never contracted Marriages, or otherwise mix'd with the
Spaniards,
till their Kingdom was overthrown by the
Moors.
These things, and others of the like nature, being weigh'd, many have doubted whether it were better to constitute a Commonwealth for War or for Trade; and of such as intend War, whether those are most to be prais'd who prepare for defence only, or those who design by conquest to enlarge their Dominions. Or, if they admit of Trade, whether they should propose the acquisition of Riches for their ultimate end, and depend upon foreign or mercenary Forces to defend them; or to be as helps to enable their own People to carry on those Wars in which they may be frequently engag'd. These Questions might perhaps be easily decided, if Mankind were of a temper to suffer those to live in peace, who offer no injury to any; or that men who have Mony to hire Soldiers when they stand in need of them, could find such as would valiantly and faithfully defend them, whilst they apply themselves to their Trades. But experience teaching us that those only can be safe who are strong; and that no People was ever well defended but those who fought for themselves; the best Judges of these matters have always given the preference to those Constitutions that principally intend War, and make use of Trade as assisting to that end: and think it better to aim at conquest, rather than simply to stand upon their own defence; since he that loses all if he be overcome, sights upon very unequal terms; and if he obtain the Victory, gains no other advantage, than for the present to repel the danger that threaten'd him.
These Opinions are confirm'd by the examples of the
Romans,
who prosper'd much more than the
Spartans:
And the
Carthaginians,
who made use of Trade as a help to War, rais'd their City to be one of the most potent that ever was in the World: Whereas the
Venetians
having rely'd on Trade and mercenary Soldiers, are always forc'd too much to depend upon foreign Potentats; very often to buy Peace with ignominious and prejudicial conditions; and sometimes to fear the infidelity of their own Commanders, no less than the violence of their Enemys. But that which ought to be valu'd above all in point of Wisdom as well as Justice, is the Government given by God to the
Hebrews,
which chiefly fitted them for War, and to make Conquests.
Moses
divided them under several Captains, into thousands, hundreds, fiftys, and tens: This was a perpetual Ordinance amongst them: In numbring them, those only were counted, who were able to bear arms: Every man was oblig'd to go out to War, except such as had marry'd a Wife, or upon other special occasions were for a time excus'd; and the whole series of the sacred History shews that there were always as many Soldiers to fight for their Country as there were men able to fight. And if this be taken for a Picture of a many-headed Beast delighting in Blood, begotten by Sedition, and nourish'd by Crimes, God himself was the drawer of it.
In this variety of Constitutions, and Effects proceeding from them, I can see nothing more justly and generally to be attributed to them all, than that Love to their Country, which our Author impudently affirms to be wanting in all. In other matters their proceedings are not only different, but contrary to each other: yet it cannot be said that any Nations have injoy'd so much Peace as some Republicks. The
Venetians
too great inclination to Peace is accounted to be a mortal error in their Constitution; and they have not bin less free from domestick Seditions than foreign Wars: the Conspiracys of the
Falerii
and
Tiepoli
were extinguish'd by their punishment, and that of
La Cueva
crush'd before it was ripe.
Genoa
has not bin altogether so happy: the factions of the
Guelphs
and
Ghibelins
that spread themselves over all
Italy,
infected that City; and the malice of the
Spaniards
and
French
rais'd others under the
Fregosi
and
Adorni;
but they being compos'd, they have for more than a hundred and fifty years rested in quiet.
There is another sort of Commonwealth compos'd of many Citys associated together, and living
aequo jure;
every one retaining and exercising a Sovereign Power within it self, except in some cases exprest in the Act of Union, or League made between them. These I confess are more hardly preserv'd in Peace. Disputes may arise among them concerning Limits, Jurisdiction, and the like. They cannot always be equally concern'd in the same things. The injurys offer'd to one do not equally affect all. Their Neighbors will sow Divisions among them; and not having a Mother-City to decide their Controversys by her authority, they may be apt to fall into quarrels, especially if they profess Christianity; which having bin split into variety of opinions ever since it was preach'd, and the Papists by their cruelty to such as dissent from them, shewing to all, that there is no other way of defending themselves against them, than by using the same, almost every man is come to think he ought (as far as in him lies) to impose his belief on others, and that he can give no better testimony of his Zeal, than the excess of his violence on that account. Nevertheless the Cantons of the
Switzers,
tho accompany'd with all the most dangerous circumstances that can be imagin'd, being thirteen in number, independent on each other, govern'd in a high degree popularly, professing Christianity differing in most important points; eight of them much influenc'd by the Jesuits, and perpetually excited to War against their Brethren by the powerful Crowns of
Spain
and
France,
have ever since they cast off the insupportable Yoke of the Earls of
Hapsburg,
enjoy'd more peace than any other State of
Europe,
and from the most inconsiderable people, are grown to such a Power, that the greatest Monarchs do most sollicitously seek their Friendship; and none have dar'd to invade them, since
Charles
Duke of
Burgundy
did it to his ruin: and he who for a long time had bin a terror to the great, dangerous, and subtil King of
France,
gave by the loss of three Armys and his own life, a lasting testimony of his temerity in assaulting a free and valiant, tho a poor people, fighting in their own quarrel.
Commines
well relates that War; but a vast heap of Bones remaining to this day at
Muret
with this inscription,
Caroli fortissimi Burgundiorum Ducis exercitus Muretum obsidens
ab Helvetiis caesus, hoc sui Monumentum reliquit,
best shews the success of it. Since that time their greatest Wars have bin for the defence of
Milan;
or such as they have undertaken for pay under the Ensigns of
France
or
Spain,
that by the use of Arms they may keep up that Courage, Reputation, and Experience which is requir'd for the defence of their own Country. No Government was ever more free from popular Seditions; the revolts of their Subjects have bin few, weak, and easily supprest; the dissension rais'd by the Jesuits between the Cantons of
Zurich
and
Lucern
was as soon compos'd as the rebellion of the County of
Vaux
against the Canton of
Bern;
and those few of the like nature that have happen'd among them have had the like success: So that
Thuanus
in the History of his time, comprehending about fifty years, and relating the horrid domestick and foreign Wars, that distracted
Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Flanders, England, Scotland, Poland, Denmark, Sweden, Hungary, Transilvania, Muscovy, Turky, Africk,
and other places, has no more to say of them than to shew what Arts had bin in vain us'd to disturb their so much envy'd quiet. But if the modest temper of the People, together with the Wisdom, Justice, and Strength of their Government, could not be discompos'd by the measures of
Spain
and
France,
by the industry of their Embassadors, or the malicious craft of the Jesuits, we may safely conclude that their State is as well settled as any thing among men can be, and can hardly comprehend what is like to interrupt it. As much might be said of the Citys of the
Hanseatick
Society, if they had an intire Sovereignty in themselves: But the Citys of the United Provinces in the Low Countrys being every one of them Sovereign within themselves, and many in number, still continuing in their Union in spite of all the endeavours that have bin us'd to divide them, give us an example of such steddiness in practice and principle, as is hardly to be parallel'd in the world, and that undeniably prove a temper in their Constitutions directly opposite to that which our Author imputes to all popular Governments: and if the Death of
Barnevelt
and
De Wit,
or the preserment of some most unlike to them, be taken for a testimony that the best men thrive worst, and the worst best, I hope it may be consider'd that those Violences proceeded from that which is most contrary to Popularity, tho I am not very willing to explain it.
If these matters are not clear in themselves, I desire they may be compar'd with what has happen'd between any Princes that from the beginning of the world have bin join'd in League to each other, whether they were of the same or of different Nations. Let an example be brought of six, thirteen, or more Princes or Kings who enter'd into a League; and for the space of one or more Ages, did neither break it, nor quarrel upon the explication of it. Let the States of the
Switzers, Grisons,
or
Hollanders,
be compar'd with that of
France,
when it was sometimes divided between two, three, or four Brothers of
Meroveus
or
Pepin
's Races; with the Heptarchy of
England;
the Kingdoms of
Leon, Arragon, Navarr, Castile
and
Portugal,
under which the Christians in
Spain
were divided; or those of
Cordoua, Sevil, Malaga, Granada,
and others under the Power of the
Moors:
and if it be not evident, that the popular States have bin remarkable for Peace among themselves, constancy to their Union, and Fidelity to the Leagues made with their Associats; whereas all the abovemention'd Kingdoms, and such others as are known among men to have bin join'd in the like Leagues, were ever infested with domestick Rebellions and Quarrels arising from the Ambition of Princes, so as no Confederacy could be so cautiously made, but they would find ways to elude it, or so solemn and sacred, but they would in far less time break thro it: I will confess, that Kingdoms have sometimes bin as free from civil disturbances; and that Leagues made between several Princes, have bin as constantly and religiously observ'd, as by Commonwealths. But if no such thing dos appear in the World, and no man who is not impudent or ignorant dare pretend it, I may justly conclude, that tho every Commonwealth has its Action sutable to its Constitution, and that many associated together are not so free from disturbances, as those that wholly depend upon the Authority of a Mother City; yet we know of none that have not bin, and are more regular and quiet than any Principalitys; and as to Foreign Wars, they seek or avoid them according to their various Constitutions.
SECT. XXIII. That is the best Government, which best provides for War.
OUR Author having huddled up all popular and mix'd Governments into one, has in some measure forc'd me to explain the various Constitutions and Principles upon which they are grounded: But as the wisdom of a Father is seen, not only in providing Bread for his Family, or increasing his Patrimonial Estate, but in making all possible provision for the security of it; so that Government is evidently the best, which, not relying upon what it dos at first enjoy, seeks to increase the number, strength, and riches of the People; and by the best Disciplin to bring the Power so improv'd into such order as may be of most use to the Publick. This comprehends all things conducing to the administration of Justice, the preservation of domestick Peace, and the increase of Commerce, that the People being pleas'd with their present condition, may be fill'd with love to their Country, encourag'd to fight boldly for the publick Cause, which is their own; and as men do willingly join with that which prospers, that Strangers may be invited to fix their Habitations in such a City, and to espouse the principles that reign in it. This is necessary for several reasons; but I shall principally insist upon one, which is, that all things in their beginning are weak: The Whelp of a Lion newly born has neither strength nor fierceness. He that builds a City, and dos not intend it should increase, commits as great an absurdity, as if he should desire his Child might ever continue under the same weakness in which he is born. If it dos not grow, it must pine and perish; for in this World nothing is permanent: that which dos not grow better will grow worse. This increase also is useless, or perhaps hurtful, if it be not in Strength, as well as in Riches or Number; for every one is apt to seize upon ill-guarded Treasures: and the terror that the City of
London
was possest with, when a few Dutch Ships came to
Chatham,
shews that no numbers of men, tho naturally valiant, are able to defend themselves, unless they be well arm'd, disciplin'd and conducted. Their Multitude brings confusion: their Wealth, when 'tis like to be made a prey, increases the fears of the owners; and they, who if they were brought into good order, might conquer a great part of the World, being destitute of it, durst not think of defending themselves.
If it be said that the wise Father mention'd by me endeavours to secure his Patrimony by Law, not by Force; I answer, that all defence terminates in force; and if a private man dos not prepare to defend his Estate with his own Force, 'tis because he lives under the protection of the Law, and expects the force of the Magistrate should be a security to him: but Kingdoms and Commonwealths acknowledging no Superior, except God alone, can reasonably hope to be protected by him only; and by him, if with industry and courage they make use of the means he has given them for their own defence. God helps those who help themselves; and men are by several reasons (suppose to prevent the increase of a suspected Power) induc'd to succour an industrious and brave People: But such as neglect the means of their own preservation, are ever left to perish with shame. Men cannot rely upon any League: The State that is defended by one Potentat against another, becomes a Slave to their Protector: Mercenary Soldiers always want Fidelity or Courage, and most commonly both. If they are not corrupted or beaten by the Invader, they make a prey of their Masters. These are the followers of Camps who have neither Faith nor Piety
—Ibi fas ubi maxima merces.
Lucan.
but prefer Gain before Right. They who expose their Blood to sale, look where they can make the best bargain, and never fail of pretences for following their interests.
Moreover, private Familys may by several arts increase their Wealth, as they increase in number; but when a People multiplies (as they will always do in a good Climat under a good Government) such an enlargement of Territory as is necessary for their subsistence can be acquir'd only by War. This was known to the Northern Nations that invaded the
Roman
Empire; but for want of such Constitutions as might best improve their Strength and Valor, the numbers they sent out when they were overburden'd, provided well for themselves, but were of no use to the Countrys they left; and whilst those
Goths, Vandals, Franks,
and
Normans
enjoy'd the most opulent and delicious Provinces of the World, their Fathers languish'd obscurely in their frozen Climats. For the like reasons, or thro the same defect, the
Switzers
are oblig'd to serve other Princes, and often to imploy that valor in advancing the power of their Neighbors, which might be us'd to increase their own.
Genoua, Lucca, Geneva,
and other small Commonwealths, having no Wars, are not able to nourish the men they breed; but sending many of their Children to seek their Fortunes abroad, scarce a third part of those that are born among them, die in those Citys; and if they did not take this course, they would have no better than the Nations inhabiting near the River
Niger,
who sell their Children as the increase of their Flocks.
This dos not less concern Monarchys than Commonwealths; nor the absolute less than the mix'd: All of them have bin prosperous or miserable, glorious or contemptible, as they were better or worse arm'd, disciplin'd, or conducted. The
Assyrian
Valor was irresistible under
Nabuchodonozor;
but was brought to nothing under his base and luxurious Grandson
Belshazzar:
The
Persians
who under
Cyrus
conquer'd
Asia,
were like Swine expos'd to slaughter when their Disciplin fail'd, and they were commanded by his proud, cruel, and cowardly Successors. The
Macedonian
Army overthrown by
Paulus Emilius
was not less in number than that with which
Alexander
gain'd the Empire of the East; and perhaps had not bin inferior in Valor, if it had bin as well commanded. Many poor and almost unknown Nations have bin carry'd to such a height of Glory by the Bravery of their Princes, that I might incline to think their Government as fit as any other for disciplining a People to War, if their Vertues continu'd in their Familys, or could be transmitted to their Successors. The impossibility of this is a breach never to be repair'd; and no account is to be made of the good that is always uncertain, and seldom enjoy'd. This disease is not only in absolute Monarchys, but in those also where any regard is had to Succession of Blood, tho under the strictest limitations. The Fruit of all the Victorys gain'd by
Edward
the First and Third, or
Henry
the Fifth of
England,
perish'd by the baseness of their Successors: the glory of our Arms was turn'd into shame; and we, by the loss of Treasure, Blood, and Territory, suffer'd the punishment of their Vices. The effects of these changes are not always equally violent; but they are frequent, and must fall out as often as occasion is presented. It was not possible for
Lewis
the Thirteenth of
France
to pursue the great designs of
Henry
the Fourth:
Christina
of
Sweden
could not supply the place of her brave Father; nor the present King in his Infancy accomplish what the great
Charles Gustavus
had nobly undertaken: and no remedy can be found for this mortal infirmity, unless the power be put into the hands of those who are able to execute it, and not left to the blindness of fortune. When the Regal Power is committed to an annual or otherwise chosen Magistracy, the Vertues of excellent men are of use, but all dos not depend upon their persons: One man finishes what another had begun; and when many are by practice render'd able to perform the same things, the loss of one is easily supply'd by the election of another. When good Principles are planted, they do not die with the person that introduc'd 'em; and good Constitutions remain, tho the Authors of 'em perish.
Rome
did not fall back into slavery when
Brutus
was kill'd, who had led them to recover their Liberty: Others like to him pursu'd the same ends; and notwithstanding the loss of so many great Commanders consum'd in their almost continual Wars, they never wanted such as were fit to execute whatever they could design. A wellgovern'd State is as fruitful to all good purposes, as the seven-headed Serpent is said to have bin in evil; when one head is cut off, many rise up in the place of it. Good Order being once establish'd, makes good men; and as long as it lasts, such as are fit for the greatest imployments will never be wanting. By this means the
Romans
could not be surpris'd: No King or Captain ever invaded them, who did not find many excellent Commanders to oppose him; whereas they themselves found it easy to overthrow Kingdoms, tho they had bin establish'd by the bravest Princes, thro the baseness of their Successors.
But if our Author says true, 'tis of no advantage to a popular State to have excellent men; and therefore he imposes
a necessity upon every People to chuse the worst men for being the worst, and most like to themselves; lest that if vertuous and good men should come into power, they should be excluded for being vicious and wicked,
&c.
Wise men would seize upon the State, and take it from the People.
For the understanding of these words, 'tis good to consider whether they are to be taken simply, as usually apply'd to the Devil and some of his instruments, or relatively, as to the thing in question: If simply, it must be concluded that
Valerius, Brutus, Cincinnatus, Capitolinus, Mamercus, Paulus Emilius, Nasica,
and others like to 'em, were not only the worst men of the City; but that they were so often advanc'd to the supreme Magistracy because they were so: if in the other sense relating to Magistracy, and the command of Armys, the worst are the most ignorant, unfaithful, slothful, or cowardly; and our Author, to make good his proposition, must prove, that when the People of
Rome, Carthage, Athens,
and other States had the power of chusing whom they pleas'd, they chose
Camillus, Corvinus. Torquatus, Fabius, Rullus, Scipio, Amilcar, Hannibal, Asdrubal, Pelopidas, Epaminondas, Pericles, Aristides, Themistocles, Phocion, Alcibiades,
and others like to them, for their Ignorance, Infidelity, Sloth, and Cowardice; and on account of those Vices, most like to those who chose them. But if these were the worst, I desire to know what wit or eloquence can describe or comprehend the excellency of the best; or of the Disciplin that brings whole Nations to such perfection, that worse than these could not be found among them? And if they were not so, but such as all succeeding Ages have justly admir'd for their Wisdom, Vertue, Industry, and Valor, the impudence of so wicked and false an Assertion ought to be rejected with scorn and hatred.
But if all Governments, whether Monarchial or Popular, absolute or limited, deserve praise or blame as they are well or ill constituted for making War; and that the attainment of this end dos intirely depend upon the qualifications of the Commanders, and the Strength, Courage, Number, Affection, and temper of the People out of which the Armys are drawn; those Governments must necessarily be the best which take the best care that those Armys may be well commanded; and so provide for the good of the People, that they may daily increase in Number, Courage, and Strength, and be so satisfy'd with the present state of things, as to fear a change, and fight for the preservation or advancement of the publick Interest as of their own. We have already found that in Hereditary Monarchys no care at all is taken of the Commander: He is not chosen, but comes by chance; and dos not only frequently prove defective, but for the most part utterly uncapable of performing any part of his duty; whereas in Popular Governments excellent men are generally chosen; and there are so many of them, that if one or more perish, others are ready to supply their places. And this Discourse having (if I mistake not) in the whole series shewn, that the advantages of popular Governments, in relation to the increase of Courage, Number, and Strength in a People, out of which Armys are to be form'd, and bringing them to such a temper as prepares 'em bravely to perform their duty, are as much above those of Monarchys, as the prudence of Choice surpasses the accidents of Birth; it cannot be deny'd that in both respects the part which relates to War is much better perform'd in Popular Governments than in Monarchys.
That which we are by reason led to believe, is confirm'd to us by experience. We every where see the difference between the Courage of men fighting for themselves and their posterity, and those that serve a Master who by good success is often render'd insupportable. This is of such efficacy, that no King could ever boast to have overthrown any considerable Commonwealth, unless it were divided within it self, or weaken'd by Wars made with such as were also free; which was the case of the
Grecian
Commonwealths when the
Macedonians
fell in upon them. Whereas the greatest Kingdoms have bin easily destroy'd by Commonwealths; and these also have lost all Strength, Valor and Spirit, after the change of their Government. The Power and Vertue of the
Italians
grew up, decay'd and perish'd with their Liberty. When they were divided into many Commonwealths, every one of them was able to send out great Armys, and to suffer many Defeats before they were subdu'd; so that their Citys were deliver'd up by the old Men, Women, and Children, when all those who were able to bear arms had bin slain: And when they were all brought under the
Romans,
either as Associats or Subjects, they made the greatest Strength that ever was in the World.
Alexander
of
Epirus
was in Valor thought equal, and in Power little inferior to
Alexander
of
Macedon:
but having the fortune to attack those who had bin brought up in Liberty, taught to hazard or suffer all things for it, and to think that God has given to men Hands and Swords only to defend it, he perish'd in his attempt; whilst the other encountring slavish Nations, under the conduct of proud, cruel and for the most part unwarlike Tyrants, became Master of
Asia.
Pyrrhus
seems to have bin equal to either of them; but the Victorys he obtain'd by an admirable Valor and Conduct, cost him so dear, that he desir'd Peace with those Enemys who might be defeated, not subdu'd.
Hannibal
wanting the prudence of
Pyrrhus,
lost the fruits of all his Victorys; and being torn out of
Italy,
where he had nested himself, fell under the Sword of those whose Fathers he had defeated or slain; and dy'd a banish'd man from his ruin'd Country.
The
Gauls
did once bring
Rome,
when it was small, to the brink of Destruction; but they left their Carcases to pay for the mischiefs they had done; and in succeeding times their Invasions were mention'd as Tumults rather than Wars.
The
Germans
did perhaps surpass them in numbers and strength, and were equal to them in fortune as long as
Rome
was free. They often enter'd
Italy,
but they continu'd not long there, unless under the weight of their Chains. Whereas the same Nations, and others like to them, assaulting that Country, or other Provinces under the Emperors, found no other difficulty than what arose upon contests among themselves who should be Master of them. No manly Vertue or Disciplin remain'd among the
Italians:
Those who govern'd them, rely'd upon tricks and shifts; they who could not defend themselves, hir'd some of those Nations to undertake their Quarrels against others. These trinklings could not last. The
Goths
scorning to depend upon those who in Valor and Strength were much inferior to themselves, seiz'd upon the City that had commanded the World, whilst
Honorius
was so busy in providing for his Hens, that he could not think of defending it.
Arcadius
had the luck not to lose his principal City; but passing his time among Fidlers, Players, Eunuchs, Cooks, Dancers, and Buffoons, the Provinces were securely plunder'd and ransack'd by Nations, that are known only from their Victorys against him.
'Tis in vain to say that this proceeded from the fatal corruption of that Age; for that corruption proceeded from the Government, and the ensuing desolation was the effect of it. And as the like disorder in Government has bin ever since in
Greece
and the greatest part of
Italy,
those Countrys which for Extent, Riches, convenience of Situation, and numbers of men, are equal to the best in the world, and for the Wit, Courage, and Industry of the Natives, perhaps justly preferable to any, have since that time bin always expos'd as a prey to the first Invader.
Charles
the Eighth of
France
is by
Guicciardin,
and other Writers, represented as a Prince equally weak in Body, Mind, Mony, and Forces; but as an ill Hare is said to make a good Dog, he conquer'd the best part of
Italy
without breaking a Lance.
Ferdinand
and
Alphonso
of
Arragon,
Kings of
Naples,
had govern'd by Trepanners, false Witnesses, corrupt Judges, mercenary Soldiers, and other Ministers of Iniquity: but these could afford no help against an Invader; and neither the opprest Nobility, nor People, concerning themselves in the quarrel, they who had bin proud, fierce, and cruel against their poor Subjects, never durst look an Enemy in the face; and the Father dying with anguish and fear, the Son shamefully fled from his ill-govern'd Kingdom.
The same things are no less evident in
Spain.
No People ever defended themselves with more Obstinacy and Valor than the
Spaniards
did against the
Carthaginians
and
Romans,
who surpast them in Wealth and Skill.
Livy
calls them
Gentem ad bella gerenda & reparanda natam,
and who generally kill'd themselves when they were master'd and disarm'd,
Nullam sine armis vitam esse rati.
But tho the mixture of
Roman
Blood could not impair their Race, and the conjunction of the
Goths
had improv'd their Force; yet no more was requir'd for the overthrow of them all, than the weakness and baseness of the two leud Tyrants,
Witza
and
Rodrigo,
who disdain'd all Laws, and resolv'd to govern according to their Lust. They who for more than two hundred years had resisted the
Romans,
were intirely subdu'd by the vile, half-naked
Moors,
in one slight Skirmish; and do not to this day know what became of the King who brought the Destruction upon them. That Kingdom after many Revolutions, is with many others come to the House of
Austria,
and enjoys all the Wealth of the
Indys;
whereupon they are thought to have affected an universal Monarchy.
Sed ut sunt levia Aulicorum ingenia,
this was grounded upon nothing except their own Vanity: They had Mony and Craft; but wanting that solid Vertue and Strength which makes and preserves Conquests, their Kings have nothing but
Milan
that did not come to them by Marriage: And tho they have not receiv'd any extraordinary disasters in War, yet they languish and consume thro the defects of their own Government, and are forc'd to beg assistance from their mortal and formerly despis'd Enemys. These are the best hopes of defence that they have from abroad; and the only Enemy an Invader ought to fear in their desolate Territorys, is that Want and Famin which testifys the good Order, Strength and Stability of our Author's divine Monarchy; the profound Wisdom of their Kings in subtilly finding out so sure a way of defending the Country; their paternal care in providing for the good of their Subjects; and that whatsoever is defective in the Prince, is assuredly supply'd by the Sedulity of a good Council.
We have already said enough to obviate the objections that may be drawn from the prosperity of the
French
Monarchy. The beauty of it is false and painted. There is a rich and haughty King, who is blest with such Neighbours as are not likely to disturb him, and has nothing to fear from his miserable Subjects; but the whole body of that State is full of boils, and wounds, and putrid sores: There is no real strength in it. The People are so unwilling to serve him, that he is said to have put to death above four score thousand of his own Soldiers within the space of fifteen years, for flying from their Colours; and if he were vigorously attack'd, little help could be expected from a discontented Nobility, or a starving and despairing People. If to diminish the force of these arguments and examples, it be said, that in two or three thousand years all things are chang'd; the antient Vertue of Mankind is extinguish'd; and the love that every one had to his Country is turn'd into a care of his private Interests: I answer, that Time changes nothing, and the Changes produc'd in this time proceed only from the change of Governments. The Nations which have bin govern'd arbitrarily, have always suffer'd the same Plagues, and bin infected with the same Vices; which is as natural, as for Animals ever to generate according to their kinds, and Fruits to be of the same nature with the Roots and Seeds from which they come. The same Order that made men valiant and industrious in the service of their Country during the first Ages, would have the same effect, if it were now in being. Men would have the same love to the Publick as the
Spartans
and
Romans
had, if there was the same reason for it. We need no other proof of this than what we have seen in our own Country, where in a few years, good Disciplin and a just Encouragement given to those who did well, produc'd more examples of pure, compleat, incorruptible, and invincible Vertue than
Rome
or
Greece
could ever boast; or if more be wanting, they may easily be found among the
Switzers, Hollanders,
and others: but 'tis not necessary to light a Candle to the Sun.
SECT. XXIV. Popular Governments are less subject to Civil Disorders than Monarchys; manage them more ably, and more easily recover out of them.
'TIS in vain to seek a Government in all points free from a possibility of Civil Wars, Tumults, and Seditions: that is a Blessing deny'd to this life, and reserv'd to compleat the Felicity of the next. But if these are to be accounted the greatest evils that can fall upon a People, the rectitude or defects of Governments will best appear if we examin which
Species
is more or less expos'd to, or exempted from them.
This may be done two ways.
1. By searching into the causes from whence they may, or usually do arise.
2. Which kind has actually bin most frequently and dangerously disturb'd by them.
To the first: Seditions, Tumults, and Wars do arise from mistake, or from malice; from just occasions, or unjust. From mistake, when a People think an evil to be done or intended, which is not done nor intended; or take that to be evil which is done, tho in truth it be not so. Well regulated Citys may fall into these errors. The
Romans
being jealous of their newly recover'd Liberty, thought that
Valerius Publicola
design'd to make himself King, when he built a House in a place that seem'd too strong and eminent for a private man. The
Spartans
were not less suspicious of
Lycurgus;
and a leud young Fellow in a Sedition put out one of his eyes: but no People ever continu'd in a more constant affection to their best deserving Citizens, than both the
Romans
and
Spartans
afterwards manifested to those vertuous and wrongfully suspected men.
Sometimes the fact is true, but otherwise understood than was intended. When the
Tarquins
were expel'd from
Rome,
the Patricians retain'd to themselves the principal Magistracys; but never thought of bringing back Kings, or of setting up a corrupt Oligarchy among themselves, as the Plebeians imagin'd: And this mistake being discover'd, the fury they had conceiv'd, vanish'd; and they who seem'd to intend nothing less than the extirpation of all the Patrician Familys, grew quiet.
Menenius Agrippa
appeas'd one of the most violent Seditions that ever happen'd amongst them (till civil Interests were pursu'd by arm'd Troops) with a Fable of the several parts of the Body that murmur'd against the Belly: and the most dangerous of all was compos'd by creating Tribuns to protect them. Some of the Patrician young men had favour'd the
Decemviri,
and others being unwilling to appear against them, the People believ'd they had all conspir'd with those new Tyrants: but
Valerius
and
Horatius
putting themselves at the head of those who sought their destruction, they perceiv'd their Error, and look'd upon the
Patricians
as the best defenders of their Libertys:
Et inde,
says
Livy, auram Libertatis captare, unde servitutem timuissent.
Democratical Governments are most liable to these mistakes: In Aristocracys they are seldom seen, and we hear of none in
Sparta
after the establishment of the Laws by
Lycurgus.
But Absolute Monarchys seem to be totally exempted from them. The mischiefs design'd are often dissembled or deny'd, till they are past all possibility of being cur'd by any other way than force: and such as are by necessity driven to use that remedy, know they must perfect their work or perish. He that draws his Sword against the Prince, say the
French,
ought to throw away the Scabbard; for tho the design be never so just, yet the Authors are sure to be ruin'd if it miscarry. Peace is seldom made, and never kept, unless the Subject retain such a Power in his hands, as may oblige the Prince to stand to what is agreed; and in time some trick is found to deprive them of that benefit.
Seditions proceeding from malice, are seldom or never seen in popular Governments; for they are hurtful to the People, and none have ever willingly and knowingly hurt themselves. There may be, and often is malice in those who excite them; but the People are ever deceiv'd, and whatsoever is thereupon done, ought to be imputed to error, as I said before. If this be discover'd in time, it usually turns to the destruction of the Contriver; as in the cases of
Manlius Capitolinus, Spurius Melius,
and
Sp. Cassius:
if not, for the most part it produces a Tyranny, as in those of
Agathocles, Dionysius, Pisistrates,
and
Cesar.
But in Absolute Monarchys, almost all the Troubles that arise, proceed from malice; they cannot be reform'd, the extinction of them is exceeding difficult, if they have continu'd long enough to corrupt the People; and those who appear against 'em, seek only to set up themselves, or their Friends. Thus we see that in the Civil Wars of the East, the question was, Whether
Artaxerxes
or
Cyrus, Phraartes
or
Bardanes,
should reign over the
Persians
and
Parthians:
The People suffer'd equally from both whilst the Contests lasted; and the decision left 'em under the power of a proud and cruel Master. The like is seen in all places. After the death of
Brutus
and
Cassius,
no War was ever undertaken in the
Roman
Empire upon a better account than one man's private concernments: The Provinces suffer'd under all; and he, whom they had assisted to overthrow one wicked Tyrant, very often prov'd worse than his Predecessor. And the only ground of all the Dissensions with which
France
was vex'd under the Princes of
Meroveus
and
Pepin
's Races, were, which of them should reign, the People remaining miserable under them all.
The case is not much different in mix'd Monarchys: Some Wars may be undertaken upon a just and publick account, but the pretences are commonly false: a lasting Reformation is hardly introduc'd, an intire Change often dislik'd. And tho such Kingdoms are frequently and terribly distracted, as appears by the beforemention'd Examples of
England, Spain,
&c. the Quarrels are for the most part begun upon personal Titles, as between
Henry
the First and
Robert; Stephen
and
Maud;
or the Houses of
Lancaster
and
York:
and the People who get nothing by the Victory which way soever it fall, and might therefore prudently leave the Competitors to decide their own Quarrels, like
Theorestes
and
Polinices,
with their own Swords, become cruelly engag'd in them.
It may seem strange to some that I mention Seditions, Tumults, and Wars, upon just occasions; but I can find no reason to retract the term. God intending that men should live justly with one another, dos certainly intend that he or they who do no wrong, should suffer none; and the Law that forbids Injurys, were of no use, if no Penalty might be inflicted on those who will not obey it. If Injustice therefore be evil, and Injurys forbidden, they are also to be punish'd; and the Law instituted for their prevention, must necessarily intend the avenging of such as cannot be prevented. The work of the Magistracy is to execute this Law; the Sword of Justice is put into their hands to restrain the fury of those within the Society who will not be a Law to themselves; and the Sword of War to protect the people against the violence of Foreigners. This is without exception, and would be in vain if it were not. But the Magistrate who is to protect the People from Injury, may, and is often known not to have done it: he sometimes renders his Office useless by neglecting to do Justice; sometimes mischievous by overthrowing it. This strikes at the root of God's general Ordinance, That there should be Laws; and the particular Ordinances of all Societys, that appoint such as seem best to them. The Magistrate therefore is comprehended under both, and subject to both, as well as private men.
The ways of preventing or punishing Injurys, are Judicial or Extrajudicial. Judicial proceedings are of force against those who submit or may be brought to trial, but are of no effect against those who resist, and are of such power that they cannot be constrain'd. It were absurd to cite a man to appear before a Tribunal who can aw the Judges, or has Armys to defend him; and impious to think that he who has added Treachery to his other Crimes, and usurp'd a Power above the Law, should be protected by the enormity of his wickedness. Legal proceedings therefore are to be us'd when the Delinquent submits to the Law; and all are just, when he will not be kept in order by the legal.
The word Sedition is generally apply'd to all numerous Assemblys, without or against the Authority of the Magistrate, or of those who assume that Power.
Athaliah
and
Jezabel
were more ready to cry out Treason than
David;
and examples of that sort are so frequent, that I need not alledg them.
Tumult is from the disorderly manner of those Assemblys, where things can seldom be done regularly; and War is that
Decertatio per vim,
or trial by force, to which men come when other ways are ineffectual.
If the Laws of God and Men are therefore of no effect, when the Magistracy is left at liberty to break them; and if the Lusts of those who are too strong for the Tribunals of Justice, cannot be otherwise restrain'd than by Sedition, Tumults and War, those Seditions, Tumults, and Wars, are justify'd by the Laws of God and Man.
I will not take upon me to enumerate all the cases in which this may be done, but content my self with three, which have most frequently given occasion for proceedings of this kind.
The first is, When one or more men take upon them the Power and Name of a Magistracy, to which they are not justly call'd.
The second, When one or more being justly call'd, continue in their Magistracy longer than the Laws by which they are call'd do prescribe.
And the third, When he or they who are rightly call'd, do assume a Power, tho within the time prescrib'd, that the Law dos not give; or turn that which the Law dos give, to an end different and contrary to that which is intended by it.
For the first;
Filmer
forbids us to examin Titles: he tells us, we must submit to the Power, whether acquir'd by Usurpation or otherwise, not observing the mischievous Absurdity of rewarding the most detestable Villanys with the highest Honors, and rendering the veneration due to the supreme Magistrate as Father of the People, to one who has no other advantage above his Brethren, than what he has gain'd by injuriously dispossessing or murdering him that was so.
Hobbs
fearing the advantages that may be taken from such desperate nonsense, or not thinking it necessary to his end to carry the matter so far, has no regard at all to him who comes in without Title or Consent; and denying him to be either King or Tyrant, gives him no other name than
Hostis & Latro,
and allows all things to be lawful against him, that may be done to a publick Enemy or Pyrat: which is as much as to say, any man may destroy him how he can. Whatever he may be guilty of in other respects, he dos in this follow the voice of Mankind, and the dictates of common sense: for no man can make himself a Magistrate for himself, and no man can have the
De Civ. l. 2.
right of a Magistrate, who is not a Magistrate. If he be justly accounted an Enemy to all, who injures all; he above all must be the publick Enemy of a Nation, who by usurping a power over them, dos the greatest and most publick injury that a People can suffer: For which reason, by an establish'd Law among the most vertuous Nations, every man might kill a Tyrant; and no Names are recorded in History with more honor, than of those who did it.
These are by other Authors call'd
Tyranni sine titulo,
and that name is given to all those who obtain the supreme Power by illegal and unjust means. The Laws which they overthrow can give them no protection; and every man is a Soldier against him who is a publick Enemy.
The same rule holds, tho they are more in number; as the
Magi,
who usurp'd the Dominion of
Persia
after the death of
Cambyses;
the thirty Tyrants at
Athens
overthrown by
Thrasibulus;
those of
Thebes
slain by
Pelopidas;
the
Decemviri
of
Rome,
and others: For tho the multitude of Offenders may sometimes procure impunity, yet that act which is wicked in one, must be so in ten or twenty; and whatsoever is lawful against one Usurper, is so against them all.
2. If those who were rightly created, continue beyond the time limited by the Law, 'tis the same thing. That which is expir'd, is as if it had never bin. He that was created Consul for a year, or Dictator for six months, was after that a private man; and if he had continu'd in the exercise of his Magistracy, had bin subject to the same punishment as if he had usurp'd it at the first. This was known to
Epaminondas,
who finding that his Enterprize against
Sparta
could not be accomplish'd within the time for which he was made
Boeotarches,
rather chose to trust his Countrymen with his life than to desist, and was sav'd merely thro an admiration of his Vertue, assurance of his good Intentions, and the glory of the Action.
The
Roman Decemviri,
tho duly elected, were proceeded against as private men usurping the Magistracy, when they continu'd beyond their time. Other Magistrats had ceas'd; there was none that could regularly call the Senat or People to an Assembly: but when their ambition was manifest, and the People exasperated by the death of
Virginia,
they laid aside all ceremonys. The Senat and People met, and exercising their Authority in the same manner as if they had bin regularly call'd by the Magistrate appointed to that end, they abrogated the Power of the
Decemviri,
proceeded against them as Enemys and Tyrants, and by that means preserv'd themselves from utter ruin.
3. The same course is justly us'd against a legal Magistrate, who takes upon him (tho within the time prescrib'd by the Law) to exercise a Power which the Law dos not give; for in that respect he is a private man,
Quia,
as
Grotius
says,
eatenus non habet imperium;
and may be restrain'd as well as any other, because he is not set up to do what he lists, but what the Law appoints for the good of the People: and as he has no other Power than what the Law allows, so the same Law limits and directs the exercise of that which he has. This Right naturally belonging to Nations, is no way impair'd by the name of
Supreme
given to their Magistrats; for it signifys no more, than that they do act sovereignly in the matters committed to their charge. Thus are the Parliaments of
France
call'd
Cours Souveraines;
for they judg of Life and Death, determin Controversys concerning Estates; and there is no appeal from their Decrees: but no man ever thought, that it was therefore lawful for them to do what they pleas'd; or that they might not be oppos'd, if they should attempt to do that which they ought not. And tho the
Roman
Dictators and Consuls were supreme Magistrats, they were subject to the People, and might be punish'd as well as others if they transgrest the Law.
Thuanus
carrys the word so far, that when
Barlotta, Giustiniano,
and others who were but Colonels, were sent as Commanders in chief of three or four thousand men upon an Enterprize, he always says,
Summum Imperium ei delatum. Grotius
explains this point, by distinguishing those who have the
summum Imperium summo modo,
from those who have it
modo non summo.
I know not where to find an Example of this Sovereign Power, enjoy'd without restriction, under a better title than
Occupation;
which relates not to our purpose, who seek only that which is legal and just. Therefore laying aside that point for the present, we may
De Jur. Bell. & Pac. l. 2.
follow
Grotius
in examining the right of those who are certainly limited:
Ʋ bi partem Imperii habet Rex, partem Senatus sive Populus;
in which case he says,
Regi in partem non suam involanti, vis justa opponi potest,
in as much as they who have a part, cannot but have a right of defending that part.
Quia data facultate, datur jus facultatem tuendi,
without which it could be of no effect.
The particular limits of the Rights belonging to each, can only be judg'd by the precise Letter, or general Intention of the Law. The Dukes of
Venice
have certainly a part in the Government, and could not be call'd Magistrats if they had not. They are said to be
supreme;
all Laws and publick Acts bear their Names. The Embassador of that State speaking
h
an. l. 137.
to Pope
Paul
the Fifth, deny'd that he acknowledg'd any other Superior than God. But they are so well known to be under the Power of the Law, that divers of 'em have bin put to death for transgressing it; and a marble Gallows is seen at the foot of the stairs in St.
Mark
's Palace, upon which some of them, and no others, have bin executed. But if they may be duly oppos'd, when they commit undue Acts, no man of judgment will deny, that if one of them by an outrageous Violence should endeavour to overthrow the Law, he might by violence be supprest and chastis'd.
Again, some Magistrats are intrusted with a power of providing Ships, Arms, Ammunition, and Victuals for War; raising and disciplining Soldiers, appointing Officers to command in Forts and Garisons, and making Leagues with Foreign Princes and States. But if one of these should imbezel, sell, or give to an Enemy those Ships, Arms, Ammunition or Provisions; betray the Forts; employ only or principally, such men as will serve him in those wicked Actions; and, contrary to the trust repos'd in him, make such Leagues with Foreigners, as tend to the advancement of his personal Interests, and to the detriment of the Publick, he abrogates his own Magistracy; and the Right he had, perishes (as the Lawyers say)
frustratione finis.
He cannot be protected by the Law which he has overthrown, nor obtain impunity for his Crimes from the Authority that was confer'd upon him, only that he might do good with it. He was
singulis major
on account of the excellency of his Office; but
universis minor,
from the nature and end of his Institution. The surest way of extinguishing his Prerogative, was by turning it to the hurt of those who gave it. When matters are brought to this posture, the Author of the mischief, or the Nation must perish. A Flock cannot subsist under a Shepherd that seeks its ruin, nor a People under an unfaithful Magistrate. Honor and Riches are justly heap'd upon the heads of those who rightly perform their duty, because the difficulty as well as the excellency of the work is great. It requires Courage, Experience, Industry, Fidelity and Wisdom.
The good Shepherd,
says our Saviour,
lays down his life for his Sheep:
The Hireling who flies in time of danger, is represented under an ill character; but he that sets himself to destroy his Flock, is a Wolf. His Authority is incompatible with their subsistence; and whoever disapproves Tumults, Seditions or War, by which he may be remov'd from it, if gentler means are ineffectual, subverts the Foundation of all Law, exalts the fury of one man to the destruction of a Nation; and giving an irresistible Power to the most abominable Iniquity, exposes all that are good to be destroy'd, and Vertue to be utterly extinguish'd.
Few will allow such a Preeminence to the Dukes of
Venice
or
Genoa,
the Advoyers of
Switzerland,
or the Burgomasters of
Amsterdam.
Many will say these are Rascals if they prove false, and ought rather to be hang'd, than suffer'd to accomplish the Villanys they design. But if this be confest in relation to the highest Magistrats that are among those Nations, why should not the same be in all others, by what name soever they are call'd? When did God confer upon those Nations the extraordinary privilege of providing better for their own safety than others? Or was the Gift universal, tho the Benefit accrue only to those who have banish'd great Titles from among them? If this be so, 'tis not their Felicity, but their Wisdom that we ought to admire and imitate. But why should any think their Ancestors had not the same care? Have not they, who retain'd in themselves a Power over a Magistrate of one name, the like over another? Is there a charm in words, or any name of such efficacy, that he who receives it should immediately become Master of those that created him, whereas all others do remain for ever subject to them? Would the
Venetian
Government change its nature, if they should give the name of King to their Prince? Are the
Polanders
less sree since the title of King is confer'd upon their Dukes; or are the
Moscovites
less Slaves, because their chief Magistrate has no other than that of Duke? If we examin things but a little, 'twill appear that Magistrats have enjoy'd large Powers, who never had the name of Kings; and none were ever more restrain'd by Laws than those of
Sparta, Arragon,
the
Goths
in
Spain, Hungary, Bohemia, Sweden, Denmark, Poland,
and others, who had that Title. There is therefore no such thing as a Right universally belonging to a Name; but every one enjoys that which the Laws, by which he is, con
er upon him. The Law that gives the Power, regulates it; and they who give no more than what they please, cannot be oblig'd to suffer him to whom they give it, to take more than they thought fit to give, or to go unpunish'd if he do. The Agreements made are always confirm'd by Oath, and the treachery of violating them is consequently aggravated by Perjury. They are good Philosophers and able Divines, who think this can create a Right to those who had none; or that the Laws can be a protection to such as overthrow them, and give opportunity of doing the mischiefs they design. If it do not, then he that was a Magistrate, by such actions returns into the condition of a private man; and whatever is lawful against a Thief who submits to no Law, is lawful against him.
Men who delight in cavils may ask, Who shall be the Judg of these occasions? And whether I intend to give to the People the decision of their own Cause? To which I answer, that when the contest is between the Magistrate and the People, the party to which the determination is refer'd, must be the Judg of his own case; and the question is only, Whether the Magistrate should depend on the Judgment of the People, or the People on that of the Magistrate; and which is most to be suspected of injustice: That is, whether the People of
Rome
should judg
Tarquin,
or
Tarquin
judg the People. He that knew all good men abhor'd him for the murder of his Wife, Brother, Father-in-law, and the best of the Senat, would certainly strike off the heads of the most eminent remaining Poppys; and having incur'd the general hatred of the people by the wickedness of his Government, he fear'd revenge; and endeavouring to destroy those he fear'd (that is the City) he might easily have accomplish'd his work, if the judgment had bin refer'd to him. If the People judg
Tarquin,
'tis hard to imagin how they should be brought to give an unjust Sentence: They lov'd their former Kings, and hated him only for his Villanys: They did not fancy, but know his cruelty. When the best were slain, no man that any way resembled them could think himself secure.
Brutus
did not pretend to be a Fool, till by the murder of his Brother he found how dangerous a thing it was to be thought wise. If the people, as our Author says, be always leud, foolish, mad, wicked, and desirous to put the Power into the hands of such as are most like to themselves, he and his Sons were such men as they sought, and he was sure to find favourable Judges: If vertuous and good, no injustice was to be fear'd from them, and he could have no other reason to decline their judgment, than what was suggested by his own wickedness.
Caligula, Nero, Domitian,
and the like, had probably the same considerations: But no man of common sense ever thought that the Senat and People of
Rome
did not better deserve to judg, whether such Monsters should reign over the best part of mankind to their destruction, than they to determin whether their Crimes should be punish'd or not.
If I mention some of these known Cases, every man's experience will suggest others of the like nature; and whosoever condemns all Seditions, Tumults and Wars rais'd against such Princes, must say, that none are wicked, or seek the ruin of their People, which is absurd: for
Caligula
wish'd the People had but one Neck, that he might cut it off at a blow;
Nero
set the City on fire; and we have known such as have bin worse than either of them: They must either be suffer'd to continue in the free exercise of their rage, that is, to do all the mischief they design; or must be restrain'd by a legal, judicial, or extrajudicial way; and they who disallow the extrajudicial, do as little like the judicial. They will not hear of bringing a supreme Magistrate before a Tribunal, when it may be done.
They will,
says our Author,
depose their Kings.
Why should they not be depos'd, if they become Enemys to their People, and set up an interest in their own persons inconsistent with the publick good, for the promoting of which they were erected? If they were created by the publick consent, for the publick good, shall they not be remov'd when they prove to be of publick damage? If they set up themselves, may they not be thrown down? Shall it be lawful for them to usurp a Power over the liberty of others, and shall it not be lawful for an injur'd People to resume their own? If injustice exalt it self, must it be for ever establish'd? Shall great Persons be render'd sacred by rapine, perjury and murder? Shall the crimes for which private men do justly suffer the most grievous punishments, exempt them from all, who commit them in the highest excess, with most power, and most to the prejudice of mankind? Shall the Laws that solely aim at the prevention of Crimes, be made to patronize them, and become snares to the innocent whom they ought to protect? Has every man given up into the common store his right of avenging the Injurys he may receive, that the publick Power which ought to protect or avenge him, should be turn'd to the destruction of himself, his Posterity, and the Society into which they enter, without any possibility of redress? Shall the Ordinance of God be render'd of no effect; or the Powers he has appointed to be set up for the distribution of Justice, be made subservient to the lusts of one or a sew men, and by impunity incourage them to commit all manner of crimes? Is the corruption of man's Nature so little known, that such as have common sense should expect Justice from those, who sear no punishment if they do Injustice; or that the modesty, integrity, and innocence, which is seldom found in one man, tho never so cautiously chosen, should be constantly found in all those who by any means attain to Greatness, and continue for ever in their Successors; or that there can be any security under their Government, if they have them not? Surely if this were the condition of men living under Government, Forests would be more safe than Citys; and 'twere better for every man to stand in his own defence, than to enter into Societys. He that lives alone might encounter such as should assault him upon equal terms, and stand or fall according to the measure of his courage and strength; but no Valor can defend him, if the malice of his Enemy be upheld by a publick Power. There must therefore be a right of proceeding judicially or extrajudicially against all persons who transgress the Laws, or else those Laws, and the Societys that should subsist by them, cannot stand; and the ends for which Governments are constituted, together with the Governments themselves, must be overthrown. Extrajudicial proceedings by Sedition, Tumult, or War, must take place, when the persons concern'd are of such power, that they cannot be brought under the Judicial. They who deny this, deny all help against an usurping Tyrant, or the perfidiousness of a lawfully created Magistrate, who adds the crimes of Ingratitude and Treachery to Usurpation. These of all men are the most dangerous Enemys to supreme Magistrats: for as no man desires indemnity for such Crimes as are never committed, he that would exempt all from punishment, supposes they will be guilty of the worst; and by concluding that the People will depose them if they have the power, acknowledg that they pursue an Interest annex'd to their Persons, contrary to that of their People, which they would not bear if they could deliver themselves from it. This shewing all those Governments to be tyrannical, lays such a burden upon those who administer them, as must necessarily weigh them down to destruction.
If it be said that the word Sedition implys that which is evil; I answer, that it ought not then to be apply'd to those who seek nothing but that which is just; and tho the ways of delivering an opprest People from the violence of a wicked Magistrate, who having arm'd a Crew of leud Villains, and fatted them with the Blood and Confiscations of such as were most ready to oppose him, be extraordinary, the inward righteousness of the Act dos fully justify the Authors. He that has vertue and power to save a People, can never want a right of doing it.
Valerius Asiaticus
had no hand in the death of
Caligula;
but when the furious Guards began tumultuously to inquire who had kill'd him, he appeased them with
wishing he had bin the man.
No wise man ever ask'd by what authority
Thrasibulus, Harmodius, Aristogiton, Pelopidas, Epaminondas, Dion, Timoleon, Lucius Brutus, Publicola, Horatius, Valerius, Marcus Brutus, C. Cassius,
and the like, deliver'd their Countrys from Tyrants. Their Actions carry'd in them their own justification, and their Vertues will never be forgotten whilst the names of
Greece
and
Rome
are remember'd in the World.
If this be not enough to declare the Justice inherent in, and the Glory that ought to accompany these Works, the examples of
Moses, Aaron, Othniel, Ehud, Barac, Gideon, Samuel, Jephtha, David, Jehu, Jehoiada,
the
Maccabees,
and other holy men rais'd up by God for the deliverance of his People from their Oppressors, decide the Question. They are perpetually renown'd for having led the People by extraordinary ways (which such as our Author express under the names of Sedition, Tumult, and War) to recover their Libertys, and avenge the injurys receiv'd from foreign or domestick Tyrants. The work of the Apostles was not in their time to set up or pull down any civil State; but they so behav'd themselves in relation to all the Powers of the Earth, that they gain'd the name of pestilent seditious Fellows, Disturbers of the People; and left it as an inheritance to those, who in succeeding Ages by following their steps should deserve to be call'd their Successors; whereby they were expos'd to the hatred of corrupt Magistrats, and brought under the necessity of perishing by them, or desending themselves against them: and he that denys them that right, dos at once condemn the most glorious Actions of the wisest, best, and holiest men that have bin in the world, together with the Laws of God and Man, upon which they were founded.
Nevertheless, there is a sort of Sedition, Tumult, and War proceeding from Malice, which is always detestable, aiming only at the satisfaction of private Lust, without regard to the publick Good. This cannot happen in a Popular Government, unless it be amongst the Rabble; or when the Body of the People is so corrupted, that it cannot stand; but is most frequent in, and natural to absolute Monarchys. When
Abimelech
desir'd
Judg. 9.
to make himself King, he rais'd a Tumult among the basest of the People: He hir'd light and vain Persons, some Translations call them leud Vagabonds, kill'd his Brethren, but perish'd in his design; the corrupt party that favor'd him not having Strength enough to subdue the other, who were more sincere.
Sp. Melius, Sp. Cassius,
and
Manlius
attempted the like in
Rome:
they acted maliciously, their pretences to procure the publick Good were false. 'Tis probable that some in the City were as bad as they, and knew that mischief was intended; but the Body of the People not being corrupted, they were supprest. It appear'd, says
Livy, Nihil esse minus populare quam regnum:
they who had favor'd
Manlius,
condemn'd him to death when it was prov'd, that
egregias alioqui virtutes foeda regni cupidine maculasset.
But when the People is generally corrupted, such designs seldom miscarry, and the success is always the erection of a Tyranny. Nothing else can please vain and profligate persons, and no Tyranny was ever set up by such as were better qualify'd. The ways of attaining it have always bin by corrupting the manners of the People, bribing Soldiers, entertaining mercenary Strangers, opening Prisons, giving Liberty to Slaves, alluring indigent persons with hopes of abolishing Debts, coming to a new division of Lands, and the like. Seditions rais'd by such men always tend to the ruin of popular Governments; but when they happen under absolute Monarchys, the hurt intended is only to the Person, who being remov'd, the Promoters of 'em set up another; and he that is set up, subsisting only by the strength of those who made him, is oblig'd to foment the Vices that drew them to serve him; tho another may perhaps make use of the same against him.
The consequence of this is, That those who uphold popular Governments, look upon Vice and Indigence as mischiefs that naturally increase each other, and equally tend to the ruin of the State. When men are by Vice brought into want, they are ready for mischief: there is no Villany that men of profligate Lives, lost Reputation, and desperate Fortunes will not undertake. Popular Equality is an enemy to these; and they who would preserve it, must preserve integrity of Manners, Sobriety, and an honest contentedness with what the Law allows. On the other side, the absolute Monarch, who will have no other Law than his own Will, desires to increase the number of those who thro leudness and beggery may incline to depend upon him; tho the same temper of Mind, and condition of Fortune prepare them also for such Seditions as may bring him into danger; and the same corruption which led them to set him up, may invite them to sell him to another that will give them better wages.
I do not by this conclude that all Monarchs are vicious men; but that whoever will set up an absolute Power, must do it by these means; and that if such a Power be already establish'd, and should fall into the hands of a person, who by his Vertue and the gentleness of his Nature should endeavor to render the Yoke so easy, that a better disciplin'd People might be contented to bear it; yet this method could last no longer than his life, and probably would be a means to shorten it; that which was at first establish'd by evil Arts always returning to the same: That which was vicious in the principle, can never be long upheld by Vertue; and we see that the worst of the
Roman
Emperors were not in greater danger from such good men as remain'd undestroy'd, than the best from the corrupt Party that would not be corrected, and sought such a Master as would lay no restriction upon their Vices. Those few who escap'd the rage of these Villains, only gave a little breathing time to the afflicted World, which by their Children or Successors was again plung'd into that extremity of misery, from which they intended to deliver it. An extraordinary Vertue was requir'd to keep a Prince in a way contrary to the principles of his own Government; which being rarely found, and never continuing long in a Family or Succession of men, the endeavors of the best became ineffectual, and either they themselves perish'd in them, or after their death all things return'd into the old polluted Channel.
Tho the Power of the Hebrew Kings was not unlimited, yet it exceeded the Rules set by God, and was sufficient to increase the number of the worst of men, and to give them opportunitys of raising perpetual disturbances. On the King's side there were Flatterers and Instruments of mischief: On the other side there were indebted and discontented Persons. Notwithstanding the Justice of
David
's cause, the Wisdom, Valor, and Piety of his Person, none would follow him, except a few of his own Kindred (who knew what God had promis'd to him) and such as were uneasy in their worldly circumstances. After the death of
Saul
there was a long and bloody War between
Ishbosheth
and
David.
The former being kill'd, the slightest matters were sufficient to put the whole Nation into blood.
Absalom
with a few fair words was able to raise all
Israel
against his Father:
Sheba
the Son of
Bichri
with as much ease rais'd a more dangerous Tumult:
David,
by Wisdom, Valor, and the Blessing of God, surmounted these Difficultys, and prepar'd a peaceable Reign for
Solomon:
but after his death they broke out into a Flame that was never quench'd, till the Nation was so dispers'd that no man knew where to find his Enemys.
Solomon
by his Magnificence had reduc'd
Israel
to such poverty, as inclin'd them to revolt upon the first offer of an opportunity by
Jeroboam.
From that time forward
Israel
was perpetually vex'd with Civil Seditions and Conspiracys, or Wars with their Brethren of
Judah.
Nine Kings with their Familys were destroy'd by the first, and the latter brought such Slaughters upon the miserable People, as were never suffer'd by any who were not agitated by the like Fury; and the course of these mischiefs was never interrupted, till they had brought the Nation into Captivity, and the Country to Desolation. Tho God according to his promise did preserve a light in the House of
David,
yet the Tribe of
Judah
was not the more happy.
Joash
was slain by a private Conspiracy, and
Amaziah
(as is most probable) by publick Authority, for having foolishly brought a terrible Slaughter upon
Judah. Athaliah
destroy'd the King's Race, and was kill'd her self by
Jehoiada,
who not having learn'd from our Author to regard the Power only, and not the ways by which it was obtain'd, caus'd her to be drag'd out of the Temple, and put to a well-deserv'd Death. The whole Story is a Tragedy: and if it be pretended that this proceeded rather from the wrath of God against his People for their Idolatry, than from such causes as are applicable to other Nations; I answer, that this Idolatry was the production of the Government they had set up, and most sutable to it; and chusing rather to subject themselves to the Will of a man than to the Law of God, they deservedly suffer'd the evils that naturally follow the worst Counsels. We know of none who, taking the like course, have not suffer'd the like miserys. Notwithstanding the admirable Vertue and Success of
Alexander,
his Reign was full of Conspiracys, and his knowledg of them prompted him to destroy
Parmenio, Philotas, Clitus, Calisthenes, Hermolaus,
and many more of his best Friends. If he escap'd the Sword, he fell by Poison. The Murder of his Wives, Mother, and Children, by the rage of his own Soldiers; the Fury of his Captains imploy'd in mutual Slaughters, till they were consum'd; his paternal Kingdom after many Revolutions transfer'd to
Cassander
his most mortal Enemy; the utter extinction of his conquering Army, and particularly the famous
Argyraspides,
who being grown faithless and seditious, after the death of
Eumenes
were sent to perish in unknown parts of the East, abundantly testify the admirable stability, good order, peace, and quiet that is enjoy'd under absolute Monarchy. The next Government of the like nature that appear'd upon the Stage of the World was that of
Rome,
introduc'd by Wars that consum'd two thirds of the People; confirm'd by Proscriptions, in which all that were eminent for Nobility, Riches, or Vertue, perish'd. The peace they had under
Augustus
was like that which the Devil allow'd to the Child in the Gospel, whom he rent
Mark 9. 26.
sorely, and left as dead. The miserable City was only cast into a Swound: after long and violent vexations by Seditions, Tumults, and Wars, it lay as dead; and finding no helper like to him who cur'd the Child, it was deliver'd to new Devils to be tormented, till it was utterly destroy'd.
Tiberius
was appointed as a fit instrument for such a purpose. It was thought that those who should feel the effects of his Pride, Cruelty, and Lust, would look upon the Death of
Augustus
as a loss. He perform'd the work for which he was chosen; his Reign was an uninterrupted Series of Murders, Subornations, Perjurys, and Poisonings, intermix'd with the most detestable Impuritys, the revolts of Provinces, and Mutinys of Armys. The matter was not mended by his Successors:
Caligula
was kill'd by his own Guards;
Claudius
poison'd by his Wife:
Spain, Gaul, Germany, Pannonia, Maesia, Syria,
and
Aegypt,
revolted at once from
Nero;
the People and Senat follow'd the example of the Provinces. This I think was, in our Author's sense, Sedition with a witness.
Nero
being dead by the hand of a Slave, or his own, to prevent that of the Hangman,
Galba
enter'd the City with Blood and Slaughter; but when his own Soldiers found he would not give the Mony for which they intended to sell the Empire, they kill'd him: and to shew the stability of Absolute Monarchy, it may be observ'd, that this was not done by the advice of the Senat, or by a conspiracy of great men;
Suscepere duo manipulares
C. Tacit. Hist▪ l. 1.
Populi Romani Imperium transferendum, & transtulerunt.
Two Rascals gave the Empire to
Otho,
and the whole Senat was like to be butcher'd for not being so ready to follow their venerable Authority as they ought to have bin, and hardly escap'd the fury of their mad and drunken Companions. As a farther testimony that these Monarchys are not subject to Seditions and Tumults, he had at once only two Competitors against whom he was to defend the well-acquir'd Empire: His Army was deseated at
Brescia,
he kill'd himself; and his Successor
Vitellius
was soon after thrown into the Common-shore. The same method still continu'd:
Rome
was fill'd with Blood and Ashes; and to recite all the publick Mischiefs would be to transcribe the History: For as
Pyrrhus
being ask'd who should succeed him, answer'd, He who has the sharpest Sword; that was the only Law that govern'd in the following ages. Whoever could corrupt two or three Legions, thought he had a good title to the Empire; and unless he happen'd to be kill'd by Treachery, or another Tumult of his own Soldiers, he seldom receded from it without a Battel, wherein he that was most successful, had no other security than what the present temper of the Soldiers afforded him: and the miserable Provinces having neither Vertue nor Force, were oblig'd slavishly to follow the fury or fortune of those Villains. In this state did
Rome
dedicate to
Constantine
the Triumphal Arch that had bin prepar'd for
Maxentius;
and those Provinces which had set up
Albinus
and
Niger
submitted to
Septimius Severus.
In the vast variety of Accidents that in those Ages disturb'd the World, no Emperor had a better title than what he purchas'd by Mony or Violence; and enjoy'd it no longer than those helps continu'd, which of all things were the most uncertain. By this means most of the Princes perish'd by the Sword,
Italy
was made desolate, and
Rome
was several times sack'd and burnt. The Mistress of the World being made a Slave, the Provinces which had bin acquir'd by the Blood of her antient vertuous Citizens, became part of an Usurper's Patrimony, who without any regard to the publick good, distributed 'em to his Children according to their number, or his passion. These either destroy'd one another, or fell under the Sword of a third who had the fortune of their Father, the greatest part most commonly falling to the share of the worst. If at any time the contrary happen'd, the Government of the best was but a lucid interval, and well-wishing men grew more extremely to abhor the darkness that follow'd when they were gone. The best of 'em could do no more than suspend mischief for a while, but could not correct the corrupt principle of their Government; and some of 'em were destroy'd as soon as they were thought to intend it: Others who finish'd their days in peace, left the Empire to such persons of their relations as were most unlike to them.
Domitian
came in as Brother to
Titus. Commodus
and
Heliogabalus
were recommended by the memory of those Vertues that had bin found in
Antoninus
and
Aurelius. Honorius
and
Arcadius,
who by their baseness brought utter ruin upon the Western and Eastern Empires, were the Sons of the brave
Theodosius.
They who could keep their hands free from Blood, and their Hearts from Malice, Covetousness, and Pride, could not transmit their Vertues to their Successors, nor correct the perverseness that lay at the root and foundation of their Government. The whole mass of Blood was vitiated: the Body was but one vast Sore, which no hand but that of the Almighty could heal; and he who from an abhorrence of iniquity had declar'd he would not hear the crys of his own people, when they had chosen the thing that was not good, would not shew mercy to Strangers who had done the same thing.
I have insisted upon the
Hebrew, Macedonian
and
Roman
Historys, because they are the most eminent and best known to us: We are in the dark concerning the
Babylonian, Assyrian, Chaldean, Bactrian,
and
Egyptian
Monarchys: We know little more of them than the Scripture occasionally relates concerning their barbarous cruelty, bestial pride, and extravagant folly. Others have bin like to them, and I know not where to find a peaceable Monarchy unless it be in
Peru,
where the
Ynca Gar
ilasso de la Vega
says, that a Man and a Woman, Children of the Sun and the Moon, appearing amongst a barbarous people living without any Religion or Law, establish'd a Government amongst them, which continu'd in much Peace and Justice for twelve Generations: But this seeming to be as fabulous as their Birth, we may pass it over, and fix upon those that are better known; of which there is not one that has not suffer'd more dangerous and mischievous Seditions, than all the popular Governments that have bin in the World: And the condition of those Kingdoms which are not absolute, and yet give a preference to Birth, without consideration of Merit or Vertue, is not much better.
This is prov'd by the Reasons of those Seditions and Tumults, as well as from the Fact it self.
The Reasons arise from the violence of the Passions that incite men to them, and the intricacy of the Questions concerning Succession.
Every man has Passions; few know how to moderate, and no one can wholly extinguish them. As they are various in their nature, so they are govern'd by various Objects; and men usually follow that which is predominant in them, whether it proceed from Anger or Desire, and whether it terminate in Ambition, Covetousness, Lust, or any other more or less blamable Appetite. Every manner of life furnishes something, that in some measure may foment these; but a Crown comprehends all that can be grateful to the most violent and vicious. He who is covetous, has vast Revenues, besides what he may get by fraud and rapine, to satisfy his Appetite. If he be given to Sensuality, the variety of pleasures, and the facility of accomplishing whatever he desires, tends farther to inflame that Passion. Such as are ambitious, are incited by the greatness of their Power to attempt great matters; and the most sottish or lazy may discharge themselves of Cares, and hope that others will be easily hir'd to take the burden of Business upon them whilst they lie at ease. They who naturally incline to pride and cruelty, are more violently tempted to usurp Dominion; and the wicked Advices of Flatterers, always concurring with their Passions, incite them to exercise the Power they have gotten with the utmost rigor, to satiate their own rage, and to secure themselves against the effects of the publick hatred, which they know they have deserv'd. If there be, as our Author says, no other Rule than Force and Success, and that he must be taken for the Father of a People who is in possession of a Power over them; whoever has the one, may put the other to a trial. Nay, even those who have regard to Justice, will seldom want Reasons to persuade them that it is on their side. Something may be amiss in the State; Injurys may be done to themselves and their Friends. Such Honors may be deny'd as they think they deserve; or others of less Merit, as they suppose, may be prefer'd before them. Men do so rarely make a right estimate of their own Merits, that those who mean well may be often deceiv'd: and if nothing but Success be requir'd to make a Monarch, they may think it just to attempt whatever they can hope to accomplish. This was the case of
Julius Caesar;
he thought all things
Viribus utendum est quas fecimus: arma cenenti
Omnia dat qui justa negat.
Lu
an.
lawful, when the Consulat, which he suppos'd he had deserv'd, was deny'd. These Enterprizes seem to belong to men of great Spirits; but there are none so base not to be capable of undertaking, and (as things may stand) of bringing 'em to perfection. History represents no man under a more contemptible character of sottis
Laziness, Cowardice, and Drunkenness, than
Vitellius;
no one more impure and sordid than
Galba: Otho
was advanc'd for being in his manners like to
Nero: Vespasian
was scorn'd for his Avarice, till the Power fell into such hands as made the world believe none could be unworthy of the Empire; and in the following Ages the worst men by the worst means most frequently obtain'd it.
These Wounds are not cur'd by saying, that the Law of God and Nature prevents this mischief, by annexing the Succession of Crowns to proximity of Blood; for mankind had not bin continually afflicted with them if there had bin such a Law, or that they could have bin prevented by it: and tho there were such a Law, yet more Questions would arise about that Proximity, than any wise man would dare to determin. The Law can be of no effect, unless there be a Power to decide the Contests arising upon it: But the fundamental Maxim of the great Monarchys is, that there can be no
Interregnum:
The Heir of the Crown is in possession, as soon as he who did injoy it is dead.
Le Mort,
as the
French
say,
Saisit le vif:
There can be therefore no such Law, or it serves for nothing. If there be Judges to interpret the Law, no man is a King till judgment be given in his favor; and he is not King by his own Title, but by the Sentence given by them. If there be none, the Law is merely imaginary, and every man may in his own case make it what he pleases. He who has a Crown in his view, and Arms in his hand, wants nothing but success to make him a King; and if he prospers, all men are oblig'd to obey him.
'Tis a folly to say the matter is clear, and needs no decision; for every man knows that no Law concerning privat Inheritances can be so exactly drawn, but many Controversys will arise upon it, that must be decided by a Power to which both Partys are subject: and the disputes concerning Kingdoms are so much the more difficult, because this Law is no where to be found; and the more dangerous, because the Competitors are for the most part more powerful.
Again, this Law must either be general to all Mankind, or particular to each Nation. If particular, a matter of such importance requires good proof, when, where, how, and by whom it was given to every one. But the Scriptures testifying to the contrary, that God gave Laws to the
Jews
only, and that no such thing as hereditary Monarchy, according to proximity of Blood, was prescrib'd by them, we may safely say, that God never gave any such Law to every particular, nor to any Nation. If he did not give it to any one, he did not give it to all, for every one is comprehended in all; and if no one has it, 'tis impossible that all can have it; or that it should be obligatory to all, when no man knows or can tell, when, where, and by what hand it was given, nor what is the sense of it: all which is evident by the various Laws and Customs of Nations in the disposal of hereditary Successions: And no one of them, that we know, has to this day bin able to shew that the method follow'd by them, is more according to nature than that of others.
If our Author pretends to be God's Interpreter, and to give the solution of these doubts, I may ask which of the five following ways are appointed by God, and then we may examin Cases resulting from them.
1. In
France, Turky,
and other places, the Succession comes to the next Male, in the streight eldest Line, according to which the Son is prefer'd before the Brother of him who last enjoy'd the Crown, (as the present King of
France
before his Uncle the Duke of
Orleans)
and the Son of the eldest before the Brothers of the eldest; as in the case of
Richard
the Second of
England,
who was advanc'd preferably to all the Brothers of the black Prince his Father.
2. Others keep to the Males of the reigning Family, yet have more regard to the eldest Man than to the eldest Line: and Representation taking no place among them, the eldest Man is thought to be nearest to the first King; and a second Son of the Person that last reign'd, to be nearer to him than his Grandchild by the eldest Son: according to which Rule, any one of the Sons of
Edward
the Third remaining after his death, should have bin prefer'd before
Richard
the Second who was his Grandchild.
3. In the two cases beforemention'd, no manner of regard is had to Females, who being thought naturally uncapable of commanding Men, or performing the Functions of a Magistrate, are, together with their Descendents, utterly excluded from the supreme as well as from the inferior Magistracys; and in
Turky, France,
and other great Kingdoms, have no pretence to any Title: But in some places, and particularly in
England,
the advantages of Proximity belong to them as well as to Males; by which means our Crown has bin transported to several Familys and Nations.
4. As in some places they are utterly rejected, and in others receiv'd simply without any condition; so those are not wanting, where that of not marrying out of the Country, or without the consent of the Estates, is impos'd, of which
Sweden
is an Example.
5. In some places Proximity of Blood is only regarded, whether the Issue be legitimate, or illegitimate; in others Bastards are wholly excluded.
By this variety of Judgments made by several Nations upon this Point, it may appear, that tho it were agreed by all that the next in Blood ought to succeed, yet such Contests would arise upon the interpretation and application of the general Rule, as must necessarily be a perpetual Spring of irreconcilable and mortal Quarrels.
If any man say, The Rule observ'd in
England
is that which God gave to Mankind; I leave him first to dispute that point with the Kings of
France,
and many others, who can have no right to the Crowns they wear, if it be admitted; and in the next place to prove that our Ancestors had a more immediate communication with God, and a more certain knowledg of his Will than others, who for any thing we know, may be of Authority equal to them: But in the mean time we may rationally conclude, that if there be such a Rule, we have had no King in
England
for the space of almost a thousand years, having not had one who did not come to the Crown by a most manifest violation of it; as appears by the forecited Examples of
William
the First and Second;
Henry
the First;
Henry
the Second and his Children;
John, Edward
the Third,
Henry
the Fourth,
Edward
the Fourth and his Children;
Henry
the Seventh, and all that claim under any of them. And if Possession or Success can give a right, it will I think follow, that
Jack Straw, Wat Tyler, Perkin Warbeck,
or any other Rascal, might have had it if he had bin as happy as bold in his Enterprize. This is no less than to expose Crowns to the first that can seize them, to destroy all Law and Rule, and to render Right a slave to Fortune. If this be so, a late Earl of
Pembroke,
whose understanding was not thought great, judg'd rightly when he said his Grandfather was a wise man tho he could neither write nor read, in as much as he resolv'd to follow the Crown, tho it were upon a Coalstaff. But if this be sufficient to make a wise man, 'tis pity the secret was no sooner discover'd, since many, who for want of it liv'd and dy'd in all the infamy that justly accompanys Knavery, Cowardice and Folly, might have gain'd the reputation of the most excellent Men in their several ages. The bloody Factions with which all Nations subject to this sort of Monarchy have bin perpetually vex'd, might have bin prevented by throwing up cross or pile, or by battel between the Competitors body to body, as was done by
Corbis
and
Orsua, Cleorestes
and
Polinices, Ironside
and
Canutus;
it being most unreasonable, or rather impiously absurd, for any to venture their Lives and Fortunes, when their Consciences are not concern'd in the Contest, and that they are to gain nothing by the Victory.
If Reason teaches, that till this expeditious way of ending Controversys be receiv'd, the Ambition of men will be apt to imbroil Nations in their Quarrels; and others judging variously of those matters, which can be reduc'd to no certain Rule, will think themselves in Conscience oblig'd to follow the party that seems to them to be most just: Experience manifests the same, and that Ambition has produc'd more violent mischiefs than all the other desires and passions that have ever possest the hearts of men. That this may appear, it will not be amiss to divide these mischiefs, into such as proceed from him who is in possession of the Power, thro jealousy of State, as they call it, to prevent the enterprizes of those who would dispossess him, and such as arise between Competitors contending for it.
Tarquin
's Counsel concerning the Poppys, and
Periander
's heads of Corn, are of the first sort. The most eminent are always most fear'd, as the readiest to undertake, and most able to accomplish great Designs. This eminence proceeds from Birth, Riches, Vertue, or Reputation, and is sometimes wrought up to the greatest height by a conjunction of all these. But I know not where to find an example of such a man, who could long subsist under Absolute Monarchy. If he be of high Birth, he must, like
Brutus,
conceal his Vertue, and gain no reputation, or resolve to perish, if he do not prevent his own death by that of the Tyrant: All other ways are ineffectual; the suspicions, fears and hatred thereupon arising, are not to be remov'd: Personal respects are forgotten, and such services as cannot be sufficiently valu'd, must be blotted out by the death of those who did them. Various ways may be taken, and pretences us'd according to the temper of Times and Nations; but the thing must be done; and whether it be colour'd by a trick of Law, or perform'd by a Mute with a Bowstring, imports little.
Henry
the fourth was made King by the Earl of
Northumberland,
and his brave Son
Hotspur; Edward
the fourth by the valiant Earl of
Warwick; Henry
the seventh by
Stanley:
but neither of 'em could think himself safe, till his Benefactor was dead. No continu'd fidelity, no testimonys of modesty and humility can prevent this. The modesty of
Germanicus
in rejecting the Honors that were offer'd to him, and his industry in quieting the mutiny'd Legions, accelerated his ruin: When 'twas evident he might be Emperor if he pleas'd, he must be so, or die: There was no middle station between the Throne and the Grave. 'Tis probable that
Caligula, Nero,
and other Beasts like to them, might hate Vertue for the good which is in it; but I cannot think that either they, their Predecessors or Successors, would have put themselves upon the desperate design of extirpating it, if they had not found it to be inconsistent with their Government; and that being once concluded, they spar'd none of their nearest Relations.
Artaxerxes
kill'd his Son
Darius: Herod
murder'd the best of his Wives, and all his Sons except the worst.
Tiberius
destroy'd
Agrippa Postuhmus,
and
Germanicus
with his Wife and two Sons. How highly soever
Constantine
the Great be commended, he was polluted with the Blood of his Father-in-law, Wife, and Son.
Philip
the second of
Spain
did in like manner deliver himself from his fears of
Don Carlos;
and 'tis not doubted that
Philip
the fourth, for the same reasons, dispatch'd his Brother
Don Carlos,
and his Son
Balthasar.
The like cases were so common in
England,
that all the
Plantagenets,
and the noble Familys ally'd to them, being extinguish'd, our Ancestors were sent to seek a King in one of the meanest in
Wales.
This method being known, those who are unwilling to die so tamely, endeavour to find out ways of defending themselves; and there being no other than the death of the Person who is in the Throne, they usually seek to compass it by secret Conspiracy, or open Violence; and the number of Princes that have bin destroy'd, and Countrys disturb'd by those who thro fear have bin driven to extremitys, is not much less than of those who have suffer'd the like from men following the impulse of their own Ambition.
The disorders arising from Contests between several Competitors, before any one could be settled in the possession of Kingdoms, have bin no less frequent and bloody than those above-mention'd; and the miserys suffer'd by them, together with the ruin brought upon the Empires of
Macedon
and
Rome,
may be sufficient to prove it: however to make the matter more clear, I shall alledg others. But because it may be presumption in me to think I know all the Historys of the World, or tedious to relate all those I know, I shall content my self with some of the most eminent and remarkable: And if it appears they have all suffer'd the same mischiefs, we may believe they proceed not from Accidents, but from the power of a permanent Cause, that always produces the same or the like Effects.
To begin with
France.
The Succession not being well settled in the time of
Meroveus,
who had dispossest the Grandchildren of
Pharamond,
he was no sooner dead than
Gillon
set up himself, and with much slaughter drove his Son
Chilperic
out of the Kingdom; who after a little time returning with like fury, is said to have seen a Vision, first of Lions and Leopards, then of Bears and Wolves, and lastly of Dogs and Cats, all tearing one another to pieces. This has bin always accounted by the
French
Hist. de France en la Vie de Chilperic 1.
to be a representation of the nature and fortune of the three Races that were to command them, and has bin too much verify'd by experience.
Clovis
their first Christian and most renowned King, having by good means or evil exceedingly enlarg'd his Territorys, but chiefly by the murders of
Alaric,
and
Ragnacaire
with his Children, and suborning
Mezeray & de Serres.
Sigismond
of
Metz
to kill his Father
Sigebert,
left his Kingdom to be torn in pieces by the rage of his four Sons, each of 'em endeavouring to make himself Master of the whole; and when, according to the usual fate of such Contests, success had crown'd
Clothair,
who was the worst of 'em all, by the
laughter of his Brothers and Nephews, with all the flower of the
French
and
Gaulish
Nobility, the advantages of his Fortune only resulted to his own person. For after his death the miserable Nations suffer'd as much srom the madness of his Sons, as they had done by himself and his Brothers. They had learn'd from their Predecessors not to be slow in doing mischief, but were farther incited by the rage of two infamous Strumpets,
Fredegonde
and
Brunehaud,
which is a sort of Vermin that, I am inclin'd to think, has not usually govern'd Senats or Popular Assemblys.
Chilperic
the second, who by the slaughter of many Persons of the Royal Blood, with infinite numbers of the Nobility and People, came to be Master of so much of the Country as procur'd him the name of King of
France,
kill'd his eldest Son on suspicion he was excited against him by
Brunehaud,
and his second, lest he should revenge the death of his Brother: he marry'd
Fredegonde,
and was soon after kill'd by her Adulterer
Landry.
The Kingdom continu'd in the same misery thro the rage of the surviving Princes, and found no relief, tho most of 'em fell by the Sword; and that
Brunehaud
who had bin a principal Cause of those Tragedys, was ty'd to the tails of four wild Horses, and suffer'd a death as foul as her life. These were Lions and Leopards. They involv'd the Kingdom in desperate troubles; but being Men of valor and industry, they kept up in some measure the Reputation and Power of the Nation, and he who attain'd to the Crown defended it. But they being fallen by the hands of each other, the poisonous Root put forth another Plague more mortal than their Fury. The vigor was spent, and the Succession becoming more settled, ten base and slothful Kings, by the
French
called
Les Roys faineans,
succeeded. Some may say, They who do nothing, do no hurt; but the Rule is false in relation to Kings. He that takes upon him the Government of a People, can do no greater evil than by doing nothing, nor be guilty of a more unpardonable Crime, than by Negligence, Cowardice, Voluptuousness, and Sloth, to desert his charge. Vertue and Manhood perish under him; good Disciplin is forgotten; Justice slighted; the Laws perverted or render'd useless; the People corrupted; the publick Treasures exhausted; and the Power of the Government always falling into the hands of Flatterers, Whores, Favorites, Bauds, and such base Wretches as render it contemptible, a way is laid open for all manner of disorders. The greatest cruelty that has bin known in the world, if accompany'd with wit and courage, never did so much hurt as this slothful bestiality; or rather these slothful Beasts have ever bin most cruel. The Reigns of
Septimius Severus, Mahomet
the second, or
Selim
the second, were cruel and bloody; but their fury was turn'd against Foreigners, and some of their near Relations, or against such as fell under the suspicion of making attempts against them: The condition of the People was tolerable; those who would be quiet might be safe; the Laws kept their right course; the Reputation of the Empire was maintain'd, the Limits defended, and the publick Peace preserv'd. But when the Sword past into the hands of leud, slothful, foolish, and cowardly Princes, it was of no power against foreign Enemys, or the disturbers of domestic Peace, tho always sharp against the best of their own Subjects. No man knew how to secure himself against them, unless by raising civil Wars; which will always be srequent, when a Crown defended by a weak hand is propos'd as a Prize to any that dare invade it. This is a perpetual Spring of disorders; and no Nation was ever quiet, when the most eminent men found less danger in the most violent Attempts, than in submitting patiently to the Will of a Prince, that suffers his Power to be manag'd by vile Persons, who get credit by flattering him in his Vices. But this is not all; such Princes naturally hate and fear those who excel them in Vertue and Reputation, as much as they are inferior to them in Fortune; and think their Persons cannot be secur'd, nor their Authority enlarg'd, except by their destruction. 'Tis ordinary for them,
inter scorta & ganeas principibus
C. Tacit.
viris perniciem machinare,
and to make Cruelty a cover to Ignorance and Cowardice. Besides the Mischiefs brought upon the Publick by the loss of eminent Men, who are the Pillars of every State, such Reigns are always accompany'd with Tumults and Civil Wars, the great Men striving with no less violence who shall get the weak Prince into his power, when such regard is had to succession that they think it not fit to devest him of the Title, than when with less respect they contend for the Sovereignty it self. And whilst this sort of Princes reign'd,
France
was not less afflicted with the Contests between
Grimbauld, Ebroin, Grimoald,
and others, for the Mayoralty of the Palace, than they had bin before by the rage of those Princes who had contested for the Crown. The Issue also was the same: After many Revolutions,
Charles Martel
gain'd the Power of the Kingdom, which he had so bravely defended against the
Saracens;
and having transmitted it to his Son
Pepin,
the General Assembly of Estates, with the approbation of Mankind, confer'd the Title also upon him. This gave the Nation ease for the present; but the deep-rooted Evil could not be so cur'd; and the Kingdom, that by the Wisdom, Valor, and Reputation of
Pepin,
had bin preserv'd from civil Troubles during his life, fell as deeply as ever into them so soon as he was dead. His Sons,
Carloman
and
Charles,
divided the Dominions, but in a little time each of them would have all.
Carloman
fill'd the Kingdom with Tumult; rais'd the
Lombards,
and march'd with a great Army against his Brother, till his course was interrupted by death, caus'd, as is suppos'd, by such helps as Princes liberally afford to their aspiring Relations.
Charles
depriv'd his two Sons of their Inheritance, put them in Prison, and we hear no more of them. His third Brother
Griffon
was not more quiet, nor more successful; and there could be no Peace in
Gascony, Italy,
or
Germany,
till he was kill'd. But all the Advantages which
Charles,
by an extraordinary Vertue and Fortune, had purchas'd for his Country, ended with his Life. He left his Son
Lewis
the
Gentle
in possession of the Empire, and Kingdom of
France,
and his Grandson
Bernard
King of
Italy:
But these two could not agree, and
Bernard
falling into the hands of
Lewis,
was depriv'd of his Eyes, and some time after kill'd. This was not enough to preserve the Peace:
Lothair, Lewis
and
Pepin,
all three Sons to
Lewis,
rebel'd against him; call'd a Council at
Lions,
depos'd him, and divided the Empire amongst themselves. After five years he escap'd from the Monastery where he had bin kept, renew'd the War, and was again taken Prisoner by
Lothair.
When he was dead, the War broke out more fiercely than ever between his Children:
Lothair
the Fmperor assaulted
Lewis
King of
Bavaria
and
Charles
King of
Rhetia;
was defeated by them, and confin'd to a Monastery, where he dy'd. New Quarrels arose between the two Brothers, upon the division of the Countrys taken from him, and
Lorrain
only was lest to his Son.
Lewis
dy'd soon after, and
Charles
getting possession of the Empire and Kingdom, ended an inglorious Reign in an unprosperous attempt to deprive
Hermingrade,
Daughter to his Brother
Lewis,
of the Kingdom of
Arles,
and other places left to her by her Father.
Lewis
his Son, call'd the
Stutterer,
reign'd two years in much trouble; and his only legitimate Son,
Charles
the
Simple,
came not to the Crown till after the death of his two Bastard Brothers,
Lewis
and
Carloman, Charles le Gros,
and
Eudes
Duke of
Anjou. Charles le Gros
was depos'd from the Empire and Kingdom, strip'd of his Goods, and left to perish thro poverty in an obscure Village.
Charles
the
Simple,
and the Nations under him, thriv'd no better:
Robert
Duke of
Anjou
rais'd War against him, and was crown'd at
Rheims;
but was himself slain soon after in a bloody battel near
Soissons.
His Son-in-law,
Hebert
Earl of
Vermandois,
gather'd up the remains of his scatter'd Party, got
Charles
into his power, and call'd a General Assembly of Estates, who depos'd him, and gave the Crown to
Raoul
Duke of
Burgundy;
tho he was no otherwise related to the Royal Blood than by his Mother, which in
France
is nothing at all. He being dead,
Lewis
Son to the depos'd
Charles
was made King; but his Reign was as inglorious to him, as miserable to his Subjects. This is the Peace which the
French
enjoy'd for the space of five or six Ages under their Monarchy; and 'tis hard to determin whether they suffer'd most by the Violence of those who possest, or the Ambition of others who aspir'd to the Crown; and whether the fury of active, or the baseness of slothful Princes was most pernicious to them: But upon the whole matter, thro the defects of those of the latter sort, they lost all they had gain'd by sweat and blood under the conduct of the former.
Henry
and
Otho
of
Saxony,
by a Vertue like that of
Charlemagne,
depriv'd them of the Empire, and settled it in
Germany,
leaving
France
only to
Lewis
sirnam'd
Outremer,
and his Son
Lothair.
These seem'd to be equally compos'd of Treachery, Cruelty, Ambition, and Baseness: They were always mutinous, and always beaten: Their frantick Passions put 'em always upon unjust designs, and were such plagues to their Subjects and Neighbours, that they became equally detested and despis'd. These things extinguish'd the veneration due to the memory of
Pepin
and
Charles;
and oblig'd the whole Nation rather to seek relief from a Stranger, than to be ruin'd by their worthless Descendents. They had try'd all ways that were in their power, depos'd four crowned Kings within the space of a hundred and fifty years; crown'd five who had no other Title than the People confer'd upon them, and restor'd the Descendents of those they had rejected, but all was in vain: Their Vices were incorrigible, the Mischiefs produc'd by them intolerable; they never ceas'd from murdering one another in battel, or by treachery, and bringing the Nation into Civil Wars upon their wicked or foolish Quarrels, till the whole Race was rejected, and the Crown plac'd upon the head of
Hugh Capet.
These Mischiess rag'd not in the same extremity under him and his Descendents, but the abatement proceeded from a cause no way advantageous to Absolute Monarchy. The
French
were by their Calamitys taught more strictly to limit the Regal Power; and by turning the Dukedoms and Earldoms into Patrimonys, which had bin Offices, gave an Authority to the chief of the Nobility, by which that of Kings was curb'd; and tho by this means the Commonalty were expos'd to some Pressures, yet they were small in comparison of what they had suffer'd in sormer times. When many great Men had Estates of their own that did not depend upon the Will of Kings, they grew to love their Country; and tho they chearfully serv'd the Crown in all cases of publick Concernment, they were not easily engag'd in the personal quarrels of those who possest it, or had a mind to gain it. To preserve themselves in this condition, they were oblig'd to use their Vassals gently; and this continuing in some measure till within the last fifty years, the Monarchy was less tumultuous, than when the King's Will had bin less restrain'd. Nevertheless they had not much reason to boast; there was a Root still remaining, that from time to time produc'd poisonous Fruit: Civil Wars were frequent among them, tho not carry'd on with such desperate madness as formerly; and many of them upon the account of disputes between Competitors for the Crown. All the Wars with
England,
since
Edward
the Second marry'd
Isabella
Daughter, and, as he pretended, Heir of
Philip Le Bel,
were of this nature. The defeats of
Crecy, Poitiers,
and
Agincourt,
with the slaughters and devastations suffer'd from
Edward
the Third, the black Prince, and
Henry
the Fifth, were merely upon Contests for the Crown. The Factions of
Orleans
and
Burgundy, Orleans
and
Armagnac,
proceeded from the same Spring; and the Murders that seem to have bin the immediate causes of those Quarrels, were only the effects of the hatred growing from their competition. The more odious, tho less bloody Contests between
Lewis
the 11
th,
and his Father
Charles
the 7
th,
with the jealousy of the former against his Son
Charles
the 8
th,
arose from the same Principle.
Charles
of
Bourbon
prepar'd to fill
France
with Fire and Blood upon the like quarrel, when his Designs were overthrown by his death in the assault of
Rome.
If the Dukes of
Guise
had bin more fortunate, they had soon turn'd the cause of Religion into a claim to the Crown, and repair'd the Injury done, as they pretended, to
Pepin
's Race, by destroying that of
Capet:
And
Henry
the Third thinking to prevent this by the slaughter of
Henry le Balafré,
and his Brother the Cardinal
de Guise,
brought ruin upon himself, and cast the Kingdom into a most horrid confusion. Our own Age furnishes us with more than one attempt of the same kind, attended with the like success. The Duke of
Orleans
was several times in arms against
Lewis
the 13
th
his Brother; the Queen-mother drew the
Spaniards
to favour him;
Montmorency
perish'd in his Quarrel;
Fontrailles
reviv'd it by a Treaty with
Spain,
which struck at the King's head as well as the Cardinal's, and was supprest by the death of
Cinq Mars
and
de Thou.
Those who understand the Affairs of that Kingdom, make no doubt that the Count
de Soissons
would have set up for himself, and bin follow'd by the best part of
France,
if he had not bin kill'd in the pursuit of his Victory at the Battel of
Sedan.
Since that time the Kingdom has suffer'd such Disturbances as show, that more was intended than the removal of
Mazarin:
And the
Marechal de Turenne
was often told, that the check he gave to the Prince of
Condé
at
Gien,
after he had defeated
Hocquincourt,
had preserv'd the Crown upon the King's Head. And to testify the Stability, good Order, and domestick Peace that accompanys Absolute Monarchy, we have in our own days seen the House of
Bourbon
often divided within it self; the Duke of
Orleans,
the Count
de Soissons,
and the Princes of
Condé
and
Conti
in war against the King; the Dukes of
Angoulesme, Vendome, Longueville,
the Count
de Moret,
and other Bastards of the Royal Family, following their example; the Houses of
Guise, D' Elbeuf, Bouillon, Nemours, Rochefocault,
and almost all the most eminent in
France,
with the Parliaments of
Paris, Bourdeaux,
and some others, joining with them. I might alledg many more Examples, to shew that this Monarchy, as well as all others, has from the first establishment bin full of blood and slaughter, thro the violence of those who possest the Crown, and the Ambition of such as aspir'd to it; and that the end of one Civil War has bin the beginning of another: But I presume upon the whole, these will be thought sufficient to prove, that it never enjoy'd any permanent Domestick Quiet.
The Kingdoms of
Spain
have bin no less disturb'd by the same means; but especially that of
Castile,
where the Kings had more power than in other places. To cite all the Examples, were to transcribe their Historys; but whoever has leisure to examin them will find, that after many troubles,
Alphonso
the Second, notwithstanding his glorious sirname of
Wise,
was depos'd by means of his ambitious Son:
Don Alonso,
sirnam'd
El Desheredado,
supplanted by his Uncle
Don Sancho el bravo: Peter
the Cruel cast from the Throne, and kill'd by his bastard Brother the
Conde de Trastamara.
From the time of the above-nam'd
Alphonso
to that of
Ferdinand
and
Isabella,
containing about two hundred years, so few of them past without Civil Wars, that I hardly remember two together that were free from them: And whosoever pretends that of late years that Monarchy has bin more quiet, must, if he be ingenuous, confess their Peace is rather to be imputed to the dexterity of removing such Persons as have bin most likely to raise Disturbances (of which number were
Don John
of
Austria, Don Carlos
Son to
Philip
the Second, another of the same name Son to
Philip
the Third, and
Don Belthazar
Son to
Philip
the Fourth) than to the rectitude of their Constitutions.
He that is not convinc'd of these Truths by what has bin said, may come nearer home, and see what Mischiefs were brought upon
Scotland
Buchan. de reb. Scot.
by the Contests between
Baliol
and
Bruce,
with their Consequences, till the Crown came to the
Stuart
Family; the quiet Reigns and happy
Drummond. Melvil.
Deaths of the five
James
's, together with the admirable Stability and Peace of the Government under Queen
Mary,
and the perfect Union in which she liv'd with her Husband, Son and People, as well as the Happiness of the Nation whilst it lasted.
But the Miserys of
England,
upon the like occasions, surpass all.
William
the
Norman
was no sooner dead, but the Nation was rent in pieces by his eldest Son
Robert,
contesting with his younger Sons
William
and
Henry
for the Crown. They being all dead and their Sons, the like happen'd between
Stephen
and
Maud: Henry
the Second was made King to terminate all Disputes, but it prov'd a fruitless Expedient: Such as were more scandalous, and not less dangerous, did soon arise between him and his Sons; who besides the Evils brought upon the Nation, vex'd him to death by their Rebellion. The Reigns of
John
and
Henry
the Third were yet more tempestuous.
Edward
the Second's leud, foolish, infamous and detestable Government, ended in his deposition and death, to which he was brought by his Wife and Son.
Edward
the Third employ'd his own and his Subjects Valor against the
French
and
Scots;
but whilst the Foundations were out of order, the Nation could never receive any advantage by their Victorys: All was calculated for the Glory, and turn'd to the Advantage of one Man. He being dead, all that the
English
held in
Scotland
and in
France,
was lost thro the baseness of his Successor, with more Blood than it had bin gain'd; and the Civil Wars rais'd by his wickedness and madness, ended as those of
Edward
the Second had done. The Peace of
Henry
the Fourth's Reign was interrupted by dangerous Civil Wars; and the Victory obtain'd at
Shrewsbury
had not perhaps secur'd him in the Throne, if his Death had not prevented new Troubles.
Henry
the Fisth acquir'd such reputation by his Vertue and Victorys, that none dar'd to invade the Crown during his life; but immediately after his death the Storms prepar'd against his Family, broke out with the utmost violence. His Son's weakness encourag'd
Richard
Duke of
York
to set up a new Title, which produc'd such Mischiefs as hardly any People have suffer'd, unlefs upon the like occasion: For besides the slaughter of many thousands of the People, and especially of those who had bin accustom'd to Arms, the devastation of the best parts of the Kingdom, and the loss of all that our Kings had inherited in
France,
or gain'd by the blood of their Subjects, fourscore Princes of the Blood, as
Philip de Commines
calls them, dy'd in Battel, or under the hand of the Hangman. Many of the most noble Familys were extinguish'd; others lost their most eminent Men. Three Kings and two presumptive Heirs of the Crown were murder'd, and the Nation brought to that shameful exigence, to set up a young Man to reign over them, who had no better cover for his sordid extraction than a Welch Pedegree, that might shew how a Tailor was descended from Prince
Arthur, Cadwallader
and
Brutus.
But the Wounds of the Nation were not to be heal'd with such a Plaister. He could not rely upon a Title made up of such stuff, and patch'd with a Marriage to a Princess of a very questionable Birth. His own meanness inclin'd him to hate the Nobility; and thinking it to be as easy for them to take the Crown from him, as to give it to him, he industriously apply'd himself to glean up the Remainders of the House of
York,
from whence a Competitor might arise, and by all means to crush those who were most able to oppose him. This exceedingly weaken'd the Nobility, who held the Balance between him and the Commons, and was a great step towards the dissolution of our antient Government: but he was so far from settling the Kingdom in peace, that such Rascals as
Perkin Warbeck
and
Simnel
were able to disturb it. The Reign of
Henry
the Eighth was turbulent and bloody; that of
Mary
furious, and such as had brought us into subjection to the most powerful, proud and cruel Nation at that time in the World, if God had not wonderfully protected us. Nay,
Edward
the Sixth, and Queen
Elizabeth,
notwithstanding the natural excellency of their Dispositions, and their knowledg of the Truth in matters of Religion, were forc'd, by that which men call
Jealousy of State,
to foul their hands so often with illustrious Blood, that if their Reigns deserve to be accounted amongst the most gentle of Monarchys, they were more heavy than the Government of any Commonwealth; and yet their Lives were never secure against such as conspir'd against them upon the account of Title.
Having in some measure shew'd what Miserys have bin usually, if not perpetually brought upon Nations subject to Monarchys by the violence of some Princes, and the baseness, folly, and cowardice of others, together with what they have suffer'd in Contests for the several Crowns, whilst men divided into divers Factions, strive with as much vehemency to advance the Person they favour, as if they or their Country were interested in the quarrel; and fight as fiercely for a Master as they might reasonably do to have none; I am not able to determin which of the two Evils is the most mortal. 'Tis evident the Vices of Princes result to the Damage of the People; but whether Pride and Cruelty, or Stupidity and Sloth be the worst, I cannot tell. All Monarchys are subject to be afflicted with Civil Wars: but whether the most frequent and bloody do arise from the quarrels of divers Competitors for Crowns before any one gain the possession of them, or afterwards thro the fears of him that would keep what he has gain'd, or the rage of those who would wrest it from him, is not so easily decided. But Commonwealths are less troubled with those Distempers. Women, Children, or such as are notoriously foolish or mad, are never advanc'd to the Supreme Power. Whilst the Laws, and that Disciplin which nourishes Vertue is in force, Men of Wisdom and Valor are never wanting; and every man desires to give testimony of his Vertue, when he knows 'twill be rewarded with Honor and Power. If unworthy Persons creep into Magistracys, or are by mistake any way prefer'd, their Vices for the most part turn to their own hurt; and the State cannot easily receive any great damage by the incapacity of one who is not to continue in Office above a year; and is usually encompast with those who having born, or are aspiring to the same, are by their Vertue able to supply his defects; cannot hope for a Reward from one unable to corrupt 'em, and are sure of the favor of the Senat and People to support 'em in the defence of the publick Interest. As long as this good Order continues, private Quarrels are supprest by the Authority of the Magistrate, or prove to be of little effect. Such as arise between the Nobles and Commons frequently produce good Laws for the maintenance of Liberty, as they did in
Rome
for above three hundred years after the expulsion of
Tarquin;
and almost ever terminate with little or no blood. Sometimes the Errors of one or both Partys are discover'd by the discourse of a wise and good Man; and those who have most violently oppos'd one another become the best Friends, every one joining to remove the evil that causes the division. When the Senat and People of
Rome
seem'd to be most furiously incens'd against each other, the creation of Tribuns, communication of Honors and Marriages between the Patrician and Plebeian Familys, or the mitigation of Usury, compos'd all; and these were not only harmless things, but such as gave opportunitys of correcting the defects that had bin in the first Constitution of the Government, without which they could never have attain'd to the Greatness, Glory and Happiness they afterwards enjoy'd. Such as had seen that People meeting in tumult, running thro the City, crying out against the Kings, Consuls, Senat, or
Decemviri,
might have thought they would have fill'd all with blood and slaughter; but no such thing happen'd. They desir'd no more than to take away the Kingdom which
Tarquin
had wickedly usurp'd; and never went about so much as to punish one Minister of the mischiefs he had done, or to take away his Goods, till upon pretence of treating, his Embassadors by a new Treachery had cast the City into greater danger than ever. Tho the
Decemviri
had by the like Villanys equally provok'd the People, they were us'd with the like gentleness:
Appius
T. Liv. l. 3.
Claudius
and
Oppius
having by voluntary death substracted themselves from publick punishment, their Collegues were only banish'd, and the Magistracys of the City reduc'd to the former order, without the effusion of more blood. They who contended for their just Rights, were satisfy'd with the recovery of them; whereas such as follow the impulse of an unruly Ambition, never think themselves safe till they have destroy'd all that seem able to disturb them, and satiated their rage with the blood of their Adversarys. This makes, as well as shews the difference between the Tumults of
Rome,
or the secession of the common People to Mount
Aventine,
and the Battels of
Towton, Teuxbury, Eveshal, Lewes, Hexham, Barnet, St. Albans,
and
Bosworth.
'Tis in vain to say these ought rather to be compar'd to those of
Pharsalia, Actium,
or
Philippi;
sor when the Laws of a Commonwealth are abolish'd, the Name also ceases. Whatever is done by force or fraud to set up the Interests and Lusts of one man in opposition to the Laws of his Country, is purely and absolutely Monarchical. Whatsoever past between
Marius, Sylla, Cinna, Catiline, Caesar, Pompey, Crassus, Augustus, Antonius,
and
Lepidus,
is to be imputed to the Contests that arise between Competitors for Monarchy, as well as those that in the next age happen'd between
Galba, Otho, Vitellius,
and
Vespasian:
Or, which is worse, whereas all men in Commonwealths fight for themselves when there is occasion, and if they succeed, enjoy the fruits of their Victory▪ so as even those who remain of the vanquish'd party, partake of the Liberty thereby establish'd, or the good Laws thereupon made; such as follow'd the Ensigns of those men who sought to set up themselves, did, rather like beasts than men, hazard and suffer many unspeakable evils to purchase misery to themselves and their Posterity, and to make one their Master, who increasing in Pride, Avarice, and Cruelty, was to be thrown down again with as much Blood as he had bin set up.
These things, if I mistake not, being in the last degree evident, I may leave to our Author all the advantages he can gain by his rhetorical Description of the Tumults of
Rome, when Blood was in the Market-place suckt up with Sponges, and the Jakes stuff'd with Carcases;
to which he may add the crimes of
Sylla
's Life, and the miserys of his Death: But withal I desire to know what number of Sponges were sufficient to suck up the Blood of five hundred thousand men slain in one day, when the Houses of
David
and
Jeroboam
contended for the Crown of
Israel,
or of four hundred thousand who fell in one battel between
Joash
and
Amaziah
on the same occasion; what Jakes were capacious enough to contain the Carcases of those that perish'd in the quarrels between the Successors of
Alexander,
the several Competiors for the
Roman
Empire; or those which happen'd in
France, Spain, England,
and other places upon the like occasions. If
Sylla
for some time acted as an absolute Monarch, 'tis no wonder that he dy'd like one, or that God punish'd him as
Herod, Philip
the second of
Spain,
and some others, because the hand of his fellow▪ Citizens had unjustly spar'd him. If when he was become detestable to God and Man, he became also miserable, his example ought to deter others srom the Crimes that are aveng'd by a Power which none can escape, and to encourage those who defend, or endeavour to recover their violated Libertys, to act vigorously in a Cause that God dos evidently patronize.
SECT. XXV. Courts are more subject to Venality and Corruption than Popular Governments.
THO Court-flatterers impute many evils to Popular Governments they no way deserve, I could not think any so impudent as to lay Corruption and Venality to their charge, till I found it in our Author. They might in my opinion have taken those faults upon themselves, since they certainly abound most where Bawds, Whores, Buffoons, Players, Slaves, and other base people who are naturally mercenary, are most prevalent. And whosoever would know whether this dos more frequently befal Commonwealths than Monarchys, especially if they are absolute, need only to inquire whether the
Cornelii, Junii, Fabii, Valerii, Quintii, Curii, Fabritii,
and others who most prevail'd in
Rome
after the expulsion of the Kings, or
Sejanus, Macro, Narcissus, Pallas, Icetus, Tigellinus, Vinnius, Laco, Agrippina, Messalina, Lollia, Poppaea,
and the like, were most subject to those base Vices: Whether it were more easy to corrupt one or two of those Villains and Strumpets, or the Senats and People of
Rome, Carthage, Athens,
and
Sparta;
and whether that sort of Rabble had more power over the Princes they serv'd, than such as most resembled them had whilst the Popular Government continu'd. 'Tis in vain to say those Princes were wicked and vile, for many others are so likewise; and when the Power is in the hands of one man, there can be no assurance he will not be like them. Nay, when the Power is so plac'd, ill men will always find opportunitys of compassing their desires:
Bonus, cautus, optimus Imperator venditur,
said
Dioclesian;
and tho he was no unwise man, yet that which principally induc'd him to renounce the Empire, was the impossibility he found of defending himself against those that were in credit with him, who daily betray'd and sold him. They see with the eyes of other men, and cannot resist the frauds that are perpetually put upon them.
Antoninus Pius
and
Marcus Aurelius
seem to have bin the best and wisest of all the
Roman
Emperors; but the two
Faustina
's had such an ascendent over them, as was most shameful to their persons, and mischievous to the Empire and the best men in it. Such as these may gain too much upon the affections of one man in the best regulated Government; but that could be of no great danger to the Publick, when many others equal, or not much inferior to him in authority, are ready to oppose whatever he should endeavour to promote by their impulse: but there is no remedy when all depends upon the Will of a single person who is govern'd by them. There was more of acuteness and jest, than of truth in that saying of
Themistocles, That his little boy had more power than any man in
Greece;
for he govern'd his Mother, she him, he
Athens,
and
Athens Greece. For he himself was found to have little power, when for private passions and concernments he departed from the interest of the Publick; and the like has bin found in all places that have bin govern'd in the like manner.
Again; Corruption will always reign most, where those who have the power do most favour it, where the rewards of such Crimes are greatest, easiest and most valu'd, and where the punishment of them is least sear'd.
1. For the first, we have already prov'd that Liberty cannot be preserv'd, if the manners of the People are corrupted, nor absolute Monarchy introduc'd where they are sincere; which is sufficient to shew that those who manage free Governments ought always to the utmost of their power to oppose Corruption, because otherwise both they and their Government must inevitably perish; and that on the other hand, the absolute Monarch must endeavour to introduce it, because he cannot subsist without it. 'Tis also so natural for all such Monarchs to place men in power who pretend to love their Persons, and will depend upon their pleasure, that possibly 'twould be hard to find one in the world who has not made it the rule of his Government: And this is not only the way to corruption, but the most dangerous of all. For tho a good man may love a good Monarch, he will obey him only when he commands that which is just; and no one can engage himself blindly to do whatever he is commanded, without renouncing all Vertue and Religion; because he knows not whether that which shall be commanded is consistent with either, or directly contrary to the Laws of God and Man. But if such a Monarch be evil, and his Actions such as they are too osten found to be, whoever bears an affection to him, and seconds his designs, declares himself an Enemy to all that is good; and the advancement of such men to power dos not only introduce, foment, and increase Corruption, but fortifys it in such a manner, that without an intire renovation of that State, it cannot be remov'd. Ill men may possibly creep into any Government; but when the worst are plac'd nearest to the Throne, and rais'd to Honors for being so, they will with that force endeavour to draw all men to a conformity of Spirit with themselves, that it can no otherwise be prevented, than by destroying them and the Principle in which they live.
2. To the second; Man naturally follows that which is good, or seems to him to be so. Hence it is that in well-govern'd States, where a value is put upon Vertue, and no one honor'd unless for such Qualitys as are beneficial to the Publick, men are from the tenderest years brought up in a belief, that nothing in this world deserves to be sought after, but such Honors as are acquir'd by vertuous Actions: By this means Vertue it self becomes popular, as in
Sparta, Rome,
and other places, where Riches (which with the Vanity that follows them, and the Honors men give to them, are the root of all evil) were either totally banish'd, or little regarded. When no other advantage attended the greatest Riches than the opportunity of living more sumptuously or deliciously, men of great Spirits slighted them. When
Aristippus
told
Cleanthes,
that if he would go to Court and flatter the Tyrant, he need not seek his Supper under a hedg; the Philosopher answer'd, that he who could content himself with such a Supper, neednot go to Court, or flatter the Tyrant.
Epaminondas, Aristides, Phocion,
and even the
Lacedemonian
Kings, found no inconvenience in Poverty, whilst their Vertue was honor'd, and the richest Princes in the world fear'd their Valor and Power. It was not difficult for
Curius, Fabricius, Cincinnatus,
or
Emilius Paulus,
to content themselves with the narrowest Fortune, when it was no obstacle to them in the pursuit of those Honors which their Vertues deserv'd. 'Twas in vain to think of bribing a man who sup'd upon the Coleworts of his own Garden. He could not be gain'd by Gold, who did not think it necessary. He that could rise from the Plow to the triumphal Chariot, and contentedly return thither again, could not be corrupted; and he that left the sense of his Poverty to his Executors, who found not wherewith to bury him, might leave
Macedon
and
Greece
to the pillage of his Soldiers, without taking to himself any part of the Booty. But when Luxury was brought into fashion, and they came to be honor'd who liv'd magnificently, tho they had in themselves no qualitys to distinguish them from the basest of Slaves, the most vertuous men were expos'd to scorn if they were poor: and that poverty which had bin the mother and nurse of their Vertue, grew insupportable. The Poet well understood what effect this change had upon the World, who said,
Nullum crimen abest facinusque libidinis, ex quo
Paupertas Romana perit.
Juven.
When Riches grew to be necessary, the desire of them, which is the spring of all mischief, follow'd. They who could not obtain Honors by the noblest Actions, were oblig'd to get Wealth, or purchase them from Whores and Villains, who expos'd them to sale: and when they were once enter'd into this track, they soon learn'd the Vices of those from whom they had receiv'd their Preferment, and to delight in the ways that had brought them to it. When they were come to this, nothing could stop them: All thought and remembrance of good was extinguish'd. They who had bought the Commands of Armys or Provinces, from
Icetus
or
Narcissus,
sought only how to draw Mony from them, to enable them to purchase higher Dignitys, or gain a more assur'd protection from those Patrons. This brought the Government of the World under a most infamous Traffick; and the Treasures arising from it were, for the most part, dissipated by worse vices, than the Rapine, Violence and Fraud with which they had bin gotten. The Authors of those Crimes had nothing left but their Crimes, and the necessity of committing more, thro the indigence into which they were plung'd by the extravagance of their Expences. These things are inseparable from the life of a Courtier: for as servile Natures are guided rather by sense than reason, such as addict themselves to the service of Courts, find no other consolation in their misery, than what they receive from sensual pleasures, or such vanitys as they put a value upon; and have no other care, than to get Mony for their supply by begging, stealing, bribing, and other infamous practices. Their Offices are more or less esteem'd according to the opportunitys they afford for the exercise of these Vertues; and no man seeks them for any other end than for gain, nor takes any other way than that which conduces to it. The usual means of attaining them are, by observing the Prince's Humor, flattering his Vices, serving him in his Pleasures, fomenting his Pa
sions, and by advancing his worst Designs, to create an opinion in him that they love his person, and are intirely addicted to his Will. When Valor, Industry and Wisdom advanc'd men to Offices, it was no easy matter for a man to persuade the Senat he had such Qualitys as were requir'd, if he had them not: But when Princes seek only such as love them, and will do what they command, 'tis easy to impose upon them; and because none that are good will obey them when they command that which is not so, they are always encompast by the worst. Those who follow them only for Reward, are most liberal in professing affection to them, and by that means rise to places of Authority and Power. The Fountain being thus corrupted, nothing that is pure can come from it. These mercenary Wretches having the management of Affairs, Justice and Honors are set at a price, and the most lucrative Traffick in the world is thereby establish'd.
—Nunc uberiore rapina
Pecc
t in orbe manus.
Claud.
Eutropius
when he was a Slave, us'd to pick Pockets and Locks; but being made a Minister, he sold Citys, Armys and Provinces: and some have undertaken to give probable reasons to believe, that
Pallas,
one of
Claudius
's manumis'd Slaves, by these means brought together more Wealth in six years, than all the Roman Dictators and Consuls had done from the expulsion of the Kings to their passage into
Asia.
The rest walk'd in the same way, us'd the same arts, and many of them succeeded in the same manner. Their Riches consisted not os Spoils taken from Enemys, but were the base product of their own corruption. They valu'd nothing but Mony, and those who could bribe them, were sure to be advanc'd to the highest Offices; and whatever they did, fear'd no punishment. Like Effects will ever proceed from the like Causes. When Vanity, Luxury and Prodigality are in fashion, the desire of Riches must necessarily increase in proportion to them: And when the Power is in the hands of base mercenary persons, they will always (to use the Courtiers phrase) make as much profit of their places as they can. Not only matters of Favor, but of Justice too, will be expos'd to sale; and no way will be open to Honors or Magistracys, but by paying largely for them. He that gets an Office by these means, will not execute it
gratis:
he thinks he may sell what he has bought; and would not have enter'd by corrupt ways, if he had not intended to deal corruptly. Nay, if a well-meaning man should suffer himself to be so far carry'd away by the stream of a prevailing Custom, as to purchase Honors of such Villains, he would be oblig'd to continue in the same course, that he might gain Riches to procure the continuance of his Benefactors protection, or to obtain the favor of such as happen to succeed them: And the corruption thus beginning in the Head, must necessarily diffuse it self into all the Members of the Commonwealth. Or, if any one (which is not to be expected) after having bin guilty of one Villany, should resolve to commit no more, it could have no other effect than to bring him to ruin; and he being taken away, all things would return to their former channel.
Besides this, whosoever desires to advance himself, must use such means as are sutable to the time in which he lives, and the humor of the persons with whom he is to deal. It had bin as absurd for any man void of merit to set himself up against
Junius Brutus, Cincinnatus, Papirius Cursor, Camillus, Fabius Maximus,
or
Scipio;
and by bribing the Senat and People of
Rome,
think to be chosen Captain against the
Tarquins, Tuscans, Latins, Samnites, Gauls
or
Carthaginians,
as for the most vertuous men by the most certain proofs of their Wisdom, Experience, Integrity and Valor, to expect advancement from
Caligula, Claudius,
and
Nero,
or the leud Wretches that govern'd them. They hated and fear'd all those that excel'd in Vertue, and setting themselves to destroy the best for being the best, they plac'd the strength of the Government in the hands of the worst, which produc'd the effects beforemention'd. This seems to have bin so well known, that no man pretended to be great at Court, but those who had cast off all thoughts of honor and common honesty:
Revertar cum Leno, Meretrix, Scurra, Cinaedus ero,
said one who saw what manners prevail'd there; and wheresoever they do prevail, such as will rise, must render themselves conformable in all corruption and venality. And it may be observ'd, that a noble Person now living amongst us, who is a great enemy to Bribery, was turn'd out from a considerable Office, as a scandal to the Court; for, said the principal Minister, he will make no profit of his place, and by that means casts a scandal upon those that do.
If any man say, this is not generally the fate of all Courts, I confess it; and that if the Prince be just, vertuous, wise, of great Spirit, and not pretending to be absolute, he may chuse such men as are not mercenary, or take such a course as may render it hard for them to deserve Bribes, or to preserve themselves from punishment, if they should deflect from his intention. And a Prince of this Age, speaking familiarly with some great Men about him, said, he had heard much of vast Gains made by those who were near to Princes, and ask'd if they made the like? one of them answer'd, that they were as willing as others to get something, but that no man would give them a farthing; for every one finding a free admittance to his Majesty, no man needed a Sollicitor: And it was no less known that he did of himself grant those things that were just, than that none of them had so much credit as to promote such as were not so. I will not say such a King is a Phenix; perhaps more than one may be found in an Age; but they are certainly rare, and all that is good in their Government proceeding from the excellency of their personal Vertues, it must fail when that Vertue fails which was the root of it. Experience shews how little we can rely upon such a help; for where Crowns are hereditary, Children seldom prove like to their Fathers; and such as are elective have also their defects. Many seem to be modest and innocent in private Fortunes, who prove corrupt and vicious when they are rais'd to Power. The violence, pride and malice of
Saul,
was never discover'd till the People had plac'd him in the Throne. But where the Government is Absolute, or the Prince endeavours to make it so, this integrity can never be found: He will always seek such as are content to depend upon his Will, which being always unruly, good men will never comply; ill men will be paid for it, and that opens a gap to all manner of corruption. Something like to this may befal regular Monarchys, or popular Governments. They who are plac'd in the principal Offices of trust, may be treacherous; and when they are so, they will always by these means seek to gain Partizans and Dependents upon themselves. Their designs being corrupt, they must be carry'd on by corruption: But such as would support Monarchy in its regularity, or popular Governments, must oppose it, or be destroy'd by it. And nothing can better manifest how far Absolute Monarchys are more subject to this venality and corruption than the regular and popular Governments, than that they are rooted in the principle of the one, which cannot subsist without them; and are so contrary to the others, that they must certainly perish unless they defend themselves from them.
If any man be so far of another opinion, as to believe that
Brutus, Camillus, Scipio, Fabius, Hannibal, Pericles, Aristides, Agesilaus, Epaminondas
or
Pelopidas,
were as easily corrupted as
Sejanus, Tigellinus, Vinnius
or
Laco:
That the Senat and People of
Rome, Carthage, Athens, Sparta
or
Thebes,
were to be bought at as easy rates as one profligate Villain, a Slave, an Eunuch or a Whore; or tho it was not in former Ages, yet it is so now: he may be pleas'd to consider by what means men now rise to places of Judicature, Church-preferment, or any Offices of trust, honor or profit under those Monarchys which we know, that either are or would be absolute. Let him examin how all the Offices of Justice are now dispos'd in
France;
how
Mazarin
came to be advanc'd; what traffick he made of Abbys and Bishopricks, and what treasures he gain'd by that means: Whether the like has not continu'd since his death, and as a laudable Example bin transmitted to us since his Majesty's happy restauration: Whether Bauds, Whores, Thieves, Buffoons, Parasites, and such vile wretches as are naturally mercenary, have not more Power at
Whitehall, Versailles,
the Vatican, and the Escurial, than in
Venice, Amsterdam,
and
Switzerland:
Whether
H-de, Arl-ngt-n, D-nby,
their Graces of
Cleveland
and
Portsmouth, S-nd-rl-nd, Jenkins
or
Chiffinch,
could probably have attain'd such Power as they have had amongst us, if it had bin dispos'd by the Suffrages of the Parliament and People: Or lastly, Whether such as know only how to work upon the personal Vices of a man, have more influence upon one who happens to be born in a reigning Family, or upon a Senat consisting of men chosen for their Vertues and Quality, or the whole Body of a Nation.
But if he who possesses or affects an absolute Power be by his interest led to introduce that corruption which the People, Senat, and Magistrats who uphold Popular Governments, abhor, as that which threatens them with destruction: if the example, arts, and means us'd by him and his dependents be of wonderful efficacy towards the introduction of it: if nothing but an admirable Vertue, which can hardly be in one that enjoys or desires such a Power, can divert him from that design; and if such Vertue never did, nor probably ever will continue long in any one Family, we cannot rationally believe there ever was a race of men invested with, or possessing such a Power, or that there will ever be any, who have not and will not endeavour to introduce that corruption, which is so necessary for the defence of their Persons, and most important Concernments, and certainly accomplish their great Design, unless they are oppos'd or remov'd.
SECT. XXVI. Civil Tumults and Wars are not the greatest Evils that befal Nations.
BƲ T skin for skin,
says our Author,
and all that a man has will he give for his life.
And since it was necessary to grace his Book with some Scripture-phrases, none could be fitter for that purpose than those that were spoken by the Devil; but they will be of little use to him: For tho I should so far recede from truth, as to avow those words to be true, I might safely deny the Conclusions he draws from them,
That those are the worst Governments under which most men are slain; or, that more are slain in Popular Governments than in Absolute Monarchys.
For having prov'd that all the Wars and Tumults that have happen'd in Commonwealths, have never produc'd such slaughters as were brought upon the Empires of
Macedon
and
Rome,
or the Kingdoms of
Israel, Judah, France, Spain, Scotland
or
England,
by Contests between several Competitors for those Crowns; if Tumult, War, and Slaughter, be the point in question, those are the worst of all Governments where they have bin most frequent and cruel. But tho these are terrible Scourges, I deny that Government to be simply the worst that has most of them. 'Tis ill that men should kill one another in Seditions, Tumults and Wars; but 'tis worse to bring Nations to such misery, weakness and baseness, as to have neither strength nor courage to contend for any thing; to have nothing left worth defending, and to give the name of Peace to desolation. I take
Greece
to have bin happy and glorious, when it was full of populous Citys, flourishing in all the Arts that deserve praise among men: When they were courted and fear'd by the greatest Kings, and never assaulted by any but to his own loss and confusion: When
Babylon
and
Susa
trembled at the motion of their Arms; and their valor exercis'd in these Wars and Tumults, which our Author looks upon as the greatest Evils, was rais'd to such a power that nothing upon Earth was found able to resist them: and I think it now miserable, when Peace reigns within their empty walls, and the poor remains of those exhausted Nations sheltering themselves under the ruins of the desolated Citys, have neither any thing that deserves to be disputed amongst them, nor spirit or force to repel the Injurys they daily suffer from a proud and insupportable Master.
The like may be said of
Italy:
Whilst it was inhabited by Nations governing themselves by their own Will, they fell sometimes into domestick Seditions, and had frequent Wars with their Neighbors. When they were free, they lov'd their Country, and were always ready to fight in its defence. Such as succeeded well, increas'd in vigor and power; and even those that were the most unfortunate in one Age, found means to repair their greatest losses if their Government continu'd. Whilst they had a propriety in their goods, they would not suffer the Country to be invaded, since they knew they could have none if it were lost. This gave occasion to Wars and Tumults; but it sharpen'd their Courage, kept up a good Disciplin, and the Nations that were most exercis'd by them, always increas'd in power and number; so that no Country seems ever to have bin of greater strength than
Italy
was when
Hannibal
invaded it: and after his defeat, the rest of the World was not able to refist their Valor and Power. They sometimes kill'd one another; but their Enemys never got any thing but burying-places within their Territorys. All things are now brought into a very different method by the blessed Governments they are under. The fatherly care of the King of
Spain,
the Pope, and other Princes, has establish'd Peace amongst them. We have not in many Ages heard of any Sedition among the
Latins, Sabins, Volsci, Equi, Samnites,
or others. The thin, half-starv'd Inhabitants of Walls supported by Ivy, sear neither popular Tumults, or foreign Alarms; and their sleep is only interrupted by Hunger, the crys of their Children, or the howling of Wolves. Instead of many turbulent, contentious Citys, they have a few scatter'd silent Cottages; and the fierceness of those Nations is so temper'd, that every rascally Collector of Taxes extorts without fear from every man, that which should be the nourishment of his Family. And if any of those Countrys are free from that pernicious Vermin, 'tis thro the extremity of their Poverty. Even in
Rome
a man may be circumvented by the fraud of a Priest, or poison'd by one who would have his Estate, Wife, Whore, or Child; but nothing is done that looks like Tumult or Violence. The Governors do as little fear
Gracchus
as
Hannibal;
and instead of wearying their Subjects in Wars, they only seek, by perverted Laws, corrupt Judges, false Witnesses, and vexatious Suits, to cheat them of their Mony and Inheritance. This is the best part of their condition. Where these Arts are us'd, there are men, and they have something to lose; but for the most part the Lands ly wast, and they who were sormerly troubled with the disorders incident to populous Citys, now enjoy the quiet and peaceable estate of a Wilderness.
Again; there is a way of killing worse than that of the Sword: for as
Tertullian
says upon a different occasion,
prohibere nasci est occidere;
those Governments are in the highest degree guilty of Blood, which by taking from men the means of living, bring some to perish thro want, drive others out of the Country, and generally dissuade men from marriage, by taking from them all ways of subsisting their Familys. Notwithstanding all the Seditions of
Florence,
and other Citys of
Tuscany,
the horrid Factions of
Guelphs
and
Gibelins, Neri
and
Bianchi,
Nobles and Commons, they continu'd populous, strong, and exceeding rich; but in the space of less than a hundred and fifty years, the peaceable Reign of the
Medices
is thought to have destroy'd nine parts in ten of the people of that Province. Amongst other things 'tis remarkable, that when
Philip
the second of
Spain
gave
Sienna
to the Duke of
Florence,
his Embassador then at
Rome
sent him word, that he had given away more than six hundred and fifty thousand Subjects; and 'tis not believ'd there are now twenty thousand Souls inhabiting that City and Territory.
Pisa, Pistoia, Arezzo, Cortona,
and other Towns that were then good and populous, are in the like proportion diminish'd, and
Florence
more than any. When that City had bin long troubled with Seditions, Tumults, and Wars, for the most part unprosperous, they still retain'd such strength, that when
Charles
the eighth of
France
being admitted as a Friend with his whole Army, which
Guicciard.
soon after conquer'd the Kingdom of
Naples,
thought to master them, the people taking up Arms struck such a terror into him, that he was glad to depart upon such conditions as they thought fit to impose.
Machiavel
reports, that in that time
Florence
alone, with the
Vald' Arno,
a small Territory belonging to that City, could, in a few hours, by the sound of a Bell, bring together a hundred and thirty five thousand well arm'd men; whereas now that City, with all the others in that Province, are brought to such despicable weakness, emptiness, poverty and baseness, that they can neither resist the oppressions of their own Prince, nor defend him or themselves if they were assaulted by a foreign Enemy. The People are dispers'd or destroy'd, and the best Familys sent to seek Habitations in
Venice, Genoa, Rome,
and
Lucca.
This is not the effect of War or Pestilence; they enjoy a perfect peace, and suffer no other plague than the Government they are under. But he who has thus cur'd 'em of Disorders and Tumults, dos, in my opinion, deserve no greater praise than a Physician, who should boast there was not a sick person in a house committed to his care, when he had poison'd all that were in it. The
Spaniards
have establish'd the like peace in the Kingdoms of
Naples
and
Sicily,
the
West-Indys,
and other places. The
Turks
by the same means prevent Tumults in their Dominions. And they are of such efficacy in all places, that
Mario Chigi,
Brother to Pope
Alexander
the seventh, by one sordid cheat upon the sale of Corn, is said within eight years to have destroy'd above a third part of the people in the Ecclesiastical State; and that Country, which was the strength of the
Romans
in the time of the
Carthaginian
Wars, suffer'd more by the covetousness and fraud of that Villain, than by all the defeats receiv'd from
Hannibal.
'Twere an endless work to mention all the places where this peaceable solitude has bin introduc'd by absolute Monarchy; but Popular and regular Governments have always apply'd themselves to increase the Number, Strength, Power, Riches, and Courage of their People, by providing comfortable ways of subsistence for their own Citizens, inviting Strangers, and filling them all with such a love to their Country, that every man might look upon the publick Cause as his own, and be always ready to defend it. This may sometimes give occasion to Tumults and Wars, as the most vigorous Bodys may fall into Distempers: When every one is solicitous for the Publick, there may be difference of opinion, and some by mistaking the way may bring prejudice when they intend profit: But unless a Tyrant dos arise, and destroy the Government which is the root of their felicity; or they be overwhelm'd by the irresistible power of a Vertue or Fortune greater than their own, they soon recover, and for the most part rise up in greater Glory and Prosperity than before. This was seen in the Commonwealths of
Greece
and
Italy,
which for this reason were justly called Nurserys of Vertue, and their Magistrats Preservers of men; whereas our Author's peace-making Monarchs can deserve no better title than that of Enemys and Destroyers of Mankind.
I cannot think him in earnest when he exaggerates
Sylla
's Crueltys, as a proof that the mischiefs suffer'd under free States are more universal than under Kings and Tyrants: For there never was a Tyrant in the World if he was not one; tho thro weariness, infirmity of body, fear, or perhaps the horror of his own wickedness, he at length resign'd his Power; but the evil had taken root so deep, that it could not be remov'd: There was nothing of Liberty remaining in
Rome:
The Laws were overthrown by the violence of the Sword; the remaining Contest was who should be Lord: and there is no reason to believe that if
Pompey
had gain'd the Battel of
Pharsalia,
he would have made a more modest use of his Victory than
Caesar
did; or that
Rome
would have bin more happy under him than under the other. His Cause was more plausible because the Senat follow'd him, and
Caesar
was the Invader; but he was no better in his person, and his designs seem to have bin the same. He had bin long before
suarum legum auctor & eversor.
He gave the beginning to the first Triumvirat; and 'twere folly to think that he who had bin insolent when he was not come to the highest pitch of Fortune, would have prov'd moderate if success had put all into his hands. The proceedings of
Marius, Cinna, Catiline, Octavius,
and
Antonius
were all of the same nature. No Laws were observ'd: no publick Good intended; the ambition of private persons reign'd; and whatsoever was done by them, or for their interests, can no more be apply'd to Popular, Aristocratical or mix'd Governments, than the furys of
Caligula
and
Nero.
SECT. XXVII. The Mischiefs and Crueltys proceeding from Tyranny, are greater than any that can come from Popular or mix'd Governments.
'TIs now time to examin the reasons of our Author's general Maxims.
The Crueltys,
says he,
of a Tyrant extend ordinarily no farther than some particular men that offend him, and not to the whole Kingdom. It is truly said of his late Majesty King
James,
A King can never be so notoriously vicious, but he will generally favour Justice, and maintain some order. Even cruel
Domitian, Dionysius
the Tyrant, and many others are commended in Historys as great observers of Justice, except in particular cases, wherein his inordinate lusts may carry him away.
It may be said of Popular Governments, that tho a People thro error do sometimes hurt a private person, and that injury may possibly result to the publick damage, because the man that is offended or destroy'd, might have bin useful to the Society, yet they never do it otherwise than by error: For having the Government in themselves, whatever is prejudicial to it, is so to them; and if they ruin it, they ruin themselves, which no man ever did willingly and knowingly. But in absolute Monarchys the matter is quite otherwise. A Prince that sets up an interest in himself, becomes an Enemy to the Publick: in following his own lusts he offends all, except a few of his corrupt Creatures, by whose help he oppresses others with a Yoke they are unwilling to bear, and thereby incurs the universal hatred. This hatred is always proportionable to the injurys receiv'd, which being extreme, that must be so too; and every People being powerful in comparison to the Prince that governs, he will always fear those that hate him, and always hate those he fears. When
Luigi Farnese
first Duke of
Parma
had by his Tyranny incens'd the People of that small City, their hatred was not less mortal to him than that of the whole Empire had bin to
Nero;
and as the one burnt
Rome,
the other would have destroy'd
Parma,
if he had not bin prevented. The like has bin, and will be every where, in as much as every man endeavours to destroy those whom he hates and fears; and the greatness of the danger often drives this
Cuncta serit dum cuncta timet.
Lucan.
fear to rage and madness. For this reason
Caligula
wish'd but one Neck to all the People; and
Nero
triumph'd over the burning City, thinking by that ruin he had prevented his own danger. I know not who the good Authors are that commend
Domitian
for his Justice: but
Tacitus
calls him
Principem virtutibus infestum;
Tacit. in Vit. Agric.
and 'tis hard to find out how such a man can be an observer of justice; unless it be just, that whoever dares to be vertuous under a vicious and base Prince should be destroy'd. Another
Cum jam semianimem laceraret Flavius orbem
Tertius, & calvo serviret Roma Tyranno.
Juvenal.
Author of the same time speaking of him, dos not say he was unjust, but gives us reason to think he was so (unless it were just for him, who had a power over the best part of the World, to destroy it) and that he who by his cruelty had brought it to the last gasp, would have finish'd the work, if his rage had not bin extinguish'd.
Many Princes not having in themselves power to destroy their People, have stir'd up foreign Nations against them, and plac'd the only hopes of their safety in the publick Calamity; and lawful Kings when they have fall n
nto the first degree of madness, so as to assume a power above that which was allow'd by the Law, have in fury prov'd equal to the worst Usurpers.
Cleonymus
of
Sparta
was of this sort: He became, says
Plutarch,
an Enemy to the City, because they would not allow him the absol
e
Plut. Vit. Pyrrh.
Power he affected; and brought
Pyrrhus,
the fiercest of their Enemys, with a mighty and excellently well disciplin'd Army, to destroy them.
Vortigern
the
Britan
call'd in the
Saxons
with the ruin of his own
Mat. Westm.
People, who were incens'd against him for his Leudness, Cruelty, and Baseness. King
John
for the like reasons offer'd the Kingdom of
England
to the
Moors,
and to the Pope.
Peter
the Cruel, and other Kings of
Castile
brought vast Armys of
Moors
into
Spain
to the ruin of their own People, who detested their Vices, and would not part with their Privileges. Many other examples of the like nature might be alledg'd; and I wish our own experience did not too well prove that such designs are common. Let him that doubts this examin the Causes of the Wars with
Scotland
in the Years 1639, 1640; the slaughters of the Protestants in
Ireland
1641; the whole course of Alliances and Treatys for the space of fourscore Years; the friendship contracted with the
French;
frequent Quarrels with the
Dutch,
together with other circumstances that are already made too publick. If he be not convinc'd by this, he may soon see a man in the Throne, who had rather be a Tributary to
France
than a lawful King of
England,
whilst either Parliament or People shall dare to dispute his Commands, insist upon their own Rights, or defend a Religion inconsistent with that which he has espous'd; and then the truth will be so evident as to require no proof.
Grotius
was never accus'd of dealing hardly with Kings, or laying too much weight upon imaginary cases; nevertheless amongst other reasons that in his opinion justify Subjects in taking arms against their Princes, he
De Jur. Bel.
alledges this,
propter immanem saevitiam,
and
quando Rex in Populi exitium fertur;
in as much as it is
contrary to, and inconsistent with the ends for which Governments are instituted:
which were most impertinent, if no such thing could be; for that which is not, can have no effect. There are therefore Princes who seek the destruction of their People, or none could be justly oppos'd on that account.
If King
James
was of another opinion, I could wish the course of his Government had bin suted to it. When he said that whilst he had the power of making Judges and Bishops, he would make that to be Law and Gospel which best pleas'd him, and accordingly fill'd those places with such as turn'd both according to his Will and Interests; I must think that by overthrowing Justice, which is the rule of civil and moral Actions, and perverting the Gospel which is the light of the spiritual man, he left nothing unattempted that he durst attempt, by which he might bring the most extensive and universal evils upon our Nation that any can suffer. This would stand good, tho Princes never err'd, unless they were
transported with some inordinate Lusts;
for 'tis hard to find one that dos not live in the perpetual power of them. They are naturally subject to the impulse of such appetites as well as others; and whatever evil reigns in their Nature is fomented by Education. 'Tis the handle by which their Flatterers lead them; and he that discovers to what Vice a Prince is most inclin'd, is sure to govern him by rendring himself subservient. In this consists the chief art of a Courtier, and by this means it comes to pass that such Lusts as in private men are curb'd by fear, do not only rage as in a wild Beast, but are perpetually inflam'd by the malice of their own Servants: their hatred to the Laws of God or Men that might restrain them, increases in proportion with their Vices, or their fears of being punish'd for them. When they are come to this, they can set no limits to their sury, and there is no extravagance into which they do not frequently fall. But many of 'em do not expect these violent motives: the perversity of their own nature carrys them to the extremitys of evil. They hate Vertue for its own sake, and vertuous men for being most unlike to themselves. Vertue is the dictate of Reason, or the remains of Divine Light, by which men are made beneficent and beneficial to each other. Religion proceeds from the same spring, and tends to the same end; and the good of Mankind so intirely depends upon these two, that no People ever enjoy'd any thing worth desiring that was not the product of them; and whatsoever any have suffer'd that deserves to be abhor'd and fear'd, has proceeded either from the defect of these, or the wrath of God against them. If any Prince therefore has bin an enemy to Vertue and Religion, he must also have bin an enemy to Mankind, and most especially to the People under him. Whatsoever he dos against those that excel in Vertue and Religion, tends to the destruction of the People who subsist by them. I will not take upon me to define who they are, or to tell the number of those that do this: but 'tis certain there have bin such; and I wish I could say they were few in number, or that they had liv'd only in past ages.
Tacitus
dos not fix this upon one Prince, but upon all that he writes of; and to give his Readers a tast of what he was to write, he says,
that Nobility and Honors were dangerous, but that Vertue
Tacit, H
st. l. 1.
brought most certain destruction;
and in another place, that
after the slaughter of many excellent men,
Nero
resolv'd to cut down Vertue it self, and
Annal. l. 4.
therefore kill'd
Thraseas Paetus
and
Bareas Soranus. And whosoever examins the Christian or Ecclesiastical Historys, will find those Princes to have bin no less enemys to Vertue and Religion than their Predecessors, and consequently enemys to the Nations under them, unless Religion and Vertue be things prejudicial or indifferent to Mankind.
But our Author may say, these were particular cases; and so was the slaughter of the Prophets and Apostles, the crucifixion of Christ, and all the Villanys that have ever bin committed; yet they proceeded from a universal principle of hatred to all that is good, exerting it self as far as it could, to the ruin of mankind: And nothing but the overruling Power of God, who resolv'd to preserve to himself a People, could set bounds to their Rage, which in other respects had as full success as our Author or the Devil could have wish'd.
Dionysius
(his other example of Justice) deserves observation: More falshood, leudness, treachery, ingratitude, cruelty, baseness, avarice, impudence and hatred to all manner of Good, was hardly ever known in in a mortal Creature. For this reason
Diogenes
seeing him at
Corinth,
tho in a poor and contemptible condition, said, he rather deserv'd to have continu'd in the misery, fears and villanys of his Tyranny, than to be suffer'd peaceably to converse with honest men. And if such as these are to be call'd observers of Justice, it must be concluded that the Laws of God and of Men, are either of no value, or contrary to it; and that the destruction of Nations is a better work than their preservation. No Faith is to be observ'd: Temples may be justly sack'd; the best men slain for daring to be better than their Masters; and the whole World, if it were in the power of one Man, rightly torn in pieces and destroy'd.
His Reasons for this are as good as his Doctrin:
It is,
says he,
the multitude of people and abundance of riches, that are the glory and strength of every Prince: the bodys of his Subjects do him service in War, and their goods supply his wants. Therefore if not out of affection to his people, yet out of natural love unto himself, every Tyrant desires to preserve the lives and goods of his Subjects.
I should have thought that Princes, tho Tyrants, being God's Vicegerents, and Fathers of their People, would have sought their good, tho no advantage had thereby redounded to themselves, but it seems no such thing is to be expected from them. They consider Nations, as Grasiers do their Herds and Flocks, according to the profit that can be made of them: and if this be so, a People has no more security under a Prince, than a Herd or Flock under their Master. Tho he desire to be a good Husband, yet they must be deliver'd up to the slaughter when he finds a good Market, or a better way of improving his Land; but they are often foolish, riotous, prodigal, and wantonly destroy their Stock, tho to their own prejudice. We thought that all Princes and Magistrats had bin set up, that under them we might live quietly and peaceably, in all godliness and honesty: but our Author teaches us, that they only seek what they can make of our Bodys and Goods, and that they do not live and reign for us, but for themselves. If this be true, they look upon us not as Children, but as Beasts; nor do us any good for our own sakes, or because it is their duty, but only that we may be useful to them, as Oxen are put into plentiful Pastures that they may be strong for labour, or fit for slaughter. This is the divine Model of Government that he offers to the World. The just Magistrate is the Minister of God for our good: but this Absolute Monarch has no other care of us, than as our Riches and Multitude may increase his own Glory and Strength. We might easily judg what would be the issue of such a Principle, when the Being of Nations depending upon his will, must also depend upon his opinion whether the Strength, Multitude and Riches of a People do conduce to the increase of Glory and Power or not, tho Historys were silent in the case; for these things speak of themselves. The judgment of a single man is not to be rely'd upon; the best and wisest do osten err, the foolish and perverse always; and our discourse is not of what
Moses
or
Samuel
would do, but what may come into the fancy of a furious or wicked man who may usurp the supreme Power, or a child, a woman, or a fool, that may inherit it. Besides, the Proposition upon which he builds his Conclusion, proves often false: for as the Riches, Power, Number and Courage of our Friends is for our advantage, and that of our Enemys threatens us with ruin; those Princes only can reasonably believe the strength of their Subjects beneficial to them, who govern so as to be assur'd of their Affection, and that their Strength will be imploy'd for them: But those who know they are, or justly deserve to be hated, cannot but think it will be employ'd against them, and always seek to diminish that which creates their danger. This must certainly befal as many as are leud, foolish, negligent, imprudent, cowardly, wicked, vicious, or any way unworthy the places they obtain; for their Reign is a perpetual exercise of the most extreme and ruinous Injustice: Every man that follows an honest Interest, is prejudic'd: Every one who finds the Power that was ordain'd for his good, to be turn'd to his hurt, will be angry and hate him that dos it: If the People be of uncorrupted manners, this hatred will be universal, because every one of them desires that which is just; if compos'd of good and evil, the first will always be averse to the evil Government, and the others endeavouring to uphold it, the safety of the Prince must depend upon the prevalence of either Party. If the best prove to be the strongest, he must perish: and knowing himself to be supported only by the worst, he will always destroy as many of his Enemys as he can; weaken those that remain; enrich his Creatures with their Spoils and Confiscations; by fraud and rapine accumulate Treasures to increase the number of his Party, and advance them into all places of power and trust, that by their assistance he may crush his Adversarys; and every man is accounted his Adversary, who has either Estate, Honor, Vertue or Reputation. This naturally casts all the Power into the hands of those who have no such dangerous qualitys, nor any thing to recommend them, but an absolute resignation of themselves to do whatever they are commanded. These men having neither will nor knowledg to do good, as soon as they come to be in power, Justice is perverted, military Disciplin neglected, the publick Treasures exhausted, new Projects invented to raise more; and the Prince's wants daily increasing, thro their ignorance, negligence, or deceit, there is no end of their devices and tricks to gain supplys. To this end swarms of Spys, Informers, and false Witnesses are sent out to circumvent the richest and most eminent men: The Tribunals are fill'd with Court-Parasites of profligate Consciences, Fortunes and Reputation, that no man may escape who is brought before them. If Crimes are wanting, the diligence of well▪ chosen Officers and Prosecutors, with the favor of the Judges, supply all defects; the Law is made a Snare; Vertue suppress'd, Vice fomented, and in a short time Honesty and Knavery, Sobriety and Leudness, Vertue and Vice, become Badges of the several Factions; and every man's conversation and manners shewing to what Party he is addicted, the Prince who makes himself head of the worst, must favour them to the overthrow of the best, which is so streight a way to an universal ruin, that no State can prevent it, unless that course be interrupted.
These things consider'd, no general Judgment can be made of a Magistrate's Counsels, from his Name or Duty. He that is just, and become grateful to the People by doing good, will find his own Honor and Security in increasing their Number, Riches, Vertue, and Power: If on the other side, by doing evil, he has drawn upon himself the publick hatred, he will always endeavour to take from them the power of doing him any hurt, by bringing them into the utmost weakness, poverty, and baseness. And whoever would know whether any particular Prince desires to increase or destroy the bodys and goods of his Subjects, must examin whether his Government be such as renders him grateful or odious to them; and whether he dos pursue the publick Interest, or for the advancement of his own Authority set up one in himself contrary to that of his People; which can never befal a Popular Government, and consequently no mischief equal to it can be produc'd by any such, unless something can be imagin'd worse than corruption and destruction.
SECT. XXVIII. Men living under Popular or Mix'd Governments, are more careful of the publick Good, than in Absolute Monarchys.
OUR Author delighting in strange things, dos in the next place, with an admirable sagacity, discover two faults in Popular Governments, that were never found by any man before him; and these are no less than Ignorance and Negligence. Speaking of the Care of Princes to preserve their Subjects, he adds;
On the contrary in a Popular State, every man knows the publick Good doth not wholly depend upon his Care, but the Commonwealth may be well enough govern'd by others, tho he only tend his private business.
And a little below,
Nor are they much to be blam'd for their Negligence, since it is an even wager their Ignorance may be as great. The Magistrats amongst the people being for the most part annual, do always lay down their Office before they understand it; so as a Prince of a duller understanding must needs excel them.
This is bravely determin'd, and the world is beholden to
Filmer
for the discovery of the Errors that have hitherto bin Epidemical. Most men had believ'd, that such as live in Free States, are usually pleas'd with their condition, desire to maintain it; and every man finding his own good comprehended in the Publick, as those that sail in the same Ship, employs the Talent he has in endeavouring to preserve it, knowing that he must perish if that miscarry. This was an incouragement to Industry; and the continual Labors and Dangers to which the
Romans
and other free Nations expos'd themselves, have bin taken for Testimonys that they thought themselves concern'd in the businesses that past among them, and that every one did not neglect them thro an opinion that they would be done well enough by others. It was also thought that free Citys, by frequent Elections of Magistrats, became Nurserys of great and able Men, every man endeavouring to excel others, that he might be advanc'd to the Honor he had no other title to than what might arise from his Merit or Reputation; in which they succeeded so well, that one of them may be justly said to have produc'd more eminent Men, than all the Absolute Monarchys that have bin in the World. But these were mistakes. Perhaps
Brutus, Valerius,
and other
Roman
Senators or Magistrats, for the space of three hundred years, might have taken some care of the Commonwealth, if they had thought it wholly depended upon one of them: But believing it would be well enough govern'd by others, they neglected it.
Camillus, Cincinnatus, Papirius, Fabius, Rullus
and
Maximus, Scipio Africanus, Amilcar, Hannibal, Pericles, Themistocles, Alcibiades, Epaminondas, Philopemen,
and others, might have prov'd able Men in affairs of War or Government; but they were remov'd from their Offices before they understood them, and must needs be excel'd in both by Princes, tho of duller understanding. This may be enough to excuse them for performing their Duty so slackly and meanly: But 'tis strange that
Tacitus,
and others, should so far overlook the Reason, and so grosly mistake the matter of Fact, as not only to say, that great and excellent Spirits fail'd when Liberty was lost, and all Preferments given to those who were most propense to Slavery; but that there wanted men
Tacit. Annal. l. 1.
even to write the History,
Inscitia Reipublicae ut alienae.
They never apply'd themselves to understand Affairs depending upon the will of one man, in whom they were no otherwise concern'd, than to avoid the effects of his Rage; and that was chiefly to be done, by not falling under the suspicion of being vertuous. This was the study then in request; and the most cunning in this Art were call'd
Scientes temporum:
No other wisdom was esteem'd in that and the ensuing Ages, and no more was requir'd, since the Paternal Care, deep Wisdom, and profound Judgment of the Princes provided for all; and tho they were of duller understandings, they must needs excel other Magistrats, who having bin created only for a year, left their Offices before they could understand the Dutys of them. This was evidenc'd by that tenderness and sincerity of heart, as well as the great purity of manners observ'd in
Tiberius;
the Clemency, Justice, solid Judgment and Frugality of
Caligula;
the Industry, Courage and Sobriety of
Claudius;
the good Nature and prudent Government of
Nero;
the Temperance, Vivacity and Diligence of
Vitellius;
the Liberality of
Galba
and
Vespasian;
together with the Encouragement given by
Domitian, Commodus, Heliogabalus,
and many others, to all manner of Vertues, and Favors confer'd upon those that excel'd in them. Ou
Author giving such infallible proof of his Integrity and Understanding, by teaching us these things that would never have come into our heads, ought surely to be credited, tho that which he proposes seems to be most absurd. But if we believe such as liv'd in those times, or those who in later ages have perus'd their Writings, we cannot but think the Princes beforemention'd, and the greatest part of those who possest the same places, not only to have bin void of all Vertue, and to have suffer'd none to grow up under them, but in baseness, sottishness and malice, to have bin equal to the worst of all Beasts. Whilst one Prince polluted with
ust and Blood, sat in his
Grotto
at
Capreae,
surrounded with an infamous Troop of Astrologers, and others were govern'd by Whores, Bardache's, manumis'd Slaves, and other Villains, the Empire was ruin'd thro their negligence, incapacity and wickedness; and the City that had flourish'd in all manner of Vertue, as much or more than any that has bin yet known in the world, produc'd no more; the Disciplin was dissolv'd that nourish'd it; no man could hope to advance a publick Good, or obviate an Evil by his diligence and valor; and he who acquir'd reputation by either, could expect no other reward than a cruel death. If
Germanicus
and
Corbulo,
who were born when Liberty was expiring, be brought for Examples against the first part of my Assertion, their ends will justify the latter; and no eminent
Roman
Family is known to have brought forth a man that deserv'd to be nam'd in History since their time. This is as probable in reason, as true in fact. Men are valiant and industrious, when they fight for themselves and their Country; they prove excellent in all the Arts of War and Peace, when they are bred up in vertuous Exercises, and taught by their Fathers and Masters to rejoice in the Honors gain'd by them: they love their Country, when the good of every particular man is comprehended in the publick Prosperity, and the success of their Atchievements is improv'd to the general advantage: They undertake hazards and labors for the Government, when 'tis justly administer'd; when Innocence is safe, and Vertue honour'd; when no man is distinguish'd from the vulgar, but such as have distinguish'd themselves by the bravery of their actions; when no honor is thought too great for those who do it eminently, unless it be such as cannot be communicated to others of equal merit: They do not spare their Persons, Purses, or Friends, when the publick Powers are employ'd for the publick Benefit, and imprint the like affections in their Children from their Infancy. The disciplin of Obedience in which the
Romans
were bred, taught them to command: and few were admitted to the Magistracys of inferior rank, till they had given such proof of their Vertue as might deserve the Supreme.
Cincinnatus, Camillus, Papirius, Mamercus, Fabius Maximus,
were not made Dictators, that they might learn the Dutys of the Office; but because they were judg'd to be of such Wisdom, Valor, Integrity and Experience, that they might be safely trusted with the highest Powers; and whilst the Law reign'd, not one was advanc'd to that honor, who did not fully answer what was expected from him. By this means the City was so replenish'd with men fit for the greatest employments, that even in its infancy, when three hundred and six of the
Fabii, Quorum neminem,
says
Livy, ducem sperneret quibuslibet temporibus Senatus,
were kill'd in one day, the City did lament the loss, but was not so weaken'd to give any advantage to their Enemys: and when every one of those who had bin eminent before the second Punic War,
Fabius Maximus
only excepted, had perish'd in it, others arose in their places, who surpast them in number, and were equal to them in Vertue. The City was a perpetual spring of such men as long as Liberty lasted; but that was no sooner overthrown, than Vertue was torn up by the roots; the People became base and sordid, the small remains of the Nobility slothsul and effeminate; and their
Italian
Associats becoming like to them, the Empire whilst it stood, was only sustain'd by the strength os Foreigners.
The
Grecian
Vertue had the same fate, and expir'd with Liberty: instead of such Soldiers as in their time had no equals, and such Generals of Armys and Fleets, Legislators and Governors, as all succeeding Ages have justly admir'd, they sent out swarms of Fidlers, Jesters, Chariot-drivers, Players, Bawds, Flatterers, Ministers of the most impure Lusts; or idle, babling, hypocritical Philosophers, not much better than they. The Emperors Courts were always crouded with this Vermin; and notwithstanding the necessity our Author imagins that Princes must needs understand matters of Government better than Magistrats annually chosen, they did for the most part prove so brutish as to give themselves and the World to be govern'd by such as these, and that without any great prejudice, since none could be found more ignorant, leud, and base than themselves.
'Tis absurd to impute this to the change of times; for time changes nothing; and nothing was chang'd in those times but the Government, and that chang'd all things. This is not accidental, but according to the rules given to Nature by God, imposing upon all things a necessity of perpetually following their Causes. Fruits are always of the same nature with the Seeds and Roots from which they come, and Trees are known by the fruits they bear: As a Man begets a Man, and a Beast a Beast; that Society of Men which constitutes a Government upon the foundation of Justice, Vertue, and the common Good, will always have men to promote those ends; and that which intends the advancement of one man's desires and vanity, will abound in those that will foment them. Men follow that which seems advantageous to themselves. Such as are bred under a good disciplin, and see that all benefits procur'd to their Country by vertuous Actions, redound to the honor and advantage of themselves, their Children, Friends, and Relations, contract from their infancy a love to the Publick, and look upon the common Concernments as their own. When they have learnt to be vertuous, and see that Vertue is in esteem, they seek no other preferments than such as may be obtain'd that way; and no Country ever wanted great numbers of excellent men, where this method was establish'd. On the other side, when 'tis evident that the best are despis'd, hated, or mark'd out for destruction; all things calculated to the humor or advantage of one man, who is often the worst, or govern'd by the worst; Honors, Riches, Commands, and Dignitys dispos'd by his Will, and his favor gain'd only by a most obsequious respect, or a pretended affection to his person, together with a servile obedience to his commands, all Applications to vertuous Actions will cease; and no man caring to render himself or his Children worthy of great Imployments, such as desire to have them will, by little intrigues, corruption, scurrility and flattery, endeavour to make way to them; by which means true Merit in a short time comes to be abolish'd, as fell out in
Rome
as soon as the
Caesars
began to reign.
He who dos not believe this, may see whether the like did not happen in all the other Commonwealths of
Italy
and
Greece;
or if modern examples are thought to be of more value, let him examin whether the Noblemen of
Venice,
who are born and bred in Familys that never knew a Master; who act for themselves, and have a part in all the good or evil that befals the Commonwealth, and know that if it be destroy'd, the
must perish, or at least that all changes are to their prejudice, do neglect the publick Interests, as thinking that the whole not depending upon any one of them, things will be well enough govern'd, tho they attend only their private benefit. Let it be observ'd whether they do better understand the common concernments, than the great men of
France
or
Spain,
who never come to the knowledg of any thing, unless they happen to be favor'd by the King or his Ministers, and know themselves never to be more miserable than when their Master is most prosperous. For my own part, I cannot think it necessary to alledg any other proo
of this point, than that when
Maximilian
the Emperor,
Lewis
the twelfth of
France,
the fierce Pope
Julius
the second, and
Ferdinand
the subtil and powerful King of
Spain,
had by the League of
Cambray
combin'd against the
Venetians,
gain'd the Battel of
La Ghirad'adda,
taken
Alviano
their
Paol. Paruta Hist. Venet. Guicciard.
General prisoner, depriv'd them of all their Dominion on the
Terra firma,
and prepar'd to assault the City, it was, under God, solely preserv'd by the vigor and wisdom of their Nobility, who tho no way educated to War, unless by Sea, sparing neither persons nor purses, did with admirable industry and courage first recover
Padoüa,
and then many other Citys,
o as at the end of that terrible War they came off without any diminution of their Territorys. Whereas
Portugal
having in our age revolted from the House of
Austria,
no one doubts that it had bin immediately reduc'd, if the great men of
Spain
had not bin pleas'd with such a lessening of their Master's power, and resolv'd not to repair it by the recovery of that Kingdom, or to deprive themselves of an easy retreat when they should be opprest by him or his Favorites. The like thought was more plainly exprest by the Mareschal
de Bassompierre,
who seeing how hardly
Rochel
was prest by
Lewis
the 13
th,
said,
Je croy qu'enfin Nous serons assez fous pour prendre la Rochelle. Mem. de Bassom
ierre.
he thought they should be such fools to take it:
but 'tis believ'd they would never have bin such fools; and the treachery only of our Countrymen did enable the Cardinal
Richlieu
to do it (as for his own Glory, and the advancement of the Popish Cause he really intended) and nothing is to this day more common in the mouths of their wisest and best men, tho Papists, than the acknowledgment of their own folly in suffering that place to fall, the King having by that means gotten power to proceed against them at his pleasure. The brave Monsieur
de Turenne
is said to have carry'd this to a greater height in his last Discourse to the present King of
France:
"You think, said he, you have Armys, but you have none; the one half of the Officers are the Bawdy-house Companions of Monsieur
de xxx,
or the Creatures of his Whore Madam
de xxx:
the other half may be men of experience, and fit for their Imployments; but they are such as would be pleas'd with nothing more than to see you lose two or three Battels, that coming to stand in need of them, you might cause them to be better us'd by your Ministers than of late they have bin."
It may easily be imagin'd how men in such sentiments do serve their Master; and nothing is more evident than that the
French
in this age have had so great advantages, that they might have brought
Europe,
and perhaps
Asia,
under their power, if the interest of the Nation had bin united to that of the Government, and the Strength, Vigor, and Bravery of the Nobility employ'd that way. But since it has pleas'd God to suffer us to fall into a condition of being little able to help our selves, and that they are in so good terms with the
Turk
as not to attack him, 'tis our happiness that they do not know their own strength, or cannot without ruin to themselves turn it to our prejudice.
I could give yet more pregnant testimonys of the difference between men fighting for their own interests in the Offices to which they had bin advanc'd by the votes of numerous Assemblys, and such as serve for pay, and get preferments by corruption or favor, if I were not unwilling to stir the spleen of some men, by obliging them to reflect upon what has past in our own Age and Country; to compare the Justice of our Tribunals within the time of our memory, and the integrity of those who for a while manag'd the publick Treasure; the Disciplin, Valor and Strength of our Armys and Fleets; the increase of our Riches and Trade; the success of our Wars in
Scotland, Ireland,
and at Sea; the glory and reputation not long since gain'd, with that condition into which we are of late fallen. But I think, I shall offend no wise or good man, if I say, that as neither the
Romans
nor
Grecians
in the time of their Liberty ever perform'd any actions more glorious than freeing the Country from a Civil War that had rag'd in every part, the conquest of two such Kingdoms as
Scotland
and
Ireland,
and crushing the formidable power of the
Hollanders
by Sea; nor ever produc'd more examples of Valor, Industry, Integrity, and in all respects compleat, disinterested, unmoveable and incorruptible Vertue than were at that time seen in our Nation: So neither of them upon the change of their Affairs did exceed us in weakness, cowardice, baseness, venality, leudness, and all manner of corruption. We have reason therefore not only to believe that all Princes do not necessarily understand the affairs of their People, or provide better for them than those who are otherwise chosen; but that as there is nothing of Greatness, Power, Riches, Strength, and Happiness, which we might not reasonably have hop'd for if we had rightly improv'd the advantages we had; so there is nothing of shame and misery which we may not justly fear, since we have neglected them.
If any man think that this evil of advancing Officers for personal respects, favor or corruption, is not of great extent, I desire him to consider, that the Officers of State, Courts of Justice, Church, Armys, Fleets and Corporations, are of such number and power as wholly to corrupt a Nation when they themselves are corrupted; and will ever be corrupt, when they attain to their Offices by corruption. The good management of all Affairs, Civil, Military, and Ecclesiastical, necessarily depends upon good order and disciplin; and 'tis not in the power of common men to reform abuses patroniz'd by those in Authority, nor to prevent the mischiefs thereupon ensuing; and not having power to direct publick actions to the publick good, they must consequently want the industry and affection that is requir'd to bring them to a good issue. The
Romans
were easily beaten under the
Decemviri,
tho immediately before the erection, and after the extinction of that Power, none of their Neighbours were able to resist them. The
Goths,
who with much Glory had reign'd in
Spain
for about three hundred years, had neither strength nor courage under their leud and odious King
Rodrigo,
and were in one day subdu'd with little loss of blood by the
Saracens,
and could not in less than eight hundred years free their Country from them. That brave Nation having of late fallen under as base a conduct, has now as little heart or power to defend it self: Court-Parasites have render'd Valor ridiculous; and they who have ever shew'd themselves as much inclin'd to Arms as any people of the world, do now abhor them, and are sent to the Wars by force, laid in Carts, bound like Calves brought to the Shambles, and left to starve in
Flanders
as soon as they arrive. It may easily be judg'd what service can be expected from such men, tho they should happen to be well commanded: but the great Officers, by the corruption of the Court, think only of enriching themselves; and encreasing the misery of the Soldiers by their frauds, both become equally useless to the State.
Notwithstanding the seeming prosperity of
France,
matters there are not much better manag'd. The warlike temper of that people is so worn out by the frauds and crueltys of corrupt Officers, that few men list themselves willingly to be Soldiers; and when they are engag'd or forc'd, they are so little able to endure the miserys to which they are expos'd, that they daily run away from their Colors, tho they know not whither to go, and expect no mercy if they are taken. The King has in vain attempted to correct this humor by the severity of martial Law; but mens minds will not be forc'd; and tho his Troops are perfectly well arm'd, cloth'd, and exercis'd, they have given many testimonys of little worth. When the Prince of
Condé
had by his own Valor, and the Strength of the King's Guards, broken the first line of the Prince of
Orange
's Army at the battel of
Seneff,
he could not make the second and third line of his own Army to advance and reinforce the first, by which means he lost all the fair hopes he had conceiv'd of an intire Victory. Not long after, the Mareschal
de Crequi
was abandon'd by his whole Army near
Trier,
who ran away, hardly striking a stroke, and left him with sixteen horse to shift for himself. When
Monsieur de Turenne,
by the excellency of his Conduct and Valor, had gain'd such a Reputation amongst the Soldiers, that they thought themselves secure under him, he did not suffer such disgraces; but he being kill'd, they return'd to the usual temper of forc'd and ill-us'd Soldiers: half the Army was lost in a retreat, little differing from a flight; and the rest, as they themselves confess, sav'd by the bravery of two
English
Regiments. The Prince of
Condé
was soon after sent to command; but he could not with all his courage, skill and reputation, raise their fallen Spirits, nor preserve his Army any other way, than by lodging them in a Camp near
Schlestadt,
so fortify'd by Art and Nature that it could not be forc'd.
To these we may add some Examples of our own. In our late War the
Scots
Foot, whether Friends or Enemys, were much inferior to those of the Parliament, and their Horse esteem'd as nothing. Yet in the year 1639 and 1640, the King's Army, tho very numerous, excellently arm'd and mounted, and in appearance able to conquer many such Kingdoms as
Scotland,
being under the conduct of Courtiers, and affected as men usually are towards those that use them ill, and seek to destroy them, they could never resist a wretched Army commanded by
Leven;
but were shamefully beaten at
Newborn,
and left the Northern Countys to be ravag'd by them.
When
Van Tromp
set upon
Blake
in
Foleston-Bay,
the Parliament had not above thirteen Ships against threescore, and not a man that had ever seen any other fight at Sea, than between a Merchant-ship and a Pirat, to oppose the best Captain in the world, attended with many others in valor and experience not much inserior to him. Many other difficultys were observ'd in the unsetled State: Few Ships, want of Mony, several Factions, and some who to advance particular Interests betray'd the Publick. But such was the power of Wisdom and Integrity in those that sat at the Helm, and their diligence in chusing men only for their Merit, was blest with such success, that in two years our Fleets grew to be as famous as our Land Armys; the Reputation and Power of our Nation rose to a greater height, than when we possest the better half of
France,
and the Kings of
France
and
Scotland
were our Prisoners. All the States, Kings and Potentates of
Europe,
most respectfully, not to say submissively, sought our Friendship; and
Rome
was more afraid of
Blake
and his Fleet, than they had bin of the great King of
Sweden,
when he was ready to invade
Italy
with a hundred thousand men. This was the work of those, who, if our Author says true,
thought basely of the publick Concernments;
and believing things might be well enough manag'd by others, minded only their private Affairs. These were the effects of the negligence and ignorance of those, who being suddenly advanc'd to Offices, were remov'd before they understood the Dutys of them. These Diseases, which proceed from popular corruption and irregularity, were certainly cur'd by the restitution of that Integrity, good Order and Stability that accompany divine Monarchy. The Justice of the War made against
Holland
in the year 1665; the probity of the Gentleman, who without partiality or bribery, chose the most part of the Officers that carry'd it on; the Wisdom, Diligence and Valor manifested in the conduct, and the Glory with which it was ended, justifys all that our Author can say in its commendation. If any doubt remains, the subtilty of making the King of
France
desire that the
Netherlands
might be an accession to his Crown; the ingenious ways taken by us to facilitate the conquest of them; the Industry of our Embassadors in diverting the
Spaniards
from entring into the War till it was too late to recover the Losses sustain'd; the honourable Design upon the
Smyrna
Fleet, and our frankness in taking the quarrel upon our selves, together with the important Figure we now make in
Europe,
may wholly remove it; and in confirmation of our Author's Doctrin, shew, that Princes do better perform the Offices that require Wisdom, Industry and Valor, than annual Magistrats; and do more seldom err in the choice of Officers, than Senats and popular Assemblys.
SECT. XXIX. There is no assurance that the Distempers of a State shall be cur'd by the Wisdom of a Prince.
BƲ T,
says our Author,
the Vertue and Wisdom of a Prince supplys all. Tho he were of a duller understanding, by use and experience he must needs excel all:
Nature, Age, or Sex, are, as it seems, nothing to the case. A Child as soon as he comes to be a King, has experience; the head of a Fool is fill'd with Wisdom, as soon as a Crown is set upon it, and the most vicious do in a moment become vertuous. This is more strange than that an Ass being train'd to a Course, should outrun the best
Arabian
Horse; or a Hare bred up in an Army, become more strong and fierce than a Lion: for Fortune dos not only supply all natural defects in Princes, and correct their vices, but gives them the benefit of use and experience when they have none. Some Reasons and Examples might have bin expected to prove this extraordinary Proposition: But according to his laudable custom, he is pleas'd to trouble himself with neither; and thinks that the impudence of an Assertion is sufficient to make that to pass, which is repugnant to experience and common sense, as may appear by the following discourse.
I will not insist upon terms; for tho
duller understanding
signisys nothing, in as much as no understanding is dull, and a man is said to be dull only because he wants it; but presuming he means little understanding, I shall so take it. This defect may possibly be repair'd in time; but to conclude it must be so, is absurd, for no one has this use and experience when he begins to reign. At that
ime many Errors may be committed to the ruin of himself or people, and many have perish'd even in their beginning.
Edward
the fifth and sixth of
England, Francis
the second of
France,
and divers other Kings have dy'd in the beginning of their youth:
Charles
the ninth liv'd only to add the furys of youth to the follys of his childhood; and our
Henry
the second,
Edward
the second,
Richard
the second, and
Henry
the sixth, seem to have bin little wiser in the last, than in the first year of their Reign or Life. The present Kings of
Spain, France,
and
Sweden,
came to the Crowns they wear before the sixth year of their Age; and if they did then surpass all annual Magistrats in Wisdom and Valor, it was by a peculiar Gift of God, which, for any thing we know, is not given to every King, and it was not Use and Experience that made them to excel. If it be pretended that this Experience, with the Wisdom that it gives, comes in time and by degrees; I may modestly ask, what time is requir'd to render a Prince excellent in Wisdom who is a Child or a Fool? and who will give security that he shall live to that time, or that the Kingdom shall not be ruin'd in the time of his folly? I may also doubt how our Author, who concludes that every King in time must needs become excellent in Wisdom, can be reconcil'd to
Solomon,
who in preferring a wise Child before an old and foolish King that will not be advis'd, shews that an old King may be a Fool, and he that will not be advis'd is one. Some are so naturally brutish and stupid, that neither education nor time will mend them. 'Tis probable that
Solomon
took what care he could to instruct his only Son
Rehoboam;
but he was certainly a Fool at forty years of age, and we have no reason to believe that he deserv'd a better name. He seems to have bin the very Fool his Father intended, who tho bray'd in a mortar would never leave his folly: He would not be advis'd, tho the hand of God was against him; ten Tribes revolted from him, and the City and Temple was pillag'd by the
Egyptians.
Neither experience nor afflictions could mend him, and he is call'd to this day by his own Countrymen
Stultitia Gentium.
I might offend tender ears, if I should alledg all the Examples of Princes mention'd in History, or known in our own Age, who have liv'd and dy'd as foolish and incorrigible as he: but no man, I presume, will be scandaliz'd if I say, that the ten last Kings of
Meroveus
his Race, whom the
French
Historians call
Les Roys faineants,
were so far from excelling other men in understanding, that they liv'd and dy'd more like beasts than men. Nay, the Wisdom and Valor of
Charles Martel
expir'd in his Grandchild
Charles
the Great; and his Posterity grew to be so sottish, that the
French
Nation must have perish'd under their conduct, if the Nobility and People had not rejected them, and plac'd the Crown upon a more deserving Head.
This is as much as is necessary to be said to the general Proposition; for it is false, if it be not always true; and no conclusion can be made upon it. But I need not be so strict with our Author, there being no one fou d part in his Assertion. Many Children come to be Kings when they h
e no experience; and die, or are depos'd, before they can gain any. Many are by nature so sottish that they can learn nothing: Others falling under the power of Women, or corrupt Favorites and Ministers, are persuaded and seduc'd from the good ways to which their own natural understanding or experience might lead them; the Evils drawn upon themselves or their Subjects, by the Errors committed in the time of their ignorance, are o
ten grievous, and sometimes irreparable, tho they should be made wise by time and experience. A person of royal Birth and excellent Wit, was so sensible of this as to tell me,
"That the condition of Kings was most miserable, in as much as they never heard Truth till they were ruin'd by Lies; and then every one was ready to tell it to them, not by way of advice, but reproach, and rather to vent their own spite, than to seek a remedy to the evils brought upon them and the people."
Others attain to Crowns when they are of full Age, and have experience as Men, tho none as Kings; and therefore are apt to commit as great mistakes as Children: And upon the whole matter all the Historys of the world shew, that instead of this profound Judgment and incomparable Wisdom which our Author generally attributes to all Kings, there is no sort of men that do more frequently and intirely want it.
But tho Kings were always wise by nature, or made to be so by experience, it would be of little advantage to Nations under them, unless their Wisdom were pure, perfect, and acompany'd with Clemency, Magnanimity, Justice, Valor and Piety. Our Author himself durst hardly have said, that these Vertues or Graces are gain'd by Experience, or annex'd by God to any rank of Men or Familys. He gives them where he pleases without distinction. We sometimes see those upon Thrones, who by God and Nature seem to have bin design'd for the most sordid Offices; and those have bin known to pass their lives in meanness and poverty, who had all the Qualitys that could be desir'd in Princes. There is likewise a kind of ability to dispatch some sort of Affairs, that Princes who continue long in a Throne may to a degree acquire or increase: Some men take this for Wisdom, but K
James
more rightly call'd it by the name of
Kingcraft;
and as it principally consists in Dissimulation, and the arts of working upon mens Passions, Vanitys, private Interests or Vices, to make them for the most part instruments of Mischief, it has the advancement or security of their own Persons for its object, is frequently exercis'd with all the excesses of Pride, Avarice, Treachery and Cruelty; and no men have bin ever found more notoriously to deflect from all that deserves praise in a Prince, or a Gentleman, than those that have most excel'd in
Tacit. An. l. 11, 12.
it.
Pharasmenes
King of
Iberia,
is recorded by
Tacitus
to have bin well vers'd in this Science. His Brother
Mithradates
King of
Armenia
had marry'd his Daughter, and given his own Daughter to
Rhadamistus
Son of
Pharasmenes.
He had some Contests with
Mithradates,
but by the help of these mutual Alliances, nearness of Blood, the diligence of
Rhadamistus,
and an Oath, strengthen'd with all the Ceremonys that amongst those Nations were esteem'd most sacred, not to use Arms or Poison against him, all was compos'd; and by this means getting him into his power, he stifled him with a great weight of clothes thrown upon him, kill'd his Children, and not long after his own Son
Rhadamistus
also.
Louis
the eleventh of
France, James
the third of
Scotland, Henry
the seventh of
England,
were great Masters of these Arts; and t
ose who are acquainted with History, will easily judg how happy Nations would be if all Kings did in time certainly learn them.
Our Author, as a farther testimony of his Judgment, having said that Kings must needs excel others in Understanding, and grounded his Doctrin upon their profound Wisdom, imputes to them those
base and panick sears
which are inconsistent with it, or any royal Vertue: and to carry the point higher, tells us,
There is no Tyrant so barbarously wicked, but his own reason and sense will tell him, that tho he be a God, yet he must die like a Man; and that there is not the meanest of his Subjects, but may find a means to revenge himself of the Injurys offer'd him:
and from thence concludes, that
there is no such Tyranny as that of a Multitude which is subject to no
sach fears.
But if there be such a thing in the World, as a barbarous and wicked Tyrant, he is something different from a King, or the same; and his Wisdom is consistent or inconsistent with Barbarity, Wickedness, and Tyranny. If there be no difference, the praises he gives, and the rights he ascribes to the one belong also to the other: and the excellency of Wisdom may consist with Barbarity, Wickedness, Tyranny, and the panick fears that accompany them; which hitherto have bin thought to comprehend the utmost excesses of Folly and Madness; and I know no better testimony of the truth of that Opinion, than that Wisdom always distinguishing good from evil, and being seen only in the rectitude of that distinction, in following and adhering to the good, rejecting that which is evil, preferring safety before danger, happiness before misery, and in knowing rightly how to use the means of attaining or preserving the one, and preventing or avoiding the other, there cannot be a more extravagant deviation from Reason, than for a man, who in a private condition might live safely and happily, to invade a Principality: or if he be a Prince, who by governing with Justice and Clemency might obtain the inward satisfaction of his own Mind, hope for the blessing of God upon his just and vertuous Actions, acquire the love and praises of men, and live in safety and happiness amongst his safe and happy Subjects, to fall into that Barbarity, Wickedness, and Tyranny, which brings upon him the displeasure of God, and detestation of men, and which is always attended with those base and panick fears, that comprehend all that is shameful and miserable. This being perceiv'd by
Machiavel,
he could not think
Discors. sopra T. Liv. l. 1. c. 10.
that any man in his senses would not rather be a
Scipio
than a
Cesar;
or if he came to be a Prince, would not rather chuse to imitate
Agesilaus, Timoleon,
or
Dion,
than
Nabis, Phalaris,
or
Dionysius;
and imputes the contrary choice to madness. Nevertheless 'tis too well known that many of our Author's profound wise men in the depth of their Judgment, made perfect by use and experience, have fallen into it.
If there be a difference between this barbarous wicked Tyrant, and a King, we are to examin who is the Tyrant, and who the King; for the name confer'd or assum'd cannot make a King, unless he be one. He who is not a King, can have no Title to the rights belonging to him who is truly a King: so that a People who find themselves wickedly and barbarously opprest by a Tyrant, may destroy him and his Tyranny without giving offence to any King.
But 'tis strange that
Filmer
should speak of the Barbarity and Wickedness of a Tyrant, who looks upon the World to be the Patrimony of one man; and for the foundation of his Doctrin, asserts such a power in every one that makes himself master of any part, as cannot be limited by any Law. His Title is not to be question'd; Usurpation and Violence confer an incontestable Right: the exercise of his Power is no more to be disputed than the Acquisition: his will is a Law to his Subjects; and no Law can be impos'd by them upon his Conduct. For if these things be true, I know not how any man could ever be call'd a Tyrant, that name having never bin given to any unless for usurping a Power that did not belong to him, or an unjust exercise of that which had bin confer'd upon him, and violating the Laws which ought to be a rule to him. 'Tis also hard to imagin how any man can be call'd barbarous and wicked, if he be oblig'd by no Law but that of his own Pleasure; for we have no other notion of wrong, than that it is a breach of the Law which determins what is right. If the lives and goods of Subjects depend upon the Will of the Prince, and he in his profound Wisdom preserve them only to be beneficial to himself, they can have no other right than what he gives, and without injustice may retain when he thinks fit: If there be no wrong, there can be no just revenge; and he that pretends to seek it, is not a free man vindicating his Right, but a perverse slave rising up against his Master. But if there be such a thing as a barbarous and wicked Tyrant, there must be a rule relating to the acquisition and exercise of the Power, by which he may be distinguish'd from a just King; and a Law superior to his Will, by the violation of which he becomes barbarous and wicked.
Tho our Author so sar forgets himself, to confess this to be true, he seeks to destroy the fruits of it by such flattery as comprehends all that is most detestable in Profaneness and Blasphemy, and gives the name of Gods to the most execrable of men. He may by such language deserve the name of
Heylin
's Disciple; but will find few among the Heathens so basely servile, or so boldly impious. Tho
Claudius Cesar
was a drunken sot, and transported with the extravagance of his Fortune, he detested the impudence of his Predecessor
Caligula,
(who affected that Title) and in his Rescript to the Procurator of
Judea,
gives it no better name than
turpem Caii insaniam.
For this reason it was rejected by all his Pagan Successors, who were not as furiously wicked as he: yet
Filmer
has thought fit to renew it, for the benefit of Mankind, and the Glory of the Christian Religion.
I know not whether these extreme and barbarous Errors of our Author are to be imputed to wickedness or madness; or whether, to save the pains of a distinction, they may not rightly be said to be the same thing: but nothing less than the excess of both could induce him to attribute any thing of good to the fears of a Tyrant, since they are the chief causes of all the mischiefs he dos.
Tertullian
says they are
Metu quam furore saeviores;
and
Tacitus,
speaking of a most wicked King, says, that he did
Saevitiam ignaviae obtendere:
and we do not more certainly find that Cowards are the cruellest of men, than that wickedness makes them Cowards; that every man's fears bear a proportion with his guilt, and with the number, vertue, and strength of those he has offended. He who usurps a power over all, or abuses a Trust repos'd in him by all, in the highest measure offends all; he fears and hates those he has offended, and to secure himself, aggravates the former Injurys: When these are publick, they beget a universal Hatred, and every man desires to extinguish a Mischief that threatens ruin to all. This will always be terrible to one that knows he has deserv'd it; and when those he dreads are the body of the People, nothing but a publick destruction can satisfy his rage, and appease his fears.
I wish I could agree with
Filmer,
in exempting multitudes from fears; for they having seldom committed any injustice, unless thro fear, would, as far as human fragility permits, be free from it. Tho the
Attick Ostracism
was not an extreme Punishment, I know nothing usually practis'd in any Commonwealth, that did so much savor of injustice: but it proceeded solely from a fear that one man, tho in appearance vertuous, when he came to be rais'd too much above his fellow-Citizens, might be tempted to invade the publick Liberty. We do not find that the
Athenians,
or any other free Citys, ever injur'd any man, unless thro such a jealousy, or the perjury of Witnesses, by which the best Tribunals that ever were, or can be establish'd in the world, may be misled; and no injustice could be apprehended from any, if they did not fall into such fears.
But tho Multitudes may have fears as well as Tyrants, the Causes and Effects of them are very different. A People, in relation to domestick Affairs, can desire nothing but Liberty, and neither hate or fear any but such as do, or would, as they suspect, deprive them of that Happiness: Their endeavors to secure that seldom hurt any except such as invade their Rights; and if they err, the mistake is for the most part discover'd before it produce any mischief; and the greatest that ever came that way, was the death of one, or a few men. Their Hatred and desire of Revenge can go no farther than the sense of the Injury receiv'd or fear'd, and is extinguish'd by the death or banishment of the Persons; as may be gather'd from the examples of the
Tarquins, Decemviri, Cassius, Melius,
and
Manlius Capitolinus.
He therefore that would know whether the hatred and fear of a Tyrant, or of a People, produces the greater mischiefs, needs only to consider, whether it be better that the Tyrant destroy the People, or that the People destroy the Tyrant: or at the worst, whether one that is suspected of affecting the Tyranny should perish, or a whole People, amongst whom very many are certainly innocent; and experience shows that such are always first sought out to be destroy'd for being so: Popular furys or fears, how irregular or unjust soever they may be, can extend no farther; general Calamitys can only be brought upon a People by those who are enemys to the whole Body, which can never be the Multitude, for they are that Body. In all other respects, the fears that render a Tyrant cruel, render a People gentle and cautious; for every single man knowing himself to be of little power, not only fears to do injustice because it may be reveng'd upon his Person, by him, or his Friends, Kindred and Relations, that suffers it; but because it tends to the overthrow of the Government, which comprehends all publick and private Concernments, and which every man knows cannot subsist unless it be so easy and gentle, as to be pleasing to those who are the best, and have the greatest power: and as the publick Considerations divert them from doing those Injurys that may bring immediate prejudice to the Publick, so there are strict Laws to restrain all such as would do private Injurys. If neither the People nor the Magistrats of
Venice, Switzerland,
and
Holland,
commit such extravagances as are usual in other places, it dos not perhaps proceed from the temper of those Nations different from others, but from a knowledg, that whosoever offers an injury to a private person, or attempts a publick mischief, is expos'd to the impartial and inexorable Power of the Law; whereas the chief work of an absolute Monarch is to place himself above the Law, and thereby rendring himself the Author of all the evils that the People suffer, 'tis absurd to expect that he should remove them.
SECT. XXX. A Monarchy cannot be well regulated, unless the Powers of the Monarch are limited by Law.
OUR Author's next step is not only to reject Popular Governments, but all such Monarchys as are not absolute:
for if the King,
says he,
admits the People to be his Companions, he leaves to be a King.
This is the language of
French
Lackeys, Valet de Chambre's, Taylors, and others like them in Wisdom, Learning and Policy, who when they fly to
England
for fear of a well deserv'd Gally, Gibbet, or Wheel, are ready to say,
Il faut que le Roy soit absolu, autrement il n'est point Roy.
And finding no better men to agree with
Filmer
in this sublime Philosophy, I may be pardon'd if I do not follow them, till I am convinc'd in these ensuing points.
1. It seems absurd to speak of Kings admitting the Nobility or People to part of the Government: for tho there may be, and are Nations without Kings, yet no man can conceive a King without a People. These must necessarily have all the power originally in themselves; and tho Kings may and often have a power of granting Honors, Immunitys, and Privileges to private Men or Corporations, he dos it only out of the publick Stock, which he is entrusted to distribute; but can give nothing to the People, who give to him all that he can rightly have.
2. 'Tis strange that he who frequently cites
Aristotle
and
Plato,
should unluckily acknowledg such only to be Kings as they call Tyrants, and deny the name of King to those, who in their opinion are the only Kings.
3. I cannot understand why the Scripture should call those Kings whose Powers were limited, if they only are Kings who are absolute;
Deut. 17.
or why
Moses
did appoint that the power of Kings in
Israel
should be limited (if they resolv'd to have them) if that limitation destroy'd the being of a King.
4. And lastly, how he knows that in the Kingdoms which have a shew of Popularity, the Power is wholly in the King.
The first point was prov'd when we examin'd the beginning of Monarchys, and found it impossible that there could be any thing of justice in them, unless they were establish'd by the common consent of those who were to live under them; or that they could make any such establishment, unless the right and power were in them.
Secondly, Neither
Plato
nor
Aristotle
acknowledg either reason or justice in the power of a Monarch, unless he has more of the Vertues conducing to the good of the Civil Society than all those who compose it; and employ them for the publick advantage, and not to his own pleasure and profit, as being set up by those who seek their own good, for no other reason than that he should procure it. To this end a Law is set as a rule to him, and the best men, that is such as are most like to himself,
Plat. de Leg. Arist. Polit.
made to be his Assistants, because, say they,
Lex est mens sine affectu, & quasi Deus;
whereas the best of men have their affections and passions, and are subject to be misled by them: Which shews, that as the Monarch is not for himself nor by himself, he dos not give, but receive power, nor admit others to the participation of it, but is by them admitted to what he has. Whereupon they conclude, that to prefer the absolute power of a man, as in those Governments which they call
Barbarorum regna,
before the regular Government of Kings justly exercising a power instituted by Law, and directed to the publick good, is to chuse rather to be subject to the lust of a Beast, than to be govern'd by a God. And because such a choice can only be made by a Beast, I leave our Author to find a description of himself in their Books, which he so often cites.
But if
Aristotle
deserves credit, the Princes who reign for themselves and not for the People, preferring their own pleasure or profit before the publick, become Tyrants; which in his language is Enemys to God and Man. On this account
Boccalini
introduces the Princes of
Europe
raising a mutiny against him in
Parnassus,
for giving such definitions of Tyrants as they said comprehended them all; and forcing the poor Philosopher to declare by a new definition, that
Che I Tiranni furono ce
ti h
omini del tempo antico de i quali hoggidi si e perdu
la razz
▪
occal. Rag. d
Parn.
Tyrants were certain men of antient times whose race is now extinguish'd.
But with all his Wit and Learning he could not give a reason why those who do the same things that render'd the antient Tyrants detestable, should not be so also in our days.
In the third place, The Scriptures declare the necessity of setting bounds to those who are plac'd in the highest dignitys.
Moses
seems to have had as great abilitys as any man that ever liv'd in the world; but he alone was not able to bear the weight of the Government, and therefore God appointed Seventy chosen men to be his assistants. This was a perpetual Law to
Israel;
and as no King was to have more power than
Moses,
or more abilitys to perform the Dutys of his Office, none could be exempted from the necessity of wanting the like helps. Our Author therefore must confess that they are Kings who have them, or that Kingly Government is contrary to the Scriptures. When God by
Moses
gave liberty to his People to make a King, he did it under these conditions.
He must be one
Deut. 17.
of their Brethren: They must chuse him: he must not multiply Gold, Silver, Wives, or Horses: he must not lift up his Heart above his Brethren.
And
Josephus
paraphrasing upon the place, says,
He shall do nothing without the
Antiq. Jud.
advice of the
Sanhedrin;
or if he do, they shall oppose him.
This agrees with the confession of
Zedekiah
to the Princes (which was the
Sanhedrin) The King can do nothing without you;
and seems to have bin in pursuance of the Law of the Kingdom, which was written in a Book, and laid up
Jer.
8.
before the Lord; and could not but agree with that of
Moses,
unless they spake by different Spirits, or that the Spirit by which they did speak was subject to error or change: and the whole series of God's Law shews, that the Pride, Magnificence, Pomp and Glory usurp'd by their Kings was utterly contrary to the will of God. They did lift up their hearts above their Brethren, which was forbidden by the Law. All the Kings of
Israel,
and most of the Kings of
Judah,
utterly rejected it; and every one of them did very much depart from the observation of it. I will not deny that the People in their institution of a King intended they should do so: they had done it themselves, and would have a King that might uphold them in their disobedience; they were addicted to the Idolatry of their accursed Neighbours, and desir'd that Government by which it was maintain'd amongst them. In doing this they did not reject
Samuel;
but they rejected God that he should not reign over them. They might perhaps believe that unless their King were such as the Law did not permit, he would not perform what they intended; or that the name of King did not belong to him, unless he had a power that the Law deny'd. But since God and his Prophets give the name of King to the chief Magistrate, endow'd with a power that was restrain'd within very narrow limits, whom they might without offence set up, we also may safely give the same to those of the same nature, whether it please
Filmer
or not.
4. The practice of most Nations, and (I may truly say) of all that deserve imitation, has bin as directly contrary to the absolute power of one man as their Constitutions: or if the original of many Governments lie hid in the impenetrable darkness of Antiquity, their progress may serve to shew the intention of the Founders.
Aristotle
seems to think that the first Monarchs having bin chosen for their Vertue, were little restrain'd in the exercise of their Power; but that they or their Children falling into Corruption and Pride, grew odious; and that Nations did on that account either abolish their Authority, or create Senats and other Magistrats, who having part of the Power, might keep them in order. The
Spartan
Kings were certainly of this nature; and the
Persian,
till they conquer'd
Babylon.
Nay, I may safely say, that neither the Kings which the frantick people set up in opposition to the Law of God, nor those of the bordering Nations, whose example they chose to follow, had that absolute power which our Author attributes to all Kings as inseparable from the name.
Achish
the
Philistin
lov'd and admir'd
David;
he look'd upon him as an Angel of God, and promis'd that he should be the keeper of
1 Sam. 29.
his Head for ever: but when the Princes suspected him, and said
he shall not go down with us to Battel,
he was oblig'd to dismiss him. This was not the language of Slaves, but of those who had a great part in the Government; and the King's submission to their will, shows that he was more like to the Kings of
Sparta,
than to an absolute Monarch, who dos whatever pleases him. I know not whether the
Spartans
were descended from the
Hebrews,
as some think; but their Kings were under a regulation much like that of the 17
th
of
Deuter.
tho they had two: Their Senate of twenty eight, and the
Ephori,
had a power like to that of the
Sanhedrin;
and by them Kings were condemn'd to fines, imprisonment, banishment, and death, as appears by the examples of
Pausanias, Cleonymus, Leonidas, Agis,
and others. The
Hebrew
Disciplin was the same;
More Nevochim.
Reges Davidicae stirpis,
says
Maimonides, judicabant & judicabantur.
They gave testimony in judgment when they were call'd, and testimony was given against them. Whereas the Kings of
Israel,
as the same Author
Ibid.
says, were
superbi, corde elati, & spertores legis, nec judicabant, nec judicabantur;
proud, insolent, and contemners of the Law, who would neither judg, nor submit to judgment as the Law commanded. But the Fruits they gather'd were sutable to the Seed they had sown, and their Crimes were not left unpunish'd: they who despis'd the Law were destroy'd without Law; and when no ordinary course could be taken against them for their excesses, they were overthrown by force, and the Crown within the space of few years was transported into nine several Familys▪ with the utter extirpation of those that had possest it. On the other hand, there never was any Sedition against the
Spartan
Kings; and after the moderate Disciplin, according to which they liv'd, was establish'd, none of them dy'd by the hands of their Subjects, except only two, who were put to death in a way of Justice: the Kingdom continu'd in the same races, till
Cleomenes
was defeated by
Antigonus,
and the Government overthrown by the
Macedonians.
This gave occasion to those bestial Tyrants
Nabis
and
Machanidas
to set up such a Government as our Author recommends to the World, which immediately brought destruction upon themselves, and the whole City. The
Germans,
who pretended to be descended from the
Spartans,
had the like Government. Their
de
Germ.
Princes according to their merit had the
credit of persuading, not the power of commanding;
and the question was not what part of the Government they would allow to the Nobility and People, but what the Nobility and People would give to their Princes: and 'tis not much material to our present dispute, whether they learnt this from
ome obscure knowledg of the Law which God gave to his People, or whether led by the light of Reason, which is also from God, they discover'd what was altogether conformable to that Law. Whoever understands the affairs of
Germany,
knows that the present Emperors, notwithstandiug their haughty Title, have a power limited as in the days of
Tacitus.
If they are good and wise, they may persuade; but they can command no farther than the Law allows. They do not admit the Princes, Noblemen, and Citys to the power which they all exercise in their general Diets, and each of them within their own Precincts; but they exercise that which has bin by publick consent bestow'd upon them. All the Kingdoms peopled from the North observ'd the same rules. In all of them the powers were divided between the Kings, the Nobility, Clergy, and Commons; and by the Decrees of Councils, Diets, Parliaments, Cortez, and Assemblys of Estates, Authority and Liberty were so balanc'd, that such Princes as assum'd to themselves more than the Law did permit, were severely punish'd; and those who did by force or fraud invade Thrones, were by force thrown down from them.
This was equally beneficial to Kings and People. The Powers, as
Theopompus
King of
Sparta
said, were most safe when they were least envy'd and hated.
Lewis
the 11
th
of
France
was one of the first that broke this Golden Chain; and by more subtil Arts than had bin formerly known, subverted the Laws, by which the fury of Kings had bin restrain'd, and taught others to do the like; tho all of them have not so well sav'd themselves from punishment.
James
the third of
Scotland
was one of his most apt Scholars; and
Ab hominibus infimae sortis in omnia simul vitia est praeceps datus: tempora etiam corrupta & vicinorum regum exempla non parum ad eum evertendum juverunt: Nam & Edvardus in A
glia, Car
lus in Burgundia, Ludovicus undecimus in Gallia, Joannes secundus in Lusitania, tyran
idis fundamenta jec
runt: Richardus tertius in A
glia eam immanissime exercuit.
Hist. Scot. l. 12.
Buchanan
in his Life says, That
he was precipitated into all manner of Infamy by men of the most abject condition; that the corruption of those times, and the ill Example of neighbouring Princes, were considerable motives to pervert him: for
Edward
the fourth of
England, Charles
of
Burgundy, Lewis
the
11
th of
France,
and
John
the second of
Portugal,
had already laid the Foundations of Tyranny in those Countrys; and
Richard
the third was then most cruelly exercising the same in the Kingdom of
England.
This could not have bin, if all the Power had always bin in Kings, and neither the People nor the Nobility had ever had any: For no man can be said to gain that which he and his Predecessors always possest, or to take from others that which they never had; nor to set up any sort of Government, if it had bin always the same. But the aforesaid
Lewis
the 11
th
did assume to himself a Power above that of his Predecessors; and
Philip de Commines
shews the ways by which he acquir'd it, with the miserable effects of his Acquisition both to himself and to his people: Modern Authors observe that the change was made by him, and for that reason he is said by
Mezeray,
and others,
to have brought those Kings out of
Davoir mi
les Roys hor
de page.
Guardianship:
they were not therefore so till he emancipated them. Nevertheless this Emancipation had no resemblance to the unlimited Power of which our Author dreams. The General Assemblys of Estates were o
ten held long after his death, and continu'd in the exercise of the Sovereign Power of the Nation.
Davila,
speaking of the General Assembly
Hist. delle Guerre Civ.
held at
Orleans
in the time of
Francis
the second, asserts the whole
Thuan. Hist. l. 1.
Power of the Nation to have bin in them.
Monsieur de Thou
says the same thing, and adds, that the King dying suddenly, the Assembly continu'd even at the desire of the Council, in the exercise of that Power, till they had settled the Regency, and other Affairs of the highest importance, according to their own judgment.
Hottoman,
a Lawyer of that
Hottom. Franco-Gallia.
Time and Nation, famous for his Learning, Judgment, and Integrity, having diligently examin'd the antient Laws and Historys of that Kingdom, distinctly proves that the
French
Nation never had any Kings but of their own chusing; that their Kings had no Power except what was confer'd upon them; and that they had bin remov'd, when they excessively abus'd or render'd themselves unworthy of that Trust. This is sufficiently clear by the forecited examples of
Pharamond
's Grandchildren, and the degenerated Races of
Meroveus
and
Pepin;
of which many were depos'd, some of the nearest in Blood excluded; and when their Vices seem'd to be incorrigible, they were wholly rejected. All this was done by virtue of that rule which they call the
Salique Law:
And tho some of our Princes pretending to the Inheritance of that Crown by marrying the Heirs General, deny'd that there was any such thing, no man can say that for the space of above twelve hundred years, Females, or their Descendents, who are by that Law excluded, have ever bin thought to have any right to the Crown: And no Law, unless it be explicitely given by God, can be of greater Authority than one which has bin in force for so many Ages. What the beginning of it was is not known: But
Charles
the sixth receding from this Law, and thinking to dispose of the Succession otherwise than was ordain'd by it, was esteem'd mad, and all his Acts rescinded. And tho the Reputation, Strength and Valor of the
English,
commanded by
Henry
the fifth, one of the bravest Princes that have ever bin in the world, was terrible to the
French
Nation; yet they oppos'd him to the utmost of their power, rather than suffer that Law to be broken. And tho our Success under his Conduct was great and admirable; yet soon after his death, with the expence of much Blood and Treasure, we lost all that we had on that side, and suffer'd the Penalty of having unadvisedly enter'd into that Quarrel. By virtue of the same Law, the Agreement made by King
John
when he was Prisoner at
London,
by which he had alienated part of that Dominion, as well as that of
Francis
the first, concluded when he was under the same Circumstances at
Madrid,
were reputed null; and upon all occasions that Nation has given sufficient testimony, that the Laws by which they live are their own, made by themselves, and not impos'd upon them. And 'tis as impossible for them who made and depos'd Kings, exalted or deprest reigning Familys, and prescrib'd Rules to the Succession, to have receiv'd from their own Creatures the Power, or part of the Government they had, as for a man to be begotten by his own Son. Nay, tho their Constitution was much chang'd by
Lewis
the 11
th,
yet they retain'd so much of their antient Liberty, that in the last Age, when the House of
Valois
was as much deprav'd as those of
Meroveus
and
Pepin
had bin, and
Henry
the third by his own Leudness, Hypocrisy, Cruelty and Impurity, together with the baseness of his Minions and Favorites, had render'd himself odious and contemptible to the Nobility and People; the great Citys, Parliaments, the greater and (in political matters) the sounder part of the Nation declar'd him to be fallen from the Crown, and pursu'd him to the death, tho the blow was given by the hand of a base and half-distracted Monk.
Henry
of
Bourbon
was without controversy the next Heir; but neither the Nobility nor the People, who thought themselves in the Government, would admit him to the Crown, till he had given them satisfaction that he would govern according to their Laws, by abjuring his Religion which they judg'd inconsistent with them.
The later Commotions in
Paris, Bourdeaux,
and other places, together with the Wars for Religion, shew, that tho the
French
do not complain of every Grievance, and cannot always agree in the defence and vindication of their violated Libertys, yet they very well understand their Rights: and that, as they do not live by, or for the King, but he reigns by, and for them; so their Privileges are not from him, but that his Crown is from them; and that, according to the true Rule of their Government, he can do nothing against their Laws, or if he do, they may oppose him.
The Institution of a Kingdom is the act of a free Nation; and whoever denies them to be free, denies that there can be any thing of right in what they set up. That which was true in the beginning is so, and must be so for ever. This is so far acknowledg'd by the highest Monarchs, that in a Treatise publish'd in the year 1667, by Authority of the present King of
France,
to justify his pretensions to some part of the
Low Countrys,
notwithstanding all the Acts of himself, and the King of
Spain
to extinguish them, it is said,
Que les Roys ont certe bienheureuse impuissance de ne pouvoir rien faire contre les loix de leut pays.
Traité des dro
de la Reyne.
That Kings are under the happy inability to do any thing against the Laws of their Country.
And tho perhaps he may do things contrary to Law, yet he grounds his Power upon the Law; and the most able and most trusted of his Ministers declare the same. About the year 1660, the Count
D' Aubijoux,
a man of eminent quality in
Languedoc,
but averse to the Court, and hated by Cardinal
Mazarin,
had bin try'd by the Parliament of
Tholouse
for a Duel, in which a Gentleman was kill'd; and it appearing to the Court (then in that City) that he had bin acquitted upon forg'd Letters of Grace, false Witnesses, powerful Friends, and other undue means,
Mazarin
desir'd to bring him to a new Trial: but the Chancellor
Seguier
told the Queen-Mother it could not be; for the Law did not permit a man once acquitted to be again question'd for the same Fact; and that if the course of the Law were interrupted, neither the Salique Law, nor the succession of her Children, or any thing else could be secure in
France.
This is farther prov'd by the Historys of that Nation. The Kings of
Meroveus
and
Pepin
's Races, were suffer'd to divide the Kingdom amongst their Sons; or, as
Hottoman
says, the Estates made the Division, and allotted to each such a part as they thought fit. But when this way was found to be prejudicial to the Publick, an Act of State was made in the time of
Hugh Capet,
by which it was ordain'd, that for the future the Kingdom should not be dismembred; which Constitution continuing in force to this day, the Sons or Brothers of their Kings receive such an
Apannage
(they call it) as is bestow'd on them, remaining subject to the Crown as well as other men. And there has bin no King of
France
since that time (except only
Charles
the sixth) who has not acknowledged that he cannot alienate any part of their Dominion.
Whoever imputes the acknowledgment of this to Kingcraft, and says, that they who avow this when 'tis for their advantage, will deny it on a different occasion, is of all men their most dangerous Enemy. In laying such fraud to their charge, he destroys the veneration by which they subsist, and teaches Subjects not to keep Faith with those, who by the most malicious deceits show, that they are ty'd by none. Human Societys are maintain'd by mutual Contracts, which are of no value if they are not observ'd. Laws are made, and Magistrats created to cause them to be perform'd in publick and private matters, and to punish those who violate them. But none will ever be observ'd, if he who receives the greatest benefit by them, and is set up to oversee others, give the example
Suarum legum lator & eversor.
Tacit.
to those who of themselves are too much inclin'd to break them. The first step that
Pompey
made to his own ruin was, by violating the Laws he himself had propos'd. But it would be much worse for Kings to break those that are establish'd by the Authority of a whole People, and confirm'd by the succession of many Ages.
I am far from laying any such blemishes on them, or thinking that they deserve them. I must believe the
French
King speaks sincerely, when he says he can do nothing against the Laws of his Country: And that our King
James
did the like, when he acknowledg'd himself to be the Servant of the Commonwealth; and the rather, because 'tis true, and that he is plac'd in the Throne to that end. Nothing is more essential and fundamental in the Constitutions of Kingdoms, than that Diets, Parliaments, and Assemblys of Estates should see this perform'd. 'Tis not the King that gives them a right to judg of matters of War or Peace, to grant Supplys of men and mony, or to deny them; and to make or abrogate Laws at their pleasure: All the Powers rightly belonging to Kings, or to them, proceed from the same root. The Northern Nations seeing what mischiefs were generally brought upon the Eastern, by referring too much to the irregular will of a man; and what those who were more generous had suffer'd, when one man by the force of a corrupt mercenary Soldiery had overthrown the Laws by which they liv'd, fear'd they might fall into the same misery; and therefore retain'd the greater part of the Power to be exercis'd by their General Assemblys, or by Delegates, when they grew so numerous that they could not meet. These are the Kingdoms of which
Grotius
speaks,
where the King has his part, and the Senat or People their part of the supreme Authority;
and where the Law prescribes such limits,
that if the King attempts to seize that part which is not his, he may justly be oppos'd:
Which is as much as to say, that the Law upholds the Power it gives, and turns against those who abuse it.
This Doctrin may be displeasing to Court-Parasites; but is no less profitable to such Kings as follow better Counsels, than to the Nations that live under them: the Wisdom and Vertue of the best is always fortify'd by the concurrence of those who are plac'd in part of the Power; they always do what they will, when they will nothing but that which is good; and 'tis a happy impotence in those, who thro ignorance or malice desire to do evil, not to be able to effect it. The weakness of such as by defects of Nature, Sex, Age, or Education, are not able of themselves to bear the weight of a Kingdom, is thereby supported, and they together with the People under them preserv'd from ruin; the furious rashness of the Insolent is restrain'd; the extravagance of those who are naturally leud, is aw'd; and the bestial madness of the most violently wicked and outrageous, supprest. When the Law provides for these matters, and prescribes ways by which they may be accomplish'd, every man who receives or fears any Injury, seeks a remedy in a legal way, and vents his Passions in such a manner as brings no prejudice to the Commonwealth: If his Complaints against a King may be heard, and redrest by Courts of Justice, Parliaments, and Diets, as well as against private men, he is satisfy'd, and looks no farther for a Remedy. But if Kings, like those of
Israel,
will neither judg nor be judg'd, and there be no Power orderly to redress private or publick Injurys, every man has recourse to force, as if he liv'd in a Wood where there is no Law; and that force is generally mortal to those who provoke it: No Guards can preserve a hated Prince from the vengeance of one resolute hand; and they as often fall by the Swords of their own Guards as of others: Wrongs will be done, and when they that do them cannot or will not be judg'd publickly, the injur'd Persons become Judges in their own case, and Executioners of their own sentence. If this be dangerous in matters of private concernment, 'tis much more so in those relating to the publick. The leud extravagances of
Edward
and
Richard
the Seconds, whilst they acknowledg'd the power of the Law, were gently reprov'd and restrain'd with the removal of some profligate Favorites; but when they would admit of no other Law than their own Will, no relief could be had but by their Deposition. The lawful
Spartan
Kings, who were obedient to the Laws of their Country, liv'd in safety, and dy'd with glory; whereas 'tis a strange thing to see a lawless Tyrant die without such infamy and misery, as held a just proportion with the wickedness of his Life. They did, as
Plutarch
says of
Dionysius, many mischiefs, and suffer'd
Vit. Timoleon▪
more.
This is confirm'd by the examples of the Kingdom of
Israel,
and of the Empires of
Rome
and
Greece;
they who would submit to no Law, were destroy'd without any. I know not whether they thought themselves to be Gods, as our Author says they were; but I am sure the most part of them dy'd like Dogs, and had the burial of Asses rather than of Men.
This is the happiness to which our Author would promote them all.
If a King admits a People to be his companions, he ceases to be a King, and the State becomes a Democracy.
And a little farther:
If in such Assemblys, the King, Nobility, and People, have equal shares in the Sovereignty, then the King has but one voice, the Nobility likewise one, and the People one; and then any two of these voices should have power to overrule the third: Thus the Nobility and Commons should have a power to make a Law to bridle the King, which was never seen in any Kingdom.
We have heard of Nations that admitted a man to reign over them (that is, made him King) but of no man that made a People. The
Hebrews
made
Saul, David, Jeroboam,
and other Kings: when they return'd from Captivity, they confer'd the same Title upon the
Asmonean
race, as a reward of their Valor and Vertue. The
Romans
chose
Romulus, Numa, Hostilius,
and others to be their Kings; the
Spartans
instituted two, one of the
Heraclidae,
the other of the
Aeacid
e.
Other Nations set up one, a few, or more Magistrats to govern them: and all the World agrees, that
Qui dat esse, dat modum esse;
He that makes him to be, makes him to be what is: and nothing can be more absurd than to say, that he who has nothing but what is given, can have more than is given to him. If
Saul
and
Romulus
had no other title to be Kings, than what the People confer'd upon them, they could be no otherwise Kings than as pleas'd the People: They therefore did not admit the People to be partakers of the Government; but the People who had all in themselves, and could not have made a King if they had not had it, bestow'd upon him what they thought fit, and retain'd the rest in themselves. If this were not so, then instead of saying to the multitude,
Will ye have this man to reign?
they ought to say to the man,
Wilt thou have this multitude to be a People?
And whereas the Nobles of
Arragon
us'd to say to their new made King,
We who are as good as you, make you our King, on condition you keep and maintain our Rights and Libertys, and if not, not;
he should have said to them, I who am better than you, make you to be a People, and will govern you as I please. But I doubt whether he would have succeeded, till that Kingdom was join'd to others of far greater strength, from whence a power might be drawn to force them out of their usual method.
That which has bin said of the Governments of
England, France,
and other Countrys, shows them to be of the same nature; and if they deserve not the name of Kingdoms, and that their Princes will by our Author's Arguments be persuaded to leave them, those Nations perhaps will be so humble to content themselves without that magnificent Title, rather than resign their own Libertys to purchase it: and if this will not please him, he may seek his glorious sovereign Monarchy among the wild
Arabs,
or in the Island of
Ceylon;
for it will not be found among civiliz'd Nations.
However more ignorance cannot be exprest, than by giving the name of
Democracy
to those Governments that are compos'd of the three simple species, as we have prov'd that all the good ones have ever bin: for in a strict sense it can only sute with those, where the People retain to themselves the administration of the supreme Power; and more largely, when the popular part, as in
Athens,
greatly overbalances the other two, and that the denomination is taken from the prevailing part. But our Author, if I mistake not, is the first that ever took the antient Governments of
Israel, Sparta
and
Rome,
or those of
England, France, Germany
and
Spain,
to be
Democracys,
only because every one of them had Senats and Assemblys of the People, who in their Persons, or by their Deputys, did join with their chief Magistrats in the exercise of the supreme Power. That of
Israel,
to the time of
Saul,
is call'd by
Josephus
an
Aristocracy.
The same name is
ven to that of
Sparta
by all the
Greek
Authors; and the great contest in the
Peloponnesian
War was between the two kinds of Government; the Citys that were govern'd Aristocratically, or desir'd to be so, following the
Lacedemonians,
and such as delighted in
Democracy,
taking part with the
Athenians.
In like manner
Rome, England,
and
France,
were said to be under Monarchys; not that their Kings might do what they pleas'd, but because one man had a preheminence above any other. Yet if the
Romans
could take
Romulus,
the Son of a man that was never known,
Numa
a
Sabin, Hostilius
and
Ancus Martius
private men, and
Tarquinius Priscus
the Son of a banish'd
Corinthian,
who had no Title to a preference before others till it was bestow'd upon them; 'tis ridiculous to think, that they who gave them what they had, could not set what limits they pleas'd to their own gift.
But, says our Author,
The Nobility will then have one Voice, and the People another, and they joining may overrule the third, which was never seen in any Kingdom.
This may perhaps be one way of regulating the Monarchical Power, but it is not necessary, nor the only one: There may be a Senate, tho the People be excluded; that Senate may be compos'd of men chosen for their Vertue, as well as for the Nobility of their Birth: The Government may consist of King and People without a Senate; or the Senate may be compos'd only of the Peoples Delegates. But if I should grant his assertion to be true, the reasonableness of such a Constitution cannot be destroy'd by the consequences he endeavors to draw from it; for he who would instruct the world in matters of State, must show what is, or ought to be, not what he fancys may thereupon ensue. Besides, it dos not follow, that where there are three equal Votes, Laws should be always made by the plurality; for the consent of all the three is in many places requir'd: and 'tis certain that in
England,
and other parts, the King and one of the Estates cannot make a Law without the concurrence of the other. But to please
Filmer,
I will avow, that where the Nobles and Commons have an equal Vote, they may join and over-rule or limit the power of the King: and I leave any reasonable man to judg, whether it be more safe and fit, that those two Estates comprehending the whole body of the Nation in their Persons, or by representation, should have a right to over-rule or limit the power of that man, woman, or child, who sits in the Throne; or that he or she, young or old, wise or foolish, good or bad, should over rule them, and by their vices, weakness, folly, impertinence, incapacity, or malice, put a stop to their proceedings; and whether the chief concernments of a Nation may more safely and prudently be made to depend upon the votes of so many eminent Persons, amongst whom many wise and good men will always be found if there be any in the Nation, and who in all respects have the same interest with them, or upon the will of one, who may be, and often is as vile, ignorant, and wretched as the meanest Slave; and either has, or is for the most part made to believe he has, an interest so contrary to them, that their suppression is his Advancement. Common sense so naturally leads us to the decision of this Question, that I should not think it possible for Mankind to have mistaken, tho we had no examples of it in History: and 'tis in vain to say, that all Princes are not such as I represent; for if a right were annex'd to the being of a Prince, and that his single judgment should over-balance that of a whole Nation, it must belong to him as a Prince, and be enjoy'd by the worst and basest, as well as by the wisest and best, which would inevitably draw on the absurditys above mention'd. But that many are, and have bin such, no man can deny, or reasonably hope that they will not often prove to be such, as long as any preference is granted to those who have nothing to recommend them, but the Familys from whence they derive; a continual succession of those who excel in Vertue, Wisdom, and Experience, being promis'd to none, nor reasonably to be expected from any. Such a Right therefore cannot be claim'd by all; and if not by all, then not by any, unless it proceed from a particular grant in consideration of personal Vertue, Ability, and Integrity, which must be prov'd: and when any one goes about to do it, I will either acknowledg him to be in the right, or give the reasons of my denial.
However this is nothing to the general Proposition: nay, if a man were to be found, who had more of the qualitys requir'd for making a right judgment in matters of the greatest importance, than a whole Nation, or an Assembly of the best men chosen out of it (which I never heard to have bin, unless in the Persons of
Moses, Joshua,
or
Samuel,
who had the Spirit of God for their guide) it would be nothing to our purpose; for even he might be biass'd by his personal Interests, which Governments are not establish'd to promote.
I may go a step farther, and truly say, that as such vast Powers cannot be generally granted to all who happen to succeed in any Familys without evident danger of utter Destruction, when they come to be executed by children, women, fools, vicious, incapable or wicked persons, they can be reasonably granted to none, because no man knows what any one will prove till he be try'd; and the importance of the Affair requires such a trial as can be made of no man till he be dead. He that resists one Temptation may fall under the Power of another; and nothing is more common in the world, than to see those men fail grosly in the last actions of their lives, who had pass'd their former days without reproach: Wise and good men will with
Moses
say of themselves,
I cannot bear the burden;
and every man who is concern'd for the publick Good, ought to let fools know they are not fit to undergo it, and by Law to restrain the fury of such as will not be guided by reason. This could not be deny'd, tho Governments were constituted for the good of the Governor. 'Tis good for him that the Law appoints helps for his Infirmitys, and restrains his Vices: but all Nations ought to do it tho it were not so, in as much as Kingdoms are not establish'd for the good of one man, but of the People; and that King who seeks his own good before that of the People, departs from the end of his Institution.
This is so plain, that all Nations who have acted freely, have some way or other endeavour'd to supply the defects, or restrain the vices of their supreme Magistrats; and those among them deserve most praise, who by appointing means adequate to so great a work, have taken care that it might be easily and safely accomplish'd: Such Nations have always flourish'd in Vertue, Power, Glory, and Happiness, whilst those who wanted their Wisdom, have suffer'd all manner of Calamitys by the weakness or injustice of their Princes, or have had their hands perpetually in Blood to preserve themselves from their fury. We need no better example of the first, than that of the
Spartans,
who by appointing such Limits to the power of their Kings as could hardly be transgrest, continu'd many Ages in great union with them, and were never troubled with civil Tumults. The like may be said of the
Romans
from the expulsion of the
Tarquins,
till they overthrew their own Orders, by continuing
Marius
for five years in the Consulat, whereas the Laws did not permit a man to hold the same Office two years together; and when that rule was broken, their own Magistrats grew too strong for them, and subverted the Commonwealth. When this was done, and the power came into the hands of one man, all manner of evils and calamitys broke in like a flood: 'Tis hard to judg, whether the mischiefs he did, or those he suffer'd were the greater. He who set up himself to be Lord of the World, was like to a Beast crown'd for the slaughter, and his greatness was the forerunner of his ruin. By this means some of those who seem not to have bin naturally prone to evil, were by their fears put upon such courses to preserve themselves, as being rightly estimated, were worse than the death they apprehended: and the so much celebrated
Constantine
the Great dy'd no less polluted with the Blood of his nearest Relations and Friends, than
Nero
himself. But no place can show a more lively
de
de
.
picture of this, than the Kingdoms of
Granada,
and others possest by the
Moors
in
Spain,
where there being neither Senate nor Assemblys of the Nobility and People, to restrain the violence and fury of their Kings, they had no other way than to kill them when their vices became insupportable; which happening for the most part, they were almost all murder'd; and things were brought to such extremity, that no man would accept a Crown, except he who had neither Birth nor Vertue to deserve it.
If it be said that Kings have now found out more easy ways of doing what they please, and securing themselves; I answer, that they have not prov'd so to all, and it is not yet time for such as tread in the same steps to boast of their success: many have fallen when they thought their designs accomplish'd; and no man, as long as he lives, can reasonably assure himself the like shall not befal him. But if in this corrupted Age, the treachery and perjury of Princes be more common than formerly; and the number of those who are brought to delight in the rewards of injustice, be so increas'd, that their partys are stronger than formerly: this rather shows that the balance of Power is broken, or hard to be kept up, than that there ought to be none; and 'tis difficult for any man, without the Spirit of Prophecy, to tell what this will produce. Whilst the antient Constitutions of our Northern Kingdoms remain'd intire, such as contested with their Princes, sought only to reform the Governments, and by redressing what was amiss, to reduce them to their first Principles; but they may not perhaps be so modest, when they see the very nature of their Government chang'd, and the foundations overthrown. I am not sure that they who were well pleas'd with a moderate Monarchy, will submit to one that is absolute; and 'tis not improbable, that when men see there is no medium between Tyranny and Popularity, they who would have bin contented with the reformation of their Government, may proceed farther, and have recourse to Force, when there is no help in the Law. This will be a hard work in those places where Vertue is wholly abolish'd; but the difficulty will lie on the other side, if any sparks of that remain: if Vice and Corruption prevail, Liberty cannot subsist; but if Vertue has the advantage, arbitrary Power cannot be establish'd. Those who boast of their
Loyalty,
and think they give testimonys of it, when they addict themselves to the will of one Man, tho contrary to the Law from whence that Quality is deriv'd, may consider, that by putting their Masters upon illegal courses, they certainly make them the worst of men, and bring them into danger of being also the most miserable. Few or no good Princes have fallen into disasters, unless thro an extremity of corruption introduc'd by the most wicked; and cannot properly be call'd unhappy, if they perish'd in their Innocence; since the bitterness of Death is assuag'd by the tears of a loving People, the assurance of a glorious memory, and the quiet of a well-satisfy'd mind. But of those who have abandon'd themselves to all manner of Vice, follow'd the impulse of their own fury, and set themselves to destroy the best men for opposing their pernicious designs, very few have dy'd in peace. Their Lives have bin miserable, Death infamous, and Memory detestable.
They therefore who place Kings within the power of the Law, and the Law to be a guide to Kings, equally provide for the good of King and People: Whereas they who admit of no participants in power, and acknowledg no rule but their own Will, set up an interest in themselves against that of their People, lose their affections, which is their most important Treasure, and incur their hatred, from whence results their greatest danger.
SECT. XXXI. The Libertys of Nations are from God and Nature, not from Kings.
WHatsoever is usually said in opposition to this, seems to proceed from a groundless conceit, that the Libertys enjoy'd by Nations arise from the Concessions of Princes. This point has bin already treated: but being the foundation of the Doctrin I oppose, it may not be amiss farther to examin how it can be possible for one man, born under the same condition with the rest of Mankind, to have a Right in himself that is not common to all others, till it be by them or a certain number of them confer'd upon him; or how he can without the utmost absurdity be said to grant Libertys and Privileges to them who made him to be what he is.
If I had to do with a man that sought after Truth, I should think he had bin led into this extravagant opinion by the terms ordinarily us'd in Patents and Charters granted to particular men; and not distinguishing between the Proprietor and the Dispenser, might think Kings had given, as their own, that which they only distribute out of the publick Treasury, and could have had nothing to distribute by parcels, if it had not bin given to them in gross by the Publick. But I need not use our Author so gently. The perversity of his judgment, and obstinate hatred to Truth, is sufficient to draw him into the most absurd errors, without any other inducement; and it were not charity, but folly to think otherwise of one who attributes in general to all Princes, without any regard to the ways by which they attain to their Power, such an Authority as never justly belong'd to any.
This will be evident to all those who consider, that no man can confer upon others that which he has not in himself: If he be originally no more than they, he cannot grant to them or any of them more than they to him. In the 7
th,
8
th,
9
th,
and subsequent Sections of the first Chapter, it has bin prov'd that there is no resemblance between the paternal Right, and the absolute Power which he asserts in Kings: that the right of a Father, whatever it be, is only over his Children; that this right is equally inherited by them all when he dies: that every one cannot inherit Dominion; for the right of one would be inconsistent with that of all others: that the right which is common to all is that which we call Liberty, or exemption from Dominion: that the first Fathers of Mankind after the Flood had not the exercise of Regal Power; and whatsoever they had was equally devolv'd to every one of their Sons, as appears by the examples of
Noah, Shem, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob,
and their Children: that the erection of
Nimrod
's Kingdom was directly contrary to, and inconsistent with the paternal right, if there was any regality in it: that the other Kingdoms of that time were of the same nature: that
Nimrod
not exceeding the age of threescore years when he built
Babel,
could not be the Father of those that assisted him in that attempt: that if the seventy two Kings, who, as our Author says, went from
Babylon
upon the consusion of Languages, were not the Sons of
Nimrod,
he could not govern them by the right of a Father; if they were, they must have bin very voung, and could not have Children of their own to people the Kingdoms they set up: that whose Children soever they were, who out of a part of Mankind did within a hundred and thirty two years after the Flood, divide into so many Kingdoms, they shew'd that others in process of time might subdivide into as many as they pleas'd; and Kingdoms multiplying in the space of four thousand years since the 72, in the same proportion they did in one hundred and thirty two years into seventy two, there would now be as many Kings in the World as there are men; that is, no man could be subject to another: that this equality of Right and exemption from the domination of any other, is call'd Liberty: that he who enjoys it cannot be depriv'd of it, unless by his own consent, or by force: that no one man can force a Multitude, or if he did, it could confer no right upon him: that a Multitude consenting to be govern'd by one man, dos confer upon him the power of governing them; the powers therefore that he has, are from them, and they who have all in themselves can receive nothing from him, who has no more than every one of them, till they do invest him with it. This is prov'd by sacred and profane Historys. The
Hebrews
in the creation of Judges, Kings, or other Magistrats, had no regard to Paternity, or to any who by extraction could in the least pretend to the right of Fathers: God did never direct them to do it, nor reprove them for neglecting it: If they would chuse a King, he commanded them to take one of their Brethren, not one who call'd himself their Father: When they did resolve to have one, he commanded them to chuse him by lot, and caus'd the Lot to fall upon a young man of the youngest Tribe:
David
and the other Kings of
Israel
or
Judah
had no more to say for themselves in that point than
Saul:
All the Kings of that Nation before and after the Captivity, ordinarily or extraordinarily set up, justly or unjustly, were rais'd without regard to any Prerogative they could claim or arrogate to themselves on that account. All that they had therefore was from their elevation, and their elevation from those that elevated them: 'Twas impossible for them to confer any thing upon those from whom they receiv'd all they had; or for the People to give power to Kings, if they had not had it in themselves; which Power universally residing in every one, is that which we call Liberty. The method of other Nations was much like to this. They plac'd those in the Throne who seem'd best to deserve so great an Honour, and most able to bear so great a Burden: The Kingdoms of the Heroes were nothing else but the Government of those who were most beneficent to the Nations amongst whom they liv'd, and whose Vertues were thought fit to be rais'd above the ordinary level of the World. Tho perhaps there was not any one
Athenian
or
Roman
equal to
Theseus
or
Romulus
in courage and strength, yet they were not able to subdue many: or if any man should be so vain to think that each of them did at first subdue one man, then two, and so proceeding by degrees conquer'd a whole People, he cannot without madness ascribe the same to
Numa,
who being sent for
rom a soreign Country, was immediately made King of a fierce People, that had already conquer'd many of their Neighbours, and was grown too boisterous even for
Romulus
himself. The like may be said of the first
Tarquin,
and of
Servius;
they were Strangers: and tho
Tullus Hostilius
and
Ancus Martius
were
Romans,
they had as little title to a Dominion over their Fellow-Citizens, or means of attaining to it, as if they had come srom the farthest parts of the Earth. This must be in all places, unless one man could prove by a perfect and uninterrupted Genealogy, that he is the eldest Son of the eldest Line of
Noah,
and that Line to have continu'd perpetually in the Government of the World: for if the Power has bin divided, it may be subdivided to infinity; if interrupted, t
e chain is broken, and can never be made whole. But if our Author can perform this for the service of any man, I willingly surrender my Arms, and yield up the Cause I defend. If he fail, 'tis ridiculous to pretend a Right that belongs to no man, or to go about to retrieve a Right which for the space of four thousand years has lain dormant; and much more to create that which never had a subsistence. This leads us necessarily to a conclusion, That all Kingdoms are at the first erected by the consent of Nations, and given to whom they please; or else all are set up by force, or some by force, and some by consent: If any are set up by the con
ent of Nations, their Kings do not confer Libertys upon those Nations, but receive all from them, and the general Proposition is false. If our Author therefore, or his Followers, would confute me, they must prove that all the Kingdoms of the World have their beginning from force, and that Force dos always create a Right; or if they recede from the general Proposition, and attribute a peculiar right to one or more Princes, who are so absolute Lords of their People, that those under them have neither Liberty, Privilege, Property or Part in the Government, but by their Concessions, they must prove that those Princes did by force gain the Power they have, and that their Right is deriv'd from it. This Force also must have bin perpetually continu'd; for if that force be the root of the Right that is pretended, another force by the same rule may overturn, extinguish or transfer it to another hand. If Contracts have interven'd, the force ceases; and the Right that afterwards dos accrue to the persons, must proceed from, and be regulated according to those Contracts.
This may be sufficient to my purpose: For having already prov'd, that the Kingdoms of
Israel, Judah, Rome, Sparta, France, Spain, England,
and all that we are concern'd in, or that deserve to be examples to us, did arise from the consent of the respective Nations, and were frequently reduc'd to their first Principles, when the Princes have endeavour'd to transgress the Laws of their Institution; it could be nothing to us, tho
Attila
or
Tamerlan
had by force gain'd the Dominions they possest. But I dare go a step further, and boldly assert, that there never was or can be a man in the world that did, or can subdue a Nation; and that the right of one grounded upon force, is a mere whimsy. It was not
Agathocles, Dionysius, Nabis, Marius, Sylla
or
Cesar,
but the mercenary Soldiers, and other Villains that join'd with them, who subdu'd the
Syracusans, Spartans,
or
Romans:
And as the work was not perform'd by those Tyrants alone, if a right had bin gain'd by the violence they us'd, it must have bin common to all those that gain'd it; and he that commanded them could have had no more than they thought fit to conser upon him. When
Plut. in V
t. C
.
Miltiades
desir'd leave to wear an Olive Garland, in commemoration of the Victory obtain'd at
Marathon,
an
Athenian
did in my opinion rightly say,
"If you alone did fight against the
Persians,
it is just that you only should be crown'd; but if others did participate in the Victory, they ought also to have a part in the Honor."
And the principal difference that I have observ'd between the most regular proceedings of the wisest Senats or Assemblys of the people in their Persons or Delegats, and the sury of the most dissolute Villains, has bin, that the first seeking the publick good, do usually set up such a Man, and invest him with such Powers as seem most conducing to that Good: whereas the others following the impulse of a bestial rage, and aiming at nothing but the satisfaction of their own lusts, always advance one from whom they expect the greatest advantages to themselves, and give him such Powers as most conduce to the accomplishment of their own ends: but as to the Person 'tis the same thing.
Cesar
and
Nero
did no more make themselves what they were, than
Numa;
and could no more confer any Right, Liberty or Privilege upon the Army that gave them all they had, than the most regular Magistrate could upon the Senat or People that chose him.
This also is common to the worst as well as the best, that they who set up either, do, as into a publick Treasury, confer upon the Person they chuse, a Power of distributing to particular men, or numbers of men, such Honors, Privileges and Advantages, as they may seem, according to the Principles of the Government, to deserve. But there is this difference, that the ends of the one being good, and those of the other evil, the first do for the most part limit the Powers, that something may remain to reward Services done to the Publick, in a manner proportion'd to the merit of every one; placing other Magistrats to see it really perform'd, so as they may not, by the weakness or vices of the Governor, be turn'd to the publick detriment: the others think they never give enough, that the Prince having all in his Power, may be able to gratify their most exorbitant desires, if by any ways they can get his favour; and his infirmitys and vices being most beneficial to them, they seldom allow to any other Magistrate a power of opposing his Will, or suffer those who for the publick good would assume it. The World affords many examples of both sorts, and every one of them have had their progress sutable to their Constitution. The regular Kingdoms of
England, France, Spain, Poland, Bohemia, Denmark, Sweden,
and others, whether elective or hereditary, have had High Stewards, Constables, Mayors of the Palace, Rixhofmeisters, Parliaments, Diets, Assemblys of Estates, Cortez, and the like, by which those have bin admitted to succeed who seem'd most fit for the publick Service; the unworthy have bin rejected; the infirmitys of the weak supply'd; the malice of the unjust restrain'd; and when necessity requir'd, the Crown transfer'd from one Line or Family to another. But in the furious Tyrannys that have bin set up by the violence of a corrupted Soldiery, as in the antient
Roman
Empire, the Kingdoms of the
Moors
and
Arabians,
the Tyrannys of
Ezzelino
of
Padoa,
those of the
Visconti
and
Sforzeschi
of
Milan, Castruccio Castraccani
of
Lucca, Cesar Borgia,
and others, there was nothing of all this. The Will of the Prince was a Law; all Power was in him, and he kept it, till another stept up and took it from him, by the same means that he had gain'd it. This fell out so frequently, that tho all the
Roman
Emperors endeavour'd to make their Power hereditary, it hardly continu'd three Generations in one Line from
Augustus
to
Augustulus,
unless in that of
Constantine,
and that with extreme confusion and disorder. They who had madly set up a Man to be their Head, and expos'd so much of the World as was under their power, to be destroy'd by him, did by the like fury throw him down, and never ceas'd till they had brought the Empire to utter ruin.
But if this paternal Sovereignty be a mere fiction that never had any effect; and no Nation was ever commanded by God to make it their rule, nor any reprov'd for the neglect of it; none ever learnt it from the light of nature, nor were by wise men taught to regard it: If the first Fathers claim'd no Privilege from it when every man's Genealogy was known; and tho there were such a thing in nature, it could be of no use at this day, when the several Races of men are so confus'd, that not one in the world can prove his own Original: If the first Kingdoms, whether well or ill constituted, according to the Command of God, or the Inventions of Men, were contrary to, and incompatible with it; and there can have bin no justice in any, if such a Rule was to have bin observ'd; the continuance of an unjust usurpation can never have created a Right, but aggravated the injustice of overthrowing it: If no man could ever by his own strength and courage subdue a multitude, nor gain any other right over them, if he did, than they might have to tear it from him; Whoever denies Kingdoms or other Magistracys to have bin set up by men, according to their own will, and from an opinion of receiving benefit by them, accuses all the Governments that are, or ever have bin in the world, of that outrageous injustice in their Foundation which can never be repair'd. If there be therefore, or ever was any just Government amongst men, it was constituted by them; and whether their Proceedings were regular or violent, just or unjust, the Powers annex'd to it were their Donation: The Magistracys erected by them, whether in one or more men, temporary or perpetual, elective or hereditary, were their Creatures; and receiving all from them, could confer nothing upon them.
SECT. XXXII. The Contracts made between Magistrats, and the Nations that created them, were real, solemn, and obligatory.
OUR Author having with big words and little sense inveigh'd against Popular and Mix'd Governments, proceeds as if he had prov'd that they could not, or ought not to be.
If it be,
says he,
unnatural for the Multitude to chuse their Governors, or to govern, or to partake in the Government; what can be thought of that damnable Conclusion which is made by too many, that the Multitude may correct or depose their Princes, if need be? Surely the unnaturalness and injustice of this Position cannot sufficiently be exprest. For admit that a King make a Contract or Paction with his People originally in his Ancestors, or personally at his Coronation (for both these Pactions some dream of, but cannot offer any proof of either) yet by no Law of any Nation can a Contract be thought broken, except first a lawful trial be had by the ordinary Judg of the breakers thereof; or else every man may be both Party and Judg in his own case, which is absurd once to be thought: for then it will lie in the hands of the headless multitude, when they please, to cast off the Yoke of Government that God has laid upon them, and to judg and punish him, by whom they should be judg'd and punish'd themselves.
To this I answer first briefly, That if it be natural for the Multitude to chuse their Governors, or to govern, or to participate of the Government as best pleases themselves; or that there never was a Government in the World that was not so set up by them, in pursuance of the Power naturally inherent in themselves; what can be thought of that damnable Conclusion, which has bin made by Fools or Knaves, That the Multitude may not, if need be, correct or depose their own Magistrats? Surely the unnaturalness and injustice of such a Position cannot be sufficiently exprest. If that were admitted, all the most solemn Pacts and Contracts made between Nations and their Magistrats, originally or personally, and confirm'd by Laws and mutual Oaths, would be of no value. He that would break the most sacred Bonds that can be amongst men, should by perjury and wickedness become Judg of his own case, and by the worst of crimes procure impunity for all. It would be in his power, by folly, wickedness and madness, to destroy the Multitude which he was created and sworn to preserve, tho wise, vertuous and just, and headed by the wisest and justest of men; or to lay a Yoke upon those who by the Laws of God and Nature ought to be free: He might in his own case judg that Body by which he ought to be judg'd; and who in consideration of themselves and their own good, made him to be whatsoever he is more than every one of them: The Governments instituted for the preservation of Nations, would turn to their destruction: It would be impossible to check the fury of a corrupt and perfidious Magistrate: The worst of men would be rais'd to a height that was never deserv'd by the best; and the assurance of indemnity would, by increasing their insolence, turn their other vices into madness, as has bin too often seen in those who have had more power than they deserv'd, and were more hardly brought to account for their actions than ought to have bin; tho I never heard of any who had so much as our Author asserts to be in all, nor that any was absolutely assur'd he should not be question'd for the abuse of what he had.
Besides, if every People may govern, or constitute and chuse one or more Governors, they may divide the Powers between several Men, or ranks of men, allotting to every one so much as they please, or retaining so much as they think fit. This has bin practis'd in all the Governments, which under several forms have flourish'd in
Palestine, Greece, Italy, Germany, France, England,
and the rest of the World. The Laws of every place show what the Power of the respective Magistrate is, and by declaring how much is allow'd to him, declare what is deny'd; for he has not that which he has not, and is to be accounted a Magistrate whilst he exercises that which he has.
If any doubts do hereupon arise, I hope to remove them, proving in the first place, that several Nations have plainly and explicitly made Contracts with their Magistrats.
2. That they are implicit, and to be understood, where they are not plainly exprest.
3. That they are not dreams, but real things, and perpetually obliging.
4. That Judges are in many places appointed to decide the Contests arising from the breach of these Contracts; and where they are not, or the party offending is of such force or pride that he will not submit, Nations have bin oblig'd to take the extremest courses.
To the first: I suppose it will not be deny'd, that the annual Magistrats of divers Commonwealths are under some Compact, and that there is a power of constraining them to perform the contents, or to punish them for the violation. The modest behaviour of the
Roman
Consuls and Dictators (as long as their Laws were in force) might not probably proceed from their good nature. Tho the people had not bin, as our Author says,
mad, foolish, and always desirous to chuse the worst men for being most like to themselves,
but admirably wise and vertuous, 'tis not to be imagin'd that in the space of three or four hundred years they should never have fallen upon one who would have transgrest, if he could have done it safely, tho they had us'd the utmost caution in their choice. But the power of the Consuls being only for a year, that of the Dictator for six months at most, and the Commission that he should take care
Ne quid detrimenti Respubl. accipiat.
the Commonwealth might suffer no damage, show the end and condition upon which they were chosen; and tho their Power is by some thought to have bin absolute, yet the Consuls were frequently oppos'd and brought into order by the Senat, Tribuns, or People, and sometimes
Plut. Vit. Camil.
the Dictator himself.
Camillus
in his fourth Dictatorship was threaten'd by the Tribuns with a great Fine, and by that means oblig'd to abdicate his Magistracy. I have already mention'd
Marcus Fabius Maximus,
who in the behalf of his Son
Quintus
condemn'd to die by
Papirius
the Dictator, appeal'd to the
Qui solus plus quam rua Dictatura potest pollet
que
cui & reges cessere, &c.
T. Liv. l.
8.
People: And when the Conduct of
Fabius
in the War against
Hannibal
was not approv'd, the Tribun thought he made a very modest Proposition, in that he did not desire his Magistracy should be abrogated; but that the Master of the Horse should be made equal to him in power, which was done accordingly. 'Tis agreed by all, that the Consuls were in the place of Kings, and that the Power of the Dictator was at least equal to what theirs had bin. If they therefore were under such a rule, which they could not transgress, or might be reduc'd to order if they did, and forc'd to submit to the People, as the Kings had done, the Kings were also made upon the same conditions, and equally oblig'd to perform them.
The Scripture is more clear in the case. The Judges are said to have bin in power equal to Kings; and I may perhaps ackowledg it, with relation to the Deuteronomical King, or such as the People might have chosen without offending God. The
Gileadites
made a Covenant with
Jephtha,
that he should be their Head and Captain: He would not return to his Country till they had done it. This was perform'd solemnly before the Lord in
Mispeth,
and all
Israel
follow'd them. They might therefore make a Covenant with their Kings, for the difference of name dos not increase or diminish the Right. Nay, they were in duty oblig'd to do it: The words of the 17
th
of
Deuter. He shall not multiply Wives, &c. that his Heart be not lifted up above his Brethren,
can have no other signification, than that they should take care he did it not, or, as
Josephus
says, hinder him if he attempt it; for the Law was not given to the King who was not, but those who might make him if they thought fit. In pursuance of this Law—
[The rest of this Chapter is wanting in the Original Manuscript.]
CHAP. III.
SECT. I. Kings not being Fathers of their People, nor excelling all others in Vertue, can have no other just Power than what the Laws give; nor any title to the privileges of the Lord's Anointed.
HAVING prov'd that the right of Fathers is from Nature, and incommunicable, it must follow, that every man dos perpetually owe all love, respect, service, and obedience to him that did beget, nourish, and educate him, and to no other under that name. No man therefore can claim the right of a Father over any, except one that is so; no man can serve two Masters; the extent and perpetuity of the Duty which every man owes to his Father, renders it impossible for him to owe the same to any other: This right of Father cannot be devolv'd to the Heir of the Father, otherwise than as every Son by the Law of Nature is Heir to his Father, and has the same right of commanding his Children, as his Father had of commanding him when he was a Child: no man can owe to his Brother that which he ow'd to his Father, because he cannot receive that from him which he had from his Father: but the utmost of all absurditys that can enter into the Heart of man is, for one to exact the rights due to a Father, who has no other title than force and usurpation, it being no less than to say, that I owe as much to one who has done me the greatest of all Injurys, as to him who has confer'd upon me the greatest Benefits: or, which is yet worse, if possible, that as these usurpations cannot be made but by robbing, spoiling, imprisoning, or killing the Person in possession; that Duty, which by the eternal Law of Nature I owe to my Father, should oblige me to pay the same veneration, obedience, and service, to the man that has spoil'd, imprison'd, or kill'd my Father, as I ow'd to him; or that the same Law which oblig'd me to obey and defend my Father, because he was so, should oblige me to obey and defend his enemy, because he has imprison'd or kill'd him; and not only to pass over the Law of God, which makes me the avenger of my Father's Blood, but to reward his Murderer with the rights that comprehend all that is most tender and sacred in Nature, and to look upon one that has done me the greatest of all injustices and injurys, as upon him to whom I owe my Birth and Education. This being evident to all those who have any measure of common sense, I suppose it may be safely concluded, that what right soever a Father may have over his Family, it cannot relate to that which a King has over his People; unless he, like the man in the Island of
Pines,
mention'd before, be also the Father of them all. That which is absolutely unlike in manner and substance, institution and exercise, must be unlike in all respects; and the Conclusions, which have their strength from Similitude and Parity, can have none when there is not the least similitude of either. And tho it were true, that Fathers are held by no contracts, (which generally 'tis not; for when the Son is of age, and dos something for the Father to which he is not oblig'd, or gives him that which he is not bound to give, suppose an Inheritance receiv'd from a Friend, goods of his own acquisition, or that he be emancipated, all good Laws look upon those things as a valuable consideration, and give the same force to contracts thereupon made, as to those that pass between strangers) it could have no relation to our question concerning Kings. One principal reason that renders it very little necessary by the Laws of Nations, to restrain the power of Parents over their Children is, because 'tis presum'd they cannot abuse it: they are thought to have a Law in their Bowels, obliging them more strictly to seek their good, than all those that can be laid upon them by another Power; and yet if they depart from it, so as inhumanly to abuse or kill their Children, they are punish'd with as much rigor, and accounted more unpardonable than other men. Ignorance or wilful malice persuading our Author to pass over all this, he boldly affirms,
That the Father of a Family governs it by no other Law than his own Will;
and from thence infers, that the condition of Kings is the same. He would seem to soften the harshness of this Proposition by saying,
That a King is always ty'd by the same Law of Nature to keep this general ground, that the safety of the Kingdom is his chief Law.
But he spoils it in the next page, by asserting,
That it is not right for Kings to do injury, but it is right that they go unpunish'd by the People, if they do; so that in this point it is all one, whether
Samuel
describe a King or a Tyrant, for patient obedience is due unto both; no remedy in the Text against Tyrants, but crying and praying unto God in that day.
In this our Author, according to the custom of Theaters, runs round in a Circle, pretends to grant that which is true, and then by a lie endeavours to destroy all again. Kings by the Law of Nature are oblig'd to seek chiefly the good of the Kingdom; but there is no remedy if they do it not: which is no less than to put all upon the Conscience of those who manifestly have none. But if God has appointed that all other transgressions of the Laws of Nature, by which a private man receives damage, should be punish'd in this world, notwithstanding the right reserv'd to himself of a future punishment; I desire to know, why this alone, by which whole Nations may be, and often are destroy'd, should escape the hands of Justice? If he presume no Law to be necessary in this case, because it cannot be thought that Kings will transgress, as there was no Law in
Sparta
against Adultery, because it was not thought possible for men educated under that disciplin, to be guilty of such a Crime; and as divers Nations left a liberty to Fathers to dispose of their Children as they thought fit, because it could not be imagin'd that any one would abuse that power; he ought to remember that the
Spartans
were mistaken, and for want of that Law which they esteem'd useless, Adulterys became as common there as in any part of the world: and the other error being almost every where discover'd, the Laws of all civiliz'd Nations make it capital for a man to kill his Children; and give redress to Children, if they suffer any other extreme injurys from their Parents, as well as to other persons. But tho this were not so, it would be nothing to our question, unless it could be suppos'd, that whoever gets the power of a Nation into his hands, must be immediately fill'd with the same tenderness of affection to the People under him, as a Father naturally has towards the Children he has begotten. He that is of this opinion, may examin the lives of
Herod, Tiberius, Caligula,
and some later Princes of like inclinations, and conclude it to be true, if he find that the whole course of their actions, in relation to the People under them, do well sute with the tender and sacred name of Father; and altogether false, if he find the contrary. But since every man that considers what has bin, or sees what is every day done in the world, must confess, that Princes, or those who govern them, do most frequently so utterly reject all thoughts of tenderness and piety towards the Nations under them, as rather to seek what can be drawn from them, than what should be done for them, and sometimes become their most bitter and publick enemys; 'tis ridiculous to make the safety of Nations to depend upon a supposition, which by daily experience we find to be false; and impious, to prefer the lusts of a man who violates the most sacred Laws of Nature, by destroying those he is oblig'd to preserve, before the welfare of that People for whose good he is made to be what he is, if there be any thing of justice in the Power he exercises.
Our Author foolishly thinks to cover the enormity of this nonsense, by turning
Salutem Populi
into
Salutem Regni:
for tho
Regnum
may be taken for the power of commanding, in which sense the preservation of it is the usual object of the care of Princes, yet it dos more rightly signify the Body of that Nation which is govern'd by a King. And therefore if the Maxim be true, as he acknowledges it to be, then
Salus Populi est Lex suprema;
and the first thing we are to inquire is, whether the Government of this or that man dos conduce to the accomplishment of that supreme Law, or not; for otherwise it ought to have bin said,
Salus Regis est Lex suprema,
which certainly never enter'd into the head of a wiser or better man than
Filmer.
His Reasons are as good as his Doctrin:
No Law,
says he,
can be impos'd on Kings, because there were Kings before any Laws were made.
This would not follow, tho the Proposition were true; for they, who impos'd no Laws upon the Kings they at first made, from an opinion of their Vertue, as in those call'd by the Antients
Heroum regna,
might lay restrictions upon them, when they were found not to answer the expectation conceiv'd of them, or that their Successors degenerated from their Vertue. Other Nations also being instructed by the ill effects of an unlimited Power given to some Kings (if there was any such) might wisely avoid the Rock upon which their Neighbours had split, and justly moderate that Power which had bin pernicious to others. However a Proposition of so great importance ought to be prov'd; but that being hard, and perhaps impossible, because the original of Nations is almost wholly unknown to us, and their practice seems to have bin so various, that what is true in one is not so in another; he is pleas'd only to affirm it, without giving the least shadow of a reason to persuade us to believe him. This might justify me, if I should reject his assertion as a thing said
gratis:
but I may safely go a step farther, and affirm, That men liv'd under Laws before there were any Kings; which cannot be deny'd, if such a Power necessarily belongs to Kings as he ascribes to them. For
Nimrod,
who establish'd his Kingdom in
Babel,
is the first who by the Scripture is said to have bin a mighty one in the Earth. He was therefore the first King, or Kings were not mighty; and he being the first King, Mankind must have liv'd till his time without Laws, or else Laws were made before Kings. To say that there was then no Law, is in many respects most absurd; for the Nature of man cannot be without it, and the violences committed by ill men before the Flood, could not have bin blam'd if there had bin no Law; for that which is not, cannot be transgrest.
Cain
could not have fear'd that every man who met him would slay him, if there had not bin a Law to slay him that had slain another. But in this case the Scripture is clear, at least from the time that
Noah
went out of the Ark; for God then gave him a Law sufficient for the state of things at that time, if all violence was prohibited under the name of shedding Blood, tho not under the same penalty as Murder. But Penal Laws being in vain, if there be none to execute them, such as know God dos nothing in vain, may conclude that he who gave this Law, did appoint some way for its execution, tho unknown to us. There is therefore a Law not given by Kings, but laid upon such as should be Kings, as well as on any other Persons, by one who is above them; and perhaps I may say, that this Law presses most upon them, because they who have most power, do most frequently break out into acts of Violence, and most of all disdain to have their Will restrain'd: and he that will exempt Kings from this Law, must either find that they are excepted in the Text, or that God who gave it has not a Power over them.
Moreover, it has bin prov'd at the beginning of this Treatise, that the first Kings were of the accursed race, and reign'd over the accursed Nations, whilst the holy Seed had none. If therefore there was no Law where there was no King, the accursed Posterity of
Cham
had Laws, when the blessed Descendents of
Shem
had none, which is most absurd; the word
Outlaw
or
Lawless,
being often given to the wicked, but never to the just and righteous.
The impious folly of such Assertions goes farther than our Author perhaps suspected: for if there be no Law where there is no King, the
Israelites
had no Law till
Saul
was made King, and then the Law they had was from him. They had no King before, for they ask'd one. They could not have ask'd one of
Samuel,
if he had bin a King. He had not bin offended, and God had not imputed to them the sin of rejecting him, if they had ask'd that only which he had set over them. If
Samuel
were not King,
Moses, Joshua,
and the other Judges were not Kings; for they were no more than he. They had therefore no King, and consequently, if our Author says true, no Law. If they had no Law till
Saul
was King, they never had any; for he gave them none; and the Prophets were to blame for denouncing judgments against them for receding from, or breaking their Law, if they had none. He cannot say that
Samuel
1 Sam. 10.
gave them a Law; for that which he wrote in a Book, and laid up before the Lord, was not a Law to the People, but to the King. If it had bin a Law to the People, it must have bin made publick; but as it was only to the King, he laid it up before God, to testify against him if he should adventure to break it. Or if it was a Law to the People, the matter is not mended; for it was given in the time of a King by one who was not King. But in truth it was the Law of the Kingdom by which he was King, and had bin wholly impertinent, if it was not to bind him; for it was given to no other person, and to no other end.
Our Author's Assertion on which all his Doctrin is grounded,
That there is no Nation that allows Children any action or remedy for being unjustly govern'd,
is as impudently false as any other propos'd by him: for tho a Child will not be heard that complains of the Rod; yet our own Law gives relief to Children against their Fathers, as well as against other persons that do them injurys, upon which we see many ill effects, and I do rather relate than commend the practice. In other places the Law gives relief against the extravagances of which Fathers may be guilty in relation to their Children, tho not to that excess as to bring them so near to an equality as in
England:
They cannot imprison, sell, or kill their Children, without exposing themselves to the same punishments with other men; and if they take their Estates from them, the Law is open, and gives relief against them: but on the other side, Children are punish'd with Death, if they strike or outrageously abuse their Parents; which is not so with us.
Now, if the Laws of Nations take such care to preserve private men from being too hardly us'd by their true and natural Fathers, who have such a love and tenderness for them in their own Blood, that the most wicked and barbarous do much more frequently commit crimes for them than against them; how much more necessary is it to restrain the fury that Kings, who at the best are but phantastical Fathers, may exercise to the destruction of the whole People? 'Tis a folly to say that
David
and some other Kings have had, or that all should have as tender an affection towards their People as towards their Children; for besides that even the first Proposition is not acknowledg'd, and will be hardly verify'd in any one instance, there is a vast distance between what men ought to be, and what they are. Every man ought to be just, true and charitable; and if they were so, Laws would be of no use: but it were a madness to abolish them upon a supposition that they are so; or to leave them to a future punishment, which many do not believe, or not regard. I am not oblig'd to believe that
David
lov'd every
Israelite
as well as his Son
Absalom;
but tho he had, I could not from thence infer that all Kings do so, unless I were sure that all of them were as wise and vertuous as he.
But to come more close to the matter: Do we not know of many Kings who have come to their Power by the most wicked means that can enter into the heart of man, even by the most outrageous injurys done to the People, sometimes by a foreign aid? as Kings were by the power of the
Romans
impos'd upon the
Britans,
that they might wast the Forces, and break the Spirits of that fierce people. This
Tacitus
acknowledges, and says,
Inter instrumenta servitutis reges habuere.
Tacit.
That among other instruments of inslaving Nations, they impos'd Kings upon them.
The
Medices
were made Masters of
Florence
by the force of
Charles
the Fifth's Army. Sometimes by a corrupt party in their own Country they have destroy'd the best men, and subdu'd the rest; as
Agathocles, Dionysius,
and
Cesar
did at
Rome
and
Syracuse.
Others taking upon them to defend a People, have turn'd the Arms with which they were entrusted against their own Masters; as
Francesco Sforza,
who being chosen by those of
Milan
to be their General against the
Venetians,
made peace with them, and by their assistance made himself Prince, or, in our Author's phrase, Father of that great City. If these be acts of tenderness, love, justice, and charity, those who commit them may well think they have gain'd the affections of their People, and grow to love those from whom they fear nothing, and by whom they think they are lov'd. But if on the other hand they know they have attain'd to their greatness by the worst of all Villanys, and that they are on that account become the object of the publick hatred, they can do no less than hate and fear those by whom they know themselves to be hated. The
Italians
ordinarily say that
Chi fa in
uria non perdona mai.
he who dos an injury never pardons, because he thinks he is never pardon'd: But he that enslaves and oppresses a People dos an injury which can never be pardon'd, and therefore fears it will be reveng'd.
Other Princes who come to their Thrones by better ways, and are not contented with the power that the Law allows, draw the same hatred upon themselves when they endeavour by force or fraud to enlarge it; and must necessarily fear and hate their own People as much as he who by the ways beforemention'd has betray'd or subdu'd them. Our Author makes nothing of this; but taking it for granted that it was all one whether
Samuel
spoke of a King or a Tyrant, declares that the same patient obedience is due to both; but not being pleas'd to give any reason why we should believe him, I intend to offer some why we should not.
First, there is nothing in the nature or institution of Monarchy that obliges Nations to bear the exorbitances of it when it degenerates into Tyranny.
In the second place, we have no precept for it.
Thirdly, we have many approv'd examples, and occasional particular commands to the contrary.
1. To the first: The point of Paternity being explain'd; the duty of Children to Parents prov'd to proceed from the benefits receiv'd from them, and that the power over them, which at the first seems to have bin left at large, because it was thought they would never abuse it, has long since bin much restrain'd in all civiliz'd Nations, and particularly in our own; We may conclude that men are all made of the same paste, and that one ows no more to another than another to him, unless for some benefit receiv'd, or by virtue of some promise made. The duty arising from a benefit receiv'd must be proportionable to it: that which grows from a promise is determin'd by the promise or contract made, according to the true sense and meaning of it. He therefore that would know what the
Babylonians, Hebrews, Athenians,
or
Romans
did owe to
Nimrod, Saul, Theseus
or
Romulus,
must inquire what benefits were receiv'd from them, or what was promis'd to them. It cannot be said that any thing was due to them for the sake of their Parents; they could have no prerogative by birth:
Nimrod
was the sixth Son of
Chush
the Son of
Cham,
who was the youngest Son of
Noah;
his Kingdom was erected whilst
Noah
and his elder Sons
Shem
and
Japhet,
as well as
Cham, Chush
and his elder Sons were still living.
Saul
was the Son of
Chish,
a man of
Benjamin,
who was the youngest Son of
Jacob;
and he was chosen in the most Democratical way by Lot amongst the whole People.
Theseus
according to the custom of the times pretended to be the Son of
Neptune;
and
Rhea
was so well pleas'd with the Soldier that had gotten her with child, that she resolv'd to think or say that
Mars
was the Father of the Children, that is to say they were Bastards; and therefore whatever was due to them was upon their own personal account, without any regard to their Progenitors. This must be measur'd according to what they did for those Nations before they were Kings, or by the manner of their advancement. Nothing can be pretended before they were Kings:
Nimrod
rose up after the confusion of Languages, and the People that understood the tongue he spoke, follow'd him;
Saul
was a young man unknown in
Israel; Theseus
and
Romulus
had nothing to recommend them before other
Athenians
and
Romans,
except the reputation of their Valor; and the Honors confer'd upon them for that reason, must proceed from expectation or hope, and not from gratitude or obligation. It must therefore proceed from the manner by which they came to be Kings. He that neither is nor has any title to be a King, can come to be so only by force or by consent. If by force, he dos not confer a Benefit upon the People, but injures them in the most outrageous manner. If it be possible therefore or reasonable to imagin that one man did ever subdue a multitude, he can no otherwise resemble a Father, than the worst of all Enemys who dos the greatest mischiefs, resembles the best of all Friends who confers the most inestimable benefits; and consequently dos as justly deserve the utmost effects of hatred, as the other dos of love, respect, and service. If by consent, he who is rais'd from amongst the people, and plac'd above his Brethren, receives great honors and advantages, but confers none. The obligations of gratitude are on his side, and whatsoever he dos in acknowledgment to his Benefactors for their love to him, is no more than his duty; and he can demand no more from them than what they think fit to add to the favors already receiv'd. If more be pretended, it must be by virtue of that contract, and can no otherwise be prov'd than by producing it to be examin'd, that the true sense, meaning, and intention of it may be known.
This Contract must be in form and substance according to a general Rule given to all mankind, or such as is left to the will of every Nation. If a general one be pretended, it ought to be shown, that by inquiring into the contents, we may understand the force and extent of it. If this cannot be done, it may justly pass for a fiction, no conclusion can be drawn from it; and we may be sure, that what Contracts soever have bin made between Nations and their Kings, have bin fram'd according to the will of those Nations; and consequently how many soever they are, and whatsoever the sense of any or all of them may be, they can oblige no man, except those, or at the most the Descendents of those that made them. Whoever therefore would persuade us, that one or more Nations are, by virtue of those Contracts, bound to bear all the insolences of Tyrants, is oblig'd to show, that by those Contracts they did for ever indefinitely bind themselves so to do, how great soever they might be.
I may justly go a step farther, and affirm, That if any such should appear in the world, the folly and turpitude of the thing would be a sufficient evidence of the madness of those that made it, and utterly destroy the contents of it: but no such having bin as yet produc'd, nor any reason given to persuade a wise man, that there has ever bin any such, at least among civiliz'd Nations, (for whom only we are concern'd) it may be concluded there never was any; or is there were, they do not at all relate to our subject; and consequently that Nations still continue in their native Liberty, and are no otherwise oblig'd to endure the insolence of Tyrants, than they, or each of them may esteem them tolerable.
2. To the second: Tho the words of
Samuel
had imply'd a necessity incumbent upon the
Hebrews
to bear all the Injurys that their Kings should do to them, it could no way relate to us; for he dos not speak of all Kings, but of such as they had ask'd, even such as reign'd over the slavish
Asiaticks
their Neighbors, who are no less infamous in the world for their baseness and cowardice, than detestable for their idolatry and vices. It was not a plot or trick of
Samuel
to keep the Government in himself and Family; such scurrilous expressions or thoughts are fit only for
Filmer, Heylin,
and their Disciples: But the Prophet being troubled at the folly and wickedness of the people, who chose rather to subject themselves to the irregular Will of a Man, than to be govern'd by God and his Law, did, by the immediate command of God, declare to them what would be the event of their fury; that since they would be like to their Neighbors in sin and folly, he told 'em they should be like to them in shame and misery; since they desir'd to cast off the thing that was good, they should suffer evil as the product of their own Counsels; and that when they should cry to the Lord from a sense of their miserys, he dos not tell them, as our Author falsly says, they should have no other remedy against Tyrants but crying and praying, but that their crys and prayers should not be heard. It was just that when they had rejected God, he should reject them, and leave them under the weight of the calamitys they had brought upon themselves. In all other cases God had ever said, that when his People return'd to him, he would hear and save them. When they cry'd by reason of the oppressions they suffer'd under the
Egyptians, Cananites, Midianites, Philistins,
and others, tho their crimes had deserv'd them all, yet God heard and reliev'd them. But when they meditated this final defection from his Law, and rejection of his Government, God seem'd to change his Nature, and forget to be gracious;
When ye shall cry to me by reason of your King, I will not hear you.
This was the strongest dehortation from their wicked Intention that can be imagin'd; but being not enough to reclaim them, they answer'd,
Nay, but we will have a King.
They were like to their Neighbors in folly and vice, and would be like to them in Government; which brought all the Calamitys upon them that the others suffer'd. But I know not what conclusion can be drawn from hence in favor of our Author's Doctrin, unless all Nations are oblig'd furiously to run into the same crimes with the
Israelites,
or to take upon themselves the same punishment, tho they do not commit the same crimes.
If this was not a Precept to the
Israelites,
instructing them what they should do, but a denunciation of what they should suffer for the evil which they had committed, the Old Testament will afford none; and I hope in due time to answer such as he alledges from the New. Nay, we may conclude there can be none there, because being dictated by the same Spirit, which is always uniform and constant to it self, it could not agree with the 17
th
of
Deuteron.
which so extremely restrains such a King as God allow'd, as not to suffer him in any manner to raise his heart above his Brethren; and was said in vain, if at the same time it gave him a Power which might not be resisted, or forbad others to resist him if he would not obey the Law.
3. To the third: Whatsoever was done by the Command of God against
Pharaoh
King of
Egypt,
and against the Kings of the
Cananites, Midianites, Moabites, Edomites, Amorites
or
Philistins,
by
Moses, Joshua,
Ehud, Barak, Gideon, Sampson, Jephtha, Samuel,
and the rest of the Judges, comes expresly under the particular Precepts and Examples promis'd by me, to show, that God had occasionally commanded, and his Servants executed his Commands in resisting and destroying the Persons of Kings, who were their own Kings also, if Possession was only to be regarded. And tho this be sufficient to overthrow our Author's Doctrin;
That we are not to examin the Titles of Kings, whether they be from usurpation, or any other means; but only to look upon the Power:
Yet they who seek Truth, ought not to content themselves merely with Victory; or to esteem that a Victory, which is obtain'd by what the Schools call
Argumentum ad hominem,
grounded upon a false Proposition, and is of no force except against those who are so ill advis'd to advance it. Therefore laying aside the advantages that may be justly taken against
Filmer,
for the folly of asserting the same Right to be in a Usurper as in a lawful Prince; and confessing that tho such as have no Title, may and ought to be supprest as Enemys and Robbers, when respect and obedience is due to those who are rightly instituted; I say, that none can be claim'd by a Prince lawfully instituted, if he assumes to himself a Power which is not granted to him by the Law of his Institution,
Quia eat
nus non hab
t imperium.
De Jur. Bel.
because, as
Grotius
says,
his legal Power does not extend so far;
or turn the Power that is given him, to ends contrary to those for which it was given, because he thereby destroys it, and puts himself into the same condition as if it had never bin. This is prov'd by the Example of
Saul;
Tho the people sinn'd grievously in asking a King, yet God assenting to their demand, no Prince was ever more solemnly instituted than he. The People chose him by Lot from amongst all the Tribes, and he was plac'd in the Throne by the general consent of the whole Nation: But he turning his lawful Power into Tyranny, disobeying the word of the Prophet, slaying the Priests, sparing the
Amalekites,
and oppressing the Innocent, overthrew his own Right; and God declar'd the Kingdom, which had bin given him under a conditional promise of perpetuity, to be intirely abrogated. This did not only give a right to the whole People of opposing him, but to every particular man; and upon this account
David
did not only fly from his fury, but resisted it. He made himself head of all the discontented Persons that would follow him: he had at first four, and afterwards six hundred men; he kept these in Arms against
Saul,
liv'd upon the Country, and resolv'd to destroy
Nabal
with all his House, only for refusing to send Provisions for his men. Finding himself weak and unsafe, he went to
Achish
the
Philistin,
and offer'd his service even against
Israel.
This was never reputed a sin in
David,
or in those that follow'd him, by any except the wicked Court-flatterer
Doeg
the
Edomite,
and the drunken fool
Nabal,
who is said to have bin a man of
Belial.
If it be objected, That this was rather a Flight than a War, in as much as he neither kill'd
Saul
nor his men, or that he made war as a King anointed by
Samuel;
I answer, that he who had six hundred men, and entertain'd as many as came to him, sufficiently shew'd his intention rather to resist than to fly: And no other reason can be given why he did not farther pursue that intention, than that he had no greater power: and he who arms six hundred men against his Prince, when he can have no more, can no more be said to obey patiently, than if he had so many hundreds of thousands. This holds, tho he kills no man, for that is not the War, but the manner of making it: and 'twere as absurd to say
David
made no War, because he kill'd no men, as that
Charles
the eighth made no War in
Italy,
because
Guicciardin
says, he conquer'd
Naples
without breaking a Lance. But as
David
's strength increas'd, he grew to be less sparing of Blood. Those who say Kings never die, but that the right is immediately transfer'd to the next Heirs, cannot deny that
Ishbosheth
inherited the right of
Saul,
and that
David
had no other right of making war against him, than against
Saul,
unless it were confer'd upon him by the Tribe of
Judah
that made him King. If this be true, it must be confest that not only a whole People, but a part of them, may at their own pleasure abrogate a Kingdom, tho never so well establish'd by common consent; for none was ever more solemnly instituted than that of
Saul;
and few Subjects have more strongly oblig'd themselves to be obedient. If it be not true, the example of
Nabal
is to be follow'd; and
David,
tho guided by the Spirit of God, deserves to be condemn'd as a fellow that rose up against his Master.
If to elude this it be said, That God instituted and abrogated
Saul
's Kingdom, and that
David
to whom the right was transmitted, might therefore proceed against him and his Heirs as privat men: I answer, that if the obedience due to
Saul
proceeded from God's Institution, it can extend to none but those who are so peculiarly instituted and anointed by his Command, and the hand of his Prophet, which will be of little advantage to the Kings that can give no testimony of such an Institution or Unction; and an indisputable right will remain to every Nation of abrogating the Kingdoms which are instituted by and for themselves. But as
David
resisted the Authority of
Saul
and
Ishbosheth,
without assuming the Power of a King, tho design'd by God, and anointed by the Prophet, till he was made King of
Judah
by that Tribe; or arrogating to himself a Power over the other Tribes till he was made King by them, and had enter'd into a Covenant with them; 'tis much more certain that the Persons and Authority of ill Kings, who have no title to the Privileges due to
Saul
by virtue of his institution, may be justly resisted; which is as much as is necessary to my purpose.
1 Sam. 26.
Object.
But
David
's Heart smote him when he had cut off the skirt of
Saul
's Garment, and he would not suffer
Abishai
to kill him. This might be of some force, if it were pretended that every man was oblig'd to kill an ill King, whensoever he could do it, which I think no man ever did say; and no man having ever affirm'd it, no more can be concluded than is confest by all. But how is it possible that a man of a generous Spirit, like
David,
could see a great and valiant King, chosen from amongst all the Tribes of
Israel,
anointed by the command of God and the hand of the Prophet, famous for victorys obtain'd against the enemys of
Israel,
and a wonderful deliverance thereby purchas'd to that People, cast at his feet to receive Life or Death from the hand of one whom he had so furiously persecuted, and from whom he least deserv'd, and could least expect mercy, without extraordinary commotion of mind, most especially when
Abishai,
who saw all that he did, and thereby ought best to have known his thoughts, exprest so great a readiness to kill him? This could not but make him reflect upon the instability of all that seem'd to be most glorious in men, and shew him that if
Saul,
who had bin nam'd even among the Prophets, and assisted in an extraordinary manner to accomplish such great things, was so abandon'd and given over to fury, misery and shame; he that seem'd to be most firmly establish'd ought to take care lest he should fall.
Surely these things are neither to be thought strange in relation to
Saul,
who was God's Anointed, nor communicable to such as are not: Some may suppose he was King by virtue of God's unction (tho if that were true, he had never bin chosen and made King by the People) but it were madness to think he became God's Anointed by being King: for if that were so, the same Right and Title would belong to every King, even to those who by his command were accurs'd and destroy'd by his Servants
Moses, Joshua
and
Samuel.
The same men, at the same time, and in the same sense, would be both his anointed and accurs'd, lov'd and detested by him, and the most sacred Privileges made to extend to the worst of his enemys.
Again; the War made by
David
was not upon the account of being King, as anointed by
Samuel,
but upon the common natural right of defending himself against the violence and fury of a wicked man; he trusted to the promise,
that he should be King,
but knew that as yet he was not so: and when
Saul
found he had spar'd his Life, he said,
I now know well that thou shalt surely be King, and that the Kingdom of
Israel
shall surely be establish'd in thy hand;
not that it was already Nay
David
himself was so far from taking upon him to be King, till the Tribe of
Judah
had chosen him, that he often acknowledg'd
Saul
to be his Lord. When
Baanah
and
Rechab
brought the head of
Ishbosheth
to him, he commanded them to be slain;
Because they had kill'd a righteous man upon his Bed, in
2 Sam. 4.
his own House;
which he could not have said, if
Ishbosheth
had unjustly detain'd from him the ten Tribes, and that he had a right to reign over them before they had chosen him. The Word of God did not make him King, but only foretold that he should be King; and by such ways as he pleas'd prepar'd the hearts of the People to set him up; and till the time design'd by God for that work was accomplish'd, he pretended to no other Authority, than what the six hundred men who first follow'd him, afterwards the Tribe of
Judah,
and at last all the rest of the People, confer'd upon him.
I no way defend
Absalom
's revolt; he was wicked, and acted wickedly: but after his death no man was ever blam'd or question'd for siding with him; and
Amasa
who commanded his Army, is represented in Scripture as a good man, even
David
saying, that
Joab,
by slaying
Abner
and
Amasa,
had kill'd
two men who were better than himself:
which could
2 Sam. 20▪
not have bin, unless the People had a right of looking into matters of Government, and of redressing abuses; tho being deceiv'd by
Absalom,
they so far err'd, as to prefer him, who was in all respects wicked, before the man, who, except in the matter of
Ʋ riah,
is said to be after God's own heart. This right was acknowledg'd by
David
himself, when he commanded
Hushai
to say to
Absalom, I will be thy Servant, O King;
and by
2 Kings.
Hushai
in the following Chapter,
Nay, but whom the Lord and his People, and all the men of
Israel
chuse, his will I be, and with him will I abide:
which could have no sense in it, unless the People had a right of chusing, and that the choice in which they generally concur'd, was esteem'd to be from God.
But if
Saul,
who was made King by the whole People, and anointed by the command of God, might be lawfully resisted when he departed from the Law of his Institution; it cannot be doubted that any other for the like reason may be resisted. If
David,
tho design'd by God to be
King, and anointed by the hand of the Prophet, was not King till the People had chosen him, and he had made a Covenant with them; it will, if I mistake not, be hard to find a man who can claim a right which is not originally from them. And if the People of
Israel
could erect and pull down, institute, abrogate, or transfer to other Persons or Familys, Kingdoms more firmly establish'd than any we know, the same right cannot be deny'd to other Nations.
SECT. II. The Kings of
Israel
and
Judah
were under a Law not safely to be transgrest.
OUR Author might be pardon'd if he only vented his own follys; but he aggravates his crime, by imputing them to men of more Credit; and tho I cannot look upon Sir
Walter Raleigh
as a very good Interpreter of Scripture, he had too much understanding to say,
That if practice declare the greatness of Authority, even the best Kings of
Israel
and
Judah
were not ty'd to any Law, but they did whatsoever they pleas'd in the greatest matters;
for there is no sense in those words.
If Practice declares the greatness of Authority, even the best of Kings were ty'd to no Law,
signifies nothing, for Practice cannot declare the greatness of Authority.
Peter
the Cruel of
Castille,
and
Christiern
the 2
d
of
Denmark,
kill'd whom they pleas'd; but no man ever thought they had therefore a right to do so: and if there was a Law, all were ty'd by it, and the best were less likely to break it than the worst. But if Sir
Walter Raleigh
's opinion, which
2 L. Hist. c. 19.
he calls a conjecture, be taken, there was so great a difference between the Kings of
Israel
and
Judah,
that as to their general proceedings in point of Power, hardly any thing can be said which may rightly be apply'd to both; and he there endeavours to show, that the reason why the ten Tribes did not return to the house of
David,
after the destruction of the houses of
Jeroboam
and
Baasha,
was, because they would not endure a Power so absolute as that which was exercis'd by the house of
David.
If he has therefore any where said that the Kings did what they pleas'd, it must be in the sense that
Moses Maimonides
says, The Kings of
Israel
committed many extravagances, because they were
Quia superbi erant corde, impii, & spretores Legis.
Mor. Nevoch.
insolent, impious, and despisers of the Law.
But whatsoever Sir
Walter Raleigh
may say (for I do not remember his words, and have not leisure to seek whether any
ch are found in his Books) 'tis most evident they did not what they pleas'd. The Tribes that did not submit to
David,
nor crown him till they thought fit, and then made a Covenant with him, took care it might be observ'd whether he would or not.
Absalom
's Rebellion follow'd by almost all
Israel,
was a terrible check to his Will. That of
Sheba,
the Son of
Bichri,
was like to have bin worse, if it had not bin supprest by
Joab
's diligence; and
David
often confest the Sons of
Zerviah
were too hard for him.
Solomon
indeed, overthrowing the Law given by
Moses,
multiplying Gold and Silver, Wives and Horses, introducing Idolatry, and lifting up his heart above his Brethren, did what he pleas'd; but
Rehoboam
paid for all: the ten Tribes revolted from him, by reason of the heavy burdens laid upon them; ston'd
Adoram
who was sent to levy the Tributes, and set up
Jeroboam,
who, as Sir
Walter Raleigh
says in the place before cited, had no other Title than the courtesy of the People, and utterly rejected the house of
David.
If practice therefore declares a right, the practice of the People to avenge the injurys they suffer'd from their Kings, as soon as they found a man fit to be their Leader, shews they had a right of doing it.
'Tis true, the best of the Kings, with
Moses, Joshua,
and
Samuel,
may in one sense be said to have done what they pleas'd, because they desir'd to do that only which was good. But this will hardly be brought to confer a right upon all Kings: And I deny that even the Kings of
Judah
did what they pleas'd, or that it were any thing to our question if they did.
Zedekiah
profest to the great men (that is, to the
Sanhedrin) that without
Jerem. 38.
them he could do nothing.
When
Amaziah,
by his folly, had brought a great slaughter upon the Tribe of
Judah,
they conspir'd against him in Publick Council; whereupon he fled to
Lachish,
and they pursuing him
2 Kings 14.
thither, kill'd him, avow'd the Fact, and it was neither question'd, nor blam'd: which examples agree with the paraphrase of
Josephus
on
Deut.
Antiq. Jud
17.
He shall do nothing without the consent of the
Sanhedrin;
and if he attempt it, they shall hinder him.
This was the Law of God, not to be abrogated by Man; a Law of Liberty directly opposite to the necessity of submitting to the will of a man. This was a Gift bestow'd by God upon his Children and People; whereas slavery was a great part of the Curse denounc'd against
Cham
for his wickedness, and perpetually incumbent upon his Posterity. The great
Sanhedrin
were constituted Judges, as
Grotius
says, most particularly of such matters as concern'd their Kings; and
Maimonides
affirms, that the Kings were judg'd by them: The distribution of the power to the inferior
Sanhedrins,
in every Tribe and City, with the right of calling the People together in general Assemblys as often as occasion requir'd, were the foundations of their Liberty; and being added to the Law of the Kingdom prescrib'd in the 17
th
of
Deuteronomy,
if they should think fit to have a King, establish'd the Freedom of that People upon a solid foundation. And tho in their fury they did in a great measure wave the benefits God had bestow'd upon 'em; yet there was enough left to restrain the Lusts of their Kings.
Ahab
did not treat with
Naboth
as with a Servant, whose Person and Estate depended upon his Will; and dos not seem to have bin so tender-hearted to grieve much for his refusal, if by virtue of his Royal Authority he could have taken away his Vineyard and his Life: But that failing, he had no other way of accomplishing his design, than by the fraud of his accursed Wife, and the perfidious Wretches she imploy'd. And no better proof that it did fail, can reasonably be requir'd, than that he was oblig'd to have recourse to such sordid, odious, and dangerous Remedys: But we are furnish'd with one that is more unquestionable;
Hast thou kill'd, and also taken possession?
1 Kings 21.
In the place where Dogs lick'd the blood of
Naboth,
shall they lick thy Blood, even thine.
This shews that the Kings were not only under a Law, but under a Law of equality with the rest of the People, even that of Retaliation. He had rais'd his heart above his Brethren; but God brought him down, and made him to suffer what he had done; he was in all respects wicked, but the justice of this sentence consisted in the Law he had broken, which could not have bin, if he had bin subject to none. But as this Retaliation was the sum of all the Judicial Law given by God to his People, the Sentence pronounc'd against
Ahab
in conformity to it, and the execution committed to
Jehu,
shews, that the Kings were no less oblig'd to perform the Law than other men, tho they were not so easily punish'd for transgressing it as others were; and if many of them did escape, it perfectly agrees with what had bin foretold by
Samuel.
SECT. III.
Samuel
did not describe to the
Israelites
the glory of a free Monarchy; but the Evils the People should suffer, that he might divert them from desiring a King.
THO no restraint had bin put upon the Hebrew Kings, it could be no prejudice to any other Nation. They deflected from the Law of God; and rejecting him that he should reign over them no longer, they fell into that misery which could affect none but those who enjoy the same Blessings, and with the same fury despise them. If their Kings had more Power than consisted with their welfare, they gave it, and God renounces the institution of
Ye have chosen Kings, but not by me; and Princes, but I know them not.
Hos.
such. He gave them a Law of Liberty; and if they fell into the shame and misery that accompanys slavery, it was their own work. They were not oblig'd to have any King; and could not without a crime have any but one, who must not raise his heart above the rest of them. This was taught by
Moses:
And
Samuel,
who spoke by the same Spirit, could not contradict him; and in telling the People what such a King as they desir'd would do when he should be establish'd, he did announce to them the misery they would bring upon themselves, by chusing such a one as he had forbidden. This free Monarchy, which our Author thinks to be so majestically describ'd, was not only displeasing to the Prophet, but declar'd by God to be a rejection of him, and inconsistent with his reign over them. This might have bin sufficient to divert any other people from their furious resolution; but the Prophet farther enforcing his dissuasion, told them, that God (who had in all other cases bin their helper) would not hear them when they should cry to him by reason of their King. This is the majestick description of that free Monarchy with which our Author is so much pleas'd: It was displeasing to the Prophet, hateful to God, an aggravation of all the crimes they had committed since they came out of
Egypt,
and that which would bring (as it did) most certain and irreparable destruction upon them.
But it seems the Regal Majesty in that Age was in its infancy, and little in comparison of that which we find describ'd by
Tacitus, Suetonius,
and others in later times. He shall take your Sons, says
Samuel,
and set them over his Chariots, and your Daughters to make them Confectioners and Cooks; but the Majesty of the
Roman
Emperors was carry'd to a higher pitch of Glory.
Ahab
could not, without employing treachery and fraud, get a small spot of ground for his mony to make a Garden of Herbs: But
Tiberius, Caligula
and
Nero
kill'd whom they pleas'd, and took what they pleas'd of their Estates. When they had satiated their cruelty and avarice by the murders and confiscations of the most eminent and best men, they commonly expos'd their Children to the Lust of their Slaves. If the power of doing evil be glorious, the utmost excess is its perfection; and 'tis pity that
Samuel
knew no more of the effects produc'd by unrestrain'd Lust, that he might have made the description yet more majestick: and as nothing can be suffer'd by man beyond constupration, torments and death, instead of such trifles as he mention'd, he might have shew'd them the effects of Fury in its greatest exaltation.
If it be good for a Nation to live under such a Power, why did not God of his own goodness institute it? Did his Wisdom and Love to his People fail? or if he himself had not set up the best Government over them, could he be displeas'd with them for asking it? Did he separate that Nation from the rest of Mankind, to make their condition worse than that of others? Or can they be said to have sin'd and rejected God, when they desir'd nothing but the Government, which by a perpetual Ordinance he had establish'd over all the Nations of the World? Is not the Law of Nature a Rule which he has given to things? and the Law of man's Nature, which is Reason, an emanation of the divine Wisdom, or some footsteps of divine Light remaining in us? Is it possible that this which is from God, can be contrary to his Will; and can he be offended with those who desire to live in a conformity to that Law? Or could it justly be said, The People had chosen that which is not good, if nothing in Government be good but what they chose?
But as the worst men delight in the worst things, and Fools are pleas'd with the most extreme absurditys, our Author not only gives the highest praises to that which bears so many marks of God's hatred; but after having said that
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob,
and
Moses
were Kings, he tells us,
The
Israelites
beg'd a King of
Samuel; which had bin impertinent, if the Magistrats instituted by the Law were Kings: and tho it might be a folly in them to ask what they had already, it could be no sin to desire that which they enjoy'd by the Ordinance of God. If they were not Kings, it follows that the only Government set up by God amongst men wanted the principal part, even the Head and Foundation, from whence all the other parts have their action and being; that is, God's Law is against God's Law, and destroys it self.
But if God did neither by a general and perpetual Ordinance establish over all Nations the Monarchy which
Samuel
describes, nor prescribe it to his own People by a particular Command, it was purely the Peoples Creature, the production of their own fancy, conceiv'd in wickedness, and brought forth in iniquity, an Idol set up by themselves to their own destruction, in imitation of their accursed Neighbours; and their Reward was no better than the concession of an impious Petition, which is one of God's heaviest Judgments.
Samuel
's words are acknowledg'd by all Interpreters, who were not malicious or mad, to be a dissuasion from their wicked purpose; not a description of what a King might justly do by virtue of his Office, but what those who should be set up against God and his Law would do when they came to have the power in their hands: And I leave such as have the understandings of men, and are not abandon'd by God, to judg what influence this ought to have upon other Nations, either as to obligation or imitation.
SECT. IV. No People can be oblig'd to suffer from their Kings what they have not a right to do.
OUR Author's next work is to tell us, That
the scope of
Samuel
was to teach the People a dutiful obedience to their King, even in the things that they think mischievous or inconvenient: For by telling them what the King would do, he indeed instructs them what a Subject must suffer: Yet not so that it is right for Kings to do injury, but it is right for them to go unpunish'd by the People if they do it; so that in this point it is all one whether
Samuel
describe a King or a Tyrant.
This is hard, but the Conclusion is grounded upon nothing. There is no relation between a Prediction that a thing shall be attempted or done to me, and a Precept that I shall not defend my self, or punish the person that attempts or dos it. If a Prophet should say that a Thief lay in the way to kill me, it might reasonably persuade me not to go, or to go in such a manner as to be able to defend my self; but can no way oblige me to submit to the violence that shall be offer'd, or my Friends and Children not to avenge my death if I fall: much less can other men be depriv'd of the natural right of defending themselves, by my imprudence or obstinacy in not taking the warning given, whereby I might have preserv'd my life. For every man has a right of resisting some way or other that which ought not to be done to him; and tho human Laws do not in all cases make men Judges and Avengers of the Injurys offer'd to them, I think there is none that dos not justify the man who kills another that offers violence to him, if it appears that the way prescrib'd by the Law for the preservation of the Innocent cannot be taken. This is not only true in the case of outrageous attempts to assassinate or rob on the high way, but in divers others of less moment. I knew a man who being appointed to keep his Master's Park, kill'd three men in one night that came to destroy his Deer; and putting himself into the hands of the Magistrate, and confessing the Fact both in matter and manner, he was at the publick Assizes not only acquitted, but commended for having done his duty; and this in a time when 'tis well known Justice was severely administer'd, and little favor expected by him or his Master. Nay, all Laws must fall, human Societys that subsist by them be dissolv'd, and all innocent persons be expos'd to the violence of the most wicked, if men might not justly defend themselves against injustice by their own natural right, when the ways prescrib'd by publick Authority cannot be taken.
Our Author may perhaps say, this is true in all except the King: And I desire to know why, if it be true in all except the King, it should not be true in relation to him? Is it possible that he who is instituted for the obtaining of Justice, should claim the liberty of doing Injustice as a Privilege? Were it not better for a people to be without Law, than that a Power should be establish'd by Law to commit all manner of violences with impunity? Did not
David
resist those of
Saul?
Did he not make himself head of the Tribe of
Judah,
when they revolted against his Son, and afterwards of the ten Tribes that rejected his Posterity? Did not the
Israelites
stone
Adoram
who collected the Taxes, revolt from the House of
David,
set up
Jeroboam;
and did not the Prophet say it was from the Lord? If it was from the Lord, was it not good? If it was good then, is it not so for ever? Did good proceed from one root then, and from another now? If God had aveng'd the Blood of
Naboth
by fire from Heaven, and destroy'd the House of
Ahab,
as he did the two Captains and their men who were sent to apprehend
Elijah,
it might be said, he reserv'd that vengeance to himself; but he did it by the Sword of
Jehu
and the Army (which was the People who had set him up) for an Example to others.
But 'tis good to examin what this
dutiful Obedience
is that our Author mentions. Men usually owe no more than they receive. 'Tis hard to know what the
Israelites
ow'd to
Saul, David, Jeroboam, Ahab,
or any other King, whether good or bad, till they were made Kings: And the Actof the People by which so great a dignity was confer'd, seems to have laid a duty upon them, who did receive more than they had to give: so that something must be due from them, unless it were releas'd by virtue of a Covenant or Promise made; and none could accrue to them from the people afterwards, unless from the merit of the person in rightly executing his Office. If a Covenant or Promise be pretended, the nature and extent of the Obligation can only be known by the contents exprest, or the true intention of it. If there be a general form of Covenant set and agreed upon, to which all Nations must submit, it were good to know where it may be found, and by whose Authority it is establish'd, and then we may examin the sense of it. If no such do appear, we may rationally look upon those to be Impostors, who should go about from thence to derive a right: And as that which dos not appear, is as if it were not, we may justly conclude there is no other, or none that can have any effect, but such as have bin made by particular Nations with their Princes; which can be of no force or obligation to others, nor to themselves, any farther than according to the true intention of those that made them. There is no such thing therefore as a dutiful obedience, or duty of being obedient, incumbent upon all Nations by virtue of any Covenant; nor upon any particular Nation, unless it be exprest by a Covenant: and whoever pretends to a right of taking our Sons and Daughters, Lands or Goods, or to go unpunish'd if he do, must show that these things are exprest or intended by the Covenant.
But tho Nations for the most part owe nothing to Kings till they are Kings, and that it can hardly be conceiv'd, that any people did ever owe so much to a man, as might not be fully repaid by the honor and advantages of such an advancement; yet 'tis possible that when they are made Kings, they may by their good Government lay such Obligations upon their Subjects, as ought to be recompens'd by obedience and service. There is no mortal Creature that deserves so well from mankind, as a wise, valiant, diligent and just King, who as a Father cherishes his People; as a Shepherd feeds, defends, and is ready to lay down his life for his flock; who is a terror to evil doers, and a praise to those that do well. This is a glorious Prerogative, and he who has it is happy. But before this can be adjudg'd to belong to all, it must be prov'd that all have the Vertues that deserve it; and he that exacts the dutiful Obedience that arises from them, must prove that they are in him. He that dos this, need not plead for impunity when he dos injurys; for if he do them, he is not the man we speak of: Not being so, he can have no title to the duty by human Institution or Covenant; nor by divine Law, since, as is already prov'd, God has neither establish'd Kings over all Nations by Precept, nor recommended them by Example, in setting them over his own People. He has not therefore done it at all; there is no such thing in nature; and Nations can owe nothing to Kings merely as Kings, but what they owe by the Contract made with them.
As these Contracts are made voluntarily, without any previous obligation, 'tis evident that men make them in consideration of their own good, and they can be of force no longer, than he with whom they are made perform his part in procuring it; and that if he turn the power which was given to him for the publick good, to the publick inconvenience and damage, he must necessarily lose the benefit he was to receive by it. The word
think
is foolishly and affectedly put in by our Author; for those matters are very often so evident, that even the weakest know them. No great sagacity is requir'd to understand that leud, slothful, ignorant, false, unjust, covetous and cruel Princes bring inconveniences and mischiefs upon Nations; and many of them are so evidently guilty of some or all these Vices, that no man can be mistaken in imputing them; and the utmost Calamitys may rationally be expected from them, unless a Remedy be apply'd.
But, says he,
Samuel
by telling them
what the King would do, instructs them what the Subjects must suffer, and that 'tis right he should go unpunish'd.
But, by his favor,
Samuel
says no such thing; neither is it to be concluded, that because a King will do wickedly, he must be suffer'd, any more than a private man, who should take the same Resolution. But he told them, that
when they should cry to the Lord by reason of their King, he would not hear them.
This was as much as to say, their ruin was unavoidable; and that, having put the power into the hands of those, who instead of protecting would oppress them; and thereby having provok'd God against them, so as he would not hearken to their cries, they could have no relief. But this was no security to the Authors of their Calamity. The Houses of
Jeroboam, Baasha
and
Omri,
escap'd not unpunish'd, tho the People did not thereby recover their Liberty. The Kings had introduc'd a Corruption that was inconsistent with it. But they who could not settle upon a right Foundation to prevent future mischiefs, could avenge such as they had suffer'd, upon the heads of those who had caus'd 'em, and frequently did it most severely. The like besel the
Romans,
when by the violence of Tyranny all good Order was overthrown, good Disciplin extinguish'd, and the People corrupted. Ill Princes could be cut in pieces, and mischiefs might be reveng'd, tho not prevented. But 'tis not so every where, nor at all times; and nothing is more irrational, than from one or a few Examples to conclude a general necessity of future Events. They alter according to Circumstances: and as some Nations by destroying Tyrants could not destroy Tyranny; others in removing the Tyrant, have cut up Tyranny by the roots. This variety has bin seen in the same Nation at different times: The
Romans
recover'd their Liberty by expelling
Tarquin;
but remain'd Slaves notwithstanding the slaughter of
Cesar.
Whilst the Body of the People was uncorrupted, they cur'd the Evil wrought by the Person, in taking him away. It was no hard matter to take the Regal Power that by one man had bin enjoy'd for life, and to place it in the hands of two annual Magistrats, whilst the Nobility and People were, according to the condition of that Age, strong and ready to maintain it. But when the mischief had taken deeper root; when the best part of the people had perish'd in the Civil Wars; when all their eminent men had fallen in battel, or by the Proscriptions; when their Disciplin was lost, and Vertue abolish'd, the poor remains of the distrest people were brought under the power of a mercenary Soldiery, and found no relief. When they kill'd one Tyrant, they often made room for a worse: It avail'd them nothing to cut off a rotten Branch, whilst the accursed Root remain'd, and sent forth new Sprouts of the same nature to their destruction, Other generous Nations have bin subdu'd beyond a possibility of recovery; and those that are naturally base, slide into the like misery without the impulse of an exterior Power. They are Slaves by nature, and have neither the understanding nor courage that is requir'd for the constitution and management of a Government within themselves. They can no more subsist without a Master, than a flock without a Shepherd. They have no comprehension of Liberty, and can neither desire the good they do not know, nor enjoy it if it were bestow'd upon them. They bear all burdens; and whatever they suffer, they have no other remedy or refuge, than in the mercy of their Lord. But such Nations as are naturally strong, stout, and of good understanding, whose vigor remains unbroken, manners uncorrupted, reputation unblemish'd, and increasing in numbers; who neither want men to make up such Armys as may defend 'em against foreign or domestick Enemys, nor Leaders to head them, do ordinarily set limits to their patience. They know how to preserve their Liberty, or to vindicate the violation of it; and the more patient they have bin, the more inflexible they are when they resolve to be so no longer. Those who are so foolish to put them upon such courses, do to their cost find there is a difference between Lions and Asses; and he is a fool who knows not that
Ignorat
que
datos ne quisquam serviat enses.
Lucan.
Swords were given to men, that none might be Slaves, but such as know not how to use them.
SECT. V. The Mischiefs suffer'd from wicked Kings are such as render it both reasonable and just for all Nations that have Vertue and Power, to exert both in repelling them.
IF our Author deserve credit, we need not examin whether Nations have a right of resisting, or a reasonable hope of succeeding in their endeavours to prevent or avenge the Mischiefs that are fear'd or suffer'd, for 'tis not worth their pains.
The Inconveniences,
says he,
and Miserys which are reckon'd up by
Samuel,
as belonging to Kingly Government, were not intolerable, but such as have bin and still are born by the Subjects free consent from their Princes. Nay at this day, and in this Land, many Tenants by their Tenures are ty'd unto the same subjection, even unto subordinate and inferior Lords.
He is an excellent Advocate for Kingly Government, that accounts Inconveniences and Miserys to be some of the essentials of it; which others esteem to be only incidents. Tho many Princes are violent and wicked, yet some have bin gentle and just: tho many have brought misery upon Nations, some have bin beneficial to them: and they who are esteem'd most severe against Monarchy, think the evils often suffer'd under that form of Government proceed from the Corruption of it, or deviation from the principle of its institution; and that they are rather to be imputed to the vices of the Person, than to the thing it self: but if our Author speak truth, it is universally and eternally naught, inconvenience and misery belong to it.
He thinks to mend this by saying, they are not intolerable: but what is intolerable, if Inconveniences and Miserys be not? For what end can he think Governments to have bin establish'd, unless to prevent or remove Inconveniences and Miserys? or how can that be call'd a Government which dos not only permit, but cause them? What can incline Nations to set up Governments? Is it that they may suffer Inconveniences, and be brought to misery? or if it be to enjoy happiness, how can that subsist under a Government, which not by accident, deflection or corruption, but by a necessity inherent in it self, causes Inconveniences and Miserys? If it be pretended that no human Constitution can be altogether free from Inconveniences; I answer, that the best may to some degree fall into them, because they may be corrupted: but evil and misery can properly belong to none that is not evil in its own nature. If
Samuel
deserve credit, or may be thought to have spoken sense, he could not have enumerated the evils which he foresaw the People should suffer from their Kings, nor say that they should cry to the Lord by reason of them, unless they were in themselves grievous, and in comparison greater than what they had suffer'd or known; since that would not have diverted them from their intention, but rather have confirm'd 'em in it. And I leave it to our Author to show, why any People should for the pleasure of one or a few men, erect or suffer that Government which brings more of evil with it than any other.
Moreover, there is a great difference between that which Nations sometimes suffer under Kings, and that which they willingly suffer; most especially if our Author's Maxim be receiv'd, That all Laws are the Mandates of Kings, and the Subjects Libertys and Privileges no more than their gracious Concessions; for how patient soever they are under the Evils they suffer, it might reasonably be believ'd they are so because they know not how to help it: And this is certainly the case of too many places that are known to us. Whoever doubts of this, if he will not put himself to the trouble of going to
Turky
or
Morocco,
let him pass only into
Normandy,
and ask the naked, bare-footed and half-starv'd people whether they are willing to suffer the Miserys under which they groan; and whether the magnificence of
Versailles,
and the pomp of their haughty Master, do any way alleviate their Calamitys. If this also be a matter of too much pains, the Wretches that come hither every day will inform him, that it is not by their own consent they are depriv'd of all Honors and Offices in the Commonwealth, even of those, which by a corrupt Custom that had gain'd the force of a Law, they had dearly bought; prohibited to exercise any trade; expos'd to the utmost effects of fraud and violence, if they refuse to adore their Master's Idols. They will tell him, that 'tis not willingly they leave their Lands and Estates to seek a shelter in the most remote parts of the World; but because they are under a force which they are notable to resist; and because one part of the Nation, which is enrich'd with the Spoils of the other, have foolishly contributed to lay a Yoke upon them which they cannot break.
To what he says concerning Tenures, I answer; No man in
England
ows any service to his Lord, unless by virtue of a Contract made by himself or his Predecessors, under which he holds the Land granted to him on that condition by the Proprietor. There may be something of hardship, but nothing of injustice. 'Tis a voluntary act in the beginning and continuance; and all men know that what is done to one who is willing
Volenti non fit injuria.
is no injury. He who did not like the Conditions, was not oblig'd to take the Land; and he might leave it, if afterwards he came to dislike them. If any man say, the like may be done by any one in the Kingdom, I answer, That it is not always true; the Protestants now in
France
cannot without extreme hazard go out of that Country, tho they are contented to lose their Estates. 'Tis accounted a Crime, for which they are condemn'd perpetually to the Gallys, and such as are aiding to them to grievous Fines. But before this be acknowledg'd to have any similitude or relation to our discourse concerning Kings, it must be prov'd, that the present King, or those under whom he claims, is or were Proprietors of all the Lands in
England,
and granted the several parcels under the condition of suffering patiently such Inconveniences and Miserys as are above-mention'd: or that they who did confer the Crown upon any of them, did also give a Propriety in the Land; which I do not find in any of the fifteen or sixteen Titles that have bin since the coming in of the
Normans:
and if it was not done to the first of every one, it cannot accrue to the others, unless by some new act to the same purpose, which will not easily be produc'd.
It will be no less difficult to prove that any thing unworthy of Freemen is by any Tenures impos'd in
England,
unless it be the offering up of the Wives and Daughters of Tenants to the Lust of Abbots and Monks; and they are so far from being willingly suffer'd, that since the Dens and Nurserys of those Beasts were abolish'd, no man that succeeds them has had impudence sufficient to exact the performance: and tho the letter of the Law may favor them, the turpitude of the thing has extinguish'd the usage.
But even the Kings of
Israel
and
Judah,
who brought upon the People those evils that had bin foretold by
Samuel,
did not think they had a right to the Powers they exercis'd. If the Law had given a right to
Ahab
to take the best of their Vineyards, he might without ceremony have taken that of
Naboth,
and by the majestick power of an absolute Monarch, have chastis'd the churlish Clown, who refus'd to sell or change it for another: but for want of it, he was oblig'd to take a very different course. If the lives of Subjects had in the like manner depended on the will of Kings,
David
might without scruple have kill'd
Ʋ riah,
rather than to place him in the front of the Army that he might fall by his own courage. The malice and treachery of such Proceedings argues a defect of power; and he that acts in such an oblique manner, shews that his actions are not warranted by the Law which is boldly executed in the face of the Sun. This shews the interpretation put upon the words,
Against thee only have I sinn'd,
by Court-flatterers, to be false. For if he had not sinn'd against
Bathsheba
whom he corrupted,
Ʋ riah
whom he caus'd to be kill'd, the People that he scandaliz'd, and the Law which he violated, he had never endeavour'd to cover his guilt by so vile a fraud. And as he did not thereby fly the sight of God, but of men, 'tis evident that in that action he fear'd men more than God.
If by the Examples of
Israel
and
Judah,
we may judg whether the Inconveniences and Miserys brought upon Nations by their Kings be tolerable or intolerable, it will be enough to consider the madness of
Saul
's cruelty towards his Subjects, and the slaughter brought upon them by the hand of the
Philistins
on Mount
Gilboa,
where he fell with the flower of all
Israel;
the Civil Wars that happen'd in the time of
David,
and the Plague brought upon the People by his wickedness; the heavy burdens laid upon them by
Solomon,
and the Idolatry favor'd by him; the wretched folly of
Rehoboam,
and the defection of the ten Tribes caus'd by it; the Idolatry establish'd by
Jeroboam
and the Kings of
Israel,
with that of many of those of
Judah
also; the frequent Wars and unheard of Slaughters ensuing thereupon between the Tribes; the daily devastations of the Country by all sorts of Strangers; the murders of the Prophets; the abolition of God's Worship; the desolation of Towns and Provinces; the dispersion of the ten Tribes carry'd away into unknown Countrys; and in the end the abolition of both Kingdoms, with the captivity of the Tribe of
Judah,
and the utter destruction of the City. It cannot be said that these things were suffer'd under Kings, and not from or by them; for the desolation of the Citys, People and Country, is in many places of Scripture imputed to the Kings that taught
Israel
to sin, as appears by
1 King. 14. 2 King. 21. 2 King. 20.
what was denounc'd against
Jeroboam, Jehu, Ahaz, Manasseh, Zedekiah,
and others. Nay, the Captivity of
Babylon
with the evils ensuing, were first announc'd to
Hezekiah
for his vanity; and
Josiah
by the like, brought a great slaughter upon himself and people. But if mischiefs fell upon the People by the frailty of these, who after
David
were the best, nothing surely less than the utmost of all Miserys could be expected from such as were set to do evil, and to make the Nation like to themselves, in which they met with too great success.
If it be pretended that God's People living under an extraordinary Dispensation can be no example to us, I desire other Historys may be examin'd; for I confess I know no Nation so great, happy and prosperous, nor any Power so well establish'd, that two or three ill Kings immediatly succeeding each other, have not bin able to destroy and bring to such a condition, that it appear'd the Nations must perish, unless the Senats, Diets, and other Assemblys of State had put a stop to the mischief, by restraining or deposing them. And tho this might be prov'd by innumerable Testimonys, I shall only say, that the Roman Empire perish'd by the vices, corruption, and baseness of their Princes: the noble Kingdom of the
Goths
in
Spain
was overthrown by the Tyranny of
Witza
and
Rodrigo:
the present state of
Spain
now languishes and threatens ruin from the same causes:
France
was brought to the last degree of misery and weakness by the degenerate races of
Pharamond
and
Charles;
to which may be added those of our own Country, which are so well known that I need not mention them.
SECT. VI. 'Tis not good for such Nations as will have Kings, to suffer them to be glorious, powerful, or abounding in Riches.
OUR Author having hitherto spoken of all Nations, as born under a necessity of being subject to Absolute Monarchy, which he pretends to have bin set up by the universal and indispensible Law of God and Nature, now seems to leave to their discretion, whether they will have a King or not; but says, that those
who will have a King, are bound to allow him Royal Maintenance, by providing Revenues for the Crown; since it is for the Honor, Profit and Safety of the People, to have their King glorious, powerful, and abounding in Riches.
If there be any thing of sense in this Clause, there is nothing of truth in the foundation or principle of his whole Book. For as the right and being of a Father is natural or inherent, and no ways depending upon the will of the Child; that of a King is so also, if he be, and ought to enjoy the Rights belonging to the Father of the People: And 'tis not less ridiculous to say,
those who will have a King,
than it would be to say,
he that will have a Father;
for every one must have one whether he will or not. But if the King be a Father, as our Author from thence infers, that all Laws are from him, none can be impos'd upon him; and whatsoever the Subject enjoys is by his concessions; 'tis absurd to speak of an Obligation lying upon the people to allow him Royal maintenance, by providing Revenues, since he has all in himself, and they have nothing that is not from him, and depending upon his Will. For this reason a worthy Gentleman of the House of Commons in the year 1640. desir'd that the business of the Judges, who in the Star-Chamber had given for their Opinion concerning Shipmony,
That in cases of Necessity the King might provide it by his own Authority, and that he was Judg of that Necessity,
might be first examin'd, that they might know whether they had any thing to give, before they should speak of giving. And as 'tis certain, that if the Sentence of those perjur'd Wretches had stood, the Subjects of
England
by consequence would have bin sound to have nothing to give; 'tis no less sure, that if our Author's principle concerning the Paternal and Absolute Power of Kings be true, it will by a more compendious way appear, that it is not left to the choice of any Nation, whether they will have a King or not; for they must have him, and can have nothing to allow him, but must receive all from him.
But if those only who
will have a King,
are bound to have one, and to allow this
Royal maintenance,
such as will not have a King, are by one and the same act deliver'd from the necessity of having one, and from providing Maintenance for him: which utterly overthrows the magnificent Fabrick of Paternal Monarchy; and the Kings who were lately represented by our Author, plac'd on the Throne by God and Nature, and endow'd with an absolute Power over all, appear to be purely the Creatures of the People, and to have nothing but what is receiv'd from them.
From hence it may be rationally infer'd, that
Qui dat esse, dat modum esse.
he who makes a thing to be, makes it to be only what he pleases. This must hold in relation to Kings as well as other Magistrats; and as they who made Consuls, Dictators, and Military Tribuns, gave them only such Power, and for such a time as best pleas'd themselves, 'tis impossible they should not have the same right in relation to Kings, in making them what they please, as well as not to make them unless they please; except there be a Charm belonging to the Name, or the Letters that compose it; which cannot belong to all Nations, for they are different in every one according to the several Languages.
But, says our Author, 'tis
for the Honor, Profit, and Safety of the People that the King should be glorious, powerful, and abounding in Riches.
There is therefore no obligation upon them, and they are to judg whether it be so or not. The Scripture says plainly the contrary:
He shall not multiply Silver and Gold, Wives and Horses; he shall not lift up his Heart above his Brethren.
He shall not therefore be glorious, powerful, or abounding in Riches. Reason and Experience teach us the same thing: If those Nations that have bin proud, luxurious and vicious, have desir'd by Pomp and Riches to foment the Vices of their Princes, thereby to cherish their own; such as have excel'd in Vertue and good Disciplin have abhor'd it, and except the immediate exercise of their Office, have kept their supreme Magistrats to a manner of living little different from that of private men: and it had bin impossible to maintain that frugality, in which the integrity of their manners did chiefly consist, if they had set up an Example directly contrary to it, in him who was to be an Example to others; or to provide for their own safety, if they had overthrown that integrity of manners by which it could only be obtain'd and preserv'd. There is a necessity incumbent upon every Nation that lives in the like Principle, to put a stop to the entrance of those Vices that arise from the superfluity of Riches, by keeping their Kings in that honest Poverty, which is the Mother and Nurse of Modesty, Sobriety, and all manner of Vertue: And no man can deny this to be well done, unless he will affirm that Pride, Luxury and Vice is more profitable to a Nation than the Vertues that are upheld by frugality.
There is another reason of no less importance to those Nations, who tho they think fit to have Kings, yet desire to preserve their Liberty, which obliges them to set limits to the Glory, Power and Riches of their Kings; and that is, That they can no otherwise be kept within the Rules of the Law. Men are naturally propense to corruption; and if he whose Will and Interest it is to corrupt them, be furnish'd with the means, he will never fail to do it. Power, Honors, Riches, and the Pleasures that attend them, are the baits by which men are drawn to prefer a personal Interest before the publick Good; and the number of those who covet them is so great, that he who abounds in them will be able to gain so many to his service as shall be sufficient to subdue the rest. 'Tis hard to find a Tyranny in the world that has not bin introduc'd this way: for no man by his own strength could ever subdue a multitude; none could ever bring many to be subservient to his ill designs, but by the rewards they receiv'd or hop'd. By this means
Cesar
accomplish'd his work, and overthrew the Liberty of his Country, and with it all that was then good in the world. They who were corrupted in their minds, desir'd to put all the Power and Riches into his hands, that he might distribute them to such as serv'd him. And he who was nothing less than covetous in his own nature, desir'd Riches, that he might gain Followers; and by the plunder of
Gaul
he corrupted those that betray'd
Rome
to him. And tho I do not delight to speak of the Affairs of our own time, I desire those who know the present State of
France
to tell me, whether it were possible for the King to keep that Nation under servitude, if a vast Revenue did not enable him to gain so many to his particular service as are sufficient to keep the rest in subjection: and if this be not enough, let them consider whether all the dangers that now threaten us at home, do not proceed from the madness of those who gave such a Revenue, as is utterly unproportionable to the Riches of the Nation, unsutable to the modest behaviour expected from our Kings, and which in time will render Parliaments unnecessary to them.
On the other hand, the poverty and simplicity of the
Spartan
Kings was no less safe and profitable to the People than truly glorious to them.
Agesilaus
deny'd that
Artaxerxes
was greater than he, unless he were more temperate or more valiant; and he made good his words so well, that without any other assistance than what his Wisdom and Valor afforded, he struck such a terror into that great, rich, powerful and absolute Monarch, that he did not think himself safe in
Babylon
or
Ecbatane,
till the poor
Spartan
was, by a Captain of as great valor, and greater poverty, oblig'd to return from
Asia
to the defence of his own Country. This was not peculiar to the severe
Laconic
Disciplin. When the
Roman
Kings were expel'd, a few Carts were prepar'd to transport their goods: and their Lands, which were consecrated to
Mars,
and now go under the name of
Campus Martius,
hardly contain ten Acres of ground. Nay the Kings of
Israel,
who led such vast Armys into the field (that is, were follow'd by all the people who were able to bear Arms) seem to have possest little.
Ahab,
one of the most powerful, was so fond of
Naboth
's Vineyard (which being the Inheritance of his Fathers, according to their equal division of Lands, could not be above two Acres) that he grew sick when it was refus'd.
But if an allowance is to be made to every King, it must be either according to a universal Rule or Standard, or must depend upon the Judgment of Nations. If the first, they who have it, may do well to produce it; if the other, every Nation proceeding according to the measure of their own discretion, is free from blame.
It may also be worth observation, whether the Revenue given to a King be in such manner committed to his care, that he is oblig'd to employ it for the publick Service without the power of Alienation; or whether it be granted as a Propriety, to be spent as he thinks fit. When some of the antient Jews and Christians scrupled the paiment of Tribute to the Emperors, the reasons alledg'd to persuade them to a compliance, seem to be grounded upon a supposition of the first: for, said they, the defence of the State lies upon them, which cannot be perform'd without Armys and Garisons; these cannot be maintain'd without pay, nor mony rais'd to pay them without Tributes and Customs. This carrys a face of reason with it, especially in those Countrys which are perpetually or frequently subject to Invasions; but this will not content our Author. He speaks of employing the revenue in keeping the Kings House, and looks upon it as a propriety to be spent as he thinks convenient: which is no less than to cast it into a Pit, of which no man ever knew the bottom. That which is given one day, is squander'd away the next: The people are always opprest with Impositions, to foment the Vices of the Court: These daily increasing, they grow insatiable, and the miserable Nations are compel'd to hard Labor, in order to satiate those Lusts that tend to their own ruin.
It may be consider'd that the vertuous
—Saevior armis
Luxuria incubuit, victum
que
ulciscitur orbem.
Lucan.
Pagans, by the light of Nature, discover'd the truth of this. Poverty grew odious in
Rome,
when great men by desiring Riches put a value upon them, and introduc'd that pomp and luxury which could not be born by men of small Fortunes.
Nullum crimen abest, facinus
que
libidinis, ex quo
Paupertas Romana perit.
Juvenal.
From thence all furys and mischiefs seem'd to break loose: The base, slavish, and so often subdu'd
Asia,
by the basest of men reveng'd the defeats they had receiv'd from the bravest; and by infusing into them a delight in pomp and luxury, in a short time render'd the strongest and bravest of Nations the weakest and basest. I wish our own experience did not too plainly manifest, that these Evils were never more prevalent than in our days, when the luxury, majestick pomp, and absolute power of a neighbouring King must be supported by an abundance of Riches torn out of the bowels of his Subjects, which renders them in the best Country of the World, and at a time when the Crown most flourishes, the poorest and most miserable of all the Nations under the Sun. We too well know who are most apt to learn from them, and by what means and steps they endeavour to lead us into the like misery. But the Bird is safe when the Snare is discover'd; and if we are not abandon'd by God to destruction, we shall never be brought to consent to the settling of that Pomp, which is against the practice of all vertuous people, and has brought all the Nations that have bin taken with it into the ruin that is intended for us.
SECT. VII. When the
Israelites
ask'd for such a King as the Nations about them had, they ask'd for a Tyrant, tho they did not call him so.
NOW that
Saul
was no Tyrant,
says our Author,
note, that the people ask'd a King as all Nations had: God answers, and bids
Samuel
to hear the voice of the People in all things which they spake, and appoint them a King. They did not ask a Tyrant; and to give them a Tyrant when they ask'd a King, had not bin to hear their voice in all things, but rather when they ask'd an Egg to have given them a Scorpion; unless we will say that all Nations had Tyrants.
But before he drew such a Conclusion, he should have observ'd, that God did not give them a Scorpion when they ask'd an Egg, but told them that was a Scorpion which they call'd an Egg: They would have a King to judg them, to go out before them, and to fight their Battels; but God in effect told them, he would overthrow all Justice, and turn the Power that was given him, to the ruin of them and their Posterity. But since they would have it so, he commanded
Samuel
to hearken to their Voice, and for the punishment of their sin and folly to give them such a King as they ask'd, that is, one who would turn to his own profit and their misery, the Power with which he should be entrusted; and this truly denominates a Tyrant.
Aristotle
makes no other distinction between a King and a Tyrant, than that
the King governs for the good of the People, the Tyrant for his own pleasure or profit:
and they who ask'd such a one, ask'd a Tyrant, tho they call'd him a King. This is all could be done in their Language: for as they who are skill'd in the Oriental Tongues assure me, there is no name for a Tyrant in any of them, or any other way of expressing the thing than by circumlocution, and adding proud, insolent, lustful, cruel, violent, or the like Epithets, to the word Lord, or King. They did in effect ask a Tyrant: They would not have such a King as God had ordain'd, but such a one as the Nations had. Not that all Nations had Tyrants; but those who were round about them, of whom they had knowledg, and which in their manner of speaking went under the name of all, were blest with such Masters. This way of expression was us'd by
Lot
's Daughters, who said, There was not a man in all the earth to come in to them; because there was none in the neighborhood with whom it was thought fit they should accompany. Now that the Eastern Nations were then, and are still under the Government of those which all free People call Tyrants, is evident to all men. God therefore in giving them a Tyrant, or rather a Government that would turn into Tyranny, gave them what they ask'd under another name; and without any blemish to the Mercy promis'd to their Fathers, suffer'd them to bear the penalty of their wickedness and folly in rejecting him that he should not reign over them.
But tho the name of Tyrant was unknown to them, yet in
Greece,
from whence the word comes, it signify'd no more than one who govern'd according to his own will, distinguish'd from Kings that govern'd by Law; and was not taken in an ill sense, till those who had bin advanc'd for their Justice, Wisdom and Valor, or their Descendents, were found to depart from the ends of their Institution, and to turn that Power to the oppression of the people, which had bin given for their protection. But by these means it grew odious, and that kind of Government came to be thought only tolerable by the basest of men; and those who destroy'd it, were in all places esteem'd to be the best.
If Monarchy had bin universally evil, God had not in the 17
th
of
Deuteronomy
given leave to the
Israelites
to set up a King; and if that kind of King had bin ask'd, he had not bin displeas'd: and they could not have bin said to reject God, if they had not ask'd that which was evil; for nothing that is good is contrary, or inconsistent with a peoples obedience to him. The Monarchy they ask'd was displeasing to God, it was therefore evil. But a Tyrant is no more than an evil or corrupted Monarch: The King therefore that they demanded was a Tyrant: God in granting one who would prove a Tyrant, gave them what they ask'd; and that they might know what they did, and what he would be, he told 'em they rejected him, and should cry by reason of the King they desir'd.
This denotes him to be a Tyrant: for as the Government of a King ought to be gentle and easy, tending to the good of the people, resembling the tender care of a Father to his Family; if he who is set up to be a King, and to be like to that Father, dos lay a heavy Yoke upon the people, and use them as Slaves and not as Children, he must renounce all resemblance of a Father, and be accounted an Enemy.
But,
says our Author,
whereas the peoples crying argues some tyrannical oppression, we may remember that the peoples Crys are not always an Argument of their living under a Tyrant. No man will say
Solomon
was a Tyrant, yet all the Congregation complain'd that
Solomon
made their Yoke grievous.
'Tis strange, that when Children, nay when Whelps cry, it should be accounted a mark that they are troubled, and that the Cry of the whole People should be none: Or that the Government which is erected for their ease, should not be esteem'd tyrannical if it prove grievous to those it should relieve. But as I know no example of a People that did generally complain without cause, our Adversarys must alledg some other than that of
Solomon,
before I believe it of any. We are to speak reverently of him: He was excellent in Wisdom; he built the Temple, and God appear'd twice to him: But it must be confest, that during a great part of his life he acted directly contrary to the Law given by God to Kings, and that his ways were evil and oppressive to the people, if those of God were good. Kings were forbidden to multiply Horses, Wives, Silver and Gold: But he brought together more Silver and Gold, and provided more Horses, Wives and Concubines than any man is known to have had: And tho he did not actually return to
Egypt,
yet he introduc'd their abominable Idolatry, and so far rais'd his heart above his Brethren, that he made them subservient to his Pomp and Glory. The People might probably be pleas'd with a great part of this; but when the Yoke became grievous, and his foolish Son would not render it more easy, they threw it off; and the thing being from the Lord, it was good, unless he be evil.
But as just Governments are establish'd for the good of the governed, and the
Israelites
desir'd a King, that it might be well with them, not with him who was not yet known to them; that which exalts one to the prejudice of those that made him, must always be evil, and the People that suffers the prejudice must needs know it better than any other. He that denies this, may think the state of
France
might have bin best known from
Bulion
the late Treasurer, who finding
Lewis
the Thirteenth to be troubled at the peoples misery, told him they were too happy, since they were not reduc'd to eat grass. But if words are to be understood as they are ordinarily us'd, and we have no other than that of
Tyranny
to express a Monarchy that is either evil in the institution, or fallen into corruption, we may justly call that
Tyranny
which the Scripture calls a
grievous Yoke,
and which neither the old nor the new Counsellors of
Rehoboam
could deny to be so; for tho the first advis'd him to promise amendment, and the others to do worse, yet all agreed that what the people said was true.
This Yoke is always odious to such as are not by natural stupidity and baseness fitted for it; but those who are so, never complain. An Ass will bear a multitude of blows patiently, but the least of them drives a Lion into rage. He that said, the rod is made for the back of fools, confest that oppression will make a wise man mad. And the most unnatural of all oppressions is to use Lions like Asses, and to lay that Yoke upon a generous Nation, which only the basest can deserve; and for want of a better word we call this Tyranny.
Our Author is not contented to vindicate
Solomon
only, but extends his Indulgence to
Saul.
His custom is to patronize all that is detestable, and no better testimony could be given of it.
It is true,
says he,
Saul lost his
Kingdom, but not for being too cruel or tyrannical to his Subjects, but for being too merciful to his Enemys.
But he alledges no other reason, than that the slaughter of the Priests is not blam'd; not observing that the Writers of the Scripture in relating those things that are known to be abominable by the Light of Nature, frequently say no more of them: And if this be not so,
Lot
's drunkenness and incest,
Reuben
's pollution of his Father's bed,
Abimelech
's slaughter of his seventy Brothers, and many of the most wicked Acts that ever were committed, may pass for laudable and innocent. But if
Saul
were not to be blam'd for killing the Priests, why was
David
blam'd for the death of
Thou hast killed
Uriah
with the Sword of the Children of
Ammon:
Now therefore the Sword shall never depart from thy House,
2 Sam. 12.
Ʋ riah?
Why were the Dogs to lick the blood of
Ahab
and
Jezebel,
if they did nothing more than Kings might do without blame? Now if the slaughter of one man was so severely aveng'd upon the Authors and their Familys, none but such as
Filmer
can think that of so many innocent men, with their Wives and Children, could escape unreprov'd or unpunish'd. But the whole series of the History of
Saul
shewing evidently that his Life and Reign were full of the most violent cruelty and madness, we are to seek no other reason for the ruin threaten'd and brought upon him and his Family. And as those Princes who are most barbarously savage against their own people, are usually most gentle to the Enemys of their Country, he could not give a more certain testimony of his hatred to those he ought to have protected, than by preserving those Nations who were their most irreconcilable Enemies. This is prov'd by reason as well as by experience; for every man knows he cannot bear the hatred of all mankind: Such as know they have Enemys abroad, endeavour to get Friends at home: Those who command powerful Nations, and are belov'd by them, fear not to offend Strangers. But if they have render'd their own people Enemys to them, they cannot hope for help in a time of distress, nor so much as a place of retreat or refuge, unless from strangers, nor from them unless they deserve it, by favoring them to the prejudice of their own Country. As no man can serve two Masters, no man can pursue two contrary Interests.
Moses, Joshua, Gideon
and
Samuel,
were severe to the
Amorites, Midianites
and
Cananites,
but mild and gentle to the
Hebrews. Saul,
who was cruel to the
Hebrews,
spar'd the
Amalekites,
whose preservation was their destruction: and whilst he destroy'd those he should have sav'd, and sav'd those that by a general and particular command of God he should have destroy'd, he lost his ill govern'd Kingdom, and left an example to posterity of the end that may be expected from pride, folly and tyranny.
The matter would not be much alter'd, if I should confess, that in the time of
Saul
all Nations were govern'd by Tyrants (tho it is not true, for
Greece
did then flourish in Liberty, and we have reason to believe that other Nations did so also) for tho they might not think of a good Government at the first, nothing can oblige men to continue under one that is bad, when they discover the evils of it, and know how to mend it. They who trusted men that appear'd to have great Vertues, with such a power as might easily be turn'd into Tyranny, might justly retract, limit or abolish it, when they found it to be abus'd. And tho no condition had bin reserv'd, the publick Good, which is the end of all
Salus populi suprema Lex.
Government, had bin sufficient to abrogate all that should tend to the contrary. As the malice of Men and their Inventions to do mischief increase daily, all would soon be brought under the power of the worst, if care were not taken, and opportunitys embrac'd to find new ways of preventing it. He that should make War at this day as the best Commanders did two hundred years past, would be beaten by the meanest Soldier. The Places then accounted impregnable are now slighted as indefensible; and if the Arts of defending were not improv'd as well as those of assaulting, none would be able to hold out a day. Men were sent into the World rude and ignorant; and if they might not have us'd their natural Facultys to find out that which is good for themselves, all must have bin condemn'd to continue in the ignorance of our first Fathers, and to make no use of their understanding to the ends for which it was given.
The bestial Barbarity in which many Nations, especially of
Africa, America
and
Asia,
do now live, shews what human Nature is, if it be not improv'd by Art and Disciplin: and if the first errors, committed thro ignorance, might not be corrected, all would be oblig'd to continue in them; and for any thing I know, we must return to the Religion, Manners and Policy that were found in our Country at
Cesar
's landing. To affirm this is no less than to destroy all that is commendable in the world, and to render the understanding given to men utterly useless. But if it be lawful for us by the use of that understanding to build Houses, Ships and Forts better than our Ancestors, to make such Arms as are most fit for our defence, and to invent Printing, with an infinite number of other Arts beneficial to mankind, why have we not the same right in matters of Government, upon which all others do almost absolutely depend? If men are not oblig'd to live in Caves and hollow Trees, to eat Acorns, and to go naked, why should they be for ever oblig'd to continue under the same form of Government that their Ancestors happen'd to set up in the time of their ignorance? Or if they were so ignorant to set up one that was not good enough for the age in which they liv'd, why should it not be alter'd, when tricks are found out to turn that to the prejudice of Nations, which was erected for their good? From whence should malice and wickedness gain a privilege of putting new Inventions to do mischief every day into practice? and who is it that so far protects them, as to forbid good and innocent men to find new ways also of defending themselves? If there be any that do this, they must be such as live in the same principle; who whilst they pretend to exercise Justice, provide only for the indemnity of their own Crimes, and the advancement of unjust designs. They would have a right of attacking us with all the advantages of the Arms now in use, and the Arts which by the practice of so many ages have bin wonderfully refin'd, whilst we should be oblig'd to employ no others in our just defence, than such as were known to our naked Ancestors when
Cesar
invaded them, or to the
Indians
when they fell under the dominion of the
Spaniards.
This would be a compendious way of placing uncontrol'd Iniquity in all the Kingdoms of the World, and of overthrowing all that deserves the name of Good by the introduction of such accursed Maxims. But if no man dares to acknowledg any such, except those whose acknowledgment is a discredit, we ought not to suffer them to be obliquely obtruded upon us, nor to think that God has so far abandon'd us into the hands of our Enemys, as not to leave us the liberty of using the same Arms in our defence as they do to offend and injure us.
We shall be told, that Prayers and Tears were the only Arms of the first Christians, and that Christ commanded his Disciples to pray for those that persecuted them. But besides that those Precepts of the most extreme lenity do ill sute with the violent practices of those who attempt to enslave Nations, and who by alledging them do plainly shew either that they do not extend to all Christians, or that they themselves are none whilst they act contrary to them; they are to know, that those Precepts were merely temporary, and directed to the Persons of the Apostles, who were arm'd only with the sword of the Spirit; that the Primitive Christians us'd Prayers and Tears only no longer than whilst they had no other arms. But knowing that by listing themselves under the ensigns of Christianity they had not lost the rights belonging to all Mankind, when Nations came to be converted, they no way thought themselves oblig'd to give their Enemys a certain opportunity of destroying them, when God had put means into their hands of defending themselves; and proceeded so far in this way, that the Christian Valor soon became no less famous and remarkable than that of the Pagans. They did with the utmost vigor defend both their civil and religious Rights against all the Powers of Earth and Hell, who by force and fraud endeavour'd to destroy them.
SECT. VIII. Under the name of Tribute no more is understood than what the Law of each Nation gives to the supreme Magistrate for the defraying of publick Charges; to which the Customs of the
Romans,
or sufferings of the
Jews
have no relation.
IF any desire the directions of the New Testament,
says our Author,
he may find our Saviour limiting and distinguishing Royal Power, by giving to
Cesar
those things that are
Cesar
's, and to God the things that are God's.
But that will be of no advantage to him in this contest. We do not deny to any man that which is his due; but do not so well know who is
Cesar,
nor what it is that can truly be said to be due to him. I grant that when those words were spoken, the power of the
Romans
exercis'd by
Tiberius
was then exprest by the name of
Cesar,
which he without any Title had assum'd. The
Jews
amongst many other Nations having bin subdu'd, submitted to it; and being no way competent Judges of the rights belonging to the Senat or People of
Rome,
were oblig'd to acknowledg that Power which their Masters were under. They had no Commonwealth of their own, nor any other Government among themselves, that was not precarious. They thought Christ was to have restor'd their Kingdom, and by them to have reign'd over the Nations; but he shew'd them they were to be subject to the
Gentiles,
and that within few years their City and Temple should be destroy'd. Their Commonwealth must needs expire when all that was prefigur'd by it was accomplish'd. It was not for them at such a time to presume upon their abrogated Privileges, nor the Promises made to them, which were then fulfil'd. Nay, they had by their Sins profan'd themselves, and given to the
Gentiles
a right over them, which none could have had, if they had continu'd in their obedience to the Law of God. This was the foundation of the
Cesars
dominion
over them, but can have no influence upon us. The first of the
Cesars
had not bin set up by them: The series of them had not bin continu'd by their consent: They had not interrupted the succession by placing or displacing such as they pleas'd: They had not brought in Strangers or Bastards, nor prefer'd the remotest in blood before the nearest: They had no part in making the Laws by which they were govern'd, nor had the
Cesars
sworn to them: They had no
Great Charter,
acknowledging their Libertys to be innate or inherent in them, confirm'd by immemorial Custom, and strengthen'd by thirty acts of their own general Assemblys, with the assent of the
Romans:
The
Cesar
who then govern'd came not to the power by their consent: The question,
Will ye have this man to reign?
had never bin ask'd; but he being impos'd upon them, they were to submit to the Laws by which he govern'd their Masters. This can be nothing to us, whose case is in every respect most unlike to theirs. We have no Dictatorian Power over us; and neither we nor our Fathers have render'd or ow'd obedience to any human Laws but our own, nor to any other Magistracy than what we have establish'd. We have a King who reigns by Law. His power is from the
Lex facit ut sit Rex.
Bracton.
Law that makes him King:
and we can know only from thence what he is to command, and what we are oblig'd to obey. We know the power of the
Cesars
was usurp'd, maintain'd and exercis'd with the most detestable violence, injustice and cruelty. But tho it had bin establish'd by the consent of the
Romans,
from an opinion that it was good for them in that state of affairs, it were nothing to us: and we could be no more oblig'd to follow their example in that, than to be govern'd by Consuls, Tribuns, and
Decemviri,
or to constitute such a Government as they set up when they expel'd their Kings. Their Authority was as good at one time as at the other; or if a difference ought to be made, the preference is to be given to what they did when their Manners were most pure, the People most free, and when Vertue was most flourishing among them. But if we are not oblig'd to set up such a Magistracy as they had, 'tis ridiculous to think that such an obedience is due to one who is not in being as they paid to him that was. And if I should confess that
Cesar
holding the Senat and People of
Rome
under the power of the Sword, impos'd what tribute he pleas'd upon the Provinces; and that the
Jews,
who had no part in the Government, were oblig'd to submit to his will, our liberty of paying nothing, except what the Parliament appoints, and yielding obedience to no Laws but such as are made to be so by their Authority, or by our own immemorial Customs, could not be thereby infring'd. But we may justly affirm, that the Tribute impos'd was not, as our Author infers,
all their Coin,
nor a considerable part of it, nor more than what was understood to go for the defraying of the publick Charges. Christ by asking whose Image and Superscription was stampt upon their Mony, and thereupon commanding them to give to
Cesar
that which was
Cesar
's, did not imply that all was his; but that
Cesar
's Mony being current amongst them, it was a continual and evident testimony, that they acknowledg'd themselves to be under his jurisdiction, and therefore could not refuse to pay the Tribute laid upon them by the same Authority, as other Nations did.
It may also be observ'd, that Christ did not so much say this to determin the questions that might arise concerning
Cesar
's Power; for he plainly says, that was not his work; but to put the
Pharisees
to silence who tempted him. According to the opinion of the
Jews,
that the Messias would restore the Kingdom of
Israel,
they thought his first work would be to throw off the
Roman
Yoke; and not believing him to be the man, they would have brought him to avow the thing, that they might destroy him. But as that was not his business, and that his time was not yet come, it was not necessary to give them any other answer, than such as might disappoint their purpose. This shews that, without detracting from the honor due to
Austin, Ambrose,
or
Tertullian,
I may justly say, that the decision of such questions as arise concerning our Government must be decided by our Laws, and not by their Writings. They were excellent Men; but living in another time, under a very different Government, and applying themselves to other matters, they had no knowledg at all of those that concern us. They knew what Government they were under, and thereupon judg'd what a broken and dispers'd People ow'd to that which had given Law to the best part of the World before they were in being, under which they had bin educated, and which after a most cruel persecution was become propitious to them. They knew that the Word of the Emperor was a Law to the Senat and People, who were under the power of that man that could get the best Army; but perhaps had never heard of such mix'd Governments as ours, tho about that time they began to appear in the world. And it might be as reasonably concluded, that there ought to be no rule in the Succession or Election of Princes, because the
Roman
Emperors were set up by the violence of the Soldiers, and for the most part by the slaughter of him who was in possession of the Power, as that all other Princes must be absolute when they have it, and do what they please, till another more strong and more happy may by the like means wrest the same Power from them.
I am much mistaken if this be not true; but without prejudice to our Cause, we may take that which they say, according to their true meaning, in the utmost extent. And to begin with
Tertullian:
'Tis good to consider the subject of his Discourse, and to whom he wrote. The Treatise cited by our Author is the
Apologetick,
and tends to persuade the Pagans, that Civil Magistrats might not intermeddle with Religion; and that the Laws made by them touching those matters, were of no value, as relating to things of which they had no cognizance.
Leges non annorum numerus, nec conditorum dignitas, sed sola aequitas commendat; at
que
ideo si iniquae cognoscuntur, merito damnantur.
Tertul. Ap.
'Tis not,
says he,
length of time, nor the dignity of the Legislators, but equity only that can commend Laws; and when any are found to be unjust, they are deservedly condemn'd.
By which words he deny'd that the Magistratical Power which the
Romans
acknowledg'd in
Cesar,
had any thing to do in spiritual things. And little advantage can be taken by Christian Princes from what he says concerning the
Roman
Emperors; for he expresly declares,
Sed & Caesares super Christo credidissent, si aut Caesares non essent saeculo necessarii, aut Christiani potuissent esse Caesares.
Ibid.
That the
Cesars
would have believ'd in Christ, if they had either not bin necessary to the secular Government, or that Christians might have bin
Cesars. This seems to have proceeded from an opinion receiv'd by Christians in the first Ages, that the use of the Civil as well as the Military Sword was equally accurs'd: That
Christians were to be
Filii pacis, nullius hostes; & Christus exarmando Petrum, omnem Christianum militem in
aeteranum discinxit.
Tertul. ibid.
Sons of peace, Enemys to no man; and that Christ by commanding
Peter
to put up his Sword, did for ever disarm all Christians.
He proceeds to say,
Nobis omnis gloriae & dignitatis ardore frigentibus, &c. Nec alia res est nobis magis aliena quam publica: Unam nobis Rempublicam Mundum agnoscimus.
Ibid.
We cannot fight to defend our Goods, having in our Baptism renounc'd the World, and all that is in it; nor to gain Honors, accounting nothing more foreign to us than publick Affairs, and acknowledging no other Commonwealth than that of the whole World; nor to save our lives, because we account it a happiness to be kill'd.
He dissuades the
Pagans
from executing Christians, rather from charity to them in keeping them from the crime of slaughtering the Innocent, than that they were unwilling to suffer: and gives no other reasons of their Prayers for the Emperors, than that they were commanded to love their Enemys, and to pray for those who persecuted them, except such as he drew from a mistake, that the World was shortly to finish with the dissolution of the Empire. All his Works, as well those that were written before he fell into Montanism, as those publish'd afterwards, are full of the like Opinions: and if
Filmer
acknowledges them to be true, he must confess, That Princes are not Fathers, but
Qui enim magis inimici Christianorum, quam de quorum Majestate conv
nimur in crimen.
Ibid.
Enemys; and that not only they, but all those who render themselves Ministers of the Powers they execute, in taking upon them the Sword that Christ had curs'd, do renounce him; and we may consider how to proceed with such as do so. If our Author will not acknowledg this, then no man was ever guilty of a more vile prevarication than he, who alledges those words in favor of his Cause, which have their only strength in Opinions that he thinks false, and in the Authority of a man whom in that very thing he condemns; and must do so, or overthrow all that he endeavours to support. But
Tertullian
's Opinions concerning these matters have no relation to our present Question. The design of his Apology, and the Treatise to
Scapula
almost upon the same subject, was to show, that the Civil Magistracy which he comprehends under the name of
Cesar,
had nothing to do with matters of Religion; and that, as no man could be a Christian who would undertake the work of a Magistrate, they who were jealous the publick Offices might be taken out of their hands, had nothing to fear from Christians who resolv'd not to meddle with them. Whereas our question is only, Whether that Magistratical Power, which by Law or Usurpation was then in
Cesar,
must necessarily in all times, and in all places, be in one man, or may be divided and balanc'd according to the Laws of every Country, concerning which he says nothing: Or whether we, who do not renounce the use of the Civil or Military Sword, who have a part in the Government, and think it our duty to apply our selves to publick Cares, should lay them aside because the antient Christians every hour expecting death, did not trouble themselves with them.
If
Ambrose
after he was a Bishop, employ'd the ferocity of a Soldier, which he still retain'd, rather in advancing the power of the Clergy, than the good of Mankind by restraining the rage of Tyrants, it can be no prejudice to our Cause, of which he had no cognisance. He spoke of the violent and despotical Government, to which he had bin a Minister before his Baptism, and seems to have had no knowledg of the
Gothick
Polity, that within a few years grew famous by the overthrow of the
Roman
Tyranny, and delivering the world from the Yoke which it could no longer bear. And if
Austin
might say, That
the Emperor is subject to no Laws, because he has a Power of making Laws;
I may justly say, that our Kings are subject to Laws, because they can make no Law, and have no Power but what is given by the Laws. If this be not the case, I desire to know who made the Laws, to which they and their Predecessors have sworn; and whether they can according to their own will abrogate those antient Laws, by which they are made to be what they are, and by which we enjoy what we have; or whether they can make new Laws by their own Power? If no man but our Author have impudence enough to assert any such thing; and if all the Kings we ever had, except
Richard
the second, did renounce it, we may conclude that
Austin
's words have no relation to our dispute; and that 'twere to no purpose to examin, whether the Fathers mention any reservation of Power to the Laws of the Land, or to the People; it being as lawful for all Nations, if they think fit, to frame Governments different from those that were then in being, as to build Bastions, Halfmoons, Hornworks, Ravelins or Counterscarps, or to make use of Muskets, Cannon, Mortars, Carabines or Pistols, which were unknown to them.
What
Solomon
says of the
Hebrew
Kings, dos as little concern us. We have already prov'd their Power not to have bin absolute, tho greater than that which the Law allows to ours. It might upon occasion be a prudent advice to private persons living under such Governments as were usual in the Eastern Countrys,
to keep the King's Commandments, and not to say, What dost thou? because where the Word of a King is, there is Power, and all that he pleaseth he will do.
But all these words are not his; and those that are, must not be taken in a general sense; for tho his Son was a King, yet in his words there was no power: He could not do what he pleas'd, nor hinder others from doing what they pleas'd: He would have added weight to the Yoke that lay upon the necks of the
Israelites,
but he could not; and we do not find him to have bin master of much more than his own Tongue, to speak as many foolish things as he pleas'd. In other things, whether he had to deal with his own people, or with strangers, he was weak and impotent; and the wretches who flatter'd him in his follys, could be of no help to him. The like has befallen many others: Those who are wise, vertuous, valiant, just, and lovers of their People, have and ought to have Power; but such as are leud, vicious, foolish, and haters of their People, ought to have none, and are often depriv'd of all. This was well known to
Solomon,
who says, That
a wise Child is better than an old and foolish King that will not be advis'd.
When
Nabuchodonosor
set himself in the place of God, his Kingdom was taken from him, and he was driven from the society of men to herd with beasts. There was Power for a time in the word of
Nero:
he murder'd many excellent men; but he was call'd to account, and the World abandon'd the Monster it had too long endur'd. He found none to defend him, nor any better help, when he desir'd to die, than the hand of a Slave. Besides, some Kings by their Institution have little Power; some have bin depriv'd of what they had, for abusing, or rendring themselves unworthy of it; and Historys afford us innumerable examples of both sorts.
But tho I should confess that there is always Power in the word of a King, it would be nothing to us who dispute concerning Right, and have no regard to that Power which is void of it. A Thief or a Pyrat may have Power: but that avails him not, when, as often befel the
Cesars,
he meets with one who has more; and is always unsafe, since having no effect upon the Consciences of men, every one may destroy him that can. And I leave it to Kings to consider how much they stand oblig'd to those, who placing their Rights upon the same foot, expose their Persons to the same dangers.
But if Kings desire that in their Word there should be power, let them take care that it be always accompany'd with Truth and Justice. Let them seek the good of their People, and the hands of all good men will be with them. Let them not exalt themselves insolently, and every one will desire to exalt them. Let them acknowledg themselves to be the Servants of the Publick, and all men will be theirs. Let such as are most addicted to them, talk no more of
Cesars,
nor the Tributes due to them. We have nothing to do with the name of
Cesar.
They who at this day live under it, reject the Prerogatives antiently usurp'd by those who had it, and are govern'd by no other Laws than their own. We know no Law to which we owe obedience, but that of God, and our selves.
Asiatick
Slaves usually pay such Tributes as are impos'd upon them; and whilst braver Nations lay under the
Roman
Tyranny, they were forc'd to submit to the same burdens. But even those Tributes were paid for maintaining Armys, Fleets and Garisons, without which the poor and abject life they led could not have bin preserv'd. We owe none but what we freely give. None is or can be impos'd upon us, unless by our selves. We measure our Grants according to our own Will, or the present occasions, for our own safety. Our Ancestors were born free, and, as the best provision they could make for us, they left us that Liberty intire, with the best Laws they could devise to defend it. 'Tis no way impair'd by the Opinions of the Fathers. The words of
Solomon
do rather confirm it. The happiness of those who enjoy the like, and the shameful misery under which they lie, who have suffer'd themselves to be forc'd or cheated out of it, may persuade, and the justice of the Cause encourage us to think nothing too dear to be hazarded in the defence of it.
SECT. IX. Our own Laws confirm to us the enjoyment of our native Rights.
IF that which our Author calls Divinity did reach the things in dispute between us, or that the Opinions of the Fathers which he alledges, related to them, he might have spar'd the pains of examining our Laws: for a municipal Sanction were of little force to confirm a perpetual and universal Law given by God to mankind, and of no value against it, since man cannot abrogate what God has instituted, nor one Nation free it self from a Law that is given to all. But having abus'd the Scriptures, and the Writings of the Fathers, (whose Opinions are to be valu'd only so far as they rightly interpret them) he seems desirous to try whether he can as well put a false sense upon our Law. According to his custom he takes pieces of passages from good Books, and turns them directly against the plain meaning of the Authors, exprest in the whole scope and design of their Writings. To show that he intends to spare none, he is not asham'd to cite
Bracton,
who of all our antient Law-writers is most opposite to his Maxims. He liv'd, says he, in
Henry
the third's time, since Parliamenns were instituted: as if there had bin a time when
England
had wanted them; or that the establishment of our Liberty had bin made by the
Normans,
who, if we will believe our Author, came in by force of Arms, and opprest us. But we have already prov'd the Essence of Parliaments to be as antient as our Nation, and that there was no time in which there were not such Councils or Assemblys of the People as had the power of the whole, and made or unmade such Laws as best pleas'd themselves. We have indeed a
French
word from a People that came from
France,
but the Power was always in our selves: and the
Norman
Kings were oblig'd to swear they would govern according to the Laws that had bin made by those Assemblys. It imports little whether
Bracton
liv'd before or after they came amongst us. His words are,
Omnes sub eo, & ipse sub nullo, sed tantum sub Deo; All are under him, and he under none but God only. If he offend, since no Writ can go out against him, their Remedy is by petitioning him to amend his Faults; which if he will not do, it is punishment enough for him to expect God as an avenger. Let none presume to look into his Deeds, much less to oppose him.
Here is a mixture of Sense and Nonsense, Truth and Falshood, the words of
Bracton,
with our Author's foolish Inferences from them.
Bracton
spoke of the politick capacity of the King, when no Law had forbidden him to divide it from his natural. He gave the name of King to the sovereign Power of the Nation, as
Jacob
call'd that of his Descendents The Scepter; which he said should not depart from
Judah
till
Shiloh
came, tho all men know that his Race did not reign the third part of that time over his own Tribe, nor full sourscore years over the whole Nation. The same manner of speech is us'd in all parts of the world.
Tertullian
under the name of
Cesar
comprehended all magistratical Power, and imputed to him the Acts of which in his person he never had any knowledg. The
French
say, their King is always present,
sur son lit de justice,
in all the Sovereign Courts of the Kingdom, which are not easily number'd; and that Maxim could have in it neither sense nor truth, if by it they meant a Man, who can be but in one place at one time, and is always comprehended within the Dimensions of his own Skin. These things could not be unknown to
Bracton,
the like being in use amongst us; and he thought it no offence so far to follow the dictates of Reason prohibited by no Law, as to make a difference between the invisible and omnipresent King, who never dies, and the Person that wears the Crown, whom no man without the guilt of Treason may endeavour to kill since there is an Act of Parliament in the case. I will not determin whether he spoke properly or no as to
England;
but if he did not, all that he said being upon a false supposition, is nothing to our purpose. The same
Bracton
says,
the King dos no wrong,
in as much as he dos nothing but by Law.
Potestas Regis est potestas Legis, potestas juris non injuriae.
Bract. de Leg. Angl.
The Power of the King is the Power of the Law, a power of right not of wrong.
Again,
If
Qui si sacit injuriam, non est Rex.
Ibid.
the King dos injustice, he is not King.
In another place he has these words;
Exercere igitur debet Rex potestatem juris sicut Dei vicarius & minister in terra, quia illa potestas solius Dei est, potestas autem injuriae Diaboli est non Dei; & cujus horum opera fecerit Rex, e
us minister erit: Igitur dum facit justitiam, vicarius est regis aeterni: Minister autem Diaboli dum declinet ad injuriam.
Ibid. l.
3.
The King therefore ought to exercise the Power of the Law, as becomes the Vicar and Minister of God upon Earth, because that Power is the Power of God alone; but the Power of doing wrong is the Power of the Devil, and not of God. Aad the King is his Minister whose Work he dos: Whilst he dos Justice, he is the Vicar of the Eternal King; but if he deflect from it to act unjustly, he is the Minister of the Devil.
He also says that the King is
singulis major, universis minor;
and that he who is
in justitia exequenda omnibus major, in justitia recipienda cuilibet ex plebe fit aequalis.
I shall not say
Bracton
is in the right when he speaks in this manner; but 'tis a strange impudence in
Filmer
to cite him as a Patron of the absolute Power of Kings, who dos so extremely depress them. But the grossest of his follys is yet more pardonable than his detestable fraud in falsifying
Bracton
's words, and leaving out such as are not for his purpose, which shew his meaning to be directly contrary to the sense put upon them. That this may appear, I shall set down the words as they are found in
Bracton: Ipse autem Rex non debet esse sub homine, sed sub Deo, & sub Lege, quia Lex facit Regem. Attribuat ergo Rex Legi quod Lex attribuit ei, id est dominationem & potestatem: Non est enim Rex ubi dominatur voluntas & non Lex; & quod sub Lege esse debeat, cum sit Dei vicarius, evidenter apparet.
If
Bracton
therefore be a competent Judg, the King is under the Law; and he is not a King, nor God's Vicegerent unless he be so; and we all know how to proceed with those who being under the Law, offend against it. For the Law is not made in vain. In this case something more is to be done than petitioning; and 'tis ridiculous to say, that if
he will not amend, 'tis punishment enough for him to expect God an Avenger:
for the same may be said of all Malefactors. God can sufficiently punish Thieves and Murderers: but the future Judgment, of which perhaps they have no belief, is not sufficient to restrain them from committing more Crimes, nor to deter others from following their example. God was always able to punish Murderers, but yet by his Law he commands man to shed the blood of him who should shed man's blood; and declares that the Land cannot be purg'd of the Guilt by any other means. He had Judgments in store for
Jeroboam, Ahab,
and those that were like them; but yet he commanded, that, according to that Law, their Houses should be destroy'd from the earth. The dogs lick'd up the blood of
Ahab,
where they had lick'd that of
Naboth,
and eat
Jezebel
who had contriv'd his murder.
But,
says our Author,
we must not look into his deeds, much less oppose them.
Must not
David
look into
Saul
's deeds, nor oppose them? Why did he then bring together as many men as he could to oppose, and make foreign Alliances against him, even with the
Moabites
and the accursed
Philistins?
Why did
Jehu
not only destroy
Ahab
's house, but kill the King of
Judah
and his forty Brothers, only for going to visit his Children? Our Author may perhaps say, because God commanded them. But if God commanded them to do so, he did not command them and all mankind not to do so; and if he did not forbid, they have nothing to restrain them from doing the like, unless they have made municipal Laws of their own to the contrary, which our Author and his Followers may produce when they can find them.
His next work is to go back again to the Tribute paid by Christ to
Cesar,
and judiciously to infer, that all Nations must pay the same Duty to their Magistrats, as the
Jews
did to the
Romans
who had subdu'd them.
Christ did not,
says he,
ask what the Law of the Land was, nor inquire whether there was a Statute against it, nor whether the Tribute were given by the consent of the People, but upon sight of the superscription concluded,
&c. It had bin strange if Christ had inquir'd after their Laws, Statutes or Consent, when he knew that their Commonwealth, with all the Laws by which it had subsisted, was abolish'd; and that
Israel
was become a Servant to those who exercis'd a most violent domination over them: which being a peculiar punishment for their peculiar sins, can have no influence upon Nations that are not under the same circumstances.
But of all that he says, nothing is more incomprehensible, than what he can mean by lawful Kings to whom all is due that was due to the
Roman
Usurpers. For lawful Kings are Kings by the Law: In being Kings by the Law they are such Kings as the Law makes them, and that Law only must tell us what is due to them; or by a universal Patriarchical Right, to which no man can have a title, as is said before, till he prove himself to be the right Heir of
Noah.
If neither of these are to be regarded, but that Right follows Possession, there is no such thing as a Usurper; he who has the Power has the Right, as indeed
Filmer
says, and his Wisdom as well as his Integrity is sufficiently declar'd by the Assertion.
This wicked extravagancy is follow'd by an attempt of as singular ignorance and stupidity, to shuffle together Usurpers and Conquerors, as if they were the same; whereas there have bin many Usurpers who were not Conquerors, and Conquerors that deserv'd not the name of Usurpers. No wise man ever said that
Agathocles
or
Dionysius
conquer'd
Syracuse; Tarquin, Galba
or
Otho, Rome; Cromwel, England;
or that the
Magi,
who seiz'd the Government of
Persia
after the death of
Cambyses,
conquer'd that Country. When
Moses
and
Joshua
had overthrown the Kingdoms of the
Amorites, Moabites
and
Cananites;
or when
David
subdu'd the
Ammonites, Edomites,
and others, none, as I suppose, but such Divines as
Filmer,
will say they usurp'd a Dominion over them. There is such a thing amongst men as just War, or else ttue Valor could not be a Vertue but a Crime; and instead of glory, the utmost infamy would always be the companion of Victory. There are, says
Belli aque ac pacis jura.
De jur. bel. & pac.
Grotius,
Laws of War as well as of Peace. He who for a just Cause, and by just Means, carrys on a just War, has as clear a right to what is acquir'd as can be enjoy'd by Man; but all Usurpation is detestable and abominable.
SECT. X. The words of St.
Paul
enjoining obedience to higher Powers, favor all sorts of Governments no less than Monarchy.
OUR Author's next quarrel is with St.
Paul, who did not,
at he says,
in enjoining subjection to the higher Powers, signify the Laws of the Land, or mean the highest Powers, as well Aristocratical and Democratical as Regal, but a Monarch that carries the Sword,
&c. But what if there be no Monarch in the place? or what if he do not carry the Sword? Had the Apostle spoken in vain, if the liberty of the
Romans
had not bin overthrown by the fraud and violence of
Cesar?
Was no obedience to be exacted whilst that people enjoy'd the benefit of their own Laws, and Vertue flourish'd under the moderate Government of a legal and just Magistracy, establish'd for the common good, by the common consent of all? Had God no Minister amongst them till Law and Justice was overthrown, the best part of the people destroy'd by the fury of a corrupt mercenary Soldiery, and the world subdu'd under the Tyranny of the worst Monsters that it had ever produc'd? Are these the ways of establishing God's Vicegerents, and will he patronize no Governors or Governments but such as these? Dos God uphold evil, and that only? If the world has bin hitherto mistaken, in giving the name of evil to that which is good, and calling that good which is evil; I desire to know what can be call'd good amongst men, if the Government of the
Romans,
till they enter'd
Greece
and
Asia,
and were corrupted by the Luxury of both, do not deserve that name? or what is to be esteem'd evil, if the establishment and exercise of the
Cesars
Power were not so? But says he,
Wilt thou not be afraid of the Power?
And was there no Power in the Governments that had no Monarchs? Were the
Carthaginians, Romans, Grecians, Gauls, Germans
and
Spaniards
without Power? Was there no Sword in that Nation and their Magistrats, who overthrew the Kingdoms of
Armenia, Egypt, Numidia, Macedon,
with many others, and whom none of the Monarchs were able to resist? Are the
Venetians, Switzers, Grisons
and
Hollanders
now le
t in the same weakness, and no obedience at all due to their Magistrats? If this be so, how comes it to pass that Justice is so well administer'd amongst them? Who is it that defends the
Hollanders
in such a manner, that the greatest Monarchs with all their Swords have had no great reason to boast of any Advantages gain'd against them? at least till we (whom they could not resist when we had no Monarch, tho we have bin disgracefully beaten by them since we had one) by making Leagues against them, and sowing divisions amongst them, instigated and assisted the greatest Power now in the world to their destruction and our own. But our Author is so accustom'd to fraud, that he never cites a passage of Scripture which he dos not abuse or vitiate; and that he may do the same in this place, he leaves out the following words,
For there is no power but of God,
that he might intitle one sort only to his protection. If therefore the People and popular Magistrats of
Athens;
the two Kings,
Ephori
and Senat of
Sparta;
the
Sanhedrins
amongst the
Hebrews,
the Consuls, Tribuns, Pretors and Senat of
Rome;
the Magistrats of
Holland, Switzerland
and
Venice,
have or had power, we may conclude that they also were ordain'd by God; and that according to the precept of the Apostle, the same obedience for the same reason is due to them as to any Monarch.
The Apostle farther explaining himself, and shewing who may be accounted a Magistrate, and what the duty of such a one is, informs us when we should fear, and on what account.
Rulers,
says he,
are not a terror to good works, but to the evil: Wilt thou then not be afraid of the Power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same; for he is the Minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doth evil.
He therefore is only the Minister of God, who is not a terror to good works, but to evil; who executes wrath upon those that do evil, and is a praise to those that do well. And he who dos well, ought not to be afraid of the power, for he shall receive praise. Now if our Author were alive, tho he was a man of a hard forehead, I would ask him, whether in his Conscience he believ'd, that
Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero,
and the rabble of succeeding Monsters, were a praise to those who did well, and a terror to those who did ill; and not the contrary, a praise to the worst, and a terror to the best men of the world? or for what reason
Ob virtutes certissimum exitium.
Tacitus
could say, that Vertue brought men who liv'd under 'em to certain destruction, and recite so many Examples of the brave and good, who were murder'd by them for being so, unless they had endeavour'd to extinguish all that was good, and to
Ipsam exscindere virtutem.
tear up Vertue by the roots? Why did he call
Domitian
an
Virtutibus infestum.
Enemy to Vertue, if he was a terror only to those that did evil? If the world has hitherto bin misled in these things, and given the name of Vertue to Vice, and of Vice to Vertue, then
Germanicus, Valerius Asiaticus, Corbulo, Helvidius Priscus, Thraseas, Soranus
and others that resembled them, who fell under the rage of those Beasts, nay
Paul
himself and his Disciples were evil doers; and
Macro, Narcissus, Pallas, Vinnius, Laco
and
Tigellinus
were vertuous and good men. If this be so, we are beholden to
Filmer
for admonishing mankind of the error in which they had so long continu'd. If not, those who persecuted and murder'd them for their Vertues, were not a terror to such as did evil, and a praise to those who did well. The worst men had no need to fear them; but the best had, because they were the best. All Princes therefore that have power are not to be esteem'd equally the Ministers of God. They that are so, must receive their dignity from a title that is not common to all, even from a just employment of their power to the incouragement of Vertue, and to the discouragement of Vice. He that pretends to the veneration and obedience due to the Ministers of God, must by his actions manifest that he is so. And tho I am unwilling to advance a proposition that may sound harshly to tender ears, I am inclin'd to believe, that the same rule, which obliges us to yield obedience to the good Magistrate who is the Minister of God, and assures us that in obeying him we obey God, dos equally oblige us not to obey those who make themselves the Ministers of the Devil, lest in obeying them, we obey the Devil, whose works they do.
That none but such as are wilfully ignorant may mistake
Paul
's meaning,
Peter,
who was directed by the same Spirit, says distinctly,
Submit
your selves to every Ordinance of man for the Lord's sake.
If therefore there be several Ordinances of men tending to the same end, that is, the obtaining of Justice, by being a terror to▪ the evil and a praise to the good, the like obedience is for conscience sake enjoin'd to all, and upon the same condition. But as no man dares to say, that
Athens
and
Persia, Carthage
and
Egypt, Switzerland
and
France, Venice
and
Turky
were and are under the same Government; the same obedience is due to the Magistrate in every one of those places, and all others on the same account, whilst they continue to be the Ministers of God.
If our Author say, that
Peter
cannot comprehend Kings under the name of human Ordinances, since
Paul
says they are the Ordinance of God, I may as well say that
Paul
cannot call that the Ordinance of God, which
Peter
calls the ordinance of man. But as it was said of
Moses
and
Samuel,
that they who spoke by the same Spirit could not contradict each other,
Peter
and
Paul
being full of Wisdom and Sanctity, and inspir'd by the same Spirit, must needs say the same thing; and
Grotius
shews that they perfectly agree, tho the one calls Kings, Rulers and Governors, the Ordinance of Man, and the other the Ordinance of God; inasmuch as God having from the beginning ordain'd that men should not live like Wolves in woods, every man by himself, but together in Civil Societys, left to every one a liberty of joining with that Society which best pleas'd him, and to every Society to create such Magistrats, and frame such Laws as should seem most conducing to their own good, according to the measure of light and reason they might have. And every Magistracy so instituted might rightly be call'd the Ordinance of Man who was the Instituter, and the Ordinance of God according to which it was instituted;
Quia salubrem hominum Constitutionem Deus probavit & sauxie.
De Jur. Bel. & Pac.
because,
says he,
God approv'd and ratify'd the salutary Constitutions of Government made by men.
But, says our Author,
Peter
expounds his own words of the human Ordinance to be the King, who is the
Lex loquens:
but he says no such thing, and I do not find that any such thought ever enter'd into the Apostle's mind. The words are often found in the works of
Plato
and
Aristotle,
but apply'd only to such a man as is a King by nature, who is endow'd with all the vertues that tend to the good of human Societys in a greater measure than any or all those that compose them; which Character, I think, will be ill apply'd to all Kings. And that this may appear to be true, I desire to know whether it would well have agreed with
Nero, Caligula, Domitian,
or others like to them; and if not with them, then not with all, bot only with those who are endow'd with such Vertues. But if the King be made by man, he must be such as man makes him to be; and if the power of a Law had bin given by any human Sanction to the word of a foolish, mad or wicked man (which I hardly believe) it would be destroy'd by its own iniquity and turpitude, and the People left under the obligation of rendring obedience to those, who so use the Sword that the Nations under them may live soberly, peaceably and honestly.
This obliges me a little to examin what is meant by the Sword. The Pope says there are two Swords, the one temporal, the other spiritual; and that both of them were given to
Peter
and to his Successors. Others more rightly understand the two Swords to be that of War and that of Justice, which according to several Constitutions of Government have bin committed to several hands, under several conditions and limitations. The Sword of Justice comprehends the Legislative and the Executive Power: the one is exercis'd in making Laws, the other in judging Controversys according to such as are made. The military Sword is us'd by those Magistrats who have it, in making War or Peace with whom they think fit; and sometimes by others who have it not, in pursuing such Wars as are resolv'd upon by another Power. The Jewish Doctors generally agree that the Kings of
Judah
could make no Law, because there was a curse denounc'd against those who should add to, or detract from that which God had given by the hand of
Moses;
that they might sit in Judgment with the High Priest and Sanhedrin, but could not judg by themselves, unless the Sanhedrin did plainly fail of performing their duty. Upon this account
Maimonides
excuses
David
for commanding
Solomon
not to suffer the grey hairs of
Joab
to go down to the grave in peace, and
Solomon
for appointing him to be kill'd at the foot of the Altar: for he having kill'd
Abner
and
Amasa,
and by those actions shed the blood of war in time of peace, the Sanhedrin should have punish'd him; but being protected by favor or power, and even
David
himself fearing him,
Solomon
was put in mind of his duty, which he perform'd, tho
Joab
laid hold upon the horns of the Altar, which by the express words of the Law gave no protection to wilful Murderers.
The use of the military Sword amongst them was also moderated. Their Kings might make War upon the seven accursed Nations that they were commanded to destroy, and so might any other man; for no peace was to be made with them: but not against any other Nation, without the assent of the Sanhedrin. And when
Amaziah
contrary to that Law had foolishly made war upon
Joash
King of
Israel,
and thereby brought a great slaughter upon
Judah,
the Princes, that is the Sanhedrin, combin'd against him, pursu'd him to
Lachish,
and kill'd him there.
The Legislative Power of
Sparta
was evidently in the People. The Laws that go under the name of
Lycurgus,
were propos'd by him to the general Assembly of the People, and from them receiv'd their Authority: But the disciplin they contain'd was of such efficacy sor framing the minds of men to vertue, and by banishing Silver and Gold they so far banish'd all manner of Crimes, that from the institution of those Laws to the times of their Corruption, which was more than eight hundred years, we hardly find that three men were put to death, of whom two were Kings; so that it seems difficult to determin where the power of judging did reside, tho 'tis most probable, considering the nature of their Government, that it was in the Senat, and in Cases extraordinary in the
Ephori,
with a right of appealing to the People. Their Kings theresore conld have little to do with the Sword of Justice, neither the Legislative nor the Judicial Power being any ways in them.
The military Sword was not much more in their power, unless the excellency of their Vertues gave them the credit of persuading, when the Law deny'd the right of commanding. They were oblig'd to make war against those, and those only, who were declar'd Enemys by the Senat and
Ephori,
and in the manner, place and time they directed: so that
Agesilaus,
tho carrying on a glorious War in
Persia,
no sooner receiv'd the Parchment Roll, wherein he was commanded by the
Ephori
to come home for the desence of his own Country, than he immediately return'd, and is on that account call'd by no less a man than
Xenophon,
a good and faithful King rendring obedience to the Laws of his Country.
By this it appears that there are Kings, who may be fear'd by those that do ill, and not by such as do well; for having no more power than what the Law gives, and being oblig'd to execute it as the Law directs, they cannot depart from the Precept of the Apostle. My own actions therefore, or the sense of my own guilt arising from them, is to be the measure of my fear of that Magistrate who is the Minister of God, and not his Power.
The like may be said of almost all the Nations of the world, that have had any thing of Civil Order amongst them. The supreme Magistrate, under what name soever he was known, whether King, Emperor, Asymnetes, Suffetes, Consul, Dictator, or Archon, has usually a part assign'd to him in the administration of Justice and making War; but that he may know it to be assign'd and not inherent, and so assign'd as to be employ'd for the publick good, not to his own profit or pleasure, it is circumscrib'd by such rules as he cannot safely transgress. This is above all seen in the German Nations, from whom we draw our Original and Government; and is so well describ'd by
Tacitus
in his treatise of their Customs and Manners, that I shall content my self to refer to it, and to what I have cited from him in the former part of this Work. The Saxons coming into our Country, retain'd to themselves the same rights. They had no Kings but such as were set up by themselves, and they abrogated their Power when they pleas'd.
Ad Libertatis vestrae tuitionem non meis meritis, sed sola liberalitate vestra.
Offa
acknowledg'd
that he was chosen for the defence of their Liberty, not from his own merit, but by their favor;
and in the
Conventus Pananglicus,
at which all the chief men as well Secular as Ecclesiastical were present, it was decreed by the King, Arch-bishops, Bishops, Abbots, Dukes and Senators, that the Kings should be chosen by the Priests, and by the Elders of the People. In pursuance of which,
Egbert,
who had no right to the succession, was made King.
Ethelwerd
was chosen in the same manner
Omnium consensu.
by the consent of all.
Ethelwolf
a Monk, for want of a better, was advanc'd to the same Honor. His Son
Alfred,
tho crown'd by the Pope, and marrying without the consent of the Nobility and Kingdom
Contra morem & statuta.
against their Customs and Statutes, acknowledg'd that he had receiv'd the Crown from the bounty of the Princes, Elders, and People; and in his Will declar'd, that he left the People as he had found them, free as the inward thoughts of Man. His Son
Edward
Successor Monarchiae electus.
was elected to be his Successor.
Ethelstan,
tho a Bastard, and without all Title, was elected by the consent of the Nobility and People.
Eadred
by the same Authority was elected and prefer'd before the Sons of
Edmond
his Predecessor.
Edwin,
tho rightly chosen, was depos'd for his ill life, and
Edgar
Et eligerunt Deo dictante Edgarum in Regem annuente populo.
elected King,
by the will of God, and consent of the People.
But he also was depriv'd of the Crown for the Rape of a Nun, and after seven years restor'd by the whole People,
coram omni multitudine
populi Anglorum. Ethelred,
who is said to have bin
Saevus in principio, miser in medio, turpis in exitu.
cruel in the beginning, wretched in the course, and infamous in the end of his Reign, was depos'd by the same Power that had advanc'd him.
Canutus
made a
Canutus
oedus cum principibus & omni populo, & illi cum ipso percusserunt.
Contract with the Princes and the whole People, and thereupon was by general consent crown'd King over all
England.
After him
Harold
was chosen in the usual manner. He being dead, a Message was sent to
Hardi Canute
with an offer of the Crown, which he accepted, and accordingly was receiv'd.
Edward
the Confessor was
Annuente Clero & populo Londini, in regem eligitur.
elected King with the consent of the Clergy and People at
London;
and
Harold
excus'd himself for not performing his Oath to
William
the
Norman,
because he said he had made it unduly and presumptuously,
Abs
que
generali Senatus & Populi conventu & edicto.
Matth. Paris. Gul. Gemit. &c.
without consulting the Nobility and People, and without their Authority.
William
was receiv'd with great joy by the Clergy and People, and saluted King by all, swearing to observe the antient, good, and approv'd Laws of
England:
and tho he did but ill perform his Oath, yet before his death he seem'd to repent of the ways he had taken; and only wishing his Son might be King of
England,
he confest in his last Will made at
Caen
in
Normandy,
Neminem Anglici regni constituo haeredem, non enim tantum decus hareditario jure possedi.
Ibid.
that he neither found nor left the Kingdom as an Inheritance. If he possest no right except what was confer'd upon him, no more was confer'd than had bin enjoy'd by the antient Kings, according to the approv'd Laws which he swore to observe. Those Laws gave no power to any, till he was elected; and that which they did then give was so limited, that the Nobility and People reserv'd to themselves the disposition of the greatest Affairs, even to the deposition and expulsion of such as should not well perform the duty of their Oath and Office. And I leave it to our Author to prove, how they can be said to have had the Sword and the Power so as to be fear'd, otherwise than, as the Apostle says, by those that do evil; which we acknowledg to be not only in the King, but in the lowest Officer of Justice in the world.
If it be pretended that our later Kings are more to be fear'd than
William
the
Norman,
or his Predecessors, it must not be, as has bin prov'd, either from the general right of Kings, or from the Doctrin of the Apostle, but from something else that is peculiar and subsequent, which I leave our Author's Disciples to prove, and an answer may be found in due time. But to show that our Ancestors did not mistake the words of the Apostle, 'tis good to consider when, to whom, and upon what occasion he spoke. The Christian Religion was then in its infancy: his discourses were addrest to the Professors of it, who tho they soon grew to be considerable in number, were for the most part of the meanest sort of People, Servants or Inhabitants of the Citys, rather than Citizens and Freemen; join'd in no civil Body or Society, nor such as had or could have any part in the Government. The occasion was to suppress the dangerous mistake of many converted Jews and others, who knowing themselves to be freed from the power of Sin and the Devil, presum'd they were also freed from the obligation of human Laws. And if this Error had not bin crop'd in the bud, it would have given occasion to their Enemys, (who desir'd nothing more) to destroy them all; and who knowing that such Notions were stirring among them, would have bin glad, that they who were not easily to be discover'd, had by that means discover'd themselves.
This induc'd a necessity of diverting a poor, mean, scatter'd People from such thoughts concerning the State; to convince them of the Error into which they were fallen, that Christians did not owe the same obedience to Civil Laws and Magistrats as other men; and to keep them from drawing destruction upon themselves by such ways, as not being warranted by God, had no promise of his Protection. St.
Paul
's work was to preserve the Professors of Christianity, as appears by his own words:
1 Tim. 2.
I exhort, that first of all, Supplications, Prayers, Intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men; for Kings, and for all that are in Authority, that we may live a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. Put
Tit. 3.
them in mind to be subject to Principalitys and Powers, to obey Magistrats, to be ready for every good work.
St.
Peter
agrees with him fully in describing the Magistrate and his Duty; shewing the reasons why obedience should be paid to him, and teaching Christians to be humble and contented with their condition, as free, yet not using their Liberty for a cover to malice; and not only to fear God and honor the King (of which conjunction of words such as
Filmer
are very proud) but
to honor all men,
as is said in the same verse. This was in a peculiar manner the work of that time, in which those who were to preach and propagate the Gospel, were not to be diverted from that Duty, by entangling themselves in the care of State-affairs; but it dos in some sense agree with all times: for it can never be the duty of a good man to oppose such a Magistrate as is the Minister of God, in the exercise of his Office, nor to deny to any man that which is his due.
But as the Christian Law exempts no man from the Duty he ows to his Father, Master, or the Magistrate, it dos not make him more a Slave than he was before, nor deprive him of any natural or civil Right; and if we are oblig'd to pay Tribute, Honor, or any other thing where it is not due, it must be by some Precept very different from that which commands us to give to
Cesar
that which is
Cesar
's. If he define the Magistrate to be the Minister of God doing Justice, and from thence draws the Reasons he gives for rendring Obedience to him, we are to inquire whose Minister he is who overthrows it, and look for some other reason for rendring obedience to him than the words of the Apostles. If
David,
who was willing to lay down his life for the people, who
hated iniquity,
and would not
suffer a liar to come into his presence,
was the Minister of God, I desire to know whose Minister
Caligula
was, who set up himself to be worship'd for a God, and would at once have destroy'd all the people that he ought to have protected? Whose Minister was
Nero,
who, besides the abominable impuritys of his life, and hatred to all Vertue as contrary to his Person and Government, set fire to the great City? If it be true, that
contrariorum contraria est ratio,
these questions are easily decided; and if the reasons of things are eternal, the same distinction grounded upon truth will be good for ever. Every Magistrate and every man by his works will for ever declare whose Minister he is, in what spirit he lives, and consequently what obedience is due to him according to the Precept of the Apostle. If any man ask what I mean by Justice, I answer, That the Law of the Land, as far as it is
Sanctio rect a, jubens honesta, prohibens contraria,
declares what it is. But there have bin and are Laws that are neither just nor commendable. There was a Law in
Rome,
that no God should be worship'd without the consent of the Senat: Upon which
Tertullian
says scoffingly,
Nisi homini Deus placuerit, Deus non erit.
That God shall not be God, unless he please Man:
and by virtue of this Law the first Christians were expos'd to all manner of crueltys; and some of the Emperors (in other respects excellent Men) most foully polluted themselves and their Government with innocent Blood.
Antoninus Pius
was taken in this snare; and
Tertullian
bitterly derides
Trajan
for glorying in his Clemency, when he had commanded
Pliny,
who was Proconsul in
Asia,
not to make any search for Christians, but only to punish them according to Law when they should be brought before him. No Municipal Law can be more firmly establish'd by human Authority, than that of the Inquisition in
Spain,
and other places: And those accursed Tribunals, which have shed more Christian blood than all the Pagans that ever were in the world, are commonly call'd
The Holy Office.
If a Gentleman in
Poland
kill a Peasant, he is by a Law now in use free from punishment, if he lay a Ducat upon the dead Body.
Evenus
the Third, King of
Scotland,
caus'd a Law to pass, by which the Wives and Daughters of Noblemen were expos'd to his Lust, and those of the Commons to the Lust of the Nobility. These, and an infinite number of others like to them, were not right Sanctions, but such as have produc'd unspeakable mischiefs and calamitys. They were not therefore Laws: the name of Justice is abusively attributed to them: Those that govern by them cannot be the Ministers of God: and the Apostle commanding our obedience to the Minister of God for our good, commands us not to be obedient to the Minister of the Devil to our hurt; for we cannot serve two Masters.
SECT. XI. That which is not just, is not Law; and that which is not Law, ought not to be obey'd.
OUR Author having for a long time pretended Conscience, now pulls off his Mask, and plainly tells us, that 'tis not on account of Conscience, but for fear of punishment or in hope of reward, that Laws are to be obey'd.
That familiar distinction of the Schoolmen,
says he,
whereby they subject Kings to the directive, but not to the coactive Power of the Law, is a confession, that Kings are not bound by the positive Laws of any Nation, since the compulsory Power of Laws is that which properly makes Laws to be Laws.
Not troubling my self with this distinction of the Schoolmen, nor acknowledging any truth to be in it, or that they are competent Judges of such matters, I say, that if it be true, our Author's conclusion is altogether false; for the directive Power of the Law, which is certain, and grounded upon the inherent good and rectitude that is in it, is that alone which has a power over the Conscience, whereas the coercive is merely contingent; and the most just powers commanding the most just things, have so osten fallen under the violence of the most unjust men commanding the most execrable villanys, that if they were therefore to be obey'd, the Consciences of men must be regulated by the success of a Battel or Conspiracy, than which nothing can be affirm'd more impious and absurd. By this rule
David
was not to be obey'd, when by the wickedness of his Son he was driven from
Jerusalem,
and depriv'd of all coercive Power; and the conscientious obedience that had bin due to him was transfer'd to
Absalom,
who sought his life. And in St.
Paul
's time, it was not from him who was guided only by the Spirit of God, and had no manner of coercive Power, that Christians were to learn their duty, but from
Caligula, Claudius,
and
Nero,
who had that Power well establish'd by the mercenary Legions. If this were so, the Governments of the World might be justly call'd
Magna Latrocinia;
and men laying aside all considerations of Reason or Justice, ought only to follow those who can inflict the greatest Punishments, or give the greatest Rewards. But since the reception of such opinions would be the extirpation of all that can be call'd good, we must look for another rule of our obedience, and shall find that to be the Law, which being, as I said before,
Sanctio recta,
must be founded upon that eternal Principle of Reason and Truth, from whence the rule of Justice which is sacred and pure ought to be deduc'd, and not from the deprav'd will of man, which fluctuating according to the different Interests, Humors and Passions that at several times reign in several Nations, one day abrogates what had bin enacted the other. The Sanction therefore that deserves the name of a Law,
which derives not its excellency from Antiquity, or from the dignity of the Legislators, but from an intrinsick equity and justice,
ought to be made in pursuance of that universal Reason to which all Nations at all times owe an equal veneration and obedience. By this we may know whether he who has the Power dos justice or not: Whether he be the Minister of God to our good, a protector of good, and a terror to ill men; or the Minister of the Devil to our hurt, by encouraging all manner of evil, and endeavouring by vice and corruption to make the people worse that they may be miserable, and miserable that they may be worse. I dare not say I shall never fear such a man if he be arm'd with power: But I am sure I shall never esteem him to be the Minister of God, and shall think I do ill if I fear him. If he has therefore a coercive Power over me, 'tis thro my weakness;
for
Qui cogi potest nescit mori.
he that will suffer himself to be compel'd, knows not how to die.
If therefore he who dos not follow the directive Power of the Law, be not the Minister of God, he is not a King, at least not such a King as the Apostle commands us to obey: And if that Sanction which is not just be not a Law, and can have no obligation upon us, by what Power soever it be establish'd, it may well fall out, that the Magistrate who will not follow the directive Power of the Law, may fall under the coercive; and then the fear is turn'd upon him, with this aggravation, that it is not only actual, but just. This was the case of
Nero;
the coercive Power was no longer in him, but against him. He that was forc'd to fly and to hide himself, that was abandon'd by all men, and condemn'd to die
More Majorum.
Sueton.
according to antient Custom,
did, as I suppose, fear, and was no way to be fear'd. The like may be said of
Amaziah
King of
Judah,
when he fled to
Lachish;
of
Nabuchodonozor,
when he was driven from the society of men; and of many Emperors and Kings of the greatest Nations in the world, who have bin so utterly depriv'd of all Power, that they have bin imprison'd, depos'd, confin'd to Monasterys, kill'd, drawn thro the Streets, cut in pieces, thrown into Rivers, and indeed suffer'd all that could be suffer'd by the vilest Slaves.
If any man say these things ought not to have bin done, an answer may be given in a proper place; tho 'twere enough to say, that the Justice of the world is not to be overthrown by a mere Assertion without proof: but that is nothing to the present Question. For if it was ill done to drive
Nero
to despair, or to throw
Vitellius
into the common Shore, it was not because they were the Ministers of God; for their Lives were no way conformable to the character which the Apostle gives of those who deserve that Sacred Name. If those only are to be fear'd who have the Power, there was a time when they were not to be fear'd, for they had none; and if such Princes are not oblig'd by the Law as are not under the coercive Power, it gave no exemption to those, for they fell under it: and as we know not what will befal others who walk in their steps till they are dead, we cannot till then know whether they are free from it or not.
SECT. XII. The Right and Power of a Magistrate depends upon his Institution, not upon his Name.
'TIS usual with Impostors to obtrude their deceits upon men, by putting false names upon things, by which they may perplex mens minds, and from thence deduce false Conclusions. But the points above▪ mention'd being settled, it imports little whether the Governors to whom
Peter
enjoins obedience, were only Kings, and such as are employ'd by them, or all such Magistrats as are the Ministers of God; for he informs us of their Works that we may know them, and accordingly yield obedience to them. This is that therefore which distinguishes the Magistrate to whom obedience is due, from him to whom none is due, and not the name that he either assumes, or others put upon him. But if there be any virtue in the word King, and that the admirable Prerogatives, of which our Author dreams, were annex'd to that Name, they could not be apply'd to the
Roman
Emperors, nor their substituted Officers, for they had it not. 'Tis true,
Mark Anthony,
in a drunken fit, at the celebration of the impure
Lupercalia,
did offer a Diadem to
Julius Cesar,
which some flatterers prest him to accept, (as our great Lawyers did
Cromwel)
but he durst not think of putting it upon his Head.
Caligula
's affectation of that title, and the ensigns of Royalty he wore, were taken for the most evident marks of his madness: and tho the greatest and bravest of their men had fallen by the Wars or Proscriptions; tho the best part of the Senat had perish'd in
Thessaly;
tho the great City was exhausted, and
Italy
brought to desolation, yet they were not reduc'd so low as to endure a King.
Piso
was sufficiently addicted to
Tiberius,
yet he could not suffer that
Germanicus
should be treated as the Son of a King;
Principis Romani non Parthorum regis silio has epulas dari.
And whoever understands the Latin Tongue, and the History of those times, will easily perceive that the word
Princeps
signify'd no more than a principal or eminent man, as has bin already prov'd: and the words of
Piso
could have no other meaning, than that the Son of a
Roman
ought not to be distinguish'd from others, as the Sons of the
Parthian
Kings were. This is verify'd by his Letter to
Tiberius
under the name of Friend, and the answer of
Tiberius
promising to him
Quod amicus amico praestare potest.
Tacit.
whatsoever one friend could do for another.
Here was no mention of Majesty or Sovereign Lord, nor the base subscriptions of Servant, Subject, or Creature. And I fear, that as the last of those words was introduc'd amongst us by our Bishops, the rest of them had bin also invented by such Christians as were too much addicted to the Asiatick Slavery. However, the name of King was never solemnly assum'd by, nor confer'd upon those Emperors, and could have confer'd no right, if it had. They exercis'd as they pleas'd, or as they durst, the power that had bin gain'd by violence or fraud. The exorbitances they committed, could not have bin justify'd by a Title, any more than those of a Pyrat who should take the same. It was no otherwise given to 'em than by way of assimilation, when they were guilty of the greatest Crimes: and
Tacitus
describing the detestable Lust of
Annal. l. 6.
Tiberius,
says,
Quibus adeo indomitis exarserat, ut more Regio pubem ingenuam stupris pollueret; nec formam tantum & decora corporis, sed in his modestam pueritiam, in aliis majorum imagines, incitamentum cupiditatis habebat.
He also informs us that
Nero
took his time to put
Bareas Soranus
to death, who was one of the most vertuous men of that age, when
Tiridates
King of
Armenia
was at
Rome;
Ut magnitudinem Imperatoriam caede insignium virorum quasi Regio facinore ostentaret.
An.
.
16.
That he might shew the Imperial Grandeur by the slaughter of the most illustrious men, which he accounted a Royal Action.
I leave it to the judgment of all wise men, whether it be probable that the Apostles should distinguish such as these from other Magistrats; and dignify those only with the Title of God's Ministers, who distinguish'd themselves by such ways; or that the succeeding Emperors should be ennobled with the same Prerogative, who had no other Title to the name than by resembling those that had it in such things as these. If this be too absurd and abominable to enter into the heart of a man, it must be concluded, that their intention was only to divert the poor People to whom they preach'd, from involving themselves in the care of Civil matters, to which they had no call. And the Counsel would have bin good (as things stood with them) if they had bin under the power of a Pyrat, or any other villain substituted by him.
But tho the Apostles had look'd upon the Officers set over the Provinces belonging to the Roman Empire, as sent by Kings, I desire to know whether it can be imagin'd, that they could think the subordinate Governors to be sent by Kings, in the Countrys that had no Kings; or that obedience became due to the Magistrats in
Greece, Italy,
or other Provinces under the jurisdiction of
Rome,
only after they had Emperors, and that none was due to them before? The
Germans
had then no King: The brave
Arminius
had bin lately kill'd for aiming at a Crown. When he had blemish'd all his Vertues by that attempt, they forgot his former Services. They never consider'd how many Roman Legions he had cut in pieces, nor how many thousands of their Allies he had destroy'd. His Valor was a crime deserving death, when he sought to make a Prey of his Country, which he had so bravely defended, and to enslave those who with him had fought for the publick Liberty. But if the Apostles were to be understood to give the name of God's Ministers only to Kings, and those who are employ'd by them, and that obedience is due to no other, a domestick Tyrant had bin their greatest Benefactor. He had set up the only Government that is authoriz'd by God, and to which a conscientious obedience is due.
Agathocles, Dionysius, Phalaris, Phaereus, Pisistratus, Nabis, Machanidas,
and an infinite number of the most detestable Villains that the world has ever produc'd, did confer the same benefits upon the Countrys they enslav'd. But if this be equally false, sottish, absurd, and execrable, all those Epithets belong to our Author and his Doctrin, for attempting to depress all modest and regular Magistracys, and endeavouring to corrupt the Scripture to patronize the greatest of Crimes. No man therefore who dos not delight in error, can think that the Apostle design'd precisely to determin such questions as might arise concerning any one man's right, or in the least degree to prefer any one form of Government before another. In acknowledging the Magistrate to be Man's Ordinance, he declares that Man who makes him to be, may make him to be what he pleases; and tho there is found more prudence and vertue in one Nation than in another, that Magistracy which is establish'd in any one ought to be obey'd, till they who made the establishment think fit to alter it. All therefore whilst they continue, are to be look'd upon with the same respect. Every Nation acting freely, has an equal right to frame their own Government, and to employ such Officers as they please. The Authority, Right and Power of these must be regulated by the judgment, right and power of those who appoint them, without any relation at all to the name that is given; for that is no way essential to the thing. The same name is frequently given to those, who differ exceedingly in right and power; and the same right and power is as often annex'd to Magistracys that differ in name. The same power which had bin in the Roman Kings, was given to the Consuls; and that which had bin legally in the Dictators for a time not exceeding six months, was afterwards usurp'd by the
Cesars,
and made perpetual. The supreme Power (which some pretend belongs to all Kings) has bin and is enjoy'd in the fullest extent by such as never had the name; and no Magistracy was ever more restrain'd than those that had the name of Kings in
Sparta, Arragon, England, Poland,
and other places. They therefore that did thus institute, regulate and restrain, create Magistracys, and give them names and powers as seem'd best to them, could not but have in themselves the coercive as well as the directive over them: for the regulation and restriction is coercion; but most of all the institution, by which they could make them to be or not to be. As to the exterior sorce, 'tis sometimes on the side of the Magistrate, and sometimes on that of the People; and as Magistrats under several names have the same work incumbent upon 'em, and the same Power to persorm it, the same Duty is to be exacted from them, and render'd to them: which being distinctly proportion'd by the Laws of every Country, I may conclude, that all Magistratical Power being the Ordinance of Man in pursuance of the Ordinance of God, receives its being and measure from the Legislative Power of every Nation. And whether the power be plac'd simply in one, a few, or many men; or in one body compos'd of the three simple Species; whether the single Person be call'd King, Duke, Marquess, Emperor, Sultan, Mogol, or Grand Signor; or the number go under the name of Senat, Council, Pregadi, Diet, Assembly of Estates and the like, 'tis the same thing. The same obedience is equally due to all, whilst according to the Precept of the Apostle, they do the work of God for our good: and if they depart from it, no one of them has a better Title than the other to our obedience.
SECT. XIII. Laws were made to direct and instruct Magistrats, and, if they will not be directed, to restrain them.
I Know not who they are that our Author introduces to say, that
the first invention of Laws was to bridle or moderate the overgreat Power of Kings;
and unless they give some better proof of their judgment in other things, shall little esteem them. They should have consider'd, that there are Laws in many places where there are no Kings; that there were Laws in many before there were Kings, as in
Israel
the Law was given three hundred years before they had any; but most especially, that as no man can be a rightful King except by Law, nor have any just Power but from the Law, if that Power be found to be overgreat, the Law that gave it must have bin before that which was to moderate or restrain it; for that could not be moderated which was not in being. Leaving therefore our Author to fight with these Adversarys if he please when he finds them, I shall proceed to examin his own Positions.
The truth is,
says he,
the Original of Laws was for the keeping of the Multitude in order. Popular Estates could not subsist at all without Laws, whereas Kingdoms were govern'd many Ages without them. The People of
Athens,
as soon as they gave over Kings, were forc'd to give power to
Draco
first, then to
Solon,
to make them Laws.
If we will believe him therefore, wheresoever there is a King, or a man who by having power in his hands is in the place of a King, there is no need of Law. He takes them all to be so wise, just, and good, that they are Laws to themselves,
Leges viventes.
This was certainly verify'd by the whole succession of the
Cesars,
the ten last Kings of
Pharamond
's Race, all the Successors of
Charles
the Great, and others that I am not willing to name; but referring my self to History, I desire all reasonable men to consider, whether the piety and tender care that was natural to
Caligula, Nero
or
Domitian,
was such a security to the Nations that liv'd under them, as without Law to be sufficient for their preservation: for if the contrary appear to be true, and that their Government was a perpetual exercise of rage, malice and madness, by which the worst of men were arm'd with power to destroy the best, so that the Empire could only be sav'd by their destruction, 'tis most certain, that mankind can never fall into a condition which stands more in need of Laws to protect the innocent, than when such Monsters reign who endeavour their extirpation, and are too well furnish'd with means to accomplish their detestable designs. Without any prejudice therefore to the Cause that I defend, I might confess that all Nations were at the first govern'd by Kings, and that no Laws were impos'd upon those Kings, till they or the Successors of those who had bin advanc'd for their vertues, by falling into vice and corruption, did manifestly discover the inconveniences of depending upon their will. Besides these, there are also children, women and fools, that often come to the succession of Kingdoms, whose weakness and ignorance stands in as great need of support and direction, as the desperate fury of the others can do of restriction. And if some Nations had bin so sottish, not to foresee the mischief of leaving them to their will, others, or the same in succeeding Ages discovering them, could no more be oblig'd to continue in so pernicious a folly, than we are to live in that wretched Barbarity in which the
Romans
found our Ancestors, when they first enter'd this Island.
If any man say, that
Filmer
dos not speak of Monsters, nor of Children, Women or Fools, but of wise, just and good Princes: I answer, that if there be a right inherent in Kings, as Kings, of doing what they please; and in those who are next in blood, to succeed them and inherit the same, it must belong to all Kings, and such as upon title of blood would be Kings. And as there is no family that may not, and dos not often produce such as I mention'd, it must also be acknowledg'd in them: and that power which is left to the wise, just and good, upon a supposition that they will not make an ill use of it, must be devolv'd to those who will not or cannot make a good one; but will either maliciously turn it to the destruction of those they ought to protect, or thro weakness suffer it to fall into the hands of those that govern them, who are found by experience to be for the most part the worst of all, most apt to use the basest arts, and to flatter the humors, and foment the vices that are most prevalent in weak and vicious Princes.
Germanicus, Corbulo, Valerius Asiaticus, Thraseas, Soranus, Helvidius Priscus, Julius Agricola,
and other excellent men liv'd in the times of
Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius
and
Nero;
but the power was put into the hands of
Sejanus, Macro, Tigellinus,
and other Villains like to them: and I wish there were not too many modern examples to shew that weak and vicious Princes will never chuse such as shall preserve Nations from the mischiefs that would ensue upon their own incapacity or malice; but that they must be impos'd upon them by some other power, or Nations be ruin'd for want of them. This imposition must be by Law or by Force. But as Laws are made to keep things in good order without the necessity of having recourse to force, it would be a dangerous extravagance to arm that Prince with force, which probably in a short time must be oppos'd by force; and those who have bin guilty of this error, as the Kingdoms of the East, and the antient
Roman
Empire, where no provision was made by Law against ill-governing Princes, have found no other remedy than to kill them, when by extreme sufferings they were driven beyond patience: and this fell out so often, that few of their Princes were observ'd to die by a common death. But since the Empire was transmitted to
Germany,
and the Emperors restrain'd by I aws, that Nation has never bin brought to the odious extremitys of suffering all manner of Indignitys, or revenging them upon the heads of Princes. And if the Pope had not disturb'd 'em upon the account of Religion, nor driven their Princes to disturb others, they might have pass'd many ages without any civil Dissension, and all their Emperors might have liv'd happily, and dy'd peaceably, as most of them have done.
This might be sufficient to my purpose: for if all Princes without distinction, whether good or bad, wise or foolish, young or old, sober or mad, cannot be intrusted with an unlimited power; and if the power they have, ought to be limited by Law, that Nations may not, with danger to themselves, as well as to the Prince, have recourse to the last remedy, this Law must be given to all, and the good can be no otherwise distinguish'd from the bad, and the wise from the foolish, than by the observation or violation of it. But I may justly go a step farther, and affirm, that this Law which by restraining the Lusts of the vicious and foolish, frequently preserves them from the destruction they would bring upon themselves or people, and sometimes upon both, is an assistance and direction to the wisest and best; so that they also as well as the Nations under them are gainers by it. This will appear strange only to those who know not
Quam grave & intolerandum sit cuncta regendi onus.
Tacit.
how difficult and insupportable the Government of great Nations is,
and how unable the best man is to bear it. And if it surpass the strength of the best, it may easily be determin'd how ordinary men will behave themselves under it, or what use the worst will make of it. I know there have bin wise and good Kings; but they had not an absolute Power, nor would have accepted it, tho it had bin offer'd: much less can I believe that any of them would have transmitted such a power to their posterity, when none of them could know any more than
Solomon,
whether his Son would be a wise man or a fool. But if the best might have desir'd, and had bin able to bear it (tho
Moses
by his own confession was not) that could be no reason why it should be given to the worst and weakest, or those who probably will be so: Since the assurance that it will not be abus'd during the life of one man, is nothing to the constitution of a State which aims at perpetuity: And no man knowing what men will be, especially if they come to the power by succession, which may properly enough be call'd by chance, 'tis reasonably to be fear'd they will be bad, and consequently necessary so to limit their power, that if they prove to be so, the Commonwealth may not be destroy'd, which they were instituted to preserve. The Law provides for this in leaving to the King a full and ample power of doing as much good as his heart can wish, and in restraining his power so, that if he should depart from the duty of his Office, the Nation may not perish. This is a help to those who are wise and good, by directing them what they are to do, more certainly than any one man's personal judgment can do; and no prejudice at all, since no such man did ever complain he was not suffer'd to do the evil which he would abhor if it were in his power; and is a most necessary curb to the fury of bad Princes, preventing them from bringing destruction upon the people. Men are so subject to vices and passions, that they stand in need of some restraint in every condition; but most especially when they are in power. The rage of a private man may be pernicious to one or a few of his Neighbours; but the fury of an unlimited Prince would drive whole Nations into ruin: And those very men who have liv'd modestly when they had little power, have often prov'd the most savage of all Monsters, when they thought nothing able to resist their rage. 'Tis said of
Caligula,
that no man ever knew
Nec meliorem servum, nec deteriorem dominum.
a better Servant, nor a worse Master.
The want of restraint made him a Beast, who might have continu'd to be a Man. And tho I cannot say, that our Law necessarily admits the next in Blood to the Succession (for the contrary is prov'd) yet the facility of our Ancestors, in receiving children, women, or such men as were not more able than themselves to bear the weight of a Crown, convinces me fully, that they had so fram'd our Laws, that even children, women, or ill men, might either perform as much as was necessarily requir'd of 'em, or be brought to reason if they transgrest, and arrogated to themselves more than was allow'd. For 'tis not to be imagin'd, that a company of men should so far degenerate from their own Nature, which is Reason, to give up themselves and their Posterity, with all their concernments in the world, to depend upon the will of a child, a woman, an ill man, or a fool.
If therefore Laws are necessary to popular States, they are no less to Monarchys; or rather, that is not a State or Government which has them not: and 'tis no less impossible for any to subsist without 'em, than for the body of a man to be, and perform its functions without Nerves or Bones. And if any People had ever bin so foolish to establish that which they call'd a Government, without Laws to support and regulate it, the impossibility of subsisting would evidence the madness of the Constitution, and ought to deter all others from following their example.
'Tis no less incredible, that those Nations which rejected Kings, did put themselves into the Power of one man, to prescribe to 'em such Laws as he pleas'd. But the instances alledg'd by our Author are evidently false. The
Athenians
were not without Laws when they had Kings:
Aegeus
was subject to the Laws, and did nothing of importance without the consent of the People; and
Theseus
not being able to please them, dy'd a banish'd man:
Draco
and
Solon
did not make, but propose Laws, and
Plut. vit. Solon.
they were of no force till establish'd by the Authority of the People. The
Spartans
dealt in the same manner with
Lycurgus;
he invented their Laws, but the People made them: and when the Assembly of all the Citizens had approv'd and sworn to observe them till his return from
Crete,
he resolv'd rather to die in a voluntary banishment, than by his return to absolve them from the Oath they had taken. The
Romans
also had Laws during the Government of their Kings; but not finding in 'em that Perfection they desir'd, the
Decemviri
were chosen to frame others, which yet were of no value till they were pass'd by the People in the
Ingenti hominum consensu propositis decem Tabulis Populum ad concionem convocarunt, & quod bonum, faustum foelix
que
sit Reipublicae, ipsis, liberis
que
eorum esset, ire, & legere propositas jussere.
T. Liv. l.
3.
Comitia Centuriata;
and being so approv'd, they were establish'd. But this Sanction, to which every man, whether Magistrate or private Citizen, was subject, did no way bind the whole body of the People, who still retain'd in themselves the Power of changing both the matter and the form of their Government, as appears by their instituting and abrogating Kings, Consuls, Dictators, Tribuns with consular Power, and
Decemviri,
when they thought good for the Commonwealth. And if they had this Power, I leave our Author to shew, why the like is not in other Nations.
SECT. XIV. Laws are not made by Kings, not because they are busy'd in greater matters than doing Justice, but because Nations will be govern'd by Rule, and not Arbitrarily.
OUR Author, pursuing the mistakes to which he seems perpetually condemn'd, says, that
when Kings were either busy'd in War, or distracted with publick Cares, so that every private man could not have access unto their Persons, to learn their Wills and Pleasures, then of necessity were Laws invented, that so every particular Subject might find his Prince's Pleasure.
I have often heard that Governments were establish'd for the obtaining of Justice; and if that be true, 'tis hard to imagin what business a supreme Magistrate can have to divert him from accomplishing the principal end of his Institution. And 'tis as commonly said, that this distribution of Justice to a People, is a work surpassing the strength of any one
Exod. 18.
man.
Jethro
seems to have bin a wise man, and 'tis probable he thought
Moses
to be so also; but he found the work of judging the People to be too heavy for him, and therefore advis'd him to leave the judgment of Causes to others who should be chosen for that purpose; which advice
Moses
accepted, and God approv'd. The governing power was as insupportable to him as the Judicial. He desir'd rather to dy than to bear so great a burden; and God neither accusing him of sloth or impatience, gave him seventy Assistants. But if we may believe our Author, the Powers Judicial and Legislative, that of judging as well as that of governing, is not too much for any man, woman, or child whatsoever: and that he stands in no need, either of God's Statutes to direct him, or Man's Counsel to assist him, unless it be when he is otherwise employ'd; and his Will alone is sufficient for all. But what if he be not busy'd in greater matters, or distracted with publick cares; is every Prince capable of this work? Tho
Moses
had not found it too great for him; or it should be granted that a man of excellent natural Endowments, great Wisdom, Learning, Experience, Industry, and Integrity might perform it, is it certain that all those who happen to be born in reigning Familys are so? If
Moses
had the Law of God before his eyes, and could repair to God himself for the application or explanation of it; have all Princes the same Assistance? Do they all speak with God face to face, or can they do what he did, without the Assistance he had? If all Kings of mature years are of that perfection, are we assur'd that none shall dy before his Heir arrive to the same? Or shall he have the same ripeness of Judgment in his Infancy? If a Child come to a Crown, dos that immediately infuse the most admirable Endowments and Graces? Have we any promise from Heaven, that Women shall enjoy the same Prerogatives in those Countrys where they are made capable of the Succession? Or dos that Law which renders them capable, not only defend them against the frailty of their own Nature, but confer the most sublime vertues upon them? But who knows not, that no Familys do more frequently produce weak or ill men, than the greatest? and that which is worse, their greatness is a snare to them; so that they, who in a low condition might have pass'd unregarded, being advanc'd to the highest, have often appear'd to be, or became the worst of all Beasts; and they who advance them are like to them: For if the Power be in the Multitude, as our Author is forc'd to confess (otherwise the
Athenians
and
Romans
could not have given all as he says, nor a part as I say, to
Draco, Solon,
or the
Decemviri)
they must be Beasts also, who should have given away their Right and Liberty, in hopes of receiving Justice from such as probably will neither understand nor regard it, or protection from those who will not be able to help themselves, and expect such Vertue, Wisdom, and Integrity should be, and for ever remain in the Family they set up, as was never known to continue in any. If the Power be not confer'd upon them, they have it not; and if they have it not, their want of leisure to do Justice, cannot have bin the cause for which Laws are made; and they cannot be the signification of their Will, but are that to which the Prince ows obedience, as well as the meanest Subject. This is that which
Bracton
calls
esse sub lege,
and says, that
Rex in regno superiores habet Deum & Legem. Fortescue
says, The Kings of
England
cannot change the Laws: and indeed, they are so far from having any such Power, that the Judges swear to have no regard to the King's Letters or Commands, but if they receive any, to proceed according to Law, as if they had not bin. And the breach of this Oath dos not only bring a blemish upon their Reputation, but exposes them to capital Punishments, as many of them have found. 'Tis not therefore the King that makes the Law, but the Law that makes the King. It gives the rule for Succession, making Kingdoms sometimes Hereditary, and sometimes Elective, and (more often than either simply) Hereditary under condition. In some places Males only are capable of inheriting, in others Females are admitted. Where the Monarchy is regular, as in
Germany, England,
&c. the Kings can neither make nor change Laws: They are under the Law, and the Law is not under them; their Letters or Commands are not to be regarded: In the administration of Justice, the question is not what pleases them, but what the Law declares to be right, which must have its course, whether the King be busy or at leisure, whether he will or not. The King who never dys, is always present in the supreme Courts, and neither knows nor regards the pleasure of the man that wears the Crown. But lest by his Riches and Power he might have some influence upon judicial Proceedings, the
great Charter
that recapitulates and acknowledges our antient inherent Libertys, obliges him to swear, that he will neither sell, delay, nor deny Justice to any man, according to the Laws of the Land: which were ridiculous and absurd, if those Laws were only the signification of his Pleasure, or any way depended upon his Will. This Charter having bin confirm'd by more than thirty Parliaments, all succeeding Kings are under the obligation of the same Oath, or must renounce the benefit they receive from our Laws, which if they do, they will be sound to be equal to every one of us.
Our Author, according to his custom, having laid down a false proposition, gos about to justify it by misapplying the examples of
Draco, Solon,
the
Decemviri,
and
Moses,
of whom no one had the Power he attributes to them, and it were nothing to us if they had. The
Athenians
and
Romans,
as was said before, were so far from resigning the absolute Power without appeal to themselves, that nothing done by their Magistrats was os any force, till it was enacted by the People. And the power given to the
Decemviri, sine provocatione,
was only in private cases, there being no superior Magistrate then in being, to whom Appeals could be made. They were vested with the same Power the Kings and Dictators enjoy'd, from whom there lay no Appeal, but to the People, and always to them; as appears by the case of
Horatius
in the time of
Tullus Hostilius,
that of
Marcus Fabius
when
Papyrius Cursor
was Dictator, and of
Nenius
the Tribun when
Q. Fabius Maximus
was in the same Office; all which I have cited already, and refer to them. There was therefore a reservation of the supreme Power in the People, notwithstanding the creation of Magistrats without Appeal; and as it was quietly exercis'd in making Strangers, or whom they pleas'd Kings, restraining the power of Dictators to six months, and that of the
Decemviri
to two years; when the last did, contrary to Law, endeavour by force to continue their Power, the People did by force destroy it and them.
The case of
Moses
is yet more clear: he was the most humble and gentle of all men: he never rais'd his heart above his brethren, and commanded Kings to live in the same modesty: he never desir'd the People should depend upon his will: In giving Laws to them he fulfill'd the will of God, not his own; and those Laws were not the signification of his will, but of the will of God. They were the production of God's Wisdom and Goodness, not the invention of Man; given to purify the People, not to advance the glory of their Leader. He was not proud and insolent, nor pleas'd with that ostentation of Pomp, to which Fools give the name of Majesty: and whoever so far exalts the power of a man, to make Nations depend upon his pleasure, dos not only lay a burden upon him, which neither
Moses
nor any other could ever bear, and every wise man will always abhor; but with an impious fury, endeavours to set up a Government contrary to the Laws of God, presumes to accuse him of want of wisdom, or goodness to his own People, and to correct his Errors, which is a work fit to be undertaken by such as our Author.
From hence, as upon a solid foundation, he proceeds, and making use of King
James
's words, infers, that Kings are above the Laws, because he so teaches us. But he might have remember'd, that having affirm'd the People could not judg of the disputes that might happen between them and Kings, because they must not be judges in their own case, 'tis absurd to make a King judg of a case so nearly concerning himself, in the decision of which his own Passions and Interests may probably lead him into errors. And if it be pretended that I do the same, in giving the judgment of those matters to the People, the case is utterly different, both in the nature and consequences. The King's judgment is merely for himself; and if that were to take place, all the Passions and Vices that have most power upon men, would concur to corrupt it. He that is set up for the publick good, can have no contest with the whole People whose good he is to procure, unless he deflect from the end of his Institution, and set up an Interest of his own in opposition to it. This is in its nature the highest os all delinquencys; and if such a one may be judg of his own crimes, he is not only sure to avoid punishment, but to obtain all that he sought by them; and the worse he is, the more violent will his d
sires be, to get all the power into his hands, that he may grati
y his lusts, and execute his pernicious designs. On the other side, in a popular Assembly, no man judges for himself, otherwise than as his good is comprehended in that of the publick: Nothing hurts him, but what is prejudicial to the Commonwealth: Such amongst them as may have receiv'd private injurys, are so far only consider'd by others, as their sufferings may have influence upon the publick; if they be few, and the matters not great, others will not suffer their quiet to be disturb'd by them; if they are many and grievous, the Tyranny thereby appears to be so cruel, that the Nation cannot subsist, unless it be corrected or supprest. Corruption of Judgment proceeds from private Passions, which in these cases never govern: and tho a zeal for the publick good may possibly be misguided, yet till it be so, it can never be capable of excess. The last
Tarquin,
and his leud Son, exercis'd their Fury and Lust in the murders of the best men in
Rome,
and the rape of
Lucretia. Appius Claudius
was fill'd with the like madness.
Caligula
and
Nero
were so well establish'd in the power of committing the worst of Villanys, that we do not hear of any man that offer'd to defend himself, or woman that presum'd to refuse them. If they had bin judges in these cases, the utmost of all Villanys and Mischiefs had bin establish'd by Law: but as long as the judgment of these matters was in the People, no private or corrupt Passion could take place.
Lucius Brutus, Valerius, Horatius
and
Virginius,
with the People that follow'd them, did not by the expulsion of the Kings, or the suppression of the
Decemviri,
assume to themselves a power of committing Rapes and Murders, nor any advantages beyond what their equals might think they deserv'd by their vertues, and services to the Commonwealth; nor had they more credit than others for any other reason, than that they shew'd themselves most forward in procuring the publick Good, and by their Valor and Conduct best able to promote it.
Whatsoever happen'd after the overthrow of their Liberty, belongs not to my Subject, for there was nothing of popularity in the judgments that were made. One Tyrant destroy'd another; the same Passions and Vices for the most part reign'd in both: The last was often as bad as his Predecessor whom he had overthrown; and one was sometimes approv'd by the People for no other reason, than that it was thought impossible for him to be worse than he who was in possession of the Power. But if one instance can be of force amongst an infinite number of various Accidents, the words of
Valerius Asiaticus,
who, by wishing he had bin the man that had kill'd
Caligula,
did in a moment pacify the fury of the Soldiers who were looking for those that had done it, shew, that as long as men retain any thing of that Reason which is truly their Nature, they never fail of judging rightly of Vertue and Vice; whereas violent and ill Princes have always done the contrary, and even the best do often deflect from the rules of Justice, as appears not only by the examples of
Edward
the first and third, who were brought to confess it, but even those of
David
and
Solomon.
Moreover, to shew that the decision of these Controversys cannot belong to any King, but to the People, we are only to consider, that as Kings and all other Magistrats, whether supreme or subordinate, are constituted only for the good of the People, the People only can be fit to judg whether the end be accomplish'd. A Physician dos not exercise his Art for himself, but for his Patients; and when I am, or think I shall be sick, I send for him of whom I have the best opinion, that he may help me to recover or preserve my health; but I lay him aside if I find him to be negligent, ignorant or unfaithful: and it would be ridiculous for him to say, I make my self judg in my own case, for I only, or such as I shall consult, am fit to be the judg of it. He may be treacherous, and thro corruption or malice endeavour to poison me, or have other defects that render him unfit to be trusted: but I cannot by any corrupt passion be led wilfully to do him injustice, and if I mistake, 'tis only to my own hurt. The like may be said of Lawyers, Stewards, Pilots, and generally of all that do not act for themselves, but for those who employ them. And if a Company going to the
Indys,
should find that their Pilot was mad, drunk, or treacherous, they whose lives and goods are concern'd, can only be fit to judg, whether he ought to be trusted or not, since he cannot have a right to destroy those he was chosen to preserve; and they cannot be thought to judg perversly, because they have nothing to lead them but an opinion of truth, and cannot err but to their own prejudice. In the like manner, not only
Solon
and
Draco,
but
Romulus, Numa, Hostilius,
the Consuls, Dictators and
Decemviri,
were not distinguish'd from others, that it might be well with them,
Sed ut bonum, faelix, faustum
que
sit Populo Romano;
but that the prosperity and happiness of the People might be procur'd: which being the thing always intended, it were absurd to refer the judgment of the performance to him who is suspected of a design to overthrow it, and whose passions, interests, and vices, if he has any, lead him that way. If King
James
said any thing contrary to this, he might be answer'd with
Speech in Star-Chamber,
1616.
some of his own words;
I was,
says he,
sworn to maintain the Laws of the Land, and therefore had bin perjur'd if I had broken them.
It may also be presum'd, he had not forgotten what his Master
Buchanan
had taught
Hist. Scot.
in the Books he wrote chiefly for his Instruction, that the violation of the Laws of
Scotland
could not have bin so fatal to most of his Predecessors,
De Jure Reg. apud Scot.
Kings of that Country (nor as he himself had made them to his Mother) if Kings as Kings were above them.
SECT. XV. A general presumption that Kings will govern well, is not a sufficient security to the People.
BƲ T,
says our Author,
yet will they rule their Subjects by the Law; and a King governing in a settled Kingdom, leaves to be a King, and degenerates into a Tyrant, so soon as he ceases to rule according unto his Laws: Yet where he sees them rigorous or doubtful, he may mitigate or interpret.
This is therefore an effect of their goodness; they are above Laws, but will rule by Law, we have
Filmer
's word for it. But I know not how Nations can be assur'd their Princes will always be so good: Goodness is always accompany'd with Wisdom, and I do not find those admirable qualitys to be generally inherent or entail'd upon supreme Magistrats. They do not seem to be all alike, and we have not hitherto found them all to live in the same Spirit and Principle. I can see no resemblance between
Moses
and
Caligula, Joshua
and
Claudius, Gideon
and
Nero, Samson
and
Vitellius, Samuel
and
Otho, David
and
Domitian;
nor indeed between the best of these and their own Children. If the Sons of
Moses
and
Joshua
had bin like to them in wisdom, valor and integrity, 'tis probable they had bin chosen to succeed them; if they were not, the like is less to be presum'd of others. No man has yet observ'd the Moderation of
Gideon
to have bin in
Abimelech;
the Piety of
Eli
in
Hophni
and
Phineas;
the Purity and Integrity of
Samuel
in
Joel
and
Abiah,
nor the Wisdom of
Solomon
in
Rehoboam.
And if there was so vast a difference between them and their Children, who doubtless were instructed by those excellent men in the ways of Wisdom and Justice, as well by Precept as Example, were it not madness to be confident, that they who have neither precept nor good example to guide them, but on the contrary are educated in an utter ignorance or abhorrence of all vertue, will always be just and good; or to put the whole power into the hands of every man, woman, or child that shall be born in governing Familys, upon a supposition, that a thing will happen which never did; or that the weakest and worst will perform all that can be hop'd, and was seldom accomplish'd by the wisest and best, exposing whole Nations to be destroy'd without remedy, if they do it not? And if this be madness in all extremity, 'tis to be presum'd that Nations never intended any such thing, unless our Author prove that all Nations have bin mad from the beginning, and must always continue to be so. To cure this, he says,
They degenerate into Tyrants;
and if he meant as he speaks, it would be enough. For a King cannot degenerate into a Tyrant by departing from that Law which is only the product of his own will. But if he do degenerate, it must be by departing from that which dos not depend upon his will, and is a rule prescrib'd by a power that is above him. This indeed is the Doctrin of
Bracton,
who having said that the Power of the King is the Power of the Law, because the Law makes him King, adds,
Quia si faciat injuriam, definit esse Rex, & degenerat in tyrannum, & fit vicarius Diaboli.
Bract.
That if he do injustice, he ceases to be King, degenerates into a Tyrant, and becomes the Vicegerent of the Devil.
But I hope this must be understood with temperament, and a due consideration of human frailty, so as to mean only those injurys that are extreme; for otherwise he would terribly shake all the Crowns of the World.
But lest our Author should be thought once in his life to have dealt sincerely, and spoken truth, the next lines shew the fraud of his last Assertion, by giving to the Prince a power of
mitigating or interpreting the Laws that he sees to be rigorous or doubtful.
But as he cannot degenerate into a Tyrant by departing from the Law which proceeds from his own will, so he cannot mitigate or interpret that which proceeds from a superior Power, unless the right of mitigating or interpreting be confer'd upon him by the same. For as all wise men confess that
Cujus est instituere, ejus est abrogare.
none can abrogate but those who may institute,
and that all mitigation and interpretation varying from the true sense is an alteration, that alteration is an abrogation; for
Quicquid mutatut dissolvitur, interit ergo.
whatsoever is chang'd is dissolv'd, and therefore the power of mitigating is inseparable from that of instituting. This is sufficiently evidenc'd by
Henry
the Eighth's Answer to the Speech made to him by the Speaker of the House of Commons 1545. in which he, tho one of the most violent Princes we ever had, confesses the Parliament to be the Law-makers, and that an obligation lay upon him rightly to use the power with which he was entrusted. The right therefore of altering being inseparable from that of making Laws, the one being in the Parliament, the other must be so also.
Fortescue
says plainly, the King cannot change any Law;
Magna Charta
casts all upon
Leges terrae & Consuetudines Angliae.
the Laws of the Land and Customs of
England:
But to say that the King can by his will make that to be a Custom, or an antient Law, which is not, or that not to be so, which is, is most absurd. He must therefore take the Laws and Customs as he finds them, and can neither detract from, nor add any thing to them. The ways are prescrib'd as well as the end. Judgments are given by equals,
per Pares.
The Judges who may be assisting to those, are sworn to proceed according to Law, and not to regard the King's Letters or Commands. The doubtful Cases are reserv'd, and to be refer'd to the Parliament, as in the Statute of 35
Edw.
3
d
concerning Treasons, but never to the King. The Law intending that these Parliaments should be annual, and leaving to the King a power of calling them more often if occasion require, takes away all pretence of a necessity that there should be any other power to interpret or mitigate Laws. For 'tis not to be imagin'd that there should be such a pestilent evil in any antient Law, Custom, or later Act of Parliament, which being on the sudden discover'd, may not without any great prejudice continue for forty days, till a Parliament may be call'd; whereas the force and essence of all Laws would be subverted, if under color of mitigating and interpreting, the power of altering were allow'd to Kings, who often want the inclination, and for the most part the capacity of doing it rightly. 'Tis not therefore upon the uncertain will or understanding of a Prince, that the safety of a Nation ought to depend. He is sometimes a child, and sometimes overburden'd with years. Some are weak, negligent, slothful, foolish or vicious: others, who may have something of rectitude in their intentions, and naturally are not uncapable of doing well, are drawn out of the right way by the subtilty of ill men who gain credit with them. That rule must always be uncertain, and subject to be distorted, which depends upon the fancy of a man. He always fluctuates, and every passion that arises in his mind, or is infus'd by others, disorders him. The good of a People ought to be establish'd upon a more solid foundation. For this reason the Law is establish'd, which no passion can disturb. 'Tis void of desire and fear, lust and anger. 'Tis
Mens sine affectu,
written Reason, retaining some measure of the Divine Perfection. It dos not enjoin that which pleases a weak, frail man, but without any regard to persons commands that which is good, and punishes evil in all, whether rich or poor, high or low. 'Tis deaf, inexorable, inflexible.
By this means every man knows when he is safe or in danger, because he knows whether he has done good or evil. But if all depended upon the will of a man, the worst would be often the most safe, and the best in the greatest hazard: Slaves would be often advanc'd, the good and the brave scorn'd and neglected. The most generous Nations have above all things sought to avoid this evil: and the vertue, wisdom and generosity of each may be discern'd by the right fixing of the rule that must be the guide of every man's life, and so constituting their Magistracy that it may be duly observ'd. Such as have attain'd to this perfection, have always flourish'd in vertue and happiness: They are, as
Aristotle
says, govern'd by God, rather than by men, whilst those who subjected themselves to the will of a man were govern'd by a beast.
This being so, our Author's next clause, That
tho a King do frame all his Actions to be according unto Law, yet he is not bound thereunto, but as his good will, and for good example, or so far forth as the general Law for the safety of the Commonwealth doth naturally bind him,
is wholly impertinent. For if the King who governs not according to Law, degenerates into a Tyrant, he is oblig'd to frame his actions according to Law, or not to be a King; for a Tyrant is none, but as contrary to him, as the worst of men is to the best. But if these obligations were unty'd, we may easily guess what security our Author's words can be to us, that the King of his own good will, and for a good example, will frame his actions according to the Laws; when experience instructs us, that notwithstanding the strictest Laws, and most exquisite Constitutions, that men of the best abilitys in the world could ever invent to restrain the irregular appetites of those in power, with the dreadful examples of vengeance taken against such as would not be restrain'd, they have frequently broken out; and the most powerful have for the most part no otherwise distinguish'd themselves from the rest of men, than by the enormity of their vices, and being the most forward in leading others to all manner of crimes by their example.
SECT. XVI. The observation of the Laws of Nature is absurdly expected from Tyrants, who set themselves up against all Laws: and he that subjects Kings to no other Law than what is common to Tyrants, destroys their being.
OUR Author's last clause, acknowledging Kings to be bound by a general Law to provide for the safety of the People, would be sufficient for my purpose if it were sincere; for municipal Laws do only shew how that should be perform'd: and if the King by departing from that rule degenerates, as he says, into a Tyrant, 'tis easily determin'd what ought then to be done by the People. But his whole Book being a heap of contradictions and frauds, we can rely upon nothing that he says: And his following words, which under the same Law comprehend both Kings and Tyrants, shew that he intends Kings should be no otherwise oblig'd than Tyrants, which is, not at all.
By this means,
says he,
are all Kings, even Tyrants and Conquerors, bound to preserve the Lands, Goods, Libertys and Lives of all their Subjects, not by any municipal Law of the Land, so much as by the natural Law of a Father, which obligeth them to ratify the Acts of their Forefathers and Predecessors in things necessary for the publick good of their Subjects.
If he be therefore in the right, Tyrants and Conquerors are Kings and Fathers. The words that have bin always thought to comprehend the most irreconcilable contrariety, the one expressing the most tender love and care, evidently testify'd by the greatest obligations confer'd upon those who are under it; the other the utmost of all injurys that can be offer'd to men, signify the same thing: There is no difference between a Magistrate who is what he is by Law, and a publick Enemy, who by force or fraud sets himself up against all Law: And what he said before, that Kings degenerated into Tyrants, signifys nothing, for Tyrants also are Kings.
His next words are no less incomprehensible; for neither King nor Tyrant can be oblig'd to preserve the Lands, Goods and Libertys of their Subjects if they have none. But as Liberty consists only in being subject to no man's will, and nothing denotes a Slave but a dependence upon the will of another; if there be no other Law in a Kingdom than the will of a Prince, there is no such thing as Liberty. Property also is an appendage to Liberty; and 'tis as impossible for a man to have a right to Lands or Goods, if he has no Liberty, and enjoys his Life only at the pleasure of another, as it is to enjoy either when he is depriv'd of 'em. He therefore who says Kings and Tyrants are bound to preserve their Subjects Lands, Libertys, Goods and Lives, and yet lays for a foundation, that Laws are no more than the significations of their Pleasure, seeks to delude the world with words which signify nothing.
The vanity of these Whimsys will farther appear, if it be consider'd, that as Kings are Kings by Law, and Tyrants are Tyrants by overthrowing the Law, they are most absurdly join'd together; and 'tis not more ridiculous to set him above the Law, who is what he is by the Law, than to expect the observation of the Laws that enjoin the preservation of the Lands, Libertys, Goods and Lives of the People, from one who by fraud or violence makes himself master of all, that he may be restrain'd by no Law, and is what he is by subverting all Law.
Besides, if the
safety of the People
be
the supreme Law,
and this safety extend to, and consist in the preservation of their Libertys, Goods, Lands and Lives, that Law must necessarily be the root and beginning, as well as the end and limit of all magistratical Power, and all Laws must be subservient and subordinate to it. The question will not then be what pleases the King, but what is good for the People; not what conduces to his profit or glory, but what best secures the Libertys he is bound to preserve: he dos not therefore reign for himself, but for the People; he is not the Master, but the Servant of the Commonwealth; and the utmost extent of his Prerogative is to be able to do more good than any private Man. If this be his work and duty, 'tis easily seen whether he is to judg of his own performance, or they by whom and for whom he reigns; and whether in order to this he be to give Laws, or to receive them. 'Tis ordinarily said in
France, Il faut que chacun soit servi à sa mode;
Every man's business must be done according to his own mind: and if this be true in particular Persons, 'tis more plainly so in whole Nations. Many eyes see more than one: the collected wisdom of a People much surpasses that of a single Person; and tho he should truly seek that which is best, 'tis not probable he would so easily find it, as the body of a Nation, or the principal men chosen to represent the whole. This may be said with justice of the best and wisest Princes that ever were; but another Language is to be us'd when we speak of those who may succeed, and who very often, thro the defects of Age, Person, or Sex, are neither fit to judg of other mens affairs, nor of their own; and are so far from being capable of the highest Concernments relating to the safety of whole Nations, that the most trivial cannot reasonably be refer'd to them.
There are few men (except such as
Filmer,
who by bidding defiance to the Laws of God and Man, seems to declare war against both) whom I would not trust to determin whether a People, that can never fall into Nonage or Dotage, and can never fail of having men of Wisdom and Vertue amongst 'em, be not more fit to judg in their own Persons, or by Representatives, what conduces to their own good, than one who at a venture may be born in a certain Family, and who, besides his own Infirmitys, Passions, Vices, or Interests, is continually surrounded by such as endeavour to divert him from the ways of Truth and Justice. And if no reasonable man dare prefer the latter before the former, we must rely upon the Laws made by our Forefathers, and interpreted by the Nation, and not upon the will of a man.
'Tis in vain to say that a wise and good Council may supply the defects, or correct the Vices of a young, foolish, or ill dispos'd King. For
Filmer
denys that a King, whatever he be without exception, (for he attributes profound wisdom to all) is oblig'd to follow the advice of his Council; and even he himself would hardly have had the impudence to say, That good Counsel given to a foolish or wicked Prince were of any value, unless he were oblig'd to follow it. This Council must be chosen by him, or impos'd upon him: if it be impos'd upon him, it must be by a Power that is above him, which he says cannot be. If chosen by one who is weak, foolish, or wicked, it can never be good; because such vertue and wisdom is requir'd to discern and chuse a few good and wise men, from a multitude of foolish and bad, as he has not. And it will generally fall out, that he will take for his Counsellors rather those he believes to be addicted to his Person or Interests, than such as are fitly qualify'd to perform the duty of their places. But if he should by chance, or contrary to his intentions, make choice of some good and wise men, the matter would not be much mended, for they will certainly differ in opinion from the worst. And tho the Prince should intend well, of which there is no assurance, nor any reason to put so great a power into his hands if there be none; 'tis almost impossible for him to avoid the snares that will be laid to seduce him. I know not how to put a better face upon this matter: for if I examin rather what is probable than possible, foolish or ill Princes will never chuse such as are wise and good; but favouring those who are most like to themselves, will prefer such as second their vices, humors, and personal Interests, and by so doing will rather fortify and rivet the evils that are brought upon the Nation thro their defects, than cure them. This was evident in
Rehoboam:
he had good Counsel, but he would not hearken to it. We know too many of the same sort; and tho it were not impossible (as
Machiavelli
says it is) for a weak Prince to receive any benefit from a good Council, we may certainly conclude, that a People can never expect any good from a Council chosen by one who is weak or vicious.
If a Council be impos'd upon him, and he be oblig'd to follow their advice, it must be impos'd by a Power that is above him; his Will therefore is not a Law, but must be regulated by the Law: the Monarchy is not above the Law; and if we will believe our Author, 'tis no Monarchy, because the Monarch has not his will, and perhaps he says true. For if that be an Aristocracy, where those that are, or are reputed to be the best do govern, then that is certainly a mix'd State, in which the will of one man dos not prevail. But if Princes are not oblig'd by the Law, all that is founded upon that supposition falls to the ground: They will always follow their own humors, or the suggestions of those who second them.
Tiberius
hearken'd to none but
Chaldeans,
or the ministers of his impuritys and crueltys:
Claudius
was govern'd by Slaves, and the profligate Strumpets his Wives. There were many wise and good men in the Senat during the reigns of
Caligula, Nero,
and
Domitian;
but instead of following their Counsel, they endeavour'd to destroy them all, lest they should head the People against them; and such Princes as resemble them will always follow the like courses.
If I often repeat these hateful names, 'tis not for want of fresher examples of the same nature; but I chuse such as Mankind has universally condemn'd, against whom I can have no other cause of hatred than what is common to all those who have any love to vertue, and which can have no other relation to the Controversys of later Ages, than what may flow from the similitude of their causes, rather than such as are too well known to us, and which every man, according to the measure of his experience, may call to mind in reading these. I may also add, that as nothing is to be receiv'd as a general Maxim, which is not generally true, I need no more to overthrow such as
Filmer
proposes, than to prove how frequently they have bin found false, and what desperate mischiefs have bin brought upon the World as often as they have bin practis'd, and excessive Powers put into the hands of such as had neither inclination nor ability to make a good use of them: And therefore,
1. If the safety of Nations be the end for which Governments are instituted, such as take upon them to govern, by what Title soever, are by the Law of Nature bound to procure it; and in order to this, to preserve the Lives, Lands, Libertys and Goods of every one of their Subjects: and he that upon any title whatsoever pretends, assumes, or exercises a power of disposing of them according to his own will, violates the Laws of Nature in the highest degree.
2. If all Princes are oblig'd by the Law of Nature to preserve the Lands, Goods, Lives and Libertys of their Subjects, those Subjects have by the Law of Nature a right to their Libertys, Lands, Goods, &c. and cannot depend upon the will of any man, for that dependance destroys Liberty, &c.
3. Ill men will not, and weak men cannot provide for the safety of the People; nay the work is of such extreme difficulty, that the greatest and wisest men that have bin in the world are not able by themselves to perform it; and the assistance of Counsel is of no use, unless Princes are oblig'd to follow it. There must be therefore a power in every State to restrain the ill, and to instruct weak Princes by obliging them to follow the Counsels given, else the ends of Government cannot be accomplish'd, nor the rights of Nations preserv'd.
All this being no more than what is said by our Author, or necessarily to be deduc'd from his Propositions, one would think he were become as good a Commonwealths-man as
Cato;
but the wash'd Swine will return to the Mire. He overthrows all by a preposterous conjunction of the rights of Kings which are just and by Law, with those of Tyrants which are utterly against Law; and gives the sacred and gentle name of Father to those Beasts, who by their actions declare themselves enemys not only to all Law and Justice, but to Mankind that cannot subsist without them. This requires no other proof, than to examin whether
Attila
or
Tamerlan
did well deserve to be call'd Fathers of the Countrys they destroy'd. The first of these was usually call'd the scourge of God, and he glory'd in the Name. The other being reprov'd for the detestable crueltys he
.
exercis'd, made answer,
You speak to me as to a man; I am not a man, but the scourge of God and plague of Mankind.
This is certainly sweet and gentle Language, savouring much of a fatherly tenderness: There is no doubt that those who use it will provide for the safety of the Nations under them, and the preservation of the Laws of Nature is rightly refer'd to them; and 'tis also very probable, that they who come to burn the Countrys, and destroy the Nations that fall under their power, should make it their business to preserve them, and look upon the former Governors
as their Fathers, whose Acts they are oblig'd to confirm,
tho they seldom attain to the Dominion by any other means than the slaughter of them and their Familys.
But if the enmity be not against the Nation, and the cause of the war be only for Dominion against the ruling Person or Family, as that of
Baasha
against the house of
Jeroboam,
of
Zimri
against that of
Baasha,
of
Omri
against
Zimri,
and of
Jehu
against
Joram,
the prosecution of it is a strange way of becoming the Son of the Person destroy'd. And
Filmer
alone is subtil enough to discover, that
Jehu
by extinguishing the house of
Ahab,
drew an obligation upon himself, of looking on him as his Father, and confirming his acts. If this be true,
Moses
was oblig'd to confirm the acts of the Kings of the
Amalekites, Moabites
and
Amorites
that he destroy'd; the same duty lay upon
Joshua,
in relation to the
Canaanites:
but 'tis not so easily decided, to which of them he did owe that deference; for the same could not be due to all, and 'tis hard to believe, that by killing above thirty Kings, he should purchase to himself so many Fathers; and the like may be said of divers others.
Moreover, there is a sort of Tyrant who has no Father, as
Agathocles, Dionysius, Cesar,
and generally all those who subvert the Libertys of their own Country. And if they stood oblig'd to look upon the former Magistrats as their Predecessors, and to confirm their Acts, the first should have bin to give impunity and reward to any that would kill them, it having bin a fundamental Maxim in those States,
Uni
ui
que
licere Tyrannum occidere.
That any man might kill a Tyrant.
This being in all respects ridiculous and absurd, 'tis evident that our Author, who by proposing such a false security to Nations for their Libertys, endeavours to betray them, is not less treacherous to Kings, when under a pretence of defending their Rights, he makes them to be the same with those of Tyrants, who are known to have none (and are Tyrants because they have none) and gives no other hopes to Nations of being preserv'd by the Kings they set up for that end, than what upon the same account may be expected from Tyrants, whom all wise men have ever abhor'd, and affirm'd to have bin
produc'd
In generis humani exitium natos.
to bring destruction upon the World,
and whose Lives have verify'd the Sentence.
This is truly to depose and abolish Kings, by abolishing that by which and for which they are so. The greatness of their Power, Riches, State, and the pleasures that accompany them cannot but create enemys. Some will envy that which is accounted Happiness; others may dislike the use they make of their Power: some may be unjustly exasperated by the best of their Actions when they find themselves incommoded by them; others may be too severe judges of slight miscarriages. These things may reasonably temper the joys of those who delight most in the advantages of Crowns. But the worst and most dangerous of all their enemys are these accursed Sycophants, who, by making those that ought to be the best of men, like to the worst, destroy their Being; and by persuading the world they aim at the same things, and are bound to no other rule than is common to all Tyrants, give a fair pretence to ill men to say, They are all of one kind. And if this should be receiv'd for truth, even they who think the miscarriages of their Governors may be easily redrest, and desire no more, would be the most fierce in procuring the destruction of that which is naught in Principle, and cannot be corrected.
SECT. XVII. Kings cannot be the Interpreters of the Oaths they take.
OUR Author's Book is so full of absurditys and contradictions, that it would be a rope of Sand, if a continu'd series of frauds did not, like a string of Poisons running thro the whole, give it some consistence with it self, and shew it to be the work of one and the same hand. After having endeavour'd to subvert the Laws of God, Nature and Nations, most especially our own, by abusing the Scriptures, falsly alledging the Authority of many good Writers, and seeking to obtrude upon Mankind a universal Law, that would take from every Nation the right of constituting such Governments within themselves as seem most convenient for them, and giving rules for the administration of such as they had establish'd, he gives us a full view of his Religion and Morals, by destroying the force of the Oath taken by our Kings at their Coronation.
Others,
says he,
affirm, that altho Laws of themselves do not bind Kings, yet the Oaths of Kings at their Coronation ty them to keep all the Laws of their Kingdoms. How far this is true, let us but examin the Oath of the Kings of
England
at their Coronation, the words whereof are these. Art thou pleas'd to cause to be administer'd in all thy judgments, indifferent and upright Justice, and to use discretion with Mercy and Verity? Art thou pleas'd that our upright Laws and Customs be observ'd, and dost thou promise that those shall be protected and maintain'd by thee?
&c. To which the King
answers in the Affirmative, being first demanded by the Archbishop of
Canterbury,
Pleaseth it you to confirm and observe the Laws and Customs of the antient times, granted from God by just and devout Kings unto the English Nation, by Oath unto the said People, especially the Laws, Libertys and Customs granted unto the Clergy and Laity by the famous King
Edward? From this he infers, That the King
is not to observe all Laws, but such as are upright, because he finds evil Laws mention'd in the Oath of
Richard
the
2d,
which he swears to abolish: Now what Laws are upright and what evil, who shall judg but the King? &c. So that in effect the King doth swear to keep no Laws but such as in his judgment are upright, &c. And if he did strictly swear to observe all Laws, he could not without Perjury give his consent to the repealing or abrogating of any Statute by Act of Parliament,
&c. And again,
But let it be suppos'd for Truth, the Kings do swear to observe all Laws of their Kingdoms; yet no man can think it reason, that the Kings should be more bound by their voluntary Oaths than common Persons: Now if a private Person make a Contract, either with Oath or without Oath, he is no farther bound than the equity and justice of the Contract tys him; for a man may have relief against an unreasonable and unjust Promise, if either deceit or error, force or fear induc'd him thereunto; or if it be hurtful or grievous in the performance, since the Law in many cases gives the King a Prerogative above common persons.
Lest I should be thought to insist upon small advantages, I will not oblige any man to shew where
Filmer
found this Oath, nor observe the faults committed in the Translation; but notwithstanding his false representation, I find enough for my purpose, and intend to take it in his own words. But first I shall take leave to remark, that those who for private interests addict themselves to the personal service of Princes, tho to the ruin of their Country, find it impossible to persuade Mankind that Kings may govern as they please, when all men know there are Laws to direct and restrain them, unless they can make men believe they have their power from a universal and superior Law; or that Princes can attempt to dissolve the obligations laid upon them by the Laws, which they so solemnly swear to observe, without rendring themselves detestable to God and Man, and subject to the revenging hands of both, unless they can invalidate those Oaths. Mr.
Hobbes
I think was the first, who very ingeniously contriv'd
Lib. de Cive▪
a compendious way of justifying the most abominable Perjurys, and all the mischiefs ensuing thereupon, by pretending, that as the King's Oath is made to the People, the People may absolve him from the obligation; and that the People having confer'd upon him all the Power they had, he can do all that they could: he can therefore absolve himself, and is actually free, since he is so when he pleases. This is only false in the minor: for the People not having confer'd upon him all, but only a part of their Power, that of absolving him remains in themselves, otherwise they would never have oblig'd him to take the Oath. He cannot therefore absolve himself. The Pope indeed finds a help for this, and as Christ's Vicar pretends the power of Absolution to be in him, and exercis'd it in absolving K.
John.
But our Author despairing to impose either of these upon our Age and Nation, with more impudence and less wit, would enervate all Coronation-Oaths by subjecting them to the discretion of the taker; whereas all men have hitherto thought their force to consist in the declar'd sense of those who give them. This doctrin is so new, that it surpasses the subtilty of the Schoolmen, who, as an ingenious Person said of 'em, had minc'd Oaths so fine, that a million of 'em, as well as Angels, may stand upon the point of a needle; and were never yet equal'd but by the Jesuits, who have overthrown them by mental reservations; which is so clearly demonstrated from their books, that it cannot be deny'd, but so horrible, that even those of their own Order who have the least spark of common honesty condemn the practice. And one of them, being a Gentleman of a good family, told me, he would go the next day and take all the Oaths that should be offer'd, if he could satisfy his conscience in using any manner of equivocation or mental reservation, that he might put any other sense upon them, than he knew to be intended by those who offer'd them. And if our Author's conscience were not more corrupted than that of the Jesuit, who had liv'd fisty years under the worst Disciplin that I think ever was in the world, I would ask him seriously, if he truly believe, that the Nobility, Clergy and Commonalty os
England,
who have bin always so zealous for their antient Laws, and so resolute in defending 'em, did mean no more by the Oaths they so solemnly impos'd, and upon which they laid so much weight, than that the King should swear to keep 'em, so far only as he should think fit.
But
he swears only to observe those that are upright,
&c. How can that be understood otherwise than that those who give the Oath, do declare their Laws and Customs to be upright and good, and he by taking the Oath affirms them to be so? Or how can they be more precisely specify'd than by the ensuing Clause,
Granted from God by just and devout Kings by Oath, especially those os the samous King
Edward? But, says he, by the same Oath
Richard the
2d
was bound to abolish those that were evil.
I
any such had
ept in
hro error, or bin obtruded by malice, the evil being discover'd and declar'd by the Nobility and Commons who were concern'd, he was not to take advantage of them, or by his refusal to evade the abolition, but to join with his people in annulling them, according to the general Clause of assenting to those
Quas vulgus elegerit.
Magna Charta
being only an abridgment of our antient Laws and Customs, the King that swears to it, swears to them all; and not being admitted to be the interpreter of it, or to determin what is good or evil, fit to be observ'd or annul'd in it, can have no more power over the rest. This having bin confirm'd by more Parliaments than we have had Kings since that time, the same obligation must still lie upon them all, as upon
John
and
Henry,
in whose time that claim of right was compil'd. The Act was no less solemn than important; and the most dreadful curses that could be conceiv'd in words, which were denounc'd against such as should any way infringe it, by the Clergy in
Westminster-Hall,
in the presence and with the assent of K.
Henry
III. many of the principal Nobility, and all the Estates of the Kingdom, shew whether it was refer'd to the King's Judgment or not; when 'tis evident they fear'd the violation from no other than himself, and such as he should employ. I confess the Church (as they then call'd the Clergy) was fallen into such corruption, that their Arms were not much to be fear'd by one who had his conscience clear; but that could not be in the case of perjury: and our Ancestors could do no better, than to imploy the spiritual sword, reserving to themselves the use of the other in case that should be despis'd. Tho the Pope's Excommunications prov'd sometimes to be but
bruta fulmina,
when a just cause was wanting, it may be easily judg'd what obedience a Prince could expect from his Subjects, when every man knew he had by perjury drawn the most heavy curses upon himself. K.
John
was certainly wicked, but he durst not break these bonds till he had procur'd the Pope's absolution for a cover; and when he had done so, he found himself unsafe under it, and could not make good what he had promis'd to the Pope to obtain it, the Parliament declaring that his grants to the Pope were unjust, illegal, contrary to his Coronation-Oath, and that they would not be held by them. This went so far in that King's time, that Writs were issued out to men of all conditions to oblige themselves by oath to keep the great Charter; and if other means sail'd,
Er quod ipsum Regem per captionem distringerent & gravarent ad prafata exequenda.
to compel the King to perform the conditions.
'Tis expresly said in his Charter,
Et ip
Barones cum Communitate totius terra distringent & gravabunt nos modis omnibus qui
us poterunt, sci
cet per captionem castrorum, terrarum, pos
e
sionum, & aliis modis quibus potuerint, don
emendatum
uerit secundum arbitrium cor
m.
"That the Barons and Commonalty of the land shall straiten and compel us by all means possible, as by seizing our Towns, Lands, and Possessions, or any other way, till satisfaction be made according to their pleasure."
And in the Charter of his Son
Henry,
'tis, upon the same supposition of not performing the agreement, said,
Licet omnibus de regno nostro contra no
nsurg
re, & omni
a
ere qu
gravamen nostrum re
piciant▪ a
s
nobi
n nul
ten
rentur.
"It shall be lawful for all men in our Kingdom to rise up against us, and to do all things that may be grievous to us, as if they were absolutely free from any engagements to our person."
These words seem to have bin contriv'd to be so full and strong
propter duplicitatem Regis,
which was with too much reason suspected. And 'tis not, as I suppose, the language of Slaves and Villains begging something srom their Lord, but of noble and free men, who knew their Lord was no more than what they made him, and had nothing but what they gave him: nor the language of a Lord treating with such as enjoy'd their libertys by his favor, but with those whom he acknowledg'd to be the Judges of his performing what had bin stipulated; and equals the agreements made between the Kings and People of
Arragon,
which I cited before from the Relations of
Antonio Perez.
This is as far as men can go; and the experience of all ages manifests, that Princes performing their office, and observing these Stipulations, have liv'd glorious, happy and belov'd: and I can hardly find an example of any who have notoriously broken these Oaths, and bin adjudg'd to have incur'd the Penaltys, who have not liv'd miserably, dy'd shamefully, and left an abominable memory to posterity.
"But, says our Author, Kings cannot be more oblig'd by voluntary Oaths than other men, and may be reliev'd from unjust and unreasonable promises, if they be induc'd by deceit, error, force or fear, or the performance be grievous."
Which is to say, that no Oath is of any obligation: for there is none that is not voluntary or involuntary, and there never was any upon which some such thing may not be pretended, which would be the same if such as
Filmer
had the direction of their consciences who take the Oaths, and of those who are to exact the performance. This would soon destroy all confidence between King and People, and not only unhinge the best establish'd Governments, but by a detestable practice of annihilating the force of Oaths and most solemn Contracts that can be made by men, overthrow all Societys that subsist by them. I leave it to all reasonable men to judg how fit a work this would be for the supreme Magistrate, who is advanc'd to the highest degree of human glory and happiness, that he may preserve them; and how that Justice, for the obtaining of which Governments are constituted, can be administer'd, if he who is to exact it from others, dos in his own person utterly subvert it; and what they deserve, who by such base prevarications would teach 'em to pervert and abolish the most sacred of all Contracts. A worthy person of our Age was accustom'd to say that Contracts in writing were invented only to bind Villains, who having no Law, Justice or Truth within themselves, would not keep their words, unless such testimonys were given as might compel them. But if our Author's Doctrin were receiv'd, no contract would be of more value than a Cobweb. Such as are not absolutely of a profligate conscience, so far reverence the religion of an Oath, to think that even those which are most unjustly and violently impos'd, ought to be observ'd; and
Julius Cesar,
who I think was not over-scrupulous, when he was taken by Pyrats, and set at liberty upon his word, caus'd the Ransom he had promis'd to be paid to them. We see the like is practis'd every day by Prisoners taken in unjust as well as just Wars: And there is no honest man that would not abhor a Person, who being taken by the Pyrats of
Algier
should not pay what he had promis'd for his Liberty. 'Twere in vain to say they had no right of exacting, or that the performance was grievous; he must return to the chains, or pay. And tho the People of
Artois, Alsatia,
or
Flanders,
do perhaps with reason think the King of
France
has no right to impose Oaths of Allegiance upon them, no man doubts, that if they chuse rather to take those Oaths, than to suffer what might ensue upon their refusal, they are as much bound to be faithful to him as his antient Subjects.
The like may be said of promises extorted by fraud; and no other example is necessary to prove they are to be perform'd than that of
Joshua
made to the
Gibeonites.
They were an accursed Nation, which he was commanded to destroy: They came to him with lies, and by deceit induc'd him to make a League with them, which he ought not to have done; but being made, it was to be perform'd, and on that account he did not only spare but defend them, and the action was approv'd by God. When
Saul
by a preposterous zeal violated that League, the Anger of God for that breach of faith could no otherwise be appeas'd than by the death of seven of his Children. This case is so full, so precise, and of such undoubted authority, that I shall not trouble my self with any other. But if we believe our man of good morals, voluntary Oaths and Promises are of no more value than those gain'd by force or deceit, that is to say, none are of any. For voluntary signifying nothing but free, all human Acts are either free or not free, that is, from the will of the person, or some impulse from without. If therefore there be no force in those that are free, nor in those that are not free, there is none in any.
No better use can be made of any
pretension of error,
or that the
performance was grievous;
for no man ought to be griev'd at the performance of his Contract.
David
assures us, that a good man performs his agreement tho he lose by it; and the Lord Chancellor
Egerton
told a Gentleman, who desir'd relief against his own Deed, upon an Allegation that he knew not what he did when he sign'd it, that he did not sit to relieve fools.
But tho voluntary Promises or Oaths, when, to use the Lawyers language, there is not a valuable consideration, were of no obligation; or that men brought by force, fear or error, into such Contracts as are grievous in the performance, might be reliev'd; this would not at all reach the cases of Princes, in the Contracts made between them and their Subjects, and confirm'd by their Oaths, there being no color of force or fraud, fear or error for them to alledg; nor any thing to be pretended that can be grievous to perform, otherwise than as it may be grievous to an ill man not to do the mischiefs he had conceiv'd.
Nations according to their own will frame the Laws by which they resolve to be govern'd; and if they do it not wisely, the damage i only to themselves. But 'tis hard to find an example of any People that did by force oblige a man to take upon him the Government of them.
Gideon
was indeed much press'd by the
Israelites
to be their
ing; and the Army of
Germanicus
in a Mutiny more fiercely urg'd him to be Emperor; but both desisted when their Offers were refus'd. If our Kings have bin more modest, and our Ancestors more pertinacious in compelling them to accept the Crowns they offer'd, I shall upon proof of the matter change my opinion. But till that do appear, I may be pardon'd if I think there was no such thing.
William
the
Norman
was not by force brought into
England,
but came voluntarily, and desir'd to be King: The Nobility, Clergy, and Commons propos'd the Conditions upon which they would receive him. These conditions were to govern according to their antient Laws, especially those that had bin granted, or rather collected in the time of the famous King
Edward.
Here was neither force nor fraud; i
he had dislik'd the terms, he might have retir'd as freely as he came. But he did like them; and tho he was not perhaps so modest, to say with the
Addit. Mat. Par.
brave
Saxon
King
Osfa, Ad Libertatis vestrae tuitionem, non meis meriti
, sed solaliberalitate vestra unanimiter me convocast
s,
he accepted the C
own upon the Conditions offer'd, and swore upon the Evangelists to observe them. Not much valuing this, he pretended to govern according to
own will; but finding the People would not endure it, he renew'd his Oath upon the same Evangelists, and the Reliques of S.
Alban,
which he needed not to have done, but might have departed to his Dutchy of
Normandy
if he had not lik'd the conditions, or thought fit to observe them. 'Tis probable he examin'd the contents of
Edward
's Laws before he
Bonas & approbatas antiqu
s Regni Leges, quas sancti & pii Reges ejus antecessores, & maxime Edvardus statuit, in
iolabiliter observare.
swore to them, and could not imagin, that a free Nation which never had any other Kings than such as had bin chosen by themselves for the preservation of their Liberty, and from whose liberality the best of their Kings acknowledg'd the Crowns they wore, did intend to give up their Persons, Libertys and Estates to him, who was a stranger, most especially when they would not receive him till he had sworn to the same Laws by which the others had reign'd, of which one was (as appears by the act of the
Conventus Pananglicus)
that
Reges a Sacerdotibus & senioribus Populi eligantur, The Kings should be elected by the Clergy and Elders of the People.
By these means he was advanc'd to the Crown, to which he could have no title, unless they had the right of conferring it upon him. Here was therefore no force, deceit or error; and whatsoever equity there might be to relieve one that had bin forc'd, frighted or circumvented, it was nothing to this case. We do not find that
William
the 2
d,
or
Henry,
were forc'd to be Kings; no Sword was put to their Throats; and for any thing we know, the
English
Nation was not then so contemptible but men might have bin found in the world, who would willingly have accepted the Crown, and even their elder Brother
Robert
would not have refus'd: but the Nobility and Commons trusting to their Oaths and Promises, thought fit to prefer them before him; and when he endeavour'd to impose himself upon the Nation by force, they so severely punish'd him, that no better proof can be requir'd to shew they were accustom'd to have no other Kings than such as they approv'd. And this was one of the Customs that all their Kings swore to maintain, it being as antient, just, and well approv'd as any other.
Having already prov'd, that all the Kings we have had since that time, have come in upon the same title; that the
Saxon
Laws to which all have sworn, continue to be of force amongst us, and that the words pronounc'd four times on the four sides of the Scaffold by the Archbishop,
Will ye have this Man to reign?
do testify it; I may spare the pains of a repetition, and justly conclude, That if there was neither force nor fraud, fear nor error, to be pretended by the first, there could be none in those that follow'd.
But the
observation of this Oath may be grievous.
If I receiv'd mony the last year upon Bond, Promise, or sale of a Mannor or Farm, can it be thought grievous to me to be compel'd to repay, or make over the Land according to my agreement? Or if I did not seal the Bond till I had the mony, must not I perform the condition, or at the least restore what I had receiv'd? If it be grievous to any King to preserve the Libertys, Lives, and Estates of his Subjects, and to govern according to their Laws, let him resign the Crown, and the People to whom the Oath was made, will probably release him. Others may possibly be found who will not think it grievous: or if none will accept a Crown unless they may do what they please, the People must bear the misfortune of being oblig'd to govern themselves, or to institute some other sort of Magistracy that will be satisfy'd with a less exorbitant Power. Perhaps they may succeed as well as some others have done, who without being brought to that necessity, have voluntarily cast themselves into the misery of living without the majestick splendor of a Monarch: or if that fail, they may as their last refuge, surrender up themselves to Slavery. When that is done, we will acknowledg that whatsoever we have is deriv'd from the favor of our Master. But no such thing yet appearing amongst us, we may be pardon'd if we think we are Free-men govern'd by our own Laws, and that no man has a Power over us, which is not given and regulated by them; nor that any thing but a new Law made by our selves, can exempt our Kings from the obligation of performing their Oaths taken, to govern according to the old, in the true sense of the words, as they are understood in our Language by those who give them, and conducing to the ends for which they are given, which can be no other than to defend us from all manner of arbitrary Power, and to fix a rule to which we are to conform our Actions, and from which, according to our deserts, we may expect reward or punishment. And those who by prevarications, cavils or equivocations, endeavour to dissolve these Obligations, do either maliciously betray the cause of Kings, by representing them to the world as men who prefer the satisfaction of their irregular Appetites before the performance of their duty, and trample under foot the most sacred bonds of human Society; or from the grossest ignorance do not see, that by teaching Nations how little they can rely upon the Oaths of their Princes, they instruct them as little to observe their own; and that not only because men are generally inclin'd to follow the examples of those in power, but from a most certain conclusion, that he who breaks his part of a Contract cannot without the utmost impudence and folly expect the performance of the other; nothing being more known amongst men, than that all Contracts are of such mutual obligation, that he who fails of his part discharges the other. If this be so between man and man, it must needs be so between one and many millions of men: If he were free, because he says he is, every man must be free also when he pleases; if a private man who receives no benefit, or perhaps prejudice from a Contract, be oblig'd to perform the conditions, much more are Kings who receive the greatest advantages the world can give. As they are not by themselves nor for themselves, so they are not different
in specie
from other men: they are born, live and die as we all do. The same Law of Truth and Justice is given to all by God and Nature; and perhaps I may say the performance of it is most rigorously exacted from the greatest of men. The liberty of Perjury cannot be a privilege annex'd to Crowns; and 'tis absurd to think that the most venerable Authority that can be confer'd upon a man, is increas'd by a liberty to commit, or impunity in committing such crimes as are the greatest aggravations of infamy to the basest villains in the world.
SECT. XVIII. The next in blood to deceas'd Kings cannot generally be said to be Kings till they are crown'd.
'TIS hereupon usually objected, that Kings do not come in by Contract nor by Oath, but are Kings by, or according to proximity of Blood, before they are crown'd. Tho this be a bold Proposition, I will not say 'tis universally false. 'Tis possible that in some places the rule of Succession may be set down so precisely, that in some cases every man may be able to see and know the sense, as well as the Person design'd to be the Successor: but before I acknowledg it to be universally true, I must desire to know what this rule of Succession is, and from whence it draws its original.
I think I may be excus'd if I make these scruples, because I find the thing in dispute to be variously adjudg'd in several places, and have observ'd five different manners of disposing Crowns esteem'd Hereditary, besides an infinite number of collateral Controversys arising from them, of which we have divers examples; and if there be one universal rule appointed, one of these only can be right, and all the others must be vicious. The first gives the inheritance to the eldest Male of the eldest legitimate Line, as in
France,
according to that which they call the
Salique Law.
The second, to the eldest legitimate Male of the reigning Family, as antiently in
Spain,
according to which the Brother of the deceas'd King has bin often, if not always prefer'd before the Son, if he were elder, as may appear by the dispute between
Corbis
and
Orsua,
cited before
rom
Titus Livius;
and in the same Country during the reign of the
Goths,
the eldest Male succeeded, whether Legitimate or Illegitimate. The fourth receives Females or their Descendents, without any other condition distinguishing them from Males, except that the younger Brother is prefer'd before the elder Sister, but the daughter of the elder Brother is prefer'd before the Son of the younger. The fifth gives the Inheritance to Females under a condition, as in
Sweden,
where they inherit, unless they marry out of the Country without the consent of the Estates; according to which rule
Charles Gustavus
was chosen, as any Stranger might have bin, tho Son to a Sister of
Gustavus Adolphus,
who by marrying a
German
Prince had forfeited her right. And by the same act of Estates, by which her eldest Son was chosen, and the Crown entail'd upon the Heirs of his Body, her second Son the Prince
Adolphus
was wholly excluded.
Till these questions are decided by a Judg of such undoubted Authority, that all men may safely submit, 'tis hard for any man who really seeks the satisfaction of his Conscience, to know whether the Law of God and Nature (tho he should believe there is one general Law) do justify the Customs of the antient
—Medis levibus
que
Sabaeis
Imperat hic sexus, Reginarum
que
sub armis
Barbaries pars magna jacet.
Lucan.
Medes
and
Sabeans,
mention'd by the Poet, who admitted Females, or those of
France
which totally exclude them as unfit to reign over men, and utterly unable to perform the duty of a supreme Magistrate, as we see they are every where excluded from the exercise of all other Offices in the Commonwealth. If it be said that we ought to follow the Customs of our own Country, I answer, that those of our own Country deserve to be observ'd, because they are of our own Country: But they are no more to be call'd the Laws of God and Nature than those of
France
or
Germany;
and tho I do not believe that any general Law is appointed, I wish I were sure that our Customs in this point were not more repugnant to the light of Nature, and prejudicial to our selves, than those of some other Nations. But if I should be so much an
English
-man, to think the will of God to have bin more particularly reveal'd to our Ancestors, than to any other Nation, and that all of them ought to learn from us; yet it would be difficult to decide many questions that may arise. For tho the Parliament in the 36
th
of
Henry
the sixth, made an Act in favour of
Richard
Duke of
York,
descended from a Daughter of
Mortimer,
who marry'd the Daughter of the Duke of
Clarence,
elder Brother to
John
of
Gaunt,
they rather asserted their own power of giving the Crown to whom they pleas'd, than determin'd the question. For if they had believ'd that the Crown had belong'd to him by a general and eternal Law, they must immediately have rejected
Henry
as a Usurper, and put
Richard
into the possession of his Right, which they did not. And tho they did something like to this in the cases of
Maud
the Empress in relation to King
Stephen,
and her Son
Henry
the 2
d;
and of
Henry
the 7
th
in relation to the house of
York,
both before he had marry'd a Daughter of it, and after her death; they did the contrary in the cases of
William
the first and second,
Henry
the 1
st, Stephen, John, Richard
the 3
d, Henry
the 7
th, Mary, Elizabeth,
and others. So that, for any thing I can yet find, 'tis equally difficult to discover the true sense of the Law of Nature that should be a guide to my Conscience, whether I so far submit to the Laws of my Country, to think that
England
alone has produc'd men that rightly understand it, or examin the Laws and Practices of other Nations.
Whilst this remains undecided, 'tis impossible for me to know to whom I owe the obedience that is exacted from me. If I were a
French
-man, I could not tell whether I ow'd allegiance to the King of
Spain,
Duke of
Lorrain,
Duke of
Savoy,
or many others descended from Daughters of the House of
Valois,
one of whom ought to inherit, if the Inheritance belongs to Females; or to the house of
Bourbon,
whose only title is founded upon the exclusion of them. The like Controversys will be in all places; and he that would put Mankind upon such inquirys, goes about to subvert all the Governments of the World, and arms every man to the destruction of his neighbor.
We ought to be inform'd when this right began: If we had the Genealogy of every man from
Noah,
and the Crowns of every Nation had since his time continu'd in one Line, we were only to inquire into how many Kingdoms he appointed the World to be divided, and how well the division we see at this day agrees with the allotment made by him. But Mankind having for many ages lain under such a vast confusion, that no man pretends to know his own original, except some
Jews,
and the Princes of the house of
Austria,
we cannot so easily arrive at the end of our work; and the Scriptures making no other mention of this part of the world, than what may induce us to think it was given to the Sons of
Japhet,
we have nothing that can lead us to guess how it was to be subdivided, nor to whom the several parcels were given: So that the difficultys are absolutely inextricable; and tho it were true, that some one man had a right to every parcel that is known to us, it could be of no use; for that Right must necessarily perish which no man can prove, nor indeed claim. But as all natural Rights by Inheritance must be by Descent, this Descent not being prov'd, there can be no natural Right; and all Rights being either natural, created or acquir'd, this Right to Crowns not being natural, must be created or acquir'd, or none at all.
There being no general Law common to all Nations, creating a Right to Crowns (as has bin prov'd by the several methods us'd by several Nations in the disposal of them, according to which all those that we know are enjoy'd) we must seek the Right concerning which we dispute, from the particular Constitutions of every Nation, or we shall be able to find none.
Acquir'd Rights are obtain'd, as men say, either by fair means or by foul, that is, by force or by consent: such as are gain'd by force, may be recover'd by force; and the extent of those that are enjoy'd by consent, can only be known by the reasons for which, or the conditions upon which that consent was obtain'd, that is to say, by the Laws of every People. According to these Laws it cannot be said that there is a King in every Nation before he is crown'd.
John Sobietski
now reigning in
Poland,
had no relation in blood to the former Kings, nor any title till he was chosen. The last King of
Sweden
acknowledg'd he had none, but was freely elected; and the Crown being confer'd upon him and the Heirs of his Body, if the present King dies without Issue, the right of electing a Successor returns undoubtedly to the Estates of the Country. The Crown of
Denmark
was Elective till it was made Hereditary by an Act of the General Diet held at
Copenhagen
in the year 1660; and 'tis impossible that a Right should otherwise accrue to a younger Brother of the house of
Holstein,
which is deriv'd from a younger Brother of the Counts of
Oldenburgh.
The
Roman
Empire having pass'd thro the hands of many Persons of different Nations, no way relating to each other in blood, was by
Constantine
transfer'd to
Constantinople;
and after many Revolutions coming to
Theodosius,
by birth a
Spaniard,
was divided between his two Sons
Arcadius
and
Honorius.
From thence passing to such as could gain most credit with the Soldiers, the Western Empire being brought almost to nothing, was restor'd by
Charles
the Great of
France;
and continuing for some time in his descendents, came to the
Germans;
who having created several Emperors of the Houses of
Suevia, Saxony, Bavaria
and others, as they pleas'd, about three hundred years past chose
Rodolphus
of
Austria:
and tho since that time they have not had any Emperor who was not of that Family; yet such as were chosen had nothing to recommend them, but the merits of their Ancestors, their own personal Vertues, or such political considerations as might arise from the power of their hereditary Countrys, which being join'd with those of the Empire, might enable 'em to make the better defence against the
Turks.
But in this Line also they have had little regard to inheritance according to blood; for the elder branch of the Family is that which reigns in
Spain;
and the Empire continues in the descendents of
Ferdinand
younger Brother to
Charles
the fifth, tho so unfix'd even to this time, that the present Emperor
Leopold
was in great danger of being rejected.
If it be said that these are elective Kingdoms, and our Author speaks of such as are hereditary; I answer, that if what he says be true, there can be no Elective Kingdom, and every Nation has a natural Lord to whom obedience is due. But if some are Elective, all might have bin so if they had pleas'd, unless it can be prov'd, that God created some under a necessity of subjection, and left to others the enjoyment of their liberty. If this be so, the Nations born under that necessity may be said to have a natural Lord, who has all the power in himself, before he is crown'd, or any part confer'd on him by the consent of the people; but it cannot extend to others. And he who pretends a right over any Nation upon that account, stands oblig'd to shew when and how that Nation came to be discriminated by God from others, and depriv'd of that liberty which he in goodness had granted to the rest of mankind. I confess I think there is no such Right, and need no better proof than the various ways of disposing Inheritances in several Countrys, which not being naturally or universally better or worse one than another, cannot spring from any other root, than the consent of the several Nations where they are in force, and their opinions that such methods were best for them. But if God has made a discrimination of people, he that would thereupon ground a Title to the dominion of any one, must prove that Nation to be under the curse of Slavery, which for any thing I know, was only denounc'd against
Cham:
and 'tis as hard to determin whether the sense of it be temporal, spiritual, or both, as to tell precisely what Nations by being descended from him, fall under the Penaltys threaten'd.
If these therefore be either intirely false, or impossible to be prov'd true, there is no discrimination, or not known to us; and every People has a right of disposing of their Government, as well as the
Polanders, Danes, Swedes, Germans,
and such as are or were under the
Roman
Empire. And if any Nation has a natural Lord before he be admitted by their consent, it must be by a peculiar act of their own; as the Crown of
France
by an act of that Nation, which they call the Salique Law, is made hereditary to Males in a direct Line, or the nearest to the direct; and others in other places are otherwise dispos'd.
I might rest here with full assurance that no Disciple of
Filmer
can prove this of any people in the world, nor give so much as the shadow of a reason to persuade us there is any such thing in any Nation, or at least in those where we are concern'd; and presume little regard will be had to what he has said, since he cannot prove of any that which he so boldly affirms of all. But because good men ought to have no other object than Truth, which in matters of this importance can never be made too evident, I will venture to go farther, and assert, That as the various ways by which several Nations dispose of the succession to their respective Crowns, shew they were subject to no other Law than their own, which they might have made different, by the same right they made it to be what it is, even those who have the greatest veneration for the reigning Familys, and the highest regard for proximity of blood, have always prefer'd the safety of the Commonwealth before the concernments of any Person or Family, and have laid aside the nearest in blood, not only when they were found to be notoriously vicious and wicked, but when they have thought it more convenient to take others: And to prove this I intend to make use of no other Examples than those I find in the Historys of
Spain, France
and
England.
Whilst the
Goths
govern'd
Spain,
not above four persons in the space of three hundred years were the immediate successors of their Fathers, but the Brother, Cousin German, or some other man of the Familys of the
Balthei
or
Amalthei
was prefer'd before the Children of the deceas'd King: and if it be said, this was according to the Law of that Kingdom, I answer, that it was therefore in the power of that Nation to make Laws for themselves, and consequently others have the same right. One of their Kings call'd
Wamba
was depos'd and made a Monk after he had
Saavedra Coron. Goth.
reign'd well many years; but falling into a swound, and his friends thinking him past recovery, cut off his hair, and put a Monk's Frock upon him, that, according to the superstition of those times, he might die in it; and the cutting off the hair being a most disgraceful thing amongst
Mar. Hist. l. 6.
the
Goths,
they would not restore him to his Authority.
Suintila
another of their Kings being depriv'd of the Crown for his ill Government, his Children and Brothers were excluded, and
Sisinandus
crown'd in his
Saavedra Coron. Goth.
room.
This Kingdom being not long after overthrown by the
Moors,
a new one arose from its ashes in the person of
Don Pelayo
first King of the
Asturia
's, which increasing by degrees at last came to comprehend all
Spain,
and so continues to this day: But not troubling my self with all the deviations from the common rule in the collateral Lines of
Navarr, Arragon
and
Portugal,
I find that by fifteen several Instances in that one series of Kings in the
Asturia
's and
Leon
(who afterwards came to be Kings of
Castille)
it is fully prov'd, that what respect soever they shew'd to the next in blood, who by the Law were to succeed, they prefer'd some other person, as often as the supreme Law of
taking care that the Nation might receive no detriment,
persuaded them to it.
Don Pelayo
enjoy'd for his life the Kingdom confer'd upon him by the
Spaniards,
who with him retir'd into the Mountains to defend themselves against the
Moors,
and was succeeded by his Son
Favila.
But tho
Favila
left many Sons when he dy'd,
Alphonso
sirnam'd the Chast was advanc'd to the Crown, and they all laid aside.
Fruela
Son to
Alphonso
the Catholick, was for his cruelty depos'd, put to death, and his Sons excluded.
Aurelio
his Cousin German succeeded him; and at his death
Silo,
who
Mariana l. 13.
marry'd his Wife's Sister, was prefer'd before the Males of the Blood Royal.
Alphonso,
sirnam'd
El Casto,
was first violently dispossest of the Crown by a Bastard of the Royal Family; but he being dead, the Nobility and People thinking
Alphonso
more fit to be a Monk than a King, gave the Crown to
Bermudo
call'd
El Diacono;
but
Bermudo
after several years resigning the Kingdom, they conceiv'd a better opinion of
Alphonso,
and made him King.
Alphonso
dying without issue,
Don Ramiro
Son to
Bermudo
was prefer'd before the Nephews of
Alphonso. Don Ordonno,
fourth from
Ramiro,
le
t four legitimate Sons; but they being young, the Estates laid them aside, and made his Brother
Fruela
King.
Fruela
had many Children, but the same Estates gave the Crown to
Alphonso
the Fourth, who was his Nephew.
Alphonso
turning Monk, recommended his Son
Ordonno
to the Estates of the Kingdom; but they refus'd him, and made his Brother
Ramiro
King.
Ordonno
third Son to
Ramiro
dying, left a Son call'd
Bermudo;
but the Estates took his Brother
Sancho,
and advanc'd him to the throne.
Henry
the First being accidentally kill'd in his youth, left only two Sisters,
Blanche
marry'd to
Lewis
Son to
Philip August
King of
France,
and
Berenguela
marry'd to
Alphonso
King of
Leon.
The Estates made
Ferdinand,
Son of
Berenguela
the youngest Sister,
Marian. l. 1
. c. 7.
King, excluding
Blanche,
with her Husband and Children for being Strangers, and
Berenguela
her self, because they thought not fit that her Husband should have any part in the Government.
Alphonso El Savio
seems to have bin a very good Prince; but applying himself more to the study of Astrology than to affairs of Government (his eldest Son
Ferdinand de la Cerda
dying, and leaving his Sons
Alphonso
and
Ferdinand
very young) the Nobility, Clergy and People depos'd him, excluded his Granchildren, and gave the Crown to
Don Sancho
his younger Son, sirnam'd
El Bravo,
thinking him more fit to command them against the
Moors,
than an old Astrologer, or a Child.
Alphonso
and
Sancho
being dead,
Alphonso el Desheredado
laid claim to the Crown, but it was given to
Ferdinand
the Fourth, and
Alphonso
with his descendents the Dukes
de Medina Celi
remain excluded to this day.
Peter
sirnam'd the Cruel was twice driven out of the Kingdom, and at last kill'd by
Bertrand de Guesclin
Constable of
France,
or
Henry
Count of
Trastamara
his Bastard-Brother, who was made King without any regard to the Daughters of
Peter,
or
Marian. l. 24.
to the House of
La Cerda. Henry
the Fourth left a Daughter call'd
Joan,
whom he declar'd his Heir; but the Estates gave the Kingdom to
Isabel
his Sister, and crown'd her with
Ferdinand
of
Arragon
her Husband.
Joan
Daughter to this
Ferdinand
and
Isabel
falling mad, the Estates committed the care of the Governnent to her Father
Ferdinand,
and after his death to her Son.
But the
French
have taught us, that when a King dies, his next Heir is really King before he take his Oath, or be crown'd. From them we learn that
Le mort saisit le vif.
And yet I know no History that proves more plainly than theirs, that there neither is nor can be in any man, a right to the Government of a People, which dos not receive its being, manner and measure from the Law of the Country; which I hope to justify by four Reasons.
1. When a King of
Pharamond
's Race dy'd, the Kingdom was divided into as many parcels as he had Sons; which could not have bin, if one certain Heir had bin assign'd by nature, for he ought to have had the whole: and if the Kingdom might be divided, they who inhabited the several parcels, could not know to whom they ow'd obedience, till the division was made, unless he who was to be King of
Paris, Metz, Soissons
or
Orleans,
had worn the Name of his Kingdom upon his forehead. But in truth, if there might be a division, the Doctrin is false, and there was no Lord of the whole. This wound will not be heal'd, by saying, The Father appointed the division, and that by the Law of nature every man may dispose of his own as he thinks fit; for we shall soon prove that the Kingdom of
France
neither was, nor is disposable as a Patrimony or Chattel. Besides, if that Act of Kings had bin then grounded upon the Law of nature, they might do the like at this day. But the Law, by which such Divisions were made, having bin abrogated by the Assembly
Hist. de Fr. en la Vie de Hugues Capet.
of Estates in the time of
Hugh Capet,
and never practis'd since, it follows that they were grounded upon a temporary Law, and not upon the Law of Nature which is eternal. If this were not so, the pretended certainty could not be; for no man could know to whom the last King had bequeath'd the whole Kingdom, or parcels of it, till the Will were open'd; and that must be done before such Witnesses as may deserve credit in a matter of this importance, and are able to judg whether the Bequest be rightly made; for otherwise no man could know, whether the Kingdom was to have one Lord or many, nor who he or they were to be; which intermission must necessarily subvert their Polity, and this Doctrin. But the truth is, the most Monarchical men among them are so far from acknowledging any such right to be in the King, of alienating, bequeathing or dividing the Kingdom, that they do not allow him the right of making a Will; and that of the last King
Lewis
the 13
th
touching the Regency during the minority of his Son was of no effect.
Mem. du Duc. de la Rochefocault.
2. This matter was made more clear under the second race. If a Lord had bin assign'd to them by nature, he must have bin of the Royal Family: But
Pepin
had no other Title to the Crown, except the merits of his Father, and his own, approv'd by the Nobility and People who made him King. He had three sons, the eldest was made King of
Italy,
and dying before him left a Son call'd
Bernard
Heir of that Kingdom.
Paul. Aemil. Hist. Franc▪
The Estates of
France
divided what remain'd between
Charles
the Great and
Carloman,
The last of these dying in a few years, left many Sons, but the Nobility made
Charles
King of all
France,
and he dispossest
Bernard
of the Kingdom of
Italy
inherited from his Father: so that he also was not King of the whole, before the expulsion of
Bernard
the Son of his elder Brother; nor of
Aquitain,
which by inheritance should have belong'd to the Children of his younger Brother, any otherwise than by the will of the Estates.
Lewis
the
Debonair
succeeded upon the same title, was depos'd and put into a Monastery by his three Sons
Lothair, Pepin
and
Lewis,
whom he had by his first Wife. But tho these left many Sons, the Kingdom came to
Charles
the Bald. The Nobility and People disliking the eldest Son of
Charles,
gave the Kingdom to
Lewis le Begue,
who had a legitimate Son called
Charles le Simple;
but his two Bastards,
Lewis
and
Carloman,
were made Kings.
Carloman
had a Son call'd
Lewis le faineant;
he was made King, but afterwards depos'd for his vicious Life.
Charles le Gross
succeeded him, but for his ill Government was also depos'd; and
Odo,
who was a stranger to the Royal Blood, was made King. The same Nobility that had made five Kings since
Lewis le Begue,
now made
Charles le Simple
King, who according to his name was entrap'd at
Peronne
by
Ralph
Duke of
Burgundy,
and forc'd to resign his Crown, leaving only a Son call'd
Lewis,
who fled into
England. Ralph
being dead, they took
Lewis
sirnam'd
Outremer,
and plac'd him in the Throne: he had two Sons,
Lothair
and
Charles. Lothair
succeeded him, and dy'd without Issue.
Charles
had as fair a title as could be by Birth, and the Estates confest it; but their Embassadors told him, that he having by an unworthy Life render'd himself unworthy of the Crown, they, whose principal care was to have a good Prince at the head of them, had chosen
Hugh Capet;
and the Crown continues in his race to this day, tho not altogether without interruption.
Robert
Son to
Hugh Capet
succeeded him. He left two Sons
Robert
and
Henry;
but
Henry
the younger Son appearing to the Estates of the Kingdom to be more fit to reign than his elder Brother, they made him King,
Robert
and his descendents continuing Dukes of
Burgundy
only for about ten Generations; at which time his Issue Male failing, that Dutchy return'd to the Crown during the Life of King
John,
who gave it to his second Son
Philip
for an
Apannage
still depending upon the Crown. The same Province of
Burgundy
was by the Treaty of
Madrid
granted to the Emperor
Charles
the sisth by
Francis
the first: but the People refus'd to be alienated, and the Estates of the Kingdom approv'd their refusal. By the same Authority
Charles
the 6
th
was remov'd from the Government, when he appear'd to be mad; and other examples of a like nature may be alledg'd. From which we may safely conclude, that if the death of one King dos really invest the next Heir with the Right and Power, or that he who is so invested, be subject to no Law but his own Will, all matters relating to that Kingdom must have bin horribly confus'd during the reigns of twenty two Kings of
Pharamond
's race; they can have had no rightful King from the death of
Chilperic
to King
John:
and the Succession since that time is very liable to be question'd, if not utterly overthrown by the house of
Austria,
who by the Counts of
Hapsburg
derive their Descent from
Pharamond,
and by the house of
Lorrain
claiming from
Charles,
who was excluded by
Capet:
All which is most absurd, and they who pretend it, bring as much confusion into their own Laws, and upon the Polity of their own Nation, as shame and guilt upon the memory of their Ancestors, who by the most extreme injustice have rejected their natural Lord, or dispossest those who had bin in the most solemn manner plac'd in the Government, and to whom they had generally sworn Allegiance.
3. If the next Heir be actually King, seiz'd of the power by the death of his Predecessor, so that there is no intermission; then all the Solemnitys and religious Ceremonys us'd at the Coronations of their Kings, with the Oaths given and taken, are the most profane abuses of sacred things in contempt of God and Man that can be imagin'd, most especially if the Act be (as our Author calls it) voluntary, and the King receiving nothing by it, be bound to keep it no longer than he pleases. The Prince who is to be sworn, might spare the pains of watching all night in the Church, fasting, praying, confessing, communicating, and swearing,
that he will to the utmost of his power defend the Clergy, maintain the union of the Church, obviate all excess, rapine, extortion and iniquity; take care that in all judgments Justice may be observ'd, with Equity and Mercy, &c. or of invoking the assistance of the Holy Ghost for the better performance of his Oath;
and without ceremony tell the Nobility and People, that he would do what he thought fit. 'Twere to as little purpose for the Archbishop of
Rheims
to take the trouble of saying Mass, delivering to him the Crown, Scepter, and other ensigns of Royalty, explaining what is signify'd by them, anointing him with the Oil which they say was deliver'd by an Angel to St.
Remigius,
blessing him, and praying to God to bless him if he rightly perform'd his Oath to God and the People, and denouncing the contrary in case of failure on his part, if these things confer'd nothing upon him but what he had before, and were of no obligation to him. Such ludifications of the most sacred things are too odious and impious to be imputed to Nations that have any vertue, or profess Christianity. This cannot fall upon the
French
and
Spaniards,
who had certainly a great zeal to Religion, whatever it was; and were so eminent sor moral Vertues as to be a reproach to us, who live in an Age of more Knowledg. But their meaning is so well declar'd by their most solemn Acts, that none but those who are wilfully ignorant can mistake. One of the Councils held at
Toledo,
declar'd by the Clergy, Nobility, and
T
l
t.
others assisting,
That no man should be plac'd in the Royal Seat till he had sworn to preserve the Church,
&c. Another held in the same place, signify'd
T
l
t. 4.
to
Sisinandus,
who was then newly crown'd,
That if he, or any of his Successors should, contrary to their Oaths, and the Laws of their Country, proudly and cruelly presume to exercise Domination over them, he should be excommunicated, and separated from Christ and them to eternal judgment.
The
French
Laws, and their best Writers asserting the same things, are confirm'd by perpetual practice.
Henry
of
Navarre,
tho certainly according to their Rules, and in their esteem a most accomplish'd Prince,
.
was by two General Assemblys of the Estates held at
Blois,
depriv'd of the Succession for being a Protestant; and notwithstanding the greatness of his Reputation, Valor, Victorys, and Affability, could never be admitted, till he had made himself capable of the ceremonys of his Coronation, by conforming to the Religion which by the Oath he was to defend. Nay this present King, tho haughty enough by nature, and elevated by many successes, has acknowledg'd, as he says, with joy, that he can do nothing contrary to Law, and calls it a happy impotence; in pursuance of which he has annul'd many Acts of his Father and Grandfather, alienating the demeasnes of the Crown, as things contrary to Law, and not within their power.
These things being confirm'd by all the good Authors of that Nation,
Filmer
finds only the worst to be fit for his turn; and neither minding Law nor History, takes his Maxims from a vile flattering discourse of
Bellay,
calculated for the personal Interest of
Henry
the fourth then King of
Navarr,
in which he says,
That the Heir apparent, tho furious, mad,
Apol. Cathol.
a fool, vicious, and in all respects abominably wicked, must be admitted to the Crown.
But
Bellay
was so far from attaining the ends design'd by his Book, that by such Doctrins, which fill'd all men with horror, he brought great prejudice to his Master, and procur'd little favor from
Henry,
who desir'd rather to recommend himself to his People as the best man they could set up, than to impose a necessity upon 'em of taking him if he had bin the worst. But our Author, not contented with what this Sycophant says, in relation to such Princes as are plac'd in the Government by a Law establishing the Succession by inheritance, with an impudence peculiar to himself, asserts the same right to be in any man, who by any means gets into Power; and imposes the same necessity of obedience upon the Subject where there is no Law, as
Bellay
dos by virtue of one that is establish'd.
4. In the last place: As
Bellay
acknowledges that the right belongs to Princes only where 'tis establish'd by Law, I deny that there is, was, or ever can be any such. No People is known to have bin so mad or wicked, as by their own consent, for their own good, and for the obtaining of Justice, to give the power to Beasts, under whom it could never be obtain'd: or if we could believe that any had bin guilty of an act so full of folly, turpitude and wickedness, it could not have the force of a Law, and could never be put in execution; for tho the rules, by which the proximity should be judg'd, be never so precise, it will still be doubted whose case sutes best with them. Tho the Law in some places gives private Inheritances to the next Heir, and in others makes allotments according to several proportions, no one knows to whom, or how far the benefit shall accrue to any man, till it be adjudg'd by a Power to which the partys must submit. Contests will in the like manner arise concerning successions to Crowns, how exactly soever they be dispos'd by Law: For tho every one will say that the next ought to succeed, yet no man knows who is the next; which is too much verify'd by the bloody decisions of such disputes in many parts of the world: and he that says the next in blood is actually King, makes all questions thereupon arising impossible to be otherwise determin'd than by the Sword; the pretender to the right being plac'd above the judgment of man, and the Subjects (for any thing I know) oblig'd to believe, serve and obey him, if he says he has it. For otherwise, if either every man in particular, or all together have a right of judging his title, it can be of no value till it be adjudg'd.
I confess that the Law of
France,
by the utter exclusion of Females and their descendents, dos obviate many dangerous and inextricable difficultys; but others remain which are sufficient to subvert all the Polity of that Kingdom, if there be not a power of judging them; and there can be none if it be true that
Le mort saisit le vif.
Not to trouble my self with feign'd cases, that of Legitimation alone will suffice. 'Tis not enough to say that the Children born under marriage are to be reputed legitimate; for not only several Children born of
Joan
Daughter to the King of
Portugal,
Wife to
Henry
the Fourth of
Castille,
during the time of their Marriage, were utterly rejected as begotten in Adultery, but also her Daughter
Joan,
whom the King during his life, and at the hour of his death acknowledg'd to have bin begotten by him; and the only Title that
Isabel,
who was marry'd to
Ferdinand
of
Arragon,
had to the Crown of
Spain,
was deriv'd from their rejection. It would be tedious, and might give offence to many great Persons, if I should relate all the dubious cases, that have bin, or still remain in the World, touching matters of this nature: but the Lawyers of all Nations will testify, that hardly any one point comes before them, which affords a greater number of difficult Cases, than that of Marriages, and the Legitimation of Children upon them; and Nations must be involv'd in the most inextricable difficultys, if there be not a power somewhere to decide them; which cannot be, if there be no intermission, and that the next in blood (that is, he who says he is the next) be immediately invested with the right and power. But surely no people has bin so careless of their most important Concernments, to leave them in such uncertainty, and simply to depend upon the humor of a man, or the faith of women, who besides their other Frailtys, have bin often accus'd of supposititious Births: and mens passions are known to be so violent in relation to Women they love or hate, that none can safely be trusted with those Judgments. The vertue of the best would be expos'd to a temptation, that flesh and blood can hardly resist; and such as are less perfect would follow no other rule than the blind impulse of the passion that for the present reigns in them. There must therefore be a judg of such disputes as may in these cases arise in every Kingdom; and tho 'tis not my business to determin who is that judg in all places, yet I may justly say, that in
England
it is the Parliament. If no inferior Authority could debar
Ignotus
Son to the Lady
Rosse,
born under the Protection, from the inheritance of a private Family, none can certainly assume a power of disposing of the Crown upon any occasion. No Authority but that of the Parliament could legitimate the Children of
Catherine Swinford,
with a proviso, not to extend to the inheritance of the Crown. Others might say, if they were lawfully begotten, they ought to inherit every thing, and nothing if they were not: But the Parliament knew how to limit a particular favor, and prevent it from extending to a publick mischief.
Henry
the Eighth took an expeditious way of obviating part of the Controversys that might arise from the multitude of his Wives, by cutting off the heads of some, as soon as he was weary of them, or had a mind to take another; but having bin hinder'd from dealing in the same manner with
Catherine
by the greatness of her birth and kindred, he left such as the Parliament only could resolve. And no less power would ever have thought of making
Mary
and
Elizabeth
capable of the succession, when, according to ordinary rules, one of 'em must have bin a Bastard; and it had bin absurd to say, that both of 'em were immediately upon the death of their Predecessors possest of the Crown, if an Act of Parliament had not confer'd the right upon them, which they could not have by birth. But the Kings and Princes of
England
have not bin of a temper different from those of other Nations: and many Examples may be brought of the like occasions of dispute happening every where; and the like will probably be for ever; which must necessarily introduce the most mischievous confusions, and expose the Titles which (as is pretended) are to be esteem'd most sacred, to be overthrown by violence and fraud, if there be not in all places a Power of deciding the Controversys that arise from the uncertainty of Titles, according to the respective Laws of every Nation, upon which they are grounded: No man can be thought to have a just Title, till it be so adjudg'd by that power: This judgment is the first step to the Throne: The Oath taken by the King obliges him to observe the Laws of his Country; and that concerning the Succession being one of the principal, he is oblig'd to keep that part as well as any other.
SECT. XIX. The greatest Enemy of a just Magistrate is he who endeavours to invalidate the Contract between him and the People, or to corrupt their Manners.
'TIS not only from Religion, but from the Law of Nature, that we learn the necessity of standing to the agreements we make; and he who departs from the principle written in the hearts of men
Pactis standum,
seems to degenerate into a beast. Such as had vertue, tho without true religion, could tell us (as a brave and excellent
Grecian
did) that it was not necessary for him to live, but it was necessary to preserve his Heart from deceit, and his Tongue from falshood. The
Roman
Satyrist carrys the same Notion to a great height, and affirms, that
—Phalaris licet imperet ut sis
F
lsus, & admoto dictet perjuria Tauro,
Summum crede nesas animam praferre pudori.
Juvena
▪
tho the worst of Tyrants should command a man to be false and perjur'd, and back his injunction with the utmost of Torments, he ought to prefer his integrity before his life.
And tho
Filmer
may be excus'd if he often mistake in matters of Theology; yet his Inclinations to
Rome,
which he prefers before
Geneva,
might have led him to the Principles in which the honest
Romans
liv'd, if he had not observ'd that such Principles as make men honest and generous do also make them lovers of Liberty, and constant in the defence of their Country: which savouring too much of a Republican Spirit, he prefers the morals of that City, since they are become more refin'd by the pious and charitable Jesuits, before those that were remarkable in them, as long as they retain'd any shadow of their antient Integrity, which admitted of no equivocations and detested prevarications; by that means preserving innocence in the hearts of private men for their inward contentment, and in civil Societys for the publick good; which if once extinguish'd, Mankind must necessarily fall into the condition
Hobbes
rightly calls
Bellum omnium contra omnes,
wherein no man can promise to himself any other Wise, Children or Goods, than he can procure by his own Sword.
Some may perhaps think that the endeavours of our Author to introduce such accursed Principles as tend to the ruin of Mankind, proceed from his ignorance. But tho he appears to have had a great measure of that quality, I fear the evil proceeds from a deeper root; and that he attempts to promote the interests of ill Magistrats, who make it their business to destroy all good principles in the People, with as much industry as the good endeavour to preserve them where they are, and teach them where they are wanting. Reason and Experience instruct us, that every man acts according to the end he proposes to himself. The good Magistrate seeks the good of the People committed to his care, that he may perform the end of his Institution: and knowing that chiefly to consist in Justice and Vertue, he endeavours to plant and propagate them; and by doing this he procures his own good, as well as that of the Publick. He knows there is no Safety where there is no Strength, no Strength without Union, no Union without Justice; no Justice where Faith and Truth, in accomplishing publick and private Contracts, is wanting. This he perpetually inculcates, and thinks it a great part of his duty, by precept and example, to educate the Youth in a love of Vertue and Truth, that they may be season'd with them, and fill'd with an abhorrence of Vice and Falshood, before they attain that Age which is expos'd to the most violent temptations, and in which they may by their crimes bring the greatest mischiefs upon the publick. He would do all this, tho it were to his own prejudice. But as good Actions always carry a reward with them, these contribute in a high measure to his advantage. By preferring the interest of the People before his own, he gains their affection, and all that is in their power comes with it; whilst he unites them to one another, he unites all to himself: In leading them to vertue, he increases their strength, and by that means provides for his own safety, glory and power.
On the other side, such as seek different ends must take different ways. When a Magistrate fancys he is not made for the People, but the People for him; that he dos not govern for them, but for himself; and that the People live only to increase his glory, or to furnish matter for his pleasures, he dos not inquire what he may do for them, but what he may draw from them. By this means he sets up an interest of profit, pleasure or pomp in himself, repugnant to the good of the publick for which he is made to be what he is. These contrary ends certainly divide the Nation into partys; and whilst every one endeavours to advance that to which he is addicted, occasions of hatred for injurys every day done, or thought to be done and receiv'd, must necessarily arise. This creates a most fierce and irreconcilable enmity, because the occasions are frequent, important and universal, and the causes thought to be most just. The People think it the greatest of all crimes, to convert that power to their hurt, which was instituted for their good; and that the injustice is aggravated by perjury and ingratitude, which comprehend all manner of ill; and the Magistrate gives the name of Sedition or Rebellion to whatsoever they do for the preservation of themselves and their own Rights. When mens Spirits are thus prepar'd, a small matter sets them on fire; but if no accident happen to blow them into a flame, the course of Justice is certainly interrupted, the publick affairs are neglected; and when any occasion whether foreign or domestick arises, in which the Magistrate stands in need of the Peoples assistance, they, whose affections are alienated, not only shew an unwillingness to serve him with their Persons and Estates, but fear that by delivering him from his distress they strengthen their enemy, and enable him to oppress them: and he fancying his will to be unjustly oppos'd, or his due more unjustly deny'd, is fill'd with a dislike of what he sees, and a fear of worse for the future. Whilst he endeavours to ease himself of the one, and to provide against the other, he usually increases the evils of both, and jealousys are on both sides multiply'd. Every man knows that the Governed are in a great measure under the power of the Governor; but as no man, or number of men, is willingly subject to those who seek their ruin, such as fall into so great a misfortune, continue no longer under it than force, fear, or necessity may be able to oblige them. But as such a necessity can hardly lie longer upon a great People, than till the evil be fully discover'd and comprehended, and their Vertue, Strength and Power be united to expel it; the ill Magistrate looks upon all things that may conduce to that end, as so many preparatives to his ruin; and by the help of those who are of his party, will endeavour to prevent that Union, and diminish that Strength, Vertue, Power and Courage, which he knows to be bent against him. And as truth, faithful dealing, due performance of Contracts, and integrity of Manners, are bonds of Union, and helps to good, he will always by tricks, artifices, cavils, and all means possible endeavour to establish falshood and dishonesty; whilst other Emissarys and instruments of Iniquity, by corrupting the Youth, and seducing such as can be brought to leudness and debauchery, bring the People to such a pass, that they may neither care nor dare to vindicate their Rights, and that those who would do it, may so far suspect each other, as not to confer upon, much less to join in any action tending to the publick Deliverance.
This distinguishes the good from the bad Magistrate, the faithful from the unfaithful; and those who adhere to either, living in the same principle, must walk in the same ways. They who uphold the rightful power of a just Magistracy, encourage Vertue and Justice, and teach men what they ought to do, suffer, or expect from others; they fix them upon principles of Honesty, and generally advance every thing that tends to the increase of the valor, strength, greatness and happiness of the Nation, creating a good Union among them, and bringing every man to an exact understanding of his own and the publick Rights. On the other side, he that would introduce an ill Magistrate; make one evil who was good, or preserve him in the exercise of injustice when he is corrupted, must always open the way for him by vitiating the People, corrupting their Manners, destroying the validity of Oaths and Contracts, teaching such evasions, equivocations and frauds, as are inconsistent with the thoughts that become men of vertue and courage; and overthrowing the confidence they ought to have in each other, make it impossible for them to unite among themselves. The like Arts must be us'd with the Magistrate: He cannot be for their turn, till he is persuaded to believe he has no dependence upon, and ows no duty to the People; that he is of himself, and not by their Institution; that no man ought to inquire into, nor be judg of his actions; that all obedience is due to him, whether he be good or bad, wise or foolish, a father or an enemy to his Country. This being calculated for his personal interest, he must pursue the same designs, or his Kingdom is divided within it self, and cannot subsist. By this means those who flatter his humor, come to be accounted his Friends, and the only men that are thought worthy of great Trusts, whilst such as are of another mind are expos'd to all persecution. These are always such as excel in Vertue, Wisdom, and greatness of Spirit: they have Eyes, and they will always see the way they go; and leaving fools to be guided by implicit Faith, will distinguish between good and evil, and chuse that which is best; they will judg of men by their actions, and by them discovering whose Servant every man is, know whether he is to be obey'd or not. Those who are ignorant of all good, careless, or enemys to it, take a more compendious way: their slavish, vitious and base natures inclining them to seek only private and present advantages, they easily slide into a blind dependence upon one who has Wealth and Power; and desiring only to know his will, care not what injustice they do, if they may be rewarded. They worship what they find in the Temple, tho it be the vilest of Idols, and always like that best which is worst, because it agrees with their inclinations and principles. When a party comes to be erected on such a foundation, debauchery, leudness and dishonesty are the true badges of it. Such as wear them are cherish'd; but the principal marks of favor are reserv'd for those who are the most industrious in mischief, either by seducing the People with the allurements of sensual Pleasures, or corrupting their Understandings by false and slavish Doctrins. By this means a man who calls himself a Philosopher or a Divine, is often more useful than a great number of Tapsters, Cooks, Buffoons, Players, Fidlers, Whores or Bauds. These are the Devil's Ministers of a lower Order; they seduce single Persons, and such as fall into their snares are for the most part men of the simpler sort: but the principal supporters of his Kingdom, are they, who by false Doctrins poison the springs of Religion and Vertue, and by preaching or writing (if their falshood and wickedness were not detected) would extinguish all principles of common honesty, and bring whole Nations to be best satisfy'd with themselves, when their actions are most abominable. And as the means must always be sutable to the end propos'd, the Governments that are to be establish'd or supported by such ways must needs be the worst of all, and comprehend all manner of evil.
SECT. XX. Unjust Commands are not to be obey'd; and no man is oblig'd to suffer for not obeying such as are against Law.
IN the next place our Author gravely proposes a question,
Whether it be a sin to disobey the King, if he command any thing contrary to Law?
and as gravely determins,
that not only in human Laws, but even in Divine, a thing may be commanded contrary to Law, and yet obedience to such a Command is necessary. The sanctifying of the Sabbath is a divine Law, yet if a Master command his Servant not to go to Church upon a Sabbath-day, the best Divines teach us, the Servant must obey, &c. It is not sit to ty the Master to acquaint the Servant with his secret Counsel.
Tho he frequently contradicts in one line what he says in another, this whole Clause is uniform and sutable to the main design of his Book. He sets up the authority of Man in opposition to the command of God, gives it the preference, and says, the best Divines instruct us so to do. St.
Paul
then must have bin one of the worst, for he knew that the Powers under which he liv'd, had under the severest penaltys forbidden the publication of the Gospel; and yet he says,
Wo to me if I preach it not.
St.
Peter
was no better than he, for he tells us,
That it is better to obey God than Man:
and they could not speak otherwise, unless they had forgotten the words of their Master, who told them,
They should not fear them that could only kill the Body, but him who could kill and cast into Hell.
And if I must not fear him that can only kill the Body, not only the reason, but all excuse for obeying him is taken away.
Chap. 14▪
To prove what he says, he cites a pertinent Example from St.
Luke,
and very logically concludes, that because Christ approv'd the hypocrisy of the
Pharisees,
(who generally adher'd to the external and circumstantial part of the Law, neglecting the essential, and taking upon themselves to be the interpreters of that which they did not understand) the Law of God is not to be obey'd: and as strongly proves, that because Christ shew'd them that the same Law, which by their own confession permitted them to pull an Ass out of a pit on the Sabbath-day, could not but give a liberty of healing the sick, therefore the commands of Kings are to be obey'd, tho they should be contrary to human and divine Laws. But if perverseness had not blinded him, he might have seen, that this very Text is wholly against his purpose; for the Magistratical Power was on the side of the
Pharisees,
otherwise they would not have sought an occasion to ensnare him; and that power having perverted the Law of God by false glosses, and a superinduction of human Traditions, prohibited the most necessary acts of Charity to be done on the Sabbathday, which Christ reprov'd, and restor'd the sick man to his health in their sight.
But I could wish our Author had told us the names of those Divines, who, he says, are the best, and who pretend to teach us these fine things. I know some who are thought good, that are of a contrary opinion, and say, that God having requir'd that Day to be set apart for his Service and Worship, man cannot dispense with the Obligation, unless he can abrogate the Law of God. Perhaps, for want of other Arguments to prove the contrary, I may be told, that this savours too much of Puritanism and Calvinism. But I shall take the reproach, till some better Patrons than
Laud
and his creatures may be found for the other opinion. By the advice and instigation of these men, from about the year 1630, to 1640, sports and revelings, which ended for the most part in drunkenness and leudness, were not only permitted on that day, but enjoin'd. And tho this did advance human Authority in derogation to the Divine, to a degree that may please such as are of our Author's mind, yet others resolving rather to obey the Laws of God than the Commands of Men, could not be brought to pass the Lord's day in that manner. Since that time no man except
Filmer
and
Heylin
have bin so wicked to conceive, or so impudent to assert such brutal absurditys. But leaving the farther consideration of the original of this abuse, I desire to know, whether the Authority given to Masters to command things contrary to the Law of God, be peculiar in relation to the Sabbath, or to a few other points, or ought generally to extend to all God's Laws; and whether he who may command his Servant to act contrary to the Law of God, have not a right in himself of doing the same. If peculiar, some Authority or Precept must be produc'd, by which it may appear that God has slighted his Ordinance concerning that Day, and suffer'd it to be contemn'd, whilst he exacts obedience to all others. If we have a liberty left to us of slighting others also, more or less in number, we ought to know how many, what they are, and how it comes to pass, that some are of obligation and others not. If the Empire of the world is not only divided between God and
Cesar,
but every man also who can give five pounds a year to a Servant, has so great a part in it, that in some cases his commands are to be obey'd preferably to those of God, it were fit to know the limits of each Kingdom, lest we happen preposterously to obey man when we ought to obey God, or God when we are to follow the commands of men. If it be general, the Law of God is of no effect, and we may safely put an end to all thoughts and discourses of Religion: the word of God is nothing to us; we are not to inquire what he has commanded, but what pleases our Master, how insolent, foolish, vile or wicked soever he may be. The Apostles and Prophets who dy'd for preferring the commands of God before those of men, fell like fools, and perish'd in their sins. But if every particular man that has a servant, can exempt him from the commands of God, he may also exempt himself, and the Laws of God are at once abrogated throout the world.
'Tis a folly to say there is a passive, as well as an active Obedience, and that he who will not do what his Master commands ought to suffer the punishment he inflicts: for if the Master has a right of commanding, there is a duty incumbent on the servant of obeying. He that suffers for not doing that which he ought to do, draws upon himself both the guilt and the punishment. But no one can be oblig'd to suffer for that which he ought not to do, because he who pretends to command, has not so far an Authority. However, our question is, whether the Servant should forbear to do that which God commands, rather than whether the Master should put away or beat him if he do not: for if the Servant ought to obey his Master rather than God, as our Author says the best Divines assert, he sins in disobeying, and that guilt cannot be expiated by his suffering. If it be thought I carry this point to an undue extremity, the limits ought to be demonstrated, by which it may appear that I exceed them, tho the nature of the case cannot be alter'd: for if the Law of God may not be abrogated by the commands of men, a Servant cannot be exempted from keeping the Sabbath according to the Ordinance of God, at the will of his Master. But if a power be given to man at his pleasure to annul the Laws of God, the Apostles ought not to have preach'd, when they were forbidden by the Powers to which they were subject: The tortures and deaths they suffer'd for not obeying that command were in their own wrong, and their blood was upon their own heads.
His second instance concerning Wars, in which he says the Subject is not to examin whether they are just or unjust, but must obey, is weak and frivolous, and very often false; whereas consequences can rightly be drawn from such things only as are certainly and universally true. Tho God may be merciful to a Soldier, who by the wickedness of a Magistrate whom he honestly trusts, is made a Minister of injustice, 'tis nothing to this case. For if our Author say true, that the word of a King can justify him in going against the command of God, he must do what is commanded tho he think it evil: The Christian Soldiers under the Pagan Emperors were oblig'd to destroy their Brethren, and the best men in the world for being so: Such as now live under the
Turk
have the same obligation upon them of defending their Master, and slaughtering those he reputes his Enemys for adhering to Christianity: And the King of
France
may when he pleases, arm one part of his Protestant Subjects to the destruction of the other; which is a godly doctrin, and worthy our Author's invention.
But if this be so, I know not how the
Israelites
can be said to have sinn'd in following the examples of
Jeroboam, Omri, Ahab,
or other wicked Kings: they could not have sinn'd in obeying, if it had bin a sin to disobey their commands; and God would not have punish'd them so severely, if they had not sinn'd. 'Tis impertinent to say they were oblig'd to serve their Kings in unjust Wars, but not to serve Idols; for tho God be jealous of his glory, yet he forbids Rapine and Murder as well as Idolatry. If there be a Law that forbids the Subject to examin the commands tending to the one, it cannot but enjoin obedience to the other. The same Authority which justifys Murder, takes away the guilt of Idolatry; and the Wretches, both Judges and Witnesses, who put
Naboth
to death, could as little alledg ignorance, as those that worship'd
Jeroboam
's Calves; the same light of Nature by which they should have known, that a ridiculous Image was not to be ador'd as God, instructing them also, that an innocent man ought not under pretence of Law to be murder'd by perjury.
SECT. XXI. It cannot be for the good of the People that the Magistrate have a power above the Law: and he is not a Magistrate who has not his power by Law.
THAT we may not be displeas'd, or think it dangerous and slavish to depend upon the will of a man, which perhaps may be irregular or extravagant in one who is subject to no Law, our Author very dextrously removes the scruples by telling us,
1.
That the Prerogative of the King to be above the Law, is only for the good of them that are under the Law, and to preserve their Libertys.
2.
That there can be no Laws without a supreme Power to command or make them: In Aristocracys the Noblemen are above the Law; in Democracys the People: By the like reason in a Monarchy, the King must of necessity be above the Law. There can be no Sovereign Majesty in him that is under the Law: that which gives the very being to a King, is the power to give Laws. Without this Power he is but an equivocal King. It skills not how he comes by this Power, whether by Election, Donation, Succession, or any other means.
I am contented in some degree to follow our Author, and to acknowledg that the King neither has nor can have any Prerogative which is not for the good of the People, and the preservation of their Libertys. This therefore is the foundation of Magistratical Power, and the only way of discerning whether the Prerogative of making Laws, of being above Laws, or any other he may pretend, be justly due to him or not: and if it be doubted who is the fittest judg to determin that question, common sense will inform us, that if the Magistrate receive his Power by election or donation, they who elect, or give him that Power, best know whether the good they sought be perform'd or not; if by succession, they who instituted the Succession: if otherwise, that is, by fraud or violence, the point is decided, for he has no right at all, and none can be created by those means. This might be said, tho all Princes were of ripe age, sober, wise, just and good; for even the best are subject to mistakes and passions, and therefore unfit to be judges of their own concernments, in which they may by various means be misguided: but it would be extreme madness to attribute the same to Children, Fools, or Madmen, who are not able to judg of the least things concerning themselves or others; but most especially to those, who coming in by usurpation, declare their contempt of all human and divine Laws, and are enemys to the People they oppress. None therefore can be judges of such cases but the People, for whom and by whom the Constitutions are made; or their Representatives and Delegats, to whom they give the power of doing it.
But nothing can be more absurd than to say, that one man has an absolute power above Law to govern according to his will,
for the Peoples good, and the preservation of their Liberty:
For no Liberty can subsist where there is such a Power; and we have no other way of distinguishing between free Nations and such as are not so, than that the free are govern'd by their own Laws and Magistrats according to their own mind, and that the others either have willingly subjected themselves, or are by force brought under the power of one or more men, to be rul'd according to his or their pleasure. The same distinction holds in relation to particular persons. He is a free man who lives as best pleases himself, under Laws made by his own consent; and the name of slave can belong to no man, unless to him who is either born in the house of a Master, bought, taken, subdu'd, or willingly gives his ear to be nail'd to the post, and subjects himself to the will of another. Thus were the
Grecians
said to be free in opposition to the
Medes
and
Persians,
as
Artabanus
acknowledg'd in his Discourse to
Themistocles.
In the same manner the
Italians, Germans
and
Spaniards
were distinguish'd from the Eastern Nations. who for the most part were under the power of Tyrants.
Rome
was said to have recover'd liberty by the expulsion of the
Tarquins;
or, as
Tacitus
expresses it,
Libertatem & Consulatum L. Brutus instituit.
An. l.
1.
Lucius Brutus establish'd Liberty and the Consulat together,
as if before that time they had never enjoy'd any; and
Julius Cesar
is said to have overthrown the liberty of that People. But if
Filmer
deserve credit, the
Romans
were free under
Tarquin,
enslav'd when he was driven way, and his Prerogative extinguish'd, that was so necessarily requir'd for the defence of their Liberty; and were never restor'd to it, till
Cesar
assum'd all the Power to himself. By the same rule the
Switzers, Grisons, Venetians, Hollanders,
and some other Nations are now Slaves; and
Tuscany,
the Kingdom of
Naples,
the Ecclesiastical State, with such as live under a more gentle Master on the other side of the Water, I mean the
Turk,
are free Nations. Nay the
Florentins,
who complain of Slavery under the House of
Medices,
were made free by the power of a
Spanish
Army who set up a Prerogative in that gentle Family, which for their good has destroy'd all that could justly be call'd so in that Country, and almost wholly dispeopl'd it. I, who esteem my self free, because I depend upon the will of no man, and hope to die in the liberty I inherit from my Ancestors, am a slave; and the
Moors
or
Turks,
who may be beaten and kill'd whenever it pleases their insolent Masters, are Free-men. But surely the world is not so much mistaken in the signification of words and things. The weight of Chains, number of Stripes, hardness of labor, and other effects of a Master's cruelty, may make one servitude more miserable than another: but he is a slave who serves the best and gentlest man in the world, as well as he who serves the worst; and he dos serve him if he must obey his commands, and depends upon his will. For this reason the Poet ingeniously flattering a good Emperor, said, that Liberty was not more desirable, than to serve a gentle Master; but still acknowledg'd that it was a service, distinct from, and contrary to Liberty: and it had not bin a handsom complement, unless the evil of servitude were so extreme, that nothing but the vertue and goodness of the Master could any way compensate or alleviate it. Now tho it should be granted that he had spoken more like to a Philosopher than a Poet; that we might take his words in the strictest sense, and think it possible to find such Conveniences in a subjection to the will of a good and wise Master, as may balance the loss of Liberty, it would be nothing to the question; because that Liberty is thereby acknowledg'd to be destroy'd by the Prerogative, which is only instituted to preserve it. If it were true, that no liberty were to be prefer'd before the service of a good Master, it could be of no use to the perishing world, which
Filmer
and his Disciples would by such arguments bring into a subjection to children, fools, mad or vicious men. These are not cases feign'd upon a distant imaginary possibility, but so frequently found amongst men, that there are few examples of the contrary. And as 'tis folly to suppose that Princes will always be wise, just and good, when we know that few have bin able alone to bear the weight of a Government, or to resist the temptations to ill, that accompany an unlimited power, it would be madness to presume they will for the future be free from infirmitys and vices. And if they be not, the Nations under them will not be in such a condition of servitude to a good Master as the Poet compares to Liberty, but in a miserable and shameful subjection to the will of those who know not how to govern themselves, or to do good to others. Tho
Moses, Joshua
and
Samuel
had bin able to bear the weight of an unrestrain'd Power: tho
David
and
Solomon
had never abus'd that which they had; what effect could this have upon a general Proposition? Where are the Familys that always produce such as they were? When did God promise to assist all those who should attain to the Sovereign Power, as he did them whom he chose for the works he design'd? Or what testimony can
Filmer
give us, that he has bin present with all those who have hitherto reign'd in the world? But if we know that no such thing either is, or has bin; and can find no promise to assure us, nor reason to hope that it ever will be, 'tis as foolish to found the hopes of preserving a People upon that which never was, or is so likely to fail, nay rather which in a short time most certainly will fail, as to root up Vines and Figtrees in expectation of gathering grapes and figs from thistles and briars. This would be no less than to extinguish the light of common sense, to neglect the means that God has given us to provide for our security, and to impute to him a disposition of things utterly inconsistent with his Wisdom and Goodness. If he has not therefore order'd that thorns and thistles should produce figs and grapes, nor that the most important works in the world, which are not without the utmost difficulty, if at all, to be perform'd by the best and wisest of men, should be put into the hands of the weakest, most foolish and worst, he cannot have ordain'd that such men, women or children as happen to be born in reigning Familys, or get the power into their hands by fraud, treachery or murder (as very many have done) should have a right of disposing all things according to their will. And if men cannot be guilty of so great an absurdity to trust the weakest and worst with a Power which usually subverts the Wisdom and Vertue of the best; or to expect such effects of Vertue and Wisdom from those who come by chance, as can hardly, if at all, be hop'd from the most excellent; our Author's Proposition can neither be grounded upon the Ordinance of God, nor the Institution of men. Nay, if any such thing had bin establish'd by our first Parents in their simplicity, the utter impossibility of attaining what they expected from it, must wholly have abrogated the Establishment: Or rather, it had bin void from the beginning, because it was not
Sanctio recta, jubens honesta, prohibens
ontra
ia.
C
er.
a just Sanction, commanding things good, and forbidding the contrary,
but a foolish and perverse Sanction, setting up the unruly appetites of one person to the subversion of all that is good in the world, by making the wisdom of the aged and experienc'd to depend upon the will of Women, Children and Fools; by sending the strong and the brave to seek protection from the most weak and cowardly, and subjecting the most vertuous and best of men to be destroy'd by the most wicked and vicious. These being the effects of that unlimited prerogative, which our Author says was only instituted for the good and defence of the people, it must necessarily fall to the ground, unless slavery, misery, infamy, destruction and desolation tend to the preservation of Liberty, and are to be prefer'd before strength, glory, plenty, security and happiness. The state of the
Roman
Empire after the Usurpation of
Cesar
will set this matter in the clearest light; but having done it already in the former parts of this work, I content my self to refer to those places. And tho the Calamitys they suffer'd were a little allay'd and moderated by the Vertues of
Antoninus
and
M. Aurelius,
with one or two more, yet we have no example of the continuance of them in a family; nor of any Nation great or small that has bin under an absolute Power, which dos not too plainly manifest that no man or succession of men is to be trusted with it.
But says our Author,
there can be no Law where there is not a supreme Power;
and from thence very strongly concludes it must be in the King; for
otherwise there can be no Sovereign Majesty in him, and he is but an equivocal King.
This might have bin of some force, if Governments were establish'd, and Laws made only to advance that Sovereign Majesty; but nothing at all to the purpose, if (as he confesses) the power which he has be given for the good of the People, and for the defence of every private man's Life, Liberty, Lands and Goods: for that which is instituted, cannot be abrogated for want of that which was never intended in the institution. If the publick Safety be provided, Liberty and Propriety secur'd, Justice administer'd, Vertue encourag'd, Vice supprest, and the true interest of the Nation advanc'd, the ends of Government are accomplish'd; and the highest must be contented with such a proportion of Glory and Majesty as is consistent with the publick; since the Magistracy is not instituted, nor any person plac'd in it for the increase of his Majesty, but for the preservation of the whole People, and the defence of the Liberty, Life and Estate of every private man, as our Author himself is forc'd to acknowledg.
But what is this Sovereign Majesty, so inseparable from Royalty, that one cannot subsist without the other?
Caligula
plac'd it in a power of
Omnia mihi in omnes licere.
Sueton.
doing what he pleas'd to all men:
Nimrod, Nabuchodonosor
and others, with an impious and barbarous insolence, boasted of the greatness of their power. They thought it a glorious Privilege to kill or spare whom they pleas'd. But such Kings as by God's permission might have bin set up over his people, were to have nothing of this. They were not to multiply Gold, Silver, Wives or Horses; they were not to govern by
Deut. 17.
their own will, but according to the Law; from which they might not recede, nor raise their Hearts above their brethren. Here were Kings without that unlimited Power, which makes up the Sovereign Majesty, that
Filmer
affirms to be so essential to Kings, that without it they are only equivocal; which proving nothing but the incurable perversness of his judgment, the malice of his heart or malignity of his fate, always to oppose reason and truth, we are to esteem those to be Kings who are describ'd to be so by the Scriptures, and to give another name to those who endeavour to advance their own glory, contrary to the precept of God and the interest of mankind.
But unless the light of reason had bin extinguish'd in him, he might have seen, that tho no Law could be made without a supreme Power, that Supremacy may be in a Body consisting of many men, and several orders of men. If it be true, which perhaps may be doubted, that there have bin in the world simple Monarchys, Aristocracys or Democracys legally establish'd, 'tis certain that the most part of the Governments of the world (and I think all that are or have bin good) were mix'd. Part of the Power has bin confer'd upon the King, or the Magistrate that represented him, and part upon the Senat and People, as has bin prov'd in relation to the Governments of the
Hebrews, Spartans, Romans, Venetians, Germans,
and all those who live under that which is usually call'd the Gothic Polity. If the single Person participating of this divided Power dislike either the Name he bears, or the Authority he has, he may renounce it; but no reason can be from thence drawn to the prejudice of Nations, who give so much as they think consistent with their own good, and reserve the rest to themselves, or to such other Officers as they please to establish.
No man will deny that several Nations have had a right of giving power to Consuls, Dictators, Archons, Suffetes, Dukes and other Magistrats, in such proportions as seem'd most conducing to their own good; and there must be a right in every Nation of allotting to Kings so much as they please, as well as to the others, unless there be a charm in the word King, or in the Letters that compose it. But this cannot be; for there is no similitude between
King, Rex,
and
Basileus:
they must therefore have a right of regulating the Power of Kings, as well as that of Consuls or Dictators; and it had not bin more ridiculous in
Fabius, Scipio, Camillus
or
Cincinnatus,
to assert an absolute power in himself, under pretence of advancing his Sovereign Majesty against the Law, than for any King to do the like. But as all Nations give what form they please to their Government, they are also judges of the name to be impos'd upon each man who is to have a part in the power: and 'tis as lawful for us to call him King, who has a limited Authority amongst us, as for the
Medes
or
Arabs
to give the same name to one who is more absolute. If this be not admitted, we are content to speak improperly, but utterly deny that when we give the name, we give any thing more than we please; and had rather his Majesty should change his name than to renounce our own Rights and Libertys which he is to preserve, and which we have receiv'd from God and Nature.
But that the folly and wickedness of our Author may not be capable of any farther aggravation, he says,
That it skills not how he come by the power.
Violence therefore or fraud, treachery or murder, are as good as Election, Donation, or legal Succession. 'Tis in vain to examin the Laws of God or Man, or the rights of nature; whether Children do inherit the Dignitys and Magistracys of their Fathers, as patrimonial Lands and Goods; whether regard ought to be had to the fitness of the Person; whether all should go to one, or be divided amongst them; or by what rule we may know who is the right Heir to the Succession, and consequently what we are in conscience oblig'd to do. Our Author tells us in short, it matters not how he that has the power comes by it.
It has bin hitherto thought, that to kill a King (especially a good King) was a most abominable action. They who did it, were thought to be incited by the worst of passions that can enter into the hearts of men; and the severest punishments have bin invented to deter them from such attempts, or to avenge their death upon those who should accomplish it. But if our Author may be credited, it must be the most commendable and glorious act that can be perform'd by man: for besides the outward advantages that men so earnestly desire, he that dos it, is presently invested with the Sovereign Majesty, and at the same time becomes God's Vicegerent, and the father of his Country, possest of that Government, which in exclusion to all other forms is only favour'd by the Laws of God and Nature. The only inconvenience is, that all depends upon success, and he that is to be the Minister of God, and father of his Country if he succeed, is the worst of all villains if he fail; and at the best may be depriv'd of all by the same means he employ'd to gain it. Tho a Prince should have the wisdom and vertues of
Moses,
the valor of
Joshua, David
and the
Maccabees,
with the gentleness and integrity of
Samuel,
the most foolish, vitious, base and detestable man in the world that kills him, and seizes the power, becomes his Heir, and father of the People that he govern'd; it
skills
not how he did it, whether in open battel or secret treachery, in the field or in the bed, by poison or by the sword: The vilest slave in
Israel
had become the Lord's anointed, if he could have kill'd
David
or
Solomon,
and found villains to place him in the Throne. If this be right, the world has to this day liv'd in darkness, and the actions which have bin thought to be the most detestable, are the most commendable and glorious. But not troubling my self at present to decide this question, I leave it to Kings to consider how much they are beholden to
Filmer
and his disciples, who set such a price upon their heads, as would render it hard to preserve their Lives one day, if the Doctrins were receiv'd, which they endeavour to infuse into the Minds of the People; and concluding this point, only say, that we in
England
know no other King than he who is so by Law, nor any power in that King except that which he has by Law: And tho the Roman Empire was held by the power of the Sword; and
Ʋ lpian
a corrupt Lawyer undertakes to fay, that
the Prince is not oblig'd by the Laws;
yet
Theodosius
consest, that it was the glory of a good Emperor to acknowledg himself bound by them.
SECT. XXII. The rigor of the Law is to be temper'd by men of known integrity and judgment, and not by the Prince who may be ignorant or vicious.
OUR Author's next shift is to place the King above the Law, that he may mitigate the rigor of it, without which, he says,
the case of the Subject would be desperately miserable.
But this cure would prove worse than the disease. Such pious fathers of the People as
Caligula, Nero
or
Domitian,
were not like to mitigate the rigor; nor such as inherit Crowns in their infancy (as the present Kings of
Spain, France
and
Sweden)
so well to understand the meaning of it as to decide extraordinary cases. The wisdom of Nations has provided more assured helps; and none could have bin so brutish and negligent of the publick Concernments, to suffer the Succession to fall to women, children, &c. if they had not reserv'd a power in themselves to prefer others before the nearest in blood, if reason require; and prescrib'd such rules as might preserve the publick from ruin, notwithstanding their infirmitys and vices. These helps provided by our Laws, are principally by grand and petit Jurys, who are not only Judges of matters of fact, as whether a man be kill'd, but whether he be kill'd criminally. These Men are upon their Oaths, and may be indicted of Perjury if they prevaricate: The Judges are present not only to be a check upon them, but to explain such points of the Law as may seem difficult. And tho these Judges may be said in some sense to be chosen by the King, he is not understood to do it otherwise than by the advice of his Council, who cannot perform their duty, unless they propose such as in their consciences they think most worthy of the Office, and most capable of performing the duty rightly; nor he accomplish the Oath of his Coronation, unless he admit those, who upon deliberation seem to be the best. The Judges being thus chosen, are so far from depending upon the will of the King, that they swear faithfully to serve the People as well as the King, and to do justice to
18 Edw.
. cap. 1.
every man according to the Law of the Land, notwithstanding any Writs, Letters or Commands receiv'd from him; and in default thereof they are to forfeit their bodys, lands and goods, as in cases of Treason. These Laws have bin so often, and so severely executed, that it concerns all Judges well to consider them; and the Cases of
Tresilian, Empson, Dudley,
and others shew, that neither the King's preceding command nor subsequent pardon could preserve them from the punishment they deserv'd. All men knew that what they did was agreeable to the King's pleasure, for
Tresilian
advanc'd the Prerogative of
Edward
the 2
d,
and
Empson
brought great Treasures into the Coffers of
Henry
the 7
th.
Nevertheless they were charg'd with Treason, for subverting the Laws of the Land, and executed as Traitors. Tho
England
ought never to forget the happy Reign of Q.
Elizabeth,
yet it must be acknowledg'd that she as well as others had her failings. She was full of love to the People, just in her nature, sincere in her intentions; but could not so perfectly discover the snares that were laid for her, or resist the importunity of the Persons she most trusted, as not sometimes to be brought to attempt things against Law. She and her Counsellors prest the Judges very hard to obey the Patent under her Great Seal, in the case of
Cavendish:
Anderson's Rep. p. 155.
but they answer'd,
That both she and they had taken an Oath to keep the Law, and if they should obey her commands, the Law would not warrant them,
&c. And besides the offence against God, their Country, and the Commonwealth, they alledg'd the example of
Empson
and
Dudley, whereby,
they said,
they were deter'd from obeying her illegal Commands.
They who had sworn to keep the Law notwithstanding the King's Writs, knew that the Law depended not upon his will: and the same Oath that oblig'd them not to regard any command they should receive from him, shew'd that they were not to expect indemnity by it; and not only that the King had neither the power of making, altering, mitigating or interpreting the Law, but that he was not at all to be heard, in general or particular matters, otherwise than as he speaks in the common course of Justice, by the Courts legally establish'd, which say the same thing, whether he be young or old, ignorant or wise, wicked or good. And nothing dos better evidence the wisdom and care of our Ancestors, in framing the Laws and Government we live under, than that the People did not suffer extremitys by the vices or infirmitys of Kings, till an Age more full of malice than those in which they liv'd, had found tricks to pervert the rule, and frustrate their honest intentions. It was not safe for the Kings to violate their Oaths by an undue interposition of their Authority; but the Ministers who serv'd them in those violations, have seldom escap'd punishment. This is to be understood when the deviations from Justice are extreme and mischievous, for something must always be allow'd to human frailty: The best have their defects, and none could stand if a too exact scrutiny were made of all their actions.
Edward
the third, about the twentieth year of his Reign, acknowledg'd his own in Parliament, and as well for the ease of his Conscience, as the satisfaction of his People, promoted an Act,
Commanding all Judges to do Justice, notwithstanding any Writs, Letters or Commands from himself; and forbidding those that belong'd to the King, Queen and Prince, to intermeddle in those matters.
But if the best and wisest of our Princes, in the strength and maturity of their years, had their failings, and every act proceeding from them that tended to the interruption of Justice was a failing, how can it be said that the King in his personal capacity, directly or indirectly, may enter into the discussion of these matters, much less to determin them according to his will?
But,
says our Author,
the Law is no better than a Tyrant; general Pardons at the Coronation and in Parliament, are but the bounty of the Prerogative,
&c.
There may be hard cases:
and citing some perverted pieces from
Aristotle
's Ethicks and Politicks, adds,
That when something falls out besides the general rule, then it is fit that what the Lawmaker has omitted, or where he has err'd by speaking generally, it should be corrected and supply'd, as if the Lawmaker were present that ordain'd it. The Governor, whether he be one man or more, ought to be Lord of these things, whereof it was impossible that the Law should speak exactly.
These things are in part true; but our Author makes use of them as the Devil dos of Scripture, to subvert the truth. There may be something of rigor in the Law, that in some cases may be mitigated; and the Law it self (in relation to
England)
dos so far acknowledg it, as to refer much to the consciences of Jurys, and those who are appointed to assist them; and the most difficult Cases are refer'd to the Parliament as the only judges that are able to determin them. Thus the Statute of 35
Edw.
III. enumerating the crimes then declar'd to be Treason, leaves to future Parliaments to judg what other facts equivalent to them may deserve the same punishment: and 'tis a general rule in the Law, which the Judges are sworn to observe, that difficult Cases should be reserv'd till the Parliament meet, who are only able to decide them: and if there be any inconvenience in this, 'tis because they do not meet so frequently as the Law requires, or by sinister means are interrupted in their sitting. But nothing can be more absurd than to say, that because the King dos not call Parliaments as the Law and his Oath requires, that power should accrue to him, which the Law and the consent of the Nation has plac'd in them.
There is also such a thing in the Law as a general or particular Pardon, and the King may in some degree be entrusted with the power of giving it, especially for such crimes as merely relate to himself, as every man may remit the injurys done to himself; but the confession of
Edward
the third,
That the Oath of the Crown had not bin kept by reason of
14 Edw. 3. 15.
the grant of Pardons contrary to Statutes,
and a new Act made,
that all such Charters of Pardon from henceforth granted against the Oath of the Crown and the said Statutes, should be held for none,
demonstrates that this power was not in himself, but granted by the Nation, and to be executed according to such rules as the Law prescrib'd, and the Parliament approv'd.
Moreover, there have bin many, and sometimes bloody contests for the Crown, upon which the Nation was almost equally divided; and it being difficult for them to know, or even for us who have all the partys before us, to judg which was the better side, it was understood that he who came to be crown'd by the consent of the People, was acceptable to all: and the question being determin'd, it was no way fit that he should have a liberty to make use of the publick Authority then in his hands, to revenge such personal injurys as he had, or might suppose to have receiv'd, which might raise new, and perhaps more dangerous troubles, if the Authors of them were still kept in fear of being prosecuted; and nothing could be more unreasonable than that he should employ his power to the destruction of those who had consented to make him King. This made it a matter of course for a King, as soon as he was crown'd, to issue out a general Pardon, which was no more than to declare, that being now what he was not before, he had no enemy upon any former account. For this reason
Lewis
the twelfth of
France,
when he was incited to revenge himself against those, who in the reign of his Predecessor
Charles
the eighth had caus'd him to be imprison'd with great danger of his life, made this answer,
That the King of
France
did not care to revenge the injurys done to the Duke of
Orleans: and the last King of
Sweden
seem'd no otherwise to remember who had oppos'd the Queen's Abdication and his Election, than by conferring honors upon them; because he knew they were the best men of the Nation, and such as would be his friends when they should see how he would govern, in which he was not deceiv'd. But lest all those who might come to the Crown of
England,
should not have the same prudence and generosity, the Kings were oblig'd by a Custom of no less force than a Law, immediately to put an end to all disputes, and the inconveniences that might arise from them. This did not proceed from the bounty of the Prerogative (which I think is nonsense, for tho he that enjoys the Prerogative may have bounty, the Prerogative can have none) but from common sense, from the King's obligation, and the care of his own safety; and could have no other effect in Law, than what related to his person, as appears by the foremention'd Statute.
Pardons granted by Act of Parliament are of another nature: For as the King who has no other power than by Law, can no otherwise dispense with the crimes committed against the Laws, than the Law dos enable him; the Parliament that has the power of making Laws, may intirely abolish the crimes, and unquestionably remit the punishment as they please.
Tho some words of
Aristotle
's Ethicks are without any coherence shuffled together by our Author, with others taken out of his Politicks, I do not much except against them. No Law made by man can be perfect, and there must be in every Nation a power of correcting such defects as in time may arise or be discover'd. This power can never be so rightly plac'd as
in the same Hand that has the right of making Laws, whether in one person or in many.
If
Filmer
therefore can tell us of a place, where one man, woman or child, however he or she be qualify'd, has the power of making Laws, I will acknowledg that not only the
hard Cases,
but as many others as he pleases, are refer'd to his or her judgment, and that they may give it, whether they have any understanding of what they do or not, whether they be drunk or sober, in their senses or stark mad. But as I know no such place, and should not be much concern'd for the sufferings of a People that might bring such misery upon themselves, as must accompany an absolute dependence upon the unruly will of such a creature, I may leave him to seek it, and rest in a perfect assurance that he dos not speak of
England,
which acknowledges no other Law than its own; and instead of receiving any from Kings, dos to this day obey none, but such as have bin made by our Ancestors, or our selves, and never admitted any King that did not swear to observe them. And if
Aristotle
deserve credit, the power of altering, mitigating, explaining or correcting the Laws of
England,
is only in the Parliament,
because none but the
Parliament
can make them.
SECT. XXIII.
Aristotle
proves, that no man is to be intrusted with an absolute Power, by shewing that no one knows how to execute it, but such a man as is not to be found.
OUR Author having falsly cited and perverted the sense of
Aristotle,
now brings him in saying,
That a perfect Kingdom is that wherein the King rules all according to his own Will.
But tho I have read his books of Government with some attention, I can find no such thing in them, unless the word which signifies
mere
or
absolute
may be justly translated into
perfect:
which is so far from
Aristotle
's meaning, that he distinguishes the absolute or despotical Kingdoms from the Legitimate; and commending the latter, gives no better name than that of
barbarous
to the first, which he says can agree only with the nature of such Nations as are base and stupid, little differing from Beasts; and having no skill to govern, or courage to defend themselves, must resign all to the will of one that will take care of them. Yet even this cannot be done, unless he that should take that care be wholly exempted from the vices which oblige the others to stand in need of it: for otherwise 'tis no better than if a Sheep should undertake to govern Sheep, or a Hog to command Swine;
Aristotle
plainly saying,
That as men are by nature equal, if it were
Polit. l. 2. c. 1.
possible all should be Magistrats.
But that being repugnant to the nature of Government, he finds no other way of solving the difficulty, than by
obeying and commanding alternately;
that they may do by turns that which they cannot do all together, and to which no one man has more right than another, because they are all by nature equal. This might be compos'd by a more compendious way, if, according to our Author's doctrin, Possession could give a Right. But
Aristotle
speaking like a Philosopher, and not like a publick Enemy to Mankind, examins what is just, reasonable and beneficial to men; that is, what ought to be done, and which being done, is to be accounted just, and therefore to be supported by good men. But as
Quod ab initio injustum est, nullum potest habere juris effectum.
Grot. de jur. bel. & pac. l.
3.
that which is unjust in the beginning, can never have the effect of Justice;
and it being manifestly unjust for one or a few men to assume a power over those who by nature are equal to them, no such power can be just or beneficial to mankind; nor fit to be upheld by good men, if it be unjust and prejudicial. In the opinion of
Aristotle,
this natural equality continues till vertue makes the distinction; which must be either simply compleat and perfect in it self, so that he who is endu'd with it, is a God among men, or relatively, as far as concerns civil Society, and the ends for which it is constituted, that is, defence, and the obtaining of Justice. This requires a mind unbiass'd by passion, full of goodness and wisdom, firm against all the temptations to ill, that may arise from desire or fear; tending to all manner of good, thro a perfect knowledg and affection to it; and this to such a degree, that he or they have more of these vertues and excellencys than all the rest of the Society, tho computed together. Where such a man is found, he is by nature a
Ibid. l. 3.
King, and 'tis best for the Nation where he is that he govern. If a few men, tho equal and alike among themselves, have the same advantages above the rest of the People, Nature for the same reason seems to establish an Aristocracy in that place; and the power is more safely committed to them, than left in the hands of the multitude. But if this excellency of vertue dos not appear in one, nor in a few men, the right and power is by nature equally lodg'd in all; and to assume or appropriate that power to one, or a few men, is unnatural and tyrannical, which in
Aristotle
's language comprehends all that is detestable and abominable.
If any man should think
Aristotle
a trifler, for speaking of such a man as can never be found, I answer, that he went as
ar as his way could be warranted by reason or nature, and was oblig'd to stop there by the defect of his Subject. He could not say that the Government os one was simply good, when he knew so many qualifications were requir'd in the person to make it so; nor that it is good for a Nation to be under the power of a sool, a coward, or a villain, because 'tis good to be under a man of admirable wisdom, valor, industry and goodness; or that the Government of one should be continu'd in such as by chance succeed in a Family, because it was given to the first who had all the vertues requir'd, tho all the reasons for which the power was given fail in the Successor; much less could he say that any Government was good, which was not good for those whose good only it was constituted to promote.
Moreover, by shewing who only is fit to be a Monarch, or may be made such, without violating the Laws of Nature and Justice, he shews who cannot be one: and he who says that no such man is to be found, as according to the opinion of
Aristotle
can be a Monarch, dos most ridiculously alledg his Authority in favor of Monarchs, or the power which some amongst us would attribute to them. If any thing therefore may be concluded from his words, 'tis this, That since no power ought to be admitted which is not just; that none can be just which is not good, profitable to the People, and conducing to the ends for which it is constituted; that no man can know how to direct the power to those ends, can deserve, or administer it, unless he dos so far excel all those that are under him in wisdom, justice, valor and goodness, as to possess more of those vertues than all of them: I say, if no such man or succession of men be found, no such power is to be granted to any man, or succession of men. But if such power be granted, the Laws of nature and reason are overthrown, and the ends for which Societys are constituted, utterly perverted, which necessarily implys an annihilation of the Grant. And if a Grant so made by those who have a right of setting up a Government amongst themselves, do perish thro its own natural iniquity and perversity, I leave it to any man, whose understanding and manners are not so intirely corrupted as those of our Author, to determin what name ought to be given to that person, who not excelling all others in Civil and Moral Vertues, in the proportion requir'd by
Aristotle,
dos usurp a power over a Nation, and what obedience the People owe to such a one. But if his opinion deserve our regard, the King by having those vertues is
Omnium Optimus,
and the best guide to the People,
Ad summum bonum secundum virtutem.
Arist. Pol.
to lead them to happiness by the ways of vertue.
And he who assumes the same power, without the qualifications requir'd, is
Tyrannus omnium pessimus,
leading the People to all manner of ill, and in consequence to destruction.
SECT. XXIV. The Power of
Augustus Cesar
was not given, but usurp'd.
OUR Author's next instance is ingeniously taken from the
Romans, Who,
he says,
tho they were a People greedy of Liberty, freed
Augustus
from the necessity of Laws.
If it be true, as he affirms, that such a Prerogative is instituted only for the preservation of Liberty, they who are most greedy of it, ought to be most forward in establishing that which defends it best. But if the weight laid upon the words
greedy of Liberty,
&c. render his memory and judgment liable to censure, the unpardonable prevarication of citing any act done by the
Romans
in the time of
Augustus,
as done freely, shews him to be a man of no faith.
Omnium jura in se traxerat,
says
Tacitus
of
Augustus;
nothing was confer'd upon him, he took all to himself; there could be nothing of right in that which was wholly usurp'd, and neither the People or the Senat could do any thing freely, whilst they were under the power of a mad corrupted Soldiery, who first betray'd, and then subdu'd them. The greatest part of the Senat had fall'n at the battel of
Pharsalia,
others had bin glean'd up in several places, the rest destroy'd by the Proscriptions; and that which then retain'd the name of a Senat, was made up chiefly of those who had bin his Ministers, in bringing the most miserable slavery upon their own Country. The
Roman
Liberty, and that bravery of spirit by which it had bin maintain'd, was not only abolish'd, but almost forgotten. All consideration of Law and Right was trampl'd under foot; and none could dispute with him, who by the power of the sword had seiz'd the Authority both of the Senat and People. Nothing was so extravagant, that might not be extorted by the insolent violence of a Conqueror, who had thirty mercenary Legions to execute his Commands. The uncorrupted part of the People that had escap'd the sword of
Julius,
had either perish'd with
Hirtius
and
Pansa, Brutus
and
Cassius,
or bin destroy'd by the detestable
Triumvirate.
Those that remain'd could lose nothing by a verbal resignation of their Liberty, which they had neither strength nor courage to defend. The Magistracys were possest by the Creatures of the Tyrant; and the People were compos'd of such as were either born under slavery, and accustom'd to obey, or remain'd under the terror of those Arms that had consum'd the Assertors of their Liberty. Our Author standing in need of some
Roman
Example, was oblig'd to seek it in an age, when the Laws were subverted, Vertue extinguish'd, Injustice plac'd in the Throne, and such as would not be of the same spirit, expos'd to the utmost cruelty. This was the time when the
Sovereign Majesty
shin'd in glory; and they who had rais'd it above the Law, made it also the object of their Religion, by adoring the Statues of their Oppressor. The corruption of this Court spread it self over the best part of the World; and reduc'd the Empire to that irrecoverable weakness in which it languish'd and perish'd. This is the state of things that pleases
Filmer,
and those that are like him, who for the introduction of the same among us, recommend such an elevation of the Sovereign Majesty, as is most contrary to the Laws of God and Men, abhor'd by all generous Nations, and most especially by our Ancestors, who thought nothing too dear to be hazarded in the defence of themselves and us from it.
SECT. XXV. The Regal Power was not the first in this Nation; nor necessarily to be continu'd, tho it had bin the first.
TRUTH being uniform in it self, those who desire to propagate it for the good of Mankind, lay the foundations of their reasonings in such Principles, as are either evident to common sense, or easily prov'd: but Cheats and Impostors delighting in obscurity, suppose things that are dubious and false, and think to build one falshood upon another; and our Author can find no better way to persuade us, that all our Privileges and Laws are from the King, than by saying,
That the first Power was the Kingly Power, which was both in this and all other Nations
in the world, long before any Laws or any other kind of Government was thought of; from whence we must necessarily infer, that the common Law, or common Customs of this Land were originally the Laws and Commands of the King.
But denying both these points, I affirm,
1. That there was a power to make Kings before there was any King.
2. Tho Kings had bin the first created Magistrats in all places (as perhaps they were in some it dos not follow) that they must continue for ever, or that Laws are from them.
To the first; I think no man will deny, that there was a People at
Babylon,
before
Nimrod
was King of that place. This People had a Power; for no number of men can be without it: Nay this People had a power of making
Nimrod
King, or he could never have bin King. He could not be King by succession, for the Scripture shews him to have bin the first. He was not King by the right of Father, for he was not their Father,
Chush, Cham,
with his elder Brothers and Father
Noah
being still living; and, which is worst of all, were not Kings: for if they who liv'd in
Nimrod
's time, or before him, neither were Kings, nor had Kings, he that ought to have bin King over all by the right of nature (if there had bin any such thing in nature) was not King. Those who immediately succeeded him, and must have inherited his right, if he had any, did not inherit or pretend to it: and therefore he that shall now claim a right from nature as Father of a People, must ground it upon something more certain than
Noah
's right of reigning over his Children, or it can have no strength in it.
Moreover, the Nations who in and before the time of
Nimrod
had no Kings, had Power, or else they could have perform'd no Act, nor constituted any other Magistrate to this day, which is absurd. There was therefore a power in Nations before there were Kings, or there could never have bin any; and
Nimrod
could never have bin King, if the People of
Babylon
had not made him King, which they could not have done if they had not had a power of making him so. 'Tis ridiculous to say he made himself King, for tho he might be strong and valiant, he could not be stronger than a multitude of men. That which forces must be stronger than that which is forc'd; and if it be true, according to the antient saying, that
Hercules
himself is not sufficient to encounter two, 'tis sure more impossible for one man to force a multitude, for that must be stronger than he. If he came in by persuasion, they who were persuaded, were persuaded to consent that he should be King. That Consent therefore made him King. But,
Qui dat esse, dat modum esse:
They who made him King, made him such a King as best pleas'd themselves. He had therefore nothing but what was given: his greatness and power must be from the multitude who gave it: and their Laws and Libertys could not be from him; but their Libertys were naturally inherent in themselves, and their Laws were the product of them.
There was a People that made
Romulus
King. He did not make or beget that People, nor, for any thing we know, one man of them. He could not come in by inheritance, for he was a Bastard, the Son of an unknown man; and when he dy'd, the right that had bin confer'd upon him reverted to the People, who, according to that right, chose
Numa, Hostilius, Martius, Tarquinius Priscas,
and
Servius,
all Stranges to his blood, and without any other right than what was bestow'd upon them: and
Tarquinius Superbus,
who invaded the Throne
Sinc jussu populi.
T. Liv. l.
1.
without the command
of the People,
was ejected, and the Government of Kings abolish'd by the same power that had created it.
We know not certainly by what Law
Moses,
and the Judges created by the advice of
Jethro,
govern'd the
Israelites;
but may probably conjecture it to have bin by that Law which God had written in the hearts of mankind; and the People submitted to the judgment of good and wise men, tho they were under no coercive Power. But 'tis certain they had a Law and a regular Magistracy under which they liv'd, four hundred years before they had a King, for
Saul
was the first. This Law was not therefore from the King, nor by the King; but the King was chosen and made by the People, according to the liberty they had by the Law, tho they did not rightly follow the rules therein prescrib'd, and by that means brought destruction upon themselves.
The Country in which we live lay long conceal'd under obscure barbarity, and we know nothing of the first Inhabitants, but what is involv'd in fables that leave us still in the dark.
Julius Cesar
is the first who speaks distinctly of our affairs, and gives us no reason to believe there was any Monarchy then establish'd amongst us.
Cassivellaunus
was occasionally chosen by the Nations that were most expos'd to the violence
Caes. Comment. l. 5.
of the
Romans,
for the management of those wars against them. By others we hear of
Boadicia, Arviragus, Galgacus,
and many more set up afterwards when need requir'd; but we find no footsteps of a regular Succession either by inheritance or election. And as they had then no Kings, or any other general Magistrate, that can be said to be equivalent to a King, they might have had none at all unless they had thought fit.
Tacitus
mentions a sort of Kings, us'd by the
Romans
to keep
Inter instrumenta servitutis reges habu
re.
C. Tacit.
Nations in servitude to them: and tho it were true that there had bin such a man as
Lucius,
and he one of this sort, he is to be accounted only as a
Roman
Magistrate, and signifys no more to our dispute, than if he had bin call'd Proconsul, Pretor, or by any other name. However there was no series of them: that which was temporary and occasional, depended upon the will of those, who thinking there was occasion, created such a Magistrate, and omitted to do so, when the occasion ceas'd, or was thought to cease; and might have had none at all, if they had so pleas'd. The Magistracy therefore was from them, and depenedd upon their will.
We have already mention'd the Historys of the
Saxons, Danes
and
Normans,
from which Nations, together with the
Britans,
we are descended: and finding that they were severe Assertors of their Libertys, acknowledg'd no human Laws but their own, receiv'd no Kings but such as swore to observe them, and depos'd those who did not well perform their Oaths and Duty, 'tis evident that their Kings were made by the People according to the Law; and that the Law, by which they became what they were, could not be from themselves. Our Ancestors were so fully convinc'd that in the creation of Kings they exercis'd their own right, and were only to consider what was good for themselves, that without regard to the memory of those who had gone before, they were accustom'd to take such as seem'd most like, wisely, justly and gently to perform their office; refus'd those that were suspected of pride, cruelty, or any other vice that might bring prejudice upon the Publick, what title soever they pretended; and remov'd such as had bin plac'd in the Throne, if they did not answer the opinion conceiv'd of their vertue; which I take to be a manner of proceeding that agrees better with the quality of Masters, making Laws and Magistrats for themselves, than of Slaves receiving such as were impos'd upon them.
2. To the second. Tho it should be granted, that all Nations had at the first bin govern'd by Kings, it were nothing to the question; for no man or number of Men was ever oblig'd to continue in the errors of his Predecessors. The Authority of Custom as well as of Law (I mean in relation to the Power that made it to be) consists only in its rectitude: And the same reason which may have induc'd one or more Nations to create Kings, when they knew no other form of Government, may not only induce them to set up another, if that be found inconvenient to them, but proves that they may as justly do so, as remove a man who performs not what was expected from him. If there had bin a Rule given by God, and written in the minds of men by nature, it must have bin from the beginning, universal and perpetual; or at least must have bin observ'd by the wisest and best instructed Nations: which not being in any measure (as I have prov'd already) there can be no reason, why a polite People should not relinquish the errors committed by their Ancestors in the time of their barbarism and ignorance, and why they should not do it in matters of Government, as well as in any other thing relating to life. Men are subject to errors, and 'tis the work of the best and wisest to discover and amend such as their Ancestors may have committed, or to add perfection to those things which by them have bin well invented. This is so certain, that whatsoever we enjoy beyond the misery in which our barbarous Ancestors liv'd, is due only to the liberty of correcting what was amiss in their practice, or inventing that which they did not know: and I doubt whether it be more brutish to say we are oblig'd to continue in the Idolatry of the
Druids,
with all the miserys and follys that accompany the most savage barbarity; or to confess, that tho we have a right to depart from these, yet we are for ever bound to continue the Government they had establish'd, whatever inconveniences might attend it.
Tertullian
disputing with the
Pagans,
who objected the novelty of the Christian Religion, troubled not himself with refuting that error;
Nullum tempu
,
ulla praescriptio occurrit vericuti.
Tertul.
Id antiquius quod verius.
Ibid.
but proving Christianity to be good and true, he thought he had sufficiently prov'd it to be antient. A wise Architect may shew his skill, and deserve commendation for building a poor house of vile materials, when he can procure no better; but he no way ought to hinder others from erecting more glorious Fabricks if they are furnish'd with the means requir'd. Besides, such is the imperfection of all human Constitutions, that they are subject to perpetual fluctuation, which never permits them to continue long in the same condition: Corruptions slide in insensibly; and the best Orders are sometimes subverted by malice and violence: so that he who only regards what was done in such an age, often takes the corruption of the State for the institution, follows the worst example, thinks that to be the first that is the most antient he knows; and if a brave People seeing the original defects of their Government, or the corruption into which it may be fallen, do either correct and reform what may be amended, or abolish that which was evil in the institution, or so perverted, that it cannot be restor'd to integrity, these men impute it to sedition, and blame those actions, which of all that can be perform'd by men are the most glorious. We are not therefore so much to inquire after that which is most antient, as that which is best, and most conducing to the good ends to which it was directed. As Governments were instituted for the obtaining of Justice, and (as our Author says) the preservation of Liberty, we are not to seek what Government was the first, but what best provides for the obtaining of Justice, and the preservation of Liberty. For whatsoever the Institution be, and how long soever it may have lasted, 'tis void, if it thwarts, or dos not provide for the end of its establishment. If such a Law or Custom therefore as is not good in it self, had in the beginning prevail'd in all parts of the world (which in relation to absolute or any kind of Monarchy is not true) it ought to be abolish'd; and if any man should shew himself wiser than others by proposing a Law or Government, more beneficial to mankind than any that had bin formerly known, providing better for Justice and Liberty than all others had done, he would merit the highest veneration. If any man ask, who shall be Judg of that rectitude or pravity which either authorises or destroys a Law? I answer, that as this consists not in formalitys and nicetys, but in evident and substantial truths, there is no need of any other Tribunal than that of common sense, and the light of nature,
o determin the matter: and he that travels thro
France, Italy, Turky, Germany
and
Switzerland,
without consulting
Bartolus
or
Baldus,
will easily understand whether the Countrys that are under the Kings of
France
and
Spain,
the Pope and the Great
Turk,
or such as are under the care of a well-regulated Magistracy, do best enjoy the benefits of Justice and Liberty. 'Tis as easily determin'd whether the
Grecians
when
Athens
and
Thebes
flourish'd were more free than the
Medes;
whether Justice was better administer'd by
Agathocles, Dionysius
and
Phalaris,
than by the legal Kings and regular Magistrats of
Sparta;
or whether more care was taken that Justice and Liberty might be preserv'd by
Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero
and
Vitellius,
than by the Senat and People of
Rome
whilst the Laws were more powerful than the commands of men. The like may be said of particular Laws, as those of
Nabuchodonosor
and
Caligula,
for worshipping their Statues; our Acts of Parliament against Hereticks and Lollards, with the Statutes and Orders of the Inquisition which is call'd the Holy Office. And if that only be a Law which is
Sanctio recta, jubens honesta, prohibens contraria,
the meanest understanding, if free from passion, may certainly know that such as these cannot be Laws, by what Authority soever they were enacted; and that the use of them, and others like to them, ought to be abolish'd for their turpitude and iniquity. Infinite examples of the like nature might be alledg'd, as well concerning divine as human things. And if there be any Laws which are evil, there cannot be an incontestable rectitude in all; and if not in all, it concerns us to examin where it is to be found. Laws and Constitutions ought to be weigh'd; and whilst all due reverence is paid to such as are good, every Nation may not only retain in it self a power of changing or abolishing all such as are not so, but ought to exercise that Power according to the best of their understanding; and in the place of what was either at first mistaken, or afterwards corrupted, to constitute that which is most conducing to the establishment of Justice and Liberty.
But such is the condition of mankind, that nothing can be so perfectly fram'd as not to give some testimony of human imbecillity, and frequently to stand in need of reparations and amendments. Many things are unknown to the wisest, and the best men can never wholly devest themselves of passions and affections. By this means the best and wisest are sometimes led into Error, and stand in need of Successors like to themselves, who may find remedys for the faults they have committed; and nothing can or ought to be permanent but that which is perfect. No natural body was ever so well temper'd and organiz'd, as not to be subject to diseases, wounds or other accidents, and to need medicins and other occasional helps as well as nourishment and exercise: and he who under the name of Innovation would deprive Nations of the like, dos, as much as lies in him, condemn them all to perish by the defects of their own foundations.
Discors. di Macchiav. l. 2.
Some men observing this, have propos'd a necessity of reducing every State once in an age or two, to the integrity of its first principle: but they ought to have examin'd, whether that principle be good or evil, or so good that nothing can be added to it, which none ever was; and this being so, those who would admit of no change would render Errors perpetual, and depriving Mankind of the benefits of Wisdom, Industry, Experience, and the right use of Reason, oblige all to continue in the miserable barbarity of their Ancestors, which sutes better with the nature of a Wolf than that of a Man.
Those who are of better understanding, weigh all things, and often find reason to abrogate that which their fathers, according to the measure of the knowledg they had, or the state of things among them, had rightly instituted, or to restore that which they had abrogated; and there can be no greater mark of a most brutish stupidity, than for men to continue in an evil way, because their fathers had brought them into it. But if we ought not too strictly to adhere to our own Constitutions, those of other Nations are less to be regarded by us; for the Laws that may be good for one People are not for all, and that which agrees with the manners of one Age, is utterly abhorrent from those of another. It were absurd to think of restoring the Laws of
Lycurgus
to the present inhabitants of
Peloponnesus,
who are accustom'd to the most abject slavery. It may easily be imagin'd, how the
Romans, Sabins
and
Latins,
now under the tyranny of the Pope, would relish such a disciplin as flourish'd among them after the expulsion of the
Tarquins;
and it had bin no less preposterous to give a liberty to the
Parthians
of governing themselves, or for them to assume it, than to impose an absolute Monarch upon the
German
Nation.
Hist. l. 2.
Titus Livius
having observ'd this, says, that if a popular Government had bin set up in
Rome
immediately upon the building of the City; and if that fierce people, which was compos'd of unruly shepherds, herdsmen, fugitive slaves, and out law'd persons, who could not suffer the Government under which they wereborn, had come to be incited by turbulent Orators, they would have brought all into confusion: whereas that boisterous humor being gradually temper'd by disciplin under
Romulus,
or taught to vent its fury against foreign enemys, and soften'd by the peaceable reign of
Numa,
a new Race grew up, which being all of one blood, contracted a love to their Country, and became capable of Liberty, which the madness of their last King, and the leudness of his Son, gave them occasion to resume. If this was commendable in them, it must be so in other Nations. If the
Germans
might preserve their Liberty, as well as the
Parthians
submit themselves to absolute Monarchy; 'tis as lawful for the descendents of those
Germans
to continue in it, as for the Eastern Nations to be slaves. If one Nation may justly chuse the Government that seems best to them, and continue or alter it according to the changes of times and things, the same right must belong to others. The great variety of Laws that are or have bin in the world, proceeds from this; and nothing can better shew the wisdom and vertue, or the vices and folly of Nations, than the use they make of this right: they have bin glorious or infamous, powerful or despicable, happy or miserable, as they have well or ill executed it.
If it be said that the Law given by God to the
Hebrews,
proceeding from his wisdom and goodness, must needs be perfect and obligatory to all Nations: I answer, that there is a simple and a relative perfection; the first is only in God, the other in the things he has created.
He saw that they were good;
which can signify no more than that
Gen. 1.
they were good in their kind, and suted to the end for which he design'd them. For if the perfection were absolute, there could be no difference between an Angel and a Worm; and nothing could be subject to change or death, for that is imperfection. This relative perfection is seen also by his Law given to mankind in the persons of
Adam
and
Noah.
It was good in the kind, fit for those times, but could never have bin enlarg'd or alter'd, if the perfection had bin simple; and no better evidence can be given to shew that it was not so, than that God did afterwards give one much more full and explicit to his People. This Law also was peculiarly applicable to that People and Season; for if it had bin otherwise, the Apostles would have oblig'd Christians to the intire observation of it, as well as to abstain from idolatry, fornication and blood. But if all this be not so, then their judicial Law, and the form of their Commonwealth must be receiv'd by all; no human Law can be of any value; we are all Brethren, no man has a prerogative above another; Lands must be equally divided amongst all; Inheritances cannot be alienated for above fifty years; no man can be rais'd above the rest unless he be call'd by God, and enabled by his Spirit to conduct the People: When this man dies, he that has the same Spirit must succeed, as
Joshua
did to
Moses,
and his Children can have no title to his Office: when such a man appears, a
Sanhedrim
of seventy men chosen out of the whole People, are to judg such causes as relate to themselves, whilst those of greater extent and importance are refer'd to the General Assemblys. Here is no mention of a King, and consequently, if we must take this Law for our pattern, we cannot have one: If the point be driven to the utmost, and the precept of
Deuteronomy,
where God permitted them to have a King, if they thought fit, when they came into the promis'd Land, be understood to extend to all Nations, every one of them must have the same liberty of taking their own time, chusing him in their own way, dividing the Kingdom, having no King, and setting up other Governors when they please, as before the Election of
Saul,
and after the return from the Captivity: and even when they have a King, he must be such a one as is describ'd in the same Chapter, who no more resembles the Sovereign Majesty that our Author adores, and agrees as little with his Maxims, as a Tribun of the Roman People.
We may therefore conclude, that if we are to follow the Law of
Moses,
we must take it with all the appendages; a King can be no more, and no otherwise than he makes him: for whatever we read of the Kings they had, were extreme deviations from it. No Nation can make any Law, and our Lawyers burning their Books may betake themselves to the study of the Pentateuch, in which tho some of them may be well vers'd, yet probably the profit arising from thence will not be very great.
But if we are not oblig'd to live in a conformity to the Law of
Moses,
every People may frame Laws for themselves, and we cannot be deny'd the right that is common to all. Our Laws were not sent from Heaven, but made by our Ancestors according to the light they had, and their present occasions. We inherit the same right from them; and, as we may without vanity say that we know a little more than they did, if we find our selves prejudic'd by any Law that they made, we may repeal it. The safety of the People was their supreme Law, and is so to us: neither can we be thought less fit to judg what conduces to that end, than they were. If they in any Age had bin persuaded to put themselves under the power, or, in our Author's phrase, under the sovereign Majesty of a child, a fool, a mad or desperately wicked person, and had annex'd the right confer'd upon him to such as should succeed, it had not bin a
just and right Sanction;
and having none of the qualitys essentially belonging to a Law, could not have the effect of a Law. It cannot be for the good of a People to be govern'd by one, who by nature ought to be govern'd, or by age or accident is render'd unable to govern himself. The publick interests, and the concernments of private men in their lands, goods, libertys and lives (for the preservation of which, our Author says, the regal Prerogative is only constituted) cannot be preserv'd by one who is transported by his own passions or follys, a slave to his lusts and vices; or, which is sometimes worse, govern'd by the vilest of men and women who flatter him in them, and push him on to do such things as even they would abhor, if they were in his place. The turpitude and impious madness of such an act must necessarily make it void, by overthrowing the ends for which it was made, since that justice which was sought cannot be obtain'd, nor the evils that were fear'd prevented; and they for whose good it was intended, must necessarily have a right of abolishing it. This might be sufficient for us, tho our Ancestors had enslav'd themselves. But, God be thank'd, we are not put to that trouble: We have no reason to believe we are descended from such fools and beasts, as would willingly cast themselves and us into such an excess of misery and shame, or that they were so tame and cowardly to be subjected by force or fear. We know the value they set upon their Libertys, and the courage with which they defended them: and we can have no better example to incourage us, never to suffer them to be violated or diminish'd.
SECT. XXVI. Tho the King may be entrusted with the power of chusing Judges, yet that by which they act is from the Law.
I Confess that no Law can be so perfect,
to provide exactly for every case that may fall out, so as to leave nothing to the discretion of the Judges,
who in some measure are to interpret them: But
that Laws or Customs are ever few, or that the paucity is the reason that they cannot give special rules, or that Judges do resort to those Principles or Common Law Axioms, whereupon former Judgments in cases something alike have bin given by former Judges, who all receive their Authority from the King in his right to give Sentence,
I utterly deny; and affirm,
1. That in many places, and particularly in
England,
the Laws are so many, that the number of them has introduc'd an uncertainty and confusion, which is both dangerous and troublesom; and the infinite variety of adjudg'd cases thwarting and contradicting each other, has render'd these difficultys inextricable.
Tacitus
imputes a great part of the miserys suffer'd by the
Romans
in his time to this abuse, and tells us, that
Et in corruptissima Republica plurimae Leges.
the Laws grew to be innumerable in the worst and most corrupt state of things,
and that Justice was overthrown by them. By the same means in
France, Italy,
and other places, where the Civil Law is render'd municipal, Judgments are in a manner arbitrary; and tho the intention of our Laws be just and good, they are so numerous, and the volumes of our Statutes with the Interpretations and adjudg'd Cases so vast, that hardly any thing is so clear and fix'd, but men of wit and learning may find what will serve for a pretence to justify almost any judgment they have a mind to give. Whereas the Laws of
Moses,
as to the Judicial part, being short and few, Judgments were easy and certain; and in
Switzerland, Sweden,
and some parts of
Denmark,
the whole Volume that contains them may be read in few hours, and by that means no injustice can be done which is not immediately made evident.
2. Axioms are not rightly grounded upon judg'd Cases, but Cases are to be judg'd according to Axioms: the certain is not prov'd by the uncertain, but the uncertain by the certain; and every thing is to be esteem'd uncertain till it be prov'd to be certain. Axioms in Law are, as in Mathematicks, evident to common sense; and nothing is to be taken for an Axiom, that is not so.
Euclid
dos not prove his Axioms by his Propositions, but his Propositions, which are abstruse, by such Axioms as are evident to all. The Axioms of our Law do not receive their Authority from
Coke
and
Hales,
but
Coke
and
Hales
deserve praise for giving judgment according to such as are undeniably true.
3. The Judges reeeive their Commissions from the King; and perhaps it may be said, that the Custom of naming them is grounded upon a right with which he is entrusted; but their power is from the Law, as that of the King also is. For he who has none originally in himself, can give none unless it be first confer'd upon him. I know not how he can well perform his Oath to govern according to Law, unless he execute the power with which he is entrusted, in naming those men to be Judges, whom in his conscience, and by the advice of his Council, he thinks the best and ablest to perform that Office: But both he and they are to learn their duty from that Law, by which they are, and which allots to every one his proper work. As the Law intends that men should be made Judges for their integrity and knowledg in the Law, and that it ought not to be imagin'd that the King will break his trust by chusing such as are not so, till the violation be evident, nothing is more reasonable than to intend that the Judges so qualify'd should instruct the King in matters of Law. But that he who may be a child, over-ag'd, or otherwise ignorant and uncapable, should instruct the Judges, is equally absurd, as for a blind man to be a guide to those who have the best eyes; and so abhorrent from the meaning of the Law, that the Judges (as I said before) are sworn to do justice according to the Laws, without any regard to the King's words, letters or commands. If they are therefore to act according to a set rule, from which they may not depart what command soever they receive, they do not act by a power from him, but by one that is above both. This is commonly confest; and tho some Judges have bin found in several ages, who in hopes of reward and preferment have made little account of their Oath, yet the success that many of them have had, may reasonably deter others from following their example: and if there are not more instances in this kind, no better reason can be given, than that
Jure igitur plectimur; nisi enim multorum impunita feeler
tulissemus, nunquam ad unum tanta pervenisset licentia.
Cicero.
Nations do frequently fail, by being too remiss in asserting their own rights or punishing offenders, and hardly ever err on the severer side.
4. Judgments are variously given in several States and Kingdoms, but he who would find one where they lie in the breast of the King, must go at least as far as
Morocco.
Nay, the Embassador who was lately here from that place, deny'd that they were absolutely in him. However 'tis certain that in
England,
according to the Great Charter,
Jud
ia
iunt per pares.
Mag. Chart.
Judgments are pass'd by equals:
no man can be imprison'd, disseiz'd of his Freehold, depriv'd of Life or Limb,
Ni
per judicium parium suorum.
Ibid.
unless by the sentence of his Peers.
The Kings of
Judah
did
Judicabant & judicabantur.
Maimonid.
judg and were judg'd;
and the Judgments they gave were in and with the Sanhedrin. In
England
the Kings do not judg, but are judg'd: and
Bracton
says,
In justitia recipienda rex cuilibet ex plebe aqualis est.
That in receiving justice the King is equal to another man;
which could not be, if judgments were given by him, and he were exempted from the judgment of all by that Law, which has put all judgments into the hands of the People. This power is executed by them in grand or petty Jurys, and the Judges are assistants to them in explaining the difficult points of the Law, in which 'tis presum'd they should be learned. The strength of every judgment consists in the verdict of these Jurys, which the Judges do not give, but pronounce or declare: and the same Law that makes good a verdict given contrary to the advice or direction of the Judges, exposes them to the utmost penaltys, if upon their own heads, or a command from the King, they should presume to give a Sentence, without or contrary to a Verdict; and no pretensions to a power of interpreting the Law can exempt them if they break it. The power also with which the Judges are entrusted, is but of a moderate extent, and to be executed
bona side.
Prevarications are capital, as they prov'd to
Tresilian, Empson, Dudley,
and many others. Nay even in special Verdicts, the Judges are only assistants to the Jurys who find it specially, and the Verdict is from them; tho the Judges having heard the point argu'd, declare the sense of the Law thereupon. Wherefore if I should grant that the King might personally assist in judgments, his work could only be to prevent frauds, and by the advice of the Judges to see that the Laws be duly executed, or perhaps to inspect their behaviour. If he has more than this, it must be by virtue of his politick capacity, in which he is understood to be always present in the principal Courts, where Justice is always done whether he who wears the Crown be young or old, wise or ignorant, good or bad, or whether he like or dislike what is done.
Moreover, as Governments are instituted for the obtaining of Justice, and the King is in a great measure entrusted with the power of executing it, 'tis probable that the Law would have requir'd his presence in the distribution, if there had bin but one Court; that at the same time he could be present in more than one; that it were certain he would be guilty of no miscarriages; that all miscarriages were to be punish'd in him as well as in the Judges; or that it were certain he should always be a man of such wisdom, industry, experience and integrity, as to be an assistance to, and a watch over those who are appointed for the administration of Justice. But there being many Courts sitting at the same time of equal Authority, in several places far distant from each other; it being impossible for the King to be present in all; there being no manner of assurance that the same or greater miscarriages may not be committed in his presence than in his absence, by himself than others; no opportunity of punishing every delict in him, without bringing the Nation into such disorder, as may be of more prejudice to the publick than an injury done to a private man; the Law which intends to obviate offences, or to punish such as cannot be obviated, has directed, that those men should be chosen who are most knowing in it, imposes an Oath upon them, not to be diverted from the due course of justice by fear or favor, hopes or reward, particularly by any command from the King; and appoints the severest punishments for them if they prove false to God and their Country.
If any man think that the words cited from
Bracton
by our Author upon the question,
Quis primo & principaliter possit & debeat judicare, &c. Sciendum est quod Rex & non alius, si solus ad haec sufficere possit; cum ad hoc per virtutem Sacramenti teneatur,
are contrary to what I have said, I desire the context may be consider'd, that his opinion may be truly understood, tho the words taken simply and nakedly may be enough for my purpose. For 'tis ridiculous to infer that the King has a right of doing any thing, upon a supposition that 'tis impossible for him to do it. He therefore who says the King cannot do it, says it must be done by others, or not at all. But having already prov'd that the King, merely as King, has none of the qualitys requir'd for judging all or any cases, and that many Kings have all the defects of age and person that render men most unable and unfit to give any Sentence; we may conclude, without contradicting
Bracton,
that no King as King has a power of judging, because some of them are utterly unable and unfit to do it; and if any one has such a power, it must be confer'd upon him by those who think him able and fit to perform that work. When
Filmer
finds such a man, we must inquire into the extent of that power which is given to him; but this would be nothing to his general proposition, for he himself would hardly have infer'd, that because a power of judging in some cases was confer'd upon one Prince on account of his fitness and ability, therefore all of 'em, however unfit and unable, have a power of deciding all cases. Besides, if he believe
Bracton,
this power of judging is not inherent in the King, but incumbent upon him by virtue of his Oath, which our Author endeavours to enervate and annul. But as that Oath is grounded upon the Law, and the Law cannot presume impossibilitys and absurditys, it cannot intend, and the Oath cannot require, that a man should do that which he is unable and unfit to do. Many Kings are unfit to judg causes, the Law cannot therefore intend they should do it. The Context also shews, that this imagination of the King's judging all causes, if he could, is merely chimerical: for
Bracton
says in the same Chapter, that
the power of the King is the Power of the Law;
that is, that he has no power but by the Law. And the Law that aims at justice, cannot make it to depend upon the uncertain humor of a Child, a Woman, or a foolish Man; for by that means it would destroy it self. The Law cannot therefore give any such power, and the King cannot have it.
If it be said that all Kings are not so; that some are of mature age, wise, just and good; or that the question is not what is good for the Subject, but what is glorious to the King, and that he must not lose his right tho the People perish; I answer, first, that whatsoever belongs to Kings as Kings, belongs to all Kings: this Power of judging cannot belong to all for the Reasons above-mention'd: it cannot therefore belong to any as King, nor without madness be granted to any, till he has given testimony of such Wisdom, Experience, Diligence and Goodness, as is requir'd for so great a work. It imports not what his Ancestors were; Vertues are not entail'd; and it were less improper for the Heirs of
Hales
and
Harvey,
to pretend that the Clients and Patients of their Ancestors should depend upon their advice in matters of Law and Physick, than for the Heirs of a great and wise Prince to pretend to Powers given on account of vertue, if they have not the same talents for the performance of the works requir'd.
Common sense declares, that Governments are instituted, and Judicatures erected for the obtaining of justice. The Kings Bench was not establish'd that the Chief Justice should have a great Office, but that the oppressed should be reliev'd, and right done. The Honor and Profit he receives, comes in as it were by accident, as the rewards of his service, if he rightly perform his duty: but he may as well pretend he is there for his own sake, as the King. God did not set up
Moses
or
Joshua,
that they might glory in having six hundred thousand men under their command, but that they might lead the People into the Land they were to possess: that is, they were not for themselves, but for the People; and the glory they acquir'd was by rightly performing the end of their institution. Even our Author is oblig'd to confess this, when he says, that the King's Prerogative is instituted for the good of those that are under it. 'Tis therefore for them that he enjoys it, and it can no otherwise subsist than in concurrence with that end. He also yields that
the safety of the People is the supreme Law.
The right therefore that the King has must be conformable and subordinate to it. If any one therefore set up an interest in himself that is not so, he breaks this supreme Law; he dos not live and reign for his People but for himself, and by departing from the end of his institution destroys it: and if
Aristotle
(to whom our Author seems to have a great deference) deserves credit, such a one ceases to be a King, and becomes a Tyrant; he who ought to have bin the best of men is turn'd into the worst; and he who is recommended to us under the name of a Father, becomes a publick Enemy to the People. The question therefore is not, what is good for the King, but what is good for the People, and he can have no right repugnant to them.
Bracton
is not more gentle.
The King,
says he,
is oblig'd by his Oath, to the utmost of his power, to preserve the Church, and the Christian World in peace; to hinder rapine, and all manner of iniquity; to cause justice and mercy to be observ'd: He has no power but from the Law: that only is to be taken for Law, quod recte fuerit definitum:
he is therefore to cause justice to be done according to that rule, and not to pervert it for his own pleasure, profit or glory. He may chuse Judges also, not such as will be subservient to his will, but
Viros sapientes, timentes Deum, in quibus est
Bract. l. 3. c. 10.
veritas eloquiorum, & qui oderunt avaritiam.
Which proves that Kings and their Officers do not possess their places for themselves, but for the People, and must be such as are fit and able to perform the dutys they undertake. The mischievous fury of those who assume a power above their abilitys, is well represented by the known fable of
Phaeton:
they think they desire fine things for themselves when they seek their own ruin. In conformity to this the same
Bracton
says, that
Si quis minus sapiens & indoctus, sedem judicandi & honestatem judicandi sibi praesumserit, exalto corruit, &c. & perinde
rit ac si gladium poneret in manu furentis.
Ibid.
If any man who is unskilful assume the seat of justice, he falls as from a Precipice, &c. and 'tis the same thing as if a sword be put into the hand of a mad man;
which cannot but affect the King as well as those who are chosen by him. If he neglect the functions of his Office,
he dos unjustly, and becomes the Vicegerent of the Devil; for he is the Minister of him whose works he dos.
This is
Bracton
's opinion: but desiring to be a more gentle Interpreter of the Law, I only wish that Princes would consider the end of their institution; endeavour to perform it; measure their own abilitys; content themselves with that power which the Laws allow, and abhor those Wretches who by flattery and lies endeavour to work upon their frailest Passions, by which means they draw upon 'em that hatred of the People, which frequently brings them to destruction.
Tho
Ʋ lpian
's words,
Princeps legibus non tenetur,
be granted to have bin true in fact, with relation to the
Roman
Empire, in the time when he liv'd; yet they can conclude nothing against us. The Liberty of
Rome
had bin overthrown long before by the power of the Sword, and the Law render'd subservient to the will of the Usurpers. They were not
English
-men, but
Romans,
who lost the Battels of
Pharsalia
and
Philippi:
The Carcases of their Senators, not ours, were expos'd to the Wolves and Vulturs:
Pompeius, Scipio, Lentulus, Afranius, Petreius, Cato, Cassius
and
Brutus
were defenders of the
Roman,
not the
English
Liberty; and that of their Country, not ours, could only be lost by their defeat. Those who were destroy'd by the Proscriptions, left
Rome,
not
England
to be enslav'd. If the best had gain'd the victory, it could have bin no advantage to us, and their overthrow can be no prejudice. Every Nation is to take care of their own Laws; and whether any one has had the Wisdom, Vertue, Fortune and Power to defend them or not, concerns only themselves. The Examples of great and good men acting freely deserve consideration, but they only perish by the ill success of their designs; and whatsoever is afterwards done by their subdu'd Posterity ought to have no other effect upon the rest of the world, than to admonish them so to join in the defence of their Libertys, as never to be brought under the necessity of acting by the command of one, to the prejudice of themselves and their Country. If the
Roman
greatness persuade us to put an extraordinary value upon what pass'd among them, we ought rather to examin what they did, said, or thought when they enjoy'd that Liberty which was the Mother and Nurse of their Vertue, than what they suffer'd, or were forc'd to say, when fallen under that Slavery which produc'd all manner of corruption, and made them the most base and miserable People of the world.
For what concerns us, the Actions of our Ancestors resemble those of the antient rather than the later
Romans:
tho our Government be not the same with theirs in form, yet it is in principle; and if we are not degenerated, we shall rather desire to imitate the
Romans
in the time of their vertue, glory, power and felicity, than what they were in that of their slavery, vice, shame and misery. In the best times, when
the Laws were more powerful than the commands of men,
fraud was accounted a crime so detestable as not to be imputed to any but Slaves; and he who had sought a power above the Law under color of interpreting it, would have bin expos'd to scorn, or greater punishments, if any can be greater than the just scorn of the best men. And as neither the
Romans,
nor any people of the world, have better defended their libertys than the
English
Nation when any attempt has bin made to oppress them by force, they ought to be no less careful to preserve them from the more dangerous efforts of fraud and falshood.
Our Ancestors were certainly in a low condition in the time of
William
the First: Many of their best men had perish'd in the Civil Wars or with
Harold:
their valor was great, but rough, and void of skill: The
Normans
by frequent Expeditions into
France, Italy
and
Spain,
had added subtilty to the boisterous violence of their native climate:
William
had engag'd his Faith, but broke it, and turn'd the power with which he was entrusted to the ruin of those that had trusted him. He destroy'd many worthy men, carry'd others into
Normandy,
and thought himself Master of all. He was crafty, bold, and elated with Victory; but the resolution of a brave People was invincible. When their Laws and Libertys were in danger, they resolved to die or to defend them, and made him see he could no otherwise preserve his Crown and Life than by the performance of his Oath, and accomplishing the ends of his Election. They neither took him to be the giver or interpreter of their Laws, and would not suffer him to violate those of their Ancestors. In this way they always continu'd; and tho perhaps they might want skill to fall upon the surest and easiest means of restraining the lusts of Princes, yet they maintain'd their rights so well, that the wisest Princes seldom invaded them; and the success of those who were so foolish to attempt it was such, as may justly deter others from following their unprosperous Examples. We have had no King since
William
the First more hardy than
Henry
the 8
th,
and yet he so intirely acknowledg'd the power of making, changing and repealing Laws to be in the Parliament, as never to attempt any extraordinary thing otherwise than by their Authority. It was not he, but the Parliament, that dissolv'd the Abbys: He did not take their Lands to himself, but receiv'd what the Parliament thought fit to give him: He did not reject the Supremacy of the Pope, nor assume any other power in spiritual matters, than the Parliament confer'd upon him. The intricacys of his Marriages, and the legitimation of his Children were settled by the same Power: At least one of his Daughters could not inherit the Crown upon any other Title; they who gave him a power to dispose of the Crown by will, might have given it to his Groom; and he was too haughty to ask it from them, if he had it in himself, which he must have had, if the Laws and Judicatures had bin in his hand.
This is farther evidenc'd by what pass'd in the Tower between Sir
Thomas Moor
and
Rich
the King's Sollicitor, who asking, If it would not be
Herberts
's
Hen. 8
th.
treason to oppose
Richard Rich,
if the Parliament should make him King,
Moor
said that was
Casus levis;
for the Parliament could make and depose Kings as they thought fit; and then (as more conducing to his own case) ask'd
Rich
if the Parliament should enact
that God should not be God,
whether such as did not submit should be esteem'd Traytors? 'Tis evident that a man of the acuteness and learning of Sir
Tho. Moor
would not have made use of such an Argument to avoid the necessity of obeying what the Parliament had ordain'd, by shewing his Case to be of a nature far above the power of man, unless it had bin confest by all men that the Parliament could do whatsoever lay within the reach of human power. This may be enough to prove that the King cannot have a power over the Law; and if he has it not, the power of interpreting Law is absurdly attributed to him, since it is founded upon a supposition that he can make them, which is false.
SECT. XXVII.
Magna Charta
was not the Original, but a Declaration of the
English
Libertys. The King's Power is not restrain'd, but created by that and other Laws; and the Nation that made them can only correct the defects of them.
I Agree with our Author that
Magna Charta was not made to restrain the absolute Authority;
for no such thing was in being or pretended (the folly of such visions seeming to have bin reserv'd to compleat the misfortune and ignominy of our age) but it was to assert the native and original Libertys of our Nation by the confession of the King then being, that neither he nor his Successors should any way encroach upon them: and it cannot be said that the power of Kings is diminish'd by that or any other Law; for as they are Kings only by Law, the Law may confer power upon one in particular, or upon him and his Successors, but can take nothing from them, because they have nothing except what is given to them. But as that which the Law gives, is given by those who make the Law, they only are capable of judging, whether he to whom they gave it, do well or ill imploy that power, and consequently are only fit to correct the defects that may be found in it. Therefore tho I should confess that faults may be found in many Statutes, and that the whole body of them is greatly defective, it will not follow that the compendious way of referring all to the will of the King should be taken. But what defects soever may be in our Law, the disease is not so great to require extreme remedys, and we may hope for a cheaper cure. Our Law may possibly have given away too much from the People, and provided only insufficient defences of our Libertys against the incroachments of bad Princes; but none who are not in judgment and honesty like to our Author, can propose for a remedy to the evils that proceed from the error of giving too much, the resignation of all the rest to them. And whatever he says, 'tis evident that he knows this to be true, tho when he denys that the power of King can be restrain'd by Acts of Parliament, he endeavours to take advantage of such clauses as were either fraudulently inserted by the King's Officers, who till the days of
Henry
the Fifth for the most part had the penning of the publick Acts, or thro negligence did not fully explain the intentions of the Legislators; which would be to no purpose if all were put into the hands of the King by a general Law from God, that no human power could diminish or enlarge; and as his last shift would obliquely put all into the power of the King, by giving him a right of interpreting the Law, and judging such cases as are not clearly decided; which would be equally impertinent, if he had openly and plainly a right of determining all things according to his will.
But what defect soever may be in any Statutes, no great inconveniencys could probably ensue, if that for annual Parliaments was observ'd, as of right it ought to be. Nothing is more unlikely, than that a great Assembly of eminent and chosen men should make a Law evidently destructive to their own designs; and no mischief that might emerge upon the discovery of a mistake, could be so extreme that the cure might not be defer'd till the meeting of the Parliament, or at least forty days (in which time the King may call one) if that which the Law has fix'd seem to be too long. If he fails of this, he performs not his trust; and he that would reward such a breach of it with a vast and uncontrolable power, may be justly thought equal in madness to our Author, who by forbidding us to examin the titles of Kings, and enjoining an intire veneration of the power, by what means soever obtain'd, encourages the worst of men to murder the best of Princes, with an assurance that if they prosper they shall enjoy all the honors and advantages that this World can afford.
Princes are not much more beholden to him for the haughty language he puts into their mouths, it having bin observ'd that the worst are always most ready to use it; and their extravagances having bin often chastis'd by Law, sufficiently proves, that their power is not deriv'd from a higher original than the Law of their own Countrys.
If it were true, that the answer sometimes given by Kings to Bills presented for their Assent, did, as our Author says, amount to a denial, it could only shew that they have a negative voice upon that which is agreed by the Parliament, and is far from a power of acting by themselves, being only a check upon the other parts of the Government. But indeed it is no more than an elusion; and he that dos by art obliquely elude, confesses he has not a right absolutely to refuse. 'Tis natural to Kings, especially to the worst, to scrue up their Authority to the height; and nothing can more evidently prove the defect of it, than the necessity of having recourse to such pitiful evasions, when they are unwilling to do that which is requir'd. But if I should grant that the words import a denial, and that (notwithstanding those of the Coronation Oath,
Quas vulgus elegerit)
they might deny; no more could be infer'd from thence, than that they are entrusted with a power equal in that point, to that of either House, and cannot be supreme in our Author's sense, unless there were in the same State at the same time three distinct supreme and absolute Powers, which is absurd.
His cases relating to the proceedings of the Star Chamber and Council-Table, do only prove that some Kings have incroach'd upon the rights of the Nation, and bin suffer'd till their excesses growing to be extreme, they turn'd to the ruin of the Ministers that advis'd them, and sometimes of the Kings themselves. But the Jurisdiction of the Council having bin regulated by the Statute of 17
Car.
1. and the Star-Chamber more lately abolish'd, they are nothing to our dispute.
Such as our Author usually impute to Treason and Rebellion the changes that upon these occasions have ensu'd; but all impartial men do not only justify them, but acknowledg that all the Crowns of
Europe
are at this day enjoy'd by no other title than such Acts solemnly perform'd by the respective Nations, who either disliking the Person that pretended to the Crown (tho next in blood) or the Government of the present Possessor, have thought fit to prefer another Person or Family. They also say, as that no Government can be so perfect but some defect may be originally in it, or afterwards introduc'd, none can subsist unless they be from time to time reduc'd to their first integrity, by such an exertion of the power of those for whose sake they were instituted, as may plainly shew them to be subject to no power under Heaven, but may do whatever appears to be for their own good. And as the safety of all Nations consists in rightly placing and measuring this Power, such have bin found always to prosper who have given it to those from whom Usurpations were least to be fear'd, who have bin least subject to be aw'd, cheated or corrupted; and who having the greatest interest in the Nation, were most concern'd to preserve its power, liberty and welfare. This is the greatest trust that can be repos'd in men. This power was by the
Spartans
given to the
Ephori
and the Senat of twenty eight; in
Venine
to that which they call
Concilio de Pregadi;
in
Germany, Spain, France, Swedeland, Denmark, Poland, Hungary, Bohemia, Scotland, England,
and generally all the Nations that have liv'd under the
Gothick
Polity, it has bin in their General Assemblys, under the names of Diets, Cortez, Parliaments, Senats, and the like. But in what hands soever it is, the power of making, abrogating, changing, correcting and intepreting Laws, has bin in the same; Kings have bin rejected or depos'd; the Succession of the Crown settled, regulated or chang'd: and I defy any man to shew me one King amongst all the Nations abovemention'd, that has any right to the Crown he wears, unless such acts are good.
If this power be not well plac'd, or rightly proportion'd to that which is given to other Magistrats, the State must necessarily fall into great disorders, or the must violent and dangerous means must be frequently us'd to preserve their Liberty.
Sparta
and
Venice
have rarely bin put to that trouble, because the Senats were so much above the Kings and Dukes in power, that they could without difficulty bring them to reason. The
Gothick
Kings in
Spain
never ventur'd to dispute with the Nobility; and
Witza
and
Rodrigo
expos'd the Kingdom as a prey to the
Moors,
rather by weakning it thro the neglect of Military disciplin, join'd to their own ignorance and cowardice, and by evil example bringing the youth to resemble them in leudness and baseness, than by establishing in themselves a power above the Law. But in
England
our Ancestors, who seem to have had some such thing in their eye, as balancing the powers, by a fatal mistake plac'd usually so much in the hands of the King, that whensoever he happen'd to be bad, his extravagances could not be represt without great danger. And as this has in several ages cost the Nation a vast proportion of generous blood, so 'tis the cause of our present difficultys, and threatens us with more, but can never deprive usof the rights we inherit from our fathers.
SECT. XXVIII. The English Nation has always bin govern'd by it self, or its Representatives.
HAVING prov'd that the People of
England
have never acknowledg'd any other human Law than their own, and that our Parliaments having the power of making and abrogating Laws, they only can interpret them and decide hard cases, it plainly appears there can be no truth in our Author's assertion, That
the King is the Author, Corrector and Moderator of both Statute and Common Law:
and nothing can be more frivolous than what he adds, that
neither of them can be a diminution of that natural power which Kings have over their People as fathers;
in as much as the differences between paternal and monarchical Power (as he asserts it) are vast and irreconcilable in principle and practice, as I have prov'd at large in the former parts of this Work.
But lest we should be too proud of the honor he is pleas'd to do to our Parliaments by making use of their Authority, he says,
We are first to remember that till the Conquest
(which name for the glory of our Nation he gives to the coming in of the
Normans) there could be no Parliament assembled of the General States, because we cannot learn that until those days it was intirely united in one.
Secondly he doubts,
Whether the Parliament in the time of the
Saxons
were compos'd of the Nobility and Clergy, or whether the Commons were also call'd;
but concludes,
there could be no Knights of any Shires, because there were no Shires.
Thirdly,
That
Henry
the First caus'd the Commons first to assemble Knights and Burgesses of their own chusing;
and would make this to be an Act of grace and favor from that King: but adds, that
it had bin more for the honor of Parliaments, if a King whose title to the Crown had bin better, had bin the Author of the form of it.
In answer to the first, I do not think my self oblig'd to insist upon the name or form of the Parliament; for the Authority of a Magistracy proceeds not from the number of years that it has continu'd, but the rectitude of the Institution, and the Authority of those that instituted it. The power of
Saul, David
and
Jeroboam
was the same with that which belong'd to the last Kings of
Israel
and
Judah.
The Authority of the
Roman
Consuls, Dictators, Pretors and Tribuns, was the same as soon as it was establish'd; was as legal and just as that of the Kings of
Denmark,
which is said to have continu'd above three thousand years. For as time can make nothing lawful or just, that is not so of it self (tho men are unwilling to change that which has pleas'd their Ancestors, unless they discover great inconveniences in it) that which a People dos rightly establish for their own good, is of as much force the first day, as continuance can ever give to it: and therefore in matters of the greatest importance, wise and good men do not so much inquire what has bin, as what is good and ought to be; for that which of it self is evil, by continuance is made worse, and upon the first opportunity is justly to be abolish'd. But if that Liberty in which God created man, can receive any strength from continuance, and the rights of
Englishmen
can be render'd more unquestionable by prescription, I say that the Nations whose rights we inherit, have ever enjoy'd the Libertys we claim, and always exercis'd them in governing themselves popularly, or by such Representatives as have bin instituted by themselves, from the time they were first known in the World.
The
Britans
and
Saxons
lay so long hid in the obscurity that accompanys barbarism, that 'tis in vain to seek what was done by either in any Writers more antient than
Cesar
and
Tacitus.
The first describes the
Britans
to have bin a fierce People zealous for Liberty, and so obstinately valiant in the defence of it, that tho they wanted skill, and were overpower'd by the
Romans,
their Country could no otherwise be subdu'd, than by the slaughter of all the Inhabitants able to bear arms. He calls them a free People, in as much as they were not like the
Gauls,
govern'd by Laws made by the great Men, but by the People. In his time they chose
Cassivellaunus,
and afterwards
Caractatus, Arviragus, Galgacus,
and others to command them in their wars, but they retain'd the Government in themselves. That no force might be put upon them, they met arm'd in their general Assemblys; and tho the smaller matters were left to the determination of the Chief men chosen by themselves for that purpose, they reserv'd the most important (amongst which the chusing of those men was one) to themselves. When the
Romans
had brought them low,
Inter instrumenta servitutis reges habuere.
C. Tacit.
they set up certain Kings to govern such as were within their Territorys: but those who defended themselves by the natural strength of their situation, or retir'd into the North, or the Islands, were still govern'd by their own Customs, and were never acquainted with domestick or foreign slavery▪ The
Saxons,
from whom we chiefly derive our Original and Manners, were no less lovers of Liberty, and better understood the ways of defending it. They were certainly the most powerful and valiant People of
Germany;
and what the
Germans
perform'd under
Ariovistus, Arminius
and
Maroboduus,
shews both their force and their temper. If ever fear enter'd into the heart of
Cesar,
it seems to have bin when he was to deal with
Ariovistus.
The advantages that the brave
Germanicus
obtain'd against
Arminius,
were at least thought equal to the greatest Victorys that had bin gain'd by any
Roman
Captain; because these Nations fought not for riches, or any instruments of Luxury or Pleasure, which they despis'd, but for Liberty. This was the Principle in which they liv'd, as appears by their words and actions; so that
Arminius,
when his brother
Flavius,
who serv'd the
Romans,
boasted of the increase of his pay, and the marks of honor he had receiv'd, in scorn call'd them the
Vilis servi
ii pramia.
Tacit.
rewards of the vilest servitude:
but when he himself endeavour'd to usurp a power over the Liberty of his Country which he had so bravely defended, he was kill'd by those he would have opprest.
Tacitus
farther describing the nature of the
Germans,
shews that the
Romans
had run greater hazards from them than from the
Samnites, Carthaginians
and
Parthians,
and attributes their Bravery to the
Quippe gravior est Arsacis regno Germanorum Libertas.
Liberty they enjoy'd; for they are, says he, neither
Exe
pti oneribus & collationibus, & tantum in usum pra
liorum seposi
i, velut tela & arma bellis reservantur.
exhausted by Tributes, nor vex'd by Publicans: and lest this Liberty should be violated,
De minoribus principes consultant, de majoribus omnes.
C. Tac.
de mor. Germ.
the chief men consult about things of lesser moment; but the most important matters are determin'd by all.
Whoever would know the opinion of that wise Author concerning the
German
Liberty, may read his excellent Treatise of their Manners and Customs; but I presume this may be enough to prove that they liv'd free under such Magistrats as they chose, regulated by such Laws as they made, and retain'd the principal powers of the Government in their general or particular Councils. Their Kings and Princes had no other power than what was confer'd upon them by these
Ut turbae placuit considunt armati, silentium per
acerdotes, quibus tum coercendi jus est, imperatur. Mox Rex vel Princeps prout aetas cuique, prout nobilitas, prout decus bellorum, prout facundia est, audiuntur, autoritate suadendi, magis quam jubendi potestate. Si displi
uit sententia▪ fremitu a
pernantur; si placuit, frameas concutiunt, &c.
Ibid.
Assemblys, who having all in themselves could receive nothing from them who had nothing to give.
'Tis as easily prov'd that the
Saxons
or
Angli,
from whom we descend, were eminent among those, whose power, vertue, and love to Liberty the abovemention'd Historian so highly extols, in as much as besides what he says in general of the
Saxons,
he names the
Angli;
describes their habitation near the
Elb,
and their religious worship of the Goddess
Erthum,
or the Earth, celebrated in an Island lying in the mouth of that River, thought to be
Heyligland;
in resemblance of which a small one lying over against
Berwick,
is call'd Holy Island. If they were free in their own Country, they must have bin so when they came hither. The manner of their coming shews they were more likely to impose, than submit to slavery; and if they had not the name of Parliament, it was because they did not speak
French;
or, not being yet join'd with the
Normans,
they had not thought fit to put their Affairs into that method: but having the root of Power and Liberty in themselves, they could not but have a right of establishing the one in such a form as best pleas'd them, for the preservation of the other.
This being, as I suppose, undeniable, it imports not whether the Assemblys in which the Supreme Power of each Nation did reside, were frequent or rare; compos'd of many or few Persons, sitting altogether in one place, or in more; what name they had; or whether every Free man did meet and vote in his own person, or a few were delegated by many. For they who have a Right inherent in themselves, may resign it to others; and they who can give a Power to others, may exercise it themselves, unless they recede from it by their own act; for it is only matter of convenience, of which they alone can be the Judges, because 'tis for themselves only that they judg. If this were not so, it would be very prejudicial to Kings: for 'tis certain that
Cassivellaunus, Caractatus, Arviragus, Galgacus, Hengist, Horsa,
and others amongst the
Britans
and
Saxons,
what name soever may have bin abusively given to them, were only temporary Magistrats chosen upon occasion of present Wars; but we know of no time in which the
Britans
had not their Great Council to determin their most important Affairs: and the
Saxons
in their own Country had their Councils, where all were present, and in which
Tacitus
assures us they dispatch'd their greatest Business. These were the same with the
Micklegemots
which they afterwards held here, and might have bin call'd by the same name, if
Tacitus
had spoken
Dutch.
If a People therefore have not a power to create at any time a Magistracy which they had not before, none could be created at all, for no Magistracy is eternal: And if for the validity of the Constitution it be necessary, that the beginning must be unknown, or that no other could have bin before it, the Monarchy amongst us cannot be establish'd upon any right; for tho our Ancestors had their Councils and Magistrats, as well here as in
Germany,
they had no Monarchs. This appears plainly by the testimony of
Cesar
and
Tacitus;
and our later Historys show, that as soon as the
Saxons
came into this Country, they had their
Micklegemots,
which were general Assemblys of the Noble and Free men, who had in themselves the Power of the Nation: and tho when they increas'd in numbers, they erected seven Kingdoms, yet every one retain'd the same usage within it self. These Assemblys were evidently the same in power with our Parliaments; and tho they differ'd in name or form, it matters not, for they who could act in the one, could not but have a power of instituting the other; that is, the same People that could meet together in their own Persons, and according to their own pleasure order all matters relating to themselves, whilst three or four Countys only were under one Government, and their numbers were not so great, or their habitation so far distant, that they might not meet altogether without inconvenience, with the same Right might depute others to represent them, when being join'd in one, no place was capable of receiving so great a multitude, and that the Frontiers would have bin expos'd to the danger of foreign Invasions, if any such thing had bin practis'd.
But if the Authority of Parliaments, for many Ages representing the whole Nation, were less to be valu'd (as our Author insinuates) because they could not represent the whole, when it was not join'd in one Body, that of Kings must come to nothing; for there could be no one King over all, when the Nation was divided into seven distinct Governments: And 'tis most absurd to think that the Nation, which had seven Great Councils, or Micklegemots, at the same time they had seven Kingdoms, could not as well unite the seven Councils as the seven Kingdoms into one. 'Tis to as little purpose to say, that the Nation did not unite it self, but the several parcels came to be inherited by one; for that one could inherit no more from the others than what they had; and the seven being only Magistrats set up by the Micklegemots, &c. the one must be also. And 'tis neither reasonable to imagin, nor possible to prove, that a fierce Nation, jealous of Liberty, and who had obstinately defended it in
Germany
against all Invaders, should conquer this Country to enslave themselves, and purchase nothing by their Valor but that Servitude which they abhor'd; or be less free when they were united into one State, than they had bin when they were divided into seven; and least of all, that one man could first subdue his own People, and then all the rest, when by endeavouring to subdue his own, he had broken the Trust repos'd in him, and lost the Right confer'd upon him, and without them had not power to subdue any. But as it is my fate almost ever to dissent from our Author, I affirm, That the variety of Government, which is observ'd to have bin amongst the
Saxons,
who in some Ages were divided, in others united; sometimes under Captains, at other times under Kings; sometimes meeting personally in the Micklegemots, sometimes by their Delegats in the Wittenagemots, dos evidently testify, that they order'd all things according to their own pleasure; which being the utmost Act of Liberty, it remain'd inviolable under all those changes, as we have already prov'd by the Examples of
Offa, Ina, Alfred, Canutus, Edward,
and other particular, as well as universal Kings: And we may be sure those of the
Norman
Race can have no more power, since they came in by the same way, and swore to govern by the same Laws.
2. I am no way concern'd in our Author's doubt,
Whether Parliaments did in those days consist of Nobility and Clergy; or, Whether the Commons were also call'd.
For if it were true, as he asserts, that according to the eternal Law of God and Nature, there can be no Government in the World but that of an absolute Monarch, whose Sovereign Majesty can be diminish'd by no Law or Custom, there could be Parliaments, or other Magistracys, that did not derive their Power and Being from his Will. But having prov'd that the
Saxons
had their General Councils and Assemblys when they had no Kings; that by them Kings were made, and the greatest Affairs determin'd, whether they had Kings or not; it can be of no importance, whether in one or more Ages the Commons had a part in the Government, or not. For the same Power that instituted a Parliament without them, might, when they thought fit, receive them into it: or rather, if they who had the Government in their hands, did, for reasons known to themselves, recede from the exercise of it, they might resume it when they pleas'd.
Nevertheless it may be worth our pains to inquire what our Author means by Nobility. If such, as at this day by means of Patents obtain'd for mony, or by favor, without any regard to Merit in the Persons or their Ancestors, are call'd Dukes, Marquesses, &c. I give him leave to impute as late and base an Original to them as he pleases, without fearing that the Rights of our Nation can thereby be impair'd; and am content, that if the King do not think fit to support the Dignity of his own Creatures, they may fall. But if by Noblemen we are to understand such as have bin ennobl'd by the vertues of their Ancestors, manifested in Services done to their Country, I say, that all Nations, amongst whom Vertue has bin esteem'd, have had a great regard to them and their Posterity: and tho Kings, when they were made, have bin entrusted by the
Saxons,
and other Nations, with a Power of ennobling those who by Services render'd to their Country might deserve that Honor, yet the Body of the Nobility was more antient than such; for it had bin equally impossible
to take
Reges ex nobilitate, duces ex virtute sumere.
Sublimato eo coepit lues omnium scelerum crescere: s
viebat scurrilis nequitia, odium veritatis, &c. ut vas omnium scelerum solus videretur Vortigernus; & quod maxime Regiae honestati contrarium est, Nobiles deprimens, & moribus & sanguine ignobiles extollens, Deo & hominibus e
icitur odiosus.
Mat. Westm.
An. 446.
Kings
(according to
Tacitus) out of the Nobility,
if there had bin no Nobility, as
to take Captains for their Vertue,
if there had bin no Vertue. Princes could not without breach of Trust confer Honors upon those that did not deserve them; which is so true, that this practice was objected as the greatest crime against †
Vortigern,
the last and the worst of the
British
Kings: and tho he might pretend (according to such cavils as are usually in our time) that the judgment of those matters was refer'd to him; yet the World judg'd of his Crimes, and when he had render'd himself odious to God and Men by them, he perish'd in them, and brought destruction upon his Country that had suffer'd them too long.
As among the
Turks,
and most of the Eastern Tyrannys, there is no Nobility, and no man has any considerable advantage above the common People, unless by the immediate favor of the Prince; so in all the legal Kingdoms of the North, the strength of the Government has always bin plac'd in the Nobility; and no better defence has bin found against the encroachments of ill Kings, than by setting up an Order of Men, who by holding large Territorys, and having great numbers of Tenants and Dependents, might be able to restrain the exorbitances, that either the Kings or the Commons might run into. For this end
Spain, Germany, France, Poland, Denmark, Sweden, Scotland
and
England,
were almost wholly divided into Lordships under several names, by which every particular Possessor ow'd Allegiance (that is, such an Obedience as the Law requires) to the King, and he reciprocally swore to perform that which the same Law exacted from him.
When these Nations were converted to the Christian Religion, they had a great veneration for the Clergy; and not doubting that the Men whom they esteem'd holy, would be just, thought their Libertys could not be better secur'd, than by joining those who had the direction of their Consciences, to the Noblemen who had the command of their Forces. This succeeded so well (in relation to the defence of the publick Rights) that in all the foremention'd States, the Bishops, Abbots, &c. were no less zealous or bold in defending the publick Liberty, than the best and greatest of the Lords: And if it were true, that things being thus establish'd, the Commons did neither personally, nor by their Representatives, enter into the General Assemblys, it could be of no advantage to Kings; for such a Power as is abovemention'd, is equally inconsistent with the absolute Sovereignty of Kings, if plac'd in the Nobility and Clergy, as if the Commons had a part. If the King has all, no other Man, nor number of Men can have any. If the Nobility and Clergy have the power, the Commons may have their share also. But I affirm, that those whom we now call Commons, have always had a part in the Government, and their place in the Councils that manag'd it; for if there was a distinction, it must have bin by Patent, Birth, or Tenure.
As for Patents, we know they began long after the coming of the
Normans;
and those that now have them cannot pretend to any advantage on account of Birth or Tenure, beyond many of those who have them not. Nay, besides the several Branches of the Familys that now enjoy the most antient Honors, which consequently are as noble as they, and some of them of the elder Houses, we know many that are now call'd Commoners, who in antiquity and eminency are no way inferior to the chief of the titular Nobility: and nothing can be more absurd, than to give a Prerogative of Birth to
Cr-v-n, T-ft-n, H-de, B-nn-t, Osb-rn,
and others, before the
Cliftons, Hampdens, Courtneys, Pelhams, St. Johns, Baintons, Wilbrahams, Hungerfords,
and many others. And if the Tenures of their Estates be consider'd, they have the same, and as antient as any of those who go under the names of Duke, or Marquess. I forbear to mention the sordid ways of attaining to Titles in our days; but whoever will take the pains to examin them, shall find that they rather defile than ennoble the possessors. And whereas Men are truly ennobl'd only by Vertue, and respect is due to such as are descended from those who have bravely serv'd their Country, because it is presum'd (till they shew the contrary) that they will resemble their Ancestors, these modern Courtiers, by their Names and Titles, frequently oblige us to call to mind such things as are not to be mention'd without blushing. Whatever the antient Noblemen of
England
were, we are sure they were not such as these. And tho it should be confest that no others than Dukes, Marquesses, Earls, Viscounts, and Barons, had their places in the Councils mention'd by
Cesar
and
Tacitus,
or in the great Assemblys of the
Saxons,
it could be of no advantage to such as are now call'd by those names. They were the titles of Offices confer'd upon those, who did and could best conduct the People in time of War; give Counsel to the King; administer Justice, and perform other publick dutys; but were never made hereditary except by abuse; much less were they sold for mony, or given as recompences of the vilest services. If the antient Order be totally inverted, and the ends of its Institution perverted, they who from thence pretend to be distinguish'd from other men, must build their Claim upon something very different from Antiquity.
This being sufficient (if I mistake not) to make it appear, That the antient Councils of our Nation did not consist of such as we now call Noblemen, it may be worth our pains to examin of what sort of men they did consist: And tho I cannot much rely upon the credit of
Camden,
which he has forfeited by a great number of untruths, I will begin with him, because he is cited by our Author. If we will believe him,
Quod Saxones olim Wittenagemot, Parliamentum & Pananglicum recte dici possit, summam
que
&
acrosanctam habet autoritatem in legibus ferendis, antiquandis, conformandis, interpretandis, & in omnibus quae ad Reipublicae salutem spectant.
Brit.
fol. 63.
That which the
Saxons
call'd Wittenagemot, we may justly name Parliament, which has the supreme and most sacred Authority of making, abrogating and interpreting Laws, and generally of all things relating to the safety of the Commonwealth.
This Wittenagemot was, according to
William
of
Malmsbury,
Generalis Senatus & populi Conventus.
Malms.
The general meeting of the Senat and People;
and Sir
Harry Spelman
calls it,
Commune Concilium tam Cleri quam Populi.
Spelm.
The General Council of the Clergy and People.
In the Assembly at
Calcuth
it was decreed by the Archbishops, Bishops, Abbots, Dukes, Senators, and the People of the Land
(Populo terrae)
that
the
Ut Reges à Sacerdotibus & senioribus Populi eligantur.
Kings should be elected by the Priests and Elders of the People.
By these
Offa, Ina,
and others, were made Kings; and
Alfred
in his Will acknowledg'd his
Quam Dens & Principes cum senioribus Populi misericorditer & benigne dederunt.
Crown from them.
Edgar
was elected by all the People, and not long after depos'd by them, and again restor'd in a
Coram omni multitudine populi Anglorum.
General Assembly. These things being sometimes said to be done by the assent of the Barons of the Kingdom,
Camden
says, That
under the name of the
Nomine Baronagii omnes quodam modo regni ord
nes continentur.
Camd.
Baronage, all the Orders of the Kingdom are in a manner comprehended;
and it cannot be otherwise understood, if we consider that those call'd Noblemen, or the Nobility of
England,
are often by the Historians said to be
(infinita multitudo)
an infinite multitude.
If any man ask how the Nobility came to be so numerous; I answer, That the Northern Nations, who were perpetually in Arms, put a high esteem upon Military Valor; sought by conquest to acquire better Countrys than their own; valu'd themselves according to the numbers of men they could bring into the field; and to distinguish them from Villains, call'd those Noblemen, who nobly defended and enlarg'd their Dominions by War; and for a reward of their Services, in the division of Lands gain'd by conquest, they distributed to them Freeholds, under the obligation of continuing the same Service to their Country. This appears by the name of Knights Service, a Knight being no more than a Soldier, and a Knight's Fee no more than was sufficient to maintain one. 'Tis plain, that Knighthood was always esteem'd Nobility; so that no man, of what quality soever, thought a Knight inferior to him, and those of the highest birth could not act as Noblemen till they were knighted. Among the
Goths
in
Spain,
the cutting off the Hair (which being long was the mark of Knighthood) was accounted a degrading, and look'd upon to be so great a mark of Infamy, that he who had suffer'd it, could never bear any honor or office in the Commonwealth; and there was no dignity so high, but every Knight was capable of it. There was no distinction of men above it, and even to this day
Baron,
or
Varon,
in their Language, signifys no more than
Vir
in Latin, which is not properly given to any man unless he be free. The like was in
France
till the coming in of the third race of Kings, in which time the 12 Peers (of whom 6 only were Laymen) were rais'd to a higher dignity, and the Commands annex'd made hereditary; but the honor of Knighthood was thereby no way diminish'd. Tho there were Dukes, Earls, Marquesses and Barons in the time of
Froissart,
yet he usually calls them Knights: And
Philip de Commines,
speaking of the most eminent men of his time, calls them good, wise or valiant Knights. Even to this day the name of Gentleman comprehends all that is rais'd above the common people:
Henry
the Fourth usually call'd himself the first Gentleman in
France;
and 'tis an ordinary phrase among them, when they speak of a Gentleman of good Birth, to say,
Il est noble comme le Roy, He is as noble as the King.
In their General Assembly of Estates,
The Chamber of the Noblesse,
which is one of Three, is compos'd of the Deputys sent by the Gentry of every Province; and in the inquiry made about the Year 1668 concerning Nobility, no notice was taken of such as had assum'd the Titles of Earl, Marquess, Viscount, or Baron, but only of those who call'd themselves Gentlemen; and if they could prove that name to belong to them, they were left to use the other Titles as they pleas'd. When Duels were in fashion (as all know they were lately) no man except the Princes of the Blood, and Marechals of
France,
could with honor refuse a Challenge from any Gentleman: The first, because it was thought unfit, that he who might be King, should fight with a Subject to the danger of the Commonwealth, which might by that means be depriv'd of its Head: The others being by their Office Commanders of the Nobility, and Judges of all the Controversys relating to Honor that happen amongst them, cannot reasonably be brought into private Contests with any. In
Denmark Nobleman
and
Gentleman
is the same thing, and till the year 1660, they had the principal part of the Government in their hands. When
Charles Gustavus,
King of
Sweden,
invaded
Poland
in the year 1655, 'tis said, that there were above three hundred thousand Gentlemen in Arms to resist him. This is the Nobility of that Country, Kings are chosen by them: Every one of them will say, as in
France, He is noble as the King.
The last King was a private man among them, not thought to have had more than four hundred pounds a year. He who now reigns was not at all above him in birth or estate, till he had rais'd himself by great services done for his Country in many wars; and there was not one Gentleman in the Nation who might not have bin chosen as well as he, if it had pleas'd the Assembly that did it.
This being the Nobility of the Northern Nations, and the true Baronage of
England,
'tis no wonder that they were call'd
Nobiles,
the most eminent among them
Magnates, Principes, Proceres;
and so numerous that they were esteem'd to be
Multitudo infinita.
One place was hardly able to contain them; and the inconveniences of calling them all together appear'd to be so great, that in time they chose rather to meet by Representatives, than every one in his own person. The power therefore remaining in them, it matters not what method they observ'd in the execution. They who had the substance in their hands, might give it what form they pleas'd. Our Author sufficiently manifests his ignorance, in saying there could be no Knights of the Shires in the time of the
Saxons,
because there were no Shires; for the very word is
Saxon,
and we find the names of
Barkshire, Wiltshire, Devonshire, Dorsetshire,
and others most frequently in the writings of those times; and Dukes, Earls, Thanes or Aldermen, appointed to command the Forces, and look to the distribution of Justice in them.
Selden
cites
Ingulphus
for saying, that
Selden
's Tit. of Honor,
p. 2. c. 5.
Alfred was the first that chang'd the Provinces, &c. into Countys:
but refutes him, and proves that the distinction of the Land into Shires or Countys (for Shire signify'd no more than the share or part committed to the care of the Earl or
Comes)
was far more antient. Whether the first divisions by the
Saxons
were greater or lesser than the Shires or Countys now are, is nothing to the question: they who made them to be as they were, could have made them greater or lesser as they pleas'd. And whether they did immediately, or some ages after that distinction, cease to come to their great Assemblys, and rather chuse to send their Deputys; or whether such Deputys were chosen by Countys, Citys and Boroughs, as in our days, or in any other manner, can be of no advantage or prejudice to the Cause that I maintain. If the power of the Nation, when it was divided into seven Kingdoms, or united under one, did reside in the Micklegemots or Wittenagemots; if these consisted of the Nobility and People, who were sometimes so numerous that no one place could well contain them; and if the preference given to the chief among them, was on account of the Offices they executed, either in relation to war or justice, which no man can deny, I have as much as serves for my purpose. 'Tis indifferent to me, whether they were call'd Earls, Dukes, Aldermen, Herotoghs or Thanes; for 'tis certain that the titular Nobility now in mode amongst us has no resemblance to this antient Nobility of
England.
The novelty therefore is on the other side, and that of the worst sort; because by giving the name of Noblemen (which antiently belong'd to such as had the greatest interests in Nations, and were the supporters of their Liberty) to Court-creatures, who often have none, and either acquire their Honors by mony, or are prefer'd for servile and sometimes impure services render'd to the Person that reigns, or else for mischiefs done to their Country, the Constitution has bin wholly inverted, and the trust repos'd in the Kings (who in some measure had the disposal of Offices and Honors) misemploy'd. This is farther aggravated by appropriating the name of Noblemen solely to them; whereas the Nation having bin antiently divided only into Freemen or Noblemen (who were the same) and Villains; the first were, as
Tacitus
says of their Ancestors the
Germans,
Exempti oneribus & collationibus, & tantum in usum praliorum repositi, v
luti tela & arma
llis reservantur.
Corn. Tacit.
de morib. Germ.
exempted from burdens and contributions, and reserv'd like arms for the uses of war;
whilst the others were little better than slaves, appointed to cultivate the Lands, or to other servile Offices. And I leave any reasonable man to judg, whether the latter condition be that of those we now call Commoners. Nevertheless, he that will believe the title of Noblemen still to belong to those only who are so by Patent, may guess how well our wars would be manag'd if they were left solely to such as are so by that title. If this be approv'd, his Majesty may do well with his hundred and fifty Noblemen, eminent in valor and military experience as they are known to be, to make such wars as may fall upon him, and leave the despis'd Commons under the name of Villains, to provide for themselves if the success do not answer his expectations. But if the Commons are as free as the Nobles, many of them in birth equal to the Patentees, in Estate superior to most of them; and that it is not only expected they should assist him in wars with their Persons and Purses, but acknowledg'd by all, that the strength and vertue of the Nation is in them it must be confest that they are true Noblemen of
England,
and that all the privileges antiently enjoy'd by such, must necessarily belong to them, since they perform the Offices to which they were annex'd. This shews how the Nobility were justly said to be almost infinite in number, so that no one place was able to contain them. The
Saxon
Armys that came over into this Country to a wholesom and generative climat, might well increase in four or five ages to those vast numbers, as the
Franks, Goths
and others had done in
Spain, France, Italy,
and other parts: and when they were grown so numerous, they found themselves necessarily oblig'd to put the power into the hands of Representatives chosen by themselves, which they had before exercis'd in their own persons. But these two ways differing rather in form than essentially, the one tending to Democracy, the other to Aristocracy, they are equally opposite to the absolute dominion of one man reigning for himself, and governing the Nation as his Patrimony; and equally assert the rights of the People to put the Government into such a form as best pleases themselves. This was sutable to what they had practis'd in their own Country;
De minoribus consultant Principes, de majoribus omnes.
Nay, even
Tacit. de mor▪ Germ.
these
smaller matters
cannot be said properly to relate to the King; for he is but one, and the word
Principes
is in the plural number, and can only signify such principal men, as the same Author says were chosen by the General Assemblys to do justice, &c. and to each of them one hundred
Comites
join'd, not only to give advice, but authority to their actions.
The word
Omnes
spoken by a
Roman,
must likewise be understood as it was us'd by them, and imports all the Citizens, or such as made up the body of the Commonwealth. If he had spoken of
Rome
or
Athens
whilst they remain'd free, he must have us'd the same word (because all those of whom the City consisted had votes) how great soever the number of slaves or strangers might have bin. The
Spartans
are rightly said to have gain'd, lost and recover'd the Lordship or Principality of
Greece.
They were all Lords in relation to their
Helots;
and so were the
Dorians
in relation to that sort of men, which under several names they kept, as the
Saxons
did their Villains, for the performance of the Offices which they thought too mean for those who were ennobl'd by Liberty, and the use of Arms, by which the Commonwealth was defended and enlarg'd. Tho the
Romans
scorn'd to give the title of Lord to those who had usurp'd a power over their Lives and Fortunes; yet every one of them was a Lord in relation to his own Servants, and altogether are often call'd
Romanos rerum Dominos.
Virg.
Lords of the world:
the like is seen almost every where. The Government of
Venice
having continu'd for many ages in the same Familys, has ennobl'd them all. No phrase is more common in
Switzerland,
than
the Lords of Bern,
or
the Lords of Zurich
and other places, tho perhaps there is not a man amongst them who pretends to be a Gentleman, according to the modern sense put upon that word. The States of the United Provinces are call'd High and Mighty Lords, and the same title is given to each of them in particular. Nay, the word
Heer,
which signifys Lord both in high and low
Dutch,
is as common as Monsieur in
France,
Signor in
Italy,
or Sennor in
Spain;
and is given to every one who is not of a sordid condition, but especially to Soldiers: and tho a common Soldier be now a much meaner thing than it was antiently, no man speaking to a company of Soldiers in
Italian,
uses any other stile than
Signori Soldati;
and the like is done in other Languages. 'Tis not therefore to be thought strange, if the
Saxons,
who in their own Country had scorn'd any other employment than that of the Sword, should think themselves farther ennobl'd, when by their Arms they had acquir'd a great and rich Country, and driven out or subdu'd the former inhabitants. They might well distinguish themselves from the Villains they brought with them, or the
Britans
they had enslav'd. They might well be call'd
Magnates, Proceres regni, Nobiles, Angliae Nobilitas, Barones;
and the Assemblys of them justly call'd
Concilium Regni Generale, Ʋ niversitas totius Angliae Nobilium, Ʋ niversitas Baronagii,
according to the variety of times and other occurrences. We have such footsteps remaining of the name of Baron, as plainly shew the signification of it. The Barons of
London
and the Cinq Ports are known to be only the Freemen of those places. In the petty Court▪ Barons, every man who may be of a Jury is a Baron. These are Noblemen; for there are noble Nations as well as noble men in Nations. The
Mammalukes
accounted themselves to be all noble, tho born slaves; and when they had ennobl'd themselves by the use of Arms, they look'd upon the noblest of the
Egyptians
as their slaves.
Tertullian
writing, not to some eminent men, but to the whole People of
Carthage,
calls them
Antiquitate Nobiles, Nobilitate felices.
Such were the
Saxons,
ennobl'd by a perpetual application to those exercises that belong to Noblemen, and an abhorrence to any thing that is vile and sordid.
Lest this should seem far fetch'd, to those who please themselves with cavilling, they are to know, that the same General Councils are exprest by other Authors in other words. They are call'd
Commune Concilium Episcoporum, Procerum, Comitum & omnium Sapientum, Seniorum & Populorum totius regni.
Bed. Eccl. Hist.
The General Council of the Bishops, Noblemen, Counts, all the wise men, Elders, and People of the whole Kingdom,
in the time of
Ina.
In that
Edward
the elder,
Magnum Concilium Episcoporum, Abbatum, Fidelium, Procerum & Populorum.
The Great Council of the Bishops, Abbots, Noblemen and People. William
of
Malmsbury
calls them,
Senatum generalem & populi conventum.
The General Senat and Assembly of the People.
Sometimes they are in short call'd
Clergy and People;
but all express the same power, neither receiv'd from, nor li
itable by Kings, who are always said to be chosen or made, and sometimes depos'd by them.
William
the
Norman
found, and left the Nation in this condition:
Henry
the second,
John
and
Henry
the third, who had nothing but what was confer'd upon them by the same Clergy and People, did so too.
Magna Charta
could give nothing to the People, who in themselves had all; and only reduc'd into a small Volume the Rights which the Nation was resolv'd to maintain; brought the King to confess, they were perpetually inherent, and time out of mind enjoy'd, and to swear that he would no way violate them; if he did, he was
ipso facto
excommunicated; and being thereby declar'd to be an execrable perjur'd Person, they knew how to deal with him. This Act has bin confirm'd by thirty Parliaments; and the proceedings with Kings, who have violated their Oaths, as well before as after the time of
Henry
the third, which have bin already mention'd, are sufficient to shew, that
England
has always bin govern'd by it self, and never acknowledg'd any other Lord than such as they thought fit to set up.
SECT. XXIX. The King was never Master of the Soil.
THOSE who without regard to truth, resolve to insist upon such points as they think may serve their designs, when they find it cannot be deny'd that the powers before mention'd have bin exercis'd by the
English
and other Nations, say, that they were the concessions of Kings, who being masters of the Soil, might bestow parcels upon some Persons with such conditions as they pleas'd, retaining to themselves the supreme dominion of the whole: and having already, as they think, made them the Fountains of Honor, they proceed to make them also the Fountains of Property; and for proof of this alledg, that all Lands, tho held of mean Lords, do by their Tenures at last result upon the King, as the Head from whom they are enjoy'd. This might be of force if it were true: but matters of the highest importance requiring a most evident proof, we are to examin, First, if it be possible; and in the next place, if it be true.
1. For the first; No man can give what he has not. Whoever therefore will pretend that the King has bestow'd this propriety, must prove that he had it in himself. I confess, that the Kings of
Spain
and
Portugal
obtain'd from the Pope grants of the Territorys they possest in the
West-Indys;
and this might be of some strength, if the Pope as Vicar of Christ had an absolute dominion over the whole earth; but if that fail, the whole falls to the ground, and he is ridiculously liberal of that which no way belongs to him. My business is not to dispute that point; but before it can have any influence upon our Affairs, our Kings are to prove, that they are Lords of
England
upon the same Title, or some other equivalent to it. When that is done, we shall know upon whom they have a dependence, and may at leisure consider, whether we ought to acknowledg and submit to such a Power, or give reasons for our resusal. But there being no such thing in our present case, their property must be grounded upon something else, or we may justly conclude they have none.
In order to this 'tis hardly worth the pains to search into the obscure remains of the
British
Historys: For when the
Romans
deserted our Island, they did not confer the right they had (whether more or less) upon any man, but left the enjoyment of it to the poor remainders of the Nation, and their own establish'd Colonys, who were grown to be one People with the Natives. The
Saxons
came under the conduct of
Hengist
and
Horsa,
who seem to have bin sturdy Pirats; but did not (that I can learn) bear any Characters in their persons of the so much admir'd Sovereign Majesty, that should give them an absolute dominion or propriety, either in their own Country, or any other they should set their feet upon. They came with about a hundred men; and chusing rather
Mat. West. Flor. Hist.
to serve
Vortigern,
than to depend upon what they could get by rapine at Sea, liv'd upon a small proportion of Land by him allotted to them. Tho this seems to be but a slender encouragement, yet it was enough to invite many others to follow their Example and Fortune; so that their number increasing, the County of
Kent
was given to them, under the obligation of serving the
Britans
in their Wars. Not long after, Lands in
Northumberland
were bestow'd upon another company of them with the same condition. This was all the Title they had to what they enjoy'd, till they treacherously kill'd four hundred and sixty, or, as
William
of
Ibid.
Malmsbury
says, three hundred principal men of the Nobility, and made
Vortigern
Prisoner, who had bin so much their Benefactor, that he seems never to have deserv'd well but from them, and to have incens'd the
Britans
by the favor he shew'd them, as much as by the worst of his Vices. And certainly actions of this kind, compos'd of falshood and cruelty, can never create a right, in the opinion of any better men than
Filmer
and his Disciples, who think that the power only is to be regarded, and not the means by which it is obtain'd. But tho it should be granted that a right had bin thus acquir'd, it must accrue to the Nation, not to
Hengist
and
Horsa.
If such an acquisition be call'd a Conquest, the benefit must belong to those that conquer'd. This was not the work of two men; and those who had bin free at home, can never be thought to have left their own Country, to fight as slaves for the glory and profit of two men in another. It cannot be said that their wants compel'd them, for their Leaders suffer'd the same, and could not be reliev'd but by their assistance; and whether their enterprize was good or bad, just or unjust, it was the same to all: No one man could have any right peculiar to himself, unless they who gain'd it, did confer it upon him: and 'tis no way probable, that they who in their own Country had kept their Princes within very narrow limits, as has bin prov'd, should resign themselves, and all they had, as soon as they came hither. But we have already shewn that they always continu'd most obstinate defenders of their Liberty, and the Government to which they had bin accustom'd; that they manag'd it by themselves, and acknowledg'd no other Laws than their own. Nay, if they had made such a resignation of their Right, as was necessary to create one in their Leaders, it would be enough to overthrow the proposition; for 'tis not then the Leader that gives to the People, but the People to the Leader. If the people had not a right to give what they did give, none was confer'd upon the receiver: if they had a right, he that should pretend to derive a benefit from thence, must prove the grant, that the nature and intention of it may appear.
2. To the second: If it be said that Records testify all Grants to have bin originally from the King; I answer, That tho it were confest, (which I absolutely deny, and affirm that our Rights and Libertys are innate, inherent, and enjoy'd time out of mind before we had Kings) it could be nothing to the question, which is concerning Reason and Justice; and if they are wanting, the defect can never be supply'd by any matter of fact, tho never so clearly prov'd. Or if a Right be pretended to be grounded upon a matter of fact, the thing to be prov'd is, that the people did really confer such a right upon the first, or some other Kings: And if no such thing do appear, the proceedings of one or more Kings as if they had it, can be of no value. But in the present case, no such grant is pretended to have bin made, either to the first, or to any of the following Kings; the Right they had not, their Successors could not inherit, and consequently cannot have it, or at most no better title to it than that of Usurpation.
But as they who inquire for truth ought not to deny or conceal any thing, I may grant that Mannors, &c. were enjoy'd by tenure from Kings; but that will no way prejudice the cause I defend, nor signify more than that the Countrys which the
Saxons
had acquir'd, were to be divided among them; and to avoid the quarrels that might arise, if every man took upon him to seize what he could, a certain method of making the distribution was necessarily to be fix'd; and it was fit, that every man should have something in his own hands to justify his Title to what he possest, according to which controversys should be determin'd. This must be testify'd by some body, and no man could be so fit, or of so much credit as he who was chief among them; and this is no more than is usual in all the Societys of the World. The Mayor of every Corporation, the Speaker or Clerk of the House of Peers or House of Commons, the first President of every Parliament, or Presidial in
France;
the Consul, Burgermaster, Advoyer or Bailiff in every free Town of
Holland, Germany
or
Switzerland,
sign the publick Acts that pass in those places. The Dukes of
Venice
and
Genoa
do the like, tho they have no other power than what is confer'd upon them, and of themselves can do little or nothing. The Grants of our Kings are of the same nature, tho the words
mero motu nostro
seem to imply the contrary; for Kings speak always in the plural number, to shew that they do not act for themselves, but for the Societys over which they are plac'd; and all the veneration that is, or can be given to their Acts, dos not exalt them, but those from whom their Authority is deriv'd, and for whom they are to execute. The Tyrants of the East, and other Barbarians, whose power is most absolute, speak in the single number, as appears by the decrees of
Nabuchodonosor, Cyrus, Darius
and
Ahasuerus
recited in Scripture, with others that we hear of daily from those parts: but wheresoever there is any thing of civility or regularity in Government, the Prince uses the plural, to shew that he acts in a publick capacity. From hence, says
Grotius,
the rights of Kings to send Embassadors, make Leagues, &c. do arise: the confederacys made by them do not terminate with their lives, because they are not for themselves; they speak not in their own Persons, but as representing their People; and
Rex regno exutus, jus legandi amittit.
Grot. de Jur. Bell.
a King who is depriv'd of his Kingdom loses the right of sending Embassadors,
because he can no longer speak for those, who by their own consent, or by a foreign force, are cut off from him. The question is not whether such a one be justly or unjustly depriv'd (for that concerns only those who do it or suffer it) but whether he can oblige the People; and 'tis ridiculous for any Nation to treat with a man that cannot perform what shall be agreed, or for him to stipulate that which can oblige, and will be made good only by himself.
But tho much may be left to the discretion of Kings in the distribution of Lands and the like, yet it no way diminishes the right of the People, nor confers any upon them otherwise to dispose of what belongs to the publick, than may tend to the common good, and the accomplishment of those ends for which they are intrusted. Nay, if it were true, that a conquer'd Country did belong to the Crown, the King could not dispose of it, because 'tis annex'd to the Office, add not alienable by the Person. This is not only found in regular mix'd Monarchys (as in
Sweden,
where the Grants made by the last Kings have bin lately rescinded by the General Assembly of Estates, as contrary to Law) but even in the most absolute, as in
France,
where the present King, who has stretch'd his power to the utmost, has lately acknowledg'd that he cannot do it; and according to the known maxim of the State, that the demeasnes of the Crown, which are design'd for the defraying of publick Charges, cannot be alienated, all the Grants made within the last fifteen years have bin annul'd; even those who had bought Lands of the Crown have bin call'd to account, and the Sums given being compar'd with the profits receiv'd, and a moderate interest allow'd to the purchasers, so much of the principal as remain'd due to them has bin repay'd, and the Lands resum'd.
SECT. XXX.
Henry
the First was King of
England
by as good a Title as any of his Predecessors or Successors.
HAVING made it appear, as I suppose, that the antient Nobility of
England
was compos'd of such men as had bin ennobl'd by bearing Arms in the defence or enlargement of the Commonwealth; that the Dukes, Earls, &c. were those who commanded them; that they and their dependents receiv'd Lands for such services, under an obligation of continuing to render the like, and according to their several degrees and proportions, to provide and maintain Horses, Arms and Men for the same uses; it cannot be deny'd that they were such Gentlemen and Lords of Mannors, as we now call Commoners, together with the Freeholders, and such as in war were found most able to be their Leaders. Of these the Micklegemots, Wittenagemots, and other publick Assemblys did consist; and nothing can be more absurd than to assign the names and rights of Duke, Earl and Vicount, which were names of Offices, to those who have not the Offices, and are no way fit for them. If our Author therefore had said, that such as these, who had always compos'd the great Councils of our Nation, had in favour of
Henry
the First, bestow'd the Crown upon him, as they had done upon his Father and Brother, I should agree with him: but 'tis the utmost extravagance to say, that he who had neither title nor possession, should give the power to those who had always bin in the possession of it, and exercis'd it in giving to him whatsoever he had. But I most wonder he should so far forget himself, to call this
Henry
a Usurper, and detract from the validity of his Acts, because he had no title; whereas there neither is, was, or can be a Usurper if there be any truth in his Doctrin: for he plainly tells us, we are only to look to the power, and not at all to the means and ways by which it is obtain'd; and making no difference between a King and a Tyrant, enjoins an equal submission to the commands of both. If this were only a slip of his Pen, and he did really take this
Henry
to be a Usurper, because he had not a good title, I should desire to know the marks by which a lawful King is distinguish'd from an Usurper, and in what a just Title dos consist. If he place it in an hereditary Succession, we ought to be inform'd, whether this right must be deduc'd from one universal Lord of Mankind, or from a particular Lord of every People: If from the universal Lord, the same descent that gives him a right to the dominion of any one Country, enslaves the whole world to him; if from the particular Lord of one place, proof must be given how he came to be so: for if there was a defect in the first, it can never be repair'd, and the possession is no more than a continu'd Usurpation. But having already prov'd the absurdity of any pretence to either, I shall forbear the repetition, and only say, that if the course of Succession may never be justly interrupted, the Family of
Meroveus
could not have had any right to the Crown of
France; Pepin
was a Usurper, if it must for ever have continu'd in the descendents of
Meroveus,
and
Hugh Capet
could have no title, if the Race of
Pepin
might not be dispossest. I leave our Author to dispute this point with the King of
France;
and when he has so far convinc'd him thathe is a Usurper, as to persuade him to resign his Crown to the House of
Austria
claiming from
Pharamond,
or to that of
Lorrain
as descended from
Pepin,
I can give him half a dozen more knots which will not be with less difficulty unty'd, and which instead of establishing the Titles of such Kings as are known to us, will overthrow them all, unless a Right be given to Usurpation, or the consent of a People do confer it.
But if there be such a thing as a Usurper, and a Rule by which men may judg of Usurpation, 'tis not only lawful but necessary to examin the Titles of such as go under the name of Kings, that we may know whether they are truly so or not, lest thro ignorance we chance to give the Veneration and Obedience that is due to a King, to one who is not a King, and deny it to him, who by an uninterruptible Line of Descent is our natural Lord; and thereby prefer the worst of men and our most bitter enemy before the Person we ought to look upon as our Father: and if this prove dangerous to one or more Kings, 'tis our Author's fault, not mine.
If there be no Usurper, nor Rule of distinguishing him from a lawful Prince,
Filmer
is the worst of all triflers and impostors, who grounds his Arguments in the most serious matters upon what he esteems to be false; but the truth is, he seems to have set himself against humanity and common sense, as much as against Law and Vertue: and if he who so frequently contradicts himself, can be said to mean any thing, he would authorize rapine and murder, and persuade us to account those to be rightful Kings, who by treachery and other unjust means overthrow the right of Descent which he pretends to esteem sacred, as well as the Libertys of Nations, which by better Judges are thought to be so; and gives the odious name of Usurpation to the Advancement of one who is made King by the consent of a willing People.
But if
Henry
the First were a Usurper, I desire to know whether the same name belongs to all our Kings, or which of them deserves a better; that we may understand whose acts ought to be reputed legal, and to whose Descent we owe veneration, or whether we are wholly exempted from all: for I cannot see a possibility of fixing the guilt of Usurpation upon
Henry
the First, without involving many, if not all our Kings in the same.
If his Title was not good because his Brother
Robert
was still living, that of
Rufus
is by the same reason overthrown; and
William
their Father being a bastard could have none. This fundamental defect could never be repair'd: sor the Successors could inherit no more than the right of the first, which was nothing.
Stephen
could deduce no Title either from
Norman
or
Saxon;
whatsoever
Henry
the Second pretended, must be from his Mother
Maud,
and any other might have bin preser'd before her as well as he. If her Title was from the
Normans,
it must be void, since they had none, and the story of
Edgar Atheling
is too impertinent to deserve mention. But however, it could be of no advantage to her; for
David
King of
Scotland,
Brother to her Mother from whom only her Title could be deriv'd, was then alive with his Son
Henry,
who dying not long after, left three Sons and three Daughters, whose posterity being distributed into many Familys of
Scotland,
remains to this day; and if proximity of blood is to be consider'd, ought always to have bin prefer'd before her and her Descendents, unless there be a Law that gives the preference to Daughters before Sons. What right soever
Henry
the Second had, it must necessarily have perish'd with him, all his Children having bin begotten in manifest Adultery on
Eleanor
of
Gascony,
during the life of
Lewis
King of
France
her first Husband: and nothing could be alledg'd to color the business, but a Dispensation from the Pope directly against the Law of God, and the words of our Saviour, who says,
That a Wife cannot be put away unless for Adultery, and he that marrys her that is put away commits Adultery.
The pollution of this spring is not to be cur'd; but tho it should pass unregarded, no one part of the Succession since that time has remain'd intire.
John
was prefer'd before
Arthur
his elder Brother's Son:
Edward
the Third was made King by the deposition of his Father:
Henry
the Fourth by that of
Richard
the Second. If the House of
Mortimer
or
York
had the right,
Henry
the 4
th,
5
th,
and 6
th
were not Kings, and all who claim under them have no Title. However,
Richard
the Third could have none; for the Children of his elder Brother the Duke of
Clarence
were then living. The Children of
Edward
the Fourth may be suspected of Bastardy; and tho it may have bin otherwise, yet that matter is not so clear as things of such importance ought to be, and the consequence may reach very far. But tho that scruple were remov'd, 'tis certain that
Henry
the Seventh was not King in the right of his Wife
Elizabeth,
for he reign'd before and after her; and for his other Titles, we
Mem. de Commin.
may believe
Philip de Commines,
who says,
He had neither cross nor pile.
If
Henry
the Eighth had a right in himself, or from his Mother, he should have reign'd immediately after her death, which he never pretended, nor to succeed till his Father was dead, thereby acknowledging he had no right but from him, unless the Parliament and People can give it. The like may be said of his Children.
Mary
could have no Title if she was a Bastard, begotten in Incest; but if her Mother's Marriage was good and she legitimate,
Elizabeth
could have none.
Yet all these were lawful Kings and Queens; their Acts continue in force to this day to all intents and purposes: the Parliament and People made them to be so, when they had no other Title. The Parliament and People therefore have the power of making Kings: Those who are so made are not Usurpers: We have had none but such for more than seven hundred years. They were therefore lawful Kings, or this Nation has had none in all that time; and if our Author like this conclusion, the account from whence it is drawn may without difficulty be carry'd as high as our
English
Historys do reach.
This being built upon the steddy Foundation of Law, History and Reason, is not to be remov'd by any Man's opinion; especially by one accompany'd with such circumstances as Sir
Walter Raleigh
was in during the last years of his life: And there is something of baseness, as well as prevarication, in turning the words of an eminent Person, reduc'd to great difficultys, to a sense no way agreeing with his former Actions or Writings, and no less tending to impair his Reputation than to deceive others. Our Author is highly guilty of both, in citing Sir
Walter Raleigh
to invalidate the Great Charter of our Libertys, as
begun by Ʋ surpation, and shew'd to the world by Rebellion;
whereas no such thing, nor any thing like it in word or principle, can be found in the Works that deserve to go under his Name. The Dialogue in question, with some other small Pieces publish'd after his death, deserve to be esteem'd spurious: Or if, from a desire of Life, when he knew his Head lay under the Ax, he was brought to say things no way agreeing with what he had formerly profest, they ought rather to be bury'd in oblivion, than produc'd to blemish his Memory. But that the publick Cause may not suffer by his fault, 'tis convenient the World should be inform'd, that tho he was a well-qualify'd Gentleman, yet his Morals were no way exact, as appears by his dealings with the brave Earl of
Essex.
And he was so well assisted in his
History of the World,
that an ordinary man with the same helps might have perform'd the same things. Neither ought it to be accounted strange, if that which he writ by himself had the tincture of another Spirit, when he was depriv'd of that assistance, tho his Life had not depended upon the will of the Prince; and he had never said, That
See Si
W. Raleigh
's Epistle to King
James.
the bond of Subjects to their Kings should always be wrought out of Iron, and those of Kings to their Subjects out of Cobwebs.
SECT. XXXI. Free Nations have a right of meeting, when and where they please, unless they deprive themselves of it.
A Perverted Judgment always leads men into a wrong way, and persuades them to believe that those things favor their cause, that utterly overthrow it. For a proof of this, I desire our Author's words may be consider'd.
In the former Parliaments,
says he,
instituted and continu'd since
Henry
the First his time, is not to be found the usage of any natural Liberty of the People: For all those Libertys that are claim'd in Parliament, are Libertys of Grace from the King, and not the Libertys of Nature to the People: For if the Liberty were natural, it would give power to the multitude to assemble themselves, when and where they pleas'd, to bestow the Sovereignty, and by pactions to limit and direct the exercise of it.
And I say that Nations being naturally free, may meet, when and where they please; may dispose of the Sovereignty, and may direct or limit the exercise of it, unless by their own Act they have depriv'd themselves of that Right: and there could never have bin a lawful Assembly of any People in the World, if they had not had that Power in themselves. It was prov'd in the preceding Section, that all our Kings having no Title, were no more than what the Nobility and People made them to be; that they could have no Power but what was given to them, and could confer none except what they had receiv'd. If they can therefore call Parliaments, the power of calling them must have bin given to them, and could not be given by any who had it not in themselves. The
Israelites
met together, and chose
Ehud, Gideon, Sampson, Jephtha,
and others, to be their Leaders, whom they judg'd fit to deliver them from their Enemys. By the same right they assembl'd at
Mispeth
to make War against the Tribe of
Benjamin,
when Justice was deny'd to be done against those who had villanously abus'd the Levite's Concubine. In the like manner they would have made
Gideon
King, but he refus'd. In the same place they met, and chose
Saul
to be their King. He being dead, the men of
Judah
assembl'd themselves, and anointed
David:
not long after, all the Tribes met at
Hebron,
made a Contract with him, and receiv'd him as their King. In the same manner, tho by worse Counsel, they made
Absalom
King. And the like was attempted in favor of
Sheba
the Son of
Bichri,
tho they then had a King chosen by themselves. When they found themselves opprest by the Tributes that had bin laid upon them by
Solomon,
they met at
Shechem;
and being displeas'd with
Rehoboam
's answer to their complaints, ten of the Tribes made
Jeroboam
King.
Jehu,
and all the other Kings of
Israel,
whether good or bad, had no other Title than was confer'd upon them by the prevailing part of the People; which could not have given them any, unless they had met together; nor meet together without the consent, and against the will of those that reign'd, unless the Power had bin in themselves.
Where Governments are more exactly regulated, the Power of judging when 'tis fit to call the Senat or People together, is refer'd to one or more Magistrats; as in
Rome
to the Consuls or Tribuns, in
Athens
to the Archons, and in
Thebes
to the Beotarches: but none of them could have these Powers, unless they had bin given by those who advanc'd them to the Magistracys to which they were annex'd; nor could they have bin so annex'd, if those who created them had not had the right in themselves. If they Officers neglected their duty of calling such Assemblys when the publick Affairs requir'd, the People met by their own Authority, and punish'd the Person, or abrogated the Magistracy, as appears in the case of the
Decemviri,
and many others that might be alledg'd, if the thing were not so plain as to need no further proof. The reason of this is, that they who institute a Magistracy, best know whether the end of the Institution be rightly pursu'd or not: And all just Magistracys being the same in essence, tho differing in form, the same right must perpetually belong to those who put the Sovereign Power into the hands of one, a few, or many men, which is what our Author calls the Disposal of the Sovereignty. Thus the
Romans
did when they created Kings, Consuls, Military Tribuns, Dictators, or
Decemviri:
and it had bin most ridiculous to say, that those Officers gave authority to the People to meet and chuse them; for they who are chosen are the Creatures of those who chuse, and are nothing more than others till they are chosen. The last King of
Sweden, Charles Gustavus,
told a Gentleman who was Embassador there, That the
Swedes
having made him King, when he was poor and had nothing in the World, he had but one work to do, which was so to reign, that they might never repent the good opinion they had conceiv'd of him. They might therefore meet, and did meet to conser the Sovereignty upon him, or he could never have had it: For tho the Kingdom be hereditary to Males or Females, and his Mother was Sister to the Great
Gustavus;
yet having marry'd a stranger without the consent of the Estates, she perform'd not the Condition upon which Women are admitted to the Succession; and thereby falling from her Right, he pretended not to any. The Act of his Election declares he had none, and gives the Crown to him and the Heirs of his Body, with this farther Declaration, that the benefit of his Election should no way extend to his Brother Prince
Adolphus;
and 'tis confest by all the
Swedish
Nation, that if the King now reigning should die without Children, the Estates would proceed to a new Election.
'Tis rightly observ'd by our Author, that if the People might meet and give the Sovereign Power, they might also direct and limit it; for they did meet in this and other Countrys, they did confer the Sovereign Power, they did limit and direct the exercise; and the Laws of each People shew in what manner and measure it is every where done. This is as certain in relation to Kings, as any other Magistrats. The Commission of the
Roman
Dictators was, to take care
Ne quid detrimenti Respublica accipiat.
T. Liv.
that the Commonwealth might receive no detriment.
The same was sometimes given to the Consuls: King
Offa
's Confession, that he was made King
In vestrae Libertatis tuitionem.
Mat. Par.
to preserve the publick Liberty,
expresses the same thing: And
Charles Gustavus,
who said he had no other work, than to govern in such a manner, that they who had made him King might not repent, shew'd there was a Rule which he stood oblig'd to follow, and an end which he was to procure, that he might merit and preserve their good opinion. This power of conferring the Sovereignty was exercis'd in
France
by those who made
Meroveus
King, in the prejudice of the two Grandchildren of
Pharamond,
Sons to
Clodion;
by those who excluded his Race, and gave the Crown to
Pepin;
by those who depos'd
Lewis le Debonair,
and
Charles le Gross;
by those who brought in five Kings, that were either Bastards or Strangers, between him and
Charles le Simple;
by those who rejected his Race, and advanc'd
Hugh Capet;
by those who made
Henry
the First King, to the prejudice of
Robert
his elder Brother, and continu'd the Crown in the Race of
Henry
for ten Generations, whilst the Descendents of
Robert
were only Dukes of
Burgundy.
The like was done in
Castille
and
Arragon,
by frequently preferring the younger before the elder Brother; the Descendents of Females before those of the Male-line in the same degree; the more remote in Blood before the nearest; and sometimes Bastards before the legitimate Issue. The same was done in
England
in relation to every King, since the coming in of the
Normans,
as I shew'd in the last Section, and other places of this Work.
That they who gave the Sovereignty, might also circumscribe and direct it, is manifest by the several ways of providing for the Succession instituted by several Nations. Some are merely elective, as the Empire of
Germany
and the Kingdom of
Poland
to this day; the Kingdom of
Denmark
till the year 1660; that of
Sweden
till the time of
Gustavus Ericson,
who deliver'd that Nation from the oppression of
Christern
II. the cruel King of the
Danes.
In others the Election was confin'd to one or more Familys, as the Kingdom of the
Goths
in
Spain
to the
Balthei
and
Amalthei.
In some, the eldest Man of the reigning Family was prefer'd before the nearest, as in
Scotland
before the time of
Kennethus.
In other places the nearest in Blood is prefer'd before the elder if more remote. In some, no regard is had to Females, or their Descendents, as in
France
and
Turky:
in others, they or their Descendents are admitted, either simply as well as Males; or under a condition of marrying in the Country, or with the consent of the Estates, as in
Sweden.
And no other reason can be given for this almost infinite variety of Constitutions, than that they who made them would have it so; which could not be, if God and Nature had appointed one General Rule for all Nations. For in that case, the Kingdom of
France
must be elective, as well as that of
Poland
and the Empire; or the Empire and
Poland
hereditary, as that of
France:
Daughters must succeed in
France,
as well as in
England,
or be excluded in
England
as in
France;
and he that would establish one as the Ordinance of God and Nature, must of necessity overthrow all the rest.
A farther exercise of the natural Liberty of Nations is discover'd in the
De jur. bel. & pac.
several Limitations put upon the Sovereign Power. Some Kings, says
Grotius,
have the
Summum Imperium summo modo;
others,
modo non summo:
and amongst those that are under Limitations, the degrees as to more or less, are almost infinite, as I have prov'd already by the example of
Arragon,
antient
Germany,
the
Saxon
Kings, the
Normans,
the Kings of
Castille,
the present Empire, with divers others. And I may safely say, that the antient Government of
France
was much of the same nature to the time of
Charles
the 7
th,
and
Lewis
the 11
th:
but the work of emancipating themselves, as they call it, begun by them, is now brought to perfection in a boundless elevation of the King's Greatness and Riches, to the unspeakable misery of the People.
'Twere a folly to think this Variety proceeds from the Concessions of Kings, who naturally delight in Power, and hate that which crosses their Will. It might with more reason be imagin'd, that the
Roman
Consuls, who were brought up in liberty, who had contracted a love to their Country, and were contented to live upon an equal foot with their fellow Citizens, should confine the Power of their Magistracy to a year; or that the Dukes of
Venice
should be graciously pleas'd to give power to the
Council of Ten
to punish them capitally if they transgrest the Laws, than that Kings should put such Fetters upon their Power, which they so much abhor; or that they would suffer them, if they could be easily broken. If any one of them should prove so moderate, like
Trajan,
to command the Prefect of the Pretorian Guard to use the Sword for him if he govern'd well, and against him if he did not, it would soon be rescinded by his Successor; the Law which has no other strength than the act of one man, may be annul'd by another. So that nothing dos more certainly prove, that the Laws made in several Countrys to restrain the Power of Kings, and variously to dispose of the Succession, are not from them, than the frequent examples of their fury, who have expos'd themselves to the greatest dangers, and brought infinite miserys upon the People, thro the desire of breaking them. It must therefore be concluded, that Nations have power of meeting together, and of conferring, limiting, and directing the Sovereignty; or all must be grounded upon most manifest Injustice and Usurpation.
No man can have a power over a Nation otherwise than
de jure,
or
de facto.
He who pretends to have a power
de jure,
must prove that it is originally inherent in him or his predecessor from whom he inherits; or that it was justly acquir'd by him. The vanity of any pretence to an original Right appears sufficiently, I hope, from the proofs already given, that the first Fathers of Mankind had it not; or if they had, no man could now inherit the same, there being no man able to make good the Genealogy that should give him a right to the Succession. Besides, the facility we have of proving the beginnings of all the Familys that reign among us, makes it as absurd for any of them to pretend a perpetual right to Dominion, as for any Citizen of
London,
whose Parents and Birth we know, to say he is the very man
Noah,
who liv'd in the time of the Flood, and is now four or five thousand years old.
If the power were confer'd on him or his Predecessors, 'tis what we ask; for the Collation can be of no value, unless made by those who had a right to do it; and the original Right by Descent failing, no one can have any over a Free People but themselves, or those to whom they have given it.
If Acquisition be pretended, 'tis the same thing; for there can be no right to that which is acquir'd, unless the right of invading be prov'd; and that being done, nothing can be acquir'd except what belong'd to the Person that was invaded, and that only by him who had the right of invading. No man ever did or could conquer a Nation by his own strength; no man therefore could ever acquire a personal right over any; and if it was confer'd upon him by those who made the Conquest with him, they were the People that did it. He can no more be said to have the Right originally in and from himself, than a Magistrate of
Rome
or
Athens
immediately after his Creation; and having no other at the beginning, he can have none to eternity; for the Nature of it must refer to the Original, and cannot be chang'd by time.
Whatsoever therefore proceeds not from the consent of the People, must be
de facto
only, that is void of all right; and 'tis impossible there should not be a right of destroying that which is grounded upon none; and by the same rule that one man enjoys what he gain'd by violence, another may take it from him.
Cyrus
overthrew the
Assyrians
and
Babylonians, Alexander
the
Medes
and
Persians;
and if they had no right of making war upon those Nations, the Nations could not but have a right of recovering all that had bin unjustly taken from them, and avenging the evils they had suffer'd. If the cause of the war was originally just, and not corrupted by an intemperate use of the victory, the conquer'd People was perhaps oblig'd to be quiet; but the conquering Armys that confer'd upon their Generals what they had taken from their Enemys, might as justly expect an account of what they had given, and that it should be imploy'd according to the intention of the givers, as the People of any City might do from their regularly created Magistrats; because it was as impossible for
Cyrus, Alexander
or
Cesar,
to gain a power over the Armys they led, without their consent, as for
Pericles, Valerius,
or any other disarm'd Citizen to gain more power in their respective Citys, than was voluntarily confer'd upon them. And I know no other difference between Kingdoms so constituted by conquering Armys, and such as are establish'd in the most orderly manner, than that the first usually incline more to War, the latter to Justice and Peace. But there have not bin wanting many of the first sort (especially the Nations coming from the North) who were no less exact in ordaining that which tended to the preservation of Liberty, nor less severe in seeing it punctually perform'd, than the most regular Commonwealths that ever were in the World. And it can with no more reason be pretended, that the
Goths
receiv'd their Privileges from
Alan
or
Theodoric,
the
Francs
from
Pharamond
or
Meroveus,
and the
English
from
Ina
or
Ethelred,
than that the Liberty of
Athens
was the gift of
Themistocles
or
Pericles,
that the Empire of
Rome
proceeded from the liberality of
Brutus
or
Valerius,
and that the Commonwealth of
Venice
at this day subsists by the favor of the
Contarini
or
Moresini:
which must reduce us to matter of Right, since that of Fact void of Right can signify nothing.
SECT. XXXII. The Powers of Kings are so various according to the Constitutions of several States, that no Consequence can be drawn to the prejudice or advantage of any one, merely from the Name.
IN opposition to what is above said, some alledg the name of
King,
as if there were a charm in the word; and our Author seems to put more weight upon it, than in the Reasons he brings to support his Cause. But that we may see there is no efficacy in it, and that it conveys no other right than what particular Nations may annex to it, we are to consider,
1. That the most absolute Princes that are or have bin in the World, never had the name of King: whereas it has bin frequently given to those whose powers have bin very much restrain'd. The
Cesars
were never call'd Kings, till the sixth Age of Christianity: the Califs and Soldan of
Egypt
and
Babylon,
the Great
Turk,
the Cham of
Tartary,
or the Great
Mogol
never took that name, nor any other of the same signification. The
Czar
of
Moscovy
has it not, tho he is as absolute a Monarch, and his People as miserable slaves as any in the World. On the other side, the chief Magistrats of
Rome
and
Athens
for some time, those of
Sparta, Arragon, Sweden, Denmark
and
England, who could do nothing but by Law,
have bin call'd Kings. This may be enough to shew, that a Name being no way essential, what Title soever is given to the Chief Magistrate, he can have no other power than the Laws and Customs of his Country do give, or the People confer upon him.
2. The names of Magistrats are often chang'd, tho the power continue to be the same; and the powers are sometimes alter'd tho the name remain. When
Octavius Cesar
by the force of a mad corrupted Soldiery had overthrown all Law and Right, he took no other Title in relation to Military Affairs than that of
Imperator,
which in the time of Liberty was by the Armys often given to Pretors and Consuls: In Civil matters he was, as he pretended,
unitia potestate contentus.
C.
it.
content with the power of Tribun; and the like was observ'd in his Successor, who to new invented Usurpations,
gave old and approv'd names.
On the other side, those Titles which have bin render'd odious and execrable by the violent exercise of an absolute Power, are sometimes made popular by moderate limitations; as in
Germany,
where, tho the Monarchy seem to be as well temper'd as any, the Princes retain the same names of
Imperator, Cesar
and
Augustus,
as those had done, who by the excess of their rage and fury had desolated and corrupted the best part of the World.
Sometimes the name is chang'd, tho the power in all respects continue
Sa
vedra. M
r
na.
.
the same. The Lords of
Castille
had for many Ages no other Title than that of Count; and when the Nobility and People thought good, they chang'd it to that of King, without any addition to the power.
The Sovereign Magistrat in
Poland
was call'd Duke till within the last two hundred years, when they gave the title of King to one of the
Jagellan
Family; which title has continu'd to this day, tho without any change in the nature of the Magistracy. And I presume, no wise man will think, that if the
Venetians
should give the name of King to their Duke, it could confer any other power upon him than he has already, unless more should be confer'd by the Authority of the
Great Council.
3. The same names which in some places denote the Supreme Magistracy, in others are subordinate or merely titular. In
England, France
and
Spain,
Dukes and Earls are Subjects: in
Germany
the Electors and some Princes who are call'd by those names, are little less than Sovereigns; and the Dukes of
Savoy, Tuscany, Moscovy
and others, acknowledg no Superior, as well as those of
Poland
and
Castille
had none, when they went under those titles. The same may be said of Kings. Some are subject to a foreign power, as divers of them were subject to the
Persian
and
Babylonian
Monarchs, who for that reason were call'd the Kings of Kings. Some also are tributarys; and when the
Spaniards
first landed in
America,
the great Kings of
Mexico
and
Peru
had many others under them. Threescore and ten Kings gather'd up meat under the Table of
Adonibezek.
The
Romans
had many Kings depending upon them.
Herod
and those of his Race were of this number; and the dispute between him and his Sons
Aristobulus
and
Alexander,
was to be determin'd by them; neither durst he decide the matter till it was refer'd to him. But a right of Appeal did still remain, as appears by the case of St.
Paul
when
Agrippa
was King. The Kings of
Mauritania
from the time of
Massinissa,
were under the like dependence:
Jugurtha
went to
Rome
to justify himself for the death of
Micipsa: Juba
was commanded by the
Roman
Magistrats,
Scipio, Petreius
and
Afranius;
another
Juba
was made King of the same Country by
Augustus,
and
Tiridates
of
Armenia
by
Nero;
and infinite examples of this nature may be alledg'd. Moreover, their powers are variously regulated, according to the variety of tempers in Nations and Ages. Some have restrain'd the powers that by experience were found to be exorbitant; others have dissolv'd the bonds that were laid upon them: and Laws relating to the Institution, Abrogation, Enlargement or Restriction of the Regal Power, would be utterly insignificant if this could not be done. But such Laws are of no effect in any other Country than where they are made. The lives of the
Spartans
did not depend upon the will of
Agesilaus
or
Leonidas,
because
Nabuchodonosor
could kill or save whom he pleas'd: and tho the King of
Marocco
may stab his Subjects, throw them to the Lions, or hang them upon tenterhooks; yet a King of
Poland
would probably be call'd to a severe account, if he should unjustly kill a single man.
SECT. XXXIII. The Liberty of a People is the Gift of God and Nature.
IF any man ask how Nations come to have the power of doing these things, I answer, That Liberty being only an exemption from the dominion of another, the question ought not to be, how a Nation can come to be free, but how a man comes to have a dominion over it; for till the right of Dominion be prov'd and justify'd, Liberty subsists as arising from the Nature and Being of a man.
Tertullian
speaking of the Emperors says,
Ab eo Imperium à quo spiritus;
and we taking man in his first condition may justly say,
ab eo Libertas à quo spiritus;
for no man can owe more than he has receiv'd. The Creature having nothing, and being nothing but what the Creator makes him, must owe all to him, and nothing to any one from whom he has receiv'd nothing. Man therefore must be naturally free, unless he be created by another power than we have yet heard of. The obedience due to Parents arises from hence, in that they are the instruments of our Generation; and we are instructed by the light of Reason, that we ought to make great returns to those from whom under God we have receiv'd all. When they die we are their Heirs, we enjoy the same rights, and devolve the same to our Posterity. God only, who confers this right upon us, can deprive us of it: and we can no way understand he dos so, unless he had so declar'd by express Revelation, or had set some distinguishing marks of Dominion and Subjection upon men; and, as an ingenious Person not long since said, caus'd some to be born with Crowns on their heads, and all others with Saddles upon their backs. This Liberty therefore must continue, till it be either forfeited or willingly resign'd. The forfeiture is hardly comprehensible in a multitude that is not enter'd into any Society; for as they are all equal, and
Par in parem non habet imperium.
equals can have no right over each other,
no man can forfeit any thing to one who can justly demand nothing, unless it may be by a personal injury, which is nothing to this case; because where there is no Society, one man is not bound by the actions of another. All cannot join in the same Act, because they are join'd in none; or if they should, no man could recover, much less transmit the forfeiture; and not being transmitted, it perishes as if it had never bin, and no man can claim any thing from it.
'Twill be no less difficult to bring resignation to be subservient to our Author's purpose; for men could not resign their Liberty, unless they naturally had it in themselves. Resignation is a publick declaration of their assent to be govern'd by the Person to whom they resign; that is, they do by that Act constitute him to be their Governor. This necessarily puts us upon the inquiry, Why they do resign, how they will be govern'd, and proves the Governor to be their creature; and the right of disposing the Government must be in them, or they who receive it can have none. This is so evident to common sense, that it were impertinent to ask who made
Carthage, Athens, Rome
or
Venice
to be free Citys. Their Charters were not from men, but from God and Nature. When a number of
Phenicians
had found a Port on the Coast of
Africa,
they might perhaps agree with the Inhabitants for a parcel of Ground, but they brought their Liberty with them. When a company of
Latins, Sabins
and
Tuscans
met together upon the Banks of the
Tiber,
and chose rather to build a City for themselves, than to live in such as were adjacent, they carry'd their Liberty in their own Breasts, and had Hands and Swords to defend it. This was their Charter; and
Romulus
could confer no more upon them, than
Dido
upon the
Carthaginians.
When a multitude of barbarous Nations infested
Italy,
and no protection could be expected from the corrupted and perishing Empire, such as agreed to seek a place of refuge in the scatter'd Islands of the
Adriatick
Gulf, had no need of any man's Authority to ratify the Institution of their Government. They who were the formal part of the City, and had built the material, could not but have a right of governing as they pleas'd, since if they did amiss, the hurt was only to themselves. 'Tis probable enough that some of the
Roman
Emperors, as Lords of the Soil, might have pretended to a Dominion over them, if there had bin any color for it: but nothing of that kind appearing in thirteen hundred years, we are not like to hear of any such cavils. 'Tis agreed by Mankind, that subjection and protection are relative; and that he who cannot protect those that are under him, in vain pretends to a Dominion over them. The only ends for which Governments are constituted, and obedience render'd to them, are the obtaining of Justice and Protection; and they who cannot provide for both, give the People a right of taking such ways as best please themselves, in order to their own safety.
The matter is yet more clear in relation to those who never were in any Society, as at the beginning, or renovation of the World after the Flood; or who upon the dissolution of the Societys to which they did once belong, or by some other accident, have bin oblig'd to seek new habitations. Such were those who went from
Babylon
upon the confusion of Tongues, those who escap'd from
Troy
when it was burnt by the
Grecians;
almost all the Nations of
Europe,
with many of
Asia
and
Africa,
upon the dissolution of the
Roman
Empire. To which may be added a multitude of Northern Nations, who, when they had increas'd to such numbers that their Countrys could no longer nourish them, or because they wanted skill to improve their Lands, were sent out to provide for themselves, and having done so, did erect many Kingdoms and States, either by themselves, or in union and coalition with the antient Inhabitants.
'Tis in vain to say, that wheresoever they came, the Land did belong to some body, and that they who came to dwell there must be subject to the Laws of those who were Lords of the Soil, for that is not always true in fact. Some come into desert Countrys that have no Lord, others into such as are thinly peopled, by men who knowing not how to improve their Land, do either grant part of it upon easy terms to the new comers, or grow into a union with them in the enjoyment of the whole; and Historys furnish us with infinite examples of this nature.
If we will look into our own original, without troubling our selves with the sensless storys of
Samothes
the Son of
Japhet,
and his Magicians, or the Giants begotten by Spirits upon the thirty Daughters of
Danaus,
sent from
Phenicia
in a Boat without Sails, Oars or Rudder, we shall find that when the
Romans
abandon'd this Island, the Inhabitants were left to a full liberty of providing for themselves: and whether we deduce our Original from them or the
Saxons,
or from both, our Ancestors were perfectly free; and the
Normans
having inherited the same Right when they came to be one Nation with the former, we cannot but continue so still, unless we have enslav'd our selves.
Nothing is more contrary to reason than to imagin this. When the fierce barbarity of the
Saxons
came to be softned by a more gentle Climat, the Arts and Religion they learnt, taught them to reform their Manners, and better enabled them to frame Laws for the preservation of their Liberty, but no way dimish'd their love to it: and tho the
Normans
might desire to get the Laads of those who had join'd with
Harold,
and of others into their hands; yet when they were settled in the Country, and by marriages united to the antient Inhabitants, they became true Englishmen, and no less lovers of Liberty, and resolute defenders of it, than the
Saxons
had bin. There was then neither conquering
Norman
nor conquer'd
Saxon,
but a great and brave People compos'd of both, united in blood and interest in the defence of their common Rights, which they so well maintain'd, that no Prince since that time has too violently encroach'd upon them, who, as the reward of his folly, has not liv'd miserably, and dy'd shamefully.
Such actions of our Ancestors do not, as I suppose, savor much of the submission which patrimonial slaves do usually render to the will of their Lord. On the contrary, whatsoever they did was by a power inherent in themselves to defend that Liberty in which they were born. All their Kings were created upon the same condition, and for the same ends.
Alfred
acknowledg'd he found and left them perfectly free; and the confession of
Offa,
that they had not made him King for his own merits, but for the defence of their Liberty, comprehends all that were before and after him. They well knew how great the honor was, to be made Head of a great People, and rigorously exacted the performance of the ends for which such a one was elevated, severely punishing those who basely and wickedly betray'd the Trust repos'd in them, and violated all that is most sacred among men; which could not have bin unless they were naturally free, for the Liberty that has no being cannot be defended.
SECT. XXXIV. No Veneration paid, or Honor confer'd upon a just and lawful Magistrate, can diminish the Liberty of a Nation.
SOME have suppos'd, that tho the People be naturally free, and Magistrats created by them, they do by such Creations deprive themselves of that natural Liberty; and that the names of
King, Sovereign Lord,
and
Dread Sovereign,
being no way consistent with Liberty, they who give such Titles do renounce it. Our Author carrys this very far, and lays great weight upon the submissive Language us'd by the People, when they
humbly crave that his Majesty would be pleas'd to grant their accustom'd freedom of speech, and access to his Person;
and
give the name of Supplications and Petitions to the Addresses made to him:
Whereas he answers in the haughty Language of
Le Roy le veut, Le Roy s'avisera,
and the like. But they who talk at this rate, shew, that they neither understand the nature of Magistracy, nor the practice of Nations. Those who have liv'd in the highest exercise of their Liberty, and have bin most tenacious of it, have thought no Honor too great for such Magistrats as were eminent in the defence of their Rights, and set up for that end. The name of Dread Sovereign might justly have bin given to a
Roman
Dictator, or Consul, for they had the Sovereign Authority in their hands, and power sufficient for its execution. Whilst their Magistracy continu'd, they were a terror to the same men, whose Axes and Rods had bin a terror to them the year or month before, and might be so again the next. The
Romans
thought they could not be guilty of excess in carrying the power and veneration due to their Dictator to the highest: And
Livy
tells us, that his
Edictum Dictatoris pro numine observatum.
Hist.
l. 8.
Edicts were esteem'd sacred.
I have already shewn that this haughty People, who might have commanded, condescended to join with their Tribuns in a Petition to the Dictator
Papirius,
for the Life of
Quintus Fabius,
who had fought a Battel in his absence, and without his order, tho he had gain'd a great and memorable Victory. The same
Fabius,
when Consul, was commended by his Father
Q. Fabius Maximus,
for obliging him by his Lictors to dismount from his Horse, and to pay him the same respect that was due from others. The Tribuns of the People, who were instituted for the preservation of Liberty, were also esteem'd sacred and inviolable, as appears by that phrase,
Sacrosancta Tribunorum potestas,
so common in their antient Writers. No man, I presume, thinks any Monarchy more limited, or more clearly deriv'd from a delegated Power, than that of the
German
Emperors; and yet
Sacra Caesarea Majestas
is the publick stile. Nay, the
Hollanders
at this day call their Burgermasters, tho they see them selling Herring or Tar,
High and Mighty Lords,
as soon as they are advanc'd to be of the 36, 42 or 48 Magistrats of a small Town. 'Tis no wonder therefore, if a great Nation should think it conducing to their own glory, to give magnificent Titles, and use submissive language to that one man, whom they set up to be their Head; most especially, if we consider that they came from a Country where such Titles and Languages were principally invented.
Among the
Romans
and
Grecians
we hear nothing of Majesty, Highness, Serenity and Excellence appropriated to a single Person, but receive them from
Germany
and other Northern Countrys. We find
Majestas Populi Romani,
and
Majestas Imperii,
in their best Authors; but no man speaking to
Julius
or
Augustus,
or even to the vaniest of their Successors, ever us'd those empty Titles, nor took upon themselves the name of Servants, as we do to every fellow we meet in the Streets. When such ways of speaking are once introduc'd, they must needs swell to a more than ordinary height in all transactions with Princes. Most of them naturally delight in vanity, and Courtiers never speak more truth than when they most extol their Masters, and assume to themselves the names that best express the most abject slavery. These being brought into mode, like all ill Customs, increase by use; and then no man can omit them without bringing that danger and hatred upon himself, which few will undergo, except for something that is evidently of great importance. Matters of ceremony and title at the first seem not to be so; and being for some time neglected, they acquire such strength as not to be easily remov'd. From private Usage they pass into publick Acts; and those Flatterers who gave a beginning to them, proposing them in publick Councils, where too many of that sort have always insinuated themselves, gain credit enough to make them pass. This work was farther advanc'd by the Church of
Rome,
according to their custom of favouring that most, which is most vain and corrupt; and it has bin usual with the Popes and their adherents, liberally to gratify Princes for Services render'd to the Church, with Titles that tended only to the prejudice of the people. These poisonous Plants having taken root, grew up so fast, that the Titles, which, within the space of a hundred years, were thought sufficient for the Kings and Queens of
England,
have of late bin given to
Monk
and his honourable Dutchess. New phrases have bin invented to please Princes, or the sense of the old perverted, as has happen'd to that of
Le Roy s' avisera:
And that which was no more than a liberty to consult with the Lords upon a Bill presented by the Commons, is by some men now taken sor a Right inherent in the King of denying such Bills as may be offer'd to him by the Lords and Commons; tho the Coronation Oath obliges him to hold, keep and defend the just Laws and Customs,
quas vulgus elegerit.
And if a stop be not put to this exorbitant abuse, the words still remaining in Acts of Parliament, which shew that their Acts are our Laws, may perhaps be also abolish'd.
But tho this should come to pass, by the slackness of the Lords and Commons, it could neither create a new Right in the King, nor diminish that of the People: But it might give a better color to those who are Enemys to their Country, to render the Power of the Crown arbitrary, than any thing that is yet among us.
SECT. XXXV. The Authority given by our Law to the Acts perform'd by a King
de facto,
detract nothing from the Peoples right of creating whom they please.
THEY who have more regard to the prevailing Power than to Right, and lay great weight upon the Statute of
Henry
the seventh, which authorizes the Acts of a
King de facto,
seem not to consider, that thereby they destroy all the pretended right of Inheritance; that he only is King
de facto,
who is receiv'd by the People; and that this reception could neither be of any value in it felf, nor be made valid by a Statute, unless the People, and their Representatives who make the Statute, had in themselves the power of receiving, authorizing and creating whom they please. For he is not King
de facto
who calls himself so, as
Perkin
or
Simnel,
but he who by the consent of the Nation is possest of the Regal Power. If there were such a thing in nature, as a natural Lord over every Country, and that the right must go by descent, it would be impossible for any other man to acquire it, or for the people to confer it upon him, and to give the Authority to the Acts of one, who neither is nor can be a King, which belongs only to him who has the right inherent in himself, and inseparable from him. Neither can it be deny'd, that the same power which gives the validity to such Acts as are perform'd by one who is not a King, that belongs to those of a true King, may also make him King; for the essence of a King consists in the validity of his Acts. And 'tis equally absurd for one to pretend to be a King, whose Acts as King are not valid, as that his own can be valid, if those of another are; for then the same indivisible Right which our Author, and those of his principles assert to be inseparable from the Person, would be at the same time exercis'd and enjoy'd by two distinct and contrary Powers.
Moreover, it may be observ'd, that this Statute was made after frequent and bloody Wars concerning Titles to the Crown; and whether the cause were good or bad, those who were overcome, were not only subject to be kill'd in the field, but afterwards to be prosecuted as Traitors under the color of Law. He who gain'd the Victory, was always set up to be King by those of his party; and he never fail'd to proceed against his Enemys as Rebels. This introduc'd a horrid series of the most destructive mischiefs. The Fortune of War vary'd often; and I think it may be said, that there were few, if any, great Familys in
England,
that were not either destroy'd, or at least so far shaken, as to lose their Chiefs, and many considerable branches of them: And experience taught, that instead of gaining any advantage to the Publick in point of Government, he for whom they fought seldom prov'd better than his Enemy. They saw that the like might again happen, tho the title of the reigning King should be as clear as descent of blood could make it. This brought things into an uneasy posture; and 'tis not strange, that both the Nobility and Commonalty should be weary of it. No Law could prevent the dangers of battel; for he that had followers, and would venture himself, might bring them to such a decision, as was only in the hand of God. But thinking no more could justly be requir'd to the full performance of their Duty to the King, than to expose themselves to the hazard of battel for him; and not being answerable for the success, they would not have that Law which they endeavour'd to support, turn'd to their destruction by their Enemys, who might come to be the interpreters of it. But as they could be exempted from this danger only by their own Laws, which could authorize the Acts of a King without a Title, and justify them for acting under him; 'tis evident that the power of the Law was in their hands, and that the acts of the person who enjoy'd the Crown, were of no value in themselves. The Law had bin impertinent, if it could have bin done without Law; and the Intervention of the Parliament useless, if the Kings
de facto
could have given authority to their own Acts. But if the Parliament could make that to have the effect of Law, which was not Law, and exempt those that acted according to it from the penaltys of the Law, and give the same force to the Acts of one who is not King as of one who is, they cannot but have a power of making him to be King, who is not so; that is to say, all depends intirely upon their Authority.
Besides, he is not King who assumes the title to himself, or is set up by a corrupt party; but he who according to the usages requir'd in the case is made King. If these are wanting, he is neither
de facto
nor
de jure,
but
Tyrannus sine Titulo.
Nevertheless, this very man, if he comes to be receiv'd by the People, and plac'd in the Throne, he is thereby made King
de facto.
His Acts are valid in Law; the same service is due to him as to any other: they who render it are in the same manner protected by the Law; that is to say, he is truly King. If our Author therefore do allow such to be Kings, he must confess that power to be good which makes them so, when they have no right in themselves. If he deny it, he must not only deny that there is any such thing as a King
de facto,
which the Statute acknowledges, but that we ever had any King in
England;
for we never had any other than such, as I have prov'd before.
By the same means he will so unravel all the Law, that no man shall know what he has, or what he ought to do or avoid; and will find no remedy for this, unless he allow, that Laws made without Kings are as good as those made with them, which returns to my purpose: for they who have the power of making Laws, may by Law make a King as well as any other Magistrate. And indeed the intention of this Statute could be no other than to secure mens Persons and Possessions, and so far to declare the power of giving and taking away the Crown to be in the Parliament, as to remove all disputes concerning Titles, and to make him to be a Legal King, whom they acknowledg to be King.
SECT. XXXVI. The general revolt of a Nation cannot be call'd a Rebellion.
AS Impostors seldom make lies to pass in the world, without putting false names upon things, such as our Author endeavour to persuade the People they ought not to defend their Libertys, by giving the name of Rebellion to the most just and honourable actions that have bin perform'd fer the preservation of them; and to aggravate the matter, tell us that Rebellion is like the sin of Witchcraft. But those who seek after truth, will easily find, that there can be no such thing in the world as the rebellion of a Nation against its own Magistrats, and that Rebellion is not always evil. That this may appear, it will not be amiss to consider the word, as well as the thing commonly understood by it, as it is us'd in an evil sense.
The word is taken from the Latin
rebellare,
which signifys no more than to renew a war. When a Town or Province had bin subdu'd by the
Romans,
and brought under their dominion, if they violated their Faith after the settlement of Peace, and invaded their Masters who had spar'd them, they were said to rebel. But it had bin more absurd to apply that word to the People that rose against the
Decemviri,
Kings or other Magistrats, than to the
Parthians
or any of those Nations who had no dependence upon them; for all the circumstances that should make a Rebellion were wanting, the word implying a superiority in them against whom it is, as well as the breach of an establish'd Peace. But tho every private man singly taken be subject to the commands of the Magistrate, the whole body of the People is not so; for he is by and for the People, and the People is neither by nor for him. The obedience due to him from private men is grounded upon, and measur'd by the General Law; and that Law regarding the welfare of the People, cannot set up the interest of one or a few men against the publick. The whole body therefore of a Nation cannot be ty'd to any other obedience than is consistent with the common good, according to their own judgment: and having never bin subdu'd or brought to terms of peace with their Magistrats, they cannot be said to revolt or rebel against them, to whom they owe no more than seems good to themselves, and who are nothing of or by themselves, more than other men.
Again, the thing signify'd by rebellion is not always evil; for tho every subdu'd Nation must acknowledg a superiority in those who have subdu'd them, and rebellion dos imply a breach of the peace, yet that superiority is not infinite; the peace may be broken upon just grounds, and it may be neither a crime nor infamy to do it. The
Privernates
had bin more than once subdu'd by the
Romans,
and had as often rebel'd. Their
. L
v. l. 8.
City was at last taken by
Plautius
the Consul, after their Leader
Virtuvius
and great numbers of their Senat and People had bin kill'd: Being reduc'd to a low condition, they sent Embassadors to
Rome
to desire peace; where when a Senator ask'd them what punishment they deserv'd, one of them answer'd,
The same which they deserve who think themselves worthy of Liberty.
The Consul then demanded,
what kind of Peace might
be expected from them, if the punishment should be remitted:
The Embassador answer'd,
Si bonam dederitis, fidam & perpetuam; si malam, haud diuturnam.
Liv.
If the terms you give be good, the Peace will be observ'd by us faithfully and perpetually; if bad, it will soon be broken.
And tho some were offended with the ferocity of the answer, yet the best part of the Senat approv'd it as
Viri & liberi vocem auditam.
Ibid.
worthy of a man and a freeman;
and confessing that no Man or Nation would continue under an uneasy condition longer than they were compel'd by force, said,
Eos demum, qui nihil praeterquam de libertate cogitant, dignos esse, qui Romani fiant.
Ibid.
They only were fit to be made
Romans,
who thought nothing valuable but Liberty.
Upon which they were all made Citizens of
Rome,
and obtain'd whatsoever they had desir'd.
I know not how this matter can be carry'd to a greater height; for if it were possible, that a People resisting oppression, and vindicating their own Liberty, could commit a crime, and incur either guilt or infamy, the
Privernates
did, who had bin often subdu'd, and often pardon'd; but even in the judgment of their Conquerors whom they had offended, the resolution they profest of standing to no agreement impos'd upon them by necessity, was accounted the highest testimony of such a Vertue as render'd them worthy to be admitted into a Society and equality with themselves, who were the most brave and vertuous people of the world.
But if the patience of a conquer'd People may have limits, and they who will not bear oppression from those who had spar'd their Lives, may deserve praise and reward from their conquerors, it would be madness to think, that any Nation can be oblig'd to bear whatsoever their own Magistrats think fit to do against them. This may seem strange to those who talk so much of conquests made by Kings; Immunitys, Libertys and Privileges granted to Nations; Oaths of Allegiance taken, and wonderful benefits confer'd upon them. But having already said as much as is needful concerning Conquests, and that the Magistrate who has nothing except what is given to him, can only dispense out of the publick Stock such Franchises and Privileges as he has receiv'd for the reward of Services done to the Country, and encouragement of Vertue, I shall at present keep my self to the two last points.
Allegiance signifys no more (as the words
ad legem
declare) than such an obedience as the Law requires. But as the Law can require nothing from the whole People, who are masters of it, Allegiance can only relate to particulars, and not to the whole Nation. No Oath can bind any other than those who take it, and that only in the true sense and meaning of it: but single men only take this Oath, and therefore single men are only oblig'd to keep it: the body of a People neither dos, nor can perform any such act: Agreements and Contracts have bin made; as the Tribe of
Judah,
and the rest of
Israel
afterward, made a Covenant with
David,
upon which they made him King; but no wise man can think, that the Nation did thereby make themselves the Creature of their own Creature.
The sense also of an Oath ought to be consider'd. No man can by an Oath be oblig'd to any thing beyond, or contrary to the true meaning of it; private men who swear obedience
ad Legem,
swear no obedience
extra
or
contra Legem:
whatsoever they promise or swear, can detract nothing from the publick Liberty, which the Law principally intends to preserve. Tho many of them may be oblig'd in their several Stations and Capacitys to render peculiar services to a Prince, the People continue as sree as the internal thoughts of a man, and cannot but have a right to preserve their Liberty, or avenge the violation.
If matters are well examin'd, perhaps not many Magistrats can pretend to much upon the title of merit, most especially if they or their progenitors have continu'd long in Office. The conveniences annex'd to the exercise of the Sovereign power, may be thought sufficient to pay such scores as they grow due, even to the best: and as things of that nature are handled, I think it will hardly be found, that all Princes can pretend to an irresistible power upon the account of beneficence to their People. When the family of
Medices
came to be masters of
Tuscany,
that Country was without dispute, in men, mony and arms, one of the most flourishing Provinces in the World, as appears by
Macchiavel
's account, and the relation of what happen'd between
Charles
the eighth and the Magistrats of
Florence,
which I have mention'd already from
Guicciardin.
Now whoever shall consider the strength of that Country in those days, together with what it might have bin in the space of a hundred and forty years, in which they have had no war, nor any other plague, than the extortion, fraud, rapin and cruelty of their Princes, and compare it with their present desolate, wretched and contemptible condition, may, if he please, think that much veneration is due to the Princes that govern them, but will never make any man believe that their Title can be grounded upon beneficenee. The like may be said of the Duke of
Savoy,
who pretending (upon I know not what account) that every Peasant in the Dutchy ought to pay him two Crowns every half year, did in 1662 subtilly find out, that in every year there were thirteen halves; so that a poor man who had nothing but what he gain'd by hard labor, was thro his fatherly Care and Beneficence, forc'd to pay six and twenty Crowns to his Royal Highness, to be employ'd in his discreet and vertuous pleasures at
Turin.
The condition of the seventeen Provinces of the
Netherlands
(and even of
Spain
it self) when they fell to the house of
Austria,
was of the same nature: and I will confess as much as can be requir'd, if any other marks of their Government do remain, than such as are manifest evidences of their Pride, Avarice, Luxury and Cruelty.
France
in outward appearance makes a better show; but nothing in this world is more miserable, than that people under the fatherly care of their triumphant Monarch. The best of their condition is, like Asses and Mastiff dogs, to work and fight, to be opprest and kill'd for him; and those among them who have any understanding well know, that their industry, courage, and good success, is not only unprofitable, but destructive to them; and that by increasing the power of their Master, they add weight to their own Chains. And if any Prince, or succession of Princes, have made a more modest use of their Power, or more faithfully discharg'd the trust repos'd in them, it must be imputed peculiarly to them, as a testimony of their personal Vertue, and can have no effect upon others.
The Rights therefore of Kings are not grounded upon Conquest; the Libertys of Nations do not arise from the Grants of their Princes; the Oath of Allegiance binds no private man to more than the Law directs, and has no influence upon the whole Body of every Nation: Many Princes are known to their Subjects only by the injurys, losses and mischiefs brought upon them; such as are good and just, ought to be rewarded for their personal Vertue, but can confer no right upon those who no way resemble them; and whoever pretends to that merit, must prove it by his Actions: Rebellion being nothing but a renew'd War, can never be against a Government that was not establish'd by War, and of it self is neither good nor evil, more than any other War; but is just or unjust according to the cause or manner of it. Besides, that Rebellion which by
Samuel
is compar'd to Witchcraft, is not of private men, or a People against
1 Sam. 15. 23.
the Prince, but of the Prince against God: The
Israelites
are often said to have rebel'd against the Law, Word, or Command of God; but tho they frequently oppos'd their Kings, I do not find Rebellion imputed to them on that account, nor any ill character put upon such actions. We are told also of some Kings who had bin subdu'd, and afterwards rebel'd against
Chedorlaomer
and other Kings; but their cause is not blam'd, and we have some reason to believe it good, because
Abraham
took part with those who had rebel'd. However it can be of no prejudice to the cause I defend: for tho it were true, that those subdu'd Kings could not justly rise against the person who had subdu'd them; or that generally no King being once vanquish'd, could have a right of Rebellion against his Conqueror, it could have no relation to the actions of a People vindicating their own Laws and Libertys against a Prince who violates them; for that War which never was, can never be renew'd. And if it be true in any case, that hands and swords are given to men, that they only may be slaves who have no courage, it must be when Liberty is overthrown by those, who of all men ought with the utmost industry and vigor to have defended it.
That this should be known, is not only necessary for the safety of Nations, but advantageous to such Kings as are wise and good. They who know the frailty of human Nature, will always distrust their own; and desiring only to do what they ought, will be glad to be restrain'd from that which they ought not to do. Being taught by reason and experience, that Nations delight in the Peace and Justice of a good Government, they will never fear a general Insurrection, whilst they take care it be rightly administer'd; and finding themselves by this means to be safe, will never be unwilling, that their Children or Successors should be oblig'd to tread in the same steps.
If it be said that this may sometimes cause disorders, I acknowledg it; but no human condition being perfect, such a one is to be chosen, which carrys with it the most tolerable inconveniences: And it being much better than the irregularitys and excesses of a Prince should be restrain'd or supprest, than that whole Nations should perish by them, those Constitutions that make the best provision against the greatest evils, are most to be commended. If Governments were instituted to gratify the lusts of one man, those could not be good that set limits to them; but all reasonable men confessing that they are instituted for the good of Nations, they only can deserve praise, who above all things endeavour to procure it, and appoint means proportion'd to that end. The great variety of Governments which we see in the World, is nothing but the effect of this care; and all Nations have bin, and are more
or less happy, as they or their Ancecestors have had vigor of Spirit, integrity of Manners, and wisdom to invent and establish such Orders, as have better or worse provided for this common Good, which was sought by all. But as no Rule can be so exact, to make provision against all contestations; and all disputes about Right do naturally end in force when Justice is deny'd (ill men never willingly submitting to any decision that is contrary to their passions and interests) the best Constitutions are of no value, if there be not a Power to support them. This Power first exerts it self in the execution of Justice by the ordinary Officers; but no Nation having bin so happy, as not sometimes to produce such Princes as
Edward
and
Richard
the Seconds, and such Ministers as
Gaveston, Spencer,
and
Tresilian,
the ordinary Officers of Justice often want the will, and always the power to restrain them. So that the Rights and Libertys of a Nation must be utterly subverted and abolish'd, if the power of the whole may not be employ'd to assert them, or punish the violation of them. But as it is the fundamental Right of every Nation to be govern'd by such Laws, in such Manner, and by such Persons as they think most conducing to their own good, they cannot be accountable to any but themselves for what they do in that most important affair.
SECT. XXXVII. The
English
Government was not ill constituted, the defects more lately observ'd proceeding from the change of manners, and corruption of the times.
I Am not ignorant that many honest and good men acknowledging these Rights, and the care of our Ancestors to preserve them, think they wanted wisdom rightly to proportionate the means to the end. 'Tis not enough, say they, for the General of an Army to desire Victory; he only can deserve praise, who has skill, industry, and courage to take the best measures of obtaining it. Neither is it enough for wise Legislators to preserve Liberty, and to erect such a Government as may stand for a time; but to set such clear Rules to those who are to put it in execution, that every man may know when they transgress; and appoint such means for restraining or punishing them, as may be us'd speedily, surely, and effectually, without danger to the Publick.
Sparta
being thus constituted, we hardly find that, for more than eight hundred years, any King presum'd to pass the limits prescrib'd by the Law. If any
Roman
Consul grew insolent, he might be reduc'd to order without blood, or danger to the Publick; and no Dictator ever usurp'd a power over Liberty till the time of
Sylla,
when all things in the City were so chang'd, that the antient foundations were become too narrow. In
Venice
the power of the Duke is so circumscrib'd, that in 1300 years, no one except
Falerio
and
Tiepoli,
has dar'd to attempt any thing against the Laws: and they were immediately supprest with little commotion in the City. On the other side, our Law is so ambiguous, perplext and intricate, that 'tis hard to know when 'tis broken. In all the publick contests we have had, men of good judgment and integrity have follow'd both partys. The means of transgressing and procuring Partizans to make good by force the most notorious violations of Liberty, have bin so easy, that no Prince who has endeavour'd it, ever fail'd to get great numbers of followers, and to do infinite mischiefs before he could be remov'd. The Nation has bin brought to sight against those they had made to be what they were, upon the unequal terms of hazarding all against nothing. If they had success, they gain'd no more than what was their own before, and which the Law ought to have secur'd: whereas 'tis evident, that if at any one time the contrary had happen'd, the Nation had bin utterly enslav'd; and no victory was ever gain'd without the loss of much noble and innocent blood.
To this I answer, that no right judgment can be given of human things, without a particular regard to the time in which they pass'd. We esteem
Scipio, Hannibal, Pyrrhus, Alexander, Epimanondas
and
Cesar,
to have bin admirable Commanders in War, because they had in a most eminent degree all the qualitys that could make them so, and knew best how to employ the Arms then in use according to the disciplin of their times; and yet no man doubts, that if the most skilful of them could be rais'd from the Grave, restor'd to the utmost vigor of mind and body, set at the head of the best Armys he ever commanded, and plac'd upon the Frontiers of
France
or
Flanders,
he would not know how to advance or retreat, nor by what means to take any of the places in those parts, as they are now fortify'd and defended; but would most certainly be beaten by any insignificant fellow with a small number of men, furnish'd with such Arms as are now in use, and following the methods now practis'd. Nay, the manner of marching, encamping, besieging, attacking, defending and fighting, is so much alter'd within the last threescore years, that no man observing the disciplin that was then thought to be the best, could possibly defend himself against that which has bin since found out, tho the terms are still the same. And if it be consider'd that political matters are subject to the same mutations (as certainly they are) it will be sufficient to excuse our Ancestors, who suting their Government to the Ages in which they liv'd, could neither foresee the changes that might happen in future Generations, nor appoint remedys for the mischiefs they did not foresee.
They knew that the Kings of several Nations had bin kept within the limits of the Law, by the vertue and power of a great and brave Nobility; and that no other way of supporting a mix'd Monarchy had ever bin known in the World, than by putting the balance into the hands of those who had the greatest interests in Nations, and who by Birth and Estate enjoy'd greater advantages than Kings could confer upon them for rewards of betraying their Country. They knew that when the Nobility was so great as not easily to be number'd, the little that was left to the King's disposal, was not sufficient to corrupt many; and if some might fall under the temptation, those who continu'd in their integrity, would easily be able to chastise them for deserting the publick Cause, and by that means deter Kings from endeavouring to seduce them from their duty. Whilst things continu'd in this posture, Kings might safely be trusted (with the advice of their Council) to confer the commands of the Militia in Towns and Provinces upon the most eminent men in them: And whilst those Kings were exercis'd in almost perpetual Wars, and plac'd their glory in the greatness of the Actions they atchiev'd by the power and valor of their People, it was their interest always to chuse such as seem'd best to deserve that honor. It was not to be imagin'd that thro the weakness of some, and the malice of others, those Dignitys should by degrees be turn'd into empty Titles, and become the rewards of the greatest crimes, and the vilest services; or that the noblest of their Descendents for want of them, should be brought under the name of Commoners, and depriv'd of all privileges except such as were common to them with their Grooms. Such a stupendous change being in process of time insensibly introduc'd, the foundations of that Government which they had establish'd, were remov'd, and the superstructure overthrown. The balance by which it subsisted was broken; and 'tis as impossible to restore it, as for most of those who at this day go under the name of Noblemen, to perform the dutys requir'd from the antient Nobility of
England.
And tho there were a charm in the name, and those who have it should be immediately fill'd with a spirit like to that which animated our Ancestors, and endeavor to deserve the Honors they possess, by such Services to the Country as they ought to have perform'd before they had them, they would not be able to accomplish it. They have neither the Interest nor the Estates requir'd for so great a work. Those who have Estates at a rack Rent, have no dependents. Their Tenants, when they have paid what is agreed, owe them nothing; and knowing they shall be turn'd out of their Tenements, as soon as any other will give a little more, they look upon their Lords as men who receive more from them than they confer upon them. This dependence being lost, the Lords have only more mony to spend or lay up than others, but no command of men; and can therefore neither protect the weak, nor curb the insolent. By this means all things have bin brought into the hands of the King and the Commoners, and there is nothing left to cement them, and to maintain the union. The perpetual jarrings we hear every day; the division of the Nation into such factions as threaten us with ruin, and all the disorders that we see or fear, are the effects of this rupture. These things are not to be imputed to our original Constitutions, but to those who have subverted them: And if they who by corrupting, changing, enervating and annihilating the Nobility, which was the principal support of the antient regular Monarchy, have driven those who are truly Noblemen into the same interest and name with the Commons, and by that means increas'd a party which never was, and I think never can be united to the Court, they are to answer for the Consequences; and if they perish, their destruction is from themselves.
The inconveniences therefore proceed not from the Institution, but from the Innovation. The Law was plain, but it has bin industriously render'd perplex: They who were to have upheld it are overthrown. That which might have bin easily perform'd when the People was arm'd, and had a great, strong, vertuous and powerful Nobility to lead them, is made difficult, now they are disarm'd, and that Nobility abolish'd. Our Ancestors may evidently appear, not only to have intended well, but to have taken a right course to accomplish what they intended. This had effect as long as the cause continu'd; and the only fault that can be ascrib'd to that which they establish'd is, that it has not prov'd to be perpetual; which is no more than may be justly said of the best human Constitutions that ever have bin in the world. If we will be just to our Ancestors, it will become us in our time rather to pursue what we know they intended, and by new Constitutions to repair the breaches made upon the old, than to accuse them of the defects that will for ever attend the Actions of men. Taking our Affairs at the worst, we shall soon find, that if we have the same spirit they had, we may easily restore our Nation to its antient Liberty, Dignity and Happiness; and if we do not, the fault is owing to our selves, and not to any want of vertue and wisdom in them.
SECT. XXXVIII. The power of calling and dissolving Parliaments is not simply in the King. The variety of Customs in chusing Parliament men, and the Errors a People may commit, neither prove that Kings are or ought to be Absolute.
THE original of Magistratical Power, the intention of our Ancestors in its creation, and the ways prescrib'd for the direction and limitation of it may, I presume, sufficiently appear by what has bin said. But because our Author, taking hold of every twig, pretends,
That Kings may call and dissolve Parliaments at their pleasure,
and from thence infers
the Power to be wholly in them;
alledges
the various Customs in several parts of this Nation us'd in the Elections of Parliament men, to procced from the King's will;
and
because a People may commit Errors,
thinks
all Power ought to be put into the hands of the King:
I answer, 1. That the Power of calling and dissolving Parliaments is not simply in Kings. They may call Parliaments, if there be occasion, at times when the Law dos not exact it; they are plac'd as Sentinels, and ought diligently to observe the motions of the Enemy, and give notice of his approach: But if the Sentinel falls asleep, neglects his duty, or maliciously endeavors to betray the City, those who are concern'd may make use of all other means to know their danger, and to preserve themselves. The ignorance, incapacity, negligence or luxury of a King, is a great calamity to a Nation, and his malice is worse, but not an irreparable ruin. Remedys may be, and often have bin found against the worst of their Vices. The last
French
Kings of the Races of
Meroveus
and
Pepin
brought many mischiefs upon the Kingdom, but the destruction was prevented.
Edward
and
Richard
the Seconds of
England
were not unlike them, and we know by what means the Nation was preserv'd. The question was not who had the Right, or who ought to call Parliaments, but how the Commonwealth might be sav'd from ruin. The Consuls, or other chief Magistrats in
Rome,
had certainly a right of assembling and dismissing the Senat: But when
Hannibal
was at the Gates, or any other imminent danger threaten'd them with destruction; if that Magistrate had bin drunk, mad, or gain'd by the Enemy, no wise man can think that formalitys were to have bin observ'd. In such cases every Man is a Magistrate; and he who best knows the danger, and the means of preventing it, has a right of calling the Senat or People to an Assembly. The People would, and certainly ought to follow him, as they did
Brutus
and
Valerius
against
Tarquin,
or
Horatius
and
Valerius
against the
Decemviri;
and whoever should do otherwise, might for sottishness be compar'd to the Courtiers of the two last Kings of
Spain.
The first of these, by name
Philip
the Third, being indispos'd in cold weather, a
Braziero
of Coals was brought into his Chamber, and plac'd so near to him, that he was cruelly scorch'd. A Nobleman then present said to one who stood by him,
The King burns;
the other answer'd, it was true, but the Page whose Office it was to bring and remove the
Braziero,
was not there; and before he could be found, his Majesty's Legs and Face were so burnt, that it caus'd an
Erysipelas,
of which he dy'd.
Philip
the Fourth escap'd not much better, who being surpriz'd as he was hunting by a violent storm of Rain and Hail, and no man presuming to lend the King a Cloke, he was so wet before the Officer could be found who carry'd his own, that he took a cold, which cast him into a dangerous Fever. If Kings like the consequences of such a Regularity, they may cause it to be observ'd in their own Familys; but Nations looking in the first place to their own safety, would be guilty of the most extreme stupidity, if they should suffer themselves to be ruin'd for adhering to such Ceremonys.
This is said upon a supposition, that the whole power of calling and dissolving Parliaments is by the Law plac'd in the King: but I utterly deny that it is so; and to prove it, shall give the following Reasons.
(1.) That the King can have no such Power, unless it be given to him, for every man is originally free; and the same power that makes him King, gives him all that belongs to his being King. 'Tis not therefore an inherent, but a delegated Power; and whoever receives it, is accountable to those that gave it; for, as our Author is forc'd to confess,
they who give Authority by Commission, do always retain more than they grant.
(2.) The Law for annual Parliaments expresly declares it not to be in the King's power, as to the point of their meeting, nor consequently their continuance. For they meet to no purpose if they may not continue to do the work for which they meet: and it were absurd to give them a power of meeting, if they might not continue till it be done: For, as
Grotius
says,
Qui dat finem, dat media ad finem necessaria.
The only reason why Parliaments do meet, is to provide for the publick good; and they by Law ought to meet for that end. They ought not therefore to be dissolv'd, till it be accomplish'd. For this reason the opinion given by
Tresilian,
that Kings might dissolve Parliaments at their pleasure, was adjudg'd to be a principal part of his Treason.
(3.) We have already prov'd, that
Saxons, Danes, Normans,
&c. who had no Title to the Crown, were made Kings by Micklegemots, Wittenagemots, and Parliaments; that is, either by the whole People, or their Representatives: Others have bin by the same Authority restrain'd, brought to order, or depos'd. But as it is impossible that such as were not Kings, and had no title to be Kings, could by virtue of a kingly Power call Parliaments, when they had none; and absurd to think that such as were in the Throne, who had not govern'd according to Law, would suffer themselves to be restrain'd, imprison'd, or depos'd by Parliaments, call'd and sitting by themselves, and still depending upon their will to be or not to be: 'Tis certain that Parliaments have in themselves a Power of sitting and acting for the publick Good.
2. To the second. The various customs us'd in Elections are nothing to this question. In the Countys, which make up the Body of the Nation, all Freeholders have their Votes: these are properly
Cives,
Members of the Commonwealth, in distinction from those who are only
Incolae,
or Inhabitants, Villains, and such as being under their Parents, are not yet
sui juris.
These in the beginning of the
Saxons
reign in
England,
compos'd the Micklegemots; and when they grew to be fo numerous that one place could not contain them, or so far dispers'd, that without trouble and danger they could not leave their habitations, they deputed such as should represent them. When the Nation came to be more polish'd, to inhabit Citys and Towns, and to set up several Arts and Trades; those who exercis'd them were thought to be as useful to the Commonwealth, as the Freeholders in the Country, and to deserve the same Privileges. But it not being reasonable that every one should in this case do what he pleas'd, it was thought fit that the King with his Council (which always consisted of the
Proceres
and
Magnates Regni)
should judg what numbers of men, and what places deserv'd to be made Corporations or Bodys Politick, and to enjoy those Privileges; by which he did not confer upon them any thing that was his, but according to the trust repos'd in him, did dispense out of the publick Stock parcels of what he had receiv'd from the whole Nation: And whether this was to be enjoy'd by all the Inhabitants, as in
Westminster;
by the Common Hall, as in
London;
or by the Mayor, Aldermen, Jurats and Corporation, as in other places, 'tis the same thing: for in all these cases the King dos only distribute, not give, and under the same condition that he might call Parliaments, that is, for the publick good. This indeed increases the Honor of the person intrusted, and adds weight to the obligation incumbent upon him; but can never change the nature of the thing, so as to make that an inherent, which is only a delegated Power. And as Parliaments, when occasion requir'd, have bin assembled, have refus▪ d to be dissolv'd till their work was finish'd, have severely punish'd those who went about to persuade Kings, that such matters depended absolutely upon their will, and made Laws to the contrary: 'tis not to be imagin'd, that they would not also have interpos'd their Authority in matters of Charters, if it had bin observ'd that any King had notoriously abus'd the trust repos'd in him, and turn'd the Power to his private advantage, with which he was intrusted for the publick good.
That which renders this most plain and safe, is, that men chosen in this manner to serve in Parliament, do not act by themselves, but in conjunction with others who are sent thither by prescription; nor by a Power deriv'd from Kings, but from those that chuse them. If it be true therefore that those who delegate Powers, do always retain to themselves more than they give, they who send these men, do not give them an absolute power of doing whatsoever they please, but retain to themselves more than they confer upon their Deputys: They must therefore be accountable to their Principals, contrary to what our Author asserts. This continues in force, tho he knows not, that
any Knights and Burgesses have ever bin question'd by those that sent them;
for it cannot be concluded they ought not, or may not be question'd, because none have bin question'd. But in truth they are frequently question'd: The People do perpetually judg of the behaviour of their Deputys. Whensoever any of them has the misfortune not to satisfy the major part of those that chose him, he is sure to be rejected with disgrace the next time he shall desire to be chosen. This is not only a sufficient punishment for such faults, as he who is but one of five hundred may probably commit, but as much as the greatest and freest People of the World did ever inflict upon their Commanders that brought the greatest losses upon them.
Appius Claudius, Pomponius,
and
Terentius Varro,
surviv'd the greatest defeats that ever the
Romans
suffer'd; and tho they had caus'd them by their folly and perversness, were never punish'd. Yet I think no man doubts that the
Romans
had as much right over their own Officers, as the
Athenians
and
Carthaginians,
who frequently put them to death. They thought the mind of a Commander would be too much distracted, if at the same time he should stand in fear both of the Enemy and his own Countrymen: And as they always endeavour'd to chuse the best men, they would lay no other necessity upon them of performing their duty, than what was suggested by their own vertue and love to their Country. 'Tis not therefore to be thought strange, if the people of
England
have follow'd the most generous and most prosperous Examples. Besides, if any thing has bin defective in their usual proceedings with their Delegats, the inconvenience has bin repair'd by the modesty of the best and wisest of them that were chosen. Many in all Ages, and sometimes the whole body of the Commons have refus'd to give their opinion in some cases, till they had consulted with those that sent them: The House have bin often adjourn'd to give them time to do it; and if this were done more frequently, or that the Towns, Citys and Countys, had on some occasions given instructions to their Deputys, matters would probably have gone better in Parliament than they have often done.
3. The question is not, whether the Parliament be impeccable or infallible, but whether an Assembly of Nobility, with a House of Commons compos'd of those who are best esteem'd by their Neighbors in all the Towns and Countys of
England,
are more or less subject to error or corruption, than such a man, woman or child as happens to be next in blood to the last King. Many men do usually see more than one; and
Prov. 11. 14.
if we may believe the wisest King,
In the multitude of Counsellors there is safety.
Such as are of mature Age, good Experience, and approv'd reputation for Vertue and Wisdom, will probably judg better than children or fools. Men are thought to be more fit for War than women; and those who are bred up in Disciplin, to understand it better than those who never knew any thing of it. If some Countys or Citys fail to chuse such men as are eminently capable, all will hardly be so mistaken as to chuse those who have no more of Wisdom or Vertue, than is usually intail'd upon Familys. But
Filmer
at a venture admires the profound Wisdom of the King; tho besides such as we have known, Historys give us too many proofs, that all those who have bin possest of Crowns, have not excel'd that way. He speaks of Kings in general, and makes no difference between
Solomon
and his foolish Son. He distinguishes not our
Edward
the first from
Edward
the second;
Edward
the third from
Richard
the second; or
Henry
the fifth from
Henry
the sixth. And because all of them were Kings, all of them, if he deserves credit, must needs have bin endow'd with profound Wisdom.
David
was wise as an Angel of God; therefore the present Kings of
France, Spain
and
Sweden,
must have bin so also, when they were but five years old:
Joan
of
Castille
could not be mad, nor the two
Joans
of
Naples
infamous Strumpets, or all his Arguments fall to the ground. For tho
Solomon
's Wisdom surpast that of all the people, yet men could not rely equally upon that of
Rehoboam,
unless it had bin equal. And if they are all equal in Wisdom when they come to be equally Kings,
Perses
of
Macedon
was as great a Captain as
Philip
or
Alexander; Commodus
and
Heliogabalus
were as wise and vertuous as
Marcus Aurelius
and
Antoninus Pius:
Nay,
Christina
of
Sweden
in her infancy was as fit to command an Army as her valiant Father. If this be most absurd and false, there can be neither reason nor sense in proposing, as our Author dos, that the Power should be in the King, because the Parliament is not infallible.
It is,
says he,
for the Head to correct, and not to expect the consent of the Members or Partys peccant to be Judges in their own cases; nor is it needful to confine the King,
&c. Besides that this is directly contrary to his own fundamental Maxim, that no man must be the Judg of his own case, in as much as this would put the Power into the King's hands, to decide the Controversys between himself and the people, in which his own Passions, private Interest, and the corrupt Counsels of ill Ministers, will always lead him out of the way of Justice, the inconveniences that may arise from a possibility that the Parliament or People is not infallible, will be turn'd to the most certain and destructive mischiefs; as must have fallen out in
Spain,
if, upon a supposition that the Estates of
Castille
might err, the correction of such Errors had bin left to the profound Wisdom and exquisit Judgment of
Joan
their Queen and Head, who was stark mad. And the like may be said of many other Princes, who thro natural or accidental infirmitys, want of age, or dotage, have bin utterly unable to judg of any thing.
The matter will not be much mended, tho I pass from Ideots and Lunaticks, to such as know well enough how to clothe and feed themselves, and to perform the ordinary functions of life; and yet have bin as uncapable of giving a right judgment concerning the weighty matters of Government, as the weakest of Children, or the most furious of Madmen. Good manners forbid me to enumerate the examples of this kind, which
Europe
has produc'd even in this Age: But I should commit a greater fault, if I did in silence pass over the extravagances of those, who being most weak in judgment, and irregular in their appetites, have bin most impatient of any restraint upon their will. The brave
Gustavus Adolphus,
and his Nephew
Carolus Gustavus,
who was not inferior to him in Valor, Wisdom, and love to his people, were content with the Power that the Laws of their Country gave to them: But
Frederick
the fourth of
Denmark
never rested till he had overthrown the Liberty of that Nation.
Casimir
by attempting the like in
Poland,
lost almost half that Kingdom; and flying from the other, left all to be ravag'd by
Swedes, Tartars,
and
Cosacks.
The present Emperor, who pass'd his time in setting Songs in Musick with a wretched Italian Eunuch, when he ought to have bin at the Head of a brave Army, rais'd to oppose the Turks in the year 1664, and which under good conduct might have overthrown the Ottoman Empire, as soon as he was deliver'd from the fear of that Enemy, fell upon his own Subjects with such cruelty, that they are now forc'd to fly to the Turks for protection; the Protestants especially, who find their condition more tolerable under those profest Enemys to Christianity, than to be expos'd to the pride, avarice, perfidiousness and violence of the Jesuits by whom he is govern'd. And the qualitys of the King of
Portugal
are so well known, together with the condition to which he would have brought his Kingdom if he had not bin sent to the
Tercera
's, that I need not speak particularly of him.
If Kings therefore, by virtue of their Office, are constituted Judges over the body of their People, because the People, or Parliaments representing them, are not infallible; those Kings who are children, fools, disabled by age, or madmen, are so also; women have the same right where they are admitted to the succession; those men who, tho of ripe age and not superannuated, nor directly fools or madmen, yet absolutely uncapable of judging important Affairs, or by their passions, interests, vices, or the malice and wickedness of their Ministers, Servants and Favorites, are set to oppress and ruin the people, enjoy the same privilege: than which nothing can be imagin'd more absurd and abominable, nor more directly tending to the corruption and destruction of the Nations under them, for whose good and safety our Author confesses they have their power.
SECT. XXXIX. Those Kings only are heads of the People, who are good, wise, and seek to advance no Interest but that of the Publick.
THE worst of men seldom arrive to such a degree of impudence, as plainly to propose the most mischievous follys and enormitys. They who are enemys to Vertue, and fear not God, are afraid of men, and dare not offer such things as the world will not bear, lest by that means they should overthrow their own designs. All poison must be disguis'd, and no man can be persuaded to eat Arsenic, unless it be cover'd with something that appears to be harmless.
Creusa
would have abhor'd
Medea
's present, if the pestilent venom had not bin hidden by the exterior lustre of Gold and Gems. The Garment that destroy'd
Hercules
appear'd beautiful; and
Eve
had neither eaten of the forbidden Tree, nor given the Fruit to her Husband, if it had not seem'd to be good and pleasant, and she had not bin induc'd to believe that by eating it they should both be as Gods. The Servants of the Devil have always follow'd the same method: their malice is carry'd on by fraud, and they have seldom destroy'd any, but such as they had first deceiv'd. Truth can never conduce to mischief, and is best discover'd by plain words; but nothing is more usual with ill men than to cover their mischievous designs with figurative phrases. It would be too ridiculous to say in plain terms, that all Kings without distinction are better able to judg of all matters than any or all their people; they must therefore be call'd
the Head,
that thereby they may be invested with all the preeminences which in a natural body belong to that part; and men must be made to believe the analogy between the natural and political body to be perfect. But the matter must be better examin'd before this mortal poison seems fit to be swallow'd.
The word
Head
is figuratively us'd both in Scripture and profane Authors in several senses, in relation to places or persons, and always implys something of real or seeming preeminence in point of honor or jurisdiction. Thus
Damascus
is said to be the head of
Syria; Samaria
of
Ephraim,
and
Ephraim
of the ten Tribes: that is,
Ephraim
was the chief
1 Chron. 5.
Tribe;
Samaria
was the chief City of
Ephraim,
and
Damascus
of
Syria:
tho it be certain that
Ephraim
had no jurisdiction over the other Tribes, nor
Samaria
over the other Citys of
Ephraim,
but every one according to the Law had an equal power within it self, or the Territorys belonging to it; and no privileges were granted to one above another, except to
Jerusalem,
in the matter of Religion, because the Temple was plac'd there.
The words Head, Prince, principal Man, or Captain, seem also to be equivocal; and in this sense the same men are call'd Heads of the Tribes, Princes in the houses of their Fathers: and 'tis said, that two hundred Heads of the Tribe of
Reuben
were carry'd away captive by
Tiglath Pilezer,
and proportionably in the other Tribes; which were a strange thing, if the word did imply that supreme, absolute and infinite Power that our Author attributes to it: and no man of less understanding than he, can comprehend how there should be two hundred or more sovereign unlimited Powers in one Tribe, most especially when 'tis certain that one series of Kings had for many Ages reign'd over that Tribe and nine more; and that every one of those Tribes, as well as the particular Citys, even from their first entrance into the promis'd Land, had a full jurisdiction within it self. When the
Gileadites
came to
Jephtha,
he suspected them, and ask'd whether indeed they intended to make him
Judg. 12.
their Head? they answer'd, if he would lead them against the
Ammonites,
he should be their Head. In the like sense when
Jul. Caesar
in despair would have kill'd himself, one of his Soldiers dissuaded him from that design, by telling him,
Cum tot ab hac anima populorum vita salus
que
Pendeat, & tantus caput hoc sibi fecerit orbis,
Savitia est voluisse mori.
Lucan.
That the safety of so many Nations that had made him their Head, depending upon his life, it would be cruelty in him to take such a resolution.
But for all that, when this Head was taken off, the Body did still subsist: upon which I observe many fundamental differences between the relation of this figurative Head (even when the word is rightly apply'd) and that of the natural Head to their respective Bodys.
The figurative Heads may be many, the natural but one.
The People make or create the figurative Head; the natural is from it self, or connate with the Body.
The natural Body cannot change or subsist without the natural Head; but a People may change and subsist very well without the artificial. Nay, if it had bin true, that the World had chosen
Cesar,
as it was not, (for he was chosen only by a factious mercenory Army, and the soundest part so far oppos'd that Election, that they brought him to think of killing himself) there could have bin no truth in this flattering assertion,
That the safety of the whole depended upon his Life:
for the World could not only subsist without him, but without any such Head, as it had done before he by the help of his corrupted Soldiery had usurp'd the Power; which also shews that a civil Head may be a matter of convenience, but not of necessity. Many Nations have had none; and if the expression be so far stretch'd, as to make it extend to the annual or temporary Magistrats set up by the
Athenians, Carthaginians, Romans,
and other antient Commonwealths, or to those at this day in
Venice, Holland, Switzerland,
and other places, it must be confest that the People who made, depos'd, abrogated, or abolish'd both the Magistrats and Magistracys, had the power of framing, directing and removing their Heads, which our Author will say is most absurd. Yet they did it without any prejudice to themselves, and very often much to their advantage.
In mentioning these vast and essential differences between the natural and political Head, I no way intend to exclude others that may be of equal weight; but as all figurative expressions have their strength only from similitude, there can be little or none in this, which differs in so many important points, and can therefore be of no effect.
However, Right proceeds from identity, and not from similitude. The right of a man over me is by being my Father, and not by being like my Father. If I had a Brother so perfectly resembling me as to deceive our Parents, which has sometimes happen'd to Twins, it could give him no right to any thing that is mine. If the power therefore of correcting the partys peccant, which our Author attributes to Kings, be grounded upon the name of Head, and a resemblance between the Heads of the Body politick and Body natural; if this resemblance be found to be exceedingly imperfect, uncertain, or perhaps no way relating to the matter in question; or tho it did, and were absolutely perfect, could confer no right; the allegation of it is impertinent and absurd.
This being clear'd, 'tis time to examin what the Office of the Head is in a natural Body, that we may learn from thence why that name is sometimes given to those who are eminent in political Bodys, and to whom it dos belong.
Some men account the Head to be so absolutely the seat of all the Senses, as to derive even that of feeling, which is exercis'd in every part, from the Brain: but I think 'tis not doubted that all the rest have both their seat and function in the Head; and whatsoever is useful or hurtful to a man, is by them represented to the understanding; as
Aristotle
says,
Nihil est in intellectu, quod non sit prius in sensu.
This is properly the part of every Magistrate: He is the Sentinel of the Publick, and is to represent what he discovers beneficial or hurtful to the Society; which Office belongs not only to the supreme, but proportionably to the subordinate. In this sense were the chief men among the
Israelites
call'd
Heads
1 Chron. 7. 40.
of their Fathers house, choice and mighty men of valor, chief of the Princes.
And in the following Chapter mention is made of
nine hundred and fifty Benjamites, chief men in the House of their Fathers.
These men exercis'd a charitable care over such as were inferior to them in power and valor, without any shadow of sovereignty, or possibility that there could be so many Sovereigns: and such as were under their care are said to be their Brethren; which is not a word of majesty and domination, but of dearness and equality. The name therefore of Head may be given to a Sovereign, but it implys nothing of sovereignty; and must be exercis'd with charity, which always terminates in the good of others. The Head cannot correct or chastise; the proper work of that part is only to indicate, and he who takes upon him to do more, is not the Head. A natural body is homogeneous, and cannot subsist if it be not so. We cannot take one part of a Horse, another of a Bear, and put upon them the head of a Lion; for it would be a Monster, that would have neither action nor life. The Head must be of the same nature with the other Members, or it cannot subsist. But the Lord or Master differs
in specie
from his Servants and Slaves, he is not therefore properly their Head.
Besides, the Head cannot have a subsistence without the Body, nor any interest contrary to that of the Body; and 'tis impossible for any thing to be good for the Head, that is hurtful to the Body. A Prince therefore, or Magistrate, who sets up an interest in himself distinct from, or repugnant to that of the people, renounces the title or quality of their Head. Indeed
Moses
was the Head of the
Israelites;
for when God threaten'd to destroy that People, and promis'd to make him a great Nation, he wav'd the particular advantages offer'd to himself, interceded for them, and procur'd their pardon. Yet he was not able to bear the weight of the Government alone, but desir'd that some might be appointed to assist him.
Gideon
was the Head of the same people, but he would not reign himself, nor suffer his Sons to reign over them.
Samuel
was also their Head; he took nothing from any man, defrauded none, took bribes from no man, opprest none: God and the People were his witnesses: He blam'd them for their Rebellion against God in asking a King, but was no way concern'd for himself or his Family.
David
likewise had a right to that Title; for he desir'd that God would spare the People, and turn the effect of his anger against himself, and the house of his Father. But
Rehoboam
was not their Head; for tho he acknowledg'd that his Father had laid a heavy yoke upon them, yet he told them he would add to the weight; and that if his Father had chastis'd them with Whips, he would chastise them with Scorpions. The Head is no burden to the Body, and can lay none upon it; the Head cannot chastise any member; and he who dos so, be it more or less, cannot be the Head.
Jeroboam
was not the Head of the revolting Tribes; for the Head takes care of the Members, and provides for the safety of the whole: But he thro fear that the people, going to
Jerusalem
to worship, should return to the house of
David,
by setting up Idols to secure his own interests, drew guilt and destruction upon them. Tho it should be granted that
Augustus
by a gentle use of his power, had in a manner expiated the detestable Villanys committed in the acquisition, and had truly deserv'd to be call'd the Head of the
Romans;
yet that title could no way belong to
Caligula, Claudius, Nero
or
Vitellius,
who neither had the qualitys requir'd in the Head, nor the understanding or will to perform the office. Nay, if I should carry the matter farther, and acknowledg that
Brutus, Cincinnatus, Fabius, Camillus,
and others, who, in the time of their annual or shorter Magistracys, had by their vigilance, vertue, and care to preserve the City in safety, and to provide for the publick good, perform'd the office of the Head, and might deserve the name; I might justly deny it to the greatest Princes that have bin in the world, who having their power for life, and leaving it to descend to their children, have wanted the Vertues requir'd for the performance of their duty: And I should less fear to be guilty of an absurdity in saying, that a Nation might every year change its Head, than that he can be the Head, who cares not for the Members, nor understands the things that conduce to their good, most especially if he sets up an Interest in himself against them. It cannot be said that these are imaginary cases, and that no Prince dos these things; for the proof is too easy, and the examples too numerous.
Caligula
could not have wish'd the
Romans
but one Head, that he might cut it off at once, if he had bin that Head, and had advanc'd no Interest contrary to that of the Members.
Nero
had not burnt the City of
Rome,
if his concernments had bin inseparably united to those of the people. He who caus'd above three hundred thousand of his innocent unarm'd Subjects to be murder'd, and fill'd his whole Kingdom with fire and blood, did set up a personal Interest repugnant to that of the Nation; and no better testimony can be requir'd to shew that he did so, than a Letter written by his Son, to take off the penalty due to one of the chief Ministers of those crueltys, for this reason, that what he had done, was
by the command and for the service of his Royal Father.
King
John
did not pursue the advantage of his people, when he endeavour'd to subject them to the Pope or the
Moors.
And whatever Prince seeks assistance from foreign Powers, or makes Leagues with any stranger or enemy for his own advantage against his people, however secret the Treaty may be, declares himself not to be the Head, but an enemy to them. The Head cannot stand in need of an exterior help against the Body, nor subsist when divided from it. He therefore that courts such an assistance, divides himself from the Body; and if he dos subsist, it must be by a lise he has in himself, distinct from that of the Body, which the Head cannot have.
But besides these enormitys, that testify the most wicked rage and fury in the highest degree, there is another practice, which no man that knows the world can deny to be common with Princes, and incompatible with the nature of a Head. The Head cannot desire to draw all the nourishment of the Body to it self, nor more than a due proportion. If the rest of the parts are sick, weak or cold, the Head suffers equally with them; and if they perish, must perish also. Let this be compar'd with the actions of many Princes we know, and we shall soon see which of them are Heads of their people. If the Gold brought from the
Indys
has bin equally distributed by the Kings of
Spain
to the body of that Nation, I consent they may be call'd the Heads. If the Kings of
France
assume no more of the Riches of that great Kingdom than their due proportion, let them also wear that honourable name. But if the naked backs and empty bellys of their miserable Subjects evince the contrary, it can by no means belong to them. If those great Nations wast and languish; if nothing be so common in the best Provinces belonging to them, as misery, famin, and all the effects of the most outrageous oppression, whilst their Princes and Favorites possess such treasures as the most wanton prodigality cannot exhaust; if that which is gain'd by the sweat of so many millions of men, be torn out of the mouths of their starving Wives and Children, to foment the vices of those luxurious Courts, or reward the Ministers of their lusts, the nourishment is not distributed equally to all the parts of the Body; the oeconomy of the whole is overthrown, and they who do these things, cannot be the Heads, nor parts of the Body, but something distinct from and repugnant to it. 'Tis not therefore he who is found in, or advanc'd to the place of the Head, who is truly the Head: 'Tis not he who ought, but he who dos perform the office of the Head, that deserves the name and privileges belonging to the Head. If our Author therefore will persuade us that any King is Head of his People, he must do it by Arguments peculiarly relating to him, since those in general are found to be false. If he say that the King as King may direct or correct the people, and that the power of determining all controversys must be refer'd to him, because they may be mistaken, he must show that the King is infallible; for unless he dos so, the wound is not cur'd. This also must be by some other way, than by saying he is their Head; for such Powers belong not to the office of the Head, and we see that all Kings do not deserve that Name: Many of them want both understanding and will to perform the functions of the Head; and many act directly contrary in the whole course of their Government. If any therefore among them have merited the glorious name of Heads of Nations, it must have bin by their personal Vertues, by a vigilant care of the good of their People, by an inseparable conjunction of interests with them, by an ardent love to every member of the Society, by a moderation of spirit affecting no undue Superiority, or assuming any singular advantage which they are not willing to communicate to every part of the political Body. He who finds this merit in himself, will scorn all the advantages that can be drawn from misapply'd names: He that knows such honor to be peculiarly due to him for being the best of Kings, will never glory in that which may be common to him with the worst. Nay, whoever pretends by such general discourses as these of our Author, to advance the particular Interests of any one King, dos either know he is of no merit, and that nothing can be said for him which will not as well agree with the worst of men; or cares not what he says so he may do mischief; and is well enough contented, that he who is set up by such Maxims as a publick plague, may fall in the ruin he brings upon the people.
SECT. XL. Good Laws prescribe easy and safe Remedys against the Evils proceeding from the vices or infirmitys of the Magistrate; and when they fail, they must be supply'd.
THOSE who desire to advance the power of the Magistrate above the Law, would persuade us, that the difficultys and dangers of inquiring into his actions, or opposing his will when employ'd in violence and injustice, are so great, that the remedy is always worse than the disease; and that 'tis better to suffer all the evils that may proceed from his infirmitys and vices, than to hazard the consequences of displeasing him. But on the contrary, I think and hope to prove,
1. That in well▪ constituted Governments, the remedys against ill Magistrats are easy and safe.
2. That 'tis good, as well for the Magistrate as the People, so to constitute the Government, that the Remedys may be easy and safe.
3. That how dangerous and difficult soever they may be thro the defects of the first Constitution, they must be try'd.
To the first: 'Tis most evident that in well-regulated Governments these Remedys have bin found to be easy and safe. The Kings of
Sparta
were not suffer'd in the least to deviate from the rule of the Law: And
Theopompus
one of those Kings, in whose time the
Ephori
were created, and the regal Power much restrain'd, doubted not to affirm, that it was by
Plutarch.
that means become more lasting and more secure.
Pausanias
had not the name of King, but commanded in the War against
Xerxes
with more than regal Power; nevertheless being grown insolent, he was without any trouble to that State banish'd and afterwards put to death.
Leonidas
Father of
Cleomenes,
was in the like manner banish'd. The second
Agis
was most unjustly put to death by the
Ephori,
for he was a brave and a good Prince; but there was neither danger nor difficulty in the action. Many of the
Roman
Magistrats, after the expulsion of the Kings, seem to have bin desirous to extend their Power beyond the bounds of the Law; and perhaps some others as well as the
Decemviri,
may have design'd an absolute Tyranny; but the first were restrain'd, and the others without much difficulty supprest. Nay, even the Kings were so well kept in order, that no man ever pretended to the Crown unless he were chosen, nor made any other use of his Power than the Law permitted, except the last
Tarquin,
who by his insolence, avarice and cruelty, brought ruin upon himself and his family. I have already mention'd one or two Dukes of
Venice
who were not less ambitious, but their crimes return'd upon their own heads, and they perish'd without any other danger to the State than what had pass'd before their Treasons were discover'd. Infinite examples of the like nature may be alledg'd; and if matters have not at all times, and in all places, succeeded in the same manner, it has bin because the same courses were not every where taken; for all things do so far follow their causes, that being order'd in the same manner, they will always produce the same effects.
2. To the second: Such a regulation of the magistratical Power is not at all grievous to a good Magistrate. He who never desires to do any thing but what he ought, cannot desire a Power of doing what he ought not, nor be troubled to find he cannot do that which he would not do if he could. This inability is also advantageous to those who are evil or unwise; that since they cannot govern themselves, a Law may be impos'd upon them, lest by following their own irregular will, they bring destruction upon themselves, their familys and people, as many have done. If
Apollo
in the Fable had not bin too indulgent to
Phaeton,
in granting his ill conceiv'd request, the furious Youth had not brought a necessity upon
Jupiter,
either of destroying him, or suffering the world to be destroy'd by him.
Besides, good and wise men know the weight of Sovereign Power, and misdoubt their own strength. Sacred and human Historys furnish us with many examples of those who have fear'd the lustre of a Crown. Men that find in themselves no delight in doing mischief, know not what thoughts may insinuate into their minds, when rais'd too much above their Sphere. They who were able to bear adversity, have bin precipitated into ruin by prosperity. When the Prophet told
Hazael
the Villanys he would commit, he answer'd,
Is thy Servant a dog, that I should do these things?
but yet he did them. I know not where to find an example of a man more excellently qualify'd than
Alexander
of
Macedon;
but he sell under the weight of his own fortune, and grew to exceed those in vice, whom he had conquer'd by his vertue. The nature of man can hardly suffer such violent changes without being disorder'd by them; and every one ought to enter into a just diffidence of himself, and fear the temptations that have destroy'd so many. If any man be so happily born, so carefully educated, so establish'd in vertue, that no storm can shake him, nor any poison corrupt him, yet he will consider he is mortal; and knowing no more than
Solomon,
whether his Son shall be a wise man or a fool, he will always fear to take upon him a power, which must prove a most pestilent evil both to the person that has it, and to those that are under it, as soon as it shall fall into the hands of one, who either knows not how to use it, or may be easily drawn to abuse it. Supreme Magistrats always walk in obscure and slippery places: but when they are advanc'd so high, that no one is near enough to support, direct or restrain them, their fall is inevitable and mortal. And those Nations that have wanted the prudence rightly to balance the powers of their Magistrats, were frequently oblig'd to have recourse to the most violent remedys, and with much difficulty, danger and blood, to punish the crimes which they might have prevented. On the other side, such as have bin more wise in the constitution of their Governments, have always had regard to the frailty of human nature, and the corruption reigning in the hearts of men; and being less liberal of the power over their lives and libertys, have reserv'd to themselves so much as might keep their Magistrats within the limits of the Law, and oblige them to perform the ends of their Institution. And as the Law which denounces severe penaltys for crimes, is indeed merciful both to ill men, who are by that means deter▪ d from committing them; and to the good, who otherwise vvould be destroy'd; so those Nations that have kept the reins in their hands, have by the same act provided as well for the safety of their Princes as for their own. They who know the Law is well defended, seldom attempt to subvert it: they are not easily tempted to run into excesses, when such bounds are set, as may not safely be transgrest; and whilst they are by these means render'd more moderate in the exercise of their Power, the People are exempted from the odious necessity of suffering all manner of indignitys and miserys from their Princes, or by their destruction to prevent or avenge them.
3. To the third: If these Rules have not bin well observ'd in the first constitution, or from the changes of times, corruption of manners, insensible encroachments, or violent usurpations of Princes, have bin render'd ineffectual, and the People expos'd to all the calamitys that may be brought upon them by the weakness, vices and malice of the Prince, or those who govern him, I confess the remedys are more difficult and dangerous: but even in those cases they must be try'd. Nothing can be fear'd that is worse than what is suffer'd, or must in a short time fall upon those who are in this condition. They who are already fallen into all that is odious, shameful and miserable, cannot justly fear. When things are brought to such a pass, the boldest counsels are the most safe; and if those must
Moriendum victis, moriendum deditis: id solum interest, an inter cruciatus & ludibria, an per virtutem expiremus.
C. Tacit.
Quod si nocentes innocentes
que
idem exitus maneat, acrioris viri est merit
perire.
Ibid.
perish who lie still, and they can but perish who are most active, the choice is easily made. Let the danger be never so great, there is a possibility of safety, whilst men have life, hands, arms, and courage to use them; but that People must certainly perish, who tamely suffer themselves to be opprest, either by the injustice, cruelty and malice of an ill Magistrate, or by those who prevail upon the vices and infirmitys of weak Princes. 'Tis in vain to say, that this may give occasion to men of raising tumults or civil war; for tho these are evils, yet they are not the greatest of evils. Civil War in
Macchiavel
's account is a Disease, but Tyranny is the Death of a State. Gentle ways are first to be us'd, and 'tis best if the work can be done by them; but it must not be left undone if they fail. 'Tis good to use supplications, advices and remonstrances; but those who have no regard to Justice, and will not hearken to Counsel, must be constrain'd. 'Tis folly to deal otherwise with a man who will not be guided by Reason, and a Magistrate who despises the Law: or rather to think him a man, who rejects the essential principle of a man; or to account him a Magistrate who overthrows the Law by which he is a Magistrate. This is the last result; but those Nations must come to it, which cannot otherwise be preserv'd.
Nero
's madness was not to be cur'd, nor the mischievous effects of it any otherwise to be supprest than by his death. He who had spar'd such a Monster when it was in his power to remove him, had brought destruction upon the whole Empire; and by a foolish clemency made himself the Author of his future villanys. This would have bin yet more clear, if the World had then bin in such a temper as to be capable of an intire liberty. But the antient foundations had bin overthrown, and nothing better could be built upon the new, than something that might in part resist that torrent of iniquity, which had overflow'd the best part of the World, and give Mankind a little time to breath under a less barbarous Master. Yet all the best men did join in the work that was then to be done, tho they knew it would prove but imperfect. The Sacred History is not without examples of this kind: When
Ahab
had subverted the Law, set up false Witnesses and corrupt Judges to destroy the innocent, kill'd the Prophets, and establish'd Idolatry, his house must then be cut off, and his blood be lick'd up by dogs. When matters are brought to this pass, the decision is easy. The question is only, Whether the punishment of crimes shall fall upon one or a few Persons who are guilty of them, or upon a whole Nation that is innocent. If the Father may not dy for the Son, nor the Son for the Father, but every one must bear the penalty of his own crimes, it would be most absurd to punish the People for the guilt of Princes. When the Earl of
Morton
was sent Embassador to Q.
Elizabeth
by the Estates of
Scotland,
to justify their proceedings against
Mary
their Queen, whom they had oblig'd to renounce the Government; he alledg'd amongst other things the murder of her Husband plainly prov'd against her; asserted the antient Right and Custom of that Kingdom, of
Animadvertendi in reges.
examining the actions of their Kings; by which means, he said, many had bin
Morte, vinculis & exilio puniti.
Bu
an.
S
t. l.
20.
Qui tot reges regno exuerunt, exilio damnarunt, carceribus coerc
erunt, supplicio deni
que
affe
erunt, nec unquam tamen de acerbitate legis m
nuenda mentio est facta, &c.
Ibid.
Faci
e apparet regnum miu
a
iud esse, quam mutuam inter regem & populum stipulationem. Non de i
l
rum
an
on
m genere, quae mutationibus temporum sunt obnoxi
▪ sed in primo generis human
exo
tu. & mutuo pr
p
omnium gentium consensu
mpr
atae, & uni cum rerum natura infragiles & sempiternae perennen
.
I
id.
punish'd with death, imprisonment and exile; confirm'd their actions by the examples of other Nations; and upon the whole matter concluded, that if she was still permitted to live, it was not on account of her innocence, or any exemption from the penaltys of the Law, but from the mercy and clemency of the People, who contenting themselves with a resignation of her Right and Power to her Son, had spar'd her. This Discourse, which is set down at large by the Historian cited on the Margin, being of such strength in it self as never to have bin any otherwise answer'd than by railing, and no way disapprov'd by Queen
Elizabeth
or her Council to whom it was made, either upon a general account of the pretensions of Princes to be exempted from the penaltys of the Law, or any pretext that they had particularly misapply'd them in relation to their Queen; I may justly say, that when Nations fall under such Princes as are either utterly uncapable of making a right use of their Power, or do maliciously abuse that Authority with which they are entrusted, those Nations stand oblig'd, by the duty they owe to themselves and their posterity, to use the best of their endeavors to remove the evil, whatever danger or difficultys they may meet with in the performance.
Pontius
the
Samnite
said as truly as bravely to his Countrymen, That
Justa pia
que
sunt arma, quibus necessaria, & necessaria, quib
n
lla n
i in armis spes est salut
s.
T.
lib. 8.
those Arms were just and pious that were necessary, and necessary when there was no hope of safety by any other way.
This is the voice of Mankind, and is dislik'd only by those Princes, who fear the deserv'd punishments that may fall upon them; or by their Servants and Flatterers, who being for the most part the authors of their crimes, think they shall be involv'd in their ruin.
SECT. XLI. The People for whom and by whom the Magistrate is created, can only judg whether he rightly perform his Office or not.
'TIS commonly said, that no man ought to be the Judg of his own case; and our Author lays much weight upon it as a fundamental Maxim, tho according to his ordinary inconstancy he overthrows it in the case of Kings, where it ought to take place if in any; for it often falls out that no men are less capable of forming a right judgment than they. Their passions and interests are most powerful to disturb or pervert them. No men are so liable to be diverted from Justice by the flatterys of corrupt Servants. They never act as Kings, except for those by whom and for whom they are created; and acting for others, the account of their actions cannot depend upon their own will. Nevertheless I am not afraid to say, that naturally and properly a man is the judg of his own concernments. No one is or can be depriv'd of this privilege, unless by his own consent, and for the good of that Society into which he enters. This Right therefore must necessarily belong to every man in all cases, except only such as relate to the good of the Community, for whose sake he has devested himself of it. If I find my self afflicted with hunger, thirst, weariness, cold, heat, or sickness, 'tis a folly to tell me, I ought not to seek meat, drink, rest, shelter, refreshment, or physick, because I must not be the judg of my own case. The like may be said in relation to my house, land, or estate; I may do what I please with them, if I bring no damage upon others. But I must not set fire to my house, by which my Neighbour's house may be burnt. I may not erect Forts upon my own Lands, or deliver them to a foreign Enemy, who may by that means infest my Country. I may not cut the Banks of the Sea, or those of a River, lest my Neighbour's Ground be overflown, because the Society into which I am incorporated, would by such means receive prejudice. My Land is not simply my own, but upon condition that I shall not thereby bring damage upon the Publick, by which I am protected in the peaceable enjoyment and innocent use of what I possess. But this Society leaves me a liberty to take Servants, and put them away at my pleasure. No man is to direct me, of what quality or number they shall be, or can tell me whether I am well or ill serv'd by them. Nay, the State takes no other cognizance of what passes between me and them, than to oblige me to perform the contracts I make, and not to do that to them which the Law forbids: that is to say, the Power to which I have submitted my self, exercises that jurisdiction over me, which was establish'd by my consent, and under which I enjoy all the benefits of Life, which are of more advantage to me than my Liberty could have bin, if I had retain'd it wholly in my self. The nature also and measure of this submission must be determin'd by the reasons that induc'd me to it. The Society in which I live cannot subsist unless by rule; the equality in which men are born is so perfect, that no man will suffer his natural Liberty to be abridg'd, except others do the like: I cannot reasonably expect to be defended from wrong, unless I oblige my sel
to do none; or to suffer the punishment prescrib'd by the Law, if I perform not my engagement. But without prejudice to the Society into which I enter, I may and do retain to my self the Liberty of doing what I pleasein all things relating peculiarly to my self, or in which I am to seek my own convenience.
Now if a private man is not subject to the judgment of any other, than those to whom he submits himself for his own safety and convenience; and notwithstanding that submission, still retains to himself the right of ordering according to his own will all things merely relating to himself, and of doing what he pleases in that which he dos for his own sake; the same right must more certainly belong to whole Nations. When a controversy happens between
Caius
and
Seius
in a matter of Right, neither of them may determin the cause, but it must be refer'd to a Judg superior to both; not because 'tis not fit that a man should be judg of his own case, but because they have both an equal Right, and neither of them ows any subjection to the other. But if there be a contest between Me and my Servant concerning my Service, I only am to decide it: He must serve me in my own way, or be gone if I think fit, tho he serves me never so well; and I do him no wrong in putting him away, if either I intend to keep no Servant, or find that another will please me better. I cannot therefore stand in need of a Judg, unless the contest be with one who lives upon an equal foot with me. No man can be my Judg, unless he be my Superior; and he cannot be my Superior, who is not so by my consent, nor to any other purpose than I consent to. This cannot be the case of a Nation, which can have no equal within it self. Controversys may arise with other Nations, the decision of which may be left to Judges chosen by mutual agreement; but this relates not to our Question. A Nation, and most especially one that is powerful, cannot recede from its own Right; as a private man from the knowledg of his own weakness and inability to defend himself, must come under the protection of a greater Power than his own. The strength of a Nation is not in the Magistrate, but the strength of a Magistrate is in the Nation. The wisdom, industry and valor of a Prince may add to the glory and greatness of a Nation, but the foundation and substance will always be in it self. If the Magistrate and People were upon equal terms, as
Caius
and
Seius,
receiving equal and mutual advantages from each other, no man could be judg of their differences, but such as they should set up for that end. This has bin done by many Nations. The antient
Germans
refer'd the decision of the most difficult matters to their Priests: the
Gauls
and
Britans
to the
Druides:
the
Mahometans
for some Ages to the Califs of
Babylon:
the
Saxons
in
England,
when they had embrac'd the Christian Religion, to their Clergy. Whilst all
Europe
lay under the Popish Superstition, the decision of such matters was frequently assum'd by the Pope; men often submitted to his judgment, and the Princes that resisted were for the most part excommunicated, depos'd, and destroy'd. All this was done for the same reasons. These men were accounted holy and inspir'd, and the Sentence pronounc'd by them was usually reverenc'd as the Judgment of God, who was thought to direct them; and all those who refus'd to submit, were esteem'd execrable. But no man, or number of men, as I think, at the institution of a Magistrate, did ever say, If any difference happen between you or your Successors and us, it be shall determin'd by your self or by them, whether they be men, women, children, mad, foolish, or vicious. Nay, if any such thing had bin, the folly, turpitude and madness of such a sanction or stipulation must necessarily have destroy'd it. But if no such thing was ever known, or could have no effect if it had bin in any place, 'tis most absurd to impose it upon all. The People therefore cannot be depriv'd of their natural rights upon a frivolous pretence to that which never was and never can be. They who create Magistracys, and give to them such name, form and power as they think fit, do only know, whether the end for which they were created, be perform'd or not. They who give a being to the power which had none, can only judg whether it be employ'd to their welfare, or turn'd to their ruin. They do not set up one or a few men, that they and their posterity may live in splendor and greatness, but that Justice may be administer'd, Vertue establish'd, and provision made for the publick safety. No wise man will think this can be done, if those who set themselves to overthrow the Law, are to be their own Judges. If
Caligula, Nero, Vitellius, Domitian,
or
Heliogabalus,
had bin subject to no other judgment, they would have compleated the destruction of the Empire. If the disputes between
Durstus, Evenus
the third,
Dardannus,
and other Kings of
Scotland,
with the Nobility and People, might have bin determin'd by themselves, they had escap'd the punishments they suffer'd, and ruin'd the Nation as they design'd. Other methods were taken; they perish'd by their madness; better Princes were brought into their places, and their Successors were by their example admonish'd to avoid the ways that had prov'd fatal to them. If
Edward
the second of
England
with
Gaveston
and the
Spencers, Richard
the second with
Tresilian
and
Vere,
had bin permitted to be the Judges of their own cases, they who had murder'd the best of the Nobility would have pursu'd their designs to the destruction of such as remain'd, the enslaving of the Nation, the subversion of the Constitution, and the establishment of a mere Tyranny in the place of a mix'd Monarchy. But our Ancestors took better measures: They who had felt the smart of the vices and follys of their Princes, knew what remedys were most fit to be apply'd, as well as the best time of applying them. They found the effects of extreme corruption in Government to be so desperately pernicious, that Nations must necessarily perish, unless it be corrected, and the State reduc'd to its first principle, or alter'd. Which being the case, it was as easy for them to judg, whether the Governor who had introduc'd that corruption should be brought to order, or remov'd if he would not be reclaim'd; or whether he should be suffer'd to ruin them and their posterity; as it is for me to judg, whether I should put away my Servant, if I knew he intended to poison or murder me, and had a certain facility of accomplishing his design; or whether I should continue him in my service till he had perform'd it. Nay, the matter is so much the more plain on the side of the Nation, as the disproportion of merit between a whole people, and one or a few men entrusted with the power of governing them, is greater than between a private man and his servant. This is so fully confirm'd by the general consent of mankind, that we know no Government that has not frequently either bin alter'd in form, or reduc'd to its original purity, by changing the familys or persons who abus'd the power with which they had bin entrusted. Those who have wanted Wisdom and Vertue rightly and seasonably to perform this, have bin soon destroy'd; like the
Goths
in
Spain,
who by omitting to curb the
Mariana.
fury of
Witza
and
Rodrigo
in time, became a prey to the
Moors.
Their Kingdom, by this means destroy'd, was never restor'd; and the remainder of that Nation, joining with the
Spaniards,
whom they had kept in subjection for three or four Ages, could not in less than eight hundred years, expel those enemys they might have kept out, only by removing two base and vitious Kings. Such Nations as have bin so corrupted, that when they have apply'd themselves to seek remedys to the evils they suffer'd by wicked Magistrats, could not fall upon such as were proportionable to the disease, have only vented their Passions in destroying the immediate instruments of their oppression, or for a while delay'd their utter ruin. But the root still remaining, it soon produc'd the same poisonous fruit, and either quite destroy'd, or made them languish in perpetual misery. The
Roman
Empire was the most eminent example of the first; many of the monsters that had tyranniz'd over them were kill'd, but the greatest advantage gain'd by their death, was a respite from ruin; and the Government, which ought to have bin establish'd by good Laws, depending only upon the Vertue of one man, his Life prov'd to be no more than a lucid interval, and at his death they relaps'd into the depth of Infamy and Misery: and in this condition they continu'd till that Empire was totally subverted.
All the Kingdoms of the
Arabians, Medes, Persians, Moors,
and others of the East, are of the other sort. Common sense instructs them, that barbarous pride, cruelty, and madness grown to extremity, cannot be born: but they have no other way than to kill the Tyrant, and to do the like to his Successor if he falls into the same crimes. Wanting that Wisdom and Valor which is requir'd for the institution of a good Government, they languish in perpetual slavery, and propose to themselves nothing better than to live under a gentle Master, which is but a precarious life, and little to be valu'd by men of bravery and spirit. But those Nations that are more generous, who set a higher value upon Liberty, and better understand the ways of preserving it, think it a small matter to destroy a Tyrant, unless they can also destroy the Tyranny. They endeavour to do the work thorowly, either by changing the Government intirely, or reforming it according to the first institution, and making such good Laws as may preserve its integrity when reform'd. This has bin so frequent in all the Nations (both antient and modern) with whose actions we are best acquainted, as appears by the foregoing examples, and many others that might be alledg'd if the case were not clear, that there is not one of them which will not furnish us with many instances; and no one Magistracy now in being which dos not owe its original to some Judgment of this nature. So that they must either derive their right from such actions, or confess they have none at all, and leave the Nations to their original Liberty of setting up those Magistracys which best please themselves, without any restriction or obligation to regard one person or family more than another.
SECT. XLII. The Person that wears the Crown cannot determin the Affairs which the Law refers to the King.
OUR Author, with the rest of the vulgar, seems to have bin led into gross errors by the form of Writs summoning persons to appear before the King. The common stile us'd in the trial of Delinquents; the name of the King's Witnesses given to those who accuse them; the Verdicts brought in by Jurys,
coram domino Rege,
and the prosecution made in the King's name, seem to have caus'd this. And they who understand not these Phrases, render the Law a heap of the most gross absurditys, and the King an Enemy to every one of his Subjects, when he ought to be a Father to them all; since without any particular consideration or examination of what any Witness deposes in a Court of Justice, tending to the death, confiscation, or other punishment of any man, he is call'd the King's Witness whether he speak the truth or a lie, and on that account favor'd. 'Tis not necessary to alledg many instances in a case that is so plain; but it may not be amiss to insert two or three of the most important reasons to prove my assertion.
1. If the Law did intend that he or she who wears the Crown, should in his or her person judg all causes, and determin the most difficult questions, it mnst like our Author presume that they will always be of profound wisdom to comprehend all of them, and of perfect integrity always to act according to their understanding. Which is no less than to lay the foundation of the Government upon a thing merely contingent, that either never was, or very often fails, as is too much verify'd by experience, and the Historys of all Nations; or else to refer the decision of all to those who thro the infirmitys of age, sex or person, are often uncapable of judging the least, or subject to such passions and vices as would divert them from Justice tho they did understand it; both which seem to be almost equally preposterous.
2. The Law must also presume that the Prince is always present in all the places where his name is us'd. The King of
France
is (as I have said already) esteem'd to be present
Sur son lit de justice.
on the seat of Justice
in all the Parliaments and sovereign Courts of the Kingdom: and if his corporeal Presence were by that phrase to be understood, he must be in all those distinct and far distant places at the same time; which absurdity can hardly be parallel'd, unless by the Popish opinion of
Transubstantiation.
But indeed they are so far from being guilty of such monstrous absurdity, that he cannot in person be present at any trial, and no man can be judg'd if he be. This was plainly asserted to
Lewis
the 13
th
(when he would have bin at the Trial of the Duke of
Candale)
by the President
de Bellievre,
who told him that as he could judg no man himself, so they could not judg any if he were present: upon which he retir'd.
3. The Laws of most Kingdoms giving to Kings the Confiscation of Delinquents estates, if they in their own persons might give judgment upon them, they would be constituted both Judges and Partys; which, besides the foremention'd incapacitys to which Princes are as much subject as other men, would tempt them by their own personal interest to subvert all manner of Justice.
This therefore not being the meaning of the Law, we are to inquire what it is; and the thing is so plain that we cannot mistake, unless we do it wilfully. Some name must be us'd in all manner of Transactions, and in matters of publick concernment none can be so fit as that of the principal Magistrate. Thus are Leagues made, not only with Kings and Emperors, but with the Dukes of
Venice
and
Genoa,
the Avoyer and Senat of a Canton in
Switzerland,
and the Burgermaster of an Imperial Town in
Germany,
and the States General of the United Provinces. But no man thinking, I presume, these Leagues would be of any value, if they could only oblige the Persons whose names are us'd, 'tis plain that they do not stipulate only for themselves; and that their stipulations would be of no value if they were merely personal. And nothing can more certainly prove they are not so, than that we certainly know, those Dukes, Avoyers and Burgermasters can do nothing of themselves. The power of the States-General of the United Provinces is limited to the points mention'd in the Act of Union made at
Ʋ trecht.
The Empire is not oblig'd by any stipulation made by the Emperor without their consent. Nothing is more common than for one King making a League with another, to exact a confirmation of their Agreement, by the Parliaments, Diets or General
De Jur. Bel. l. 3.
Estates; because, says
Grotius,
a
Prince dos not stipulate for himself, but for the People under his Government;
and
a King depriv'd of his Kingdom, loses the right of sending an Embassador.
The Powers of
Europe
shew'd themselves to be of this opinion in the case of
Portugal.
When
Philip
the second had gain'd the possession, they treated with him concerning the affairs relating to that Kingdom: Few regarded
Don Antonio;
and no man consider'd the Dukes of
Savoy, Parma
or
Braganza,
who perhaps had the most plausible Titles: But when his Grandson
Philip
the fourth had lost that Kingdom, and the People had set up the Duke of
Braganza,
they all treated with him as King. And the English Court, tho then in amity with
Spain,
and not a little influenc'd by a Spanish faction, gave example to others, by treating with him and not with
Spain
touching matters relating to that State. Nay, I have bin inform'd by those who well understood the Affairs of that time, that the Lord
Cottington
advising the late King not to receive any persons sent from the Duke of
Braganza,
Rebel to his Ally the King of
Spain,
in the quality of Embassadors; the King answer'd, that he must look upon that person to be King of
Portugal,
who was acknowledg'd by the Nation. And I am mistaken if his Majesty now reigning did not find all the Princes and States of the world to be of the same mind, when he was out of his Kingdom, and could oblige no man but himself and a few followers by any Treaty he could make.
For the same reason the names of Kings are us'd in Treatys, when they are either Children, or otherwise uncapable of knowing what Alliances are fit to be made or rejected; and yet such Treatys do equally oblige them, their Successors and People, as if they were of mature age and fit for government, No man therefore ought to think it strange, if the King's name be us'd in domestick affairs, of which he neither ought nor can take any cognizance. In these cases he is perpetually a Minor: he must suffer the Law to take its due course; and the Judges, thonominated by him, are oblig'd by Oath not to have any regard to his Letters or personal Commands. If a Man be su'd, he must appear; and a Delinquent is to be try'd
coram rege,
but no otherwise than
secundum legem terrae, according to the Law of the Land,
not the King's personal will or opinion. And the judgments given must be executed, whether they please him or not, it being always understood that he can speak no otherwise than the Law speaks, and is always present as far as the Law requires. For this reason a noble Lord who was irregularly detain'd in prison in 1681, being by
Habeas Corpus
brought to the Bar of the King's Bench, where he su'd to be releas'd upon bail; and an ignorant Judg telling him he must apply himself to the King, he reply'd, that he came thither for that end; that the King might eat, drink, or sleep where he pleas'd, but when he render'd Justice he was always in that place. The King that renders Justice is indeed always there; he never sleeps; he is subject to no infirmity; he never dies unless the Nation be extinguish'd, or so dissipated as to have no Government. No Nation that has a sovereign Power within it self, dos ever want this King. He was in
Athens
and
Rome,
as well as at
Babylon
and
Susa;
and is as properly said to be now in
Venice, Switzerland
or
Holland,
as in
France, Morocco
or
Turky.
This is he to whom we all owe a simple and unconditional obedience. This is he
who never dos any wrong:
'Tis before him we appear, when we demand Juice, or render an account of our actions. All Jurys give their verdict in his sight: They are his Commands that the Judges are bound and sworn to obey, when they are not at all to consider such as they receive from the person that wears the Crown. 'Twas for Treason against him that
Tresilian,
and others like to him in several ages were hang'd. They gratify'd the lusts of the visible Powers, but the invisible King would not be mock'd. He caus'd Justice to be executed upon
Empson
and
Dudley.
He was injur'd when the perjur'd wretches, who gave that accurs'd Judgment in the case of Shipmony, were suffer'd to escape the like punishment by means of the ensuing troubles which they had chiefly rais'd. And I leave it to those who are concern'd, to consider how many in our days may expect vengeance for the like crimes.
I should here conclude this point, if the power of granting a
Noli proseq: Cesset Processus,
and Pardons which are said to be annex'd to the person of the King, were not taken for a proof that all proceedings at Law depend upon his will. But whoever would from hence draw a general conclusion must first prove his proposition to be universally true. If it be wholly false, no true deduction can be made; and if it be true only in some cases, 'tis absurd to draw from thence a general conclusion; and to erect a vast fabrick upon a narrow foundation is impossible. As to the general proposition, I utterly deny it. The King cannot stop any Suit that I begin in my own name, or invalidate any Judgment I obtain upon it: He cannot release a Debt of ten shillings due to me, nor a Sentence for the like sum given upon an action of Battery, Assault, Trespass, publick Nuisance, or the like. He cannot pardon a man condemn'd upon an Appeal, nor hinder the person injur'd from appealing. His power therefore is not universal: if it be not universal, it cannot be inherent, but confer'd upon him, or entrusted by a superior Power that limits it.
These limits are fix'd by the Law, the Law therefore is above him. His proceedings must be regulated by the Law, and not the Law by his will. Besides, the extent of those limits can only be known by the intention of the Law that sets them; and are so visible, that none but such as are wilfully blind can mistake. It cannot be imagin'd that the Law, which dos not give a power to the King of pardoning a man that breaks my hedg, can intend he should have power to pardon one who kills my father, breaks my house, robs me of my goods, abuses my children and servants, wounds me, and brings me in danger of my life. Whatever power he has in such cases, is founded upon a presumption, that he who has sworn not to deny or delay justice to any man, will not break his Oath to interrupt it. And farther, as he dos nothing but what he may rightly do,
cum magnatum & sapientum consilio;
and that 'tis suppos'd, they will never advise him to do any thing, but what ought to be done, in order to attain the great ends of the Law, Justice, and the publick safety: nevertheless lest this should not be sufficient to keep things in their due order, or that the King should forget his Oath, not to delay or deny justice to any man, his Counsellors are expos'd to the severest punishments, if they advise him to do any thing contrary to it, and the Law upon which it is grounded. So that the utmost advantage the King can pretend to in this case, is no more than that of the
Norman,
who said he had gain'd his cause, because it depended upon a point that was to be decided by his Oath; that is to say, if he will betray the trust repos'd in him, and perjure himself, he may sometimes exempt a Villain from the punishment he deserves, and take the guilt upon himself. I say sometimes; for Appeals may be brought in some cases, and the Waterman who had bin pardon'd by his Majesty in the year 1680, for a murder he had committed, was condemn'd and hang'd at the Assizes upon an Appeal. Nay, in cases of Treason, which some men think relate most particularly to the person of the King, he cannot always do it.
Gaveston,
the two
Spencers, Tresilian, Empson, Dudley,
and others, have bin executed as Traitors for things done by the King's command; and 'tis not doubted they would have bin sav'd, if the King's power had extended so far. I might add the cases of the Earls of
Strafford
and
Danby;
for tho the King sign d a Warrant for the execution of the first, no man doubts he would have sav'd him, if it had bin in his power. The other continues in prison notwithstanding his pardon; and for any thing I know he may continue where he is, or come out in a way that will not be to his satisfaction unless he be found innocent, or something fall out more to his advantage than his Majesty's approbation of what he has done. If therefore the King cannot interpose his authority to hinder the course of the Law in contests between private men, nor remit the debts adjudg'd to be due, or the damages given to the persons agriev'd, he can in his own person have no other power in things of this nature, than in some degree to mitigate the vindictive power of the Law; and this also is to be exercis'd no other way than as he is entrusted. But if he acts even in this capacity by a delegated power, and in few cases, he must act according to the ends for which he is so entrusted, as the same Law says,
Cum magnatum & sapientum consilio,
and is not therein to pursue his own will and interests: If his Oath farther oblige him not to do it; and his Ministers are liable to punishment, if they advise him otherwise: If in matters of Appeal he has no Power: and if his pardons have bin of no value, when contrary to his Oath he has abus'd that with which he is entrusted, to the patronizing of crimes, and exempting such delinquents from punishment, as could not be pardon'd without prejudice to the Publick: I may justly conclude, that the King, before whom every man is bound to appear, who dos perpetually and impartially distribute Justice to the Nation, is not the Man or Woman that wears the Crown; and that He or She cannot determin those matters, which by the Law are refer'd to the King. Whether therefore such matters are ordinary or extraordinary, the decision is and ought to be plac'd where there is most wisdom and stability, and where passion and private interest dos least prevail to the obstruction of Justice. This is the only way to obviate that confusion and mischief, which our Author thinks it would introduce. In cases of the first sort, this is done in
England
by Judges and Jurys: In the other by the Parliament, which being the Representative Body of the People, and the collected Wisdom of the Nation, is least subject to error, most exempted from passion, and most free from corruption, their own good both publick and private depending upon the rectitude of their Sanctions. They cannot do any thing that is ill without damage to themselves and their posterity; which being all that can be done by human understanding, our Lives, Libertys and Propertys are by our Laws directed to depend upon them.
SECT. XLIII. Proclamations are not Laws.
OUR Author, according to his usual method and integrity, lays great weight upon Proclamations, as the significations of the King's pleasure, which in his opinion is our only Law. But neither Law nor Reason openly directing, nor by consequences insinuating, that such a Power should be put into an uncertain or suspected hand, we may safely deny them to be Laws, or in any sense to have the effect of Laws. Nay, they cannot be so much as Significations of his Will; for as he is King, he can have no Will but as the Law directs. If he depart from the Law, he is no longer King, and his Will is nothing to us. Proclamations, at most, are but temporary, by the advice of Council, in pursuance of the Law. If they be not so, the Subject is no way oblig'd to obey them, and the Counsellors are to be punish'd for them. These Laws are either immemorial Customs, or Statutes. The first have their beginning and continuance from the universal consent of the Nation. The latter receive their Authority and Force of Laws from Parliaments, as is frequently exprest in the Preambles. These are under God the best defence of our Lives, Libertys, and Estates: they proceed not from the blind, corrupt, and fluctuating humor of a man, but from the mature deliberation of the choicest Persons of the Nation, and such
s have the greatest interest in it. Our Ancestors have always rely'd upon these Laws; and 'tis to be hop'd we shall not be so abandon'd by God, so depriv'd of courage and common sense, to suffer our selves to be cheated of the Inheritance which they have so frequently, so bravely, and so constantly defended. Tho Experience has too well taught us, that Parliaments may have their failings, and that the Vices, which are industriously spread among them, may be too prevalent; yet they are the best helps we have, and we may much more reasonably depend upon them, than upon those who propagate that corruption among them for which only they can deserve to be suspected. We hope they will take care of our concernments, since they are as other men so soon as a Session is ended, and can do nothing to our prejudice that will not equally affect them and their posterity; besides the guilt of betraying their Country, which can never be wash'd off. If some should prove false to their trust, 'tis probable that others would continue in their integrity: Or if the base arts, which are usually practis'd by those who endeavor to delude, corrupt, enslave and ruin Nations, should happen to prevail upon the youngest and weakest, it may be reasonably hop'd, that the wisest will see the snares, and instruct their Companions to avoid them. But if all things were so put into the hands of one man, that his Proclamations were to be esteem'd Laws, the Nation would be expos'd to ruin, as soon as it should chance to fall into an ill hand. 'Tis in vain to say we have a good King, who will not make an ill use of his Power; for even the best are subject to be deceiv'd by Flatterers, and Crown'd Heads are almost ever encompast by them. The principal Art of a Courtier is to observe his Master's Passions, and to attack him on that side where he seems to be most weak. It would be a strange thing to find a man impregnable in every part; and if he be not, 'tis impossible he should resist all the attempts that are made upon him. If his Judgment comes to be prepossest, he and all that depend on him are lost. Contradictions, tho never so just, are then unsafe, and no man will venture upon them, but he who dares sacrifice himself for the publick good. The nature of man is frail, and stands in need of assistance. Vertuous actions that are profitable to the Commonwealth, ought to be made, as far as 'tis possible, safe, easy, and advantageous: and 'tis the utmost imprudence to tempt men to be enemys to the Publick, by suffering the most pernicious actions to be the means of obtaining Honor and Favor, whilst no man can serve his Country, but with the ruin of himself and his family.
However in this case the Question is not concerning a Person: the same Counsels are to be follow'd when
Moses
or
Samuel
is in the Throne, as if
Caligula
had invaded it. Laws ought to aim at perpetuity, but the Vertues of a man dy with him, and very often before him. Those who have deserv'd the highest praises for wisdom and integrity, have frequently left the honors they enjoy'd to foolish and vicious Children. If Vertue may in any respect be said to outlive the Person, it can only be when good men frame such Laws and Constitutions as by favoring it preserve themselves. This has never bin done otherwise, than by balancing the Powers in such a manner, that the corruption which one or a few men might fall into, should not be suffer'd to spread the contagion to the ruin of the whole. The long continuance of
Lycurgus
his Laws is to be attributed to this: They restrain'd the lusts of Kings, and reduc'd those to order who adventur'd to transgress them: Whereas the whole fabrick must have fallen to the ground in a short time, if the first that had a fancy to be absolute, had bin able to effect his design. This has bin the fate of all Governments that were made to depend upon the vertue of a man, which never continues long in any family, and when that fails all is lost. The Nations therefore that are so happy to have good Kings, ought to make a right use of them, by establishing the good that may outlast their Lives. Those of them that are good, will readily join in this work, and take care that their Successors may be oblig'd in doing the like, to be equally beneficial to their own Familys, and the People they govern. If the Rulers of Nations be restrain'd, not only the People are by that means secur'd from the mischiefs of their vices and follys, but they themselves are preserv'd from the greatest temptations to ill, and the terrible effects of the vengeance that frequently ensues upon it. An unlimited Prince might be justly compar'd to a weak ship expos'd to a violent storm, with a vast Sail and no Rudder. We have an eminent example of this in the Book of
Esther.
Chap. 3.
A wicked Villain having fill'd the ears of a foolish King with false storys of the
Jews,
he issues out a Proclamation for their utter extirpation; and not long after being inform'd of the truth, he gave them leave by another Proclamation to kill whom they pleas'd, which they executed upon seventy thousand men. The Books of
Ezra, Nehemiah
and
Daniel,
manifestly discover the like fluctuation in all the Counsels of
Nabuchodonosor, Cyrus, Darius,
and
Artaxerxes.
When good men had credit with them, they favor'd the
Israelites;
sent them back to their own Country; restor'd the sacred Vessels that had bin taken away; gave them all things necessary for the rebuilding of the City, and advanc'd the chief of them to the highest employments. But if they fell into ill hands, three just men must be thrown into the burning Furnace for refusing to worship an Idol;
Daniel
must be cast to the Lions; the holy City esteem'd rebellious, and those who endeavor'd to rebuild it, enemys to Kings. Such was the state of things, when their Proclamations pass'd for Laws, and numbers of flattering Slaves were ready to execute their Commands, without examining whether they were just or unjust, good or bad. The life and death of the best men, together with the very being of Nations, was expos'd to chance, and they were either preserv'd or destroy'd according to the humor of that man who spoke last to the King, or happen'd to have credit with him. If a frantick fancy come into the head of a drunken whore,
Persepolis
must be burnt, and the hand of
Alexander
is ready to execute her will. If a dancing wench please
Herod,
the most venerable of all human Heads must be offer'd in a dish for a sacrifice to the rage of her impure mother. The nature of man is so frail, that wheresoever the word of a single Person has had the force of a Law, the innumerable extravagances and mischiefs it has produc'd have bin so notorious, that all Nations who are not stupid, slavish and brutish, have always abominated it, and made it their principal care to find out remedys against it, by so dividing and balancing the Powers of their Government, that one or a few men might not be able to oppress and destroy those they ought to preserve and protect. This has always bin as grateful to the best and wisest Princes, as necessary to the weakest and worst, as I have prov'd already by the examples of
Theopompus, Moses,
and others. These considerations have given beginning, growth and continuance to all the mix'd Governments that have bin in the World; and I may justly say there never was a good one that was not mix'd. If other proofs of their rectitude were wanting, our Author's hatred would be enough to justify them. He is so bitter an enemy to Mankind, as to be displeas'd with nothing but that which tends to their good; and so perverse in his judgment, that we have reason to believe that to be good which he most abhors. One would think he had taken the model of the Government he proposes, from the monstrous Tyranny of
Ceylon,
an Island in the
East-Indys,
where the King knows no other Law than his own will. He kills, tears in pieces, empales, or throws to his Elephants whomsoever he pleases: No man has any thing that he can call his own: He seldom fails to destroy those who have bin employ'd in his domestick Service, or publick Offices; and few obtain the favor of being put to death and thrown to the Dogs without torments. His Subjects approach him no otherwise, than on their knees, licking the dust, and dare assume to themselves no other name than that of Dogs, or limbs of Dogs. This is a true pattern of
Filmer
's
Patriarchical Monarch.
His Majesty, I suppose, is sufficiently exalted; for he dos whatever he pleases. The exercise of his power is as gentle as can reasonably be expected from one who has all by the unquestionable right of usurpation; and knows the People will no longer suffer him, and the Villains he hires to be the instruments of his Cruelty, than they can be kept in such ignorance, weakness and baseness, as neither to know how to provide for themselves, or dare to resist him. We ought to esteem our selves happy, if the like could be establish'd among us; and are much oblig'd to our Author for so kindly proposing an expedient that might terminate all our disputes. Let Proclamations obtain the power of Laws, and the business is done. They may be so ingeniously contriev'd, that the antient Laws, which we and our Fathers have highly valu'd, shall be abolish'd, or made a snare to all those that dare remember they are
Englishmen,
and are guilty of the unpardonable crime of loving their Country, or have the courage, conduct, and reputation requir'd to defend it. This is the sum of
Filmer
's Philosophy, and this is the Legacy he has left to testify his affection to the Nation; which having for a long time lain unregarded, has bin lately brought into the light again, as an introduction of a Popish Successor, who is to be establish'd, as we ought to believe, for the security of the Protestant Religion, and our
English
Libertys. Both will undoubtedly flourish under a Prince who is made to believe the Kingdom is his Patrimony; that his Will is a Law, and that he has a Power which none may resist. If any man doubt whether he will make a good use of it, he may only examin the Historys of what others in the same circumstances have done in all places where they have had power. The principles of that Religion are fo full of meekness and charity; the Popes have always shew'd themselves so gentle towards those who would not submit to their Authority; the Jesuits, who may be accounted the Soul that give Life to the whole Body of that Faction, are so well natur'd, faithful and exact in their Morals, so full of innocence, justice and truth, that no violence is to be fear'd from such as are govern'd by them. The fatherly care shew'd to the Protestants of
France,
by the five last Kings of the House of
Valois;
the mercy of
Philip
the Second of
Spain
to his Pagan Subjects in the
West-Indys,
and the more hated Protestants in the
Netherlands;
the moderation of the Dukes of
Savoy
towards the
Vaudois
in the Marquisat of
Saluzzo
and the Vallys of
Piedmont;
the gentleness and faith of the two
Marys
Queens of
England
and
Scotland;
the kindness of the Papists to the Protestants of
Ireland
in 1641; with what we have reason to believe they did and do still intend, if they can accomplish the ends o
their Conspiracy: In a word, the sweetness and Apostolical meekness of the Inquisition, may sufficiently convince us that nothing is to be sear'd where that Principle reigns. We may suffer the word of such a Prince to be a Law, and the People to be made to believe it ought to be so▪ when he is expected. Tho we should wave the Bill of Exclusion, and not only admit him to reign as other Kings have done, but resign the whole Power into his hands, it would neither bring inconvenience or danger on the present King. He can with patience expect that nature should take her course, and would neither anticipate nor secure his entrance into the possession of the Power, by taking one day from the Life of his Brother. Tho the Papists know that like a true Son of their Church, he would prefer the advancement of their Religion before all other considerations; and that one stab with a Dagger, or a dose of Poison, would put all under his feet, not one man would be found among them to give it. The Assassins were Mahometans, not Pupils of the honest Jesuits, nor ever employ'd by them. These things being certain, all our concernments would be secure, if instead of the foolish Statutes and antiquated Customs on which our Ancestors and we have hitherto doted, we may be troubled with no Law but the King's will, and a Proclamation may be taken for a sufficient declaretion of it. We shall by this means be deliver'd from that
Liberty with a mischief,
in which our mistaken Nation seems so much to delight. This phrase is so new, and so peculiar to our Autor, that it deserves to be written upon his Tomb. We have heard of
Tyranny with a mischief, Slavery and Bondage with a mischief;
and they have bin denounc'd by God against wicked and perverse Nations, as mischiefs comprehending all that is most to be abhor'd and dreaded in the world. But
Filmer
informs us that Liberty, which all wise and good men have in all Ages esteem'd to be the most valuable and glorious privilege of Mankind, is
a mischief.
If he deserves credit,
Moses, Joshua, Gideon, Sampson,
and
Samuel,
with others like them, were enemys to their Country, in depriving the People of the advantages they enjoy'd under the paternal care of
Pharaoh, Adonibezek, Eglon, Jabin,
and other Kings of the neighboring Nations, and restoring them to that
Liberty with a mischief
which he had promis'd to them. The
Israelites
were happy under the power of Tyrants, whose Proclamations were Laws; and they ought to have bin thankful to God for that condition, and not for the deliverances he wrought by the hands of his Servants. Subjection to the will of a man is happiness, Liberty is a
mischief.
But this is so abominably wicked and detestable, that it can deserve no answer.
SECT. XLIV. A People that is not free cannot substitute Delegats.
HOW full soever the Power of any Person or People may be, he or they are oblig'd to give only so much to their Delegats, as seems convenient to themselves, or conducing to the ends they desire to attain; but the Delegate can have none except what is confer'd upon him by his Principal. If therefore the Knights, Citizens and Burgesses sent by the People of
England
to serve in Parliament have a Power, it must be more perfectly and fully in those that send them. But (as was prov'd in the last Section) Proclamations, and other significations of the King's pleasure, are not Laws to us. They are to be regulated by the Law, not the Law by them. They are to be consider'd only so far as they are conformable to the Law from which they receive all the strength that is in them, and can confer none upon it. We know no Laws but our own Statutes, and those immemorial Customs establish'd by the consent of the Nation; which may be, and often are chang'd by us. The Legislative Power therefore that is exercis'd by the Parliament, cannot be confer'd by the Writ of Summons, but must be essentially and radically in the People, from whom their Delegates and Representatives have all that they have. But, says our Author,
They must only chuse, and trust those whom they chuse, to do what they list; and that is as much Liberty as many of us deserve for our irregular Elections of Burgesses.
This is ingeniously concluded: I take what Servant I please, and when I have taken him I must suffer him to do what he pleases. But from whence should this necessity arise? Why may not I take one to be my Groom, another to be my Cook, and keep them both to the Offices for which I took them? What Law dos herein restrain my Right? And if I am free in my private capacity to regulate my particular affairs according to my own discretion, and to allot to each Servant his proper work, why have not I with my Associates the Freemen of
England
the like liberty of directing and limiting the Powers of the Servants we employ in our publick Affairs? Our Author gives us reasons proportionable to his judgment:
This were liberty with a mischief; and that of chusing only is as much as many of us deserve.
I have already prov'd, that as far as our Historys reach, we have had no Princes or Magistrats, but such as we have made, and they have had no other Power than what we have confer'd upon them: They cannot be the judges of our Merit, who have no Power but what we gave them, thro an opinion they did or might deserve it: They may distribute in parcels to particulars that with which they are entrusted in the gross. But 'tis impossible the Publick should depend absolutely upon those who are nothing above other men, except what they are made to be, for, and by the Publick. The restrictions therefore of the Peoples Liberty must be from themselves, or there can be none.
Nevertheless, I believe, that the Powers of every County, City and Borough of
England,
are regulated by the general Law to which they have all consented, and by which they are all made Members of one Political Body. This obliges them to proceed with their Delegats in a manner different from that which is us'd in the United Netherlands, or in
Switzerland.
Amongst these every Province, City or Canton, making a distinct Body independent from any other, and exercising the Sovereign Power within it self, looks upon the rest only as Allies, to whom they are bound only by such Acts as they themselves have made; and when any new thing not comprehended in them happens to arise, they oblige their Delegats to give them an account of it, and retain the power of determining those matters in themselves. 'Tis not so amongst us: Every County dos not make a distinct Body, having in it self a Sovereign Power, but is a Member of that Great Body which comprehends the whole Nation. 'Tis not therefore for
Kent
or
Sussex, Lewis
or
Mai
stone,
but for the whole Nation, that the Members chosen in those places are sent to serve in Parliament: and tho it be fit for them as Friends and Neighbors (so far as may be) to hearken to the Opinions of the Electors for the Information of their Judgments, and to the end that what they shall say may be of more weight, when every one is known not to speak his own thoughts only, but those of a great number of men; yet they are not strictly and properly oblig'd to give account of their Actions to any, unless the whole Body of the Nation for which they serve, and who are equally concern'd in their Resolutions, could be assembled. This being impracticable, the only punishment to which they are subject if they betray their Trust, is scorn, infamy, hatred, and an assurance of being rejected, when they shall again seek the same Honor. And tho this may seem a small matter to those who fear to do ill only from a sense of the pains inflicted; yet it is very terrible to men of ingenuous spirits, as they are suppos'd to be who are accounted fit to be entrusted with so great Powers. But why it should be call'd
Liberty with a mischief
if it were otherwise; or how the liberty of particular Societys would be greater, if they might do what they pleas'd, than whilst they send others to act for them, such wise men only as
Filmer
can tell us. For as no man, or number of men, can give a Power which he or they have not, the
Achaians, Etolians, Latins, Samnites
and
Tuscans,
who transacted all things relating to their Associations by Delegates; and the
Athenians, Carthaginians
and
Romans,
who kept the power of the State in themselves, were all equally free. And in our days the United Provinces of the
Netherlands,
the
Switzers
and
Grisons,
who are of the first sort, and the
Venetians, Genoeses,
and
Luccheses,
who are of the other, are so also. All men that have any degree of common sense, plainly see, that the Liberty of those who act in their own persons, and of those who send Delegates, is perfectly the same, and the exercise is, and can only be chang'd by their consent.
But whatever the Law or Custom of
England
be in this point, it cannot concern our question. The general proposition concerning a Patriarchical Power cannot be prov'd by a single example. If there be a general Power every where, forbidding Nations to give instructions to their Delegates, they can do it no where. If there be no such thing, every People may do it, unless they have depriv'd themselves of their right, all being born under the same condition. 'Tis to no purpose to say that the Nations before mention'd had not Kings, and therefore might act as they did. For if the general Thesis be true, they must have Kings; and if it be not, none are oblig'd to have them, unless they think fit, and the Kings they make are their Creatures. But many of these Nations had either Kings, or other Magistrats in power like to them. The Provinces of the
Netherlands
had Dukes, Earls, or Marquesses:
Genoa
and
Venice
have Dukes. If any on account of the narrowness of their Territorys have abstain'd from the Name, it dos not alter the case; for our dispute is not concerning the Name, but the Right. If that one Man, who is in the principal Magistracy of every Nation, must be reputed the Father of that People, and has a Power which may not be limited by any Law, it imports not what he is call'd. But if in small Territorys he may be limited by Laws, he may be so also in the greatest. The least of men is a man as well as a Giant: And those in the
West-Indys
who have not above twenty or thirty Subjects able to bear Arms, are Kings as well as
Xerxes.
Every Nation may divide it self into small parcels as some have done, by the same Law they have restrain'd or abolish'd their Kings, join'd to one another, or taken their hazard of subsisting by themselves; acted by delegation, or retaining the Power in their own persons; given finite or indefinite Powers; reserv'd to themselves a power of punishing those who should depart from their duty, or refer'd it to their General Assemblys. And that Liberty, for which we contend as the Gift of God and Nature, remains equally to all.
If men who delight in cavilling should say, that great Kingdoms are not to be regulated by the Examples of small States, I desire to know when it was, that God ordain'd great Nations should be Slaves, and depriv'd of all right to dispose matters relating to their Government; whilst he left to such as had, or should divide themselves into small parcels, a right of making such Constitutions as were most convenient for them. When this is resolv'd, we ought to be inform'd, what extent of Territory is requir'd to deserve the name of a great Kingdom.
Spain
and
France
are esteem'd great, and yet the Deputys or
Procuradores
of the
Vida de Carlos 50 de Sandoval.
several parts of
Castille
did in the
Cortez
held at
Madrid,
in the beginning of
Charles
the fifth's reign, excuse themselves from giving the supplys he desir'd, because they had receiv'd no orders in that particular from the Towns that sent them; and afterwards receiving express orders not to do it, they gave his Majesty a flat denial. The like was frequently done during the reigns of that great Prince, and of his Son
Philip
the second. And generally those
Procuradores
never granted any thing of importance to either of them, without particular Orders from their Principals. The same way was taken in
France,
as long as there were any General Assemblys of Estates; and if it dos not still continue, 'tis because there are none. For no man who understood the Affairs of that Kingdom, did ever deny, that the Deputys were oblig'd to follow the Orders of those who sent them. And perhaps, if men would examin by what means they came to be abolish'd, they might find, that the Cardinals
de Richelieu
and
Mazarin,
with other Ministers who have accomplish'd that work, were acted by some other principle than that of Justice, or the establishment of the Laws of God and Nature. In the General Assembly of Estates held at
Blois
in the time of
Henry
the third,
Bodin
then
Hist. Thuan.
Deputy for the third Estate of
Vermandois,
by their particular Order, propos'd so many things as took up a great part of their time. Other Deputys alledg'd no other reason for many things said and done by them, highly contrary to the King's will, than that they were commanded so to do by their Superiors. These General Assemblys being laid aside, the same custom is still us'd in the lesser Assemblys of Estates in
Languedoc
and
Britany.
The Deputys cannot without the infamy of betraying their Trust, and fear of punishment, recede from the Orders given by their Principals; and yet we do not find that
Liberty with a mischief
is much more predominant in
France
than amongst us. The same method is every day practis'd in the Diets of
Germany.
The Princes and great Lords, who have their places in their own right, may do what they please; but the Deputys of the Citys must follow such Orders as they receive. The Historys of
Denmark, Sweden, Poland
and
Bohemia,
testify the same thing: and if this
Liberty with a mischief
dos not still continue intire in all those places, it has bin diminish'd by such means as sute better with the manners of Pirats, than the Laws of God and Nature. If
England
therefore dos not still enjoy the same, we must have bin depriv'd of it either by such unjustifiable means, or by our own consent. But thanks be to God, we know no People who have a better right to Liberty, or have better defended it than our own Nation. And if we do not degenerate from the Vertue of our Ancestors, we may hope to transmit it intire to our Posterity. We always may, and often do give Instructions to our Delegates; but the less we fetter them, the more we manifest our own Rights: for those who have only a limited Power, must limit that which they give; but they that can give an unlimited Power must necessarily have it in themselves. The great Treasurer
Burleigh
said, the Parliament could do any thing but turn a Man into a Woman. Sir
Thomas Moor,
when
Rich
Solicitor to K.
Henry
the 8
th
ask'd him, if the Parliament might not make
R. Rich
King, said, that was
casus levis,
taking it for granted that they might make or unmake whom they pleas'd. The first part of this, which includes the other, is asserted by the Statute of the 13
th
of Q.
Elizabeth,
denouncing the most grievous punishments against all such as should dare to contradict it. But if it be in the Parliament, it must be in those who give to Parliament-men the powers by which they act; for before they are chosen they have none, and can never have any if those that send them had it not in themselves. They cannot receive it from the Magistrate, for that power which he has is deriv'd from the same spring. The power of making and unmaking him cannot be from himself; for he that is not, can do nothing, and when he is made can have no other power than is confer'd upon him by those that make him. Besides, he who departs from his duty desires to avoid the punishment, the power therefore of punishing him is not from himself. It cannot be from the House of Peers as it is constituted, for they act for themselves, and are chosen by Kings: and 'tis absurd to think that Kings, who generally abhor all restriction of their Power, should give that to others by which they might be unmade. If one or more Princes relying upon their own Vertue and Resolutions to do good, had given such a power against themselves, as
Trajan
did, when he commanded the Prefect to use the Sword for him if he govern'd well, and against him if he govern'd ill, it would soon have bin rescinded by their Successors. If our
Edward
the first had made such a Law, his leud Son would have abolish'd it, before he would have suffer'd himself to be imprison'd and depos'd by it. He would never have acknowledg'd his unworthiness to reign, if he had bin ty'd to no other Law than his own will, for he could not transgress that; nor have own'd the mercy of the Parliament in sparing his Life, if they had acted only by a power which he had confer'd upon them. This Power must therefore be in those who act by a delegated Power, and none can give it to their Delegates but they who have it in themselves. The most certain testimony that can be given of their unlimited Power is, that they rely upon the Wisdom and Fidelity of their Deputys, so as to lay no restrictions upon them: they may do what they please, if they take care
ne quid detrimenti Respublica accipiat, that the Commonwealth receives no detriment.
This is a Commission fit to be granted by wise and good men, to those they chuse thro an opinion that they are so also, and that they cannot bring any prejudice upon the Nation, that will not fall upon themselves and their posterity. This is also fit to be receiv'd by those, who seeking nothing but that which is just in it self, and profitable to their Country, cannot foresee what will be propos'd when they are all met together; much less resolve how to vote till they hear the reasons on both sides. The Electors must necessarily be in the same ignorance; and that Law which should oblige them to give particular Orders to their Knights and Burgesses in relation to every Vote, would make the decision of the most important Affairs to depend upon the judgment of those who know nothing of the matters in question, and by that means cast the Nation into the utmost danger of the most inextricable confusion. This can never be the intention of that Law which is
Sanctio recta,
and seeks only the good of those that live under it. The foresight therefore of such a mischief can never impair the Libertys of the Nation, but establish them.
SECT. XLV. The Legislative Power is always Arbitrary, and not to be trusted in the hands of any who are not bound to obey the Laws they make.
IF it be objected that I am a defender of Arbitrary Powers, I confess I cannot comprehend how any Society can be establish'd or subsist without them; for the establishment of Government is an arbitrary Act, wholly depending upon the will of man. The particular Forms and Constitutions, the whole Series of the Magistracy, together with the measure of Power given to every one, and the Rules by which they are to exercise their Charge, are so also.
Magna Charta,
which comprehends our antient Laws, and all the subsequent Statutes, were not sent from Heaven, but made according to the will of men. If no men could have a Power of making Laws, none could ever have bin made; for all that are or have bin in the World, except those given by God to the
Israelites,
were made by them; that is, they have exercis'd an Arbitrary Power in making that to be Law which was not, or annulling that which was. The various Laws and Governments, that are or have bin in several Ages and Places, are the product of various opinions in those who had the power of making them. This must necessarily be, unless a general Rule be set to all; for the Judgments of men will vary if they are left to their liberty, and the variety that is found among them, shews they are subject to no Rule but that of their own Reason, by which they see what is fit to be embrac'd or avoided, according to the several circumstances under which they live. The Authority that judges of these circumstances is arbitrary, and the Legislators shew themselves to be more or less wise and good, as they do rightly or not rightly exercise this Power. The difference therefore between good and ill Governments is not, that those of one sort have an Arbitrary Power which the others have not, for they all have it; but that those which are well constituted, place this Power so as it may be beneficial to the People, and set such Rules as are hardly to be transgrest; whilst those of the other sort fail in one or both these points. Some also thro want of courage, fortune, or strength, may have bin opprest by the violence of Strangers, or suffer'd a corrupt Party to rise up within themselves, and by force or fraud to usurp a Power of imposing what they pleas'd. Others being sottish, cowardly and base, have so far err'd in the Foundations, as to give up themselves to the will of one or few men, who turning all to their own profit or pleasure, have bin just in nothing but in using such a People like beasts. Some have plac'd weak defences against the lusts of those they have advanc'd to the highest places, and given them opportunitys of arrogating more power to themselves than the Law allows. Where any of these errors are committed, the Government may be easy for a while, or at least tolerable, whilst it continues uncorrupted, but it cannot be lasting. When the Law may be easily or safely overthrown, it will be attempted. Whatever vertue may be in the first Magistrats, many years will not pass before they come to be corrupted; and their Successors deflecting from their integrity, will seize upon the ill-guarded prey. They will then not only govern by will, but by that irregular will, which turns the Law, that was made for the publick good, to the private advantage of one or few men. 'Tis not my intention to enumerate the several ways that have bin taken to effect this; or to shew what Governments have deflected from the right, and how far. But I think I may justly say, that an Arbitrary Power was never well plac'd in any men and their Successors, who were not oblig'd to obey the Laws they should make. This was well understood by our
Saxon
Ancestors: They made Laws in their Assemblys and Councils of the Nation; but all those who propos'd or assented to those Laws, as soon as the Assembly was dissolv'd, were comprehended under the power of them as well as other men. They could do nothing to the prejudice of the Nation, that would not be as hurtful to those who were present and their posterity, as to those who by many accidents might be absent. The
Normans
enter'd into, and continu'd in the same path. Our Parliaments at this day are in the same condition. They may make prejudicial Wars, ignominious Treatys, and unjust Laws: yet when the Session is ended, they must bear the burden as much as others; and when they dy,
the teeth of their Children will be set an edg with the sour Grapes they have eaten.
But 'tis hard to delude or corrupt so many: Men do not in matters of the highest importance yield to slight temptations. No man serves the Devil for nothing: Small wages will not content those who expose themselves to perpetual infamy, and the hatred of a Nation for betraying their Country. Our Kings had not wherewithal to corrupt many till these last twenty years, and the treachery of a few was not enough to pass a Law. The union of many was not easily wrought, and there was nothing to tempt them to endeavour it; for they could make little advantage during the Session, and were to be lost in the mass of the People, and prejudic'd by their own Laws, as soon as it was ended. They could not in a short time reconcile their various interests or passions, so as to combine together against the Publick; and the former Kings never went about it. We are beholden to
H-de, Cl-ff-rd
and
D-nby,
for all that has bin done of that kind. They found a Parliament full of leud young men chosen by a furious People in spite to the Puritans, whose severity had distasted them. The weakest of all Ministers had wit enough to understand that such as these might be easily deluded, corrupted, or brib'd. Some were fond of their Seats in Parliament, and delighted to domineer over their Neighbors by continuing in them: Others prefer'd the cajolerys of the Court before the honor of performing their duty to the Country that employ'd them. Some sought to relieve their ruin'd Fortunes, and were most forward to give the King a vast Revenue, that from thence they might receive Pensions: others were glad of a temporary Protection against their Creditors. Many knew not what they did when they annul'd the Triennial Act, voted the Militia to be in the King, gave him the Excise, Customs and Chimny-mony, made the Act for Corporations, by which the greatest part of the Nation was brought under the power of the worst men in it; drunk or sober pass'd the Five-mile Act, and that for Uniformity in the Church. This embolden'd the Court to think of making Parliaments to be the instruments of our Slavery, which had in all Ages past bin the firmest pillars of our Liberty. There might have bin perhaps a possibility of preventing this pernicious mischief in the Constitution of our Government. But our brave Antestors could never think their Posterity would degenerate into such baseness to sell themselves and their Country: yet how great soever the danger may be, 'tis less than to put all into the hands of one Man and his Ministers: the hazard of being ruin'd by those who must perish with us, is not so much to be fear'd, as by one who may enrich and strengthen himself by our destruction. 'Tis better to depend upon those who are under a possibility of being again corrupted, than upon one who applys himself to corrupt them, because he cannot otherwise accomplish his designs. It were to be wish'd that our security were more certain; but this being, under God, the best Anchor we have, it deserves to be preserv'd with all care, till one of a more unquestionable strength be fram'd by the consent of the Nation.
SECT. XLVI. The coercive power of the Law proceeds from the Authority of Parliament.
HAVING prov'd that Proclamations are not Laws, and that the Legislative Power, which is arbitrary, is trusted only in the hands of those who are bound to obey the Laws that are made, 'tis not hard to discover what it is that gives the power of Law to the Sanctions under which we live. Our Author tells us, That
all Statutes or Laws are made properly by the King alone, at the Rogation of the People, as his Majesty King
James
of happy Memory affirms in his true Law of Free Monarchy; and as
Hooker
teaches us, That Laws do not take their constraining power from the quality of such as devise them, but from the power that gives them the strength of Law.
But if the Rogation of the People be necessary, that cannot be a Law which proceeds not from their Rogation: the power therefore is not alone in the King; for a most important part is confest to be in the People. And as none could be in them, if our Author's Proposition, or the Principles upon which it is grounded, were true, the acknowledgment of such a part to be in the People shews them to be false. For if the King had all in himself, none could participate with him: if any do participate, he has not all; and 'tis from that Law by which they do participate, that we are to know what part is left to him. The preambles of most Acts of Parliament manifest this by the words,
Be it enacted by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons in Parliament assembled, and by Authority of the same.
But
King
James, says
Filmer, in his Law of Free Monarchy affirms the contrary;
and it may be so, yet that is nothing to us. No man doubts that he desir'd it might be so in
England:
but it dos not from thence appear that it is so. The Law of a Free Monarchy is nothing to us; for that Monarchy is not free which is regulated by a Law not to be broken without the guilt of Perjury, as he himself
Speech in Star-Chamber,
1616.
confest in relation to ours. As to the words cited from
Hooker,
I can find no hurt in them. To draw up the form of a good Law, is a matter of invention and jugdment, but it receives the force of a Law from the Power that enacts it. We have no other reason for the payment of Excise or Customs, than that the Parliament has granted those Revenues to the King to defray the publick Charges. Whatever therefore King
James
was pleas'd to say in his Books, or in those written for him, we do not so much as know that the killing of a King is Treason, or to be punish'd with death, otherwise than as it is enacted by Parliament; and it was not always so: for in the time of
Leg. Aethe
stani, fol.
1.
Ethelstan,
the Estimates of Lives were agreed in Parliament, and that of a King valu'd at thirty thousand
Thrymsae.
And if that Law had not bin alter'd by the Parliament, it must have bin in force at this day. It had bin in vain for a King to say he would have it otherwise; for he is not created to make Laws, but to govern according to such as are made, and sworn to assent to
Quas vulgus elegerit.
such as shall be propos'd.
He who thinks the Crown not worth accepting on these conditions, may refuse it. The words
Le Roy le veut,
are only a pattern of the
French
fashions, upon which some Kings have laid gress stress, and would no doubt have bin glad to introduce
Car tel est notre plaisir;
but that may prove a difficult matter. Nay in
France
it self, where that Stile, and all the ranting expressions that please the vainest of men are in mode, no Edict has the power of a Law, till it be register'd in Parliament. This is not a mere ceremony, as some pretend, but all that is essential to a Law. Nothing has bin more common than for those Parliaments to refuse Edicts sent to them by the King. When
John Chastel
had, at the instigation of the Jesuits, stab'd
Henry
the Fourth in the Mouth, and that Order had design'd or executed many other execrable crimes, they were banish'd out of the Kingdom by an Arrest of the Parliament of
Paris.
Some other Parliaments register'd the same; but those of
Tholouse
and
Bordeaux
absolutely refus'd, and notwithstanding all the King could do, the Jesuits continu'd at
Tournon
and many other places within their Precincts, till the Arrest was revok'd. These proceedings are so displeasing to the Court, that the most violent ways have bin often us'd to abolish them. About the year 1650,
Seguier
then Chancellor
Mem. de L. R. F.
of
France
was sent with a great number of Soldiers to oblige the Parliament of
Paris
to pass some Edicts upon which they had hesitated; but he was so far from accomplishing his design, that the People rose against him, and he thought himself happy that he escap'd with his Life. If the Parliaments do not in all parts of the Kingdom continue in the Liberty of approving or rejecting all Edicts, the Law is not alter'd, but opprest by the violence of the Sword: And the Prince of
Condé,
who was principally employ'd to do that work, may, I suppose, have had leisure to reflect on those Actions, and cannot but find reason to conclude, that his excellent valor and conduct was us'd in a most noble Exploit, equally beneficial to his Country and himself. However, those who are skill'd in the Laws of that Nation do still affirm, that all publick Acts which are not duly examin'd and register'd, are void in themselves, and can be of no force longer than the miserable People lies under the violence of Oppression; which is all that could reasonably be said, if a Pirat had the same power over them. But whether the
French
have willingly offer'd their ears to be bor'd, or have bin subdu'd by force, it concerns us not. Our Libertys depend not upon their will, vertue, or fortune: how wretched and shameful soever their Slavery may be, the evil is only to themselves. We are to consider no human Laws but our own; and if we have the spirit of our Ancestors we shall maintain them, and dy as free as they left us.
Le Roy le veut,
tho written in great Letters, or pronounc'd in the most tragical manner, can signify no more than that the King in performance of his Oath dos assent to such Laws as the Lords and Commons have agreed. Without prejudice to themselves and their Libertys, a People may suffer the King to advise with his Council upon what they propose. Two eyes see more than one, and human judgment is subject to errors. Tho the Parliament consists of the most eminent men of the Nation, yet when they intend good, they may be mistaken. They may safely put a check upon themselves, that they may farther consider the most important matters, and correct the errors that may have bin committed, if the King's Council do discover them: but he can speak only by the advice of his Council; and every man of them is with his head to answer for the advice he gives. If the Parliament has not bin satisfy'd with the reasons given against any Law that they offer'd, it has frequently pass'd; and if they have bin satisfy'd, 'twas not the King, but they that laid it aside. He that is of another opinion, may try whether
Le Roy le veut
can give the force of a Law to any thing conceiv'd by the King, his Council, or any other than the Parliament. But if no wise man will affirm that he can do it, or deny that by his Oath he is oblig'd to assent to those that come from them, he can neither have the Legislative power in himself, nor any other part in it than what is formal, and necessarily to be perform'd by him, as the Law prescribes.
I know not what our Author means by saying,
Le Roy le veut is the interpretative phrase pronounc'd at the passing of every Act of Parliament:
For if there be difficulty in any of them, those words do no way remove it. But the following part of the paragraph better deserves to be observ'd.
It was,
says he,
the antient custom for a long time until the days of
Henry
the Fifth, for the Kings when any Bill was brought to them that had pass'd both Houses, to take and pick out what they lik'd not; and so much as they chose was enacted as a Law: But the custom of the latter Kings has bin so gracious, as to allow always of the intire Bill as it pass'd both Houses.
He judiciously observes when our Kings began to be gracious, and we to be free. That King (excepting the persecution for Religion in his time, which is rather to be imputed to the ignorance of that Age, than to any evil in his own nature) govern'd well; and as all Princes who have bin vertuous and brave have always desir'd to preserve their Subjects Liberty, which they knew to be the mother and nurse of their Valor, fitting them for great and generous Enterprizes, his care was to please them, and to raise their Spirits. But about the same time, those detestable Arts by which the mix'd Monarchys in this part of the world have bin every where terribly shaken, and in many places totally overthrown, began to be practis'd.
Charles
the Seventh of
France,
under pretence of carrying on a War against him and his Son, took upon him to raise Mony by his own Authority, and we know how well that method has bin pursu'd. The mischievous sagacity of his Son
Lewis
the 11
th,
which is now call'd
King-Craft,
was wholly exerted in the subversion of the Laws of
France,
and the Nobility that supported them. His Successors, except only
Lewis
the 12
th,
follow'd his example; and in other Nations,
Ferdinand
of
Arragon, James
the Third of
Scotland,
and
Henry
the Seventh of
England,
were thought to imitate him the most. Tho we have little reason to commend all the Princes that preceded
Henry
the Fifth; yet I am inclin'd to date the general impairing of our Government from the death of that King, and his valiant Brothers. His weak Son became a prey to a furious
French
Woman, who brought the Maxims of her own Country into ours, and advano'd the worst of Villains to govern according to them. These measures were pursu'd by
Edward
the 4
th,
whose wants contracted by prodigality and debauchery, were to be supply'd by fraud and rapine. The ambition, cruelty and perfidiousness of
Richard
the 3
d;
the covetousness and malicious subtilty of
Henry
the 7
th;
the violent lust, rage and pride of
Henry
the 8
th,
and the bigotted fury of Q.
Mary,
instigated by the craft and malice of
Spain,
persuaded me to believe that the
English
Liberty did not receive birth or growth from the favor and goodness of their gracious Princes. But it seems all this is mistaken;
Henry
the 6
th
was wise, valiant, and no way guided by his Wife;
Edward
the fourth continent, sober, and contented with what the Nation gave him;
Richard
the third mild, gentle and faithful;
Henry
the 7
th
sincere, and satisfy'd with his own;
Henry
the 8
th
humble, temperate and just; and Queen
Mary
a friend to our Country and Religion. No less praises sure can be due to those who were so gracious to recede from their own right of picking what they pleas'd out of our Laws, and to leave them intirely to us as they pass'd both Houses. We are beholden to our Author for the discovery of these mysterys: but tho he seems to have taken an Oath like that of the Gypsys when they enter into that vertuous Society, never to speak one word of truth, he is not so subtle in concealing his Lies. All Kings were trusted with the publication of the Laws, but all Kings did not falsify them. Such as were not wicked and vicious, or so weak as to be made subservient to the malice of their Ministers and Flatterers, could never be drawn into the guilt of so infamous a cheat, directly contrary to the Oath of their Coronation. They swear to pass such
Laws
Quas vulgus elegerit.
as the People chuse;
but if we will believe our Author, they might have pick'd out whatever they pleas'd, and falsly impos'd upon the Nation, as a Law made by the Lords and Commons, that which they had model'd according to their own will, and made to be different from, or contrary to the intention of the Parliament. The King's part in this fraud (of which he boasts) was little more than might have bin done by the Speaker or his Clerks. They might have falsify'd an Act as well as the King, tho they could not so well preserve themselves from punishment. 'Tis no wonder if for a while no stop was put to such an abominable Custom. 'Twas hard to think a King would be guilty of a fraud, that were infamous in a Slave: But that prov'd to be a small security, when the worst of Slaves came to govern them. Nevertheless 'tis probable they proceeded cautiously: the first alterations were perhaps innocent, or, it may be, for the best. But when they had once found out the way, they stuck at nothing that seem'd for their purpose. This was like the plague of Leprosy, that could not be cur'd; the house infected was to be demolish'd; the poisonous plant must be torn up by the root; the trust that had bin broken was to be abolish'd; they who had perverted or frustrated the Law, were no longer to be suffer'd to make the least alteration; and that brave Prince readily join'd with his People to extinguish the mischievous abuse that had bin introduc'd by some of his worthless Predecessors. The worst and basest of them had continual disputes with their Parliaments, and thought that whatever they could detract from the Liberty of the Nation, would serve to advance their Prerogative. They delighted in frauds, and would have no other Ministers but such as would be the instruments of them. Since their Word could not be made to pass for a Law, they indeavor'd to impose their own or their Servants inventions as Acts of Parliament, upon the deluded people, and to make the best of them subservient to their corrupt Ends and pernicious Counsels. This, if it had continu'd, might have overthrown all our Rights, and depriv'd us of all that men can call good in the world. But the Providence of God furnish'd our Ancestors with an opportunity of providing against so great, so universal a mischief. They had a wise and valiant Prince, who scorn'd to encroach upon the Libertys of his Subjects, and abhor'd the detestable Arts by which they had bin impair'd. He esteem'd their courage, strength, and love, to be his greatest Advantage, Riches and Glory. He aim'd at the conquest of
France,
which was only to be effected by the bravery of a free and well satisfy'd People. Slaves will always be cowards, and enemys to their Master: By bringing his Subjects into that condition, he must infallibly have ruin'd his own designs, and made them unfit to fight either for him or themselves. He desir'd not only that his People should be free during his time, but that his Successors should not be able by oblique and fraudulent ways to enslave them. If it be a reproach to us that Women have reign'd over us, 'tis much more to the Princes that succeeded our
Henry,
that none of them did so much imitate him in his Government as Queen
Elizabeth.
She did not go about to mangle Acts of Parliament, and to pick out what might serve her turn, but frequently pass'd forty of fifty in a Session, without reading one of them. She knew that she did not reign for her self, but for her People; that what was good for them, was either good for her, or that her good ought not to come into competition with that of the whole Nation; and that she was by Oath oblig'd to pass such Laws as were presented to her on their behalf. This not only shews that there is no such thing as a Legislative Power plac'd in Kings by the Laws of God and Nature, but that Nations have it in themselves. It was not by Law nor by Right, but by Usurpation, Fraud and Perjury, that some Kings took upon them to pick what they pleas'd out of the publick Acts.
Henry
the fifth did not grant us the right of making our own Laws; but with his approbation we abolish'd a detestable abuse that might have prov'd fatal to us. And if we examin our History we shall find, that every good and generous Prince has sought to establish our Libertys, as much as the most base and wicked to infringe them. *
THE END.
The COPY of a PAPER Deliver'd to the SHERIFFS, Upon the Scaffold on
Tower-hill,
On Friday
Decemb.
7. 1683. BY Algernon Sidney
Esq
Immediately before his Death. Men, Brethren, and Fathers; Friends, Countrymen, and Strangers:
IT May be expected that I should now say some great matters unto you; but the Rigor of the Season, and the Infirmitys of my Age, increas'd by a close Imprisonment of above five Months, do not permit me.
Moreover, we live in an Age that makes Truth pass for Treason: I dare not say any thing contrary unto it, and the Ears of those that are about me will probably be found too tender to hear it. My Trial and Condemnation doth sufficiently evidence this.
West, Rumsey,
and
Keyling,
who were brought to prove the Plot, said no more of me, than that they knew me not; and some others equally unknown to me, had us'd my Name, and that of some others, to give a little Reputation to their Designs. The Lord
Howard
is too infamous by his Life, and the many Perjurys not to be deny'd, or rather sworn by himself, to deserve mention; and being a single Witness would be of no value, tho he had been of unblemish'd Credit, or had not seen and confess'd that the Crimes committed by him would be pardon'd only for committing more; and even the Pardon promis'd could not be obtain'd till the drudgery of Swearing was over.
This being laid aside, the whole matter is reduc'd to the Papers said to be found in my Cl
f
t by the King's Officers, without any other Proof of their being written by me, than what is taken from suppositions upon the similitude of an Hand that is easily counterfeited, and which hath been lately declar'd in the Lady
Car
's Case to be no lawful Evidence in Criminal Causes.
But if I had been seen to write them, the matter would not be much alter'd. They plainly appear to relate to a large Treatise written long since in Answer to
Filmer
's Book, which by all Intelligent Men is thought to be grounded upon wicked Principles, equally pernicious to Magistrates and People.
If he might publish to the World his Opinion, That all Men are born under a necessity deriv'd from the Laws of God and Nature, to submit to an Absolute Kingly Government, which could be restrain'd by no Law, or Oath; and that he that has the Power, whether he came to it by Creation, Election, Inheritance, Usurpation, or any other way, had the Right; and none must oppose his Will, but the Persons and Estates of his Subjects must be indispensably subject unto it; I know not why I might not have publish'd my Opinion to the contrary, without the breach of any Law I have yet known.
I might as freely as he, publickly have declar'd my Thought, and the reasons upon which they were grounded, and I persuaded to believe, That God had left Nations to the Liberty of setting up such Governments as best pleas'd themselves.
That Magistrates were set up for the good of Nations, not Nations for the honour or glory of Magistrates.
That the Right and Power of Magistrates in every Country, was that which the Laws of that Country made it to be.
That those Laws were to be observ'd, and the Oaths taken by them, having the force of a Contract between Magistrate and People, could not be violated without danger of dissolving the whole Fabrick.
That Usurpation could give no Right, and the most dangerous of all Enemys to Kings were they, who raising their Power to an exorbitant height, allow'd to Usurpers all the Rights belonging unto it.
That such Usurpations being seldom compass'd without the Slaughter of the Reigning Person, or Family, the worst of all Villanys was thereby rewarded with the most glorious Privileges.
That if such Doctrines were receiv'd, they would stir up Men to the Destruct on of Princes with more Violence than all the Passions that have hitherto rag'd in the Hearts of the most Unruly.
That none could be safe, if such a Reward were propos'd to any that could destro
them.
That few would be so gentle as to spare even the Best, if by their destruction a wild Usurper could become God's Anointed, and by the most execrable Wickedness invest himself with that Divine Character.
This is the scope of the whole Treatise; the Writer gives such Reasons as at present did occur unto him, to prove it. This seems to agree with the Doctrines of the most Reverenc'd Authors of all Times, Nations and Religions. The best and wisest of Kings have ever acknowledg'd it. The present King of
France
has declar'd that Kings have that happy want of Power, that they can do nothing contrary to the Laws of their Country, and grounds his Quarrel with the King of
Spain, Anno
1667. upon that Principle▪ King
James
in his Speech to the Parliament
Anno
1603. doth in the highest degree assert it: The Scripture seems to declare it. If nevertheless the Writer was mistaken, he might have been refuted by Law, Reason and Scripture; and no Man for such matters was ever otherwise punish'd, than by being made to see his Error; and it has not (as I think) been ever known that they had been refer'd to the Judgment of a Jury, compos'd of Men utterly unable to comprehend them.
But there was little of this in my Case; the extravagance of my Prosecutors goes higher: the above-mention'd Treatise was never finish'd, nor could be in many years, and most probably would never have been. So much as is of it was written long since, never review'd nor shewn to any Man; and the fiftieth part of it was not produc'd, and not the tenth of that offer'd to be read. That which was never known to those who are said to have conspir'd with me, was said to be intended to stir up the People in Prosecution of the Designs of those Conspirators.
When nothing of particular Application to Time, Place, or Person, could be found in it, (as has ever been done by those who endeavour'd to raise Insurrections) all was supply'd by
Innuendo's.
Whatsoever is said of the Expulsion of
Tarquin;
the Insurrection against
Nero;
the Slaughter of
Caligula,
or
Domitian;
the Translation of the Crown of
France
from
Meroveus
his Race to
Pepin,
and from his Descendents to
Hugh Capet,
and the like, was apply'd by
Innuendo
to the King.
They have not consider'd, that if such Acts of State be not good, there is not a King in the World that has any Title to the Crown he wears; nor can have any, unless he could deduce his Pedegree from the eldest Son of
Noah,
and shew that the Succession had still continu'd in the eldest of the eldest Line, and been so deduc'd to him.
Every one may see what advantage this would be to all the Kings of the World; and whether that failing, it were not better for them to acknowledg they had receiv'd their Crowns by the Consent of willing Nations, or to have no better Title to them than Usurpation and Violence, which by the same ways may be taken from them.
But I was long since told that I must die, or the Plot must die.
Lest the means of destroying the best Protestants in
England
should fail, the Bench must be fill'd with such as had been Blemishes to the Bar.
None but such as these would have advis'd with the King's Council of the means of bringing a Man to death; suffer'd a Jury to be pack'd by the King's Solicitors, and the Under-Sheriff; admit of Jury men who are not Freeholders; receive such Evidence as is above mention d; refuse a Copy of an Indictment, or suffer the Statute of 46
Edw.
3. to be read, that doth expresly Enact, It should in no case be deny'd to any Man upon any occasion whatsoever; over-rule the most important Points of Law without hearing. And whereas the Statute, 25
Ed.
3. upon which they said I should be try'd, doth reserve to the Parliament all Constructions to be made in Points of Treason, they could assume to themselves not only a Power to make Constructions, but such Constructions as neither agree with Law, Reason, or common Sense.
By these means I am brought to this Place. The Lord forgive these Practices, and avert the Evils that threaten the Nation from them. The Lord sanctify these my Sufferings unto me; and tho I fall as a Sacrifice to Idols, suffer not Idolatry to be establish'd in this Land. Bless thy People, and save them. Defend thy own Cause, and defend those that defend it. Stir up such as are saint; direct those that are willing; confirm those that waver; give Wisdom and Integrity unto all. Order all things so as may most redound to thine own Glory. Grant that I may die glorifying Thee for all thy Mercys, and that at the last Thou hast permitted me to be singl'd out as a Witness of thy Truth, and even by the Confession of my Opposers, for that OLD CAUSE in which I was srom my Youth engag'd, and for which Thou hast often and wonderfully declar'd thy Self.
FINIS.
AN ALPHABETICAL TABLE To the Whole.
A.
AARON,
vid.
Moses.
Abdication,
Camillus
the Dictator oblig'd to abdicate his Magistracy.
226
Abraham,
and the Patriarchs not Kings.
14, 17
Could never exercise a Regal Power.
16
Liv'd with
Lot
in perfect Freedom.
66
Abrogation, where a Person Abrogates the Magistracy.
87, 156, 157
God declar'd
Saul
's Kingdom to be intirely Abrogated.
235
A whole People, or part of them, may at their own Pleasure abrogate a Kingdom.
236
What is said to be so.
287
None can abrogate the Law of God.
315, 31
Absalom,
his Revolt.
237, 238
Absolute Power and Monarchy, out in its first beginning.
16, 39
Of
France
and
Turky. 39, 63, 107, 137, 13
, 319
Burdensom and Dangerous.
61
Who sit Subjects for it.
83, 12
, 135, 13
Scarce ever conquer'd a free People.
92, 98, 13
, 144
Who Advocates sor it.
, 113
Nothing more mutable, or unstable.
9
,
Can't be restrain'd by Law.
, 131, 132, 135
Where it should be of more strength than the Limited.
97
The sad effects of it.
108, 163, 185, 186, 187, 319, 320, 407, 408
Rome
decay'd, and perish'd under it.
109
The Root and Foundation of it.
117, 130, 131
Not establish'd among the
Greeks
by Law.
122
Encourages Venality and Corruption.
129, 130, 180
Advances the worst of Men.
131, 132, 133, 161
In what sense most contrary to Nature.
134
By whom only to be endur'd.
136, 319
The People under it always miserable.
137, 149, 152, 179
All things manag'd by one, or a very few men.
138
Seems totally to be exempted srom Mistakes, and why.
153
Almost all Troubles arising in them, proceed from Malice.
153
Sedition m
st frequently in, and natural to them
161, 163, 171, 172, 173
By what means this Arbitrary Power is set up.
161, 179
w o
none long subsist under it.
168
Where it cannot be introduc'd.
180
Integrity not to be found therein.
184
What care such Monarchs have for their People.
191, 192
Their chief Labour is to be above the Law.
207
Absolute Power, no Society can be establish'd, or subsist without it somewhere.
414
Never well plac'd in Men and their Successors, if not oblig'd to obey the Laws that should be made.
415
Abufes in Government, when never to be reform'd.
198
Account, to whom the People of
Rome
were to give theirs.
32
Accusers,
vid. false Witnesses.
Acquisition, what Right can be pretended from it.
367
Acts of Parliament, till the days of
Henry V.
for the most part were pen'd by the Kings Officers,
343, 418.
v.
Statutes.
Adam,
his Sin, what.
3
His Kingdom.
14
Had only an Oeconomical, not a Political Power.
64
Adoption, wherein the folly of it.
43, 44, 45, 46
What may be call'd so improperly.
44, 45
Jacob
adopted
Ephraim
and
Manasseh. 62
Advancements, ought ever to be for the sake of the Publick, not of the Man.
56
Have oftentimes made People worse.
282, 283
Adversary, who a vitious Prince reckons such.
192
Adultery, became as common in
Sparta,
as in any part of the World, and why.
228
Cannot be dispens'd withal, even by the Pope himself.
362
Affections of the People, the Prince's most important Treasure.
219
Agesilaus,
his great Atchievements.
97, 98, 123
His denial of
Alexander
to be greater than He.
251
Xenophon
's great Character of him, and for what.
269, 270
Agreements, the Treachery of violating them aggravated by Perjury.
158
vid.
Contracts.
Made by King
John
of
France,
when Prisoner at
London,
and
Francis
under the same Circumstances at
Madrid,
reputed null.
212
A good Man performs them tho he is a loser by the Bargain.
298
The necessity of standing to them from Religion, and the Law of Nature.
310
Between Princes confirm'd afterwards by Parliaments, &c.
402
Agrippa (Menenius)
appeas'd one of the most violent Seditions at
Rome,
and how.
153
Ahab
's growing sick on
Naboth
's refusing him his Vineyard.
251
When his House was to be cut off.
396
Alexander
of
Macedon,
thought to be meant by
Aristotle
for the Man fram'd by Nature for a King.
54, 56, 95
His Extravagant Frolicks.
95
His Fortune overthrew his Vertue.
95, 98, 394
His Reign full of Conspiracys
163
After his Death the Kingdom fell all to pieces.
119
It is thought he dy'd by Poison,
119, 163
Alexander
of
Epirus,
in Valor thought equal, in Power little inferior to him.
150
Alfred, Magna Charta
grounded upon his Laws.
9
Acknowledg'd he found and left this Kingdom perfectly Free.
372
Alienation, vid.
Dominion.
Allegiance, is such an Obedience as the Law requires.
350, 377
Cannot relate to a whole Nation.
377
Alliances.
71, 106, 189
All things in their beginning are weak.
146
Change by length of time.
151
Altar, the Horns of it no protection to wilful Murderers.
269
Ambassadors, from whence Kings have their Right of sending them.
359, 402
Charles Gustavus,
his excellent saying to one.
364, 365
From the
Privernates,
their brave and resolute Answer to
Plautius
the Consul, when they were suing for a Peace.
376, 377
From the Estates of
Scotland,
to
Q. Eliz. 396
Ambition, honest and wise Men expose the Folly of it.
45, 61
Can never give a Right to any over the Libertys of a whole Nation.
71
Tends to publick Ruin.
121
Is the Overthrow of States and Empires.
130, 131
Man naturally prone to it,
131
What it prompts to.
165
Has produc'd more Mischiefs than any other Desires and Passions.
168, 172, 173, 176
St. Ambrose,
seems to have no Knowledg of the
Gothick
Polity.
260, 261
Ancestors, what we ought to do, if we will be just to them.
382, 419, 420
Never thought their Posterity would so degenerate, as to sell themselves and their Country.
415
By exerting their Vigor we shall maintain our Laws.
417
Angli,
or
Saxons; Tacitus
his Description of their Coming hither, and that they had the Root of Power and Liberty in themselves.
348
Antiochus,
his vain boast to destroy
Greece
and
Italy. 98
How soon he lost all he possest in
Greece, &c. 139
Apostles, what their Work was in relation to the Civil State.
160, 172, 174, 176
Appanages, in
France
to the King's Brothers, produc'd very bad Effects.
119
Or to their Sons, but they remain still subject to the Crown.
213, 307
Appeals, the Right of them to the People.
104, 105, 108, 115, 127, 158, 226, 284, 269
None from Parliamentary Decrees.
156
To whom they were made when there was in
Rome
no superior Magistrate in being.
284
No pardoning a Man condemn'd upon one.
403
An Instance of it.
404
Arcana Imperii,
how to be meddled with.
6, 7, 8
Arians,
as cruel as the
Pagans. 96
Aristocracy, what.
19, 291
For whom best.
53
How set up.
58
Was the
Jewish
Government.
84, 87, 216
Who Patrons for it.
136
The
Lacedemonians
sor it.
216
Whether it seems establish'd by Nature.
327
Aristotle,
slighted by
Filmer. 10
Commendation of him.
51, 90
His Notion of Civil Societys.
52, 53, 56, 57, 61, 83, 208
Who he thought was fram'd by Nature for a King.
54, 56, 95
Wherein he highly applauds Monarchy.
90, 91
Thinks the first Monarchs were but little restrain'd, because they were chosen for their Vertue.
210
His distinction between a King and a Tyrant.
252, 326
Who, he says, are govern'd by God, rather than by Men.
288, 289
Proves that no Man is entrusted with an absolute Power.
326
Armys, of the
East
and
West,
set up Emperors for themselves.
101
Out of what sort of Men they are to be form'd.
149.
Vid. Mercenary
and
Soldiery.
Arminius,
kill'd for aiming at a Crown, which blemish'd all his other Vertues.
276, 347
Arms, those just and pious that are necessary, and those necessary, when there was no hope of safety by any other way.
396
Artaxerxes,
and his Army overthrown by the Valor of
10000 Grecians. 97
Artificer, what sort of one he is to whom implicit Faith is due.
7
Assemblys, that took their Authority from the Law of Nature, consider'd.
70
General of the People.
86, 87, 88
The use of them.
96, 348
Of the Estates in
France,
brought now to nothing.
120
Settled the Crown on
Pepin. 171
What they ought to see perform'd.
214
Had the Power
always
of the whole People in them.
263
In them none judg for themselves.
284, 285
The greatest Trust that can be was ever repos'd in them.
345
Inconsistent with the absolute Sovereignty of Kings.
351
Refus'd giving Supplys to their Kings in
Spain
and
France,
without Orders from their Principals.
412
Assyrians,
vid.
Eastern
Nations.
That Empire wholly abolish'd on the Death of
Belshazzar. 94
Their Valor irresistible under
Nebuchadnezzar. 147
Little more known of them than from Scripture.
164
Athaliah,
more ready to cry out
Treason
than
David. 154.
Destroy'd the King's Race, and by whom herself was kill'd.
162.
vid.
Queen.
Athens,
its Government not so much approv'd as that of
Sparta. 123
Banish'd some worthy Men, and put others to Death.
123
The Cruelty of the thirty Tyrants there.
124
As much inclin'd to War as
Rome. 142
The thirty Tyrants destroy'd by
Thrasybulus. 155
Their
Ostracism
proceeded solely from fear.
206
Was not without Laws when she had Kings.
281
Athletick
Habit, what.
106, 113
Attila,
call'd the Scourge of God, and glory'd in the Name.
292
Avarice, the evil effects of it.
45
Augustus, Rome
's longest Peace under his Reign.
108, 163
What happen'd in it.
110
Was worse in the beginning than latter end of his Reign.
111
Had thirty mercenary Legions to execute his Commands.
329
Whether he truly deserv'd to be call'd the Head of the
Romans. 391
The Name of
Augustus
is a Title belonging to the
German
Emperor at this day.
368
Austria, Spain
after many Revolutions came to this House.
151
Princes of this House pretend to know their Original.
302
The
German
Empire came to
Rodolphus
of this Name about
300
Years ago.
303
What Claim this House has to the Crown of
France. 308, 361
Authors of great Revolutions, their Aims.
129
Axioms in Law, are evident to common sense, and nothing to be taken for one that is not so.
337
B.
BAbel,
vid.
Nations.
Babylonian
Kings, what Right is pretended to be in them.
27, 28
Monarchy rul'd by Force, the stronger turning out the weaker.
94
How its Pride fell.
100
Little more known of its Monarchy than from Scripture.
164
Babylon
and
Susa
trembled at the Motion of the
Grecian
Arms.
185
There were a People there before
Nimrod
was King.
330
Balance of Power, where and how it is broken.
219, 381, 382
Nations have suffer'd extremely thro want of this Prudence in rightly balancing, &c.
394
In what manner Power should be balanc'd for the Advantage and Service of the State.
406
Banishment, not above
5
or
6
Men suffer'd unjustly in the
Roman
Government, in the space of about
300
Years.
104, 106, 125
The Temporary of the
Athenians
never accounted as a Punishment.
123
Camillus
recall'd from it, and afterwards honour'd.
124
Barbarorum Regna. 208
Baron, the extent of the Name.
352, 353, 356
Baronagium,
what.
69, 352, 353
Bartholomew de las Casas
(a
Spanish
Bishop) his admirable Saying concerning the Office of a King.
34
Bassompierre,
his Saying about
Rochel. 197
Bastards, those Children can inherit nothing.
77
Declar'd with relation to Crowns.
79, 310
Advanc'd before Legitimate Brethren.
116, 117, 305, 306, 307, 365
In some Places wholly excluded.
167
Beggars of a King to
Samuel,
such as would not be deny'd.
89
Parliaments no Beggars.
296, 297
Belial,
who his Sons.
90
Bellarmine
's Tenents.
4, 5, 11, 12, 13, 19
Benjamites,
How they proceeded in preparing for their defence.
88
Best Men, content with a due Liberty under the Protection of a just Law.
135, 312, 313
Have ever bin against absolute Monarchy.
136
Despis'd, hated and mark'd out for Destruction.
196, 314
Have their Affections and Passions, and are subject to be misled by them.
208, 324
Were so esteem'd who destroy'd Tyranny.
253
Whom they had need to fear.
267
Can never wholly divest themselves of Passions and Affections.
333
Birth-right, gives a Right to Sovereign Dominion.
75
Some have bin accus'd of supposititious Births.
310
Bishops, the King's Power in making them.
190
What Words of Servitude are said to be introduc'd by them among us.
276
Blake,
the Terror his Fleet struck every where.
199
Blood; by God's Law, that Man's is to be shed, who sheds anothers.
264
The nearest in Blood set aside, when 'twas thought more convenient to advance others.
304, 305
Boccalini,
the Princes of
Europe
angry with him for his Definition of a Tyrant,
vid. 1 Cent. 76
Advertisement. 209
Bought and Sold, how Places come to be so.
182, 184
Senates and People can't so easily be.
183, 184
Bourbon, Henry
of that Name, not admitted to the Crown till he
abjur'd
his Religion, and promis'd to rule by Law.
213
Bracton,
his Words,
Omnes sub eo, & ipse sub nullo, &c.
how to be understood.
263, 264
What he calls
Esse sub Lege. 283, 287
What, he says, the King is oblig'd to do by his Oath.
340
His Saying about evil, or unskilful Judges.
341
Brethren, All so by Nature.
22
Nature abhors a difference
in specie
between them.
63
Where a fraternal Equality continu'd.
66
Are Equals.
74
What advanc'd some above the rest.
85
The Governed so call'd, by their Magistrates.
390
Bribery, natural to Courts.
128, 129, 179, 180
Seeks the largest Bidder.
147
Can't corrupt, wheir Vertue is prefer'd.
181
The way to prevent it.
183, 184
A Noble Person turn'd out of a considerable Office, as a Scandal to the Court, for being an Enemy to this Vice.
183
Parliaments not so easily to be prevail'd upon.
415
Britain,
shamefully lost.
109
Kings impos'd upon the
Britans
by the
Romans,
and to what end.
231, 341
Severe Assertors of their Libertys.
331, 346
Tho they chose Commanders in their Wars, yet they kept the Government in themselves.
347
Ever had their great Councils to determin their most important Affairs.
348
Brutus,
found it dangerous to be thought wise, and why.
158, 168
Establish'd Liberty and the Consulate together.
318
Buchanan,
join'd to
Doleman. 4
His Character of K.
James
the Third.
211
Concerning the Violation of the Laws of
Scotland. 286
Burgundy,
continu'd in
Hugh C
pet
's eldest Son
Robert,
and his Descendents for ten Generations.
307
C.
CAesar,
of giving him his due.
8, 257
Julius
subverted all Order by invading the supreme Magistracy by force.
101, 119, 258, 389
Worse than
Tarquin. 121
By what means he set up his Tyranny.
128, 250, 251
Caesar, Julius,
scarce any Prince had so many good Qualitys, till they were extinguish'd by Ambition.
130
Design'd to make himself a Tyrant.
132
Thought all things lawful, when the
Consulate
was deny'd him.
165
When the Power of the
Romans
was exprest by this Name.
257
Had a Diadem offer'd him by
Mark Anthony. 275
How observant he was of his Word, when taken by Pyrats.
297
The State of the
Roman
Empire after his Ʋ surpation.
320
Augustus
his Power not given, but usurp'd.
328, 329
Julius,
what account he gives of our Affairs here.
331, 346
When, if ever, Fear enter'd into his Heart.
247
Caesars,
never call'd Kings till the
6
th Age of Christianity.
368
Julius,
in despair would have kill'd himself.
389
Cain,
had no Dominion over his Brethren after
Adam
's Death.
59, 60
From whence his fear
(that every Man would slay him)
proceeded.
230
Caligula,
His Wish that the People had but one Neck.
10, 50, 159, 189, 391
A Monster of Mankind.
27, 285
His making Love to the
Moon, 43
His Expedition, when he said, he had subdu'd the Sea.
109
Valerius Asiaticus
appeas'd the Guards, by saying, he wish'd he had bin the Man had kill'd him.
160, 285
Murder'd by his own Guards.
163
Affected the Title of being call'd God, which
Claudius Caesar
calls
Turpem Caii Insaniam. 206
vid. 275
Whose Minister he might be said to be.
272
Said of him, that no Man ever knew
a better Servant, nor a worse Master. 280
Wherein he plac'd his Sovereign Majesty.
321
Calvin,
his Opinion of the Government instituted by God.
84, 87
Camden,
his Credit forfeited by a great number of Ʋ ntruths.
352
Campus Martius,
was the Land that belong'd to the Kings of
Rome
(not above ten Acres) afterwards consecrated to
Mars. 251
Cardinals, the Respect paid them, who have the Power of chusing Popes.
64
Carthage,
how she grew to that Excess of Power that only
Rome
was able to overthrow,
113, 143
One of the most potent Citys in the World,
143
Castile,
the Lords thereof had no other Title for many Ages than that of
Count,
which was afterwards chang'd to that of
King,
without any addition to the Power.
368
Concerning the States thereof erring.
387
Catiline,
his Temper.
114
One of the leudest Men in the World.
128
Cesset Processus,
said to be annex'd to the Person of the King.
403
Ceylon,
an Island in the
East-Indies,
where the King knows no Law but his own Will.
407
Change, of Government, no proof of Irregularity or Prejudice to it, by those that have Right.
103, 121
Nothing found more orderly.
116
A mortal one in Root and Principle.
119
In Government unavoidable.
120
What Changes deserve Praise.
121
Where the Wisdom of it is shewn.
121
Where they are requisite sometimes.
334
What are for the worse.
381
Charter of Liberty, not from Men, but from God.
370
Parliaments interpos'd their Authority in these matters.
385
Chatham,
the City of
London
's Dread at the
Dutch
Fleet's burning our Ships there.
144
Cheat of
Mario Chigi,
Brother of
Alexander
VII. upon the Sale of Corn.
187
Child or Children, a wise one,
Eccl. 4. 13. 25, 43, 82, 201, 261
Their Duty is perpetual.
47, 59, 227, 228, 232
Of God and of the Devil.
48, 50
If Children then Heirs. 62
Wo to thee, O Land, when thy King is a Child! 63, 81
On what account Children are admitted to rule.
81
What understood by the word
Child, 82
They do not always prove like their Parents.
184, 286, 287
Children, the Danger of having them to be Kings.
201
The Law gives them relief against the Severitys of their Parents.
230, 231
Were punish'd with Death, and for what.
231
Christianity, has bin split into variety of Opinions, ever since it was preach'd.
144
The first Professors were of the meanest of the People.
271
St.
Paul
's work was to preserve the Professors of it from Errors concerning the State.
272
Sufficiently prov'd to be Antient, if prov'd to be good and true.
332
Citys, consist of Eqals.
52, 53, 56
What makes them free.
370
Cives,
v.
Incolae.
Civil War, v.
War.
Cleanthes,
his Philosophical reply to
Aristippus,
about Flattery.
181
Clergy, the Veneration our Ancestors had for them.
350, 351
Collectors, their Extortions.
186
Commanders, after the Captivity, who thought most fit.
24
Of Armys, who best to be made so.
53
The best among the
Greeks
and
Romans
in their times, would not know how to manage an Army now.
381
Where they have bin put to Death for Misbehaviour, &c.
385
Commands of a Master, how far the Servant is bound to obey them, &c.
315, 316
Commission, from God, what.
49
They who hereby grant Authority, do always retain more than they give.
384, 413
Comitia Centuriata,
what,
281
Commons, whether they had a part in the Government.
349, 350
Always had a place in the Councils that manag'd it.
351
Many of them in Antiquity and Eminency, little inferior to the chief of the Titular Nobility.
351, 354
Tho Nation's Strength and Vertue in them.
354
How all things have bin brought into the King's and their Hands.
382
Yet never can be united to the Court.
382
Have refus'd to give their Opinions in many Cases, till they had consulted with those that sent them.
386
Common-wealths, for what end instituted.
1
All the Regular Kingdoms in the World are so,
19, 52
Of
Italy,
not without Valor and Vertue.
111
How they seek Peace and War.
141
Whether better to constitute one for War or Trade.
143
Another sort compos'd of many Citys associated together, and living
aequo Jure. 144
Seldom advance Women, Children, or such like, to the Supreme Power.
176
In them all men fight for themselves.
179
When the Laws are abolish'd, the Name also ceases.
179
Less Slaughter in these, than in Absolute Kingdoms.
185
Of
Greece
and
Italy,
why call'd Nurserys of Vertue.
187, 188
Justice very well administer'd in them.
266
How they may be sav'd from Ruin.
383
Competitors, Sovereigns do impatiently bear them.
17
Where their own Swords have decided their Disputes.
154, 168
Contests between them relating to the Crown, are often very bloody.
169, 171, 173, 174, 175, 179
Compulsion; he that will suffer himself to be compel'd, knows not how to die.
274
Conquest, what is so call'd.
20, 31
William I.
had the name of
Conqueror
odiously given to him.
72
The extent thereof not the only thing to be consider'd.
108, 109
Some Common-wealths hereby design'd to enlarge their Territorys.
142
Some Conquerors never deserv'd the Name of Ʋ surpers.
265
The King can't dispose of a conquer'd Country, because 'tis annex'd to the Office.
359
Tis the People that Conquer, not any one Man by his own Strength.
367
Conscience, how it ought to be regulated.
273
Consent General, to resign part of their Liberty for the Good of all, is the Voice of Nature.
10, 20, 134
First confer'd Power.
17, 19, 31, 66, 80
Government arises from it.
32, 33, 66, 72, 222, 223
The Right of Magistrates essentially depends upon it.
72, 73, 208, 303, 325, 330
None to Tyrannys.
73
No compleat lawful Power without it.
74, 80, 137, 155
Of the
three Estates
in many places requir'd, to pass a Law.
217
Whatsoever proceeds not from it, must be
de facto
only.
367
Constantine
the Great, with what Blood he was polluted.
169, 218
His Power kept up Hereditary, but with extreme Confusion and Disorder.
223
Constitutions of every Government to whom refer'd.
32
Human subject to Corruption, and therefore to be reduc'd to their first Principles.
103
Where new ones are necessarily requir'd.
120
That the best, which is attended with the least Inconveniences.
125
Who indeavors the Subversion of them.
135, 382
Of Common-wealths various.
141, 365
Of the
Northern
Nations that invaded the
Roman
Empire.
143
The Temper of that of the
United Provinces. 145
Good ones remain, tho the Authors of them perish.
148
The Salutary ones made by Men, God approves and ratifies.
268
Of a State aims at Perpetuity.
280
Are made for and by the People.
318
What the Imperfections of all Human Constitutions.
332
Our Antient, has bin wholly inverted.
354
What are most to be commended.
379, 394
Of no value, if there be not a Power to support them.
379, 380
Consuls, made of
Plebeians,
how seldom chosen, and with what Prudence.
103
Represented Kings, and were vested with equal Power.
115, 117, 226, 277, 372
Were created after the Expulsion of
Tarquin. 121, 218
Consuls▪ Strangers rais'd to that Honor.
142
Tho Supreme in Power, yet subject to the People.
156, 225, 250
Marius
continu'd
5
Years in the Office.
218
Only for a Year.
226
Title of
dread Sovereign
might justly have bin given to them.
372
If they grew insolent, how they might be reduc'd.
380
Contracts, how fram'd between Nations and their Kings.
233.
v.
243, 244, 377
Vid.
Judges, Nations, Original.
Enter'd into by Princes before their Investiture.
271
The breaking them overthrows all Societys.
297
In writing, said to be invented only to bind Villains, and why.
297
All are mutual, and whoever fails of his part discharges the other.
300
Contrariorum Contraria est Ratio. 272
Controversys, with other Nations, the Decision of them left to Judges chosen by mutual Agreement.
398
Coriolanus
duly condemn'd by the
Romans. 124
Coronation Oath.
74, 75, 80, 81
Norman
Kings oblig'd to take it.
263
How far our Kings are oblig'd to observe it.
294, 295, 297, 298, 299, 300, 339, 373
Corporations, or Bodys Politick, what places were thought fit by the King and Council to be made so.
385
Corruption, natural to Courts, instances given.
128, &c. 132, 180
Of Ministers in Foreign Courts.
138
The Effect of that which proceeds from the Government in particular Instances.
150, 399
Of a People tends to Tyranny.
161
Makes Princes Titles good, and how▪
164
Where it certainly most abounds
179, 180, 183
Must always be oppos'd by free Governments, and why.
180, 181
The basest, but most lucrative trafsick.
182
In the Head, must necessarily diffuse it self into most of the Members of the Common-wealth.
183 19
A just Prince that will hear his Peoples complaints himself, prevents it
184.
Corruption, rooted in the very Principle of absolute Monarchy, which cannot subsist without it.
184
Mankind naturally propense to it.
250
Of Judgment proceeds from private Passions.
285
Of Members of Parliament.
415
Counsellors, made choice of according to the Temper of the Prince.
7, 193, 291, 292
Signify little to an absolute Monarch.
139, 151
In the multitude of them generally is safety.
386
Whether those of the King are expos'd to Punishments, and for what.
404, 418
Council of seventy chosen Men.
86
God's Counsels are impenetrable.
100
A wise and good one cannot always supply the Defects, or correct the Vices of a young or ill-dispos'd Prince.
291
Where it is of no use unless Princes are oblig'd to follow it.
292
Of
Toledo,
what it made the Prince to swear before he was plac'd in the Royal Seat.
308
Of what Persons it antiently consisted.
351, 352, 385
General, how exprest antiently by Authors.
356
When the boldest are most safe.
395
The King is oblig'd to act,
cum Magnatum & Sapientum Consilio. 404
He can speak only by their Advice, and every Man of them is with his Head to answer for the Advice he gives.
418
Council-Table, the Proceedings and Jurisdiction of it regulated by
16 Car. 1. cap. X. 344
Courtiers, what things are inseparable from their Lives.
182
Their Phrase is,
To make as much Profit of their Places as they can. 183
A wise Prince's saying to some about him of such.
183, 184
Wherein their Art consists.
190, 406
The modern Ones by their Names and Titles, what they are apt to put us in mind of.
351
When they speak most Truth.
373
Of
Philip III.
and IV. of
Spain,
their Sottishness.
383, 384
Cowards, the cruellest of Men.
206
Crown, how the
English
came hereditary.
77, 79
Crown, chang'd from one Family to another by the Estates of the Realm.
117, 227, 306, 307, 344, 345
Comprehends all that can be grateful to the most violent and vitious.
165
Hereditary or Elective, it has its Defects.
184
The
Spartan
transported into nine several Familys.
210
Of
France,
is from the People.
213, 306, 307
Where none would accept it, but such as did not deserve it.
219
Arminius
slain for aiming at One.
276
Of
England,
upon what Conditions accepted.
298, 299
Five different manners of disposing Crowns esteem'd hereditary.
301
Of
Spain
not fix'd in a Line, but dispos'd of as the Nobility and People thought fit.
305
Many and bloody Contests for One.
325, 374, 375
The Demeasns of it cannot be alienated.
359
The Parliament's Power of giving and taking it away.
375
Some have fear'd the Lustre of it.
394
He that wears it can't determin the Affairs which the Law refers to the King.
401, 403
Curio,
by Corruption made an Instrument of Mischief, who had bin an eminent Supporter of the Laws.
130
Custom, the Authority of it, as well as of Law, consists only in its Rectitude.
332
The various ones us'd in Elections.
384, 385
Had its beginning and continuance from the universal Consent of the Nation.
405
The reason why we pay
Customs. 416
D.
DAvid,
the most Reverend King, had his Posterity depriv'd, and his Kingdom at last came to the
Asmoncan
Race.
23, 24
Chose and anointed King by the Tribe of
Judah. 80, 237
Slew the Sons of
Rimmon,
and why.
80
Not without his Infirmitys and Punishments.
95
David,
who were his Followers, notwithstanding the Justice of his Cause.
162, 237
His Affection towards his People.
231
His resisting of
Saul,
without assuming the Power of a King.
235, 236
How his Heart smote him when he had cut off
Saul
's Skirt.
236
His War with
Saul,
how grounded.
237
There were many Rebellions against him.
238
How he fear'd Men more than God.
247
Why he commanded
Solomon
not to suffer
Joab
to go to the Grave in Peace.
269
Wise as an Angel of God.
386
Death, of no eminent
Roman,
except one, for a long time.
104
Citizens to be condemn'd in Publick by the
Roman
Law.
127
Of
Barnewelt,
and
de Wit. 145
Often the reward of such Services as can't be sufficiently valu'd.
168
Of the nearest Relations,
Regnandi causa. 169
The Bitterness of it, how assuag'd.
219
Very few suffer'd in
Sparta
for above
800
Years.
269
Decemviri,
only for a Year.
118
For two Years.
284
To regulate the Law.
121, 281
Patricians favour'd them.
153
Proceeded against as private Men, when they continu'd beyond their time.
156
Ʋ s'd with great gentleness.
176
The
Romans
easily beaten under them.
198
The Power given to them,
sine Provocatione,
was only in private Cases.
284
Why the People destroy'd both their Power and them.
284
Decision of the most difficult matters, antiently left to the Priests in all Countrys.
398
In
England,
where made by Judges and Jurys, and where by Parliaments.
404, 405
Defence, all terminates in Force.
147, 148
Whether better for every Man to stand in his own defence, than to enter into Societys.
159
Of one's self, natural.
242, 256, 25
Delatores,
See
Roman
Empire.
101
Delegated Persons, their Powers, to whom refer'd.
68, 69, 70
In General Assemblys.
71
How binding the Acts of such are to the whole Nation.
72
Where the King acts by this Power.
404
Can have no Power but what is confer'd on them by their Principals.
409
How those in the
United Provinces,
and in
Switzerland
are us'd.
410
Deputys of
Castile,
refus'd in the
Cortez
to give
Charles
V. the Supplys he desir'd, and why.
412
Deliverers of their Countrys from Oppressions, how they have bin esteem'd in all Ages.
8
What Gifts God bestow'd on them.
25, 85, 92, 100
Often rewarded with Inheritances.
68
Their Actions carry their own Justification.
160
Democracy, God said to be the Author of it.
11, 88
Perfect, what.
19
For whom best.
53, 87, 115
How instituted.
58
A Democratical Embassy.
86, 87
Of the
Hebrew
Government.
87
Never good but in small Towns.
115, 122
Pure, if it be in the World, the Author has nothing to say to it.
132
Where it would prove the most just, rational and natural.
134
To what Mistakes most liable.
153
With whom in a strict sense it can only sute.
216
Denmark,
the last King thereof overthrew in one day all the Laws of his Country.
130
The Crown Elective till
1660,
and then made Hereditary.
303, 365
In some parts thereof the whole Volumes of their Laws may be read in few Hours.
337
The Authority of their Kings said to have bin for above
3000
Years,
346
Nobleman and Gentleman the same there.
353
Deposition of Princes, said to be the Doctrine of
Rome
and
Geneva. 4
Deposition for Misgovernment, and others plac'd in their rooms.
69, 79, 116, 117, 201, 212, 238, 305, 331, 384
Kings, when depos'd, lose the Right of sending Ambassadors.
402
The Practice of
France
and other Countrys.
79, 120, 172, 174, 202, 305, 306, 307, 345
For Religion differing from the Body of the Nation.
79, 82, 117
If they become Enemys to their People.
159
For their ill Lives.
270, 271
Of
Wamba,
a
Gothick
King, who was made a Monk after he had reign'd many Years well.
305
Desertion, the Cause of it.
138
Common to all absolute Monarchys.
138
Of Soldiers.
197, 198, 199
Detur Digniori. 24, 25, 34, 53
Dictator, from whence his Power arose.
104, 250
Caesar
made himself perpetual.
107
Made occasionally at the beginning.
118, 119, 121
A mortal Change in Root and Principle.
119
Why
Mamercus
and others had this Honor.
124, 195
Tho supreme, yet subject to the People, if they transgrest the Law.
156, 225, 226, 372
His Power but for six Months at most.
226, 277, 284
Camillus
in his fourth Dictatorship threaten'd with a Fine.
226
The Commission that was given them, what.
365
How high the
Romans
carry'd the Power and Veneration due to them.
372
None ever usurp'd a Power over Liberty till the time of
Sylla. 380
Diets,
vid. Estates
of the Realm, and
Parliaments. General Assemblys.
Difference between a lawful King and Tyrant.
61, 63, 205, 253, 290
Between Brethren, only in proportion.
62
Between Lord and Servant
in specie,
not in degree.
62
Between Men fighting for their own Interest, and such as serve for Pay.
197
Between Senates and absolute Princes.
222
Difference between Magistrates to whom Obedience is due, and to whom not.
274, 275
Between good and bad Princes, is from the Observation or Violation of the Laws of their Country.
279
Dioclesian
's Saying,
Bonus, cautus, optimus Imperator venditur. 180
What made him renounce the Empire.
180
Dionysius,
his Tyranny destroy'd by the
Syracusians. 10
His Character.
27, 191
Diogenes
his saying of him.
191
Discipline, the Excellency of the
Roman. 127, 128, 140
The like in all Nations that have kept their Liberty.
140
The Effects of good and bad.
196, 197, 198
The Excellency of the
Spartan. 210, 269
Dispensing Power, our Kings have it not beyond what the Law gives them.
326
Dissimulation, what.
202
Dissolute Persons fittest Subjects for absolute Monarchs.
83, 129, 161
Abhor the Dominion of the Law.
133, 192
Doctrine; some by that which is false, poison the Springs of Religion and Vertue.
314
Dominion, equally divided among all, is universal Liberty.
21
Of the whole World can't belong to one Man.
37, 39
Nor over a Nation, ever inseparably united to one Man and his Family.
52, 62, 63, 65, 74
Deeds by which the Right of it is confer'd.
80
Ʋ surp'd by the ruin of the best part of Mankind.
128
Of
France
not to be alienated.
213
Every Child of a Parent can't inherit it.
220
How, and by whom it was confer'd.
221, 369
Implies Protection.
371
Dominus,
its Signification.
63
The
Romans
often call'd Lords of the World.
355
Domitian,
his Character.
189
Tacitus
calls him, an Enemy to Vertue.
267
Duels in
France,
who only could refuse Challenges from any Gentleman.
353
Dukes of
Venice, Moscovy, &c. 157, 158
Duke, Earl and Vicount, the Names of Offices.
360
Where these Names are Subjects, and where little less than Sovereigns.
369
Duty, arising from a benefit receiv'd, must be proportionable to it.
232
Of a Magistrate, what.
267
Of no Man to deny any one that which is his due, much less to oppose the Minister of God in the exercise of his Office.
272
What to be expected from, and render'd to them.
277
E.
EAstern
Nations what remarkable for.
92
Force is the prevailing Law with them.
94
Were and are still under the Government of those, whom all free People call Tyrants.
253, 318
Solomon
's prudent Advice to private Persons living under the Government of these Countrys.
261
Edward
II. imprison'd and depos'd by his Parliament.
413
IV. his Wants supply'd by Fraud and Rapine.
418
Election, most Princes chosen by the People.
68, 69, 74, 81
Prov'd from Scripture-Instances.
69, 71, 74, 80, 81, 87, 235, 237
From Examples of the
Saxons. 71, 72, 77, 270, 271, 352
Makes a Right.
73, 80, 81
The various ways of electing Princes.
116
Frequent chusing of Magistrates makes Nurserys of great and able men.
140, 148, 194
The Prudence of Election surpasses the Accidents of Birth.
149
Of Kings in
France. 212, 213, 306, 307
Of our Kings, how.
298, 299
Of
Charles Gustavus
to the Crown of
Sweden. 364
The various Customs us'd in chusing Parliament-men.
384, 385
Elective Kingdoms.
304
Elizabeth,
Queen, her Government, not without some mixture of Blood.
175
Elizabeth,
what Power made her capable of the Succession.
310, 362
Her Character and Failings.
323, 324
The Earl of
Morton
sent Ambassador to her by the Estates of
Scotland,
to justify their Proceedings against Q.
Mary. 396
None so much imitated
Henry
V. as she.
420
Eminent, the most, ought only to be advanc'd to Places of publick Trust and Dignity.
33, 57, 58
Most obnoxious to be taken off.
105 126, 191
Are most fear'd.
168, 171
When these are most impatient.
170, 171
The Pillars of every State.
171
Emperors,
Roman,
three or four, and at one time thirty, who call'd themselves by this name.
119
Endeavour'd to make their Power hereditary.
223
The height of their Regal Majesty.
240, 241
St.
Austin's,
and
Ulpian's
Saying, that they were subject to no Law, and why.
261, 322
Some foully polluted themselves with innocent Blood.
273
The Title never solemnly assum'd by, nor confer'd on them.
275, 276
Theodosius
confest, it was the Glory of a good one to own himself bound by Laws.
322
The present one in
Germany,
an account of him.
387
Empire, grounded on the Pope's Donation.
34
Gain'd by Violence is mere Tyranny.
75, 77
Acquir'd by Vertue, can't long be supported by Mony.
102
The Calamitys which the
Roman
suffer'd.
121
Settled in
Germany. 172
What made
Dioclesian
to renounce the Empire.
180
Ʋ nder what sort of Governors it was ruin'd.
194, 195, 223
Of the World divided between
God
and
Caesar. 316
Not oblig'd by any Stipulation of the Emperor without their Consent.
402
Enacting Laws, continu'd in the People of
Rome. 104, 108
Enemy of a Nation, who.
33, 155, 188, 191
Every Man is a Soldier against him.
155
Who the most dangerous to supreme Magistrates.
160, 311
Who is so to all that is good.
181
Who is so to Vertue and Religion, is an Enemy to Mankind.
188, 190
Those that know they have such abroad, endeavour to get Friends at home.
255
Sycophants the worst Enemys.
293, 420
How a King declares he has none when he comes to the Crown.
325
A Prince that seeks assistance from foreign Powers, is so.
391
England,
how the Crown became hereditary.
77
The State of it since the Year
1660. 114
How, and when the Glory of our Arms was turn'd into shame.
148
How the Succession of her Kings has bin.
167, 345
Her Wars with
France
merely upon Contests for the Crown.
173
Her Miserys by our
Civil Contests. 174, 175
When her Reputation and Power was at a great height.
199
Whether our Kings were ever Proprietors of all the Lands.
247
The naked condition of our Ancestors upon
Caesar
's Invasion.
256
Has no
Dictatorian
Power over her.
258
Ever a free Nation, and chose her own Kings.
299, 356
Made her own Laws.
346, 347, 356
We know little of the first Inhabitants, but what is involv'd in Fables and Obscurity.
331
The great number of our Laws make them inconvenient.
337
Wherein she ought to be compar'd with
Rome. 341
Brave in
William
I's time, when she saw her Laws and Libertys were in danger.
342
What has cost her much Blood, and has bin the Cause of our late difficultys.
345
Our Security, the best Anchor we have, ought to be preserv'd with all care.
416
The general impairing of her may be dated from the Death of
Henry
the
fifth. 418
Epaminondas,
Forfeiture of his Life (tho sav'd) for serving his Country longer than the time limited.
155, 156
Ephori,
establish'd to restrain the Power of Kings.
76, 210, 345
When they were created.
393
Equality, in all by Nature.
3, 5, 12, 22, 31, 52, 327, 397
Just among Equals.
53
Civil Society compos'd of Equals.
59
Leagues don't imply absolute Equality between Partys.
80
Where 'tis hard to preserve a Civil Equality.
106
Popular, to what 'tis an Enemy.
161
Of Right, what is call'd Liberty.
221
Kings under this Law with the rest of the People.
239
Equals can't have a Right over each other.
370, 398
No Nation can have an Equal within it self.
398
Error, all subject to it.
106, 124, 153, 192
Discover'd by the Discourse of a wise and good man.
176
By it popular Governments may sometimes hurt private Persons.
188
A polite People may relinquish those of their Ancestors, which they have bin guilty of in the times of their Ignorance.
332
Would be perpetual, if no change were admitted.
334
Where they are in Government, tho it may be easy for a while, yet it cannot be lasting.
414
Escheat of the Crown for want of an Heir.
35, 36
Estates of the Realm, divided the Kingdom of
France. 213, 306, 307
Their Power in voting.
217
Have dispos'd of Crowns as they pleas'd.
306, 307, 345, 364, 365.
Vid.
Parliaments, Assemblys general.
Evil, what is so of it self, by continnance is made worse, and on the first Opportunity is justly to be abolish'd.
346
Eutropius,
when a Slave pick'd Pockets, &c. but when a Minister he sold Citys, &c.
182
Excommunication denounc'd on the Violators of
Magna Charta. 296
F.
FAbius Maximus
one of the greatest and best of men that ever
Rome
produc'd.
104
Fabius, Quintus,
in danger of his Life for fighting without Order, tho he gain'd a signal Victory.
372
Factions about Regal Power and Succession, how to be prevented.
168
The Convulsions they make.
170, 173, 382
Of the
Guelphs
and
Ghibelins. 186, 187
Vertue and Vice were made the Badges of them.
192, 193
Faith, implicit, to whom it belongs.
6, 7, 314
Familys, none antienter than other, and why.
42
What requir'd to make a compleat one.
59
When our Ancestors sent to seek a King in one of the meanest of them in
Wales. 169
None that does not often produce weak, ignorant, or cruel Children.
278, 279
Famous men for Wisdom, Vertue and good Government.
128, 134, 135, 148, 149
Have Eyes, and will always see the way they go.
314
Fathers, the Power of Fatherhood belongs only to a Father.
18, 19, 42, 47
Cruel Princes no Fathers of their Country.
32, 33, 253, 254, 292, 293
Their Character indelible.
42, 47, 59
Adoption of them absurd.
43, 44, 45, 46, 47
Who deserve the Obedience due to natural Parents.
44
By Ʋ surpation.
49, 68
The
Fifth Commandment
how explain'd.
50
Who has the Right of Fathers.
58, 59
When it ceases.
59, 64
Embrace all their Children alike.
62
There is a sort of Tyrant that has no Father.
292
Favourites, not always the best of Men.
44, 45
Their influence over Princes.
96, 97
Whom the Monarch commonly makes such.
180
How their exorbitant Desires are gratify'd.
223
Faustina,
two of them, who by their Ascendency tarnish'd the Glory of
Antoninus Pius
and
Marcus Aurelius. 180
Fear, what it transports a wicked Man to do.
206
Renders Communitys gentle and cautious.
207
Puts People on desperate Courses.
218
What is the Measure of it to that Magistrate who is the Minister of God.
270
Fear, when, if ever, said to enter
Caesar
's Heart.
347
Felicity, Man's, where plac'd.
3, 4
Females,
vid.
Women.
Excluded from all Offices in the Commonwealth.
392
Figurative Expressions, all have their Strength only from Similitude.
389
Filmer,
his Right of all Kings.
1, &c. 84, 85, 86
Takes the World to be the Patrimony of one man.
1, 2, 205
Ʋ ses not one Argument but what is false, nor cites one Author but whom he has perverted or abus'd.
2, 289
And his Partisans, why reserv'd to this Age.
5, 343
His Business is to overthrow Liberty and Truth.
6, 419
His bitter Malice against
England. 9
Makes God the Author of Democracy.
11
His Lord Paramount over Children's Children to all Generations.
13, 14, 15
His Opinion, to whom all Kings are reputed next Heirs.
26
Where his Kingly Power
escheats
on independent Heads of Familys.
35, 42
His Adoption of Fathers of Provinces, for what.
45
His Notion, That we must regard the Power, not the means by which it is gain'd.
46, 67, 68, 155, 235, 322
His distinction between
eligere
and
instituere. 73, 74
His vile abusing of the Reverend
Hooker. 75, 80
His Notion of
begging a King. 80
Absolute Monarchy to be the Nursery of Vertue.
92
Attributing Order and Stability to it.
92, 122
Imputing much Bloodshed to
Rome
's popular Government.
105
His Backdoor, Sedition and Faction.
116, 118
His Opinion, That the worst men in
Rome
thriv'd best.
122, 125
That the Nature of all People is to desire Liberty without restraint.
133
His
Cypher
of the Form of mix'd Governments.
136, 137
That there is a Necessity upon every People to chuse the worst men, for being most like themselves.
148
His Description of the Tumults of
Rome. 179
Affirms that more men are slain in popular than absolute Governments.
185
Filmer,
the extent of his Crueltys of a Tyrant.
188
His attributing Ignorance and Negligence to popular Governments.
193
His Notion, That the Vertues and Wisdom of a Prince supply all Distempers of a State.
200
That there is no such Tyranny as that of a Multitude.
202
That Kings must be absolute.
207, 208
His Notion of a King's ceasing to be so.
207, 215
His Whimsy about Democracys.
216
That all the Peoples Libertys flow from the gracious Concessions of Princes.
220, 246
That there is no coming at a King, if he break his Contract with his People.
224
That a Father of a Family governs it by no other Law than his own Will.
228
That patient Obedience is due both to Kings and Tyrants.
228
That there were Kings, before any Laws were made.
229
That
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob,
and
Moses
were Kings.
241
That
Samuel
by telling what a King would do, instructed the People what they were to suffer.
242, 244
That Inconveniences and Mischiefs are some of the Essentials of Kingly Government.
245
That all Laws are the Mandates of Kings.
246
His ridiculous Saying,
Those that will have a King. 249
That the
Jews
did not ask a Tyrant of
Samuel. 252
That the Peoples Crys are not always an Argument of their living under a Tyrant.
254
That our Saviour limits and distinguishes Royal Power.
257
That the Tribute
Caesar
impos'd was all their Coin.
258
Cites
Bracton,
as a Patron of the absolute Power of Kings.
264
That St.
Paul
's
higher Powers
meant only a Monarch that carrys the Sword, &c.
266
That Kings are not bound by the positive Laws of any Nation.
273, 289
That the Original of Laws was to keep the Multitude in Order.
278
That Laws were invented for every particular Subject to find his Prince's Pleasure.
282
That Kings are above the Laws.
284
Filmer,
his Opinion when Princes degenerate into Tyrants.
286
That Tyrants and Conquerors are Kings and Fathers.
289
That the King swears to observe no Laws, but such as in his Judgment are upright, &c.
294
That Kings are not oblig'd by voluntary Oaths, &c.
297
His Principles animadverted on.
311, 312
That Obedience is due to a Command, tho contrary to Law.
314
That the King's Prerogative
to be above the Law,
is only for the good of them that are under it.
317
His equivocal King.
320
His Opinion, That the Law is no better than a Tyrant.
324
That a perfect Kingdom wherein the King rules by his own Will.
326
That the first Power was the Kingly in this Nation.
329
That all Judges receive their Authority from the King.
337
That the Power of Kings can't be restrain'd by Act of Parliament.
343
That the King is the Author, Corrector and Moderator of both Statute and Common Law.
346
His trivial Conceits about Parliaments, the time when they began, &c.
346, 349, 350
His Notion about Ʋ surpers and lawful Kings.
361
That the Libertys claim'd in Parliament, are Libertys of Grace from the King, and not of Nature to the People.
363
That the Peoples Language is submissive to the King, but his is haughty to them.
372
That Kings may call and dissolve Parliaments at pleasure.
383
Admires the profound Wisdom of all Kings.
386
A bitter Enemy to all Mankind.
407, 408
His Book here lately reprinted, as an
Introduction
to a Popish Successor.
408
His meaning of
Le Roy le veut. 416, 417, 418
Flatterers, what the vilest of them dare not deny.
7
What call'd by
Tacitus. 112
The
Hebrew
Kings not without them.
162
Their pernicious Advices to what end given.
165
Flatterers, weak Princes most subject to them.
170, 180, 182, 196
Cleanthes
's saying to
Aristippus. 181
By what
andle they lead their Princes.
190
Have made Valor ridiculous.
198
By whom thought the best Friends, and most worthy of great Trusts.
313, 314
The Author's wish, that Princes would abbor these Wretches.
341
Almost ever encompass crown'd Heads.
406
Fleets, when ours were very famous.
199
Florence,
the Seditions there, and in
Tuscany. 186
More depopulated now than any part of that Province, tho formerly in a few hours it could bring together
135000
well-arm'd men.
187, 318
Folly; Mankind does not universally commit, and perpetually persist in any.
36
Some are Fools at
40
years of Age.
201
Lord Chancellor
Egerton
said he did not sit to relieve Fools.
298
Force, where 'tis the only Law that prevails.
94
What the
Romans
gain'd by the Valor of their Forces.
109
All Defence terminates therein.
147, 215
Those that use it, must perfect their Work or perish.
153
Or Fraud, in opposition to the Laws of ones Country, is absolutely Monarchical.
179
When the
Spartan
Kings were overthrown by it.
210
Is generally mortal to those that provoke it.
215
To be us'd, when there is no help in the Law.
219, 279, 395
Can never create a Right.
222, 233, 367
The
French
under a Force they are not able to resist.
246, 247
What is gain'd by it may be recover'd the same way.
303, 367
When all Disputes about Right naturally end in force.
379
Forfeiture of Liberty, how it can be.
370
Fortune, of all things the most variable.
100
How Right is made a Slave to it.
167, 168
Of a Prince, supplys all natural Defects.
200
France,
the Salick Law there.
40, 78, 301, 302
France,
Her antient Kings Right how confer'd on them, and what was her antient Government.
77, 366
Her Revenge on
England
for all the Overthrows she receiv'd from our Ancestors.
114
Frequently divided into several Partys.
119
Her Races of Kings four times wholly chang'd.
120, 169, 170, 201, 212
The miserable condition of her People.
137, 171, 172, 198, 199, 378, 417
Her greatest Advantages have bin by the mistaken Counsels of
England. 138
Her bloody Contests and Slaughters for the Crown.
169, 170, 171, 172, 173
Had ten base and slothful Kings, call'd,
Les Roys faineans. 170, 201
The Regal Power limited.
172, 212
Had four Kings
depos'd
within
150
Years.
172
Civil Wars frequent there, tho not so cruel as formerly.
173
Compar'd with
Venice. 196
Her Soldiers running from their Colours.
198, 199
Her general Assemblys continu'd the exercise of the Sovereign Power, long after
Lewis
XI's Death.
211, 212
Had never any Kings but of her own chusing.
212
Henry
V. of
England
most terrible to her.
212
Their Laws made by themselves, and not impos'd on them.
212
The People have understood their Rights.
213
The reason of the Peoples Miserys.
246, 247, 251, 252
The Right to the Crown is in a great measure from the Law of that Country. Instances hereof.
306, 307
She does not allow her Kings the Right of making a Will.
307
By whom the Power of conferring the Sovereignty was exercis'd.
365
By the Peoples increasing the Power of their Master, they add weight to their own Chains.
378
Her King can't be call'd the Head of his People, and why.
392
Le Royle veut, & tel est notre plaisir,
are
French
Rants; but no Edict there has the Power of a Law, till it be register'd in Parliament.
417
The Conquest of her only to be effected by the Bravery of a free and well satisfy'd People.
420
Franks,
soon incorporated themselves with the
Gauls. 143
Fraud, accounted a Crime so detestable, as not to be imputed to any but Slaves.
342
All wicked Designs have bin thereby carry'd on.
388
Who delight in it, and will have no other Ministers but such as will be the Instruments of it.
419
Free, what Nations so esteem'd.
9, 318 Vid.
Popular Governments.
Men, how to know our selves such.
19, 65, 66, 89, 300, 318
People, scarce ever conquer'd by an absolute Monarch.
92, 98
Philip
of
Macedon
confest his People to be free men.
98
The
Britans
were so, because govern'd by their own Laws.
346
Men, or Noblemen, exempt from Burdens, and reserv'd, like Arms, for the uses of War.
354
Free Citys, what and who made them.
370
Frugality, the Vertues that are upheld by it.
250
Fruits of our corrupt Nature.
84
Own Labor.
86
Recover'd Liberty.
116
Victory, how gain'd and lost.
148
Always of the same Nature with the Seeds from whence they come.
196
G.
GEnealogys, the
Hebrews
exact in observing them.
23, 223
Of Princes nicely to be search'd into, would be dangerous to some Crowns.
36, 37, 39, 366
Of Mankind very confus'd.
36, 224, 302
Of being the eldest Son of the eldest Line of
Noah. 221
Geneva
and
Rome,
wherein they only can concur.
4
Genoa,
how it is govern'd.
115, 143
By whom that City was infected.
144
Gentlemen, at this day comprehends all that are rais'd above the common People.
353
Germanicus
his Modesty in refusing the Empire, was the occasion of his Death.
168, 298
Germany,
how govern'd.
115, 347
Equal to the
Gauls
in Fortune, so long as
Rome
was free.
150
The Power of the
German
Kings.
210
The Power of this Emperor.
211
Germany,
from thence our Original and Government is drawn.
270
When she had no King.
276
The Emperors thereof restrain'd by Laws.
279
The
Western
Empire, how it came hither.
303
Tacitus
's account of the Peoples Valor.
347
Not imaginable, that these People, jealous of Liberty, should conquer this Country to enslave themselves.
349
No Monarchy more limited.
373
Gibeonites
by deceit got
Joshua
to make a League with them.
298
Gladiators
were Slaves.
106, 111
Their Fury extinguish'd with their Blood.
111
God, with an equal hand, gave to All the Benefit of Liberty.
11
What sort of Kings he approves in
Scripture. 13
Can save by few as well as by many.
14
Always constant to himself.
24, 234
Never prescrib'd any Rule about dividing the World.
37
The Fountain of Justice, Mercy and Truth.
48, 55
By a universal Law gave no Rule for the making of Kings.
73
Is our Lord by Right of Creation.
89
How he endow'd the Rulers of his People.
92
His secret Counsels impenetrable.
100
What the usual course of his Providence.
113
Helps those who justly defend themselves.
147
His general Ordinance.
154
Gave Laws to the
Jews
only.
166
When he refus'd to bear the Crys of his People.
234, 240, 244
His Anointed and Accursed.
237
A Law in
Rome,
that no God should be worship'd without the Consent of the Senate.
272, 273
Good; every one seeks their own, according to the various motions of their Mind.
32, 66, 205
The Publick, the end of all Government.
79, 229, 255, 285, 286
Is more observ'd in mixt than absolute ones.
193
Of Mankind depends on Religion and Vertue.
190
Call'd Evil, and Evil Good.
267
Actions always carry a Reward with them.
312
Good and Evil, but three ways of distinguishing between them.
24
Good Men, who deserve to be call'd so.
1
How they obey their Princes.
180, 181
Know the weight of Sovereign Power, and doubt their own Strength.
394
Goodness is always accompany'd with Wisdom.
286
Gospel, the Light of the Spiritual Man.
190
Goths,
their Polity.
115, 321
For above
300
Years never contracted Marriages, nor mix'd with the
Spaniards. 143
Seiz'd
Rome,
whilst
Honorius
was looking after his Hens.
150
Subdu'd by the
Saxons
in one day.
198
Grew famous by the Overthrow of the
Roman
Tyranny.
261
Concerning Succession to the Crown during their Reign.
301
Not above four in
300
Years time were the immediate Successors of their Fathers.
304
In
Spain
overthrown by the
Moors. 305, 399
Their Kings in
Spain
never ventur'd to dispute with the Nobility.
345
Their Kingdom never restor'd.
399
Government, the Original Principles of it to be examin'd, and our own in particular.
6, 91
An Ordinance of God.
11, 13
The several Forms thereof left to Man's choice.
11, 13, 20, 32, 37, 38, 41, 58, 61, 65, 66, 83, 103, 115, 132, 134, 216
Of the lawfulness of changing it, consider'd.
12, 103, 116, 256
Despotical differs from the Regal.
14, 15, 51
The Ground of all just Governments.
19, 127, 137, 339
No Man has it either for or from himself.
24, 81, 155, 208, 290
None ever began with the
paternal
Power.
27
To whom the Constitution of every Government is refer'd.
32
All for the good of the People and their Posterity.
48, 60, 61, 67, 81, 85, 91, 108, 132, 146, 147, 149, 292, 333, 379
Is a
Collation
of every man's private Right into a publick Stock.
52, 64
Where just, it has ever bin the Nurse of Vertue.
52, 57
Popular sor whom best.
53
For whom instituted.
60, 63, 127
What sort was ordain'd by God.
86
The Effects of one well order'd.
100
What only deserves Praise.
109, 111
Government, how the best has bin compos'd.
115, 143
Regal had a mixture of Aristocratical and Democratical in them.
117
Whence the Denomination of all is taken.
117, 123, 216
The Foundation remaining good, the Superstructures may be alter'd.
118, 121, 122, 152, 256
When it cannot subsist.
124
The Effects of a disorder'd One.
125
All subject to Corruption and Decay.
131
None impos'd on men by God or Nature.
133, 137
Mixt compar'd with Absolute.
135, 407
What the only just one, by consent of Nations.
137
What may be imputed to it.
140
None ever freer from popular Seditions than
Switzerland. 145
That the best, which best provides for War.
146, 147, 149
None without Civil Wars, Tumults and Seditions.
152, 185, 186
The end for which it is constituted.
159, 160, 207, 371
The
Roman,
how introduc'd.
163
Expos'd to the most infamous Traffick.
182
Of what parts it may consist.
210
Is a great Burden to the Wise and Good.
218, 219, 280, 282, 292, 319
To reform it, is to bring it to its first Principles.
219, 399
Questions ari
ing concerning our own, must be decided by our Laws, and not by the Writings of the Fathers.
259
St.
Paul
's Obedience to higher Powers, must be understood to all sorts of Government.
266
What would make all in the World
magna Latrocinia. 274
When the Ends of it are accomplish'd.
320
Most of them have bin mixt, at least good ones.
321, 407
What only is reckon'd good.
327, 328
Our own the same with the
Roman
in principle, tho not in form.
342
From whence the great variety of them proceeds.
379
The
English,
not ill constituted.
38
By what means the Foundations may be remov'd, and the Superstructure overthrown.
381
In a well constituted one the Remedys against ill Magistrates are safe and easy.
39
Wisdom and Valor requir'd for the Institution of a good one.
400
Government, where it is either intirely to be chang'd, or reform'd according to its first Institution.
400
The Blessings of an Absolute one.
408
Its Establishment is an arbitrary Act, wholly depending upon the Will of man.
414
Governors appointed to execute the Laws for the good of the People.
52, 54, 63, 156, 399
The Law appoints helps for their Infirmitys, and restrains their Vices.
218
The Peoples Creature.
241, 249, 370, 397
Where they are removable, if they will not be reclaim'd.
399
The Good and Bad make the People happy and miserable in their turns.
407
Grants of K.
John
to the Pope, declar'd by Parliament to be unjust, illegal, &c.
296
What implys an
Annihilation
of some Grants.
328
Where they ought well to be prov'd, that the Nature and Intention of them may appear.
358
Of what nature those of our Kings are.
350
Of Lands, where they have bin resum'd.
360
Grecians,
knew no other Original Title to Government, than that Wisdom, &c. which was beneficial to the People.
30, 31
Wherein they excel'd other Nations.
92
Overthrew the vast Armys of the
Persians. 97, 98
Were reduc'd to yield to a Vertue greater than their own.
113
No absolute Monarch among them establish'd by Law.
122
Have bin by disorder in Government, expos'd as a Prey to the first Invader.
150
When they were happy and glorious.
185
Their Vertue expir'd with their Liberty.
195
The word
Tyrant
came from
Greece,
and what it signify'd.
253
Flourish'd in Liberty in the time of
Saul. 255
Grotius,
his Explanation of Sovereign and limited Power.
156, 214, 366
Wherein he justifys Subjects in taking up Arms.
190
His making St.
Peter
and St.
Paul
perfectly agree, about their different Phrases of
Ordinances of God,
and
Ordinance of Man. 268
His saying,
Qui dat finem, dat media ad finem necessaria. 384
Grotius,
about King's Stipulations, and Right of sending Ambassadors.
402
Guelphs
and
Ghibelins,
their Factions in
Tuscany. 111, 186, 187
Genoa
infected with their Factions.
144
Gustavus (Charles)
his confessing to an Ambassador how he ought to reign over the People that had chose him.
364, 365
He and his Ʋ ncle
Adolphus
were content with the Power that the Laws of their Country gave them.
387
H.
HAnnibal,
kill'd more great
Roman
Captains than any Kingdom ever had.
140
The
Samnites
Embassy to him.
140
How he lost the Fruit of all his Victorys.
150
When he invaded
Italy,
no Country seem'd to have bin of greater Strength.
186
What to be done, if he be at the Gates.
383
Hanseatick
Towns.
145
Hatred Ʋ niversal incur'd by Princes, who always fear those that hate them.
189, 192, 232
To all that is good.
191
Head, why Kings are call'd by this Name, and the import of the Word both in
Scripture
and
Profane
Authors.
388, 389
The differences between the Natural and Political.
389
What the Office of a Head is in a natural Body.
390, 391, 392
Hebrew
Judg different from a King.
85
Kings not instituted by God, but given as a Punishment.
85
How their Government consisted.
115, 143
Kings their Power exceeded the Rules set by God.
162, 215
What their Disciplin.
210
In their Creation of Judges, Kings, &c. had no regard to Paternity.
221
Like to their Neighbours in Folly and Vice, and would be like them too in Government.
234
Their Power greater than what the Law allows to our Kings.
261
Whether the Law given them by God be so perfect as to be obligatory to all Nations.
335
Heir reputed, the absurdity of the Notion.
26, 27, 28, 29, 31, 35, 42
Heir, next in Blood.
39, 40, 59, 60, 78, 79, 93, 365
Annex'd to one single Person.
62
All the Children of
Noah
were his Heirs.
62
Next to the Crown set aside.
78, 80, 305, 306, 307
Bellay
's extravagant Doctrin of an Heir apparent.
309
Enjoys the same Rights as the Parent, and devolves the same to his Posterity.
370
Hengist
and
Horsa,
on what Terms the County of
Kent
was given them.
357
Henry
IV. of
France,
how he desir'd to recommend himself to his People.
309
I. of
England,
whether he was an Ʋ surper or not.
361
V. His Care was to please his People, and to raise their Spirits.
418
Was terrible to
France. 212
His Character.
418, 419, 420
VI. Became a Prey to a furious
French
Woman.
418
VII. Had neither Cross nor Pile for his Title.
362
VIII. acknowledg'd the Power of the Parliament, in making, changing and repealing Laws.
287, 342
Heptarchy, when this was divided into
7
Kingdoms, each kept still the same Ʋ sage within it self.
348
Could as easily unite the
7
Councils as the
7
Kingdoms into one.
349
Hercules,
an account of him.
113
Hereditary Right can't naturally be in any.
38,
0
Prerogative of Dominion, how understood.
52
Right, as a Reward of Vertue.
68
How a Kingdom comes to be so.
76, 77
Crowns so as to their ordinary Course, but the Power restrain'd.
116
Monarchys, in them no care is taken of him that is to command.
149
According to Proximity of Blood, not prescrib'd by any Laws of God.
166
Children seldom prove like their Parents.
184
Crowns, five different ways of disposing them.
301
Heroum Regna. 31, 58, 229
The Government of whom.
221
History
Roman, Tacitus
says it wanted men to write theirs.
194
Hobbs,
scurrilously derides
Plato, Aristotle
and
Cicero. 32
His
Bellum omnium contra omnes. 37, 41, 311
Hobbs,
his
Hostis & Latro. 153
The first that contriv'd a compendious way of justifying Kings in the most abominable Perjurys.
295
Holland,
of great Strength since the Recovery of their Liberty from the
Spanish
Yoke.
98
The War with them in
1665. 199, 200
How they have defended themselves from the greatest Monarchys.
266
The States are call'd
High and Mighty Lords;
and the word
Heer,
which signifys
Lord,
is as common as
Monsieur
in
France, &c. 355, 373
The Condition of the
17
Provinces of the
Netherlands,
when they fell to the House of
Austria. 378
The Power of the
States-General
how limited.
402
Honors, the highest falsly attributed to ill men.
45
Given to ill-gotten Wealth.
55, 100, 101, 114, 182, 183
To suffering Vertue sometimes.
124
Where they have bin the Rewards of Vice.
129
To those who disserv'd the Common-wealth.
135, 136
Justly bestow'd on those that rightly perform their Duty.
157
From whom purchas'd.
182
Given for Services done to the Publick.
223
Princes could not without breach of Trust confer them upon those that did not deserve them.
350
Hooker,
his Mistake in the fundamentals of natural Liberty.
10
His admirable Saying about lawful Powers.
74
Slighted by
Filmer. 80.
vid.
10
Hottoman
his Character and Account of the
French
Kings.
212
Human Nature, the miserable State of it, if not improv'd by Art and Disciplin.
256
Frailty, Allowances must be made for it.
324
Hurt,
They do none who do nothing,
where this Rule is false.
170
I.
JAmes
I. (King) his Saying about his making of Judges and Bishops.
190
Acknowledges himself the Servant of the Common-wealth.
214
Said he was sworn to maintain the Laws, and should be perjur'd if he broke them.
286, 416
James
II. what we might expect from him.
408
Japhet,
this part of the World seems by the
Scriptures
to be given to his Sons.
302
Jealousy of State.
168, 175
Jesuits join'd to
Geneva. 4
To be believ'd with caution.
58
The present Emperor of
Germany
too much govern'd by them.
387
The Soul that gives Life to the whole Body of the
Popish
Faction.
408
The Order banish'd out of the Kingdom by an Arrest of the Parliament of
Paris,
but refus'd by those of
Tholouse
and
Bourdeaux. 417
Jews
had a great Veneration for the House of
David,
and why.
81
Grown weary of God's Government.
89, 252
Had leave to destroy their Enemys.
94
Idolaters among them in
David
and
Hezekiah
's days.
129
Idolatry the production of the Government they had set up.
162, 163, 209
Submit to the
Roman
Power.
257
Thought
Christ
's first Work would be to throw off the
Roman
Yoke.
259
Being converted, thought themselves freed from the Obligation of human Laws.
271
Some pretend to know their Original.
302
A Proclamation to extirpate them.
407
Imperator,
a Name given by the
Roman
Armys to Pretors and Consuls.
368
Imperium summum summo modo, modo non summo, Liberrimum. 78, 156, 366
Ab eo à quo Spiritus. 369
Imposing on Peoples Consciences.
144
On some Princes how easy it is.
182
Incolae,
who they are at
Venice. 115
Distinction between them here and
Cives. 384, 385
Indemnity, the assurance of it would turn mens other Vices into Madness.
225
Industry, what is a Spur to it.
193
Infancy,
vid.
Child.
Inheritance, the common division of it among Brothers.
62, 63
Where it gave no Right to Crowns.
77, 80
To one Family.
78, 80, 93
Of the Sword left to Familys.
95
What the
Apostles
left to their Successors in relation to the supreme Power on Earth.
160
Private, many Controversys arise upon them.
166
Inheritance; what Right is equally inherited by all Children on the Death of their Parents.
220
William
I. did not leave the Kingdom as such at his Death.
271
What belongs to Females.
302
Little regard to it in the
Austrian
House according to Blood.
309
In some Places the Law gives private Inheritance to the next Heir, in others makes Proportions and Allotments.
309
Injurys, the ways to prevent or punish them, either judicial or extrajudicial.
154, 160
Great ones, will one time or other fall on those that do them.
215
The
Italians
say, he that does an Injury never pardons.
232
Those that are extreme, when so to be understood.
287
Injustice, what is so in the beginning, can never be the effect of Justice.
327
Inquisition of
Spain
and other Places.
273, 408
Instinct, what.
87
Institution, he that institutes may also abrogate.
12, 48, 287
Is an Election.
73
Of a Kingdom is the Act of a free Nation.
213, 250
No Prince had a more solemn one than
Saul. 235
Some Kings have by it but little Power.
261
The Magistrates Prerogatives depend upon it.
275
Of Power is coercive.
277
When Princes deflect from the end of theirs.
284
Wherein the End of it chiefly consists.
311, 320
Often the Corruption of the State is taken for it.
332
They who institute a Magistracy, best know whether the end of the Institution be rightly pursu'd or not.
364, 394
Integrity of Manners makes Laws as it were useless.
128
Never subservient to the Lust of Princes.
129
Makes men contented with a due Liberty.
135
Preserves popular Equality.
161
Can't be found in absolute Governments.
184
Preserves the Peoples Safety.
250
Interest, what advantages are reap'd from uniting the Nations to that of the Government.
197
Interest, Personal, prefer'd to the publick Good.
250
Interregnum,
that there can be none, a fundamental Maxim of great Monarchys.
166
John
's (King) Grants to the Pope declar'd by the Parliament unjust, illegal.
296
Josephus
of the
Jewish
Government.
84
On what account he calls it a Theocracy and an Aristocracy.
87, 216
Says, their Princes were to do nothing without the advice of the
Sanhedrin,
or to be oppos'd if they did.
209
Joshua,
had neither the Name nor Power of a King.
85, 230
Isaac,
his Character.
15
Israelites,
had no Kings in the first Institution of their Government.
30
Nor till
400
Years after.
331
Strangers only excluded from being Kings.
74
Their Government Aristocratical.
84
What the effect of their having Kings.
94, 215
After
Solomon,
perpetually vex'd with civil Seditions and Conspiracys, &c.
162
Ask'd for a Tyrant (tho not by that Name) when they ask'd for a King after the manner of other Nations.
252
Not known certainly by what Law they were govern'd.
331
Liv'd under the Power of Tyrants whose Proclamations were Laws.
409
Italy,
when she lay desolate.
100, 164
How her Common-wealths have flourish'd and decay'd.
111, 112, 149, 151, 164, 186, 187
Charles
VIII. of
France
conquer'd the best part of it without breaking a Lance.
138, 150, 236
Judg, where every Man is to be his own.
65, 66, 286, 387, 397
Who shall be between Prince and People.
158, 159, 284, 285, 310, 333
No Prince fit to be judg of his own Facts.
284, 285, 318, 397, 399
The Power of judging when 'tis fit to call the Senate or People together, to whom and by whom refer'd.
364, 383
The Parliament the best Judg in dubious Cases.
386, 387, 399
Where 'tis not fit to be a Judg in his own Case.
398
Judges (such as
Joshua, Gideon,
&c.) whether their Power was regal and just or not.
23, 24, 226
Whether there be any concerning Kings Titles.
166
Judges, the Power of making them.
190
Sometimes the Courts are fill'd with ill ones.
192, 338
Appointed to decide the Contests arising from the breach of Contracts.
225
Their Opinion concerning
Ship-mony. 249, 403
The Religion of their Oath.
283, 288, 323, 337, 338, 339
Parliament own'd by Kings to be Judges of their Stipulations.
297
What they ought to be, and in what sense chosen by the King.
323
Who were executed as
Traitors
for subverting the Laws of the Land.
323, 338, 403
What Act
Edw. 3.
promoted for his Judges to do Justice.
324
The general Rule they are sworn to observe.
325, 338, 403
The Power by which they act is from the Law.
336, 337, 338
When they become the Ministers of the Devil.
341
The sad consequence of having all Kings constituted Judges over the Body of the People.
386, 387, 397, 399
To determin Controversys in a matter of Right.
398
Whose Commands they are bound to obey.
403
Judgment perverted, the ill effects of it.
7
Future, not sufficient to restrain men from being vitious.
264
Here they are pass'd by Equals.
338
Those the Kings of
Judah
gave, were in and with the
Sanhedrin. 338
None that is right can be given of human things, without a particular regard to the time wherein they pass'd.
381
Kings can give none upon any of their Subjects, and why.
401, 402, 403
Human is subject to Error.
418
Jurys,
Grand
and
Petit,
their Power.
323, 338
How the Judges are Assistants to them.
338
In whose sight they give their Verdict.
403
Justice, has always Truth for its Rule.
28, 59
What the proper Act of it.
54
Of every Government depends on an Original Grant.
67
Has sometimes bin perverted by the deceit of ill men.
124, 324
The Sword of it for what Ʋ se and End.
154
Where it will be expos'd to sale.
183
Justice, the Rule of Civil and Moral Actions.
190
How well administer'd in Republicks.
266
What is meant by it.
272, 274
The distribution of it justly, is a Work above the Strength of one Man.
282
When the Course of it is certainly interrupted.
312
Deviations from it.
324
Where it is best administer'd.
333
Overthrown by the number of Laws.
337
In receiving it the King is equal to another man.
338
Magistrates made to see it well executed.
399
K.
KAtherine de Medicis
said never to have done any good but by mistake.
125
Kingcraft, what.
202, 213, 214
Was wholly exerted in the subversion of the Laws of
France,
and the Nobility that supported them.
418
Kingdom, the Patriarchs had a spiritual one.
14, 15
No paternal one among the
Hebrews. 23
Thought never to be bought at too dear a rate.
30
How the first Kingdoms were set up.
35
What are lawful ones.
52
What it imports.
76
One possest by nine several Familys within
200
Years.
95
All have their various Fluctuations, thro ill Disciplin or Conduct.
96, 147
The greatest have bin destroy'd by Commonwealths.
149
Disputes about them most difficult and dangerous, and very bloody in several Instances.
166, 169, 170
Of
France
divided by the Estates of the Realm.
213
Not establish'd but for the good of the People.
218
Of
Granada,
their Ʋ sage of their Princes.
218
All erected at first by the Consent of Nations.
222
Frequently reduc'd to their first Principles.
222
Some
Elective,
some
Hereditary,
and how directed.
365, 366
Constituted by conquering Armys, and those establish'd in the most orderly manner.
367
And States, how they came to be erected.
371
Kings, the Prerogative or Royal Charter granted to them.
2, 57
The end of their Institution.
4, 5, 12, 32, 34, 48, 54, 55, 67, 77, 191, 340, 399
Whether they may be restrain'd or censur'd.
5, 12, 35, 50, 116, 156, 158, 159, 209, 215, 218, 239, 277, 278, 366, 369, 384, 396
In what sense they are like other men.
7, 43, 89
Evil ones will have evil Ministers.
7, 131
The relation between them and the People.
10
The only sort mention'd in
Scripture
with approbation.
13, 85, 250, 321
The first a cruel Tyrant.
16
Who taken from out of the least Family of the youngest Tribe.
23
All not the natural Fathers of their People.
26
Whom the Antients chose for theirs.
30, 31, 60, 85
Not all of them wise.
43, 201, 386
A King by Nature, who.
54, 56, 58, 90, 95, 268, 327
No design to speak irreverently of them.
71, 131
Set up by the Nobles, Antients and People.
72, 74, 76, 77, 80, 108, 213, 215, 290, 305
All not alike in Power, nor Spirit and Principle.
77, 286
Some good and some bad.
387, 407
Whether any are immediately so on the Death of the Predecessor, and before they are proclaim'd.
80, 81, 166
Given in Wrath.
85, 86, 117, 308
426700
Kings.
88
Many great Ones o'erthrown by small Republicks.
92
Few possess the Qualitys requisite.
94, 184, 208, 217
The Name thereof abolish'd.
116, 275, 276
Regis ad exemplum,
not always so in all.
129
A vertuous one, but a momentary help sometimes, when his Vertues die with him.
139, 171, 184
Whether those may be thrown down that set up themselves.
159
The Slothful and Negligent accounted great Evils.
170, 171, 172, 175, 192, 194
The best liable to be corrupted, and subject to Mistakes and Passions.
180, 318, 397
Who said to be like a
Phaenix. 184
Kings, none so vitious but will sometimes favor Justice.
188
Apt to live under the Power of their Lusts.
190
Wherein just ones will find their Honor and Security.
193
Where lawful ones have prov'd equal to the worst Ʋ surpers.
189
Whose Condition most miserable, and why.
201, 202
Some have experience as men, but not otherwise.
202
The Name can't make a King, unless he be one.
205, 374
Have a Power of granting Honors, Immunitys, &c. out of the publick Stock.
208, 220, 350, 385
None to have more Power or Abilitys to perform his Office than
Moses. 209
Advanc'd by
abjuring
their Religion.
213
Ʋ nder the happy Inability to do any thing against the Laws of their Country.
213, 214, 218, 226, 280, 309, 322, 394
Where they have their share (and the
Senate
theirs) of the supreme Authority, the Government is best supported.
214
Have found out now easier ways of doing what they please.
219
How there would be as many Kings in the World as men.
221
If they have no Title, they must be made so either by Force or Consent.
222, 233
The consequence of being unaccountable.
225
Have no other just Power than what the Laws give.
227, 250
The safety of their Kingdoms, their chiefest Law.
228
The first were of the
accursed Race,
while the
holy Seed
had none.
230
By what wicked means many of them have come in.
231
Of
Israel
and
Judah
under a Law not safely to be transgrest.
238
Why those of
Israel
committed many extravagances.
238
Judg'd by the Great
Sanhedrin. 239
This sort of Government the Peoples Creature.
241, 249, 370, 375, 399, 410, 411
Not to claim the Liberty of doing Injustice in virtue of their Prerogative.
242, 243
Bound up to the Laws as to matters of Property.
247
Not to be too powerful, nor too rich.
249, 250
Kings of
Israel,
tho they led vast Armys into the Field, seem to have possest but little.
251
What their Government ought to be.
253
Of
England
reign by Law, and are under it, and why.
258, 261, 264, 404
What will indear them to their People.
262
The Sovereign Power often meant by this Name.
263
What meant by lawful Ones.
265, 283, 290
Why those of
Judah
could make no Laws.
269
May be fear'd by those that do ill.
269, 270
How made in the
Saxon
times.
270
What those of the greatest Nations have suffer'd.
274
What is
that King
which never dies.
283, 403
Cannot mitigate or interpret Laws.
287,
&c.
When said to become
perjur'd. 286
Not Masters but Servants of the Common-wealth.
290.
vid.
214
Can't be Interpreters of their own Oaths.
294
Compel'd to perform the conditions of
Magna Charta. 296, 297
May
resign,
if they will not observe their Oaths.
299, 300
Next in Blood, generally cannot be said to be Kings till they are crown'd.
301, 303
How he is not to be heard.
324
The Regal Power, not the first in this Nation.
329
Where the same Power that had created this Government, abolish'd it.
331
What our Ancestors did with relation to them.
331
Judges rightly qualify'd are to instruct them in matters of Law.
337
Wherein they are equal to other men.
338
None as such have the Power of judging any.
338, 340, 401, 402
Where they cease to be so, and become Tyrants.
340
Their Power not restrain'd, but created by
Magna Charta
and other Laws.
343
What is natural for the worst of them to do.
344
The
Norman,
had no more Power than the
Saxon,
and why.
349
Tacitus
says, they were taken out of the Nobility.
350
Kings, said to be chosen, or made, and sometimes
depos'd
by their Great Councils.
356, 384
Never Masters of the Soil of
England. 357, 370, 371
Why they speak always in the plural number.
359
The Titles of ours examin'd into.
362
Whom the Parliament have made are lawful, or we have had none for these
700
Years.
362
Their Power of calling Parliaments was given to them.
363, 383
Naturally delight in Power, and hate what crosses their Wills.
366, 413
The most absolute Princes in the World never had this Name.
368
Some subject to a
Foreign
Power, some
Tributary,
and the
Romans
had many depending upon them.
369
The Acts of one
de facto,
consider'd.
374, 375
Wherein the Essence of a King consists.
374
Deter'd from endeavouring to seduce any of their great men from their Duty.
381
Who are a great calamity to a Nation.
383, 419
Who only are the
Heads
of the People.
388, 390, 391, 392
If their Actions are to be examin'd, and their Persons punish'd.
396
None less capable oftentimes of forming a right Judgment than they, and why.
397
Nor can be present in all their Courts.
401
Don't stipulate for themselves, but their People.
402
In what cases they are perpetually
Minors. 403
Their Power not universal, for many things they cannot do.
403
May in some degree mitigate the vindictive Power of the Law.
404
The advantage of their being restrain'd.
407
Not created to make Laws, but to govern by them; and what is signify'd by
le Roy le veut. 417, 418
Are sworn to pass such Laws as the People chuse.
417, 419
King's-Bench, for what end establish'd.
340
The King that renders Justice is always there, &c.
403
Knight's Service, what.
352
Knighthood, the Dignity of it, and what was accounted a degrading.
352, 353
Knights of
Shires
in the
Saxon
times.
353
L.
LAWS, the prevalency of them over Sovereign Commands.
2, 9
Who best obeys them.
4
The end of them is to enjoy our Libertys.
9, 10, 262, 330
Invest Magistrates with Power for the publick good.
34, 61
Of
England
acknowledg one only Heir.
38, 62
Said to be
written Reason. 55
Have in 'em a constraining Force.
74
To whom the Power of making them belongs.
75, 76, 281
Are the measure of Power.
76, 78, 90, 208, 219, 403, 404
Of each Country create a Right to the Person that governs it.
77
Prescribe Rules how Power should be transmitted.
78
Where good ones do no good.
92, 231
To be suted to present Exigences.
103, 120
Make no distinction of Persons.
125
Lex perduellionis. 127
Made in a sort useless by integrity of Manners.
129
Abhorrers
of the Dominion of it.
133
Instituted for the preventing of Evil.
154, 159, 214, 300
Those that go beyond them act therein as private Persons.
156
Who most restrain'd by them.
158
Subsist by executing Justice.
159, 230
Concerning the Succession.
166, 280
Tricks at Law to put men to death.
168, 192
When in force, men of Wisdom and Valor are never wanting.
176
When they were overthrown.
188
The Despisers destroy'd without Law.
210, 214
Don't always go by plurality of Voices.
217
Of every place, show the Power of each Magistrate.
225
Were before Kings.
229
Proofs hereof.
230, 278
Of God, not to be abrogated by Man.
239
Our Kings can make none of themselves.
261, 287, 366
We know none but those of God and our selves.
262
Are not made in vain.
264
Some neither just nor commendable; Instances thereof.
272, 273, 336
Laws; the directive Power, which is certain, has a Power over the Conscience.
273
The Sanction that deserves the Name of a Law.
274, 281, 320, 333, 336
To what end made as to Magistrates.
278, 279
Princes and Nations both Gainers by the due observance of them.
280, 283, 299, 300, 394, 395
That is not a State or Government which has them not.
281
Athenians
not without them when they had Kings.
ibid.
How said to be above the King.
283
Can only be alter'd in Parliament.
287, 288, 336, 345
For what reason establish'd: an Encomium.
288
Who violate those of Nature in the highest degree.
292
Of ones Country to be submitted to.
302
Of Nature, eternal.
302, 306
By whom the rigor of it is to be temper'd.
323
None made by man can be perfect.
326, 336, 337, 343
By them Kings became first what they were.
331, 343
Those good for one People, that are not so for all.
334, 335
The Statute of
Henry
VII. concerning a King
de facto,
for what end made.
374, 375
Plain ones have bin industriously render'd perplext.
382
Good ones prescribe safe Remedys against the Mischiefs of ill Magistrates.
393, 394
Where they are merciful both to ill and good men.
394
Should aim at perpetuity.
406
The Mischiefs effected by a Persons Word having the force of a Law.
407
When they may be easily overthrown, it will be attempted.
414
What gives the Power of Law to the Sanctions under which we live.
416
Leagues, don't imply absolute Equality between Partys.
80
With conquer'd Nations.
106
League-Factions and Wars of the
Hugonots. 119, 120
How faithfully they have bin observ'd.
145
Men cannot too much rely upon them.
145, 146, 147
Those that make such as are detrimental to the Publick are punishable.
157
Leagues, Made against the
Hollanders. 266
Of
Joshua
with the
Gibeonites
gain'd by deceit.
298
Made on a national, not personal Account.
402
Learning makes men excel in Vertue.
97
Said to make men seditious, but disprov'd.
91, 123
Legislative Power of
Rome
and
Sparta
continu'd in the People.
104, 108, 269
When it came to be scorn'd.
106
The Magistratical Power receives its Being and Measure from hence.
277
Can't be confer'd by the Writ of Summons, but must be essentially and radically in the People.
409
Is always arbitrary.
414
Only trusted in the hands of those who are bound to obey the Laws that are made.
416
The King can't have it in himself, nor any other part of it than what is formal.
418, 420
Legislators should always be of the wisest men.
74, 75
Wherein their Wisdom consists.
121
Wherein they shew themselves wise and good.
414
Legitimacy contracted.
79
vid.
Bastardy.
Some Children, tho born in Wedlock, utterly rejected as being begotten in Adultery.
310
Lewis
XI. his subverting the Laws of his Country.
211
XIV. accounted his not being able to act contrary to Law, a happy impotence.
309
Liberty, the Notions thereof, and from whence.
3, 5, 11
Natural, the consequence if remov'd.
5
Wherein it solely consists.
9, 290
Filmer
's notion of the greatest Liberty in the World.
9
Oppugners of publick Liberty.
10
Ʋ niversal asserted, and what that is.
15, 21, 38, 65
The Assertors thereof have God for their Patron.
52, 132
Produces Vertue, Order, Stability.
92, 123
The loss of it in the
Roman
Empire.
95, 96, 98, 99, 107, 111, 126, 329
The Mother and Nurse of Vertues.
95, 98, 111, 141, 181, 188, 195
Made the most vertuous People in the World.
112
Liberty, when subverted, the worst men thrive best.
125, 126
How our natural Love to it is temper'd.
133
None sought it but with some restraint.
135
What the Love of it inspires.
140.
v.
p. 123
At home, and War abroad.
141
When this is lost, Kingdoms and States come to nothing.
149.
v.
98, 111, 112
Patricians
the best Defenders of it.
153
The way to recover it.
160
Can't be preserv'd, if the Manners of the People be corrupted.
180
None remain'd in
Rome,
when
Sylla
resign'd his Power.
188
When lost, excellent Spirits fail'd.
194, 195
A People can desire nothing besides it.
207
Can't subsist, if Vice and Corruption prevail.
219
Is a Right common to all.
220, 221
God gave the
Israelites
this Law.
240
Who have no true sense of it.
245
Our Ancestors left us the best Laws they could devise to defend it.
262
All by the Law of Nature have a Right to their Libertys, Lands, Goods, &c.
292, 358
What Principles make men Lovers of it.
311
None can subsist where there is an absolute Power above the Law.
318
Where 'tis destroy'd by the Prerogative.
319
Of a People, naturally inherent in themselves.
330, 358, 370
The value our Ancestors set upon theirs.
336, 371, 412
None has better defended them than this Nation.
342, 412
To it
Tacitus
attributes the
German
Bravery.
347
What is the utmost Act of it.
349
The exercise of the natural Liberty of Nations, in the several Limitations of the Sovereign Power.
366
Of a People, the Gift of God and Nature.
369
Forfeited or resign'd.
370
No Veneration paid to Magistrat es can lessen the Liberty of a Nation.
372
Nothing valuable to it in the Opinion of the
Romans. 377
Easy to get Partizans to make good by force the greatest Violations of it.
380
Liberty, how to use ones own with relation to the Publick.
397
Liberty with a Mischief. 409, 410, 411
Of those who act in their own Persons, and of those who send Delegates, is perfectly the same.
411
That for which we contend as the Gift of God and Nature, remains equally in all.
411
Lineal Subjection never learn'd from
Moses. 58
Succession, where not follow'd.
78, 79
London,
the Privilege of the
Common-Hall. 385
Lord Paramount, over whom.
13, 14, 15, 16
From whence he must come.
21
None by nature over his Brethren.
63
The Mischiefs they both do and suffer are very great.
218
Lords, how they have lost the Authority which they had formerly.
382
Lord's-day, not to be spent in Sports and Revellings.
315
Love to ones Country, Common-wealths have it most.
139, 141, 142
The happy effects of it.
140
A Resolution to die for, or live with it.
140, 144, 146
The way to make People in love with it.
146, 172, 196
This now turn'd into a care of private Interest.
151, 152
The Behaviour of those that are Lovers, &c.
172, 195
Occasions sometimes Wars and Tumults.
186
Loyalty, those that boast loudest of it, most apply it the wrong way.
219
Lucullus,
his little Army put
Tygranes
with
200000
men to flight.
98
Luxury of the
Romans,
the occasion of their ruin.
114
Brought into
Rome
by
C. Manlius. 128
Exposes the vertuous to scorn.
181
When in fashion, the desire of Riches must increase.
183
The bravest Nations most enslav'd by it.
252
Lycurgus,
his Laws receiv'd their Authority from the General Assembly.
269, 281
Absurd to think of restoring his Laws.
334
To what the long continuance of them is attributed.
406
M.
MAcedonian
Kings, their Power was but small.
98
Their Army overthrown by
Paulus Emilius. 147
Vid.
Monarchy.
Machiavel,
his admirable Saying.
92, 205
Magi,
who usurp'd the Dominion of
Persia
after the Death of
Cambyses. 155
Magistracy, can have no Interest distinct from the public.
48, 129
Its Office is to execute the Law.
48, 154, 320
If the People be base, &c. it can't be supported, be the Ruler never so perfect.
132, 164
Whether it be that Power which above all restrains Liberty.
133
Strangers admitted into that of
Rome. 142
The effect of regal Power committed to an annual or otherwise chosen Magistracy.
148, 194
None can have the Right of it that is not a Magistrate.
155
Where it had nothing to do in spiritual things.
259, 260
The Ordinance both of God and Man.
268, 275, 276, 277
Circumscrib'd by such Rules as can't be safely transgrest.
270, 394
Where Obedience is due.
273, 274, 275
On what the Right and Power of it depends.
275
The Nature of it.
372, 373
None now in being, which owes not its Original to some Judgment of the People.
400
Magistrates, by whom constituted.
6, 54, 61, 224, 317
To what end set up.
32, 48
Ministers of God.
48, 257
How they are helpful to Nations.
55, 85, 383, 390
Ʋ nder several Names and Limitations.
78, 225
Jewish,
wherein like the Dictators of
Rome. 86
Punishable with Death by the
Roman
Law.
127, 156, 157
Annual Election of them.
140
Have enjoy'd large Powers, that never had the name of Kings.
158
How to be restrain'd.
159, 278, 279, 394
A particular Character of good and evil ones
312, 313
Magistrates, when they were temporary and occasional.
331
Walk in obscure and slippery Places.
394
What to be done to those who despise the Law.
395
Wherein their Strength is.
398
The first may be vertuous, but their Successors may soon be corrupted.
414
Magna Charta
grounded on K.
Alfred
's Laws.
9
The
Jews
had none such.
258
What it obliges the King to swear to.
283
Puts every thing on the Laws of the Land, and Customs of
England. 288
Is only an Abridgment of them.
296, 356
Not the Original, but a Declaration of the
English
Libertys.
343, 414
The Rights the Nation have resolv'd to maintain.
356
Male-Line examin'd.
40, 167, 267
Malice, is blind.
127
Seditions, &c. arise from thence.
152, 153
Mamalukes,
their great defeat near
Tripoli
by
Selim. 128
Accounted themselves all Noble, tho born Slaves,
356
Man naturally free.
3, 19, 369, 370
Every one Chief in his own Family.
13, 18
Can't overthrow what God and Nature have instituted.
17, 262, 263
Creates Governments and Magistrates.
20
None knows originally from whom he is deriv'd.
23, 25, 36, 302
Whence his Misery proceeds.
55
Wants help in all things.
55, 406
What makes a natural difference among men.
57
All subject to Error.
106, 165, 280
Enters into some kind of Government by Reason.
134
Follow what seems advantageous to themselves.
196
What every one ought to be.
231
None can serve two contrary Interests.
255
Are all by Nature equal.
327
Where every one is a Magistrate.
383
Mannors, &c. enjoy'd by Tenure from Kings.
359
Marriages, often declar'd null.
79
Of
Plebeians
with
Patricians. 103, 118, 121
Where prov'd of no force to legitimate Children.
310
Marriages, a Power must be lodg'd somewhere to decide them.
310
Masters, how far their Commands are binding.
314, 315
Only to decide Contests between them and their Servants.
398
Maxims, nothing to be receiv'd as a general one, which is not generally true.
292
Mazarine,
the ways of his Advancement.
184
Medices,
of the Title of that Family to
Tuscany. 378
Members of Parliament sent to serve for the whole Naiion, not for a particular Borough, &c.
410
Instructions are often given to them.
412
Have no Power before they are chosen, nor ever could, if those that send them had it not in themselves.
413
Must take care that the Common-wealth receives no detriment by their Votes.
ibid.
A few possibly may be corrupted.
415
Mercenary Army,
vid. Soldiery.
Their Business is to keep on their Employment.
138
Soldiers, always want Fidelity or Courage.
147, 198
Courtiers, will expose not only Honors, but even Justice to Sale.
182, 183
Wretches, their Power at Court.
184
Augustus Caesar
had thirty Legions of them to execute his Commands.
329
Merit, men rarely make a right Estimate of their own.
165
The way of Advancement to Honor.
194
What preserves, and what abolishes it.
196
Mickle-Gemots
were General Assemblys of the Noble and Free men.
348, 354, 384
They set up seven Magistrates over the
Heptarchy. 349
Of what they were in the beginning of the
Saxons
Reign.
384
Miltiades,
his Desire to wear an Olive-Garland for his Victory at
Marathon,
and the Answer given to him.
222
Ministers, according to the Temper and Genius of the Prince.
7
Of the Devil, who.
37, 48, 51, 267, 273, 274
Of God, who.
48, 49, 118, 192, 267, 273, 274
Must receive their Dignity from a Title not common to all.
269
Every Man by his Works will declare whose he is.
272
Ministers, the Devils of a lower Order.
314
Of God, how they may become the worst of men.
322
What sort have seldom escap'd Punishment.
324
Of the Devil, have always carry'd on their Designs by fraud.
388
Mistakes in Punishments carefully repair'd by Honors.
106
Seditions, Tumults and Wars arise from thence.
152
None in
Sparta
after
Lycurgus
's Laws were establish'd.
153
That some have fallen into by the Form of Writs, summoning Persons to appear before the King, rectify'd.
401
Mithridates,
what reckon'd the greatest danger of War with him.
98
Monarchs, who have their Right from God and Nature.
9
Ought to consult the publick good.
34
How most came to their Dignitys.
117
Are not above the Law.
291
Monarchy, Paternal, over whom exercis'd.
17
Whence so call'd.
19
For whom best.
53
No natural propensity in Men and Beasts to it.
82, 83
How
Aristotle
commends it.
90, 91
Mix'd, regulated by Law.
93, 96, 129, 135
Of
Rome,
at first not absolute.
108
Most have suffer'd far greater Changes than
Rome. 110
Macedonian
fell all to pieces after the Death of
Alexander. 119, 163
In what sense said to be natural.
132
A peaceable one in
Peru
for
12
Generations.
164, 165
The
French
has bin full of Blood and Slaughter.
172, 173.
v.
137
The gentlest more heavy than any Common-wealth.
175
All subject to Civil Wars.
ibid.
Well regulated, when its Powers are limited by Law.
207
The Justice of them establish'd by common Consent.
208.
v.
72, 73, 80, 137, 155
Why so call'd.
216.
v.
117, 123
Nothing in the Nature and Institution of it that obliges Nations to bear with its Exorbitances.
232
What sort was displeasing to
Samuel,
and a rejection of God.
240
Paternal, overthrown by
Filmer. 249
Not universally evil.
253
Monarchy, where it is regular, Kings can neither make nor change Laws.
283
None establish'd among us in
Julius Caesar
's time.
331
Mix'd, what the best way to support it.
381
What has given Beginning, Growth and Continuance to all the mix'd ones in the World.
407
That not free, which is regulated by a Law not to be broken without the Guilt of Perjury.
416
When the mix'd Monarchys began to be terribly shaken.
418
Mony,
Charles
VII. of
France
rais'd it by his own Authority.
418
Moses
and
Aaron,
the first Rulers of the People, neither of the eldest Tribe, nor eldest Line.
23
His admirable Gifts.
25, 92, 282
Had not the Name, or Power of a King.
61, 85, 230
Gave the People leave to chuse their own Magistrates.
121
Divided the
Hebrews
under several Captains.
143
Power insupportable to him.
282
His Character.
209, 284, 390
Whether we ought to conform to his Law.
335, 336
Multitude, what Right it has to change a Tyrannical Government.
12
Compos'd of Free men; the Power that is plac'd in them.
65
None can be seditious till a Common-wealth be establish'd.
70
Those that enter into Contracts, act according to their own Will.
71
Where it brings Confusion.
146
Is the Glory and Strength of every Prince.
191
May have its Fears as well as Tyrants.
207
Confers on the Prince all the Power he has.
221
What is natural thereto in relation to Government.
224
Murderers wilful, the Horns of the Altar gave no Protection to such.
269
Mysterys of State.
6
N.
NAmes, are not essential to Magistrates.
368
Of Sovereign Lord, &c. consistent with Liberty.
372, 373
Nothing of Majesty among the
Romans
and
Grecians
to a single Person.
373
Names, there must be some us'd in all publick Transactions.
402
Not to be regarded so much as the Power.
411
Nations, what their Rights are.
6, 298, 321, 326, 341, 343, 345, 366, 380, 411, 420
That went from
Babylon,
how many.
16, 18, 20, 21, 22, 28, 36, 66, 220
Natural for them to chuse Governors.
51, 58, 61, 137, 277, 321
Northern,
their Governments how instituted.
69, 214, 352
Free, never conquer'd but with difficulty.
98
Oppress'd, can never grow wanton.
107
None safe without Valor and Strength.
109, 345
Foreign,
call'd in by some Princes to destroy their own People.
189
Some sell their Children.
147
Slight matters sometimes bring them into Confusion. Instances thereof.
162
When they are most unquiet.
170, 171, 185
The wisest have set bounds to their Princes Power, &c.
218, 225, 250
Their Libertys are from God and Nature.
220, 233
Where they have taken the extremest Courses.
225
Owe nothing to Kings till they are Kings.
243, 304
What set limits to their Patience.
245, 246
What inclines them to set up Governments.
246
When All were govern'd by Tyrants.
255
Their Safety ought not to depend on the Will of their Princes.
288
What are free and what not.
318
Those that had no Kings had Power.
330
What shews best their Wisdom and Vertue, or their Vices and Folly.
335
Wherein their failure has bin too frequent.
338
This divided into
seven
Kingdoms.
349
None can have a Power over any, otherwise than
de jure,
or
de facto. 366
Obedience due from the whole Body, what.
376
Their Libertys don't rise from the Grants of Princes.
378
Delight in the Peace and Justice of a good Government.
379
What the most ready way to effect their Ruin.
382, 399, 400, 406
When oblig'd to remove the Evils they lie under.
396
Nations, none can have an Equal within it self.
398
One that is powerful cannot recede from its own Right.
398
What King none ever wants that has a Sovereign Power.
403
What those ought to do that are so happy as to have good Kings.
406
Great Ones never ordain'd by God to be Slaves.
411
Naturalization,
Rome
was for a general One.
142
Negative Voice, how far it is said to extend.
344
Le Roy s▪ avisera,
what meant by it.
373
Nero,
the Power of the State over him.
12, 261
His Endeavour to make a Woman of a Man.
43, 50
To tear up Vertue by the Roots.
50, 126, 191
Condemn'd to be put to death.
127, 274
What sort of Vermin be encourag'd.
129
Set the City on fire.
159, 189, 272
Dy'd by the hand of a Slave.
163, 261
His Character.
285
His Madness not to be cur'd but by his Death.
395
Nimrod
the first King.
15, 16, 20, 50, 229
Ʋ surp'd the Power over his Father, &c.
17, 232
Heir to no man as King.
27
Slain by
Ninus. ibid.
No Right can be deriv'd from him.
36, 38, 42
Erected his Kingdom contrary to paternal Right.
220, 330
Noah,
bore no Image of a King.
15, 330
His dividing of
Asia, Europe
and
Africa
among his Sons.
26
When he went out of the Ark, God gave him a Law sufficient for the State of things at that time.
230
None but his right Heir can have a Title to an universal Patriarchal Right.
265, 302
Nobility of
Rome
extirpated.
109
The
Roman
Power chiefly in them after the expulsion of the Kings.
118
Hold the Balance between the King and the Commons; when and how weaken'd.
172, 175
Of
Arragon
's Saying to their newmade King.
216
What our Ancestors meant by them.
350, 356, 360
The Strength of the Government when plac'd in them.
350, 382
Nobility, sometimes call'd
infinita Multitudo. 352, 354, 355
Knighthood always esteem'd Noble.
352
In
France,
&c. of what esteem.
353
The present Titular has no Affinity to the antient Nobility of
England. 354
Of
Venice
and
Switzerland
what makes them so.
355
Their Vertue and Power formerly kept the Kings within the limits of the Law.
381
Many have lost their Estates and Interest now.
382
Noli prosequi,
said to be annex'd to the Person of the King.
403
Norman
Kings, swore to govern by the same Laws as the
Saxons
had.
349, 415
Notions, common, what are agreed to by all Mankind.
34
O.
OAth of Allegiance us'd in the Kingdom of
Arragon. 68
Agreements between Prince and People always confirm'd by them.
158
How Kings may be absolv'd from them.
294, 295
Its force consists in the declar'd sense of those who give it.
295, 377
Scarce any Prince broke it but to his Ruin.
297
All either voluntary or unvoluntary.
278
Ought to be perform'd in reverence to the Religion of it.
297, 300
What to be done, where the Observation of it would be grievous.
299
How the Judges are bound by theirs.
323, 324
Wherein that of the Crown had not bin kept.
325
What Kings are oblig'd to do by them.
340, 414
How far those of Allegiance bind private Persons.
378
Obedience, Active and Passive.
8, 316
Where due and not due.
33, 49, 67, 228, 232, 243, 276, 277, 376
How far a good man will pay it to his Prince.
180, 181
The effects of its Disciplin among the
Romans. 195
To higher Powers, St.
Paul
's words favour all sorts of Governments as well as Monarchy.
266, 267, 268, 276, 277
Why it should be paid.
272
Is not due to that which is not Law.
273, 274, 275, 314
Obedience, the Prince owes it to the Laws as well as the meanest Subject.
283
Due to Parents, from whence it arises.
370
Simple and unconditional, to what King we all owe it.
403
Object, the only worthy one of man's desire.
55
Obligation arising from Benefits can only be to those who confer them.
38
Of Gratitude, to whom due.
233
How far the extent of it can be known.
243
Henry
VIII. own'd it lay on him rightly to use the Power with which he was entrusted.
287
Occupation, the meaning of the word.
156
Offa,
vid.
Saxons.
Officers, great Ones in Armys think only of enriching themselves.
198
How their Authority and Power is to be regulated.
277
Ought to have their Places for the Peoples good.
341
Frequently put to death by the
Athenians,
&c.
385
Offices, what fits men for the execution of them.
57
Those that buy will make the most of them.
183
Or must be turn'd out as a Scandal to the Court.
183
By what means they have bin often obtain'd.
184
Oppression, sometimes makes Nations outrageous.
107
Does People such Injnry, as can never be pardon'd.
232
Order, when inverted, introduces extreme Confusion.
55
Wherein it principally consists.
92.
v.
55, 64, 66, 70
The effect of it.
93, 97
Good, not wanting in
Venice. 98
Nor among the
Romans. 100
Being establish'd, makes good men.
148
The best sometimes subverted by Malice and Violence.
332
Ordinance, what is Blasphemy to impute to God.
36
Civil and Human.
71
God's general, and the particular Ordinance of all Societys.
154
Of God, appointed for the distribution of Justice.
159
Several tending to the same end.
268
Original, no man knows his own.
25, 30, 32, 223, 302
Contract.
54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 66, 67, 69, 71, 72, 226, 244
Original Right must be regulated according to it.
222
Where it would be of no value.
224, 225
Of Nations almost wholly unknown to us.
229
Ours is deduc'd both from the
Romans
and
Saxons. 347, 371
Ostracism
of the
Athenians,
no Dishonor, nor accounted as a Punishment.
123
Nothing savor'd so much of Injustice.
206
Otho,
had the Empire given him, by whom.
163
Was a Self-murderer.
ibid.
Why he was advanc'd.
166
Outlaw, or
Lawless,
often apply'd to the Wicked, but never to the Just.
230
P.
PApal Power, the foundation of it.
6
The Civil Dissensions in
Germany
proceeded from thence.
279
Pretends to the Power of Absolution.
295
Her Excommunications,
bruta fulmina. 296
Papists, their kindness to the Protestants instanc'd in.
408
Paradoxes, many of them true.
51
Pardons, said to be only the Bounty of the Prerogative.
324, 403
The meaning of a general one at a Coronation.
325
Where granted against the Oath of the Crown.
ibid.
Granted by Act of Parliament.
326
None for a Man condemn'd upon an Appeal.
403, 404
The King can't always pardon in cases of Treason.
404
Parents, how oblig'd by Nature to seek their Childrens good.
228, 231
Parliaments, the Institution of them, and for what.
69
The settling and transferring of Crowns lodg'd in them.
72, 116, 223
In
France,
set up to receive Appeals from other Courts, and to judg Sovereignly, now of little use.
120, 213
A free and well regulated one to chuse Ministers of State.
135, 136
Their great Power in all the Kingdoms that came from the
North. 211
Declar'd
Henry
III. of
France
fallen from the Crown.
212
How they may be made useless.
251
England
never wanted
hem.
263
Parliaments, the word
Parliament
came from the
French,
but the Power was always in our selves.
269
Henry
VIII. confesses them to be the Law-makers.
287, 342
Doubtful Cases refer'd to them.
288, 324, 325
By Writs compel the King to perform the Conditions of the
Great Charter. 296, 297
Have given the Crown to whom they pleas'd.
302, 306, 307, 345, 352, 356, 362, 363, 364
Judg of Disputes arising from the Children of Royal Marriages.
310, 342
Have the sole Power to explain and correct Laws.
326, 344, 345, 352, 375
Ought of Right to be annually.
344, 388
From whence they derive their Authority.
346, 363, 364, 383—385
Have refus'd to be dissolv'd till their Work was finish'd.
385
Not impeccable or infallible, but less subject to Error than some Princes.
386, 387, 405
Our Lives and Libertys depend upon this Court.
405
What the great
Burleigh
and Sir
Tho. Moor
said of their Power.
412
If they make unjust Laws, their Posterity will suffer.
415
How difficult they are to be brib'd.
ibid.
To have their Rolls in their Offices, not a mere Ceremony.
417
What Kings have had continual disputes with them.
419
Partys, what certainly divides the Nation into them.
312
Threaten a national Ruin.
382
Passions, every one has 'em, few know how to moderate 'em.
165
Put Princes upon the most unjust designs.
172
The Law is without passion.
288
Patents, began long after the coming of the
Normans. 351
Pater Patriae,
the Title thereof consider'd.
26, 50
By killing a Tyrant how said to become so.
29, 30, 33, 47
Paternal Right,
Abraham
arrogated none to himself.
16, 17
Impossible to be known.
21, 25, 28, 29, 60
All the Kingdoms of the Earth establish'd upon it.
28
Government of
Rome
not Paternal.
32
Can't be confer'd on Princes.
42, 46, 47, 74
To whom it belongs.
26, 62, 63, 249
Paternal Right, in what the
Hebrews
had no regard to it.
221, 232
Is a mere Fiction.
223
Is from Nature, and incommunicable.
227
Patriarchal Right, Women and Children have it, according to
Filmer. 2
The Absurdity of it.
13, 14, 37, 265, 411
All pretence to it destroy'd.
16, 20, 22, 26, 346
Must accrue to every Father.
18
Either divisible or indivisible.
21, 28
Patriarchal Power different from the Regal.
14, 15, 51
Peace, there can be none without Justice.
12, 111
Desirable by a State constituted for it.
109
Slavish.
110
What men have in their Graves.
ibid.
What the
Spaniards
settled in the
West-Indies. ibid.
The Name of it given to Desolation.
110, 185, 186, 187
The sad one which
France
enjoy'd for five or six Ages.
171, 172
In
Spain
to what imputed.
174
The Terms offer'd, if good, like to be observ'd; if bad, will soon be broken.
377
Peers, act for themselves in their own House.
413
Pembroke,
a late Earl of that Noble Family, his Saying.
168
People, not originally created for Kings to reign over them.
4
Whether they chuse Governors.
11, 51, 54, 68, 74, 79
Scripture-Instances for the proof of it.
85, 215
The choice of the Constitution is from them.
75, 115, 116, 225, 304, 330
Kings receive their Right from them.
77, 223
How God deals with a People when he intends to exalt them.
100
Of
Rome,
their sad degeneracy.
101
Their Right to Appeals.
104, 105, 108, 115, 127
Acting according to their own Will, never set up unworthy men, unless thro mistake.
133
The Body of them the publick Defence.
139, 143
None ever well defended but those who fight for themselves.
143
In Civil Contests they equally suffer.
153
Whether to be Judges in their own Cases.
158
People, when generally corrupted, the Event is always the Erection of a Tyrant.
161, 179
Their Condition where tolerable under very cruel Emperors.
170
Their hating of cruel Princes, and they them.
192
Must necessarily have all the Power originally in themselves.
208, 215, 216, 330
Their Right of looking into matters of Government, &c.
237, 284—286, 318, 385, 397, 398
Can never fall into Nonage or Dotage.
291
Did never part with all their Power to Kings.
295
May govern by themselves.
299
Their whole Body not subject to the Commands of the Magistrate.
376
In their collective Body always continue as free as the inward Thoughts of a man.
378
They certainly perish who suffer themselves to be oppress'd.
395
That are not free, can't substitute Delegates.
409
Vid.
Nations
and
Multitude.
Perfection, simple and relative.
335
Persecution among the first
Christian
Emperors.
96
Persia,
their Kings reign'd from the
Indies
to the
Hellefpont. 26
The Decrees of these Kings pass'd for Laws.
76
The just Sentence of the Princes about
Daniel. 94
Torn to pieces hy the fury of two Brothers.
122
Ʋ nder what ill Conduct and Discipline their Army was.
147
Petition, the haughty
Romans
condescended to join in one with their Tribunes to their Dictator.
372
Pharamond,
his Race in
France,
an account of it.
306
Pharaoh,
his Monarchy an Act of Tyranny.
23
Pharisees,
their Superstition.
315
Philo,
to what he imputes the Institution of Kingly Government in
Israel. 84, 85
Philosophy true, perfectly conformable with what is taught by men divinely inspir'd.
56
Phocion,
of his Death.
124
Phoenicians
settling in
Africa,
brought their Liberty with them.
370
Plato,
a Commendation of him.
51
His Principles of Government.
54, 57, 61
Plato,
his Opinion, who ought to be advanc'd above all.
57, 85, 208
Plays, the consequence of 'em.
101, 111, 129, 137
Plebeians
elected to the chief Magistracys.
103, 118, 121, 176
Their Jealousy of the
Patricians. 152
Polity, its signification.
59
Political Science abstruse.
82, 83
Pompey,
his Cause more plausible, but his Designs as bad as
Caesar
's.
188
The first Step to his Ruin was by violating the Laws.
214
Popular Government for what People best.
53
No where disprais'd by
Aristotle. 91
The extent of its Conquests.
92, 96, 112, 113
Of
Rome,
how supported.
112, 113
Something of Monarchical in them.
117
Can never be upheld but by Vertue.
130, 181
Possible, but not easily to fall into Corruption, &c.
132, 179, 180, 184
Improperly what, and what in the strictest sense.
132
Preserves Peace, and manages War best.
136, 137
Every Man concern'd in them.
139, 188, 193
States remarkable for Peace.
145
Excellent men are generally chosen in them.
149
What Seditions are seldom seen in them.
152, 153
How ruin'd.
161
Incourage Industry.
187
Never hurt private Persons but thro Errors.
188, 207
When they began to appear in the World.
259
Obedience due to them as well as to Monarchys.
266
Portugal,
who accounted King thereof by the
English
Court.
402
Poverty, no Inconvenience in it, if Vertue be honor'd.
181
The miserable Condition of
Greece, Italy, &c. 185, 186, 187
When it grew
odious in
Rome. 252
Power (all just Sovereign) from the People.
47, 68, 70, 78, 172, 215, 216, 224
How he that has it is the Minister of God.
48, 49, 309, 322, 344, 380
Not an Advantage but a Burden.
60, 61
Delegated, to whom refer'd.
68, 69, 70
The Root and Foundation of it.
70
Power, Civil, an human Ordinance.
71
Of the People subject to no Rule but their own Will.
105
Of the
Romans
after the expulsion of the Kings, chiefly in the Nobility.
118
Naturally of a fierce and aspiring Temper.
130, 131
Sovereign and limited.
156, 172
What, in all the Kingdoms peopled from the
North. 211
Most safe when least envy'd and hated.
ibid.
If it has bin divided, it may be so
in infinitum. 222
The
Roman
Emperors endeavour'd to make their Power hereditary.
223
The ill effects of unlimited Power might cause it to be moderated.
229
What may be lawfully resisted.
235
What Prince ought to have it, and what not.
261
Wilt thou not be afraid of the Power?
what meant by it.
266
Directive and Coercive.
273, 274, 277
Why it ought to be limited.
280
Of the King is the Power of the Law.
287, 338, 344
What requisite in every State.
292
None can be just but what is good.
328
Over Nations must either be
de Jure,
or
de Facto. 366
Of the King various according to the Constitutions of every State.
367
Nothing can make that inherent, which is only delegated.
385
Restrain'd, when it began to grow insolent. Instances.
393
Where 'tis not universal, it is not inherent.
403
How that of every County, City and Borough of
England
is regulated.
410
What must be in those that act by a delegated Power.
413
Where it is plac'd by well constituted Governments.
414
Practice cannot declare the Greatness of Authority.
238
The consequence of such a Doctrin.
239
Of Nations to their Sovereigns.
372
Prayers and Tears the only Arms of the first Christians.
257
Preferments, by what means men now rise to them.
184
Given to those that were most propense to Slavery.
194
Where obtain'd only by Vertue.
196
Prerogative of Kings, what.
2, 57
Of Birth.
25
Hereditary of Dominion.
52
Prerogative, all granted by Consent of the whole Society.
66
What the most glorious.
243, 340
The utmost extent of it, what.
290, 340
Only instituted to preserve Liberty.
319, 336
What is not the gracious Bounty of it.
325, 419
Who thought whatever could be detracted from the Liberty of the Nation, would serve to advance the Prerogative.
419
Princes, ordain'd for the good of the People.
33, 50, 52, 53, 54
Ought to be rich in Vertue and Wisdom.
56, 57, 297
All things vary according to the humor of those that govern.
94, 95, 96
Very few of an inflexible Vertue.
131
Killing one to obtain the Crown.
171.
v.
33
Easily impos'd on by Pretenders.
182
By setting up their own Interest become Enemys to the Publick.
188, 189, 190, 192, 229
God's Vicegerents, doing their Duty.
191
The best, by what means drawn out of the way of Justice.
124, 285
For they have their Failings.
324
Vertuous ones will have vertuous Courts.
183, 184
Evil ones just the contrary.
129, 131, 181, 182, 194, 195, 196, 290
How they soon lose their Dominions.
150, 151, 170
Seek the destruction of their best Subjects.
171, 192, 267
Some consider Nations, as Grasiers do their Herds and Flocks.
191
May commit many Errors in the beginning of their Reigns, to the ruin of themselves and People. Instances.
200, 201
The Treachery and Perjury of some.
219
What those that govern them instigate them to.
229
How far their legal Power extends.
235
Such as are barbarous to their own People, are usually gentle to the Enemys of their Country.
255
A dangerous thing to arm them with too much force.
279
Bound by their Oaths and Promises.
297, 298
From whence their Power is deriv'd.
344
Not safe to contradict some, tho never so justly.
406
Princes, an unlimited one what compar'd to, and an Instance of such an one in
Scripture. 407
Principes,
the extent of the word.
13, 44, 64, 275, 347, 353, 355
The
Sanhedrin
meant hereby.
209
Principles of all generous Nations before
Christ
's time, what.
4
And Practices the best way to judg men by.
129
Prisoners, ought to pay their promis'd Ransom.
297
Private Person, what Actions denote a Magistrate so.
156, 158
Privernates,
their City taken by
Plautius
the Consul.
376
Process, Judicial and Legal, what.
154
Or Extrajudicial.
159, 160
Proclamations, are at most but temporary.
405, 409
The danger of their being accounted Laws.
406, 407, 408
Promises, ought justly to be perform'd.
297
Even those extorted by Fraud. A Scripture-Instance.
297, 298
Property, is an Appendage to Liberty.
290
Of our Kings, if they be the Fountain of it.
357
Propositions, ought to be universally true.
10, 16
Filmer
's general one found false.
27, 192
Proscriptions.
100, 102, 107, 110, 125, 163
Prosperity runs naturally into all manner of Excesses.
107, 128
Men have bin precipitated into ruin by it.
394
Proxys, the way of using them.
71
Proximity of Blood, only regarded in some Places, whether legitimate or not.
167, 365
How Right descends this way.
362
Vid.
Succession.
Punishment of supreme Magistrates in three Instances.
155, 156, 157
To exempt all Persons from it, supposes they would be guilty of the worst.
160
Where there is no fear of it.
182, 183
Future, many don't believe or not regard it.
231, 264
Of those the Prince corrupted to desert the publick Cause.
381
Of those that give Princes ill Advice.
385, 404, 405
Whether it ought to fall upon one or a few guilty Persons, or a whole Nation that is innocent.
396
To what Members of Parliament are subject.
410
Punishment, in whom the Power of it is lodg'd.
413
Pyrrhus,
seems equal to either of the
Alexanders. 150
His Answer to him that ask'd who should succeed him.
164
Q.
QƲ alitys, no more extraordinary in Princes than in others of less degree.
7
What are requisite for chief Magistrates.
32, 35, 52
Few Kings possess all that are requisite.
94
What subsist in a well-order'd Government.
100
The most eminent without Vertue, reputed vile and odious.
104
Quarrels among Princes for the most part begun upon personal Titles.
154, 171, 172, 173
Of Princes, where they have bin decided with their own Swords.
154, 168
What would make a perpetual Spring of irreconcilable and mortal Quarrels.
167
Such as arise between the
Nobles
and
Commons
frequently produce good Laws.
176
Ours with the
Dutch. 189
R.
RAwleigh,
Sir
Walter,
reflected on by
Filmer. 362, 363
His Morals no way exact to a well qualify'd Gentleman.
363
Reason, is Man's Nature.
134, 241, 281, 285
Ʋ niversal, is that to which all Nations owe an equal Veneration.
274
Rebellion, the greatest Empire of the
East
overthrown by that of the
Mamalukes. 107
People driven to it by Misery or Despair.
107, 238, 239
There can be no such as that of a Nation against its own Magistrates.
376
What it implys.
ibid.
Is nothing but a renew'd War.
376, 379
What is compar'd to
Witchcraft. 379
Regal Power, never exercis'd by
Abraham. 16
The first Fathers after the
Flood
had not the exercise of it.
220
Regicides, their abominable Sin.
322
Regnum,
the signification of the word.
229
Rehoboam,
a sad account of him.
95, 201
His Power far from being absolute.
261
Had good Counsel, but would not hearken to it.
291
Was not the Head of his People, and why.
391
Religion, always dangerous in the times of the best
Roman
Emperors.
96
Of the same Nature with Vertue.
190
The Principles of the
Popish. 408
Remedys to Government apply'd according to the Necessity of Circumstances.
103, 120, 393, 394
What Children have, against their too severe Parents.
231
None to the
Hebrews
Crys and Prayers under their Miserys.
234
Must be try'd, how difficult soever.
395
Which most fit to be apply'd, the best time to apply them, and who the properest Judges.
399
Representatives, how, and by whom they came to be deputed.
348, 353, 355, 384
Whether the People should judg of their Behaviour.
385
Republicks, v.
Common-wealths.
Resignation of ones Liberty, what.
370
Of the Crown.
396.
v.
299, 300
Resistance, in what Cases justify'd.
190, 235, 237, 245
Every one has a Right to resist what ought not to be done to him.
242
Scripture-Instances of resisting Princes.
264
Resumption of Lands. v.
Grants.
Retaliation, where nothing was more just.
94
Kings under this Law as well as People.
239, 240
Revenue, how granted to and settled on Kings.
251
Revolts of conquer'd Nations.
106
Of Subjects or Allys.
107, 163
Of
Israel
in
Solomon
's time.
162, 238
Of
Absalom. 237, 238
Of the ten Tribes.
239
General of a Nation can't be call'd a Rebellion.
376
Revolutions, vid.
Authors.
Rewards and Punishments how to be proportion'd.
124
Make men subservient to ill Designs.
250, 251
What call'd the Rewards of the vilest Servitde.
347
Riches, the Root of all Evil.
45, 46, 181, 182
Riches, when they become formidable.
103
Exhausted by Tribute and Rapine.
108, 182
Desir'd, to gain Followers.
251
From thence all Mischiefs ensue.
252
Right, of those Sovereigns that are limited.
156, 158
Proceeds from Identity, not from Similitude.
389
What belongs to every man in all cases.
397
Right
acquir'd,
how to be obtain'd.
303, 358
How the Resignation of it to another operates.
358
Hereditary
to the Dominion of the World, no such thing.
38, 60
Great variety in the deduction of it.
77
Universal,
confer'd by God and Nature.
32
Where it must have bin.
35, 37, 42, 67
Must be in one, or divided.
36, 37
Where it devolves on particular Nations.
67
Right of
Chusing,
infers a Right of making a King.
73
Created by an explicit Act of Approbation.
73, 80
Naturally belonging to Nations, not impair'd by the Name of
Supreme
given to Magistrates.
156
Of proceeding judicially or extrajudicially against all that transgress the Laws.
159, 235
Right of
Occupancy. 32, 33, 46
None can come by Conquest.
20
None to be deduc'd from him that had none.
20, 37, 47
Where to be acknowledg'd.
33
Of
Jack Straw, Wat. Tyler, Perkin Warbeck. 167
The Continuance of an unjust Ʋ surpation can never create a Right.
224
Right of
particular Nations,
how it may subsist.
8, 9
Proceeds from the Laws of Nature.
9, 346
Right
to Crowns,
what said to be inseparable from Kings.
85
Must be either natural, created, or acquir'd.
303
Rochel,
how it came to be taken.
197
Rods and Axes, before whom, and why carry'd.
127, 155, 156
Roman
Emperors, who the best and wisest of them.
180
How they were set up.
259
Roman
Empire, destroy'd by the Loss of her Liberty.
95, 98, 99, 100, 101, 109, 110, 113, 121
Its extent after the recovery of Liberty.
100, 109
Tacitus
's Description of it in its declension.
100, 102
It did not fall on a sudden, and why.
101
Her
Delatores
what sort of People.
101
Subdu'd by the most barbarous Nations.
102, 110, 126
Perpetually decay'd when it fell into the hands of one man.
108, 109, 110, 209, 248
Its own Prudence preserv'd it.
112, 121
Romans
had three ways of dealing with conquer'd Nations.
106
What rais'd them above the rest of Mankind.
139, 140
They only fit to be so, who thought nothing valuable but Liberty.
377
Rome,
whether that Government was paternal.
32
Overthrew all the Monarchys within their reach.
32, 100, 112
Its extent at first.
64, 108
Wherein she excel'd other Nations.
92, 109
When she met with Defeats and Ruin.
93, 194, 195
All that ever was desirable in her proceeded from Liberty.
99
Never produc'd a brave man since the first Age of her Slavery.
101
How it was compos'd.
115
Sought her Grandeur by War.
118, 142
Her Fortune when she became a Monarchy.
119
None so free from Crimes of wilful Injustice, nor guilty of so few Errors as she.
124
Her Generosity.
ibid.
The mildness of her Government for
300
Years.
125, 127, 128
Strugling for Liberty, at last was ruin'd by the
Barbarians. 126
Not enslav'd when
Brutus
was kill'd.
148
Was jealous of
Valerius Publicola,
and why.
152
The Peace she had under
Augustus. 163
When fill'd with Blood and Ashes.
163, 164
Her Condition now.
186
Suffer'd more by one Villain, than by all the Defeats receiv'd from
Hannibal. 187
A perpetual spring of brave and valiant M
n so long as Liberty lasted.
195
Rome,
remain'd in Slavery notwithstanding the Slaughter of
Caesar. 244
Her Kings Lands, after their expulsion, consecrated to
Mars. 251
Romulus,
slain for aiming at too great an Authority.
31
How not made King by the People but by God.
47.
v.
330
Laid the Right of
Appeals
to the People, as the Foundation of his Common-wealth.
105
How he temper'd the fierce humor of the People.
334
Rule, there must be one relating to the Acquisition and Exercise of Power.
206, 365
The Law of Nature is that which God has given to things.
241
If any had bin given by God and Nature, it must have bin from the beginning universal and perpetual.
332
There is one which Kings are oblig'd to follow.
365
None can be so exact as to make provision against all disputes.
379
Without it Society cannot subsist.
397
Men subject to none but that of their own Reason.
414
Rules, set to distinguish between Right and Wrong in Princes.
33
By which Men are govern'd, are nam'd Laws.
52
Not generally true, if there be any just Exceptions against them.
69
In Politicks, some which ought always to be observ'd.
120, 121, 133
Observ'd in
England
as to point of Succession.
167
S.
SAbeans,
their Kings, tho obey'd in all things within their Palace, yet might be ston'd without it.
78
Sacred, not to be accounted so by Crimes.
159
The Stile given to the
Tribunes
as well as Monarchs.
372
Salick
Law in
France. 40, 167, 212, 301, 304
Has bin in force above
1200
Years.
212
Not without difficultys sufficient to subvert the Polity of that Kingdom. Instances thereof.
310
Salmasius
his Story of Bees.
83
Salus Populi, Lex est suprema. 79, 229, 255, 290, 304, 305, 336, 340
To what this Safety extends.
290
The End for which Governments are instituted.
202
Samuel
was no King, for the
Israelites
ask'd one of him.
230
What he wrote in a Book was not a Law to the People but to the King.
ibid.
Told them their Folly and Misery in asking a King.
234, 240
Not he, but God was rejected by them.
253
How he behav'd himself as
Head
of the
Israelites. 390
Sanhedrin
instituted by
Moses. 86, 115
How permanent.
87
Always to be Advisers of the
Jewish
Kings.
209, 269
Where said that Kings can do nothing without them.
239
For what end constituted Judges.
ibid.
Saul,
his first Sin by which he fell.
84, 87
Opposing God's Command he pretended to fulfil it.
89
The effects of his various fits of Fury.
94, 255
His Vices never discover'd, till he was on the Throne.
184
Gave the
Israelites
no Law.
230
Chosen King in the most Democratical Way, by Lot.
232, 235
How he overthrew his own Right.
236
Not made King by virtue of God's Ʋ nction only.
237
Savoy,
the Duke, found out thirteen halves to be in every Year.
378
Saxons,
set up Kings and depos'd them as they pleas'd.
270, 349
The brave Saying of King
Offa. 298, 365, 372
Laws to which all our Kings have sworn continue still in force among us.
299
Severe Asserters of their Libertys and Laws.
331, 347, 358
We chiesly derive our Original and Manners from them.
347, 371
Their Assemblys the same in Power with our Parliaments.
348
In their own Country scorn'd all Employments but that of the Sword.
355
By what Names they and their General Assemblys were call'd.
356
Came hither under
Hengist
and
Horsa. 357
How they came to reform their Manners, and frame Laws.
371
Their great Wisdom in making Laws.
415
Schoolmen, an unjust Imputation on them.
3, 4, 10, 51
To what a nicety they have minc'd Oaths.
295
Scientes temporum,
who.
194
Scipio Africanus,
the first that disdain'd the Power of the Law.
124, 125
Scotland,
the Mischiefs brought upon it by their Contests.
174
When and how conquer'd.
198
Their little number of Foot beat the King's Army at
Newborn. 199
James
the
Third, Lewis
XI's apt Scholar in subverting the Laws, &c.
211
Many of their Kings punish'd with Death, Imprisonment and Exile.
396, 399
Scripture, the Places therein relating to Government, how best interpreted.
13
What it says concerning Kings.
13, 85, 250
The Accounts there given concerning their Leaders.
85
What it occasionally relates of the
Babylonian
and other Monarchys.
164
Declares the necessity of setting bounds to Princes.
209
Is clear concerning the antiquity of Laws.
230
Senate, their Power.
12, 104
Julius Caesar
slain in it.
95
Set up by the People.
108
How expos'd and destroy'd.
110
Condemn'd
Nero
to be put to death.
127
Kill'd
Romulus. 142
Strangers admitted into that of
Rome. ibid.
Abrogated the Power of the
Decemviri. 156
The best Judges.
158, 159
And People of
Rome
not to be brib'd.
183, 184
Of
Rome
like to be butcher'd, and for what.
163
Chosen for their Vertues.
185
Of what constituent parts it may be compos'd.
216
The greatest part of them fell at the Battel of
Pharsalia. 329
Of
Sparta
and
Venice
their great Power.
345
Senators and Servants employ'd in our publick Affairs.
410
Sedition, popular.
8
What.
154
What it implys.
70, 160
Said to be occasion'd by Learning.
91, 97, 123
None hurtful to
Rome
till men got above the Law.
105, 106
From whence it arises.
152, 153, 165
Proceeding from Malice, is seldom or never seen in popular Governments.
153
But always detestable.
161
Sedition, one of the greatest that ever was at
Rome
appeas'd, and how.
161
When justify'd by God and Man.
154, 155, 156, 157, 160
Most natural to absolute Monarchys.
161
From
Solomon
's time the
Jews
perpetually vex'd with them.
162
To what some Magistrates give this Name.
312
Seneff,
the Battel of it.
199
Servants of God, who.
48
Rais'd to high degrees of Honor.
55, 56
None can be Members of a Commonwealth.
59, 69
Ship-mony.
vid. Judges.
Shires, far more antient than
Alfred
's time, and what meant by them.
353, 354
Singulis major, universis minor. 157, 264
Slaves by Nature, who.
4, 9, 29, 55, 79, 245
Oftentimes advanc'd.
55, 100, 101, 122, 126, 129, 288
No Members of the Civil Society.
106
Absolutely resign themselves to the Will of others, and why.
135, 136
What States become so to their Protector.
147
What Tributes they are forc'd to pay.
262
What denotes a Slave.
290, 318, 319
What the true Badges of Slaves.
314
Sad, when the worst of them came to govern Kings.
419
Will always be Cowards, and Enemys to their Master.
420
Slavery, what to be understood by it.
9, 19, 20, 25
What it is accompany'd with.
92, 122
The Produce of it.
112, 137
The
Asiaticks
underwent the greatest.
234
A great part of the Curse against
Cham
and all his Posterity.
239
None of God's Institution.
240
What brings it upon any Nation, together with its ruin.
400
With a Witness.
409
Sloth in Princes, the miserable Effects thereof.
170
Smyrna,
the design of taking that Fleet.
200
Societys, must in some measure diminish Liberty.
19, 20, 22, 52
Subsist only by Order.
55, 66, 397
Civil,
compos'd of Equals.
59
How instituted.
64, 70
When once enter'd into, oblige all to the Laws thereof.
70
Societys are maintain'd by mutual Contracts.
214
Socrates
put to death by false Witnesses.
123, 124
Soil, Kings not originally Lords of it.
357, 370, 371
Soldiers in Scripture, there were as many to fight for their Country, as there were able men to fight.
143, 144
Every man is one against a publick Enemy.
155
The
Grecian
in the time of their Vertue had no Equals.
195
The
Christian
their Obligation.
316, 317
Soldiers Mercenary, overthrow all the Laws of a Country.
130, 214
Often betray their Masters in distress.
138, 139
Several Citys in
Italy
made their Wars by them.
142
Always want Fidelity or Courage.
147
Sent to the Wars by force.
198
And other Villains subdu'd the
Syracusans, Spartans
and
Romans. 222
Soldiery, accounted a Trade.
105
Solomon,
his Idolatry and Oppression.
95
The bad effect of his Magnificence.
162
His peaceable Reign.
ibid.
Overthrew the Law given by
Moses. 238
None will say he was a Tyrant, yet he was complain'd of by the People.
254
His Wisdom surpass'd that of all the People.
386
Sovereigns, impatiently bear Competitors.
17
Majesty, the extravagance of it in
Augustus Caesar
's time.
329
Sovereignty, remain'd in the
Roman
People.
104
To whom the disposal of it must perpetually belong.
304, 365
Spain,
has nothing save
Milan,
but what is come to her by Marriage.
151
The Civil Wars there.
174
The antient Kingdoms of
Spain
heredttary.
301.
v.
78
When one Kingdom comprehended all
Spain. 305
How the Crown was dispos'd of according to the humor of the People.
305, 306
The only Title
Isabel
had to the Crown, was deriv'd from Illegitimation.
310
How the King may deserve the name of being Head of his People.
392
Spaniards,
their Valor against the
Carthaginians
and
Romans,
and their Overthrow by two leud Tyrants.
151
Spaniards,
the condition to which they have reduc'd
Naples, Sicily,
the
West-Indies, &c. 187
Spartan
Kings, what they were subject to from their People.
76, 77
Together with their Power.
210
Government in what it consisted.
115
Prefer'd by
Xenophon
to
Athens. 123
Fram'd a most severe Disciplin.
142
Never any Sedition against their Kings.
210
Call'd an Aristocracy by all the
Greek
Authors.
216
Appointed Limits to the Power of their Kings.
218, 380, 393
Had no Law against Adultery, and why.
228
Spartans,
whom they brought from
Thebes
and
Epirus
to be their Kings.
31
Jealous of
Lycurgus,
and why.
152
Had Kings before the time of
Hercules
and
Achilles. 77
Sacrific'd their Lives in defence of their Country.
140
Never heard an Enemys Trumpet for
880
Years.
142
Whether descended from the
Hebrews,
and what Power the collective Body of the People had over them.
210
The Poverty and Simplicity of their Kings.
251
Their Legislature was in the People.
269
Stability, the effect of good Order in that which is good.
32, 93, 94
Wherein it consists in Man.
93
There can be none in absolute Kingdoms.
96, 163, 172, 173
Produces Strength.
97
Not wanting in
Venice. 98
Nor among the
Romans. 100
Star-Chamber, its Jurisdiction abolish'd.
344
States-General, vid.
Holland.
Statutes, from whom they receive their Authority and Force.
405
Vid.
Acts of Parliament.
Stipulations are not Personal but National.
402
Suarez,
his Saying about
Adam. 59
Subjection lineal, never antiently dreamt of.
58
To the Power, however acquir'd.
155
And Protection are Relatives.
371
Submission, all manner of it is a restraint of Liberty.
134
The nature and measure of it how to be determin'd.
397
Succession, no difference in Religion said to be able to divert the Right of it.
21
The eldest Brother prefer'd before the Son.
78
To the next in Blood.
93
Of Blood, the Disease incident to it.
148
Laws concerning it.
166, 280
By the Law of God and Nature.
166
The various ways of it in several Kingdoms.
167
The Slaughters about it in
France. 169
Sometimes comes to Monsters in Cruelty, to Children and Fools.
279
The Law gives the Rule of it.
283, 301, 304
Five different ways of disposing of it.
301, 365, 366
In
Spain
according to the Pleasure of the Nobility and People.
305
Where in
France
'tis like to be question'd, if not overthrown by the House of
Austria. 308, 361
Contests will arise concerning it, how exactly soever it be dispos'd of by Law.
309
No Footsteps of any regular one, either by Inheritance or Election.
331
Of the Crown settled by Parliament.
345
Several Questions arising from that which is hereditary.
360, 361
Superiority, given to
Moses,
who was the younger Brother.
23
Not in Nature. but in Vertue.
52, 53, 56
Supplications and Remonstrances, where to be us'd.
395
Supreme, the extent of the Word.
156, 157, 158, 225, 226, 321, 344.
Power has bin enjoy'd in the fullest extent by such as never had the Name of King.
277
Where there was a reservation of this Power in the People.
284
Sweden,
the Blood-Royal not to marry out of the Country, or without the Consent of the States.
167
How the Inheritance to the Crown is settled there.
301, 364
Election the best Title to it.
303, 353
Their Laws but few.
337
Who the Nobility of that Country.
353
What
Charles Gustavus
told an Ambassador there.
364
Switzers,
the
13
Cantons, how long they have enjoy'd more Peace than any other State of
Europe. 144, 145
None more free from popular Seditions.
145
Switzers,
the Laws of their Country read over in a few Hours.
337
How they use their Delegates.
410
Sword, where left as an Inheritance to Familys.
95
The right of Appeals overthrown by it.
105
He that draws it against his Prince, ought to throw away the Scabbard.
153
Of Justice, and of War.
154, 259, 260
When the only Law that governs.
164, 188
Away of killing worse than that of the Sword.
186
To what end Swords were given to men.
245
The use of the Civil as well as Military, equally condemn'd by the
first Christians. 259, 260
Of Power, in all sorts of Governments.
266
So to be us'd that Nations may live peaceably.
268
What meant by this Word.
268, 269
Of Justice comprehends the Legislative and Executive Power.
269
What the Military signifys.
269, 270
Questions about Title to Crowns often determin'd this way.
309
Where Edicts are besitated at by the Parliament at
Paris,
this Power has bin made use of to compel.
417
Sylla, the Crimes of his Life, and Miserys of his Death.
179
If not a Tyrant, there never was any in the World.
188
Resigns his Power, tho too late for
Rome
's recovery.
ibid.
T.
TAcitus,
his sad account of
Rome. 50, 100, 102, 112, 125, 126, 137
Speaks of the Burden of absolute Power.
61
Mentions a sort of Kings us'd by the
Romans
to keep Nations in servitude to them.
331
When he says the
Roman
Laws grew innumerable.
337
Tamerlan
said he was not a Man, but the Scourge of God, and the Plague of Mankind.
292
Tarquin,
the expulsion of him from
Rome. 10, 330, 331
The first that reign'd
fine jussu populi. 68
Tarquin,
came in by Treachery and Murder.
99, 108, 121, 158
How the People deliver'd themselves from him.
116, 135, 176
What follow'd from his being expel'd.
152, 244
His Counsel concerning the Poppys.
168
Taxes, upon what accounts to be given, but not to oppress the People.
251, 252
Tenants, how they now look upon their Lords.
382
Tenure, none in
England
owes any but by virtue of a Contract, made either by himself or his Predecessors.
246, 247
Those of Turpitude now abolish'd.
247
Of the Commons as antient as many of the Nobility's.
351
Tertullian,
several Sayings out of his
Apologeticks. 259, 260
The design of his Apology and Treatise to
Scapula. 260
Calls the whole People of
Carthage, Antiquitate Nobiles, Nobilitate felices. 356
Thanestry, the Law of it.
78
Themistocles,
his Character.
123
His Envy and Spite to
Aristides. ibid.
All the Citizens of
Athens
able to bear Arms went along with him against
Xerxes. 141
A great and true Saying of his.
180
Tiberius,
his Reign an uninterrupted Series of Murders, Subornations, Perjurys, &c.
163, 169
Assum'd the name of
Caesar
without any Title.
257
His detestable Lust describ'd by
Tacitus. 276
To what Counsellors he only inclin'd.
291
Time, changes nothing.
152, 196
Can make nothing lawful and just that is not so of it self.
346
Titles, of the first Kings came not from Paternity.
27, 221
Of Princes, deriv'd from Murders, &c.
33, 35
Some would not have them examin'd into.
33, 155
Hobbs
of another Opinion.
155
Instances of ours in particular.
362
Of Civility have no power to create a Right of Dominion.
63
Disputes about them by what power to be determin'd.
79, 80, 310, 311
Thought good if the Princes could corrupt two or three Legions.
164
No Emperor had a better than what he got by Mony or Violence.
ibid.
Titles, to Dominion by whom confer'd.
221
The sordid ways of attaining them in our days.
351
On whom those of Offices were antiently confer'd.
ibid.
In what just ones do consist.
360
Several ways to overthrow most of them.
361
Kings, where instanc'd in to have no other than what was confer'd on them by the People.
364
Whatever is given to the chief Magistrate, he can have no other Power than what is given him by the People and the Laws.
368
The most swelling and august, to whom given.
373, 381
Trade, subservient to the end of War.
142, 143
Spartans
banish'd all the curious Arts that are useful to it.
142
Trajan,
his Expedition into the
East. 109
Bitterly derided for his Clemency by
Tertullian,
and why.
273
Whom he bid to use the Sword for or against him, as he reign'd well or ill.
366, 413
Treason, the principal part of
Tresilian
's, was his Opinion that Kings might dissolve Parliaments at their pleasure.
384
Persons executed as Traytors for things done by the King's Command.
404
'Tis enacted, that to kill the King is so, and to be punish'd with death.
416
Treatys, the King's name always us'd in them, tho they are Children, or otherwise uncapable, but yet they oblige them, their Successors and People.
402
If Parliaments should make ignominious Ones, when the Session is ended, they must bear the Burden as much as others.
415
Tribes, the
Ten,
why they did not return to the House of
David. 238
Tribunes of the People, their Creation.
118, 176
Military, with a Consular Power.
118, 121
How
Caesar
corrupted them.
119, 130
The most dangerous Sedition compos'd by them.
153
Threaten the Dictator with a great Fine.
226
Esteem'd sacred and inviolable.
373
Tribute, the antient
Jews
scrupled paying it to the Emperors.
351
What understood by that name.
257, 258
Tribute, we owe none but what we freely give.
262
Triumvirate,
first set up by
Pompey. 188
Trust, what the greatest that can be repos'd in men.
345
Where that repos'd in Kings has bin misemploy'd.
354
How Kings are said to dispense with it out of the publick Stock.
385
Vid.
Kings.
Truth, no Consequence can destroy it.
5
Is comprehended by examining Principles.
6, 329
Is the Rule of Justice.
28
Our Thoughts ought ever to be guided by it.
29, 57
The Knowledg of it makes men wise.
57
Can never be repugnant to Justice.
59
What are real Truths grounded on the Laws of God and Nature.
75, 76
Kings seldom hear it, till they are ruin'd by Lys.
201, 202
Can never be made too evident in matters of Importance.
304
Of absolute necessity to keep the Tongue from Falshood.
311
The bond of Ʋ nion.
313
They that enquire for it, must not deny or conceal any thing.
359
Can seldom or ever conduce to mischief.
388
Tryal,
vid. Law.
Once acquitted, not question'd a second time for the same Fact.
213
In
France
the King can't be present at any, for no man can be judg'd if he be.
401
Here is said to be
coram Rege,
but it must only be according to the Law of the Land.
403
Tumults, where they do no hurt.
92
From whence they arise.
152
What.
154
Among the
Hebrews. 162
Of
Rome,
their difference from some of our Battels.
176
What Reigns are most accompany'd with them.
185.
v.
171
Turks,
all the Royal Brethren expos'd to be destroy'd by the
Sultan. 63
Their greatest Strength consists in Children that do not know their own Fathers.
137
How they came by their Ruin.
187
When the
Germans
fled to them for Protection.
387
Tuscany,
when one of the most flourishing Provinces in the World, now to how low an Ebb reduc'd.
378
Tyranny, how it may be weaken'd.
5, 6, 92
Abhorr'd by the Laws of God and Man.
34, 179, 208
Brought ruin to those subjected thereto.
52
To impose Laws arbitrarily.
75
Can create no Right.
77
Is Empire gain'd by Violence.
77
The occasion of Revolts.
107
All had their beginning from Corruption.
129, 161
Introduc'd by the worst of men.
134, 250
The Overthrow of
Spain. 151
The People miserable under all.
157, 188, 189
Never founded on Contracts.
233
When it began to become odious.
254
Where it is very cruel, a Nation can't subsist, unless it be corrected or suppress'd.
285
To set it up, is to abolish Kings.
293
Is the Death of a State.
395
Not the Tyrant, but Tyranny must be destroy'd.
400
Tyranny with a Mischief. 409
Tyrants, how they have bin accounted.
8, 27, 50, 122
The first King a cruel one, and call'd the mighty Hunter.
16, 94
Consult only their own Greatness.
34, 61, 119, 223
Obedience said to be due to them from the fifth Commandment.
50
The difference between lawful Kings and them.
61, 205
Few go to their Graves in Peace.
61, 179, 215, 219, 244, 279
Many would resist but cannot.
73
Destroy'd by one another.
95, 159, 161, 171, 172, 285, 293
When they reign, the Vertuous are unregarded.
99
Fear and abhor all men of Reputation or Vertue.
110, 158, 171, 189
All Evils come in with them.
111
Destroy'd by their own People.
116, 223
The Thirty of
Athens. 124, 155
Said
exuisse hominem. 134, 157
Consider Nations as Grasiers do their Herds.
191
A vertuous man could scarce die in his Bed under them.
126
Among the most vertuous Nations every man might lawfully kill them.
155, 205, 223, 293
Tyranni sine Titulo. 155, 375
Extrajudicial Proceedings must be sometimes against them.
160
What may be expected from them.
191
Tyrants, none such upon
Filmer
's Principles.
205, 289, 290, 291, 292, 293
To what excesses of Cruelty their fear drives them.
206
Whom
Aristotle
accounts such.
208, 209
Who said to have laid the foundations of Tyranny.
211
Do many mischiefs, and suffer more.
215, 218
Their Life miserable, Death infamous, and Memory detestable.
219
Whether the whole course of their Actions do well sute with the sacred Name of Father.
227, 228, 229, 292, 293
Some in removing them have cut Tyranny by the Roots.
244
No Name for one in any of the
Oriental
Tongues.
253
He's no more than an evil or corrupted Monarch.
253, 285
No Obedience due to any of them.
276, 277
When Kings are said to degenerate into such.
286, 287
Set themselves up against all Laws.
289
Call'd so, because they have no Rights.
293
Are the worst of all God's Creatures.
328
Speak always in the singular Number.
339
V.
VAlour, the
Roman
was for the good of their Country.
99, 100
By the excellence of it the greatest Powers in the World were subdu'd by the
Romans. 105
Venality, natural to Courts.
128, 129, 179, 180
Looks always after the best Bargain.
147
Venetians,
of what they are compos'd.
115, 158
Relying on Trade and mercenary Soldiers, too much are forc'd to depend on Foreign Potentates.
142, 143
Their too great Inclinations to Peace accounted a mortal Error in their Constitution.
144
Venice,
the Dukes, tho stil'd supreme, yet are so under the Power of the Law, that divers have bin put to Death for transgressing it.
156, 157, 380, 393
Their Noblemens Love for their Commonwealth.
176, 177
Concerning the
Council of Ten. 366
Verdict of Jurys, in this consists the Strength of every Judgment.
338
Vertue, what.
190
What requisite in Kings.
24, 29, 34, 35, 52, 53, 55
Gave birth to the
Grecian
Governments.
31
Gives a natural preference of one Man above another.
51, 91
And also to Children.
62
Carrys the true Marks of Sovereignty.
54, 57, 90
Never continues in any Race of Men.
63, 164, 184, 185, 340, 406
Essentially necessary for preserving of Liberty.
92, 102, 196
When persecuted, few will follow it.
100
No way to real Honor without it.
104, 181, 196
Not to be consider'd when it is departed from.
124
When attended with certain destruction.
125, 126, 191, 195, 267
The
Roman,
of being as a Law to themselves.
128
Whose will be remember'd in all Ages.
134, 135, 149, 160, 195
Makes as many Soldiers as there are Freemen.
139, 195
Overcomes all Difficultys.
140, 148
And Strength make and preserve Conquests.
151
He that hath Vertue and Power to save a People, can never want a Right of doing it.
160
Can never long uphold what is vitious in the Principle.
161, 162
By what means it becomes popular.
181
Those hated and fear'd, who most excel in it.
183
Hated for its own sake.
190
Expires with loss of Liberty.
194, 195
Given where God pleases without distinction.
202
Where it has the Advantage, there can be no arbitrary Power.
219
Once blemish'd, makes former Services forgot.
276
Who encourage it most.
313
Makes the distinction between Men, simply or relatively consider'd.
327
Men are truly ennobled by it only.
351
Those that are Enemys to her, and fear not God, are afraid of Men.
388
The Vertues of a Man die with him.
406
Vice, Mankind inclin'd to it.
100 128
The Effects of it to a Nation.
101, 154, 161, 172, 176
Vice, may be profitable to private Men, but can never be so to the Government.
129
Its deformity when most conspicuous.
130
What
England
has lost by her Vices.
148
Those of Princes result to the damage of the People.
175, 190, 192
The Vermin that attend vicious Courts.
194, 195
By what means and to what end the Vices of Princes have bin fomented.
250
Vicious Persons, they will submit to any Power that promises them Impunity.
135
Care not what they do, if they can find their account in it.
314
Villains, little better than Slaves, appointed to cultivate the Lands, and to other servile Offices.
354
Villany, where it has bin promoted to supreme Dignity.
32, 42, 182
What it inspires, to attain its end.
46, 155▪
v.
30
Tarquin
hated only for his Villanys.
158
None, that Men of desperate Fortunes will not undertake.
161
Supported by committing yet more.
182
What
Rome
suffer'd by it.
187
Vitellius
thrown into the Common-shore.
163, 275
His contemptible Character.
166
Ulpian
his Saying, that
Princeps Legibus non tenetur,
concludes nothing against us.
341
Ʋ nion; Similitude of Interests, Manners and Designs, is a link of it.
133
United Provinces,
so steddy in Practice and Principle, as hardly to be parallel'd in the World.
145
How the Deputys are us'd there.
410
Have had Dukes, Earls or Marquesses.
411
Vortigern,
the last and worst of the
British
Kings.
350
His Favour to the
Saxons,
and Carriage to the
Britans. 357, 358
Vox Populi est vox Dei. 47
Nothing more natural than to follow the Voice of all Mankind.
75, 396
General Consent is the Voice of Nature.
19, 20, 134
The Consequence of one Voice in each State.
215
Ʋ surpation, made the first King.
16▪ 17, 35
Grounding Pretensions of Right from thence.
20, 27, 31, 32, 42, 46, 67, 90
Ʋ surpation justify'd.
42
The greatest Injury can be done to Man.
67, 134, 155
What Power is so.
75
By whom bid to submit to it.
155
Lawful for an injur'd People to resume their own.
159
And Violence, said to confer an incontestable Right.
205, 227
All is detestable and abominable.
265
None can deduce any Title from it.
361
Ʋ surpers,
Athaliah
an Ʋ surpress.
41
Have their Root in Violence and Fraud.
71, 117
Seem to be born for Plagues to Mankind.
104
What lawful against One is lawful against All, that is, to get rid of them.
155
May be suppress'd as Enemys and Robbers.
235
Some that never were Conquerors.
265
Declare their Contempt of all human and divine Laws.
318
We ought to examine the Titles so, as to judg of them.
361
Ʋ sury, the Cruelty of it.
103
The mitigation of it compos'd intestine Quarrels.
176
W.
WAntonness, from whence it proceeds.
107
War and Peace, the Kings of
Sparta
never bad the Power of either.
77
Transacted by the collected Body of the People.
86, 87, 88
War, the
Hebrew
Government fitted them for War.
115, 143
Of
Charles
Duke of
Burgundy
with the
Swiss-Cantons. 144
Better perform'd in popular Governments than in Monarchys.
149
It is
Decertatio per vim. 154
When the People may engage in it justly.
154, 155
What to be accounted making of War.
235, 236
Differs much from what it was formerly.
256
There is such a thing among men as a just War, and why.
265
Kings of
Judah
cou'd not make any without the consent of the
Sanhedrin. 269
Whether a Subject may examine if it be just or unjust.
316, 317
Where the Cause of it is originally just, and it proves successful; what Right the Generals have over their Enemys.
367
The Events of it various.
374
Wars, Civil, only made by Members of the Civil Society.
106
None till the times of
Marius, Sylla
and
Catiline. ibid.
Esteem'd the last struglings of expiring Liberty.
ibid.
The Root of the
Romans,
what.
114
In
France. 119, 173
From whence they arise.
152, 174
Pretences for them commonly false.
153
When they will always be frequent.
170
What Reigns most accompany'd with them.
171
In
Spain. 174
More in Kingdoms than in Common-wealths.
175, 185, 187
Not the greatest evil that befals Nations.
185
The
Romans
and
Grecians
glory in freeing their Countrys from a Civil War.
198
In
Macchiavel
's account are a Disease.
395
Wards,
that Court, how the Institution of it was perverted.
44
Westminster,
what its Privileges in point of Elections.
385
Wickedness, makes men Cowards.
206
Will, is ever drawn by some real good, or the appearance of it.
32
The dividing of the World left to the Will of Man.
37, 38
Passing for Law, the effects of it.
96, 205, 206, 223, 414, 415
Where this is the Rule, the Prince sets up an Interest separate from that of his People.
219
William
the
First,
elected
a Clero & Populo. 72, 271
Could inherit nothing.
77
On what Conditions sworn to be receiv'd.
298
In his time our Ancestors were in a low Condition.
342
Wisdom, not always annex'd to the Character of Kings.
43
When Men give Testimony of it.
ibid.
Whose we ought to admire and imitate.
57, 157
The wisest men most sit for Government.
92
Of Man imperfect.
120
A kind of Ability to dispatch some sort of Affairs, is so call'd.
202
Of the collected Body of the People surpasses that of a single Man.
290
Witnesses false encourag'd, and call'd
Custodes Legum. 101, 129
No sufficient defence against them either by the Laws of God or Man.
124
Ministers of Iniquity.
151, 192
God or Man.
124
Countenanc'd at
Rome. 186
The best Tribunals in the World may be mis
ed by them.
206
Irish. 101
Wittena-Gemote,
its Power as declar'd by
Camden. 350
The Power of the Nation resided in them.
354, 384
Women, on what account they are excluded in
France
and
Turky. 40, 78, 167, 301, 302, 365
And were by other Nations.
41
Some do admit them.
78, 167
What have govern'd Kings, but seldom Senats or popular Assemblys.
170, 179, 180
What Mischiefs Kings have bin guilty of to gratify 'em.
407
Work, that of all Magistrates and Governors.
48, 53
Worst Men advanc'd, and most ambitious to be so.
44, 50, 55, 56, 61
And by whom prefer'd.
131, 132, 133, 136
Stil'd Fathers of their People.
47, 48
Have their Tools to execute their detestable Designs.
111
Tyranny set up by them.
134, 135, 136, 192
Engag'd in all Tumults.
162
Most frequently have obtain'd the Empire by the worst means.
166
Their Principles ought to be destroy'd.
181
Easily swallow Bribes.
182, 184
Have most Power in some Courts.
183, 184
How Princes become so, as also the most miserable.
219
Delight in the worst things.
241
Worst Men, whom they had no need to fear.
267
What base courses they take to gain the favour of weak and vicious Princes.
279
What encourages them to murder the best of Princes.
344
Worthy Men, in ill times suspected for their Vertue.
101
Ought to be had in highest Veneration.
333
Wrong, is a Breach of the Laws, which determine what is Right.
205
If there be none done, there can be no Revenge.
206
Where Kings can do none.
403
X.
XEnophon,
why he call'd
Agesilaus
a good and faithful King.
76
Conducted the
Grecians
Retreat in despite of above
400000
men, who endeavor'd to oppose them.
97
His Opinion concerning Tyranny.
122
For
Aristocracy. 122, 123, 136
Xerxes,
his Folly in inflicting Stripes on the Sea.
43
His Invasion of
Greece. 141
Y.
YNca Garcilasso
of
Peru,
the fabulous Story of him.
164, 165
Younger Brothers prefer'd to the Elder.
23, 80
Z.
ZEal, Excess of Violence is but an ill Testimony of it.
144
When it can never be capable of Excess.
235
Zimri,
his Title to the supreme Honor how acquir'd.
29
Zoroaster,
suppos'd to be
Ham. 27
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