Ex Libris 
 C. K. OGDEN 
 
 2/r- 
 
 ^ 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 IC 
 
 CONTENTS ^"l"*^ 
 
 I. Advertifemcnt. . -^^ 
 
 II. Preface to the firfl edition of the Difcourfes concerning Government, 
 
 printed in the year 1698. 
 
 III. Memoirs of the life of Algernon Sydney, inchiding the paper which 
 
 he delivered to the fheriffs upon the fcafFold on Tower-Hill, oa 
 Friday, Dec. 7, 1683, immediately before his execution. 
 
 1 1 II. Difcourfes concerning Government, with hiftorical notes, an index 
 to the Difcourfes, and a lift of the authors cited in the notes. 
 
 V. Letters of A. Sydney, taken from Thurloe's State Papers. 
 
 VI. The Protedor's Advice to A. Sydney, when he went to the king of 
 
 Sweden in Poland. 
 
 VII. Letters of A. Sydney to his father, Robert Earl of Leicefler, taken 
 
 from the Sydney Papers. 
 
 VIII. His letters to Henry Savile, ambaffador in France. 
 Vllll. His Trial. 
 
 X, His Apology in the day of his death. 
 
 XI. A General View of Government in Europe. 
 
 %* The letters taken from Thurloe's State Papers, the Protedor's 
 Advice, the General View of Government in Europe, and the notes to 
 the Difcourfes and the General View, are the new materials with which 
 the editor has enlarged this Edition. 
 
 A z
 
 PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION OF THE 
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 PRINTED IN MDCLXXXXVIII* 
 
 How highly the .writings of wife and good men concerning government 
 have been efteeped in all age?; the teftimony of hiftory, and the prefer- 
 vation of *fo many books compofed by the antients on that fubjcdl, do 
 fufficieritly manifeft. And it may be truly faid, that unlefs men have 
 utterly abandoned themfelves to all that is deteftable, they have feldora 
 attempted to detradl from the worth of the aflertors of liberty, though 
 ambition and other paffions, have influenced them to adl in oppofition to 
 it. When Auguftus had furprifed a young Roman, who was related tO' 
 him, reading a political difcourfe of Cicero, he commended his judgment 
 in that choice. The hiftory of France, written by the prefident de Thou, 
 with a fpirit of freedom that might have been worthy of thofe who had 
 lived before the violation of their liberty, has been fo generally valued by 
 men of all ranks in that nation, that it is hard to find a book on. any 
 important fubjed:, which has had fo many editions. And the juft efteem, 
 that the emperor Charles the fifth made of tl^e Memoirs of Philip de 
 Comiaes, though that author has given fo many inftauces of his deteftation 
 of tyranny, may be enough to put this matter out of difpute. But if all 
 other proof were wanting, the implacable hatred and unwearied induftry 
 of the worft of men to fupprefs fuch writings would abundantly tellify 
 their excellency. 
 
 That nations fhould be well informed of their rights is of the mofl: 
 abfolute neceffity ; becaufe the happinefs or infelicity of any people 
 entirely depends upon the enjoyment or deprivation of liberty ; which is 
 fo invincibly proved in the following difcourfes, that to endeavour to make 
 It more clear, would be an unpardpnable preftimption. 
 
 If any man think the publication of this work to be unfeafonable at 
 this time, he is defircd to confider, that as men expedl good laws only 
 • from good government, fo the reign of a prince, whofe title is founded 
 upon the principle of liberty which is here defended, cannot but be the 
 moft proper, if not the only time to inform the people of their juft rights ■ 
 that from a due fenfe of their ineftimabie value, they may be encouraged 
 to aflert them againft the attempts of ill men in time to come. 
 
 It 
 
 * By John Toland. Befide the Difcourfes concerning Government, he collected and firft 
 publifhed Milton's profe-works, and Harrington's works, « fome of them from the original 
 manufcripts,''
 
 PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION OF THE 
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 PRINTED IN MDCLXXXXVIII* 
 
 How highly the writings of wife and good men concerning government 
 have been efteeped in all agesi the teftimony of hiftory, and the prefer- 
 vation of *fo many books compofed by the antients on that fubjcdt, do 
 fufficieiitly manifeft. And it may be truly faid, that unlcfs men have 
 utterly abandoned themfelves to all that is deteftable, they have leldom, 
 attempted to detract from the worth of the aflertors of liberty, though 
 ambition and other paffions, have influenced them to adl in oppofition to 
 it. When Auguftus had furprifed a young Roman, who was related tO' 
 him, reading a political difcourfe of Cicero, he commended his judgment 
 • in that choice. The hiftory of France, written by the prefident de Thou, 
 with a fpirit of freedom that might have been worthy of thofe who had 
 lived before the violation of their liberty, has been fo generally valued by 
 men of all ranks in that nation, that it is hard to find a book on. any 
 important fubjedl, which has had fo many editions. And the juft efteem, 
 that the emperor Charles the fifth made of tl^e Memoirs of Philip de 
 Comines, though that author has given fo many inftances of his deteftation 
 of tyranny, may be enough to put this matter out of difpute. But if all 
 other proof were wanting, the implacable hatred and unwearied induftry 
 of the worft of men to fupprefs fuch writings would abundantly teftify 
 their excellency. 
 
 That nations fhould be well informed of their rights is of the mofl 
 abfolute neceffity ; becaufe the happinefs or infelicity of any people 
 entirely depends upon the enjoyment or deprivation of liberty ; which is 
 fo invincibly proved in the following difcourfes, that to endeavour to make 
 it more clear, would be an unpardonable preftimption. 
 
 If any man think the publication of this work to be unfeafonable at 
 this time, he is defired to confider, that as men expedl good laws only 
 » from good government, fo the reign of a prince, whole title is founded 
 upon the principle of liberty which ia here defended, cannot but be the 
 moft proper, if not the only time to inform the people of their juft rights - 
 that from a due fenfe of their ineftimable value, they may be encouraged 
 to affert them againft the attempts of ill men in time to come. 
 
 It 
 
 * By John Toland. Befide the Difcourfes concerning Government, he collected and firfl 
 publiftied Milton's profe-works, and Harrington's works, " fome of them from the original 
 manufcripts,".
 
 PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION 
 
 It is not neceffary to fay any thing concerning the perfon of the author. 
 He was fo well known in the world, fo univerially efteemed by thofe who 
 inew how to fet a juft value upon true merit, and will appear fo admirable 
 in the following difcourfes, as not to ftand in need of a flattering panegyric. 
 But it may not be amifs to fay fomething of the difcourfes now puhlifhed. 
 
 The paper delivered to the fherifFs immediately before his death informs 
 us, that he had left a large and a lefler treatife, written againft the 
 principles contained in Filmer's book ; and that a fmall part of the leffer 
 treatife had been produced for evidence againft him at his trial. It is 
 there alfo faid, that the leffer treatife neither was, nor probably ever 
 fhould have been finifhed. This therefore is the large work mentioned 
 in that paper, and not the leffer, upon part of which the wicked fentence 
 pronounced and executed againft him was grounded. 
 
 It remains only to add a few words for fatisfadion of the public, that 
 thefe difcourfes are genuine. And here I fhall not need to fay, that they 
 were put into the hands of a perfon of eminent quality and integrity by 
 the author himfelf ; and that the original is, in the judgment of thofe 
 who knew him beft, all written by his own hand : his inimitable manner 
 of treating this noble fubjedt is inftead of a thoufand demonftrations, 
 that the work can belong to no other than the great man whofe name 
 it bears.
 
 ADVERTISEMENT 
 
 This edition of A. Sydney's works was in the prefs, when I was perfuaded' 
 by a gentleman, who has a veneration tor the author, to rcvife the 
 imprelhon. I engaged in this undertaking with a'defign only to collate 
 the firfl: and fecond editions, to rectify the punctuation, which was 
 extremely faulty, and to corredl any typographical error, which might 
 occur upon a fuperficial infpeiTtion. I had no intention, and indeed 
 very little time, to examine the accuracy of the author, with refpedt to 
 hiftorical fadts. But I foon found, that the Difcourfes on Government 
 required a very attentive revifal ; that in every edition of that work there 
 were feveral miftakes in the names of perfons and places : as, Balthei and 
 Amalthei, for Balthi and Amali, Almoranides for Almoravides, Chilperic 
 the third for Childeric the third, Brefcia for Bedriacum, Theoreftes and 
 Clepreftes for Eteocles, Cleanthes for Diogenes, Naenius for Metellus, 
 David for Solomon, Alfr'ed for Ethelwolf, Caen for Rouen, Alphonfo the 
 Chafte for Alphonfo the Catholic, and the like*; that almoft all the 
 references in the margin were either falfe or defedlive ; and that the author 
 had fometimcs fallen into miftakes of greater confequence, by taking his 
 quotations at fecond hand. Thus, ch. ii. § 5, he fays, " Egbert and Ethel- 
 " ward came to the crown by the fame authority, omnium confenfu rex 
 " creatur." And again, ch. iii. § 10, " Ethelwerd was chofen in the 
 " fame manner by the confent of all." Here it was no eafy matter to 
 determine, which of the Saxon kings the author had in view. At firfl: I 
 imagined, that Ethelwerd was an erratum inft:ead of Ethelbert, or Ethelred. 
 But then it did not appear, that the words, " omnium confenfu rex 
 " creatur," had ever been applied to either of thofe princes. After a 
 tedious Inveftigation through all our ancient hiftorians, I found this 
 expreiTion ufed by Polydore Vergil in fpeaking of Egbert ; and was fully 
 fatisfied, that the paftages above-mentioned were erroneous. Upon this 
 prelumption I omitted the name of Ethelward in the former; and in the 
 latter intimated my fufpicions, by including the claufe relative to Ethelwerd 
 in crotchets. Having fince looked into Sadler's treatife on the Rights of 
 the Kingdom, or curtoms of our anceftors, touching the duty, power, 
 eledion, or fucceffion of our kings, I found the following paragraph : 
 " Egbert by all is a fixed fettled monarch, but without or againft right 
 " of fucceffion : ordinatur in regem ; fo Ethelwerd, omnium confenfu 
 " rex creatur, in Polydore ; ad regnum eledlus, moxque imperare juflus, 
 " patriae defideriis fatisfecit, as we read in the monk of Malmefbury f." 
 
 Here 
 
 * See p. 93. 95. 187. igg. 204. 218. 270. 283. 324. 325. 369 
 f Rights of the Kin;j;dom, etc. p. 62
 
 ADVERTISEMENT 
 
 Here the perplexity was unravelled. All thefe paflages relate to Egbert, 
 as the reader will find at page 321; but an unlucky femicolon after 
 " regem," which fhould have been placed after " Ethelwerd," led our 
 author, who has taken thefe quotations from Sadler, to miftake an old 
 hiftorian for a Saxon king. 
 
 Thefe errors are fuch as might naturally be expelled In a work which 
 never received the author's final corredlions, and was not publilhed till 
 after his death. 
 
 With regard to the notes on the Difcourfes and the General View, 
 which are added in this edition, it is apprehended, that original autho- 
 rities will be more fatisfadtory to every learned and inquifitive reader, 
 than the obfcure allufions, or the bare aflertions of the author. If I have 
 committed any miftakes, or made any improper references, let it be 
 confidered, that this edition was in the prefs, to be finifhed with all 
 polfible expedition, when I undertook to revife it ; that it was fometimes 
 extremely difficult to difcover the fource of thofe paflages which were 
 cited in the margin ; that many of them were afcribed to authors in which 
 they NEVER existed; and that an error, when once admitted, was 
 irreparable. I will therefore honeftiy acknowledge in the words of an 
 pld, Grecian, 
 
 Ap'/jo-aj (J' j«4 e^fjjff-', -/ji-uo-a (J" ax awTccq. Theog. v. 947 
 Norfolk Street, Od. 21, 1771 J. Robertfon.
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF A. SYDNEY
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 Though there is nothing more ufcful and entertaining than the lives of 
 great and excellent men, yet it often happens, that through the negledt 
 of their friends and contemporaries, proper materials are wanting : and 
 thus it is in the prefent cafe. One cannot but wonder, that the life of 
 our author, who was a man of fuch excellent abilities, fuch a lover of 
 liberty, and who died for the glorious caufe, was never attempted by any 
 of his Intimate friends, and fuch as were acquainted with the moft 
 remarkable paflages concerning him. To retrieve this error as much as 
 we can, we fliall lay together in one view, what can nov/ be gathered 
 from various authors, who occafionally mention the name and atStions of 
 colonel Sydney : and it is to be hoped, that this fhort account, though- 
 very imperfed;, may do lome juftice to the memory of that noble perfon, 
 and give fome inftru£lion to the reader. 
 
 Algernon Sydney defcended from a very antient and honourable family*, 
 and was fecond (on of Robert earl of Leicefter, by Dorothy, eldeft 
 daughter of Henry Piercy earl of Northumberland y to whom his lordlhip 
 was married in theyeari6i8. The exa£t year when our author was 
 born is not certain, but it was probably about the year 1622. His noble 
 father was careful to give him a good education ; and in 1632, when he 
 went ambaflador to Denmark, took his fon with him ; as he alfo did, when 
 he was ambaflador to the king of France in 1636 : and the countefs, his 
 mother, in a letter f to the earl then at Paris, acquaints his lordfhip, 
 that flie hears her fon mucJi commended by all that came from thence ; 
 and that one, who fpake well of very few, laid, " he had a huge deal 
 of wit, and much fweetnefs of nature ij:." Upon the breaking out of the 
 rebellion in Ireland, the latter end of the year 1641, he had a commiflion 
 for a troop of horle in the regiment of his father, who was then lord- 
 iieutenant of that kingdom ; and he went over thither with his eldeft 
 brother Philip lord vlfcount Lifle, dlftinguifhing himfelf upon all occa- 
 fions with great gallantry againft the rebels. In the year 1643, he had 
 the king's permiffion to return to England ; for which purpofe the earl- 
 his father gave him likewife a licence, dated at Oxford |une 22, that 
 year ; but landing in Lancafliire in Auguft following, he was, by order 
 ©f Parliament, brought up in cuftody to London, where he v/as prevailed' 
 on to take a command under them: and on the loth of May 1644^ the 
 earl of Manchefter, major-general of feveral counties, conftituted him 
 captain of a troop of horfe in his own regiment. His brother the lord 
 
 vifcQunt 
 
 * Coll'ms's Peerage of England, and Memoirs of the lives and'aflions'of the Sydneys. 
 
 ■f Collins's Letters and memorials of ftate, vol. ii. p. 445. 
 
 + This fweetnefs of nature (with a huge deal of wit) appears remarlcably in the portrait' 
 of him, v/hich was painted at Bruflels in the year 1663, yet at Penlhurft j and made,, 
 whatever fome have t.hought, an effential part of his noble difpofition,. 
 
 3L m'.
 
 T^EMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 vifcount Li lie, being loon after appointed lieutenant-general of Ireland, 
 and general of the forces there, gave him the command of a regiment of 
 horfe to ferve in the expedition thither : and it appears by the MS. 
 journal * of the earl his father, that he was likewife lieutenant-general of 
 the horfe in Ireland, and governor of Dublin; and that before he went 
 into that kingdom, he had the government of Chichefter, and was in 
 the battle at York, and feveral other engagements f. In the fame journal 
 the earl writes as follows ; "On the 8th of April 1647, early in the 
 *' morning, the houfe of commons being then thin, and few of my fon's 
 *' friends prefent, it was moved by Mr. Glyn the recorder, that colonel 
 *' Jones fliould be made governor of Dublin in chief, and not deputy- 
 " governor to Algernon Sydney ; pretending that Jones would not go, 
 " unlefs he might be governor, which was not true, Jones having 
 " accepted of the place of deputy-governor from the committee at Derby- 
 " houfe, who had alfo appointed the Lord Lille to commiflion his brother 
 " Algernon to be governor of Dublin, which he had done before he went 
 " into Munfter. This motion of the recorder was feconded by old Sir 
 *' Henry Yane, who pretended that his confcience moved him to be of 
 " opinion, that fince the houfe had thought proper to recal the lord 
 " Lille, it was not fit to let his brother, Algernon Sydney, remaiii 
 " governor of fo important a place as Dublin. Sir William Armyn and 
 " others, oppofed this motion, alledging, that if they had ufed one 
 " brother ill, they ought not to do injuftice to the other, who had fo 
 " well deferved of them. But it was carried againfh him, and the govern- 
 " ment was conferred on Jones. After which refolution, it was moved, 
 " that fome recompence might be given to Algernon Sydney, according 
 " to his merit ; to which the houfe aflented without oppofition," And 
 on the 7th of May, colonel Sydney had the thanks of the Houfe for 
 liis good Icrviccs in Ireland ^ ; and was afterwards made governor of Dover. 
 In January 1648, he was nominated one of king Charles's judges ||, 
 though he did not fit among them. What his reafons were for declining 
 this, we know not. 'Tis manifeft that he was, both by inclination and 
 principle, a zealous republican; and, on that account, a violent enemy 
 to Oliver Cromwell §, when he alTumcd to himfelf the government, to 
 which, as well as to that of Richard, his fucceffor, he was abfolutely 
 irreconcilcable. But, upon the reiignation of Richard, the long parlia- 
 ment being reftorcd in May 1659, ^"'^ having palled a declaration, " to 
 -*' fccure the liberty and property of tlie people, both as men and chrif- 
 
 " tians, 
 
 * Collins's Memoirs, p. 150. 
 
 t Colonel Sydney alfo, fon to the Earl o^ Lc'iccjler, charged with much gallantry at the 
 "head of my Lord of McincheJ}i'r''s regiment of horfe, and c.unc off with much honour, 
 though with many wounds, the true badges of his honour; and was fent away afterward 
 .-to London for cure of his wounds. 
 
 The Parliamentary Chronicle, part 3. p. 273. 
 
 X Whitelocke's Memorials, p. 246. Edit. 1732. 
 
 11 Our authority for this article is taken from Echard's hiftory of England, p. 675 and 697. 
 
 ^ VVhitclocke, p. 67S,
 
 (C 
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LITE OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 *' tians, and that without a finglc perlbn, kuigHiip, or houfe of lords, 
 and to uphold the magiftracy and the miniflry," he adhered to them ; 
 and was appointed one of the council of llatc, with the lord Fairfax, 
 Bradfliaw, Sir Henry Vane, general Ludlow, Sir Arthur Hafelrig, Fleet- 
 wood, Lanabert, col. Henry Marten *, Mr. Thomas Challoncr, Mr, 
 Thomas Scot, Mr. Henry Neville fj Mr. Wallop, and others. On the 
 
 * Within two days after this difcourfe from Mr. Ficnncs, Mr. Hyde walking between 
 the parliament houfe and /Fi//;«//z/^^r, in the church-yard met with Harry Marten, with 
 whom he lived very familiarly ; and fpealcing together abou*t the proceedings of the houfe, 
 Marten told him, that he would undo himfelf by his adhering to the court ; to which he 
 replied, that he had no relation to the court, and was only concerned Co maintain the 
 government and preferve the law : and then told him, he could not conceive what he pro- 
 pofed to himfelf, for he did not think him to be of the opinion or nature with thofe men 
 who governed the houfe ; and afked him what he thought of fuch and fuch men ; and he 
 very frankly anfwered, he thought them knaves, and that when they had done as much 
 as they intended to do, they fliould be ufed as thoy had ufed others. The other prelicd 
 him to fay what he defued ; to which, after a little paufe, he very roundly anfwered, I tic 
 not think one man wife enough to govern us all : which was the firll: word he had ever heard 
 any man fpeak to that purpofe ; and would, without doubt, if it had then been communi- 
 cated or attempted, been the moft abhorred by the whole nation of any defign that could be 
 mentioned : and yet it appears it had even fo early [1640 or 1641] entered into the hearts 
 of fome defperate pcrfons ; that gentleman being at that time poffeffed of a very great 
 fortune, and having great credit in his county. 
 
 The life of Edward Earl of Clarendon, part i, p, 81. oflavo edit. 
 _ The colonel was author of divers curious tracts; and was alfo a principal promoter of 
 the publifhing of " The firfl Century of fcandalous malignant priefts," " The King's 
 " Cabinet opened," and other ftate traits. See his charafier in A. Wood's Athenae 
 Oxonienfes, and in Biftiop Kennet's hiftorical regifter j but drawn in bltternefs of wrath 
 and anger, 
 
 f Henry Neville, fecond fon of Sir Hen. Neville of Billingbeare in Berks, was educated 
 at Oxford. In the beginning of the civil war, he travelled into Italy and other countrie?, 
 whereby he advanced himfelf much in the knowledge of n-.odern languages and men ; 
 and returning in 1645 or thereabouts, became Recruiter in the Long Parliament for Jbingdon 
 in Berkjhire, at which time he was very intimate with Harry Marten, Tho. Chalor.er, Tho. 
 Scot, 'James Harrington, and other zealous commonwealths men. In Nov. 1651, he was 
 ele£ted one of the Council of State, being then a favourite of Oliver ; but when he fiw that 
 perfon gaped after the government by a fmgle perfon, he left him, was out of his favour, 
 and adfed little during his government. In 1658 he was eleiled Bureefs for Reading to 
 ferve in Richard's Parliament ; and when that perfon was depofed, and the Long Parliament 
 ftortly after reflored, he was again eleftcd one of the Council of State. — He was a great 
 Rota-vniin, was one of the chief perfons of fames Harrington's club of commonwealths men, 
 to inftil their principles into others, he being efteemed to be a man of good parts, and a 
 well-bred gentleman. " The Cotnmonivealth of Oceana," at its firft appearance, was 
 greedily bought up, and coming into the hands of Tho. Hobbes of Mahncfbury, he would 
 often fay, that Harry Neville had a finger in that pye, and thofe that knew them both 
 ■were of the fame opinion. By that book, and both their fmart difcourfes and inculcations 
 daily in Coft'ee-houfes, they obtained many profelytes. In 1659, in the beginning of 
 Alich, term, they had every night a meeting at the then Turk's Head, in Ne^v palace yard, 
 IVeflniinfhr, called Miles'^ Coffee-houfe, to which place their Difciples and Virtuofi would 
 commonly repair : and their difcourfes about government and ordering of a Commonwealth, 
 were the mofi ingenious and fmart that ever were heard, the arguments in the Parliament Houfe 
 being but flat to thofe. They had a balloting box, and balloted how things fhould be 
 carried, by way of Tentamens ; which not being ufed or known in England before, oji that 
 account, the room every evening was very full. Befides the author and Harry Neville, who 
 were the prime men of this club, were Cyriai Skinner, a Merchant's foji of London, an
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 5th of June he was likewife nominated, •with Sir Robert Honeywood and 
 Bulftrode Whitelocke Efq; to go commillioners to the Sound, in order 
 to mediate a peace between the kings of Sweden and Denmark *. But 
 Mr. Whitelocke was not willing to undertake this fervice, efpecially being 
 joined with thofe, who, he knew, would expe£l precedency of him who 
 had been formerly ambaffador extraordinary to Sweden alone ; and there- 
 fore 
 
 ingenious young gentleman, and fcholar to "John Milton^ which Sl'inner fometimes held the 
 chair ; Maior ''fcbn Wildman, Charles JP'oljely of Stafforcljhire, Roger Coke, William Poultney,. 
 (afterwards li knight) who (bmetimes held the chair ; 'John HoJlcyns^Johu Aubrey, AJaxi- 
 inilian Fettle oi' Tetjiucrih in Oxfordfinye, a very able man in thefe matters, and v/ho had 
 more than once turned the Council-board of O. Cromwell; Michael Mallet, Philip Carteret 
 t<f the lile of Guernfey, Francis Crudock, a Merchant, Hairy Ford, Major Venner, Thomas 
 Marriet of Warzvu'kjhire, Henry Croone, Ph)'rician, Edward Bagjhaiv, of Chrijl Church, 
 r.nd Rzbert IVccd of Lincoln College Oxford ; 'James Adcrnc, then or loon after a divine, 
 with many others ; befides auditors and antagonilts of note. Dr. IVilUam Petty was a- 
 Rota-man. The doflrine was very taking, and the more, as there was no probability of. 
 the King's return. The greateft of the Parliament men hated this defign of rotation and 
 balloting, as being again ft their power. Eight or ten were for it, of. which number Hany. 
 Neville was one, who propofed it to the houfe, and made. It out to the me.r.bers thereof,. 
 that except they embraced that way of government they would iu ruined. The model of it was,. 
 that the third part of the Senate or Houfe fiiould rote out by ballot every year,, fo that every, 
 third year the faid Senate would be wholly altered. No magiftrate was to continue above, 
 three years, and all to be chofen iy i^Z/s/ .■ than v/hich choice nothing could be invented 
 more fair and impartial, as was then thought, though oppofed by many for feveral reafons. 
 This club of Commonwealths men lafted till about Feb, 21, 1659; at which time the 
 fecluded members being reftored by General Monke, all their models vaniflicd. — After th& 
 Reftoration he abfconded for a time ; but being feized, he was among others imprifoned, 
 though foon after fet at liberty. 
 
 Among various publications, there is a curious book of his, in oiTtavo, intitled, " Platx 
 R^divivus, or a Dialogue concerning government, wherein^ by obfcrvations drawn from 
 orher kingdoms and flates, both antient and modern, an endeavour is ufed to difcover thi 
 prefent politic diftcmper of our cwn, with the remedies." It came out firft in the month of 
 Oiflober ibSb, againft the refitting of the Parliament,, was very much bought up by tha 
 members thereof, and admired. Soon after, in th'C year 168 1, it was republifhed vVitli 
 additions. In that book he fays, " As for our Hiftory, it will not be forgotten. One of 
 thofe, who was in employment from the year 40 to 60, hath written the hillory of thof'i 
 twenty years, a perfon of good learni.'ig and elocution; and though he be now dead, yet 
 his executors are very unv/illing to publilli it fo foon, and to rub a fore that is not yet 
 healed. But the floiy is wrhten with great truth and impartiality, though the author was 
 
 engaged both in councils and arms for the Parliament." Reader,, fhouldit thou be 
 
 poTielTed of fuch a hiftory, beftow it upon the Public. 
 
 ■* The Committee of Safety having difpatched a melTenger to our fleet in the Sound before 
 the eltflion of the Council of Itate, to acquaint them with the reftitution of the Parliament, 
 the officers of the feveral fh'ps afiembled, and fent an acknowledgement of their authorit\-, 
 \vith all poflible demonflrations of fatisfaftion. NotvvithAanding which, heing highly 
 Jhifibk of how great importance the fea-aji'airs are to this nation, we ordered fix frigates to he 
 equipped with all diligence, and gave the coramand of t em to Lawfon, makmg him at 
 the fame time vice-admiial of the fleet. And this we- did, as well to prevent, an invafion, 
 jrom Flanders, with which the Cavalier party threatened us, as to balance the power of 
 Montague's party, who we knew was no friend to the commonwealth. AVe treated alia 
 with myn heer I-Iieuport, ambafl'ador from the States of Holland, that a good correfpoii- 
 lience might he maintained between the two Commonwealths, anJ that an accord might 
 be made between the two kings of Denmark and Sweden, who were then enemies, by the 
 interpofition of the two States ; who agreeing upon equitable terms, might be able to impofa 
 ihcm on tac rtfjfer. And this we were in hopes to accompli (h the rather, becauJe, neither 
 
 5 tiie
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 fore he endeavoured to excufe liimfelf by reafon of his old-age and infir- 
 mities : and accordingly Mr. Thomas Boone was appointed in his room. 
 The three plenipotentiaries let out for the Sound in July following, and 
 arrived at Klfineur on the 21ft of that month ; where they were attended 
 by admiral Montagu, afterwards earl of Sandwich, who, in profpedl of 
 •a revolution in favour of Charles II. to whom he was fecretly engaged, 
 relolved to return to England the month following with the whole fleet. 
 Colonel Sydney, who was averfe to that refolution, wrote to the Council 
 of State from Copenhagen, to complain of the admiral's condudt in that 
 point. His letters to his father, printed from the Sydney papers, and 
 thofe written by him in conjundlion with the other plenipotentiaries, 
 publiflied among fecretary Thurloe's ftate papers, give us a diftincl account 
 of his ncgociations. 
 
 As things foon after were evidently tending to the reftoration of 
 Charles II. colonel Sydney wrote thus in the poftfcript of one of thofe 
 letters to his father, " I doe not fay any thing of my owne intentions, 
 " in relation unto the changes that are fallen out already, or the others 
 " that are dayly expe(Sted. The truth is, I knowe them not ; the bufi- 
 *' ncllc is too difficult to iudge of at this diftance ; efpecially, not knowing 
 what will be in my power or choice. If I doe not receaue newe orders, 
 I lliall returne fpeedily home, and Ihall then foUowe that way which 
 your lordlhip fhall command and my belt friends aduife, as farre as I 
 can, without breaking the rules of honour or confciencc j which I am 
 fure will neuer be expecfted from me by your lordfhip, nor thoeswhoes 
 opinions I confider. While I am heare, I feme England, and will, 
 with as much care and diligence as I can, endeauour to aduance its in- 
 terefls, and followe the orders of thoes that gouerne it. I referue the 
 determination of other points to councells upon the place." 
 In another letter, dated at Stockholm, June 16, 1660, he writes, ' I 
 
 * am now at the utmoft point of my iourney northward, and have 
 
 * nothing more in my thoughts, then to returne into England with as 
 
 * much expedition as I can, according to the liberty granted unto my 
 ' colleagc'and me by the councell of ftate. We could not think it at all 
 
 * reafonable, to leaue the work in v.'hich wee were employed, when wee 
 
 * fawe a certainety of accomplifhing it within a. fliort time, unlefle wee 
 ' had receaued a pofitiue command; now the peace is concluded, I think 
 
 ' we 
 
 the Dutch nor we pretended to any more thnn a freedom of pafTing and repafling the 
 Sound, which could not well be if the command of it were in the hands of either of thofe 
 princes. The Dutch ambaflador feemed very defirous to finifli the treaty, but by fcveral 
 deiTiands which he made in the behalf of their merchants, delayed it fo long, that our 
 agent in Holland had already concluded an agreement with the States, whereby the two 
 comm.onwealths became engaged to compel that king that Jhouhl refiife to accept of the conditions 
 which thij tho>-ght juji and reafonable. In order to put this refolution in execution, the 
 States of Holland appointed their plenipotentiaries, and we on our part did the fame, 
 icnding thither colonel Algernon Sydney, Sir Robert Honywood, and one Mr. Boone, a 
 merchant, to that end. 
 
 Memoirs of Edmund Ludlow, fol. edit, p. 254,
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 we may very well luftify making ufe of that conceffion. I am hearc 
 alone : my colleague intended to make the fame iourney, but the gout 
 confined him unto his bed. I looke upon all the powers granted unto 
 us, as extinguifhed by the comming in of the king, and doe not take 
 upon me to adl any thing as a publique minifter, except it be giuing 
 notice unto the crownes of Sweden and Denmark, of the reftitution ot 
 the auncient gouernment in England, and the proclaiming of the king. 
 Vpon this occafion I accept of a publique audience, which is heare 
 offered unto me ; I fhould haue auoided it upon all other occafions. I 
 am detained heare fomme dayes longer then I did expeil ; the queene 
 and fenate hauing bin out of towne when I arriued heare. — ^I doe not 
 at all knowe in what condition I am theare [in England], nor what 
 effedts I fhall find of generall Monk his expreffions of kindneffe towards 
 me, and his remembrance of the auncient friendiliip that was between 
 us ; but the lord Fleetwoods letters to the fenate and priuate perfons 
 here, mention difcourfes that he makes much to my aduantage. I doe 
 receaue neither more nor lefTe ciuility heare then is ordinary, unleffe 
 the excufes I receaue for receauing noe more may deferue that name. 
 I am in priuate told, they feare to offend the king by any extraordi- 
 nary exprelllons towards me : your lordfhip may eafily imagine how 
 powerful! that confideration will be, when thoes in my condition can 
 
 * pretend to i-ioe ciuilityes upon any other account, but as they are 
 *■ refpedts vuito theire fuperiors and mailers.' 
 
 In his letter of July 22, 1660, he obferves, that he and his collegue, 
 had the day before, taken their leave of the king of Denmark ; and that 
 himfelf was taking his way by Hamburgh and Holland ; but did not yef 
 Yery well know, in what place he lliould ftay, until he heard further 
 from England. " I did hope," fays he, to his father, " that upon fuch 
 " occafions as thoes that haue lately befallen me, your lordfliip would 
 '' haue bin pleafed to fend me fomme commands and advifes how to 
 " dilpofe of myfelf, more particularly then by fuch a one as I had fenf 
 *' ouer with letters." 
 
 His father's anfwer to him, dated at London, Aug. 30, the fame year, 
 Avas as follows *. 
 
 ' Difufe of writing, hath made it uneafy to me ; age makes it hard ; 
 ' and the weaknefs of fight and hand makes it almoft impofhble. This 
 
 * may excufe me to every body, and particularly to you, who have not 
 
 * invited me much unto it ; but rather, have given me caufe to think, 
 ' that you were willing to fave me the labour of writing, and yourfelf 
 
 * the trouble of reading my letters. For after you had left me fick, foli- 
 
 * tary, and fad at Penfhurfl ; and you had refolvcd to undertake the 
 ' employment, wherein you have lately been, you neither came to give 
 ' a farewel, nor did fo much as fend one to me, but only writ a wrang- 
 
 * ling letter or two about money, etc. And though, both 
 
 before and 
 ' after. 
 
 * Familiar Letters written by John late earl of Rochcftcr, and other perfons of honour and 
 t^uality.
 
 < 
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 * after your going out of England, you writ to divers otlicr perfona, tlic 
 ' firft letter that I received from you, was dated, as I rcinemhcr, the 
 ' 13th of September ; the fecond in November; wherein you take notice 
 
 * of your mother's death : and, if there was one more, that was ail, 
 ' until Mr. Sterry came; who made fuch hafte from Pcnlhurft, that 
 ' coming very late at night, he would not flay to dine the next day, nor 
 ' to give me time to write. It is true, that fince the change of affairs 
 
 here and of your condition there, your letters have been more frequent. 
 
 * And if I had not thought my filence better, both for you and myfelf, 
 ' I would have written more than once or twice to you. But though for 
 ' fome reafons I did forbear, I failed not to dcin-e others to write unto 
 ' you ; and with their own, to convey the bcH: advice, that my little 
 ' intelligence and weak judgment could afford ; particularly, not to 
 ' expedl new authorities or orders from hence ; nor to flay in any of 
 ' the places of your negotiation ; not to come into England ; much lefs, 
 ' to expedl a fliip to be fcnt unto you ; or to think, that an account was 
 
 * or could be expeiSed of you here, unlefs it were of matters very difl^erent 
 ' from your tranfadions there : that it would be befl for you, prefentlv 
 
 * to divefl: yourfelf of the charadler of a public miniffer ; to difmifs all 
 
 * your train ; and to retire into fome fafe place, not very near nor very 
 ' far from England, that you might hear from your friends fometimes. 
 
 * And for this I advifed Hamburgh, where I hear you are, by your man 
 ' Powel, or by them that have received letters from you, with prefents 
 ' of wine and fifh, which I do not reproach nor envy. Your laff letter 
 ' to me had no date of time or place ; but by another at the fame time to 
 ' Sir John Temple, of the 28th of July, as I remember, fcnt by Mr. 
 ' Miffenden, I guefs that mine was of the fame date. By thofe that I 
 
 have had, I perceive, that you have been mifadvertifed ; for though I 
 meet with no effects nor marks of difplcafurc, yet I find no fuch 
 tokens or fruits of favour, as may give me either power or credit for 
 thofe undertakings and good offices, v^hich perhaps you j'expedt of me. 
 And now I am again upon the point of retiring to my poor habitation ; 
 having for myfelf no other defign, than to pafs the fmall remainder of 
 my days innocently and quietly ; and, if it pleafes God, to be gathered 
 ' in peace to my fathers. And concerning you, what to refolve in 
 
 * myfelt, or what to advife you, truly 1 know not ; for you muft give 
 
 * me leave to remember, of how little weight my opinions and counfels 
 ' have been with you, and how unkindly and unfriendly you have 
 ' rejedled thofe exhortations and admonitions, which, in much affediion 
 ' and kindnefs, I have given you upon many occafions, and in alm.ofl 
 ' every thing, from the higheff to the loweff, that hath concerned you : 
 ' and this you msy think fufRcicnt to difcourage me from putting mv 
 ' advices into the like danger. Yet fomewhat I will fay : and firil, I 
 ' think it unfit, and perhaps as yet unlafe, for you to come into Eng- 
 
 * land ; for I believe Powell hath told you, that he heard, when he was 
 
 * here, that you were likely to be excepted out of the general a<Sl: of 
 
 b ' pardon
 
 lb MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 * pardon and oblivion : and though I know not what you have done or 
 
 * laid here or there, yet I have fevcral ways heard, that there is as ill an 
 ' opinion of you, as of any, even of thofe that condemned the late king. 
 
 * And when I thought there was no other exception to you, than your 
 
 * being of the other party, I fpoke to the general in your behalf, who 
 
 * told me, that very ill offices had been done you ; but he would affift 
 
 * you as much as juftly he could. And I intended then alfo to fpeak 
 ' to fomebody elfe ; you may guefs whom I mean ; but fince that, I 
 ' have heard fuch things of you, that in the doubtfulnefs only of their 
 
 * being true, no man will open his mouth for you. I will tell you fome 
 
 * pailages, and you fl:iall do well to clear yourfelf of them. It is faid, 
 
 * that the univerfity of Copenhagen brought their album unto you, 
 ' defiring you to write fomething therein ; and that you did " fcribere 
 *' in albo " thefe words, 
 
 " Manus haec inimica tyrannis 
 
 " Enfe petit placidam fub libertate quietem." 
 
 * and put your name to it. This cannot but be publicly known, 
 ' if it be true. It is alfo faid, that a minifter, who hath married a lady 
 
 * Laurence, here at Chelfea, but now dwelling at Copenhagen, being 
 ' there in company with you, faid, " I think you were none of the late 
 " king's judges, nor guilty of his death," meaning our king. " Guilty ! 
 " faid you, do you call that guilt '''^f why., it was the jujleji and braveji 
 *' aSlion^ that ever was done in England, or any where elj'e^'' with other 
 
 * words to the fame efFed:. It is faid alfo, that you having heard of a 
 ' defign to feize upon you, or to caufe you to be taken prifoner, you 
 ' took notice of it to the king of Denmark himfelf, and faid, " I hear 
 
 " there 
 
 [ * Guilty ! faid you, do you call that guilt ? ] 
 -I confcfie, this were a worlce, and I hope it will be found fit for the divine pen of that 
 
 fccond Saint Peetcr the Lord Bilhop of London, who followed this martyred King, and 
 King of Martyrs to that block whereon his ever bleffed head made a facred croffe, and the 
 ncarcft to that whereon the celeftial King dyed, fince the day of his glorious fufFerings. 
 
 Had that great and eminent Chronologer of Saints, Baronius, lived in thefc days, furely 
 the life and death, the acls and paffions of this ever blefTed Saint, had alone furnifned 
 his eloquent pen with heavenly worke, to have exceeded both in weight and glory, all that 
 canonized catalogue of Saints triumphant, which for good ufe and imitation he hath 
 brouc;ht to light. For what malice is there yet remaining amongft his accurfed enemies, 
 to de*iiv, that in life and death, this King ran in the paths, and as neare as mortall man 
 could doe, to the example and marke of Jefus Chrift, the authour and liniflier of his faith 
 and fufferings ? 
 
 How he was betrayed and purfucd, is witnefied by and in the yeares 1639, 40, 41, 42, 
 43, 44, and 45. How he fled iVom one finfull nation to another wicked people, is recorded 
 to the living infamy of the ever trayterous Scots in the year 46. How he was fold at a 
 price by the faid accurfed Scots, to his cruel and caufelefle enemies the Jewifli Englifn, is 
 reiz;iftred in the year 47. How he wab tolTed between Herod the damned Independent, and 
 I'ilate l\\c ilc\iY\\\\ Prcjhyterian ; and between them againe delivered up to the tumults of 
 the faid accurfed Jevjs to be crucified, is nianifeikd in the year 48. How he was arraigned, 
 condemned, buffeted, fpit upon, and crucified by the conl'piring fkum of his own rebellious 
 people, not once opening a mouthful of revenge againft them, is yet written againft them 
 iu letters of that facred bloud, which from his bKIIcd neck hailed over his divine head to 
 
 advance
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF A. SYDNEY ii 
 
 " there is a dcfign to feize upon me ; hut wlio is it that iiath that dcllgii ? 
 *' Ejl ce notre bandit. "? '''' by which you are undcrftoocl, to mean the khio-. 
 
 * Befides this, it is reported, that you have been heard to fay many 
 
 * fcornful and contemptuous things of the king's perfon and family, 
 
 * which, unlefs you can juftify yourfelf, will hardly be forgiven or 
 
 ' forgotten ; 
 
 advance his everlafting title Charles of britaine king of the jews. And this 
 was engraven upon the even adamantine hearts of his bitter adverfuries on that moft 
 forrowful day to us, but ever blciled to his majefty, Tuefdav Jan. 30, 1648. How 
 they parted his raymcnt aniongft them, and caft lots upon his vefture, is witnefled by that 
 furrier, to whom they fold his Majefties rich fables gowne, becaufe they would not injure 
 their own profit. Thus farre his bufferings went along with his Saviour's, etc. etc. etc. 
 
 The Royal Legacies of Charles the firft of that name, of Great Britaine, 
 Prance, and Ireland, king and martyr, to his pi-rfecutors and murderers. 
 Being a fhort paraphrafc upon his Majefties moft chriftian and moft charitable 
 fpeech, delivered immediately before his tranjlation. Dedicated to his Majefties 
 
 loyal and difconfolate fubjefts. Printed in the year 1649 '" cjuarto. 
 
 But now the glory is departed from (our) Jfrael, the arke of God is taken, and 
 
 hovf \s Eiiglund become a tvidow ? made a prey unto cruell people and ficilfull to deftrov, 
 who dayly force and proftitute her unto their wicked purpof^s. For thefe things let 
 England (and every true hearted Englilhnian) fay, / weep, mine eye, mine eye runneth 
 downe wi.h ivater, becaufe the Comforter (king charles) that Jhould relieve my foul is farre 
 from me. The ireatb of our Nojirils, the Anointed of the Lord, etc.; the life of our Religion, 
 of our Lawes, of our Liberties, is ta-en from us j the Image of God's power in fupreme 
 authoiity, indemnity, and inviolability is taken from us; our Phifuian, our nurfing 
 Father, our Comforter, our ProteMoiir is taken from us, and, for our fins, was taken in 
 their pits ; fo that now we want the wings of his protection among thefe Heathen among 
 whom we live ; we are now made very flaves unto the worft of Heathen, a people without 
 God, without faith, without law, without rule, without reafon, without humanity, 
 without all thefe, and whofe unruly w///only, is unto all thefe, etc. etc. etc. 
 
 The Subjects forrow. Or Lamentations ujion the death of Britaines Jcfmh, 
 KING CHARLES, moft unjuftly and cruelly put to death by his own people, 
 before his Royal Palace Whitehall, Jan. 30, 1648. Expreffed in a Sermon 
 upon Lam. 4. 20. Wherein the divine and royal prerogatives, perfonal 
 virtues, and theological graces of his late Majefty are briefly delivered : And 
 that his Majefty was taken away in God's mercy unto himfclfe, and for the 
 certaine puniftiment of thefe Kingdomes, from the parallel is clearly provei, 
 London, printed in the yeare 1649 — in quarto. 
 
 The perfon that was now murthered, was not the Lord of Glory, but a glorious 
 
 Lord, Chrift's own Vicar, his Lieutenant and Vicegerent hereon earth, within his domi- 
 nions. And therefore by ail lawes divine and humane, he was privileged from anv punilh- 
 ment that could be inflicted by men. Albeit he was as inferiour to Chrift as man is 
 unto God, the creature unto the immortall Creator ; yet was his privilege of inviolability 
 farre more clear than was Chrift's. For Chrift was not a temporal Prince, his Kingdome 
 was not of this world, and therefore when he vouchfafed to co.ne into the world, and to 
 become the fonne of man, he did fubjeft himfelfe unto the law ; hee, who only could 
 choofe when to be borne, made choife to be borne at that time when there was a decree 
 for taxing all the world, that fo foone as he was borne he might be inrolled a fubjeft 
 untoCaefar; he lived as a fubjedt, payed tribute unto Caefar ; he fubmitted unto Pilat's 
 jurifdiilion, acknowledging that hee had power given him from above. But our gracious. 
 Soveraigne was well knowne to be a temporall Prince, a free Monarch, and their undoubted 
 Soveraigne, to whom they did all owe and had fworne allegiance ; and therefore he could 
 not be judged by any power on earth. He difclaimed their authority, as he well might ; 
 for they had no power at all over any, much lelle over him. And what power "tiie^' 
 ufurpcd, was not de fuper, us Pi/af's, but de fubter, from beneath, even from the angell 
 
 b 2 of
 
 li MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF A; SYDNEY 
 
 * forgotten ; for fuch perfonal offences make deeper impreflions, than 
 ' public adlions, either of war or treaty. Here is a refident, as he calls 
 ' himfelf, of the king of Denmark, whofe name I hear is Pedcombe ; 
 
 * he hath vifited me, and oifered his readinefs to give you any affiftancc 
 ' in his power or credit, with the ambaffador Mr. Alfield, who was then 
 
 ' cxpedled, 
 
 of the bottomlefle pit, whofe name is Abaddon; for as he feeks the deftrudlion of all men, 
 fo efpccially of Kings, becaufe by their government peace is preferved, juftice executed, 
 and religion maintained. But from above they had no power; for God never gave unto 
 the people power over their King: as is evident by Scripture, by the law of nature and 
 nations, by the knowne lawcs of England, by cleare and undeniable reafons, and by the 
 conilant docirine and practice of the true, antient, and Catholic church. And yet thofe 
 monftrous traytors, have facrilegioufly invaded God's throne, and ufurped his office, whofe 
 peculiar it is to be judge of Kings j and fo have ventured to try, judge, condemne, and 
 execute their King, in defpite of all law, reafon, religioft, nature and God himfelfe, etc. 
 etc. etc. 
 
 The Martyrdome of King Charles. Or his conformity with Chrifl in his 
 fufFerings. In a fermon on i Cor. 2. 8. [Which none of the princes of this 
 world knew : for had they knowne it, they would not have crucified the Lord 
 of Glory.] Preached at Bredah, before his Majefty of Great Britaine and the 
 Princcffe of Orange. By the Bifhop of Dovvne, June ^\ 1649. Chrifliani 
 nunquam funt inventi Cafliani. Tertull. Hage, Printed 1649 — in quarto. 
 Extrafts of Reftoration, and anniverfary thirtieth of January fermons, might have been 
 likewife added ; but thefefhall fuffice. 
 
 The Parliament of E?igland, elecled by the People whom they reprefent, and by them 
 trufled and authorized for the Common good, having long contended againft Tyranny, and 
 to procure the well-hehig of thofe whom they ferve, and to remove oppreffion, arbitrary 
 power, and all oppofition to the Peace and Freedom of the Nation ; do humb y and thankfully 
 acknowledge the bleffing of Almighty God upon their weak endeavors, and the hearty 
 aflifl:ance of the well-afFefted in this work, whereby the enemies thereunto, both public and 
 fecret, are become unable for the prefent, to hinder the perfeiling thereof. 
 
 And to prevent their power to revive Tyranny, Inju/iice, War, and all our former evils, 
 the Parliament have been neceffitated to the late Alterations in the Government, and to 
 that Settlement, which they judge mofl conducible to the honor of God, and the good of 
 the Nation, the onely end and duty of all their labors. 
 
 And that this may appear the more clearly and generally, to the fatisfaftion of all who 
 are concerned in it, they have thought fit to declare and publifh the Grounds of their 
 Proceedings. 
 
 They luppofe it will not be denycd, that the firft Tnjiltution of the Offce of a King in 
 this Nation, was by agreement of the People ; who chofe one to that office for the protedian 
 ^nd goid o( thcjn who chofe him, and for their better government, according to fuch laivs 
 as they did confcnt unto. And let thofe who have obferved our Stories, recoUecl: how very 
 few have performed the trujl of that office with righteoufncfs and due care of their Subjects 
 good. And how many have made it their fludy and labor, to fatisfie their particular 
 Ambition and Poivcr, with high prcflurcs and miferies upon their Subjects ; and with what 
 horrid prodigality of Chrijlian blood, upon puniStilio's of their own honor, perfonal titles 
 and didtates. Ajid in the whole line of them, how far haih the late King exceeded all his 
 PredeccJJors, in the deftrudlLon of thofe whom they were bound to prelerve ; and in rtead of 
 fpreading his Proteflion to all, fcarce permitting any to efcape the violence of his fury. 
 
 To maniftfl this truth, it will not be improper to take a view of fome paCTages in his 
 reign, wherein he much further out-went all his Forefathers in evil, than any example can 
 be found of puniflimcnt, etc. etc. etc. 
 
 A Declaration of the Parliament of England, expreffing the grounds of their 
 late Proceedings, and of fettling the prefent government in the way of A Free 
 State., London, printed Mar. 22, 1648 — in quartc 
 
 The
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF A. SYDNEY i^ 
 
 * cxpeded, and is now arrived here, and hath had his firft audience. I 
 ' have not feen Mr. Pedcombe fince ; but within a fev/ d;iys, I will put 
 ' him in mind of his profeflion of friendship to you, and try what he 
 
 * can or will do. Sir Robert Honey wood is alfo come hither ; and as I 
 
 * hear, the king is gracioufly pleafed to admit him to his prefence; 
 
 ' which 
 
 The Parliament likewife pulled down the King's Statues at the Weft end of Paul's and 
 in the Royal Exchange, caufmg the following infcription to be placed in the nich of the latter^ 
 
 EXIT- TYRANUS . REGVM- VLTIMVS 
 
 ANNO- LIBERTATIS. ANGLIAE • RESTITUTAE • PRIMO 
 
 ANNO- DOM- MDCXXXXVIII - JAN- XXX 
 
 May it pleafe your Lordfliip, my Lord Prefident, and this High Court, erected for the 
 
 moft coniprehenfive, impartial, and glorious piece of juftice, that ever was afted and 
 
 executed upon the theatre of Englaiid, for the trying and judging of Charles Stuart, whom 
 
 God in his wrath gave to be a king to this Nation, and will, I truft, in great love for his 
 
 notorious prevarications and blood-guiltinefs, take him away from us; He that hath been 
 
 the original of all injuilice, and the principal author of more mifchitfs to the free-born 
 
 People of this Nation, than the belt: Arithmetician can well enumerate, ftands now to 
 
 give an account of his Stewardship, and to receive the good of Juftice, for all the evil of 
 
 his injuftice and cruelty. Had he ten thoul'and lives, they could not all fatisfie for the 
 
 numerous, horrid, barbarous Maffacres of Myriades and legions of innocent perfons, which 
 
 by his commands, commifTions, and procurements (or at Icaft all the world muft needs 
 
 fay, which he might have prevented ; and he that fuffers any man to be killed, when he 
 
 may fave his life without danger of his own, is a murtherer) have been cruelly flain, and 
 
 inhumanely murthered, in this renowned Albion; AngUa hath been made an Aceldama, and 
 
 her younger fifter Ireland-a. land of ire and mifery. But now to diffeift the charge, etc. etc. etc. 
 
 King Charles his Cafe. Or an appeal to all rational men concerning his tryal 
 
 at the High Court of Juftice. Being for the moft part, that which was 
 
 intended to have been delivered at the bar, if the king had pleaded to the 
 
 Charge, and put himfelf upon a fair tryal, etc. By Johji Cook of Gray's Inn, 
 
 Barrefter. London, printed 1649 — in quarto. 
 
 The preniifes from firft to laft confidered, that do£trine which prerogativeth 
 
 Kings above the ftroke of human juftice, upon the account of their being unaccountable 
 unto men for whatfoever they do, (which the Parliament taketh notice in their declaration 
 of March 17, 1648, to have been the late King's afTertion) appears to be very extravagant, 
 and eccentrical to all principles both of Reafon and Religion. Such an unaccountable Officer, 
 (as the faid declaration well exprelTeth it) were a Jlrange rnonjler to b- permitted by mankinds 
 For if the main ground of erefting public adminiftrations of juftice and courts of humane 
 judicature, in all polities and ftates whatfoever, be, both in reafon and religion, to fecure 
 and protedt thofe, who live juftly and peaceably, againft the violence and injuftice of 
 oppreilburs and unjuft men ; it muft needs be contrary unto both, to exempt luch perfons 
 from the jurifdidlion of thefe courts and adminiftrations, who have alv/ays the gri-t;:fl: 
 opportunities and temptations, and, for the moft part, the ftrongeft bent of difpofition and 
 will, to practice fuch unrighteoufnefle and oppreffion, etc. etc. etc. 
 
 The Obftruftours of juftice. Or a defence of the honourable fentcnce pafiej 
 upon the late King by the High Court of juftice. Oppofed chiefly to " The 
 ferious and faithful reprefentation and vindication of fome of the Minifters of 
 London." As aifo to " The humble addrefie of Dr. Hammond, to His. 
 Excelkncie and councel of Warre," etc. By John Goodwin. London, 
 1649 — in quarto. 
 
 — ■ Ha6tenus, quod initio inftitueram, ut meorum civium fafta egregia contra infanam 
 
 et lividifllmam fnrentis fophiftae rabiem, et domi et for'S defendenem, jufque Populi 
 commune ab injufto regum dominatu alTererem, non id quidem regurji odio, fed tyranno- 
 rum, Deo bene juvante vidcor jam mihi abfolvifte: neque ulhini firie refponfo vcl argumen- 
 tum, vel exemplum, vel teflimonium ab adverfario allatum fciens praetermill, quod quidem 
 lirmitatis in fe quicquam, aut probatioms vim uUam. habere videretur : in. alxeram fortafle 
 
 ^attsnx.
 
 x4 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 ' which will be fomewhat the better for you ; becaufe then the excep- 
 
 * tions againft your employment and negociation, wherein you were 
 
 * coUegues, will be removed, and you will have no more to anfvver for, 
 ' than your own particular behaviour. I believe Sir Robert Honeywood 
 
 * will be induftrious enough, to procure fatisfadion to the merchants in 
 
 ' the 
 
 partem in culpae propior, quod faepiufcule ineptiis quoqiie ejus, et argutiis tritiflimis, 
 qiiafi argumentis, refpondendo, id iis tribuiTe videar, quoaignae non era.'it. Unum reftat, 
 et fortafle maximum, ut vos quoque, o C ve , ad\'erf irlum hunc veftrum ipfi refutetis ; 
 quod nulla ratione video poffe fieii, nifi oniiiiurii inalodiiita veltris optime fadtis exuperare 
 perpetuo contendatis. Vota veftra et preces ardei-.tifiimas Deus, cum fervitutis haud uno 
 gene/e oppreiTi, ad eum confugiilis, benigne exaudiit. Qua: duo in vita hominum mala 
 lane maxima funt, et virtuti dumnolifTima, tyrannis ei fuperftitio, iis, vos gentiuTn primos, 
 gloriofe liberavit ; earn animi magnitudinem vobis injecit, ut deviiftum armis veltris et 
 dedititium regem judicio inclyto judicaie, et cond-mnaUim pun.'.e pi mi moitalium non 
 dubitaretis. Poji hoc facinus iam illujlre, nihil ht;>i: le aut cgviii..:. ^ nihil non magnum atqne 
 excelfum ct cogitare et facer e dehcbetis. Quam laudcm ut aiTequamini, hac fola incedendum 
 efl via, fi ut hoftcs bello domuiftis, ita ainbitionem, avaritiam, opes, et fecundarum rerum 
 corrupcelas, quae fubigunt caeteras gentes hommum, oftenderitis vos etiam inermes media 
 in pace omnium mortalium fortiffime dLbellarc ; fi, quam in repellcnda fcrvitute fortitu- 
 dinem praeftitiftis, earn in libcrtate confervanda juftitirm, temperantiam, moderationem 
 praeftiteritis. His folis argumentis et tellimoniis evinLCre poteftis, non elTe vos illos, quos 
 hie probriis infequitur, perduelles, latrcncs, ftcarios, pcirricidias, fatwticos ; non vos am- 
 bitionis aut alieni invadendi ftudio, non feditione, aut pravis ullis cupiditatibus, non 
 amentia aut furore percitos Regem trucidafle, fed amore libertatis, religionis, juftitiae, 
 
 honellatis, patriae deniquc charitate accenfos, tyrannum pttniijfc. 
 
 Joannis Miltoni, Angli, pro Populo Anglicano, Defenfio, contra Claudii, 
 alias Salmafii Defenfionem Regiam. Londini, typis Du Gardianis, A. D. 
 1 65 1, in folio, quarto, duodecimo. 
 
 ^Now therefore. Right honourable ! when I look upon You, and behold You more 
 
 hio-hly intrufted than Kings, and far more nobly adorned upon a better ground than they 
 
 wcr?, with all the Rights, Interells, and Privileges of the people ; v/hen I confider how 
 
 God hath wrefled the Sword out of their hands, and placed it in yours for our proteftion, 
 
 with the confcrvation of our Peace and Liberties, and made You the happy inftrumcnts of 
 
 freeino- Us from the Yoke of Kings ; when I call to minde, how nobly You afll-rttd the 
 
 Rights of England againft Domeftick Tyrannic, upon the neck of the late King, and 
 
 laid the foundation of our freedom upon the higheft aft of-juftice; (when Juftice fat 
 
 more o-loriouHy inthroned than ever it did before on any earthly Tribunal) I am raifed with 
 
 more than ordinarie confidence, that the fame fpirit of Juftice, which aded You iji Your 
 
 former atchievements for our eftabliftiment by land againft him and his pofteritie, will 
 
 carry You on, as You have begun, to vindicate thofe rights by fea againft all forein 
 
 violations and invafions. It is your honor, that God hath made You founders of the 
 
 moft famous and potent Republic this day in the world j and Your felicitie, that all 
 
 Your enemies have no other ground of quarrel, but that You are a Republic : for though 
 
 ihtkNetherlanden fpeak it not out in words, yet they have often told You fo in behaviour, etc. 
 
 Of the Dominion, or Ownerftiip of the Sea, two books. Written at firft in 
 
 Latin, and intituled, " Mare Claufum, feu De Dominio Maris." By John 
 
 Selden. Tranflated into Englilh ; and kt forth with fome additional Eriilerurs 
 
 and Difcourfes, by Marchamont Ncdhain. Publiflicd iy fpecial command. 
 
 London, printed by William Du Gard, 1652, in folio. 
 
 Marchamont Nedham was author of divers curious and very fcarce trails ; and 
 of that celebrated Journal, intitled " Mercurius Politicus, comprifing tin; 
 Summe o\'J] intelligence ; with the affairs and defigns now on foot in the three 
 nations of England, Irelanrt, and Scotland. In defence of the Commonwealth, 
 and for information of the people." It commenced June 9, 1649, went 
 forth once a week, ended April 1660, and was publiflicd by authority of the 
 Council of State.
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF A. SYDNEY 15 
 
 the bufinefs of money ; wherein he will have the afTiftance of Sir John 
 Temple, to whom I refer you for that and fomc other things. I have 
 little to fay to your complaints of your fifter Strangford's unequal 
 returns to your atfedlion and kindncfs ; but that I am forry for it, and 
 that you are well enough ferved for beftowing fo much of your care 
 where it was not due, and neglefting them to whom it was due ; and 
 I hope you will be wifcr hereafter. She and her hufband have not yet 
 paid the thoufand pounds, whereof you are to have your part of my 
 gift ; for fo, I think, you are to underftand it, though your mother 
 defired it : and if, for the payment thereof, your being in England, 
 or in fome place not far off, be necelfary, as fome pretend, for the 
 fealing of fome writings, I think that and other reafons fufficient to 
 perfuade you to ftay a while where you are, that you may hear fre- 
 quently from your friends and they from you. I am wholly againfl 
 your going into Italy as yet, till more may be known of your con- 
 dition, which, for the prefent, is hard ; and I confefs that I do not yet 
 fee any more than this, that cither you mud live in exile, or very 
 privately here and perhaps not fafely ; for though the Bill of indemnity 
 be lately pafled ; yet if there be any particular and great difpleafure 
 againfl you, as I fear there is, you may feel the effedls thereof from 
 the higher powers, and receive affronts from the inferior. Therefore 
 you were befl to ftay at Hamburgh, which for a northern fituation, 
 is a good place and healthful. I will help you as much as I can, in 
 difcovering and informing you of what concerns you ; though, as I 
 began, fo I muft end, with telling you, that writing is now grown 
 troublefome to your affectionate Leicefter.' 
 But colonel Sydney did not continue long at Hamburgh ; for he was at 
 Francfort upon the Main, on the 8th of September 1660, from whence 
 he wrote to his father, being determined then for Italy ; and we find him 
 
 at 
 
 The a«£l for the Militia being pafled, the command of all the forces and garrifons fettled 
 on Monk, and the fleet in his power in conjunction with colonel Montague ; the pretended 
 parliament authorized their Council of State to provide for the public fafety on all emer- 
 gencies, and to difpofe afi^airs as they fliould think fit till the meeting of the next Parlia- 
 ment : which being done, and the Houfe ready to pafs the a<5t for their own diflblution ; 
 Mr. Crew, who had been as forward as any man in beginning and carrying on the war 
 againfl: the late King, moved, that before they dilTolved themfelves, they would bear their 
 witnefs againfl: the horrid murder, as he called it, of the King. This unexpefted motion 
 prevailed with many then prefent to deny their concurrence to that adl againfl the Kinsr,- 
 though not to rcfledt in :he fame manner on thofe who had been concerned in it : And one 
 of them concluding his difcourfe with protcftmg, that he had neither Hand nor Heart in 
 that aft'air : Mr Thomas Scot, who had been fo much deluded bv the hypocrify of Monk, 
 as I have already related, in abhorrence of that bafe fpirit, faid, that though he knew not 
 where to hide his head at that time, yet he durfl: not refufe to own, that not only his hrnd 
 but his heart alfo was in it : and after he had pronounced divers reafons to prove" the juflice 
 of it, he concluded, that he fliould deflre no greater honor in this world, than that the 
 following inrcr'ptlonfho-.id be engraved on his tomb. Here lleth one who had a hand and a 
 heart in the execution of Chai'hs Stuart late King of England. 
 
 Memoirs of Edmund Ludlow, p. 320, 
 
 See alfo Toland's life of Milton, Edit. 2. p. 84, and 245, in the Notes.
 
 i6 
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 at Rome in November following, whence he wrote likewife to his father, 
 
 on the 19th of that month. 
 
 ' I think the councell given me by all my friends to kccpe out of 
 England for a while, doth too clearly appeare to have been good, by 
 the uiage my companions have already receaved, and perhaps will be 
 yet further verified by what they will find. Nothing doth feeme more 
 certaine to me, then that I muft either have procured my fafety, by 
 A^ich meanes as fir Arthur Hafelrigge is fayed to have ufed * ; or runne 
 the fortune of fomme others, whoe have fhewed themfelves more 
 relblute. I hope my being here, will in a fliort time fliewe, that the 
 place was not ill chofen, and that befides the liberty and quiet which is 
 generally granted to all perfons here, I may be admitted into that 
 company, the knowledge of which will very well recompence my 
 iourney. I was extreamly unwilling to ftay in Hamburgh or any place 
 in Germany, finding myfelf too apt to fall too deepe into melancholly, 
 if I have neither bufineife nor company to divert me ; and I have luch 
 an averfion to the converfation and entertainments of that country, 
 that if I had flayed in it, I muft have lived as a hermite, though in a 
 populous citty. I am here well enough at eafe, and believe I may 
 continue foe. Unleife fomme boddy from the court of England doth 
 think it worth theire paines to difturbe me, I fee nothing likely to arifc 
 here to trouble me. I have already vifited feverall cardinalls. To 
 morrowe I intend to pay the fame refped; to the cardinal Ghigi, nephew 
 to the pope. He hath allready granted me the liberty of waiting upon 
 him, which was fignified unto me by an other eminent peribn ot the 
 fame robe and degree. They are all generally civill, and I afk no 
 more.' 
 His correfpondence with his father during his ftay at Rome, will .be 
 
 feen in the letters taken from the Sydney papers. 
 
 Several of his friends having been importunate with him for his return 
 
 to England, he wrote the following letter f ; but the v/ant of a date 
 
 makes the particular time of writing it uncertain. 
 
 * Miiy 1660, Sir Arthur Hafelrigge, one of thofc who were cftecmed to he fo maliciou/ly 
 active in oppofition to his Majefty's government, as to b: afterwards excepted in the aft of 
 incemnity from any condition c;f pardon, had lately come to General Alohk, when he per- 
 ceived the Revolution to haften tov/ards the Reltoration of the King, and cxpoftulated with 
 him about it, in reference to the lecurity of his own condition. The general was unwilliny; 
 to make him delperate, becaufe he had at that time a Regiment of horfe and a Regiment of 
 foot in the garrifons of Newcajlle, Titimouth, Benuick, and Carlijle, under his government ; 
 and therefore told him, if he would quietly give up his command, and retire to his houfe, he 
 ivould endeavour to fecure him in his life and ejlate, and doubted not to effect it. This being 
 made known at a following conference by the Houfe of Commons, was juftificd with great 
 niodefty by the Duke of Albemarle in the houfe of Peers, and his life was thereupon 
 pardoned in the aft; and a imall time after his eft.ite alio was, at the mediation of the 
 Duke, granted to his heir, a man avcrfe to his father's difloyal principles, Sir Arthur 
 hiinfelf a while after liis imprifonment dying of a fever in the Toiver. 
 
 Bifhop Kcnnet's hift. rcg. p. 136, 
 
 f Familiar letters of John, late earl of Rochefter, etc.
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF A. SYDNEY xy 
 
 * Sir, 
 
 ' I am forry I cannot In all things conform myfelf to the advices of my 
 friends. If theirs had any joint concernment with mine, I fhould wil- 
 lingly fubmit my intereft to theirs ; but when I alone am interefted, 
 and they only advife me to come over as foon as the ad of indemnity 
 is paffed, becaufe they think it is beft for me, I cannot wholly lay alide 
 my own judgment and choice. I confels, we are naturally inclined to 
 delight in our own country, and I have a particular love to mine. I 
 hope I have given fome teftimony of it. I think that being exiled from 
 it is a great evil, and would redeem myfelf from it with the lofs of a 
 great deal of my blood. But when that country of mine, which ufed 
 to be eftcemed a paradife, is now like to be made a ftage of injury ; 
 the liberty which we hoped to eftablilli oppreflcd ; luxury and lewdnefs 
 fet up in its height, inftead of the piety, virtue, fobriety, and modefty, 
 which we hoped, God, by our hands, would have introduced ; the 
 bell: of our nation made a prey to the worfl: ; the parliament, court, 
 and army, corrupted ; the people enllaved ; all things vendible ; no 
 man fafe, but by fuch evil and infamous means, as flattery and bribery ; 
 what joy can I have in my own country in this condition ? Is it a 
 pleafure to fee, that all I love in the world is fold and deftroyed ? Shall 
 I renounce all my old principles, learn the vile court-arts, and make 
 my peace by bribing fome of them .? Shall their corruption and vice be 
 my fafety ? Ah ! no ; better is a life among flrangers, than in my 
 own country upon fuch conditions. Whilft I live, I will endeavour to 
 preferve my liberty ; or at leaft, not confent to the deftroying of it. I 
 hope I Ihall die in the fame principles in which I have lived, and will 
 live no longer than they can preferve me. I have in my life been 
 guilty of many follies ; but, as I think, of ?io mcamiefs. I will not 
 blot and defile that which is part, by endeavouring to provide for the 
 future. I have ever had in my mind, that when God fhould caft me 
 into fuch a condition, as that I cannot fave my life but by doino- an 
 indecent thing, he fhews me the time is come wherein I Ihould 
 refign it : and when I cannot live in my own country but by fuch 
 means as are worfe than dying in it, I think he fhew^s me, I ought to 
 keep myfelf out of it. Let them pleale themfelves with making the 
 king glorious, who think a whole people may juftly be facrificed for 
 the intereft and pleafure of one man, and a few of his followers; let 
 them rejoice in their fubtilty, who, by betraying the former powers, 
 have gained the favour ot this, not only preferved, but advanced 
 themfelves in thefe dangerous changes. Neverthelefs, perhaps they 
 may find, the king's glory is their Ihame ; his plen;:y the people's 
 mifery ; and that the gaining of an office or a little money, is a poor 
 reward for deftroying a nation, * which., if it were preferved in liherty 
 
 ' and 
 
 [■* Which, if It were preferved 'ui Liberty and Virtue, etc.] 
 And now that I am fallen unawares into fuch profound reflections on the periods of 
 government, and the flourlfhing and decay oi Liberty and Letters ; I can't be contented to 
 
 c conllder
 
 i8 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 * and virtue^ 'would truly be the mojl glorious in the world \ and that others 
 ' may find, they have with much pains purchafed their own Ihame and 
 
 • mifery, a dear price paid for that which is not worth keeping, nor 
 ' the hfe that is accompanied with it. The honour of Englilh parlia- 
 ' ments hath ever been in making the nation glorious and happy, not in 
 ' felling and deftroying the intereft of it, to fatisfy the lufts of one man. 
 ' Miferable nation * ! that from fo great a height of glory, is fallen into 
 
 ' die 
 
 confider merely of the inchantment which wrought fo powerfully upon Mankind, when 
 firft this univerfal monarchy was eftablifhed. I muft wonder ftill more, when I confider 
 how after the extinction of this Caefarian and Claudian family, and a fhort interval of 
 Princes raifed and deftroyed with much diforder and public ruin, the Romans fliould regain 
 their perifhing Dominion and retrieve their finking ftate, by an after race of wife and able 
 Princes fuccelfively adopted, and taken from a private State to rule the Empire of the 
 world. They were men who not only pofTefl'ed the military virtues, and fupported that 
 fort of Difcipline in the higheft degree ; but as they fought the interejl of the World, they did 
 ■what was in their power to rejiore liberty, and raife a-gain the perijhing ARTS, and decayed 
 viRTVE of Mankind. But the feafon was now pajl ! The fatal form of government was become 
 too natural ; and the world, which had bent under it, and was become JJuviJh and dependent, 
 had neither power nor will to help itfelf. The only deliverance it could expecft, was from the 
 mercilefs hands of the Barbarians, and a total diflblution of that enormous Empire and 
 defpotic power, which the beft hands could not preferve from being deftruftive to human 
 nature. For even Barbarity and Gothicifm were already entered into arts, e'er the Savages 
 had made any impreflion on the Empire. All the advantage which a fortuitous and almoft 
 miraculous fucceffion of good Princes could procuie their highly favoured Arts and Sciences,^ 
 was no more than to preferve, during their own time, thofe pcrifliing Remains which had 
 for a while with difficulty fubfiftcd, after the decline of liberty. Nat a Statue, not a 
 Medal., not a tolerable piece of architecture could Jheiu itfelf afterwards. Philofophy, IVit and 
 Learning, in which fome of thefe good Princes had themfeiues been fo renowned, fell ivith them. 
 And ignorance and darknefs overfpread the world, and fitted it for the Chaos and Ruin zvhi h enfued. 
 
 The Earl of Shaftefbury, in his " Advice to an Author." 
 From their railleries of this kind on tht' barbarity and mifery of our Ifland, one cannot 
 help refledting, on the furprizing fate and revolutions of Kingdoms. How Rome, once the 
 miftrefs of the World, the feat of arts, empire and glory, now lies funk in fioth, ignorance 
 and poverty ; enflavcd to the mojl a'uel, as well as to the mojl contemptible of Tyrants, Superfli- 
 tion and religious impoflure. While this remote Country, evidently the jelt and contempt 
 of the polite Romans, is become the happy feat of liberty, plenty, and Liters ; fourijhing in all 
 the arts and refinements of civil life ; yet running, perhaps, the fame courfe which Rome itfelf 
 had run before it; from virtuous induflry to wealth; from wealth to luxury; from luxury 
 to an impatience of difcipline and corrujjtion of morals ; till by a total degeneracy and lofs 
 of virtue, being grown ripe for deftru6tion, it falls a prey at laft to fome hardy opprefTor, 
 rnd with the lofs oi Liberty, lofing every thing elfe that is valuable, finks gradually agaii> 
 into its original barbarity. 
 
 Dr. Middleton, in " his Life of Cicero," vol. I. p. 4^4. 
 
 [* Ml fer able Nation! that from fo great, a height of glory, etc. J 
 The Englijh Republicans took things exactly right ; and that in order to the accomplifhing 
 of a dcfign that would take up all their life time, (for fuch fort of men ought never to conceivt 
 mean ones, after tne execution whereof they niuft be put to the trouble of jirojeifling anew, 
 or live lazily and be expofed to confpiracies againfl them) they thought it would be their 
 hefl way to begin with the ruin of the United Provinces, which lav next their coafh, and flou- 
 rifhcd in trade above any other Country in the World ; and when once they had effe/yted this, 
 they were in hopes they J}>ould eafily remove any obflacle in their way to attain the Dominion of the 
 Seas: infomuch, that if the fortune of war fhould favour their firft: enterpri7.cs, I do not 
 think they have any dsfij^n to make a peace with a Nation they have a mind utterly to 
 
 deftro)».
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 * the mofl: defpicable condition in the world ; of having all its good de- 
 
 • pending upon the breath and will of the vilcfl: pcrfons in it ! cheated 
 
 * and 
 
 deftroy, and to whoin tl)cy will propofc fuch hard terms, that upon the refuTal of them, 
 you will at lait find tlieni prepared to make terrible dcfceiits in divers parts of Z^jliitid diid 
 North Holland, to break the banks and the other dikes, that keep the flat Country from 
 being drowned. There needs no more than this fort of blood-letting to make Amjh-.rdam 
 and all the other ^Cities defjlate : For it would fignifie little to them to feize the Brill or 
 fome other place, feeing their defign is to deftroy the 7>ade oi Holland, and to transfer it 
 into their own Coun rv^; and it v/ould be of little importance to thcni tluit the King of 
 Spain Vaoulil Kco\e.t ih.e: Seven provinci-s ; that ttie Merchants o'i Amjhrdam ihould remove 
 to Antwerp, and the manufafturers of Lcydcn and Harlem to Ghent and Bruges : for it would 
 require many years to fettle thinais there, and the Englifli would have opportunity euouo-h 
 to hinder them from having any uecelVary materials but fuch as pafTed through their hands, 
 and their manufadlures to be tranfported any where but in Englijh bottoms -. for it would 
 be very eafy for them to flop up the mouths of the ports, and to go up the Scheld, even in 
 fight of Antwerp, from whence nothing muft come out but will be taken by their (hips. 
 JBy this means, and the notion I ha\e of their defigns, no Nation in the ivorld, in a few years 
 time, ivould hwe any Seamen, Ships, or fkill in Maritime ajfuirs, befides themfelves. For 
 Holland ht'mg intirely ruined, the Dutch muft ferve on board their fleets, and all the Ship- 
 wrights, Sailmakers and Ropemakers, v/ould be obliged to go and earn their living in the 
 Sea-port towns of England; and this they would be the more inclined to do, bccaufe there 
 is more wages given there, and People live better. When this noble and rich Province, 
 wiiich within the extent of lefs than five and twenty leagues, contains eighteen large towns 
 and four hundred villages, of which the Hague is the fineft in the world, fliall be reduced to 
 this fad plight, it is then likely that the Englijh will turn their arms againft Denmark, in 
 order to iejze the pafTage of the Siindt, either by main force or rather fome treaty, by which 
 they will be willing to give the King more than the profit it brought him, but at the fame 
 time v/ill oblige Norzuay to f.ll their wood to no other nation but the Englijl}. The cities 
 o{ Em/'den, Bremen, Hamburgh, Lubec, all the Coaft of the Baltick, and the whole King- 
 dom of Sweden, durft appear no longer at Sea, but under Englijh colours ; and perhaps the 
 formidable Republic will be content, in confideration of her Commiflions granted to them, 
 to receive certain duties from the goods flie allows them in her name to tranfport, only 
 along thefe northern parts. They will in time fend a more powerful fleet to block up the 
 river of Lifbon ; while another fails to Brafil, Guinea, and the Eafl Indies ; with a defign to 
 fpare the Poriuguefc merchants and the Eajl India companies, the labour of tranf|)ortino- 
 the Sugars, Silts, Spices and other commodities they come thither for, into Europe: 
 and if Spain pretends to fay any thing againft them, they will, without any more ado, 
 feize the Straits Mouth and fend an hundred and fifty (hips of war into the Mediterranean, 
 out of which they can very eafily drive the naval force of the other Potentates of Europe, 
 were they all joined together againft them. 
 
 The Englifh having in this manner ufurped the Dominion of the feas, the trade of all 
 the European nations, and part of the reft of the world ; all the Earth mujl fubmit to them, 
 ■work for no body but them, and ih.y will, from time to time, come into their ports, and fiveep 
 away all their treafnre : every thing that is rare and all the conveniences of life, produced either by 
 art or nature, will be rcj'erved for England, luhich will he the only Country that can p'trchaj'e 
 them or pijjftfs them of her own. For, as we fee, that fince the fettling of trade in Holland, 
 that province is become the Store-houfe for Linen, Woolen, and all forts of manuf ctures, 
 though there is neither flax, wool, nor, in any manner, any other commodities which 
 they work up, grows there, but they muft have them from other Countries ; fo every 
 thing that ^^^/flfi,;/ w.ints at this time will abound there, and the beft Artificers will flock 
 thither, infomuch, that if they would have any fine linen or good cloth for wear, in 
 another Country, the flax and wool was to be fent to be m.anufactured in En-rland Pray 
 confider then, what vaft wealth this Country muft acquire in lei's than fifty years ? And 
 how miferable muft the reft of Europe be, finre they can tranfport nothing by Sea from one 
 nation to another but in Englijh fliips ? They will always have money to receive in all the 
 ports they come at, and never leave any of their own there. What the EngHjli want they 
 
 c a will 
 
 J9
 
 20 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 * and fold by them they trufted ! infamous trafBck, equal almoft in guilt 
 ' to that of Judas ! In all preceding ages, parliaments have been the 
 
 * palace 
 
 will make compenfation for by v/ay of exchange, or readily fend over into England, upon 
 the fcore of the manufadlures there they have occafion for ; as we have feen the Dutch 
 Eajl India Company have pearl and precious ftones, in return for fome wares fent into thofe 
 Countries, which they got fitted out at Amjierdatn, and then fold at very dear rates 
 in thofe places from whence they were firft brought, and where there is not perfeftion of 
 workmanship as there is with us. Hundreds of fliips richly laden will daily put into the 
 Thames and other ports of this fortunate Ifland ; and the General can fcarce ever lofe the 
 fisht of his forces, which, I may fay, return every evening to lye at home; for they ftay 
 no lon<Ter in foreign parts than to refrelh themfelves, to vend their goods, and to take 
 in new Cargoes. They will be no ways felicitous of making conquefl:s by land, that they 
 may fave the charge of maintaining them, feeing they are fare of reaping the profit of 
 them ; neither will they plant any Colonies and eafe their Country, as populous as it is 
 grown, of the vafl: multitudes that are in it, becaufe the whole produce of Europe is con- 
 fumed there, and their great naval trade renders their flores inexhauftible. In the mean 
 time all the neighbouring Kingdoms will, in a manner, become like the Sea-coafts of 
 America, where our Europeans trade ; there will be only tillage and fome coarfe manufac- 
 tures for plain ware and to ferve people's neceffities only in the Heart of the Country, 
 and the maritime towns will be no other than the Granaries and Magazines of Eng- 
 land. 
 
 There is nothing in all the Conquells of Alexander and the pomp of all the Roman 
 Empire, that comes near this maritime dominion which I have reprefented to you. And 
 this feems to be fo very feafible, that if Holland be once ruined, I am afraid it will be too 
 late to prevent it. And therefore I would have all the Potentates of Europe take it to heart 
 in time ; for if they do not quickly put an end to the war they are ingaged in on the Con- 
 tenent, we fhall run the rifque, in a few ages, of becoming perfeft Barbarians. For the 
 Eytglijh, by the means of their navigation, will transfer all the poUtcnefs of Europe, together 
 with its plenty, power and conveniences of life, into their own Country, 
 
 Extraift of a letter from M. Sorhiere to M. de Courcelles, at Amfterdam ; 
 dated Orange, July I, 1652 : Concerning the defigns of the Englifli in the 
 War againfl the Dutch. 
 
 We have done this right unto cur Monarchy. 
 
 We are now to fay fomething of that Government which fuccecded it. / corfefs it was 
 never fettled, nor put abfolutely into the hands of the People. And yet if you refpcft its infancy 
 and beginning, it outwent in warlike atchievements all other Commonwe.dths. I lay 
 before me the exploits of Sparta, Athens, Carthage, and Fenice ; and know that the Vene- 
 tians, Switzers, and United Provinces, at this day being contemptible for territories, are 
 thofe only that appear fitteft matches for the greateft Empires, namely the Turk, the 
 German, and theSpanifh houfe of ^i/?/7V7, which A'lonarchs had overborne large Kingdoms 
 2nd Provinces, and could meet none able to meafure fwords with them, till thefe little 
 Countries, having vindicated their Liberty, took them in hand, and not fo much by their 
 valour (for Venice was never celebrated for valour, ?4nd the United Provinces had no extra- 
 ordinary name for it) but by the excellency of their Government and prudent carriage, 
 have been able to force them to become peaceable and quiet neighbours, and keep them- 
 felves within narrower bounds thrm otherwife they would willingly have done. I know 
 alfo, Rome, the ely mijlrefs of the World, wasjullly celebrated for large conquefts. And 
 yet none of thefe States gave fuch ftarts, and made fuch acquefts at their rife, as our 
 Englifh Commonwealth, Certainly fo many advantcges conduced to its grcatnefs and increafe ; 
 and at its firfl appearing, fo large tvere its proper Territories, that it may well be affirmed, never 
 was Commomuealth, in that refpeSi, laid on fo large and f hong a foundation as that then had : 
 and if in our cnccit, we Jljouid give it an anfivcrable growth, we could not affign it kfs than the 
 wh'jle globe at lafi for its portion. 
 
 At firfl:, if you will judge by the afleitions of the People, it had not the hundredth part 
 of England ilMf, and was to go through diiTiculties that would have confounded any but a 
 free State. But how quickly had it brought the Nation to fomcwhat a better undcrftand-
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF A. SYDNEY 21 
 
 * palace of our liberty ; the fure defenders of the opprefTed : they, who 
 ' formerly could bridle kings, and keep the balance equal between them 
 
 ' and 
 
 ing, and a fair way of fettlement ? So that there arc fomc that queftion, whether any- 
 natural Prince of England had ever been aflifted on any occafion, with fo great forces, fo 
 fuddenly and wi h fuch alacrity raifed, as that was rt H'orajfer? And on the other fide, 
 how few went over to the King of the Scots, though looked on as a rightful Prince, 
 deferves confideration. 
 
 It lived not out a Lujlre, yet conquered Scotland (introducing more Liberty and greater 
 Priviledges than they had before) Ireland s^nd feveral other fmaller Iflands ; made other nations 
 feel its force, as the French and Fortiigals ; and was going on in fuch a career of aStion as tvas 
 not to be fipt by a human power. This Government began a war with the Dutch, which 
 it had ended with an abfolute conquell or fallen in the attempt; and after this probably it 
 would have entered on more honorable cntei prizes, and not fufiered the Nation to grow 
 eftcminatc by cafe and vice. In a word, it had brought in an inftant, the Nation to a full 
 glory and fuch a fplendor, as caft a darknefs, as is affirmed by fome, on the greateft actions 
 of former times. This is certain, that the nei-ghbouring States trembled at its fudden and 
 prodigious greatnefs ; and remote Potentates did court and feek a good underftanding from 
 .its hands, and its diflblution brought no ordinary content to thofe that had caufe to fear 
 it. The Agent from the Stuarts, as a late writer reports, at the firft appearance of this 
 Free State, urged the United Provinces, " That if England were free, it would be formid- 
 able to them, not only by interrupting their fifliing and all other maritime advantages, 
 but by robbing them of traffick as they had done the Venetians ; and not only fo, but give 
 law to all Chriftendom, by reafon of the commodioufnefs of its harbours and multitudes of 
 its ftiips," 
 
 This Commonwealth, how imperfedl foevcr in itfclf, was yet too firong in all likelyhood 
 for any human power or ftrcngth to break. It was only capable of being ruined by God and 
 itfelf It was indeed quickly difllilved and gone; yet had it this to boalt of, that having 
 all along attempted the buldcft enterprifes, it met with no ill fuccefs in any of its great 
 undertakings while it was in being. But 
 
 Laetis hunc numina rebus, 
 
 Crefccndi pofuere modum- 
 
 Where is the ftability of human glory ? Who now will not believe, that the firmed:, the 
 moft fplcndid and moft illuftrious fabrick that is human, is capable of dijiolutiorr? God 
 in whofe hands all Naions are but as clay in the hands of a potter, and to whom the 
 ftrongeft and proudeft Governments are as contemptible as the lowelt and meaneft, if not 
 more, undertook this Commonwealth, and laid it in the duft with thofe other glorious 
 States oi Rome, Athens, Sparta, Carthage. 
 
 • Valet ima fummis 
 
 Mut&re, et infignem attenuat Deus 
 
 Obfcura promens 
 
 1 will make no apology for what I have delivered of this Government; for as I think, 
 I have fpoien the truth and that moderately, having rejefted much matter that offered itfelf to 
 my hands on this occafion. I never received any particular advantage by that Government, 
 nor fo much as fubfcribed the engagement ; and therefore 1 thought I might with the 
 greater freedom and ingenuity fay thus much of it, which yet I fubmit to better juds^ments. 
 
 It reinains now, that I ftiould fr -ak fometh'ng of the prefent Government ; but the. 
 Petition of Advice coming out fince i had finifhed this difcourfe, 1 am forced to put it 
 off till I fliall have another opportunity, which, if ever it happen, I Ihall, God affifting, 
 cheerfully fet on it, and in a particular manner difcourfe thereof. 
 
 A Difcourfe on the national excellencies of England, 
 
 By R. H. London printed 1658. in duod. 
 
 rfhall conclude with two material paiiages, which, though they relate not immediately 
 
 to our Author, cr his own particular concerns, yet in regard they happened during his 
 
 public employment, and confequently fell more efpecially under his cognifance, it will not 
 
 be amifs here to fubjoin. i 
 
 The
 
 22 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 * and the people, are now become Inftruments of all our opprefTions ; and 
 ' a fword in his hand to deftroy us ; tliey themfelves led hy a few 
 
 ' intcrefted 
 
 The firfl: was this. Before the war brolce forth between the States of England and the 
 Dutch, the HoUnnders fent over three AmbafTadors in order to an accommodation ; but 
 they returning re infeiia, the Dutch fent away 2. Plenifo^tent'uiry to oftcr peace upon much 
 milder terms, or at leaft to gain more time. 
 
 But this Plcwpotcntlnry could not make fuch hafic, but that the ParUome'tt had procured 
 a copy of their Inftruifions in Holland, which were delivered by our autlior to his kinfman 
 that was with him to tranflate for the Council to view, before the faid Plenipotentiary had 
 taken (hipping for England; and an anfwer to all he had in charge lay ready for him before 
 lie made his public entry into London. 
 
 In the next place, there came a perfon with a very fumptuous train, pretending himfelf 
 an Agent from the Prince of Conde', then in arms againlt Cardinal Mazarin. The Pailia- 
 ment miftrufting him, fct their inflrument fo bufily at work, that in four or five da)s they 
 had procured intelligence from Paris, that he was a fpy from K. Claries; v/hereupon, the 
 \'ery next morning, our author's kinfman was fent to him with an order of Councel, com- 
 manding him to depart the kingdom within three days or expeft the punifhment of a fpy. 
 
 By thefe two remarkable paflagcs we may clearly difcern the indujlry and good intelligence of 
 thoje times. 
 
 The Life of John Milton [by John Philips his nephew] 
 prefixed to his Letters of State, printed 1694, in duod. 
 
 At a Committee of the Councell of State at Whitehall, Aug. 16, 1649. Ordered, 
 that a Committee bee appointed, to take into conftderation the hufinejjc of the coyne and the par 
 hetweene it and other nations ; and how the coyne of this nation maj bee kept from bring carried 
 ■out ; and likewife to conftder of fo?ne meanes whereby the mint may be fet to worke ; and tiicy are 
 to fpeak with any perfons they think good about it. 
 
 The names of the Committee for the mint, Dec 20, 1649. 
 
 The Lord Prefident Bradfliaw, Sir James Harrington, [who had the Chair] Sir Gilbert 
 Pickering, Sir William Conftablc, Mafter Scot, Rlaftcr BonJ, Colonel Purefoy, Colonel 
 Jones, Mafter Thomas Chaloner, Sir Henry Mildmay, Colonel Morley, Malfer Allen, 
 Mafter Conelius Holland, Mafter Neville ; or any two of them. 
 
 ■ The Council of State being willing to prevent the faid diforders, were deHrous 
 
 of having the Monie of this Commonwealth well covned ; and therefore having fe?n 
 the patterns of coyn made after a new invention \^the fcrew prefs and mill] by the faid 
 Blondeau, and having treated by letters about the quantitie of pieces that cc-uld be coyncd 
 in a week and what they might coft ; the faid Council caufed the faid Bl ndea.:, the 
 inventor of that way of coyning, to come [from France] to London, to treat with him by 
 word of mouth, and to agree about the price of coyning the money of this Commonwealth 
 after his way. He being then arrived at London, Sept. 3, 1649, the faid Council beftowed 
 on him forty pounds Sterling ; and the late Mr. Frojl, then fecretary to the faid Council, 
 told him before witnefl'es, that if the State could not agree with him about the price and 
 that theref )re he fliould be neceffitated to retire himfelf, the State would indemnifie him for 
 hi"; journie, both coming and returning, and for the time he fhould have loft, and would 
 beftow on him fuch aprefcnt that he would return fatisfied. A while after the faid Council 
 of State ordered the Committee of the Council of State for the mint, to hear the faid 
 Blondeau\ propofitlon and report it. 
 
 The C.rmmittec for the mint accordingly took into confideration, whether the faid 
 Blondeau flioald be admitted to coyn the monie of this Commonwealth ; and having debated 
 it, they refolved and approved that he Jltould be admitted thereunto, provided his coyn and his pro- 
 jiofitinn fl)ould be advantageous to the State. 
 
 Afterwards the faid Committee having ferioufly confidered and examined all the ciicum- 
 ftances of the way of coyning propounded by the faid Blondeau; and having heard all the 
 objccliont. that could be allcdged againft it, both by the Mafter of the Mint or by any other 
 of thofe who appeared in the buifncfs ; upon debate of the whole, the Committee concluded 
 arv^ voted, that the faid way of coyning propounded hy the faid Blond: au, ivas better, more ad- 
 vantageous, and more honorable yb;- the State, than that which is ifed noxu in this Common' 
 wealth.
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF A. SYDNEY 23 
 
 * interefted perfons, who are willing to buy offices for themfelvcs, by the 
 
 * mifery of the whole nation and the blood of the moft worthy and 
 
 ' eminent 
 
 The Mafter, the Officers, and the Workmen of the mint, told the Committee, it was 
 rot likely the faid Blondeau had done himfelf the pieces lent by him to the Council of State. 
 Befides, that it was an old invention which they themfelves knew, and that fuch pieces 
 were cnely made for curiofity, with very long time and great expcnce, and that it was im- 
 poflible that that way might bee ufed about the ordinary coyn which is thin. They 
 defired, that the faid Blondeau might be commanded to make a trial of his fkill by making 
 fome other pieces, and that they would do as much as the faid Blondeau. Theiefore the 
 faid Comrr.ittee ordered, both the faid Blondeau and the faid workmen, to make their 
 patterns and propofitions refpedively ; and that hee that would make it with moji advantage to- 
 the State Jhoud have the employment. 
 
 At the time appointed, the workmen brought to the Committee fom pieces made after 
 the old way which is known to them, and f me big pieces of filver ftufFed within with' 
 copper; but they had drawn no propofitions. 
 
 Likewife the faid Blondeauhvo\ig\\t in about 300 pieces, fom half-crowns of the ordinary 
 weight and bignefs, fom fhillings, fix pences, and fom gold pieces, and prefented his pro- 
 pofition ; which having been reformed according to the pleafure of the faid Committee, it 
 was received and accepted of by the whil Committee, who ordered it to be reported to the 
 Council of State, according to the order of the faid Council. 
 
 The faid Committee having then taken into confideration the big pieces of filver at the 
 outfide and ftufFed within with copper, made with the engins at the Tower, and well 
 underftood, that the faid pieces, becaus they are made offeveral pieces at the top one of 
 another, will give no found, fo that a blinde man can eafily difcern that they are falfe ; and 
 having weighed the long time and great coft required for coyning of each piece, becaufe 
 they are made of four pieces, namely one of copper, and cne of filver at the top, another 
 underneath and one about, which ought to be adjuflcd and fodercd together, befides- feveral 
 other faftiions, which coft more than the price of the lawful pieces ; having alfo confidered 
 the great and heavie engins and great number of tools and men required for making of one 
 piece, the great charges for the engines and tools and feveral other things required for 
 making of thofe counterfeit.-d pieces ; they acknowledged, that it would be enough^ to 
 diffwade any one from undertaking it, the rich not being willing and the poor being- 
 unable, and that though they fliould undertake it they could not do it without being dif- 
 covered. Befides, that the mony coyned after the way of the faid Bhndeau v/as fo thin, 
 that it cannot be fo counterfeited. 
 
 Whereupon it is obfervable, that the faid workmen of the mint, although they made ufc 
 of the great and heavie engins that are in the Tower; yet for making of fome tools they. 
 had need of and for the other charges of coining about a do%sn of pieces they made then for 
 a pattern, have fpent a hundred pound fterling, as hee that pretends to have laid out the: 
 money hath faid before witne fies. 
 
 Afterwards, another order was given by the faid Committee, and fome time limited to 
 the faid workmen, to draw and prefent their propofition for coyning of the monie marked 
 upon the thicknefs or edge, as that of the faid Blondenu is. But after the expiration of the 
 long time demanded by them, they brought fuch a propofition, that the laid Committee 
 having read it over and over, co.jld not underftand it nor the fcnfe of it ; and even thofe 
 that brought it could not explain it ; whereby it was apparent to the fiiid Committee, that 
 they were not able to make their propofition good, much lefs to ooyn th^^ mony after th..t 
 way, which they avowed themP.lves before "the faid Committee. Yet they intreated the 
 Committee to allow them the time of fom months more, to finde, if poffible, the new 
 invention; and that the faid Bl.ndeau's propofition fhould bs communicated unto them, 
 upon which they might frame their own. They further dem.anded, that the faid Blondeau 
 and the Graver '[jy^nrt^ SrV«a;i, the celebrated T. Simon] fliould have order to bring in all 
 the pieces made by the faid Blondeau for a tryal, with the ftamps or dices ufed for miaking 
 them ; all which was granted them upon that condition, that if within the time allowed 
 them, they coulde finde out the means to coyn the monie after the (tiid Blondeau's way,. 
 and thereupon he flig'-'d bt feiu back, he fliould be indemnified : which was agreed by ail. 
 
 But
 
 24 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 ' eminent perfons in it. Deteftable bribes, worfe than the oaths now in 
 ' fafliion in this mercenary court ! I mean to owe neither my life nor 
 
 ' hberty 
 
 But they coulde never finde out the faid new invention for coyning the thin and vireak. 
 pieces after that wav vvith expedition requifite. Yet for all that, they mads their propofi- 
 tions, which are in the hands of the Chairman of the Committee ; as are alfo the laid Blon- 
 diau's propoiitions and patterns, about a year and a half Unce, to be reported by him to the 
 Council of State, etc. etc. etc. 
 
 A nioft humble memorandum from Peter Blondeau. Concerning the offers by 
 
 him made to this Commonwealth, for the coyning of the monie, by a nnu 
 
 invention not yet praSliced in any Strife cf the world; the which will prevent 
 
 counterfeiting, calHng, wafliing and clipping the fame. Which coin Ihall be 
 
 marked on both the fiat fides and about the thicknefs or the edge, of a like 
 
 bignefs and largenefs as the ordinary coyn is ; and will coft no more than the 
 
 ordinirie unequall coyn which is ufed now. 
 
 Mafter David Ramadge, Whitehall, June 14, 1651. 
 
 Thefe are to authorife you, to make fome patterns as broad as a fhilling, a half-crown, a 
 
 twenty-fliillings piece of gold, in a mill ; and if you can do it, with letters about the edge 
 
 or otherwayes, according to Queen Elizabeth's patterns of mill-money or an v other modells 
 
 or peeces you are to make ; that fo the Committee of the mint may fee your feveral peeces, 
 
 and thereupon confider what is fitteft to prefent to the Councell of State, for the more hand- 
 
 fome mailing sf the monies for the honor of tl)is Commonwidth . 
 
 James Harrington 
 The. Chaloner 
 At the defire of Sir James Harrington, and Mr. Thomas Chaloner, and others of the 
 honorable Committee for the Mint, I [Thomas Violet] did write to Holland for all the 
 principal Coynes in Chrijlendom ; and did deliver many of them to the of5icers of the mint to 
 make an aflay of them : which feveral pieces of forrain gold and filver were aflayed in the 
 frefence of the Co7nm:tt;e of the mint^ they being there at the Tower feveral dayes to make 
 thefe trvals, where I attended them. And I fent into Holland, France and Flanders for all 
 their feveral Placarts ; and did procure the lawes and ordinances for regulating their refpec- 
 tive mints, with the feveral ftandards and weigiits for their coyns, gold or filver, to be 
 tranflated. And thereupon the Committee of the mint caufed the principal of thefe forrain 
 Coynes to be ingraven, with the weight and finenefs of every piece, according to the llandard 
 of each mint, both gold and filver, what it ought to weigh ; with ajuft calculation of the 
 vallue what all the feveral fpecies would make in the Tower of London, and the penny- 
 weight and graines that everie fuch forrain fpecies or coin would make in tiie Tower ot 
 London, and what proportion our gold and filver held with the mint of Flanders, Franc-- 
 and LJolland. And this was exadtly calculated by the officers of the mint and myfelf, in 
 the year 1651 and 1652 ; and all the proceedings thereupon, after many months time, and 
 the feveral coynes graven on copper plates, were delivered into the cuftody of Sir James 
 Harrington, Chairman of that Committee, to report them unto the Hous. Kut the Par- 
 liament being difi'olved April 20, 1653, the act againft the tranfporters of gold, and all the 
 proceedings concerning the regulation of the mint were flopped for that time. 
 
 The above note^ relating to the coin, have been taken from Thomas Violet's publica- 
 tions. More of this matter, with fpecimens o^ fome of the elegant and very fcarce 
 pattern-pieces before mentioned, may be feen in " the works of Thomas Simon," publifhed 
 London 1753 in quarto, by that ingenious, diligent, faithful Englifh Antiquary, the late 
 Mr. George Vertue. 
 
 Cromwell having thrufl: out the Parliament, his Mafters, Patrons, by his foldiers, as fee 
 a fingular account of it in Whitclocke, p. 554, he thought proper, in the fnite of his am- 
 bition, to coin money, following exactly the rules which had been inftituted by the Com- 
 mittee pf Parliament in their wifdcm, and employing the workmen which they had formed, but 
 ftamping on thofe coins impudently his own effigies and arms. 
 ' Further, concerning the intended regulation of the Law, the Univcrfitics, Commerce, 
 
 and the general fchcme of civil government and views of this Master Parliament; the 
 curious reader will confult " Hufband's colledlions" 1643 in quarto, 1646 in lolio, 
 " Scobell's collections" in folio, and the other State papers of thofe times.
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF A. SYDNEY zs 
 
 * liberty to any fuch means. When the innocence of my anions will not 
 
 * protedlme, I will ftay away till thertorm be ovcr-palTcd. In ihoit, where 
 ' Vane, Lambert, Hafelriggc cannot live in fafety *, 1 cannot live at all. 
 ' If I had been in England, I fhould have expedlcd a lodging with them ; 
 
 * or though they may be the firfl:, as being more eminent than I, I mufl 
 
 * exped to follow their example in fufFering as I have been their com- 
 
 ' panion 
 
 [* Where Fane, Lambert, Hafelrigge cannot live %n fafety, etc.] 
 Aug. 21, 1660, the Aft of imlemuity was (cnc from the Lordi to the Cornmons v.-Wa 
 feveral alterations, to which the Conwioiis were very unwilling to agree; for th y had lub- 
 jeded twenty that were not the King's judges to be liable to fuch pains and penalties not 
 extending to life, as fhould be inflided by another act to be palled in this Parliament. 
 Whereas the Lords finding the King's inclinations to tend towards the pardoning of all 
 but fuch as where his father's judges or otherwife aiSlors in his murder, they difigreed to 
 that part of the a£f, as to all thofe named by the Commons, except Sir Arthur Hafelrigge, 
 Sir Henry Vane, Colonel fohn Lambert, who were efteemed to be fo malicioudy active in 
 oppofition to his Majeiiy's government, as to be excepted from any conditions of pardon. 
 The Com?nons for fome time adhered to their firfl: refolution, but after feveral conferences, 
 they agreed with the Lords in all things except fome little lalterations in the frame of the 
 adt; Vane and Lambert were excepted, but Hafelrigge remained liable to fuch pains, 
 penalties and forfeiture, as fliould be inflicted on him, not extending to life; and the reft 
 of thofe put under the fame qualifications by the Commons that were not of the King's 
 judges, were made only with others incapable of offices. 
 
 Kennet's Hifliorical Regifter, p. 236, 
 Sir Henry Vane, whofe blood feems to have been demanded by the peculiar vengeance of 
 heaven, had been moft deeply engaged in the darkeft fcenes of the late calamities, which he 
 carried on with infinite fubtlety and artifice, to the deception of incredible numbers in the 
 nation ; and though he cunningly kept himfelf from the impious court that condemned the 
 King, it was fufficiently known that none contributed more to the bringing him thither; and 
 after, that none more zealoufly promoted the eftablifhment of the new Commonwealth, and 
 his anions daily difcovercd fo much of republican rancour, that it was impoflible for him to 
 live in quiet under any refemblance of monarchy. So after the rcfloration, having been found 
 tampering with fome malecontents of the army and others, in order to frefh difturbances, 
 the government thought fit to confine him : and though he with Lambert was particularly 
 excepted in the act of indemnity, yet he found fo much favour cfterivards from the houfe of 
 Commons in the fame Parliament, that they petitioned the King, in which they were joined by the 
 houfe of Peers, that he might yet be exempt from fuffering the pains of death ; lo which, as his 
 friends alledge, his Majejiy confcntsd. This was looked upon as a fiifficient fecurity ; yet either 
 upon the account of his own behaviour or that of his party or fome private refentment, the 
 prefent houfe of Commons thought fit to addrefs the King to bring him, together with 
 Colonel John Lambert, to their tryals. Accordingly June 4, 1662, they were both arraigned 
 at the King's bench bar, before Sir Robert Fojier, Lord chief juftice, and other judges ; and 
 Sir Henry indided for imagining and compaffing the death of the King, and for taking 
 upon him and ufurping the government : and Colonel Lambert for levying war againft the 
 King in feveral parts of the kingdom. The carriage and behaviour of Va7ie was very extra- 
 ordinary, for being charged by the King's council with a continued feries of trea'ons, from 
 the King's murder to the Reftoration, without infifting upon the Rebellion with which they 
 might have begun, he abfolutely denied they had any power to try him, and decL.red, 
 " that neither the King's death, nor the members themfelves could diflblve the Long 
 Parliament, whereof he being one, no inferior court could call him in quefl:ion." — His 
 whole behaviour was fo afluming and infolent, that the Court and King's council told 
 him, that his own defence was a frefli charge againfl: him and the higheft evidence of his 
 
 inward guilt, had there not been fuch a cloud of witnefies to prove the particulars. The 
 
 Jury after a very iliort ftay brought him in guilty of high treafon. Colonel Lainbirt^i 
 
 behaviour was quite contrary, full of fubmiffion and difcretion. ■ — He was likewife 
 
 condemned ; but when he was to receive fentence with Sir Henry Vane, he was by the 
 King's favor reprieved at the bar, upon the report that the judges had given of his 
 
 d fubmiilive
 
 26 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 * panion in a(fling. I am mofl in a maze at the miftaken informations, 
 ' that were lent to nie by my iricnds, lull ol: expedations of favours and' 
 
 * employments. Who can think that they who imprifon them would 
 ' employ me, or fufier me to live when they are put to death ? If I might 
 ' live and be employed, can it be expedlcd that 1 fhoidd ferve a govern- 
 ' ment that feeks fuch delcflable ways of eftablilliing itfelf ? Ah ! no; I 
 
 ' have 
 
 lubmiffive and handfome deportment at his tryal : upon which he defired the judges to 
 return to his Majefty hismoft hunble thanks for his To unexpedled mercy, which the judges 
 faiil might have been, and was once thought to be extended to Sir Hnir , it his forwardnefs 
 and contemptuous behaviour had not precluded the way to it. The Colonel was con- 
 fined durin"- life in the Ide of Guerrifey, where he continued a patient and difcreet pri- 
 loiier for above thirty years. 
 
 Archdeacon Echard and Bifliop Kennet ; fee the Hifl:. Regiftcr, p. 704, 5. 
 And hnce it hath pleafed God, who feparated me from the womb to the knowledge and 
 fervice of the jrofpel of his Son, to feparate me alfo to this hard and difficult fervice at this 
 time, and to ftngle me out to the defence and jt'Jiification of this his caufe, I could not confent 
 by any words or aiflion of mine, that the innocent blood that hath been flied in the defence 
 of it throughout the whole war, the guilt and moral evil of luhich mujl and docs certainly 
 lye fomewhere, did lye at my door, or at theirs, that have been the faithful adherers to this caufe. 
 This is with fuch evidence upon my heart, that I am moft freely and chearfully willing to 
 put the greateft feal to it I am capable, which is, the pouring out of my very blood invjitncfi 
 to it; which is all 1 fnall need fay in this place and at this time, having fpoken at large to 
 it in my defence at my tryal, intending to have faid more the laft day, as what I thought 
 was reafDnable for arrejl of judgment, but I was not permitted then to (peak it ; both which 
 may, with time and GoJ's providence, come to public view. And I muil {fill afiert, 
 that I remain wholly unfatisfied, that the courfe of proceedings againft me at my tryal were 
 according to law, but that I was run upon and deftroycd, contrary to right and the liberties 
 oi Magna Charta, under the form only of juftice, which I leave to God to decide, who is 
 the judge of the whole world, and to clear my innocencv. In the mean time I bcfeech him 
 to forgive them and all that had a hand in my death ; and that the Lord, in his great mercy, 
 will not lay it unto their charge, etc. 
 
 The tryal of Sir Henry Vane knt. at the King's bench, Weftminfter, June 2, 
 and 6, 1662. Together with what he intended to have fpoken the day of his 
 fentence, June 11, for arreft of judgment, had he not been interrupted and 
 over-ruled by the Court, and his bill of exceptions. With other occafional 
 fpeeches, etc. Alfo his fpeech and prayer, etc. on the fcaftbld. Printed Ln the 
 year 166*, in quarto, p. 90. 
 
 Sonnet to Sir Henry Vane. 
 Vane, young in years, but in fage councels old. 
 Than whom a better fenator ne'er held 
 The helm of Rome, ivhcn gow?is not arms repell'd 
 The fierce Epirot, and the African bold. 
 Whether to fettle peace, or to unfold 
 The drift of hollow ftates, hard to be fpell'd ; 
 Then to advife how war may heft upheld. 
 Move by her two main nerves, iron and gold. 
 In all her ecjuip-igc: befidcs to know 
 Both fpiritual and civil, what each means. 
 What j'crvcs each, thou haji learn d; tvhich few l?ave done. 
 The bounds of either fvvord to thee we owe j 
 Therefore on thy right hand religion leans 
 In peace, and reckons thee her eldeft fon. 
 
 John Milton. 
 The cafes cited by the learned judge [Hale] do not in the leaft fhake the principle 
 already advanced, that the Throne being full, any perfon out of poffcflion but claiming 
 title, be his prctcnfiyjis what you pleafc, is no King within the ftatute of treafons.
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF A. SYDNEY 27 
 
 * have not learnt to make my own peace, hy pcrfecuting and betraying 
 ' my brethren, more innocent and wortliy than mylclf. I mufl: hve by 
 ' juh means, and Icrve to jull ends, or not at all. After luch a mani- 
 
 * feftation of the ways by which it is intended the king fliall govern, I 
 
 * fhould have renounced any place of favour, into which the kindnefs 
 ' and induftry of my friends might have advanced me, when I found 
 
 * thofe, that were better than I, were only fit to be dcftroycd. I had 
 
 ' formerly 
 
 I am aware of the judgment of the Court of King's bench in the cafe of Sir Henry Vane, 
 " That King Charles the Second, though kept out of the excrcifc of the Kingly office, 
 yet was ftill a King hoth De faito and De Jure ; and thr.t all afls done to the keeping him 
 out were high treafon." 
 
 Sir Henry Fane's, was a very fingular cafe, and the tranfadtions in which he bore a part, 
 happened in a conjuniSlure of affairs which never did exift before, and I hope never will 
 a^ain. An ufurpation founded in the diflblution of the antient legal government, and the 
 total fubverfion of the Conftitution. 
 
 I will therefore Iky nothing to the merits of the queflion more, than tliat the rule laid 
 down by the Court involved in the guilt of treafon, every man in the Kingdom who had 
 adted in a public ftation under a government poffefTed in fact for twelve years together of 
 ibvereign power ; but under various forms at different times, as the enthufiafm of the herd, 
 or the ambition of their leaders didfated. 
 
 But this refolution hath not in the leafl fhaken the princijile I contend for ; it doth in 
 reality fuppofe the truth of it. For if Charles the Second was King De faSlo from the death 
 of his Father, every thing done from that time in prejudice of his right was undoubtedly 
 high treafon. 
 
 The only difficulty is, what did the Court mean by a King De failo ? They could not 
 mean, what every foul before themfelves undcrllood, a King in the a£tual and full exercife 
 of the regal power. They meant, I prcfume, as his Lordfhip upon another occafion is 
 pleafed to exprefs himfelf, one quASi hi poffcjjion of the Crown ; fince during the ufurpation, 
 no other perlbn did claim to a(5l under the regal title. 
 
 The diftindtion between De Jure and De FaSlo Kings was taken up by the Houfc of 
 York to ferve the purpofes of ambition and revenge. By the former, they meant thofe who 
 are prefumed to have fucceedcd to the crown in a regular courfe of defcent. By the latter, 
 thofe who have not had that claim to it. The former were in their eftimation the only 
 rightful Kings. The latter, not excepting fuch as have claimed under a parliamentary 
 fettlement, no better than fortunate ufurpers. 
 
 This dodlrine perfedlly fuited the views of that fadlion. For the Crown having been 
 entailed by aft of Parliament on Henry the Fourth and his HFue, the Houfe of York faw 
 itfelf totally excluded, unlefs its pretenfions could be fupported hy a th\e Pay-amount lo the 
 poivcr of Parluinicnt. Proximity in blood was its only refuge, and to that the partizans of 
 that Houfc rcforted. And in fo doing they brought upon themfelves, in my opinion, the 
 whole guilt of that deluge of blood, which was afterwards fpilt in the unnatural war between 
 the two Houfes. 
 
 It is not to be wondered at, that men whofe ambition fuggefted to them the hope of over- 
 turning an eftablifliment, to which themfelves, their anceftors, and the whole Nation had 
 fubmitted for more than half a century, fliould endeavour to convince mankind of the redi-- 
 tude of their intentions, and the jultice of their claim. Nor is it at all furprizing, that 
 their followers, in the heat of the tunes, fnould fuft'er themfelves to be eafdy convinced. For 
 in the ferment of parties. Leaders never blujli, and the Herd of the Party feldom think. But, 
 that peribns who are placed at a happy diftance from thefe difaftrous times, (hould in cool 
 blood revive and adopt a dodlrine, which hath once laid their country wafte, is not fo eafily 
 accounted for. 
 
 But fnice this hath been done by learned men, among whom Lord Chief Juftice Hale's 
 name mult be mentioned with all juft regard, I will endeavour to point out what I take to 
 have been the radical niiftake, which led them into a train of fpecious hut falfe reafoning 
 *jpon this I'ubjedt. 
 
 d 2 They
 
 2S MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 ' formerly fome jealoufies ; the fraudulent proclamation for indemnity 
 ' increaled them ; the imprifoning of thofe three men, and turning out 
 
 * of all the officers of the army, contrary to promife, confirmed me in 
 
 * my refolutions not to return. To conclude, the tide is not to be 
 ' diverted, nor the opprefled delivered ; but God, in his time, will have 
 
 * mercy on his people. He will fave and defend them, and avenge the 
 ' blood of thofe who fhall now perifh, upon the heaps of thofe, who, in 
 ' their pride, think nothing is able to oppofe them. Happy are thofe, 
 ' whom God fliall make inftruments of his juftice in fo blefl'ed a work ! 
 'If! can live to fee that day, I fliall be ripe for the grave, and able to 
 ' fay with joy, " Lord, now lettell thou thy fervant depart in peace." 
 
 * Farewel. My thoughts as to king and ftate depending upon their 
 
 * actions, no man fliall be a more faithful fervant to him than I, if he 
 *• make the good and profperity of his people his glory* ; none more his 
 
 ' enemy. 
 
 They feem not to have fufRciently attended to the nature and ends of civil power, whereof 
 the regal dignity is a principal branch. They feem to have confidered the crown and royal 
 dignity mcerly as a dejcendahle property ; as an eftate or intereft vefted in the polTefTor for the 
 emolument and grandeur of himfelf and heirs, in a regular invariable courfe of defcent. 
 And therefore in queftions touching the fucceffion, they conjlantly refort to the fame narrow 
 rules and ?naxims of law and jtijiice, by tvhich quejlions of meer property, the title to a pigftye 
 or a layftall, are governed. And thence conclude, that the Legiflature itfelf cannot, with- 
 out manifefl: injuflice, interrupt the antient, legal, eftablifhed order of fucceffion. It can- 
 not, fay they, without injuftice, give to one branch of the royal family, what by right of 
 blood belongeth to another. 
 
 Thus they argue. And if I could conceive of the Crown as of an inheritance of meer 
 ■property, I fhould be tempted to argue in the fame manner. But had they confidered the crown 
 and royal dignity, as a defcendable oVFlct., as a TRVST for millions, and extendi ftg its influence 
 to generations yet unborn ; had they confidered it in that light, they would foon have dif covered the 
 principle upon which the right of the legifature to interpofe in cafes of nee fftty is manifeflly founded. 
 And that is the SALVS popvli already mentioned [p. 382] upon a like occafion. etc. etc. etc. 
 ■which the ingenuous reader fhould purfue. 
 
 Obfervations ou fome pafTages in the writings of L. C. J. Hrde ; relative to 
 
 the principles on which the Revolution and prefent happy Eftablifliment are 
 
 founded. By [that faithful judge and friend to liberty] Sir Michael Fofi:er. 
 
 There is an original and good pidture of this extraordinary but unfortunate Gentleman, 
 
 Sir Henyy Vane, in the BritiJ!: Mufaeum. 
 
 [* If he make the good and profperity of his people his glory, etc.] 
 Of a tall ftature and of fable hue 
 Much like the fon of Kifli that lofty Jew ; 
 Twelve years compleat he fufFer'd in exile. 
 And kept his father's alTes all the while. 
 At length by wonderful impulfe of fate. 
 The people call him home to mend the (late ; 
 And, what is more, they fend iiiin money too. 
 And cloath him all, from head to foot, anew. 
 Nor did he fuch fmall favors then difdain, 
 Who in his thirtieth year began his reign. 
 In a flafli'd doublet then he came afliore, 
 And dubb'd poor Palmer's wife his royal whore. 
 Bifhops, and Deans, Peers, Pimps, and Knights he made, 
 7^hings higlily fitting for a Monarch's trade ! 
 With women, wine, and viands of delight. 
 His jolly vafials fcaft him day and night, 
 etc. etc. etc. An hiflorical poem by A. Marvill,
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF A. SYDNEY ' 29 
 
 enemy, if he doth the contrary. To my particular friends I fhalF 
 
 ' be 
 
 -D'ou les Anglols remontant au fouvenir de la puiiTance ile leurs flottes du temps 
 
 A' Olivier ; de la gloire qu'ellc's ont remportecsy«r toutes les mers ; les alliances, que toute la 
 terre recherchoit avec eux ; de la pompe dc la Rcpublique, vers laqudle il venoit des ambajfudeurs 
 de tons copjiez; ils ne peuvcnt s'cmpcfchcr de faire des comparaifons odieufes, et de temoigner 
 quelque dii'pofition a des jiouveaux defordres. lis veulent bien un roi pour la gloire de 
 leur pays. Ils aiment ce titrc, et preferent cette forte de gouvernement a toutes les autres. 
 Mais ils reconnoiflent, que leur humeur un peu trop libre et arrogantc a befoin de ce 
 cavecon ; ils ne veulent point aufli le I'oufFrir trop rude, et ils prctendent que leur Roi fe 
 doit appliquer uniquctnent a mainttnir la tranquilite pubiique, a faire vivre heurcufement fon- 
 peuple, et a porter au dehors Ic plus avant qu'il peut I'/jonneur et la reputation de fa patrie. 
 Ils defeat que c'cft pour cela qu'ils I'entretiennent fplendidemcnt, et Icurs Ejiais, dans 
 lefquelles proprement refide la puiflance Souveraine, ne lui refuferont jamais rien de ce 
 qu'il leur demandera pour fatisfaire a ks intentions. Mais qu'il leur fache de voire 
 commettre une chofe fi importante au foins d'un Miniflre, qui toujours a des interefts 
 particuliers, contraires a ceux du public; qu'il eft fcnfible au peuple de fe faigner inutile- 
 ment, et de voir employer fon argent en chofes fuperflues, ou melme en defpenccs des-honnetes ; 
 [rendered in the tranflation of lyog, " upon bafe lujis ;"] qu'il n'eft pas jufte que quelques 
 fang-fues de cour en foient remplies elles feules, et que Ton ne navige ou ne laboure, qu'oa 
 ne travaille furmer et fur terre, que pour mettre bien a leur aife un petit nombre de per- 
 fonnes oifives, qui abuferont de la facilite d'un prince. Ces penfees et ces difcours font 
 conformes a I'humeur arrogante des Anglois, et a la jaloufie avec laquelle ils regardent les 
 profperitez d'autruy. Mais outre la particuliere inclination que la nature kur donne a 
 former des raifonnemens fi peu refpcSiueux, ils fe font nourris de longue main dans cctte 
 mauvaife habitude par la liberie de leurs Parlemens, d'ont il faut que Je vous raconte I'hiftoire, 
 telle qu'il m'en fouvient ou que Je me la fuis figuree, etc. etc. etc. 
 
 " Relation d'un voyage en Angleterre." By Monf, 
 Sorbiere. Printed at Cologne, 1666, in duod. p. 107. 
 It was hoped and expefted, that this prodigious and univerfal calamity, [the fire of 
 London] for the efFefts of it covered the whole Icingdom, would have made fome impreflion 
 a.nd produced [ome reformation in the licence of the court. For as the pains the King had 
 taken night and day during the fire, and the dangers he had expofed himfelf to, even for 
 the faving of the citizens goods, had been notorious and in the mouths of all men with 
 many good wifhes and prayers for him, fo his majefty had been heard during that time to 
 fpeak with great piety and devotion of the difpleafure that God was provoked to. And no 
 doubt the deep fenfe of it did raifc many good thoughts aud purpofes in his royal breaft. 
 But he was narrow'y watched and looked to, that fuch melancholick thoughts might nor 
 long poflefs him, the confequence and effefl: whereof was like to be more grievous than that 
 of the fire itfelf ; of which, that loofe company that ivas too much ch riJJied, even before it was 
 extinguilhed, difcourfed as of an argument for mirth and wit to defcribe the wildncfs of the 
 confufion all people were in ; in which the fcripture itfelf was ufed with equal liberty, 
 when they could apply it to their i>rofane purpofes. And Mr. Alay prefumed to allure the 
 King, " that this was the grcateft blefling, that God had ever conferred upon him, his 
 Reftoration only excepted : for the walls and gates being now burned and thrown down of 
 that rebellious city, which was always an enemy to the Crown, his Majefty would never 
 fufFer them to repair and build them up again, to be a hit in his mouth and a bridle upon his 
 neck ; but would keep all open, that his troops might enter upon tliem whenever he thought 
 necefiary for his fervice, there being no other %i.ujy to govern that rude ?dultitude but by force." 
 
 The continuation of the life of Edward Earl of Clarendon, vol. 3. p. 674. 
 
 See other paflages of a like kind in that work. \_MidhurJx. Baptiji Alay 
 
 Efq. privy purfe, L looo a year allowance. Got befides in boons ioi fecret 
 fervice L 40000. This is he that fayd, " Five hundred pounds a year was 
 enough for a Country Gentleman to drink ale, eat beef, and fiink with." etc. A 
 feafonable argum.ent, etc.] 
 Such unaniinity appeared in the proceedings of the new Parliament, or Convention as 
 it came afterwards to be called becaufe it was not fummoned by the King's writ, that. 
 
 I, there
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 '* be conftant in all occafions, and to you a moil affedionate fervant.' 
 
 After 
 
 there was not the leaft difpute among them but upon one lingle point ; yet that was a very 
 important one. Hale, afterwards the famous Chief Juftici.-, moved, " That a Committee 
 might he appointed to look into th; propo/itious that had been made, and the concejjions that had 
 been offered by the late King during the war, particularly at the treaty of Newport, that from 
 thence they might dige/I fuch propofitions as they Jliould think fit to he fent over to the King." This 
 was fecoiided, but I do not remember [pity it is th it he did not!] by whom. It was 
 forefeen that fuch a motion might be fet on foot, fo Monk was inftrucled how to anfwer 
 it, whenfoever it (hould be propofed. He told the Houfc, that there was yet, beyond all 
 mens hope, an univerfal quiet all over the nation ; but there were many incendiaries flill 
 on the v/atch, trying where they could nrft raife the flame. He faid, he had fuch copious 
 informations fent him of thefe things, that it was not fit they fhould be generally known : 
 He could not anfwer for the peace either of the Nation or of the Army, if any delay was 
 put to the lending for the King : What need was there of fending propofitions to him ? 
 Mio-ht thev not as well prepare them and offer them to him when he fliould come over ? 
 He was to bring neither army nor treai'ure with h:m either to fright them or corrupt them. 
 So he moved, that they would immediately fend commiiTioners to bring over the King : 
 And faid, that he mufi lay the blame of all the blood or mifchief that might follow on the 
 heads of thofe, who fhould flill infill on any motion that might delay the prefent fettlement 
 of the Nation. This was echo'd with fuch a Ihout over the Houfe, that the motion was no 
 more infilled on. 
 
 This was indeed the great fervice that Monk did. It was chiefly owing to the pofl he was 
 in and to the credit he had gained ; for as to the Refloration itfelf, the tide run fo ftrong, 
 that he only went into it dexteroufly enough, to get much fame and great rewards, for that 
 which will have Hill a great appearance in hiflory. If he had died foon after, he might have 
 h;en more jiijlly admired, becaufe lefs known and feen inly in one advantageous light: But he 
 lived long enough to make it known, how fall'e a judgment men are apt to make upon 
 outward appearance. To the King's coining in without conditions may be ivell imputed all the 
 errours of his reign. And when the Earl of Southampton czmc to iet what he was likely to 
 prove, he faid once in great wrath to Chancellor Hide, " It was to him they owed all they 
 either felt or feared ; for if he had not polTefled them in all his letters with fuch an opinion 
 of the King, they would have taken care to have put it out of his power either to do himfelf 
 or them any mifchief, which was like to be the effect of their trulling him fo entirely." 
 Hide anfwered, " That he thought the King had fo true a judgment and fo much good 
 nature, that when the age of jdeafure Ihould be over, and the idlenefs of his exile which 
 made him feck new diverfions for want of other employment was turned to an obligation 
 to mind afrairs, then he would have fhaken off thofe entanglements." 
 
 Burnet's hifl. of his own times, vol. I. p. 8g. 
 A colony of French pofTefs the Court ; 
 Piinps, piiefts, buffoons, in privy chamber fport. 
 Sucli flimy monflers ne'er approached a throne 
 Since Pharaoh's days, nor lb defii'd a crown. 
 In facred ear tyrannic arts th y croak. 
 Pervert his mind, and good int Jitions choak ; 
 Tell him of golden Indies, fairy lands. 
 Leviathan, and abfolute commands. 
 
 Britannia and Raleigh, a poem by A. Marvell. 
 The fccret of the King and Duke's being fo eager and hearty in their refolutions to break 
 with 7^r^«tY at this jundure, [July 1678J was as follows. 
 
 France, in order to break the force of the Confederacy, and elude all jull conditions of a 
 general peace, refolved by any means to enter into feparate mcafurcs with Holland; to 
 which end it was abfolutely ncceflary to engage the good offices of the King oi England., 
 who was looked upon to be mailer of the peace whenever he plcafed. The bargain was 
 llruck for three or four hundred thoufand pounds. But when all was agreed, IVlonfieur 
 Bar.Uov, the French ambail'ador, told the King, " that he had orders from his mafter, 
 5 before
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 After he had continued fome time In Italy, he thouglit proper to draw 
 
 nearer 
 
 before payment, to add a private article, bv which his Majcfty fhould be enfrnecd, ncv r 
 to keep above eii;ht thoufaiid men of {landing trojps in liis three Iciniidoms." This unex- 
 peiFted pn pofal put the Kin<^ in a rage, and made him fay, " — d'sfijh! Does my brother of 
 
 France think to fervc me thin ? Are all his \rc)mfes to make tne ahfoluie inajler of my ' conu 
 
 to this ? Or does he think that a thing to be done ivith eight t'. cujand men ? 
 
 Temple's works, vol. ii. p. 464. in a note, edit. 172O. 
 
 By this means came in Charles the iecond, a luxurious efl'eminate prince, a deep 
 
 dillembler, and if not a pnpiil: himf.lf, yet a great favo jrer of them : but the People had 
 fufVcied to \v.\xz\\ from th; ant>y, that he was received with the uimoft joy and tranfport. 
 The Parliament, in the Honey-moon, palled what laws he pkafed, gave a vafc revenue for 
 life, being three times as much aa any of his predeceflbrs enjoyed, and fevcral millions be- 
 l.des to be fpent in his pleafures. This made him conceive vajler hopes of an arbitrary power 
 than any that ivint bcfcre him, and in order to it be debauched and enervated the whole 
 kingdom. His Court wa, a fccne of r.dulteries, drunkennefs anJ irreligion, appearing more 
 like ftews or the fcafls of liacchus, than tlic family of a thief magiftrate. And in a little 
 time the contagion fprcad through the wliole Nation, that it was out of the fapion not to 
 he lewd, and fcandaloui not to be a public enemy." etc. etc. etc. 
 
 " A fhort hiftory of (landing armies in E>!gland." 
 [by John Trenchard.] London, i6g8. in quarto. 
 
 Riiffel the painter related to or connected with the Olivers, told Vertue a remarkable 
 
 ftory. The greater part of the colle£lion of King Charles being difperfed in the troubles, 
 among which were feveral picflures of the Olivers, Charles 11. who remembered and was 
 defirous of recovering them, made many inquires about them after the reftoration. At laft 
 he was told by one Rogers of IJleworth, probably Progers well known for being employed 
 in the King's private pleafures, that both f.ither and fon were dead, but that the fon's 
 widow was living at Ifnvorth and had many of their v/orks. The King went privately and 
 unknown with Rogers to fee them. The widow fhowed feveral finifhed and unfiiiiflicd, with 
 many of which the King being plcafed, afked if fhe would fell them; flie replied, flie had a 
 mind the King ihould fee them firil:, and if he did not purchafe them, fhe fhould think of 
 difpofing of them. The King difcovred himlelf ; on which (he produced fome more pic- 
 tures which fhe feldom fhowed. The King defired her to fet a price; fhe faid fhe did not 
 care to make a price with his Majefly, /he would leave it to him : but promifed to look 
 over her hufband's books and let his Majefty know what prices his father the late Kintr had 
 paid. The King took away what he liked, and fent Rogers to Mrs. Oliver with the option 
 of a thoufand pounds, or an annuity of three hundred pounds for her life. She chofc the 
 latter. Some years afterwards, it happened, that the King's mi/lrrfcs having begged all 
 or moll of thefe pi(5tures, Mrs. Oliver, who probably was a prude and apt to exprefs herfelf 
 like a prude, faid, on healing it, " that if Jhe had thought the King luould have given them to 
 fuch whores and flrumpets and bafiards, he never fliould have had them." This reached the 
 Court; the poor won)an's annuity was flopped and fhe never received it afterwards. 
 
 Anecdotes of painting in England, with fome account of the principal artifls ; 
 
 etc. collefted by the late Mr. George Vertue, and now digefted and publiflied 
 
 by Mr. Horace Walpole. Strawberry hill, printed 1762, [from his own 
 
 PRESS, mark that ye Nobles, Gentry,] in two vol. quarto, vol. 2. p. 14. 
 
 One other extradl from this author, to whom the public are varioufly obliged, cannot 
 
 be improper in the Memoirs of A. Sidney. It is taken from the fecond volume of the above 
 
 work, p. 147. 
 
 '* The whole fabric [the intended palace of Whitehall by Inigo Jones] was fo glorious 
 an idea, that one forgets for a moment, in the regret for its not being executed, the confirmation 
 of our liberties obtained by a melancholy fcene that paffed before the windows of that very 
 tangitetting-hiufe." 
 
 Alfred was of perfon comlicr then all his brethren, of pleafing tongue and graceful beha- 
 viour, ready wit and memory; yet through the fondnefs of his parents towards him, had 
 not been taught to read till the twelfth year of his age ; but the great dcfire of learning ivhicb 
 was in him, foon appeared, by his conning of Saxon poems day and night, which with great 
 
 attention
 
 32 MEMOIRS OV THE LIFE OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 nearer home, that If an opportunity fhould offer, " he might not," 
 
 as 
 
 attention he heard by others repeated. He was befides, exxellent at hunting and the new 
 art then of hawking, but more exemplary in devotion, having collefted into a book certain 
 prayers and pfahns which he carried ever with him in his bofome to ufe on all occafions. 
 He thirjhd after all liberal knoivledge, and oft complained, that in his youth he had no 
 teachers, in his middle age fo little vacancy from wars and the cares of his kingdome; yet 
 lenfure he found fometimes, not only to learn much himfclf, but to communicate therof what he could 
 to his people, by tranflating books out of Latin into Englifli, Orofius, Boethius, Bcda's 
 hiftory and others ; permitted none unler-nd to bear office, either in Court or Commonwealth. 
 At twenty years of age, not yet reigning, he took to wife Egelfwitha the daughter of 
 Ethelred a Mercian Earl. The extremities v/hich befell him in the fixt of his reign, 
 Neothan Abbot told him, were juftiy come upon him for neglcfting in his younger days the 
 complaints of fuch as injured and oppreffed repaired to him, as then fecond perfon in 
 the kingdom for redrefs ; luhich neglcSl were it fuch indeed, were yet excufable in a youth, 
 through jollity of mind unwilling perhaps to be detained long with fad and forrowful 
 narrations ; but from the time of his undertaking regal charge, no man more patient in hearing 
 caufes, more inquifttive in examining, more exaii in doing jufiice, and providing good laws 
 which are yet extant ; more fevere in punijhing unjufl judges or objlinate offenders. Theeves 
 efpecially and robbers, to the terror of whom in crojs waies were hung upon a high pojl certain 
 chains of gold, as it lucre dareing any one to take them thence ; fo that jujlice feemed in his 
 dales not to flour ijh only but to triumph. No man then bee more frugal of two pretious things 
 in man's life, his time and his revenue ; no man wifer in the difpofal of both. His time, the 
 day and night he diftributed by the burning of certain tapours into three equal portions; 
 the one was for devotion, the other for public or private affairs, the third for bodily 
 refrefliment : how each hour pad, he was put in minde by one who had that office. His 
 whole annual revenue, which his firft care was fliould be julHy his own, he divided into 
 two equall parts. The firft: he imploi'd to fecular ufes, and fubdivided thole into three; 
 the firft to pay his fouldiers, houfehold-fervants and guard, of which divided into three 
 bands one attended monthly by turn ; the fecond was to pay his architects and workmen, 
 whom he had got together of feveral nations, for he was alfo an elegant builder, above the 
 tujhme and conceit of EngUfymen in thofe days : the third he had in readinefs to relieve or honor 
 Jirangers according to their zvorth, who came from all parts to fee him, and live under him. 
 The other equal part of his yearly wealth he dedicated to religious ufes, thofe of fowr forts. 
 The fitd to relieve the poor ; the fecond to the building and maintenance of two monafte- 
 ries ; the third of a fchool, where he had perfuadcd the fons of many noblemen to Jludy facred 
 knowledge and liberal arts, fome fay at Oxford; the fourth was for the relief oi foreign 
 churches as far as India to the fhrine of St. Thomas, fending thether Sigelm bifhop of 
 Sherburn, who both returned fafe and brought with him many rich gems and fpicts : guifts 
 alfo and a letter he receaved from the Patriarch of Jerufalcm, fent many to Rome, and for 
 them receaved reliques. Thus far, and much more might be faid of his noble minde, 
 which rendered him the miror of Princes. His body was difeafed in his youth with a 
 great forenefs in the feige, and that ceafmg of itfelf, with another inward pain of unknown 
 caufe, which held him by frequent fits to his dying Az.y; yet not difmabled to fujlain thofe 
 many glorious labors of his life both in peace and war. 
 
 The hiftory of Britain, that part efpecially now called England, from the firft 
 
 traditional beginning to the Norman conqueft. By John Milton. London 
 
 printed 1671, in quarto. 
 
 The Reader will forgive the foUov/ing digrcfllon, if it be a digrefTion, refpediing good and 
 
 bad miniflers, which makes part of Milton's inimitable prayer, in his frfi profc tradt, intitled 
 
 " Of Reformation" etc. printed London 164J, in quarto. 
 
 '^ Then amidft the hymns and halleluiahs of Saints, fome one may perhaps bee heard 
 offering at high Jirains in new and lofty meafurcs, to fing and celebrate thy divine mercies and 
 marvellous judgments in this land throushout all ages ; whereby this great and warlike nation 
 inftrudlcd and inured to the fervent and continuall practice of truth and righteoufneffc, 
 and caffmg firre from her the rags of her old vices, may prefl'e on hard to that high and happy 
 emulatioji to be found the fobcrcft, wileft, and moft chriftian people, at that day when thou 
 
 the
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 as general Ludlow obferves *, be wanting to his duty and the public 
 fervice." In his way he vifited that general and his friends, in their 
 retirement in Switzerland ; alluring them of his affeclion and friendfiiip, 
 and no way declining to own them and the caufe for which they fuffered. 
 He ftaid with them about three weeks ; and defigning to go for Flanders» 
 where he refolved to pais the enfuing winter, he took his journey by the 
 way of Berne, doing all the good offices he could for genera! Ludlow "I' 
 and his friends, with the advoyer and other principal magiftrates of that 
 city. He was at Bmflels in the end of the year 1663, whence he wrote 
 to his father, with relation to tranfporting a body of the beft officers and 
 foldiers of the old army into the fervice of the emperor. 
 
 In 1665, upon the breaking out of the war between England and the 
 United Provinces, ten perfons were fent by king Charles II. to Augiburg 
 in Germany to affajjinate colonel Sydney :|: ; and prcjbably might have 
 effected their dcfign, if he, having undertaken a journey to Holland, 
 
 upon 
 
 the eternal! and fhortly-expefled King fhalt open the clouds to judge the feverall king- 
 domes of the world, and diftributing national honors and rewards to religious and juit 
 Commonwealths, flialt put an end to all earthly Tyrannies, proclaiming thy univerfal and 
 milde Monarchy through heaven and earth. Where they undoubtedly, that by their labors^ 
 counfels and prayers, have been earnejl for the common good of religion and their Countrey, {hall 
 receive above the inferior orders of the biefTed, the regall addition of principalities, legions 
 and thrines into their glorious titles, and in fupereminence of beatific vifion progrefling the 
 dateleffe and irrevoluble circle of Eternity, fliall clafp infcparable hands with joy and blifie, 
 in over-meaftire forever. But they contrary, that by the impairing and diminution of the true 
 faith, the dijireffes and fervitude of their Country, afpire to high dignity, rule and promotion 
 here, after a fhameful end in this life, which god grant them, flTall be throwne 
 downe eternally into the darkeft and deepeft: gulfe of hell, where under the defpightfull con- 
 'troule, the trample and fpurne of all the other damned, that in the anguifii of their tor- 
 ture fhall have no other eafe then to exercife a raving and belliall tyrranny over them as their 
 flaves and negro's, they fhall remaine in that plight lor ever, the bafcjl, the lowermofl, the 
 mofl dtjciled, moji underfoot and doivne-trodden vajfals of perdition." 
 
 * Memoirs, p. 384, folio edit. 
 
 f Edmund Ludlow, Knight of the fliire for the County of fVilts, in the Parliament 
 which began Nov. 3, 1640 ; one of the Council of State, Lieutenant General of Horfe 
 ^nd Commander in chief of the Forces in Ireland. An honeil man by the confeffion of 
 his enemies. His feat was Maiden Bradley, with a paternal eftate, it is faid of upwards 
 of 3000 1. a year belonging to it. During his retirement in Switzerland, hs v/rote his 
 " Memoirs,'^ and fevcral curious valunble trafts. 
 
 It may not be improper here, to give an extrail of a letter from Philip, Lord Vifcount 
 Life, to his idiXher Robert, earl of Leicefer, dated Nov. 6, 1649, taken from the Sidney 
 State papers ; as it accounts, in part, for the kindnefs and attention fliewn afterwards in 
 Switzerland to the Commomvealth party which (lieltered themfelves there. " The Parlia- 
 ment's declaration made fuice the change of the government, hath been, as the Council 
 is informed, much approved of, in many parts of the StviJJis Countrey ; and the Minifters 
 there, do pubiickly give God thanks for the eftablifnment of the Republic and pray for it: 
 upon which 1 believe an Agent will fliortly be fent thither." 
 
 The Latin edition of the Declaration was printed Mar. 22, 1648, in quarto, under 
 this title, " Parliamenti Angliae declaratio. In qua Res nupcrum geftae, et Decretum 
 de Statu Angliae Regioin liberam Rempublicam vertendo, allbruntur." And the following 
 order was placed before the title, " Die Sabbathi 17 Maitii, 1648. Comitiis Populi 
 Parliamentariis decernitur, banc Declaratione.n typis ellb illico mandandam. Hen. 
 Scobell Cleric. Parliamenti." 
 
 X Memoirs of Edmund Ludlow, p. 404, 

 
 34 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 upon bufinefs relating to the public, had not removed from that city before 
 their arrival. 
 
 He continued abroad till the year 1677, when he procured leave to 
 Return to England ; and obtained a particular pardon, according to bifliop 
 Sprat, " upon repeated promiles of conflant quiet and obedience for the 
 " future i|." BiiTiop Burnet affirms, that ' he came back when the par- 
 ' liament was preliing the king into a war. The court of France obtained 
 
 * leave for him to return. He did all he could to divert the people from 
 ' the war ; fo that iome took him for a penlioner of France §. But he 
 ' faid, our court was in an entire confidence in France, and had no other 
 
 * defign in this fhew of a war, but to raife an army and keep it beyond- 
 
 * fea till it was trained and modelled.' But it is evident from a letter of 
 his to Henry Savile, the Engliih ambaffador in France *, that it was that 
 
 gentleman 
 
 II Hid. of the Rye-houfe plot. 
 
 [§ Some took him for a Penftoner of France. 1 
 
 The following anecdote having been communicated to Dr. Hutchefon ofGlafgow, was 
 frequently related by him to his friends : " Mr. Sidney, during his (lay in France, being 
 one day hunting v/itli the Fiench King, and mounted on a fine Englifh horfe, the forra 
 andfpirit of which caught the King's eye, received a melTagc, that he would hepleafed to oblige 
 the King with his horfe at his own price. He anfwered, that he did not choofetopart with 
 him. The King determined to have no denial, and gave orders to tender him money or to 
 feize the horfe ; which being made known to Mr. Sidney, he inflantly took apiitol and fliot 
 him, faying. That his horfe was born a free creature, had ferved a free man, and fhould not 
 be maftered by a King of flaves." 
 
 [* To Henry Savile, the EngUJh amhafador in France, etc.] 
 
 Mr. Savile is faid to have replied to a Frenchman, who exulted upon the fine writings 
 ■of his countrymen, That there luere but two fubjeSis in nature worth a luife man's thoughts, 
 namely religion and government, and they durjl fpeak of neither. 
 
 The Independent Whig, numb. I. 
 
 The celebrated Monf. Voltaire, in his " Ode fur la mort de Madame de Bareith, avec 
 une Icttre, etc." feems to have entertained, nearly, the fame idea as Mr. Savile ; and 
 fixes the fuperiority cf the Englifh Nation, where alone it centers, upon its liberty. 
 
 " Les Italiens, ces peuples ingenieux, ont craint de penfer ; les Fran^ais n'ont ofe 
 penfer qu'a demi, et les Anglais qui ont vole jufqu'au ciel, parce qv'on ne levr a 
 POINT covpe' les AiLEs, font devenus les precepteurs des nations. Nous leur devons 
 tout, depuis les loix primitives de la gravitation, depu's le calcul de I'infini et la connaiffance 
 precife de la lumitre fi vainement combattues, jufqu'a la nouvelle charue, ct a Tinfertion 
 de la petite verole, combattues encore." 
 
 Sicnor Martinelli has a note alfo to the fame cfFedl: in his elegant edition of the 
 " Decameronedi Giouanne Boccacio." 
 
 " La lingua Tofcana, puo dirfi il miracolo dclle lingue si morte come viventi. Ella 
 nacque, fi puo dir, come rofa infra le fpine dcila perfecuzione ; pcrche Dante e il Petrarca 
 le loro belle opcre in cfilio compofero, e il Boccaccio il fuo Dccamerone tcnnino, ficcome 
 nel prcemio allaquartagiornata dichiara, faettato dall'invidia c dalla calunnia. 11 Machia- 
 vclli fu martoriato dalla fazione dei Medici, per eflerfi ingegnato d'inipcdir loro d'occupare 
 ia tirannidc dclla fua patria. II Guicciardini fi prcfe un volontario efdio in una fua villa, 
 per non vedere fpirare la lihertii dclla Republica P'ioientina nclle mani di Cofimo prime, 
 e quivi tcrmino di fcriverc la fua Iftoria d'ltalia. Al Segni c al Varchi, proibirono i Gran- 
 duchi di publicurc Ic loro Ifloric di Firenze. II Galileo, tra le pcrfecuzioni con le quali 
 convcnne combattere, ebbe i|Uella d'Impollore chc li arrogarono Ic fue niirabili iiivenzioni, 
 con Ic quali ha aperto ai mortali la via d'indagarc I'indole e movinicnti de' corpi celelH ; e 
 jinalmentc I'Axioilo viiTe povero c Torquato Taflb mori povcrillimo. 
 
 Pailando
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF A. SYDNEY -c 
 
 gentleman who obtained leave for him to return. The letter is dated from 
 Ncrac, December 28, i 68a, but the year crroneoully printed. 
 
 He was at Penfhurft * on the 13th of November, 1677, ^"'^ f'^'^"' 
 gave a difcharge to the executors of his father's will, Robert earl of Sun- 
 derland, Henry Sydney his brother, and Sir John Pclham, bart. for the 
 legacy left him therein of 5000 and lool. 
 
 The year following, he flood candidate for the town of Guildford in 
 Surrey; but the court oppofing his elcd.Ion he loft it: and though he 
 drew up an account of the irregular proceedings in it, yet he did not think 
 proper to purine his claim. In 1679, he ftood likcwiie candidate for the 
 borough of Bramber, in Suilex; but was not chofen, the intereft being 
 before made by Sir John Pelham and the Sydney family, fearing the 
 ardour and intrepidity of his temper in fuch times, for his brother Henry 
 Sydney, afterwards earl of Romncy. 
 
 In 1683, he was accufed of being concerned in the Rye-houfe plot; 
 and after the lord Ruffel had been examined, he was brought before the 
 king and council. He told them, that he would make the beft defence 
 he could, if they had any proof againft him, but he would not fortify their 
 evidence by any thing he fhould fay; fo that his exaniination was very 
 fhort.f He lay fome time in the Tower, and was brought thence by Habeas 
 Corpus, on the 7th of November, 1683, to the king's-bench bar, where 
 he was arraigned on an indidment of high treafon. On the 2 ill of No- 
 vember he was tried. For particulars, the reader will be pleafed to con- 
 fult his tryal. 
 
 The colonel being found guilty, when he was brought into court to 
 receive fentence, he repeated his objeftions to the evidence againft him ; 
 in which judge Withins interrupted him, and by a ftrange indecency 
 gave him the lye in open court., ivbich he bore patiently \. 
 
 His execution was refpited fir three weeks; the tryal being univerfally 
 exclaimed againft, as a piece of moft enormous injuftice. After convidtion 
 he fent to the lord Halifax, who was his nephew by marriage, a paper 
 to be laid before the king, containing the main points of his defence, 
 upon which he appealed to his majefty, and defired he would review the 
 
 whole 
 
 Parlando dei Latini, Eiinio fii produzione del favore di Caton maggiore, Terenzio di 
 quello di Scipione, Lucrezio fu I'limmirazione e la delizia dei Grandi, e Cavalier riguarde- 
 vole egli fteflb, e Cicerone fu I'Arbitro un tempo della Republica; Yirgilio e Orazio 
 ebbero uno Augufto che gli colmo di beneflzj, e Cornelio Tacito ebbe I'Imperator 'fraiano 
 per protettore e per amico. 
 
 E venendo alle lingue vivcnti, la lingua Francefe ebbe varj governi, che premiarono. 
 grandemente quelli fcrittori che in efla in qualche maniera fi diftinfero ; nondimeno non 
 oltrepafso, i! figurar nel Teatro, e divenire la lingua franca di alcune Nazioni d'Europa 
 per il militare e la mercntura : e fe la lingua Inglcfe e divenuta la lingua della filofofia c di 
 ogni aitra fcienza lo deve al genio LiBtRo e inquifitivo della Nazlone, feconclato dalle 
 valtiffime ricchezze che le ha fomminiftrate il commercio, mezzo efficacciirmao a condur 
 gl'ingegni a gran cofe tion meno che alia .corruzione." 
 
 * Collins's Memoirs. 
 
 •J- Burnet, vol. i. p. 548. 
 
 j See the note in the Tryal ; p. n8. 
 
 e 2
 
 .6 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 whole matter. Whereupon the lord chief juflice JefTeries, who had tryed 
 him, faid, ' 'That either Sydney ?imjl dye or be mujl dye §.' During his 
 imprifonment, he fent for fome independent preachers, and exprefl'cd to 
 them a deep remorfe for his paft fins and a great confidence in the mercies 
 of God. When he faw the warrant for execution he expreffed no concern 
 at it, and the change that was in his temper amazed all who went to him. 
 "He told the fherifFs who brought the warrant f, that he would not expoftu- 
 late upon any thing on his account, for the world was now nothing to him, 
 hut he defired they would confider, how guilty they were of his blood, 
 who had not returned a fair jury but one packed, and as they were directed 
 by the king's folicitor; he fpoke this to them, not for his own fake but 
 for their fake. One of the flieriffs was ftruck with this and wept. He 
 wrote a long vindication of himfelf, which bifhop Burnet fays he had read ; 
 and that he fummed up the fiibftance of it in the paper which he gave 
 to the iherifFs: and fufpedjting they might fupprefs it, he gave a copy of 
 it to a friend. It was a fortnight before it was printed; though the fpeeches 
 
 of 
 
 § Burnet, vol. i. p. 572. 
 
 f " This indenture made the feventh day of December, in the five and thirtieth year of 
 thereisxne of our fovereign Lord Charles the Second, by the grace of God king of England, 
 Scotland, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, etc. and in the year of our Lord 
 1683, between the honourable Thomas Cheeke Efq. Lieutenant of his Majefty's Tower 
 ©f London of the one part, and Peter Daniel Efq. and Samuel Dafhwood Eiq. Sheriffs of 
 the county of Middlefex of the other part : Whereas Algernoon Sydney, Efq. by warrant 
 of the Right Honourable Sir Leolin Jenkins, Knight, his Majefty's princip.il Secretary 
 of State, bearing date at Whitehall the five and twentieth day of June, in the five and 
 thirtieth year of the reigne of King Charles the Second aforefaid, was committed to the 
 cuftody of the faid Lieutenant of the Tower for High Treafon in compaffing the death of 
 the King, and conlpiring to levy war againft him, by him the faid Lieutenant to he fafely 
 kept up until he fliould be delivered by due courfe of law; and whereas, by writ ifiliLng 
 ®ut of his Majefty's Court of King's Bench, under the feal of the faid Court, bearing 
 date the ei^ht and twentieth day of November laft paft, recitin: the judgment of the faid 
 Court againft the faiJ Algernoon Syiiney for divers high treafoiis touching his Majefty's 
 perfcn, whereof he then ftood convifted and attainted, the faid Lieutenant of the Tower 
 was comn-.anded, that upon Friday the feventh day of December then next coming, he the 
 faid Lieutenant fliould meet the Sheriffs of Middlefex at Tower-Hill, and there caufe 
 the fiid Algernoon Sydney to be delivered to the faid Sheriffs, to the intent that the faid 
 Sherift's might caufe execution to be made of him the faid Algernoon Sydney, in fuch 
 manner as in the faid writt, is recited. Now this indenture witnefTeth, that the faid 
 Thomas Cheeke, in obedience to the faid v/ritt, and in performance of his Majefty's 
 command therein fpecified, doth, the day of the date of thefe prefent indentures, deliver 
 tinto the faid Peter Danil and Samuel Dafliwood, the body of the faid Algernoon Sydney, 
 in the faid writt mentioned, according to the form and effect of the faid writt ; and the faid 
 Peter Daniel and Samuel Daftiwood do hereby acknowledge to have received, on the day of 
 the date of this prefent indenture, of and from the faid Thomas Cheeke, the body of the 
 faid Algernoon Sydney, and of him do acquit and difcharge the faid Thom.is Cheeke by 
 thefe prefents ; in v/itnefs wherof the parties to thefe prefcnts have hereunto int^-Tchangt ably 
 fet their hands and fcals, the day and year iirft above written. 
 
 Peter Daniel. 
 Samuel Dafliwood. 
 Scaled and delivered" 
 in the prcfencc of 
 
 Rich. Bradbornc. 
 Ob. Reynolds.
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF A. SYDNEY 37 
 
 of thofe who had died for the popifh plot, were puhlifhed the very next 
 day: and it would not liave been fuffered to have been printed, but that 
 written copies were daily difperled. He met death with an unconccrned- 
 nefs which became one, who had fct up Marcus Brutus for his pattern. 
 He was but a few minutes on the fcafFold on Tower-hill; he fpake little 
 and his prayer was very ihort; and his head was cut off at one blow, on 
 the yth of December, 1683, aged about fixtyone years. The next day 
 his body was interred with his anceftors at Penfhurft. The paper which 
 he delivered to the Sheriffs, fets forth his innocence and the violent treat- 
 ment which he had undergone with fuch force, that it defervcs to be inferted 
 here at full length. 
 
 Men^ Bi'ethren, and Fathers ; Friends, Countrymen, and Strangers ! 
 
 It may be expe£led, that I fhould now fay fome great matters unto you ; 
 but the rigour of the feafon, and the infirmities of my age, increafed by a 
 clofe imprifonraent of above five months, do not permit me. 
 
 Moreover, we live in an age that makes truth pafs for treafon : I dare 
 not fay any thing contrary unto it, and the ears of thofe that are about me 
 will probably be found too tender to hear it. My tryal and condemnation^ 
 doth fufficiently evidence this. 
 
 Weft, Rumfey, and Keyling, who were brought to prove the plot, faid 
 no more of me, than that they knew me not; and fome others, equally 
 unknown to me, had ufed my name and that of fome others, to give a 
 little reputation to their defigns. The lord Howard is too infamous by 
 his life, and the many perjuries not to be denied or rather fworn by him- 
 felf, to defer ve mention; and being a fmgle witnefs, would be of no value,, 
 though he had been of unblemifhed credit, or had not feen and con- 
 feffed, that the crimes committed by him would be pardoned only for com- 
 mitting more; and even the pardon promifcd could not be obtained till the 
 drudgery of fwearing was over. 
 
 This Ijeing laid afide, the whole matter is reduced to the papers faid to- 
 be found in my clofet by the king's officers, without any other proof 
 of their being written by me, than what is taken from fuppofitions upoa 
 the fnnilitude of an hand that is eafily counterfeited, and which hath been 
 lately declared in the lady Car's cafe, to be no lawful evidence in criminal 
 €aufes. 
 
 But, if I had been feen to write them, the matter would not be mucli 
 altered. They plainly appear to relate to a large treatife written long fmce 
 in anfwer to Filmer's book, which by all intelligent men is thought to 
 be grounded upon wicked principles, equally pernicious to magiftrates and 
 people. 
 
 If he might publifh to the world his opinion, That all men are born; 
 under a necelTity derived from the laws of God and nature, to fubmit to 
 an abfolute kingly government, which could be reftrained by no law, or 
 oath ; and that he that has the power, whether he came to it by creation, 
 election, inheritance, ufurpation, or any other way, had the right ; and 
 
 none:
 
 -8 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 none muft oppofe his will, but the perfons and eftates of his fubjeds muft 
 be indifpenfably fubjedl unto it ; I know not why I might not have 
 publilhed my opinion to the contrary, without the breach of any law I 
 have yet known. 
 
 I might, as freely as he, publicly have declared my thoughts, and the 
 reafons upon which they were grounded ; and I am perfiiaded to believe, 
 that God had left nations to the liberty of fetting up fuch governments as 
 beft pleafed themfelves. 
 
 That magiftrates were fet up for the good of nations, not nations for 
 the honour or glory of magiftrates. 
 
 That the right and power of magiftrates in every country was that .whichf 
 the laws of that country made it to be. 
 
 That thofe laws were to be obferved, and the oaths taken by them, 
 having the force of a contract between magiftrate and people, could not 
 be violated without danger of diflblving the whole fabric. 
 
 That ufurpation could give no right ; and the moft dangerous of all 
 enemies to kings were they, who raifmg their power to an exorbitant 
 height allowed to ufurpers all the rights belonging unto it. 
 
 I'hat fuch ufurpations being feldom compailed without the flaughter 
 of the reigning perlbn or family, the worft of all villanies was thereby 
 rewarded with the moft glorious privileges. 
 
 That if fuch dodrines were received, they would ftir up men to the 
 deftrudiion of princes with more violence than all the paffions that have 
 hitherto raged in the hearts of the moft unruly. 
 
 That none could be fafe, if fuch a reward were propofed to any that 
 could deftroy them. 
 
 That few w^ould be fo gentle as to fpare even the bcft, if, by their 
 deftrudtion, a wild ufurper could become God's anointed, and by the 
 xnoft execrable wickednefs inveft himfelf with that divine character. 
 
 This is the fcope of the w^hole treatife ; the writer gives fuch reafons, 
 as at that time did occur to him, to prove it. This feems to agree with 
 the dodlrines of the moft reverenced authors of all times, nations and 
 religions. The beft and wifeft of kings have ever acknowledged it. The 
 prefent king of France has declared, that kings have that happy Avant 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 higheft degree aflert it : the fcripture feems to declare it. If 
 neverthelefs the writer was miftaken, he might have been refuted by 
 law, reafon, and fcripture ; and no man for fuch matters was ever other- 
 wife puniftied, than by being made to fee his error ; and it has not, as I 
 think, been ever known that they had been referred to the judgment of a 
 jury, compofcd of men utterly unable to comprehend them. 
 
 But there was little of this in my cafe : the extravagance of my profe- 
 cutors goes higher : the above-mentioned treatife was never finiflied, nor 
 could be in many years, and moft probably would never have been. So 
 
 much
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 much as is of it was written long fince, never reviewed, nor flicwn to 
 any man ; and the fiftlctli part of it was not produced, and not the tenth 
 of that offered to be read. That which was never known to tliofe v.ho 
 are faid to have confpired with me, was faid to be intended to ftir up the 
 people in prolecution of the dcfigns of thofe confpirators. 
 
 When nothing of particular application to time, place, or perfon, could 
 be found in it, as has ever been done by thofe who endeavoured to raii'e 
 infurredions, all was fupplied by innuendo's. 
 
 Whatfoever is faid of the expuHion of Tarquin ; the infurreiTtion againfl; 
 Nero ; the flaughter of Caligula or Domitian ; the tranflation of the crown 
 of France from Meroveus's race to Pepin, and from his dcfcendants to 
 Hugh Capet and the like, was applied by innuendo to the king. 
 
 They have not confidered, that if fuch adls of ftate be not good, there 
 is not a king in the world that has any title to the crown he wears ; nor 
 can have any unlefs he could deduce his pedigree from the eldeft fon of 
 Noah, and fhew that the fucceflion had ftill continued in the eldeft of the 
 eldell: line, and been fo deduced to him. 
 
 Every one may fee what advantage this would be to all the kings of the 
 world ; and whether, that failing, it were not better for them to acknow- 
 ledge they had received their crowns by the confent of willing nations,, 
 or to have no better title to them than ufurpation and violence ; whichy 
 by the fame ways, may be taken from them. 
 
 But I was long fince told, that I mufl: die or the plot muft die. 
 
 Leil the means of deftroying the beft proteftants in England fhould flxil,. 
 the bench muft be filled with fuch as had been blemifhes to the bar. 
 
 None but fuch as thefe would have advifed with the king's council of 
 the means of bringing a man to death ; fuffered a jury to be packed by 
 the king's folicitors and the under-lheriff; admit of jurymen who are not 
 freeholders ; receive fuch evidence as is above-mentioned ; refufe a copy 
 of an indidment, or fuffer the ftatute of 46 Edw. III. to be read, that 
 doth exprefly ena£l, It fhould in no cafe be denied to any man, upon 
 any occafion whatfoever ; over-rule the moft important points of law 
 without hearing. And whereas the ftatute, 25 Edw. III. upon which 
 they faid I fhould be tried, doth referve to the parliament all conftrudlions 
 to be made in points of treafon, they could affume to themfelves not only 
 a power to make conftrutftions, but fuch conftrudtions as neither agree 
 with law, reafon or common fcnfe. 
 
 By thefe means I am brought to this place. The Lord forgive thefe 
 pra(3;iccs, and avert the evils that threaten the nation from them ! The 
 Lord fandtify thefe my fufterings unto me ! and though I tali as a facrifice 
 to idols, fuffer not idolatry to be eftablifhed in this land ! Blefs thy 
 people, and fave them. Defend thy own caufe, and defend thofe that 
 defend it. Stir up fuch as are faint ; dired: thole that are Vv'illing ; confirm 
 thofe that waver ; give wifdom and integrity unto all. Order all things' 
 lb, as may moft redound to thine own glory. Grant that I may die: 
 glorifying thee for all thy mercies j and that at the laft thou haft permitted'. 
 
 me' 
 
 39'
 
 40 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 me to be fmgled out as a witnefs of thy truth, and even by the confeffion 
 of my oppofers, for that OLD C A U S E * in which I was from my youth 
 engaged, and for which thou haft often and wonderfully declared thylelf. 
 
 LTpon the revolution j", fuch regard was had to his innocence and the 
 juftice due to his memory, that the parliament made it one of their lirft 
 adts to repeal his attainder, on the 13th of February, i688-g, the 
 preamble to the adt being in the following words, 
 
 ' Whereas Algernon Sydney, Efq. in the term of St. Michael, in the 
 
 * five and thirtieth year of the reign of our late fovereign lord king Charles 
 
 * the Second, in the court of King's bench at Weftminfter, by means of 
 
 * an unlawful return of Jurors, and by denial of his lawful challenges to 
 
 ' divers 
 
 * Col. Sydney bore this only motto, without figure, on the Parliament's part in the late 
 
 war, SANCTVS • amor • patriae • DAT • ANIMVM. 
 
 The art of making devifes. etc. London, 1650, in quarto. 
 
 Atque Sidneiiim, quod ego illuftre nomen noftris Temper adhaefiOe partibiis laetor. 
 
 Johannis Miltoni, Angli, pro Populo Anglicano defenfio fecunda. 
 
 [t Upon the Revolution. 1 
 
 See " A letter humbly addreft to the moft excellent father of his Country, the wife and 
 vnitorious Prince, King William 111. By a dutiful and wdl-meaning fubject [the Rev. 
 Mr. Stephens, Re<£tor of Sutton in Surrey.] London, printed by J. Darby, 1698." — in 
 4]uarto. 
 
 Nothing therefore could determine that unfortunate King [James IL] to depart 
 
 once and again, but the fixt refolution I have already mentioned, to carry through his 
 fcheme by force ; for otherwife and if he had been rcfolved to give up that fcheme, after he 
 faw fuch'manifeft proofs of the averfion of the whole nation and of his own family to it, it 
 is eafy and obvious to fee what mufl have been his conduft : He would have remained in 
 his palace and granted all the demands of the Prince of Orange's declaration ; and agreed to 
 the very thing which You now promife by yours, namely, to refufe nothing that a free Par~ 
 liament could have aOnd., for the fecurity of the religion, laws and liberties of his people. 
 
 Now, as he might and ought to have done this and did not do it, which was the only 
 method of retaining his crown, confiftent with that fecurity of the religion and liberties of 
 his people, it is evident, that he did indeed abdicate his Crown. 
 
 And in refped of the many efiential jnifcarriages by him committed and pcrfifted in, the 
 people had undeniable reafons to declare the Throne vacant ; and having thus far done them- 
 felves juftice, and provided for their own fecurity againft the evils of popery and flavery with 
 which they had been threatened, it remained for them to provide for the future government 
 of this kingdom by making a new settlement. 
 
 Here it was, that the wifdom and moderation of the leading men of tins nation, at that time, 
 vjas difcovered: it was a regal government though limited bylaws, and they rcfolved that it 
 J})ould continue fuch, ]\i{'i\y dreading a relapfe into the anarchy and confufions, and the def- 
 potic government of the ufurper, which had fucceeded the abolition of the royal authority 
 about the middle of that century. 
 
 It v/!iS 2. hereditary kingdom, though not indefeafbly fuch ; and therefore they departed as 
 little as pofFible from the regular courfe of fucceflion in the royal family, and no farther 
 than was neceflary for fccuring the liberties of the fubjed'. They aded as any wife and 
 good man would do, who is mafter of his own eftate. If his eldeft fon proves unworthy, 
 and merits being difinherited, he will fettle his eftate on his fecond fon and his iffue in their 
 order. And thus we fettled th.c crown on the eldeft daughter of the abdicated prince; and 
 in default of her ifluc on the fecond daughter ; in default of her iflue on the Prince of Orange 
 himfclf, who was the next in fuccefRon, if he (hould have any by another wiie than the 
 Princefs Mary ; and when the profped of fucccfTors failed amongft the proteilant defcendaiits 
 
 of
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF A. SYDNEY 41 
 
 * divers of them, for want of freehold, and without fufficlent legal 
 
 * evidence of any treafons committed by him; there being at that time 
 
 * produced a paper, found in the clofet of the faid Algernon, fuppofed to 
 
 * be his hand-writing; which was not proved by the teftimony of any 
 ' one witnefs, to be written by him ; but the jury was directed to believe 
 
 * it, by comparing it with other writings of the faid Algernon : and 
 
 * befides that paper fo produced, there was but one finglc witnefs to prove 
 
 * any matter againft the faid Algernon ; and by a partial and unjufl con- 
 
 * ftrudlion of the ftatute, declaring what was his treafon, was moft un- 
 
 ' jultly 
 
 of King Charles the Firft, the Nation looked out for the next proteflant heir, who was a 
 grandchild of King 'James the Firft, and Jetiled the crown upon her and the heirs of her body, 
 being protejlants. 
 
 Thus was the conftitution maintained, and the government re-eflabliflied in its natural 
 and regulir flate of a limited and hereditary monarchy, which f^ll afteivvards by fucceilion, 
 upon the deat'i of Qtiecn Anne, to the late King George ; a prince v/ho was born of a dignity 
 next to the regal ; vvhofe funil/ have been remarkable for affording good princes over their 
 fubjeiSts, whom they are intitled to govern abfolutely ; who was himfelf, as mild and amia- 
 ble a Rdonarch as ever reigned. He was fucceeded by our prefent Sovereign, whom all the 
 world muft allow to be remarkably pofTefTed of two virtues the mofl: deferving of efteem 
 amongft m.mkind, probity and magnanimity : and for the mildnefs of his government, let 
 this fin;::ular circumflance bear witnefs; that we are now in the 19th year of his reign, and 
 hitherto not one drop of blood fhed for a ftate crime, even in the legal methods of trial, 
 though there have not been wanting occafions, even before you were pleafed to make us a 
 vifit, for juft feverities of that kind. 
 
 Of this Prince, now reigning, the nation is blefled with a numerous and hopeful iflue; 
 whereof the greater part has been born and educated amongil- ourfelves. 
 
 And the cafe fo ftanding, iji refpeii to the abdication of your grandfather, and the fucceeding 
 NEW SETTLEMENT of the crown in the protejiant line of the royal family, which has already 
 taken effefi during the fpace of fifty-feven years, which you mention as the duration of the 
 ex le of your family, and urge as being more than fufficlent atonement for the mifcarriages of 
 your grandfather; You come. Sir, a great deal too late with your profejjions of repentance 
 and promifes of amendment : for as I began with the queftion of expediency, I am now con- 
 fidering the queftion of right anAJlriiijuflice, and by this You are cut off, independent of 
 the former. 
 
 This is indeed the true ftate of the queftion, where the right and title now lies ; and upon 
 this I maintain, that fuppofing a great deal which is not true, that your family was not 
 ftill popifh, bred at Rome, and favour'd by FRANCE THE natvral enemy of great 
 BRITAIN and the common enemy of the liberties of Europe ; fuppofing You were fmcere in your 
 promifes, and that your religion did not authorife and require Ton to break them ; and fup- 
 pofing You perfonally, as I am willing to believe, poflefled of many good qualities becoming 
 a Prince, ftill You come too late ; we cannot liften to your declaration, though You fhould 
 lift up your voice like Efau and cry, Have you but one blejjing my Peoples' For it is true 
 that we have but one, and that is already corf erred and fettled upon thy Protejiani Brother ; and ' 
 
 we cannot with juflice deprive him of it, fuppofing we could do it with prudence, or con- 
 fjftently with the fecurity of our religion, laws and liberties. 
 
 And to make You fenfible of the force of this confideration, if You can fee the truth 
 when it is repugnant to your own intereft and wifhes, fufFer me, etc. etc. etc. 
 
 The occafional writer [a very fine Liberty-tradt] Or an anfwer to the fecond 
 manifefto of the Pretender's eldeft fon, which bears date at the Palace of 
 Holy-Rood-Houfe Oft. 10, 1745; containing reflexions political and hlftorical 
 upon the laft Revolution, and the progrefs of the prefent Rebellion in Scotland. 
 Tandem triumphans. Motto to the Pretender's ftandard. Nondum immemores, 
 Anfwer. The fecond edition corre£ted. London, printed for A. Millar, 1746 
 — in 0(Savo, 
 
 f Tht
 
 42 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 ' jufHy and wrongfully convi£led and attainted, and afterwards executed 
 ' for high treafon : may it therefore pleafe your moft excellent majefties,. 
 
 * at the humble petition and requeft of the right honourable Philip earl 
 
 * of Leicefter, brother and heir of the faid Algernon Sydney, and of the 
 
 * right honourable Henry vifcbunt Sydney of Sheppey, the other brother 
 
 * of the faid Algernon, that it be declared and enafted, etc. That the laid 
 
 * convidion and attainder be repealed, reverfed, etc. And to the end that 
 
 * right be done to the memory of the faid Algernon Sydney, deceafed,. 
 
 * be it further ena<fled, That all records and proceedings relating to the 
 ' faid attainder be wholly cancelled and taken off the file, or otherwife 
 
 * defaced and obliterated, to the intent that the fame may not be vifible 
 
 * in after-ages : and that the records and proceedings relating to the faid 
 
 * convidion, judgment and attainder, in the court of King's-bench, now 
 
 * remaining, fhall and be forthwith brought into the court this prefent 
 
 * Eafter term, and then and there be taken off the file and cancelled.' 
 Bifhop Burnet's chara£ler of him is, ' That he was a man of moft ex- 
 
 * traordinary courage; a fteady man even to obftinacy; fincere but of a 
 
 * rough and boifterous temper that could not bear contradidlion. He 
 
 * feemed to be a chriftian, but in a particular form of his own ; he thought 
 ' it was to be like a divine philofophy in the mind: but he was againft 
 ' all public worlhip, and every thing that looked like a church. He was 
 
 * ftiffto all republican principles, and fuch an enemy to every thing that 
 
 * looked like a moiiarchy, that he fet himfelf in high oppofition againft 
 
 ' Cromwell, 
 
 The NEW SETTLEMENT before mentioned, feems to have been gratefully perpetuated by 
 that excellent Prince, George I, in the following medals or rather Medaglions, which,^ 
 it is apprehended, were ftruck at Hanover by his orders. 
 
 I] MATILDA • FILIA • H • II • R • ANGL • VX • H • LEON • D • BAV • ET • SAX . 
 MATER . OTT • IV • IMP • PRIVS • DVCIS • AQVIT • H • PAL • RHEN ^D -S • WILH • 
 
 SATORis • DOMvs • BRVNS • Buft of the Emprefs, in profile. 
 
 SOPHIA • EX • STIRPAE • EL • PAL . NEPT • lAC • I • REG • M • BRIT • VIDVA • 
 ERN • AVG • EL • BRVNS • ET ■ L • ANGLIAE • PRINCEPS • AD • SVCCESS • 
 
 NOMINATA . MDCCI • Buft of the Princefs, in profile. 
 
 II] SOPHIA • D • G . EX • STIRPE • EL • PAL • ELECT • VID • ER • ET • LVN • 
 
 MAG • BRIT • HAERES • Buft of the Princefs, in profile. 
 
 TRANSMissA • LvcE • REFVLGET • The fetting fun, with a view of the garden of Her- 
 rcnhaufen. In the cxurge, oeiit • viii • ivN • mdccxiv 
 
 III] GEORGIVS . D • C • MAG • BRIT • FR • ET • HIB ■ REX ■ Buft of the King, 
 in profile. 
 
 PRiNC • OPT • RELiGioNis • ET • LiBERTATis • cvsTODi • Britannia prcfenting the 
 Regalia to the King, who is accompanied by Religion and Liberty. In the exurge, 
 
 PVBLICA . AVCTORITATE • PROCLAMATO • J AUG • ANNO • MDCCXIIII 
 
 XII 
 
 Three fmallermcda's, about the fizes of a crown, half crown and /hilling, were likewife 
 ftruck by him ; the faces of which agree with medal ii, but the rcverfes bear only the fol- 
 lowing iiifcription. NATA -XIII • OCT • MDCXXX -NVPTA • MENSE .SE.T • MDCLVIII' 
 
 A]) -SVCCESSIONEM • M -BRIT- NOMINATA -MDCCI • svb -vesperam- 
 
 yill • IVNII • MDCCXlV • IN • HORTIS • HERRENHAVS AN I S • ADHVC •VECETO • £T * 
 FIRMO • PASSV • DEAMBVLANJ . iVBITA • £T • I'LACIDA • MORTE • EREPTA
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF A. SYDNEY .i 4:^ 
 
 * Cromwell, when he was made protestor. He had Jludicd the hijlory of 
 
 * government^ in all its branches^ beyond any man I ever knew *. He had a 
 
 ' particular 
 
 [* He hadjludied the hlJlory of government, in all its branches^ beyond any man I ever knew.'] 
 
 Lords and Commons of England, confider what Nation it is whcrof ye are, and wlicrof 
 ye are the governours : a Nation not flow and dull, but of a quick, ingenious, and piercing 
 fpirit, acute to invent, futtle and finewy to difcours, not beneath the reach of any p.vint 
 the highcit that human capacity can foar to. Therefore the ftudies of learning in her deepeft 
 fcienccs have bin fo ancient, and fo eminent among us, that writers of good antiquity, and 
 ableft judgment have bin perfwadcd that ev'n the {c\^oo\oi Pythagoras znA the Pcrfw.n wifdom 
 took, beginning from the old philofophy of this ifland. And that wife and civill Roman, 
 Julius Jgricola, who govern'd once here for Cae/ar, preferr'd the naturall v.'its of Britain, 
 
 before the labour'd ftudies of the French. Behold now this vaft city; a city of refuge, 
 
 themmfion houfe of liberty, encompaft and furrounded with his protedion ; the (hop of warre 
 hath not there more anvils and hammers waking, to fafliion out the plates and inftruments 
 of armed juflice in defence of beleagur'd truth, then there be pens and heads there, fit- 
 ting by tlieir ftudious lamps, mufing, fearching, revolving new notions and idea's wherCf 
 wilii to preftnt, as with their homage and their fe.ilty the approaching Reformation : others 
 as faft reading, trying all things, ailenting to the force of reafon and convincemcnt. What 
 could a man" require more from a Nation fo pliant and fo prone to feek after knowledge. 
 What wants there to fuch a tow.;rdly and pregnant foile, but wife and /<7/V/y}i/ labourers, 
 
 to make a knowing people, a Nation of prophets, of fagcs, and of worthies. ■ 
 
 Areopagitica. A fpeech of John Milton for the liberty of imlicene'd printing. 
 
 [gvard IT YE BRITONS !J To the Parliament of England. London, printed 
 
 in the yeare 1644 — in quarto. 
 
 Cromwell feemeth to be diftinguiflied in the moft eminent manner, with regard to his 
 
 abilities, from all other great and wicked men, who have overturned the liberties of their 
 
 country. The times in whicli others fucceeded in this attempt, were fuch as faw the 
 
 fpirit of liberty fupprefled and ftifled by a general luxury and venality: but Cromwell fub- 
 
 «dued his Country, zvhen this fpirit was at its height, by a fuecefsful flruggle agamfl court 
 
 eppreffion; and ivhile it ivas conduSled and fupported by afet of the great ef I geniufes for govern' 
 
 ment the world ever faw. 
 
 The very eminent Prelate, Dr. Warburton, in his notes on Pope's Ellliy on man. 
 <7rff«Tf^// was one of thofe geniufes who are oftimes buried in obfcurity, through want of 
 tccnfton of being known. Thoufands fpend their lives in retirement, who are capable of 
 greater things than mofi: of thofe whofe names are tofled from every tongue and voic'd for 
 wife, fkilful, able, valiant. In times of peace thefe men are little known and notic'd. They 
 -are overlook'd among the herd, or treated with a coolnefs or difregard, that damps their 
 .ambition and eflablijhes their virtue, etc. 
 
 The Rev. William Harris, a fenfible, candid writer, in his 
 " Hiflorical and critical account of the life of O. Cromwell." 
 The Parliament of Nov. 3, 1640, that master Parliament having fingularly promoted 
 learning, witnefs their pupils, who figur'd in all profejjions down to and beyond the Revo- 
 lution, and obtained it too ; the following note, taken from Dr. John Wallis's " Account of 
 fome paflages of his own life, who, in the Year 1644, was one of the Secretaries to the Affem- 
 bly of Divines at IVeflmiiifler, and in the year 1649, became public Profeffor of Geometry, of 
 the foundation of Sir Henry Savih, at Oxford, may not be unacceptable. 
 
 " About the year 1645, while I lived in London, at a time, when, by our civil wars, aca- 
 demical ftudies were much interrupted in both our Univerfities, beiides the converfation 
 of divers eminent Divines, as to matters theological, I had the opportunity of being 
 acquainted with divers worthy perfons, inquiiltive into natural philofophy and other parts 
 of humane learning : and particularly of what hath been called the new philofophy or experi- 
 mental philofophy. 
 
 We did by agreement, divers of us, meet weekly in London, on a certain day, to treat and 
 difcourfeof fuch affairs. Of fuch number were Dr. John Wilkins, afterwards bifliop of 
 Chefter, Dr. Jonaihan Goddard, Dr. George Ent, Dr. Gliffon, Dr, Merret, dolors ia 
 
 f 2 phyfic.
 
 44 
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 * particular way of infinuating himfelf into people, that would hearken to 
 
 * his notions * , and not contradiil him.' 
 
 Several manufcript treatifes of his in Latin and Italian, and an " ElTay 
 on virtuous love" in Englilh, are flill extant among the papers of his 
 family atPenftiurftf : but his " Difcourfes concerning Government" alone 
 will immortalize his name, and are fufficient to fupply the lofs of Cicero's 
 fix books " De Republica," which have been fo much regretted by men of 
 fenfe and probity. In fhort, it is one of the noi/ejl books that ever the 
 mind of man produced :|: ; and we cannot wifh a greater or more extenfive 
 
 bleffing 
 
 phyfic, Mr. Samuel Fofter, then profefTor of aftronomy at Grefliam College ; Mr. Theo- 
 dore Haak, a German, of the Palatinate and then refident in London (who, I thmk, gaue 
 the firji occafion and firj} j'liggejled thofe meetings) and many others. 
 
 Thefe meetings we held fometimes at Dr. Goddard's lodgings in Wood-ftreet, or fome 
 convenient place near, on occafion of his keeping an operator for grinding glafles for tele- 
 fcopes and mlcrofcopes ; and fometimes at a convenient place in Cheapfide; fometimes at 
 Greftam College or fome place near adjoining. 
 
 Ourbufmefs vi^as, precluding matters of theology and ftate affairs, to difcourfe and confi- 
 dei oi' philofophical enquiries, and fuch as related thereunto; as phyfic, anatomy, geometry, 
 aftronomy, navigation, ftaticks, magneticks, chymicks, mechanicks and natural experi- 
 ments, with the ftate of thefe ftudies, as then cultivated at home and abroad. 
 
 About the year 1648, 1649, fome of us being removed to Oxford, firft Dr. Wilkins, 
 then I, and foon after Dr. Goddard, our company divided. Thofe in London continued to 
 meet there, as before, and we with them, when wc had occafion to be there. And thofe of 
 us at Oxford, with Dr. Ward, fince bifliop of Salifb ry. Dr. Ralph Bathurft, now prefident 
 of Trinity College in Oxford, Dr. Petty, fince Sir William Petty, Dr. Willis, then an 
 eminent Phyfician in Oxford, and divers others, continued fuch meetings in Oxford, and 
 brought thofe Jiudies into fajhion there; meeting firft at Dr. Pettie's lodgings in an apothecary's 
 houfe, becaufe of the convenience of infpeding drugs, and the like, as there was occafion j 
 and after his remove to Ireland, tho' not fo conftantly, at the lodgings of Dr. Wilkins, 
 then warden of Wadhum college, and after his removal to Trinity College in Camr 
 bridge, at the lodgings of the honourable Mr. Robert Boyle, then refident for divers years 
 in Oxford. 
 
 Thofe meetings in London continued; and, after the King's return in 1660, were ia- 
 creafed with the acceffion of divers worthy and honourable perfons ; and were afterwards in- 
 corporated by the name of the Royal Society, etc. and fo continue to this day." 
 
 * Notions ! a ftrange word after what had been juft before declared. But the charadler 
 is roughly, and inaccurately drawn. 
 
 •f In the year 1744, a work was publiftied in 2 vol. oft. intitled, " Of the Ufe and 
 Abufe of Parliaments; in two hiftorical difcourfes, viz. I. A general view of Government in 
 Europe. IL A Deteftion of the Parliaments of England, from the Year 1660." To that 
 work the following advertifement is prefixed. " As an a61: of juftice to the memory of a 
 great man, it is neceffury to acquaint the Reader, that he ftands indebted for the fiift of 
 the following difcourfes, to the celebrated Algernon Sydney." 
 
 [X It is one of the nohlcjl books that ever the mind of man produced. "} 
 
 Many circumftances nt prcfent loudly call upon us to exert ourfelves. Venality and cor-- 
 ruption have well nigh extinguijhed all principles of liberty. The bad books alf that this age hath 
 produced, have ruined our youth. 1 he novels and romances which are eagerly purehafed and read, 
 emafculale the 7nind, and banijh every thing grave and manly. One remedy for thefe evils is, 
 to rcvl t the reading of our old writers, of which we have good Jiore, th: Ji'dy whereof 
 tuoul fortify our youth againfi the blandijliments oTpleafure and the arts of corruption. 
 
 Mil.TON in particular ought to be read and Itudied by all our young gentlemen as 
 an craclc. 
 
 He was a great and noble genius, perhaps the o;rcatcft that ever appeared amongft men; 
 and his learning v/as equal to his genius. He h.id the higheft fenfe of liberty, glo ious 
 
 thoughts.
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF A. SYDNEY 45 
 
 blefling to the world, than that it may be every where read, and its prin- 
 ciples univerfally received and propagated. 
 
 houghts, with a ftrong and nervous ftyle. His works are full of wifdom, a trcafure of 
 knowkdge. In them the Divine, the Statcfinan, the Hiftorian, the Philologift, may be all 
 inflruitcd and entertained. It is to be la7ne»ted that his divine ivritings arc fo little hrjwn. 
 Very few are acquainted with them, many have never heard of them. Theftiine is true, ruith 
 refpeSl to another great writer, contemporary with Milton, and an advocate for the fame- glo- 
 rious caufe; I mean algkrnon Sydney, whofe Dijcourfcs Concerning Government are the 
 rnoji -precious legacy to thefe Nations. 
 
 All Antiquity cannot fhew two writers equal to thefe. They were both great maftcrs of 
 reafon, both great maftcrs of exprefllon. They had the ftrongeft thoughts, and the boldeft 
 images, and are the belt models that can be followed. The ilyle of Sydney is always clear 
 and flowing, ftrong and mafculine. The great Milton has a ftyle of his own, one fit to ex- 
 prefs the aftonlfliing fublimity of his thoughts, the mighty vigour of his fpirit, and that 
 copia of invention, that redundancy of imagination, which no writer before or fince hath- 
 equalled. In fome places, it is confefTed, that his periods are too long, which renders him 
 mtricate, if not altogether unintelligible to vulgar readers; but thefe places are not many. 
 In the book before us his ftyle is for the moft part free and eafy, and it abounds both in 
 eloquence and wit and argument. I am of opinion that the ftyle of this work is the bcft and 
 moit perfcdt of all his profe writings.. Other men have commended the ilyle of his Hijlory 
 as matchlefs and incomparable, whofe malice could not fee or would not acknowledge the 
 excellency of his other works. It is no fecret whence their averfion to Milton proceeds : 
 and whence their caution of naming him >s any other writer than a Poet. Milton combated 
 fuperftitionof every form, and in every degree. Againft them he imployed his mighty ftrength, 
 and, like a battering ram, beat down all before him. But notwithftanding thefe mean 
 arts either to hide or to difparage him, a little time will make him better known ; and the 
 more he is known, the more he will be admired. His works are not like the fugitive fhort- 
 lived things of this age, i^vf of which furvive their authors: they are fubftantial, 
 durable, eternal, writings, which will never die, never perifh, whilft reafon, truth and liberty 
 have a being in thefe Nations. 
 
 The Editor's preface to Eikonoklaftes, printed for A. Millar, 1756, in quarto. 
 
 There is along and fingular pafTage in the Leviathan, edit. 1651, p. no, under this 
 marginal head, " the libertie which writers praife is the libertie of Soveraigns not of 
 private men," which concludes in the following manner, " And by readingof thefe Gr^fiand 
 Latine authors, men from their childhood have gotten a habit, under a falfe fhew of libertie, 
 of favouring tumults and of licentious controlling the actions of their Soveraigns; and 
 again of controlling thofe controllers ; with the ciFufion of fo much blood, as I think I may 
 truely fay, there never was any thing yo deerly bought, as thefe weftern parts have bought the 
 learning of the greek and latine ;onoues." 
 
 The accomplifhed, beneficent Earl of Shafttfbury, in his " EfTay on the freedom 
 of wit and humour," remarks on this paffage, " And yet an able and witty Philofopher of 
 our Nation was, we knov.', of late years, fo poflefs'd with a horrour of this kind, that both 
 with refpeiSt to Politics and Morals, he directly afted in this fpirit of massacre. The 
 fright he took upon the fight of the then governing powers, who unjuftly aflumed the au- 
 thority of the People, gave him fuch an abhorrence of all popular government, and of the 
 very notion cf liberty itfelf; that to extingMilli it for ever, he recommends the very extinguijhing 
 ef letters, and exhorts Princes not to fpare fo much as an antient Roman or Greek hiftorian. 
 Is not this in truth fomewhat Gothick? And has not our Philofopher, in appearance, 
 fomething of the favage, that he fhould ufe Philofophy and Learning as the Scythians are 
 faid to have ufed Anacharfts and ethers, for having vifited the TVife of Greece and learnt the 
 manners of a polite People?" And, in the notes, he adds, " By this reafoning of Mr. 
 Hohbes it fhoulJ follow, that there can never bs any tumults or depofing of Sovereigns at- 
 Conjlantinopk oi'in MogolJ' Z-
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT
 
 CONTENTS OF THE DISCOURSES 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 Sedion i. The Introdudlion. Page i. 
 
 Sedt. 2. The common notions of liberty are not from fchool-divines, but 
 
 from nature, 3. 
 Sedt. 3. Implicit faith belongs to fools ; and truth is comprehended bj 
 
 examining principles, 6. 
 SeQ.. 4. The rights of particular nations cannot fubfift, if general prin- 
 ciples contrary to them are received as true, g. 
 Sedt. 5. To depend upon the will of a man is flavery, 10. 
 Se£t. 6. God leaves to man the choice of forms in government ; and thofc 
 
 who conftitute one form may abrogate it, 12. 
 Sedt. 7. Abraham and the patriarchs were not kings, 16. 
 Sedt. 8. Nimrod was the firft king during the life of Cufh, Ham, Shem, 
 
 and Noah, 17. 
 Sed. g. The power of a father belongs only to a father, 20. 
 Sed. 10. Such as enter into fociety, muft in fome degree dimlnilh their 
 
 liberty, 21. 
 Sedt. 1 1 . No man comes to command many, unlefs by confent or by 
 
 force, 22. 
 SeO:. 12. The pretended paternal right is divifible or indivifible: if divi- 
 
 fible, it is extinguifhed ; if indivifible, univerfal, 24., 
 Sedl. 13. There was nofhadowofa paternal kingdom amongfl the He- 
 brews, nor precept for it, 26. 
 Sedt. 14. If the paternal right had included dominion, and was to be 
 
 transferred to a fmgle heir, it muft perifh, if he were not known ; and 
 
 could be applied to no other perfon, 2g. 
 Sedt. 16. The antients chofe thofe to be kings, who excelled in the virtues 
 
 that are moft beneficial to civil focieties, 35. 
 Sedt. 17. God, having given the government of the world to no one man 
 
 nor declared how it fhould be divided, left it to the will of man, 40. 
 Sedt. 18. If a right of dominion were efteemed hereditary according to the 
 
 law of nature, a multitude of deftrudlive and inextricable controverfies 
 
 would thereupon arife, 44. 
 Sedt. I g. Kings cannot confer the right of father upon princes, nor princes 
 
 upon kings, p. 48. 
 Sedt. 20. All juft magiftratical power is from the people, 54.
 
 CONTENTS OF THE DISCOURSES^ 
 
 CHAPTER ir 
 
 Se£lion i. That it is natural for nations to govern, or to choofc governors ; 
 
 and that virtue only gives a natural preference of one man above 
 
 another, or reafon why one fhould be chofen rather than another. 
 
 Page 59. 
 Se£l. 2. Every man that has children has the right of a father, and is 
 
 capable of preferment in a fociety compofed of many, 68. 
 Se<5t. 3. Government is not inftituted for the good of the governor, but of 
 
 the governed ; and power is not an advantage, but a burden, 71. 
 Se£t. 4. The paternal right devolves to, and is inherited by all the 
 
 children, 72. 
 Sed. 5. Freemen join together and frame greater or lefs focieties, and 
 
 give fuch forms to them as beft pleafe themfelves, 76. 
 Se<3:. 6, They who have a right of choohng a king, have the right of 
 
 making a king, 86, 
 Sedl. 7. The laws of every nation are the meafure of magiftratical 
 
 power, 90. 
 Seft. 8. There is no natural propenfity in man or beaft to monarchy, 98. 
 Se£t. 9.. The government inftituted by God over the Ifraelites was ariflo- 
 
 eratical, loO; 
 Sedl. 10. Ariftotle was not fimply for monarchy or againft popular 
 
 government ; but approved or difapproved of either according to cir- 
 
 cumftances, 107. 
 SeOi. II. Liberty produces virtue, order and ftability : flavery is accom- 
 panied with vice, weaknefs and mifery, log. 
 Sedt. 12. The glory, virtue and power of the Romans began and ended 
 
 with their liberty, 118. 
 SeQ.. 13. There is no diforder or prejudice in changing the name or 
 
 number of magiflrates, while the root and principle of their power 
 
 continues entire, 123. 
 Seft. 14. No fedition was hurtful to Rome, till through their profperity 
 
 fome men gained a power above the laws, 126. 
 Sedt. 15. The empire of Rome perpetually decayed, when it fell into the 
 
 hands of one man, 129. 
 Se£t. 16. The beft governments of the world have been compofed of 
 
 monarchy, ariftocracy and democracy, 138. 
 Se£t. 17. Good governments admit of changes in the fuperftruQures, 
 
 whilft the foundations remain unchangeable, 142. 
 Sed:. 18. Xenophon, in blaming the diforders of democracies, favours 
 
 ariftocracies, not monarchies, 146. 
 Sed. 1 9. That corruption and venality, which is natural to courts, is feldom 
 
 found in popular governments, 155. 
 '^Sed. 20. Man's natural love to liberty is tempered by reafon, which 
 
 originally is his nature, 162. 
 
 S
 
 CONTENTS OF THE DISCOURSIiS 
 
 Se£l. 21. Mixed and popular governments preferve peace, and manage 
 
 wars, better than abfolute monarchies. Page 165. 
 Se£t. 22. Commonwealths feek peace or war, according to the variety of 
 
 their conftitutions, 172. 
 Se£t. 23. That is the beft government, v/hich provides beft for war, 178. 
 Sed. 24. Popular governments are lefs fubje£t to civil diforders than 
 
 monarchies, manage them more ably, and more eafily recover out of 
 
 them, 185. 
 .Sedl. 25. Courts are more fubjeft to venality and corruption than popular 
 
 governments, 216, 
 'Sed. 26. Civil tumults and wars are not the greateft evils that befal 
 
 nations, 223. 
 ;Sed. 27. The mifchiefs and cruelties proceeding from tyranny are 
 
 greater than any, that can come from popular or mixed govern- 
 ments, 227. 
 Sedt. 28. Men living under popular or mixed governments are more 
 
 careful of the public good, than in abfolute monarchies, 233. 
 Se£l. 29. There is no ailurance, that the diftempers of a ftate fhall be 
 
 cured by the wifdom of a prince, 241. 
 Se€t. 30. A monarchy cannot be well regulated, unlefs the powers of the 
 
 monarch are limited by Isw, 248. 
 -SSeft. 31. The liberties of nations are from God and nature, not from 
 
 kings, 263. 
 Seft. 32. The contracts made between magiftrates and the nations that 
 
 created them were real, folemn, and obligatory, 268. 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 "Section I. Kings, not being fathers of their people, nor excelling all 
 
 others in virtue, can have no other juft power than what the laws give ; 
 
 nor any title to the privileges of the Lord's anointed, 271. 
 Sedl. 2. The kings of Ifrael and Judah were under a law not fafely to be 
 
 tranfgrefled, 283. 
 .Sed. 3. Samuel did not defcribe to the Ifraelites the glory of a free mo- 
 narchy, but the evils the people fhould fuffer ; that he might divert 
 
 them from defiring a king, 286. 
 Sc£l. 4. No people can be obliged to fuffer from their kings what they 
 
 have not a right to do, 288. 
 Sed. 5. The mifchiefs fufFered from wicked kings are fuch as render it 
 
 both reafonable and juft for all nations, that have virtue and power, to 
 
 exert both in repelling them, 292. 
 Sed. 6. It is not good for fuch nations as will have kings, to fuffer them 
 
 to be glorious, powerful, or abounding in riches, 296. 
 Sed. 7. When the Ifraelites afked for fuch a king as the nations about 
 
 them had, they aiked for a tyrant, though they did not call himfo, 300. 
 Sed. 8. Under the name of tribute, no more is undcrflood, than what the 
 
 jaw of each nation gives to the fupremc magiftrate for the defraying of 
 3 public
 
 CONTENTS OF THE DISCOURSES 
 
 public charges ; to which the cufloms of the Romans, or fuffcrings of 
 the Jews, have no relation. Page 306. 
 Sedl. 9. Our own laws confirm to us the enjoyment of our native rights, 
 
 Se£t. 10. The words of St. Paul, injoining obedience to higher powers, 
 
 favour all forts of government no lefs than monarchy, 316. 
 Sedt. II. That which is not juft is not law; and that which is not law 
 
 ought not to be obeyed, 328. 
 Se£t. 12. The right and power of a magiftratc depends upon his inftitution, 
 
 not upon his name, 330. 
 Seft. 1 3. Laws were made to dire(ft and inftrudt magiflrates, and, if they 
 
 will not be directed, to reftrain them, 333. 
 Sedl. 14. Laws are not made by kings, not becaufe they are bufied in 
 
 greater matters than doing juftice, but becaufe nations will be governed 
 
 by rule and not arbitrarily, 338. 
 Sedt. 15. A general prefumption, that kings will govern well, is not a 
 
 fufEcient fecurity to the people, 343. 
 /Sedl. 1 6. The obfervation of the laws of nature is abfurdly expeded from 
 
 tyrants, who fet themfelves up againft all laws ; and he that fubjedls 
 
 kings to no other law, than what is common to tyrants, dellroys their 
 
 being, 347. 
 Sedl. 17. Kings cannot be the Interpreters of the oaths they take, 353. 
 ScOl. 18. The next in blood to deceafed kings cannot generally be faid to 
 
 be kings, till they are crowned, 363. 
 Sedt. 19. The greateft enemy of a juft magiftratc is he, who endeavours 
 
 to invalidate the contract between him and the people, or to corrupt 
 
 their manners, 378. 
 Sedt. 20. Unjuft commands are not to be obeyed; and no man is obliged 
 
 to fufFer for not obeying i'uch as are againft law, 382^ 
 Sedt. ?i. It cannot be for the go xl of the people, that the magiftratc have 
 
 a power above the law ; and he is not a magiftratc who has not his 
 
 power by law, 385. 
 Sedt. 22. The rigour of ihe law is to be tempered by men of known inte- 
 grity and judgment ; and not by the prince, who may be ignorant or 
 
 vicious, 392. 
 Sedt. 23. Ariflocle proves, that no man is to be entrufted with an abfolute 
 
 power, by iliev/ing that no one knows how to execute it, but fuch a 
 
 man as is not to be found, 397. 
 Sedt. 24. The power of Auguftus Caefar was not given but ulurped, 399. 
 Sedt. 25. The regal power was not the firftin this nation; nor neceflarily 
 
 to be continued, though it had been the firft, 401. 
 Sed. 26. 'Though the king may be entrufted with the power of choofmg 
 
 judges, yet that by which they adl is from the law, 409. 
 SeOi. 27. Magna Charta was not the original, but a declaration of the 
 
 Englifti liberties. The king's power is not reftrained, but created by 
 
 that and other laws ; and the nation that made them can only correal 
 
 the defe<as of them, 417,
 
 CONTENTS OF THE DISCOlD'RSES 
 
 Se£t. 28. The Englifli nation has always been governed by Itfelf or its 
 
 reprefentatives. Page 420. 
 Se£t. 29. The king was never mafter of the foil, 433. 
 SeQ.. 30. Henry the firfl was king of England by as good a title as any of 
 
 his prcdeceflbrs or fucceffors, 437. 
 Se£t. 31. Free nations have a right of meeting vphen and where they pleafe, 
 
 unlefs they deprive thcmfelves of it, 441. 
 Sedl. 32. The powers of kings are fo various, according to the conftitu- 
 
 tions of feveral Hates, that no confequence can be drawn to the prejudice 
 / or advantage of any one, merely from the name, 447. 
 '^Sedl. 33. The liberty of a people is the gift of God and nature, 449. 
 Sed;, 34. No veneration paid, or honour conferred upon a jufi: and lawful 
 
 magiflrate, can diminifh the liberty of a nation, 452. 
 Se£l:. 35. The authority given by our law to the ads performed by a king; 
 
 de fadlo, detrail nothing from the people's right of creating whom they 
 
 pleafe, 455. 
 Sedt. 36. The general revolt of a nation cannot be called a rebellion, 457. 
 Sedl. 37. The Engliih government was not ill conftituted ; the defedls 
 
 more lately obferved proceeding from the change of manners and the 
 
 corruption of the times, 462. 
 Se£t. 38. The power of calling and diflblving parliaments is not fimply in 
 
 the king. The variety of cuiloms in choofmg parliament-men, and the 
 
 errors a people may commit, neither prove that kings are or ought to 
 
 be abfolute, 4.6^. 
 Sedl. 39, Thofe kings only are heads of the people, who are good, wifei 
 
 and feek to advance no interefl but that of the public, 471, 
 Se£l. 4©. Good laws prefcribe eafy and fafe remedies agalnft the evils pro- 
 ceeding from the vices or infirmities of the magiflrate ; and when they 
 
 fail, they mufl: be fupplied, 477. 
 Se<Sl. 41. The people for whom and by whom the magiflrate is created, 
 
 can only judge whether he rightly performs his office or not, 481. 
 Se£l. 42. The perfon that wears the crown cannot determine the affairs 
 
 which the law refers to the king, 486. 
 Sedl. 43. Proclamations are not laws, 491. 
 
 Sed, 44. A people that is not free cannot fubftitute delegates, 495. 
 SeQ.. 45. The legiflative power is always arbitrary, and not to be trufted 
 
 in the hands of any, who are not bound to obey the laws they make, 501 . 
 Sedl. 46. The coercive power of the law proceeds from the authority of 
 
 parliament, 503.
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAPTER I. SECT. I 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 Having lately fccn a book, Intltlcd " Patriarcha," written by Sir Robert 
 Eihner, concerning the vuiiveri'a! and undiflinguiflied right of all kings, I 
 thought a time of leifurc might be well employed in examining his doc- 
 trine, and the queftions arifing from it ; which feem fo far to concern all 
 mankind, that, befides the influence upon our future life, they may be 
 fiiid to comprehend all that in this world deferves to be cared for. If b.e 
 fay true, there is but one government in the world that can have any thing 
 of juftice in it : and they, who have hitherto been efteemed the befl and 
 wifell of men, for having conftituted commonwealths or kingdoms, and 
 taken much pains fo to proportion the powers of feveral magiftracies, that 
 they might all concur in procuring the public good, or fo to divide the 
 powers between the magiftrates and people, that a v.-ell-regulated harmony 
 might be preferved in the whole, were the mofl unjuft and foolifli of all 
 men. They were not builders, but overthrowers - of governments : their 
 bufmefs was to let up ariftocratical, democratical, or mixed governments, 
 in oppofition to that monarchy, which, by the immutable laws of God 
 and nature, is impofed upon mankind ; or prefumptuoufly to put fliackles 
 upon the monarch, who, by the fame laws, is to be abfolute and uncon- 
 trouled : they were rebellious and difobedient fons, who rofe up againfl 
 their father ; and net only refufed to hearken to his voice, but made him 
 bend to their will. In their opinion, fuch only deferved to be called good 
 men, who endeavoured to be good to mankind, or to that country to which 
 they were more particularly rrbited. And, inafniuch as that good ccnfifLS in 
 a felicity of eftate, and perfedion of perfon, they highly valued fuch as 
 had endeavoured to make men better, wifer, and happier. This they 
 undcrftood to be the end for which men entered into focieties. And though 
 Cicero fays, that commonwealths were inftitutcd for the obtaining of 
 juftice, he contradidts them not, but comprehends all in that word ; be- 
 caufe it is juft, that whoever receives a power, fhould employ it wholly 
 for the accomplifliment of the ends for which it was given. This 
 • work could be performed only by fuch as excelled in virtue : but lefl: they 
 fliouk! defledl from it, no government was thought to be well conftituted, 
 unlcfs the laws prevailed above the commands of men * ; and they were 
 
 * Potentiora legum quam hominum imperia. Liv, I, 2, c. i 
 
 B accounted
 
 i DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. I accounted as the worft of beafts, who did not prefer fuch a condition 
 before a fubjedlion to the fluctuating and irregular will of a man. 
 
 If we believe Sir Robert, all this is miftaken ; nothing of this kind 
 was ever left to the choice of men ; they are not to inquire what con- 
 duces to their own good ; God and nature have put us into a way from 
 v/hich we are not to fwerve ; we are not to live to him, nor to ourfelves, 
 but to the mafler that he hath fet over us ; one government is eftablifhed 
 over all, and no limits can be fet to the power of the perfon that manages 
 it ; this is the prerogative, or, as another author of the fame ftamp 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, fex, or other qualities of the mind or 
 body, are fathers of as many nations as fall under their power ; we are 
 not to examine, whether he or Ihe be young or old, virtuous or vicious, 
 fober-minded or ftark-mad ; the right and power is the fame in all ; 
 whether virtue be exalted or fupprefled, whether he that bears the fword 
 be a praife to thofe that do well, and a terror to thofe that do evil, or a 
 praife to thofe that do evil, and a terror to fuch as do well, it concerns us 
 not'; for the king muft not lofe his right, nor have his power diminillied, 
 on any account. 
 
 I have been fometimes apt to wonder, how things of this nature 
 could enter into the head of any man ; or, if no wickednefs or folly 
 be fo great, but fome may fall into it, I could not well conceive why 
 they fhould publifli it to the world. But thefe thoughts ceafed when I 
 confidered, that a people from all ages in love with liberty, and defirous 
 to maintain their own privileges, could never be brought to refign them, 
 unlcfs they were made to believe, that in confcience they ought to do it ; 
 which could not be, unlefs they were alfo perfuaded to believe, that there 
 was a law fet to all mankind, which none might tranfgrefs, and which 
 put the examination of all thofe matters out of their power. This is our 
 author's work. By this it will appear whofe throne he feeks to advance, 
 and whofe fervant he is, whilft he pretends to ferve the king. And that 
 it may be evident he hath made ufe of means fuitable to the ends propofed 
 for the fervice of his great mafter, I hope to (hew, that he hath not ufed 
 one argument that is not falfe, nor' cited one author whom he hath not 
 perverted and abufed. Whilft my work is fo to lay open thefe fnares, that 
 the moft fimplc may not be taken in them, I fliall not examine how Sir 
 Robert came to think himfelf a man fit to undertake fo great a work, as to 
 deflroy the principles, which from the beginning fecm to have been com- 
 mon to all mankind ; but only, weighing the pofitions and arguments that 
 he alleges, will,- if there be either truth or ftrength in them, confcfs 
 the difcovery comes from him that gave us leaft reafon to expedl: it ; and 
 that, in fjiite of the aniients, there is not in the world a piece of wood, 
 out of which a Mercury may not be made.
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 SECTION II 
 
 THE COMMON NOTIONS OF LIBERTY ARE NOT FROM SCHOOL 
 DIVINES, BUT FROM NATURE. 
 
 In the firft lines of his book he feems to denounce wan againfl 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 greateft helps towards the felicity, that is the end of our hopes in 
 the other. To this end he abfurdly imputes to the fchool divines that 
 which was taken up by them as a common notion, written in the heart 
 of every man, denied by none, but fuch as were degenerated into hearts, 
 from whence they might prove fuch points as of themfelves were lefs 
 evident. Thus did Euclid lay down certain axioms, which none could 
 deny that did not renounce common fenfe, from whence he drew the 
 proofs of fuch propofitions as were lefs obvious to the underflanding. And 
 they may with as much reafon be accufed of pagan ifm, who fay that the 
 whole is greater than a part, that two halves make the whole, or that a 
 ftraight line is the fhorteft way from point to point, as to fay, that they 
 who in politics lay fuch foundations, as have been taken up by fchool- 
 men and others as undeniable truths, do therefore follow them, or have 
 any regard to their authority. Though the fchoolmen were corrupt, they 
 were neither ftupid nor unlearned : they could not but fee that which all, 
 men faw, nor lay more approved foundations, than, that'man is naturally 
 free ; that he cannot juftly be deprived of that liberty v/ithout caufc ; and 
 that he doth not refign it, or any part of it, unlefs it be in confideratioii 
 of a greater good, which he propofes to himfelf. /But if he doth un- 
 juftly impute the invention of this to fchool divines, he in fome meafure 
 repairs his fault in faying, " this hath been foftered by all fucceeding 
 *' papifts lor good divinity ; the divines of the reformed churches have 
 *' entertained it, and the common people every where tenderly embrace 
 *' it." That is to fay, all chriftian divines, whether reformed or unre- 
 formed, do approve it, and the people every where magnify it, as the 
 height of human felicity. But Filmer, and fuch as are like to him, being 
 neither reformed nor unreformed chriftians, nor of the people, can have 
 no title to chrifllanity ; and, inafmuch as they fet themfelves againft that 
 which is the height of human felicity, they declare themfelves enemies to 
 all that are concerned in it, that is, to all mankind. 
 
 But, fays he, " they do not remember, that the defire of liberty was 
 " the firft caufe of the fall of man." And I defire it may not be forgotten, 
 that the liberty afferted is not a licentioufnefs of doing what is pleaiing to 
 every one againft the command of God, but an exemption from all human 
 laws, to which they have not given their aflent. If he would make us 
 believe there was any thing of this in Adam's fin, he ought to have 
 proved, that the law which he tranfgreficd was impofed upon him by 
 
 B 2 man,
 
 ^ DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. I man, and, confequently, that there was a man to impofe it ; for it will 
 eaiily appear, that neither the reformed nor unreformed divines, nor the 
 people following them, do place the felicity of man in an exemption from 
 the laws of God, but in a moft perfed: conformity to them. Our Saviour 
 taught us " not to fear fuch as could kill the body, but him that could 
 " kill, and caft into hell ;" and the apoftle tells us, that " we fliould obey 
 " God rather than man." It has been ever hereupon obferved, that they, 
 who moft precifely adhere to the laws of God, are leaft folicitous concern- 
 ing the commands of men, unlefs they are well grounded ; and thofe, who 
 moft delight in the glorious liberty of the fons of God, do not only fubje<3; 
 themfelves to him, but are moft regular obfervers of the juft ordinances of 
 man, made by the confent of fuch as are concerned, according to the will 
 of God. 
 
 The error of not obferving this may perhaps deferve to be pardoned in 
 a man that had read no books, as proceeding from ignoi-ance ; if fuch as 
 are grofly ignorant can be excufed, when they take upon them, to write 
 of luch matters as require the higheft knowledge : but in Sir Robert it is 
 prevarication and fraud to impute to fchoolmen and puritans that which 
 in his firft page he acknowledged to be the doclrine of all reformed and 
 unreformed chriftian churches, and that he knows to have been the prin- 
 ciple in which the Grecians, Italians, Spaniards, Gauls, Germans, and 
 Britons, and all other generous nations ever lived, before the name of 
 Chrift was known in the world ; infomuch that the bafe eft'eminate Afiatics 
 and Africans, for being carelefs of their liberty, or unable to govern them- 
 felves, were by Ariftotle and other wife men called " flaves by nature," 
 and looked upon as little difterent from beafts. 
 
 This which hath its root in common fenfe, not being to be overthrown 
 by reafon,, he fpares his pains of feeking any ; but thinks it enough to 
 render his dodlrine plaufible to his own party, by joining the Jefuits to 
 Geneva, and coupling Buchanan to Doleman as both maintaining the 
 fame doftrine ; though he might as well have joined the puritans with the 
 Turks, becaufe they all think that one and one makes two. But whoever 
 marks the proceedings of Filmcr and his mafters, as well as his difciples, 
 will rather believe, that they have learned from Rome and the Jefuits to 
 hate Geneva, than that Geneva and Rome can agree in any thing farther, 
 than as they are obliged to fubmit to the evidence of truth ; or that Geneva 
 and Rome can concur in any defign or iutcrcft that is not common to 
 mankind. 
 
 Thefe men allowed to " the people a liberty of depofing their princes." 
 This is a "dcfperate" opinion. " Bcllarmine and Calvin look afquint at 
 " it." But why is this a defperate op/inion ? If difagrccmcnts happen be- 
 tween king and people, why is it a more defperate opinion to think the king 
 fhoakl be fubje<Ct to the cenfures of the people, than the people fubjedt 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 rcjgn over them ? or did they, from 
 
 an.
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 5- 
 
 an opinion of procuring their own good, afk a king that miglit judge them, SECT. 2 
 and light their battles? If God's interpofition, which fhall be hereafter ex- 
 plained, do aker the cafe, did the Romans make Romulus, Numa, Tullus 
 Ploflilius, and Tarquinius Prifcus kings ? or did they make or beget the 
 Romans ? If they were made kings by the Romans, it is certain, they that 
 made them fought their own good in fo doing : and if they were made by 
 and for the city and people, I defire to know, if it was not better, that, 
 when their fucceiTors departed from the end of their inilitution, by endea- 
 vouring to deftroy it, or all that was good in it, they fliould be ccnfurcd 
 and ejeiled, than be permitted to ruin that people, for whofe good they were 
 treated? Was it more jult, that Caligula or Nero fhould be fuffered tode- 
 flroy the poor remains of the Roman nobility and people, with the nations 
 iiibjedl to that empire, than that the race of fuch monflers Ihould be ex- 
 tinguiflied, and a great part of mankind, efpecially the bcft, agalnft Avhom 
 they were moft tierce, prcferved by their deaths ? 
 
 I prefume our author thought thefe queftions might be eafiiy decided ; 
 and that no more was required to fliew the fore-mentioned aflertions were 
 not at all defperate, than to examine the grounds of them. But he feeks 
 to divert us from this inquiry, bypropofmg the dreadful coniequences of 
 fubje£cing kings to the ccnfures of their people : whereas no confequence 
 can deftroy any truth ; and the worPc of this is, that if it were received, 
 fome princes might be reftralned from doing evil ; or punifhed, it they 
 will not be reftrained. We are therefore only to confider, whether the 
 people, fenate, or any magiftracy made by and for the people, have, or 
 can have, fuch a right ; for if they have, whatfoever the confequences 
 may be, it muft fland. And as the one tends to the good of mankind in 
 reftraining the luft of wicked kings, the other expofcs them without reme- 
 dy to the fury of the mofl favage of all beafts. I am not afliamcd in this 
 to concur with Buchanan, Calvin, or Eellarmine ; and without envy leave 
 to Filmer, and his affociates, the glory of maintaining the contrary. 
 
 But norwithftanding our author's averfion to truth,, he confefies, " that 
 " Hayward, Blackwood, Barclay, and others, who have bravely vindica- 
 " ted the right of kings in mofi: points, do with one confent admit as an 
 *' unqueftionable truth, and affent unto the natural liberty and equality of 
 " mankind, not fo much as once denying or oppofmg it." And indeed I 
 believe, that though, fmce the fih of our firfc parents, the earth hath, 
 brought forth briars and brambles, and the nature of men hath been fruit- 
 ful only in vice and wickednefs ; neither the authors he mentions, nor 
 any others, have had impudence enough to deny fuch evident truth as 
 fecms to be planted in the hearts of all men ; or to publifli dodlrines fo 
 contrary to common fenfe, virtue, and humanity, till thefe times. The 
 produQion of Laud, Manwaring, Sibthorp, Hobbes, Filmer, and Heylin, 
 fecms to have been referved as an additional curfe to complete the fhamc 
 and mifery of our age and country. They, who had wit and learning, 
 with fomething of ingenuity and modefly, though they believed, that na- 
 tions might poiTibly make an ill ufe of their povv^er, and were very defirous, 
 
 to.
 
 i DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. I to maintain the caufe of kings, as far as they could putanygood colour upon 
 it, yet never denied, that fome had fuffered juftly, (which could not be, if 
 there were no power of judging them) nor ever aflerted any thing that 
 might arm them with an irrefiftible power of doing mifchief, animate them 
 to perfift in the moft flagitious courfes, with affurance of perpetual impu- 
 nity, or engage nations in an inevitable neceffity of fufFering all manner of 
 outrages. They knew, that the actions of thofe princes, who were not 
 altogether deteftable, might be defended by particular reafons drawn from 
 them, or the laws of their country ; and would neither undertake the de- 
 fence of fuch as were abominable, nor bring princes, to whom they wifhed 
 -well, into the odious extremity of juftifying themfelves by arguments that 
 favoured Caligula and Nero, as well as themfelves, and that muft be taken 
 for a confefTion, that they were as bad as could be imagmed ; fuice nothing 
 could be faid for them that might not as well be applied to the worft that 
 had been, or could be. But Filmer, Heylin, and their affociates, fcorn- 
 ing to be reftrained by fuch confiderations, boldly lay the ax to the root of 
 the tree, and rightly enough affirm, " that the whole fabric of" that which 
 they call " popular fedition would fall to the ground, if the principle of 
 *' natural liberty were removed." And, on the other hand, it muft be 
 acknowledged, that the whole fabric of tyranny will be much weakened, 
 if w^e prove, that nations have a right to make their own laws, and conftitute 
 their own magiftrates ; and that fuch as are fo conflituted owe an account of 
 their adtions to thofe by whom, and for whom, they are appointed. 
 
 S E C T I O N III 
 
 IMPLICIT FAITH BELONGS TO FOOLS; AND TRUTH IS COMPRE- 
 HENDED BY EXAMINING PRINCIPLES. 
 
 Whilft Filmer's bufinefs is to overthrow liberty and truth, he, in his paf- 
 fage, modeftly profeffeth " not to meddle with myfteries of ftate," or 
 *' arcana imperii." He renounces thofe inquiries through an implicit faith, 
 which never entered into the head of any but fools, and fuch as, through 
 a careleffnefs of the point in queftion, ailed as if they were fo. This 
 is the foundation of the papal power ; and it can ftand no longer than 
 thofe that compofe the Roman cliurch can be perfuadcd to fubmit their con- 
 fciences to the word of the priefls, and efteein themfelves difcharged from 
 the neceffity of fearching the fcriptures, in order to know whether the things 
 that are told them are true or falfe. This may ffiew whether our author 
 or thofe of Geneva do bcft agree with the Roman dodlrine. But his inftance 
 is yet more fottiffi than his profeffion : " an implicit faith," fays he, " is 
 " given to the meaneft artificer." I wonder by whom ! Who will wear a 
 fhoe that hurts him, becaufe the fhoemaker tells him it is' well made? or 
 who will live in a houfe that yields no defence againft the extremities of 
 weather, becaufe the mafon or carpenter allures him it is a very good houfe ? 
 
 Such
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT. 7 
 
 Such as have reafon, underftanding, or common fcnfe, will, and ought to sect. 3 
 make ufe of it in thofe things that concern themfelvcs, and their pollerlty, 
 and fufpc(£l the words of iuch as are intereftcd in deceiving or pcrfuading 
 them not to fee with their own eyes, that they may he more cafily deceived. 
 This rule obliges us fo far to fearch into matters of flate, as to examine the 
 original principles of government in general, and of our own in particular. 
 We cannot dillinguilli truth from faliliood, right from wrong, or know 
 what obedience we owe to the magiflrate, or what we may jullly expecfl 
 from him, unlefs we know what he is, why he is, and by whom he is 
 made to be what he is. Thefe perhaps may be called " my Aeries of ftate," 
 and feme would perfuade us they are to be eftcemed " arcana ;" but who- 
 ever confefTes himfelfto be ignorant of them, muft acknowledge that he 
 is incapable of giving any judgment upon things relating to the fupcr- 
 ftrudure : and in fo doing evidently fhews to others, that they ought not 
 at all to hearken to what he fays. 
 
 His argument to prove this is more admirable : " if an implicit faith," 
 fays he, " is given to the meaneft artificer in his own craft, much more is it 
 *' due to a prince in the profound fecrets of government." But where is the 
 confequence ? If I truft to the judgment of an artificer, or one of a more in- 
 genuous profeffion, it is not becaufe he is'of it, but becaufe I am perfuaded 
 he does well underftand it, and that he will be faithful to me in things rela- 
 ting to his art. I do not fend for Lower or Micklethwait when I am fick, 
 nor aflc the advice of Mainard or Jones in a fuit of law, becaufe the firft 
 are phyficians, and the other lawyers; but becaufe I think them wife, 
 learned, diligent, and faithful, there being a multitude of others who go 
 under the fame name, whofe opinion I would never afk. Therefore if any 
 conclufion can be drav/n from thence in favour of princes, it muft be of 
 fuch as have all the qualities of ability and integrity, that fhould create 
 this confidence in me ; or it muft be proved, that all princes, inafmuch as 
 they are princes, have fuch qualities. No general conclufion can be 
 drav/n from the firft cafe, becaufe it muft depend upon the circumftances, 
 which ought to be particularly proved. And if the other be afl'erted, I de- 
 fire to know whether Caligula, Claudius, Nero, Vitellius, Domitian, 
 Commodus, Heliogabalus, and others not unlike to them, had thofe ad- 
 mirable endowments, upon which an implicit faith ought to have been 
 grounded ; how they came by them ; and whether \Ye have any promife 
 from God, that all princes ftiouid for ever excel in thofe virtues ; or 
 v.'hether we by experience find that they do fo. If they are or have been 
 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 have 
 not wifdom to underftand thefe profound fecrets, integrity to diredl him, 
 according to what he knows to be good, and a fufficient meafure of induftry 
 and valour to protect me, he is not the artificer, to whom the implicit faith is 
 due. His eyes are as fubjedl to be " dazzled" as my own. But it is a ftiame 
 to infift on fuch a point as this. We fee princes of all forts ; they are born 
 as other men. The vileft flatterer dares not deny, that they are v/ife or 
 
 iooViihy
 
 5 . DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. I foolifh, good or bad, valiant or cowardly, like other men; and the crown 
 doth neither beflow extraordinary qualities, ripen fuch as are found in 
 princes fooncr than in the meaned:, nor prelerve them from the decays of 
 age, ficknefs, or other accidents, to which all men are fubjed. : and if the 
 greateft king in the world falls into them, he is as incapable of that myf- 
 terious knowledge, and his judgment is as little to be relied on, as that 
 of the pooreft peafant. 
 
 This matter is not mended by fending us to feek thofc virtues in the 
 minifters, which are wanting in the prince. The ill efFe£ls of Rehoboam's 
 folly could not be corrected by the wii'dom of Solomon's counfellors : he 
 rejected them ; and fuch as are like to him v/ill always do the fame thing. 
 Nero advifed vvith none but muiicians, players, chariot-drivers, or the 
 abominable minifters of his pleafures and cruelties. Arcadius's fenate was 
 chiefly compofed of buffoons and cooks, influenced by an old rafcally eu- 
 nuch. And it is an eternal truth, that a weak or wicked prince can never 
 choofe a wife council, nor receive any benefit by one that is impofed upon 
 him, unlefs they have a power of adting without him ; which would ren- 
 der the government in e&eSt ariftocratical, and would probably difpleafe 
 our author as much as if it were fo in name alfo. Good and wife counfel- 
 lors do not grow up like mufhro'oms : great judgment is required in choo- 
 fmg and preparing them. If a weak or vicious prince fhould be fo happy 
 to find them chofen to his hand, they v\'Ould avail him nothing. There 
 v/ill ever be variety of opinions amongfl them ; and he that is of a per- 
 verted judgment will always choofe the worft of thofe that are propofed, 
 and favour the worft men, as moft like to himfelf.- Therefore, if this 
 implicit faith be grounded upon a fuppofition of profound M'ifdom in the 
 prince, the foundation is overthrown, and cannot fland ; for to repofe 
 confidence in the judgment and integrity of one that has none, is the mofl 
 brutifh of all follies. So that if a prince may have or want the qualities, 
 upon which my faith in him can be rationally grounded, I cannot yield 
 the obedience he requires, unlefs I fcarch into the fecrets relating to his 
 perfon and commands, which he forbids. I canriot know how to obey, 
 unlefs I know in what, and to whom ; nor in what, unlefs I know v/hat 
 ought to be commanded ; nor what ought to be commanded, unlefs I un- 
 derftand the original right of the commander, which is the great arcanum. 
 Our author, finding himfelf involved in many difficulties, propofes an ex- 
 pedient as ridiculous as any thing that had gone before, being nothing 
 more than an abfurd begging the main qucftion, and determining it with- 
 out any fnadow of proof. lie injoins an adlive or pafnve obedience, before 
 he faevv^s wliat fhould oblige or perfuade us to it. This indeed were a 
 compendious way of obviating that which he calls popular fedition, and of 
 cxpofing all nations, tliat fall under the power of tyrants, to be deftroycd 
 lUterly by them. Nero or Domitian would have dcfired no more, than 
 that thofe, v.dio v\'Ould not execute their wicked commands, fliould patiently 
 liavc fuifercd their throats to be cut by fuch as were lefs fcrupulous. And 
 the world, that had fuftered thofe monftcrs for fome years, muft have con- 
 tinued
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 9 
 
 t-imied utKlcr their fury, till all that was good and virtuous had hcen abo- SECT. 4 
 lifhed. But in thofc ages and parts of the world, where there hath been any- 
 thing of virtue and goodnefs, wc mayoblcrve a third fortof men, who would 
 neither do villainies, nor luffer more than the laws did permit, or the con- 
 lidcration of the public peace did require. Whilft t)'rants, with their flaves, 
 and the inftruments of their cruelties, were accounted the dregs of mankind, 
 and made the objcdts of dctcllation and I'corn, thefe men, who delivered 
 their countries from fuch plagues, were thought to have fomething of divine 
 In them, and have been famous above all the reft of mankind to this day. 
 Of this fort were Pelopidas, Epaminondas, Thrafybulus, Harmodius, 
 Ariftogiton, Philopoemen, Lucius Brutus, Publius Valerius, Marcus Brutus, 
 Caius Caflius, Marcus Cato, with a multitude of others amongft the ancient 
 heathens. Such as were inftruments of the like deliverances amongft the 
 Hebrews, as Mofes, Othniel, Ehud, Barak, Gideon, Samfon, Jephthali, 
 Samuel, David, Jehu, the Maccabees and others, have from the Scriptures 
 a certain teftimony of the righteoufnefs of their proceedings, when they 
 neither would a£l; what was evil, nor fuffer more than was reafonable. 
 But left we fhould learn by their examples, and the praifes given to them, 
 our author confines the choice of the fiabjedl to a£ling or fuftering, that is, 
 doing what is commanded, or lying down to have his throat cut, or to i'ee 
 his family and country made defolate. This he calls giving to Caefar that 
 which is Caefar's. Whereas he ought to have confidered, that the queftion ■ 
 is not, whether that which is Caefar's fliould be rendered to him, for that is ' 
 to be done to all men ; but who is Caefar, and what doth of right belong ' 
 to him, ,Vvhich he no way indicates to us : fo that the queftion remains en- 
 tire, as if he had never mentioned it, unlefs we do in a compendious way 
 take his word for the whole. 
 
 SECTION IV 
 
 THE RIGHTS OF PARTICULAR NATIONS CAKNOT SUBSIST, IF GENE- 
 RAL PRINCIPLES CONTRARY TO THEM ARE RECEIVED AS TRUE. 
 
 Notwithftanding this, our author, if we will believe him, " doth not 
 " queftion or quarrel at the rights or liberties of this or any other nation." 
 He only denies they can have any fuch, but in fubjeding them neceffarily 
 and univerfally to the will of one man ; and fays not a word that is not appli- 
 cable to every nation in the world, as well as to our own. But as the bit- 
 ternefs of his malice feems to be more efpecially dire<Sted againft England, 
 1 am inclined to believe he hurts other countries only by accident, as the 
 famous French lady * intended only to poifon her father, hufband, brother, 
 and fome more of her neareft relations ; but rather than they fhould efcape, 
 
 * The Marchionefs de Brinvilliers. 
 
 G deftroyed
 
 lo DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. I deflroyed many other perfons of quality, who at feveral tunes dined with 
 them. And if that ought to excufe her, I am conterit he alfo fnould pafs 
 uncenfured ; though his crimes are incomparably greater than thofe for 
 which Ihe was condemned, or than any can be which are not of a public 
 extent. 
 
 SECTION V 
 
 TO depe>;d upon the will of a man is slavery. 
 
 This, as he thinks, is farther fweetened, by afferting, that he does not 
 inquire what the rights of a people are, but from whence: not confidering, 
 that while 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, Tas liberty folely confifts in an independency 
 upon the will of another, and by the name of flave we underftand a man, 
 who can neither difpofe of his perfon nor goods, but enjoys all at the will 
 
 • of his mafter, there is no fuch thing in nature as a Have, if thofe men or 
 nations are not Haves, who have no other title to what they enjoy, than 
 the grace of the prince, which he may revoke whenever he pleafes._y 
 But there is more than ordinary extravagance in his aflertion, that " the 
 *' greateft 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 endowed with an unlimited power of doing what he 
 pleafes, and can be reftrained by no law. If it be liberty to live under 
 fuch a government, I defire to know what is flavery. It has been hitherto 
 believed in the world, that the Affyrians, Medes, Arabs, Egyptians, 
 Turks, and others like them, lived in flavery, becaul'e their princes were maf- 
 ters of their lives and goods: whereas the Grecians, Italians, Gauls, Germans, 
 Spaniards, and Carthaginians, as long as they had any flrength, virtue, 
 or courage amongfl: them, were efteemed free nations, becaul'e they abhor- 
 red fuch a fubje£lion. They were, and would be governed only by laws 
 of their own making : " potentiora erant legum quam hominum imperia." 
 Even their princes had the authority or credit of perfuading, rather than 
 the power of commanding. But all this was miftaken : thefe men were 
 flaves, and the Afiatics were freemen. By the fame rule the Venetians, 
 Switzers, Grifons, and Hollanders, are not free nations : but liberty in its 
 perfection is enjoyed in France and Turky. The intention of our anceftors 
 was, without doubt, to cftablifli this amongft us by Magna Charta, and other 
 preceding or fubfccjuent laws ; but they ought to have added one claufe, 
 that the contents of them fhould be in force only fo long as it fhould plcafe 
 the king. King Alfred, upon Avhofe laws Magna Charta was grounded, 
 when he faid the Englifh nation was as free as the internal thoughts of a 
 man, did only mean, that it lliould be fo, as long as it pleafcd their mafter. 
 This, it fecms, was the end of our law, and we, who are born under it, and 
 
 are
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT u 
 
 arc defcended from fuch as have fo valiantly defended their rights againfl SECT, 5 
 the encroachments of kings, have followed after vain fhadows, and with- 
 out the expence of fweat, treafure, or blood, might have fecured our 
 beloved liberty, by cafting all into the king's hands. 
 
 We owe the difcovery of thefe fecrets to our author, who, after having 
 fo gravely declared them, thinks no offence ought to be taken at the free- 
 dom he aflumes of examining things relating to the liberty of mankind, 
 becauie he has the right which is common to all. But he ought to have 
 confidcrcd, that in averting that right to himfelf, he allows it to all man- 
 kind. And as the temporal good of all men confiPcs in the prefervation of 
 it, he declares himfelf to be a mortal enemy to thofe who endeavour to 
 deftroy it. If he were alive, this would deferve to be anfwered with ftones 
 rather than words. He that oppugns the public liberty, overthrows his 
 own, and is guilty of the moft brutilh of all follies, whilfl he arrogates to 
 himfelf that which he denies to all men. 
 
 I cannot but commend his modefty and care " not to detradt from the 
 *' worth of learned men." But it feems they were all fubje£t to error, ex- 
 cept himfelf, who is rendered infallible through pride, ignorance, and 
 impudence. But if Hooker and Ariftotle were wrong in their fundamentals 
 concerning natural liberty, how could they be in the right when they built 
 upon it ? or if they did miftake, how can they deferve to be cited ? or 
 rather, why is fuch care taken to pervert their fenfe ? It feems, our author 
 is by their errors brought to the knowledge of the truth. " Men have 
 " heard of a dwarf landing upon the ilioulders of a giant, who faw far- • 
 " ther than the giant :" but now that the dwarf {landing on the ground 
 fees that which the giant did overlook, we mull learn from him. If there 
 be fenfe in this, the giant muil be blind, or have fuch eyes only as are of 
 no ufe to. him. He minded only the things that were far from him. 
 Thefe great and learned men raiftook the very principle and foundation of 
 all their doflrine. If we will believe our author, this misfortune befel 
 them becauf; they too much trufled to the fchoolnien. He names Ariftotle ; 
 and, I prefume, intends to comprehend Plato, Plutarch, Thucydides, 
 Xenophon, Polyblus, and all the ancient Grecians, Italians, and others 
 who afferted the natural freedom of mankind, only in Imitation of the 
 fchoolmen, to advance the power of the pope ; and would have compaffed 
 their <lerign, If Filmer, and his aiTociates, had not oppofed them. Thefe 
 men had taught us to make " the unnatural diftin(SlIon between royalift and 
 " patriot," and kept us from feeing,- " that the relation between king and 
 " people is fo 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 peoplei would turn him out ? or the people to think it good for 
 them to turn him out, when he defired to continue in ? Why did the 
 Syracufums deftroy the tyranny of DIonyfius, which he was not Vvfllllng to 
 leave, till he was pulled out by the heels ? How could Nero think of burn- 
 ing Rome ? Or why did Caligula wifli the people had but one neck, that 
 -he might ftrike it oft at one blow, if their welfare was thus reciprocal ? It 
 
 C 2 is
 
 12 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAPi I is not enough to fay, thefe were wicked or mad men ; for other prince* 
 may be fo alfo ; and there may be the fame reafon of differing from them. 
 For if the propofition be not univerfally true, it is not to be received as true 
 in relation to any, till it be particularly proved ; and then it is not to h- 
 imputed to the quality of the prince, but to the perfonal virtue of the man. 
 I do not find any great matters in the paffages taken out of Bellarmine, 
 which, our author fays, comprehend theftrengthof all that ever he had heard» 
 read, or feen produced for the natural liberty of the fubje£t ; but as he does 
 not inform us where they are to be found, I do not think myfelf obliged to 
 examine all his works, to fee whether they are rightly cited or not. How- 
 ever, there is certainly nothing new in them : v^^e fee the fame, as to the 
 fubftance, in thofe who wrote many ages before him, as well as in many 
 that have lived fmce 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 feems to have laid the foundation of his 
 difcourfes in fuch common notions as were affented to by all mankind, 
 thofe who follow the fame method have no more regard to jefuitifm and 
 popery, though he was a jefuit and a cardinal, than they who agree with 
 Faber, and other jefuits, in the principles of geometry, which no fober 
 man did ever deny. 
 
 SECTION VI 
 
 GOD LEAVES TO MAN THE CHOICE OF FORMS IN GOVERNMENT; 
 AND THOSE WHO CONSTITUTE ONE FORM MAY ABROGATE IT. 
 
 But Sir Robert " defires to make obfervations on Bellarmlne's words, be- 
 *' fore he examines or refutes them." And indeed it were not pofTible to 
 make fuch ftuff of his do<Strine as he does, if he had examined or did un- 
 derftand it. Firft, he very wittily concludes, " that if, by the law of 
 *' God, the power be immediately 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 reafon to impute 
 to God Caligula's monarchy, than the democracy of Athens ? Or is it 
 more for the glory of God, to affcrt his prcfence with the Ottoman or 
 French monarchs, than with the popular governments of the Switzers and 
 Grifons ? Is pride, malice, luxury, afid violence fo fui table to his being, 
 that they who cxercife them are to be reputed his minifters ? And is mo- 
 defty, humility, equality, and juflice fo contrary to his nature, that they 
 who live in them ihould be thought his enemies ? Is there any abiurdlty 
 in flying, that, fmce God in goodnefs and mercy to mankind hath, with 
 an equal hand, given to all the benefit of liberty, with fome meafure of 
 undcrftanding how to employ it, it is lawful for any nation, as occafion 
 fliall rccjuirc, to give the excrcife of that power to one or more men, under 
 certain limitations and conditions ; or to rctaia it to themfclvcs, if they 
 
 thijik.
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT ri 
 
 think it good for them ? If this may be done, we are at an end of all con- SECT, 6i 
 troverfies concerning one form of government eftablifhcd by God, to which 
 all mankind mult llibmit ; and we may fafely conclude, that having given 
 to all men, in fome degree, a capacity of judging what is good for them- 
 felves, he hath granted to all likewife a liberty of inventing fuch forms as 
 pleafe them bcft, Vv'ithout favouring one more than another. 
 
 Kis fecond obfervation is grounded upon a falfity in matter of fad:. 
 Bellarmine docs not fay, that " democracy is an ordinance of God " more 
 than any otlier government ; nor that the people have no power to make ufc 
 of their right ; but that they do, that is to fay ordinarily, tranfmit the exer- 
 cil'e of it to one or more. And it is certain they do fomctimes, ci'pccially 
 in fmall cities, retain it in themfelves. But whether that were obferved or 
 not by Eellarmine, makes nothing to our caufe, which vfe defend, and 
 not him. 
 
 The next point is fubtile ; and he thinks thereby to have brought Bel- 
 hirmine, and fuch as agree with his principle, to a nonplus. He doubts 
 who fhall judge of the lawful caufe of changing the government ; and 
 fays, it is a " peftilent conclufion" to place that power in the multitude. 
 But why fliould this be efleemed peftilent ? or to whom ? If the allowance 
 of fuch a power to the fenate was peftilent to Nero, it w^as beneficial to 
 mankind ; and the denial of it, which would have given to Nero an 
 opportunity of continuing in his villainies, would have been peftilent to the 
 bcft of men, whom he endeavoured to deftroy, and to all others that received 
 benefit from them. But this queftion depends upon another : for if 
 governments are conftituted for the pleaftire, greatnefs, or profit of one 
 man, he muft not be interrupted; the oppofing of his will, is to over- 
 throw the inftitution. On the other fide, if the good of the governed be 
 fought, care muft be taken that the end be accompliftied, though it be 
 with the prejudice of the governor. If the power be originally in the 
 multitude, and one or more men, to whom the exercife of it, or a part 
 of it was committed, had no more than their brethren, till it was con- 
 ferred on him or them, it cannot be believed, that rational creatures 
 would advance one, or a few of their equals above themfelves, unlefs in 
 confideration of their own good ; and then I find no inconvenience in 
 leaving to them a right of judging, whether this be duly performed or 
 not. We fay in general, " he that inftltutes, may alfo abrogate"';" more 
 efpecially when the inftitution is not only by, but for himfelf. If the 
 multitude therefore do inftitute, the multitude may abrogate ; and they 
 themfelves, or thole who fucceed in the lame right, can only be fit judges 
 of the performance of the ends of the inftitution. Our author may per- 
 haps fay, the public peace may be hereby difturbed : but he ought to 
 know, there can be no peace, where there is no juftice ; nor any juftice, 
 if the government inftituted for the good of a nation be turned to its ruin.. 
 But in plain Engliih, the inconvenience, v.ith which fuch as he endeavour 
 
 * Cuju$ eft iiiftituere, ejus eftabrogare., 
 
 to-
 
 14 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. I to affright us, is no more than that he or they, to whom the power is 
 given, may be reftrained or chaftifed, if they betray their truft ; which I 
 prefume will difpleafe none, but fuch as would rather fubjed: Rome, with 
 the beft part of the world depending upon it, to the ^vill of Caligula or 
 Nero, than Caligula or Nero to the judgment of the fenate and people ; 
 that is, rather expofe many great and brave nations to be deftroyed by 
 the rage of a favagc beaft, than fubjedt that beaft to the judgment of all, 
 or the choiceft men of them, who can have no intcrefl to pervert them., or 
 other reafon to be fevere to him, than to prevent the mil'chiefs he would 
 commit, and to fave the people from ruin. 
 
 In the next place he recites an argument of Bellarmine, that " it is 
 *' evident in Scripture God hath ordained powers ; but God hath given 
 *' them to no particular perfon, becaufe by nature all men are equal ; 
 " therefore he hath given power to the people or multitude." I leave 
 him to untie that knot, if he can ; but, as it is ufual with impoftors, he 
 goes about by furmifes to elude the force of this argument, pretending that 
 in fome other place he had contradicted himfelf, and acknowledged that 
 every man was prince of his poilerity ; " becaufe, that if many men had 
 *' been created together, they ought all to have been princes of their 
 *' poflerity." But it is not necefi'ary to argue upon pafl'ages cited from 
 authors, when he that cites them may be juftly fufpefted of fraud, and 
 neither indicates the place nor treatife, left it Ihould be detected ; more 
 efpecially when we are no way concerned in the author's credit. I take 
 Bellarmine's firft argument to be ftrong ; and if he in fome place did con- 
 tradict it, the hurt is only to himfelf. But in this particular I fhould not 
 think he did it, though I were fure our author had faithfully repeated his 
 -words ; for in allowing every man to be prince of bis poilerity, he only 
 fays, every man fhould be chief in his own family, and have a power over 
 •his children, which no man denies. But he does not underitand Latin, 
 who thinks that the word " princeps" doth in any degree iignify an abfo- 
 lute power, or a right of tranfmitting it to his heirs and fucceflbrs, upon 
 which the doctrine of our author wholly depends. On the contrary, the 
 fame law that gave to my father a power over me, gives me the like over 
 my children ; and if I had a thoufand brothers, each of them would have 
 •the fame over their children. Bellarmine's firft argument therefore being 
 no way enervated by the alleged palfage, Imayjuflly infiftupon it, and 
 add, that God has not only declared in Scripture, but VN'rittcn on the 
 heart of every man, that as it is better to be clothed, than to go naked, 
 to live in a houfe, than to lie in the fields, to be defended by the united 
 force of a multitude, than to place the hopes of his fecurity fclcly in his 
 own ftrength, and to prefer the benefits of fociety, before a fivage and 
 barbarous folitude, he has alfo taught them to frame fuch focietics, and to 
 cftablifli fuch laws as were ncceHary to prcferve them. And we may as 
 xealbuably aflirm, that mankind are for ever obliged to ufe no other 
 clothes than leather breeches, like Adam, to live in hollow trees, and 
 cat acorns, or to fcek after the model of his houfc for a habitation, and to 
 
 I ufe
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 15 
 
 life no arms except fuch as were known to the patriarchs, as to think all SECT. 6» 
 nations for ever obliged to be governed, as they governed their families. 
 This I take to be the genuine fenfe of the Scripture, and the mofl refpedt- 
 ful way of interpreting the places relating to our purpofe. It is hard to 
 imagine, that God, who has left all things to our choice, that are not 
 evil in thcmfclves, iLould tie us up in this ; and utterly incredible, that he 
 fliould impofe upon us a neceffity of following his will, without declaring 
 it to us, Inftead of conftituting a government over his people, confifting 
 of many parts, which we take to be a model fit to be imitated by others, 
 he might have declared in a word, that the eldeft man of the eldeft line 
 ihould be king ; and that his will ought to be their law. This had been 
 more iiiitable to the goodnefs 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 ialfe light to lead us to dellrudlion. This- 
 could not be avoided, if there vv^ere fuch a thing as our author calls a, 
 " lord paramount over his childrens children to all generations." We 
 fee nothing in Scripture, of precept or example, that is not utterly abhor- 
 rent to this chimera. The only fort of kings mentioned there with appro- 
 bation, is fuch a one " as may not raife his heart above his brethren *." If 
 God had conftituted a lord paramount with an abfolute power, and multi- 
 tudes of nations were to labour and fight for his greatnefs and pleafure, 
 this were to raife his heart to a height, that would make him forget he 
 was a man. Such as are verfed in Scripture not only know, that it 
 neither agrees with the letter nor fpirit of that book ; but that it is unrea- 
 fonable in itfelf, unlefs he were of a fpecies different from the I'eft of man- 
 kind. His exaltation would not agree with God's indulgence to his crea- 
 tures, though he were the better for it ; much lefs when probably he would 
 be made more unhappy, and worfe, by the pride, luxury, and other 
 vices, that ahvays attend the higheft fortunes. It is no lefs incredible, 
 that God, who difpofes all things in wifdom and goodnefs, and appoints 
 a due place for all, ihould, without diftindlion, ordain fuch a power, to 
 every one fucceeding in fuch a line, as cannot be executed ; the wife would . 
 refufe, and fools cannot take upon them the burden of it, without ruin to 
 themfelves, and fuch as are under them : or expofe mankind to a multitude 
 of other abfurdities and mifchiefs ; fubiediing the aged to be governed by 
 children ; the wife, to depend on the will of fools ; the ftrong and valiant, 
 to expe<£t defence from the weak or cowardly ; and all in general to receiv& 
 juftice from him, who neither knows nor cares for it.. 
 
 * D;ut. c. 17, V. 2Q
 
 i6 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 <:.!IAP. r 
 
 SECTION \m 
 
 ABRAHAM AND THE PATRIARCHS WERE NOT KINGS. 
 
 If any man fay, that we are not to feek into the depth of God's coimfcls, 
 I anfwer, that if he had, for reafons known only to himfclf, affixed fuch 
 a right to any one hne, he would have fet a mark upon thofc who come of it, 
 that nations mighr know to whom they owe fubjeclion ; or given fome 
 teftimony of his prefence with Filmer and Heylin, if he had fent them to 
 reveal fo great a myftery. Till that be done, we may fafely look upon 
 them as the worft of men, and teachers only of lies and follies. This 
 perfuades me a little to examine, what would have been, if God had at 
 once created many men, or what conclufions can be drawn from Adam's 
 having been alone. Nothing can be more evident, than that, if many 
 "had been created, they had been all equal, unlefs God had given a prefe- 
 rence to one. All their fons had inherited the fame right after their death ; 
 and no dream was ever more empt}'", than his whimfy of Adam's king- 
 dom, or that of the enfuing patriarchs. To fay the truth, it is hard to 
 If eak ferioufly of Abraham's kingdom, or to think any man to be in 
 earneft who mentions it. He was a ftranger, and a pilgrim in the land 
 where he lived, and pretended to no authority beyond his own family, 
 which confifted only of a wife and flaves. He lived with Lot as with 
 his equal, and would have no conteft with him, becaufe they were brethren. 
 His wife and fervants could neither malie up, nor be any part of a king- 
 dom, inafmuch as the defpotical government, both in practice and prin- 
 ciple, differs from the regal. If his kingdom was to be grounded on the 
 paternal right, it vanifhed away of itfelf ; he had no child ; Kliczer of 
 Damafcus, for want of a better, was to be his heir ; Lot, though his 
 nephew, was excluded ; he durft 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 fervants, bought according to the cuifom of thofe 
 days, or their children ; and the war he made with them, was like to 
 Gideon's enterprize ; which fhews only that God can fave by a few as well 
 as by many, but makes nothing to our author's purpofe. For if they had 
 been as many in number as the army of Semiramis, they could have no 
 relation to the regal, much lefs to the paternal power j for a father doth 
 not buy, but beget children. 
 
 Notwithfianding this, our author beflows the proud title of lord para- 
 mount upon him, and tranfmits it to Ifaac, who was indeed a king like 
 his father, great, admirable, and glorious, in wifdom and holinefs, but 
 utterly void of all worldly fplendor or power. This fpiritual kingdom was 
 inherited by Jacob, whole title to it was not founded on prerogative of 
 birth, but eledlion, and peculiar grace ; but he never enjoyed any other 
 worldly inheritance, than the field and cave which Abraham had bought 
 for a burying place, and the goods he had gained in Laban's fcrvicc. 
 
 The
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT ■ 17 
 
 The. example of Judah's fentence upon Tamar is yet farther from SECT. 8 
 tlie purpolc, if it be polfible ; for he was then a member of a private 
 family, the fourth fen of a father then living ; neither in polfelfion, nor 
 under the promife of the privileges of primogeniture, though Reuben, 
 Simeon, and Levi, fell from it by their fnis. Wliatevcr therefore the 
 right was, which belonged to the head of the family, it muil have been in 
 Jacob ; but as he profeiled himfclf a keeper of fhecp, as his fathers had 
 been, the exercife of that employment was fo far from regal, that it 
 deferves no explication. If that adl of Judah is to be imputed to a royal 
 power, I have as much as I afk. EIc, though living with his father, and 
 elder brothers, when he came to be of age to have children, had the fame 
 power over fuch, 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 
 lame, in the utmoll: extent, cannot at the lame time equally belong to 
 many. If it be divided equally, it is no more than that univerfal liberty 
 which God hath given to mankind ; and'[^every man is a king, till he 
 divcfi: himfclf of his right, in confideration of ibmething that he thinks • 
 better for him. A 
 
 SECTION VIII 
 
 KIMROD WAS THE FIRST KING, DURING THE LIFE OF CU3H, HAM, 
 
 SHEM, AND NOAH, 
 
 The creation is exailly defcribcd in the Scripture ; but we know fo little of 
 what paffcd between the finilhing of it and the flood, that our author may 
 fliy what he pleafes, and I may leave him to feek his proofs where he can 
 find them. In the mean time, I utterly deny, that any power did remain 
 in the heads of families after the flood, that does in the leaft degree rcfcm- 
 ble the regal in principle or praftice. If in this I am miflaken, fuch 
 power muft have been in Noah, and tranfmitted to one of his fons. The 
 Scripture fays only, that he built an altar, facrificed to the Lord, was a 
 Inifljandman, planted a vineyard, and performed fuch offices as bear no- 
 thing of the image of a king, for the fpace of three hundred and fifty 
 years. We hav€ reafon to believe, that his fons after his death continued 
 in the iame manner of life, and the equality properly belonging to bre- 
 thren. It is not eafy to determine, whether Shem or Japhet was the 
 elder ; but Ham is declared to be the younger * ; and Noah's blefling to 
 Slicm Icems to be purely prophetical and fpiritual, of what ihould be ac- 
 corapUfiied in his pofterity ; with which Japhet fhould be perfuaded to 
 join. If it had been v.'orldly, the whole earth mufi: have been broup-ht 
 imder him, and have for ever continued in his race ; which never was ac- 
 
 * Gen, c. g, V. 24 
 
 D complillxed,
 
 j8 discourses concerning government 
 
 CHAP. I complifhed, othervvife than in the fpiritual kingdom of Chrift, which 
 relates not to our author's lord paramount. 
 
 As to earthly kings, the firft of them was Nimrod, the fixth fon of 
 Cufh the fon of Ham, Noah's younger and accurfed fon. This kingdom 
 was fet up about a hundred and thirty years after the flood, whilft Cufli, 
 Ham, Shcm, and Noah, were yet living ; whereas if there were any 
 thing of truth in our author's propofition, all mankind muft have continued 
 under the government of Noah whilft he lived ; and that power muft have 
 been tranfmitted to Shem, wdio lived about three hundred and fcventy 
 years after the ereftion of Nimrod's kingdom ; and muft have come to 
 Japhet, if he was the elder ; but could never come to Ham, who is 
 declared to have been certainly the younger, and condemned to be a 
 fervant to them both ; much lei's to the younger fon of his fon, Avhilft he, 
 and thofe to whom he and his pofterity were to be lubjefts, were ftill living. 
 
 This rule therefore, which the partifans of abfolute monarchy fancy to 
 be univerfal and perpetual, falling, out, in its firft beginning, diredlly con- 
 trary to what they aflert, and being never known to have been recovered, 
 were enough to filence them, if they had any thing of modefty, or regard 
 to truth. But the matter may be carried farther : for the Scripture not 
 only teftifies, that this kingdom of Nimrod was an ufurpation, void of 
 all right, proceeding from the moft violent and mirdiievous vices, but ex- 
 ercifed with the utmoft fury, that the moft wicked man of the accurfed 
 race, who fet himfelf up againft God, and all that is ■ good, could be 
 capable of. The progrefs of this kingdom was fuitable to its inftitution : 
 that which was begun in wickednefs, was carried on with madnefs, and 
 produced confufion. The mighty hunter, w^hom the beft interpreters call 
 a cruel tyrant, receding from the fimplicity and innocence of the patriarchs, 
 who w^ere huft^andmen or fhepherds, arrogating to himfelf a dominion 
 over Shem, to whom he and his fathers were to be fervants, did thereby 
 fo peculiarly become the heir of God's curfe, that whatever has been 
 faid to this day, of the power that did moft diredly fet itfelf againft God 
 and his people, has related literally to the Babel that he built, or figura- 
 tively to that which refembles it in pride, cruelty, injuftice, and madnefs. 
 
 But the fliamelefs rage of fome of thefe writers is fuch, that they rather 
 choofe to afcribe the beginning of their idol to this odious violence, than to 
 own it from the confent of a willing people ; as if they thought, that as 
 all adtion muft be fuitable to its principle, fo that which is unjuft in its 
 praftice ought to fcorn to be derived from that which is not detcftable in 
 Its principle. It is hardly worth our pains to examine, whether the nations, 
 that went from Babel after the confufion of languages, were more or Icfs 
 than feventy two, for they feem not to have gone according to families, 
 but every one to have aflbciated himfelf to thofe that undcrftood his fpccch ; 
 and the chief of the flithers, as Noah and his fons, were not there, or 
 were fubjcdl to Nimrod ; each of which points doth deftroy, even in the 
 root, all pretence to paternal government. Befides, it is evident in Scrip- 
 ture, that Noah lived thi'ce hundred and fifty years after the flood ; Shem 
 
 five
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 19 
 
 five hundred ; Abraham was born about two lumdrcd and ninety y^ars SECT. 8 
 
 after the tlood, and Hved one hundred icvcuty hve years : he was thcre-^ 
 
 fore born under the government of Noali, and died under that of Shem-. 
 
 So that in leaving his country, and fetting up a family for Mmfelf that 
 
 never acknowledged any fuperior, and never pretending to reign over any 
 
 other, he fully fliev/ed he thought himfclf tree, and that he owed ilibjeilioii 
 
 to none ; and, being as far from arrogating to himfelf any pov^-er upon the 
 
 title of paternity, as from aeknowledging it in any other, left every one 
 
 to the fame llbertv. 
 
 The pundlual enumeration of the years, that the fathers of the holy feed 
 lived, gives us groimd of making a more than probable conjedlure, that 
 they of the collateral lines were, in number of days, not unequal to them ; 
 and if that be true, Ham and CuflTi were alive when Nimrod fet himfelf 
 up to be king. He muft therefore have ufurped this power over his father* 
 grandfather and great grandfather ; or, which is more probable, he turned • ^ 
 
 into violence and oppreffion the power given to him by a multitude ; 
 which, like a flock without a fhepherd, not knowing whom to obey, fet 
 him up to be their chief. I leave to our author the liberty of choofing 
 which of thefe two doth befl fuit with his paternal monarchy ; but as far 
 as I can underftand, the firfl: is diredlly againft it, as well as againft the 
 laws of God and man ; the other, being from the confent of the multitude, 
 cannot be extended farther than they would have it, nor turned to their 
 prejudice, without the moft abominable ingratitude and treachery, from 
 whence no right can be derived, nor any juftifiable example taken. 
 
 Neverthelefs, if our author refolve that Abraham was alio a king, he 
 muft prefume that Shem did emancipate him, before he went to feek his 
 fortune. This was not a kingly pofture : but I will not contradidl him, 
 if I may know over whom he reigned. Paternal monarchy is exercifed by 
 the father of the family over his defcendents, or fuch as had been under 
 the dominion of him, whofe heir he is. But Abraham had neither of 
 thefe : thofe of his neareft kindred continued in Mefopotamia, as appears 
 by what is faid of Bethuel and Laban. He had only Lot with him, over 
 whom he pretended no right. He had no children till he was an hundred 
 y^ears old, that is to fay, he was a king without a fubjeft, and then he 
 had but one. I have heard, that " fovereigns do impatiently bear compe- 
 titors * ;" but now I find fubjedlion alfo doth admit of none. Abraham's 
 kingdom was too great when he had two children ; and, to difburden it, 
 Ifhmael muft be expelled foon after the birth of Ifaac. He obferved the 
 fame method after the death of Sarah : he had children by Keturah ; hut 
 he gave them gifts, and fent them away, leaving Ifaac like a ftoical king 
 reigning in and over himfelf, without any other fubjedt, till the birth 
 of Jacob and Efau. But his kingdom was not to be of a larger ex- 
 tent than that of his father ; the two twins could not agree ; Jacob 
 
 • Omnifque poteftas 
 
 Impatiens confortis erit. Luc. 1. i, v. 92 
 
 D z was
 
 20 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. I '^■■'^^ ^£"t away by his mother; he reigned over Efiiu only; and it is 
 not eafy to determine who was the heir of his worldly kingdom : for 
 though Jacob had the birthright, we do not find he had any other 
 goods, than what he had gouten in Eaban's fer\ ice. If our author fay 
 true, the right of primogeniture, with the dominion perpetually an- 
 nexed by the laws of God and nature, muft go to the eldeiT; : Ifaac 
 therefore, though he had not been deceived, could not have conferred 
 it upon the younger ; for man cannot overthrow what God and nature 
 have inftituted. Jacob, in the court language, had been a double rebel, 
 in beguiling his father, and fupplanting his brother ; the bleffing of 
 being lord over his brethren could not have taken place ; or, if Ifaac 
 had power, and his • adl was good, the prerogative of the elder is not 
 rooted in the law of God or nature, but is a matter of conveniency only, 
 "vvhich may be changed at the will of the fiither, whether he know what 
 • he does or not. But if this paternal right to dominion were of any value, 
 
 or dominion over men were a thing to b.e defired, Avhy did Abraham, 
 li'aac, and Jacob, content themfelves with fuch a narrow territory, when, 
 after the death of their anceftors, they ought, according to that rule, to 
 have been lords of the world ? All authors conclude, that Shem Vv^as the 
 eldefl by birth, or preferred by the appointment of God, (o as the right 
 niuft have been in him, and from him tranfmitted to Abraham and Ifaac ; 
 but if they were fo pofleifcd with the contemplation of a heavenly king- 
 dom, as not to care for the greateil on earth, it is ftrange, that Efauy 
 whofe modefty is not much commended, fhould fo far forget his intereft, 
 as neither to lay claim to the empire of the world, nor difpute with his 
 brother the poifeffion of the field and cave bought by Abraham, but 
 rather to fight for a dwelling on mount Seir, that was neither pofl'efi^ed 
 by, nor promifed to his fathers. If he was fallen from his right, Jacob 
 might have claimed it : but God w^as his inheritance ; and, being affured 
 of his bleffing, he contented himfelf with what he could gain by his induf- 
 try, in a way that was not at all fuitable to the pomp and majefiy of a king. 
 Which way focver therefore the bufinefs be turned, whether, according to 
 Ifaac's bleffing, Efau ffiould ferve Jacob, or our author's opinion, Jacob 
 muft ferve Efau, neither of the two was effedled in their perfons : and the 
 kingdom of two being divided into two, each of them remained lord o£' 
 himfejf» 
 
 SECTION IX 
 
 THE POWER OF A FATHER BELONGS ONLY TO A FATHER. 
 
 This leads us to an eafy determination of the qucflion, v.diich our author 
 thinks inf. )luble : " If Adam was lord of his children, he does not fee how 
 «' any can be free from fubje(flioa to his parents." For as no good man 
 
 will:
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 21 
 
 Vvlll ever defirc to he free from the refpccft thnt is due to his father, wha SECT. 10 
 did hcsret ?aid educate him, no wife man will ever think the like to he due 
 to his hrotlicr or nepliew, that did neither. If Efau and Jacoh W'cre equally- 
 free ; if Noah, as our author afiirms, divided Europe, Afia and Africa,, 
 amongft his three fons, though he cannot prove k ; and if fevcnty two 
 nations under i'o many heads or kings v/ent from Eahylon to people the- 
 earth, ahout a hundred and thirty years after the I^ood ; I know not why, 
 according to the fame rule and proportion, it may not be fai'cly concluded^ 
 that in four thoufand years kings arc fo midliplicd, as to be m number 
 equal to the men that are in the world ; tliat is to fay, 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, though Adam and 
 Noah had reigned alone, when there were no men in the world, except 
 fuch as iifucd from tliem, that is no reafon why any other fiiould reign over 
 thofe that he has not begotten. As the right of Noah was divided 
 among the children he left, and when he w^as dead, no one of thein 
 depended on the other, becaufe no one of them was father of the other, 
 and the right of a fiither can only belong to him that is fo, the like muft 
 for ever attend every other father in the world. This paternal power mull 
 neceffarily accrue to every father : he is a king by the fame right as the 
 fons of Noah ; and how numerous foever families may be upon the increafe 
 of mankind, they are all free, till they agree to recede from their own rights 
 and join together in or under one government, according to fuch laws as 
 beft pleafe themfelves. 
 
 SECTION X 
 
 SUCH AS ENTER INTO SOCIETY, MUST IN SOME DEGREE DIMINISir 
 
 THEIR LIBERTY. 
 
 Reafon leads them to this : no one man or f.imily is able to provide that 
 which is requifite for their convenience or fecurity, whilft every one has 
 an equal right to every thing, and none acknowledges a fuperior to deter- 
 mine the controverfies, that upon fuch occafions muft continually arife, 
 and will probably be fo many and great, that mankind cannot bear them. 
 Therefore though I do not believe, that Bellarmine fiid, " a com.monw^ealth 
 " could not exercife its power ;" for he could not be ignorant, that Rome 
 and Athens did exercife theirs, and that all the regular kingdoms in the 
 VvTorld are commonwealths ; yet there is nothing of abfurdity in faying, that 
 man cannot continue in the perpetual and entire fruition of the liberty that 
 God hath given him. The liberty of one is thwarted by that of another; 
 a.nd whilft they are all equal, none will yield to any, otherwife than by a 
 general confent. This is the ground of all juft governments ; for violence or 
 fraud can create no right j and the fame confent gives the form to them all,, 
 
 I howT
 
 2^ DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. I liow much foever they differ from each other. Some fmall numbers of 
 men, Hving within the precinds of one city, have, as it were, caft into a 
 common flock, the right which they had of governing themfclvcs and 
 children, and by common confent joining in one body, exerciled fuch 
 power over every fingle perfon as feemed beneficial to the whole; and 
 this men call periedt " democracy." Others chofe rather to be governed 
 by a feledi: number of fuch as moil excelled in wifdom and virtue ; and 
 this, according to the fignification of the word, was called " ariflocracy." 
 When one man excelled all others, the government was put into hif» 
 hands under the name of " monarchy." But the wifeft, befl, and by fur 
 the greateft part of mankind, rejefting thefe fimple Ipecies, did form govern- 
 ments mixed or compofed of the three, as fhall be proved hereafter, which 
 commonly received their refpedtive denomination from the part that prevail- 
 ed, and did deferve praife or blame, as they were well or ill proportioned. 
 It were a folly hereupon to fay, that the liberty, for which we contend, 
 is of no ufe to us, fince we cannot endure the folitude, barbarity, weaknefs, 
 want, mifery, and dangers, that accompany it whilfl: we live alone, nor 
 can enter into a foclety without refigning it ; for the choice of that locicty, 
 and the liberty of framing it according to our own wills, for our own good» 
 is all we feek. This remains to us, whilfl: we form governments, that we 
 ourielves are judges how far it is good for us to recede from our natural li- 
 berty ; which is of fo great importance, that from thence only we can 
 know whether we are freemen or flaves ; and the difference between the 
 beft government and the worft, doth wholly depend upon a right or wrong 
 ' exercife of that power. If men are naturally free, fuch as have wifdonx 
 and underftanding will always frame good governments : but if they arc 
 born under the neceffity of a perpetual flaveiy, no wifdom can be of ufe to 
 them ; but all mufl; for ever depend on the will of their lords, how cruel, 
 mad, proud, or wicked, foever they be. 
 
 SECTION XI 
 
 NO MAN COMES TO COMMAND MANY, UNLESS BY CONSENT OR 
 
 BY FORCE- 
 
 But becaufe I cannot believe God hath created man in fuch a ftate of mifery 
 and flavery as I juft now mentioned ; by difcovering the vanity of our au- 
 thor's whimfical patriarchical kingdom, I am led to a certain conclulion, 
 "* that every father of a family is free, and exempt from the domination of any 
 other, as the fcventy two that went from Babel were. It is hard to com- 
 
 ■ prebend how one man can come to be mafter of many, equal to himfelf in 
 right, unlefs it be by confent, or by force. If by confent, we are at an 
 
 ' end of our controverfies : governments, and the magillrates that execute 
 them, arc created by man. They who give a being to them, cannot but 
 have a right of regulating, limiting, and directing them as bcfl pleafcth 
 
 them-
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT sy 
 
 thcnifclvcs ; and all our author's afTcrtions concerning the abfolute power SECT. 1 1 
 of one man, fali to the ground. If by force, we are to examine how it '-an 
 be polhble or juftifiablc. This fubduing by force we call conquell: ; but as 
 he that forceth muft be ftronger than thofe that are forced, to talk of one 
 man who in ftrength exceeds many millions of men, is to go beyond the 
 extravagance of fables and romances. This wound is not cured by faying, 
 that he lirll conquers one, and then more, and with their help others ; for 
 as to matter of fadl, the firll news we hear of Nimrod is, that he reigned 
 over a great multitude, and built vaft cities ; and we know of no kingdom 
 in the world, that did not begin with a greater num.ber than any one man 
 could poflibly fubdue. If they who chofe one to be their head, did under 
 his condudl fubdue others, they were fellow-conquerors Vv'ith him ; and 
 nothing can be more brutilh, than to think, that by their virtue and valour. 
 they had purchafcd pcriJCtual llavery to themfelvcs, and tlieir poflcritv. 
 But if it were poflible, it could not bejuftifiable : and whllft our difpute is 
 concerning right, that which ought not to be is no more to be received, 
 than if it could not be. No right can come by conqueft, unlefs there were 
 a right of making that conqueft, which, by reafon of the equahty that our 
 author confeffes to have been amongft the heads of families, and as I have 
 proved goes on to infinity, can never be on the aggreffor's fide. No man 
 -can juftly impofe any thing upon thofe who owe him nothing. Our author 
 therefore, who afcribcs " the enlargement of Nimrod's kingdom to ufur- 
 ■*' pation and tyranny," might as well have acknowledged the fame in the: 
 beginning, as he fays 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 ; for he could never think him to be a lord by 
 the right ot a father, who by that rule muft have lived and died a flave to 
 his fathers that over-lived him. Whoever therefore like Nimrod grounds 
 liis pretenfions of right upon ufurpation and tyranny, declares himfelf to 
 be, like Nimrod, an ufurper and a tyrant, that is, an enemy to God and 
 ■man, and to have no right at all. That which was unjuft in its beginning, 
 can of itfelf never change its nature : " Ternpus enim," faith Grotius, " ex 
 " fuaple natura vim nullam eff"e6tricem habet*." He that pcrfifts in doing 
 injuftice, aggravates it, and takes upon himfelf all the guilt of his prede- 
 ceflbrs. But if there be a king in the world, that claims a right by con- 
 queft, and would juftify it, he might do v.'ell to tell whom he conquered,, 
 when, with what affiftance, and upon what reafon he undertook the war ; 
 for he can ground no title upon the obfcurity of an unfearchable antiquity ; 
 and if he does it not, he ought to be looked upon as an ufurping Nimrod.. 
 
 * De Jure Belli, 1. 2, c. 4, § i. Duratio naluram rei non immutat, ib. 1, j, c. 3, § 11
 
 24 DISCOUllSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. I 
 
 SECTION xn 
 
 THE PRETENDED PATERNAL RIGHT IS DIVISIBLE OR INDIVISIBLE: 
 IF DIVISIBLE, IT IS EXTINGUISHED; I F INDI VISI BLE, UNIVERSAL. 
 
 This paternal right to regality, if there be any thing in it, is divlfible or 
 indivifible ; if indivifiblc, as Adam has but one heir, one man is rightly 
 lord of the whole Vi'orld ; and neither Nimrod, nor any of his fucceffbrs, 
 could ever have been kings, nor the fcventy two that went from Eribylon : 
 Noah furvived liim near two hundred years : Shem continued one hundred 
 and fifty years longer. The dominion muft have been in him, and by 
 him tranfmitted to his pofterity for ever. Thofc, that call themfelves kings 
 in all other nations, fet themfelves up againfl the lav/ ot God and nature. 
 This Is the man we are to feek out, that we may yield obedience to him. 
 I know not where to find him ; but he muft be of the race of Abraham. 
 Shem was preferred before his brethren : the inheritance that could not be 
 divided mull come to him, and from him to Ifaac, who was the firft of 
 his defcendents that outlived him. It is a pity that Jacob did not know 
 this, and that the lord of all the earth, through ignorance of his title, 
 iiiould be forced to keep one of his fubjedls flieep for wages ; and ftrange, 
 that he, who had wit enough to fupplant liis brother, did io little underfland 
 his own bargain, as not to know, that he had bought the perpetual empire 
 of the world. If in confcience he could not take fuch a price for a dilh cF 
 pottage, it muft remain in Efau : however, our lord paramount muft com.e 
 irom Ifaac. If the deed of fale made by Efau be good, w^e muft feek him 
 amongft the Jews : if he could not eafily diveft himfclfof his right, it 
 muft remain amongft his defcendants, v/ho are Turks. We need not 
 icruple the reception of cither, iince the late Scots adft tells us, " that kings 
 " derive their royal power from God alone ; and no diifercnce of religion, 
 *' &c. can divert the right of fucceflion." But I know not v^'hat we Ihall 
 do, if we cannot find this man ; for " de non apparcntibus, et non exlft- 
 cntibus cadem eft ratio." The right muft fall if there be none to inherit. 
 If we do not know who he is that hath the right, we do not know who is 
 near to him. All mankind muft inherit the right, to which every one 
 hath an equal title ; and that wliich is dominion, if in one, when it is 
 equally divided among all men, is that univerfal liberty which I aftcrf. 
 Wherefore I leave it to the choice of fuch as have inherited our author's' 
 opinions, to produce this jew or Turk that ought to be lord of th.e whole: 
 earth, or to prove a better title in fomc other perlbn, and to p-erfuadc all the 
 princesandnationsoftheworldtofubm.it. If this be not done, it muft he 
 confefted this paternal right is a mere whimfical fiction ; and that no man 
 by birth hath a right above another, or can have any, unlefs by the con- 
 ceftion of thoic who are concerned. 
 
 If this right to an univerfal empire be divifiblc, Noah did a(fl:ually 
 ilividc'it among his three fons : if feventy and two abfolute monarchs did at 
 
 once
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 25 
 
 once arife out of the multitude that had aflembled at Babel ; Noah, nor his SECT. 12. 
 Ions, nor any of the lioly feed, nor probably any elder than Nuiirod having 
 been there, many other monarchs niuft necelTarily have arlfen from them. 
 Abraham, as our author fays, was a king : Lot muil have been fo alfo, 
 for they were equals. His fons Ammon and Moab had no dependence 
 upon the defcendcnts of Abraham. Iflimael and Efau fet up for them- 
 felves, and great nations came of them. Abraham's fons by Keturah did 
 io alfo ; that is to fay, every one, as foon as he came to be of age to 
 provide for himfelf, did fo, without retaining any dependence upon the 
 flock from whence he came : thofe of that itock, or the head of it, pre- 
 tended to no right over thofe who went from them. Nay, nearnefs in 
 blood was fo little regarded, that though Lot was Abraham's brother's fon, 
 Eliezer his fervant had been his heir, if he had died childlefs. The like 
 continued amongft Jacob's fons ; no jurifdliiion was given to one above 
 the reft ; an equal divifion of land was made amongft them ; their judges 
 and magiftrates were of fevcral tribes and families, without any other 
 preference of one before another, than what did arife from the advantages 
 God had given to any particular perfon. This I take to be a proof of the 
 utmoft extent and certainty, that the equality among mankind was then 
 perfedl : he therefore that will deny it to be fo now, oucdit to prove, tli.nt 
 neither the prophets, patriarchs, or any other men, did ever underftand 
 or regard the law delivered by God and nature to mankind ; or, that having 
 been common and free at the firft, and fo continued for many hundreds of 
 years after the flood. It was afterwards abolinied, and a new one introdu- 
 ced. He that afl'erts this muft prove it ; but till it does appear to us, 
 when, where, how, and by whom this was done, we may fafely believe 
 th'^re is no fuch thing ; and that no man is, or can be a lord amongft us, 
 till we make him fo ; and that by nature we are all brethren. 
 
 Our author, bv endeavouring farther to illuftrate the patriarchal power, 
 deftroys it, and cannot deny to any man the right which he acknow- 
 ledges to have been in Iftimael and Efau. But if every man has a right 
 of fetting up for himfelf with his fiimily, or before he has any, he cannot 
 but have a right of joining with others if he pleafes. As his joining or 
 not joining with others, and the choice of thofe others, depends upon his 
 own will, he cannot but have a right of judging upon what conditions it 
 is good for him to enter into fuch a fociety, as muft neccfllirily hinder him 
 from exerciiing the right which he has originally in himfelf. But as it 
 cannot be imagined, that men fhould generally put fuch fetters upon 
 themfclves, unlefs it were in expe£lation of a greater good thereby 
 to accrue to them, no more can be required to prove, that they do 
 voluntarily enter into thele focieties, inftitute them for their own good, 
 and prefcribe fuch rules and foniis to them as beft pleafe themfelves, with- 
 out giving account to any. But if every man be free, till he enter into 
 fuch a fociety as he choofeth for his o%vn good, and thole focieties may re- 
 gulate themfelves as they think fit, no more can be required to prove the 
 natural equality in which all men are born, and continue, till they refign 
 
 E it
 
 i6 DrSCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. I it as into a common ftock, in fucli meafure as they think fit for the con- 
 ftituting of focieties for their own good, which I affert, and our author 
 denies. 
 
 SECTION XIII 
 
 THERE WAS NO SHADOW OF A PATERNAL KINGDOM AMONGST 
 THE HEBREWS, NOR PRECEPT FOR IT. 
 
 Our author is fo modeft as to confcfs, that Jacob's kingdom, confifting of 
 feventy two perfons, was fwallowed up by the power of the greater 
 monarch Pharaoh. But if this was an a£t of tyranny, it is ftrange, that 
 the facred and eternal right, grounded upon the immutable laws of God 
 and nature, fhould not be reftored to God's chofen people, when he deli- 
 vered them from that tyranny. Why was not Jacob's monarchy conferred 
 upon his right heir ? how came the people to negledt a point of iuch im- 
 portance ? or if they did forget ir, why did not Mofes put them in mind 
 of it ? why did not Jacob declare to whom it did belong ? or if he is un- 
 derftood to have declared it, in faying the fceptre fliould not depart from 
 Judah, why was it not delivered into his hands, or unto his heirs ? If he 
 was hard to be found in a people of one kindred, but four degrees removed 
 from Jacob their head, who were exa£t in obferving genealogies, how can 
 we hope to find him after fo many thoufand years, when we do not fo 
 much as know from whom we are derived ? or rather how comes that 
 right, which is eternal and univerfal, to have been nipped in the bud, and 
 fo abolifhed before it could take any effe£l in the world, as never to have 
 been heard of amongft the gentiles, nor the people of God, either before 
 or after the captivity, from the death of Jacob to this day ? This I affert, 
 and I give up the caufe, if I do not prove it. To this end I begin with 
 Mofes and Aaron the firft rulers of the people, who were neither of the 
 eldeft tribe according to birth, nor the difpolition of Jacob, if he did, or 
 could give it to any ; nor were they of the eldefl line of their own tribe ; 
 and even between them the fuperiority was given to Mofes, who was the 
 younger, as it is faid, " I have made thee a God to Pharaoh, and Aaron thy 
 brother fhall be thy prophet." If Mofes was a king, as our author fays, 
 but I deny, and fliall hereafter prove, the matter is worfe : he muft have 
 been an ufurpcr of a moll unjuil dominion over his brethren ; and this 
 patriarchal power, which by the law of God was to be perpetually fixed 
 in liis defcendents, perifhed with him, and his fons continued in an obfcure 
 rank amongft the Levites. Jolhua of the tribe of Ephralm fuccecded him : 
 Othniel was of Judah, Ehud of Benjam.in, Barak of Naphtali, and Gideon 
 of Manaffeb. The other judges were of feveral tribes ; and they being 
 dead, their children lay hid amongft the common people, and we hear no 
 more of them. The firft king was taken out of the leaft family of the 
 
 Icail
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 27 
 
 leaft and youngcft tribe. The fccond, whilft the children of the firft king sect. 13 
 v\rere yet alive, was the youngeft of eiglit fons of an obfcure man in the 
 tribe of Judah. Solomon one of his youngeft fons fucceedcd him. Ten 
 tribes delerted Rehoboam, and by the command of God fet up Jeroboam 
 to be their king. The kingdom of Ifrael by the deflrudlion of one family 
 paifed into another : that of Judah by God's pccuhar promife continued in 
 David's race till the captivity ; but we know not that the eldeft fon was 
 ever preferred, and have no reafon to prefume it. David their mofl 
 reverenced king left no precept for it, and gave an example to the con- 
 trary : he did not fet up the eldeft, but the wifeft. After the captivity 
 they who had moft wifdom or valour to defend the people, were thought 
 moft fit to comm.and ; and the kingdom at the laft came to the Afmoneaa 
 race, whilft the pofterity of David was buried in the mafs of the common 
 people, and utterly deprived of all worldly rule or glory. If the judges 
 had not a regal power, or the regal were only juft as inftituted by God, 
 and eternally annexed to paternity, all that they did Avas evil ; there 
 could be nothing of juftice in the powers exercifed by Mofes, Jofliua, 
 Gideon, Samuel, and the reft of the judges. If the power w^as regal and 
 juft, it muft have continued in the defccndents of the firft ; Saul, David, 
 and Solomon, could never have been kings ; the right failing in them, 
 their defcendents could inherit none fl-om them ; and the others after the 
 captivity were guilty of the like injuftice. 
 
 Now as the rule is not general, to which there is any one juft: exception, 
 there is not one of thefe examples that would not overthrow our au- 
 thor's dod;rine : if one deviation from it were lawful, another might be, 
 and fo to infinity. But the utmoft degree of impudent madnefs, to which 
 perhaps any man in the world has ever arrived, is to aflert that to be 
 univerfal and perpetual, which cannot be verified by any one example 
 to have been in any place of the world, nor juftified by any precept. 
 
 If it be objecled, that all thefe things were done by God's immediate 
 difpofition, I anfwer, that it were an impious madnefs to believe, that God 
 did perpetually fend his prophets to overthrow what he had ordained from 
 the beginning, and, as it were in fpite, to bring the minds of men into 
 inextricable confufion and darknefs, and by particular commands to over- 
 throw his univerfal and eternal law. But to render this point more clear, 
 I defire it may be confidered, that we have but three ways of diftingulfning 
 between good and evil. 
 
 1. When God by his word reveals it to us. 
 
 2. When by his deeds he declares it ; becaufe that vrhich he does is 
 good, as that w^hich he fays is true. 
 
 3. By the light of reafon ; which is good, inafmuch as it is from God. 
 
 And firft : It cannot be faid we have an explicit word for that con- 
 tinuance of the power in the eldeft ; for it appears not : and having none, 
 we might conclude it to be left to our liberty. For it agrees not with the 
 goodnefs of God to leave us ia a perpetual ignorance of his will In a matter 
 
 E 2 of
 
 -8 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. I of fo great importance ; nor to have fufFcrcd liis own people, or any other, 
 to perllft, without the leaft reproof or admonition, in a perpetual oppofi- 
 tion to it, if it had difpleafed him. 
 
 Secondly, The difpenfations of his providence, which are the emanations 
 of his will, have gone contrary to this pretended law. There can there- 
 fore be no iuch thing ; for God is conltant to himfelf ; his works do not 
 contradid 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 mat- 
 ters of this kind look upon as certain, it is, that the government of a people 
 fhould be given to him that can heft perform the duties of it. No man has it 
 for himfelf, or from himfelf ; but for and from thofe, who, before he had 
 it, were his equals, that he may do good to them. If there were a man, 
 who in wifdom, valour, juftice, and purity, furpaffed all others, he might 
 be called a king by nature ; becaufe he is beft able to bear the weight of 
 fo-great a charge ; and, like a good flaepherd, to lead the people to good. 
 " Detur digniori " is the voice of reafon ; and, that we may be fure 
 " detur feniori " is not fo, Solomon tells us, " that a wife child is better 
 " than an old and fooHfh king." But if this pretended right do not belong 
 to him that is truly the eldeft, nothing can be more abfurd than a fantafti- 
 cal pretence to a right deduced from him that is not fo. Now left I fhould 
 be thought to follow my own inventions, and call them reafon, or the 
 light of God in us, I defire it may be obferved, that God himfelf has ever 
 taken this method. When he raifed up Moles to be the leader of his 
 people, he endowed him with the moft admirable gifts of his Spirit that 
 ever he beftowed upon a man. When he chofe feventy men to aflift him, 
 he endowed them with the fame Spirit. Jofhua had no other title to fuc- 
 ceed him than the like evidence of God's prefence with him. When the 
 people through fin fell into milery, he did not feek out their defcendents, 
 nor fuch as boafted in a prerogative of birth ; but fhewed whom he de- 
 figned for their deliverer, by beftowing fuch gifts upon him as were re- 
 quired for the performance of his work ; and never failed of doing this, 
 till that miferable, fmful people, rejeding God, and his government, 
 defired that which was in ufe among their accurfed neighbours, that they 
 might be as like to them in the moft ftiameful llavery to man, as in the 
 worihip of idols fet up againft God. 
 
 But if tlois pretended right be grounded upon no word or work of God, 
 nor the reafon of man, it is to be accounted a mere figment, that has 
 nothing of truth in it-
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 29 
 
 SECTION XIV 
 
 IF THE PATERNAL RIGHT HAD INCLUDED DOMINION, AND WAS- 
 
 TO BE TRANSFERRED TO A SINGLE HEIR, IT MUST PERISH IF 
 
 HE WERE NOT KNOWN ; AND COULD BE APPLIjED TO NO 
 
 OTHER PERSON. 
 
 Having fhewn, that the firft kings were not fathers, nor the firrt: f\itherj» 
 kings ; that all the kings of the Jev/s and gentiles mentioned in Scripture 
 came in upon titles difierent from, and inconfilknt with, that of paternity ; 
 and that we are not led by the word, nor the works of God, nor the rea- 
 fon of man, or light of nature, to believe there is any fuch thing, we may 
 fafely conclude there never was any fuch thing, or that it never had any 
 effetft ; which to us is the fame. It is as ridiculous to think of retrieving 
 that which from the beginning of the world was loft, as to create that 
 which never was. But I may go farther, and affirm, that though there 
 had been fuch a right in the firft fiithers of mankind exercifed by them, 
 and for fome ages individually tranfniitted to their eldeft fons, it muft 
 neceflarily perifh, fince the generations of men are fo confufed, that no 
 man knows his own original ; and confequently this heir is no where to 
 be found : for it is a folly for a man to pretend to an inheritance, who 
 cannot prove himfelf to be the right heir. If this be not true, I defire to 
 know from which of Noah's fons the kings of England, France, or Spain, 
 do deduce their original ; or what reafon they can give, why the title to 
 dominion, v/hich is fancied to be in Noah, did rather belong to the firft of 
 their refpedtive races, that attained to the crowns they now enjoy, than to 
 the meaneft peafant of their kingdoms ; or how that can be tranfmitted to 
 them, which was not in the firft. 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 firft point failing, all that 
 fhould be derived from it muft neceflarily fail. 
 
 Our author, who is good at refolving difficulties, ftiewS us an cafy way 
 out of this ftrait. " It is true," fays he, " all kings are not natural parents 
 " of their fubjedls ; yet they either are, or are to be reputed, the next 
 " heirs to thofe firft progenitors, who were at firft the natural parents of 
 " the whole people, and in their right fucceed to the exercife of the fu~ 
 " preme jurifdidlion ; and fuch heirs are not only lords of their own. 
 " children, but alfo of their brethren, and all thofe that were fubjedt to 
 " their fathers, &c. By this means it comes to pafs, that many a child 
 " fucceeding a king hath the right of a father over many a grey-headed 
 " multitude, and hath the title of pater patriae." 
 
 An aftertion comprehending fo many points, upon which the moft im- 
 portant rights of all maiikind do depend, might deferve fome proof; but 
 he, being of opinion we o'J2;ht to take it upon his credit, does not vouch- 
 fafe to give us fo much as the fhadow of any. Neverthelefs, being un- 
 
 wilhng
 
 30 DISCOURSES CONCERNIInG GOVERNMENT 
 
 CH Ap. I willing either crudely to recei"ve, or raflily to reje£l: it, I fhall take the liberty 
 of examining the propofition, and hope I may be pardoned, if I dwell a little 
 more than ordinarily upon that which is the foundation of his work. 
 
 We are beholden to him for confeffmg modeftly, that all kings arc not 
 the natural fathers of their people, and fparing us the pains of proving, 
 that the kings of Perfia, who reigned from the Indies to the Hellefpont, 
 did not beget all the men that lived in thofe countries ; or that the kings 
 of France and Spain, who began to reign before they were iive 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 fo alfo. 
 This muft be made evident ; for matters of fuch importance require proof, 
 and ought not to be taken upon fuppofition. If Filmer therefore will 
 pretend, that the right of father belongs to any one king, he muft prove, 
 that he is the father of his people ; for otherwife it does not appertain to 
 him ; he is not the man we ieek. 
 
 It is no Icfs abfu.rd to fay, he is to be reputed heir to the firft progeni- 
 tor : for it muft be hrft proved, that the nation did defcend from one fingle 
 progenitor without mixture of other races ; that this progenitor was the 
 man, to whom Noah (according to P"ilmer's whimfical divifion of Afia, 
 Etirope, and Africa, among his fons) did give the land now inhabited by 
 that people ; that this divifion fo made was not capable of fubdivifions ; 
 and that this man is by a true and uninterrupted fucceflion defcended from 
 the firft and eldeft line of that progenitor ; and all fails, if every one of 
 thefe points be not made good. If there never was any fuch man who had 
 that right, it cannot be inherited from him. If by the fame rule that a 
 parcel cjf the world was allotted to him, that parcel might be fubdivided 
 am.ongft his children as they increafcd, the fubdivifions may be infinite, 
 and the right of dominion thereby deftroyed. If feveral nations inhabit 
 the fame land, they owe obedience to feveral fathers : that which is due 
 to their true fiither, cannot be rendered to him that is not fo ; for he would 
 by that means be deprived of the right which is infeparably annexed to 
 his perfon : and laftly, whatever the right of an heir may be, it can 
 belong only to him that is heir. 
 
 Left any ftiould be feduced from thefe plain truths by frivolous fug- 
 geftions,' it is good to confider, that the title of " pater patriae," with 
 v.'hich our author would cheat us, has no relation to the matters of right, 
 upon which we difpute. It is a figurative fpeech, that may have been 
 rightly enough applied to fome excellent princes, on account of their care 
 and love to th.eir people, refembling that of a father to his children ; and 
 can relate to none but thofe who had it. No man that had common fenfe, 
 or valued truth, did ever call Phalaris, Dionyfius, Nabis, Nero, or Cali- 
 gula, fathers of their countries ; but monfters, that to the utmoft of their 
 power endeavoured their deftruflion. Which is enough to prove that 
 facred name cannot be given to all, and in ccjnfcquence to none but fuch, 
 as by their virtue, piety, and good government, do dcfcrvc it. 
 
 Thefe
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 31 
 
 Thefe matters will yet appear more evident, if it be conficlercd, that sect. 14 
 tliough Noah had reigned as a king, that Zoroafler, as feme luppofe, v/as 
 Ham, who reigned over his children, and that thereby fomc right might 
 perhaps be derived to fuch as fiicceeded them, yet this can have no in- 
 fluence upon fuch as have not the like original ; and no man is to be prc- 
 fumed to have it, till it be proved, fmce we have proved that many had 
 it not. If Nimrod fet himfelf up againft his grandfather, and if Ninus, who 
 was defcended from him in the fifth generation, flew him, they ill de- 
 ferved the name and rights of Withers ; and none, but thofe who have re- 
 nounced all humanity, virtue, and common fenfe, can give-it to them, or 
 their fucceifors. If therefore Noah and Shem had not fo much as the 
 fhadow of regal power, and the adions of Nimrod, Ninus, and others, 
 who were kings in their times, fhew they did not reign in the right of 
 fathers, but were fet up in a diredt oppofition to it, the titles of the firfl 
 kings were not from paternity, nor confiflent with it. 
 
 Our author therefore, who fhould have proved every point, does neither 
 prove any one, nor alfert that which is agreeable to divine or human ftorv 
 as to matter of fail, or indeed conformable to common fenfe. It does not 
 only appear contrary to his general propofitlon, that all governments have- 
 not begun v/ith the paternal power j but we do not find, that any ever did. 
 They who, according to his rules, fhould have been lords of the whole 
 earth, lived and died private men, whilfi: the moft wicked and boiflerous of 
 their children commanded the greateft part of the then inhabited world, 
 not excepting even thofe countries where they fpent and ended their days ; 
 and Inftead ox entering upon the governm.ent by the right of fathers, or 
 managing it as fathers, they did by the moft outrageous injuftice ufurp a 
 violent domination over their brethren and fathers. 
 
 It may eafily be imagined what the right is, that could be thus acquired, 
 and tranfmitted to their fuccellbrs. Neverthelefs our author fays, " all 
 " kings either are, or ought to be reputed 'next heirs, &c." But why 
 reputed, if they are not ? How could any of the accurfed race of Ham be 
 reputed father of Noah or Shem, to whom he was to be a fcrvant ? How 
 could Nimrod and Ninus be reputed fathers of Ham, and of thofe whom 
 they ought to have obeyed ? Can reafon oblige me to believe that which I 
 know to be falfe ? Can a lie, that is hateful to God and good men, not 
 only be excufed, but injoined, when (as he will perhaps fiy) it is for the 
 king's fervice ? Can I ferve two mafters, or, without the moft iinpardon- 
 able injuftice, 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 received any good ? If this be fo abfurd, that no 
 man dares affirm it in the perfon of any, it is as prepofterous in relation 
 to his heirs : for Nimrod the firft king could be heir to no man as king, 
 and could tranfmit to no man a right which he had not. . If it was ridicu- 
 lous and abominable to fay, that he was father of Cufti, Ham, Shem, 
 and Noah, it is as ridiculous to fay, he had the right of father, if he was 
 not theu- father ; or that his fuccefTors inherited it from him, if he never- 
 had;
 
 32 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAT. I had it. If there be any way through tills, it mufl have accrued to hhn by 
 the extu-pation of all his elders, and their races ; fo that he, who will 
 affert this pretended right to have been in the Babylonian kings, muft 
 aflert, that Noah, Shem, Japhet, Ham, Cufh, and all Nimrod's elder 
 brothers, with all their defcendents, were utterly extirpated before he 
 began to reign ; and that all mankind were defcended from him. 
 
 This muft be, if Nimrod, as the Scripture fays, was the firft that became 
 mighty in the earth ; unlefs men might be kings, without having more 
 power than others for Cuili, Ham, and .Noah, were his elders and pro- 
 genitors in the dired line ; and all the fons of Shem and Japhet, and their 
 defcendents in the collaterals, were to be preferred before him ; and he 
 could have no right at all, that was not diredly contrary to thofe principles, 
 which, our author fays, are grounded upon the eternal and indifpenfable 
 laws of God and nature. The like may be faid of the feventy two heads 
 of colonies, which (following, as I fuppofe. Sir Walter Raleigh) he fays, 
 %vent out to people the earth, and whom he calls kings : for, according to 
 the fame rule, Noah, Shem, and Japhet, with their defcendents, could 
 not be of the number ; fo that neither Nimrod, nor the others that efta- 
 bliflied the kingdoms of the world, and from whence he thinks all the reft 
 to be derived, could have any thing of juilice in them, unlefs it were from 
 a root altogether inconfiftent with his principles. They are therefore falfe, 
 or the eftabllfliments before-mentioned 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 falfe : having none, they could tranlmit 
 none to their heirs and fucceflbrs. And if we are to believe, that all the 
 kingdoms of the earth are eftabliflied upon this paternal right, it muft be 
 proved, that all thofe, who in birth ought to have been preferred before 
 Nimrod, and the feventy two, were extirpated ; or that the firft and true heir 
 of Noah did afterwards abollfh all thefe unjuft ufurpations ; and, making 
 himfelf mafter of the whole, left it to his heirs, in whom it continues to 
 this day. When this is done, I will acknowledge the foundation to be well 
 laid, and admit of all that can be rightly built upon it ; but if this fails, 
 all fails : the poifon of the root continues ■ in the branches. If the right 
 heir be not in pofleffion, he is not the right who is in pofleffion : If the 
 true heir be known, he ought to be reftored to his right : if he be not 
 known, the right muft periih : for nothing can be faid 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 conclufion will continue unmoveable, though the di- 
 vifipn into feventy two kingdoms were allov/ed ; which cannot be without 
 dellroying the paternal power, or fubjeding it to be fubdividcd into as many 
 parcels as there are men, which dcftroys regality ; for the fiime thing may 
 be required in every one of the diftindl kingdoms, and others derived from 
 them. Wc muft know who was that true heir of Noah, that recovered 
 all ; liow, when, and to whom he gave the feveral portions ; and that 
 every one of tliem do continue in the pofTefTion 'of thofe, who by this pre- 
 rogative of binli arc ralfed above the reft of mankind ; and if they arc nor, 
 
 it
 
 DI-SCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 35 
 
 it is an impious folly to repute them fo, to the prejudice of thofe that are ; sect, i 5 
 and if they do not appear, to the prejudice of all mankind ; who, heing 
 equal, are thereby made fubjed: to them. For as truth is the rule of 
 juftice, there can be none, when he is reputed fuperior to all who is cer- 
 tainly inferior to ■ ■ • ' 
 
 [In- this place two pages are wanting in the original manufcript.] 
 
 —degenerated from that rcafon which diftinguilhes men from beafls. 
 Though it may be fit to uie fome ceremonies, before a man be admitted to 
 pradliie phyiic, or fet up a trade, it is his own fldll that makes him a 
 tlodtor, or an artificer ; and others do but declare it. An afs will not leave 
 his ftupidity, though he be covered with fcarlet ; and he, that is by nature 
 a flave, will be fo ilill, though a crown be put upon his head. And it is 
 hard to imagine a more violent inverfion of the laws of God and nature, 
 than to raife him to the throne, whom nature intended for the chain ; or to 
 make them ilaves to fiaves, whom God hath endowed with the virtues re- 
 quired in kings. Nothing can be more prepofterous, than to impute to 
 God the frantic domination, which is often exercifed by wicked, foolifl-i, 
 and vile perfons, over the wife, valiant, juft, and good ; or to fubjed the 
 beft to the rage of the worft. If there be any family therefore in the world, 
 which can by the law of God and nature, diftinil from the ordinance of 
 man, pretend to an hereditary right of dominion over any people, it muft 
 be one that never did, and never can produce any perfon, who is not free 
 from all the infirmities and vices, which render him unable to exercife the 
 fovereign power ; and is endowed with all the virtues required to that end ; 
 or at leaft a promife from God, verified by experience, that the next in 
 blood fhall ever be able and fit for that work. But fince we do not know, 
 that any fuch has yet appeared in the world, we have no reafon to believe, 
 that there is, or ever was any fuch ; and confequently none, upon w^hom 
 God has conferred the rights that cannot be exercifed without them. 
 
 If there was no fhadow of a paternal right in the inftitution of the 
 kingdoms of Saul and David, there could be none in thofe that fucceeded. 
 Rehoboam could have no other than from Solomon. When he reigned 
 over two tribes, and Jeroboam over ten, it is not poflible, that both of 
 them could be the next heir of their lafl: common father Jacob ; and it is 
 abfurd to fay, that ought to be reputed, which is impoffible : for our 
 thoughts are ever to be guided by truth, or fuch an appearance of it, as 
 does periuade or convince us. 
 
 The fame title of flither is yet more ridiculoufly or odioufly applied to the 
 fucceeding kings. Baafha had no other title to the crown, than by killing 
 Nadab the fon of Jeroboam, and deftroying his family. Zimri purchafed 
 the fame honour by the {laughter of Elah when he was drunk ; and dealing 
 with the houie of Baalha, as he had done with that of Jeroboam. Zimri,. 
 burning himfelf, transferred the fame to Omri, as a reward for bringing 
 him to that extremity. As Jehu was more fierce than thefe, he feems to 
 
 F have
 
 34 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. I have gained a more excellent recompence than any fince Jeroboam, even a 
 conditional promife of a perpetual kingdom ; but falling from thefe glorious 
 privileges, purchafed by his zeal in killing two wicked kings, and above one 
 hundred of their brethren, Shallum mufi: have inherited them, by deftroy- 
 ing Zechariah and all that remained of his race. This in plain Englifli is 
 no lefs than to fay, that whoever kills a king, and invades a crown, though 
 the aiSt and means of accomplilhing it be ever fo deteftable, does thereby 
 become father of his country, and heir of all the divine privileges annexed 
 to that glorious inheritance. And though I cannot tell w^hether fuch a 
 do(flrine be more fottilh, monftrous, or impious, I dare afhrm, that if it 
 were received, no king in the world could think hlmfelf fafc in his throne 
 for one day. They are already encompafTed with many dangers ; but left 
 pride, avarice, ambition, luft, rage, and all the vices that ufually reign in 
 the hearts of w^orldly men, ihould not be fufHcient to invite them perpe- 
 tually to difturb mankind, through the defire of gaining the power, riches, 
 and iplendor, that accompany a crown, our author propofes to them the 
 moft facred privileges, as a reward of the mofl. execrable crimes. He that 
 was ftirred up only by the violence of his own nature, thought that a king- 
 dom could never be bought at too dear a rate : 
 
 — " Pro regno velim 
 
 " Patriam, penates, conjugem flammis dare : 
 
 *' Imperia prctio quolibet conflant bene*." 
 But if the facred character of God's anointed or vicegerent, and father of a 
 country, were added to the other advantages that follow the highefl for- 
 tunes, the moft modeft and juft men would be filled with fury, that they 
 might attain to them. Nay, it may be, even the beft would be the moli 
 forward in confpiring againft fuch as reign. They, who could not be 
 tempted w^ith external pleafures, would be moft in love with divine privi- 
 leges ; and fince they Ihould become the facred minifters of God, if they 
 fucceeded, and traitors or rogues only if they mifcarried, their only care 
 would be fo to lay their defigns, that they might be furely executed. This 
 is a doctrine worthy of Filmer's invention, and Heylin's approbation ; 
 which, being well weighed, will ftiew to all good and juft kings, how fau 
 they are obliged to thole, who, under pretence of advancing their authority, 
 fill the minds of men with fuch notions as are fo defperately pernicious to 
 them. 
 
 * The words of Polynices. Senec, Theb. vcrf, ult.
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 35 
 
 SECTION XVI 
 
 THE ANTIRNTS CHOSE THOSE TO BE KINGS, WHO EXCELLED IN 
 THE VIRTUES THAT ARE IMOST BENEFICIAL TO CIVIL SOCIETIES. 
 
 If the Ifraelites, wliofe lawgiver was God, had no kuig in the firft inflitu-" 
 tion of their government, it is no wonder that other nations fhould not 
 think themfelves obliged to fet up any. If they who came all of one flock, 
 and knew their genealogies, when they did inftitute kings, had no regard 
 to our author's chimerical right of inheritance, nor were taught by God 
 or his prophets to have any, it is not llrange, that nations, who did not 
 know their own original, and who probably, if not certainly, came of 
 feveral flocks, never put themfelves to the trouble of feeking one, who by 
 his birth deferved to be preferred before others. And various changes 
 happening in all kingdoms, (whereby in procefs of time the crowns were 
 tranfported into divers families, to which the right of inheritance could 
 not without the utmofl impiety and madnefs be imputed) fuch a fancy 
 certainly could only enter into the heads of fools ; and we know of none 
 fo foolifh as to have harboured it. 
 
 The Grecians, among others who followed the light of reafon, knew 
 no other original title to the government of a nation than that wifdom, 
 valour, and juflice, which was beneficial to the people. Thefe qualities 
 gave beginning to thofe governments, which we call " heroum regna ;"^ 
 and the veneration paid to fuch as enjoyed them, proceeded from a grateful 
 fenfe of the good received from them. They were thought to be dei'cendcd 
 from the gods, who in virtue and beneficence furpaffed other men. The 
 fnne attended their defcendents, till they came to abufe their power, and 
 by their vices iliewed themfelves like to, or worfe than others. Thole 
 nations did not feek the mofl antient, but the mofl worthy ; and thought 
 fuch only worthy to be preferred before others, who could befl 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 think- 
 ing 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 defire to know, whether the Heraclidae, or the Acacldae were, or ought 
 to be, reputed fathers of the Lacedemonians ; for if the one were, the other 
 were not. 
 
 The fame method was followed in Italy ; and they, who cfleemed them- 
 felves Aborigines '*, could not fet 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 efleemed 
 themfelves equal, could have no reafon to prefer any one, unlefs he were 
 
 ■Qiii rupto robore nati. 
 
 Compofitive luto, nullos habuere parentes. Juv. Sat. 6, 1. 13 
 
 F 2 dif^inguilhed
 
 36 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. I diftinguifhed from others by the virtues that were beneficial to all. This 
 may be illuflrated by matters of fadt. Romulus and Remus, the fons of a 
 Nun, conftuprated, as is probable, by a lufty foldier, who was faid to be 
 Mars, for their vigour and valour were made heads of a gathered people. 
 We know not that ever they had any children ; but we are fure they 
 could not be fathers of the people that flocked to them from feveral places, 
 nor in any manner be reputed heirs of him or them that were fo ; for they 
 never knew who was their own father ; and when their mother came to be 
 difcovered, they ought to have been fubjeils to Amulius, or, when they 
 had killed him, to Numitor. They could not be his heirs whilft he lived, 
 and were not when he died. The government of the Latins continued at 
 Alba, and Romulus reigned over thofe who joined with him in building 
 Rome. The power, not coming to him by inheritance, muft have been 
 gained by force, or conferred upon him by coni'ent. It could not be ac- 
 quired by force ; for one man could not force a multitude of fierce and valiant 
 men, as they appear to have been. It muft therefore have been by confent : 
 and when he aimed at more authority than they were willing to allow, 
 they flew him. He being dead, they fetched Numa from among the 
 Sabines. He was not their father, nor heir to their father, but a ftranger ; 
 not a conqueror, but an unarmed philofopher. Tullus Hoftllius had no 
 other title. Ancus Martins was no way related to flich as had reigned. 
 The firft Tarquin was the fon of a baniflied Corinthian. Servius Tullius 
 came to Rome in the belly of his captive mother, and could inherit nothing 
 but chains from his vanquiflied father. Tarquin the Proud murthered 
 him, and firft took upon himfelf the title of king, " fine juflu populi *." 
 If this murder and ufurpation be called a conqueft, and thought to create 
 .1 right, the eff^e£t will be but fmall : the conqueror was foon conquered, 
 baniflied, and his fons flain, after which we hear no more of him, or his 
 defcendents. Whatever he gained from Servius, or the people, was foon 
 loft, and did accrue to thole that conquered and ejeflied him ; and they 
 might retain what was their own, or confer it upon one or more, in fucb 
 manner and meafure as beft pleafed themfelves. If the regal power, which 
 our author fays was in the confuls, could be divided into two parts, limited 
 to a year, and fufi^er ftich reftridlions as the people pleafed to lay upon it, 
 they might have divided it into as many parcels, and put it into fuch form, 
 as beft fuited with their inclinations ; and the feveral magiftracies which 
 they did create for the exercife of the kingly, and all other powers, flicws 
 they were to give account to none but themfelves. 
 
 The Ifraelites, Spartans, Romans, and others, who thus framed their 
 governments according to their own will, did it not by any peculiar privi« 
 lege, but by a univerfal right conferred upon them by Cod and nature. 
 They were made of no better clay than others ; they had no right, that 
 does not as well belong to other nations : that is to fay, the conftitution of 
 every government is referred to thofe who are concerned in it, and na 
 other has any thinjj to do v.'ith it. 
 
 * Liv. ]. i, c. 49 Yet
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT Z7 
 
 Yet if it be aiTcrted, that the government of Rome was paternal, or they sfiCT. i6 
 had none at all, I dclire to know, how they came to have fix fathers of 
 feveral families, whilft they Hved under kings ; and two or more new 
 ones every year afterwards ; or how they came to be fo excellent in virtue 
 and fortune, as to conquer the beft part of the world, if they had no 
 government. Hobbes indeed doth fcurriloufly deride Cicero, Plato and 
 Ariftotle, " caeterofque Romanae & Graecae anarchiae fautores." But it is 
 ftrange, that this anarchy, which he refembles to a chaos, full of darknefs 
 and confufion, that can have no flrength or regular a:£tion, fhould over- 
 throw all the monarchies that came within its reach, *' if (as our author 
 " fays) the befl order, greateft flrength, and moft liability, be in them.'* 
 It muft therefore be confefled, that thefe governments are, in their various 
 forms, rightly inflituted by feveral nations, without any regard to inhe- 
 ritance ; or that thefe nations have had no governments, and were more 
 ftrong, virtuous, and happy, without government, than imder it ; which 
 is mofl: abfurd. 
 
 But if governments arife from the confent of men, and are inftituted by 
 men according to their own inclinations, they do therein feek their own 
 good ; for the will is ever drawn by fome real good, or the appearance of 
 it. This is that which man feeks by all the regular or irregular motions of 
 his mind. Reafon and paflion, virtue and vice, do herein concur, though 
 they differ vaftly in the objefts, in which each of them thinks this good 
 to confift, A people therefore that fets up kings, didlators, confuls, pre- 
 tors, or emperors, does it not, that they may be great, glorious, rich, or 
 happy, but that it may be well with themfelves, and their pofterity. This 
 is not accomplifhed fimply by fetting one, a few, or more men in the • 
 adminiftration of powers, but by placing the authority in thofe who may 
 rigidly perform their office. This is not every man's work : valour, in- ' 
 tegiity, wifdom, induftry, experience, and fkill, are required for the 
 management of thofe military and civil affairs that neceflarily fall under 
 the care of the chief magiftrates. He or they therefore may reafonably be 
 advanced above their equals, who are mod: fit to perform the duties belong- 
 ing to their ftations, in order to the public good, for which they were 
 inflituted. 
 
 Marius, Sylla, Catiline, Julius or Odlavius Caefar, and all thofe who 
 by force or fraud ufurped a dominion over their brethren, could have no 
 title to this right ; much lefs could they become fathers of the people, by 
 ufing all the moft wicked means that could v/ell be imagined to deftroy 
 them ; and not being regularly chofen for their virtues, or the opinion of 
 them, nor preferred on account of any prerogative that had been from the 
 beginning annexed to their families, they could have no other right than, 
 occuoation could confer upon them. If this can confer a right, there is an 
 end of all difputes concerning the laws of God or man. If Julius and 
 Odavius Caefar did fucceff.vely become lords and fathers of their coun- 
 try, by flaughtering almoll all the fenate, and fuch perfons as were emi- 
 nent for nobility or virtue, together with the greater part of the people, it 
 
 I cannot
 
 SS DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. I cannot be denied, that a thief, who breaks into his neighbour's houfe, 
 and kills him, is juftly mafter of his eftate ; and may exadl the fame 
 obedience from his childreji, that they render to their father. If this right 
 could be transferred to Tiberius, either through the malice of Ocflavius, 
 or the fraud of his wife ; a wet blanket laid over his face, and a few 
 corrupted foldiers, could inveft Caligula with the fame. A vile rafcal, 
 pulling Claudius out by the heels from behind the hangings, where he 
 had hid himfelf, could give it to him. A dilh of muflirooms well fea- 
 foned by the infamous ftrumpet his wife, and a potion prepared for Bri- 
 tnnnlcus by Locufta, could transfer it to her fon, who was a llranger to 
 his blood Galba became heir to it, by driving Nero to defpair and death. 
 Two common foldiers, by exciting his guards to kill him, could give a 
 juft title to the empire of the world to Otho, who was thought to be the 
 worfl: 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 confer 
 the dignity upon Vitellius ; and ifVefpafian, caufmg him to be killed, 
 and thrown into a jakes lefs impure than his life, did inherit all the glo- 
 rious and facred privileges belonging to that title, it is in vain to inquire 
 after any man's right to any thing. 
 
 But if there be fuch a thing as right or wrong to be examined by men, 
 and any rides fet, whereby the one may be diftinguiflied from the other, 
 thefe extravagancies can have no effed: of right. Such as commit them 
 are not to be looked upon as fathers, but as the moft mortal enemies of 
 their refpedlive countries. No right is to be acknowledged in any, but 
 fuch as is conferred upon them by thofe who have the right of conferring, 
 and are concerned in the exercife of the power, upon fuch conditions as 
 beft pleafe themfelves. No obedience can be due to him or them, who 
 have not a right of commanding, which cannot reafonably be conferred 
 upon any, that are not efteemcd willing and able rightly to execute it. 
 This ability to perform the higheft work that comes within the reach of 
 men, and integrity of will not to be diverted from it by any temptation, 
 or confideration of private advantages, comprehending all that is mcft 
 commendable in man, we may ealily lee, that whenever men aO. accord- 
 ing to the law of their own nature, which is reafon, they can have no 
 other rule to diredl them in advancing one above another, than the opinion 
 of a man's virtue and ability, bell: to perform the duty inciuubent upon 
 him ; that is, by all means to procure the good of the people committed 
 to his charge. He is only lit to condudl a Ihip, who underftands the' art 
 of a pilot. When we are fick, we feek the afliftance of fuch as arc bcft 
 ikilled in phyfic. The command of an army is prudently conferred upon 
 him that has moll induftry, fkill, experience, and valour. In like man- 
 ner, he only can, according to the rules of nature, be advanced to the 
 dignities ot the world, who excels in the virtues required for the perform- 
 ance of the duties annexed to them ; for he only can anfwcr the end of 
 his inflitution. The law of every inftituted power is to accomplilh the 
 cad of its inllitution, as creatures are to do the will of their creator, and, 
 2 in
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 39 
 
 in defleding from it, overthrow their own being. Magidrates are diftin- SECT. l5 
 guiflied from other men, by the power with which the law inverts them 
 for the pubUc good : he that cannot or will not procure that good, dcftroyo 
 his own being, and becomes like to other men. In matters of the greatcll 
 importance, " detur digniori " is the voice of nature. All her moft facrcd 
 laws are perverted, if this be not obferved in the difpofition of govern- 
 ments ; and all are ncgle£led and violated, if they are not put into 
 the hands of fuch as excel in all manner of virtues ; for they only are 
 ■worthy of them, and they only can have a right who are worthy ; becaufc 
 they only can perform the end for which they are inflitutcd. I'liis may 
 feem ftrange to thofe, who have their heads infeded with Filmer's whim- 
 lies ; but to others, fo certainly grounded upon truth, that Bartolomeo de 
 las Cafas Bifliop of Chiapa, in a treatife written by him, and dedicated to 
 the emperor Charles the Vth, concerning the Indies, makes it the founda- 
 tion of all his difcourfe, that notwithftanding his grant of all thofe coun- 
 tries from the Pope, and his pretenhons to conqueft, he could have no 
 right over any of thofe nations, unlefs he did in the firft place, as the 
 principal end, regard their good. " The reafon," fays he, " is, that re- 
 " gard is to be had to the principal end and caufe, for which a fupreme 
 *' or univerfal lord is fet over them, which is their good and profit, and 
 " not that it ihould turn to their deftanStion and ruin ; for if that fliould 
 " be, there is no doubt but from thenceforward, that power would be 
 " tyrannical and unjuft, as tendmg more to the intereil and profit of that? 
 " lord, than to the public good and profit of the fubjefts ; which, accord-. 
 " ing to natural reafon, and the laws of God and man, is abhorred, and 
 " deferves to be abhorred *." And in another place, fpeaking of the 
 governors, who, abufing their power, brought many troubles and vexa- 
 tions upon the Indians, he fays, " they had rendered his majefty's govern- 
 *' ment intolerable, and his yoke infupportable, tyrannical, and moft 
 " juftly abhorred f." I do not allege this through an opinion, that a 
 Spanifh bilhop is of more authority than another man ; but to fhew, thai 
 thefe are common notions in which ail mankind are agreed ; and that the 
 greatefl: monarchs do neither refufe to hear them, or to regulate them- 
 felves according to them, till they renounce common fenfe, and degenerate 
 into beafts. 
 
 But if that government be unreafonable, and abhorred by the laws of 
 God and man, which is not inftituted for the good of thofe that live under 
 it; and an empire, grounded upon the donation of the Pope, whicli 
 
 * La razon es porque ficmpre fe ha de tener refpeto al fin y caufa final, por el qual, eP 
 tal fupremo y univerfal fennor fe les pone, que es fu bien y utilitad ; y a que no fe le con- 
 vierte el tal fupremo fennorio in danno, pcrnicie y deftruycion. Porque fi afli fuelTe, no ay 
 que dudar, que non dcfde entonees inclufivamente feria injuflo, tyrannico y iniquo tal 
 lenorio, come mas fe enderezafle al proprio intereffe y provecho del fennor, que al bien y 
 utilitad comun de los fubditos ; lo qual de la razon natural y de todas las leyes humanas y 
 divinas es abhorrecido y abhorrefcible. Bart, de las Cafas, deftr. de las Indias, pag. in. 
 
 f El yugo y governacion de vueftra niageftad importable, tyrannico y degno de todo 
 abhorrecimento. Pag. 167^ 
 
 amonglt
 
 40 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP, I amongft thofe of the Roman religion Is of gicat importance, and an entire 
 conqueft of the people, Avith whom there havi been no former compait, do 
 degenerate into a moft unjuft and deteflable tyranny, fo foor. as the fuprcme 
 lord begins to prefer his own interert or profit before the good of his fub- 
 jefts ; what fhall we fay of thofe who pretend to a right of dominion over 
 free nations, as infeparably united to their perfons, wi'Iiout diftindlion of 
 age or fex, or the leaft confideration of their infirmities and vices ; as if 
 they were not placed in the throne for the good of iheir people,, but to 
 enjoy the honours and pleafures that attend the higlieft fortune ? What 
 name can be fit for thofe, who have no other title to the places they 
 poflefs, than the moft unjuft and violent ufurpation, or being defcended 
 from thofe, who for their virtues were, by the people's confent, duly ad- 
 vanced to the excrcife of a legitimate power ; and h;<ving fworn to admi- 
 nifter it, according to the conditions upon which it was given, for the 
 good of thofe who gave it, turn all to their own pleafure and profit, with- 
 out any care of the public ? Thefe may be liable to hard cenfures ; but 
 thofe, who ufe them moft gently, muft confefs, that fuch an extreme'devi- 
 ation from the end of their inftitution, annuls it ; and the vround thereby 
 given to the natural and original rights of thofe nations cannot be cured, 
 unlefs they refume the liberties, of which they have been deprived, and 
 return to the antient cuftom of choofmg thofe to be magiftrates, who ibr 
 their virtues beft deferve to be preferred before their brethren, and are 
 endowed with thofe qualities that beft enable men to perform the great 
 end of providing for the public fafety. 
 
 SECTION XVII 
 
 GOD, HAVING GIVEN THE GOVERNMENT OF THE WORLD TO NO 
 ONE MAN, NOR DECLARED HOW IT SHOULD BE DIVIDED, LEFT 
 
 IT TO THE WILL OF MAN. 
 
 Our author's next inquiry is, " What becomes of the right of fatherhood, 
 " in cafe the crown Ihould efcheat for want of an heir ? whether it doth 
 *' not then devolve to the people ? " His anfwer is, " it is but the negli- 
 *' gence or ignorance of the people, to lofe the knowledge of the true 
 " heir, &c." And a little below, " the power is not devolved to the 
 *' multitude : no, the kingly power efcheats to independent heads of 
 " families. All fuch prime heads have power to confent in uniting, or 
 *' conferring their fatherly right of fovereign authority on whom they 
 *' pleafc ; and he that is fo ele<fled, claims not his power as a donative 
 *' from the people, but as being fubftitutcd by God, from whom he rc- 
 " ceives his royal charter of univerfal father," &c. 
 
 In my opinion, before he had afked, what fliould be done " in cafe the 
 " crown ihould efcheat for want of un heir ? " he ought to have proved, 
 
 that
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 41 
 
 that there had been a man in the world, v^rho had the right in himfclf, SECT. 17 
 and, telling who he was, have flicwed how it had been tranl'mitted for 
 fome generations, that we might know where to feek his heir. And be- 
 fore he accufed the multitude of ignorance or negligence, in not knowing 
 this heir, he ought to have informed us, how it may be poffible to know 
 him, or what it would avail us if we did know him ; for it is in vain to 
 know to whom a right belongs, that never was, and never can be exe- 
 cuted. But we may go farther, and affirm, that as the univerfal right 
 mull have been in Noah and Shem, if in any, who never exercifed it, we 
 have reafon to believe there never was any fuch thing. And, having 
 proved from Scripture and human hiftory, that the firft kingdoms were fet 
 up in a diredl oppofition to this right, by Nimrod and others, he that 
 fhould feek and find their heirs, would only find thofe, who, by a mort 
 accurfcd wickednefs, had ufurped and continued a dominion over their 
 fathers, contrary to the laws of God and nature. And we fhould neither 
 be more wife, nor more happy, than we are, though our author fhould fur- 
 nifli us with certain and authentic genealogies, by which we might know 
 the true heirs of Nimrod, and the feventy two kings that went from Baby- 
 lon, who, as he fuppofes, gave beginning to all the kingdoms of the earth. 
 
 Moreover, if the right be univerfal, it muft be in one ; for the world 
 being but one, the whole right of commanding it cannot at the fame time 
 be in many, and proceed from the ordinance of God, or of man. It can- 
 not proceed from the ordinance of God ; for he does nothing in vain. He 
 never gave a right that could not be executed. No man can govern that 
 which he does not fo much as knoM^ No man did ever know all the 
 world : no man therefore did or could govern it ; and none could be ap- 
 pointed by God to do that which is ablblutely impoffible to be done ; for 
 it could not confift with his wifdom. We find this in ourfelves. It were 
 a fliame for one of us poor, weak, fliort-fighted creatures, in the difpofal 
 of our affairs, to appoint fuch a method, as were utterly ineffe(£lual for 
 the prefervation of our families, or deftrudtive to them ; and the blafphemy 
 of imputing to God fuch an ordinance, as would be a reproach to one of 
 us, can fuit only with the wicked and impudent fury of fuch as our au- 
 thor, who delights in monflers. This alio fhews us, that it cannot be 
 from men : one, or a few, may commit follies ; but mankind does not 
 univerfally commit, and perpetually perfift in any : they cannot there- 
 fore, by a general and permanent authority, enadl that which is utterly 
 abfurd and impoffible ; or if they do, they deftroy their own nature, and 
 can no longer deferve the name of reafonable creatures. There can be 
 therefore no fuch man, and the folly of feeking him, or his heir that never 
 was, may be left to the difciples of Filmcr. 
 
 The difficulties are as great, if it be faid, the world might be divided 
 into parcels, and we are to feek the heirs of the firft pofleflbrs. For be- 
 fides that no man can be obliged to feek that which cannot be found, all 
 men knowing, that " caliginofa node haec premit Deus *," and that the 
 
 * Hor. I. 3, Od, 29 
 
 G genea-
 
 4S DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. I genealogies of mankind are fo confufed, that, unlefs poflibly among the 
 Jews, we have reafon to believe there is not a man in the world who 
 knows his own original, it could be of no advantage to us, though •we 
 knew that of every one ; for the divifion would be of no value, unlefs it 
 were at the firft rightly made by him who had all the authority in himfelf, 
 which does no where appear, and rightly deduced to him, who, according 
 to that divifion, claims a right to the parcel he enjoyv. And I fear our 
 author would terribly fhake the crowns, in which the nations of Europe 
 are concerned, if they fhould be perfuaded to fearch into the genealogies 
 of their princes, and to judge of their rights according to the proofs they 
 fhould give of titles rightly deduced by fucceffion of blood from the feventy 
 two firft kings, from whom our author fancies all the kingdoms of the 
 world to be derived. 
 
 Befides, though this were done, it would be to no purpofe ; for the 
 feventy two were not fent out by Noah ; nor was he, or his fons, of that 
 number ; but they went, or were fent from Babylon, where Nimrod reign- 
 ed, who, as has been already proved, neither had nor could have any right 
 at all ; but was a mighty hunter, even a proud and cruel tyrant, ufurping 
 a power to which he had no right, and which was perpetually exercifed 
 by him and his fucceflbrs againft God and his people. From whence, I 
 may fafely conclude, no right can ever be derived. And this conclufion, 
 I may juftly prefume, will be denied by none who are of better morals, 
 and of more found principles, in matters of law and religion, than Filmer 
 and Heylin ; fince it is no lefs abfurd to deduce a right from him that had 
 none, than to expert pure and wholefome waters from a filthy, polluted, 
 and poifonous fountain. 
 
 If it be pretended, that fome other man fince Noah had this univerfal 
 right, it muft either remain in one fingle perfon, as his right heir, or be 
 divided. If in one, I defire to know who he is, and where we may find 
 him, that the empire of the world may be delivered to him. But if he 
 cannot be found, the bufinefs is at an end ; for every man in the world 
 may pretend himfelf to be the perfon ; and the infinite controverfies arifing 
 thereupon can never be decided, unlefs either the genealogies of every one 
 from Noah were extant and proved, or we had a word from heaven,- with- 
 a fufficient teftimony of his miffion who announces it. When this is 
 done, it will be time to confider what kind of obedience is due to this 
 wonderfully happy and glorious perfon. But while the firft appears to be 
 abfolutely impolfible, and we have no promife or reafon to expedl the 
 other, the propofition is to be efteemed one of our author's empty whim- 
 fies, which cannot be received by mankind, unlefs they come all to be 
 pofieflcd with an epidemical madnefs, which would caft them into that 
 which Hobbes calls " bcllum omnium contra omncs ;" when every man's 
 iword would be drawn againft every man, if God Ihould fo abandon the 
 world to fuffcr them to fall into fiich mifcry. 
 
 If this pretended right be divided, it concerns us to know by wiiom, 
 
 when, how, or to whom, for the divifion cannot be of any value, imleis 
 
 I the
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 43 
 
 tlie riglit was originally in one ; that he did exerclfe this right in making SECT. 17 
 the diviilon ; that the parcels into which the world is divided arc accord- 
 ing to the allotment that was made; and that the pcrfons claiming them 
 by virtue of it are the true heirs of thofe to whom they were firfl: granted. 
 Many other difficulties may be alleged no lefs inextricable than thefe; 
 but this Teeming fufficient for the prefcnt, I fhall not trouble myfelf 
 with more, promiling that, when they fhall be removed, I will propofc 
 others, or, confeffing my errors, yield up the caufe. 
 
 But if the dominion of the whole world cannot belong to any one man, 
 and every one has an equal title to that which Ihould give it; or if it did 
 belong to one, none did ever exercife it in governing the whole, or 
 dividing '.t ; or if he did divide it, no man knows how, when, and to 
 whom ; fo that they, who lay claim to any parcels, can give no teftimony 
 of that divifion, nor fhew any better title than other men derived from 
 his firll progenitor, to whom it is faid to have been granted ; and that 
 we have neither a word, nor the promife of a word, from God to decide 
 tlie controverfies arifmg thereupon, nor any prophet giving teflimony of 
 his miffion that takes upon him to do it, the Avhole fabric of our author's 
 patriarchal dominion falls to the ground. And they who propofe thefe 
 dodlrines, which, if they were received, would be a root of perpetual 
 and irreconcilable hatred in every man againft every man, can be accounted 
 no lefs than minifters of the devil, though they want the abilities he has 
 fometimes infufed into thofe who have been employed on the like occa- 
 fions. And we may juflly conclude, that, God having never given the 
 whole world to be governed by one man, nor prefcribed any rule for the 
 divifion of it, nor declared where the right of dividing or fubdividing 
 that v\'hich every man has fhould terminate, the whole is for ever left 
 to the will and difcretion of man. We may enter into, form, and 
 continue in, greater or lefs focieties, as bell; pleafes ourfelves. 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 
 fenfe of the benefits of birth and education, have their root in gratitude, 
 and are efleemed ficred and inviolable by all that are fober and vir- 
 tuous. And as it is impoffible to transfer thefe benefits by inheritance, 
 fo it is impoffible to transfer the rights arifing from them. No man 
 can be my father, but he that did beget me; and it is as abfurd to 
 fay I owe that duty to one who is not my father, which I owe to my 
 father, as to fay, he did beget me, who did not beget me : for the obli- 
 gation that arifes from benefits can only be to him that conferred therh. It 
 is in vain to fay the fame is due to his heir ; for that can take place only 
 when he has but one, which in this cafe fignifies nothing. For if I, being 
 ihe only fon of my father, inherit his right, and have the fame power 
 'OA'er my children as he had over me, if I had one hundred brothers, they 
 Tiiuft all inherit the fame ; and the law of England, which acknowledges 
 -one only heir, is not general, but municipal ; and is fo far from being 
 general, as the precept of God and nature, that I doubt whether it was 
 
 G 2 ever
 
 44 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. I ever known or ufed in any nation of the world beyond our ifland. The 
 words of the apoftle, " if we are children, we are therefore heirs and 
 " co-heirs with Chrift," are the voice of God and nature ; and as the 
 univerfal law of God and nature is always the iaiBe, every one of us who 
 have children have the fame right over them, as Abraham, Ifaac, and 
 Jacob, had over theirs ; and that right which was not devolved to any 
 one of them, but inherited by them all (I mean the right of father as father, 
 not the peculiar promifes, which were not according to the law of nature,, 
 but the eled:ion of grace) is alfo inherited by every one of us, and ours, 
 that is, by all mankind. But if that which could be inherited was in- 
 herited by all, and it be i^npofTible that a right of dominion over all caa 
 ' be due to every one, then[all that is or can be inherited by every one is 
 • that exemption from the dominion of another, w^hich we call liberty, and 
 , is the gift of God and nature. "; 
 
 SECTION xvm 
 
 IF A RIGHT OF DOMINION WERE ESTEEMED HEREDITARY AC- 
 CORDING TO THE LAW OF NATURE, A MULTITUDE OF DE- 
 STRUCTIVE AND INEXTRICABLE CONTROVERSIES WOULD 
 
 THEREUPON ARISE. 
 
 There being no fuch thing therefore, according to the law of nature, as art 
 hereditary right to the dominion of the world, or any part of it, nor any 
 one man that can derive to himfelf a title from the firil fathers of mankind, 
 by which he can rightly pretend to be preferred before others to that com- 
 mand, or a part of it, and none can be derived from Nimrod, or other 
 ufurpers, who had none in themfelves, we may juftly fpare our pains of 
 feeking farther into that matter. But as things of the highefl: importance 
 can never be too fully explained, it may not be amifs to obferve, that if 
 mankind could be brought to believe, that fuch a right of dominion were 
 by the law of God and nature hereditary, a great number of the mod de- 
 ffru£tive and inextricable controverfies muft thereupon arife, which the 
 wifdom and goodnefs of God can never injoin, and nature, which is rea- 
 fon, can never intend. At prefent I Ihall only mention two, from whence 
 others muft perpetually fpring, Firft, if there be fuch a law, no human 
 conftitution can alter it ; no length of time can be a defence againft it ; ;dl 
 governments that are not conformable to it are vicious and void, even in 
 their root, and muft be fo for ever : that which is originally unjuft may be 
 juftly overthrown. We do not know of any, at leaft in that part of the 
 world in wliich we are moft concerned, that is eftablilhed, or exercilcd 
 with fuch an abfolute power, as by the authors of thofe opinions is eftecmed 
 infcparable from it : many, as the empire, and other ftatcs, are diredlly 
 contrary ; and on that account can have no juftice in them. It being cer- 
 
 3 tain
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 45 
 
 tain therefore, that he or they, who exercife thofe governments, have no sECT.iS, 
 right ; that there is a man to whom it docs 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 govern- 
 ment may deftroy it, as well as he that has the greatefl ; for he neither has 
 that which God ordained he fhould have, nor can fhewa title to that which 
 he enjoys, from that original prerogative of birth, from whence it can only 
 be derived. 
 
 If it be faid, that fome governments are arbitrary, as they ought to bc» 
 and France, Turky, and the like be alleged as inftances, the matter is not 
 mended : for we do not only know when thofe, who dcl'erve to be regarded 
 by us, were not abfolute, and how they came to be fo ; but alfo, that thofe 
 very families which are now in poifeffion, are not of a very long continu- 
 ance, had no more title to the original right we fpeak of than any other 
 men, and confequently can have none to this day. And though we can- 
 not perhaps fay, that the governments of the barbarous eaftern nations 
 were ever other than they are, yet the known original of them deprives 
 them of all pretence to the patriarchal inheritance, and they may be a& 
 juftly as any other deprived of the power to which they have no title. 
 
 In the lecond place, though all mens genealogies were extant, and fully 
 verified, and it were allowed, that the dominion of the world, or every 
 part of it, did belong to the right heir of the firfl progenitor, or any other 
 to whom the firfl: did rightly afhgn the parcel, which is under queftion, 
 yet it were impoffible for us to know who fhould be efteemed the true heir, 
 or according to what rule he fliould be judged fo to be : for God hath not 
 by a precife word determined it, and men cannot agree about it, as appears 
 by the various laws and cufloms of feveral nations, difpofing feverally of 
 hereditary dominions. 
 
 It is a folly to fay, they ought to go to the next in blood ; for it is not 
 known who is that next. Some give the preference to him, who among 
 many competitors is the fcweft degrees removed from their common pro- 
 genitor who firft obtained the crown. Others look only upon the lafl that 
 poflefled it. Some admit of reprefentation, by which means the grand- 
 child of a king by his eldeft fon is preferred before his fecond fon, he 
 being faid to reprefent his dead father, who was the eldeft. Others ex- 
 clude thefe, and advance the younger fon, who is nearer by one degree to 
 the common progenitor that laft enjoyed the crown, than the grandchild. 
 According to the firft rule, Richard the fecond v/as advanced to the crown 
 of England, as fon of the eldeft fon of Edward the third, before his uncles, 
 who by one degree were nearer to the laft pofleflbr. And in purfuance of 
 the fecond, Sancho furnamed the Brave, fecond fon of Alphonfo the Wife^ 
 king of Caftile, was preferred before Alphonfo fon of Ferdinand his elder 
 brother, according to the law of thaneftry, which was in force in Spain, 
 ever fince we have had any knowledge of that country, as appears by the 
 conteft between Corbis and Orfua, decided by combat before Scipio Afri- 
 
 canus^
 
 46 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CFIAP, r canus *, continued in flill force as long as the kingdom of the Goths lafled, 
 and was ever highly valued, till the houfe of Aulkia got polleflion of that 
 country, and introduced laws and cufloms formerly unknown to the 
 inhabitants. 
 
 The hlftories of all nations furnifh us with innumerable examples of 
 both forts. And whoever takes upon him to determine which fide is in 
 the right, ought to fliew by what authority he undertakes to be the judge 
 of mankind, and how the infinite breaches thereby made upon the rights 
 of the governing families fliall be cured, without the overthrow of thole 
 that he Ihall condemn, and of the nations where fuch laws have been 'n 
 force as he dillikes : and till that be done, in my opinion, no place will 
 afford a better lodging for him, that fiiall impudent^y alTume fuch a power, 
 than the new buildings in Moor-fields. 
 
 It is no lels hard to decide, whether ihis next heir is to be fought in the 
 male line only, or whether females alio may be admitted. If we follow the 
 firfl as the law of God and nature, the title of our Englilh kings is wholly 
 aboliihed ; for not one of them, iince Henry the firft, has had the leaf!: 
 pretence to an inheritance by the malculine line ; and if it were ncceffary, 
 we have enough to fay of thofe that were before him. 
 
 If it be faid, that the fame right belongs to females, it ought to be pro- 
 ved, that women are as fit as men to perform the office of a king, that is, 
 as the Ifi-aelites faid to Samuel, to go in and out before us, to judge us, 
 and to fight our battles ; for it were an impious folly to fay, that God had 
 ordained thofe for the oflices on which the good of mankind fo much de- 
 pends, who by nature are unable to perform the duties of them. If, on 
 the other fide, the fweetnefs, gentlenefs, delicacy, and tendernefs of the 
 fex, render them fo unfit for manly exercifes, that they are accounted 
 utterly repugnant to, and inconfiftent with that modefty, which does fo 
 eminently Ihine in all thofe that are good among them, that law of nature 
 which fhould advance them to the government of men, would overthrow 
 its own work, and make thofe to be the heads of nations, which cannot 
 be the heads of private families : for, as the apoftle fays, " the woman 
 " is not the head of the man, but the man is the head of the woman.'* 
 This were no lefs than to oblige mankind to lay afide the name of reafon- 
 able creatures : for if reafon be his nature, it cannot injoin that which is 
 contrary to itfclf; if it be not, the definition " homo eft animal ration- 
 ale," is fiilfe, and ought no longer to be affumcd. 
 
 If any man think thefe arguments to be milUiken or mifapplied, I defire 
 him to inquire of the French nation, on what account they have always 
 excluded females, and fuch as defcended from them. How comes the 
 houfe of Bourbon to be advanced to the throne before a great number of 
 families that come from the daughters of the houfe of Valois .? Or what 
 
 'G^ 
 
 * Corbis et Orfua, patrueles fratres, de principatu civitatis, quam Ibem vocabant, amhi- 
 gentcs, ferro fc ccrtaturos profcfli funt. Corbis, qui major erat aetatc, iifu armorum et allu 
 facile llolidas vires minoris I'uperavit. Liv. 1. 28, c. 21. Val. Max. I. 9, c. 11. Sil. Ital, 
 I 16, V. 533 
 
 title
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 47 
 
 title could thoie have before the daughters of the other lines, dcfcendcd SECT. 18 
 
 from Hugh Capet, Pepin, Meroveus, or Pharamond ? I know not how 
 
 fuch queftions would be received; but I am inclined to think, that the 
 
 wickednefs and folly of thofc, who fliould thereby endeavour to overthrow 
 
 tlie moft ancient and moft venerated conftitutions of the greateft nations, 
 
 and by that means to involve them in the moft inextricable difficulties, 
 
 would be requited only with ftones. 
 
 It cannot be denied, that the moft valiant, wife, learned, and beft po- 
 liflied nations, have always followed the fame rule, though the weak and 
 barbarous adled otherwife * ; and no man ever heard of a queen, or a man 
 deriving his title from a female among the antient civilized nations. But if 
 this be not enough, the law of God, that wholly omits females, is fuffici- 
 ent to fliew, that nature, which is his handmaid, cannot advance them. 
 When God defcribes who fliould be the king of his people, if they would 
 have one, and how he fliould govern, no mention is made of daughters f. 
 The Ifraelites ofi'ered the kingdom to Gideon, and to his fons. God pro- 
 mifed, and gave it to Saul, David, Jeroboam, Jehu, and their fons. When 
 all of them, fave David, by their crimes fell from the kingdom, the males 
 only were extirpated, and the females, who had no part in the promifes, 
 did not fall under the penalties, or the vengeance that was executed upon 
 thofe families. And we do not, in the word of God, or in the hiftory of 
 the Jews, hear of any feminine reign, except that which was ufurped by 
 Athaliah ; nor that any confideration was had of their defcendants in rela- 
 tion to the kingdom : which is enough to fliew, 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 fuch as derive their right by inheritance from females, 
 muft have it from fome other law, or they can have none at all. 
 
 But though this queftion were authentically decided, and concluded, 
 that females might or might not fucceed, we fliould not be at the end of 
 our contefts. For if they were excluded, it would not from thence follow, 
 as in France, that their defcendants fliould be fo alfo ; for the privilege 
 which is denied to them, becaufe they cannot, without receding from the 
 modefty and gentlenefs of the fex, take upon them to execute all the 
 duties required, may be transferred to their children, as Henry the fecond, 
 and Henry the feventh, were admitted, though their mothers were rejedted. 
 
 If it befaid, that every nation ought in this to follow their own confti- 
 tutions, we are at an end of our controverfies ; for they ought not to be 
 followed, unlefs they are rightly made : they cannot be rightly made, if 
 they are contrary to the univerfal law of God and nature. If there be a 
 general rule, it is impoflible but fome of them, being diredlly contrary to 
 each other, muft be contrary to it. If therefore all of them are to be 
 followed, there can be no general law given to all ; but every people is by ' 
 God and nature left to the liberty of regulating thefe matters relating to 
 
 * Reginarumque fub armis 
 
 Barbariae pars magna jacet. — ■' - ■• Claud, in Eutrop, 1. i, v. 322 
 t Dcut. ch. 17 
 
 themfelves
 
 4S DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHA P. I ' diemfelves according to their own prudence or convenience : and this feems 
 to be fo certainly true, that whoever does, as our author, propofe dodtrines 
 to the contrary, muft either be thought rafhly to utter that which he does 
 not underftand, or maUcioufly to caft balls of divifion among all nations, 
 whereby every man's fword would be drawn againfl every man, to the 
 total fubverfion of all order and government. 
 
 SECTION XIX 
 
 KINGS CANNOT CONFER THE RIGHT OF FATHER UPON PRINCES, 
 
 NOR PRINCES UPON KINGS. 
 
 Left what has been faid before by our author fhould not be fufficient to 
 accompliih his defign of bringing confufion upon mankind, and fome may 
 yet lie ftill for want of knowing at whofe command he fhould cut his bro- 
 ther's throat, if he has not power or courage to fet up a title for himfelf, 
 he has a new project that would certainly do his work, if it were received. 
 Not content with the abfurdities and untruths already uttered in giving the 
 incommunicable right of fathers, not only to thofe, who, as is manifeftly 
 teftified by facred and profane hiftories, did ufurp a power over their fathers, 
 or fuch as owed no manner of obedience to them ; and juftifying thofe 
 ufurpations, which are moft odious to God, and all good men, he now 
 fancies a kingdom fo gotten may efcheat for want of an heir ; whereas 
 there is no need of feeking any, if ufurpation can confer a right ; and that 
 he who gets the power into his hands ought to be reputed the right heir of 
 the firft progenitor ; for fuch a one will feldom be wanting, if violence 
 and fraud be juftified by the command of God, and nations ftand obliged 
 to render obedience, till a ftronger or more fuccefsful villain throws him 
 fro:n the throne he had invaded. But if it fliould come to pafs that no 
 man would ftep into the vacant place, he has a new way of depriving the 
 people of their right to provide for the government of themfelves. " Be- 
 " caufe," lays he, " the dependency of antient families is oft obfcure or 
 " worn out of knowledge ; therefore the wifdom of all or moft princes 
 " has thought fit many times to adopt thofe for heads of families, and 
 " princes of provinces, whofe merits, abilities, or fortunes, have enno- 
 •' bled them, and made them fit and capable of fuch regal favours : all 
 " fuch prime heads and fathers have power to confent in the uniting or 
 " conferring of their fatherly right of fovercign authority on whom they 
 « pleafe, &c." 
 
 I may juftly aflc how any one or more families come to be eftcemed more 
 ancient than others, if all are defccnded from one common father, as the 
 Scriptures tcftify ; or to what purpofe it were to inquire what families 
 were the moft ancient, if there were any fuch, when the youngeft and 
 meaneft by ufurpation gets an abfolute right of dominion over the cldcft, 
 
 though
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 4') 
 
 though his own progenitors, as Nimrod did : but I may certainly conclude, SECT. 19 
 that whatever the right be, that belongs to thole ancient families, it is inhe- 
 rent in them, and cannot be conferred on any other by any human povvfcr; 
 for it proceeds from nature only, llie duty I owe to my father does not 
 ariie from an ufurped or delegated power, but from my birth derived from 
 him ; and it is as impoflible for any man to ufurp, or receive, by the grant 
 of another, the right of a father over me, as for him to become, or pre- 
 tend to be made my father by another who did not beget me. But if he 
 fay true, this right of father does not arife from nature ; nor the obedience 
 that I owe to him that begot me, from the benefits which I have received, 
 but is merely an artificial thing, depending upon the will of another : and 
 that we may be fure there can be no error in this, our author attributes it 
 to the wifdom of princes. But before this comes to be authentic, we 
 muft at the leail be fure that all princes have this great and profound wif- 
 dom, which our author acknowledges to be in them, and which is certainly 
 neceiTary for the doing of fuch great things, if they were referred to them.. 
 They feem to us to be born like other men, and to be generally no wifer 
 than otp.er men. We are not obliged to believe that Nebuchadnezzar v/as 
 v/ife, till God had given him the heart of a man ; or that his grandibn 
 Bclfliazzar, who being laid in the balance vvras found too light, had any fuch 
 profound wifdom. Ahafuerus fliewed it not in appointing all the people 
 of God to be flain, upon a lye told to him by a rafcal ; and the matter was 
 not very much mended, when, being informed of the truth, he gave them 
 leave to kill as many of their enemies as they pleafed. The hardnefs of 
 Pharoah's heart, and the overthrow thereby brought upon himfeif and peo- 
 ple, docs not argue fo profound a judgment as our author prefumes every 
 prince muft have. And it is not probable, that Samuel would have told 
 Saul, " he had done fooliilily," if kings had always been fo exceeding 
 wife. Nay, if wifdom had beenrran-nexed to the character, Solomon might 
 have fpared the pains of afking it from God, and Rehoboam muft have 
 had it. Not to multiply examples out of Scripture, it is believed, that 
 Xerxes had not inflidted ftripes upon the fca for breaking his navy in pieces, 
 if he had been fo very wife '^. Caligula, for the fame reafon, might have 
 faved the labour of making love to the moon f, or have chofen a fitter fub- 
 je£l to advance to the confulate than his horfe Incitatus ij; : Nero had not 
 endeavoured to make a woman of a man, nor married a man as a woman ^. 
 Many other examples might be alleged to ihev/, that kings are not always 
 
 * 'flj fTTuSsTo H'fp^n?, Sirjx zronvy.iiio;., rev 'E>.>.;;TTroi/rot/ ixsXi'jtre Tpir;)t33"i:x; nriy.i7^oii 
 [/.x^iyi TrXnyai, >tait xaxfiva* £f to TrsAayof viincv <^fuycr. Herod. 1. ", § 35 
 
 t Nuflibus quidem plennin fulgsntemque lunam ir.vitabat aflidue in amplexus atque con- 
 cubitum. Suet, in vita Calig. §. 22 
 
 I Incitato equo, cujus caufa pridie Circenfes, ne inquietaretur, viciniae filL-ntium permi- 
 lites indicere folebat, praeter equile marmoreum, et praefepe eburneum, praeterqne purpu- 
 rea tegumenta, ac monilia e gemrnis, domum etiam, et familiam, et fupellcctilem dedit, quo- 
 lautiCis nomine ejus invitati acciperentur : confulatuin quoque traditur deftinafle. Ibid. §. ^55 
 
 § Pueruni Sporum, exfeiSis teftibus, etiam in muliebrem nnturam transfigurare conatus eft: 
 cum dote et flanimeo perfolenni nuptiarum celeberrimo oincio, deduclurii ad fe pro uxore. 
 habuit. Id. in \ ita Ncionis, §. 28 
 
 H wife :
 
 5© DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. I v/ife : and not only the Roman fatirift, whofays^*" quicquid delirant regesi 
 " &c *." fliews that he did not believe them to be generally wifer than 
 ether men ; but Solomon himfelf judges them to be as liable to infirmities, 
 Avhen he prefers a "vvile child before an old and fooliih king. If therefore 
 the ftrength of our author's argument lies in the certainty of the wifdom 
 of kings, it can be of no value, till he proves it to be more univerfal in 
 them than hiftory or experience will permit us to believe. Nay, if there 
 be truth or vinfdom in the Scripture, which frequently reprefents the wick- 
 ed man as a fool-, we cannot think, that all kings are wife, unlefs it be 
 proved, that none of them have been wicked , and when this is performed 
 by Filmer's difciples, I fliall confefs my error. 
 
 Men give teftimony of their wifdom, when they undertake that which 
 they ought to do, and rightly perform that which they undertake ; both 
 which points do utterly fail in the fubjeft of our difcourfe. We have often 
 heard of fjch as have adopted thofe to be their fons who were not fo, and 
 fome civil laws approve it. This fignifies no more, than that fuch a many 
 either through aiFe6lion to one who is not his fon, or to his parents, or 
 for fome other reafon, takes him into his- family, and fhews kindnefs to 
 him, as to his fon;- but the adoption of fathers is. a whimfical piece of 
 nonfenfe. If this be capable of an aggravation, I think none can be 
 greater, than not to leave it to my own difcretion, who,, having no father, 
 may refolve to pay the duty I owed to my father to one who may have 
 fhewed kindnefs to me ; but for another to impofe a father upon a man, or- 
 a people compofed of fathers, or fuch as have fathers, whereby they 
 fhould be deprived of that natural honour and right, which he makes the 
 foundation of his difcourfe, is the utmoft of all abfurdities. If any prince 
 therefore have ever undertaken to appoint fathers of his people, he can*- 
 not be accounted a man of profound wifdom, but a fool, or a madman; 
 and his adts can be of no value. But if the thing were confonant to nature, 
 and referred to the will of princes (which I abfolutely deny) the frequent 
 extravagancies committed by them in the elevation of their favourites Ihew,^ 
 that they intend not to make them fathers of the people, or know not 
 what they do when they do it. 
 
 To choofe or inftitute a father is nonfenfe in the very term ; but if 
 any were to bechofen to perform the office of fathers to fuch as have none^ 
 and are not of age to provide for themfelves (as men do tutors or guar- 
 dians for orphans) none could be capable of being eledted, but fuch as, in 
 kindnefs to the perfon they were to take under their care, did mofl: rcfem- 
 ble his true father, and had the virtues and abilities required rightly to 
 provide for his good. If this fails, all right ceafes ; and fuch a corruption 
 is introduced as we faw in our court of wards, which the nation could not 
 bear, when the inftitution was perverted, and the king, who ought to 
 have taken a tender care of the wards and their eftates, delivered them 
 as a prey to thofe whom He favoured. 
 
 ♦ Hor. 1. I, Epift. 2 
 
 Our
 
 ( 
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 51 
 
 Our author ridiculoufly attributes the title and authority of father to SECT. 19 
 the word prince, for it hath none in it, and figniiics no more than a 
 man who in fome kind is more eminent than the vulgar. In this fenfe 
 Mutius Scaevola told Porfenna, that " three hundred princes of the Roman 
 youth had confpired againft him *"." By which he could not mean, that 
 three hundred fathers of the Roman youth, but three hundred Roman 
 young men had confpired : and they could not be fathers of the city, un- 
 lefs they had been fathers of their own flithers. " Princeps fenatus " was 
 underftood in the fame fenfe; and P. Sempronius the cenlbr, choofing Q^ 
 I'abius Maximus to that honour, gave for a reafon, " fe ledlurum Q^ Fa- 
 ■*' bium Maximum, quem tum principem Romanae civitatis effe, vcl An- 
 ' nibale judice, didturus effet f ;" which could not be underftood that Han- 
 nibal thought him to be the father or lord of the city, for he knew he was 
 not ; but the man, who for wifdom and valour was the moft eminent in it. 
 
 The like are, and ought to be, the princes of every nation ; and though 
 fomething of honour may juftly be attributed to the dependents of fuch as 
 have done great fervices to their country, yet they who degenerate from 
 them cannot be efteemed princes ; much lefs can fuch honours or rights be 
 conferred upon court-creatures or favourites. Tiberius, Caligula, Clau- 
 dius, Nero, Galba, and others, could advance Macro, Pallas, NarcifTus, 
 Tigellinus, Vinius, Laco, and the like, to the higheft degrees of riches 
 and power ; but they ftill continued to be villains, and fo they died. 
 
 No wife or good jnan ever thought otherwife of thofe, who, through 
 the folly of princes, have been advanced to the higheft places in feveral 
 countries. The madnefs of attributing to them a paternal power feems to 
 have been peculiarly refervedto complete the infamy of our author; for 
 he only could acknowledge a cooptitious father, (^r give to another man 
 the power of choofing him. I confefs, that a man in his infancy may 
 have been expofed, like Mofes, Cyrus, Oedipus, Romulus. He may have 
 been taken in war ; or by the charity of fome good perfon faved from 
 the teeth of wild beafts, or from the fword by which his parents fell, 
 and may have been educated with that care which fathers ufually have 
 of their children : it is reafonable, that fuch a one in the whole courfe of 
 his life fhould pay that veneration and obedience to him, who gave him as 
 it were a fecond birth, which was due to his natural father ; and this, 
 though improperly, may be called an adoption. But to think that any 
 man can afl'ume it to himfelf, or confer it upon another, and thereby arro- 
 gate to himfelf the fervice and obedience, which, by the moft tender and 
 facred laws of nature, we owe to thofe from whom we receive birth and 
 education, is the moft prepofterous folly that hitherto has ever entered into 
 the heart of man. 
 
 Our author neverthelefs is not afhamed of it, and gives reafons no way 
 unfuitable to the propofition. " Men are, lays he, adopted fathers of 
 
 * Trecenti principes juventutis Romanae. Liv. 1. 2, c, 12 
 t Liv. 1. 27, c. 13 
 
 H 2 *' provinces
 
 52 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. I " provinces for their abilities, merits, or fortunes." But thefe abilities- 
 can iimply deferve nothing ; for if they are ill employed, they are the 
 Vv'orft or vices, and the moft powerful inllruments ot mifchief. Merits, 
 in regard of another, are nothing, unlefs they be to him. He alone can 
 merit from me the refpedl due to a father, wlio has conferred benefits upon 
 me, in fome m.eafure proportionable to thofe, which we ufually receive 
 from our fathers : and the world may judge, whether all the court- 
 ininiflers and favourites that we have known, do, upon this account, 
 deferve to be efteemed fathers of nations. But to allow this on account of 
 their fortunes, is, if poflible, more extravagant than any thing that has 
 been yet uttered. By this account Mazarine muft have been father of the 
 French nation. The fame right v/as inherited by his chafte niece, and 
 remained in her, till fhe and her filly huihand diffipated the treafurcs 
 which her uncle had torn from the bowels of that people. The partifms 
 may generally claim the iame right over the provinces they have pillaged : 
 eld Audley, Dog Smith, Bilhop Duppa, Browaloe, Child, Dafliwood, 
 Fox, &c. are to be efteemed fathers of the people of England. This 
 doftrine is perfedlly canonical, if Filmer and Heylin were good divines : 
 and legal, if they judged more rightly touching matters of law. But if 
 it be abfurd and deteftable, they are to be reputed men, who, by attri- 
 buting the higheft honours to the vlleft wretches of the world, for what 
 they had gained by the moft abominable means, endeavour to increafe 
 thofe vices, which are already come to fuch a height, that they can by no 
 other way be brought to a greater. Daily experience too plainly fhews, 
 with what rage avarice ufually fills the hearts of men. There are not 
 many deftrud:ive villainies committed in the world, that do not proceed" 
 from it. In this refpecl it is called " idolatry," and " the root of all evil." 
 Solomon warns us to beware of fuch as make hafte to grow rich, and 
 fays, they fhall not be innocent. But it is no matter what the prophets,, 
 the apoftles, or the wifeft men, fiy of riches, and the ways of gaining 
 them ; for our author tells us, that men of the greateft fortunes, without 
 examining how they came to them, or what ule they make of them, 
 deferve to be made fathers of provinces. 
 
 But this is not his only quarrel with all that is juft and good : his whole 
 book goes diredlly againft the letter and fpirit of the Scripture. The work 
 of all thofe, whom God in fevcral ages has raifed up to announce his word, 
 was to abate the lufts and paffions that arife in the hearts of men ; to 
 fiiew the vanity of worldly enjoyments, with the dangers that accompany 
 riches and honour, and to rajfe our hearts to the love of thofe treafures 
 that pcrifli not. Honcft and wife men, following the light of nature, 
 have in fome meafure imitated this. Such as lived private lives, as Plato, 
 Socrates, E.pi(!Ietus, and others, made it their bufmefs to abate mens 
 lufts, by flicwing the folly of fceking vain honours, ufelcfs riches, or 
 unfatisfying plcafurcs ; and thofe who were like to tliem, if they were 
 raifed to fuprcme magiftracies, have endeavoured by the fcvercll punifti- 
 ments to reltrain men from committing the crimes by which riches are 
 
 moft 
 
 4
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT* 53 
 
 moil: commonly gained : but Filmer and Heylin lead us into a new way. sect. 19 
 If they defervc credit, whoever would become fupreme lord and father of 
 his country, ablblute, facred, and inviolable, is only to kill him that is in 
 the head of the government : ufurpation confers an equal right with eledlion 
 or inheritance : we are to look upon the power, not the ways by which it 
 is obtained : pofleffion only is to be regarded : and men mull: venerate the 
 prefent power, as let up by God, though gained by violence, treachery, 
 or poilbn : children mull not impofe laws upon, nor examine the adions 
 of their father. Thole who are a little more modeft, and vs^ould content 
 themielves with the honour of being fathers and lords only of provinces, 
 if they get riches by the favour of the king, or the favour of the king 
 by riche;?, m.ay receive that honour from him : the lord paramount may 
 make them peculiar lords of each province as facred as himfelf ; and 
 by thefe means every man fhall have an immediate and lubaltern father. 
 This would be a fpur to excite even the moft lleeping lufts ; and a poilbn 
 that would fill the gentleft fpirits with the moft violent furies. If men 
 ibould believe this, there would hardly be found one of whom it might 
 not be faid, " hac fpe, minanti fulmen occurret Jovi *." No more is re- 
 quired to fill the world with fire and blood, than the reception of thefe pre- 
 cepts. No man can look upon that as a wickednefs, which Iball render 
 him facred ; nor fear to attempt that which fliall make him God's vice- 
 gerent. And I doubt, whether the wickednefs of filling mens heads with 
 fuch notions was ever equalled, unlefs by him who faid, " ye fhall not 
 die, but be as gods." 
 
 But fince our author is pleafed to teach us thefe flrange things, I wifb 
 he would alio have told us, how many men in every nation ought to Be 
 looked upon as adopted fathers ; what proportion of riches, ability, or 
 merit, is naturally or divinely required to make them capable of this fub— 
 lime charadler ; whether the right of this chimerical father does not dellroy 
 that of the natural ; or whether both continue in force, and men thereby 
 fland obliged, in defpite of what Chrift faid, to ferve two mailers. For 
 If the right of my artificial father arife from any ad of the king, in favour 
 (if his riches, abilities, or m.erit, I ought to know whether he is to excel 
 in all, or any one of thefe points, how far, and which of them gives the 
 preference ; fince it is impoffible for me to determine whether my father, 
 who may be wile, though not rich, is thereby diverted of his right, and 
 it comes to be transferred to another, v/ho may be rich, though not wife, 
 nor of any peribnal merit at all, till that point be decided ; or fo much as 
 to guefs, when I am emancipated from the duty I owe to him, by whom 
 I was begotten and educated, unlefs I know whether he be fallen from hia 
 right, through want of merit, wifdom, or eftate ; and that can never be, 
 till it be detennined, that he has forfeited his right, by being defedive in- 
 all or any of the three ; and what proportion of merit, wifdom, or eflate, 
 is required in him, for the enjoyment of his right, or in another that 
 would acquire it : for no man can fucceed to the right of another,, unlefs 
 ♦ Sen. Thyeft. Acl. z 
 
 the
 
 54 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. I the firft pofTeflbr be rightly deprived of it ; and it cannot belong to them 
 both, becaufe common fenfe univerfally teaches, that two diftinct perfons 
 cannot, at the fame time, and in the fame degree, have an equal right to 
 the fime individual thing. 
 
 The right of father cannot therefore be conferred upon princes by 
 kings, but muft for ever follow the rule of nature. The charadler of a 
 father is indelible, and incommunicable. The duty of children arifmg 
 from benefits received is perpetual, becaufe they can never not have re- 
 ceived them ; and can be due only to him from whom they are received. 
 For thefe reafons, we fee, that fuch as our author calls princes, cannot 
 confer it upon a king ; for they cannot give what they have not in them-, 
 felves : they who have nothing, can give nothing : they, who are only 
 fuppofititious, cannot make another to be real ; and the whimfy of kings 
 making princes to be fathers, and princes conferring that right on kings, 
 .comes to nothing. 
 
 SECTION XX 
 
 ALL JUST MAGISTRATICAL POWER IS FROM THE PEOPLE. 
 
 Having proved that the right of a father proceeds from the generation 
 and education of his children ; that no man can have that right over 
 thofe, whom he has not begotten and educated ; tliat every man has it 
 over thofe, who owe their birth and education to him ; that all the fons 
 of Noah, Abraham, Ifaac, Jacob, and others, did equally inherit it ; that, 
 by the fame reafon, it does for ever belong to every man that begets chil- 
 dren ; it plainly appears, that no father can have a right over others, un- 
 lefs it be by them granted to him, and that he receives his right from 
 thofe who granted it. But our author, with an admirable fagacity peculiar 
 to himfclf, difcovers, 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 fo ele(fted, fays he, claims not his right from the people as a 
 " donative, but from God." That is, if I miftake not, Romulus was not 
 made king of the Romans by that people, but by God. Thofe men, being 
 newly gathered together, had two fathers, though neither of them had 
 any children ; and no man knew who was their father, nor which of them 
 was the elder. But Romulus by the flaughter of his brother decided all 
 queftions, and purchafed to himfclf a royal charter froni God ; and the 
 adt of the people which conferred the power on him, was the adt of 
 God. We had formerly learned, that whatever was done by monarchs, 
 was to be imputed to God ; and that v/hoever murdered the father of a 
 people, acquired the fame right to himfelf: but now it feems, that nations 
 alfo have the fame privilege, and that God does what they do. Now I 
 undcrftand why it was faid of old, " vox populi eft vox Dei :" but if it 
 
 wa.s
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 5^ 
 
 was fo in regard of Romulus, the fame mull: be confeflcd of Tullus Hofti- sect. 20 
 lius, Ancus Martius, Tarquinius Priicus, and Servius Tullius ; who being 
 all llrangers to each other, and mod of them aliens alfo, were fucccflively 
 advanced by the fiime people, without any rcfpcdt to the children, rela- 
 tions, or heirs of their predecefTors. And I cannot comprehend, why 
 the a£t of the fame people fhould not have the fame virtue, and be equally 
 attributed to God, when they gave the fame or more power to confuls,. 
 military tribunes, decemviri, or dictators ; or why the fame divine cha- 
 ratSter Ihould not be in the fame manner conferred upon any magiftra- 
 cies, that by any people have been, are, or fliall be at any time eredted - 
 for the fame ends. 
 
 Upon the fame grounds we may conclude, that no privilege is peculiarly 
 annexed to any form of government ; but that all magiftrates are equally 
 the minifters of God, who perform the work for which they were inftitu- 
 ted ; and that the people which inftitutes them, may proportion, regulate 
 and terminate their pov/er, as to time, meafure, and number of perfons, 
 as feems moft convenient to themfelves, which can be no other than their 
 own good. For it cannot be imagined, that a multitude of people ihould 
 fend tor Numa, or any other perfon to whom they owed nothing, to reign 
 over them, that he might live in glory and pleafure ; or for any other rea- 
 fon, than that it might be good for them and their pofterity. This fhews 
 the work of all magiftrates to be always and every where the fame, even 
 the doing of juftice, and procuring the welfare of thofe that create them. 
 This we learn<from common fenfe : Plato, Ariftotle, Cicero, and the beft 
 human authors, lay it as an immoveable foundation, upon which they 
 build their arguments relating to matters of that nature. And the apoftle 
 from better authority declares, " that rulers are not a terror to good works, . 
 " but to evil. Wilt thou then, fays he, be afraid of the power ? do that 
 *' which is good, and thou flialt have praife of the fame ; for he is the 
 " minifter of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, 
 "' be afraid ; for he beareth not the fword in vain ; for he is the minifter 
 " of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil *." And 
 the reafon he gives " for praying for kings, and all that are in authority," 
 is, " that we may live a quiet and peaceable life, in all godlinefs and 
 " honefty f ." But if this be the work of the magiftrate, and the glori- 
 ous name of God's minifter be given to him for the performance of it, 
 we may eafily fee to whom that title belongs. " His children and fervants 
 " ye are, whofe works ye do." He therefore, and he only, is the fer- 
 vant of God, who does the work of God ; who is a terror to thofe that 
 do evil, and a praife to thofe that do well ; who bears the fvvrord for the 
 punifhment of wickednefs and vice, and fo governs, that the people may 
 live quietly in all godlinefs and honefty. The order of his inftitution is 
 inverted, and the inftitution vacated, if the power be turned to the praife 
 of thofe that do evil, and become a terror to fuch as do well ; fo that none 
 
 * Rom. ch. 13, V, 3,; f Tim. i, ch. 2, v. 2 
 
 who?
 
 5^ DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. I \vho live honeftly and jufily can be quiet under it. tf God be the fountain 
 of juitice, mercy, and truth, and thole his fervants who walk in them, 
 no exerciie of violence, fraud, cruelty, pride, or avarice, is patronized by 
 him. And they, v/ho are the authors of thofe villainies, cannot but be the 
 minifters of him, who fets himlelf up againft God ; becaufe it is impofli- 
 ble, that truth and falfliood, mercy and cruelty, juftice and the moft violent 
 oppreinon, can proceed from the lame root. It was a folly and a lye in 
 thofe Jevv's, to call themfelves the children of Abraham, who did not the 
 works of Abraham * ; and Chrift declared them to be the children of the 
 devil, whofe works they did : which words, proceeding from the eternal 
 truth, do as well indicate to us, whofe child and fervant every man is to 
 be accounted, as to thofe v/ho lirfl: heard them. 
 
 If our author's former aifertions were void of judgment and truth, his 
 next claufe fhev/s a great defe<5t in his memory, and contradicts the former : 
 "The judgments of God," fays he, " who hath pov/er to give and take 
 *' away kingdoms, are moft juft ; yet the miniftry of men, who execute 
 " God's judgments without commiffion, is fniful and damnable." If it 
 be true, as he fays, that vv^e arc to look at the povs'er, not the ways by 
 which it is gained ; and that he who has it, whether it be by ufurpation, 
 conqueft, or any other means, is to be accounted as father, or right heir 
 to the father of the people, to which title the moft fublime and divine pri- 
 vileges are annexed, a man, who by the moft wicked and unjuft adlions 
 advances himfelf to the power, becomes immediately the father of the 
 people, and the minifter of God ; which I take to be a piece of divinity 
 worthy our author and his dlfciples. 
 
 It may be doubted what he means by a.commiflion from God ; for we 
 know of none but what is outwardly by his word, or inv/ardly by his 
 Spirit ; and I am apt to think, that, neither he nor his abettors allovvingof 
 either, as to the point in queftion, he does foully prevaricate, in alleging 
 that which he thinks cannot be of any effedl. If i\nj man fliould fay, 
 that the word of God to Mofes, Jofhua, Ehud, Gideon, Samuel, jerebo- 
 am, and jehu, or any others, arc, in the like cafes, rules to be obfervtd 
 by all, becaufe that which was from God was good, tliat which Vvas good, 
 is good, and he that does good, is juftified by it, he v/ould probably tell 
 us, that what was good in them, is not good in oth.crs ; and that the word 
 of God does juftify thofe only to whom it is fpoken : that is to fay, no 
 man can execute the juft judgments of God, to the benefit of mankind, 
 according to the example of thofe fervants of God, v^?ithout damnable fm, 
 unlefs he have a precife word particularly dircdlcd to him for it, as Moles 
 had. But if any man fliould pretend, that fuch a word was come to him, 
 he would be accounted an enthuiiaft, and obtain no credit. So that, which 
 way foever the claufe be taken, it appears to be full of fraud, confelHng 
 only in the theory, that which he thinks can never be brought into prac- 
 tice ; that his beloved villainies may be thereby fecurcd, and that the glo- 
 
 * John ch. 8, v, 39 
 
 rious
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERN'MENT <,-] 
 
 t.ious 'examples of 'the m&ft heroic atSllions, performed by the l-'eft unci <vifcR srXT. iq 
 won that ever were in the world for the benefit of mankind, may never 
 be i-TO'kated. 
 
 The .next claiife fhews, that I did our author no vA-ong In faying, that 
 li£ g^ivea right to ufurpa;tion ; for he plainly fays, " thit vrhcthcr the 
 *' fjrince be the fupreme father of the people, or but the true heir of fuch 
 *' a lather ; or whether he come to the crown by vifurpation, or by elec*- 
 *' tion of the nobles, or of the people, or by any other way whatfoever, 
 *' &c. it is the only right and authority of the natural father." In the 
 3d Chap. Sed. 8. he tells us " it fkills not which way the king comes by his 
 *' power, wihether by eledtion, donation, fucceffion, or by any other means." 
 And in another place, " that we are to regard the power, not the means 
 *' hy which it is gained." To which 1 need fay no rhore, than that I can-^ 
 not fufficientiy admire the ingcnioufly invented title of father by ufurpa- 
 tion. And I muft confefs, that fmce there is fuch a thing in the world, to 
 which not only private men biit whole nations owe obedience, whatever has 
 been faid antiently, as was thought, to exprefs the highefl excefs of fury 
 and injuftice, as, "jus datum fceleri, jus omne in ferro eft fitum," and 
 
 " Jus licet in jugulos noftros fibi fecerit enfe 
 
 " Sylla potens, Mariufque ferox, et Cinna cruentus, 
 
 " Caefareaeque domus feries * "^ 
 
 were folid truths, good law and divinity ; which did not only fignify the 
 aftual exercife of the power, but induced a conlcientious obligation of 
 obeying it. The powers fo gained did carry in themfelves the moft facred 
 and inviolable rights ; and the adlors of the moft deteflable villainies there- 
 by became th'e minifters of God, and the fathers of their fubdued people. 
 Or if this be not true, it cannot be denied, that Filmcr and his followers, 
 in the moft impudent and outragious blafphemy, have furpafled all that 
 have gone before them. 
 
 To confirm his aflertions, he gives us a wonderful explanation of tlie 
 fifth commandment ; which, he fays, injoins obedience to princes, under 
 the term.s of " honour thy father and thy mother;" drawing this infe- 
 rence, " that as all power is in the father, the prince who hath it, cannot 
 " be reftrained by any law ; which being grounded upon the perfeft likenefs 
 *' between kings and fathers, no man can deny it to be true." But if 
 Claudius was the father of the Roman people, I fuppofc the chafte Meflli- 
 lina was the mother, and to be honoured by virtue of the fame command- 
 ment; but then I fear, that fuch as met her in the moft obfcene places 
 were not only guilty of adultery, but of inceft. The fame honour muft 
 needs belong to Nero, and his virtuous Poppaea, unlefs it w^ere transferred 
 to his new made woman Sporus : or perhaps he himfelf was the mother, 
 and the glorious title of " pater patriae " belonged to the rafcal, who 
 married him as a woman. The like may be faid of Agathocles, Diony- 
 fuis, Phalaris, Bufiris, Machanidas, Peter the Cruel of Caftile, Chriftiern 
 
 * Luc. 1. 4, V. 821 
 
 I of
 
 58 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. I of Denmark, the lafl: princes of the houfe of Valois in France, and 
 Philip the fecond of Spain. Thofe actions of theirs, which men have 
 ever efteemed moft deteftable, and the whole courfe of their abominable 
 government, did not proceed from pride, avarice, cruelty, madnefs, and 
 luft, but from the tender care of moft pious fathers. Tacitus ladly de- 
 fcribes the ftate of his country : " Urbs incendiis vaftata, confumptis an- 
 •' tiquiffimis delubris, ipfo capitolio civium manibus incenfo ; pollutae 
 " caerimoniae ; magna adulteria ; plenum exiliis mare ; infedti caedibus 
 " fcopuli ; atrociiis in urbe faevitum ; nobilitas, opes, omiffi geftique ho- 
 " nores pro crimine, et ob virtutes certiffimum exitium *." But he was 
 to blame : all this proceeded from the ardency of paternal affection. When. 
 Nero, by the death of Helvidius Prifcus and Thrafea Paetus, endeavoured 
 to cut up virtue by the roots, " ipfam exfcindere virtutem f," he did it, be- 
 caufe he knew it was good for the world that there fhould be no virtuous 
 man in it. When he fired the city, and when Caligula wlfhed the people 
 had but one neck, that he might ftrike it off at one blow, they did it 
 through a prudent care of their childrens good, knowing that it would be 
 for their advantage to be deftroyed ; and that the empty defolated world 
 would be no more troubled with popular feditions. By the fame rule Pha- 
 roah, Eglon, Nebuchodonofor, Antiochus, Herod, and the like, were 
 fathers of the Hebrews. And without looking far backward, or depend- 
 ing upon the faith of hiftory, we may enumerate many princes, who in 
 a parental care of their people, have not yielded to Nero or Caligula. If 
 our author fay true, all thofe ad:ions of theirs, which we have ever attributed 
 to the utmoft excefs of pride, cruelty, avarice and pcrfidioufnefs, proceed- 
 ed from their princely wifdom, and fatherly kindnefs to the nations under 
 them ; and we are beholden to him for the difcovery of fo great a myftery, 
 Vv^hich has been hid from mankind from the beginning of the world to this 
 day : if not, w^e may ftill look upon them as children of the devil ; and 
 continue to believe, that princes as well as other magiftrates were fet up^i 
 bv the people for the public good ; that the praifes given to fuch as are 
 wife, juft, and good, are purely perfonal, and can belong only to thofcj^ 
 who by a due exercife of their power do deferve it, and to no others. 
 
 * Tacit. Plift. 1. I, § 2.. t Tacit.. Ann.. 1. i6, ^ 21
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 59 
 
 CHAPTER II. SECTION 1 
 
 THAT IT IS NATURAL FOR NATIONS TO GOVERN, OR TO CHOOSK 
 
 governors; AND THAT VIRTUE ONLY GIVES A NATURAL PRE* 
 
 FERENCE OF ONE MAN ABOVE ANOTHER^ OR REASON WHY ONE 
 
 SHOULD BE CHOSEN RATHER THAN ANOTHER. 
 
 In this chapter our author fights vaUantly againft Bellarmine and Suarez, 
 feeming to think himfclf vldtorious, if he can fhew, that cither of them 
 has contradiiScd the other, or himfelf ; but being no way concerned in 
 them, I fhall leave their followers to defend their quarrel. My work is to 
 feek after truth ; and, though they may have faid fome things, in matters 
 not concerning their beloved caufe of popery, that are agreeable to reafon, 
 law, or Scripture, I have little hope of finding it among thofe who apply 
 themfelves chiefly to fchool-fophiftry, as the bell means to fupport idolatry. 
 That which I maintain, is the caufe of mankind ; which ought not to 
 fufFer, though champions of corrupt principles have weakly defended, or 
 malicioufly betrayed it. And therefore, not at all relying on their au- 
 thority, I intend to rejedl whatever they fay that agrees not with reafon. 
 Scripture, or the approved examples of the befl poliflied nations. He alfo 
 attacks Plato and Ariftotle, upon whofe opinions I fet a far greater value, 
 inafmuch as they feem to have penetrated more deeply into the fecrets of 
 human nature ; and not only to have judged more rightly of the in- 
 terefts of mankind, but alfo to have comprehended in their writings the 
 wifdom of the Grecians, with all they had learned from the Phoenicians, 
 Egyptians, and Hebrews ; which may lead us to the difcovery of the 
 truth we feek. If this be our work, the queftion is not, whether it be 
 a " paradox," or a received opinion, that people naturally govern, or 
 choofe governors, but whether it be true or not ; for many paradoxes are 
 true, and the moll grofs errors have often been mofl common. Though 
 I hope to prove, that what he calls a paradox, is not only true, but a 
 truth planted in the hearts of men, and acknowledged fo to be by all that 
 have hearkened to the voice of nature, and difapproved by none, but fuch 
 as through wickednefs, flupidity, or bafenefs of fpirit, feem to have dege- 
 nerated into the worfl of beafls, and to have retained nothing of men, 
 but the outward fliape, or the ability of doing thofe mifchiefs which they 
 have learned from their mailer the devil. 
 
 We have already feen, that the patriarchal power refembles not the 
 regal in principle or pradlice ; that the beginning and continuance of regal 
 power was contrary to, and inconfiflent with the patriarchal ; that the 
 firft fathers of mankind left all their children independent on each other, 
 and in an equal liberty of providing for themfelves ; that every man con- 
 tinued in this liberty, till the number fo increafed, that they became trou- 
 
 I 2 biefome
 
 6o DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. II blefome and dangerous to each other ; and finding no other remedy to the 
 
 ■ diforders growing, or Uke to grow among them, joined many families into 
 
 one civil body, that they might the better provide for the conveniency, 
 
 " fafety, and defence of themielves and their children. This was a collation 
 
 • of every man's private right into a public flock. 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 fixe when their fathers were 
 
 • dfcad ; and nothing could induce them to join, and leffen that natural liberty 
 
 • by joining in focieties, but the hopes of a public advantage. Such as 
 were wife and valiant procured it, by fetting up regular governments, and 
 placing the beft men in the adminiftration ; whilft the weakefl and bafeft 
 fell under the power of the moil boifterous and violent of their neighbours. 
 Thofe of the firfi fort had their root in wifdom and juftice, and are called 
 lawful kingdoms or commonwealths; and the rules, by which they are 
 governed, are known by the name of laws. Thefe governments have 
 ever been the nurfes of virtue. The nations living under them have flou- 
 riflied in peace and happinefs, or made wars with glory and advantage. 
 Whereas the other fort fpringing from violence and wrong, have ever gone 
 under the odious title of tyrannies ; and by fomenting vices, like to thofe 
 from whence they grew, have brought fliame and mifery upon thofe who 
 ■were fubjeO: to them. This appears fo plainly in Scripture, that the affer- 
 tors of liberty want no other patron than God himfelf; and his word fo 
 fully juftifies what we contend for, that it were not neceflary to make ufe 
 of human authority, if our adverfaries did not oblige us to examine fuch 
 as are cited by them. This, in our prefent cafe, would be an eafy work, if 
 our author had rightly miarked the paflages he would make ufe of, or had 
 been faithful in his interpretation or explication of fuch as he truly cites ; 
 but failing grofly in both, it is hard to trace him. 
 
 He cites the i6th chapter of the third book of Ariftotle's politics, and. 
 I do not find there are more than twelve * ; or though that wound might 
 be cured, by faying the words are in the twelfth, his fraud in pervert- 
 ing the fenfe is unpardonable. It is true, Ariftotle does there feem to- 
 doubt, whether there be any fuch thing as one-man naturally a lord over 
 many citizens* fince a city confiflis of- equals f. But in the whole fcope 
 of that chapter, book, and his other writings, he fully fhews, his doubt 
 did not arife from an imagination, that one man could naturally inherit a 
 right of dominion over many not defcended from him, or that they were 
 born under a ncceffity of being flaves to him, (for fuch fancies can proceed 
 only from diftempered brains ;) but that civil iociciies aiming at the public 
 good, thofe, who by nature were endowed wMth fuch virtues or talents as 
 were mofl: beneficial to them, ought to be preferred. And nothing can be- 
 more contrary to the frantic whimfy of our autlior, who fancies an heredi- 
 
 * This is a miftake : Ariftotle's third booli of Politics is divided into i8 chapters. 
 
 + Asxsi Ti(ri> kcTe y.uTa (pvirm eivcti to xvptov tvx 7nx.v]a'j itiixi tmv TroAi/a'C, ottis ini'JiTfX-iv tg- 
 t;j.ot'j>v 'fi iroMi' Toiq yccft oiaouk; ipuo-fi to aulo SiXxtov cvayncciov, ksh tyiv uvTnv c.^iX'^ narot.: 
 fj(ni/ iivxi. Arifl. Polit. 1. 3, c. ib 
 
 3 tiuy
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 6t 
 
 tary prerogative of dominion inherent in a perfon as father of a people, or SECT, r 
 heir, or that he is to be reputed heir of the iirll father, when it is certain he 
 is not, but that either he or his predeceffur came in by eledlion or uiurpa- 
 tion, than to fhcw, that it is only wifdom, juftice, valour, and other 
 commendable virtues, v/hich are not hereditary, that can give the prefe- 
 rence ; and that the only reaion why it fliould be given, is, that men fo^ 
 qualified can better than others accomplifh the ends for which focieties are 
 conrtituted. For though, fays he, all are equally free, all are not equally 
 endowed with thofe virtues that render liberty fafe, profperous, and happy. 
 That equality which is juft among equals, is juft only among equals ; but 
 fuch as are bafe, ignorant, vicious, flothful, or cowardly, are not equal 
 in natural or acquired virtues, to the generous, wife, valiant, and induftrious ; 
 nor equally iifctul to the focieties in which they live : they cannot there- 
 fore have an equal part in the government of them ; they cannot equally 
 provide for the common good ; and it is not a perfonaU but a public 
 benefit, that is fought in their conflitution and continuance. There may 
 be a hundred thouland men in an army, who are all equally free ; but 
 they only are naturally moft fit to be commanders or leaders, who moft 
 excel in the virtues required for the right performance of thofe offices ; 
 and that, not becaufe it is good for them to be raifed above their brethren, 
 but becaufe it is good for their brethren to be guided by them, as it is ever 
 good to be governed by the wifeft and the bell. If the nature of man be 
 reafon, " detur digniori," in matters of this kind, is the A^oice of nature ; 
 and it were not only a deviation from reafon, but a moft defperate and' 
 mifchievous madnefs, for a company going to the Indies, to give the 
 guidance of their fliip to the fon of the beft pilot in-the w^orld, if he want 
 the fkill required for' that employment, or to one who was malicioufly fet 
 to deftroy them. He only can have a right, grounded upon the diftates- 
 of nature, to be advanced to the helm, who beft knovv^s how to govern 
 it, and has given the beft teftimonies of his integrity and intentions to 
 employ his ftvill for the good of thofe that are imbarked. But as the work 
 of a magiftrate, efpecially if he be the fupreme, is the higheft, nobleft, 
 and moft difficult, that can be committed to the charge of a man, a 
 more excellent virtue is required in the perfon who is to be advanced to it^ 
 than in any other ; and he that is moft excellent in that virtue, is reafon- 
 ably and naturally to be preferred before any other. Ariftotle, having 
 this in his view, feems to think, that thofe w-ho believed it not to be 
 natural for one man to be lord of all the citizens, fince a clty^ confifts of 
 equals, had not obferved that inequality of endowments, virtues, and- 
 abilities, in men, which render fome more fit than others, for the perfor- 
 mance of their duties, and the work intended • but it will not be found, 
 as I luppofe, that he did ever dream of a natural fuperiority, that any man- 
 could ever have in a civil focietv, unlefs it be fuch a fuperiority in virtue,^ 
 as moft conduces to the public good ''■. 
 
 * €>c-vepr,v, al £V fj-iv toi? oy.oioii, xki itoKi kte (rvy.^ipoii i^-tv, t<Ti ^tKaicv, lux >ivpiov livai ttxv- 
 %r «J' M xxr oi^ny.v ccy.nvu)' «, EI MH TPOIION TINA. Arift. PolJt. 1, 3, c. 17— KafiiraTaj.-
 
 6z DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAT, II He confirms this in proceeding to examine the different forts of go- 
 vernments, according to the different difpofitions of nations ; and is fo 
 bold as to fay, " that a popular government is the befi: for a people, who 
 " are naturally generous and warlike ; that the government of a few fuits 
 " befl: with thole, among whom a few men are found to excel others in 
 *' thofe virtues that are profitable to focieties ; and that the government of 
 " one is good, when that one does fo far furpafs all others in thofe virtues, 
 *' that he has more of them than all the reft of the people together *." 
 And for the fame reafon that induced him to believe, that equality is juft 
 among equals, he concludes inequality of power to be moft unjuft, unlefs 
 there be inequality of merit ; and equality of power to be fo alfo, when 
 there is inequality of virtue, that being the only rule by which every 
 man's part ought to be regulated. 
 
 But if it be neither reafonable nor juft, that thofe who are not equal in 
 virtue fliould be made equal in power, or that fuch as are equal in virtue 
 fhould be unequal in power, the moft brutal and abominable of all ex- 
 travagancies is to make one or a few, who in virtue and 'abilities to per- 
 form civil fundtions are inferior to others, fuperior to all in power ; and 
 the miferies fuffered by thofe nations, who inverting the laws of nature 
 and reafon, have placed children, or men of no virtue, in the government, 
 when men that excelled in all virtues were not wanting, do fo far ma- 
 nifeft this truth, that the pains of proving it may be fpared. 
 
 It is not neceffary for me to inquire, whether it be poffible to find fuch 
 a man as Arlftotle calls " naturii rcgemt)" or whether he intended to 
 recommend Alexander to the world, for the man defigned by God and 
 nature to be king over all, becaufc no man was equal to him in the vir- 
 tues that were beneficial to all. For purfuing my pofition, that virtue 
 only can give a juft and natural preference, I ingenuoufly confefs, that 
 when fuch a man, or race of men, as he defcribes, fhall appear in the 
 world, they carry the true marks of fovereignty upon them. We ought 
 to believe, that God has raifed them 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. It were better 
 for us to be guided by him, than to follow our own judgment ; nay, I 
 could almoft lay, it were better to ferve fuch a mafter, than to be free J. 
 
 j3«0"iX£u? w T!i)V nriiiituv xad' UTrE/Joj^ri' ospfTHf, l Trpa^jyn ruv airo t>i; a/jsTrif, rj >caG' in((oy(r\v 
 romrx yeviK. Arift. Polit. 1. 5, c. lO 
 
 * ApirwpjiiTiJtov TrXnGc?, TTfpuxf (ptpai/ wAnSo; apy^iT^cci SMvoiy.i))ov tuv twv tXtv^ifuv ap^r.i/, 
 VTTO Tuv nxT aptrriv n'yfjmonxui' Trpo; TroAiTticrii/ ccpy^r,]/. noAiTi>£oi/ St TrArOoj, iv a 7n<pvx£ tyyt- 
 VEirSai 7rA»!9c; TroAi/^iitoi/, Suvxijli'jov ccfxic^oci xai upy^av v-o-ra. kojUoI', xiv hoct a^iai/ Staa/jLovrx 
 .Totf aTTopoK Tx( apva;. 'Orjti/ av v> yivof o\ov, >) Kai ruv xXXwv hx rtv» (rv[/,^yi (Jia^tpoi/Tix 
 ysvi(T^VA xar' afitnn tothtov, ur UTrtpEp^^fiv tjik jkeii'S tm? tuv oiAAuk ttoo/Iuv, tote Sixxiov to 
 yfjoi fiKzi ruTO (jXTiXikov, nxt Kuptov TravlwK, nxi (ixriXloc tou hoc tbtov. Ibid. 1. 7, C. 17 
 
 •)■ To Svvxy.iuov ryi tJiacoix 7rpoop«i', ocf^ov f>u3"£i, >cai Skttto^oh ^v(Tti, Ibid. 1. I, C. 2. 
 ifurfi ycip rot/ (jafTiAtai Siaiptpitv f/,tv Sit, ru yivn (?' nvxi tou a,\j\(iv. Ibid. 1. I, c. 12 
 
 X 'ila-TTtp yccp BfOK VJ DtvSpMTTOlf UXOJ ttVXi TOV TOIOvJoV. Ibid. 1, 2, C. 13— —fin AElTTETCet 
 UOVO/ TO TTH^tiiCCi TM TCIOUTU, >{«l XUpUf HVCA, Ibid. 1. 3, C. I 7 
 
 I ' ' But
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 63 
 
 But this will be nothing to the purpofe, till fuch a man, or fucceflion of SECT. I 
 men, do appear. And if our author would perfuade us, that all mankind, 
 or every particular, is obliged to a perpetual fubjedtlon to one man or 
 family, upon any other condition, he mufl do it by the credit of thofc 
 who favour his defign more than Arlftotle. 
 
 I know not who that will be, but am confident he will find no help^ 
 from Plato : for if his principles be examined, by which a grave author's 
 fenfe is beft comprehended, it will appear, that all his books of laws, 
 and of a commonwealth, are chiefly grounded upon this, *' that magi- 
 " ftrates are chofen by focietles, feeklng their own good ; and that the 
 " beft men ought to be chofen for the attaining of it *." Whereas, if one 
 rule were by nature appointed for all, and none could juftly tranfgrefs it, 
 if God had defigned an unlverfal lord over the whole world, or a parti- 
 cular one over every nation, who could be bound by no law, his whole 
 defign of feeklng which is the beft form of government, or what laws do- 
 moft conduce to its perfedlion and permanency, were utterly abfurd ; and 
 they who write books concerning political matters, and take upon them 
 to inftrudl nations how to govern themfelves, would be found either 
 foolilhly to mifpend their time, or impioufly to incite people to rebel 
 agalnft the ordinance of God. If this can juftly be imputed to Plato, he 
 is not the wife man he is fuppofed to have been ; and can lefs deferve the 
 title of divine, which our author gives him. But if he remain juftly free 
 from fuch cenfures, it muft be confefled, that whllft he feeks what is good 
 for a people, and to convince them by reafon that it is fo, he takes it for 
 granted, that they have a liberty of choofing that which appears to them 
 to be the beft. He fays f, that this good confifts in the obtaining of 
 juft.ice ; but farther explaining himfelf, he ftiews, that under the name of 
 juftice he comprehends all that tends to their perfection and felicity ; inaf- 
 much as every people, by joining in a civil fociety, and creating magi- 
 ftrates, doth feek its own good; and it is juft, that he or they who are 
 created, fliould, to the utmoft of their power, accomplifli the end of their 
 creation, and lead the people tp juftice, without which ihere is neither 
 perfection nor happlnefs j that/the proper adl of juftice 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 juft', or defire to be fo, unlefs he know 
 that juftice is good ; nor know that it is good, unlefs he know that original 
 juftice and goodnefs, through which all that is juft is juft, and all that is 
 -good is good, it is impofllble for any man to perform the part of a good 
 maglftrate, unlefs he have the knowledge of God ; or to bring a people 
 
 * Tm TTOifAivwij cu SnvH aeXXs rs- jxif^ii, ») fip' tJ T£T0!x7ai, oVw? Tisra to (iiXrifov ix-rofiict' 
 o-Tu d£ icixm syuyi wv h avayxxiov eivon ti/Jtii/ o^AoKoyeiy, Tixtrav attyriv, >ia^o(rov ap^i], fA-nSs'ji 
 cc->.>.'ji TO pfATiro" (rxoTTftcrSai, 51 fXfjva tu cf^ofj-iva ts xcci ^ipXTrevoy.iVJ, iv re TroAiTWii xa*. 
 ;siwTix!) ccpx^yi. Plato de Rep. 1. i 
 
 Msy-t/Yio-ai nv rw ir^orcpxv iy.MyAv rav apj^oi/TWC, ot8i e^sXi^v^.iv ; t\s; -i yea ^tQc,iozXT\s?. 
 K«i T8f ai/JpfioTiZTaf Trpoaipirscv, &c. Ibid, 1, 7 
 + Vide Piat, de Eep, de Leg. etc. 
 
 id
 
 ^4 DISCOURSES COHCF.RNING GGVERKMEWT 
 
 CHAP, II to juftice, uixleis lie hnn^ them to the knowledge of God, -^^'hoisthe root 
 of all juftice a«d good-nefs. If Plato therefore dcferve credit, he only can 
 •duly perform the part of a good magiftrate, \rhnfe moral A^irtues are 
 ripened and heightened by a fuperinduflion of divine knowledge. Tlie 
 mifery of man proceeds from his being feparated from God : this reparation 
 is wrought by corruption : his reftitutron therefore to felicity and integrity, 
 can only be brought about hy his reunion to the good from which he is 
 -fallen. Plato looks npon this a-s the only worthy ohjecl erf" man's ddire. 
 And in his laws and politics he intends not to teach us how to ered; manu- 
 fadlures, and to increafe trade or riches ; but how magiftrates may be 
 helpful to -nations in the manner before-mentioned, and confequently what 
 9nen are fit to be magiftrates. If our author therefore would make ufe of 
 Plato's dodtrine to his end, he ought to have proved, that there is a family 
 in every nation, to the chief of which, and fuccefiively to the next in 
 blood, God does ever reveal and infufe fuch a knowledge of himfelf, as 
 i-nay render him a light to others ; and, failing in this, all that he fays is 
 to no purpofe. 
 
 The weaknefs in which we are born, renders us unable to attain the 
 good of ourfelves : we want help in all things, efpecially in the greateft. 
 The fierce barbarity of a loofe multitude, bound by no law, and regulated 
 bv no difcipline, is wholly repugnant to it. Whilft every man fears his 
 iieighbour, and has no other defence tlian his own ftrength, he muft live 
 in that perpetual anxiety, which is equally contrary to that happi- 
 nefs, and that fedate temper of mind, which is required for the fearch of 
 it. The firft ftep towards the cure of this peftilent 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 poifefs, may by good difcipline be 
 rendered ufcful to the whole : as the meaneft piece of wood or ftone, being 
 })laced by a wife architefl:, conduces to the beauty of the mod glorious 
 building. But every man bearing in his own breaft affections, paflions, 
 and vices, repugnant to this end, and no man owing any fubmif- 
 fion to his neighbour, none will fuhjedl the corre£lion or reftridlion of 
 ihemlelvcs to another, unlcfs he alfo fubmit to the fame rule. They 
 are rough pieces of timber or ftone, which it is ncceflliry to cleave, fiw, 
 or cut : this is the work of a ftilful builder, and he only is capable of 
 ereding a great fabric, who is fo. ' Magiftrates are political architeds ; 
 and they only can perform the work incum.bent on them, who excel in 
 '' political virtues. ^Nature, in varioufly framing the minds of men, accord- 
 - ing to the variety of ufcs, in which they may be employed, in order to 
 ' the inftitution and prefervation of civil focieties, muft be our guide, in 
 '■ allotting to every one his proper work. And Plato, obfcrving this variety, 
 ' affirms, that the laws of nature cannot be more abfurdly violated, than by 
 giving the government of a people to fuch, as do not excel others in thofe 
 arts and virtues, that tend to the ultimate ends for which governments 
 are inftitutcd. By this means thofe who are Ilavcs by nature, or rendered 
 fo by their vices, are often fet above thofe that God and nature had fitted 
 
 for
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 65 
 
 for the higheft commands; and focleties, which fubfin: only by order, fall sect, i 
 into corruption, when all order is fo prepollcroully inverted, and the moll 
 extreme confufion introduced *. This is an evil that Solomon deteftcd : 
 " Folly is fet in great dignity, and the rich fit in low places. I have fcen 
 " fervants upon horfes, and princes walking as fervants upon tlie earth f .'* 
 They who underfland Solomon's language, will eafily fee, that the rich, 
 and the princes he means, are fuch only who are rich in virtue and 
 wifdom, and who ought to be preferred for thofe qualities. And when he 
 fays, a fcrvant that rtigneth is one of the " three things the earth cannot 
 near," he can only mean fuch as deferve to be fervants ; for when they 
 reign, they do not ferve, but are ferved by others. Which perfedlly agrees 
 with what we learn from Plato, and plainly fhews, that true philofophy 
 is perfedlly conformable with what is taught us by thofe who were divinely 
 inlpired. Therefore, though I ihould allow to our author, that Arillotlc, 
 in thefe words, " it fcems to fome, not to be natural for one man to be 
 " lord of all the citizens, llince the city confills of equals :j:," did fpeak 
 the opinion of others rather than his own ; and fliould confefs, that he, 
 and his mafter Plato, did acknowledge a natural inequality among men, 
 it would be nothing to his purpofe. For the inequality, and the rational 
 fuperiority due to fome, or to one, by reafon of that inequality, did not 
 proceed from blood or extraction, and had nothing patriarchal in it ; but 
 confifted folely in the virtues of the perfons, by which they were ren- 
 dered more able than others to perform their duty, for the good of the 
 focicty. Therefore, if thefe authors are to be trufted, whatever place a 
 man is advanced to in a city, it is not for his own lake, but for that of 
 the city ; and we are not to afk, who was his father, but what are his 
 virtues in relation to it. This induces a neceffity of diftinguiifiing between 
 a iimple and a relative inequality. For, if it were poflible for a man to have 
 great virtues, and yet no way beneficial to the fociety of which he is, or to 
 have fome one vice that renders them ufelefs, he could have no pretence to 
 a magiftratical power more than any other. They, who are equally free, may 
 equally enjoy their freedom ; but the powers that can only be executed by 
 fuch as are endowed with great wifdom, juftice, and valour, can belong to 
 none, nor be rightly conferred upon any, except fuch as excel in thofe 
 virtues. And if no fuch can be found, all are equally by turns to parti- 
 cipate of the honours annexed to magiflracy ; and law, which is faid to 
 be written reafon, cannot juftly exalt thofe whom nature, which is reafon, 
 has deprcifed, nor deprefs thofe whom nature has exalted. It cannot 
 make kings Haves, nor Haves kings, without introducing that evil, which, 
 
 ira.f/.TToXxji; ^uiJ-Qocivot, c-^iSov Se pA«S«i xxi AmEki TroXvy-iyi^ixi rai? ttoAsti yiyvoivr «v £^ 
 aurtii'. Plato de Leg. 1. 6, §. I 
 
 t Eccl. ch. 10, V. 6, 7 
 
 X Aoy.£i Si Tl(n^ ao^'s -ny-rx ipxitTiv fivsei to y.\]piov hoi, 7r«ifjwi/ nv»i ruv TroXiTWH, otts (TVVi^Tiyiiv t^ 
 luoiu}/ -ri TToAif. Arift. Polit. 1. -5, c. 16 
 
 K if
 
 66 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. II if we believe Solomon, and the Spirit by which he fpoke, " the earth 
 " cannot bear." This may difcover what lawgivers deferve to be reputed 
 wife or juft ; and what decrees or fandions ought to be reputed laws. 
 Arillotle, proceeding by this rule, rather tells us, who is naturally a 
 king, than where we fliould find him ; and after having given the higheft 
 prailes to this true natural king, and his government, he flicks not to 
 declare that of one man, in virtue equal or inferior to others, to be a 
 mere tyranny, even the worft of all, as it is the corruption of the bcft, 
 or, as our author calls it, the moft divine, and fuch as can be fit only for 
 thofe barbarous and flupid nations, which, though bearing the fliape oi 
 men, are little different from hearts. Whoever therefore will from 
 Arlftotle's words infer, that nature has defigned one man, or fucceffion of 
 men, to be lords of every country, mufl ihew that man to be endowed 
 with all the virtues, that render him fit for fo great an office, which he 
 does not bear for his own pleafure, glory, or profit, but for the good of 
 thofe that are under him ; and, if that be not done, he mufl; look after 
 ether patrons than Ariftotle for his opinion. 
 
 Plato does more explicitly fay, that the civil or politic man, the fhep- 
 herd, father, or king of a people, is the fame, defigned for the fame 
 work, enabled to perform it by the excellency of the fame virtues, and 
 made perfect by the infufion of the divine wifdom. This is Plato's 
 monarch ; and I confefs, that wherever he does appear in the world, he 
 ought to be accounted as fent from God for the good of that people. His 
 government is the beft that can be fet up among men ; and if aflurance 
 can be given, that his children, heirs, or fucceflbrs, fhall for ever be equal 
 to him in the above-mentioned virtues, it were a folly, and a fin, to 
 bring him under the government of any other, or to an equality with 
 them, fince God had made him to excel them all ; and it is better for 
 them to be ruled by him, than to follow their own judgment. This is 
 that which gives him the preference : he is wife through the knowledge 
 of the truth, and thereby becomes good, happy, pure, beautiful, and 
 perfed:. The di^/ine light, fhining 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 exprefled by words in fafhion, this is his prerogative ; this is the royal 
 charter given to him by God ; and to him only, who is fo adapted for the 
 performance of his office. He that Ihould pretend to the fame privileges, 
 without the fame abilities to perform the works for wliich they are granted, 
 would exceed the folly of a child, that takes upon him a burden, which 
 can only be borne by a giant ; or the madnefs of one who prefumcs to 
 give phyfic, and undcrftands not the art of a phyfician, thereby drawing 
 guilt upon himfelf, and death upon his patient. It were as vain to expedt 
 that a child ihould carry, the giant's burden, and that an ignorant man 
 
 * AixyAuiq jxtv yxf TT^y.-rlovrH >ta» (ruipfovoK; <ru T£ xai n' tto^i? 0£O(fiAMf Trpa^frf xai £if to 
 JfiOf >c«i TiajJ-Trpov opwKTfj Trpc^jTE. AAA« y.-Ziv cvTSivOx ys ftXeTrovrtiy CfAXi re «WK? Jtai TOi 
 iI/AfT«/>« «j'«9«t )ta1oi|'f(r3'£ T£ x«i ■yvus'iaS'i, l^luto in Alcib. Dial, i 
 
 fliould-
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 6f 
 
 fliould give wholefome pliyfic, as that one, who lives void of all knowledge sect, i 
 of good, fliould condudl men to it. Whenever therefore fuch a man, as 
 is above delcribcd, does not appear, nature and reafon inftrudl us to feek 
 him or them who are moll like to him, and to lay fuch burdens upon them 
 as are proportionable to their (Irength ; which is as much as to fay, to 
 prefer every man according to his merit, and affign to every one fuch 
 works, as he feems able to accompliih. 
 
 But that Plato and Ariftotle may neither be thought unreafonably ad- 
 dicted to monarchy, nor, wholly rcjedling it, to have talked in vain of a 
 monarch, that is not to be found, it is good to confider, that this is not a 
 fi£lion. Mofes, Jolhua, Samuel, and others, were fuch as they define ; 
 and were made to be fuch, by that communion with God, which Plato 
 requires. And he in all his writings, intending the inftitution of fuch a 
 dilcipline as fhould render men happy, wife, and good, could take no 
 better way to bring his countrymen to it, than by fhewing them, that 
 ■w^ifdom, virtue, and purity, only, could make a natural difference among 
 men. 
 
 It is not my work to juftify thefe opinions of Plato, and his fcholar 
 Ariftotle : they were men, and, though wife and learned, fubjedt to error. 
 If they erred in thefe points, it hurts not me, nor the caufe I maintain ; 
 fince I make no other ufe of their books, than to fliew the impudence and 
 prevarication of thofe, who gather fmall fcraps out of good books, to 
 juftify their affertions concerning fuch kings as are known amongft us ; 
 which, being examined, are found to be wholly againft them ; and, if 
 they were followed, would deftroy their perfons and power. 
 
 But our author's intention being only to cavil, or to cheat fuch as are 
 not verfed in the writings of the antients, or at leaft to caufe thofe, who 
 do not make truth their guide, to waver and fludtuate in their diicour- 
 fes, he does in one page fay, " that without doubt Mofes's hiftory of 
 " the creation guided thefe phllofophers in finding out this lineal fub- 
 *' jedtion ;" and in the next affirms, " that the ignorance of the creation 
 " occafioned feveral amongft the heathen phllofophers to think that men 
 *' met together as herds of cattle." Whereas they could not have been 
 ignorant of the creation, if they had read the books that Mofes wrote ; 
 and, having that knowledge, they could not think that men met to- 
 gether as herds of cattle. However, I deny that any of them did ever 
 dream of that lineal fubjedlion, derived from the firft parents of man- 
 kind, or that any fuch thing was to be learned from Mofes. Though 
 they did not perhaps juftly know the beginning of mankind, they did 
 know the beginnings and progrefs of the governments under which they 
 lived ; and, being afllired that the firft kingdoms had been thofe, which 
 they called " heroum regna," that is, of thofe who had been moft be- 
 neficial to mankind ; that their defcendcnts in many places, degenerating 
 from their virtues, had given nations occafion to let up ariftocracies ; 
 and they alfo falling into corruption, to inftitute democracies, or mixed 
 governments, did rightly conclude, that every nation might juftly order 
 
 K z their
 
 68 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. II their own affairs, according to their own pleafure ; and could have neither 
 obligation nor reafon to fet up one man or a few above others-, unlefs it 
 did appear to them that they had more of thofe virtues, which conduce 
 to the good of civil focieties, than the reft of their brethren. 
 
 Our author's cavil upon Ariftotle's opinion, " that thofe who are wife 
 *' in mind are by nature fittetl to be lords, and thole who are ftrong of 
 " body ordained to obey *," deferves no anlwer ; for he plainly falllfies 
 the text. Ariftotle fpeaks only of thole qualities which are required for 
 every purpofe ; and means no more, than that luch as are eminent iit 
 the virtues of the mind deferve to govern, though they do not excel in 
 bodily ftrength ; and that they who are ftrong of body, though of little 
 underftanding, and incapable of commanding, may be ufeful in executing 
 the commands of others : but is fo far from denying that one man may 
 excel in all the perfe£tions of mind and body, that he acknowledges him 
 only to be a king by nature who does fo, both being required for the full 
 performance of his duty. And if this be not true, I fuppofe that one who 
 is like Agrippa Pofthumus, " robore corporis ftolide ferox f," may be 
 fit to govern many nations ; and Mofes or Samuel, if they naturally 
 wanted bodily ftrength, or if it was decayed by age, might juftlv be made 
 flaves J which is a difcovery worthy our author's invention. 
 
 SECTION II 
 
 EVERY ^^AN THAT HAS CHILDREN, HAS THE RIGHT OF A FA— 
 THER, AND IS CAPABLE OF PREFERMENT IN A SOCIETY COM- 
 POSED OF MANY. 
 
 I am not concerned in making good what Suarez fays : a jefuit may 
 fpeak that which is true ; but it ought to be received, as from the devil, 
 cautioufly, kft mifchief be hid under it. And Sir Robert's frequent pre- 
 varications upon the Scripture, and many good authors, give reafon to 
 fufpecl he may have fallihed one, that few proteftants read, if it ferved to 
 his purpofe ; and not mentioning the place, his fraud cannot eafily be dif- 
 covered, unlefs it be by one who has leifure to examine all his vaftly vo- 
 luminous writings. But as to the point in queftlon, that pains may be 
 faved : there is nothing that can be imputed to the invention of Suarez. 
 *' That Adam had only an oeconomical, not a political power," is not 
 the voice of a jefuit, but of nature and common fenfe :. for politic figni- 
 fying no more in Greek, than civil in Latin, it is evident there could be 
 no civil power, where there was no civil fociety ; and there could be none 
 between him and his children ; becaufe a civil fociety is.compofed of equals, 
 
 To //.cv Sui/ajj.svci/ TM oiai/oia irpoopciv., a.^yjiv fuuti, xai Se(nro^ov ipvca' to Si Sv\/et,f-lvov tw. 
 €<jifA.a.ri ra.u\y. ttohhi, ap^o/J-fjov, xcct iputrti ^»Ao>. Arift. Polit. 1. I, C. 2 
 t Tacit. Ann. 1. i, c. 3 
 
 and.
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 69 
 
 and fortified by mutual compads, which could not be between him and SECT. 3 
 his children; at Icaft, if there be any thing of truth in our author's doc- 
 trine, " that all children do perpetually and abfohitely depend upon the 
 " will of their father." Suarez feems to have been of another opinion ; 
 and obferving the benefits vv'c receive from parents, and the veneration we 
 owe to them to be reciprocal, he could not think any duty could extend 
 fiirther than the knowledge of the relation upon which it was grounded ; 
 and makes a difference between the power of a father, before and after 
 his children arc made free ; that is in truth, before and after they are able 
 to provide for themielves, and to deliver their parents from the burden of 
 taking care of them. Which will appear rational to any, who are able to 
 diftinguifh between what a man of fifty years old, fubfifting by himfelf, 
 and having a family of his own, and a child of eight, does owe to his 
 father. The fame reafon that obliges a child to fiibmit entirely to the will 
 of his parents, when- he is utterly ignorant of all things, does permit^ 
 and often injoin, men of ripe age to examine the commands they receive 
 before they obey them. And it is not more plain, that I owe all manner 
 of duty, affedlion, and reipe(ft, to him that did beget and educate me, 
 than that I can owe nothing on any fuch account to one that did neither. 
 
 This may have been the opinion of Suarez. But I can hardly believe 
 fuch a notion, as, " that Adam in procefs of time might have fervants,"^ 
 could proceed from any other brain than our author's ; for it he had lived' 
 to this day, he could have had none under him but his own children ; and 
 if a family be not complete without fervants, his muft always have been 
 defective ; and his kingdom muft have been fo too, if that has fuch a re- 
 femblance to a family, as our author fancies. This is evident, that a hard 
 father may ufe his children as fervants, or a rebellious ftubborn fon 
 may deferve to be fo ufed ; and a gentle and good mafter may fliew that 
 kindnefs to faithful and well-deferving fervants, which refembles the 
 fweetnefs of a fatherly rule : but neither of them can change their nature; 
 a fon can never grow to be a fervant, nor a fervant to be a fon. If a 
 family therefore be not complete, imlefs it confift of children and fervants,. 
 it cannot be like to a kingdom or city, which is compofed of freemen 
 and equals : fervants may be in it, but are not members of it. As truth 
 can never be repugnant to juftice, it is impoffible this fhould be a preju- 
 dice to the paternal rule, which is moft juft ; efpecially Avhen a grateful 
 remembrance of the benefits received doth ftill remain, with a neceflary 
 and perpetual obligation of repaying them in all afFe£lion and duty. 
 Whereas the care of ever providing for their families, as they did probably 
 increafe in the time of our firft long-living fathers, would have been an 
 infupportable burden to parents, if it had been incumbent on them. We 
 do not find that Adam exercifed any fuch power over Cain, when he had 
 llain Abel, as our author fancies to be regal. The murderer went out, 
 and built a city for himfelf, and called it by the name of his firft-born^ 
 And we have not the leaft reafon to believe, that after Adam's death Cain^ 
 lad any dominioa over his brethren, or their pofterity ; or any one of 
 
 i ihemi
 
 70 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. II them over him and his. He feared that whoever faw him would kill 
 liim : which language does not agree with the rights belonging to the 
 haughty title of heir apparent to the dominion of the whole earth. The 
 like was pradlifed by Noah and his fons, who fet up colonies for them- 
 felves ; but lived as private men in oblcure places, whilfl their children of 
 the fourth or fifth generation, efpecially of the youngeft and accurfed fon, 
 were great and powerful kings, as is fully proved in the firft chapter. 
 
 Though this had been otherwife, it would have no effeiSt upon us ; for 
 no argument, drawn from the examples of Shem, Ham, and Japhet, if 
 they and their children had continued under the dominion of Noah as long 
 as he lived, can oblige me to refign myfelf, and all my concernments, 
 abfolutely into the hands of one who is not my father. But when the 
 contrary is evidently true in them, and their next enfuing generations, it 
 is an admirable boldnefs in our author, to think of impofmg upon us, for 
 an eternal and univerfal law (when the knowledge of our hrft progenitors 
 is utterly extinguifhed) that which was not at all regarded by thofe, who 
 could not be ignorant of their own original, or the duty thereby incum- 
 bent upon them, or their immediate fathers then living, to whom the 
 rights muft have belonged, if there had been any fuch thing in nature, or 
 they had been of any advantage to them. Whereas in truth, if there 
 had been fuch a law in the beginning, it muft have vaniihed of itfelf, for 
 want of being exercifed in the beginning ; and could not poffibly be revived 
 after four thoufand years, when no man in the world can pofTibly know 
 to whom the univerfal right of dominion over the whole world, or parti- 
 cular nations, does belong : for it is in vain to fpeak 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 direcSted or approved 
 by God himlelf, and his moft faithful fervants, being inconfiftent with, 
 and contrary to it, we may be fure there never was any fuch thing ; and 
 that men, being left to the free ufe of their own underftanding, may order 
 and difpofe of their own affairs as they think fit. No man can have a 
 better title than another, unlefs for his perfonal virtues ; every man, that 
 in the judgment of thofe concerned excels in them, may be advanced. 
 And thofe nations, that through miftake fet up fuch as are unworthy, or 
 do not take right meafures in providing for a fucceffion of men worthy, 
 and other things neceffary to their welfare, may be guilty of great folly, 
 to their own fhame and mifery ; but can do no injuftice to any, in relation 
 to an hereditary right, which can be naturally in none.
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 SECTION III 
 
 GOVERNMENT IS NOT INSTITUTED FOR THE GOOD OF THE GO- 
 VERNOR, BUT OF THE GOVERNED; AND POWER IS NOT AN AD- 
 VANTAGE, BUT A BURDEN. 
 
 The follies, with which our author endeavours to corrupt and trouble the 
 world, I'cem to proceed from his fundamental miftakes of the ends, for 
 which governments arc conftituted ; and from an opinion, that an excef- 
 five power is good for the governor, or the diminution of it a prejudice.. 
 Whereas common fenfe teaches, and all good men acknowledge, that 
 governments are not fet up for the advantage, profit, pleafure, or glory 
 of one or a few men, but for the good of the fociety. For this reafon. 
 Plato and Ariftotle find no more certain way of dillinguifhing between a 
 lawful king and a tyrant, than that the firft feeks to procure the common, 
 good, and the other his own pleafure or profit ; and doubt not to declare, 
 that he, who according to his inftitution was the firff, deftroys his own 
 being, and degenerates into the latter, if he defied: from that rule : he- 
 that w^as the heft of men, becomes the worfl: ; and the father or fhepherd 
 of the people makes himfelf their enemy. And we may from hence 
 colledl, that, in all controverfies concerning the power of magiftrates, we 
 are not to examine what conduces to their profit or glory, but what is. 
 good for the public. 
 
 His fecond error is no lefs grofs and mifchievous than the firfl ; and that 
 abfolute power, to which he would exalt the chief magiflrate, would be 
 burdenfome, and defperately dangerous, if he had it. The highefl places 
 are always flippery : mens eyes are dazzled when they are carried up to 
 them ; and all falls from them are mortal. Few kings or tyrants, fays 
 Juvenal, go down to the grave in peace * ; and he did not imprudently 
 couple them together, becaufe in his time few or no kings were known, 
 who were not tyrants. Dionyfius thought no man left a tyranny, till he 
 was drawn out by the heels. But Tacitus fays, " nefcit quam grave & 
 rntolerandum fit cundla regendi onus f ." Mofes could not bear it. Gideon 
 would not accept of any refemblance of it. The moral fenfe of Jotham's 
 wife parable is eternal : the bramble coveted the power, which the vine, 
 olive, and fig-tree refufed. The worft and bafefl of men are ambitious of 
 the highefl places, which the befl: and wifefl rejed: ; or if fome, who may- 
 be otherwile well qualified — 
 
 [In this place two pages are wanting in the original manufcript.J 
 
 * Sine caede & vulnere pauci 
 
 Defcendunt rcges, & ficca morte tyranni. Jiiv. Sat. x, v. ri2 
 f The pafiage in Tacitus is exprefled in a different manner. Tiberius, after Auguftus's' 
 death, fays, in his fpeech to the fenate, " Se — experiendo didicifle, qu^m arduum, quam 
 fubjeftum fortunae, regendi cunda onus," Ann. 1. i, en 
 
 as. 
 
 7*
 
 7» DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. II 'as the fitteft to be followed by mankind. If thefe phllofophers and 
 
 divines deferve credit, Nimrod, Ninus, Pharoah, and the reft of that ac- 
 curfed crew, did not commit fuch exceffes as were condemned by God, 
 and abhorred by good men ; but, gaining to themfelves the glorious cha- 
 radter of his vicegerents, left their pradtices as a perpetual law to all fuc- 
 ceeding generations ; whereby the world, and every part of it, would be 
 for ever expofed to the violence, cruelty, and madnefs, of the moft v/icked 
 iRcn that it fhould produce. But if thefe opinions comprehend an extra- 
 vagancy of wickednefs and madnefs, that was not known among men, 
 till fome of thefe wretches prefumed to attempt the increafe of that corrup- 
 tion under which mankind groans, by adding fuel to the worft of all vices, 
 ■we may fafely return to our proportions, that, God having eftablifhed no 
 fuch authority as our author fancies, nations are left to the ufe of their own 
 judgment, in making provifion for their own welfare ; that there is no 
 lawful magiftrate over any of them, but fuch as they have fet up ; that, in 
 creating them, they do not feek the advantage of their magiftrate, but 
 their own : and, having found that an abfolute power over the people is a 
 burden, which no man can bear, and that no wife or good man ever 
 defired it ; from thence we may conclude, that it is not good for any to 
 have it, nor juft for any to affeQ. it, though it were perfonally good for 
 himfelf ; becaufe he is not exalted to feek his own good, but that of the 
 public. 
 
 SECTION IV 
 
 THE TATERNAL RIGHT DEVOLVES TO, AND IS INHERITED BY 
 
 ALL THE CHILDREN. 
 
 Though the perverfity of our author's judgment and nature may have 
 driven him into the grofleft errors, it is not amifs to obferve, that many 
 of thofe delivered by him proceed from his ignorance of the moft im- 
 portant differences between father and lord, king and tyrant ; which are 
 fo evident and irreconcileable, that one would have thought no man could 
 be fo ftupid as not to fee it impoflible for one and the fame man, at the 
 fame time, to be father and mafter, king and tyrant, over the fame per- 
 fons. But left he fliould think me too fcrupulous, or too ftridl in in- 
 quiring after truth, I intend fjr the prcfent to wave that inquiry, and to 
 feek what was good for Adam and Noah ; what we have rcafon to believe 
 they defired to tranfmit to their pofterity, and to take it for a perpetual 
 law in its utmoft extent ; which I think will be of no advantage to our 
 author : for this authority, which was imiverfal during their lives, muft 
 necelTarily, after their deceafe, be divided, as an inheritance, into as many 
 parcels as they had children. I'he apoftle fays, " If children, then heirs, 
 heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Chrlft * ;" which, alluding to the laws 
 * Rom, ch. 8, V. 17
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 73 
 
 and cufloms of nations, could have been of no force, unlefs it had been SECT. 4 
 true and known to be fo. But if children are heirs, or joint-heirs, what- 
 ever authority Adam or Noah had, is inherited by every man in the 
 world ; and that title of heir, which our author fo much magnifies, as if it 
 were annexed to one fingle perfon, vanilhes into nothing : or clfe the 
 words of the apoflle could have neither flrength nor truth in them, but 
 ■would be built upon a falfe foundation ; which may perhaps agree with 
 our author's divinity. 
 
 Yet, if the apoflle had not declared himfclf fo fully in this point, we 
 might eafily have feen, that Adam and Noah did leave their children in 
 that equality : for fathers are ever underflood to embrace all their children 
 wdth equal affeflion, till the difcovery of perfonal virtues and vices makes 
 a difl^rencc. But the perfonal virtues, that give a reafonable preference 
 of one before another, or make him more fit to govern than the others, 
 cannot appear before he is, nor can be annexed to any one line ; therefore 
 the father cannot be thought to have given to one man, or his defcendents, 
 the oovernment of his brethren and their defcendents. 
 
 Befides, though the law of England may make one man to be fole 
 heir of his father, yet the laws of God and nature do not fo. All the 
 children of Noah were his heirs. The land promifed to Abraham, Ilaac, 
 and Jacob, was equally divided among their children. It the children of 
 jofeph made two tribes, it was not as the firft-born, but by the will of 
 Jacob, wdio adopted Ephraim and Manafleh ; and they thereby became his 
 fons, and obtained an inheritance equal to that of the other tribes. The 
 law allowed a double portion to the firft-begotten ; but this made a dif- 
 ference between the brothers only in proportion : whereas that between 
 lord and fervant is in fpecie, not in degree. And if our author's opinion 
 might take place, inflead of fuch a divifion of the common inheritance 
 between brothers, as was made between the children of Jacob, all mufl 
 continue for ever flaves to one lord ; which would eflablifh a difference in 
 fpecie between brethren, which nature abhors. 
 
 If nature does not make one man lord over his brethren, he can never 
 come to be their lord, unlefs they make him fo, or he fubdue them. If 
 he fubdue them, it is an s.€t of violence contrary to right, which may 
 confequently be recovered. If they make him lord, it is for their own 
 fakes, not for his ; and he mufl: feek their good, not his own, Icfl, as 
 Ariftotle fays, he degenerate from a king into a tyrant. He therefore 
 who would perfuade us, that the dominion over every nation does natu- 
 rally belong to one man, woman, or child, at a venture, or to the heir, 
 whatever he or flie be, as to age, fex, or other qualifications, muft prove 
 it good for all nations to be under them. But as reafon is our nature, that 
 can never be natural to us that is not rational. Reafon gives " parla pari- 
 " bus," equal power to thofe who have equal abilities and merit : it allots 
 to every one the part he is moft fit to perform ; and this fitnefs muft be 
 equally lafting with the law that allots it. But as it can never be good for 
 
 L great
 
 74 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. II great nations, having men amongft them of virtue, experience, wifdom, 
 and goodnefs, to be governed by children, fools, or vicious and wicked 
 perfons, and we neither find, that the virtues required in luch as dcicrve 
 to govern them, did ever continue in any race of men, nor have reafon to 
 believe thev ever will, it can never be reafonable 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 is a child, and thy princes eat in the 
 " morning*!" and I wifli the experience of all ages did not make this 
 truth too evident to us. This therefore can never be the work, much lefs 
 the law, of nature. And if there be any fuch thing in the world, as the 
 dominion over a nation infeparably united to a man and his family, it can 
 have no other root, than a civil or municipal law, which is not the fubjedl 
 of our difcourfe. 
 
 Moreover, every father's right mufl: ceafe, when he ceafes to be ; or 
 be tranfmitted to thofe, who, being alfo fathers, have the fame title to it. 
 And, though the contrary method of annexing the whole inheritance to one 
 perfon, or expoiing all his brethren to be deftroyed by his rage, if they 
 will not fubmit, may conduce to the enlargement of a proud and violent 
 empire, as in Turky, where he that gains the power, ufually begins his 
 reign with the {laughter of his brothers and nephews, yet it can never 
 agree with the piety, gentlenefs, and wifdom, of the patriarchs, or the 
 laws of God and nature. 
 
 Thele things being agreed, we need not trouble ourfelves with the 
 limits or definition of a family, and as little with the titles given to the 
 head of it : it is all one to us, whether it be confined to one roof and fire, 
 or extended farther ; and none but fuch as are fi;rangers 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 called " dominus," unlefs fijch as 
 are of the vlleft condition, or in a great fubjedlion to thofe who fpeak to 
 them ; and yet the word, ftridtly taken, relates only to " fervus ;" for a 
 man is lord only of his fervant or Have. The Italians are not lefs liberal 
 of the titles of " fignore" and " padrone," and the Spaniards of " fen- 
 *' nor :" but he would be ridiculous in thofe countries, who thereupon 
 fliould arrogate to himfelf a right of dominion over thofe who are fo civil. 
 The vanity of our age feems to carry this point a little higher, efpecially 
 among the French, who put a great weight upon the word " prince :" but 
 they cannot change the true fignification of it ; and even in their fenfc, 
 *' prince du fang" fignifies no more than a chief man of the royal blood, 
 to w^hom they pay much refpe£i, becaufe he may come to the crown ; as 
 they at Rome do to cardinals, who have the power of chooiing popes, and 
 out of whofe number, for fome ages, they have been chofen. In this 
 fenfe did Scaevola, when he was apprehended by Porfenna, fay, " trecenti 
 *' conjuravimus principes juvcntutis Ilomanae f ;" which was never other- 
 wife underftood, than of fuch young citizens as were remarkable among 
 
 * Eccl. ch. lOj V. i6. -t Liv. 1. 2, c. 12 
 
 theiir
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 75 
 
 their companions. And nothing can be more abfurd than to think, if sect. 4 
 
 the name of prince had carried an abl'olute and defpotical power with it, 
 
 that it coukl belong to three Iiundred in a city, that poifeired no more tlian 
 
 a ten miles territory ; or that it could have been given to them, whilft 
 
 they were young, and the mofl: part of their fathers, as is moll probable, 
 
 ftill living. 
 
 I fhould, like our autlior, run round in a circle, if I fliould refute what 
 he fays of a regal power in our firft parents ; or (hew that the regal, where 
 it is, is not ablblute, as often as he does aiTert it. But, having already 
 proved, that Adam, Noah, Abraham, Ifaac, Jacob, &c. enjoyed ho fucli 
 power, tranfmitted to every one of their fons that which they had, and 
 they became fathers of many great nations, whg always continued inde- 
 pendent on each other, I leave to our author to prove, when, and by 
 what, law, the right of fubdividing the paternal power w^as flopped ; and 
 how any one or more of their delcendents came to have that power over 
 their brethren, which none of their immediate children had over theirs. 
 
 His queflion to Suarez, how and when fons become free, favours more 
 ofjefuitical fophiflry, than any thing faid by the jefuit. But the folution 
 is eafy : for if he mean the refpedl, veneration, and kindnefs proceeding 
 from gratitude, it ceafes only with the life of the father to vv^hom it is due, 
 and the memory of it mull lall as long as that of the fon ; and if they had 
 been polTefled of fuch an abiblute power as he fancies, it muft have ceafed 
 with the realbns upon v\rhich it was grounded. 
 
 Firll, becaufe the power, of which a father would probably have made 
 a wife and gentle ufe, could not be rightly trailed in the hands of one who 
 is not a father ; and that, which tended only to the prefervation of all the 
 children, could not be turned to the increafe of the pride, luxury, and 
 violence of one, to the opprellion of others, who are equally heirs. 
 
 In the fecond place, focieties cannot be inllituted, unlefs the heads of 
 the families, that are to compofe them, refign fo much of their right, as 
 feems convenient, into the public Hock, to which every one becomes fub- 
 je£t. But that the fame power fhould, at the lame time, continue in the 
 true father, and the figurative father, the magiftrate, and that the children 
 fhould owe entire obedience to the commands of both, which may often 
 crofs each other, is abfurd. 
 
 Thirdly, it ceafes when it cannot be executed ; as when men live to fee 
 four or five generations, as many do at this day ; becaufe the fon cannot 
 tell whether he fhall obey his father, grandfather, or great-grandfather, 
 and cannot be equally fubjedl to them all ; efpecially, when they live in 
 divers places, and fet up families of their own, as the fons of the patriarchs 
 did. Which being obferved, I know no place where this paternal power 
 could have any elFed:, unlefs in the fabulous ifland of Pines ; and even 
 there it mull have ceafed, when he died, who, by the inventor of the 
 ftory, is laid to have feen above ten thoufand perfons iliued of his body. 
 
 And if it be liud, that Noah, Shem, Abraham, &c. coniented that their 
 children fhould go v>/here they thought fit, and provide for themfelves, I 
 
 L. 2. anfwer.
 
 76 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. LI anfwer, that the like has been done in all ages, and mull be done for 
 ever. It is the voice of nature, obeyed, not only by mankind, but by all 
 living creatures ; and there is none fo flupid as not to underftand it. A 
 hen leaves her chickens, when they can feek their ovpn nourifhment. A 
 cow looks after her calf no longer, than till it is able to feed. A lionefs 
 gives over hunting for her whelps, when they are able to feek their own 
 prey, and have ftrength enough to provide what is fufficient for them- 
 I'elves. And the contrary would be an infupportable burden to all living 
 creatures, but efpecially to men : for the good order, that the rational 
 nature delights in, would be overthrown, and civil focieties, by which it 
 is beft preferved, would never be eftablilhed. 
 
 We are not concerned to examine, whether the political and oeconomi- 
 cal powers be entirely the fame, or in what they differ : for that abfolute 
 power, which he contends for, is purely defpotical, differetit from both, 
 or rather inconfiftent with either as to the fame fubjeft ; and that which 
 the patriarchs exercifed, having been equally inherited by their children, 
 and confequently by every one of their pofterity, it is as much as is re- 
 quired for my purpofe of proving the natural univerf\l liberty of mankind ; 
 and I am no way concerned in the queftion, whether the firft parents of 
 mankind had a power of life and death over their children, or not. 
 
 SECTION V 
 
 FTIEEMEN JOIN TOGETHER, AND F.RAME GREATER OR LESS- 
 SOCIETIES, AND GIVE SUCH FORMS TO THEM AS BEST PLEASE. 
 
 THEMSELVES. 
 
 This being eftabliflicd, I fhall leave Filmer to fight againfl Suarez or Bel— 
 larmine ; or to turn one of them againfl the other, without any concern- 
 ment in the combat, or the fuccefs of it. But fince he thereupon raifes a 
 queftion, " whether the fupreme power be fo in the people, that there is 
 " but one and the fame power in all the people of the world, fo that no 
 " power can be granted, unlefs all the men upon the earth meet, and 
 " agree to choofe a governor," I think it deferves to be anfwered, and 
 might do it by propofing a queftion to him : whether in his opinion, the- 
 empire of the whole world docs, by the laws of God and nature, belong 
 to one man, and who that man is ? or, how it came fo to be divided, as 
 we have ever known it to have been, without fuch an injury to the uni- 
 verfal monarch, as can never be repaired ? But intending to proceed more 
 candidly, and not to trouble myfelf with Bellarmine or Suarez, I fay, that 
 they, who place the power in a multitude, underftand a multitude com- 
 pofed of freemen, who think it for their convenience to join together, and 
 to cflabllfli fuch laws and rules as they oblige themfelvcs to obferve : which 
 multitude, whether it be great or fmall, has the fame right ; bccaufe ten 
 
 men
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 77 
 
 men are as free as ten millions of men ; and though it may be more pru- sect. 5 
 dent in feme cafes to join with the greater than the iniallcr number, be- 
 caufe there is more ftrength, it is not £0 always. But however every man 
 muft therein be his own judge ; ilnce if he miftake, the hurt is only tO' 
 himfelf ; and the ten may as juitly refolve to live together, frame a civil 
 fbciety, and oblige themfelvcs to laws, as the greatcft number of men tluit 
 ever met together in the world. 
 
 Thus we find that a few men, aflcmbling together upon the banks of the 
 Tiber, refolved to build a city, and let up a government among themfclves. 
 And the multitude that met at Babylon, when their deiign of building a 
 tower that fhould reach up to heaven failed, and their language was c(m— 
 founded, divided themfelves, as our author fays, into feventy two parcels,, 
 and by the fame right might have divided into more, as their defcendents 
 did into almoft an infinite number, before the deadi of their common father 
 Noah. But we cannot find a more perfedl pidture of freemen, living ac- 
 cording to their own will, than in Abraham and Lot. They went together 
 into Canaan, continued together as long as was convenient for them, and 
 parted when their fubftance did fo increafe,^ that they became troublefome 
 to each other. In the like manner Ifhmael, Ifaac, and Abraham's fix fons 
 by Keturah might have continued together, and made one nation. Ifaac 
 and Elau, Moab and Amnion, might have done fo too ; or all of them 
 that came of the fame ftock might have united together : but they did not. 
 Their defcendents by the fame rule might have fubdivided perpetually, if 
 they had thought it expedient for themfelves. And if the fons of Jacob 
 did not do the like, it is probable they were kept together by the hope of 
 an inheritance promifed to them by God ; in which we find no fhadow of 
 a defpotical dominion, affedled by one as father or heir to the firft father, 
 or reputed to be the heir ; but all continued in that fraternal equality^ 
 which, according to Abraham's words to Lot, they ought to do *. There 
 was no lord, flave or vaflal ; no ftrife was to be among them ; they were 
 brethren ; they might live together, or feparate, as they found it con- 
 venient for themfelves. By the fame law that Abraham and Lot, Moab 
 and Amnion, Ifhmael, Ifaac, and the fons of Keturah, Jacob, Efau, and 
 their defcendents, did divide, and fet up feveral governments, every one 
 of their children might have done the like : and the fame right remained 
 to their iffue, till they had by agreement engaged themfelves 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 fepa- 
 rate, and continue in that feparatlon, or reunite, they could not but have 
 a right of framing fuch conditions of their reunion as befl pleafed them- 
 felves. By this means every number of men, agreeing together, and 
 framing a fociety, became a complete body, having all power in them- 
 felves over themfelves, fubje6t to no other human law than their own. 
 
 * Let there be no ftrife, I pray thee, between me and thee ; for we are bretliren. Gen. 
 eh. 13, V. 8 
 
 All;
 
 78 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. II All thofc, that com pofe the fociety, being equally free to enter into it or 
 not, no man could have any preroga'tivc above others, unlcfs it were 
 granted by the confent of the whole. And nothing obliging them to enter 
 into this fociety, but the confidcration of their own good, that good, or 
 the opinion of it, muft have been the rule, motive, and end, of all that 
 they did ordain. It is lawful therefore for any fuch bodies to fet up one, 
 or a few men, to govern them, or to retain the power in themfelves. And 
 he or they who are fet up, having no other power but what is fo conferred 
 upon them by that multitude, whether great or fmall, are truly by them 
 made what they are ; and, by the laws of their own creation, arc to cxer- 
 cife thofe powers according to the proportion, and to the ends, for which 
 they were given. 
 
 Thefe rights, in feveral nations and ages, have been varioufly executed 
 in the eflabliihment of monarchies, ariftocracies, democracies, or mixed 
 governments, according to the variety of circumftances ; and the govern- 
 ments have been good or evil, according to the redtitude or pravity of 
 their inftitution, and the virtue and wifdom, or the folly and vices of 
 thofc to whom the power was committed. But the end which was ever 
 propofcd, being the good of the public, they only performed their duty, 
 who procured it according to the laws of the fociety, which were equally 
 valid as to their own magillrates, whether they were fev<! or many. 
 
 This might fufTice to anfwer our author's queftion ; but he endeavours 
 farther to perplex it, by a fidtion of his own brain, " that God gave this 
 power to the w^hole multitude only, and not to any particular aflembly 
 of men ;" and expefts a proof, " that the whole multitude met, and 
 divided this power which God gave them in grois, by breaking into 
 " parcels, and by appointing a diftindt power to each commonwealth." 
 He alfo fathers it upon the afl'ertors of liberty ; " and does not fee," as 
 he fays, " how there can be an eleetion of a magiftrate by any common- 
 "*' wealth, that is not an ufurpation upon the privilege of the whole world, 
 " unlefs all mankind had met together, and divided the power into 
 " parcels which God had given them in grofs." But before I put myfclf 
 to the trouble of anfwering that which is but an appendix to a whimfy of 
 his own, I may judly afk, what hurt he finds in ulurpation, who alferts, 
 that the fame obedience is due to all monarchs, whether they come in by 
 inheritance, cle(fl:ion or ufurpation ? If ufurpation can give a right to a 
 monarch, why does it not confer the fame upon a people ? or rather, if 
 God did in grofs confer fuch a right upon all mankind, and they neither 
 did, nor can meet together by confent to difpofe of it for the good of the 
 whole, why fhould not thofe, who can, and do confent to meet together, 
 agree upon that which fcems moft expedient to them for the government 
 of themfelves ? Did God create man under the nccefhty of wanting 
 j.:overnment, and all the good that proceeds from it, bccaufe at the firil 
 ;di did not, and afterwards all could not meet to agree u[ion rules ? Or did 
 he ever declare, that, unlcfs tlicy ufed the i]\i\ opportunity of dividing 
 thcirifclvca iuto fuch parcels as were to remain unalterable, the right of 
 
 reigning 

 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 791 
 
 rciu;ning over every one niouhl fall to the Tirll villain that flioiild dare to sEC'i'. <r 
 attempt it? Is it not more coalonant to the wildom and goodnds of Gody 
 to leave to every nation a liberty of repairing the mifchicfs, fallen npon 
 them through the omiffion of their firft parents, hy i'ctting up govern- 
 ments among themfelves, than to lay them under a necclfily of fubmitling 
 to any that fhould ini'olcntly ai'pire to a domination over tlicm ? Is it not 
 more juft and realbnabld to believe, that the univcrfil riglit, not being 
 executed, devolves upon particular nations, as members of the great body^ 
 than that it Ihould become the reward of violence or fraud ? Or is it poffi- 
 ble that any one man can make himi'elf lord of a people, or parcel of that 
 body, to whom God had given the liberty of governing themfelves, by 
 any otlier means than violence or fraud, unlefs they did williiigly fu])mit 
 to him ? If this riglit be not devolved upon any one man, is not the inva- 
 iion of it the moft outrageous injury that can be done to all mankind, and 
 moft particularly to the nation that is enflaved by it ? Or if the jullice of 
 every government depends necedarily upon an original grant, and a fuc- 
 ceflion certainly deduced from our fnfi; lathers, docs not he by his own 
 principles condemn all tht monarchies of the world, as the moll detefiable 
 ufurpations ; fmce not one of them, that we know, do any way pretend to 
 it? Or, thougli I, who deny any power to be jull that is not founded 
 upon confcnt, may boldly bLuue urur])ation, is it not an abfurd and un- 
 pardonable impudence in Filmer, to condemn ufurpation in a peojile, when 
 he has declared that the right and power of a father may be gained by 
 ufurpation ; and that nations in their obedience are to regard the power, 
 not tlie means by which it was gained ? But not to lofe more time upon 
 a moll frivolous iidlion, I afTirm, that the liberty, whicli we contend for, is 
 granted by God to every man in liis own perfon, in fuch a manner as may 
 be ufeful to liim and his pofterity, and as it was cxercifed by Noah, Shem, 
 Abraham, Ifaac, Jacob, &c. and their children, as hath been proved, and 
 not to the vaft body of all mankind, which never did meet together fincc 
 the lirft age after the flood, and never could meet to receive any benefit by it. 
 His next (]uefti(;n deferves fcorn arul hatred, with all the effeds of 
 both, if it proceed from malice; though perhaps he may deferve com- 
 palFion, if his crime proceed from ignorance. " Was a general meeting 
 *' of a whole kingdom," fays he, " ever known for the eledion of a 
 " prince ?" But if there never were any general meetings of wl'ole 
 nations, or of fuch as they did delegate and intrufl with the power of the 
 whole, how did any man that was ele£led come to have a power over the 
 whole ? Why may not a people meet to choofe a prince, as well as any 
 other magiftrate ? Why might not the Athenians, Romans, or Carthagi- 
 nians, have chcfen princes as well as archons, confuls, didators, or 
 fulfetes, if it had pleafed them ? Who chofe all the Roman kings, except 
 Tarcpiin the Proud, if the people did not ; fuice their hiftories tcftify, that 
 he was the firfl who took upon him to reign " fine juilu populi * ?" Who 
 
 * Confcius male quacrcndi rcgni ah fc ipfo advcrfus fe cxcmpliim capi pofl'c, armatis 
 corpus circumffpfit : ncque enim a(' jus rcgni quicguam practcr vim habcbat, ut qui neque 
 pt.puli juffii, ncquc audtoribus patribus rcgnarct. Liv. 1. i, §49 
 
 4 ever
 
 So DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. II ever heard of a king of the Goths in Spain, that was not chofen by the 
 nobihty and people ? Or, how could they choofe him, if they did not 
 meet in their perfons, or by their deputies, which is the fame thing, 
 when a people has agreed it fhould be fo ? How did the kings of Sweden 
 come by their power, unlefs by the like eleQion, till the crown was made 
 hereditary, in the time of Guftavus the Firft, as a reward of his virtue and 
 fervice in delivering that country from the tyranny of the Danes ? How 
 did Charles Guftavus come to be king, unlefs it was by the eledlion of the 
 nobility ? He acknowledged by the a£t of his eledlion, and upon all occa- 
 fions, that he had no other right to the crown than what they had con- 
 ferred on him. Did not the like cuftom prevail in Hungary and Bohemia, 
 till thofe countries fell under the power of the houfe of Aufcria ? and in 
 Denmark, till the year 1660? Do not the kings of Poland derive their 
 authority from this popular election, Avhich he derides ? Does not the ftile 
 of the oath of allegiance ufed in the kingdom of Arragon, as it is related 
 by Antonio Perez, fecretary of ftate to Philip II. fhew, that their kings 
 were of their own making ? Could they fay, " we, who are as good as 
 " you, make you our king, on condition that you keep and obferve our 
 " privileges and liberties, and if not, not *," if he did not come in by 
 their eledlion ? Were not the Roman emperors in diforderly times chofen 
 by the foldiers ; and in fuch as were more regular, by the lenate with the 
 confent of the people ? 
 
 Our author may fay, the whole body of thefe nations did not meet at 
 
 their elections ; though that is not always true. For in the infancy of 
 
 Rome, when the whole people dwelt within the walls of a fmall city, they 
 
 did meet for the choice of their kings, as afterwards for the choice of 
 
 other magiftrates. Whilft the Goths, Franks, Vandals, and Saxons, lived 
 
 within the precindls of a camp, they frequently met for the eledlion of a 
 
 king, and raifed upon a target the perfon they had chofen. But, finding 
 
 that to be inconvenient, or rather impoffible, when they were vaftly in- 
 
 creafed in number, and difpcrfed over all the countries they had conquered, 
 
 no better way was found, than to inflitute gemotes, parliaments, diets, 
 
 cortez, affemblies of eftatcs, or the like, to do that which formerly 
 
 ""had been performed by tliemfelves. And when a people is, by mutual 
 
 '■ compadl, joined together in a civil fociety, there is no difference, as to' 
 
 ' right, between that which is done by them, all in their own perfons, or by 
 
 -- fome deputed by all, and acling according to the powers received from all. 
 
 If our author was ignorant of thefe things, which are the moft common 
 
 in all hiftories, he might have fpared the pains of writing upon m.ore 
 
 abftrufe points ; but it is a Ihipendous folly in him, to prefume to raif? 
 
 dodlrines depending upon tlie univerfal law of God and nature, without 
 
 examining the only law that ever God did, in a public manner, give to 
 
 man. If he had looked into it, hfe might have learned, that all Ifrael was, 
 
 by the command of God, affemblcd at Mi/.pch to choofe a king, and did 
 
 choofe Saul. He being flain, all Judah came to Hebron, and made David 
 
 * Nos que valetnos tanto come vos, os haccmos nueftro rcy, con tal que vos guariltis 
 ^lueitros fueros y libertade3, y fino, 110. Relacion. de Ant. Pckz. 
 
 their
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNIxNG GOVERNMENT 81 
 
 their king : after the death of Iflihoflicth, all the tribes went to Hebron, sect. 5 
 and anointed him king over them, and he made a covenant with them be- 
 fore the Lord. When Solomon was dead, all Ifrael met together in 
 Sechem ; and ten tribes, diiliking the proceedings of Rehoboam, rejected 
 him, and made Jeroboam their king *. The fame people, in the time of 
 the judges, had general aiVemblics, as often as occaiion did require, to fet 
 up a judge, to make war or the like : and the feveral tribes had their 
 afl'emblies to treat of bufinefs relating to themfelvcs. The hiflories of all. 
 nations, efpecially of thofe that have peopled the bell parts of Europe, are 
 fo full of examples in this kind, that no man can queilion them, unlels 
 he, be brutally ignorant, or malicioufly contentious. The great matters 
 among the Germans were tranfadtcd omnium confenfu. " De minoribus 
 " confultant principes ; de majoribus omnes f." The " inicelgemote" 
 among the Saxons was an affembly of the whole people : the " barona- 
 " gium" is truly faid to be the lame, in as much as it comprehended 
 all the freemen, that is, all the people ; for the diflerei-tce between " civis" 
 and " fervus" is irreconcileable ; and no man, whilft he is a fervant, 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 fore-mentioned, 
 northern nations had the like cuftoms among them : the governments they 
 had were lb inftituted. The utmofi:, that any now remaining pretends to, 
 is, to derive their right from them. If, according to Filmer, thefe firft 
 affemblies could not confer it upon the firft, they had none : fuch as claim 
 under them, can inherit none from thofe that had none ; and there can 
 be no right in all the governments we fo much venerate ; and nothing 
 can tend more to their overthrow than the reception of our author's 
 doftrine. 
 
 Though any one inftance would be fufficient to overthrow his general 
 negative propofition (for a rule is not generally true, if there be any juft 
 exception againft it) I have alleged many, and find it fo eafy to increafe 
 the number, that there is no nation, whofe original we know, out of 
 whofe hiftories I will not undertake to produce the like. But I have not 
 been felicitous precifely to diftinguifla, which nations have adted in their 
 own perfons, and which have made ufe of delegates ; nor in what times 
 they have changed from one way tO- the other : for, if any have adted 
 by themfelves, the thing is poffible ; and whatever is done by delegated 
 powers, muft be referred to their principals ; for none can give to any 
 a power which they have not in themfelves. 
 
 He is gracioully pleafed to confefs, that " when men are aflembled by 
 " a human pov\Tr, the power thai doth affemble them, may alfo limit 
 " the manner of the execution of that power, &c. But in affemblies that 
 " take their authority from the law of nature, it is not i'o ; for what 
 
 * I Sam. ch. 10, v. 17. 2 Sam. ch. 2, v. 4. 2 Sam. ch. 5, v. 3. 1 Kings, ch. 22, v. 20 
 f Dc minoribus rebus principes confultant, de majoribus omncs : ita tamen, -lit ea quo- 
 
 que, quorum penes plebem arbitrium eft, apud principes pertratStentur, Tacit. De Mor. 
 
 Germ. § 11 
 
 M « liberty
 
 g2 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. II " liberty or freedom is due to any man by the law of nature, no inferior 
 " power can alter, limit, or diminilh : no one man, or multitude of 
 " men, can give away the natural right of another." Thefe are ftrong 
 lines, and fuch as, if there be any fenfe in them, utterly overthrow all 
 our author's dodtrine. For if any affembly of men did ever take their 
 authority from the law of nature, it mull: be of fuch as, remaining in 
 the entire fruition of their natural liberty, and reftrained by no contradl, 
 meet together to deliberate of fuch matters as concern themfelves ; and if 
 they can be reftrained by no one man, or number of men, they may dif- 
 pofe of their own affairs as they think fit. But becaufe no one of them is 
 obliged to enter into the fociety that the reft may conftitute, he cannot 
 enjoy the benefit of that fociety unlefs he enter into it : he may be gone, 
 and fet up for himfelf, or fet up another with fiich as will agree with him. 
 But if he enter into the fociety, he is obliged by the laws of it ; and if 
 one of thofe laws be, that all things ftiould be determined by the plurality 
 of voices, his aflent is afterwards comprehended in all the refolutions 
 of that plurality. Reuben or Simeon might, according to the laws of 
 nature, have divided themfelves from their brethren, as well as Lot 
 from Abraham, or Iftimael and the fons of Keturah from Il'aac. But 
 when they, in hopes of having a part in the inheritance promifed to their 
 fathers, had joined with their brethren, a few of their defcendents could 
 not have a right, by their dlfTent, to hinder the refolutions of the whole 
 body, or fuch a part of it, as by the firft agreement was to pafs for an acft 
 of the whole. And the Scripture teaches us, that when the lot was fallen 
 upon Saul, they who defpifed him were ftiled " men of Belial * ;" and the 
 reft, after his vid:ory over the Ammonites, would have llain them, if he 
 had permitted. In the like manner, when a number of men met together 
 to build Rome, any man who had difliked the defign, might juftly have 
 '■" rcfufed to join in it ; but when he had entered into the fociety, he could 
 not by his vote invalidate the a£l;s of the whole, nor deftroy the rights of 
 Romulus, Numa, and the others, who by the fenate and people were 
 made kings ; nor thofe of the other magiftrates, who after their expulfion 
 •were legally created. 
 
 This is as much as is required to eftablilh the natural liberty of man- 
 kind in its utmoft extent, and cannot be fliaken by our author's fur- 
 mife, *' that a gap is thereby opened for every feditious multitude to raife 
 " a new commonwealth." For till the commonwealth be eftabiilhed, no 
 mullituJe can be feditious, becaufe they are not fubjeft to any human 
 law ; and fedition implies an unjuft and dilbrderly oppofition of that 
 power which is legally eftabliflied ; which cannot be when there is none, 
 nor by him who is not a member of the fociety that makes it ; and when 
 it is made, fuch as entered into it, are obliged by the laws of it. 
 
 This fhewing the root and foundation of civil powers, we may judge 
 of the ufe 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 tbc will of thofe who feek their 
 
 • I Sam. di. iCj v. 2^ 
 
 4 «^^^
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 8| 
 
 own good ; and may certainly infer, that, fince all multitudes are compcicd • SCCT. 5'. 
 of fuch as are under fbme contrad, or free from ail, no man is obliged to ■ 
 enter into thole contradls againrt his own will, nor obliged by any to which 
 he does not aflent. Thofe multitudes, that enter into fuch contracSls, and - 
 thereupon form civil focieties, aft according to their own will : thole that ■ 
 arc engaged in none, take their authority from the law of nature ; their 
 rights cannot be limited or diminilhcd by any one man, or number of 
 men ; and conicqucntly whoever docs it, or attempts the doing of it, vio- 
 lates the moll f icrcd laws of God and nature. 
 
 His cavils concerning proxies, and the way of ufmg them, defcrve no 
 anfwcr, as relating only to one lort of men amongll us, and can have no 
 influence upon the laws of nature, or the proceedings of afl'emblies, acting 
 according to fuch rules as they fet to themfelves. In fome places they have 
 voted all together in their own perfons, as in Athens ; in others by tribes, 
 as in Rome ; fometimes by delegates, Avhen the number of the whole 
 people is lb great, that no one place can contain them, as in the par* 
 liaments, diets, general afiemblies of eftatcs, long ufed in the great king* 
 tloms of Europe. In other parts many cities are joined together in leagues, 
 as antiently the Achaians, Etolians, Samnites, Tufcans ; and in thefe times 
 the ftates of Holland, and cantons of Switzerland. But our author, not 
 regarding fuch matters, in purfuance of his folly, with an ignorance as 
 admirable as his ftupidity, repeats his challenge : " I aft," fvys he, " but 
 " one example out of the hiftory of the whole world ; let the com- 
 *' mon-wealth be named, where the multitude, or fo much as the major 
 *' part of it, conlented, either by voice, or procuration, to the eleilion of 
 *' a prince ; " not obferving, that if an anfwer could not be given, he did 
 overthrow the rights of all the princes that are, or ever have been, in the 
 world. For if the liberty of one man cannot be lim.ited or diminiflied by 
 one, or any number of men, and none can give away the right of 
 another, it is plain, that the ambition of one man, or of many, a fadtion 
 of citizens, or the mutiny of an army, cannot give a right to any over the 
 liberties of a whole nation, Thofe, who are fo fet up, have their root 
 in violence or fraud, and are rather to be accounted robbers and pirates, 
 than magiftrates. Leo Africanus, obferving in his hiftory, that, fince the 
 extindlion 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 con- 
 fent of thofe nations which they governed, fays, that they are efteemed 
 thieves ; and that on this account, the moft honourable men among the 
 Arabians and Moors fcorn to eat, drink, or make alliances with them *. 
 And if the cafe were as general as that author makes it, no better rule 
 could be any where followed by honourable and worthy men. But a good 
 caufe muft not be loft by the fault of an ill advocate : the rights of kings 
 muft not perifli, becaufe Filmer knows not how to defend, or does mali- 
 cioufly betray them. I have already proved that David, and divers of the 
 judges, were chofen by all Ifrael ; Jeroboam by ten tribes ; all the kings 
 
 » Defc. Afric. *** 
 
 M z of
 
 84 DISCOURSES CONCEUNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. 11 of Rome, except Tarquin the Proud, by the whole city. I may add many 
 examples of the Saxons in our own country. Ina and Otfa were made 
 kings "omnium confenfu. " Thefe "all" are expreffed plainly by the 
 words, " archiepifcopls, eplfcopis, abbatibus, fenatoribus, ducibus, et po- 
 " pulo terrae *." Egbert came to the crown by the fame authority : 
 " omnium confenfu rex creaturf." Ethelwolf the monk, " necefhtate 
 *' cogente, fadlus eft rex, et confenfus publicus in regem dari petiit if." 
 Ethelftan, though a baftard, " eleftus eft magno confenfu optimatum, et 
 " a populo confalutatus §." In the like manner, Edwin's government 
 being difliked, they chofe Edgar : " unanimi omnium confpiratione, 
 " Edwino dejedo, elegerunt, Deo didiante, Edgarum in regem, et annu- 
 *' ente populo;" and in another place, " Edgarus ab omni Anglorum 
 *' populo eledlus eft**." Ironfide being dead, Canutus was received by 
 the general confent of all, " juraverunt illi, quod eum regem fibi eligere 
 " vellent : foedus etiam cum principibus et omni populo ipfe, et illi cum 
 " ipfo percufferunt :" whereupon, " omnium confenfu fuper totam An- 
 *' gliam Canutus coronatur ft-" " Hardicanutus gaudenter ab omnibus 
 " fufcipitur, & eledus eft ^." The fame author fays, Edward the Con- 
 
 feflbr 
 
 * Gens de regno Merciorum, contra regem fuum Beornredum infurgens, pro eo quod 
 populum non aequis legibiis, fed per tyrannidem gubernaret, convenerunt in unum omnes 
 Iain nobiles quam ignobiles, ct Offa duce, adolefcente flreiiuiffimo, ipfum a regno expu'e- 
 runt. Qi!o facto, unanimi- omnium confenfu Offam in regem tarn clerus quam populus 
 eoronarunt. Mat. Weft. Flor. Hift. ann. 758 
 
 Ina, magis pro infitivae virtutis induflria, quam fucceffivae fobolis profapid, in princi- 
 .patum afcitur. Will. Malmefb. 1. i, p. 14 
 
 In the council at Calchuth, A. D. 787, it was decreed, Ut legitime reges a facerdotibus 
 k fcnioribus populi eligantur. And, at the conclufion of the decrees which were made in 
 that aficmblv, it is faid : Haec decreta, beatiffime papa Hadrianc, in eoncilio publico, 
 coram rege Aelkiualdo, et archiepifcopo Eanbuldo, et omnibus cpifcopis et abbatibus regio- 
 nis, feu fenatoribus, et ducibus, et populo terrae, propofuimus, etc. Spelm. Concil. 
 p. 296, 300 ^ 
 
 f Egbertus, ex Gallia propere in patriam reverfus, omnium confenfu rex creatur 
 
 Rex oeciduus a Cerdicio decimus iepcimus ab omnibus confalutatus. Polyd. Verg. Ang!'. 
 Hill. 1. 4, p. 88, et 1. 5, p. 89. Ed. Bafil, 1534 
 
 X Adelwulfus prirnurn fuerat epifcopus j fed Egbrictho patre fuo defuncto, neceflitatc 
 cogente, hHus eft rex. Hovend. Anna!, p. 413. Hunting. Hift. 1. 5, p. 348. Ed. Franc. 
 1601 
 
 § Magno confenfu opti;natum Aethclflanus elcclus ; apud regiam villam, quae vocatur 
 
 Kingflon coronatus. Will. Maimed). 1. 2, c. 6. Adelftanus a Cerdicio vigefunus 
 
 quartus, ex concubina Edouardi filius, rex a populo confalutatur. Polyd. Verg. 1. 6. p. icf) 
 
 ** Quo [Eadv/io] unanimi omnium confpiratione, dejcfto, elegerunt, Deo didtante, 
 fratrem ejus Eadgarem in regem, et annuente populo, res regni publica difpertita inter 
 
 fratres, Thamefis fluyius regnum diflerminaret amborum Eadwii regnmn fruter 
 
 ejus Eadgarus, ab omni populo eleflus, fufcipicns, divifa rcgna in ujium compjginavit. 
 Mat. Wefh ann. 957, ct 959 
 
 ■ft Rex Canutus ab optimatibus fidelia juramenta rcccpit; et illi juraverunt illi quod 
 
 ilium regem fibi eligere velknt. Hoc anno totius Angliae fufccpit inipcrium : foedus 
 
 ctiam cum principibus, et omni populo percuffit, ct amicitiam iirniam inter fe juramentis 
 ftabllierunt. Hovend. AnnaJ. p. 436.- Infidiis Edmundus occifus cfl, et omnium con- 
 fenfu Cnutup fupcr totam Angliam coronatus. Ingulphi Hift. p. 892 
 
 %X Hardicanutua gaudenter ab oinjiibus fufcipitur, regnique fylio jnjuc Xubjitfiatur. Ho- 
 
 \«ld.
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 85 
 
 fefTor " eledlus eft in rcgem ab omni populo ;" and another, " omnium SECT. 5 
 *' elei£lione in EdvvarcUim concordatur *." Though the name of " Con- 
 " queror" be odioufly given to William the Norman, he Itad the fame 
 title to the crown with his predeceOTors : " in magna exultatione a clero 
 *' et populo fufceptus, & ab omn'bus rex acxlamatus "j •" I cannot 
 recite all the examples of this kind, that the hiftory of almoft all nations 
 furnifhes, unlefs I fliould make a volume in bulk- not inferior to the book 
 of martyrs. But thofe which I have mentioned out of the flicrcd, Roman, 
 and Englilh hillory, being more than fulHcient to anfwcr our author's 
 challenge, I take liberty to add, that though there could not be one example 
 produced of a prince, or any other magiih-atc, chofen by the general con- 
 fent of the people, or by the major part of them, it could be of no advan- 
 tage to the caufe he has undertaken to maintain. For when a people has 
 either indefinitely, or under certain conditions and limitations, refigned 
 their power into the hands of a certain number of men, or agreed upon 
 rules, according to which perfons fhovdd, from time to time, be deputed 
 for the management of their aftairs, the a(fls of thole perfons, if their 
 power be without rcftridlions, are of the fame value as the a(3:s of the 
 whole nation, and the affent of every individual man is comprehended in 
 them. If the power be limited, whatever is done, according to that limi« 
 tation, has the Hime authority. If it does therefore appear, as Is teftified by 
 the laws and hiftories of all our northern nations, that the power of every 
 people is either wholly, or to fuch a degree as is necellary for creating^ 
 kings, granted to their feveral gemotes, diets, cortez, aflemblies of eftates, 
 parliaments, and the like, all the kings, that they have any where, or at 
 any time chofen, do reign by the fame authority, and have the fame right, 
 as if every individual man of thofe nartioris had alTented to their eledion. 
 But that thefe gemotes, diets, and other affemblies of Rate, have every 
 where had fuch powers, and executed them by reje£ling or fetting up 
 kings, and that the kings, now in being among us, have received their 
 beginning from fuch adts, has been fully proved, and is fo plain in itfelf, 
 that none but :hofe vvrho are grolly ftupid or impudent can deny it. Which 
 is enough to fhew, that all kings are not fet up by violence, deceit, fac- 
 tion of a few pow^erful men, or the mutinies of armies ; but from the 
 confent of fuch multitudes, as joining together, frame civil focieties ; and , 
 either in their own perfons at general aiTemblles, or by their delegates, 
 confer a juft and legal power upon them : which our author rejecting, he 
 does, as far as in him lies,' prove them all to be ufurpers and tyrants. 
 
 vend. Ann;\l. p. 438. Hardecnut filius regis Cnut, et Emmae reginae, veniens a Dacia„ 
 
 illicb fuLeptus eft, et eleitus in regem finiul ab Anglis et Dacis. Hunting. Hift. 1. 6,, 
 
 * Edwardus cum paucis venit in Angl'ain, et eleiStus eft in regcm ab omni popuIo» 
 Hunting. Hift. 1. 6f p. 365. — Poft Hurdecj.uti obitum omnium electione in Edwardum con- 
 cordatur. In-julphi Hift p. 950 
 
 -f- Anno Domini 1067 Dux Normanniae WilHelfrius, urbem Londinarum adiens, in 
 mrgna exuliatione a clero et populo fufceptus, et ab omnibus rex acclam.atus, dominicas 
 ri-itivitatis Ji: ab Akhedo, Eboracenfi archiepifcopo, regni dJadema fufcepit. Ivlat, Pacis* 
 p. 5. Mat. Weft. arm. 1067. p. 225
 
 86 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CI-IAP. II 
 
 SECTION VI 
 
 THEY, WHO HAVE A RIGHT OF CHOOSING A KING, HAVE THE 
 
 RIGHT OF MAKING A KING 
 
 Though the right of maglftrates does efTentially depend upon the confentof 
 thofe they govern, it is hardly worth our pains to examine, " whether 
 " the filent acceptation of a governor, by part of the people, be an 
 " argument of their concurring in the eledlion of him ; or whether, by 
 *' the fame reafon, the tacit confent of the whole commonv\xalth may be 
 " maintained." For when the queftion is concerning right, fraudulent 
 furmifes are of no value ; much lefs will it from thence follow, " that a 
 " prince commanding by fucceflion, conquefl, or ufurpation, may be faid 
 " to be eledlcd by the people ; " for evident marks of diffent are often 
 given. Some declare their hatred ; others murmur more privately ; many 
 oppofe the governor or government, and fucceed according to the meafure 
 of their ftrength, virtue, or fortune. Many would refifl, but cannot ; 
 and it were ridiculous to fay, that the inhabitants of Greece, the kingdom 
 of Naples, or dutchy of Tufcany, do tacitly afl'ent to the government of 
 the Great Turk, king of Spain, or duke of Florence ; when nothing is 
 more certain than that thofe miferable nations abhor the tj'rannies they 
 are under ; and, if they were not maftered by a power that is much too 
 great for them, they would foon free themfelves. And they who are 
 under fuch governments, do no more aflent to them, though they may be 
 filent, than a man approves of being robbed, when, without faying a 
 word, he delivers his purfe to a thief that he knows to be too flrong for 
 him. 
 
 It is not therefore the bare fufferance of a government when a difgufl 
 is declared, nor a filent fubmiffion when the power of oppofing is want- 
 ing, that can imply an alTent or eledlion, and create a right ; but an ex- 
 plicit a<St of approbation, when men have ability and courage to refifl: or 
 deny. Which being agreed, it is evident that our author's diftin£lion 
 between " eligere" and " inftituere" fignifies nothing: though, if the 
 power of iniTituting were only left to nations, it would be fulTicient ; for 
 he is in vain eledled who is not inflituted ; and he that is iniiituted is cer- 
 tainly cleiled ; for his inflitution is an elcftion. As the Romans, who 
 chofe Romulus, Numa, and Hoflilius, to be kings, and Brutus, Valerius, 
 or Lucretius, to be confuls, did make them fo, and their right was folely 
 grounded upon their eleftlon. The text brought by our author againft 
 this does fully prove it : " Thou fhak fet him king over thee, whom the 
 *' Lord fhall choofc *." For God did not only make thq inililution of a 
 king to be purely an a£l of the people, but left it to them to inftitute one 
 pr not, as fhould beft plcafe themfelves ; and the words, " whom the 
 
 *. Deut, ch. 17, V, 15 
 
 " Lord
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT Sy 
 
 " Lord fiiall choofe," can have no other fignification, than that the peo- SECT. 6 
 
 pie refolving to have a king, and following the rules prefcril^ed by his 
 
 lervant Mofes, he would diredl them in tlicir choice : which relates only 
 
 to that particular people in covenant wiiih God, and immediately under 
 
 his government, which no other was. But this pains might have been 
 
 faved, if God by a univcrfal law had given a rule to all. The Ifraclitcs 
 
 could not have been three hundred years without a king, and then left to 
 
 the liberty of making one, or not, if he by a perpetual law had ordained, 
 
 that every nation flicmld have one ; and it had been as well impertinent as 
 
 imjuft to deliberate who Hi mid be king, if the dominion had by right of 
 
 Inheritance belonged to one : they muft have lubmitted to him whether 
 
 they would or not. No care was to be taken in the eleiTtion or inftitution 
 
 of him, who, by his birth, had a right annexed to his pcrfon, tliat could 
 
 not be altered. He could not have been forbidden " to multiply iilver or 
 
 gold," who by the law of his creation might do what he pleafed. It had 
 
 been ridiculous to fay, " he fhould not raife his heart above his brethren," 
 
 who had no brethren, that is, no equals ; but was raifed above all by 
 
 God, who had impofed upon all others a neceffity of obeying him. But 
 
 God, who does nothing in vain, did neither conftitute or eleft any till 
 
 they defired it, nor command them to do it themfelves, unlefs it fo pleafed. 
 
 themfelves ; nor appoint them to take him out of any one line. Every 
 
 Ifraelite might be chofen ; none but ftrangers were excluded ; and the 
 
 people were left to the liberty of choofmg and inftituting any one of their 
 
 brethren. 
 
 Our author, endeavouring by Hooker's authority to eftablifh his dif— 
 tinftion betw^een " eligere" and " inftituere," deftroys it, and the pater- 
 nal right, which he makes the foundation of his do<£lrine. " Heaps of 
 " Scriptures are alleged," fays he, " concerning the folemn coronation or 
 " inauguration of Saul, of David, of Solomon, and others, by the 
 " nobles, antients, and people of the commonwealth of Ifrael * :" which 
 is enough to prove that the whole work was theirs ; that no other had 
 any title more than what they bellowed upon him ; that kings were fet up 
 by the nobles, antients, and people. Even God did no otherwife inter- 
 vene than by fuch a fecret dlfpofition of the lots by his providence, as is 
 exercifed in the government of all the things in the world. And we can- 
 not have a more certain evidence, that a paternal right to dominion is a 
 mere whimfy, than that God did not caufe the lot to fall upon the eldefl, 
 of the eldefl line, of the eldeft tribe ; but upon Saul, a young man, of the 
 youngeft tribe. And afterwards, though he had defigned David, Solomon, 
 Jeroboam, and others, who had no pretence to the paternal right to be 
 kings, he left both the eledion and inftitution of them to the elders 
 and people. 
 
 But Hooker being well examined, it will appear, that his opinions; 
 are as contrary to the doctrine of our author, as thofe we have mentioned: 
 
 * Hooker's Eccl, Polit. b. 8, ch. 2, citeJ by FiJmer* 
 
 ©US
 
 U DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. 11 out of Plato and Ariftotle. He plainly fays, "It Is impoflible, that any 
 " fliould have a complete lawful power over a multitude, confifting of fo 
 " many families, as every politic fociety doth, but by confent of men, or 
 " immediate appointment of God ; becaufe not having the natural fupe- 
 " riority of fathers, their power mull needs be either ufurped, and then 
 " unlaAvful ; or If lawful, then either granted or confented unto by them 
 *' over whom they exercil'e the fame, or elfe given extraordinarily by 
 " God *." And though he thinks kings to have been the firft governors 
 fo conftituted, he adds, " that this is not the only regiment that hath 
 " been received in the world. The inconveniences of one kind have 
 " caufed fundry others to be devifed. So that In a word, all public regi- 
 " ment, of what kind foever, feemeth evidently to have rifen from deli- 
 " berate advice, confultation, and compofition, between men, judging It 
 " convenient and behoveful." And a little below, " man's nature ftand- 
 " ing therefore as it doth, feme kind of regiment the law of nature doth 
 " require ; yet the kinds thereof being many, nature tieth not to any 
 " one, but leaveth the choice as a thing arbitrary." And again, " to 
 " live by one man's will, became the caufe of all men's mifery. This 
 *' conftrained them to come unto laws, &c. But as thofe laws do not 
 " only teach that which is good, but enjoin it, they have in them a 
 " conftraining force ; and to conftrain men to any thing inconvenient 
 *' doth fcem unreafonable. Moft requifite therefore It is, that, to devife 
 *' laws, which all men fhall be forced to obey, none but wife men fliould 
 " be admitted. . . Moreover, that which we fay, concerning the power of 
 " government, mufl: here be applied unto the power of making laws, 
 " whereby to govern ; which power God hath over all ; and by the na- 
 " tural law, whereunto he hath made all fubjedl, the lawful power of 
 " making laws, to command whole politic focieties of men, belongeth fo 
 " properly unto the fame entire focieties, that for any prince or potentate, 
 " of what kind foever upon earth, to exercife the fame of himfelf, and 
 " not either by exprefs commiflion immediately from God, or elfe by 
 *' authority derived at the firft from their confent, upon whofe perlbns 
 " tJiey impofe laws, it is no better than mere tyranny. Laws therefore 
 " they are not, which public confent hath not made fo '{"•" The humour 
 of our age confulered, I Ihould not have ventured to fay fo much ; but if 
 Hooker be a man of fuch great authority, I cannot offend in tranfcriblng 
 his words, and fliewing how vilely he is abufcd by Filmer ; concluding, 
 that if he be in the right, the choice and conftitution of government, the 
 making of laws, coronation, inauguration, and all that belongs to the^ 
 choofing and making of kings, or other magiftrates, is merely from the 
 people ; and that all power exercifcd over them, which is not fo, is ufur- 
 pation and tyranny, unlefs it be by an immediate commiffion from God ; 
 which if any man has, let him give teftimony of it, and I will confefs he 
 
 • ♦ Eccl. IMit. b. I, ch. I* t I'liJ. 
 
 comes
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 89 
 
 comes not within the reach of our reafonings, but ought to be obeyed by sect. 6 
 thofc to whom he is lent, or over whom he is placed. 
 
 Neverthelcfs our author is of another opinion ; but fcorning to give us 
 a reaion, he adds to Hooker's words, " as if thefe folemnities were a 
 " kind of deed, whereby the right of dominion is given : which flmnge, 
 " untrue, and unnatural conceits are fet abroad by Icedfrnen of rebellion." 
 And a little tarther, " unlefs we will openly proclaim deliance unto all 
 *' law, equity, and reafon, we muft (there is no remedy) acknowledge, 
 " that in kingdoms hereditary, birth giveth a right unto fovereign do- 
 " minion, &c. Thole folemnities do either ferve for an open teftification 
 " of the inheritor's right, or belong to the form of indu£ling him into 
 *' poflcflion*." Thefe are bold cenfures, and do not only reach Mr. 
 Hooker, wdiofe modefty, and pcaceablenefs of fpirit, is no lefs efteemed 
 than his learning, but the Scriptures alio, and the beft of human authors, 
 upon which he founded his opinions. But why Ihould it be thought a 
 ftrange, untrue, or unnatural conceit, to believe, that, when the Scrip- 
 tures fay, Nimrod was the tirft that grew powerful in the earth long be- 
 fore the death of his fathers, and could confequently neither have a right 
 of dominion over the multitude met together at Babylon, nor fubdue them 
 by his own flrength, he was fet up by their confent ; or that they who 
 made him their governor, might preicribe rules, by which he fliould 
 govern ? Nothing feems to me lefs Itrange, than that a multitude of rea- 
 fonable creatures, in the performance of ads of the greateft importance, 
 fhould confider why they do them. And the infinite variety which is ob- 
 ferved in the conflitution, mixture, and regulation of governments, does 
 not only Ihew, that the feveral nations of the world have confidered 
 them ; but clearly prove, that all nations have perpetually continued in 
 the exercife of that right. Nothing is more natural than to follow the 
 voice of mankind. The wifefi: and beft have ever employed their ftudies 
 in forming kingdoms and commonwealths, or in adding to the perfections 
 of fuch as were already cohftituted : which had been contrary to the laws 
 of God and nature, if a general rule had been fet, which had obliged all 
 to be for ever fubje£t to the will of one ; and they had not been the befb, 
 but the worft of men who had departed from it. Nay, I may fiy, that 
 the law given by God to his peculiar people, and the commands delivered 
 by his fervants in order to it, or the profecution of it, had been contrary 
 to his own eternal and univerfal law ; which is impoflible. A law there- 
 fore having been given by God, which had no relation to, or confiftency 
 with the abfolute paternal power ; judges and kings created, w^ho had no 
 pretence to any preference before their brethren, till they were created> 
 
 * Thefe are Hooker's words, which Sidney has mifiaken for Filmer's. Perhaps he 
 would not have objefted to the do6irine they contain, if he had obfer/ed, that the author 
 fpeaks of kingdoms, which are " hereditary " by the confent of the people ; allowing, 
 *' that even kings, even inheritors, do hold their right in the power of dominion, with 
 *' dependency upon the whole body politic, over which they have rule as kings." Eccl. 
 Polit. b, 8, ch. 2 
 
 N and
 
 90 
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP, II and commanded not to raife their hearts above them, when they fhould be 
 created ; the wifdom and virtue of the beft men, in all ages, fnewn in 
 the conftitutron or reformation of governments ; and nations, in varioully 
 framing them, preferving the poffeflion of their natural right, to be 
 governed by none, and in no other way than they ihould appoint ; the 
 opinions of Hooker, that all public regiment, of what kind Ibever, arifcs 
 from the deliberate advice of men feeking their own good, and tliat all 
 other is mere tyranny, are not " untrue and unnatural conceits let abroad 
 " bv the feedfmen of rebellion ; " but real truths groimded upon the 
 laws of God and nature, acknowledged and pradifed by mankind. And 
 no nation being jullly iubjefl; to any, but fuch as they let up, nor in any 
 other manner than according to fuch laws as they ordain, the right of 
 choofing and making thofe, that are to govern them, muft wholly depend 
 upon their will. 
 
 SECTION VII 
 
 THE LAWS- OF EVERY NATION ARE THE MEASURE OF MAGISTRA-- 
 
 TICAL POWER. 
 
 Our author lays much weight upon the word hereditary ; But the queflioTi 
 is, what is inherited in an hereditary kingdom, and how it comes to be 
 hereditary ? It is in vain to fay, " the kingdom ; " for we do not know 
 what he means by the kingdom : it is one thing in one place, and very 
 different in others ; and I think it not eafy to find two in the world that 
 in power are exad:ly the fame. If he underftands alt that is com.prehended 
 within the precin6ls over which it reaches, I deny that any fuch is to be 
 found in the world. If he refers to what preceeding kings enjoyed, no 
 determination can be made, till the firil original of that kingdom be exa- 
 mined, tlaat it may be known what that firft king, had, and from whence 
 he had- it. 
 
 If this variety be denied, Idefire to know whetlier the kings of Sparta 
 and Perfia had the fame power over their fubjedls ? if the fame, whether 
 both were ahfolute, or both limited? if limited, how came the decrees of 
 the Perlian kings to pafs for laws ? if abfolutc, how could the Spartan 
 kings be fubje(fl: to. fmes, imprifonment, or the fentence of death ; and 
 not have power to fend for their own fuppcr out of the common hall ? 
 Why did Xenophon call Agefilaus 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 fomuch glory bcgiui in Alia, if he was 
 flibjcdt to none? How came the Ephori to be cllablilhcd to reftrain the 
 
 V 
 
 * E-TTflBfTO Tt) -TTOXtf (AXXX IV^YiXo'J TTOiUH, U? OUTE UV TCX<TXV Till' "yZM J'j'^KlTO tttTt rralpiOCf-, 
 
 lie AgcfJ. 
 
 X power
 
 "DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 91 
 
 power of kings, if it could no way be rcflrjiincd, if all owed obedience to sect. 7 
 them, and they to none ? Why did Theopompus's wife reprove liim for 
 fufTcring his power to be diminilhed by their creation, if it could not be 
 diininifhed ? Or why did he fay, he had made the power more perma- 
 nent in making it lefs odious, If it was perpetual and unalterable * ? We 
 may go farther, and taking Xenophon and Plutarch for our guides, affert, 
 that the kings of Sparta never had the powers of war or peace, life and 
 death, which our author efteems infeparable 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 lame, kings do not reign by an univcrfal 
 law, but by the particular laws of each country ; Avhich give to every one 
 fo much power, as in the opinion of the givers conduces to the end of 
 their inilitution, which is the public good. 
 
 It may be alfo worth our inquiry how this inherited power came to be 
 hereditary. We know that the fons of Vefpaiian and Conftantine inhe- 
 rited the Roman empire, though their fathers had no fuch title ; but, having 
 gained the empire by violence, which Hooker fays 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 Mero- 
 veus, Pepin, and Hugh Capet, could neither pretend title nor conqueft, 
 nor any other right than what was conferred upon them by the clergy, no- 
 bility, and people ; and confequently whatever is inherited from them 
 can have no other original ; for that is the gift of the people which is be- 
 ftowed upon the firft, under whom the fucceffbrs claim, as if it had been 
 by a peculiar adl given to every one of them. It will be harder to 
 fhew, how the crown of England is become hereditary, unlefs it be by the 
 will of the people ; for though I Ibould grant, that fome of the Saxon 
 kings came in by inheritance (which I do not, having, as I think, proved 
 them to have been abfolutely eledlive) yet William the Norman did not, 
 for he was a baflard, and could inherit nothing. William Rufus and 
 Henry did not ; for their elder brother Robert, by right of inheritance, 
 ought to have been preferred before them. Stephen, and Henry the 
 lecond did not ; for Maud the only heirefs of Henry t!ie firft was living 
 when both wcve crowned. Richard, and John, did not, for they were 
 baflards born in adultery. They muft therefore have received their 
 right from tlie people, or they could have none at all ; and their fucceilbrs 
 fall under the lame condition. 
 
 Moreover, I find great variety in the dedudllon of this hereditary right. 
 
 In Sparta there were two kings of different families, endowed with an 
 
 equal power. If the Heraclidae did reign as fathers of the people, the 
 
 ,Aeacidac did not ; if the right was in the Acacidae, the Heraclidae could 
 
 have none ; for it is equally impoflible to have two fathers as two thou- 
 
 Lycurg. 
 
 N 2 fand.
 
 92 DISCOURSES CONCEHNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. II faiid. It is in vain to fay, that two families joined, and agreed to reign 
 jointly : for it is evident the Spartans had kings before the time of Her- 
 cules or Achilles, who were the fathers of the two races. If it be faid, 
 that the regal power, with which they were inverted, did intitle them to 
 the right of fathers, it muft in like manner have belonged to the Roman 
 confuls, 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 diminifh the number of them as 
 they pleafed. If this be moft ridiculous and abfurd, it is certain, that 
 the name and office of king, conful, diclator, or the like, does not confer 
 any determined right upon the perfon that has it : every one has a right 
 to that which is allotted to him by the laws of the country by which he is 
 created. 
 
 As the Perfians, Spartans, Romans, or Germans, might make fuch 
 magiftrates, and under fuch names, as bert pleafed themfelves, and ac— 
 cordingly enlarge or diminifli their power, the fame right belongs to all 
 nations ; and the rights due unto, as well as the duties incumbent upoa 
 every one, are to be known only by the laws of that place. This may 
 feem ftrange to thofe who know neither books nor things, hiftories nor 
 laws ; but is well explained by Grotlus ; who, denying the fovereign 
 power to be annexed to any name, fpeaks of divers magiftrates under 
 feveral names that had, and others that under the fame names had it not ; 
 and diftinguifhes thofe who have the " fummum imperium fummo modo,'*" 
 from thofe who have it " modo non fummo *." And though probably 
 he looked upon the firft fort as a thing merely fpeculative, if by that 
 " fummo modo" a right of doing what one pleafes be underftood, yet 
 he gives many examples of the other ; and among thofe who had " liber- 
 *' rimum imperium," if any had It, he names the kings of the Sabeans ; 
 who neverthelefs were under fuch a condition, that though they were, as 
 Agatharchides reports, obeyed in all things, whilft they continued M'lthin 
 the walls of their palace, might be ftoned by any that met thera without 
 itf. He finds alfo another obftacle to the abfolute power, " cum rex 
 " partem habeat fummi imperii, partem fenatus, five populus ;" which 
 parts are proportioned according to the laws of each kingdom, whether 
 hereditary or elective, both being equally regulated by them. 
 
 The law, that gives and meafures the power, prefcribes rules how it 
 Ihould be tranfmitted. In fome places the fupreme magiftrates are annu— 
 
 * Grot, de Jure Belli, 1. i, c. 3, § 16 
 
 t Quid fi aJdatur, fi rex fidein follat, ut turn regno cadat ? ne fic quidcm impcriurri 
 definet cfTc fummum, fed crit habendi modus imminutus per conditionem, & imperium 
 temporario non abfimile. De Sabaeorum rege narrabat Agatharchides fuiffe (nvvTrsvivvcv. 
 Jiberrima potcftatc praeditum, fed fi rcgia cxiret potuiiTe lapidari. Grot. ib. 
 
 O 01 (3a(riA£U(ou t« Travjof t^i/ag, TrposSptccv i^ei ■na^x th Xa.\s, TV f^tu lVT^f^o\l, rri S( ccxXr,- 
 forarriii' {vtijUok (/.cu, ot» ttoAXoi? fmrxTin^ xocra, Kpiirni ccy\j7nv^vvou (3»A£Tai TrpaT/MV' c.iiXr,- 
 foii Si, OTJ TrapaAaEwii rriv £7ri^£Ati«v, « Swixlxi ttoXw m TfV ^jKTiXtiuiv i^eXQji)/' fi ie fj.r>f. 
 AifloAfvrof iiTO TTccvluv yivnui kctx ^pn<ry.ov (x.^yjx.iw. Phot. Bibl. ex Agatharchide. c. 50,, 
 F- 1374 
 
 ally
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 93 
 
 ally eleded, in others their power is for life; in fome they are merely SECT. 7 
 eledlive, in others hereditary, under certain rules or limitations. The 
 antient kingdoms and lordfliips of Spain were hereditary ; but the fuccef- 
 fion went ordinarily to the eldefl of the reigning family, not to the neareft 
 in blood. This was the ground of the quarrel between Corbis the bro- 
 ther, and Orfua the fon of the laft prince, decided by combat before 
 Scipio *. I know not whether the Goths brought that cuftom with them 
 when they conquered Spain, or whether they learned it from the inhabi- 
 tants ; but certain it is, that, keeping themfelves to the families of the 
 Balthi and Amali f, they had more regard to age than proximity ; and 
 almoft ever preferred the brother, or eldeft kinfman of the laft king before 
 his Ton. The like cuftom was in ul'e among the Moors in Spain and 
 Africa, wlio, according to the feveral changes that happened among the 
 families of Almoravidcs, Almohedes, and Benimcrini :[;, did always take 
 one of the reigning blood ; but in the choice of him had moft rei'peft to 
 age and capacity. This is ufually called the law of thaneftry ; and, as 
 in many other places, prevailed alfo in Ireland, till that country fell under 
 the Engliih government. 
 
 In France and Turky, the male that is neareft in blood, fucceeds. And I do 
 not know of any deviation from that rule in France, fmce Henry the firft 
 was preferred before Robert his elder brother, grandchild to Hugh Capet. 
 But, notwithftanding the great veneration they have for the royal blood,^ 
 they utterly exclude females, left the crown fliould fall to a ftranger ; or 
 a woman, that is feldom able to govern herfelf, fliould come to govern fo 
 great a people. Some nations admit females, either fimply, as well as 
 males ; or under a condition of not marrying out of their country, or 
 without the conlent of the eftates, with an abfolute exclufion of them, 
 and their children, if they do. According to which law, now in force 
 among the Swedes, Charles Guftavus was chofen king, upon the refigna- 
 tion of queen Chriftina, as having no title ; and the crown fettled upon 
 the heirs of his body, to the utter exclufion of his brother Adolphus, 
 their mother having married a German. Though divers nations have 
 diff^erently difpofed their aff^airs, all thofe that are not naturally flaves, 
 and like to beafts, have preferred their own good before the pcrfonal in- 
 terefts of him that expedts the crown, fo as upon no pretence whatever to 
 admit of one, who is evidently guilty of fuch vices as are prejudicial to 
 the ftate.. For this reafon the French, though much addicted to their 
 
 * See p. 46 
 
 -J- The Vifigoths were governed by princes of the race of the Balthi ; the Oilrogoths by 
 
 princes of the houfe of the Amali. Vefegothae familiae Balthorum, Oftrogothae prae- 
 
 elaris Amalis ferviebant. Jornand. De Reb. Getic. c. 5. Vide Saaved. Coron. Gothic. 
 
 % The family of the Almoravides, having difpofiefied the Alavecines, who were de- 
 fcended from Fatima the daughter of Mahommed, ufurped the government of Africa,, 
 about the year 1052. In the following century the Almoravides were extirpated by the 
 Almohedes ; who, having made a confiderable figure in the kingdom of Fez^ and other 
 parts, during the fpace of about 120 years, were dethroned, and fucceeded bv the family of. 
 tiie Benimerini. Miuian, De Reb. Hifp. 1. 11, c, i. et 1, 13, c.jf 
 
 kings,.
 
 94 
 
 T>IS€OURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 cntP.ii kings, rejected the vile remainders of Meroveus's race, and made Pepin 
 the Ion of Charles Martel king. And when his defcendents fell into the 
 like vices, they were often depofed, till at laft they were wholly rejedled, 
 and the crown given to Capet, and to his heirs male, as formerly. Yet 
 for all this, Henry his grandchild, being efteemed more fit to govern, 
 than his elder brother Robert, was, as is faid before, made king ; and 
 that crov/n ftill remains in his defcendents, no confideration being had of 
 the children of Robert, who continued dukes of Burgundy during the 
 reigns of ten kings. And, in the memory of our fathers, Henry of Na- 
 varre was rejedled by two affemblies of the eftates, becaufe he differed in 
 religion from the body of the nation, and could never be received as king, 
 till he had renounced his own ; though he was certainly the next in 
 blood, and, in all other refpeds, excelled in thofe virtues which they 
 moft efleem. 
 
 We have already proved, that our own hiftory is full of the like exam- 
 ples ; and might enumerate a multitude of others, if it were not too tedi- 
 ous. And as the various rules, according to which all the hereditary 
 crowns of the world are inherited, fliew, that none is fet by nature, but 
 that every people proceeds according to their own will, the frequent de- 
 viations from thofe rules do evidently teftify, that " fiilus populi efl; lex 
 fuprema ;" and that no crown is granted otherwife, than in fubmilTion to it. 
 
 But though there were a rule, which in no cafe ought to be tranfgrefTed, 
 there muil: be a power of judging to whom it ought to be applied. It is 
 perhaps hard to conceive one more preclfe than that of France, where the 
 eldeft legitimate male in the dire£l line is preferred ; and yet that alone is 
 not fufficient. There may be baftardy in the caie : baflards may be 
 thought legitimate, and legitimate fons baftards. The children born of 
 Ifabel of Portugal, during her marriage with John the third of Cailile, 
 were declared baftards ; and the title of the houfe of Auftria to that crown 
 depends upon that declaration. We often fee, that marriages which hnve 
 been contraded, and for a long time taken to be good, have been decla- 
 red null. And the legitimation of the prefent king of France is founded 
 folcly upon the abolition of the marriage of Henry the fourth with Mar- 
 garet of Valois, which for the fpace of twenty leven years was thought 
 to have been good. While Spain was divided into five or fix kingdoms, 
 and the feveral kings were linked to each other by mutual alliances, incef- 
 tuous marriages were often contraded, and upon better confideration an- 
 i:iulled : many have been utterly void, through the pre-engagemcnt of 
 one of the parties. Thefe are not feigned cafes, but fuch as happen fre- 
 quently. And the diverfity of Accidents, as well a^ the humours of men, 
 may produce many others, which would involve nations in the moft: fatal 
 diiorders, if every one Ihould think himfelf obliged to follow fuch a one 
 who pretended a title, that to him might fecm plaufible, when another 
 fhould fet up one as pleafing to others, and there were no power, to ter- 
 minate thofe difputcs, to which both muft fubmit, but the decifion mull; 
 Le left to the fvvord. 
 
 This
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 95- 
 
 This is that which I call the application of the rule, when it is as plaij> SECT. 7 
 antl certain as human wirdom can make it ; hut it" it be left more at largc,- 
 as where females inherit, tiie diiriculties are inextricable. And he tliat 
 £\ys, the next heir is really king, when one is dead, before he be fo de- 
 dared by a power that may judge of his title, does, as far as in him lies, 
 expnle nations to be fylVc into the moil- defperate fadions, and every man' 
 to light for the titkMvhich he fancies to be good till- he deftroy thofe of the 
 contrary party, or l)e deflroyed by them. This is the blelled way propofed 
 by our author to prevent fcdition : but, God be thanked, our anceflors- 
 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 endea- 
 vour, on pretence of inheritance, to impofe himfelf upon the nation, that 
 thought fit to prefer his younger brothers before him, he paid the penalty 
 of his folly, by the lofs of his eyes and liberty. The French did not 
 think the grandchild of Pharamond to be king after the death of his fa- 
 ther, nor feek who was the next heir of the Merovingian line, when Chil- 
 deric the third was dead ; nor regard the title of Charles of Lorrain after' 
 the death of his brother Lotharius, or of Robert of Burgundy eldeft {on 
 of king Robert ; but advanced Meroveus, Pepin, Capet, and Henry the 
 firll, who had no other right thaa what the nobility and people bellowed' 
 upon them. And if fuch a6ts do not deftroy 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 have been 
 any ; fince the firft did plainly come in like Nimrod ; and thofe who have 
 been every where, fince hiftories are known to us, owed their exaltation 
 to the confent of nations, armed or unarmed, by the depofition or exclu- 
 fion of the heirs of fuch as had reigned before them. 
 
 Our author, not troubling himfelf with thefe things, or any other re- 
 lating to the matter in queflion, is pleafed to flight Hooker's opinions con-- 
 cerning coronation and inauguration, with " the heaps of Scripture" upon' 
 which he grounds them. Whereas thofe folemnities would not only have- 
 heen fooliih and impertinent, but profane and impious, if they were nof 
 deeds by which the right of dominion is reallv conferred. What could be 
 more wickedly fuperftitious, than to call all Ifrael together before the 
 Lord, and to caft lots upon every tribe, family, and perfon, for the elec-- 
 rion of a king, if it had been known to whom the crown did belong by a' 
 natural and unalterable right ? or if there had been fuch a thing in nature, 
 how could God have caufed that lot to fidl upon one of the youngeft tribe, 
 for ever to difcountenance hisown law, and divert nations from taking 
 any notice of it ? It had been abfurd for the tribe of Judah to choofe and 
 anoint David, and for the other tribes to follow their example after the 
 death- of Ifhbofheth, if he had been king by a right not depending on- 
 their will. David did worfe in flaying the fons of Rimmon, faying, they 
 had killed a righteous man lying on his bed, if lihboflieth, whole head, 
 they prefented, had moft unrightcoufly detained from him, as long as he. 
 lived, the dominion of the ten tribes : the king, elders, and people, had 
 
 moft
 
 yb DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAT. II moft fcornfully abufed the moft facred things, by ufing fiich ceremonies 
 in making him king, and completing their work in a covenant made be- 
 tween him and them before the Lord, if he had been aheady king, and it 
 thole atSts had been empty ceremonies conferring no right at all. 
 
 I dare not fay, that a league does imply an abfolute equality between 
 both parties ; for there is a " focdus inaequale," wherein the weaker, as 
 Grotius fays, does ufually obtain prote>5lion, and the flronger honour*; 
 but there can be none at all, unlefs both parties are equally free to make 
 it, or not to make it. David therefore was not king, till he was elected, 
 and thofe covenants made ; and he was made king by that cled;ion and 
 ■covenants. 
 
 This is not fhaken by our author's fuppofition, " that the people would 
 *' not have taken Joafh, Manaffeh, or Jofiah, if they had had a right of 
 " choofmg a king; fince Solomon lays, wo to the land whofe king is a 
 *' child." For they who at the firft had a right of choofmg whom 
 they pleafed to be king, by the covenant made with him whom they did 
 •choofe, may have deprived themfelves of the flirther execution of it, and 
 rendered the crown hereditary even to children, unlels the conditions are 
 violated upon which it was granted. In the fecond place, if the infancy 
 of a king brings wo upon a people, the government of fuch a one cannot 
 be according to the laws of God and nature ; for governments are not in- 
 Itituted by either for the pleafure of a man, but for the good of nations ; 
 and their weal, not their wo, is fought by both. And if children are 
 any where admitted to rule, it is by the particular law of the place, 
 grounded perhaps upon an opinion, that it is the beft way to prevent 
 dangerous contells ; or that other ways may be found to prevent the in- 
 conveniences that may proceed from their weaknefs. Thirdly, it cannot 
 be concluded, that they might not rejedl children, becaufe they did not ; 
 fuch matters require pofitive proofs ; fuppofitions are of no value in rela- 
 tion to them, and the whole matter may be altered by particular circum- 
 llances. The Jews might reafonably have a great veneration for the houfe 
 of David. They knew what was promifed to that family; and whatever 
 refpedt was paid, or privilege granted, on that account, can be of no ad- 
 vantage to any other in the world. They might be farther induced to fet 
 up Joaih, in hope the defedls of his age might be fupplied by the virtue, 
 experience and wifdom of Jehoiada. We do not know what good opinion 
 may have been conceived of Manall'eh when he was twelve years old ; but 
 much might be hoped from one that had been virtuoufly educated, and 
 Vv^as probably under the care of fuch as had been chofen by Hezekiah. 
 And though the contrary did fall out, the mifchiefs brought upon the 
 people, by his wicked reign, proceeded not from the weaknefs of his 
 childhood, but from the malice of his riper years. And both the cxam- 
 
 * Rcdc Andronicus Rhodius, poft Ariilotclem, amicitiae inter difpares hoc ait propiiuni, 
 •ut potentiori plus honoris, infirmiori plus auxilii dcfcratur. Grot, de Jure Bflli, 1. i, 
 
 C. 3, §. 21 
 
 3 pies
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 97 
 
 pies of Joafli and Jofuih prove, that neither of them came in by tliclr ovv-ii sect. 7 
 •ru'hi, but by the choice of the people. " Jehoiuda gathered the LevitCj 
 " out of all the cities of Judah, and the chief of the fathers oflirael, and 
 " they came to Jerufalcm. And all the congregation made a covenant 
 " vi^ith the king in the houfe of God, and brought out the king's fon, 
 " and put upon him the crown, and gave him the teflimony, and made 
 " him king f:" whereupon they flew Athaliah. And when Amon was 
 flain, " the people of the land flew them that had confpired againfi: him, 
 " and made Jofiah his fon king in his fl;ead :}: :" which had been mofl: im- 
 pertinent, if he was of himfelf king before they made him fo. Bciides, 
 though infancy may be a juft caufe of excepting againll, and rejedting the 
 next heir to a crown, it is not the greatefl; or ftrongeft. It is far more cafy 
 to find a remedy againft the folly of a child, if the ftate be \vell regulated, 
 than the more rooted vices of grown men. The Engllfli, w^ho willingly 
 received Henry the fixth, Edward the fifth and fixth, though children, 
 refolutely oppofed Robert the Norman. And the French, who willingly 
 fubmitted to Charles the ninth, Lewis the thirteenth and fourteenth, in 
 their infancy, rejedled the lewd remainders of Meroveus's race, Charles of 
 Lorrain, with his kindred, defcended from Pepin, Robert duke of Bur- 
 gundy with his defcendants, and Henry of Navarre, till he had fatisfied 
 the nobility and people in the point of religion. And though I do not 
 know that the letter upon the words, " Vae regno cujus rex puer eft," 
 recited by Lambard, was written by Eleutherius biihop of Rome ; yet the 
 authority given to it by the Saxons, who made it a law, is much more to 
 be valued than what it could receive from the writer. And whoever he 
 was, he feems rightly to have underftood Solomon's meaning, who did 
 not look upon him as a child that wanted years, or was fuperannuated, 
 but him only who was guilty of infolence, luxury, folly, and madnefs ^\ 
 And he that faid, " a wife child was better than an old and fooliih king," 
 could have no other meaning, unlefs he fliould fay, it was worfe to be go- 
 verned by a wife perfon than a fool : which may agree with the judgment 
 of our author, but could never enter iiito the heart of Solomon. 
 
 Laftly, though the pradtice of one or more nations may indicate what 
 laws, covenants, or cuftoms, were in force among them, yet they cannot 
 
 t 2 Chroii. ch. 23, V. 2, 3, II X 2 Chron. cli. 33, v. 25 
 
 * Anno 169 a paffione Chrifli, dominus Eleutherius papa, Lucio regi Britannlae fcripfit, 
 
 ad petitionem regis, et procerum rcgni Britanniae. " Petiflis a nobis, &:c Vae reg- 
 
 " no, cujus rex puer eft, et cujus priiicipes mane comedunt. Non voce regem puerum, 
 ■" prnptcr parvam et nimiam aetatcm, fed pro^iter ftultitiam, et iniquitatem, et infanitatem, 
 " juxta prophetam regem: viri fanguinum, et dolofi non dimidiubunt dies fuos. Per 
 " comeftionem intelligimus gulam, per gulam luxuriam, per luxuriam omnia turpia eC 
 " mala, juxta Solomonem regem. In malevolam animam non introibit fapientia, nee ha- 
 " bitabit in corpore fubdito peccatis. Rex dicitur a regendo, non a regno. Rexeris, dum 
 " bene regis; quod niil feceris, nomen regis in te non conftabit, et nomen regis perdes; 
 *' quod abfit. Det vobis omnipotens Deus regnum Britanniae fic regere, ut poflitis cum eo 
 " regnare in aetcrnum, cujus vicarius eftis in regno praediclo." This letter is quoted un- 
 der the article, De Regis Officio, among the laws of Edward the Confcflbr. See Lamb, de 
 Angl. Leg. p. 142. — Spelm.Concil. vol. i, p. 34. Alfordi Annal, Eccl. Brit. Ann. Clir. 183 
 
 O "' bind
 
 9S DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. II bind others. The diverfity of them proceeds from the variety of mens, 
 judgments, and implies that the direction of all fuch affairs depends upon 
 their own will. According to which every people for themfclves forms- 
 and meafures the magiilracy, and magiftraticaJ power ; which, as it is di- 
 redled folely for the good, has its exercifes and extent proportionable to 
 the command of thofe that inftitute it : and fuch ordinances being good 
 for mea, God makes them his own. 
 
 . SECTION VIII 
 
 THERE IS NO NATURAL PROPENSITY IN MAN OR BEAST TO 
 
 MONARCHY.. 
 
 I fee no reafon to believe, " that God did approve the government of one 
 *' over many, becaufe he created but one ;" but on the contrary, inaf- 
 much as he did endow him, and thoie that came from him, as well the 
 youngeft as the eldeft line, with underftanding to provide for themfelves, 
 and by the invention of arts and fciences, to be beneficial to each other^ 
 he fhewed, that they ought to make ufe of that underftanding in forming 
 governments, according to thevr own convenience, and fuch occafions a« 
 fhould arife, as well as in other matters. And it might as well be infer- 
 red, that it is unlawful for us to build, clothe, arm, defend, or nouriCi 
 ourfelves, otherwife than as our firft parents did, before or foon after the 
 flood, as to take from us the liberty of inftltuting governments that were 
 not known to them. If they did not find out all that conduces to the ufe 
 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 ufe of his wit, induftry, and experi- 
 ence, according to prcfent exigencies, to invent and pradtife fuch things 
 as fecm convenient to himfclf and others in matters of the leaft importance, 
 it were abfurd to imagine, that the political fcience, which of all others is 
 the moft abftrufe and variable according to accidents and circumftances, 
 iliould have been pcrfedly known to them who had no ufe of it ; and that 
 their defcendents are obliged to add nothing to what they praflifed. But 
 the reafon given by our author to prove this extravagant fancy, is yet 
 more ridiculous than the thing itfelf : " God," fays he, " fhewed his opi- 
 *' nion," that all fhould be governed by one, " when he endowed not 
 " only men, but beafts, with a natural propenfity to monarchy : neither 
 " can it be doubted, but that a natural propenfity is to be referred to God». 
 *' who is the author of nature :" which I fuppofe may appear if it be- 
 confidered. 
 
 Neverthelefs I cannot but commend him in the firfl place for introducing- 
 God fpcaking fo modeftly, not declaring his will, but his opinion. He 
 puts haughty and majeftic language into the mouth of kingi?. They com- 
 mand and decide, as if they were fubjeftto no error, and their wiils ougiit 
 to be taken for perpetual laws; but to God he afcribcs an humble delivery 
 of his opinion only, as if he feared to be miflakcn. la the fecond place,. 
 
 I deny
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT g^j 
 
 I deny that there is any fuch general propenfity in man or beaft, or that SECT, S 
 monarchy would thereby be julliticd, tliough it Were found in them. It 
 cannot be in beads, for they know not what government is ; and being 
 incapable of it, cannot dillinguilh the feveral lorts, nor confequently in- 
 cline to one more than anotlier. Salmafms's (lory of bees is only fit for 
 old women to prate of in chimney corners *. And they who reprefent 
 lions and eagles as kings of birds and beafls, do it only to fnew, that 
 their power is nothing but brutifh violence, exercifed in the deftrutlioa of 
 all that are not able to oppofc it, and that has nothing of goodnefs or 
 juflice in it : which fimilitude (though it ihould prove to be in all refpeds 
 adequate to the matter in queftion) could only fhew^, that thofe who have 
 no fenfe of right, rcafon, or religion, have a natural propenfity to make 
 ufe of their ftrength, to the deftrudtion of fuch as are weaker than they ; 
 and not that any are willing to fubmit, or not to refifl it if they can : 
 which I think will be of no great advantage to monarchy. But whatever 
 propenfity may be in beafls, it cannot be attributed generally to men ; 
 for if it were, they never could have deviated from it, unlefs they were 
 violently put out of their natural courfe ; which in this cafe cannot be j 
 for there is no power to force them. But that they have moft frequently 
 deviated, appears by the various forms of government eftabllfliied by them. 
 There is therefore no natural propenfity to any one ; but they choofe that, 
 which in their judgment fcems heft for them. Or, if he would have that 
 inconfiderate impulfe, by which brutifh and ignorant men may be fwayed, 
 ■when they know no better, to pafs for a propenfity, others are no more 
 obliged to follow it, than to live upon acorns, or inhabit hollow trees, 
 becaufe their fathers did it, when they had no better dwellings, and found 
 no better nourifhment in the uncultivated world. And he that exhibits 
 fuch examples, as far as in him lies, endeavours to take from us the ufe 
 of reafon, and extinguifhing the light of it, to make us live' like the worfl 
 of beafls, that we may be fit fubjeds to abfolute monarchy. This may 
 perhaps be our author's intention, having learned from Ariflotle, that 
 fuch a government is only fuitable to the nature of the moft beftial men, 
 who being incapable of governing themfelves, fall under the power of 
 fuch as will take the condu£l of them. But he ought withal to have 
 remembred, that, according to Arifhotle's opinion, this condudor mufl 
 be in nature different from thofe he takes the charge of : and if he be not 
 
 * Sidney feems to allude to the following pafTage : — Animalia ipfa, quaeeandem habent 
 cum homine naturam, focietate et congregatione gaudentem, ut aves quae gregatim voli- 
 tant, pafcuntur & ftabulantur, plerumque ab uno duce et rege diriguntur. Apes regent 
 lubent. Coturnict-'s fuh ortvgoir.etra duce trans mare abeunt, et inde ad nos redeunt. 
 Taurus eft unus quern tota I'equuntur armenta. Dux gregis caper eft. Arietes finguli 
 ovium gregem ducunt. Inter aves cohortales gallus gallinaceus, qui reliquis fortior eft ac 
 pugnacior, tarn maribus quam feminis imperitat, eafque congregat, & congregatis praeeft, 
 
 Quod ait poeta de apibus, id de univerfo hominum genere, qui a regibUs guber- 
 
 tiatur, dici debet. 
 
 Rege incolumi mens omnibus una ; 
 
 Amiflb, rupere fidem. — Salm, Defens. Reg. c. 5, p. 84 
 
 O z there
 
 loo DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. II there can be no government, nor order by which it fubfifts : beafls follow- 
 beafls, and the blind lead the blind to deftrud:ion. 
 
 But though- 1 fhould grant this propenfity to be general, it could not be 
 imputed to God, finceman by fin is fallen from the law of his creation. 
 " The wickednefs of man, even in the firll 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 tLj 
 " heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornication, thefts, 
 " falfe teftimonies," &c. Thefe are the fruits of our corrupted nature ; 
 which the apoftle obferving does not only make a difference between the 
 natural and the fpiritual man, whofe proceeding only can be referred to 
 God, and that only fo far as he is guided by his Spirit, but fhews, that 
 the natural man is in a perpetual enmity againft God, without any pof- 
 fibility of being reconciled to him, unlefs by the deftrudtion of the old 
 rnan, and the regenerating or renewing him through the fpirit of grace. 
 There being no footfteps of this in our author's book, he and his mailer 
 Heylln may have differed from the apoftle, referring that propenfity of 
 nature to God, which he declares to be utter enmity againft him ; and 
 we may conclude, that this propenfity, however general it may be, can-- 
 not be attributed to God as the author of nature, fince it cannot be more: 
 general than the corruptions into which we are fallen. 
 
 S E C T I O N IX 
 
 THE GOVERNMENT INSTITUTED BY GOD OVER THE ISRAEL- 
 ITES WAS ARISTOCRATICAL.. 
 
 Notwithftanding all this, our author is refolved that monarchy muft be 
 from God. " What form of government, fays he, God ordained by his 
 *' authority, may be gathered by that commonwealth which he inftituted 
 " amongft the Hebrews ; which was not ariftocratical, as Calvin faith, 
 " but plainly monarchical." I may in as few words deny the govern- 
 ment fet up by God to have been monarchical, as he afferts it ; but find-- 
 ing fuch language ordinarily to proceed from a mixture of folly, impu-r 
 dence, and pride, I choofe rather to fhew upon what I ground my opini- 
 ons, than nakedly to deliver them ; efpecially, when, by infifting upon- 
 the government inflituted by God over his people, he refers us to the 
 Scripture. And 1 do this the more boldly, fince I follow Calvin's cxpoii- 
 tron ; and believe that he, having been highly efteemed for his wit, judge- 
 ment, and learning, by fuch as were endowed with the like, and reve- 
 renced as a glorious fervant of God, might, if he were now alive, comfort 
 himfclf, though he had the misfortune to fall under the ccnfures of Filr 
 mer and his followers.. It is probable he gave fome reafons for his opini- 
 ous ; but our author, having malicioufly concealed them, and I, not hav-. 
 
 ing
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT loi 
 
 ing leifure at prefcnt to examine all his writings to find them, mufl: con- SECT. 9 
 tent myfelf with fuch as my fmall underilanding may fuggcft, and fuch as 
 I have found in approved authors. 
 
 In the firft place I may iafcly Hiy, he was not alone of that opinion : 
 Jofephus, Philo, and Mofes Maimonides, with all the beft of the Jewifli 
 and Chriftian authors, had long before delivered the fame. Jofephus fays,. 
 that Saul's firfl fin, by which he fell, was, " that he took away the arif- 
 " tocracy;" which he could not do, if it had never been eftabliflied '•".• 
 Philo imputes the inftitution of kingly government, as it was in Ifrael, 
 neither to God, nor his word, but to the fury of the finful people. Abar- 
 benel fays, it proceeded from their delight in the idolatry, to which their 
 neighbours were addided, and which could be upheld only by a govern- 
 ment, in praftice and principle contrary to that which God had inftituted. 
 Maimonides frequently fays the fame thing, grounded upon the v/ords of 
 Hofea, " I gave them kings in my wrath." And whoever will call that a 
 divine inftitution, may give the fame name to plagues or famines, and 
 induce a necelfity incumbent upon all men to go and fearch the one where 
 they may find it ; and to leave their lands for ever uncultivated, that they 
 may be lure of the other ; which being too beftial to be aflerted by a man, 
 I may fafely fay, the Hebrew kings were not inftituted by God, but given 
 as a punifhment of their fin, who defpifed the government that he had in- 
 ftituted. And the above-mentioned authors agree in the fame thing, calling 
 the people's defire to have a king, furious, mad, wicked, and proceeding 
 from their love to the idolatry of their neighbours, which was fuited to 
 their government ; both which were inconfiftent with what God had efta- 
 blifhed over his own people. 
 
 But waving the opinions of men, it is good to fee what we can learn 
 from the Scripture, and inquire if there be any precept there exprefly 
 commanding them to make a king ; or any example that they did fo, 
 whilft they continued obedient to the word of God ; or any thing from 
 whence we may reafonably infer, they ought to have done it :. all which, 
 if I miftak'e not, will be found diredly contrary. 
 
 » 
 
 Jofephus makes Mofes, in his addrefs to the people, a little before his death, deliver 
 the following fentiment concerning ariftocratical government ; Apifoxpanx i^iv ovv xpxri- 
 rov, xai xar' avrr,]/ pto;' v.xi f/.r\ Xx^oi Trofio? rpaj xXXng noXiTitx^, aAAa raurni' fCpyoirr, 
 TM? vofA'd; I'^oi/Tcg SiinroTx^, xxi kxt' xvtv; htxfx TrpxrlovTc;' xpna yxp o &sog nyijAuv !t]ixu 
 Antiq. Jud. I. 4, c. 8, § 17 
 
 VN'hen he fpeaks of the Ifraelites demanding a king, he fays : EXv-rrvcrxii ^i iT<po^px tc-j 
 1,xpi.o\}r,Xov qI Xoyoi, Six t-/)i/ mfjip-jroii Sixxioiruvni', ^^i to Trpsj th; ^xitiXex^ (^.tTo;' yiTlriTo yxp 
 ^Eii'W? rri^ apis-sxpxTStx<;, wfS'fiB; y.xi |u.o!Jtapi«? TroiiitrJif m; ^puy.ssng x\)Tr\^ -vn TroXiTitx. Ibid. 
 ]. 6, c. 3, § 3 
 
 Samuel, according to the fame author, in his fpeech to the people on this occafion, fays : 
 Ttc o\iv £fl";^fv Jjwaj acvotx, (puyuv fAtv rov Qiov, vtto (ix(TiXtx Si sivai ^sXitv ; xXX lyu fxin xtts- 
 Sii^x TVTou ov auTo? nrsXi^xTO' ii/x [ji.iv rayt (px\ispov ^[/.iv TroitKTO) tok ®iov opyi^oi/.evov xxt 
 S\iiT'xjipxi\ioy[ X TW T?!i Qxa-iXetxi; u,uwv alpfirii, SnXu(rxi r^^ ^jji-iv rov Qiov 7rxpx(yy-i\jxt7ta Sm 
 !fr,[Aii-jiv evxpyug. Ibid. 1. 6, c. 5, § 6 
 
 It were to be wifhed, that our author had informed us, where he found the paflages in 
 Jofephus, Philo, Sic, to which he alludes in this place 
 
 The
 
 102 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. II The only precept that we find in the law concernmg kings, is that of 
 Deuteronomy xvii. already mentioned ; and that is not a command to the 
 people to make, but inftrudiions what manner of king they Ihouid make, 
 if they defired to have one : there was therefore none at al!. 
 
 Examples do as little favour our author's affertions, Mofes, Jofhua, 
 and the other judges, had not the name or power of kings. They were 
 not of the tribe to which the fceptre was promifed : they did not tranfmit 
 the power they had to their children, which, in our adverfary's opinion, 
 is a right infeparable from kings ; and their power was not continued by 
 any kind of fucceflion, but created occafionally, as need required, accord- 
 ing to the virtues difcovered in thofe, who were railed by God to deliver 
 the nation in the time of their diftrefs ; which being done, their children 
 lay hid among the reft of the people. Thus v/ere Ehud, Gideon, Jephthah, 
 an-d others, fet up. " Whoever will give battle," fay the princes and 
 people of Gilead, " to the children of Amnion, fhall be head over the in- 
 " habitants of Gilead *." And, finding Jephthah to be fuch a man as 
 they fought, they made him their chief, and all Ifrael followed them. 
 When Othniel had (hewed his valour in taking Kirjath-fephcr, and deliver- 
 ing his brethren from Cu£han-ri(hathaim, he was made judge. When 
 Ehud had killed Eglon ; when Shamgar and Samfon had deftroyed great 
 numbers of the Philiftines ; and when Gideon had defeated the Midianites, 
 they were fit to be advanced above their brethren. Thefe dignities were 
 not inherent in their perfons, or families, but conferred upon them ; nor 
 conferred, that they might be exalted in riches and glory, but that they 
 might be minlfters of good to the people. This may juftify Plato's opi- 
 nion, that if one man be found incomparably to excel all others in the 
 virtues that are beneficial to civil focieties, he ought to be advanced above 
 all. But I think it will be hard from thence to deduce an argument in 
 favour of fuch a monarchy as is necefllirily to defcend to the next in blood, 
 whether man, woman, or child, without any confideration of virtue, age, 
 fex, or ability : and that failing, it can be of no ufe to our author. But 
 whatever the dignity of a Hebrew judge was, and hov/evcr he was raifed 
 to that office, it certainly differed from that of a king. Gideon could not 
 have rcfufcd to be a king wlien the people would have made him fo, if he 
 had been a king already ; or if God from the beginning had appointed that 
 they ihouid have one. The elders and people could not have aflced a king 
 of Samuel, if he had been king ; and he could not, without impiety, have 
 been difplcafcd with tliem for alking for fuch a one as God had appointed ; 
 neither would God have laid to him, " they have not rcje£tcd thee, but 
 " they have rejeded me, that I fliould not reign over them," if he had 
 ordained what they defired. 
 
 They did not indeed rejeS. God vrith their mouths : they pretended to 
 ufe the liberty he had given them to make a king ; but would have fuch a 
 one as he had forbidden. They drew near to him with their lips, but 
 
 • Jufio' '^^- '°' '"'■ 'S 
 
 their
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT to^ 
 
 their hearts were far from hira. And he, feeing their liypocrify, feverely SECT. 9, 
 chaftil'ed them in granting their ill-conceived rcqueft ; and foretold the 
 miferies that ihoiild thereupon befal them ; from which he would not 
 deliver them, though they Ihould cry to him by rcafon of what they luffered 
 from their king : he was their creature, and the mifchicfs thereby brought 
 upon them were the fruits of their own labour. 
 
 This is that which our author calls God's inftitution of kings ; but the' 
 prophet explains the matter much better : " I gave them kings in my 
 " anger, and took them away in my wrath*." In deftroying them God 
 brought defolation upon the people that had fmned in afking for them, 
 and following their example in all kind of wickednefs. This is all our 
 author has to boaft of. But God, who acknowledges thofe works only to 
 be his own, which proceed from his goodnefs and mercy to his people, dif- 
 owns this : " IlVael hath caft off the thing that is good," even the govern- 
 ment that he had eftablifhed : " the enemy fhall purfue him. They have 
 " fet up kings, but not by me; and princes, but I know them notf.'*" 
 As if he fought to juftify the feverity of his judgments brought upon them 
 by the wickednefs of their kings, that they, not he, had ordained. 
 
 Having feen what government GoJ did not ordain, it may be feafonable 
 to examine the nature of the government which he did ordain ; and we 
 fhall eafily find, that it confifted of three parts, befides the magiftrates of 
 the feveral tribes and cities. They had a chief magiftrate, who was called' 
 judge or captain, as Jofhua, Gideon, and others, a council of feventy 
 chofen men ijl, and the general alTemblies of the people. 
 
 The firft was merely occafional, like to the diftators of Rome. And as 
 the Romans in times of danger frequently chofe fuch a man as was muck 
 efteemed for valour and wiidom, God's peculiar people had a peculiar 
 regard to that wifdom and valour which was accompanied with his prefence, 
 hoping for deliverance only from him. 
 
 The fecond is known by the name of the great fanhedrim, which being 
 inftituted by Mofes, according to the command of God, continued, tilK 
 they were all fave one flain by Herod. And the third part, which is the 
 affembly of the people, was fo common, that none can be ignorant of it,., 
 but fuch as never looked into the Scripture. When the tribes of Reuben, 
 Gad, and half that of Manaffeh, had built an altar by the fide of Jordan, 
 *' the whole congregation of the children of Ifrael gathered together at 
 " Shiloh to go up to war againfl: them, and fent Phineas the fon of Elea- 
 " zer, and with him ten princes §." This was the higheft and molt im-> 
 portant adion that could concern a people, even war or peace, and that 
 not with ftrangers, but their own brethren. Jofhua w^as then alive ; the 
 elders never failed : but this was not tranfafted by him or them, but by 
 the colledled body of the people; " for they fent Phineas." This demo- 
 cratical embaffy was democratically received : it was not directed to one 
 
 * Hof. ch. 13, V. II -f- Kof. ch. 8, V. 3 ' J Numb. ch. ij, v.. 16 
 
 ' § Joih. ch. i2, V. 12 
 
 2. manv
 
 104 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAT. !l man, but to all the children of Reuben, Gad, and Manaffeh, and the 
 anfwer was fcnt by them all ; which being plcaimg to Phineas, and the 
 ten that were with him, they made their report to the congregation, and 
 all was quiet. 
 
 The laft eminent aft performed by Joiliua was the calling of a like 
 aflembly to Sechem, compofed of elders, heads of families, judges, 
 officers, and all the people, to whom he propofed, and they agreeing 
 made a covenant before the Lord *'. 
 
 Joihua being dead, the proceedings of every tribe were grounded upon 
 counfels taken at fuch aRemblies among themfelves for their own concerns, 
 as appears by the actions of Judah, Simeon, &c. againftr the Cana- 
 anites. And when the levite complained that his wife had been forced 
 by thofe of Gibeah, the whole congregation of lirael met together at Miz- 
 peh from all parts, " even from Dan to Beerflieba," as one man, and 
 there refolved upon that terrible war which they made againft the tribe of 
 Benjamin. The like alfembly was gathered together for the election of 
 Saul ; every man was there. And though the elders only are faid to have 
 aflved a king of Samuel, they feem to have been deputed from the whole 
 congregation ; for God laid, " hearken to the voice of the people f." In 
 the fame manner the tribe of Judah, and after that the reft, chofe and 
 anointed David to be their king. After the death of Solomon all Ifrael 
 met together to treat with Rehoboam ; and not receiving fatisfaclion from 
 him, ten of the tribes abrogated his kingdom. 
 
 If thefe a£lions were coniidered fmgly by themfelves, Calvin might have 
 given the name of a demoCTacy to the Hebrew government, as well as to 
 that of Athens ; for without doubt they evidently manifeft the fupreme 
 power to have been in the fupreme manner in thefe general afiemblics. 
 But the government, as to its outward order, confifting of thole three parts, 
 which comprehend the three fimple fpecies, and no times having been 
 appointed, nor occafions fpecificd, upon which judges fliould be chofcn, 
 or thefe aflemblics called, whereas the lanhedrim, which was the arii- 
 tocratical part, was permanent, the whole might rightly be called an 
 ariftocracy, that part prevailing above the others. And though Jofephus 
 calls it a theocracy:!^, by reafon of God's prefence with his people, yet 
 in relation to man he calls it an ariftocracy, and fays, that Saul's firft 
 fm, by vs'hich he fell from the kingdom, was, that " gubernationem op- 
 *' timatum fuflulit ;" which could not be, if they were governed by a 
 monarch before he was chofcn. 
 
 Our author, taking no notice of thefe matters, firft endeavours to prove 
 
 the excellency of monarchy from natural inftind: ; and then, begging the 
 
 , queftion, fays, that God did always govern his people by monarchy. 
 
 Whereas he ought in the firft place to have obferved, that this inftindl: (if 
 
 there be any fuch thing) is only an irrational appetite, attributed to 
 
 * Jofh. ch. 24 f I Sam. cli. 8, v. 7 
 
 J 'O S^ r'«£Tf/!Ci; M/xs5£T»ij ■S-£5Kp«T»«i' ^ttiiJuJe t9 Trp^tTtu/xiz, Contra Apion, 1, 2 
 
 beafts,
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 105 
 
 hearts, that know not why they do any thinp;; and Is to he followed SECT, 9 
 only by thofe men, who, being equally irrational, live in the lame igno- 
 rance. And the fecond being proved to be abfolutely falfc by the exprefs 
 words of the Scripture, " there was. then no king in Ifrael ^V feveral 
 times repeated, and the whole feries of the hiflory, he has no other eva- 
 lion than to fay, " that even then the Ifraelites were under the kingly 
 " government of the fathers of particular families." 
 
 In the adembly of the people, gathered together to take counfel concern- 
 ing the war againft Benjamin, " were four hundred thoufand footmen that 
 " drew fword." They all arofe together, faying, " not a mim of us fhall 
 " go to his tent. So all the men of li'rael were gathered together againft the 
 *' cityf." The Benjamites proceeded in the like manner in preparing for 
 their defence; and if all thefe, who'didfo meet to " confult" and deter- 
 mine, were monarchs, there were then in Ilrael and Benjamin four hundred 
 and twenty fix thoufand feven hundred monarchs or kings, though the Scrip- 
 tures fay there was not one. 
 
 If yet our author infift upon his notion of kingly government, I defirc 
 to know who were the fubjefts, if all thefe were kings ; for the text fays, 
 that the " v/hoie congregation was gathered together as one man from 
 " Dan to Beerlheba." If there can be fo many kings without one fub- 
 jeft, what becomes of the right of Abraham, liaac, and Jacob, that v/as 
 to have been devolved 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 fame eternally fubdivided to as many men 
 as are in the world, who are alfo kings ? If this be their natural condition, 
 how comes it to be altered, till they dethrone themfelves by confent to 
 fet up one or more to have a power over them all ? "Why fhould they 
 divert themfelves of their natural right to fet up one above themfelves, 
 unlcfs in confideration of their own good ? If the four hundred and twenty 
 fix thoufand feven hundred kings might retain the power in themfelves, 
 or give it to one, why might they not give it to any fuch number of men 
 as ihould heft pleafe themfelves, or retain it in their own hands, as they 
 did till the days of Saul ; or frame, limit, and direct it, according to their 
 ownpleafure? If this be true, God is the author of democracy ; and no 
 alTertor of human liberty did ever claim more than the people of God did 
 enjoy and exercife, at the time when our author fays, they were under the 
 kingly government : which liberty being not granted by any peculiar 
 conceffion or inftitiition, the fame murt belong to all mankind. 
 
 It is in vain to fay, the four hundred and twenty fix thoufand feven hun- 
 dred men were heads of families ; for the Scripture only fays, " they were 
 " footmen that drew the fword," or rather all the men of Ifrael from Dan 
 to Beerlneba, who were able to make war. When fix hundred Benjamites 
 did only remain of the twenty fix thoufand feven hundred, it is plain that 
 no more were left of that tribe, their women and children having been 
 
 * Ju^'- ' "" ■■ r I Juclg. ch. 20j V. 2, 85 II' 
 
 1- dert:royed
 
 lod DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. II deftroyed in the cities after their defeat. The next chapter makes the 
 matter yet plainer ; for when all that were at the congregation in Mizpch 
 were found to have fworn, they would not give their daughters to any 
 of the tribe of Benjamin, no Ilraelite was free from the oath, but the 
 men of Jabefh-gilead, who had not been at the affembly. All the reft of 
 Ifrael was therefore comprehended ; and they continuing to govern in a 
 popular way, with abfolute power, fent twelve thoufand of their m.oft 
 valiant mentodeftroyall the males of Jabefli-gilead, and the women that 
 had Iain by man, referving the virgins for the Benjamites. This is enough 
 ior my purpofe. For the queftion is not concerning the power that every 
 houfholder in London has over his wife, children, andfervants; but whe- 
 ther they are all perpetually fubjedt to one man and family ; and I intend 
 not to fet up their wives, prentices, and children, againft them, or to 
 diminifh their rights, but to aflert them, as the gift of God and nature, no 
 otherwife to be reftrained, than by laws made with their confent. 
 
 Reafon failing, our author pleafes himfelf with terms of his own in- 
 vention. " When the people begged a king of Samuel, they were 
 " governed by a kingly power. God, out of a fpecial love and care to the 
 " houfe of Ifrael, did choofe to be their king himfelf, and did govern 
 " them at that time by his viceroy Samuel and his fons." The behavi- 
 our of the Ifraelites towards Samuel has been thought proud, per^'erfe, 
 and obftinate ; but the fine court-word " begging " was never before 
 applied to them ; and their infolent fury was not only feen againft 
 Samuel, but againft God : " they have not rejefled thee, but they have 
 *' reje<ft:ed me." And I think Filmer is the firft who ever found, 
 that beggars in begging did rejed; him, of whom they begged. Or 
 if they were beggars, they were fuch as would not be denied : for after 
 all that Samuel' had faid to diiHiade them from their wicked defign, 
 they faid, " nay, but we will have a king." 
 
 But left I Ihould be thought too much inclined to contradict our au-r- 
 thor, I confefs that once he has happened to be in the right. " God 
 " out of a fpecial love to the houfe of Ifrael chofe to be their king." He 
 gave them laws, prefcribed a form of government, raifed up men in a 
 wonderful manner to execute it, filled them with his fpirit, was ever 
 prefent when they called upon him ; he gave them council in their 
 doubts, and afliftance in all their extremities ; he made a covenant with, 
 them, and would be exalted by them. But what is this to an earthly 
 inonarc'.i ? Who can from hence derive a right to any one man to play 
 the lord over his brethren, or a reafon why any nation ftiould fet him 
 up ? God is our Lord by right of creation, and our only Lord, becaufe 
 he only has created us. If any other were equal to him in wifdom, 
 power, goodnefs, and beneficence to us, he might challenge the fame duty 
 from us. If growing out of ourfelves, receiving being from none, 
 depending on no providence, we were oflxn-ed the protedion of a wifdom 
 fubjed to no error, a goodnefs that could never tail, and a power that 
 nothing could rciift, it were rcafonable for us to cater into a covenant, 
 
 fubmic.
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 107 
 
 fubmit ourfclves to him, and with all the facultie-s of our minds to addld SEGT^ 19 
 ourfelvcs to his fervice. But what right can from hence accrue to a 
 mortal creature like to one of us, from whom we have received no- 
 thing, and who ftaiids in need of help as much as we ? Who can from 
 hence deduce an argument to pcruiade us: to depend upon his wifdom, 
 who has as little as other men? to fubmit to his will, who is fubjedl: to 
 the fame frailties, paffions, and vices, with the reft of mankind ? or to 
 exped: protedlion and defence from him, whofe life depends upon as 
 (lender threads as our ov^n ; and who can have no power but that which 
 we confer upon him ? If this cannot be done, but is of all things the 
 moft contrary to common fenfe, no man can in himfelf have any right 
 over us ; we are all as free as the four hundred twenty fix thoufand 
 feven hundred Hebrew kings : we can naturally owe allegi^ice to none. 
 And I doubt whether all the lufts that have reigned amongft men, fince 
 the beginning of the world, have brought more guilt and mifery upon 
 them than that prepofterous and impudent pretence of imitating what 
 God had inftituted. When Saul fet himfelf moil violently to oppofe the 
 command of God, he pretended to fulfil it. When the Jews grew wea- 
 ry of God's government, and refolved to reje£t him, that he fhould not 
 reign over them, they ufed fome of Mofes's words, and afked that king 
 of God, whom they intended to fet up againft him.. But this king had 
 not been fet up againft God, the people had not rejected God, and hnned in 
 afl?:ing for him, if every nation by a general law ought to have one, or 
 by a particular law one had been appointed by him over them. There 
 was therefore no king amongft them, nor any law of God or nature, par- 
 ticular or general, according to which they ought to have one. 
 
 SECTION X 
 
 ARISTOTLE WAS NOT SIMPLY FOR MONARCHY, OR AGAINST 
 POPULAR GOVERNMENT; BUT APPROVED OR DISAPPROVED Of 
 EITHER ACCORDING TO CIRCUMSTANCES. 
 
 Our author well obferves, that Ariftotle is hardly brought to give 
 a general opinion in favour of monarchy, as if it were the beft 
 form of government, or to fay true, never docs it. He ufes much cau- 
 tion, propofes conditions, and limitations, and makes no decifion but ac- 
 cording to circumPcances. Men of wifdom and learning are fubjed to ftich 
 doubts ; but none ought to w^onder if ftupidity and ignorance defend 
 Filmer and his followers from them ; or that their hatred to the antient 
 virtue fliould give them an averfion to the learning that was the nurfe of 
 it. They, who neither underftand the feveral fpecics of government, nor 
 the various tempers of nations, may without fear or fliame give their opi- 
 nions in favour of that which beft pleafes them ; but wife men will 
 
 P 3. ahvavs
 
 io8 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. II always proportion their praifes to the merit of the fiibjedl, and never com- 
 mend that limply, which is good only according to circumftances. Arif- 
 totle highly applauds monarchy, when the monarch has more of thofe 
 virtues that tend to the good of a commonwealth, than all they who com- 
 pofe it. This is the king mentioned in his Ethics, and extolled in his 
 Politics. 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, becaufe it is 
 better for a people to be governed by him, than to enjoy their liberty; 
 or rather they do enjoy their liberty ; which is never more fafe, than when 
 it is defended by one who is a living law to himfelf and others. Where- 
 ever fuch a man appears, he ought to reign ; he bears in his perfon the 
 divine charafter of a fovereign ; God has raifed him above all ; and fuch 
 as will not liibmit to him ought to be accounted fons of Belial, brought 
 forth and flain. But he does withal confefs, that if no fuch man be 
 found, there is no natural king : all the prerogatives belonging to him 
 vanifh, for v^-ant of one who is capable of enjoying them. Pie lays fe- 
 vere cenfures upon thofe, who, not being thus qualified, take upon them 
 to govern men equal to, or better than themfelves ; and judges the af- 
 fumption of fuch powers, by perfons who are not naturally adapted to 
 the adminiftratlon of them, as barbarous ufurpations, which no law or 
 reafon can juftify ; and is not fo much tranfported with the excellency 
 of this true king, as not to confefs he ought to be limited by law. 
 " Qui legem praeeffe jubet, videtur jubere praeefTe Deum et leges ; qui 
 *' autem hominem praeeffe jubet, adjungit et beftiam ; libido quippe talis eft, 
 " atque obliquos agit etiam viros optimos, qui funt in poteftate j quo- 
 " circa lex mens eft appetitione vacans*." This agrees with the words 
 of the beft king that is known to have been in the world, proceeding, 
 as is moft probable, from a fenfe of the paflions that reigned in his own 
 breaft : " man being in honour, hath no underftanding, but is like to 
 " the beaft thatperlftieth." This fhews that fuch-as deny that kings do reign 
 by law, or that laws may be impofed upon kings, do equally fet them- 
 felves againft the opinions of wife men, and the word of God. And our 
 author, having found that learning made the Grecians feditious, may 
 reafonably doubt, that religion may make others worfe ; fo that none will 
 be fit fubjcfts of his applauded government, but thofe who have neither 
 religion, nor learning ; nor can it be introduced, till both be extinguilhed. 
 Ariftotle having declared his mind concerning government, in the 
 books exprelly written on that fubje£l, whatever is faid by the by, in 
 his moral diicourfes, muft be referred to and Interpreted by the other. 
 And if he faid (which I do not find) that monarchy is the beft form of 
 government, and a popular ftate the worft, he cannot be thought to 
 have meant otherwife, than tliat thofe nations were the moft happy, who 
 
 * O [jiev ^v TOK vov\i [al. kO|Uoi/] y.t>-iv'j]v aoyjtv, ^oxft xtXevttv otpy^iiv tov ^(ov, axi THg vofxa;' 
 i S ay^fUTTO'i XfAtuwv, Trpor.Grio"! xjst .9fpioi/'») Tf J'izp f7ri9u/^ia toi»tov, )tai o ^\jfJ.o<; apyjiyTX';, 
 <tix<rTpiip(i KM TiJ5 Kfira; «i'0/)ixj' S^oirif a,vi\] opt^jw; ^o«f o Wjwes tfi. Arift. Polit. 1. 3, c. 16 
 
 h;id
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 109 
 
 had fuch a man as he thinks fit to be made a monarch ; and thofe the sect, i i 
 moft unhappy, who neither had fuch a one, nor a few, that any way 
 excelled the reft ; but all being equally brutifh muft take upon them the 
 government they were unable to manage. For he does no where admit 
 any other end of jud and civil government, than the good of the go- 
 verned ; nor any advantage due to one or a few perfons, unlefs for fuch 
 virtues as conduce to the common good of the fociety. And as our au- 
 thor thinks learning makes men feditious, Ariftotle alfo acknowledges, 
 that thofe who have underftanding and courage, which may be taken for 
 learning, or the efFcdl of it, will never endure the government of one, or a few 
 that do not excel them in virtue; but no where difpraifes a popular govern- 
 ment, unlefs the multitude becompofedof fuchas are barbarous, ftupid, lewd, 
 vicious, and incapable of the happinefs for which governments are inftituted ;. 
 who cannot live to themfelves, but, like a herd of hearts, muft be brought 
 under the dominion of another ; or who, having among themfelves fuch 
 an excellent perfon as is above defcribed, will not fubmit to him, but 
 either kill, banifh, or bring him to be equal with others, whom God had 
 made to excel all. I do not trouble myfelf, or the reader, with citing 
 here or there a line out of his books, but refer myfelf to thofe who have 
 perufed his moral and political writings, fubmitting to the fevereft cen- 
 fures, if this be not the true fenfe of them ; and that virtue alone, in 
 his opinion, ought to give the pre-eminence. And as Ariftotle, follow- 
 ing the wife men of thofe times, fhews us how far reafon, improved by 
 meditation, can advance In the knowledge and love of that which is truly 
 good ; fo we may in Filmer, guided by Heylin, fee an example of cor- 
 rupted chriftians, who, extinguiftiing the light of re'"' "on by their vices, and 
 degenerating into beafts (whilft they endeavour to fupport the perfonal 
 intereft of fome men, who are raifed to dignities by the confent of 
 nations, or by unwarrantable ways and means) would caft all the power 
 into the hands of fuch as happen to be born in certain families; as if govern- 
 ments had not been inftituted for the common good of nations, but only 
 to increafe their pride, and foment their vices ; or as if the care and direc- 
 tion of a great people were fo eafy a work, that every man, woman, or 
 child, how young, weak, foolilh, or wicked foever, may be worthy of it,, 
 and able to manage it. 
 
 SECTION XI 
 
 LIBERTY PRODUCES VIRTUE, ORDER, AND STABILITY: SLAVERY 
 IS ACCOMPANIED AVITH VICE, WEAKNESS, AND MISERY. 
 
 Our author's judgment, as well as inclinations to virtue, are mani- 
 fefted in the preference he gives to the manners of the Aflyrians, 
 and other eaftern nations, before the Grecians and Romans. 
 Whereas the firit were nevgr remarkable for any thing, but pride, lewd- 
 
 nefs,,
 
 iiG DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAT. II 
 
 nefs, treachery, cruelty, cowardice, madnefs, and hatred to all that is 
 good; whilft the others excelled in wlfdom, valour, and all the virtues 
 that deferve imitation. This was lb well obferved by St. Augullin, that 
 he brings no ftronger argument to prove, that God leaves nothing that 
 is good in man unrewarded, than that he gave the dominion of the beft 
 part of the world to the Romans, who in moral virtues excelled all o- 
 thcr nations f . And I think no example can be alleged of a free people, 
 that has ever been conquered by an abfolute monarcli, unlefs he did in- 
 comparably farpafs them in riches and ftrength. Whereas many great 
 kings have been overthrown by fmall republics : and the fuccefs being 
 conftantly the fame, it cannot be attributed to fortune, but muft neceffa- 
 rily be the produdlion of virtue and good order. Machiavel, difcourfing 
 of thefe matters, finds virtue to be fo eflentially neceffary to the eftablifh- 
 ment and prefervation of liberty, that he thinks it impoHible for a cor- 
 rupted people to fet up a good government, or for a tyranny to be in- 
 troduced, if they be virtuous ; and makes this conclufion, "that where 
 " the matter, that is, the body of the people, is not corrupted, tumults 
 *' and diforders do no hurt ; and where it is corrupted, good laws do no 
 " goodij::" which being confirmed by reafon and experience, I think no 
 "wife man has ever contradicted him. 
 
 But I do not more wonder, that Filmer fhoidd look upon abfolute mo- 
 narchy to be the nurfe of virtue, though we fee they did never fubfift 
 together, than that he fhould attribute order and liability to it. Whereas 
 
 t Quamobrem, quamvis, ut potui, fatis expofuerim qua caufa Dcus unus verus, et 
 juftus, Romanes fecundum quandam formam terrenae civitatis bonos adjuverit, ad tan- 
 ti imperii gloriam confcquendam ; potcit tamen et alia caufa efle latentior, propter di- 
 vctCh merita generis humani, Deo magis nota, quam nobis. Aug. De Civ. Dei, 1. 5, c. ig 
 
 X Che dove la materia non e corrotta, i tumulti ed altri fcandali non nuocono ; la 
 tiove la e corrotta le buone leggi non giovano. 'Machiav. Difc. fupra T. Livio, 1. i, c, 17 
 
 Livy, in the preface to his hiftory, makes this remark : " Ad ilia mihi pro fe quif- 
 *• que acriter intendat animum, quae vita, qui mores fueriiit : per quos viros, qui- 
 " bufque artibus, domi militiacque, et partum et auctum imperium fit. Labente 
 " deiiide paulatim difciplina, velut dcfidentes primo mores fequatur animo : deinde ut 
 " magis magifque hpfi fn;t, turn ire cocperint praecipiies, donee ad haec tcmpora, qui- 
 " bus nee vitia noflra, ncc remedia pati pofTumus, perventum eft." In the firft: book, 
 ch. ig. h? mentions the battle of A6tiuni, and fpeaks of Octavius Caefar, under the 
 titles of Imperator and Auguftus : " haec tempora," therefore niufi: refer to the com- 
 mencement of the Roman monarchy. About that period, as Tacitus obferves, the 
 people were become uncontrolably licentious : " nullus tunc Icgibus locus. Non aliud," 
 faid the friends of Auguftus, " difcordantis ])atriae rcmedium fuit, quan ut ab uno rege- 
 " retur." Ann. 1. i, § g, 10. Seneca blames BruUis for afling as if he imagined, that 
 the ftate could be inftaiitly reformed at fuch a crifis : " qui aut ibi fperavit libcrtatcni 
 " fiituram, ubi tarn magnum pracmium crat et imperandi, et ferviendi ; aut exiftimavit 
 " civitatem in priorem formam poffe revocari, amiflis priftinis moribus, futuramque ibi 
 *' aequalitatem civilis juris, ct ftaturas fuo loco leges, ubi viderat tot millia horriinum 
 " pugnantia, non an fcrvircnt, fed cui. Q^anto vcro ilium aut rerum naturae, aut ur- 
 *' bis fuae tenuit oblivio, qui uno interempto, defuturum credidit aliuni, qui idem vel- 
 ** let ; cum Tarquinius ciTct invciitus poll tot rcgcs fcrro ac fulminibus occifos i"' Seji. 
 Dc Bentf. 1. 2, c. 20 
 
 3 ' order
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 order principally confifts in appointing to every -one his right placCy 
 office, or work ; and he lays the whole vv^cight of the governniciii: upon 
 one perfon, who very often does neither deferve, nor is able to bear 
 the leaft part of it. Plato, Ariftotlc, Hooker, and I may fay, in fliort, 
 all wife men have held, that order requires, that the wifcft, befl, and 
 niofl: valiant ihould be placed in the offices where wifdom, virtue, 
 and valour, are requifite. If common fenfe did not teach us this, we 
 might learn it from the Scripture. When God gave the condud of his 
 people to Mofcs, Joffiua, Samuel, and others, he endowed them witk 
 all the virtues aad graces required for the right performance of 
 their duty. When the Ifraelites were oppreffed by the Midianites, Philif- 
 tines, and Ammonites, they expedled help from the wifefl: and moft 
 valiant. When Hannibal was at the gates of Rome, and had filled Italy- 
 with fire and blood, and when the Gauls overwhelmed that country vvith 
 their multitudes and fury, the fenate and people of Rome put themfelves 
 under the conduft of Camillus, Manlius, Fabius, Scipio, and the like ; 
 and when they failed to choofe fuch as were fit for the work to be done, 
 they received fuch defeats as convinced them of their error. But if our 
 author fay true, order required, that the power of defending the coun- 
 try fliould have been annexed, as an inheritance, to one family, or left 
 to him that could get it ; and the exercife of all authority committed to 
 the next in blood, though the weakell of women, or the bafeft of men. 
 
 The like may be faid of judging, or doing of juflice ; and it is abfurd 
 to pretend, that either is expeded from the power, not the perfon, of 
 the monarch ; for experience does too well fliew, hov/ much all things 
 halt in relation to juftice or defence, when there is a defed in him that 
 ought to judge us, and to fight our battles. But of all things this ought 
 leaif to be alleged by the advocates for abfolute monarchy, who deny 
 that the authority can be feparated from the perfon, and lay it as a fun- 
 damental principle, that whoever has it, may do what he pleafes, and be 
 accountable to no man. 
 
 Our author's next work is to fhew,' that ftability is the effed of this 
 good order. But he ought to have known, that Itability is then only 
 worthy of praife, when it is in that which is good. No man delights in 
 ficknefs or pain, becaufe it is long or incurable ; nor in flavery and mi- 
 fery, becaufe it is perpetual : much lefs will any man in his fenfes com- 
 mend a permanency in vice and wickednefs. He muft therefore prove, 
 that the ftability he boafts of is in things that are good, or all that he fays 
 of it figniiies nothing. 
 
 I might leave him here with as little fear, that any man, who fhall 
 efpoufe his quarrel, will ever be able to remove this obftacle, as that he 
 himfelf fhould rife out of his grave, and do it : but 1 hope to prove, that 
 of all things under the fun, there is none more mutable or unliable than 
 abfolute monarchy ; which is all that I difpute againft, profeffing much 
 veneration for that which is mixed, regulated by law, and direded to 
 the public good. 
 
 This 
 
 SECT. I I
 
 112 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 -CHAP. II This might be proved by many arguments ; but I fliall confine myfelf 
 to two ; the one drawn from realon, the other from matters of fa£l. 
 
 Nothing can be called ftablc, that is not fo in principle and praGice ; 
 in which refpedt human nature is not well capable of inability: but the 
 \itmoft deviation from it that can be imagined, is, when fuch an error is 
 laid for a foundation as can never be corrected. All will confefs, that if 
 there be any ftability rn man, it muft be in vs^irdom and virtue, and in 
 ihofe adions that are thereby direiled : for in weaknefs, folly, and mad- 
 nefs there can be none. The ftability therefore that we feek, in rela- 
 tion to the cxercife of civil and military powers, can never be found, 
 unlefs care be taken, that fuch as exercife thofe powers, be endowed 
 "with the qualities that fhall make them ftable. This is utterly repug- 
 nant to our author's dodlrine : he lays for a foundation, that the fuc- 
 teffion goes to the next in blood, without diftinftion of age, fex, or 
 perfonal qualities. Whereas even he himfelf could not have the impu- 
 dence to fay, that children and v.-omen, where they are admitted, or fools, 
 madmen, and fuch as are full of all wickednefs, do not come to be the 
 heirs of reigning families, as well as of the meanefl. The ftability there- 
 fore, that can be expefted from fuch a government, either depends upon ^ 
 thofe who have none in themfelves, or is referred wholly to chance, 
 which is dirc(5lly oppofite to ftability. 
 
 This would be the cafe, though it were, as we fay, an even wager, 
 v^'hether the perfon would be fit or unfit, and there were as many men 
 in the world able as unable to perform the duty of a king. But expe- 
 rience fliewing, that, among many millions of men, there is hardly one 
 that pofleffes the qualities required in a king, it is fo many to one, that he, 
 upon whom the lot fhall fall, will not be the man we feek, in whofe 
 perfon and government there can be fuch a ftability as is ailerted. And 
 that failing, all muft neceflarily fail : for the.re can be no ftability in his 
 ■will, laws, or actions, who has none in his perfon. 
 
 That we may fee whether this be verified by experience, we need not 
 fearch into the dark relations of the Babylonian and Aft\'rian monarchies: 
 thofe rude ages afford us litde inftruiftion. And though the fragments of 
 hiftory remaining do fufficiently fhew, that all things there were in per- 
 petual fludluation, by rcafon of the madnefs of their kings, and the vio- 
 lence of thofe who tranfported the empire from one place or family to 
 another, I will not much rely upon them, but flightly touching fome of 
 their ftpries, pafs to thofe that are better known to us. 
 
 The kings of thofe ages fcem to have lived rather like beafts in a 
 ■ reit, than men joined in civil fociety. They followed the example of 
 
 • -.rod the mighty hunter. Force was the only law that prevailed, the 
 
 -.(Vf.j- devoured the weaker, and continued in power till he was ejeftcd 
 
 . of more ftrcngth or better fortune. By thefe means the race ot 
 
 s dcftroyed by Belochus. Arbaces rent the kingdom afunder, 
 
 . VIedia to hbnfelf. Mcrodach cxtinguiflied the race of Belochus, 
 
 .. uiade king. Nebuchodonofor like a flood overwhelmed all for a 
 
 time,
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 113: 
 
 time, deftroyed the kinp^doins of Jcrufalcm and Egypt? with many others,, sect. it. 
 and found no ohihcle, till his rage and pride turned to a moft beftial mad- 
 ncfs. The Aflyrian empire ^vas wholly abolifl-ied at the death of his 
 grandfon Bellliazzar. And noftability can be found in the reigns of thofe. 
 great kings, unlefs that name be given to the pride, idolatry, cruelty, 
 and wickednefs, in which they remained conftant. If we examine matters' 
 more diftinifily, we iliall had that all things varied according to the 
 humour of the Prince. Whilfl; Pharaoh lived, who had received many 
 fignal fervices from Jofeph, the Ifraclites were well iifed; but when 
 another rofe up who knew him not, they were perfecuted with all the 
 extremities of Injuftice and cruelty, till the furious king pcrfifling in his- 
 defign of exterminating them, brought deftrudion upon himfelf and the 
 nation. Where the like power has prevailed, it has ever produced the 
 like efFe£l:s. When fome great men of Perfia had perfuaded Darius, that 
 it was a fine thing to command, that no man for the fpace of thirty days 
 fhould make any petition to God or man, but to the king only, Daniel' 
 the moft wife and holy man then in the world muft be thrown to the 
 lions. When God had miraculoully faved him, the fame fentence was. 
 pafled againft the princes of the nation. When Haman had filled 
 Ahafuerus's ears with lies, all the Jews were appointed to be flain ; . 
 and when the fraud of that villain was deteded, leave was given them, 
 with the like precipitancv, to kill whom they pleafed. When the- 
 Ifraelites came to have kings, they were fubjedt to the fame ftorms,. 
 and always with their blood fufFcred the penalty of their prince's mad— 
 nefs. When one kind of fury poffjffed Saul, he flew the priefts, per- 
 fecuted David, and would have killed his brave fon Jonathan : v/hen he- 
 fell under another, he took upon him to do the prieft's office, pretended- 
 to underftand tlie word of God better than Samuel, and fpared thofe that 
 God had commanded him to deflrov. Upon another whimfy he killed 
 the Gibeonites, and never refted from finding new inventions to vex the- 
 people, till he had brought many thoufands of them to perifn with 
 himfelf and his fons, on mount Gilboa. We do not find any king, in • 
 v/ifdom, valour, and holinefs, equal to David ; and yet he, falhng under 
 the temptations that attend the greateft fortunes, . brought civil wars, 
 and a plague, upon the nation. When Solomon's heart was drawn away 
 by ftrange women, he filled the land with idols, and oppreffed the- 
 people with intolerable tributes. Rehoboam's folly made that rent in 
 the kingdom which could never be m.ade up. Under his fucceffors. 
 the people ferved God, Baal, or Afhtaroth, as beft pleafed him who had 
 the power ; and no other marks of flability can be alleged to have been 
 in that kingdom, than the conftancy of their kings in the pracTuce of 
 idolatry, their cruelty to the prophets, and their civil wars, producing 
 fiich {laughters as are reported in few other ftories. The kingdom 
 was in the fpace of about two hundred years poflTefled by nine feveral 
 families, not one of them getting pcflelCon, otherwife than by the 
 
 • Q^ {laughter-
 
 n-t4 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. II flaughter of his predeceflbr, and the extinOiion of his race; and ended 
 in the bondage of the ten tribes, which continues to this day. 
 
 He that defires farther proofs of this point, may feek them in the 
 hiftories of Alexander of Macedon, and his fucceffbrs. He feems to 
 have been endowed with all the virtues, that nature improved by dif- 
 cipline did ever attain; fo that he is believed to be the man meant by 
 Ariftotle, who, on account of the excellency of his virtues, was by nature 
 framed for a king ; and Plutarch afcribes his conquefts rather to thefc, 
 than to his fortune f. But even thefe virtues were overthrown by the 
 fuccefles that accompanied them. He burnt the moft magnificent palace 
 of the world, in a frolick, to pleafe a mad drunken whore. Upon the 
 moft frivolous fuggeftions of eunuchs and rafcals, he killed the befl and 
 ■braved of his friends. And his valour, which had no equal, not rubfift- 
 ing without his other virtues, perifhed when he became lewd, proud, 
 cruel, and fuperftitious ; fo that it may be truly faid, he died a coward. 
 His fucceflbrs did not differ from him. When they had killed his 
 mother, wife, and children, they exerciled their fury againft one another; 
 and tearing the kingdom to pieces, the furvivors left the fword as an 
 inheritance to their families, who perifhed by it, or under the weight of 
 the Roman chains. 
 
 When the Romans had loft that liberty which had been the nurfe of 
 their virtue, and gained the empire in lieu of it, they attained to our 
 author's applauded ftability. Julius being fiain in the fenate, the firfl 
 queftion was, whether it could be reflored, or not ? and that being 
 decided by the battle of Philippi, the conquerors let thcmfclvcs to 
 deftroy all the eminent men in the city, as the beft means to eftablifli 
 the monarchy. Auguftus gained it by the death of Antonlus, and the 
 corruption of the foldiers. And he dying naturally, or by the fraud of 
 his wife, the empire was transferred to her Ion Tiberius ; under whom 
 the miferable people fufFered the worft effedts of the moft impure luft, 
 and inhuman cruelty. He being ftifled, the government went on with 
 much uniformity and ftability. Caligula, Claudius, Nero, Galba, Otho, 
 Vitellius, regularly and conftantly did all the milchief they could, and 
 were not more like to each other in the villainies they committed, than 
 in the deaths they fuftercd. Vefpafian's more gentle reign did no way 
 compenfate for the blood he fpilt to attain the empire. And the benefits 
 received from Titus's fhort-livcd virtue were infinitely overbalanced' by 
 the deteftable vices of his brother Domitian, who turned all things into 
 the old channel of cruelty, luft, rapine, and perfidioulnefs. His flaughter 
 gave a little breath to the gafping, perilhing world; and men might 
 
 t Plutarch fpcaks in tlie highefl terms of Alexander's virtues, and makes tliefe cnco- 
 mimns upon his heroifm : F.^rpocrriyniTcv tui/ o/.to rrs tu^i? vTrxp^ovruv irfoq to nxTio-ai, 
 ^Oriov. ... H Tt yxf ■'■^PC" '''^-'f (TTiSoXaif uVfixouira tviv y\i'ci/,nv KT^vpxv ittohi, nai to 
 ^vixosiSk «XP' Twi' TrpxyiJ-ccTUti ini^iptpi TJi:/ f iAoi/eixikk oinrlriTov, o\j y-ove^ 7r«Aff*i«f, «aA* xai 
 T»jr»{, K«i KSKpKj )t«T«{3i»^oju,f>ni/. i^liit. in vita Alex. 
 
 2 be
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT tr^: 
 
 be virtuous under the government of Nerva, Trajan, Antoninus, Aurelius, SECT^IE 
 and a few more; though even in their time religion wzs always danger- 
 ous. But when the power fell into the hands of Commodus, Hclioga- 
 bahis, Caracalla, and others of that fort, nothing was fife hut ohfcurity, 
 or the ntmofl: exceffcs of lewdncfs and bafenefe. HowcA'er, whilft the 
 will of the gf)vernor palled for a law, and the power did ufually fall into 
 the hands of fuch as were niofl bold an 1 violent-, the titmolt fccurity, that 
 any man could have for his perfon or eftate, depended upon his temper. 
 And princes themfelves, whether good or bad, had no longer leafes o£ 
 their lives, than the furious and corrupted foldicrs would give them ; and* 
 the empire of the world was changeable, according to the fucccfs of a battle. 
 
 Matters were not much mended when the emperors became chriilians.. 
 Some favoured thofe who were called orthodox, and gave great revenues! 
 to corrupt the clergy. Others fupported Arianifm, and perfecuted the- 
 orthodox with as much afperity as the pagans had done. Some revolted,., 
 and fhewed themfelves more fierce againfl: the profeflbrs of chriftianity,. 
 than they who had never had any knowledge of it. The world was torn ire 
 pieces amongft them ; and often fuff'ercd as great miferies by their Oothy, 
 ignorance, and cowardice, as by their fury and madnefs, till the empire- 
 was totally diflblved and loft.. That which, under the weaknefs and irre- 
 gularity of a popular government, had conquered all from the Euphrates; 
 to Britain, and deftroyed the kingdoms of Afia, Egypt, Macedon, Numi— 
 dia, and a midtitude of others, was made a prey to unknown barbarous 
 nations, and rent into as many pieces as it had been compofed of, when' 
 It enjoyed the ftability that accompanies divine and abfolute monarchy ! 
 
 The like may be faid of all the kingdoms in the world : they may have- 
 their ebbings and Rowings according to the virtues or vices of princes, 
 or their fiivourites ; but can never have any ftability, becaufe there is, and. 
 can be none in them. Or if any exception may be brought againft this 
 rule, it muft be of thofe monaixhies only, which are mixed and regulated 
 by laws, where diets, parliaments, aftemblies of eftates, or fenates, may 
 fuppLy the defeats of a prince, reftrain him if he prove extravagant, and" 
 reje£l fuch as are found to be unworthy of their office ; which are as 
 odious to our author and his followers, as the moft popular governments, 
 and can be of no advantage to his caufe. 
 
 There is another ground of perpetual lluftuation in abfolute monarchies,, 
 or fuch as are grown fo ftrong, that they cannot be reftrained by law,, 
 though according to their inrtitution they ought to be, diftln£t from, but 
 in fome meafure relating to the inclinations of the monarch, that is, the- 
 h-npulfe of minifters, favourites, wives, or whores, who frequently go- 
 vern all things according to their own paflions or interefts. And though 
 we cannot fay, who were the favourites of every one of the Aflyrian or- 
 Egyptian kings, yet the examples before-mentioned of the different me- 
 thod followed in Egypt before and after the death of Jofeph, and in Per-- 
 fia whilft the idolatrous princes, and Haman or Daniel, Efther and.' 
 Mordecai were in credit, with the violent changes happening thereupon, give. 
 
 0^2 us
 
 ii6 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP, II US reafon to believe the like were in the times of other kings. And'if wc 
 examine the hiftories of later ages, ai:jcl the lives of princes, thnt are more 
 exaftly known, we Ihall find, that kingdoms are more frequemly fv/aycd 
 by thofe who have power with the prince, than by his own judgment : fo 
 that Avhoever has to deal with princes concerning foreign or domeftlc 
 affairs, is obliged more to regard the humour of thofe perfons, than the 
 mofl important interefts of a prince or people. 
 
 I might draw too much en\y upon m.yfelf, if I fliould take upon me to 
 cite all the examples of this kind that are found in modern hillories, or 
 the memoirs that do more precifely lliew the temper of princes, and the 
 fecret fprings by- which they were moved. But as thofe who have well 
 obferved the management of affairs in France during the reigns of Francis 
 the firft, Henry the fecond, Francis the fecond, Charles the ninth, Henry 
 the third, Henry the fourth, and Lewis the thirteenth, will confefs, that 
 the interefts of the dukes of Montmorency and Guife, queen Catherine de 
 Medicis, the duke d'Efpcrnon, la FciTeufe, madam de Guiche, d'Eftrees, 
 d'Entragues*, the marlhal d'Ancre, the conftable de Luines, and the 
 cardinal de Richelieu, were more to be confidered by thofe who had any 
 private or public bufmefs to tranfad: at court, than the opinions of thofe 
 princes, or the moll weighty concernments of the ftate ; fo it cannot be 
 denied, that other kingdoms where princes legally have, or wrongfully 
 ufurp the like power, are governed in the like manner ; or if it be, there 
 is hardly any prince's reign that will not furniflii abundant proof of Vv'hat 
 I have afferted. 
 
 I agree vv'ith our author, that " good order and {lability produce 
 " ftrength." If monarchy therefore excel in them, abfolute monarchies 
 fhould be of more ftrength than thofe that are limited, according to the 
 proportion of their riches, extent of territory, and number of people they 
 govern; and thofe limited monarchies, in the like proportion, more 
 ftrong than popular governments or commonwealths. If this be fo, I 
 wonder how a few of thofe giddy Greeks, Avho, according to our author, 
 *' had learning enough only to make tliem fcditious," came to overthrow 
 thofe vaft armies of the Perfians, as often as they met with them ; and 
 feldom found any other difiiculty than what did arife from their own 
 countrymen, who fometimes fided with the barbarians. Seditions are 
 often raifed by a little prating ; but when one man was to fight againft 
 fifty, or a hundred, as at the battles of Salamine, Platea, Marathon, and 
 others, then induftry, wifdom, fkill, and valour, were required ; and if 
 their learning had not made them to excel in thofe virtues, they muft have 
 been overwhelmed by the prodigious multitudes of their enemies. This 
 was fo well known to the Perfians, that when Cyrus the younger prepared 
 to invade his brother Artaxerxcs, he brought together indeed a vaft army 
 of Afiatics ; but chiefly relied upon the counfcl and valour of ten thoufand 
 Grecians, whom he had engaged to ferve him. Thefe giddy heads, ac- 
 companied with good hands, in the great battle near Babylon, found no 
 
 * See an .iccouHt of thefe ladies, favourites of Henry the fourth, in Sully's Memoirs. 
 ' I rcfiftance
 
 ■DISCOURSES CONCKRNING GOVERNMENT .11.7 
 
 ■rcfillance from Artaxerxes's army *. And when Cyrus was killed by ac- s"£CT..ii 
 cident, in the purfuit of the vidlory they had gained, and their own offi- 
 cers treacheroidly murdered, they made good their retreat into Greece, 
 .under the condu£l of Xenophon, in defpight of above four hundred thou- 
 fand horfe and foot, who endeavoured to oppofe them. They were defti- 
 tute of horfe, money, provifions, fiicnds, and all other help, except 
 what their wifdom and valour lurnidicd them ; and thereupoji relying, 
 they pafTcd over the bellies of all the enemies that ventured to appear 
 againft them, in a march of a thoufand miles. Thefe things were per- 
 formed in the weakncfs of popidar confufion. lint Agefilaas not being 
 fenfible of fo great dcfeds, accompanied only with iix and thirty Spar- 
 tans, and fuch other forces as he could ralfe upon his perlbnal credit, 
 adventured, without authority or money, to undertake a w^ar againfl: the 
 great king Artaxerxes ; and having often beaten Pharnabazus and TiiTa- 
 phernes his lieutenants, was preparing to aflault him in the heart of liis 
 kingdom, when he was commanded by the Ephori to return for the de- 
 fence of his own country. 
 
 It may in like manner appear ftrange, that Alexander with the forces 
 of Greece, much diminiihed by the Phocean, Peloponnefian, Theban, and 
 ether inteitinc wars, could overthrow all the powers of the eaft, and con- 
 quer more provinces than any other army ever fav/, if fo much order and 
 (lability were to be found in abiblute monarchies, and if the liberty in 
 which the Grecians were educated did only fit them for feditions. And 
 it would feem no lefs afton idling, that Rome and Greece, whilft they 
 w^ere Iree, lliould furnifli fuch numbers of men excelling in all moral 
 virtues, to the admiration of all fucceeding ages, and thereby become fo.- 
 powerful that no monarchs were able to refill; them ; and that the fame 
 countries fmce the lofs of their liberty, fhould have always been weak, 
 bafe, cowardly, and vicious, if the fame liberty had not been the mo- 
 ther and nurfe of their virtue, as well as the root of their power. 
 
 It cannot be faid, that Alexander was a monarch in our author's fenfe; 
 for the power of the Macedonian kings was fmall, Philip confeffed the 
 people vrere freemen, and his fon found them to be fo, when his fortune 
 had overthrown his virtue, and he fell to hate and fear that generofity 
 of fpirit- which it creates. He made his conquefts by it, and loved it 
 as long as he deferved to be loved. Ells fucceffors had the fame fortune: 
 when their hearts came to be filled with barbaric pride, and to delight 
 only in rendering men Haves, they became weak and bafe, and were eafily 
 overthrown by the Romans, whofe virtue and fortune did alfo perifli with 
 their liberty. All the nations they had to deal with, had the fame fate. 
 They never conquered a free people without extreme difficulty. They 
 received many great defeats, and were often neceffitated to fight for their 
 lives againft the Latins, Sabines, Tufcans, Samnites, Carthaginians, Spa- 
 
 * '0( y.£v ymii 'Ex?,w!<; ca-cv {tsAovTO thj Px^Qx^h; tuxwifj y.xi SiuWiTig £7r» to -^Xsis-ou 
 vporiX^ov. Plut. in vita Art-ix. 
 
 niards ;
 
 ii8 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT ' 
 
 CHAP.II niards; and in the height of their power found it a hard work to fubdue 
 a few poor Etolians : but the greateft kings were eafily overcome. When 
 Antiochus had infolently boafted that he would cover Greece and Italy 
 with the multitude of his troops, Quintius Flaminius ingenioufly com- 
 pared his army of Perfians, Chaldeans, Syrians, Mefopotamians, Cap- 
 padocians, Arabians, and other bafe Afiatic flaves, to a fupper fet before 
 him by a Grecian friend, which, feeming to be of feveral forts of venifon, 
 was all cut out of one hog, varioufly dreifed *. And not long after, that 
 vafl multitude was as eafily flaughtered as the hog had been. The greateft 
 danger of the war with Mithridates was to avoid his poifons and treache- 
 ries; and to follow him through the defarts where he fled. When Lucullus^ 
 ■with lefs than twenty thoufand men, had put Tigranes with two hundred 
 thoufand to flight, the Roman foldiers, who for a while had purfued the 
 chace, flood ftill on a fudden, and fell into a loud laughter at themfelves for 
 uflng their arms againft fuch wretched cowardly flaves f. If this be not 
 enough to prove the falfliood of our author's propofltion, I deflre it may be 
 confidered, whether good order or ftability be wanting in Venice; whether 
 Tufcany be in a better condition to defend itielf flnce it fell under the 
 power of the houfe of Medicis, or when it was full of free cities ; whe- 
 ther it were an eafy work to conquer Switzerland ; whether the Hollan- 
 ders are of greater ftrength fince the recovery of their liberty, or v^'hen 
 they groaned under the yoke of Spain; and laftly,. whether the entire 
 Gonquefl of Scotland and Ireland, the vidtones obtained againft the Hol- 
 landers when they were in the height of their power, and the rcputatior? 
 to which England did rife in lefs than five years after 1648, be good 
 marks of the inftability, diforder, and weaknefs of free nations : and if 
 'die contrary be true, nothing can be more abfurdly falfe than our author'* 
 aflTertion^ 
 
 SECTION XII 
 
 THE CLORY^ VIRTUE, AND POWER OE THE ROMANS BEGA'M^ 
 ANO ENDED WITH THEIR LIBERTY., 
 
 Among many fine things propofed by our author, I fee none more to be* 
 admired, or that better declares the foundnefs of his judgment, than that, 
 he is only pleafed with the beginning and end of the Roman empire ; 
 
 * ITpo? St tb; A^xiHf rm Trxpx AvTioj^a 7rp:<rC£ii>v TrXnSof ti t*)?. (SairiXixj)? rparia? xarafit- 
 yovTuii, xai y.xTa.pibiJ.oviJi.it/av TroXXcc; Trfcrr-.iyof.ix^, o Tito? £^»), SeiTTVowro^ avTif -rrocfx tw ^£s>j^, 
 xai y.iy.^oiJ.;ii>s to 7rXr,3os TU)ii x.p'MV, AXi ^aUjUa^oKTC/f. -rro^iv outu TroiXiXn? ayopai luvopmiv, 
 tiTTtiv Tov ^i\iov, «{ u'sia Trod/TO, ?>-(►, t>] (rxe\jcta-i» StappouTa, nai toi; *(J'u(rf*«a"iv. Pint, in vita. 
 T. Q. Flamin. 
 
 t ZrfxSui/ S" IV Toif Ircpixoi; iirof/.vn'ji.a.fiv, aura? htyn raf Vay-CAHi ctitr^mid^xi y.x\ xara- 
 vfAav wivTwi* nr »vi(X'r<iiy, towvtx J'e>)9uT«? (ittKh,, Plut. in viia Lucul, 
 
 and:
 
 DISCOURSES CONCEPvNING GOVERNMENT 119 
 
 and fays, that their time of liberty (between thofe two extremes) had sect, rz 
 nothing of good in it, but that it was of lliort continuance. 
 Whereas I dare aflirm, that all that was ever dchrable, or worthy of praife 
 and imitation in Rome, proceeded from Its liberty, grew up, and 
 pcriflicd with it : which I think will not be contradidlcd by any, but thofc 
 who prefer the mo!l: fordid vices before the moft eminent virtues ; w^ho 
 believe the people to have been more worthily employed by the Tarquiai 
 in cleanfuig jakes and common fewers, than in acquiring the dominion, 
 of the beft part of mankind ; and account it better for a people to be 
 oppreiTed with hard labour under a proud mafter in a fteri], unhealthy 
 ten-mile territory, than to command all the countries that lie between the 
 Euphrates and Britain. Such opinions will hardly find any better patrons 
 than Filmer and his difciples ; nor the matters of fa£t, as they are repre* , 
 
 fented, be denied by any that know the hiftorles of tliofe times. Many 
 Romans may have had feeds of virtue in them, v/hilll in the infancy of 
 that city they lived under kings ; but they brought forth little fruit. 
 Tarquin furnamed the Proud, being a Grecian by extraction, had per- 
 haps obferved, that the virtue of that nation had rendered them averfe 
 to the divine government he defired to fet up ; and having by his well* 
 natur'd Tullla polfoned his own brother her hufband, and his own wife 
 her fifter, married her, killed her fiither, and fpared none that he thought 
 able to oppofe his defigns, to finlfh the work, he butchered the fenate, 
 with fuch as feemed mofl eminent among the people, and like a moft 
 pious father endeavoured to render the city defolate. During that time 
 they, who would not be made inftruments of thofe villainies, were 
 obliged for their own fafety to conceal their virtues ; but, he being re- 
 moved, they fhined In their glory. Whilft he reigned, Brutus, Valerius, 
 Horatius, Hermlnius, Lartlus, and Coriolanvis, lay hid and unregarded ; 
 but when they came to fight for themfelves, and to employ their valour 
 for the good of their country, they gave fuch tefUmonles of bravery, as 
 have been admired by all fucceeding ages ; and fettled fuch a difcipline, 
 as produced others like to them, or more excellent than they, as long as 
 their liberty lafted. In two hundred and fixty years, that they remained 
 under the government of kings, though all of them, the lafl only ex- 
 cepted, were chofen by the fenate and people, and did as much to ad- 
 vance the public fervlce as could reafonably be expefted from then^, their 
 dominion hardly extended fo far as from London to Hounflow. But in 
 little more than three hundred years after they recovered their liberty, 
 they had fiibdued all the v^'arllke nations of Italy, deifroyed vaft armies 
 of the Gauls, CimbrI, and Germans, overthrown the formidable power 
 of Carthage, conquered the Cifalpine and Tranfalpine Gauls, with all the 
 nations of Spain, notwithftanding the ferocity of the one, and the more 
 conftant valour of the other, and the prodigious multitudes of both ; 
 they had brought all Greece into fubjedlon, and, by the conqueft of 
 Macedon, the ipoils of the world to adorn their city ; and found fo little 
 difficulty in all the wars, that happened between them and the greateft 
 
 kings
 
 I20 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. II kings after the death of Alexander of Epirus, and Pyrrhus, that the 
 defeats of Syphax, Perfeus, Antiochus, Prufias, Tigranes, Ptolemy, and 
 many others, did hardly deferve to be numbered among their 
 vi£tories. 
 
 It were ridicuous to impute this to chance, or to think, that fortune, 
 which of all things is the mofl variable, could for fo many ages continue 
 the fame courfe, unlefs fupported by virtue ; or to fuppofe, that all thefe 
 monarchies, which are fo much extolled, could have been deflroyed by 
 that commonwealth, if it had wanted ftrength, ftability, virtue, or good 
 order. The fecret counfels of God are impenetrable; but the ways by 
 v^hich he accomplifhes his defigns are often evident. \Vhen he intends 
 to exalt a people, he fills both them and their leaders with the virtues 
 fuitable to the accomplilhment of his end ; and takes away all wifdom 
 and virtue from thofe he refolves to deftroy. The pride of the Baby- 
 lonians and Aflyrians fell through the bafenefs of Sardanapalus ; and the 
 great city was taken while Bellhazzar lay drunk amongfl his whores. 
 The empire was tranfported to the Perfians and Grecians by the valour 
 of Cyrus, Alexander, and the brave armies that followed them. Hifto- 
 ries furnifh us with innumerable examples of this kind : but I think 
 none can be found of a cowardly, weak, effeminate, foolifh, ill-difci- 
 plined people, that have ever fubdued fuch as were eminent in ftrengthy 
 wifdom, valour, and good difcipline ; or that thefe qualities have beei> 
 found or fubfifted any where, unlefs they were cultivated and nourilhed 
 by a well-ordered government. If this therefore was found among the ' 
 Romans, and not in the kingdoms they overthrew, they had the order 
 and ftability which the monarchies had not ; and the ftrength and virtue,- 
 by which they obtained fuch fuccefs, was the product of them. But if 
 this virtue, ancl the glorious effects of it, did begin with liberty, it alio 
 expired with the fame. The heft men that had not fallen in battle were 
 gleaned up by the profcriptions, or circumvented for the moft part by falfe 
 and frivolous accufations. Mankind is inclined to vice, and the way to 
 virtue is fo hard, that it wants encouragement ; but when all honours, 
 advantages, and preferments, are given to vice, and defpifed Aartue finds 
 no other reward than hatred, perfecution, and death, there are few who 
 will follow it. Tacitus well defcribes the ftate of the empire, when the 
 power was abfolutely fallen into the hands of one : '' Italia novis cladi- 
 *' bus, vel poft longam feculorum feriem repetitis, afflicla ; urbs incendiis 
 *' vaftata, confumptis antiquifhmis dclubris, ipfo capitolio civium inani- 
 " bus incenfo ; pollutae caerimoniac ; magna adulteria ; plenum exiliis 
 " mare ; infe£li caedibus fcopuli ; atrocius in urbe faevitum ; nobilitas, 
 " opes, omiifi geftiquc honorcs pro crimiue, et ob virtutes certiffimum 
 •' exltiumf." His following words Ihew, that the rewards of thefe abo- 
 minations were not Icfs odious than the things themfelves : the higheft 
 dignities were befiwwed upon the " dciatores," who were a kind of 
 
 t Tacit. Hift. 1. I, §. 3> 
 
 rogues
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 121 
 
 rogues like to our Irifli witnefTes, or thofe that by a new coined word we sect. \z 
 call " trepanners." This is not a pidure drawn by a vulgar hand, but 
 by one of the beft painters in the world ; and being a model that fo 
 much pleafes our author, it is good to fee what it produced. The firft 
 fruit was fuch an ehtire degeneracy from all good, that Rome may be 
 iuftly faid never to have produced a brave man fince the firft age of her 
 flavery. Germanicus and Corbulo were born " expirante libertate;" and 
 the recompence they received did fo little encourage others to follow their 
 example, that none have been found in any degree like to them. Thofe 
 of the moft noble families applied themfelves to fleep, lazinefs, and lux- 
 ury, that they might not be fufpedled to be better than their mafters. 
 Thrafea, Soranus, and Helvidius, were worthy men, who refolved to 
 perfift in their integrity, though they fliould die for it : but that was the only 
 thing that made them eminent; for they were of unknown families, not 
 Romans by birth, nor ever employed in war. And thofe emperors who did 
 arrive to any degree of virtue were Spaniards, Gauls, Africans, Thracians, 
 and of all nations, except Romans. The patrician and plebeian families, 
 ■which for many ages had filled the world with great commanders, and 
 luch as excelled in all virtues, being thus extinguifhed or corrupted, the 
 common people fell into the loweft degree of bafenefs : " plebs fordida, et 
 circo ac theatris fueta*." That people, which in magnanimity furpaffed 
 all that have been known in the world, who never found any enterprize 
 above their fpirit to undertake, and power to accomplifh, with their 
 liberty loft all their vigour and virtue. They, who by their votes had dif- 
 pofed of kingdoms and provinces, fell to defire nothing but to live and 
 fee plays f . Whether their emperors were good or bad, they ufually 
 rejoiced at their death, in hopes of getting a little money or victuals 
 from the fucceflbr. Though the empire was by thefe means grown 
 weak and bloodlefs, yet it could not fall on a fudden : fo vaft a body 
 could not die in a moment. All the neighbouring nations had been fo 
 much broken by their power, that none was able to take advantage of 
 their weaknefs ; and life was preferved by the ftrength of hungry barba- 
 rians, allured by the greatnefs of the pay they received to defend thofe, 
 who had no power left to defend themfelves. This precarious and acci- 
 dental help could not be durable. They, who for a while had been con- 
 tented with their wages, foon began to think it fit for them rather to 
 fight for themfelves, than for their weak mafters ; and thereupon fell to 
 fet up emperors depending on themfelves, or to feize upon the naked 
 provitices, where they found no other difficulty than to contend with 
 other ftrangers, who might have the like defign upon the fame. Thus 
 did the armies of the eaft and weft fet up emperors at their pleafure. 
 And though the Goths, Vandals, Huns, Sueves, Alans, and others, had 
 
 * Tacit. Hift. 1. i, § 4 
 
 t Duas tantum res anxius optat, 
 F;uiem et Ciicenfes. Juv. Sati lO, ^'- 80 
 
 R cruel
 
 122 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. II cruel wars among themfelves, yet they feared and fuffered little or nothing 
 from the Romans. This date of things was fo foon obferved, that in 
 the beginning of Tiberius's reign, they who endeavoured to excite the 
 Gauls to take arms ufed no other arguments, than fuch as were drawn 
 from the extreme weaknefs of the Romans *. It was evident, that after 
 the battles of Philippi and Adlium, the ftrength of the Roman armies 
 confided of ftrangers ; and even the vidlories that went under their name 
 were gained by thofe nations, which in the time of their liberty they had 
 fubdued. They had nothing left but riches gathered out of their vaft 
 dominions ; and they learned by their ruin, that an empire acquired by 
 virtue could not long be fupported by money- They, who by their valour 
 had arrived at fuch a height of glory, power, greatnefs, and happinefs, 
 as was never equalled, and Vvho in all appearance had nothing to fear 
 from any foreign power, could never have fallen, unlefs their virtue and 
 difcipline had decayed, and the corruption of their manners had excited 
 them to turn their victorious fwords into their own bowels. Whilft they 
 were in that flourifhing condition, they thought they had nothing more 
 to defire than continuance. .But if our author's judgment is to be fol-, 
 lowed, there was nothing of good in it, except the fhortnefs of its con- 
 tinuance ; they were beholden to thofe who wrought the change ; they 
 were the better for the battles of Pharfalia, Philippi, Munda, and Allium ; 
 the deftrudlion of two thirds of the people, with the flaughter of all 
 the moft eminent men among them, was for their advantage ; the pro— 
 icriptions were wholfome remedies ; Tacitus did not underftand the flate- 
 of his own country, when he feems to be afhamcd to write the hiftory of it,, 
 and fays, " nobis in ard;o et inglorius labor ;" when inflead of fuch glorious 
 things as had been atchieved by the Romans, whilft either the fenate, 
 or the common people prevailed, he had nothing left to relate, but " fa-eva 
 " jufia, continuas acculationes, fallaces amicitias, perniciem inno- 
 *' centium f ;" they enjoyed nothing that was good from the expulfion of 
 tlie Tarnquins, to the re-eftabliflunent of divine ablbhite monarchy in the 
 pcrfons of thofe pious fathers of the people, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, 
 Nero, Galba, Otho, Vitcllius, and the like ; there v«'as no virtue in the 
 Junii, Horatil, Cornelii, Quintii, Decii, Manlii ; but the generous and 
 tender-hearted princes before-mentioned were perfe<St examples of it ; 
 while annual magiftrates governed, there was no ftability ; Sejanus,. 
 Macro, and Tigcllinus, introduced good order ; virtue was not efteemed 
 by the antient fenate and people; Meifalina, Agrippina, Poppaea, Nar- 
 ciiTus, Pallas, Vinius, and Laco, knew how to put a juft value upon it ; 
 the irreg;ularities of popular affeniblies, and want of prudence in the 
 folate, were repaired by the temperate, proceedings of the German,, 
 
 * Egrcgtum refumendac libertati tempus, fi ipfi florente.";, quam iiinps Italia, qiinm 
 imbcllis urbaiia plcbes, nihil validum in excicitibu?, nifi quod cxtcrmiiu, cogitarcnt. 
 Tacit. Ann. 1. 3, § 40 
 
 t Ibid. J. 4, i 32, 33 
 
 J Pannonian,
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 123 
 
 Panncmian, and cailern arm'ies, or 'tiic moden: difcretion of 'the pretoiian SECT. 1 
 bands ; the city w^as delivered by them from the burden of governing 
 the world, and for its own good frequently plundered, fired, and, at laft> 
 with the reil of dcdblaicd italy, and the noblcft provinces of Europe, 
 Afia, and Africa, brought under the yoke of the moft barbarous and cruel 
 nations. By the fame light we may fee, that they who endeavoured to 
 perpetuate the mifery of liberty to Rome, or loll their lives in the defence 
 of it, were the worft, or the moft foolifh of men ; and that tliey were 
 'the beft who did overthrow it. This re<3:ifies all our errors. And if 
 •the higheft praifes are due to him who did the work, the next are well 
 deferved by tliofe who periflicd in attempting it. And if the fons of 
 Brutus, with their companions the Vitellii and Aquilii, Appius Claudius 
 the decemvir, thofe that would "have betrayed tlie city to Porfenna, Spu- 
 rius Moelius, Spurius Caffius, INianlius Capitolinus, Saturninus, Catiline, 
 Cethegus, Lentulus, had been as fortunate as Julius Cacfar, they might 
 as well have deferved an apotheolis. But if all this be falfe, abfurd, 
 beftial, and abominable, the principles that neceffarily lead us to fuch con- 
 clufions are fo alfo : which is enough- to fhew, that the ftrength, virtue, 
 glory, wealth, power, and happinefs of Rome, proceeding from liberty, 
 did rife, grow, and perilh with it. 
 
 J 
 
 SECTION XIII 
 
 THERE IS NO DISORDER OR PREJUDICE IN CHANGING THE 
 
 NAME OR NUMBER OF MAGISTRATES, WHILE THE ROOT AND 
 
 PRINCIPLE OF THEIR POWER CONTINUES ENTIRE. 
 
 In the 'next place, our author would perfuade us, that the Romans were 
 inconftant becaufe of their changes from annual confuls to military tribunes, 
 decemviri, and dldators ; and gives the name of fedition to the complaints 
 made againft ufury, or the contefts concerning marriages and magiftracy. 
 But I affirm, 
 
 1. That no change of magiftracy, as to the name, number, or form, 
 teftifies irregularity, or brings any m.anner of prejudice, as long as it is 
 done by thofe who have a right of doing it, and he or they who are 
 created continue within the power of the law to accomplifli the end of 
 their inftitution ; many forms being in themfelves equally good may 
 be ufed as well one as another, according to times, and other circumftances» 
 
 2. It is a rare thing for a city at the firft to be rightly conftituted : men 
 can hardly at once forefee all that may happen in many ages, and the 
 changes that accompany them ought to be provided for. Rome in its 
 foundation was fubje£l to thcfedefeds; and the inconveniencies arifing 
 from them were by degrees difcovered and remedied. They did not think 
 of regulating .ufury, till they faw the mifchiefs proceeding from the cruelty 
 
 R 2 of
 
 124 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 GHAP. II of ufurers; or fetting limits to the proportion of land that one man might 
 enjoy, till the avarice of a few had fo far fucceeded, that their riches 
 were grown formidable, and many by the poverty to which they were 
 reduced became ufelefs to the city. It was not time to make a law, that 
 the plebeians mightm arry with the patricians, till the diftin£lion had raifed 
 the patricians to iuch pride, as to look upon themfelves to have fomething 
 of divine, and the others to be " inaufpicati," or " profanef," and 
 brought the city into danger by that divifion ; nor to make the plebeians 
 capable of being eledted to the chief magiftracies, till they had men able 
 to perform the duties of them. But thefe things being obferved, reme- 
 dies were feafonably applied without any bloodihed or mifchief, though 
 not without noife and wrangling. 
 
 3. All human conftitutions are fubjed: to corruption, and muft perifh, 
 imleis they are timely renewed, and reduced to their firft principles : this was 
 chiefly done by means of thofc tumults which our author ignorantly blames* 
 The whole people, by whom the magiftracyhad been at firft created, executed 
 their power in thofe things which comprehend fovereignty in the higheft 
 degree, and brought every one to acknowlege it : there was nothing that 
 they could not do, who firft conferred the fupreme honours upon the patri- 
 cians, and then made the plebeians equal, to them. Yet their modefty was not 
 iefs than their power or courage. And therefore, when by the law they 
 might have made a plebeian conful, they did not choofe one in forty years j 
 and when they did make ufe of their right in advancing men of their own 
 order, they were fo prudent, that they cannot be faid to have been miftaken 
 in their eledlions three times, while their votes were free. Whereas, of all 
 the emperors that came in by ufurpation, pretence of blood from thofe who 
 had ufurped, or that were fet up by the foldiers, or a few eledtors, hardly 
 three can be named who deferved that honour, and moft of them w^ere fuch 
 as feemed to be born for plagues to mankind. 
 
 4. He manifefts his fraud or ignorance in attributing the legiilative 
 power fometimes to the fenate, and fometimes to the people ; for the fenate 
 never had it. The ftile of " fenatus cenfuit, populus juflit," was never 
 altered ; but the right of advifmg continuing in the fenate, that of ena(5t- 
 ing ever continued in the people. 
 
 5. An occafion of commending abfolute power, in order to the efta- 
 blifliment of hereditary monarchy, is abfurdly drawn from their cuftom 
 of creating a dictator in time of danger ; for no man was ever created, 
 but fuch as feemed able to bear fo great a burden, which in hereditary 
 governments is wholly left to chance. Though his power was great, it 
 did arifc from the law ; and being confined to fix months, it was almolV 
 impofTible for any man to abufe it, or to corrupt fo many of thofe who 
 had enjoyed the fame honour, or might afpire to it, as to bring them for 
 his plcafiare to betray their country. And as no man was ever chofen who. 
 
 f Penes quos funt aufpicia, more majoriim ? nempe penes patrcs : nam plebeius 
 quidcm magiftratus nullus aufpicato creatur. Claud. Crafl". orat. Liv, 1. .6, c. 41 
 
 2.: 1^'^^-
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT t^S^ 
 
 had not given great teftimonies of his virtues, fo no one did ever forfeit SECT. I'J. 
 the good opinion conceived of him. Virtue v^^as then honoured, and 
 thought fo neceffarily to comprehend a fincere love and fidelity to the 
 commonwealth, that without it the moft eminent qualities were reputed 
 vile and odious; and the memory of former fervices could no Viray expiate 
 the guilt of confpiring againfl: it. This feeming feverity was in truth the 
 greateft clemency. For though our author has the impudence to fav, that 
 during the Roman liberty the beft men thrived worfl, and the worlt beft, 
 he cannot allege one example of any eminent Roman put to death, ex- 
 cept Manlius Capitolinus, from the expuHion of the Tarquins to the time 
 of the Gracchi, and the civil wars not long after enfuing ; and of very fev/ 
 who were baniflied. By thefe means crimes were prevented; and the 
 temptations to evil being removed, treachery was dcftroyed in the root; 
 and fuch as might be naturally ambitious were made to fee there was no 
 other way to honour and power, than by ading virtuoufly. 
 
 But left this fhould not be fufficient to reftrain afpiring men, what power 
 foever was granted to any magiftrate, the fovereignty ftill remained in 
 the people, and all, without exception, were fubjedl to them. This 
 may feem ftrange to thofe who think the didlators were abfolute, becaufe 
 they are faid to have been " fine provocatione *;" but that is to be only 
 underftood in relation to other magiftrates, and not to the people, as is 
 clearly proved in the cafe of Q^Fabius, whom Papirius the didlator would 
 have put to death. *' Tribunos plebis appello," fays the father of Fabius 
 Maximus, " et provoco ad populum ; eumque tibi fugienti exercitus tui, 
 " fugienti fenatus judicium, judicem fero, qui certe unus plus quam tua 
 " didtatura poteft poUetque ; videro, ceflurufne provocationi fis, cui rex 
 " Romanus Tullus Hoftilius ceffit f." Though the people did rather 
 Intercede for Fabius than command his deliverance, that modefty did 
 evidently proceed from an opinion that Papirius was in the right. And 
 though they defired to fave Fabius, who feems to have been one of the 
 greateft and beft men that ever the city produced, they would not ener- 
 vate that military difcipline, to which they owed, not only their great- 
 nefs, but their fubfiftence : efpecially when their fovereign authority was. 
 acknowledged by all, and the dictator himfelf had fubmittcd. This right, 
 of appeals to the people was the foundation of the Roman common- 
 wealth, laid in the days of Romulus, fubmitted to by Hoftilius in the 
 cafe of Horatius:}:, and never violated, till the laws and the liberty, which 
 they fupported, were overthrown by the power of the fword. This is 
 confirmed by the fpeech of Metellus the tribune, who, in the time of the 
 fecond Carthaginian war, cauflefly difliking the proceedings of Q^ 
 Fabius Maximus then diftator, in a public affembly of the people, faid, 
 " Si antiquus animus plebi Romanae eflet, audadler fe laturum fuifle de. 
 " abrogando Qi_ Fabii imperio ; nunc modicam rogationem promulga- 
 ** turum, de aequando magiftri equitum et didatoris jure§:" which 
 
 * Liv. 1. 2, c. 1 8, ag. Sine provocatione didatura. Ibid. 1. 3, c. 20 
 
 t Ibid. 1. 8, c. 33 X Ibid. 1. J, c. 26 § Ibid. ], 22, c 25 
 
 was
 
 126 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP.. II was done. And that adion which had no precedent fliews, that the 
 people needed none, and that their power, beinj; eminently above that of 
 all magiftrates, was obliged to no other rule thna that of their own will.. 
 Though I do therefore grant, that a power like to the didatorian, li- 
 mited in time, circumlcribed by law, and kept perpetually under the 
 fupreme authority of the people, may, by virtuous and well-difciplined 
 nations, upon fome occafions, be prudently granted to a virtuous man, 
 it can have no relation to our author's monarcli, whofe power is in him- 
 felf, fubjeft to no law, perpetually exercifed by himfelf, and for his 
 own lake, whether he have any of the abilities required for the due 
 performance of fo great a work, or be entirely deftitute of them : 
 nothing being more unreafonable than to deduce .confequences froni 
 cafes, which in fubftance and circumftances are altogether unlike. But 
 on the contrary, thefe examples, fhewing that the Romans, even in 
 the time of fuch magiftrates as feemed to be moft abiblute, did retain 
 and exercife the fovereign power, do moft evidently prove, that the 
 government was ever the fame, remaining in the people, who with- 
 out prejudice might give the adminiftratioa to one or more men, as 
 heU pJeafed themfelves ; and the fuccefs fliews, that they did it prudently. 
 
 SECTION XIV 
 
 KO SEDITION AVAS HURTFUL TO ROME, TILL THROUGH THEIR 
 PROSPERITY SOME MEN GAINED A POWER ABOVE THE LAW'S. 
 
 Little pains is required to confute our author, who imputes much blood 
 fhed to the popular government of Rome; for he cannot prove, that one 
 man was unjuftly put to death, or flain, in any fedition before Publius 
 Gracchus. The foundations of the commonwealth were then fo fliaken, that 
 the laws could not be executed ; and whatever did then fall out ought 
 to be attributed to the monarchy for which the great men began to 
 contend. While they had no other wars than with neighbouring na- 
 tions, they had a ftridt eye upon their commanders, and could preferve 
 difciplinc among the foldiers. But when, by the excellence of their 
 valour and conduct, the greateft powers of the world were fubdued, and, 
 for the better carrying on of foreign ^'ars, armies -were fuffered to 
 continue in the fimc hands longer than the law did diredl, foldiery 
 came to be accounted a trade, and thofe, who had the worft defigns 
 againfl; the commonwealth, began to favour all manner of licentioufnefs 
 and rapine, that they might gain the favour of the legions, who by 
 thefe means became imruly and feditious. It was hard, if not impol- 
 fible, to prefei-ve a civil equality, when the fpoils of the greateft king- 
 doms Were brought to adorn the houfes of private men ; and they, who 
 iiad the greateft cities and nations their dependents and clients, were 
 
 apt
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 127 
 
 apt to fcorn the power of the law. This was a mofl dangerous difcafe, sect. 14 
 
 like thole to which human bodies are fubje£t, when they are arrived 
 
 to that which phyficians call the athletic habit, proceeding from the high- 
 
 elt perfection of health, activity, and llrength, that the beft conftitutiou 
 
 by diet and exercife can attain. Whoever falls into them fhews, that 
 
 he had attained that perfedtion ; and he, who blames that which brings a 
 
 jftate into the like condition, condemns that which is mofl perfccl; among 
 
 men. While the Pvomans were in the way to this, no fedition did them 
 
 any hurt : they were compofed without blood ; and thofe that feemed to 
 
 be the mofl dangerous produced the beft laws. But when they were arrived 
 
 to that condition, no order could do them good ; the fatal period (et to* 
 
 human things was come ; they could go no higher ; 
 
 " Summifque negatum 
 
 " Stare diu."*- ' 
 
 And all that our author blamee is not to be imputed to their conllltutlon^ 
 but their departing from it. All men were ever fubjedl to error; and it 
 may be faid, that the miftaken people, in the fpace of about three hundred 
 years, did unjuflly fine or banifli five or iix men. But thofe miflakes were 
 i'o frankly acknowledged, and carefully repaired by honours beftowed 
 upon the injured pcrfons, as appears by the examples of Furius Camillus, 
 Livius Salinator, Aemilius Paulus, and others, that they deferve more 
 praifc than if they had not failed. 
 
 If for the above-mentioned time fedltions were harmlefs or profitable,, 
 they were alfo abfolutely exempted from civil wars. Thofe of Apulia 
 and Greece were revolts of conquered nations, and can no way fall under 
 that name : but it is mod abfurdly apphed to the fervile and gladiatorian 
 wars ; for the gladiators were flaves alfo, and civil wars can be made 
 only by thofe who are members of tlie civil fociety, which flaves are' 
 not. Thofe that made the " bellum fociale," were freemen, but not 
 citizens ; and the war they made could not be called civiL The Romans 
 had three ways of dealing with conquered nations. 
 
 1, Some were received into the body of the city, " civitate donatl:" 
 as tlie Latins by Romulus ; the Albans by Hollilius ; the Privernates, 
 when their embafTador declared, that no peace could be durable unlefs- 
 it were juft and eafy ; and the fenate faid, " fe viri et liberi vocem audi- 
 *' vifTe, talefque dignos effe qui Romani fiantf;" and the like favour- 
 was fliewn to many others. 
 
 2. By making leagues with them, as Livy fays, " populum Roma- 
 *' num deviftas hello gentes malle fide ac focietate juntas habere, 
 " quam trifti fubjedias fervitio :]: :" of which fort were the Samnites, 
 who, not liking their condition, joined with Elannibal ; and afterwards, 
 under the condudl of the brave Telefmus, Vv-ith other nations that lived 
 
 * Luc. Phar, 1. i, v. 70 f Liv. 1. 8, c. 2j % Ibid. 1. 26, c. 49 
 
 under
 
 128 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. 11 under the condition of " focii," made an unprofperous attempt to deli- 
 ver themfelves *. 
 
 3. Others, who were fubdued after many rebellions, were " in provin- 
 ciam redadti ; " as the Capuans, when their city was taken by Appius 
 Claudius, and Q^ Fulvius Flaccus f , 
 
 We often hear of wars made by thofe of the two latter forts ; but of 
 none that can be called civil, till the times of Marius, Sylla, and Cati- 
 line. And as they are to be efteemed the laft ftrugglings of expiring 
 liberty, when the laws, by which it had fubfifled, were enervated, fo thofe 
 that happened between Caei'ar and Pompey, 0£tavius and Antonius, 
 with the profcriptions, triumvirate, and all the mifchiefs that accom- 
 panied them, are to be imputed wholly to the monarchy for which 
 they contended, as well as thofe between Nero, Galba, Otho, Vitellius, 
 and Vefpafian, that hardly ever ceafed till the empire was aboliflied : 
 for the name of commonwealth continued to the end ; and I know not 
 why Tiberius or Nero might not ufe it as well as Sylla or Marius. 
 
 Yet if our author be refolved to impute to popular government all 
 that pafTed before Caefar made himfelf perpetual dictator, he will find 
 no more than is feen in all places. We have known few fmall ftates, 
 and no great one free from revolts of fubjeds or allies ; and the greatefl: 
 empire of the eaft was overthrown by the rebellion of the Mammelucs 
 tlieir flaves. If there is any difference to be obferved between what 
 happened at Rome, it is chiefly, that, whilft there was any fhadow of 
 liberty, the flaves, gladiators, fubjedts or allies, were always beaten and 
 fuppreflled. Whereas, in the time of the emperors, the revolt of a pro- 
 vince was fuflicient to give a new mafter to the befl: part of mankind; 
 and he, having no more power than was required for a prefent mifchief, 
 was for the moft part, in a fliort time, deftroyed by another. But to 
 pleafe our author, I will acknowlege a fecond defedl, even that " wanton- 
 nefe" to which he afcribes all their diforders ; though I muft; withal defire 
 him to confider from whence wantonnefs proceeds. If the people of 
 Turky or France did rebel, I fliould think they were driven to it by 
 mifery, beggary, or defpair ; and could lay wantonnefs only to the 
 charge of thofe who enjoy much profperlty. Nations, that are oppreflTed 
 and made miferable, may fall into rage, but can never grow wanton. 
 in the time of the Roman emperors, the pretorian cohorts, or the 
 armies that had the liberty of ravaging the richeft provinces, might be 
 proud of their ftrength, or grow wanton through the abimdance of their 
 enjoyments. The Janizaries in latter ages may, for the fame reafons, 
 have fallen into the like cxcelfes : but fuch as have loft their liberty 
 are in no danger of them. When all the nobility of Rome was deftroyed, 
 and thofe, who excelled in reputation or virtue, were fallen in the wars, 
 or by the profcriptions ; when two thirds of the people were flain, the 
 
 • Flor. 1. 3, c. 18 
 
 I Ager omnis, et tc(fla publics populi Romani fa<5la. Liv. J. 26, c. 16 
 
 bcft
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT "i 129 
 
 bcfl: chics and colonies burnt, the provinces exhaufted, and the finall sr.CT. 15 
 remains left in them oppreifed with a moft mifcrable flavery, they may 
 have revolted, and fometimes did, as the Britons, Batavians, and others 
 mentioned in the Roman hiflory : but they were driven to thofe revolts 
 by fury and neceffity, arifing from the mlleries and indignities they fuf- 
 fered under an infupportable tyranny ; and wantonnefs had no part in 
 them. The people of Rome, when they were a little freed from the 
 terror of the foldiers, did fometimes for the fame reafons confpire againfl: 
 the emperors ; and when they could do no more, exprefl'ed their hatred 
 by breaking their ftatues. But after the battles of Pharfalia, Philippi, 
 and the profcriptions, they never committed any folly through wan- 
 tonnefs. In the like manner Naples and Sicily have revolted within 
 thefe few years ; and fome, who are well acquainted w^ith the flate of 
 thofe kingdoms, think them ready again to do the like : but if it ihould 
 fo happen, no man of under/landing would impute it to wantonnefs. 
 The preflures under which they groan, have cured them of all fuch 
 difcafcs ; and the Romans after the lofs of their liberty could never fall 
 into them. They may have grown wanton when their authority was 
 reverenced, their virtue admired, their power irrefiftible, and the riches 
 of the world v.'^ere flowing in upon them, as it were, to corrupt their 
 manners, by enticing them to pleafure. But when all that was loft, 
 and they found their perfons expofed to all manner of violence fronx 
 the bafefl: of men, their riches exhaufted by tributes and rapine, whilft 
 the treafures of the empire were not fufficient to fupply the luxury of 
 their mafters, the mifery they fuftered, and the fhame of fuffering it, 
 with the contemptible weaknefs to which they were reduced, did too 
 ftrongly admonilb them, that the vices of wantonnefs belonged only to 
 thofe who enjoyed a condition far different from theirs; and the memory 
 of what they had loft fliarpened the fenfe of what they felt. This 
 is the ftate of things which pleafes our author ; and, by praifmg that 
 government, which deprived thofe who were under it of all that is 
 moft defirable in the world, and introduced all that ought to be detefted, 
 he fufficiently fliews, that he delights only in that which is moft abomina- 
 ble, and would introduce his admired abfolute monarchy, only as an inftru- 
 ment of bringing vice, mifery, devaftation, and infamy, upon mankind. 
 
 SECTION XV 
 
 THE EMPIRE OF ROME PERPETUALLY DECAYED, WHEN IT FELL 
 INTO THE HANDS OF ONE MAN. 
 
 In purfuance of his defign our author, with as much judgment as truth, 
 denies that Rome became miftrefs of the world under the popular govern- 
 ment. " It is not fo," %s he, " for Rome began her empire under 
 
 S « kings.
 
 136' DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 e/iAP. II " kings, • and dki perfect it under emperors: it did only increafe under 
 " that popularity. Her greateft exaltation was under Trajan, and her 
 " longcft peace under Auguftus." For the illuftration of which, 1 defire 
 thefe few things may be confidered. 
 
 ' I. That the firft monarchy of Rome was not abfolute. The kings 
 were made by the people without regard to any man's title, or other rea- 
 fon than the common good, chooiing him that feemed mod likely to 
 procure it ; fetting up at the fame time a fenate, confifting of a hun- 
 dred of the moil eminent men among them ; and, after the reception 
 of the Sabines 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 thofe laws, to which the kings who reigned by 
 their command were fubjedl:, and referving to themlelves the judgment 
 of all great matters upon appeal. If any of their kings deferved to 
 be called a monarch, according to Filmer's definition, it was the laffc 
 Tar^uin; for he alone of all their kings reigned not " juflu populi," 
 but came in by treachery and murder. If he had continued, he had 
 cured the people of all vi^es proceeding from wantonnefs. But his fartheffc 
 eonqueft was of the fmall town of Gabii, ten miles diftant from Rome, 
 which he eifedted by the fraud of his deteftable fonf; and that, being 
 then the utmoft limit of the Roman empire, muft deferve to be called the 
 world, or the empire of it was not gained by their kings. 
 
 2. The extent of conquefts is not the only, nor the chief thing that 
 ought to be confidered in them ; regard is to be had to the means by 
 which they are made, and the valour or force that was employed by the 
 enemy. In thefe refpeds not only the overthrow of Carthage, and the 
 eonquefts of Spain, but the victories gained againft the Sabines, Latins, 
 Tufcans, Samniles, and other valiant nations of Italy, who moil obfti- 
 nately defended their liberty, when the Romans had no forces but their 
 own, fhew more virtue, and del'erve incomparably more praife, than the 
 defeats of any nations whatever, when they were increafed in number, 
 riches, reputation, and power, and had many other warlike people inftrudled 
 in their difcipline, and fighting under their enfigns. But I deny, that 
 the Romans did ever make any confiderable acquifition after the lofs 
 of their liberty. They had already fubdued all Italy, Greece, Macedon,, 
 the iflands of the Mediterranean Sea, Thracia, Illyrium, Afia the lefs, 
 Pontus, Armenia, Syria, Egypt, Africa, Gaul, and Spain-. The forces 
 of Germany were broken ; a bridge laid over the Rhine, and all the 
 . countries on this fide fubdued. This was all that was ever gained by 
 the valour of their own forces, and that could bring either honour or 
 firofit. But 1 know of no eonqueft made after that time, unlefs the 
 name of eonqueft be given to Caligula's expedition, when he faid he 
 had fubdued the fea, in making an ufelcis bridge from Puteoli to 
 
 I Liv. I. I, c. 54 
 
 Baiac;
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 131 
 
 Balae*; or when he entered Rome in triumph, for having gatliercd fiiclls SECT. 15 
 on the fea-/liore f. Trajan's expedition into theeaft was rather a journey 
 than a war. He rambled over the provinces, that Auguftus had aban- 
 doned as not worth keeping, and others that had nothing to defend 
 them, but ill-armed and unwarlikc Harbarians. Upon the whole matter, 
 he feems to have been led only by curiolity; and the vanity of look- 
 ing upon them as conquefts appears in their being relinquiflied as 
 foon as gained. Britain was eafily taken from a naked and unfkilful, 
 though a brave people ; hardly kept, and fhamefuUy loft. But fuppofmg 
 the emperors had made greater wars than the commonv/ealth, van- 
 quiflaed nations of more valour and {kill than their Italian neighbours, 
 the Grecians, or Carthaginians, fubdued and flaughtered thofe that in 
 numbers and ferocity had exceeded the Cimbri, Gauls, and Teutons, 
 cncountred captains more formidable than Pyrrhus and Hannibal, it 
 might indeed increafe the glory of him that fhould 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 
 cnilaved, Italy lay defolate, fo that a Roman was hardly to be found in 
 a Roman army, which was generally compofed of fuch, as fighting 
 for themfelves or their commander, never thought of any thing leis 
 than the intereft of Rome. And as it is impoiTible that what is fo 
 neglected and betrayed ihould be durable, that empire, which was 
 acquired by the valour and conducSl of the braveil and befl difciplined 
 people of the world, decayed and periflied in the hands of thofe 
 abfolute monarchs, who ought to have preferved it. 
 
 3. Peace is defireable by ftates that are conftituted for it, vv'ho, con- 
 tenting themfelves with their own territories, have no delires of enlarg- 
 ing them : or perhaps it might fimply deferve praife, if mankind were 
 fo framed, that a people intending hurt to none could preferve themfelves. 
 But the world being fo far of another temper, that no nation can be 
 fafe without valour and ftrength, thofe governments only deferve to 
 be commended, which by difcipline and exercife increafe both, and 
 the Roman above all, that excelled in both. Peace therefore may be 
 good in its feafon, and was fo in Numa's reign. Yet two or three 
 luch kings would have encouraged fome aftive neighbours to put an 
 end to that afpiring city, before its territory had extended beyond 
 Fidenae. But the difcipline, that befl: agreed with the temper and deiigns 
 of a warlike people, being renewed by his brave fuccelTcrG, the dangers 
 were put on their enemies ; and all of them, the lafl: only excepted, 
 
 * Suet, in vita Calig. § ig. Dion CafT. 1. 59 
 
 t Qiiafi perpetraturus bellum, direfta acie in litore oceaiii, ac baliftis machinifque 
 difpofitis, nemine gnaro ac opinante quidnam coepturus efTet, repente ut conchas leg rent, 
 galeafque et finiis rcplerent, imperavit, " fpolia oceani," vocans, " capitolio palatioque 
 " debita." Et in indicium viftoriae altiffimam turie.Ti excitavit. Ibid. § ^6. Diort 
 Cafi". 1. 59. Aur. Vid". de Caligula. 
 
 S 2 perfiftin^
 
 132 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. II perfifting in the fame way, did reafonably well perform their duty. 
 When they were removed, and the affairs of the city depended no 
 longer upon the temper or capacity of one man, the ends for which the 
 city was conftituted were vigouroufly purfued, and fuch magiftrates 
 annually chofen, as would not long continue in an univerfal peace, till 
 they had gotten the empire to which they afpired, or were by ill for- 
 tune brought to fuch a weaknefs, as to be no longer able to make war. 
 Both of thefe happened in the fo much magnified reign of Auguftus. 
 He found the empire fo great, that all additions might rationally be 
 rejected, as ufelefs or prejudicial ; and Italy fo exhaufled, that wars 
 could only be carried on by the flrength of ftrangers. It was time 
 to lie flill, when they had no power to ad: ; and they might do it fafely, 
 while the reputation gained by former vidories preferved them from 
 foreign invafions. When Craffus, Pompey, and Caefar, who had torn 
 the commonwealth into three monarchies, were killed, and the flower 
 of the Roman nobility and people deftroyed with them, or by them ; 
 v/hen Cato's virtue had proved too weak to fupport a falling ffate»- 
 and Brutus with Cafhus had perifhed in their noble attempt to reftorc 
 their liberty ; when the befl: part of the fenate had been expofed for a 
 prey to the vulturs and wolves of Theffaly, and one hundred and 
 thirty of thofe who deferved the hatred of tyrants, and had efcaped the 
 fury of war, had been deftroyed by the profcriptions ; when neither 
 captains nor foldiers remained in the defolate city ; when the tyrant 
 abhorred and feared all thofe who had either reputation or virtue, and 
 by the mofl: fubtile arts endeavoured fo to corrupt or break the fpirits 
 of the remaining people, that they might not think of their former 
 greatnefs, or the ways of recovering it, we ought not to wonder, that 
 they ceafed from war. But fuch a peace is no more to be commended, 
 than that which men have in the grave ; as in the epitaph of the 
 marquis Trivukio feen at Milan : " Qui nunquam quievit, quiefcit. 
 *' Tace *." This peace is in every wildernefs. The Turks have efta- 
 blifhed it in the empty provinces of Afia and Greece. Where there are 
 no men, or if thofe men have no courage, there can be no war. Our 
 anceftors the Britons obferved, that the peace, which in that age the 
 Romans eftablifhed in the provinces, confifted in the mofl: wretched 
 
 * The whole of this epitaph, which is on the tomb of Trivukio, in the church of 
 S. Nazaro, at Milan, is as follows : 
 
 JOHANNES lACOBUS MAGNUS TRIVULTIUS, ANTONII FILIUS, 
 qui NUKQUAM QUIEVIT, QUIESCIT. TACE. 
 
 Thefe lines allude to the bravery and acStivity of Trivukio. But to one, unacquainted 
 with his charafter, they may feem to have an air of ridicule, and to intimate, that he 
 was a man of a reftlefs and troublefome difpofition. Something of this nature might 
 poflibly be intended by the writer, Trivukio was a Milanefc, was baniflied from his 
 country, was taken into the fervice of the king of France, and by him made governor 
 cf Milan, It is probable, therefore, that his adivitv was troublefome to thofe, who 
 bad been concerned in his expulfion. See Wright's Travels, p. 466 
 
 flavery
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 133 
 
 flavcry and folitude : " mifcrrimam fcrvitutcm pacem vocant," And in sect. 15 
 
 another place, " lolitudincm faclunt, pacem appellant *." This is the 
 
 peace the Spaniards fettled in their dominions of the VVcfl-Indies, hy 
 
 the deftruition of forty millions of fouls f. The countries were very 
 
 quiet, when wild beafts only were left to fight in ihev^. or a few 
 
 miferable wretches, who had neither ftrength nor courage to refift their 
 
 violence. This was the peace the Romans enjoyed under Aiiguftus : a 
 
 few of thofc who made themfelves fubfervient to his plcafurc, and mini- 
 
 fters of the public calamities, were put into a flourllhing condition ; 
 
 but the reft pined, withered, and never recovered. If yet our author 
 
 will have us to think the liberty and people of Rome obliged to 
 
 Auguftus, who procured fuch a peace for them, he ought to remember, 
 
 that, befides what they fuftered in fettling it, they paid dear for it 
 
 even in the future. For Italy was thereby fo weakened, as never to 
 
 recover any ftrength or virtue to defend itfelf ; but, depending abfo- 
 
 lutely upon barbarous nations, or armies compofed of tliem, was 
 
 javaged and torn in pieces by every invader. 
 
 4. That peace only is to be valued, which is accompanied withjuftice; 
 and thofe governments only deferve praife, who put the power into the 
 hands of the beft men. This was wholly wanting during the reigns 
 of Auguftus and his fucceflbrs. The worft of men gained the fovereignty 
 by alliance, fraud, or violence, and advanced fuch as moft refembled 
 themi'elves. Auguftus was worfe in the beginning than in the latter 
 part of his reign. But his bloody and impure fucceflbr grew every 
 day more wicked as long as .he lived, Whrift he fat upon the rocks 
 at Caprae '\. with his Chaldeans, he meditated nothing but luft or 
 mifchlef, and had Sejanus and Macro always ready to execute his; 
 deteftable defigns. Caligula could find none equal to himfelf in all 
 manner of villainies, but favoured thofe moft, who were likeft to 
 himfelf. Claudius's ftupidity, drunkennefs, and fubjedtion to the fury 
 of two impudent ftrumpets and manumifed flaves, proved as hurtful to 
 the empire, as the favage fury of his predeceflbr. Though Nero was" 
 a monfter, that the world could not bear : yet the ?aging foldiers. killed 
 Galba, and gave the empire to Otho, for no other reafon, than that 
 he had been the companion of his debaucheries, and of all men was 
 thought rnoft to refemble him. With them all evils came in like a 
 flood. And their fucceftbrs finding none fo bad as themfelves, but 
 the favourites, whores, and flaves, that governed them, would fuffer 
 no virtue to grow up ; and filled the city with a hale, lewd, and mifer- 
 
 * Mifer.m fervitutem falso pacem vocarent. Tacit. Hift. 1. 4, § 17. — Romani ubi 
 folitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant. Id. in vita Agric. § 20 
 
 The former of thefe pafTages is in the addrefs of Claudius Civilis to the Gauls ; 
 the latter is in the fpeech of Galgacus to the Caledonians. 
 
 f Bart, de las Cafns Deftr. de las Indias. See Purch. Pilg. part 4. b. 8. The Spanifh: 
 friar has certainly exceeded the truth ; and Sidney has exaggerated his account of thefe horri- 
 ble barbarities. 
 
 t An ifland on the coaft of Ilaples, where Tiberius, during the ten laft years of 
 his reign, kept his infamous court. Suet, in vitii Tiber. § 40 
 
 able-
 
 134 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. Ti able rabble, that cared for nothing beyond ftages-plays and bread. Such 
 a people could not be feditious ; but Rome had been defolate, if they 
 had not thus filled it. And though this temper and condition of a 
 people may pleafe our author, yet it v/as an incurable wound to the 
 ftate, and in confequence to the beft part of the world. 
 
 When the city had been burnt by the Gauls, it was foon reftored. 
 The defeats of Ticinum, Trebia, Thrafymene, and Cannae, were repaired 
 >Adth equal or greater victories. The war of the allies ended in their 
 overthrow. The fury of the gladiators was extinguifhed with their 
 blood. . The commonwealth loft battles, but was never conquered in 
 any war ; and in the end triumphed over all that had contended vv^ith 
 them. Whilft liberty continued, it was the nurfe of virtue ; and all the 
 loffes fufrered in foreign or civil wars were eafily recovered. But when 
 liberty was loft, valour and virtue were torn up by the roots, and the 
 Roman power proceeding from them perilhed. 
 
 I have not dwelt fo long upon this point to expofe the folly of 
 our author, but to fhew, that the above-mentioned evils did proceed 
 from a permanent caufe, which will always produce the like effetfts : 
 and hiftories teftify that it has done the fame in all places. Carthage 
 was rebuilt, after it had been deftroyed by Scipio, and continued to be 
 a rich city for almoft a thoufand years ; but produced no fuch men 
 as Amilcar, Afdrubal, and HannibaL Cleomenes and Euclidas were 
 the laft that deferved to be called Spartans f. Athens never had an 
 eminent man, after it felt the weight of the Macedonian yoke. And 
 Philopoemen was the laft of the Achaians. Though the commonwealths 
 of Italy in latter ages, having too much applied themfelves to the acqui- 
 litlon of money, wanted that greatnefs of fpirit, which had reigned 
 in their anceftors, yet they have not been without valour and virtue. 
 That of Pifa was famous for power at fea, till the Genoefe overthrew 
 it. Florence had a brave nobility, and a ftout people. Arezzo, 
 Piftoia, Cortona, Sienna, and other fmall towns of Tufcany, were not 
 without ftrength, though for the moft part unhappily exerciled in the 
 factions of Gibelines and Gnclphs, Neri and Bianchi, which divided all 
 Italy. :}: But fmce the introdutSion oi Filmer's divine ablolutc monarchy, 
 all power, virtue, reputation, and ftrength, are utterly periftied from 
 among them, and no man dares to oppofe the public milchiefs. They 
 ufually decide private quarrels by aftaffination or poilon ; and in other 
 refpedts they enjoy the happinefs of that peace, vdiich is always found 
 within empty walls, and defolated countries. And if this be according 
 to the laws of God and nature, it cannot be denied, that wcaknefs, bafe- 
 ncfs, cowardice, dcftruftion, and defolation, are lb likcwilc. Thcfe are 
 the blcflings our well-natured author would confer upon us : but if they 
 were to be efteemed fo, I cannot tell why thofe that felt them com- 
 
 + Cleomenes afTociated his brother Euclidas with him in the kingdom of Sparta, about 
 the year A. C. 226 
 
 J See Meyl. Cofm. p. 131, Sigon. Hifl-. Ital, 1. Ji, etc. 
 
 plained
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 13^ 
 
 plained lb much of them. Tacitus, reciting what paflcd in his time, SKCT. 15 
 and fomewhat before, for want of a chriflian fpirit, in the hitternefs of 
 his foul, fays, " nee unquam atrocioribus populi Roman! cladibus, magif- 
 ** que juftis judiciis probatum eft, non ede curae dcis fccuricatem noftram, 
 " eife ultionem *." Some thought that no punKl^mei.ts could be juftly 
 deferved by a people that had fo much favoured virtue ; others, that even 
 the gods they adored envied their felicity and glory ; but all confeifed 
 they were fallen, from the higheft pitch of human hfippinefs, into the 
 loweft degree of inflimy and mifcry. And our au\hor being the firft that 
 ever found they had gained by the change, we are to attribute the dif- 
 covery of fo great a fecret to the excellency of his wifdom. If, fufpending 
 my judgment in this point, till it be proved by better authority than 
 his word, I in the mean time follow the opinion of thofe who think 
 flavery does naturally produce meannefs of fpirit, with its worft effedl, flat- 
 tery, which Tacitus calls " foedum fervitutis crimen f," I muft believe, 
 that the impudence of carrying it to fuch a height, as to commend 
 nothing in the moft glorious liberty, that made the moft virtuous 
 people in the world, but the fhortnefs of its continuance, and to pre- 
 fer the tyranny of the bafeft of men, or worft of monfters, is peculiar 
 to Filmer; and that their wickednefs, which had never been equalled, 
 is furpafied by him, who recommends, as the ordinance of God, the 
 principles that certainly produce them. 
 
 But, fays our author, " though Rome for a Vv^hlle was miraculoufiy 
 " upheld in glory by a greater prudence than her own, yet in a fhort 
 " time, after manifold alterations, flie was ruined by her own hands." 
 But it is abfurd to fay, that the overthrow of a government, which had 
 nothing of good in it, can be a ruin ; or that the glory in which it 
 continued had nothing of good in it ; and moft of all, that it could be 
 ruined by no hands but its own, if that glory had not been gained, 
 and immediately or inftrumentally fupported by fuch virtue and ftrength, 
 as is worthy to be preferred before all other temporal happineis, and 
 does ever produce it. This fliews that liars ought to have good memories. 
 But pafling over fuch foolifti contradiftions, I defire to know, how 
 that " prudence, greater than her own" (which, till I am better 
 informed, I muft think to be infeparably united to juftice and goodnefs) 
 came miraculoufiy to fupport a government, which was not only evil 
 in itfelf, as contrary to the laws of God and nature, but fo perpetually 
 bent againft that monarchy, which he fays is according to them, as la 
 hate all monarchs, defpife all that would live under them, deftroy as 
 many of them as came within its reach, and make a law, by which 
 any man was authorized to kill him, who ftiould endeavour to fet up 
 tliis divine power in Its place +., Moreover, no human prudence pre- 
 
 * Tacit. Hift. 1. I, § 3 f Ibid. J. i, § i 
 
 uXovn TJiv Jixr,!; n:^^^^7\T^v■, o Si YloTrXmoXag Jcai Trpo Tvt; k^ktkci; xvsXiiv SiSutn. Plut. in vita 
 Popl. et compar, Solonis et Poplicolac. Dionyf, Hal. 1. 5, c. 19 
 
 I; ferved-
 
 136 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. II ferved the Roman glory but their own : the others- diredlly fet themfelves 
 to oppofe it, and the moft eminent fell under it. We know of no pru- 
 dence furpaffing the human, unlefs it be the divine : but the divine pru- 
 dence did never miraculoully exert itfelf, except to bear witnefs to the 
 truth, and to give authority to thofe that announced it. If therefore the 
 glory of this popular government was miraculoully fupported by a more 
 than human prudence, it was good in itfelf; the miracles done in favour 
 of it did teftify it, and all that our author fays againft it is falfe and 
 abominable. 
 
 If I lay afide the word " miraculous," as put in by chance, it will be 
 hard to know how God, who in the ufual courfe of his providence guides 
 all things by fuch a gentle and undifcerned power, that they feem to go 
 on of themfelves, fliould give fuch virtue to this popular government, and 
 the magiftrates bred up under it, that the greateil monarchs of the earth 
 were as duft before them, unlefs there had been an excellency in their 
 difcipline, far furpaffing that of their enemies ; or how that can be called 
 ill in its principle, and faid to comprehend no good, which God did fo 
 glorioufly fupport, and no man was ever able to refift. This cannot be 
 better anfwered than by our author's citation, " fuis et ipfa Roma viribus 
 *' ruit*." That city, which had overthrown the greateil powers of 
 the world, muft, in all appearance, have lalled for ever, if their virtue 
 and difcipline had not decayed, or their forces been turned againft them- 
 felves. If our author therefore fay true, the greateft good that ever befel 
 the Romans, was the decay of their virtue and difcipline ; and the turn- 
 ing of their own arms againft themfelves was not their ruin, but their 
 prefervation. 
 
 When they had brought the- warlike nations of Italy into fubjedion, 
 or aflbciation ; often reprelfed the fury of the Gauls, Cimbri, and Teu- 
 tons ; overthrown the wealth, power, and wit of Carthage, fupported by 
 the fklll, induftry, and valour of Hannibal, and his brave relations ; 
 almoft extirpated the valiant Spaniards, who would no other way be fub- 
 dued ; defeated Philip, Perfeus, Antiochus, Gentius, Syphax, and Ju- 
 gurtha ; ftruck an awe into Ptolemy ; avoided the fnares and poifons of 
 Mithridates ; followed him in his flights, revenged his treacheries, and 
 carried their vidlorious arms beyond his conquered kingdoms to the banks 
 of theTigris ; when neither the revolt of their Italian alfociates, northe re- 
 bellion of their flaves led by Spartacus (who in fkill feems to have been 
 equal to Hannibal, and above him in courage) could put a ftop to their 
 vidlories ; when Greece had been reduced to yield to a virtue, rather than 
 a power, greater than its own, we may well fay that government was 
 fupported by a more than human prudence, which led them through 
 virtue to a height of glory, power, and happinefs, that till that day had 
 l)ccn unknown to the world, and could never have been ruined, if by the 
 decay of that virtue they had not turned their vidlorious arms againft tlicm- 
 
 * Hor, Epod. i6, v. 2 
 
 ftlvcs.
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 137 
 
 fclves. That city was a giant that could die by no other hand tlian his SECT. 15 
 own : like Hercules poilbned and driven into madncfs, after he had de- 
 ftroyed thieves, mongers, and tyrants, and found nothing on the earth 
 able to refifthim. The wifeft of men in antient times, looking upon this 
 as a point of more than human perfedion, thought or feigned to think, 
 that he was defcended from the gods, and at his death received into their 
 number ; though perhaps Filmer would prefer a weak, bafe, and effemi- 
 nate Have before him. The matter will not be much diflerent, if we 
 adhere to the fore-mentioned fimilitude of the athletic habit ; for the 
 danger proceeds only from the perfedion of it, and lie who diflikcs it 
 murt commend that weaknefs and vice which may periih, but can never 
 be changed into any thing worfe than itfelf, as thoie that lie upon the 
 ground can never fall. However, this fall of the Romans, which our 
 author, fpeaking truth againfl; his will, calls their ruin, was into that 
 which he recommends as the ordinance of God : which is as much as to 
 lay, that they were ruined, when they fell from their own unnatural in- 
 ventions to follow the law of God, and of nature ; that luxury alfo, 
 through which they fell, was the produdl of their felicity ; and that the 
 nations, that had been fubdued by them, had no other way of avenging 
 their defeats, than by alluring their mafters to their own vices. This was 
 the fource of their civil wars. When that proud city found no more 
 reilftance, it grew wanton*. Honell: poverty became uneafy, when 
 honours were given to ill-gotten riches. This was fo monarchical, that 
 a people infeded with fuch a cuflom muft needs fall by it. They, who 
 by vice had exhaufted their fortunes, could repair them only by bring- 
 ing their country under a government, that vv^ould give impunity to 
 rapine. And fuch as had not virtues to deferve advancement from the 
 fenate and people would always endeavour to fet up a man, that would 
 beftow the honours due to virtue upon thofe, who would be moft^ ab- 
 jectly fubfervient to his will and interefts. When mens minds are filled 
 with this fury, they lacrifice the common good to the advancement of 
 their private concernments. This was the temper of Catiline : " luxuria 
 " principi onerofi, inopia vix privato toleranda f ;" '^i^d this put him 
 upon that defperate extremity to fay, " incendium meum ruina exftin- 
 " guam :};." Others in the fame manner being filled with the iame rage, 
 he could not want companions in his mofl villainous defigns. It is not 
 long fince a perfon of the higheft quality, and no lefs famous for learn- 
 ing and wit, having oblerved the ftate of England, as it ftocd not many 
 years ago, and that to which it has been reduced fince the year fixty, as 
 is thought very much by the advice and example of France, faid, that 
 they were now taking a moll cruel vengeance upon us tor all the over- 
 throws received from our anceflors, by introducing their moft damnable 
 
 ■nevior arnr 
 
 Luxuria incubuit, vi£lnmc;ue ulcifritur oibem. Juv, Sat. 6, v. 29X 
 
 + Thefe words are applied b • I'acitus to Otho, Hilt. 1. I, ^ 21 
 i Sail. Bell. Cat']. § 32 ' 
 
 T maxims,
 
 isS DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. II maxims, and teaching us the worft of their vices. It is not for me to 
 determine v/hether this judgment was rightly made or not ; for I intend 
 not to fpeak of our affairs. But all hiftorians agreeing, that the change 
 of the Roman government was wrought by fuch means as I have men- 
 tioned, and our author acknowledging that change to have been their ruin, 
 as in truth it was, I may juftly conclude, that the overthrow of that go- 
 vermnent could not have been a ruin to them, unlefs it had been good ; 
 and that the power which did ruin it, and was fet up in the room of it» 
 cannot have been according to the laws of God or nature j for they confer 
 only that which is good, and deftroy nothing that is fo; but muft have 
 been moil contrary to that good whieh was overthrown by it» 
 
 SECTION XVI 
 
 THE BE3T GOVERNiMENTS OF THE WORLD HAVE BEEN COMPOSEI> 
 OF MONARCHY, ARISTOCRACY, AND DEMOCRACY. 
 
 Our author's cavils concerning I know not what vulgar opinions, that 
 democracies were introduced to curb tyranny, deferve no anfwer ; for our 
 queftion is, whether one form of government be prefcribed to us by God 
 and nature, or we are left according to our own underftanding, to confti- 
 tute fuch as feem heft to ourfelves. As for democracy, he may fay what 
 he pleafes of it ; and I believe it can fuit only with the convenience 
 of a fmall town, accompanied with fuch circumflances as are feldom 
 found. But this no way obliges men to run into the other extreme, inaf- 
 muchas the variety of forms between mere democracy and abfolute mo- 
 narchy is almoft infinite. And if I fhould undertake to fay, there never 
 was a good government in the world, that did not confift of the three 
 fimple fpecies of monarchy, ariftocracy, and democracy, I think I might 
 make it good. This at the leaft is certain, that the government of the 
 Hebrews, inftituted by God, had a judge, the great finhedrim, and ge- 
 neral aflemblies of the people. Sparta had two kings, a lenate of twenty 
 eight chofen men, and the like aflemblies. All the Dorian cities had a 
 chief magiftrate, a fen ate, and occafional aflemblies. The cities of Ionia, 
 Athens, and others, had an Archon, the Areopagitac, &c. and all judg- 
 ments concerning matters of thc-greatefl; importance, as well as the elec- 
 tion of magifl:rates, v/ere referred to the people. Rome in the begin- 
 ning had a king and a fenate, while the elctlion of kings, and judgments 
 upon appeals, remained in the people ; afterwards confuls rcprcl'enting 
 king:, and vefted with equal power, a more numerous fenace, and more 
 frequent meetings of the people. Venice has at this day a duke, the 
 fenate of the pregadi, and the great aflembly of the nobility, which is 
 the whole city, the refl: of the inhabitants being only " incolae," not 
 " cives ;" and tliofc of the other cities or countries arc their fubjeds, and 
 
 do
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 139 
 
 do not participate of the government. Genoa is governed in like man- sect. 16 
 ncr ; Luca not unlike to them. Germany is at this clay governed by an 
 emperor, the princes or great lords in their I'everal precinds ; the cities by 
 tlicir own magiftratcs, and by general diets, in which the whole power 
 of the nation refides, and v/here the emperor, princes, nobility, and cities, 
 have their places ia perfon, or by their deputies. All the northern na- 
 tions, which, upon the diflblution of the Roman empire, poirelTed the bcft 
 provinces that had compofed it, were under that form which is ufually 
 called the Gothic polity. . They had king, lords, commons, diets, aflem- 
 blies of eftates, cortes *, and parliaments, in which the fovereign powers 
 of thofe nations did refide, and by which they vv^cre exercifed. The like 
 was pradlifed in Hungary, Bohemia, Sweden, Denmark, Poland. And 
 if things are changed in fome of thofe places within thefe few years, they 
 mud give better proofs of having gained by the change, than are yet 
 feen in tiie world, before I think myfelf obliged to change my opinion. 
 
 Some nations, not liking the name of king, have given fuch a power 
 as kings enjoyed in other places to one or more magiftrates, cither limited 
 to a certain time, or left to be perpetual, as beft pleafed themfelves : 
 others, approving the name, iiiade the dignity purely eledlive. Some 
 have in their eledtions principally regarded one family as long as it lafted : 
 others confidered nothing but the fitnefs of the perfon, and referved to 
 themfelves a liberty of taking where they pleafed. Some have permitted 
 the crown to be hereditary, as to its ordinary courfe ; but reftrained the 
 power, and inftituted officers to infpedt the proceedings of kings, and to 
 take care, that the laws were not violated. Of this fort were the Ephori 
 of Sparta, the maires du palais, and afterwards the conflable of France, 
 the jufticiarij; in Arragon, the reichs-hofmeifter in Denmark f, the high-flew- 
 ard in England ; and in all places fuch affemblies as are before-mention- 
 ed under feveral names, who had the power of the whole nation. Some- 
 have continued long, and it may be always in the fame form : others 
 have changed it. Some being incenfed againfl their kings, as the Ro- 
 mans exafperated by the villainies of Tarquin, and the Tufcans by the 
 cruelties of Mezentius, aboliflied the name of king. Others, as Athens, 
 Sicyon, Argos, Corinth, Thebes, and the Latins, did not flay for fuch 
 extremities, but fet up other governments when they thought it beft for 
 themfelves ; and by this condudl prevented the evils that ufually fall upon 
 nations, when their kings degenerate into tyrants, and a nation is 
 brought to enter into a war by which all may be loft, and nothing can be 
 gained which was not their own before. The Romans took not this lalu- 
 
 * See an account of theanticnt Spanifh Cortes in Geddes's Trafts, Vol. i ■ 
 
 t See Heyl. Cofm. p. 288 
 
 t Count Uhlefeld was reichs-hofmeifter, or lord high ftev/ard of the kingdom of Denmark, 
 about the middle of the laft century. In the year 1651, he was difplaced for treafonable 
 practices, and Joachim Gerftorf, another nobleman and fenator, appointed in his roc m. Ke 
 continued in this important office till the memorable revolution, which happened in Den- 
 mark in the year 1660 ; when the kingdom was changed from an eftate, little differing from 
 an ariftocracv, to an abfolute monarchy, and the ofHce of reichs-hofmeifter ccafed of courfe. 
 
 T 2 tary
 
 I4Q DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. II tnry coiirfe ; the mifchief was grown up before they perceived, or fet 
 ihenilclves againft it. And when the effedls of pride, avarice, cru- 
 elty, and kill:, were grown to fuch a height, that they could no longer be 
 endured, they could not free themfelves without a war. And whereas 
 upon other occafions their viclories had brought them increafe of ftrength, 
 territory, and glory, the only reward of their virtue in this was, to be 
 delivered from a plague they had unadvifedly fuffered to grow up among 
 them. I confefs this was moft of all to be efleemed : for if they had been 
 overthrown, their condition under Tarquin would have been more intole- 
 rable, than if they had fallen under the power of Pyrrhus or Hannibal ; 
 and all their following profperity was the fruit of their recovered liberty. 
 But it had been much better to have reformed the ftate after the death of 
 one of their good kings, than to be brought to fight for their lives againft 
 that abominable tyrant. Our author, in purfuance of his averfion to all 
 that is good, difapproves this ; and, wanting reafons to juftify his difllke, 
 according to the cuftom of Impoftors and cheats, has recourfe to the ugly 
 terms of a " back-door, fedition, and faftlon :" as if it were not as juft 
 for a people to lay afide their kings, when they receive nothing but evil, 
 and can rationally hope for no benefit by them, as for others to fet them 
 up in expectation of good from them. But if the truth be examined, 
 nothing will be found more orderly than the changes of government, or 
 of the perfons and races of thofe that governed, which have been made 
 by many nations. When Pharamond's grandfon feemed not to deferve 
 the crown he had worn, the French gave it to Meroveus, who more re- 
 fembled him in virtue. In procefs of time when this race alfo degenera- 
 ted, they were rejed:ed, and Pepin advanced to the throne ; and the moff 
 remote in blood of his defcendents having often been preferred before the 
 neareft, and baftards before the legitimate iffue, they were at laft all laid 
 alide ; and the crown remains to this day in the family of Hugh Capet, 
 on whom it was beftowed upon the rejedlion of Charles of Lorraln. In 
 hke manner the Caflilians took Don Sancho furnamed the Brave, fecond 
 fon to Alphonfo the Wife, before Alphonfo el Deflieredado, fon of rhe 
 elder brother Ferdinand. The ftates of Arragon preferred Martin, bro- 
 ther to John the firft, before Mary his daughter married to the count de 
 Foix, though females were not excluded from the faccedion : and the 
 houfe of Auftria now enjoys that crown from Joan daughter to Ferdinand. 
 In that and many other kingdoms, baftards have been advanced before 
 their legitimate brothers. Henry count of Tranftamara, baftard to Al- 
 phonfo the eleventh king of Caftile, received the crown, as a reward of 
 tlie good fervlce he had done to his country againft his brother Peter the 
 Cruel, withoiit any regard had to the houfe of La Cerda defcended from 
 Alphonfo el Delhcredado, which to this day never enjoyed any greater 
 honour than that of duke de Medina Cell. N(Jt long after, the Portu- 
 gucle, conceiving a dillike of their king Fei'dinand, and his daughter 
 married to John king of Caftile, rejected her and her uncle by the father's 
 fide, and gave the crown to John a knight of Calatrava, and baftard to 
 an uncle of Ferdinand their king. About the beginning of this age the 
 
 3 Swedes
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 141 
 
 Swedes depofcd their king Sigifmund, for being a papift, and made Charles SECT. 16- 
 his uncle king. Divers examples of the like nature in England have been 
 already mentioned. All thefe tranfportations of crowns were adls per- 
 formed by aflemblies of the three eftates in the feveral kingdoms ; and 
 thefe crowns are to this day enjoyed under titles derived from fuch as were 
 thus brought in by the depofition or rejedion of thofe, who according to 
 defcent of blood had better titles than the prefent poffeflbrs. The ads 
 therefore w^ere lawful and good, or they can have no title at all ; and they 
 who made them had a juft power fo to do. 
 
 If our author can draw any advantage from the refemblance of regality 
 that he finds in the Roman confuls, and Athenian Archons, I fliall with- 
 out envy leave him the enjoyment of it ; but I am much miftaken, if that 
 do not prove my aflertion, that thofe governments " were compofcd of 
 the three fimple fpecies." For if the monarchical part was in them, it 
 cannot be denied that the ariflocratical was in the fenate or Areopagitac, 
 and the democratical in the people. But he ought to have remembered, 
 that if there was fomething of monarchical in rhofe governments, when 
 they are faid to have been popular, there was fomething of ariftocratical 
 and democratical in thofe that were called regal ; which juftifies my pro- 
 pofition on both fides, and fliews, that the denomination was taken from 
 the part that prevailed. And if this w^ere not fo, the governments of 
 France, Spain, and Germany, might be called democracies, and thofe of 
 Rome and Athens monarchies, becaufe the people have a part in the one,, 
 and an image of monarchy was prefcrved in the other. 
 
 If our author will not allow the cafes to be altogether equal, I think he 
 will find no other difference, than that the confuls and Archons were 
 regularly made by the votes of the confenting people, and orderly refigned 
 their power, when the time was expired for which it was given. 
 Whereas Tarquin, Dionyfius, Agathocles, Nabis, Phalaris, Caefar, and 
 almofl all his fucceflbrs, whom he takes for complete monarchs, came in^ 
 by violence, fraud, and corruption, by the help of the worfi: men, by 
 the flaughter of the beft, and moft commonly, when the method was 
 once eflablifhed, by that of their predeceifors, who, if our author fay 
 true, were fathers of their country. This w^as the root and foundation 
 of the only government that deferves praife. This is that which llamped 
 the divine charader upon Agathocles, Dionyfius, and Caefar, and thaf 
 had beflowed the fame upon Manlius, Marius, or Catiline, if they had' 
 gained the monarchies they affefted. But I fuppole that fucli as God has 
 blcffed with better judgment, and a due regard to juffiee and trutli, will' 
 lliy, that all thofe, who have attained to fuch greatnefs, as deftroys all 
 manner of good in the places where they have fet up themfclves by the 
 moll detelfable villainies, came in by a "back-door;" and that fuch 
 magilfrates, as were orderly chofen- by a willing people, were the true 
 fhepherds, who came in by the gate of the flieepfold, and might juftly 
 be called the miniflers of God, fo long as they performed their duty in. 
 providing for the good of the nations committed to their charge.
 
 14^ DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP.. II 
 
 SECTION XVII 
 
 GOOD GOVERNMENTS ADMIT OF CHANGES IN THE SUPERSTRUC- 
 TURES, WHILE THE FOUNDATIONS REMAIN UNCHANGEABLE. 
 
 If I go a ftep farther, and confefs the Romans made fome changes in the 
 outwarJ form of their government, I may fafely fay they did well in it, 
 and profpered by it. After the expulfion of the kings, the power was 
 chietiy in the nobility, who had been leaders of the people ; but it was 
 neceflary to humble them, vdien they began to prefume too much upon 
 the advantages of their birth. And the city could never have been great, 
 unlefs the plebeians, vA\o were the body of it, and the main ftrength of 
 their armies, had been admitted to a participation of honours. This 
 could not be done at the firft. They who had been fo vilely opprefied by 
 Tarqulri, and haraffed with making or cleaning finks, were not then fit 
 for magiftracies, or the command of armies. But they could not juftly 
 be excluded from them, when they had men who in courage and condud: 
 vv^ere equal to the bed of the patricians. And it had been abfurd for any 
 iTian to think it a difparagement to him to marry the daughter of one, 
 whom he had obeyed as dictator or conful, and perhaps followed in his 
 triumph. Rome, that was conftituted for v^^ar, and fought its grandeur 
 by that means, could never have arrived to any confiderable height, if 
 the people had not been exercifed in arms, and their fpirits raifed to de- 
 light in conquefts, and willing to expofe themfelves to the greateft 
 fivtigues and dangers to accompllfh them. Such men as thefe were not 
 to be ufed like flaves, or oppreffed by the unmerciful hand of ufurers. 
 Th-ey, who by their fweat and blood were to defend and enlarge the ter- 
 ritories of the ftate, were to be convinced they fought for themfelves ; 
 and they had reafon to demand a magiftracy of their own, vefted with a 
 power that none might offend, to maintain their rights, and to proted: 
 their families, while thev were abroad in the armies. Thefe were the 
 tribunes of the people, made, as they called it, " facrofan£li," or invio- 
 lable t ; and the creation of them was the mofl; confiderable change that 
 happened till the time of Marius, vdio brought all into diforder. The 
 creation or abolition of military tribunes, with confular power, ought 
 to be accounted as nothing; for it imported little whether that authority 
 was exercifed by two, or by five. That of the decemviri was as little to 
 be regarded ; they were intended only for one year ; and though new ones 
 were created for another, on pretence that the laws they were to frame 
 could not be brought to perfection in fo fhort a time, yet they were foon 
 thrown down from the power they ufurped, and endeavoured to retain 
 contrary to law. The creation of didators was no novelty, they were 
 made occaiionally from the beginning, and never otherwife than occafion- 
 
 t Liv'. I. 2, c. 33. 1. 3, c. 55
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 145. 
 
 ally, till Julius Caellir fubvcrtcd all order, and, invading that fuprcme SECT. 17 
 magiftracy by force, ufurped the right which belonged to all *'. This 
 indeed was a mortal change even in root and principle. All other magif- 
 trates had been created by the people for the public good, and always 
 were within the power of thofe that had created them. But Caeliir com- 
 ing in by force, fought only the fatisfadion of his own raging ambition, 
 or that of the foldiers, whom he had corrupted to deftroy their country. 
 And his fucceflbrs governing for themfelves, by the help of the like villains,, 
 perpetually expofed the empire to be ravaged by them. But whatever 
 opinion any man may have of the other changes, I dare affirm, there are 
 few or no monarchies (whofe hiftories are fo v>^ell known to us as that of 
 Rome) which have not fufFercd changes Incomparably greater, and more 
 mifohievous, than thofe of Rome, whilft it v/as free. The Macedonian- 
 monarchy fell into pieces immediately after the death of Alexander. It is- 
 thought he perifhed by poifon. His wives, children, and mother, were 
 deftroyed by his own captains. The heft of thofe who had efcaped his 
 fury, fell by the fword of each other. When the famous Argyrafpides 
 might have expedled fome reward of their labours, and a little rell in old 
 age, they were malicioufly fent into the eaft by Antigonus to perifh by 
 hunger and mifery, after he had corrupted them to betray Eumenes. No 
 better fate attended the reft ; all was in confufion ; every one followed 
 whom he pleafed ; and all of them feemed to be filled v/ith fuch a rage, 
 that they never ceafed from miUtual flaughters till they were confumed ; 
 and their kingdoms continued in perpetual Vv^ars againft each other, till 
 they all fell under the Roman power. The fortune of Rome was the 
 fame after it became a monarchy : treachery, murder, and fury, reigned 
 in every part ; there was no law but force ; he that could corrupt an 
 army, thought he had a fufficient title to the empire. By thefe means 
 there were frequently three or four, and at one time thirty feveral preten- 
 ders, who called themfelves emperors : of which number he only reigned 
 that had the happinefs to deftroy all his competitors ; and he himfelf 
 continued no longer, than till another durft attempt the deftru£tion of 
 him and his pofterity. In this ftate they remained, till the wafted and 
 bloodlefs provinces were poflefled by a multitude of barbarous nations. 
 The kingdoms eftablifhed by them enjoyed as little peace or juftice. That 
 of France was frequently divided into as many parts as the kings of Me- 
 roveus or Pepin's race had children, under the names of the kingdoms of 
 Paris, Orleans, Soiflbns, Aries, Burgundy, Auftrafia, and others. Thefe 
 were perpetually vexed by the unnatural fury of brothers or neareft rela- 
 tions, while the miferable nobility and people were obliged to fight upon 
 their foolifh quarrels, till all fell under the power of the ftrongeft. This- 
 mifchief was in fome meafure cured by a law made in the time of Hugh 
 Capet, that the kingdom fhould no more be divided. Eut the appanages, 
 
 * Tacitus favs of Auguftus, munia fenatiis, ir.agiflratuum, legum in fe traxit. Ann. 
 I. 1, § 2 
 
 as
 
 ,44 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. 11 ^s they call them, granted to the king's brothers, with the feveral duke- 
 <ioms and earldoms ere£lcd to pleafe them, and other great lords, produ- 
 ced frequently almoft as bad efledls. This is teftified by the defperate and 
 anortal fadlions, that went under the names of Burgundy and Orleans, 
 Armagnac and Orleans, Montmorency and Guife. Thefe were followed 
 by thofe of the league, and the wars of the Hugonots. They were no 
 fooner finifhed by the taking of Rochelle, but new ones began by the 
 intrigues of the duke of Orleans, brother to Lewis the thirteenth, and 
 his mother ; and purfued with that animofity by them, that they put 
 themfelves under the protet^lion of Spain. To which may be added, that 
 the houfes of Conde, Soiflbns, Montmorency, Guile, Vendome, Angou- 
 leme. Bouillon, Rohan, Longueville, Rochfoucault, Efpernon, and I 
 think I may lay every one that is of great cminency in that kingdom^, 
 witli the cities of Paris, Bourdeaux, and many others, in the fpace of 
 ■thele laft fifty years, have Tided with the perpetual enemies of their own 
 country. 
 
 Again, other great alterations have happened within the fame king- 
 dom : the races of kings four times wholly changed ; five kings depofed 
 in lefs than 1 50 years after the death of Charles the Great ; the offices of 
 •inaire du palais, and conftable, ered:ed and laid afide ; the great duke- 
 doms and earldoms, little. inferior to fovereign principalities, eftablilhed 
 ;md iupprelTed ; the decifion of all caufes, and the execution of the laws, 
 placed abfolutely in the hands of the nobility, their deputies, fenefchals, 
 or vice-feneichais, and taken from them again ; parliaments let up to 
 receive appeals from the other courts, and to judge fovereignly in all 
 cafes, exprelly to curb them ; the power of thele parliaments, after they 
 had cruihed the nobility, brought lo low, that within the laft twenty years 
 they are made to regiller, and give the power of laws, to edi£l:s, of 
 ^vhich the titles only are read to them ; and the general aflemblies of 
 eftates, that from the time of Pepin had the power of the nation in their 
 hands, are now brought to nothing, and almoft forgotten. 
 
 Though I mention thefe things, it is not with a dehgn of blaming 
 them, for fome of them defer ve it not. It ought to be confidered, that 
 the wifdom of man is imperfeft, and unable to forefee the cfFects that 
 may proceed from an iniinice variety of accidents, which according to 
 emergencies, neceflarily require new conftitutions, to prevent or cure the 
 milchiefs arifing from them, or to advance a good that at the firft was 
 not thought of. And as the nobleft work in which the wit of man can 
 be excrcifed, were (if it could be done) to conftitute a government that 
 Ihould laft for ever, the next to that is to fuit laws to prei'ent exigences, 
 and fo much as is in the power of man to forefee. He that would refolve 
 to perfift obftinately in the way he firft entered upon, or to blame thofe 
 who go out of that, in which their fathers had walked, when they find 
 it necelfary, docs, as far as in him lies, render the worft of errors perpe- 
 tual. Clianges tlierefore are unavoidable ; and the wit of man can go no 
 tiu-tber than to inftitute fuch as in relation to the forces, manners, 
 
 nature
 
 DISCOmiSES CONCERNING G0V3iRNMj£NT 145 
 
 ^ ature, religion, or intereftsofa people, and their neighbours, are fuitahle sect, i* 
 and adequate to what is feen, or apprehended to be feea. He, who would 
 oblige all nations at all times to take the fame courfe, would prove as 
 foolilh as a phyfician who Ihould apply the lame medicine to all diltem-^ 
 pers, or an architc<3: that would build the fame kind of houfe for all per- 
 Ibns, without confidering their eftates, dignities, the number of their 
 children or fervants, the time or climate in which they live, and other 
 circumdances : or, which is, if poffible, more fottifti, a general who 
 fhould obilinately refolve always to make war in the fame way, and to 
 draw up his army in the fame form, without examining the nature, num- 
 ber, and ftrength of his own and his enemies forces, or the advantages 
 and difadvantages of the ground. But as there may be fome univerfal 
 rules in phytic, architedure, and military difcipline, from which men 
 ought never to depart, fo there are fome in politics alfo which ought 
 always to be obferved : and wife legiflators, adhering to them only, will 
 be ready to change all others, as occafion may require, in order to the pub- 
 lic good. This we may learn from Mofes, who laying the foundation 
 of the law given to the Ifraelites in that juflice, charity, and truth, which 
 having its root in God is fubjeiS to no change, left them the liberty of 
 having judges or no judges, kings or no kings, or to give the fbvereign 
 power to high-priefts or captains, as beft pleafed themfelves ; and the mif- 
 chiefs they afterwards fuffered proceeded not fimply from changing, but 
 changing for the worfe. The like judgment may be made of the altera- 
 tions that have happened in other places. They who aim at the public 
 good, and wifely inftitute means proportionable and adequate to the attain- 
 ment of it, deferve praife ; and thofe only are to be difliked, who either 
 fooHfhly or malicloufly fct up a corrupt private intereft in one or a few 
 men. Whoever therefore would judge of the Roman changes, may fee, 
 that in expelling the Tarquins, creating confuls, abating the violence of 
 ufurers, admitting plebeians to marry with the patricians, rendering them 
 capable of magiftracies, deducing colonies, dividing lands gained from 
 their enemies, erecting tribunes to defend the rights of the commons, 
 appointing the decemviri to regulate the law, and abrogating their power 
 when they abufed it, creating di£lators and military tribunes with a con- 
 fular power, as occafions required, they adled in the face of the fun for 
 the good of the public ; and fuch adls having always produced effed:s 
 fuitahle to the redlitude of their intentions, they confequently deferve 
 praife. But when another principle began to govern, all things were 
 changed in a very different manner : evil defigns, tending only to the 
 advancement of private interefts, were carried on in the dark by means 
 as wicked as the end. If Tarquin, when he had a mind to be king, poi- 
 foned his hrfl; wife and his brother, contracted all inceftuous marriage 
 with his fecond, by the death of her firft hufband, murdered her father, 
 and the beft men in Rome, yet Caefar did worfe. He favoured Catiline, 
 and his villainous affociates, bribed and corrupted magiftrates, confpired 
 
 U with
 
 146 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. II with Craffus and Pompey, continued in the command of an army beyond" 
 the time prefcribed by law, and turned the arms, with which he had 
 been entrufled for the fervice of the commonweakh, to the deftrudion of 
 it, which was rightly reprefented by his dream, that he had conftuprated 
 his mother. In the like manner, when Odavius, Antonius, and Lepi- 
 dus, divided the empire, and then quarrelled among themlelves ; and 
 when Galba, Otho, Vitellius, and Vefpafian, fet up parties in feveral 
 provinces, all was managed with treachery, fraud, and cruelty ; nothing 
 was intended but the advancement of one man, and therecompence of the 
 villains that ferved him. And when the empire had fuffered infinite 
 calamities by pulling down or rejefting one, and fetting up another, it was 
 for the moft part difficult to determine who was the worft of the two ; or 
 whether the prevailing fide had gained or loft by their vidlory. The 
 queftion therefore, upon which a judgment may be made to the praife or 
 difpraife of the Roman government, before or after the lofs of their liber- 
 ty, ought not to be, whether either were fubjedt to changes, for neither- 
 they nor any thing under the fun were ever exempted from them ; but 
 whether the changes, that happened after the eftablilhment of abfolute 
 power in the emperors, did not folely proceed from ambition, and tend 
 to the public ruin. Whereas thofe alterations, related by our author, 
 concerning confuls, didlators, decemviri, tribunes, and laws, were far. 
 more rare, lefs violent, tending to, and procuring the public good, and 
 therefore deferving praife. The like having been proved by the examples 
 of other kingdoms, and being capable of farther confirmation, which 
 onaccount of brevity I omit, is in my opinionfufficient tomanifeft, that while 
 the foundation and principle of a government remains good, the fuperftruc- 
 tures may be changed according to occafions, without any prejudice to it^. 
 
 SECTION XVIII: 
 
 XENOPHGM,. IN BLAJMING THE DISORDERS OF DEMOCRACIES,. 
 FAVOURS ARISTOCRACIES, NOT MONARCHIES. 
 
 In the next place our autlior introduces Xenophon difallowing popular, 
 governments, cites Rome and.Athens as pLices where the beft men thrived, 
 worft, and the worft beft, and condemns the Romans for making it ca- 
 pital to pafs fentence of death, banifliment, lofs of liberty, or ftripes,, 
 upon any citizen of Rome. But left his fraud in this fhould be detected, 
 he cites no precife paflage of any author, alleges few examples, and thofe 
 miftaken, 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 advanced things that he knows to be either 
 impertinent or falfe. 
 
 I. To
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 147 
 
 1. To this end we are in the firft place to confideis whether Xenophon sect. 18 
 fpeaks of popular governments fimply, or comparatively. If fimply, it 
 it confefled, that a pure democracy can never be good, unlcfs for a I'mall 
 town : if comparatively, we muft examine to what he compares it. W^e 
 are fure it was not to abfolute monarchy : there was no fuch thing among 
 the Greeks eftablifhed by law. The little tyrants who had enllaved their 
 own countries, as Jafon, Pheraeus, Phalaris, and the like, had no pre- 
 tence to it, and were accounted as the worft of beafts : none, but fucli as 
 in all beftiality were like to them, did ever fpeak or think well of them. 
 Xenophon's opinion, in this point, may be eafily found out by what paf- 
 fed between his mafter Plato, and the Sicilian tyrant. The matter will 
 not be mended by referring to his own experience. He had ken the valt 
 monarchy of Perfia torn in pieces by the fury of two brothers, and more 
 than a million of men brought to fight upon their private quarrel. 
 Inftead of that order, ftability, and ftrength, which our author afcribes to 
 abfolute monarchy, as the efFedt of wifdom and juftice, he knew, that by 
 filling one man with pride and cruelty, it brought unfpeakable miferies 
 upon all others, and infe£ted them with all the vices that accompany 
 flavery. Men lived like fifhes ; the great ones devoured the fmall ; and as 
 appeared by Tilfaphernes, Pharnabazus, and others, with whom he had 
 to deal, the worfh and bafeft were made to be the greateft. The fatrapae 
 infulted over thofe of meaner rank, with an infolence and cruelty that 
 equalled the depth of their fervile fubmiffion to their proud mafter. Lux- 
 ury and avarice reigned in all. Many great nations were made to live for 
 the fervice of one man, and to foment his vices. This produced weaknefs 
 and cowardice. No number of thofe flaves were able to ftand againft 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 ferved 
 him, made his retreat from Babylon to the Hellefpont with ten thoufand 
 foot, and pafled over the bellies of all that dared to oppofe him. He 
 would never have fpent his life in exciting his countrymen to attempt the 
 conqueft of Afia, nor have perfuaded xA.gefilaus to put himfelf at the head 
 of the enterprize, if he had thought there v/as fuch admirable order, fta- 
 bility, and ftrength, in that monarchy, and in the Greeks nothing but 
 giddinefs of fpirit, and " lb much learning as made them fcditious." 
 Nor could he, being a wife man, and an excellent captain, have conceived 
 fuch a defign, if he had not by experience found, that liberty infpired his 
 countrymen with fuch folid virtue, and produced fuch ftability, good 
 order, and ftrength, that with fmall numbers of them he might hope to 
 overthrow the vain pomp of the barbarians, and to poflefs himfelf of their 
 riches, though they could bring more than a hundred men to fight againft 
 one : which defign, being interrupted in his time by domeftic wars, vras 
 foon after his death accomplilhed by Alexander. 
 
 But that Xenophon^s meaning may be better underftood, it is good to 
 confider, that he fpoke of fuch governments as were then iu ufe among 
 
 U 2 the
 
 148 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHL* p. II the Greeka ; which though mixed, yet took their denomination from the 
 prevailing part : io that the Dorians, who placed the power chiefly in the 
 hands of a few chofen men, were faid to be governed ariftocratically ; and 
 the lonians, giving more power to the common people, democratically. 
 And he, though an Ionian, either through friendfhip to Agefilaus, cou- 
 verfation with the Spartans, or for other reafons beft known to himfelf, 
 preferred the government of Sparta, or fome other, which he rhought he 
 could frame, and defired to introduce, before that of Athens ; asCimon, 
 Thucydides, and many other excellent men of that city, are faid to have 
 done. And if I acknowledge they were in the right, and that Athens was 
 more fubjedt to diforder, and had lefs ftability than Sparta, I think it will 
 be of little advantage to abfolute monarchy. 
 
 2. The Athenians did banifli fome worthy men, and pvit others to 
 death. But our author, like the devil, never fpeaklng truth, unlefs to 
 turn it into a lye, prevaricates in his report of them. The temporary 
 banilhrnicnt, which they called " oftracifm," was without hurt or difhon- 
 our, never accounted as a punilhment, nor intended for any other end, 
 than to put a flop to the too eminent greatnefs of a man, that might prove 
 dangerous to the city : and fome excellent perfons, who fell under it, 
 were foon recalled, and brought home with glor)% But I am not felicitous 
 whether that reafon be fufficient to juftify it or not. We are upon a ge- 
 neral thefis relating to the laws of God and nature ; and if the Athenians, 
 by a fancy of their own, did make an imprudent ufe of their liberty, it 
 cannot prejudice the public caufe. They who make the worft of it can. 
 only fay, that by fuch means they, for a time, deprived themfelves of 
 the benefits they might have received from the virtues of fome excellent 
 men, to the hurt of none but themfelves ; and the application of it as an 
 injuftice done toThemifcocles is abfolutely falfe. He was a man of great 
 wit, induftry, ami valour, but of uncertain faith, too much addided to 
 his own interefl, and held a moft dangerous correfpondence with the Per- 
 fians, who then threatened the deflrudlion of Greece. Through envy and 
 fpite to Ariftides, and to increafe his own power, he railed dangerous 
 faftions in the city. And being fummoned to render an account of his 
 proceedings, he declined the judgment of his country, fled to its enemies, 
 and juftly deferved the fentence pronounced againfi: him *. Some among 
 them were unjufl;ly p\it to death, and above all Socrates. But the people,, 
 who, deceived by falfe witnefTes, (againft whom neither the laws of God 
 or man have ever prefcribed a fuflicient defence) had condemned him, did 
 fo much lament their crime, wlien the truth was difcovered to them, that 
 I doubt whether a more righteous judgment had given better tefthnony of 
 their righteous intentions. But our author*s impudence appears, in the 
 higheft cxcefs, in imputing the death of Phocion to the popular ftate of 
 Athens. Their forces had been broken in the Sicilian war ; and the city 
 taken, and the principal men flain by Lylander j the remains of the moft 
 
 »' Vide Flut. iu vita ThLCiiiilt, 
 
 worthy
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 149 
 
 worthy deftroyed by the thirty tyrants fet up by him ; their ill-recovered sect. 18. 
 liberty overthrown by the Macedonians ; and the death of Phocion coni- 
 pafl'cd by Polyperchon, who with foreign foldicrs, flaves, vagabonds, and 
 outlaws, overpowered the peojilc. 
 
 The proceedings of Rome may be more completely judificd. Coriola- 
 nus wa:s duly condemned. He fet too great a priCe upon his own valour, 
 and arrogated to himfelf a power in Rome, which would hardly have been 
 endui-ed in Corioli. His violence and pride over-balanced his fervices ; 
 and he, that would fubmit to no law, was juftly driven from the focicty 
 which could fubfill only by law. Quintius was not unlike him, and 
 Manlius Capitolinus far worfc than either. Their virtues were not to be 
 confidered when they departed from them. Confideraticni ought to be had 
 of human frailty, and Ibme indulgence may be extended to thofe who 
 commit errors, after having done important fervices ; but a ftate cannot 
 fubfift, which, compenfliting evil adions with good, gives impunity to 
 the moft dangerous crimes, in remembrance of any fervices whatever. 
 He that does well performs his duty, and ought always to do fo : juftice 
 and prudence concur in this. And it is no lefs juft than profitable, that 
 every a£tion be confidered by itfelf, and fuch a reward or punifhment 
 allotted to it, as in nature and proportion it beft deferves.. 
 
 This, as I fuppofe, is enough for their cafes ; but relates not to thofe of 
 Mamercus, Camillas, Livius Salinator, and Aemilius Paulus : their vir- 
 tue was complete ; they were wrongfully fentenced. The beft princes,, 
 fenate, or people, that ever was in the world, by the deceit of evil men,^ 
 may and have been drawn out of the way of juftice : yet of all the ftates- 
 that are known to us, none was ever fo free from crimes of malice and 
 wilful injuftice, none was ever guilty of fo few errors, as that of Rome; 
 and none did ever give better teftimonies of repentance, when they were 
 difcovered, than the Romans did by the veneration they fhewed to thofe 
 worthy perfons, and the honours they conferred upon them afterwards- 
 Mamercus was made didator, to repair the unjuft mark of infamy laid' 
 xipon him by the cenfors ''\ Camillus being recalled from his baniftiment 
 ©ften enjoyed the fame honour, and died the moft reverenced man that 
 had ever been in that city f . Livius Salinator was not only made conful. 
 after he had been fined, but the people, as it were to expiate the guilt o£ 
 having condemned him, fuflered that afperity of fpeech and mannersj- 
 
 * Moefta civitas fuit, vinci infueta, oi'ifle tribunes, pofcere diftatorem, in eo verti fpes 
 civitatis ... A. Cornelius tliiTratorem Mamercum Aemilium dixit: adeo fiinul fortuna. 
 eivitatis virtute vera eguit, ut nihil cenforia animadverfio efFecerit, quo minus regimen 
 rcrum ex notata indigne dome peteretur. Liv. 1. 4, c. 31 
 
 ■f Crimini d.itum eft, quod albis equis triumphaiTet, et praedam inique divififiet : diedifta. 
 ab L. Apuleio, tribune plebis, damnatus, Ardeam conceiTit. Aur. Vi<£t. c. 23. Liv. 1. 5, . 
 c. 32, 46. 1. 6, c. 38. — Fuit M. Furius vere vir unicus in omni fortuna, princeps-^ 
 pace belloque, priufquamexulatum iret : clarior in exilio, vel defiderio civitatis, quaecapta 
 abfentis imploravit opem ; vcl felicitate, qua reftitutus in patriam, fecum patriam ipfam- 
 reftituit. Par deinde per quinque et \iginti annos, tot enim poftea vixit, titulo taiitae- 
 glo;iae fuit, dignufque habitus, quemfecunduin aRomuloconditoremurbis Romae ferrent.. 
 Jbid. 1. 7,c. I 
 
 which.-
 
 559 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 ■ciiAP, II which might have perfuaded fuch as had been lefs confident of his virtue, 
 and their own, that he defired to be revenged, though it were with the 
 ruin of the city*. They deak in the hke manner with Aemihus Pauhis, 
 repairing the injury of a fine unduly impofedf. Their generofity in 
 leaving the tribunes in the Forum with their accufation againft Scipio 
 Africanus, and following him to celebrate an annual facrifice in the capitol, 
 in commemoration of his xiGtorj againft Hannibal :[;, was no lefs admira- 
 ble than the greatnefs of his mind, who thought his virtue fliould be fo 
 w^ell known, that no account ought to be expe£ted from him : which was 
 an error proceeding from a noble root, but not to be borne in a well- 
 governed commonwealth. The laws that aim at the public good make no 
 diftindlion of perfons ; and none can be exempted from the penalties of 
 them, otherwife than by approved innocence, which cannot appear with- 
 out a trial. He that will not bend his mind to them Ihakes off the equa- 
 lity of a citizen, and ufurps a power above the law, to which no man 
 iubmits upon any other condition, than that none fhouid be exempted 
 
 * M. Salinator confularis damnatus eft a populo, quod praedam ncn aequaliter diviferat 
 militibus. Front. Strat. 1. 4, c. i, §45. Aur. Vift. c, 20. — M. Livius eratmultisante annis ex 
 confulatu populi judicio damnatus : quam ignoniiniam adeo aegre tulerat, utet nis migrarit ; 
 et per multos annos et urbe, et omni coetu caruerit hominum. Oftavo ferine poft dam- 
 nationem anno M. Claudius Marcellus, et M. Valerius Laevinus confules reduxerant eum 
 inurbem, fed erat vefte oblbleta, capilloque et barba promifsa, praeferens in vultu habitu- 
 que infigneni mcmoriam ignominiae acceptae. L. Veturius, et P. Licinius cenforcs cum 
 tondere, et fquallorem deponere, et in fenatum venire, fungique aliis pubiicis muneribus 
 coegerunt, Sed turn quoque aut verbo aflentiabatur, aut pedibus in fententiam ibat, donee 
 cognati hominis eum caufa M. LiviiMacati, cum de fama ejus ageretur, ftantem coegit in 
 fenatu fententiam dicere. Turn ex tanto intervallo auditus convertit ora hominum in fe, 
 caufamque fcrmonibus praebuit, " indiguo injuriam a populo fadlam, magnoque id damno 
 " fuiffe, quod tarn gravi bello nee opera nee confilio talis viri ufa refpublica eflet . . . egre- 
 " gium par' confulum fore, fi M. Livium C. Claudio collegam adjunxiffent." Unus earn 
 remincivitate, is cui deferebatur honos, abnuebat : " levitatem civitatisaccufans : forditati 
 ■" rei non mifertos, candidam togam invito ofterre ; eodem honores, poenafque congcri : fi 
 *' bonum virum ducerent, quid ita pro malo ac noxio damnaifent; fi noxium comperiflent, 
 " quid ita male crcdito priore confulatu alterum credcrent." Haec taliaque arguenttm, et 
 quercntem caftigabant patres; et " M. Furium memorantes revocatum de exilio, patriam 
 " pulfam fedc fua reftituifle ; ut parentum faevitiam, fic patriae, patiendo ac fcrendo Icnien- 
 " dam efle." Adnixi omnes cum C. Claudio M. Livium confulem fecerunt. Liv. 1. 27, 
 c. 36. 1. 29, c. 37 
 
 f Nobilitas L. Acmilium Pauluni, qui cum M. Livio conful fuerat, et damnatione col- 
 legae, et fua prope ambuftus evaferat, infeftum plebi, diu ac multiim recufantem ad petiti- 
 onem compellit. Is proximo ccmitiali die, concedentibus omnibus, qui cum Varrone cer- 
 taverant, parque magis in adverfnndo, quam colicga datur confuli. Liv. 1. 22, c. 35 
 
 This v/as L. Acmilius Paulus, who was killed in the battle at Cannae. The accufation, 
 which Livy fpeaks of, was, that he and his colicgue, Livius Salinator, had niade a partial 
 diftribution of the fpoih which they had taken from the Illyrians, and had illegally applied 
 fome part of them to their own private ufe. Salinator was condemned ; but Aemilius was 
 acquitted. If Sidney alludes to this incident, he feems to have committed a fmali miftake, 
 in faying, that a fine was impofcd upon Acmilius. — We do not find that any penalty of 
 this kind W.-S ever inflicted on the fon of this unfortunate commander, the celebrated L. 
 Aemilius J'aulus Macedonicus. 
 
 X Ab roftris in capitolium afccndit : fimul fe univcrfa concio avcrtit, et fecuta Scipionem 
 eft ; adeo ut pofticmo fcribae viatorefque tribunes rdinquerent : nee cum iis praeter fervilem 
 comitatum, etpracconcm, qui reum tx roftris citabat, quifquam eflet. Liv. i. 38, c. 51 
 
 from
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT /cr 
 
 from the power of it. And Scipio being the 5rft Roman that thus difdain- sect. r8. 
 ed the power of the law, I do not know whether the prejudice, brought 
 upon the city by fo dangerous an example, did not outweigh all the fcr- 
 vices he had done. Neverthelefs the people contented with his retirement 
 to his own houfe, and afterwards convinced of his innocence, would pro- 
 bably, if he had not died in a few months, have brought him back with 
 the honours that fate referved for his afhcs. 
 
 I do not at prefent remember any other eminent men, wdio can be faid 
 in any refpedt to have " thrived ill," while the people and fenate of Rome 
 a£led freely. And if this be not fufRcient to clear the point, I defire to 
 know the names of thofe " worft men that thrived heft." If they may 
 have been judged to thrive, who were frequently advanced to the fupreme 
 magiftracies, and enjoyed the chief honours, I find no men fo eminent as 
 Brutus, Publicola, Quintius Cincinnatus, and Capitolinus, the two Fabii 
 furnamed Maximi, Corvinus, Torquatus, Camillus, and the like. And 
 if thefe were the worft men that Rome produced in thofe ages, valour, 
 wifdom, induftry in the fervice of tlieir country, and a moft entire love 
 to it, muft have been the worft of qualities : and I prefumc our author 
 may have thought them fo, firrce they were invincible obftacles to the intro— 
 dudtion of that divine monarchy, which Appius Claudius the decemvir, 
 Manlius Capitolinus, Spurius Caflius, Spurius Moelius, and ibme others^, 
 may be thought to have afFedted. 
 
 However, thefe inftances are not to be underftood as they are fimply in 
 themfelves, but comparatively with what has happened in other places, 
 under abfolute monarchies : for our inquiry is not after that which is per- 
 fe£t, well knowing that no fuch thing is found among men ; but we feek 
 that human conftitution, which is attended with the leaft, or the moft 
 pardonable inconveniences. And if we find, that in the fpace of three 
 hundred years, while the fenate, people, and legally created magiftrates, 
 governed Rome, not one worthy man was put to death, not above five or 
 fix condemned to fines by the beguiled people, and thofe injuries repaired 
 by the moft honourable fatisfadion that could be given, fo that virtue con- 
 tinued ever flourifliing ; that the beft men which could be found were put 
 into the chief commands, and the city filled with more excellent men; 
 than were ever known to be in any other place : on the other fide, if the 
 emperors, fo foon as the government was changed, made it their bufinefs 
 to deftroy the beft, and fo far fucceeded in their defign, that they left 
 none ; and never failed to advance the worft, unlefs it fell out as to queen 
 Catharine de Medicis, who is faid never to have done any good but by 
 miftake, and fome few may have proved better than was intended, it will 
 appear, that our author's affertions are in the utmoft degree falfe. Of this 
 we need no better witnefs than Tacitus. The civil wars, and the profcrip- 
 Uons, upon which he touches, are juftly to be attributed to that monarchy 
 which was then fetting up, the only queftion being, who fhould be the 
 monarch, when the liberty was already overthrown. And if any eminent 
 men efcaped, it was much againft the will of thofe who had ufurped the 
 
 poweci.
 
 152 DISCOURSES CONCEPxNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. II -power. He acknowledges his hiftories to be a continued relation of the 
 llaughter of the moft illuftrlous perfons, and that in the times of which he 
 writes, virtue was attended with certain deflrudion. After the death of 
 Germanicus and his eldeft children, Valerius Afiaticus, Seneca, Corbulo, 
 and an infinite number more, who were thought moft to refemble them, 
 found this to be true at the expence of their lives. Nero, in purfuance of 
 the fame tyrannical defign, murdered Helvidius and Thrafea, that he 
 might " tear up virtue by the roots *." Domitian ipared none willingly 
 that had either virtue or reputation ; and though Trajan, with perhaps 
 feme others, might growup under him in the remote provinces, yet no good 
 man could efcape, who came under his eye, and was fo eminent as to be 
 obferved by him. While thefe, who were thought to be the beft men 
 that appeared in the Roman empire, did thrive in this manner, Sejanus, 
 Macro, Narcillus, Pallas, Tigellinus, Icetus, Vinius, Laco, and others . 
 like to them, had the power of the empire in their hands. Therefore, 
 lailefs mankind have been miftaken to this day, and thefe, who have 
 hitherto been accounted the worft of villains, were indeed the beft men in 
 the world, and thofe deftroyed by them,- who are thought to have been 
 the beft, were truly the worft, it cannot be denied, that the beft men, 
 during the liberty of Rome, thrived beft ; that good men fuff"ered no 
 indignity, unlefs by fome fraud impofed upon the well-meaning people ; 
 and that fo foon as the liberty was fubverted, the worft men thrived beft. 
 The beft men were expofed to fo many calamities and fnares, that it was 
 thought a matter of great wonder to fee a virtuous 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 ftied more noble and innocent blood, 
 than Rome and all the commonwealths in the world have done, while they 
 had the free enjoyment of their own liberty. But if any man in favour 
 of our author feek to diminifli this vaft difproportion between the two dif- 
 fering forts of government, and impute the diforders that happened in 
 the time of the Gracchi, and others, while Rome was ftruggling for her 
 liberty, to the government of a commonvv'^ealth, he will find them no 
 more to be compared with thofe that fell out afterwards, than the railings of 
 a turbulent tribune againft the fenate, to the villainies and cruelties that 
 corrupted and difpeopled the provinces from Babylon to Scotland. And 
 whereas the Hate never failed to recover from any diforders, as long as the 
 foot of liberty remained untouched, and became more powerful and glo- 
 rious than ever, even after the wars of Marius and Sylla ; when that was 
 deftroyed, the city fell into a languiftiing condition, and grew weaker and 
 weaker, till that, and the whole empire, were ruined by the barbarians. 
 
 3. Our author, to fticw that his memory is as good as his judgment, 
 having repi-efentcd Rome in the times of liberty as a public flaughter-houfe, 
 foon alter blames the clemency of their laws. Whereas it is impoftlble, 
 
 * Trucidatis totinfignibus viris, adpoftienium Ni.ro virtutemipfain exfcindere concupivit, 
 iuterfedloBarca Soraao, ct Thrafea Pacto, olini i-.trifquc inJlnfus. Tacit. Ann. 1. x6, § 21 
 
 2 that
 
 DISCOURSES CONCIiRNlNO GOVERNMENT 153 
 
 that the fame city could at tlie lame tune be guilty of thofe contrary extre- SECT. iS 
 mitics ; and no Icfs certain, that it was perfcdly free from tliem both. 
 His aflertion feems to be grounded upon Caefar's fpeech, related by Salluft, 
 in favour of Lentulus and Cethegus, companions of Catiline. But though 
 Caefar endeavoured to put the befl colour he could upon their caufe, it 
 fignified only thus much, that a Roman citizen could not be put to death, 
 without being heard In public : which law will difpleafe none, that in 
 underftanding and integrity may not be compared to Filmer, and his fol- 
 lowers. It is a folly to extend it farther : for it is eafily proved, that 
 there was always a power of putting citizens to death, and that it was 
 exercilcd when occafion required. The laws were the fame in the time of 
 the kings, and when that office was executed by confuls, excepting fuch 
 changes as are already mentioned. The " lex perduellionis," cited by 
 Livy in the cafe of Horatius, who had killed his fifter, continued in force 
 from the foundation to the end of that government : the condemnation 
 was to death, the words of the fentence thefe, " Caput obnubito ; infelici 
 " arbori refte fufpendito ; verberato vel intra pomoerium, vel extra pomoeri- 
 *' um*"." He was tried by this law upon an appeal made to the people by his 
 father, andabfolved" admirationemagisvirtutisquamjurecaufae f ;" which 
 could not have been, if by the law no citizen might be put to death. The 
 fons of Brutus were condemned to death in public, and executed with the 
 Aquilii and Vitellii their companions in the fame confpiracy |. 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 f . Two 
 legions were decimated by Appius Claudius **'. Spurius Moelius, refufing to 
 appear before the didator, was killed by Servilius Ahala general of the 
 horfe, and pronounced " jure caefum ff." Quintus Fabius was by Papi- 
 rius the didlator condemned to die, and could not have been faved, but by 
 the interceffion and authority of the people H. If this be not fo, I defire to 
 
 be 
 
 * Liv. 1. I, c. 26 t Ibid. t Liv. I. 2, c. 4, 5 
 
 § In campo Martio cum centuriatim populus citaretur, et reus ad capitolium manus 
 tendens, ab hominibus ad deos preces avertillet, apparuit tribunis, nifi oculos quoque ho- 
 minum liheiafleat a tanti memoria dccoris, nunquam fore in praeoccupatis beneficio animis 
 vero critnini locuin. Ita produda die, in Petelinum lucum, extra portani Flumentanam, 
 unde confpetSlus in capitolium non eflet, concilium populi indiftum eft, Ibi crimen valuir, 
 et obftinatis animis trifte judicium, invifumque etiam judicibus fadtum . . . Damnatuin 
 tribuni de faxo Tarpeio dejecerunt. Id. I. 6, c. 20 
 
 H A.pud majores noftros, A. Manlius Torquatus bello Gallico filium fuum, quod is con- 
 tra imperium in hoftem pugnaverat, necari juflit. Sail. Bell. Catil. § 56. Liv. 1. 8, c. 7 
 
 ** Appius, advocata concione, invciftus baud falfo in proditorem exercitum militaris dif- 
 ci.plinae, defertorem fignorum : " ubi figna, ubi arma elTent," fingulos rogitans, inermes mili- 
 tes, figno amifTo figniferos, ad hoc centuriones duplicariofque qui rcliquerant ordines, 
 virgis caefos fecuri percuffit. Caetera multitudo forte decimus quifque ad fupplicium letSti. 
 Liv. 1. 2, c. 59 
 
 ft Diftator tumultuantem multitudinem incerta exiftimatione fafti ad concionem vocari 
 juflit, etMoelium jure caefum pronunciavit : etiam fi regni crimine infons fuerit, quivoca- 
 tus a magiftro cquitum ad di>ftatorem non veniflet. Liv. I. 4, c. 15 
 
 XX Lucius Papirius, a velocitate Curfor, cum diiSatorem fe adverfis ominibns contra 
 Samaites profeiSum elle fenfilTct, ad aufpicia repetenda Romam regreflus, edixit Fabio Ruti- 
 
 X liano.
 
 154 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. II be informed what the fenate meant by condemning Antlflius Sofianus, in 
 the reign of Nero, to be put to death " more majorum '*," if " more 
 " majorum" no citizen might be put to death ? Why the confuls, didators,' 
 mihtary tribunes, decemviri, caufed rods and axes to be carried before 
 them, as well within as without the city, if no ufe was to be made of 
 them ? Were they only vain badges of a power never to be executed ; or 
 upon whom was the fupreme power, fignified by them, to be exercifed 
 within and without the city, if the citizens were not fubjed: to it ? It is 
 ftrange that a man, who had ever read a book of matters relating to the 
 affairs of Rome, fhould fancy thefe things ; or hope to impofe them upon 
 the world, if he knew them to be foolifh, falfe, and abfurd. But of all 
 the marks of a moft fupine ftupidity that can be given by a man, I know- 
 no one equal to this of our author, who in the fame claufe, wherein he 
 fays no citizen could be put to death or banifhed, adds, that the magiftrates 
 were upon pain of death forbidden to do it; for if a magiftrate might be 
 put to death for banifhing a citizen, or caufmg him to be executed, a citi- 
 zen might be put to death : for the magiftrates were not ftrangers, but 
 citizens. If this was not fo, he muft think, that no crime was capital, 
 but the punifliment of capital crimes ; or that no man was fubjeft to the 
 fupreme power, but he that w^as created for the execution of it. Yet eveit 
 this will not fteNp the gap ; for the law that condemned the magiftrate to 
 die could be of no effe£l, if there were no man to execute it ; and there 
 could be none if the law prohibited it, or if he who did it was to die for 
 it : and this goes on to infinity. For if a magiftrate could not put a 
 citizen to death, I fuppofe a citizen could not put to death a magiftrate ; 
 for he alfo is a citizen. So that upon the whole matter we may conclude, 
 that malice is blind, and that Avickednefs is madnefs. It is hard to fay 
 more in praife of popular governments than will refult from what he fnys 
 againft them : his reproaches are praifes, and his praifes reproaches. As 
 government is inftituted for the prefervation of the governed, the Romans 
 were fparing of blood, and are wifely commended by Livy for it : " glo- 
 *' riari licet, nulli gentium mitiores placuiiTe poenasf;" v/hich gentle- 
 nefs will never be blamed, unlefs by thofc who are pleafed with nothing 
 fo much as the fury of thofe monfters, who, with th^ ruin of the belt 
 part of mankind, ufurped the dominion of that glorious city. But if the 
 Romans v/ere gentle in punifliing offences, they were alfo diligent in 
 preventing them : the excellence of their difcipline led the youth to vu-tue, 
 and the honours they received for recompence confirmed them in it. By 
 
 liano, quern ^xercitui imponebat, ne manum cum hofte confereret. Scd ille opportunitate 
 tludlus, pugnavit. Reverfus Papirius fccuri euni fcrire voluit : ille in uibem confugit ; nee 
 i'uppliccm tribuni tuebantur. Dein pater lachrymis, populus precibus vcniam inipttrarunt. 
 Aur. Via. c. 31. Liv. 1. 8, c. 30 — 35 
 
 , * Antiftius praetor probrofa adverfus principem carmina factitavit, vulgavitque cekbri 
 Convivio dum apud Oflorium Scapulam epulatur. Exin a Coflutiano Capitone majeftatis 
 delattis eft . . . Cenfuit Junius Marullus, conful defignatus, adimendam reo praeturam, 
 nccandumque more majoium. Tacit. Ann. 1. 14, § 48 
 \ Liv. 1. I, c. 28 
 
 thcfe
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 155 
 
 thefe means many of them became laws to themfelves ; and they, who SECT. 19 
 
 were not the moll excellent, were yet taught fo much of good, that they 
 
 had a veneration for thofc they could not equal, wliich not only fcrvcd to 
 
 incite them to do well according to their talents, but kept them in fuch 
 
 awe, as to fear incurring their ill opinion by any bad adion, as much as 
 
 by the penalty of the law. This integrity of manners made the laws as 
 
 it were ufelefs ; and, while they fccmed to fleep, ignorant perfons thought 
 
 there were none. But their difcipline being corrupted by profperity, 
 
 thole vices came in which made way for the monarchy ; and wickednefs 
 
 being placed in the throne, there was no fafety for any but fuch as would 
 
 be of the fame fpirit, and the empire was ruined by it. 
 
 SECTION XIX 
 
 THAT CORRUPTION AND VENALITY, WHICH IS NATURAL TO 
 COURTS, IS SELDOM FOUND IN POPULAR GOVERNMENTS. 
 
 Our author's next work is, with that modefly and truth which is natural 
 to him, to impute corruption and venality to commonwealths. He knows 
 that monarchies are exempted from thofe evils ; and has difcovered this 
 truth from the integrity obferved in the modern courts of England, 
 France, and Spain, or the more antient ones of Rome and Perfia. But 
 after many fahnoods in matter of fad, and mifreprefentatlons of that 
 which is true, he fl-iews, that the corruption, venality, and violence he 
 blames were neither the effeds of liberty, nor confiftent with it. Cn. 
 Manlius, who with his Afiatlc army brought in the luxury that gave birth 
 to thofe mifchiefs, did probably follow the loofenefs of his own difpofition : 
 yet the beft and wifeft men of that time knew from the beginning, that it 
 would ruin the city, unlefs a flop were put to the courfe of that evil. 
 But they who had feen kings under their feet, and could no longer con- 
 tent themfelves with tl\at equality which is neceflary among citizens, 
 fomented it as the chief means to advance their ambitious defign.s. 
 Though Marius was rigid in his nature, and cared neither for money, nor 
 fenfual pleafures, yet he favoured thofe vices in others, and is faid to be 
 the firft that made ufe of them to his advantage. Catiline was one of the 
 iewdeft men in the world, and had no other way of compaiFmg his 
 defigns, than by rendering others as bad as himfelf. Caefar fet up his 
 tyranny by fpreading that corruption farther than the others had been 
 able to do. And though he, Caligiila, and fome others were ilain, yet 
 the beft men found it as impoffible to reftore liberty to the city, w^hen it 
 was corrupted *, as the worft had done to fet up a tyranny, while the 
 integrity of their manners did continue. Men have a flrange propenfity 
 
 * See p, no 
 
 X 2 to
 
 156 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. II to run into all manner of excefles, when plenty of means Invite, and 
 there is no power to deter ; of which the fucceeding emperors took 
 advantage. And knowing that even their fubfiftence depended upon it, 
 they thought themlelves obHged by intereft, as well as inclination, to 
 make honours and preferments the rewards of vice. Though it be not 
 always true in the utmoft extent, that all men follow the example of the 
 king, yet it is of very great efficacy. For though fome are fo good, that 
 they will not be perverted, and others fo bad, that they will not be cor- 
 re£led, yet a great number does always follow the courfc that is flavoured 
 and rewarded by thofe that govern. There were idolaters doubtlefs among 
 the Jews in the days of David and Hezekiah ; but they profpered better 
 under Jeroboam and Ahab. England was not without papifts in the time 
 of queen Elizabeth ; but they thrived much better during the reign of her 
 furious filler. Falle witnefies and accufers had a better trade under Tibe-« 
 rius, who called them " cuftodes legum*," than under Trajan, who 
 abhorred them. And whores, players, fidlers, with other fuch vermin, 
 abounded certainly more when encouraged by Nero, than when defpifed 
 by Antoninus and Marcus Aurelius. But as every one of thefe manifefted 
 what he was, by thofe he favoured or punifhed, and a man can only be 
 judged by his principles or pradices, he that would know whether abiblute 
 monarchies, or mixed governments, do moft foment or punifh venality 
 and corruption, ought to examine the principle and pradlice of both, and 
 com.pare them, one with the other. 
 
 As to the principle, the above-mentioned vices may be profitable to 
 private men ; but they can never be fo to the government, if it be popular 
 or mixed. No people was ever the better for that which renders them 
 weak or bafe. And a duly created magiftracy, governing a nation with 
 their confent, can have no interefl diftindt from that of the public, or 
 defire to dlminilh the ftrength of the people, which is their own, and by 
 which they fubfift. On the other fide, the ablohite monarch, who 
 governs for himfelf, and chiefly feeks his own preiervation, looks upon 
 the ftrength and bravery of his fubjedts as the root of his greateft danger, 
 and frequently defires to render them weak, bafe, corrupt, and unfaith- 
 ful to each other, that they may neither dare to attempt the breaking of 
 the yoke he lays upon them, nor truft one another in any generous defign 
 for the recovery of their liberty. So that the fime corruption which pre- 
 fcrves fuch a prince, if it were introduced by a people, would weaken, if 
 not utterly deftroy them. 
 
 Again, all things have their continuance from a principle in nature 
 fuitable to their original. All tyrannies have had their beginnings from 
 corruption. The hiftorics of Greece, Sicily, and Italy fliew, that all 
 thofe who made themfelves tyrants in feveral places did it by the help of 
 the worft, and the flaughter of the heft. Men could not be made fubfer- 
 
 * Caefar " irntas leges, rempublicam in praecipiti, conqucftus eft: fubyerterent potius 
 «' jura, quam cuftodcs eorum amoverent." Tacit. Ann, 1. 4, § 30 
 
 ■2. vient
 
 DlS^COURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 157 
 
 vient to their lulls, while they continued in their integrity; fo that SECT. 19 
 their bufmefs was to dcflroy thoie who would not be corrupted. They 
 muft therefore endeavour to maintain or iucrealc the corruption by whiclx 
 they attaii\ their greatncls. If they fail in this point, they niuft fall, as 
 Tarquin, riiiitratus, and others have done. But if they fucceed fo far, 
 that the vicious part do much prevail, the government is fecure, though 
 the prince may be in danger. And the fame thing docs in a great meafure 
 accidentally conduce to the fafcty of his perfon. For they who for the 
 moft part arc the authors of great revolutions, not being fo much led by a 
 particular hatred to the man, as by a defire to do good to the public, fel- 
 dom fet themfelves to confpire c gainft the tyrant, unlefs he be altogether 
 deteftable and intolerable, if they do not hope to overthrow the tyranny.. 
 
 The contrary is feen in all popular and well-mixed governments : they 
 are ever eflablilhed by wife and good men, and can never be upheld 
 otherwife than by virtue: the worft men always confpiring againft them, 
 they muft flill, if the beft have not power to preferve them. Where-ever 
 therefore a people is fo governed, the magiftrates will obviate afar off the 
 introdudtion of vices, which tend as much to the ruin of their perfons and 
 government, as to the prefervation of the prince and his. This is evi- 
 denced by experience. It is not eafy to name a monarch that had fo many 
 good qualities as Julius Caefar, till they were extinguilhed by his ambi^- 
 tion, which was inconfiftent with them. He knew, that his ftrength lay 
 in the corruption of the people, and that he could not accomplifh his 
 defigns without increafing it. He did not feek good men, but fuch as 
 would be for him ; and thought none fufficiently addidled to his interefts, 
 but fuch as ftuck at the performance of no wickednefs that he commandecK 
 He was a foldier according to Caefar's heart, who faid, 
 
 " Pedlore fi fratris gladium, juguloque parentis, 
 , " Condere me jubeas, gravidaeve in vifcera partu 
 
 *' Conjugis, invita peragam tamen omnia dextra. *" 
 And left fuch as were devoted to him fhould grow faint in villainy, he 
 induftrioully inflamed their fury : 
 
 " Vult omnia Caefar 
 
 " A fe faeva peti, vult praemia Martis amari. f"' 
 Having fpread this poifon among the foldiers, his next work was, by 
 corrupting the tribunes, to turn that power to the deftrudlionof the people, 
 which had been erected for their prefervation ; and pouring the treafures 
 he had gained by rapine in Gaul into the bofom of Curio, he made him 
 an inftrument of mifchief, who had been a moft eminent fupporter of the 
 laws. Though he was thought to have aft^e<£ted the glory of fparing Cato, 
 and with trouble to have found, that he defpifed Hfe when it was to be 
 accounted his gift ; yet in fufpecting Brutus and Caflius, he ftiewed he 
 could not believe, that virtuous men who loved their country could be his 
 friends. Such as carry on the like defigns with kfs valour, wit, and 
 
 * Luc. Phar. 1. i, v. 376 t Ibid, 1, 5, v. 307 
 
 generofity
 
 158 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAr> II gencrofuy of fpirit, will always be more bitterly bent to deftroy all that 
 arc good, knowing, that the deformity of their own vices is rendered 
 moft manifeft, when they are compared with the good qualities of thofe 
 who are moft unlike them ; and that they can never defend themfelves 
 againftthefcorn and hatred they incur by their vices, unlefs fuch a number 
 can be infeded with the fame, and made to delight in the recompences of 
 iniquity that foment them, as may be able to keep the reft of the people 
 in fubjedtion. 
 
 The fame thing happens, even when the ufurpation is not fo violent as 
 that of Agathocles, Dionyfius, or the laft king of Denmark, who in one 
 day by the ftrength of a mercenary foldiery overthrew all the laws of his 
 country*- And a lawfully created magiftrate is forced to follow the fame 
 
 ways 
 
 * As the revolution in Denmark, to which SiJney alludes in this paiTage, is one of the 
 mod remarkable events in hiltory, the following fliorc account of it may not be unaccept- 
 able to the reader. 
 
 Immediately after the peace was concluded with Sweden, in 1660, the flates of Denmark 
 were convened, in order to fettle the affairs of the nation, to repair the diforders which had 
 been occafioned by a ruinous war, and to raife large funis of money for the payment of the 
 army. The king forcfaw the difficulties and difllntions which would inevitably arifein this 
 convention. It was therefore by his direction infinuated to the clergy, and the prefident of 
 Copenhagen, fpeaker of the commons, that the public tranquillity might be eafily reftored, 
 if all the members of the ftate would bear their proportion of the expence. In confequence 
 of this intimation, the commons laid before the nobility the deplorable fituation of the people, 
 and the impofTibility of raifmg money for the prefent exigencies, unlefs they confented to pay 
 their fhare : which was the more reafonable as they had the wealth of the nation in their 
 hands. The nobles, who were numerous, powerful, and infolent, not apprifed of the 
 collufion between the king and the commons, replied, " that they had been always e.xempted 
 *' from taxes ; that their tenants were their vaffals and flaves ; and that it was prefumption 
 " in them, to conteft the privileges of the nobility." The comm.ons, exafperated by this 
 contemptuous anfwcr, withdrew from the afTcmbly ; and after fome deliberations, determi- 
 ned to furrender their authority to the king. Several meflages paffed between them and the 
 court in the evening ; and the next morning they had an audience of his majeily. They 
 reprefented to him, that as the prefent conftitution did not, in their opinion, anlwer the end 
 of government, and they were fully convinced of his majefty's prudence, virtue, and pater- 
 nal love for his people, they had refolved to put the whole admin iftraticm of the kingdom into 
 his hands. At firlt, the king pretended to have fome fcruples ai-out accepting an arbitrary 
 pov/er ; but upon the commons perfifting in their rcqueft, he told them, that he was much 
 obliged to them for the I'avourablc fentiments they entertained of his affection towards his 
 ])eople; that they might depend upon his royal protection; and that he would certainly 
 r.drefs their grievances, and encourage tliem fuitably to their merit: but he obferved, that 
 on this occafion it was necelfary to have the concurrciice of the nobility. In the mean time, 
 the kijig ordered the governor of the city to fliut the gates; and as he had the army .abfo- 
 lutely iji his power, it w.s impofTible for any of the nobility to retire to their eftates, with- 
 out his permiflion, which brought his defigns to an immediate iffue. The nobility now 
 difcovercd their error, but it was irreparable. Some part of their privileges they determined 
 therefore to refign, in order to fecure the reft. With this view they made his majcfty an 
 offer to advance his prerogative confrderably, and to fettle the fucceffion in the i^ ale line of 
 liis defccndants ; but they were told, that this would neither anfwer his mnjefty's purpofe, 
 nor fatisfy the clergy and commons. The people continued loud in their clamours againfi: 
 them i and in thisfituation they were forced to comply, to render his n:ajefty arbitrary, and the 
 kingdom hereditary in his iffue, whether male or female. In two or three days afterwards, the 
 
 king.
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 159 
 
 ways as foon as he begins to affcda power which the laws do not confer sect. 19 
 
 upon him. I wilh I could lay there were few of thefc ; but experience 
 
 flicws, that fuch a proportion of wifdom, moderation of fpirit, andjuftice, 
 
 is required in a fupreme magiftrate, to render him content with a limited 
 
 power, as is feldom found. Man is of an afpiring nature, and apt to put 
 
 too high a value upon himfelf. They who are raifed above their brethren, 
 
 though but a little, defire to go farther ; and if they gain the name of 
 
 king, they think themfelves wronged aiul degraded, when they are not 
 
 fuffered to do what they pleafe *. In thefe things they never want mafters ;. 
 
 and the nearer they come to a power that is not eafily reltrained by 
 
 law, the more paffionatcly they defire to aboliih all that oppofes it. 
 
 When their hearts are filled with this fury, they never fail to choofe fuch 
 
 minifters as will be fubfervient to their v/ill : and this is fo well known, 
 
 that thofe only approach them who refolve to be fo. Their interefts, as 
 
 well as their inclinations, incite them to diffufc their own manners as far 
 
 as they can ; which is no lels than to bring thofe, who arc under their 
 
 power, to all that wickednefs of which the nature of man is capable. And 
 
 no greater teflimony can be given of the efficacy of thefe means towards 
 
 the utter corruption of nations, than the accurfed efl'edts we lee of them. ^ 
 
 in our own and the neighbouring countries. 
 
 It may be faid, that fome princes are fo full of virtue and goodnefs, as 
 not to defire more power than the laws allow, and are not obliged to choofe 
 ill men, becaufe they defire nothing but what the beft are willing to do. 
 This may be, and fomctimes is. The nation is happy that has fuch a 
 king : but he is not eafily found, and more than a human power is requi- 
 red to keep him in fo good a way. The ftrength of his ov;n affections 
 will ever be againft him. Wives, children, and fervants, will always 
 join with thofe enemies that arlfe in his own breaft to pervert him ; if he has 
 any weak fide, any luff unfubdued, they will gain the vidlory. He has 
 not fearched into the nature of man, who thinks that any one can refiff, 
 when he is thus on all fides afl'aulted. Nothing but the wonderful and 
 immediate power of God's Spirit can preferve him ; and to allege it, will 
 be nothing to the purpofe, unlefs it can be proved, that all princes are 
 
 king, queen, and royal family, under canopies of ftate, received the homrge of the nobility, 
 clergy, and people, in the fight of the army, which attended to grace the folemnity, and 
 prevent any difturbance or oppofition that might be made to this change in the conftitution. 
 Thus the flates of Denmark, within the fpace of two days, rafhiy, and fatally divefted 
 themfelves of thofe privileges, which their anceftors had purchafed with their blood and 
 treafure. There are various opinions with refped: to the fhare his majeflv bore in this great 
 event. Some writers wholly alcribe it to the infolence of the nobility and the united refent- 
 men t of the people, arifmg from unavoidable circumftances. But others affirm, that his 
 majefty fomented their diviilons by the moft artful policy, in order to eftablifli the royal prero- 
 gative on the ruins of public liberty. See Univ. Hift. Vol. 32, and Molefworth's account 
 of Denmark. 
 
 * " Sanilitas, pietas, fides, 
 
 " Privata bona funt : quajuvat, reges eant," Sen, Thyell, Ad. 2 
 
 j} blefled
 
 I.60 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. II bleffed with fuch an afliftance, or that God has promifed it to them and their 
 fucceflbrs for ever, by what means foever they came to the crowns they enjoy. 
 
 Nothing is farther from my intention than to fpeak irreverently of 
 kings ; and I prefume no wife man will think I do fo, if I profefs, that, 
 having oblerved, as well as I can, what hillory, and daily experience 
 teach lis concerning the virtues and religions, that are or have been from 
 the beginning of the world encouraged and fupported by monarchs, the 
 methods they have followed fince they have gone under the name of 
 chriftians, their moral as well as their theological graces, together with 
 Vv'hat the Scriptures tell us of thofe, who in the laft days will principally 
 fupport the throne of antichrift, I cannot be confident, that they are 
 generally, in an extraordinary manner, preferved by the hand of God from 
 the vices and frailties, to which the reil of mankind are fubjedl. If no 
 man can fhew, that I am in this miftaken, I may conclude, that as they 
 are more than any other men in the world expofed to temptations and fnares, 
 they are more than any in danger of being corrupted, and made inftruments 
 of corrupting others, if they are no otherwife defended than the reft of men. 
 
 This being the ftate of the matter on both fides, we may eafily colled:, 
 that all governments are fubjedt to corruption and decay ; but with this 
 difl^erence, that abfolute monarchy is by principle led unto, or rooted in it. 
 Whereas mixed or popular governments are only in a poflibility of falling 
 into it. As the firft cannot iubfift, unlefs the prevailing part of the peo- 
 ple be corrupted, the other muft certainly perifli, unlefs they are preferved 
 in a great meafure free from vices. I doubt, whether any better reafon 
 can be given, why there have been and are more monarchies than popular 
 governments in the world, than that nations are more eafily drawn into 
 corruption than defended from it ; and I think that monarchy can be faid 
 to be natural in no other fenfe, than that our depraved nature is moft 
 inclined to that which is worft. 
 
 To avoid unneceffiiry difputes, I give the name of popular governments 
 to thofe of Rome, Athens, Sparta, and the like, though improperly, 
 unlefs the fame may alfo be given to many that are ufually called monar- 
 chies, fince there is nothing of violence in either : the power is conferred 
 upon the chief magiftrates of both by the free confent of a willing people, 
 and fucli a part as they think fit is ftill retained and executed in their own 
 alfemblies ; and in this fenfe it is that our author feems to fpeak againft 
 them. As to popular government in the ftridleft fenfe, that is, pure 
 democracy, where the people in themfelves, and by thenifelves, pcrfbrni 
 all that belongs to government, I know of no fuch thing ; and if it be in 
 the world, have nothing to fay for it. In averting the liberty, generally, 
 as I fuppofe, granted by God to all maiikind, I neither deny, that fo 
 many, as think fit to enter into a fociety, may give fo much of their power 
 as they pleafc to one or more men, for a time, or perpetually, to them 
 an/.l their heirs, according to fuch rules as they prefcribe ; nor approve the 
 difordcrs tliat muftarlfc if they keep it entirely in their own hands. And 
 looking upon the fgveral governments, which, under different forms and 
 
 names,
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERXIXG UGVERNMENT i6i 
 
 names, have been reg\ilarly coiiftituted by nations, as fo many undeniable sect. i<) 
 
 teftimonies, that they thought it good for thcmielves, and their pofterity, 
 
 lb to do, I infer, that as there is no man who would not rather thoofe to 
 
 be governed by fuch as are juR;, indudrious, valiant, and wife, than by 
 
 thoie that are wicked, llothful, cowardly, and foolifli ; and to live in 
 
 fociety with fuch as are qualified like thofe of the lirll fort, rather than 
 
 with thofe who w'ill be ever ready to commit all manner of villainies, or 
 
 want experience, ftrength, or courage, to join in repelling the injuries 
 
 that are offered by others : fo there are none who do not, according to 
 
 the meafure of their underftanding, endeavour to fet up thofe who 
 
 feem to be beft qualified, and to prevent the introdu(ftion of thofe 
 
 vices, which render the faith of the magiftrate fufpefted, or make him. 
 
 unable to perform his duty, in providing for the execution of juflice, and 
 
 the public defence of the flate, againfl: foreign or domeftic enemies. For 
 
 as no man, who is not abfolutely mad, will commit the care of a flock to 
 
 a villain, that has neither Ikill, diligence, nor courage, to defend them, 
 
 or perhaps is malicioufly fet to deftroy them, rather than to a flout, faithful, 
 
 and wife fhepherd, it is lefs to be imagined, that any would commit th^^ 
 
 fame error in relation to that fociety which comprehends himfelf, with 
 
 his children, friends, and all that is dear to him. 
 
 The fame confiderations are of equal force in relation to the body of 
 every nation. For fmce the magiftrate, though the moft perfedt in his 
 kind, cannot perform his duty, if the people be fo bafe, vicious, effemi- 
 nate, and cowardly, as not to fecond his good intentions, thofe who expedl 
 good from him, cannot defire fo to corrupt their companions that are to 
 help him, as to render it impoffible for him to accomplifh it. Though I 
 believe there have been in all ages bad men in every nation, yet I doubt 
 whether there were any in Rome, except a Catiline or a Caefar, who defigned 
 to make themfelves tyrants, that would not rather have wifhed the whole 
 people as brave and virtuous as in the time of the Carthaginian wars, than 
 vile and bafe, as in the days of Nero and Domitian. But it is madnefs to 
 think, that the whole body would not rather have wifhed to be as it was 
 when virtue flouriflied, and nothing upon earth w^as able to refift their 
 power, than weak, mifcrable, bafe, flavifh, trampled under foot by any 
 that would invade them, and forced as chattels to become a prey to thofe 
 that w^ere ftrongeft. Which is fufficient to fhew, that a people, ading 
 according to the liberty of their own will, never advance unworthy men, 
 unlefs it be by miffake, nor willingly fuffer the introdudtion of vices. 
 Whereas the abfolute monarch always prefers the worft of thofe who are 
 addided to him, and cannot fubflft unlefs the prevailing part of the people 
 be bafe and vicious. 
 
 If it be faid, that thofe governments, in which the democratical pari 
 governs moft, do more frequently err in the choice of men, or the means 
 of preferving that purity of manners which is required for the w^ell-being 
 of a people, than thofe wherein ariftocracy prevails, I confefs it, and that 
 in Rome and Athens the beft and wifeft men did for the moft part incline 
 
 Y to
 
 i62 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAT. II to ariftocracy. Xenophon, Plato, Ariflotle, Thucydides, Livy, Tacitus, 
 Cicero, and others, were of this fort. But if our author there feek patrons 
 for his abfclute monarchy, he will find none but Phalaris, Agathocles, 
 Dionyfius, Catiline, Cethegus, Lentulus, with the corrupted crew of 
 mercenary rafcals, who did, or endeavoured to fet them up. Thefc are 
 they " quibus ex honefto nulla eft fpes*:" they abhor the dominion of the 
 law, becaufe it curbs their vices, and make themfelves fubfervient to the 
 hifts of a man who may nourifh them. Similitude of interefts, manners, 
 and defigns, is a link of union between them ; both are enemies to popular 
 and mixed government ; and thofe governments are enemies to them, and 
 by preferving virtue and integrity oppofe both, knowing that if they do 
 not they muft certainly perifh. 
 
 SECTION XX 
 
 «-' 
 
 MAN S NATURAL LOVE TO LIBERTY IS TEMPERED BY REASON, 
 WHICH ORIGINALLY IS PIIS NATURE. 
 
 That our author's book may appear to be a heap of incongruities and con- 
 tradictions, it is not amifs to add to what has already been obferved, that, 
 having afferted abfolute monarchy to be " the only natural government," 
 he now fays, " that the nature of all people is to defire liberty without 
 *' reftraint." But if monarchy be that power which above all reftrains 
 liberty, and fubje-fls all to the will of one, this is as much as to fay, that 
 all people naturally defire that which is agalnfl: nature ; and by a wonderful 
 excefs of extravagance and folly to aflert contrary propofitions, that on 
 both fides are equally abfurd and falfe. For, as we have already proved, 
 that no government is impofed upon men by God or nature, it is no lefs 
 evident, that, man being a rational creature, nothing can be univerfally 
 natural to him, that is not rational. But this liberty without reftraint 
 being inconfiftent with any government, and the good which man naturally 
 defircs for himf-lf, children, and friends, we find no place in the world 
 where the inhabit:. ais do not enter into fome kind of fociety or government 
 to reftrain it : and to fay thr:t all men defire liberty without reftraint, and 
 yet that all do reftrain it, is ridiculous. The truth is, man is hereunto led 
 by reafon, which is his nature. Every one fees they cannot wx'll live 
 at'under, nor many together, without fomc rule to which all muft lubmit. 
 This fubmifilon is a reftraint of liberty, but could be of no efFed: as to the 
 j^ood intended,' unlcfs it were general ; nor general, unlefs it were natural. 
 When all are born to the f imc freedom, fomc will not refign that which 
 is their own, unlefs others do the like. This general confcnt of all to 
 
 ♦ Homines quibus mala abunde omnia eraiii, ftd ncque res, ncque fpcs bona ulla. Sail. 
 Bfll. Catil. § 22 
 
 rcfign
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 165 
 
 ' vcfign fuch a part of their liberty, as focms to be for the good of all, is the SECT. 20 
 
 • voice of nature, and the a€t of men, according to natural reafon, fceking 
 ' their own good. And if all go not in the fame way, according to the lame 
 
 • form, it is an evident teflimony that no one is dlredled by nature. But 
 < -as a few or many may join together, and frame fmaller or greater 
 , ibcieties, fo thofe focieties may inltitute fuch an order or form of govern* 
 ' meat as befl pleafes themfclves; and if the ends of government are 
 ' obtained, they all equally follow the voice of nature in conftituting them. 
 
 Again, if man v/ere by nature fo tenacious of his liberty without 
 vcftraint, he mull be rationally fo. The creation of abfolutc monarchies, 
 which entirely extinguiflics it, tnuft neceffarily be moll contrary to it, 
 though the people were willing ; for they thereby abjure their own nature. 
 The ufurpation of them can be no Icfs than the mod aboniinable and out- 
 rageous violation of the laws of nature, that can be imagined. The laws 
 ' ofGodmuftbe in the like meafure broken. And of all governments, - 
 
 ■ democracy, in which every man's liberty is lead; rcftralncd, becaufe every 
 ' man has an equal part, would certainly prove to be the moil ju ft, rational, 
 ' and natural : whereas our author reprefents it as a perpetual fpring of 
 
 diforder, confufion, and vice. This confequence would be unavoidable^ 
 if he faid true. But it being my fate often to dift'er from him, I hope to 
 
 • he excufed if I do fo in this alio, and affirm, that nothing but the plain 
 and certain dilates of reafon can be generally applicable to all men, as 
 
 ' the law of their nature : and they, who according to the bert of their 
 
 ■ underftanding provide for the good of themfelves and their poRerity, do 
 
 ' all equally obferve it. He that inquires more exadly into the matter ma;^ 
 find, that reafon injoins every man not to arrogate to himfelf more than 
 he allows to others, nor to retain that liberty which will prove hurtful to 
 him ; nor to expedl that others will fufter themfelves to be rcilrained, 
 while he, to their prejudice, remains in the exerciie of that freedom 
 which nature allows. He, who would be exempted from this common 
 rule, muft fl\ew for what reafon he fhould be raifcd above his brethren; 
 and, if he do it not, he is an enemy to them. This is not popularity' j_^ 
 but tyranny; and tyrants are faid " exuiife hominera," to throw off the 
 nature of men, becaufe they do iinjuftly and unreafonably alTume to 
 themfelves that which agrees not with the frailty of human nature, and 
 fet up an intcrcft in themfelves contrary to that of their equals, which they 
 ought to defend as their own. Such as favour thciu are like to themj_ 
 We know of no tyranny that was not fet up by tlie worft, nor of any 
 that have been deflroyed, unlefs by the heft of men. The feveral tyrannies 
 of Syracufe were introduced by Agathocles, Dionyfius, Hieronymus, 
 Hippocrates, Epycides, and others, by the help of lewd dilfolute merce- 
 nary villains ; and overthrown by Timoleon, Dion, Thcodorus, and 
 others, whole virtues will be remembered in all ages. Thefe, and others 
 like to them, never fought liberty without reftraint, but fuch as was 
 reftrained by laws tending to the public good ; that all might concur iu 
 
 Y a promoting
 
 164 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. II promoting It, and the unruly defires of thofe who afFedted power and 
 honours, which they did not deferve, might be repreffed. 
 
 The like was feen in Rome. When Brutus, Valerius, and other 
 virtuous citizens, had thrown out the lewd Tarquins, they trufted to 
 their ov/n innocence and reputation ; and thinking them lafe under the 
 protedtion of the law, contented themfelves with llich honours as their 
 countrymen thought they deferved. This would not fatisfy the dilfolute 
 erew that ufed to be companions to the Tarquins. " Sodales adolefcentiuni 
 " Tarquiniorum affueti more regio vivere, earn turn aequato jure omnium 
 " licentiam quaerentes, libertatem aliorum in fuam vertiffe lervitutem 
 " inter fe conquerebantur. Regem hominem efie, a quo impetres ubi 
 " jus, ubi injuria opus fit. Efle gratiae locum, efle beneficio ; et irafci 
 " et ignofcere pofl'e. Leges rem furdam, inexorabilem efle, falubriorem 
 " melioremque inopi quam potenti : nihil laxamenti nee veniae habere, 
 *' fi modum excefleris : periculofum efl'e in tot humanis erroribus fola 
 " innocentia vivere *." I cannot fay, that either of thefe fought a liberty 
 without reftraint; for the virtuous were willing to be reftrained by the 
 law, and the vicious to fubmit to the will of a man, to gain impunity ia 
 offending. But if our author fay true, the licentious fury of thefe lewd 
 young men, who endeavoured to fubvert the conflitution of their country,, 
 to procure the impunity of their own crimes, would have been more natural, 
 that is, more reafbnable than the orderly proceedings of the moft virtuous, 
 who defired that the law might be tlie rule of their adions, which is 
 mofl abfurd. 
 
 The like vicious wretches have In all times endeavoured to put the 
 power into the hands of one man, who might protedl them in their 
 villainies, and advance them to exorbitant riches, or undeferved honours ; 
 V\hile the beft men, trufting in their innocence, and defiring no other 
 riches or preferments than what by their equals they were thought to 
 deferve, were contented with a due liberty, under the prcte£tion of a juft . 
 law : and I mufi: tranfcribe the hiflories of the world, or at leafl: fo much 
 of them as concerns the tyrannies that have been" fet up or cafl: down, if I 
 Ihould here infert all the proofs that might be given of it. But I fliall 
 come nearer to the point, which is, not to compare democracy with 
 monarchy, but a regular mixed governjncnt with fuch an ablolute 
 monarchy, as leaves all to the will of that man, woman, or child, who 
 happens to be born in the reigning family, how ill foever they may be 
 qualified. I defire thofe v/ho are lovers of truth to confider, whether the 
 wifeft, heft, and bravefl; of men, are not naturally led to be pleaied with 
 a government that protedls them from receiving wrong, when they have 
 not the leafl: inclination to do any ? Whether they, who delire no unjuft 
 advantage above their brethren, will not always defire that a people or 
 fenate conftituted as that of Rome, from the expulfion of Tarquin to the 
 fetting up of Cacfar, fliould rather judge of their merit, than Tarquin, 
 
 * I,<JV, 1. 2, C. 3 
 
 Cacfar,
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING G0VERN?4ENT 1^5 
 
 Cacfar, or his fucceffors ? Or whether the lewd or corrupted pretorlan SECT. 2.r 
 hands, with Macro, Scjanus, Tigcllinus, and the hke, commanding 
 them, will not ever, like Brutus's Ions, abhor the inexorable power of 
 the laws, with the neccfhty of living only by their innocence, and favour 
 the intercil of princes like to thofc that advanced them? If this be not 
 fufliclcnt, they may be pleafed a little to reflect upon the aflairs of our 
 own country, and ieriouOy confider, whether Hyde, Clifford, Falmouth, 
 Arlington and Danby, could have pretended to the chief places, if the 
 difpofal of them had been in a free and well-regulated parliament .^' 
 Whether they did moft refemble Brutus, Publicola, and the relt of the 
 Valerii, the Fabii, Quintii, Cornelii, &c. or Narciflus, Pallas, Icetus, 
 Laco, Vinius, and the like ? Whether all men, good and bad, do not 
 favour that ftate of things, which favours them, and fuch as they are ? 
 Whether Cleveland, Portlmouth, and others of the fame trade, have 
 attained to the riches and honours they enjoy by fervices done to the 
 commonwealth ? And what places Chiffinch, Fox and Jenkins, could 
 probably have attained, if our affairs had been regulated as good men dclire ? 
 Whether the old arts of begging, ftealing, and bawding, or the new ones 
 of informing and trepanning, thrive heft under one man who may be 
 weak or vicious, and is always fubjed: to be circumvented by flatterers, or 
 under the fevere fcrutinics of a fenate or people ? In a word, whether 
 they who live by fuch arts, and know no other, do not always endeavour 
 to advance the government under which they enjo^, or may hope to 
 obtain the higheft honours, and abhor that, in which they are expofed 
 to all manner of fcorn and punilhment ? Which being determined, it 
 will eafily appear, why the worft men have ever been for abfolute monarchy,- 
 and the heft againft it : and which of the two in fo doing can be faid to. 
 defire an unreftrained liberty of doing that which is evil. 
 
 SECTION XXI 
 
 MIXED AND.POPULA.R GOVERNMENTS PRESERVE PEACE, AND 
 MANAGE WARS, BETTER THAN ABSOLUTE MONARCHIES. 
 
 Being no way concerned in the defence of democracy; and having proved,, 
 that Xenophon, Thucydides, and others of the antients, in fpeaking 
 againft the over great power of the common people, intended to add 
 reputation to the ariftocratical party to which they were addidled, and not 
 to fet up abfolute monarchy, which never fell under difcourfe among 
 them, but as an objeil of icorn and hatred, evil in itfelf, and only to be 
 endured by bale and barbarous people, I may leave our knight, like Don 
 Quixote, fighting againft the phantafms of his own brain, and faying 
 what he pleafes againft fuch governments as never were,, unlefs in fuch a 
 place as St. Marino near Sinigaglia in Italy, where a hundred clowns 
 govern a barbarous rock that no man invades, and relates- nothing to 
 
 our
 
 i66 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CflAP. II our quell ion *. If his do£l;rine be true, the monarchy he extols is not 
 only to be preferred before unruly democracy, and mixed governments, 
 but is the only one, that, without a grofs violation of the laws of God 
 and nature, can be eftablifhed over any nation. But having, as I hope, 
 fufficiently proved, that God did neither inftitute, nor appoint any fuch to 
 be inflituted, nor approve thofe that were ; that nature does not ineliiic 
 us to it, and that the beft as well as the wifcft men have always abhorred 
 it ; that it has been agreeable only to the moft ftupid and bafe nations ; 
 and that if others have fubmitted to it, they have done fo only as to the 
 greateft of evils brought upon them by violence, corruption, or fraud, I 
 niav now proceed to Ihew, that the progrefs of it has been in all rcfpects 
 fuitableto its beginning. 
 
 To this end it Vv'ill not be amifs to examine our author's words — 
 " Thus do they paint to the life this bea-fl: with many heads : let me 
 " give the cypher of their form of government : as it is begot by fedition, 
 *' fo it is nourhhed by arms : it can never ftand without wars> either with 
 " an enemy abroad, or with friends at home — " and in order to this I 
 will not criticife upon the terms, though " the cypher ot a form," and" war 
 with friends," may be juftly called nonfenfe ; but coming to his affertions, 
 that popular or mixed governments have their birth in fedition, and are 
 ever afterwards vexed with civil or foreign wars, I take liberty to fay, that 
 whereas there is no form appointed by God or nature, thofe governments 
 only can be called juft, which are eftablilhed by the confent of nations. 
 Thefe nations may at the firft fet up popular or mixed governments, or 
 without tht guilt of fedition introduce them afterwards, if that which was 
 lirft eftablifhed prove unprofitable or hurtful to them ; and thofe that have 
 done fo have enjoyed morejuftice in times of peace, and managed wars, 
 when occafion required, with more virtue, and better fuccefs, than any 
 abfolute monarchies have done. And vrhereas he fays, that " in popular 
 " governments each man hath a care of his particular, and thinks bafclyof 
 " the common good ; that they look upon approaching mifchicfs as they 
 *' do upon thunder, only eveiy man wifheth it may not touch his own 
 " perfon ;" I fay, that men can no otherwife be engaged to take care 
 of the public, than by having fuch a part in it,' as abfolute monarchv 
 does not allov>- : for under it they can neither obtain the good for thcm- 
 felves, pofterity, and friends, that they dclire, nor prevent the mifchiefy 
 lliey fear ; which are the principal arguments that perfuade men to expofe 
 themfelves to labours or dangers. It is a folly to fay, that the vigilance 
 and wifdom of the monarch fiqiplles the defeat of care in others; for we 
 know, that no men under the fun v.xre ever more void of both, and all 
 manner of virtue required to fuch a Avork, than very many monarchs 
 
 * Tlic rcnubiic of St. MaVino, next to that of Mcllingcn in SvvitzerlaiiJ, is the fivul'cft 
 repiblic in Europe. The limits of it extend no f;rlhi.rlhjn ih.c liafc of the moiuitiin, on 
 vh oh t is featcd. Its ir.f.gnificancc is its fccurity. No neighhouring jirincc ever 
 tho 'ght it worth his while to deftroy the independency of Aicii a hcc-hive. iiec Blainville's 
 Tra/, vol. 2, p. 237. Addifoa's Remarks on fevcral parts of Italy. 
 
 2 have
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 167 
 
 have been : and, which is yet worfe, the (trenglh and happincfs of the sect. 21 
 people being Ircqucndy dangerous to them, they have not fo much as tlie 
 will to promote it ; nay, fometimes lei : ''.emfelves to deftroy It. Antient 
 monarchies afford us frecjuent exampl;,s of this kind. And if wc cnnfidcr 
 thofe of France and I'uiky, which f-ciu mod to flouriili in our age, the 
 people will appear to be fo miferable under both, that they cannot fear 
 any change of governor and government ; and all, except a few minlfters, 
 are kept fo far from the knowltuge of, or pov/er in the management 
 of affairs, that if any of them fliould fimcy a poffibility of fomething 
 that might befal them worfe than what they fuffer, or hope for that which 
 might alleviate their mifcry, they could do nothing towards the advance- 
 ment of the one, or prevention of the other. Tacitus obferves, that in 
 his time no man was able to writ., what paffed, " infcitia reipublicae ut 
 " alienae. *" They negleded the pubhc affairs in which they had no part. 
 In the fame age it was laid, that th! people, who, while tliey fought for 
 their own interefts, had been invincible, being enOaved were grown fordid, 
 idle, bafe, running after ffage-plays and Ihows; fo that the whole ftrength 
 of the Roman armies confifted of ftrangers. When their fpirits were 
 depreffed by fervitude, they had neither courage to defend themfelvc?, 
 nor will to light for their wicked mafters ; and leaft of all to increafe their 
 power, which was deftruftive to themfelves. The fame thing is foi*^4 in 
 all places. Though the Turk commands many vaft provinces, that 
 naturally produce as good foldiers as any, yet his greateft ftrength is in 
 children that do not know their fathers ; v\'ho not being very many in 
 number, may perifh in one battle, and the empire by that means be loft, 
 the miferable nations that groan under that tyranny having neither courage, 
 ]iower, nor will to defend it. This was the fate of the Mammelucs. 
 They had for the fpace of almolt two hundred years domineered in Egypt, 
 and a great part of Afia ; but the people under them being weak and 
 difaffedted, they could never recover the defeat they received from Selim 
 near Aleppo, who, purfuing his vidory, in a few months utterly aboliihed 
 their kingdom "f. 
 
 Notwithffanding the prefent pride of France, the numbers and warlike 
 inclinations of that people, the bravery of the nobihty, extent of dominion, 
 convenience of fituation, and the vaft revenues of their king, his greateft 
 advantages have been gained by the miftaken counfels of England, the 
 valour of our foldiers unhappily fent to ferve him, and the ftrangers of 
 whom the ftrength of his armies conlifts ; which is fo imfteady a fupport, 
 that many who are well verfed in affairs of this nature incline to think, he 
 fubfifts rather by little arts, and corrupting minifters in foreign courts, 
 than by the power of his own armies ; and that fome reformation in the 
 jcounfels of his neighbours might prove fufficient to overthrow that great- 
 nefs, which is grown formidable to Europe, the fame mifery to which he 
 
 * Tacit. Hift. 1. I, § I 
 
 t Sdim I. An. 1517. See Knolles's Turkilh Hiftory, p. 361, 375 
 
 has
 
 368 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP, II has reduced his people, rendering them as unable to defend him, upon 
 jiny change of fortune, as to defend their ovfn rights againft him. 
 
 This proceeds not from any particular defedt in the French government, 
 but that which is common to all abfolute monarchies. And no ftate can 
 be faid to ftand upon a fteady foundation, except thofe whofe ftrength is 
 in their own foldiery, and the body of their own people. Such as fcrvc 
 for wages, often betray their mafters in diftrefs, and always want the 
 -courage and induftry which is found in thofe, who fight for their own 
 interelts, and are to have a part in the vidtory. The bufmefs of merce- 
 naries is fo to perform their duty, as to keep their employments, and -to 
 draw profit from them ; but that is not enough to fupport the fpirits of 
 men in extreme dangers. The fhepherd, who is a hireling, flies when 
 the thief comes. And this adventitious help failing, all that a prince can 
 reafonably expe£l from a difaffeCted and opprefled people is, that they 
 fliould bear the yoke patiently in the time of his profperity : but upon 
 the change of his fortune, they leave him to fhift for himfelf, or join with 
 his enemies to avenge the injuries they had received. Thus did Alphonfo 
 and Ferdinand kings of Naples, and Ludovico Sforza duke of Milan fall, 
 in the times of Charles the eighth, and Louis the twelfth, kings of 
 France. The two firft had been falfe, violent, and cruel ; nothing within 
 their kingdom could oppofe their fury. But when they were invaded by 
 a foreign power, they loft all, as Guicciardini fays, without breaking one 
 hince ; and Sforza was by his own mercenary foldiers delivered into the 
 hands of his enemies. 
 
 I think it may be hard to find examples of fuch as proceeding in the 
 fame way have had better fuccefs. But if it fliould fo fall out, that a people 
 living under an abfolute monarchy, fliould through cuftom, or fear of 
 fomething worfe (if that can be) not only fuffer patiently, but defire to 
 uphold the government, neither the nobility, nor commonalty can do any 
 thing tovs^ards it. They are ftrangers to all public concernments : all 
 things are governed by one or a few men, and others know nothing either 
 of ad:ion or counfcl. Filmcr will tell us it is no matter; the profound 
 ,, wifdom of the prince provides for all. But what if this prince be a child, 
 a fool, a fupcrannuated dotard, or a madman? ''Or if he does not fall 
 imder any of thefe extremities, and poiTeffes fuch a proportion of wit, 
 induftry, and courage, as is ordinarily feen in men, how fliall he fupply 
 the oflice that indeed requires profound wilclom, and an equal meafure 
 ofexperifence and valour? It is to no purpofe to fay a good council may 
 fupply his defetSls ; for it does not appear how he fliould come by this 
 council, nor who fliould oblige him to follow their advice. If he be left 
 to his own will to do what he pleafes, though good advice be given to 
 liim, yet his judgment being perverted, he will always incline to the 
 worrt. If a nccellity be impofcd upon him of ailing according to the 
 advice of his council, he is not that abfolute monarch of whom we fpcak, 
 nor the government monarchical, but ariftocratical. Thefe are imper c;dl 
 fi^-lcaf coverings of nakcdncfs. It was in vain to give good counfel to 
 
 Sardaualpaus;
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 169 
 
 Sarclanapalus ; and none could defend the Affyrian empire, when he lay sect. 2 1 
 
 wallowing among his whores, without any other thought than of his lufls. 
 
 None could preferve Rome, when Domitian's chief hufinefs was to kill {lies, 
 
 and that of Honorius to take care of his hens. The monarchy of France 
 
 mull have perifhed under the hafe kings they call " les rois faineants," if 
 
 the fcepter had not been wrcfted out of their unworthy hands *. The 
 
 world is full of examples of this kind. When it pleafes God to bellow a 
 
 juft, wife, and valiant king, as a bleffing upon a nation, it is only a 
 
 momentary help, his virtues end with him ; and there being neither any 
 
 divine promife nor human reafon moving us to believe, that they fliall 
 
 always be renewed and continued in his fuccefTors, men cannot rely 
 
 upon it ; and to allege a pofTibility of fuch a thing is nothing to the 
 
 purpofe. 
 
 On the other fide, in a popular or mixed government every man is 
 concerned; every one has a part, according to his quality or merit; all 
 changes are prejudicial to all ; whatever any man conceives to be for the 
 public good, he may propofe it in the niagiflracy, or to the magiftrate ; 
 the body of the people is the public defence, and every man is armed 
 and difciplined ; the advantages of good fuccefs are communicated to all, 
 and every one bears a part in the loffes. This makes men generous and 
 induflrious, and fills their hearts with love to their country f. This, 
 and the defire of that praife which is the reward of virtue, raifed the 
 Romans above the reft of mankind ; and where-ever the fame ways are 
 taken, they will in a great meafure have the fame eftedls. By thefe means 
 they had as many foldiers to fight for their country as there were freemen 
 in it. While they had to deal with the free nations of Italy, Greece, 
 Africa, or Spain, they never conquered a country, till the inhabitants 
 were exhaufted. But when they came to fight againft kings, the fuccefs 
 of a battle was enough to bring a kingdom under their power. Antiochus, 
 upon a repulfe received from Acilius at Thermopylae :|:, left all that he 
 poffefTed in Greece ; and being defeated by Scipio Nafica, he quitted all 
 the kingdoms and territories of Afia on this fide Taurus. Acmilius 
 Paulus became mafter of Macedon by one profperous fight againft Perfeus. 
 Syphax, Gentius, Tigranes, Ptolemy, and others, were more eafily 
 fubdued. The mercenary armies on which they relied being broken, the 
 cities and countries, not caring for their mafters, fubmitted to thofe who 
 had more virtue, and better fortune. If the power of the Romans had 
 
 * From the beginning of the reign of Clevis the fecond, to the reijn of Pepin le Bref, 
 that is, for the fpace of 105 years, hiftorians have written with fo little order, that we find 
 fcarce anyregular feries of the hiftory of France. According to their accounts, ten or eleven 
 princes reigned fucceflively, without concerning themfelves in the lead with the affairs of 
 their kingdom ; for which reafon they have called them " the idle kings." The firfl: of 
 them v/Hs Clovis the fecond, the laft Childeric the Stupid, from whom the French took 
 the crown, to place it on the head of Pepin le Bref, his mayor of the palace, 
 
 t — Amor patriae laudumque immenfa cupido. Virg. Aen. 1. 6, v. 823 
 
 J Liv. 1. 36, c. 15, etfetj. 
 
 Z not
 
 170 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAT. II not been built upon a more fure foundation, they could not have fubfifled. 
 Notwithftandlng their valour, they were often beaten ; but their loffes 
 were immediately repaired by the excellence of their difcipline. When 
 Hannibal had gained the battles of Trebia, Ticinum, Thrafymene, and 
 Cannae ; defeated the Romans in many other encounters, and flain above 
 two hundred thouiand of their men, with Aemilius Paulus, C. Servilius, 
 Sempronius Gracchus, Crifpinus, Marcellus, and many other excellent 
 commanders ; when about the fame time the two brave Scipio's had been 
 cut off with their armies in Spain, and many great loffes had been fuftained 
 in Sicily, and by fea, one would have thought it impoffible for the city to 
 have refifted : but their virtue, love to their country, and good govern- 
 ment, was allrengththat increaied under all their calamities, and in the end 
 overcame all. The nearer Hannibal came to the walls, the more obftinate 
 was their refiftance. Though he had killed more great captains than any 
 kingdom ever had, others daily ftepped up in their place, who excelled 
 them in all manner of virtue. I know not, if at any time that conquering^ 
 city could glory in a greater number of men fit for the highefl; enterprizes, 
 than at the end of that cruel war, which had confumed fo many of them ; 
 but I think, that the finifhing victories by them obtained, are but ill proofs 
 of our author's affertion, that they " thought bafely of the common good, 
 *' and fought only to fave themfelves." We know of none except Cae- 
 cilius Metellus, who, after the battle of Cannae, had fo bafe a thought as 
 to defign the withdrawing himfelf from the public ruin ; but Scipio, after- 
 wards furnamed Africanus, threatening death to thofe who would notfwear 
 never to abandon their country *, forced him to alter his intention. This 
 may in general be imputed to good government and difcipline, with which, 
 all were fo feafoned from their infancy, that no affe(£lion was fo rooted in 
 them, as an ardent love to their country, and a refolution to die for it, or 
 with it. But the means by which they accompliflied their great ends, fo 
 as after their defeats to have fuch men as carried on their noblefi: defigns, 
 with more glory than ever, were their annual eleillions of magiftrates ; 
 many being thereby advanced to the fupreme commands, and every one, 
 by the honours he enjoyed, filled with a delire. of rendering himfelf 
 worthy of them. 
 
 I fliould not much Infifl upon thefe things, if they had been feen only- 
 among the Romans. But though their difcipline feems to have been 
 more perfedt, better obferved, and to have produced a virtue that furpaffed; 
 all others, the like has been found, though perhaps not in the fame degree, 
 in all nations that have enjoyed their liberty, and were admiited to fuch 
 a part of the government, as might give them a love to it. This was 
 
 * Ex mei animi fentciui:i, iHquit, juro, ut ego renipiiblioim non defeinm, neque alium 
 civcm Romznutn (Icfcrcie patiar. Si fcicns fallo, turn me, Jupiter optime maximc, 'iomuiii,. 
 familiam, rcmque mcam pcdimo ktho afficias ! In haec verba, L. Caecili, jurcs expoftulo,. 
 cactcriqun (jui adcftis : qui nonjuravcrit. in fc huncgladiumltriJtumefle fciat. Li v. I. 22, c. 53. 
 Yal..M;ix, 1. 5, c. 6, § 7 
 
 evident
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 171 
 
 evident in all the nations of Italy. The Sabines, Volfci, Ac(]ui, Tufcans, sect. 21 
 Samnites, and others, were never conquered till they had no men left. 
 The Samnites alone inhabiting a fmall and barren province, fuffered more 
 defeats before they v^^ere fubdued, than all the kingdoms of Numidia, 
 Egypt, Macedon, and Afia ; and, as it is expreiled in their embafly to 
 Hannibal, never yielded, till they who had brought vafl: numbers of men 
 into the field, and by them defeated fome of the R.oman armies, were 
 reduced to fuch weaknefs, that they could not refiO; one legion'-. We 
 hear of few Spartans, who did not willingly cxpofe their lives for the 
 fervice of their country ; and the women themfelves were fo far inflamed 
 with the fame affedion, that they refufed to mourn for their children and 
 hufbands, who died in the defence of it. When the brave Brafidas was 
 flain, fome eminent men went to comfort his mother upon the news of 
 his death ; and telling her he was the moft valiant man in the city, fhe 
 anfwered, that he was indeed a valiant man, and died as he ought to do ; 
 but that, through the goodnefs of the gods, many others were left as 
 valiant as he f . 
 
 When Xerxes invaded Greece, there was not a citizen of Athens able 
 to bear arms, who did not leave his wife and children to fliift for them- 
 felves in the neighbouring cities, and their houfes to be burnt, when they 
 embarked with Themiftocles ; and never thought of either, till they had 
 defeated the Barbarians at Salamis by fea, and at Platea by land. When 
 men are thus fpirited, fome will ever prove excellent ; and as none did 
 ever furpafs thofe, who were bred under this difcipline, in all moral, 
 military, and civil virtues, thofe very countries, where they flouriflied moft, 
 have not produced any eminent men, fince they loft that liberty which was 
 the mother and nurfeofthem. 
 
 Though I Ihould fill a volume with examples of this kind, as I might 
 eafily do, fuch as our author will fay, that in popular governments " men 
 *' look upon mifchiefs as thunder, and only wifli it may not touch them- 
 *' felves." But, leaving them to the fcorn and hatred they deferve for 
 their impudence and folly, I conclude this point with the anfwer, that 
 Trajano Boccalini puts into the mouth of Apollo, to the princes who 
 Complained that their fubje£ts had not that love to their countries, as had 
 been, and was daily feen, in thofe who lived under commonwealths, 
 which amounted to no more than to tell them, that their ill government 
 Vv^as thecaufe of that defedl, and that the prejudices incurred by rapine, 
 
 * Per centum prope annos cum populo Romano bellum geffimus . . . Magni diiftatores 
 cum magiftris equitum, bini confules, cum binis confularibus exercitibus, ingrcdiebantur 
 fines noftros, ante exploratos, et fubfidiis pofitis, et fub fignis ad populandum ducebant , . . 
 Jamne manipulatim quidem, fed latronum modo percurfant totis iiaibus iioftris ncgligencius, 
 quam fi in Romano vagarentur agro. Liv. 1. 23, c. 42 
 
 ■j- MtyxXwoyjui/ Si txfi^iji/ ron av^px, xxi X£yoi/Tu:v, cc; oux i^ii TOiovTCU ccWov v ^Trxprn' wn 
 MyiTi, UTTtv, ta ^evoi, xxXo; y.iv yxp yiv xai ayix^o^ Bposo-Js;;, TTcA^Sf it txvSpxq AaxiSxiiJ.'x\> 
 *;^£i TJiva xiz/jpovasf. Plut. in vita Lycurgi. 
 
 Z 2 violence,
 
 i7i DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 cjiAP. 11 violence, and fraud, were to be repaired only by liberality, juftice» 
 and fuch a care of their fubjeds, that they might live happily under 
 them*. 
 
 SECTION XXU 
 
 COMMONWEALTHS SEEK PEACE OR WAR, ACCORDING TO THE 
 VARIETY OF THEIR CONSTITUTIONS. 
 
 If I have hitherto fpoken in general of popular or mixed governments, as 
 if they were all founded on the fame principle, it was only becaufe our 
 author without diftinftion has generally blamed them all, and generally 
 imputed to every one thofe faults, which perhaps never were in any ; but 
 moll certainly are diredly oppofite to the temper and conftitution of many 
 among them. Malice and ignorance reign fo equally in him, that it is 
 not eafy to determine from wliich of the two this falfe reprefentation pro- 
 ceeds. But left any man fhould thereby be impofed upon, it is time to 
 obferve, that the conftitutions of commonwealths have been fo various, 
 according to the different temper of nations and times, that if fome of 
 them feem to have been principally conftituted for war, others have as 
 much delighted in peace. And many, having taken the middle, and, as 
 fome think, the beft way, have fo moderated their love to peace, as not 
 to fuffer the fpirits of the people to fall, but kept them in a perpetual 
 readinefs to make war when there was occafion : and every one of thofe, 
 having followed feveral ways and ends, deferve our particular confideration. 
 The cities of Rome, Sparta, Thebes, and all the affociations of the 
 Etolians, Achaians, Sabines, Latins, Samnites, and many others that 
 antiently flouriflied in Greece and Italy, feem to have intended nothing 
 but the juft prefervatlon of liberty at home, and making war abroad. All 
 the nations of Spain, Germany, and Gaul, fought the fame 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 reafon, when the fenators of Rome had killed Romulus, 
 they perfuaded Julius Proculus to affirm, that he had ken him in a moft 
 glorious form afcending to heaven, and promifing great things to the city : 
 " proinderem militarem colant.f" The Athenians were not lefs inclined 
 
 * Air ambafciadore rifpofe Apollo, che i principi con iin buon govcrno di una piaccvole 
 giuftizia, e con la liberaiita, c con la perpctua abboiidanza, miiltn piu di lui, ne' cuori de' 
 (udditi loro potevano inferiie I'amore vcrfo la patria loro : perche il gencre umano, che per 
 inftinto di natura ardcntiffimamcnte amava il terrcno, quale ft fofTe, ove egli nafceva, 
 anco facilmente lo difamava, quando altri con le incommodita glielo ri-ndcva odiofo, cflendo 
 particolar inftinto de gli uoinini di piu tofto volere interizzirfi di frcddo, che flare a quel 
 £uoco, che empicndo la ftaiiza di fumo fuceva lagrimar gli occhi. Boccal. Rag. di Painaf. 
 -cent. 1. rag. 99 
 
 t Liv. 1. I, c. i6 
 
 to
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 171 
 
 to war : but applied themfelves to trade, as fubfervient to that end, by sect. 23 
 increafing the number of the people, and f "urnifhing them with the means 
 of carrying it on with more vigour and power. I'he Phenician cities, of 
 which Carthage was the mofl: eminent, followed the fame method ; but 
 knowing that riches do not defend themfelves, or fcorning ilothfully to 
 enjoy what was gained by commerce, they fo far applied ihemiclves to- 
 war, that they grew to a power, which Rome only was able to overthrow- 
 Venice, Florence, Genoa, Lucca, and fome other cities of Italy, feem 
 chiefly to have aimed at trade ; and placing the hopes of their fifety in 
 the protcdtion of more powerful flates, unwillingly entered into wars,. 
 efpecially by land : and when they did, they made them by mercenary foldiers. 
 
 Again, fome of thofe that intended war, delired to enlarge their terri- 
 tories by conqueft ; others only to prefcrve their own, and to live v/ith 
 freedom and fafety upon them. Rome was of the firll fort; and knowing- 
 that fuch ends cannot be accomplilhed without great numbers of men, 
 they freely admitted Grangers into the city, fenate, and magiftracy. Numa 
 was a Sabine. Tarquinius Prifcus was the fon of a Grecian. One 
 hundred of tliofe Sabines, who came with Tatlus, were admitted into the 
 fenate. Appius Claudius, of the fame people, came to Rome, was made 
 a member of the fenate, and created conful. They demolifhed feveral 
 cities, and brought the inhabitants to their own ; gave the right of citizens 
 to many others, fometimes to whole cities and provinces, and cared not 
 how many they received, fo they could ingraft them upon the fame intereft 
 with the old ftock, and feafon them with the fame principles, difcipline, 
 and manners. On the other fide, the Spartans defiring only to continue 
 free, virtuous, and fafe in the enjoyment of their own territory, and 
 thinking themfel-es ftrong enough to defend it, framed a moft fevere- 
 difcipline, to which few Grangers w^ould fubmit. They banilhed all thofe 
 curious arts, which are ufeful to trade ; prohibited the importation of 
 gold and filver ; appointed the Helotes to cultivate their lands, and to- 
 exercife fuch trades as are neceflary to life*; admitted few ftrangers to 
 live among them ; made none of them free of their city, and educated 
 their youth in fuch exercifes only as prepared them for war. I will not 
 take upon me to judge, whether this proceeded from fuch a moderation of 
 fpirit, as placed felicity rather in the fulnefs and {lability of liberty, inte- 
 grity, virtue, and the enjoyment of their own, than in riches, power,, 
 and dominion over others ; nor which of thefe two different methods 
 deferves moft to be commended : but certain it is, that both fucceedeJ 
 according to the intention of the founders. 
 
 Rome conquered the beft part of the world, and never wanted men to 
 defend what was gained. Sparta lived in fuch happinefs and reputation, 
 that, till it was invaded by Epaminondas, an enemy's trumpet had not 
 been heard by thofe within the town for the fpace of eight hundred years ;^ 
 
 * Eft genus quoddam hominum, quod Helotes vocatur, quorum magna multitudo agros- 
 Lacedaemoniorum colit, fcrvorumqus muiiere fungitur. Nep. Pauf. c, 3 
 
 an(£
 
 '74 
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. II and never fufFered any great dilafter, till receding from their own inftitu- 
 tions, they were brought by prolperity to affe£l the principality of 
 • Greece, and to undertake" fuch wars as could not be carried on without 
 money, and greater numbers of men than a fmall city was able to furnilh : 
 by which means they were obliged to beg affiftance from the barbarians, 
 whom they fcorned and hated, as appears by the flories of Callicratides, 
 Lyflmder, and Agefilaus, and involved themfelves in difficulties which they 
 never furmounted. 
 
 The like variety has been obferved in the conilitutions of thofe northern 
 nations, which invaded the Roman empire. For though all of them 
 intended war, and looked upon thofe only to be members of their com- 
 monwealths, who ufed arms to defend them ; yet fome did immediately 
 incorporate themfelves with thofe of the conquered countries. Of this num- 
 ber were the Franks, who prefently became one nation with the Gauls. 
 Others kept themfelves in a diftind; body, as the Saxons did from the 
 Britons. And the Goths, for more than three hundred years that they 
 reigned in Spain, never contradled marriages, or otherwife mixed with 
 the Spaniards, till their kingdom was overthrown by the Moors. 
 
 Thefe things, and others of the like nature, being weighed, many have 
 doubted, wliether it were better to conftitute a commonwealth for war, or 
 for trade ; and of fuch as intend war, whether thofe are moft to be praifed 
 •who prepare for defence only, or thofe who defign by conqueft to enlarge 
 their dominions. Or, if they admit of trade, whether they fhould propole 
 the acquifition 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 thofe wars, in which they may be frequently engaged. 
 Thefe queftions might perhaps be eafily decided, if mankind were of a 
 temper to fuffer thofe to live in peace, who offer no injury to any ; or if 
 men, who have money to hire foldiers when they ftand in need of them, 
 could find fuch as would valiantly and faithfully defend them, while they 
 apply themfelves to their trades. But experience teaching us, that thofe 
 only can be fafe who are flrong, and that no people was ever well defended, 
 liLit thofe who fought for themfelves, the beft judges of thefe matters have 
 always given the preference to thofe conflitutions that principally intend 
 war, and make ufe of trade as affifting to that end; and think it better to 
 aim at conqueft, than fimply to ftand upon their own defence : fnice he 
 that lofes all, if he be overcome, fights upon very unequal terms; and if 
 he obtain the viiTtory, gains no other advantage, tlian for the prefent to 
 repel the danger that threatened him. 
 
 Thefe opinions are confirmed by the examples of the Romans, who 
 profpercd nmch more than the Spartans. And the Carthaginians, who 
 made ufe of trade as a help to war, raifed their city to be one of the mofl 
 potent that ever was in the world. Whereas the Venetians having relied 
 on trade, and mercenary foldiers, are always forced too much to depend 
 iipon foreign potentates ; very often to buy peace on ignominious and 
 prejudicial conditions; and fomctimes to fear the infidelity of their own 
 commanders, no Icfs than the violence of their enemies. But that which 
 
 ought
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT ^75 
 
 ought to be'valued above all, in point of wifdom as well as jufticc, is the sect. 22. 
 government given by God to the Hebrews, which chiefly fitted them for 
 war, and to make conquclls. Mofes divided them under feveral captains, 
 into thoufands, hundreds, fifties, and tens. This was a perpetual ordi- 
 nance among them. In numbering them, thofe only were counted, who 
 were able to bear arms. Every man was obliged to go out to war, except 
 fuch as were lately married *, or upon other Ipecial occafions were for a 
 time excufed. And the whole feries of the lacred hiflory fhews, that 
 there were always as many foldiers to fight for their country as there were 
 men able t-o fight. And if this be taken for a pifture of " a many-headed 
 *' heart," delighting in blood, " begotten by fedition,. and nourillied by 
 *' arms," God himfelf was the drawer of it. 
 
 In this variety of conftitutions and efFefts proceeding from them, lean 
 fee nothing more juftly 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 faid, that any nations havs 
 enjoyed fo much peace as fome republics. The too great inclination of 
 the^Venetians to peace is accounted to be a mortal error in their conflitu- 
 tion ; and they have not been lefs free from domeftic feditions than foreign 
 wars. The confpiracies of the Falerii and Tiepoli were extinguifhed by 
 their puniihment, and that of La Cueva cruflied before it was ripe. 
 Genoa has not been altogether fo happy. The fi£tions of the Guelphs and 
 Gibelines, that fpread themfelves over all Italy, infeded that city ; and 
 the malice of the Spaniards and French raifed others under the Fregoli 
 and Adorni : but they being compofed, they have for more than an hun- 
 dred and fifty years refted in quiet. 
 
 There is another fort of commonweal tli, compofed of many cities 
 aflbciated together, and living " aequo jure ;" every one retaining and 
 exercifing a fovereign power within itl'elf, except in fome cafes exprefled 
 in the adl of union, or league made between them. Thefe I confefs are 
 more hardly preferved in peace, Difputes may arife among them con- 
 cerning limits, jurifdidion, and the like. They cannot always be equally 
 concerned in the fame things. The injuries ofiered to one do not equally 
 aflPedt all. Their neighbours will fow diviiions among them ; and, not 
 having a mother-city to decide their controverfies by her authority, they 
 may be apt to fall into quarrels, efpecially if they profefs chriflianity ; 
 which having been fplit into a variety of opinions ever fmce it was preached, 
 and the papifts, by their cruelty to fuch as diflent from them, Ihewing to 
 all, that there is no other way of defending themfelves againft them, than 
 by ufing the fame, almoft every man is come to think he ought, as far as 
 in him lies, to impofe his belief on others, and that he can give no better 
 teilimony of his zeal, than the excefs of his violence on that account.- 
 Neverthelefs the cantons of the Switzers, though accompanied with all: 
 
 * Deut. ch. 24, V, 5, 
 
 the
 
 176 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP, II the moft dangerous clrcumftances that can be imagnied, being thirteen in 
 number, independent on each other, governed in a high degree popularly, 
 profeffing chrilxianity differing hi moft important points, eight of them 
 much inliuenced by the Jefuits, and perpetually excited to war againfl: 
 tlieir brethren by the powerful crowns of Spain and France, have ever 
 fince they caft off the infupportable yoke of the earls of Habfpurg, 
 enjoyed more peace than any other ftate of Europe ; and, from the molt 
 inconfidcrable people, are grown to fuch a power, that the greateft mo- 
 narchs do moft folicitoufly feek their friendftiip ; and none have dared to 
 invade them, hnce Charles duke of Burgundy did it to his ruin. And he- 
 who for a long time had been a terror to the great, dangerous, and fubtile 
 king of France, gave by the lofs of three armies, and his own life, a 
 Lifting teftimony of his temerity in affaulting a free and valiant, though 
 a poor people, fighting in their own quarrel. Comines well relates 
 that war * ; but a vaft heap of bones remaining to this day at Morat with 
 this infcription — " Caroli fortiflimi Burgundiae ducis exercitus Muratum 
 *' obfidens, ab Helvetiis caefus, hoc fui monumentum reliquit f" — befi: 
 fhews the fuccefs of it. Since that time their greateft wars have been for 
 the defence of Milan ; or fuch as they have undertaken for pay undei*the 
 enligns of France or Spain, that by the ufe of arms they may keep up 
 that courage, reputation, and experience, which is required for the 
 defence of their own country. No government was ever more free from 
 popular feditions. The revolts of their fubjedls have been few, weak, 
 and eafily fuppreffed. The diflention raifed by the Jefuits between the 
 cantons of Zurich and Lucern was as foon compofed as the rebellion of 
 the country of Vaux againft the canton of Bern ; and thofe few of the 
 like nature that have happened among them have had the like fuccefs. 
 So thatThuanus, in the hiftory of his time, comprehending about fifty 
 years, and relating the horrid domeftic and foreign wars that diftradled 
 Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Flanders, England, Scotland, Poland, 
 Denmark, Sweden, Hungary, Tranfilvania, Mufcovy, Turky, Afric, 
 and other places, has no more to fay of them, than to fliew, what arts 
 had been in vain ufed to difturb their fo much envied quiet. But if the 
 modeft temper of the people, together with the wifdom, juftice, and 
 ftrength of their government, could not be difcompofed by the meafures 
 of Spain and France, by the induftry of their embafl'adors, or the malicious 
 
 * Memoircs dc Ph. dc Comines, 1. 5, c. i, 4 
 
 f The bones of the Burgundians are depofited in a fort of chapel, which ftands on the 
 high-road to Avenches, about a quarter of a league from Morat. The infcription is 
 engraved on a plate of brafs, and, in its proper form, and at full length, is as follows : 
 
 D. o. M. 
 
 CAROLI INCLYTI £T FORTISSIMI 
 
 BURGUNDIAE DUCIS EXERCITUS 
 
 MURATUM OBSIDENS, AB HELVETIIS CAESUS, 
 
 HOC SUI MONUMENTUM RELIQUIT. 
 
 ANNO M. CCCC. LXXVI. 
 
 See Blainville's Trav, vol, i, p. 353 
 
 crafc
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 177 
 
 craft of the Jefuits, we may fiifely conclude, that their ftate is as well sect. 2i 
 fettled as any thing among men can be, and can hardly comprehend 
 what is like to interrupt it. As much might be faid of the cities of the 
 Hanfeatic focicty, if they had an entire fovereignty in themfelves. But 
 the cities of the United Provinces in the Low Countries, being every one 
 of them fovereign within themfelves, and many in number, flill conti- 
 nuing in their union, in fpite of all the endeavours that have been ufed to 
 divide them, give us an example of fuch (leadineis in pradlice and prin- 
 ciple, as is hardly to be paralleled in the world, and that undeniably 
 proves a temper in their conftitutions diredly oppofite to that which our 
 author imputes to all popular governments. And if the death of Barnevelt 
 and de Witt, or the preferment of fome moft unlike to them, be taken 
 for a teftimony that the beft men thrive worfl, and the worlt belt, I hope 
 it may be confidered that thofe violences proceeded from that which is moil 
 contrary to popularity, though I am not very willing to explain it. 
 
 If thefe matters are not clear in themfelves, I defire they may be com- 
 pared with what has happened between any princes that from the begin- 
 ning of the world have been joined in league to each other, whether they 
 were of the fame or of different nations. Let an example be brought of 
 fix, thirteen, or more princes or kings, who entered into a league, and 
 for the fpace of one or more ages, did neither break it, nor quarrel upon 
 the explication of it. Let the ftates of the Switzers, Grifons, or Hol- 
 landers, be compared with that of France, when it was fometimes divided 
 between two, three, or four brothers of Meroveus or Pepin's races ; with 
 the heptarchy of England ; the kingdoms of Leon, Arragon, Navarre, 
 Caftile, and Portugal, under which the chriftians in Spain were divided ; 
 or thofe of Cordova, Seville, Malaga, Granada, and others under the 
 power of the Moors ; and if it be not evident, that the popular ftates 
 have been remarkable for peace among themfelves, conftancy to their 
 union, and fidelity to the leagues made with their afl'ociates ; whereas all 
 the above-mentioned kingdoms, and fuch others as are known among 
 men to have been joined in the like leagues, were ever infefted with 
 domeftic rebellions and quarrels, arifmg from the ambition of princes, fo 
 that no confederacy could be fo cautioufly made, but they would find ways 
 to elude it, or fo folemn and facred, but they would in far lefs time break 
 through it, I -will confefs, that kingdoms have fometimes been as free 
 from civil difturbances ; and that leagues made between feveral princes 
 have been as conftantly and religioufly obferved, as by commonwealths. 
 But if no fuch thing do appear in the world, and no man who is not 
 impudent or ignorant dare pretend it, I may juftly conclude, that though 
 every commonwealth has its adion fuitable to its conftitution, and that 
 many aifociated together are not fo free from difturbances, as thofe that 
 wholly depend upon the authority of a mother-city ; yet we know of 
 none that have not been, and are more regular and quiet than any prin- 
 cipalities : and as to foreign wars, they feek or avoid them according to 
 their various conftitutions. 
 
 A a
 
 J78. DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP, II 
 
 SECTION XXIII 
 
 THAT IS THE BEST GOVERNMENT WHICH BEST PROVIDES 
 
 FOR WAR. 
 
 Our author, having huddled up all popular and mixed governments into 
 one, has, in fome meafure, forced me to explain the various conftitutions 
 and principles upon which they are grounded. But as the wifdom of a 
 father is feen, not only in providing bread for his family, or increafmg 
 his patrimonial eftate, but in making all poflible provifion for the fecurity 
 . of it ; fo tliat government is evidently the beft, which, not relying upon 
 . what it does at firft enjoy, feeks to increafe the number, ftrength, and 
 riches, of the people ; and by the beft difcipline to bring the power fo 
 improved into fuch order, as may be of moft ufe to the public. This 
 comprehends all things conducing to the adminiftration of juftice, the 
 prefervation of domeftic peace, and the increale ot commerce ; that the 
 people, being pleafed with their prefent condition, may be filled with love 
 to their country, encouraged to fight boldly for the public caufe, which is 
 their own ; and, as men do willingly join with that which profpers, that 
 ftrangers may be invited to fix their habitations in fuch a city, and to 
 efpoufe the principles that reign in it. This is necefhiry for feveral rea- 
 fons ; but I fhall principally infift upon one, which is, that all things in 
 their beginning are weak. The whelp of a lion newly born has neither 
 ftrength nor fiercenefs. He that builds a city, and does not intend it 
 Ihould increafe, commits as great an abfurdity, as if he ihould defire his 
 child might ever continue under the fame weaknefs, in which he is born. 
 If it do not grow, it muft pine and periih ; for in this world nothing is 
 permanent : that which does not grow better will grow worfe. This, 
 increafe alfo is ufelefs, or perhaps hurtful, if it be not in ftrength, as well 
 as in riches, or number ; for every one is apt to feize upon ill-guarded 
 treafures. The terror that the city of London was poflefied with, when a 
 few Dutch fhips came to Chatham, fliews, that no numbers of men, 
 though naturally valiant, arc able to defend themfelves, unlcfs they be 
 well armed, dil'ciplined, and conducted. Their multitude binngs con- 
 fufion ; their wealth, when it is like to be made a prey, increafes the fears 
 of the owners ; and they, who, if they were brought into good order, 
 might conquer a great part of the world, being deftitute of it, dare not 
 tl-iink of defending themfelves. 
 
 If it be faid, that the wife father, mentioned by me, endeavours to 
 fecure his patrimony by law, not by force, I anfwer, that all defence 
 terminates in force j- and if a private man docs not prepare to defend his 
 cftatc with his own force, it is becaufe he lives under the protcdlion of the 
 law, and expeiSls the force of the magidrate fhould be a fecurity to him. 
 But kingdoms and commonwealths, acknowledging no fupcrior, except 
 God alone, can reafonably hope to be proteded by him only ; and by 
 
 him.
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT i^^ 
 
 him, if with induflry and courage they make ufe of the means he has sect, nj 
 given them for their own defence. God helps thofe who liclp thcmfclves ; 
 and men are by feveral reafons (fuppofe to prevent the incrcafe of a fuf- 
 peded power) induced to fuccour an induftrious and brave people : but 
 fuch as neglcd the means of their own prefervation are ever left to perifti 
 with Ihanie. Men cannot rely upon any league. The ftate that is 
 defended by one potentate againft another becomes a flave to its protedlor. 
 Mercenary ibldiers always want fidelity or courage, and moft commonly 
 both. If they are not corrupted or beaten by {he invader, they make a 
 prey of their mafters. Thefe are the followers of camps, who have 
 neither faith nor piety, but prefer gain before right *4 They, whd 
 expofe their blood to fale, look where they can make the bell bargain, 
 and never fail of pretences for following their interefls. 
 
 Moreover, private families may by fcA^eral arts Increafe their wealth, as 
 they increafe in number ; but when a people multiplies, as they will 
 always do in a good climate under a good government, fuch an enlarge- 
 ment of territory, as is neceflary for their fubfiftencc, can be acquired only 
 by war. This was known to the northern nations that invaded the 
 Roman empire : but for want of fuch conflitutions as might beft improve 
 their ftrength and valour, the numbers they fent out when they were 
 over-burdened, provided well for themfelves, but were of no ufe to the 
 countries they left ; and while thofe Goths, Vandals, Franks, and Nor- 
 mans, enjoyed the m.oft opulent and delicious provinces of the world, 
 their fathers languifhed obicurely in their frozen climates. For the like 
 reafons, or through the feme defeft, the Switzers are obliged to ferve other 
 princes ; and often to employ that valour, in advancing the power of 
 their neighbours, which might be ufed to increafe their own, Genoa* 
 Lucca, Geneva, and other fmall commonw^ealths, having no wars, are 
 not able to nourilli the men they breed ; but fending many of their children 
 to feek their fortunes abroad, fcarce a third part of thofe that are born 
 among them die in thofe cities ; and if they did not take this courfe, they 
 would have no better than the nations inhabiting near the river Niger, who 
 fell their children as the increafe of their flocks. 
 
 This does not lefs concern monarchies than commonwealths ; nor the 
 abfolute lefs than the mixed : all of them have been profperous or miferable, 
 glorious or contemptible, as they were better or worfe armed, difciplined, 
 or conducted. The Aflyrian valour was irrefiftible under Nabuchodono- 
 zor ; but was brought to nothing under his bafe and luxurious grandfon 
 Belfhazzar. The Perfians, who under Cyrus conquered AHa, were like 
 Iwine expofed to flaughter, when their difcipline failed, and they were 
 commanded by his proud, cruel, and cowardly fucceflbrs. The Mace- 
 donian army overthrown by Paulus Aemilius was not lefs in number, 
 
 * Nulla fides, pietafque viris, qui caftra fequuntur, 
 Venalesque raanus : ibi fas, ubi maxima merces. 
 
 Luc. Pharf; 1. lo, v. 407 
 
 A a 2 than
 
 i8o DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. II than that with which Alexander gained the empire of the eaft ; and 
 perhaps had not been inferior in valour, if it had been as well commanded. 
 Many poor and almoft unknown nations have been carried to fuch a 
 height of glory by the bravery of their princes, that I might incline to 
 think their government as fit as any other for difclplining a people to war, 
 if their virtues continued in their families, or could be tranfmitted to their 
 fucceifors. The impofTibility of this is a breach never to be repaired ; 
 and no account is to be made of the good that is always uncertain, and 
 feldom enjoyed. This difeafe is not only in abfolute monarchies, but in 
 thofe alfo where any regard is had to fiicceffion of blood, though under 
 the ftrifteft limitations. The fruit of all the vi£lories gained by Edward 
 the firll and third, or Henry the fifth of England, periilied by the bafe- 
 nefs of their fucceflbrs. The glory of our arms was turned into Ihame ; 
 and we, by the lofs of trealure, blood and territory, fuffered the punifli- 
 ment of their vices. The effedts of thefe changes are not always equally 
 violent ; but they are frequent, and muft fall out as often as occafion is 
 prefented. It was not polfible for Lewis the thirteenth of France to purfue 
 the great defigns of Henry the fourth. Chriftina of Sweden could not 
 fupply the place of her brave father ; nor the prefent king in his infancy 
 accomplifli what the great Charles Guftavus had nobly undertaken. And 
 no remedy can be found for this mortal infirmity, unlefs the power be put 
 into the hands of thofe who are able to execute it, and not left to the. 
 blindnels of fortune. When the regal power is committed to an annual 
 or otherwife chofen magiftracy, the virtues of excellent men are of ufe, 
 but all does not depend upon their perfons : one man finifhes what 
 another had begun ; and when many are by practice rendered able to 
 perform the fame things, the lofs of one is eafily fupplied by the eledlion 
 of another. When good principles are planted, they do not die with the 
 perfon that introduced them ; and good conflitutions remain, though the. 
 authors of them perifli. Rome did not fall back into flavery when Brutus 
 was killed, who had led them to recover their liberty. Others like to 
 him purfued the fame ends. And notwithfianding the lofs of fo many great 
 commanders conlumed in their almoft continual wars, they never wanted 
 fuch as were fit to execute whatever they could defign. A well-governed 
 ftate is as fruitful to all good purpofes, as the feven-headed ferpent is faid 
 to have been in evil : vv^hen one head is cut off, many rife up in. the place 
 of it. Good order being onceeftablifhed makes good men; and as long as 
 it lafts, fuch as are fit for the greateft employments will never be wanting. 
 By thefe means the Romans could not be furprifed : no king or captain 
 ever invaded them, who did not find many excellent commanders to oppofe 
 him. Whereas they themfelves found it cafy to overthrow kingdoms,, 
 though they had been cftablifhed by the braveft princes, through the. 
 bafcnefs of their fucceflbrs. 
 
 But if our author fay true, it is of no advantage to a popular ftate to 
 have excellent men ; and therefore he impofes a necelfity upon every 
 people to choofe the worft men for being the worft, and moft like to 
 
 themfelves;
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT iSi 
 
 thcmfelves ; "left, if virtuous and good men fhould come into powers sect. 23 
 " they fhould be excluded for being vicious and wicked. Wife men 
 *' would feize upon the ftatc, and take it from the people." For the 
 underftanding of thefe words, it is good to confidcr, whether they are to 
 be taken fnnply, as ufually applied to the devil, and fome of his inftru- 
 ments, or relatively, as to the thing in queftion. If fimply, it muft be 
 concluded, that Valerius, Brutus, Cincinnatus, Capitolinus, Mamercus, 
 Aemilius, Nafica, and others like to them, were not only the worft men 
 of the city ; but that they were fo often advanced to the fupreme magif- 
 tracies, becaufe they were fo : if in the other fenfe relating to magiftracy, 
 and the command of armies, the worft are the moft ignorant, unfaithful, 
 flothful, or cowardly ; and our author to make good his propoiition, 
 muft prove, that when the people of Rome, Carthage, Athens, and other 
 ftates, had the power of choofing whom they pleafed, they did choofe 
 Camillus, Corvinus, Torquatus, Fabius, Scipio, Amilcar, Hannibal, 
 Afdrubal, Felopidas, Epaminondas, Pericles, Ariftides, Themiftocles, 
 Phocion, Alcibiades, and others like to them, for their ignorance, infi- 
 delity, floth, and cowardice ; and on account of thofe vices, moft like to 
 thofe who chofe them. But if thefe were the worft, I defire to know^ 
 what wit or eloquence can defcribe or comprehend the excellency 
 of the beft, or of the difcipline that brought whole nations to fuch 
 perfedlion, that worfe than thefe could not be found among them : and if 
 ihey were not fo, but fuch as all fucceeding ages have juftly admired for their 
 wifdom, virtue, induftry, and valour, the impudence of fo wicked and 
 falfe an affertion ought to be rejedled with fcorn and hatred. 
 
 But if all governments, whether monarchical or popular, abfolute or 
 limited, deferve praife or blame as they are well or ill conftituted for making 
 war ; and if the attainment of this end do entirely depend upon the 
 qualifications of the commanders, and the ftrength, courage, number, 
 afteilion, and temper of the people out of which the armies are drawn^ 
 thofe governments muft neceffarily be the beft, which take the beft 
 care that thofe armies may be well commanded ; and fo provide 
 for the good of the people, that they may daily increafe in number^ 
 courage, and ftrength, and be fo iatisfied with the prefent ftate of 
 things, as to fear a change, and fight for the prefervation or advancement 
 of the public intereft, as of their own. We have already found, that in 
 hereditary monarchies no care at all is taken of the commander : he is not 
 chofen, but comes by chance ; and does not only frequently prove defec- 
 tive, but for the moft part utterly incapable of performing any part of 
 his duty. Whereas in popular governments excellent men are generally 
 chofen; and there are fo many of them, that if one or more perifti, others, 
 are ready to fupply their places. And this difcourfe having, if I miftake 
 not, in the whole feries, fliewn, that the advantages of popular govern- 
 ments, in relation to the increafe of courage, number, and ftrength in a 
 people, out of which armies are to be formed, and bringing them to fucli 
 a temper as prepares them bravely to perform their duty, are as much. 
 
 above.
 
 i8^ DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. II above thofe monarchies, as the prudence of choice fiirpafies the accidents of 
 birth, it cannot be denied, that, in both refpecls, the part which relates to 
 war is much better performed in popular governments, than in monarchies. 
 
 That which we are by reafon led to believe, is confirmed to us by 
 experience. We every where fee the difference between the courage ot 
 men fighting for themfelves, and their pofterity, and thofe that ferve a 
 mafter, who by good fuccefs is often rendered infupportable. This is of 
 fuch efficacy, that no king could ever boaft to have overthrov^n any con- 
 iiderable commonwealth, unlefs it was divided within itfelf, or weakened 
 by wars made with fuch as were alfo free ; which was the cafe of the 
 Grecian commonwealths, when the Macedonians fell in upon them. 
 Whereas the greatefl: kingdoms have been eafdy deftroyed by common- 
 wealths ; and thefe alfo have loft all ftrength, valour, and fpirit, after the 
 change of their government. The power and virtue of the Italians grew 
 up, decayed, and perifhed, with their liberty. When they were divided 
 into many commonwealths, every one of them was able to fend out great 
 armies, and to fuffer many defeats before they were fubdued ; fo that 
 their cities were delivered up by the old men, women, and children, 
 when all thofe who were able to bear arnis had been Oain. And when 
 they were all brought under the Romans, either as aflbciates or fubjedle, 
 they made the greateft ftrength that ever was in the w^orld. 
 
 Alexander of Epirus was in valour thought equal, and in power little 
 inferior, to Alexander of Macedon. But having the fortune to attack 
 thofe who had been brought up in liberty, taught to hazard or further all 
 things for it, and to think that God has given to men hands and fwords 
 only to defend it, he periflied in his attempt ; vs'hile the other encountering 
 flavifh nations, under the conduct of proud, cruel, and for the moft part 
 unwarlike tyrants, became mafter of Afia. 
 
 Pyrrhus feems to have been equal to either of them. But the vidories 
 he obtained by an admirable valour and conduift, coft him fo dear, that 
 he defired peace with thofe enemies who might be defeated, not fubdued. 
 
 Hannibal, wanting the prudence of Pyrrhus, loft the fruits of all his 
 victories ; and being torn out of Italy, where he had nefted himfelf, fell 
 under the fword of thofe, whofc fathers he had defeated or (lain ; and died 
 abaniflied man from his ruined couiUrv. 
 
 The Gauls did once bring Rome, when it was fmall, to the brink of 
 deftrudion : but they left their carcafes to pay for the mifchiefs they had 
 done. And in fucceeding times their invalions were mentioned as tumults 
 rather than wars. 
 
 The Germans did perhaps furpafs them in numbers and ftrength, and 
 were equal to them in fortune, as long as Rome was free. They often 
 en'ercd Italy ; but they continued not long there, unlefs under the weight 
 of their chains. Whereas the fame nations, and others like to them, 
 afl"aulting that country, or other provinces under the emperors, found no 
 other difficidty, than what arofe upon contcfts among themfelves, who 
 fliould be mafter of them. No manly virtue or diiciplin c remained among 
 
 2 the
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 183-. 
 
 the Italians. Thofe who governed them relied upon tricks and fliifts ;. sr-CT..23; 
 and they, who could not defend themfelves, hired forne of thofe nations to 
 undertake their quarrels againft others. Thefe trinklings could not laft.. 
 The Goths, fcorning to depend upon thofe who in valour and ftrcngth 
 were much inferior to themfelves, fejzed upon the city that had com- 
 manded the world, whilll: Honorius was fo bufy in providing for his heng,. 
 that he could not think of defending it*. Arcadius had the luck not tp' 
 lofe his principal city; hut paflinghis time among fullers, players, eunuchs, 
 cooks, dancers, and butToons, the provinces were fecurcly plundered and 
 ranfacked by nations, that are known only from their vidtories againft him. 
 
 It is in vain to fay, that this proceeded from the fatal corruption of 
 that age; for that corruption proceeded from the government, and the 
 enfuing defolation was the cFicO: of it. And as the like diforder in 
 government has been ever fince in Greece, and the greateft part of Italy, 
 thofe countries which for extent, riches, convenience of fituation, and 
 numbers of men, are equal to the heft in the world, and for the wit, cou- 
 rage, and induftry of the natives, perhaps juftly preferable to any, have 
 iince that time been always expofed as a prey to the firft invader. Charles 
 the eighth of France is by Guicciardini, and other writers, reprefented as 
 a prince equally weak in body, mind, money, and forces : but, as an ill 
 hare is faid to make a good dog, he conquered the heft part of Italy with- 
 out breaking a lance. Ferdinand and Alphonfo of Afragon, kings of 
 Naples, had governed by trepanners, falfe witnefles, corrupt judges, 
 mercenary foldiers, and other minifters of iniquity : but thefe could afford 
 no help againft an invader. And neither the oppreifed nobility, nor 
 people, concerning themfelves in the quarrel, they who had been proud, 
 fierce, and cruel, againft their poor fubjedls, never durft look an enemy 
 in the face ; and the father dying with anguifh and fdar, the fon ihame— 
 fully fled from his illr-governed kingdom. 
 
 The fame things are no lefs evident in Spain. No people ever defended 
 themfelves with more obftinacy and valour than the Spaniards did againft 
 the Carthaginians and Romans, who furpafled them in wealth and flvilL 
 Livy calls them " gentem ad bella gerenda et reparanda natam," and who 
 generally killed themfelves when they were maftered and difarmed, " nul- 
 -' lam fme armis vitam effe rati f." But though the mixture of Roman- 
 blood could not impair their race, and the conjundlion of the Goths had 
 improved their force ; yet no more was required for the overthrow of them 
 all, than the weaknefs and bafenefs of the two lewd tyrants Vitiza and ' 
 
 * Aiunt Honorio Ravennae agenti eunuchorum unum, aviario praepofitiun, attuli/Te 
 nujitium, Romam perifTc, eoque audito exclamafTe principeni,. " atqui modo de manu mea 
 comedit," dc gallo galliiiaceo tunc quoque cogitantem, queiri immcnfae magnitudinis Ro- 
 jiiam vocabaC. At eunuchum intelledlo errorc explicate dixiffe, amifTam Romam, capiente 
 Alaricho: ilium vcro, tanto Hupore fuifl'e dicitur, regefTifTe : " at ego, amice, gallum Ro- 
 " mam nobis periiffe ferio exiRiniabam." Procop. Hift. Vandal. 1. i 
 
 f Hifpania non quam Italia modo, fed quam ulla pars terrarum bcllo reparando aptior 
 erat, locorum hominumque ingeniis. Liv. 1. 28, c. 12. 
 
 Ferox geni nuUani vitam ratifme armis efle. Id. 1. 34, c. 17 
 
 Roderic,,
 
 i84 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 GllAf . II Roderic, who dlfdalned all laws, and refolved to govern according to their 
 luft. They, who for more than two hundred years had refiitcd the Romans, 
 were entirely lubdued by the vile, half-naked Moors, in one flight 
 fkirmilh ; and do not to this day know wliat became of the king who 
 brought the deftrudtion upon them. That kingdom, after many revolutions, 
 is with many others come to the houfe of Auftria, and enjoys all the 
 wealth of the Indies ; whereupon they are thought to have affected an 
 univeri'al monarchy. " Sed ut lunt levia aullcorum ingenia," this was 
 grounded upon nothing except their own vanity. They had money and 
 craft ; but, wanting that folid virtue and ftrength, which makes and 
 preferves conquefts, their kings have nothing but Milan, that did not 
 come to them by marriage. And though they have not received any 
 extraordinary dilufters in war, yet they languifli and confume through the 
 detedls of their own government, and are forced to beg affiftance from 
 their mortal and formerly defpifed enemies. Thel'e are the beft hopes of 
 detence that they have from abroad ; and the only enemy an invader 
 ought to fear in their defolate territories, is that want and famine which 
 teftifies the good order, ftrength, and ftability ot our author's divine 
 monarchy, the profound wifdom of their kings in fubtilly finding out fo 
 lure a way of defending the country, their paternal care in providing for 
 the good of their fubjeds, and that whatever is defective in the prince, is 
 afluredly fupplied by the fedulity of a good council. 
 
 We have already fliid enough to obviate the obje£lions that may be 
 drawn from the profperity of the French monarchy. The beauty of it is 
 falfe and painted. There is a rich and haughty king, who is blelVed with 
 fuch neighbours as are not likely to difturb him, and has nothing to fear 
 from his miferable fubjedts. But the whole body of that ftate is full of 
 boils, and wounds, and putrid fores : there is no real ftrength in it. 
 The people are fo unwilling to ferve him, that he is faid to have put to 
 death above fourfcore thoufand of his ov/n foldiers within the fpace of 
 ■fifteen years, for flying from their colours ; and if he were vigoroufly 
 attacked, little help could be expefted from a difcontented nobility, or a 
 rtarving and defpairing people. If to diminifli the force of thele argu- 
 ments and examples, it be faid, that in two or three thoufand years all 
 things are changed, the antient virtue of mankind is extinguilhcd, and 
 the love that every one had to his country is turned into a care of his 
 private interefts, I anlwer, that time changes nothing, and the changes 
 prodiiced in this time proceed only from the change of governments. 
 The nations which have been governed arbitrarily, have always fufi'cred 
 the fame plagues, and been infc(Sted with the fame vices : which is as 
 natural, as for animals ever to generate according to their kinds, and 
 fruits to be of the fame nature with the roots and feeds from which they 
 come. The fame order that made men valiant and induftrious in the 
 fervicc of their country during the firft ages, would have the fame cfled, 
 if it were now in being. Men would have the fame love to the public as 
 the Spartans and Romans had, if there was the fame reafon for it. We 
 
 need
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 185 
 
 need no other proof of this, than what we have fccn in our own country, SECT. 23 
 where, in a few years, good difcipline, and a juft encouragement given 
 to thofe who did well, produced more examples of pure, complete, incor- 
 ruptible, and invincible virtue, than Rome or Greece could ever boaft ; or 
 if more be wanting, they may ealily be found among the Switzers, Hol- 
 landers, and others : but it is not neccflary to light a candle to the fun. 
 
 SECTION XXIV 
 
 POPULAR GOVERNMENTS ARE LESS SUBJECT TO CIVIL DISORDERS 
 
 THAN MONARCHIES, MANAGE THEM MORE ABLY, AND 
 
 MORE EASILY RECOVER OUT OF THEM. 
 
 It is in vain to feek a government in all points free from a poffd^ility of 
 civil wars, tumults, and feditions ; that is a bleffing denied to this life, and 
 referved to complete the felicity of the next. But if thefe are to be 
 accounted the greateft evils that can fall upon a people, the redtitude or 
 defedls of governments will bell appear, if we examine which fpecics is 
 more or ids expofed to or exempted from them. 
 This may be done two ways. 
 
 1 . By fearching into the caufes from whence they may or ufually do arife. 
 
 2. By inquiring which kind has actually been moft frequently and 
 dangeroufly difturbed by them.. 
 
 I. Seditions, tumults, and wars, do arife from miftake, or from malice, 
 from jult occafions, or unjufi; : from miftake, when a people thinks an 
 evil to be done or intended, which is not done nor intended, or takes that 
 to be evil which is done, though in, truth it be not fo. Well-regulated 
 cities may fall into thefe errors. The Romans, being jealous of their 
 newly recovered liberty, thought that Valerius Publicola dcfigned to 
 make himfelf king, when he built a houfc in a place that feemed too 
 ftrong and eminent for a private man. The Spartans were not lefs iufpi- 
 cious of Lycurgus; and a lewd young fellow in a fedition put out one of 
 his eyes. But no people ever continued in a more conftant affedtion to 
 their beft deferving citizens, than both the Romans and Spartans 
 afterwards manifefted to thofe virtuous and wrongfully fufpeded men. 
 
 Sometimes the fadl is true, but otherwife underftood than was intended. 
 When the Tarquins were expelled from Rome, the patricians retained to 
 themlelves the principal magiftracies ; but never thought of bringing back 
 kings, or of fetting up a corrupt oligarchy among themfelves, as the 
 plebeians imagined. This miftake being difcovered, the fury they 
 had conceived, vanifhed ; and they, who feemed to intend nothing lefs 
 than the extirpation of all the patrician families, grew quiet. Menenius 
 Agrippa appealed one of the moft violent feditions that ever happened 
 among than (till civil interefts were purfued by armed troops) with a fable 
 
 B b of
 
 ^86 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. II of the leveral parts of the body that murmured againft the belly * : and 
 the moil dangerous of all was compofed by creating tribunes to protedt 
 them. Some of the patrician young men had favoured the decemviri, 
 and others being unwilling to appear againft them, the people believed 
 they had all confpired with thofe new tyrants. But Valerius and Horatius 
 putting themfelves at the head of thofe who fought their defcrudlion, they 
 perceived their error, and looked upon the patricians as the beft defenders 
 of their liberties : " et inde," fays Livy, " auram liberlatis captare, unde 
 " fervitutem timuiffent "f." Democratical governments are moft liable to 
 thefe miftakes : in ariflocracies they are feldom feen. We hear of none 
 in Sparta, after the eftablilhment of the laws by Lycurgus : but abfolute 
 monarchies feem to be totally exempted from them. The mifchiefs 
 defigned are often diilembled or denied, till they are pad all pofTibility of 
 being cured by any other way than force. And fuch as are by neceffity 
 driven to ufe that remedy know they muft perfed: their work, or perifh. 
 , He that draws his fword againft the prince, fay the French, ought to throw 
 
 away the fcabbard: for though the defign be ever fo juft, yet the authors 
 are fure to be ruined if they mifcarr)^ Peace is feldom made, and never 
 kept, unlefs the fubjeft retain fuch a power in his hands, as may oblige 
 the prince to ftand to what is agreed : and in time fome trick Is found to 
 deprive them of that benefit. 
 
 Seditions proceeding from malice are feldom or never feen in popular 
 governments ; for they are hurtful to the people, and none have ever 
 willingly and knowingly hurt themfelves. There may be, and often is 
 malice in thofe who excite them ; but the people are ever deceived, and 
 whatever is thereupon done ought to be imputed to error, as I faid before. 
 If this be difcovered in time, it ufually turns to the deftrudlion of the 
 contriver; as in the cafes of Manlius Capitolinus, Spurius Moelius, and 
 Spurius Caffius : if not, for the moft part it produces a tyranny, as in 
 thofe of Agathocles, Dionyfius, Pififtratus, and Caefar. But in abfolute 
 monarchies, almoft all the troubles that arife proceed from malice. They 
 cannot be reformed, the cxtinftion of them is exceeding difficult, if they 
 have continued long enough, to corrupt the people ; and thofe who appear 
 againft them, feek only to fet up themfelves, or their friends. Thus we 
 fee, that in the civil wars of the eaft, the queftion was, whether Artax- 
 erxes or Cyrus, Phraatcs or Bardanes, fiiould reign over the Perfians and 
 Parthians : the people fuff^cred equally from both while the contefts laftcd,-- 
 and the decifion left them under the power of a proud and cruel mafter. 
 The like is feen in all places. After the death of Brutus and Caffius, no 
 war was ever undertaken in the Roman empire upon a better account than- 
 one man's private concernments : the provinces fuffcred under all ; and 
 he, whom they had afl!ifted^ to overthrow one wicked tyrant, very often 
 proved worfe than his predeceff'or. The only ground of all the diOen- 
 tions, with which France was vexed under tlie princes of Meroveus and 
 
 * Liv. I. 2, c. 32 t I''^-- '• 3» ^- 37 
 
 Pepin's
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 187 
 
 Pepin's races, were, which of them fhould reign, the people remaining sect. 24 
 milcrable under them all. 
 
 The cal'e is not much different in mixed monarchies. Some wars may- 
 be undertaken upon a jufl: and public account, but the pretences are com- 
 monly falfe : a lading reformation is hardly introduced, an entire change 
 often didikcd. And though iiich kingdoms arc frequently and terribly 
 diftradled, as appears by the before-mentioned examples of England, 
 Spain, &c. the quarrels are, for the moftpart, begun upon pcrfonal titles, 
 as between Henry the firfl and Robert, Stephen and Maud, or the houfes 
 of Lancafter and York. And the people, who get nothing by the vidory 
 which way foever it fall, and might therefore prudently leave the com- 
 petitors to decide their own quarrels, like Eteocles and Polynices, with 
 their own fwords, become cruelly engaged in them. 
 
 It may feem flrange to fomc that I mention feditions, tumults, and wars, 
 iipon juft occafions ; but I can find no reafon to retra£t the term. God, 
 intending that men fhould live juftly v/ith one another, does certainly intend, 
 that he or they, who do no wrong, Ihould fuffer none ; and the law that 
 forbids injuries were of no ufe, if no penalty might be inflided on thofe 
 who will not obey it. If injuftice therefore be evil, and injuries forbidden, 
 they are alfo to be punillied ; and the law inftituted for their prevention 
 muft necefiarily intend the avenging of fuch as cannot be prevented. The 
 work of the magiftracy is to execute this law: the fword of jullice is put 
 into their hands to reftrain the fury of thofe within the fociety, who VN'ill 
 not be a law to themfelves ; and the fword of war to protedl the people 
 againft the violence of foreigners. This is without exception, and would 
 be in vain if it were not. But the magiftrate, who is to protedl the people 
 from injury, may, and is often known not to have done it. He fome- 
 times renders his office ufelefs by negle£ting to do juftice ; fometimes 
 mifchievous by overthrowing it. This ftrikes at the root of God's general 
 ordinance, that there fhould be laws, and the particular ordinances of all 
 focieties, that appoint fuch as feem heft to them. The magiftrate therefore 
 is comprehended under both, and fubjedl to both, as well as private men. 
 
 The ways of preventing or punifhing injuries are judicial or extraju- 
 dicial. Judicial proceedings are of force againft thofe who fubmit or may 
 be brought to trial ; but are of no effed: againft thofe who refift, and are 
 of fuch power that they cannot be conftrained. It were abfurd to cite a 
 man to appear before a tribunal who can awe the judges, or has armies to 
 defend him ; and impious to think, that he, who has added treachery to 
 his other crimes, and ufurped a power above the law, fliould be prote^fted 
 by the enormity of his wickednefs. Legal proceedings therefore are to 
 be ufed when the delinquent fubmits to the law ; and ail are juft, when he 
 will not be kept in order by the legal. 
 
 The word fedition is generally applied to all numerous aflemblics, 
 without or againft the authority of the magiftrate, or of thofe who allume 
 that power. Athaiiah and Jezebel were more ready to cry out trealon 
 
 B b 2 thaa
 
 i88 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. II than David: and examples of that fort are fo frequent, that I need not 
 allege them. 
 
 Tumult is from the diforderly manner of thofe aflemblies, where things 
 can fcldom be done regularly ; and war is that " decertatio per vim," or 
 trial by force, to which men come when other ways are ineffedlual *. 
 
 If the laws of God and men are therefore of no effedt, when the ma- 
 giftracy is left at liberty to break them, and if the lufts of thofe, who are 
 too ftrong for the tribunals of juftice, cannot be otherwife reftrained, than 
 by fedilion, tumults, and war, thofe feditions, tumults, and wars, are 
 juftihed by the laws of God and man. 
 
 I will not take upon me to enumerate all the cafes in which this may be 
 done, but content myfelf with three, which have moft frequently given 
 occafion for proceedings of this kind. 
 
 The firft is, when one or more men take upon them the power and 
 name of a magiftracy, to which they are not juftly called. 
 
 The fecond, when one or more, being juftly called, continue in their 
 magiftracy longer than the laws by which they are called do prefcribe. 
 
 And the third, when he or they, who are rightly called, do aflume a 
 power, though within the time prefcribed, that the law does not give ; or 
 turn that which the law does give, to an end different and contrary to that 
 which is intended by it. 
 
 For the firft, Filmer forbids us to examine titles. He tells us, we muft 
 fubmit to the power, whether acquired by ufurpation or otherwife ; not 
 obferving the mifchievous abfurdity of rewarding the moft dcteftable 
 villainies with the higheft honours, and rendering the veneration due to 
 the fupreme magiftrate, as father of the people, to one who has no other 
 advantage above his brethren, than what he has gained by injurioufly 
 difpoffcfting or murdering him that was fo. Hobbes, fearing the advan- 
 tages that may be taken from fuch defperate nonfenfe, or not thinking it 
 neccflary to his end to carry the matter fo far, has no regard at ail to hinv 
 who comes la without title or confent ; and, denying him to be either 
 king or tyrant, gives him no other name than " hoftis et latro ; " and allows 
 ;iil things to be lawtul againft him, that may be done to a public enemy 
 or pirate i" : which is as much as to fay, any man may deftroy him how 
 he can. Whatever he may be guilty of in other refpe£ls, he does in this 
 follow the voice of mankind, and the didlates of common fenfe : for no 
 man can make himfclf a magiftrate for himfclf ; and no man can have the 
 right of a magiftrate, vcho is not a magiftrate. If he be juftly accounted 
 
 * Cicerodixit bellumcertf.tioncmpsr vim. Grot, de Jure Belli, ]. i,c. i, § 2. Cum 
 
 fint duo genera decertandi, unum per difccptationem, altcrum per vim ; cuir.que illud pro— 
 prium fithominis, hoc belluarum, confugicndum cfl ad poftcrius, fi uti non licet fupcriore. 
 Cic, de Offic. 1. I, § 34 
 
 t Si in civitatc democratica, vel ariftocrntica, fummum imperium civis aliqiiis vi occu- 
 parct, habito civiuin confcnfu, Icgitimus lit monaicha ; co confcnfu non habito, hofti.s cil, 
 non tyrannus, Hobbes de Civc, c. 7, § 3 
 
 Is qitem occidi, ut tyrannum, vokint, vcl jure impcr.it, vcl abfquc jure :, fi ubfquc jure, 
 hoiUs eft, ft jure occiditur. Ibid. c. J2, § 3 
 
 an
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 189- 
 
 an enemy to all, v^ho injures all, he above all muft be the public enemy sect. 24 
 of a nation, who, by ufurping a power over them, does the greatcft and 
 moft public injury that a people can fufFer. For which reafon, by an 
 eftablifhed law among the moft virtuous nations, every man might kill a 
 tyrant ; and no names are recorded in liiftory with more honour, than of 
 thofe who did it. 
 
 Thefe are by other authors called " tyranni fine titulo." And that 
 name is given to all thofe who obtain the fupreme power by illegal and 
 unjuft means. The laws which they overthrow can give them no pro- 
 tedion ; and every man is a foldier againft him who is a public enemy. 
 
 The fame rule holds, though they are more in number ; as the magi, 
 who ufurped the dominion of Perfia after the death of Cambyfes ; the 
 thirty tyrants at Athens overthrown by Thrafybulus ; thofe of Thebes 
 flain'by Pclopidas ; the decem.viri of Rome, and others. For though the 
 multitude of offenders may fometimes procure impunity, yet that a(ft 
 which is wicked in one, mull be fo in ten or twenty ; and whatever is- 
 lawful againft one ufurper is fo againft them all. 
 
 2. If thofe who were rightly created continue beyond the time limited' 
 by the law, it is the fame thing. That which is expired is as if it had 
 never been. He that was created conful for a year, or didator for fix 
 months, was after that a private man ; and, if he had continued in the 
 cxercife of his magiftracy, had been fubjecl to the fame puniiliment as if 
 he had ufiirped it at the firft. This was known to Epaininondas ; who 
 finding that his enterprize againft Sparta could not be accomplilhed within 
 the time for which he was made Boeotarchon, rather chofe to truft his-, 
 countrymen with his life than to defift * ; and was faved merely through 
 an admiration of his virtue, aflurance of his good intentions, and the 
 glory of the a£lion. 
 
 The Roman decemviri, though duly ele£led, were proceeded againft as 
 private men ufurping the magiftracy, when they continued beyond their 
 time. Other magiftrates had ceafed ; there was none that could regularly 
 Gall the fenate or people to an aflembly. But when their ambition was 
 manifeft, and the people exafperated by the death of Virginia, they laid 
 afide all ceremonies. The fenate and people met ; and, exercifing their 
 authority in the fame manner, as if they had been regularly called by the 
 magiftrate appointed to that end, they abrogated the power of the decem- 
 viri, proceeded againft them as enemies and tyrants, and by that means, 
 preferved. themfelves from utter ruin. 
 
 3. The fame courfe is juftly ufed againft a legal magiftrate, who takes- 
 upon him, though within the time prelcribed by the law, to exercife a 
 power which the law docs not give ; for in that refpesS he is a private 
 
 * Lex erat Thebis, quae movte mulabat, fi quis imperium diutius retinuiflct, qitain lege 
 praefinitum foret. Hanc Epamlnondas, cum reipublicae confervandae caufa latam videret, 
 ad pemiciem civitatis couferre noluit ; et quatuor menfibus diutius, quam populuv jufienit, 
 gejiit imperium. Nep. iu vita Epam. c. 7. Xen. Hilt. Graec.l. 7. Pint, in vita Pdopidae. 
 
 man.
 
 190 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. !l man, " quia," "as Grotius fays, eatenus non habet imperium *," and may 
 be reftrained as well as any other, becaufe he is not fet up to do what he 
 lifts, but what the law appoints for the good of the people ; and as he 
 has no other power than what the law allows, fo the fame law limits and 
 directs the exercife of that which he has. This right, naturally belonging 
 to nations, is no way impaired by the name of fiipreme given to their 
 Kiagiftrates; for it fignihes no more, than that they do a£t fovereignly in 
 the matters committed to their charge. Thus are the parliaments of 
 France called " cours fouveraines ; " for they judge of life and death, 
 determine controverfies concerning eftates, and there is no appeal from 
 their decrees. But no man ever thought, that it was therefore lawful for 
 them to do what they pleafed ; or that they might not be oppofed, if they 
 iliould attempt to do that which they ought not. And though the Roman 
 dictators and confuls were fupreme magiftrates, they were fubjeft to the 
 people, and might be punifhed, as well as others, if they tranfgreffed the 
 hxw. Thuanus carries the word fo far, that when Burlota, Giuftiniano, 
 and others who were but colonels, were fent as commanders in chief of 
 three or four thoufand men upon an enterprize, he always fays, " fum- 
 mum imperium ei delatumf." Grotius explains this point, by diftin- 
 guifhing thofe who have the " fummum imperium fummo modo," from 
 thofe who have it " modo non fummo if." I know not where to find an 
 example of this fovereign power, enjoyed without reftridion, under a 
 better title than " occupation ; " which relates not to our purpofe, who 
 fcek only that which is legal and juft. Therefore, laying afide that point 
 for the prefent, we may follow Grotius in examining the right of thofe 
 who are certainly limited, " ubi partem imperii habet rex, partem fenatus 
 "" five populus : " in which cafe he fays, " rcgi in partem non fuam 
 " involanti vis jufta opponi poteft;" inafmuch 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 efFe(3:§. 
 The particular limits of the rights belonging to each can only be judged 
 hj the precife letter, or general intention of the law. The dukes of 
 Venice have certainly a part in the government, and could not be called 
 magiftrates, if they had not. They are faid to be fupreme: all laws and 
 public ads bear their names. The embalfador of the ftatc, fpeaking to 
 
 * Si rex partem haheat fumnii imperii, partem alteram populus, aut fenatus, regi in par- 
 tem non fuam involanti vis jufta opponi potcrit, quia eatenus imperium non habet. Qiiod 
 locum habere cenfto, etianifi diii'cum fit, belli poteftatem penes regcm fore : id enim de bello 
 ex crno intelligcndum efc ; cum alioqui quifquis imperii fummi partem habeat non pofllt ndn 
 jus habere earn partem tuendi : quod ubi fit, poteft rex etium fuam imperii partem belli jure 
 amittere. Grot, de Jure Belli, 1. i, c. 4, § 13 
 
 t Fontano fecundum Ronacum praecipuus obfulionis perfequcndac auftor erat Burlota : 
 ci curadata, ut ex Ronaei confilio cunfta in vallo tuendo ordinarct, et cum fummo imperio 
 
 kico praecflfct. Thuan. Hift. 1. 113, p. 562. Edit. Gencv. 1626. Urbi cum fummo 
 
 impeno praccrat Locus caftrorum praefcdus. Ibid. 1. 45, p. 592. In iis crant dccc 
 
 cquites, quibus cum fummo imperio praecratS. Sforli.i, comes Sanflorius. Ibid. 1. 45, p. 577 
 
 J Grot, dc Jure Belli, 1. 1, «. 3, § 16 § Ibid. 1. i, c. 4, § 13 
 
 pope
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 191 
 
 pope Paul the fifth, denied that he acknowledged any other fupcrlor 3ECT. 24 
 bclides God *. But they are fo well known to be under the power of the 
 law, that divers of them have been put to death for tranfgreffing It ; and 
 a marble gallows is feen at the foot of the flairs in St. Mark's palace, upon 
 which fome of them, and no others, have been executed- But if they 
 may be duly oppofed, when they commit undue a£ls, no man of judge- 
 ment will deny, that if one of them by an outrageous violence fliould 
 endeavour to overthrow the law,, he might by violence be fuppreflcd 
 and chaftlfed. 
 
 Again, fome maglftrates are entrufted with a power of providing flilps, 
 arms, ammunition, and viduals for war, raifing and difcipllning foldicrs.^ 
 appointing officers to command in forts and garrifons, and making 
 leagues with foreign princes and ftates. But if one of tliefe Ihould Im- 
 bezzle, fell, or give to an enemy thofe fliips, arms, ammunition, or 
 provlfions, betray the forts, employ only or principally fuch men as will 
 ferve him In thofe wicked adions, and, contrary to the truft repofed In 
 him, make fuch leagues with foreigners, as tend to the advancement of 
 his perfonal interefts, and to the detriment of the public, he abrogates 
 his own maglflracy ; and the right he had, periOies, as the lawyers fay, 
 " fruftratlone finis." He cannot be proteded by the law vsdiich he has. 
 overthrown, nor obtain impunity for his crimes from the authority that 
 was conferred upon him, only that he might do good with It. He was 
 " fingulls major," on account of the excellence of his office ; but " unlr- 
 " verfis minor," from the nature and end of his Inftltutlon. The fureft 
 way of extinguifliing his prerogative was by turning It to the hurt of 
 thoie who gave It. When matters are brought to this pofture, the author 
 of the mifchlef, or the nation, muft perlfh. A flock cannot fubflft under 
 a fliepherd that feeks its ruin, nor a people under an unfaithful magiftrate. 
 Honour and riches arejuftly heaped upon the heads of thofe who rightly 
 perform their duty, becaufe the difficulty as well as the excellency of the 
 work is great. It requires courage, experience, Induftry, fidelity, and 
 wifdom. " The good fliepherd, fays our Saviour, lays down his life for 
 " his flieep." The hireling, who flies In time of danger. Is reprefented 
 under an 111 characSter ; but he that fets himfelf to deftroy his flock. Is a. 
 wolf. His authority Is Incompatible with their fubfiflence. And whoever 
 difapproves tumults, fedltlons, or war, by which he may be removed 
 from it, if gentler means are incfi'eiStuai, fubyerts the foundation of all 
 law, exalts the fury of one man. to the deftrudlon of a nation, and 
 giving an irrefiftible power to the moft abominable Irdqulty, expofes all 
 that are good to be deftroyed, and virtue to be utterly extlngulfhed. 
 
 Few will allow fuch a pre-eminence to the dukes of Venice or Genoai 
 the avoyers of Switzerland t, or the burgomafters of Amfterdam. Many 
 
 * Vfiietorum princeps neminom in temporalibus praetcr Dcum fe fuperiorem agnofcit. 
 Thuan. Hift. 1. 137, p. 1250, 1258., Edit. Genev. 1626 
 
 f Les jugcs de SiiilTe s' appellent encore avoyers, c'eft a dire, defenfeurs dc la juftice, et 
 du peuple opprime. Dicl, Univ. par M. Furctkre. . 
 
 wID.
 
 igz DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAR. 11 will fay thefe are rafcals if they prove falfe, and ought rather to be hanged* 
 thanfufFered to accomplilh the villainies they defign. But if this be con- 
 tefled in relation to the higheft magiftrates that are among thole nations, 
 why fhould not the fame*be in all others, by what name foever they are 
 called ? When did God confer upon thofe nations the extraordinary 
 privilege ot providing better for their own fafety than others ? Or was the 
 gift univerfal, though the benefit accrue only to thofe who have banilhcd 
 great titles from amo'ng them ? If this be fo, it is not their felicity, but 
 their wifdom, that we ought to admire and imitate. But why fliould any 
 think their anceftors had not the fame care ? Have not they, who retained 
 in themfelves a power over a magiftrate of one name, the like over 
 another ? Is there a charm in words, or any name of fuch efficacy, that he 
 who receives it fhould immediately become mafter of thofe that created 
 him ; whereas all others do remain for ever iubjedl to them ? Would the 
 Venetian government change its nature, if they fhould give the name of 
 king to their prince ? Are the Polanders lefs free fmce the title of king is 
 conferred upon their dukes ? Or are the Mofcovites lefs flaves, becaufe 
 their chief magiftrate has no other than that of duke ? If we examine 
 things but a little, it will appear, that magiftrates have enjoyed large 
 powers, who never had the name of kings ; and none were ever more 
 reftrained by hnvs than thole of Sparta, Arragon, the Goths in Spain, 
 Hungary, Bohemia, Sweden, Denmark, Poland, and others, who had 
 that title. There is therefore no fuch thing as a right univerfally belonging 
 to a name ; but every one enjoys that which the laws, by which he is, 
 •conter upon him. The law that gives the power, regulates it. And 
 they, who give no more than what they plcafe, cannot be obliged to 
 lufFer him to whom they give it, to take more than they thought fit to 
 give, or to go unpunifhed if he do. The agreements made are always 
 confirmed by oath, and the treachery of violating them is confequcnlly 
 aggravated by perjury. They are excellent philofophers, and able divines, 
 who think that this can create a right to thofe who had none ; or that the 
 Jaws can be a protedion to fuch as overthrow them, and give opportunity 
 of doing the mifchicls they defign ! If not, then he that was a magiftrate, 
 by fuch adlions returns into the condition of a private man ; and whatever 
 is lawful againft a thief, who f.ibmits to no law, is lawful againft him. 
 Men who delight in cavils may afk, who fhall be the judge of thefe 
 occafions ? and whether I intend to give to the people the decifion of their 
 own caufe ? To which I anfwer, that when the conteft is between the 
 magiftrate and the people, the party, to which the determination is 
 referred, muft be the judge of his own cafe ; and the queftion is only, 
 whether the magiftrate fliould depend upon the judgment of the people, 
 or the people on that of the magiftrate, and which is moft to be fufpeded 
 of injufiice ? that is, whether the people of Rome fliould judge Tarquin, or 
 Tarqiiin judge the people i* He that knew all good men abhorred him for 
 the murder of his wife, brother, father-in-law, and the beft of the fenate, 
 would certainly ftrikc off the heads of the moft eminent remaining popples ; 
 
 3 aod
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 195- 
 
 nnd having incurred the general hatred of the people by the wickednefs of sect. 24 
 
 his government, he feared revenge ; and endeavouring to deftroy thofe he * 
 
 feared, that is the city, he might eafily have accompliflied his work, if 
 
 the judgment had been referred to him. If the people judge Tarquin, it 
 
 is hard to imagine how they fliould be brought to give an unjufl: fentence : 
 
 they loved their former kings, and hated him only for his villainies : they 
 
 did not fancy, but know his cruelty. When the heft were llain, no man 
 
 that any way refembled them could think himfelf fecure. Brutus did aot 
 
 pretend to be a fool, till, by the murder of his brother, he found how 
 
 dangerous a thing it was to be thought wife. If the people, as our author 
 
 fays, be always lewd, foolifh, mad, wicked, and defirous to put the 
 
 power into the hands of fuch as are moll like to themfclves, he and his 
 
 fons were fuch men as they fought, and he was fure to find favourable 
 
 judges : if virtuous and good, no injuftice was to be feared from them, 
 
 and he coald have no other reafon to decline their judgment, than what 
 
 was fuggefted by his own wickednefs. Caligula, Nero, Domitian, and 
 
 the like, had probably the fame confiderations. But no man of common 
 
 fenfe ever thought that the fenate and people of Rome did not better 
 
 deferve to judge, whether fuch monfters fliould reign over the heft part of 
 
 mankind to their deftruftion, than they to determine whether their Crimea 
 
 ihould be puniflied or not. 
 
 If I mention fome of thefe known cafes, every man's experience will 
 fuggeft: others of the like nature. And whoever condemns all feditions, 
 tumults, and wars, railed againfl; fuch princes, mufl: fiy, that none are 
 wicked, or feek the ruin of their people, which is abfurd ; for Caligula 
 wifhed the people had but one neck, that he might cut it off at a blow. * 
 Nero fet the city on fire f. And we have known fuch as have been worfe 
 than either of them. They mufl either be fufi'cred to continue in the free 
 cxercife of their rage, that is, to do all the mifchief they defign, or mull 
 be reftrained by a legal, judicial, or extrajudicial way. They who difal- 
 low the extrajudicial, do as little like the judicial. They will not hear of 
 bringing a fupreme magiflrate before a tribunal, when it may be done. 
 " They will," fays our author, " depofe their kings." Why fhould they 
 not be depofed, if they become enemies to their people, and fet up an 
 interefl in their own perfons inconfiflent with public good, for the pro- 
 moting of which they were ere(£led ? If they were created by the public 
 confent, for the public good, fhall they not be removed vs^hen they prove 
 to be of public damage ? If they fet up themfelves, may they not be thrown 
 down ? Shall it be lawful for them to ufurp a power over the liberty of 
 others, and fhall it not be lawful for an injured people to refume their. 
 
 * Infenfus turbr.e exclamavit, " utinam populus Romanus unam cervicem habcret!" 
 Suet, in vita Calig. § 30 
 
 f Qiiafi offeiifus deformitate veterum aedificiorum, et anguftiis fiexurifque vicormn, 
 incendit urbem .... Hoc iiicendium e tiirri Maccenatiana profpct'lirins, laetufque " flam- 
 mae," ut aiebat, " pulcritudine," a.Xu<nv Uii in illo fuo icejiico habitu dccajitavit. Suet, 
 in vita Neronis, § 38. Tacit. Ann.l. 15, § 38 
 
 C c own ?
 
 r94. DISCOURSES CONCERNIKG GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. It own ■ If injuflice exalt itfelf, muft it be for ever eftablifhed ? Shall great 
 pcrfbns be rendered facred by rapine, perjury, and murder ? Shall the 
 crinifs, for ■vvliich private men do juftly fufFer the moft grievous punilli- 
 'inetits, exempt them from all, who commit them in the highell excels, 
 with moll power, and moft to the prejudice of mankind ? Shall the la\vs 
 that folcly aim at the prevention of crimes be made to patronize them, and 
 becon\e fnares to the innocent, whom they ought to protcft ? Has every 
 man given up into the common ftore his right of avenging the injuries he 
 may receive, that the public power, which ought to protcfTt or avenge 
 him, Ihould be turned to the deftruftion of himfelf, his pofterity, and the 
 iociety into which they enter, without any poflibility of redrefs ? Shall 
 the ordinance of God be rendered of no effedl ; or the powers he has 
 appointed to be fet up, for the diftribution of juftice, be made fubiervient 
 to the lufts of one or a few men, and by impunity encourage them to 
 commit all manner of crimes ? Is the corruption of man's nature fo little 
 known, that fuch as have common fenfe fliould expedl juftice from thole, 
 who fear no punifhment if they do injuftice ; or that the modefty, integrity, 
 and innocence, which is feldom found in one man, though ever fo cau- 
 tioufly chofen, fhould be conftantly found in all thofe who by any means 
 attain to greatnefs, ' and continue for ever in their fucceffors ; or that there 
 can be any fecurity under their government, if they have tJiem not ? 
 Surely if this were the condition of men living under government, forefts 
 would be more fafe than cities ; and it were better for every man to ftand 
 in his own defence, than to enter into focieties. He that lives alone 
 might encounter fuch as fhould aflault him upon equal terms, and ftand 
 or fall according to the meafure of his courage and ftrength ; but no valour 
 can defend him, if the malice of his enemy be upheld by a public power. 
 There muft therefore be a right of proceeding judicially or extrajudicially 
 againft all perfons who tranfgrefs the laws ; or elfe thofe laws, and the 
 focieties that fhould fubiift by them, cannot ftand; and the ends for 
 which governments are conftituted, together with ihe governments them- 
 felves, muft be overthrown. Extrajudicial proceedings, by fedition, 
 tumult, or war, muft take place, when the perfons concerned are of fuch 
 power, that they cannot be brought under the judicial. They who deny 
 this deny all help againft an ufurping tyrant, or the perfidioufnefs of a 
 lawfully created magiftrate, who adds the crimes of ingratitude and 
 treachery to uiurpation. Thefe of all men are the moft dangerous enemies 
 to fupreme raagiftrates. For as no man defires indemnity for fuch crimes as 
 are never committed, he that would exempt all from punilhment, fuppofes 
 they will be guilty of the worft ; and by concluding, that the people will 
 dcpofe them if they have the power, acknowledges, that they purfue an 
 intereft annexed to their perfons, contrary to that of their people, which 
 they would not bear if they could deliver themfelves from it. This, 
 /hewing all thofe governments to be tyrannical, laysfucha burden upon thofe 
 who adminifter them, as muft ncccflarily weigh them down to deftruQion. 
 
 If
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 195 
 
 If it be Taid, that the word fedition implies that which is evil, I anfwer, SECT. 24 
 that it ought not then to be applied to thofe who feck nothing but that 
 which is juft ; and though the ways of delivering an opprefled people 
 from the violence of a wicked magiftrate, who has armed a crew of lewd 
 villains, and fatted them with the blood and conhfcations of fuch as were 
 moffc ready to oppofe them, be extraordinary, the inward righteoulnefs of 
 the adl does fully juftify the authors. " He that has virtue and power to 
 *' fave a people, can never want a right of doing it." Valerius Afiaticus 
 had no hand in the death of Caligula ; but when the furious guards began 
 tumultuoufly to inquire who had killed him, he appcafed them with 
 wifhing he had been the man *. No wife man ever afked by what autho- 
 rity Thrafybulus, Harmodius, Ariflogiton, Pelopidas, F.paminondas, 
 Dion, Timoleon, Lucius Brutus, Publicola, Horatius, Valerius, Marcus 
 lirutus. Galas CafTuis, and the like, delivered their countries from tyrants. 
 Their actions carried in themfelves their own juftification, and their virtues 
 will never be forgotten, while the names of Greece and Rome are remem- 
 bered in the world. 
 
 If this be not enough to declare the juftice inherent in, and the glory 
 that ought to accompany thefe works, the examples of Mofes, Aaron, 
 Othniel, Ehud, Barak, Gideon, Samuel, Jephthah, David, Jehu, Jeh )- 
 iada, the Maccabees, and other holy men raifcd up by God ftr the 
 deliverance of his people from their oppreflbrs, decide the queftion. They 
 are perpetually renowned for having led the people by extraordinary ways 
 (which fuch as our author exprefs under the names of fedition, tumult, 
 and war) to recover their liberties, and avenge the injuries received from 
 foreign or domeftic tyrants. The w^ork of the apoftles was not in their 
 time to fet up or pull down any civil ftate ; but they fo behaved themfelves 
 in relation to all the powers of the earth, that they gained the name of 
 peftilent, feditious fellows, difturbers of the people ; and left it as an 
 inheritance to thofe, who, in fucceeding ages, by following their fleps, 
 fhould deferve to be called their fucceflbrs ; whereby tliey Avere expofed ta 
 the hatred of corrupt magiftrates, and brought under the nccelhty of 
 perifliing by them, or defending themfelves againft them. And he who 
 denies them that right does at once condemn the mofl: glorious ad;ions of 
 the wifeft, heft, and holieft men that have been in the world, together 
 with the laws of God and man, upon which they were founded. 
 
 Neverthelefs, there is a fort of fedition, tumult, and war, proceeding 
 from malice, which is always deteftable, aiming only at the fatistadlion of 
 private luft, without regard to the public good. This cannot happen in a 
 popular government, imlefs it be among the rabble ; or when the body of 
 the people is fo corrupted, that it cannot ftand ; but is moft frequent in, 
 and natural to abfolute monarchies. When Abimelech defired to make 
 himfelf king, he railed a tumult among the bafeft of the people : 
 *' he hired light and vain perfons," fome tranflatlons call them lewd vaga- 
 
 • EjiGtfj'W «-J!oi' ctTTfXTsvitK. Dion, Cafs. 1. 59 
 
 t^ c 2 bonds.
 
 196 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP.. II bonds, killed his brethren, but periflied in his defign, the corrupt party 
 that favoured him not having ftrength enough to lubdue the other, who 
 were more fmcere *". Spurius MoeUus, Spurius Caflius, and Manhus, 
 attempted the like in Rome f : they aded malicioufly ; their pretences to 
 procure the public good were falle. It is probable, that fome in the city 
 were as bad as they, and knev/ that mifchief was intended ; but the body 
 of the people not being corrupted, they were fuppreffed. It appeared, 
 fays Livy, " nihil eiTe minus populare quam regnum :};." They who had 
 favoured Manlius condemned him to death, when it was proved, that 
 *' egregias alioqui virtutes foeda regni cupiditate maculaffet §." But 
 wdien the people is generally corrupted, fuch deilgns feldom mifcarry, 
 and the fuccefs is always the eredion of a tyranny. Nothing elle can 
 pleafe vain and profligate perfons, and no tyranny was ever fet up by fuch 
 as were better qualified. The ways of attaining it have always been by 
 corrupting the manners of the people, bribing foldiers, entertaining mer- 
 cenary ftrangers, opening prlfons, giving liberty to flaves, alluring 
 indigent perfons with hopes of abollihing debts, coming to a new divifion 
 of lands, and the like. Seditions railed by fuch men always tend to the 
 ruin of popular governments ; but when they happen under abfolute 
 monarchies, the hurt Intended is only to the perfon, who being removed, 
 the promoters of them fet up another ; and he that is fet up, fubiilling 
 only by the ftrength of thofe who made him, is obliged to foment the 
 vices that drew them to ferve him ; though another may perhaps make 
 u{e of the fame againfl him. 
 
 The confequence of this Is, that thofe, who uphold popular govern- 
 
 ■ ments, look upon vice and indigence as mifchiefs that naturally increafe 
 
 ■■ each other, and equally tend to the ruin of the ftate. When men are by 
 
 vice brought into want, they are ready for mifchief. There is no villainy 
 
 ■ that men of profligate lives, lofl: reputation, and defperate fortunes, will 
 
 ' not undertake. Popular equality is an enemy to thefe ; and they who 
 
 ' would preferve it muft preferve integrity of mannci-s, fobrlety, and an 
 
 honelf contentednefs with what the law allows. On the other fide, the 
 
 abfolute monarch, who will have no other law than his own will, defires 
 
 * Judg. ch. 9, V. ^ — 55 
 
 t Motlius, ut eft hiinianus animus infatiabilis CO quod fortuna fpondet, ad altiora et non 
 concelTa tendere ; et quoniam confulatus quoque cripiciidus iiivitis patribus eflet, de regno 
 agitare, etc. Liv. 1. 4, c. 13 
 
 Caffius, quia in agraria largitione ambitiofus in focios, eoque civibiis vilior erat, ut alio 
 muncre fibi reconciliarct civium animos, juberepro Sicula frumcnto pecuniam acceptam retri- 
 bui populo. Id vero baud fccus, quam praefentem merccdem regni afpernata plcbs : adco. 
 propter fufpieionem infitam regni, vclut abiindarent omnia, munera ejus in animis homi- 
 rum refpuebantui-; quem ubi primum magiftratu abiit, damnatum, necatumque conftat. 
 Liv. 1. 2, c. 41 
 
 M. Manlius, unde Gallos dcpulcrat, inde ipfe praecipitatus eft ; quia fortit-ir defeiifam 
 lib-'rtatem ncfarie opprimcre conatus fuerat. Val. Max. 1. 6, c. 3, § i. Liv. 1. 6, c. 1 1 — 20 
 
 X Liv. 1. 6, c. ig 
 
 § lUud notandiim vidctur, ut fciant homines, quae et quanta decora focda cupiditas 
 regni, uon ingrata folum, fed invifa etiam rcddidcrit. Ibid. c. 20 
 
 to
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT4 197 
 
 to increafe the number of thofe, who through Icwdnefs and beggary may sect. 24 
 incline to depend upon him ; thougli the llunc temper of mind, and con* 
 dition of fortune, prepare them alio for fuch fcditions as may bring him 
 into danger : and the fame corruption, which led them to let him up, 
 may invite them to fell him to another, that will give them better wages. 
 I do not by this conclude, that all monarchs are villous men ; but that 
 , whoever will fet up an ablolute power muft do it by thefe means ; and 
 that if fuch a power be already ellablifhed, and fliould fall into the hands 
 of a perfon, who by his virtue, and the gcntlcnefs of his nature, fliould 
 endeavour to render the yoke fo eafy, that a better difciplined people 
 might be contented to bear it, yet this method could lafl no longer than 
 his life, and probably would be a means to Ifiortcn it : that which was at 
 lirfl eftabliflied by evil arts always returning to the fame. That which 
 was vitious in the principle, can never be long upheld by virtue. We fqe, 
 that the worft of the Roman emperors were not in greater danger from 
 fuch good men as remained undeftroyed, than the bell from the corrupt 
 party that would not be corredted, and fought fuch a mafter as would lay 
 no reftridiion upon their vices. Thofe few, who efcaped the rage oi thcfc 
 villains, only gave a little breathing-time to the afflided world, which by 
 their children or fucceflbrs was again plunged into that extremity of m.ifery, 
 from which they intended to deliver it. An extraordinary virtue was 
 required 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 fucceffion of men, the endeavours of the beft became ineffe£lual ; 
 and either they themfelves perifhed in them, or after their death all things 
 returned into the old polluted channel. 
 
 Though the power of the Hebrew kings was not unlimited, yet it 
 exceeded the rule fet by God, and was fufficient to increafe the number of 
 the worft of men, and to give them opportunities of raifing perpetual 
 difturbances. On the king's fide there were flatterers and inftruments of 
 mifchief: on the other iide there were indebted and difcontented perfons. 
 Notwithflanding the juftice of David's caufe, the wifdom, valour, and 
 piety of his perfon, none would follow him, except a few of his own 
 kindred, who knew what God had promiled to him, and fuch as were 
 uneafy in their v/orldly circumftances. After the death of Saul there was 
 a long and bloody war between Ifliboflieth and David. The former being 
 killed, the llightcft matters v/cre fufficient to put the whole nation into 
 blood. x'Vbialom with a few fair words was able to raife all Ifrael againft 
 liis father *. Sheba the fon of Bicliri with as much eafe raifed a more 
 dangerous tumult f. David by v;ifdcm, valour, and the 'oleffing of God, 
 furniounted thel'e difficulties, and prepared a peaceable reign for Solomon. 
 But after his death the people broke out into a flajgjie that was never 
 quenched, till the nation was fo dii'perfed, that no man knew where to 
 find his enemies. Solomon by his magniliceuce had reduced Ifrael to fuch 
 
 * 2 Sim. ch. 15, V. 6 t Ch. 20, v. i 
 
 poverty^
 
 198 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CfJAF. rr poverty, as inclined them to revolt upon the firft offer of an opportunitr 
 by Jeroboam. From tliat time forward Ifrael was perpetually vexed witlv 
 civil feditions and confpiracies, or wars with their brethren of Judali.. 
 Nine kings with their families were deftroyed by the firft; and the latter 
 brought fuch fiaughters upon the mifcrable people, as were never fuiFered 
 hy any, who vv-ere not agitated with the like fury. And the courl'e of 
 thefe mifchicfs was never interrupted, till they had brought the nation 
 into captivity, and the countiy to defolation. Though God, according 
 to his promiCe, did prcferve a light in the houfe of David, yet the tribe of 
 Judah was not the more happy. Joafh was flain by a private coni'piracy ; 
 and Amaziah, as is moft probable, by public authority, for having foolifhly^ 
 brought a terrible (laughter upon Judah. Athaliah defiroyed the king's 
 race, and was killed herfelf by Jehoiada ; who, not having learned from 
 ©ur author to regard the power only, and not the ways by w^hich it was 
 obtained, caufed her to be dragged out of the temple, and put to a well- 
 delerved death. The whole ftory is a tragedy. And if it be pretended, 
 that this proceeded rather from the wrath of God againft his jieople for 
 rheir idolatry, than from fuch caufes as are applicable to other nations, I 
 anfwer, that this idolatry was the produftion of the government they had 
 fet up, and moft fuitable to it ; and choofmg rather to fubjedt themfelves^ 
 to the will of a man, than to the law of God, they defervedly fuffered the 
 evils that naturally follow the worft counfels. We know of none, who 
 taking the like courfe have not fuffered the like miferies. Notwithftanding 
 the admirable virtue and fuccefs of Alexander, his reign was full of con- 
 fpiracies, and his knowledge of them prompted him to deftroy Philotes, 
 Parmenio, Clitus, Calllfthenes, Hermolaus, and many more of his befb 
 friends *. If he efcaped the fword, he fell by poifon. The murder of 
 his wives, mother, and children, by the rage of his own foldiers, the 
 fury of his captains employed in mutual flaughters, till they were confumed, 
 his paternal kingdom after many revolutions transferred to Caffandcr his 
 moft mortal enemy, the utter extindlion of his conquering army, and par- 
 ticularly the famous Argyrafpides, who, being grown faithlefs and feditious, 
 after the death of Eumenes were fent to perifh in unknown parts of the 
 caft, abundantly teftify the admirable ftability, good order, peace, and 
 quiet that is enjoyed under abfolute monarchy. 
 
 The next government of the like nature that appeared upon the ftage of 
 the world was that of Rome, introduced by wars that confumed two thirds 
 of the people, confirmed by profcriptions, in which all that were eminent 
 for nobility, riches, or virtue, periflied. The peace they had under 
 Auguftus was like that which the devil allowed to the child in the Gofpel, 
 whom he rent forely, and left as dead. The mifcrable city was only caft 
 Into a fwoon ; after long and violent vexations by feditions, tumults, and 
 wars, it lay as dead; and finding no helper like to him who cured the 
 child, it was delivered to new devils to be tormented, till it was utterly 
 
 • (i; Curt. 1.6, c. II. 1. 7, c. 2. 1. 8, c. I, 8 
 
 deftroyed..
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 199 
 
 deflroyed. Tiberius was appointed as a fit inflniment for fucli a puvpofc. SECT. 24 
 
 It was tliouglit, that thofe who fliould feci the cfTcds of his pride, cruelty, 
 
 and hift, would look upon the death of Auguftus as a lofs. He performed 
 
 the work for which he was chofen ; his reign was an uninterrupted fcriea 
 
 of murders, fubornation, perjuries, and poifonings, intermixed with the 
 
 moft detertable impurities, the revolts of provinces, and mutinies of 
 
 armies. The matter was not mended by his fucceflors. Caligula v>ms 
 
 killed by his own guards ; Claudius poifon&d by his wife, Spain, Gau!, 
 
 Germany, Pannonia, Moefia, Syria, and Egypt, revolted at once from 
 
 Nero. The people and fenate followed the example of the provinces. 
 
 This I think was, in our author's fenfe, fedition with a witnefs. Nero 
 
 being dead by the hand of a flave, or his own, to prevent that of the 
 
 hangman, Galba entered the city with blood and flaughter. But when 
 
 his own foldiers found he would not give the money for which they 
 
 intended to fell the empire, they killed him. And, to lliew the ftability 
 
 of abfolute monarchy, it may be obferved, that this was not done by the 
 
 advice of the fenate, or by a eonfpiracy of great men ; " fulccpere duo 
 
 " manipulares imperium populi Romani transferendum, et transftule- 
 
 *' runt"*." Two rafcals gave the empire to Otho, and the whole fenate 
 
 was like to be butchered for not being fo ready to follow their venerable 
 
 authority, as they ought to have been, and hardly efcaped the fury ot 
 
 their mad and drunken companions. As a farther teftimony that thefe 
 
 monarchies are not fubjedt to fedition and tumults, he had at once only tw© 
 
 competitors againft whom he was to defend the well acquired empire ; 
 
 his army was defeated at Bedriacum; he killed himfelf f ; and his fucceffor 
 
 Vitellius was foon after thrown into the Tiber ij;. The fame method ftill 
 
 continued. Rome was filled with blood and afhes ; and to recite all the 
 
 public mifchiefs would be to tranfcribe the hiftory : for as Pyrrhus, being 
 
 afked who fhould fucceed him, anfwered, " he who has the fharpeft 
 
 fword §," that was the only law that governed in the following ages. 
 
 Whoever could corrupt two or three legions thought he had a good title 
 
 to the empire ; and unlefs he happened to be killed by treachery, or 
 
 another tumult of his own foldiers, he feldom receded from it without a 
 
 battle, wherein he that was moft fuccefsful had no other fecurity, than 
 
 what the prefent temper of the foldiers afforded him. The miferable 
 
 provinces, having neither virtue nor force, were obliged flaviflily to follow 
 
 the fury or fortune of thofe villains. In this ftate did Rome dedicate to 
 
 Conftantine the triumphal arch, that had been prepared for Maxentius y 
 
 and thofe provinces which had fet up Albinus and Niger fubmitted to 
 
 Septimius Severus. In the vaft variety of accidents that in thofe ages 
 
 * Tacit. Hift. I. I, c. 25 
 
 •f- Uno fe trajecit \&.u, infra laevam papillam. Suet, in vita Othonis, § ii 
 + Confortb corpore in Tihcrim ilejiciturtyrannidis o(flavo menfe. Aur. \'ifl, de Caefari- 
 bus, c. 8. Suet, in vita Vitel. § 17 
 
 o^uTfp* fj^n. flut. in vita Pyrrhi. 
 
 .3 difturbcd
 
 20O "DISCOURSES CONTCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. II cliflurbed the world, no emperor had abetter title than what he purchaied 
 by money or violence ; and enjoyed it no longer than thofe helps continued : 
 which of all things v/ere the moll uncertain. By thefe means moil of the' 
 princes perlfhed by the fword, Italy was made defolate, and Rome was 
 feveral times lackt and burnt. The miftrefs of the world being made a 
 Have, the provinces which had hcfcn acquired by the blood of her anticnt 
 virtuous citizens, became part of nn uiurper's patrimony ; who, without 
 anv regard to the public good, dillributed them to his children, according 
 to their num.ber, or his paifion. Thefe either deftroyed one another, or 
 fell under tlie fword of a tiiird, who had the fortune of their father, the 
 greateft part moft commonly falling to' the (hare of the worJl. If at any 
 time the contrary happened, the government of the bell vais but a lucid 
 interval. Well-wilhing men grew more extremely to abhor the darknefs 
 tliat followed when they were gone. The beft of them could do no more 
 than fufpend mifchlef for a while, but could not corredt the corrupt 
 principle of their government. Some of them were deftroyed as foon as 
 they were thought to intend it : and others, v/ho finifhed their days in 
 peace, left the empire to fuch perfons of their relations as were mollunlike 
 to them. Domltian came in as brother to Titus. Commodus and Helio- 
 gabalus were recommended- by the memory of thofe virtues, that had been 
 found in Antoninus and Aurellus. Honorlus and Arcadius, who by 
 their bafenefs brought utter ruin upon the weftern and eaflern empires, 
 were the fons of the brave Tlieodofius. They who could keep their 
 hands free from blood, and their hearts from malice, covetoufnefs, and 
 pride, could not tranfmlt their virtues to their fucceffors, nor correcft the 
 perverfenefs that lay at the root and foundation of their government. 
 The whole mafs of blood was vitiated. The body was but one vail fore, 
 which no hand but that of the Almighty could heal. And he, who from 
 an abhorrence of iniquity had declared he would not hear the cries of his 
 own people, when they had chofen the thing that was not good, would 
 not Oiew mercy to ftrangers, who had done the fame thing. 
 
 I have infilled upon the Hebrew, Macedonian, and Roman hlftories, 
 becaufe tliey are the moll eminent, and bell known to us. We are in the 
 dark concerning the Babylonian, AfTyrian, Chaldean, Badlrlan, and 
 Egyptian monarchs : we know little more of them than the Scripture 
 occafionally relates concerning their barbarous cruelty, bcllial pride, and 
 'extravagant folly. Others have been like to them; and I know not where 
 to find a peaceable monarchy unlefs it be in Peru, where the Inca Garci- 
 laflbde la Vega fays, a man and a woman, children of the fun and the moon, 
 appearing araongUa barbarous people, living without any religion or law, 
 eftablifhcd a government among them, which continued In much peace 
 and jullice for twelve generations *. But this feeming to be as fabulous as 
 
 their 
 
 * Garcilaflb, or Garcias-lafo dc la Vega, was a native of Cufco. His father was a Spa- 
 niarcl, his mnthf-i- a Peruvian, dofcciuled from the Incas. He wrote in Spaiiifl\ the liiftory 
 of Peru and Fdorida. His Peruvian hiilory was tranllutcd into Englilli by Sir Paul Rycaut, . 
 
 and
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 20i 
 
 their birth, we may pafs it over, and fix upon thofe that are better known; SECT. 24 
 of wliich there is not one that has not fuffered more dangerous and mif- 
 chicvous feditions, than all the popular governments that have been in the 
 world. And the condition of thofe kingdoms which are notabfolute, and 
 yet give a preference to birth, without confideration of merit or virtue, is 
 iiot much better. 
 
 This is proved by the reafons of thofe feditions and tumults, as well as 
 from the fa£t itfelf. 
 
 The reafons arife from the violence of the paffions that incite men to 
 tliem, and the Intricacy of the queftions concerning fucceffion. 
 
 Every man has paffions ; few know how to moderate, and no one can 
 wholly extinguifli them. As they are various in their nature, fo they are 
 governed by various objeds ; and men ufually follow that which is predo- 
 minant in them, whether it proceed from anger or defire, and whether it 
 terminate in ambition, covetoufnefs, luft, or any other more or lefs blame- 
 able appetite. Every manner of life furnifhes fomething, that in fome 
 meafure may foment thefe: but a crown comprehends all that can be 
 grateful to the moft violent and vicious. He who is covetous has vaft 
 revenues, befides what be may get by fraud and rapine, to fatisfy his 
 appetite. If he be given to fenfuality, the variety of pleafures, and the 
 facility of accomplifhing whatever he defires, tends farther to inflame that 
 paffion. Such as are ambitious are incited by the greatnefs of their power 
 to attempt great matters ; and the moft fottHh or lazy may difcharge 
 themfelves of cares, and hope that others will be eafily hired to take the 
 burden of bufinefs upon them, while they lie at eafe. They who naturally 
 incline to pride and cruelty are more violently tempted to ufurp dominion ; 
 and the wicked advices of flatterers, always concurring with their paffions, 
 incite them to exerclfe the power they have gotten with the utmoft rigour, 
 to fatiate their own rage, and to fecure themfelves againft the eftedts oir 
 the public hatred, which they know they have deferved. If there be, as 
 -our author fays, no other rule than force and fuccefs, and If he muft be 
 taken for the father of a people who Is in pofleffiion of a power over them, 
 whoever has the one, may put the other to a trial. Nay, even thole who 
 have regard to juftice will feldom want reafons to perfuade them, that it is 
 on their fide. Something may be amifs In the ftate ; injuries may be done 
 to themlelves and their friends. Such honours may be denied as they 
 think they deferve.; or others of lei's merit, as they fuppofe, may be 
 preferred before them. Men do fo rarely make a right cftimate of their 
 own merits, that thofe who mean well may be often deceived ; and If 
 nothing but fuccefs be required to make a monarch, they may think it 
 juft to attempt whatever they can hope to accompllffi. This was the cafe 
 
 and publiflied in i688, under the tkle of The Royal Commentaries of Peru. The flory, 
 which our author mentions, is related in thofe Commentaries, b. i, ch, 7. Purch. Pilg. 
 yart4, b, 7, ch. 13 
 
 D d of
 
 202 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. II of Julius Caefar : he thought all things lawful, when the confulate, 
 v.^hich he fuppofed he had deferved, was denied *. 
 
 Thefe enterprizes feem to belong to men of great fpirrts ; but there arc 
 none fo bafe as not to be capable of undertaking, and, as things may ftand, 
 of bringing them to perfection. Hiftory reprefents no man under a more 
 contemptible character of fottifh lazinefs, cowardice, and drunkennefs, 
 than A^itelllus ; no one more impure and fordid than Galba. Otho was 
 advanced for being in his manners like to Nero. Vefpafian was fcorncd 
 for his avarice, till the power fell into luch hands as made the world 
 believe, none could be unworthy of the empire: and in the following 
 ages the worfl men by the worft means moft frequently obtained it. 
 
 Thefe wounds are not cured by faying, that the law of God and nature 
 prevents this mifchief, by annexing the fuccelTion of crowns to proximity 
 of blood : for mankind had not been continually afflicted with them if 
 there had been fuch a law, or if they could have been prevented by it.. 
 And though there were fuch a law, yet more queftions would arife about 
 that proximity, than any wife man would dare to determine. The law 
 can be of no effed:, unlefs there be a power to decide the contefts arifmg 
 upon it. But the fundamental maxim of the great monarchies is, that 
 there can be no interregnum ; the heir of the crown is in pofleffion, as 
 foon as he who did enjoy it is dead. " Le mort, " as the French fay, 
 *' laifit le vif f." There can be therefore no fuch law, or it fervcs for 
 nothing. If there be judges to interpret the law, no man is a king till 
 judgment be given in his favour ; and he is not king by his own title, but 
 by the fentcnce given by them. If there be none, the law is merely ima- 
 ginary, and every man may, In his own cafe, make it what he pleafes. 
 He w^ho has a crown in his view, and arms in his hand, wants nothing 
 but fuccefs to make him a king ; and if he profper, all men are obliged 
 to obey him. 
 
 It is a folly to fay the matter is clear, and needs no decifion ; for every 
 man knows, that no law concerning private inheritances can be fo exaftfy 
 drawn, but many controverfies will arife upon it, that mufl: be decided by 
 a power to \vhich both parties are fubjetl. The difpute concerning king- 
 doms are fo much the more difficult, becaufe this law is no where to he 
 found ; and the more dangerous, becaufe the competitors are for the mofl 
 part more powerful. 
 
 Again, this law muft cither be general to all mankind, or particular to 
 each nation. If particular, a matter of fuch importance requires good 
 proof, v^hen, where, how, and by whom it was given to every one. 
 But the Scriptures tellifying to the contrary, that God gave laws to the 
 
 * '< Viribus utendum efi-, quas fecimus : arma tcncntl 
 
 " Omnia dat, qui jufta ncgat." Luc. Pharf. 1. j, v. 348 
 
 t Ondit en jurifprudence, qim " le mort faifit le vif, " (on plus prochaiii lu-iiticr liahilc 
 
 a lui fucceder, pour dire, qu' un heritier fe peut nicttrc en poflcllion dcs biciis d'un dcfun£t 
 
 de fon authorite privee, fans implorer celle de la juftice, au lieu qu' un legr.taire univerfol 
 
 ou particulicr s'ydoit pourvoir pour avoir deliverance dc fon legs. DiiS. Univ. par M.Fureticre 
 
 Jewsr
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT -03 
 
 Tews only, and tliat no fiich thing ar, hereditary monarchy, according to sF.CT. 24 
 
 proximity of blood, was prcilrihcd by them, we may lafely fay, that 
 
 God never gave any fuch 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, it is impoihble that all 
 
 can have it ; or that it Ihould be obligatory to all, when no man knows 
 
 or can tell, when, where, and by what hand it was given, nor what is 
 
 the fenfc of it. All which is evident by the various laws and cuftoms of 
 
 nations in the difpofal of hereditary fuccefhons. And no one of them, 
 
 that we know, has to this day been able to fliew, that the method followed 
 
 by them, is more according to nature than that of others. 
 
 If our author pretend to be God's interpreter, and to give the fulution 
 of thefe doubts, I may afk wdiich of the live following ways arc appointed 
 by God ; and then we may examine cafes refulting from them. 
 
 1. In France, Turky, and other places, the fucceflion comes to the 
 next male, in the ftraight eldeft line : according to which the fon is 
 preferred before the brother of him who lall enjoyed the crown, as the 
 prefent king of France * before his uncle the duke of Orleans, and the fon 
 of the eldeft before the brothers of the eldeft, as in the cafe of Richard 
 the fecond of England, who was advanced 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 eldeft man than to the eldeft line. And reprefentation 
 taking no place among them, the eldeft man is thought to be neareft to 
 the firft king ; and a fecond fon of the perfon that laft reigned, to be 
 nearer to him than his grandchild by the eldeft fon : according to 
 •which rule, any one of the fons of Edward the third, remaining after 
 his death, fliould have been preferred before Richard the fecond, who 
 was his grandchild. 
 
 3. In the two cafes before-mentioned, no manner of regard is had to 
 females, who being thought naturally incapable of commanding men, or 
 performing the functions of a magiftrate, are, together with their defcen- 
 dents, utterly excluded from the fupreme, as well as from the inferior 
 magiftracies ; and in Turky, France, and other great kingdoms, have no 
 pretence to any title. But in fome places, and particularly in England, 
 the advantages of proximity belong to them, as well as to males : by 
 which means our crown has been tranfported tofeveral families and nations. 
 
 4. As in fome places they are utterly rejecSted, and in others received 
 fimply without any condition ; fo thofe are not wanting, where that of 
 not marrying out of the coiuitry, or without the confent of the eftates, is 
 impoied : of which Sweden is an example. 
 
 5. In fome places proximity of blood is only regarded, whether the Iflue 
 be legitimate or illegitimate ; ia others baftards are wholly excluded. 
 
 * Lewis XIV 
 
 Dd 2 By
 
 204 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. II By this variety of judgments, made by feveral nations, upon this point, 
 it may appear, that though it were agreed by all, that the next in blood 
 ought to fucceed, yet fuch contefts would arife upon the interpretation and 
 application of the general rule, as muft neceffarily be a perpetual fpring 
 of irreconcilable and mortal quarrels. 
 
 If any man fay, the rule obfcrved in England is that which God gave 
 to mankind, I leave him firft to difpute 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 
 anceftors had a more immediate communication with God, and a more 
 certain knowledge 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 ration- 
 ally conclude, that if there be fuch a rule, we have had no king in England, 
 for the fpace of almoft a thoufand years, having not had one who did not 
 come to the crown by a mofl manifeft violation of it ; as appears by the 
 fore-cited examples of William the firft and fecond, Henry the firft, 
 Henry the fecond and his children, John, Edward the third, Henry the 
 fourth, Edward the fourth and his children, Henry the feventh, and all 
 that claim under any of them. And if pofleffion or fuccefs can give a 
 right, it will I think follow, that Jack Straw, Wat Tyler, Perkin War- 
 beck, or any other rafcal, might have had it, if he had been as happy as. 
 bold in his enterprize. This is no lefs than to expofe crowns to the firft 
 that can feize them, to deftroy all law and rule, and to render right a 
 flave to fortune. If this be fo, a late earl of Pembroke, whofe under- 
 ftanding was not thought great, judged rightly when he faid, his grand- 
 father was a wife man though he could neither write nor read, inafmuch 
 as he refolved to follow the crown, though it were upon a coal-ftaff". But 
 if this be fufficient to make a wife man, it is pity, the fecret was no fooner 
 dii'covered ; fince many, who for want of it lived and died in all the 
 infamy that juftly accompanies knavery, cowardice, and folly, might have 
 gained the reputation of the moft excellent men in their feveral ages. The 
 bloody fadlions, with which all nations fubjedl to this fort of monarchy 
 have been perpetually vexed, might have been prevented by throwing up 
 crofs or pile, or by battle between the competitors body to body ; as was 
 done by Corbis and Orfua, Eteocles andPolynices, Ironfide and Canutus : 
 it being moft unreafonable, or rather impioufly abfurd, for any to venture 
 their lives and fortunes, when their confciences are not concerned in the 
 conteft, and they are to gain nothing by the victory. 
 
 If reafon teaches, that, till this expeditious way of ending controverfics 
 be received, the ambition of men will be apt to embroil nations in their 
 quarrels, and others judging varioully of thofe matters, which can be 
 reduced to no certain rule, will think themfclves in. confcience obliged to 
 follow the partv that feems to them to be moft jufl ; experience manifefts 
 tlic (ame, and that ambition has produced more violent mifchicfsthan all the 
 other defires and paffions, that have ever pofleffed the hearts of men. That 
 
 I this
 
 DISCOUPxSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 205 
 
 this may appear, It will not be amlfs to divide thefe mifchiefs Into fuch as sect. 24 
 proceed from him who is in pofTeffion of the power, through jealoufy of 
 ilate, as they call it, to prevent the enterprises of thofc who would dif- 
 poflefs him, and fuch as arlfe between competitors contending for it. 
 
 Tarquin's counfel concerning the poppies, and Periandcr's heads of 
 corn*, are of the firft fort. The moft eminent are always mofl feared, as 
 the readlcfl to undertake, and moft able to accomplllli, great defigns. 
 This eminence proceeds from birth, riches, virtue, or reputation, and is 
 fometlmes wrought up to the greateft height by a conjundion of all thcfe. 
 But I know not where to fmd an example of fuch a man, who could long 
 fubfift under abfolute monarchy. If he be of high birth, he muft, like 
 Brutus, conceal his virtue, and gain no reputation, or refolve to perifh, if 
 he do not prevent his own death by that of the tyrant. All other ways arc 
 inefFedlual : the fufpicions, fears, and hatred, thereupon ariling, are not 
 to be removed ; perfonal refpedls are forgotten ; and fuch fervices, as can- 
 not be fufficiently valued, muft be blotted out by the death of thofe who 
 did them. Various ways may be taken, and pretences ufcd, according to 
 the temper of times and nations ; but the thing muft bp done ; and 
 whether It be coloured by a trick of law, or performed by a mute with a 
 bow-ftring, imports little. Henry the fourth was made king by the earl 
 of Northumberland, and his brave fon Hotfpur ; Edward the fourth by 
 the valiant carl of Warwick ; Henry the feventh by Stanley : but neither 
 of them could think himfelf fafe, till his benefadlor was dead. No con- 
 tinued fidelity, no teftlmonles of modefty and humility, can prevent this. 
 The modefty of Germanlcus in rejeding the honours that were offered to 
 him, and his induftry in quieting the mutinied legions, accelerated his 
 ruin f . When It was evident he might be emperor If he pleafed, he 
 muft be fo, or die : there was no middle ftatlon between the throne and 
 the grave. It Is probable, that Caligula, Nero, and other beafts like to 
 them, might hate virtue for the good which Is in it. But I cannot think, 
 that either they, their predeceifors or fucceflbrs, would have put them- 
 felves upon the defperate defign of extirpating It, if they had not found 
 it to be Inconfiftent with their government : and that being once concluded, 
 they fpared none of their neareft relations. Artaxerxes killed his fon 
 Darius. Herod murdered the beft of his wives, and all his fons, except 
 the worft. Tiberius deftroyed Agrippa Pofthumus, and Germanlcus with 
 his wife and two fons. How highly foever Conftantine the Great be 
 commended, he was polluted with the blood of his father-in-law, wife, 
 and fon. Philip the lecond of Spain did in the like manner deliver him- 
 felf from his fears of Don Carlos ; and It Is not doubted, but that Philip 
 the fourth, for the lame reafons, difpatched his brother Don Carlos, and 
 his fon Balthafar. The like cafes were fo common In England, that all 
 the Plantagenets, and the noble families allied to them being extingulihed, 
 our anceftors were fcnt to feek a king In one of the meaneft In Wales. 
 
 * Arift. Polit. 1, 3, c. 13 ■}■ Tacit. Ann. 1. i, § 35, 52, etc. 
 
 This
 
 2o6 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. 11 This method being known, thofe who are unwilHng to die To tamely 
 endeavour to find out vv'-ays of defending themfelvcb ; and there being no 
 other than the death of the perfon who is in the throne, they uiually feck to 
 compafs it by fecret confpiracy, or open violence. The number of 
 princes that have been deftroyed, and countries difturbed, by thofe who 
 through fear have been driven to extremities, is not much lefs than of 
 Hiole, who have fuffered the like from meia following the impulfe of 
 their ov/n ambition. 
 
 The diforders arifing from contefts between feveral competitors, before 
 any one could be fettled in the poileflion of kingdoms, have been no lefs 
 frequent and bloody than thofe above-mentioned, and the miferies fuffered 
 by them, together with the ruin brought upon the empires of Macedon 
 and Rome, may be fufficient to prove it : however, to make the matter 
 more clear, I fhall allege others. But becaufe it may be prefumptioa in 
 me to think I know all the hiftories of the world, or tedious to relate all 
 thofe I know, I fhall content myfelf with fome of the moft eminent and 
 remarkable. And if it appear, that they have all fuffered the fame 
 mifchiefs, we may believe they proceed not from accidents, but from the 
 power of a permanent caufe, that always produces the fame, or the 
 like effedts. 
 
 To begin with France. The fuccefTion not being well fettled in the 
 time of Meroveus, who had difpofleffed the grandchildren of Pharamond, he 
 was no fooner dead than Gillon let up himfelf, and with much flaughter 
 drove his fon Childeric out of the kingdom ; who, after a little time 
 returning with like fury, is faid to have leen a vilion, lirff of lions and 
 leopards, then of bears and wolves, and laftly of dogs and cats, all tearing 
 one another to pieces *. This has been always accounted by the French 
 to be a reprefentation of the nature and fortune of the three races, that 
 were to command them, and has been too much verified by experience. 
 Clovis their firff chriflian and mofl: renowned king, having by good means 
 or evil exceedingly enlarged his territories, but chiefly by the murders of 
 Alaric and Ragnachaire, with his children, and, perfuading Chloderic fon 
 of Sigebert, king of Cologne, to kill his father f, left his kingdom to be 
 torn in pieces by the rage of his four fons, each of them endeavouring to 
 make himfelf mafter of the whole. And when, according to the ufual 
 flite of fuch conteff s, fuccefs had crowned Clotaire, who was the worff of 
 them all, by the flaughter of his brothers and nephews, with all the 
 flower of the French and Gaulifla nobility, the advantages of his fortune 
 
 * Fredegarii Scholaftici Epitome, § 12. Inventairc general do I' Hift. de France, par M. 
 De Serres, p. 18. — Few modern hiftorians take any notice of this legendary anecdoie. 
 
 t Sidney tells us, Clovis " fuborned Sigifmund of Metz to kill his , father Sigcheit." 
 But this is certainly a miftake. The alteration, which tlie editor of the prcfcnt edition has 
 taken the liberty to make in this pafl'age, is fupported by the following authorities: viz. 
 Gregor. Turoii. Hift. Francorum, L 2, c. 40. Aimoini Monachi Hift. Franc. I. i, c. 
 18. Hiftoire de France, par k Sieur de Mezeray, en la vie de Clovis. Hilt, de France, 
 par M. Chalons, etc. 
 
 only
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT -07 
 
 only refulted to his own pcrfon. For after his deith the mifcrable nations SR.CT.. r_4. 
 liiifered as much from the madneis of his fons, as they had done by him- 
 fclf and his brothers. They had learned from their predecefibrs not to be 
 flow in doing mifchief ; but were farther incited by the rage of two infa- 
 mous llrumpets, Fredcgonde and Erunehaud, which is a fort of vermin, 
 that I am inclined to think, has not ufually governed fcnates, or popular 
 aiTemblies. Chilperic the flrft, who by the flaughter of many perfons of 
 the royal blood, with infinite numbers of the nobility and people, came 
 to be mafter of fo much of the country, as procured him the name of 
 king of France, killed his eldeft fon on fufpicion, that he was excited 
 againfl him by Brunehaud ; and his fecond, left he ihould revenge the 
 death of his brother "*. He married Fredegonde, and was foon after 
 killed by her adulterer Landry. The kingdom continued in the fame 
 mifery through the rage of the furviving princes, and found no relief, 
 though moft of them fell by the fword ; and Brunehaud, who had been a 
 principal caufe of thofe tragedies, was tied to the tails of four wild 
 horfes, and fuffered a death as foul as her Hfe. Thefe were lions and 
 leopards. They involved the kingdom in defperate troubles. But, being 
 men of valour and induftry, they kept up in fome mealure the reputation 
 and power of the nation ; and he who attained to the crown defended it., 
 They being fallen by the hands of each other, the poifonous root put 
 forth another plague more mortal than their fury. The vigour was Ipent,. 
 and the fucceflion becoming more fettled, ten bafe and flothful kings, by 
 the French called " les rois faineants," fucceeded. Some may lay, they 
 who do nothing, do no hurt ; but the rule is falfe 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, voluptuoufnefs, and lloth, to defert his 
 charge. Virtue and manhood perifli under him ; good difcipline is for- 
 gotten ; juftice flighted ; the laws perverted, or rendered ufelefs; the people- 
 corrupted ; the public treafures exhaufted ; and the power of the govern- 
 ment always falling into the hands of flatterers, whores, favourites, bawds, 
 and fuch bafe wretches as render it contemptible, a way is laid open for all: 
 manner of diforders. The greateft cruelty that has been known in the 
 world, if accompanied with wit and courage, never did fo much hurt as 
 this flothful befl:iality ; or rather thefe flothful beafts have ever been mcft 
 cruel. The reigns of Septimius Severus, Mahomet the fecond, or Selim 
 the fecond, were cruel and bloody. But their fury was turned againft 
 foreigners, and fome of their near relations, or againft fuch as fell under 
 the fulpicion of making attempts againft them. The condition of the 
 people was tolerable; thofe who would be quiet might be fafe ; the laws 
 kept their right courfe ; the reputation of the empire was maintained, the 
 limits defended, and the public peace preferved. But when the fword 
 pafled into the hands of lewd, flothful, foolift^, and cowardly princes, it 
 
 * Meroveus and Clovis. Grc .]cr. Turon, I, 5, c, ig, 40.. Dc Serres, p. 29 
 
 wa&.
 
 2o8 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. II was of no power againft foreign enemies, or the difturbers of domeflic 
 
 peace, though always fharp againft the beft of their own fubjedls. No 
 
 man knew how to lecure himfelf againft them, unlefs by raifing civil wars; 
 
 which will always be frequent, when a crown defended by a weak hand 
 
 is propofed as a prize to any that dare invade it. This is a perpetual 
 
 fpring of dlforders; and no nation was ever quiet, when the moft eminent 
 
 men found lefs danger in the moft violent attempts, than in fubmitting 
 
 patiently to the will of a prince, that fuffers his power to be managed by 
 
 vile peribns, who get credit by flattering him in his vices. But this is 
 
 not all : fuch princes naturally hate and fear thofe who excel them in 
 
 virtue and reputation, as much as they are inferior to them in fortune ; 
 
 and think their perfons cannot be fecured, nor their authority enlarged, 
 
 except by their deftrudtion. It is ordinary for them, " inter ganea et 
 
 *' ftupra illuftribus viris perniciem meditari, *" and to make cruelty a 
 
 cover to ignorance and cowardice. Befides the mifchiefs brought upon the 
 
 public by the lols of eminent men, who are the pillars of every ftate, fuch 
 
 reigns are always accompanied with tumults, and civil wars, the great 
 
 men ftriving with no lefs violence who ftiall get the weak prince into his 
 
 power, when fuch regard is had to fucceflion, that they think it not fit to 
 
 -diveft him of the title, than when with lefs refped: they contend for the 
 
 fovereignty itfelf. And, while this fort of princes reigned, France was 
 
 not lefs afflidted with the contefts between Grimoald, Erchenbald, Ebroin, 
 
 and others, for the mayoralty of the palace, than they had been before 
 
 by the rage of thofe princes who had contefted for the crown. The iftiie 
 
 alfo was the fame. After many revolutions, Charles Martel gained the 
 
 power of the kingdom, which he had lb bravely defended againft the 
 
 Saracens ; and, having tranfmitted it to his fon Pepin, the general aflem- 
 
 bly of eftates, with the approbation of mankind, conferred the title alfo 
 
 upon him. This gave the nation eafe for the prefent ; but the deep-rooted 
 
 evil could not be fo cured ; and the kingdom, that by the wlfdom, valour, 
 
 and reputation of Pepin, had been preierved from civil troubles during his 
 
 life, fell as deeply as ever into them fo foon as he was dead. His fons, 
 
 Charles and Carloman, divided the dominions ; but in a little time each 
 
 of them would have all. Carloman filled the kingdom with tumult ; 
 
 railed the Lombards, and marched with a great army againft his brother, 
 
 till his courfe was interrupted by death, caufed, as is fuppofed, by fuch 
 
 helps as princes liberally aff"ord to their afpiring relations. Charles 
 
 deprived his two fons of their inheritance, put them in prifon, and we 
 
 hear no more of them ")'. But all the advantages which, by an extraordi- 
 
 ?* Tacit. Ann. 1.6, § 4 
 
 t Whir became of Carloman's two fons, after they fell into the hands of Charlemagne, 
 is a fccrct which hiftory h:is not difclofed. — Sidney adds : " his third brother Griffon was 
 " not more quiet, nor more fuccefsful ; and there could be no peace in Gafcony, I'aly, 
 *' or Germany, till he was killed." — Griffon was the fon of Charles Martel, and had 
 been dead feveral years before Charlemagne came to the crown : this paflage therefore, in 
 rhe prefent edition, for obvious vcafons, is omitted. 
 
 nary
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT -oy 
 
 nary virtue and fortune, he had purchafcd for his country, ended with his sect. 24 
 'life. He left his fon Eewis the Gentle in polTefhon of the empire, and 
 kingdom of France, and liis grandfon Bernard king of Italy. But thefe 
 two could not agree ; and Bernard, fidling into the hands of Lewis, v/as 
 •deprived of his eyes, and fome time after killed. This was not enough 
 -to preierve the peace. Lothaire, Lewis, and Pepin, all three fons id 
 Lewis, rebelled againft him; called a council at Lyons, depofed him, and 
 divided the empire among themfelves. After five years he efcaped from 
 the monaftery where he had been kept, renewed the war, and was again 
 takea prifoner by Lothaire. When he was dead, the war broke out more 
 fiercely than ever between his children. Lothaire the emperor afiaulted. 
 Lewis king of Bavaria, and Charles king of Rhaetia, was defeated by 
 them, and confined to a monaftery *, where he died. New quarrels arofe 
 between the two brothers, upon the divifion of the countries taken from 
 him, and Lorrain only was left to his fon. Lewis died foon after, ajid 
 Charles, getting poiTeffion of the empire and kingdom, ended an inglori- 
 ous reign in an unprofperous attempt to deprive Hermingarde, daughter 
 to his brother Lewis, of the kingdom of Aries, and other places left to 
 her by her father. Lewis his fon, called the Stutterer, reigned two years 
 in much trouble ; and his only legitimate fon, Charles the Simple, came not 
 to the crown till after the death of his two baftard brothers, Lewis and Car- 
 loman, Charles le Gros, and Eudes uuke of Angers. Charles le Gros was 
 depofed from the empire and kingdom, flripped of his goods, and left to 
 perifh through poverty in an obfcure village. Charles the Simple, and 
 the nations under him, thrived no better. Robert duke of Anjou raifed 
 war againft him, and was crowned at Rheims; but was himfelf flain foon 
 •after in a bloody battle near Soiflbns. His fon-in-law Hebcrt, earl of 
 Vermandois, gathered up the remains of his fcattered party, got Charles 
 jnto his power, and called a general aflemlily of eftates, who depoled 
 ■him, and gave the crown to Rodolph duke of Burgimdy ; though he was 
 no otherwife related to the royal blood than by his mother, which in 
 Prance is nothing at all. He being dead, Lewis ion to the depofed Charles 
 was made king ; but his reign was as inglorious to him, as milerable to 
 'liis fubjeds. This is the peace which the French enjoyed for the fpace of 
 =five or fix ages xmder their monarchy. And it is hard to determine 
 whether they fuffered moft by the violence of thofe who pofit^ned, or the 
 ambition of others who afpired to the crown ; and whether the fury of 
 adive, or the baienefs of llothful princes was moft pernicious to them. 
 But upon the whole matter, through th-e defers of thofe of the latter fort, 
 they loft all that they had gained by fweat and blood under the conduft of 
 the former. Henry and Otho of Saxony, by a virtue like that of Charle- 
 magne, deprived them of the empire, and fettled it in Germany, leaving 
 
 * He was not confined bv his brothers, but voluntaril)' retired into a monaftery ; that, 
 according to the fuperftition of thofe ages, he n.ight atone for his crimes. — Promiae mo- 
 nnlleriiim regno temporis fe exuens ingreditur. Vide Hift. Franc. Script. Tom. 2. p. 402. 
 Aunales Fuldenfes, aJ ann. 855, De Serres, Me^cray, Clialons, etc. 
 
 E e France
 
 2IO DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAT. II France only to Lewis furnamed Outremer, and his fon Lothaire. Thcfj 
 ieemed to be equally compoied nf treachery, cruelty, ambition, and ]>'Se- 
 nefs. They were always mutinous, and always beaten. Their frantic 
 paflions put them always upon unjufl defigns ; and they were fuch plague > 
 to their fubjeils and neighbours, that they became equally detefted and 
 defpifed. Thele things extinguifhed the veneration due to the memory o£ 
 Pepin and Charles ; and obliged the whole nation rather to feek relief 
 from a ftranger, than to be ruined by their worthlefs defcendents. They 
 liad tried all ways that were in their power ; depoled four crowned kings 
 within the fpace of a hundred and fifty years ; crowned five who had no 
 other title than the people conferred upon them ; and reftored the defcen- 
 dents of thofe they had rejedted. But all was in vam : their vices were 
 incorrigible, the mifchiefs produced by them intolerable. They never 
 ceafed from murdering one another in battle, or by treachery, and bring- 
 ing the nation into civil wars upon their wicked or fooHfli quarrels, till 
 the whole race was rejected, and the crown placed upon the head of Hugh 
 Capet. Thefc mifchiefs raged not in the fame extremity under him 
 and his defcendents ; but the abatement proceeded from a caufe no way 
 advantageous to abfolute monarchy. The French were by their calamities 
 taught more ftridtly to limit the regal power ; and by turning the duke- 
 doms and earldoms into patrimonies, which had been offices, gave an 
 authority to the chief of the nobility, by which that of kings was curbed. 
 And though by thefe means the commonalty was expofed to fome pref- 
 fures, yet they were fmall, in comparifon of what they had fiiffered in 
 former times. When many great men had eftates of their own, that did 
 not depend upon the will of kings, they grew to love their country ; and 
 though they chearfully ferved the crown in all cafes of public concernment, 
 they were not eafily engaged in the perfonal quarrels of thofe who poffefl'ed 
 it, or had a mind to gain it. To preferve themfelves in this condition-, 
 they were obliged to ufe their vaflals gently. And this continuing ia 
 Ibme meafure till within the lafl: fifty years, the monarchy was lefs tumul- 
 tuous, than when the king's will had been lefs reftrained. Neverthelefu, 
 they had not much reafon to boaft : there was a root ftill remaining, that 
 from time to time produced poifonous fruit. Civil wars were frequent 
 among them, though not carried on with fuch defperate madnefs as for- 
 merly ; and many of them upon the account of difputes between- compe- 
 titors for the crown. All the wars with England, fince Edward the 
 fecond married Ifabella, daughter, and, as he pretended, heir of Philip le 
 Bel, were of this nature. The defeats of Crelfy, Poi<3:iers, and Agincourt, 
 with the flaughters and devaftations fufi'ered from Edward the third, the 
 Black Prince, and Flenry the fifth, were merely upon contefts for the 
 crown, and for want of an interpreter of the law of fucceffion, wli» 
 might determine the queflion between the heir male, and the heir general. 
 Thc_fa(£tI(Mis of Orleans and Burgundy, Orleans and Armagnac, proceeded 
 from the fame fpring ; and the murders, that fecm to have been the 
 immediate caufcs of thofe quarrels, were only the effects of the hatrcjl 
 
 growing
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 211 
 
 growing from their competition. The more odious, though Icfs bloody sect. 24 
 contcfls between Charles the feventh, and his ion Lewis the eleventh, 
 with the jealoufy of the latter againft his fon, Charles the eighth, arole 
 from the lame principle. Charles of Bourbon prepared to all France with 
 fire and blood upon the like quarrel ; when his dchgns were overthrown 
 by his death in the allault of Rome. If the dukes of Guifc had been 
 more fortunate, they had foon turned the caufe of religion into a claim to 
 the crown, and repaired the injury done, as they pretended, to Pepin's 
 race, by deftroying that of Capet. Henry the third, thinking to prevent 
 this by the flaughter of Henry le Balafre *, and his brother the cardinal 
 de Guife, brought ruin upon himielf, and call the kingdom into a molb 
 horrid confufion. Our own age furniOies us with more than one attempt 
 of the fime kind, attended with the like fuccefs. The duke of Orleans was 
 feveral times in arms againft Lewis the thirteenth his brother; the queen- 
 mother drew the Spaniards to favour him ; Montmorency perifhed in his 
 quarrel ; Fontrailles revived it by a treaty with Spain, which ftruck at the 
 king's head, as well as the cardinal's, and was fupprefled by the death of 
 Cinq Mars and de Thou. Thofe who underftand the affairs of that 
 kingdom make no doubt, but that the count de SoifTons would have fet 
 lip for himfelf, and been followed by the beft part of France, if he had 
 not been killed in the purfuit of his vicilory at the battle of Sedan. Since 
 that time the kingdom has fuffered fuch difturbances as fliew, that more 
 was intended than the removal of Mazarin: and the marflial de Turenne 
 was often told, tliat the check he gave to the prince of Conde at Glcn, 
 after he had defeated Hoquincourt, had preferved the crown upon the 
 king's head. And to teftify the ftability, good order, and domeftic peace, 
 that accompanies abfolute monarchy, we have in our own days feen the 
 houfe of Bourbon often divided within itfelf; the duke of Orleans, the 
 count de Soilfons, the princes of Conde and Conti, in w^ar againft the 
 Jking ; the dukes of Angoulefme, Vendome, Longueville, the count de 
 Moret, and other baftards of the royal family, following their example ; 
 the houfcs of Guifc, d'Elbeuf, Bouillon, Nemours, Rochefoucault, and 
 almoft all the moft eminent in France, with the parliaments of Paris, 
 Bourdeaux, and fome others, joining with them. I might allege many 
 more examples, to Ihew, that this monarchy, as well as all others, has 
 from the firft eftabliftiment been full of blood and flaughter, through the 
 violence of thofe who poffefled the crown, and the ambition of fuch as 
 afpired to it ; and that the end of one civil war has been the beginning of 
 another : but I prefume, upon the whole, thefe will be thought fufficici\t 
 ,to prove, that it never enjoyed any permanent domeftic quiet. 
 
 The kingdoms of Spain have been no »efs difturbed by the fame means ; 
 ■but efpecially that of Caftile, where the kings had more power than in 
 other places. To cite all the examples, were to tranfcribe their hiftories ; 
 Jbut whoever has leifure to examine them will find, that after many 
 
 * Henry le Balafre, Duke of Guife, was ftabbed by the order of Henry the third, in 1588 
 
 E e 2 troubles,
 
 tzii 
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. 11 troubles, Alphonfo the tenth, notwithftanding his glorious furname of 
 Wife, was depofed by means of his ambitious fon ; don Alphonfo, fur- 
 named el Defheredado, fupplanted by his uncle don Sancho el Bravo * ;. 
 Peter the Cruel caft from the throne, and killed by his baftard brother the 
 count de Tranftamara. From the time of the above-named Alphonfo to 
 that of Ferdinand and Ifabella, containing about two hundred years, fo 
 few of them pafled without civil wars, that I hardly remember two 
 together that were free from them. And whoever pretends, that of late 
 years that monarchy has been more quiet, muft, if he be ingenuous^ 
 confefs their peace is rather to be imputed to the dexterity of removing, 
 fuch perfons as have been moft likely to raife difturbances (of which 
 number were don John of Auftria, don Carlos fon to Philip the fecond^ 
 another of the fame name fon to Philip the third, and don Balthazar, foa 
 to Philip the fourth) than to the reditude of their conftitutions. 
 
 He that is not convinced of thefe truths, by what has been faid, may 
 come nearer home, and fee what mifchiefs were brought upon Scotland 
 by the contefts between Baliol and Bruce, with their confequences, till 
 the crown came to the Stuart family ; the quiet reigns, and happy deaths^, 
 of the five James's, together with the admirable ftability and peace of the 
 government under queen Mary, and the perfed union in which fhe lived 
 with her hufband, fon, and people, as well as the happinefs of the nation, 
 whilft it lafted f. 
 
 But the miferies of England, upon the like occafions, furpafs all. 
 William the Norman was no fooner dead, but the nation was rent in pieces 
 by his eldeft fon Robert, contefling with his younger fons William and 
 Henry for the crown. They being all dead, and their fons, the like 
 happened between Stephen and Maud. Henry the fecond was made 
 king to terminate all difputes ; but it proved a fruitlefs expedient. Such, 
 as were more fcandalous, and not lefs dangerous, did foon arife between 
 him and his fons ; who, befides the evils brought upon the nation, vexed 
 him to death by their rebellion. The reigns of John and Henry the 
 third were yet more tempefluous. Edward the fecond's lewd, foolifl:,: 
 infamous, and deteftable government, ended in his depofition and death, 
 to which he was brought by his wife and fon. Edward the third employed, 
 his own and his fubjeds valour againft the French and Scots. But while 
 the foundations were out of order, the nation could never receive any 
 advantage by their victories : all was calculated for the glory, and turned 
 to the advantage of one man. He being dead, all that the Engliih held 
 in Scotland, and in France, was loft through the bafends of his fuccellbr, 
 with more blood than it had been gained ; and the civil wars raifed by his 
 wickcdnefs and madnefs ended as thofe of Edward the fecond had done 
 The peace of Henry the fourth's reign was interrupted by dangerous civil 
 
 * Don Fecclinnnd nnd don Sancho el Bravo were the fons of Alphonfo, or Alonfo, el Sabio» 
 Alphonfo cl Dcfli rcdado was the fnn of don Ferdinand. 
 
 t Buchan. Rti uin Scot. Hilt. DiuiTimond's Hift. of Scotland, containing that of the 
 i;^ e James'. J from the year 142310 1542. Melvil's Memoirs, etc, 
 
 wars- J
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 213 
 
 wars; and the victory obtained at Shrewfbury had not perhaps fecurcd SECT, 24 
 
 him in the throne, if his death had not prevented new troubles. Henry 
 
 the fifth acquired fuch reputation by his virtue and vidlorics, that none 
 
 dared to invade the crown, during his hfe ; but immediately after his 
 
 death, the ftorms prepared againfl: his family broke out with the utmofl 
 
 violence. His fon's weaknefs encouraged Richard duke of York to fet up 
 
 a new title, which produced fuch mlfchiefs as hardly any people have 
 
 fuffered, unlefs upon the like occafion. For befides the flaughter of 
 
 many thoufands of the people, and efpecially of thofe who had been 
 
 accuftomed to arms, the devaftation »f the bell parts of the kingdom, and 
 
 the lofs of all that our kings had inherited in France, or gained by the 
 
 blood of their fubjedls, fourfcorc princes of the blood royal, as Philip de 
 
 Comines calls them *, died in battle, or under the hand of the hangman. 
 
 Many of the mofl noble families were extinguilhed ; others loft their 
 
 moft eminent men. Three kings, and two prefumptive heirs of the 
 
 crown, were mm'dered, and the nation brought to that fhameful exigence^ 
 
 to fet up a young man to reign over them, who had no better cover for 
 
 his fordid extraction than a Welfh pedigree, that might fhew how a tailor 
 
 was defcended from prince Arthur, Cadwallader "f", or Brutus. But the 
 
 ■wounds of the nation were not to be healed with fuch a plaifter. He 
 
 could not rely upon a title made up of fuch ftuff, and patched wath a 
 
 marriage to a princefs of a very queftionable birth. His own mcannefs 
 
 inclined him to hate the nobility ; and thinking it to be as eafy for them 
 
 to take the crown from him, as to give it to him, he induftrioufly applied 
 
 himfelf to glean up the remainders of the houfe of York, from whence a 
 
 competitor might arife, and by all means to crufh thofe who were mofl 
 
 able to oppofe him. This exceedingly weakened the nobility, who held 
 
 the balance between him and the commons, and was a great ftep towards 
 
 the diflblution of our antient government. But he was fo far from fettling 
 
 the kingdom in peace, that fuch rafcals as Perkin Warbeck and Simnel 
 
 were able to difturb it. The reign of Henry the eighth was turbulent 
 
 and bloody ; that of Mary furious, and fuch as had brought us into fub- 
 
 jedlion to the moft powerful, proud, and cruel nation at that time in the 
 
 world, if God had not wonderfully protected us. Nay, Edward the fixth^ 
 
 and queen EHzabeth, notwithftanding the natural excellency of their 
 
 difpofitions, and their knowledge of the truth in matters of religion, were 
 
 forced, by that which men call *' jealoufy of ftate," to foul their hands 
 
 fo often with illuftrious blood, that if their reigns delerve to be accounted 
 
 among the moft gentle of monarchies, they were more heavy than the 
 
 government of any commonwealth : and yet their lives were never fecure 
 
 againft fuch as confpired againft them upon the account of title. 
 
 * Memoires de Ph. de Comines, 1. i, c. 7 
 
 t Edmund Tudor earl of Ricliinoud, the father of Henry the feventh, deduced his 
 pedigree from Cadwallader, 
 
 Having:
 
 214 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. II Having in fome meafure flicwn, what miferies haA^e been ufually, if 
 rot perpetually, brought upon nations fubjedl to monarchies, by the vio- 
 lence of fome princes, and the bafencfs, tolly, and cowardice of others, 
 together with what they have fufFered in contefts for the feveral crowns, 
 whilft men divided into divers fadions ftrive with as much vehemency to 
 advance the peribn they favour, as if they or their country were interelk'd 
 in the quarrel, and fight as fiercely for a mafter, as they might reafonably 
 do to have none, I am not able to determine which of the two evils is the 
 moft mortal. It is evident the vices of princes refult to the damage of the 
 people ; but whether pride and cruelty, or ftupidity and floth, be the 
 word, I cannot tell. All monarchies are fubjed: to be afflided with civil 
 wars ; but whether the moft frequent and bloody do arife from the 
 quarrels of divers competitors for crowns, before any one gain the 
 pollelTion of them, or afterwards, through the fears of him that would 
 keep what he has gained, or the rage of thofe who would wreft it from 
 h-im, is not fo eafily decided. But commonwealths are lefs troubled with 
 thofe diftempers. Women, children, or fuch as are notorioufly foolifh or 
 mad, are never advanced to the fupreme power. While the laws, and 
 that difcipline which nourifhes virtue is in force, men of wifdom and 
 valour are never wanting ; and every man defires to give teftimony of his 
 virtue, when he knows it will be rewarded with honour and power. It 
 im worthy perfons creep into magiftracies, or are by miftake any way 
 preferred, their vices, for the moft part, turn to their own hurt. The 
 ftate cannot eafily receive any great damage by the incapacity of one, who 
 is not to continue in office above a year, and is ufually encompaffed with 
 thofe, who, having borne, or are afpiring to the fame, are by their virtue 
 able to fupply his defeats, cannot hope for a reward from one unable to 
 corrupt them, and are fure of the favour of the fenate and people to lup.- 
 port them in the defence of the public intereft. As long as this good 
 order continues, private quarrels are fupprell'ed by the authority of the 
 magiftrate, or prove to be of little effeift. Such as arife 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 
 exnulfion of Tarquin) and almoft ever terminate with little or no blood. 
 Sometimes the errors of one or both parties are difcovercd by the difcourfe 
 of a wife and good man; and thofe who have moft violently oppofed one 
 another become the beft friends, every one joining to remove the evil that 
 caufcs the divifion. When the fenate and people of Rome feemed to be 
 moft furioufly incenfed againft each other, the creation of tribunes, com- 
 munication of honours aud marriages between the patrician and plebeian 
 families, or the mitigation of ufury, compofed all. And thefe were nyt 
 only harmlcfs things, but fuch as gave opportunities of correfting the 
 defects that had been in the firft conftitution of the government, without 
 which they could never have attained to the greatnefs, glory. ;i'ld happi- 
 nefs, they afterwards enjoyed. Such as had fcen that people meeting m 
 tumult, running through the city, crying out againft the king, coniuls, 
 
 fenate,
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 215 
 
 fenate, or decemviri, might have thought they would have filled all with sect. 24 
 blood and flaughter ; but no Inch thing happened. They defircd no 
 more than to take away the kingdom which Tarquin had wickedly 
 ulurpcd ; and never went about fo much as to punifli one minifter of the 
 milchiefs he had done, or to take away his goods, till, upon pretence of 
 treating, his embafl'adors by a new treachery had cafl the city into greater 
 danger than ever. Though the decemviri had by the like villainies 
 equally provoked the people, they were ufed with the like gentlenefs. 
 Appius Claudius and Oppius having by voluntary death fubftraded them- 
 felves from public puniihment, their collegues were only baniflicd *, and 
 the magiftracies of the city reduced to the former order, without the 
 effufion of more blood. They who contended for their juft rights were 
 fatisficd with the recovery of them. Whereas fuch as follow the impulfe 
 of an unruly ambition never think themfelves fafe, till they have deftroyed 
 all that feem able to diflurb them, and fatiated their rage with the blood 
 of their adverfaries. This makes as well as fhews the difference between 
 the tumults of Rome, or the feceffion of the common people to mount 
 Aventine, and the battles of Lewes, Evelham, St. Alban's, Towton, 
 Hexham, Barnet, Tewkefbury, and Bofworth. It is in vain to fay thefe 
 ought rather to be compared to thofe of Pharfalia, A£lium, or Philippi ; 
 for when the laws of a commonwealth are abolifhed, the name alfo ceafes. 
 "Whatever is done by force or fraud to fet up the interefts and lufts of one 
 man, in oppofition to the laws of his country, is purely and abfolutely 
 monarchical. Whatever paffed between Marius, Sylla, Cinna, Catiline, 
 Caefar, Pompey, Craffus, Auguftus, Antonius, and Lepidus, is to be 
 imputed to the contefls that arife between competitors for monarchy, as well 
 as thofe that in the next age happened between Galba, Otho, Vitellius, 
 and Vefpafian : or, which is worfe, whereas all men in commonwealths 
 fight for themfelves, when there is occafion, and, if they fuccecd, enjoy 
 the fruits of their vidtory, fo that even thofe who remain of the vanquifhcd 
 party partake of the liberty thereby eftablifhed, or the good laws there- 
 upon made ; fuch as followed the enfigns of thofe men, who fought to fet 
 up themfelves, did, rather like beafts than men, hazard and fuffer many 
 unfpeakable evils to purchafe mifery to themfelves and their pofterity, and 
 to make one their mafter, VN'ho, increafing in pride, avarice and cruelty, 
 was to be thrown down again with as much blood as he had been fet up. 
 Thefe things, if I miftake not, being in the laft degree evident, I may 
 leave to our author all the advantages he can gain by his rhetorical defcrij>- 
 tion of the tumults of Rome, " when blood was in the market-places 
 " fuckt up with fpunges, and the jakes Huffed with carcafes ; " to which 
 he may add the crimes of Sylla's life, and the miferies of his death. But 
 withal I defire to know, what number of fpunges were fufficient to fuck 
 
 * Spe incifa, priufquam prodiil-a dies adefiet, Appius fibi irortem confcivit . . . Oppias 
 quoqiie Juccus in viiicula eH, et ante judicii diem finem ibi vitae fecit. Bona Claudii 
 Oppiique tribuni publicavere. Collegae eorum exilii caufa folum vertcrunt ; bonapublic.-ita 
 fuiU, Liv. 1. 3, c. 58 
 
 up
 
 2i6 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. II up the blood of five hundred thoufand men flain in one day f, when the 
 houics of David and Jeroboam contended for the crown of Ifrael ; what 
 Jakes were capacious enough to contain the carcafes of thofe that periflied 
 in the quarrels between the fucceffors of Alexander ; the feveral competi- 
 tors for the Roman empire ; or thofe which have happened in France, 
 Spain, England, and other places upon the like occafions ? If Sylla for 
 fome time afted as an abfolute monarch, it is no wonder that he died like 
 one, or that God puniihed him as Herod, Philip the fecond of Spain, 
 and fome others, becaufe the hand of his fellow citizens had unjuftly 
 fpared him. If, when he was become deteftable to God and man, he 
 became alfo miferable, his example ought to deter others from the crimes, 
 that are avenged by a power which none can efcape, and to encourage 
 thofe who defend, or endeavour to recover, their violated liberties, to 
 adl vigoroufly in a caufe, that God does evidently patronize. 
 
 SECTION XXV 
 
 r 
 
 COURTS ARE MORE SUBJECT TO VENALITY AND CORRUPTION 
 THAN POPULAR GOVERNMENTS. 
 
 Though court-flatterers impute many evils to popular governments they 
 no way deferve, I could not think any fo impudent as to lay corruption 
 and venality to their charge, till I found it in our author. They might 
 in my opinion have taken thofe faults upon themfelves, fmce they cer- 
 tainly abound mofl where bawds, whores, buffoons, players. Haves, and 
 other bafe people, who are naturally mercenary, are moft prevalent. And 
 whoever would know whether this does more frequently befal common- 
 "wealths than monarchies, efpecially if they are abfolute, need only to 
 inquire, whether the Cornelii, Junii, Fabii, Valerii, Quintii, Curii, Fa- 
 bricii, and others, who moft prevailed in Rome after the expulfion of the 
 kings, or Sejanus, Macro, Narcilfus, Pallas, Icetus, Tigellinus, Vinius, 
 Laco, Agrippina, Melfalma, Lollia, Poppaea, and the like, were moft 
 fubjedl to thofe bafe vices ; whether it were more eafy to corrupt one or 
 two of thofe villains and ftrumpets, or the fenates and people of Rome, 
 Carthage, Athens, and Sparta ; and whether that fort of rabble had more 
 power over the princes they ferved, than fuch as moft rcfcmbled them 
 had, while the popular government continued. It is in vain to fay thofe 
 princes were wicked and vile; for many others are fo likcwife : and 
 "when the power is in the hands of one man, there can be no aflurance he 
 
 t This tranf.i<5lion is recorded 2 Chron. ch. 13, y. 17. But probably there is an error in 
 the text. The number oftheflaiii is incredible. Our author immediately adds — " or of 
 " four hundred thoufand who fell in one battle, between JoaOi and Amaziah, an the 
 ■" fameoccafion." — The occafion was not the lame ; and we are not informed, what number 
 fell in the battle. Thcfe words arc therefore omitted in this edition. 
 
 will
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT -17 
 
 will not belike tliem. Nay, when the power is fo placed, ill men will sect. 2^5 
 always find opportunities of compairmg their defires. " Bonus, cautus^ 
 *' optimus imperator venditur," laid Dioclefian *. And though he was no 
 unwife man, yet that which principally induced him to renounce the 
 empire, was the impoiribility he found of defending hiiulelf againli: thofe 
 that were in credit with him, who daily betrayed and fold him. They 
 fee with the eyes of other men, and cannot reiifi: the frauds that are per- 
 petually put upon them. Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurclius feem to 
 have been the heft and wifefl: of all the Roman emperors ; but the two 
 Eaullina's hadfuch an afcendency over them, as was moil fliameful to their 
 perfons, and mifchievous to the empire, and the heft men in it. Such as 
 thefe may gain too much upon the affections of one man in tlie beft regu- 
 lated government : but that could be of no great danger to the public, 
 when many others, equal or not much inferior to him in authority, are 
 veady to oppofe whatever he fhould endeavour to promote by their impulfe. 
 But there is no remedy, when all depends upon the will of a fingle perfon 
 who is governed by them. There was more of acutenefs and jell, tlian of 
 truth, in that faying of Themiftocles, " that his little boy had more 
 " power than any man in Greece; for he governed his mother, fhe him, 
 " he Athens, and Athens Greece f." For hehimfelf was found to have 
 little power, when for private paffions and concernments he departed from 
 the interefl: of the public. And the like has been found in all places that 
 have been governed in the like manner. 
 
 Again, corruption will always reign moft, where thofe wTio have the 
 power do moft favour it, where the rewards of fuch crimes are greateli, 
 eafieft, and moft valued, and where the punilhment of them is leaft feared. 
 
 I. We have already proved, that liberty cannot be preferved, if the 
 manners of the people are corrupted, nor abfolute monarchy introduced, 
 if they are iincere ; which is fufficient to Ihew, that thofe who manage 
 free governments ought always, to the utmoft of their power, to oppofe 
 corruption, becaufe otherwife both they and their government muft inevi- 
 tably perifh ; and that, on the other hand, the abfolute monarch muft 
 endeavour to introduce it, becaufe he cannot fubfilt without it. It is alfo 
 fo natural for all fuch monarchs to place men in power, who pretend to 
 love their perfons, and will depend upon tbeir pleafure, that poffibly it 
 would be hard to find one in the world, who has not made it the rule of 
 his government : and this is not only the vv^ay to corruption, but the moft 
 dangerous of all. For though a good man may love a good monarch, he 
 will obey him only when he commands that which is juft ; and no one 
 
 * Trcbellius Pollio mcminif, Diocletianum dicsre folitum, quum in privata eflet vita, 
 nihil eflb difScilius, quam bene imperare : nam quifque pro voto de principc loquitur. Ad 
 haec, princijiein cubiculo clufum vera minime nolccre, aures fuis praebere, et horum verbis 
 ■accendi, ac i'cdari, magi ft rat us creare : denique fit qui imperat bonus, fit cautus, fit op- 
 timus, omnino venditur ab aulicis ac decipitur. Poinponii Laeti Rom. Hift. Compend. c. 17 
 
 f E>££ii/of ^atp, fTriTarlci/roj ai/TU TToAXa Ta Jia Jia; TJig y.rTj)Of, to yjvxi, fiTrfv, AS--5va;ioi /a£ip 
 f^p^o'jci ruv'Ex^r,vuy cyn ic, A^nvxtuv iy.is, h <tv o-s Js, J Jio?, Pkit. in vita Catonis 
 
 F f can
 
 oi8 DISCOURSES CONCERNIi^C GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. II can engage himfelf blindly to do whatever he is commanded, without 
 renouncing all virtue and religion ; becaufe he knows not whether that 
 which fhall be commanded is confiftent with either, or diredtly contrary 
 to the laws of God and man. But if fuch a monarch be evil, and his 
 actions fuch as they are too often iound to be, whoever bears an affedlion 
 to him, and feconds his defigns, declares himfelf an enemy to all that is 
 good ; and the advancement of fuch men tcr power does not only intro-- 
 duce, foment, and increafe corruption, but fortifies it in fuch a manner, 
 that without an entire renovation of that ifate it cannot be removed. Ill 
 men may poflibly creep into any government ; but when the worft are 
 placed ncarefl to the throne, and raifed to honours for being fo, they will 
 with that force endeavour to draw all men to a conformity of fpirit witli. 
 themfclves, that it can no otherwile be prevented, than by deftroying 
 them, and the principle in which they live. 
 
 2. Man naturalLy follows that which is good, or feems to him to be fo. 
 Hence it is, that in well-governed ftates, where a value is put upon virtue,, 
 and no one honoured, unlefs for iuch qualities as are beneficial to the 
 public, men are from their tendereft years brought up in a belief, that 
 nothing in this world deferves to be fought after, but fuch honours as are 
 acquired by virtuous a(Stions. By this means virtue itfelf becomes popular, 
 as in Sparta, Rome, and other places, where riches (which, with the 
 vanity that follows them, and the honours men give to them, are the. 
 root of all evil) were either totally baniflied, or little regarded. When no 
 other advantage attended the greateft riches, than the opportunity of living 
 more fumptuoufly or delicioufly, men of great fpirits flighted them.. 
 When Ariftippus told Diogenes, that if he would go to court, and flatter 
 the tyrant, he need not feek bis fi-ipper under a hedge, the philofopher 
 anfwered, that he who could content himielf with fuch a fupper, need not 
 go to court, or flatter the tyrant *. Epaminondas, Ariftides, Phocion, 
 and even the Lacedemonian kings, found no inconvenience in poverty, 
 while their virtue was honoured, and the richcft princes in the world, 
 feared their valour and power. It was not difficult for Curius f , Fabri- 
 cius, Quintius Cincinnatus, or Aemilius Paulus, to content themfelves 
 with the narroweft fortune, when it was no obftacle to them in the pur-» 
 fait of thofe honours, which their virtues deferved. It was in vain to 
 think of bribing a man who fupped upon the coleworts of his own garden. 
 He could not be gained by gold, who did not think it neceflary. He 
 that coidd rife from the plough to the triumphal chariot, and contentedly 
 return thither again, could not be corrupted ; and he that left the fcnfe of 
 his poverl;y to his executors, who found not wherewith to bury him, might 
 leave Macedon and Greece to the pillage of his foldiers, without taking to 
 himfelf any part of the booty. But when luxury was brought into fafhion, 
 
 * Cumolera ei lavanti Ariftippus dixiflet, " fi Dionyfium adulare velles, ifta non cfTes, 
 imo, inquit, fi tu ifta cfle velles, non adulaivs Dionyfium." Val. Max. 1. 4, c. 3, § 4. 
 Hor. 1. I, Ep. 17, V. 13. Diog. Laert. in vita Aiiftippi, 1. 2, c. 10 
 
 I Vide Val. Max. 1. 4, c. 3, §5 
 
 and
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 219 
 
 and they came to be honoured who lived magnificently, though they had sect. 25 
 in thcmfelves no qualities to diftinguilli them from the hafcfl: of flavcs, the 
 moft virtuous men were expofcd to fcorn if they were poor ; and that 
 poverty, which had been the mother and nurfe of their virtue, gre\v infup- 
 portable. The poet well undcrflood what effedt ^his change had upon 
 the world, who faid, 
 
 " Nullum crimen abefl, facinufque libidinis, ex quo 
 
 " Paupertas Romana perit *." 
 When riches grew to be neceffary, the defire of them, which is the 
 fpring of all mifchief, followed. They, who could not obtain honours 
 by the nobleft actions, were obliged to get wealth to purchafe them from 
 whores and villains, who expofed them to fale. And when they were 
 once entered into this track, they foon learned the vices of thofe from 
 whom thev had received their preferment, and to delight in the ways that 
 had brought them to it. When they were come to this, nothing could 
 itop them : all thought and remembrance of good was extinguifhed. 
 They, who had bought the commands of armies or provinces from Icetus 
 or NarcilTus, fought only how to draw money from them, to enable them 
 to purchafe higher dignities, or gain a more affured protedion from thofe 
 patrons. This brought the government of the world under a moft infa- 
 mous traffic, and the treafures arifing from it were, for the moft part, 
 diffipated by worie vices than the rapine, violence, and fraud, with 
 which they had been gotten. The authors of thofe crimes had nothing 
 left but their crimes, and the neceffity of committing more, through the 
 indigence into which they were plunged by the extravagance of their 
 expences. Thefe things are infeparable from the life of a courtier. For 
 as fervile natures are guided rather by fenfe than reafon, fuch as addi£l 
 themfelves to the fervice of courts, find no other confolation in their mifery, 
 than what they receive from fenfual pleafures, or fuch vanities as they put 
 a value upon ; and have no other care, than to get money for their fupply 
 by begging, ftealing, bribing, and other infamous pradllces. Their 
 offices are more or lefs efteemed, according to the opportunities they 
 afford for the -exercife of thefe virtues ; and no man feeks them for any 
 other end than for gain, nor takes any other way, than that which con- 
 duces to it. The ufual means of attaining them are, by obferving the 
 prince's humour, flattering his vices, fervlng him in his pleafures, foment- 
 ing his paffions, and by advancing his worftdefigns, to create an opinion 
 in him, that they love his perfon and are entirely addidled to his will. 
 When valour, induftry, and v/lfdom, advanced men to offices, it was no 
 eafy matter for a man to perfuade the fcnate he had fuch qualities as were 
 required, if he had them not. But when princes feek only fuch as love 
 them, and will do what they command, it is eafy to impofe upon them; 
 and becaufe none that are good will obey them, when they command rhat 
 which is not (o, they are always encompaffed by the worft. Thofe who 
 
 * Juv. Sat. 6, V. 293 
 
 F f 2 follow
 
 220 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAf. II follow them only for reward are mofl liberal in profefling affeftion to 
 them, and by thele means rile to places of authority and power. The 
 fountain being thus corrupted, nothing that is pure can come from it. 
 Thefe mercenary wretches having the management of affairs, juftice and 
 honours are fet at a price, and the mofl lucrative traffic in the world is 
 thereby eilablilhed. Eutropius, when he was a Have, ufed to pick pockets 
 and locks ; but, being made a minifter, he fold cities, armies, and pro- 
 vinces "*. And fomc have undertaken to give probable reafons to believe, 
 that Pallas, one of Claudius's manumifed flaves, by thefe means brought 
 together more wealth in fix years, than all the R.oman didtators and con- 
 fuls had done from the expullion of the kings to their paflage into Afia. 
 The reft walked in the fame way, ufed the fame arts, and many of them 
 fucceedcd in the fame manner. Their riches confifled not of fpoils taken 
 from enem.ies, but were the bafe produft of rheir own corruption. They 
 valued nothing but money. Thofe who would bribe them were fure ta 
 be advanced to the higheft offices, and, whatever they did, feared no 
 punifhment. Like effcdls will ever proceed from the like caufes. V/hen 
 vanity, luxury, and prodigality are in fafhion, the defire of riches muft 
 neceflarily increafe in proportion to them ; and when the power is in the 
 hands of bafe mercenary perfons, they will always (to ufe the courtiers, 
 phrafe) make as much profit of their places as they can. Not only 
 matters of favour, but of juffice too, will be expofed to fale ; and no way 
 will be open to honours or maglftracies, but by paying largely for them. 
 He that gets an office by thefe means, will not execute it gratis : he 
 thinks he may fell what he has bought ; and would not have entered by- 
 corrupt ways, if he had not intended to deal corruptly. Nay, if a well- 
 meaning man fhould fuffer himfelf to be fo far carried away by the. 
 ftream of a prevailing cuftom, as to purchafe honours of ftich villains, he, 
 would be obliged to continue in the fame courfe, that he might gain, 
 riches to procure the continuance of his benefadlors protedlion, or to 
 obtain the favour of fuch as happen to fuccecd them. The corruption, 
 thus beginning in the head, mull neceflarily diffufe itfelf into all the. 
 members of the commonwealth.. Or, if any one, (which is not to be 
 expeded) after having been guilty of one villainy, fhould refolve to com-- 
 mit no more, it could have no other effedl than to bring him to ruinj, 
 iind he being taken away, all things would return to their former channel.. 
 Befides this, whoever dehres to advance himfelf muft ufe fuch means. 
 as are fuitable to the time in which he lives, and the humour of the per- 
 ions with whom he is to deal. It had been as ablurd for any man void of 
 
 ♦ Qiiid nervos fceuifle juvat? vis nulla cruentanj 
 Callrat avaritiam : parvis cxercita fiirtis, 
 Qiiac vaftare penum, negleftaquc fuevcrat arcae- 
 Chmftra renioliri, niuic uheriore rnpina 
 Peccat in orhe mamts : quicqiiid fc Tigris ab Acmo 
 .Dividit, hoc certa propoiiit merce locanduni 
 J.nftitor imperii, caupo famofus honoruin. Claud, in Eutrop. 1. i, v. jc)\ 
 
 merit,
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 221 
 
 merit to (ct himfelf up againfi; Junius Brutus, Cincinnatus, Papirius sect. 25 
 Curlbr, Camillus, Fabius Maximus, or Scipio ; and, by bribing the 
 fenate and people of Rome, think to be chofen captain againfi; the Tar- 
 quins, Tufcans, Latins, Samnitcs, Gauls, or Carthaginians, as for the 
 moft virtuous men by the moll certain proofs of their wifdom, experience, 
 integrity, and valour, to expc£t advancement from Caligula, Claudius, 
 and Nero, or the lewd wretches that governed them. They hated and 
 feared all thole that excelled in virtue ; and, fetting themfelves to deftroy 
 the beft for being the beft, they placed the llrength of the government in 
 the hands of the worft, which produced the effedls before-mentioned. 
 This fecms to have been fo well known, that no man pretended to be 
 great at court, but thofe who had cafi: off all thoughts of honour and 
 common honefty. " Revertar, cum leno, meretrix, fcurra, cinaedus 
 ero," faid one who faw what manners prevailed there ; and where-ever 
 they do prevail, fuch as will rife mull render themfelves conformable iit 
 all corruption and venality. And it may be obferved, that a noble perfon 
 now living among us, who is a great enemy to bribery, was turned out 
 from a confvderable office, as a fcandal to the court : for, faid the principal 
 iuiniller, he will make no profit of his place, and by that means calls a- 
 tcandal upon thofe that do* 
 
 If any man fay, this is not generally the fate of all courts, I confefs 
 it; and that, if the prince be jufl, virtuous, vv^ife, of great fpirit, and not: 
 pretending to be abfolute, he may choole fuch men as are not mercenary, 
 or take fuch a courfe as may render It hard for them to dcferve bribes, or 
 to preferve themfelves from punifhment, if they lliould defied; from his 
 intention. A prince of this age, fpeaking familiarly with fome great men 
 about him, faid, he had heard much of vaft gains made by thofe who 
 v^rere near to princes ; and aflced, if they made the like ? One of them 
 anfwered, that they were as willing as others to get fomcthing, but that 
 no man would give them a farthing ; for, every one finding a free admit- 
 tance to his majefty, no man needed a folicitor. And it was no lefs 
 known, that he did of himfelf grant thofe things that were jufl, than that 
 none of them had fo much credit as to promote fuch as were not fo. I 
 will not fay fuch 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 perfonal virtues, 
 it mufl fail, when that virtue fails, which was the root of it. Experi- 
 ence fhews, how little we can rely upon fuch a help ; for, where crowns 
 are hereditary, children feldom prove like to their fathers ; and fuch as 
 are eledlve have alfo their defeds. Many feem to be modefl and innocent 
 in private fortunes, v>^ho prove corrupt and vicious, when they are raifed 
 to power. The violence, fplte, and malice of Saul was never difcovered, 
 till the people had placed him on the throne. But where the government 
 is abfolute, or the prince endeavours to make it fo, this integrity can 
 never be found : he will always feek fuch as are content to depend upon 
 lijs will J which being always unruly, good men will never comply; III 
 
 men
 
 222 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 ■CHAP, n men will be paid for it; and that opens a gap to all manner of corruption. 
 Something like to this may befal regular monarchies, or popular govern- 
 ments. They who are placed in the principal offices of truft may be 
 treacherous ; and when they are lb, they will always by thei'e means feek 
 to gain partilans and dependents upon themfelves. Their defigns being 
 corrupt, they mufl: be carried on by corruption ; bat fuch as would fupport 
 monarchy in its regularity, or popular governments, mufl oppofe it, or 
 be deftroyed by it. And nothing can better manifeft how far abfolute 
 monarchies are more fubjedl to this venality and corruption than the 
 regular and popular governments, than that they are rooted in the prin- 
 ciple of the one, which cannot fubfift without them ; and are fo contrary to 
 the others, that they muft certainly perilli, unlefs they defend themfelves 
 from them. 
 
 If any man be fo far of another opinion, as to believe, that Brutus, 
 Camillus, Scipio, Fabius, Hannibal, Pericles, Ariftides, Agefilaus, Epa- 
 minondas, or Pdopidas, were as eafily corrupted as Sejanus, Tigellinus, 
 Vinius, orLaco; that the fenate and people of Rome, Carthage, Athens, 
 Sparta or Thebes, were to be bought at as eafy rates as one profligate 
 villain, a Have, a eunuch, or a whore ; or though it was not in former 
 ages, yet it is fo now ; he may be pleafed to confider, by what means 
 men now rife to places of judicature, church preferment, or any offices 
 Oi truft, honour, or profit, under thofe monarchies which we know, that 
 either are or would be abfolute. Let him examine how all the offices of 
 juPtice are now difpofed of in France; how Mazarin came to be advanced ; 
 what traffic he made of abbies and billiopricks, and what treafiires he 
 gained by thefe means ; whether the like has not continued fince his 
 death, and as a laudable example been tranfmitted to us fmce his majefty's 
 happy reftauration ; whether bawds, whores, thieves, buffoons, parafites, 
 and fuch vile wretches as are naturally mercenary, have not more power 
 at Whitehall, Verfailles, the Vatican, and the Efcurial, than in Venice, 
 Amfterdam, and Switzerland ; whether Hyde, Arlington, Danby, their 
 graces of Cleveland and Portfmouth, Sunderland, Jenkins, or Chlffinch, 
 could probably have attained fuch power as they have had among us, if it 
 had been dif[)ofcd of by the fuffrages of the parliament and people ; or 
 laflly, whether fuch as know only how to work upon the perfonal vices 
 of a man, have more influence upon one who happens to be born in a 
 reigning family, or upon a fenate confifting of men chofen for their 
 virtues and quality, or the whole body of a nation. 
 
 But if he, who poflcifes or affeiUs an abfolute power, be by his intereft 
 led to introduce that corruption, which the people, fenate, and magif- 
 rrates, who uphold popular governments, abhor, as that which threatens 
 them with deftrudion ; if the example, arts, and means ufcd by him and 
 his dependents, be of wonderful efficacy towards the introdudion of it ; if 
 notliing but an admirable virtue, which can hardly be in one that enjoys 
 or dcfires fuch a power, can divert him from that dcfign ; and if fuch 
 virtue never did, nor probably ever will continue long in any one family, 
 
 we
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 J23 
 
 we cannot rationally believe there ever was a race of men invefted with, sect. 25 
 or poflefling fuch a power ; or that there will ever be any who have not, 
 and will not endeavour to introduce that corruption, which is fo ncceflfary 
 to the defence of their perlbns, and moft important concernments, and 
 certainly accomplifli their great defign, unlcfs they are oppofed or removed. 
 
 SECTION XXVI 
 
 CIVIL TUMULTS AND WARS ARE KOT THE GREATEST EVILS 
 
 THAT BEFAL NATIONS. 
 
 " But {kin for Ikin," fays our author, " and all that a man hath, win 
 ♦' he give for his life." And fince it was neccffary to grace his book 
 with fome Scripture phrafes, none could be fitter for that purpofe thaa 
 thofe that were fpoken by the devil. But they will be of little ufe to him. 
 For though I fhould ib far recede from truth, as to avow thofe words to 
 be true, I might fafely deny the conclufions he draws from them, " that 
 « thofe are the worft governments, under which mofl men are flain ; or 
 " that more are flain in popular governments, than in ahfotute monar- 
 chies." For, having proved that all the wars and tumults, that have 
 happened in commonwealths, have never produced fuch flaughters as 
 were brought upon the empires of Macedon and Rome, or the kingdoms 
 of Ifrael, Judah, France, Spain, Scotland, or England, by contefts 
 bccWeen feveral competitors for thofe crowns ; if tumult, war, and 
 flaughter, be the point in queftion, thofe are the worft of all governments, 
 where they have been moft frequent and cruel. But though thefe are 
 terrible fcourges, I deny that government to be fimply the worft, which 
 has moft of them. It is ill, that men fhould kill one another in feditioris, 
 tumults, and wars ; but it is worfe, to bring nations to fuch mifery, 
 weaknefs, and bafenefs, as to have neither ftrength nor courage to con- 
 tend for any thing ; to have left nothing worth defending, and to give 
 the name of peace to defolation. I take Greece to have been happy and 
 glorious, when it was full of populous cities, flourifliing in all the arts 
 that deferve praife among men ; when they were courted and feared by 
 the greateft kings, and never affaulted by any but to his own lols and 
 confufion ; when Babylon and Sufa trembled at the motion of their arms ; 
 and their valour, exercifed in thofe wars and tumults, which our author 
 looks upon as the greateft evils, was raifed to fuch a power, that nothing 
 upon earth was found able to refift them. And I think it now miferable, 
 when peace reigns within their empty walls, and the poor remains of 
 thofe exhaufted nations, ftieltering themfelves under the ruins of the 
 defolated cities, have neither any thing that deferves to be difputcd among 
 them, nor fpirit or force to repel the injuries they daily luffer from a 
 
 proud and infupportable mafter. 
 
 ■2 The
 
 2^4 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 C!iAV,ii The like may be faid of Italy. Whilft it was inhabited by nations 
 governing themfelves by their own will, they fell fometimes into domeftic 
 teditions, and had frequent wars with their neighbours. When they 
 were free, they loved their country, and were always ready to fight in 
 its defence. Such as fucceeded well, incrcafed in vigour and power ; and 
 even thofe which were the moft unfortunate in one age found means to 
 repair their greateft lofles, if their government continued. While they 
 had a property in their goods, they would not fuffer the country to be 
 invaded, lince they knew they could have none, if it were loft. This 
 gave occafion to wars and tumults ; but it fharpened their courage, kept 
 up a good dlfcipllne, and the nations that were moft exercifed by them, 
 alwavs increafed in power and number ; fo that no country feems ever to 
 have been of greater ftrength than Italy was, when Hannibal invaded it : 
 and after his defeat, the reft of the world was not able to refift their 
 valour and power. They fometimes killed one another ; but their ene- 
 mies never got any thing but burying-places within their territories. All 
 things are now brought into a very different method by the blelTed govern- 
 ments they are under. The fatherly care of the king of Spain, the pope, 
 and other princes, has eftabliflied peace among them. We have not in 
 many ages heard of any fedltlon among the Latins, Sabines, Volfci, Equl, 
 Samnltes, or others. The thin, half-ftarved inhabitants of walls fupported 
 by ivy fear neither popular tumults, nor foreign alarms ; and their fleep 
 is only interrupted by hunger, the cries of their children, or the howling 
 of wolves. Inftead of many turbulent, contentious cities, they have a 
 few fcattered, filent cottages ; and the fiercenefs of thofe nations is fo 
 tempered, that every rafcally colle£tor of taxes extorts, without fear, 
 from every man, tliat which fliould be the nourlfhment of his family. 
 And if any of thofe countries are free from thefe pernicious vermin, it is 
 through the extremity of their poverty. Even in Rome a man may be 
 circumvented by the fraud of a pricft, or poifoned by one who would 
 have his eftate, wife, whore, or child ; but nothing is done that looks 
 like tumult or violence. The governors do as little fear Gracchus as Hanni- 
 bal ; and Inftead of wearying their fubiefts in wars, they only feek, by 
 perverted laws, corrupt judges, falfe witnefles, and vexatious fuits, to 
 cheat them of their money and Inheritance. This is the beft part of their 
 condition. Where thefe arts are uled, there are men, and they have 
 fomethlng to lofe ; but for the moft part the lands lie wafte ; and they, 
 who were formerly troubled vv'ith the difordcrs incident to populous cities, 
 now enjoy the quiet and peaceable eftate of a wlldernefs. 
 
 Again, there is a way of killing worfe than that of the fword : for as 
 TerluUian fays upon a different occafion, " vetarc nafci eft Interficere ;*" 
 thofe governments arc in the highcft degree guilty of blood, which by 
 
 * Quomodo Ailvum homincm volet, qiiem vctat nafci .... Non erit immanior cluritia 
 Pharaonis, nafccntium cnccatrix : nam i.Uc animas adimit, hie non dat. . . Sub utroq\ic 
 ho-iio intcrficitur ; fub altcro, jam editus ; fub altero, cdendus. Tert. adv. M.nre. I. i, 
 ' iiib fincm. 
 
 takinsx
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 225 
 
 taking from men the means of living, bring feme to perifli through want, SECT. 26 
 drive others out of the country, and generally difluade men from marriage, 
 by taking from them all ways of fupporting their families. Notwith- 
 ftanding all the feditions of Florence, and other cities of Tufcany, the 
 horrid fadions of Guelphs and Gibelines, Neri and Bianchi *, nobles and 
 commons, they continued populous, Itrong, and exceeding rich ; but in 
 the fpace of Icfs than a hundred and fifty years, the peaceable reign of the 
 Medici is thought to have deflroyed nine parts in ten of the people of 
 that province. Among other things it is remarkable, that when Philip 
 the fecond of Spain gave Sienna to the duke of Florence, his embalfador 
 then at Pvome font him word, that he had given away more than fix hun- 
 dred and fifty thoufand fubjedls ; and it is not believed there are now 
 twenty thoufand fouls inhabiting that city and territory. Pifa, Pifloia, 
 Arezzo, Cortona, and other towns, that were then good and populous, 
 are in the like proportion diminiflied, and Florence more than any. 
 When that city had been long troubled with feditions, tumults, and wars, 
 for the moft part unprofperous, they ftill retained fuch ftrength, that 
 when Charles the eighth of France, being admitted as a friend with his 
 whole army, which foon after conquered the kingdom of Naples, thought 
 to mafter them, the people, taking up arms, ftruck fuch a terror into him, 
 that he was glad to depart upon fuch conditions as they thought fit to 
 impofef- Machiavel reports, that in the year 1298 Florence alone, with 
 the Val d' Arno, a fmall territory belonging to that city, could, in a few 
 hours, by the found of a bell, bring together a hundred thoufand well 
 armed men :j:. Whereas now that city, with all the others in that 
 province, are brought to fuch defpicable weaknefs, emptinefs, poverty, 
 and bafenefs, that they can neither refill the oppreffions of their 
 own prince, nor defend him or themfelves, if they were aflaulted by a 
 foreign enemy. The people are difperfed or deflroyed, and the befl 
 families fent to feek habitations in Venice, Genoa, Rome, and Lucca. 
 This is not the efFedt of war or peftilence : they enjoy a perfed peace, 
 and fufFer no other plague than the government they are under. But 
 he who has thus cured them of diforders and tumults does, in my opi- 
 nion, deferve no greater praife than a phyfician, who fhould boaft there 
 was not a fick perfon in a houfe committed to his care, when he had 
 poifoned all that were in it. The Spaniards have eftabliihed the like 
 peace in the kingdoms of Naples and Sicily, the Well-Indies, and other 
 places. The Turks by the fame means prevent tumults in their domi- 
 
 * Machiav. Iftor. Floient. !. 2 
 
 f Gallis non mediocrem injiciebat metum Florentini populi ingens multitudo ; qui, quo 
 tempore Ihi-tus reipublicae fuerat mutatus, argumenta audaciae majora quam quifquam cre- 
 didiffet, oftenderat. Is qicoque rumor pervulgatus non parum eos terrebat, nimirum, ad 
 campani aeris, quod in turribus fufpendi folet, ingentem fonitum, infinitam armatorum vim 
 ex toto Florentinorum agro concurfum facluram. In hoc communi metu, ad inanes faepe 
 rumores utraque pars magno tumultu repente ad arma concurrebat. F. Guicciardini Hift. 
 Sui Temporls, C. S. Curione interprete, 1. i, p. no, ct feq. Edit. Bafil. 1567 
 
 % Machiav. Iftor. Fiorent. I. 2 
 
 G g nions.
 
 226 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. 11 nions. And they are of fuch efficacy in all places, that Mario Chigi, brother 
 to pope Alexander the feventh, by one fordid cheat upon the fale of corn, 
 is faid within eight years to have deftroyed above a third part of the people 
 in the ecclefiaftical rtate. And that country, which was the ftrength of 
 the Romans in the time of the Carthaginian wars, fufFered more by the 
 covetoufnefs and fraud of that villain, than by all the defeats received 
 from Hannibal. 
 
 It were an endlefs work to mention all the places, where this peaceable 
 folitude has been introduced by abfolute monarchy. But popular and 
 regular governments have always applied themfelves to increafe the num- 
 ber, ftrength, power, riches, and courage, of their people, by providing 
 comfortable ways of fubfiftence for their own citizens, inviting ftrangers, 
 and infpiring them all with fuch a love to their country, that every man 
 might look upon the public cauie as his own, and be always ready to 
 defend it. This may fometimes give occafion to tumults and wars, as 
 the moft vigorous bodies may fall into diftempers. ' When every one is 
 folicitous tor the public, there may be difference of opinion ; and fome, 
 by miftaking the way, may bring prejudice when they intend profit : but 
 unlefs a tyrant do arife, and deftroy the government, which is the root of 
 their felicity ; or they fhould be overwhelmed by the irrefiftible power of a 
 virtue or fortune greater than their own, they loon recover, and, for the 
 moft part, rife up in greater glory and profperity than before. ' This was 
 feen in the commonwealths of Greece and Italy, which for this reafon 
 were juftly called nurferies of virtue, and their magiftrates prefervers of 
 men. Whereas our author's peace-making monarchs can deferve no better 
 title than that of enemies and deftroyers of mankind. 
 
 I cannot think him in carneft, when he exaggerates Sylla's cruelties, 
 as a proof, that the mifchiefs fuffercd under free ftates are more univerfal, 
 than imder kings and tyrants, for there never was a tyrant in the world, 
 if he v/as not one ; though through wearinefs, infirmity of body, fear, or 
 perhaps the horror of his own wickednefs, he at length refigned his 
 power : but the evil had taken root fo deep, that it could not be removed. 
 There was nothing ot liberty remaining in Rome. The laws were over- 
 thrown by the violence of the fword. The remaining conteft was, who 
 (hould be lord. And there is no reafon to believe, that if Pompey had 
 gained the battle of Pharfalla, he would have made a more modeft ufe of 
 his vidlory than Caclar did ; or that Rome would have been more happy- 
 under him than under the other. Hia caufe was more plaufible becaufe 
 the fenate followed him, and Caefar was the invader ; but he was no better 
 in his perfon, and his defigns fcem. to have been the fame. He had been 
 long before " fuarum legum audlor ac fubverfor *. '* He gave the 
 beginning to the firft triumvirate ; and it were folly to think, that he, 
 
 * Cn. Pompeius tertiuni conful conigendis moribus ciile(5tus, et gra\ior rcmcdiis quam 
 dtlidla crant, fuarumquc legmn. auctor idem ac fubA'crfor, quae armis tuebatur, aimisamifit, 
 Tacit. Ann. 1. 3, ^, -zS 
 
 who
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 227 
 
 who had been nlblent wlien he was not come to the htglieft pitch of for- sect. 27 
 tunc, would h • >'C proved moderate if fiiccers had put all into his hands. 
 The proceedings of Marias, Cinna, Catiline, Oclavius, and Antonius, 
 were all of the fame nature. No laws were obferved ; no public good 
 intended; the ambition of private pcrfons reigned; and whatever was 
 done by them, or for their intcrefts, can no more be applied to popular, 
 ariitocratical, or mixed governments, than the furies of Caligula and Nero, 
 
 SECTION XXVII 
 
 THE MISCHIEFS AND CRUELTIES PROCEEDING FROM TYRANNY 
 ARE GREATER THAN ANY, THAT CAN COME FROM POPULAR 
 
 OR MIXED GOVERNMENTS. 
 
 It is now time to examine the reafons of our author's general maxims, 
 " The cruelty," fays he, " of a tyrant extends ordinarily no farther than to 
 " fome particular men that offend him, and not to the whole kingdom. 
 " It is truly faid by his late majefly king James, a king can never be fo 
 " notorioully vicious, but he will generally favour juftice, and maintain 
 " fome order : except in particular cafes, wherein his inordinate lufts 
 " may carry him away. Even the cruel Domitian, Dionyfnis the tyrant, 
 " and many others, are commended by hiftorians as great obfervers of 
 " juftice." It may be faid of popular governments, that, though a people 
 through error do fometimes hurt a private perfon, and that may poflibly refult 
 to the public damage, becaufe the man that is offended or deftroyed might 
 liave been ufeful to the fociety, they never do it otherwife than by error. 
 For, having the government in themfclves, whatever is prejudicial to it is 
 fo to them ; and if they ruin it, they ruin themfelves : which no man ever 
 did willingly and knowingly. In abfolute monarchies the matter is quite 
 otherwife. A prince that fets up an intereft in himfelf becomes an 
 enemy to the pu!)lic. In following his own lufts he offends all, except a 
 few of his corrupt creatures, by whofe help he opprefl'es others with a 
 yoke they are unwilling to bear, and thereby incurs the univerfal hatred. 
 This hatred is always proportionable to the injuries received, which being 
 extreme, that muft be fo too ; and every people being powerful in com- 
 parifon to the prince that governs, he will always fear thofe that hate 
 him, and always hate thofe he fears. When Luigi Farnefe, firft duke of 
 Parma, had by his tyranny incenfed the people of that fmall city, their 
 hatred was not lefs mortal to him than that of the whole empire had been 
 to Nero ; and as the one burned Rome, the other would have deftroyed 
 Parma, if he had not been prevented. The like has been, and will be 
 every where, inafmuch as every man endeavours to deftroy thofe he hates 
 and tears j and the greataefs of the danger often drives this fear to rage 
 
 G g 2 and
 
 228 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. II and madnefs *. For this reafon C»ligula wifhed but one neck to all the 
 people ; and Nero triumphed over the burning city, thinki.'.g by that ruin 
 he had prevented his own danger. I know not who the good authors 
 are that commend Domitian for his juftice : Tacitus calls him " principem 
 " virtutibus infenfum f ; " and it is hard to find out how fuch a man can 
 be an obferver of juftice, unlefs it be juft, that whoever dares to be virtu- 
 ous under a vicious and bafe prince fhould be deftroyed. Another author 
 of the fame time, fpeaking of him, does not fay he was unjuft, but gives 
 us reafon to think that he was fo, unlefs it were juft for him, who had a 
 povv^er over the beft part of the world, to deftroy it ; and that he, who by 
 his cruelty had brought it to the laft gafp, would have finiflied the work, 
 if his rage had not been extinguiflied |. 
 
 Many princes, not having in themfelves power to deftroy their people, 
 have ftirred up foreign nations againft them, and placed the only hopes 
 of their fafety in the public calamity. And lawful kings, when they 
 liave fallen into the firft degree of madnefs, fo as to affume a power above 
 that vAich was allowed by the law, have in fury proved equal to the 
 worft ufurpers. Cleonymus of Sparta was of this fort. He became, fays 
 Plutarch, an enemy to the city, becaufe they would not allow him the 
 abfolute power he afFedted § ; and brought Pyrrhus, the fierceft of their 
 enemies, with a mighty and excellently well difciplined army, to deftroy 
 them. Vortigern the Briton called in the Saxons to the ruin of his own 
 people, who were incenfed againft him for his lewdnefs, cruelty, and 
 bafenefs IF. King John for the like reafons offered the kingdom of Eng- 
 land to the Moors, and to the pope. Peter the Cruel, and other kings 
 of Caftile, brought vaft armies of Moors into Spain, to the ruin of their 
 own people, who detefted their vices, and would not part with their pri- 
 vileges. Many other examples of the like nature might be alleged : and 
 I wifti our own experience did not too well prove that fuch defigns are 
 common. Let him that doubts this examine the caufes of the wars with. 
 Scotland in the years 1639, 1640; the flaughters of the proteftants in 
 Ireland 1641; the whole courfe of alliances and treaties for the fpace of 
 fourfcore years; the friendfhip contraded with the French; frequent 
 quarrels with the Dutch ; together with other circumftances that are 
 already made too public. If he be not convinced by this, he may foon 
 fee a man in the throne, who had rather be a tributary to France than a 
 lawful king of England, whilft either parliament or people fliall dare to 
 
 * Cuncfta fcrit, dum cunfta timet. Claud, in Eutrop. 1. i, v. 182 
 
 + Crebro per eos dies apud Domitianumabfensaccufatus,abfens abiblutus eft. Caufa peri- 
 culi non crimen ullum, aut querela laefi cujufquam, fed infcnfus virtutibus princeps, et' 
 gloria viri, ac pefllmum inimicorum genus, laudantcs. Tacit, in vita Agric. § 41 
 X Cum jam fcmianiriiun) laceraret Flavius orbem 
 
 Ultinius, ct calvo fervirct Roma Neroni. Juv. Sat. 4, v. 37 
 
 ^ O Si KXtun;|M.oc *iv jU.fl/ yti/if? (iatriMxn, Soxuv Si Piaiof nvxi xatt ji*oi/ap;^i>tof, o\ni cvvoiav, 
 
 CUTf TTir'V EtJCEV, aXX' Apivq fpaO-iAfUff-S" XXl T8T0 fxlV YiV XOIVOV lyxXyifJ-X XXI |3ft(r/3uT£poi/ 
 
 uiTU Trpof Ta; TroXiraj. Plut. in vita Pyrrhi. 
 f Mat. Weft. Flor. Hift. fub ann. 449. p. 8i. Will. Malmelb. de Gcftis Reg. Ang. 1. i , p. 8 
 
 difpute'
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 229 
 
 cllfpute his commands, infift upon their own rights, or defend a religion sect. 27 
 inconfifteiit with that which he has elpoufed ; and then the truth will be 
 fo evident as to require no proof. 
 
 Grotius was never accufcd of dealing hardly with kings, or laying too 
 much weight upon imaginary cafes ; ncverthelefs, among other reafons, 
 that, in his opinion, juitify fubjeQs in taking arms againft their princes, 
 he alleges this, " propter immanem faevitiam," and " quando rex in 
 " populi exitium fertur*;" innfmuch as it is " contrary to, and incon- 
 " fiftent with the ends for which governments are initituted : " which 
 were moft impertinent, if no fuch thing could be; for that which is not 
 can have no efFedl. There are therefore princes who feek the deftrudliou 
 of their people, or none could be juftly oppofed on that account. 
 
 If king James was of another opinion, I could wilh the courfe of his 
 government had been fuited to it. When he faid, that whilft he had the 
 power of making judges and bilhops, he would make that to be law and' 
 gofpel, which beft pleafed him, and filled thofe places with fuch as turned 
 both according to his will and interefts, I muft think, that by overthrow- 
 ing juftice, which is the rule of civil and moral aftion, and- perverting 
 the gofpel, which is the light of the fpiritual man, he left nothing unat- 
 tempted that he durft attempt, by which he might bring the moft exten- 
 live and unlverfal evils upon our nation that any can fuffer. This would 
 fland good, though princes never erred, unlefs they were tranfported with 
 fome " inordinate lufts : " for it is hard to find one that does not live in the 
 perpetual power of them. They are naturally fubjedt to the impulfe of 
 fuch appetites as well as others, and whatever evil reigns in their nature 
 is fomented by education. It is the handle by which their flatterers lead 
 them : and he that difcovers to what vice a prince is moft inclined, is fure 
 to govern him by rendering himfelf fubfervient. In this confifts the chief 
 art of a courtier ; and by thefe means it comes to pafs, that fuch lufts, 
 as in private men are curbed by fear, do not only rage as in a wild beaft,. 
 but are perpetually inflamed by the malice of their own fervants. Their 
 hatred to the laws of God or men, that might reftrain them, increafes in 
 proportion with their vices, or their fears of being punifhed for them. 
 When they are come to this, they can fet no limits to their fury; 
 and there is no extravagance into which they do not frequently fall. But 
 many of them do not expert thefe violent motives : the perverfity of their 
 own nature carries them to the extremities of evil. They hate virtue for 
 its own fake, and virtuous men for being moft unlike to themfelves.. 
 Virtue is the didate of reafon,, or the remains of divine light, by which 
 men are made benevolent and beneficial to each other. Religion proceeds 
 from the fame fpriag, and tends to the fame end ; and the good of man- 
 kind fo entirely depends upon thefe two, that no people ever enjoyed any 
 
 * Ait Barclaius amitti regnum, fi rex vere hoftili animo in totius populi exitium feratur : 
 quod concede; confiftere enim fimul non poffunt voluntas imperandi, et voluntas perdendi. 
 Grot, de Jure Belli, 1. i, c, 4, § 11 
 
 2. things
 
 230 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP.. II thing woi'th defiring that was not the producH: of them ; and wh.itever any 
 have fuifercd, that delerves to be abhorred and feared, has proceeded 
 either from the defedl of thefe, or the wrath of God againft them. If any 
 prince therefore has been an enemy to virtue and reUgion, he muft -aifo 
 Iiave been an enemy to mankind, and efpecially to the people under 
 him. Whatever he docs againft thofe that excel in virtue and relio-ion, 
 tends to the deftrudtion of the people who fubful by them, t will not 
 take upon me to define who they are, or to tell the number of thofe that 
 do this : but it is certain there have been fuch ; and I wifh I could iav 
 they were few in number, or that they had lived only in paft ages. 
 Tacitus does not fix this upon one prince, but upon all that he writes of ; 
 and to give his readers a tafte of what he was to write, he fays, " that 
 " nobility and honours were dangerous, but that virtue brought inoft 
 " certain deftrudipn * ; " and in another place, that, " after the llaughter 
 " ot many excellent men, Nero refolved to cut down virtue itfelf, and 
 " therefore killed Thrafea Pactus, and Barea Soranus f." And whoever 
 examines the chrillian or eccleiiaftical hiftories, will find thofe princes to 
 have been no lefs enemies to virtue and religion than their predecefTors, 
 and confequently, enemies to the nations under them : unlefs religion and 
 virtue be things prejudicial or indifferent to mankind. 
 
 But our author may fay, thefe were particular cafes. — And fo was the 
 flaughter of the prophets and apoftles, the crucifixion of Chrift, and all 
 the villainies that have ever been committed; yet they proceeded from a 
 tmiverlal principle of hatred to all that is good, exerting itfelf, as far as 
 it could, to the ruin of mankind ; and nothing but the over-ruling power 
 ot God, who refolved to preferve to himfelf a people, could fet bounds to 
 their rage, which in other refpeds had as full fuccefs, as our author, or 
 the devil, could have v.'ifhed. 
 
 Dionyfuis, his other example of juftice, deferves obfervation. More 
 fallhood, lewdncfs, treachery, ingratitude, cruelty, bafenefs, avarice, 
 impudence, and hatred to all manner of good, was hardly ever known in 
 a mortal creature. For this reafon, Diogenes feeing him at Corinth, 
 though in a poor and contemptible condition, faid, he rather deferved to 
 have continued in the mii'ery, fears, and villainies, of his tyranny, than 
 to be fuffered peaceably to converfe with honeft men '\.. And if fuch as 
 lliele are to be called oblcrvers of iuftice, it muft be concluded, tlutt the 
 laws of God, and of men, are either of no value, or contrary to it ; and 
 that the dcftruclion of nations is a better work than their prefervation. 
 No faith is to be obfervcd ; temples may be juftly facked ; the hcJl: men 
 fiain for daring to be better than their mafters ; and the whole world, if 
 it were in the power of one man, rightly torn in pieces ajid deftroyed. 
 
 * Nobilitas, op's, omi/Ti gefliquc honorcs, pro crimliic; et ob viitutes, cciti/llmum 
 Cxitiiim. 'l"atit. Hift, I, I, § 3 
 
 ^ f Tfucidatis tot infigiiibus viris, ad poftrcmum Nero virtutem ipfam cxfcindere concupi- 
 rir, idtcrfcifto Barea Sorajio, et Thrafea Paeto. Ann. 1. lb, § 21 
 
 i Plut. UcGcrcnd. Rep. Vol. 2, c. 5+ 
 
 His
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 231 
 
 His reafons for this are as good as liis dodrine. " It is, fays he, the sect. 27' 
 " multitude of people, and abundance of their riches, which arc the 
 " only ilrength and glory of every })rincc. The bodies ot his fuhjeifls 
 " do him fervice in war, and their goods fupply his public wants.. 
 " Therefore, if not out of afl'edion to his people, yet out of natural love 
 " unto himfelf, every tyrant delires to preferve the lives and goods of 
 " his fubjeifls." I fliould have thought that princes, though tyrants, 
 being God's vicegerents, and fathers of their people, would have fought 
 their good, though no advantage had thereby redounded to themfelves :; 
 but it leems no fuch thing is to be expected from them. They confider 
 nations, as graziers do their herds and liocks, according to the profit that 
 can be made of them. And if this be fo, a people has no more fecurity 
 under a prince, than a herd or flock under their maftcr. Though he- 
 delire to be a good hufband, yet they muft be delivered up to the flaughter^ 
 •when he finds a good market, or a better way of improving his land i 
 but they are often foolifh, riotous, prodigal, and wantonly dcftroy their 
 ftock, though to their own prejudice. We thought that all princes and 
 magiftrates had been fet up, that under them we might live quietly and 
 peaceably, in all godlinefs and honefly. But our author teaches us, that 
 they only feek what they can make of our bodies and goods, and that 
 they do not live and reign for us, but for themfelves. If this be true, 
 they look upon us not as children, but as beafls ; nor do us any good for 
 our own fakes, or becaufe it is their duty, but only that we may be ufefui 
 to them, as oxen are put into plentiful paftures, that they may be ftrong 
 for labour, or fit for {laughter. This is the divine model of government 
 that he off'ers to the world. The juft magiftrate is the minifter of God 
 for our good. But this abfolute monarch has no other care of us, than 
 as our riches and multitude may increafe his own glory and ftrength. We 
 might eafily judge what would be the lilue of fuch a principle, when the 
 belngof nations depending upon his will muft alio depend upon his opi-- 
 nion, whether the ftrength, multitude, and riches, of a people, do con- 
 duce to the increafe of glory and power, or not, though hiftories were 
 filent in the cafe ; for thefe things fpeak of themfelves. The judgment 
 of a fingle man is not to be relied upon : the beft and wifeft do often err, 
 the foolifh and perverfe always. And our difcourfe is not of what Mofes 
 or Samuel would do, but what may come into the fancy of a furious or 
 wicked man, who may ufurp the fupreme power, or a child, a woman, 
 or a fool, that may inherit it, Befide?, the propofition upon which he 
 Builds his conclufion, proves often faife. For as the riches, power, num- 
 ber, or courage, of our friends, is for our advantage, and that of our 
 enemies threatens us with ruin, thofe princes only can reafonably believe 
 the ftrength of their fubjedts beneficial to them, who govern fo as to be 
 afTured of their affeftion, and that their ftrength will' be employed for 
 them. But thofe who know they are, or deferve to be hated, cannot but 
 think it will be employed againft them, and always feek to diminilh that 
 which creates their danger.. This muft certainly bcfal as many as are 
 
 lewd,
 
 232 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. II lewd, foolifli, negligent, imprudent, cowardly, wicked, vicious, or any 
 way unworthy the places they obtain : foi their reign is a perpetual exer- 
 cileofthe moll extreme and ruinous injuftice. Everyman, who follows 
 an honeft intereft, is prejudiced ; every one who finds the power that 
 was ordained for his good, to be turned to his hurt, will be angry, and 
 hate him that does it. If the people be of uncorrupted manners, this 
 hatred will be univerfal, becaufe every one of them defires that which is 
 juft. If compofed of good and evil, the firft will always be averfe to the 
 evil government, and the others endeavouring to uphold it, the fafety of 
 the prince mull depend upon the prevalence of either party. If the bell 
 prove to be the flrongeft, he muft perifli. And knowing himfelf to be 
 fupported only by the worfl, he will always deflroy as many of his ene- 
 mies as he can ; weaken thofe that remain ; enrich his creatures with their 
 fpoils and confifcations ; by fraud and rapine accumulate treafures to 
 increafe the number of his party, and advance them into all places of 
 power and trufl, that by their affiftance he may crufli his adverfaries ; and 
 every man is accounted his adverfary who has either eftate, honour, 
 virtue, or reputation. This naturally calls all the power into the hands 
 of thofe who have no fuch dangerous qualities, nor any thing to recom- 
 mend them, but an abfolute refignation of themfelves to do whatever 
 they are commanded. Thefe men having neither will nor knowledge to 
 do good, as foon as they come to be in power, juftice is perverted, military 
 difcipline negledled, the public treafures exhaufted, new projeds invented 
 to raife more ; and the prince's wants daily increafmg, through their igno- 
 rance, negligence, or deceit, there is no end of their devices and tricks 
 to gain fupplies. To this end, fwarms of fpies, informers, and falle 
 witnefTes, are fent out to circumvent the richefl and moil eminent men ; 
 the tribunals are filled with court-parafites of profligate confcienccs, for- 
 tunes, and reputation, that no m.an may efcape who is brought before 
 them. If crimes are wanting, the diligence of well-chofen officers and 
 profecutors, with the favour of the judges, fupply all defedls ; the law is 
 made a Inare, virtue fupprell'ed, vice fomented, and, in a fliort time, 
 honefly and knavery, fobriety and lewdnefs, virtue and vice, become 
 badges of the feveral factions ; and every man's converfation and manners 
 fhewing to what party he is addlded, the prince who makes himfelf head 
 of the worft muft favour them to the overthrow of the heft : which is fo 
 flraight a way to an univerfal ruin, that no ftate can prevent it, unlefs that 
 courfe be interrupted. 
 
 Thefe things confidercd, no general judgment can be made of a magif- 
 trate's counfels, from his name or duty. He that is juft, and become 
 grateful to the people by doing good, will find his own honour and fecu- 
 rity in increafmg their number, riches, virtue, and power. If on the 
 other fide, by doing evil, he has drawn upon himfelf the public hatred, 
 he v/ill always endeavour to take from ihem the power of doing him any 
 hurt, by bringing them Into the utmoft weaknefs, poverty, and bafenefs. 
 And whoever would know whether any particular prince defires to 
 
 increafe
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 233 
 
 increafe or deftroy the bodies and goods of his fubjc£l:s, muft examine sect. 28 
 
 wliethcr his government l)e fuch as renders him grateful or odious to them ; 
 
 and whether he purfucs the pubUc intercft, or, for the advancement of 
 
 his own authority, fets up one in himfelf contrary to that of his people, 
 
 which can never befal a popular government ; and confcquently, no mif- 
 
 chief equal to it can be produced by any fuch, unlefs fomething can be 
 
 imagined worfe than corruption and dellrudion. 
 
 SECTION xxvni 
 
 MEN LIVING UNDER POPULAP,. OR MIXED GOVERNMENTS ARE 
 MORE CAREFUL OF THE PUBLIC GOOD, THAN IN ABSOLUTE 
 
 MONARCHIES. 
 
 Our author delighting in flrange things does in the next place, with an 
 admirable fagacity, difcover two faults in popular governments, which 
 were never found by any man before him ; and thefe are no lefs than 
 ignorance and negligence. Speaking of the care of princes to preferve 
 their fubje£ls, he adds, " on the contrary, in a popular flate, every m.an 
 *' knows the public good doth not wholly depend' on his care, but the 
 " commonwealth may be well enough governed by others, though he 
 " only tend his private bufinefs." And a little below, " nor are they 
 " much to be blamed for their negligence, fnice it is an even wager tjieir 
 *' ignorance is as great. The magiftrates among the people, being for 
 " the mofi: part annual, do always lay down their office before they under- 
 *' ftand it ; fo that a prince of a duller underflanding muft needs excel 
 " them." This is bravely determined, and the world is beholden to 
 Filmer for the difcovery of the errors that have hitherto been epidemical. 
 Moft men had believed, that fuch as live in free ftates are ufually pleafed 
 with their condition, and defire to maintain it ; and that every 'man finding 
 his own good comprehended in that of the public, as thofe who fail in the 
 fame fhip, employs the talent he has in endeavouring to preferve it, know- 
 ing that he muft perifh if that mifcarry. This was an encouragement to 
 induftry ; and the continual labours and dangers, to which the Romans 
 and other free nations expofed themfelves, have been taken for tcftlmo- 
 nies, that they thought themfelves concerned in the bufinefles that paffed 
 among them, and that every one did not neglect them, through an opinion 
 that they would be done well enough by others. It was alfo thought, 
 that free cities, by frequent eledions of magiftrates, became nurferies of 
 great and able men, every man endeavouring to excel others, that he 
 might be advanced to the honour he had no other title to, than what 
 might arif'e from his merit or reputation ; in which they fucceeded fo well, 
 that one of them may be juftly faid to have produced more eminent men, 
 than all the abfolute monarchies that have been in the world. But thefe 
 
 H h were
 
 234 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAT^ll were miftakes. Perhaps Brutus, Valerius, and other Roman fenators or 
 maglftrates, for the fpace of three hundred years, might have taken fome 
 care of the commonweakh, if they had thought it wholly depended upon 
 one of them. But believing it would be well enough governed by others, 
 they negleiTted it. Camillus, Cincinnatus, Papirius, Fabius Rutilianus 
 and IVlaximus, Scipio Africanus, Amilcar, Hannibal, Pericles, The- 
 miftocles, Alcibiades, Epaminoridas, Philopoemen, and others, might 
 have proved able men in affairs of war or government; but they were 
 removed from their offices before they underflood them, and mull needs 
 be excelled in lioth by princes, though of duller underftanding. This 
 may be enough to excufe them tor performing their duty fo flackly and 
 meanly. But it is ftrange, that Tacitus, and others, fliould fo far over- 
 look the reafon, and fo grofly miftake the matter of faft, as not only to 
 fay, that great and excellent fpirits failed when liberty was lofl, and all 
 preferments given to thofe who were mofl propenfe to flavery ; but that 
 there wanted men even to write the hiftory, " infcitia reipublicae ut 
 " alienae *." They never applied themfelves to underftand affairs depend- 
 ing upon the will of one man, in whom they were no otherwife con- 
 cerned, than to avoid the effcds of his rage ; and that was chiefly to be 
 done, by not falling under the fuipicion of being virtuous. This was 
 the fhudy then in requefl ; and the moft cunning in this art were called 
 " fcientes temporum." No other wifdom was efteemed in that and the 
 enfuing ages ; and no more was required, fmce the paternal care, deep 
 wifdom, and profound judgment of the princes provided for all. And 
 though they were of duller underftandings, they muft needs excel other 
 magiftrates, who having been created only for a year, left their offices, 
 before they could underftand the duties of them. This was evidenced by 
 that tendernefs, and fmcerity of heart, as well as the great purity of man- 
 ners, obfcrved in Tiberius; the clemency, jullice, folid judgment, and 
 frugality of Caligula ; the induftry, courage, and fobriety of Claudius ; 
 the good-nature, and prudent government of Nero ; the temperance, 
 vivacity, and diligence of Vitellius ; the liberality of Galba and Vefpa- 
 fian ; together with the encouragement given by Domitian, Commodus, 
 Heliogabalus, and many others, to all manner of virtues, and favours 
 conferred upon thofe that excelled in them. Our author, giving fuch 
 infallible proof of his integrity and underftanding, by teaching us thefe 
 things that would never have come into our heads, ought to be credited, 
 though that which he propofes feems to be mofl abfurd. But if we believe 
 fuch as lived in thofe times, or thofe who in later ages have pcrufed their 
 writings, we cannot but think the princes before-mentioned, and the 
 grcatcft part of thofe, who poflefTed the fame places, not only to have been 
 void of all virtue, and to have fuffercd none to grow up under them, 
 but in bafcnefs, fottiftincfs, and malice, to have been equal to the worft 
 of all bcafts. Whilft one prince f , polluted with luil and blood, fat in 
 
 • Tacit. Hift. I. I, § I + Tiberius
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 235 
 
 his grotto at Capreae, furroundcd with an infamous troop of aflrologcrs ; SECT.aS 
 and others were governed by whores, bardaches, manumifcd (laves, and 
 other viUains, the empire was ruined through their neghgcuce, incapacity, 
 and wickedncfs ; and the city that had llouriflicd in all manner of virtue, 
 as much or more than any that has been yet known in the world, 
 produced no more ; the difcipline was diflolvcj that nourifhed it ; no man 
 could hope to advance a public good, or obviate an evil, by his diligence 
 and valour ; and he who acquired reputation by either, could cxpctfl no 
 other reward than a cruel death. If Germanicus and Corbulo, who were 
 born when liberty was expiring*, be brought for examples againfl: the 
 firil part of my alfertion, their ends will jullify the latter ; and no eminent 
 Roman fiunily is known to have brought forth a man that deferved to be 
 named in hiftory fince their time. This is as probable in rcafi )n, as true 
 in fa£t. Men are valiant and induftrious, when they fight for themfelves, 
 and their country. They prove excellent in all the arts of war and peace, 
 when they are bred up in virtuous exercifes, and taught by their fathers and 
 maflers to rejoice in the honours gained by them. They love their coun- 
 try, when the good of every pra-ticular man is comprehended in che public 
 profperity, and the fuccefs of their atchievements is improved to the 
 general advantage. They undertake hazards and labours for the govern- 
 ment, when it is juftly adminiflered ; when innocence is fafe, and virtue 
 honoured ; when no man is diftingulflied from the vulgar, but fuch as 
 have diftinguilhcd themfelves by the bravery of their aflions ; when no 
 honour is thought too great for thofe who do it eminently, unlefs it be 
 fuch as cannot be communicated to others of equal merit. They do not 
 fpare their perfons, purles, or friends, when the public pov/ers are em- 
 ployed for the public benefit, and imprint the like afFe£licns in their 
 children from their infancy. The difcipline of obedience, in which the 
 Romans were bred, taught them to command ; and few were admitted to 
 the magiftracies of inferior rank, till they had given fuch proof of their 
 virtue as might deferve the fupreme. Cincinnatus, Camillus, Papirius, 
 Mamercus, Fabius Maximus, were not made dictators, that they might 
 learn the duties of the office ; but becaufe they were judged to be of fuch 
 wifdom, valour, integrity, and experience, that they might be fafcly 
 trufted with the highefl powers. And, while the law reigned, not one 
 was advanced to that honour, who did not fully anfwer what was cxpcifted 
 from him. By thefe means the city was fo replenifhcd with men fit for 
 the greateft employments, that even in its infancy, when three hundred 
 and fix of the Fabii, " quorum neminem," fays Livy, " ducem fpcrneret 
 *' quibuflibet temporibus fenatus f," were killed in one day, the city did 
 lament the lofs ; but was not {o weakened as to give any advantage to 
 
 * Tacitus fpeakijig of the beginning of the reign of Tiberius, fays, Manebant ctiam turn 
 vcftigia moiientis libertatis. Tacit. Ann. 1. i. § 74 
 
 f Sex et trecenti milites, omnes patiicii, omnes unius gentis, quorum neminem ducem 
 fpernerct egregius quibuflibet temporibus fenatus, ibant unius famiJiae viribus, Vciento 
 populo peftem miiiitantes. Li\'. I. 2, c. 49 
 
 H h 2 their
 
 236 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAT. II their enemies. And when every one of thofe who had been eminent 
 before the fecond Punic war, Fabius Maximus only excepted, had perifhed 
 in it, others arofe in their places, who furpafled them in number, and 
 y^'eve equal to them in virtue. The city was a perpetual fpring of fuclv 
 men, as long as liberty lafled ; but that was no fooner overthrown, than 
 virtue was torn up by the roots ; the people became bafe and fordid, the 
 fmall remains of the nobility flothful and effeminate, and their Italian af- 
 fociates becoming like to them, the empire, whilft it flood, was only 
 fuflained by the ttrength of foreigners. 
 
 The Grecian virtue had the fame fate, and expired with liberty. Inftead 
 of fuch foldiers as in their time had no equals, and fuch generals of armies 
 and fleets, legifiators and governors, as all fucceeding ages have juftly 
 admired, they fent out fwarms of fidlers, jefters, chariot-drivers, players, 
 bawds, flatterers, minifters of the moft impure lulls, or idle, babling, 
 hypocritical philofophers, not much better than they. The emperors 
 courts were always crouded with thefe vermin ; and notwithftanding the 
 necelTity our author imagines, that princes muft needs underftand matters 
 of government better than magiftrates annually chofen, they did for the 
 moll part prove fo brutifh as to give themfelves, and the world, to be 
 governed by fuch as thefe, and that without any great prejudice, fmce 
 none could be found more ignorant, lewd, and bafe, than themfelves. 
 
 It is abfurd to impute this to the change of times ; for time changes no- 
 thing ; and nothing was changed in thofe times, but the government, 
 ;md that changed all things. This is not accidental, but according to the 
 rules given to nature by God, impoflng upon all things a neceffity of per- 
 petually following their caufes. Fruits are always of the fame nature 
 w^ith the feeds and roots from which they come, and trees are known by 
 the fruits they bear. As a man begets a man, and a beaft a beaft, that 
 fociety of men which conftitutes a government upon the foundation of 
 jufdce, virtue, and the common good, will always have men to promote 
 thofe ends ; and that which intends the advancement of one man's defires 
 and vanity, will abound in thofe that will foment them. All men follow 
 that which feems advantageous to themfelves. Such as are bred under a 
 good difcipline, and fee that all benefits, procured to their country by vir- 
 tuous adlions, redound to the honour and advantage of themfelves, their 
 children, friends, and relations, contradl from their infancy a love to 
 the public, and look upon the common concernments as their own. When 
 they have learned to be virtuous, and fee that virtue is in efteem, they 
 leek no other preferments than fuch as may be obtained that way ; and no 
 country ever wanted great numbers of excellent men, where this method 
 was eflablifhed. On the other fide, when it is evident, that the beft are 
 defpifcd, hated, or marked out for deftru£lion ; that all things are calcu- 
 lated to the humour or advantage of one man, who is often the worft, or 
 governed by the worft ; that honours, riches, commands, and dignities, 
 are difpofed by his will, and his favour gained only by a moft obfequious 
 relpc(5t, or a pretended afl'edion to his perfon, together with a fcrvile 
 
 obedience
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 237 
 
 obedience to his commands, all application to virtuous adions will ccafc; sect. 28 
 and no man caring to render himfelf or his children worthy of great em- 
 ployments, fuch as defire to have them will, by little intrigues, corrup- 
 tion, fervility, and flattery, endeavour to make way to them : by which 
 means true merit in a fliort lime comes to be abolifhed ; as fell out in 
 Rome as foon as the Cacfars began to reign. 
 
 He who does not believe this, may fee whether the like did not happen 
 in all the other commonwealths of Italy and Greece. * Or if modern ex- 
 amples are thought to be of more value, let him examine, whether the 
 noblemen of Venice, who are born and bred in families that never knew 
 a mafter, who a£t for themfelves, and have a part in all the good or evil 
 that befals the commonwealth, and know, that if it be deiiroycd, they 
 muft perifli, or at lead:, that all changes are to their prejudice, do negle£t 
 the public intercfts, as thinking, that the whole not depending upon any 
 one of them, things will be well enough governed, though they attend 
 only to their private benefit. Let it be obferved, whether they do better 
 underftand the common concernments, than the great men of France or 
 Spain, who never come to the knowledge of any thing, unlefs they happen 
 to be favoured by the king, or his minifters, and know themfelves never 
 to be more miferable than when their mafter is mo-ft profperous. For my 
 own part, I cannot think it neceflary to allege any other proof of this 
 point, than that when Maximilian the emperor, Lewis the twelfth of 
 France, the fierce pope Julius the fecond, and Ferdinand the fubtile and 
 powerful king of Spain, had, by the league of Cambray, combined 
 againft the Venetians, gained the battle of Giera d'Adda, taken Alviano 
 their general prifoner, deprived them of all their dominion on the Terra 
 firma *, and prepared to affault the city, it was, under God, folely pre- 
 fcrved by the vigour and wifdom of their nobility, who, though no way 
 educated to war, unlefs by fea, fparing neither perfons nor purfes, did 
 with admirable induftry and courage firfl: recover, Padua, and then many 
 other cities, fo that at the end of that terrible war they came off without 
 any diminution of their territories. Whereas Portugal having in our ap-e 
 revolted from the houfe of Auftria, no one doubts, but that it had been 
 immediately reduced, if the great men of Spain had not been pleafed with 
 fuch a lelfening of their mafler's power, and refolved not to repair it by 
 the recovery of that kingdom, nor to deprive themfelves of an ealy retreat, 
 when they ihould be opprefled by him, or his favourites. The like thought 
 was more plainly exprefled by the marflial de BafTompierre, who, feeing 
 how hardly Rochelle was prefled by Lewis the thirteenth, faid, " he thought 
 *' they fhould be fuch fools as to take itf." It was believed they would 
 
 * Omnes propemodum orhis Chrifliani principes focietatem contraxerant adverfus Vene- 
 tos, quos cum Ludovicus XII, memorabili apud Ripaltnni pugna cecidifTet, imperium eo- 
 rum exuere Bergamum, Brixia, Cremona, Verona, Vicentia, Patavium, &c. Leand., 
 
 Albert! Defcript. Italiae. Paulo Paruta Iftor. Veneziana. Guicciard. 1. 8. The battle- 
 
 of Giera d'Adda, or, as it is here called, Ripalta, was fought A. D. 1509 
 
 f Je croy qu' enfin nous ferons aflez fous pour prendre la Rochelle. *** 
 
 never
 
 238 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP, ir never have been fuch fools; and the treachery only of our countrymen 
 did enable the cardinal Richelieu to do it, as, for his own glory, and the 
 advancement of the popilh cauie, he really intended. And nothing is, to 
 this day, more common in the mouths of their wifell and beft men, though 
 papifts, than the acknowledgment of their own folly in fuffering that 
 place to fall, the king having by that means gotten power to proceed 
 againfl: them at his pleafure. The brave monfieur de Turennc is faid to 
 have carried this to a greater height in his laft diicourfe to the prefent king 
 of France. " You think, laid he, you have armies, but you have none. 
 " The one half of the officers are the bawdy-houfe companions of mon- 
 " fieur de *•' *, or the creatures of his whore, madam de *** : the other 
 *' half may be men of experience, and fit for their employments ; but 
 " they are fuch as would be plealed with nothing more than to fee you 
 " lofe two or three battles, that coming to fland in need of them, you 
 " might caufe them to be better ufed by your minifters, than of late they 
 " have been." It may eafily be imagined how men with fuch fentiments do 
 Terve their mailer. And nothing is more evident, than that the French 
 in this age have had fo great advantages, that they might have brought 
 Europe, and perhaps Alia, under their power, if the intereft of the nation 
 had been united to that of the government, and the ftrength, vigour, and 
 bravery of the nobility employed that way. But fmce it has pleafed God 
 to fuffer us to fall into a condition of being little able to help ourfelves, 
 and they are in fo good terms with the Turk as not to attack him, it is 
 our happinefs that they do not know their own ftrength, or cannot, with- 
 out ruin to tliemfclves, turn it to cur prejudice. 
 
 I could give yet more pregnant teftimonies of the difference between 
 men fighting for their own interefts, in the offices to wliich they had been 
 advanced by the votes of numerous afiemblics, and fuch as fcrve for pay, 
 and get preferments by corruption or favour, if I were not unwilling to 
 itir the fplcen of fome men by obliging them to refledl upon what has 
 pafTed in our own age and countr)^ ; to compare the jufticc of our tribu- 
 nals, within the time of our memory, and the integrity of thofe, who 
 for a while managed the public trcafure * ; the difcipline, valour, and 
 ftrength of our armies and fleets ; the increafe of our riches and trade ; 
 the fuccefs of our wars in Scotland, Ireland, and at iea ; the glory and 
 reputation not long fmce gained, with that condition into which we are of 
 late fallen. But I think I fhall offend no wife or good man, if I fay, 
 that as neither the Romans, nor Grecians, in the time of their liberty, 
 ever performed any adions more glorious, than freeing the country from 
 a civil war that had raged in every part, tlie conqueft of two fuch king- 
 doms as Scotland and Ireland, and crufliing the formidable power of the 
 Hollanders by fea ; nor ever produced more examples of valour, induftry, 
 integrity, and in all refpeds complete, difintcrefted, unmoveable, and 
 incorruptible virtue, than were at that time feen in our nation ; fo neither 
 of them, upon the change of their affairs, did exceed us in weakncf;, 
 
 * The pailiainciit of ib^i 
 
 coward:ce>
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 239 
 
 cowardice, bafcnefs, venality, lewdnefs, and all manner of corruption. SECT. 28 
 We have reafon therefore not only to believe, that all princes do not necef- 
 farily underfland the aflFairs of their people, or provide better for them 
 than thofe who are otherwife chofen ; but that, as there is nothing of 
 grcatnefs, power, riches, ftrength, and happinels, which we might not 
 reafonably have hoped for, if we had rightly improved the advantages we 
 had, fo there is nothing of fhame and milery which we may not juftly 
 fear, fince we have neglcded them. 
 
 If any man think that this evil of advancing officers for perfonal rcfpedls,. 
 favour, or corruption, is not of great extent, I defire him to confidcr» 
 that the officers of ftate, courts of juflice, church, armies, ileets, and 
 corporations, arc of fuch number and power, as wholly to corrupt a 
 nation, when they themfclvcs are corrupted ; and will ever be corrupt, 
 when they attain to their offices by corruption. The good management 
 of all affairs, civil, military, and eccleliaftical, neceffiirily depends upon 
 good order and difcipline ; and it is not in the power of common men to 
 reform abufcs patronized by thofe in authority, nor to prevent the mif- 
 chiefs thereupon enfuing ; and, not having power to diredt public adions- 
 to the public good, they muft confequently want the induftry and affedlion 
 that is required to bring them to a good iffue. The Romans were eafily 
 beaten under the decemviri, though immediately before the eredion, and 
 after the extindion of that power, none of their neighbours were able to 
 refift them. The Goths, who with much glory had reigned in Spain for 
 about three hundred years, had neither ftrength nor courage under their 
 lewd and odious king Roderic, and were in one day fubdued with little 
 lofs of blood by the Saracens '*, and could not in lefs than eight hundred 
 vears free their country from them. That brave nation, having of late fallen 
 under as bafe a condu£t, has now as little heart or power to defend itfelf. 
 Court parafites have rendered valour ridiculous ; and they who have ever 
 fliewed themfelves as much inclined to anns as any people of the world, 
 do now abhor them, and are fent to the wars by force, laid in carts, 
 bound like calves brought to the fliambles, and left to ftarve in Flanders, 
 as foon as they arrive. It may eafily be judged what fervice can be ex- 
 pected from fuch men, though they ihould happen to be well commanded : 
 but the great officers, by the corruption of the court, think only of en- 
 riching themfelves; and, increafmg the mifery of the foldiers by their 
 frauds, both become equally ufelefs to the ftate. 
 
 Notwithftanding the feeming profperity of France, matters there are not 
 much better managed. The warlike tem.per of that people is {o worn out 
 by the frauds and cruelties of corrupt officers, that few men lift themfelves 
 willingly to be foldiers ; and, when they are engaged or forced, they are 
 fo little able to endure the miferies to which they are expofed, that they 
 daily run away from their colours, though they know not whither to go, 
 and expedl no mercy, if they are taken. The king^ has in vain attempted 
 to corred this humour by the feverity of martial law.. But mens minds 
 
 * A. D. 714 
 
 wim
 
 240 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. II ^v^ll not be forced ; and though his troops are perfedly well armed, clothed, 
 and exercifed, they have given many teflimonies of little worth. When 
 the prince of Conde had by his own valour, and the ftrength of the king's 
 guards, broken the firft line of the prince of Orange's army at the battle 
 of SenefF, and put the reft into diforder, he could not make the fecond 
 and third line of his own army advance, and reinforce the firft ; by 
 which means, he loft all the fair hopes he had conceived of an entire 
 vidtory. Not long after, the marftial de Crequi was abandoned by his 
 whole army near Triers, which ran away, hardly ftriking a ftroke, and left 
 him with fixteen horfe to fliift for himfelf. When monfieur de Turenne, 
 by the excellency of his condudt and valour, had gained fuch a reputation 
 amongft the foldiers, that they thought themfelves fecure under him, he 
 did not fuff'er fuch difgraces. But he being killed, they returned to the 
 ufual temper of forced and ill-ufed foldiers : half the army was loft in a 
 retreat, little differing from a flight; and the reft, as they themfelves 
 confefs, faved by the bravery of two Englifti regiments. The prince of 
 Conde was foon after fent to command ; but he could not, with all his 
 courage, flcill, and reputation, raife their fallen fpirits, nor preferve his 
 army any other way, than by lodging them in a camp near Schleftadt, fo 
 fortified by art and nature, that it could not be forced. 
 
 To thefe we may add fome examples of our own. In our late war, 
 the Scots foot, whether friends or enemies, were much inferior to thofe 
 of the parliament, and their horfe efteemcd as nothing. Yet in the year 
 1639, ''^^^'^ 1640, the king's army, though very numerous, excellently 
 armed and moimted, and, in appearance, able to conquer many fuch 
 kingdoms as Scotland, being under the conduit of courtiers, and affeded 
 as men ufually are towards thofe that ufe them ill, and feek to deftroy 
 them, they could never refift a wretched army commanded by Leven ; 
 but were Ihamefully beaten at Newburn, and left the northern counties to 
 be ravaged by them. 
 
 When Van Tromp fet upon Blake in Folkftone Bay, the parliament 
 had not above thirteen lliips againft thrcefcore, and not a man that had 
 €ver feen any other fight at fea, than between a merchant-fliip and a pirate, 
 to oppofe the heft captain in the world, attended with many others in 
 valour and experience not much inferior to him. Many other difficulties 
 were obfcrved in the unfettled ftate : few ftiips, want of money, feveral 
 faftions, and fome, who to advance pat-ticular interefts betrayed the public. 
 But fuch was the power of wifdom and integrity in thofe that fat at the 
 helm, and their diligence in choofing men only for their merit was bleffcd 
 V'.-ith fuch fuccefs, that in two years our fleets grew to be as famous as our 
 land-armies ; the reputation and power of our nation rofe to a greater 
 height, than when we pofl^efted the better half of France, and the kings 
 of i'rance and Scotland were our prifoncrs. All the ftates, kings, and 
 potentates of Europe, moft refpedlfully, not to fay fubmiinvcly, fought 
 our friendfliip ; and Rome was more afraid of Blake and his fleet, than 
 they had been of the great king of Sweden, when he was ready to invade 
 
 Italy
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 2ifi 
 
 Italy with a hundred thoufand men. This was the work of thofc, v^ho, SjECT. 28 
 if our author fays true, " thought bafcly of the public conccrnmcats ;" 
 and, believing things might be well enough managed by otlicrs, minded 
 only their private affairs. Thefe were the effedls ot the negligence and 
 ignorance of thofe, who, being fuddenly advanced to offices, were removed 
 before they underftood the duties of them. Thefe difeafes, which proceed 
 from popular corruption and irregularity, were certainly cured by the re- 
 ftitution of that integrity, good order and ftability, that accompany divine 
 monarchy. The juflice of the war made againft Holland in the year 
 1665; ^^^ probity of the gentleman, who, without partiality or bribery, 
 chofe the moll part of the officers that carried it on ; the wifdom, dili- 
 gence, and valour manifefted in the conduit, and the glory with which 
 it was ended, juftifies all that our author can fay in its commendation. If 
 any doubt remains, the fubtilty of making the king of France defire, that 
 the Netherlands might be an acceffion to his crown; the ingenious ways 
 taken by us to facilitate the conqueft of them ; the induftry of our embaf- 
 fadors in diverting the Spaniards from entering into the war, till it was 
 too late to recover the loffes fuflained ; the honourable dcfign upon the 
 Smyrna fleet, and our frankneis in taking the quarrel upon ourfelves ; 
 together with the important figure we now make in Europe, may wholly 
 remove it ; and in confirmation of our author's dodlrine, fhew, that 
 princes do better perform the offices that require wifdom, induftry, and 
 valour, than annual magiftrates ; and do more feldom err in the choice of 
 officers, than fenates and popular afl'emblies. 
 
 SECTION XXIX 
 
 THERE IS NO ASSURANCE THAT THE DISTEMPERS OF A STATE 
 SHALL BE CURED BY THE WISDOM Of A PRINCE. 
 
 But, fays our author, the virtue and wifdom of a prince fupplies all : 
 " though he were of a duller underftanding, by ufe and experience he 
 " muft needs excel all." Nature, age, or fex, are, as it feems, nothing 
 to the cafe. A child, as foon as he comes to be a king, has experience ; 
 the head of a fool is filled with wifdom, as foon as a crown is fet upon it ; 
 and the moft vicious do In a moment become virtuous. This is more 
 llrange than that an afs being trained to a courfe fliould out-run the beft 
 Arabian horle ; or a hare bred up in an army become more flrong and 
 fierce than a lion : for fortune docs not only fupply all natural defeats in 
 princes, and corredt their vices, but gives them the benefit of ufe and 
 experience, when they have none. Some reaions and examples might 
 have been expected to prove this extraordinary propofition : but according 
 to his laudable cuffom, he is plealed to trouble himfcif with neither ; and 
 thinks, that the impudence of an alTertion is fufficient to make that to pafs, 
 
 I i\ which
 
 24^ DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. II which is repugnant to experience and common fcnfe, as may appear by 
 the following difcourfe. 
 
 I will not infift upon terms ; for though " duller underftanding " fig- 
 nlfies nothing, inalmuch as no underftanding Is dull, and a man Is fald to 
 be dull only becaufe he wants it ; but preluming he means little under- 
 ftanding, I fhall fo take it. This defed: may poflibly be repaired in time ; 
 but to conclude it muft be fo, is abfurd, for no one has this ufe and ex- 
 perience when he begins to reign. At that time many errors may be com- 
 mitted to the ruin of himfelfor people, and many have periflied even in 
 their beginning. Edward the fifth and fixth of England, Francis the 
 fecond of France, and divers other kings, have died in the beginning 
 of their youth. Charles the ninth lived only to add the furies of youth 
 to the follies of his childhood ; and our Henry the fecond, Edward the 
 fecond, Richard the fecond, and Henry the fixth, feem to have been little 
 wifer In the laft, than In the firft year of their reign or life. The prefent 
 kings of Spain, France, and Sweden, came to the crowns they wear before 
 the fixth year of their age; and if they did then furpals all annual magi- 
 ftrates In wifdom and valour. It was by a peculiar gift of God, which, for 
 any thing we know. Is not given to every king, and it was not ufe and 
 experience that made them to excel. If it be pretended, that this expe- 
 rience, with the wifdom that It gives, comes in time, and by degrees, I 
 may modeftly afl^, what time Is required to render a prince excellent In 
 wifdom, who is a child or a fool ? And who will give fecurlty that he fliail 
 live to that time, or that the kingdom fhall not be ruined in the time c^ 
 his folly? I may alfo doubt how our author, who concludes, that every 
 king, in time, muft needs become excellent in wifdom, can be reconciled 
 to Solomon, who, In preferring a wife child before an old and foolifti king 
 that will not be advifed, fliews, that an old king may be a fool, and that he 
 Vvho will not be advifed Is one. Some are fo naturally brutifh and ftupid,. 
 that neither education nor time vv^Ill mend them. It is probable that Solo- 
 mon took what care he could to inftrudt his only fon Rehoboam ; but he 
 was certainly a fool at forty years of age, and we have no reafon to believe 
 that he dcferved a better name. He feems to have been the very fool his 
 father intended, who, though brayed in a mortar, Avould never leave his 
 folly. He would not be advifed, though the hand of God was againft 
 him ; ten tribes revolted from him, and the city and temple was pillaged, 
 by the Egyptians. Neither experience nor afl^idlions could mend him, 
 and he is called to this day by his own countrymen " ftultitia gentium *'." 
 I might offend tender ears, if I fliould allege all the examples of princes, 
 mentioned in hiftory, or known In our own age, who have lived and died 
 as foolifti and. incorrigible as he : but no man, Iprefiime, will be fcandalized 
 if I fay, that the ten laft kings of INlcroveus's race, v»hom the French hifto- 
 rians call " les rois faineants," were fo far from cxcelliug other men in 
 underftanding, that they lived and died inorc like to bcafts than men.. 
 Nay, the wiftbm and valour of Charles Martcl expired in his grandchild 
 
 * As;« atpp'tirmv, populi AuUilia. Ecd. c. 4J, v. 22 
 
 Charlesv
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 245 
 
 Charles the Great; and his poftcrity grew to be fo fottifh, that the French SECT. 29 
 nation muft have perilhcd under their coudud:, if the uobiUty and people 
 had not rejefted them, and placed the crown upon a more deferving 
 head. 
 
 This is as much as is ncceflary to be laid to the general propofition ; 
 for, if it be not always true, no conclufion can be drawn from. it. 
 But I need not be fo ftrift with our author, there being no one 
 found part in his afl'ertion. Many children come to be kings when they 
 have no experience, and die, or are depofed, before they can gain any. 
 Many are by nature fo fottilh that they can learn nothing. Others falling 
 under the power of women, or corrupt favourites and minifters, are per- 
 fuaded and feduced from the good ways to which their own natural under- 
 flanding or experience might lead them. The evils drawn upon themfelves, 
 er their fubjedts, by the errors committed in the time of their ignorance, 
 are often grievous, and fometimes irreparable, though they fliould be made 
 wife by time and experience. A perfon of royal birth, and excellent wit, 
 Avas fo fenfible of this as to tell me, " that the condition of kings was mofl: 
 *' miferable, inafmuch as they never heard truth till they were ruined by 
 *' lyes ; and then every one was ready to tell it to them, not by way ot 
 " advice, but reproach, and rather to vent their own fpite, than to feek 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, 
 though none as kings ; and therefore are apt to commit as great miftakes 
 as children. And, upon the whole matter, all the hiftories of the world 
 fliew, that, inftead of this profound judgment, and incomparable wifdom, 
 which our author generally attributes to all kings, there is no fort of men 
 that do more frequently and entirely want it. 
 
 But though kings were always v/ife by nature, or made to be fo by ex- 
 perience, it would be of little advantage to nations under them, unlels 
 their wifdom were pure, perfed:, and accompanied with clemency, magna- 
 nimity, juftice, valour, and piety. Our author himfelf duril; hardly have laid, 
 that thefe virtues or graces are gained by experience, or annexed by God 
 to any rank of men or families. He gives them where he pleafes without 
 diftindlion. We fometimes fee thofe upon thrones, who by God and 
 nature feem to have been defigned for the m.oft fordid offices ; and thoie 
 have been known to pafs their lives in meannefs and poverty, who had all 
 the qualities that could be defired in princes. There is likev/ife a kind of 
 ability to difpatch fome fort of affairs, that princes who continue long on a 
 throne may to a degree acquire or increafe. Some men take this for 
 wifdom ; but king James more rightly called it by the name of " king- 
 *' craft ; " and as it principally confifls in diffimulation, and the arts of 
 working upon mens paffions, vanities, private interefls, or vices, to make 
 them for the mofl: part inftruments of mifchief, it has the advancement or 
 fecurity of their own perfons for its objecfl, is frequently exercifed with 
 all the exceffes of pride, avarice, treachery, and cruelty ; and no men 
 have been ever found more notorioufly to defied from all that deferves 
 
 I i 2 pralfe
 
 244 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. II praife in a prince, or a gentleman, than thofe that have mofl: excelled in 
 It. Pharafmanes king of Iberia is recorded by Tacitus to have been well 
 verled in this fcience *. His brother Mithridates king of Armenia had 
 married his daughter, and given his own daughter to Rhadamillus fon of 
 Pharafmanes. He had fome contefls with Mithridates ; but, by the help 
 of thefe mutual alliances, nearnefs of blood, the diligence of Rhadamiftus, 
 and an oath, ftrengthened with all the ceremonies that among thofe nations 
 were efteemed mofl: facred, not to ufe arms or poifon againfl: him, all was^ 
 compofed ; and, by thefe means getting him into his power, he ftifled 
 him with a great weight of clothes thrown upon him f, killed his children, 
 and not long after his ov/n fon Rhadamiflus. Louis the eleventh of 
 France, James the third of Scotland, Henry the feventh of England, were 
 great mafters of thefe arts : and thofe who are acquainted with hiftory, will 
 eafily judge, how happy nations would be, if all kings did in time cer- 
 tainly learn them. 
 
 . Our author, as a farther teftimony of his judgment, having faid, that 
 kings mufi: needs excel others in underflanding, and grounded his dodtrine 
 upon their profound wifdom, imputes to them thofe " bafe and panic 
 " fears," which are inconfiftent with it, or any royal virtue ; and to carry 
 the point higher, tells us, " there is no tyrant fo barbaroufly wicked, but 
 " his own reafon and fenfe will tell him, that though he be a god, yet 
 *' he muft die like a man ; and that there is not the meanelt of his fub- 
 " je(!:fs, but may find a means to revenge himfelf of the injuftice that is 
 " offered him;" and from thence concludes, that " there is no fuch ty- 
 " ranny as that of a multitude, which is fubjeift to no fuch fears." But 
 if there be fuch a thincj in the world as a barbarous and wicked tvrant, he 
 18 fomething different from a king, or the fame ; and his wifdom is con- 
 fiftent or inconfiftent with barbarity, wickednefs, and tyranny. If there 
 be no difference, the praifes he gives, and the rights he afcribes to the one, 
 belong alfo to the other ; and the excellency of vv^ifdom may confill with 
 barbarity, wickednefs, tyranny, and the panic fears that accompany 
 them ; which hitherto have been thought to comprehend the utmoft ex- 
 ceffes of folly and madnefs. I know no better tcftimony of the truth of 
 that opinion, than that wifdom always diflinguiihing good from evil, and 
 being fcen only in the redlitude of that diftindion, in following and adhe- 
 ring to the good, rejeding that which is evil, preferring fafety before 
 danger, happinefs before mifcry, and in knowing rightly how to ufe the 
 means of attaining or prcferving the one, and preventing or avoiding the 
 other, there cannot be a more extravagant deviation from reafon, than for 
 a man, who in a private condition might live fafely and happily, to invade 
 a principality ; or if he be a prince, who by governing with juftice and' 
 clemency might obtain the inward fatisfadion of. his own mind, hope for- 
 
 * Tacit. Ann. 1. 12, §44, et fcq. 1. 13, §37 
 
 f Rhad.imilius was the principal agent in tlufe a<5ls of treachery and cruelty.- Rhada- 
 
 inii1u.s quail jmisjurandi memor, non ferrum, non venenum in fororem et patriuim cxpro-. 
 ir.it, fed projcdtos La hunmum, ct veile multd^ravique opertos ntcat. Ibid. 1. 12, § 47 
 
 a. the'
 
 DISCOUPxSES CONCERNING GOVERNMiLNT 245 
 
 the bleffing of God upon his jufl; and virtuous a£lion8, acquire the love and sect. 29. 
 
 praifes of men, and live in fliiety and happincfs amongft his lafe and hai)py 
 
 fubjctfls, to fall into that barbarity, wickednefs, and tyranny, which 
 
 brings upon him the dilpleafure of God, and detellation of men, and 
 
 is always attended with thofe bafe and panic fejirs, which comprehend 
 
 all that is fliameful and mifcrable. This being perceived by Machiavel, 
 
 he could not think, that any man in his fenfes would not rather be a Scipio 
 
 than a Caelar ; or, if he came to be a prince, would not rather choofe to 
 
 Imitate Agefilaus, Timoleon, or Dion, than Nabis, Phalaris, or Dionylius; 
 
 and imputes the contrary choice to madnefs *. Nevcrthelcfs, it is too 
 
 well known, that many of our author's profound wife men in the depth 
 
 pf their judgment, made perfcdt by ufe and experience, have fallen into it. 
 
 If there be a difference between this barbarous wicked tyrant, and a 
 king, we are to examine who is the tyrant, and who the king ; for the 
 name conferred or aflbmed cannot make a king, unlefs he be one. He 
 who is not a king, can have no title to the rights belonging to him who 
 is truly a king : fo that a people, who find themfelves wickedly and bar~ 
 barouliy opprefled by a tyrant may deftroy him and his tyranny, without 
 giving offence to any king. 
 
 But it is flrange that Filmer fhould fpeak of the barbarity and wicked^- 
 nefs of a tyrant, who looks upon the w^orld to be the patrimony of one 
 man ; and, for the foundation of his do£lrine, aflerts fuch a power ia 
 every one that makes himfelf mafler of any part, as cannot be limited by 
 any law. His tide is not to be queflioned ; ufurpation and violence confer 
 an inconteftable right ; the exercife of his power is no more to be difputed. 
 than the acquifition ; his will is a law to his fubjedls ; and no law can be 
 impofed by them upon his condu£l. For if thefe things be true, I know 
 not how any man could ever be called a tyrant, that name having never 
 been given to any, unlefs for ufurping a power that did not belong to him, 
 or an tmjuft exercife of that which had been conferred upon him, and 
 violating the laws which ought to be a rule to him. It is alfo hard to 
 imagine how any man can be called barbarous and wicked, if he be obliged 
 by no law but that of his own pleafure ; for we have no other notion of 
 wrong, than that it is a breach of the law which determines what is rights 
 If the lives and goods of fubjedls depend upon the will of the prince, and 
 he in his profound wifdom preferve them only to be beneficial to himfelf, 
 they can have no other right than what he gives, and without injuflice 
 may retain when he thinks fit. If there be no wrong, there can be no juft 
 revenge ; and he that pretends to feek it is not a free man vindicating 
 his right, but a perverfe flave rifing up againft his mailer* But if there 
 
 * Ed e impoffible che quelli che in ftato private vivono in una republica, o che per for— 
 tuna o viriu ne diventano princi|)i, fe leggeflino I'iftorie, e delle memorie delle antiche 
 cofe faceflino capitale, the non voleffero quelli tali privati vivere nella loro patria, piuttofto 
 Scipioni che Cefari ; e quelli che fono principi piultofto Agefilai, Timoleoni, e Dioni, 
 che Nabidi, Falari, e Dionifi ; perchc vedrebbono quefti effere fommamejite vituperati,, e 
 quelli ecceffivamente laudati. Difcorfi fopra T. Livio, L i, c lo 
 
 lie;
 
 246 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP, ir be fuch a thing as a barbarous and wicked tyrant, there mufl: be a rule 
 relating to the acquifition and exercile of the power, by which he may be 
 diftinguifhed from a juft king ; and a law fupcrior to his will, by the vio- 
 lation of which he becomes barbarous and wicked. 
 
 Though our author fo far forgets himfelf, as to confefs this to be true, 
 he feeks to deftroy the fruits of it by fuch flattery as comprehends all that 
 is mofi: deteftable in profanenefs and blafphemy, and gives the name of 
 " gods" to the moft execrable of men. He may by fuch language de- 
 ferve the name of Heylin's difciple ; but will find few among the heathens 
 fo bafely fervile, or ' fo boldly impious. Though Claudius Caefar was a 
 drunken fot, and tranfported with the extravagance of his fortune, he 
 detefted the impudence of his predecelfor Caligula, who affected that title ; 
 and in his edidt in favour of the Jev>rs, gives it no better name than " in- 
 " folentem Caii infaniam *." For this reafon it was rejedted by all his 
 pagan fucceflbrs, who were not as furioufly wicked as he : yet Filmer has 
 thought fit to renew it, for the benefit of mankind, and the glory of the 
 chriilian religion. 
 
 I know not whether thefe extreme and barbarous errors of our author 
 are to be imputed to wickednefs or madnefs ; or whether, to fave the pains 
 of a diflinclion, they may not rightly be faid to be the fame thing ; but 
 nothing lefs than the excefs of both could induce him to attribute any 
 thing of good to the fears of a tyrant, fince they are the chief caufcs of all 
 the mifchiefs he does f . Tertullian fays, they are " metu quam furore 
 *' faeviores." Tacitus, fpeaking of a moft wicked king, fays, ignaviam 
 faevitia texit:}:; and we do not more certainly find, that cowards are the 
 cruelleft of men, than that wickednefs makes them cowards ; that every 
 man's fears bear a proportion with his guilt, and with the number, virtue, 
 and ftrength of thofe he has offended. He who ufurps a power over 
 all, or abufes a truft repofed in him by all, in the higheft meafure offends 
 all : he fears and hates thofe he has offended, and to fecure himfelf aggra- 
 vates the former injuries. When thefe are public, they beget a univerfal 
 hatred, and every man defires to extinguifh a mifchief that threatens ruin 
 to all. This will always be terrible to one who knows he has deferved it; 
 and when thofe he dreads are the body of the people, nothing but a 
 public deftrudtion can fatisfy his rage, and appeafe his fears. - 
 
 I wilh I could agree with Filmer, in exempting multitudes from fears ; 
 for they having feldom committed any injuftice, unlefs through fear, 
 would, as far as human fragility permits, be free from it. Though the 
 
 * Kinyvoui .... AXi^xvSpen STrcp^-^w.i Kxra ruv Trap' aurot; I>iSxkij\i frn tsi rxlti Katcrapo; 
 yjoiiov, TK «i5t Tri' TToAA'/iK AnONOIAN y-.-ii nAPA<l>POITNHN, o'tj fji-n Traf^xir.vxi v^tXnae 
 TO luaxiuv £§1/0? Tr,v TrasTpiov S'jjJiTXfiitv, xxi 0F.ON Tipor^J/opfueii' kutoi/, rxTriivuTxvro; omrisi' 
 fin\oy.xi i^r]Se\i Six rnv Txin Trapaippoo-iii/Jii/ twi/ ^iJcaiMf tu hSxiUV f9^£^ TrapxTmrluiKcvxi. Jof. 
 Antiq. Jud. 1. ig, c. 5. Edit. Hudfoni 
 
 t Jolcphus faysof Caligula— tji iJ.tu (poScpu nxrx-7rnrXr,y^.ivoi;., x.xi Stx tbto ^ovixuTxrof. 
 Antiq. Jud. 1. Kj,' c. 2 
 
 + Gotarzcs, dum fccors domi, bellis infauftus, ignaviam faevitia tegJt. Tacit. Ann. 
 L 12, § (0 
 
 Attic
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 247 
 
 Attic oftraclfm was not an extreme punifhmcnt, I know nothing ufuully sect. 2.9 
 
 pradifed in any commonwealth, that did lb much I'avour of injuftice : 
 
 hut it proceeded I'olely from a fear that one man, though in appearance 
 
 virtuous, when he came to be raifed too much above his fcHow-citizens, 
 
 might be tempted to invade the pubUc Uberty. We do not find, that the 
 
 Athenians, or any other free cities, ever injured any man, imlefs through 
 
 fuch a jealoufy, or the perjury of witnelles, by which the beft tribunals. 
 
 that ever were, or can be eftabliflicd in the world, may be miflcd ; and 
 
 no injultice could be apprehended from any, if they did not fall into fuck 
 
 fears. 
 
 But though multitudes may have fears as well as tyrants, the caufes- 
 and effedls of them arc very different, A people, in relation to doir.eflic 
 affairs, can defirc nothing but liberty, and neither hate nor fear any but 
 fuch as do, or would, as they fufpe£t, deprive them of that happinefs^. 
 Their endeavours to fecure that feldom hurt any, except fuch as invade 
 their rights ; and if they err, the miftake is for the moft part difcovered 
 before it produce any mifchief ; and the greatefl: that ever came that way 
 was the death of one or a few men. Their hatred and defire of revenge 
 can go no farther than the fenfe of the injury received or feared, and is- 
 extinguifhed by the death or banifliment of the perfons ; as may be 
 gathered from the examples of the Tarquins, decemviri, Caffius, Moelius^ 
 and Manlius Capitolinus. He therefore that would knov/ whether the 
 hatred and fear of a tyrant, or of a people, produces the greater mifchiefs^ 
 needs only to confider, whether it be better, that the tyrant deftroy the 
 people, or the people deftroy the tyrant ; or, at the worft, whether one^ 
 that is fufpeded of aftefting the tyranny fliould perifh, or a whole people,, 
 amongft whom very many are certainly innocent ; and experience fhews,, 
 that fuch are always firft fought out to be deftroyed for being fo. Popular- 
 furies or fears, how irregular or unjuil foever they may be, can extend nor 
 farther. General calamities can only be brought upon a people by thofe 
 who are enemies to the whole body, which can never be the multitude,, 
 for they are that body. In all other refpedls, the fears that render a tyrant 
 cruel render a people gentle and cautious ; for every fingle man, knowing 
 himfelf to be of little pov^er, not only fears to do injuftice, becaufe it 
 may be revenged upon his perfon, by him, or his friends, kindred, and 
 relations, that fuffers it ; but becaufe it tends to the overthrow of the 
 government, which comprehends all public and private concernments, 
 and which every man knows cannot fubfift unlefs it be fo eafy and gentle, 
 as to be pleafing to thofe who are the beft, and have the greateft power^ 
 And as the public confiderations divert them from doing thofe injuries 
 that may bring immediate prejudice to the public, fo there are ftrift laws 
 to reftrain all fuch as would do private injuries. If neither the people nor 
 the magiftrates of Venice, S^vitzerland, and Holland, commit fuch extra- 
 vagancies as are ufual in other places, it does not perhap& proceed front 
 the temper of thofe nations different from others, but from a knowledge,, 
 tlaat whoever offers an injury to a private perfouj or attempts a public 
 
 niifchief^
 
 248 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. II milchief, is expofed to the impartial and inexorable power of the law. 
 Whereas the chief work of an abfolute monarch is to place himfelf above 
 the law, and thereby rendering himfelf the author of all the evils that the 
 people fuffer, it is abfurd to exped that he Ihould remove them. 
 
 SECTION XXX 
 
 A MONARCHY CANNOT BE WELL REGULATED, UNLESS THE 
 POWERS OF THE MONARCH ARE LIMITED BY LAW. 
 
 Our author's next ftep is not only to rejed popular governments, but all 
 I'uch monarchies as are not abfolute : " for if the king," fays he, " ad- 
 " mlts the people to be his companions, he leaves to be a king." This 
 is the language of French lackeys, valet-de-chambres, taylors, and others 
 •like them in wifdom, learning, and policy, who when they fly to Eng- 
 land for fear of a well-deferved gaily, gibbet, or wheel, are ready to 
 fay, " II faut que le roi foit abfolu, autrement il n'eft point roi." And 
 finding no better men to agree with Filmer in this fublime philofophy, I 
 may be pardoned if I do not follow them, till I am convinced in thefe en- 
 fuing points. 
 
 1. It feems abfurd to fpeak of kings admitting the nobility or people to 
 part of the government : for though there may be, and are, nations with- 
 out kings, yet no man can conceive a king without a people. Thefe 
 mufi: neceflarily have all the power originally in themfelves ; and though 
 kings may and often have a power of granting honours, immunities, and 
 privileges, to private men or corporations, he does it only out of the 
 public flock, which he is entrufled to diflribute ; but can give nothing to 
 the people, who give to him all that he can rightly have. 
 
 2. It is flrange, that he, who frequently cites Ariflotle and Plato, fhould 
 unluckily acknowledge fuch only to be kings as they call tyrants, and 
 deny the name of king to thofe, who, in their opinion, arc the only 
 kings. 
 
 3. I cannot underfland why the Scripture fhould call thofe kings whofe 
 powers were limited, if they only are kings viiio are abfolute ; or why 
 Mofcs did appoint, that the power of kings in Ifrael, if they refolved to 
 have them, fliould be limited '■, if that limitation deflroyed the being of a 
 king. 
 
 4. And laftly, how he knows, that in the kingdoms which have a fliew 
 of popularity, the power is wholly in the king. 
 
 The firfl point was proved when we examined the beginning of monar- 
 chies, and found it impoffible, that there could be any thing of juftice in 
 them, unlefs they were eilablifhed by the common confent of thofe who 
 
 * D^ut. ch. 17, V. 16 — 20 
 
 were
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 249 
 
 were to live under them ; or that they could m&ke any fuch cflablifliment, sect. 30 
 linlefs the right and power were in them. 
 
 Secondly, neither Plato nor Arlftotle acknowledge either reafon or 
 juflice in the power of a monarch, unlefs he has more of the virtues con- 
 ducing to the good of the civil fociety than all thofe who compofe it ; and 
 employ them for the public advantage, and not to his own pleafure and 
 profit, as being fet up by thofe who fcek their own good, for no other 
 reafon than that he fhould procure it. To this end a law is fet as a rule 
 to him, and the beft men, that is, fuch as are moft like to himfelf, made 
 to be his aiTiflants, becaufe, fay they, " lex eft mens fine affcdtu, et 
 *' quafi dcus*;" whereas the beft of men have their afTedtions and paf- 
 fions, and are fubje(£l to be milled by them : which fhews, that as the 
 monarch is not for himfelf, nor by himfelf, he does 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 abfolute 
 power of a man, as in thofe governments which they call " barbaroruia 
 *' regna," before the regular government of kings juftly exercifmg a 
 power inftituted by law, and diredled to the public good, is to choofe 
 rather to be fubiei^ to the luft of a beaft, than to be governed by a god. 
 And becaufe fuch a choice can only be made by a beaft, I leave our author 
 to find a defcription of himfelf in their books, which he fo often cites. 
 
 But if Ariftotle deferve credit, the princes who reign for themfelves and 
 not for the people, preferring their own pleafure or profit before the pub* 
 lie, become tyrants "f ; which, in his language, is, enemies to God and 
 man. On this account Boccalini introduces the princes of Europe raifing 
 a mutiny againft him in Parnaflus, for giving fuch definitions of tyrants 
 as they faid comprehended them all ; and forcing the poor philofopher to 
 <leclare by a new definition, that " tyrants were certain men of antient 
 *' times, whofe race is now extinguiflied ijl." But with all his wit and 
 learning he could not give a reafon, why thofe, who do the fame thing's 
 that rendered the antient tyrants deteftable, ftiould not be fo alfo in out 
 days. 
 
 In the third place, the Scriptures declare the neceflity of fetting bounds 
 to thofe who are placed in the higheft dignities. Mofes feems to have had 
 as great abilities as any man that ever lived in the world ; but he alone 
 was not able to bear the weight of the government, and therefore God 
 -appointed feventy chofen men to be his afliftants. This was a perpetual 
 law to Ifrael ; and as no king was to have more power than Mofes, or 
 more abilities to perform the duties of his office, none could be exempted 
 from the neceflity of wanting the like helps. Our author therefore muft 
 
 * Ai/£u opi^iog vif? voy.o^ sri. Arift. Polic. 1. 3, c. 16. Vide fupra, p. 108 
 
 t H ^sv Tvpavuii £ci fj.ovcf.pyj a. Trpo? to (TMy.ipipov to ra fxvjxfxjivvro;. Anlt. Polit. 1. J^ 
 
 c. 7. — O ij.iv Tupai/uof TO lauls <TVfj.^ifov ckotth' Si f3«(riA£i)f, to tmu xp'^oy.ivKv. Arift. Ethic. 
 
 1.8, c. 12. Polit. 1. 4, c. 10 
 
 X Che i tiranni furono certi uomini de! tempo antico, de' quail oggi giorno afFatto fi era 
 
 perduts.la razza. Boccal. Rag. di Parnaf. cent, i, rag. 76 
 
 K k confefs.
 
 2 so 
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. II confefs, that they are kings who have them, or that kingly government is 
 contrary to the Scriptures. When God by Mofes gave liberty to his peo- 
 ple to make a king, he did it under thefe conditions. " He muft be one 
 " of their brethren : they muft choole him : he muft not multiply gold, 
 " filver, wives, or horfes : he muft not lift up his heart above his bre- 
 " tliren *." And Jofephus paraphrafing upon the place, fays, " he fliall 
 " do nothing without the advice of the fanhedrim ; or if he do, they fhall 
 " oppofe him f ." This agrees with the confeffion of Zedekiah to the 
 princes, Vvho were the fanhedrim, " the king can do nothing without 
 " you:}; ;" and feems to have been in purfuance of the law^ of the king- 
 dom, which was written in a book, and laid up before the Lord ; and 
 could not but agree with that of Mofes, unlefs they fpake by different 
 fpirits, or the fpirit by which they did fpeak was fubject to error or 
 change : and the whole feries of God's law ihevi's, that the pride, magni- 
 licence, pomp, and glory, nfurped 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 Ifrael, and moft of 
 the kings of Judah, utterly rejeded it, and every one of them did very 
 much depart from the obfervation of it. I will not deny, that the people 
 in their inftitution of a king intended they fliould do fo : they had done it 
 themfelves, and would have a king that might uphold them in their dif- 
 - obedience. They were addided to the idolatry of their accurfed neigh- 
 bours, and defired that government by which it was maintained amongft 
 them. In doing this they did not rejed Samuel ; but they rejeded God, 
 that he fhould not reign over them. They might perhaps believe, that, 
 imlefs their king were fuch as the law did not permit, he would not per- 
 form what they intended ; or that the name of king did not belong to 
 him, unlefs he had a power that the law denied. Eut fince God and his 
 prophets give the name of king to the chief magiftratc, endowed with a 
 power that was reftrained within very narrow limits, whom they might 
 without offence fet up, we alfo may fafely give the fame to thole of the 
 fame nature, whether it pleafe Filmer or not. 
 
 4. The pradice of moft nations, and, I may truly fay, of all that defcrve 
 imitation, has been as diredly contrary to the abfolute power of one man,, 
 as their conftitutions : or if the original of many governments lie hid in 
 the impenetrable darknefs of antiquity, their progrefs may ferve to fliew 
 the intention of the founders. Ariftotle feems to think, that the lirft 
 monarchs, having been chofen for their virtue, were little reftrained in 
 the exerciie of their power; but that they, or their children, falling into 
 corruption and pride, grew odious; and that nations did on that account. 
 
 * Dcut. ch. 17, V. 15, i5, 17, 20 
 
 •J- YlfKauiTii) ^.YiSiv Si^c. TM apj^ifptwf, x«i Tr.i rav ytpnirias'uv yvLO'J.y]^ yxfAOK tc fj,r\ woXXoi.f 
 
 iunctruTipof. Jof. Antiq. Jud. I.4, c. 8 
 
 X Then Zedekiah the king faid, behold Jeremiah is in your hniid : for the king is not 
 1)P that can do any ihing againfl you. Jcr. ch. 38, v. 5 
 
 3 ejthei;
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 251 
 
 cither abolirti their authority, or create fcnates, and other magiftrates, sect. 30 
 who, having part of tlic power, might keep them in order '^'. Tiie Spar- 
 tan kings -were certainly of tliis nature ; and the Pcrfian, till they con- 
 quered Babylon. Nay, I may fafcly fay, that neither the kings which 
 the frantic people fct up in oi)pofition to the law of God, nor thoic of the 
 bordering nations, whofc example they chofe to follow, had that abfolute 
 power which our author attributes to all kings, as inf.^parablc from the 
 name. Achifh the Philiftine loved and admired David ; he looked upon 
 him as an angel of God ; and promifed that he fliould be the keeper of 
 his head for ever ; but when the princes fufpcdled him, and faid, " he 
 *' fliall not go down with us to battle," he was obliged to difmiis him'f. 
 This was not the language of flaves, but of thofe who had a great part in 
 the government ; and the king's fubmiffion to their will fliews, that he 
 was more like to the kings of Sparta, than to an abfolute monarch, who 
 does whatever plcafes him. I know not whether the Spartans were de- 
 fcended from the Hebrews, as fome think, but their kings were under a 
 regulation much like that of the xvii of Deut. though they had two. 
 Their fenatc of twenty eight, and the ephori, had a power like to that of 
 the fanhedrim ; and by them kings were condemned to fines, imprifon- 
 ment, banifhment, and death, as appears by the examples of Paufanias, 
 C'eonymus, Leonidas, Agis, and others. The Hebrew difcipline was 
 the fame : " Reges Davidicae ftirpis," fays Maimonidcs, " judlcabant et 
 *' judicabantur :(:." They gave teftimony in judgment when they were 
 called, and teftimony was given againft them. Whereas the kings of 
 Ifrael, as the fame author fays, were " fuperbi, corde elati, et fpretores 
 " legis, nee judicabant, nee judicabantur;" proud, infolcnt, and con- 
 temners of the law, who would neither judge, nor fubmit to judgment 
 as the law commanded. The fruits they gathered were fuitable to the feed 
 they bad fown. Their crimes were not left unpuniflied : they who de- 
 fpifed the law were deftroyed without law ; and when no ordinary courfe 
 could be taken againft them for their excefl'es, they were overthrown by 
 force, and the crown within the fpace of a few years was tranfported into 
 nine feveral families, w^ith the utter extirpation of thofe that had pofTefled 
 it. On the other hand, there never was any fedition againft the Spartan 
 kings ; and after the moderate difcipline, according to which they lived, 
 was eftablilhed, none of them died by the hands of their fubjeds, except 
 only two, who were put to death in a v/ay of juftice : the kingdom con- 
 tinued in the fame races, till Cleomenes was defeated by Antlgonus, and 
 the government overthrown by the Macedonians. This gave occafion 
 to thofe beftial tyrants Nabis and Machanidas to fet up fuch a govern- 
 
 * Arift. Polit. 1. 3, c. 15 f I Sam. ch. 29, v. 4, 10 
 
 X " Rex noil judicat neque judicatur." Hoc tantum de IlVaelitarum regibus intelli'gen- 
 diim eft, qui tranfgreflores erant in regno ipforum, non coidi habentibus humilitacem, neque 
 ad legis verba attendcntibus. Sed reges ex ftirpe Davidis judicabant et judicabantur, quia 
 illi legem intelligebant, et humilitas non erat mala in oculis eorum. Comment. Maimonid. 
 apud Mifchna, in Tract, de Syiiedriis. vol. 4, p. 217, Edit. Surenhufii, Seld. de Syned, 
 1-3' c. 9 
 
 K k 2 mem
 
 252 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT* 
 
 CHAP. 11 n^^nt as our author recommends to the world, which immediately brought 
 deflrudlion upon themfelves, and the whole city. The Germans, who 
 pretended to be defcended from the Spartans, had the like govern- 
 ment. Their princes, according to their merit, had the credit of perfuading^, 
 not the power of commanding * ; and the queftion was not, what part of 
 tlie government they would allow to the nobility and people, but what the 
 nobility and people would give to their princes : and it is not much mate- 
 rial to our prefent difpute, whether they learned this from fome obfcure 
 knowledge of the law which God gave to his people, or whether, led by 
 the light of reafon, which is alfo from God, they difcovered what was alto- 
 gether conformable to that law. Whoever underftands the affairs of Germany 
 knows that the prefent emperors, notwithftanding their haughty title, have 
 a power limited as in the days of Tacitus. If they are good and wife, 
 they may perfuadc ; but they can command no farther than the law 
 allows. They do not admit the princes, noblemen, and cities, to the 
 power which they all exercife in their general diets, and each of them 
 within their own precin^fls ; but they exercife that which has been by 
 public confent bellowed upon them. All the kingdoms peopled from the 
 north obferved the fame rules. In all of them the powers were divided 
 between the kings, the nobility, clergy, and commons ; and by the de- 
 crees of councils, diets, parliaments, cortes, and aflemblics of eftates, 
 authority and liberty were fo balanced, that fuch princes as affumed to 
 themfelves more than the law did permit, were feverely punifhed ; and 
 thofe, who did by force or fraud invade thrones, Avers by force thrown 
 down from them. 
 
 This was equally beneficial to kings and people. The powers, as Theo- 
 pompus king of Sparta faid, were moft fafe, when they were leaft envied 
 and hated f . Lewis the eleventh of France was one of the firfl; that broke 
 this golden chain ; and, by more fubtile arts than had been formerly 
 known, fubverted the laws, by which the fury of kings had been 
 reftrained, and taught others to do the like ; though all of them have not 
 fo well faved themfelves from punifhment. James the third of Scotland 
 was one of his moft apt fcholars ; and Buchanan, in his life, fays, " that 
 *' he was precipitated into all manner of infamy by men of the moft abjedt 
 " condition; that the corruption of thofe times, and the ill example of 
 ** neighbouring princes, were confiderable motives to pervert him : for 
 " Edward the fourth of England, Charles of Burgundy, Lewis the 
 ** eleventh of France, and John the fecond of Portugal, had already laid 
 " the foundations of tyranny in thofe countries ; and Richard the third 
 •** was then moft cruelly exercifing the iame in the kingdom of England if."" 
 
 * Rex vcl piinccps, prout actas cuiquc, prout nobilitas, prout dccus belloruin, prout 
 facunJia eft, audiuntur, audloritate fuadendi magis quam jubendi poteftate. Tacit, dc 
 Morib. Germ. § ii 
 
 ^ Vide fupra, p. 91, — Phitarch obfervcs, tbat Thcopompus, by the creation of the Ephoii, 
 jUfTa T8 ^Bovis iiiipuyt Tov Kivivvov. Plut. jfi vita Lycurgi. 
 
 % Ab hominibus infimac fortis in omnia fimul vitia eft: praeccps datiis : tempora etiain 
 cOi-rupta, ct vicinorum regum excmpla, non parum ad turn tvcjtenduni juverunt. Nam et 
 
 E.dvardus
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 253 
 
 This could not have heen, if all the power had always hccn in kings, sect. 30 
 and neither the people, nor the nobility, had ever had any : for no man 
 can be faid to gain that which he, and his predeceffors always poflcffed, 
 or to take from others that which they never had ; nor to fct up any fort 
 of government, if it had been always the fame. But the aforefaid Lev/is 
 the eleventh did affume to himfelf a power above that of his predeceflbrs ; 
 and Philip de Comines fliews the ways by which he acquired it, with the 
 miferable efFeds of his acquifition, both to himfelf and^ to his people. 
 Modern authors obferve, tliat the change was made by him ; and, for 
 that reafon, he is faid by Mezeray, and others, " to have brought thofe 
 " kings out of guardianfliip* :" they were not therefore fo, till he did 
 emancipate them. Neverthelefs, this emancipation had no rcfemblance to 
 the unlimited power, of which our author dreams. The general alTem- 
 blies of eftates were often held long after his death, and continued in the 
 exercife of the fovereign power of the nation. Davila, fpeaking of the 
 general affembly held at Orleans in the time of Francis the fecond, aflerts 
 the whole power of the nation to have been in them f- Monficur de Thou 
 fays the fame thing, and adds, that the king dying fuddenly, the afrembly 
 continued, even at the defire of the council, in the exercife of that power, 
 till they had fettled the regency, and other affairs of the higheft impor- 
 tance, according to their own judgment :|;. Hottoman a lawyer of that 
 time and nation, famous for his learning, judgment, and integrity, having 
 diligently examined the antient laws and hiftories of that kingdom, dif- 
 tin£tly proves, that the French nation never had any kings, but of their 
 own choofuig ; that their kings had no power, except what was conferred 
 upon them ; and that they had been removed, when they excefl'ively 
 abufed, or rendered themfelves unworthy of that truft §. This is fuf- 
 ficiently clear by the forecited examples of Pharamond's grandchildren,, 
 and the degenerated races of Meroveus and Pepin ; of which many were 
 depofed, fome of the nearefl: in blood excluded ; and, when their vices 
 feemed to be incorrigible, they were wholly rejected. All this was done 
 by virtue of that rule, which they call the falic law : and though fome of. 
 
 Edvardus quartus in Anglia, Carolus in Burgundia, Ludovicus undecimus in Gallia, , 
 Joannes fecundus in Luiitania, tyrannidis fundamenta jecerunt : Richardus tertius in. 
 Anglia immaniflime earn exercuit. Buch, Rer. Scot. Hift. 1. 12, prnpe finem. 
 
 * II aima mieux fuivre fes fantaifies dereglees, que les fages loix de 1' etat, et il fit confifter. 
 fa grandeur dans roppreffion de fes peuples, dans rabbaiflement des grands, et 1' eie'vation des 
 gents de ne'ant. C'eft ce qu'un autre a apelle " mettre les rois hors de page:" il devoit 
 dire les " mettre hors du fens, et de la raifon." Mezeray, en la vie de Louis XI 
 
 t Convengono tre deputati per ciafchedun bagliaggio, uno degli ecclefiaftici, uno della 
 nobilita, et uno del corpo della plebe : radunati tutti infieme alia prefenza del re, de i prin- 
 cipi del fangue, e de gli officiali della corona, formano il corpo degli ilati generali, e rap- 
 prefentano 1' autorita, il nome, e la potefta di tutta la na-zione. Utor. delle Guerre Civili, 
 J. 2, p. 36, Edit. 1646. — Nella congregazione de' quali fi riduce la potefta di tutta la nazi- 
 one. 1. I, p. 5 
 
 X Interim dum rex adolefcat, et ipfe per fe regno adminiftrando fuperelle polTit, e re 
 vifum, ut comitia regni coeerentur, et ex eorum fententia et auftoritate publico regimini 
 profpiceretur. Thuan. Hift. 1. 27, fub ann. 1560. torn. 2, p. 6. . E-dit. Gcnev. 1626 
 
 § HQttomanni Franco-Galliaj c, 6 
 
 our
 
 2J4 tilSCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CLHAP^ II our princes, pretending to the inheritance of that <;rown by marrying the 
 heirs general, denied that there was any fuch thing, no man can fay, 
 that, for the fpace of above twelve hundred years, females, or their de- 
 fcendents, who are by that law excluded, have ever been thought to have 
 any right to the crown : and no law, unlefs it be explicitly given by God, 
 -can be of greater authority than one, which has been in force for fo many 
 ages. What the beginning of it was, is not known : but Charles the 
 fixth, receding from this law, and thinking to difpofe of the . fucceffion 
 otherwife than was ordained by it, was efteemed mad, and all his adls 
 refcinded. And though the reputation, ftrcngth, and valour of the 
 Englilli, commanded by Henry the fifth, one of the braveft princes that 
 have ever heen in the world, was terrible to the French nation ; yet they 
 •oppofed him to the utmoft of their power, rather than fuffer that law to 
 be broken. And though our fuccefs under his conduft was great and ad- 
 mirable ; yet foon after his death, with the expence of much blood and 
 treafure, we loft all that we had on that fide, and fuffered the penalty of 
 having unadvifedly entered into that quarrel. By virtue of the fame law, 
 fhe agreement made by king John, when he was prifoner at London, 
 by which he had alienated part of that dominion, as well as that of Francis; 
 the firft, concluded when he was under the fame circumftances at Madrid, 
 were reputed null ; and upon all occafions that nation has given fufficient: 
 Teftimony, that the laws by which they live are their own, made by them- 
 felves, and not impofed upon them. And it is as impoffible for them, 
 who made and depofed kings, exalted or depreffed reigning families, and 
 prefcribed rules to the fucceffion, to have received from their own crea- 
 tures the power, or part of the government they had, as for a man to be 
 begotten by his own fon. Nay, though their conftitutions were much 
 clianged by Lewis the eleventh, yet they retained fo much of their antient 
 liberty, that in the laft age, when the houfe of Valois v.'as as much 
 depraved as thofe of Meroveus and Pepin had been, and Henry the third 
 by his own lewdnefs, hypocrify, cruelty, and impurity, together with 
 the bafencfs of his minions and favourites, had rendered himfelf odious 
 and contemptible to the nobility and people, the great cities, parliaments, 
 the greater, and in political matters the founder part of the nation, 
 (kclared him to be fallen from the crown, and purfued him to death, 
 though the blow was given by the hand of a bafe and half-diftradled 
 monk. 
 
 Henry of Bourbon was without controverfy the next heir ; but neither 
 (the nobility nor the people, who thought themfelves in the government, 
 would admit him to the crown, till he had given them fatisfa£tion, that 
 he would govern according to their laws, by abjuring his religion, which 
 they judged inconfiftent with them. 
 
 The later commotions in Paris, Bourdcaux, and other places, together 
 with the Weirs for religion, fhew, that though the French do not complain 
 of every grievance, and cannot always agree in the defence and vindica- 
 tion of their violated liberties, yet they very well underfland their rights ; 
 
 and
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 255 
 
 and that, as they do not live by or for the king, but he reigns by and for SECT. 30 
 them, their privileges are not from him, but his crown is from them ; 
 and that, according to the true rule of their government, he can do no- 
 thing againft their laws, or if he do, they may oppofe him. 
 
 The inftitution of a kingdom is the a£t of a free nation ; and whoever' 
 denies them to be free, denies that there can be any thing of right in 
 what they fet up. That which was true in the beginning is fo, and muft 
 be fo for ever. This is fo far acknowledged by the highcft monarchs, 
 that in a treatife publiflied in the year 1667, by authority of the prefent- 
 king of France, to juftify his pretenfions to fome part of the Low Coun- 
 tries, notwithftanding all the ads of himfclf, and the king of Spain to ex- 
 tinguifh them, it is faid, " that kings are under the happy inability to da 
 •' any thing againft the laws of their country *." And though perhaps he" 
 may do things contrary to law, yet he grounds his power upon the law; 
 and the moft able and moft trufted of his minifters declare the fame. 
 About the year 1660, the count d'Aubijoux, a man of eminent quality in 
 Languedoc, but averfe to the court, and hated by cardinal Mazarin, had 
 been tried by the parliament of Tholoufe for a duel, in which a gentle- 
 man was killed; and it appearing to the court, then in that city, that he' 
 had been acquitted upon forged letters of grace, falfe witneffes, powerful 
 friends, and other undue means, Mazaria defn-ed to bring him to a new 
 trial: but the chancellor Seguier told the queen-mother, it could not be 
 done ; for the law did not permit a man once acquitted to be again quef- 
 tioned for the fame fa£t ; and that if the courfe of the law were interrupted, 
 neither the falic law, nor the fucceffion of her children, nor any thing elfe, 
 could be fecure in France. 
 
 This is farther proved by the hiftories of that nation. The kings of 
 Meroveus and Pepin's races were fuffered to divide the kingdom amongfi: 
 their fons ; or, as Hottoman fays, the eftates made the divifion, and allotted 
 to each fuch a part as they thought fit f . But when this way was found 
 to be prejudicial to the public, an a.Oi of flate was made in the time of 
 Hugh Capet, by which it was ordained, that for the future the kingdom- 
 fhould not be difmembred : which conftitution continuing in force to this 
 d^y, the fons or brothers of their kings receive fuch an appanage, they 
 call it, as is beflowed on them, remaining fubjed: to the crown as well as 
 other men. And there has been no king of France fince that time, except 
 only Charles the fixth, who has not acknowledged, that he cannot alienate 
 any part of their dominion. 
 
 Whoever imputes the acknowledgment of this to king-craft, and fays,, 
 that they who avow this, when it is for their advantage, will deny it on 
 a different occafion, is of all men their moft dangerous enemy. In laying 
 fuch fraud to their charge he deftroys the veneration by which they fubfift, 
 and teaches fubjeds not to keep fiiith with thofe, who by the moft mali-- 
 
 * Que les rois ont cette bien-heureufe impuifTance, de jie pouvoir rien fiire centre les 
 Ibix de leur pays. Traitc des Droits de la regne. 
 
 - - iD 
 
 ^franco-Gall. c. 
 
 cioua.
 
 2j6 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 •CHAP ir, clous deceits iliew, that they are tied by none. Human focieties are main- 
 tained by mutual contrads, which are of no value if they are not obfcrved. 
 Laws are made, and magiflrates created, to caufe them to be performed in 
 public and private matters, and to punifh thofe who violate them. But 
 none will ever be obferved, if he who receives the greateft benefit by 
 them, and is fet up to overfee others, give the example to thofe who of 
 themfelves are too much inclined to break them. The firft ftep that Pom- 
 pey made to his own ruin was, by violating the laws he himfclf had pro- 
 posed *. But it would be much worfe for kings to break thofe that arc 
 eflablilhed by the authority of a whole people, and confirmed by the fuc- 
 ■celfion of many ages. 
 
 I am far from laying any fuch blemiflies on them, or thinking that they 
 deferve them. I mull believe the French king fpeaks fincerely when he 
 fays, he can do nothing ajrainft the laws of his country; and that our 
 king James did the like, when he acknowledged himfelf to be the fervant 
 of the commonwealth ; and the rather, becaufe it is true, and he was 
 placed in the throne to that end. Nothing is more eflential and funda- 
 mental in the conftitutions of kingdoms, than that diets, parliaments, and 
 alfemblies of eftates, fliould fee this performed. It is not the king that 
 gives them a right to judge of matters of war or peace, to grant fupplies of 
 men and money, or to deny them ; and to make or abrogate laws at their 
 pleafure : all the powers rightly belonging to kings, or to them, proceed 
 from the fame root. The northern nations feeing what mifchiefs were ge- 
 nerally brought upon the eaftern, by referring too much to the irregular 
 will of a man, and what thofe who were more generous had fuftered, 
 when one man by the force of a corrupt mercenary foldiery had over- 
 thrown the laws by which they lived, feared they might fall into the 
 fame mifery ; and therefore retained the greater part of the power to be 
 •exercifed by their general aflcmblies, or by delegates, when they grew fo 
 numerous that they could not meet. Thefe are the kingdoms of which 
 iGrotius fpeaks, " where the king has his part, and the fenate or people 
 *' their part of the fupreme authority ;" and where the law prefcribes 
 fuch limits, " that if the king attempt to feize that part which is not his, 
 ■" he may juifly be oppofsd'}':" which is as much as to fay, that the law 
 upholds the power it gives, and turns againft thofe who abufe it. 
 
 This dodlrine may be difpleafing to court parafites, but no lefs profit- 
 able to fuch kings as follow better counfels, than to the nations that live 
 under them. I'he wifdom and virtue of the bcft: is always fortified by the 
 concurrence of thofe who are placed in part of the power. They always 
 <3o what they will, when they will nothing but that which is good ; and 
 it is a happy impotence in thofe, who through ignorance or malice defire 
 to do evil, not to be able to cfFecH: it. The wcakncfs of fuch as by defciSfs 
 of nature, fex, age, or education, are not able of themfelves to bear the 
 weight of a kingdom, is thereby fupported, and they, together with the 
 people under them, prcfcrved from ruin ; the furious rafhnefs of the info- 
 
 * Vide fupra, p. 226 | ViJe fupra, p. 190
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT -57 
 
 lent is reftraincd ; the extravagance of thofe, wlio are naturally lewd, 13 SECT. 30 
 awed ; and the bcftial inadncfs of the mcfh violently wicked and outrageous * 
 fupprefled. When the law provides for thcfe matters, and prefcribes 
 ways by which they may be accomplifhed, every man who receives or 
 fears an injury fceks a remedy in a legal way, and vents his pr.ffions in fuch 
 a manner, as brings no prejudice to the commonwealth. It his complaints 
 againft a king may be heard, and redreflcd by courts of juftice, parlia- 
 ments, and diets, as well as againft private men, he is fatis^licd, and looks 
 no farther for a remedy. But if kings, like thofe of IfracI, will neither 
 judge nor be judged, and there be no power orderly to redrefs private or 
 public injuries, every man has recourfe to force, as if he lived in a wood, 
 where there is no law ; and that force is generally mortal to thofe who pro- 
 voke it. No guards can prefcrvc a hated prince from the vengeance of one 
 refolute hand ; and they as often fall by the fwords of their own guards 
 as of others. Wrongs will be done, and when they that do thtm cannot 
 or will not be judged publicly, the injured perfcns bcccme judges in their 
 own cafe, and executioners of their own fentcnce. If this be dangercua 
 in matters of private concernment, it is much more fo in thofe relating to 
 the public. The lewd extravagances of Edward the fecond, and Richard 
 the fecond, while they acknowledged the powxr of the law, were gently 
 reproved and reftraincd with the removal of fome profligate favourites ; 
 but, when they would admit of no other law than their own will, no 
 relief could be had but by their depofition. The lawful Spartan kings, 
 who were obedient to the laws of their country, lived in fafety, and died 
 with glory. Whereas it was a ftrange thing to fee a lawlefs tyrant die 
 without fuch infamy and mifery, as held a juft proportion with the wicked- 
 nefs of his life : they did, as Plutarch fays of Dionyfius, many m.ifchiefs,. 
 and fuff"ered more *. This is confirmed by the examples of the kingdom 
 of Ifrael, and of the empires of Rome and Greece: they who would fub- 
 mit to no law, were deftroyed without any. I know not whether they 
 thought themfelves to be gods, as our author fays they were ; but I slthi 
 ftire the moft part of them died like dogs, and had the burial of afles rather 
 than of men. 
 
 This is the happinefs to which our author would promote them all. " If 
 " a king admit a people to be his companions, he ceafes to be a king, 
 " and the ftate becomes a democracy." And a little farther : "if in fuch- 
 *' aflemblics, the king, nobility, and people, have equal fhares in the 
 *' fovereignty, then the king hath but one voice, the nobility likewife one, 
 " and the people one ; and then any two of thefe voices fliould have 
 " power to over-rule the third : thus the nobility and commons fhould 
 " have power to make a law to bind the king, which was never feen in 
 " any kingdom." We have heard of nations, that admitted a man to 
 reign over them, tha"t is, made him king, but of no man that made a 
 people. The Hebrews made Saul, David, Jeroboam, and other kings. 
 When they returned from captivity, they conferred the fame title upon 
 
 * 'A J" iTTfy-^i TVfxnuv, oU tTra^iv uTTtpSizAOjUfvoj. PJut. ill vita Timol. p. 242 
 
 L 1 the;
 
 258 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. 11 the Afmonean race, as a reward of their valour and virtue. The Romans 
 chofe Roinukis, Numa, Hoftillus, ivA ethers, to be their kings: the 
 Spartans Inftituted two, one of the Heraclidae, the other of the Aeacidae. 
 Other nations fet up one, a few, or more magiftrates to govern them. All 
 the world agrees, that " qui dat eiTe, dat modum efle : " he that makes 
 him to be, makes him to be what he is ; and nothing can be more abfurd 
 than to fav, 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 conferred upon them, they could be no otherwlle 
 kings, than as pleafed the people : they therefore did not admit the people 
 to be partakers of the government ; but the people, who had all in them- 
 felves, and could not have made a king, if they had not had it, beftowed 
 upon him what they though: (it, and retained the rell in their.felves. If 
 this were not fo, then, inftead of faying to the multitude, " will ye have 
 " this man to reign ?" they ought to have faid to the man, " wilt thou 
 *' have this multitude to be a people ? " And whereas the nobles of Arragon 
 ufed to fay to their new-made king, " we who are as good as you, make 
 *' you our king, on condicion you keep and maintain our rights and liber- 
 -" ties, and if not, not ■'';". he fiiould have faid to them, "I, who am 
 *' better than you, malre you to be a people, and will govern you as I 
 *' pleafe." EutI doub: v.'hether he would have fucceedcd, till that king- 
 dom was joined to othe. 3 of far greater firength, from whence a power 
 might be drav\m to force them out of their ufual method. 
 
 That vs^hich has been laid of the governments of England, France, and 
 other countries, Hiews them to be of the fame nature. And if tliey do 
 not deferve the name of kingdoms, and their princes will by our author's 
 arguments be perfuaded to leave them, thofe nations perhaps will be fo 
 humble as to content themfelvcs without that magniiicent title, rather 
 than refign their own liberties to purchafe it : and, if this will not pleafe 
 him, he may feck his glorious fovereign monarchy among the wild Arabs,' 
 or in the ifland of Ceylon ; for it will not be found among civilized nations. 
 
 However, more ignorance cannot be exprefl'ed, than by giving the 
 name of democracy to thofe governments that are compofed of the three 
 fimple fpecies, as we have proved that all the good ones have ever been : 
 for in a flrict fenfe it cAn only fuit with thofe, where the people retain to 
 them.felves the adminiftration of the fupreme power ; and more largely, 
 Vvhen the popular part, as in Athens, greatly over-balances the other 
 two, and the denomination is taken from the prcA'ailing part. But our 
 author, if I mifiake not, is the firfc that ever took the antient governments 
 of Ifracl, Sparta, and Rome, or thofe of England, France, Germany, 
 and Spain, to be democracies, only, becaufe every one of them had fenales 
 and ailcmblics of the people, who in their perfons, or by their deputies, 
 did join with their chief magiftrates In the cxcrcife of the fupreme power. 
 That of Ifracl, to the time of Saul, is called by Jofephus an ariftocracy -f. 
 
 * 'Vide fupra, p. 8o f Vide fupra, p. lOj, 104 
 
 The
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 259 
 
 The fame name is given to that of Sparta by all the Greek authors. And sect. 30 
 
 the great contcft in the Pcloponncfum war was between the two^kinds of 
 
 government : the cities that were governed ariflocratically, or dcfired to 
 
 be fo, following the Lacedemonians ; and fuch as delighted in democracy 
 
 taking part with the Athenians. In like manner Rome, England, and 
 
 France, were Hiid to be under monarchies : not that their kings might do 
 
 what they plcafed, but becaufe one man had a pre-,eminence above any 
 
 other. Yet if the Romans could take Romulus, the fon of a man that waS' 
 
 never known, Numa a Sabine, Hofulius and Ancus Martius, private 
 
 men, and Tarquinius Prifcus the fon of a baniflied Corinthian, who had 
 
 no title to a preference before others till it was beftowed upon them, it is 
 
 ridiculous to think, that they who gave them wliat they had, could not 
 
 fet what limits they pleafed to their own gift. 
 
 But, fays our author, " the nobility will then have one voice, and the 
 " people another ; and they joining may over-rule the third, which was 
 " never feen in any kingdom." This may perhaps be one way of regulating 
 the monarchical power ; but it is not necelfary, nor the only one. There 
 may be a fcnate, though the people be excluded ; that fcnatc may be com- 
 pofed of men chofen for their virtue, as well as for the nobility of their 
 birth ; the government may confift of king and people without a fenate ;■ 
 or the fenate may be compofed only of the people's delegates. But, if I 
 fliould grant his aflertion to be true, the reafonablenefs of fuch a conftitu— 
 tion cannot be dellroyed by the confequences he endeavours to draw from 
 it ; for he who would inftruft the world in matters of ftate, muftfhew whatis 
 or ought to be, not what he fancies may thereupon enfue. Belides, it 
 does not follow, that where there are three equal votes, laws fhould be 
 always made by the plurality ; for the confent of all the three is in many 
 places required. And it is certain, that in England, and other parts, the 
 king and one of the eftates cannot make a law v^^ithout the concurrence of 
 the other. But, to pleafe Fihner, I will avow, that v^'here 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 reafonable man to judge, whether it 
 be more fafe and fit, that thofe tv/o eftates, comprehending the whole 
 body of the nation in their perfons, or by reprefentation, fhould have a 
 right to over-rule or limit the power of that man, woman, or child, who 
 fits in the throne ; or that he or fhe, young or old, wife or foolifh, good 
 or bad, fhould over-rule them, and by their vices, weaknefs, folly, 
 impertinence, incapacity, or malice, put a ftop to their proceedings ; and 
 whether the chief concernments of a nation may more fafely and pru- 
 dently be made to depend upon the votes of fo many eminent perfons, 
 among whom many wife and good men will always be found, if there be 
 any in the nation, and who in all refpeits have the fame interefts with 
 them, or upon the will of one, who may be, and often is, as vile, igno- 
 rant, and wretched, as the mcaneft flave ; and either has, or is for the 
 moft part made to believe he has, an intereft fo contrary to them, that 
 their fuppreffion is his advancement. Common fenfe fo naturally leads us 
 
 L 1 2 to
 
 26o -DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. II to the decifion of this queiTion, that I fliould not think it poffible for man- 
 kind to have miftaken, though we had no examples of it in hiflory. It 
 is in vain to fay, that all princes are not fuch as I reprefent ; for if a right 
 were annexed to the being of a prince, and his fingle judgment fhould 
 over-balance that of a whole nation, it raufl belong to him as a prince, 
 and be enjoyed by the vv'orft and bafeft, as well as by the wifeft and beft, 
 which would inevitably draw on the abfurdities above-mentioned. But 
 that many are, and have been fuch, no man can deny, or reafonably 
 hope, that they will not often prove to be fuch, as long as any preference 
 is granted to thofe who have nothing to recommend them, but the families 
 from whence they are defcended : a continual fucceflion of thofe who excel 
 ill virtue, wifdom, and experience, being promifed to none, nor reafonably 
 to be expected from any. Such a right therefore cannot be claimed by 
 all ; and if not by all, then not by any,' unlefs it proceed from a particular 
 grant in confideration of perfonal virtue, ability, and integrity, which 
 mufl be proved : and when any one goes about to do it, I will either 
 acknowledge him to be in the right, or give the reafons of my denial. 
 
 However this is nothing to the general propofition. Nay, if a man 
 were to be found, who had more of the qualities required for making a 
 right iudgment in matters of the greateft Importance, than a whole nation, 
 or an aflembly of the beft men chofen out of it (which I have never heard 
 to have been, unlefs in the perfons of Mofes, Jofhua, or Samuel, who 
 had the Spirit of God for their guide) it would be nothing to our purpofe ; 
 for even he might be bialfed by his peribnal interefts, which governments 
 are not eftabliflicd to promote. 
 
 I may go a ftcp farther, and truly fay, that as fuch vaft powers can- 
 not be generally granted to all who happen to fucceed in any families, 
 without evident danger of utter deftrudlion, when they come to be exe- 
 cuted by children, women, fools, vicious, incapable, or wicked perfons, 
 they can be reafonably granted to none, becaufe no man knows what any 
 one will prove till he ])e tried ; and the importance of the affair requires 
 fuch a trial as can be made of no man till he be dead. He that refifts 
 one temptation may fall under the power of another ; and nothing is more 
 common in the v\'orld, than to fee thofe men fail grofsly in the laft adions 
 of their lives, who had palled their former days without reproach. Wife 
 and good men will with Mofes fay of thcmfelvcs, " I cannot bear the 
 burden ; " and every man who is concerned for the public good, ought to 
 let fools know, they are not lit to undergo it, and by law to reftrain the 
 fury of fuch as will not be guided by rcafon. This could not be denied, 
 though governm.cnts were conftitutcd for the good of the governor. It is 
 good for him that the law appoints helps for his infirmities, and reftrains 
 his vices : but all nations ought to do it though it were not fo, inafmuch 
 as kingdoms arc not eftablifhcd for the good of one man, but of the peo- 
 ple ; and that king, who feeks his own good before that of the people, 
 departs from ihe end of his inililution. 
 
 This
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNrNG GO VEFi Nlvl ENT 261 
 
 This is io plain, that all nations who have a£led freely have fome way sect. ''O 
 or other endeavoured to fupply the defeds, or reftrain the vices of their 
 fiiprcmc magiftratcs ; and thole among them dclerve moft praife, who, 
 by appointing means adequate to fo great a work, have taken care that it 
 might be eahly and fafcly accomplifhcd. Such nations have always 
 flouriflied in virtue, power, glory, and happinefs, while thofe wlio 
 wanted their wifdom have fufrcrcd all manner of calamities by the weak- 
 nefs and injuflice of their princes, or have had their hands perpetually in 
 blood to preferve themfelves from their fury. We need no better example 
 ofthefiril, than that of the Spartans, vv'ho, by appointing fuch limits to 
 the power of their kings as could hardly be tranfgreircd, continued many 
 ages in great union with them, and were never troubled with civil 
 tumults. The like may be faid of the Romans, from the expulfion of 
 the Tarquins, till they overthrew their own orders, by continuing Marius 
 for five years in the conlulate, w^hereas the laws did not permit a man to 
 hold the fame office two years together ; and when that rule w^as broken, 
 their own magiftrates grew too ftrong for them, and fubverted the com- 
 monwealth. When this was done, and the power came into the 
 hands of one man, all manner of evils and calamities broke in like a Hood. 
 It is hard to judge, whether the mifchiefs he did, or thofe he fufFered, 
 were the greater. He, who fet up himfelf to be lord of the world, was 
 like to a beafl crowned for the ilaughter, and his greatnefs was the fore- 
 runner of his ruin. By this means fome of thofe, who feem not to have 
 been naturally prone to evil, were by their fears put upon fuch courfes to 
 preferve themfelves, as being rightly eftimated, were worfe than the death 
 they apprehended. The fo much celebrated Conftantine the Great died 
 no lefs polluted with the blood of his neareft relations and friends, than 
 Nero himfelf. But no place can fhew a more lively picture of this, than 
 the kingdoms of Granada, and others poffefled by the Moors in Spain ; 
 v/here, there being neither fenate, nor aflemblies of the nobility and peo- 
 ple, to reftrain the violence and fury of their kings, they had no other 
 way than to kill them, when their vices became infupportable ; which 
 happening for the moft part, they were ahnoft all murdered : and things 
 were brought to fuch an extremity, that no man would accept a crown, 
 except he who had neither birth nor virtue to deferve it *. 
 
 If it be faid, that kings have now found out more eafy ways of doing 
 what they pleafe, and fecuring themfelves, I anfwer, that they have not 
 proved fo to all, and it is not yet time for fuch as tread in the fame 
 fteps to boaft of their fuccefs. Many have fallen when they thought their 
 defigns accompliflied ; and no man, as long as he lives, can reafonably 
 aflurehimfelf the like fliall not befal him. But if in this corrupted age, 
 the treachery and perjury of princes be more common than formerly, and 
 the number of thofe, who are brought to delight in the rewards of injuftice, 
 be fo increafed, that their parties are ftronger than formerly, this rather 
 
 *' Mariajia de Reb. Hifpaiiicis. 
 
 fliews,
 
 264 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. II father of thofe that afiifted him in that attempt; that if the feventy two 
 kings, who, as our author fays, went from Babylon upon the confufion 
 of languages, were not the fons of Nimrod, he could not govern them by 
 the right of a father ; if they were, they muft have been very young, and 
 could not have children of their own to people the kingdoms they fet up ; 
 that whofe children focver they were, who out of a part of mankind did, 
 within a hundred and thirty two years after the flood, divide into fo many 
 kingdoms, they fhewed that others in procefs of time might fubdivide 
 into as many as they pleafcd ; and kingdoms multiplying in the fpace of 
 four thoufand years fmce the fevcnty two, in the fame proportion they did 
 in one hundred and thirty two years into feventy two, there would now 
 "be as many kings in the w^orld as there are men ; that is, no m.an could 
 
 • be fubjedt to another ; thatQhis equality of right, and exemption from the 
 
 • domination of any other, is called liberty ; that he, who enjoys it, cannot 
 be deprived of it, unlcfs by his ov/n confent, 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, confenting to be governed by one man, confers 
 upon him the power of governing them : the powers therefore that he 
 
 ■ has, are from them ; and they who have all in themfelves can receive no- 
 
 • thing from him, Avho has no more than every one of them, till they do 
 - invefl; him with it._^ This is proved by facred and profane hiftories. The 
 
 Hebrews in the creation of judges, kings, or other magiftrates, had no 
 regard to paternity, or to any who by extradion could in the leaft pretend 
 to the right of fathers : God did never diredl them to do it, nor reprove 
 them for ncgledling it. If they would choofe a king, he commanded 
 them to take one of their brethren, not one who called himfelf their 
 father. • When they did refolve to have one, he commanded them to 
 choofe him by lot, and caufed the lot to fall upon a young m.an of the 
 youngefl tribe. David, and the other kings of Ifrael or Judah, had no 
 more to fay for themfelves in that point than Saul. All the kings of that 
 nation before and after the captivity, ordinarily or extraordinarily fct up, 
 jufily or unjuftly, were raifed without regard to any prerogative they 
 could claim or arrogate to themfelves on that account. All that they had 
 therefore was from their elevation, and their elevation from thofe that 
 elevated them. It was impoflible for them to confer any thing upon thofe 
 from whom they received all they had ; or for the people to give power to 
 kings, if they had not had it in themfelves : which power, univerfally 
 refiding in every one, is that which we call liberty. The method of other 
 nations was much like to this. They placed thofe on the throne who 
 feemed befl to deferve fo great an honour, and moft able to bear fo great a 
 burden. The kingdoms of the heroes were nothing elfe but the govern- 
 ment of thofe, who were moft beneficent to the nations among whom 
 they lived, and whofe virtues were thought fit to be raifed above the ordi- 
 nary level of the world. Though perhaps there was not any one Athenian 
 or Roman equal to Thefeus or Romulus in courage and ftrength, yet they 
 were not able to fubdue many. Or if any man Ihould be fo vain as to 
 
 think,
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 265 
 
 think, that each of them did at firft fubdue one man, then two, and fo sect. 31 
 proceeding by degrees conquered a whole people, he cannot without 
 madnefs aicribe the iame to Numa, who, being fent for from a foreign 
 country, was immediately made king of a fierce people, that had already 
 conquered many of their neighbours, and was grown too boifterous even 
 for Romulus himfelf. The like may be faid of the firll Tarquin, and of 
 Servius : they were Ilrangers. And though Tullus Hoflilius 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 from the 
 fartheft parts of the earth. This muft be in all places, unlefs one man 
 could prove by a perfect and uninterrupted genealogy, that he is the cldeft 
 fon of the eldeft line of Noah, and that the fame line has continued per- 
 petually in the government of the world: for if the power has been 
 divided, it may be liibdivided to infinity ; if interrupted, the chain is 
 broken, and can never be made whole. But if our author can perform 
 this for the fervice of any man, I willingly furrender my arms, and yield 
 up the caufe I defend. If he fail, it is ridiculous to pretend a right that 
 belongs to no man, or to go about to retrieve a right, which for the fpace 
 of four thoufand years has lain dormant ; and much more to create that 
 which never had a fubfiflence. This leads us neceflarily to a ccnclufion, 
 that all kingdoms are at the firft erected by the confcnt of nations, and 
 given to whom they plcafe ; or elfe all are fet up by force, or fome by 
 force, and fome by confent. If any are fet up by the confent of nations, 
 their kings do not confer liberties upon thofe nations, but receive all from 
 them, and the general propofition is falfe. If our author therefore, or 
 his followers, v/ould confute me, they muft prove, that all the kingdoms 
 of the world have their beginning from force, and that force does always 
 create a right. Or, if they recede from the general propofition, and attri- 
 bute a peculiar right to one or more princes, who are fo abfolute lords of 
 their people, that thofe under them have neither liberty, privilege, pro- 
 perty, or part, in the government, but by their conceflions, they muft 
 prove, that thofe princes did by force gain the power they have, and that 
 their right is derived from it. This force alfo muft have been perpetually 
 continued ; for if that force be the root of the right that is pretended, 
 another force, by the fame rule, may overturn, extinguifh, or transfer it 
 to another hand. It contradls have intervened, the force ceafes ; and the 
 right that afterwards accrues to the perfons, muft proceed from, and be 
 regulated according to thofe contracSts. 
 
 This may be fufficient to my purpofe. For as it has been already 
 proved, that the kingdoms of Ifrael, judah, Rome, Sparta, France, Spain, 
 England, and all that we are concerned in, or that defervc to be examples 
 to us, did arife from the confent of the refpedlive nations, and were fre- 
 quently reduced to their firft principles, when the princes endeavoured 
 to tranfgrefs the laws of their inftitution, it could be nothing to us, though 
 Attila or Tamerlane had by force gained the dominions they poflefled. 
 But I dare go a ftep farther, and boldly affert, that there never was, nor 
 
 M m can
 
 264 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. II father of thofe that afiifted him in that attempt; that if the feventy two 
 kings, who, as our author fays, went from Babylon upon the confufion 
 of languages, were not the fons of Nimrod, he could not govern them by 
 the right of a father ; if they were, they mufl have been very young, and 
 could not have children of their own to people ihc kingdoms they fet up ; 
 that whofe children focver they were, who out of a part of mankind did, 
 within a hundred and thirty two years after the flood, divide into fo many 
 kingdoms, they fhewed that others in proccfs of time might fubdivide 
 into as many as they plealcd ; and kingdoms multiplying in the fpace of 
 four thoufand years fmce the feventy two, in the fam.e proportion they did 
 in one hundred and thirty two years into feventy two, there would now 
 "be as many kings in the world as there are men ; that is, no m.an could 
 
 • be fabjed; to another ; thatQhis equality of right, and exemption from the 
 
 • domination of any other, is called liberty ; that he, who enjoys it, cannot 
 be deprived of it, unlcfs by his own confent, 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, confenting to be governed by one man, confers 
 upon him the power of governing them : the powers therefore that he 
 
 ■ has, are from them ; and they who have all in themfelves can receive no- 
 
 • thing from him, who has no more than every one of them, till they do 
 - invert him with it.j This is proved by facred and profane hiftories. The 
 
 Hebrews in the creation of judges, kings, or other magiftrates, had no 
 regard to paternity, or to any who by extradlion could in the leaft pretend 
 to the right of fathers : God did never dlredl thcni to do it, nor reprove 
 them for ncgled.ing it. If they would choofe a king, he commanded 
 them to take one of their brethren, not one who called himfelf their 
 father. • When they did refolve to have one, he commanded them to 
 choofe him by lot, and caufcd the lot to fall upon a young man of the 
 youngeft tribe. David, and the other kings of Ifrael or Judah, had no 
 more to fay for themfelves in that point than Saul. All the kings of that 
 nation before and after the captivity, ordinarily or extraordinarily fet up, 
 juflly or unjuftly, were raifed without regard to any prerogative they 
 could claim or arrogate to themfelves on that account. All that they had 
 therefore was from their elevation, and their elevation from thofe that 
 elevated them. It was impoffible for them to confer any thing upon thofe 
 from whom they received all they had ; or for the people to give power to 
 kings, if they had not had it in themfelves : which power, univerfally 
 refiding in every one, is that which we call liberty. The method of other 
 nations was much like to this. They placed thofe on the throne who 
 feemed beft to deferve fo great an honour, and moft able to bear fo great a 
 burden. The kingdoms of the heroes were nothing elfe but the govern- 
 ment of thofe, who were moft beneficent to the nations among whom 
 they lived, and whofe virtues were thought fit to be raifed above the ordi- 
 nary level of the world. Though perhaps there was not any one Athenian 
 or Roman equal to Thefeus or Romulus in courage and ftrength, yet they 
 were not able to fubdue many. Or if any man fliould be fo vain as to 
 
 think,
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 265 
 
 think, that each of them did at firfl fubduc one man, then two, and fo sECT> 31 
 proceeding by degrees conquered a whole people, he canrjot without 
 madnefs afcribe the lame to Numa, who, being fent for from a foreign 
 country, was immediately made king of a fierce people, that had already 
 conquered many of their neighbours, and was grown too boiflerous even 
 for Romulus himfelf. The hke may be faid of the fii-fl Tarquin, and of 
 Servius : they were llrangers. And though Tullus Hoftilius and Ancus 
 Martins 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 from the 
 farthefl parts of the earth. This muft be in all places, unlefs one maa 
 could prove by a perfecl and uninterrupted genealogy, that he is the eldeft 
 fon of the eldeft line of Noah, and that the fame line has continued per- 
 petually in the government of the world : for if the power has been 
 divided, it may be fubdivided to infinity ; if interrupted, the chain ' is 
 broken, and can never be made whole. But If our author can perform 
 this for the fervice of any man, I willingly furrcnder my arms, and yield 
 np the caufe I defend. If he fail, it is ridiculous to pretend a right that 
 belongs to no man, or to go about to retrieve a right, which for the fpace 
 of four thoufand years has lain dormant ; and much more to create that 
 which never had a fubfiflence. This leads us neceffarily to a ccnclufion, 
 that all kingdoms are at the firft eredled by the confent of nations, and 
 given to whom they plcafe ; or elfc all are fet up by force, or fome by 
 force, and fome by confent. If any are fet up by the confent of nations, 
 their kings do not confer liberties upon thofe nations, but receive all from, 
 them, and the general propofition is falfe. If our author therefore, or 
 his followers, would confute me, they muft prove, that all the kingdoms 
 of the world have their beginning from force, and that force does always 
 create a right. Or, if they recede from the general propofition, and attri- 
 bute a peculiar right to one or more princes, who are fo abfolute lords of 
 their people, that thofe under them have neither liberty, privilege, pro- 
 perty, or part, in the government, but by their conceflions, they muft 
 prove, that thofe princes did by force gain the power they have, and that 
 their right is derived from it. This force alfo muft have been perpetually 
 continued ; for if that force be the root of the right that is pretended, 
 another force, by the fame rule, may overturn, extinguifh, or transfer it 
 to another hand. If contracts have intervened, the force ceafes ; and the 
 right that afterwards accrues to the perfons, muft proceed from, and be 
 regulated according to thofe contrails. 
 
 This may be fufficient to my purpofe. For as it has been already 
 proved, that the kingdoms of Ifrael, Judah, Rome, Sparta, France, Spain, 
 England, and all that we are concerned in, or that deferve to be examples 
 to us, did arife from the confent of the refpedive nations, and were fre- 
 quently reduced to their firft principles, when the princes endeavoured 
 to tranfgrefs the laws of their inftitution, it covdd be nothing to us, though 
 Attila or Tamerlane had by force gained the dominions they pofleffed. 
 But I dare go a ftep farther, and boldly aflert, that there never was, nor 
 
 M m can
 
 266 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. 11 can be, a mar> in the world, that did or can fubdue a nation ; and that the 
 right of one grounded upon force is a mere whimly. It was not Agatho- 
 cles, Dionyiius, Nabis, Marius, Sylla, or Caefar, but the mercenary 
 fokliers, and other villains that joined with them, who fubdued the Syra- 
 cufans, Spartans, or Romans. And as the work was not performed by 
 thofe tyrants alone, if a right had been gained by the violence they ufed, 
 it muft have been common to all thofe that gained it ; and he that com- 
 manded them could have had no more than they thought lit to confer upon 
 him. When Miltiades delired leave to wear an olive garland, in comme- 
 moration of the victory obtained at Marathon, an Athenian did in my 
 opinion rightly fay : " If you alone did fight againft the Perfians, it were 
 " juftthat you only fhould be crowned; but if others did participate in the 
 " vidory, they ought alio to have a part in the honour '■''." And the 
 principal difference that I have obferved between the moll regular proceed- 
 ings of the wifefl: fenates or affemblles of the people in their perfons or de- 
 legates, and the fury of the moft diffolute villains, has been, that the firft 
 feeking the public good do ufually fet up fuch a man, and inveft him with 
 fuch powers as feem moft conducing to that good. Whereas the others, 
 following the impulfe of a beftial rage, and aiming at nothing but the 
 fatisfadfion of their own lufts, always advance one from whom they expe£l 
 the greateft advantages to themfelves, and give him fuch powers as mofl 
 conduce to the accomplifhment of their own ends: but as to the perlbn it 
 is the fame thing. Caefar and Nero did no more make themfelves 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 mofl 
 regular maglftrate could upon the fenate or people that chofe them. 
 
 This alfo is common to the worft as well as the beft, that they who fet 
 up either, do, as into a public treafury, confer upon the perfon they 
 choofe, a power of diftributing to particular men, or numbers of men, 
 fuch honours, privileges, and advantages, as they may feem, according 
 to the principles of the government, to deferve. But there is this dif- 
 ference, that the ends of the one being good, and thofe of the other evil, 
 the firft do, for the moft part, limit the powers, that fomething may 
 remain to reward fervlces done to the public, in a manner proportioned 
 to the m.erit of every one, placing other miagiftratcs to foe it really per- 
 formed, fo that they may not, by the weaknefs or vices of the governor, 
 be turned to the public detriment. The others think they never give 
 enough, that the prince, having all in his power, mxay be able to gratify 
 their moft exorbitant defircs, if by any ways they can get his favour; 
 and his Infirmities and vices being moft beneficial to them, they feldom 
 allow to any otlier maglftrate a power of oppofing his will, or fuffer thofe 
 who for the public good would affume it. The world afi'ords many 
 examples of both forts, and every one of them have had their progrcfs 
 fuitablc to their conftitution. The regular kingdoms of England, France, 
 
 tut [*<ijiti a-j^kiiv. Piui. iu viuCimonis^ p. 483 
 
 Spain,,
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 267 
 
 Spain, Poland, Bohemia, Denmark, Sweden, and others, whether elec- SECT. 31 
 tive or hereditary, have had high ftcwards, conllables, mayors of the 
 pahicc, reichs-hofmeiliers, parhainents, diets, aflemhlies of eftojtes, cortcs, 
 and the like, by which thofe have been admitted to fuccccd who feemed 
 moft lit for the public fervice ; the unworthy have been rejcdcd ; the in- 
 firmities of the weak fupplied ; the malice of the unjuil reftrained ; and 
 when neceffity required, the crown transferred from one line or family to 
 another. But in the furious tyrannies that have been fet up by the vio-^ 
 lence of a corrupted foldiery, as in the antient Roman cmjiire, the king- 
 doms of the Moors and Arabians, the tyrannies of Ezzelino of Padua, 
 thofe of the Vifconti and Sforzi of Milan, Caftruccio Caftracani of 
 Lucca, Caefar 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 ftept up and took it from him, by the fame means that he had 
 gained it. This fell out fo frequently, that though all the Roman em- 
 perors endeavoured to make their power hereditary, it hardly continued 
 three generations in one line from Auguftus to Auguftulus, unlefi? in that 
 of Conftantine, and that with extreme confufion and diforder. They who 
 had madly fet up a man to be their head, and expofed fo much of the 
 world as was under their power, to be deftroyed by him, did by the like 
 fury throw him down, and never ceafed till they had brought the empire 
 to utter ruin. 
 
 But if this paternal fovereignty be a mere fidion, that never had any 
 cffetl:, and no nation was ever commanded by God to make it their rule, 
 nor any reproved for the negle£l of it, none ever learned it from the light 
 of nature, nor were by wife men taught to regard it ; if the firfl fathers 
 claimed no privilege from it, when every man's genealogy was known, 
 and though there were fuch a thing in nature, it could be of no ufe at this 
 day, when the feveral races of men are fo confufed, that not one in the 
 world can prove his own original ; if the firft kingdoms, whether well or 
 ill conftituted, according to the command of God, or the inventions of 
 men, were contrary to, and incompatible with it, and there can have been 
 no juflice in any, if fuch a rule was to have been obferved, the continu- 
 ance of an unjuft ufurpation can never have created a right, but aggra- 
 vated the injuftice of overthrowing it ; if no man could ever by his own 
 Itrength and courage fubdue a multitude, nor gain any other right over 
 them, if he did, than they might have to tear it from him, whoever denies 
 kingdoms, and other magiftracies, to have been fet up by men, according 
 to their own will, and from an opinion of receiving benefit by them, ac- 
 cufes all the governments that arc, or ever have been, in the world, of 
 that outrageous injuftice in their foundation, which can never be repaired. 
 If there^e therefore, or ever was, any juft government amongft men, it 
 was confiitutcd by them ; and whether their proceedings were regular or 
 violent, ]u{\. or unjuft, the powers annexed to it were their donation ; the 
 magiftracies eredled by them, whether in one or more men, temporary or 
 .perpetual, eledive or hereditary, were their creatures, and receiving all 
 from them, could confer nothing upon them. 
 
 M m 2
 
 -68 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CflAP. 11 
 
 SECTION XXXII 
 
 THE CONTRACTS MADE BETWEEN MAGISTRATES AND TIIK 
 NATIONS THAT CREATED THEM WERE REAL, SOLEMN, 
 
 AND OBLIGATORY. 
 
 Our author, having with big words, and little fenfe, inveighed againft 
 popular and mixed governments, proceeds as if he had proved they 
 could not, or ought not to be, " If it be," fays he, " unnatural for the 
 *' multitude to choofe their governors, or to govern, or to partake in the 
 *' government, what can be thought of that damnable conclufion which 
 *' is made by too many, that the multitude may corre<!lt or depofe their 
 " princes if need be ? Surely the unnaturalnefs and injuftice of this pofi^- 
 " tion cannot fufficiently be expreiTed. For admit that a king make a 
 " contrail or padtion with his people either originally in his anceftors, or 
 " perfonally at his coronation (for both thcie padlions fome dream of, but 
 " cannot offer any proof of either) yet by no law of any nation can a 
 " cohtrad be thought broken, except firft a lawful trial be had by the 
 " ordinary judge of the breakers thereof; or eli'e, every man may be both 
 " party and judge in his own cafe, which is abfurd once to be thought; 
 *' for then it will lie in the hands of the headleis multitude, when they 
 " pleafe to caft off the yoke of government that God has laid upon them, 
 to judge and punifli him, by whom they fhould be judged and punifhcd 
 themfelves. " To this I anlwer lirft briefly, that if it be natu.ral for 
 the multitude to choofe their governors, or to govern, or to participate of 
 the government as befl: pleafes themfelves, or if there never was a govern-- 
 ment in the world that was not fo fet up by them, in purfuance of the 
 power naturally inherent in themfelves, what can be thought of that 
 damnable conclufion, which has been made by fools or knaves, that the 
 multitude may not, if need be, corredl or depofe their own magiflrates ? 
 Surely the unnaturalnefs and injuftice of fuch a pofition cannot be fuffici- 
 ently expreffed. If that were admitted, all the moft folemn pad:s and . 
 contradts made between nations and their magiftrates, originally or petr - 
 fonally, and confirmed by laws and mutual oaths, would be of no value ; 
 he that would break the moft facred bonds, that can be among men, 
 fhould by perjury and wickednefs become judge of his own cafe, and by 
 the worli of crimes procure impunity for all ; it would be in his power by 
 folly, wickednefs, and madnefs, to dcftroy the multitude, which he was 
 created and fworn to prefervc, though wife, virtuous, and juft, and 
 headed by the wifeft and jufteft of men, or to lay a yoke upon thofe who 
 by the laws of God and nature ought to be free ; he might in his own 
 cafe judge that body by which he ought to be judged, and who in confi- 
 deration of themfelves, and their own good, made him to be whatever he 
 is more than every one of them ; the governments inftitutcd for the pre- 
 fervation of nations would turn to their deftrudion ; it would be impoflible 
 
 to. 
 
 <(
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 269 
 
 to check the fury of a corrupt and perfidious magiftrate ; the worfl of men sect. 31 
 would be raifed to a liclght, that was never defervcd by the bcfl ; and the 
 allurance of indemnity would, by increafing their inlblence, turn their 
 other vices into madncfs, as has been too often feen in thofe, who have 
 had more power than they deferved, and were more hardly brought to 
 account for their adlions than ought to have been ; though 1 never heard 
 of any who had fo much as our author aflerts to be in all, or that any 
 was abfolutely affured he lliould not be queftioned for the ahufe of 
 what he had. 
 
 Befides, if every people may govern, or conflitutc and choofe one or 
 more governors, they may divide the powers between feveral men, or 
 ranks of men, allotting to every one fo much as they pleafe, or retainiag 
 fo much as they think fit. This has been pradifed in all the govern- 
 ments, which under feveral forms have flourillied in Palcftine, Greece, 
 Italy, Germany, France, England, and the reft of the world. The laws 
 of every place fliew what the power of the refpedtive magiftrate is, and, 
 by declaring how much is allowed to himj declare what is denied ; for 
 he 'has not that which he has not; and is to be accounted a magiftrate 
 whilft he exercifes that which he has. 
 
 If any doubts do hereupon arife, I hope to remove them, proving, in 
 the firft place, that feveral nations have plainly and explicitly made con- 
 trads with their magiftrates. 
 
 2. That they are implicit, and to be underftood, where they are not 
 plainly exprefled. 
 
 3. That they are not dreams, but real things, and perpetually obliging. 
 
 4. That judges are in many places appoinved to decide the contefts 
 arifing from the breach of thefe contrails ; and where they are not, or the 
 party offending is of fuch force or pride, th?,t he will not fubmit, nations 
 have been obliged to take the extremeft courles. 
 
 I. I fuppofe it will not be denied, that the annual magiftrates of divers 
 commonwealths are under fome compadt, and that there is a power of con- 
 ftraining them to perform the contents, or to punifh them for the violation. 
 The modeft behaviour of the Roman confuls and didlators, as long as 
 their laws were in force, might not probably proceed from their good- 
 nature. Though the people had not been, as our author fays, " mad, 
 '-'■ foolifti, and always defirous to choofe the Avorft men for being moft 
 " like to themfelves, " but admirably wife and virtuous, it is not to he 
 imagined, that in tlie fpace of three or four hundred years they ilaould 
 never have fallen upon one who would have tranfgrefted, if he could have 
 done it fafely, though they had ufed the utmoft caution in their choice. 
 But the power of the confuls being only for a year, that of the dictator 
 for fix months at moft, and the commlflion, that they fhould take care 
 the commonwealth might fuff"er no damage'*, fliews the end and condition 
 upon Avhich they were chofen ; and though their power is by fome 
 
 * Nequid refpublica detrimenti caperet, Liv. 1. 3, c. 4 
 
 thought
 
 •.:i7A '-m^COURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 •ejjvrun thought to have been abfolute, yet the confuls were frequently oppofed, 
 and brought into order by the fenate, tribunes, or people, and fometimes 
 the didator himfelf. Camillus in his fourth didatorfhip was threatened 
 1)y the tribunes with a great fine, and by that means obliged to abdicate 
 'his magiftracy *. I have already mentioned Marcus Fabius, who, in 
 the behalf of his fon Quintus condemned to die by Papirius the dictator, 
 appealed to the people f. And when the condu<Sl of Fabius Maximus, 
 in the war' againft Hannibal, was not approved, Metellus the tribune 
 thought he made a very modeft propofition, in that he did not defire his 
 magirtracy fhould be abrogated ; but that the maftcr of the horfe fhould 
 •be made equal to him in power if : which was done accordingly. It is 
 agreed by all, that the confuls were in the place of kings, and that the 
 power of the didtator was at the leaft equal to what theirs had been. If 
 they therefore were vmder fuch a rule, which they could not tranfgrefs, 
 jor might be reduced to order if they did, and forced to fubmit to the 
 people as the kings had done, the kings were alfo made upon the lame 
 conditions, and equally obliged to perform them. 
 
 The Scripture is more clear in the cafe. The judges are faid to have 
 been in power equal to kings ; and I may perhaps acknowledge it, with 
 relation to the deuteronomical king, or fuch as the people might have 
 chofen without offending God. The Gileadites made a covenant v/ith 
 Jephthah that he fhould be their head and captain ; and he would not 
 return to his country till they had done it. This was performed folemnly 
 before the Lord in Mifpeh ; and all Ifrael followed them. They might 
 therefore make a covenant with their kings, for the difference of name 
 does not increafe or diminifh the right. Nay, they were in duty obliged 
 to do it: the words of the xvii of Deuteronomy, " he fhall not multiply 
 ** wives, etc, that his heart be not lifted up above his brethren," can 
 have no other fignification, than that they fliould take care he did it not, 
 or, as Jofephus fays, hinder him if he attempt it ; for the law was not 
 given to the king who was not, but to thofe who might make him if they 
 thought fit. In purfuance of this law 
 
 [The refl of this chapter is wanting in the original manufcript.] 
 
 * Plut. in vita Camil. p. 149, 150. Edit. Par. 1624 
 
 ^ Provocoad populuin, qui ccrtc unus plus quain tua ditSatura potefl pollctque. Liv. 
 L 8, c. 33. Vide iupia, p. 125 
 
 J Si antiquus animus plebi Romanae efiet, audafter fe laturum fuiflc de abrogando Q. 
 Fabii iinperio ; nunc modicam rogationem promulgaturum <ic acquando magilhi cquitum, 
 <et ilidtatoxis j ure. MetelJiorat. Liv. 1. 22, c. 25, 26. Vide fupra, p. 125
 
 DISCOURSES CONCEHNING GOVERNMENT a?! 
 
 CHAPTER III. SECTION I 
 
 KINGS, NOT BEING FATHERS OF THEIR PEOPLE, NOR EXCELLING 
 
 ALL OTHERS IN VIRTUE, CAN HAVE NO OTHER JUST POWER 
 
 THAN WHAT THE LAWS GIVE; NOR ANY TITLE TO THE 
 
 PRIVILEGES OF THE LORd's ANOINTED. 
 
 Having proved,, that the right of fathers is from nature, and incommuni- 
 cable, it muft follow, thal/every man perpetually owes all love, refpedl, 
 fervice, 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 anv, except one that is fo. No man can ferve two.- 
 mafters ; the extent and perpetuity of the duty which every man owes to* 
 his father, renders it impolhble for him to owe the fame to any other.. 
 This right of father cannot be devolved to the heir of the father, other- 
 wife than as every fon by the law of nature is heir to his father, and has 
 the fame right of commanding his children, as his father had of com- 
 manding him when he was a child. No man can owe to his brother that 
 which he owed to his father, becaufe he cannot receive that from him 
 which he had from his father. But the utmofl of all abfurdities that can- 
 enter into the heart of man is, for one to exa£l the rights due to a father, 
 who has no other title than force and ufurpation, it being no lefs than to- 
 fay, that I owe as much to one who has done me the grcateft of all 
 injuries, as to him who has conferred upon me the greateft benefits : or,. 
 xvhich is yet worfe, ifpofhble, that as thefe ufurpations cannot he made 
 but by robbing, fpoiling, imprifoning, or killing, the perfon in pofl'effion, 
 that duty, which by the eternal law of nature I owe to my father, Ihould^ 
 oblige me to pay the fame veneration, obedience, and fervice, to the man^ 
 that has fpoiled, imprifoned, or killed my father, as I owed to him ; o.r 
 that the fame law^, which obliged me to obey and defend my fathefr 
 Ijecaufe he was fo, fhould oblige me to obey and defend his enemy,, 
 becaufe he has imprifoned or killed him ; and not only to pafs 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 moft. 
 tender and facred in nature, and to look upon one that has done me the 
 greateft of all injuftices and injuries, as upon him to whom I owe my 
 hirth and education. This being- evident to all thofe who have anv mea- 
 fure of common (enfc, I fuppofe it may be fafely concluded, that what 
 right foever a father may have over his family, it cannot relate to that 
 which a king has over his people; unlefs he, like the man in the ifland 
 of Pines, mentioned before, be alfo the father of them all. That which 
 is abfolutely unlike in manner and fubftance, inflitution and exercife, muft 
 be unlike in all refpedls ; and the conclufions, which have their ftrength'. 
 from fimilitude and parity,, can have none when there is not the Ieaft~ 
 
 fimiiitude.
 
 272 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. HI fimilituile of either. And though it were true, that fathers are held by- 
 no contradls (which generally it is not : for when the fon is of age, and 
 does fomething for the father to which he is not obliged, or gives him 
 that which he is not bound to give, fuppofe an Inheritance received from 
 a friend, goods of his own acquilition, or that he be emancipated, all 
 good laws look upon thofe things as a valuable confideration, and give the 
 fame force to contrafts thereupon made, as to thofe that pafs between 
 Grangers) it could have no relation to our queftion concerning kings. 
 One principal reafon, that renders it very little neceffary, by the laws of 
 nations, to rellrain the power of parents over their children, is, becaufe 
 it is prefumed they cannot abufe it. They are thought to have a law in 
 their bowels, obliging them more llridlly to feek their good, than all thofe 
 that can be laid upon them by another power ; and yet if they depart from 
 it, fo as inhumanly to abufe or kill their children, they are punifhed with 
 as much rigour, and accounted more unpardonable than other men. 
 Ignorance or wilful malice perfuading our author to pafs 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 fame. He would feem to foften the harfhnefs of this propo- 
 fition by faying, " that a king is always tied by the fame law of nature to 
 " keep this general ground, that the fafety of the kingdom be his chief 
 " lav.^ " But he fpoils it in the next page, by afferting, " that it is not 
 " right for kings to do injury; but it is right, that they go unpunilhed 
 *' by the people, if they do: fo that in this point it is all one, whether 
 *' Samuel dei'cribe a king or a tyrant ; for patient obedience is due to both; 
 " no remedy in the text againft tyrants, but crying and praying unto 
 " God in that day. " In this our author, according to the cuftom of 
 theatres, runs round in a circle, pretends to grant that which is true, and 
 then by a lye endeavours to deftroy all again. Kings by the law of 
 nature are obliged to feek chiefly the good of the kingdom. ; but there is 
 no remedy, if they do it not ; which is no lefs than to put all upon the 
 confcicnce of thofe who manifeftly have none. But if God has appointed, 
 that all other tranfgreflions of the laws of nature, by which a private man 
 receives damage, f]:iould be punirtied in this world, notwithllanding the 
 right referved to himfelf of a future punifliment, I de fire to know, why 
 this alone, by which whole nations may be, and often are deftroyed, 
 fliould efcape the hands of iuftice? If he prefume no law to be neceffary 
 in this cafe, becaufe it cannot be thought, that kings will tranfgrefs, as 
 there was no law in Sparta againft adultery, becaufe it was not thought 
 poffiblc for men educated under that dlfcipline to be guilty of fuch a 
 crime; and as divers nations left a liberty to fathers to difpofe of their 
 children as they thought fit, becaufe it could not be imagined, that any 
 one would abufe that power, he ought to remember, that the Spartans 
 were miftaken, and for want of that law, which they cfleemed ufelefs, 
 adulteries became as common there as in any part of the world. And the 
 other error being almoft every where difcovered, the laws of all civilized 
 
 nations
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 273 
 
 nations make it capital for a man to kill his children ; and give redrefs to sect, i 
 children, if they fiifFer any other extreme injuries from their parents, as 
 well as other perfons. But though this were not fo, it would be nothing 
 to our queftion, unlefs it could be fuppofcd, that whoever gets the power 
 of a nation into his hands, muft be immediately fiUedwith the fame tcnder- 
 nefs of afFe<£lion to the people under him, as a father naturally has towards 
 the children he has begotten. He that is of this opinion may examine 
 the lives of Herod, Tiberius, Caligula, and fome later princes of like in- 
 clinations, and conclude it to be true, if he find, that the whole courfe of 
 their aftions, in relation to the people under them, do well fuit with the 
 tender and facred name of father ; and altogether falfe, if he find the con- 
 trary. But fince every man that confiders what has been, or fees what is 
 every day done in the world, muft confefs, that princes, or thofe who 
 govern them, do moft frequently fo utterly reje(5l all thoughts of tender- 
 nefs and piety towards the nations under them, as rather to fcek what 
 can be drawn from them, than what fhould be done for them, and fome- 
 times become their moft bitter and public enemies, it is ridiculous to make 
 the fafety of nations to depend upon a fuppofition, which by daily ex- 
 perience we find to be falfe ; and impious, to prefer the lufts of a man» 
 who violates the moft facred laws of nature, by deftroying thofe he is 
 obliged to prefer ve, before the welfare of that people, for whofe good he 
 is made to be what he is, if there be any thing of juftice in the power he 
 exercifes. 
 
 Our author fooliftily thinks to cover the enormity of this nonfenfe, by 
 turning " falutem populi " into " falutem regni : " for though " regnum '* 
 may be taken for the power of commanding, in which fenfe the prelerva- 
 tion of it i-s the ufi.ial objcdf of the care of princes, yet it does more rightly 
 fignify the body of that nation, which is governed by a king. And there- 
 fore if the maxim be true, as he acknowledges it to be, then " filus po- 
 " puli eft lex fuprema * ; " and the firft thing we are to inquire is, whe- 
 ther the government of this or that man do conduce to the accomplifliment 
 of that fupreme law, or not ; for otherwife it ought to have been faid, 
 " falus regis eft lex fuprema," which certainly never entered into the 
 head of a wifer or better man than Filmer. 
 
 His reafons are as good as his doctrine : no law, fays he, can be im- 
 pofed on kings, " becaufe there were kings, before any laws were made." 
 This would not follow, though the propoiition were true ; for they, who 
 impofed no laws upon the kings they at firft made, from an opinion of 
 their virtue, as in thofe called by the antients " heroum regna," might 
 iay reftridions upon them, when they were found not to anfwer the ex- 
 pedlation conceived of them, or when their fucceffors degenerated from 
 their virtue. Other nations alfo, being inftruded by the ill eff'eds of an 
 unlimited power given to fome kings, if there was any fuch, might wifely 
 avoid the rock upon which their neighbours had fplit, and juftly moderate 
 
 * Salus populi fuprema lex efto. Cic. de Leg. 1. i, c. 3 
 
 N n that
 
 274 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. II I that power, which had been pernicious to others. However, a propo- 
 fition of fo great importance ought to be proved ; but that being hard, 
 and perhaps impoflible, becaufe the original of nations is ahnoft wholly 
 unknown to us, and their pratStice feems to have been fo various, that 
 what is true in one is not fo in another, he is pleafed only to affirm it, 
 without giving the leaft fhadow of a reafon to perluade us to believe him. 
 This might juftify me, if I fliould rejedt his allertion as a thing faid 
 gratis : but I may fafely go a ftep farther, and affirm, that men lived 
 under lavv's before there were any kings ; which cannot be denied, if 
 fuch a power necefl'arily belongs to kings as he afcribes to them. For 
 Nimrod, who eftablifhed his kingdom in Babel, is the firft who by the 
 Scripture is faid to have been a mighty one in the earth. He was there- 
 fore the firft king, or kings were not mighty ; and he being the firft 
 king, mankind muft have lived till his time without laws, or elfe laws 
 were made before kings. To lay that there was then no law is in many 
 refpefls moft abfurd ; for the nature of man cannot be without it, and! 
 the violences committed by ill men before the flood could not have been- 
 blamed, if there had been no law; for that which is not cannot be tranf- 
 grefled. Cain could not have feared, that every man who met him 
 would flay him, if there had not been a law to flay him that had flain 
 another. But in this cafe the Scripture is clear, at leaft from the time 
 that Noah went out of the ark ; for God then gave him a law fufficient 
 for the ftate of things at that time, if all violence was prohibited under 
 the name of fhedding blood, though not under the fame penalty as 
 murder. But penal laws being in vain, if there be none to execute them, 
 fuch as know God does nothing in vain may conclude, that he who 
 gave this law did appoint fome way for its execution, though unknown 
 to us. There is therefore a law not given by kings, but laid upon fuch. 
 as ftiould be kings, as well as on any other perfons, by one who is above 
 them ; and perhaps I may fay, that this law prefles moft upon them, 
 becaufe they who have moft power do moft frequently break out into. 
 a<Ss of violence, and moft of all difdain to have their will reftrained : 
 and he that will exempt kings from this law, muft either find, that they 
 are excepted in the text, or thatGod who gave it has not a power over them. 
 " Moreover, it has been proved at the beginning of this treatife, that 
 
 the firft kings were of the accurfed race, and reigned over the accurfed 
 ■ nations, while the holy feed had none. If therefore there was no law 
 where there was no king, the accurfed pofterity of Ham had laws, when 
 the bleffed defcendents of Shem had none, which is moft abfurd ; the 
 word " outlaw," or " lawlefs," being often given to the wicked, but 
 never to the juft and righteous. 
 
 The impious folly of fuch afl!ertions goes farther than our author per- 
 haps fufpedlcd. For if there be no law where there is no king, the Ifraelites 
 had no law till Saul was made king, and then the law they had was from 
 him. They had no king before, for they afkcd one. They could not 
 have alked one of Samuel, if he had been a king. He had not been 
 
 offended,
 
 BISCODRSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 275 
 
 iofFcuded, and God had not imputed to them the fin of rejedtlng him, if sect, r 
 they had aflced that only which he had fet over them. If Samuel were not 
 king, Mofes, Jolhua, and the other judges, were not kings, for they 
 were no more than he. They had therefore no king, and confequently, 
 if our author fay 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 againft them for receding from, or 
 breaking their law, if they had none. He cannot fay that Samuel 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 been a 
 law to the people, it muft have been made public ; but as it was only to 
 the king, he laid it up before God, to teftify againft him if he fhould ad- 
 venture 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 been wholly impertinent, if it was not to bind him ; for it was given 
 to no other perfon, and to no other end. 
 
 Our author's affertion, upon which all his dodrine is grounded, " that 
 *' there is no nation that allows children any adlion or remedy for being 
 *' unjuftly governed," is as impudently falfe as any other propofed by 
 him. For though a child will not be heard that complains of the rod, yet 
 our own law gives relief to children againft their fathers, as well as againft 
 other perfons that do them injuries ; upon which we fee many ill effects, 
 and I do rather relate than commend the pradlice. In other places the law 
 gives relief againft the extravagances, of which fathers may be guilty in 
 relation to their children, though not to that excefs as to bring them fo near 
 to an equality as in England. They cannot imprifon, fell, or kill their 
 children, without expofing themfelves to the fame punifliments vvith other 
 men ; and if they take their eftates from them, the law is open, and 
 gives relief againft them. But, on the other fide, children are puniihed 
 with death, if they ftrike or oulrageoufly abufe their parents ; which is 
 not fo with us. 
 
 Now, if the laws of nations take fuch care to preferve private men 
 from being too hardly ufed by their true and natural fathers, who 
 have fuch a love and tendernefs for them in their own blood, that the 
 moft wacked and barbarous do much more frequently commit crimes for 
 them than againft them ; how much more neceflary is it to reftrain the 
 fury that kings, who at the beft are but fantaftical fathers, may exercife 
 to the deftrudtion of the whole people ? It is a folly to fay, that David, 
 and fome other kings, have had, or that all fhould have as tender an 
 affedlion towards their people as towards their children ; for befides that 
 even the firft propofition is not acknowledged, and will be hardly verified 
 in any one inftance, there is a vaft diftance between what men ought to 
 be, and what they are. Every man ought to be juft, true, and charit- 
 
 * I Sam. ch. lO, v. 25 
 
 N n 2 able;
 
 276 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. Ill able; and if they were fo, laws would be of no ufe : but it were a mad- 
 nefs to abolifli them upon a luppofitlon that they are fo ; or to leave them 
 to a future punifhment, which many do not believe, or not regard. I am 
 not obliged to believe, that David loved every Ifraclite as well as his fon 
 i\.bfalom; but though he had, I could not from thence infer, that all kings 
 do To, unleis I were fure, that all of them were as wife and virtuous as he. 
 But to come more clofe to the matter: do we not know of many kings 
 who have come to their power by the moft wicked means that can enter 
 into the heart of man, even by the moft outrageous injuries done to the 
 people, fometimes by a foreign aid ? As kings were by the power of the 
 Romans impofed upon the Britons, that they might wafte the forces, 
 and break the fpirits of that fierce people. This Tacitus acknowledges, 
 and fays, " that among other inftruments of enflaving nations, they im- 
 " pofed kings upon them*." The Medici were made mafters of Flo- 
 rence by the force of Charles the fifth's army. Sometimes, by a corrupt 
 party in their own country, they have deftroyed the beft men, and 
 fubdued the reft : as Agathocles, Dionyfius, and Caefar- did at Rome and 
 Syracufe. Others, taking upon them to defend a people, have turned the 
 arms with which they were entrufted, againft their own mafters : as 
 Francefco Sforza, who, being chofen by thofe of Milan to be their general 
 againft the Venetians, made peace Math them, and by their afliftance 
 made himfelf prince, or, in our author's phrafe, father of that great city. 
 If thefe be ads of tendernefs, love, juftice, and charity, thofe who com-^ 
 mit them may well think they have gained the affedions of their people, 
 and grow to love thofe from whom they fear nothing, and by whom they 
 think they are loved. But if, on the other hand, they know they have at- 
 tained to their greatnefs by the worft of all villainies, and that they are on 
 that account become the objeil of the public hatred, they can do no lefs, 
 than hate and fear thofe by whom they know themfelves to be hated. The 
 Italians ordinarily fay, that he who does an injury never pardons f , 
 becaufe he thinks he is never pardoned : but he that enflaves and opprcfles 
 a people does an injury, which can never be pardoned, and therefore fears 
 it will be revenged. 
 
 Other princes, who come to their thrones by better ways, and are not 
 contented with the power that the law allows, draw the fame hatred upon 
 themfelves, when they endeavour by force or fraud to enlarge it ; and 
 muft neccflarily fear and hate their own people, as much as he, who by 
 the ways before-mentioned has betrayed or fubdued them. Our author 
 makes nothing of this ; but, taking it for granted, that it was all one 
 whether Samuel fpoke of a king or a tyrant, declares, that the fame 
 
 * Redafta paulatim in formam provinciae proxima pars Britanniae, addita infuper vets- 
 ranorum colonia. Quacdam civitatcs Cogiduno rcgi doiiatae : is ad noftram ufquc mcmo- 
 riam fidiflimus manfit, vetere ac jampridcm recepta populi Roniani confuetudinc, uthabcret 
 inftrumenta fervitutis et reges. Tacit, in vitu Agric. §34 
 
 ■\ Chi fa ingiuria non perdona mai, 
 
 patient
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 277 
 
 patiept obedience is due to both : but, not being pleafed to give any rca- sect, i 
 fon, why we fhould believe him, I intend to offer ibme, why we fhould not. 
 
 Firft, there is nothing in the nature or inftitution of monarchy, that 
 obHges nations to bear the exorbitances of it, vv^hcn it degenerates into 
 tyranny. 
 
 In the fecond place, we have no precept for it. 
 
 Thirdly, we have many approved examples, and occafional particular 
 commands to the contrary. 
 
 To the firft. The point of paternity being explained, the duty of 
 children to parents proved to proceed from the benefits received from 
 them, and the power over them, which at the firft, feems to have been 
 left at large, becaufe it was thought they would never abufe it, fhewn to 
 have long fince been much reftrained in all civilized nations, and particu- 
 larly in our own, we may conclude, that men are all made of the fame 
 pafte, and that one owes no more to another, than another to him, unleis 
 for fome benefit received, or by virtue of fome promil'c made. The duty 
 arifing from a benefit received muft be proportionable to it: that which, 
 grows from a promife, is determined by the promife or contradt made, 
 according to the true fenfe and meaning of it. He therefore^ that would 
 know what the Babylonians, Hebrews, Athenians, or R.omans, did owe 
 to Nimrod, Saul, Thefeus, or Romulus, muft inquire what benefits were 
 received from them, or what was promifed to them. It cannot be faid, 
 that any thing was due to them for the fake of their parents : they could 
 have no prerogative by birth. Nimrod was the fixth fon of Cufh, the 
 fon of Ham, who was the youngeft fon of Noah. His kingdom was 
 eredled, whilft Noah, and his elder fons Shem and Japhet, as well as 
 Ham, Cufh, and his elder fons, were ftill living. Saul was the fon of 
 Kifli, a man of Benjamin, who was the youngeft fon of Jacob ; and he was 
 chofen in the moft democratical way by lot from among the whole people. 
 Thefeus, according to the cuftom of the times, pretended to be the fon 
 of Neptune ; and Rhea was lb vv^ell pleafed with the foldier, that had 
 gotten her with child, that fhe refolved to think, or fay, that Mars was 
 the father of the children, that is to fay, they were baftards ; and there- 
 fore, whatever was due to them, was upon their own perfonal account, 
 without any regard to their progenitors. This muft be meafured accord- 
 ing to what they did for thofe nations before they were kings, or by the 
 manner of their advancement. Nothing can be pretended before they 
 were kings. Nimrod rofe up after the confufion of languages, and the 
 people, that underftood the tongue he fpoke, followed him. Saul was a 
 young man unknown in Ifi-ael. Thefeus and Romulus had nothing to 
 recommend them, before other Athenians and Romans, except the repu- 
 tation of their valour ; and the honours conferred upon them for that 
 reafon muft proceed from expeftation or hope, and not from gratitude or 
 obligation. It muft 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
 
 iyS DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 Chap. in come to be (o only by force, or by coment. If by force, he does not 
 confer a benefit upon the people, but inj ires them in the moft outrageous 
 manner. If it be poffible therefore, or .eafonable to imagine, that one 
 man did ever fubdue a multitude, he can no otherwife refemble a father, 
 than the worft of ail enemies, who does .he greatell: mifchiefs, refembles 
 the beft of all friends, who confers the moll ineftimable benefits ; and 
 conlequently does as juftly deferve the \jj:mofi: effedts of hatred, as the 
 other does of love, relpedl, and fervice. If by confent, he who is ralfed 
 from among the people, and placed abo^e his brethren, receives great 
 L honours and advantages, but confers none. The obligations of gratitude 
 are on his fide, and whatever he does, in acknowledgment to his benefac- 
 tors for their love to him, is no more than hio duty ; and he can demand 
 •no more from them, than what they think fit >;o add to the favours already 
 received. If more be pretended, it mufl: be by virtue of that contra<3;, and 
 can no otherwife be proved, than by producing it to be examined, that 
 the true fenfe, meaning, and intention of it may be known. 
 
 This contrad: muft be in form and fubftance according to a general rule 
 given to all mankind, or fiach as is left to the w-ill of every nation. If a 
 general one be pretended, it ought to be fhewn, that, by inquiring into 
 the contents, we may underfl:and the force and extent of it. If this can- 
 not be done, it may juftly pafs for a fidlion ; no conclufion can be drawn 
 from it ; and we may be fure, that what contracts foever have been made 
 between nations and their kings, have been framed according to the will 
 of thofe nations ; and confequently, how many foever they are, and 
 whatever the fenfe of any or all of them may be, they can oblige no man, 
 except thofe, or at the moft the defcendants of thofe that made them. 
 Whoever therefore would perfuade us, that one or more nations are, by 
 virtue of thofe contracts, bound to bear all the infolences of tyrants, is 
 obliged to fliew, that by thofe contracts they did for ever indefinitely 
 bind themfelves fo to do, how great foever they might be. 
 
 I may juftly go a ftep farther, and affirm, that if any fuch fhould appear 
 in the world, the folly and turpitude of the thing would be a fufficient 
 evidence of the madnefs of thofe that made it, and utterly deftroy the con- 
 tents of it. Eut no fijch having been yet produced, nor any reafon 
 given to perfuade a wife man that there has ever been any fuch, at leaft 
 among civilized nations, for whom only we are concerned, it may be 
 concluded there never was any ; or if there were, they do not at all relate 
 to our fubjeft ; and confequently, that nations ftill continue in their native 
 liberty, and are no otherwife obliged to endure the infolence of tyrants, 
 than they, or each of them, may dieem them tolerable." 
 
 To the fecond. Though the words of Samuel iiad implied a neccflJity 
 incumbent upon the Hebrews to bear all the injuries that their kings 
 fliould do to them, it could no way relate to us ; for he does not fpeak of 
 all kinp;s, but of fuch as they had afked, even fuch as reigned over the 
 flavifh Afiatics their neighbours, who are no lefs infamous in the world for 
 their bafencfs and cowardice, than dcteftable for their idolatry and vices. 
 
 It
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 279 
 
 It was not a plot or trick of Samuel to keep the governmeiat in himfclf sect, i 
 and family : fuch fcurrilous exprenions or thoughts arc fit only for Fihner, 
 Heyhn, and their dilliplcs. But the prophet, being troubled at the folly 
 and wickednefs of the people, who chofe rather to fubje£t themfclves to 
 the irregular will of a man, than to be governed by God, and his law, 
 did, by the immediate command of God, declare to them what would be 
 the event of their fury ; that fmce they would be like to their neighbours 
 in hn and folly, he told them they fhould be like to them in fliame and 
 mifery ; fuice they defired to caft off the thing that was good, they fiiould 
 fuiTer evil as the product of their own counfels ; and that when they 
 fhould cry to the Lord, from a fenfc of their miferies, he does not tell 
 them, as our author falfly fays, they fhould have no other remedy agalnft 
 tyrants but crying and praying, but that their cries and prayers fliould 
 not be heard. It was juft, that when they had rejeftcd God, he fhould 
 rejed; them, and leave them under the weight of the calamities they had 
 brought upon themfelvcs. In all other cafes God had ever faid, that 
 when his people returned to him, he would hear and fave them. When 
 they cried, by reafon of the opprefTions they fuffered under the Egyptians,. 
 Canaanites, Midianites, Philiilines, and others, though their crimes had 
 deferved them all, yet God heard, and relieved them. But when they 
 meditated this final defection from his law, and rejedlion of his govern- 
 ment, God fcemed to change his nature, and forget to be gracious : 
 " when ye fhall cry to me by reafon of your king, I will not hear you." 
 This was the ftrongeft dehortation from their wicked intention that can be 
 imagined ; but being not enough to reclaim them, they anfwered, " nay, 
 " but we will have a king." They were like to their neighbours in folly 
 and vice, and would be like to them in government ; which brought all 
 the calamities upon them that the others fuffered. But I know not what 
 conclufion can be drawn from hence in favour of our author's doftrine, 
 unlefs all nations are obliged furioufly to run into the fame crimes with 
 the Ifraelites, or to take upon themfelves the fame punifhment, though 
 they do not commit the fame crimes. . 
 
 If this was not a precept to the Ifraelites, infl:ru£l:ing them what they 
 fhould do, but a denunciation of what they fhould fuffer for the evil which 
 they had committed, the Old Teftament will afford none ; and I hope in 
 due time to anfwer fuch as he alleges from the Nev/. Nay, we may con- 
 clude there can be none there, becaufe, being didlated by the fame fpirit, 
 which is always uniform, and conftant to itfelf, it could not agree with 
 the xvii of Deuteronomy, which fo extremely reftrains fuch a king as 
 God allowed, as not to fuffer him in any manner to raife his heart above 
 his brethren ; and was faid in vain, if at the fame time it gave him a 
 power which might not be refifled, or forbad others to refift him if he 
 would not obey the law. 
 
 To the third. Whatever was done by the command of God againft 
 Pharoah king of Egypt, and againfl: the kings of the Canaanites, Midi- 
 anites, Moabites, Edomites, Amorites, or Philiflines, by Mofes, Jofnua, 
 
 Ehud,
 
 28o DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. Ill Ehud, Barak, Gideon, Samfon, Jephthah, Samuel, and the reft of the 
 judges, comes exprefsly under the particular precepts and examples prc- 
 mlled by me, to fhew, that God had occafionally commanded, and his 
 fervants executed his commands in refifting and deftroying the perfons of 
 kings, who were their own kings alfo, if poffeffion was only to be 
 regarded. And though this be fufficient to overthrow our author's doc- 
 trine ; " that we are not to examine the titles of kings, whether they be 
 " from ufurpation, or any other means, but only to look upon the 
 " power;" yet they who feek truth, ought not to content themfelves 
 merely with vidory, or to efteem that a vidlory, which is obtained by 
 what the fchools call " argumentum ad hominem, " grounded upon a 
 falfe propofition, and is of no force, except againft thofe who are fo ill 
 advifed as to advance it. Therefore laying alide the advantages that may 
 be juftly taken againft Filmer, for the folly of aflerting the fame right to 
 be in a ufurper, as in a lawful prince ; and confefling, that though fuch 
 as have no title may and ought to be fupprefied as enemies and robbers, 
 when refpe£t and obedience is due to thofe who are rightly inftituted ; I 
 fay, that none can be claimed by a prince lav/fully inftituted, if he aflume 
 to himfelt a power which is not granted to him by the law of his inftitu- 
 tion, bccaufe, as Grotius fays, " his legal power does not extend fo far*;" 
 or turn the power that is given him to ends contrary to thofe for which it 
 was given, becaufe he thereby deftroys it, and puts himfelf into the fame 
 condition as if it had never been. This is proved by the example of Saul : 
 though the people finned grievoufly in afking a king, yet God aflenting 
 to their demand, no prince was ever more folemnly inftituted than he. 
 The people chofe him by lot from among all the tribes, and he was placed 
 in the throne by the general confent of the whole nation. But he turning 
 his lawful power into tyranny, difobeying the word of the prophet, flaying 
 the priefls, fparing the Amalekites, and opprefting the innocent, over- 
 threw his own right ; and God declared the kingdom, which had been 
 given him, under a conditional promife of perpetuity, to be entirely abro- 
 gated. This did not only give a right to the whole people of oppofing 
 him, but to every particular man ; and upon this account David did not 
 only fly from his fury, but reflfted it. He made himfelf head of all the 
 difcontented perfons that would follow him. He had at firft four, and 
 afterwards fix hundred men : he kept thefe in arms againft Saul, and 
 lived upon the country ; and refolved to deftroy Nabal, with all his houfc, 
 only for refufmg to fend provlfions for his men. Finding himfelf weak 
 and unfafe, he went to Achifh the Philiftine, and oflered his fervice 
 even againft Ifrael. This was never reputed a fm in David, or in thofe 
 that followed him, by any except the v.-icked court-flatterer Doeg the 
 lulomite, and the drunken fool Nabal, who is faid to have been a man 
 of Belial. 
 
 If it be objcdcd, that this was rather a flight than a war, inafinuch as 
 lie neither killed Saul nor his men, or that he made war as a king anointed 
 
 * Quiaeatcnus iniperium iion h.ibet. Grot, de Jure Belli, 1. i, c. 4, § 13 
 
 by
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 281 
 
 by Samuel, I anfwer, that he who had fix hundred men, and entertained SECT. I 
 
 as many as came to him, fufEcicntly fliewcd his intention rather to rcfirt 
 
 than to fly j and no other realbn can be given why he did not farther 
 
 purlue that intention, than that he had no greater povv^er : for he who 
 
 arms fix hundred men againft his prince, when he can have no more, can 
 
 no more be faid to obey patiently, than if he had fo many hundreds of 
 
 thoufands. This holds, though he kill no man ; for that is not the war, 
 
 but the manner of making it. And it were as abfurd to fay, David made 
 
 no war, becaufe he killed no men, as that Charles the eighth made no war 
 
 in Italy, becaufe Guicciardini fays, he conquered Naples without breaking 
 
 a lance. But as David's flrength increafed, he grew to be lefs fparing of 
 
 blood. Thofe who fay kings never die, but that the right is immediately 
 
 transferred to the next heirs, cannot deny that Ifhboflieth inherited the 
 
 right of Saul, and that David had no other right of making war againft 
 
 him, than againft Saul, unlefs it were conferred upon him by the tribe of 
 
 Judah, that made him king. If this be true, it muft be confefl'ed, that 
 
 not only a whole people, but a part of them, may at their own pleafure 
 
 abrogate a kingdom, though ever fo well eftablifhed by common confent; 
 
 for none was ever more folemnly inftituted than that of Saul ; and few 
 
 fubjeds have more ftrongly obliged themfelves to be obedient. If it be 
 
 not true, the example of Nabal is to be followed ; and David, though 
 
 guided by the Spirit of God, deferves to be condemned as a fellow that 
 
 rofe up againft his mafter. 
 
 If to elude this it be fald, that God inftituted and abrogated Saul's 
 kingdom, and that David, to whom the right was tranfmitted, might 
 therefore proceed againft him and his heirs as private men, I anfwer, that 
 if the obedience due to Saul proceeded from God's inftitution, it can 
 extend to none, but thofe who are fo peculiarly inftituted and anointed 
 by his command, and the hand of his prophet, which will be of little 
 advantage to the kings, that can give no teftimony of fuch an inftitution 
 or undion ; and an indifputable right will remain to every nation of abro- 
 gating the kingdoms which are Inftituted by and for themfelves. But as 
 David did refift the authority of Saul and Iftiboftieth, without afluming 
 the power of a king, though defigned by God, and anointed by the pro- 
 phet, till he was made king of Judah by that tribe; or arrogating tohim- 
 felf a power over the other tribes, till he was made king by them, and 
 had entered into a covenant with them, it is much more certain, that the 
 perfons and authority of ill kings, who have no title to the privileges, due 
 to Saul by virtue of his inftitution, may be juftly refifted : which is as 
 much as is necefiary to my purpofe. 
 
 Objeft. But David's heart fmote him, when he had cut off the fkirt 
 of Saul's garment, and he would not fuff"cr Abifhai to kill him *. — This 
 might be of fome force, if it were pretended, that every man was obliged 
 to kill an ill king, whenever he could do it, which I think no man ever 
 
 * I Sam. ch. 24, v. 5. ch. 26, v. 9 
 
 O o did
 
 28z DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. Ill did fay; and no man having ever affirmed it, no more can be concluded 
 than is confeffed by all. But how is it poffible, that a man of a generous 
 fpirit, Hke David, could fee a great and vahant king, chofen from among 
 all the tribes of Ifrael, anointed by the command of God, and the hand 
 of the prophet, famous for vidhories obtained againft the enemies of 
 Ifrael, and a vv'onderful deliverance thereby purchafed to that people, call 
 at his feet to receive life or death from the hand of one, whom he had lb 
 furioufly perfecuted, and from whom he leaft deferred, and could lead 
 expect mercy, without extraordinary commotion of mind; efpecially 
 when Abiihai, who faw all that he did, and thereby ought beft to have 
 known his thoughts, exprelTed fo great a readinefs to kill him ? This 
 could not but make him refledl upon the inftability of all that feemed to 
 be moil: glorious in men, and fhew him, that if Saul, who had been 
 named even among the prophets, and affifted in an extraordinary manner 
 to accomplifh fuch great tilings, was fo abandoned and given over to fury, 
 mifery, and ihame, he that feemed to be moft firmly eftabliflied ought to 
 take care left he fhould falL 
 
 Surely thefe things are neither to be thought ftrange in relation to Sauli 
 who was God's anointed, nor communicable to fuch as are not. Some 
 may fiippofe he was king by virtue of God's im£lion, though if that were 
 true he had never been chofen and made king by the people, but it were 
 madnefs to think he became God's anointed by being king : for if that 
 were fo, the fame right and title would belong to every king, even to 
 thofe, who by his command were accurfed and deftroyed by his fervants 
 Mofes, Jofhua, and Samuel. The fame men, at the fame time, and in 
 the fame fenfe, would be both his anointed and accurfed, loved and 
 detefted by him ; and the moft facred privileges made to extend to the 
 worft of his enemies. 
 
 Again, the war made by David was not upon the account of being 
 king, as anointed by Samuel, but upon [^he common natural right of 
 defending himfelf againft the A^iolence and-fury of a wicked man; He 
 truftcd to the promife, " that he fhould be king," but knew that as yet 
 he was not fo. And when Saul found he had ipared his life, he laid,' " I 
 " now know well, that thou Ihalt furely be king, and that the kingdom 
 " of Ifrael fhall be eftablifiied in thy hand ;" not that it was already. 
 Nay David himfelf was fo far from taking upon him to be king, till the 
 tribe of Judah had chofen him, that he often acknowledged Saul to be his 
 lord. When Baanah and Rechab brought the head of lilibolheth to him, 
 he commanded them to be flain ; " becaufe they liad killed a righteous 
 " man upon his bed, in his own houfe * ; " which he could not have 
 faid, if lilibofheth had unjuftly detained from him the ten tribes, and 
 he had a right to reign over them before they had chofen him. The 
 word of God did not make him king, but only foretold, that he fliould 
 be king ; and by fuch ways as he pleafed prepared the hearts of the people 
 
 * 2 Sam. ch. 4, v. 11 
 
 to
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 283 
 
 to fet him up ; and till the tnne defigned by God for that work was sect. 2 
 accompliflied, he pretended to no other authority, than what the fix 
 hundred men who firft followed him, afterwards the tribe of Judah, and 
 at laft all the reft of the people, conferred upon him. 
 
 I no way defend Abl'alom's revolt ; he was wicked, and adled wickedly : 
 but after his death no man was ever blamed or quellioned for fiding with 
 him. Amala, who commanded his army, is reprefented in Scripture 
 as a good man, Solomon faying, that Joab, by (laying Abner and Amafa, 
 had killed " two men who were better than himfelf *;" vv'hich could not 
 have been, unlefs the people had a right of looking into matters of 
 government, and of redrcfling abufes : though being deceived by -\hiaIom, 
 they fo far erred, as to prefer him, who was in all refpedts wicked, before 
 the man, who, except in the matter of Uriah, is faid to be after God's 
 own heart. This right was acknowledged by David himfelf, when he 
 commanded Hufhai to fay to Abialom, " I will be thy fervant, O kingf ;" 
 and by Hufhai in the following chapter, " nay, but whom the Lord, and 
 " his people, and all the men of Ifrael choofe, his will 1 be, and with 
 " him will I abide ijl :" which could have no fenfe in it, unlels the people 
 had a right of choofmg, and the choice in which they generally concurred 
 was efteemed to be from God. 
 
 But if Saul, who was made king by the whole people, and auu! 
 the command of Gcd, might be lawfully refilled \^hcn he depart: 
 the law of his inftitution, it cannot be doubted, that any (the he 
 
 like reafon, may be refifted. If David, though defigntd by God to be 
 king, and anointed by the hand of the prophet, was not king till the 
 people had chofen him, and he had made a covenant with them, it will, 
 if I miltake not, be hard to find a man who can claim a right which is not 
 originally from them. And if the people of Ifrael could ere£l, and pull 
 down, inftitute, abrogate, or transfer to other perfons or families, king- 
 doms more firmly eftablilhed than any we know, the fame right cannot 
 be denied to other nations. 
 
 SECTION II 
 
 THE KINGS OF ISRAEL AND JUDAH WERE UNDER A LAW NOT 
 SAFELY TO BE TRANSGRESSED. 
 
 Our author might be pardoned if he only vented his own follies ; but he 
 aggravates his own crime, by imputing them to men of more credit. And 
 though I cannot look upon Sir Walter Raleigh as a very good interpreter 
 of Scripture, he had too much underftanding to fay, " that if practice 
 *' declare the greatnefs of authority, even the beft kings of Ilrael and 
 
 * I Kings ch. 2, V. 32 t 2 Sam. ch. 15, v. 34 
 
 J 2 Sam. ch, r6, v. 18 
 
 O o 2 " Judah
 
 ,84 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. Ill " T'J'^^^ were not tied to any law, but they did whatever they pleafed in 
 *' the greatell: matters ; " for there is no lenfe in thofe words. " If pradlice 
 " declares the greatnefs of authority, even the beft were tied to no law," 
 fignifies nothing, for praftice cannot declare the greatnefs of authority. 
 Feter the Cruel of Caftile, and Chriftiern the fecond of Denmark, killed 
 whom they pleafed ; but no man ever thought they had therefore a right 
 todofo: and if there was a law, all were tied by it, and the beft were 
 lefs likely to break it than the worft. But if Sir Walter Raleigh's opi- 
 nion, which he calls a conjedlure, be taken, there was fo great a diffe- 
 rence between the kings of Ifrael and Judah, that, as to their general 
 proceedings in point of power, hardly any thing can be faid which may 
 rightly be applied to both ; and he there endeavours to lliew, that the 
 reafon v/hy the ten tribes did not return to the houfe of David, after the 
 deftrucSlion of the houfes of Jeroboam and Baalha, was, becaufe they 
 would not endure a power fo abfolute as that which was exercifed by the 
 houfc of David*. If he has therefore any where faid, that the kings did 
 what they pleafed, it muft be in the fenfe that Mofes Maimonides fays, 
 the kings of Ifrael committed many extravagances, becaufe they were 
 " infolent. Impious, and defpifers of the lawf. " But whatever Sir 
 Walter Raleigh may fay (for I do not remember his words, and have not 
 leifure to feek whether any fuch are found in his books) it is moft evident, 
 they did not what they pleafed. The tribes, that did not fubmlt to 
 David, nor crown him till they thought fit, and then made a covenant 
 %vith him, took care it might be obferved, whether he would or not. 
 Abfalom's rebellion, followed by almoft all Ifrael, was a terrible check to 
 his will. That of Sheba, the fon of Bichri, was like to have been worfe, 
 if it had not been fuppreffed by Joab's diligence; and David often con- 
 feffed the fons of Zeruiah were too hard for him. Solomon indeed, over- 
 throwing the law given by Mofes, multiplying gold and filver, wives 
 and horfes, introducing idolatry, and lifting up his heart above his 
 brethren, did what he pleafed. But Rehoboam paid for all : the ten 
 tribes revolted from him, by reafon of the heavy burdens laid upon them, 
 ftoned Adoram, who was fent to levy the tributes, and fet up Jeroboam, 
 who, as Sir Walter Raleigh Hiys in the place before cited, had no other 
 title than the courtefy of the people, and utterly rejefted the houfe of 
 David. If pradlice therefore declares a right, the pradice of the people 
 to avenge the injuries they fuffered from their kings, as fdon as they 
 found a man fit to be their leader, fhews they had a right of doing it. 
 
 It is true, the beft of the kings, with Mofes, Jofluia, and Samuel, 
 may in one fenfe be faid to have done what they pleafed, becaufe they 
 
 * " He that fliall take pains to look into tliore examples which are extant, of the difFe- 
 " rent courfcs held hy the kings of Ifrael and Judah, in aJminiflration of juftice, will find 
 " it molt probable, that upon this ground it was, that the ten tribes continued fo averfc 
 *' from the line of David, as to think all advcrfity more tolerable, than the weighty fceptro 
 " of that houfe. " Hift. of the World, b,,2, c. 19, § 6 
 
 I Vide fupra, p. 251 
 
 dcfircd
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 285 
 
 defired to do that only which was good. But this will hardly be brought sect. 2- 
 
 to confer a right upon all kings : and I deny, that even the kings of 
 
 Judah did what they pleafed, or that it were any thing to our qucilion, if 
 
 they did. Zedekiah profefled to the great men, that is, to thel'anhedriin, 
 
 " that without them he could do nothing *." When Ama/iah, by his 
 
 folly, had brought a great flaughter upon the tribe of Judah, they con- 
 
 fpired againft him in public council. Whereupon he fled to Lachifh, and 
 
 they, purfuing him thither, killed him, avowed the fact, and it was 
 
 neither queftioned, nor blamed f: which examples agree with the para- 
 
 phraie of Jofephus on Deut. xvii, " he fhall do nothing without the 
 
 *' confentof the lanhedrim; and if he attempt it, they fliall hinder him J." 
 
 This was the law of God, not to be abrogated by man ; a law of liberty 
 
 diredlly oppoJite to the necelfity of fubmitting to the will of a man. This 
 
 was a gift bellowed by God upon his children and people: whereas 
 
 flavery was a great part of the curfe denounced againft Ham for his wick- 
 
 ednefs, and perpetually incumbent upon his pofterity. The great fanhe- 
 
 drim were conftitnted judges, as Grotius fays, particularly of fuch matters 
 
 as concerned their kings § ; and Maimonides affirms, that the kings were 
 
 judged by them. The diftribution of the power to the inferior fanhedrims, 
 
 in every tribe and city, with the right of calling the people together in 
 
 general aflemblies as often as occafion required, was the bafis of their 
 
 liberty ; and, being added to the law of the kingdom, prefcribed in the 
 
 xvii of Deuteronomy (if they fhould think fit to have a king) eftablifhed 
 
 the freedom of that people upon a folid foundation. And though they in 
 
 their fury did in a great meafure wave the benefits God had bellowed upon 
 
 them, yet there was enough left to refti"ain the lufts of their kings. Ahab 
 
 did not treat with Naboth, as with a. fervant, whofe perfon and eftate 
 
 depended upon his will ; and does not feem to have been fo tender-hearted 
 
 as to grieve much for his refufal, if by virtue of his royal authority he 
 
 could hav^e taken away his vineyard, and his life : but, that failing, he 
 
 had no other way of accomplifhing his defign, than by the fraud of his 
 
 accurfed wife, and the perfidious wretches the employed. And no better 
 
 proof, that it did fail, can reafonably be required, than that he was 
 
 obliged to have recourfe to fuch fordid, odious, and dangerous remedies. 
 
 But we are furnifhed with one, that is more unqueftionable : " haft thou 
 
 " killed, and alfo taken poffeffion ? In the place where dogs licked the 
 
 " blood of Naboth, ftiall they lick thy blood, even thine f." This 
 
 fliews, that the kings were not only under a law, but under a law of 
 
 equality vv^ith the reft of the people, even that of retaliation. He had 
 
 raifed his heart above his brethren; but God brought him down, and 
 
 made him to fuft'er what he had done. He was in all refpe£ls wicked; 
 
 but the juftice of this fentence confifted in the law he had broken, which 
 
 could not have been, if he had been fubjedl to none. But as this reta- • 
 
 * Jer. ch. 38, V. 5 fa Kings ch. 14, v. ig. J Vide fupra, p. 250 
 
 § Vide Grot, de Jiiie Belli, .1. i, c. 3, § 20 ^ i Kin^s cli. 21, v. ig 
 
 liatioa.
 
 286 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAT, in liation was the fum of all the judicial law given by God to his people, the 
 ientence pronounced againll Ahab, in conformity to it, and the execution 
 committed to Jehu fhews, that the kings were no lefs obliged to perform 
 the law, than other men, though they were not fo eafily punilhed for 
 tranfgreffing it, as others were : and, if many of them did efcape, it per- 
 ieclly agrees with what had been foretold by Samuel. 
 
 S E C T I O N III 
 
 SAMUEL DID KOT 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. 
 
 Though no reftraint had been put upon the Hebrew kings, it could be 
 no prejudice to any other nation. They deflecled from the law of 
 God ; and, rejedling him, that he fliould reign over them no longer, 
 they fell into that mifery, which could aftcvlt none, but thofe who enjoy 
 the fame bieffings, and with the fame fury defpife t|iem. If their kings 
 liad no more power than conililcd with their welfare, they gave it, and God 
 renoimces the in{litutl( in of fuch *. He gave them a law of liberty ; and 
 if they fell into the fl^ame and mifery that accompanies flavery, it was 
 their own work. They were not obliged to have any king ; and could not 
 without a crime have any, but one who muft not raife his heart above the 
 reft of them. This was taught by Mofes : and Samuel, who fpoke by 
 the fame fpirit, could not contradidl him ; and in telling the people, 
 what fuch a king as they dcfired would do, when he fhould be eftablifhed, 
 he did announce to them the mifery they would bring upon themfelves, 
 by choofing fuch a one as he had forbidden. This free monarchy, 
 which our author thinks to be {o majefticaliy defcribed, was not only 
 difpleafing to the prophet, but declared by God to be a rejecflion of him, 
 and inconfiftent with his reign over them. This might have been fuffi- 
 cicnt to divert any other people from their furious rcfolution ; but the 
 prophet, farther enforcing his diffuafion, told them, that God, who had 
 in all other cafes been their helper, would not hear them when they 
 fhould cry to him by reafon of their king f. This is the majeftic dcfcrip- 
 tion of that free monarchy, with which our author is fo much pleafed : it 
 was difpleafing to the prophet, liateful to God, an aggravation of all the 
 crimes they had committed fmce they came out of Egypt, and that which 
 would bring (as it did) mofl: certain and irreparable dcllru£lion upon them. 
 
 * " They have fet up kings, but not by me ; they have made princes, and I know them 
 not." Ilof. ch. 8, V. 4 
 f 1 Sam. ch. 8, v. i8 
 
 But
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 287 
 
 But it fecms, the regal majcfly in that age was in its infrmcy, and little sect. 3 
 in comparifon of that, which we find delcribcd by Tacitus, SuetonI' s, 
 andothtTS, in later times. " He fhall take your fons, " fays Samuel, 
 " and let them over his chariots, and your daughters to make them con- 
 " feclioners and cooks;" but the majefty of the Roman emperors was 
 carried to a higher pitch of glory. Ahab could not, without employing 
 treachery and fraud, get a fmall fpot of ground for his money to make a 
 garden of herbs : but Tiberius, Caligula, and Nero, killed whom they 
 pleafed, and took what they pleafed of their ellates. When they had 
 fatiated tlicir cruelty and avarice, by the murders and confifcations of the 
 moft eminent and beft men, they commonly expofed their children to the 
 lufl of their Haves. If the power of doing evil be glorious, the utmoft 
 excefs is its perfeftion ; and it is pity, that Samuel knew no more of the 
 effeds produced by unreftrained luft, that he might have made the def- 
 cription yet more majeftic : and as nothing can be fufFered by man beyond 
 conftrupation, torments, and death, inilead of fuch trifles as he men- 
 tioned, he might have fhewed them the effedls of fury in its greateft 
 exaltation. 
 
 If it be good for a nation to live under fuch a power, why did not God 
 of his own goodnefs inftitute it ? Did his wifdom and love to his people 
 fail? Or if he himfelf had not fet up the beft government over them, 
 could he be difpleafed with them for ailiing it ? Did he feparate that nation 
 from the reft of mankind, to make their condition worfe than that of 
 others ? Or can they be faid to have finned and rejedled God, when they 
 defired nothing but the government, which, by a perpetual ordinance, 
 he had eftablilhed 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 reafon, an emanation of the divine wifdom, or fome footfteps of 
 divine light remaining in us ? Is it poffible that this, v^hich is from God, 
 can be contrary to his will ; and can he be offended with thofe who deiire 
 to live in a conformity to that law ? Or could it juftly be faid, the people 
 had chofen that which is not good, jf nothing in government be good 
 but what they chofe ? 
 
 But as the worft men delight in the worft things, and fools are pleafed 
 with the moft extreme abfurdities, our author not only gives the higheft 
 praifes to that which bears fo many marks of God's hatred ; but after 
 having faid, that Abraham, liaac, Jacob, and Mofes, were kings, he 
 tells us, " the Ifraelites begged a king of Samuel ;" which had been. 
 Impertinent, if the maglftrates inftituted by the law were kings. 
 And though it might be a folly in them to aflc what they had already, it 
 could be no fin to defire that which they enjoyed by the ordinance of God. 
 If they were not kings, it follows, that the only government ict up by 
 God, among men, wanted the principal part, even the head and foun- 
 dation, from v,'hence all the other parts have their adion and being : that 
 is, God's law is againft God's law, and deftroys itfelf. 
 
 3 But
 
 i88 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CflAP.lll But if God did neither by a general and perpetual ordinance eftablifh 
 over all nations the monarchy which Samuel defcribes, nor prefcribe it to 
 his own people by a particular command, it was purely the people's crea- 
 ture, the produdlion of their own fancy, conceived in wickednefs, and 
 brought forth in iniquity, an idol fet up by themfelves to their own 
 deftruclion, in imitation of their accurfed neighbours ; and their reward 
 was no better than the concefhon of an impious petition, which is one of 
 God's heavieft judgments. Samuel's words are acknowledged by all 
 interpreters, who were not malicious or mad, to be a difluafion from 
 their wicked purpofe ; not a defcription of what a king might juftly do 
 by virtue of his office, but what thofe, who fhould be fet up againft God 
 and his law, would do when they came to have the power in their hands : 
 and I leave fuch as have the underftandings of men, and are not abandoned 
 by God, to judge what influence this ought to have upon other nations, 
 either as to obligation or imitation. 
 
 SECTION IV 
 
 NO PEOPLE CAN BE OBLIGED TO SUFFER FROM THEIR KINGS 
 AVHAT THEY HAVE NOT A RIGHT TO DO. 
 
 Our author's next work is to tell us, " that the fcope of Samuel was to 
 *' teach the people a dutiful obedience to their king, even in thofe things 
 ■" which they did efleem mifchievous and inconvenient. For, by telling 
 *' them what a king would do, he indeed inftrufts them what a fubjed: 
 " muft fuffer ; yet not fo, that it is right for kings to do injury, but it is 
 " right for them to go unpunifhed by the people, if they do it : fo that 
 *' in this point it is all one, whether Samuel defcribea king, or a tyrant." 
 This is hard, but the conclufion is grounded upon nothing. There is no 
 relation between a predidlion, that a thing fhall be attempted or done to 
 me, and a precept, that I fhall not defend myfelf, or punifh the perfon 
 fhat attempts or docs it. If a prophet fliould fay, that a thief lay in the 
 w\iy to kill mc, it might rcafonably perfuade me not to go, or to go in 
 fuch a manner as to be able to defend myfelf; but can no way oblige me 
 to fubmit to the violence that fhall be oflered, or my friends and children 
 not to avenge my death if I fall ; much lefs can othermen bedeprived of the 
 natural right of defending themfelves, by my imprudence or obftinacy in 
 not taking the warning given, whereby I might have preferved my life. 
 For every man has a right of refilling, fome way or other, that which 
 ought not to be done to him ; and though human laws do not, in all 
 xafes, make men judges and avengers of the injuries offered to them, I 
 think there is none that does not juftify the man who kills another that 
 offers violence to him, if it appear, that the way prefcribcd by the law, 
 for the prefer vation of the innocent, cannot be taken. This is not only 
 
 true
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 2H9 
 
 true in the cafe of outrageous attempts to affaffinatc or rob upon the high- sect. 4 
 way, but in divers others of lefs moment. 1 knew a man who being 
 appointed to keep his mafter's park killed three men in one night, that 
 came to dcflroy his deer; and putting himielf into the hands of the 
 magiftrate, and confefling the fadl, both in matter and manner, he was 
 at the public afhzes not only acquitted, but commended for having done 
 his duty; and this, in a time when it is well known, jufticc was feverely 
 adminiftred, and little favour expeded by him cr his mafter. Nay, all 
 lavi's muft fall, human focieties that fubiift by them be diflolved, and all 
 innocent perfons be expofed to the violence of the mod; wicked, if men 
 might not jufily defend themfelves againft injuflice by their own natural 
 right, when the ways prefcribed by public authority cannot be taken. 
 
 Our author may perhaps fay, this is true in all except the king : and 
 I defire to know why, if it be true in all except the king, it fliould not be 
 true in relation to him ? Is it pofTible, that he who is inftituted f;3r the 
 ohtaining of judice, fhouid claim the liberty of doing injuftice as a privi- 
 lege ? Were it not better for a people to be without law, than that a 
 power fliould be eflabliflied by law to commit al' manner of violences with 
 impunity ? Did not David refift thofe of Saul ? Did he not make himfelf 
 head of tlie tribe of Judah, when they revolted againft his fon, and after- 
 wards of the ten tribes, that rejefted his pofterity ? Did not the Ifraeliies 
 ftone Adoram who collecfted the taxes, revolt from the houfe of David, 
 fet up Jeroboam ; and did not the prophet fay it was from the Lord ? If it 
 was from the Lord, was it not good ? If it was good then, is it not fo for 
 ever ? Did good proceed from one root then, and from another now ? If 
 God had avenged the blood of Naboth by fire from heaven, and deftroyed 
 the houfe of Ahab, as he did the two captains, and their men, who were 
 fent to apprehend Elijah *, it might be faid, he referved that vengeance to 
 himfelf; but he did it by the fword of Jehu and the army, which was the 
 people vv'ho had fet him up, for an example to others. 
 
 But it is good to examine what this " dutiful obedience" is, that our 
 author mentions. Men ufually owe no more than they receive. It is hard 
 to know what the Ifraelites owed to Saul, David, Jeroboam, Ahab, or 
 any other king, whether good or bad, till they were made kings ; and the 
 a£1: of the people, by which fo great a dignity was conferred, fcems to have 
 laid a duty upon them, who did receive more than they had to give. So 
 that fomething muft be due from them, unlefs it were releafed by virtue 
 of a covenant or promife made ; and none could accrue to them from the 
 people afterwards, unlefs from the merit of the perfon in rightly executing 
 his office. If a covenant or promife be pretended, the nature and extent 
 of the obligation can only be known by the contents exprefled, or the true 
 intention of it. If there be a general form of covenant fet and agreed 
 upon, to which all nations muft fubmit, it were good to know where it 
 may be found, and by whofe authority it is eftabliflied, and then v>'e 
 may examine the {enk of it. If no fuch do appear, we may rationally 
 
 'i, 
 * -2 Kin2-'=. ch. I, V. 1 0^ II, 12 > ' 
 
 r p look
 
 290 * DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAT. Ill look upon thofe to be impollors, who (hould go about from thence to derive 
 a right. And as that which does not appear is as if it were not, we may 
 juflly conchidc there is no other, or none that can have any effedt, but 
 luch as have been made by particular nations with their princes ; which 
 can be of no force or obligation to others, nor to themfelves, any farther 
 than according to the true intention of thole that made them. There is 
 no fuch 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, unlefs it be expreifed by a covenant. And whoever 
 pretends to a right of taking our Ions and daughters, lands or goods, or 
 to go unpunifhed if he do, muft Ihew, that theie things are exprefl'ed or 
 intended by the covenant. 
 
 ( But though nations, for the moft part, owe nothing to kings, till they 
 are kings, and it can hardly be conceived, that any people did ever owe 
 fo much to a man, as might not be fully repaid by the honour and advan- 
 tages of fuch an advancement ; yet it is poffible, that when they are made 
 kings, they may, by their good government, lay fuch obligations upon 
 their iubjeills, as ought to be recompenfed by obedience and fervice. 
 There is no mortal creature that deferves fo well from mankind, as a wife, 
 valiant, diligent, and jufi; king, who as a father cherifhes his people, as a 
 fhepherd feeds, defends, and is ready to lay down his life for his flock ; 
 who is a terror to evil-doers, and a praife to thofe that do well. This is a 
 glorious prerogative, and he who has it is happy. But before this can be 
 adjudged to belong to all, it mull: be proved, that all have the virtues that 
 deferve it ; and he that exadts the dutiful obedience that arifes from them 
 mufl: prove, that they are in him. He that does this, need not plead 
 for impunity when he does injuries ; for if he do them, he is not the man 
 we fpeak of: not being fo, he can have no title to the duty, by human 
 inftitution or covenant ; nor by divine law, fmce, as is already proved, 
 God has neither eflablilhed kings over all nations by precept, nor recom- 
 mended them by example, in fetting them over his own people. He has 
 not therefore done it at all ; there is no fuch thing in nature ; and nations 
 can owe nothing to kings merely as kings, but what they owe by the 
 contradl made with them. 
 
 As thcfc contrad:&are made voluntarily, without any previous obliga- 
 tion, it is evident, that men make them in confideration of their own good^ 
 and they can be of force no longer, than he with whom they are made 
 performs his part in procuring it ; and that, if he turn the power which 
 was given to him for the public good, to the public inconvenience and 
 damage, he muft necelfarily lofe the benefit he was to receive by it.^^ The 
 word " think " is foohlhly and affcdtedly put in by our author ; for thofe 
 matters are very often fo evident, that even the weakeft know them. No 
 great fagacity is required to underftand, that lewd, flothful, ignorant, 
 falfc, unjijft, covetous, and cruel princes bring inconveniences and mif- 
 chiefs upon nations ; and many of them are fo evidently guilty of fome 
 or all thefc vices, that no man can be miilaken in imputing them ; and 
 ' 3 the
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 291 
 
 the utmoft calamities may rationally be expeitcd from them, iinlcfs a sect. 4 
 remedy be applied. 
 
 But, fays he, Samuel, by telling them " what the king would do, 
 *' inftrudls them what the fubjedls mull fufFer, and that it is right he 
 " fliould go unpunilhed. " But, by his favour, Samuel fays no fuch 
 thing ; neither is it to be concluded, that becaufe a king v/ill do wickedly, 
 he muft be fuffered, any more than a private man, who (hould take the 
 fame refolution. But he told them, that " when they fhould cry to the 
 " Lord by reafon of their king, he would not hear them. " This was as 
 much as to fay, their ruin was unavoidable ; that, having put the power 
 into the hands of thofe, who, inflead of protecting, would opprefs them, 
 and thereby having provoked God againft them, fo that he would not 
 hearken to their cries, they could have no relief. But this was nofecurity 
 to the authors of their calamity. The houfes of Jeroboam, Baaflia, and 
 Omri, efcaped not unpunifhed, though the people did not thereby recover 
 their liberty. The kings had introduced a corruption that was inconfif- 
 tent with it. But they, who could not fettle upon a right foundation to 
 prevent future mifchiefs, could avenge fuch as they had fuffered, upon 
 the heads of thofe who had caufed them, and frequently did it moft 
 feverely. The like befel the Romans, when, by the violence of tyranny, 
 all good order was overthrown, good difcipline extlnguilTied, and the 
 people corrupted. Ill princes could be cut in pieces, and milchiefs might 
 be revenged, though not prevented. But it is not fo every where, nor at 
 all times ; and nothing is more irrational, than from one or a few exam- 
 ples to conclude a general neceffity of future events. They alter according 
 to circumflances ; and as fome nations by dcftroying tyrants could not 
 deflroy tyranny, others in removing the tyrant have cut up tyranny by 
 the roots. This variety has been feen in the fame nation at different times. 
 The Romans recovered their liberty by expelling Tarquin ; but remained 
 Haves notwithffanding the (laughter of Cacfar. While the body of the 
 people was uncorrupted, they cured the evil wrought by the perfon, in 
 taking him away. It was no hard matter to take the regal power, that 
 by one man had been enjoyed for life, and to place it in the hands of two 
 annual magiftrates, while the nobility and people were, according to the 
 condition of that age, ftrong, and ready to maintain it. But when the 
 mifchief had taken deeper root, when the hell part of the people had 
 perifhcd in the civil wars, when all their eminent men had fallen in battle, 
 or by the profcriptions, when their difcipline was loft, and virtue abolifhed, 
 the poor remains of the diftreffed people were brought under the power 
 of a mercenary foldiery, and found no relief. When they killed one 
 tyrant, they often made room for a worfe : it availed them nothing to cut 
 off a rotten branch, while the accurfed root remained, and fent forth nev/ 
 fprouts of the fame nature to their deftrudion. Other generous nations 
 have been fubdued beyond a poiTibility of recovery; and thofe that are 
 naturally bale Aide into the like mllery, without the impuUe of an exte- 
 rior pov,xr. They are flaves by nature, and have neither the under- 
 
 P p 2 {landing
 
 292 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. Ill (landing nor courage that is required for the conflitution and management 
 of a government within themfelvcb. They can no more fubfift without 
 a mafter, than a flock without a Ihepherd. They have no comprehenfion 
 of liberty, and can neither defu-c the good they do not know, nor enjoy 
 it if it were beftowed upon them. They bear all burdens ; and whatever 
 they fuffer, they have no other remedy or refuge, than in the mercy of 
 their lord. Butfuch nations as are naturally ftrong, ftout, and of good 
 underftanding, whofe vigour remains unbroken, manners uncorrupted, 
 reputation unblemilhcd, and increahng in numbers ; who neither want 
 men to make up fuch armies as may defend them againfl; foreign or 
 domeftic enemies, nor leaders to head them, do ordinarily fet limits to 
 their patience. They know how to preferve their liberty, or to vindicate 
 the violation of it ; and the more patient they have been, the more inflex- 
 ible they are when they refolve to be fo no longer. Thofe who are fa 
 fooliih as to put them upon fuch courfes, do to their cofl: find there is a 
 difference between lions and affes ; and he is a fool who knows not, that 
 fwords were given to men, that none might be flaves *, but fuch as know 
 aot how to ufe them. 
 
 SECTION V 
 
 THE MISCHIEFS SUFFERED FROM WICKED KINGS ARE SUCH AS 
 
 RENDER IT BOTH REASONABLE AND JUST FOR ALL NATIONS, 
 
 THAT HAVE VIRTUE AND POWER, TO EXERT BOTH IN 
 
 REPELLING THEM. 
 
 If our author deferve credit, we need not examine, whether nations have 
 a right of refilling, or a reafonable hope of fucceeding in their endeavours 
 to prevent or avenge the mii'chiefs that are feared or fuffered, for it is not. 
 worth their pains. "The inconveniences," fays he, "and miferies,. 
 " which are reckoned by Samuel, as belonging to kingly government,. 
 " were not intolerable, but fuch as have been and are ilill borne by the. 
 " free confent of fubjeds towards their princes. Nay, at this day, and 
 " in this land, many tenants by their tenures are tied to the fame fubjec- 
 " tion, even to fubordlnate and inferior lords." He is an excellent 
 advocate for kingly government, that accounts inconveniences and mife- 
 ries to be fome of the effentiala of it, wliich others efteem to be only 
 incidents. Though many princes are violent and wicked, yet fome have 
 been gentle and juft : though many have brought mifery upon nations, 
 fome have been beneficial to them ; and they who are cfteemed moft 
 fevere againft monarchy think the evils, which are often fuffered under 
 that form of government, proceed from the corruption of it, or deviatioa 
 
 * Ignoratque datos, nc quifquam ferviat, cnfcs. Luc. Pharf. 1. 4, v. 579 
 
 from
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 0^3 
 
 from the principle of its inflitution ; and that they are rather to be sect, r 
 imputed to the vices of the perfon, than to the thing itfelf: hut if our 
 author fpcak truth, it is univerfally and eternally naught, inconvenience 
 and mifery belong to it. 
 
 He thinks to mend tliis, by faying, they are not intolerable : but what 
 is intolerable, if inconveniences and miferies be not ? For w^hat end can- 
 he think governments to have been eflabliilied, unkfs to prevent or remove, 
 inconveniences and miferies ; or how can that be called a government, 
 which does not only permit, but caufc them ? What can incline nations- 
 to fet up governments ? Is it that they may lufFcr inconveniences, and be 
 brought to mifery ? or if it be to enjoy happinefs, how can that fubfift. 
 under a government, which, not by accident, defledion, or corruption, 
 but by a necefhty inherent in itfelf, caufcs inconveniences and miferies ? If it. 
 be pretended, that no human conftitution can be altogether free froni- 
 inconveniences, I anfwer, that the befi: may to fome degree fall into them,, 
 becaufe they may be corrupted ; but evil and mifery can properly belong, 
 to none that is not evil in its own nature. If Samuel defcrve credit, or 
 may be thought to have fpoken fenfe, he could not have enumerated the. 
 evils, which he forefaw the people fliould fuffer from their kings, nor 
 fay, that they fliould cry to the Lord by reafon of them, unlefs they, were 
 in themfelves grievous, and in comparifon greater than what they had. 
 fuffered or known ; fince that would not have diverted them from their 
 intention, but rather have coniirmed them in it. And I leave it to our 
 author to fliew, why any people fliould, for the pleafure of one or a few. 
 men, eredt or fuffer that government, which brings more of evil with it. 
 than any other. 
 
 Moreover, there is a great difference between that which nations fome— 
 times fuffer under kings, and that which they willingly fuffer ; efpecially 
 if our author's maxim be received, that all laws are the mandates of kings,, 
 and the liberties and privileges of fubjedls no more than their gr:icious 
 conceffions ; for how patient foever they are under the evils they fuffer,. 
 it might reafonably be believed they are fo, becaufe they know not how to- 
 help it: and this is certainly the cafe of too many places that are known 
 to us. Whoever doubts of this, if he will not put himfelf to the trouble 
 of going to Turky or Morocco, let him pafs- only into Normandy, and 
 alk; the naked, barefooted, and half-flarved people, whether they arc 
 willing to fuffer the miferies under which they groan; and whether the 
 magnificence ofVerfailles, and thepornp of their haughty mafier, do an/ 
 v/ay alleviate their calamities. If this alfo be a matter of too much pains, 
 the wretches that come hither every day will inform him, that it is not by 
 their own confent they are deprived of all honours and offices in the com- 
 monwealth, even of thofe, which, by a corrupt cuflom that had gained 
 the force of a law, they had dearly bought; prohibited to exercife any 
 trade ; expofed to the utmofl effedls of fraud and violence,, if they refufe, 
 to adore their mailer's idols.- They will tell him, that it is not willingly 
 they leave their lands and eflates to feek a fhelter in the moft remote pans - 
 of the world, but becaufe they are under a force which they are not able 
 
 to
 
 -£94 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 >CHAr. Ill to refifi:; and becaufe one part of the nation, which is enriched with the 
 fpoils of the other, have foolifhly contributed to lay a yoke upon them 
 which they cannot break. 
 
 To what he fays concerning tenures, I anfwer, no man in England 
 / -owes any fervice to his lord, unlefs by virtue of a contrail made by him- 
 , felf or his predeceflbrs, under which he holds the land granted to him on 
 • that condition by the proprietor. There may be fomething of hardfhip, 
 ' but nothing of injuftice. It is a voluntary a£t in the beginning and con- 
 ' tinuance ; and all men know, that what is done to one who is willing is 
 ' no injury *. "' He who did not like the conditions was not obliged to take 
 the land ; and he might leave it, if afterwards he came to diflike them. 
 If any man fay, the like may be done by any one in the kingdom, I 
 anfwer, that it is not always true ; the proteftants now in France cannot 
 without extreme hazard go out of that country, though they are contented 
 to lofe their eftates. It is accounted a crime, for which they are con- 
 -demned perpetually to the gallies, and fuch as are aiding to them, to 
 grievous fines. But before this be acknowledged to have any fimilitude 
 or relation to our difcourfe concerning kings, it muft be proved, that the 
 prefent king, or thofe under whom he claims, is or were proprietors of 
 ail the lands in England, and granted the feveral parcels under the condi- 
 tion of fuffering patiently fuch inconveniences and miferies as are above- 
 mentioned ; or that they who did confer the crown upon any of them, did 
 alfo give a propriety in the land ; which I do not find in any of the fifteen 
 ■or fixteen titles that have been fuice the coming in of the Normans : and 
 if it was not done to the firft of every one, it cannot accrue to the others, 
 unlefs by fome new z.(X to the fame purpofe, which will not eafily be 
 produced- 
 
 It will be no lefs difficult to prove, that any thing unworthy of freemen 
 is by any tenures impofed in England, unlefs it be the offering up of the 
 •wives and daughters of tenants to the luft of abbots and monks ; and they 
 are fo far from being willingly fuffered, that fmce the dens and nurferies of 
 ihofe beafts were abolifhed, no man that fucceeds them has had impudence 
 fufficient to exa£l the performance ; and though the letter of the law may 
 ■favour them, the turpitude of the thing has extinguilhed the ufige. 
 
 But even the kings of Ifrael and Judali, who brought ujx)n the people 
 ihofe evils that had been foretold by Samuel, did not think they had a 
 right to the powers they excrcifed. If the law had given a right to Ahab 
 to take the beft of their vineyards, he might without ceremony have 
 taken that of Naboth, and by the majeftic power of an abfolute monarch, 
 liave chaiiifcd the churlilh clown, who refufed to fell or change it for 
 another : but for want of it, he was obliged to take a very different courfe. 
 if the lives of fubje61:« had in the like manner depended upon the will of 
 kings, David might without fcruple have killed Uriah, rather than placed 
 liim in the front of the army, that he might fall by his own courage. 
 
 * Vokiiti non fit iiruria. 
 
 The
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 295 
 
 The malice and treachery of fuch proceedings argues a defedl of power ; sect. 5 
 and he that ads in fuch an obUque manner fliews, that his adions arc 
 not warranted by the law, which is boldly executed in the face of the fun. 
 This fliews the interpretation put upon the words, " againfl: thee only 
 " have I hnned *, " by court-flatterers, to be falfe. For if he had not fin- 
 ned againfl; Bathflieba, whom he corrupted, Uriah whom he caulcd to be 
 killed, the people that he fcandalized, and the law which he violated, he 
 had never endeavoured to cover his guilt by fo vile a fraud. And as he 
 did not thereby fly the fight of God, but of men, it is evident, that 
 in that adion he feared men more than God. 
 
 If by the examples of IlVael and Judah we may judge, whether the 
 inconveniences and miferies brought upon nations by their kint;s be' 
 tolerable or intolerable, it will be enough to confidcr the madncfs of Saul's- 
 cruelty towards his fubjeds, and the flaughter brought upoH them by the 
 hand of the Philiflines on mount Gilboa, where he fell with the flower of 
 all Ifrael ; the civil wars that happened in the time of David, and the 
 plague brought upon the people by his wickednefs ; the heavy burdens 
 laid upon them by Solomon, and the idolatry favoured by him ; the 
 wretched folly of Rehoboam, and the defedion of the ten tribes caufed 
 by it;, the idolatry eftabliflied by Jeroboam, and the kings of Ifrael, with 
 that of many of thofe of Judah alfo ; the frequent wars, and unheard of 
 flaughters enfuing thereupon between the tribes ; the daily devaftations of 
 the country by all forts of ftrangers ; the murders of the prophets ; the 
 abolition of God's worfliip ; the defolation of towns and provinces ; the 
 difperfion of the ten tribes carried away into unknown countries; and, in 
 the end, the abolition of both kingdoms, with the captivity of the tribe 
 of Judah, and the utter deftrudion of the city. It cannot be faid, that 
 thefe things were fuftered under kings, and not from or by them ; for the 
 defolation of the cities, people, and country, is, in many places of Scrip- 
 ture, imputed to the kings that taught Ifrael to fin, as appears by what 
 was denounced againfl Jeroboam, Jehu, Ahaz, Manafleh, Zedekiah, and 
 others f. Nay, the captivity of Babylon with the evils enfuing was 
 firft announced to Hezekiah for his vanity :(; ; and Jofiah, by the like, 
 brought a great flaughter upon hlmfelf and people. But if mifchiefs fell: 
 upon the people by the frailty of thefe, who, after David, were the heft, . 
 nothing furely lefs than the utmoft of all miferies could be expeded from 
 fuch as were fet to do evil, and to make the nation like to themfelves, in 
 which they met with too great fuccefs. 
 
 If it be pretended, that God's people, living under an extraordinary 
 difpenfation, can be no example to us, I defire other hiftories may be 
 examined. For I confefs, I know no nation fo great, happy, and prof- 
 perous, nor any power, fo well eftabliflied, that two or three ill kings, 
 immediately fucceeding each other, have not been able to deftroy, and 
 
 * Pfalm li, V. 4. f I Kings, ch. 14, v, 16. 2 Kings,, ch. 21, v. 11, .12, etc.. 
 
 X 2 Kings, ch. 20, v. 17 
 
 bring.
 
 196 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 GcHAF.lil bring to fuch a condition, that it appeared the nations muft perifh, unlefs 
 the lenates, diets, and other aflcmblies of flate, had put a ftop to the 
 mifchiet, by retraining or depofing them. And though this might be 
 proved by innumerable teRimonies, I fliall only fay, that the Roman 
 empire periflicd by the vices, corruption, and bafenefs of their princes ; 
 the noble kingdom of the Goths in Spain v^'as overthrown by the tyranny 
 of Vitiza and Roderic ; the prefent ftate of Spain now languiflies, ancl 
 threatens ruin from the fame caufes ; France was brought to the laft 
 degree of mifery and weaknefs by the degenerate races qf Pharamond and 
 Charles : to which may be added thofe of our own country, which are 
 ,fo well known that I need not mention them. 
 
 ,S E C T I O N VI 
 
 IT IS NOT GOOD FOR SUCH NATIONS AS WILL HAVE KINGS, 
 
 TO SUFFER THEM TO BE GLORIOUS, POWER,rUL, OR 
 
 ABOUNDING IN RICHES. 
 
 Our author having hitherto fpoken of all nations, as born under a neceffity 
 of being fubje£t to abfolute momirchy, which he pretends to have been 
 fct up by the univerfld and indlfpenfiblc law of God and nature, now 
 leems to leave it'to their difcretion whether they will have a king or not ; 
 but fays, that thofe " who will have a king are bound to vlWqw him royal 
 " maintenance, by pa-oviding revenues for the crown; fince it is for the 
 *^ honour, profit, and fafety of the people, to have their king gloriouf, 
 *' powerful, and abounding in riches. " If there be anything of fenfe in 
 this clauie, 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 inhe- 
 rent, and no ways depending upon the will of the child, that of a king 
 js fo alio, if he be, and ought to enjoy the rights belonging to the father 
 of the people: and it is not lefs ridiculous to fay, " thofe who will 
 *' have a king, " than it would be to fay, '* he that will have a father;" 
 for every one muft 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 impofcd upon him, and whatever the fubjedl enjoys is by 
 l>is conceffions, it h abfurd to fpeak of an obligation lying upon the 
 people to ajlow him royal maintenance, by providing revenues, lince he 
 lias all in himfelf, aixd they have nothing, that is not from him, and 
 depending upon his will. For this reafon a worthy gentleman of the 
 Itoufe of commons, in the year 1640, dcfircd, that the bufinefs of the 
 judges, who in the ftar-chambcr had given for their opinion concerning 
 itip-money, "that, ja cafes of neceflity, the king might provide it by 
 " his own authority, and that he was judge of that neceffity," might be 
 
 firlt
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 297 
 
 firft examined, that they might know whether they had any thing to give, sect. 6 
 before they ihould Ipcak of giving. And as it is certain, that if the feti- 
 tencc of thofe perjured wretches had Itood, the fubjeds of England by 
 confequence would have been found to have nothing to give, it is no lefs 
 fure, that if our author's principle concerning the paternal and abfolute 
 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 muft have him, and can have nothing to allow him, 
 but muft receive all from him. 
 
 But if thofe only who " will have a king " are bound to have one, and 
 to allow this " royal maintenance, " fuch as will not have a king are, by 
 one and the fame adl, delivered from the neceffity of having one, and 
 from providing maintenance for him, which utterly overthrows the mag- 
 nificent fabric of paternal monarchy ; and the kings, who were lately 
 reprefented by our author, as placed on the throne by God and nature, and 
 endowed with an abfolute power over all, appear to be purely the crea- 
 tures of the people, and to have nothing but what is received from them. 
 
 From hence it may be rationally inferred, that he who makes a thing 
 to be, makes it to be only what he pleafes *. This muft hold in relation 
 to kings as well as other magiftrates. And as they who made confuls, 
 didators, and military tribunes, gave them only fuch power, and for 
 fuch a time, as beft pleafed themfelves, it is impoflible they ftiould not 
 have the fame right in relation to kings, in making them what they 
 pleafe, as well as not to make them unlefs they pleafe : except there be a 
 charm belonging to the name, or the letters that compofe it; which cannot 
 belong to all nations, for they are different in every one according to their 
 feveral languages. 
 
 But, fays our author, it is " for the honour, profit, and fafety of the 
 " people, that the king fliould be glorious, powerful, and abounding in 
 " riches. " There is therefore no obligation upon them, and they are to 
 judge whether it be fo or not. The Scripture fays plainly the contrary : 
 " he ftiall not multiply filver and gold, wives and horfes ; he fliall not 
 " lift up his heart above his brethren f." He ftiall not therefore be glo- 
 rious, powerful, or abounding in riches. Reafon and experience teach 
 us the fame thing. If thofe nations that have been proud, luxurious, and 
 vicious, have defired by pomp and riches to foment the vices of their 
 princes, thereby to cherifli their own, fuch as have excelled in virtue and 
 good difcipline have abhorred it ; and, except in the immediate exercife 
 of their office, have kept their fupreme magiftrates to a manner of living 
 little different from that of private men. And it had been impoflible to 
 maintain that frugality, in which the integrity of iheir manners did chiefly 
 confift, if they had fet up an example diredly contrary to it in him, who 
 was to be an example to others ; or to provide for their own fafety, if 
 they had overthrown that integrity of manners, by which it could only be 
 
 * Qui dat effe, dat modum efle. t Deut. ch. 17, v. 16 — 20 
 
 Q^q obtained
 
 59? DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. Ill obtained and preferved. There is a neceflity incumbent upon every nation, 
 that Uves in the hke principle, to put a flop to the enterance of thole vices 
 which arife from the luperfluity of riches, by keeping their kings in that 
 honeft poverty, which is the mother and nurfe of modefty, fobriety, and 
 all manner of virtue : and no man can deny this to be well done, unlefs 
 he will affirm, that pride, luxury, and vice, is more profitable to a nation, 
 than the virtues that are upheld by frugality. 
 
 There is another reafon of no lefs importance to thofe nations, who, 
 though they think fit to have kings, yet defire to preferve their liberty, 
 which obl"iges them to fet limits to the glory, power, and riches of their 
 kings ; and that is, that they can no otherwife be kept within the rules 
 of the law. Men are naturally propenfe to corruption ; and if he, whofe 
 will and intereft it is to corrupt them, be furnifhed with the means, he 
 will never fail to do it. Power, honours, riches, and the pleafures that 
 attend them, are the baits by which men are drawn to prefer a perfonal 
 intereft before the public good ; and the number of thole who covet them 
 is fo great, that he who abounds in them will be able to gain fo many to 
 his fervice, as fhall be fufficient to fubdue the reft. It is hard to find a 
 tyranny in the w^orld that has not been introduced this way ; for no man 
 by his own ftrength could ever fubdue a multitude : none could ever bring 
 many to be fubfervient to his ill defigns, but by the rewards they received 
 or hoped. By thefe means Caefar accompliflied 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 defired to put all the power 
 and riches into his hands, that he might dlftribute them to fuch as ferved 
 him. And he, who was nothing lefs than covetous in his own nature, 
 defired riches, that he might gain followers ; and by the plunder of Gaul 
 he corrupted thofe that betrayed Rome to him. And though I do not 
 delight to fpeak of the affairs of our own time, I defire thofe who know 
 the prefent ftate of France to tell me, whether it were poffible for the king 
 to keep- that nation under fervitude, if a vaft revenue did not enable him 
 to gain fo manv to his particular fervice, as are fufficient to keep the reft 
 in fubjedtion. And if this be not enough, let them confider, whether all 
 the dangers, that now threaten us at home, do not proceed from the mad- 
 ncfs of thofe, who gave fuch a revenue, as is utterly difproportionable to 
 the riches of the nation, unfuitable to the modeft behaviour expeded 
 from our kings, and which in time will render parliaments unneceflary 
 to them. 
 
 On the other hand, the poverty and fimplicity of the Spartan kings 
 was no lefs iafe and profitable to the people, than truly glorious to them. 
 Agefilaus denied that Artaxerxes was greater than he, unlefs he were more 
 temperate, or more valiant ; and he made good his words fo well, thatj 
 without any other affiftance than what his wifdom and valour afforded, 
 he flruck fuch a terror into tliat great, rich, powerful, and abfolutc 
 monarch, that he did not think himfelf fafe in Babylon or Ecbatane, till 
 the poor Spartan-was by a captain of as great valour, and greater poverty, 
 
 obliged
 
 DISCOURSKS CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 299 
 
 obliged to return from Afia to the defence of his own country. This sect. 6 
 was not peculiar to the fcverc Laconic difciplinc. When the Roman kin;^s 
 were expelled, a few carts were prepared to tranfport their goods : and 
 their lands, which were confecratcd to Mars, and now go under the name 
 of Campus Martius, confi fled of hardly ten acres of ground. Nay, the 
 kings of Ilrael, who led fuch vaft armies into the held, that ;s, were fol- 
 lowed by all the people who were able to bear arms, feem to have poffcired 
 little. Ahab, one of the mod powerful, was fo fond of Naboth's vine- 
 yard (which, being the inheritance of his fathers, according to their equal 
 divifion of lands, could not be above two acres) that he grew fick v/hen it 
 was refufed. 
 
 But, if an allowance is to be made to every king, it mufl be either 
 according to an univerfal rule or ftandard, or mufl depend upon the judg- 
 ment of nations. If thefirfl, they who have it, may do well to produce 
 it; if the other, every nation, proceeding according to the meafure of 
 their own difcretion, is free from blame. 
 
 It may alfo be worth obfervation, whether the revenue given to a king 
 be in fuch manner committed to his care, that he is obliged to employ it 
 for the public fervice without the power of alienation ; or whether it be 
 granted as a propriety, to be fpent as he thinks fit. When fome of the 
 antient Jews and Chriflians fcrupled the payment of tribute to the empe- 
 rors, the reafons alleged to perfuade them to a compliance feem to be 
 grounded upon a fuppofition of the firfl : for, faid they, the defence of 
 the flate lies upon them, which cannot be performed without armies and 
 garrifbns : thefe cannot be maintained without pay, nor money railed to 
 pay them without tributes and cufloms. This carries a face of realon with 
 it, efpecially in thofe countries which are perpetually or frequently iubjedl: 
 to invafions : but this will not content our author. He fpeaks of em- 
 ploying the revenue In keeping the king's houfe, and looks upon it as a 
 propriety to be fpent as he thinks convenient ; which is no lefs than to 
 call it into a pit, of which no man ever knew the bottom. That which 
 is given one day, is fquandered away the next : the people is always 
 oppreifed with impofitions, to foment the vices of the court : thefe daily 
 increafing, they grov/ infatiable; and the miferable nations are compelled 
 to hard labour, in order to fatiate thofe lufls that tend to their own ruin. 
 
 It may be confidered, that the virtuous pagans, by the light of nature, 
 difcovered the truth of this *. Poverty grew odious in Rome, when great 
 men, by defiring riches, put a value upon them, and introduced that 
 pomp and luxury which could not be borne by men of fmall fortunes. 
 From thence all furies and mifchiefs feemed to break loofe X- The bale, 
 flavifli, and fo often fubdued Afia, by the bafeft of men revenged the 
 defeats they had received from the bravefl j and by infufing into them a 
 
 Saevior armis 
 
 Luxuria incubuit, viftumque ulcifcitur orbem. Juv. Sat. 6, v. 291 
 J Nullum crimen abeft, facinufque libidinis, ex quo 
 Paupertas Romana perit. Ibid. v. 293 
 
 Q q a delight
 
 300 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP., in delight in pomp and luxury, in a fhort time rendered the ftrongeft and 
 braveft of nations the weakeft and bafeft. I wifh our own experience did 
 not too plainly manifeft, that thele evils were never more prevalent than 
 in our days, when the luxury, majeftic pomp, and abfolute power of a 
 neighbouring king, muft be fupported by an abundance of riches, torn out 
 of the bowels of his fubjedts, which renders them, in the beft country of 
 the world, and at a time when the crown moft flourifhes, the pooreft and 
 moft miferable of all the nations under the fun. We too well know wha 
 are moft apt to learn from them, and by what means and fteps they 
 endeavour to lead us into the like mifery. But the bird is fafe when the 
 fnare is difcovered ; and if we are not abandoned by God to deftrudtion, 
 we fhali never be brought to confent to the fettling of that pomp, which 
 is againft the practice of all virtuous people, and has brought all the 
 nations that have been taken with it into the ruin that is intended for us. 
 
 SECTION VII 
 
 WHEN THE ISRAELITES ASKED FOR SUCH A KING AS THE 
 
 NATIONS ABOUT THEM HAD, THEY ASKED FOR A TYRANT, 
 
 THOUGH THEY DID NOT CALL KIM SO. 
 
 ** Now that Saul was r>o tyrant, " fays our author, " note, that the pec- 
 " pie afl:ed a king, as all nations had. God anfwers, and bids Samuel 
 *' to hear the voice of the people, in ail things which they fj-jake, and 
 " appoint them a king. They did not afk a tyrant ; and to give them a 
 " tvrant when they aiked a king, had not been to hear their voice in all 
 " things, but rather, when they alked an egg, to have given them a fcorpion ; 
 " unlcfs we will fay, that all nations had tyrants. " But before he drew 
 fuch a conclufion, he fhould have obferved, that God did not give them a 
 icorpion v>'hen they afked an egg, but told them, that was a fcorpion 
 which they called an egg. They would have a king to judge them, to go 
 out before them, and to tight their battles ; but God in effedl told them, 
 he would overthrov/ all juftice, and turn the power that was given him, to 
 the ruin of them, and their pofterity. But fi nee they would have it fo, 
 he commanded Samuel to hearken to their voice, and for the puniihment 
 of their fin and folly, to give them fuch a king as they afked, that is, 
 one who would turn to his ov/n profit, and their mifery, the power with 
 which he fhould be entruftcd ; and thio truly denominates a tyrant. Arif- 
 totle makes no other diftinftion between a king and a tyrant, than that the 
 king governs for the good of the people, the tyrant for his own pleafiire 
 or profit*: and they who alked fuch a one, afked a tyrant, though they 
 
 de Morib. 1. b, c. 12 
 
 z called:
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 301 
 
 called him a king. This is all that could be done in their language : for, sect, -j 
 as they who are fkilled in the oriental tongues allure me, there is no 
 name for a tyrant in any of them, or any other way of exprciling the 
 thing, than' by circumlocution, and adding proud, infolent, lullful, cruel, 
 violent, or the like epithets, to the word lord, or king. I'hey did in 
 effedl afk a tyrant : they would not have fuch a king as God had ordained, 
 but fuch a one as the nations had. Not tliat all nations had tyrants ; but 
 thofe who were round about them, of whom they had knowledge, and 
 which in their manner of fpeaking, went under the name of all, were 
 blefled with fuch mafters. This way of exprcffion was ufed by Lot's- 
 daughters, who faid, there was not a man in all tlie earth to come in to 
 them*; becaufe there was none in the neighbourhood with whom it was 
 thought fit they fhould accompany. Now, that the eaflern nations were 
 then, and are ftill, under the government of thofe 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 afked, under another name ; and, without any blemifh 
 to the mercy promifed to their fathers, fuffered them to bear the penalty 
 of their wickednefs and folly in rejecting him, that he fhould not reign 
 over them. 
 
 But though the name of tyrant was unknown to them, yet in Greece, 
 from wlicnce the word comes, it fignified no more than one who governed* 
 according to his own will, diftlnguifhed from kings that governed by law ; 
 and was not taken in an ill fenfe, till thofe who had been advanced for 
 their jurtice, wifdom, and valour, or their defcendents, were found to- 
 depart from the ends of their inftitution, and to turn that power to the 
 oppre/fion of the people, which had been given for their prote(ftion. But 
 by thefe means it grew odious, and that kind of government came to be 
 thought only tolerable by the bafell of men ; and thofe who deftroyed it 
 were in all places efteemed to be the befl:. 
 
 If monarchy had been univerfally evil, God had not in the xvii of 
 Deuteronomy given leave to the liraelites to fet up a king ; and if that 
 kind of king had been afked, he had not been difpleafed. And they 
 could not have been faid to reje£l God, if they had not afked that whicli 
 was evil ; for nothing that is good is contrary, or inconfiftent with a peo- 
 ple's obedience to him. The monarchy they alked was difpleafmg 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 afked ;. 
 and that they might know what they did, and what he would be, he told' 
 them they rejedied him, and fhould cry by reaibn of the king they defired.. 
 
 This denotes him to be a tyrant : for as the government of a king; 
 ought to be gentle and eafv, tending to the good of the people, refembling- 
 the tender care of a father t" !:'<; family, if he who is fet up to be a. king,. 
 
 * Gen. ch. 19, v. 3^1. 
 
 and'
 
 ^02 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP-,111 snd to be like to that father, do lay a heavy yoke upon the people, and 
 iife them as flaves, and not as children, he muft renounce all refemblance 
 of a father, and be accounted an enemy. 
 
 " But, " fays our author, " whereas the. people's crying argues fome 
 " tyrannical opprefTion, we may remember, that the people's cries are 
 " not always an argument of their living under a tyrant. No man can 
 *' fay Solomon was a tyrant, yet ail the congregation complained, that 
 " Solomon made their yoke grievous." It is ftrange, that when children, 
 nay, when whelps cry, it ihould be accounted a mark that they are trou- 
 bled, and that the cry of the whole people fhould be none: or that the 
 government, which is eredled for their eafe, fhould not be efteemed tyran- 
 nical, if it prove grievous to thofe it fliould relieve. But as I know no 
 example of a people, that did generally complain without caufe, our 
 adverfaries mull: allege fome other than that of Solomon, before I believe 
 it of any. We are to fpeak reverently of him : he was excellent in wifdom ; 
 he built the temple, and God appeared twice to him. But it muft be 
 confefl'ed, that during a great part of his life he a£led diredlly contrary to 
 the law given by God to kings ; and that his ways were evil and oppreffive 
 to thd people, if thofe of God were good. Kings were forbidden to mul- 
 tiply horfes, wives, filver, and gold : but he brought together more filver 
 and gold, and provided more horfes, wives, and concubines, than any 
 man is known to have had. And though he did not actually return to 
 Egypt, yet he introduced their abominable idolatry ; and fo far raifed his 
 heart above his brethren, that he made them fubfervient to his pomp 
 and glory. The people might probably be pleafed with a great part of this : 
 but when the yoke became grievous, and his foolifh fon would not render 
 itmoreeafy, they threw it off; and the thing being from the Lord, it 
 was good, unlefs he be evil. 
 
 But as juft governments are eftabllflied for the good of the governed, 
 and the Ifraelites defired 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 thofe that made him, muft always be evil, and the peo- 
 ple that fuffers the prejudice muft needs know it better than any other. 
 He that denies this, may think the ftate of France might have been beft 
 known from Bulion the late treafurer, who, hnding Lewis the thirteenth 
 to be troubled at the peoples mifery, told him, they were too happy, fmce 
 they were not reduced to eat grafs. But if words are to be underftood as 
 they are ordinarily ufed, and we have no other than that of " tyranny " 
 to exprcfs a monarchy that is cither evil in the inftitution, or fallen into 
 corruption, we may juftly call that " tyranny" which the Scripture calls 
 a " grievous yoke," and which neither the old nor the new counfellors of 
 liehoboam could deny to be fo. For though the firft advifed him to pro- 
 mife amendment, and the others to do worfe, yet all agreed, that what 
 the people faid was true. 
 
 This yoke is always odious to fuch as are not by natural ftnpidity and 
 bafeiiefs fitted for it ; but thofe who are fo, never complain. An afs will 
 
 bear
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 303 
 
 bear a multitude of blows patiently; but the leaft of them drives a lioa sect. 7 
 into rage. He who faid, the rod is made for the back of fools, confcffed 
 that opprcfTion will make a wife man mad. And the mofl unnatural of 
 all opprellions is to ufe lions like allbs, and to lay that yoke upon a gene- 
 rous nation, which only the bafefl: can deferve : 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 cuftom is to patronize all that is deteftable ; and 
 no better teftimony could be given of it. " It is true," fays he,. " Saul 
 " loft his kingdom, but not for being too cruel or tyrannical to his fub- 
 " jedts, but for being too merciful to his enemies. " But he alleges no 
 other reafon, than that the flaughter of the priefts is not blamed * ; not 
 obferving that the writers of the Scripture, in relating thofe things that 
 are known to be abominable by the light of nature, frequently fay no 
 more of them. And if this be not fo. Lot's drunkennefs and incefl, 
 Reuben's pollution of his father's bed, Abimelech's flaughter of his feventy 
 brothers f, and many of the moft wicked ads that ever were committed 
 may pafs for laudable and innocent. But if Saul were not to be blamed 
 for killing the priefts, why was David blamed for the death of XJriah ;]: ? 
 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 flaughter 
 of one man was fo feverely avenged upon the authors, and their families, none 
 but fuch as Filmer can think that of fo inany innocent men, with their 
 wives and children, cpuld efcape unreproved or unpunifhed. But the 
 whole feries of the hiftory of Saul ftiewing evidently, that his life and 
 reign were full of the moft violent cruelty and madnefs, we are to feek 
 no other reafon for the ruin threatened and brought upon him, and his 
 family. And as thofe princes who are moft barbaroufly favage againft 
 their own people, are ufually moft gentle to the enemies of their country, 
 he could not give a more certain teftimony of his hatred to thofe he ought 
 to have protected, than by preferving thofe nations, who were their moft 
 irreconcileable enemies. This is proved by reafon, as well as by expe- 
 rience ; for every man knows he cannot bear the hatred of all mankind : 
 fuch as know they have enemies abroad, endeavour to get friends at 
 home : thofe who command powerful nations, and are beloved by them, 
 fear not to offend ftrangers. But if they have rendered their own people 
 
 * And Saul faid unto the footmen that flood about him. Turn and flay the priefts of the 
 Lord ; becaufe their hand is with David, and becaufe they knew when he fled, and did not 
 fliew it to me. But the fervants of the king would not put forth their hand to fall upon the 
 priefts of the Lord. And the king faid to Doeg, Turn thou, and fall upon the priefts; and 
 Doeg turned, and fell upon them, and (lew on that day fourfcore and five perfons that did 
 wear a linen ephod. And Nob, the city of the priefts, fmote he v/ith the edge of the 
 fword, both men and women, children and fucklings, and oxen, and afiVs, and fheep, 
 with the edge of the fword. i Sam. ch. 22, v. 17 — 19 
 
 f Abimelech, theb:.ftard fon of Gideon, flew his feventy brothers, in order to obtain the 
 government of Sechem. Jud. ch. g, v. 5 
 
 {_ Thcu haft killed Uriah with the fword of the children of Ammon : now therefore the 
 fvyord Ihall never depart from thy hgufe. 2 Sajii. ch. I2» v. 9, lo 
 
 eiiemies-
 
 304 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 •CHAP. Ill enemies to them, they cannot hope for help in a time of diilrefs, iior ft> 
 much as a place of retreat or refuge, unlefs from ftrangers ; noi" from 
 them, unlels they deferve it by favouring them to the prejudice of their 
 V own country. ''As no man can ferve two mailers, no man can purtue two 
 contrary interefts. Mofes, Jofhua, Gideon, and Samuel, were fevere to 
 ' the Amorites, Midianites, and Canaanites, but mild and gentle to the 
 Hebrews. Saul, who was cruel to the Hebrews, fpared the Amalekltes, 
 whofe prefervation was their dcftrudion. And whilft he deftroyed thofe 
 he fliould have faved, and faved thofe, that by a general and particular 
 command of God he fhould have deftroyed, he loft his ill-governed king- 
 dom, and left an example to pofterity of the end that may be expciSlcd 
 from pride, folly, and tyranny. 
 
 The matter would not be much altered, if I fliould confefs, that, in 
 the time of Saul, all nations were governed by tyrants (though it is not 
 true, for Greece did then flourifti in liberty, and we have reafon to believe, 
 that other nations did fo alfo) ; for though they might not think of a good 
 government at the firft, nothing can oblige men to continue under one 
 that is bad, when they difcover the evils of it, and know how to mend it. 
 They who trufted men, that appeared to have great virtues, with fuch a 
 power as might eafily be turned into tyranny, might juftly retradl, limit, 
 or abolifh it, when they found it to be abufed. And though no condition, 
 / had been referved, the public good, which is the end of all government*, 
 had been fufficient to abrogate all that fliould tend to the contrary. As 
 the malice of men, and their inventions to do mifchief, increafe daily, all 
 would foon be brought under the power of the worft, if care were not 
 taken, and opportunities embraced, to find new ways of preventing it. 
 He that fliould make war at this day, as the beft commanders did two hun- 
 dred years paft, would be beaten by the meaneft foldier. The places then 
 accounted impregnable are now flighted as indefenfible ; and if the arts of 
 defending were not improved as well as thofe of aftaulting, none would 
 be able to hold out -a day. Men were fent into the world rude and igno- 
 rant, and if they might not have ufed their natural faculties to find out 
 that which is good for themfelves, all muft have been condemned to con- 
 tinue in the ignorance of our firft fi\thcrs, and to make no ufe of their 
 underftanding to the ends for which it was given. 
 
 The beftial barbarity in which many nations, el^ieclally of Africa, 
 America, and Afia, now live, fliews what human nature is, if it be not 
 improved by art and difcipline ; and if the firft errors, committed through 
 ignorance, might not be corredcd, all would be obliged to continue in 
 them; and for any thing I know, we muft return to the religion, man- 
 ners, and policy, that were found in our country at Caeiar's landing. To 
 aflirm this is no lefs than to deftroy all that is commendable in the world, 
 and to render the underftanding given to men utterly ufelefs. But if it 
 be lawful for us, by the ufe of that underftanding, to build houfes, fliips, 
 
 * Salus populi fuprema lex. Cic. de Leg. 1. 3, § 3 
 
 and
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING COVE R 1\^ M I". N T 
 
 3":) 
 
 and forts, better than our anceftors, to make fiich arms as are moR fit for sect. 
 our defence, and to invcjit printing, with an infinite number of otiier arts 
 beneficial to mankind, why have we not the dime right in matters of 
 government, upon which all others do almofl: abfolutcly depend ? If men 
 are not obliged to live in caves, aiid hollow trees, to cat acorns, and to 
 go naked, why lliould they be for ever obliged to continue under the fame 
 form of government, that their anceftors happened to fct up in the time of 
 their ignorance ? Or iffhey were not fo ignorant as to fet up one that v>'as 
 iiot good enough for the age in which they lived, why fhould it not be 
 altered, when tricks are found out to turn that to the prejudice of nations, 
 which \vas ercdled for their good ? From whence fliould malice and wick- 
 ednefs gain a privilege of putting new inventions to do mifchief every day 
 into praQice ? and who is it that fo far protects them, as to forbid good 
 and innocent men to find new ways alfo of defending themfelves ? If 
 there be any that do this, they muft be fuch as live in the fame prin- 
 ciple ; who, while they pretend to exercife juftice, provide only for the 
 indemnity of their own crimes, and the advancement of unjuft defigns. 
 They would have a right of attacking us, with all the advantages of the 
 arms now in ufe, and the arts, which by the practice of fo many ages 
 have been wonderfully refined, whilft we fliould be obliged to employ no 
 others in our juft defence, than fuch as were known to cur naked anceflors, 
 when Caefar invaded them, or to the Indians, v/hen tliey fell under the 
 dominion of the Spaniards. This would be a compendious way of placing 
 uncontrouled iniquity inallthekingdoms of the world, and of overthrowing 
 all that delervcs the name of good, by the introduftion of fuch accurfcd 
 maxims. But if no man dares to acknowledge any fuch, except thofe 
 \vhofe acknowledgement is a difcredit, we ought not to fuficr them to be 
 obliquely obtruded upon us, nor to think, that God has fo far abandoned 
 us into the hands of our enemies, as not to leave us the liberty of ufing 
 the fime arms in our defence, which they do to ofi'end and injure us. 
 
 We fhall be told, that prayers and tears vv^ere the only arms of the firft 
 Chriftians, and that Chrifl commanded his difciples to pray for thofe that 
 perfecuted them. But befides, that thofe precepts of the moft extreme 
 lenity do ill fuit witii the violent prad.ices of thoie who attempt to enflave 
 nations, and who, by alleging them, do plainly fhe^v, either that they 
 do not extend to all Chriftians, or that they themfelves are none, while 
 they act contrary to them, they are to know, that thofe precepts were 
 merely temporary, and direded to the perfonsof the apoftles, who w^ere 
 armed only with the fword of the fpirit ; that the primitive Chriftians ufed 
 prayers and tears only no longer, than while they had no other arms. 
 But knowing, that by lifting themfelves under the eniigns of ChriftianitA- 
 they had not lofl: the rights belonging to all mankind, when nations came 
 to be converted, they no way thought themfelves obliged to give their 
 enemies a certain opportunity of deftroying them, when God had put 
 means into their hands of defending themi'elves ; and proceeded fo far 
 in this way, thu'c the Chriilian A'aiour foon became no lefs famous and 
 
 R r remarkable
 
 3o6 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAf.iii remarkable than that of the pagans. They did with the utmoft vigour 
 defend both their civil and religious rights againfl; all the powers of earth 
 and hell, who by force and traud endeavoured to dcflroy them. 
 
 SECTION VlII 
 
 UNDER THE KAME OF TRIBUTE NO MORE IS UNDERSTOOD, THAH 
 WHAT THE LAW OF EACH NATION GIVES TO THE SUPREME 
 MAGISTRATE FOR THE DEFRAYING OF PUBLIC CHARGES J TO 
 WHICH THE CUSTOMS OF THE ROMANS, OR SUFFERINGS OF THE. 
 
 JEWS, HAVE NO RELATION. 
 
 *' If any defire the diredlions of the New Teftament, '* fays our author^ 
 " he may find our Saviour limiting and diftinguifhing royal power, by 
 " giving to Caefar thofe things th?-t were Cacfar's, and to God the things 
 ** that were God's." But that will be of no advantage to him in this, 
 conteft. We do not deny to any man, that which is his due ; but do not 
 fo well know who is Caefar, nor what it is that can truely be faid to be 
 due to him. I grant, that when thofe words were fpoken, the povrer of 
 the Romans, exercifed by Tiberius, was then expreffed by the name of 
 Caefar, which he without any title had aflumed. The Jews, among 
 many other nations, having been fubdued, fubmitted to it ; and, being 
 no way competent judges of the rights belonging to the fenate or people 
 of Rome, were obliged to acknowledge that power which their mafters 
 were under. They had no commonwealth of their own, nor any other 
 government among themfelves, that was not precarious. They thought 
 Chrift was to have reftored their kingdom, and by them to have reigned 
 over the nations : but he fhewed them they were to be fubjedl to the Gen- 
 tiles, and that within few years their city and temple fhould be deftroyed. 
 Their commonwealth muft needs expire, when all that was prefigured by 
 it was accomplifhed. It was not for them at fuch a time to prefume upon 
 their abrogated privileges, nor the promifes made to them, which were 
 then fulfilled. Nay, they had by their fins profaned themfelves, and 
 given to the Gentiles a right over them, which none could have had, if 
 they had continued in their obedience to the law of God. This was the 
 foundation of the Caefars dominion over them, but can have no influence 
 upon us. The firft of the Caefars had not been fet up by them ; the feriea 
 of them had not been continued by their confent ; ihcy had not interrupted 
 the fucceffion by placing or difplaclng fuch as they pleafcd ; they had not 
 brought in ftrangers or ballards, nor preferred the rcmoteft in blood before 
 the nearcft ; they had no part in making the laws, by which they were 
 governed, nor had the Caefars fworn to them ; they had no " great 
 " charter, " acknowledging their liberties to be innate or inherent in them, 
 confirmed by immemorial citflom, and ftrengthened by thirty ads of 
 
 their
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNiMENT %cj 
 
 their own general aflfcmblics, with tlic afTont of the Romans ; the Caefar sect. 8 
 who then governed came not to the power by their content ; the quellion, 
 *' will ye have this man to reign ? " had never been afked ; but he being 
 impofed upon them, they were to ful)mit to the laws, by which he 
 governed their mailers. This can be nothing to us, whofe cale is in 
 every reipedt molt unlike to theirs. We have no didatorial power over 
 us ; and neither we nor our fathers have rendered or owed obedience to 
 any human laws, but our own, nor to any other magillracy, than what 
 we have Cilablilhed. We have a king who reigns by law. His power ia ■ 
 from " the law that makes him king*: " and we can know only from 
 thence what he is to command, and what we are obliged to obey. We 
 know the power of the Caeiars was ufurped, maintained, and exerclied, 
 with the mofl deteftable violence, injufticc, and cruelty. But though it 
 had been eftablillied by the confent of the Romans, from an opinion that 
 it was good for them in that ftate of affairs, it were nothing to us ; and 
 we could be no more obliged to follow their example in that, than to be 
 governed by confuls, tribunes, and decemviri, or to conftitute fuch a 
 government as they fet up, when they expelled 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 moft pure, the people moll free, and when virtue was moil 
 flouriihing among them. But if we are not obliged to fet up fuch a 
 magiftracy as they had, it is ridiculous to think, that fuch an obedience is 
 due to one who is not in being, as they paid to him that was. And if I 
 fhould confefs, that Caefar, holding the fenate and people of Rome under 
 the power ofthefword, impofed what tribute he plealed upon the pro- 
 vinces ; and that the Jews, who had no part in the government, were 
 obliged to fubmit to his will, our liberty of paying nothing, except what 
 the parliament appoints, and yielding obedience to no laws, but fuch as 
 are made to be fo by their authority, or by our own immemorial cuftoms, 
 could not be thereby infringed. But we may juffly affirm, that the 
 tribute impofed was not, as our author infers, " all their coin, " nor a 
 confiderable part of it, nor more than what was underftood to go for the 
 defraying of the public charges. Chrift by afking, whofe image and 
 fuperfcription was ftampt upon their money, and thereupon commanding 
 them to give to Caefar that which was Cacfar's, did not imply, th.it all 
 was his ; but that Caefar's money being current among them, it was a 
 continual and evident teftimony, that they acknowledged thernfelves to 
 be under his jurifdiilion, and therefore could not rcfufe to pay the tribute 
 laid upon them by the fame authority, as other nations did. 
 
 It may alfo be obferved, that Chrift did not fo much fay this to deter- 
 mine the queftions, that might arife, concerning Caefar's power, for he 
 
 * Lex facitregem. Brafton de Leg. et Confuet. Angliae. 1. i, c. 8, fol. 5. — Nihil 
 tam propriuni c*lt imperii, quam legibus vivere, et majus imptrio elt legibus fubmittcre 
 principa uin, et rr.erito debet retribucre legi, quia lex tribuit ei ; facit enim lex quod ipfe 
 lit rex. Ibid. J. 3, c. 9, fol. 107 
 
 R r 2 plainly
 
 3o8 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 cil vp.in P^^"ib^ ^lys? that was not his work, but to put the Pharifccs to filencc, 
 '.vho tempted him. According to the cp!«ion of the Jews, that the JMefhas 
 would rellore the kingdom of liVciel, they thought his firll work would 
 be to throve off the Roman yoke ; and not believing hi;n to he tlie man, 
 ihey v>'0uld have brought him to avovv' the thing, that they might deftrov 
 him. But as that v/as not his buhneis and his time was not yet come, it 
 was not necelTary to give them any other anfwer, than fuch as miyht 
 dillippoint their purpofe. This fliev\?s that, without detrading from the 
 honour due to Auftin, Ambrofe, or Tertullian, I may juftly fay, that tlie 
 decifion of fuch quellions, as arifc concerning our government, mufc be 
 decide'd by our laws, ar>d not by their writings. They were excellent men, 
 but living in another time, under a very different government, and apply- 
 ing themlelves to other matters, they had no knowledge at all of thofe 
 that concern us. They knew what government they were under, and 
 thereupon judged what a broken and dilperfed people owed to that which 
 had given kw to the beft part of the world, before they were in being, 
 under which they had been educated, and which, after a moft cruel perfe- 
 cution, was become propitious to them. They knew, that the word of 
 the emperor was a law to the fenate and people, who were under the 
 power of that man that could get the beft army; but perhaps had never 
 heard of fuch mixed governments as ours, though about that time they 
 began to appear in the world. And it might be as reafonably concluded, 
 that there ought to be no rule in the fucceffion or election of princes, 
 becaufe the Roman emperors were fet up by the violence of the foldiers, 
 and for the moft part, by the flaughter of him who was in poffeffion of 
 the power, as that all other princes muft be abfolute when they have it, 
 and do what they pleafe, till another ftronger and happier may, by the 
 like means, wreft the fame power from them. 
 
 I am much miftaken if this be not true : but without prejudice to our 
 caufe, we may take that which they fay, according to their true meaning, 
 in the utmoft extent. And to begin with Tertullian : it is good to confider 
 the fubjedl of his dilcourfe, and to whom he wrote. The treatile cited by 
 our author is the Apologetic, and tends to perfuade the pagans, that c'lvii 
 magiftrates might not intermeddle with religion ; and that the laws made 
 by them touching thofe matters, were of no value, as relating to things 
 of which they had no cognizance. " It is not," fays he, "length of 
 " time, nor the dignity of the legiflators, but equity only, that can com- 
 " mend laws ; and when any are found to be unjuft, they are defervedly 
 " condemned''." By which words he denied, that the magiftratical 
 pov^'cr, which the Romans acknowledged in Caefar, had any thing to 
 do in fpiritual things. And little advantage can be taken by Chriftian 
 ])rinces from what he fays concerning the Roman emperors ; for he 
 cxprefly declares, " that the Cacfars would have believed in Chrift, if 
 
 * Leges nequc annorum numerus, nequc conditorum dignitas comniciidat, fed acqiiitas 
 fo)a; etidco, ciitn iuiquae rccognofcuntur, merito damnantur. Tcrtul. Apol. p. 6, Kdit. 
 Rigaltii, 1664 
 
 *' they
 
 DISCOURSES CONCKRNUn'G GOVERNMENT y:<, 
 
 *' they had either not been neceflary to the fecular government, or if sect. S- 
 " Chriltians might have been Cacl'ars *'. " This feems to have proceederl 
 from an opinion received by ChriRians in the fnil ages, that the ufe r/i 
 the civil as well as the military fword was equally accurfcd ; tliat, 
 " Chriftians were to be fons of peace, enemies to no man ; and tliat Chrid, 
 " by commanding Peter to put up his fword, did for ever difarm all 
 " Chriftians 'I'. " He proceeds to fay, "we cannot fight to defend our 
 *' goods, having in our baptifm renounced the world, and all that is 
 " in it ; nor to gain honours, accounting nothing more foreign to us than 
 " public affairs, and acknov.'ledging no other commonwealth than that of 
 *' the whole world:};; nor to favc our lives, bccaufe we account it a hap- 
 " pinefs to be killed." He diflliades the pagans from executing Chriftians, 
 rather from charity to them in keeping them from the crime of flaughter- 
 ing the innocent, than that they were unwilling to fufi'cr ; and gives no 
 other reafons of their prayers for the emperors, than that they were com- 
 manded to love their enemies §, and to pray for thofe who perfecuted them, 
 except fuch as he drew from a miftake, that the world was ftiortly to finifiv 
 with the diftTolution of the empire. All his works, as well thofe that were 
 v/ritten before he fell into Montaniftn, as thofe publiflied afterwards, are. 
 full of the like opinions ; and if Filmer acknowledges them to be true, he 
 muft confefs, that princes are not fixthers, but enemies *[[; and that not only 
 they, but all thofe who render themfelves minifters of the powers they 
 execute, in taking upon them the fword that Chrift had curfed, do 
 renounce him ; and we may confider how to proceed with fuch as do (o. 
 If our author will not acknowledge this, then no man was ever guilty ot" 
 a more vile prevarication than he, who alleges thofe words in favour of 
 his caufe, which have their only ftrength in opinions that he thinks falie, 
 and in the authority of a man whom in that very thing he condemns ; 
 and muft do (oy or overthrow all that he endeavours to fuppcrt. But 
 Tertullian's opinions concerning thefe matters have no relation to our pre— 
 fent queftion. The defign of his Apology, and the treatife to Scapula, 
 almoft upon the fame fubjedl, was to fhew, that the civil magiftracv, 
 which he comprehends under the name of Caefar, had notliing to do witli 
 matters of religion ; and that, as no man could be a Chriftian who v,"ould 
 undertake the work of a magiftrate, they, who were jealous the public 
 offices might be taken out of their hands, had nothing to fear from Chrif- 
 
 * Sed et Caefarcs credidiflent fuper Chriflo, fi aut Caefares ncn efient faeculo neceffarii, 
 aut fi et Chiiftiani potuiflent efie Caefares. Ibid. p. 20 
 
 t Filii pacis Cliriiliamis nullius eft hoftis. Id. ad Scapulam, p. 69. 
 
 Omnem poftea militem Doinimts in Petro exarmando difcinxit. De Idol. p. 97 
 
 X Nobis ab omni gloriae et dignitatis ardore frigentibus nulla eft neceffitas coetiis 5 nee 
 ulla magis res aiiena, qumn pubJica : imam omnium rcmpublicam agnofcimus, mundiun. 
 Apol. p. 30 
 
 § Scitote praeceptumefle nobis, ad redundantiam benignitatis, etiam pro inimicis Deum 
 orare, et perfecutoiibus noftris bona precari. Apol. p. 27 
 
 S[ Qiii magis inimici ct perfccutores Chriftianorum, quam de quorum ir.aieftate ccnveni- 
 mur in crimen? Ibid. p. 27 
 
 tians.
 
 3IO 
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. Ill tians v/ho refolved not to meddle with them. Whereas our queflion is 
 only, whether that magiftratical power, w^hich, by law or ulurpation, was 
 then in Caefar, muft necellarily in all times, and in all places, be in one 
 man, or may be divided and balanced according to the laws of every 
 country, concerning which he fays nothing: or whether we, who do not 
 renounce the ui'e of the civil or military fword, who have a part in the 
 government, and think it our duty to apply ourfclves to public cares, 
 fhould lay them afide, becaufe the antient Chriftians, every hour expecting 
 death, did not trouble themfelvcs with them. 
 
 If Ambrofc, after he was a bifliop, employed the ferocity of a foldier, 
 which he ftill retained, rather in advancing the power of the clergy, than 
 the good of mankind, by retraining the rage of tyrants, it can be no 
 prejudice to our caufe, of which he had no cognizance. He fpoke of the 
 violent and defpotical government, to which he had been a minifter before 
 his baptifm, and feems to have had no knowledge of the Gothic polity, 
 that within a few years grew famous by overthrowing the Roman tyranny, 
 and delivering the world from the yoke which it could no longer bear. 
 And if Auflin might fay, that " the emperor is fubjeft to no laws, becaufe 
 " he has a power of making laws*," I may juftly fay, that our kings 
 are lubjeft to laws, becaufe they can make no law, and have no power 
 but what is given by the lavrs. If this be not the cafe, I defire to know 
 who made the laws, to which they and their predeceffors have fworn; 
 and whether they can, according to their own will, abrogate thofe 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 aifert any 
 fuch thing, and if all the kings we ever had, except Richard the fecond, 
 did renounce it, we may conclude, that Auftin's words have no relation 
 to our difpute ; and that it were to no purpofe to examine, whether the 
 fathers mention any refervation 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 thofe that were then in being, as to build 
 baftions, half-moons, hornworks, ravelins, or counterfcarps, or to make 
 ufe of mufqucls, cannon, mortars, carabines, or piftols, wdiich were 
 unknown to them. 
 
 Vv'hat Solomon fays of the Hebrew kings does as little concern us. 
 We have already proved their power not to have been abfolute, though 
 greater than that which the law allows to ours. It might, upon occafion, 
 be a prudent advice to private perfons living imder fuch governments as 
 were uiual in the caftern countries, " to keep the king's commandments, 
 " and not to fay, what dofl: thou ? becaufe where the word of a king is, 
 " there Is power, and all that he pleafeth he will do. " But all thefe 
 words are not his ; and thofe that are, mufl: not be taken in a general 
 fenfe. For though his fon was a king, yet in his words there was no 
 
 ^ I nipcratornon eft fubjcftuslcgibus, qui habet in potcftate alias leges ferre. Auguft. # ^ ^ 
 
 power :
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 3" 
 
 power: he could not do what he pleafcd, nor hinder others from dohig sect 8 
 what they pleafed. He would have added weight to the yoke that lay 
 upon the necks of the Ifraelites, but he could not ; and we do not find him 
 to have been maflcr of much more than his own tongue, to fpeak as many 
 foolifh things as he pleafed. In other things, whether he had to deal 
 with his own people, or with flrangers, he was weak and impotent ; and 
 the wretches who flattered him in his follies could be of no help to him. 
 The like has befallen many others. Thofe who are wife, virtuous, vali- 
 ant, juft, and lovers of their people, have and ought to have power ; but 
 fuch as are lewd, vicious, foolifh, and haters of their people, ought to 
 have none, and are often deprived of all. This was well known to Solo- 
 mon, who fays, that " a wife child is better than an old and foolifh king, 
 " that will not be advifed." When Nabuchodonofor fet himfelf in the 
 place of God, his kingdom was taken from him, and he was driven from 
 the fociety of men to herd with beafts. There was power for a time in 
 the word of Nero: he murdered many excellent men ; but he was called 
 to account, and the v/orld abandoned the monfter it had too long endured. 
 He found none to defend him, nor any better help, when he defired to 
 die, than the hraid of a ilave. Befidcs, feme kings by their inftltu- 
 tion have little power ; fome have been deprived of what they had, for 
 abufing, or rendering themfelves unworthy of it ; and hiftory affords us 
 innumerable examples of both forts. 
 
 But though 1 ihould confefs that there is always power in the word of 
 a king, it would be nothing to us, who difpute concerning right, and 
 have no regard to that power which is void of it. A thief or a pirate 
 may have power ; but that avails him not, when, as often befel the Cae- 
 fars, he meets with one who has more, and is always unfafe, fince, hav- 
 ing no effedl upon the confciences of men, every one may deftroy him 
 that can : and I leave it to kings to confider how much they ftand obliged 
 to thofe, who, placing their rights upon the fame foot, expofe their per- 
 fons to the fame dangers. 
 
 But if kings defire, that in their word there fliould be power, let them 
 take care, that it be always accompanied with truth and juftice. Let them 
 feek the good of their people, and the hands of all good men will be with 
 them. Let them not exalt themfelves infolently, and every one will delire 
 to exalt them. Let them acknowledge themfelves to be the fervants of 
 the public, and all men will be theirs. Let fuch as are moft addi6led to 
 them talk no niore of Caelars, nor the tributes due to them. We have 
 nothing to do with the name of Caefar. They, who at this day live 
 imder it, rejed: the prerogatives antiently ufurped by thofe who had it, 
 and are governed by no other laws than their own. We know no law ta 
 which we owe obedience, but that of God, and ourfelves. Afiatic flaves 
 ufually pay fuch tributes as arc impofed upon them ; and whilil braver 
 nations lay under the Roman tyranny, they were forced to fubmit to the 
 fame burdens. But even thofe tributes were paid for maintaining armies, 
 fleets, and garrifons, without which the poor and abjeCl life they led could 
 
 1 not
 
 312 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. Ill not have been preferved.L, We owe none but wliat we freely give. None 
 
 ' is or can be impofcd upon us, unlefs by ourfclves. We meafure our 
 
 ' grants according to our own will, or the prefent occafions, for our own 
 
 ' fafety. Our anceflors were born free, and, as the beft provifion they 
 
 could make for us, they left us that liberty entire, with the beft laws they 
 
 could devifc to defend itT) It is no way impaired by the opinions of the 
 
 fathers. The words of Solomon do rather confirm it. The happincfs of 
 
 thofe who enjoy the like, and the fliameful mifery under which they lie, 
 
 w^ho have fuffered themfelves to be forced or cheated out of it, may per- 
 
 fuadc, and thejuftice of the caufe encourage us, to think nothing too dear 
 
 to be hazarded in the defence of it. 
 
 SECTION IX 
 
 ouii o^v^' laws confirm to us the enjoy3Ient of our 
 
 NATIVE RIGHTS. 
 
 If that which our author calls divinity did reach the things in difpute 
 "between us, or if the opinions of the fathers, which he alleges, related 
 to them, he might have fpared the pains of examining our laws j for a 
 municipal fandtion were of little force to confirm a perpetual and univerfal 
 law given by God to mankind, and of no value againil it, fince man can- 
 not abrogate what God has inftituted, nor one nation free itfelf from a 
 law that is given to all. But having abufed the Scriptures, and the writ- 
 ings of the fathers (whofe opinions are to be valued only lb far as they 
 rightly interpret them) he feems defirous to try, whether he can as well 
 put a faU'e fenfe upon our law, and has fully compafled his defign. Ac- 
 cording to his cuftom he takes pieces of paffages from good books, and 
 turns them direftly againft the plain meaning of the authors, expreifed 
 in the whofe fcope and defign of their writings. To fliew that he intends 
 to fpare none, he is not afliamcd to cite Bradlon, who, of all our antient 
 law-writers, is moft oppofite to his maxims. He lived, fays he, in Henry 
 the third's time, fince parliaments were inftituted : as if there had been a 
 time when England had wanted them ; or the eftablilhmcnt of our li!)crty 
 had been made by the Normans, who, if we will believe our author, 
 came in by force of arms, and opprefted us. But we have already proved 
 the eficnce of parliaments to be as antient as our nation, and that there 
 was no time, in which there were not fuch councils or aircmblies of the 
 people as had the power of the whole, and made or lumiade fiich laws as 
 beft pleafcd thcnifclvcs. We have indeed a French word from a people 
 that came fron\ France, but the power was always in ourfclves ; and the 
 Norman kings were obliged to fwear they would govern according to the 
 laws that liad been made by thofe aflemblics. It imports little, whether 
 Bradton lived before or after they came among us. His words arc, 
 
 " Omncs
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 313 
 
 (( 
 
 Omnes fub eo, et ipfe fiib nullo, nifi tantum fub Deo; all arc under sect. 
 " him, and he iinilcr none, but God only. If he oft'end, fince no writ 
 " can go againfl him, their remedy is, by petitioning him to amend his 
 " fault'; which if he fhall not do, it will be punifliment fufficient for 
 " him to expedl God as a revenger. Let none prefume to fearch into his 
 " deeds, much lefs to oppofe them*." Here is a mixture of fenfc and 
 nonfenfe, truth and fallhood, the words of Bradlon, with our author's 
 foolifh inferences from them. Bradlon fpoke of the politic capacity of 
 the king, when no law had forbidden him to divide it from his natural. 
 He gave the name of king to the fovereign power of the nation, as Jacob 
 called that of his defcendants the fceptre ; which he faid fliould not depart 
 from Judah till Shiloh came, though all men know, that his race did not 
 reign the third part of that time over his own tribe, nor full fourfcore 
 years over the whole nation. The fame manner of fpeech is ufed in all 
 parts of the world. Tertullian, under the name of Caelar, comprehended 
 all magiftratical power, and imputed to him the ads, of which in his 
 perfon he never had any knowledge. The French fay, their king is 
 always prefent, " fur fon lit de juftice, " in all the fovereign courts of the 
 kingdom, which are not eafily numbered ; and that maxim could have in 
 it neither fenfe 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 dimenfions 
 of his own fkin. Thefe things could not be unknown to Brafton, the 
 like being in ufe among us ; and he thought it no offence fo far to follow 
 the dictates of reafon prohibited by no law, as to make a difference between 
 the inviiible and omniprefent king, who never dies, and the perfon that 
 wears the crown, whom no man, without the guilt of treafon, may 
 endeavour to kill, fince there is an ad of parliament in the cafe. I will not 
 determine whether he fpoke properly or no as to England ; but if he did 
 not, all that he faid, being upon a falfe fuppohtion, is nothing to our pur- 
 pofe. The fame Bradon fays, the king does no wrong, inafmuch as he 
 does nothing but by law : " the power of the king is the power of the 
 *' law, a power of ri{;ht not of wrong f . " Again, " if the king does 
 " injuftice, he is not king. " In another place he has thefe words, " the 
 " king therefore ought to exercife the power of the law, as becomes 
 " the vicar and minifter of God upon earth, becaufe that power is the 
 *' power of God alone ; but the power of doing wrong is the power of 
 " the devil, and not of God. And the king is his minifter, whofe work 
 *' he does : whilft he does juftice, he is the vicar of the eternal king; 
 
 * Onines quidem fub eo [rege] et ipfe fub nullo, nifi tantum fub Deo .... Si jus ab 
 €0 petatur, cum breve non currat contra ipfum, locus erit fupplicationi, quod faftum fuum 
 corrigat et emendet, quod quidem fi non fecerit, fatis fulficit ei ad poenam, quod Dominum 
 expecitet ultorem. Nemo quidem de faftis fuis praefumat difputare, multb fortius contra 
 
 fadtum fuum venire. Braiton. I. i, c. 8, fol. 5. Our author feems not to have 
 
 obferved, that the words which he cites from Filmer, and which he calls his " foolifli infe- 
 " rences, " are the documents of old BrasSton, in the paffage before us, which Filmer has 
 tranflated. 
 
 f Nihil aliud poteft rex in terris, cum fit Dei minifter et vicarius, nifi id folum quod da 
 jurepoteft Poteftas fua juris eft, et non injuriae. Brad, 1. 2, c 9, fol. 107 
 
 S f " but
 
 3-4 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CPlAP.ill " but if he dcfleifl: from it to a£t unjufily, he is theminifter of the devil*." 
 He alfo fii.ys, that the king is, " fmgulis major, univerfis minor;" and 
 that he who is, " in juftitia exequenda omnibus major, in juftitia recipi- 
 " enda cuiUbet ex plebe fit aequalis "f." I Ihall not fay Bra<£lon is in the 
 right when he fpeaks in this manner ; but it is a flrange impudence in 
 Fihner to cite him as a patron of the abfohite power of kings, who does 
 fo extremely deprefs them. But the groflell: of his folhes is yet more par- 
 donable than his dcteilable fraud in falfifying Bradon's words, and leaving 
 out fuch as are not for his purpofe, which Ihew his meaning to be diredly 
 contrary to the fenfe put upon them. That this may appear, I fnall fet 
 down the words as they are found in Bradlon. " Ipfe autem rex non 
 " debet effe fub homine, fed fub Deo, et fub lege, quia lex facit regem, 
 " Attribuat ergo lex regi quod lex attribuit ei, videlicet dominationem et 
 *' poteftatem : non eft enim rex ubi dominatur voluntas et non lex ; et 
 " quod fub lege effe debeat, cum fit Dei vicarius, evidenter apparetlj:. " 
 If Bradlon therefore be a competent judge, the king is under the law, and 
 he is not a king, nor God's vicegerent, unlefs he be fo ; and we all know 
 how to proceed with thofe, who, being under the law, ojffend againft it : 
 for the law is not made in vain. In this cafe fomething more is to be 
 done than petitioning : and it is ridiculous to fay, that if " he will not 
 " amend, it is punifhment enough for him to expedl God an avenger ; " 
 for the fame may be faid of all malefa£lors. God can fufficiently punifh 
 thieves and murderers : but the future judgment, of which perhaps they 
 have no belief, is not fufficient to reftrain them from committing more 
 crim.es, nor to deter others from following their example. God was 
 always able to punifh murderers, but yet by his law he commands man to 
 fhed the blood of him who ihould Ihed man's blood ; and declares, that 
 the land cannot be purged of the guilt by any other means. He had 
 judgments in ftore for Jeroboam, Ahab, and thofe that were like them ; 
 but yet he commanded that, according to that law, their houfes fhould 
 be deftroyed from the earth. The dogs licked up the blood of Ahab, 
 v^'here they had licked that of Naboth, and eat Jezebel, who had contrived 
 his murder. " But," fays our author, " we muft not look into his deeds, 
 " much lefs oppofe them." Muft not David look into Saul's deeds, nor 
 oppofe them ? Why did he then bring together as many men as he could 
 
 * Exercere igitur debet rex poteftatem juris, ficiit Dei vicarius et minifter in terra, quia 
 ilia poteftas folius Dei eft : potcftas autem injuriae diaboli et non Dei; et cujus horuni 
 opera fecerit rex, ejus minifter erit. Igitur diim facit juftitiam, vicarius eft Regis aeterni ; 
 minifter autem diaboli, dum declinet ad injuriam. Ibid. 1. 3, c. 9, fol. 107 
 
 f Parem habere non debet, ncc multo fortius fupcriorem, maxime in juftitia exhibenda, 
 ut dicaturvere de eo magnus dominus nofter, ct magna virtus ejus, etc. Licet in juftitia 
 recipienda minimo de regno fuocomparetur; et licet omnes potentia praecellat, tamen, cum 
 cor regis in manu Dei cfte debeat, ne fit eftracnata, fraenum apponat temperantiac, et lora 
 moderantiae, ne cum ineftVaenata fit trahatur ad injuriam. Ibid. 1. 3, eg, fol. 107. — Sic 
 ergo rex, ne poteftas fua nianeat infracnat.n, non debet efiTe major eo in regno fuo in 
 cxhibitione juris, minimus autem Oftc debet vel quafi in judicio fufcipiendo, fi petar, etc. 
 Ibid. 1. 1, c. 8, fol. 5 
 
 |; Ibid. 1. I, c. 8, fol. 5 
 
 to
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 315 
 
 to oppofe, and make foreign alliances againfl; him, even wilh the Moab- si:CT. 9 
 ites, and the accurfed PhiliPiines? Why did Jehu not only deflroy Ahab's 
 houfe, but kill the king of Judah, and his forty brothers, only for going 
 to vifit his children ? Our author may perhaps fay, bccaufe God com- 
 inanded them. But if God commanded them to do fo, he did not com- 
 mand them, and all mankind, not to dofo ; and if he did not forbid, they 
 have nothing to reftrain them from doing the like, unlefs 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 Chrifl: to 
 Caefar, and judicioully to infer, that all nations muft pay the fame duty 
 to their magillrates, as the Jews did to the Romans, who had fubdued 
 them. " C'hrift did not, " fays he, " afk what the law of the land was, 
 *' nor inquire whether there was a flatute againfl it, nor whether the tribute 
 *' vs^ere given by the confent of the people, but upon fight of the fuper- 
 " fcription concluded, etc." It had been flrange, if Chrift had inquired 
 after their laws, ftatutes, or confent, when he knew, that their common- 
 wealth, with all the laws by which it had fubfifted, was abolifiied ; and 
 that Ifi-ael was become a fervant to thofe, who exercifed a moft violent 
 domination over them : which, being a peculiar punifhment for their 
 peculiar fins, can have no influence upon nations, that are not under the 
 fame circumllances. 
 
 But of all that he fays, nothing is more incomprehenfible, than what 
 he can mean by lawful kings, to whom all is due that was due to the 
 Roman ufurpers. For lawful kings are kings by the law : in being kings 
 by the law, they are fuch kings as the law makes them, and that law 
 only muft tell us what is due to them : or by an upiverfal patriarchal right, 
 to which no man can have a title, as is faid before, till he prove himfelf 
 to be the right heir of Noah. If neither of thefe are to be regarded, but 
 right follows poflefTion, there is no fuch thing as an ufurper ; he who 
 has the power has the right, as indeed Filmer fays ; and his wifdom, as 
 well as his integrity, is fufficiently declared by the affertion. 
 
 This wicked extravagancy is followed by an attempt of as fingular 
 ignorance and ftupidity, to fhuffle together ufurpers and conquerors, as if 
 they were the fame : whereas, there have been many ufurpers, who were 
 not conquerors, and ccnqui;rors, that deferved not tlie name of ufurpers. 
 No wife man ever laid, that Agathoclesor Dionyfius conquered Syracufe ; 
 Tarquin, Galba, or Otho, Rome ; Cromwell, England ; or that the magi, 
 who fcized'the government of Perfia, after the death of Cambyfes, con- 
 quered that country. When Moles and Jofhua had overthrown the king- 
 doms of the Amorites, Moabites, and Canaanites ; or when David fubdued 
 the Amm.oniles, Edomites, and others, none, as I fuppofe, but fuch 
 divines as Filmer, will fay they ufurped a dominion oyer them. There is 
 fuch a thing among men as juft war, or elfe true valour could not be a 
 virtue, but a crime ; and inftead of glory, the utmoil: infamy would 
 always be the companion of vidory.- There arc, fays Grotius, laws of 
 
 S f 2 war,
 
 3i6 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP, in war, as well as of peace*. He who for a juft caufe, and by juft means, 
 carries on a juft war, has as clear a right to what is acquired as can be 
 enjoyed by man ; but all ufurpation is deteftable and abominable. 
 
 SECTION X 
 
 THE WORDS OF ST. PAUL, INJOINING OBEDIENCE TO HIGHER. 
 POWERS, FAVOUR ALL SORTS OF GOVERNMENTS, NO LESS 
 
 THAN MONARCHY. 
 
 Our author's next quarrel is with St. Paul, " who did not, " as he fays^ 
 ** in injoining fubjcdion to the higher powers, fignify the laws of the 
 " land, or mean the higheft powers, as well ariftocratical and democratical 
 " as regal, but a monarch that carries the fword, etc. " But what if 
 there be no monarch in the place ? or what if he do not carry the fword ? 
 Had the apoftle fpoken in vain, if the liberty of the Romans had not been 
 overthrown by the fraud and violence of Caefar ? Was no obedience to be 
 exadled while that people enjoyed the benefit of their own laws, and 
 virtue flourifhed under the moderate government of a legal and juft magif- 
 tracy, eftabliflied for the common good, by the common confent of all ? 
 Had God no minifter among them, till law and juftice was overthrown, 
 the beft part of the people deftroyed by the fury of a corrupt mercenary 
 foldiery, and the world fubdued under the tyranny of the worft monfters, 
 that it had ever produced ? Are thefe the ways of eftablifliing God's vice- 
 gerents ? And w411 he patronize no governors or governments, but fuch. 
 as thefe ? Does God uphold evil, and that only ? If the world has been 
 hitherto miftaken, in giving the name of evil to that which is good, and 
 calling that good which is evil, I defire to know, what can be called good 
 among men, if the government of the Romans, till they entered Greece 
 and Afia, and were corrupted by the luxury of both, do not deferve that 
 name ? Or what is to be efteemed evil, if the eftabliftiment and exercife 
 of the Caefars power were not fo ? But fays 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, Ger- 
 mans, and Spaniards, without power ? Was there no fword in that nation, 
 and in the hands of their magiftrates, who overthrew the kingdoms of Arme- 
 nia, Egypt, Numidia, Macedon, with many others, whom none of the 
 monarchs were able to refift ? Are the Venetians, Switzers, Grifons, and 
 Hollanders, now left in the fame weaknefs, and no obedience at all due 
 to their magiftrates ? If this be fo, how comes it to pals, that juftice is fo 
 well adminiftred among them ? Who is it that defends the Hollanders in 
 fuch a manner, that the greateft monarchs, with all their fwords, have 
 
 * Sunt ct belli, ficut pacis jura. Grot, dc Jure Belli, Prolcg. § 26, Liv. 1. 5, c. 7.7 
 
 had
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 317 
 
 had no great reafon to boaft of any advantages gained againft them ? at sect. 10 
 leall till we (whom they could not refift, when we had no monarch, 
 though we have been difgracefully beaten by them fmce wc had one) by 
 making leagues againft them, and lowing divifions among them, infti- 
 gated and affifted the greateft power now in the world to their deftrudlion 
 and our own. But our author is fo accuftomed to fraud, that he never cites 
 a paflage of Scripture, which he does not abulc or vitiate ; and that he- 
 may do the fame in this place, he leaves out the following words, " for 
 '' there is no power but of God," that he might intitle one fort only to 
 his protection. If therefore the people and popular magiftrates of Athens; 
 the two kings, ephori, and fenate of Sparta ; the fanhedrim among the 
 Hebrews ; the confuls, tribunes, praetors, and fenate of Rome ; the 
 magiftrates of Holland, Switzerland, and Venice, have or had power, 
 w^e may conclude, that they alfo were ordained by God ; and that, accord- 
 ing to the precept of the apoftle, the fame obedience, for the fame reafon, 
 is due to them as to any monarch. 
 
 The apoftle, farther explaining himfelf, and fhewing, who may be 
 accounted a magiftrate, and what the duty of fuch a one is, informs us, 
 when we fhould fear and on what account. " Rulers, " fays 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 flialt have praife 
 " of the fame ; for he is the minifter of God, a revenger to execute wrath- 
 " upon him that doth evil *. " He therefore is only the minifter of God, 
 who is not a terror to good works, but to evil ; who executes wrath upon 
 thofe that do evil, and is a praife to thofe that do well. And he who does 
 well ought not to be afraid of the power ; for he fliall receive praife. 
 Now if our author were alive, though he was a man of a hard forehead, 
 I would aftv him, whether in his confcience he believed, that Tiberius, 
 Caligula, Claudius, Nero, and the rabble of fucceeding monfters, were 
 a praife to thofe who did well, and a terror to thofe who did ill ; and not 
 the contrary, a praife to the worft, and a terror to the beft men of the 
 world ? Or for what reafon Tacitus could fay, that virtue brought men 
 Vv^ho lived under them to certain deftruftion f , and recite fo many exam- 
 ples of the brave and good, who were murdered by them for being fo, 
 unlefs they had endeavoured to extinguifti all that was good, and to tear- 
 up virtue by the roots ijl ? Why did he call Domitian an enemy to virtue §, 
 if he was a terror only to thofe that did evil ? If the world has hitherto 
 been milled in thefe things, and given the name of virtue to vice, and of 
 vice to virtue, then Germanicus, Valerius Afiaticus, Corbulo, Helvidius 
 Prifcus, Thrafea, Soranus, and others, that refembled them, who fell 
 under the rage of thofe beafts, nay, Paul himfelf, and his difciples, were 
 evil doers ; and Macro, Narciflus, Pallas, Vinius, Laco, and Tigellinus, 
 were virtuous and good men. If this be fo, we are beholden to Filmei- 
 
 * Rom. ch. 13, V. J, 4. f Ob virtutes certiffimum exitium. Tacit, Hift. I. i, § 2, 
 J Ipfam exfcindere virtutem. Id. Annal. 1. i6, § 21 - 
 § Infenfus virtutibus priiiceps. Id, in vita Agric.
 
 i8 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. Ill for admonifhing mankind of the error in which they had fo long con- 
 tinued. If not, thole who perfecuted and murdered them, for their virtues, 
 were not a terror to fuch as did evil, and a praiie to thoie who did well. 
 The worft men had no need to fear them ; but the heft had, becaufe they 
 were the heft. All princes, therefore, that have power, are not to be 
 efteemed equaJIy the minifters of God. They that are fo muft receive 
 their dignity from a title, that is not common to all, even from a juft 
 employment of their power to the encouragement of virtue, and to the 
 difcouragement of vice. He that pretends to the veneration and obedi- 
 ence due to the minifters of God, muft by his actions manifeft, that he is 
 fo. And though I am unwilling to advance a propofition, that may 
 found harfhly to tender ears, I am inclined to believe, that the fame rule, 
 which obliges us to yield obedience to the good magiftrate, who is the 
 miaifter of God, and aflures us, that in obeying him we obey God, does 
 equally oblige us not to obey thofe, who make themfelves the minifters of 
 the devil, left in obeying them we obey the devil, whofe v.-orks they do. 
 That none, but fuch as are wilfully ignorant, may miftake Paul's 
 meaning, Peter, who was directed by the fame fpirit, fays diftinftly, 
 " fubmit yourfelves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's fake *.," If 
 therefore there be feveral ordinances of men tending to the fame end, that 
 is, the obtaining of juftice, by being a terror to the evil, and a praife to 
 the good, the like obedience is for confcience fake injoined to all, and 
 upon the fame condition. But, as no man dares to {aj, that Athens and 
 Perfia, Carthage and Egypt, Switzerland and France, Venice and Turky, 
 were and are under the fame government, the fime obedience is due to 
 the magiftrate in every one of thofe places, and all others on the fame ac- 
 count, while they continue to be the minifters of God. 
 
 If our author fay, that Peter cannot comprehend kings under the name 
 of human ordinances, fmce Paul fays, they are the ordinance of God, I 
 may as v.-ell fay, that Paul cannot call that the ordinance of God, which 
 Peter calls the ordinance of man. But as it was faid of Mofes and Samuel, 
 that they who fpoke by the fame fpirit could not contradid; each other, 
 Peter and Paul, being full of wifdom and fandity, and infpired by the 
 fame fpirit, muft needs fay the fame thing. And Grotius fliews, that 
 they perfedlly agree, though the one calls kings, rulers, and governors, 
 the ordinance of man, and the other, the ordinance of God ; inafmuch as 
 ' (ftJod having from the beginning ordained, that men Ihould not live like 
 / wolves in woods, every man by himfelf, but together in civil focieties, 
 left to every one a liberty of joining with that fociety which beft pleafcd 
 him, and to every fociety to create fuch magiftrates, and frame fuch laws, 
 as {hould fecm moft conducing to their own good, according to the mca- 
 fure of light and reafon they might liavc. And every magiftracy fo infti- 
 tuted might rightly be called the ordinance of man, who was the inftituter, 
 and the ordinance of God, according to which it was inftituted : becaufe 
 
 * I Pet. ch. 2, V. 3 
 
 fays
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 319 
 
 fays he, " God approved and ratified the fahitary conftitutions of govern— sect. 10 
 ment made by men. *" 
 
 But, fays our author, " Peter expounds his own words of the human 
 " ordinance, to be the king, who is the lex loquens." But he fays no 
 fuch thing, and I do not find, that any fuch thought ever entered into the 
 apoftle's mind. The words are often found in the works of Plato and 
 Ariftotle, but applied only to fuch a man as is a king by nature, who is 
 endowed with all the virtues that tend to the good of human focictics in 
 a greater meafure than any or all thofe that compofe them ; which cha- 
 rad:er, I think, will be ill applied to all kings. And that this may 
 appear to be true, I defire 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, but only with thofe who are endowed with fuch virtues. 
 But if the king be made by man, he muft be fuch as man makes him to 
 be ; and if the power of a law had been given by any human fmdiion to 
 the word of a foolifli, mad, or wicked man, which I hardly believe, it 
 would be deftroyed by its own iniquity and turpitude, and the people left 
 under the obligation of rendering obedience to thofe, who fo ufe tlie 
 fword, that the nations under them may live foberly, peaceably, and 
 honeftly. 
 
 This obliges me a little to examine what is meant by the fword. The 
 pope fays there are two fwords, the one temporal, the other fpiritual ; and 
 that both of them were given to Peter, and to his fucceffors. Others 
 more rightly underftand the two fwords to be that of war, and that of 
 juftice, which, according to feveral conftitutions of governments, have 
 been committed to feveral hands, under feveral conditions and limitations. 
 The fword of juftice comprehends the legiflative and the executive power: 
 the one is exercifed in making laws, the other in judging controverfies 
 according to fuch as are made. The military fword is ufed by thofe 
 magiftrates who have it, in making war or peace with whom they think 
 fit, and fometimes by others who have it not, in purfuing fuch wars as are 
 refolved upon by another power. The Jewifh do£tors generally agree, 
 that the kings of Judah could make no law, becaufe there was a curfe 
 denounced againft thofe who fhould add to, or detract from that which 
 God has given by the hand of Mofes ; that they might fit irr judgment 
 with the high-prieft and fanhedrim, but could not judge by themfelves, 
 unlefs the fanhedrim did plainly fail of performing their duty. Upon this 
 ax:count Maimonides excufes David for commanding Solomon not to fuff^er 
 the grey hairs of Joab to go down to the grave in peace, and Solomon for 
 appointing him to be killed at the foot of the altar : for he having killed 
 Abncr and Amafa, and by thofe adlions llied the blood of war in time of' 
 
 * Notandum ef}, prirr.o homines non Dei praecepto, fed fponte addu6tos experimento 
 infirmitatis familiarum fegregum adverfus violentiam, in focietatem civilem coiilTe, unde 
 ortum habet poteilas civilis, quam ideo humanam ordiiiationem Pctrus vocat, quanquam 
 alibi et divtna ordinatio vocatur, quia hominum falubre inftitutum Deus probavit. . Grot., 
 de Jure Belli, 1. i, c. 4, § 7 
 
 peaccj.
 
 320 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. Ill peace, the fanhedrim fhould have punifhed him; but, being protedled by- 
 favour or power, and even David himfelf tearing him, Solomon v^'as put 
 in mind of his duty ; which he performed, though Joab laid hold upon 
 the horns of the altar, which, by the exprefs words of the law, gave no 
 protedlion to wilful murderers. 
 
 The ufe of the military fword among them was alfo moderated. Their 
 kings might make war upon the feven accurfed nations, that they were 
 commanded to deflroy, and fo might any other man ; for no peace was to 
 be made with them : but not againft any other nation, without the aflent 
 of the fanhedrim. And when Amaziah, contrary to that law, had fool- 
 ifhly made war upon Joafli king of IlVael, and thereby brought a great 
 {laughter upon Judah, the princes, that is, the fanhedrim, combined 
 againft him, puriued him to Lachifh, and killed him there*. 
 
 The legiflative power of Sparta Vv^as evidently in the people. The laws 
 that go under the name of Lycurgus, were propofed by him to the general 
 aiTembly of the people, and from them rt ceived their authority f. But 
 the dilcipline they contained was of fuch efficacy for framing the minds 
 of men to virtue, and by baniftiing filver and gold they fo far baniflied 
 all manner of crimes, that from the inftitution of thofe laws to the times 
 of their corruption, wdiich was more than eight hundred years, we hardly 
 find, that three men w^ere put to death, of whom two were kings. So 
 that it feems difficult to determine where the power of judging did refide, 
 though it is moft probable, confidering the nature of their government, 
 that it was in the fenatc, and, in cafes extraordinary, in the ephori, with 
 a right of appealing to the people. Their kings therefore could have 
 little to do with the fword of juftice, neither the legiflative nor the judicial 
 power being any ways in them. 
 
 The military fword was not much more in their power, imlefs the 
 excellency of their virtues gave them the credit of perfuading, M'hen the 
 law denied the right of commanding. They were obliged to make war 
 aeainftthofc, and thofe only, who were declared enemies by the fenate 
 and ephori, and in the manner, place, and time, they diredled : fo that 
 Agefilaus, though carrying on a glorious war in Perfia, no fooner received 
 the parchment-roll, wherein he was commanded by the ephori to come 
 home for the defence of his own country, than he immediately returned, 
 and is on that account called by no lefs a man than Xenophon, a good 
 and faithful king, rendering obedience to the laws of his country :]".. 
 
 By this it appears, that there are kings who may be feared by thofe 
 that do ill, and not by fuch as do well ; for, having no more power than 
 what the law gives, and being obliged to execute it as the law directs, 
 they cannot depart from the precept of the apoflle. My own adlions 
 
 * 2 Kings ch. 14, v. 19. It is only fuppofed from circumflances, not afferted in the 
 text, tliat the princes, or tlic fanhedrim, were the authors of this combination. " ViDEN- 
 " TUR conjurati fuifle viri potcntes ac primarii, quibus rex aufus non elt refiflere, aut 
 " plcfterc, fed fe fiibduxit. " Mcnochius, in locum. 
 
 t Plut. in vitilLycurgi, p. 42. t Vide fupra, p. 90 
 
 therefore,
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 3^1 
 
 therefore, or the feiifc of my own guilt arifing from them, Is to be the sect, io 
 meafurc of my fear of that magiflrate who is the miniftcr of God, and 
 not his power. 
 
 The like may be fald of ahnoft all the nations of the world, that have 
 had any thing of civil order among them. The fupreme magiflrate, 
 under what name focver he was known, whether king, emperor, afym- 
 netes *, fuiietes f, conful, didator, or archon, has ufually a part afhgned 
 to him in the adminiftration of juflice, and maki ig war; but that he may 
 know it to be affigned, and not inherent, and fo affigned as to be employed 
 for the public good, not to his ovvm profit or pleafurc, it is circumicribed 
 by fuch rules as he cannot fafely tranigrefs. This is above all feen in the 
 German nations, from whom v/e draw our original and government; and 
 is fo well defcribed by Tacitus, in his trcatife of their cuftoms and man- 
 ners, that I Ihall content myfelf 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, retained to themfelves the fame rights. They^had no kings 
 but fuch as were fct up by themfelves, and they abrogated their power 
 when they pleafed ^. OfFa acknowledged, " that he was chofen for the 
 
 " defence 
 
 * Oi Ai(7UjU.niTai H«AH,«£yo» Trap' EXAtiti to ap^xtou a,\pnoi Tit£f mixv rvjixnot. Dion, 
 
 Halic. 1. 5, p. 336, Edit. Lipf. 1691. ■Ai<Tvy.i/7)Tii(x, ifiv alpiTn Tv^xnt^, Aefymnetia 
 
 eft tyrannis optiva, feu fuffragio et confenfu populi delata. Vide Arift. Polit. J. 3, c. 14. 
 Alex, ab Alex. 1. 4, c. 13 
 
 t The principal magiftrates at Carthage. Vide Liv. 1. 28, c. 37. 1. 30, c. 7. The 
 word is probably derived from Q'OfiVl'' Suphetim, judges. 
 
 X OFFA. Unaiiimi omnium confenfj, OfFam in regem tarn clerus quam populus 
 coronirunt. Mat. Weft. Flor. Hill, fub ann. 758. — Amici et commilitones mei, qui 
 me ad libertatis veftrae unanimiter, non meis mentis, fed fola lib^.alitate veftra, convo- 
 caftis tuitionem, etc. Mat. Paris, in vita OfFae fecundi, p. 13, Edit. Lond. 1640 
 
 In the council at Calchuth, which was held in the year 787, c. 12, " De ordinatione 
 " et honore regum," it was decreetl, " ut legitime rcges a facerdotibus et fenioribus populi 
 " eligerentur. " The laws which v/€re made in that afTembly are faid to have been 
 propofed and ratified, " in concilio publico, coram rege Alfuualdo, et archiepifcopo Ean- 
 " baldo, et omnibus epifcopis'et abbatibus regionis, feu fenatoribus, et ducibus, et populo 
 " terrae; " and at the fame time to have been received and confirmed by king Offa, and the 
 nobles and prelates of Mercia. Spelm. Concil. vol. i, p. 296, 300 
 
 EGBERT. Ordinatur Ecgbyrht fuper Occidentales Anglos in regnum. Chron. . 
 Ethelvverdi, 1. 3, c. 2. — Defuni'-io BriiStrico, frequentibus fuorum nunciis Britanniam 
 reverfus, moxque iniperare jufius, patriae defideriis fatisfecit. Will. Malmeib. de Geil. 
 Reg. Angl. 1. 2, c. i. — Egbertus, ex Gallia properc in patriam reverfus, omnium confenfu 
 rex creatur. Polyd. Verg. Angl. Hil):. 1. 4, p. 88, Edit. Bafil. 1534 
 
 ETHELWOLF. AdelwuU'us, Egbridto patre fuo defunilo, necefficate cogente, 
 faiSus eft rex. Hen. Hunting. Hift. 1. 5, p. 348. Hovend. Annal. p. 413. — Ifte autem 
 rex, Deo devotus, ante obitum Egberti regis patris fui, Wentanae urbis fuerat epifcopus 
 ordinatus, fed patre defundfo, licet mulcum repugnans, rex creatus eft, cCim non effet alius 
 tie regio genere, qui regnare debuiflet. Mat. Weft, fub ann. 837, p. 159 
 
 ETHELBALD. Ineffabili patris dementia, et omnium aftipulatione nobilium adu- 
 natum antea regnum inter patrem et filium dividitur. Afferii Annal. fub ann. 855, p. 156, 
 Edit. Oxon. i6gi. Idem, de Reb. Geft. Aelfredi, p. 3. — Poft obitum Athuifi re gis, 
 ordinati funt filii ejus in regnum. Chrcn, Ethelw. !. 4, c. 1 
 
 T t
 
 322 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP, in " defence of their liberty, not from his own merit, but by their flivour. " 
 And in the Convenuis PanangUcus, at which all the chief men, as well 
 
 fecular 
 
 ETHELBERT. Aethelbyrht ordinatus eft fuper Cantuarios, et Orientalcs, Auf- 
 trales cjuoque, et medios Anglos. Ibid. 
 
 ETHELRED. Coiiceffum eft regnum totius provinciae Occidentalium Saxonum 
 poft mortem Ethilbyrti Ethelredo fratri fuo. Rudburni Hift. Major. Winton.l. 3, c. 5. — 
 Ethelredus delude Ethelberti frater rex creatur. Polyd. Verg. 1. 5, p. 94 
 
 ALFRED. Ego Aclfredas divine munere, labore ac ftudio Athelredi archiepifcopi, 
 nee non totius Weft-Saxoniae nobilitatisconfer.fu paritcr et affenfu, Occidentalium Saxonuni 
 rex, quos in teftimonium meae ultimae voluntatis complementi, ut fint advocati in difpo- 
 nendis pro fahite animae meae, regali eleiSione confirmo, tarn de haereditate, quam Deus 
 ac principes, cum feniorib s populi, mifericorditer ac benigne dederunt, etc. . . . Eso in 
 nomine domini exhortor, et in nomine omnium fan£torum, quod nemo confanguineorum 
 ineorum in pofterum contra aliquem meae confanguinitatis laboret quovis modo, quoad ea, 
 quae ego ipfis dedi perantea pariter et legavi. Et mecum tota nobilitas Weft-Saxonicae 
 n-entis pro recto jifre confentiunt, quod me oportet dimittere eos ita liberos, ficut in homine 
 cogitatio ipfius confiftet. Teftam. Alfredi regis. Vide Afl'er. de Aelfredi Reb. Geft. 
 fub fiiiem. 
 
 EDWARD THE ELDER. Succeflbr equidem monarchiae poft filius fupra me. 
 morati regis coronatur, ipfe ftemmate regali, a primatis eleitus pentecoftes in die. Chron. 
 Ethelw. ]. 4, c. 4, fub ann. 901 
 
 ETHELSTAN. Athelftanus fuit a Merciis eleflus in regem, et apud Cin- 
 geftune confecratus. Chron. Saxon, fub ann. 925. — Magno confenfu optimatum 
 
 Aethelftanus eleftus eft. Will. Malmefb. ]. 2, c. 6. Adelftan filius Edvvardi cledtus 
 
 eft rex in Merce, et facratus apud Kingftun. Hen. Hunting. 1. 5, p. 354. Rege 
 
 Edwardo defun6lo, filius ejus Aethelwardus ex legitima conjuge generatus, patrem cita 
 morte fecutus eft. Tunc Aethelftanus, omnium favore, licet ex concubina fufceptus, in 
 regem eleftus, fpreto Eadwino, nondum ad regnandum propter teneros annos idoneo, in 
 Kingftona, villa regia, ipfum confecraverunt. Mat. Weft, fub ann. 934, p. 186. — Rex 
 a pcpulo confalutatur. Polyd. Verg. ]. 6, p. 109 
 
 EDMUND. Frater ejus Edmundus locum deccdentis rex fa£lus obtinuit. Of- 
 bernus in vita Odonis. Anglia Sacra, vol. 2, p. 81. Edit. Lond. 1691 
 
 ED RED. Duos filios ex Elfgiva conjuge Edmundus rex fufccperat adhuc fuperftites, 
 ciim vitaet regno dcfungitur; fed quia neuter ad coronam maturus erat, Edredus, Edmundi 
 frater, procerum populique fuffragio regnare jubctur. AlFordi Annal. fub ann. 946 
 
 EDWL Edwyus filius fupra memorati regis Edmundi in regem eleclus eft. Ofbern. 
 in vita Odonis, p. 83 
 
 EDGAR. Rex AnglorumEadwius, quoniam in commiffo regimine infipienter egit, a 
 Mercenfibus et Northimbrenfibus contcmptus relimiuitur, et fuusgcrmanus Clyto Kadgarus 
 ab eis rex eligitur. Florcnt. Wi?;orn. fub ann. 957. Sim. Dunclm. ann. 957. Hovend.. 
 Annal. p. 425. — Cujus [Edw^iiJ regnum fu'is gtnnanus, rex Merocnfium, Edgarus, ab 
 omni Anglorum populo ek-flus, fufcepit, clivifaque regna in unum copulavit. Floren. 
 V/igorn. fub ann. 959. Hovend. Annal. p. 425. — Quo unanimi omnium confpiratione 
 dcjcclo, clegerunt, Deo diftante, frntrem ejus Eadgarum in regem, ct annuente populo, 
 etc. M: I. Weft, fub ann. 957, p. 190 
 
 Elapfo tandem feptennalis poonitcntiae termino, congregatis omnibus Angliae principibus, 
 epifcopis, et abbatibus, impofuit [DunftanusJ rcgi coronam, coram omni mulritudinc populi 
 Anglorum, cuuftis lactantibus, ct Deum in S. Dunftano laudantibus. Capgravius In 
 
 vita
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 323 
 
 fecular as ecclcfiaflical, were prcfcnt, it was decreed by the king, arch- sect. 10 
 bifliops, bifhops, abbots, dukes, and fenators, that the kings fliould be 
 
 chofcn 
 
 vita S. Diinft. fol. 93. Ofbcrn. in vita S. Dunftani. Baronii Anna!, fub ann. 970. Spelm. 
 Coiicil. ann. 969, p. 482 
 
 EDWARD THE MARTYR. Qtio [Eadgaro] defunao, de rege eligendo 
 magna inter rcgni principes diflcnfio clt cxorta. Qiiidam enim filium regis primogenitum 
 Eadwardum, quidam vcro fratrem fiiuni Aethclredum dc fccunda uxorc gcncratuni unani- 
 miter clegerunt. Qiiain ob caufani duo archipracfules, Dunftanus Cantuarienfis, et 
 Ofwaldus Eboracenfis, cum epifcopis, abbatibus, et ducibus, in unum coavcnientes, Ead- 
 v/ardum, ut pater ejus moriens di6laverat, clegerunt, eleilum coiifecraverunt, et in rcgcm, 
 quibufdam murmurantibus, inunxcrunt. Mat. Weft, fub ann. 975, p. 193. Florent. 
 
 Wigorn. fub ami. 975, p. 607. Sim. Dunelm. ann. 975. Hovcnd. Annal. p. 427. • 
 
 Edgaro rege mortuo, et Edvvardo ad regnum reli£lo, dum quidam principes acquiefcere 
 nollent, Duriitanus, arrcpto crucis vexillo, in medio conftitit, Edwardum illis oftcndit, 
 elegit, facravit. Capgrav. in vita S. Danftan. fol. 94 
 
 ETHELRED II. Eadwardus rex occiditur, Atheldredus eligitur. Annal. Thcr- 
 nienfes, in biblioth. Cotton, fub ann. 97B. — In demortui Edwardi locum Etheldredus rex 
 fubftituitur. Polyd. Verg. 1. 7, p. iig 
 
 Anno dominicae incarnationis 979, Ethelrcdus filius Edgari, et Elfredae, regnum 
 adeptus, obfedit potius quam rexit annis 37. Ejus vitae curfus faevus in princi|«o, mifer 
 in medio, turpis in exitu, aJleritur. Will. Malmefb. 1. 2, c. 10 
 
 EDMUND IRONSIDE. Omnes proceres, qui in I^undonia erant, et cives, eleo'C- 
 runt Eadmundum in regem. Chron. Saxon, fub ann. 1016. — Cui [Ethclredo] fucceffit in 
 regnum, Londonienfium et Weft-Saxonum eleftione, filius ejus primogenitus Edmun- 
 dus, Ferreum Latus pro fua fortltudine cognominatus. Ingulph. p. 892. — Gives Londo- 
 nienfes et pars nobiiium, qui eo tempore confiftebant Londoniae, Clytonem Eadmundum, 
 unanimi confenfu, in regem levavere. Florent. Wigorn. fub ann. 1016, p. 617. Sim. 
 Dunelm. ann. 1016. — Poft quem [Adelredum] Eadmundus filius ejus ele<5lus eft in regem. 
 Hen. Hunting. 1. 6, p. 362 
 
 CANUTUS. Omnium confeiifu, Cnutus fuper totam Angliam coronatus. Ingulph. 
 p. 892. — Poll: cujus [AethelrediJ mortem epifcopi, abbates, duces, et quique nobiliores 
 Angliae, in unum congregati, pari confenfu, in dominum et regem fibi Canutum eleo-ere. 
 Florent. Wigorn. fub ann. 1016, p. 616. — Totius Angliae fufcepit imperium. Foedus 
 etiam cum principibus, et omni populo ipfe, et illi cum ipfo percuflerunt. Ibid. p. 6ig. 
 — Juraverunt illi, quod il um rcgeni fibi eligere vellent. Hovend. Annal. 436. — Poft 
 cujus [Aetiiehedi] mortem, maxima pars regni tam clericorum quam laicorum in unum 
 congregati, pari confenfu, Cnutonem in regem clegerunt ; et ad eum apud Suthamtoniam 
 venientes, pacem cum eo pepigerunt, et fidelitatem juraverunt. Mat. Weft, fub ann, 
 1016, p. 203 
 
 HAROLD. Leofricus comes, et omnes prope thani a boreoli parte Thamefis, et nau- 
 tae de Lundonia, clegerunt Haroldum in legem totius Angliae. Annal. Saxon, fub ann. 
 1036. — Elegerunt eum Dani et Londoniae cives. Will. Malmefb. 1. 2, c. 12. Haraldus 
 filius Cnut regis, et Ailivac, filiae Alfelmi ducis, eleflus eft in regem. Hen. Hunting. 
 ]. 6, p. 364. Haroldus rex Merciorum et Northimbrorum, anno 1037, utper totamreg- 
 naret Angliam, a principibus et omni populo rex eligitur. Hovend. Aimal. p. 438. Sim. 
 Dunelm. iub ann. 1037. Radulph. dc Diccto, ann. 103S. — DefuniTlo Cnutone, conve- 
 nerunt apud Oxoniam ad colloquium proceres rcgni, ut de novo rege creando tractarent 
 ibidem. Ubi conful Leofricus et omnes Danorum principes, cum Londonienfibus, eleo-e- 
 runt Haraldum, filium Cnutonis, ex concubina Algiva generatum. Mat. Weft, fob ann. 
 J035, p. 209 
 
 T t 2
 
 3^4 DISCOUJISES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 ciiAF.iii chofen by the priefts, and by the elders of the people. In purfuance of 
 which, Egbert, v.ho had no right to the fucceilion, was made king. 
 [Ethelwerd was chofen in the fame manner by the confent of all,] Ethel- 
 wolf a monk, for want of a better, was advanced to the fame honour. 
 His foa Alfred, though crowned by the pope, [and marrying without 
 the confent of the nobility and kingdom, againft their cuftoms and 
 
 HARDICANUTE. Caju? [Cnuti] duo f.lii, Harold u s et Hardetnutus, turn de 
 rennodifceptan'.cs, videbantur helium maximum paiturire. Nam et Dani Londonienfes 
 Haroldum iilium EifginaeNorthamtoniae, fed defamatum, ficlum filium regis Cnuti; An_2.U 
 vero, cum tota caetera terra, potius Edwardum, fjium regis Ethelredi, feu faltem Cnuti 
 regis filium Hardeuiutum, ex Emma regind genitum, eligebant. Ingulph. p. 894. — 
 Hardecnut, filius regis Cnuti, veniens a Dacid illico fufccptus eft, et electus in regem fimul 
 ab Anglis et Dacis. Hen. Hunting. 1. 6, p. 365. — Haraldus apud Oxoniam defunftus 
 eft. Turn proccres tarn Anglorum quam Danorum, in unam concordantes fententiam, 
 miferunt legates ad Brigges in Flandriam, ad regcm Daniae Hardecnutonem, qui cum 
 matre fud ibidem morabatur, rogantes utad Angliam veniret regni diadema fufcepturus : qui 
 confiliis magnatum illico adquiefcens, aeftate media venit in Angliam, et gratanter ab omni- 
 bus fufceptus, ab Eadllo Cantuarienfi archiepifcopo in regem eft coiifecratus. Mat. Weft, 
 fub anil. 1040, p. 210. — Interca Canutus, quern An_-^lici fcriptorcs perperam Hardecanu- 
 tum vocant, cownitd morte Haraldi .... Londinum profeftus libentiflimis animis accipi- 
 tur, communique omnium confenfu rex dicitur. Polyd. Verg. p. 132, 133 
 
 EDWARD THE CONFESSOR. Poft ejus [Hardetnuti] obitum, omnium 
 cleclione in Edv/ardum concordatur. Ingulph. p. 895. — Edwardus cum paucis venit in 
 Angliam, et eleclus eft in regem ab omni populo. Hen. Hunting. 1. 6, p. 365. — Ead- 
 wardus, annuente clero et populo, Londoniis in regem eligitur. Mat. Weft, fub ann. 
 1042, p. 212 
 
 HAROLD n. Tunc Haroldus comes capcffit regnum, ficut rex ei concefTerat, omncf- 
 que ad id eum eligebant, et confecratus eft in regem in fefto Epiphaniae. Annal. Saxon, 
 (ub ann. 1066, p. 172. — Qiio [Edwardo] tumulato, fubregulus Haraldus, Godwin! ducis 
 hiiu!^, quern rex ante fuam deceffionem regni fuccefforem elcgerat, a totius Angliae prima- 
 tibus ad regale culmen eleftus eft. Hift. Eccl. Elienfis. 1. 2, c. 43, p. 515. Edit. 
 Gale, 1691. Floren. Wigorn. fub ann. 1066, p. 633. Sim. Dunelm. lub eod. anno. 
 
 Haroldus de regno addcbat, praefumptuofum fuilTe, quod, abfque generali fenatus et ' 
 jiopuli conventu et edicto, alienam iili haereditatem juraverit. Will. Malmefb. 1. 3, p. 99. 
 Mat. Weft, fub ann. 1066, p. 222 
 
 WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. Anno gratiae 1067, dux Norm.innorum 
 Guiihelmus, uvbem Londoniarum adiens, in magna cxultatione, a clero et populo fufcep- 
 tus, et ab omnibus rex acclamatus, ab Aeldredo Eboracenfi archiepifcopo, regni Angliae 
 iKx-epit diadema. Mat. Weft. 1. 2, p. 225. Mat. Paris, p. 5. — Die ordinationi decreto 
 e'.ocutus ad Anglos condecentifermone Eboraccnfis archicpifcopus, an confcntirent eum fibi 
 uominum coronari, inquifivit. Proteftati funt hilarem confenfum univerfi mininie liaefi- 
 tantes, ac fi coelilus una mente data unaque voce . . . eleiStum confccravit idem archi- 
 cpifeopus. Guil. Pidtavenfis, de Geft. Guil. Ducis Norm. p. 206. Edit. Par. 1619. — Ab 
 omnibus tarn Normannorum quam Anglorum proceribus rex eft: elcftus. Will. Gemet. 
 Hift. Norm. 1. 7, c. 37. — Cunfti pracfules regniquc proceres cum (juillelmo concordiam 
 fccerunt, rx ut diadema regiuiri fumertt, ficut mos Anglici priiicipatus exigit, craverunt. 
 Ord. Vitalis Eccl. Hift. 1. 3, p. 503. Par. 1619 
 
 Ncm.inem Anglici regni conftituo haeredem, fed acterno conditori cujus fum, ct in cujus 
 manu funt omnia, illud commcndo: non enim tantum decus haereditario jure poftedi, fed 
 djto conflidtu, ct multd eff"ufione humani cruoris perjure rcgi Haraldo abftuli, et, interfcdlis 
 vcl cffugatis fautoribus ejus, dominatui meo futcgi. Fragment, apud Anglxarum, Nor- 
 inannicarum, ct Hibcrnicarum rerum Scriptores, edit, a G. Camdeno. p. 32 
 
 ilatUtCP,
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 325 
 
 ftatutes,] * acknowledged, tliat he had received the crown from the sect. 10 
 bounty of the princes, elders, and people ; and in his will declared, that 
 he left the people as he had found them, free as the inward thoughts of 
 man. His fon Edward was eledtcd to be his fucceflbr. Ethel flan, though 
 a baftard, and without all title, was elected by the confent of the nobility 
 and people. Edred, by the fame authority, was cledled and preferred 
 before the fons of Edmund his predeccflor. Edwin, though rightly chofen, 
 was depofed for his ill life, and Edgar eledicd king, by " the will of God, 
 " and confent of the people. " But he alio was deprived of the crown for 
 the rape of a nun, and after feven years reftored by the whole people, 
 " coram omni multitudine populi Anglorum." Ethclred, who is faid to 
 have been cruel in the beginning, wretched in the courfe, and infamous 
 in the end of his reign, was depofed by the fame power that had advanced 
 him. Canutus made a contradt with the princes, and the whole people, 
 and thereupon was, by general confent, crowned king over all England. 
 After him Harold was chofen in the ufual manner. He being de.-^d, a 
 meflage was fent to Elardicanute, with an offer of the crown, which he 
 accepted, and accordingly was received. Edward the ConfefTor was 
 eledted king with the confent of the clergy and people at London ; and 
 Harold excufed himfelf for not performing his oath to William the Nor- 
 man, becaufe he faid, he had made it unduly and prefumptuouily, with- 
 out confulting the nobility and people, and without their authority. 
 William was received with great joy by the clergy and people, and fainted 
 king by all, fwearing to obferve the antient good and approved laws of 
 England. And though he did but ill perform his oath, yet before his 
 death he feemed to repent of the ways he had taken, and only wilhing his 
 fon might be king of England, he confeffed in his laft will, made at 
 Rouen in Normandy, that he neither found nor left the kingdom as an 
 inheritance. If he poflefTed no right except what was conferred upon 
 him, no more was conferred than had been enjoyed by the antient kings, 
 according to the approved laws, which he fwore to obferve f . Thcfe laws 
 gave no power to any, till he was elected ; and that which they did then 
 
 * Rex magnificus Occidentalium Saxonum Aethelulfus cum honore maximoP.omam pro- 
 fcdlus, duxit lecum Aelfredum filium fuum juniorem, quern caeteris omnibus plus dilexir, 
 ut a papa Leone moribus pariter et religione informaretur ibidem. Ubi cum anno integro 
 rex cum filio demoratus fuiflet, fecit filium fuum ibi a papa in regem coronari, atque pofi 
 dies paucos ad patriam rediens duxit ludetham, Caroli regis Francorum filiam, {ec m in 
 Angliam, fibi matrimonio copulatam. Sed interea dum rex moram faceret in partibus 
 tranfmarinis exorta eil contra regem praedictum magnatam quorundam confpiratio .... 
 Caula bifaria erat; una quod filium juniorem Aelfredum, quafi aliis a forte regni exclufis, 
 in regem Romae fecerat coronari. Alia vero quoJ, fpretis omnibus Angliae mulieribus, , 
 filiam regis Francorum alienigcnam fibi per conjugium copulavit. Praeterea audierunt con- 
 fpiratores, quod, "contra morem et flatuta" regum Weft-Saxonum, Judctham regis 
 Francorum filiam, quam nuper defponfaverat, reginam appellabat, et in menfa, ad latus 
 fuum convivari faciebat. Gens vero Wefr-Saxonum non perniittit reginam juxta rec^em 
 federe; nee etiam reginam, fed regis conjugem nominari. Mat. Weft, fub ann. 854, p.. 
 158. Afferius de Aelfredi Reb. Geftis, p. 2. Edit. Franc. 1603 
 
 By this and other teftimonies it appears, thatitv/as Ethelwolf, and not Alfred as our 
 author fays, v/ho married Judith, daughter of the king of France, " contra morem et flatuta. " 
 
 t Vide infra, ch. 3, fetS. ly 
 
 give
 
 3-6 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAT. II I give was fo limited, that the nobility and people referved to themfelves the 
 dii'pofition of the greateft afFairs, even to the depolition and expulfion of 
 fuch as Ihould not well perform the duty of their oath and office. And 
 I leave it to our author to prove, how they can be faid to have had the 
 fword, und the power, fo as to be feared, otherwife than, as the apoftle 
 fays, by thofe that do evil ; which we acknowledge to be not only in the 
 king, but in the loweft officer of juftice in the world. 
 
 If it be pretended, that our later kings are more to be feared than Wil- 
 liam the Norman, or his predeceffors, it muft not be, as has been proved, 
 cither from the general right of kings, or from the doftrine of the apoftle, 
 but from fomething eli'e, that is peculiar and fublequent, which I leave 
 our author's difciples to prove, and an anfwer may be found in due time. 
 But to fliew, that our anceftors did not miftake the words of the apoftle, 
 it is good to confider when, to whom, and upon what occafion, he fpoke. 
 The Chriftian religion was then in its infancy : his difcourfes were 
 addreffied to the profcfTors of it, who, though they foon grew to be con- 
 fiderable in number, were, for the moftpart, of the meaneft fort of people, 
 fervants, or inhabitants of the cities, rather than citizens and freemen ; 
 joined in no civil body or fociety, nor fuch as had or could have any 
 part in the government. The occafion was, to fupprefs the dangerous 
 p.iiftake of many converted Jews, and others, who, knowing themfelves 
 to be freed from the power of lin and the devil, preiumed they were alio 
 freed from the obligation of human laws. And if this error had not been 
 -cropped in the bud, it would have given occafion to their enemies (who 
 dehred nothing more) to deftroy them all ; and who, knowing that fuch 
 notions were ftirring among them, would have been glad, that they, who 
 were not ealily to be difcovered, had by that means difcovered themfelves. 
 
 This induced a neceffity of diverting a poor, mean, fcattered people 
 from fucli thoughts concerning the ftate ; to convince them of the error 
 into which they were fallen, that Chriftlans did not owe the fame obedi- 
 e.ace to civil laws and magiftrates as other men, and to keep them from 
 drawing deftrufllon upon themfelves by fuch ways, as not being war- 
 ranted by God, had no promife of his protedllon. St. Paul's work was to 
 preferve the profeflbrs of Chrlftianlty, as appears by his own words : " I 
 *' exhort, that firft of all, fupplications, prayers, Interccffions, and giv- 
 *' ing of thanks, be made for all men ; for kings, and for all that are in 
 *' authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, in all gcdlinefs 
 " and honefty. Put them In mind to be fubje(£t to principalities and 
 " powers, to obey magiftrates, to be ready for every good work *. " St. 
 Peter agrees with him fully in defcribing the maglftratc, and his duty ; 
 flicwing the reafons why obedience ftiould be paid to him, and teaching 
 Chriftlans to be humble, and contented with their condition, as free, yet 
 not ufmg their liberty for a cover to malice; and not only to fear God, 
 and honour the king (of which ccnjundtlon of words fuch as Filmcr arc 
 ■\-cry proud) but to honour all men, as is faid in the fame verfe. This 
 
 * I Tim. ch. 2, V. I, 2. Tit. ch. 3 
 
 was,
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 327 
 
 was, in a peculiar manner, the work of that time, in which thofe who sect. 10 
 
 were to preach and propagate the gofpel were not to be diverted from that 
 
 duty, by entangling themfelves in the care of flate-afFairs. But it docs 
 
 in fome fenfe agree with all times : for it can never be the duty of a good 
 
 man to oppofe fuch a magiftrate, as is the minifter of God, in the exercile- 
 
 of his office, nor to deny to any man that v^'hich is his due. 
 
 But as the Chrirtian law exempts no man from the duty he owes to his 
 father, mafter, or the magiftrate, it docs not make him more a flave than 
 he was before, nor deprive him of any natural or civil right ; and if we 
 are obliged to pay tribute, honour, or any other thing, where it is not 
 due, it mufl be by fome precept very different from that which commands 
 us to give to Caelar that which is Caefar's. If he define the magillrate to 
 be the minifter of God doing juftice, and from thence draw the reafons he 
 gives for rendering obedience to him, we are to inquire, whofe minifter 
 he is who overthrows it, and look for fome other reafon for rendering- 
 obedience to him, than the words of the apoftles. If David, who VN^as 
 willing to lay down his life for the people, "who hated iniquity," and- 
 would not " fuffer a lyar to come into his prefence *, " was the minifter 
 of God, I defire to know, whofe minifter Caligula v/as, who fet up him- 
 felf to be worlliipped for a god f, and would at once have deftroyed all 
 the people, that he ought to have proteded ? Whofe minifter was Nero, 
 who, befides the abominable impurities of his life, and hatred to all virtue, 
 as contrary to his perfon and government, fet fire to the great city? If it 
 be true, that " contrariorum contraria eft ratio," thefe qucftions areeafily 
 decided ; and if the reafons of things are eternal, the fame diftimflion, 
 grounded upon truth, will be good for ever. Every m.agiftrate, and 
 every man by his works, will for ever declare whofe minifter he is, in 
 what fpirit he lives, and confequently what obedience is due to him 
 according to the precept of the apoftle. If any man afk, what I mean by 
 juftice, I anfwer, that the law of the land, as far as it is " fanftio reda, 
 " jubens honefta, prohibens contraria :|:, " declares what it is. But there 
 have been and are laws, that are neither juft nor commendable. There 
 was a law in Rome, that no god fhould be worfhipped without the con- 
 fent of the fenate : upon which, Tertullian fays fcoffingly, "that God 
 " fhall not be God, unlefs he pleafe man §. " By virtue of this law, tlic 
 nrft Chriftians were expofed to all manner of cruelties ; and fome of the 
 emperors, in other refpeds excellent men, moft foully polluted themfelves 
 and their government with innocent blood. Antoninus Pius was taken 
 in this fnare ; and Tertullian bitterly derides Trajan, for glorying in his 
 clemency, vv^hen he had commanded Pliny, who was proconful in Afia, 
 
 * Pfal. 101, V. 10 t Vide fupra, p. 246 
 
 X. Efl: lex nihil aliud, nifi rcfta, ct a numine deorum traifla ratio, impcrans honedn, pro- 
 hibens contraria. Cic. Piiilip. 11, § 28. — Licet largiffime dicatur lex omnc quod legitur,- 
 tamen fpecialiter fignificat fandlionem juilam, jubentcm honeiia, prohibentem contraria. 
 Erafl. 1. I, c. 3, fol. 2 
 
 § Vetus erat decretum, ne qui deus ab imperatoreconfecrarctur, nlfi a fcnatu probatus . . . 
 Nil! homini deus pl.icuerit, deusnon erit. Teitul. Apol. p. 6 
 
 not.
 
 o 
 
 28 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. Ill not to make any fearch for Chriftians, but only to punifh them according 
 to law, when they fliould be brought before him •. No municipal law 
 can be more firmly eftablifhed by human authority, than that of the inqui- 
 fition in Spain, and other places : and each of thofe accurfed tribunals, 
 which have flied more Chriftian blood than all the pagans, that ever were 
 in the world, is commonly called " the holy office. " If a gentleman in 
 Poland kill a pcafant, he is by a law now in ufe free from punifliment, if 
 he lay a ducat upon the dead body. Evenus the third, king of Scotland, 
 caufed a law to pafs, by which the wives and daughters of noblemen were 
 expofed to his luft, and thofe of the commons to the lull of the nobility f . 
 Thefe, and an infinite number of others like to them, were not right 
 •findions, but fuch as have produced unfpeakable mifchiefs and calamities. 
 They were not therefore laws : the name of juftice is abuiively attributed 
 to them : thofe that govern by them cannot be the minifters of God : and 
 the apoftle commanding our obedience to the minifter of God for our 
 good, commands us not to be obedient to the minifter of the devil to our 
 ■hurt ; for we cannot ferve two mafhers. 
 
 S E C T I O N XI 
 
 THAT WHICH IS NOT JUST IS NOT LAW; AND THAT WHICH 
 IS NOT LAAV OUGHT NOT TO BE OBEYED. 
 
 Our author, having for a long time pretended confcience, now pulls off 
 his malli, and plainly tells us, that it is not on account of confcience, but 
 for fear of puniihment, or in hope of reward, that laws are to be obeyed. 
 '" That familiar diflin£tion of the fchoolmen, :}; " fays he, " whereby they 
 " fubjeft kings to the diredtive, but not to the coa£tive power of laws, is 
 *' a confeffion, that kings are not bound by the pofitive laws of any nation, 
 ■*' fmce the compullory power of lavv'S is that which properly makes laws 
 " to be laws. " Not troubling myfelf with this diftind:ion of the fchool- 
 ■men, nor acknovdedging any truth to be in it, or that they are competent 
 judges of fuch matters, I fay, that if it be true, our author's conclufion is 
 altogether falfe ; for the diredive power of the law, which is certain, and 
 grounded upon the inherent good and redlitude that is in ir, is that alone 
 -which has a power over the confcience, whereas the coercive is merely 
 ■contingent ; and the mod jufl powers, commanding the mofl: juil things, 
 have fo often fallen under the violence of the mofi: unjuft men, command- 
 ing the moft execrable villainies, that if they were therefore to be obeyed, 
 
 * Trajanus refcripfit, hoc genus inquirendos quidem non efie, oblatos vero puniri opor- 
 Icrc. O fcntentiam neccffitatc coiifufam ! negat inquirendos, ut innocentes, et niandat 
 punicndos ut noccntes : parcit et facvit, diffimulat et animadvertit. Tcrtul. Apol. p. 4 
 
 t Tulit kgcm Evenus, ut cuivis liceret, pro opibus quot alere poffet, uxorcs ducere ; 
 ut rex ante nuptias fponfarum nobilium, nobilcs plebeiarum praelibarent pudicitiam, ut ple- 
 tcioruin uxores cum nobilitate communes effcnt. Buch. ]. 4, c. 16 
 
 J Aquin. quaeft. 95, art. x, torn. 2 
 
 the
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 329 
 
 the confcicnces of men muft be regulated by the fuccefs of a battle or con- sect. 1 1 
 fpiracy; than which nothing can l>e afiirmed more impious and abfurd, 
 liy this rule, David was not to be obeyed, when by the wlckedncfs oi his 
 fon he was driven from Jerufalem, and deprived of all coercive power ; 
 and the confcientious obedience tliat had been due to him was transferred 
 to Abfalom, who fought his life. And in St. Paul's time it was not from 
 him, who was guided only by the Spirit of Cod, and had no manner ol 
 coercive power, that Chriftians were to learn their duty, but from Cali- 
 gula, Claudius, and Nero, who had that power well eflablifhed by the 
 mercenary legions. If this were fo, the governments of the world might 
 be juftly called " magna latrocinia *; " and men laying afide all confidera- 
 tion of reafon or juftice, ought only to follow thofe, who can inflivS the 
 greateft punishments, or give the greateft rewards. But fince the recep- 
 tion of fuch opinions would be the extirpation of all that can be called 
 good, wc mull look for another rule of our obedience ; and Ihall find that 
 to be the law, which being, as I fald before, " fanftio recSta," mufi: be 
 founded upon that eternal principle of reafon and truth, from whence the 
 rule of juftice, which is facred and pure, ought to be deduced, and not 
 from the depraved will of man, which, fluiSluating according to the dif- 
 ferent interefts, humours, and paflions, that at feveral times reign in 
 feveral nations, one day abrogates what had been enadled the other. The 
 fan£lion therefore, that delerves the name of a law, " which derives not 
 its excellency from antiquity, or from the dignity of the legiflators, but 
 from an intrinfic equity and juftice "f, " ought to be made, in purfuance 
 of that univerfal reafon, to which all nations, at all times, owe an equal 
 veneration and obedience. By this we may know, whether he who has 
 the power docs juftice or not ; whether he be the minifter of God to our 
 good, a protedor of good, and a terror to ill men ; or the minifter of the 
 devil to our hurt, by encouraging all manner of evil, and endeavouring, 
 by vice and corruption, to make the people wcrfc, that they may be 
 miferable, and miferable, that they may be worfe. I dare not fay, I Ihall 
 never fear fuch a man, if he be armed with power ; but I am fure I fliall 
 never efteem him to be the minifter of God, and ihall think I do ill if I 
 fear him. If he has therefore a coercive power over me, it is through my 
 weaknefs ; " for he that will fufFer himfelf to be compelled knows not 
 *' how to die :{:. " If therefore he, who does not follow the diredlive 
 power of the law, be not the minifter of God, he is not a king, at leaft 
 not fuch a king as the apoftle commands us to obey. And if that fandlion, 
 which is not juft, be not a law, and can have no obligation upon us, by 
 what power foever it be eftabliftied, it may well fall out, that the magif- 
 trate, who will not follow the directive power of the law, may fall under 
 the coercive, and then the fear Is turned upon him, with this aggravation, 
 that it is not only adlual, but juft. This was the cafe of Nero : the coer- 
 
 * Remotajuftitia, quid funt regna, nifi magna latrocinia ? Aug. de Civ. Dei, 1. 4, c. 4 
 
 f Tertui. ApoL p. 6. Vide fupra, p. 308 
 
 j: Cogi qui poteft nefcit mori. Sen. Here. Fur. ad. 2, fc. 3, v. 90 
 
 U u dve
 
 330 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. Ill cive power was no longer in him, but againft him. He that was forced 
 to fly, and to hide himfelf, that was abandoned by all men, and condemned 
 to die " according to antient cuftom *, " did, as I fuppofe, fear, and was 
 no way to be feared. The like may be faid of Amaziah king of Judah, 
 when he fled to Lachifh ; of Nabuchodonofor, when he was driven from 
 the fociety of men ; and of many emperors and kings of the greateft 
 nations in the world, who have been fo utterly deprived of all power, 
 that they have been imprifoned, depofed, confined to monafteries, killed, 
 drawn through the ftreets, cut in pieces, thrown into rivers, and indeed 
 fuff^ered all that could be fufl^ered by the vileft flaves. 
 
 If any man fay thefe things ought not to have been done, an anfwer 
 may be given in a proper place ; though it were enough to fay, that the 
 juftice of the world is not to be overthrown by a mere aflertion without 
 . proof ; but that is nothing to the prefent queftion : for if it was ill done to 
 drive Nero to defpair, or to throw Vitellius into the Tiber, it was not 
 becaufe they were the minifters of God ; for their lives were no way con- 
 formable to the chara'fter which the apoftle gives of thofe who deferve that 
 facred name. If thofe only are to be feared who have the power, there 
 was a time when they were not to be feared, for they had none ; and if 
 thofe princes are not obliged by the law, who are not under the coercive 
 power, it gave no exemption to thefe, for they fell under it : and as we 
 know not what will befal others who walk in their fleps, till they are 
 dead, we cannot till then know whether they are free from it or not^ 
 
 SECTION XII 
 
 THE RIGHT AND POWER OF A MAGISTRATE DEPENDS UPON: 
 HIS INSTITUTION, NOT UPON HIS NAME. 
 
 It is ufual with impoftors to obtrude their deceits upon men, by putting 
 falfe names upon things, by which they may perplex mens minds, and 
 from thence deduce falfe conclufions. But the points above-mentioned 
 being fettled, it imports little whether the governors, to whom Peter 
 injoins obedience, wore only kings, and fuch as are employed by them, 
 or all fuch magidrates as are the minifters 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 diftinguiflics the magiftrate to whom 
 obedience is due, from him to whom none is due, and not the name that 
 he either affuraes, or others put upon him. But if there be any virtue in 
 the word king, and tlie admirable prerogatives, of which our author 
 dreams, were annexed to that name, they could not be applied to the 
 
 * Inter moras perlatos a curfore Phaontis coc'icilos pracripuit, Icgitquc, " fc hortein a 
 " fenatu jmlkatum, et quaeri, ut puniatur, more mujorum. " Suet, in vita Ner. § 49 
 
 Roman
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 331 
 
 Roman emperors, nor their fuljftltuted ofFicers, for they had it not. It is sect. la 
 true, Mark Antony, in a drunken fit, at the celebration of the impure 
 LupercaHa, did offer a diadem to Julius Caefar, which fome flatterers 
 preffed him to accept (as our great lawyers did Cromwell) but he durfl: not 
 think of putting it upon his head. Caligula's affectation of that title, 
 and the enfigns of royalty he wore, were taken for the mofl evident 
 marks of his madnefs. And though the greatefi: and bravefl: of their men 
 had fallen by the wars or profcriptions, though the beft part of the fenate 
 had periflicd in Theflaly, though the great city was cxhaulled, and Italy 
 brought to defolation, yet they were not reduced fo low as to endure a 
 king. Pifo was fufficiently addicted to Tiberius, yet he could not fuffer, 
 that Germanicus fhould be treated as the fon of a king ; " principis 
 " Romani, non Parthi regis filio eas epulas dari *. " And whoever 
 underftands the Latin tongue, and the hiftory of thole times, will eafily 
 perceive, that the word " princeps " fignified no more than a principal or 
 eminent man, as has been already proved : and the words of Pifo could 
 have no other meaning, than that the fon of a Roman ought not to be 
 diftinguifhcd from others, as the fons of the Parthian kings were. This 
 is verified by his letter to Tiberius, under the name of friend, and the 
 anfwer of Tiberius promifing to him " whatever one friend could do for 
 *' another f. " Here was no mention of majefly, or fovereign lord, nor 
 the bafe fubfcriptions of fervant, fubje£t, or creature. And I fear, that 
 as the laft of thofe words was introduced among us by our bifhops, the 
 reft of them had been alfo invented by fuch Chriftians as were too much 
 addicted to the Afiatic flavery. However, the name of king was never 
 folemnly aflumed by, nor conferred upon thofe emperors ; and could have 
 conferred no right if it had. They exercifed as they pleafed, or as they 
 durfl, the power that had been gained by violence or fraud. The exor- 
 bitances they committed could not have been juflified by a title, any more 
 than thofe of a pirate, who Ihould take the fame. It was no otherwife 
 given to them than by way of aflimilation, when they were guilty of the 
 greateft crimes : and Tacitus, defcrlbing the deteflable luft of Tiberius, 
 fays, " quibus adeo indomitis exarferat, ut more regio pubem ingenuam 
 " ftupris pollueret ; nee formam tantum, et decora corpora, fed in his 
 " modeftam pueritiam, in aliis imagines majorum, incitamentum cupidi- 
 " nis habebat :):. " He alio informs us, that Nero took his time to put 
 Barea Soranus to death, who was one of the moft virtuous men of that 
 age, when Tiridates king of Armenia was at Rome, " that he might 
 " fhew the imperial grandeur by the flaughter of the moft illuftrious men, 
 *' which he accounted a royal adtion §. " I leave it to the judgment of 
 
 * Vox ejus [Pifonis] audita eft in convivio, cum apud regem Nabathaeoruin coronae 
 aureae magno pondere Caefari [Germanico] et Agrippinac, ieves Piibni et caeteris ofFerrentur, 
 *' principis Romani, non Parthi regis filio eas epulas dari." Tacit. Annal. 1. 2, § 57 
 ■\ Tacit. Annal. 1. 4, § 16, 17. =^ ^ =1^ J Annal. 1. 6, §1 
 
 § Ut magnitudinem impcratoriam caede infignium virorum, quafi regio facinore, oflen- 
 taret. Annal. 1. 16, § 23 
 
 U u 2 all
 
 332. DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. Ill all wife men, whether it be probable, that the apoftles fhould diflinguifh 
 fuch as thefe from other magiftrates, and dignify thole only with the title 
 ot God's minifters, who diftinguifhed themfelves by fuch ways ; or that 
 the fucceeding emperors fhould be ennobled with the fame prerogative, 
 who had no other title to the name, than by refcmbling thofe that had it 
 in luch things as thefe. If this be too abfurd and abominable to enter inta 
 the heart of a man, it muft be concluded, that their intention was only to 
 divert the poor people to whom they preached, from involving themfelves 
 in the care of civil matters, to which they had no call. And the counfel 
 would have been good, as things flood v/ith them, if they had been under 
 the power of a pirate, or any other villain, fubftituted by him. 
 
 But though the apoftles had looked upon, the ofKcers fet over the pro- 
 vinces belonging to the Roman empire, as fent by kings, I defire to 
 know, whether it can be imagined, that they could think the fubordinate 
 governors to be fent by kings, in the countries that had no kings ; or 
 that obedience became due to the magiftrates in Greece, Italy, or other 
 provinces under the jurifdidion 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 been lately killed for aiming at a crown *. When 
 he had blemifhed all his virtues by that attempt, they forgot his former 
 fervices. They never confidered how many Roman legions he had cut in 
 pieces, nor how many thoufands of their allies he had deftroyed. His 
 valour was a crime deferving death, when he fought to make a prey of 
 his country, which he had fo bravely defended, and to enflave thofe who 
 with him had fought for the public liberty. But if the apoflles were to be 
 underftood to give the name of God's minifters only to kings, and thofe 
 who are employed by them, and obedience is due to no other, a dom-eftic 
 tyrant had been their greatefl benefadtor. He had fet up the only govern- 
 ment that is authorized by God, and to which a confcientious obedience 
 is due. Agathocles, Dionyfius, Phalaris, Pheraeus, Pififtratus, Nabis, 
 Machanldas, and an infinite number of the mofl deteftable villains that the 
 world has ever produced, did confer the fame benefits upon the countries 
 they enflaved. But if this be equally falfe, fottifh, abfurd, and execrable, 
 all thofe epithets belong to our author, and his doQrine, for attempting 
 to deprefs all modeft and regular magi fir aciea, and endeavouring to cor- 
 rupt the Scripture to patronize the greatefl of crimes. No man therefore, 
 who does not delight in error, can think, that the apoille defigned pre- 
 cifely to determine fuch queflions as might arife concerning any one man's 
 right, or, in the leafl degree, to prefer any one form of government 
 before another. In acknowledging the magiflrate to be man's ordinance, 
 he declares, that man, who makes him to be, may make him to be what 
 he pleafes ; and though there is found more prudence and virtue in one 
 nation than in another, that magiftracy, which is cftabliflicd in any one, 
 ought to be obeyed, till they who made the eftablilhmeat think fit to alter 
 
 * Tacit. Annal. 1. 2, c. 88 
 
 it.
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 333 
 
 it. All therefore, while they continue, are to be looked upon with the sect. 13 
 fame refpedl. Every nation, acting freely, has an equal right to frame 
 their own government, and to employ fuch officers as they plcafc. The 
 authority, right, and power, of thefe mufl: be regulated by the judgment, 
 right, and power, of thofe who appoint them, without any relation at all 
 to the name that is given ; for that is no way eflcntial to the thing. The 
 fame name is frequently given to thofe, who differ exceedingly in right 
 and power ; and the fame right and power is as often annexed to magif- 
 tracies, that differ in name. The fame power wliich had been in the 
 Roman kings, was given to the confuls ; and that which had been legally 
 in the di<f^ators, for a time not exceeding fix months, was afterwards 
 ufurped by the Caefars, and made perpetual. The fupreme power, which 
 fome pretend belongs to all kings, has been and is enjoyed in the fullefl 
 extent by fuch as never had the name ; and no magiftracy was ever more 
 reftrained than thofe that had the name of kings in Sparta, Arragon, Eng- 
 land, Poland, and other places. They therefore that did thus inftitute, , 
 regulate, and reftrain, create magiftracies, and give them names and 
 powers, as feemed beft to them, could not but have in themfelves the coer- 
 cive as well as the directive over them, for the regulation and reftridlion 
 is coercion ; but moft of all the inilitution, by which they could make 
 them to be or not to be. As to the exterior force, it is fometimes on the 
 fide of the magiftrate, and fometimes on that of the people ; and as magif- 
 trates, under feveral names, have the fame v^ork incumbent upon them, 
 and the fame power to perform it, the fame duty is to be exaded from 
 them, and rendered to them : which being diftludly proportioned by the 
 laws of every country, I may conclude, that all magiftratical power, being 
 the ordinance of man, in purfuance of the ordinance of God, receives its 
 being and meafure from the legidative power of every nation. And 
 whether the power be placed fimply in one, a few, or many men, or in 
 one body compofed of the three fimple fpecies ; whether the fingle perfon 
 be called king, duke, marquis, emperor, fultan, mogul, or grand fignior; 
 or the number go under the name of fenate, council, pregadi, diet, 
 affembly of eflates, and the like, it is the fame thing. The fame obedience 
 is equally due to all, vvhilff, according to the precept of the apoffle, 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.. 
 
 SECTION XIII 
 
 LAWS WERE MADE TO DIRECT AND INSTRUCT MAGISTRATES, 
 AND IF THEY WILL NOT BE DIRECTED, TO RESTRAIN THEM, 
 
 I know not who they are, that our author introduces to fay, that " the 
 *' firft invention of laws was, to bridle or moderate the over great power 
 '* of kings ;" and unlefs they give fome better proof of their judgment irr 
 
 other
 
 334 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. Ill other things, fhall little efteem them. They fhould have confidered, that 
 there are laws in many places whert there are no kings ; that there were 
 laws in many before there were kings, as in Ifrael, the law was given 
 three hundred years before they had any ; but efpecially, that as no man 
 can be a rightful king, except by law, nor have any juft j)Ower, but from 
 the law, if that power be found to be over great, the law that gave it 
 muft have been before that which was to moderate, or reftrain it ; for 
 that couM not be moderated, which was not in being. Leaving therefore 
 our author to fight with thefe adverfaries, if he pleafes, when he finds 
 them, I fhall proceed to examine his own pofitions. " The truth is, " 
 fays he, " the original of laws was, for the keeping of the multitude in 
 " order. Popular eftates could not fubfift at all without laws ; whereas 
 " kingdoms were governed many ages without them. The people of 
 " Athens, as foon as they gave over kings, were forced to give power 
 *' to Draco firff, then to Solon, to make them laws." If we will believe 
 him therefore, wherever 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 fo wife, juft, and good, that they are laws to themfelves, 
 " leges viventes. " This was certainly verified by the whole fucceffion of 
 the Caefars, the ten laft kings of Pharamond's race, all the fuccelTors of 
 Charles the Great, and others, that I am not willing to name ; but, 
 referring myfelf to hiftory, I defire all reafonable men to confider, whether 
 tbe piety and tender care, that was natural to Caligula, Nero, or Domi- 
 tian, was fuch a fecurity to the nations that lived under them, as without 
 law to be fufficient for their prefervation : for, if the contrary appear to 
 be true, and their government was a perpetual exercife of rage, malice, 
 and madnefs, by which the worft of men were armed with power to 
 deftroy the beft, fo that the empire could only be faved by their deftruc- 
 tion, it is moft certain, that mankind can never fall into a condition, 
 which ftands more in need of laws to protedt the innocent, than when 
 fuch monfters reign, vv^ho endeavour their extirpation, and are too well 
 furnifhed with means to accomplifh their deteftable defigns. Without any 
 prejudice therefore to the caufe I defend, I might confeis, that all nations 
 were at the firfl governed by kings ; and that no laws were impofed upon 
 thofe kings, till they, or the fucceffors of thofe, who had been advanced 
 for their virtues, by falling into vice and corruption, did manifcftly dlf- 
 cover the inconveniences of depending upon their will. Befides thefe, 
 there are alfo children, women, and fools, that often come to the fuccef- 
 fion of kingdoms, whofe weakncfs and ignorance ftand in as great need 
 of fupport and dire(flion, as the defperate fury of the others can do of 
 reftriaion. And if fome nations had been fo fottifh, as not to forefee the 
 mifchief of leaving them to their will, others, or the fame in fucceeding 
 ages difcovering them, could no more be obliged to continue in fo perni- 
 cious a folly, than we are to live in that wretched barbarity, in Avhich the 
 Romans found our anccftors, when they firfl entered this illand. 
 
 If
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 335 
 
 If any man fay, that Filmcr does not fpeak of monfters, nor of children, SECT. 13 
 women, or fools, but of wife, juft, and good princes, I anfwer, that if 
 there be a right inherent in kings, as kings, of doing what they pleafe, 
 and in thofe who are next in blood, to fucceed them, and inherit the fame, 
 it mufl; belong to all kings, and fuch as upon title of blood would be kings. 
 And as there is no family that may not, and does not often produce fuch 
 as I mentioned, it mufl alfo be acknowledged in them ; and that power 
 which Is left to the wife, juft, and good, upon a fuppofition, that they 
 will not make an ill ufe of It, mull be devolved to thofe, who will not or 
 cannot make a good one ; but will either malicloufly turn it to the deftruc- 
 tion of thofe they ought to proted, or through weaknefs fuffer it to fall 
 into the hands of thofe that govern them, who are found by experience to 
 be for the moft part the worft of all, moft apt to ufe the bafeft arts, and to 
 flatter the humours, and foment the vices, that are moft prevalent in weak 
 and vicious princes. Germanicus, Corbulo, Valerius Afiatlcus, Thrafea, 
 Soranus, Helvldius Prifcus, Julius Agricola, and other excellent men, 
 lived in the times of Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero; but the 
 power was put into the hands of Scjanus, Macro, Tigellinus, and other 
 villains like to them : and I wifti there were not too many modern exam- 
 ples to ftiew, that weak and vicious princes will never choofe fuch as fhall 
 preferve nations from the mifchlefs that would enfue upon their own 
 incapacity or malice ; but that they muft be Impofed upon them by fome 
 other power, or nations be ruined for want of them. This impofition 
 muft be by law, or by forc^. But as laws are made to keep things in 
 good order without the neceflity of having recourfe to force, it would be 
 a dangerous extravagance to arm that prince with force, which probably 
 in a ftiort time muft be oppofed by force. And thofe who have been 
 guilty of this error, as the kingdoms of the eaft, and the antient Roman 
 empire, where no provifion was made by law againft ill-governing 
 princes, have found no other remedy than to kill them, when by extreme 
 fuff^erings they were driven beyond patience : and this fell out fo often, 
 that few of their princes were obferved to die by a common death. But 
 fince the empire was tranfmltted to Germany, and the emperors reftralned 
 by laws, that nation has never been brought to the odious extremities of 
 fuff". ring all manner of indignities, or revenging them upon the heads of 
 princes. And If the pope had not difturbed them upon the account of 
 religion, nor driven their princes to difturb others, they might have pafled 
 many ages wlihout any civil dlffenfion, and all their emperors might 
 have lived happily, and died peaceably, as moft of them have done. 
 
 This might be fufiiclent to my purpofe : for. If all princes without 
 dlftindllon, whether good or bad, wife or foolifh, young or old, fober or 
 mad, cannot be entrufted with an unlimited power; and it the power 
 they have, ought to be limited by law, that nations may not with danger 
 to themfelves, as well as to the prince, have recourfe to the laft remedy, 
 this law muft be given to all, and the good can be no otherwlfe diftin- 
 guifhed from the bad, and the wife from the foolifh, than by the obfer- 
 
 2 vation
 
 so 
 
 6 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP, in vation or violation of it. But I may juftly go a ftep farther, and affirm, 
 that this law, which, by reftraining the lufis of the vicious and foolifh, 
 frequently preferves them from the deflruiTtion they would bring upon 
 themfelves or people, and fometimes upon both, is an afliltance and direc- 
 tion to the wifeft and befi: ; fothat they alfo, as well as the nations under 
 them, are gainers by it. This will appear ftrange only to thofe who 
 know not " how difficult and infupportable the government of great 
 " nations is *," and how unable the beft man is to bear it. And, if it 
 furpals the ftrength of the beft, it may eafily be determined how ordinary 
 men will behave themfelves under it, or what ufe the worft will make of 
 it. I know there have been wife and good kings ; but they had not an 
 abfolute power, nor would have accepted it, though it had been offered : 
 much lefs can I believe, that any of them would have tranfmitted fuch a 
 power to their pofterity, when none of them could know any more than 
 Solomon, whether his fon would be a wife man or a fool. But if the beft 
 might have defired, and had been able to bear it (though Mofes by his 
 own confeffion was not) that could be no reafon why it fhould be given to 
 the worft and weakeft, or thofe who probably will be fo. Since the afl'u- 
 rance, that it will not be abufed during the life of one man, is nothing to 
 the conftitution of a ftate which aims at perpetuity. And no man knowing 
 what men will be, efpecially if they come to the power by fucceffion, 
 which may properly enough be called by chance, it is reafonably to be 
 feared they will be bad, and confequently it is neceffary fo to limit their 
 power, that if they prove to be io., the commonwealth may not be deftroyed, 
 which they were inftituted to preferve. The law provides for this in 
 leaving to the king a full and ample power of doing as much good as his 
 heart can wiffi, and in reftraining his power fo, that if he fliould depart 
 from the duty of his office, the nation may not periih. This is a help to 
 thofe who are wife and good, by direfting them what they are to do, 
 more certainly than any one man's perfonal judgment can do ; and no 
 prejudice at all, ftnce no fuch man did ever complain he was not fuffered 
 to do the evil, which he would abhor, if it were in his power ; and is a 
 moft neceffary curb to the fury of bad princes, preventing them from 
 bringing deftrudion upon the people. Men are fo fubjedl to vices, and 
 paffions, that they ftand in need of fome reftraint in every condition ; but 
 efpecially 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 thofe very men, who 
 have lived modeftly when they had little power, have often proved the 
 moft favage of all monfters, when they thought nothing able to refift their 
 rage. It is faid of Caligula, that no man ever knew " a better fervant, nor 
 
 * After the death of Auguftus, Tiberius told the fenatc, " fe in partem ciirarum ab iJIo 
 *' vocatum, cxpcriendo didiciiTe, quam arduuin, quam fubjectum fortunac, regendi cunfta 
 *'■ onu£." Tacit. Aniial. 1. j, § ii 
 
 5 ■** a worfe
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 337 
 
 *' a worfe mafter■^" The want of rcftraint made him a bcaft, who sect, i ' 
 might have continued to be a man. And though I cannot fay, that our 
 law necefiarily admits the next in blood to the fucccfTion, for the contrary 
 is proved, yet th.c faciUty of our an_ccRors, in receiving children, women, 
 or fuch men as were not more able than themfelves to bear the vv'cight of 
 a crown, convinces me fully, that they had fo framed our laws, that even 
 children, women, or ill men, might either perform as much as was neccf- 
 farily required of them, or be brought to reafon, if they tranfgreiTed, and 
 arrogated to themfelves more than was allowed. For it is not to be ima- 
 gined, that a company of men fliould fo far degenerate from their own 
 nature, which is reafon, as to give up themfelves, and their poflerity, 
 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 neceffary to popular ftates, they are no lefs to 
 monarchies ; or rather, that is not a ftate or government, which has them 
 not : and it is no lefs impoflible for any to fubfift without them, than for 
 the body of a man to be, and perform its fundtions, without nerves or 
 bones. And if any people had ever been fo foolifli as to eftablifti that 
 which they called a government, without laws to fupport and regulate it, 
 the impoffibility of iubfifling would evidence the madnefs of the conftitu- 
 tion, and ought to deter all others from following their example. 
 
 It is no lefs incredible, that thofe nations which rejedled kings did put 
 themfelves into the power of one man, to prefcribe to them fuch lavv's as 
 he pleafed. But the inftances alleged by our author are evidently falfe. 
 The Athenians were not without laws VN^hen they had kings : Aegeus was 
 fubjed: to the laws, and did nothing of importance without the confent of 
 the people ; and Thefeus, not being able to pleafe them, died a banifhed 
 man. Draco and Solon did not make, but propofe laws "f ; and they 
 were of no force till they v/ere eftabliflied by the authority of the people. 
 The Spartans dealt in the fame manner with Lycurgus ; he invented their 
 laws, but the people made them. And, when the aflembly of all the 
 citizens had approved and fv,'orn to obferve them till his return from Crete, 
 he refolved rather 10 die in a voluntary banifhment, than by his return to 
 abfolve them from the oath they had taken. The Rom.ans alfo had laws 
 <iuring the government of their kings ; but not finding in them that per- 
 fedion they defired, the decemviri were chofen to frame others, which 
 yet were of no value till they were paifed by the people in the " comiiia 
 *' centuriata ; " and being fo approved, they were eihiblifhed |. But 
 this fanCtion, to which every man, whether magiftrate or private citizen, 
 Vvras fubjedl, did no way bind the whole body of the people, who ftill 
 
 * Tanti in avum, et qui juxta eiant, obfequii, ut non immerito fit dictum, " nee 
 <' fervum meliorem ullum, nee deteriorem doniinum fuifie. " Suet, in vita Calig. § lo. 
 Tacit. Annal. 1. 6, § 20 
 
 f Vide Plut. in vita Solonis. 
 
 + Ingenti liominum expciftatione propofitis decern tabulis populum ad concionem advoca- 
 verunt; et quod boniim, fauftum, felixque fit reipublicae, ipfis, liberifque eorum effet, ire, 
 et kgere leges propofitas juflere. Liv. I. 3, c. 34. 
 
 X X retained
 
 338 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP, in retained in themfelves the power of changing both the matter and the form 
 of their government, as appears by their inftituting and abrogating kings, 
 confuls, diftators, tribunes with coniular power, and decemviri, when- 
 they thought good for the commonwealth. And if they had this power, 
 I leave our author to fliew, why the like is not in other nations. 
 
 SECTION XIV 
 
 LAWS ARE NOT MADE BY KINGS, NOT BECAUSE THEY ARE. 
 
 BUSIED IN GREATER MATTERS THAN DOING JUSTICE, BUT 
 
 BECAUSE NATIONS WILL BE GOVERNED BY RULE, AND 
 
 NOT ARBITRARILY.. 
 
 Our author purfuing the miftakes to which he feems perpetually con- 
 demned, fiys, that " when kings were either bufied with wars, or dif- 
 " tradled with public cares, fo that every private man could not have 
 " accefs to their perfons, to learn their wills and pleafure, then of neceffity 
 " were laws invented, that fo every particular fubjedl might find his 
 " prince's pleafure." I have often heard, that governments were efla- 
 blifhed for the obtaining of juftice; and if that be true it is hard to imagine 
 what bufinefs a fupreme magiflrate can have to divert him from accom- 
 plifhing the principal end of his inftitution. And it is as commonly faid, 
 that this diflribution of juftice to a people, is a work furpaffing the ftrength 
 of any one man. Jethro feems to have been a wife man, and it is probable 
 he thought Mofes to be fo alfo ; but he found the work of judging the 
 people to be too heavy for him, and therefore advifed him to leave the 
 judgment of caufes to others, who fiiould be chofen for that purpofe*; 
 which advice Mofes accepted, and God approved. The governing power 
 was as infupportable to him as the judicial. He defired rather to die than 
 to bear fo great a burden ; and God, neither accufmg him of floth nor 
 impatience, gave him feventy affiftants. But if we may believe our 
 author, the powers judicial and legillative, that of judging, as well as that 
 of governing, are not too much for any man, woman, or child, what- 
 ever; he ftands in no need, either of God's ftatutes to diredl him, or 
 man's counfcl to aflift him, unlefs it be when he is otherwife employed ; 
 and his will alone is fufficient for all. But v^-hat if he be not bufied in 
 greater matters, or diftra£ted with public cares, is every prince capable of 
 this work ? Though Mofes had not found it too great for him, or it 
 Ihould be granted, that a man of excellent natural endowments, great 
 wifdom, learning, experience, induftry, and integrity, might perform it,. 
 is it certain, that all thofe who happen to be born in reigning families are 
 fo? If Mofes had the law of God before his eyes, and could repair to 
 
 • Exod. ch. 17, V. 17 — 24 
 
 God
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 339 
 
 God himfclf for the applicat'um or explanation of it, have all princes the SECT. 14 
 lame aflifbmce ? Do they all fpeak with God face to face, or can rhey do 
 what he did, without the afhrtance he had ? If all kings of mature years 
 are of that perfection, are we afilired, that none ihall die before his heir 
 arrive to the fime ? Or fliall he have the fame ripenefs of judgment in his 
 infancy? If a child come to a crown, does that immediately infufe the 
 mofl admirable endowments and graces ? Have we any promife from 
 heaven, that women (hall enjoy the fame prerogatives, in thofe countries 
 where they are made capable of the fucceffion ? Or does that lav^^ which 
 renders them capable, not only defend them againft the frailty of their 
 own nature, but confer the moft fublime virtues upon them ? But who 
 knows not, that no families do more frequently produce weak or ill men, 
 than the greateft ? and that which is worfe, their greatnefs is a fnare to 
 them ; fo that they who in a low condition might have pafled unregarded, 
 being advanced to the higheft, have often appeared to be, or become the 
 worft of all hearts. And they who advance them are like to lliem : for if 
 the power be in the multitude, as our author is forced to confefs (otherwlfe 
 the Athenians and Romans could not have given all, as he fays, nor a 
 part, as I fay, to Draco, Solon, or the decemviri) they muft be hearts alfo, 
 who fliould have given away their right and liberty, in hopes of receiving 
 juftice from fuch as probably will neither underrtand nor regard it, or 
 protection from thofe who w^ill not be able to help themfelves, and expert 
 fuch virtue, wifdom, and integrity, fliould be, and for ever remain, in 
 the family they fet up, as was never known to continue in any. If the 
 power be not conferred upon them, they have it not ; and if they have it 
 not, their want of leifure to do iuftice cannot have been the caufe for 
 which laws are made ; and they cannot be the fignification of their will, 
 but are that to which the prince owes obedience, as well as the mcaneft 
 fubjeCl. This is that which Bradton calls, " efle fub lege, " and lays, 
 that " rex in regno fuperlores habet Deum et legem*." Fortelcue fays, 
 the kings of England cannot change the laws 'f. And indeed, they are 
 fo far from having any fuch power, that the judges fwear to have no 
 regard to the king's letters or commands, but if they receive any, to pro- 
 ceed according to law, as if they had not been. And the breach of this 
 oath does not only bring a blemiili upon their reputation, but expofes 
 them to capital puniftiments, as many of them have found. It is not 
 therefore the king that makes the law, but the law that makes the king. 
 It gives the rule for fuccefiion, making kingdoms fometimes hereditary, 
 and fometimes elective, and (oftner than either fimply) hereditary uilder 
 condition. In fome places males only are capable of inheriting, in others 
 females are admitted. Where the monarchy is regular, as in Germany, 
 
 * Ipfe autem rex non debet efie fub homine, fed fub Deo et fub lege, quia lex facit 
 regcin. Bracl. 1. i, c. 8, fol. 5. — Rex habet fuperiorem, Deum fcilicet item legem, per 
 quam faftus eft rex. Ijiixt. 1. 2, c. 16, fol. 33 
 
 f Non poteft rex Angliae ad libitum fuum leges nuitare refni fui : principatu nnmque 
 jieJum rcgali, fed et politico ipfe fuo populo dorsiiiiatur. Fortefc, de Laud. Leg. Angl. c. 9 
 
 X X 2 England,
 
 340 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP.iil 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 adminiftration of juftice, the qucflion is 
 not what pleafes them, but what the law declares to be right, which muft 
 have its courfe, whether the king be bufy, or at leliure, whether he will 
 or not. The king who never dies, is always prefent in the fupreme 
 courts, and neither knows nor regards the pleafure of the man, that wears 
 the crown. But left by his riches and power he might have Ibme influ- 
 ence upon judicial proceedings, the Great Charter, that recapitulates and 
 acknowledges our antient inherent liberties, obliges him to fwear, that he 
 will neither fell, delay, nor deny juftice to any man, according to the 
 laws of the land * : which were ridiculous and abfurd, if thofe laws were 
 only the fignitication of his pleafure, or any way depended upon his will. 
 This charter having been confirmed by more than thirty parliaments, all 
 fucceeding kings are under the obligation of the fame oath, or muft: 
 renounce the benefit they receive from our laws ; which if they do, they 
 will be found to be equal to every one of us. 
 
 Our author, according to his cuflom, having laid down a falfe propo- 
 fition, goes about to juftify it bymifapplying the examples of Draco, Solon, 
 the decemviri, and IMofes, 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 faid before, were fo far from refigning the abfolute 
 power without appeal to themfelves, that nothing done by their magif- 
 trates was of any force, till it was enadled by the people. And the 
 power given to the decemviri, " fine provocatione, " was only in private 
 cafes, there being no fuperior magiftrate, then in being, to whom appeals 
 could be made. They were vcfted with the fame power the kings and 
 didators enjoyed, from whom there lay no appeal, but to the people, and 
 always to them ; as appears by the cafe of Horatius, in the time of Tullus 
 Hoftilius; that of Marcus Fabius, when Papirius Curfor was didator ; 
 and of Metellus the tribune, when Q^ Fabius Maximus was in the fam.e 
 office t; all which I have cited already, and refer to them. There was 
 therefore a refervation of the fupreme power in the people, notwithftanding 
 the creation of magiftrates without appeal : and as it was quietly cxcrcifed 
 in making ftrangers, or whom they plcafed, kings, rcftraining the power of 
 didlators to fix months, and that of the decemviri to two years, when the 
 laft did, contrary to law, endeavour, by force, to continue their power, 
 the people did, by force, deftroy it and them. 
 
 T'he cafe of Mofes is yet more clear. He was the moft humble and 
 gentle of all men : he never raifed his heart above his brethren, and com-, 
 mandcd kings to live in the fame modcfty : he never defired the people 
 ihould depend upon his will : in giving laws to them he fulfilled the will 
 of God, not his own ; and thofe laws were not the fignificatiou of his will, 
 
 * Null! venclemus,nulli negabimus, autdiffcremusrecflumvcl jufiitiain. Mag. Chart, c. 29 
 t Liv. 1. I, c. 26. Id. 1. 'S, c. 33. Id. 1. 22, c. 25 
 
 •2 but
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 341 
 
 but of the will of God. They were the produdlon of God's wifdom and SECT. 14 
 goodnefs, not the invention of man ; given to purify the people, not to 
 advance the glory of their leader. He was not proud and infolent, nor 
 pleafed with that oftentation of pomp, to which fools give the name of 
 majcfty. And whoever fo far exalts the power of a man, as to make 
 nations depend upon his pleafure, does not only lay a burden upon him, 
 which neither Mofes, nor any other could ever bear, and every wife man 
 will always abhor ; but, with an impious fury, endeavours to fet up a 
 government contrary to the laws of God, prefumes to accufe him of want 
 of wifdom, or goodnefs to his own people, and to correal his errors ; 
 which is a work fit to be undertaken by fuch as our author. 
 
 From hence, as upon a folid foundation, he proceeds, and making ufe 
 of king James's words, infers, that kings are above the laws, becaufe he 
 fo teaches us. But he might have remembered, that, having affirmed the 
 people could not judge of the difputes that might happen between them 
 and kings, becaufe they muft not be judges in their own cafe, it is abfurd 
 to make a king judge of a cafe fo nearly concerning himfelf, in the dcci- 
 fion of which his own pafhons and interefts may probably lead him into 
 errors. And if it be pretended that I do the fame, in giving the judgment 
 of thofe matters ro the people, the cafe is utterly different, both in the 
 nature and confcquences. The king's judgment is mxcrcly for himfelf; 
 and if that were to take place, all the paffions and vices, that have moft 
 power upon men, would concur to corrupt it. He tliat is fet up for the 
 public good can have no contefl Vv'ith the whole people, whofe good he is 
 to procure, unlel's he delicti from the end of his inftitution, and fet up an- 
 intereft of his own in oppofition to it. This is in its nature the higheft of 
 all delinquencies ; and if fuch a one may be judge of his own crimes, he 
 is not only fure to avoid punifhment, but to obtain all that he fought by 
 them ; and the worfe he is, the more violent his delires will be, to get 
 all the power into his hands, that he may gratify his lufts, and execute 
 his pernicious defigns. On the other fide, in a popular aflembly, no 
 man judges for himfelf, otherwife, than as his good is comprehended in 
 that of the public. Nothing hurts him, but what is prejudicial to the com- 
 monwealth. Such among them as may have received private injuries,, 
 are fo far only confidered by others, as their fufferings may have influence 
 upon the public : if they be few, and the matters not great, others wilL 
 not fuffer their quiet to be difturbed by them ; if they are many and 
 grievous, the tyranny thereby appears to be fo cruel, that the nation can- 
 not fubfift, unlefs it be corrected or fuppreffed. Corruption of judgment 
 proceeds from private paffions, which in thefe cafes never govern : and 
 though a zeal for the public good may poffibly be mifguided, yet till it be 
 fo, it can never be capable of excefs. The lafl: Tarquin, and his lewd fon, 
 exercifed their fury and luft in the murders of the heft men in Rome, and 
 the rape of Lucretia. Appius Claudius was filled with the like madnefs, 
 Caligula and Nero \vere fo well eftabliffied in the power of committing the 
 worft of villainies, that we do aot hear of any man that offered to defend 
 
 himfelf,;
 
 342 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. Ill himfelf, or woman that prefumed to refufe them. If they had been 
 judges in thefe cafes, the utmoft of all villainies and mifchiefs had been 
 eftablilhed by law : but as long as the judgment of tlxefe matters was m 
 the people, no private or corrupt paffion could take place. Lucius Brutus, 
 Valerius, Hcratlus, and Virginius, with the people that followed them, 
 did not by the expuUion of the kings, or the. fuppreffion of the decemviri, 
 adume to themielves a power of committing rapes and murders, nor any 
 advantages beyond what their equals might think they deferved by their 
 virtues, and fervices to the commonwealth ; nor had they more credit 
 than others for any other reafon, than that they fliewed themfelves mofi: 
 forward in procuring the public good, and by their valour and condud: 
 beft able to promote it. 
 
 Whatever happened, after the overthrow of their liberty, belongs not 
 to my fubjeifl, tor there was nothing of popularity in the judgments that 
 were made. One tyrant deftroyed another ; the fame paffions and vices 
 for the moft part reigned in both. The laft was often as bad as his pre- 
 deceflbr whom he had overthrovv^i ; and one was fometimes approved by 
 the people for no other reafon, than that it was thought impoffible for 
 him to be worfe than he who was in poifeflion of the power. But if one 
 inftance can be of force among an inhnlte number of various accidents, 
 the words of Valerius Afiaticus *, who, by wifliing he had been the man 
 that had killed Caligula, did in a moment pacify the fury of the foldiers, 
 who were looking for thofe that had done it, Ihew, that as long as men 
 retain any thing of that reafon which is truly their nature, they never fail 
 of judging rightly of virtue and vice. Whereas violent and ill princes 
 have always done the contrary, and even the beft do often defleft from 
 the rules of juftice; as appears not only by the examples of Edward the 
 firft and third, who were brought to confefs it, but even thofe of David 
 and Solomon. 
 
 Moreover, to fhew that the decifion of thefe controverfles cannot belong 
 
 ^ to any king, but to the people, we are only to confider, that as^kings, 
 
 / and all other magiftrates, whether fupreme or fubordinate, are conftituted 
 
 J. only for the good of the people, the people only can be fit to judge 
 
 y whether the end be accomplifhed. /' A phyfician does not exercife his art 
 
 for himfelf, but for his patients ; and when I am, or think I fliall be fick, 
 
 I fend for him of whom I have the beft opinion, that he may help me to 
 
 recover, or preferve my health ; but I lay him afide if I find him to be 
 
 negligent, ignorant, or unfaithful ; and it would be ridiculous for him to 
 
 fiy, I make myfelf judge in my own cafe, for I only, or fuch as I fhall 
 
 coniult, am fit to be the judge of it. He may be treacherous, and 
 
 through corruption or malice endeavour to poifon me, or have other 
 
 dcfcfts, that render him unfit to be trufted : but I cannot, by any corrupt 
 
 paffion, be led wilfully to do him injufticc, and if I miftake, it is only to 
 
 my own hurt. The like may be faid of lawyers, ftewards, pilots, and 
 
 * Vide fupia, p. ig^ 
 
 generally
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 3^3 
 
 generally of all that do not a£t for themfclves, but for thofe who employ sect. 15 
 
 them. And if a company going to the Indies fliould find, that their pilot 
 
 was mad, drunk or treacherous, they whole lives and goods are concerned 
 
 can only be lit to judge, whether he ought to be tvuftcd or not, fince he 
 
 cannot have a right to deftroy thofe he was chofen to preferve ; and they 
 
 cannot be thought to judge perverfely, becaufe 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, 
 
 Hoftillus, the confuls, dictators, and decemviri, were not diftinguiflicd 
 
 from others, that it might be well with them, " fed ut bonum, fauftum 
 
 " felixque fit populo Romano*," but that the profperity and happinefs 
 
 of the people might be procured; which being the thing always intended, 
 
 it were abfurd to refer the judgment of the performance to him who is 
 
 fufpeited of a defign to overthrow it, and whofc paflions, interefts, and 
 
 vices, if he has any, lead him that way. If king James faid any thing 
 
 contrary to this, he might be anfwercd with fome of his own words : " I 
 
 " was, " lays he, " fworn to maintain the lav/s of the land, and therefore 
 
 " had been perjured if I had broken them f. " It may alfo be prefumed, 
 
 he had not forgotten what his mafter Buchanan had taught in the books 
 
 he wrote chiefly for his inftru£lion if, that the violation of the laws of 
 
 Scotland could not have been fo fatal to moft of his predecelTors, kings of 
 
 that country, nor as he himfclf had made them to his mother, if kings as. 
 
 kings were above tliem.. 
 
 S E C T I O N XV 
 
 A GENERAL PRESUMPTION, THAT KINGS WILL GOVERN WELL, 
 IS NOT A SUFFICIENT SECURITY TO THE PEOPLE. 
 
 " But," fays our author, " yet will they rule their fubjedts by the law; 
 
 " and a king, governing in a fettled kingdom, leaves to be a king, and 
 
 " degenerates into a tyrant, fo foon as he ceafes to rule according to his 
 
 " laws : yet where he fees them rigorous or doubtful, he may mitigate 
 
 " and interpret." This is therefore an effect: of their goodnefs ; they are 
 
 * Vide fupra, p. 337 
 
 t " My intention was always to effedl union, by uniting Scotland to Enf^land, and not 
 " England to Scotland : for I ever meant, being ever refolved, that this law fliould continue 
 " in this kingdom ; and two things moved r,ie thereunto. One is, that in niaaer of policy 
 " and ftate, you {hall never fee any thing anciently and maturely eftabliflied, but by inno- 
 " vation or alteration it is worfe than it was, I mean not by purging of it from corruptions, 
 " and refl-oring it to the ancient integrity. Another reafon was, I was fworn to maintain 
 " the law of the land, and therefore I had been perjured if I had altered it. And this I 
 " fpeak to root out the conceit, and mifapprehenfion, if it be in any heart, that I would 
 " change, damnify, vilify, or fupprefs the law of this land: God is my judge I ne.er 
 " meant it ; and this confirmation I make before you all. " Speech in the Star-Chamber, . 
 1616. King James's Works, p. 553 
 
 % Rerum Scoticarum Hilloria, Uialogus de Jure Regni apud Scotos. 
 
 above
 
 344 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. Ill aboA'e laws, but will rule by law, we have Filmer's word for it. But I 
 know not how nations can be afTured their princes will always be fo good : 
 goodnefs is always accompanied with wildom, and I do not find thofe 
 admirable qualities to be generally inherent or entailed upon fupreme . 
 magiPirates. They do not ieem to be all alike, and we have not hitherto 
 found them all to live in the fame fpirit and principle. I can fee no refem- 
 blance between Moles and Caligula, Jolhua and Claudius, Gideon and 
 Nero, Samlbn and Vitellius, Samuel and Otho, David and Domitian; 
 nor indeed between the beft of theie and their own children. If the fons 
 of Moles and Jolhua had been like to them in wifdom, valour, and inte- 
 grity, it is probable they had been chofcn to fucceed them ; if they were 
 not, the like is lefs to be prefumed of others. No man has yet obferved 
 the moderation of Gideon to have been in Abimelech ; the piety of Eli in 
 Hophni and Phincas ; the purity and integrity of Samuel in Joel and 
 Abiah, nor the wifdom of Solomon in Rehoboam. And if there was fo 
 vail a difference between them, and their children, who doubtlefs were 
 inltrudted by thofe excellent men in the ways of wifdom and juftice, as 
 well by precept as example, were it not madnefs to be confident, that 
 they who have neither precept nor good example to guide them, but, on 
 the contrary, arc educated in an utter ignorance and abhorrence of all 
 virtue, will always be jull and good ; or to put the whole power into the 
 hands of every man, woman, or child, that fhall be born in governing 
 families, upon a fuppofition, that a thing will happen, which never did ; 
 or that the weakeft and worft will perform all that can be hoped, and was 
 feldom accomplilhed by the wifeft and bell, expofing whole nations to be 
 dcftroyed without remedy, if they do it not ? And if this be madnefs in 
 all extremity, it is to be prefumed, that nations never intended any fuch 
 thing, unleis our author prove, that all nations have been mad from the 
 beginning, and muft always continue to be fo. To cure this, he fays, 
 " they degenerate into tyrants ; " and if he meant as he fpeaks, 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 dege- 
 nerate, it muft be by departing from that, which does not depend upon 
 his will, and is a rule prefcribcd by a power that is above him. This 
 indeed is the dodrine of Bradon, who, having faid, that the power of 
 the king is the power of the law, becaufe the law makes him king, adds, 
 •" that if he do injuftice, he ceafes to be king, degenerates into a tyrant, 
 " and becomes the vicegerent of the devil *." But I hope this muft be 
 underftood with temperament, and a due confideration of human frailty, 
 fo as to mean only thofe injuries that are extreme ; for otherwife he would 
 terribly Ihake all the crowns of the world. 
 
 But left our author fliould be thought once in his life to have dealt 
 fmcerely, and fpoken truth, the next lines Ihew the fraud of his laft afler- 
 
 * Dum facit juftitiam, vicarius eft regis aetenii; minifter autcm diaboli, dum decliiict 
 ad iiijuriani .... rex eft dum bene regit, tyrannus dum populum fibi crcditum violcnt;i 
 jopprimit dominationc. Bradt. I. 3, c. 9, fol. 107 
 
 tion
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERiNING GOVERNMENT 345 
 
 tlon, by giving to the prince a power of" mitigating and interpreting the SECT, i <; 
 " huvs, which he lees to be rigorous or doubtful. " But as he cannot 
 degenerate into a tyrant by departing from the law, which proceeds from 
 his own will, fo he cannot mitigate or interpret that which proceeds from 
 a fuperior power, unlefs the right of mitigating or interpreting be con- 
 ferred upon him by the fame. For as all wife men confefs, that " none 
 " can abrogate, but thofe who may inftitute *, " and that all mitigation 
 and interpretation varying from the true fenfe is an alteration, that alter- 
 ation Is an abrogation; for whatever is changed, is diffolvedj": and 
 therefore the power of mitigating is infeparable from that of inftituting. 
 This is fuiHciently evidenced by Henry the eighth's anfwer to the fpeech 
 made to him by the fpeaker of the houfe of commons 1545, in which he, 
 though one of the moft violent princes we ever had, confcfles the parlia- 
 ment to be the law-makers, and that an obligation lay upon him rightly 
 to ufe the power with which he was entrufted |. The right therefore of 
 altering being infeparable from that of making laws, the one being In the 
 parliament, the other rauft be fo alfo. Fortefcue fays plainly, the king 
 cannot change any law. Magna Charta cafts all upon the laws of the 
 land, and cuftoms of England § : but to fay, that the kmg can by his will 
 make that to be a cuftom, or an antlent law, which is not, or that not to 
 be fo, which is. Is moft abfurd. He mull therefore take the laws and 
 cuftoms as he finds them, and can neither detract; from, nor add any 
 thing to them. The ways are prefcrlbed as well as the end. Judgments 
 are given by equals, " per pares." The judges, who may be aflifting to 
 
 * Cujus eft inftituere, ejus eft abrogare. 
 
 f Quicquid mutatur, diftblvitiir : iiiterit ergo. 
 
 J " I cannot a little rejoice, when I confidcr the pcrfeft tnift and confidence, which 
 " you have put in me, and, as men having imdoubtcd hope and unfeigned belief in my good 
 " doings and juft proceedings for you, without my defire or requeft liave coiTimitted to mine 
 " order and difpofition all chantries, colleges, hofpitals, and other places fpecified in a 
 " certain act, firmly trufting that I will order them to the glory of God, and the profit of 
 " the commonwealth. Surely if I, contrary to your expeftation, fhould fufFer the minifters 
 " of the church to decay, or learning, which is fo great a jewel, to be minifhcd, or poor 
 " and mifcrahle people to be unrelieved, you might fay, that I, being put into fo fpecial a 
 " truft, as I am in this cafe, were no truily friend to you, nor charitable to mine, even as 
 " a Chriftian, neither a lover of the public wealth, nor yet one that feared God, to whom 
 
 " account mull be rendered of all our doings To the making of laws, which you 
 
 *' have now made and concluded, I exhort you, the makers, to be as diligent in putting 
 " them in execution, as you were in the making and furthering of the fame, or file your 
 " labour fiiall be in vain, and your conimonv/eaTth nothing relieved." Menry the eighth's 
 ].\i\ fpeech to his parliament, 154.5. See Herbert's Life of Hen. viii 
 
 § Nullus liber homo capiatur vel imprifonetur aut difTeifietur de libero teneinento fuo, 
 vel libertatibus, vel iiberi.s confuetudiuibus fuis, aut utlagetur, aut exulet, aut aliquo 
 modo deftruatur ; nee fuper eum ibimus, nee fuper eum mittemus, nifi per legale judicium 
 parium lucrum, vel per legem terrae. Mag. Chart, c. 2g. Impri.mis, conteffimus Deo, 
 et hac praefenti charta noitra confirmavimus pro nobis et haeredibus noftris, in perpetuum, 
 quod ecclefia Anglicans libeia fit, ethabeat omnia jura fuaintegra, etlibertates fuas illaefns. 
 Ibid. c. I. Salvae fmt .ircliiepifcopi.s, epif.opis, abbatibus, prioribus, templariis, hofpita- 
 lariis, comirihus, baronibiiN, et omnibus aliis, tarn ecclefiafticis perfonis, qiiam faeculari- 
 bus, omnes libertates, et libei.ic coniuetudines, quasprius habuerunt. c. 3". Etalibi paflim. 
 
 y V thofe,
 
 346 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. Ill thofe, are fworn to proceed according to lavv% and not to regard the king's 
 letters or commands. The doubtful caies are referved, and to be referred 
 to the parliament, as in the ftafute of 25 Edw. Ill, concerning trcafons,* 
 but never to tlie king. The law intending that thefe parliaments ihould 
 be annual, and leaving to the king a power of calling them oftener, if 
 occafion require, takes away all pretence of a neceflity, that there ihould 
 be any other power to interpret or mitigate laws. For it is not to be ima- 
 gined, that there Ihould be fuch a peftilent evil in any antient law, cuftom, 
 or later a<ft of parliament, which, being on the fudden difcovered, may 
 not without any great prejudice continue for forty days, till a parliament 
 may be called. Whereas the force and eflence of all laws would be fub- 
 verted, if, under colour of mitigating and interpreting, the power of 
 altering were allowed to kings, who often want the inclination, and for 
 the molf part the capacity of doing it rightly. It is not therefore upon 
 the uncertain will or underftanding of a prince, that the fafety of a nation 
 ought to depend. He is fometimes a child, and fometimes overburdened 
 with years. Some are weak, negligent, flothful, fbolilh, or vicious. 
 Others, who may have fomething of rectitude in their intentions, and 
 naturally are not incapable of doing well, are drawn out of the right way 
 by the fubtilty of ill men, who gain credit with them. That rule mull 
 always be uncertain, and fubjedl to be diflorted, which depends upon the 
 fancy of fuch a man. He always fluduates, and every paflion that arifes 
 in his mind, or is infufed by others, diforders him. The good of a peo- 
 ple ought to be eftabliihed upon a more folid foundation. For this reafon,. 
 the law is eftabliflied, which no paffion can difturb. It is void of defire 
 and fear, lull and anger. It is " mens fine affedu, " written reafon, 
 retaining fome mcafure of the divine perfe£llon. It does not injoin that 
 which pleafes a weak, frail man ; but, without any regard to perfons, 
 commands that which is good, and punifl:ies evil in all, whether rich or 
 poor, high or low. It is deaf, inexorable, inflexible. 
 
 By this means, every man knows when he is fafe, or in danger, becaufe 
 he knows, whether he has done good or evil. But if all depended upon 
 the will of a man, the worll would be often the Hifeft, and the befl: in 
 the greatefl: hazard ; flaves would be often advanced, the good and the 
 brave fcorned and negledted. The moft generous nations have above all 
 things fought to avoid this evil : and the virtue, wlfdom, and generofity 
 of each, may be difcerned by the right fixing of the rule, which mufi: be 
 the guide of every man's life, and fo conflltuting their maglftracy, that 
 it may be duly obferved. Such as have attained to this perfe£tion have 
 always flourifliied in virtue and happlnefs : they are, as Arifiotle lays,. 
 
 * " And becauR- that ninny other like cafes of treafon may happen in time to come, 
 *' which a man cannot think nor declare at this prefcnt time, it is accorded, that if any 
 " other cafe, fuppofcd treafon, which is not above fpecified, doth happen before any jufticcs, 
 " the jufticcs fhall tarry, without any going to judgement of the treafon, till the caufe he 
 " (hewed and declared before the king and his parliament, whether it ought to be judged 
 " treafon or other felony. " 25 Edw. la. Stat. 5 
 
 governed
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 347 
 
 governed by God, rather than hymen, while thofe who fubjctSbcd them- sect. 16 
 ll'lves to the will of a man, were governed by a beaft *. 
 
 This being lb, our author's next claufe, that " though a king do frame 
 " all his adions to be accordi-ng to law, yet he is not bound thereto, but 
 " at his good will, and for good example, or fo far forth as the general 
 " law of the fafety of the commonweal doth naturally bind him, " is 
 wholly impertinent. For if the king, who governs not according to law, 
 degenerates into a tyrant, he is obliged to frame his adlions according to 
 law, or not to be a king ; for a tyrant is none, but as contrary to him, as 
 the worfl of men is to the beft. But if thefe obligations were untied, we 
 may eafily guefs, what fecurity our author's word can be to us, that the 
 king of his own good will, and for a good example, will frame his 
 adlions according to the laws ; when experience intlruds us, that notwith- 
 ftanding the ftri(fl:eft laws, and moft exquifite conflitutions, which men of 
 the beft abilities in the world could ever invent to rcftrain the irregular 
 appetites of thofe in power, with the dreadful examples of vengeance 
 taken againft fuch as would not be reftrained, they have frequently broken 
 out ; and the moft powerful have, for the moft part, no otherwife diftin- 
 guilhed themfelves from the reft of men, than by the enormity of their 
 vices, and being the moft forward in leading others to all manner of 
 crimes by their example. 
 
 SECTION 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 laft claufe, acknov/ledging kings to be bound by a general 
 law to provide for the fafety of the people, would be fufficient for my 
 purpofe, if it were ftncere ; for municipal laws do only fliew how that 
 Ihould be performed : and if the king, by departing from that rule, dege- 
 nerates, as he fiys, into a tyrant, it is eafily determined what ought then 
 to be done by the people. But his whole book being a heap of contra- 
 didlions and frauds, we can rely upon nothing that he fays : and his 
 following words, ■^hich under the fame law comprehend both kings and 
 tyrants, fhew that he intends kings iTiould be no otherwife obliged than 
 tyrants, which is, not at all. " By this means, " fays he, " are all kings, 
 *' even tyrants and conquerors, bound to preferve the lands, goods, 
 " liberties, and lives of all their fubjedts, not by any municipal law of 
 
 * Vide fupra, p. io8 
 
 Y y 2 " the
 
 348 
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CH 4lP.iii " t^^ land, but by the natural law of a father, which binds them to ratify 
 " the adls of their forefathers and predecefibrs, in things neceflary for 
 " the public good of their fubjedls." If he be therefore in the right, 
 tyrants and conquerors are kings and fathers. The words that have been 
 always thought to comprehend the moft irreconcileable contrariety, the 
 one expreffing the moft; tender love and care, evidently teftified by the 
 greateft obligations conferred upon thofe who are under it, the other the 
 utmoft of all injuries that can be offered to men, fignify the fame thing : 
 there is no difference between a magiftrate, who is what he is by law, 
 and a public enemy, vAw by force or fraud fets himfelf up againft all law; 
 and what he fiid before, that kings degenerated into tyrants, fignihcs 
 nothing, for tyrants alio are kings. 
 
 His next words are no lefs incomprehenfible ; for neither king nor 
 
 tyrant can be obliged to preferve the lands, goods, and liberties of their 
 
 ' fubjed:s, if they have none. But as/liberty confifts only in being fubjedt 
 
 ' to no man's will, and nothing denotes a flave 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 fuch thing as liberty. Property is alfo an appen- 
 
 ' dage to liberty ; and it is as impoffible for a man to have a right to lands 
 
 '. or goods, if he has no liberty, and enjoys his life only at the pleafure of 
 
 ■ another, as it is to enjoy either, when he is deprived of them.~^ He 
 
 therefore who fays kings and tyrants are bound to preferve their fubjedts 
 
 lands, liberties, goods, and lives, and yet lays for a foundation, that 
 
 laws are no more than the fignifications of their pleafure, feejcs to delude 
 
 the world with words which fignify nothing. 
 
 The vanity of thefe whimfies will farther appear, if it be confidercd, 
 that as kings are kings by law, and tyrants are tyrants by overthrowing 
 the law, they are moft abfurdly joined together ; and it is not more ridicu- 
 lous to fet him above the law, who is what he is by the law, than to 
 expeft the obrervation of the laws, that injoin the prefervation of the lands, 
 liberties, goods, and lives of the people, from one who by fraud or vio- 
 lence makes himfelf mafter of all, that he may be reftrained by no law, 
 and is what he is by fubverting all law. 
 
 ■"fTBefides, if the fafety of the people be the fupreme law, and this fafety 
 ■ extend to, and confift in the prefervation of their liberties, goods, lands, 
 and lives, that law muft neceffarily be the root and beginning, as well as 
 the end and limit of all magiftratical power ; and all laws muft be fubler- 
 ' vjent and fubordinate to it. The queflion will not then be what pleafcs 
 the king, but what is good for the people ; not what conduces to his 
 profit or glory, but what beft fecurcs the liberties he is bound to preferve. 
 He does not therefore reign for himfelf, but for the people ; he is not 
 the mafter, but the fervant, of the commonwealth ; and the utmoft extent 
 of his prerogative is to be able to do more good than any private mahr' If 
 this be his work and duty, it is eafily (ccn whether he is to judge 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. It is 
 
 ordinarily 
 
 3
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 349 
 
 ordinarily faid in France, '• II faut que chacun foit fervi a fa mode, " sect. 16 
 
 every man's bufincfs mufl; be done according to his own mind : and if 
 
 this be true in particular pcrfons, it is more plainly fo in whole nations. 
 
 Many eyes fee more than one : the coUeded wifdom of a people much 
 
 furpaffes that of a fingle perfon ; and though he fliould truly feek that 
 
 which is beft, it is not probable he would fo calily lind it, as the body of 
 
 a nation, or the principal men chofcn to rcprefent the whole. This 
 
 may be faid with juftice of the beft and wifeft princes that ever were; 
 
 but another language is to be ufcd, when we fpeak of thofc who may 
 
 fucceed, and who very often through the defe£ts of age, perfon, or fex, 
 
 are neither fit to judge of other mens affairs, nor of their own; and are 
 
 fo far from being capable of the higheft concernments relating to the 
 
 fafety of whole nations, that the moft trivial cannot rcafonably be referred 
 
 to them. 
 
 There are few men (except fuch as are like Filmer, who, by bidding- 
 defiance to the laws of God and man, feems to declare war againft both) 
 whom I would not truft to determine whether a people that can never fall 
 into nonage or dotage, and can never fliil of having men of wifdom and 
 virtue among them, be not more fit to judge in their own perfons, or by 
 reprefentatives, what conduces to their own good, than one who at a ven- 
 ture may be born in a certain family, and vv'ho, befides his own infirmities, 
 paffions, vices, or interefts, is continually furrounded by fuch as endea- 
 vour to divert him from the ways of truth and juftice. And if no reafon- 
 able man dare prefer the latter before the former, we muft rely upon the 
 laws made by our forefathers, and interpreted by the nation, and not 
 upon the will of a man. 
 
 It is in vain to fay, that a wife and good council may fupply the defedls, 
 or correct the vices, of a young, foolilh, or ill-difpofed king. For Filmer 
 denies, that a king, whatever he be, without exception (for he attributes^ 
 profound wifdom to all) is obliged to follow the advice of his council ; 
 and even he himfelf would hardly have had the impudence to fay, that good' 
 counfel, given to a foolifh or wicked prince, were of any value, unlefs he 
 were obliged to follow it. This council muft be chofen by him, or 
 impofed upon him. If it be impofed upon him, it muft be by a power 
 that is above him, which he fays cannot be. If chofen by one who is 
 weak, foolifh, or wicked, it can never be good ; becaufe fuch virtue and 
 wifdom is required to difcern and choofe a few good and wife men, from 
 a multitude of foolifti and bad, as he has not. And it will generally fall 
 out, that he will take for his counfellors, rather thofe he believes to be 
 addidted to his perfon or interefts, than fuch as are fitly qualified to per- 
 form the duty of their places. But if he fliould, by chance, or contrary 
 to his intentions, make choice of fomc s;ond and wife men, the matter 
 would not be much mended ; for they will certainly dift'er in opinion from 
 the worft. And though the prince fhould intend well, of which there is 
 no afllirance, nor any reafon to put fo great a power into his hands, if 
 there be none, it is almoft impoifible for him to avoid the fnares that v/ill 
 
 be
 
 S50 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT ' 
 
 OHAP.ni be laid to feduce him. I know not how to put a better face upon this 
 matter : for it I examine rather what is probable than poffible, foolifli or 
 il! princes will never choofe fuch as are wife and good ; but, favouring 
 thole who are mofl like to themfelves, will prefer fuch as fecond their vices, 
 humours, and perfonal interefts ; and, by io doing, will rather fortify 
 and rivet the evils that arc brought upon the nation through their defects, 
 than cure them. This was evident in Rehoboam : he had good counfel, 
 but he would not hearken to it. We know too many of the fame fort ; 
 and though it were not impolfible, as Machiavel fays it is, for a weak 
 prince to receive any benefit from a good council *, we may certainly con- 
 clude, that a people can never expeft any good from a council chofen by 
 one who is weak or vicious. 
 
 If a council be impofed upon him, and he be obliged to follow their 
 advice, it muft be impofed by a power that is above him : his will there- 
 fc^re is not a law, but muft be regulated by the law ; the monarchy is not 
 above the law ; and if we will believe our author, it is no monarchy, 
 Tiecaufe the monarch has not his will ; and perhaps he fays true. For if 
 that be an ariftocracy, where thofe that are, or are reputed to be the beft, 
 do govern, then that is certainly a mixed flate, in which the will of one 
 man does not prevail. But if princes are not obliged by the law, all that 
 is founded upon that fuppofition falls to the ground : they will always 
 follow their own humours, or the luggeftions of thofe who fecond them. 
 Tiberius hearkened to none but Chaldeans, or the minifhers of his impu- 
 rities and cruelties. Claudius was governed by flaves, and the profligate 
 ftrumpets his wives. There were many wife and good men in the fenate 
 during the reigns of Caligula, Nero, and Domitian ; but inftcad of 
 following their counfel, they endeavoured to deftroy them all, left they 
 Ihould head the people againfl them : and fuch princes as refemble them 
 will ahvays follow the like courfcs. 
 
 If I often repeat thefe hateful names, it is not for want of frefher 
 -examples of the fame nature ; but I choofe fuch as mankind have univer- 
 fally condemned, againfl whom I can have no other caufe of hatred, than 
 what is common to all thofe who have any love to virtue, and M'hich can 
 have no other relation to the controverfies of later ages, than what may 
 flow from the fimilitude of their caufes, rather than fuch as are too well 
 known to us, and which every man, according to the meafure of his 
 experience, may call to mind in reading thefe. I may alfo add, that as 
 nothing is to be received as a general maxim, which is not generally true, 
 i need no more to overthrow fuch as Filmer propofcs, than to prove how 
 frequently they have been found falfe, and what defpcrate mifchiefs have 
 been brought upon the world as often as they have been pradlfed, and 
 cxceffive powers put into the hands of fuch as had neither inclination nor 
 ability to make a good ufe of them. And therefore, 
 
 * Qiicfta non falla mai, cd c regola gcnerale, che un principc, il quale non fia favio per 
 •fc ilc/To, noD puo cfTcr configliato k-ne. U Princ. c. 23 
 
 I. If
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 351 
 
 I. If the fafety of nations be the end for which governments are sect. 16 
 inftituted, fuch as take upon them to govern, by what title Ibever, are by 
 the hiw of nature bound to procure it; and in order to this, to prelerve 
 the lives, lands, liberties, and goods, of every one of their fubjedts : and 
 he that, upon any title whatever, pretends, aflumcs, or exercifcs a powcr- 
 of dilpofing of them according to his own will, violates the laws of naturcj, 
 in the highefl: degree. 
 
 l2 2. If all princes are obliged, by the law of nature, to prcferve the lands,- ' 
 goods, lives, and liberties of their fubjedls, thole fubjeds have,, by the 
 Iaw of nature, a right to their liberties, lands, goods, &c. and cannot, 
 depend upon the will of any man ; for that dependence dellroys liberty, &c. .J ' 
 
 3. Ill men will not, and weak men cannot provide for the fafety of the' 
 people ; nay, the work is of fuch extreme difficulty, that the greateft and 
 wifefi: men that have been in the world are not able, by themfelves, to 
 perform it; and the affiftance of council is of no ufe, imlefs princes are- 
 obliged to follow it. There muft be therefore a power in every uate to< 
 reftrain the ill, and to inftruft weak princes, by obliging them to follow 
 the councils given, elfe the ends of government cannot He accomplifliedj- 
 northe rights of nations preferved. 
 
 All this being no more than is faid by our author, or neceffarily to be. 
 deduced from his propofitions, one would think he v/ere become as good 
 a commonwealths-man as Cato : but the waflied fwine will return to the. 
 mire. He overthrows all by a prepofterous conjuncflion of the rights of; 
 kings, which are juft, and by law, with thofe of tyrants, which are; 
 utterly againfi: law ; and gives the facred and gentle name of father to 
 thofe hearts, who by their actions declare themfelves enemies not only to 
 all law and juftice, but to mankind that cannot fubfift without them.. 
 This requires no other proof, than to examine, whether Attila or Tamer- 
 lane did well deferve to be called fathers of the countries they deftroyed. 
 The tirft of thefs was ufually called the fcourge of God, and he gloried in 
 the name *. The other, being reproved for the deteftable cruelties he 
 exercifed, made anfwer, " you fpeak to me as to a man, I am not a man, 
 " but the fcourge of God, and the plague of mankind "[". " This is cer- 
 tainly fweet and gentle language, favouring much of a fatherly tendernefs : ■ 
 there is no doubt but that thofe who ufe it will provide for the fafety of the 
 nations under them; and the prefervation of the laws of nature. is rightly. 
 
 * Tu, inqiiit eremita, Dei es flagellum, ad vitia Chrlftiani populi corrigenda mifius. . 
 Nic. Olahi Atila, c. 6. — Dixifle fertur fuperbum illud diiSum, ftellas prae fe cadere, ter-. 
 ram tremere, fe malleiim efle univerfi orbis. Dein in id arrogantiae proceflit, ut j-uiTerit, 
 ficut eremita dixerat, " fiagellum Dei" adjici fuo titulo ; ac eo epitheto fe et nominari et in." 
 iiteras rcferri. Ihid. c. g 
 
 f Apud Ligurem negotiatorem amicum, qui in communi colloquio feram ejus in vicStis^ 
 multandis cnidelitatem temere magis ac familiariter, quam prudeiiter accufabar, obverfis in 
 eum flammantibus turbatisque occulis, in liaec verba prorupit : " Si me hominem efTe arbi- 
 " trare, falleris, equidcm ira Dei fum, et ruina ac pernicies hominum." Richerius de 
 rebus Turcaruni 1. 3, prope finem. Vide Rerum Germ. Script, a Schardio colkctos. Vol." 
 2j p. 397. Edit. GielTae, 1673. Bizari Genev. Hift. 1. 9, prope finem.. , 
 
 referred.
 
 352 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. Ill referred to them : and it is very probable, that they who came to burn the 
 countries, and deftroy the nations, that fell under their power, fhould 
 make it their bufinefs to preferve them, and look upon the former gover- 
 nors " as their fathers, whofeai^ts they were obliged to confirm, " though 
 they feldom attained to the dominion by any other means, than the 
 llaughter of them and their families. 
 
 But if the enmity be not againft the nation, and the caufe of the war 
 be only for dominion againft the ruling perfon or family, as that of 
 Baafha againft the houfe of Jeroboam, of Zimri againft that of Baalha, of 
 Omri againft Zimri, and of Jehu againft Joram *", the profecution of it is 
 a ftrange way of becoming the fon of the perfon deftroyed. And Filmer 
 alone is fubtile enough to difcover, that Jehu, by extinguilhing the houfe 
 of Ahab, drew an obligation upon himfelf of looking on him as his father, 
 and confirming his adls. If this be true, Mofes was obliged to confirm 
 the acts of the kings of the Amalekitcs, Moabites, and Amorites, that 
 he deftroyed; the fame duty lay upon Jofliua, in relation to the Canaan- 
 ites : but it is not fo eafilv decided, to which of them he did owe that 
 deference; for the fame could not be due to all, and it is hard to believe, 
 that by killing above thirty kings, he fliould purchafe to himfelf fo many 
 fathers : and the like may be faid of divers others. 
 
 Moreover, there is a fort of tyrant who has no father, as Agathocles, 
 Dionyfius, Gaelar, and generally all thofe, who fubvert the liberties of 
 their own country. And if they ftood obliged to look upon the former 
 magiftrates as their predeceffors, and to confirm their ails, the firft fhould 
 have been to give impunitv and reward to any that would kill them, it 
 having been a fundamental maxim in thofe ftates, " that any man might 
 • iill a tyrant f." "^ 
 
 This 
 
 * I Kings, ch. 15, v. 29. ch. 16, v. 9, 17. 2 Kings, ch. 9, v. 14 
 
 f Uiiicuique licere tyr..nnum occidcrc. * » * * Ri yc.f tk; irt^sipoiri rvpxwtiv, To) uv 
 
 fj.11 a,}.av\i rw SiXY.v f7r;TiSntri^. Plut. Compar. So!, et Poplic. p. IIC. 'f2r£ Six tu; 
 
 irciTfiiag a,T(!>x>.ui; fnxcoc PiolfJlirav ttoXitwV loif Si rvpotwotg xai tsto iix-rraXtv a.V[fpxTir1a,i. 
 
 avli yxp m Tifj.uf£iv al -jroXei? auroif, jufyaXu? Tiji*u(ri toj/ c.-iroy.THiia.iHa rufixnov Kxi «i/ti yt th 
 
 '£f5}/£ll' £X TWV llpUV, UTTTlp TUf TM)/ iStUTOV IpOllCXi, Civli TSTa Kdl tiHOVai tV TOlf IfpOlf iracTii/ al 
 
 TToAEir Txi Tayo iroiYiC-at/loiv. Xetl. de Re^no, p. cog, Edir. Leundavii, 1596.- Exiivoig 
 
 [AccHfJ'aiwoi/iwD pairiAfuo-i] a(?iX£iu [aiv, rnlo'j i^sfiv vt TOi; tSi'JTXii;' TCfl"»Toi/ ^i juaxapiwTspci 
 TvyyavHrriv oi/rsc, twu pi« ra? rupavnJac xoHi^oi/ruu, otrov 01 y.iv ra? tcjsth? a-rroXTiivxi^ic, raf 
 y-iyifcc; Supta; TTxpoc Ti^v iTifJi7ro),iTivoy.H'Uii Xa-fJ-Sccvaa-tv. Jloc. Orat. de Pace, prope finem. 
 Graeci homines dcorum honorcs tribuunt iis viris, qui tyrannos necaverunt. Cic. Oiat. 
 pro Milonr, ^ 80. — Arrr.odius et Ariftogeiton, hoir.incs plebeii, Hippian et Hippar- 
 clium Pififtrati filios faeve dominantcs faiSta conjuratione opprcfTeiunt ; ideoque, ut 
 confervatoribus, divini honores eis funt conilituti. Ampelii Lib. Memoralis. c. 15 
 
 Such were the laws and fentimcnts of the Gieelcs concerning the i<illing of tyrants. The 
 Romans were animated by the fame fpirit of liberty, and abhorrence of arbitrary power. 
 
 "O yxp IloirAiJtciXa? typx^s vofj-ov, aviu >tpjir£w; miivxi JiJ'vi'la tok (inXofAiyoi) Tupaukfii', Piut. 
 in vita Poplic. p. 103. — Lex eft, " Qiii tyrannum cccidcrit Oiympionicarum praemium 
 capito, ct quani volet fibi rem a magiftratu depofcito, et m, giftratus ei conccdito. Cic. de 
 Invent. 1. 2, § 29. — Non intclligis fatis cilt; viris fort bus didiciffe quam fkt pulchrum, 
 l3eni.-ficio gratum, fania gloriofnm, tyranninn occiderc ? Id. Philip. 2, §117, 'bid. § 96. 
 11^ — Q^;od poteft cfib rn;ijus fcelus, quain non modo liomlncm, fed ctiani famili.acni occi- 
 derc ?
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 353 
 
 This being In all refpedls ridiculous and abfurd, it is evident, that our SECT. 17 
 author, who, by propoling fuch a falle fecurlty to nations for their liber- 
 ties, endeavours to betray them, is not Icfs treacherous to kings, when, 
 under a pretence of defending their rights, he makes them to be the fame 
 with thofe of tyrants, who are known to have none, and are tyrants 
 becaufe they have none ; and gives no other hopes to nations of being 
 preferved by the kings they fet up for that end, than what upon the fame 
 account may be expedled from tyrants, whom all wife men have ever 
 tfbhorred, and aflirmed to have been " produced to bring deftrudion upon 
 the world *,'* and whofe lives have verified the fentencc. 
 
 This is truly to depofe and abolifli kings, by abolifliing that by which, 
 and for which, they are fo. The greatnefs of their power, riches, flate, 
 and the plcafurcs that accompany them, cannot but create enemies. 
 Some will envy that which is accounted happinefs ; others may diflike 
 the ufe they make of their power : fome may be unjuftly exafperated by 
 the beft of their actions, when they find themi'elves incommoded by 
 them ; others may be too fevere judges of flight mlfcarrlages. Thefe 
 things may reafonably temper the joys of thofe, who delight mofl in the 
 advantages of crowns. But the worfl and moft dangerous of all their 
 enemies are thefe accurfed fycophants, who, by making thofe that ought 
 to be the befl: of men like to the worft, deflroy their being ; and by per- 
 fuading the world they aim at the fame things, and are bound to no other 
 rule than is common to all tyrants, give a fair pretence to ill men to fay, 
 they are all of one kind. And if this fliould be received for truth, even 
 they, who think the mifcarriages of their governors may be eafily 
 redreffed, and defire no more, would be the moft fierce in procuring the 
 deftrudion of that, which is naught in principle, and cannot be correded. 
 
 SECTION XVII 
 
 KINGS CANNOT BE THE INTERPRETERS OF THE OATHS THEY TAKE. 
 
 Our author's book is fo full of abfurdities and contradidions, that it would 
 be a ropeof fand, if a continued feries of frauds did not, like a ftring of 
 poifons running through the whole, give it fome confiftence with itfelf, 
 and fhew it to be the work of one and the fame hand. After having 
 
 dere ? num igitur fe adftrinxit fcclere, fi quis tyrannum occidit, quamvis familiarem ? 
 Populo quidem Romano non videtur, qui ex omnibus praeclaris faftis illud pulcherrin.um 
 exHtimat. Id. de OfRc. 1. 3, § 19. — Nulla nobis focietas cum tyrannls, fed potius fumma 
 diftraftioj neque eft contra naturam fpoliare eum, fi poffis, quern honeftum eft necare : 
 atque hoc omne genus peftiferum, atque impium, ex homiuum communitate exterminandum 
 rft. Ibid. § 32 
 
 * In generis human! exitium natos. # # * 
 
 Z z endeavoured
 
 3^4 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. Ill endeavoured to fubvert the laws of God, nature, and nations, efpecially 
 our own, by abufing the Scriptures, fahly alleging the authority of many 
 good writers, and feeking to obtrude upon mankind a imiverfal law, that 
 would take from every nation the right of conftituting luch governments 
 wdthin themfelves, as feem moft convenient for them, and giving rules 
 for the adminiftration of fuch as they had eftablifhed, he gives us a full 
 view of his religion and morals, by deftroying the force of the oath taken 
 by our kings at their coronation. " Others, " fays he, " affirm, that 
 " although laws of themfelves do not bind kings, yet the oaths of kings. 
 " at their coronation tie them to keep all the laws of their kingdoms. 
 " How far this is true, let us but examine the oath of the kings of Eng- 
 " land at their coronation ; the words whereof are thefe — Art thou 
 " pleafed to caufe to be adminiftred in all thy judgments indifferent and 
 " upright juftice, and to ufe difcretion with mercy and verity ? — Art 
 " thou pleafed, that our upright laws and cuftoms be obferved ; and doll 
 " thou promife, that thofe fliall be protedled and maintained by thee ? &c. 
 «' — To which the king anfwers in the affirmative, being firft demanded 
 " by the archbiffiop of Canterbury — Pleafeth it you, to confirm and 
 " obferve the laws and cuftoms of antient times, granted from God by 
 *'■ juft and devout kings unto the Englifli nation, by oath unto the faid 
 " people, efpecially laws, cuftoms, and liberties, granted unto the clergy 
 " and laity by the famous king Edward * ? " From this he infers, that 
 the king is not to obferve all laws, but fuch as are upright, becaufe he 
 finds evil laws mentioned in the oath of Richard the fecond, which he 
 fwears to abolifh f. " Now, fays he, what laws are upright, and v/hat 
 
 * Filmer has taken this oath from Milles's Catalogue of Honour, p. 53. Edit. 1610. 
 Prynne, in his tr«atife on the Loyalty of God's true faints, tells us, that the following 
 form was u fed at the coronations of Henry vii, and vjii, James I, Charles I, &c. 
 
 Juramcntum domini regis in die coronationis fuae. 
 
 Archiepifcopus Cantuarienfis regem interrogat, fi leges et confuetudines ab antiquis^ 
 juftis, et Deo devotis regibus, plebi Anglorum conceflas, eum facramenti confirmatione 
 cidem plebi concedereet fervare voluerit, et pracfertim leges, confuetudines, et libertates a 
 
 gloriofo rege Edvvardo clero et populo conccllas. Diito principe fe promittente omnia 
 
 praemiflaconcefTurum et fervaturum, tunc exponet ei archiepifcopus articulos, de quibus 
 jurabit, fic dicens : 
 
 1. " Servabis ecclefiae Dei, cleroque et populo, pacem ex integro et concordiam in Deo. 
 " fecundum vires tuas ?" rcfpondebit, " fcrvabo. " 
 
 2. " Facies fieri in omnibus judiciis tuis aequam et reftam juftitiam, et difcretionem cun:> 
 " mifericordia et veritate, fecundum vires tuas ? " refpondebit, " faciam. " 
 
 3. " Concedis juftas lc.,es et confuetudines efle tenendas, et promittis cas per te efle pro- 
 " tegcndas, et ad honorem Dei corroborandas, quas vulgus elegerit, fecundum vires tuas ?" 
 refpondebit, " concede et promitto. " Prynne on Loyalty, p. 246, 270 
 
 t The oath taken by Richard the fecond was to this purpofe Quod ecck-fiam fuis. 
 
 permitteret gauderc libertatibus, et earn et miniftros ejus honoraret, et fidem rcftam teneret, 
 rapacitatem ct omnes iniquitates in omnibus gradibus intcrdiceret. Secundo, ut leges terrae 
 bonas ubique fervari faccrct,, et praecipue leges S. Ed'wardi regis et confefibris, qui ineadem 
 requicfcit ecclefia, ct mains leges faccret abrogari. Tertio, ut non cflet pcrfonarum accep- 
 tor, fed judicium rciStum inter virum et virum faceret, et praecipue mifericordiam obfervaret, 
 ficut fibi fuam indulgcat mifericordiam clcmens, ct niifericors Deus. ^Valflng. Hift. 
 
 Angl. p. 195. Smce our autlvor's time, viz. in 1688, an a6l was part for afccrtaining 
 
 and cftablifhing the form of the coronation oath. 1 W. & M. fcfs. i, c. 6 
 
 " evil,
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 355 
 
 " evil, who fliall judge but the king? &c. So that In effedl the king sect. 17 
 
 *' doth fwcar to kcej) no laws but liich as in his judgment are upright, 
 
 " &c. And it" he did ftridlly Iwear to obferve all laws, he could not 
 
 " without perjury give his coufent to the repealing or abrogating of any 
 
 " flatute by ad of parliament, &c." And again : "but, let it be fup- 
 
 " pofed for truth, that kings do fwear to obfcrvc all lav/s of their kingdoms, 
 
 " yet no man can think it reafon, that the kings fliould be more bound 
 
 *' by their voluntary oaths than common perfons. Now if a private 
 
 *' perfon make a contradt, either with oath, or without oath, he is no 
 
 " farther bound than the equity and juftice of the contradl tics him: for a 
 
 *' man may have relief againft an unreafonable and unjuft promife, if 
 
 " either deceit or error, force or fear, induced him thereunto, or if it be 
 
 *' hurtful or grievous in the performance. Since the laws in many cafes 
 
 " give the king a prerogative above common perfons, &c. " Left I fliould 
 
 be thought to inlifl; upon fmall advantages, I will not oblige any man to 
 
 fhcw, where Filmer found this oath, nor obferve the faults committed in 
 
 the tranflation : but, notwithflanding his falfe reprefentation, I find 
 
 enough for my purpofe, and intend to take it in his own words. But 
 
 firft I fliall take leave to remark, that thofe, who for private intcrefts 
 
 addidt themfelves to the perfonal fervice of princes, though to the ruin of 
 
 their country, find it impoflible to pcrfuadc mankind, that kings may 
 
 govern as they pleafe, when all men know there are laws to direct and 
 
 reflrain them, unlefs they can make men believe they have their power 
 
 from an univerfal and fuperior law; or that princes can attempt to diifolve 
 
 the obligations laid upon them by the laws, which they fo folemnly fwear 
 
 to obferve, without rendering themfelves detellable to God and man, and 
 
 fubjecl to the revenging hands of both, unlefs they can invalidate thofe 
 
 oaths. Mr. Hobbes, I think, was the firfl: who very ingenioufly contrived 
 
 a compendious way of juftifying the moil abominable perjuries, and all 
 
 the mifchiefs enfuing thereupon, by pretending, that as the king's oath 
 
 is made to the people, the people may abfolve him from the obligation : 
 
 and that the people having conferred upon him all the power they had, 
 
 he can do all that they could : he can therefore abfolve himfelf, and is 
 
 adtually free, fince he is fo when he pleafes *. This is only falfe in the 
 
 minor: for the people not having conferred upon him all, but only apart 
 
 of their power, that of abfolving him remains in themfelves, othervvife 
 
 they would never have obliged him to take the oath. He cannot there- 
 
 * Societati civili adverfa opinio eorum eft, qui cenfent, legibus civilibus fubjedtos effe 
 etiam eos qui habent fummum imperium. Qitam veram non effe fatis oftcnditur, ex eo quod 
 civitas, neque fibi ipfi, neque civi cuiquam obligari poteft : non fibi, quia nemo obligatur 
 nifi alii; non, civi, quia civium voluntates fingulae in voluntatc civitatis continentur, ita ut 
 fi civitas fe liberam a tali obligatione effe velit, etiam cives velint, et proinde libera fit. 
 Qiiod autem de civitate verum eft, id verum effe intelligitur de eo homine, vel coetu homi- 
 num, qui fummam habet poteftatem ; illi enim civitas funt, quae nifi per fummam eoruin 
 poteftatem non exiftit. Hobbes de Give c. 12, § 4, c. 6, § 14. — In eum [monarcham] 
 jus omne populi pluralitate fuffragiorum transfertur; ita ut quicquid potuerat populus, 
 antequam eligeretur, id omne poftea jure poflit facereek(^us. c. 7, §11 
 
 Z z 2 fore
 
 .r6 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT ^ 
 
 CHAP. HI fore abfolve himfclf. The pope indeed finds a help for this, and as Chrlfi's 
 vicar pretends the power of ablblation to be in him, and exercifcd it in 
 ubfolving king John. But our author, defpairing to impofe either of 
 thefe upon our age and nation, with more impudence, and lefs wit, 
 would enervate all coronation-oaths by fubjcdting them to the diftretion 
 of the taker: whereas all men have hitherto thought their force to confill 
 in the declared fenfe of thofe who give them *. This dodrine is lb new, 
 that itfurpafles the fubtilty of the fchoolmen, who, as an ingenious perfon 
 faid of them, had minced oaths fo fine, that a million of them, as well 
 as angels, might ftand upon the point of a needle ; and were never yet 
 equalled but by the Jefuits, who have overthrown them by mental refer- 
 vations : which is fo clearly demonftrated from their books, that it cannot 
 be denied ; but fo horrible, that even thofe of their own order, who have 
 the leaft fpark of comm.on honefiy, condemn the praftice. 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 Ihould be oflFered, if he could fatisfy 
 his confcience in ufmg any manner of equivocation, or mental refervation ; 
 or if he might put any other fenfe upon them, than he knew to be 
 intended by thofe who ofi"ered them. And if our author's confcience 
 were not more corrupted than that of the Jefuit, who had lived fifty years 
 under the worft difcipline that I think ever was in the world, I would afk 
 him ferioufly, if he truly believe, that the nobility, clergy, and common- 
 alty of England, who have been always fo zealous for their antient laws, 
 and fo refolute in defending them, did mean no more by the oaths they 
 fo folemnly impofed, and upon which they laid fo much weight, tharv 
 that the king fhould fwear to keep them, fo far only as he lliould think 
 fit. But he fwears only " to obferve thofe that are upright, &c. " How 
 can that be underftood otherwife, than that thofe who give the oath dq 
 declare their laws and cufloms to be upright and good, and he by taking 
 the oath affirms them to be fo ? Or, how can they be more precifely fpe- 
 clfied than by the enfuing claufe, " granted from God by juft and devout 
 " kings by oath, efpecially thofe of the famous king Edward?" But, 
 fays he, by the fame oath, " Richard the fecond was bound to abolilh 
 " thofe that were evil." If any fuch had crept in through error, or been 
 obtruded by malice, the evil being difcovered and declared by the nobility 
 and commons who were concerned, he was not to take advantage of them, 
 or by his refufal to evade the abolition, but to join with his people in 
 annulling them, according to the general claufe of aflenting to thofe 
 
 " quas vulgus elegeritt'" 
 
 Magna Charta being only an abridgment of our antient laws and cuf- 
 toms, the king that fwears to it, fwears to them all ; and not being 
 admitted to be the interpreter of it, or to determine what is good or evil, 
 
 * Verbajurantisobligare in fenfu quo ea creditur acccpifle cui juratum eft-. . . . Diesis 
 ipfis teftem adhibens Deum, debet d\6{a. faccrc vera quomodo pufat intelligi. Grot, de Jure 
 BfUi, ). 2, c. 13, § 3. Vide ejuW. cap. argumenta, § 3 
 
 I See the third article inthe coronation oath above cited, p. 35-^ 
 
 fit
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 357 
 
 fit to be obferved or annulled in it, can have no more power over the reft. sEGT. 17 
 ^'his having been confirmed by more parliaments than we have had 
 kings fince that time, the lame obligation muft ftill lie upon them all, as 
 upon John and Henry, in whofe time that claim of right was compiled. 
 The ad: was no lefs folemn than important ; and the moft dreadful curfes 
 that could be conceived in words, which were denounced againft fuch as 
 Ihould any way infringe it, by the clergy in Wcftminftcr-hall, in the pre- 
 fence, and with the afl'ent, of king Henry the third, many of the principal 
 nobility, and all the eftates of the kingdom, fhew whether it was referred 
 to the king's judgment or not ; when it is evident they feared the violation 
 from no other than himfelf, and fuch as he ihould employ *. I confefs 
 the church, as they then called the dergy, was fallen into fuch corruption^ 
 that their arms were not much to be feared by one who had his confcience 
 clear ; but that could not be in the cafe of perjury : and our anceftor& 
 could do no better, than employ the fpiritual fword, referving to them- 
 felves the ufe of the other, in cafe that fhould be defpifed. Though the 
 pope's excommunications proved fometimes to be but " bruta fulmina, " 
 when a juft caufe was wanting, it may be eafily judged what obedience a 
 prince could expedl from his fubjedls, when every man knew he had by 
 perjury drawn the mofl: heavy curfes upon himfelf. King John was cer- 
 tainly wicked, but he durft not break thefe bonds till he had procured the 
 pope's abfolution for a cover ; and when he had done fo, he found him- 
 felf unfafe under it, and could not make good what he had promifed to 
 the pope to obtain it, the parliament declaring, that his grants to the pope 
 were unjuft, illegal, contrary to his coronation-oath, and that they would 
 not be held by them. This went fo far in that king's time, that writs 
 were ifllied out to men of all conditions to oblige themfelves by oath to 
 keep the great charter ; and if other means failed, " to compel the king 
 *' to perform the conditions f. " It is exprefsly faid in his charter, that 
 " the barons and commonalty of the land fhall ftreighten and compel usr 
 " by all means poflible, as by feizing our towns, lands, and poflelfions, 
 " or any other way, till fatisfadlion be made according to their pleafure J.'*" 
 And in the charter of his fon Henry it is, upon the fame fuppofition o£ 
 not performing the agreement, faid, " It fhall be lawful for all men in. 
 *' our kingdom to rife up againft us, and to do all things that may be- 
 *' grievous to us, as if they were abfolutely free from any engagements 
 
 * See the fentence of excommunication denounced againft all the infringers of Magna 
 Charta in Matthew Paris, p. 866. fub ann. 1253 
 
 t Rex Anglorum Johannes mifit literas fuas patentes in omnes fines Angliae praecipiens 
 firmiter vicecomitibus univerfis totius regni, ut facerent jurarede ballivis fuis homines cujuf- 
 cunque conditionis, quod leges et libertates praediiStas obfervarent, et quod ipfum regem pro 
 polTe fuo per captionem caftrorum fuorum diftringerent et gravarent ad praefnta omnia exe- 
 quenda, ficut in charta continebatur. Mat. Paris, fub ann. 1215. p. 262 
 
 X Et illi barones, curn communitate totius terrae, diftringent et gravabunt nos modii 
 omnibus quibus poterunt, fcilicet per captionem caftrorum, tcrrarum, poflefllonum, et aliis 
 modisquibuspotuerint, donee fueritemendatumiecundHraarbitriumeorum. Mat. Paris, p. 26 l 
 
 *^ to
 
 358 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. Ill " ^° ^^^'' P£''foi^ *• " Thefe words feem to have been contrived to be fo 
 full and flrong " propter duplicitatem regis, " which was with too much 
 reafon fulpedled. And it is not, as I fuppofe, the language of flaves and 
 villains begging fomething from 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 fuch as enjoyed their liberties by his favour, but with thofe whom 
 he acknowledged to be the judges of his performing what had been ftipu- 
 iated ; 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 manifefts, that 
 princes, performing their ofEce, and obferving thefe fcipulations, have 
 lived glorious, happy, and beloved. And I can hardly fmd an example 
 of any, who have notorioufly broken thefe oaths, and been adjudged to 
 have incurred the penalties, who have not lived miferably, died fliamefully, 
 and left an abominable memory to pofterity. 
 
 " But, " fays our author, " kings cannot be more obliged by volun- 
 " tary oaths than other men, and may be relieved from unjuft and imrea- 
 " fonable promifes, Jf they be induced by deceit, error, force, or fear, 
 " or the performance be grievous." Which is to fay, that no oath is of 
 . any obligation ; for there is none that is not voluntary, or involuntary ; 
 and there never was any, upon which fome fuch thing may not be pre- 
 tended : which would be the fame, if fuch as Filmer had the direction of 
 their confciences who take the oaths, and of thofe who are to exadl the 
 performance. This would foon dellroy all confidence between king and 
 people, and not only unhinge the beft efi:ablilhed governments, but by a 
 dcteftable practice of annihilating the force of oaths, and moft folemn 
 contracts, that can be made by men, overthrow all focieties that fublift 
 by them. I leave it to all reafonable men to judge how fit a work this 
 would be for the fupreme magiftrate, who is advanced to the highefl 
 ■degree of human glory and happinefs, that he may preferve them ; and 
 how that juflice, for the obtaining of which governments are conftituted, 
 can be adminiilred, if he, who is to exadt it from others, do in his own 
 
 * Our author hns taken thefe words from the following pafTage in " Charta parclonationis 
 
 per regem Henricum port bcllum dc Lewes, anno regni, 49:" Qiiod il nos, vel donii- 
 
 nus Edvardus iilius iiofler, Cfinlra praedi^tam ordinationem, promifTionem noftram, feu 
 jura men turn, quod abfit, in aliquo venire, feu pacem ct tranquillitatem regni noftri turbarc, 
 feu occafione fadtorum praecedcntium, tempore turbationis ac guerrae praeccdentis, aliqucni 
 de pratdiiSis, aut de parte pracdic'torum, quos diffidavimus, occafionare, feu alicui de eis 
 damnum faccre, aut fieri procurare praefumpfcrimus, liceat omnibus dc regno noftro contra 
 nos infurgerc, ct ad gravamen noftium opcm ct ciperam dare, juxta pofle : ad quod ex 
 pracfenti praeccpto noltro omnes et fingulos volumus obligari, fidclitate, ct homagio nobis 
 fi&o non obflrantc. Ita quod nobis in nullo intendant, fed omnia, quae gravamen noftrum 
 refpiciunt, faciant, ac ft in nullo nobis tencrentur, donee quod in hac parte transgreflum 
 fuerit, feu commifi'um, cum fatisfacflione cangrua, in ftatum debitum, fccundum praedic- 
 torum, ordinationis et promiffionis noftrae, el juramcnti formam, fuerit reformatum etc. 
 Annal. Wavcrlcicnfcs, fub ann. 1264. Vide Hift. Anglic. Scriptores quinquc, p. 217. 
 'I'yrrd's Hill, of England, p. 1042, and Append, p. 34 
 
 pcrfon
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 359 
 
 pcrfon utterly fubvert it ; and what they deferve, who by fuch bafc preva- sect. 17 
 
 rications would teach them to pervert and abolifh the mofl: facrcd of all 
 
 contradts. A worthy perfon of our age was accuftomed to fay, that con- 
 
 trads in writing were invented only to bind villains, who having no law, 
 
 juftice, or truth, within themfelves, would not keep their words, unlefs 
 
 fuch teftimonies were given as might compel them. But if our author's 
 
 dodtrine were received, no contradt would be of more value than a cobwebs 
 
 Such as are not abfolutcly of a profligate confcience fo far reverence the 
 
 religion of an oath, as to think, that even thofe which are mofl uniuftly 
 
 and violently impofed ought to be obferved * ; and Jidius Caefar, who I 
 
 think was not over-fcrupulous, when he was taken by pirates, and fet at 
 
 liberty upon his word, caufed the ranfom he had promifed to be paid to 
 
 them f. We fee the like is pradiied every day by prifoncrs taken in 
 
 unjuft as well as juft wars : and there is no honeft man that would not 
 
 abhor a perfon, who being taken by the pirates of Algiers, fhould not 
 
 pay what he had promifed for his liberty. It were in vain to fay they 
 
 had no right of exading, or that the performance was grievous; he muft 
 
 return to the chains, or pay. And though the people of Artois, Alfatia, 
 
 or Flanders, do perhaps, with reafon, think the king of France has no 
 
 right to impofe oaths of allegiance upon them, no man doubts, but that 
 
 if they choofe rather to take thofe oaths, than to fuffer what might enfue 
 
 upon their refufal, they are as much bound to be faithful to him as his 
 
 antient fubjeds. 
 
 The like may be faid of promifes extorted by fraud ; and no other 
 example is neceilary to prove they are to be performed, than that of 
 Jofliua made to the Gibeonites J. They were an accurfed nation, which 
 he was commanded to deftroy : they came to him with lies, and by deceit 
 induced him to make a league with them, which he ought not to have 
 done ; but being made, it was to be performed. On that account he did 
 not only fpare but defend them ; and the adion was approved by God. 
 
 * Non perfona fola refpicitur ciii juratur, fed is qui juratur, Dcus, qui ad obligationem 
 pariendam fufficit. Repudiandus ergo Cicero, ciim ait, perjurium nullum efTe, fi praedo- 
 nibus paetum pro capite pretium non adferatur, ne fi juratum quidem fit. Grot, de Jure 
 Belli. 1. 2, c. 13, § 15. Cic. de Offic. 1. 3, § 107. — PufFendorf feems to favour the 
 opinion of Cicero. Vide PufFend. de Jure Nat. 1. 4, c. 2, § 8 
 
 t Our author has mifreprefented the tranfadion, to which he alludes in this paflaae. When 
 Caefar was taken by the pirates, he aded more like an artful and political warrior, than a 
 man of honour. He was kept in cuftody till the ranfom was paid. As foon as he was 
 releafed, he purfued the pirates, obliged them to reftore all the money they had received, 
 
 and crucified them for their illegal practices, and their infolence in apprehending him. 
 
 Rhodum fecedere flratuit . . . Hue dum hibernis jam menfibus trajicit, circa Pharmacufam 
 inlulam a praedonibus captus eft ; manfitque apud eos, non fine fumma indis;natione, props 
 quadraginta dies, cum uno medico et cubiculariis duobus. Nam comites fervofque caeteros 
 initio ftatim, ad expediendas pecunias, quibus redimeretur, dimiferat. Numcratis deinde 
 quinquaginta talentis, expofitus in litore, non diftulit quin e veftigio clafTc deducld perfe- 
 queretur abeuntes ; ac rcdaftos in poteftatcm fupplicio, quod illis facpe minatus inter jocum 
 fuerat, afficeret. Suet, in vita Jul. Caefaris, §4, 74. Plut. in ejufdem vita. Polvaeni. 
 Strat. I. 8, c. 23. Vel. Paterc. 1. 2, § 41, 42 
 
 t Joili. ch. 9, V. 18. Vide Grot, de jure Belli, I. 2, c. 13, § 4 
 
 3 When
 
 36o DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 GHAP. HI When Saul by a prepofterous zeal violated that league, the anger of God 
 for that breach of faith could no otherwiie be appeafed than by the death 
 of feven of his children. This cafe is fo full, lb precife, and of luch 
 undoubted authority, that I Ihall not trouble myfelf with any other. But 
 if we believe our man of good morals, voluntary oaths and promifes arc 
 of no more value than thofe gained by force or deceit, that is to fay, none 
 are of any. For voluntary fignifying nothing but free, all human adts 
 are either free or not free, that is, from the will of the peribn, or fome 
 impuUe from without. If therefore there be no force in thole that are 
 free, nor in thofe that are not free, there is none in any. 
 
 No better ufe can be made of any pretenfion of " error," or that the 
 " performance was grievous ;" for no man ought to be grieved at the 
 performance of his contraft. David affures us, that a good man performs 
 his agreement, though he lofe by it * ; and the lord chancellor Egerton 
 told a gentleman who defired relief againft his own deed, upon an allega- 
 tion that he knew not what he did when he figned it, that he did not fit 
 to relieve fools. 
 
 But though voluntary promifes or oaths, when, to ufe the lawyers 
 language, there is not a valuable confideration, were of no obligation ; or 
 men brought by force, fear, or error, into fuch contradls as are grievous 
 in the performance, might be relieved, this would not at all reach the 
 cafes of princes, in the contracts made between them and their fubjedls, 
 and conhrmed by their oaths, there being no colour of force or fraud, fear 
 or error, for them to allege ; nor any thing to be pretended that can be 
 grievous to perform, otherwlfe than as it may be grievous to an ill man 
 not to do the mifchiefs he had conceived. 
 
 Nations, according to their own will, frame the laws by which they 
 refolve to be governed ; and if they do it not wifely, the damage is only 
 ts themfelves : but it is 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 prelled by the Ifraclites to be their king ; and the anuy 
 of Germanicus, in a mutiny, more fiercely urged him to be emperor : but 
 both defifled when their offers were refufed. If our kings have been 
 more modeft, and our anceftors more pertinacious in compelling them to 
 accept the crowns they offered, I Ihall, upon proof of the matter, change 
 my opinion. But till that do appear, I may be pardoned if I think there 
 was no fuch thing. William the Norman was not by force brought into 
 England, but came voluntarily, and defired to be king : the nobility, 
 clergy, and commons, propofcd the conditions upon which they would 
 receive him. Thefe conditions were to govern according to their antient 
 laws, efpecially thofe that had been granted, or rather coUeded in the 
 time of the famous king Edward. Here was neither force nor fraud ; if 
 he had difliked the terms, he might have retired as freely as he came. 
 But he did like them; and though he was not perhaps fo modeft, as to 
 
 * Pfalm. 15, V. 5 
 
 fay
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 361 
 
 fay with the brave Saxon king Offa, " ad libertatis veftrae tuitionem, sect. 17 
 " non nieis mcritis, fed fola libcralitate veftra, unanirniter mc convo- 
 " caftis *," he accepted the crown upon the conditions offered and fwore 
 upon the evangcUfts to obferve them. Not much valuing this, he pre- 
 tended to govern according to his own will ; but finding the people would 
 not endure it, he renewed his oath upon the fame evangelifts, and the 
 reliques of St. Alban f, which he needed not to have done, but might 
 have departed to his datchy of Normandy, if he had not liked the con- 
 ditions, or thought not fit to obferve them. It is probable he examined 
 the contents of Edward's laws before he fwore to them, and could not 
 imagine, that a free nation, which never had any other kings, than fuch 
 as had been chofen by themfelves for the prefervation of their liberty, and 
 from whofe liberality the beft of their kings acknowledged the crowns 
 they wore, did intend to give up their perfons, liberties, and eflates, 
 to him, who was a ftranger, efpecially when they would not receive 
 him till he had fworn to ' the fame laws, by which the others had 
 reigned, of which one was, as appears by the adl of the Conventus 
 Pananglicus, that " reges a facerdotibus et fenioribus populi eligerentur, 
 *' the kings fhould be eleded by the clergy and elders of the people J." 
 By thefe means he was advanced to the crown, to which he could have 
 no title, unlefs they had the right of conferring it upon him. Here was 
 therefore no force, deceit, or error ; and whatever equity there might be 
 to relieve one that had been forced, frighted, or circumvented, it was 
 nothing to this cafe. We do not find, that William the fecond, oi- Henry, 
 were forced to be kings ; no fword was put to their throats ; and for any 
 thing we know, the Englifli nation was not then fo contemptible, but 
 men might have been found in the world, who would willingly have 
 accepted the crown, and even their elder brother Robert would not have 
 refufed. But the nobility and commons, trufting to their oaths and 
 promifes, thought fit to prefer them before him ; and when he endea- 
 voured to impofe himfelf upon the nation , by force, they fo feverely 
 punilhed him, that no better proof can be required to fhew, that they 
 were accuftomed to have no other kings than fuch as they approved. 
 And this was one of the cuftoms that all their kings fwore to maintain, it 
 being as antient, juft, and well-approved, as any other. 
 
 Having already proved, that all the kings we have had fince tliat time, 
 have come in upon the fame title ; that the Saxon laws, to which all have 
 fworn, continue to be of force among us, and that the words pronounced 
 four times, on the four fides of the fcaffbld, by the archbifhop, " will ye 
 " have this man to reign ? " do teftify it ; I may fpare the pains of a 
 
 * Mat. Paris, in vita OfFae fecundi, p. 13 
 
 f Rex, pro bono pacis, juravit '•jper omnes reliquias ecclefiae fanfli Albani, tafiisque 
 facrofandtis evangeliis, miniftrante juramentum abbate Fretherico, bonas et approbatas 
 dntiquas regni leges, quas fandti et pii Angliae reges, ejus anteceflbres, et maxime Edwardiis 
 ftatuit, inviolabiliter obfervare. Mat. Paris, in vita Fretherici S. Albani abbatisxiii. p. 48 
 
 % Vide fupra, p. 321 
 
 A a a repetition^
 
 J 
 
 62 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP ..III repetition, and juflly conclude, that if there was neither force nor fraud, 
 fear nor error, to be pretended by the firft, there could be none in thofe 
 tiiat followed. 
 
 But the " obfervation of this oath may be grievous. " If I received 
 money the laft year upon bond, promife, or fale of a manor or farm, can 
 it be thought grievous to me to be compelled to repay, or to make over 
 the land according to my agreement ? Or if I did not feal the bond till I 
 had the money, muft not I perform the condition, or at the leafl reftore 
 what I had received ? If it be grievous to any king to preferve the liberties, 
 lives, and eftates of his fubjedts, and to govern according to their laws, 
 let him refign the crown, and the people to whom the oath was made 
 will probably releafe him. Others may poffibly be found who will not 
 think it grievous : or if none will accept a crown unlefs they may do 
 what they pleafe, the people muft bear the misfortune of being obliged to 
 govern themfelves, or to inftitute fome other fort of magiftracy, that will 
 be fatisfied with a lefs exorbitant power. Perhaps they may fucceed as 
 well as fome others have done, who, without being brought to that 
 neceffity, have voluntarily caft themfelves into the mifery of living with- 
 out the majeftic fplendor of a monarch: or, if that fliil, they may, as 
 their laft refuge, furrender up themfelves to llavery. When that is done, 
 we will acknowledge, that whatever we have is derived from the favour 
 of our mafter. But no fuch thing yet appearing among us, we may be 
 pardoned, ifwe think we are free-men governed by our own laws, and 
 that no man has a power over us, which is not given and regulated by 
 them ; nor tliat any thing, but a new law made by ourfelves,. can exempt 
 our kings from the obligation of performing their oaths taken, to govern 
 according to the old, in the true fenfe of the words, as they are under- 
 ftood in our language by thofe who give them, and conducing to tlic ends 
 for which they are given ; which can be no other, than to defend us from; 
 a)l manner of arbitrary power, and to fix a rule to which we are to con- 
 form our actions, and from which, according to our deferts, we may 
 expert reward or puniftiment. And thofe who by prevarications, cavllsy , 
 or equivocations, endeavour to diflblve thefe obligations, do either mali- 
 cioufly betray the caufe of kings, by reprefenting them to the world as 
 men, vv'ho prefer the fatisfadion of their irregular appetites before the 
 performai:ice of their duty, and trample under foot the raoft- facred bonds 
 of human, fociety; or from the grofleft' ignorance do not fee, that by 
 teaching nations how little they can rely upoji the oaths of their princes, , 
 they inftruil them as little to obferve their own ; and that not only,, 
 becaufe men are' generally inclined- to follow the examples of thofe in 
 power, b\it from a moft certain conclufion, that he, who breaks his part 
 f'-f a central, cannot w'ithout the utmoft impudence and folly expert the 
 ^Krformance of the other; nothing bring mo;r known among men, than, 
 thpt all contra<ns are of liich :mutual obligation, that lie who fails of his ; 
 part difcliarges the other. If this be fo between man and man,, it muft'' 
 Uteds be (o bctv^'een. one and many millions of men: if he were free, , 
 
 becaufe
 
 DISCOURSES COKCERNTNG GO Vt IRN MENT J6j 
 
 becaufe he fays he is, every man muR, be free aifo when he pleafes. If sect. i% 
 a private man, who receives no benciit, or perhaps prejudice, from a con- 
 trad, be obliged to perform the conditions, much more are kings, who 
 receive the greateil advantages the world can give. As they are not by 
 themfclves, nor for themfeives, fo they arc not different " in fpecic" from 
 other men : they are born, live, and die, as wc all do. The fame law of 
 truthand juftice is given to all by God and nature; and perhaps I may 
 fay, the performance of it is moft rigoroufly exa£led from the greatcft of 
 men. The liberty of perjury cannot be a privilege annexed to crowns; 
 and it is abfurd to think, that the moft venerable authority, that can be 
 conferred upon a man, is increafed by a liberty to commit, or impunity 
 in committing fuch crimes, a§ are the greateft aggravations of infamy to 
 the bafeft villains in the world. 
 
 SECTION XVIII 
 
 THE NEXT IN BLOOD TO DECEASED KINGS CANNOT GENERALLY 
 BE SAID TO BE KINGS, TILL THEY ARE CROWNED. 
 
 It is hereupon ufually objeded, that kings do not come in bj contrad 
 nor by oath; but are kings by, or according to proximity of blood, 
 before they are crowned. Though this be a bold propofition, I will not 
 fay, it is univerflxlly falfe. It is poffible, that in fome places the rule of 
 fucceffion may be fet down fo precifely, that, in fome cafes, every man 
 may be able to fee and know the fenfe, as well as the perfon defigned to 
 be the fucceffor : but before I acknowledge it to be univerfally true, I 
 muft defire to know what this rule of fucceffion is, and from whence it 
 draws its original. 
 
 I think I may be excufed, if I make thefc fcruples, becaufe I find the 
 thing in difpute to be variouily adjudged in feveral places ; and have 
 obferved five different manners of difpoiing crowns efteemed hereditary, 
 befides an infinite number of collateral controverfies arifmg from them, 
 of which we have divers examples ; and if there be one univerfal rule 
 appointed, one of thefe only can be right, and all the others muft be 
 vicious. The firft gives the inheritance to the eldeft male of the eldeft 
 legitimate line, as in France, according to that which they call the falic 
 law. The fecond, to the eldeft legitimate male of the reigning family, as 
 antiently in Spain : according to which the brother of the deceafed king 
 has been often, if not always, preferred before the fon, if he were elder, 
 as may appear by the difpute between Corbis and Orfua, cited before 
 from Titus Livius *. And in the fame country, during the reign of the 
 Goths, the eldeft male fucceeded, whether legitimate or illegitimate. The 
 
 * Vide fupra, p, 46 
 
 A a a 2 fourth
 
 364 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. Ill fourth receives femaks, or their defcendents, without any other condition 
 diftinguifhing them from males, except that the younger brother is pre- 
 ferred before the elder fifter, but the daughter of the elder brother is 
 preferred before the fon of the younger. The fifth gives the inheritance 
 to females under a condition, as In Sweden, where they inherit, unlefs 
 they marry out of the country without the confent of the eftates : accord- 
 ing to which rule, Charles Guftavus was chofen, as any ftranger might 
 have been, though fon to a fifter of Guftavus x\dolphus, who by marrying 
 a German prince had forfeited her right. And by the fame a£t of eftates, 
 by which her eldeft fon Avas chofen, and the crown entailed upon the 
 heirs of his body, her fecond fon, the prince Adolphus, was wholly excluded. 
 Till thefe queftions are decided by a judge of fuch an undoubted autho- 
 rity, that all men may fafely fubmit, it is hard for any man, who really 
 feeks the fatisfadtion of his confcience, to know whether the law of God 
 and nature (though he fliould believe there is one general law) do juftify 
 the cuftoms of the antient Medes and Sabeans, mentioned by the poet, 
 who admitted females *, or thofe of France, which totally exclude them 
 as unfit to reign over men, and utterly unable to perform the duty of a 
 fupreme magiftrate, as we fee they are every where excluded from the 
 exercife of all other offices in the commonwealth. If it be faid, that we 
 ought to follow the cuftoms of our own country, I anfwer, that thofe of 
 our own country deferve to be obferved, becaufe they are of our own 
 country : but they are no more to be called the laws of God and nature 
 than thofe of France or Germany ; and though I do not believe, that any 
 general law is appointed, I wifh I were fure, that our cuftoms in this 
 point were not more repugnant to the light of nature, and prejudicial to 
 ourfelves, than thofe of fome other nations. But if I fliould be fo much 
 an Englifliman, as to think the will of God to have been more particu- 
 larly revealed to our anceftors, than to any other nation, and that all of 
 them ought to learn from us, yet it would be difficult to decide many 
 queftions that may arife. For though the parliament, in the 39 of Henry 
 the fixth, made an a£t in favour of Richard duke of York, defcendcd 
 from a daughter of Mortimer, who married the daughter of the duke of 
 Clarence, elder brother to John of Gaunt f , they rather aftertcd their own 
 power of giving the crown to whom they pleafed, than determined the 
 
 queftion; . 
 
 * Medis levibufq:.c Sab'aeis 
 
 Imperat hie Rxus, reginaruinquc fub armis. 
 
 Barbariae pars magna jacct. Claud, in Eutrop. 1. i, v. 321 
 
 t The duke of York's claim to the crown of England was as follows : king 
 Edward tlie third had fcven foils, Edward prince of Widcs, William of Hatfield, Lionel 
 duke of Clarence, John of Gaunt duke of Lancafter, Edmund duke of York, Thomas 
 duke of Gloucefter, and William of Windfor. Edward the eldeft died during his father's 
 life, and left one fon, king Richard the fecond, who died without ifluc, as did alfo king 
 Edward's fecond fon William. Lionel the third fon had only one daughter, named Philipp;i, 
 who being married to Edmund Mortimer carl of March, Ihe had by him Roger earl uf 
 March, who afterwards had two tons and two d;iughtcrs, of whom three died without iliue j 
 
 only
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 365 
 
 quefllon. For if they had believed, that the crown had belonged to lilm sect. l8' 
 by a general and eternal law, they mufl immediately have rejedbed Henry 
 as a ufurper, and put Richard into the poffeffion of his right, which they 
 did not. And though they did fomething like to this in the cafes of 
 Maud the emprefs, in relation to king Stephen, and her fon Henry the 
 fecond ; and of Henry the feventh, in relation to the lioufe of York, 
 both before he had married a daughter of it, and after her death ; they 
 did the contrary in the cafes of William the firft and fecond, Henry the 
 firft, Stephen, John, Richard the third, Henry the feventh, Mary, Eli- 
 zabeth, and others. So that, for any thing I can yet find, it is equally 
 difficult to difcover the true fenfe of the law of nature, that fliould be a 
 guide to my confcience, whether I fo far fubmit to the laws of my country, 
 as to think, that England alone has produced men that rightly undcrftand 
 it, or examine the laws and pradlices of other nations. 
 
 While this remains undecided, it is impoffible 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 owed allegiance to the king of Spain, 
 duke of Lorrain, duke of Savoy, or many others defcended from dau^-h- 
 ters of the houfe of Valois, one of whom ought to inherit, if the inheri- 
 tance belongs to females ; or to the houfe of Bourbon, whofe only title is 
 founded upon the exclufion of them. The like controverfies will be in 
 all places ; and he that would put mankind upon fuch enquiries, goes 
 about to fubvert all the governments of the world, and arms every man 
 to the deftrudiion of his neighbour. 
 
 We ought to be informed when this right began. If we had the 
 genealogy of every man from Noah, and the crowns of every nation had 
 fmce his time continued in one line, we were only to inquire, into how 
 many kingdoms he appointed the world to be divided, and how well the 
 divifion we fee at this day agrees with the allotment made by him. But 
 mankind having for many ages lain under fuch a vaft confufion, that no 
 man pretends to know his own original, except fome Jews, and the princes 
 of the houfe of Auftria, we cannot fo eafily 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 fons of Japhet, we 
 have nothing that can lead us to guefs how it was to be fubdivided, nor to 
 whom the feveral parcels were given : fo that the difficulties are abfolutely 
 
 inextricable; 
 
 oiily Anne the fo)e heirefs of the houfe married to Richard earl of Cambrido;?, the fon of 
 Edmund duke of York, the fifth fon of king Edward the third, which ear] of Cambridge 
 begot Richard duke of York the claimant. 
 
 On the other fide John of Gaunt, the fourth fon of king Edward the third, and younger 
 brother to Lionel, had a fon named Henry, who immediately after king Richard's refio-na- 
 tion, entered upon the throne unrighteoufly, becaufe Edmund earl of iVIarch, fon to Philtppa 
 the daughter and heirefs of the aforefiid Lionel elder brother to John of Gaunt, was then 
 alive; and the faid Henry fon to John of Gaunt, and his fucceffors, had hitherto held ths 
 crown of England unjuftly, becaufe the faid Richard Plantagenet duke of York was the - 
 lawful heir, as being the fon of Richard earl of Cambridge, and Axine before mentioned. . 
 EwliarJ'c) Hift, of England, anno 1460
 
 366 
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. Ill inextricable; and though it were true, that fome one man had a right to 
 every parcel that is known to us, it could be of no ufc ; for that right 
 muft neceffarily perifh, which no man can prove, nor indeed claim. But 
 as all natural rights by inheritance muft be by delcent, this defcent not 
 being proved, there can be no natural right ; and all rights being either 
 natural, created, or acquired, this right to crowns not being natural muft 
 be created or acquired, or none at all. 
 
 There being no general law common to all nations, creating a right to 
 crowns (as has been proved by the feveral methods uled by feveral nations 
 in the difpofal of them, according to which all thofe that we know are 
 enjoyed) we muft feek the right, concerning which we difpute, from the 
 particular conftitutions of every nation, or we fhall be able to find none. 
 
 Acquired rights are obtained, as men fay, either by fair means or by 
 foul, that is, by force or by confent. Such as are gained by force, m.ay 
 be recovered by force ; and the extent of thofe, that are enjoyed by confent, 
 can only be known by the reafons for which, or the conditions upon 
 which that confent was obtained, that is to fay, by the laws of every 
 people. According to thefe laws it cannot be faid, that there is a king in 
 every nation before he is crowned. John Sobiefki, now reigning in 
 Poland, had no relation in blood to the former kings, nor any title till he 
 was chofen *. The laft king of Sweden acknowledged he had none, but 
 was freely eleded ; and the crown being conferred upon him, and the 
 heirs of his body, if the prefent king dies without ilTue, the right of 
 eJecling a fucceffor returns undoubtedly to the eftates of the country. 
 The crown of Denmark was eleftive till it was made hereditary by an adi 
 of the general diet, held at Copenhagen in the year 1660 ; and it is 
 impoffible, that a right ihould othcrwife accrue to a younger brother of the 
 houfe of Holftein, which is derived.from a younger brother of the counts 
 of Oldenburgh. The Roman empire having paflcd through the hands of 
 many perfons of different nations, no way relating to each other in blood» 
 was by Conftantine transferred to Conftantinople ; and after many revo- 
 hitions coming to Theodofms, by birth a Spaniard, was divided between 
 his two fons Arcadius and Honorius. From thence pafhng to fuch as 
 could gain moft credit with the foldiers, the v/eftern empire being brought 
 alm.oft to nothing, was reftored by Charles the Great of France ; and, 
 continuing for fome time in his defcendants, came to the Germans ; who, 
 having created feveral emperors of the houfcs of Suevia, Saxony, Bavaria, 
 and others, as they pleafed, about three hundred years paft chofe Rodol- 
 phus of Auftria. And though, fince that time, they have not had any 
 emperor who was not of that family, yet fuch as were chofen had nothing 
 to recommend them, but the merits of their anceftors, their own perfonal 
 virtues, or fuch political confiderations as might arife from the power ot 
 their hereditary countries, which, being joined with thofe of the empire. 
 
 « 
 
 John Sobicflci commanded the Poli(h army, and obtained a memorable viiSory over the 
 Tillies at Chocxim in 1673. For this, and otlier important fcrvicts to his country, he 
 was fooii afterwards, upon the deatli oi Alichacl Wieihowiflii, elected king of Poland. 
 
 might
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 367 
 
 might enable them to make the better defence againftthe Turks. But, in sECT, 18 
 this line alfo, 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 defcendants of Ferdinand younger brother to 
 Charles the fifth, though fo unfixed even to this time, that the prefent 
 emperor Leopold was in great danger of being rejected. 
 
 If it be faid, that thefe are elective kingdoms, and our author fpeaks of 
 fuch as are hereditary, 1 anfwer, that if what he liiys be true, there can 
 be no elective kingdom, and every nation has a natural lord, to whom 
 obedience is due. But if fome are eleftive, all might have been fo, if 
 they had pleafed, unlefs it can be proved, that GKjd created fome under a 
 neceffity of fubje£tion, and left to others the enjoyment of their liberty. 
 If this be fo, the nations that are born under that necefllty may be faid 
 to have a natural lord, who has all the power in himfelf, before he is 
 crowned, or any part conferred on him by the confent of the people ; but 
 it cannot extend to others. And he who pretends a right over any nation 
 upon that account, ftands obliged to fhew, when and how that nation 
 came to be difcriminated by God from others, and deprived of that liberty, 
 which he in goodnefs had granted to the reft of mankind. I confels, I 
 think there is no fuch right, and need no better proof, than the various 
 ways of difpofing inheritances in feveral countries, which, not being 
 naturally or univerfally better or worfe one than another, cannot fpring 
 from any other root, than the confent of the feveral nations where they 
 are in force, and their opinions, that fuch methods were beft for them. 
 But if God have made a difcrimination of people, he, that would there- 
 upon ground a title to the dominion of any one, muft prove that nation 
 to be under the curfe of flavery ; which, for any thing I know, was only 
 denounced againft Ham : and it is as hard to determine whether the fenfe • 
 of it be temporal, fpiritual, or both, as to tell precifely what nations^ by 
 being dcfcended from him, fall under the penalties threatened. 
 
 If thefe therefore be either entirely falfe, or impofliible to be proved true, 
 there is no difcrimination, or not known to us ; and every people has a 
 right of difpofing of their government, as vvftH as the Polanders, Danes, 
 Swedes, Germans, and fuch as are or were under the Roman empire. 
 And if any nation has a natural lord before he be admitted by their con-- 
 fent, it muft be by a peculiar acl of their own; as the crown of France 
 by an adl of that nation, which they call the mlic law, is made hereditary 
 tomales in a dired line, or the neareft to the diredl ; and others in other" 
 places are otherwife difpofed. 
 
 I might reft here with full affurance, that no difciple of Filmer can 
 prove this of any people in the world, nor give fo much as the ftiadow of 
 a reafoa to perfuade us there is any fuch thing in any nation, or at leaft 
 in thofe where vv-e are concerned ; . and prefume little regard will he had to • 
 what he has fiiid, fmce he cannot prove of any that which he fo boldly 
 affirms of all. But bccaufe good men ought to have no other objeft than ' 
 ttuth, which in macters of tiiis importance .can never be made too cvidenty < 
 
 I Willi
 
 368 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 £ HAP. Ill I will venture to go farther, and allert, that as the various v/ays, by 
 which feveral nations difpofe of the fucceffion to their refpedlivc crowns, 
 ihew they were fubjed to no other law than their own, which they might 
 have made different, by the fame right they made it to be what it is, even 
 thofe who have the greateft veneration for the reigning families, and the 
 higheft regard for proximity of blood, have always preferred the fafety of 
 the commonwealth before the concernments of any peribn or family ; 
 and have laid afide the neareft in blood, not only when they were found 
 to be notoriouily vicious and wicked, but when they have thought it more 
 convenient to take others : and to prove this I intend to make ufe of no 
 other examples, than thofe I find in the hiftories of Spain, France, and 
 England. 
 
 Whilft the Goths governed Spain, not above four perfons in the fpace 
 of three hundred years were the immediate fucceflbrs of their fathers ; 
 but the brother, coufm-germrn, or fome other man of the families of the 
 Balthi or Amali was preferred before the children of the deceafed king : 
 and it it be faid, this was according to the law of that kingdom, I anfwer, 
 that it was therefore in the power of that nation to make laws for them- 
 felves, and confequently others have the fame right. One of their kings 
 called Wamba was depofed, and made a monk, after he had reigned well 
 many years ; but falling into a fvi'oori, and his friends thinking him part 
 recovery, cut off his hair, and put a monk's frock upon him, that, accord- 
 ing to the fuperftition of thofe times, he might die in it ; and the cutting 
 off the hair being a mofi: difgraceful thing among the Goths, they would 
 not reftore him to his authority *. Suintila, another of their kings, being 
 deprived of the crown for his ill government, his children and brothers 
 were excluded, and Sifmandus crowned in his room f . 
 
 * Wamba was not depofed by his fubje<Sls for mifconducTl: in his government, but was 
 deprived of his crown by the following ingenious though cruel artifice of his fuccefTor Ervi- 
 
 gius. Regi clam aquam, ubi fpartum erat maceratum, praebendam curavit. Eovcneni 
 
 genere, cumvenis conceptum efiet, repente rex morbo graviflimo implicatus, facris Chrifti- 
 anis atque poenitentia Qiiirici Toletani praefulis cura expiatus, fiib primam noftis horam, 
 ciim jam viderctur animam agere, pofita coma, atque in facerdotis morem detonfus, monachi 
 ritu cuculhirri induit. Eo videlicet ritu divinum numen amplius propitiari credebatur ; 
 utrumque Ervigii fuafu, (fic credituin eft) quo nimirum regnandi fpe, fi maxime fupervi- 
 veret penitus caderet, ut in conci'.io Toletano fexto cautum erat. Additum praetcrea ut 
 intermorientibus vocibus, mentequc vi veneni alienata, Ervigium ipfum fucccflbrem diccret; 
 idque extemporaria fyngrapha atque diplomate regio confirmatum. Ciim fequcnti luce, 
 morbo tantifper remittente, ad fe rediens confiderarct, ex potenti paulo ante rcge monachum 
 repente fadium, mutare noluit : five animi magnitudine rurfus fpernentis, quae alii per 
 ignes ferriimque petunt ; five defperatione rcgnuni recuperandi, cum Ervigius rerum jioti- 
 retur, inra eundem diem corona fufcepta. Itaque Wamba in Pampligae monaftcrium fe 
 contulit: ubi fcptein annos et menfes tres (alii diutiii.s tradunt) puri/Timo rellgionis ftiidio 
 vitae reliquum propagavit. Mariana de Reb. Hifpan. 1. 6, anno 68o. Baronii Annal. 
 fub codem anno, § 56 
 
 t De Suintilhiiie vero, qui, fcclera propria metucns, feipfum regno privavit, et potcflatis 
 fafcibus exuit, id cum gcntis confultu decrevimus, ut neque eundem, vel uxorcm ejus, 
 propter mala quae commiferunt, neque filios eorum, unitati noftrae iinquam confocicmus ; 
 nee cos ad honorcs, a quibus ob iniquitatem dcjefti funt, aliquandu promoveamiis, etc. 
 Concil. Toletan. iv. anno 633. Vide Concil. edit, per P. Labb. torn. 5, col. 1726, § 75. 
 Saaved. Corona Gothica. 
 
 This
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 369 
 
 This kingdom being not long after overthrown by the Moors, a new sect. 18 
 one arole from its afhes, in the perfon of Don Pelayo firft king of the 
 Afturias, which, increafing by degrees, at Lill came to comprehend all 
 Spain, and fo continues to this day. But, not troubling myfelf with all 
 the deviations from the common rule in the collateral lines of Navarre, 
 Arragon, and Portugal, I find that by fifteen icveral inftances in that one 
 feries of kings in the Allurias and Leon (who afterwards came to be kings 
 ofCaftile) it is fully proved, that what refpett foever they fhcwcd to the 
 next in blood, who by the law were to fucceed, they preferred fome other 
 perfon, as often as the fupreme law of " taking care, that the nation 
 " might receive no detriment, " perfuaded them to it. 
 
 Don Pelayo enjoyed for his life the kingdom conferred upon him by 
 the Spaniards, who with him retired into the mountains to defend theni- 
 felves againfl the Moors, and was fucceeded by his fon Favila. But 
 though Favila left many fons when he died, Alphonfo furnamed the 
 "Catholic was advanced to the crown, and they all laid afide *. Froila, 
 fon to Alphonfo, was for his cruelty depofed, put to death, and his fons 
 excluded f. Aurelio his brother, or, as fome fay, his coufin-german 
 fucceeded him ; and at his death Silo, who married his wife's filler:}:, 
 was preferred before the males of the blood royal. Alphonfo, furnamed 
 el Cafto, was firft violently difpollelTed of the crown by a baftard of the 
 roval family ; but he being dead, the nobility and people, thinking 
 Alphonfo more fit to be a monk than a king §, gave the crown to Ber- 
 mudo called el Diacono ; but Bermudo after feveral years refigning the 
 kingdom, they conceived a better opinion of Alphonfo, and made him 
 king. Alphonfo dying without ilfue, Don Ramiro fon to Bermudo was 
 preferred before the nephews of Alphonfo. Don Ordogno, fourth from 
 Ramiro, left four legitimate fons ; but they being young, the eftates laid 
 them afide, and made his brother Froila king IF. Froila had feveral chil- 
 
 * Mariana affirms, that Favila died without ifTue. Favila fine prole defuncto, AlfonAis, 
 et Ormifinda [Pelagii filia] reaes reruinciati funt, magna gentis laetitia. Mariana de Reb. 
 Hifp. 1. 7, c. 4. Edit. Hagae, 1733 
 
 t We do not find that Froila, or Frucla, had any fon bcfidcs Alphonfo cl Caflo, who 
 was fuperceded, when his father died, ob aetatis imbecillitatem, et paternae memoriae in^■i- 
 diam ; b\it afterwards accepted without oppofition. Ibid. c. 6, 9 
 
 X This lady was probablv the fiflcr of Aurelio. In Aurclii locum Silo, fororis vir, 
 cum Adofmda uxore, regno efl inaua;uratus. Ibid. c. 6 
 
 § Mariana gives us a diftcrcnt idea of this prince. Silonis funere procurato, regnum ci, 
 penes quem reipublicae procuratio erat, Alfonfo proccrum voluntate confirmatum eft. 
 Paterniodii memoria recederat, etvirtutis fpecLmen quod interea dederat fingularecundtorum 
 ordinum voluntates conciliarat. Ibid.c. 7. — He adds, that Mauregato obtained the crown 
 by force, and an infamous affociation with the Moors. Bermudo, or Vcremundo, is fuppofed 
 by fome writers to have accepted of the fcrvereia;nty with the approbation of Alphonfo. For 
 as foon as he was fcated cn\ the throne, he fent for that prince and gave him a fliare in the 
 adminiftration : ad regni confortium revocavit. Ibid. c. 7. — Our author fpeaks of the 
 nephews of Alphonfo, but it does not appear, that he had any, except Bernardo del Carpio, 
 the fon of his fifter Ximena ; and he is generally fuppofed to have been illegitimate. 
 
 f Froila, according to Mariana, got pofTefTion of the crown by force of arms without 
 the concurrence of the eftates. Extinflo Ordonio, Froila eo nomine fecundus, defuncti 
 frater, nuUo procerum fuffragio, neque legibus, neque aufpicato, regnum invallt armis. 
 Ibid. 1. S, c. 3 
 
 B b b dren ;
 
 370 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVER'NMENT 
 
 CHAP. Ill dren ; but the fame eftates gave the crown to Alphonfo the fourth, who 
 was his nephew. Alphonfo turning monk recommended his fon Ordogno 
 to the eftates of the kingdom ; but they refufed him, and made his brother 
 Ramiroking*. Ordogno the third, fon to Ramiro, dying, left a fon 
 called Bermudo ; but the eftates took his brother Sancho, and advanced 
 him to the throne. Henry the firft of Caftile, being accidentally killed in 
 his youth, left only two fifters, Blanche married to Lewis, fon to Philip 
 Auguftus king of France, and Berengaria married to Alphonfo king of 
 Leon. The eftates made Ferdinand, fon of Berengaria the youngeft fifter, 
 king, excluding Blanche, with her hufband and children, for being 
 Grangers, and Berengaria herfelf, becaufe they thought not fit that her 
 hufband fhould have any part in the government f. Alphonfo el Sabio 
 feems to have been a very good prince ; but, applying himfelf more to 
 the ftudy of aftrology than to affairs of government, his eldeft fon Ferdi- 
 nand de la Cerda dying, and leaving his fons Alphonfo and Ferdinand 
 very young, the nobility, clergy, and people depofed him, excluded hit 
 grand-children, and gave the crown to Hon Sancho his younger fon 
 furnamed el Bravo J, thinking him more fit to command them againft 
 the Moors, than an old aftrologer, or a child. Alphonfo and Sancho 
 being dead, Alphonfo el Deftieredado laid claim to the crown : but it was 
 given to Ferdinand the fourth, and Alphonfo, with his defcendents the 
 dukes de Medina Celi, remain excluded to this day. Peter furnamed the 
 Cruel was twice driven out of the kingdom, and at laft killed by Bertrand 
 du Guefclin conftable of France, or Flenry count of Tranftamara his 
 baftard-brother, who was made king without any regard to the daughters 
 of Peter, or to the houfe of la Cerda. Ficnry the fourth left a daughter 
 called Joanna, whom he declared his heir ; but the eftates gave the king- 
 dom to Ifabella his fifter, and crowned her with Ferdinand of Arragon 
 her hufband. Joanna daughter to this Ferdinand and Ilabella falling mad, 
 the eftates committed the care of the government to her father Ferdinand, 
 and after his death to Charles her fon. 
 
 But the French have taught us, that when a king dies, his next heir is 
 really king before he take his oath, or be crowned §. From them we learn, 
 that " le mort faifit le vif. " And yet I know no hiftory that proves more 
 
 * Mariana fays, that Alphonfo voluntarily rcfigned the crown to his hrother, without 
 any recommendation of his fon Ordogno. Rerum gerendarum mole oppreffus fratri Ramiro, 
 cum Zomoram evocatus eflet, regnum de manu tradidit, otii cupidior, quam pietatis : 
 nulla neque dccoris cura, ncque Ordonii filii, quern in tenerd aetate praefidio deftitutum. 
 relinquebat. Ibid. 1. 8, c. 5 
 
 t Mariana, 1. 12, c. 7 
 
 t Sancho did not obtain the polTeflioii of the throne till the death of his father: Alfonfi' 
 defunifVi regnum ad Sand^ium pervcnit, nullo prohibente, jure controverfo. Mariana, 
 though he acknowledges his bravery, f'pcaks of him as an ufurper : imperio fl agitio parturn 
 
 bonis artibus exercuit. Ibid. 1. 14, c. 8. The remark which this writer makes on 
 
 Froila the fccond is a|-)plicable to many of thofc kings, which our author has mentioned in 
 this fedtion : in armis jura rcgnandi fucre. 
 
 § Regcm nunquam in Franco-Gallorum imperio mori ; fed mortuum vivo regnum tradcre. 
 Thuan. torn. 5, 1. 97, p. 8 
 
 I plainly
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 371 
 
 plainly than theirs, that there neither is, nor can he in any man, a riglit sect. 18 
 to the government of a people, which docs not receive its being, manner, 
 and meafure, from the law of that ccuntry ; which I hope to juftify by 
 four reafons, 
 
 1, When a king of Pharamond's race died, the kingdom was divided 
 into as many parcels as he had fons ; v>?hich could not liave been, if 6ne 
 certain heir had been afligncd by nature, for he ought to have had the 
 whole. And if the kingdom might be divided, they who inhabited the 
 feveral parcels could not know to whom they owed obedience, till the 
 divifion was made, unlefs he who 'was to be king of Paris, Metz, Soiflbns, 
 or Orleans, had worn tlie name of his kingdom upon his forchcau. But, 
 in truth, if there might be a divifion, the dodrine is fldl'e, and there was 
 no lord of the whole. This wound will not be healed by faying, the 
 father appointed the divifion, and that by the law of nature every man 
 may difpofe of his own as he thinks fit ; for we Ihall foon prove, that the 
 kingdom of France neither was, nor is, difpofeable as a patrimony or 
 chattel. Befides, if that ad of kings had been then grounded upon the 
 law of nature, they might do the like at this day. But the law, by which 
 fuch divifions were made, having been abrogated by the affembly of eftates 
 in the time of Hugh Capet *, and never pradifed fince, it follows that 
 they were grounded upon a temporary law, and not upon the law of 
 nature, which is eternal. If this were not fo, the pretended certainty 
 could not be; for no man could know to whom the laft king had 
 bequeathed the whole kingdom, or parcels of it, till the will were opened; 
 and that muft be done before fuch witnefles as may deferve credit in a 
 matter of this importance, and are able to judge whether the bequeft be 
 rightly made ; for otherwife no man could know, whether the kingdom 
 was to have one lord or many, nor who he or they were to be; which 
 intermiffion muft neceflarily fubvcrt their polity, and this dodrine. But 
 the truth is, the moft monarchical men among them are fo fiir from 
 acknowledging any fuch right to be in the king, of alienating, bequeath- 
 ing, or dividing the kingdom, that they do not allow him the right of 
 making a will ; and that of the laft king Lewis the thirteenth, touching 
 the regency during the minority of his fon, was of no effed f. 
 
 2. This matter was made more clear under the fecond race. If a lord 
 had been affigned to them by nature, he muft have been of the royal 
 family : but Pepin had no other title to the crown except the merits of 
 his father, and his own, approved by the nobility and people who made 
 
 * De Serres en la vie de Hugues C.ipet. 
 
 t Lewis the thirteenth, by his will, appointed a regency; and the monarch, who was 
 but ill obeyed in his life-time, flattered himfelf with having more refpetl paid to him after 
 his death : but the firft ftep taken by his widow, Anne of Auftria, was, to caufe the will 
 of her deceafed hufband to be annulled, by a decree of the parliament of Paris, dated Auguft 
 18, 1643. This body, which had long oppoftd the court, and which, under Lewis, had 
 fcarce preferved the liberty of making remonllrances, annulled the will of its king with the 
 fame facility it would have determined the caufe of a common citizen, Sicclc de Louis XIV. 
 torn. I, c. 2. Mem. du Due de la Rochefoucault. 
 
 B b b 2. him
 
 37- 
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CH \P.lll ^"''^ ^^^S *• '^^^ eftates of France divided the kingdom between his fons 
 Charles the Great and Carloman f . The latter of thefe dying in a few 
 years left two fons ;" but the nobility made Charles king of all France %. 
 Lewis le Debonnaire fucceeded upon the fame title, was depofed and put 
 into a monaftery by his three fons Lothaire, Pepin, and Lewis, whom he 
 had by his firft wife. But though thefc left many fons, the kingdom 
 came to Charles the Bald. The nobility and people gave the kingdom 
 to Lewis le Begue §, who had a legitimate fon, called Charles le Simple ; 
 but his two baftards, Lewis and Carloman, were made kings. Carlo- 
 man had a ion called Lewis le Faineant IF : he was made king, but after- 
 
 * In former editions it is added : " He had t'nrce fons ; the eldeft was made king of Italy, 
 " and, dying before him, left a fon called Bernard heir of that kingdom. The eftates of 
 " France divided what remained between Charles the Great and Carloman. The laft of 
 " thefe dying in a few years, left many fons; but the nobility made Charles king of all 
 " France, and hedifpolteflld Bernard of the kingdom of Italy, inherited from his father: 
 " fo that he alfo was not king of the whole before the expulfion of Bernard the fon of his 
 " elder brother ; nor of Aquitain, which by inheritance fhould have belonged to the chil- 
 " dren of his younger brother, any otherwife than by the will of the eftates. Lewis le 
 " Debonnaire, Sec.'" .Sidney, by trufting to his memory, has here made feveral grofs 
 miftakes. Pepin le Bref had four fons, Charles or Charlemagne, Carloman, Pepin and 
 Gilles. Pepin died when he was three years old; Gilles when very young was fent mto 
 the monaftcry of Mount SoracSe. Charlemagne and Carloman, on the death of their father, 
 divided the kingdom, by the advice and direction of the ftates. Writers do not agree in the 
 account of their refpe6tive departments. Carloman however died foon afterwards, and left 
 two fons, but what became of them is not known. Charlemagne, upon this event, took 
 pofieftion of the whole empire, in the year 771. This monarch had four fons, Charles, 
 Pepin, Lewis, and Lothaire. Lothaire died young, Charles was his father's afTiftant in the 
 empire, Pepin was made king of Italy, and Lewis king of Aquitain in 781. Pepin died in 
 810, and Charles about the end of the following year. In 813 Chailemagne finding him- 
 felf enfeebled with age, and daily declining, aflembled the grandees of his kingdom at Aix 
 la Chapelle ; and, with their approbation, declared his fon Lewis his aflbciate in the empire,, 
 and Bernard hisgrandfon, the illegitimate fon of Pepin, king of Italy. In the reign of his 
 fon and fucceflbr Lewis le Debonnaire, Bernard, having been perfuaded, that, as the fon 
 of the elder brother, he had a right to the whole kingdom, raifed a confpiracy againft his 
 uncle le Debonnaire. But before he had time to take his meafures, his fcheme was dif- 
 covered, and he was apprehended, and put to death. See Mezeray, &c. 
 
 This account of king Pepin, and his immediate fucceiTors, which might be confirmed 
 by numerous authorities, will, it is hoped, convince the reader, that the paflage above-cited 
 is not altered, without fufficient reafon, in the prefcnt edition. 
 
 ■f Franci, fa(Slo folemniter generali conventu, ambos fibi reges conftituunt, ea conditione 
 pracmifla, ut totumregni corpus ex aequo partirentur ; et Karolus eam partem, quam pater 
 eorum Pippinus tenuerat, Kailomannus vero eam, cui patruus eorum Karlomannus prae- 
 erat, regcndi gratia fufciperet. Sufceptae funt utrinque conditiones, et pars regni divifi, 
 juxtamodum libi propofitum, ab utroque reccpta eft. Vita Karoli Magni ab Eginardb 
 Icripta, apud Hift. Franc. Scriptores, per Du Chefnc editos, torn. 2, p. 95 
 
 ;j. Carolus, mortuc, cum jam tertium regnaret annum, fratre, proceres regni ejus ad fe 
 ultro vcnientes, regemquc fe anum omnis Galliae falutantcs, benigniflimeexcepit. P. Acmil. 
 de Rcb. Geftis Franc, vol. i. p. 72. Edit. Par. 1555 
 
 § This paftage in former editions ftands thus : "The nobility and people, difliking the 
 eldeft fon of Charles, gave the kingdom to Lewis le Begue, &c." Charles the Bald, when 
 htdied, had only one fon alive, which was Lewis le Begue. Vide Mezeray, P. Acmil. de 
 Rcb. Gtltis Franc, p. log. — According to Aemilius, Le Begue was the cldeft. 
 
 fl Mezeray in liii account of Carloman, fays, " ce Louis le Faineant, que quelques-uns 
 lui donnent, tit ua pure chimae. ". 
 
 wards
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 373 
 
 wards depofcd for his vicious life. Ciiarles le Oros fuccecdcd hirn, but sect. 18 
 for his ill government was alio depofcd ; and Kudes, who was u ilrangcr 
 to the royal blood, was made king. The fame nobility that had made 
 five kings fince Lewis le Begue, now made Charles le Simj)]e king, who, 
 according to his name, was entrapped at Peronne by Rodolph duke of 
 Burgundy, and forced to rcfign his crown, leaving only a fon called Lewis,, 
 who fled into England. Rodolph being dead, they took Lewis furnamed 
 Outremer, and placed him in the throne : he had two fons, Lothaire and 
 Charles. Lothaire fucceeded him, and died without iifuc. Charles had 
 as fair a title as could be by birth, and the eflates confefled it ; but their 
 ambaffiidors told him, that he having by an unworthy life rendered himfelf 
 unworthy of the crown, they, whofe principal care was to have a gocxl 
 prince at the head of them, had chofen Hugh Capet * : and the crown 
 continues in his race to this day, though not altogether without interrup- 
 tion. Robert, fon to Hugh Capet, fucceeded him. He left two fons 
 Robert and Henry ; but Henry the younger fon appearing to the eftates- 
 of the kingdom to be more fit to reign than his elder brother, they made 
 him king ; Robert, and his defcendents, continuing dukes of Burgundy 
 only for about ten generations, at which time his iflue male falling, that 
 dutchy returned to the crown during the life of king John, who gave it to^ 
 his fecond fon Philip for an appanage ftill depending upon the crown. 
 The fame province of Burgundy was by the treaty of Madrid granted to 
 the emperor Charles the fifth, by Francis the firfl: j" : but the people 
 refufed to be alienated, and the ellates of tlie kingdom, approved their 
 refufal. By the fime authority Charles the fixth was removed from the 
 government, when he appeared to be mad : and other examples of a like 
 nature may be alleged. Frona which we may fafely conclude, that if the 
 death of one king do really inveft the next heir with the right and power^ 
 or if he who is fo inveiled be fubjecS to no law but his own will, all matters 
 relating to that kingdom muft have been horribly confufed during the 
 reigns of twenty two kings of Pharamond's race ; they can have had no^ 
 rightful king from the death of Childeric to king John ; and the fuccefhon 
 fince that time is very liable to be queftioned, if not utterly overthrown 
 by the houfe of Auftria and others, who by the counts of Habfburg derive 
 their defcent from Pharamond, and by the houfe of Lorraine claiming 
 from Charles, who was excluded by Capet : all which is mod abfurd ; 
 and they who pretend it, bring as much confufion into their own laws,, 
 and upon the polity of their own nation, as fhame and gnilt upon the 
 memory of their anceftors, who, by the moft extreme injuflice, have 
 rejected their natural lord, or difpofleffed thofe who had been in the moft 
 folemn manner placed in the government, and to whom they had generally 
 fvvorn allegiance. 
 
 3. If the next heir be actually king, feized of the power by the death 
 of his predecefTor, fo that there is no intermiffion, then allthe folemnities,. 
 
 * De Scrres en la vie de Hugues Capet.. + 1111526. See Mezeray, De Serres, 
 
 and
 
 S74 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. Ill and religious ceremonies, ufcd at the coronations of their kings, with the 
 oaths given and taken, are the moft profane ahufes of facred things, in 
 contempt of God and man, that can be imagined; efpecially if the acl 
 be, as our author calls it, voluntary, and the king, receiving nothing bv 
 it, be bound to keep it no longer than he pleafes. The prince who is to 
 be fworn, might fpare the pains of watching all night in the church, 
 fading, praying, confeffing, communicating, and fvvearing, " that he 
 " will, to the utmoft of his power, defend the clergy, maintain the union 
 " of the church, obviate all excefs, rapine, extortion, andiniquitv; take 
 " care, that in all judgments juftice may be obferved, with equity and 
 " mercy, &c. *" or of invoking the affiftance of the Holy Ghoft for the 
 better performance of his oath ; and without ceremony tell the nobility 
 and people, that he would do what he thought fit. It were to as little 
 purpofe for the archbifhop of Rheims to take the trouble of faying mafs, 
 delivering to him the crown, fceptre, and other enfigns of royalty, explain- 
 ing what is fignitied by them, anointing him with the oil which they fay 
 was delivered by an angel to St. Remigius f, bleffing him, and praying 
 to God to blefs him, if he rightly performed his oath to God and the 
 people, and denouncing the contrary in cafe of failure on his part, if thefe 
 things conferred nothing upon him but what he had before, and were of 
 no obligation to him. Such ludifications of the moft facred things are too 
 odious and impious to be imputed to nations that have any virtue, or pro- 
 fefs Chriftianity. This cannot fall upon the French and Spaniards, who 
 had certainly a great zeal for religion, whatever it was ; and were To 
 eminent for moral virtues as to be a reproach to us, who live in an age 
 of more knowledge. But their meaning is fo well declared by their moft 
 folemn adls, that none but thofe who are wilfully ignorant can miftake. 
 One of the councils held at Toledo declared by the clergy, nobility, and 
 others aflifting, " that no man ftioiild be placed in the royal feat till he 
 *' had fworn to prefcrve the church," &c. J Another held in the fame 
 
 place 
 
 * Juramentum regis Franclac. 
 
 Haec populo Chiiftiano et mihi fubdito, in Chrifti nomine promitto, In priniis, utecclefiae 
 Dei omiiis populus Chriftianus, vcram pacem noftro arbitrio in omni tempore fervet ; et 
 fuperioritatcm, jura, et nobilitates coronae Franciae inviolabiliter cuftodiam, et ilia nee 
 tranfportabo nee alienabo. Item, ut omnes rapacitates ct omnes iniquitatcs omnibu; gra- 
 (libus interdicam. Item, ut in omnibus judiciis aequitatem et mifericordiam praecipiam, 
 ut mihi ct vobis indulgeat per fuam mifericordiam clemens et mifericors Dominus. Item, 
 tie terra mea ac jurifdidtione mihi fubdita univcrfos haereticos ab ecclcfid denotatos, pro 
 viribus, bona fide, exterminarc ftudebo. Hacc omnia praediftafirmo juramento. Ordoad 
 inungendum, et coronandum Regem Franciae, cited by Selden in his Titles of Honor, p. 
 177, 181. Vide Bodin. de Repub. 1. i, c. 8, p. J38, Edit. Urfcl. i6oi 
 
 t The French have a ridiculous tradition, that a vial of holy oil was brought from 
 heaven by an angel, or as it is more ufually reported, by a dove, at the coronation of Clovis 
 the tirfl; and that he v/as anointed with it by Remigius archbifliop of Rheims. This oil, 
 they tell us, ftill remains at Rheims unwafted, and is the fame with which the French 
 kings have ever fincc been anointed. See Seidell's Titles of Honor, ch. 8, p. 112. Baronii 
 Annal. vol. 6, fiib ann. 4.99, § 29 
 
 I Cum optiniatum illulhiumque virorum confenfu et delibcratione fancimus, ut quilquis 
 J'ucccdenuum temporuni rcgiii fortitus fuerit apiceni, non ante confctiidat regiam fetlem, 
 
 quam
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 375 
 
 place fignified to Sifinandus, who was then newly crowned, " that If he, sect. 18 
 " or any of his fucceflbrs, ihould, contrary to their oaths, and the laws 
 *' of their country, proudly and cruelly prefuine to exercife domination 
 " over them, he fhould he excommunicated, and feparated from Chrilt 
 " and them to eternal judgment*." The French laws, and their heft 
 writers, afferting the lame things, are confirmed by perpetual pradlice. 
 Henry of Navarre, though certainly, according to their rules, and in 
 their efteem, a moft accomplifhed prince, was by two general alTemblies 
 of the eftates held at Blois, deprived of the fucceffion for being a protef- 
 tant ; and notwithftanding the greatnefs of his reputation, valour, vic- 
 tories, and affability, could never be admitted till he had made himfelf 
 capable of the ceremonies of his coronation, by conforming to the religion 
 which by the oath he was to defend f . Nay this prefent king, though 
 haughty enough by nature, and elevated by many fuccefles, has acknow- 
 ledged, as he fays, with joy, that he can do nothing contrary to law, and 
 calls it a happy impotence : in purfuance of which, he has annulled many 
 adts of his father and grandfather, alienating the demefnes of the crown, 
 as things contrary to law, and not within their power. 
 
 Thefe things being confirmed by all the good authors of that nation, 
 Filmer finds only the worft to be fit for his turn ; and neither minding law 
 nor hiftory, takes his maxims from a vile flattering difcourfe of Beloy :{:, 
 calculated for the perfonal intereft of Henry the fourth then king of 
 Navarre, in which he fays, " that the heir apparent, though furious, 
 " mad, a fool, vicious, and in all rcfpedls abominably wicked, muft be • 
 " admitted to the crown." But Beloy was fo far from attaining the ends 
 dcfigned by his book, that by fuch dodlrines, vv^hich filled all men with 
 horror, he brought great prejudice to his mafter, and procured little favour 
 from Henry, who defired rather to recommend himfelf to his people, as 
 the befl man they could fet up, than to impofe a neceflity upon them of 
 taking him, if he had been the worft. But our author, not contented 
 with what this fycophant fays, in relation to fuch princes as are placed in 
 the government by a law eftabliftiing the fucceflion by inheritance, with 
 an impudence peculiar to himfelf, aflcrts the fame right to be in any man, 
 who by any means gets into power ; and impofes the fame neceffity of 
 
 quam inter reliq^uas conJitiones facramento policitus fuerit, hanc fe catholicam non permif- 
 fiirum eos violare fidem. Sec. Concil. Toletan. vi, anno 638. Vide ConciL edit, per P. 
 Labb. torn. 5, col. 1743, § 3 
 
 * Sane de futuris riigibus hanc fententiam promulgamus, ut fi quis ex eis contra reveren- 
 tiam legum fuperba dominatione, et faftu regio, in flagitiis et facinore, five cupiditate, cru- 
 deliffimam poteftatem in populis exercuerit, anathematis fententia a Chrifto domino 
 condemnetur, et habeat a Deo feperationem atque judicium, propter quod praefumpferit 
 prava agere, et in perniciem regnum convertere. Concil. Toletan. iv, anno 633. Ibid, 
 col. 1725, § 75 . 
 
 f Henry the third died in 1589, and Henry the fourth was not crowned till 1594. Vide 
 Thuani Hift. torn. 5, 1. 97, et feq. 
 
 X ApologLe Caiholiquc, See an account of M. Beloy and his Apology in Bayle's Dift. 
 art. Beloy. 
 
 obedience
 
 376 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. Ill obedience upon the fubjetS: where there is no law, as Beloy does by virtue 
 of one that is eftabhflied. 
 
 4. In the laft place : as Beloy acknowledges, that the right belongs to 
 princes only, where it is ellablifhed by law, I deny that there is, was, or 
 ever can be any fuch. No people is known to have been lb mad or 
 "wicked, as by their own confent, for their own good, and for the obtain- 
 ing of jurtice, to give the power to beads, under whom it could never be 
 obtained. Or if we could believe, that any had been guilty of an a£l fo 
 full of folly, turpitude, and wickednefs, it could not have the force of a 
 Jaw, and could never be put in execution ; for though the rules, by which 
 the proximity fhould be judged, be ever fo precife, it will flill be doubted 
 whofe cafe fuits beft with them. Though the law in fome places gives 
 .private inheritances to the next heir, and in others makes allotments 
 according to feveral proportions, no one knows to whom, or how far, the 
 benefit ihall accrue to any man, till it be adjudged by a power to which 
 the parties mufl: fubmit. Contefts will in the like manner arife concerning 
 fuccelTions to crowns, how exadly foever they be difpofed by law. For 
 though every one will fay, that the next ought to fucceed, yet no man 
 knows who is the next : which is too much verified by the bloody deci- 
 sions of fuch difputes in many parts of the world. And he that fays, the 
 next in blood is adually king, makes all queftions thereupon arifing 
 impoffible to be otherwife determined, than by the fword ; the pretender 
 to the right being placed above the judgment of man, and the fubje£ls, 
 for any thing I know, obliged to believe, ferve, and obey him, if he 
 fays he has it. For otherwife, 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 adjudged. 
 
 I confeis, that the law of France, by the utter exclufion of females, 
 and their defcendents, does obviate many dangerous and inextricable diffi- 
 culties ; but others remain, which are fufficient to fubvert 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 faifit le vif. " Not to trouble myfelf 
 with feigned cafes, that of legitimation alone will fuffice. It is not enough 
 to fay, that the children born under marriage are to be reputed legitimate ; 
 for not only feveral children born of Joanna daughter to the king of Portu- 
 gal, wife to Henry the fourth of Caftile, during the time of their marriage, 
 •were utterly rejeded, as begotten in adultery, but alio her daughter 
 Joanna, whom the king during his life, and at the hour of his death, 
 acknowledged to have been begotten by him j and the only title that 
 Ifabclla, who was married to Ferdinand of Arragon, had to the crown of 
 Spain, was derived from their rejc(ftion *, It would be tedious, and might 
 give offence to many great perfons, if I fhould relate all the dubious cafes, 
 -.that have been, or ftill remain in the world, touching matters of this 
 nature. But the lawyers of all nations will teftify, that hardly any one 
 
 * IfabcUa was fiftcr to Henry the fourth. Mariana, 1. 23, c. 13 
 
 point
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 377 
 
 point comes before them, which affords a greater number of difficult cafes, sect. 18 
 than that of marriages, and the legitimation of children upon them ; and 
 nations mull be involved in the moll inextricable difficulties, if there !>e 
 not a power fomewhere to decide them ; which cannot be, if there be no 
 .intermiffion, and the next in blood (that is, he who fays he is the next) 
 be immediately inverted with the right and power. But furely no people 
 have been fo carelefs of their moft important concernments, as to leave 
 them in fuch uncertainty, and fun ply to depend upon the humour of a 
 man, or the faith of women, who, befides their other frailties, have been 
 often accufed of fuppofititious births : and mens paflions are known to be 
 fo violent in relation to women they love or hate, that none can fafely be 
 trufted with thofe judgments. The virtue of the befl would be expofed 
 to a temptation, that fiefh and blood can hardly refiff ; and fuch as are 
 lefs perfect would follow no other rule than the blind impulfe of the 
 paffion, that for the prefent reigns in them. There mull therefore be a 
 judge of fuch difputes as may in thefe cafes arife in every kingdom ; and 
 though it is not my bufinefs to determine, who is that judge in all places, 
 yet I mayjuftly fay, that in England it is the parliament. If no inferior 
 authority could debar Ignotus fon to the lady Roffe, born under the Pro- 
 tection, from the inheritance of a private family, none can certainly 
 affume a power of difpofing of the crown upon any occafion. No authority, 
 but that of the parliament, could legitimate the children of Catharine 
 Swinford, with a provifo, not to extend to the inheritance of the crown*. 
 Others might fay, 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 favour, and prevent it from extending to a public 
 mifchief. Henry the eighth took an expeditious way of obviating part of 
 the controverfies, that might arife from the multitude of his wives, by 
 cutting off the heads of fome, as foon as he was weary of them, or had a 
 mind to take another ; but having been hindered from dealing in the lame 
 manner with Catharine, by the greatnefs of her birth and kindred, he left 
 fuch as the parliament only could refolve. And no lefs power would ever 
 have thought of making Mary and Elizabeth capable of the fuccelfion, 
 when, according to ordinary rules, one of them muft have been a baflard; 
 and it had been abfurd to fay, that both of them were immediately upon 
 the death of their predeceffors polfeffed of the crown, if an acfl of parlia- 
 ment had not conferred the right upon them, which they could not have 
 by birth. But the kings and princes of England have not been of a temper 
 different from thofe of other nations. And many examples may be 
 brought of the like occafions of difpute happening every where ; and the 
 like will probably be for ever; which muft neceifarily introduce the moft 
 mifchievous confufions, and expofe the titles, which, as is pretended, are 
 to be efteemed moft facred, to be overthrown by violence and fraud, if' 
 
 * Wife to Jchn of Gaunt, and fifter to the wife of Chaucer the poet. — Anno 1397, 
 factum fuit parliamentum Londini, in quo dux Lancaftriae Icgitimai-i fecit fobolem, quam 
 fufceperat de Catharina Swynforde. Walfing. Hifi:. Angl. p. 353. Vide Rym. Foedera, 
 vol. 7, fub ann. 1397, De legitimatione. 
 
 C c c there
 
 378 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. Ill taerebe not in all places a power of deciding the controverfies that arife 
 from the uncertainty of titles, according to the refpeQive laws of every 
 nation, upon which they are grounded. No man can be thought to have 
 a juft title, till it be fo adjudged by that power : this judgment is the firit 
 ftep to the throne : the oath taken by the king obliges him to obferve the 
 laws of his country ; and that concerning the fucceflion being one of the 
 principal, he is obliged to keep that part as well as any other. 
 
 SECTION 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, 
 
 It is not only from religion, but from the law of nature, that we leara 
 the neceffity of ftanding to the agreements we make ; and he who departs 
 from the principle written in the hearts of men, " padlis ftandum," feems 
 to degenerate into a beaft. Such as had virtue, though without true 
 religion, could tell us, as a brave and excellent Grecian did, that it was not 
 neceflary for him to live, but it was neceflary to preferve his heart from 
 deceit, and his tongue from falfhood. The Roman fatirift carries the 
 fame notion to a great height and affirms, that " though the worft of 
 " tyrants fhould command a man to be falfe and perjured, and back his 
 " injundion with the utmoft of torments, he ought to prefer his integrity 
 " before his life.*" And though Filmer may be excufed if he often 
 millake in matters of theology ; yet his inclinations to Rome, which he 
 prefers before Geneva, might have led him to the principles in which the 
 honeft Romans lived, if he had not obferved, that fuch principles as make 
 men honeft and generous do alfo make them lovers of liberty, and conftant 
 in the defence of their country ; which favouring too much of a republican 
 fpirit, he prefers the morals of that city, fince they are become more 
 refined by the pious and charitable Jefuits, before thofe that were remark- 
 able in them, as long as they retained any fliadow of their antient inte- 
 grity, which admitted of no equivocations, and detefted prevarications ; 
 by that means preferving innocence in the hearts of private men, for 
 their inward contentment, and in civil focieties, for the public good ; 
 which if once extinguiflied, mankind muft nccefiarily fall into the condi- 
 tion Hobbes rightly calls " bellum omnium contra omnes t» " wherein no 
 man can promife to himfelf any other wife, children, or goods, than he 
 can procure by his own fword. 
 
 * Phalaris licet impcret, lit fis 
 
 Falfiis, ct admoto didtct pcrjuria taiiro, 
 
 Summum crede nefas aniniam praefcirc pudori. Juv. Sat. 8, v. 8l 
 t Negari non potcit quin (tatus hominum naturalis, antcquam in foc'ttatem coirctur, 
 bellum fuerit, nequc hoc fimpliciter, fed bellum omnium in omnes. Hobbes de Give, c. i, 
 § 12. — Conditio hominum eft conditio belli omnium contra omnes. Lcviuth. c. 14 
 
 ^ Some
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 379 
 
 Some may perhaps think, that the endeavours of our author to uitroduce SECT. 19 
 fuch accurlcd principles, as tend to the ruin of mankind, proceed from 
 his ignorance. But though he appears to have had a great mcafure of 
 that quality, I fear the evil proceeds from a deeper root ; and that he 
 attempts to promote the intcrefts of ill magiftrates, who make it their 
 bufmefs to deftroy all good principles in the people, with as much induftry, 
 as the good endeavour to jjceferve them where they are, and teach them 
 where they are wanting. jReafon and experience inftruft us, that every -' 
 man ads according to the end he propofes to himfelf. The good magif- 
 trate feeks the good of the people committed to his care, that he may 
 perform the end of his inftitution : and knowing that chiefly to confift in 
 juftice and virtue, he endeavours to plant and propagate them ; and by 
 doing this he procures his own good as well as that of the public. He 
 knows there is no fafety where there is no ftrength, no ftrength without 
 union, no union without juftice, no juftice where faith and truth, in 
 accomplifliing public and private contrads, is wanting. This he perpe- 
 tually inculcates, and thinks it a great part of his duty, by precept and 
 example, to educate the youth in a love of virtue and truth, that they 
 may be feafoned with them, and filled with an abhorrence of vice and 
 falftiood, before they attain that age which is expofed to the moft violent 
 temptations, and in which they may, by their crimes, bring the greateft 
 mifchiefs upon the public. He would do all this, though it were to his 
 own prejudice. But as good actions always carry a reward with them, 
 thefe contribute in a high meafure to his advantage. By preferring the 
 intereft of the people before his own, he gains their afFedion, and all that 
 is in their power comes with it ; whilft he unites them to one another, he 
 unites all to himfelf: in leading them to virtue, he increafes their ftrength, 
 and by that means provides for his own fafety, glory, and power. 
 
 On the other fide, fuch as feek different ends muft take different ways. 
 When a magiftrate fancies he is not made for the people, but the people 
 for him ; that he does not govern for them, but for himfelf; and that the 
 people live only to increafe his glory, or furnifti matter for his pleafures, 
 he does not inquire what he may do for them, but what he may draw 
 from them. By this means he fets up an intereft of profit, pleafure, or 
 pomp, in himfelf, repugnant to the good of the public, for Avhich he is 
 made to be what he is, Thefe contrary ends certainly divide the nation 
 into parties ; and whilft every one endeavours to advance that to which 
 he is addided, occafions of hatred for injuries every day done, or thought 
 to be done, and received, muft neceffarily arifc. This creates a moft 
 fierce and irreconcileable enmity, becaufe the occafions are frequent, 
 important, and univerfal, and the caufes thought to be moft juft. The 
 people think it the greateft of all crimes, to convert that power to their 
 hurt, which was inftituted for their good ; and that the injuftice is aggra- 
 vated by perjury and ingratitude, which comprehend all manner of ill ; 
 and the magiftrate gives the name of fedition or rebellion to whatever they 
 do for the prefervation of themfelves, and their own rights. When men's 
 
 C c c 2 fpirits
 
 38o DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. Ill fpirits are tlius prepared, a fmall matter fetsthemon fire; but if no acci- 
 dent happen to blow them into a flame, the courfe of juflice is certainly 
 interrupted, the public affairs are neglected ; and when any occafion, 
 whether foreign or domeftic, arifes, in which the magiftrate flands in need 
 of the people's affiftance, they, whofe affedtions are alienated, not only 
 fhew an unwillingnefs to ferve him with their perfons and eftates, but fear 
 that by delivering him from his diftrefs, they ftrengthen their enemy, and 
 enable him to opprefs them : and he, fancying his will to be unjuftly 
 oppofed, or his due more unjuftly denied, is filled with a diflike of what 
 he fees, and a fear of worfe for the future. Whilft he endeavours to eafe 
 himfelf of the one, and to provide againft the other, he ufually increafes 
 the evils of both, and jealoufies are on both fides multiplied. Every man 
 knows, that the governed are in a great meafure under the power of the 
 governor ; but as no man, or number of men, is willingly fubjedt to thofe 
 who feek their ruin, fuch as fall into fo great a misfortune, continue no 
 longer under it than force, fear, or neceflity, may be able to oblige them.. 
 But as fuch a neceflity can hardly lie longer upon a great people, than till 
 the evil be fully difcovered and comprehended, and their virtue, ftrength, 
 and power, be united to expel it, the ill magiftrate looks upon all things, 
 that may conduce to that end, as fo many preparatives to his ruin ; and 
 by the help of thofe, who are of his party, will endeavour to prevent that 
 union, and diminifh that ftrength, virtue, power, and courage, which he 
 knows to be bent againft him. And as truth, faithful dealing, due per- 
 formance of contrails, and integrity of manners, are bonds of union, and 
 helps to good, he will always by tricks, artifices, cavils, and all means 
 poifible, endeavour to eftablifti fahhood and diftionefty ; whilft other 
 emiflaries and inftruments of iniquity, by corrupting the youth, and 
 feducing fuch as can be brought to lewdnefs and debauchery, bring 
 the people to fuch a pafs, that they may neither care nor dare to vindicate 
 their rights, and that thofe who would do it, may fo far fufped: each 
 other, as not to confer upon, much lefs to join in any action tending to 
 the public deliverance. 
 
 This diftinguilhes the good from the bad magiftrate, the faithful from 
 the unfaithful : and thofe who adhere to either, living in the fame princi- 
 ple, muft walk in the fame ways. They who uphold the rightful power 
 of a juft magiftracy, encourage virtue and juftice ; teach men what they 
 ought to do, fuffer, or expert from others ; fix them upon principles of 
 honefty ; and generally advance every thing that tends to the increafe of 
 the valour, ftrength, grcatncfs, and happlnefs of the nation, creating a 
 good union among them, and bringing every man to an exadl underftand- 
 Ing of his own and the public rights. On the other fide, he that would 
 introduce an ill magiftrate, make one evil who was good, or preferve him 
 in the excrcife of injuftice when he is corrupted, muft always open the 
 way for him by vitiating the people, corrupting their manners, deftroying 
 the validity of oaths and conti-a<£l:s, teaching fuch evafions, equivocations,, 
 and frauds, as are inconfiftent with the thoughts, that become men of 
 
 virtue
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 381, 
 
 virtue and courage ; and overthrowing the confidence they ought to have SECT, ig 
 ' in each other, make it imponil)le for them to unite among themfelves. 
 The like arts mult be ul'ed with the magiftrate : he cannot be for their 
 turn, till he is perfuaded to believe he has no dependence upon, and owes 
 no duty to the people ; that he is of himfelf, and not by their inftitution ; 
 that no man ought to inquire into, nor be judge of his actions ; that all' 
 obedience is due to him, whether he be good or bad, wife or foolifh, a 
 father or an enemy to his country. This being calculated for hi« perfonal 
 intereft, he muft purfue the fame defigns, or his kingdom is divided within' 
 itfelf, and cannot fubfift. By this means thofe who flatter his humour, 
 come to be accounted his friends, and the only men that are thought 
 worthy of great trufts, while fuch as are of another mind are expofed to 
 all perfecution. Thcfe are always fuch as excel in virtue, wlfdom, and' 
 grcatnefs of fpirit. They have eyes, and they will always fee tlic way 
 they go ; and, leaving fools to be guided by implicit faith, will dillinguifii 
 between good and evil, and choofe that which is belt. They will judge 
 of men by their actions, and by them difcovering whofe fervant every man 
 is, know whether he is to be obeyed or not. Thofe who are ignorant of 
 all good, carelefs, or enemies to it, take a more compendious way ; their 
 flavifh, vicious, and bafe natures, inclining them to feek only private and 
 prefent advantages, they eafily Aide into a blind depcndance upon one^ 
 who has wealth and power ; and, defiring only to know his will, care 
 not what injuftice they do, if they may be rewarded'. They worlhip 
 what they find in the temple, though it be the vileft of idols ; and always- 
 like that bell which is worft, becaufe it agrees with their inclinations and) 
 principles. When a party comes to be ereifled upon fuch a foundation,, 
 debauchery, lewdnefs, and difhonefly, are the true badges of it. Such 
 as wear them are cherifhed. But the principal marks of favour are* 
 referved for thofe, who are the mofl induftrious in mifchief, either by 
 feducing the people with the allurements of fenfual pleafures, or corrupt- 
 ing their underltandings by falfe and flavifh doctrines. By this means, a 
 man who calls himfelf a philofopher, or a divine, is often more ufeful 
 than a great number of tapfl:ers, cooks, buffoons, players, fidlers, whores,. 
 or bav/ds. Thefe are the devil's minifl:ers of a lower order ; they feduce- 
 fingle perfons ; and fuch as fall into their fnares are for the moft part 
 men of the Ampler fort. But the principal fupporters of his kingdom are 
 they, who by falfe doctrines poilbn the fprings of religion and virtue, and 
 by preaching or writing, if their falftiood and wickeduefs were not' 
 detedled, would extinguifli all principles of common honeft:y, and bring- 
 whole nations to be befl. fatlsfied with themfelves, when their adions are 
 mofl: abominable. And as the means mufl: always be fuitable to the end 
 propofed, the governments that are to be eftablifhed or fupported by fuch 
 ways mufl: needs be the worft of all, and comprehend all manner of eviL.
 
 382 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. HI 
 
 SECTION XX 
 
 UNJUST COMMANDS ARE NOT TO BE OBEYED; AND NO MAN IS 
 OBLIGED TO SUFFER FOR NOT OBEYING SUCH AS ARE AGAINST LAW. 
 
 In the next place our author gravely propofes a queftlon, " whether it be 
 " a fin to dilbbey the king, if he command any thing contrary to law ? " 
 and as gravely determines, " that not only in human laws, but even in 
 " divine, a thing may be commanded contrary to law, and yet obedience 
 " to fuch a command is neceifary. The fandlifying of the fabbath is a 
 " divine law, yet if a mafter command his fervant not to go to church 
 " upon a fabbath-day, the bell divines teach us, that the fervant muft 
 " obey, &c. It is not fit to tie the mafter to acquaint the fervant with 
 "" his fecret counfels. " Though he frequently contradids in one line 
 what he fays in another, this whole claufe is uniform, and fuitable to the 
 main defign of his book. He fets up the authority of man in oppofition 
 to the command of God, gives it the preference, and fays, the beft divines 
 inftrudl us fo to do. St. Paul then muft have been one of the worft, for 
 he knew, that the powers under which he lived had, under the fevereft 
 penalties, forbidden the publication of the gofpel ; and yet he fays, " wo 
 " tome 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 fpeak 
 otherwife, unlefs they had forgotten the words of their Mafter, who told 
 them, " they ftiould not fear them, that could only kill the body, but 
 " him who could kill, and caft into hell." And if I muft not fear him, 
 that can only kill the body, not only the reafon, but all excufc for obey- 
 ing him, is taken away. 
 
 To prove what he fays, he cites a pertinent example from St. Luke *, 
 and very logically concludes, that becaufe Chrift reproved the hypocrify 
 of the Pharifees (who generally adhered to the external and circumftantial 
 part of the law, neglecting the eflential, and taking upon themfelves to 
 be the interpreters of that which they did not underftand) the law of God 
 is not to be obeyed : and as ftrongly proves, that becaufe Chrift ftiewcd 
 them, that the fame law, which, by their own confeffion, permitted thcni 
 to pull an afs out of a pit on the fabbath-day, could not but give a liberty 
 of healing the fick, therefore the commands of kings are to be obeyed, 
 thougli they fhould be contrary to human and divine laws. But if per- 
 verfenefs had not blinded him, he might have feen, that this very text is 
 wholly againft his purpofc ; for the magiftratical power was on the fide of 
 the Pharifees, otherwife they would not have fought an occafion to cnfnare 
 him ; and that power having perverted the law of God by fiilfe glofles, 
 and a fuperindudion of human traditions, prohibited the nioft neceflary 
 
 « Ch. 14, V. s 
 
 ads
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 383 
 
 a6ts of charity to be done on the fabbath-day, which Chrift reproved, and sect. 20 
 reftored the lick man to his health in their fight. 
 
 But I could wifli our author had told us the names of thofe divines^ 
 who, he fays, are the beft, and who pretend to teach us thefe fine things. 
 I know fome who are thought good, that are of a contrary opinion, and 
 fay, that God having required that day to be fet apart for his fervice and 
 worfhip, man cannot dilpenle with the obligation, unlefs he can abrogate 
 the law of God. Perhaps, for want of other arguments to prove the 
 contrary, I may be told, that this favours too much of puritanifm and 
 calvinifin. But I fhall take the reproach, till fome better patrons thanj- 
 Laud, and his creatures, may be found for the other opinion. By tlie 
 advice and inftigation of thefe men, from about the year 1630, to 1640, 
 fports and revelings, which ended, for the moft part, in drimkeiinefs and 
 lewdnefs, were not only permitted on that day, birt injoined. And; 
 though this did advance human authority in derogation to the divine, to 
 a degree that may pleafe fuch as are of our author's mind ; yet others, 
 refolving rather to obey the laws ot God than the commands of men, 
 could not be bi-ought to pafs the Lord's day in that manner. Since that 
 time no man, except Filmer and Heylin, has been fo wicked as to conceive, 
 or fo impudent as to afl'ert fuch brutal abfurdities. But leaving the farther 
 confideration of the original of this abufe, I defire to know, whether the 
 authority given to mailers to command things contrary to the law of God 
 be peculiar in relation to the fabbath, or to a few other points, or ought 
 generally to extend to all God's laws ; and whether he who may com- 
 mand his fervant to adl contrary to the law of God, have not a right in 
 himfelf of doing the fame. If peculiar, fome authority or precept mufl: 
 be produced, by which it may appear, that God has flighted his ordinance 
 ■concerning that day, and fuffered it to be contemned, whilft he exads 
 obedience to all others. If we have a liberty left to us of flighting others 
 alfo more or lefs in number, we ought to know how many, what they are, 
 and how it comes to pafs, that fome are of obligation, and others not. If 
 the empire of the world is not only divided between God and Caefar, but 
 every man alfo, who can give five pounds a year to a fervant, has fo great 
 a part in it, that, in fome cafes, his commands are to be obeyed preferably* 
 to thofe of God, it were fit to know the limits of each kingdom, left we 
 happen prepoflieroufly 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 efl-'ed:, and we may fafely put an end to all thoughts and 
 difcourfes of religion ; the word of God is nothing to us ; we are not to 
 inquire what he has commanded, but what pleafes our m.after, how info- 
 lent, foolifli, vile, or wicked, foever he may be. The apoftles and pro- 
 phets, who died for preferring the commands of God before thofe of men, 
 fell like fools, and periflied in their fins. But if every particular man that 
 has a fervant, can exempt him from the commands of God, he may alfo 
 exempt himfelf, and the laws of God are at once abrogated throughout 
 the world. 
 
 It
 
 '3S4 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 >GHAP.III It is a folly to fay there is a paffive, as well as an adlve obedience, and 
 that he who will not do what his mafter commands, ought to fuffcr the 
 punifhment he inflicts : for. if the mafter has a right of commanding, 
 there is a duty incumbent on the fervant of obeying. He who fuffers for 
 not doing that w^hich he ought to do draws upon himfelf both the guilt 
 and the punifhment. But no one can be obliged to fufter for that which 
 he ought not to do, becaufe he who pretends to command, has not fo far 
 ■an authority. However, our queftion is, whether the fervant fhould for- 
 bear to do that which God commands, rather than whether the mafter 
 fhould put away or beat him, if he do not : for if the fervant ought to 
 obey his mafter rather than God, as our author fays the beft divines aflert, 
 he fins in difobeying, and that guilt cannot be expiated by his fuft(. ring. 
 If it be thought 1 carry this point to undue extremity, the limits ( ught 
 to be demonftrated, by which it may appear that I exceed them, though 
 the nature of the cafe cannot be altered : tor if the law of God may not be 
 abrogated by the commands of men, a fervant cannot be exempted from 
 keeping the fibbath according to the ordinance or God, at the will of his 
 mafter* But if a power be given to man at his pleafure to annul the laws 
 of God, the apoftles ought not to have preached, when they were for- 
 bidden by the powers to which they were fubjed: ; the tortures and dea hs 
 they fuft'ered for not obeying that command were juft, and their blood was 
 upon their own heads. 
 
 His fecond inftance concerning wars, in which he fays the fubje£t is 
 not to examine whether they are juft or unjuft, but muft obey, is weak 
 and frivolous, and very often falfe : whereas confequences can rightly be 
 drawn from fuch things only as are certainly and univerfally true. 
 Though God may be merciful to a foldier, who by the v>'ickednefs of a 
 magiftrate, whom he honcftly trufts, is made a minifter of injuftice, it is 
 nothing to this cafe. For, if our author fay true, that the word of a king 
 can juftify him in going againft the command cf God, he muft do what is 
 commanded, though he think it evil ; the chriftian fuldiers under the 
 pagan emperors were obliged to deftroy their brethren, and the beft men 
 in the world, for being fo ; fuch as now live under the Turk have the 
 fame obligation upon them of defending their mafter, and flaughtering 
 thofc he r.'putes his enemies for adhering to chriftianity ; and the king ot 
 France may, when he pleafes, arm one part of his proteftant fubjecSts to 
 the deftrudion of the other ; which is a godly dodlrine, and worthy our 
 autlun-'s invention. 
 
 But, if this be i'o, I knew not how the Ifraelltes can be fiid to have 
 fmned in following the examples cf Jeroboam, Omrl, . Ahab, or other 
 wicked kings : they could not have finned in obeying, if it had been a fin 
 to diiobey their commands; and God wouki not have puniihed them lb 
 fcverely, if they had not finncJ. It is impertinent to lay they were 
 obliged to fcrve their kings in unjuft wars, but not to ferve idols ; for 
 though God be jealous of his glory, yet he forbids rapine and murder as 
 well as idolatry. It liiere be a law that forbids the fubjed to examine the 
 
 o commands
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT ^^s 
 
 commands tending to the one, It cannot but injoin obedience to the other. SECT. 21 
 
 The lame authority which juftifics murder takes away the guilt of idolatry; 
 
 and the wretches, both judges and witnefles, who put Naboth to death, 
 
 could as little allege ignorance, as thofe tliat worfliippcd Jeroboam'a 
 
 calves ; the fame light of nature by which they fliould have known, that 
 
 a ridiculous image was not to be adored as God, inflrudling them alfo, 
 
 that an innocent man ought not, under pretence of law, to be murdered 
 
 by perjury. 
 
 SECTION XXI 
 
 IT CANNOT BE FOR THE GOOD OF THE PEOPLE, THAT THE 
 
 MAGISTRATE HAVE A POWER ABOVE THE LAW: AND HE 1$ 
 
 NOT A MAGISTRATE, WHO HAS NOT HIS POWER BY LAW. 
 
 That we may not be difpleafed, or think it dangerous and flavifh to 
 depend upon the will of a man, which perhaps may be irregular or extra* 
 vagant in one who is fubjcd: to no law, our author very dexteroufly 
 removes the fcruples by telling us, 
 
 1. " That the prerogative of the king to be above all laws is only fof 
 ** the good of them that are under the laws, and to preferve their liberties. 
 
 2. " That there can be no laws without a fupreme power to command 
 ** or make them. In ariftocracies the nobles are above the laws ; in 
 *' democracies the people. By the like reafon, in a monarchy, the king 
 *' mull of ncceffity be above the laws : there can be no fovereign majefly 
 *' in him that is under them : 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 fkills not how he comes by this power, whether by eleftion, 
 *' donation, fucceflion, or any other means. *' I am contented in fome 
 degree to follow our author, and to acknowledge, that the king neither 
 has, nor can have, any prerogative which is not for the good of the peo- 
 ple, and the prefervation of their liberties. This therefore is the founda- 
 tion of magiftratical power, and the only v/ay of djfcerning, whether the 
 prerogative of making laws, of being above laws, or any other he may 
 pretend, bejuftly due to him or not. And if it be doubted who is the 
 fitted judge to determine that queftion, common fenfe will inform us, that 
 if the magiftrate receive his power by election or donation, they who eled, 
 or give him that power, bell know whether the good they fought be 
 performed or not : if by fucceflion, they who inftituted the fucceflion : if 
 otherwife, that is, by fraud or violence, the point is decided ; for he has 
 no right at all, and none can be created by thofe means. This might be 
 faid, though all the princes were of ripe age, fober, wife, jufl:, and good ; 
 for even the bell are fubjed: to miftakes and palTions, and therefore unfit 
 to be judges of their own concernments, in which they may by various 
 
 D d d means
 
 386 
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. Ill means be mifguided : but it would be extreme madnefs to attribute the 
 fame to children, fools, or madmen, who are not able to judge of the 
 leaft things concerning thenifelves or others ; but efpecially to thofe who, 
 coming in by ufurpation, declare their contempt of all human and divine 
 laws, and are enemies to the people they opprefs. None therefore can be 
 judges of fuch cafes but the people, for whom and by whom the conftitu- 
 tions are made ; or their reprefentatives and delegates, to whom they give 
 the power of doing it. 
 
 But nothing can be more abfurd than to fay, that one man has an 
 abfolute power above law to govern according to his will, " for the peo- 
 " pie's good, and the prefervation of their liberty : " for no liberty can 
 fubfifl: where rhere is fuch a power ; and we have no other way of diftin- 
 gulfhing between free nations, and fuch as are not fo, than that the free 
 are governed by their own laws and magiftrates, according to their own 
 mind, and the others either have willingly fubjedted themfelves, or are by 
 force brought under the power of one or more men, to be ruled according 
 to his cr their pleafure. The fame diftinftion holds in relation to parti- 
 
 - cular pcrfons. CHe is a free man who lives as beft pleafes himfelf, under 
 ' laws made by his own confent ; and the name of flave can belong to no 
 
 - man, unlefs to him who is either born in the houfe of a mafter, bought, 
 taken, fubdued, or willingly gives his ear to be nailed to the poft, and 
 
 " fubjedls himfelf to the will of another. .' Thus were the Grecians faid to 
 be free, in oppofition to the Medes and Perfians, as Artabanus acknow- 
 ledged in his difcourfe to Themiftocles *. In the fame manner the Italians, 
 Germans, and Spaniards, were dillinguifhed from the eaftern nations, 
 who, for the moft part, were under the power of tyrants f. Rome was. 
 faid to have recovered liberty by the expulfion of the Tarquins ; or as 
 Tacitus exprcfles it," " Lucius Brutus eftablifhed liberty and the confulate 
 " together :|;, " as if before that time they had never enjoyed any ; and 
 Julius Caefar is faid to have overthrown the liberty of that people. But 
 if Filmer deferve credit, the Romans were free under Tarquin, enflaved 
 when he was driven away, and his prerogative extinguifhed, that was fo 
 neceffarily required for the defence of their liberty ; and were never 
 reftored to it, till Gaefar aflumed all the power to himfelf. By the fame 
 rule the Switzers, Grifons, Venetians, Hollanders, and fome other 
 nations, are now flaves ; and Tufcany, the kingdom of Naples, the 
 ecclefiaftical ftate, with fuch as live under a more gentle mafter on the 
 other fide of the water, I mean the Turk, are free nations. Nay, the 
 Florentines, who c^^mpLiIn of flavcry under the houfe of the Medici, were 
 made free by the power of a Spaniih army, who fct up a prerogative in 
 
 woXXwv ncfz-tv x«i xaA'ji/ oiloiv xaXiroc kto; £r», ro rif^av (ioca-tXia.. Flut. in vita Tht-mift. p. 125 
 f Ol TTipi rr,]/ Aciav VTroiJ.st,ii(ri rriv o£TTroTi)iriu af^rif uSev iJii(r;^fpaii'Ci1f j. Arift. Polit. 1.: J, 
 
 c. 14. — A<r(7upioi xai MriiJot rx? Tvpceuviic.^ Trpoa-Kvi/niri. Philoltr. de vita Apollonii, I. 7, c. 6. 
 
 — Judaeis ct Syrit, iiatonibus iiacis fervimti. Cic. Oi'at. de Piovinc. conluhir. § lO. — 
 
 Scrvirent Syria, Afinque, et fiictus rcgibus oriens. 'I";uit. Hift. 1. 4, § 17 
 ■4: Libcrtalcmct conluiatum L. Brutus inllituit. Tacit, Annal. 1. i, § i 
 
 that
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 387 
 
 that gentle family, which for their good has deftroyed all that could juftly sect. 2^ 
 be called fo in diat country, and almoft wholly difpcoplcd it. I who 
 elteem myfelf free, bccaufe I depend upon the will of no man, and hope 
 to die in the liberty I inherit from my anceftors, am a flave; and the 
 Moors or Turks, who may be beaten and killed, whenever it pleafes their 
 infolent mafters, are free men. But furely the world is not fo much mif- 
 taken in the figntfication of words and things. The weight of chains, 
 number of ftripes, hardnefs of labour, and other efFed:s of a mailer's 
 cruelty, may make one fervitude more miferable than another : but he is 
 a flave who ferves the beft and gentled man in the world, as well as he 
 who ferves the worft; and he does ferve him, if he muft obey his com- 
 mands, and depends upon his will. For this rcafon the poet ingenioufly 
 flattering a good emperor, faid, that liberty was not more dcfirable, than 
 to ferve a gentle mafter ; but ftill acknowledged, that it was a fervice, 
 diftindl from, and contrary to liberty* : and it had not been a handfome 
 compliment, unlcfs the evil of fervitude were fo extreme, that nothing 
 but the virtue and goodnefs of the mafter could any way compenfate or 
 alleviate it. Now, though it fhould be granted, that he had fpoken more 
 like to a philofopher than a poet ; that we might take his words in the 
 ftridtefl: fenfe, and think it poffible to find fuch conveniences in a fubjedcion 
 to the will of a good and wife mafter, as may balance the lofs of liberty, 
 it would be nothing to the queftlon ; becaufe that liberty is thereby 
 acknowledged to be deftroyed by the prerogative, which is only inftituted 
 to preferve it. If it were true, that no liberty were to be preferred before 
 the fervice of a good mafter, it could be of no ufe to the perifliing world, 
 which Filmer, and his difciples, would, by fuch arguments, bring into a 
 fubjedlion to children, fools, mad, or vicious men. Thefe are not cafes 
 feigned upon a diftant imaginary poflibility, but fo frequently found 
 among men, that there are few examples of the contrary. And as it is 
 folly to fuppofe, that princes will always be wife, juft, and good, when we 
 know, that few have been able alone to bear the weight of a government, 
 or to refift the temptations to ill, that accompany an unlimited power, it 
 "would be madnefs to,prefume they will for the future be free from infir- 
 mities and vices. And if they be not, the nations under them will not 
 be in fuch a condition of fervitude to a good mafter as the poet compares 
 to liberty, but in a miferable and fhameful fubjedion to the will of thofe 
 who know not how to govern themfelves, or to do good to others. 
 Though Mofes, Jofhua, and Samuel, had been able to bear the weight 
 of an unreftrained power ; though David and Solomon had never abufed 
 that which they had, what efFed; could this have had upon a general pro- 
 pofition ? Where are the families that always produce fuch as they were ? 
 When did God promife to aflift all thofe who fhould attain to the fovereign 
 
 * Sidney feems to allude to the following lines : 
 
 Fallitur egregio quifquis fub principe credit 
 Servitium : nunquam libertas gratior extat, 
 Qiiam fub rege pio. Claud, de Laud. Stilic. I. 3, v. 114 
 
 D d d 2 power,
 
 388 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. Ill power, as he did them whom he chofe for the works he defigned ? Or 
 what teftimony can Fihner give us, that he has been prefent with all thofe 
 who have hitherto reigned in the world ? But if we know, that no fuch 
 thing either is, or has been ; and can find no promife to affure us, nor 
 reafon to hope, that it ever will be, it is as foolifh to found the hopes of 
 preferving a people upon that which never was, or is fo likely to fail, nay 
 rather which in a fhort time moft certainly will fail, as to root up vines 
 and fig-trees, in expe<3:ation of gathering grapes and figs from thirties 
 and briars. This would be no lei's than to extinguifh the light of common 
 fenfe, to negledl the means that God has given us to provide for our 
 fecurity, and to impute to him a difpofition of things utterly inconfiftent 
 with his wifdom and goodnefs. If he has not therefore ordered, that 
 thorns and thirties rtiould produce figs and grapes, nor that the mofl: 
 important works in the world, which are not without the utmort difficulty, 
 if at all, to be performed by the beft and wifeft of men, fliould be put 
 into the hands of the weakeft, mort foolifli, and worrt, he cannot have- 
 ordained, that fuch men, women, or children, as happen to be born in 
 reigning families, or get the power into their hands by fraud, treachery, 
 or murder, as very many have done, ftiould have a right of difpofing all 
 things according to their will. And if men cannot be guilty of fo great 
 an abfurdity as to trurt the weakeft and worrt with a power which ufually 
 fubverts the wifdom and virtue of the beft ; or to expe£t fuch effedts of 
 virtue and wifdom from thofe Avho come by chance, as can hardly, if at 
 all, be hoped from the moft excellent, our author's propofition can neither 
 be grounded upon the ordinance of God, nor the inrtitution of man. 
 Nay, if any fuch thing had been ertabliflied by our firrt parents in their 
 fimplicity, the utter impoflibility of attaining what they expe£ted from it 
 muft wholly have abrogated the ertablifliment : or rather, it had been, 
 •void from the beginning, becaiife it was not " a jurt fandlion, command- 
 " ing things good, and forbidding the contrary *, " but a foolifh and 
 perverfe fanQion, letting up the unruly appetite of one perfon to the fub- 
 verfion of all that is good in the world, by making the wifdom of the 
 aged and experienced to depend upon the will of women, children, and 
 fools ; by fending the rtrong and the brave to feek protedion from the 
 moft weak and cowardly, and fiibic(fting the moft virtuous and beft of men 
 to be deftroyed by the moft wicked and vicious. Thefc being the eff"c£ts 
 of that unlimited prerogative, which, our author lays, was only inftituted 
 for the good and defence of the people, it muft neceflarily fall to the 
 ground, unlefs flavery, mifcry, infamy, deftrudion, and defolation, tend 
 to the preferA'ation of liberty, and are to be preferred before ftrength,. 
 glory, plenty, feciuity, and happincfs. The ftate of the Roman empire 
 after the ufurpation of Caefar will fet this matter in the clearcft light ; but 
 having done it already in the former parts of this work, I content myfclf 
 to rel'tr to thofe places. And though the calamities they fuft'ercd were a 
 
 * SaniSliorcdta, jubenshoncfta, proiiibens contraria- Vide Aiprfi, p. 327 
 
 little
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 389 
 
 little allayed and moderated by the virtues of Antoninus and M. Aurellus, sect. 2-V 
 with one or two more, yet wc have no example of the continuance of 
 them in a family, nor of any nation, great or fmall, that has been under 
 an abfolute power, which does not too plainly manlfeft, that no man, or 
 fucceffion of men, is to be trufted with it. 
 
 But, fays our author, " there can be no law where there is not a- 
 *' fupreme power ; " and from thence very ftrongly concludes it muft be 
 in the king ; for " otherwife there can be no fovercign majefty in him, 
 *' and he is but an equivocal king." This might have been of fome 
 force, if governments were eftablilhed, and laws made, only to advance 
 that fovereign majefty ; but nothing at all to the purpofe, if, as he con- 
 feffes, the power which the prince has, be given for the good of the peo- 
 ple, and for the defence of every private man's life, liberty, lands and 
 goods ; for that which is inftituted cannot be abrogated for want of that 
 which was never intended in the inftitution. If the public fafety be 
 provided for, liberty and propriety fecured, juftice adminiftred, virtue 
 encouraged, vice fuppreflcd, and the true intereft of the nation advanced, 
 the ends of government are accomplifhed; and the higheft muft be con- 
 tented with fuch a proportion of glory and majefty as is confifteiit with 
 the public ; fince the magiftracy is not inftituted, nor any perlbn placed 
 in it for the increafe of his majefty, but for the prefervation of the whole 
 people, and the defence of the liberty, life, and eftate of every private 
 man, as our author hi mf elf is forced to acknowledge. 
 
 But what is this fovereign majefty, fo infeparable from royalty, that 
 one cannot fubfift without the other ? Caligula placed it in a power of 
 doing what he pleaied to all men*. Nimrod, Nabuchodonofor, and 
 others, with an impious and barbarous infolence boafted of the greatnels 
 of their power. They thought it a glorious privilege to kill or fpare 
 whom they pleafed. But fuch kings, as by God's permiflion might have 
 been fet up over his people, were to have nothing of this. They were 
 not to multiply gold, filver, wives, or horfes ; they were not to govern 
 by their own will, but according to the law; from which they might not 
 recede, nor raife their hearts above their brethren. Here were kings 
 without that unlimited power, which makes up the fovereign majefty, 
 that Filmer affirms to be fo eflential to kings, that without it they are 
 ©nly equivocal ; which proving nothing but the incurable perverfenefs of 
 his judgment, the malice of his heart, or malignity of his fate, always to 
 ©ppofe reafon and truth, we are to efteem thofe to be kings who are 
 deicribed to be fo by the Scriptures, and to give another name to thofe 
 who endeavour to advance their own glory, contrary to the precept of 
 God, and the intereft of mankind. 
 
 But unlefs the light of reafon had been extinguifhed in him, he might 
 have fecn, that though no law could be made without a fupreme power, 
 that fupremacy may be in a body conlifting of many men, and feveral 
 
 * Memento, ?it, omnia mihi in omnes licere. Suet, in vita Calig. § 29 
 
 z orders
 
 390 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. Ill orders of men. If it be true, which perhaps may be doubted, that there 
 have been in the world fimple mon irches, ariftocracies, or democracies, 
 legally eftablifhed, it is certain, that the moil part of the governments of 
 the world (and I think all that are or have been good) were mixed. Part 
 of the power has been conferred upon the king, or the magiftrate that 
 reprefented him, and part upon the fenate and people, as has beca proved 
 in relation to the governments of the Hebrev.'s, Spartans, Romans, Vene- 
 tians, Germans, and all thofe who live under that which is ufually called 
 the Gothic polity. If the fmgle perfon participating of this divided power 
 dillike either the name he bears, or the :'uthority he has, he may 
 renounce it ; but no reafon can be from thence drawn to the prejudice of 
 nations, who give fo much as they think coniiftent with their own good, 
 and referve the reft to themfelves, or to fuch other ofEcers as they plcafe 
 to eftablilh. 
 
 No man will deny, that feveral nations have had a right of giving 
 power to confuls, did:ators, archons, luffetes, dukes, aud other magif- 
 trates, in fuch proportions as feemed moft conducive to their own g6od ; 
 and there muft be a right in every nation of allotting to kings fo much as 
 they pleafe, as well as to the others, unlefs there be a charm in the word 
 king, or in the letters that compofe it. But this cannot be ; for there is 
 xio fimilitude between " king," " rex," and " o.'.fileus:" they muft 
 therefore have a right of regulating the power of khigs, as well as that of 
 confuls or dictators ; and it had not been more ridiculous in Fabius, 
 Scipio, Camillus, or Cincinnatus, to aflert an abfolute power in himfelf, 
 under pretence of advancing his fovereign majefty againft the law, than 
 for any king to do the like. But as all nations give what form they pleafe 
 to their government, they are alfo judges of the name to be impofed upon 
 each man, who is to have a part in the power : and it is as lawful for us 
 to call him king, who has a limited authority among us, as for the Medes 
 or Arabs to give tiae fame name to one v;ho is more abfolute. If this be 
 not admitted, we are content to fpcak improperly ; but utterly deny, that 
 when we give the name, we give any thing more than we pleafe ; and 
 .had rather his niajefty Ihould change his name, than we renounce our 
 . own rights and liberties, which he is to preferve, and which we have 
 
 received from God and nature. 
 
 But that the folly and wickedncfs of our author may not be capable of 
 .any farther agj^ravation, he fays, " that it fkills not how he come by the 
 " pov\rer. " Violence therefore, or fraud, treachery or m,urder, are as 
 •good as election, donation, or legal fucceflion. It is in vain to examine 
 the laws of God or man, the rights of nature, whether children do inherit 
 the dignities and maglltracles of their fathers, as patrimonial landr, and 
 •goods, whether regard ought to be had to the fitnefs of the perfon, 
 whether all ftioiik'I go to one, or be divided among them, or by what 
 rule we may know who is the right heir to the fucceflion, and confe- 
 quently, what we are in confcience obliged to do. Our author tells us in 
 fhort, it matters not how he that has the power comes by it. 
 
 It
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 391 
 
 It has been hitherto thought, that to kill a king, efpeci.lly a good sect. 21 
 king, was a mofl abominable a£lion. They who did it were thought 
 to be incited by the worfl of pafTions, that can enter into the hearts of 
 men; and the fevereft piinidiments have been invented to deter them 
 from fuch attempts, or to avenge their death upon thofe who fhould 
 accompli ill it. But, if our author may be credited, it muft be the moft 
 commendable and glorious a.Ct that can be performed by man : for, befidcs 
 the outward advantages that mtn i'o earneftly defirc, he that does it is 
 prefently inverted with the fovereign majefty, and at the fame time 
 becomes God's vice^r^nt, and the father of his country, pofTed'ed of that 
 government, which, in exclufion to all other forms, is only favoured by 
 the laws of God and nature. The only inconvenience is, that all depends 
 upon fuccefs, and he that is to be the minirter of God, and father of his 
 country if he fucceed, is the worft of all villains, if he fail; and, at the 
 beft, may be deprived of all by the fame meai.- he employed to gain it. 
 Though a prince iliould have the wifdom and virtues of Mofes, the valour 
 of Jofhua, David, and the Maccabees, with the gentlenefs and integrity 
 of Samuel, the moft foolirh, vicious, bafe, and deteftable man in the 
 ■world that kills him, and fcizes the power, becomes his heir, and father 
 of the people that he governed : it fkills not how he did it, whether in 
 open battle, or by fecret treachery, in the field, or in the bed, by poifon, 
 or by the fword. The vileft flave in Ifrael had become the Lord's anointed, 
 if he could have killed David or Solomon, and found villains to place 
 him in the throne. If this be right, the world has to this day lived in 
 darknefs, and the a£tions which have been thought to be the moft d?teft- 
 able, are the moft commendable and glorious. But not troubling myfelf 
 at prcfent to decide this qucftion, I leave it to kings to confider how 
 much they are beholden to Filmer, and his diiciples, who fet fuch a price ■ 
 upon their heads, as would render it hard to preferve their lives one day, 
 if the doftrines were received which they endeavour to infufe into the 
 minds of the people ; and concluding this point, only fay, that v/e in 
 England know no other king than he who is fo by law, nor any power 
 in that king except that which he has by law. And though the Roman 
 empire was held by the power of the fword, and Ulpian, a corrupt law- 
 yer, undertakes to fay, that " the prince is not obliged by the laws*,"" 
 yet Theodofius confelTed, that it was the glory of a good emperor to- 
 acknowledge himfelf bound by them f. 
 
 * Piinceps legibus folutus eft. Augufta autem, licet legibus foluta non eft, principe^ 
 tamen eadem illi piivilegia tribuunt, quae ipfi habent. UJpiun. ad legem Ju'i:>m e* 
 Papiam, I. 13. Cujacius and other coiT.meiitiators agree, that tli;? palTage is nor to be taken . 
 in an abfolute fenfe, buc to be underdocd only, " de poen iriis legibus. " Cujacii Obferv. 
 1. 15, c. 30. torn. 3, p. 406. Gothofredi Corpus Juris Civijis, p. 79. Edit. Amil. 1O63. 
 
 f Digna voxeftmajeftate regnantis legibus alli-^atum fe pnncipem pro.'iteri : adeode auo^o- 
 ritate juris noflra pendet auftoritas ; et revera majus imperio eft fubmittere legibus principa--- 
 turn. Edi<3. ud VoIuHaiium. jultin. Cod. I. i, tit. 14, c. 4
 
 S92 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 •CHAP. Ill 
 
 SECTION XXII 
 
 THE RIGOUR OF THE LAW IS TO BE TEMPERED BY MEN OF 
 . KNOWN INTEGRITY AND JUDGMENT, AND NOT BY THE PRINCE, 
 WHO MAY BE IGNORANT OR VICIOUS. 
 
 Our author's next fhift is to place the king above the law, that he may 
 mitigate the rigour of it, without which, he lays, " the cafe of fubjedts 
 would be defperately miferable. " But this cure would prove worfe than 
 thedifeafe. Such pious fathers of the people as Caligula, Nero, orDomitian, 
 were not like to mitigate the rigour ; nor fuch as inherit crowns in their 
 infancy (as the prefent kings of Spain, France, and Sweden) fo well to 
 underrtand the meaning of it as to decide extraordinary cafes. The wif- 
 dom of nations has provided more allured helps ; and none could have 
 been fo brutifh and negligent of the public concernments, as to fufFer the 
 fucceffion to fall to women, children, &c. if they had not referved a power 
 in themfelves to prefer others before the neareft in blood, if reafon require; 
 and prefcribed fuch rules as might preferve the public from ruin, notwith- 
 ftanding their infirmities and vices. Thefe helps provided by our laws, 
 are principally by grand and petty juries, who are not only judges of 
 matters of fad:, as whether a man be killed, but whether he be killed cri- 
 minally. Thefe men are upon their oaths, and may be indidled of perjury 
 if they prevaricate : the judges are prefent, not only to be a check upon 
 them, but to explain fuch points of the law as may feem difficult. And 
 though thefe judges may be faid in fome fenfe to be cholen by the king, 
 he is not underftood to do it otherwife than by the advice of his council, 
 who cannot perform their duty, unlcfs they propofe fuch as in their con- 
 fctences they think moft worthy of the office, and mod capable of per- 
 forming the duty rightly ; nor he accomplifh the oath of his coronation, 
 unlefs he admit thofe, who upon deliberation feem to be the beft. The 
 judges being thus chofen, are fo far from depending upon the will of the 
 king, th.at they fwear faithfully to fcrv^e the people as well as the king, 
 and to do juftice to every man according to the law of the land, notwith- 
 ftanding any writs, letters, or commands received from him ; and in 
 default thereof they are to forfeit their bodies, lands, and goods, as in 
 cafes of treafon *. I'hefe laws have been fo often, and fo feverely exe- 
 cuted, 
 
 * The form of the oath of the jufticcs of both benches, made A. D. 1344 
 
 " Ye fliall fware, that well ahd faithfully ye fliall ferve our lord the king, and his people, 
 " in the office of juftice .... that ye fliall do equal lav/, and execution of right to all 
 " hisfubjcfts, rich and poor, without having regard to any perfon .... that ye deny to 
 " no man common ri' ht, by the ]<.iiiii's letters, nor none other man's, nor for none other 
 " caufc ; and in cafe any Utters come to you contrary to the law, that ye do nothmg by lucn 
 " letters, but certify the kine thereof, and proceed to execute the law, notwithilanding 
 ' ' ^ ' ' »' the
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 393 
 
 <5uted, that it concerns all judges well to confider them ; and the cafes of sect. 22 
 Trcfilian, Empfon, Dudley, and others, Ihew, that neither the king's 
 preceding command, nor i'ubfequent pardon, could preferve them from 
 the punilhment they deferved. All men knew, that what they did was 
 agreeable to the king's pleafure ; for Trcfilian advanced the prerogative 
 of Edward the fecond, and Empfon brought great treafurcs into the coffers 
 of Henry the feventh. Neverthelcfs they were charged with treafon for 
 fubverting the laws of the land, and executed as traitors. Though Eng- 
 land ought never to forget the happy reign of queen Elizabeth, yet it 
 muft be acknowledged, that flie as well as others had her failings. She 
 was full of love to the people, jufl in her nature, fincere in her intentions; 
 but could not fo perfedly difcover the fnarcs that were laid for her, or 
 refift the importunity of the perfons fhe moft trurted, as not fometimes to 
 be brought to attempt things againft law. She and her counfellors prefTed 
 the judges very hardly to obey the patent vmder her great feal, in the cafe 
 of Cavendilli : but they anfwered, " that both fhe and they had taken an 
 " oath to keep the law ; and, if they fhould obey her commands, the 
 *' law would not warrant them, etc. " And befidcs the offence againfl 
 God, their country, and the commonwealth, they alleged the example of 
 Empfon and Dudley, whereby, they faid, " they were deterred from 
 *' obeying her illegal commands *. " They who had fworn to keep the 
 law, notwithilanding the king's writs, knew that the law depended not 
 upon his will. And the fame oath, that obliged them not to regard any 
 command they fliould receive from him, fhewcd that they were not to 
 expefl: 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, otherwife than as 
 he fpeaks in the common courfc of juflice, by the courts legally eftabliflied, 
 which fay the fame thing, whether he be young or old, ignorant or wife, 
 wicked or good. And nothing does better evidence the wifdom and care 
 of our anceftors, in framing the laws and government we live under, than 
 that the people did not fuffer extremities by the vices or infirmities of 
 kings, till an age more full of malice than thofe in which they lived had 
 found tricks to pervert the rule, and fruftrate their honefl intentions. It 
 was not fafefor the kings to violate their oaths by an undue interpofition 
 of their authority ; but the minill:ers who fervcd them in thofe violations 
 have feldom efcaped punifhment. This is to be underfliood when the 
 deviations from juftice are extreme and mifchievous, for fomething mufl 
 always be allowed to human frailty : the befl have their defetfts, and 
 none could ftand, if a too exadl fcrutiny were made of all their adions. . 
 
 *' the fame letters : and that ye fhall do and procure the profit of the Icing, and of his crown, • 
 " with all things, where ye may reafonably do the fame. And in cafe ye be from henceforth 
 " found in default in any of the points aforefaid, ye fhall be at the king's will, of body, 
 " lands, and goods, thereof to be done as {hall pleafe him, as God you help, and all faints." 
 iS Edw. Ill, flat. 4 
 
 * Anderfon's Reports, c. 201, p. 155 
 
 E e e Edward
 
 394 
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. in Edward the third, about the twentieth year of his reign, acknowledged 
 his own in parliament, and, as well for the eafe of his confcience, as the 
 fatisfadlion of his people, promoted an a<3:, " commanding all judges to 
 " do juftice notwithftanding any writs, letters, or commands from himfelf, 
 " and forbidding thofe that belonged to the king, queen, and prince, to 
 " intermeddle in thofe matters *. " But if the beft and wifeft of our 
 princes, in the ftrength and maturity of their years, had their failings, 
 and every a<5t proceeding from them, that tended to the interruption of 
 juftice, was a failing, how can it be faid, that the king in his perfonal 
 capacity, direftly or indiredtly, may enter into a difcuiTxon of thefe matters, 
 much lefs determine them according to his will ? 
 
 " But, " fays 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; there may be hard cafes ; " and, citing fome perverted 
 pieces from Ariftotle's ethics and politics, adds, " that when foniething 
 " falls out befides the general rule, then it is fit, that what the law-maker 
 hath omitted, or where he hath erred by fpeaking generally, it fhould 
 be corre£led and fupplied, as if the law-maker were prefent that 
 ordained it. The governor, whether he be one man or more, ought 
 to be lord of thefe things, whereof it was impoflible that the law fhould 
 fpeak exadly f. " Thefe things are in part true ; but our author 
 
 (( 
 
 * <' Edward, by the grace of God, &c. Becaufe that by divers complaints made to us 
 we have perceived, that the law of the hind, which we by our oath be bound to maintain, 
 is the lefs well kept, and the execution of the fame diflurbed many times by maintenance 
 and procurement, as well in the court as in the country, we greatly moved of confcience 
 in this matter, and for this caufe defiring, as much for the pleafure of God, and eafe and 
 quietncfs of our fubjefts, as to fave our confcience, and for to fave and keep our laid 
 oath, by the all'ent of the great men and other wife men of our council, we have 
 ordained thefe things following. 
 
 " Firft, we have commanded all our jufticcs, that they fhall from henceforth do equal 
 law and execution of right to all our fubjeits, rich and poor, without having regard to 
 any perfon, and without omitting to do right, for any letters or commandment, which 
 may come to them from us, or from any other, or by ajiy other caufe. And if that any 
 letters, writs, or commandments, come to the jufticcs, or to other deputed to do law and 
 right, according to the ufage of the realm, in diflurbanceof the law, or of the execution 
 of the fame, or of right to the parties, the juflices, and other aforefaid fhall proceed and 
 hold their courts and proceffes, where the pleas and matters be depending before them, as 
 if no fuch letters, writs, or commandments were come to them. Item, we have com- 
 manded and utterly defended, that none of our houfe, nor of them that be about us, nor 
 other which be towards our dear beloved companion the queen, or our fon prince of Wales, 
 or towards our courts, nor prelates, earls, barons nor other great nor fmall of the land, 
 of what eftate or condition they be, fliall not take in hand quarrels other than their own, 
 nor the fame maintain by them, norby other, privily nor apertly, for gift, promife, amity, 
 favour, doubt, nor fear, nor for none other caufe, in difturbance of law, and hindcrance 
 of right, upon the pains aforefaid, but that every man may be free to fue for, and defend 
 his right, in our courts and elfewhere, according to the law. " 20 Edw. ill, c. i, 4 
 t OTtLU nv >-tyri u£u uof/.o( x.xS'o}^H, (rvf/.Q^ (5^' etti thtoh; 7rap« to xaS'oAa, tote opS'wj f%f'» 
 Yl TrafaXfiTSi i/o/vio-Seth;, Kat riij-xpTtv aTrAu? tnrtAiii, nrscuop^HU to f,\^llp9■f^, Kocu pou.o5sTri( 
 KT«< ail fiToi, fXfi wajtuv. Arilt. de Morib. 1. 5, c. 14. — Tod ap^oKxa ii, av te e/?, xv ti 
 ttAeik? wTi, -TTipi TETuv fivai KupiKf, Tipi li(Tiji]i i^x^vvcc.Tisa'Hi ol 1/01*01 AiyiiV OJX/iiSwf, am to ^ri 
 pwj'iov livxi xaS-oAa J)iAw(r«i TTfpi 7r*i'7wi'. Polit. i. 3, C. II 
 
 makes
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 395 
 
 makes ufe of them, as the devil does of Scripture, to fubvert the truth, sect. 22 
 There may be Ibmethiiig of rigour in the law, that in fome cafes may be 
 mitigated ; and the law itfcif, in relation to England, does fofar acknow- 
 ledge it, as to refer much to the confciences of juries, and thofe who are 
 appointed to aflift them ; and the moft difficult cafes arc referred to the 
 parliament as the only judges that are able to determine them. Thus the 
 ftatute of the 25 Edw. III. enumerating the crimes then declared to be 
 treafon, leaves to future parliaments to judge what other fadts equivalent 
 to them may deferve the fame punilhment *. And it is a general rule in 
 the law, which the judges are fwora to obferve, that difficult cafes 
 fhould be rcferved till the parliament meet, who are only able to decide 
 them : and if there be any inconvenience in this, it is becaufe they 
 do not meet fo frequently as the law requires, or by finifter means 
 are interrupted in their fitting. But nothing can be more abfurd 
 than to fay, that becaufe the king does not call parliaments as the law and 
 his oath requires, that power fliould accrue to him, which the law and the 
 confent of the nation has placed in them. 
 
 There is alfo fuch a thing in the law, as a general or particular pardon» 
 and the king may in fome degree be entrufted with the power of giving it, 
 efpecially for fuch crimes as merely relate to himfelf, as every man may 
 remit the injuries done to himfelf; but the confeffion of Edward the 
 third, " that the oath of the crown had not been kept by reafon of 
 *' the grant of pardons contrary to ftatutes, " and a new a£t made, 
 *' that all fuch charters of pardon from henceforth granted againfl; the 
 " oath of the crown, and the fald ftatutes, fhould be held for nonef," 
 demonftrate that this power was not in himfelf, but granted by the nation, 
 and to be executed according to fuch rules as the law prefcribed, and the 
 parliament approved. 
 
 Moreover, there have been many, and fometlmes bloody contefts for 
 the crown, upon which the nation was almofl equally divided; and it 
 being difEcult for them to know, or even for us who have all the parties 
 before us, to judge which was the better fide, it was underftood, that he 
 who came to be crowned by the confent of the people was acceptable to 
 all. And the queftion being determined, it was no way fit that he fliould 
 have a liberty to make ufe of the public authority then in his hands, to 
 revenge fuch perlbnal injuries as he had, or might fuppofe he had received, 
 
 * Vide fupra, p. 345 , , . /r j 
 
 + " Becaufe by divers ftatutes made before this time, in divers parliaments, it was allented, 
 " that no charter of pardon of the death of a man fhould be granted by the king, but in cafe 
 ♦* where he may do it, keeping the oath of his crown, which ftatutes have not been holden, 
 " but charters have been granted without number to divers felons and manflayers, to the 
 " evil example and fear of good people, and lawful, whereby thieves, felons, and offenders 
 ♦' be comforted, to do their robberies and mandaughtcr, and the fame do from day to day, 
 •' and the more be encouraged to do the fame, becaufe of hope eafily to have their charters 
 " of pardon; it is aflented, eftabliftied, and accorded, that no charter of pardon of the 
 " death of a man, nor of other felony fhall be from henceforth granted to any man, but iit 
 " cafe where the king may the fame do, faving the oath of his crown, as it is contained in 
 *' the ftatutes made before this time ; and if any charter be from henceforth granted againfl: 
 " the faid ftatutes, the fame ftiall be holden for none." 14 Edw. Ill, c. 15 
 
 E e e 2 which
 
 39^ 
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 cn\r.iH which might raile new, and perhaps more dangerous troubles, if the 
 authors of them were flill kept in fear of being profecuted ; and nothing 
 could be more unreal'onable, than that he fnould employ his power to the 
 dcftruftion of thofe who had confented to make him king. This made it 
 a matter of courfe for a king, as foon as he was crowned, to iffue 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 reafon Lewis the twelfth of France, when he was incited to revenge 
 himfelf againft thofe, who, in the reign of his predeceflbr Charles the 
 eighth, had cauled him to be imprifoned, with great danger of his life, 
 made this anfwer, " that the king of France did not care to revenge the 
 injuries done to the duke of Orleans *. " And the laft king of Sweden 
 feemed no otherwife to remember who had oppofed the queen's abdication 
 and his election than by conferring honours upon them ; becaufe he knew 
 they were the beft men of the nation, and fuch as would be his friends, 
 when they Ihould fee how he would govern; In which he was not deceived. 
 But, left all thofe who might come to the crown of England fhould not 
 have the fame prudence and generofity, the kings were obliged by a 
 cuftom of no lefs force than a law, immediately to put an end to all difputes, 
 and the inconveniences that might arife from them. This did not pro- 
 ceed from the bounty of the prerogative (which I think is nonfenfe, for 
 though he that enjoys the prerogative may have bounty, the prerogative 
 can have none) but from common fenfe, from the king's obligation, and 
 the care of his own fafety ; and could have no other effect in law, thaa 
 what related to his perfon, as appears by the fore-mentioned flatute. 
 
 Pardons granted by adl of parliament are of another nature : for as the 
 
 king, who has no other pov/er than by law, can no otherwife difpenfe 
 
 with the crimes committed againft the laws, than the law does enable 
 
 him, the parliament, that has the power of making laws, may entirely 
 
 abolifta the crimes, and unqueftionably remit the punifhment as they pleafe. 
 
 Though fome words of Ariftotle's ethics are without any coherence 
 
 fhuffled together by our author, with others taken out of his politics, I 
 
 do not much except againft them. No law made by man can be perfedb, 
 
 and there muft be in every nation a power of correding fuch defers as in 
 
 time may arife or be difcovered. This power can never be fo rightly 
 
 placed as in the fame hand that has the right of making laws, whether in 
 
 one perfon or in many. If Filmer therefore can tell us of a place, where 
 
 one man, woman, or child, however he or flie be qualified, has the 
 
 power of making laws, I will acknowledge, that not only the " hard 
 
 " cafes, " but as many others as he pleafes, are referred to his or her 
 
 judgment, and that they may give it, whether they have any undcrftand- 
 
 ing of what they do or not, whether they be drunk or fober, in their 
 
 I'enfes or ftark-mad. But as 1 know no fuch place, and llioiild not be 
 
 much concerned for the fufTcring of a people that fhould bring fuch mifery 
 
 upon themfelvcs, as muft accompany an abfolutc dependance upon the 
 
 • Un roi de France u' cpoufe point les querelles d'un due d'Orlcans. De Serres, en la 
 vie dc Loui? xii 
 
 unruly
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 397 
 
 unruly will of fuch a creature, I may leave him to fcek it, and reft in a sect. 23 
 perfed affurance, that he does not I'peak of England, which acknowledges 
 no other law than its own ; and inftcad of receiving any from kings, 
 does, to this day, ohey none, but fuch as have been made by our anceftors, 
 or ourfelves, and never admitted any king that did not fwear to obferve 
 them. And if Ariftotle deferve credit, the power of altering, mitigating^ 
 explaining, or corrciSling the laws of England, is only in the parliament, 
 becaufe none but the parliament can make them. 
 
 SECTION xxm 
 
 ARISTOTLE PROVES, THAT NO MAN IS TO BE ENTRUSTED WITH: 
 AN ABSOLUTE POWER, BY SHEWING, THAT NO ONE KNOWS 
 HOW TO EXECUTE IT, BUT SUCH A MAN AS IS NOT TO HE FOUND, 
 
 Our author having falfly cited and perverted the fenfe of Ariftotle, now- 
 brings him in faying, '" that a perfLd: kingdom is that wherein the king 
 *' rules all according to his own will*." But though I have read his 
 books of government with fome attention, I can find no fdch thing ia 
 them, unlefs the word which fignilies " mere " or " abfolute " may be 
 juftly tranilated into " perfedl ; " which is fo far from Ariftotle's meaning,, 
 that he diftinguifhes the abfolute or dcfpotical kingdoms from the legiti- 
 mate ; and commending the latter, gives no better name than that of 
 *' barbarous t " to the firft, which he fays can agree only with the nature 
 of fuch nations as are bafe and ftupid, little differing from beafls ; and 
 having no Ikill to govern, or courage to defend themfelves, muft rellgn 
 all to the will of one that vi^ill take care of them. Yet even this cannot 
 be done, unlefs he that fhouU take that care be wholly exempted from 
 the vices which oblige the others to ftand in need of it; for otherwife it 
 is no better than if a Iheep fhould undertake to govern fheep, or a hog to 
 command fwine ; Ariftotle plainly faying, " that as men are by nature 
 " equal, if it were polfible, all Ihould be magiftrates. " But that being, 
 repugnant to the nature of government, he finds no other way of folving, 
 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 an other, becaufe they are all by 
 nature equal ;jl. This might be compofed by a more compendious way,, 
 
 * HEfji Je t»i; IIAMBASIAEIAS xaXajttfi'>i?, aurrj iJ' £r» xasS'' ifu xfxci ttx-Huv, xxrx rry lauTs- 
 P^XJio-ii', ^x<Ti)\i\)(;. Arift. Polit. 1 3, c. i6 
 
 -f- AaAo lUowapp^iaij fiJoy, oi'ai Trap' £noiS ttci (SairtAfiaJi tuv (SapSctpuv, etc. Ibid. \. 3, 
 C. 14. 1. 4, CIO 
 
 J Av: ov M? TKj aWif? afi ^tXriov ap^fn/, n Svvoclov tv oi? is jxri fvvizlov [Six to t?)i/ yjiriu i(rxf, 
 £ij/ai 7rf>^7a?) a,«a Si xxi SiXonQv [ht c.yaBov [Ui (pxvXoii ro ap;^£i^) ttxhIxi; aula fjiCTi)i^iii/, (v 
 TSTCJ^ <?£ j.'.ty.iicr^Ci.i to iv jj-ipit tk? kth^ iix'.iv oixoiui TOK f^ ""PX^f* "' 1^^" y^P *f/C*"''"'> "' 
 f app^oi/TWJ Trxpx i^-SfK, uriri^ «v wAAoi •yivoy.oin-. Ibid, 1. 2, C, 2. 1. 3, C, l6 
 
 3 if.
 
 398 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. Ill if> according to our author's dodrine, pofTeffion could give a right. But 
 Ariftotle, fpeaking like a philoiopher, and not like a public enemy to 
 mankind, examines vv^hat is juft, reafonable, and beneficial to men, that 
 is, what ought to be done, and which being done, is to be accounted juft, 
 and therefore to be fiipported by good men. But as " that which is unjull 
 " in the beginning can never have the effe£t of juftice * ; " and it being 
 manifeftly unjuft for one, or a few men, to affume a power over thofe 
 who by nature are equal to them, no fuch power can be juft or beneficial 
 to mankind; nor fit to be upheld by good men, if it be unjuft and preju- 
 dicial. In the opinion of Ariftotle, this natural equality continues till 
 virtue makes the diftin£tion, which muft be either fimply complete and 
 perfedl in itfelf, fo that he who is endued with it, is a God among menf, 
 or relatively, as far as concerns civil fociety, and the ends for which it is 
 conftituted, that is, defence, and the obtaining of juftice. This requires a 
 mind unbiafled by paflion, full of goodnefs and wifdom, firm againft all 
 the temptations to ill, that may arife from defire or fear, tending to all 
 manner of good, through a perfect knowledge and aff^eftion to it ; and 
 this to fuch a degree, that he or they have more of thefe virtues and 
 excellencies than all the reft of the fociety, though computed together. 
 Where fuch a man is found, he is by nature a king, and it is beft for the 
 nation where he is, that he govern ^. If a few men, though equal and 
 alike among themfelves, have the fame advantages above the reft of the 
 people, nature, for the fame reafon, feems to eftablifti an ariftocracy in 
 that place; and the power is more fafely committed to them, than left in 
 the hands of the multitude. But if this excellency of virtue do not appear 
 in one, nor in a few men, the right and power is by nature equally lodged 
 in all ; and to aflimie or appropriate that power to one, or a few men, is 
 unnatural and tyrannical, which, in Ariftotle's language, comprehends 
 all that is deteftable and abominable. 
 
 If any man fhould think Ariftotle a trifler, for fpeaking of fuch a man 
 as can never be found §, I anfwer, that he went as far as his way could 
 be warranted by reafon or nature, and was obliged to ftop there by the 
 defedl of his fubjedl. He could not Hiy, that the government of one was 
 fimply good, when he knew fo many qualifications were required in the 
 perfon to make it fo ; nor, that it is good for a nation to be under the 
 power of a fool, a coward, or a villain, becaufe it is good to be under a 
 
 * Qiiod ab initio injuftum eft nullum poteft habere jurlK effeiSlum. Grot, de Jure Belli, * * 
 t iltririfi ^eovev av^pwTTOif tixof eivxi rov toihtoh. Arift. Polit. 1. 3, C. 13 
 % AtiTriTcti rotvvu, onif) eoixe Tri<P >iiiixi, 7r£iS'£<&ai tw toi^tu Travraj atrfAiva^' wirtf paTtXioc^ 
 imai Tifc Toivrm aiiis; ev Toiif iroXt<riv. Ibi<J, 1. 3, c. I3» 17, etc, 
 
 § Barbeyrac, in his notes on Puft'endorf, makes the following remark. " The qualifica- 
 " tions which Ariftotle requires in an abfolute monarch arc very rare, and this gives room to 
 " Sidney, in his Difcourfes concern ng government, to maintain, that Ariftotle fuppoCes a 
 " man who is not to be found in ihe world, in order to ii-.finuate, that no man is to be 
 " truftcd with abfolute power. But perhaps that philofopher never conceived any idea of a 
 " perfect virtue; and, fuppofing men to be as they really arc, d'.Tigned only to exclude tholo 
 *' vices, which denominate a tyrant." b. 7, c. 6, § 5, no^e i 
 
 man
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 399 
 
 man of admirable wifdom, valour, induftry, and goodnefs ; or that the SECT. 24 
 government of one fliould be continued in fuch as by chance fuccecd in a 
 family, becaufe it was given to the firft w^ho had all the virtues required, 
 though all the reafons for which the power was given ftiil in the fucceffor : 
 much Icfs could he fay, that any government was good, which was not 
 good for thofe whofe good only it was conftitutcd to promote. 
 
 Moreover, by fhev/ing who only is lit to be a monarch, or may be 
 made fuch, without violating the laws of nature and juflice, he fhews 
 who cannot be one. And he who fays, that no fuch man is to be found, 
 as, according to the opinion of Ariftolle, can be a monarch, does moft 
 ridiculoufly allege his authority in favour of monarchs, or the power 
 which fome among us would attribute to them. If any thing therefore 
 may be concluded from his words, it is this ; that fince no power ought 
 to be admitted which is not jufl. ; that none can be juft, which is not good, 
 profitable to the people, and conducing to the ends for which it is con- 
 ftitutcd ; that no man can know how to diredl the power to thofe ends, 
 can deferve, or adminifter it, unlefs he do fo far excel all thofe that are 
 under him in wifdom, juflice, valour, and goodnefs, as to poflTefs more 
 ©f thofe virtues than all of them : I fay, if no fuch man, or fucceffion of 
 men be found, no fuch power is to be granted to any man, or fucceffion 
 of men. But if fuch power be granted, the laws of nature and reafon 
 are overthrown, and the ends for which focieties are conftituted utterly 
 perverted, which neceifarily implies an annihilation of the grant. And if 
 a grant, fo made by thofe who have a right of fetting up a government 
 among themfelves, do perifh through its own natural iniquity and perver- 
 fity, I leave it to any man, whofe underftanding and manners are not fo 
 entirely corrupted as thofe of our author, to determine what name ought 
 to be given to that perfon, who, not excelling all others in civil and 
 moral virtues, in the proportion required by Ariftotle, does ufurp a power 
 over a nation, and what obedience the people owe to fuch a one. But if 
 his opinion deferve our regard, the king, by having thofe virtues, is 
 " omnium optimus," and the befl: guide to the people, to lead them to 
 happinefs by the ways of virtue. And he who affinnes the fame power, 
 without the qualifications required, is " tyrannus omnium peffimus," 
 leading the people to all manner of ill, and, in confequence, to deftrudtion. . 
 
 SECTION XXIV 
 
 THE POWER OF AUGUSTUS CAESAR WAS NOT GIVEN, BUT USURPED. 
 
 Our author's next inftance is ingenioufly taken from the Romans, " who," 
 he fays, " though they were a people greedy of liberty, freed Auguftus 
 " from the neceffity of laws. " If it be true, as he affirms, that fuch a 
 prerogative is inftituted only for the prefervation of liberty, they who are 
 
 2 moft -
 
 400 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CLHAP.in moft greedy of It ought to be moft forward in eftablifliing that which 
 defends it beft. But if the weight laid upon the words " greedy of Hberty, 
 &c. " render his memory and judgment liable to cenfure, the unpardon- 
 able prevarication of citing any a£l done by the Romans in the time of 
 Auguflus, as done freely, fhews him to be a man of no faith. " Omnium 
 " jura infe traxerat *, " fays Tacitus of Auguftus; nothing was conferred 
 upon him, he took all to himfelf ; there could be nothing of right in that 
 which was wholly ufurped. And neither the people nor the fenate could 
 do any thing freely, while they were under the power of a mad corrupted 
 foldiery, who firft betrayed, and then fubdued them. The greatefl part 
 of the fenate had fallen at the battle of Pharfalia, others had been gleaned 
 up in feveral places, the reft deftroyed by the prolcriptions ; and that 
 which then retained the name of a fenate was made up chiefly of thofe 
 ■who had been his minifters, in bringing the moft miferable flavery upon 
 their own country. The Roman liberty, and that bravery of fpirit by 
 which it had been maintained, was not only aboliftied, but almoft for- 
 gotten. All confideration of law and right was trampled under foot ; and 
 none could difpute with him, who by the power of the fword had feized 
 the authority both of the fenate and people. Nothing was fo extravagant, 
 that might not be extorted by the infolent violence of a conqueror, who 
 had thirty mercenary legions to execute his commands. The uncorrupted 
 •part of the people, that had efcaped the fword of Julius, had either 
 pcri/hed with Hirtius and Panfa, Brutus and Caflius, or been deftroyed 
 by the deteftable triumvirate. Thofe that remained could lofe nothing by 
 a verbal refignation of their liberty, which they had neither ftrength nor 
 .courage to defend. The magiftracies w^ere pofTefled by the creatures of 
 the tyrant ; and the people were compofcd of fuch as were either born 
 under flavery, and accuftomed to obey, or remained under the terror of 
 thofe arms that had confumed the afi'ertors of their liberty. Our author, 
 ftanding in need of fome Roman example, was obliged to feek it in an 
 age, when the laws were fubverted, virtue cxtinguiflied, injuftice placed 
 in the throne, and fuch as v^'ould not be of the fame fpirit expofed to the 
 utmoft cruelty. This was the time when the fovereign majefty fliined in 
 glory ; and they who had raifcd it above the law made it alio the objeft of 
 iheir religion, by adoring the ftatues of their oppreflbr. The corruption 
 of this court fpread itfelf over the beft part of the world ; and reduced the 
 empire to that irrecoverable wcakncfs in which it languiflied and perilhed. 
 This is the flate of things that plcafes Filmer, and thofe that are like him, 
 who, for the introdudion of the liimc among us, recommend fuch an 
 elevation of the fovereign majefty, as is moft contrary to the laws of God 
 and men, abhorred by all generous nations, and efpecially by our ancef- 
 tors, who thought nothing too dear to be hazarded in the defence of 
 thcmfelves and us from it. 
 
 • Munia fenatus, magiflratuuin, Icgum in fe trahere. Tacit. Annal. 1. i, § 2
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 SECTION XXV 
 
 THE REGAL POWER WAS NOT THE FIRST IN THIS NATION; 
 NOR NECESSARILY TO BE CONTINUED, THOUGH IT HAD BEEN 
 
 THE FIRST. 
 
 Trutli being uniform in itfelf, thofe who defire to propagate it for the 
 good of mankind lay the foundations of their realbnings in fuch princi- 
 ples, as are either evident to common fenfc, or eafily proved : but cheats 
 and impoftors, delighting in obfcurity, fuppofe things that are dubious or 
 falfc, and think to build one falfliood upon another ; and our author can 
 find no better way to perfuade us, that all our privileges and laws are from 
 the king, than by faying, " that the firfl power was the kingly power, 
 *' which was both in this and in all other nations of the world long before 
 *' any laws, or any other kind of government was thought of; from 
 " whence we mufl; neceflkrily infer, that the common law, or common 
 " cuftoms of this land, were originally the laws and commands of the 
 *' king. " But denying both thefe points, I affirm, 
 
 1. Firft, that there was a power to make kings before there was any king. 
 
 2. Though kings had been the firft created magiftrates in all places, as 
 perhaps they were in fome, it does not follow, that they muft continue 
 for ever, or that laws are from them. 
 
 To the firft. 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 been king. He 
 could not be king by fuccefTion, for the Scripture ftiews him to have been 
 the firft. He was not king by the right of father, for he was not their 
 father, Cufli, Ham, with his elder brothers, and father Noah, being ftill 
 living; and, which is worft of all, were not kings : for if they who lived 
 in Nimrod's time, or before him, neither were kings, nor had kings, he 
 that ought to have been king over all by the right of nature (if there had 
 been any fuch thing in nature) was not king. Thofe who immediately 
 fucceeded him, and muft have inherited his right, if he had any, did not 
 inherit, or pretend to it : and therefore he that fliall now claim a right 
 from nature, as father of a people, muft ground it upon fomething more 
 certain than Noah's right of reigning over his children, or it can have no 
 ftrength in it. 
 
 Moreover, the nations who in and before the time of Nimrod had no 
 kings, had power, or elfe they could have performed no ad:, nor confti- 
 tutcd any other magiftrate, to this day, which is abfurd. There was 
 therefore a power in nations before there were kings, or there could never 
 have been any ; and Nimrod could never have been king, if the people 
 of Babylon had not made him king, which they could not have done if 
 
 F f f they
 
 402 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP, III they had not a power of making him fo. It is ridiculous to fay he made 
 himfelf king ; for though he might be ftrong and vaUant, he could not 
 be ftronger than a multitude of men. That which forces muft be flronger 
 than that which is forced ; and if it be true, according to the antlent 
 faying, that Hercules himfelf is not fufficlent to encounter two, it is fure 
 more impoffible for one man to force a multitude, for that muft be ftronger 
 than he. If he came in by perfuafion, they who were perfuaded, were 
 perfuaded to confent, that he fliould be king. That confent therefore 
 made him king. But, *' qui dat effe, dat modum effe : " they who made 
 him king, made him fuch a king as heft pleafed themfelves. He had 
 therefore nothing but what was given : his greatnefs and power muft be 
 from the multitude who gave it : and their laws and liberties could not be 
 from him ; but their hberties were naturally inherent in themfelves, and 
 their laws were the produdl 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 baftard, the fon of an 
 unknown man ; and when he died, the right that had been conferred upon 
 him reverted to the people, who, according to that right, chofe Numa, 
 Hoftilius, Martins, Tarquinius Prifcus, and Servlus, all ftrangers, and 
 without any other right than what was beftowed upon them ; and Tar- 
 quinius Superbus, who invaded the throne " without the command of the 
 •* people *, " was ejedled, and the government of kings aboliftied, by 
 the fame power that had created it. 
 
 We know not certainly by what law Mofes, and the judges, created by 
 the advice of Jethro, governed the Ifraelites ; but may probably conjedlure 
 it to have been by that law which God had written in the hearts of man- 
 kind ; and the people fubmitted to the judgment of good and wife men, 
 though they vv'ere under no coercive power : but it is certain they had a 
 law, and a regular magiftracy, under which they lived, four hundred 
 years before they had a king, for Saul was the firft. This law was not 
 therefore from the king, nor by the king ; but the king was chofen and 
 made by the people, according to the Kberty they had by the law, though 
 they did not rightly follow the rules therein prefcribed, and by that means, 
 brought deftrudion upon themfelves. 
 
 The country in which we live lay long concealed under obfcure barbarity,, 
 and we know nothing of the firft inhabitants, but what is involved in 
 fables, that leave us ftill in the dark, Julius Cacfar is the firft who fpeaks 
 diilindly of ou? affairs, and gives us no reafon to believe there was any 
 monarchy then cftabllfhed among us. Caffivellaunus was occafionally 
 chofen by the nations that were moft expofcd to the violence of the Romans, 
 for the management of thofe wars againft them f . Ry others we hear of 
 J3oadicia, Arviragus^, Galgacus, and many more fct up afterwards, when 
 
 * SinejufTu populi. I/iv. 1. i, c. 49. 
 
 t Sii:nina imperii hcliique ad'miniflrsndij communi cpnfilio, pcrniifTii crt CafTivclIauiK?, . 
 Cavf, ComnTicnt. 1. 5, § 9 
 
 need.
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT ^3 
 
 need required ; but we find no footftcps of a regular fuccefnon either by 3 EOT. 25 
 
 inheritance or eleclion. And as they had then no kings, or any other 
 
 general magiltrate, that can be laid to be equivalent to a king, they might 
 
 liave had none at all, unlefs they had thought fit. Tacitus mentions a fort 
 
 of kings, ufed by the Romans to keep nations in fervitude to them*; and 
 
 though it were true, that there had been fuch a man as Lucius, and he 
 
 one of this fort, he is to be accounted only as a Roman magiftrate, and 
 
 fignifies no more to our difpute, than if he had been called proconful, 
 
 praetor, or by any other name. However there was no ferlcs of them : 
 
 that which was temporary and occafional depended upon the will of thofc, 
 
 who, thinking there was occafion, created fuch a magiftrate, and omitted 
 
 to do fo, when the occafion ceafed, or was thought to ceafe ; and miglit 
 
 have had none at all, if they had fo pleafed. The magiftracy therefore 
 
 was from them, and depended upon their will. 
 
 We have already mentioned the hiftorics of the Saxons, Danes, and 
 Normans, from which nations, together with the Britains, v;e are 
 defcended, and, finding that they were fevere aflertors of their liberties, 
 acknowledged no human laws but their own, received no kings, but fuch 
 as fwore to obferve them, and depofed thofe who did not well perform 
 their oaths and duty, it is evident, that their kings were made by the 
 people according to the law ; and that the law, by which they became 
 what they v/ere, could not be from themfelves. Our anccflors were fo 
 fully convinced, that in the creation of kings they exercifed their own 
 right, and were only to confider what was good for themfelves, that with- 
 out regard to the memory of thofe who had gone before, they were accuf- 
 tomed to take fuch as feemed moft like, wifely, juftly and gently to perform 
 their office ; refufed thofe that were fufpedled of pride, cruelty, or any 
 other vice that might bring prejudice upon the public, what title foever 
 they pretended ; and removed fuch as had been placed in the throne, if 
 they did not anfwer the opinion conceived of their virtue : which I take 
 to be a manner of proceeding that agrees better with the quality of 
 mafters, making laws and magiftrates for themfelves, than of flaves 
 receiving fuch as were impofed upon them. 
 
 2. To the fccond. Though it fhould be granted, that all nations had 
 at the firft been governed by kings, it were nothing to the queftion ; for 
 no man, or number of men, was ever obliged to continue in the errors of 
 his predeceflbrs. The authority of cuftom, as well as of law (I mean in 
 relation to the power that made it to be) confifts only in its reditude ; and 
 the fame reafon which may have induced one or more nations to create 
 kings, when they knew no other form of government, may not only 
 induce them to fet up another, if that be found inconvenient to them, but 
 proves, that they may as juftly do fo, as remove a man who performs not 
 what was ex pedled from him. If there had been a rule given by God, 
 and written in the minds of men by nature, it muft have been from the 
 
 * Uthaberetinftrumentafervitutisetreges. Tacit, in vita Agric. § 14. Vide fupra, p. 276 
 
 F f f £ beginning,
 
 404» DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP, 11 1 beginning, univerfal and perpetual ; or at leaft muft have been obfervecf 
 by the wifeft and beft inftruded nations : which not being in any meafifrc 
 (as I have proved already) there can be no reafon, why a polite people 
 ihould not relinquifli the errors committed by their anceilors in the time of 
 their bat barilm and Ignorance, and why they fhould not do it in matters 
 of government, as well as in any other thing relating to life. Men are 
 fubje£t to errors, and It is the work of the beft and v\'ilefl; to difcover and 
 amend fuch as their anceftors may have committed, or to add pea-fection 
 to thofe things which by them have been well invented. This is fo certain, 
 * that whatever v/e enjoy, beyond the mii'ery in whichovu- barbarous anceilors 
 Kved, i5 due only to the liberty of corredting what was amils in their prac- 
 tice, or inventing that which they did not know. And I doubt v\'hcther 
 it be more brutifli to fay, v/e are obliged to continue in the idolatry of the 
 drulds, with all the miferies and follies that accompany the moft favage 
 barbarity, or to confefs, that though we have a right to depart from thefe, 
 yet we are for ever bound to continue the government they had ellablilhed, 
 whatever inconveniencies might attend it. Tertullian, difputing with the 
 pagans, who objedted the novelty of the chriftian religion, troubled not 
 himfelf with refuting that error ; but proving Chriftianlty to be good 
 and true, he thought he had fufficiently proved it to be antient*. A wife 
 archited: may fhew his fkill, and deferve commendation for building a 
 poor houfe of vile materials, when he can procure no better, but he no 
 way ought to hinder others from ere£ting more glorious fabrics, if they 
 are furniftied with the means required. 13efides, fuch is the imperfedion 
 of all human conftitutions, that they are fubjeft to perpetual fluduation, 
 which never permits them to continue long in the fame condition. Cor- 
 ruptions fllde in Infeniibly, and the bcfl: orders are fometimes fubverted by 
 mahce and violence. So that he, who only regards w^hat was done in 
 fuch an age, often takes the corruption of the ftatefor the inllitutlon, fol- 
 lows the worft example, thinks that to be the hrft, that is the moil: antient 
 he knows. And if a brave people, feeing the original defects of their 
 government, or the corruption into which It may be fallen, do either 
 corred and reform what may be amended, or aboliih tliat which was evil 
 in the inllitutlon, or fo ][:)erverted, that it cannot be reftored to integrity, 
 thefe men impute it to fedition, and blame thofe actions, which, of all 
 that can be performed by men, are the moft glorious. We are not there- 
 fore h much, to inquire after that which Is moft antient, as that which Is 
 beft, and moft conducing to the good ends to which it was direded. As 
 governments were inftltuted for the obtaining of juftice, and (as our author 
 fays) the prefervatloa of liberty, we are not to feek what government was 
 the firft, but wliatbefl provides for the obtaining of juftice, and the preferva- 
 tion of liberty. For whatever the inftitutlon be, and how long Ibever it 
 may have lafled, it is void, if it thwarts, or does not provide for the ends of 
 its cflabllfhment. If fuch a law: or cuflom therefore, as is not good in 
 
 • Nullum tcmpus, nulla prnefcriptio, occurrit veritati. Tertul. * * * IJ aiuiquius 
 tjuoj verius. Ibid. * ♦ * Vide ApoK § 20, et trait, de Virg. vdand. § i 
 
 itfclf,
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 405- 
 
 itfelf, had in the beginning prevailed in all parts of the world (which in sect. 25 
 relation to abfolute, or any kind of monarchy, is not true) it ought to be 
 abolifhed ; and if any man fliould fhew himCclf wifcr than others by pro- 
 pofmg a law or government, more beneiicial to mankind than any that 
 had been formerly known, providing better for juftice and liberty than all 
 others had done, he would merit the higheft veneration. If any man afk,. 
 who fhall be judge of that rcdtitude or pravity which either authorizes or 
 dcftroys a law ? I anfwer, that as this confifts not in formalities and nice- 
 ties, but in evident and fubflantial truths, there is no need of any other 
 tribunal than that of common fenfe, and the light of nature, to determine 
 the matter: and he that travels through France, Italy, Turky, Germany, 
 and Switzerland, without confulting Bartolus or Baldus, will eafily under- 
 stand whether the countries that are under the kings of France and Spain, 
 the pope and the great Turk, or fuch as are under the care of a well-regu- 
 lated magiftracy, do beft enjoy the benefits of juftice and liberty. It is- 
 as eafily determined, whether the Grecians, when Athens and Thebes 
 flourifhed, were more free than the Medes ; whether juftice was better 
 adminiftred by Agathocles, Dionyfius, and Phalaris, than by the legal- 
 kings and regular magiftrates of Sparta ; or whether more care was taken, 
 that juftice and liberty might be preferved by Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, 
 Nero, and Vitellius, than by the fenate and people of Rome, v>'hile the 
 laws were more powerful than the commands of men. The like may be 
 faid of particular laws, as thofe of Nabuchodonofor and Caligula, for wor- 
 fhipping their ftatutes ; our a£ts of parliament againft heretics and Lollards, 
 with the ftatutes and orders of the inquifition, which is called the holy 
 office. And if that only be a law which is " fan<Stio redta, jubens honefta, 
 prohibens contraria, " the meaneft underftanding, if free from paflion, may 
 certainly know, that fuch as thefe cannot be laws, by what authority foever 
 they were enad:ed, and that the ufe of them, and others like to them, 
 ought to be aboliflied for their turpitude and iniquity. Infinite examples 
 of the like nature might be alleged, as well concerning divine as human 
 things. And if there be any laws' which are evil, there cannot be an 
 inconteftable redlitude in all, and if not in all, it concerns us to examine 
 where it is to be found. Laws and conftitutions ought to be weighed ; 
 and whilft all due reverence is paid to fuch as are good, every nation may 
 not only retain in itfelf a power of changing or abolifliing all fuch as arc 
 not fo, but ought to exercife that power according to the beft of their' 
 underftanding, and in the place of what was either at firft miftaken or 
 afterwards corrupted, to conftitute that which is moft conducing to the 
 eftablifliment of juftice and liberty. 
 
 But fuch is the condition of mankind, that nothing can be fo perfecftly 
 framed as not to give fome teftimony of human imbecillity, and frequently 
 to ftand in need of reparations and amendments. Many things are 
 unknown to the wifeft, and the beft men can never whollv diveft them- 
 felves of paflions and aff"ed:ions. By tliis means the beft and wifeft are 
 fometimcs led into error, and ftand in need of fucceflbrs like to them- 
 
 fclves,:
 
 4o6 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. Ill felves, who may find remedies for the faults they have committed, and 
 nothing can or ought to be permanent, but that which is perfedl. No 
 natural body was ever fo well tempered and organized, as not to be lubjedt 
 to difeafes, wounds, or other accidents, and to need medicines, and other 
 occafional helps, as well as nourifhment and exercife ; and he who, under 
 the name of innovation, would deprive nations of the like, does, as 
 much as lies in him, condemn them all to perifh by the defers of their 
 own foundations. Some men obferving this, have propofcd a necefTity 
 of reducing every ftate, once in an age or two, to the integrity of its firil 
 principle * : but they ought to have examined, whether that principle be 
 good or evil, or fo good, that nothing can be added to it, which none 
 ever was ; and this being fo, thofe who will admit of no change would 
 render errors perpetual, and depriving mankind of the benefits of wifdom, 
 induftry, experience, and the right ufe of reafon, oblige all to continue in 
 the miferable barbarity of their anceftors : which fuits better with the 
 nature of a wolf than that of a man. 
 
 Thofe who are of hetter underftanding weigh all things, and often find 
 reafon to abrogate that which their fathers, according to the meafure of 
 the knowledge they had, or the ftate of things among them, had rightly 
 inftituted, or to reftore that which they had abrogated ; and there can be 
 no greater mark of a moft brutifli flupidity, than for men to continue in 
 an evil way, becaufe their fathers had brought them into it. But if we 
 ought not too ftridly to adhere to our own conftitutions, thofe of other 
 nations are lefs 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 thofe of another. It were abfurd to think 
 of refloring the laws of Lycurgus to the prefent inhabitants of Pelopon- 
 nefus, who are accuftomed to the moft abjedt flavery. It may eafily be 
 imagined, how the Romans, Sabines, and Latins, now under the tyranny 
 of the pope, would relilh fuch a difcipline as flouriflied among them after 
 the expulfion of the Tarquins ; and it had been no lefs prepofterous to 
 give a liberty to the Parthians of governing themfelves, or for them to 
 aifume it, than to impofe an abfolute monarch upon the German nation. 
 Titus Livius, having obferved this, fays, that if a popular government 
 had been fet up in Rome immediately upon the building of the city ; and 
 if that fierce people, which was compofed of unruly fliephcrds, herdfmen, 
 fugitive flaves, and outlawed pcrfons, who could not fufFer the govern- 
 ments under which they were born, had come to be incited by turbulent 
 orators, they would have brought all into confufionf. Whereas that 
 boifterous humour being gradually tempered by difcipline under Romulus 
 or taught to vent its fury againft foreign enemies, and foftened by the 
 
 * 
 
 * Machiav. Difcors. I. 3, c. i 
 
 t Qiiid futuri;m fuit, fi ilia paftorum convenarumque plebs transfuga ex fuis populis, 
 fub tutcla inviolaci templi, aut libcrtatem, aut ccrtc iinpuiiitatcm adepta, foluta rcgio metu, 
 agitari coi-pta cfTct tribunitiis procellis ? , . . . Diflipatae res nonduin aduhac difcordia 
 fortiif, &c. Liv. 1, 2, c. I 
 
 peaceable
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 407 
 
 peaceable reign of Numa, a new race grew up, which, being all of one sect. 25 
 
 blood, contradled a love to their country, and became capable of liberty, 
 
 which the madnefs of their laft king, and the lewdnefs of his fon, gave 
 
 them occafion to refume. If this was commendable in them, it muft be 
 
 fo in other nations. If the Germans might prcferve their liberty, as well 
 
 as the Parthians fubmit themfelves to abfolute monarchy, it is as lawful 
 
 for the defcendants of thofe Germans to continue in it, as for the eaftern 
 
 nations to be Haves. If one nation may juftly choofe the government that 
 
 feems beft to them, and continue or alter it according to the changes of 
 
 times and things, the fame right muft belong to others. The great variety 
 
 of laws that are or have been in the world proceeds from this ; and 
 
 nothing can better fhew the wifdom and virtue, or the vices and. 
 
 folly of nations, than the ufe they make of this right : they have been 
 
 glorious or infamous, powerful or defpicable, happy or miferable, as they 
 
 have well or ill executed it. 
 
 If it be faid, that the law given by God to the Hebrews, proceeding 
 from his wifdom and goodneis, muft needs be perfe£l and obligatory to alL 
 nations, I anfwer, that there is a fimple and a relative perfedion. The 
 firft is only in God, the other in the things he has created : " he faw that 
 they were good;" which can fignify no more than that they were good 
 in their kind, and fuited to the end for which he defigned them. For if 
 the perfeftion were abfolute, there could be no difference betv^reen an. 
 angel and a worm, and nothing could be fubjedl to change or death ; for 
 that is imperfedlion. This relative perfe(£lion is feen alfo by his law givea^ 
 to mankind in the perfons of Adam and Noah. It was good in the kind,, 
 fit for thofe times ; but could never have been enlarged or altered, if the 
 perfedion had been fimple ; and no better evidence can be given to fhew,, 
 that it was not fo, than that God did afterwards give one much more full 
 and explicit to his people. This law alfo was peculiarly applicable to that 
 people and feafon ; for, if it had been otherwife, the apoftles would have 
 obliged Chriftians to the entire obfervation of it, as well as to abftain from 
 idolatry, fornication, and blood. But if all this be not fo, then their 
 judicial law, and the form of their commonwealth, muft be received by 
 all; no human law can be of any value; we are all brethren; no man. 
 has a prerogative above another ; lands muft be equally divided among all ; 
 inheritances cannot be alienated for above fifty years ; no man can be- 
 raifed above the reft, unlefs he be called by God, and enabled by his 
 Spirit to condu£l the people ; when this man dies, he that has the fame 
 Spirit muftfuccced, as Joftiua did to Mofes, and his children can have no 
 title to his office ; when fuch a man appears, a fanhedrim of feyenty men, 
 ehofen out of the whole people, are to judge fuch caufes as relate to 
 themfelves, while thofe of greater extent and importance are referred to 
 the general aflemblies. Here is no mention of a king ; and confequently, 
 if we muft take this law for our pattern, we cannot have one. If the 
 point be driven to the utmoft, and the precept of Deuteronomy, where:- 
 God permitted them to have a king, if they thought fit, when they cama 
 
 intoj
 
 4oS DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. Ill into the promifed land, be underftood to extend to all nations, every one 
 of them muil have the fame liberty of taking their own time, choofing 
 him in their ov^m way, dividing the kingdom, having no king, and fetting 
 up other governors when they pleafe, as before the ele£tion of Saul, and 
 after the return from the captivity : and even when they have a king, he 
 muft be fuch a one as is defcribed in the fame chapter, who no more 
 refembles the fovereign majefty that our author adores, and agrees as little 
 with his maxims, as a tribune of the Roman people. 
 
 We may therefore conclude, that if we are to follow the law of Mofes, 
 we muft take it with all the appendages ; a king can be no more, and no 
 otherwife, than he makes him : for whatever we read of the kings they 
 had, w^ere extreme deviations from it. No nation can make any law ; 
 and our lawyers, burning their books, may betake themfelves to the ftudy 
 of the pentateuch ; in which though fome of them may be well verfed, 
 yet probably the profit arifing from thence will not be very great. 
 
 But, if we are net obliged to live in a conformity to the law of Mofes, 
 every people may frame laws for themfelves, and we cannot be denied 
 the right that is common to all. Our laws were not fent from heaven, 
 but made by our anceftors according to the light they had, and their pre- 
 fent occafions. We inherit the fame right from them, and, as we may 
 without vanity fay, that we know a little more than they did, if we find 
 ourfelves prejudiced by any law that they made, we may repeal it. The 
 fafety of the people was their fuprcme law, and is fo to us : neither can 
 we be thought lefs fit to judge what conduces to that end, than they were. 
 If they in any age had been perfuaded to put themfelves under the power, 
 •or, in our author's phrafe, under the fovereign majefty, of a child, a fool, 
 a mad or defperately wicked perfon, and had annexed the right conferred 
 upon him, to fuch as ihould fucceed, it had not been a " juft and right 
 ** fandion ; " and, having none of the qualities effentially belonging to a 
 law, could not have the effedl of a law. It cannot be for the good of a 
 people to be governed by one, who by nature ought to be governed, or 
 by age or accident is rendered unable to govern himfelf. The public 
 interefts, and the concernments of private men in their lands, goods, 
 liberties, and lives (for the prefervation of which, our author fays, that 
 regal prerogative is only conftituted) cannot be preferved by one wb.o is 
 tranfported by his own paflions or follies, a Have to his lufts and vices; 
 or, which is fomctimes worfe, governed by the vileft of men and women, 
 who flatter him in them, and pufh him on to do fuch things as even they 
 would abhor, if they were in his place. The turpitude and impious 
 madnefs of fuch an adt muft necelTarily make it void, by overthrowing 
 the ends for which it was made, fnice that juftice which was fought can- 
 not be obtained, nor the evils that were feared, prevented ; and they for 
 whofe good it was intended muft necefiarily have a right of abolifhing it. 
 This might be fuflicient for us, though our anceftors had cnflaved them- 
 felves. But, Cod be thanked, we are not put to that trouble : we have 
 no reafon to believe we are defccndcd from liich fools and bcafts, as would 
 
 3 willingly
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 409 
 
 tvillingly cart themfelves, and us, intofuch an excefs of niifery and fhame, sEGT. 26 
 or that they were fo tame and cowardly as to be l'iibje£ted by force or fear. 
 We know the value they fet upon their liberties, and the courage with 
 which they defended them : and we can have no better example to encou- 
 rage us never to fufFer them to be violated or diminifhed. 
 
 SECTION XXVI 
 
 THOUGH THE KING MAY BE ENTRUSTED WITH THE POWER OF 
 CHOOSING JUDGES, YET THAT BY WHICH THEY ACT IS 
 
 FROM THE LAW. 
 
 I confefs, that no laws can be fo perfect, as " to provide exadlly for every 
 " cafe that may fall out, fo as to leave nothing to the difcretion of the 
 " judges, " who in fome meafure are to interpret them : but " that laws 
 " or cuftoms are ever few, or that the paucity is the reafon that they can- 
 " not give fpecial rules, or that judges do refort to thofe principles, or 
 " common-law axioms, whereupon former judgments, in cafes fome- 
 *' thing alike, have been given by former judges, who all receive their 
 " authority from the king in his right to give fentence," I utterly deny; 
 and affirm, 
 
 1. That in many places, and particularly in England, the laws are 
 fo many, that the number of them has introduced an uncertainty and con- 
 fufion, which is both dangerous and troublefome ; and the infinite variety 
 of adjudged cafes, thwarting and contradifting each other, has rendered 
 thefe difficulties inextricable. Tacitus imputes a great part of the miferies 
 fuffered by the Romans in his time to this abufe, and tells us, that " the 
 " laws grew to be innumerable in the worft and moft corrupt rtate of 
 " things*," and that juftice was overthrown by them. By the fame 
 means in France, Italy, and other places, where the civil law is rendered 
 municipal, judgments are in a manner arbitrary ; and though the intention 
 of our lawsbejuft and good, they are fo numerous, and the volumes of 
 our ftatutes, with the interpretations, and adjudged cafes, fo vaft, that 
 hardly any thing is fo clear and fixed, but men of wit and learning may 
 find what will ferve for a pretence to juftify almofc any judgment they 
 have a mind to give. Whereas the laws of Mofes, as to the judicial part, 
 being fhort and few, judgments were eafy and certain. And in Switzer- 
 land, Sweden, and fome parts of Denmark, the whole volume that con- 
 tains them may be read in few hours, and by that means no injuftice 
 can be done which is not immediately made evident. 
 
 2. Axioms are not rightly grounded upon judged cafes; but cafes are 
 to be judged according to axioms : the certain is not proved by the uncer- 
 tain, but the uncertain by the certain ; and every thing is to be efteemed 
 
 * Corruptiflima republica plurimae leges. Tacit. Aiuial. 1. 3, § 27 
 
 G g g uncertain,
 
 410 PISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. in uncertain, till it be proved to be certain. Axioms in law are, as in 
 mathematics, evident to common fenfe; and nothing is to be taken for 
 an axiom, that is not fo. Euclid does not prove his axioms by his pro- 
 pofitions, but his propofitions, which are abftrufe, by fuch axioms as are 
 evident to all. The axioms of our law do not receive their authority 
 from Coke or Hales, but Coke and Hales deferve praife for gi'^ing judg- 
 ment according to fuch as are undeniably true. 
 
 3. The judges receive their commiflions from the king ; and perhaps it 
 may be faid, that the cuftom of naming them is grounded upon a right 
 with which he is entrufted ; but their power is from the law, as that of 
 the king alfo is. For he who has none originally in himfelf, can give 
 none, unlefs it be firft conferred upon him. I know not how he can well 
 perform his oath to govern according to law, unlefs he execute the power 
 with which he is entrufted, in naming thofe men to be judges, whom in 
 his confcience, and by the advice of his council, he thinks the beft and 
 ablefl to perform that office : but both he and they are to learn their duty 
 from that law, by which they arc, and which allots to every one his pro- 
 per work. As the law intends, that men fliould be made judges for their 
 integrity and knowledge in the law, and that it ought not to be imagined, 
 that the king will break his truft by choofmg fuch as are not fo, till the 
 violation be evident, nothing is more reafonable than to intend, that the 
 judges fo qualified fhould inftruft the king in matters of law. But that he 
 who may be a child, over-aged, or otherwife ignorant and incapable, 
 fhould inftru£t the judges, is equally abfurd, as for a blind man to be a 
 guide to thofe who have the beft eyes ; and fo abhorrent from the meaning 
 of the law, that the judges, as I faid before, are fworn to do juftice 
 according to the laws, without any regard to the king's words, letters, or 
 commands. If they are therefore to a&. according to a fet rule, from 
 which they may not depart, what command foever they receive, they do 
 not adl by a power from him, but by one that is above both. This is 
 commonly confefied ; and though fome judges have been found in feveral 
 ages, who, in hopes of reward and preferment, have made little account 
 of their oath, yet the fuccefs that many of them have had, may reafonably 
 deter others from following their example ; and if there are not more 
 inftances of this kind, no better reafon can be given, than that nations do 
 frequently fail, by being too remifs in afierting their own rights, or 
 punifhing offenders *, and hardly ever err on the feverer fide. 
 
 4. Judgments are varioufly given in feveral ftatcs and kingdoms ; but 
 he, who would find one where they lie in the breaft of the king, muft go 
 at leaft as far as Morocco. Nay, the ambaflador who was lately here 
 from that place denied, that they were abfohitely in him. However, it 
 is certain, that in England, according to the great charter, judgments are 
 pafled by equals : " no man can be imprifoned, diifeifcd of his ircehold, 
 
 * Jure igitur plecftimur ; nifi cnlin multorum impunita fcelcra tulifTcmus, nimquam ad 
 unum tanta pervciiiflct licentia. Cic. dc Offic, I. 2, § 28 
 
 *' deprived
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 411 
 
 *' deprived of life or limb, unlefs by the fentence of his peers"'." SECT. 26 
 The kings of Judah "judged and were judged ; " and the" judgments 
 they gave, were in and with the fanhedrim f. In England the kings do 
 not judge, but are judged : and Bradon fays, " that in receiving juftice 
 *' the king is equal to another man ij; ; " which could not be, if judg- 
 ments 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 juries, and the judges 
 are affiftants to them, in explaining the difficult points of the law, in 
 which, it is prefumed, they fhould be learned. The flrength of every 
 judgment confifts in the verdicft of thefe juries, which the judges do not 
 give, but pronounce or declare. And tlie fame law that makes good a 
 verdidt, given contrary to the advice or direction of the judges, expofes 
 them to the utmofl penalties, if, on their own heads, or a command 
 from the king, they fhould prefume to give a fentence, without or con- 
 trary to a verdi£l ; and no pretenfions to a power of interpreting the law 
 can exempt them, if they break it. The power alfo, with which the 
 judges are entrufted, is but of a moderate extent, and to be executed 
 " bona fide. " Prevarications are capital, as they proved to Trefilian, 
 Empfon, Dudley, and many others. Nay, even in fpecial verdids, the 
 judges are only affiftants to the juries, who find it fpecially, and the ver- 
 dict is from them, though the judges, having heard the point argued, 
 declare the fenfe of the law thereupon. Wherefore, if I fhould grant, 
 that the king might perfonally afTift in judgments, his work could only be 
 to prevent frauds, and, by the advice of the judges, to fee that the laws 
 be duly executed, or perhaps to infpedl their behaviour. If he has more 
 than this, it mufl be by virtue of his politic capacity, in which he is 
 underftood to be always prefent in the principal courts, where juftice is 
 always done, whether he who wears the crown, be young or old, wife or 
 ignorant, good or bad, or whether he like or diflike what is done. 
 
 Moreover, as governments are inflituted for the obtaining of juftice, 
 and the king is in a great meafiire entrufted with the power of executing 
 it, it is probable, that the law would have required his prefence in the 
 diftribution, if there had been but one court ; if at the fame time he could 
 be prefent in more than one ; if it were certain he would be guilty of no 
 mifcarriages ; if all mifcarriages were to be punifhcd in him, as well as in 
 the judges; or if it were certain he fhould always be a man of fuch wil- 
 dom, induftry, experience, and integrity, as to be an afliftance to, and a 
 watch over thofe who are appointed for the adminiftration of juftice. But 
 there being many courts fitting at the fame time, of equal authority, in 
 feveral places far diftant from each other ; an impoflibility that the king 
 fhould be prefent in all ; no manner of aflurance that the fame, or greater 
 
 * Nullus liber homo capiatur, vel imprifonetur, aut dilTeifietur de libero tenemento fuo, 
 etc. nifi per legale judicium parium fuorum. Mag. Charta. c. 29. Vide fupra, p. 345 
 f Judicabant et judicabantur. Maimonid. Vide fupra, p. 250, 251 
 % In juftitia recipiendu rex cuilibet ex plebe aequalis elt. Vide fupra, p. 314 
 
 G g g 2 mifcarriages
 
 412 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. Ill mifcarriages may not be committed in his prefence than in his abfence, by 
 himfelf than others ; no opportunity of punifhing every deU£t in him, 
 without bringing the nation into fuch diforder, as may be of more pre- 
 judice to the public, than an injury done to a private man ; the law, 
 which intends to obviate offences, or to punifh fuch as cannot be obviated, 
 has dire£led, that thofe men Iliould be chofen, who are moft knowing in 
 it ; impofes an oath upon them, not to be diverted from the due courfe of 
 juftlce, by fear or favour, hopes or reward, particularly by any command 
 from the king ; and appoints the fevereft punifhments for them, if they 
 prove falfe to God, and their country. 
 
 If any man think, that the words cited from Bra£lon by our author upon 
 the queftion, " Quis primo et principaliter poffit, et debeat judicare ? 
 *' fciendum quod ipfe rex, et non alius, fi folus ad hoc fufficere poffit, 
 *' cum ad hoc per virtutem facramenti teneatur aflridlus *, " are contrary 
 to what I have laid, I defire the context may be confidered, that his opi- 
 nion may be truly underftood, though the words, taken fimply and 
 nakedly, may be enough for my purpole. For it is ridiculous to infer, 
 that the king has a right of doing any thing, upon a fuppofition, that it 
 is impoffible for him to do it. He therefore, who fays the king cannot 
 do it, fays it muft be done by others, or not at all. But, having already 
 proved, that the king, merely as king, has none of the qualities required 
 forjudging all, or any cafes; and that many kings have all the defers 
 of age and perfon, that render men moft unable and unlit to give any 
 fcntence ; we may conclude, without contradicting Bradlon, that no king, 
 as king, has a power of judging, becaufe fome of them are utterly unable 
 and unfit to do it ; and if any one has fuch a power, it muft be conferred 
 upon him by thole who think him able and f^t to perform that work. 
 When Filmer finds fuch a man, we muft inquire into the extent of that 
 power which is given to him : but this would be nothing to his general 
 propofition ; for he himfelf would hardly have inferred, that becaufe a 
 power of judging in fome cafes was conferred upon one prince, on account 
 of his fitnefs and ability, therefore all of them, however unfit and unable^ 
 have a power of deciding all cafes. Befides, if he believe Bradton, 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 prefume 
 impoffibilities and abftirdities, it cannot intend, and the oath cannot 
 require, that a man fhould do that, which he is- unable and unfit to do.. 
 Many kings are unfit to judge caufcs : the law cannot therefore intend 
 they fliould do it. The context alfo fhews, that this imagination of the- 
 king's judging all caufes, if he could, is merely chimerical : for Bradon 
 fays, in the fame chapter, that " the power of the king is the power of 
 the law t; " that is, that he has no power but by the law. And the law 
 that aims at juftice cannot make it to depend upon the uncertain humour 
 
 * Braft. dc Leg. 1. 3, c. 9, fol. 107 t Potcllas fua juris eft. Ibid. 
 
 of
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 413 
 
 of a ■child, a woman, or a foolifh man ; for by that means it would deftroy sect. 26 
 itfelf. The law cannot therefore give any fuch power, and the king 
 cannot have it. 
 
 If it be faid, that all kings are not fo ; that fome are of mature age, 
 wife, juft, and good ; or, that the queftion is, not what is good for the 
 fubjed:, but what is glorious to the king ; and that he muft not lofe his 
 right, though the people periili ; I anfwer, firft, that whatever belongs 
 to kings as kings belongs to all kings : this power of judging cannot 
 belong to all, for the reafons above-mentioned : it cannot therefore belong 
 to any, as king, nor, without madnefs, be granted to any, till he has 
 given teftimoiiy of fuch wiidom, experience, diligence, and goodnefs, as 
 is required for fo great a work. It imports not what his anceftors were; 
 virtues are not entailed ; and it were lefs improper for the heirs of Hales 
 and Harvey to pretend, that the clients and patients of their anceftors 
 fhould depend upon their advice, in matters of law and phyfic, than for 
 the heirs of a great and wife prince, to pretend to powers given on account 
 of virtue, if they have not the fame talents for the performance of the 
 works required. 
 
 t Common fenfe declares, that governments are inftituted, and judicatures 
 eredled, for the obtaining of juftice. The king's bench was not efta- 
 blifhed, that the chief juftice fhould have a great office, but that the 
 opprefted fhould be relieved, and right done. The honour and profit he 
 receives comes in as it were by accident, as the rewards of his fervice, if 
 he rightly perform his duty : but he may as well pretend he is there for 
 his own fake, as the king. God did not fet up Mofes or Jofliua, that 
 they might glory in having fix hundred thoufand men under their com- 
 mand, but that they might lead the people into the land they were to 
 polTefs : that is, they were not for themfelves, but for the people ; and 
 the glory they acquired was, by rightly performing the end of their 
 inftitution. Even our author is obliged to confefs this, when he fays, 
 that the king's prerogative is inftituted, for the good of thofe that are 
 under it. It is therefore for them that he enjoys it, and it can no other- 
 wife fubfrft, than in concurrence with that end. He alfo yields, that' 
 *' the fafety of the people is the fupreme law. " The right therefore that- 
 the king has, muft be conformable and fubordinate to it. If any one 
 therefore fet up an intereft in himfelf, that is not fo, he breaks this 
 fupreme law ; he does not live and reign for his people, but for himfelf, 
 and, by departing from the end. of his inftitution, deftroys it. And, if 
 Ariftotle (to whom our author feems to have a great deference) deferves' 
 credit, fuch a one ceafes to be a king, and becomes a tyrant*; he who 
 ought to have been the beft of men, is turned into the worft ; and he, who 
 is recommended to us under the name of a father, becomes a public 
 enemy to the people. The queftion therefore is not, what is good for 
 the king, but what is good for the people ; and he can have no nght. 
 repugnant to them.. 
 
 ♦ Vide fupra, p. 249 
 
 Bradon.
 
 414 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. Ill Bradon is not more gentle. " The king, " fays he, " is obliged by 
 " his oath, to the utmoft of his power, to pi eferve the church, and the 
 *' chriftian world, in peace ; to hinder rapine, and all manner of- iniquity j 
 " to caufe juftice and mercy to be obferved : he has no power but from 
 *' the law : that only is to be taken for law, quod rede fuerit definitum *: " 
 he is therefore to caufe juftice to be done according to that rule, and not 
 to pervert it for his own pleafure, profit, or glory. He may chool'e 
 judges alfo, not fuch as will be fubfervient to his will, but " viros fapi- 
 *' pientes, et timentes Deum, in quibus eft Veritas eloquiorum, et qui 
 *' oderunt avaritiam f. " Which proves that kings, and their officers, 
 do not poflefs their places for themfelves, but for the people, and muft 
 be fuch as are fit and able to perform the duties they undertake. The 
 mifchievous fury of thofe, who aflume a power above their abilities, is 
 'well reprefented by the known fable of Phaeton : they think they defire 
 fine things for themfelves, when they feek their own ruin. In conformity 
 to this, the fame Bra£ton fays, that, " if any man who is unfkilful, affume 
 " the feat of juftice, he falls as from a precipice, &c. and it is the fame 
 " thing, as if a fword be put into the hand of a madman ij; ; " which can- 
 not but affedl the king, as well as thofe who are chofen by him. If he 
 negledl the fun£lions of his office, " he does unjuftly, and becomes the 
 " vicegerent of the devil ; for he is the minifter of him whofe works he 
 *' does. " This is Bradton's opinion : but defiring to be a more gentle 
 interpreter of the law, I only wifli, that princes would confider the end 
 of their inftitution ; endeavour to perform it ; meafure their own abilities ; 
 content themfelves with that power which the laws allow; and abhor 
 thofe wretches, who, by flattery and lyes, endeavour to work upon their 
 frailcft paflions, by v/hich means they draw upon them that hatred of the 
 people, which frequently brings them to deftrudtion. 
 
 Though Ulpian's words, " princeps legibus non tenetur," be granted 
 to have been true in fad:, with relation to the Roman empire, in the time 
 when he lived, yet they can conclude nothing againft us. The liberty of 
 Rome had been overthrown long before, by the power of the Iword, and 
 the law rendered fubfervient to the will of the ufurpers. They were not 
 Engliflimen, but Romans, who loft the battles of Pharfalia and Philippi. 
 
 * Debet rex in coronatione fua, in nomine Jefu Chiifti praeftito facramento, haec tria 
 promittere populo fibi ("ubdito. Iirprimis, fe cfle praecepturum, et pro viribus opein impen- 
 iurum, ut ccclefiac Dei et omni populo Chriftia.no vera pax omni fuo lempore obfervetur. 
 Secundo, ut rapacitates et omncs iiiiqiiitates omnibus graiiibus interdicat. Tcrtio, ut in 
 omnibus judiciis aequitatcm praccipiat et mifcricordiani. . . . Nihil aliud poteft rex in 
 terris, nifi id folum quod dc jure pottll . . . Lcgis habct vigorcin, non quicquid de volun- 
 tate regis tem-.-rc pracfumptum ef]-, fed animo condcndi jura, fed quod confilio inagiftratuum 
 fuoruni, rege autiioritatein praeftanle, et habita fuper hoc deliberatione, ct traflatu, reiSe 
 fuerit defimtum. Brafl:. 1. 3, c. 9, fol. 107 
 
 t Ibid. c. 10, fol. 108 
 
 t Si quis minus fapicns, et indo£tus, fedem judicandiconfcendere, ethonedatem judicandi 
 flbi praefumftrit, ex alto corruit, quia volare iatagit, antcquam pcnnas alFumat; et qui tali 
 potcftatcm judicandi dederit perindc crit, ac fi gladium jioncrct in manu furientis. c. lo, 
 fol. io8. 1. I, c. 2, fol. I 
 
 The
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 415 
 
 The carcafes of their fenators, not ours, were expofed to the wolves and sect. 26 
 vulturs. Pompeius, Scipio, Lentulus, Afranius, Pctreins, Cato, Caflius, 
 and Brutus, were defenders of the Roman, not the Engliih Hberty ; and 
 that of their country, not ours, could only be loft by their defeat. Thofe 
 who were deftroyed by the profcriptions left Rome, not England, to be 
 enflaved. If the beft had gained the viftory, it could have been no advan- 
 tage 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 wifdom, 
 virtue, fortune, and power, to defend them or not, concerns only them- 
 felves. The examples of great and good men acting freely deferve confi- 
 deration ; but they only periih by the ill fucccfs of their defigns ; and 
 whatever is afterwards done by their fubdued pofterity ought to have no 
 other effe£l upon the reft of the world, than to admonifh them fo to join 
 in the defence of their liberties, as never to be brought under the neceftity 
 of adting by the command of one, to the prejudice of themfelves, and 
 their country. If the Roman greatnefs perfuade us to put an extraordinary 
 value upon what pafted among them, we ought rather to examine what 
 they did, laid, or thought, when they enjoyed that liberty, which was ■ 
 the mother and nurfe of their virtue, than what they fuff^ered, or were 
 forced to fay, when they were fallen under that flavery which produced' 
 all manner of corruption, and made them the moft bafe and miferable 
 people of the world. 
 
 For what concerns us, the a£tions of our anceftors refemble thofe of the 
 antient rather than the later Romans. Though our government be not 
 the fame with theirs in form, yet it is in principle ; and if we are not 
 degenerated, we ftiall rather defire to imitate the Romans in the time of 
 their virtue, glory, power, and felicity, than what they were, in that of 
 their flavery, vice, Ihame, and mifery. In the beft times, when *' the. 
 " laws were more powerful than the commands of men*," fraud was. 
 accounted a crime fo deteftable as not to be imputed to any but flaves ; 
 and he who had fought a power above the law, under colour of interpreting 
 it, would have been expofed to fcorn or greater punifhments, if any can 
 be greater than the juft fcorn of the beft men. And as neither the 
 Romans, nor any people of the world, have better defended their liberties 
 than the Englilh nation, when any attempt has been made to opprefs 
 them by force, they ought to be no lefs careful to preferve them from the 
 more dangerous eiforts of fraud and falftiood. 
 
 Our anceftors were certainly in a low condition in the time of William 
 the firft : many of their beft men had periftied in the civil wars, or with 
 Harold: their valour was great, but rough, and void of ftcill. The Nor- 
 mans by frequent expeditions into France, Italy, and Spain, had added 
 iubtilty to the boifterous violence of their native climate. William had 
 engaged his faith, but broke it, and turned the power with which he was 
 entrufted to the ruin of thofe that had trufted him. He deftroyed many 
 
 * Imperia legum potentiora quam hominum. Liv. 1, 2, c, i 
 
 worthy
 
 4i6 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 €H-AP.III worthy men, carried others into Normandy, and thought himfelf mafter 
 of all. He was crafty, bold, and elated with victory ; but the refolution 
 of a brave people was invincible. When their laws and liberties were in 
 danger, they refolved to die, or to defend them ; and made him fee he 
 could no otherwife preferve his crown and life, than by the performance 
 of his oath, and accomplifhing the ends of his eleftion. They neither 
 took him to be the giver nor interpreter of their laws, and would not fuffer 
 him to violate thofe of their anceftors. In this way they always continued. 
 And though perhaps they might want {kill to fall upon the fureft and 
 eafjeft means of retraining the lufts of princes, yet they maintained their 
 righte fo well, that the wifeft princes feldom invaded them ; and the 
 fuccefs of thofe who were fo foolifh as to attempt it was fuch, as may 
 juftly deter others from following their unprofperous examples. We have 
 had no king fince William the firft more hardy than Henry the eighth, and 
 yet he fo entirely acknowledged the power of making, changing, and 
 repealing laws, to be in the parliament, as never to attempt any extraor- 
 dinary thing otherwife than by their authority. It was not he, but the 
 parliament, that diflblved the abbies. He did not take their lands to him- 
 felf, but received what the parliament thought fit to give him. He did 
 not rejedl the fupremacy of the pope, nor affume any other power in 
 fpiritual matters than the parliament conferred upon him. The intricacies 
 of his marriages, and the legitimation of his children,, were fettled by the 
 fame power : at leaft one of his daughters could not inherit the crown 
 upon any other title. They who gave him a power to difpofe of the 
 crown by will might have given it to his groom; and he was too haughty 
 to afk it from them, if he had it in himfelf; which he muft have had, if 
 the laws and judicatures had been in his hand. 
 
 This is farther evidenced by what palled in the tower between Sir 
 Thomas More, and Rich the king's folicitor ; who afking, if it would 
 not be tr^afon to oppofe Richard Rich, if the parliament Ihould make him 
 king. More faid that was " cafus levis ; " for the parliament could make 
 and depofe kings as they thought fit ; and then (as more conducing to 
 his own cafe) afked Rich, if the parliament fhould enaifl, " that God 
 •' fhould not be God, " whether fuch as did not fubmit fhould be ellcemed 
 traitors*? It is evident, that a man of the acutenefs and learning of Sir 
 Thomas More would not have made ufc of fuch an argument to avoid the 
 neceffity of obeying what the parliament had ordained, by (hewing his 
 cafe to be of a nature far above the power of man, unlefs it had been con- 
 feflcd by all men, that tbe parliament could do whatever lay within the 
 reach of hum-an 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 laws is abfurdly attributed to him, fince it is founded upon a 
 fuppofition, that he can make them, which is falfe. 
 
 * See Herbert's Life of Hen. vin, anno 1535
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 417 
 
 SECTION XXVII 
 
 Magna ciiarta was not the original, but a declar \-- 
 
 "rlON, OF THE t^NGLISH LIBERTIES. THE KINg's POWER Is 
 Not RESTRAINED, BUT CREATED, BY THAT AND OTHER LAWS; 
 AND THE NATION THAT MADE THEM CAN ONLY CORRECT THE 
 
 DEFECTS OF THEM. 
 
 1 agree with our author, that " Magna Chaita was not made to reftrahi. 
 " the abfolute authority ; " for no luch thing was in being or pretended 
 (the folly of fuch vifions feeming to have been rcferved to complete the 
 misfortunes and ignominy of our age) but it was to aflert the native and 
 original liberties of our nation by the confeffion of the king then being, 
 that neither he nor his fucceflbrs fhould any way encroach upon them. 
 And, it cannot be faid that the power of kings is diminiflied 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 fucceflbrs ; but can 
 take nothing from them, becaufe they have nothing except what is given 
 to them. But as that which the law gives is given by thofe who make 
 the law, they only are capable of judging whether he to whom they gave 
 it, do well or ill employ that power, and confequently are only fit to cor- 
 rect the defeds that may be found irt it. Therefore, though I fhould 
 confefs, that faults may be found in many ftatutcs, 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 fhould be taken. But what 
 defedts foever may be in our law, the difeafe is not fo great as to require 
 extreme remedies, and We may hope for a cheaper cure. Our law may 
 poffibly have given away too much from the people, and provided only 
 infufEcient defences of our liberties againft the encroachments of bad 
 princes ; but none, who are not in judgment and honefly like to our 
 author, can propofe, for a remedy to the evils that proceed from the error 
 of giving too much, the refignation of all the reft to them. V/hatever 
 he fays, it is evident, that he knows this to be true, though, when he 
 denies that the power of kings can be reftrained by adls of parliament, he 
 endeavours to take advantage of fuch claufes as were either fraudulently 
 inferted by the king's officers, who till the days of Henry the fifth, for 
 the moft part had the penning of the public ads, or through negligence 
 did not fully explain the intentions of the legiflators ; which would be 
 to no purpofe, if all were put into the hands of the king by a general law 
 from God, that no human power could diminifla or enlarge ; and as his 
 lafl fhift would obliquely put all into the power of the king, by giving 
 him a right of Interpreting the law, and judging fuch cafes as" are not 
 clearly decided ; which would be equally im.pertinent, if.he had openly 
 and plainly a right of determining all things according to his will. 
 
 H h h But
 
 4i8 
 
 •CHAP. Ill 
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 But what defeats foever may be In any flatutes, no great inconveniences 
 could probably enfue, if that for annual parliaments was obferved, as of 
 right it ought to be. Nothing is more unlikely, than that a great alTembly 
 of emitjent and chofen men fliould make a law evidently deftrudive to 
 their own defigns ; and no mifchief, that might emerge upon the (iifco^■ery 
 of a miftake, could be fo extreme, that the cure might not be deferred till 
 the meeting of the parliament, or at leaft forty days (in which time the 
 king may call one) if that which the law has fixed feem to be too long. 
 If he fail of this, he performs not his truft; and he that would reward 
 fuch a breach of it, with a vaft and uncontrollable power, may be juftly 
 thought equal in madnefs to our author, who by forbidding us to examine 
 the titles of kings, and injoining an entire veneration of the power, by 
 what means foever obtained, encourages the worft of men to murder the 
 bell of princes, with an aflurance, that, if they profper, they fhall enjoy 
 all the honours 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 been obferved, that the worll are 
 always moft ready to ufe it ; and their extravagances having been often 
 chaftifed by law fufficiently proves, that their power is not derived from, 
 a higher original, than the law of their own countries. 
 
 If it were true, that the anfwer fometimes given by kings to bills pre— 
 fented for their affent, did, as our author fays, amount to a denial, it 
 could only lliew, that they have a negative voice upon that which is 
 agreed by the parliament, and is far from a power of a£ting by them- 
 felves, being only a check upon the other parts of the government. But 
 indeed it is more than an elufion ; and he, that does by art obliquely elude, 
 confeffes he has not a right abfolutely to refufe. It is natural to kings, 
 efpecially to the worft, to fcrew up their authority to the height ; and 
 nothing can more evidently prove the defeft of it, than the neceflrty of 
 having recourfe to fuch pitiful evafions, when they are unwilling to do 
 that which is required. But if I fhould grant, that the words import a 
 denial, and that (notwithftanding thofe of the coronation oath, " quas 
 *' vulgus ekgerit ") they might deny, no more could be inferred from 
 thence, than that they are entrufted with a po\Yer equal, in that point, to 
 that of either houfe, and cannot be fupreme in our author's fenfe, unlefs 
 there were in the fame ftate at the fame time three diftindt fupreme and 
 ablblute powers ; which is ablurd. 
 
 His cafes, relating to the proceedings of the ftar-chamber and council- 
 table, do only prove, that feme kings have encroached upon the rights of 
 the nation, and been fuffered till their exceffes growing to be extreme, 
 they turned to the ruin of the minifters that advifed them, and fometimes 
 of the kings themfelves. But the jurifdiftion of the council having been 
 regulated by the ftatute of the i6 Car. I. and the ftar-chamber more lately 
 abolifhed, they are nothing to our difpute. 
 
 Such as our author ufually impute to treafon and rebellion the changes 
 that upon fuch-occaHons have eniucd ; but all impartial men do not only 
 
 juftify
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 4r9 
 
 juftify them, but acknowledge, that all the crowns of Europe are at this SECT. 27 
 
 <iay enjoyed by no other title than i'ucli adls LIcrr.n'y performed by the 
 
 refpedtive nations, who, either difliking the perloi. .liat pretended to the 
 
 crown (though next in blood) or the government of the prefent poifelTor, 
 
 have thought fit to prefer another perfon or family. They alfo fay, that 
 
 as no government can be fo perfedt but fomc defcdl may be originally in 
 
 it, or afterwards introduced, none can fubfift, unlcfs they be from time 
 
 to time reduced to their firfl integrity, by fuch an exertion of the power of 
 
 thofe for whofe fake they were inftituted, as may plainly fhcw them to be 
 
 fubjedt to no power under heaven, but may do whatever appears to be for 
 
 their own good. And as the fafety of all nations conlills in rightly plac~ 
 
 ing and meafuring this power, fuch as have been found always to profper, 
 
 who have given it to thofe from whom ufurpatlons were leaft to be feared; 
 
 who have been leaft fubjedl to be awed, cheated, or corrupted ; and who, 
 
 having the greateft intereft in the nation, were moft concerned to prefcrve 
 
 its power, liberty, and welfare. This is the greateft truft that can be 
 
 repofed in men. This power was by the Spartans given to the ephori, 
 
 and the fenate of twenty eight ; in Venice to that which they call ** con- 
 
 *' cilio de pregadi*;" in Germany, Spain, France, Sweden, Denmark, 
 
 Poland, Hungary, Bohemia, Scotland, England, and generally all the 
 
 nations that have lived under the Gothic polity, it has been in their general 
 
 aflemblies under the names of diets, cortes, parliaments, fenates, and the 
 
 like. But in what hands foever it is, the power of making, abrogating, 
 
 changing, correfting, and interpreting laws, has been in the fame ; 
 
 kings have been rejected or dcpofed ; the fucceflion of the crown fettled, 
 
 regulated, or changed : and I defy any man to {hew me one king among 
 
 all the nations above-mentioned, that has any right to the crown he wears, 
 
 unlefs fuch adts are good. 
 
 If this power be not well placed, or rightly proportioned to that which 
 is given to other magiftrates, the ftate muft neceflarily fall into great dif- 
 orders, or the moft violent and dangerous means muft be frequently ufed 
 to preferve their liberty. Sparta and Venice have rarely been put to that 
 trouble, becaufe the fenates were fo much above the kings and dukes ia 
 power, that they could without difliculty bring them to reafon. The 
 Gothic kings in Spain never ventured to difpute with the nobility; and 
 Vitiza and Roderic expofcd the kingdom as a prey to the Moors, rather 
 by weakening it through the negle£t of military difcipline, joined to their 
 own ignorance and cowardice, and by evil example bringing the youth to 
 refemble them in lewdnefs and bafenefs, than by eftablifliing in themfelves 
 a power above the law. But in England our anceftors, who fcem to have 
 had fome fuch thing in their eye, as balancing the powers, by a fatal 
 miftake placed ufually fo much in the hands of the king, that whenever he 
 
 * The Venetian fenate is called Concilio de pregadi, becaufe formerly the principal mem- 
 bers of the city were called together, or "invited," when any extraordinary emergency 
 required their attendance. 
 
 H h h 2 happened
 
 420 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. Ill happened to be bad, his extravagances could not be repreffed without 
 great danger. And as this has in feveral ages coft the nation a vaft pro- 
 portion of generous blood, fo it is the caufe of our prefent difficulties, 
 and threatens us with more, but can never deprive us of the rights we 
 inherit from our fathers. 
 
 SECTION XXVIII 
 
 THE ENGLISH NATION HAS ALWAYS BEEN GOVERNED BY ITSELF, 
 
 OR ITS REPRESENTATIVES. 
 
 Having proved, that the people of England have never acknowledged any 
 other human law than their own, and that our parliaments only, having 
 the power of making and abrogating laws, can interpret them, and decide 
 hard cafes, it plainly appears there can be no truth in our author's affer- 
 tion, that " the king is the author, corre<fl:or, and moderator of both. 
 " ftatute and common law. " And nothing can be more frivolous than 
 wliat he adds, that " neither of them can be a diminution of that natural 
 " povver which kings have over their people as fathers;" inafmuch as 
 the differences between paternal and monarchical power (as he afferts it]^ 
 are vaft and irreconcileable in principle and practice, as I have proved a6 
 large in the former parts of this work. 
 
 But left we ihould be too proud of the honour he is pleafed to do to our 
 parliaments by making ufe of their authority, he fays, " we are firft to 
 " remember, that till the conqueft " (which name, for the glory of our 
 nation, he gives to the coming in of the Normans) " there could be no 
 •' parliaments aflembled of the general ftates, becaufe till thofe days we 
 *' cannot find it was entirely united into one kingdom. " Secondly, he 
 doubts, " whether the parliaments, in the time of the Saxons, were com— 
 " pofed of the nobility and clergy, or vvfhether the commons were alfo 
 *' called ; " but concludes, " there could be no knights of any fhires,. 
 *' becaufe there were no ftiires. " Thirdly, " that Henry the firft caufed 
 *' the commons firft to aflemble knights and burgefles of their own 
 " choofing;" and would make this to be an adl of grace and favour 
 from that king : but adds, that " it had been more for the honour of 
 " parliaments, if a king, whofe title to the crown had been better, had' 
 " been the author of the form of it. " 
 
 In anfwer to the firft, I do not think myfelf obliged to infift upon the 
 name or form of the parliament ; for the authority of a magiftracy proceeds 
 not from the number of years that it has continued, but the reditude of 
 the inftitution, and the authority of thofe that inllituLcd it. The power 
 of Saul, David, and Jeroboam, was the fame with that which belonged 
 to the laft kings of Ifrael and Judah. The authority of the Roman con- 
 liils; didators, praetors, and tribunes, was the fame as foon as it was. 
 cftablilhed j was as legal ;uad juft as tliat of the kings of Denmark, which 
 
 is
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 421 
 
 is faid to have continued above three thoufand years. For as time can SECT».28t 
 make nothing hiwf'ul or juft, that is not fo of iticlf (though men are 
 unwilling to change ihat which has pleafed their anceftors, unlefs they 
 difcover great inconveniences in it) that which a people does rightly 
 eltablifh for their own good is of as much force the firft day, as continu- 
 ance can ever give to it : and therefore in matters of the greateft import- 
 ance, wife and gcivj. men do not fo much inquire what has been, as what 
 is good, and ought to be ; for that which of itfelf is evil, by continuance 
 is made worfe, and, upon the firft opportunity, is juftly to be abolifhed. 
 But if that liberty, in w^hich God created man, can receive any ftrength 
 from continuance, and the rights of Engliftimen can be tendered more 
 unqueftionable by prefcription, I fay, that the nations, whofe rights v/e 
 inherit, have ever enjoyed the liberties we claim, and always exercifed 
 them in governing themfclvcs popularly, or by fuch reprefentatives as 
 have been inftituted by themfelves, from the time they were firft known 
 in the world. 
 
 The Britons and Saxons lay fo long hid in the obfcurity that accom- 
 panies barbarifm, that it is in vain to feek what was done by either in any 
 writers more antient than Caefar and Tacitus. The firft defcribes the 
 Britons to have been a fierce people, zealous for liberty, and fo obftinately 
 valiant in the defence of it, that though they wanted fkill, and were over- 
 powered by the Romans, their country could no otherwife be fubdued, 
 than by the flaughter of all the inhabitants that were able to bear arms. 
 He calls them a free people, inafinuch as they were not like the Gauls, 
 governed by lavrs made by the great men, but by the people. In his 
 time they chofe Calfivellaunus, and afterwards Caracftacus, Arviragus,. 
 Galgacus, and others, to command them in their wars, but they retained . 
 the government in themfelves. That no force might be put upon them, 
 they met armed in their general affemblies ; and though the fmaller mat- 
 ters were left 00 the determination of the chief men, chofen by themfelves 
 for that purpofe, they referved the moft important (among which the 
 choofing of there men was one) to themfelves. When the Romans had 
 brought them low, they fet up certain kings to govern fuch as were 
 within their territories * : but thofe who defended themfelves by the 
 natural ftrength of their fituation, or retired into the north, or the iflands, 
 were ftill governed by their own cuftoms, and were never acquainted with- 
 domeftic or foreign flavery. The Saxons, from whom we chiefly derive 
 our original and manners, were no lefs lovers of liberty, and better under- 
 ftood the ways of defending it. They were certainly the moft powerful: 
 and valiant people of Germany ; and what the Germans performed under- 
 Arioviftus, Arminius, and Maroboduus, fhews both their force, and their 
 temper. If ever fear entered into the heart of Caefar, it feems to have 
 been when he had to deal vi'ith. Arioviftus. The advantages, that the 
 brave Germanicus obtained againft Arminius, were at leaft thought equaL 
 
 * Ut haberet inftrumen^a fervitutis et reges.. Tacit, in vita Agric. § 14 
 
 to
 
 4^2 
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. Ill to the greateft vidories that had been gained by any Roman captain, 
 becaufe thefe nations fought not for riches, or any inftruments of luxury 
 or pleafure, which they defpifed, but for Uberty. This was the princi- 
 ple in which they lived, as appears by their words and adlions io that 
 Arminius, when his brother Flavins, who ferved the Romans, boafted 
 of the increafe of his pay, and the marks of honour he had received, in 
 fcorn called them the " rewards of the vlleft fervitude*." But when he 
 himfelf endeavoured to ufurp a power over the liberty of his country, 
 which he had fo bravely defended, he was killed by thofe he would have 
 opprefled. Tacitus, farther defcribing the nature of the Germans, fhews 
 that the Romans had run greater hazards from theiu than from the 
 Samnites, Carthaginians, and Parthians ; and attributes their bravery to 
 the liberty they enjoyed, for they are, fays he, neither exhaufted by 
 tribute, nor vexed by publicans f. And left tliis liberty fhould be violated, 
 " the chief men confult about things of leflcr moment, but the moft 
 *' important matters are determined by all :};. " Whoever would know 
 the opinion of that wife author concerning the German liberty, may read 
 his excellent treatife of their manners and cuftoms ; but I prefume this 
 may be enough to prove, that they lived free under fuch magiftrates 
 as they chofe, regulated by fuch laws as they made, and retained the 
 principal powers of the government in their general or particular councils. 
 Their kings and princes had no other power than was conferred upon 
 them by thefe afTemblies, who, having all in themfelves, could receive 
 nothing from them, who had nothing to give §. 
 
 It is as eafily proved, rhat the Saxons or Angli, from whom we 
 defcend, were eminent among thofe, whole power, virtue, and love to 
 liberty the above-mrniioned hiftorian fo highly extols, inafmuch as, 
 befides what he fays in general of the Saxons, he names the Angli, 
 defcribes their habitation near the Elb, and their religious worlhip of the 
 goddefs Erthum, or the Earth If, celebrated in an ifland lying in the month 
 of that river, thought to be Heyligland, in referablance of which a fmall 
 one lying over againft Berwick, is called Holy ifland. If they were free 
 in their own country, they muft be fo when they came hither. The 
 
 * Flavius auSa ftipendia, torquem, etcoronam, aliacjuemilitariadonamemorat, irridente 
 Armiiiio vilia fervitii pretia. Tacit. Aniial. 1. 2, § 9 
 
 t Qiiippe regno Arfycis acrior eil Gcrm:niorum libert;is. Tacit, de Morib. Germ. § 3-. 
 — Batavi exempti oneribus et collationibus, et tantum in ufum praeliorum fepofiti, vclut 
 tela atque anna bclli.s refcrvantiir. Ibid. § 29 
 
 J Dc niinoribub rebu.s priiicipcs confultant, de majoribus omnes. Ibid. § 11 
 
 § Ut turbae placuit, confidunt artn;',ti : filcntium per iacerdotes, quibus turn etcoercendi 
 jus til, iir.peratur. Ivlox rux \ i-l priiiccps, proiit : ;tas cuique, prout nobiliLas, prout -.ii-cus 
 htllonim, prout facundia eft, audiuiitur, aui'-toriiate fuadendi inagis quam jubendi poteftate. 
 Si dilpliccit fenaiitia, t'reinitu afpernantur ; fin jJacuit, frnmeas conciitiunt. Ibid. <^ m 
 
 fl[ Nee quidquam notabile in finguiis, nifi quod in commune Hcrthum, id eft, 'j crram 
 matrem colunt, camquc intervenire rebus hominum, invehi populis arbitrantur. Eft in 
 jnfula oceani caftum nemiis, dicatum in eo vchicuium v.fte contectuni, attiiigere uni 
 facerdoti conceflum. Is adciil; penctrali dcam intelligit, vc£tanique bubus ieminis niulta 
 cum veneratione proilquitur. Ibid. § 40 
 
 manner
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 423 
 
 manner of their coming {lievs's they were more likely to impofe, than sect. 28 
 fubmit to ikvery ; an'.l it ihey had not the name of parlianKiit, it was 
 becaufe they did not fpeak French ; or, not being yet joined with the 
 Normans, they hai.1 not thought fit to put their affairs into that method : 
 but, haying til'' root of pov.'.r an 1 liberty in themfelves, they could not 
 but have a riglit of eftablifldng- the one in fuch form as befl plcalcd them, 
 for the prcfervation of the other. 
 
 This being, as I fuppofe, undeniable, it imports not whether the aflem- 
 blies, in whi.:h the lunrcine power of each nation did rcfidc, were frequent 
 or rare ; compofed of many or few pcrfons ; fitting all together in one 
 place, or in more ; what name they had; or whether every free man did 
 meet and vote in his own perfon, or a few were delegated by many. For 
 they who have a right Inherent in themfclves, may rcugn it to others ; 
 and they who can give a power to others may exercife it themfelvesy 
 unlefs they recede from it by their own adl ; for it is only matter of con- 
 venience, of which they alone can be the judges, becaufe it is for them- 
 felves only that they judge. If this were not (o, it would be very preju- 
 dicial to kings : for it is certain that Caffivellaunus, Caradtacus, ArviraguSy 
 Galgacus, Fiengift, Florfa, and others among the Britons and Saxons, 
 what name foever may have been abufively given to them, were only 
 temporary magiftrates chofcn upon occafion of prefent wars ; but we 
 know of nO' time in- which the Britons had not their great council to 
 determine their moft important affairs: and the Saxons in their owa 
 country had their councils, where all were prefent, and in which Tacitus 
 affures us diey difpatched their greateft bufmefs. Thcfe were the fame 
 with the micel-gemotes which they afterwards held here, and might have 
 been called by he fame name, if Tacitus had fpoken Dutch. 
 
 If a people therefore have not a power to create at any time a magiftracy 
 which they had not before, none could be created at all ; for no magiftracy 
 is eternal. And if for the validity of the conftitution it be neceffary, that 
 the beginning muft be unknown, or that no other could have been before 
 it, the monarchy among us cannot be eftablilhed upon any right ; for, 
 though our anceftors had their councils and magiftrates, as well here as ia 
 Germany, they had no monarchs. This appears plaini-ly by the teftimony 
 of Caefar and Tacitus ; and our later hiftories ihew, that as foon as the 
 Saxons came into this country, they had their micel-gemotes, which were 
 general affemblies of the noble and free-men, who had in themfelves the 
 power of the nation : and though when they increafed in numbers, they- 
 ere£lcd feven kingdoms, yet every one retained, the fame ufage within 
 itfelf. Thefe affemblies were evidently the fame in power with our par- 
 liaments ; and though they differed in name or form, it matters not ; for 
 they who could a<3: in the one, could not but have a power of infiituting 
 the other ; that is, the fame people that could meet together in their own 
 perfons, and according to their own pleafure order all matters relating to 
 themfelves, whilft three or four counties only were under one government, 
 and their numbers were not lb great, or their habitation fo far diftanf, that 
 
 they
 
 424 DISCOURSES CONCEUNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. Ill they might not meet all together v/ithout lnconv'.'aience, with the fame 
 right might depute others to repreleat them, when, being joined in one, 
 no place was capable of receiving fo great a multitude, and the frontiers 
 would have been expofed to the danger of foreign invafions, if any fucli 
 thing had been pradlifed. 
 
 But if the authority of parliaments, for many ages reprefenting the 
 whole nation, were lefs to be valued, as our author infmuates, bccaufe 
 they could not reprefent the whole, when it w^as not juined in one body, 
 that of kings muft come to nothing ; for there could be no one king over 
 all, when the nation was divided into feven diftindl governments : and it 
 is moft abfurd to think, that the nation, which had feven great councils, 
 or micel-gemotes, at the fame time they had ^even kingdoms, could not 
 as well unite the feven councils as the feven kingdoms into one. It is to 
 as little purpofe to fay, that the nation did not unite itfelf, but the feveral 
 parcels came to be inherited by one ; for that one could inherit no more 
 from the others than what they had ; and the feven being only magiftrates 
 fet up by the micel-gemotes, &c. the one muft be fo alfo. And it is 
 neither reafonable to imagine, nor poffible to prove, that a fierce nation, 
 jealous of liberty, and who had obftinately defended it in Germany, 
 againft all invaders, fliould conquer this country to enflave themfelves, 
 and purchafe nothing by their valour but that fervitude which they 
 abhorred ; or be lefs free when they were united into one ftate, than they 
 had been when they were divided into feven ; and leaft of all, that one 
 man could lirft fubdue his own people, and then all the reft, when, by 
 endeavouring to fubdue his own, he had broken the trull repofed in him, 
 and loft the right conferred upon him, and without them had not power 
 to lubduc any. But as it is my fate almoft ever to diilent from our author, 
 I aftirni that the variety of government, which is obferved to have been 
 among the Saxons, who in fome ages were divided, in others united, 
 fometimes under captains, in other times under kings, fometimes meeting 
 perfonally in the micel-gemotes, fometimes by their delegates in the 
 v/ittena-gemotes, does evidently teftify, that they ordered all things 
 according to their own pleafure ; which being the utmoft ail of liberty, it 
 remained inviolable \mder all thofe changes, as wc have already proved 
 by the examples of Ofta, Ina, Alfred, Canutus, Edward, and other 
 particular, as well as univerlal kings : and wc may be furc thofc of the 
 Norman race can have no more power, fmce they came in by the lame 
 way, and fwore to govern by the fame laws. 
 
 2. I am no way concerned in our author's doubt, " whether parliaments 
 " did, in thofe days, confift of nobility and clergy ; or whether the com- 
 " mons were alfo called." For if it were true, as he aflerts, that, 
 according to the eternal law of God and nature, there can be no govern- 
 ment in the world but that of an abfolute monarch, whofe fovcrcign 
 majefty can be diminiflied by no law or cuftom, there could be no parlia- 
 ments, or other magiftracies, that did not derive their power and being 
 from his will. But having proved, that the Saxons had their general 
 
 councils
 
 f)fSC(5)yRSi:§l CONCEJINING COVERNMr.NT 425 
 
 councils ,aJ3^d aflembiics, vrhcn tlicy had xio kings, ^liat by them kjjogs SECT. 28 
 >yerc niauJe, auci lac greatefl: affairs determined, \vhetlv:r they had king? 
 or notj it can be ot 110 importance, whether in. one or more ages the 
 commone had a part in the government, or not. For the fame povv^er that 
 jnftituted a parliament without them might, when they thouglit fit, 
 •receive them into it : or rather, if they who had the government in their 
 'hands did, for realbns known to themfelves, recede from the exercife of 
 it, they might refume it when they pleafed. 
 
 Ncverthelefs it may be worth our i)ains to inquire, what our author 
 jneans by nobility. If fuch, as at this day by means of patents obtained 
 for money, or by favour, without any regard to merit In the perfons, or 
 their anceftors, are called dukes, marquifes, &c. I give him leave to 
 impute as late and bafe an original to thera as he pleafes, without fear- 
 ing, that the rights of our nation can therebv be impaired ; and am 
 content, that, if the king do not think fit to fupport the dignity of his own 
 creatures, they may fall. But if by noblemen we are to underftand 
 fuch as have been ennobled by the virtues of their anceftors, manifefled 
 in fervices done to their country, I fay, that all nations, among whoiu 
 virtue has been efleemed, have had a great regard to them and their 
 poflerity. And though kings, when they were made, have been 
 jcntrufled by the Saxons, and other nations, with a power of ennobling 
 ihofe, who, by fervices rendered to their country, might deferve that 
 honour, yet the body of the nobility was more antient than fuch; for it 
 had been equally impoffible to take kings, according to Tacitus, out of 
 the nobility *, if there had been no nobility, as to take captains for their 
 virtue, if there had been no virtue. Princes could not, without breach 
 of trufl:, confer honours upon thofe that did not deferve them : which 
 is fo true, that this pradice was objedled as the greatefl crime againft 
 Vortigern, the laft and the worft of the Britifli kings f. And though he 
 might pretend (according to fuch cavils as are ufual in our time) that the 
 judgment of thofe matters was referred to him, yet the world judged of 
 his crimes ; and when he had rendered himfelf odious to God and men 
 by them, he perifhed in them, and brought deftrudlion upon his country, 
 that had fuffered them too long. 
 
 As among the TurkvS, and moll of the eaftern tyrannies, there is no 
 nobility, and no man has any confiderable advantage above the common 
 people, unlefs by the immediate favour of the prince, fo in all the legal 
 kingdoms of the north, the ftrength of the government hfis always been 
 placed in the nobility; and no better defence has been found againft the 
 (encroachments of ill kings, than by fetting up ^.n order of men, who, by 
 
 * Rcges ex nobilitate, duces ex virtute fumunt. Tacit, de Morib. Germ. § 7 
 t Sublimatoeo, coepit lyes omnium fcelerum crcfcere : f;\eviebat icurrilis nequitia, odium 
 veritatis, contemptus Dei, litigium, contentio luxijs, flagitium, ut vas omnium icelerum 
 ■folus vlderetur Vortigernus : et, quod maxime regiae honeftati contiarium eft, nobiles 
 deprimens, et moribus et fanguine ignobiles extoUens, Deo et homiuibus pfticitur odiofus. 
 Mat. Wdbn. fub ann. 44.5, p. 80 
 
 I i i holding
 
 426 DISCOUUSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. Ill holding large territories, and having great numbers of tenants and depen- 
 dents, might be able to reftrain the exorbitances, that either the khigs, 
 or the commons, might run into. For this end Spain, Germany, France, 
 Poland, Denmark, Sweden, Scotland, and England, were almoft wholly 
 divided into lordfliips under feveral names, by which every particular 
 pofleiror owed allegiance (that is, fuch an obedience as the law required) 
 to the king, and he reciprocally fwore to perform that which the fame 
 law exa<fled from him. 
 
 When thefe nations were converted to the Chriftian religion, they had 
 a great veneration for the clergy ; and, not doubting but that the men 
 whom they eileemed holy would be juft, thought their liberties could 
 not be better fecured, than by joining thofe, who had the diredtion of 
 their confciences, to the noblemen who had the command of their forces. 
 This fucceeded fo well, in relation to the defence of the public rights, 
 that in all the fore-mentioned ftates, the bifhops,' abbots, &c. were no 
 lefs zealous or bold in defending the public liberty, than the beft and 
 grcateft of the lords. And if it were true, that things being thus efta- 
 bliflied, the commons did neither perfonally, nor by their reprefentatives, 
 enter into the general aflemblies, it could be of no advantage to kings :. 
 for fuch a power as is above-mentioned is equally inconfiflcnt with the 
 abfolute fovereignty of kings, if placed 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 fhare alfo. But I affirm, that thofe whom we 
 now call commons have always had a part in the government, and their 
 place in the councils that managed it ; for if there was a diftindiion, it 
 mufl; have been by patent, birth, or tenure. 
 
 As for patents, we know they began long after the coming of the Nor- 
 mans, and thofe that now have them cannot pretend to any advantage 
 on account of birth or tenure, beyond many of thofe who have them not. 
 Nay, befides the feveral branches of the families that now enjoy the moft 
 antient honours, which confcquently are as noble as they, and fome of 
 them of the elder houfes, we know many that are now called commoners,. 
 "who in antiquity and emlnency are no way inferior to the chief of the 
 titular nobility : and nothing can be more abfurd, than to give a preroga- 
 tive of birth to Craven, Tufton, Hyde, Bennet, Ofborn, and others, 
 before the Cliftons, Hampdens, Courtncys, Pelhams, St. Johns, Baintons, 
 Wilbrahams, Hungcrfords, and many others. And if the tenures of 
 their eftates be confidercd, they have the fame, and as antient as any of 
 thofe who go under the names of duke, or marquis. I forbear to mention 
 the fordid ways of attaining to titles in our days ; but whoever will take 
 the pains to examine them {hall find, that they rather defile than ennoble 
 the pofled'ors. And whereas men arc truly ennobled only by virtue, and 
 refped. is due to fuch as are defcended from thofe who have bravely fervcd 
 their country, becaufe it is prcfumed, till they (hew the contrary, that 
 they will rcfemble their anceltors, thefc modern courtiers, by their names 
 
 and,
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 427 
 
 and titles, frequently oblige us to call to mind fuch things as are not to be SECT. 28 
 mentioned without blulhing. Whatever the antient noblemen of England 
 ■were, we are lure they were not fuch as thcle. And though it fhould 
 be confeifed, that no others than dukes, marquifes, carls, vifcount;;, 
 and barons, had their places in the councils mentioned by Cacfar and 
 Tacitus, or in the great ancmblies of the Saxons, it could be of no advan- 
 tage to fuch as are now called by thofe names. They were the titles of 
 offices conferred upon thofe, who did and could befl condudl the people 
 in time of war, give counfel to the king, adminifter jufuce, and perform 
 other public duties ; but were never made hereditary except by abufe ; 
 much lefs were they fold for money, or given as recompences of the vileft 
 fervices. If the antient order be totally inverted, and the ends of its 
 inftitution perverted, they, who from thence pretend to be diflinguiflaed 
 from other men, mufl. build their claim upon fomething very different 
 from antiquity. 
 
 This being fufficient, if I miftake not, to make it appear, that the 
 antient councils of our nation did not confift of fuch as we now call noble- 
 «ien, it may be v/^orth our pains to examine, of what fort of men they 
 did confift. And though I cannot much rely upon the credit of Camden, 
 which he has forfeited by a great number of untruths, I will begin Avith 
 him, becaufe he is cited by our author. If we will believe him, " that 
 *' which the Saxons called wittena-gemote, we may juftly name parliament, 
 " which has the fupreme and moft facred authority of making, abrogating, 
 " and interpreting laws, and generally of all things relating to the fifety 
 *' of the commonwealth *. " This wittena-gemote was, according to 
 William of Malmefbury, " the general meeting of the fenate and peoplef ;" 
 and Sir Harry Spelman calls it, " the general council of the clergy and 
 *' people |. " In the afferably at Calchuth it was decreed by the arch- 
 biihops, bifliops, abbots, dukes, fenators, and the people of the land 
 " (populo terrae) " that " the kings fliould be elefted by the priefts and 
 " elders of the people §. " By thefe Offa, Ina, and others, were made 
 kings ; and Alfred, in his will, acknowledged his crown from them IF. 
 Edgar was eledted by all the people, and not long after depofed by them, 
 and again reftored in a general affeinbly **. Thefe things being fometimes 
 
 * Quod Saxoncs oliin wittena-gemot, id eft, fapientium coiiventus, nos parlA' 
 MENTUM ; et ut univerfuiTi Aetoliae concilium Panaetolium Livio nominatur, ita pan'an- 
 GLiUM rede dici poffit. Ex tribus enim Angliae ordinibus conltat, et totius Angliae corpus 
 repraefentat, a principe pro arbitrio iadicitur, fummamque et facrofandlam auctoritatem habet, 
 ill legibus ferendis, confirinandis, antiquandis, interpretandis, et in omnibus quae ad 
 jeipublicac falutem fpeftant. Camd. Erit. p. io6, Edit. Franc. 1590 
 t Generalis fenatus et populi convcntus. Malmefb. I. 3, p. gg 
 
 X Commune concilium tarn clcri quam populi. Hoc erat Concil. Cantuariae fub Ethel- 
 bcrto rege, anno 605. Spelm. Concil. p. 127 
 
 § Ut reges a facerdotibus et fenioribus populi cligantur. Spelm. Concil. p. 296 
 ^ Quam Deus ac principes cum fenioribus populi mifericorditer ac benigne dederunt. 
 Teftam. Alfredi, Vide fupra, p. 322 
 
 ** Coram omni multitudine populi Anglorum. Spelm. Concil. fub ann. 969, p. 482- 
 Vide fupra, p. 322 
 
 I i i 2 iaid
 
 428^ DISCOURSES CONCERNtNG GOVtRUME^-f 
 
 CHAT. Ill faid to be done by the aflent of the barons of the kingdom, Camden fays, 
 that " under the name of the baronage, all the orders of the kingdom are 
 " in a manner comprehended * ; " and it cannot be otherwife iinder- 
 ftood, if we confider, that thofe called noblemen, or the nobility of Eng- 
 land, are often, by the hiftorians, faid to' be " infinita multitudo," an 
 infinite multitude. 
 
 If any man afk how the nobility came to be fo numerous, I anfv^efy 
 that the northern nations, who were perpetually in arms, put a high- 
 eftecm upon military valour ; fought by conqueft to acquire better countries 
 than their own ; valued themfelves according to the numbers of men they 
 could bring into the field ; and to diflinguifli them from villains, eallecJ 
 thofe noblemen, who nobly defended and enlarged their dominions by 
 war ; and for a revfrard of their fervices, in the divifion of lands gained by 
 conqueft, they diftribnted ta them' freeholds, under the obligation of con- 
 tinuing the fame fervice to their country. This appears by the name of 
 knight*s fei'vrce, a knight being no more than a foldier, and a knight's fee 
 no more than was fufficient to maintain one. It is plain, that knighthood- 
 was always efteemed nobility ; fo that no man, of what quality foever,- 
 thought a knight inferior to him, and thofe of the higheft birth could not 
 a6t 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 looked upon to be fo great a mark of 
 mfamy, that he who had fufFered it, could never bear any honour or office 
 ill the commonwealth ; and there was no dignity fo high, but every 
 knight was capable of it. There was no diftindion of men above it, and 
 even to this day " baron," or " varon,'' in their language, fignifies no 
 more than " vir " in Latin, which is not properly given to any man,- 
 unlefs he be free. The Hke was in France, till the coming in of the third 
 iaice of kings, in which time the twelve peers (of whom fix only were 
 laymen) were raifed to a higher dignity, and the commands annexed made 
 hereditary ; but the honour of knighthood was thereby no way diminiflied. 
 Though there were dukes, earls, marquifes, and barons, in the time of 
 Froiffart, yet he ufually -calls them knights: and Philip de Comines, 
 fpeaking of the mofl: eminent men of his time, calls them good, wife^ 
 or valiant knights. Even to this day the name of gentleman comprehends 
 all that is raifed above the common people. Henry the fourth ufually 
 called himfelf the firft gentleman in France : and it is an ordinary phrafe 
 among them, when they fpeak of a gentleman of good birth, to fay, " il eft 
 *' noble comme )e roi, he is as noble as the king. " In their general 
 aflembly of eftates, " the chamber of the noblefle, " which is one of three, 
 
 » Baro ex illisnominibus vidcatur, quae tcmpus paulatun mcliora, et molliora reddidit: 
 nam lonijo poft tempore, non milites, fed qui liberi erant domini, et thani Saxonibus 
 diccbantur, barones vocari coeperunt ; necdum magni honoris erat, nam ct primis Norman- 
 norum tcmporibuscoinitcs iionnuili i'uos fub I'c barones habucrunt, et melioris notae civcs 
 barones vocabantur. Paulo autem poft c6 honoris pervenit, ut nomine baronagii Angliae 
 «mnes quodammodo rej»i\i ordines ctintiiiercntu.r. Camd. Brit. p. 104 
 
 is
 
 DISC6ufts£S CONCERNING GO VERNlVlENT 429 
 
 is compofed of the deputies fent by the gentry of every province. And sect. 2^ 
 in the inquiry, made about the year 1668 concerning nobility, no notice . 
 was taken of fuch as had afTumed the titles of earl, marquis, vifcount, or 
 baron, but only of thofc who called themfelves gentlemen ; and if they 
 could prove that name to belong to them, they were left to ufe the other 
 titles as they pleafed. When duels were in fafliion (as all know they 
 were lately) no man, except the princes of the blood, and marflials of 
 France, could with honour refufe a challenge from any gentleman : the 
 firft, becaufe it was thought unfit, that he who might be king fliould 
 fight with a fubjedl to the danger of the commonwealth, which might,. 
 by that means, be deprived of its head : the others being by their oflice 
 commanders of the nobility, and judges of all the controverfies relating to 
 honour, that happen among them, cannot reafonably be brought into 
 private contefls \vith any. In Denmark, noblemen and gentlemen are the 
 lame tfiing; and till the year 1660, they had the principal part of the 
 government in their hands. When Charles Guftavus, king of Sweden, 
 invaded Poland in the year 1655, ^^ '^^ ^"^i^' ^^^^ there were above three 
 hundred thoufand gentlemen in arms to refill him. This is the nobility 
 of that country, kings are chofen by them : every one of them will fay, 
 as iri France, " he is noble as the king." The Lift 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 
 eflate, till he had raifed himfelf by great fervices done for his country in 
 many wars ; and there was not one gentleman in the nation who might 
 not have been chofen as well as he, if it had pleafed the aflembly that did it. 
 This being the nobility of the northern nations, and the true baronage 
 of England, it is no wonder that they were called " nobiles ; " the moft 
 eminent among them " magnates, principes, proceres ; " and fo numerous, 
 that they were efteemed to be " multitude infinita*. " One place was 
 hardly able to contain them ; and the inconveniences of calling them all 
 together appeared to be fo great, that in time they chofe rather to meet 
 by reprefentatives, tlvm every one in his own perfon. The power there- 
 fore remaining in them, it matters not what method they obferved in the 
 execution. They who had the fubftance in their hands, might give it 
 what form they pleafed. Our autlaor fufficiently manifefts his ignorance, 
 in faying, there could be no knights of the fhires in the time of the 
 Saxons, becaufe there were no fhires ; for the very word is Saxon, and- 
 we fold the names of Berkftiire, Wiltfhire, Devonfhire, Dorfetfliire, and 
 others, moft frequently in the writings of thofe times ; and dukes, earls,, 
 thanes, or aldermen, appointed to command the forces, and look to the 
 
 4 
 
 * When a grant of tithe was made to the church under Ethelwolf, in a pirena^emore, or 
 parliament, held at Wincheflcr in 855, it was done, pracfentibus cr fubfcribentibus archi- 
 epifcopis et epilcopis Angliae univerfis, necnon Beorredo rege Mcrciae, et Edmundo Eaft- 
 anglorum rege, abbatum, et abbatifiarum, ducum, comitum, procerumque totius terrae,. 
 aliorumquehdeliumiNFiNiTA multitudine, qui omnes regium chiroairaphum lauuaverunt, 
 dignitates vcro fua nomina fubfcripferunt. Ingulph. p. 863. SpeJm. Concil. p. 350 
 
 diftli--
 
 430 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP- III diftribution of juftice in them. Seldcii cites Ingulphus for faying, that 
 " Alfred was the iirfi: that changed the provinces, ike. into counties * ; " 
 Ibut refutes him, and proves, that the diltindtion of the land into Ihires or 
 counties (for fliire fignified no more than the fhare or part committed to 
 the care of the earl or comes) was far more antient. Whether the fnft 
 divifions by the Saxons were greater or lefler than the fhires or counties 
 now are, is nothing to the quellion : they who made them to be as they 
 were could have made them greater or lefler, as they pleafed. And 
 nvhether they did immediately, or fome ages after that diflindlion, ceafe 
 to come to their great affemblies, and rather choofe to fend their deputies; 
 or whether fuch deputies were chofen by counties, cities, and boroughs, 
 as in our days, or in any other manner, can be of no advantage or pre- 
 judice to the caufe that 1 maintain. If the power of the nation, when it 
 was divided into feven kingdoms, or united under one, did relide in the 
 micel-gemotes or wlttena-gemotes ; if thefe confifted of the nobility and 
 people, who were fometimes fo 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 juftice, 
 which no man can deny, I have as much as ferves for my purpofe. It is 
 indiff^erent to me, whether they were called earls, dukes, aldermen, here- 
 tochs "fi or thanes ; for it is certain, that the titular nobility, now in mode 
 among us, has no refemblance to this antient nobility of England. The 
 novelty therefore is on the other fide, and that of the worfl: fort ; becaufe, 
 Cbj giving the name of noblemen (which antiently belonged to inch as had 
 the greateft interefts in nations, and were the fupporters of their liberty) 
 to court-creatures, who often have none, and either acquire their honours 
 by money, or are preferred for fcrvile, and fometimes impure ferviccs. 
 rendered to the perfon that reigns, or elfe for mifchiefs done to their 
 country, the conflitution has been wholly inverted, and the truft repofed 
 in the kings (who in fome meafure had the difpofal of offices and honours) 
 inifemploycd. This is fiirthcr aggravated by appropriating the name of 
 noblemen folcly to them : whereas the nation having been antiently 
 divided only into freemen or noblemen (who were the fame) and villains, 
 the hrfl: were, as Tacitus fays of their anceftors the Germans, " exempted 
 " from burdens and contributionp., and referved like arms for the ufes of 
 *' war:}:," while the others were little bcLter than flaves, appointed to 
 cultivate the lands, or to other fervile offices. And I leave any reafonable 
 man to judge, whether the latter condition be that of thofe Vv'C now call 
 
 * Totius Angliae pagos et provincias in comitatus primus omnium commutavit, etc. 
 Ingulph. p. 870. See Seidell's Titles of Honor, p. 2, c. 5, p. 509 
 
 f Erant et aliae poteftatcs et dignitates per provincias, ct patrias univerfas, et per fingulos- 
 comitatus totius regni coiiftitutae, qui heretoches apud Anglos vocabantur, fcilicct baroncs 
 jiobllcs et infi^nes, fapientes ct fidclcs, ct animofi : Latine verb diccbantur duiilorcs cxcr- 
 citus : apud (Jallos capitales conftabularii, vcl marefchalli cxercitus. Vide Leges Edo\ardi 
 regis, c. 35. Edit. Lambardi, p. 147 
 
 .t Exempt! oneribuset (ollationibus, et tantum in ufum praeliorum fepofiti, veluti tela 
 atque arma beljis refcrvantur. Tacit, de Morib. Germ. § 19 
 
 3 commoners.
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 431 
 
 commoners. Ncverthclefs, he that will believe the title of noblemen ftill SECT. 28 
 
 to belong to thofe only, who are fo by patent, may guefs how well our 
 
 wars would be managed, if they were left folcly to fuch as arc fo by that 
 
 title. If this be approved, his majefly may do well with his hundred and 
 
 fifty noblemen, eminent in valour and military experience as they are 
 
 known to be, to make fuch wars as may fall upon him, and leave the 
 
 defpifed commons, under the name of villains, to provide for thcmfelves, 
 
 if the fuccefs do not anfwer his expedations. But if the commons are as 
 
 free as the nobles, many of them in birth equal to the patentees, in eftate 
 
 fuperior to moft of them ; and if it is not only expeded they ihould affift 
 
 him in wars with their perfons and purfes, but acknowledged by all, that 
 
 the flrength and virtue of the nation is in them, it muft be confefled, that 
 
 they are true noblemen of England, and that all the privileges, antiently 
 
 enjoyed by fuch, mull necellarily belong to them, fmce they perform the 
 
 offices to which they were annexed. This fhews how the nobility were 
 
 juftly faid to be almoft infinite in number, fo that no one place was able 
 
 to contain them. The Saxon armies, that came over into this country to 
 
 a wholfome and generative climate, might well increafe in four or five 
 
 ages to thofe vaft numbers, as the Franks, Goths, and others, had done 
 
 in Spain, France, Italy, and other parts ; and when they were grown fo 
 
 numerous, they found themfelves neceflarily obliged to put the power 
 
 into the hands of reprefentatives chofen by themfelves, which they had 
 
 before exercifed in their own perfons. But thefe two ways differing 
 
 rather in form than efientially, the one tending to democracy, the other 
 
 to ariftocracy, they are equally oppofite to the abfolute dominion of one 
 
 man reigning for himfelf, and governing the nation as his patrimony ; 
 
 and equally affert the rights of the people to put the government into fuch 
 
 a form as beft pleafes themfelves. This was fuitable to what they had 
 
 pradlifed in their own country : " de minoribus rebus principes confultant, 
 
 de majoribus omnes *. " Nay, even thefe " fmaller matters " cannot be 
 
 laid properly to relate to the king ; for he is but one, and the word 
 
 *' principes " is in the plural number, and can only fignify fuch principal 
 
 men, as the fame author favs were chofen by the general aflemblies to do 
 
 juftice, &c. and to each of them one hundred comites joined, not only to 
 
 give advice, but authority to their adfions. 
 
 The word " omnes, " fpoken by a Roman, muft likewife be underftood 
 as it was ufed by them, and imports all the citizens, or fuch as made up 
 the body of the commonwealth. If he had fpoken of Rome or Athens 
 while they remained free, he muft have ufed the fame word (becaufe all 
 thofe, of whom the city confifted, had votes) how great foever the number 
 of ilaves or ftrangers might have been. The Spartans are rightly faid to 
 have gained, loft, and recovered the lordfliip or principality of Greece. 
 They' were all lords in relation to their helots ; and fo were the Dorians in 
 relation to that fort of men, which under feveral names they kept, as the 
 
 * Ibid. § 1,1 
 
 Saxons
 
 43Z 13ISC0URSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 ■CH.w^lll Saxons did their villains, for the performance of the offices which ihev 
 thought too mean for thofe, who were eiinobled by liberty, and the ufe 
 of arms, by which the commonwealth was defended and enlarged. 
 Though the Romans Icorned to give the title of lord to thofe, who had 
 ufurped a power over their lives and fortunes, yet every one of them was 
 a lord in relation to his own fervants, and all together arc oi~ten called 
 *' lords of the world * : " the like is feen ahnoft every where. The 
 government of Venice, having continued for many ages in the fame 
 families, has ennobled them all. No phrafe is more common in Switzer- 
 land, than " the lords of Bern, " or "the lords of Zurich, " and other 
 places ; though perhaps there is not a man among them, who pretends to 
 be a gentleman, according to the m.odern fcnfe put upon that word. The 
 .ftates of the United Provinces are called " high and mighty lords, " and the 
 fame title is given to each of them in particular. Nay, the word heer, 
 ■Nvhich fignifies lord both in high and low Dutch, is as common as mon- 
 ileur in France, fignior in Italy, or fennor in Spain ; and is given to every 
 one, who is not of a fordid condition, but efpecially to foldiers. And 
 though a common foldier be now a much meaner thing than it wgs 
 antiently, no man fpeaking to a company of foldiers in Italian, ufes any 
 other Ayle than *' iigniori foldatl : " and the like is done in otlier lan- 
 guages. It is not therefore to be thought ftrange, if the Saxons, vvho in 
 their own country had fcorned any other employment than that of the 
 fword, fliould think themfelves farther ennobled, when by their arms 
 ihey had acquired a great and rich country, and driven out or fubdued 
 the former inhabitants. They might well diftlnguifli themfelves from 
 the villains they brought with them, or the Britons they had enflaved. 
 They might well be called " magnates, proceres regnl, nobiles, Angliac 
 *' nobllitas, barones ; " and the atremblies of them jullly called " concilium 
 *' regni generale, univeriitas totius Angli/ie nobllium, univerfitas baron- 
 " agii, " according to the variety of times, and other occurrences. Wc 
 have fuch footfleps remaining of the name of baroiij as plainly Ihew the 
 fignificaiion of it. The barons of London and the Cinque Ports are 
 known to be only the freemen of thofe places. In the petty court-barons, 
 every man wlio may be of a jury is a baron. Thefe are noblemen ; for 
 there are noble nations as well as noble men in nations. The Mamme- 
 lucs accounted themfelves to be all noble, though born flaves ; and when 
 they had ennobled themfelves by the ufe of arms, they looked upon the 
 noblefl of the Egyptians, as their Haves. Tcrtullian writing, not to fome 
 ■ eminent men, but to the wliole people of Carthage, calls them, " anti- 
 " quitate nobiles, nobilitate felices f. " Such were the Saxons, ennobled 
 by a perpetual application to thofe exercifes that belong to noblemen, and 
 an abhorrence to any thing that is vile and fordid. 
 
 Left this fhould fcem, far fetched to thgfe who pleafe themfelves with 
 cavilling, they are to know, that the fame general councils are exprelfed. 
 
 » 
 
 Romaiios rcrum dominos. Virg. Acn. 1. I, v. 286 
 t Principcs fcmper Africae, viri Carthagiiiienfes, vctuftatc nobiles, novitatc felices. 
 Tert. dcPallio, § i. Edit. Rigultii. 
 
 by
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 rjy\ 
 
 by other authors, in other words. They are called " the general council sect. 20 
 *' of the bifliops, noblemen, counts, all the wife men, ciders, and people, 
 *' of the whole kingdom, " in the time of Ina*. In that of Edward>the 
 elder, " the great council of the bifhops, abbots, noblemen, and people f." 
 William of Malmefbury calls them, " the general fenate and alfcrnbly of 
 " the people if." Sometimes they arc in ftiort called " clergy and peo- 
 *' pie ; " but all exprefs the fame power, neither received from, nor 
 llmltable by kings, who are always laid to be chofen, or made, and 
 fometimes depofed by them. William the Norman found and left the 
 nation in. this condition. Henry the fecond, John, and Henry the third, 
 who had nothing but what was conferred upon them by the fame clergy 
 and people, did fo too. Magna Charta could give nothing to the people, 
 who, in themfelves, had all ; and only reduced into a fmall volume the 
 rights which the nation was rcfolved to maintain ; brought the king to 
 confefs, they were perpetually inherent, and time out of mind enjoyed, 
 and to fwear that he would no way violate them ; if he did, he was, 
 " ipfo fado, " excommunicated ; and, being thereby declared to be an 
 execrable perjured perfon, they knew how to deal with him. This a«Sl 
 has been confirmed by thirty parliaments ; and the proceedings with 
 kings, who have violated their oaths, as well before as after tlie time of 
 Henry the third, which have been already mentioned, are fufficient to 
 fhew, that England has always been governed by itfelf, and never acknow- 
 ledged any other lord, than fuch as they thought fit to fet up. 
 
 SECTION XXIX ' 
 
 THE KING WAS NEVER MASTER OF THE SOIL. 
 
 Thofe who without regard to truth refolve to infift upon fuch points, as 
 tliey think may ferve their defigns, when they find it cannot be denied, 
 that the powers before-mentioned have been exercifed by the Englifh, and 
 other nations, fay, that they were the conceffions of kings, who, being 
 
 * Univerfi Angli, qui tunc temporis extiterunt, ujiores fuas ceperunt de Britonum genere» 
 et Bntones uxores fuas de illuftri fanguine et genere Anglorum, hoc eft, de genere Saxonum. 
 Hoc enim tadum fuit per commune conlilium et affenfum omnium ep-fcoporum et principutn, 
 procerum, comitum, et omnium fapientum, feniorum, et populorum totius resni, et per 
 praeceptum regis Inae. Vide Leges Edovardi regis, c. 35. Edit. Lambardi, p. 148. 
 bpelm. Concil. vol. i, p. 2:9 o jj » i + 
 
 t A. D. 905, l^legmundus Cantuarienfis archiepifcopus, una cum rege magnifico, cos- 
 nomento Edwardo Seniore, concilium magnum epifcoporum, abbatum, fidelium, procerum, 
 et populorumni provmcia Gewiforum, i. e in ilia parte Angliae quae in piagaauftrali fita 
 dt fiummis Thamefis, convocavit. Mat. Parker De Antiq. Brit. Ecclefiae. c. 10 de 
 I'legmundo. — — Rex magnificus Edwardus, et Plegmundiis Cant, archiep. colleJerunt 
 concilium grande epifcoporum, abbatum, et fidelium populorum, in provincia Gewife'orum. 
 Mat. Weft, fub ann. 905, p. 181 
 
 t Generalis fenatiis et populi conventus. Will. Malmefb. I. 3, p. 99. Videfupra, p. 324 ' 
 
 K. *^ k mafters
 
 434 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. Ill mafters of the foil, might beftow parcels upon fome perfons, with fuch 
 conditions as they pleafed, retaining to themfelves the fupreme dominion 
 of the whole : and, having already, as they think, made them the 
 fountains of honour, they proceed to make them alio the fountains of 
 property ; and, for proof of this, allege, that all lands, though held of 
 mean lords, do by their tenures at laft refult upon the king, as the head 
 from-whom they are enjoyed. This might be of force, if it were true : 
 but matters of the higheft importance requiring a moll evident proof, we 
 are to examine, firft, if it be poiTible ; and in the next place, if it be true. 
 I . For the hrft : no man can give what he has not. Whoever there-? 
 fore will pretend, that the king has beftowed this propriety, muft prove, 
 that he had it in bimfelf. I confefs, that the kings of Spain and Portugal 
 obtained from the pope grants of the territories they poflciTed in the Weft- 
 Indies ; and this might be of fome ftrength, if the pope, as vicar of Chrlft, 
 had an abfolute dominion over the whole earth ; but if that fail, the 
 whole falls to the ground, and he is ridiculoufly liberal of that, which no 
 way belongs to him. My buiinefs is not to difpute 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 fame title, or fome other equi- 
 valent to it. When that is done, we fliail know upon whom they have a 
 dependence, and may at leifure confider, whether we ought to acknow- 
 ledge, and fubmit to fuch a power, or give reafons for our refufal. But, 
 there being no fuch thing in our prefent cafe, their property muft be 
 grounded upon fomething elfe, or, we may juftly conclude, they have none. 
 In order to this, it is hardly worth the pains, to fearch into the obfcure 
 remains of the Britifli hlftorles. For when the Romans deferted our ifland, 
 they did not confer the right they had, whether more or lefs, upon any 
 man, but left the enjoyment of it to the poor remainders of the nation, 
 and their own eftabliflied colonies, who were grown to be one people with 
 the natives. The Saxons came under the condud: of Hengift and Horfa, 
 who feem to have been fturdy pirates ; but did not, that I can learn, bear 
 any characters in their perfons, of the fo much admired fovereign majefty, 
 that fhould give them, an abfolute dominion or propriety, either in their 
 own country, or any other they fhould fet their feet upon. They came 
 with about a hundred men ; and, choofmg rather to ferve Vortigern, than 
 to depend upon what they could get by rapine at fca, lived upon a fmall 
 proportion of land, by him allotted to them '*. Though this feems to be 
 but a flcnder encouragement, yet it was enough to invite many others 
 to follow their example and fortune ; fo that their number Incrcaiing, the 
 
 * Anno Gratiae 449, gens Angloriim five Saxonum, a rege Vortigerno invitata, Britan- 
 niam tribus longis navibiis advehetiir ;-ct in oricniali parte inlulae locum inaneiidi a rege, quaft 
 propatria pugnatura, iufccpit. Advenerunt dc tribus Gennaniae populis forticribus, i.e. 
 Saxombus, Auglis, et Jutis. Mat. Weft, fub anu. 449. Will. Malnitfb. p. 8. Chron. 
 Saxon, fub aim. 449. — .What number of men came into this ifland under the condud of 
 Hengift and Korfa, the Saxon annals do not inform us. As three fliips were employed 
 on that occafion, there muft have been more than " a hundred," probably jooo, or 1500 
 
 county
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 435 
 
 county of Kent was given to them, under the obligation of fervlng the sect. 29 
 Britons in their wars. Not long after, lands in Northumberland were 
 beftowcd upon another company of them, with the fame condition. This 
 was all the title they had to what they enjoyed, till they treacheroully 
 killed four hundred and fixty*, or, as William of Malmel"bury fays, 
 three hundred principal men, of the Britifli nobility f, and made Vorti- 
 gern prifoner, who had been fo much their bcnefad:or, that he feems 
 never to have deferved well, but from them, and to have incenfed the 
 Britons by the favour he fhewed them, as much as by the worft of his 
 vices. And, certainly, adions of this kind, compofcd of falfliood and 
 cruelty, can never create a right, in the opinion of any better men than 
 Filraer and his difciples, who think that the power only is to be regarded, 
 and not the means by which it is obtained. But though it fliould be 
 granted, that a right had been thus acquired, it mull accrue to the nation, 
 not to Hengift and Horfa. If fuch an acquifition be called a conqucft, 
 the benefit muft belong to thofe that conquered. This was not the work 
 of two men; and thofe who had been free at home can never be thought 
 to have left their own country, to fight as flaves, for the glory and profit 
 of two men in another. It cannot be laid, that their wants comp€llcd 
 them ; for their leaders fufl^ered the fame, and could not be relieved, but 
 by their aififtance. And whether their enterprlze was good or bad, juft 
 or unjuft, it was the fame to all : no one man could have any right, 
 peculiar to himlelf, unlefs they who gained it did confer It upon him : 
 and it is no way probable, that they, who in their own country had kept 
 their princes within very narrow limits, as has been proved, fhould refign 
 themfelves, and all they had, as foon as they came hither. But we have 
 already fhewn, that they always continued moft obftlnate defenders of 
 their liberty, and the government to which they had been accuflomed ; 
 that they managed it by themfelves, and acknowledged no other laws 
 than their own. Nay, if they had made fuch a refignation of their right, 
 as was neceflary to create one in their leaders, it would be enough to over- 
 throw the propofition ; for it is 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 conferred upon the receiver : if they 
 had a right, he that fhould pretend to derive a benefit from thence muft 
 prove the grant, that the nature and intention of it may appear. 
 
 To the fecond. If it be faid, that records teftify all grants to have 
 been originally from the king, I anfwer, that though it were confeffed 
 
 * Hengiftus illico Vortigernum per pallium detinuit. Caeteros autem aftantes principcs, 
 circiter quadringentos fexaginta viros, barones inclytos, et confules jugularunt. Mat. 
 Weft, fub anil. 461 
 
 t Hengiftus vitio quodain huinani ingenii, ut quo plus habeas, plus ambias, fraude 
 fubornatd, generum Vortigernum ad convivium cum 300 fuorum invitat : cumque frequen- 
 tioribus poculis invitatos ad tumultum animaflet, et unumquemque ex induftria falfa 
 dicacitate perftringeret, primo aj jurgia, mox ad arma ventum eft. Ita Britones ad unura 
 jugulati animas inter vina evomuere. Rex ipfe captus, datis tribus provinciis, libertatem 
 
 redemit. Will. Malmeib. 1. i, c. i 
 
 K k k 2 (which
 
 436 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP, in (which I abfokitely deny, and afFirm that our rights and liberties are innate, 
 . inherent, and enjoyed time out of mind, before we had kings) it could be 
 nothing to the queliion, which is concerning reafon and juftice ; and, if 
 they are wanting, the defedl can never be fupplied by any matter of fa£t, 
 though ever fo clearly proved. Or, if a right be pretended to be 
 grounded upon a matter of fadt, the thing to be proved is, that the peo- 
 ple did really confer fuch a right upon the firft, or fome other kings : and, 
 if no fuch thing do appear, the proceedings of one or more kings, as if 
 they had it, can be of no value. But, in the prefent cafe, no fuch grant 
 is pretended to have been made, either to the firft, or to any of the 
 following kings : the right they had not, their fucceiTors could not inherit, 
 and conlequently cannot have it, or, at moft, no better title to it, than, 
 that of ufurpation. 
 
 But, as they vv^ho inquire for truth ought not to deny or conceal any 
 thing, I may grant that manors, &c. were enjoyed by tenure from kings ; 
 but that will no way prejudice the caufe I defend, nor fignify more, than 
 that the countries which the Saxons had acquired were to be divided 
 among them ; and, to avoid the quarrels that might arife, if every man 
 took upon him to feize what he could, a certain m'ethod of making the 
 diftribution was neceffarily to be fixed ; and it was fit, that every man 
 fliould have fomething in his own hands, to juftify his title to what he 
 poffeffed, according to which controverfies fhould be determined. This 
 muft be teftified by fomebody, and no man could be fo fit, or of fo much 
 credit, as he who was chief among them ; and this is no more than ia 
 ufual in all the focieties of the world. The mayor of every corporation, 
 the fpeaker or clerk of the houfe of peers, or houfe of commons, the firft 
 prefident of every parliament, or prefidlal in France ; the conful, burger- 
 meifter, advoyer, or bailiff, in every free town of Holland, Germany, or 
 Switzerland, fign the public adts, that pafs in tliofe places. The dukes of 
 Venice and Genoa do the like, though they have no other power, than 
 what is conferred upon them, and, of themfelves, can do little or nothing. 
 The grants of our kings are of the fame nature, though the words " mero 
 " motu noftro " fcem to imply the contrary ; for kings fpeak always in 
 the plural number, to fliew that they do not a£t for themfelves, but for 
 the focieties over which they are placed ; and all the veneration that is, or 
 can be given to their ads, does not exalt them, but thofe from whom 
 their authority is derived, and for whom they arc to execute. The 
 tyrants of the Eaft, and other barbarians, whofe power is moft abfolutcj 
 fpeak in the fingle number, as appears by the decrees of Nabuchodonofor, 
 Cyrus, Darius, and Ahafucrus, recited in Scripture, with others that we 
 hear of daily from thofe parts : but, where-ever there is any thing of 
 civility or regularity in government, the prince ufes the plural, to fliew 
 that he adts in a public capacity. From hence fays Grotius, the rights of 
 kings to fend ambafladors, make leagues, &c. do arife : the confederacies 
 made by them do not terminate with the ir lives, becaufe they are not for 
 themfelves J they fpeak not in their ownperfons, but as rcprefenting their 
 
 people :
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 437 
 
 people : and " a king who is deprived of his kingdom, lofes the right of sect. 30- 
 *• fending ambanadors *', " becaufe be can no longer fpeak for thofe, 
 who, I)y their own confent, or by a foreign force, arc cut off from him. 
 The queftion is, not whether fuch a one be juftly or unjuftly deprived (for 
 that concerns only thofe v:ho did it, or fufFer it) but whether he can oblige 
 the people ; and it is ridiculous for any nation to treat with a man, tlia£ 
 cannot perform what fliall be agreed, or for him to ftipulatc that which 
 can oblige, and will be made good only by himfelf. 
 
 But though m.uch may be left to the difcretion of kings in the diftribu- 
 tion of lands, and the like, yet it no way diminiflics the right of the 
 people, nor confers any upon them, otherwife to dilpofe of what belongs 
 to the public, than may tend to the common good, and the accomplifh- 
 ment of thofe ends, for which they are entrufted. Nay, if it were true, 
 that a conquered country did belong to the crov/n, the king could not 
 difpofe of it, becaufe it is annexed to the office, and not alienable by the 
 perfon. This is not only found in regular mixed monarchies (as in 
 Sweden, where the grants made by the laft kings have been lately refcinded 
 by the general afienibly of eftates, as contrary to law) but even in the 
 moft ablblute, as in France, where the prefent king, who has ftretched 
 his power to the utmoft, has lately acknowledged, that he cannot do it ; 
 and, according to the known maxim of the flate, that the demefnes of the 
 crov/n, which are defigned for the defraying of public charges, cannot 
 be alienated, all the grants made within the laft fifteen years have been 
 annulled ; even thofe who had bought lands of the crown, have been called 
 to account, and the fums given being compared with the profits received, 
 and a moderate intereft allowed to the purchafers, fo much of the principal 
 as remained due to them has been repaid, and the lands refumed. 
 
 SECTION 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 fuppofe, that the antient nobility of England 
 was compofed of fuch men as had been ennobled by bearing arms in the 
 defence or enlargement of the commonwealth ; that die dukes, earls, &c. 
 were thofe who commanded them; that they and their dependents 
 received lands for fuch fervices, under an obligation of continuing to render 
 the like, and according to their feveral degrees and proportions, to pro- 
 vide and maintain horfes, arms, and men, for the fame ufes ; it cannot 
 be denied, but that they were fuch gentlemen, and lords of manors, as we 
 now call commoners, together with the freeholders, and fuch as in war 
 
 * Reges qui bello folenni vidi, regnoque exuti fuut, cum aliis regni bonis et jus leganJi. 
 perdiderunt. Grot, de Jure Belli, I, 2, c. 18, §2. 
 
 were-
 
 438 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. Ill were found moft able to be their leaders. Of thefe tlie micel-gemoteg, 
 wittena-gemotes, and other public allemblies, did confifl: ; and nothing 
 can be more abiurd than to affign the names and rights of duke, earl, 
 and vifcount, which were names of offices^ to thofe who have not the 
 offices, and are no way fit for them. If our author therefore had faid, 
 that fuch as thefe, who had alv/ays compofed the great councils of our 
 nation, had, in favour of Henry the firft, beftowed the crown upon him, 
 as they had done upon his father and brother, I fhould agree with him : 
 but it is the utmoft extravagance to fay, that he w^ho had neither title nor 
 pofleffion fhould give the povs'er to thofe, who had always been in the 
 poffeffion of it, and exercifed it in giving to him whatever he had. But 
 I moftvponder he fhould fo far forget himfelf, as to call this Henry a ufurper, 
 and detract from the validity of his acfcs, becaufe he had no title ; whereas 
 there neither is, was, nor can be, a ufurper, if there be any truth in his 
 dotftrine : 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 obtained ; and making no 
 difference between a king and a tyrant injoins an equal fubmiiTion to the 
 commands of both. If this were only a flip of his pen, and he did really 
 take this Henry to be a ufurper, becaufe he had not a good title, I fhould 
 defire to know the marks by which a lawful king is dilfinguifhed from a 
 ufurper, and in what a juft title does confifl. If he place it in an here- 
 ditary fucceffion, we ought to be informed, whether this right muft be 
 deduced from one univerfal lord of mankind, or from a particular lord 
 of every people. If from the univerfal lord, the fame defcent that gives 
 him a right to the dom-lnion of any one country, enflaves the whole 
 world to him. If from the particular lord of one place, proof muft be 
 given how he came to be fo : for if there was a defed; in the firft, it can 
 never be repaired, and the poffeffion is no more than a continued ufurpa- 
 tion; But having already proved the abfurdity of any pretence to either, 
 I fhall forbear the repetition, and only fay, that if the courfe of fucceffion 
 may never be juftly interrupted, the family of Meroveus could not have 
 had any right to the crown of France ; Pepin was a ufurper, if it muft for 
 ever have continued in the defcendents of Meroveus ; and Hugh Capet 
 could have no title, if the race of Pepin might not be difpoifeffed. I 
 leave our author to difp.iite this point with the king of France ; and when 
 he has fo far convinced him. that he is a ufurper, as to perfuade him to 
 refign his crown to the houfe of Auftria, claiming from Pharamond, or 
 to that of Lorrain, as defcendcd from Pepin, I can give him half a dozen 
 more knots, which will not be with lefs difficulty untied, and w'hich, 
 inflead of efabliflfmg the titles of fuch kings as are known to us, will 
 overthrow them all, unlefs a right be given to ufurpation, or the ccnfent 
 of a people do confer it. 
 
 But if there be fuch a thing as a ufurper, and a rule by which men 
 may judge of ufiirpation, it is not only lawful, but necelTary, to 
 examine the tides of fuch as go under the name of kings, that we .nay 
 know whether they are truly fo or not, left through ignorance we chance 
 
 2 to
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNiriG GOVERNMENT 439 
 
 to give the veneration and obedience that is due to a Icing, to one who is sect. 3,0 
 
 not a king, and deny it to him, who by an uninterruptible line of dciccnt 
 
 is our natural lord, and thereby prefer the worfl: of men, and our niofl 
 
 bitter enemy, before the perfon v/e ought to look upon as our father : 
 
 and if this prove dangerous to one or more kings, it is our author's 
 
 fault, not mine. 
 
 If there be no ufurper, nor rule of diflinguifliing him from a lawful 
 prince, Filmer is tlie worfl of all triflers and impoitors, who [^rounds his 
 arguments in the moil ferious matters upon v/hat he elleems to be falfe. 
 But the truth is, he feems to have fet himfelf againft humanity and com- 
 mon fenfe, as much as againft law and virtue. And if he who fo 
 frequently contradiiEls himfelf can be laid to mean any thing, he would 
 authorize rapine and murder, and pcrfuade us to account thole to be right- 
 ful kings, who, by treachery, and other unjuft means, overthrow the 
 right of defcent, which he pretends to efteem ikcred, as v/ell as the liberties 
 of nations, vv^hich by better judges are thought to be fo ; and gives the 
 odious name of ufurpation to the advancement of one who is made king: 
 by the coni'ent of a willing people. 
 
 But if Henry the firft were a ufurper, I defire to know whether the 
 fame name belongs to all our kings, or v/hich of them deferves a better, 
 that we may underftand whofe ads ought to be reputed legal, and to 
 whofe defcent we owe veneration, or whether we are wholly exempted 
 from all : for I cannot fee a pofTibility of fixing the guilt of ufurpatioa 
 upon Henry the firft, without involving many, if not all our kings, 
 in the fame. 
 
 If his title was not good, becaufe his brother Robert was ftill living,. 
 that of Rufus is by the fame reafon overthrown ; and William their father, 
 being a baflard, could have none. This fundamental defedt could never 
 be repaired ; for the fuccefTors could inherit no more than the right of 
 the firft, which was nothing. Stephen could deduce no title either from 
 Norman or Saxon ; whatever Henry the fecond pretended mufl be from 
 his mother Maud, and any other might have been preferred before her as 
 well as he. If her title was from the Normans, it muft be void, fince 
 they had none, and the ftory of Edgar Atheling is too impertinent to 
 deferve 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 derived, was then alive with his fon Henry, who, dying 
 not long after, left three fons, and three daughters, whofe pofterity, being 
 diftributed into many families of Scotland, remains to this day ; and, if 
 proximity of blood is to be confidered, ought always to have been preferred 
 before her, and her defcendents, unlefs there be a law, that gives the 
 preference to daughters before fons. What right foever Henry the fecond 
 had, it muft neceftarily have perilhed with him, all his children having 
 been begotten in ma!iifeft adultery on Eleanor of Gafcony, dming the 
 life of Lewis king of France her firft hufband. And nothing could be 
 alleged to colour the bufinefs, but a difpenfation from the pope direaiy 
 
 againft
 
 ^40 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 «HAP.III againft the law of God, and the words of our Saviour, who fays, "that 
 " a wife cannot be put away unlefs for adukery ; and that he who mar- 
 " rieth her that is put away committeth adultery." The pollution of 
 this fpring is not to be cured : but though it fiiould pafs unregarded, no 
 one part of the fucceffion fnice that time has remained entire. John was 
 preferred before Arthur his elder brother's fon. Edward the third was 
 made king by the depofition of his father : Henry the fourth by that of 
 Richard the fecond. If the houfe of Mortimer or York had the right, 
 Henry the fourth, fifth, and fixth, 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 fufpe£ted of baftardy : and 
 though it may have been otherwife, yet that matter is not fo clear, as 
 things of fuch importance ought to be ; and the confequence may reach 
 very far. But, though that fcruple were removed, it is certain, that 
 Henry the feventh was not king in the right of his tvife Elizabeth ; for he 
 reigned before and after her ; and for his other titles we may believe 
 Philip de Comines, who fays, " he had neither crofs nor pile *. " If 
 Henry the eighth had a right in himfelf, or from his mother, he fhould 
 have reigned immediately after her death, which he never pretended, nor 
 to fuccced till his fither was dead, thereby acknowledging he had no right 
 but from him, unlefs the parliament and people can give it. The like 
 may be faid of his children. Mary could have no title, if flie was a 
 baftard, begotten in incefl ; but if her moLher's marriage was good, and 
 llie legitimate, Elizabeth could have none. 
 
 Yet all thefe were lawful kings and queens ; their ad;s continue in force 
 to this day to all intents and purpofcs : the parliament and people made 
 them to be fo, when they had no other title. The parliament and peo- 
 ple therefore have the power of making kings : thofe who are fo made 
 are not ufurpers : we have had none but fuch for more than feven hun- 
 dred years. They were therefore lawful kings, or this nation has had 
 none in all that time. And if our author like this conclufion, the account 
 from whence it is drawn may without difficulty be carried as high as our 
 Englifli hiftories do reach. 
 
 Tills being built upon the fteady foundation of law, hiftory, and reafon, 
 is not to be removed by any man's opinion ; efpecially by one, accom- 
 panied with fuch circumftances as Sir Walter Raleigh was in, during the 
 laft years of his life : and there is fomething of bd'enefs, as well as 
 prevarication, in turning the words of an eminent perfon, reduced to 
 great difficulties, to a fenfe no way agreeing with his former aftions or 
 writings, and no lefs 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, liberties, as " begun by ufurpation, 
 
 * Qui n'avoit nc croix, ns pile, ne nul droit, comme jc croii, ah courojuie d'Angleterre. 
 Mem. dc Phil, dc Comiius. 1. 6, c. 9 
 
 »' and
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 441 
 
 " and fhewed to the world by rebellion *: " whereas no fu ch thing, nor sect, ^i 
 
 any thing like it in word or principle, can be found in the works that 
 
 delerve to go under his name. The dialogue in queftion, with fome 
 
 other finall pieces pubiiflied after his death, delerves to be eftcemed fpurious : 
 
 or if, from a defire of life, when he knew his head lay under the ax, he 
 
 was brought to fay things no way agreeing with what he had formerly 
 
 profefTed, they ought rather to be buried in oblivion, than produced to 
 
 blemilli his memory. But, that the public caufc may not fuffer by his 
 
 fault, it is convenient the world ihould be informed, that though he was 
 
 a well qualified gentleman, yet his morals were noway cxad, as appears 
 
 by his dealings with the brave earl of ElTex. And he was fo well affifted 
 
 in his Hiftory of the World, that an ordinary man, with the fame 
 
 helps, might have performed the fame things. Neither ought it to be 
 
 accounted ftrange, if that which he wrote by himfelf had the tinfture of 
 
 another fpirit, when he was deprived of that affiftance, though his life 
 
 had not depended upon the will of the prince, and he had never fald, that 
 
 *' the bonds of fubjeds to their kings fhould always be wrought out of 
 
 *' iron, the bonds of kings unto fubjedts but with cobwebs f. " 
 
 SECTION 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 perfuades 
 them to believe, that thofe things favour their caufe, which utterly over- 
 throw it. For a proof of this, I defire our author's v/ords may be 
 confidered. *' In the form of parliaments, " fays he, " indituted and 
 '* continued fince Henry the firfl's time, is not to be found the ufage of 
 ** any natural liberty of the people ; for all thofe liberties that are claimed 
 *' in parliament are liberties of grace from the king, and not the liberties 
 *' of nature to the people ; for if the liberty were natural, it would give 
 power to the multitude to aifemble themfelves, when and where they 
 
 « 
 
 * " Henry the firft, to contenthis vaflals, gave them the GreatChniterand theCharter of 
 *' Forefts . . . He iifir '•' tl the kin2:dom, and therefore the bett t to afllire himfelf againft 
 *' Robert his elder brother, he flattered the nobility and people with thofe charters . . .King 
 *' John, who contirmeil thtm, had the like refpc6t ; for Arthur, duite ofBrctagnc, was the 
 " undoubted heir of the crown, upon whom John ufiirpcd . . . The charier of Henry 
 *' the firft was left, in dcpofito, in the hrmds of the archbifliop of Canterbury for the time, 
 *' and fo to uis fucceirors. Stephen Langton fhewed it to the barons, thereby encouraging 
 *' them to maJ:e war airainft the king • . . The king was forced to grant the Magna Charta 
 *' and Chsrta de ForelTis, at fuch time as he was environed with an army . . . Thus much 
 *' for the beginning of the Great Charter, which had firiT: an obfcure birth from ufurpation, 
 *' and vras, iecondly, foftcred and fliewed to the world by rebellion. " Dial, on the Prerog. 
 of Parliaments, republi/hed among the ^vorks of Sir W. Raleigh, in 1751. 
 
 ■J- See Sir W. Raleigh's Dedic. of his Dial, on the Prtrog. of Parliaments to king James. 
 
 L 1 1 " pleafe,
 
 442 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 eHAP.iii " pleafe, to beftow fovereignty, and by pa£tions to limit and direct the 
 ' " exercife of it. " And I fay, that [jiations, being naturally free, may 
 ' meet, when and where they pleafe ; may difpofe of the fovereignty, and 
 may direft or limit the exercife of it, unlefs by their own aA they have 
 deprived themfelves of that right : and there could never have been a 
 lawful affembly of any people in the world, if they had not had that 
 ■ pov^'cr in themfelves. It was proved in the preceding fedion, 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 received. If 
 they can therefore call parliaments, the power of calling them muft have 
 been given to them, and could not be given by any who had it not in 
 themfelves. The Ifraelltes met together, and chofe Ehud, Gideon, 
 Samfon, Jephthah, and others, to be their leaders, whom they judged fit 
 to deliver them from their enemies. By the fame right they affembled at 
 Mifpeh to make war againft the tribe of Benjamin, when juftice was 
 denied to be done againft thofe who had villainoufly abufed the Levite's 
 concubine. In the like manner, they would have made Gideon king, but 
 he refufed. In the fame place they met, and chofe Saul to be their king. 
 He being dead, the men of Judah affembled themfelves, and anointed 
 David ; not long after, all the tribes met at Hebron, made a contract 
 with him, and received him as their king. In the fame manner, though 
 by Avorfe counfel, they made Abfalom king. And the like was attempted 
 in favour of Sheba the fon of Bichri, though they then had a king chofea 
 by themfelves. When they found themfelves oppreffed by the tributes 
 that had been laid upon them by Solomon, they met at Sechem ; and 
 being difpleafed with Rehoboam's anfwer to their complaints, ten of the 
 tribes made Jeroboam king. Jehu, and all the other kings of Ifrael, 
 whether good or bad, had no other title than was conferred upon them 
 by the prevailing part of the people, which could not have given them 
 any, unlefs they had met together ; nor could they have met together 
 without the confent and againft the will of thofe that reigned, unlefs the 
 power had been in themfelves. 
 
 Where governments are more exactly regulated, the power of judging 
 when it is fit to call the fenate or people together is referred to one or more 
 magiftrates ; as in Rome to the confuls or tribunes, in Athens to the 
 archons, and in Thebes to the Boeotarchcs : but none of them could have 
 thefe powersi unlefs they had been given by thofe who advanced them to 
 the magiftracies to which they were annexed ; nor could they have been 
 fo annexed, if thofe who created them had not had the right in themfelves. 
 If the ofticers neglected their duty of calling fuch affemblics when the 
 public affairs required, the people met by their own authority, and 
 punifhed the perfon, or abrogated the magiftracy ; as appears in the cafe of 
 the decemviri, and manv others that miglit be alleged, if the thing were 
 not fo plain as to need no farther proof. The reafon of this is, that they. 
 who inftitute 9 magiftracy bcft kiiow whether the end of the inftitution 
 
 be
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 443 
 
 "be rightly purfued or not: and all juft magiflracics being the fame in SKCT. 31 
 eflence, though differing in form, the iarae right muft perpetually belong 
 to thofe who put the fovereign power into the hands of one, a few, or 
 many men, which is what our author calls the dilpofal of the fovereignty. 
 Thus the Romans did when they created kings, confuls, military tribunes, 
 dictators, or decemviri : and it had been molt ridiculous to fay, that 
 thofe officers gave authority to the people to meet and choofe them ; for 
 they who are chofen are the creatures of thofe who choole, and are nothing 
 more than others till they are chofen. The lafl; king of Sweden, Charles 
 Guftavus, told a gentleman who was ambaffador there, that the Swedes 
 having made him king, when he was poor, and had nothing in the woild, 
 he had but one work to do, which was fo to reign, that they might never 
 repent of the good opinion they had conceived of him. They might there- 
 fore meet, and did meet to confer the fovereignty upon him, or he could 
 never have had it. For though the kingdom be hereditary to males or 
 females, and his mother was filler to the great Guflavus, yet having 
 married a ftranger without the confent of the eftates, fhe performed not 
 the condition upon which women are admitted to the fucceffion ; and 
 thereby falling from her right, he pretended not to any. The acft of his 
 elediion declares he had none, and gives the crov.'n to him, and the heirs 
 of his body, with this farther declaration, that the benefit of his clefton 
 fhould no way extend to his brother prince Adolphus : and it is confeifed 
 by all the Swedifh nation, that if the king now reigning fhould die with- 
 out children, the eftates would proceed to a new eletShion. 
 
 It is rightly obferved by our author, that if the people might meet, and 
 give the fovereign power, they might alfo dire^Tt and limit it ; for they 
 did meet in this and other countries, they did confer the fovereign power, 
 they did limit and diredt the exercife ; and the laws of each people fhew 
 in what manner and meafure it is every where done, Thia is as certain 
 in relation to kings, as any other magiftrates. The commiffion of the 
 Roman dictators was, to take care " that the commonwealth might 
 receive no detriment. " The fame was foraetimes given to the confuls*. 
 King Offa's confcffion, that he was made king " to preferve the public 
 *' liberty f, " expreffes the fame thing. And Charles Guftavus, who 
 fiid he had no other work, than to govern in fuch a manner, that they 
 who had made him king might not repent, fhewed there was a rule which 
 he ftood obliged to follow, and an end which he was to procure, that he 
 
 * This commiffion was frequently given to the confuls; but fcldom, if ever, to the 
 di(5tators. — Tantum terrorem inculYere patribus, ut (quae forma feiiatus confuhi ultimae 
 i'tmper neceffitatis habita eft) Pofthumio altcri confulum negotium daretur, videret, " ne 
 " quid refpublica detriment! caperct. " Liv. 1. 3, c. 4. — Senatus decrevit, darentoperam 
 confules, " ne quid refpublica detriment! caperct. " Sail. Bell. Catil. § 30. — Confules 
 provideant " ne quid rel'publica decrimenti accipiat. " Cic. Phil. 5, § 34. — Dccre\ic 
 lenatus, ut L. Opimius conful videret, " ne quid refpublica dctrimeiiti caperet. " Id. in 
 Catil. orat. i, § 4. Orat. pro Milone, § 70. Ad famil. 1. 16, cp'. 11. Caefar de Bello 
 Civ. 1. I, § 6 
 
 t In veftr.ie libertatis tuitionem. Mat. Paris, invit.a Offacfecundi. Vide fupra, p. 321 
 
 L 1 1 z might
 
 444 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. Ill might merit and preferve their good opinion. This power of conferring 
 the fovereignty was exercifed in France by thofe who made Meroveus king, 
 to the prejudice of the two grandchildren of Pharamond, fons to Clodion; 
 by thofe who excluded his race, and gave the crown to Pepin ; by thofe 
 who depofed Lewis le Debonnaire and Charles le Gros ; by thofe wha 
 brought in five kings, that were cither baftards or ftrangers, between him 
 and Charles le Simple; by thofe who rejedled his race, and advanced 
 Hugh Capet ; by thofe who made Henry the firft king, to the prejudice 
 of Robert his elder brother, and continued the crown in the race of Henry 
 for ten generations, while the defcendents of Robert were only dukes of 
 Burgundy. The like was done in Caftile and Arragon, by frequently 
 preferring the younger before the elder brother ; the defcendents of females 
 before thofe of the male line in the fame degree ; the more remote in 
 blood before the neareft ; and fometimes baftards before the legitimate 
 ilfue. The fame was done in England in relation to every king, fmce 
 the coming in of the Normans, as I have fhewn in the laft fedion, and 
 other places of this work. 
 
 That they who gave the fovereignty might alfo circumfcribe and direcfb 
 it is manlfeft, by the feveral ways of providing for the fucceffion infti- 
 tuted by feveral nations. Some are merely ele£tive, 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 Guftavus 
 Ericfon, who delivered that nation from the oppreffion of Chriftiern the 
 fecond, the cruel king of the Danes "^. In others the cleftion was con- 
 fined to one or more families, as the kingdom of the Goths in Spain to 
 the Balthi and Amali. In fome, the eldeft man of the reigning family 
 was preferred before the neareft, as in Scotland before the time of Ken- 
 neth f . In other places the neareft in blood is preferred before the elder, 
 if more remote. In fome, no regard is had to females, or their defcen- 
 dents, as in France and Turky. In others, they or their defcendents are 
 admitted, cither fimply, as well as males ; or under a condition of mar- 
 rying in the country, or with the confent of the eftates, as in Sweden. 
 And no other rcafon can be given for this almoft infinite variety of 
 conftitutions, than that they who made them would have it fo ; which 
 could not be, if God and nature had appointed one general rule for all 
 nations. For in that cafe, the kingdom of France muft be elective, as 
 well as that of Poland and the empire ; or the empire and Poland 
 hereditary, as tliat of France ; daughters muft fucceed in France, as well 
 as in England, or be excluded in England, as in France ; and he that 
 would eftablifh one, as the ordinance of God and nature, muft of neceffity 
 overthrow all the reft. 
 
 A farther exercife of the natural liberty of nations is difcovered in the 
 feveral limitations put upon the fovcrcign power. Some kings, fays 
 Grotius, have the " fummum imperium fummo modo; " others, " modo 
 
 * A. D. 1523. f Kenneth the third, who began bis reign in 961. Vide 
 
 Buchan. Rcrum Scot. Hift. 1. 6 
 
 non:
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 445 
 
 non fummo*. " And among thofe that are under limitations, the sECT. '•i 
 degrees, as to more or lefs, are ahnoft infinite, as I have proved already 
 by the example of Arragon, anticnt Germany, the Saxon klngt^, the Nor- 
 mans, the kings of Caftile, the prefent empire, with divers others. And 
 I may fafely fay, that the antient government of France was much of the 
 fame nature to the time of Charles the feventh, and Lewis the eleventh ; 
 but the work of emancipating themfelves, as they call it, begun by them, 
 is now brought to perfedlion in a boundlefs elevation of the king's great- 
 nefs and riches, to the unfpeakable mifery of the people. 
 
 It were a folly to think this variety proceeds from conccirions of kings, 
 who naturally delight in power, and hate that which crolfes their will. It 
 might with more reafon be imagined, that the Roman confuls, who were 
 brought up in liberty, who had contradled a love to their country, and 
 were contented to live upon an equal foot with their fellow-citizens, 
 fhould confine the power of their magiftracy to a year ; or that the dukes 
 of Venice fhould be gracioufly pleafed to give power to the Council of 
 Ten to punifh them capitally, if they tranfgreflcd the laws, than that 
 kings fhould put fuch fetters upon their power, which they fo much abhor; 
 or that they would fuffer them, if they could be eafily broken. If any 
 one of them fhould prove fo moderate, like Trajan, to command the 
 prefeft of the Praetorian guard to ufe the fword for him, if he governed 
 well, and againft him, if he did not f, it would foon be refcinded by his 
 fucceflbr : the law which has no other ftrength than the a£l of one man^ 
 may be annulled by another. So that nothing does more certainly prove, 
 that the laws made in feveral countries to reftrain the power of kings, and 
 varioufly to difpofe of the fucceflion, are not from them, than the frequent 
 examples of their fury, who have expofed themfelves to the greateft dan- 
 gers, and brought infinite miferies upon the people, through the defire of 
 breaking them. It muft therefore be concluded, that nations have power 
 of meeting together, and of conferring, lim.iting, and diredling the 
 fovereignty ; or all muft be grounded upon moft manifeft injuftice and 
 ufurpation. 
 
 No man can have a power over a nation otherwife than *' de jure, " 
 or " de fa£lo. " He who pretends to have a power " de jure" muft 
 prove, that it is originally inherent in him, or his predeceffor, from whom 
 he inherits ; or that it was juftly acquired by him. The vanity of any 
 pretence to an original right appears fufficiently, I hope, from the proofs 
 already given, that the firft f^ithers of mankind had it not ; or if they had, 
 no man could now inherit the fame, there being no man able to make 
 good the genealogy that fliould give him a right to the fucceffion, 
 Befides, the facility we have of proving the beginnings of all the families 
 
 * Quod autem monuimus, diftinguendam efie rummitatem imperii ah hi.hendi plenltudine, 
 adeb vcrum eft, ut non modb pleraque imperia fumina non plene habeantur, led et multa 
 non fumma habeantur plene. Grot, de Jure Bt^lli, 1. i, c. 3, § 14 
 
 t Tibi iftam ad munimentum mei roinmitto, ft re&e ajram ; fin alitor, in me m2":is. 
 Aur. Vidor de Caefaribus, c. 13, Xiphilini Epit. Dionis, 1, 68, p. 778, Edit. Hanov. 1606 
 
 that
 
 446 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP.. Ill tt^at reign among us makes it as abfurd for any of them to pretend a 
 perpetual right to dominion, as for any citizen of London, whole parents 
 .and birth we know, to fay he is the very man Noah, who lived in the 
 time of the flood, and is now four or five thoufand years old. 
 
 If the power were conferred on him or his predecelfors, it is what we 
 afk ; for the collation can be of no value, unlefs it be made by thofe who 
 liad a right to do it ; and the original right by defcenr failing, no one can 
 Jiave any over a free people but themfelves, or thofe to whom they have 
 given it. 
 
 If acquifition be pretended, it is the fame thing ; for there can be no 
 right to that which is acquired, unlefs the right of invading be proved ; 
 and that being done, nothing can be acquired except what belonged to the 
 perfon 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 
 flrength : no man therefore could ever acquire a perfonal right over any ; 
 and if it was conferred upon him by thofe who made the conquefl: with 
 him, they were the people that did it. He can no more be faid to have 
 the right originally in and from himlelf, than a magiftrate of Rome or 
 Athens immediately after his creation ; and having no other at the begin- 
 ning, he can have none to eternity ; for the nature of it mufl refer to the 
 original, and cannot be changed by time. 
 
 Whatever therefore proceeds not from the confent of the people muft 
 be " de fad.o " only, that is, void of all right ; and it is impoffible there 
 fliould not be a right of deftroying that which is grounded upon none : 
 and by the fame rule that one man enjoys what he gained by violence, 
 another may take it from him. Cyrus overthrew the Alfyrians and Baby- 
 lonians, Alexander the Medes and Perfians ; and if they had no right 
 of making war upon thofe nations, the nations could not but have a right 
 of recovering all that had been unjuftly taken trom them, and avenging 
 the evils they had fufFered. If the caufe of the war was originally juft, 
 nnd not corrupted by an intemperate ufe of the vidlory, the conquered 
 people was perhaps obliged to be quiet ; but the conquering armies, that 
 conferred upon their generals what they had taken from their enemies, 
 might as juftly expe(fl an account of what they had given, and that it 
 fliould be employed according to the intention of the givers, as the peo- 
 ple of any city might do from their regularly created magiftrates ; becaufe 
 it was as imporfible for Cyrus, Alexander, or Caefar, to gain a power 
 over the armies they led, without their confent, as for Pericles, Valerius, 
 or any other dilarmcd citizen, to gain more power in their refpcd;ive cities 
 than was voluntarily conferred upon them. And I know no other dif- 
 ference between kingdoms fo conftituted by conquering armies, and fiich 
 as are cftahlifhcd in the moll orderly manner, than that the firfl ufually 
 incline more to war and violence, the latter to jullicc and peace. But 
 there have not been wanting many of the firil fort, cfpccially the nations 
 coming from the north, who were no lefs exacSt in ordaining that which 
 tended to the prefcrvation of liberty, nor lefs fevere in feeing it pun<flually 
 
 performed,
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 447 
 
 performed, than the moft regular commonwealths that ever were in the SF.GT. 32 
 world. And it can with no more reafon be pretended, that the Goths 
 received their privileges from Alan or Thcodoric, the Francs from Phara- 
 mond or Mcroveus, and the Engllih from Ina or Ethclred, than that the 
 liberty of Athens was the gift of Themiftocles or Pericles, that the empire 
 of Rome proceeded from the liberality of Brutus or Valerius, and that the 
 commonwealth of Venice, at this day, fubfifls by the favour of the Con- 
 tarini or Morofini : which muft reduce us to matter of right, fmcc that o£ 
 faft, void of right, can fignify nothing.. 
 
 SECTION 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 oppofition to what is above fald, fome allege the name of king, as if 
 there were a charm in the word ; and our author feems to put more weight 
 upon it, than in the reafons he brings to fupport his caufe. But that we 
 may fee there is no efficacy in it, and that it conveys no other right than 
 what particular nations may annex to it, we are to confider, 
 
 1. That the moft abfolute princes that are or have been in the world 
 never had the name of king ; whereas it has been frequently given to 
 thofe whofe powers have been very much reftrained. The Caefars were 
 never called kings, till the fixth age of Chriftianity. The caliphs and 
 foldan of Egypt and Babylon, the Great Turk, the cham of Tartary, or 
 the Great Mogul, never took that name, nor any other of the fame figni-- 
 fication. The czar of Mofcovy has it not, though he is as abfolute a 
 monarch, and his people as miferable flaves, as any in the world. On 
 the other fide, the chief magiftrates of Rome and Athens for fome time, 
 thofe of Sparta, Arragon, Sweden, Denmark, and England, " who could 
 '* do nothing but by law, " have been called kings. This may be 
 enough to Ihew, that a name being no way effential, what title foever is 
 given to the chief magiftrate, he can have no other power than the laws: 
 and cuftoms of his country do give, or the people confer upon him. 
 
 2. The names of magiftrates are often changed, though the power con- 
 tinue to be the fame ; and the powers are fometimes altered though the 
 name remain. When Odavius Caefar, by the force of a mad corrupted 
 foldiery, had overthrown all law and right, he took no other title in rela- 
 tion to military affairs than that of " imperator, " which in the time of 
 liberty was by the armies often given to praetors and confuls. In 
 civil matters he was, as he pretended, content witk the power of tri- 
 bune:;
 
 448 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. Ill bune*: and the like was obferved in his fucceffbr, \Tho to new-invented 
 ufurpations " gave old and approved names f- " On the other fide, thofe 
 titles, which have been rendered odious and execrable by the violent 
 exercife of an abfolute power, are fometimes made popular by moderate 
 limitations ; as in Germany, where, though the monarchy feem to be as 
 well tempered as any, the princes retain the fame names of " imperator, 
 " Caefar, " and " Augullus," as thofe had done, who by the excefs of 
 their rage and fury had defolated and corrupted the bell: part of the world. 
 
 Sometimes the name is changed, though the power in all refpedts con- 
 tinue the fame. The lords of Caftile had for many ages no other title 
 than that of count ; and when the nobility and people thought good, 
 they changed it to that of king :}:, without any addition to the power. 
 
 The fovereign magiftrate in Poland was called duke till within the lafl 
 two hundred years, when they gave the title of king to one of the Jagellan 
 family §, which title has continued to this day, though without any 
 change in the nature of the magiftracy. And I prefume, no wife man 
 will think, that if the Venetians fhould give the name of king to their 
 duke, it could confer any other power upon him, than he has already, 
 unlefs more fliould be conferred by the authority of the great council. 
 
 3. The fame names, which in fome places denote the lupreme magif- 
 tracy, in others are fubordinate, or merely titular. In England, France, 
 and Spain, dukes and earls arc fubjefts : in Germany, the eledtors and 
 princes who are called by thofe names are little lefs than fovereigns ; and 
 the dukes of Savoy, Tufcany, Mofcovy, and others, acknowledge no 
 fuperior, as well as thofe of Poland and Caftile had none, when they 
 went under thofe titles. The fime may be fald of kings. Some are 
 fubie(fl: to a foreign power, as divers of them were fubjedl to the Perfiaii 
 -and Babylonian monarchs, who for that reafon were called the kings of 
 kings. Some alfo are tributaries. When the Spaniards firft landed in 
 America, the great kings of Mexico and Peru had many others under 
 them. Threefcore and ten kings gathered up meat under the table of 
 Adonlbezek IT. The Romans had many kings depending upon them. 
 Hcr.^u and thofe of his race were of this number ; and the difpute between 
 hirn and his fons Ariftobulus and Alexander was to be determined by 
 them ; neither durft he decide the matter till it was referred to him. But 
 a right of appeal did ftill remain, as appears by the cafe of St. Paul, when 
 Agrippa was king. The kings of Mauritania, from the time of Mafinilfa, 
 
 * Pofito triumviri nomine, confulem fe fercns, et ad tuendam plebem tribun'tio jure 
 ccntentiini. Tacit. Anna). 1. i, § 2 
 
 t Proprium id Tibcrio fiii!, llekra nuper ireperta prifcis verbis obtegere. Ibid. 1. 4, § 19 
 
 % The firft who was flikd king of Caftile tsas Don P'erdinand, about the year 1036. 
 Mnj-iana, 1. g, c. i. Saa^xd. Corona Gothita. 
 
 § The Jagellan family afccnded the throne of Poland in 1386; but Prcmiflaus 11. 
 .ifliimcd the title of king, and all the badges of royalty, in 1295. — Anno 1295, Praemiflaus 
 rex ctcatur . . . et mox fok-nni ritu inundtus, diadcma rcgiuni acccpit. Cromer Dc Orig. 
 tt Reb. Geft. Polonorum, 1. 11, §1 
 
 f] Judges, th. I, V. 7 
 
 z were
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 449 
 
 were under the like dependence. Jugurtha went to Rome to juftify him- SECT. 3J 
 feUffor the death of Micipfa. Juba was commanded by the Roman magis- 
 trates Scipio^ Petreius, and Afranius. Another Juba was made king of 
 the lame country by Auguftus, and Tiridates of Armenia by Nero: and 
 infinite examples of this nature may be alleged. Moreover, their powers 
 are varioufly regulated, according to the variety of tempers in nations and 
 ages. Some have reftrained the powers that by experience were found to 
 be exorbitant ; others have difTolvcd the bonds that were laid upon them: 
 and laws relating to the inftitution, abrogation, enlargement, or reftri£tion 
 of the regal power, would be utterly infignificant, if this could not be 
 done. But fuch laws are of no efFe(3: in any other country than where 
 they are made. The lives of the Spartans did not depend upon the will 
 of Agefdaus or Leonidas, beeaufe Nabuchodonofor could kill or fave 
 whom he pleafed. And though the king of Morocco may ftab his fubjedts, 
 throw them to the lions, or hang them upon tenterhooks, yet a king of 
 Poland would probably be called to a fevere account, if he ftiould unjuftly 
 kill a lingle man. 
 
 SECTION XXXIII 
 
 THE LIBERTY OjF A PEOPLE IS THE GIFT OF GOD AND NATlTRE. 
 
 If any man aflc, how nations come to have the power of doing thefe 
 things, I anfwer, that liberty being only an exemption from the dominion 
 of another, the queftion 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 proved and juftified, liberty fubfifts, as arifmg from the 
 nature and being of a man. Tertullian, fpeaking of the emperors, fays, 
 " ab eo imperium, a quo fpiritus*;*' and we, taking man in his firft 
 condition, may juftly fay, " ab eo libertas, a quo fpiritus ; " forijio man 
 can owe more than he has received. The creature having nothing, and 
 being nothing but what the Creator makes him, muft owe all to him, and 
 nothing to any one from whom he has received nothing. Man therefore 
 muft be naturally free, unlefs he be created by another power than we 
 have yet heard of. The obedience due to parents arifes from hence, in 
 that they are the inftruments of our generation ; and we are inftrudled by 
 the light of reafon, that we ought to make great returns to thole from 
 whom under God we have received all. When they die, we are their 
 heirs, we enjoy the fame rights, and devolve the fame to our pofterity. 
 God only, who confers this right upon us, can deprive us of it : and we 
 can no way underftand that he does fo, unlefs he had fo declared by 
 
 * Inde eft imperator, unde et homo antequatn imperator : inde poteftas illi, unde et fpi- 
 ritus. Tert. Apol. § 30, p. 27 
 
 M m m exprefs
 
 450 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. Ill exprefs revelation, or had fet fome diftinguifhing marks of dominion and 
 fubjediion upon men ; and, as an ingenious perfon not long fmce faid, 
 cauied fome to be born with crowns upon their heads, and all others with 
 ' faddles upon their backs. This liberty therefore muft continue, till it be 
 either forfeited or willingly refigned. The forfeiture is hardly compre- 
 henfible in a multitude, that is not entered into any fociety ; for as they 
 are all equal, and " equals can have no right over each other*, " no man 
 can forfeit any thing to one, who can juftly demand nothing, unlefs it 
 may be by a perfonal injury, which is nothing to this cafe ; becaufe where 
 there is no fociety, one man is not bound by the adtions of another. All 
 cannot join in the fame a£l, becaufe they are joined in none ; or if they 
 fhould, no man could recover, much lefs tranfmit the forfeiture ; and 
 not being tranfmitted, it perifhes, as if it had never been, and no man 
 can claim any thing from it. 
 
 It will be no lefs difficult to bring refignation to be fubfervient to our 
 author's purpofe ; for men could not refign their liberty, unlefs they natu- 
 rally had it in themfelves. Refignation is a public declaration of their 
 allent to be governed by the perfon to whom they refign ; that is, they 
 do by that a£l conftitute him to be their governor. This neceflarily puts- 
 us upon the inquiry, why they do refign, how they will be governed, and 
 proves the governor to be their creature ; and the right of difpofing the 
 government muft be in them, or they who receive it can have none. This 
 is fo evident to common fenfe, that it were impertinent to afk who made 
 Carthage, Athens, Rome, or Venice, to be free cities. Their charters 
 were not from men, but from God and nature. When a number of 
 Phoenicians had found a port on the coaft 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, Sabines, and Tufcans, 
 met together upon the banks of the Tiber, and chofe rather to build a city 
 for themfelves, than to live in fuch as were adjacent, they carried their 
 liberty in their own breafts, and had hands and fwords 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 
 infefted Italy, and no protedion could be expected from the corrupted and 
 perifhing empire, fuch as agreed to feek a place of refuge in the fcattered 
 illands of the Adriatic gulf had no need of any man's authority, to ratify 
 the inftitution of their government. They who were the formal part of 
 the city, and had built the material, could not but have a right of govern- 
 ing it as they pleafed, fmce, if they did amifs, the hurt was only to them- 
 felves. It is probable enough, that fome of the Roman emperors, as 
 lords of the foil, might have pretended to a dominion over them, if there 
 had been any colour for it : but nothing of that kind appearing in thir- 
 teen hundred years, we are not like to hear of any fuch cavils. It is 
 agreed by mankind, that fubjc(flion and prote£lion are relative ; and that 
 
 * Par in parein non habet imperiuin, Braft. 1. i, c. 8, fol. 5 
 
 he
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 451 
 
 he who cannot protedthofe that are under him in vain pretends to^ ji sect. 33 
 dominion over them. The only ends for which governments are confti- 
 tuted, and obedience rendered to them, are the obtaining of juftice and 
 protedion ; and they who cannot provide for both give the people a right 
 of taking fuch ways as beft pleafe themfclves, in order to their own fafety. 
 
 The matter is yet more clear in relation to thofe who never were in any 
 fociety, as at the beginning, or renovation of the world after the flood ; 
 or who, upon the diifolution of the focieties to which they did once belong, 
 or by fome other accident, have been obliged to feek new habitations. 
 Such were thofe who went from Babylon upon the confufion of tongues ; 
 thofe who efcaped from Troy when it was burnt by the Grecians ; almoft 
 all the nations of Europe, with many of Afia and Africa, upon the diflb- 
 lution of the Roman empire. To which may be added a multitude of 
 northern nations, which, when they had increafed to fuch numbers, that 
 their countries could no longer nourifh them, or becaufe they wanted fkill 
 to improve their lands, were fent out to provide for themfelves ; and hav- 
 ing done fo, did ere(St many kingdoms and ftates, either by themfelves, or 
 in union and coalition with the antient inhabitants. 
 
 It -is in vain to fay, that where-ever they came, the land did belong to 
 fomebody ; and that they who came to dwell there muft be fubjedl to the 
 laws of thofe, who were lords of the foil : for that is not always true in 
 fa£t. Some come into delart countries that have no lord ; others into 
 fuch as are thinly peopled, by men who, knowing not how to improve 
 their land, do either grant part of it upon eafy terms to the new comers, 
 or grow into a union with them in the enjoyment of the whole : and 
 hiftories furnifh us with infinite examples of this nature. 
 
 If we will look into our own original, without troubling ourfelves with 
 the fenfelefs ftories of Samothes the fon of Jap bet *, and his magicians, 
 or the giants begotten by fpirits upon the thirty daughters of Danaus fent 
 from Phoenicia in a boat without fail, oars, or rudder, we (hall find, that 
 when the Romans abandoned this ifland, the inhabitants were left to a 
 full liberty of providing for themfelves : and whether we deduce our 
 original from them, or the Saxons, or from both, our anceftors were 
 perfectly free ; and the Normans having inherited the fame right when 
 they came to be one nation with the former, we cannot but continue fo 
 ftill, unlets we have enflaved ourfelves. 
 
 Nothing is more contrary to reafon, than to imagine this. When the 
 fierce barbarity of the Saxons came to be foftened by a more gentle climate, 
 the arts and religion they learned taught them to reform their manners, 
 and better enabled them to frame laws for the prcfervation of their liberty, 
 but no way diminifhed their love to it. And though the Normans might 
 define to get the lands of thofe who had joined with Plarold, and of others, 
 
 * S^motlies, qui et Dis, Celtas colonias fundavit. Berofi Antiq. ab Annio Viterbenfi. 
 1. 5, § I. — Samothes fuit frater Comeri atque Tubalis ex Japcto patre, a quo primum 
 Biitoncs, imle Galli Sainothci diili fuerunt. Ibid, in commejit. Annii. Suldeni 
 Janus Anglorum, c. i 
 
 M m m 2 into
 
 452 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. Ill into their hands, yet when they were fettled in the country, and by mcir- 
 riages united to the antient inhabitants, they became true Enghfhmen, 
 and no lefs lovers of liberty, and refolute defenders of it, than the Saxons 
 had been. There was then neither conquering Norman, nor conquered 
 Saxon, but a great and brave people compofed of both, imited in blood 
 and intereft in the defence of their common rights, which they fo well 
 maintained, that no prince fmce that time has too violently encroached 
 upon them, who, as the reward of his folly, has not lived miferably, and 
 died fhamefully. 
 
 Such adions of our anceftors do not, as I fuppofe, favour much of the 
 fubmifhon which patrimonial flaves do ufually render to the will of their 
 iord. On the contrary, whatever they did was by a power inherent in 
 themfelves to defend that liberty in which they were born. All their 
 kings were created upon the fame condition, and for the fame ends. 
 Alfred acknowledged he found and left them perfectly free; and the 
 confeffion 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 honour was, to be made head 
 of a great people ; and rigoroufly exa<Sed the performance of the ends 
 for which fuch a one was elevated, feverely puniihing thofe who bafely 
 and wickedly betrayed the truft repofed in them, and violated all that is 
 moft facred among men ; which could not have been, unlefs they were 
 naturally free ; for the liberty that has no being, cannot be defended. 
 
 SECTION XXXIV 
 
 NO VENERATION PAID, OR HONOUR CONFERRED UPON A JUST 
 AND LAWFUL MAGISTRATE, CAN DIMINISH THE 
 LIBERTY OF A NATION. 
 
 Some have fuppofed, that though the people be naturally free, and 
 magiflrates created by them, they do by fuch creations deprive themfelves 
 of that natural liberty ; and that the names of " king, fovereign lord, '* 
 and " dread fovereign, " being no way confiftent with liberty, they who 
 give fuch titles do renoimce it. Our author carries this very far, and lays 
 great weight upon the fubmifTive language ufed by the people, when they 
 '* humbly crave, that his majefty would be pleafed to grant them their 
 " accuftomed freedom of fpeech, and accefs to his perfon ; " and " give 
 " the name of fupplications and petitions to the addrefles made to him : '* 
 whereas he anfwers in the haughty language of " le roi le veut, le roi 
 " s'avifcra, " and the like. But they who talk at this rate, fhew, that 
 they neither underftand the nature of magiftracy, nor the pradice of 
 nations. Thofe who have lived in the higlicft excrcife of their liberty, 
 and have been moft tenacious of it, have thought no honour too great for 
 
 2 fuch
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 455 
 
 facli magiflirates as were eminent in the defence of their rij^hts, and were SECT.-34. 
 fct up for that end. The name of dread fovercign might juftly have been 
 given to a Roman dictator, or conful ; for tliey had the fovcreign authority 
 in their hands, and power fufficient for its execution. Whilft their magi- 
 •ftracy continued, they were a terror to the fame men, whofe axes "and 
 rods had been a teiTor to them the year or month before, and might be 
 fo again flie next. The Romans thought they could not !)e guilty of 
 excels in carrying the power and veneration due to their didator to the 
 higheft : and Livy tells us, that his " edicts were eftecmed facred *. " I 
 have already fliewn, that this haughty people, who might have com- 
 manded, condefcended to join with their tribunes in a petition to the 
 didator Papirius for the life of Quintus Fabius, who had fought a battle 
 in his abfence, and without his order, though he had gained a great and 
 memorable viftoiy. The fame Fabius, when conful, was commended 
 by his father Q^ Fabius Maximus, for obliging him, by his lidtors, to 
 difmount from his horfe, and to pay him the fame refped that was due 
 from others. The tribunes of the people, who were inftituted for the 
 prefervation of liberty, Avere alfo efteemed facred and inviolable, as appears 
 by that phrafe, " facrofanda tribunorum poteftas f, " fo common in their 
 antient writers. No man, I prefume, thinks any monarchy more limited, 
 or more clearly derived from a delegated power, than that of the German 
 emperors ; and yet " facra Caefarea majeftas " is the public ftile. Nay, 
 the Hollanders at this day call their burgomafters, though they fee them 
 felling herring or tar, " high and mighty lords, " as foon as they are 
 advanced to be of the thirty fix, forty two, or forty eight magiftrates of 
 a fmall town. It is no wonder therefore, if a great nation fhould think it 
 conducing to their own glory, to give magnificent titles, and ufe fubmif- 
 five language, to that one man, whom they fet up to be their head ; 
 efpecially, if we confider, that they came from a country where fuch titles 
 and language were principally invented. 
 
 Among the Romans and Grecians we hear nothing of majefty, highnefs, 
 ferenity, and excellence, appropriated to a fingle perfon ; but receive 
 them from Germany, and other northern countries. We find " majeftas 
 " populi Romani, " and " majeftas imperii if, " in their heft authors ; but 
 no man, fpeaking to Julius or Auguftus, or even to the vaineft of their 
 fucceflbrs, ever ufed thofe empty titles, nor took upon themfelves the 
 name of fervants, as we do to every fellow we meet in the ftreets. When 
 fuch ways of fpeaking are once introduced they muft needs fwell to a 
 more than ordinary height in all tranfadions with princes. Moft of them 
 naturally delight in vanity, and courtiers never fpeak more truth, than ■■ 
 
 * Di(9:atoris ediiSum pro numine femper obfervatum. Liv. 1. 8, c. 34 
 
 f Tribunes vetere jurejurando plebis, cum primum earn poteftatem creavit, facrofan(flos 
 
 efTe. Liv. 1. 3, c. 55. — Jure facrofandlae poteftatis. Ibid. ]. 29, c. 20 
 
 X Fit S. C. ut confules operam darent, ut imperium populi Romani majeftafque confer- 
 
 varetur. Cic. Orat. pro Rab. § 20. Me ex manibus impiis eripite, per majeftatem imperii, 
 
 per amicitiae fidem. Sail. Bell. Jug. § 26, Urbem non pro majeftate imperii ornatam. 
 
 Suet, in vita Augufti, § 28 
 
 when
 
 454 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. Ill when they moft extol their mafters, and aflume to themfelves the names 
 that beft exprefs the n^'oft abje<?: llavery. Thefe, being brought into 
 mode, like all ill cuftoms, increafe by ufe ; and then no man can omit 
 them without bringing that hatred and danger upon himfelf, which few 
 will- undergo, except for fomething that is evidently of great importance. 
 Matters of ceremony and title, at the firft, feem not to be fo ; and, being 
 for fome time negleded, they acquire fuch ftrength as not to be eafily 
 removed. From private ufage they pafs into public ads ; and thofe flat- 
 terers who gave a beginning to them, propofmg them in public councils, 
 where too many of that fort have always infmuated themfelves, gain 
 credit enough to make them pafs. This work was farther advanced by 
 the church of Rome, according to their cuftom of favouring that moft, 
 which is moft vain and corrupt ; and it has been ufual with the popes, 
 and their adherents, liberally to gratify princes for fervices rendered to the 
 church, vv'ith titles that tended only to the prejudice of the people. Thefe 
 poilonous plants, having taken root, grew up fo faft, that the titles 
 which, within the fpace of a hundred years, were thought fufficient for 
 the kings and queens of England, have of late been given to Monk, and 
 his honourable dutchefs. New phrafes have been invented to pleafe 
 princes, or the fenieofthe old perverted, as has happened to that of" le 
 " roi s'avifera : " and that, which was no more than a liberty to confult 
 with the lords upon a bill prefented by the commons, is by fome men now 
 taken for a right inherent in the king of denying fuch bills as may be 
 offered to him by the lords and commons ; though the coronation-oath 
 oblige him to hold, keep, and defend the juft laws and cuftoms, " quas 
 " vulgus elegerlt. " And, if a ftop be not put to this exorbitant abufe, 
 the words flill remaining in ads of parliament, which ftiew that their 
 ads are our laws, may perhaps be alfo abolilhed. 
 
 But though this fhould come to pafs, by the flacknefs of the lords ard 
 commons, it could neither create a new right in the king, nor diminifh 
 that of the people : but it might give a better colour to thofe who are 
 enemies to their country, to render the power of the crown arbitrary, than 
 any thing that is yet among us.
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 455. 
 
 SECTION XXXV 
 
 THE AUTHORITY GIVEN BY OUR LAW TO THE ACTS PERFORMED 
 
 Z DE FACTO DETRACTS NOTHING FROM THI 
 
 RIGHT O'F CREATING WHOM THEY PLEASE. 
 
 BY A KING DE FACTO DETRACTS NOTHING FROM THE PEOPLE'S- 
 
 They who have more regard to the prevailing power than to right, and' 
 lay great weight upon the flatute of Henry the feventh *, which autho- 
 rizes the adls of a " king de fadto," feem not to confider, that thereby they 
 deftroy all the pretended right of inheritance ; that he only is king " de 
 " fadlo, " who is received by the people ; and that this reception could nei- 
 ther be of any value in itfelf, nor be made valid by a ftatute, unlefs the peo- 
 ple, and their reprefentatives, who make the ftatute, had in themfelvcs the 
 power of receiving, authorizing, and creating whom they pleafe. For he is 
 not king " de fado " who calls himfelf fo, as Pcrkin or Simnel, but he who,- 
 by the confent of the nation, is poflefled of the regal power. If there 
 were fuch a thing in nature, as a natural lord over every country, and if 
 the right muft go by defcent, it would be impoffible for any other man' 
 to acquire it, or for the people to confer it upon him, and to give the 
 authority to the adts of one, who neither is, nor can be, a king, which' 
 belongs only to him who has the right inherent in himfelf, and infcparable 
 from him. Neither can it be denied, that the fame power which gives 
 the validity to fuch ads as are performed by one who is not a king, that 
 belongs to thofe of a true king, may alfo make him king : for the eflence 
 of a king confifts in the validity of his ads. And it is equally abfurd for 
 one to pretend to be a king, whofe ads as king are not valid, as that his 
 own can be valid, if thofe of another are ; for then the fame indivilible 
 right which our author, and thofe of his principles, aifert to be infcparable 
 from the perfOn, would be at the fame time exercifed and enjoyed by 
 two diftind and contrary powers. 
 
 Moreover, it may be obferved, that this ftatute was made, after fre- 
 quent and bloody wars concerning titles to the crown ; and whether the 
 caufe were good or bad, thofe who were overcome were not only fubjed 
 to be killed in the field, but afterwards to be profecuted as traitors under 
 
 * The preamble of the ftatute of ii Hen. vii, c. i — " The king our fovereign lord 
 
 " calling to remembra-ice the duty of allegiance of his fubjeCts of this his realm, and that 
 
 " they, by reafon of the fame, are bound ro ferve their pr:iice and fovereign lord for the. 
 
 " TIME BEING ill his wars, for the defence of him and the land, againft every rebellion, 
 
 *' power, and might reared againft him, and vifith him to enter and abide in fcrvice in 
 
 " battle, if cafe fo require; and that f,_.r the fame fervice, what fortune ever fall by chance 
 
 " in the fame battle, againft the mind and will of the prince (as in this land fometime paft 
 
 " hath been feen) it is not reafon.ible, but againft all lawj, reafon, and good con^ 
 
 " fcience, that the faid fubjects going with their fovereign lord in wars, attending upon 
 
 " him in his perfon, or being in other places by his conimandnicnt, within this land or 
 
 *' without, anything fhould lofe or foil'eu, for doing their duty and fervice of allegiance. 
 
 *' It be therefore ordained, ena<5ted, &c. " 
 
 the-
 
 456 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP, in the colour of law. He who gained the vidlory was always fet np to be 
 king by thofe of his party ; and he never failed to proceed agamft his 
 enemies as rebels. This introduced a horrid feries of the moft deftruAive 
 mifchiefs. The fortune of war varied often ; and I think it may be faid* 
 that there were few, if any, great families in England, that were not 
 either deftroyed, or at leaft fo far fhaken, as to lofe their chiefs, and 
 many confiderable branches of them : and experience taught, that inftead 
 of gaining any advantage to the public, in point of government, he for 
 whom they fought feldom proved better than his enemy. Tliey faw 
 that the like might again happen, though the title of the reigning king 
 Ihould be as clear, as defceat of blood could make it. This brought 
 things into an uneafy pofture ; and it is not flrange, that both tlie nobility 
 and commonalty fhould be weary of it. No law could prevent the dan- 
 gers of battle ; for he that had followers, and would venture himfelf^ 
 might bring them to fuch a decifion, as was only ia the hand of God. 
 But thinking no more could juftly be required to the full performance of 
 their duty to the king, than to expofe themfelves to the hazard of battle 
 for him, and not being anfwerable for the fuccefs, they would not have 
 that law which they endeavoured to- fupport, turned to their deftru^ioa 
 by their enemies, 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 adls of a king without a title, and juflify them for 
 a£ting under him, it is evident, that the power of the law wns in their 
 hands, and that the a£ls of the perfon who enjoyed the crown, were of 
 no value in themfelves- The law had been impertinent if it could have 
 been done without law ; and the intervention of the parliament ufelefs, 
 if the kings " de fado " could have given authority to their own adts. 
 But if the parliament could m:iJce that to have the eS'e£t of law, which 
 was not law, and exem.pt thofe that ailed according to it from the penal- 
 ties of the law, and give the fame force to the adls 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 fo ; that is to fay, all depends entirely upon their 
 authority. 
 
 Befides, he is not king who aflumes the title to himifelf, or is fet up by 
 , a corrupt party ;. but he who, according to the ufages required in the 
 
 cafe, is made king. If thefe are wanting, he is neither " de fadlo, " nor 
 " de jure, " but " tyrannus fine tituio. " Neverthelefs, this very man, 
 if he eomes to be received by the people, and placed in the throne, he is 
 thereby made king " de fadto. " His a£ls are valid in law ; the fame 
 fervice is due to him as to any other ; they who render it are in the fame 
 manner protctted by the law; that is to fay, he is truly king. If our 
 author therefore do allow fuch to be kings, he muft confels that power to 
 be good, which makes them fo, when tlicy have no right in themfelves. 
 If he deny it, he muft not only deny, that there is any fuch thing as a 
 king " de fatto, " which the ftatutc acknowledges, but that we ever had 
 
 any
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 457 
 
 any king in England ; for wc never had any other than fuch, as I have sect. 36 
 proved before. 
 
 By the fame means he will fo unravel all the law, that no man flial! 
 know what he has, or what he ought to do or avoid ; and will lind no 
 remedy for this, unlefs he allow, that laws made without kings are as 
 good as thofe made with them, which returns to my purpofb : for they 
 who have the power of making laws may by law make a king, as well 
 as any other magiftrate. And indeed the intention of this ftatute could be 
 no other than to fecure mens perfons and poflTelfions, and fo far to declare 
 the poAver of giving and taking away the crown to be in the parliament, 
 as to remove all difputes concerning titles, and to make him to be a legal 
 Jcing, whom they acknowledge to be king. 
 
 SECTION XXXVI 
 
 THE GENERAL REVOLT OF A NATION CANNOT BE CALLED 
 
 A REBELLION. 
 
 As impoflors feldom make lyes to pafs in the world, without putting falfe 
 names upon things, fuch as our author endeavour to perfuade the people 
 they ought not to defend their liberties, by giving the name of rebellion 
 tothemoftjuft and honourable actions, that have been performed for the. 
 prefervation of them ; and, to aggravate the matter, tell us, that rebel- 
 lion is like the fm of witchcraft. But thofe who feek after truth will eafily 
 find, that there can be no fuch thing in the world as the rebellion of a 
 nation againft its own magiftrates, and that rebellion is not always evil. 
 That this may appear, it will not be amifs to confuler the word, as well 
 as the thing commonly underftood by it, as it is ufed in an evil fenfe. 
 
 The word is taken from the Latin " rebellarc, " which fignifies no 
 more than to renew a war. When a town or province had been fubdued 
 by the Romans, and brought under their dominion, if they violated their 
 faith after the fettlement of peace, and invaded their mafters, who had 
 fpared them, they were faid to rebel. But it had been more abfurd to 
 apply that word to the people that rofe againfl the decemviri, kings, or 
 other magiftrates, than to the Parthians, or any of thofe nations who had 
 no dependence upon them ; for all the circumftances that fhould make a 
 rebellion were w^anting, the word implying a fuperiority in them againfh 
 whom it is, as well as the breach of an eftablifhcd peace. But though 
 every private man, fingly taken, be fubjed to the commands of the 
 magiftrate, the w^ hole body of the people is not fo; 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 meafured by the general 
 law; and that law, regarding the welfare of the people, cannot fet'up the 
 interffft of one or a few men againft the public. The whole body there- 
 
 N n n fore
 
 458 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. Ill fore of a nation cannot be tied to any other obedience than is confiftent 
 with the common good, according to their own judgment : and having 
 never been fubdued, or brought to terms of peace with their magiftrates, 
 they cannot be faid to revolt or rebel againft them, to whom they owe no 
 more than feems good to themfelves, and who are nothing of or by them- 
 felves, more than other men. 
 
 Again, the thing fignified by rebellion is not always evil. For, though 
 every fubdued nation muft acknowledge a fuperiority in thofe who have 
 fubdued them, and rebellion do imply a breach of the peace, yet that 
 fuperiority is not infinite ; the peace may be broken upon juft grounds, 
 and it may be neither a crime nor infamy to do it. The Privernates had 
 been more than once fubdued by the Romans, and had as often rebelled. 
 Their city was at lafl taken by Plautius the conful, after their leader 
 Vitruvius, and great numbers of their fenate and people, had been killed. 
 Being reduced to a low condition, they fent ambafladors to Rome to defire 
 peace ; where, when a fenator afked them what punifhment they deferved, 
 one of them anfwered, " the fame which they deferve, who think them- 
 " felves worthy of liberty.*" The conful then demanded, " what kind 
 " of peace might be expected from them, if the punifhment fhould be 
 " remitted. " The ambaffador anfwered, " if the terms you give be good, 
 *' the peace will be obferved by us faithfully and perpetually ; if bad, it 
 " will foon be broken f." And though fome were offended with the 
 ferocity of the anfwer, yet the beft part of the fenate approved it, as 
 *' worthy of a man and a freeman :{:;" and confeffmg that no man or 
 nation would continue under an uneafy condition, longer than they were 
 compelled by force, faid, " they only were fit to be made Romans, who 
 " thought nothing valuable but liberty §. " Upon which they were all 
 made citizens of Rome, and obtained whatever they had delired. 
 
 I know not how tlus matter can be carried to a greater height ; for if it 
 were pofTible, that a people refiftlng oppreffion and vindicating their own 
 liberty could commit a crime, and incur either guilt or infamy, the Pri- 
 vernates did, who had been often fubdued, and often pardoned ; bur, 
 even in the judgment of their conquerors, whom they had offended, the 
 refolution they profeffed of flandlng to no agreement, Impofed upon them 
 by neccffity, was accounted the highefl teftlmony of fuch a virtue, as 
 rendered them worthy to be admitted into a fociety and equality with 
 themfelves, who were the mofl brave and virtuous people of the world. 
 
 But if the patience of a conquered people may have limits, and they, 
 
 who will not bear oppreffion froni thofe who had fpared their lives, may 
 
 deferve praife and reward from their conquerors, it would be madnefs to 
 
 ' think, that any nation can be obliged to bear whatever their own magif- 
 
 * Earn quam mcrentiir, qui fc libertate Jignos cenfcnt, Liv. ]. 8, c. 21 
 
 I Si bonam dederiti;, ct fidam et perpctuam ; "fi malam, haud diuturiiam. lb I. 
 J Viri, ct libcri vocem auditam. Ibid. ; 
 
 ^ Eos dcmum, qui nihil piacterquam dc libertate cogitant, dignos eflb, qui jlomani 
 iiant. Ibid, ' -v 
 
 trattb
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 459 
 
 trates think fit to do againft them. This may fccm ftrange to thofe -who sect. 36 
 talk fo much of conqaefts made by kings, immunities, hbcrties, and 
 privileges, granted to nations, oaths of allegiance taken, and wonderful 
 benefits conferred upon them. l>ut, having already faid as much as is 
 needful concerning conquefls, and that the magiftrate, who has notliing 
 except what is given to him, can ordy difpcnle out of the public Hock 
 fucli franchifes and privileges as he has received for the reward of fervices 
 done to the country, and encouragement of virtue, I fhall at prefent keep 
 myfelf to the two laft points. 
 
 Allegiance fignifies no more (as the words " ad legeni" declare) than 
 fuch an obedience as the law requires. But as the law can require nothing 
 from the whole people, who are mafters of it, allegiance can only relate 
 to particulars, and not to the whole nation. No oath can bind any other than 
 thofe who take it, and that only in the true fenfe and meaning of it : but 
 fmgle men only take this oath, and therefore fingle men are only obliged 
 to keep it. The body of a people neither does, nor can perform any 
 fuch a£l. Agreements and contracts have been made ; as the tribe of 
 Judah, and the reft of Ifrael afterward, made a covenant with David, 
 upon which they made him king ; but no wife man can think, that the 
 nation did thereby make themfelves the creature of their own creature. 
 
 The fenfe alfo of an oath ought to be confidered. No man can by an 
 oath be obliged to any thing beyond, or contrary to the true meaning of 
 it. Private men, who fwear obedience " ad legem, " fwear no obedience 
 *' extra " or " contra legem. " Whatever they promife or fwear can 
 detract nothing from the public liberty, which the law principally intends 
 to preferve. Though many of them may be obliged, in their feveral 
 ftations and capacities, to render peculiar fervices to a prince, the people 
 continue as free as the internal thoughts of a man, and cannot but have a 
 right to preferve their liberty, or avenge the violation. 
 
 If matters are well examined, perhaps not many magiftrates can pre- 
 tend to much upon the title of merit, efpecially if they or their progenitors 
 have continued long in office. The conveniences annexed to the exercife 
 of the fovereign power may be thought fufficient to pay fuch fcores, as 
 they grow due, even to the beft : and as things of that nature are handled, 
 I think it will hardly be found, that all princes can pretend to an irrefiftible 
 power upon the account of beneficence to their people. When the family 
 of the Medici came to be mafters of Tufcany, that country was, without ' 
 
 difpute, in men, money, and arms, one of the moft flouriftiing provinces 
 in the world, as appears by Machiavel's account, and the relation of 
 what happened between Charles the eighth, and the magiftrates of Flo- 
 rence, which I have mentioned already from Guicciardini. Now, who- 
 ever fliall confider the ftrength of that country in thofe days, together 
 v/ith what it might have been in the fpace of a hundred and forty years, 
 in which they have had no war, nor any other plague, than the extortion, 
 fraud, rapine, and cruelty of their princes, and compare it with their 
 prefent defolate, wretched, and contemptible condition, may, if he plcafe, 
 
 N n n 2 think,
 
 46o DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. Ill 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 
 beneficence. The like may be faid of the duke of Savoy, who, pretend- 
 ing, upon I know not what account, that every peafant in the dutchy 
 ought to pay him two crowns every half-year, did in 1662 fubtilly iind 
 out, that in every year there were thirteen halves ; fo that a poor man, 
 who had nothing but what he gained by hard labour, was through his 
 fatherly care and beneficence forced to pay fix and twenty crowns to his 
 royal highnefs, to be employed in his difcreet and virtuous pleafures at Turin. 
 
 The condition of the feventeen provinces of the Netherlands (and even 
 of Spain itfelf ) when they fell to the houfe of Auftria, was of the lame 
 nature : and I will confefs as much as can be required, if any other marks 
 of their government do remain, than fuch as are manifeft evidences of 
 their pride, avarice, luxury, and cruelty. 
 
 France, in outward appearance, makes a better fhew ; but nothing la 
 this world is more miferable, than that people under the fatherly care of 
 their triumphant monarch. The beft of their condition is like affes and 
 maftifi^-dogs, to work and fight, to be opprefTed and killed for him ; and 
 thofe among them, who have any underftanding, well know, that 
 their induftry, courage, and good fuccefs, is not only unprofitable, but 
 deftrudive to them ; and that, by increafing the power of their mafter, 
 they add weight to their own chains. And if any prince, o-r fuceeffion of 
 princes, have made a more modeft ufe of their power, or more faithfully 
 difchargcd the truft repofed in them, it muft be imputed peculiarly to them, 
 as a tcitim.ony of their perfonal virtue, and can have no eff"edl upon others.. 
 
 The rights therefore of kings are not grounded upon conqueft :. the 
 liberties of nations do not arile from the grants of their princes : the oath 
 of allegiance binds no private man to more than the law direds, and has. 
 no influence upon the whole body of every nation. Many princes are 
 known to their fubjeds only by the injuries, lofies, and mifchiefs, 
 brought upon them. Such as are good and juft ought to be rewarded for 
 their perfonal virtue, but can confer no right upon thofe who no way 
 rcfemble them ; and whoever pretends to that merit mull prove it by his. 
 adions. Rebellion, being nothing but a renewed war, can never be- 
 againft a gcvcrnnient that was not cflabliihed by war, and of itfelf isi 
 neither good nor evil, more than any other war ; but is juft or unjuft, 
 • according to the caufe or manner of it. liefides, that rebellion, which by> 
 
 Samuel is compared to witchcraft *, is not of private men, or a people,- 
 againft the prince, but of the prince againft Gcd. The Ifraelites are ofteru 
 faid to have rebelled againft the law, word, or command of God; but 
 though they frequently oppofcd their kings, I do not fijid rebellion 
 imputed to them on that account, nor any ill charader put upon fuch 
 adions. We are told alfo of fome kings who had been fubdued, and 
 afterwards, rebelled againft Chedorlaom.cr, and other kings ; but their 
 
 * iSain. ch. 115, V. 23 
 
 caufi"
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 461 
 
 caufe is not blamed, and we have fome reafon to believe it good, becaufe sect. ^6 
 
 Abraham took part with thofe who had rebelled. However, it can be of 
 
 no prejudice to the caufe I defend : for though it were true, that thofe 
 
 fubducd kings could not juftly rife againft the perfon who had fubducd 
 
 them, or that generally no king, being once vanquiflicd, could have a 
 
 right of rebellion agaiiift his conqueror, it could have no relation to the 
 
 actions of a people vindicating their own laws and liberties againfl; a prince 
 
 who violates them ; for that war which never was can never be renewed. 
 
 And if it be true in any cafe, that hands and fwords are given to men, 
 
 that they only may be flaves who have no courage, it mufl be when liberty 
 
 is overthrown by thofe, who of all men ought with the utmoll; indullry 
 
 and vigour to have defended it. 
 
 That this fliould be known, is not only ncceflary for the fafety of 
 nations, but advantageous to fuch kings as are wife and good. They 
 who know the frailty of human nature will always dillruft their own; 
 and deflring only to do what they ought, will be glad to be reftrained 
 from that which they ought not to do. Being taught by reafon and 
 experience, that nations delight in the peace and juftice of a good govern- 
 ment, they will never fear a general infurredtion, whilft they take care it:- 
 be rightly adminiftered ; and finding themfelves by this means to he fafe 
 will never be unwilling, that their children or fucceffbrs fhould be. obliged 
 to tread in the fame fteps. 
 
 If it be faid, that this may fometimes caufe diforders, I acknowledge it j 
 but no human condition being perfed:, fuch a one is to be chofen, which 
 carries with it the moft tolerable inconveniences : and it being much better, 
 that the irregularities and exceffes of a prince fliould be retrained or fup- 
 preiTed, than that whole nations fhould perifh by them, thofe conftitutions 
 that make the befl: provifion againfl: the greatell evils are mofl: to be com- 
 mended. If governments were infiituted to gratify the lufls of one man, 
 thofe could not be good that fet limits to th^m ; but all reafonable men 
 confeffmg that they are inftituted for the good of nations, they only caa 
 deferve praife, who above all things endeavour to procure it, and appoint 
 means proportioned to that end. The great variety of governments^ 
 which we fee in the world, is nothing but the efl'edf; of this care ; ajid all 
 nations have been, and are more or lefs happy, as they or their anceffors- ■ 
 have had vigour of fpirit, integrity of manners, and wifdom to invent and . 
 ellablifti fuch orders, as have better or worfe provided for this common 
 good, which was fought by all. But as no rule can be fo exadl as to 
 make provifion againfl all conteflations ; and all difputes about right do- 
 naturally end in force when juftice is denied (ill men never willingly fub- 
 mitting to any decifion-, that is contrary to their palTions and interefts) the 
 beft conftitutions are of no value, if there be not a power to fupport them. 
 This power firft exerts itfelf in th-e executioa of jullice by the ordinary 
 officers. But no nation having been fo happy, as not fometimes to pro- 
 duce fuch princes as Edward the iccond and Richard the fecond, and fuch 
 Biinilltrs, as Gaveflon, Spencer, and Trefilian, the ordinary officers of 
 
 juftice
 
 462 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. Ill juftice often want the will, and always the power, to reflraln them. So 
 that the rights and liberties of a nation muft be utterly fubverted and 
 abolifhed, if the power of the whole may not be employed to aflert them, 
 or punifh the violation of them. But as it is the fundamental right of 
 every nation to be goyerned by fuch laws, in fuch manner, and by fuch 
 perfons, as they think moft conducing to their own good, they cannot 
 be accountable to any but themfelves for what they do in that moft 
 important affair. 
 
 SECTION XXXVII 
 
 THE ENGLISH GOVERNMENT WAS NOT ILL CONSTITUTED, THE 
 
 DEFECTS MORE LATELY OBSERVED PROCEEDING FROM THE 
 
 CHANGE OF MANNERS, AND CORRUPTION OF THE TIMES. 
 
 I am not ignorant, that many honefl and good men, acknowledging thefe 
 rights, and the care of our anceftors to preferve them, think they wanted 
 wifdom rightly to proportionate the means to the end. It is not enough, 
 fay they, for the general of an army to defire victory ; he only can deferve 
 praife, who has fkill, induftry, and courage, to take the beft meafures of 
 obtaining it. Neither is it enough for wile legiflators to preferve liberty, 
 and to eredl fuch a government as may ftand for a time ; but to fet fuch 
 clear rules to thofe, who are to put it in execution, that every man may 
 know when they tranfgrefs ; and appoint fuch means for reftraining or 
 punifhing them, as may be ufed fpeedily, furely, and effectually, without 
 danger to the public. Sparta being thus conftituted, we hardly find, 
 that, for more than eight hundred years, any king prefumed to pafs the 
 limits prefcribed by the law. If any Roman conful grew infolent, he 
 might be reduced to order without blood, or danger to the public; and 
 no dictator ever ufurped a power over liberty till the time of Sylla, when 
 all things in the city were fo changed, that the antient foundations were 
 become too narrow. In Venice ftie power of the duke is fo circuml'cribed, 
 that in 1300 years, no one, except Falerio and Tiepoli, has dared to 
 attempt any thing againft the laws : and they were immediately fupprelTed 
 with little commotion in the city. On the other lide, our law is fo 
 ambiguous, perplexed, and intricate, that it is hard to know when it is 
 broken. In all the public contcfts we have had, men of good judgment 
 and integrity have followed both parties. The means of tranfgreirmg, 
 and procuring partifans to make good by force the moft notorious viola- 
 tionii of liberty, have been lb eafy, that no prince, who has endeavoured 
 it, ever failed to get great number of followers, and to do infinite mif- 
 i-.hicfp, before he could be removed. The nation has been brought to 
 light againfl thofe they had made to be what they were, upon the unequal 
 terms of hazarding all againft nothing. If they had fucccfs, they gained 
 
 no
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 463 
 
 no more than what was their own before, and which the law ought to have sect. 37 
 fecured : whereas it is evident, that if at any one time the contrary had 
 happened, the nation had been utterly enflaved ; and no victory was ever 
 gained without the lofs of much noble and innocent blood. 
 
 To this I anfwer, that no right judgment can be given of human 
 things, without a particular regard to the time in which they palTed. We 
 efteem Scipio, Hannibal, Pyrrhus, Alexander, Epaminondas, and Caefar, 
 to have been admirable commanders in war, bccaufe they had in a moll 
 eminent degree all the qualities that could make them fo, and knew beft 
 how to employ the arms then in ufe according to the difcipline of tlicif 
 times ; and yet no man doubts, . that if the molt fkilful of them could be 
 raifed from the grave, reftored to the utmofl vigour of mind and body, fet 
 at the head of the belt armies he ever commanded, and placed 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 thole parts, as 
 they are now fortified and defended ; but would mofl: certainly be beaten 
 by any infignificant fellow with a fmall number of men, furnilhed with 
 fuch arms as are now in ufe, and following the methods now pradtifed. 
 Nay, the manner of marching, encamping, befieglng, attacking, defend- 
 ing, and fighting, is fo much altered within the laft threefcore years, that 
 no man, obferving the difcipline that was then thought to be the beft, 
 could polTibly defend himfelf againft that which has been fince found out, 
 though the terms are ftill the fame. And if it be confidered, that political 
 matters are fubjctSt to the fame mutations (as certainly they are) it will be 
 fiafEcient to excufe our anceftors, who, fuiting their government to the 
 ages in which they lived, could neither forefee the changes, that might 
 happen in future generations, nor appoint remedies for the mifchiefs they 
 did not forefee. 
 
 They knew that the kings of feveral nations had been kept within the 
 limits of the lav/, by the virtue and power of a great and brave nobility ; 
 and that no other way of fapporting a mixed monarchy had ever been 
 known in the world, than by putting the balance Into the hands of thofe 
 who had the greateft intereft in nations, and who by birth and eftate 
 enjoyed greater advantage than kings could confer upon them for rewards 
 of betraying their country. They knew, that when the nobility was fo 
 great as not eafily to be numbered, the little that was left to the king's 
 difpofal was not fufficient to corrupt many ; and if fome might fall under 
 the temptation, thofe who continued in their integrity would eafily be 
 able to chaftife them for deferting the public caufe, and by that means 
 deter kings from endeavouring to feduce them from their duty. . Whilfl 
 things continued In this pofture, kings might fifely be trufted (with the 
 advice of their council) to confer the commands of the militia in towns 
 and provinces upon the moft eminent men in them : and whllft thofe kings 
 were exercifed in almofl perpetual wars, and placed their glory in the 
 greatnefs of the a(fi:ions they atchieved by the power and valour of their 
 people, it was their intereft always to choofe fuch as feemed beft to deferve 
 
 that
 
 464 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. Ill t^^^ ^^onour. It was not to be imagined, that through the weaknels of 
 fome, and malice of others, thofe dignities fhould by degrees be turned 
 into empty titles, and become the rewards of the greatefl crimes, and the 
 vileft fervices ; or that the nobleft of their defcendents, for want of them, 
 fliould be brought under the name of commoners, and deprived of all pri- 
 vileges, except fuch as were common to them with their grooms. Such a 
 ftupendous change being in procefs of time infenfibly introduced, the 
 foundations of that government, which they had eftabliflied, were 
 removed, and the fuperftrudlure overthrown. The balance by which it 
 fubfifted was broken ; and it is as impoffible to reftore it, as for moft of 
 thofe who at this day go under the name of noblemen, to perform the 
 duties required from the antient nobility of England. And though th^re 
 were a charm in the name, and thofe who have it fhould be immediately 
 filled with a fpirit like to that which animated our anceftors, and endea- 
 vour to deferve the honours they poflefs, by fuch fervices to the country 
 as they ought to have performed before they had them, they would not 
 be able to accomplifh it. They have neither the intereft nor the eftates 
 required for fo great a work. Thole who have ellates at a rack-rent 
 have no dependents. Their tenants, when they have paid what is agreed, 
 owe them nothing ; and knowing they fliall be turned out of their tene- 
 ments, as foon 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 loft, ilie lords liave only more money to fpend or 
 lay up than others, but no command of men ; and can therefore neither 
 proted: the weak, nor curb the infolent. By this means, all things have 
 been brought into the hands of the king, and the commoners ; and there 
 is nothing left to cement thtm, and to maintain the union. The perpe- 
 tual jarrings we hear every day, the divifion of the nation into fuch 
 fatlions, as threaten us with ruin, and all the diforders that we fee or fear, 
 are the effeds of this rupture. Thefe things are not to be imputed to our 
 original conffitutions, but to thofe who have fubverted them. And if 
 they who by corrupting, changing, enervating, and annihilating the 
 nobility, which, was the principal fupport of the antient regular monarchy, 
 have driven thofe who are truly noblemen into the fame intereft and name 
 with the commons, and by that means increafed a party which never was, 
 and, I think, never can be, united to the court, they are to anfvver for the 
 conlequenccs ; and if they perifh, their deftrudtion is from themfelves. 
 - The inconveniences therefore proceed not from the inftitution, but from 
 the innovation. The law was plain, but it has been induftrioully per- 
 plexed : they who were to have ujjheld it are overthrown. That which 
 might have been eafily performed when the people was armed, and had 
 a great, ftrong, virtuous, and powerful nobility to lead them, is made 
 difficult, novv^ they arc difarmed, and that nobility abolifhed. Our 
 anccftoru may evidently appear, not only to have intended well, but to 
 have taken a right courfe to accomplifli what they intended. This had 
 eifcd a.^ long as the caufe continued ; and the only fault that can be 
 
 aicribed
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 46'^ 
 
 Afcrlbed to that which they eftabliflied is, that it has not proved to be per- sect. 38 
 petual ; which is no more than may be juftly laid of the beft human con- 
 llitutions, that ever have been in the world. If we will be juft to our 
 anceftors, it will become us in pur time rather to purfue what we know 
 they intended, and by new conllitutions to repair the breaches made upon 
 the old, than to accufe them of the defcQs that will for ever attend the 
 actions of men. Taking our affairs at the word, we fliall foon lind, that 
 if we have the fame fpirit they had, we may eafily reftore our nation to 
 its antient liberty, dignity and happinefs ; and if we do not, the fault is 
 owing to ourfelves, and not to any want of virtue and wifdom in them. 
 
 SECTION XXXVIII 
 
 TflE POWER OF CALLING AND DISSOLVING PARLIAMENTS 19 
 NOT SIMPLY IN THE KING. THE VARIETY OF CUSTOMS IN 
 CHOOSING PARLIAMENT-MEN, AND THE ERRORS A PEOPLE MAY 
 COiMMIT, NEITHER PROVE, THAT KINGS ARE OR OUGHT TO 
 
 BE ABSOLUTE. 
 
 The original of magiftratical power, the intention of our anceftors in its 
 creation, and the ways prefcribed for the direcftion and limitation of it may, 
 I prcfume, fufficiently appear by what has been faid. But becaufe our 
 author, taking hold of every twig, pretends, " that kings may call and 
 " diffolve parliaments at their pleafure, " and from thence infers the 
 power to be wholly in tbem ; alleges the various cuftoms in feveral parts 
 of this nation, ufed in the elediions of parliament-men, to proceed from 
 the king's will ; and becaufe a people may commit errors, thinks all 
 power ought to be put into the hands of the king : 
 
 I anfwer, i. that the power of calling and diflblving parliaments is not 
 fnnply in kings. They may call parliaments, if there be occafion, at 
 times when the law does not exaft it ; they are placed as fentinels, and 
 ought vigilantly to obferve the motions of the enemy, and give notice of 
 his approach : but if the fentinel fall afleep, negled: his duty, or malici- 
 oufly endeavour to betray the city, thofe who are concerned may make 
 life of all other means to know their danger, and to preferve themfelves. 
 The ignorance, incapacity, negligence, or luxury of a king, is a great 
 calamity to a nation, and his malice is worfe, but not an irreparable ruin. 
 Remedies may be, and often have been found againft the worft of their 
 vices. The laft French kings of the races of Meroveus and Pepin brought 
 many mifchiefs upon the kingdom, but the deftrudlion was prevented. 
 Edward the fecond and Richard the fecond of England were not unlike 
 them, and we know by what means the nation w^as preferved. The 
 queftion was not who had the right, or who ought to call parliaments, 
 but how the commonwealth might be faved from ruin. The confuls, or 
 
 O o o other
 
 466 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. in other chief magiftrates in Rome, had certainly a right of aflembllng and 
 difmifling the fenate. But when Hannibal was at the gates, or any other 
 imminent danger threatened them with deftru£tion, if that magiftrate had 
 been drunk, mad, or gained by the enemy, no wife man can think, that 
 formalities were to have been obferved. In fuch cafes every man is a 
 magiftrate ; and he who beft knows the danger, and the means of pre- 
 venting it, has a right of calling the fenate or people to an aflembly. The 
 people would, and certainly ought to follow him, as they did Brutus and 
 Valerius againft Tarquin, or Horatius and Valerius againft the decemviri; 
 and whoever fliould do otherwife might, for fottiilmefs, be compared to 
 the courtiers of the two Lift kings of Spain. The firft of thefe, by name 
 Philip the third, being indifpofed in cold weather, a braziero of coals 
 was brought into his chamber, and placed fo near to him, that he was 
 cruelly fcorched. A nobleman, then prefent, faid to one w^ho ftood by 
 him, " the king burns ; " the other anfwered, it was true, but the page, 
 whofe office it was to bring and remove the braziero, was not there : and 
 before he could be found, his majefty's legs and face v\'ere fo burnt, that 
 it caufed an eryfipelas, of which he died. Philip the fourth efcaped not 
 much better, who being furprifed as he was hunting by a violent ftorm of 
 rain and hail, and no man prefuming to lend the king a cloak, he was fo 
 wet before the officer could be found who carried his own, that he took a 
 cold, which caft him into a dangerous fever. If kings like the confe- 
 quences of fuch a regularity, they may caufe it to be obferved in their own 
 families ; but nations, looking in the firft place to their own fafety, would 
 be guilty of the moft extreme ftupidity, if they fliould fuffer themfelves 
 to be ruined for adhering to fuch ceremonies. 
 
 This is faid upon a fuppofition, that the whole power of calling and 
 diftblving parliaments is, by the law, placed in the king ; but I utterly 
 deny that it is fo ; and to prove it, fliall give the following reafons. 
 
 (i.) That the king can have no fuch power, unlefs it be given to him, 
 for every man is originally free ; and the fame power that makes him 
 king gives him all that belongs to his being king. It is not therefore an 
 inherent, but a delegated power ; and whoever receives it is accountable 
 to thofe that gave it ; for, as our author is forced to confefs, " they who 
 " give authority by commiffion do always retain more than they grant." 
 
 (■2.) The law for annual parliaments exprefly declares it not to be in the 
 king's power, as to the point of their meeting, nor confequently their 
 continuance. For they meet to no purpofe if they may not continue to do 
 the work for which they meet : and it were abfnrd to give them a power 
 of meeting, if they might not continue till it be done: for, as Grotius 
 fays, " qui dat finem, dat media ad finem ncceffaria. * " The only reafon 
 why parliaments do meet is to provide for the public good ; and they by 
 law ought to meet for that end. They ought not therefore to be diflblved, 
 till it be accompliftied. For this reafon the opinion given by Trefilian, 
 
 * f^ii dat form.nm, dat quae ad formam funt neccfiaria. Grot, de Jure Belli, 1. 2, c. 7, §4 
 2 that
 
 DISCOUilSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 467 
 
 that kings might diflblve parliaments at their plcal'ure, was adjudged to be sect. 59 
 a principal part of his treaibn. 
 
 (3.) We have already proved, that Saxons, Danes, Normans, Sec. 
 who had no title to the crown, were made kings by micel-gemotes, wit* . 
 tena-gemotes, and parliaments ; that is, either by the whole people, or 
 their reprefentatives : others have been by the fame authority rcftrained, 
 brought to order, or depofed. But as it is impoffible, that fuch 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 abfurd to think, that 
 fuch as were in the throne, who had not governed according to law, 
 would fufFer themfelves to be rellrained, imprifoned, or depofed by par- 
 liaments, called and fitting by themfelves, and Hill depending upon their 
 will to be, or not to be ; it is certain that parliaments have in themfelves' 
 a power of fitting and aifling for the public good. 
 
 2. To the fecond. The various cuftoms ufed in elections are nothing 
 to this queflion. In the counties, which make up the body of the nation, 
 all freeholders have their votes : thefe are properly " cives, " members of 
 the commonwealth, in diftindlion from thofe who are only " incolae, " or 
 inhabitants, villains, and fuch as being under their parents, are not yet 
 ** fui juris. " Thefe, in the beginning of the Saxons reign in England, 
 compofed the micel-gemotes ; and when they grew to be fo numerous, 
 that one place could not contain them, or fo far diiperfed, that without 
 trouble and danger they could not leave their habitations, they deputed 
 fuch as fhould reprefent them. When the nation came to be more 
 polifhed, to inhabit cities and towns, and to fet up feveral arts and trades, 
 thofe who exercifed them were thought to be as ufcful to the common- 
 wealth, as the freeholders in the country, and to deferve the fame privi- 
 leges. But it not being reafonable, that every one fhould in this cafe do 
 what he pleafed, it was thought fit, that the king with his council (which 
 always conlilled of the " proceres " and " magnates regni ") fhould judge 
 what numbers of men, and what places deferved to be made corporations, 
 or bodies politic, and to enjoy thofe privileges ; by which he did not con- 
 fer upon them any thing that was his, but;, according to the trufc repofed 
 in him, did difpenfe out of the public ftock parcels of what he had 
 "received from the whole nation. And whether this was to be enjoyed by 
 all the inhabitants, as in Weftminfter ; by the common hall, as in Lon- 
 don ; or by the mayor, aldermen, jurats, and corporation, as in other 
 places, it is the fame thing : for in all thefe cafes the king does only 
 diftribute, not give ; and under the fame condition that he might call 
 parliaments, that is, for the public good. This indeed increafes the 
 honour of the perfon entrufted, and adds weight to the obligation incum- 
 bent upon him ; but can never change the nature of the thing, fo as to 
 make that an inherent, which is only a delegated power. And as parlia- 
 ments, when occafion required, have been alfembled, have refufed to be 
 diffolved till their work was linifhed, have fevercly punifhed thofe who 
 went about to perfuade kings, that fuch matters depended abfolutely upon 
 
 O o o 2 their
 
 468 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. Ill their will, and made laws to the contrary, it is not to be imagined, that 
 they would not alio have interpoled their authority in matters of charters, 
 if it had been obferved, that any king had notorioully abufed the truft 
 repofed in him, and turned the power to his private advantage, with 
 which he was entrufted for the public good. 
 
 That which renders this moft plain and fafe is, that men chofen in this 
 manner to ferve in parliament, do not a£t by themfelves, but in conjunc- 
 tion with others, who are fent thither by prefcription ; nor by a power 
 derived from kings, but from thofe that choofe them. If it be true there- 
 fore, that thofe who delegate powers do always retain to themfelves 
 more than they give, they who fend thefe men do not give them an 
 abfolute power of doing whatever they pleafe, but retain to themfelves 
 more than they confer upon their deputies : they muft therefore be 
 accountable to their principals, contrary to what our author aflerts. This 
 continues in force, though he knows not, that " any knights and bur- 
 " gefles have ever been queftioned by thofe that fent them ; " for it 
 cannot be concluded they ought not, or may not be queftioned, becaufe 
 none have been queftioned. But in truth they are frequently queftioned : 
 the people do perpetually judge of the behaviour of their deputies. 
 Whenever any of them has the misfortune not to fatisfy the major part 
 of thofe that chofe him, he is fure to be rejeded with difgrace the next 
 time he fliall defire to be chofen. This is not only a fufiicient puniftiment 
 for fuch faults, as he who is but one of five hundred may probably com- 
 mit, but as much as the greateft and freeft people of the w^orld did ever 
 inflict upon their commanders, that brought the greateft lofles upon them^ 
 Appius Claudius, Pomponius, and Terentius Varro, furvived the greatefli 
 ilekats that ever the Romans fufi'ered; and, though they had caufed them 
 by their folly and perverfenefs, were never puniftied. Yet I think no* 
 man doubts, but 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 
 diftradlcd, if at the fame time he fliould ftand in fear both of the enemy,, 
 and his own countrymen. And as they always endeavoured to choofe 
 the heft men, they would lay no other neceffity upon them of performing; 
 their duty, than what was fuggefted by their own virtue, and love to 
 their country. It is not therefore to be thought ftrange, if the people o£ 
 England have followed the moft generous, and moft profperous examples.. 
 Befides, if any thing has been defedlive in their ufual proceedings with, 
 their delegates, the inconvenience has been repaired by the modcfty of! 
 the bcft and wifeft of them that were chofen. Many in all ages, and 
 fometimes the whole body of the commons, have rcfufed to give their 
 opinion in fome cafes, till they had confultcd with thofe that fent them :, 
 the houlcs have been often adjourned to give them time to do it. And if 
 this were done more frequently, or if the towns, cities, and counties,, 
 had on fomc occaftons given inftruftions to their deputies, matters would 
 probably have gone better in parliament than they have often done. 
 
 3- The
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 46^ 
 
 3. The queftion is not, whether the parHamcnt be Impeccable or infal- SECT. 3S 
 liblc, but whether an ailembly of nobihty, with a houCe of commons 
 compofed of thofe who are belt eltecmed by their neighbours in all the 
 towns and counties of England, are more or lefs fubjedl to error or cor- 
 ruption, than fuch a man, woman, or child, as happens to be next in. 
 blood to the lail king. Many men do ufually fee more than one ; and if 
 we may believe the wifcft king, " in the multitude of counfellors there is 
 " fiifety *. " Such as are of mature age, good experience, and approved- 
 reputation for virtue and wifdom, will probably judge better than children 
 or fools. Men are thought to be more lit for war, than women ; and- 
 thofe who are bred up in difcipline to underlland it better, than thofe 
 who never knew any thing of it. If fome counties or cities fall to choofc' 
 fuch men as are eminently capable, all will hardly be fo miftaken as to 
 choofe thofe who have no more of wifdom or virtue, than is ufually 
 entailed upon families. But Filmer at a venture admires the profound 
 wifdom of the king ; though behdes fuch as we have known, hiftories 
 give us too many proofs, that all thofe who have been polTeflbd of crowns 
 have not excelled that way. He fpeaks of kings in general, and makes- 
 no difference between Solomon and his foolilh fon. He diftinguifhes not 
 our Edward the firfl from Edward the fecond, Edward the third from 
 Richard the fecond, or Henry the fifth from Henry the fixth. And 
 becaufe all of them were kings, all of them, if he deferves credit, mufl 
 needs have been endowed with profound wifdom. David was wife as an 
 angel of God ; therefore the prefent kings of France, Spain, and Sweden, 
 mufl have been fo alfo, when they were but five years old. Joan of 
 Caftile could not be mad, nor the tw^o Joans of Naples infamous flrum- 
 pets, or all his arguments fall to the ground. For though Solomon's 
 wifdom furpaffed that of all the people, yet men could not rely equally 
 upon that of Rehoboam, unlefs it had been equal. And if they are all- 
 equal in wifdom when they come to be equally kings, Perfes of Macedon 
 was as great a captain as Philip or Alexander ; Commodus and Helioga- 
 balus were as wife and virtuous as Marcus Aurelius and Antoninus Pius : 
 nay, Chriftina of Sweden, in her infancy, was as fit to command an army 
 as her valiant father. If this be moft abfurd and falfe, there can be 
 neither reafon nor fenfe in propofing, as our author does, that the power 
 fhould be in the king, becaufe the parliament is not infallible. " It is, " 
 fays he, " moft proper for the head to correct, and not to expe£t the con- 
 ." fent of the members, or parties peccant to be judges in their own cafes ; 
 " nor is it needful to confine the king, &c. " Befides that this is diredtly 
 contrary to his own fundamental maxim, that no man muft be the judge 
 of his own cafe, inafmuch as this would put the power into the king's 
 hands, to decide the controverfies between himfelf and the people, in 
 which his own paffions, private intereft, and the corrupt counfels of ill- 
 minilters, will always lead him out of the way of juftice, the inconveni- 
 
 * Prov. ch. II, V. 14 
 
 ences
 
 470 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. in ences, that may arife from a poflibility that the parliament or people 13 
 not infallible, will be turned to the moft certain and deftru£tive mifchiefss 
 as muft have fallen out in Spain, if, upon a fuppofilion that the eftates 
 of Caftile might err, the correction of fuch errors had been left to the 
 profound wifdom, and exquifite judgment of Joan their queen and head, 
 who was ftark-mad. And the like may be faid of many other princes, 
 who through natural or accidental Infirmities, want of age, or dotage, 
 have been utterly unable to judge of any thing. 
 
 The matter will not be much mended, though I pafs from idiots and 
 lunatics, to fuch as know well enough how to clothe and feed themfelves, 
 and to perform the ordinary functions of life ; and yet have been as inca- 
 pable of giving a right judgment concerning the weighty matters of 
 government, as the weakefl of children, or the mofl furious of m.admen. 
 Good manners forbid me to enumerate the examples of this kind, which 
 Europe has produced even in this age : but I fliould commit a greater fault, 
 if I did in filence pafs over the extravagances of thofe, who being moft 
 weak in judgment, and irregular in their appetites, have been moft impa- 
 tient of any reftraint upon their will. The brave Guftavus Adolphus, 
 and his nephew Carolus Guftavus, who was not inferior to him in valour, 
 wifdom, and love to his people, were content with the power that the 
 laws of their country gave to them ; but Frederic the fourth of Denmark 
 never refted till he had overthrown the liberty of that nation. Cafimir, 
 by attempting the like in Poland, loft almoft half of that kingdom ; and 
 flying from the other, left all to be ravaged by Swedes, Tartars, and 
 Coffacs. The prefent emperor, who paffed his time in fetting fongs to 
 mufic v/ith a wretched Italian eunuch, when he ought to have been at the 
 head of a brave army, raifed to oppofe the Turks in the year 1664, and' 
 which under good condu£l: might have overthrown the Ottoman empire, 
 as foon as he was delivered from the fear of that enemy, fell upon his 
 own fubie(fls with fuch cruelty, that they are now forced to fly to the Turks 
 for protection : the proteftants efpecially, who find their condition more 
 tolerable under thofe profelTed enemies to Chriftianity, than to be expofed 
 to the pride, avarice, perfidioufnefs, and violence, of the jefuits, by 
 whoni he is governed. And the qualities of the king of Portugal are fo 
 well known, together with the condition to which he v:ould have brought 
 his kingdom if he had not been fent to the Terceras, that I need not 
 fpeak particularly of him. 
 
 If kings therefore, by virtue of their ofllce, are conftituted judges over ■ 
 the body of their people, becaufe the people, or parliaments reprelcnting 
 them, are not infallible, thofe kings who are children, fools, diiabled by 
 age, or madmen, are fo alfo ; women have the fame right, where they 
 are admitted to the fucceflion ; thofe men, who, though of ripe age, and 
 not fuperannuated, nor diredlly fools or madmen, yet abfolutely incapable 
 of judging important aftairs, or by their pafUons, interefts, vices, or 
 malice and wickednefs of their minifters, fervants, and favourites, are 
 fct to opprefs and ruin the people, enjoy the fame privilege ; than which 
 
 nothijig
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 471 
 
 nothing can be imagined more abfurd and abominable, nor more diredly SECT. 3(> 
 tending to the corruption and deftrudion of the nations under them, 
 for wlioie good and iafety our author confefles they have their power. 
 
 SECTION XXXIX 
 
 THOSE KINGS ONLY ARE HEADS OF THE PEOPLE, WHO ARE 
 
 GOOD, WISE, AND SEEK TO ADVANCE NO INTEREST BUT 
 
 THAT OF THE PUBLIC. 
 
 The worft of men feldom arrive to fuch a degree of impudence, as plainly 
 to propofe the moll mirdiicvous follies and enormities. They who are 
 enemies to virtue, and fear not God, are afraid of men, and dare not 
 offer fuch things as the world will not bear, left by that means they 
 fhould overthrow their ov/n defigns. All poifon mufi; be difguifed, and 
 no man can be perfuaded to eat arfenic, unlefs it be covered with fome- 
 thing that appears to be harmlefs. Creufa would have abhorred Medea's 
 prefent, if the peftilent venom had not been hidden by the exterior luftre 
 of gold and gems '^ The garment that deftroyed Hercules appeared 
 beautiful ; and Eve had neither eaten of the forbidden tree, nor given 
 the fruit to her hufband, if It had not feemed to be good and pleafant, 
 and fhe had not been induced to believe, that by eating it they fliould 
 both be as gods. The fervants of the devil have always followed the 
 fame method : their malice is carried on by fraud, and they have feldom 
 deftroyed any, but fuch as they had firft deceived. Truth can never con- 
 duce to mifchief, and is beft difcovered by plain words ; but nothing is 
 more ufual with ill men, than to cover their mifchievous defigns wuth 
 figurative phrales. It would be too ridiculous to fay in plain terms, that 
 all kings without diftind-ion are better able to judge of all matters than 
 any or all their people ; they muft therefore be called " the head, " that 
 thereby they may be invefted with all the preeminences which in a 
 natural body belong to that part; and men muft be made to believe the 
 analogy between the natural and political body to be perfed. But the 
 matter muft be better examined before this mortal poifon feem fit to- 
 be fwallowed. 
 
 The word " head " is figuratively ufed both In Scripture and profane 
 authors in feveral fenfes, in relation to places or perfons, and always- 
 implies fomething of real or feeming preeminence in point of honour or 
 jurlldidion. Thus Damafcus is faid to be the head of Syria ; Samaria of 
 Ephraim f, and Ephraim of the ten tribes ; that is, Ephraim was the 
 
 * Uenrei X'^P"'^ ay.^jio<rio^ t' avya. Tnn>.\s. Eurip. Medea, a£t. 4, v. 1 1 8, et feq. 
 
 Ignis fulvo 
 
 Clufus in auro latet oblcurus. Sen. Medea, ait. 4, fc. 2, v. 80 
 f Ifa. ch. 7, V. 8, 9 
 
 chief'
 
 472 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP, in chief tribe; Samaria was the chief city of Ephraim, and Damafcus of 
 Syria ; though it be certain, that Ephraim had no jurifdidion over the 
 other tribes, nor Samaria over the other cities of Ephraim, but every one 
 according to the law had an equal power within itfelf, or the territories 
 belonging to it ; and no privileges were granted to one above another, 
 except to Jerufalem, in the matter of religion, becaufe the temple was 
 placed there. 
 
 The words head, prince, principal man, or captain, feem alfo to be 
 equivocal ; and in this fenfe, the fame men are called heads of the tribes, 
 princes in the houfes of their fathers : and it is faid, that two hundred 
 heads of the tribe of Reuben were carried away captive by Tiglath-Pile- 
 zer *, and proportionably in the other tribes ; which were a flrange thing, 
 if the word did imply that fupreme, abfolute, and infinite power that our 
 author attributes to it. And no man of lefs underftanding than he can 
 comprehend, how there fliould be two hundred or more fovereign unli- 
 mited powers in one tribe, efpecially when it is certain, that one feries 
 of kings had for many ages reigned over that tribe and nine more ; and 
 that every one of thofe tribes, as well as the particular cities, even from 
 their firft entrance into the promifed land, had a full jurifdidlion within 
 itfelf. When the Gileadites came to Jephthah, he fufpeded them, and 
 afked whether indeed they intended to make him their head ? They 
 anfwered, if he would lead them againft the Ammonites, he fhould be 
 their head f. In the like fenfe, when Julius Caefar in defpair would have 
 killed himfelf, one of his foldiers difluaded him from that defign, by 
 telling him, " that the fafety of fo many nations, that had made him 
 •' their head, depending upon his life, it would be cruelty in him to take 
 " fuch a relolution ::j:. " But for all that, when this head was taken off, 
 the body did ftill fubfifl : upon which I obferve many fundamental differ- 
 ences, between the relation of this figurative head (even when the word 
 is rightly applied) and that of the natural head, to their refpedive bodies. 
 
 The figurative heads may be many, the natural but one. 
 
 The people make or create the figurative head ; the natural is from itfelf, 
 or connate with the body. 
 
 The natural body cannot change or fubfift without the natural head; 
 but a people may change and fubfifl very well without the artificial. Nay, 
 if it had been true, that the world had chofen Caefar, as it was not (for 
 he was chofen only by a factious mercenary army, and the foundefl 
 part fo far oppofed that cleftion, that they brought him to think of 
 killing himfelf) there could have been no truth in this flattering affertinn, 
 " that the fafety of the whole depended upon his life:" for the world 
 
 * I Chron. ch. 5, v. 24, 26. Our author has no authority for faying, that " two hun- 
 *' drcd " heads of the tribe of Reuben were carried into captivity by Tiglath-Pilezer. 
 The number of the captives is not mentioned by thefacred hiftorlan. 
 t Jjdg. ch. II, V. 8, 9 
 
 X Cum tot ab hac anim.i populoruni vita fjiiifquc 
 Pcndcat, ct tantus caput hoc fibi feccrit orbis, 
 Saevitiaeft voluiflc mori. — Luc. Phaif. 1. 5, v, 685 
 
 1 could
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 473 
 
 could not only fuhfifl: without him, but without anyfuch head, as it had sect, -zn 
 done before he by the help of his corrupted foldicry had uhirped the 
 power : which alio Ihews, that a civil head may be a matter of convenience, 
 but not of neceflity. Many nations have had none; and if the expreinou 
 be fo far ftretched, as to make it extend to the annual or temporary magif- 
 trates fet up by the Athenians, Carthaginians, Romans, and other antient 
 commonwealths, or to thofe at this day in Venice, Holland, Switzerland, 
 and other places, it muft be confeffed, that the people who made, depofed, 
 abrogated, or aboliflied both the magiftratcs and magiftracies, had the 
 power of framing, direding, and removing their heads, which, our 
 author will fay, is moft abfurd. Yet they did it without any prejudice to 
 themfelves, and very often much to their advantage. 
 
 In mentioning thefe vaft and eflential differences between the natural 
 and political head, I no way intend to exclude others, that may be of 
 equal. weight ; but as all figurative exprcffions have their ftrcngth only 
 from fimilitude, there can be little or none in this, which differs in fo 
 many important points, and can therefore be of no effcd:. 
 
 However, right proceeds from identity, and not from fimilitude. The 
 right of a man over me is by being my father, and not by being like my 
 father. If I had a brother fo perfedly refembling me, as to deceive our 
 parents, which has fometimes happened to twins, it could give him no 
 right to any thing that is mine. If the power therefore of correiHing the 
 parties peccant, which our author attributes to kings, be grounded upon 
 the name of head, and a refemblance between the heads of the body 
 politic and body natural ; if this refemblance be found to be exceedingly 
 imperfed:, uncertain, or perhaps no way relating to the matter in queftion, 
 or though it did, and were abfolutely perfed, could confer no right, 
 the allegation of it is impertinent and abfurd. 
 
 This being cleared, it is time to examine, what the office of the head is 
 In a natural body, that we may learn from thence, why that name is 
 fometimes given to thofe, who are eminent in political bodies, and to 
 whom it does belong. 
 
 Some men account the head to be fo abfolutely the feat of all the fenfcs, 
 as to derive even that of feeling, which is exercifed in every part, from 
 the brain ; but I think it is not doubted, that all the reft have both their, 
 feat and fundlion in the head ; and whatever is ufeful or hurtful to a man, 
 is by them reprefented to the underftanding : as Ariftotle fays, " nihil eft 
 ** in intelledu, quod non fit prius infenfu. " This is properly the part 
 of every magiftrate : he is the centinel of the public, and is to reprefent 
 what he difcovers beneficial or hurtful to the focietv ; which office belongs 
 not only to the fupreme, but proportionably to the fubordinate. In this 
 fijnfe were the chief men among the Ifraelites called, " lieads of their 
 " fathers houfe, choice and mighty men of valour, chief of the princes. " 
 And in the following chapter mention is made of " nine hundred and 
 " fifty Bcnjamites, chief men in the houfe of their fathers *. " Thefe 
 
 * I Chron. ch. 7, v. 40, and ch. 9, v. 9 
 
 P p p mea
 
 474 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHir.iii i^en exerclfed a charitable care over fuch as were inferior to them in. power 
 and valour, without any fhadow of fovereignty, or poflibility that there 
 could be fo many fovereigns ; and fuch as were under their care are faid 
 to be their brethren ; which is not a word of majefty and domination, 
 but of dcarnefs and equality. The name therefore of head may be given 
 to a fovereign, but it implies nothing of fovereignty ; and muft be exer- 
 cifed with charity, which always terminates in the good of others. The 
 head cannot correal or chaftife ; 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 fubfift, if it be not fo. We 
 cannot take one part of a horfe, another of a bear, and put upon them- 
 the head of a lion ; for it would be a monfter, that would have neither 
 ad ion nor life. The head muft be of the fame nature with the other 
 members, or it cannot fubfift. But the lord or mafter differs " in fpecie '*" 
 from his fervants and flaves : he is not therefore properly their head. 
 
 Befides, the head cannot have a fubfiftence without the body, nor any 
 intereft contrary to that of the body ; and it is impoftible for any thing to^ 
 be good for the head, that is hurtful to the body. A prince therefore or 
 magiftrate, who fets up an intereft in himfelf diftinft from, or repugnant 
 to that of the people, renounces the title or quality of their head. Indeed, 
 Mofes was the head of the Ifraelites : for when God threatened* to deftroy 
 that people, and promifed to make him a great nation, he waved the par- 
 ticular advantages offered to himfelf, interceded for them, and procured 
 their pardon. Yet he was not able to bear the weight of the government 
 alone ; but defired that fome might be appointed to affift him. Gideon was 
 the head of the fame people ; but he would not reign himfelf, nor fuffer his^ 
 fons to reign over them. Samuel was alfo their head; he took nothing from, 
 any man, defrauded none, took bribes from no man, oppreffed none : God 
 and the people were his witneffes. He blamed them for their rebellion 
 againft God in afking a king, but was no way concerned for himfelf, or his 
 family. David likewife had a right to that title ; for he defi.red, that God 
 would fpare the people, and turn the effedl of his anger againft himfelf, and 
 the houfe of his father. But Rehoboam was not their head ; for though he 
 acknowledged, 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 chaftifed 
 them with whips, he would chaftile them with fcorpions. The head is no 
 burden to the body, and can lay none upon it ; the head cannot chaftife 
 any member ; and he who docs fo, be it more or lefs, cannot be the head- 
 Jeroboam was not the head of the revolting tribes ; for the head take& 
 care of the members, and provides for the I'afety of the whole : but he» 
 through fear that the people going to jcrufalcm to worfliip fliould returrt 
 to the houfe of David, by fetting up idols to iecure his own intereft, drerv* 
 guilt and dertru(flion iqion them. Though it ftiould be granted, that 
 Auguftus, by a gentle ufe of his power, had in a manner expiated the 
 dcteftable villainies committed in the acquifition, and had truly deferved 
 to be called the head of the Romans ; yet that title could no way belong 
 
 to
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 73 
 
 to Caligula, Claudius, Nero, or VitelHus, who neither had the qualities sect. 3g 
 required In the head, nor the underftanding or will to perform the office. 
 Nay, if I Ihould carry the matter farther, and acknowledge that Brutus, 
 Cinclnnatus, Fahius, Camillus, and others, who, in the time of their 
 annual or fliorter magiftracies, had by their vigilance, virtue, and care to 
 preferve the city in lafety, and to provide for the public good, performed 
 the oflice of the head, and might deferve the name, I might juflly deny 
 it to the greateft princes that have been in the world, who, having their 
 power for life, and leaving it todefcend to their children, have wanted the 
 virtues required for the performance of their duty : and I fliould lefs fear 
 to be guilty of an abfurdity in faying, that a nation might every year 
 change its head, than that he can be the head, who cares not for the 
 members, nor underftands the things that conduce to their good, efpeclallv 
 if he fet up an Interelt in himfelf againft them. It cannot be faid, that 
 thefe are imaginary cafes, and that no prince does thefe things ; for the 
 proof is too eafy, and the examples too numerous. Caligula could not 
 have wifhed the Romans but one head, that he might cut it off at once, if 
 he had been that head, and had advanced no intereft contrary to that of 
 the members. Nero had not burned the city of Rome, if his concern- 
 ments had been infeparably united to thofe of the people. He who caufed 
 above three hundred thoufand of his innocent unarmed fubjeds to be 
 murdered, and filled his whole kingdom with fire and blood, did fet up 
 a perfonal intereft repugnant to that of the nation ; and no better teflimony 
 can be required to fhew, that he did fo, than a letter written by his fon, 
 to take off the penalty due to one of the chief minifters of thofe cruelties, 
 for this reafon, that what he had done, was " by the command, and for 
 *' the fervice, of his royal father. " King John did not purfue the 
 advantage of his people, when he endeavoured to fubjedt them to the 
 pope, or the Moors. And whatever prince feeks afliftance from foreign 
 powers, or makes leagues with any flranger or enemy for his own advan- 
 tage againft his people, however fecret the treaty may be, declares him- 
 felf not to be the head, but an enemy to them. The head cannot ftand 
 in need of an exterior help againft the body, nor fubfift when divided 
 from it. He therefore that courts fuch an afliftance divides himfelf from 
 the body ; and if he do fubfift, it muft be by a life he has in himfelf, 
 diftind from that of the body, which the head cannot have. 
 
 But befides thefe enormities, that teftify the moft wicked rage and fury 
 in the higheft degree, there is another pradice, 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 defire to draw all the nourifh- 
 ment of the body to itfelf, nor more than a due proportion. If the reft 
 of the parts are lick, weak, or cold, the head fuffers equally with them ; 
 and, if they perlfli, muft perlfti alfo. Let this be compared with the 
 adions of many princes we know, and we (hall foon fee whicli of them 
 are heads of their people. If the gold brought from the Indies has been 
 equally diftributed by the kings of Spain to the body of that nation, I 
 
 P p p 2 confent
 
 476 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP, in confent they may be called the heads. If the kings of France afTume na 
 more of the riches of that great kingdom than their due proportion, let 
 ^ them alfo wear that honourable name. But if the naked backs, and 
 empty bellies of their miferable fubjedls evince the contrary, it can by 
 no means belong to them. If thofe great nations waflc and languifh ; if 
 nothing be fo common in the beft provinces belonging to them, as mifery, 
 famine, and all the effects of the moft outrageous oppreflion, whilft their 
 princes and favourites poffefs fuch treafures, as the moll wanton prodi- 
 gality cannot exhauft ; if that, which is gained by the fweat of fo many 
 millions of men, be torn out of the mouths of their flarving wives and 
 children, to foment the vices of thofe luxurious courts, or reward the 
 minifters of their lufts, the nourifhment is not diftributed equally to all 
 the parts of the body ; the oeconomy of the whole is overthrown ; and 
 they who do thefe things cannot be the heads, nor parts of the body, but 
 fomething diftindt from, and repugnant to it. It is not therefore he who 
 is found in, or advanced to the place of the head, who is truly the head. 
 It is not he who ought, but he who does perform the office of the head, 
 th t deferves the name and privileges belonging to the head. If ou? 
 author therefore will perfuade us, that any king is head of his people, he 
 muft do it by arguments peculiarly relating to him, fmce thofe in general 
 are found to be falfe. If he fay, that the king, as king, may diredl oe 
 correal the people, and that the power of determining all controverfies 
 muft be referred to him, becaufe they may be miftaken, he muft fhew 
 that the king is infallible ; for unlefs he do fo, the wound is not cured. 
 This alfo muft be by fome other way, than by faying he is their head ; 
 for fuch powers belong not to the office of the head, and we fee, that all 
 kings do not deferve that name : many of them want both underftanding 
 and will to perform the fundlions of the head ; and many a.Q. dire£lly 
 contrary, in the whole courfe of their government. If any therefore 
 among them have merited the glorious name of heads of nations, it muft. 
 have been by their perfonal virtues, by a vigilant care of the good of their 
 people, by an infeparable conjundlion of interefts with them, by an ardent 
 love to every member of the fociety, by a moderation of fpirit affeding 
 no undue fuperiority, or affuming any fingular advantage, which they 
 are not willing to communicate to every part of the political body. He 
 •who finds this merit in himfelf will fcorn all the advantages that can be 
 drawn from mifapplied names. He, that knov.'s fuch honour to be pecu- 
 liarly due to him for being the beft of kings, will never glory in that 
 which may be common to him with the worft. Nay, whoever pretends,, 
 by fuch general difcourles as thefe of our author, to advance the particula? 
 Jmterefts of any one king, does either know he is of no merit, and that 
 nothing can be faid for him, which will not as well agree with the worft. 
 of men, or cares not what he fays, fo he may do mifchief; and is welL 
 enough contented, that he, who is fet up by fuch maxims as a publia 
 plague, may fall in the ruin he brings upon the people.
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 477 
 
 , . SECT. 40 
 
 S E C T I O N XL 
 
 GOOD LAWS PRESCRIBE EASY AND SAFE REMEDIES AGAINST 
 
 THE EVILS PROCEEDING FROM THE VICES OR INFIRMITIES 
 
 OF THE MAGISTRATE; AND WHEN THEY FAIL, THEY 
 
 MUST BE SUPPLIED. 
 
 Thofe who defire to advance the power of the magiftrate above the law 
 would perfuade us, that the difficuhies and dangers of inquiring into his 
 ailions, or oppofing his will, when employed in violence and injuftice, 
 are fo great, that the remedy is always worfe than the difeafe ; and that it 
 is better to fuffer all the evils that may proceed from his infirmities and 
 vices, than to hazard the confequences of difpleafing him. But, on the 
 contrary, I think, and hope to prove, 
 
 1. That in well conftituted governments, the remedies againfl; ill magif- 
 trates are eafy and fafe. 
 
 2. That it is good, as well for the magiftrate as the people, fo to con- 
 flitute the government, that the remedies may be eafy and fafe. 
 
 3. That how dangerous and difficult foever they may be through the 
 defedls of the firfl: conftitution, they muflbe tried. 
 
 To the firft. It is mofl evident, that in well regulated governments thefe 
 remedies have been found to be eafy and fafe. The kings of Sparta were 
 not fuffered in the leafl: to deviate from the rule of the law : and Theo- 
 pompus one of thofe kings, in whofe time the ephori were created, and 
 the regal power much reftrained, doubted not to affirm, that it was by 
 that means become more lafting, and more fecure*. Paufanias had not 
 the name of king, but commanded in the war againfl: Xerxes with more 
 than regal power : neverthelefs, being grown infolent, he was, without 
 any trouble to that ftate, baniftied, and afterwards put to death. Leoni- 
 das, father of Cleomenes, was in the like manner banifhed. The fecond 
 Agis was mofl: unjuftly put to death by the ephori, for he was a brave 
 and a good prince ; but there was neither danger nor difficulty in the 
 adlion. Many of the Roman magiftrates, after the expulfion of the kings, 
 feem to have been defirous to extend their power beyond the bounds of the 
 law ; and perhaps fome others, as well as the decemviri, may have 
 defigned an abfolute tj'ranny ; but the tirft were reftrained, and the others 
 without much difficulty fuppreffed. Nay, even the kings were fo well 
 kept in order, that no man ever pretended to the crown, unlefs he were 
 chofen ; nor made any other ufe of his power than the law permitted, 
 except the laft Tarquin, who by liis Infolence, avarice, and cruelty, 
 brought ruin upon himfelf and his family. I have already mentioned one 
 or two dukes of Venice, who were not lefs ambitious ; but their crimes 
 
 * Rispx^tiai^xt ToXup^poi/iuripxv. Arjft, Polit. 1, 5, c. 1 1. Vide fupra, p. gi 
 
 returned:
 
 478 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP, III returned upon their own heads, and they perifhed without any other dan- 
 ger to the ftate, than what had pafTed before their treafons were diicovered. * 
 Infinite examples of the Hke nature may be alleged : and if matters have 
 not at all times, and in all places, fucceeded in the fame manner, it has 
 been bccaufe the fame courfes were not every where taken ; for all things 
 do fo far follow their caufes, that, being ordered in the fame manner,- 
 they will always produce the fame effects. 
 
 z. To the fecond. Such a regulation of the magiftratical power is 
 not at all grievous to a good magiftrate. He, who never defires to do 
 any thing but what he ought, cannot defire 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 alfo advantageous to thofe who are evil 
 or unwife ; that fince they cannot govern themfelves, a law may be 
 impofed upon them, left, by following their own irregular will, they 
 bring deftrudtion upon themfelves, their families, and people, as many 
 have done. If Apollo in the fable had not been too indulgent to Phaetorj 
 in granting his ill conceived requeft, the furious youth had not brought a 
 neceffity upon Jupiter, either of deftroying him, or fuffering the world to 
 be deftroyed by him. 
 
 Befides, good and wife men know the weight of fovereign power, and 
 niifdoubt their own ftrength. Sacred and human hiftories furnifh us with 
 many examples of thofe who have feared the luftre of a crown. Men, 
 that find in themfelves no delight in doing mifchief, know not what 
 thoughts may infmuate into their minds, when they are raifed too much 
 above their fphere. They who were able to bear adverfity, have been 
 precipitated into ruin by profperity. When the prophet told Hazael the 
 villainies he would commit, he anfwered, " is thy fervant a dog, that I 
 *' fhould do thefe things ? " but yet he did them. I know not where ta 
 find an example of a man more excellently qualified than Alexander of 
 Macedon ; but he fell under the weight of his own fortune, and grew to 
 exceed thofe in vice, whom he had conquered by his virtue. The nature 
 of man can hardly fuffer fuch violent changes, without being difordered 
 by them ; and every one ought to entertain a juft diffidence of himfelf, 
 and fear the temptations that have deftroyed fo many. If any man be fo 
 happily born, fo carefully educated, fo eftablifhcd in virtue, that no ftorm 
 can fhake him, nor any poifon corrupt him, yet he will confider he is 
 mortal ; and, knowing no more than Solomon, whether his fon fhall be a 
 wife man or a fool, he will always fear to take upon him a power, which 
 muft prove a moft peftilent evil both to the perfon that has it, and to thofe 
 that arc under it, as foon as it ftiall fall into the hands of one, who either 
 knows not how to ufe It, or may be eafily drawn to abufe it. Supreme 
 magiftrates always walk in obfcure and flippery places : but when they 
 are advanced fo high, that no one is near enough to fupport, dire»5t, or 
 reftrain them, their fall is inevitable and mortal. And thofe nations that 
 have wanted the prudence rightly to balance the powers of their magii- 
 trates, have been frequently obliged to have recourfe to the moft violent 
 3 remedies,
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 479 
 
 remedies, and with much difficulty, danger, and blood, to punlfh the SECT. 40 
 
 crimes which they might have prevented. On the other fide, fuch as 
 
 have been more wife in the conftitution of their governments have always 
 
 had regard to the frailty of human nature, and the corruption reigning 
 
 in the hearts of men ; and, being lefs liberal of the power over their 
 
 hves and liberties, have referved to themfelves fo much, as might keep 
 
 their magiftrates within the limits of the law, and oblige them to perform 
 
 the ends of their inftitution. And as the law which denounces fevere 
 
 penalties for crimes is indeed merciful both to ill men, who are by that 
 
 means deterred from committing them, and to the good, M^ho otherwife 
 
 would be deflroyed, fo thofe nations that have kept the reins in their 
 
 hands, have by the fame aft provided as well for the fafety of their princes, 
 
 ias for their own. They who know the law is well defended feldom 
 
 attempt to fubvert it : they are not eafily tempted to run into excelfes, 
 
 when fuch bounds are fet, as may not fafely be tranfgrefled. And whilft 
 
 they are by thefe means rendered more moderate in the exercife of their 
 
 power, the people is exempted from the odious necefFity of fufFering all 
 
 manner of indignities and miferies from their princes, or by their de- 
 
 ftru<Stion to prevent or avenge them. 
 
 3. To the third. If thefe rules have not been well obferved in the firfl 
 conftitution, or from the changes of times, corruption of manners, infen- 
 fible encroachments, or violent ufurpations of princes, have been rendered 
 ineffedtual, and the people expofed to all the calamities that may be 
 brought upon them by the weaknefs, vices, and malice of the prince, or 
 thofe who govern him, I confefs the remedies are more difficult and dan- 
 gerous ; but even in thofe cafes they muft be tried. Nothing can be 
 feared that is worfe than what is fuffered, or muft in a fhort time fall 
 upon thofe who are in this condition. They who are already fallen into 
 all that is odious, ihameful, and miferable, cannot juftly fear. When 
 things are brought to fuch a pafs, the boldeft counfels are the moft fafe ; 
 and if they muft perifh who lie ftill, and they can but perifh who are mofl 
 a£tive, the choice is cafily made *. Let the danger be ever fo great, there 
 is a poffibility of fafety, whilft men have life, hands, arms, and courage 
 to ufe them ; but that people muft certainly perifh, who tamely fuffer 
 themfelves to be opprefied, either by the injuftice, cruelty, and malice 
 of an ill magiftrate, or by thofe who prevail upon the vices and infirmities 
 of v/eak princes. It is in vain to fay, that this may give occafion to mea 
 of raifing tumults, or civil war ; for though thefe are evils, yet they are 
 not the greateft of evils. Civil war, in Machiavel's account, is a difeafe ; 
 but tyranny is the death of a ftate. Gentle ways are firft to be ufed, and 
 it is beft if the work can be done by them ; but it muft not be left undone, 
 if they fail. It is good to ufe fupplications, advices, and remonftrances ; 
 
 * Moriendum vict is, moriendum deditis : id folum referre, noviflimum fpiritum per 
 ludibrium et contumelias efFundunt, an per virtutem. Tacit. Hifl. 1. 3, § 66 
 
 Si noceutem innccentenupe idem exitus m;mcatj aciioris viii eli mtrito perire. Ibid. 
 1. I, § 21 
 
 but
 
 ^8o DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP, in ^^^^ thofe who have no regard to juilice, and will not hearken to counfel, 
 mufl be conftrained. It is folly to deal otherwife with a man who will 
 not be guided by reafon, and a magiftrate who defpifes the law ; or rather, 
 to think him a man, who rejects the effential principle of a man ; or to 
 account him a magiftrate, who overthrows the law by which he is a 
 magiilrate. This is the laft refult ; but thofe nations muft come to it, 
 which cannot otherwife be preferved. Nero's madnefs was not to be cured, 
 nor the mifchievous effedls of it any otherwife to be fuppreffed than by 
 his death. He who had fpared fuch a monfter when it was in his power 
 to remove him, had brought deftru£tion upon the whole empire ; and by 
 a foolifh clemency made himfelf the author of his future villainies. This 
 ^vould have been yet more clear, if the world had then been in fuch a 
 temper as to be capable of an entire liberty. But the antient foundations 
 had been overthrown, and nothing better could be built upon the new, 
 than fomething that might in part rcfift that torrent of iniquity which had 
 overflowed the beft part of the world, and give mankind a little time to 
 breathe under a lefs barbarous mafter. Yet all the beft men did join in 
 the work that was then to be done, though they knew it would prove but 
 imperfect. The facred hiftory is not without examples of this kind. 
 When Ahab had fubverted the law, fet up falfe witnelfes, and corrupt 
 judges, to dcftroy the innocent, killed the prophets, and eftabliflied 
 idolatry, his houfe muft then be cut off", and his blood be licked up by 
 dogs. When matters are brought to this pafs, the decifion is eafy. The 
 queftion is only, whether the punifliment of crimes ftiall fall upon one or 
 a few perfons who are guilty of them, or upon a whole nation that is 
 innocent. If the father may not die for the fon, nor the fon for the father, 
 l)ut every one muft bear the penalty of his own crimes, it would be moft 
 abfurd to punifli the people for the guilt of princes. When the earl of 
 Morton was fent ambaflador to queen Elizabeth by the eftates of Scotland, 
 to juftify their proceedings againft Mary their queen, whom they had 
 obliged to renounce the government, he alleged among other things the 
 murder of her huftjand plainly proved againft her ; aiferted the antient 
 right and cuftom of that kingdom of examining the a£tions of their 
 kings ; by which means, he faid, many had been punifticd with death, 
 imprifonment, and exile * ; confirmed their adlions by the examples of 
 
 * Fadtum ipfum, nee aniinadvertcndi in rcgcs vctus niajorum coiifuctudo novum vidcri 
 Cnit, nee niodtiatio poenae invidiofum : nam tot regcs a noftris majoribus mortr, vinculis, 
 exilio punitos, cnumerare nihil eit opus .... Gens Scotorum, ciim ab initio libera cllirt, 
 reges co jure fibi creavit, ut impcrium populi fufFragiis eis mandatum, fi res pofeeret, eifdem 
 fuffragiis ademere poflent . . . Hujus juris expreiiam habent imaginem quae in regno ine- 
 undo^ufurpantur cercmoniae ; ex quibus f cile r.pparet, rcgnum nihil aliud eflc, quam 
 mutuam inter populos et reges ftipulationem . . . Cum tot reges, quos enumerare longum 
 effct, niajcres nollri ree;no cxucnnt, exilio damnarint, careeribus cocrcuerint, fupplicio 
 deniquc atteecrint ; ncc unquam tamcn de legis accrbitate minutnda mentio elt t'adta : nee 
 immcrito fortafle, cum ea non fit de illarum fandionum gcntre, quae niutationibus tempo- 
 rum I'unt obnoxiac, fed in primo generis humani exortu in mcnies hominum incilae, et 
 mutuo prope gentium omnium confenfu comprobatac, ct una cum rcrum natura infragiles 
 £1 fcmpitcrnae pcrcnncnt. Buch. Rer. Scot. Ilift. 1. 20 
 
 Other
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 48^ 
 
 other nations ; and upon the v/holc matter concluded, that if flie was flill sect. 41 
 permitted to live, it was not on account ot her innocence, or any exemp- 
 tion from the penalties of the law, but from the mercy and clemency of 
 the people, who, contenting themfelves with a refignation of her right 
 and power to her fon, had fparcd her. This difcourfe, which is fct down 
 at large by the hiftorian cited in the margin, being of fuch ftrcngth in 
 itlelf as never to have been any otherwife anfwered than by railing, and 
 no way difapproved by queen Elizabeth, or her council, to whom it was 
 made, either upon a general account of the prcLcnfions of princes to be 
 exempted from the penalties of the law, or any pretext that they had 
 particularly mifapplied them in relation to their queen, I may juftly fay, 
 that when nations fall under fuch princes as are either utterly incapable 
 of making a right ufe of their power, or do malicioufly abufe that authority 
 with which they are entrufted, thoie nations Hand obliged, by the duty 
 they owe to themfelves and their pofterity, to uie the bell of their endea- 
 vours to remove the evil, whatever danger or difficulties they may meet 
 with in the performance. Pontius the Samnite faid as truly as bravely to 
 his countrymen, *' that thofe arms were juft and pious, that were necef- 
 *' fary ; and neceflliry, when there was no hope of fafety by any other 
 *' way*." This is the voice of mankind, and is difliked only by thofe 
 princes, who fear the deferved punithments that may fall upon them ; or 
 by their fervants and flatterers, who, being for the moft part the authors 
 of their crimes, think they Ihall be involved in their ruin. 
 
 SECTION XLI 
 
 THK PEOPLE, FOR WHOM AND BY WHOM THE MAGISTRATE IS 
 CREATED, CAN ONLY JUDGE WHETHER HE RIGHTLY PERFORM 
 
 HIS OFFICE OR NOT. 
 
 It is commonly faid, that no man ought to be the judge of his own cafe ; 
 and our author lays much weight upon it as a fundamental maxim, 
 though, according to his ordinary inconftancy, he overthrows it in the 
 cafe of kings, where it ought to take place, if in any; for it often falls 
 out, that no men are lefs capable of forming a right judgment than they. 
 Their paffions and interefts are moft powerful to difturb or pervert them. 
 No men are fo liable to be diverted from juftice by the flatteries of corrupt 
 fervants. They never aCt as kings, except for thofe by w'hom and for 
 whom they are created ; and ading for others, the account of their adiions 
 cannot depend upon their ov>^n will. Neverthelefs I am not afraid to fay, 
 that naturally and properly a man is the judge of his own concernments. 
 No one is or can be deprived of this privilege, unlefs by his own confent, 
 
 * Juftum eft bellum, quibus neceflarium ; et pia anna, quibus nulla nifi in armis relin- 
 quitui- fpes. Liv, 1. 9, c. i 
 
 Q^q q and
 
 483 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. Ill and for the good of that fociety into which he enters. This right there- 
 fore muft neceffarily belong to every man in all cafes, except only fuch- 
 as relate to the good of the community, for whofe fake he has divcfled 
 himfelf of it. If I find myfelf afflid:ed ^vith hunger, thirft, \vearinefs» 
 cold, heat, or ficknefs, it is a folly to tell me, I ought not to feek meat, 
 drink, reft, fhelter, refrefhment, or phyfic, becaufe I muft not be the 
 judge of my own cafe. The like may be laid in relation to my houfe, 
 land, or eftate : I may do what I pleafe with them, if I bring no damage 
 upon others. But I muft not fet fire to my houfc, by which my neigh- 
 bour's houfe may be burnt. I may not eredl forts upon my own lands, 
 or deliver them to a foreign enemy, who may by that means infeft my 
 country. I may not cut the banks of the fea, or thofe of a river, left my 
 neighbour's ground be overflown, becaufe the fociety into which I am 
 incorporated would by fuch means receive prejudice. My land is not 
 fimply my own, but upon condition that I fhall not thereby bring damage- 
 upon the public, by which I am protefted in the peaceable enjoyment and 
 innocent ufe of what I poffefs. But this fociety leaves me a liberty to 
 take fervants, and put them av\fay, at my pleafure. No man is to diredt 
 me, of what quality or number they fhall be, or can tell me, wlicther I 
 am well or ill ferved by them. Nay, the ftate takes no other cognizance 
 of what pafles between me and them, than to oblige me to perform the 
 sontrads 1 make, and not to do that to them which the law forbids : that 
 is to fay, the power to which I have fubmitted myfelf^ exercifes that juril- 
 di(ftion over me, which was eftablifticd by my confent, and under which 
 1 enjoy all the benefits of life, which are of more advantage to me than, 
 my liberty could have been, if I had retained it wholly in myfelf. The 
 nature alfo and meafure of this fubmiflion muft be determined by the rea— 
 fons that induced me to it. The fociety in v/bich I live cannot fubfift, 
 unlefs by rule.. The equality in which men are born is fo pcrfe(Sb, that 
 no man. will fuffer his natural liberty to be cibridged, except others do the 
 like. I cannot reafonably expedt to be defended from wrong, unlefs I 
 oblige myfelf to do none ; or to fufter the punilhment prefcribed by the 
 lav*"^, if I perform not my engagement. But, without prejudice to the 
 fociety into which I enter, I may aad do retain to myfelf the liberty of 
 doing what I pleat'e in all things relating peculiarly to myfelf, or in which- 
 I am to feek my own convenience. '" 
 
 Now if a private man is not fubjed: to the judgment of any other, than: 
 thoic to whom he fubraits himfelf for his own fafety and convenience ;• 
 and, notwithftanding that fubmiflion, ftill retains to himfelf the right of" 
 ordering according to his own will all things merely relating to himftlt,. 
 and of doing what he pleafcs in that which he does for his own fake, the 
 fame right muft more certainly belong to whole nations. When a con— 
 trovcrfy happens between Caius and Scjus in a matter of right, neither 
 of them m;iy determine the caufe, but it muft- be referred to a judge 
 fuperior to both ; not becaufe it is not fit that a man fhould be judge of 
 his own cafe, but becaufe they have both an equal right, and neither of 
 
 I llicm.
 
 DISCOUIl>SES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 4^j 
 
 them owes any fubjedion to the other. But if there be a contcfi: between sect, 41 
 me and my fcrvant concerning my fervice, I only am to decide it. He 
 muft lerve me in my own way, or begone, if I think fit, though he ferve 
 me ever io well ; and I do him no wrong in putting him away, if either 
 I intend to keep no fcrvant, or find that another will pleafc me better. 
 I cannot therefore ftand in need cf a judge, uaiefs the contefl be with one 
 who lives upon an equal foot with me. No man can be my judge, unlefs 
 he be my fuperior ; and he cannot be my fuperior, who is not fo by my 
 confent, nor to any other purpofc tlian I confent to. This cannot be the 
 cafe of a nation, which can have no equal within itfelf. Controverfies 
 may arife with other nations, the dcciiion of which may be left to judges 
 chofen by mutual agreement ; but this relates not to our queition. A 
 nation, and cfpecially one that is powerful, cannot recede from its own 
 right, as a private man, from the knowledge of his own weaknefs, and 
 inability to defend himfelf, muft come under the protedion of a greater 
 power than his own. The ftrcngth of a nation is not in the magirtrate, 
 but the ftrength of the magiftrate is in the nation. The wifdom, induftry, 
 and valour of a prince may add to the glory and greatnefs of a nation, 
 but the foundation and fubftance will always be in itfelf. If the magiftrate 
 and people were upon equal terms, as Gains and Sejus, receiving equal 
 and mutual advantages from each other, no man could be judge of their 
 diff'erences, but fuch as they fliould fet up for that end. This has been 
 done by many nations. The antient Germans referred the decifion of the 
 mofl; difficult matters to their priefts ; the Gauls and Britons to the Druids ; 
 the Mahometans for fome ages to the caliphs of Babylon ; the Saxons in 
 England, when they had embraced the Chriifian religion, to their clergy. 
 Whilft all Europe lay under the popilh fuperftition, the decifion of fuch 
 matters was frequently aflhmed by the pope : men often iubmitted to his 
 judgment, and the princes that refifted were for the moft part excommu- 
 nicated, depofcd and dcftroyed. All this was done for the fame reafons. 
 Thefe men were accounted holy and infpired, and the fentence pronounced 
 by them was ufually reverenced as the judgment of God, who was thought 
 to diredl them ; and all thofe who refufed to fubmit were efteemed exe- 
 crable. But no man or number of men, as I think, at the inftitution of 
 a magiftrate, did ever fay, if any difference happen betv^reen you or 
 your fucceffors and us, it fhall be determined by yourfelf, or by them, 
 whether they be men, women, children, mad, foolifti, or vicious. Nay, 
 if any fuch thing had been, the folly, turpitude, and madnefs of fuch a 
 fanilion or ftipulation muft neceifariiy have deftroyed it. But if no fuch 
 thing was ever known, or could have no effedt, if it had been in any 
 place, it is moft abfurd to impofe it upon all. The people therefore can- 
 not be deprived of their natural rights upon a frivolous pretence to that 
 which never was, and never can be. They who create magifiracics, and 
 give to them fuch name, form, and power, as they think fit, do only 
 know, whether the end for which tliey were created be performed or not. 
 They who give a being to the power which had none can only judge, 
 
 Qji q 2 whether
 
 4S4 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. HI whether it be employed to their welfare, or turned to their ruin. Thej 
 do not fet up one or a few men, that they and their poflerity may live in 
 Iplendor and greatnefs, but that juftice may be adminiftred, virtue efta- 
 hlifhed, aiid provifion made for the public fafcty. No wife man will 
 think this can be done, if thofe who fet themfelves to overthrow the law 
 are to be their own judges. If Caligula, Nero, Vitellius, Domitian, or 
 Heliogabalus, had been fubjecfi; to no other judgment, they would have 
 completed the deftructlon ot the empire. If the difputes between Durflus, 
 Evenus the third, Dardanus, and other kings of Scotland, with the nobility 
 and people, might have been determined by themlelves, they had efcaped 
 the puniihments they fuffered, and ruined the nation as they defigned. 
 Other methods were taken ; they perillied by their madnefs; better princes 
 Avere brought into their places, and their fucceflors were by their example 
 admonifhed to avoid the ways that had proved fatal to them. If Edward 
 the fecond of England, with Gavefton and the Spencers, R.ichard the 
 fecond with Trefilian and Vere, had been permitted to be the judges of 
 their own cafes, they who had murdered the belf of the nobility would 
 have purfued their defigns to the- deftruclion of fuch as remained, the 
 enflaving of the nation, the fubverfion of the conftitution, and the efla- 
 blifhmeiit of a mere tyranny in the place of a mixed monarchy. But oun 
 anceftors took better meallires : they who had felt the Imart of the vicea 
 and follies of their princes knew w^hat remedies were moft fit to be applied^ 
 as well as the heft time of applying them. They found the effeds of 
 extreme corruption in government to be fo defperately pernicious, that 
 nations muft neceifarily perifh, unlefs it be corre<Sted, and the flate reduced." 
 to its firfl: principle, or altered. Which being the cafe, it was as eafy for 
 them to judge, whether the governor, who had introduced that corruption^ 
 fhould be brought to order, and removed it he would not be reclaimed,- 
 or whether he Ihould be fuffered to ruin them and their poflerity, as it is 
 for me to judge, whether I fiiould put away my fcrvant, if I knew he 
 Intended to poifon or murder me, and had a certain facility of accom- 
 plilhing his defign ; or whether I Ihould continue him in my fervice till 
 he had performed it. Nay, the matter is .fo much, the, more plain on the. 
 fide of the nation, as the difproportion of merit between a whole people, 
 and one or a few men entrultcd witji the power of governing them, is: 
 greater than between a private man and hisfervant. This is fo fully con- 
 firmed by the general confent of mankind, that we know no government' 
 tliat has not frequently either been altered in form, or reduced to its 
 original purity, by changing the families or pcrfons who abufed th.e 
 power with which they had been entruilcd. Thofe who liave wanted 
 wifdom and virtue, rightly and feafonably to perform this, have been- 
 foon deftroyed ; like the Goths in Spain, who,, by omiuing to curb the, 
 fury of Vitiza and Roderic in time, became a prey to the Moors.. Their 
 kingdom by this means deflroyed was never reflored,, and the remainder 
 of that nation, joining with the Spaniards, whom they had kept in fub- 
 jedtion for three or four ages, could not, in lefs than eight hundred year.<5, 
 
 expel
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 4^^ 
 
 expel thofc enemies they might have kept out only by removing two hafe SECT. 41- 
 and vicious kings. Sucli nations as have been To corrupted, that, wlicn 
 they have applied thcmfelves to feek remedies to the evils they fuffered by 
 wicked magiftrates, they could not fall upon fuch as were proportionable to 
 the difeafe, have only vented their paflions in deftroying the immediate in- 
 ilruments of their opprcllion, or for a while delayed their utter ruin. But 
 tiie root ftiU remaining, it foon produced the fame poifonous fruit, and 
 either quite deftroyed, or made them languifh in perpetual mifery. The 
 Roman empire was the mofl: eminent example of the lirfi: many of the 
 monflcrs that had tyrannized over them were killed ; but tlie greatcft 
 advantage gained by their death was a refpite from ruin ; and the govern- 
 ment, which ought to have been eflal)liflied by good laws, depending 
 only upon the virtue of one man, his life proved to be no more than a 
 lucid interval, and at his death they relapfed into the depth of infamy 
 and mifery ; and in this condition they continued till the empire was 
 totally fub verted. 
 
 All the kingdoms of the Arabians, Medes, Perfians, Moors, and others 
 of the eaft, are of the other fort. Common fenfe inftrucSts them, that 
 barbarous pride, cru.lty, and m.adnefs grown to extremity, cannot be. 
 borne : but they have no other way than to kill the tyrant, and to do the 
 like to his fuccellor, if he fall into the fame crimes. \Vanting that wildom 
 and valour which is required for the inflitution of a good government, 
 they languilTi in perpetual i\a.ycrj, and propofe to themfelve^s nothing 
 better than to live under a gentle mafter, which is but a precarious life, 
 and little to be valued by men of bravery and fpirit. But thole natlons- 
 that are more generous, who fet a higher value upon liberty, and better 
 undcrftand the ways of prefcrving it, think it a fmall matter to dcfiroy a. 
 tyrant, unlefs they can alfo dcftroy the tyranny. They endeavour to do 
 the work throughly, either by changing the government entirely, or 
 reforming it according to the firft inftitution, and making fuch good laws 
 as may preferve its integrity v/hen reformed. This has been fo frequent 
 In all the nations, both antient and modern, with whofe actions v/e are 
 bell acquainted, as appears by the foregoing examples, and many others 
 that might be alleged, if the cafe were not clear, that there is not one of 
 them which will not furnifli us with many inftances ; and no one magis- 
 tracy now in being, v/hich does not owe its original to fome judgment of 
 this nature. So that they muft either derive their right from fuch anions,: 
 or confefs they have none at all, and leave the nations to their original" 
 liberty of letting up thofe magiftracies which beft pleafe themfelves, with- 
 out any refl:rid:ion or obligation to regard one perfon or family more- 
 tlian another.
 
 486 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 €HAP.III 
 
 SECTION XLH 
 
 THE PERSON THAT WEARS THE CROWN CANNOT DETERMINE 
 THE AFFAIRS WHICH THE LAW REFERS TO THE KING. 
 
 Our author, with the reft of the vulgar, fcems to have been led Into grofs 
 errors by the form of writs fummoning perfons to appear before the king. 
 The common ftyle ufed in the trial of delinquents, the name of the king's 
 witneffes given to thofe who accufe them, the vcrdidts brouglat in by 
 juries, " coram domino rege, " and the profecution made in the king's 
 name, feem to have caufed this. And they who underftand not thefe 
 phrafes render the law a heap of the moft grofs abfurdities, and the king 
 an enemy to every one of his fubje<fls, when he ought to be a father to 
 them all ; fince without any particular confideration or examination of 
 what any witnefs depofes in a court of juftice, tending to the death, con- 
 fifcation, or other punifliment of any man, he is called the king's witnefs, 
 wdiether he fpeak the truth, or a lye, and on that account fiivoured. It 
 is not neceflary to allege many inftances in a cafe that is fo plain ; but it 
 may not be amlfs to inl'ert two lOr three of the moft important reafons to 
 prove my affertion. 
 
 1. If the law did intend, that he or flie who wears the crown fhould 
 in his or her perfon judge all caufes, and determine the moft difficult 
 queftions, it muft, like our author, prefume that they will always be of 
 profound wifdom to comprehend all of them, and of perfcft integrity 
 always to adl according to their underftanding. "Which is no lefs 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 verified by 
 experience, and the hiftories of all nations ; or elfe to refer the decifioii 
 of all to thofe who through the infirmities of age, fex, or perfon, are 
 often Incapable of judging the leaft, or fubje£l to fuch paffions and vices 
 as would divert them from juftice, though they did underftand it ; both 
 which feem to be almoft equally prepofterous. 
 
 2. The law muft alfo prefume, that the prince is always prefent in all 
 the places where his name Is ufed. The king of France is, as I have fald 
 already, eftecmed to be prefent " on the feat of juftice* " In all the par- 
 liaments and fovereign courts of the kingdom : and If his corporeal 
 prefence were by that phrafc to be underftood, he muft be in all thofe 
 diftindt and tar diftant places at the fame time ; which abfiirdity can hardly 
 be paralleled, unlefs by the popHh opinion of tranfi^ibftantlatlon. But 
 indeed they arc fo far from being guilty of ftich monftrous abfurdity, that 
 he cannot in perfon be prefent at any tryal ; and no man can be judged, 
 if he be. This was plainly alTertcd to Lewis the thirteenth (when he would 
 
 * Sur fon lit dc juftice 
 
 have 
 
 \
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNiMENT 487 
 
 have been at the tryal of the duke of Candalc) by the prcfident dc Bellicvrc, SECT. 45 
 ■who told him, that as he could judge no man himfclf, fo they could not 
 judge any, if he were prefcnt : upon which he retired. 
 
 3. The laws of mofl kingdoms giving to kings the confifcation of delin- 
 quents eftates, if they in their own pcrfons miglit give judgment upon 
 them, they w^ould be conftitutcd both judges and parties ; which, befidcs 
 the forementioncd incapacities, to which princes are as much fubjcdl as 
 other men, would tempt them by their own perfonal intercft to fubvert all 
 nianncr of juftice. 
 
 This therefore not being the meaning of the law, we are to inquire 
 what it is ; and the thing is fo plain, that we cannot miflake, unlel's we 
 do it wilfully. Some ninie mud; be ufed in all manner of tranfadions, 
 and in matters of public concernment none can be fo fit as that of the 
 principal niagiftrate. Thus are leagues made, not only with kings and 
 emperors, but with the dukes of Venice and Genoa, the avoycr and fenate 
 of a canton in Switzerlnnd, the burgermeiftcr of an imperial town in Ger- 
 many, and the llates-gencral of the United Provinces. But no man 
 thinking, I prefume, thefe leagues would be of any value, if they could 
 only oblige the pcrfons whofe names arc ufed, it is plain, that they do 
 not ftipulate only for themfelves ; and that their ftipulations would be of 
 no value, if they were merely perfonal. And nothing can more certainly 
 prove, they are not fo, than that we certainly know, thefe dukes, avoyers^. 
 and burgermeifters, can do nothing of themielves. The pov.'er of the 
 ftates-general of the United Provinces is limited to the points mentioned 
 in the a£t of union made at Utrecht, The empire is not obliged by any 
 llipulation made by the emperor without their confent. Nothing is more 
 common than for one king, making a league with another, to exa<fl a 
 confirmation of their agreement, by the parliaments, diets, or general 
 eftates ; becaufe, fays Grotius, " a prince does not ftipulate for himfelf, 
 " but for the people under his government ; and a king deprived of his 
 " kingdom lofes the right offending an ambaiuidor *. " The powers of 
 Europe fliewed themfelves to be of this opinion in the cafe of Portugal. 
 When Philip the fecond had gained the poiTeffion, they treated with him 
 concerning the affairs relating to that kingdom : few regarded Don Anto- 
 nio ; and no man confidered the dukes of Savoy, Parma, or Braganza, 
 who perhaps had the moft plaufibie titles : but, when his grandfon Philip 
 the fourth had loft that kingdom, and the people had fet up the duke of 
 Braganza, they all treated with him as king. And the Englifh court,, 
 though tiien in amity v/ith Spain, and not a little iniiuenced bv a Spanilh 
 fadlion, gave example to others by treating with him, and not vv'ith Spain,, 
 touching matters relating to that ftate. Nay, I have been informed by 
 thofe who well underftood the aftairs of that time, that the lord Cotting- 
 tonadvifing the late king not to receive any perfons fent from the duke 
 of Braganza, rebel to his ally the king of Sp.iin, in the quality of ambaf- 
 
 * Vide fupra, p. 43^ 
 
 iiidors.
 
 ^58 X)ISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. MI Tridors, the king anfwered, that he muft look upon that perfon to be king 
 of Portugal who was acknowledged by the nation. And I am niifbken, 
 if his majefty now reigning did not find all the princes and flates of the 
 world to be of the fame mind, when he was out of his kingdom, and 
 could oblige no man but himfelf, and a few followers, by any treaty he 
 could make. 
 
 For the fame reafon the names of kings are ufed in treaties, when they 
 are either children, or otherwife incapable of knowing what alliances are 
 fit to be made or rejected ; and yet luch treaties do equally oblige them, 
 their fuccerffors and people, as if ihey were of mature age, and fit for 
 government. No man therefore ought to think it ftrange, if the king's 
 name be ufed in domeftic affairs, of which he neither ought nor can take 
 any cognizance. In thefe cafes he is perpetually a minor : he mufl fuifer 
 the law to take its due courl'e ; and the judges, though nominated by him, 
 are obliged by oath not to have any regard to his letters, or perfonal 
 commands. If a man be fued, he m.uft appear; and a delinquent is to 
 be tried " coram rege, " but no othervv^ife than " fecundum legem terrae, 
 *' according to the law of the land, " not the king's perfonal will or opinion. 
 And the judgments given muft be executed, whether they pleafe him or 
 not, it being always underftood, that he can fpeak no otherwife than the 
 law fpeaks, and is always prefent as far as the law requires. For this 
 reafon a noble lord, who was irregularly detained in prilon in 1681, 
 being by habeas corpus brought to the bar of the king's bench, where he 
 fued to be releafed upon bail ; and an ignorant judge telling him he muft 
 apply himfelf to the king, he replied, that he came thither for that end ; 
 that the king might eat, drink, or fteep, where he pleafed ; but when 
 he rendered juftice, he v/as always in that place. The king that renders 
 juftice Is indeed always there : he never fleeps ; he is fubjedi: to no infirm- 
 ity ; he never dies, unlefs the nation be extinguilhed, or fo diflipated as 
 . to have no government. No nation that has a fovereign power within 
 itfelf does ever want this king. He was in Athens and Rome, as well as 
 at Babylon and Sufa ; and is as properly faid to be now in Venice, Swit- 
 zerland, or Holland, as in France, Morocco, or Turky. This is he to 
 whom we all owe a fimple and unconditional obedience. This is he 
 *' v\'ho never does any wrong : " it is before him we appear, when we 
 demand juftice, or render an account of our aftions. All juries give their 
 verdi(St in his fight: they are his commands that the judges are bound 
 and fworn to obey, when they are not at all to confider fuch as they 
 receive from the perfon that wears the crown. It was for treafon againft 
 him, that Trefilian and others like to him in feveral ages were hanged. 
 They gratified the lufts of the vifible powers ; but the invifible king 
 would not be mocked. He caufed juftice to be executed upon Empfon 
 and Dudley. He was injured, when the perjured wretches, who gave 
 that accurfed judgment in the cafe of fliip-money, were fuftered to efcape 
 the like puniftimcnt by means of the cnfuing troubles, which they had 
 
 chicfiy
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 4S9 
 
 chiefly raifed. And I leave it to thofe who are concerned, to confiJer sect. 41 
 how many in our days niay cxpedl vengeance for the like crimes. 
 
 1 fhould here conclude this point, if the power of granting a " noli 
 profequi, ccfl'et procelTus," and pardons, which are faid to be annexed 
 to the perfon 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 conclufion mufl firft prove his propolition to be univcrfally true. 
 If it be wholly falfe, no true deduction can be made ; and if it be true 
 only in fome cafes, it is abfurd to draw from thence a general conclufion ; 
 and to eredl a vaft fabric upon a narrow foundation is impofiible. As to 
 the general propofition, I utterly deny it. The king cannot flop any fait 
 that I begin in my own name, nor invalidate any judgment I obtain upon 
 it. He cannot releafe a debt often fliillings due to me, nor a fentence for 
 the like fum given upon an a£lion of battery, aifault, trefpafs, public nui- 
 fance, or the like. He cannot pardon a man condemned upon an appeal, 
 nor hinder the perfon injured from appealing. His power therefore is not 
 unlverfiil : if it be not univerfal, it cannot be inherent, but conferred upon 
 him, or entrufted by a fuperior power, that limits it. 
 
 Thefe limits are fixed by the law : the law therefore is above him. Hig 
 proceedings muft be regulated by the law, and not the law by his will. 
 Belides, the extent of thofe limits can only be known by the intention of 
 the law that fets them ; and are ih vifible, that none but fuch as are wil- 
 fully blind can miftake. It cannot be imagined, that the" law, which does 
 not give a power to the king of pardoning a man that breaks my hedge, 
 can intend he fliould have power to pardon one who kills my father, 
 breaks my houfe, robs me of my goods, abufes my children and fervants, 
 Vi^ounds me, and brings me in danger of my life. Whate\-cr power he 
 has in fuch cafes is founded upon a preiumption, that he, who has fworn 
 not to deny or delay juftice to any man, will not break his oath to inter- 
 rupt it. And farther, though he does nothing but what he may rightly 
 do, " cum magnatum et fapientura confilio ; " and it is fuppofed, they 
 will never advife him to do any thing, but what ought to be done, in or- • 
 der to attain the great ends of the law, juftice, and the public fafety ; 
 yet, left this fliould not be fufficient to keep things in their due 
 order, or the king fliould forget his oath, not to delay or deny juftice to 
 any man, his counfellors are expofed to the fevereft punifliments, if they 
 advife him to do any thing contrary to it, and the law upon vv^hich it is 
 grounded. So that the utmoft advantage the king can pretend to, in this 
 cafe, is no more than that of the Norman, who laid he had gained his 
 caufe, bccaufe it depended upon a point that was to be decided by his oath ; 
 that is to fay, if he v/ill betray the truft repofed in him, and perjure him- 
 felf, he may fometimes exem-pt a villain from the punilhment he deferves, 
 and take the guilt upon himielf. I lay fonietimes ; for appeals may be. 
 brought in fome cafvis, and the waterman who had been pardoned by his 
 majefty in the year 1680, for a murder he had committed, was con- 
 demned, and hanged, at the afllzcs upon an appeal. Nay, in cafes of 
 
 R r r treafon,
 
 49° 
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. Ill treafon, which Ibme men think relate moft particularly to the perlbn of 
 the king, he cannot always do it. Gavefton, the two Spencers, Trefilian, 
 Empibn, Dudley, and others, have been executed as traitors for things 
 done by the king's command ; and it is not doubted but they would have 
 been faved, if the king's power had extended fo far. I might add the 
 cafes of the earls of Strafford and Danby ; for, though the king figned a 
 warrant for the execution of the firft, no man doubts but he would have 
 faved him, if it had been in his power. The other continues in prifon> 
 notwithftanding 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 fatisfadlion, 
 unlefs he be found innocent, or fomething fall out more to his advantage 
 than his majelly's approbation of what he has done. If therefore the 
 king cannot interpofe his authority to hinder the courfe of the law in con- 
 lefts between private men, nor remit the debts adjudged to be due, or the 
 damages given to the perfons aggrieved, he can in his own perfon have 
 no other power in things of this nature, than in fome degree to mitigate 
 the vindictive power of the law ; and this alfo is to be exercifed no other 
 way than as he is entrufted. But if he ads, even in this capacity, by a 
 delegated power, and in few cafes, he muft a£t according to the ends for 
 which he is fo entrufted, as the fame law fays, " cum magnatum et fapi- 
 *' entum confdio ; " and is not therein to purfue his own will and 
 interefts ; if his oath farther oblige him not to do it, and his minifters are 
 liable to puniihment, if they advife him otherwife ; if in matters of appeal 
 he have no power ; and if his pardons have been of no value, when, 
 contrary to his oath, he has abufed that with which he is entrufted, to the 
 patronizing of crimes, and exempting fuch delinquents from puniftiment, 
 as could not be pardoned without prejudice to the public, I may juftly 
 conclude, that the king, before whom every man is bound to appear, 
 who does perpetually and impartially diftribute iuftice to the nation, is 
 not the man or woman that wears the crown ; and that he or flie cannot 
 determine thofe matters, which, by the law, are referred to the king. 
 Whether therefore fuch matters are ordinary or extraordinary, the decifion 
 is and ought to be placed where there is moft wifdom and ftability, and 
 where paflion and private intereft does leaft prevail to the obftrudion of 
 iuftice. This is the only way to obviate that confufion and mifchief, 
 which our author thinks it would introduce. In cafes of the lirft fort, this 
 is done in England by judges and juries : in the other by the parliament, 
 which, being the reprefcntative body of the people, and the collcdted 
 wifdom of the nation, is leaft fubje£t to error, moft exempted from paflion, 
 and moft free from corruption, their own good, both public and private, 
 depending upon the rectitude of their fanftions. They cannot do any 
 thing that is ill without damage to themfelvcs, and their pofterity ; which 
 being all that can be done by human undcrftanding, our lives, liberties, 
 and properties, are by our laws directed to depend upon them.
 
 DISCgURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 491 
 
 SECTION XLIII 
 
 PROCLAMATIONS ARE NOT LAWS. 
 
 Our author, according to his ufual method and integrity, lays great 
 weight upon proclamations, as the fignifications of the king's picafure, 
 which in his opinion is our only law. But neither law nor rcafon 
 openly dire£ting, nor by confequences infinuating, that fuch a power 
 Ihould be put into an uncertain or fufpedled hand, we may lafely deny 
 them to be laws, or in any jcnfe to have the effecl of laws. Nay, they 
 cannot be fo much as fignilications of his will ; for, as he is king, he can 
 have no will but as the law diredls. If he depart from the law, he is no 
 longer king, and his will is nothing to us. Proclamations, at moft, are 
 but temporary, by the advice of the council, in purfuancc of the law. If 
 they be not fo, the fubjecft is no way obliged to obey them, and the coun- 
 fellors are to be puniflicd for them. Thefe laws are cither immemorial 
 cuftoms, or ftatutes. The firfl: have their beginning and continuance from 
 the univerfal confent of the nation. The latter receive their authority and 
 force of laws from parliaments, as is frequently exprefl'ed in the preambles. 
 Thefe are, under God, the beft defence of our lives, liberties, and eftates : 
 they proceed not from the blind, corrupt, and fludtuating humour of a 
 man, but from the mature deliberation of the choiceft perfons of the 
 nation, and fuch as have the greatefl: intereft in it. Our anceftors have 
 always relied upon thefe laws ; and it is to be hoped we ihall not be fo 
 abandoned by God, i'o deprived of courage and common fcnlc, as to fuffer 
 ourfclves to be cheated of the inheritance which they have fo frequently, 
 fo bravely, and fo conftantly defended. Though experience has too well 
 taught us, that parliaments may have their failings, and that the vices, 
 which are induftrioufly fpread among them, may be too prevalent, yet 
 they are the beft helps we have ; and we may much more reafonably 
 depend upon them, than upon thole who propagate that corruption among 
 them, for which only they can deferve to be fufpedlcd. We hope they 
 will take care of our concernments, fince they are as other mten fo foon as 
 a feflion is ended, and can do nothing to our prejudice that will not 
 equally aifeCT: them, and their pofterity ; befides the guilt of betraying 
 their country, which can never be waihed off. If fome fhould prove talfe 
 to their truft, it is probable that others would continue in their integrity. 
 Or if the bafe arts, which are ufually pradcifed by thofe who endeavour to 
 delude, corrupt, enflave, and ruin nations, fliould happen to prevail upon 
 the youngeft and wcakeft, it may be reafonably hoped, that the wifeft 
 will fee the fnares, and inllrudl their companions to avoid them. But if 
 all things were fo put into the hands of one man, that his proclamations 
 were to be efteemed laws, the nation would be expofed to ruin, as foon as 
 it fhould chance to fall into an ill hand. It is in amIu to fay we have a 
 
 R r r 2 good
 
 49i DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. Ill good king, who will not make an ill ufe of his power; for even the belt 
 are fubjedl to be deceived by flatterers, and crowned heads are almoft ever 
 encompafl'ed by them. The principal ait of a courtier is to obferve his 
 mafter's paffions, and to attack him on that fide where he fecms to be moft 
 weak. It would be a ftrange thing to find a man impregnable in every 
 part ; and, if he be not, it is impoffible he fhould refift all the attempts 
 that are made upon him. If his judgment come to be prepofleffed, he and 
 all that depend on him are loft. Contradiclions, though never fojuft, are 
 then unfafe ; and no man will venture upon them, but he who dares facri- 
 fice himfelf for the public good. The nature of man is frail, and ftands 
 in need of affiftance. Virtuous adlions, that are profitable to a common- 
 wealth, ought to be made, as far as it is poffible, fafe, eafy, and advan- 
 tageous ; and it is the utmoft imprudence, to tempt men to be enemies to 
 the public, by fuffering the moft pernicious adtions to be the means of 
 obtaining honour and favour, vs^hile no man can ferve his country, but 
 with the ruin of himfelf, and his family. 
 
 However, in this cafe, the queftlon is not concerning a peribn : the 
 fame counfels are to be followed, when Mofes or Samuel is in the throne, 
 as if Caligula had invaded it. Laws ought to aim at perpetuity; but the 
 virtues of a man die with him, and very often before him. They, who 
 have deferved the higheft praifes for wifdom and integrity, have frequently 
 left the honours they enjoyed to fool ifh and vicious children. If virtue 
 may in any refpedl be faid to outlive the perfon, it can only be when good 
 men frame fuch laws and conftitutions as by favouring it preferve themfelves. 
 This has never been done otherwife, than by balancing the powers in 
 fuch a manner, that the corruption which one or a few men might fall 
 into, fhould not be fuffered to fpread the contagion to the ruin of the 
 whole. The long continuance of Lycurgus's laws is to be attributed to 
 this. They reftrained the lufts of kings, and reduced thofe to order who 
 adventured to tranfgrefs them : whereas the whole fabric muft have fallen 
 to the ground in a Ihort time, if the firft that had a fancy to be abfolute, 
 had been able to eft'edl his defign. This has been the fate of all govern- 
 ments that were made to depend upon the virtue of a man, which never 
 continues long in any family ; and, when that fails, all is loft. The 
 nations therefore that are fo happy as to have good kings ought to make 
 a right ufe of them, by eftablifhing the good that may outlaft their lives. 
 Thofe of them that are good will readily join in this work, and take care, 
 that their fucceflbrs may be obliged, in doing the like, to be equally 
 beneficial to their own families, and the people they govern. If the rulers 
 of nations be reftrained, not only the people is by that means fecured from, 
 the mifchiefs of their vices and follies, but they themfelves are prcferved 
 from the greateft temptations to ill, and the terrible efFefts of the vengeance 
 that frequently cnfucs upon it. An unlimited prince might be juftly com- 
 pared to a weak fliip expofed to a violent ftorm, with a vaft fail, and no 
 rudder. Wc have an eminent example of this in the book of Efther. A 
 wicked villain having filled the ears of a foolilh king with falfc ftories of 
 
 the
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 4^; 
 
 tlie Jews, he lITucs out a proclamation for their utter extirpation; and not sect. 4" 
 long after, being iuformcd of the truth, he gave them leave by another 
 proclamation to kill Vv'hom they pleafcd, which they executed upon feventy 
 thoufand men. The books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Daniel, manifcftly 
 difcover the like fludluation in all the councils of Nabuchodonofor, Cyrus, 
 Diirius, and Artaxerxes. When good men had credit with them, they 
 favoured the Ifraelites ; fent them back to their own country ; reftored the 
 facred veifels, that had been taken away ; gave them all things necefTary 
 for the rebuilding of the city ; and advanced the chief of them to the 
 higheft employments. But if they fell into ill hands, three juft men mufl. 
 be thrown into the burning furnace for refufmg to worlliip an idol ; Daniel 
 muft be caft to the lions ; the holy city efteemed rebellious, and thofc who 
 endeavovu-ed to rebuild it, enemies to kings. Such was the ftate of things, 
 when their proclamations palled for laws ; and numbers of flattering 
 flaves were ready to execute their commands, without examining whether 
 they were juft or unjuft, good or bad. The life of the heft men, together 
 with the very being of nations, was expofed to chance ; and they were 
 either preferved or deftroyed according to the humomr of that man who 
 Ipoke laft to the king, or happened to have credit with him. If a frantic 
 fancy come into the head of a drunken whore, Perfepolis muft be burnt, 
 and the hand of Alexander is ready to execute her will. If a dancing 
 wench pleafe Herod, the moft venerable of all human heads muft be offered, 
 in a difh for a facrifice to the rage of her impure mother. The nature of 
 man is lb frail, that where-ever the word of a fingle perfon has had the force 
 of a law, the innumerable extravagances and miichiefs it has produced 
 have been fo notorious, that all nations who are not ftupld, llavifli, and 
 brutifh, have always abominated it, and made it their principal care to find 
 out remedies againft it, by fo dividing and balancing the powers of their 
 government, that one or a few men might not be able to opprefs and 
 deftroy thofe they ought to preferve and protecSt. This has always been 
 as grateful to the heft and wifeft princes, as necefTary to the weakeft and 
 worft, as I have proved already by the examples of Theopompus, Mofes,. 
 and many others. Thefe conllderations have given beginning, growth, 
 and continuance, to all the mixed' governments that have been in the. 
 world; and I may juftly fay, there never was a good one that was not 
 mixed. If other proofs of their redfitude were wanting, our author's 
 hatred would be enough to juftify them. He is fo bitter an enemy to 
 mankind, as to be difpleafed with nothing but that which tends to their- 
 good, and fo perverfe in his judgment, that we havereafon to believe that 
 to be good, which he moft abhors. One would think he had taken the 
 model of the government he propofes, from the monftrous tyranny of.. 
 Ceylon, an ifland in the Eaft-Indies, where the king knows no other law 
 than his own will. He kills, tears in pieces, impales, or throws to 
 his elephants, whomfoever he pleafes : no man has any thing that he can 
 call his own : he feldom fails to deftroy thofe who have been employed in 
 his dbmeftic fervice, or public olEces ; and few obtain the favour of being 
 
 put
 
 494 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. Ill put to death, and thrown to the dogs, without torments. His fuhjedls 
 approach him no otherwife, than on their knees, Hcking the duft, and dare 
 afl'umeto themfelves no other name than that of dogs, or limbs of dogs. This 
 is a true pattern of Filmer's patriarchal monarch. His majefty, I fuppofe, is 
 fufficiently exalted ; for he does whatever he pleafes. The exercife of his 
 power is as gentle as can realonably be expe£led from one who has all by 
 the unqueftionable right of ufurpation ; and knows the people will no 
 longer I'uffer him, and the villains he hires to be the inftruments of his 
 cruelty, than they can be kept in fuch ignorance, weaknefs, and balenefs, 
 as neither to know how to provide for themfelves, or dare to refill: him. 
 We ought to eileem ourfelves happy, if the like could be eftablifhed among 
 us ; and are much obHged to our author for fo kindly propofing an expe- 
 dient that might terminate all our difputes. Let proclamations obtain the 
 power of laws, and the bulinefs is done. They may be fo ingenioufly 
 contrived, that the anticnt laws, vv'hich we and our fathers have highly 
 valued, Ihall be abolilhed, or made a fnare to all thofe that dare remember 
 they are Englifhmen, and are guilty of the unpardonable crime of loving 
 their country, or have the courage, conduct, and reputation required to 
 defend it. This is the fum of Filmer's philofophy, and this is the legacy 
 he has left to teftify his affed;ion to the nation ; which having for a long 
 time lain unregarded, has been lately brought into the light again, as an 
 introdu(Stion of a popifli fucceffor, who is to be eftablifhed, as we ought to 
 believe, for the fecurity of the proteftant religion, and our Englifh liber- 
 ties. Both will undoubtedly flourilli 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 refift. If any man doubt whether he will make 
 a good ulc ot it, he may only examine the hiftories of what others, in the 
 fame circumftances, have done in all places, where they have had power. 
 The principles of that religion are fo full of meeknefs and charity ; the 
 popes have always fliewed themfelves fo gentle towards thofe who would 
 not fubmit to their authority ; the Jefuits, who may be accounted the foul 
 that gives life to the whole body of the fadion, are fo well-natured, 
 faithful, and cxa^El in their morals ; fo full of innocence, juftice, and 
 truth ; that no violence is to be feared from fuch as are governed by them. 
 The fatherly care fhevv'ed to the prcteftants of France, by the five laft kings 
 of the houfe of Valois ; the mercy cf PhiHp the fecond of Spain to his 
 pagan fubjects in the Weft-Indies, and the more hated proteftants in the 
 Netherlands ; the moderation of the dukes of Savoy towards the Vaudois 
 in the marquifate of Saluzzo and the vallies of Piedmont ; the gentlcnefs 
 and faith of the two Maries, queens of England and Scotland ; the kindnefs 
 of the papifts to the proteftants of Ireland in the year 1641, with what we 
 have reafon to believe they did and do ftiU intend, if they can accomplilh 
 the ends of their confpiracy; in a word, the fvveetncfs and apoftolical 
 meeknefs of the inquifition, may fufficiently convince us that nothing is 
 to be feared where that principle reigns. We may fufFer the word of fuch 
 a prince to be a law, and the people to be made to believe it ought to be 
 
 lb,
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 495 
 
 fo, when he is expcded. Though \vc fliould wave the hill of cxckiilon, sect. 44 
 and not only admit him to reign as other kings have done, but rciign the 
 ■whole power into his hands, it would neither bring inconvenience or 
 danger on the prcfent king. He can with patience expecfl:, that nature 
 fliould take her courfe, and would neither anticipate nor fecure his entrance 
 into the poffeffion of the power, by taking one day from the life of his 
 brother. Though the papiils know, that, like a true fon of their church, 
 he would prefer the advancement of their religion before all other confi- 
 derations ; and that one flab with a dagger, or a dofe of poifon, would 
 put all vmder his feet ; not one man would be found among them to give 
 it. The ailaifins were Mahometans, not pupils of the honell Jefuits, nor 
 ever employed by them. Thefe things being certain, all our concernments 
 would be fecure, if, inflead of the foolifh ftatutes, and antiquated cuftoms, 
 on which our anceftors 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 
 fufficient declaration of it. We Ihall by this means be delivered from that 
 " liberty witli a mifchief," in which our miftaken nation feems fo mucli 
 to delight. This phrafe is fo new, and fo peculiar to our author, that it 
 deferves to be written upon his tomb. We have heard of " tyranny with 
 " a mifchief, ilavery and bondage with a mifchief;" and they have been 
 denounced by God againll wicked and perverfe nations, as mifchiefs com- 
 prehending all that is mofl: to be abhorred and dreaded in the world. But 
 Filmer informs vis, that liberty, which all wife and good men have in all 
 ages efteemed to be the moft valuable and glorious privilege of mankind, 
 is " a mifchief. " If he deicrve credit, Mofes, Jofhua, Gideon, Samfon, 
 and Samuel, with others like tliem, were enemies to their country, in 
 depriving the people of the advantages they enjoyed under the paternal 
 care of Pharaoh, Adonibezek, Eglon, Jabin, and other kings of the neigh- 
 bouring nations, and reftoring them to that " liberty with a mifchief, " 
 which he had promifed to them.' The Ifraelites were happy under the 
 power of tyrants, whofe proclamations were laws; and they ought to have 
 been thankful to God for that condition, and not for the deliverances he 
 wrought by the hands of his fervants. Subje£llon to the will of a man is 
 happinefs, liberty iS' a " mifchief." But this is fo abominably wicked 
 and deteftable, that it can deferve no anfwer. " 
 
 SECTION XLIV 
 
 A PEOPLE THAT IS NOT FREE CANNOT SUBSTITUTE DELEGATES. 
 
 How full foever the power of any perfon or people may be, he or they 
 are obliged to give only fo much to their delegates, as feems convenient to 
 themfelves, or conducing to the ends they defire to attain ; but the delegate 
 can have none, except what is conferred upon him by his principal. If 
 I therefore
 
 496 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. Ill therefore the knights, citizens, and burgefTes, fent by the people of Eng- 
 land to ferve in parliament, have a power, it muft be more perfedly and 
 fully in thole that fend them. But (as was proved in the laft fe£tion) pro- 
 clamations, and other fignifications of the king's pleafure, are not laws to 
 us. They are to be regulated by the law, not the law by them. They 
 are to be confidered only fo far as they are conformable to the law, from 
 which they receive all the flrength that is in them, and can confer none 
 upon it. We know no laws but our own flatutes, and thofe immemorial 
 culloms eftablilhed by the confent of-the nation; which may be, and often 
 are, changed by us. The legiilative power therefore, that is exercifed by 
 the parliament, cannot be conferred by the writ of fummons, but muft be 
 eflentially and radically in the people, from w^hom their delegates and 
 reprefentatives have all that they have. But, fays our author, " theymuft 
 " only choofe, and truft thofe whom they choofe, to do what theylift ; 
 " and that is as much liberty as many of us deferve for our irregular 
 " eledtions of burgefles." This is ingenioully concluded: I take what 
 fervant I pleafe, and, when I have taken him, I muft fuffer him to do 
 what he pleafes. But from whence Ihould this neceffity arife ? Why may 
 not I take one to be fny groom, another to be my cook, and keep them both 
 to the offices for which I took them ? What law does herein reftrain my 
 right ? And if I am free in my private capacity to regulate my particular 
 affairs according to my own difcretion, and to allot to each fervant his 
 proper work, why have not I, with my affociates, the freemen of England, 
 the like liberty of directing and limiting the powers of the fcrvants we 
 employ in our public affairs ? Our author gives us reafons proportionable 
 to his judgment : " this were liberty with a mifchief ; and that of choofing 
 " onlv is as much as many of us deferve." I have already proved, that, 
 <is far as our hiftories reach, we have had no princes or magiftrates, but 
 fuch as we have made, and they have had no other power than what we 
 have conferred upon them. They cannot be the judges of our merit, who 
 have no power but what we gave them, through an opinion they did or 
 might deferve it. They may diftribute in parcels to particulars that with 
 w^hich they are entrufted in the grofs. But it is impoffible, that the public 
 fhould depend abiblutely upon thofe who are nothing above other men, 
 except what they are made to be for and by the public. The reftrictions 
 therefore of the people's liberty muft be from themfelves, or there can be 
 none. 
 
 Neverthelefs I believe, that the powers of every county, city, and 
 borough of England, are regulated by the general law to which they have 
 all confented, and by which they are all made members of one political 
 body. This obliges them to proceed with their delegates in a manner 
 different from that which is ufed in the United Netherlands, or in Switzer- 
 land. Among thefe, every province, city, or canton, making a diftincft 
 body independent from any other, and cxercifing the fovereign power 
 within itfelf, looks upon the reft as allies, to whom they are bound only 
 by fuch ails as they themfelves have made; and when any new thing not 
 
 comprehended
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 497 
 
 comprehended in them happens to arife, they oblige their delegates to sect. 41 
 give them an account of it, and retain the power ot determining thofe 
 matters in themlelves. It is not lb among us : every county docs not 
 make a diftind body, having in itfelf a fovereign power, but is a member 
 of that great body which comprehends the whole nation. It is not there- 
 fore for Kent or Suflex, Lewis or Maidftone, but for the whole nation, 
 that the members choien in thofe places are fent to ferve in parliament. 
 And tli^ugh it be fit for them as friends and neighbours, fo far as may be, 
 to hearken to the opinions of the eleftors for the information of their 
 judgments, and to the end that what they fhall fay may be of more 
 •weight, when every one is known not to fpeak his own thoughts only, 
 but thofe of a great number of men, yet they are not ftridly and properly 
 obliged to give account of their actions to any, unlefs the whole body of 
 the nation for which they ferve, and who are equally concerned in their 
 refolutions, could be alfembled. This being impraclicable, the only 
 punifliment to which they are fubjedt, if they betray their truft, is fcorn, 
 infamy, hatred, and an aifurance of being rejedted, when they fliall again 
 feek the fame honour. And though this may feem a fmall matter to thofe 
 who fear to do ill only from a fenl'e of the pains inflidied ; yet it is very 
 terrible to men of ingenuous fpirits, as they are fuppofed to be, who are 
 accounted fit to be entrufled with fo great powers. But v/hy it fhould be 
 called " liberty with a mifchief," if it were otherwife, or how the liberty 
 of particular focieties would be greater, if they might do what they plealed, 
 than whilft they fend others to act for them, fuch vdfe 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 Tuf- 
 can6, who tranfacted all things relating to their alTociations'by delegates; 
 and the Athenians, Carthaginians, and Romans, who kept the power of 
 the ftate in themlelves, were all equally free. And in our days, the 
 United Provinces of the Netherlands, the Switzers, and Grifons, who are 
 of the firft fort, and the Venetians, Genoefe, and Lucchele, who are of 
 the other, are fo alio. All men that have any degree of common fenfs 
 plainly fee, that the liberty of thofe who adl in their own perfons, and of 
 thofe who fend delegates, is perfectly the fame, and the exercife is, and 
 can only be changed by their confent. 
 
 But whatever the law or cuftom of England be in this point, it cannot 
 concern our queftion. The general propohtion concerning a patriarchal 
 power cannot be proved by a fingle example. If there be a general power 
 every where, forbidding nations to give inftruclions to their delegates, 
 they can do it no where. If there be no fuch thing, every people may 
 do it, unlefs they have deprived themlelves of their right, ail being born 
 under the fame condition. It is to no purpofe to fay, that the nations 
 before-mentioned had not kings, and therefore might act as they did. 
 For, if the general thefis be true, they muft have kings ; and, if it be not, 
 none are obliged to have them, unlefs they think fit, and the kings they 
 make are their creatures. But many of thefe nations had eitber kings, 
 
 S s 8 of
 
 498 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 GHAf.in Of other magiftrates in power like to them. The provinces of the Nether- 
 lands had dukes, earls, or marquifes : Genoa and Venice have dukes. If 
 lihy, on account of the narrownefs of their territories, have abftained 
 from the name, it does not alter the cafe ; for our difpute is not concern- 
 ing the name, but the right. If that one man, who is in the principal 
 magiftracy of every nation, muft 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 called. But if in fmall territories he may be limited by laws, he 
 may be fo alfo in the greateft. The leaft of men is a man as well as a 
 giant : and thofe in the Weft-Indies, who have not above twenty or thirty 
 iiibjeits able to bear arms, are kings as well as Xerxes. Every nation 
 may divide itfelf into frnaU parcels, as fome have done, by the fame law, by 
 which they have reftrained or abolifhed their kings, joined to one another, or 
 taken their hazard of fubfifting by themfelves, a£ted by delegation, or 
 retained the power in their own perfons, given finite or indefinite 
 powers, referred to themfelves a power of puniftiing thofe who Ihould 
 tkpart from their duty, or referred it to their general afl'cmblies. And 
 that liberty, for which we contend, as the gift of God aiid nature, remains 
 equally to all. 
 
 If men who delight in cavilling Ihould fay, that great kingdoms are 
 not to be regulated by the examples of fmall ftates, 1 defire to know, 
 when it Was, that God ordained great nations Ihould be flaves, and 
 deprived of all right to difpofe matters relating to their government ; 
 whilft he left to fuch as had, or fliould divide theml'clves into fmall parcels;, 
 a right of making fuch conftitutions as were moft convenient for theiu, 
 "When this is relolved, we ought to be informed, what extent of territory 
 is required to defcrve the name of a great kingdom. Spain and France 
 are efteemed great, and yet the deputies or procuradores of the feverai 
 parts of Caftile did in the cortes held at Madrid, in the beginning of 
 Qiarles the fifth's reign, excufe themfelves from giving the fupplies he 
 defired, becaufe they had received no orders in that particular from the 
 towns that lent them ; and afterwards receiving exprefs order not to doit, 
 they gave his majefty a flat denial*. The like was frequently done 
 during the reigns of that great prince, and of his fon Philip the fecond. 
 And generally thofe procuradores never granted any thing of importance to 
 fcither of them, without particular orders from their principals. The £ime 
 way was taken in France, as long as there were any general aflemblies of 
 eftates ; and, if it do not ftill continue, it is becaufe there are none. For 
 no man who underftood the affairs of tliat kingdom did ever deny, that 
 the deputies were obliged to follow the orders of thofe who fent them. 
 And perhaps, if men would examine by what means they came to be 
 alx)lHhed, they might find, thatthc c;irdinals dc Richelieu and Mazarin, with 
 other minifters who have accompliihed that work, were actuated by fome 
 other principle than that of jullicc, or the eftablifhment of the laws of 
 
 * Hift. dc la Vidadcl Emperador Carlos v, par Sajidoval. 
 
 God
 
 DISCOUllSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 499 
 
 Cod and nature. In the general anembly of cftates held at Elois in the sect. 44 
 time oF Henry the third, liodin then deputy for the third ellatc of Vcr- 
 mandois, by their particular order, propofed fo many things as took up 
 a great part of their time. Other deputies alleged no other reafon for 
 many things faid and done by them, highly contrary to the king's will, 
 than that they were commanded to do fu by their fupcriors *. Thefe 
 general aflemblies being laid afide, the fame cufii)m is ilill ul'ed i]i the 
 Icfler alTemblies of eftates in Languedoc and Brittany. The deputies can- 
 not, without the infamy of betraying their truft, and fear of puniljiment, 
 recede from the orders given by their principals ; and yet we do not hud, 
 that " liberty with a mifchief " is much more predominant in Vv^nce th;^?j 
 among us. The fame method is every day pradtiied in the diets of Ger-r 
 many. The princes and great lords, who have their places in their own 
 right, may do what they pleafe : but the deputies of the cities mull follow 
 fuch orders as they receive. The hiftories of Denmark, Sweden, Poland, 
 and Bohemia, teftify the fame thing : and if this " liberty with a mifchief" 
 -do not ftill continue entire in all thofe places, it has been diminifhed by 
 fuch means as fuit better with the manners of pirates, than the laws of 
 God and nature. If England therefore do not ftill enjoy the fame, we 
 muft have been deprived of it either by fuch unjuftifiable means, or by 
 our own confent. But thanks be to God, we know no people who have 
 a better right to liberty, or have better defended it, than our nation. And 
 if we do not degenerate from the virtue of our anceftors, we may hope to 
 tranfmit it entire to our pofterity. We always ma;f , and often do, give 
 inftru<flions to our delegates ; but the lefs we fetter them, the more we 
 manifeft our own rights : for thofe who have only a limited power muft 
 limit that which they give ; but they that can give an unlimited power muft 
 neceflarily have it in themfclves. The great treafurer Burleigh faid, the par* 
 liament could do any thing but turn a man into a woman. Sir Thomas 
 More, when Rich folicitor to king Henry the eighth alked him, if the 
 parliament might not make Richard Rich king, faid, that was " cafus" 
 *' levis," taking it for granted that they might make or unmake whom 
 they pleafed "f. The firft part of this, which includes the other, is aflertcd 
 ■by the ftatute of the 1 3th of queen Elizai>eth, denouncing the moft griev- 
 ous punifhments againft all fuch as fliould dare to contradi<Sl it +. But if 
 it be in the parliament, it muft be in thofe who give to parliament-mea 
 the powers by which they adl ; for before they .are chofen, they have 
 none, and can never have any, if thofe that lend them had it not int 
 themfelves. They cannot receive it from the magiftrate ; for that power 
 which he has is derived from the fame fpring. The power of making 
 
 * Thuani Hid. 1. 63 f Herbert's Life of Hen. vin, anno 1535 
 
 J *' Whofoever fhall during the queen's life by any book, or work written or printed, 
 " exprefsly affirm, before I'.ie fame be cftabliOied by parliament, that any one particular 
 *' perfon is, or ought to be heir and fuccefTor to the queen, except the fame be the natural 
 " iflue of her body . . . fhall for the firft ofFence be a whole year imprifoned, and forfeit 
 " half his goods, and for the fecond offence fliall iacaf the penalty of praeinuiiire. " 
 13 Eliz. c. I 
 
 S 8 s 2 aad
 
 500 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP.TII and unmaking him cannot be from hirafelf; for he that is not can da 
 nothing ; and when he is made, can have no other power than is conferred 
 upon him by thofe that make him. Befides, he who departs from his duty 
 defires to avoid the punifhment : the power therefore of punifhing him is. 
 not from himfelf. It cannot be from the houfc of peers, as it is conftituted ; 
 for they aft for themfelves, and are chofen by kings : and it is abfurd to 
 think, that kings, who generafly abhor all reftriftion of their power, 
 fhould give that to others by which they might be unmade. If one or 
 more princes, relying upon their own virtue and refolutions to do good, 
 had given fuch a power againft themfelves, as Trajan did, when he com- 
 manded the prefect to ufe the fword for him, if he governed well, and 
 againft him, if he governed ill, it would foon have been refcinded by their 
 fucceflbrs. If our Edward the firft had made fuch a law, his lewd fon 
 v^ould have abolifhed it, before he would have fuffered himfelf to be 
 imprifoned and depofed by it. He would never have acknowledged his 
 unworthinefs to reign, if he had been tied to no other law than his own 
 will ; for he could not tranfgrefs that ; nor have owned the mercy of the 
 parliament, in fparing his life, if they had adted only by a power, which 
 he had conferred upon them. This power muft therefore be in thofe, 
 who adl by a delegated power ; and none can give it to their delegates, 
 but they who have it in themfelves. The moft certain teftimony that cari 
 be given, of their unlimited power, is, that they rely upon the wifdoiu 
 and fidelity of their deputies, fo as to lay no reftridions upon them : they 
 may do what they pleafe, if they take care, " ne quid detrimenti refpub- 
 " lica accipiat, " " that the commonwealth receive no detriment. " This 
 is a commifEon fit to be granted by wife and good men to thofe they 
 choofe, through an opinion that they are fo alfo, and that they cannot 
 bring any prejudice upon the nation, that will not fall upon themfelves, 
 and their pofterity. 1 his is alfo fit to be received by thofe, who, feek« 
 ing nothing, but that which is juft in itfelf, and profitable to their coun- 
 try, cannot forefee what will be propofed when they are all met together ; 
 much Icfs refolve how to vote, till they hear the reafons on both fides. 
 The electors muft neceffarily be in the fame ignorance ; and the law 
 which fliould oblige them to give particular orders to their knights and 
 burgcfies, in relation to every vote, would make the decifion of the moft: 
 important affairs to depend upon the judgment of thofe, who kpow 
 nothing of the matters in qucftion, and by that means caft the nation into 
 the utmoft danger of the moft inextricable confufion. This can never be 
 the intention of that law, which is " fandtio recSta, " and feeks only the 
 good of thofe that live under it. The forcfight therefore of fuch a mifchief 
 can never impair the liberties of the nation, but cftablifli them.
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 501 
 
 SECTION XLV 
 
 THE LEGISLATIVE POWER IS ALWAYS ARBITRARY, AND NOT 
 
 TO BE TRUSTED IN THE HANDS OF ANY WHO ARE NOT BOLN*t5 
 
 TO OBEY THE LAWS THEY MAKE. 
 
 If it be objeiL Ai, that I am a defender of arbitrary powers, I confefs I can- 
 not compreLcud how any fociety can be eftablifhcd or fubfill without 
 them ; for the cllabhfliment of government is an arbitrary ad, wholly 
 depending upon the will of man. The particular forms and conftitutions, 
 the whole fcries of the magiftracy, together with the meafure of power 
 given to every one, and the rules by which they are to exercife their 
 charge, are fo alfo. Magna Charta, which comprehends our antient laws, 
 and all the fubfequent ftatutes, were not fcnt from heaven, but made 
 according to the will of men. If no men could have a power of making 
 laws, none could ever have been made ; for all that are or have been in 
 the world, except thofe given by Cod to the Ifraelites, were made by 
 them ; that is, they have exercifed 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 been in fevera'l ages and places, are the 
 produft of various opinions in thofe who had the power of making them. 
 This mufl: neceffarily be, unlefs a general rule be fet to all ; for the judg-r 
 ments of men will vary, if they are left to their liberty ; and the variety 
 that is found among them ihevv's they are fubjedl to no rule, but that of 
 their own reafon, by which they fee what is fit to be embraced or avoided, 
 according to the feveral circumltances under which they live. The autho- 
 rity that judges of thefe circuraftances is arbitrary, and the legiflators lliew 
 themfelves to be more or lefs wife and good, as they do rightly, or not 
 rightly exercife this power. The difference therefore between good and 
 ill governments is not, that thofe of one fort have an arbitrary power 
 which the others have not, for they all have it ; but that thofe which are 
 well conftituted, place this power fo as it may be beneficial to the people, 
 and fet fuch rules as are hardly to be tranlgreircd ; whilil thofe of the 
 other fort fail in one or both thefe points. Some alfo through want of 
 courage, fortune, or ftrength, may have been opprefled by the violence 
 of flrangers, or have fuffered a corrupt party to rife up within thcmlelvcs, 
 and by force or fraud to ufurp a power of impofing what they pleafed. 
 Others, being fottifh, cowardly, and bafe, have fo far erred in the foun- 
 dations, as to give up themfelves to the will of one or a few men, who, 
 turning nil to their own profit or pleafure, have been juft in nothing but 
 in ufing inch a people like beafts. Some have placed v/eak defences 
 againft the lufts of thofe tliey have advanced to the higheft places, and 
 given them opportunities of arrogating more power to themfelves than 
 the law allows. \y here any of thefe errors are c'oiomitted, the govern- 
 ment
 
 502 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. Ill ment may be eafy for a while, or at leafl tolerable, whilfl: It continues. 
 uncorrupted ; but it cannot be lafting. When the law may be eaiily or 
 fafely overthrown, it will be attempted. Whatever virtue may be in the 
 lirft magirtrates, many years will not pafs before they come to be cor- 
 rupted ; and their fuccefTors, dcfletfting from their integrity, w'ill feizc 
 upon the ill-guarded prey. They will then not only govern by v/ill, but 
 by that irregular will, which turns the law, that was made for the public 
 good, to the private advantage of one or few men. It is not my intention 
 to enumerate the leveral ways that have been taken to effe£t this ; or to 
 ihew what governments have deflected from the right, and how far. But 
 I think I may juftly fay, that an arbitrary power was never well placed in 
 any men, and their fuccefTors, who were not obliged to obey the laws 
 they fhould make. This was well underftood by our Saxon anceftors : 
 they made laws in their affemblies and councils of the nation ; but all 
 thofe who propofed or affented to thofe laws, as foon as the affembly was 
 diflblved, 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 thofe who were prefent, and their pofterit}'', as to 
 thofe who by many accidents might be abfent. The Normans entered 
 into, and continued in the fame path. Our parliaments at this day are 
 in the fame condition. They may make prejudicial wars, ignominious 
 treaties, and unjuft laws : yet when the feffion is ended, they mull bear 
 the burden as much as others ; and, when they die, the teeth of their 
 children v»iU he fet on edge with the four grapes they have eaten. But 
 it is hard to delude or corrupt fo many : men do not in matters of the 
 higheft importance yield to flight temptations. No man ferves the devil 
 for nothing : fmall wages will not content thofe who expofe themfelves to 
 perpetual infamy, and the hatred of a nation for betraying their country. 
 Our kings had not wherewithal to corrupt many till thefe laft twenty 
 years, and the treachery of a few was not enough to pafs a law. The 
 union of many was not eafily wrought, and there was nothing to tempt 
 them to endeavour it; for tliey could make little advantage during the 
 feflion, and were to be loft in the mafs of the people, and prejudiced by 
 their own laws, as foon as it was ended. They could not in a lliort time 
 reconcile their various interefts or pafllons, fo as to combine together 
 againft ilic public ; and the former kings never went about it. We are 
 beholden to Hyde, Cliiford, and Danby, for all that has been done of 
 that kind. They found a parliament full of lewd young men chofen by 
 a furious people in fpitc to the puritans, whofe feverity had difguftcd 
 them. The weakeft of all miniftcrs had wit enough to underftand, that 
 fuch as thefe might be eafily deluded, corrupted, or bribed. Some were 
 fond of their feats in parliament, and delighted to domineer over their 
 neighboins by continuing in them : others preferred the cajoleries of the 
 court before the honour of performing their duty to their country that 
 employed them. Some fought to relieve their ruined fortunes, and were 
 moil forward to give the king a vaft revenue, that from thence they might 
 I receive
 
 DISCOURSES CONCEUNING GOVERNMENT 5*3 
 
 receive penfions : others were glaJ of a temporary protcdion againfl their sect. 46 
 creditors. Many knew not what they did when they annulled the triennial 
 aft; voted the militia to be in the king; gave him the excife, cuftoms, 
 and chimney-money ; made the a£l for corporations, by which the greatell 
 part of the nation was brought under the power (jf the worll men in it ; 
 drunk or foher palFcd the live-mile adl, and that for uniformity in the 
 church. This emboldened the court to think of making parliaments to 
 be the inflruments of our (lavery, which had in all ages part been the 
 iirmert pillars of our liberty. There might have been perhaps a poffibility 
 of preventing this pernicious milchicf in the conftitution of our govern- 
 ment. But our brave anceftors could never think their pofterity would 
 degenerate into fuch bafenefs as to iell themfelves, and their country. 
 Yet how great foever the danger may be, it is lefs than to put all into the 
 hands of one man, and his minifters. The hazard of being ruined by 
 thofe who muft perifh with us is not fo much to be feared, as by one who 
 may enrich and ftrengthen himfelf by our dcftruftion. It is better to 
 depend upon thofe who are under a poffibility of being again corrupted, 
 than upon one who applies himfelf to corrupt them, becaufe he cannot 
 otherwife accomplifli his defigns. It were to be wifhed, that our fecurity 
 were more irertain ; but this being, under God, the beft anchor we have, 
 it deferves to be prcferved with all care, till one of a more unqueftionable 
 feength be framed by the confent of the nation. 
 
 SECTION XLVI 
 
 THE COERCIVE PdWER Of THE LAW PROCEEDS FROM THE 
 AUTHORITY OF PARLIAMENT. 
 
 Having proved that proclamations are not laws, and that the legiflative 
 power, which is arbitrary, is trufted only in the hands of thofe who are 
 bound to obey the laws that are made, it ih not hard to difcover what it is 
 that gives the power of law to the fandions under which we live. Our 
 author tells us, " that all llatutes or lavs'** are made properly by the 
 " king alone, at the rogation of the people, as his majejfty king James 
 *' of happy memory affirms in his True Law of free Monarchy * ; and 
 *' as Hooker teaches us, that lav/s do not take their conftraining power 
 ** from the quality of fuch as devife thern, bul; from tlic power that giveth 
 
 * •' In the parliament, which is nothing elfe but the hend court of the Jciii2; and his 
 •' vafials, the laws are but craved hy his fubjecfis, and only made byjiim at tlicLr location, 
 " and with their advice. For albeit the king make daily ordinances, aij.oining fuch pains 
 *' thereto as he thinks meet, without any advice of parliament or eilates, yet ix lies in the, 
 " pov/er of no ' irliament, to make any kind of law or flatute, without his fceptre be to it,, 
 " for giv^-v. .. I lie force of a kw." True Law of Free Moiir.rchies, See K. James's^ 
 Worksj p. 202. Edit, 1616 
 
 *♦ them
 
 504 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. Ill " them the ftrength of laws*." Rut if the rogation of the people be 
 necellary, that cannot be a law which proceeds not from their ros^ation : 
 the power therefore is not alone in the king; for a moft important part 
 is confelfed to be in the people. And as none could be in tliem, if our 
 aulTior's propofition, or the principles upon which it is grounded, were 
 true, the acknowledgem-ent of fuch a part to be in the people fhews them 
 to be falfe. For if the king had all in himfelf, none could participate 
 with him : if any do participate, he hath not all ; and it is from that law 
 by which they do participate, that we are to know what part is left to 
 him. The preambles of moft adls of parliaments manifeft this by the 
 words, " be it enacted by the lords fpiritual and temporal, and commons, 
 " in parliament aflembled, and by authority of the fame." But king 
 James, fays Filmer, " in his Law of free Monarchy, affirms the contrary." 
 and it may be fo ; yet that is nothing to us. No man doubts, but that 
 he defired it might be fo in England : but it does not from thence appear, 
 that it is fo. 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 with- 
 out the guilt of perjury, as he himfelf confeffed 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 judgment ; but it 
 r^^ceives the force of a law from the power that ena£ls it. We have no 
 other reafon for the payment of excife or cuftoms, than that the parlia- 
 ment has granted thofe revenues to the king to defray the public charges. 
 Whatever therefore king James was pleafed to fay in his books, or in 
 thofe written for him, we do not fo much as know that the killing of a 
 king is treafon, or to be punifhed with death, otherwife than as it is 
 ■enai^ed by parliament; and it was not always fo : for in the time of 
 Etlielftan, the cftimates of lives were agreed in parliament, and that of 
 a king valued at thirty thoufand thrymfae +• And, if that law had not 
 been altered by the parliament, it muft have been in force at this day. 
 It had been in vain for a king to fay he would have it otherwife ; for he 
 u not created to make laws, but to govern according to fuch as are made, 
 and fworn to affent to " fuch as fhall be propofed %. " He who thinks the 
 crown not worth accepting on thefe conditions may refufe it. The 
 words " le roi le vcut" are Aly a pattern of the French fafliions, upon 
 which fome kings have laid great ftrcfs, and would no doubt have been 
 glad to introduce "cartel eft notre plaifir ;" but that may prove a diffi- 
 cult matter. Nay, in France itfelf, where that ftyle, and all the ranting 
 expreflions that pleafe the vaineft of men are in mode, no edidt has the 
 
 * Laws do not take their conftraining fo/cc from the quality of fuch as devife them, but 
 from that power which doth give them the ftreiigth of laws. Hooker's Eccl. Pol. b. i, § lo 
 
 § Speech in the ftar-chamber, 1616. Vide fupra, p. 343 
 
 t Rcgii capitis aeftimatio, )urc Anglorum communi, 30 thrimfarum mijlibus conftat ; 
 quorum rr.iUia quindecem capitis aeftimationis, rcliqua re;;iii nomine dcbentur: hacc ad 
 gcntciri, ilia ;id cognntos pertinent. Vide Leges Acthelfhmi, Edit. Lambardi, p. S5-— — 
 Thrimfa vel thryml'a eft trium folidorum nummus, .i rj;pim, tjuod ternos figiiificat. Lamb, 
 Glofs. Spelni. Gloi'-. in voce 'riirimla. 
 
 X Qiias vulgus clcgerit. Vide fupra, p. 354. 
 
 power
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 505 
 
 powcr of a law, till it be regiflred in parliament. This is not a mere SECT. 45 
 ceremony, as feme pretend, but all that is effential to a law. Nothing 
 has been more common, than for thoic parliaments to rcfufe edi£Ls fent to 
 them by the king. When John Chaftel had, at the inftigation of the 
 jefuits, ftabbed Henry the fourth in the mouth, and that order had 
 defigned or executed many other execrable crimes, they were banifiied 
 out of the kingdom by an arret of the parliament of Paris. Some other 
 parliaments rcgiftred the fame ; but thofe of Touloufc and Bourdcaux 
 abfohitely refufed ; and, notwithllanding all that the king could do, the 
 Jefuits continued at Tournon, and many other places within their precindls, 
 till the arret was revoked. Thcfe proceedings are fo difpleafuig to tlie 
 court, that the moil violent ways have been often ufed to abolilh them. 
 About the year 1650, Seguier then chancellor of France was fent with 
 a great number of foldiers to oblige the parliament of Paris to pafs fome 
 edicts upon which they had hefitated : but he was fo far from accomplifh- 
 ing his defign, that the people rofe againft him, and he thought himfelf 
 happy, that he efcaped with his life. If the parliaments do not in all 
 parts of the kingdom continue in the liberty of approving or rejeding all 
 edidls, the law is not altered, but oppreffed by the violence of the fvvord : 
 and the prince of Conde, who was principally employed to do that work, 
 may, as I fuppofe, have had leifure to refledt upon thofe a£lions, and 
 cannot but find reafon to conclude, that his excellent valour and condudl 
 was ufed in a moft noble exploit, equally beneficial to his country and 
 himfelf. However, thofe who are (killed in the laws of that nation do 
 ftill affirm, that all public adls, which are not duly examined and regiftred, 
 are void in themfelves, and can be of no force longer than the miferable 
 people lies under the violence of opprefTion ; which is all that could rea- 
 fonably be faid, if a pirate had the fame power over them. But whether 
 the French have willingly offered their ears to be bored, or have been fub- 
 dued by force, it concerns us not. Our liberties depend not upon their 
 will, virtue, or fortune : how wretched and ihameful foever their flavery 
 may be, the evil is only to themfelves. We are to confider no human 
 laws but our own ; and if we have the fpirit of our anceftors we fliall 
 maintain them, and die as free as they left us. " Le roi le vent," though 
 written in great letters, or pronounced in the mofl; tragical manner, can 
 fignify no more than that the king in performance of his oath does aflent to 
 luch laws as the lords and commons have agreed. Without prejudice to 
 themfelves, and their liberties, a people may fuffer the king to advife with 
 his council upon what they propofe. Two eyes fee more than one, and 
 human judgment is fubjed; to errors. Though the parliament confift of 
 the moft eminent men of the nation, yet, when they intend good, they 
 may be m.iftaken. They may fafely put a check upon themfelves, that 
 they may farther confider the moft important matters, and corredl the 
 errors that may have been committed, if the king's council do difcover 
 them : but he can fpeak only by the advice of his council ; and every 
 man of them is with his head to anfwer for the advices he gives. If the 
 
 T t t parliaiucnt
 
 ro6 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 J 
 
 CHAP. II I parliament has not been fatisfied with the reafons given againft any law 
 that they offered, it has frequently paiTed ; and if they have been fatisfied, 
 it Vv^as not the king, but they, that laid it afide. He that is of another 
 opinion, may try whether " le roi le veut " can give the force of a law to 
 any thing conceived by the king, his council, or any other than the 
 parliament. But if no wife man will affirm that he can do it, or deny 
 that by his oath he is obliged to aifent to thofe that come from them, he 
 can neither have the legiflative power in himfelf, nor any other part in it 
 than what is neceflarily to be performed by him, as the law prefcribes. 
 
 I know not what our author means by faying, " le roi le vcut is the 
 *' interpretive phrafe * pronounced at the palling of every adl of parlia- 
 " ment : " for, if there be difficulty in any of them, thofe words do no 
 way remove it. But the following part of the paragraph better deferves 
 _ to be obferved. " It was, fays he, the antient cuftom for a long time, 
 
 " till the days of Henry the fifth, for the kings, when any bill was 
 " brought to them, that had paffed both houfes, to take and pick out 
 " what they liked not ; and fo much as they chofe was enadled as a law : 
 " but the cuftom of the later kings hath been fo gracious, as to allow 
 " always of the entire bill, as it pafl'ed both houfes. " He judicioufly 
 obferves, when our kings began to be gracious, and we to be free. That 
 king (excepting the pcrfecution 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) governed well ; and as all princes, who have been virtuous and 
 brave, have always defired to preferve their fubjefts liberty, which they 
 knew to be the mother and nurfe of their valour, fitting them for great 
 ;ind generous entcrprizes, his care was to pleaie them, and to raife their 
 fpirits. But, about the fame time, thofe deteftable arts, by which the 
 mixed monarchies in this part of the world have been every where terribly 
 fiiakcn, and in many places totally overthrown, began to be praiTlifed. 
 Charles the fcventh of France, under pretence of carrying on a war 
 againft him and his fon, took upon him to raife money, by his own 
 authoi-ity; and we know how well that method has been purfued. The 
 mifchievous fagacity of his fon Lewis the eleventh, which is now called 
 king-craft, was wholly exerted in the fubverfion of the lavv^s of France, 
 and the nobility that fupported them. Hisfiacceflbrs, except only Lewis the 
 twelfth, follov/cd his example ; and in other nations, Ferdinand of Arra- 
 gon, James the third of Scotland, and Henry the feventh of England, 
 were thought to imitate him the moft. TIrough we have little reafon to 
 commend all the princes that preceded Henry the fifth, yet I am Inclined 
 to date the general impairing of our government from the death of that king, 
 and his valiant brothers. His weak fon became a prey to a furious 
 Frenchwoman, who brought the maxims of her own country into ours, 
 and advanced the worft of villains to govern according to them. Thcle 
 mcaftires were purfued by Edward the fourth, whofc wants contradlcd by 
 
 * The word " interpretive " is a miftakc in the firft edition of Filmcr's Patriarclia, 
 for " imperative " . 
 
 4 prodigality
 
 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 507 
 
 prodigality and debauchery, were to be fupplied by fraud arid rapine, sect. 45 
 The ambition, cruelty, and perfidioufnefs of Richard the third ; the 
 covetoulnefs, and malicious fubtilty of Henry the fevcalh ; the violent 
 lull:, rage, and pride of Henry the eighth ; and the bigottcd fury of queen 
 Mary, inftigated by the craft and malice of Spain, perfuaded me to believe, 
 that the Englilh liberty did not receive birth or growth from the favour 
 and goodnefs of their gracious princes. But, it feems, all this is miftakeu : 
 Henry the lixth was wife, valiant, and no way guided by. his wife j 
 Edward the fourth, continent, fober, and contented with what the nation 
 gave him ; Richard the third, mild, gentle, and faithful ; Henry the 
 feventh, fincere, and fatisfied with his own ; Henry the eighth, humble, 
 temperate, and jufl ; and queen Mary, a friend to our country and reli- 
 gion. No lefs praifes fure can be due to thofe who were To gracious as 
 to recede from their own right of picking what they plcafed out of our 
 laws, and to leave them entirely to us, as they palled both houfcs. We 
 are beholden to our author for the difcovery of thefe myftcries. But 
 though he feems to have taken an oath, like that of the gypfies when 
 they enter into that virtuous fociety, never to fpeak one word of truth, 
 he is not fo fubtle in concealing his lyes. All kings were trufted with 
 the publication of the laws ; but all kings did not falfify them. Such as 
 were not wicked and vicious, or fo weak as to be made fubfervient to the 
 malice of their minifters and flatterers, could never be drawn into the guilt 
 of fo infamous a cheat, direQly contrary to the oath of their coronation. 
 They fwear to pafs fuch "laws as the people choofc;" but, if we will 
 believe our author, they might have picked out whatever they pleafed, and 
 falfly impofed upon the nation, as a law made by the lords and commons, 
 that which they had modelled according to their ov/n 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 boafts, was little more than might 
 have been done by the fpeaker, or his clerks. They might have faliihed 
 an a£l as well as the king, though they could not fo well preferve them- 
 felves from punifhment. It is no wonder, if, for a while, no flop was 
 put to fuch an abominable cuflom. It was hard to think a king would be 
 guilty of a fraud, that were infamous in a Have; but that proved to be 
 a fmall fecurity, when the worft of flaves came to govern them. Never- 
 thelefs, it is probable they proceeded cautioufly : the firfl: alterations were, 
 perhaps, innocent, or, it may be, for the belL But, when they had 
 <)nce found out the way, they ftuck at nothing that feemed for their pur- 
 pofe. This was like the plague of leprofy, that could not be cured ; the 
 houfe infeficd was to be dcmoliflied ; the poifonous plant mufl be torn 
 up by the root ; the truft that had been broken was to be aboliihed ; they 
 who had perverted or fruflratcd the law were no longer to be fuflered to make ■ 
 the leaft alteration ; and that brave prince readily joined with his people, 
 to extingiiifh the mifchlcvous abul'e tb.at had been introduced by fome of 
 his worthlcfs predecelfors. The worft and baieft of them had continual 
 difputes with their parliaments, and thought, that whatever they could 
 
 T t t 2 detract
 
 5o8 DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAP. HI detra<£t from the liberty of the nation would ferve to advance their prero- 
 gative. They delighted in frauds, and would have no other minifters, 
 but fuch as would be the inftruments of them. Since their word could 
 not be made to pafs for a law, they endeavoured to impofe their own, or 
 their fervants inventions, as ads of parliaments, upon the deluded people, 
 and to make the befl of them fubfervient to their corrupt ends, and perni- 
 cious counfels. This, if it had continued, might have overthrown all 
 our rights, and deprived us of all that men can call good in the world. 
 But the providence of God furnifhed our anceftors with an opportunity 
 of providing againft fo great, fo univerfal a mifchief. They had a wife 
 and valiant prince, who fcorned to encroach upon the liberties of his fub- 
 jeds, and abhorred the deteftable arts, by which they had been impaired. 
 He efteemed their courage, ftrength, and love, to be his greatefi: advantage, 
 riches, and glory. He aimed at the conquefl: of France, w^hich was only 
 to be effeded by the bravery of a free and well fatished people. Slaves 
 will always be cowards, and enemies to their mafter. By bringing his 
 fubjeds into that condition, he muft infallibly have ruined his own 
 defigns, and made them unfit to fight, either for him or themfelves. He 
 defired, not only that his people fhould be free, during his time, but that 
 his fucceflbrs fhould not be able, by oblique and fraudulent ways, to 
 enflave them. If it be a reproach to us, that women have reigned over 
 us, it is much more to the princes that fucceeded our Henry, that none of 
 them did fo much imitate him in his government, as queen Elizabeth. 
 She did not go about to mangle ads of parliament, and to pick out what 
 might ferve her turn ; but frequently pafl'ed forty or fifty in a feffion, 
 without reading one of them. She knew that fhe did not reign for herfelf, 
 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 Ihe was, by oath, obliged to pafs fuch laws, as 
 were prefented to her on their behalf. This not only fhews, that there is 
 no fuch thing as a legiflative power placed in kings by the laws of God 
 and nature, but that nations have it in themfelves. It was not by law, 
 nor by right, but by ufurpation, fraud, and perjury, that fomc kings 
 took upon them to pick what they pleafed out of the public ads. Henry 
 the fifth did not grant us the right of making our own laws ; but, with 
 his approbation, we abolifhed a deteftable abuie, that might have proved 
 fatal to us. And, if we examine our hiftory, we fliall find, that every 
 good and generous prince has fought to eftablifh our liberties, as much as^ 
 the moft bale and wicked to infringe them»
 
 5^9 
 
 INDEX TO THE DISCOURSES 
 
 Aaron, iiiJe Mofcs. 
 
 Abdication, Camillus ihe didlator obliged to abdicate 
 
 his maojllracy 270 
 
 Abraham, and tlie patriarchs not kings 16. 19 
 
 Could never exercile a regal power 19 
 
 Lived with Lot in perfett freedom 77 
 
 Abrogation, where a perfon abrogates the magiftracy 
 
 189. 191 
 God declared Saul's kingdom to be entirely abro- 
 gated 280 
 A whole people, or part of them, may at their 
 own pleafure abrogate a kingdom 281 
 What if faid to be fo 345 
 None can abrogate the law of God 282, 283 
 Abfalom, his revolt 2S j 
 Abfolute power and monarchy, out in its firft beginning 
 
 .8. 45 
 Of France and Turky 45. 74. 128. 167. 169. 387 
 Burdciifome and dangerous 71 
 
 Who fit fubjefts for it 99. 156. 164, 165 
 
 Scarce ever conquered a free people ifo. 117. 
 
 169. 175 
 Who advocates for it 1 1 1 . 1 37 
 
 Nothing more mutable, or unliable 112. 118 
 
 Cannot be reftrainej by law 115. 159, 160. 164 
 Where it fhould be of more ftrength than the limited 
 
 116 
 TJie fad cfFeils of it 129. 199. 223, 22^, 225. 
 
 387, 388. 494, 495 
 Rome decayed, and periflied under it 131 
 
 The root and foundation of it 141. 157, 158 
 
 Not eftabliihed among the Greeks by law 147 
 
 Encourages venality and corruption 156, 157. 217 
 Advances the worft of men 159, 160, 161. 196 
 In what fenfe moft contrary to nature 163 
 
 By whom only to be endured 165. 3S7 
 
 The people under it always miferable 167. 182 
 
 184. 216 
 
 All things managed by one, or a very few men 168 
 
 Seems totally to be exempted from miftakes, and 
 
 why 1 86 
 
 Almoft all troubles arifins in them, proceed from 
 
 malice 186 
 
 Sedition moll frequently in, and natural to them 
 
 !95. 198. 208, 209, 210 
 
 By what means this arbitrary power is fet up 19 j, 
 
 196. 215 
 Few or none long fubfifl under it 20c 
 
 Where it cannot be introduced 2 1 8 
 
 Integrity not to be found therein 221 
 
 What care fuch monarchs have for their people 
 
 -3'' 23- 
 Their chief labour is to be above the law 248 
 
 Abfolute power, no fociety can be eftablilhed, orfubfift 
 
 without it fomewhere 501 
 
 Never well placed in men and their fuccelTors, if 
 
 not obliged to obey the lawi thatlhould be made 
 
 502 
 
 Abufes in. government, when never to be reformed zj,^ 
 
 Account, to Vvihom the people of Rome were to five 
 theirs J 6 
 
 Accufers, 'vieie Falfe witnefles. 
 
 Ar(|uirition, what right can be pretended from it 4.46 
 
 Ails of parliament, till the days of Henry V. for the 
 
 moll part were penned by the king's officers, 417. 506 
 
 njide Statutes 
 
 Adam, his fin, what ■^ 
 
 His kingdom 16 
 
 Had only an oeconomical, not a political power 75 
 
 Adoption, wherein the folly of it 50, 51, 52, 53 
 
 What may be called fo improperly 51, 52 
 
 Jacob adopted Ephraim and Manaffeh 73 
 
 Advancements, ought ever to be for the fake of the 
 
 public, not of the man 65 
 
 Have oftentimes made people worfe 338, 339 
 
 Adverfary, who a vicious prince reckons fuch 232 
 
 Adultery, became as common in Sparta, as in any part 
 
 of the world, and why 272 
 
 Cannot be difpcnfed with, even by the pope 
 
 himfelf ^39 
 
 AfFeftions of the people, the prince's moll important 
 
 treafure 262 
 
 Agefilaus, his great atchievements 117. 147 
 
 His denial of Artaxerxes to be greater than he 298 
 
 Xenophon's great character of him, and for what 
 
 320 
 Agreements, the treachery of violating them aggravated 
 by perjury, 192. 'vide Contrails. 
 
 Made by king John of France, when prifcne- at 
 JjOndon, and Francis under the fame circumilan- 
 ces at Madrid, reputed null 254 
 
 A good man performs them though he is a lofer by 
 the bargain 360 
 
 The neceility of {landing to them from religion, 
 and the law of nature ^--s 
 
 Between princes confirmed afterwards by parlia- 
 ments, kc. ^.87 
 Agrippa (Mei'cnius) appeafed one of the mofl violent 
 feditions at Rome, and how 1S5 
 Ahab's growing fick on Naboth's refuiing him his vine- 
 yard 299 
 When his houfe was to be cut off 480 
 Alexander ot Macedon, thought to be meant by Arif- 
 totle for the man framed by nature for a king 62. 
 
 Bis extravagant frolicks 1 14. 
 
 His fortune overthrew his virtue 114. 117. 478 
 His reign full of confplracies 19S 
 
 After his death the kingdom fell all to p'eces 143 
 It is thought he died by poifon 143. 19S 
 
 Alexander of Epirus, in valour thought equal, in power 
 little inferior to him 1^2 
 
 Alfred, Magna Charta grounded upon his laws 10 
 
 Acknowledged he found and left this kingdom per- 
 
 feftlyfree 4^2 
 
 Alienation, iiiih Dominion. 
 
 Allegiance, is fuch an obedience as the law requires 
 
 426. 4:;9 
 
 t Cannot
 
 5IO 
 
 INDEX TO THE DISCOURSES 
 
 Cannot relate to a whole nation 459 
 
 Alliances 83. 127. 228 
 
 All things in their beginning are weak 178 
 
 Change by length of time 184 
 
 Altar, the horns of it no protection to wilful murderers 
 
 320 
 
 Ambafladors, from whence kings have their right of 
 
 fending them 437. 487 
 
 Charks Guftavus, his excellent faying to one 443 
 
 From the Privernates, their brave and refolute 
 
 anfuer to Plautlus their conful, when they were 
 
 fuing for a peace 458 
 
 From the ellates of Scotland to queen Elizabeth 
 
 480 
 Ambition, honeft and wife men expofe the folly of it 
 
 5.2- 7' 
 Can never give a right to anv over the liberties ot 
 a whole nation 83 
 
 Tends to public ruin 146 
 
 Js the overthrow of Hates and empires 159 
 
 Man naturally prone to it 151 
 
 What it prompts to 201 
 
 Has produced more mifchiefs than any other 
 defires and paffions 204. 210, 211. 214 
 
 St. Ambrofe, feems to have no knowledge of the Go- 
 thic polity 310 
 Anceilors, what we ought to do, if we will be jull to 
 them 464. 507, 50S 
 Never thought their pofterity would fo degenerate, 
 as to fell themfelves and their country 503 
 By exerting their vigor we fliall maintain our laws 
 
 Angli or Saxons ; Tacitus's defcription of them 
 
 422 
 Antiochus, his vain boaft to deflroy Greece and Italy 
 
 118 
 
 How foon he loft all he pofleft in Greece, &c. 169 
 
 Apoftles, what their work was in relation to the civil 
 
 ftate 195 
 
 Appanages, in France to the kings brothers, produced 
 
 very bad efFeits 143, 144 
 
 Or to their fons, but they remain ftill fubjeiil to 
 
 the crown 255. 372, 373 
 
 Appeals, the right of them to the people 125, 126. 
 
 J38. 153. 192, 193. 270. 341. 361 
 
 None from parliamentary decrees 190 
 
 To whom they were made wlicn there was in Rome 
 
 no fupcrior magiihate in being 340 
 
 No pardoning a man condemned upon one 489 
 
 Iniianccs of it 489, 490 
 
 Arcana imperii, how to be meddled with 6, 7, 8 
 
 Arians, as cruel as the Pagans 1 1 5 
 
 Ariftocracy, what 22. 350 
 
 For whom bell 62 
 
 How fet up 67 
 
 Was the Jewifh government 100. 103. 258 
 
 Who patrons for it 166 
 
 The Lacedemonians for it 259 
 
 Whether it feems eftabliflied by nature 397 
 
 Ariftoile, (lighted by Filmer 11 
 
 Commendation of him 59. 107 
 
 His notion of civil focietles 60, 61. 65, 66. 71. 
 
 99. 249 
 Who he thought was framed by nature for a king 
 
 62. 65. 114 
 Wherein he highly applauds monarchy jo8, 109 
 
 Thinks the firft monarchs were but little reftrained, 
 
 becaufe they were chofen for their virtue 250 
 
 His difiinftion between a king and a tyrant 300. 
 
 397 
 
 Who, he fays, are governed by God, rarher than 
 
 by men 3.16, 347 
 
 Proves that no man is entruHed with an abfolute 
 
 power 397 
 
 Armies, of the Eaft and Weft, fet up emperors for 
 
 themfelves 121 
 
 Out of what fort of men they are to be formed 181 
 
 I'.V/f Mercenary and foldier}'. 
 
 Arminiu;, killed for aiming at a crown, which blemiflied 
 
 ail ills other virtues -^-^z 
 
 Arms, thofe juft and pious that are neceffary, and thofe 
 
 neceHary, v.hen_ there was no hope of fafety by any 
 
 other way 48 1 
 
 Artaxerxes, and his army overthrown by the valour of 
 
 10,000 Grecians 1 16 
 
 Artificer, what fort of one he is to whom implicit faith 
 
 is due 7 
 
 Afl'eniblies, that took their authority from the law of 
 
 nature, confidered ^i, 82 
 
 General of the people 103, 104, loj 
 
 The ufe of them 115. 423 
 
 Of the eftates in France, brought now to nothing 
 
 144 
 Settled the crown on Pepin 208 
 
 What they ought to fee performed 256 
 
 Had the power always of the whole people in them 
 
 In them none judge for themfelves 340, 341 
 
 The greateft trull that can be was ever repofed in 
 
 them 419 
 
 Inconfillent with the abfolute fovereignty of kings 
 
 426 
 Refufed giving fupplies to their kings in Spain 
 
 and France, without orders from their principals 
 
 . ~ 49S 
 
 AfTyrians, 'vide Eaftern nations. 
 
 That empire wholly abolifhed on the death of Bel- 
 fhazzar i 13 
 
 Their valour irrefiftible under Nebuchadnezzar 179 
 Little more known of them than from Scripture 
 
 200 
 
 Athaliah, more ready to cry out treafon than David 
 
 187. Deftroyed the king's race, and by whom her- 
 
 felf was killed 19S. ijide Queen. 
 
 Athens, its government not fo much approved as that 
 
 of Sparta 148 
 
 Banilhed fome worthy men, and put others to death 
 
 14S 
 
 The cruelty of the thirty tyrants there 149 
 
 As much inclined to war as Rome 172 
 
 The thiriy tyrants deftroyed by 'Fhrafybulus 1S9 
 
 Their oftracifm proceeded folely from fear 246, 247 
 
 Was not without laws when fhe had kings 337 
 
 Athletic h.abit, what 127. 137 
 
 Attila, called tlic fcourge of God, and gloried in the 
 
 name 351 
 
 Avarice, the evil effedls of it 52 
 
 Auguftus, Rome's longcft peace imder his reign 130. 
 
 198 
 
 What happened in it 133 
 
 Was worfc in the beginning than latter end of tis 
 
 ;c'Sn '33
 
 INDEX TO THE DISCOURSES 
 
 Sii 
 
 Had tlnrty mercenary legions to execute his com- 
 mands 400 
 Whether he truly deferveJ to be called the head 
 of the Romans. 474 
 The natiic of Auguftus is a title belonging to the 
 German emperor at this day /)48 
 Aoftria, Spain after many revolucions came to this hou e 
 
 184 
 Princes of this houfe pretend to know their original 
 
 365 
 
 The German empire came to Rodolphus of this 
 
 name about 300 years ago 366 
 
 What claim this houfe has to the crown of France 
 
 373- 438 
 Authors of great revolutions, their aims 157 
 
 Axioms in law, are evident to common fenfe, and no- 
 thing to be taken for one that is not fo 409 
 
 Babel, iiide Nations. 
 
 Babylonian kings, what right is pretended to be in tliem 
 
 3' 
 
 Monarchy ruled by force, the ftronger turning out 
 
 the we;iker 1 1 2 
 
 How its pride fell I 20 
 
 Little more known of its monarchy than from 
 
 Scripture 200 
 
 Bibylon and Sufa trembled at the motion of the 
 
 Grecian arms 223 
 
 There were a people there before Nimrod was king 
 
 401 
 Balance of power, where and how it is broken 261, 
 
 262. 464 
 
 Nations have fufFered extremely through want of 
 
 this prudence in rightly balancing, &c. 478 
 
 In what manner power iliould be balanced fcr the 
 
 advantage and feriicc of the ftale 491 
 
 Banifl'iment, not above 5 or 6 men fuucred unjuftly in 
 
 the Roman government, in tiic fpace of about 300 
 
 years 125. 127. 151 
 
 The temporary of the ;\thenians never accounted 
 
 asn punilhment 14S 
 
 Camillus recalled from it, and afterwards honoured 
 
 149 
 Barbarorum regna 249 
 
 Baron, the extent of the name 428, 429. 432 
 
 Baronagium, what 81. 42S, 429 
 
 Bartholomew de las Cafas (a Spanifh bifliop) his admira- 
 ble faying concerning the office of a king 39 
 Baflbmpierre, his fay ng about Rochelle 237 
 Baftards, thofe children can inherit nothing ■ 91 
 Declared with relaiion' to crowns 94. 377 
 Advanced before legitimate brethren 140, 141. 
 
 , 369. 370. 37'- 44+ 
 
 In fome places wholly excluded 203 
 
 Beggars of a king to Samuel, fuch as would not be 
 
 denied lo5 
 
 Parliaments no beggars 356> 357 
 
 Belial, who his fons loS 
 
 Bellarmine's tenets 4, 5. 13, 14, ij. 21 
 
 Beniamites, how they proceeded in preparing for their 
 
 defence 105 
 
 Bell men, content with a due liberty under theproteftion 
 
 ofajuftlaw 164. 379, 3S0 
 
 Have ever been againll abfolute monarchy 165 
 
 Defpikd, hated, and marked out for dellruftion 
 
 236. 3S1 
 
 Have their afFeftions and pafllons, and are fubjccb 
 
 to be milled by them 249. 3^3 
 
 Were fo efteemed who deftroyed tyranny 301 
 
 Whom they had need to fear J17 
 
 Can never wholly diveft themfelves of pafllons and 
 
 afteilions 405 
 
 Birthright, gives a right to fovereign dominion 89 
 
 Some have been accufed of fuppofititious births 377 
 
 Bilhops, the king's power in making them 229 
 
 What words of fervitude are faid to be introduced 
 
 by them among us 331 
 
 Blake, the terror his fleet ftruck every where 240 
 
 Blood ; by God's law, that man's is to be (bed, who 
 
 fheds anothcrs 314 
 
 Tiie neareft in blood fet afidc, when it was thouglit 
 
 more convenient to advance others 367, 36.S 
 
 Boccalini, the princes of Europe angry with him for his 
 
 definition of a tyrant, -vide I Cent. 76 Advcrtifemeue 
 
 249 
 
 Bought and fold, how places came to be fo 219. 22r 
 
 Senates and people cannot fo eafdy be 221, 222 
 
 Bourbon, Henry of that name, not admitted to the 
 
 crown till he abjured his religion, and promifed to 
 
 rule by law 254 
 
 Bnifton, his words, omnes fub eo, et ipfe fub nullo, 
 
 &c. how to be underftood 313, 
 
 What he calls efle fub lege 339. 344 
 
 What, he fays, the king is obliged to do by his 
 
 oath 414 
 
 His faying about evil, or ur.fkilful judges 414 
 
 Brethren, all fo by nature 25 
 
 Nature abhors a difference in fpecie between them 
 
 ,■ r . , 73. 7 + 
 
 Where a fraternal equality continued 77 
 
 Are equals 87 
 
 What advanced fome above the reft 10 1, loz 
 
 The governed fo called, by their magiftrates 474 
 
 Bribery, natural to courts 155, 156. 216, 217 
 
 Seeks the largett bidder 
 
 Cannot corrupt, where virtue is preferred 
 
 The v/ay to prevent it 220, 221 
 
 A noble periiin turned cut of a confiderable ofiice, 
 
 as a icandal to the court, for being an enemy to 
 
 this vice 221 
 
 Parliaments not fo eafily to be prevailed upon 502. 
 
 Britain, fliamefully loft 131 
 
 Kings impofed upon the Britons by the Romans,, 
 
 and to what end 276. 415 
 
 Severe aflertors of their liberties 402, 403. 421 
 
 Though they chofe commanders in their wars, yec 
 
 they kept the government in themfelves 421 
 
 Ever had their great councils to determine their 
 
 mort important aifairs 423 
 
 Brutus, found it dangerous to be thought wife, and why ' 
 
 193. 205, 
 
 Eftablifhed liberty and the confulate together 3 86 
 
 Buchanan, joined to Doleman 4. 
 
 His character of king James the third 252 
 
 Concerning the violation of the laws of Scotland 
 
 343 
 Burgundy, continued in Hugh Capet's eldeft fon Robert,, 
 
 and his defcendents for ten generations 373. 
 
 Caefar, of giving him his due 9. 306 
 
 Julius, iubvtrted all order by invading the fupreme 
 
 magiftracy by force 121. 143. 307. 473. 
 
 Caefar, 
 
 '79 
 218
 
 512 
 
 INDEX TO THE DISCOURSES 
 
 Caefaf, Juliu?, worfe than Tarquiii 145 
 
 By what means he fct up his tyranny 155. 2gi 
 
 Scares any prince had io many good qualities, till 
 
 they were extinguifhed by ambition 157 
 
 Dcfigned to make himfelf a tyrant i6i 
 
 Thought all things lawful when the confiilate was 
 
 denied him 202 
 
 When the power of the Romans was exprefied by 
 
 this name 306 
 
 Had a diadem ofrered hint by IVIark Anthony 33 I 
 Ho-.v obfervant he was of his word, when taken by 
 
 pirates _ 359 
 
 The ftare of the Roman empire after his ufurpation 
 
 Augullus, his power not given, but ufurped 400 
 Julius, what account he gives of our affairs here 
 
 402. 421 
 
 When, if ever, fear entered into his heart 421 
 
 In defpair would have killed himfelf 472 
 
 Caefars, never called kings till the fixth age of chriftia- 
 
 nity 447 
 
 Cam, had no dominion over his brethren after Adam's 
 
 death 69, 70 
 
 From whence his fear (that every man would flay 
 
 him) proceeded 274 
 
 Caligula, his wifli that the people had but one neck 1 1. 
 
 58. 193. 227. 47; 
 A monller of mankind 30. 342 
 
 His making love to the moon 49 
 
 His expedition, when he faid he had fubdued the 
 
 130 
 
 fea 
 
 Valerius Afiaticus appcafed the guards, by fayino-, 
 he wilhed he had been the man who had killed 
 him 195. 3^2 
 
 Murdered by his own guards 199 
 
 Afteacd the title of being called God, which Clau- 
 dius Caefar calls infolentem Caii infaniam 24^. 
 
 o'/Vi? 3 3 1 
 
 Whofe minifter he might be faid to be 327 
 
 Said of him, that no man ever knew a better fcr- 
 
 vant, nor a worfe mailer 336 
 
 Wherein he placed his fovereign majcrty 3S9 
 
 Calvin, his opinion of the government inllituted by 
 
 God 100. 104 
 
 Camden, his credit forfeited by a great number of un- 
 
 , "'"''^^ . 427 
 
 Campus Martius, was the land that belonged to the 
 
 kings of Rome (not above ten acres) afterwards con- 
 
 fecrated to Mars 299 
 
 Cardinals, the refpeft paid them, who have the power 
 
 ot choofing popes y 1 
 
 Carthage, how (he grew to that excefs of power that only 
 
 Rome was able to overthrow 136. 174 
 
 One of the moll potent cities in the world 174 
 
 Ciftiic, the lords thereof had no other title for many 
 
 ages than that of count, which was afterwards changed 
 
 to that of king, without any addition to the power 448 
 
 _ Concerning the Hates thereof erring 470 
 
 Catiline, his temper 177 
 
 One of ihc lewdcft men in the world 155 
 
 " Ceffet proceffus, " faid to be annexed to the perfon of 
 
 •^"'^'"8.. .. 489 
 
 the 
 
 Cevlon, an idand in the Eall-Indies, where the king 
 knows no law !)ut his own will ^^, 
 
 493 
 
 Change, of government, no proof of Irregularity or 
 prejudice to it, by ihofe that have right 123. 145 
 
 Nothing found more orderly 
 A mortal one in root and piinciple 
 In government unavoidable 
 What changes deicrve praife . 
 Where the wifdom of it is (hewn 
 Where they are requllite fometiraes 
 What are for the worfe 
 
 139 
 >43 
 
 »44 
 
 ><-; 
 
 •45 
 
 406 
 
 463 
 
 Charter of liberty, not from men, but from God 450 
 Parliaments interpofed their authority in thefe mat- 
 ters _ 467 
 Chatham, the city of London's dread at the Dutch fleet's 
 burning our (liips there lyg 
 Cheat of Mario Chigi, brother of Alexander VII. upon 
 the fale of corn 226 
 Child or children, a wife one, Eccl. 4. 13 28. 50. 
 
 , . , . 97- 242- 3<« 
 
 Their duty IS perpetual 54. 69. 271, 272. 277 
 Of God and ot the devil 56. 58 
 
 If children then heirs -2 
 
 Wo to thee, O land, when thy king is a child ! 
 
 74. 96 
 On what account children are admitted to rule 97 
 What underftood by the word child 97 
 
 They do not always prove like their parents 221 . 
 
 34-1- 
 Children, the danger of ha\ing them to be kings 242 
 
 The law gives them relief agajnft the feverides of 
 their parents 275 
 
 Were puniined with death, and for what 27; 
 
 Chriftianity, has been fplit into variety of opinions, 
 ever iince it v.'as preached ly r 
 
 The firft piofeflbrs were of the meanell of the peo- 
 ple 326 
 St Paul's work was to preferve the profefTors of it 
 from errors concerninij the fiate 326 
 Sufficiently proved to be antient, if proved to be 
 good and true 404 
 Citie?, confift of equals 60, 61. 65 
 What makes them free 450 
 Cives, -vi^e Incolae 
 Civil war, T;Wf War 
 
 Clergy, the veneration our ancellors had for them 426 
 Collectors, their extortions 224 
 
 Commanders, after the captivity, who thought mod fie 
 
 Of armies, who bed to be made fo 61 
 
 The bed among the Greeks and Romans in their 
 
 times, would not know how to manage an army 
 
 now 463 
 
 Where they have him put to death for milbehaviour 
 
 &c. 46S 
 
 Commands of a mafter, how far the fervant is bound to 
 
 obey them, &c. 383, 384 
 
 Commiihon, from God, what 56 
 
 They who hereby grant authority, do always retain 
 
 more than they give 466. 500 
 
 Comitia centuriata, what 337 
 
 Commons, whether they had a part in the government 
 
 424, 425 
 Always had a place in tlie councils that managed it 
 
 426 
 
 Many of them in antiquity and eminency, little 
 
 inferior to the chief of the titular nobility 427. 430 
 
 The nation's Hrength and virtue in them 430 
 
 How all things have been brought into the king's 
 
 and their hands 464 
 
 Yet
 
 INDEX TO THE DISCOURSES 
 
 513 
 
 Yet never can be united to the court 464 
 
 H:ive refiJfcd to give tlicii- opinions in many cafes, 
 
 till they had confulteJ with thofe that fcnt them 
 
 468 
 Commnnweakhs, for what end inftitiited i 
 
 All the regular kingdoms in the world are fo 21. 60 
 Of Italy, not without valour and virtue 134 
 
 How they feek peace and war 172 
 
 Whether better to conf;itute one for war or trade 
 
 .'74 
 Another fort compofed of many cities alTociated 
 tooether, and living aequo jure 17; 
 
 Seldom advance women, children, or fuch like, 
 to the fuprcme power 214 
 
 In them all men fight for themfelves 215 
 
 When the laws are abolilli.cd, the name alfo cesfcs 
 
 ibid. 
 Lefs flaughter in thefe, than in abfolute kingdoms 
 
 223 
 Of Greece and Italy, why called nurferies of virtue 
 
 2z6 
 
 Uiilice very well adminiftercd in them 316 
 
 How they may be faved from ruin 465 
 
 Competitors, fovercigns do impatiently bear them 19 
 
 Where their own fwords have decided their difputes 
 
 187. 205 
 
 Contefts between them relating to the crown, are 
 
 often very bloody 206. 208, 209, 210, 211, 
 
 212, 213. 215 
 Compulfion ; he that will fuffer himfelf to be com- 
 pelled, knows not how to die 329 
 Conqueft, what is fo called 23. 36 
 William I. had the name of conqueror odiouily 
 given to him 85 
 The extent thereof not the only thing to be confi- 
 dered 130, 131 
 Some commonwealths hereby defigned to enlarge 
 their territories 173 
 Some conquerors never deferved the name of ufur- 
 pers 315 
 The king cannot difpofe of a conquered country, 
 becaufe it is annexed to the office 437 
 It is the people that conquer, not any one man by 
 his own llrength 446 
 Confcience, how it ought to be regulated 328 
 Confent general, to refign part of their liberty for the 
 good of all, is the voice of nature 11. 23. 162 
 Firll conferred power 19. 21. 36. 77, 78. 95 
 Government arifes from it 37, 38.77.85.265,266 
 The right of magiftrates eflentially depends upon it 
 85, 86. 249. 366. 395. 401 
 None to tyrannies 86 
 No complete lawful power without it 88. 95. 166. 
 
 189 
 
 Of the three eUates in many places required, to 
 
 pafs a law 259 
 
 Whatever proceeds not from it, mull be de fafto 
 
 only 446 
 
 Conftantine the great, with what blood he was polluted 
 
 205, 261 
 
 His power kept up hereditary, but with extreme 
 
 confufion and diforder 267 
 
 Conftitutions of every government to whom referred 37 
 
 Human, fubjeft to corruption, and therefore to be 
 
 reduced to their Hrft principles 1 24 
 
 Where new ones are neceflarily required 144 
 
 That the bed, which is attended with the leaft in- 
 conveniences 151 
 Who endeavours the fubverfion of them 164. 464 
 Of commonwealths various 172. 444 
 Of the northern nations that invaded the Roman 
 empire 174 
 The temper of that of the United provinces 177 
 Good ones remain, though the authors of them 
 perifli 180 
 "Fhe falutary ones made by men, God approves and 
 ratifies 319 
 Of a ftatc aims at perpetuity 336 
 Are made for and by the people 386 
 What the iniperfcitions of all human conftitutions 
 
 404 
 
 Our antient, has been wholly inverted 430 
 
 What are moll to be commended 459. 478 
 
 Of no value, if there be not a power to fupport 
 
 them 461, 462 
 
 Confuls, made of plebeians, how feldom chofen, and 
 
 with what prudence 1 24 
 
 Reprefented kings, and were veiled with equal 
 
 power 13S. 141. Z70.-333. 453 
 
 Were created after the expulfion ofTarquin 14; 
 
 261 
 
 Confuls, ftrangers raifcd to that honour 175 
 
 Though fupreme in power, yet fubjeft to the peo* 
 
 pie 190. 269. 297 
 
 Marius continued five years in the office 261 
 
 Only for a year 269 
 
 Title of dread fovercign might juflly have been 
 
 given to them 453 
 
 If they grew infolent, how they might be reduced 
 
 462 
 Contrails, how framed between nations and their kings 
 
 278 -vii/e 2S9, 290. 459 
 
 /'Vfl'f judges, nations, original. 
 
 Entered into by princes before their inveftiture 32; 
 
 The breaking them overthrows all fociettes 358 
 
 In writing, faid to be invented only to bind villains, 
 
 and why 359 
 
 All are mutual, and whoever fails of his part dii- 
 
 chargcs the other 362 
 
 Contrariorum contraria eft ratio 327 
 
 Controverfies, with other nations, the decifion of them 
 
 left tojudges chofen by mutual agreement 483 
 
 Coriolanus duly condemned by the Romans 149 
 
 Coronation oath 87, 88. 95, 96 
 
 Norman kings obliged to take it 312 
 
 How far our kings are obliged ta obferve it 354, 
 
 35;- 3S'5.'.359- 362, 363. 412. 453 
 
 Corporations, or bodies politic, whatplaces were thoucht 
 
 fit by the king and council to be made fo 467 
 
 Corruption, natural to courts, inftances given 155, 
 
 S.C. 161, 217 
 
 Of miniflers in foreign courts 167 
 
 Theefteft of that which proceeds from the o-overn- 
 
 ment in particular inflances i8j. .gx 
 
 Of a people tends to tyranny iq5 . 
 
 Makes princes titles good, and how 200 
 
 Where it certainly moft abounds 216, 217. 22O 
 
 Mull always be oppofed by free governments, and 
 
 \vhy 217, 2,8 
 
 The bafell, but moft lucrative traffic 219, 220 
 
 In the head, muft neceffarily difFufe itfclfinto moft 
 
 of the members of the commonwealth 220. 239 
 
 U u u Ajuft
 
 5H 
 
 INDEX TO THE DISCOURSES 
 
 A juft pfihce that will hear his people's complaints 
 himfeir prevents it 221 
 
 Rooted in the very principle of abfolute mo- 
 narchy, which cannot fubfift without it 222 
 Mankind naturally propenfe to it 250 
 Of judgment proceeds from private paffions 298 
 Of members of parliament 502 
 Counfellors, made choice of according to the temper of 
 the prince 8. 232, 233. 349, 350 
 Signify little to an abfolute monarch 16S. 184 
 In the multitude of them generally is fafety 469 
 Whether thofe of the king are expofed to punifh- 
 ments, and for what 489. 506 
 Council of feventy chofen men 103 
 God's counfels are impenetrable 120 
 A wife artd good one cannot always fupply the 
 de.feft3, or correft the vices of a young or ill- 
 difpofed prince 349 
 Where it is of no ufe unlefs princes are obliged to 
 follow it 350 
 Of Toledo, what it made the prince to fwear before 
 he was placed in the royal feat 374 
 Of what perfons it antiently confided 427, 428.467 
 General, how exprefled antiently by authors 433 
 When the boldelt are mod fafe 479 
 The king is obliged to aft, cum magnatem et ia- 
 pientum confilio 489 
 He can fpeak only by their advice, and every man 
 of them is with his head to anfwer for the advice 
 he gives 505 
 Council-table, the proceedings and jurifdiftion of it re- 
 gulated by 16 Car. i. cap. 10. 418 
 Courtiers, what things are infeparable from their lives 
 
 219 
 
 Their phrafe is, to make as much profit of their 
 
 places as they can 220 
 
 A wife prince's faying to fome about him of fuch 
 
 221 
 Wherein, their art confifts 229, 492 
 
 The modern ones by their names and titles, what 
 they are apt to put us in mind of 426 
 
 When they fpeak mnil truth 453 
 
 Of Philip 111. and IV. of Spain, their fottirtinefs 
 
 466 
 
 Cowards, tlie cruelleft of men 246 
 
 Crown, how the Rnglidi became hereditary 94 
 
 Changed from one family to another by the eftates 
 
 of the realm 141. 271. 370. 372. 418. 419 
 
 Comprehends all that can be grateful to the molt 
 
 violent and vicious 2CI 
 
 Hereditary or eleftivc, it has its defefls 222 
 
 I'he Spartan traufported into nine fevcral families 
 
 251 
 Of France, is from the people 255. 371, 372 
 
 Vvherc none would accjpt it, but fuch as did not 
 
 dcxiveit zOi 
 
 Arminius ilain for aiming at one 332 
 
 Of England, upon what conditions accepted 361 
 Five different manners of difpofing crowns efteemed 
 
 hereditary 363, 364 
 
 0/ Spain not fixed in a line, but difpofed of as the 
 
 nobility and people thought fit 369 
 
 Many and bloody contells for one 399. 455, 456 
 The demcGies cannot be alienated 437 
 
 The parliament's power of giving and taking it 
 
 *way ,fj6 
 
 Some have feared the luftre of it 478 
 
 He that wears it cannot determine the affairs which 
 
 the law refers to the king 486. 488 
 
 Curio, by corruption made an inftrument of mifchief, 
 
 who had been an eminent fupport of the laws 157 
 
 Cuftom, the authority of it, as well as of law, confills 
 
 only in its reilitude 403 
 
 The various ones ufedin eleftions 467 
 
 Had its beginning and continuance from the uni- 
 
 verfil confentof the nation 491 
 
 The reafon why we pay cuftoms 504 
 
 David, the moft reverend king, had his pofterity de- 
 prived, and his kingdom at lall came to the Afmonean 
 race 27 
 
 Chofen and anointed king by the tribe of Judah 
 
 95. 282 
 
 Slew the fons of Rimmon, and why 95 
 
 Not without his infirmities and punifhments 113 
 
 Who were his followers, notwithllanding the 
 
 juftice of his caufe 197. 282 
 
 His affeftion towards his people 275 
 
 His refifling of Saul, without affuming the power 
 
 of a king 280, 281 
 
 How his heart fmote him when he had cut off Saul's 
 
 Ikirt 281 
 
 His war with Saul, how grounded 282 
 
 There were many rebellions againft him 284 
 
 How he feared men more than God 295 
 
 Why commanded Solomon not to fuffer Joab to go 
 
 to the grave in peace 319 
 
 Wife as an angel of God 469 
 
 Death, of no eminent Roman, except one, for a long 
 
 time 125 
 
 Citizens to be condemned in public by the Roman 
 
 law 153 
 
 OfBarnevelt, and de Witt 177 
 
 Often the reward of fuch fervices as cannot be fuf- 
 
 ficiently valued 205 
 
 Of the neareft relations, regnandi caufa 205 
 
 The bitternefs of it, how alTuaged 262 
 
 Very few fuifered in Sparta for above 800 years 
 
 320 
 Decemviri, only for a year 142 
 
 For two years 340. 
 
 To regulate the law 145. 337 
 
 Patricians favoured them 1 86 
 
 Proceeded againft as private men, when they con- 
 tinued beyond their time 189 
 Ufed with great gentlenefs 215 
 The Romans eafily beaten under them 239 
 The power given to them, fine provocatione, was 
 only in private cafes 340 
 Why the people deftroyed both their power and 
 them 340 
 Decifion of the moft diflicult matters, antiently left to- 
 the priefts in all countries 483 
 In England, where made by judges and juries, and 
 where by parliaments 490, 491 
 Defence, all terminates in force 180,181 
 Whether better for every man to ftand in his. own 
 defence, than to enter into focieties 194 
 Of one's felf, natural 2S9. 305, 
 Dclatores fee Roman empire «2i 
 Delegated perfons, their powers, to whim referred 79, 
 
 80, 81 
 lOa
 
 INDEX TO THE DISCOURSES 
 
 'SK^ 
 
 In general alTomblies 83 
 
 H(iw binding the afls of fiich are to the whole na- 
 tion ^5 
 
 Wliere the king afts by this power 489 
 
 Can have no power but what is conferred on thcni 
 by their principals 496 
 
 How thofe in the United Provinces, and in Swit- 
 zerland arc iil'ed 496 
 
 Deputies of Caltile, refufed in the cortes to gi\e 
 
 Charles \'. the fupplles he dcfired, and why 498 
 
 Deliverers of their countries from oppreflions, how they 
 
 have been eilecnied in all ages 9 
 
 What gifts God bellowed on them 28. 102. iii. 
 
 120 
 
 Ot'ten rewarded with inheritance 80 
 
 Their adions carry their own jullification I95 
 
 Democracy, God faid to be the author of it 12. 105 
 
 Perfcd, what 22 
 
 For whom bell 62. 104. 138 
 
 How inlHtuted 67 
 
 A democraticil cmbafl'y 103 
 
 Of the Hebrew government 104 
 
 Never good but in fmall towns 138. 147 
 
 I'ure, if it be in the world, the author has nothing 
 to fay to it 1 60 
 
 Where it would prove the moft juft, rational and 
 natural 163 
 
 To what miftakes moll liable 186 
 
 With whom in a ftrift fenfeit can only fuit 258 
 Denmark, the lail king thereof overthrew in one day all 
 the laws of his country 158 
 
 The crown eledlive till 1660, and then made here- 
 ditary 366. 444 
 In feme parts thereof the whole volumes of their 
 laws may be read in few hours 409 
 The authority of their kings faid to have been for 
 above 3000 years 420 
 Nobleman and gentleman the fame there 429 
 Depofition of princes, faid to be the doftrine of Rome 
 and Geneva 4 
 For mifgovernment, and others placed in their 
 rooms 81. 94. 140, 141,242,254. 284. 369. 
 
 403. 467 
 
 Kings, when depofed, lofe the right of fending am- 
 
 bafladors 487 
 
 The praftice of France and other countries 93. 
 
 _ 144. 209. 212. 244. 369. 370. 372. 419 
 
 For religion, differing from the body of the nation 
 
 94.97.141 
 
 If they become enemies to their people 193 
 
 For their ill lives 321. 325 
 
 Of Wamba, a Gothic king, who was made a 
 
 monk after he had reigned many years well 368 
 
 Defertion, thecaufeofit 168 
 
 Common to all abfolute monarchies 168 
 
 Of loldiers 237, 238, 239 
 
 Deturdigniori 28.39.61 
 
 Diflator, from whence his power arofe 1 24. 297 
 
 Caefar made himfelf perpetual 128 
 
 Made occafionally at the beginning 142, 143. 146 
 
 A mortal change in root and principle 143 
 
 Why Mamercus and others had this honour 149. 
 
 Though fupreme, yet fubjeft to the people, if they 
 
 tranfgrefs the law 190. 269. 270. 453 
 
 Jiis power but for fi.\ months atmolt 269. 333. 340 
 
 Camillus in hi: fourth diftatoiniip threatened with 
 a fine 270 
 
 The conimirtion that was given them, v/hat 443 
 How high the Romans carried the power and vene- 
 ration due to them 453 
 None ever ufurped a power over liberty till the time 
 ofSylla 462 
 Diets, vid. ellates of the realm, and parliaments, ge- 
 neral aflVmblits. 
 Difference between a lawful king and a tyrant 71. 73. 
 
 244. 301. 344 
 P.ctwcpii brethren, only in proportion 73 
 
 Between loid and fervant in fpecie, not in degree 
 
 73 
 Between men fighting for their own intereft, and 
 
 fuch ai fcrvi for pay 238 
 
 Between fenaics and abfolute princes z66 
 
 Between magillrates to whom obed.cnce is due, 
 
 and to whom not 329, 33* 
 
 Betiieen good a;:d bad prince>, i.-> from the ob- 
 
 fervation or \iylation of the laws of their country 
 
 3jS 
 Dioclefian's faying, Bonus, cautus, optimus imperator 
 venditur 217 
 
 What made him renounce the empire 217 
 
 Diogenes, hii philofophical reply to Aiillippus, about 
 flattery 2i8 
 
 Dionyfius, his tyranny deftroyed by the S)'racufians n 
 His character 30. 230 
 
 Diogenes his faying of him 230 
 
 Difcipline, the excellency of the Roman 153, 154. 170 
 The like in all nations that have kept their li- 
 berty 170 
 The effefts of good and bad 237, 238, 239 
 The excellency of the Spartan zji. 320 
 Difpenfing power, our kings have it not beyond what 
 the law gives them 398 
 Diflimulation, what 243 
 Diffolute perfons fittell fubjefts for abfolute monarchs 
 
 99. 156. 196, 197 
 Abhor the dominion of the law 162. 232 
 
 Doi5lrine ; fome, by that which is falfe, poifon the fprings 
 of religion and virtue 381 
 
 Dominion, equally divided among all, is univerfal li- 
 berty 24 
 Of the whole world cannot belong to one man 
 
 43- 4? 
 Nor over a natioa, ever infepnrably united to one 
 
 man and his family 60. 72, 73. 76. 87 
 
 Deeds by which the right of it is conferred 9c 
 
 Ufurped by the ruin of the bell part of maniciivd 
 
 Of France not to be alienated 254 
 
 Every child of a parent cannot inherit it 263 
 
 How, and by whom it was conferred 264. 449 
 
 Implies proteftion 45 i 
 
 Dominus, its fignification 7^ 
 
 The Romans often called lords of the world 432 
 
 Domitian, his charafter 228 
 
 Tacitus calls him, an enemy to virtue 317 
 
 Duels in France, who only could refufe challenges from 
 
 any gentleman j).2ij 
 
 Dukes of Venice, Mofcovy, &c. 191, ig^ 
 
 Duke, earl, and vifcount, the names of oifices 437 
 
 Where thefe names are fubjeds, and where littja 
 
 lefs than fovereigns 4.1.3 
 
 U u u 2 Duty,
 
 INDEX TO THE DISCOURSES 
 
 Duty, arifing from a benefit received, muft he propor- 
 tionable to it 277 
 Of a magillrate, what _ .317 
 Of no man to deny anyone that which is his due, 
 much lefs to oppofe the miniiler of God in the 
 exercife of his office 3^7 
 What to be expefted from, and rendered to them 
 
 333 
 
 Eaftern nations what remarkable for 102 
 
 Force is the prevailing law with them 1 1 2 
 
 \Vere and are ftill under the government of thofe, 
 
 whom all free people call tyrants 301. 386 
 
 Solomon's prudent advice to private perfons living 
 
 under the government of thefe countries 310 
 
 Edward II. imprifoned and depofed by his parliament 
 
 500 
 
 IV. his wants fupplied by fraud and rapine 506 
 
 Eleftion, moft princes chofen by the people 79, 80. 
 
 88. 96 
 Proved from fcripture inftances 80, 8 1 . 88. 95, 
 
 96. 104. 280. 283 
 From examples of the Saxons 84, 85. 91. 321. 
 
 &:c. 427 
 Makes a right _ _ 86.95,96 
 
 The various ways of elefting princes 139 
 
 Frequent choofing of magiftrates makes nurferies of 
 great and able men 171. 180. 234 
 
 The prudence of election furpafles the accidents of 
 birth ' 181 
 
 Of kings in France 253, 254. 371, 372 
 
 Of our kings, how 245. 346 
 
 Of Charles Guftavus to the crown of Sweden 443 
 The various culloms ufed in choofing parliament- 
 men 467, 4.68 
 Eleflive kingdoms 367 
 Elizabeth, queen, her government, not without fome 
 mixture of blood 213 
 What power made her capable of the fiicceflion 
 
 377- 440 
 Her chara£ler and failings 393, 394 
 
 The Earl of Morton fent ambaflador to her by the 
 eftates of Scotland, to juftify their proceedings 
 againft queen Mary 480 
 
 None fo much imitated Henry V. as fhe 508 
 
 Eminent, the moft, ought only to be advanced to places 
 of public truft and dignity 38. 66, 67 
 
 Moft obnoxious to be taken off 126. 152. 230 
 
 Are moft feared 205. 208 
 
 When thefe are moft impatient 207, 208 
 
 The pillars of every ftate 2o3 
 
 Emperors, Roman, three or four, and at one time thirty, 
 who called themfelves by this name 143 
 
 Endeavoured to make their power hereditary 267 
 The height of their regal m.njefty 287 
 
 St. Auftin's, and Ulpian's faying, that they were 
 fubjecl to no law, and why 310.391 
 
 Some foully polluted themfelves with innocent 
 blood 328 
 
 The title never folemnly afTumed by, nor conferred 
 on them 331 
 
 Theodofius confcfTcd, it was the glory of a good 
 one to own himfclf bound by laws 391 
 
 The prcfent one in Germany, an account of him 
 
 470 
 Empire, grounded on the pope's donation 39 
 
 Gained by violence is mere tyranny 88. 91 
 
 Acquired by virtue, cannot long be fupported by 
 money 122 
 
 The calamities which the Roman fuifered 145 
 
 Settled in Germany 209 
 
 What made Dioclefian to renounce the empire 217 
 Under what fort of governors it was ruined 234, 
 
 235' 
 
 267 
 
 Of the world divided between God .and Caefar 383 
 Not obliged by any ftipulation of the emperor with- 
 out their confent 487 
 Enabling laws, continued in the people of Rome 124. 
 
 130 
 
 Enemy of a nation, who 38. 189. 227. 230 
 
 Every man is afoldier againft him 189 
 
 Who the moft dangerous to fupreme magiftrates 
 
 '95- 378 
 Who is fo to all that is good 2 1 8 
 
 Who is fo to virtue and religion, is an enemy to 
 
 mankind 226. 230 
 
 Thofe that know they have fuch abroad, endeavour 
 
 to get i/iends at home 303 
 
 Sycophants the worft enemies 353. 508 
 
 How a king declares he has none when he comes t» 
 
 the crown 396 
 
 A prince that feeks afliftance from foreign powers, 
 
 is fo 475 
 
 England, how the crown became hereditary 91 
 
 The ftate of it fince the year i66o 137 
 
 How, and when the glory of our arms was turned 
 
 into ftiame 180 
 
 How the fucceffion of her kings has been 204. 
 
 419. 
 Her wars with France merely upon the contefts for 
 
 the crown 210 
 
 Her miferies by our civil contefts 212, 213 
 
 When her reputation and power was at a great 
 
 height 240 
 
 Whether our kings were ever proprietors of all the 
 
 lands 294 
 
 The naked condition of our anceftors upon Caefar's 
 
 invafion 305 
 
 Has no dii^atorian power over her 307 
 
 Ever a free nation, and chofe her own kings 361. 
 
 433 
 Made her own laws 420, 421. 433 
 
 We know little of the firft inhabitants, but what 
 is involved in fables and obfcurity 402 
 
 The great number of our laws make them incon- 
 venient 409 
 Wherein flie ought to be compared with Rome 
 
 414,415 
 
 Brave in U illiam I. time, when ftie faw her laws 
 
 and liberties were in danger 416. 
 
 What has coll her much blood, and has been the 
 
 caufe of our late difficulties 420 
 
 Our fccurity, the heft anchor we have, ought to 
 
 be prcferved with all care 503 
 
 The general impairing of her may be dated from 
 
 the death of Henry V. 506 
 
 Epaminondas, forfeiture of his life (though fayed) for 
 
 ferving his country longer than tlie time limited 
 
 189, 190 
 Ephori, eftabliflied to reftrain the power of kings 90. 
 
 251.419 
 When tliey were created 477 
 
 2 Equality,
 
 INDEX TO THE DISCOURSES 
 
 sn 
 
 Equality, in all by nature 3. 5. 14. 25. 36. 61. 397. 
 
 48 2 
 Juft among equals 62 
 
 Civil (bciety conipofed of equals 69 
 
 Leagues do not imply abiolute equality between 
 parties 95 
 
 Where it is hard tn preferve a civil equality 127 
 Popular, to what ii is an enemy 196 
 
 Of right, what is called liberty 264 
 
 Kings under this law with the reft of the people 
 
 2S5 
 Equals cannot have a right over each other 450, 
 
 482 
 
 No nation can have an equal within itfelf 483 
 
 Error, all fubjeft to it 127. 149. 186. 231 
 
 Difcovered by the difcourfc of a wife and good man 
 
 214 
 
 By it popular governments may fometimes hurt 
 
 private perfons 227 
 
 A polite people may relinquifh thofe of their an- 
 
 cellors, wl\ich they iiave been guilty of in the 
 
 times of their ignorance 404 
 
 Would be perpetual, if no change were admitted 
 
 406 
 
 Where they are in government, though it may be 
 
 eafy for a while, yet it cannot be lafting 501, 502 
 
 Efcheat of the crown for want of an heir 40, 41 
 
 Ellates of the realm, divided the kingdom of France 
 
 255.371,372,373 
 
 Their power in voting 259 
 
 Have difpofed of crowns as they pleated 370, 371. 
 
 419. 443, 444. FU. Parliaments, affemblies 
 
 general 
 
 Evil, what is fo of Itfelf, by continuance is made worfe, 
 
 and on the firftopportunity is julHy tobeabolilhed 421 
 
 Eutropius, when a flave picked pockets, &c. but when 
 
 a minifter, he fold cities, &c. 220 
 
 Excommunication denounced on the violators of Magna 
 
 Charta 357 
 
 Fabius Maximus one of the greateft and beft of men 
 that ever Rome produced 125 
 
 Fabius Quintus, in danger of his life for fighting with- 
 out order, though he gained a fignal viftory 453 
 Fafiions about regal power and iucceflion, how to be 
 prevented 204 
 Theconvulfion they make 207. 211. 464 
 Of the Guelphs andGibelines 225, 226 
 Virtue and vice were made the badges of them 
 
 231.-232 
 
 'Faith, implicit, to whom it belongs 6, 7. 381 
 
 Families, none more antient than others, and why 48 
 
 What required to make a complete one 69 
 
 When our anceftors fent to feek a king in one of 
 
 the meaneft of them in Wales 205 
 
 None that does not often produce weak, ignorant, 
 
 or cruel children 334; 335 
 
 Famous men for wifdom, virtue, and good government 
 
 155. 163, 164. i8l 
 Have eyes, and will always' fee the way tliey go 
 
 381 
 Fathers, the power of fatherhood belongs only to a 
 
 father ■ . 21. 49. 54 
 
 Cruel princes no fathers of their country 37, 38. 
 
 . 301; 302. 351. 352 
 
 Their charafter indelible 48. 54. 69 
 
 Adoption of thcmabfurd 50, ;;i, 52, 53, 54 
 
 Whodcferve the obedience due to natural parents 51 
 
 By ufurpation 57. 70 
 
 The fifth commandment how explained 57 
 
 Who has the right of fathers 68, 69 
 
 When it ce fes 69. 75 
 
 Embrace all their children alike 72, 73 
 
 There is a fort of tyrant that has no father 352 
 
 Favourites, not always tiie beft of men 51, 52 
 
 Their influence over princes 116, 117 
 
 Whom the monarch commonly makes fuch 217 
 
 How their exorbitant dcfires arc gratified 266 
 
 Fauftina, two of them, who by their alccndcncy tarnilhed 
 
 the glory of Antoninus Pius and Mai cus Aurclius 217 
 
 Fear, what it tranfports a wicked man to do 24^ 
 
 Renders communities gentle and cautious 247 
 
 Puts people on dcfperate courfes 261 
 
 What is the meafure of it to that magiftrate who is 
 
 the minifter of God 320 
 
 Fear, when, if ever, faid to enter Caefar's heart 42 r 
 
 Felicity, man's, where placed 3, 4. 
 
 Females, vid. Women 
 
 Excluded from all offices in the commonwealtli 
 
 364. 
 
 Figurative expreffions, all have their ftrength only from 
 
 fimilitude 472 
 
 Filmer, his right of all kings i, etc. 100, loi, loa 
 
 Takes the world to be the patrimony of one maa 
 
 1, 2, 245 
 
 Ufes not one argument but what is falfe, nor cites 
 
 one author but whom he has perverted or abufed 
 
 2. 347 
 And his partifans, why refervedto this age 5. 417 
 His bufinefs is to overthrow liberty and truth 
 
 His bitter malice againft England g 
 
 Makes God the author of democracy iz 
 
 His lord paramount over children's children to all 
 
 generations ir. 17 
 
 His opinion, to whom all kings are reputed next 
 
 heirs ,0 
 
 Where his kingly power efcheats on independent 
 
 heads of families ^o. 48 
 
 His adoption of fathers of provinces, for what 51 
 His notion, that we muft regard the power, not the 
 
 means by which it is gained 53. 78, 79. 188. 
 
 280. 390. 
 His diftinftion between eligere and inftituere 86, 87 
 His vile abufing of the reverend Hooker 88. 95 
 His notion of begging a king nc 
 
 Abfolute monarciiy to be the nurfery of virtue 1 10 
 Attributing order and ftability to it 109. 147 
 
 Imputing much bloodftied to R.ome's popular go- 
 vernment 126 
 His backdoor, fedition and faflion 140, 141 
 His opinion, that the worft men in Rome thrived 
 
 bsft 146. 151 
 
 That the nature of all people is to defire liberty 
 
 without reftraint 162 
 
 His cypher of the form of mixed governments 166 
 That there is a neceflity upon every people to choofe 
 
 the worft men, for being moft like themfelves 
 
 180 
 His defcription of the tumults of Rome 215 
 
 Affirms that more men are flaiii in popular thaa 
 
 abfolute governineats 223 
 
 Filmer^
 
 1 8 
 
 INDEX TO THE DISCOURSES 
 
 Filmer, liis opinion of the extent of the cruelties of a tyrant 
 
 227 
 His attributing ignorance and negligence to popular 
 
 governments _ 233 
 
 His notion, that the virtues and wlfdom of a prince 
 
 fupply all diflempers of a ilate 241 
 
 That there is no fuch tyranny as that of a multi- 
 tude 244 
 That kings muft be abfoluts 247,^48 
 His notion of a king's ceafing to be fo 248. 257 
 His whimfy about democracies 258 
 That all the peoples liberties flow from the gra- 
 cious conceflions of princes _ _ 263. 293 
 That there is no coming at a king, if he break his 
 
 contraft with his people 268 
 
 That a father of a family governs it by no other 
 
 law than his own will _ 27^ 
 
 That patK-nt obedience is due both to kings and 
 
 tvrants 273 
 
 That there were kings, before any laws were made 
 
 273 
 That Abraham, Ifaac, Jacob, and iVIofes were 
 
 kings 287 
 
 That Samuel by telling what a king would do, in- 
 
 •ftructed the people what they were to fuffer 288. 
 
 291 
 That ipconveniencies and niifchiefs are fome of the 
 
 efleiitials of kingly government 292 
 
 That all laws are the mandates of kings 293 
 
 His ridiculous faying, thofe that will have a king 
 
 296 
 That the Jews did not afk a tyrant of Samuel 300 
 That the people's cries are not always an argument 
 
 of their living under a tyrant _ 302 
 
 That our Saviour limits and diftinguifhes royal 
 
 power . 306 
 
 That the tribute Caefar impofed was all their coin 
 
 307 
 -Cites Bra£lon, as a patron of the abfolute power of 
 
 kings 3'4 
 
 That St. Paul's higher' powers meant only a 
 
 monarch that carries the fword, &c. 316 
 
 That kings are not bound by the pofitive laws of 
 
 any nation 3^8. 347 
 
 That the original of laws was to keep the multitude 
 
 in order 334 
 
 That laws were invented for every particular fub- 
 
 jeft to find his prince's pleafure 338 
 
 That kings are above the laws 341 
 
 His opinion when princes degenerate into tyrants 
 
 343 
 { That tyrants and conquerors are kings and fathers 
 
 347 
 That the king fwcars to obferve no laws, but fuch 
 
 as in his judgment are upright, &c. 354 
 
 That kings are not obliged by voluntary oaths, &c. 
 
 358 
 His principles animadverted on 378, 379 
 
 ""Ihat obedience is due to a command, though cfn- 
 
 trary to law 382 
 
 That the king's prerogative to be above the law, is 
 
 only for the good of them thatare under it 385 
 His equivocal king 389 
 
 His opinion, that the law is no better than a tyrant 
 
 -''94 
 
 Tlhat a pcrfedl kingdom, wherein tho king rules by 
 
 his own will 397 
 
 That the firft power was the kingly in this nation 
 
 401 
 That all judges receive their authority from tlie 
 king 409 
 
 That the power of kings cannot be refl;rained by 
 aft of parliament 4 1 7 
 
 That the king is the author, correftor, and mode- 
 rator of both ftatute and common law ^20 
 His trivial conceits about parliaments, the time 
 when they began, SiC. 420. 424, 42? 
 His notion about ufurpers and lawful kings 43^ 
 That the liberties claimed in parliament, are li- 
 berties of grace from the king, and not of 
 nature to the people 441 
 That the people's language is fubmiinve to the 
 king, but his is haughty to them 452 
 That kings may call and diflblve parliaments at 
 pleafure 465 
 Admires the profound wifdom of all kings 469 
 A bitter enemy to all mankind 493, 494 
 His book here lately reprinted, as an introduftion 
 to a popifh fucceilbr 494 
 His meaning of le roi le veut 504, 50J, 506 
 Flatterers, what the vileft of them dare not deny 7 
 What called by Tacitus 135 
 The Hebrew kings not without them 197 
 Their pernicious advices to what end given 201 
 Weak princes moll fubjeft to them 207. 217. 
 
 219. 236 
 Diogenes's faying to Ariftippus 218 
 
 By what handle they lead their princes 229 
 
 Have made valour ridiculous 239 
 
 By whom thought the beft friends, and moft worthy 
 of great trufts 380, 3S1 
 
 The author's wifli, that princes would abhor thefe 
 wretches 414 
 
 Almoft ever encompafs crowned heads 492 
 
 Fleets, when ours were very famous 240 
 
 Florence, the feditions there, and in Tufcany -225 
 
 More depopulated now than any part of that pro- 
 vince, though formerly in a few hours it could 
 bring together looooo well-armed men 225. 386 
 Folly ; mankind does not univerfally commit, and per- 
 petually perfill in any 41 
 Some are fools at 40 years of age 242 
 Lord chancellor Egerton faid he did not fit to re- 
 lieve fools 360 
 Force, where it is the only law that prevails 1 13 
 What the Romans gained by the valour of their 
 forces 130 
 All defence terminates therein 178. 257 
 Thofe that ufe it, mull perfcft their work or perifli 
 
 186 
 
 Or fraud, in oppofition to the laws of ones coun- 
 
 tr)', abfohitely monart'.iical 215 
 
 When the Spartan kings were overthrown by it 
 
 To beufcd, when there is no help in the law 262. 
 
 335- 479 
 Can never create a right 265. 278. 44^1 
 
 The French under a loicc they are not able to reliit 
 
 293,294 
 
 What is gained by it may be recovered the fame 
 
 way 3^6- 44f> 
 
 When all difputcs about right naturally end in 
 
 force .46' 
 
 Forfeiture
 
 INDEX TO THE DISCOURSES 
 
 519' 
 
 foifeiture of liberty, how it can be 450 
 
 Fortune, of all tilings the moll variable 120 
 
 How right is made a flave to it 204 
 
 Of a prince, fupplics all natural defefts 24.1 
 
 Fiance, the falic law there 46. 93. •564. 366 
 
 Her ancient kings righthow conferred on them, and 
 
 what was her antieiu government 91. 444 
 
 Her revenge on En;^l,ind for all the overthrows flie 
 
 received from our anceftora 137 
 
 Frequently divided into feveral parties 144 
 
 Her races ot kings four times wholly changed 144. 
 
 206, 207. 242. 253 
 The miferahlc condition of her people 167. 208, 
 
 209. 239, 240. 460 
 Her greatcft advantages have been by the miftaken 
 
 counfels of England 167 
 
 Her bloody contells and flaughters for the crown 
 
 206, 207, 208, 209, 210 
 
 Had ten bafe and (lothful kings, called, les rois 
 
 faineans 207. 242 
 
 The regai power limited 210; 254 
 
 Had four kings depofed within 150 years 210 
 
 Givil wars frequent there, though not fo cruel as 
 
 formerly 210 
 
 Compared with Venice 237 
 
 Her foldiers running from their colours 239, 240 
 Her general aflemblies continued the exercife of 
 
 the fovereign power, long after Lewis Xl's death 
 
 253 
 Had never any kings but of her own choofing 254 
 Henry V. of England moll terrible to her 254 
 
 Their laws made by themfelvcs, and not impofed 
 
 on them 254 
 
 The people have underllood their rights 254 
 
 Thereafon of the people's miferies 293, 294. 298, 
 
 , . . . ^99 
 
 The right to the crown is in a great meafure from 
 
 the law of that country. Inilances hereof 371, 
 
 She does not allow her kings the right of making 
 
 a will 373 
 
 By whom the power of conferring the fovereignty 
 
 was exercifed 444 
 
 By the people's increafing the power of their mailer, 
 
 they add weight to their own chains 460 
 
 Her king cannot be called the head of his people, 
 
 and why 475 
 
 Le roi le veut, & tel ell notre plaifir, are French 
 
 rants ; but no edift there has the power of a 
 
 law, till it be regillered in parliament 504, 505 
 The conquell of her only to be effefted by the 
 
 bravery of a free and well fatisfied people 508 
 Franks, foon incorporated themfelvcs with the Gauls 
 
 '74 
 Fraud, accounted a crime fo detellable, as not to be 
 
 imputed to any but Haves 415 
 
 All wicked defigns have been thereby carried on 
 
 ... 471 
 
 Who delight in it, and will h.ive no other minillers 
 
 butfuch as will be the inllruments of it 507 
 
 Free, what nations fo elleemed 10. 386 
 
 Vid. Popular Governments. 
 
 Men, how to know ourfelves fuch 22. 77. 105. 
 
 364. 386 
 
 P.eople, fcarce ever conquered by an abfolute 
 
 monarch no. 117 
 
 Philip of Macedon confefled his people to be free 
 
 men < 17 
 
 The Britons were fo, becaufe governed by their 
 
 own laws 421 
 
 Men, or noblemen, exempt from burdens, and 
 
 referved, like arms, for the ufes of war 43'^ 
 
 Free cities, what and who made them 450 
 
 Frugality, the virtues that are upheld by it zgiJ 
 
 Kruits of our corrupt nature loo' 
 
 Own labour 103 
 
 Recovered liberty 140' 
 
 Viftory, how gained and loll 180 
 
 Always of the lame nature with the feeds from 
 
 whence they come 236' 
 
 Genealogies, the Hebrews exaft in obferving them 26. 
 
 267 
 
 Of princes nicely to be fearched into, would be 
 
 dangerous to ioine crowns 42, 43. 45. 445 
 
 Of mankind very confuted 41. 267. 361; 
 
 Of being the eldeft fon of the eldeft line of Noah 
 
 26; 
 
 Geneva and Rome, wherein they only can concur 4 
 
 Genoa, how it is governed 139. 175 
 
 By whom that city was infedled 17; 
 
 Gentlemen, at this day comprehends all that are raifed 
 
 above the commorr people 429 
 
 Germanicus his modelly in refufing the empire, was the 
 
 occafion of his death 205. 360 
 
 Germany, how governed 139.421 
 
 Equal to the Gauls in fortune, fo long as Rome- 
 
 was free 182 
 
 The power of the German kings 252 
 
 The power of this emperor 252 
 
 From thence our original and government is drawn 
 
 321. 
 When (he had no king' 331 
 
 The emperors thereof rellrained by laws 335; 
 
 The Wellern empire, how it came hither 366 
 
 Tacitus's account of the people's valour 422 
 
 Not imaginable, that thefe people, jealous of li- 
 berty, Ihould conquer this country to enllave 
 themfelvcs • 424 
 
 No monarchy more limited 453 
 
 Gibeonites by deceit got Jolhua to make a-league with - 
 them 359 
 
 Gladiators were flaves- 127- i33 
 
 Their fury extinguilhed with their blood 133 
 
 God, with an equal hand, gave to all' the benefit of 
 Ij berty _ 1 2 
 
 What fort of kings he approves in fcripture 1 5 
 
 Can fave bv few as well as many 16 • 
 
 Always conllant to himfelf _ 28.279 
 
 Never prefcribed any rule about dividing the 
 world 43 
 
 The fountain of juftice, mercy, and truth 56. 64 
 By a univerfal law gave no rule for the making of 
 kings 87 
 
 Is our lord by right of creation 106 
 
 How he endowed the rulers of his people ill 
 
 His fecret counfels impenetrable 1 20 
 
 What the ufual courfe of his providence 136 
 
 Helps thofe whbjullly defend themfelvcs 179 
 
 His general ordinance 1^7 
 
 Gave laws to the Jew* only 202 
 
 Whea.
 
 520: 
 
 INDEX TO THE DISCOURSES 
 
 when he refufed to hear the cries of his people 279. 
 
 286. 291 
 His anointed and aecurfed 282 
 
 A law in Rome, that no god fhould be worlhipped 
 without the confent of the fenate 327 
 
 Good ; every one feeks their own, according to the va- 
 rious motions of their mind 37. 78. 245 
 The public, the end of all government 94.. 273. 
 
 304- 342. 343 
 Is more obferved in mixed than abfolute ones 233 
 Of mankind depends on religion and virtue 229 
 Called evil, and evil good 317 
 
 Aftions always carry a reward with them 379 
 
 Good and evil, but three ways of diftinguilhing be- 
 tween them 27 
 Good men, who deferve to be called fo i 
 How they obey their princes 217,218 
 Know the weight of fovereign power, and doubt 
 their own ftrength 478 
 Goodnefs is always accompanied with wifdoJm 344 
 Gofpel, the light of the fpiritual man 229 
 Goths, their polity 139.390 
 For above 300 years never contrafted marriages, 
 nor mixed with the Spaniards 174 
 Seized Rome, whilit Honorius was looking after 
 his hens 183 
 Subdued by the Saxons in one day 239 
 Grew famous Ly the overthrow of the Roman ty- 
 ranny 310 
 Concerning fuccelTion to the crown during their 
 reign _ .363 
 Not above four in 300 years time were the imme- 
 diate fucceifors of their fathers 368 
 -In Spain overthrown by the Moors 369. 484 
 Their kings in Spain never ventured to difpute with 
 the nobility 419 
 Their kingdom never reflored 484 
 Government, the original principles of it to be ex- 
 amined, and our own in particular 7. 109 
 An ordinance of God I3- '5 
 The feveral forms thereof left to man's choice 1 2. 
 15- 23- 37- 43- 44- 47- 67. 68. 72. 76, 77. 99. 
 124. 139. 160. 163. 25S 
 The lawfulnefs of changing it, confidered 13. 
 
 123- 139- 305 
 Defpotical differs from the regal 16, 17. 59 
 
 The ground of all juft governments 21. 154. 166. 
 
 411 
 No man has it either for or from himfcit 28. 96. 
 
 188. 248. 348 
 
 None ever began with the paternal power 30 
 
 To whom the conftitution of ever}' government is 
 
 referred 37 
 
 All for the good of the people and their pofterity 
 
 53. 71, 72. 78. 96. 102. 109. 129. 161. 17S, 
 
 179. 181. 351. 405.461 
 
 Is a collation of every man's private right into a 
 
 public ftock 60. 75 
 
 Where jull, it has ever been the nurfe of virtue 
 
 60.66 
 Popular for whom bell 62 
 
 I'or xvhom inftitutcd 71. 74. 154 
 
 What fort was ordained by God 103 
 
 The effects of one well ordered 120 
 
 What only defcrves praifc 131. 133 
 
 How the bed has bcrn compofed 138; 174'- 
 
 Regal had a mixture cf arillocratica! and democra- 
 
 tical in them i j j 
 
 Whence the denomination of all is taken 141. 148. 
 
 258 
 The foundation remaining go- t:, thefuperftruftures 
 
 may be altered 142. 144. 146. Ib6. 304, 305 
 When it cannot fubfill 
 The effeiSls of a difordered one 
 All fubjeft to corruption and decay 
 None impofed on men by God or nature 162. 166 
 Mixed compared with abfolute 164.. 4.03 
 
 What the only juft one, by confent of nations- 166 
 What may be imputed to it i-^q 
 
 None ever freer from popular feditlon than Switzer- 
 
 149 
 
 '51 
 
 160 
 
 land 
 
 177 
 
 That the beft, which beft provides for war 178, i-'g. 
 
 181 
 None without civil wars, tumults, and feditions 
 
 '85. 223, 224 
 The end for which it is conflituted 194, 195. 247. 
 
 451 
 The Roman, how introduced igg 
 
 Expofed to the moft infamous traffic 220 
 
 Of what parts it may confifl: 258 
 
 Is a great burden to the wife and good 261, 262. 
 
 ^ , . . ,. . 336. 338- 351-387 
 To reform it, is to bring it to its firll principles 
 
 262. 484 
 
 Queftions arifing concerning our own, mull be de- 
 cided by our laws, and not by the writings ot 
 the fathers - ,08 
 
 St. Paul's obedience to higher powers, mull be un- 
 derftood of all for>s of government 316 
 
 What would make all in the world magna latrocinia 
 
 329 
 
 When the ends of it are accomplilhed 389 
 
 Moll of them have been mixed, at leaft good ones 
 
 390. 493 
 
 What only is reckoned good 398, 399 
 
 Our own the fame with the Roman in principle, 
 though not in form 415 
 
 From whence the great variety of them proceeds 
 
 461 
 
 The Englifh, not ill conflituted 462 
 
 By what means the foundations may be removed, 
 and the fuperllrufture overthrown 464 
 
 In a well conflituted one the remedies againll ill 
 magiftrates are fafe and eafy 477 
 
 Wifdom and valour required for the inllitution of a 
 good one 485 
 
 Where it is either entirely to be changed, or re- 
 formed according to its full inllitution 485 
 
 The blcflings of an abfolute one 494 
 
 Its ellablifhment is an arbitrary aft, wholly de- 
 pending upon the will of man 501 
 Governors appointed to execute the laws for the good of 
 the people 60. 63. 73. 1^0. 484 
 
 The laws appoints helps for their infirmities, and 
 reflrains their vices _ 261 
 
 The people's creature 287. 297. 450. 481 
 
 Where they are rcmoveable, if they will not be 
 reclaimed 484 
 
 The good and bad make the people happy and 
 mifcrable in their turns 493 
 
 Grants
 
 INDEX TO THE DISCOURSES 
 
 ;ix 
 
 Grants of king John to the pope, dcclaicj by parliajnent 
 to be unjurt, illegal, etc. 357 
 
 What impl es an annihilation of fomc grants 399 
 Where they ought well to be proved, tliat the na- 
 ture and intention of them may appear 436 
 Of what nature ihofe of our kings are 42; 
 Oflands, where they have been refumcd 437 
 Grecians, knew no other original title to government, 
 than that wifdom, etc. which was beneficial 
 to the people 35 
 Wherein they excelled other nations 1 10 
 Overthrew the vail army of the Perfir.ns 1 16, 117 
 Were reduced to yield to a virtue greater than their 
 own • 136 
 No abfolutc monarch among them eflablilhed by 
 law 147 
 Have been, by diforder in government, expofcd as 
 a prey to the firll invader I 83 
 When they were happy and glorious 223 
 Their virtue expired with their liberty 236 
 The word Tyrant came from Greece, and what it 
 fignificd 301 
 Flourifhed in liberty in the time of Saul 304 
 Grotius, his explanation of Sovereign and limited power 
 
 190. 256. 445 
 Wherein he juftifies fubjefts in taking up arms 
 
 229 
 
 His making St. Peter and St. Paul perfeftly agree, 
 
 about their different phrafes of ordinances of God, 
 
 and ordinance of man 3 1 8 
 
 His faying, qui dat finem, dat media ad fiuem 
 
 necellaria 466 
 
 About king's flipulations, and right of fending 
 
 amb.ifladors 487 
 
 Guelphs and Gibelines, their faflions in Tufcany 
 
 134. 225, 226 
 
 Genoa infefted with their faiflions 1 75 
 
 Cuflavus (Charles) his confefTing to an ambaffador how 
 
 he ought to reign over the people that had chofen him 
 
 443 
 He and lus uncle Adolphus were content with the 
 
 power that the laws of their country gave them 
 
 470 
 
 Hannibal, killed more great Reman captains than any 
 kingdom ever had 170 
 
 The Samnites embaffy to him 171 
 
 How he loft the fnrit of all his victories 182 
 
 When he invaded Italy, no country feemed to have 
 been of greater ftrength 224 
 
 What to be done if he be at the gates 466 
 
 Hanfeatic towns 177 
 
 Hatred univerfal incurred by princes, who always fear 
 thofe that hate them 227. 232. 276 
 
 To all that is good 230 
 
 Head, why kings are called by this name, and the im- 
 port of the word both in fcriptLue and profane au- 
 thors 471,472 
 The diiFcrences between the natural and political 
 
 473 
 What the oilice of a head is in a natural body 474, 
 
 475. 476 
 
 Hetrcw judge, different from a king 102 
 
 Kings not inllitiited by God, but given as a punith- 
 
 ment 101 
 
 How their government confifted 138.175 
 
 Jvings, their power exceeded the rules fct by God 
 
 '97- 257 
 What their difcipline 251 
 
 In their creation of judges, kings, etc. had no re- 
 gard to paternity 264 
 
 Lit:e to their neiglibours in folly and vice, and 
 would be like them tco in government 279 
 
 Their power greater than what the law allows to 
 our kings 310 
 
 Whether tlie law given them by God be fo perfe£l 
 
 as to be obligatory to all nations 408 
 
 Heir reputed, the abfurdity of the notion 30,31,32, 
 
 33' 54-4<3-4«- 
 Next in blood 45. 69, 70. 93, 94. 112. 444 
 
 Annexed to one fingic perfon 73 
 
 All the cliiidrcn of Noah were his heirs 73 
 
 Next to the crown fet afide 93. 95. 369, 370, 371 
 Eeloy's extravagant doftrine of an heir apparent 
 
 375 
 
 Enjoys the fame right as a parent, and devolves 
 
 the fame to his poSerity 449 
 
 Hengift and Horfa, on what terms the county of Kent 
 
 was given thcra 434 
 
 Henry IV. of France, how he defired to recommend 
 
 himfelf to his people 37- 
 
 I. of England, whether he was an ufurper or not 
 
 438 
 
 V. his care was to p'eafe his people, and to raife 
 their fpirits 506 
 
 Was tirrible to France 254 
 
 His charafter 506, 507, 508 
 
 VI. became a prey to a furious French woman 506 
 
 VII. had neither crofs nor pile for his title 440 
 
 VIII. acknowledged the power of the parliament, 
 in making, changing, and repealing laws 345. 
 
 416 
 Heptarchy, when this was divided into feven kingdoms, 
 each ktpt ftill the fame ufage within itfelf 423 
 
 Could as eafily unite the feven councils as the feven 
 kingdoms into one 424 
 
 Hercules, an account of him 137 
 
 Hereditary right cannot naturally be in any 44. 70 
 
 Prerogative of dominion, how underftooid 60, 
 
 Right, as a reward of virtue 80 
 
 How a kingdom comes to be fo 90, 91 
 
 Crov/ns fo as to their c.-dinary courle, but the 
 power reflraincd 130 
 
 Monarchies, in them no care is taken of him that is 
 to command 181 
 
 According to proximity of blood, not prefcribed by 
 any laws of God 203 
 
 Children feldom prove like their parents 221 
 
 Crowns, five diflcrcnt ways of difpofing them 363, 
 
 364 
 
 Hercum regna 35. 67. 273 
 
 1 he government of whom 264 
 
 Hiftory Roman, Tacitus fays, it wanted men to write 
 
 theirs 234 
 
 Hobbes, fcurriloufly derides Plato, Arillotle, and Cicero 
 
 His bellum omnium contra omncs 42.48. 378 
 
 His hoftis et latro 1 SS 
 
 The firft that contrived a compendious way of julli- 
 
 fying kings in the moft abominable perjuries 355 
 
 Holland, of great flrenj^th fince the rc;£0veiy of their ii- 
 
 berty from the Spaniih yoke 118 
 
 X .\ X The
 
 5i2 
 
 INDEX TO THE DISCOURSES 
 
 The war with them in 1665 240, 241 
 
 How tlicy have defended themfelves from the 
 greati-ni monarchies 316 
 
 The flates are called high and mighty lords; and 
 the word heer, which fignines lord, is as com- 
 mon as monfieur in France, 5.-C. 432 
 
 The condition of the 17 provinces of the Nether- 
 lands, when they fell to the houfe of Aufliia 
 
 460 
 
 The power of the ftates-general, how limited 
 
 487 
 Honours, the higheft falfly attributed to ill men 52 
 
 Given to ill-gotten wealth 65. 120, 121. 137. 
 
 220, 22 1 
 
 To fuffering virtue fometimes 149 
 
 Where they have been the rewards of vice 156 
 
 To thofe who dijTerved the commonwealth 164, 
 
 165 
 
 Juftly beilov-ed on thofe that rightly perform their 
 
 duty 192 
 
 From whom purchafed 219 
 
 Given for fervices done to the public 266 
 
 Princes could not without breach of truft confer 
 
 them upon thofe that did not deferve them 425 
 
 Hooker, his miftake in the fundamentals of natural 
 
 liberty 11 
 
 His admirable faying about lawful powers 88 
 
 Slighted by Filmer 95. vid. 1 1 
 
 Hottoman, his charader and account of the French 
 
 kings 253 
 
 Human nature, the miferable ftateof it, if not improved 
 
 by art and difcipline 304 
 
 Frtilty, allowances muft be made for it 393 
 
 Hurt, they do none who do nothing, where this rule is 
 
 falfe' 207 
 
 James T. (king) his faying about his making of judges 
 and bifhops 229 
 
 Acknowledges himfelf the fervant of the common- 
 wealth 229 
 Said he was fworn to maintain the laws, and Ihould 
 be perjured if he broke them 343. 504 
 James II. what we might expeft from him 494> 495 
 Japhet, this part of the world feems by the fcriptures to 
 be given to his fon 365 
 Jealoufy of llate 205.213 
 Jefuits, joined to Geneva 4 
 To be believed with caution 68 
 The prefent emperor of Germany too much go- 
 verned by them 470 
 The foul that gives life to the whole body of the 
 popi(h faftion 494 
 The order banifhed out of the kingdom by an arret 
 of the parliament of Paris, but refufed by thofe 
 of Tholoufe and Bourdeaux 505 
 Jews had a great veneration for the houfe of David, and 
 why 96 
 Grown weary of God's government 106. 300 
 Had leave to deflroy their enemies 1 13 
 Idolaters among them in David and Hezekiah's 
 days ,56 
 Idolatry the produftlon of the government they 
 had fet up 198. 250 
 Submit to the Roman power 306 
 Thought Chrift's firft work would be to throv/ off 
 the Roman yoke 308 
 
 Being converted, thought themfelves freed from the 
 
 obligations of human laws 326 
 
 Some pretend to know their original 365 
 
 A proclamation to extirpate them 492 
 
 Imperator, a name given by the Roman armies to pre- 
 tors and confuls 447 
 
 Imperium fummum fummo modo T 92 
 
 iModo non fummo C loo 
 
 Libcrrimum \ .. , 
 
 Ab CO a quo fpiritus aaq 
 
 Impofing on people's confciences jtc 
 
 On fome princes how eafy it is 210 
 
 Incolae, who they are at Venice 138 
 
 DiftinHion between them here andcives 467, 468 
 
 Indemnity, the afi'urance of it would turn men's other 
 vices into madnefs 269 
 
 Indufiry, what is a fpur to it 233' 
 
 Infancy, vid. child 
 
 Inheritance, the common divilion of it among brothers 
 
 73>74 
 Where it gave no right to crowns 9'- 95 
 
 To one family 93. 95. 1 12 
 
 Of the (Word left to families 1 14 
 
 AVhat the apollles left to their fucceffors in re- 
 lation to the fupreme power on earth 195 
 Private, many controverfies arife upon them 20a 
 What right is equally inherited by all children on 
 the death of their patents 263 
 William I. did not leave the kingdom as fuch at his 
 death 32c 
 What belongs to females 365 
 Little reg.ird to it in the Auftrian houfe according 
 to blood 373 
 In fome places the law gives private inheritance to 
 the next heir, in others makes proportions and 
 allotments 376 
 Injuries, the ways to prevent or punilh them, either 
 judicial or extrajudicial 187. 195 
 Great ones, will one time or other fall on thofe 
 
 that do them 
 
 257 
 
 The Italians fay, he that does an injury never 
 
 pardons 276 
 
 Thofe that are extreme, when fo to be underftood 
 
 344 
 Injurtice, what is fo in the beginning, can never be the 
 
 effeft of jnftice 398 
 
 Inquifition of Spain and other places 328, 495 
 
 Inllinft, what 104 
 
 InlHtution, he that inftitutes may alfo abrogate 13.55. 
 
 345 
 
 Is an cledion 86 
 
 Of a kingdom is the aft of a free nation 255. 297 
 No prince had a more folemn one than Saul 280 
 Some kings have by it but little power 31 1 
 
 The magillrates prerogatives depend upon it 330 
 Of power is coercive 333 
 
 When princes deflcft from the end of theirs 341 
 Wherein the end of it chiefly confills 378. 388 
 
 Often the corruption of the ftate is taken for it 
 
 404 
 
 They who inftitute a mngiftracy, bed know whether 
 
 the end of the inilitution be rightly purfucd or 
 
 not 442. 478 
 
 Integrity of manners makes laws as it were ufclefs 155 
 
 Never fubfcrvicnt to the lull of princes ii;6 
 
 Makes men contented u itli a due liberty 164 
 
 Prcfervcs
 
 INDEX TO THE DISCOURSES 
 
 5^3 
 
 Preferves popular equality 196 
 
 Cannot be found in abfolute governments 222 
 
 Preferves the people's fafcty 298 
 
 Intereft, what advantages are reaped from uniting the 
 nation's to that of the government 238 
 
 Perfonal, preferred to the public good 298 
 
 Interregnum, that there can be none, a fundamental 
 maxim of great monarchies 202 
 
 John's (king) grants to the pope declared by the parlia- 
 ment unjull, illegal 357 
 Jofephus of the Jevvifli government loi 
 On what r.ccount he calls it a theocracy and an 
 ariftocracy 104. 258 
 Says, their princes were to do nothing without the 
 advice of the Sanhedrim, or to be oppofed if they 
 did 250 
 Jofliua, had neither the name nor power of a king 102. 
 
 275 
 Ifaac, his charafter 1 6 
 
 Ifraelites, had no kings in the firft inllitution of their 
 government 35 
 
 Nor till 400 years after 402 
 
 Strangers only excluded from being kings 87 
 
 Their government arillocratical 100 
 
 What the efteft of their having kings 113, 257 
 
 After Solomon, perpetually vexed with civil fedi- 
 tions and confpiracies, etc. 19S 
 
 Aflced for a tyrant (though not by that name) when 
 they alked for a king after the manner of other 
 nations 300 
 
 Not known certainly by what law they were go- 
 verned 402 
 Lived under the power of tyrants whofe proclama- 
 tions were laws 495 
 Italv, when (he lay defolate 1 20. 200 
 How her commonwealths have flourifhed and de- 
 cayed 134, 135. 184. 200. 224, 225 
 Charles V'lII. of France conquered the bell part of 
 it without breaking a lance i5S. 183.281 
 Judge, where every man is to be his own 76, 77. 342, 
 
 343- 470- 480. 48' 
 Who fliall be between prince and people 192, 193. 
 
 341. 342- 377- +05 
 
 No prince fit to be judge of his own fafts 341, 
 
 342. 386. 481, 4,82.484 
 
 The power of judging when it is ftu 10 call thefe- 
 
 nate or people together, to whom and by whom 
 
 referred 442. 465 
 
 The parliament the beil judge in dubious cafes 
 
 469, 470. 484 
 Where it is not fit to be a judge in his ov.n cafe 
 
 482 
 
 Judges (fcch as Jodiua, Gideon, etc.) whether their 
 
 power was regal and juft or not 26, 27. 270 
 
 Whether there be any concerning kings titles 202, 
 
 203 
 The power of making them 229 
 
 Sometimes the courts are filled with ill ones 232. 
 
 4>i 
 Appointed to decide the contefts arifmg from the 
 
 breach of contracts 269 
 
 Their opinion concerning Ihip-money 296. 48S 
 The religion of their oath 339. 346.392.410, 
 
 411,412 
 Parliament owned by kings to be judges ot theii 
 
 ftipulations 358 
 
 What they ought to be, and in what fenfe chofen 
 
 by the king 392 
 
 Who were executed as traitors for fubvcrting the 
 
 laws of the land 393.411.488 
 
 Wliat aft Edward III. promoted for his judges to 
 
 do j nil ice 394. 
 
 The general rule they are fworn to obferve 395» 
 
 410.488 
 The power by which they aft is from the law 403, 
 
 409, 410 
 When they become the minifters of the devil 414 
 The fad confequence of having all kings conlHtuted 
 
 judges over the body of the people 469, 470. 
 
 482, 484 
 
 To determine controverfies in a matter of right 482 
 
 Whofe commands they arc bound to obc-y 4.88 
 
 Judgment perverted, the ill efFefts of it 8 
 
 Future, not fufficicnt to reftrain men from being 
 
 vicious 314 
 
 Here they are pafled by equals 410 
 
 Thofe the kings of Judah gave, were in and with 
 
 the Sanhedrim 41 1 
 
 None that is right can be given of human tilings, 
 
 without a particular regard to the time wherein 
 
 they paired 464 . 
 
 Kings can give none upon any of their fubjefts, 
 
 and why 4S6, 4S7. 489 
 
 Human is fubjeft to error 505 
 
 Juries, grand and petit, their power 392. 410 
 
 How the judges are afiillants to them 410, 41 1 
 
 In whofe fight they give their verdift 488 
 
 Juftice, has always truth for its rule 28. 32. 69 
 
 What the proper aft of it 63 
 
 Of every government depends on an original grant 
 
 79 
 Has fometimes been perverted by the deceit of iil 
 
 men 149. 393 
 
 The fword of it for what ufe ?nd end 1 Sj 
 
 Where it will be e;ipofed to fale 220 
 
 The rule of civil and moral aftions 229 
 
 How well adminirtered in republics 316, 317 
 
 What is meant by it 326. 329 
 
 The diilributicn of it juftly is a work above the 
 ftrength of one man 338 
 
 When tha coarfe of it is certainly interrupted 379 
 Deviations from it 393 
 
 Where it is beft adminiflered 4,05 
 
 Overthrown by the number of law; 409 
 
 In receiving it the king is equal to another man 
 
 411 
 Magiftrates made to fee It well executed 484 
 
 Katherine de Medicis, faid never to have done any good 
 
 but by millake 1 j i 
 
 King-c/aft, what 243.255,256 
 
 Was wholly exerted in the fubverfion of the law; 
 
 of France, and the nobility that fupported them 
 
 506 
 
 Kingdom, the patriarchs had a fplritual one 16, 17 
 
 No paternal one among the Hebrews 26 
 
 Thought never to be bought at too dear a rate 34 
 
 How the firft kingdoms were fet up 40 
 
 What are lawful ones 60 
 
 What it imports 90 
 
 One poffeiTed by nine feveral families within 200 
 
 years 1 1 3 
 
 X X X 2 All
 
 5-4 
 
 INDEX TO THE DISCOURSES 
 
 All have their various fluctuations, through ill 
 
 dlfcipline orcondiidl 115. 179 
 
 The greatert have been deflroyed by commonwealths 
 
 iS: 
 
 Difputes about them moH: difHcuIt and dangerous, 
 
 and very bloody in feveral inllances 202. 206, 
 
 207 
 Of France divided by the eflates of the realm 255 
 Not eflablilhed but for the good of the people 26) 
 Of Granada, their ufage of their princes 261 
 
 All erefted at firll by the confent of nations 265 
 Frequently reduced to their firft principles 265 
 
 Some eleftive, fome hereditar)', and how diredted 
 
 444, 445 
 
 Conflituted by conquering armies, and thofe ella- 
 
 blithed in the moft orderly manner 446 
 
 And itates, how they came to be ereited 451 
 
 Kings, the prerogative or royal charter granted to 
 
 them 2. 66 
 
 The end of their inftitution 4, 5. 13. 37. 39. 55. 
 
 63, 64.79- 9'- 23'- 413- 484 
 
 Whether they may be reftrained or cenfured 5.13- 
 
 40. 5S. 140. 190. 192, 193. 250. 257. 261. 28;. 
 
 333. 334- 445- 449- 467- 4^1 
 In what fenfe they are like other men 7. 49. 107 
 Evil ones will have evil miniilers 8. 159 
 
 The relation between them and the people 1 1 
 
 The only fort mentioned in fcripture with approba- 
 tion ' IS- 102. 297. 389 
 The firfl a cruel tyrant 13 
 Who taken from out of the lead family of the 
 voungell tribe 26 
 All not the natural fathers of their people 30 
 Whom the antients chofe for theirs 35, 36. 70. 
 
 102 
 50. 142. 469 
 14. 
 318. 398 
 No defign to fpeak irreverently of them 83. 160 
 Setup by the nobles, antients and people 85. 87. 
 90,91.95. 130.255,257. 348. 369 
 All not alike in power, nor fpirit and principle 91. 
 
 344 
 
 Some good .and fome bad 470. 493 
 
 Whether any are immediately fo on the death of 
 
 the predeceflbr, and before they are proclaimed 
 
 95, 96. 202 
 Given in wrath 102, 103. 141.374 
 
 426700 kings 105 
 
 Many great ones overthrown by fmall republics 
 
 1 10 
 Few poflefs the qualities requifite 1 12. 221. 249. 
 
 260 
 
 The name thereof abolifhcd 139. 331, 332 
 
 Regis ad cxemplum, not always fo in all 156 
 
 A virtuous one, but a momentary help fometimes, 
 
 when his virtues die with him 169. 208. 221 
 
 Whether thofe may be thrown down that fct up 
 
 themfclves 193 
 
 The flothful and negligent accounted great evils 
 
 207, 208, 209. 214. 232. 234 
 
 Thebcft liable to be corrupted, and fubjeft tomif- 
 
 takcs and patTions 217. 386. 481 
 
 Who faid to be like a phaenix 221 
 
 None fo vicious but will fometimes favour judice 
 
 227 
 
 Not all of them wife 
 A king by nature, who 
 
 65. 68. 108. 
 
 Apt to live under the power of their luds 229 
 
 Wherein juft ones will find their honour and fecu- 
 
 rity 232 
 
 V/here lawful ones have proved equal to the worfl 
 
 nfurpers 228 
 
 Whole condition moil miferable, and why 243, 
 
 244 
 Some have experience as men, but not otherwi/e 
 
 243 
 The name cannot make a king, unlefs he be one 
 
 r • u • ^«-.455 
 
 Have a power of granting honours, immunities, 
 
 etc. out of the public Hock 248. 263. 425. 467 
 None to have more power or abilities to perform 
 
 his office than Mofcs 249 
 
 Advanced by abjuring their religion 2C4 
 
 Under the happy inability to do any thing againit 
 
 the laws of their country 255, 256. 260. 270. 
 
 336- 375- 391- 478 
 Where they hav? their fhare (and the feuate theirs) 
 
 of the fupreme authority, the government is belt 
 
 fupported 256 
 
 Have found out now eafler ways of doing what they 
 
 pleafe 261 
 
 How there would be as many kings in the world as 
 
 men 264 
 
 If they have no title, they mull be made fo either 
 
 by force or confent 265. 278 
 
 The confequence of being unaccountable 26S 
 
 Have no other juft power than what the laws give 
 
 271. 297 
 The fafety of their kingdoms, their chief law 
 
 272 
 The firft were of the accurfed race, while the holy 
 
 feed had none 274 
 
 By what wicked means many of them have come 
 
 in 276 
 
 Of Ifracl and Judah under the law not fafely to be 
 
 tranfgrefled 285 
 
 Why thofe of Ifrael committed many extravagances 
 
 20^4 
 
 Judged by the great Sanhedrim 285 
 
 This fort of government the people's creature 288. 
 
 297. 450. 456.434. 496, 497 
 
 Not to claim the liberty of doing injuftice by virtue 
 
 of their prerogative 288, 289 
 
 Bound up to the laws as to matters of property 294 
 Not to be too powerful, nor too rich 296, 297 
 
 Of Ifrael, though they led vaft armies into the 
 field, feem to have poflelkd but little 299 
 
 What their government ought to be 301 
 
 Of England reign by law, and are under it, and 
 
 why 307.310.314.489 
 
 What will endear them to their people 3 1 1 
 
 The fovereign power often meant by this name 
 
 3'3 
 What meant by lawful ones 315. 339, 340. 34i> 
 Why thofe of Judah could make no laws 319 
 
 May be feared bv thofe that do ill 319, 320 
 
 How made in the Saxon times 321 
 
 What thofe of the greateft nations have fuffered 329 
 What is that king which never dies 340. 488 
 
 Cannot mitignic or inti'rprct laws 345, S.c. 
 
 When faid to become perjured 343 
 
 Not mafters but ftrvants of the commonwiahii 
 
 348. vid. zy': 
 Can-
 
 INDEX TO THE DISCOURSES 
 
 5^S 
 
 Cannot be interpreters of their ownoaths 353 
 
 Coin[Klled to perform the conditions of Magn.i 
 
 ClKuta _ _ 3?;, 358 
 
 May reJigii, if they will not obferve their oaths 
 
 362. 363 
 Next in blood, generally cannot be faidto be kings 
 till they are crowned 363. 366 
 
 How he is not to be heard 394 
 
 'l"he regal power, not the firft in this nation 401 
 Where the fame power that had created this go- 
 vernment, aboliihed it 403 
 What our anceilors did with relation to them 403 
 Judges rightly qualified are to inftruftthem in mat- 
 ters of lavv 410 
 Wherein ilicy are equal to other men 41 1 
 None as fuch have the power of judging any 411. 
 
 413.486,487 
 Where they ceafc to be fo, and become tyrants 413 
 Their power not rellrained, but created by Magna 
 Charta and other laws 417 
 
 What is natural for the worfl of tliem to do 418 
 TheNorr.ian, had no more power than the Saxon, 
 and why 424 
 
 Tacitus fays, tlicy were taken out of the nobility 
 
 425 
 
 Said to be chofen, or made, and fometimes depofed 
 
 by their great councils 433. 467 
 
 Never rnaftcrs of the foil of England 433.450, 
 
 Why they fpeak aiways m the plural number 436 
 The titles of ours examined into 4-59 
 
 Whom the parliament have made are lawful, or we 
 
 have had none for thefe 700 years 440 
 
 Their power of calling parliaments was given to 
 
 them 44-- 46 \ 
 
 Naturally delight in power, and hate what croiies 
 
 their wills 445- S^o 
 
 The mofc abfolute princes in the world never had 
 
 this name 447 
 
 Some fubjei^ to a foreign power, fome tributary, 
 
 and the Romans had many depending upon them 
 
 41^. 440 
 
 The afls of one de fafto, confidered 455, 456 
 
 Wherein the effence of a king confiiis 455 
 
 Deterred from endeavouring to feduce any of their 
 
 great men from their duty 4^3 
 
 Who are a great calamity to a nation 465. 507 
 
 Who only are the heads of the people 471. 473, 
 
 474.475 
 If their aftions are to be examined, and their per- 
 
 fons punifhed 4S0 
 
 None lefs capable oftentimes of forming a right 
 
 judgment than they, and why 48 1 
 
 Nor can be prefent in all their courts 486 
 
 Do not rtipulate for themfelves, but their people 
 
 487 
 In what cafes they are perpetually minors 488 
 
 Their power not univerial, for many things they 
 
 cannot do 489 
 
 May ia fome degree mitigate the vindictive power 
 
 of the law 490 
 
 The advantage of their being rellrained 493 
 
 Not cieated to make laws, but to govern by them ; 
 
 and what is fignihed by Le roi le veut 504, 505 
 Are fworn to pafs fuch laws as the people choofe 
 
 504.507 
 
 King's-bench, for what end eftabliflied 413 
 
 The king that renders juiUce is always there, etc. 
 
 483 
 
 Knight's fervice, what 428 
 
 Knighthood, the dignity of it, and what was accounted 
 
 a degrading 428, 429 
 
 Knights of fliires in the Saxon times 429 
 
 Laws, the prevalency of them over fovereign commands 
 
 2. 10 
 Who bcil obeys them 4 
 
 The end of them is to enjoy our liberties 10, 1 1. 
 
 312.402 
 Invert magiflrates with power for the public good 
 
 39-72 
 Of England acknowledge one only heir 4',. 73 
 Said to be written reafon 346 
 
 Have in them a conilraining force 88 
 
 To whom the power of making them belongs 88, 
 
 89- 337 
 Are themeafure of power 90. 92. 108. 249. 262. 
 
 488, 489 
 Of each country create a right to the perfon that 
 
 governs it 91 
 
 Prefcribe rules how power fhould be tranfmitted 92 
 Where good ones do no good j 10. 275 
 
 To be iuited to prefent exigences 123. 144 
 
 Make nodillinction ofperfons 150 
 
 Lex perduellionis 153 
 
 Made in a fort ufelefs by integrity of manners 155 
 Abhorrers of the dominion of it 162 
 
 Inftituted for the preventing of evil 1S7. 193. 
 
 256.362 
 Thofe that go beyond them aft therein as private 
 
 perfons 189 
 
 Who moll rellrained by them iq2 
 
 Subfifl by executing juflice 194. 275 
 
 Concerning the fuccelTion 202.337 
 
 Tricks at law to put men to death 205. 232 
 
 When in force, mcnofwifdom and valour are never 
 
 wanting 214 
 
 When they were overthrown 22(5 
 
 The defpifers dtftroyed without law 251.256 
 
 Do not always go by plurality of voices 259 
 
 Of every place, fliew the power of each magiftrate 
 
 269 
 Were before kings 273 
 
 Proofs hereof 274. 33J. 
 
 Of God, not to be abrogated by man 285 
 
 Our kings can make none of themfelves 310. 345 
 
 445 
 We know none but thofe of God and ourfclves 3 1 1 
 
 Are not made in vain 
 
 3'4 
 
 Some neither jull nor commendable; inllances 
 
 thereof 328, 329. 40S 
 
 The dirtftive power, which is certain, has a pov.er 
 
 over tlie con'.cience 328 
 
 The fandion that deferi'es the name of a law 329. 
 
 _ 337. 389. 404. 408 
 
 To wiiatend made as to magiflrates 334, 335 
 
 Princes and nations both gainers by the due obferv- 
 
 ancc of them 336. 338. 362. 479, 480 
 
 That is not a flate or government which has them 
 
 not . 3,7 
 
 Athenians not without them when tliey had k-ngs 
 
 ibid. 
 How
 
 526 
 
 INDEX TO THE DISCOURSES 
 
 How faid to be above the king 339 
 
 Can only be altered in parliament 345, 346. 397. 
 
 405. 420 
 For what reafon ellablifhed : an encomium 346 
 Who violate thofe of nature in the higheft degree 
 
 Of one's country to be fubmitted to 364 
 
 Of nature, eternal 365.371 
 
 By whom the rigour of it is to be tempered 392 
 None made by man can be perfeft 396. 408, 409. 
 
 4'7 
 By them kings became firft what they were 403, 
 
 417 
 Thofe good for one people, that are not fo for all 
 
 406, 407 
 The ftatute of Henry VII. concerning a king de 
 
 fafto, for what end made 455,456 
 
 Plain ones have been indullrioufly rendered per- 
 plexed 464 
 Good ones prefcribe fafe remedies againft the mil- 
 chiefs of ill magiftrates 477,478 
 Where they are merciful both to ill and good men 
 
 479 
 
 Should aim at perpetuity 492 
 
 The mifchiefs efFefted by a perfon's word having the 
 
 force of a law 493 
 
 When they may be eafily overthrown, it will be 
 
 attempted 502 
 
 What gives the power of law to the fanftions 
 
 under which we live 503 
 
 Leagues, do not imply abfolute equality between parties 
 
 95 
 With conquered nations 127 
 
 League-faAions and wars of the Hugonots 1 43 , 
 
 144 
 How faithfully they have been obferved 177 
 
 Men cannot too much rely upon them 177, 178, 
 
 '79 
 Thofe that make fuch as are detrimental to the pub- 
 lic are puni(hable 191 
 Made againft the Hollanders 316 
 Of Jofhua with the Gibeonites gained by deceit 359 
 Made on a national, not perfonal account 487 
 Learning makes men excel in virtue 1 16 
 Said to make men feditious, but difproved 109. 
 
 '47 
 
 Legiflative power of Rome and Sparta continued in the 
 
 people 125. 130. 320 
 
 When it came to be fcorned 1 27 
 
 The magiftratical power receives its being and 
 
 meafure from hence 333 
 
 Cannot be conferred by the writ of fummons, but 
 
 muft be cfTcntially and radically in the people 
 
 496 
 
 Is always arbitrary 501 
 
 Only trufled in the hands of thofe who are bound 
 
 to obey the laws that are made 504 
 
 The king cannot have it in himfelf, nor any other 
 
 part of it than what is formal 506. 508 
 
 Legiflators fliould always be of the wifcft men 88, 89 
 
 Wherein their wiiUom confifts J45 
 
 Wherein they (hew themfclvcs wife and good 501 
 
 Legitimacy contrafled. Vide Bailards. 94 
 
 Some children, thoujW\ born in wedlock, utterly rc- 
 
 jeftcd as being begotten in adultery 376 
 
 Lewis XL his fubverting the laws of his country 25s 
 
 XIV. accounted his not being able to aft contrary 
 
 to law, a happy impotence 375 
 
 Liberty, the notions thereof, and from whence 3. 5. 
 
 12 
 
 Natural, the confequence if removed 6 
 
 Wherein it folely confifts 10. 348 
 
 Filmer's notion of the greateft liberty in the world 
 
 10 
 Oppugners of public liberty i i 
 
 Univerfal afferted, and what that is 17.24.44. 
 
 76 
 The aflertors thereof have God for their patron 
 
 60. 160 
 
 Produces virtue, ordsr, liability no. 148 
 
 The lofs ol it in the Roman empire 114, mj. 
 
 ! )8, 1 19. 128. 133. 152. 400 
 
 The mother and nurfe of virtues 114. 117. 133. 
 
 171. 218. 226. 236 
 Made the moft virtuous people in the world 135 
 When fubvertcd, tlievvonlmen thrive bell 151, 
 
 '52 
 
 How our natural love to it is tempered 162 
 
 None fought it but with fome reitraint 163 
 
 What the loveof it infpixes 171. Vide 148 
 
 At home, and war abroad. 172 
 
 When this is lofl, kingdoms and ftates come to 
 nothing iSo. Viae 117. 134,1^5 
 
 Patricians the beft defenders of it 186 
 
 The way to recover it inr 
 
 Cannot be prefervcd, if the manners of the people 
 be corrupted 217 
 
 None remained in Rome, when Sylla refigned his 
 power 226 
 
 When lod, excellent fpirits failed 234,235 
 
 A people can dcfire nothing befides it 247 
 
 Cannot fubfift, ii vice and corruption prevail 262 
 Is a right common to all 263, 264 
 
 God gave the Ifraelites this law 286 
 
 Who have no true fenfe of it 291 
 
 Our anceilors left us the beft laws they could devife 
 to defend it 312 
 
 All by the law of nature have a right to their liber- 
 ties, lands, goods, etc. 35'' 435 
 V/hat principles make men lovers of it 378 
 None can fubfift where there is an abfolute power 
 above the law 386 
 Where it is deftroyed by the prerogative 387 
 Of a people, naturally inherent in themfelves 401. 
 
 435- 450 
 The value our anceilors fet upon theirs 408, 409. 
 
 45 • • 499 
 None has better defended them than this nation 
 
 4' 5- 499 
 To It Tacitus attributes the German bravery 422 
 
 What is the utmoft aft of it 424 
 
 The exercife of the natural liberty of nations, in 
 
 the feveral limitations of the fovercign power 
 
 444 
 ^Of a people, the gift of God and nature 4.^9 
 
 P'orfeited or refigned 450 
 
 No veneration paid to magiftrates can leflen il:c 
 liberty of a nation 452 
 
 Nothing valuable to it in the opinion of the Ro- 
 mans 458 
 
 Kaiy 
 
 V
 
 INDEX TO THE DISCOURSES 
 
 d~/ 
 
 Eafy to get partifans to make good by force the 
 
 greatell violations of it 462 
 
 How to ufc one's own with relation to the public 
 
 482 
 
 Liberty with a mifchief 495) 49^, 497 
 
 Of thofe who aft in their own pcrfons, and of tliofc 
 
 who fend delegates, is perfectly the iame 497 
 
 That for which we contend as the gift of God and 
 
 nature, remains equally in all 498 
 
 Lineal fubjeftion never learned from Mofes 67 
 
 Succcflion, where not followed 93, 94 
 
 London, tlic privilege of the common-hall 467 
 
 Lord paramount, over whom 15, 16, 17, 18 
 
 From whence he muft come 24 
 
 None by nature over his brethren 73 
 
 The mifchiefs tliey both do and fufFer are very great 
 
 260 
 
 Lords, how they have loft the authority which they had 
 
 formerly 464 
 
 Lord's-day, not to be fpent in fports and revellings 382 
 
 Love to one's country, commonwealths have it mod 
 
 169. 172, 173 
 The happy efFefts of it 171 
 
 A refolution to die for, or live with it 171. 175. 
 
 The way to make people in love with it 17S. 210. 
 
 This now turned into a care of private intereft 184, 
 
 The behaviour of thofe that are lovers, etc. 210. 
 
 Occafions fometimes wars and tumults 224 
 
 Loyalty, thofe that boail louJcll of it moll apply it the 
 
 wrong way 262 
 
 Lucullus, his little army put Tygranes with 200,000 
 
 men to flight 1 18 
 
 Luxury of the Romans, the occafion of their ruin 1 37 
 
 Brought into Rome by C. Manlius 155 
 
 Expofes the virtuous to fcorn 218, 219 
 
 When in falhion, the defire of riches muft increalb 
 
 220 
 The braveft nations moft enflaved by it 299 
 
 Lycurgus, his laws received their authority from the ge- 
 neral alTembly 320.337 
 Abfurd to tliink of reftoring his laws 406 
 To what the long continuance of them is attributed 
 
 492 
 
 Macedonian kings, their power was but fmall 1 1 7 
 
 Their army overthrown by Paulus Aemilius 179 
 Vid. Monarchy 
 Machiavel, his admirable faying 110.245 
 
 Magi, who ufurped the dominion of Perlia after the 
 death of Cambyfes 1S9 
 
 Magiftracy, can have no intereft diftinft from the pub- 
 lic 5,-. 156 
 Its office IS to execute the law 55. 187. 389 
 If the people be bafc, etc. it cannot be fupported, 
 be the ruler ever fo perfeft 161. 200 
 Whether it be that power which above all reftrains 
 liberty 162 
 Strangers admitted into that of Rome 173 
 The tlFeil; of rt'gal power committed to an annual 
 or otherwife cliofeii magiftracy iSo. 234 
 None can have the right of it that is not amagiftrate 
 
 Where it had nothing to do in fpiritual things 
 
 308, 309 
 The ordinance both of God and man 318. 330, 
 
 33''332 
 Circumfcribed by fuch rules as cannot be fafely 
 
 .tranfgreffed 321.478 
 
 Where obedience is due 328, 329, 330 
 
 On what the right and power of it depends 330 
 
 The nature of it 45 2> 453 
 
 None now in being, which oues not its original to 
 
 feme judgment of the people 485 
 
 Magiftrates, by whomconllituted 6.63.72.268.385 
 
 To what end fct up 37. 55 
 
 Minifters of God 55. 306 
 
 How they are helpful to nations 64. 102. 466. 
 
 ... +73 
 
 Under feveral names and limitations 93. 269 
 
 Jewilh, wherein like the ditlators of Rome 103 
 
 Punifhable with death by the Roman law 1 54. 
 
 189, 190 
 
 Annual elcftion of them 1 70 
 
 Have enjoyed large powers, that never had the 
 
 name of king 192 
 
 How to be reftrained 194. 333,334. 478 
 
 A particular charafter of good and evil ones 379, 
 
 380 
 When they were temporary and occafional 403 
 
 Walk in obfcure and flippery places 478 
 
 What to be done to thofe who defpifc the law 480 
 Wherein their ftrength is 483 
 
 The firft may be virtuous, but their fucceflbrs may 
 
 foon be corrupted 502 
 
 Magna Charta grounded on king Alfred's laws 10 
 
 The Jews had none fuch 306 
 
 What it obliges the king to fwear to 340 
 
 Puts every thing on the laws of the land, and cuf- 
 
 toms of England 345 
 
 Is only an abridgment of them 356. 433 
 
 Not the original, but a declaration of the Englifh 
 
 liberties 417. 501 
 
 The rights the nation have refolved to maintain 
 
 433 
 
 Male-line examined 46. 203 
 
 Malice, is blind 154 
 
 Seditions, etc. arife from thence 185, 186 
 
 Mammelucs, their great defeat near Aleppo by Selim 
 
 167 
 Accounted themfelves all noble, though born flaves 
 
 432 
 Man naturally free 3. 22. 449, 450 
 
 Every one chief in his own family 14. 20 
 
 Cannot overthrow what God and nature have in- 
 ftltuted 19. 312, 313 
 
 Creates governments and magiftrates 22 
 
 None knows originally from whom he is derived 
 
 26. 29. 42. 365 
 Whence his mifery proceeds 64 
 
 Wants help in all things 64. 492 
 
 What makes a natural difference among men 66 
 All fubjeft to error 127. 201. 336 
 
 Enters into fome kind of government by realon 
 
 163 
 
 Follow what feems advantageous to themfelves 236 
 
 What evei-y one ought to be 275 
 
 None can fervc two contrary interefts 304 
 
 \Are .;11 by nature equal 397 
 
 Where
 
 528 
 
 INDEX TO THE DISCOURSES 
 
 Where svery one is a maglftrate 465 
 
 Manors, etc. enjoyed by tenure from kings 436 
 
 Marriages, often declared null 94 
 
 Of plebeians with patricians 124. 142. 145 
 
 Where proved of no force to legitimate children 
 
 370 
 A power muft be lodged fomcwhere to decide them 
 
 Mailors, how far their commands are binding 382, 3S3 
 Only to decide conteils between them and their 
 fervants 4S3 
 
 Maxims, nothing to be received as a general one, which 
 is not generally true 350 
 
 Mazarine, the ways of his advancement 222 
 
 Medici, of the title cf that family to Tufcany 459 
 
 Members of parliament fent to ferve for the whole na- 
 tion, not for a particular borough, etc. 497 
 Inftruftlons are often given to them ' 499 
 Have no power before they are chofen, nor ever 
 could, if thofe that fend them had it not in them- 
 felves 500 
 Muft take care that the commonwealth receives no 
 detriment by their votes ibid. 
 A few poffibly may be corrupted 502 
 Mercenary army. Vide Soldiery 
 
 Their bufinefs is to keep on their employment 16S 
 
 Soldiers, always want fidelity or courage 179.239 
 
 Courtiers, will expofe not only honours, but even 
 
 juilice to fale 220 
 
 Wretches, their power at court 222 
 
 Auguilus Caefar had thirty legions of them to 
 
 execute his commands 400 
 
 Merit, men rarely make a right eftimate of their own 
 
 201 
 
 The way of advancement to honour 233 
 
 What preferves, and what aboliihes it 236 
 
 Micel-Gemotes were general ailemblies of the noble and 
 
 freemen 423.430.467 
 
 They fet up feven jnagillrates over the heptarchy 
 
 Of what they were in the beginning of the Saxons 
 
 reign _ _ 467 
 
 IVIiltiades, his defire to wear an olive-garland for his 
 
 viiJlory at Marathon, and the anfwer given to him 266 
 
 Minifterf, according to the temper and genius of the 
 
 prince, 8 
 
 Of the devil, who 43, 56. 59. 318. 328. 329 
 
 Of God, who 55, 56. 141. 231, 317. 3 28, 329. 
 
 Muft receive their dignity from a title not common 
 
 to all 320 
 
 Every man by his works will declare who he is 3:7 
 
 The devil's of a lower order 381 
 
 Of God, how they may become the worft of men 391 
 
 What fort have feldom efcaped punifiiment 395 
 
 Of the devil, have always carried on their defigns 
 
 by fraud 47 1 
 
 Miftakes in punifliments carefully repaired by honours 
 
 127 
 
 Seditions, tumults and wars arifc from thenre 185 
 
 None in Sparta after Lycurgus's laws were cli.i- 
 
 blilhcd I, '6 
 
 That fome have fallen inlo by the form of writs, 
 
 fummoning perfons to appear before the kin^, 
 
 reftifycd 4H6 
 
 Mithridatcs, wJiat reckoned the grcatefl danger of war 
 
 -4»ith him 1 1 s 
 
 Monarchs, who have their right from God and nature to 
 
 Ought to confult the public good jg 
 
 How moll came to their dignities 140 
 
 Are not above the law 350 
 
 Monarchy, paternal, over whom exercifed 19 
 
 Whence fo called 22 
 
 For whom belt 62 
 
 No natural propenfity in men and beads to it 98, 
 
 How Anftotle commends it 107, 108 
 
 Mixed, regulated by law iii. iij. 156. 164 
 
 Of Rome, at firft not abfolute 130 
 
 Moft have fuffered far greater changes than Rome 
 
 '43 
 Macedonian fell all to pieces after the death of 
 Alexander 143. 198 
 
 111 what fenfe faid to be natural 160 
 
 A peaceable one in Peru for twelve generations 200 
 The French has been full of blood and flaughter 
 
 209, 210. 'vicie 167 
 The gentleft more heavy than any commonwealth 
 
 All fubjeft to civil wars ibid. 
 
 Well regulated, when its powers are limited by 
 law 24S 
 
 The juftice of them eftablifhed by common confent 
 248. njide^l, 86. 95. 166. 189. 
 Why fo called 259. -vide 141. 147 
 
 Nothing in the nature and inftitution of it that 
 obliges nations to bear with its exorbitances 277 
 What fort was difpleafing to Samuel, and a rejec- 
 tion of God 286 
 Paternal, overthrown by Filmer 297 
 Not univerfally evil 301 
 Where it is regular, kings can neither make nor 
 change laws 339 
 None eftablifhed among us in Julius Cacfar's time 
 
 402 
 Mixed, what the beft way to fupport it 463 
 
 What has given beginning, growth and continu- 
 ance to all the mixed ones in the world 493 
 That not free, which is regulated by a law not to 
 be broken without the guilt of perjury 504 
 When the mixed monarchies began to be terribly 
 lliaken 506 
 Money, Charles VII. of France raifcd it by his own 
 authority ibid. 
 Mofes and Aaron, the firll rulers of the people, neither 
 of the eldeft tribe, nor eldefi line 26 
 His admirable gifts 28. iii. 338 
 Had not the name, or power of a king 71. 102. 
 
 275 
 Gave the people leave to choofe their ov/n m.agi- 
 ilrates 1 45 
 
 Divided the Hebrews under feveral captains 175 
 Power infupportable to him 338 
 
 His character 249. 340. 474 
 
 Whctlvcr we ought :o conform to his law 408. ^509 
 Multitude, what right it has to change a tyrannical go- 
 vernment 13 
 Compofed of free men ; the power that is placed in 
 them 76 
 None can be feditious till a commonwealth be 
 eftablllhed _ 82 
 Thofe that ci lor into contracts, ad according to 
 their own wil^ 8j 
 
 ^^'heIc
 
 INDEX TO THE DISCOURSES 
 
 5^9 
 
 Where It brings confufion 178 
 
 Is the g'ory and llrcngth of every prince 23 1 
 
 M;iy have its (cars as well as tyrants 247 
 
 Confers on the prince all the power he has 264 
 
 What is natural thereto in relation to government 
 
 208 
 Murderers wilful, the horns of the altar gave no protec- 
 tion to fuch 3 20 
 Myfteries of Hate 6 
 
 Names, are not eflential to magillrates 447 
 
 Of Sovereign Lord, Sec. confillent with liberty 
 
 452. 453 
 Nothing of majelly among the Romans and Gre- 
 cians to a fingle perfon 45 ^ 
 There mult be Ibme ufed in all public tranfadioiis 
 
 Not to be regarded fo much as the power 497 
 
 Nations, what their rights are 6. 360. 390. 396. 415. 
 
 417. 419. 444. 461. 498. 508 
 
 Thet went from Babylon, how many 18. 21, 22. 
 
 24, 25. 32. 41. 77. 264 
 
 Natural for them to choofe governors 59. 67. 71. 
 
 l66. 332. 390 
 Northern, their governments how inftituted 80. 
 
 256. 428 
 Free, never conquered but with difficulty 117 
 
 OppreiTed, can never grow wanton 128 
 
 None fafe without valour and ftrength 131. 419 
 Foreign, called in by fome princes to deftroy their 
 own people 228 
 
 Some fell their children 179 
 
 Slight matters fonietimes bring them into confu- 
 fion. Inllances thereof 197, igS 
 When they are moft unquiet 207, 208. 223 
 The wifeft have fet bounds to their princes power, 
 &c. 261. 269, 298 
 Their liberties are from God and nature 263, 278 
 Where they have taken the extremeft courfes 269 
 Owe nothing to kings till they are kings 290. 367 
 What fet limits to their patience 292, 293 
 What inclines them to fet up governments 293 
 When all were governed by tyrants 304 
 . Their fafety ought not to depend on the will of 
 their princes 346 
 What are free and what not 386 
 Thofe that had no kings had power 401 
 What (hews bell their wifJom and virtue, or their 
 vices and folly 407 
 Wherein their failure has been too frequent 410 
 This divided into feven kingdoms 424 
 None can have a power over any, othervvife than de 
 jure, or de fafto 445 
 Obedience due from the whole body, what 458 
 Their liberties do not rife from the grants of princes 
 
 460 
 Delight in the peace and juftice of a good govern- 
 ment 461 
 What the moft ready way to effed their ruin 464. 
 
 484, 485. 492 
 When obliged to remove the evils they lie under 48 1 
 None can have an equal within itfelf 483 
 
 One that is powerful cannot recede from its own 
 right ibid. 
 
 What king none ever wants that has a fovereign 
 power 48 8 
 
 What thofe ought to do that are fo hnppy as to have 
 
 good kings ^92 
 
 Great ones never ordained by God to be (laves 498 
 
 Naturalization, Rome was for a general one 173 
 
 Negative voice, how far it is faid to extend 418 
 
 Le roi s'avifora, what meant by it 454 
 
 Nero, the power of the ftate over him 13. 311 
 
 His endeavour to make a woman of a man 49. 57 
 
 'I'o tear up virtue by the roots 58. 152. 230 
 
 Condemned to be put to death 330 
 
 What fort of vermin he encouraged 1 56 
 
 Set the city on fire 193. 227. 327 
 
 Died by the hand of a flave 199. 3 1 1 
 
 His charader 341 
 
 His madntfs not to be cured but by his death 480 
 
 Nimrod the firil king 17, 18.23. 274 
 
 Ufurped the power over his father, &c. 19. 277 
 
 Heir to no man as king 3 1 
 
 Slain by Ninus ibid. 
 
 No right can be derived from him 42. 44. 49. 
 
 Erefted his kingdom contrary to paternal right 263. 
 
 401 
 Noah, bore no image of a king 17.401 
 
 His dividing of Alia, Europe and Africa among 
 his fons 30 
 
 When he went out of the ark, God gave him a law 
 fufficient for the ftate of things at that time 274 
 None but his right heir can have a title to an uni- 
 verfal patriarchal right 315. 365 
 
 Nobility of Rome extirpated 131 
 
 Tlie Roman power chiefly in them after the expul- 
 fton of the kings 142 
 
 Hold the balance between the king and the com- 
 mons; when and how weakeced 210. 213 
 Of Arragon's faying to their new made king 258 
 What our anceftors meant by them 425. 432. 437 
 The ftrength of the government placed in them 
 
 425. 464 
 
 Sometimes called infinita multitudo 428. 431 
 
 Knighthood always efteemed noble 428 
 
 In France, etc. of what elleem ibid. 
 
 The prefent titular has no affinity to the antient 
 
 nobility of England 430 
 
 Of Venice and Switzerland what makes them fo 432 
 
 Their virtue and power formerly kept the kings 
 
 within the limits of the law 463 
 
 Many have loft their eftates and intereft now 464 
 
 Noli profequi, faid to be annexed to the perfon of the 
 
 king 489 
 
 Norman kings, fwore to govern by the fame law as 
 
 the Saxons had 424. 502 
 
 Notions, common, what are agreed to by all mankind 39 
 
 Oath of allegiance ufed in the kingdom of Arragon 80 
 Agreements between prince and people always con- 
 firmed by them 192 
 How kings may be abfolved from them 355 
 Its force confirts in the declared fenfe of thofe who 
 give it 356. 459 
 Scarce any prince broke it but to his ruin 358 
 All either voluntary or involuntary ibid. 
 Ought to be performed in reverence to the religion 
 of it 359.362,363 
 What to be done, where the obfervation of it would 
 be grievous 362 
 How the judges are bound by theirs 392, 39} 
 y y y Wherein
 
 5iO 
 
 INDEX TO THE DISCOURSES 
 
 Wherein that 6f the crown had not been kept 395 
 What kings are obliged to do by them 413, 414. 
 
 501 
 How far thofe of allegiance bind private perfons 
 
 460, 461 
 
 Obedience, aftive and paffive 8. 3y4 
 
 Where due and not due 38. 57. 78. 272. 277. 290. 
 
 33-',333»457 
 How far a good man will pay it to his prince 217, 
 
 218 
 
 TheefFefts of its difcipline among, the Romans 235 
 
 To higher powers, St. Paul's words favour all forts 
 
 of governments as well as monarchy 316, 317, 
 
 318. 332, 333 
 Why it fhould be paid 3 26 
 
 Isnotdue to that which is not law 32S, 329, 3^0. 
 
 382 
 
 The prince owes it to the laws, as well as the meanell 
 
 fubjeft 339, 340 
 
 Due to parents, from whence it arifes 449 
 
 Simple and unconditional, to what king we all owe 
 
 it 488 
 
 Objeft, the only worthy one of man's delire 64 
 
 Obligation arifing from benefits can only be to thofe 
 
 who confer them 43 
 
 Of gratitude, to whom due 277 
 
 How far the extent of it can be known 290 
 
 Henrv VIII. owned it lay on him rightly to ufe the 
 
 power with which he was en trailed 345 
 
 Occupation the meaning of the word 190 
 
 Offa, vid. Saxons. 
 
 Officers, great ones in armies think only of enriching 
 
 thenifelves 239 
 
 How their authority and power is to be regulated 
 
 333 
 Ought to have their places for the people's good 
 
 . 4'4 
 Frequently put to death by the Athenians, etc. 
 
 468 
 
 Oliices, what fits men for the execution of them 67 
 
 Thofe that buy will make the moll of them 220 
 
 Or mufi be turned out as a fcandal to the court 
 
 221 
 
 By what means they have been often obtained 222 
 
 Oppreffion, fometimes makes nations outrageous 128 
 
 Does people fuch injury, as can never be pardoned 
 
 276 
 
 Order, when inverted, introduces extreme confufion 65 
 
 Wherein it principally coufifts 109. v. 64. 75. 
 
 77. 82 
 TheefFeaofit in. 116 
 
 Good, not wanting in Venice 118 
 
 Kor among the Romans 120 
 
 Being cftablilhcd makes good men 180 
 
 The bell fometimes fubverted by malice and violence 
 
 +°-l- 
 Ordinancc, what is blafphcmy to impute to God 41 
 
 Civil and human 83 
 
 God's general, and the particular ordinance of all 
 
 fociety 187 
 
 Of God, appointed for the diftribution of jullice 
 
 ' 94 
 Several tending to the fame end 3 1 8 
 
 Original, no man knows his own 29. 35. 37. 267. 365 
 
 Contrail 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68. 78, 79, 80. 83, 
 
 84. 270. 290 
 
 Right mull be regulated according to it 25; 
 
 Where it would be of no value 268, 269 
 
 Of nations almoft wholly unknown to us 274 
 
 Ours is deduced both from the Romans and Saxons 
 
 421.451 
 
 Oi^racifm of the Athenians, no diflionour, nor accounted 
 
 as a punifliment 148' 
 
 Nothing favor'd fo much of injuflice 247 
 
 Otho, had the empire given him, by whom 199. 
 
 Was a felf-murderer ibid. 
 
 Why he was advanced 202. 
 
 Outlaw, or lawlefs, often applied to the wicked, but 
 
 never to the juil 274. 
 
 Papal power, the foundation of it 6 
 
 The civil diflenfions in Germany proceeded from 
 
 thence _ 335 
 
 Pretends to the power of abfolution 355, 356 
 
 Her excommunications, bruta fulmina 357- 
 
 Papilh, their kindnefs to the proteftants inftanced in 
 
 494 
 Parodoxes, many of them true 59. 
 
 Pardons, faid to be only the bounty of the prerogative 
 
 394. 489 
 The meaning of a general one at a coronation-, 395 
 Where granted againft the oath of the crown ibid. 
 Granted by aft of parliament 396 
 
 None for a man condemned upon an appeal 489 
 The king cannot always pardon in cafes of treafon 
 
 490 
 Parents, how obliged by nature to feek their childrens 
 good 272.275 
 
 Parli.iments, the inflitution of them, and for what 81. 
 The fettling and transferring of crowns lodged in 
 them 85, 140.- 267 
 
 In France, fet up to receive appeals from other 
 courts, and to judge fovereignly, now of little 
 ufe i44.'255- 
 
 A free and well regulated one to choofe miniilers of 
 ftate i6j._ 
 
 Their great power in all the kingdom* that came 
 from the North 252 
 
 Declared Henry III. of France fallen from the 
 crown 254 
 
 How they may be made ufelefs 299 i 
 
 England never wanted them 312 
 
 The word parliament came from the French, but ■ 
 the power was always in ourfclves 3 ' 2 - 
 
 Henry \'III. confelfes thcin to be the law-makers 
 
 34S.-4I6. 
 Doubtful cafes referred to them 346. 395 , 
 
 By writs compel the king to perform the conditions 
 of the great charter 357' 358 
 
 Have given the crov;n to whom they pleafed 364 , 
 
 371, 372. 419. 427. 433. 440, 441,- 442 
 Judge of difputes arifing from the children of royal . 
 
 marriages 377- 4''^ 
 
 Have the fole power to explain and con eft laws 
 
 396. 418, 419. 427. 456 
 
 Ought of right to be annual 4 1 U. 468 
 
 From whence they derive their authority ^20. 442, 
 
 443. 465. 468 
 
 Have refufed to be difTolved till their woik was 
 
 finiOied 4^*7 
 
 Not impeccable or infallible, but kfs fubjeft to 
 
 error than fojnc priucci 469, 470. .191 
 
 Our
 
 INDEX TO THE DISCOURSES 
 
 5:^1 
 
 Our lives and liberties depend upon this court 490 
 What the oreat Biirlcigii and Sir Thomas More 
 
 faid of their power _ _ 499 
 
 If they malic uiijull laws, their pofterity will fuft'er 
 
 502 
 How difficult they are to be bribed ibid. 
 
 To have their rolls in their offices, not a mere 
 
 ceremony 505 
 
 What kings have had continual difputes with them 
 
 . . 507 
 
 Parties, what certainly divides the nation into thtin 
 
 379 
 
 Threaten a national ruin 464 
 
 Paffions, every one has them, few know how to moderate 
 
 them 201 
 
 Put princes upon the raoft unjull dcfigns 210 
 
 The law is without paffion 346 
 
 ^Patents, began long after the coming of the Normans 
 
 426 
 
 Pater Patriae, the title thereof confidcred 30-57 
 
 By killing a tyrant how faid to become fo 33, 34. 
 
 38- 54 
 
 Paternal right, Abraham arrogated none to himfelf 19 
 
 Impoffible to be known 24. 29. 32, 33. 70 
 
 All the kingdoms of the earth ellabliihed upon it 
 
 32 
 Government of Rome not paternal 37 
 
 Cannot be conferred on princes 48. 53, 54. 87 
 To whom it belongs 30. 73, 74. 296 
 
 In what the Hebrews had no regard to it 264. 277 
 Is a mere iidlion 267 
 
 Is from nature, and incommunicable 271 
 
 Patriarchal right, women and children have it, accord- 
 ing to Filmer 2 
 The abfurdity of it 15, 16. 43. 315. 497 
 All pretence to it deftroyed 18. 23. 25. 30. 420 
 Muft accrue to every father 20 
 Either divifible or indivifible 22. 32 
 Patriarchal power different from the regal 16, 17. 59 
 Peace, there can be none without juilice '3- '33 
 Defirable by a Hate conllituted for it 131 
 Slavifh 132 
 What men have in their graves ibid. 
 What the Spaniards fettled in theWcfl-Indies ibid. 
 The name of it given to defolation 132. 223, 
 
 234, 235 
 
 The fad one which France enjoyed for five or fix 
 
 ages 209,210 
 
 In Spain to what imputed 2 1 2 
 
 The terms offered, if good, like to be obferved ; 
 
 if bad, will foon be broken 458 
 
 Peers, aft for themfelves in their own houfe 500 
 
 Pembroke, a late earl of that noble family, his faying 
 
 204 
 
 People, not originally created for kings to reign over 
 
 them 4 
 
 Whether they choofe governors 12.59.63.79. 
 
 87, 88. 94 
 Scripture- inftances for the proof of it 102. 257 
 
 The choice of the conllitution is from them 89. 
 138, 139. 269. 367. 402 
 Kings receive their right from them gi. 7.66 
 
 How God deals with a people when he intends to 
 exalt them 120 
 
 Of Rome, their fad degeneracy 121 
 
 Their right to appeals 125, 126. 130. 138. 153 
 
 Afting according to their own will, never fct up 
 unwi rthy men, unlcTs through millake 162 
 
 The body of tlieni the public defence 169. 174 
 
 None ever well defended but thofe who fight for 
 themfelves 174 
 
 In civil contefls they equally fufFer j 80 
 
 Whether to be judges i:i their own cafes 19.? 
 
 When generally corrupted, the event is always the 
 ercftion of a tyrant 1 96. 2 1 6 
 
 Their condition where tolerable under very cruel 
 emperors 207 
 
 Their hating of cruel princes, and they them 232 
 Muft necefl'arily have all the power originally in 
 theinfelves 248, 257. 259. 402 
 
 Their right of looking into matters of government, 
 etc. 283. 340—343. 586.468. 481.483 
 
 Can never fall into nonage or dotage 349 
 
 Did never part with all their power to kings 355 
 May govern by themfelves 362 
 
 Their whole body not fubjeft to the commands of 
 the raagiflr.ite 457 
 
 In their colleftive body always continue as free as ' 
 the inward thoughts of a man 459 
 
 They certainly perilh who fuffer themfelves to be 
 opprefled 479 
 
 That are not free, cannot fubflitute delegates 495 
 Vid. Nations and Multitude. 
 Perfeftion, fimple and relative 407 
 
 Perfecution among the firft Chriftian emperors 115 
 
 Perfia, their kings reigned from the Indies to the Helle- 
 fpont 30 
 
 The decrees of thefe kings paffed for laws 90 
 
 The juft fentence of the princes about Daniel 1 1 3 
 Torn to pieces by the fury of two brothers 147 
 
 Under what ill conduft and difcipline their army 
 was 1 79 
 
 Petition, the haughty Romans condefcended to join in 
 one with their tribunes to their diftator 453 
 
 Pharamond, his race in France, an account of it 371 
 Pharaoh, his monarchy an aft of tyranny 26 
 
 Pharifees, their fupcrllition 382 
 
 Philo, to what he imputes the inftitution of kingly go- 
 vernment in lirael lor 
 Philofophy true, perfeftly conformable with what is 
 taught by men divinely infpired 65 
 Phocion, of his death 149 
 Phoenicians fettling in Africa, brought their liberty with 
 them 450 
 Plato, a commendation of him 59 
 His principles of government 63.66. 71 
 His opinion, who ought to be advanced above all 
 
 66. 102. 249 
 Plays, the confequence of them 121. 134. 156. 167 
 Plebeians elefted to the chief magillracies 124. 142. 
 
 145. 214 
 
 Their jealoufy of the patricians 185 
 
 Polity, its fignification 6S 
 
 Political fcience abftrufe 98, 99 
 
 Pompey, his caufe more plaufible, but his defignsas bad 
 
 as Caefar's 226 
 
 The firft ftep to his ruin was by violating the laws 
 
 ^S6 
 
 Popular government for what people bell 62 
 
 No where dii'praifed by Arillotle 109 
 
 The extent of its conquefts II I. 11 J. 135. 136 
 
 Of Rome, how fupported J 35. 136 
 
 y y y 2 Something
 
 532 
 
 INDEX TO THE DISCOURSES 
 
 Something of monarchical in riiem 14.1 
 
 Can never be upheld but by virtue t^y, 218 
 
 Poffible, but not eafily to fall into corruption, etc. 
 
 !6o. 216, 217, 222 
 Improperly what, and what in the ftriftell fenfe 160 
 Preferves peace, and manages war bell 165, 166 
 Every man concerned in th>jm 169^227. 233 
 
 States remarkable for peace 177 
 
 Excellent men are generally chofen in them 181 
 What feditions are felJom fecn in them 1S5, 186 
 How ruined 196 
 
 Incourage induftry 225 
 
 Never hurt private perfons but through errors 227. 
 
 247 
 When they began to appear in the world 308 
 
 Obedience due to them as well as to monarchies 3 1 6 
 
 Portugal, who accounted king thereof by the Englilh 
 court .1S7, 48S 
 
 Poverty, no inconvenience in it, if virtue be honoured 
 
 2l8 
 
 The miferable condition of Greece, Italy, etc. 223, 
 
 224, 225 
 
 When it grew odious in Rome 299 
 
 Power (all jull fovereign) from the people 54, 80. 82. 
 
 92. 210. 257, 258. 267 
 How he that has it is the minifter of God 55, 56. 
 
 375> 39»- 4'8. 462 
 Not an advantage but a burden 71, 72 
 
 Delegated, to whom referred 79, 80, 81 
 
 iThe root and foundation of it 82 
 
 Civil, an human ordinance 83 
 
 Of the people fubjedl to no rule but their own will 
 
 126 
 Of the Romans after the expulfion of ihe kings, 
 
 chiefly in the nobility J42 
 
 Naturally of a fierce and'afpiring temper 157, etc. 
 Sovereign and limited 190, 210 
 
 What, in all the kingdoms peopled from the north 
 
 257. 
 Moft fafe when leaft envied and hated ibid. 
 
 If it has been divided, it may be fo in infinitum 
 
 265. 
 The Roman emperors endeavoured to malic their. 
 
 power hereditary 267 
 
 The ill effeds of unlimited power might caufe it to 
 
 be moderated 273 
 
 What may be lawfully refilled 280 
 
 What prince ought to have it, and what not 3 10 
 Wilt thou not be afraid of the power ? what meant 
 
 by it _ 316 
 
 Direiflive and coercive 328, 329. 333 
 
 Why it ought to be limited 336 
 
 Of the king is the power of the law 345. 41 1. 418 
 What requifite in every llate 35 1 
 
 None can be jull but what is good 399 
 
 Over nations mull either be de jure, or de fafto 
 
 445 
 Of the king various according to the conftitutions 
 
 of every llate 446 
 
 Mothing can make that inherent, which is only 
 
 delegated 468 
 
 Rcflrained, when it began to grow infolcnt. In- 
 
 flances j^yy 
 
 Where it is not univerfal, it is not inherent 489 
 How that of every county, city and borough of 
 
 England is regulated Aoy 
 
 What mull be in thofe that ai5l by a delegated power 
 
 500 
 
 Where it is placed by well conllituted governments 
 
 501 
 
 Praftice cannot declare the greatnefs of authority 
 
 283 
 
 The confequenceof fuch a doftrine 284 
 
 Of nations to their fovcreigns 452 
 
 Prayers and tears the only arms of the firll Chrillians 
 
 3°"; 
 
 Preferments, by what means men now rife to them 222 
 Given to thofe that were moll propenfe to llavery 
 
 Where obtained only by virtue 236 
 
 Prerogative of kings, what 2. 66 
 
 Of binh 29 
 
 HereJitary of dominion 60 
 
 All granted by coni'eut of the whole foeiety 78 
 \Miat the moll glorious 290.413 
 
 The utmoll extent of it, what 348.413 
 
 Only inftituted to preferve liberty 387. 408 
 
 What is not the gracious bounty of it 396. 507 
 Who thought whatever could be detracted from the 
 
 liberty of the nation, would ferve to advance 
 
 the prerogative coj 
 
 Princes, ordained for the good of the people 38. 58. 60, 
 
 61, 62 
 Ought to be rich in virtue and wifdom 65, 66. 358 
 All things vary according to the humour of thofe 
 
 that govern 113, 114, 115 
 
 Very few of an inflexible virtue 159. 
 
 Killing one to obtain the crown 208. i^/'aV 38 
 
 Eafily impofed on by pretenders 219 
 
 By fetting up their own intereft become enemies to 
 
 the public 227,228,229,230.273: 
 
 God's vicegerents, doing their duty 23 1 
 
 The bell, by what means drawn out of the way of 
 
 jullice _ _ 149. 342. 
 
 For they have their failings 393 
 
 Virtuous ones will have virtuous courts 220, 221 
 Evil ones jull the contrary 156, 157. 218, 219. 
 
 . -34' 23';. 236- 348 
 How they foon lofe their dominions 183, 184. 207 
 Seek the deflruclion of their bell fubjefls 208. 232^ 
 
 3'7 
 
 Some confider nations, as graziers do their herds 
 
 and flocks 23 1 
 
 May commit many errors in the beginning of their 
 
 reigns, to the ruin of thcmfelves and people. 
 
 Inllances 242 
 
 The treachery and perjury of fome 261 
 
 What thofe that govern them inlligate them to 273 
 How far their legal power extends 280 
 
 Such as are barbarous to their own people, are 
 
 ufually gentle to the enemies of their country 304 
 A dangerous thing to arm them with too much force 
 
 355 
 Bound by their oaths and promifes 358, 359 
 
 From whence their power is derived 418 
 
 Not fafe to contradift fome, though ever fo juilly 
 
 4-.92 
 An unlimited one what compared to, and an in- 
 
 llance of fuch an one in fcripture 492 
 
 Principcs, the extent of the word 14. 51. 74. 331. 421. 
 
 429. 431 
 The Sanhedrim meant hereby 249J 
 
 Principles
 
 INDEX TO THE DISCOURSES 
 
 533 
 
 "R 
 
 Principles of all generous nations before Chrill's time, 
 
 what _ 4 
 
 And praflices the Iiert way to judge men by 1 56 
 
 PiifoniTs, Ought to pay their promifed ranfom 359 
 
 Private perfoii, what aftions denote a magiftratc fo ihg. 
 
 Privern.ite?, their city taken by Plautius the conful 458 
 Procefs, judicial and legal, what 187 
 
 Or extrajudicial 194, 195 
 
 Proc!aniations, are at moil but temporary 491 . 496 
 
 The danger of their being accounted laws 492, 
 
 493. 494 
 
 Promifes, ought juft'y to be performed 359 
 
 Even thofe extorted bv fraud. A fcripture inllance 
 
 ibid. 
 Property, is an appendage to liberty 34S 
 
 Of our kings, if they be the fountain of it 434 
 
 Propofitions, ought to be univerfally true ii. iS 
 
 Filmer's general one found falle 31. 231 
 
 Profcriptions ' 1:0. 122. 128. 132. 151. 198 
 
 Profperitv run? naturally into all manner of exceiies 
 
 128.155 
 
 Men have been precipitated into ruin by it 478 
 
 Proxies, the way of ufing them 83 
 
 Proximity of blood, only regarded in feme places, 
 
 whether legitimate or not 203. 444 
 
 How right defcends this way 439, 440 
 
 /7./f Succefilon. 
 
 Punifhment of fupreme magiftrates in three inftances 
 
 188, 189, 190, 191 
 
 To exempt all perfons from it, fuppofes they 
 
 would be guilty of the worft 194 
 
 Where there is no fear of it 219, 220 
 
 Future, many do not believe, or not regard, it 
 
 276. 314 
 
 Of thofe the prince corrupted to defert the public 
 
 caufe 463 
 
 Of thofe that give princes ill advice 468. 490, 491 
 
 Whether it ought to fall upon one or a few guilty 
 
 perfons, or a whole nation that is innocent 4S0 
 
 To what members of parliament are fubjeft 497 
 
 In whom the power of it is lodged 500 
 
 Pyrrhus feems equal to either of the Alexanders 182 
 
 His anfwer to him that afked who IhouJd fucceed 
 
 him 199 
 
 Qualities, no more extraordinary in princes than in 
 
 others of lefs degree 7 
 
 What are requifite for chief magiftrates 37. 40. 60 
 
 Few kings pofTefs all that are rcquifite 1 12 
 
 What fubfill in a well ordered government 120 
 
 The nioft eminent without virtue, reputed vile and 
 
 odious 125 
 
 Quarrels among princes, for the moft part, begun upon 
 
 perfonal titles 187.208, 209, 210 
 
 Of princes, where they have bcecn decided by 
 
 their own fwords 187. 204 
 
 What would make a perpetual fpring of irrecon- 
 
 cileable and mortal quarrels 204 
 
 Such as arife between the nobles and commons frL- 
 
 quently produce good laws 214 
 
 Ours with the Dutch 228 
 
 Raleigh, fir Walter, reflefted on by Filmer 440, 441 
 His morals no v/ay exaft for a well qualified gentle- 
 man 441 
 
 i^'Reafon, is man's nature 1C3. 287. 337. 3'>i 
 
 Univerfal, is that to which all nations owe an equal 
 
 veneration 529 
 
 Rebellion, the greateft empire of the eaft overthrown by 
 
 that of the Mammclucs 128 
 
 People driven to it by mifery or defpair 128. 
 
 2§4, 285 
 
 T' ere can be no fuch .is that of a nation againil its 
 
 own magillratcs 457 
 
 What it implies i'.iJ. 
 
 Is nothing but a rcne^vcd war 458. i/io 
 
 What is compared to witchcraft 460 
 
 Regal pov/er, never excrcifcd by Abraham 19 
 
 The lirll fathers after the llood had not the excrcll'i 
 
 of it 263. 
 
 Regicides, their abominable fin 391 
 
 Regnum, the fignificatinn of tlie word 275 
 
 Rehoboam, a lad account of him 113.242 
 
 His power far from being abfolute 31a 
 
 Had good counfd, but would not hearken to it 350 
 
 Was not the head of his people, and why 474 
 
 Religion, always dangerous in the times of the 
 
 belt Roman emperors 115 
 
 Of \.\\i lame nature with virtue 22a 
 
 The principles of the popifh 494 
 
 Remedies to government applied according to the nccef- 
 
 fity of circumrtances 123. 144. ifij. 47S 
 
 What cliildreahave, agalnft their too fevere parents 
 
 None to the Hebrews cries and prayers under their 
 
 mifcries 279 
 
 Muft be tried, how difficult foever 479 
 
 Which moll fit to be applied, the befl; time to 
 
 apply them, and who the propereft judges 484 
 
 Reprefentatives, how, and by whom they came to be 
 
 deputed 423. 429. 431. 466 
 
 Whether the people fhould judge of their behaviour 
 
 468 
 
 Republics, tniie Commonwealths. 
 
 Refignation c." one's liberty, what 4,50 
 
 Of the crown 480. -u/et 362, 363 
 
 Refiftance, in what cafes juflified 229. 280. 283. 292 
 
 Every one has a right to refill what ought not to be 
 
 done to him 288 
 
 Scripture inltances of refilling princes 314 
 
 Refumption of lands, wide Grants 
 
 Retaliation, where nothing was more jull 113 
 
 Kings under this law as well as people 285, 286 
 
 Revenue, how granted to and fettled on kings 299 
 
 Revolts of co.;quered nations 127 
 
 Of fubjeds or allies 128. 198 
 
 Of Ifrael in Solomon's time 197. 284 
 
 Of Abfalom. 283, 284 
 
 Of the ten tribes 284 
 
 General of a nation cannot be called a rebellion 457 
 
 Revolutions, njide Authors. 
 
 Rewards and punifhments how to be proportioned 149 
 Make men fubfervient to ill defigns 298, 299 
 
 What called the rewards of the vileft fervitude 422 
 
 Riches, the root of all evil 52, 53. 218, 219 
 
 When they become formidable 123 
 
 Exhaulled by tribute and rapine 129. 219 
 
 Defired, to gain followers 29S 
 
 From thence all mifchiefs enfue 209 
 
 Right, of thofe fovcreigns that are limited 120. 19^ 
 "" ' Proceeds from identity, r.ot from funilitude 473 
 \ ' Whir
 
 534 
 
 INDEX TO THE DISCOURSES 
 
 '^ What belongs to every man in all cafes 482 
 
 <C_ Right acquired, how to be obtained 366.436 
 
 How the refignation of it to another operates 435 
 
 Hereditary to the dominion of the world, no iuch 
 
 thing _ 44- 7° 
 
 Great variet)' in the deduftlon of it 91^ 
 
 -; Univerfal, conferred by God and nature ^ 36 
 
 Where it mull have been 40. 43. 48. 78 
 
 Muft be in one, or divided 42. 43 
 
 Where it devolves on particular nations _ 79 
 
 Right of choofing infers a right of making a king 86 
 
 '^ Created by an explicit aft of approbation _ 86. 95 
 
 Naturally belonging to nations, not impaired by 
 
 the name of fupreme given to magiftrates 1 8g 
 
 Of proceeding judicially or extrajudicially agalnft 
 
 ,-'^' all that trantgrefs the laws 194.280 
 
 - Right of occupancy 37' 3^- Si 
 
 None can come by conqueft 23 
 
 None to be deduced from him that had none 23. 
 
 42.54 
 
 Where to be acknowledged 3*^ 
 
 Of Jack Straw, Wat Tyler, Perkin Warbeck 204 
 
 The continuance of an unjull ufurpation can never 
 
 create a right 207 
 
 Right of particular nations, how it may fubfifl 9, 10 
 
 Proceeds from the laws of nature 10. 421 
 
 Right to crowns, what faid to be infeparable from 
 
 kings' . 102 
 
 Mufl be either natural, created, or acquired 366 
 
 Rochelle, how it came to be taken _ 237 
 
 Rods and axes, before whom, and why carried 154. 
 
 189, 190 
 Roman emperors, who the bell and wifeft of them 2 1 7 
 How they were fet up 308 
 
 Empire, deftroyed by the lofs of her liberty 1 14. 
 117, 118, 119, 120. 131, 132. 136. 146 
 Its extent after the recovery of liberty 119. 131 
 Tacitus'sdefcription of it initsdeclenfion 120. 122 
 It did not fall on a fudden, and why 121 
 
 Her delatores, v. hat fort of people 120 
 
 Subdued by the moll barbarous nations 123. 133. 
 
 152 
 Perpetually decayed when it fell into the hands of 
 one man 129, 130, 131.250.296 
 
 Its own prudence preferved it _ 135. 145 
 
 Romans had three ways of dealing with conquered na- 
 tions _ '27 
 What raifed them above the reft of mankind 1 69, 
 
 170 
 
 They only lit to be fo, who thought nothing 
 
 valuable but liberty 458 
 
 Rome, whether that government was paternal 37 
 
 Overthrew all the monarchies within their reach 
 
 37- "9- '35 
 Its extent at firll 75. 130 
 
 Wherein flie excelled other nations 110. 1 30 
 
 When (he met with defeats and ruin ill. 234, 235 
 AH that ever was defirablc in her proceeded from 
 
 liberty 119 
 
 Never produced a brave man fince the firft age of 
 
 her ilavery I 21 
 
 How it was conipofed I 39 
 
 Sought her grandeur by war 142. 173 
 
 Her fortune when fhc became a monarchy 143 
 
 None fo free from crimes of wilful injiifticc, nor 
 
 guilty of fo few errors as ftie J49 
 
 Her generofity , 149 
 
 The mildnefs of her government for 300 years 
 
 i;i. 153. 154 
 
 Struggling for liberty, at laft was ruined by the 
 
 barbarians 152 
 
 Not enllaved when Brutus was killed 180 
 
 Was jealous of Valerius Publicola, and why 185 
 
 The peace Hie had under Auguilus J98 
 
 When filled with blood and aflies 199, 200 
 
 Her condition now 224 
 
 Suftered more by one villain, than by all the 
 
 defeats received from Hannibal 226 
 
 A perpetual fpring of brave and valiant men fo 
 
 long as liberty lafted 235 
 
 Remained in flavery notwithftanding the flaughter 
 
 of Caefar 29 1 
 
 Her kings lands, after their expulfion, confecrated 
 
 to Mars 29^ 
 
 Romulus, flain for aiming at too great an authority 36 
 
 How not made king by the people but by God 
 
 54, ijiiJc 402 
 
 Laid the right of appeals to the people, as the 
 
 foundation of his commonwealth 125 
 
 How he tempered the fierce humour of the people 
 
 406 
 
 Rule, there muft be one relating to the acquifition and 
 
 exercife of power 246. 443 
 
 The law of nature is that which God has given to 
 
 things 287 
 
 If any had been given by God and nature, it muft 
 
 have been from the beginning, univerfal and 
 
 perpetual 404 
 
 There is one which kings are obliged to follow 443 
 
 None can be fo e xaft as to make provifion ag.iinft 
 
 all dlfputes 461 
 
 Without it fociety cannot fubfift 482 
 
 Men fubjcd to none but that of their own reafon 50 1 
 
 Rules, fet to diftinguilli between right and wrong in 
 
 princes 38 
 
 By which men are governed, are named laws 60 
 
 Not generally true, if there be any juft exceptions 
 
 again ll them 81 
 
 In politics, fome which ought always to be obferved 
 
 145. 162 
 Obferved in England as to point of fucceffion 204 
 
 Sabeans, their kings, though obeyed in all things 
 
 within their palace, yet might be ftoned without it 92 
 
 Sacred, not to be accounted fo by crimes 194 
 
 The ftile given to the tribunes as well as monarchs 
 
 453 
 
 Salic law in France 46. 203. 253. 363. 367 
 
 Has been in force above 1 200 years 254 
 
 Not without difficulties futficient to fubvert the 
 
 polity of that kingdom. In ftanccs thereof 376 
 
 Salmafius, his ftory of bees 99 
 
 Salus populi lex eft fuprema 94. 273. 304. 348. 36S 
 
 369. 408. 413 
 
 To what this fafety extends 348 
 
 The end for which governments are inftituted 35 1 
 
 Samuel was no king, for the Ifraclites afkedone of him 
 
 274 
 
 What he wrote in a book was not a law to the 
 
 people but to the king _ imd. 
 
 Told them their foUv and mifery in alking a king 
 
 279. 286 
 Nor
 
 INDEX TO THE DISCOURSES 
 
 535 
 
 Not he, but God wns rejefteU by tliem 301 
 
 How lie beliaved himfelf as head of ihe Ifi aelites 
 
 474 
 
 Sanhedrim iiiftituted by Mofcs 103. 138 
 
 How permanent 104 
 
 Always to be advifers of the Jcwifli kings 250. 3 19 
 
 Where faid that kings can do nothing witliout 
 
 them 285 
 
 For what ettd conflituted judges ibid. 
 
 Saul, his rirrt ITn by which he fell lOI. 104 
 
 Gppofing God's command he pretended to fulfil it 
 
 107 
 The elFefts of his various fits of fury 113.303 
 
 His vices never difcovered, till he was on the 
 throne 22 1 
 
 Gave the Ifraelites no law 275 
 
 Ghofen king in the mofl democratical w.ny, by lot 
 
 277. 280 
 
 How he overthrew his own right 28 1 
 
 Not made king by virtue of God's unftion only 282 
 
 Savoy, the duke, found out thirteen halves to be in 
 
 every year 460 
 
 Saxons, fct up kings and depofed them as they pleafed 
 
 321.424 
 
 The brave f.iying of king Offa 360, 361. 443. 452 
 
 Haws to which all our kings have fworn continue 
 
 ftill in force among us- 361 
 
 Severe aflerters of their' liberties and laws 403-. 421. 
 
 435 
 We chiefiy derive our original and manners from 
 
 them 421. 451 
 
 Tlteir alTemblies the fame in' power with our par- 
 liaments 423 
 In their own country fcorned all employments but 
 that of the fword 43 1 
 Ey what names they and their general aflemblies 
 Vv-ere called 43 2 
 Came hither under Hengiil and Herfa 434 
 How they came to reform their manners, and 
 frame laws 45 1 
 Their great wifdom in making laws 502 
 Schoolmen, an unjuft imputation on them 3, 4. 11. 59 
 To what a nicety they have minced oaths 355, 356 
 Scientes temporum, who 234 
 Scipio Africanus, the firll that difdained the power of 
 the law I JO, 15 I 
 Scotland, the mifchiefs brought upon it by their con- 
 terts 2 1 2. 
 When andliow conquered 238 
 Their little number of foot beat the king's army at 
 Newburn 240 
 James the third, Lewis XI's apt fcholar in fubvert- 
 ing the laws, etc. 252 
 Many of their kings punilTied with death, imprifon- 
 ment and exile 480. 484 
 Scripture, the places therein relating to government, 
 how bell: interpreted 1 5 
 What it fays concerning kings 15. 101. 297 
 Tiie accounts there given concerning their leaders 
 
 102 
 
 What it occafionally relates of the Babylonian and 
 
 other monarchies 200 
 
 Declares the neceffity of fetting, bounds to princes 
 
 Is clear concerning the antiquity of laws 274 
 
 Senate, thtir power 14. 124 
 
 3. ' 
 
 Julius Caefar (lain in it 
 
 Set up by the people 
 
 Hov/ expofed and deftroyed 
 
 Condemned Nero to be put to death 
 
 Killed Romulu'i 
 
 Strang£rs .admitted into that of Rome 
 
 Abrogated the power of the Decemviri 
 
 114 
 130 
 HZ 
 
 330 
 
 172 
 
 ibid.. 
 
 189 
 
 The bell judges 193, 194 
 
 And people of Rome not to be bribed 221, 222 
 Of Rome like to be butchered, and fo» what 199 
 Chofen for their virtues 222 
 
 Of what confiituent parts it may be compofed 259 
 The greateil part of them fell at the battle of Phar- 
 falia 400 
 
 Of Sparta and Venice, their gre^ power 419 
 
 Senators and fervants employed in our public af- 
 fairs 496 
 Sedition, popular 8 
 What 187 
 What it implies 8z'. 195 
 Said to be occafioned by learning 109. 116. 148 
 None hurtful to Rome till men got above the law 
 
 126, 127 
 From whence it arifes 1.85, 186. 201 
 
 Proceeding from malice, is feldom or never feen in 
 popular governments 186 
 
 But always deteftable igj 
 
 One of the greateft that ever was at Rome appeafed, 
 and how ip6 
 
 When juftified by God and man 187, 18S, 189, 
 
 190. 195 
 
 Mod natural to abfolute monarchies 195 
 
 From SolcB'.on's time the Jews perpetually vexed 
 
 witJi' them 197 
 
 To what fome magillrates give this name 379 
 
 Senefi^, the battle of it 240 
 
 Servants of God, who ^ 
 
 Raifed to high degrees of honour 64, 65 
 
 None can be members of a commonwealth 69. 81 
 
 Ship-money,. f/'A Judges 
 
 Shires, far more antient than Alfred's time, and w hat 
 
 meant by them . 429> 43° 
 
 Singulis m.ijor, univerfis minor- 191.314. 
 
 Slaves by nature, who 4. 10. 33. 64. 94. 291 
 
 Oftentimes advanced 64. 120, 121. 147. 152. 156. 
 
 34^ 
 No members of the civil fociety 127 
 
 Abfolutely refign thtmfelves to the will of other?, 
 and why 164, 165 
 
 What Hates become fo to their proteflor 179 
 
 What tributes they are forced to pay 3 1 1 
 
 What denotes a flave 348. 386, 387 
 
 What the true badges of flaves 3 8 1 
 
 Sad, when the worll of them came to govern kings 
 
 Will always becowards, and enemies to their niaf- 
 
 ter 508 
 
 Slavery, what to be underftood by it- 10. 22, 23. 28 
 
 What it is accompanied with - 109. 147 
 
 The produce of it J35. 167 
 
 The Afiatics underwent the greateft 279 
 
 A great part of the curfe ag^inft Ham and all his 
 
 pollerity 285 
 
 None of God's inftitulion 286 
 
 What brings it upon any nation, together with 
 
 its ruin 485 
 
 With.
 
 536 
 
 INDEX TO THE DISCOURSES 
 
 With a mirdiief 49; 
 
 Sloth in princes, the mlferahle effeiJ^s thereof 207 
 
 Smyrna, the djfign of taking that fleet 241 
 
 Societies, mull in feme meafure diminifti liberty 21, 22. 
 
 25. 60 
 
 Subfift only by order 64. 77. 481 
 
 Civil, compofed of equals 69 
 
 How inftituted 74- S 2 
 
 When once entered into, oblige all to the laws 
 
 thereof Sz 
 
 Are maintained by mutual contradls 256 
 
 Socrates put to death by falfe witnefles 148 
 
 Soil, kings not orijinally lords of it 433, 4^4. 430, 45 1 
 
 Soldiers in fcripture, there were as many to fight for 
 
 their country, as there were able men to fight 174, 
 
 175 
 Every man is one againft a public enemy iSS 
 
 The Grecian in the time of their virtue had no 
 
 equals 236 
 
 The Chriftian their obligation 383, 3S4 
 
 Soldiers mercenary, overthrow all the laws of a country 
 
 157. 256 
 Often betray their mailers in diftrefs 168, 169 
 
 Several cities in Italy made their wars by them 173 
 Always want fidelity or courage 179 
 
 Sent to the wars by force 239 
 
 And other villains fubducd the Syracufans, Spar- 
 tans and Romans z66 
 Soldiery, accounted a trade 126 
 Solomon, his idolatry and opprellion 113 
 The bad efFeft of his magnificence 197 
 His peaceable reign ibid. 
 Overthrew the law given by Mofes 284 
 None will fay he was a tyrant, yet he was com- 
 plained of by the people 302 
 His vvifdom furpalTed that of all the people 469 
 Sovereigns, impatiently bear competitors 19 
 Majelly, the extravagance of it in Auguftus Cae- 
 far's time 400 
 Sovereignty, remained in the Roman people 125 
 To whom the difpofal of it mull perpetually belong 
 
 . , . 443. 444 
 
 Spain, has nothing fave Milan, but what is come to 
 
 her by marriage 184 
 
 The civil wars there 211, 212 
 
 'I'he antient kingdoms of Spain hereditary 363. 
 
 •vide 93 
 
 When one kingdom comprehended all Spain 369 
 
 How the crown was difpofed of according to the 
 
 humour of the people 369, 370 
 
 The only title Ifabel had to the crown, was derived 
 
 from illcgitimation 376 
 
 How the king may deferve the name of being head 
 
 of his people 476 
 
 Spaniards, their valour ngainll the Carthaginians and 
 
 Romans, and their overiiirow by two leud tyrants 183 
 
 The condition to which they have reduced Naples, 
 
 Sicily, the Well-Indies, etc. 225 
 
 Spartan kings, what they were fubjedl to from their 
 
 people 90, 91 
 
 Together with their power 25 i 
 
 Government in what it confiftcd 138 
 
 Preferred by Xcnophon to Athens 148 
 
 Framed a moll fevcre difciplinc 173 
 
 Never any fcdition againft their kings 25 1 
 
 Called an ariftocracy by all the Greek authors 259 
 
 Appointed limits to the pov.'Cr of their kings 26!. 
 
 462. 477 
 
 Had no law agalnll adultery, and why 272 
 
 Spartans, whom they brought from Thebes and EpLrus 
 
 to be their kings 35 
 
 Jealous of Lycurgus, and why 185 
 
 Had kings before the time of Hercules and Achilles 
 
 92 
 Sacrificed their lives in defence of their country 171 
 
 Never heard an enemy's trumpet for 8S0 years <73 
 
 Whether defcended from the Hebrews, and what 
 
 power the colletlive body of the people had over 
 
 thtrm 251 
 
 The poverty and fimplicity of their kings 29S 
 
 Their legillature v/as in the people 320 
 
 Stability, the efteft of good order in that which is good 
 
 37. in, 112 
 Wherein itconfills in man 1 12 
 
 There can be none in abfolutc kingdoms 115. 198. 
 
 209, 210 
 
 Produces ftrength 116 
 
 Not wanting in Venice ii8 
 
 Nor among the Romans 120 
 
 Star-phamber, its jurifdiiSion aboliihed 418 
 
 States-general, 'vide Holland 
 
 Statutes, from whom they receive their authority and 
 
 force. /-'/./^ Aifls of parliament 491 
 
 Stipulations are not perfonal but national 487 
 
 Suarez, his faying about Adam (in 
 
 Subjeclion lineal, never antiently dreamt of 67 
 
 To the power, however acquired 188 
 
 And protcftion are relatives 450> 451 
 
 Submifiion, all manner of it is a rellraint of liberty 
 
 162 
 The nature and meafure of it how to be determined 
 
 481 
 Succeflion, no difference in religion faid to be able to 
 divert the right of it 24 
 
 The eldell brother preferred before the fon 93 
 
 To the ne.Kt in blood 1 1| 
 
 Of blood, the difeafe incident to it 180 
 
 Laws concerning it 202.337 
 
 By the law of God and nature 202 
 
 The various ways ot it in fcveral kingdoms 203 
 The llaughters about it in l-'rance 206 
 
 Sometimes comes to monlleri in cruelty, to chil- 
 dren and fools 335 
 The law gives the rule of it 339. 363. 368 
 Five different ways ofdifpofmg of it 363. 369. 445 
 In Spain according to the pleafure of the nobility 
 and people 369 
 Where in France it is like to be qucflioned, if net 
 overthrown by the houfe of AuUria 373. 438 
 Contells will arife concerning it, how e,\a£lly foevcr 
 it be difpofed of by law 376 
 No footlleps of any regular one, either by inheri- 
 tance or cleclion 403 
 Of the crown fettled by parliament 419 
 Several quellions ariling from that which is heredi- 
 tary 437, 438, 439 
 Superiority, given to Mofes, who was the younger 
 brother 26 
 Not in nature, but in virtue 60, 61. 65 
 Supplications and remonftrances, where to be ufed 479 
 Supreme, the extent of the word igo, 191, 192. 269, 
 
 270. 389. 418 
 Power
 
 INDEX TO THE DISCOURSES 
 
 537 
 
 Power has been enjoyed in the fuUeft extent by fuch 
 as never had the name of king 333 
 
 Where there was a refervation of this power in the 
 people 340 
 
 Sweden, the blood-royal not to marry out of the coun- 
 try, or without the confent of the llates 203 
 How the inheritance to the crown is fettled there 
 
 364- 443 
 Eleftion the bell title to it 366. 429 
 
 Their laws but few 409 
 
 Who the nobility of that country 329 
 
 What Charles Guftavus told an ambaflador there 443 
 Switzers, the thirteen cantons, how long they have 
 enjoyed more peace than any other ftate of Europe 
 
 •75' '76 
 None more free from popular feditions 176 
 
 The laws of their country read over in a few hours 
 
 409 
 How they ufe their delegates 496, 497 
 
 Sword, where left as an inheritance to families 1 14 
 
 The right of appeals overthrown by it 125 
 
 He that draws it againft his prince, ought to throw 
 away the fcabbard 1 86 
 
 Ofjullice, and of war 187.309, 310 
 
 When the only law that governs 200. 226 
 
 A way of killing worfe than that of the fword 224 
 To what end fwords were given to men 292 
 
 The ufe of the civil as well as military, equally 
 condemned by the firft Chriftians 308, 309 
 
 Of power, in all forts of governments 316 
 
 So to be ufed that nations may live peaceably 3 19 
 What meant by this word ibid. 
 
 Of juRice comprehends the legiflative and execu- 
 tive power ibid. 
 What the military fignifies 320,321 
 Queftions about title to crowns often determined 
 tliis way 376 
 Where edifts are hefitated at by the parliament at 
 Paris, this power has been made ufe of to compel 
 
 . S°5 
 Sylla, the crimes of his life, and miferies of his death 
 
 216 
 If not a tyrant, there never was any in the world 
 
 226 
 Refigns his power, though too late for Rome's re- 
 covery ibid. 
 
 Tacitus, his fad account of Rome 58. 120. 122. 135. 
 
 151, 152. 167 
 
 Speaks of the burden of abfolutc power 7 1 
 
 Mentions a fort of kings ufed by the Romans to 
 
 keep nations in feivitude to them 403 
 
 When hefays theRoman lawsgrcw innumerable 409 
 
 Tamerlane faid he was not a man, but the fcourge of 
 
 God, and the plague of mankind ^5 i 
 
 Tarquin, the expulfum of him from Rome 11.402 
 
 The firft that reigned fine jufTu populi 79 
 
 Came in by treachery and murder 119. 130. 145. 
 
 192 
 How the people delivered themfelves from him 1 40. 
 
 164. 214 
 
 What followedfrom his being expelled 185. 291 
 
 His counfel concerning the poppies 205 
 
 Taxes, upon what accounts to be given, but not to op- 
 
 prefs the people 299, 300 
 
 Tenants, how they now look upon their lords 464 
 
 Tenure, none in England owes any but by virtue of a 
 contraft, made either by himfelf or his predecefT'irt 
 
 294 
 Thofe of turpitude now abnlilhed iliid. 
 
 Of the commons as anticnt as many of the nobili- 
 ty's 426 
 Tertullian, feveral fayings out of his Apologetics 308, 
 
 309 
 The defign of his Apology and treatife to Scapula 
 
 .309 
 
 Calls the whole people of Carthage, antiquitate 
 
 nobiles, nobilitate feliccs 432 
 
 Thaneftry, the law of it 93 
 
 Themiftocles, his charafter 148 
 
 His envy and fpite to Aridides ibid. 
 
 All the citizens of Athens able to bear arms went 
 
 along with him againll Xerxes 171 
 
 A great and true faying of his 217 
 
 Tiberius, his reign an uninterrupted feries of murders, 
 
 fubornations, perjuries, etc. 1S8, 189. 205 
 
 Afliimed the name of Caefar without any title 306 
 
 His deteftable luft defcribed by Tacitus 331 
 
 To what counfellors he only inclined 350 
 
 Time, changes nothing 184. 236 
 
 Can make nothing lawful and jufl that is not (o of 
 
 itfelf 
 
 421 
 
 Titles, of the firft kings came not from paternity 31. 
 
 264. 
 Of princes, derived from murders, etc. 38.40 
 Some would not have them examined into 38. 
 
 188 
 Hobbes of another opinion 188 
 
 Inft.inces of ours in particular 440 
 
 Of civility have no power to create a right of do- 
 minion 7^ 
 Difputes about them by what power to be deter- 
 mined _ _ 94,95.377,378 
 Thought good if the princes could coirupt two or 
 three legions 199 
 No emperor had a better than what he got by mo- 
 ney or violence ibid. 
 To dominion by whom conferred 264 
 The fordid ways of attaining them in ourdays 426 
 On whom thofe offices were antieniiy conferred ibid. 
 In what juft ones do conlift 437 
 Several ways to overthrov,' moft of them 439 
 Kings, where inftanccd in to have no other than 
 what was conferred on them by the people 4^ 3 
 Whatever is given to the chief magillrate, he <..-:ii 
 have no other power tlian what is given him by 
 the people and the laws ^47 
 The moft fwelling and auguft, to whom given 453, 
 
 454. 464 
 Trade, fubfervient to the end of war 173, i-^a. 
 
 Sp.-ircans baniihed all the curious arts that are ufe- 
 ful to it I -I 
 
 Trair.n, his expedition into the eaft ' ■ i;i 
 
 Bitterly derided for his clemency by Tertulliaii, 
 and why 127 
 
 Whom he bid to ufe the f.vord for or againft him, 
 as he reigned well or ill ^^5. ^00 
 
 Treafon, the principal part of Trefilian's, was his opi- 
 nion that kings might dillblve parliaments at their 
 pleafure ^66 
 
 Perfons executed as traytors for things done by tlie 
 king's command 490 
 
 Z z z It
 
 538 
 
 INDEX TO THE DISCOURSES 
 
 It is enaftetJ, that to kill the king is fo, and to he 
 
 puniihed with death 504 
 
 Treaties, the king's name always u fed in them, though 
 
 they are children, or otherwife incapable, but yet 
 
 they .oblige them, their fucceflbrs and people 488 
 
 If parliaments ihould make ignominious ones, when 
 
 the feffion is ended, they mull bear the burden 
 
 as much as others 502 
 
 Tribes, the ten, why they did not return to the houfe 
 
 of David _ 284 
 
 Tribunes of the people, their creation 142.214 
 
 Military, with a confular power 142. 145 
 
 How Caefar corrupted them 143.157 
 
 The moft dangerous fedition compofcd by them 
 
 1S5 
 Threaten the di;5lator with a great fine 270 
 
 Efteemed facred and inviolable 453 
 
 Tribute, the antient Jews fcrupled paying it to the em- 
 perors 299 
 What underflood by that name 306, 307 
 We owe none but what we freely give 3 1 2 
 Triumvirate, firll fet up by Pompey 226 
 Truft, what the greateft that can be repofed in men 419 
 Where that repofed in kings has been mifemployed 
 
 430 
 How kings are faid to difpenfe with it out of the 
 public Itock 467 
 
 Iii/e Kings 
 Truth, no confequ'ence can deftroy it 5 
 
 *\~Is comprehended by examining principles 6. 401 
 ''"'Is therule of juftice 33 
 
 Our thoughts ought ever to be guided by it 33- 67 
 The knowledge of it makes men wife 67 
 
 Can never be repugnant to juftice 6g 
 
 What are real truths grounded on the laws of God 
 and nature 89, 90 
 
 Kings feldom hear it till they are ruined by lies 243 
 Can never be made too evident in matters of im- 
 portance 367 
 Of abfolute neceffity to keep the tongue from falf- 
 hood 378 
 The bond of union 380 
 They that enquire for it, mud not deny or conceal 
 any thing _ _ 436 
 Can feldom or ever conduce to mifchief 471 
 Tryal, vide Law. 
 
 Once acquitted, not queftioned a fecond time for 
 
 the fame faft 255 
 
 In France the king cannot be prefent at any, for 
 
 no man can be judged if he be 4S6 
 
 Here is faid to be coram rege, but it mud only be 
 
 according to the law of the land 488 
 
 Tumults, where they do no hurt 1 10 
 
 From whence they arife 185 
 
 What 188 
 
 Among the Hebrews 197, 198 
 
 Of Rome, their difference from fomeof our battles 
 
 What reigns are moft accompanied with them 
 
 223. 'vi(/e 208 
 
 Turks, all the royal brethren expofed to be deftroycd by 
 
 the Sultan 74 
 
 Their greateft ftrength confifts in children that do 
 
 not know thtir own fatlicrs 167 
 
 How they came by their ruin 225 
 
 When the Germans fled to tlicm for protcftion 470 
 
 Tufcany, when one of the molt ftoiirilhlng provinces in 
 
 the world, now to how low an ebb reduced 459 
 
 Tyranny, how it may be weakened 6. 1 1 o 
 
 Abhorred by the laws of God and man 39, 216. 
 
 249 
 Brought ruin to thofe fubjefled thereto 60 
 
 To impofe laws arbitrarily 88 
 
 Can create no right 91 
 
 Is empire gained by violence ibid. 
 
 The occafion of revolts 128 
 
 All had their beginning from corruption 157. 196 
 
 Introduced by the worlt of men 163. 298 
 
 The overthrow of Spain 183 
 
 The people miferable under all igi. 227, 228 
 
 Never founded on contrafts 278 
 
 When it began to become odious 302 
 
 Where it is very cruel, a nation cannot fubfift, unlefs 
 
 it be correded or fuppreffed 342 
 
 To fet it up, is to abolifh kings 353 
 
 Is the death of a ftate 479 
 
 Not the tyrant, but tyranny muft be dellroyed 48 5 
 Tyranny with a mifchief 455 
 
 Tyrants, how they have been accounted 9.31. 58. 147 
 The firft king a cruel one, and called the mighty 
 
 hunter 18. 112 
 
 Confult only their own greatnefs 39.71. 143.267 
 Obedience faid to be due to them from the fifth 
 
 commandment 57 
 
 The difference between lawful kings and them 72. 
 
 , . . 244 
 
 Few go to their graves in peace, 71. 216. 257. 
 
 262.291. 335 
 Many vvould refift but cannot 86 
 
 Deftroyed by one another 114. 193. 196. 209. 
 
 , . 342- 352. 353 
 
 When they reign, the virtuous are unregarded 119 
 
 Fear and abhor all men of reputation or virtue 132. 
 
 192. 208. 228 
 All evils come in with them 133 
 
 Deftroyed by their own people 140. 267 
 
 The thirty of Athens 149. 189 
 
 Said cxuiffe hominem 163. 191 
 
 Confider nations as graziers do their herds 231 
 
 A virtuous man could fcarce die in his bed under 
 - them 152 
 
 Among the moft virtuous nations every man might 
 
 lawfully kill them 188. 245. 267. 353 
 
 Tyranni fine titulo 189. 456 
 
 Extrajudicial proceedings muft be fometimes againft 
 
 them 1 94 
 
 What may be expefted from them 23 1 
 
 None fuch upon f ilmer's principles 245. 347, 
 
 348, 34?' 35°. 35> 
 To what exceffes of cruelty their fear drives them 
 
 246 
 Whom Ariftotle accounts fuch 208. 249 
 
 Who faid to have laid the foundations of tyranny 
 
 252 
 
 Do many mifchiefs, and fuffer more 258. 261 
 
 Their life miferable, death infamous, and memory 
 
 deteftable 262 
 
 Whether the whole courfe of their aAions do well 
 
 fuit with the facred name of father 271, 272, 
 
 'iys- 35'- 352 
 
 Some in removing them have cut up tyranny by tha 
 roots 29 1 
 
 No name for one in any of the oriental tongues 301 
 He is no more than an evil or corrupted monarch 
 
 300, 301. 342 
 Noobediepcc due toany of tlitiu 332, 333 
 
 When
 
 INDEX TO THE DISCOURSES 
 
 539 
 
 When kings are faid to degenerate into fuch 343, 
 
 34+ 
 Set themfelves up againft all laws 347 
 
 Called fo, becaufe they have no rights 353 
 
 Are the word of all God's creatures 399 
 
 Speak always in the fingular number 412 
 
 Valour, the Roman was for the good of their country 
 
 1 19, 120 
 
 By the excellence of it, the greateft powers in the 
 
 world were fubdued by the Romans 126 
 
 Venality, natural to courts 155, 156. 216 
 
 Looks always after the beft bargain 179 
 
 Venetians, of wliat they are compofed 138. 192 
 
 Relying on trade and mercenary foldiers, too much 
 
 are forced to depend on foreign potentates 173, 
 
 ■74 
 
 Their too great inclinations to peace, accounted a 
 
 mortal error in their conftitution 175 
 
 Venice, the dukes, though ftiled fupreme, yet are io 
 
 under the power of the law, that divers have been put 
 
 to death for tranfgrefTing it 190, 191. 462. 477 
 
 Tlieir noblemens love for their commonwealth 1 90, 
 
 '9' 
 Concerning the council of ten 445 
 
 Verdift of juries, in this confills the ftrength of every 
 judgment 411 
 
 Virtue, what 229 
 
 What requifite in kings 28. 33. 39, 40. 60, 61. 64 
 Gave birth to the Grecian governments 35 
 
 Gives a natural preference of one man above an- 
 other 59. 109 
 And alfo to children 72, 73 
 Carries the true marks of fovereignty 62. 66. 108 
 Never continues in any race of men 74. 200. 221, 
 
 222. 413. 492 
 EfTentially neceffary for preferving of liberty 1 1 1 . 
 
 122. 236 
 When perfecuted, few will follow it 120 
 
 No way to real honour without it 124. zi8. 236 
 Not to be confidered when it is departed from 149 
 When attended with certain deftrudion 151, 152. 
 
 230- 235- 317 
 The Roman, being as a law to themfelves 155 
 
 Whofe will be remembered in all ages 163, 164. 
 
 181. 195. 235 
 
 Makes as many foldiers as there are freemen 169. 
 
 Overcomes all difficulties 170. 180 
 
 And ftrength make and preferve conquefts 184 
 
 He that hath virtue and power to fave a people, can 
 never want a right of doing it 195 
 
 Can never long uphold what is vicious in the prin- 
 ciple 196, 197 
 By what means it becomes popular 218 
 Thofe hated and feared, who moll excel in it 221 
 Hated forits own fake 229 
 Expires with lofs of liberty, 235, 236 
 Given where God pleafes without diftinftion 243 
 V/here it has the advantage, there can be no arbi- 
 trary power 262 
 Once blemiftied, makes former fervices forgotten 332 
 Who encourage it moft 380 
 Makes the dillinftlon between men, fimply or rela- 
 tively confidered 398 
 Men are truly ennobled by it only 426 
 Thofe that are enemies to her, and fear not God, 
 are afraid of men 47 
 
 The virtues of a man die with him 49 i 
 
 Vice, mankind inclined to it 120.155 
 
 The effefts of it to a nation 121. 187, 196. a 10. 
 
 214 
 
 May be profitable to private men, but can never be 
 fo to the government 156 
 
 Its deformity when moft confpicuous 157 
 
 What England lias loft by her vices i 58 
 
 Thofe of princes refult to the damage of the peo- 
 ple 213. 229. 232 
 
 The vermin that attend vicious courts 234, 23; 
 
 By what means, and to what end the vices of prin- 
 
 ces have been fomented 
 
 297 
 
 ■I 
 
 Vicious perfons, they will fubmit to any power tl.nt 
 
 promilcs them impunity 164 
 
 Care not what they do, if they can find their account 
 
 in it 381 
 
 Villains, little better than (lavef, appointed to cultivate 
 
 the lands, and to other fervile ofticcs 430 
 
 Villainy, where it has been promoted to fupreme dignity 
 
 ... . . 37- 49- 220 
 
 What It infpires, to attain its end 53. 188. v. 34 
 Tarquin, hated only for his villainies 193 
 
 None, that men of defperate fortunes will not un- 
 dertake 196 
 Supported by committing yet more 2 1 9 
 What Rome fufFered by it 226 
 Vitellius tlirown into the Tiber 199. 330 
 His contemptible character 20a 
 Ulpian, his faying, that princeps legibus non tenetur, 
 concludes nothing againft us 414 
 Union ; fimilitude of interefts, manners and defigns, 
 is a link of it 162 
 United Provinces, fo fteady in praftice and principle, as 
 hardly to be paralleled in the world 177 
 How the deputies are ufed there ±06 
 Have had dukes, earls, or marquiftes 497, 498 
 Vortigern, the laft and worft of the Britifti kihgs 425 
 His favour to the Saxons, and carriage to the Bri- 
 tons _ 434, 435 
 Vox populi eft vox Dei 5 ^ 
 Nothing more natural than to follow the voice of all 
 mankind 89. 480 
 General confent is the voice of nature 21,22. 162 
 The confequence of one voice in each ftate 257 
 Ufurpation, made the firft king 18, 19, 41 
 Grounding pretenfions of right from thence 22. 31. 
 35,36.48. 53, 54. loS 
 Juftified 48 
 The greateft injury can be done to man 78. 163, 
 
 189 
 What power is fo S8 
 
 By whom bid to fubmit to it isg 
 
 Lawful for an injured people to refume their own 
 
 193 
 
 And violence, faid to confer an inconteftible riwht 
 
 245, 271 
 
 All is deteftable and abominable 316 
 
 None can deduce any title from it 438 
 
 Ufurpers, Athaliah an ufurprefs 47 
 
 Have their root in violence and fraud 83. 141 
 
 Seem to be born for plagues to mankind 124. 
 
 What lawful againft one, is lawful againft all, that 
 
 is, to get rid of them 1 89 
 
 May be i'upprefied as enemies and robbers zSo 
 
 Some that never were conquerors 3 15 
 
 Declare their contempt of all human and divine 
 
 laws 386 
 
 Z z 2 3 We
 
 54° 
 
 INDEX TO THE DISCOURSES 
 
 We ought to examine the titles fo, as to judge of 
 
 thtm 4^9 
 
 Ufury, the cruelty of it 123 
 
 The mitigation of it compofed iiiteftinequarreh 214 
 
 Wantonnefs, from whence it proceeds 128 
 
 War and peace, the kings of Sparta never had the power 
 
 of either " 91 
 
 Tranfafted by the colledled body of the people 103, 
 
 104, 105 
 War, the Hebrew government fitted them for war 138. 175 
 Of Charles duke of Burgundy v\ith the Swifs Can- 
 tons 1-6 
 Better performed in popular governments than in 
 monarchies 181, 182 
 It is dscertatio per vim 1 88 
 When the people may engage in it juftly j 88 
 What to be accounted making of war 281 
 Differs much from what it was formerly 304 
 There is fuch a thing among men as a juft war, and 
 why 3 1 6 
 Kings of Judah could not make any without the 
 ccnfent of the fanliedrim 3 i g 
 Whether a fubjeft may examine if it be jufl orunjull 
 
 384 
 Where the caufe of it is originally juft, and it 
 
 proves fuccefbful ; what right the generals have 
 
 over their enemies 4|6 
 
 The events of it various 436 
 
 Wars, civil, only made by members of the civil fociety 
 
 127 
 None till the times of Marius, Sylla, and Catiline 
 
 ibid. 
 Efteemed the laft druggies of expiring liberty ibid. 
 The root of the Romans, what 137 
 
 In P'rance 143. 210 
 
 From whence they arife 185. 21-z 
 
 Prettnces for them commonly falfe 187 
 
 When they will always be frequent 20S 
 
 What reigns moft accompanied with them 208 
 
 In Spain 21 1 
 
 More in kingdoms than in commonwealths 214 
 
 223, 226 
 
 Not the greatcft evils that befal nations 223 
 
 The Romans and Grecians glory in freeing their 
 
 countries from a civil war 238 
 
 In Machiavel's account .ire a difeafe 479 
 
 Wards, that court, how the inllitution of it was per- 
 
 verted 
 
 50 
 
 Weftminfter, what its privileges in point of clcJlions 467 
 Wickednefs makes men cowards 246 
 
 Will, is ever drawn by fome real good, or the appear- 
 
 37 
 
 ance of it 
 
 'i'he dividing of the world left to the will of man 
 
 43' 44 
 Faffing for law, the cfTeas of it 115. 245, 246. 
 
 266. 501, 502 
 
 Where this is the rule, the prince fcts up an intcreft 
 
 fepnrate from that of his people 262 
 
 William the firil, tleacd a clcro et populo 85. 325 
 Could inherit nothing ni 
 
 On wh.it ccnditions iwofn to be- received 360 
 
 In his time our ancertors were in a low condition 415 
 
 Wifdoni, notalv/cys annexed to the charattcr of kings ;o 
 V/hen men give teilimony of it ibid. 
 
 Whofe we ought to admire and imitate 66, 67. 191 
 The wifeft men moft fit for government 1 1 1 
 
 Of man impcrfrrt 1 .a 
 
 A kind of ability to difpatch fomc fort of afTairt, 
 
 is fo called 24y 
 
 Of the collefted body of the people furpafles that 
 of a Angle man 349 
 
 Witnell'es falfe encouraged, and called cuftodes legum 
 
 121. 156 
 
 No fufiicient defence againft them, either by the 
 
 laws of God or man 148 
 
 Minifters of iniquity 1S3. 2J2 
 
 Countenanced at Rome 224 
 
 The beft tribunals in the world may be milled by 
 
 them 247 
 
 Irilh 1 2'i 
 
 Wittena-gemote, its power, as declared by Camden 424 
 
 The power of the nation refided in them 430. 467 
 
 Women, on what account they are excluded in France 
 
 and Turkey _ 46. g;}. 203. 363, 364. 444 
 
 And were by other nations 47 
 
 Some do admit them 93. 203 
 
 What have governed kings, but feldom fenates or 
 
 popular alfemblies 207. 216, try 
 
 What mifchiefs kings have been guilty of to gratify 
 
 them 493 
 
 Work, that of allmagiftrates and governors 55. 61 
 
 Worlt men advanced, and moft ambitious to be fo 51, 
 
 58.64.65. 72 
 And by whom preferred 160, i6i, 162. 165 
 
 Stiled fathers of their people S4> 55 
 
 Have their tools to execute their deteftable defigns 
 
 Tyranny fet up by them 163, 164,165.231,232 
 Engaged in all tumults 198 
 
 Moft frequently have obtained the empire by the 
 
 worft means 202 
 
 Their principles ought to be deftroyed 2 1 3 
 
 Eafily fwallow bribes 220.222 
 
 Have moft power in fome courts 220, 221 
 
 How princes become fo, as alfo the moft miitrable 
 
 262 
 Delight in the worft things 287 
 
 Men, whom they had no need to fear 317 
 
 What bafe courfes they take to gain the favour cf 
 
 weak and vicious princes 355 
 
 What encourages them to murder the beft of princes 
 
 . . 4'^ 
 
 Worthy men, in ill times fufpefted fcr their virtue 121 
 
 Ought to be had in highcft veneration 405 
 
 Wrong, is a breach of the laws, which determine what 
 
 is right 245 
 
 If there be none done, there can be no revenge 245 
 
 Where kings can do none 48 i 
 
 Xenophon, why he called Agcfilaus a good and faithful 
 
 king 90 
 
 Conducted the Grecians retreat in defpite of above 
 
 four hundred thoufandmen, who endeavoured to 
 
 oppofc them 116, 117 
 
 His opinion concerning tyranny 147 
 
 For ariftocracy 146, 147. iOj 
 
 Xerxes, his folly in infTifting ftripes on the fea 49 
 
 His invafion of Greece I - i 
 
 Ynca GarcilafToof Peru, the f.ibulous rtory ofhini 20c, re 1 
 Younger brothers prifcrred to the elder 26. 95 
 
 Zeal, cxcefs of violence is but an ill teftimony of it 17; 
 
 When it ran never be capable of cxcefs 281 
 
 Zimri, his title to the fuprcme honour how acquired 
 
 33 
 Zoroafter, fuppofcd to be Ham 3 1
 
 INDEX OF AUTHORS CITED IN THE NOTES 
 
 Addifon's Remarks on feveral parts 
 of Italy 1 66 
 
 Acmyli'us, Paulus, de Rebus Gellis 
 Francorum 372 
 
 Aethclftani Leges 504 
 
 Atiicaiuis, Leo 83 
 
 Aj;:uharchides 92 
 
 Aimoini Monaclii Hlftbria Fran- 
 corum 206 
 Albeiti Defcriptio Iraliae 237 
 Alexander ab Alexandre 321 
 Alfordi Annales 97. 322 
 Alfred! Teftamentum 322. 427 
 Ampclii Liher Memorialis 352 
 Anderlon's Reports 
 Anglia Sacra 
 Annales F'jldeiifes 
 ■ Thorn ienfes 
 • Wavejieienfes 
 
 Annius Viterbcnfis 
 
 Aquinas 
 
 Ariiloteles 60, 61, 62. 65 
 
 108. 305. 249. 251. 
 
 321.3C6. 394. 397>39^-477 
 Afferii Annale?, &c. 321, 322. 325 
 Augiiflinus 110. 310. 329 
 
 393 
 322 
 209 
 323 
 35« 
 45 « 
 328 
 68. 
 300. 
 
 166. 176 
 
 Barbeyrac 398 
 
 Baronii Annales 323. 368. 374 
 BafFoinpicre, Merri' ires de 237 
 
 Eayle, DiCiii'.naiie 375 
 
 Beli>y, Apologie Catholique ibid. 
 Bcrofi Antiquitates 451 
 
 Eizari Senatus populique G niicn- 
 
 fis Hiftoria, 
 Blainville's Travels 
 Boccalini 172. 249 
 
 Bodinus de Republica 374 
 
 Eradon 307. 313, 314. 327. 339. 
 344. 388. 411, 412.414.450 
 Buchanani Reiam Scotiiarum Hif- 
 toria 212. 253. 32S. 343. 
 444. 4S0 
 
 Caefar de Bello Gallico, &c. 402. 
 
 443 
 Camdeni Britannia 427-, 428 
 
 Capgravius de Vita S. Dunflani 
 322, 323 
 Cafa<;, Bart, de las 39. 133 
 
 Ghalons, Hiftoire de France 206. 
 
 209 
 Chronicles 97. 216. 472,473 
 
 Chrcnicon Saxonicum 322, 323, 
 
 324- 434 
 
 Cicero 188. 273. 304. 327. 352. 
 
 359.386.443.453 
 
 Claudianus 47. 220. 228. 364. 387 
 
 Comines, Meinoires dc Phil.de 176. 
 
 213. 440 
 
 Concilium Toletanum 368. 37; 
 Cromer de Oiig. et Rebus Geftis 
 Polonorum 448 
 
 Cujacius 391 
 
 Curiius, Quintus 198 
 
 Davila 
 Deuteronomy 
 
 15- 
 
 253 
 
 175- 
 297 
 
 323 
 
 218 
 
 J95 
 321 
 land 
 212 
 Dunelmenfis, Simeon 322, 323, 
 
 3H 
 
 47. 86. 
 
 248. 250. 
 Diccto, Radiilphus de 
 Diogenes Laertius 
 Dion CalFius 131. 
 
 Dionyfiu;. Halicarnaffeus 135. 
 Drummond'3 Hillory of Scotl 
 
 F.cclefiaftes 65. 74 
 
 Ecclefialticus 242 
 
 Echard's Hirtory of En£;Iand 365 
 Edvardi Confeflbris Leges 430 
 Edward HL Statutes of 346. 393, 
 
 394. 395 
 Eginhardi Vita Caroll Magni 372 
 Elienlis Eccleiiac Hiftoria 324 
 
 Elizabeth, Statutes of queen 499 
 Ethelwerdi CJironicon 321, 322 
 Euripides 471 
 
 E.xodus 338 
 
 Flo-US 128 
 
 Fortefcue de Laudibus Legum 
 
 Angliae ... 339 
 
 Fredegarii Scholaftici Epitome 2c6 
 Fron.ini Stratagemata 150 
 
 Furetiere, Diftionaire Univerfel 
 
 191. 202 
 
 Gedde?'s Trafls 139 
 
 Gemeticenfis, Gulielmus 324 
 
 Genefis 17. 77. 301 
 
 Gothofredi Corpus [uris 391 
 
 Grotius de Jure Belli 23. 92. 96. 
 
 188. 190. 229. 280. 285. 316. 
 
 319.356.359.398.437.445. 
 
 466 
 
 Guicciarcini 225. 237 
 
 Guilhehiii Conqueftoris Teftamen- 
 
 tum 324 
 
 Henry IIL ftatute of 358 
 
 Henry VJL ftatutc of 455 
 
 Htrbcn's Life of Henry VIIL 345. 
 416. 499 
 Herodotus 49 
 
 Heylyn'i Cofmography 134 
 
 Hobbes 1S8. 355. 378 
 
 Hoo.ker 87. 89. 504 
 
 Horatius 41. 50. 136. 318 
 
 S 
 
 HotomanniFranco-Gallia 253. 255 
 
 Hovcnden 84. 321, 322,323 
 
 Huntindonienfis, Henricus 84, 85. 
 
 322, 323, 324 
 
 James I. his Works 343. 503, 5r4 
 
 250. 285 
 
 84, 85. 323, 324.430 
 
 5^ 
 
 93 
 
 250 
 
 359 
 47' 
 352 
 448. 
 472 
 
 39» 
 2:9. 
 
 378 
 
 Jeremiah 
 
 Ingulphiis 
 
 John, St. 
 
 Jornandes 
 
 Jofephuo- 
 
 Joduia 
 
 Ifaiah 
 
 Ifocrates 
 
 Judges 102. 
 
 loi. 104. 246. 
 103, rc4. 
 
 105. 196. 3-3. 
 
 Juftiniani Codex 
 Juvenalis 35. 71. 121. 137. 
 228. 299. 
 
 Kings 81. 283. 285. 289. 295. 
 
 320. 352 
 
 Knolles's Tnrkifli Hiftory 167 
 
 Laetus, Pomponius 217 
 
 Lambard de prifcis Anglorum Le- 
 
 gibus 97.430. 433. 504. 
 
 Livius, I. 46. 51. 74. 79. 1-24, 
 
 125. 127, 128. 130. 142. 149, 
 
 150. 153, 154. 164. 169, 17c, ^ 
 
 171, 172. 183. 186. 196. 215. * 
 
 235.269,270.321.337. 340. 
 
 402.406. 415.443.433.458. 
 
 481 
 
 Lucanus 19. 57. 127. 157. 179. 
 
 202. 292. 472. 
 
 Luke, St. 382 
 
 Machiavel nc. 
 
 125. 
 
 243- 
 
 406 
 
 Magna Charta 
 
 340 
 
 345 
 
 411 
 
 Maimonides 
 
 
 251 
 
 411 
 
 Malmefturienfis, Willielmus 
 
 84. 
 
 228. 321, 322 
 
 >323 
 
 324. 
 
 427. 
 
 
 433. 
 
 434. 
 
 435 
 
 Mariana 93. 261. 
 
 368, 
 
 369, 
 
 370. 
 
 
 
 376. 
 
 443 
 
 Melvil's Memoirs 
 
 
 
 212 
 
 Menochius 
 
 
 
 320 
 
 Mezeray, Hitloire 
 
 de France 
 
 206. 
 
 209 
 
 • 253 
 
 372, 
 
 373 
 
 Milles's Catalogue 
 
 of Honour 
 
 3 54 
 
 MoleAvorth's Account 
 
 of D 
 
 en' 
 
 mark 
 
 
 
 159 
 
 Nepos, Cornelius 
 
 
 J73- 
 
 189 
 
 Numbers 
 
 
 
 IC3 
 
 Olahi Atila 351 
 
 Ofberni Vita OJonis 322, 323
 
 INDEX OF AUTHORS CITED IN THE NOTES 
 
 Parifienfis, Matthaeus 85. 321. 
 
 .324- 357- 361- 4+3 
 Parker de Antiquitate Britannicae 
 
 Ecclefiae 
 Paterculus 
 Paruta, Paolo 
 Perez, Antonio de 
 Peter, St. 
 Philoftratus 
 Photius 
 
 Piclavenfis, Guilielmus 
 Plato 63 
 
 Plutarchus 91. 114. 117, 
 
 135. 148. 171. 189. 199 
 
 228. 230. 252. 257 
 320. 337. 352 
 Polyaenus 
 Procoplus 
 Proverbs 
 Prynne on the loyalty 
 
 true Saints 
 Pfalms 295 
 
 PufFendorf 
 Purchas's Pilgrim 
 
 433 
 359 
 237 
 
 80 
 318 
 386 
 
 92 
 
 324 
 
 65,66 
 
 118. 
 
 217. 
 
 270. 
 386 
 
 359 
 
 183 
 
 469 
 
 of God's 
 
 354 
 360 
 
 359 
 133. 201 
 
 266 
 359 
 
 327- 
 
 Raleigh's Hillory of the World, 
 &c. 284.441 
 
 Richerius de Rebus Turcarum 350 
 Rochefoucault 371 
 
 Romans, Epifile to the 5;. 72. 317 
 Rudburni Hilloria Wintonienfis 
 
 Rymeri Foedera 
 
 322 
 377 
 
 Saavedra, Corona Gothica 
 368. 
 S.illuftius 137. 161. 443. 
 
 Salmafius 
 
 Samuel 81, 82. 104. 197. 
 275. z8i, 282, 283. 
 
 3^3- 
 Sandoval, Hift. del. Emp. Carl 
 
 Selden de Synedriis 
 
 Titles of Honor 374. 
 
 Janus 
 
 Seneca 34. 53. i ic. 159. 329. 
 Serres, Hiftoire de France 
 
 207. 209.371. 373. 
 Sigonii Hift. de Regno Italiae 
 Silius Italicus 
 
 Spelmanni Concilia 84. 97. 
 323. 427.429. 
 ■ GloiTarium 
 Suetonius 49. 131. 133. 193. 
 
 33:- 337- 359- 389' 
 Sully, Memoires de 
 
 93- 
 448 
 
 •453 
 
 39 
 
 251. 
 
 286. 
 460 
 
 osV. 
 498 
 251 
 
 43^ 
 
 45" 
 
 471 
 206, 
 
 396 
 
 »34 
 
 46 
 
 321. 
 
 433 
 5-4 
 199. 
 
 ■453 
 116 
 
 Tacitus 58. 68. 71. Si. no. i2r 
 121, 122. 133. 135. 137.143 
 152. 154. 156. 167. 193. 199 
 
 205. 208. 226. 228. 23 :. 234 
 235.244.246. 252.276.317 
 
 331. 332- 336- 337- 386. 4'^o 
 
 403.409.421,422.425.430 
 
 448.479 
 
 TertuUianus 224. 3C8, 309. 327, 
 
 328,329. 404.432.449 
 
 Thuanus 190, 191. 253. 370. 375. 
 
 r^- , +99 
 
 Timothy 55. 328 
 
 Titus 326 
 
 Traite des Droits de la Reine, &c. 
 
 255 
 Turonenfis, Gregorius 206, 207 
 
 Tyrrel's Hiftory of England 358 
 
 Valerius Maximus 46. 170. 196. 
 
 218 
 Vega Garcilaflb de la 300 
 
 Vergilius, Polydorus 84. 321, 322, 
 
 323.324 
 Viftor, Aurelius 131. 149, 150. 
 
 . . '54- 199- 445 
 
 Virgilius 169. 432 
 
 Vitalis, Ordericus 324 
 
 Ulpianus, 391 
 
 Univerfal Hiftory 159 
 
 Voltaire 37 1 
 
 Walfinghami Hilloria Angliae 
 
 354- 377 
 Wellmonafterienfis, Matthaeus 84, 
 
 85. 228. 321, 322,323, 324, 
 
 325.425.433,434,43s 
 
 Wigornenfis, Florentius 322, 323, 
 
 324 
 William and Mary, ftatuteof 354 
 
 Wright's Travels 1 3 2 
 
 Xenophon 
 Xiphilinus 
 
 90. 189. 352 
 445 
 
 ADDENDA ET CORRIGENDA. 
 
 Page 37. Anarchiae fautores.] Tertia dodlrina feditiofa ab eddem radice orta eft, " tyrannicidium efte lici- 
 tum." Imo hodie a nonnullis theologis, et dim ab omnibus fophiftis, Platone, Ariftotele, Cicerone, Seneca, 
 Plutarcho, caeterifque Graeciae, et Romanae anarchiae fautoribus, non modo licitum, fed etiam ma.\ima laude 
 dignum exiftlmatum eft. Hobbes de Cive, c. iz. 
 
 Page 84, to the note concerning the eledUon of Ethelwolf add, " Quum Egbertus pater fatis conceflifTet con- 
 ienfus publicus Ethelvuolphum hlium in regem dari petiit." Balaei Script. Brit. Ca.al. cent. 2, c. 20. 
 
 Page 93, for Mahommed, read Mohammed. 
 
 Page 108, for ny, read yow, and for loa;, read ««;. 
 
 Page 139, forjufticiar, readjufticia. 
 
 Page 154, inftead of " condemning Antiftius Sofianus in the reign of Nero;" former editions have, " con- 
 demning Nero ;" and this reading is very right. Sydney alludes to the fame faft, p. 330. The alteration in this 
 edition was owing to an improper ref,.'iLnce, in the margin of the third edition, to tlie paffage in Tacitus, con- 
 cerning Antiftius, which is quoted in the notes. Thefc examples, however are equally pertinent, and the altera- 
 tion is of no moment. 
 
 Page 189, for" mulabat," rend " multabat.". 
 
 Page 204, inftead of " coal-ftafl"," read " cowl-ftalF." Cowl is an old or provincial word, fignif) ing a tub 
 with two ears, ufcd for carrying water, etc. The cowl-ftafF is the pole by which the veftel is fufpended between 
 two men. In all the editions of Sydney's Diicourfes, this word is trronoouily printed, " coal-ltafl'." 
 
 Page 224, to the quotation from Tcrtulhan add, Homicidii feftinatio eft prohibere nafci. Tert. Apol. §8. 
 
 Page 255, " regne" for " reine." 
 
 Page 370, for " imperio," read " imperium." 
 
 Page 418. 1. 26. for " it is more," read " it is no more."
 
 LETTERS OF ALGERNON SYDNEY, 
 TAKEN FROM THURLOE'S STATE PAPER.S- 
 
 [Xxx]
 
 .t i 
 
 LETTERS OF ALGERNON SYDNEY, 
 TAKEN FROM THURLOE'S STATE PAPERS 
 
 C0L0>:EL ALGERNON SYDNEY TO MYNHEER BEVERNING 
 
 My Lord, Hague, Auguft 8, 1654. [n. s.] 
 
 I will not undertake to write any news to you, knowing that you are 
 informed from a better hand ; but I will take the boldncfs to advife you 
 this, and upon good conllderations, that in cafe your friends here do not 
 fecure thcmfelves better than they do, they will run the hazard to 
 repent themfelves ere long. This by the bye. I have fpokcn with my 
 lord de Witt, but very little yet in particular. My lord of Opdam hath 
 done me the honour to come and fee me at my lodging *. 
 
 COLONEL ALGERNON SYDNEY TO THE EARL OF LEICESTER 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 The ftates of Holland have put forth a book in juftification of the 
 article concerning the prince of Orange, and in anfwer to the provinces 
 complaints. It is yet but in Dutch, but will fuddenly be in other lan- 
 guages. The ftates of Elolland go on vigoroufly with their defigns ; and 
 it is thought they v/ill fuddenly filence the other grumbling provinces. 
 The ftates of Holland carried the book to the ftates general, and read it 
 to them. Many rant here ; others difavow what is done ; but what more 
 they will do, I cannot tell f. 
 
 Hague, Auguft 14, 1654. [n. s.] 
 
 COLONEL ALGERNON SYDNEY TO :\IR. SPENCER 
 
 Sir, Hague, October 16, 1654. [^'' s.] 
 
 We have been of late alarmed by two dangerous elements, fire and 
 water. The other day the town of Delft was almoft blown up by a 
 magazine, that took fire. It was fuch a terrible blow, that it lliook the 
 Hague. Since, by ftorm and rain, we have been in no lefs danger. 
 Some take upon them to tell us, that thefe figns are very ominous to the 
 province of Holland. Above two hundred houfes were blown up : it 
 made the very Hague fliakc again. 
 
 This 
 
 * Thurloc's State Papers, vol. ii. p. 501. •) Vo!. ii. p. 522. 
 
 [XXX2]
 
 ^ XETTERS OF AXGERNON SYDNEY, 
 
 This fad accident happened through the carelefnefs of one that hath 
 the looking to the magazine. The commiflioners went at ten o'clock 
 into the magazine, and about eleven it was fired *. 
 
 THE ENGLISH PLENIPOTENTIARIES IN THE SOUND TO THK 
 PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL OF STATE 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 We are now approaching the Scaw, having by lefs favourable v»rinds 
 been detained thefe eight days at fea. By an Hamburgher, whom we 
 jufl: now met coming from the Sound, we receive intelligence, that our 
 fleet, with fome Swedes, lie at prefent between Cronenburgh and Copen- 
 hagen ; which city hath received fome relief from merchant-men and 
 vidluallers j but according to the information, (which he confidently in 
 this particular gives us) hath as yet no foldiers put into it. We are, it 
 feems, looked for at the Sound, where a certain number of commiflioners 
 befides are expected from Holland, till the coming up whereof there is a 
 ceflation between the fleets. My lord, we could not omit communicating 
 this, being careful of ufing all opportunities to approve ourfelves, 
 
 Your lordfhip's humble fervants, 
 From aboard the Langport, Alg. Sydney. 
 
 12 leagues from the Scaw, Rob. Hony wood- 
 
 July 16, 1659. Tho. Boone. 
 
 The Dutch fleet lies below Copenhagen t. 
 
 THE ENGLISH PLENIPOTENTIARIES IN THE SOUND TO THE 
 PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 Being arrived here the 21ft of this month, we fhould, before this 
 time, have given your lordfhip an account of ourfelves, and fo much a& 
 we could know of our bufinefs ; but being promifed every day, that 
 the king of Sweden would be here either the fame or the next, and that 
 we might have audience the firfl hour after his coming ; we did flay 
 the difpatch of the ketch, until that were pafled, that we might be 
 more full in our relation. But we are kept in uncertainly ; and though 
 we fent a gentleman yeflerday to Fredericfburgh with a copy of our 
 credentials, to be Ihewed to the fccretary of fl;ate, with our deiire for a 
 fpecdy audience, he is not yet returned. The mofl: that we can at 
 prefent fay, is, that having been on board your fleet, we find it in a 
 good condition of ftrcngth ; but ficknefs doth grow amongft them, and 
 
 the 
 
 * Vol. ii. p. 649. f Vol, vii. p. 699,
 
 TAKEN FROM THURLOt'S STATE PAPERS 
 
 the vi£lual doth grow fliort, which we do endeavour to fupply hy pro- 
 viding the particulars mentioned in the inclofed note, which, amounting 
 unto about fifteen hundred pounds, over and above what is already pro- 
 vided, or ordered to be paid, we dcfire your lordfliip to caufc to be paid 
 accordingly. We have received from Mr. Downing a copy, of an agree- 
 ment made at the Hague the ^t*^^ inftant ; and though it is not authen- 
 tically figned, we do proceed upon it with the Holland miniflers without 
 any difpute, finding it fuitable unto our inflrudlions ; fo that even without 
 it we might have concluded with them the matter of it. There was fome 
 difcourle between them and us of the " quindecim dies continues, " and 
 when they fhould begin ; which is now agreed on all fides, that it fhall be 
 " quindecim dies poft tra<5tatum initum;" and that in the mean time we 
 fhould apply ourfelves to both the kings, to perfuade them unto a cellation 
 of arms, for that time ; and if that be refufed, the Hollanders do engage 
 themfelves to compel the king of Denmark. And we have promifed, 
 that if the refufe be on the king of Sweden's fide, we will give them 
 full liberty to proceed againft him, as they fhall think fit, until he doth 
 give his aflent ; which they like very well, knowing what power they 
 have over him, in cafe we defift from afiifting him. On the 24th of this 
 month we had information, that Opdam and de Ruyter had left their 
 ftation near Copenhagen, taken on board the 4000 men formerly brought 
 out of Holland, joined themfelves with Bielk the Danifli admiral, 
 gathered together aloout 100 barks and boats of feveral forts, fit for the 
 tranfportation of horfe and foot, and fet fail (as we thought) for Jutland 
 or Holflein, to tranfportthe Brandenburghers. Upon conference with the 
 two Holland minifters that are here, upon the fame day, and difcourfing 
 of the laft agreement at the Hague, Mr. Slingerland did propofe a 
 ceffation for the fifteen days of the treaty. We, by way of queftion, 
 propofed, whether not only that was neceflafy, but that we, who were 
 employed by the two commonwealths, ought not to take care to prevent 
 any mifchief, that might fall out between the two fleets, before fuch 
 time as we could obtain the king's confent to the ceflation, efpecially 
 the Holland fleet having fet iail fo provided, that it was probable they 
 went upon fome great expedition ? and whether It were not advifeable* 
 that we fhould Hop all fuch proceedings, by undertaking either of us 
 for the fleet of our own nation, (they fhewing, that they had fufficient 
 power to engage their own) that they fhould not attempt any a6t of 
 hoflillty during the time we were for preparing for the treaty ? They 
 offered to undertake for de Ruyter and his fleet, only leaving Opdam 
 free ; which we not accepting, parted without any conclufion, and thought 
 it moft for the commonwealth's fervice to prepare our fleet to follow the 
 Dutch and Danes, and obferve their motions. The next day we had a 
 meflage from the two Dutch minifters here, that they had received 
 notice from their collegues at Copenhagen, that upon the receipt of the 
 agreement at the Hague, they had flopped Opdam and de Ruyter's 
 motions for the prefent ; and that, if we would have a conference with 
 
 all
 
 LETTERS OF ALGERNON SYDNEY, 
 
 nil the mmiflers of their ftate, to conclude that bufiuefs, they would go 
 with us to a place half-way betwixt this and Copcnhaijen, and fend to 
 their collegues to meet us there; unto which we readily alTented. And 
 to avoid the difputc for place, which might liappen with the French 
 ambafiador, who was thought neceflary to be there, we dcfired to entertain 
 them in a frigate, that was brought to lie near that place ; which they 
 taking very well, we all met there ; and agreeing unanimoufly to prevent 
 all adtion, that might difturb the treaty, and undertaking each for the 
 fleet belonging to their own commonwealth, and that they Ihould attempt 
 nothing againft one another, or either of the two kings, whilft v.^e were 
 preparing for the treaty, the Dutch did immediately difpatch orders to 
 their commanders to give them notice of it, and accordingly to ceafe from 
 all ads of hoilility. The Dutch miniRers have very fully afl'ured us, that 
 ff the king of Denmark will not aflent to the ceffation or the peace to be 
 concluded, they will ufe their power to force him, according to the 
 contents of the late agreement. And though our inftrudlions are large 
 enough to fliew us in what manner we fhould proceed with the king of 
 Sweden, in cafe he fl:iould refufe, as alfo in relation to the faid agree- 
 ment ; yet we defire your lordfliip, that if this new ftate of things has 
 given you any other thoughts than fuch as are exprefled in our inftruc- 
 tions, your lordfhip will be plcafed to let us know them, that they may 
 be a further guide unto us, and we may in all things conform ourfelves 
 imto them. We have alfo a further fcruple upon which we defire to 
 know your ■ lordfhip's pleafure ; which is, in what manner we flioulcl 
 proceed, in cafe neither of the kings will aflent unto the peace ; for we 
 think, that probably will be the cafe, the king of Denmark not only 
 infifting upon a general peace, and refufing any with the exclufion of 
 the Brandenburgers and Imperialifts ; but, according to the heft infor- 
 mation we can have from fir Philip Meadowe and others, we have reafon 
 to doubt the king of Sweden will be very unv^'illing to aflent unto a peace, 
 according to the faid agreement at the Hague, unlefs his peace may be 
 alfo made with the emperor, whofe power he is not able to withftand, 
 \inlefs England and France join in affifting him ; and Pomerania being fo 
 wafled, that there is no fubfiftence for his army there, he will be 
 extremely ftraitened how to provide quarters for his army this winter ; 
 and fums up his defires in thefe few words, cither that we fiiould make 
 a general peace,, that he may difband his army, or fuff"er him to flay 
 lierc, where he may maintain it ; by which your lordfliip may fee, how 
 different the inclinations of that king are from what is ordinarily repre- 
 fcnted in England. We think, the relation of his force at land and fca 
 is not more truly rcprefentcd. Thofe troops of his, that we have feen, 
 are extremely weak, ill armed, ill mounted, few in number, and in all 
 refpedts in an ill condition ; and we are informed, his others are not 
 better ; but yet the ftrength in Copenhagen confifting of the moft part of 
 burghers, (who arc only to defend walls) they well enough keep them in. 
 His fea-forcc is not more confldcrablc, and the ftate of it is fo well known 
 
 unta
 
 TAKEN FROM THURLOE'S STATE TAPERS 
 
 unto the Dutch, that they do not apprehend the Englifh fhould receive 
 any conliderable afliftance from them, wliich, we believe, doth increafe 
 their confidence. And we do humbly offer it unto your lordfliip, whe- 
 ther it would not be a great help to us in our treaty, and much advance 
 the defired peace, if you would be pleafcd to fend vice-admiral Lawfon, 
 with an addition of fix or eight good fliips, which we leave unto your 
 lordfhip's confideration. We think ourfelves obliged to reprefent unto 
 your lordfhip, that fir Philip Meadowe is not willing to continue here 
 this winter, the condition of his health not at all agreeing with this 
 climate in that feafon, efpecially being incommodated with a fliot in his 
 hand, which he received in Portugal, his own affairs alfo requiring his 
 return into England after his long abfence ; upon which confiderations 
 only he doth defire your lordfliip to dilcharge him by that time, and in 
 the mean he doth offer to ferve the commonwealth to the utmoft of his 
 power, or to obey your lordfliip's command, if you find it for your 
 fervicc, after his return, to employ him in any other place. The gentle- 
 man we fent to Fredericfburg is now returned with his anfwer from the 
 king, that lodgings are provided for us there, and that if we will come 
 thither to-morrow, w^e fhall have audience immediately, or the next dav, 
 at our choice. We incline to the mofl fpeedy, and have therefore agreed 
 with his majefly's officers here, that it fhall be to-morrow in the after- 
 noon. The manner of our reception will be, that two fenators will meet 
 us half a mile from the place, and bring us firft to our own lodgings, 
 and from thence to the king ; which, before the making up of our 
 packet, we thought neceflary to be fignified unto your lordfhip, by. 
 
 My lord. 
 
 Your lordfliip's mofl; humble and faithful fervants, 
 
 E. Montagu. 
 Elfenore, Alg. Sydney. 
 
 July 29, 1659. Rob. Honywood. 
 
 Tho. Boone. 
 
 We have received the packet, that was fent with the Forrcfler frigate, 
 and fhall conform ourfelves unto the directions contained in it ■*. 
 
 THE ENGLISH COiMMI SSIONERS IN THE SOUND TO THE 
 
 KING OF SWEDEN 
 
 SerenifTime potentifluneque Rex, 
 
 Incertam valetudinem, qua etiamnum utitur veftra majeflas, non fine 
 dolore accepimus, fenfiique eo graviore, quo majorcm fpem majeflatem 
 veftram deofficiis ftudioque noftro certiorem faciendi animopraeceperamus; 
 quin & coram exponendi, quo in loco fint rationes iliae majeflati vcfirae 
 cum republica communes. Muneri autem nofiro ne qua deeiTemus, ma-; 
 jeftatem vefiram rurfus orandam duximus, ut rcnuntietur nobis, utrum 
 
 4 (q'JO 
 
 * Vol. vii. p 708.
 
 -LETTERS OF ALGERNON SYDNEY, 
 
 (quo communius pax inftauretur) foederis Rofchildiani condltiones dig- 
 netur accipere, five id non videatur, quaenam ilia fint, quae malit adjici, 
 minui, aut mutari : chartam fiquidem eo fpcdlantem a rege Daniae dudum 
 impetravimus, quafi unicam rationem, qua inter majeftates veftras orta 
 dilfidia brevi quindecim dierum fpatio componantur (id quod non ita pridem 
 majeftatls veftrae commifl'ariis fufuis explicuimus) : in tantillum temporis 
 claflis noftrae raliones nos compulerunt, quae nequaquam poterit diutius 
 ifthlc commorari. Quod fi interea temporis feu opera mediatoria feu 
 naves noftrae majeftati veftrae ex ufu efle poflint, nos exhibebimus, 
 
 Sereniftlme ac potentiflime Rex, 
 
 Majeftati veftrae addidiflimos, atque ejufdem obfequentifllmos, 
 
 Alg. Sydney. 
 Fridericiburgi, -j-^ Augufti 1659. ^- Honywood.. 
 
 Sereniffimo ac potentifllmo Suecorum regi *. 
 
 FROM THE ENGLISH COMMISSIONERS IN THE SOUND 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 When we were ready to go to our audience from the king of Sweden, 
 which, by our laft difpatch of the twenty ninth of July, we informed 
 your lordfliip we expelled the next day, we received a meflage from his 
 majefty, whereby it was deferred until the thirty firft, with a promile we 
 Ihould be heard publicly in the morning, and privately in the afternoon. 
 
 The public audience pafied in the ordinary ceremony, we fpeaking in 
 Englifh, and delivering what we had faid in Englifli in Latin, the king 
 anfwered immediately in the Swedifti language, and Mr. Bcrkman related, 
 in Engliih what he had faid. After the fecond or third fpcech of that, 
 kind, the king did in French civilly excufe himfelf for the ill entertain- 
 ment we had received, the diforders of the time and ftraitnefs of the place 
 not admitting of better. Our anfwer was then in French ; but nothing 
 pafted more than ordinary civilities. In the afternoon we were admitted 
 to a private audience, wherein in the French we did exprefs the caufe of 
 cur coming, propofed a treaty between him and the king of Denmark, 
 and the nomination of time, place, commiffirics, and granting of fafe 
 conducts and a ceflation during the time of, and our preparations unto 
 the treaty. Unto which he anfwered in the fame language, that he had . 
 by his fcvcral declarations fufficiently evidenced his dciircs of peace ; and. 
 that he did leave it to the Englifli to choofe whether it ihould be general 
 or particular with Denmark. Then he made a very large narrative of 
 all the ftraits, in which he had found himfelf ever fmce he came to 
 the crown, the multitude of enemies wherewith he was opprefl'cd, his 
 own dciircs of peace, both for the neceflity of his affairs, and iuHrmities 
 of his body ; but that he could not nominate commiflaries, time, or place, 
 nor grant fafc condu«a or ceflation, until he knew whether the king 
 
 2 of 
 
 * Vol. vii. p. 724.
 
 TAKEN FROM THURLOE'S STATE TAPERS 
 
 of Denmark would treat; that he did not coinprchcnd his allies. And 
 concerning the ccilation, he added, that the other things hciiig once ac- 
 corded, he would grant that alio ; hut upon fuch conditions, as neither 
 wood, victuals, or other neceflaries that they wanted in Copenhagen, 
 fhould he hrought into that town during that time. With this aniwer wc 
 returned to Ellenore the fame day. The firft of Augufl we had a con- 
 ference with the Elolland amballadors there concerning our common 
 affairs, and refolved all together to go to Copenhagen the fecond of Au- 
 guft, to propofe the fame thing to the king of Denmark. Public audi- 
 ence v/as given to us on the third in the morning, which paffcd in the 
 iiime manner as that of Sweden ; only the king's anfwer was firfl made 
 unto us by Peter Rytz (who was formerly ambaffador in England) in the 
 Dutch tongue, and then in Latin. In the afternoon we had a private au- 
 dience with the king, having with him the reichs-hofmeifter Rytz, and 
 three other fenators. We propofed the fame points concerning peace, 
 treaty, and ceffation. The anfwer was delivered by the reichs-hofmeifter 
 in French, (as our difcourfe had been) that the peace of Rofchild having 
 been broken by the king of Svv'eden, contrary to his faith given, without 
 any provocation, the countries wafted, king's houfcs pillaged, others de- 
 ftroyed, and the king forced to ftiut himfelf up in one city, which being 
 unprovided of all things neceffiiry for defence and unfortified, had been 
 hitherto maintained by a particular blcffing of God, protecting an op- 
 prefted king and an innocent people ; and that the faid king had ever 
 been defirous of peace, and forced by fo many urging necefTities to call 
 the emperor, king of Poland, and duke of Brandenburgh to his affiftance, 
 he did defire, that they might be alfo comprehended in the treaty. That 
 being by us impolfible to be effedled in the fhort time, that was allotted 
 to us, and that our fleet could ftay here, we preffed him for a particular 
 peace. Some difcourfes paffed on the fame fubjedl on both fides, and fo 
 we parted, giving the king time to confider of it until the next day. 
 We then returning, the reichs-hofmeifter told us, that the king, finding 
 himfelf more nearly allied to the duke of Brandenburg than any of his 
 other allies, had difpatched a meffenger unto him, to know v/hether he 
 defired to be comprehended in the treaty or not ; and that having done 
 all that was in his power for him, and to perfuade him, if he did re- 
 fufe, he would proceed to treat with Sweden without him. Our bufinefs 
 not admitting fo much delay as the return of the meftenger, we prefled 
 for an immediate and particular treaty upon the grounds of that of Rof- 
 child. The hofmeifter anfwered, That the treaty of Rofchild did in- 
 join the king of Sweden to deliver into the hands of the king of Den- 
 mark the provinces of Jutland and Holftein, which he did doubt would 
 be hard for the Swede to do ; and that if the Dane fhould treat without 
 his allies, and peace fliould not enfue upon it, he fliould be deferted by 
 them, and his conciidon made much worfe than it is at prefent. We re- 
 plied, that the treaty of Rofchild could intend only, that the king of 
 
 [ Y y y 1 Sweden
 
 10 LETTERS OF ALGERNON SYDNEY, 
 
 Sweden fliould not detain thofe provinces from the Dane, which he now 
 eafily performed, not having a man in them ; and that they being in the 
 hands of the king of Dfenmark's alhes, we could not but judge them to- 
 be in his own, not doubting but that his majefty had chofen fuch to call 
 to his affiftance, as would confider his inteseft, and be guided by his di— 
 reilions. 
 
 And thefe difficulties being thus removed, we did defire to know of his 
 majefty, whether he did like the conditions of the treaty of Rofchild ; 
 and if he did not, he would nominate his commifFioners, agree upon the 
 preliminaries, and give them inftrudbions upon thole points, that he did 
 defire (hould be added, diminifhed, or changed ; and we would endeavour 
 by our mediation to obtain for his majefty fo much as fhould appear to 
 be juft. The king and fenators fcrupled much to enter into a treaty with 
 the Swede, affirming pofitively, that as foon as that was known, all his 
 allies would turn againft him ; but offered to treat with us, who might go 
 between, hear the pretences of both parties, and terminate the differences 
 between them. We finding this way fuitable to our inftrudtions, and the 
 moft probable to put a fpeedy end to the bufmefs, the dilputes of titles^ 
 precedence, time, place, powers, perfons, and great animofities between- 
 the parties, (which were likely to take up much more time than was al- 
 lotted to us for the conclufion of the whole) being thereby avoided, we 
 readily accepted that propofition ; and that we might bring it to effe<5t, we 
 defircd to know, what the king defired fliould be altered of the Rofchild 
 treaty, which we promifed the next day. And on the fifth in the morn- 
 ing, the reichs-hofmeifter, and five other fenators, which were then in. 
 town, came to our lodgings, and made us a difcourfe, of which the fub- 
 -jedl is contained in the firft of thefe inclofed papers ; and in the after- 
 noon Peter Rytz brought it us in writing. On the fixth we had 
 another conference with the Holland ambalfadors, and they afterwards 
 had one with the Danlfh fenators ; upon which Peter Rytz brought in 
 this fecond paper, and in difcourfe told us much of the weaknefs of his 
 mafter, the cruelty and unfaithful nefs of the Swede, their dependence 
 upon the mediators, principally upon the Englifh, for making the peace, 
 wherein he did defire us to confider, not only the juft caule of an op- 
 preiTed prince, but our own intereft, which was nearly concerned in 
 maintaining Denmark, to be a balance to the power of Sweden ; which 
 being once taken away, and he getting the entire maftery of the Sound 
 and the Baltic fea, would prove troublefome to all his neighbours, which 
 fhould have occafion to trade there. Unto which we returned no other 
 anfwer, than that it was not our work to opprefs the king of Denmark, 
 but rather to make fuch a peace for him, as might conlift with juftice, 
 and the prcfent condition of the affairs of thofe ftates intercftcd in this 
 quarrel, and the commerce in thofe feas ; and that wc would omit no 
 care and diligence in ufing fuch means as were probable to eftc3: it. 
 The next day, being the feventh, we returned to Elfenore. The eighth 
 
 in
 
 TAKEN FROM THURLOE'S STATE PAPERS n 
 
 ill the mornmg, two of us, viz. Honywood and Sydney, went ta 
 Fredcricfburg, and immediately defired audience of the king of Sweden, 
 who excult'd himfelf for not giving a perfonal audience, hy reafon of an 
 indifpofition, into which he was lately fallen ; but would immediately 
 appoint two fenators to hear whatfoever we had to propofe ; v/hich we 
 accepted, though we knew well enough, that that was only a feigned 
 pretence, upon an ill-humour, into which he was grown, upon a dillikc 
 of the agreement at the Hague, our communication with the Holland 
 minifters, and his opinion, that we had an intention to oblige him to a 
 peace, that he did not like. At the place appointed, we found two fe- 
 nators, two fecretaries, and two other clerks ; v.dio whilft we were intent 
 •in difcourfe, not regarding them, wrote ail that we faid, which (though 
 we thought a very unhandfome way of proceeding) we did not complain 
 of; but took care not to fay any thing, that could give them an advantage. 
 We propofed the treaty to be managed between both parties by the me- 
 diators, without lofmg time in frivolous difputes upon the preliminaries 
 and other points fubjedt to raife cavils ; but that if the king of Sweden 
 would deliver us in writing his acceptance of the Rofchild treaty, or his 
 exceptions imto it, we would communicate it with the other mediators, 
 and endeavour to procure fuch a peace for his majefty, as was fuitable 
 to the rules of honour and juftice, adding thereunto many exprefTions of 
 civility to his majefty from the commonwealth, and from ourfelves. 
 
 They argue much againft this way of proceeding, and we for it, as the 
 only one, that could poflibly bring the bufinefs to effe£l in the time, that 
 our fleet could ftay here. They promifed u« to make report to his ma- 
 jefty, and bring us a fpeedy anfwer. In the evening a gentleman came 
 from them, to know at what time the next day, being the ninth, they 
 might bring an anfwer to what we had propofed ; we named eight in the 
 morning. The two fenators and two fecretaries came accordingly, and 
 refufed to treat otherwife than by commiiTaries ; we knowing that to be 
 only a trick to delay the peace, until the Englifti and Holland fleets 
 fhould be forced to retire, did not accept of that, but fent to defire again 
 audience from the king. He returned the^ike anfwer as the day before, 
 offering alfo to appoint commiflaries to hear whatfoever we fhouid im- 
 part; but we finding that ending in nothing but lofs of time in vain 
 talking, having communicated our inftrudlions to the Holland ambaffadors, 
 (who came with us, and had been ufed in the fame manner) fent his 
 majefty this inclofed letter, and immediately returned hither. This day 
 •we fpent in making this difpatch, and framing a projedl of a treaty upon 
 the grounds of the agreement made at the Hague, which we intend to 
 offer unto the two kings, and to proceed according to our inftrudiions 
 ■againft the refufer. To-morrow the Hollanders, and two of us, viz. 
 Honywood and Sydney, intend to go to Copenhagen to begin with the 
 Danifli king, and then return to the Swede, hoping to find him in a 
 better and more prudent temper than we left him. And though he did 
 
 ( Y y y 2 ] rage
 
 ,2 LETTERS OF ALGERNON SYDNEY, 
 
 rage and ftorm horribly upon the news he heard from the Hague, 
 (which was a little before we came unto him) he finds all his council 
 againil him ; and that luch courfes are of little force againfi: thofe, who 
 are not at all in his power. We hear, that he hath found reafon to 
 appeafe his choler: but the anfwer, which we have now received and fent 
 inclofed to your lordfliip, doth not at all fhew him to be much mended. 
 We think it alfo our duty to inform your lordfhip, that upon confidera- 
 tion of the condition of our fleet, we find, that referving one month's 
 victuals from their return into England, they cannot flay here beyond 
 the two or three and twentieth of Auguft ; and do doubt, that if the 
 whole fliould return at that time, two great inconveniencies might follow ; 
 the one, that your lordihip might be prcfled to find money to pay them ; 
 and the other, that if no Englifh force remain here to fee the treaty 
 executed, or to enforce the acceptance of what fliould be agreed by the 
 mediators upon the rcfuler or refulers thereof, the whole fruition of the 
 charge of this fummer will be utterly loft, and the Englifh will depend 
 Vv'holly upon the v,-ill of the Hollander and Dane, who will be able, as 
 they pleafe, to force the king of Sweden to an union with them, perhaps 
 to our prejudice. We have therefore thought it the heft expedient, that 
 about fifteen of our fhips do remain here, and a proportionable number 
 of Hollanders, when all the reft return home ; and do defire your lord- 
 fliip to give order, that a proportionable quantity of victuals be provided 
 for that number of fhips of the fourth or fifth rate for one month ; and 
 by the next, your lordihip fhall exadly know the number of men in every 
 one of them ; and that it may be here by the end of September to bring 
 them back about that time, if the bufinefs can pofTibly be fo foon fettled ; 
 or that your lordfhip would be pleafed to fend fo many others of the 
 lately fet out fliips, as may ferve here for that ufe. We fhould before 
 now have agreed upon this courfe with the Holland minifters ; but they 
 had no power for that purpofe, until within thefe two days. We do alfo 
 humbly defire your lordlhip's order how to deal with the king of Swedes, 
 if the refufal of the peace be on his fide, as we believe it will, he having 
 befide thefe inclofed papers, by meflage, defired us to mediate with the 
 king of Denmark, that as a mark of his defiring peace, he would re- 
 leafe the Swedifli ambalfador, that he hath kept prifoner ever fince the 
 jaft breach, without which he would admit of no treaty. But, we hope, 
 he will be better advifed than every day to come with new propofitions to 
 put off the treaty, and doubt not but that will be effeded, if the Hol- 
 laridcrs do faithfully perform the commands of their fuperiors, which they 
 do very freely conununicatc unto us, and in all things feem very heartily 
 to join in procuiing a peace here upon the grounds agreed at the Hague, 
 wi hout feeking for their own nation any advantage, but what they de- 
 fire fhou d b. granted to the Engliih. We defire your lordlhip's par-' 
 don f r tliis long and tedious letter, which could not be avoided, but 
 by tm t.nj tl.e particulars of all thmgs, that had pafTed here between the 
 
 I feveral
 
 TAKEN FROM THURLOE'S STATE PAPERS 13 
 
 feveral princes, and their minifters and us, which would have made our 
 relation imperfetft, and lefs eafy to your lordOiip to lend us iiich certain 
 and pofitivc orders, as we dcfire, and fhall ever be pundually obfervcd 
 
 by, 
 
 My lord, 
 
 Your lordfhip's moft humble and mofl: obedient fcrvants, 
 
 Alg, Sydney. 
 Elfenore, Augufl: 10, 1659, Rob. Honywood. 
 
 Read Auguft 24, 1659. Tho. Boone. 
 
 E. Montagu '^ 
 
 COL. ALGERNON SYDNEY TO THE COUNCIL OF STATK 
 
 My Lords, 
 
 General Montagu having thought fit to return into England with the 
 whole fleet, I efteem it neceflary for me, not only to teilify unto your 
 lordiliips, that I did in no ways aflent unto that relblution, but to give 
 you the reafons why I did endeavour to hinder it. 
 
 Firft, we had no politive order to Tend back the whole fleet until 
 forty days after our arrival, of which about nine are yet wanting ; nor 
 implicite, until the bufinefs is done, for which we came, and the treaty 
 of peace concluded and executed. 
 
 Secondly, we have an order, after the fifteen days are expired, one or 
 both kings refuling or accepting the peace, to enforce the acceptance, or 
 fee the execution, which now we cannot do. 
 
 Thirdly, by the retirement of the whole fleet, the agreement made 
 at the Hague, ratified by parliament, is broken ; the charge of this 
 fummer loft ; the intereft of the commonwealth in thele parts endangered ; 
 the Swede expofed to be deftroyed by the Dutch, or compelled to join 
 with them in a league againft the Englifli, which they may conclude, 
 without breaking faith with us, the firft breach haAdng been on our fide, 
 who, inftead of aflifting them to make peace, leave them engaged in a 
 war. 
 
 Fourthly, that by continuing a fleet of about fixteen ftiips, vidualled 
 with a month's fea provifions, which, at fliort allowance, lafts fix weeks; 
 and three weeks of frefli provifions, which might be had here for 1500/. 
 that a merchant here did offer to lend upon a note from the general, 
 my colleagues, and myfelf, we might have accompliilied the ends afore- 
 faid, and continued here, as occafion fliould have required, or your lord- 
 fhips orders diredt. 
 
 Laftly, The fcruple being the danger of leaving fixteen (hips within 
 the power of the Hollander, it is anfwered, that the minifters here have not 
 
 yet 
 * Vol. vii, p. 724,
 
 LETTERS OF ALGERNON SYDNEY, 
 
 yet received any orders to fend back part of their fleet, but do every 
 day expert them. In the mean time they offer to join fuch a part of 
 their fleet with ours, as we fliall think fit to enforce the peace under 
 the command of our admiral ; and that th« reft fhall continue in any 
 part of all thefe feas, that we ftiall defire ; attempt nothing, but with 
 our confent ; and for the making good of this, do offer their own perfons, 
 to be kept on board our- fhips as hoftages ; and to take away farther 
 fcruples, did yefterday agree with us, that the joint force ftioald be ufed 
 againft either of the two kings, only until he affents unto the conditions 
 of peace propofed ; that nothing fhall be attempted againft either of them, 
 hut with the confent of the minlfters of both commonwealths ; and that 
 neither of them fliould make peace with either of the kings without the 
 confent of the other. 
 
 I could not fatisfy myfelf without reprefentlng this unto your lord- 
 fhips. If I have given you an unneceffary trouble, I hope your lordfliips 
 -will be pleafed to pardon me, my zeal for the commonwealth's fervice 
 being the inducement, and my defire to obey your loraihips commands, 
 -which fhall ever be a rule not to be tranfgrefled by 
 
 Your lordftiips moft humble, faithful, and moft obedient fervant, 
 
 Copenhagen, Auguft 21, [1659] Alg, Sydney *, 
 
 COMMISSIONERS IJi THE SOUND TO SECRETARY THURLOE 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 As foon as we had made our laft difpatch of the tenth of this month, 
 two of us, viz. Honywood and Sydney, came to Copenhagen, and 
 preffed the king of Denmark and his fenate upon the two points of 
 declaring, that he would treat with the king of Sweden, and that by 
 commiffaries ; from whom we did obtain fuch a declaration as we defired, 
 two fenators being therein named commiflioners ; the king alfo adding 
 thereunto, that the matter of the treaty fhould be ripened by the media- 
 tors, unto whofe judgment he did abfolutely refer the determination of 
 all differences between the king of Sweden and himfelf, w^hich was 
 delivered unto us upon this condition, that we Ihould only fhew 
 it to the king of Sweden, but not fuffer any copy to be taken of it ; and 
 in cafe the peace fuCi.L>.ds not, that it fhould be returned again into his 
 hand that gave it; which we promifed to do. With this we returned to 
 Klfenore, thinking our work well advanced ; obtained an audience from 
 the king of Sweden ; ftiewed him the declaration, unto which he returned 
 anfw-cr, "Jevous rcjois commc mcdiateurs, non pas comtne arbitres:" 
 
 named 
 
 * Vol, vli. p. 731.
 
 TAKEN FROM THURLOE'S STATE PAPERS tj 
 
 named two fenators to be his commifTaries, of whom the one called Biellc 
 hath been employed by him as ambaflador in Copenhagen, and upon his 
 laft irruption into Zcland had been made a priioncr upon fome pretence 
 of pradices contrary to the duty of a public minillcr, and detained until 
 that time; adding many difcourfes of his apprehenfion, that if the peace 
 were made, the king of Denmark, being probably forced unto it, would 
 never keep it ; and that he muft not omit his own fecurity. This dif- 
 Gourfe founding, as if he, concluding that peace upon difadvantageous 
 conditions, was certainly forced, that which was forced would never be 
 kept ; the king of Denmark would never part with fo large a proportion 
 of his country, if not forced ; therefore it was not to be expedted he 
 would keep it ; and fometimes fpoke, as if he would have no peace at all' 
 wath Denmark. We ufed what arguments we could draw from the 
 Dane's weaknefs, and the mediating flates readinefs to interpofe, to make 
 good the treaty, to take away that groundlefs apprehenfion. But he 
 continued the like difcourfes, and adding, that he muft rely upon his own 
 ftrength, not the afliftance of his friends, for his fecurity ; and that 
 having advantages in his hands, it were a great folly to leave them, 
 and depend upon others : it was at laft concluded, that his majefty fhould 
 come to the camp, before this town, the next day, being the i6th of 
 this month ; where at a nearer diftance he fhould be better able to difcern, 
 whether the Dane's aflent were voluntary or forced. We then prefTed, 
 that Bielk being a prifoiier, he would not propofe any thing that was 
 likely to obftrudl the treaty ; that he would have his liberty within a few 
 days, upon the article for the general releafe of prifoners ; and dcfired he 
 would be pleafed, whilft the fife conduds and other formalities of the 
 treaty were preparing, to confer with us upon the principal points, that 
 remained in difference between him and the Dane, which in that time 
 we might ripen to be concluded by the commiffioners on both fides at 
 their meeting. His majefty infifted upon the nomination of Bielk, and 
 refufed to have any difcourfc with us upon the matter. Our journey was • 
 deferred until the 17th by his majefty; on which day he came to his 
 camp, and we to this town, mediated with the king of Denmark for the 
 releafe of Bielk; obtained it, and the i8th, carried him with us to the 
 camp, and there deKvered him free unto his majefty. We hoped at the 
 fame time for an opportunity of conferring with him upon the bufinefs 
 in hand, the minifters of the three mediating ftates- being prefent ; but 
 we were received in a public room full of ofticers, courtiers, and fervants, 
 not at all fit for any difcourfe, that ought not to be as public as they 
 could make it. But refolving to lofe no opportunity, we did ofter unto 
 his majefty a paper, of which we fend your lordftiip, here inclofed, a 
 copy, telling him it was drawn by the minifters of the mediating 
 ftates, and offered unto his confulcration. He afked what it was, 
 and what it did contain. We anfwered, it was a projed: of the 
 treaty, which if his majefty would perufe, we hoped would ripen matters 
 
 againft
 
 i6 LETTERS OF ALGERNON SYDNEY, 
 
 agalnfl; the meeting of the commifTioncrs, and much expedite the work 
 ot that fo much delired peace. Kc anhvered (diretting this fpccch to us) 
 that he did receive us " comme mediatears, non pas arbitres ; " that he 
 would not receive the projeit of a treaty, nor treat with any but the king 
 of Denmark: and then turning to the Holland minifters, he told them lie 
 looked upon them as his enemies, and would in no hand admit of their 
 mediation, and in great choler turned away, and went to the other fide 
 of the room; and foon after told us, that we made projedls upon our 
 fleets, and he, laying his hand upon his fword, had a projcdt by his fide. 
 Soon after we took our leaves, and returned to the town, thinking that 
 behaviour fomething extraordinary to be ufed to the public minifters of fo 
 confiderable ftates ; and that his majefty fhewed, he did not well remem- 
 ber, by whofe help he had been maintained all this fummer, and enabled 
 to make his conquefts, which yet would have appeared more ftrange unto 
 us, if we had not been accuftomed to that, which is fuitable unto it. 
 After the firft ceremonies of our reception were over, we have been forced 
 to fpend thefe eight days upon frivolous difputes in titles and forms of 
 the fafe condudls, which are now pafl'ed over, and the commiffioners did 
 meet this day. After the ufual civilities pafl'ed on both fides, in a place 
 midway between two tents, the Danes and the Swedes retired each into 
 their own. Soon after the Danes went, and olrered this inclofcd paper, 
 confifting of five general propofitions. The Swede defires to remove 
 the treaty to Klfenore, or Rofchild ; and unto which neither the Hol- 
 landers nor the Danes will confent. To-morrow we intend to otfer unto 
 the commiflaries of both parties the proje<Sl, which was firft offered to 
 the kings feverally, and refufed by the Swede : it was at firft offered unto 
 his confideration, but now his confent will be required. The Dane (to 
 avoid the tedious difputes of all the mutations deiired by both parties in 
 the treaty of Rofchild) refolvcs to agree unto them all, unto which one 
 niore is to be added for the time of the evacuation of the Swedifli forces ; 
 and another of amnefty for the inhabitants of Bornholm, who having 
 formerly flain all the Swedifti garrifon, muft expert nothing but deftruc- 
 lion, if they are not faved by the treaty. On the 2 2d of this month 
 ■general Montagu went from hence. This day we hear he is fet fail for 
 JMigland with the whole fleet, excepting two frigates and one ketch. 
 This day we received a letter from 'Sir Phil. Meadowe, wherein he 
 €xpreffcth an intention of going into England with the fleet, and defires 
 our advice in it, which we could not give, having no orders, though 
 for many reafons, too long now to relate, we thought he might without 
 prejudice to the commonwealth retire himfelf out of this public fervicc. 
 -None of Mr. Noel's bills of exchange are accepted by de la Biftrate, 
 nor can we get a penny upon his credit. \Ve defire your lordftiip to be 
 pleafed to fend us a fupply of money or credit, we being obliged to be 
 at an exceeding great expcnce by making journies perpetually in a wafted 
 ^'ouutry, and living in a bcfieged town, where all things are cxccflTively 
 
 dear J
 
 TAKEN FROM THURLOE'S STATE PAPERS 17 
 
 dear ; and alfo that your lordfhip will let us have your order, how wc 
 fhall difpofe of ourfelves, whether the treaty between the two kings can 
 be perfed:ed before winter or not. We are, 
 My lord. 
 
 Your lordfhip's rnofl humble and moft oliedient fervants, 
 
 Alg. Sydney. 
 Copenhagen, Aug. 24, 1659. Rob. Honywood. 
 
 Tho. Boone. 
 
 We defire your lordfhip to give order for the payment of 280/. charged 
 upon the treafurer of contingencies, payable to iir Philip Meadowe, or 
 his order. 
 
 Indorfed, Received September 16, 1659*. 
 
 FROM THE COMMISSIONERS IN THE SOUND 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 By ours of the 24th of Auguft, we did give your lordfliip an account 
 of what proceedings we had then made in the bufmefs you had com- 
 manded us. Since that time we have been able to make a very fmall 
 progrefs. The king of Denmark did refufe to fend his commiflioners to 
 the place of treaty, after they had declared, that their king did affent unto 
 all that was agreed upon at the Hague by the minifters of the three 
 ftates, unlefs the king of Sweden would do the like, which he hath 
 refufed abfolutely to do, or to give any anfwer unto the projeft of the 
 treaty, grounded upon the faid agreement, and formerly delivered to his 
 commiflioners by the miniflers of the mediating ftates. All that was 
 left for us to do was, to perfuade the king of Denmark to continue the 
 treaty notwithftanding ; and after much folicitation of the Holland mini- 
 fters, and the fervants your lordflilp employs here, it is at the laft refolved, 
 that the treaty ftiall be renewed, that the reichs-hofmeifter be added to 
 the commiflioners on the Danifli fide ; and we have this day fent to Fre- 
 dericfburg to defire a fafe condudl for him, and for the Holland mini- 
 fters, who do not think it fit for them to hazard themfelves within the 
 Swedifli power without it, now that their fleet acls againft them by their 
 orders. We did not at the firft find the reafon of the Dane's unwillingnefs 
 to renew the treaty ; but within a while we difcovered it to proceed from 
 the minifters of Auftria and Brandenburgh, and their friends in the 
 Danifh court, who defire to avoid the peace. Whilft the Swede is 
 detained in thofe hands, they may take from hjm that, which he holds 
 in PruflTia, Pomerania, and Bremen. The Swede might, as we conceive, 
 have found great advantage by a (Tenting to the points agreed at the 
 Hague, flopped the proceedings of the Holland fleet againft him, and at 
 leifure might have debated of the time of evacuating of his forces, aird 
 other things, which would have gained him much advantage, and 
 
 [ Z z z ] pofilbly 
 
 • Vol. vii. p. 732.
 
 * LETTERS OF ALGERNON SYDNEY, . 
 
 poflibly have caft the refufal upon the Dane. But he is obfthiate in 
 refuhng. We do not know In what his confidence lies. Plis force here 
 is not great, and every day impairs. He is powerfully affaulted by the 
 Mufcovite in Livonia, the Polander in Pruflia, the emperor and cledor of 
 Brandenburgh In Pomerania ; and we hear, that an army of Auflrlans,. 
 of about 1400 men, is preparing to affault Bremen about the end of this 
 month. The Hollanders employ their whole force againft him. A 
 confiderable number of Brandenburgilh horle will be foon tranfported 
 hither ; and in what he can place any confidence, we cannot tell, unlefs 
 it be, that he flill expeds fuch fuccefs, as he had when he came firft 
 into this ifland, when facing this town with about 400 horfe and foot, 
 he forced the Dane to the treaty of Rofchild, that had 5000 horfe. and 
 no, 000 foot within it : or that he thinks Hill, that though for the 
 neceffity of prefent afi^airs, the parliament did make the agreement at the 
 Hague, to gain time with the Hollanders, yet as foon as the troubles 
 in England were over, that Cromwell's defign fhould be purfued here.. 
 And though we do often tell his majefty, and his minifters, that the 
 parliament hath ratified, and will make good their agreements at the 
 Hague, that having given him fo fair an opportunity of making peace 
 here upon honourable terms, fo as to have leilure to defend himfelf 
 againft the enemies, that affault him in other places, if he neglect that, 
 no more is to be expedled from thence ; yet he ftill continues in the 
 fame mind, and fays often to his fervants, that let us lay what we will, 
 England and France will never fufFer him to fall, but will rather employ 
 their utmoft forces to aflift him. Perhaps the letter from the parlia- 
 ment will convert him, efpecially coming after the defeat of the rebels 
 in England. We have fent this day to demand audience of him ; but he 
 is fo perpetually in motion, that it is hard to find him, and perhaps 
 many days may pafs before we obtain it. 
 
 The Danes have feized on a place in Schonen called Aftede, with 
 about eight hundred foot. Many of the country come in unto them. It 
 is faid the whole province is ready to revolt. The king of Sweden hath 
 fent the marfhal Steinbock againfi: them. The place is weak, and may 
 be in danger of being loft, if not fpeedily relieved. Colonel Killegrew, 
 ■with about 1000 Holland foot, is commanded thither. He was on Sa- 
 turday night fent with that force to feize upon Koeg, a place about three 
 Dutch miles from this town, fortified by the Swede. But the defign was 
 difcovcred, the enemy prepared, and fuch a force brought into the place, 
 as made the officers to conclude, it was bcft to return without attempt- 
 ing any thing ; in which they did well, for probably they had been all 
 loft. We fay nothing unto your lordfliip of the fleet, prefuming, that 
 long before this time general Montagu hath given your lordfhip an exadt 
 account of all things belonging unto it; and hoping^ that if your lord- 
 fhip fhall think fit to fend back to us fuch a part as was mentioned in the 
 parliament's order, and your lordfliip's letter, you will give us dircdions 
 how to employ them. The Holland minifters have now received pundual 
 
 2. , orders
 
 TAKEN FROM THURLOE'S STATE PAPERS 
 
 ■orders, from their fiiperiors, and offer to join what part of tlicir fleet we 
 dcfirc with ours. We do alio defire your lordihip to confidcr, how and 
 how long we may in this place be feryiceable to your lordihip and the 
 commonwealth, to let us know your mind, and receive your commands 
 in it, which with all readinefs to the utmoft of our power ihall be-exadlly 
 oblcrved by, 
 
 My lord, 
 
 Your lordfliip's moft humble, and moft obedient fervants, 
 
 (, ^ ' ^ y Robert Ilonywood. 
 
 ^'l''-'-' ^^^9. Tho. Boone. 
 
 Since the writing of this letter we hear that the Danes, who had fur- 
 prifed Aftede, upon the approach of marfhal Steinbock, did think fit to 
 retire to their fliips, which they did without lofs. Colonel Killegrew met 
 ■them at fea, and all together are returned to this town. 
 
 Whereas the purfers of the Maidilone and Langport frigates have 
 charged the fum of 120 1. flerling and 80 1. flerling upon the treafurer 
 of the navy, we defire yom* lordihip's order to the treafurer for the 
 payment of the faid bills '\ 
 
 19 
 
 COL. ALGERNON SYDNEY TO SECRETARY THURLOE 
 
 Honoured Sir, 
 
 I did yefterday receive two letters from you, which, though they were 
 not dated, by the matter contained in them, and coming after that, 
 which I formerly received, dated the 44^^^ of March, fhewed they were 
 very frefhly written. Though the important points, tliat have been in 
 controverfy between the crowns of Sweden and Denmark, are by general 
 declarations on both fides admitted, we ftill iind difficulties and delays in 
 the treaty. The commifTioners on both fides, did the Lift week meet 
 three days fucceffively, one after another, without advancing one ftep 
 towards a conclufion. The method they agreed upon as the moil 
 expeditious was, to go through the Rofchild treaty, examine every point, 
 and change that, which fhould be neceffary. The firft day was fpent 
 by the Danes in a dil'pute upon the fecond article, defiring fuch a 
 mutation, as might leave them at liberty, of continuing and contradling 
 defenfive alliances. The Svv^edes knowing, that under the name of 
 defenfive alliances they did intend thofe, that were truly ofFcnilve, and 
 that there was a defign betwixt the emperor, kings of Poland and Den- 
 mark, and ele(3:or of Brandenburgh, under pretences of mutual defence, 
 to make a league againfh Sweden, would not confent, that the article 
 fliould be changed. The mediators, according to their orders, joined 
 with them : the Danes yielded. Neverthelefs the next day they brought 
 
 [Z z-z 2] the 
 
 * Vol. vii. p. 741,
 
 iO 
 
 LETTERS OF ALGERNON SYDNEY, 
 
 the fame point again into difpute, and fpent their whole time upon it, 
 without coming to any conclufion. The third day the Danes propofed 
 the changing of their method of proceeding, offering, that they would 
 give unto the mediators a project containing the conditions, upon which 
 they \frould make peace. I was ready to accept this, knowing, that they 
 mull in that conform themfelves unto the agreement of the Hague; and 
 then the peace could be immediately concluded ; or by varying from it, 
 thev muil be refufants. But the other mediators did rather choofe, that 
 equally on both fides they fhould deliver unto us thofe mutations, which 
 each of them defired fhould be made in the treaty of Rofchild, in writing,, 
 that we might do our office in reconciling the differences between them. 
 The Swedes affented unto that alfo. This morning was appointed for 
 receiving the papers on both fides. The Sv>'edes are ready, but I hear 
 nothing from the Danes. I cannot but wonder at the confidence of thofe 
 ambaffadors, that defire fatisfadion for their loffes by the delays of the 
 peace of this winter, when nothing is more true, than that they have 
 been caufed by the Danes, at leaft as much as by the Swedes. And 
 now they do in all things proceed with more frivolous difputes, to 
 evade the conclufion of the peace, than the others ; and unlefs they be 
 forced, will never confent to the conditions propofed, notwithftanding alt 
 their declarations and promifes. In my opinion the ftates had no reafon 
 to wonder at our proteft, unlefs they thought, that we, having no force 
 here, Ihould in all things receive the law from their minifters, as if we 
 fervcd a ftatc, that had not a fhip in the world, or that was plunged into 
 fuch difficulties and diforders, that we could never hope to fee it recover 
 out of them. We were of another opinion ; and though England hath 
 no force here, nor is at prefent in a condition of fending any, whereby- 
 we can defend ourfelves againft the wrongs we receive, we thought it 
 neceffary to leave fuch a paper, as might juftify our proceedings, when- 
 foever it fhould pleafe God to put us into a condition of demanding right 
 
 the Dutch ambafTadors 
 
 and fatisfadlion. The truth is, the proceedings of 292 are infupport- 
 
 treating with France and England as fubjefts, 
 
 able; for befides their infolency in 112 109 76 i8i 330 207 302 217 
 
 Sydney cannot truft what they fay. 
 
 137 147 48 86 63 II 142 138, 631 212 443 142 113. 176 141 
 
 The Fr. ambaff. and we 
 
 113 332 207 II 61 66 do fometimes humble them; but they retura 
 again to their old courfe. This obliged us to deliver the paper, which 
 Slingcrland did profefs was reafonable, and that they could exped no 
 lefs. And when they could not find fault with the matter, they took 
 exceptions at it for being falfe Latin, which probably is true ; for our 
 two fccrctaries being abfent, I wrote it, having never in my life written 
 fo much as three lines in that language. But I am not folicitous for that 
 reproach in a man of my profeffion ; the breaking of Prifcian*s head is 
 no great crime. Pray do you take care, that the Danes do not obtain 
 any order» that may retard the peace : perhaps they will not be forry to 
 
 4 be
 
 TAKEN FROM THURLOE'S STATE PAPERS »J. 
 
 be denied. They think they mu/l afk for the fatisfaiftion of their allies; 
 but I think are willing to be forced to the peace by the Hollanders, that 
 they may vifibly deny them any reward for their afTiftance. And I 
 believe the chief reafon, that makes the Hollanders unwilling to force 
 them, is the knowledge, that they fliall thereby ruin their pretence to 
 be reimburlcd for their charges. We fliall not be unmindful of the 
 interefl of England in any time, wherein we may advance it; but very 
 little liberty is left unto us more than by obtaining the fame privileges in 
 trade for our nation in the dominions of Sweden and Denmark, as by 
 any treaty is allowed unto the Hollanders. And whatfoever is in the 
 treaty of Elbing, which may be drawn unto prejudice under the name 
 of turbatores pads, &c. it is not in our power to hinder it ; the agree- 
 ments of the Hague ratified by parliament, and our inftrudlions obliging 
 us to endeavour the confirmation of it, together with its elucidations, 
 I am, Sir, 
 
 Your humble fervant, 
 Copenhagen, April A [1660.] Alg. Sydney*', 
 
 COL^ ALGERNON SYDNEY TO MR. DOWNING 
 
 Honoured Sir, 
 
 I wrote this inclofed letter fome days fince, but had not an opportunity 
 offending it fmce that time. We have received a long formal proje<3: 
 from the Swede, with a multitude of elucidations of the Rofchild treaty* 
 and other little things they would endeavour to bring in, but not in any 
 material point contrary unto it. The Danes did at the fame time give 
 us their exceptions to our projedt delivered to them in January laft. 
 They do not confift of fo many flieets of paper, as the other ; but do 
 direilly contradidt the Rofchild treaty, their own declarations, and our 
 agreements in all the material points, concerning alliances ; the cellion 
 of provinces to Sweden, and the bufinefs of Holftein, with fome others. 
 We forgot not to make ufe of this, to fhew the fincerity of their defires 
 of peace, and how well they deferve the fatisfadtion expedled. We have 
 had fome conferences with the commiffioners on both fides upon their 
 feveral papers communicated unto each party, what we had received 
 from their adverfaries, and heard what they would fay to juftify their 
 own pretences; finding that they would difpute and cavil for ever, with- 
 out concluding any thing. The mediating minifters are to meet to- 
 morrow, and form a projedl fuitable unto the treaty of Rofchild, the 
 declarations of both kings, and their own orders ; by which we hope 
 both parties will fufFer their interefts to be regulated. I am.. 
 
 Your humble fervant, 
 Copenhagen, April 7, [1660.] Alg. Sydney f- 
 
 * Vol. vii. p. 881. t Vol. vii. p. S87.
 
 r&^ 
 
 THE PROTECTOR'S ADVICE TO ALGERNON SYDNEY. 
 
 COMMUNICATED BY THE LATE DR. RAWLINSON. 
 
 ' The following curious anecdote was found indorfed on a paper, figncd 
 
 ALG. SYDNEY. 
 
 The 'ProteElor's advice to me^ when I went from him to the king of Sweden 
 in Poland; which I wrote frotn his own dictating, and the alteration in 
 the fecond particular is his own hand, 
 
 il. If you would not mifcarry in this bufinefs, know firft, that all public 
 bufineffes, and private too, profper and fucceed only as God is pleafed 
 to determine them. 
 
 that 
 
 II. And therefore the greatefl: wifdom in them that are employed 
 
 about bufmeis lies in this, that they feek to be accepted with God, 
 which no man is, but by Jefus Chrift. 
 
 III. That there be a denial of a man's own abilities, and that work be 
 undertaken with humility and meeknefs of fpirit, and that one be fwift 
 to hear and flow to fpeak, well underftanding before he anfwer. 
 
 IV. That a man in his converfations, as he would have a bleffmg, abftain 
 from all manner of evil, and do conftantly, with all earnefl:ncfs and 
 truth of heart, ci;y to God for a bleffing, feeing he difpofes the iflue 
 of all bufmefles as he pleafes.
 
 LETTERS OF ALGERNON SYDNEY, 
 TAKEN FROM THE SYDNEY PAPERS
 
 LETTERS OF ALGERNON SYDNEY, 
 TAKEN FROM THE SYDNEY PAPERS 
 
 A. SYDNEY TO HIS FATHER ROBERT EARL OF LEICESTER 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 I attended the laft week upon the committee of fcqueftrations, but they 
 did not fit. I had fome expedation that they would this day; but the 
 Painted Chamber is taken up this afternoon, by the commiflioners, for 
 the trial of the king. I have fpoken with divers, concerning your lord^ 
 iliip's bufinefs ■'■, and find them all of opinion, it cannot be denied. The 
 only difficulty is in getting a committee to fit, for all mens brains are fo 
 full of the great buiinefs, that they will not give themfel /es leave to think 
 of any other. The propofition of the cavaliers, for the faving of the 
 king, doth not obtain fo much as a hearing. This day they are again to 
 be lent out of town, by order of the houfe of commons, to the general. 
 The lords fat yefterday, pafled the ordinances for money, for the army, 
 and navy ; and are now very feafonably paffing an ordinance to make it 
 treafonfor any king to make -joar upon the parliament^ and have defired a 
 conference with the houfe of commons, to know, whether thofe votes, 
 that go under their names, afiferting alljuft power to be originally 
 in the people themfelves, to be the reprefentative of the people, and 
 that to the validity of any law, paffed by them, neither the affent of 
 king nor lords is neceffary, were paffed by them. / thinks that if 
 the houfe of comtnons had not been very hajly in turning the ordinance for 
 the king^s trial into an a6i of their o%on^ and contented themfelves with their 
 oivn pou-er, the lords are now in a temper to have given their ajfent^ if they 
 had received a fecond mefige from us. My lord of Northumberland^ I 
 think, intends to come to the houfe ; our admiral hath not been there 
 yet; he is fo fickas not to come thither, but takes liberty to go to any 
 other places ; he is in great uncertainty, and knows not yet which party 
 to join with. I will endeavour, if it be poffible, to get your lordfnip's 
 bufinefs heard this week ; Mr. Windham hath promifed me to be there ; 
 Mr. Hales excufeth himfclf, he never having pradifed there. My brother 
 Robert^ I hear, is made lieutenant colonel to my lord of Oxford, old 
 JBerinton being dead, which is the caufe we do not fee him here. I am 
 
 Your Lordfliip's, etc. 
 
 Leicefler Houfe, Jan. lo, 1648. Alg. Sydney. 
 
 I am in great hafte called away, fo that I cannot write to my lady. I 
 defire your lordfliip to tell her that I will be at the committee the next 
 week, if ihe thinks that my being there will be any ways ferviceable to 
 her lady 111 ip. 
 
 * The taking oft the fequeftration of his eftate. See more of tills matter in Collins's 
 Memoirs of the Sydneys, 
 
 4A
 
 LETTERS OF ALGERNON SYDNEY, 
 
 EDAVARD MARQUIS OF WORCESTER TO COLONEL A. SYDNEY 
 
 Honoured Couiin, 
 
 Gold is tried in a furnace, and nothing approacheth to tlie purity of 
 Gold, more than reality and truth ; and confequently nothing endureth 
 better the teft : I think mylelf therefore happy, to have fallen into fuch 
 knowing and ingenious hands as yours, whofe former apprehended cha- 
 rader of me, may by this means be re£liiied ; for this, you will find me 
 to have been real and faithful to the party, to which I profefTed fubjedlion 
 and obedience ; but never to have ufed animofity nor rigor to that of the 
 parliament, to which I am now refolved to carry myfelf, according to my 
 profeffion of honour and confcience, with a like truth, induftry, and courage, 
 if accepted and confided in ; then adtively to afford my endeavours ; if not, 
 to lie flill, and not tend any way to their prejudice ; which I do not fay 
 out of any fear, fince what I did then, I thought myfelf bound in honour 
 and confcience to do it, in obedience to them who commanded me ; and 
 it ihall not trouble me, to fuffer under that notion, as it lliall not here- 
 after to fuffer for what I now do, fliould the tide turn. And therefore, 
 to contribute my mite In duty and honour to my country, I herewith fend 
 you particulars of both kinds defired by Sir Hejtry Mildmay and you, ap- 
 plauding the council's choice of fo induftrious and capable perfons to 
 receive them ; and fince my lord Bradjloaia hath been acquainted with my 
 anfwers and proceedings, upon which more depends ; Intending not to 
 fwerve a tittle from any thing, I have faid, whereof none can better judge 
 than his lordlhip. My humble motion therefore is, that the right honour- 
 able the council of ftate, would impower you three to receive my par- 
 ticular addrefs, and to give me fpeclal orders, from time to time, ex 7-e 
 natdy without further troubling them, but upon emergent occafions ; for 
 a bufinefs of this kind, agreed upon by the whole body In the generality, 
 is fitteft for a private committee of fufficiency and truff ; fuch as you are, 
 whofe hands I humbly kifs, and on whom that I may the better attend, 
 I humbly offer this petition ; and be affured to have to do with a perfon 
 of honour and fidelity, and 
 
 Your moft affedlonate coufin and fervant, 
 
 Jan. 5, 1652. Worcefter *. 
 
 * The marquis was a great mathematician, and eminent both at home and abroad, for 
 the engines and waterworks he projected ; one of which, on the Thames^ occafioncd this 
 letter, and was afterwards fettled on him by ad of Parliament 14 Car. II, 
 
 The letter being curious, is added to this colledion.
 
 TAKEN FROM THE SYDNEY PAPERS 
 
 A. SYDNEY TO HIS FATHER ROBERT EARL OF LEICESTER 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 I received your lordfKip's letter on Tiiefday at night, but could not 
 come to town foon enough on Wcdnefday to return any anfwcr unto it. 
 Since that time 1 have made foiue little progrefs in the bufuiefs of the 
 2500/. and I am promii'ed it by two Tcriveners. The one hath the 
 money ready at a day's warning, and I am going jufl now to Ipeak with 
 him, and the pcrfon that owes it, to fettle the bufincfs of the fecurity. 
 The other (hall have the money within two or three days. I keep them both 
 in treaty, that if one (hould make any fcruple upon the fettlement of the 
 eftate, the other may be made ufe of. Which of them foever you employ, 
 will have the fame terms, as was agreed with Hall, One of them aflced 
 higher, but I brought him into the fum of 30/. I fpoke with my lord 
 Strangfbrd., concerning the fettlement of his eftate, which your lord- 
 Ihip did expe£l he fhould make, according unto the deed figned by him 
 before his marriage: unto which he anfwered, that he was noy/ about 
 making fuch a fettlement of his eftate, as he thinks when it is perfected, 
 will ftiew his kindnefs unto his wife, and give fuch fatisfadlion unto her 
 friends, as can in reafon be required. Mrs. Danvers failed of coming 
 unto Mr. Villers his houfe, according unto her promil'e; the reafon I do 
 not know, but I take the breach of a promife to be but an ill fign. When 
 I was with her, my bufinefs went well enough, but I know not how firm 
 (he will now be to her own refolutions, againft Salway\ perfuafions, in 
 her abfence from hence, nor when Ihe will return. If I had difpatched 
 this bufmefs of your lordlhip's, I ftiould wait upon you, having no other 
 to detain me here, where my ftay is feldom matter of eIe£lion. I give 
 your lordfhip many thanks for the favour expreffed in your letter, which 
 I will deferve, if it be in the power of 
 
 Your Lordlhip's, etc. 
 
 Leicefter Houfe, April 7, 1658. , Alg. Sydney. 
 
 A. SYDNEY TO HIS FATHER ROBERT EARL OF LEICESTER 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 The paflage of letters from England hither is fo uncertain, that I did 
 not, until within this very few days, hear the fad news of my mother's 
 death. I was then with the king of Sweden at Nycopin in Faljlcr. This 
 is the firft opportunity I have had, of fending to condole with your lord- 
 fliip, a lofs that is fo great to yourfelf, and your family ; of which my 
 fenfe was not fo much diminiftied, in being prepared by her long, lan- 
 guilhing, and certainly incurable ficknefs, as increafed by the laft words 
 and aO;ions of her life. I confefs, perfons in fudi tempers are moft fit to 
 
 4 A 2 dye.
 
 LETTERS OF ALGERNON SYDNEY, 
 
 dye, but they are alfo moft wanted here; and we, that for a while are 
 left in the world, are moft apt, and perhaps with reafon, to regret moft 
 the lofs of thofe we moft want. It may be, light and humane paftions 
 are moft fuitably employed upon humane and worldly things, wherein 
 we have fome fenfible concernment : thoughts, abfolutely abftra£led from 
 ourfelves, are more fuitable unto that fteddinefs of mind that is much 
 fpoken of, little fought, and never found, than that which is feen amongft 
 men. It were a fmall compliment for me to offer your lordfhip to leave 
 the employment in which I am, if I may in any thing be able to eafe your 
 lordihip's folitude. If I could propofe that to myfelf, I would chearfully 
 leave a condition of much more pleafure and advantage, than I can with 
 reafon hope for. Before I undertook this, many difficulties did appear 
 unto me, and I have not found them lefs than I expefted; the ambition 
 of the king of Sweihi^ and the weaknefs of the king of Denmark, make 
 thofe bufinefles very difficult, that muft be fo ordered, as to latisfy them 
 both; the one hates every thing that ftops his conquefts, and the other doth 
 not v/ell underftand the ftate of his own aff^airs. 'England is too far en- 
 gaged with the United Provinces, to affift Sweden in the DaniJJj war, but 
 if he make peace here, I think he will not be deferted. Our bufmefs is 
 now brought to this, that the King of Sweden doth offer to make peace 
 with Denmark, almoft upon the fame terms that were offered unto him by 
 the mediating minifters, if their three ftates will endeavour to make his 
 peace with the emperor king of Poland, and elector of Brandenburgh, or 
 to affift him againft the emperor, if he will not grant him peace upon 
 the conditions of the Munjler treaty. All are willing to ofter their media- 
 tions, think their fuperiors will give their affiftance of 4000 foot from each 
 ftate as isdefired, but ftnd not themfelves furniflied with powers to engage 
 them in any fuch treaty; but the thing agreeing with their judgments, 
 they have all agreed to reprefent it to their fuperiors, as a thing wherein 
 they are concerned, that the Swed'ijl:) intereft in Germany he not deftroyed ; 
 which will certainly be, when he is affaulted by fo many enemies, and not 
 powerfully affifted, which he can expect to be from no others. Much 
 more is expeded from France, than is defired. The ambaffador of that 
 crown did lately fliew me a letter from the cardinal Mazarine, wherein he 
 faid, he had feveral conferences wi:h Don Liiys de Haro, concerning the 
 affairs of Germany, in which he had declared, that if the Aujlrian forces 
 did not retire out of Fomeraine, it was refolved a French army Ihould 
 immediately enter the empire, of which he hath given the Ambaffidor 
 power to aifure the king of Sweden. Holland will not break openly with 
 the emperor, but we have hopes, they will be brought to furnifti Sweden 
 with ibme money, and give that king liberty to raifc fome men upon their 
 frontiers. I have drawn this inclofed reprefentation of the northern aftairs, 
 to be fcnt unto the council. By the laft letters we received from them, 
 liberty was granted unto us to return home, if we thought it might confift 
 with the good of affairs here; but we find fo many inconveniences in leav- 
 ing this place at prcfcnt, without fome EngHjh miuifter, that we 
 
 dare
 
 TAKEN FROM THE SYDNEY PAPERS 
 
 dare not return without a command ; but we intend one of us fliould re- 
 turn immediately, and to that end have chofen Mr. Boone. 1 did fue for 
 that employment, but the princes with whom we are to treat, and our 
 fellow mediating minifters, did not confent, fo that fir Robert Honywood 
 and I muft flay, until we have further orders. I do not know how our 
 ftay here vv^ill be undcrftood ; but if it be not thought of merit, I flaall 
 think I have to very little purpofe expofcd myfelfunto a great deal of 
 trouble. I am in all things uncertain how I fhall diipofe of myfelf, but 
 think, that if I do not return as foon as I can have an anfvver to the 
 letters I now fend, the French ambaflador, and I, fhall take a journey into 
 Poland, to mediate for peace there ; in which there is little doubt, if we 
 can be fo happy as to fee it eftabliflied here. I do not at all expcift it in 
 Germany, all things there bend to a war, and I believe by tlie next fum- 
 mer, we fhall fee that country as much inflamed as ever. The protcftant 
 princes, and the electors of Mentz and Cullen, look upon Sweden, France^ 
 and England, for aid. The Emperor relies upon fuccours from Spain ; 
 we hope the eledlor oi Brandenburgh v^'AX be drawn from his party. The 
 treaty between Sweden and Poland is not yet begun ; they have fpent 
 eight or nine months in difputes upon the preliminaries, and as 1 hear, 
 the counts Magnus de la Garde, and SUpenbach, have inftruitions to make 
 fuch haughty demands, as do not well fuit with the prefent condition of 
 their mafiers affairs ; but he hath promifes to reduce them all to fuch a 
 fum of money for the places he holds in Prii[jia, as the miniflers of the 
 mediating ftates fhall think reafonable. I may perhaps be guilty of fome 
 impertinence, in entertaining your lordfhip with thefe things, wliich per- 
 haps you do not care to know ; but this ugly northern part of the world 
 being very conflderable unto the reft, and as things now ffand, peace or 
 war in the principal places of Furope depending upon the fettlement of 
 affairs here, I thought your lordfhip would not be unwilling to receive an 
 account of them ; which, though it is rude, I think it is true, at leaft fo 
 far, as I could pierce into the knowledge of this affair, which is intricate 
 enough, to excufe the miftakes of thofe that are much more verfed in thofe 
 of the like nature, and have much more reafon to tliink themfelves able to 
 judge of them, than I can do, without a very unpardonable prcfumption. 
 If I have miftaken your lordfhip's mind in this, by throwing thefe papers 
 into the fire, your lordfhip hath an eafy way of preferving yourfelf from 
 trouble ; and if you care to know any more of thefe bufinefles, I fhall, as 
 long as I am here, give your lordfhip an exadl information of them, or 
 any thing elfe that is in my power, and for your fervice, according to the 
 duty of 
 
 Your Lordfhip's, etc. 
 Copenhagen, Nov. 5, 1659. Alg. Sydney.
 
 S LETTERS OF ALGERNON SYDNEY, 
 
 A. SYDNEY TO HIS FATHER ROBERT EARL OF LEICESTER 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 I fend this to your lordfhip by our fecretary, whom we have difpatched 
 unto the parHament and council, with the news of the king of Sioed^n''s 
 death, and to receive fuch orders, as upon a reprefentation of the Rate of 
 affairs here, the parliament will think ht to fend upon fo great a change, 
 as this is likely to bring unto all thefe northern parts of Europe. I think, 
 never any prince had fo many and potent enemies as he, that did fo well 
 defend himfelf againft them, with a fmall ftrength; his greateft was, in 
 his own induftry, wit, and courage ; and I make no doubt, but they will 
 grow as infolent after his death, as they were fearful and humble when 
 they were to deal with him fingly, and will exprefs their rage and hatred 
 ao-ainft the young king and his motiier, which could never hurt him, un- 
 lefs when multitudes affembled on all fides to alTault him. I have of late 
 thought we {hould fpeedily have a peace here ; I hope this will not retard 
 it, but the conditions will be lefs for the advantage of Sweden. I was thea 
 defirous of feeing it concluded before I returned ; I confefs now, I am 
 more unwilling to leave it undetermined; the chief inducement then was, 
 the intereft oi England-, I can now add to that confideration, an obligation, 
 by all the rules of humanity and charity, to endeavour the protedion of an 
 infant, and a very virtuous mother. I am apt to think the queen Chrijlina^ 
 will now think fit to turn Lutheran again, and endeavour to breed feme dif- 
 turbance in Sweden ; but, I hope, her party is fo much dimlnillied by the 
 reports that are made of the life fhe leads, that her defigns will vanifli, 
 without doing any great mifchief. I have appointed this bearer to wait 
 upon your lordlhip, that if you care to know any thing of our bufmefs 
 here, he may give you a very full relation, having been employed by me iii 
 it. I have not heard any thing of your lordfliip this many months, which is 
 a great trouble unto me. I defire your lordfliip to take me out of it ; and 
 if your own affairs, or health, will not give you the convenience of writing 
 unto me, that you would appoint fomc fervant to fend me news of your 
 health and concernments, how you are, and how you live, in this time, 
 which, I know, muft needs be folitary unto you ; I fear, uneafy. I fhall 
 rejoice in hearing I am miftaken, and that all things do fucceed according 
 to your lordfhip's own defires, and the prayers of 
 
 Your Lordfhip's, etc. 
 
 Copenhagen, Feb. 22, 1659-60. Alg. Sydney. 
 
 A. SYDNEY TO HIS FATHER ROBERT EARL OF LEICESTER 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 I have, by fomc letters, given your lordfhip as full relations of our af- 
 fairs here as at PenJJjurJl 1 could think you would be content to re:eive. 
 
 I 1 hear
 
 TAKEN FROM THE SYDNEY PAPERS 
 
 I hear your lordrtiip is now called to a place, where the knowledge of 
 what paffcth in our negotiation, is a little more ncceirary unto you, than 
 formerly, which will, I hope, pcrfuade your lordfliip, to pardon the trou- 
 ble I now give you. By the a<£lion of the Hollanders in detaining the S'wedijb 
 fhips, contrary to the conditions of the ceflation, and their faith given to 
 the Swedes, and to us, they had put themfelves out of the mediation. The 
 French ambaflador, and we, thinking both Swedes and Danes -wcW enough 
 inclined to peace, the principal obftacles Hill proceeding from the Hollan- 
 ders, did undertake the mediation by ourfelves ; in which work, we have 
 fo well fucceeded, that the conditions are all agreed upon in Latin^ tranf- 
 lated, according to the cuftom of thefe parts, into the Swedifi and Da~ 
 niJJi languages, and there is nothing now remaining, but to have them 
 written out fair, to be figned. 1l\\q Hollanders vaTey then come into fign- 
 the treaty, and the guaranty, releafing firfl: the SwedijJj fhips, which, I 
 think, they will of themlelves offer to do. The queen of Denmark hath 
 mediated for their reception, that fhe may have fome part in the conclufion 
 of the peace ; and more particularly in this, that having been (as is 
 thought) the caufe of their fault, fhe may alfo be the means of reconciling 
 them to thofe they had hereby offended, and of bringing them out of the 
 ftreight into which they had very unadvifediy caft themfelves. The conditions- 
 granted to Denmark, are more eafy than thofe offered for them by Hollatidy 
 unto which the Swedes were induced, that they might oblige the king of 
 Denmark to be their friend, as well as at peace with them, and to make 
 the peace without the intervention of the Hollanders. By this means, I- 
 hope that thefe two kingdoms, finding the mifcaiefs both receive by their 
 disagreements, will grow to be better friends than they have been in many 
 former ages. We have propofed unto them both an alliance between- 
 themfelves, for their mutual defence, unto which, in general, both parties- 
 feemmuch inclined; the particular conditions are referred unto a conference 
 between the commifhoners of both parts, when the treaty of peace is figned. 
 Having compofed the quarrel between the two kings, our next bufmefs 
 muft be to improve this peace to the good of our own nation. The 
 firfl is, to break the alliances, that either of them have made to our pre- 
 judice, which are principally with the United Provinces ; that ftate hath, 
 ever fmce the war with England, endeavoured to flrengthen itfelf, with de- 
 fenfive alliances, with almofl all the princes of Europe. The northern kings 
 were not forgotten ; they have made f "iich with either of them. We now 
 endeavour to break them, or fo to explain them, that there remain nothing 
 that can be drawn to our prejudice. We are now in treaty with both crowns 
 upon this point, and have agreed upon the fubftance. The French ambaf- 
 fador demands the like for France. The next work will be how to join 
 thefe two crowns to us, as if the Ho/landers v/ould make war upon us, 
 which is too much to be fufpedled they intend, we may have more help 
 and favour from them, than is given to our enem.ies, which will be no hard 
 matter, perhaps, to obtain here, if England be in fo quiet a condition, as to 
 look after things abroad, and make ufe of the advantages that are offered. - 
 
 We
 
 10 LETTERS OF ALGERNON SYDNEY, 
 
 ■^Ve hear they have the like alliances with Poland^ and the eledor of Brmi- 
 denbiirgh. The intention of the embafly to be fent into France, upon pre- 
 tence of a compliment, is to make a defenfive alliance there alfo; and, as 
 I hear. Van Beiining, one deftined for that employment, hath drawn a 
 projed for that purpole, wherein are many points diredlly intended againfl: 
 England. The two lirft, I think, may be invalidated there, or, at leaft, 
 that of Poland; the other requires your care at home. The Hollanders 
 had, by a treaty with Denmark.^ in the year 1645, and in one with Sweden 
 at Elbing., in the year 1656, and the elucidations agreed upon at Thorne^ 
 and the lafl year confirmed at El/inore, gained fo great advantages in all the 
 provinces of SweJcn, Den/nark, and Norway, that the whole trade of 
 thofe kingdoms muil neceffarily come into their hands, if others did not 
 participate the fame with them, which we have obtained for our nation. In 
 the agreement with Sweden, we have this claufe. To enjoy all privileges 
 which now are, or hereafter fliall be granted unto any ftate v>fhatfoever. 
 Befides thofe things which have happened here, to incline Denmark unto 
 England, the change of government that is tkere expedled, is not a fmall 
 inducement : this king expcds much kindnefs from him that is likely to 
 be the head of it, both for the nearnefs of blood, and feveral a£ts of friend- 
 fliip fhewed unto him, when he was in his diftrefs. One of the dukes 
 of Liinenbiirgh, brother to this Queen, hath lately been at Breda, and 
 fent letters hither of what palfed there, which gives very much fatisfad:ion. 
 The two kings defire we fliould ftay here until the treaty be ratified, exe- 
 cuted, and the evacuation of the Swedes forces out of Denmark, and the 
 Danes out of the duke oiHolJleine\ territories made and perfeded ; which 
 we hope will be all done before the end of June. In the mean time, we 
 may take leave of both courts, and then immediately take our journey 
 Jiomewards, if we receive no commands to the contrary. I have written 
 all things that have palTed here at large to Mr. 'Tburloe. I hope your 
 lordfhip will have reafon to be pleafed with this reentry upon the rtage of 
 the world ; and that you may in all changes, find as much fatisfadion and 
 advantage, as your own heart can wifli, is, and ever fliall be, the conftant 
 
 defire of 
 
 Your Lordfliip's, etc. 
 Copenhagen, May 22, 1660. Alg. Sydney. 
 
 / do not fay any thing of 77iy own intetitions, in relation unto the changes 
 that are fallen out already, or the other that are daily expcBed. The truth 
 is, I know the?n not, the bifmefs is too difficult to judge of at this diflanccy 
 efpecially, not knowing what will be in my -power, or choice. If I do not 
 receive new orders, I pall return fpeedily home, and fiall then follow that 
 >way, which your hrdjhip Jhall cojnmand, and my bejl frieftds advife, as far 
 as I can, without breaking the rules of honour or corifciencc, which lamfure 
 •will never be expected from mc, by your lordjliip, nor thofe whofe opinions I 
 confider. While I am here, I ferve V.ngXsinA, and will with as much care 
 and diligence as I can, endeavour to advance its interejls, and follow the orders 
 of thofe that govern it, I referve the determination of other points to coun- 
 ccls upon the place. 3
 
 TAKEN FROM THE SYDNEY PAPERS 
 
 A. SYDNEY TO IIIS FATHER ROBERT EARL OF LEICESTER 
 
 3\Iy Lord, 
 
 I do not know whether I have erred in my opinion or not, in thinking 
 it more necefiary for your lordfliip to know what pafletJi now in theib 
 parts of the world, than formerly; but that hath perfuaded me to give your 
 lordfhip of late more exadl relations of my motions, and adlions, than 
 before I thought your lordlliip would willingly receive. I am now at the 
 iitmoft point of my journey northward, and have nothing more in my 
 thoughts, than to return into England with as much expedition as I can, 
 according to the liberty granted unto my collegue and me, by the council 
 of ftate. We could not think it at all reafonable, to leave the work in 
 which we were employed, when we faw a certainty of accomplifhing it 
 within a fliort time, unlefs we had received a pofitlve command : now the 
 peace is concluded, I think we may very well juftify making ufe of that 
 conceffion. I am here alone, my collegue intended to make the fame 
 journey, but the gout confined him unto his bed. I look upon all the 
 powers granted unto us, as extinguiflied by the coming in of the king, 
 and do not take upon me to adl any thing as a public minifter, except it 
 be giving notice unto the crowns of Sweden^ and Denmark^ of the refti- 
 tution of the ancient government in England, and the proclaiming of the 
 king. Upon this occafion I accept of a public audience, which is here 
 offered unto me ; I fliould have avoided it upon all other occafions. I 
 am detained here fome days longer than I did expeft ; the queen and 
 fenate having been out of town when I arrived here. They returned the 
 laft night. One of the Holland ambaffadors, and Hannibal Lejied, lately 
 reconciled to the king of Denmark^ and now fent by him to the crown 
 of Sweden, came hither the day before me. The government here, have 
 not yet given audience unto either of them; they are not yet refolved in 
 what manner to perform thofe ceremonies, but intend to follow the fame 
 way that was ufed in the minority of the queen Cbrjjlina, and are now 
 bufy in examining that rule. In this particular only they differ, that the 
 government was then adminiilred only by the five great officers, which 
 zxe Rixbroji^ conftable, admiral, chancellor, and treafurer ; but the power 
 is now in the whole fenate, and whatever was then done by thofe officers, 
 muff: now be performed by them all. When the king died, the places of 
 conftable, chancellor, and treafurer, were vacant ; by his will he made 
 the prince Adolphus his brother, conftable ; the count Magnus de la 
 Gardie, chancellor, and one Fleming, treafurer : the firft will hardly be 
 aflented unto, by the fenate, and the other two do not yet take pofleffion 
 of their charges, left they fhould difcontent him. He is retired to a 
 houfe of his own, with fome mark of difcontent. I am very civilly 
 invited thither, and as I return toward Den/nark, intend there to vifit 
 him, it being not above a mile or two out of my way. I fliall not 
 willingly admit of any other ftop of my journey homeward, unlefs my 
 
 4 B relblutiou 
 
 It
 
 12 LETTERS OF ALGERNON SYDNEY, 
 
 refolutlon of returning be altered by new orders from thence. / do not 
 at all know in what condition I am thert\ nor what effeBs I Jljall Jind of 
 general MonkV exprejjions of kindnefs towards me, and his remembrojice of 
 the ancient friendjlnp that was between iis ; but the lord Fleetwood'^ letters 
 to the fenate and private perfons here, mention difcourfes that he makes much 
 to my advantage, I do receive neither more nor lefs civility here than is 
 ordinary, unlefs the exciifes I receive for receiving fio more may deferve that 
 name. I am in private told, they fear to offend the king by any extra- 
 ordinary expreffions towards me: your brdjhip tnay eajily imagine how 
 powerful that confideration will he, when thofe in my condition can pretend to 
 no civilities upon any other account^ but as they are refpe£ls unto their 
 fuperiors, and nmfters. I have heard nothing of your lorchhip, more than 
 that you were come to tov»^n. I hope you may find all things relating, 
 unto yourfelf, according unto my willies, which I am fure are perfe6tl)r 
 fuitable unto your own defires. I am 
 
 Your Lordfhip's, etc. 
 Stockholme, June i6, 1660, Alg. Sydney.. 
 
 I have not this day time to write to my lord of Northumberland^ for 
 .,, which I defire your lordlhip to make my excule. Hannibal Lejied is very 
 
 fhortly to come ambaflador into Efigland. The count Rantzoe was 
 formerly nominated for that employment, and afterwards Alefeld his fon 
 in law : But now this gentleman hath made the court of Denmark 
 believe, that Bruxells and Antwerp have gained great intereft in the king,, 
 and he is preferred before others. He is pleafed with this employment, 
 and I am confident believes, he Ihall govern all England, not well 
 diftinguilhing between the thoughts of a banifhed prince, who in his 
 youth fought entertainments to mitigate his afflidtions, and the ferious 
 a£lions of a great and cflablifhed king. 
 
 A. 3Y.DNEY TO HIS FATHER ROBERT EARL OF LEICESTER 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 I now write a few lines to your lordfliip in hafle, to congratulate your 
 lordfhip's reafTuming your former place, in the houfe of peers ; I do net 
 know how far your lordfhip is inclined to any other as eminent as thofe, 
 you have poflcfTcd ; but from my heart wilh a lliccefs equal to whatever 
 you defire. 1 have been detained here fome days longer than I did 
 cxpcd, the queen's being abfcnt when I came, and fmce that time fome 
 fcruplcs have been railed, concerning my rccreditives. They are now 
 folvcd, and the count Magnus de la Gardie (who was formerly trcafurcr 
 of Sweden ; and by the late king, a little before his death, made 
 chancellor) hath been juft now with me, and doth afliirc me, the queen, 
 and fcnatc, liavc this day ordered, thiit theuufwer to my crcditives flioul4 
 
 z be
 
 TAKEN FROM THE SYDNEY PAPERS 13 
 
 be drawn according to what I had propofcd ; and that they fhall be ready 
 as foon as is polhblc : 1 intend to ftay here but a very few hours after 
 the receiving of them. Tlie conchifion of what hath been managed by 
 my collegue and me, muft be left unto fuch perfons as the king fhall 
 pleafc to employ in it. God be thanked he will find little difficulty; if 
 he can but write his name, he will be able enough for any thing that 
 remains to be done. I have been received here, as I dcfired ; if 1 would 
 have had more ceremony, the ftate would have allowed it to me, but 
 efteeming my powers extinft, by the king's reftitution, I did avoid all 
 things of that kind, that could be decently omitted. I find this crown 
 .exceedingly well fatisficd with the peace that is made, and refolved to 
 perform exaftly and handfomely all that was agreed, England is looked 
 upon as the ftate, whofe fricndfliip they defire more than any in the 
 world, and his majefty will find by their refpedts unto him, hov/ much 
 thev value it. The minifters employed from hence into England are 
 recalled, and a man of quality will very fuddenly be fent ambaflador 
 thither. My bitjincfs hei'c hath gone well etiougb^ if the peace had been con- 
 cluded a little fooner, I could not have dejired better. I am uncertain how 
 my aSfions or perfon luill be looked upon at home. I hope IJljall be able to give 
 a good accoimt of all that I hdve done here^ and for other things I mnf take 
 tny fortune, with the rejl of my companions. The council in their laft letter 
 to my collegue and me faid, that for the future we muft expert orders 
 from the king, unlefs we did refolve to return home, according to the 
 liberty formerly granted unto us. We embrace that conceffion, and the 
 peace being made for which we were fent, refolve to return, except wc 
 have fome command from his majefliy; if we receive any fuch, they 
 fliall be obeyed ; nothing elfe Ihall by our confents retard our return. 
 I am 
 
 Your Lordfhip's, etc. 
 Stockholme, June 23, 1660. Alg. Sydney,, 
 
 A. SYDNEY To HIS FATHER ROBERT EARL OF LEICESTER 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 I have this day received the news of the king's entry into London, and 
 of your lordfhip's being chofen one of his majefty's council. I do not 
 know how much this firft ftep may conduce to reftore your lordfhip to 
 the honours you have formerly held, nor how far you defire to make ufe 
 of fo favourable an occafion ; I only wifh, all may fucceed according unto 
 your own choice and defire. As foon as the peace was here concluded, 
 my collegue, and I, fent an exprels with the news of it, and a letter to 
 the king, inclofed in one unto my lord of Northumberland , not knowing 
 that your lordfhip was then in town. I appointed him to make all x\\t 
 hafte he could, and he thinking to do fo, chofe the way by fea from 
 
 4 B 2 Hamburgh^
 
 14 LETTERS OF ALGERNON SYDNEY, 
 
 Hamburgh^ and was by contrary winds detained in the Rlbe^ much longer 
 than was for our convenience that fent him. I hear two other packets of 
 mine were alfb kept at H.a?nbitrgb, until his coming ; for they being 
 dirc£lcd to Mr. Thurloey as I had been commanded to do, the merchant 
 who receives my letters there, hearing of his difgrace, would not fend 
 them until my own fervant came ; by which means, 1 believe I fhall be 
 thought very negligent of writing, at the time that I was moft diligent, 
 I did hope, that by the time I could return from hence, our meflenger 
 might have met me with an anfwer unto my letters at Copenhagen. I 
 now defpair of that, and am abfolutely uncertain what courfe I fhall take, 
 unlefs I find fome other letters, at my return, that may inftru£t me. Your 
 lordfliip may eafily imagine, I vv^ould be unwilling to ftay in a place, 
 where I have been long under a charatler that rendered m.e not incon- 
 fiderable, now that my powers are extinguifhed, and I am left in a private 
 condition : and that it is very unfuitable unto my fortune, to continue 
 here with a numerous family, at a great charge, without knowing, 
 whether the bills drawn for monies taken up here, according to our 
 allowance, Vv'ill be paid or not. On the other fide, I know the advantage 
 it would be to me, to have new orders from the king, and am unwilling 
 to put myfelf out of a condition of receiving them, unlefs I am thereunto 
 necelfitated, or know that none will be fent. 'The neivs I hear from 
 England, of public things, is punEiiial and certain enough, but my friends 
 arc fo fJjort in what particularly relates unto myfelf that I can make no 
 judgment at all upon what they fay. Perhaps the truth is, they can fay 
 nothing to my advantage, and leave me to guefs at the ref by public things. If 
 thofe letters I fent by our exprefs, and the others that came into his hands 
 at Hamburgh, ihould be long upon the way, thofe friends, who may 
 have it in their intentions to affift me, will not knov/ what it is that I 
 deiire, nor how to oblige me, though they fhould have power to do it. 
 It is very hard for me to know fo much as what to afk of them, when I 
 know not what is proportionable unto that which may be obtained, nor 
 whether I can flay in thefe parts, for an anfwer unto my letters, or not. 
 J fhall therefore conclude what I have to fay relating to my own concern- 
 ments, in defiring your lordfhip, and my lord of Northwnberhmd, to do 
 that which you think beil, according to the prefent ftate of things, and 
 to fend me dire*Slions how to difpofe of myfelf, which I fhall exactly 
 follow. Whatever is fent to me, will be befl direded to Mr. Samuel 
 Mifenden, fecretary to the Englijh company at Hamburgh, where I may 
 find them, if I cannot ftay at Copenhagen until they arrive. Your lordfliip 
 may better know my motions than myfelf, for I fhall take my meafures, 
 for flaying or returning, jufl according to what I fhall hear from England. 
 My rccreditivcs arc now ready, I think I fliall receive them this day, and 
 may take my leave of this court to morrow. I faw a letter lately from 
 Mr. Somtnerdike, of a frefh date, from the Hague, wherein he fays, your 
 lordfliip is to he fent governor into- Ireland; I do not know how much 
 credit to give unto that report, hearing nothing of it from England; 
 
 but
 
 TAKEN FROM THE SYDNEY PAPERS 15 
 
 but if that were true, I fhould not be content to flay here, believing, that 
 if I am capable of doing fcrvice in any place in the world, it is there, 
 where I have ibme knowledge of perfons, places, and bufincfs ; but how 
 likely my fervice is to be accepted, I cannot at all judge. I am 
 
 Your Lordfliip's, etc. 
 Stockholme, June 27, 1660. Alg. Sydney. 
 
 A. SYDNEY TO HIS FATHER ROBERT EARL OF LEICESTER 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 At my return from Stockholme., the 8th of "Jidy., I found fome letters 
 that gave me more knowledge of bufinefs in England., relating unto us 
 who are employed here, than I had formerly received ; and in one of them, 
 from lir 'jfohn 'Temple^ I find your lordfl\ip is of opinion I fliould return 
 immediately home, which I did prefently refolve to do with all the fpeed 
 I can, waving that confideration, which for fome time had detained me, 
 of expedling the return of the meflenger fent with the nevf s of the peace, 
 and anfwers to the letters fent by him. It would perhaps have been 
 better for us to have returned immediately after the conclufion of our 
 treaty ; but the bufinefs was fo imperfect, by reafon of the difpute about 
 our fignature, and granting the guaranty, that we could not think it fit 
 for us to withdraw ourfelves without order, or at leafl: ftaying fo long as 
 that orders might poflibly be fent, after the account we- had given of the 
 ftate of affairs here, which we, judging according to what we heard 
 from 'England, had little reafon to think would be refufed : and I think 
 it was a far greater refpedt unto the king, to ceafe from ading any thing 
 by powers not derived from him, and to firay here, as private men, 
 attending his pleafure, than on a fudden, to throw off the bufinefs, and 
 to be gone as in a chafe. I confefs, I was not averfe to have returned 
 immediately, but I did more apprehend the being accufed, as I often am, 
 of precipitation, than the evils that could befal me by my ftay. The 
 laff letters we received from the Council, referred us to fuch further 
 orders as we fliould receive from the king, and no private letter made any 
 doubt, but that fuch as were neceifary would be fent, if we were not 
 already come away ; and knowing what part that Council had in the 
 king's reftitution, I thought they very well knew his majePcy's mind, and 
 were not likely to differ from him. Befides, the council gave us order to 
 fignify unto both crowns, his .majefty's being proclaimed, and invited' 
 home to execute the kingly ofHce ; which could not be dope decently, 
 but by going to Stockholme. I confefs., I did not think myfclf at all a[fured 
 of being owned, or that new orders would be fent unto me ; hut that was 
 rather what I guefed upon the general fate of things, than grounded upon 
 what I heard jrom any perfon that I trufed until my return thither. I had 
 written to your lordfhip the 9th of this month, from Elfnore., but the 
 
 poll
 
 t6 LETTERS OF ALGERNON SYDNEY, 
 
 ^oft went fo fuddenly from hence, that all my letters of that date came 
 too late. The lame day I received a letter from Powell, and an anfwer 
 unto fome fent by him. I fhall, with all poffible fpeed, obey your 
 lordlhip's command fent by him, in removing to Hamburgh^ and from 
 thence into Holland or fome place in Genuatiy, where I may lie ftill a 
 while, and fee what is to be expedled for me. The Swedljh commif- 
 fioners here, are bufy in tranfporting their troops ; the 8th of this month 
 -was the day in which the evacuation ought to have been perfected, and 
 the cartle of Cronymbiirgh delivered, neither of which is yet done ; they 
 ftill retain that place, and the one half of their army is not yet tranf- 
 ported. They lay the fault upon the Danes, in not providing veffels for 
 them ; there is fome colour for this, but the truth is, they are glad, upon 
 any pretence whatfoever, to ftay here as long as they can, to eat up that 
 little which remains in this defolated country, and to fpare their own 
 quarters ; fo that whereas they were obliged to furnifli a good number of 
 barks for their own tranfportation, they have not brought one, but leave 
 the burthen wholly upon the Danes \ fill many of the barks, provided 
 for the troops, with the goods plundered in the country, and have, 
 yefterday, made them pay 1500 ducats in money, for the tranfporting 
 two Finland regiments, alleging no other reafon, than that if they had 
 it not, they would not remove from hence. The Swedes have ftrained 
 themfelves to the uttermoft, to latisfy and retain their German troops, in 
 giving good confiderable fums of money to the officers, and to every 
 horfcman four rix-doUars in money, and twelve Dutch ells of cloth ; 
 this, in another country, would be a fmall matter, but here it is thought 
 a profufe liberality, yet that doth not ferve ; there is near two thoufand 
 of them who have left their colours, and lie about in the woods, and fafl: 
 places of this country, robbing and killing all that come into their hands, 
 profeffing they will rather fuffer all things, than go into Sweden, from 
 •whence they can never hope to return ; the beft thing that can be expe£led 
 for them, is the war with Miifcovy, which they abhor, more of their 
 number being likely to perifti by famine, before they can pals the vaft 
 dcfcrts that lie between the Swedijh territories and Miifcovy-, than by the 
 fword, when they are entered into it. Thefe German troops were 
 fourteen regiments of horfe, of eight companies in each, which are now 
 reduced to eight regiments, confilling each of four companies, and 
 they about four fcore foldiers befides officers. Penllons are given to all 
 the reduced officers ; a thoufand crowns the year to a colonel, 500 to a 
 lieutenant-colonel, 250 toa major, little confideratlon is had of the inferiors. 
 Thofc retained are for the moft part tranfported, and quartered in the 
 provinces ceded hy Denmark in the /?(?/Zj/<r/ treaty and this lately con- 
 cluded, which is a diredl violation of it; for the Gentlemen and 
 others are to enjoy all the privileges which they had formerly under 
 Denmark, and none is more certainly known to belong to the gen- 
 tlemen of Schotien^ and thofe other provinces, than that no foldiers 
 ihould be quartered upon them, or their boors, which comprehend all 
 
 the
 
 TAKEN FROM THE SYDNEY PAPERS 17 
 
 the country, except the lands belonging to the crown, and they being 
 now annexed to the crown of Sweden^ one may be fure will be well 
 enough preferved, and the whole burthen lie upon others. The Sivcdijh 
 commiiTaries refervc the troops of their own nation, and the Fin-' 
 landers^ to be the laft tranfported, and then fent into their quarters iu 
 the feveral provinces, which by the ancient conftitution of that kingdom, 
 are lb well diftrlbuted, that in time of peace there are twenty-three 
 regiments of foot, and eight regiments of horfe, the one of twelve 
 hundred, and the others fifteen hundred men in each, with no more 
 charge to the crown than fix dollars a year to a horfeman, and one to a 
 foot foldier; to be ready at all times to be employed whcreioever there, 
 is occafion ; and when any man or horfe dies, or is otherwife difabled, 
 another is imm.ediately fupplicd, by which means thefe regiments, 
 •which they call the immortal, are perpetually kept up in times of peace 
 or W'arj and this conftitution is the very nerves and ftrength of that 
 crown. When I w\as at Stockholme, the fenate did one thing which 
 hath much difcontented my fellow mediators and me. The count 
 d'Vlfeild^ formerly ambaflador in Efzgland^ had, upon a difcontent taken 
 at the king of Denmark^ about the fame time that Hannibal Lcjled fell 
 into difgrace, taken the king of Sweden''?, party, and did him great 
 fervice in the firft war with Demnark, and in the conclufion of the 
 i?(3/^_y A/ treaty ; after that he fell into disfavour with the king of Sweden,. 
 and at the time of his fecond irruption into Zealand, or a little after, was 
 imprifoned by him, and together with his lady, fifter to this king of 
 Denmark^ ftill kept very ftrldly. In the time of our late treaty, having 
 reconciled Hannibal Lcjled w\\\.o his mafter, the mediators were defirous 
 to preferve Vljeild from ruin alfo, who they knew was intended for 
 deftrudllon, there being many frivolous things laid to his charge, and, 
 as they were informed, witnefl'es fuborned againft him ; and though he 
 is mofi certainly comprehended in the general article of amnefly for all 
 things done in relation unto this war, and the articles for provinces ceded 
 by Denmark^ giving a full enjoyment of all rights, privileges., etc. 
 unto all fiobiles Jive ignobiles, ecclcjiajlici five Jeculares, it cannot be denied 
 but that he is under fome of thofe characters; neverthelefs, to avoid all 
 difputes, we were defirous to have him put in by name, and did not 
 defift, but upon the defires of the Swedijh commiffioners, that we 
 would for the honour of Sweden rather intercede for him when we went 
 to Stockholme , than particularly to nominate him ; and a letter was fent 
 from the queen and fenate, promifing that he fliould abfolutely be 
 reftored to his liberty, and enjoyment of all he had, upon our rcqueft 
 when we fhould come thither. My collegues not going, I took the 
 foliciting of that bufinefs upon me, being fully furnilhed with powers 
 to fpeak from them as from myfelf ; I defired the performance of the 
 treaty, in relation unto him, and the promife made to us. Many excufes 
 were found, as that it was a difhonour to their dead king, to releafe 
 a man whom he had thought deferved to be puniflied and imprifoned, 
 
 and
 
 i8 LETTERS OE ALGERNON SYDNEY, 
 
 and that a man of fuch eminence, might be a dangerous enemy unto 
 their crown, if he were let at hberty, after having been exafperated by 
 long hard uHige. We thought the alleging of fuch reafons, fomething 
 unfeafonable after the treaty concluded, wherein he was comprehended, 
 and the promife given for his releafe ; and befides, that the dead king 
 could not be difhonoured, by releafing a man in time of peace, whom he 
 had thought fit to imprifon in time of war ; nor could any thing be 
 more for their reputation, as themfelves had confefled, before the 
 peace was made, than that we fliould make that our requeft, which by 
 virtue of the treaty could be enforced ; unto which was added, that 
 he who hath been conHned to bis bed, by a long and as is thought 
 incurable ficknefs, contracted by this his imprifonment, could in no v^'ay 
 be apprehended by Sivedcn ; neither was any thing more contrary to 
 reafon, and juilice, than to make the injuries hitherto offered unto him, 
 the grounds of continuing them. Y/hen I found all this failed, I added, 
 that though I could not fay, I had any inftriidtions from the King, to 
 fpeak of this, or any other bufinefs, I could as a private man (I pre- 
 tending then to no public charadler) inform them, that as I had heard 
 this Count had ever, with great earneftnefs, ferved his majefty of 
 'EjUgland^ adhered clofely to his, and the late king his father's party, 
 and was, as I heard, much confidered by him ; that I did doubt, the 
 detaining him contrary to the treaty, and promife given, would be 
 difliked and refented by his majefty; and on the other fide, if his liberty 
 were granted upon this confideration, I would wave all others, and 
 endeavour to reprefent it, fo as his maicfty might receive it, as a kind- 
 nefs and civility fhewed unto himfelf : but all is in 'vain, he is very rich, 
 they have a mind to feed fome hwigry foldiers and courtiers with his ejlate ; 
 and I am afraid that if his majefty doth not interpofe his authority, they 
 will make a prey of him, which I do dcfire your lordfhip to reprefent 
 unto his majefty. I confefs, the alleging of the laft argument, might 
 look fomething ftrangely from me ; but I did not care, if I could have 
 done the bufinefs by it. I believe your lordfliip, and many other lords 
 of the council, may very well remember this perfon, who is certainly 
 of eminence, to defcrvc protedion in his misfortune; his fuff^erings have 
 been a full propitiation for his errors; his own mafter, who was moft 
 offended by him, pardons him, defires his liberty, and I do not think, 
 there is one perfon in all thefe parts, that doth not pity him, unlefs it 
 be thofe that gape for his confifcation. The French ambaflador hath the 
 fame fenfe of this, that I have, and doth promife to reprefent it, in the 
 fame manner, to the court of France. His difcourfes are much more 
 hard of it than mine, though, perhaps, in tenderncls of the Swedes, his 
 relations will be more gentle. I think myfelf obliged to add a few 
 xvords of a thing, concerning myfelf, which I hear is much fpoken of 
 at Whitehall; which is, that in this treaty, I have ever leaned too much 
 to the party of Siveden, and been too hard againft JD(?«w^rX', ofwbich, 
 perhaps fome part may be true; but this is true alfo, that my conftant 
 
 4 orders
 
 TAKEN FROM THE SYDNEY PAPERS 19 
 
 orders were, to uphold the king of Sivcdeii's interefl, as much as T could ; 
 and by the laft orders, that 1 received from the council in Aprils were 
 to endeavour to procure for the duke of Holjleine., the full benefit of the 
 Rojkyld treaty ; which is the point that pincheth the mofl of any upon 
 the king of Denmark^ as he himfelf hath told me, with fome kind of 
 complaint. Bcfides, my bufinefs here was, to procure the peace, and 
 to be againfi: whofoever refufed it, upon the terms agreed at the Hague. 
 The laft fummer, the ftop was plainly upon the Swcdijh fide, and I did fo 
 prefs then upon them, that I had hot difputeswith general Montague about 
 it, which made us part upon unfriendly terms; but it is certain, that 
 the king of Sweden, a little before his death, did incline to peace upon 
 thofe terms; fince his death, tlie fenate have wholly afl'cnted unto them, 
 the ftop hath been only on the Danijh fide; and at tlie laft, though I did 
 oppofe the Hollanders^ who would have impofcd Mr. de JV/t\ orders 
 upon Kngland, France and Sweden^ I did obtain the abfolute releafe of the 
 400000 dollars for Denmark, and feveral other conditions more gentle 
 for that king, than thofe contained in the agreements of the Hague, or 
 in the project, which was prefented and preffed by the Hollanders; which 
 will appear, by a note I have, of the particular points, as they were all 
 accorded by the Swedi/lj commiflioners, before the ambaftiidor of France^ 
 my colleague, or any of the Hollanders knew one word of them ; which I 
 did to make fliort work with the treaty, and made ufe of the Hollatiders 
 ftop of the SivediJJ} fliips, to gain their confent ; which I defire your 
 lordftiip to make known, as you fhall have occafion, or find it neceflary, 
 there not being one tittle, that I will not make appear to be exacftly true. 
 I muft alfo confefs, the king of Sweden had fuch qualities, as I did love 
 and admire, though I knew his errors alfo, I had inclinations to ferve 
 him, as far as my orders gave me leave, and did think it would be a 
 .great honour to me, to do a thing, which fuch a prince Ihould acknow- 
 ledge to be an obligation ; he did exprefs a fenfe of it, with klndnefs, 
 four hours before his death, which I thought did the more oblige me 
 to continue the fame good offices unto his fon ; which I hope neither 
 his majefty, nor any other well deferving pcrfon will think an error in 
 me, though the Hollanders do reprefent it, with all the bitternefs they 
 can. They pretend favour to Denmark ; but the true reafon of their 
 choler againft me, is, that I did oppofe them in the bufinefs oi Dron- 
 theime^ and Gluckjlad, which they would have extorted from Denmarky 
 upon pretence of their charges in this war; as well as their other defigns 
 againft Sweden, which are fo prejudicial unto England, that I ftiould have 
 been a very ill fervant to my country, if upon friendfliip and familiarity, 
 that I had had with their perfons, I had not thwarted them. I have troubled 
 your lordftiip with a long letter ; but the nature of the things I mention 
 is fuch, as I hope will perfiiade you to pardon me for giving you this 
 trouble. I am 
 
 Your Lordfliip's, etc. 
 Copenhagen, July 14, 1660. Alg. Sydney. 
 
 4C
 
 20 LETTERS OF ALGERNON SYDNEY, 
 
 I fhall yet add this, that if his majefty is not yet fatisfied with what 
 hath been done for Denmark by us here, there is a prefent occafion of 
 obHging extremely that crown. By the agreements of the Hague, Sweden 
 was to retain all the places and provinces, granted by the Rojkyld treaty, 
 except Dronthehne. Amongft others, there was the ifland of Borneholmey 
 which had revolted from the Sivedes, and killed their governor of that 
 nation, upon the engagement of the king of Denmark, never to 
 defert them, nor to fuffer them to return unto the dominion of Sweden : 
 neverthelefs, according to the faid agreement, the Swedes were to have 
 it delivered to them ; and the king of Den?nark, to gain the affiftance of 
 England 2a\dL Holland, had obliged himfelf thereunto; which went fo 
 much againft his heart, that I believe, he would have fuffered much, 
 rather than to have performed. To eafe him of that trouble, we propofed 
 an exchange of gentlemens lands \\\ Schonen, to be given to the crown 
 of Sweden for Bornehobne, and the king of DeJimark to fatisfy the 
 proprietors ; the time referved, for making the agreement, was until 
 Midjummer come twelvemonth, but it is made already ; the king of 
 Denmark is to give as much land as comes imto about one hundred and 
 thirty thoufand pounds fterling. Now if the king defires to uphold the 
 intereft of Denmark, I am very well alfured, he may caufe this land 
 to be remitted, and the way is this ; both parties will fue to his Majefty, 
 for the ratification of the treaty here, and the guaranty ; which he is in no 
 kind obliged to give, and may refufe unto Sweden, unlefs the land to 
 be given for Bornehobne, be remitted, as a thing extorted from Denmark 
 in its weaknefs. If that is not enough, his majefty may make a defenfive 
 alliance with Denmark, to affift that crown, if it be invaded by Sweden, 
 or any other ; and becaufe there may he. many breaches of the treaty, 
 which do not amount unto an invafion ; there may be a claufe parti- 
 cularly inferted, which may have the force of a guaranty of this treaty 
 unto Denmark, which will be a very uneafy pofture to Sweden, to find 
 Denmark fecured by the guarant)'-, and itfelf excluded. Befides, as this 
 treaty doth not give much fatisfadion in Holland, they will be glad of a 
 pretence, not to ratify the guaranty given by their minifters (there 
 cannot be a better, than to follow the example of England) and would be 
 glad of any occafion to prefs hard upon Sweden; befides, that as things 
 now ftand, they will do any thing, that his majefty fliall dcfire, and 
 both together will obtain from Sweden whatfoever they pleafe ; the fenate 
 knowing very well, that \^ Etigland or Holland be againft them, and the 
 other not for them, they will be in great danger of loling whatfoever they 
 hold, on this fide the fea. I do not only propofe this, but wall pawn my 
 life and reputation upon it, that if his majefty will give me the powers that 
 arercquifite, I will etfed it ; and if his majefty is not contented with this, 
 I have difcovcrcd fo much of the affairs of thcfe parts, that if your lord- 
 fhip do command me, I will fhew the way, how to drive the nail a good 
 deal farther, and not ftop, until you fliall fiy it is enough ; and that 
 which will help us in this bufinefs, is the opinion Sweden will have that 
 there is an intention of quarrelling with them, foj which they know, they 
 
 have
 
 TAKEN FROM THE SYDNEY PAPERS m 
 
 have given occafion enoup;li, fince the peace was concluded ; and upon 
 any terms, they mufl: avoid that, I will either ilay for an anfwcr unto the 
 letters I write at this time, or not, according to what I fhall hear from 
 your lordfliip, and my other friends, when I come to Hamburgh. 
 
 A. SYDNEY TO HIS FATHER ROBERT EARL OF LEICESTER 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 My colleague and I did take our leaves yefterday, of the king oi Den- 
 mark. He is now ready to embark for England. According to the direc- 
 tions, I have received from your lordlhip, I am taking my way by 
 Hamburgh and Holland. I do not yet very well know, in what place I fhall 
 ftay, until I hear farther from E?igland. I did hope that upon fuch occa- 
 fions as thofe, that have lately befallen me, your lordfliip would have been 
 pleafed to fend me fome commands and advices, how to difpofe of myfelf, 
 more particularly than by fuch a one, as I had fent over with letters. 
 My colleague will inform your lordfliip of as many particulars as you 
 will be contented to know. I fliall from Hamburgh give notice where I 
 will be, until I hear farther from England. I am 
 
 Your Lordfhip's, etc. 
 
 Copenhagen, July 22, 1660. Alg. Sydney. 
 
 A. SYDNEY TO HIS FATHER ROBERT EARL OF LEICESTER 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 I did the laft week write unto your lordfliip from Hamburgh. I am now 
 advanced four degrees fouthward to Frankfort. Whilfl: my employment 
 in Denmark and Sweden did continue, I could fometimes give your lord- 
 fliip account of bufinefs ; I can now fay little more than of places. 
 Whilfl I pafs unknown, all things are unknown unto me ; befides the 
 want of language hinders me from converfing with thofe ordinary 
 people I travel with. This want hath ever fince I left England., forced 
 me to make ufe of French and Latin., whereby I have recovered fome- 
 thing of what I had forgotten of the one, and learnt a little more than 
 I knew of the other ; the firfl ferves me amongft perfons of quality ; the 
 other helps me to the converfation of priefls, who, in all the countries 
 that I have palTed through, are the mofl ignorant people that ever I met 
 with of that profeffion, excepting that moft of them fpeak a little Latin. 
 The mofl eminent men amongfl them learn to underftand Englifl) ; their 
 libraries are full of Baxter., Burroughs., and other Englijlj puritan fermon 
 books, and out of them they preach. I v/as acquainted Avith one 
 Brokman., in Denmark., who had been in England', he hath all the books 
 of that kind, that I think have come out thefe twenty years ; knows 
 nothing but what he learns by rote out of them, and by their help is 
 grown fo eminent, that about two months fince, he was promoted to 
 
 4 C 2 the
 
 Z2. 
 
 LETTERS OF ALGERNON SYDNEY, 
 
 the beft bifhoprick in De?imark, next to that of Rojkyld. The town of 
 Hamburgh is exceedingly encreafed fince your lordlhip faw it, and the 
 fortifications upon which they were at work then, and five and twenty 
 years after it, are now perfefted, and as is faid are now as good as any 
 in the world. I never law any thing like it. The beft that are in Italy, 
 which are fo highly commended, look like lines caft up in a night, to 
 defend a camp, in comparifon of thefe. It confifts of one and twenty 
 bulwarks, all alike, except four towards a marfh, encompafled by the 
 Elbe, where an enemy can neither land, lie, nor make any approach. 
 They are lefs, the others of the full proportion of he Grand Royal. Two 
 of them have cafemates of earth, which though of fafcines, are thought 
 to be the beft. Between every pair of baftions, and before each port, 
 are very good ravelins. In the moft fufpedted places are two horn- 
 works, the one fingle, the other double. They have a vaft proportion 
 of artillery, ammunition, victuals, and all things neceffary for a long 
 fiege. That they abhor war, their motto is, Da pacetn domhie in diebus 
 mjlris. Whenfoever they are frighted, they will buy their peace. The 
 king of Denmark knows it, and if I am not miftaken, prepares to get a 
 good fum of money from them. Lubek decays daily, which is by all men 
 attributed to their Jtiffnefs in ?natfers of religion, in admitting Jione to live 
 amongft them but Lutherans. That town is ftrong, but not like Hainburgh. 
 I left the queen Chrijiina, at Hamburgh., with a defign of going into 
 Siveden, before the time of the diet, which is to begin the 22 of this 
 month, at Stockhohne. She is thought to have great defigns, of which 
 every one judges according to his humour. Some think flie will pretend 
 to the crown, others that fhe would be contented with the regency ; and 
 there doth not want thofe that fay ihe is employed from Rome, to fow 
 divifions in Sweden, and to make ufe of the prince Adolph\ difcontent, 
 others to marry him. I have converfed a good deal with her, and do not 
 believe a word of all this. She hath a great averfion to the prince Adolf by 
 thinks him not to be trufted with anything, nor capable of any great 
 bufinefs. When flie refigned the crown, fhe did publicly advife the 
 fenate not to admit that prince unto the crown, in cafe his brother fliould 
 die without fons, he being unfit for government, of an evil nature, and 
 of underftanding no ways able to bear fuch a weight ; upon Avhich, by 
 an a£b of the fenate, confirmed by the fucceeding diet, it was declared 
 that the crown ftiould defcend only to the heirs male of the king's body, 
 and thofe failing, the pov/er of clecflion to revert unto the fenate and diet. 
 This is the obftrudion unto prince Adolph\ pretenfion to be conftable, 
 left, that he having the power of the militia in his hands, might either 
 attempt fomething to the prejudice of the young king, or if he died, 
 ftrcngthen his own pretenfions. Notwithftanding this, he did write to 
 the queen Chrijlina, earneftly endeavouring to engage her, and offering 
 great ferviccs, if fhe would favour him. The contents of this letter 
 were reported to me, and I faw the anfwcr, which if he is not abfolutely, 
 out of Ilia wits, will take from him all hope of advantage from her. A 
 
 day
 
 TAKEN FROM THE SYDNEY PAPERS 23 
 
 day or two before Icaine from llcmihiirgb., talking with her of the opinions 
 people had of her pretcnfions to the crown or regency, flie t(jld rae 
 plainly, tbe7-e ivas but one place for her in Sweden, and having rejigned that., 
 Jhe could neither pretend again unto it, nor content herj'elf with any other. 
 I do not believe this barely becaufe flic fiid it [for I am in this year\- employ- 
 ment grown much lefs credulous than I ivas) but becaufe the impoflibility of 
 effeiling any thing is fo plain, that flic who hath a great deal of wit, and 
 as good councel as any is perhaps in Europe, cannot but fee it. For 
 befides the averfion that is to her religion, and the little appearance that 
 the jealous Swedes would give credit to her change, if fhe left it, the 
 fenate and nobility like no government fo well, as while the kings are in 
 minority ; for now they have the power in their own hands, whereas 
 before thev depended on the will of a king, and will more hardly be 
 brought to innovate any thing perhaps, than when their lafl king was 
 living. Thefe and many other reafons, do convince me, that her only 
 bufmefs is to procure of the diet, the fettlement of her yearly revenue of 
 two hundred thoufand dollars, referved at her refignation, of which for 
 thefe lall: four years fhe received but the tenth part ; and this being done, 
 to return to Rome, where flie had great defigns, of which I may fpeak- 
 more hereafter ; and there Ihe intends to live and die. The French 
 ambaffador hath orders to ferve her as much as he can, and fhe hath been 
 perfuaded to flay at Hamburgh, until he could have an anfwer to the 
 letters he wrote to Stockhohne, concerning her reception ; which caution 
 was very neceflary ; for though all the principal perfons of the fenate, owe 
 their fortunes to her ; no man can undertake, that if flie fhould go thither, 
 without fome engagement for her fecurity, fhe may not pafs the refi; of 
 her life in fome caftle of ^wf^i?;/, inftead of her palace at i^ow^". The firft 
 country that I entered in my pafHige from Hamburgh, was the duke of 
 Lunenburgh\. It extends itfelf above twenty Dutch miles in length, that 
 way which we came, but is extremely barren in all refpe£ts, as bad as the 
 worfl part of Sweden ; nothing is there to be feen, but heath, fand, and 
 bogs, little grafs, and lefs corn. He hath feveral fortified places, but 
 none good; and Zell, the place of his refidence, is no whit better than 
 the refl. There are of that family, four brothers, two by one wife, and 
 two by another. The eldefl of each bed, are governing princes. Each 
 of them pay penfions to their cadets. One of the latter fort, I have 
 known in Denmark ; he is a papift, and pretends to a red hat. The other 
 married the princefs Sophia, and being a man of better parts than the 
 others, doth govern them much for the prefent, and is likely to inherit 
 all their ftates, they having no children. From thence we came into the 
 territory of Brunfwick, which is a very good country, very like the beif 
 parts of Huntingtonjl.-'ire, but the people are poor and miferable; the 
 devaflations caufed by the long war not being yet recovered, of which, 
 I think, the principal caufe, is the princes continuing in time of 
 peace, the fame burthens that w^ere laid upon them by the foldiery. The 
 buildings in each of thofe countries, are poor, beggarly, and turn black 
 
 and
 
 24 LETTERS OF ALGERNON SYDNEY, 
 
 and foul with fmoak, which hath no pafTage to go out, hut what it fintls 
 through chinks and crannies. Mondagb and Nortbolme^ principal tov/ns 
 of this territory, deftroycd by 7"///^, in the war in the year 1622, when 
 the duke of Brunfwicke fided with the king of Denmark, have not yet 
 recovered themfelves. The old duke is ftill living, being novvr fourfcore 
 ' and three years old. Our next remove was to Cajpl^ the refidence of 
 the Calvinijl line of the landgraves of licjfe. The caftle doth overlook a 
 river like unto the Trent at Notfhighain, and a plain towards the fouth, 
 like unto that which lies between Nottingham and Leicejier. On the north 
 is a gentle rifing ground, of a very good foil, for about a mile ; the fight 
 that way is terminated by fteeper hills, and woods, which extend three 
 or four Dutch miles. The town is diftinguiflicd into two parts both very 
 ilrong, efpecially that wliich they call the ne%o. The greateft fault I find 
 in the works is, that the falle braye, which fhould overlook the counter- 
 fcarp, and defend that and the country beyond it, is fo low, as to be 
 of no ufe but to clear the ditch. There are alfo old fafhioned cafemates 
 of (tone, as low as the falfe braye, which, as I think, are of no ufe at all. 
 From thence we entered the other part of He/Je, governed by the Lutheran 
 line of the landgraves, under the name of landgrave of Armejlat, of the 
 fame family as the others. I faw nothing there that was remarkable. 
 The towns are poor and ill fortified ; the land generally is not very 
 fertile ; but. clean, pleafant, and very well furnifhed with fprings, rivers, 
 and woods. In pafling through all thefe countries, I do not fee many 
 gentlemen's houfes. Moll of them are feated upon extreme fteep bleak 
 rocks, which, they fay, are exceeding flrong, but of litde ufe, more than 
 being fafe in them, they not being of extent to keep any confiderable 
 garrifons, and that only of foot. Many of them are hardly acceflibJe for 
 one horfe, and incapable of receiving or maintaining many, though they 
 were. I did not fee any thing of neatnefs or handfomenefs about, or 
 in any houfe in all thofe countries. The people feem generally fierce, 
 harfh, and rude, much more than the Swedes. Whether that temper is 
 natural unto them., or grown by the cuftom of doing and fuffcring 
 mifchiefs in the time of the war, I am not able to judge. The women 
 have generally tanned fmoky faces ; motions and actions more fuitable 
 imto our fcx, than theirs, which may be caufed by their ugly dwellings, 
 poverty, and perpetual labour. All things belonging unto hufbandry are 
 performed by them. Our next ftage was to Fribiirgb, an imperial city, 
 that retains fome marks of having been confiderable, but never recovered 
 the dcftrudlion brought upon it by the Imperialijls and Spaniards, who, 
 without any provocation, thought fit to make that town a companion in 
 mifery and defolation with their neighbours of the Palatinate, when it 
 was ruined. About three Dutch miles from this town, begins the 
 territory belonging unto it, rich and pleafant, beyond any I have feen in 
 Germany. Here are the firfl; vineyards that wc have met with, except 
 two or three little draggling ones in the Landgrave of Heff'e d''ArmJ}at\ 
 country. The air and climate is here much more fweet and gentle than 
 
 I the
 
 TAKEN FROM THE SYDNEY PAPERS £$, 
 
 the others that we have pafTcd through, which is feen by the fruits that 
 are in great abundance, and good, but of no kind that is not ordinary. 
 The wine made here to me feems good ; but it is fmall and defpifed by 
 the good drinkers, who content themfelves with none but that of the 
 Rhi7ie. This town is great and fine, and when the works are perfedted, 
 will be very ftrong. They work very hard upon them, and, it is thought, 
 this year and part of the next fummer will complete them. I was 
 yefterday informed by fome perfons of quality, that fir Kenclni Dighy 
 had been here for many months, and went from hence about a year fince. 
 He went under the name of earl Digby^ admiral of the Britijh feas, and 
 chancellor to the queen of England, beaten out of his coimtry, with the 
 reft of the king's party, of which he had been. He caufcd his book De 
 corporibus, or De hmnortalitate animi, and fome others, to be here printed ; 
 and pretended to be the firft inventor of the fympathetical powder, and 
 magnetic cures of wounds and difeafes. When he went from that town, 
 he took upon him another perfonage, and paffing through places in 
 alliance with Sweden, pretended to be an ambaflador of that crown into 
 England, and was believed, until one of the counts of Lionhead, a man 
 of one of the principal families in Sweden, who lies now in this houfe, 
 and told me the ftory, did rectify the miftake ; informing them, that the 
 king of S-iveden did ufe rzeiiljer to employ Jlrangers, nor papijis in embajjies. 
 I do not know whether your lordfnip will be patient of the trouble of 
 thefe letters ; but I know nothing but inch ftuff as this, and nothing 
 better can be expeded from me, in the condition in which I now am. I 
 fliall ftay here as long as I can without lofing the feafon of paffing the 
 
 Alps, and ever be. 
 
 Your Lordfhip's, etc. 
 
 Franckfort upon Main, Alg. Sydney.. 
 
 Sept. 8, 1660. 
 
 When I was in Denmark, I received many curtifies from Mr. Myjfenden, 
 fecretary to the Etiglijlj company at Hamburgh ; and when I came to that 
 city, I lay in his houfe. He is defirous to be employed by the fecretaries 
 of ftate, to give intelligence of what he can learn of the alFairs oi Germany, 
 Denmark, or Sweden. Mr. Avery had the fame office, and before he 
 was refident for the king, was employed in the fame work. He is a 
 difcreet man, of good parts, ftudied well, bred a lawyer, hath good 
 credit both with his countrymen and others where he lives. L had promifed 
 this employment for him, under thcfe that fo-rmcrly governed, but that he 
 was too 7nonarchical for me and my brethren. If your lordihip, by means of 
 the fecretaries, or otherwife, as you ffiall think fit, would prefer him, you 
 fhall do me a very great favour. I am obliged to him, and know not 
 how to recompence him. I dare engage my credit to your lordffiip, he 
 is fit for the work, and will be contented with any falary that ffiall be 
 given. If any friend of his waits upon your lordffiip, I defire you will 
 be plcafed to favour them, and let them know what I have written for 
 hinf.
 
 ji6 1.ETTERS OF ALGERNON SYDNEY, 
 
 A. SYDNEY TO HIS FATHER ROBERT EARL OF LEICESTER 
 
 ,My Lord, 
 
 I think the cotmfel given me by all my friends to keep out o/" England y^^r a 
 i!)hile, doth too clearly appear to have been good, by the ufage my cotnpanions 
 Jjave already received, and perhaps will be yet further verijicd by ivhat they 
 .iinllfind. Nothing dothfeem more certain to me, than that 1 muf either have 
 .procured my fafety^ byfuch means as fir Arthur Hafelrig is faid to have ufed\ 
 or run the fortune of fome others, who have Jhewn themfelves tnore rfolute. 
 I hope my behig here will in a Hiort time fhew, that the place was not ill 
 .chofen, and that, befides the liberty, and quiet, which is generally granted 
 to all perfons here, I may be admitted into that company, the knowledge 
 .of which will very well recompencc my journey. I was extremely 
 iunwilling to ftay in Hamburgh, or any place in Germany, finding myfelf 
 too apt to fall too deep into melancholy, if I have neither bufinefs, nor 
 .company, to divert me ; and I have fuch an aveifion to the convcrfatio7iy 
 find entertainments of that country, that if I had ftaid in it, I muft have 
 lived as a hermit, though in a populous city. I am here well enough at 
 .eafe, and believe I may continue fo. Unlefs fomebody from the court of 
 England doth think it worth their pains to difturb me, I fee nothing likely 
 to arife here to trouble me. I have already vifited feveral cardinals. To 
 jnorrow I intend to pay the fame refpedl to the cardinal Chigi, nephew 
 to the pope. He hath already granted me the liberty of waiting upon 
 him, which was fignified unto me by another eminent perfon of the fame 
 robe and degree. They are all generally civil, and I afk no more. About 
 ten days fmce, young fir Thomas Gage came to this town, and died of a 
 fever a few days after. He is this day to be buried, by the care of his 
 yoimger brother, in the Englijlj ]t(u\i'& chapel. I do not here fee thofe 
 figns of eafe, fatisfa£lion, and plenty, that were in pope U7-ban\ time. 
 But that little concerns ftrangers ; the company of perfons excellent in all 
 fciences, which is the bef thing Jl rangers canfeek, is never wanting. Never- 
 thelefs, there is not perhaps fo many of thofe, as formerly ; for the hopes 
 of preferment, which ufually drew them hither, is fomething fliortened, 
 by drawing all principal benefices into a few hands, and charging the 
 others with too heavy penfions, fo that now bifhops are often fought, 
 more than bilhoprics. The moft eminent perfons, that I have yet feen, 
 are the cardinals Pallavicini, (who wrote the ftory of the council of 
 Trent, in anfwer to that formerly written by Fadre Paolo) Azzolini, and 
 a Carmelitano fcalzo. I have found few perfons that I can think equal to 
 them. I find none of the Englijl:, whom I knew when I was laft here, 
 now alive, except father Courtney, then re£tor of the jefuit's college, now 
 Penitentiero di San Pietro, and he is fick, old, and decrepit. Mr. Somerfet 
 is ilill here, a canon of San Pietro, but little efteemcd. Cardinal 
 
 Francefco 
 
 I,'
 
 TAKEN rllOM THE SYDNEY PAPERS 27 
 
 Francefco Barbarini Is very little changed fince I formerly faw him. 
 Though he is old, he is lb frcfli and flrong, as to be likely to live many 
 years. As many as I live, I fhall be 
 
 Your Lordfliip's, etc. 
 Roma, Nov. .;.J, 1660. Alg. Sydney. 
 
 A. SYDNEY TO HIS FATHER ROBERT EARL OF LEICESTER 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 Though it is long fince I heard from your lordlhip, and the contents of 
 the lail letter I received were fuch, as gave me little cxpedation of having 
 others, or reafon to think mine would be acceptable unto you, I elleem 
 it my duty to continue writing, until I do by fome more indubitable 
 teflimony find your lordfhip hath fo far rcjedled me, as to be unwilling to 
 hear of me, or my concernments. I have at this time very little to fay 
 of either. I chofe this place, as that wherein I might moft certainly 
 difentangle myfelf from all bufinefs. I fought nothing here but reft, and 
 good company. I find reafon to hope, I may enjoy the one without 
 moleftation, and / do not know, whether any place in the world doth afford 
 the other in greater perfeBion^ than that which I here meet with. I defire to 
 know whether your lordfhip hath the hiftory of the council of Trent, 
 written by Padre Sforza Pallavicini, in anfwer to that which goes under 
 the name of Pietro Soave. If you have it not I will fend it, and, if your 
 lordlhip pleafe, will make a colleclion of fuch other books, as are mofl 
 eftcemed here, and I can guefs will be moft agreeable unto you. No 
 work that hath come to light, fince that of the cardinal Baronius, is 
 thought fit to be preferred before this of Pallavicini. It will be an 
 ornament to your library, as the author of it is to the confiftory. Others 
 of the fame order receive an addition of honour from the purple conferred 
 upon them, he confers honour upon the purple by receiving it. His 
 perfonal merit adds luftre unto his dignity, and every one doth confefs he 
 deferves to advance one ftep further, unto that only feat which now is 
 above him ; but the name of a Jefiiit doth for ever exclude him. The 
 extraordinary ambaflador of Spain, doth ftill eagerly folicit the deciding 
 of that queftion, which hath been fo long difputed between the Scotijh and 
 Thotnijis, whether the Virgin Mary was exempted from the fpot of 
 original fin. This is his only bufinefs, he is only her folicitor, and 
 meddles not with any bufineis of ftate. About a fortnight fince he 
 preached publicly upon this fubjed", at the church belonging to the Padri 
 delP Oratorio. All that order, the Francifcans, and moft of the Jefidts, 
 join with him, in favour of the Virgin. The Dominicans., and other 
 Thomijis, oppofe the decifion of this point, defpairing of having any in 
 favour of their fchool, and think it advantage enough for them to hinder 
 the vidtory of their adverfaries. That party is thought will prevail, the 
 
 4 D pope.
 
 28 LETTERS OF ALGERNON SYDNEY, 
 
 pope, and confiftory, not undertaking to determine a controverfy, that, 
 after long difpute, was thought too difficult for the council of Trent. 
 The king's piety, and rninifters zeal, are both conamendcd, and fo the 
 bufinefs is like to reft. 
 
 I do not hear that Mr. Colbert *, fent hither by the king of France, to 
 fupport the interefts of the dukes of Parma and Alodena, is likely to have 
 any great fuccefs ; nor is his perfou very acceptable, that hath no other 
 bufinefs here, but to folicit bufinelfes very prejudicial to the church. 
 The firft is upon a difpute concerning the dutchies of Ronciglhne^ and 
 Cajlro^ in \Yhich cafe there is already a decree palled in Ruota^ whereby 
 they both devolve unto the Camera Apojlolica, if not redeemed within a 
 certain time, now within three or four days of expiring. The other is, 
 concerning the Lago di Como^ in Lombardy, ceded unto the church by 
 Ferrante d''EJie, with the dutchy of Ferrara, as the duke of Modena 
 pretends, for a certajn fum of money fpent in the war, which, by the 
 revenue of it, is long fince paid : But it is here faid, that the feffion was 
 abfolute, nomine poenae et in partem mulctae, for the unjuft ufurping, and 
 detaining of the faid dutchy, which, as a feud of the church, did devolve 
 unto it, by the extindtion of the mafculine and legitimate line of the dukes 
 that held it. Many arguments are ufed on both lides in thefe two contro- 
 verfics ; and to all thofe that are alleged in favour of the two dukes, 
 the pope doth ufually anfwer coldly, that he muft keep all, of which he 
 
 finds 
 
 * At Rome, he acquired his tafte in the polite arts, in Holland hij fkill in manufadtures 
 and commerce, to the amazing benefit of his country, and the genuine honour of his mafler \ 
 nor were the perfecutions, dragoonings, malTacres, praftifed in France till after his death. 
 
 Fine da i tempi del Boccaccio ufarono i Fiorentinl avere ai lore ftipendj uomini dotti, 
 
 e artefici eccellenti ; fia per compagni iiella amenita de i loro fludj, come per I'educazione 
 delle loro famiglie. 
 
 Cofimo dei Medici, detto Padre della Patria, ebbe I'Arciropolo e Marfdio Ficino, uomini 
 dottiilimi, e fpecialmente nelle lettere grcche. 
 
 Piero ebbe Leonardo Aretino, il Poliziano e il Poggio. Lorenzo cbbe il Lafcari, il 
 Tarcagnotta, il Gaza, Giorgio di Trabizonda, Francefco Filelfo, e finalmentc Michel- 
 angelo, il quale conduffe la Pittura, la Scultura, e I'Architettura a quella perfezione, a cui 
 Giotto, Donatcllo, e Brunellefco le avevano incaminate. 
 
 E Leon X, figlioio di Lorenzo, fu, quanto al favorire i Letterati e Profeflbri di qualunque 
 arte liberale, rAugufto de i tempi fuoi. 
 
 Quefto in'^eniio Itiffo di mantenere ncUe famiglie dei Grandi, come dei privati Cittadini, 
 foggctti cofpicui, ft Ifempre cojiumato dal prima rijorgere delle hclle difctpllne, ed ancor ft cojliima 
 per iiitta Italia. \i quello che e piii mirabile, ]o coftumarono anco Donne d'alto aflarc, 
 come la famofa Marchefa di Pefcara, la Marchefa del Vafto, la Contefla Gambara, la 
 DuchefTa di Urbino, prima Protettrice di Raflacle, e moke piii, (celebrate dall'Ariofto, 
 e da altri Autori Italiani) forfe perche mancava loro quella cccupazionc, ck: ft e inirodotta dope 
 dei Cicijbei. 
 
 Ufo SI nobile ed elegante fu di poi adottato gradualmento da altre Nazioni a niifura die il 
 fapere s'ando propagando tra loro ^ ma da niuiio con maggior' fervore quanto dal Magnanimo 
 Francefco I, Re di Francia : c Colbert, niiniftro dclia maggior capacita, ammaeftrato dai 
 ■»iaggi, ch'ei, contro il folilo dei fuoi compatriotti, fece per I'Europa, perfuafq anco Lulgi 
 Xmi d'adottarlo. 
 
 Decamerone di Giouannc Boccaccio. Li Londra, prcflb Giouannc Nourfe, 
 1762, in quarto. — In the notes, by the learned editor Vincenzio MariincllJ.
 
 TAKEN FROM THE SYDNEY PAPERS 
 
 finds the church poflelled, and will by no means be perfnaded to diminidi 
 St. Peter^s patrimony; He might ufe much better rcafons, drawn from 
 the merits of his caufe ; but to avoid the trouble of many words he 
 ufeth thcfe, and leaves the intricate difputcs unto his minlfters. The 
 cardinal C/6z|g-/ received Colbert without any dcmonflration of kindnefs, or 
 refped, hardly performing thofe ordinary civilities, which he ufeth to 
 private gentlemen that vifit him without any public charafter. Thofe of 
 the FrtVi'cZ' fadlon dillike this, but that Is not very much confidered. I am, 
 
 Your Lordlhlp's, etc* 
 Roma, December 14, 1660. Alg. Sydney, 
 
 A. SYDNEY To HIS FATHER ROBERT EARL Of LEICESTER 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 I write to your lordfliip fometlmes becaufe I am not forbidden ; not 
 often, becaufe I am neither commanded, nor have reafon to think that 
 diligence would be acceptable unto you. Here is news enough for thofe 
 that feek much, very little for me that leek none. The bufinefs of P^^.tot^? 
 is now decided ; the pope hath declared it to be efcheated to the Camera 
 ApojloUca. Many here thought fome way would have been found to 
 inveft one of the nephews with thofe dutchies. The generofity of that 
 omlffion is much applauded. His hollnefs hath not appeared publicly at 
 any of the ceremonies this Chrijlmas. Some fay he Is really fick to fuch 
 a degree, that within a fhort time another fucceffor muft be provided for 
 St. Peter. Others think it is only unwillingnefs to be follcited in the 
 bufinefies of Parma and Mode?ia, In which he is refolved to do nothino-. 
 
 o 
 
 I believe the latter opinion Is the trueft, unto which may perhaps be added 
 a good meafure of melancholy, from which evil the triple crown doth 
 not defend him. I went yefterday with a cardinal to the palace, and with 
 fome of my acquaintance to the cardinal Nipote his Anticamera, where I 
 faw Mr. Colbert received with little more ceremony than a private gentle- 
 man. At the fame place I was told by a perfon of great credit, that 
 about four years fmce, father yobn Hilford, a BenediBinc, did fhew him 
 an old prophefy, that the king of England lliould be reftored by a Monk, 
 by which I think he underftood one of his own order, and not the furname 
 of a flimlly. The lafl: Sunday in the Minerva was a folemn abjuration of 
 the herefy of one who faid he was Chrift, and had' accordingly chofen 
 his apoftles. After having propagated fuch dodrlne, he had fo much 
 wit as to retire himfelf into Germany, and Is now at Trezen. His ftatue 
 was the next day publicly burnt iiel Campo di Fiore. The fame day 
 the count di Mola, a Neapolitan, was produced by the congregation del 
 Sant^ Vffizio, who being brought up a Chrijlian, had turned ''Jew, and 
 induced a nephew and two others of his kindred to do the like. Upon 
 his repentance and abjuration of that religion, he was condemned only to 
 a prigione forftiale (as they call it) for his life ; which is a clofe place 
 
 4 D 2 betv.een
 
 30 LETTERS OF ALGERNON SYDNEY, 
 
 between four walls of about eight feet fquare, with a little hole open to 
 receive meat ; and the changing the fentence of death unto this, upon his 
 penitence, is termed mercy. His difciples fuffer the fame punifhment. 
 The difcovery was made by his own daughter, with whom he denied to 
 give any portion, Ihe having chofen a hufband for herfelf. This Cbrijlmas 
 here hath been paffed in various ceremonies, in few of which I have been 
 prefent, finding the curiufity ufual in ftrangers, to be very little fuitable 
 to my age or humour. Neverthelcfs I have not omitted them all ; 
 particularly I thought the funeral obfequies of Itmocent the tenths which 
 are annually celebrated, worth feeing, and yefterday was prefent at them 
 in the pope's chapel, feven and thirty cardinals being prefent. I have 
 vifited nine or ten of that order, fome of them the moft extraordinary 
 perfons that ever I met with, others equal with the reft of the world. 
 With fome I pretend only the performance of a civility, and defire only a 
 little knowledge of them ; with others I feek a ftralter converfation, 
 and by frequent vifits endeavour to gain it. The two cardinals, Francefco 
 and Antonio Barbarini, are very much changed in fortune, little in 
 perfon, fince I was here laft. The cardinal Chigi is a young man of good 
 countenance, well behaved, pleafant humour, good wit, but more a 
 friend to pleafure than buiinefs. Sacchettl and Spada are the moft 
 efteemed for civil prudence, and beft deferving to be pope ; but the firft 
 hath been twice repulfed, and the other hath fuch a multitude of nephews, 
 that though the feat were vacant, it is not thought that either of them 
 would be chofen. The moft learned are faid to be Pallavicini and 
 Albizzi. Azzollni, at the age of thirty fix years hath already gained 
 the reputation of as good a head as any is in Italy. He is the chief of 
 the Sqiiadrone 'volante, the principal inftrument of fetting the crown upon 
 this pope's head : and according to the phrafe here, his vote is one of the 
 beft in the college. I do moft frequently vifit him of any, and have 
 received great civilities from him. 1 bear from fome of my friends, that 
 your lordfhip had been defired to do that buiinefs for me which hath been 
 often mentioned, and that may be eafily fettled, upon the compofure of 
 that with the lord Strafigeways ; and your lordfliip's anfwer was, I had 
 made a provifion for myfelf, and difcharged you of that care. If there 
 be no difference in living, but he that hath bread hath enough, I have 
 fome hopes of finding a provifion for a longer time than I mentioned. 
 If there be no reafon for allowing me any afliftance out of the family, as 
 long as there is a poflibility for me to live without it, I have difcharged 
 you. If thofe helps are only to be given to thofe that have neither fpirit 
 nor indiiftry in any thing to help themfelves, I pretend to deferve none. 
 Or if fupplies arc only the rewards of importunity, or given to avoid the 
 trouble of being foHcited, I think I fhall for ever free you from that 
 reafon. And as I liave for fome years run through greater ftraits, than 
 I believe any man of my condition hath done in England, fince I was 
 born, without ever complaining, I fhall with filence fuffer wliat fortune 
 focver doth rcm.^.in unto me. I confffs I thought another conclufiou 
 
 might
 
 TAKEM FROM THE SYDNEY PAPERS 
 
 might reafonably have been made upon what I had faid, but I leave that 
 to your lordfhip's judgement and confcience. If you are fatislicd in your- 
 felf, you fliall not receive any trouble from 
 
 Your Lordflup's, etc. 
 Roma, Dec. 29, Jan. 8, 1660. Alg. Sydney. 
 
 A. SYDNEY TO HIS FATHER ROBERT EARL OF LEICESTER 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 According to my cuilom, I give your lordfliip this teflimony of my 
 being alive ; which I think ncceffiiry, fince your lordfliip gives me no fign 
 of remembering I am fo. Letters from hence can be of little other uie, 
 either to your lordihlp, or me, though I have fome advantages in conver- 
 fation, which are not ufually allowed unto ftrangers. I cannot attain to 
 the knowledge of great bulineffes, and the little common things are 
 hardly worth relating. I mufi: fend fuch as I have. The lafl Sunday was 
 fevennight, the pope came to the PoUJId church, to afTift at the fmging of 
 the YV Deum^ for their great victory obtained againft the Miifcovites. He 
 was accompanied only with guards, and domeftics. No cardinal was pre- 
 fent. As I formerly told yourlordfhip, there was a belief in town, that he was 
 fick ; but at this time of his firft appearance, he feemed to be fo v/ell in 
 health, that his former retirement is attributed either to his unwilling- 
 nefs to be folicited, or his natural melancholy. There are many characfters 
 given of him. That which appears to me moft probable is, that he is a 
 good man, of a gentle nature, free from all vice, even from his youth, 
 little ambitious, or covetous, fomething too indulgent to his nephews, 
 of a fine wit rather than a great judgment, a great delighter in poetry, 
 hiftory, and that learning which is here called belle lettere ; he is much 
 better verfed in thefe, than in deeper ftudies. From hence was his firfl: 
 preferment, upon occafion of a copy of verfes made by him, in praife of 
 Vrban VIII, given to Padre Sforza Pallavicini^. (then jefuit, nov? cardinal) 
 and by him fhewed to the pope, who pleafed with them, would know 
 the man, then a private gentleman of Sienna^ and he being brought to 
 him by Pallavicini^ through a iimilitude of nature and ftudies, grew kind 
 to him, perfuaded him to turn prelate, promifmg preferment, and per- 
 formed it. Now he is attained to the higheft, he fhews kindnefs to the 
 family of his benefaiHor, made Pallavicini a cardinal, and is thought 
 more his friend, than to any one of the college. His government is 
 gentle and eafy, neither troubling his neighbours with great under- 
 takings, nor his fubjedts with too heavy impofitions. To fay the truth, 
 they are hardly able to bear thofe that were laid by his two laft prede- 
 ceiTors. The prices of all things neceflary to life are much increaled, 
 fince I was here the iirft time; but temperance is in falhion ; everybody 
 lives upon little, fo that the burden is not fo great to ftrangers. Five 
 jQiillings a day ferves me and tv.'o men very well, in meat, drink and 
 
 firing.
 
 32 LETTERS OF ALGERNON SYDNEY, 
 
 firing. At the time the pope was faid to be fick, Rome was full of 
 difcourfes, who was moft probable to lucceed. Many thought Mazarini^ 
 though there arethofe reafons againft him, that never any other did know 
 how to furmount ; but his reputation and treafure are thought to break 
 through all difficulties. The other day, the cardinal Sacchetti^ who. bred 
 him, told me, he did believe him the moft eminent man for wit and 
 parts, that the world had produced in many ages. The others, who could 
 make the faireft pretence-s, are Sacchetti^ Spadcif and Pallavicini. The 
 firft two, have been already repulfed in two conclaves, when they were 
 very near being eledled ; and Paul III is the only man that ever found a 
 v»^ay of gaining by a third atteilipt, that which he failed of in the two firft. 
 Pallav'icini is for ever excluded, by being a Jefult. Difcourfes of the 
 others pafs into infinite variety and uncertainty, it being impoflible to 
 propofe any one, againft whom as good reafons may not be alleged, as 
 againft five or fix others. There are two moft eminent in wit and virtue, 
 AzzoHni and Pio ; but the eldeft of them is not forty years old, which 
 youth cuts ofi^ their pretences, for the prefent. I have much more 
 acquaintance amongft the prelates, than the nobility of this place. The 
 Ur/mi, CoJonnU SavelH, and others of the moft antient Roman families, 
 have loft all the vigour and virtue of their anceftors. Their moft remark- 
 able qualities are now pride, lazinefs, and fenfuality. I do not find, that 
 thofe of the other robe want any quality, that makes men eftimable ; and 
 they are fo far from that loofenefs of life, of which they have been 
 formerly, and ordinarily accufed, that I have not yet feen any of that 
 order do an indecent thing, nor fpeak a loofe word ; and yet I mark them 
 as narrowly as I can. There is a great alteration in that kind for the 
 better, fince I was here laft. Prince Pamphili is employing a great part 
 of the treafure, gained in the time of his uncle's reign, in building three 
 churches ; of which one is for the Jefuits at Monte Cavallo. Cardinal 
 Barbarini gives a vaft proportion of what he gained by the like means 
 to the poor, and other charitable ufes. Borgheji is the richeft of them all, 
 and keeps all for himfelf. The family oi Peretti is extinft, by the death 
 of the cardinal Montal/o the laft year. The eftate is inherited by Savelli. 
 Before I came hither, I did much defire a recommendation from abbot 
 Montague; but things have fallen out better than I could expedt, fo that 
 now I do not need it. If one fliould be fent, that is not very difterent 
 from fuchas are ordinarily ufed in the like cafes, it would do me much more 
 hurt than good ; and if any come to my hands, I will not deliver It. 
 I wifli, and pray that your lordftiip may obtain all that may conduce to 
 your felicity and peace; and will fail of nothing, wherein I can hope to 
 be fervlceable unto you, which is no more than the duty of 
 
 Your LordftiIp\s, etc. 
 Roma, Jan. 29, Feb. 8, 1660-1. Alg. Sydney.
 
 TAKEN FROM THE SYDNEY PAPERS 33 
 
 A. SYDNEY TO HIS FATHER ROBERT EARL OF LEICESTER 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 About a fortnight fince, I wrote to your lordfhip ; fince that ilme, and 
 fome weeks before, I have been ignorant of all your concernments, thofe 
 few letters that I receive making no mention of them. This town hath 
 for fome days been as full of madnefs, as any can be, that ends in things 
 ridiculous and foolifli, without extending itfelf to miichievous extra- 
 vagance. All the ftreets are full of mafquerades there, every day public 
 comedies, and many in private houfes ; but all of them as ill as ever were 
 feen. There hath been two moral reprefentations in mufic, the one at 
 the charge of the conftable Colonna ; the other, of Don Agofiino Chigu 
 the pope's nephew, which were very fine, and not to be equalled by any 
 perfon out of Rome. The Jefuits have made many plays in their femi— 
 nary ; but they are exceeding cold and dull. The '^aranfore^ in which 
 the facrament is expofed, is now at the jefuits church. I'hey have made 
 the fineft fcenethat ever I faw, to reprefent EzecLier?, vifion of the wheels. 
 Yefterday, four or five and twenty cardinals were there ; the Padre Urjiniy 
 of that order, preached unto them, pretended to explain the vifion, 
 but fo faintly, that every body came away unfatisfied. I think, at this 
 inftant that I am writing, the pope is gone to that church, accompanied 
 with all the cardinals, and doth himfelf fay mafs ; his weaknefs makes 
 him choofe a private altar, the grand mafs fung at the high altar, being 
 much longer than his feeble legs are able to bear him. This is the fixty 
 third year of his age, and there is a ftrong and general opinion, that 
 he will not outlive it. This is grown from reafons of very different natures:, 
 fome fay, that age is the utmoft period, that is given to the life of extreme 
 melancholy complexions, in which none can ex<;eed him : others guefs 
 by obfervations drawn particularly from feveral accidents of his life, and 
 the prefent ftate of his health; and there do not want others, who ground 
 their belief upon aftrological predidlons, which fort of vanities are more 
 credited here, than would be eafily imagined from a wife people. If this 
 prove true I believe he will be little lamented; and much lefs, than if he 
 had died before the conjijhry^ on Monday lall, in which there was a tax 
 of fix in the hundred impofed upon the annual revenue of all lands, 
 belonging to the church in Italy^ to laft ten years, upon pretence of 
 helping the emperor againft the Tz^-ij'.- but people here, are fo uled to 
 fuch fables, that httle credit is given to them. Many think, that a bank 
 will be fuddenly erected upon this credit, and the Gcnoefc, who are the 
 publicans of Italy^ will furnhh great fums of money upon it, and take 
 unto themfelves the levying of the money, for their rcimburfement, as the 
 partifans do in France ; and being armed with that authority, will accord- 
 ing to their cuftom ufe all the afperity and fraud, that hath made thenx 
 deferve the name, which, antiently had a fignificatioa equal imtoyi>z;?tv-, 
 
 with;.
 
 34 LETTERS OF ALGERNON SYDNEY, 
 
 with which it was ufually coupled. It may eafily be imagined, how 
 this money will be difpofed of; if the pope lives, the receivers will eafily 
 obtain a difcharge, if he dies, it will be hard to know, who is to be 
 charged with the receipts. Your lordfliip may a little judge what 
 thoughts are ufual here, and with what liberty they are cxprefled, by a 
 little accident. One evening, a company of gentlemen were met together, 
 and to pafs the time, amongft other things, they chofe to play at 
 queftions and commands, and thefe two were propofed : whether the car- 
 dinal Afi^zSfT^r/W, ovDow Liiys di HarOy had done moll mifchiet to aS^^^Z/z.- 
 the other, whether Henry VIII of Efigland, Luther and Calvin, or the 
 popes nephews, fince their time, had moil prejudiced the church. The 
 lafl week, the anniverfary ohfeqiiies of Leo the tenth were celebrated at 
 the Sapienza^ a college eredled and endowed by him ; and one Dr. Gibbs^ 
 an LngUfoman^ their profeflbr of rhetoric, made an oration in praile of 
 him, that was much commended. Here is not one churchman of that 
 nation that is of any eminence, except old father Courtney^ who hath 
 kept his bed all the v^? inter. Don hinoccn%o Conti^ the principal perfon 
 of all the Rofuan nobility, for wit, valour, and birth, is lately dead ; h.e 
 was lieutenant general of the church, under Don Mario, brother to the 
 pope. Some fay that the cavalier Mattei, fent hither by the emperor, 
 to folicit for afliftancc againft the 'Turk, Ihall fucceed him. A marriage 
 is faid to be concluded between the conftable Colonna his beautiful fifter, 
 and the Principe Carboniano, who is alfo of the fame name and family. 
 This is the adl of the old Cardinal Colonna, who, by this means, thinks to 
 unite the two principal branches of his own family, who have not been 
 very friendly to one another; but it gives great diftafle to the young 
 abbot Colonna her brother, who hoped for a red cap, by marrying her 
 into the pope's family ; and gives little fatisfa£lion to the young lady, who 
 finds nothing in her gallant, that pleafeth her, except his name and 
 quality. There are feveral preparations at Florence, to receive the 
 princefs, that is to marry the young duke. I hope your lordlhip will 
 pardon me, for troubling you with fuch fluff, as this letter is full of; I 
 have no better, and think it lefs ill to fill my paper with the trumpery 
 I find in the ftreets, than with the fruits of my own imagination : I know 
 too well what opinion your lordlhip hath of them, to entertain you with 
 them ; if any thing better than what I have mentioned, came to my 
 knowledge, it fliould be imparted unto your lordlhip, by 
 
 Your Lordfliip's, etc. 
 Roma, Feb. A|, 1660-1. Alg. Sydney. 
 
 A. SYDNEY TO HIS FATHER ROBERT EARL OF LEICESTER 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 I wrote to your lordlhip the laft week ; fince that time, I have not been 
 negligent in making the belt enquiry I can after fuch books, as I do hope 
 
 will
 
 TAKEN FROM THE SYDNEY PAPERS 
 
 will pleafe your lordfhip. I have not yet a complete lift of them, but by 
 the next poft, I hope to fend it. On the /„- "f this month, came an 
 exprefs to the cardinal d'EJle, with the news of the cardinal Mazarini\ 
 death. This town is full of diicourie of it, every body philofophiiing 
 upon the confequences, according to their affections and underdandings. 
 Some good judges, confidering the difpofition of the French king and 
 nation, think a governing minifter ncccHary to the one, and that the 
 other will hardly fubmit to any, unlefs it be a prince of the blood or a 
 cardinal. The intereft of court goes diredly againft the perfons and 
 quality of the firft; and of the iccond order it is hard to find a fit pcrfon. 
 The cardinal de Retz is thought to merit that hon ^ur; but to leap imme- 
 diately from banifliment, confiication, and proicription, to government, 
 is a change not to be expedled, even from the extravagance of fortune. 
 Befides, none doubt but that the friends of his dead enemy will perfecute 
 him with all poflible afperity. And though they will not, perhaps, have 
 power to choofe his fucceflbr, they will have enough to exclude him that 
 he fo mortally hated. The three pi incipal perfons of the French fadion 
 here, are the cardinals d^FJh, Antonio Barbarini, and Grtmaldi\ they are 
 alio named; but there are fuch flrong exceptions againfl: each of them, 
 that few perfons think any of them will be chofen. Some fpeak of car- 
 dinal Mancini', but his natural incapacity doth fo certainly exclude him, 
 that I do not believe he hath the left pretenfion. If the king would take 
 one of the Sqnadrone volante^ it were eafy to find a man that would be 
 without exceptions in his perfon, and perfedlly free from any intereft 
 prejudicial to that oi Fra7ice. But nothing is more improbable, than that a 
 man known only by reputation, Ihould be chofen for fo great a work. 
 I fpeak in this the fancies of others. I have no other opinion of my own, 
 than that he will be chofen that can find moft favour with the ladies, and 
 that can with moft dexterity reconcile their interefts, and fatisfy their 
 paffions. 1 look upon their thoughts as more important than thofe of 
 the king and all his council, and their humour as of more Vv'cight than the 
 moft confiderable intereft of France^ and thofe reafons which here appear 
 to be of moft force will not be at all regarded. Tvv^o days before the car- 
 dinal's death was known, the conftable Colonna went from hence towards 
 Milan, to make the preparations neceflary for the reception of his fair- 
 bride. The errors of that alliance do now begin to appear, when they 
 are too late to be repented. The archbifhop of Colonna was in the Spanijh 
 ambaffador's coach a few days before he took his journey towards France.. 
 The ambaffador aftied him, how it came to pafs his nephew had refolved 
 fo fuddenly upon that marriage. Whether he thought that in all the 
 dominions of the king his mafter, he could not find a perfon worthy of 
 his alliance, or whether a little advantage of portion was more coniider- 
 able than his majefty's favour? The biftiop, furprifed with thofe harfii 
 queftions, anl\vered, That a poor youth ought to be pardoned, if he had 
 fuch an averlion to the red painting, that no confideration could prevail 
 with him to •marry one that ufed it. To this foolifti anfwer, the ambaf- 
 
 4 E fador 
 
 o:>
 
 ;36 LETTERS OF ALGERNON SYDNEY, 
 
 ^fador gave fo fevere a reply, accompanied with a bitter, fcornful fmile, 
 that a fliarp-fighted cardinal, to whom it was reported in my hearing, faid, 
 it was enough to fhew how that adlion was relented ; and if he did not 
 much miflake the humour of the Spaniards, they would remember it, 
 and give him fuch laflies for it as one would not give a dog. The cardinal 
 Mancini hath the greateft advantage by his alliance, but much more by 
 thirty thouland crowns a year, in church livings, gained by Maxarini'^ 
 -death. I faw, the other day, a copy of Mazarini's letter to the cardinal 
 Colonna, upon the conclufion of the articles of marriage; it was full of 
 fuch a civilitv, as is ordinarily ufcd by fuperiors to an inferior. Amongft 
 other expreifions of kindnels, there v\ras this, that as a teftimony of a 
 continuance of his antient affedion unto the family of Colo7ina, he had 
 preferred an alliance with it before any other, though feveral of great ho- 
 nour and advantage were offered unto him, and he was perpetually 
 folicited to accept of them. Senfible men do in this find two points of 
 
 ^ vanity, which they pleafe themfelves with laughing at; the one, that 
 Mazarini would have it believed that he did confer, not receive honcJur 
 by that alliance, as refullng thofe of more advantage, in favour of the 
 Cohnni; the other, that he fpeaks of his affedion to their family, in 
 thofe terms that are ufed amongft equals ; whereas, there are thofe in 
 Rotne, not above forty years old, who remember his father an Ajuttante 
 di Camera (which is the next degree above a footman) in the houle of 
 Colonna, and himfelf a page to this cardinal to whom he writes the letter. 
 The cardinal Sacchetti doth very nobly exprefs forrow for his death, and 
 great refped to his memory, as he hath ever profefled great affedion unto, 
 and efteem of his perfon, whilft he lived. The two hundred thouland 
 ■crowns given to the pope to employ in the war againft the Turks, is taken 
 for a piece of policy, to preferve his heirs from being called to account 
 for three hundred thoufand received by him, upon occafion of the bufmefs 
 in the ValtcUina, it not yet appearing how they were employed. I hear 
 of an Irijh prieft, one Flunket, nephew to Nicholas Plirnket, wdio is very 
 bufy in prating and fcribbling. I know not the man, nor what exceptions 
 he can have unto me, unlefs it be for being an RrigUjhman fometimes em- 
 ployed in Ireland. But I apprehend nothing but orders from England to 
 ray prejudice. He fays, fuch will come as fhall force me to change my 
 ftation. 
 
 Your Lordfhip's, etc. 
 Roma, March i.^, 1 660-1. Alg. Sydney. 
 
 A, SYDNEY TO HIS FATHER ROBERT EARL OF LEICESTER 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 I wrote to your lordlhip the laft week, and I have not now much to add. 
 This week hath been fpent altogether in devotion by every body here 
 that is of this church, and thofe that are not are fpedators. I have not 
 
 employed
 
 TAKEN FROM THE SYDNEY PAPERS 37; 
 
 employed much of my time in cither ; neverthelefs, have not been able 
 to advance my perfedling the lift of books, not finding any body idle but 
 myfelf. A few days fince I was with the old cardinal Spada^ and fpeaking 
 of the government of the two cardinals, Rich'icu and Mazarhn\ whereof 
 the one was much more violent, the other more artificious; he did a few 
 days after make thcfe two verfes upon a medal that had the pidture of them 
 both, alluding unto the Gordian knots, 
 
 Magnus uterque fuit; dignos fed vindice nodos 
 Richelius fecuit, Julius explicuit. 
 The pope commended them extremely, but another cardinal, friend to- 
 neither him nor Mazarini^ faid it would have been better if he had faid- 
 'Julius impllcuit. This pope doth pundlually perform all the ceremonies 
 in perfon, moft part of which his predecefTors have ufually done by de- 
 puty. On 'Thurjday laft I faw him walh the pilgrim's feet. The fame' 
 day was the folcmn excommunication and anathematization of the king 
 oi Spain., the houfe of Colonna (a cardinal of the fame being prefent) 
 and all heretics, Ichifmatics, etc. The cardinal Mancini read the bull, 
 but though Iwas within a yard of -him, I could not diftindly hear it for 
 the nolle of the people. The king and the Colonni were immediately 
 abfolved; that grace was extended only to fo many of the others as did 
 repent. The fame night there was a proceffion, which ufed to be made 
 very folemn, by the prefence of all the cardinals, princes, prelates, and 
 nobility of Rome; but fome that were prefent tell me, there were only 
 two red hats, and very few of the nobility. The moft remarkable part 
 was of about two hundred perfons, many of them Spaniards^ the moft of 
 the reft Germans., French., and Folanders., who with their faces covered, 
 did, in all the fpace from St. Marcello to San Pietro., whip themfelves 
 moft cruelly, fo that fome of them, through the extreme lofs of blood, 
 fainted. At the hofpital of the Trinity^ all pilgrims are for thefe days 
 entertained ; the cardinal Antonio Barbarini., who is the proteilor of it, 
 accompanied with the cardinal Carlo and the prince of Faleftrina, his 
 nephews, ferving them at one time. There was above a thoufand. The 
 laft week, at a time when all the cardinals were at feveral churches, it 
 was fo ordered, that a gentleman put into every one of their hands a 
 printed memorial, and retired immediately, before they could read it ; 
 and being examined, it was found to be a moji bitter iwoeSiive'^' againjl the^ 
 
 * Archbifiiop Browne preached a fermon &t E after., I55i? in Chrift- Church, Duhlin, 
 Upon the following text. Open mine eyes, that 1 may fee the vjondcrs of thy law. Pfi'lm 
 cxix. ver. i8. in which he inveighed agaiiift the church of Rome; and particularly againft 
 the Jefuits, of whom he f.iid, " Thefe fnall fpread over the whole world ; fhall be admittc'd 
 " into the councils of princes, anj they never the wifer; charminjr; of them, yea, making 
 " your princes reveal their hearts, and the fecrets therein unto them, and yet they not 
 
 " perceive it. But, in the end, (jod, to juftify his law, fliall fuddenly cut off ihis 
 
 " fociety, even by the hsnds of thofe who ht.ve moft fuccoured them, and made ufe of 
 " them ; fo that they fiall f-seume odious to all nation;, and be worfe thin Jevjs." We 
 entertain fome hopes, that the above may be prophetical, from the treatment their order 
 has lately met with, veryjuftly, in Portugal, and in France. 
 
 The Hijlory of Pcpijh Perfecuticns, by John Lockman. 
 
 4 E 2 'Jcfiiith
 
 ^o LETTERS OF ALGERNON SYDNEY, 
 
 jtfmts, as ferfons that fet up a conimonis)eaIth among themfdves^ inde- 
 pendent of, and dcfiriiSlive unto the pope's Juprcmacy ; reprejent'mg them 
 little better than as politic heretics, and ivith fuch fuarpncfs^ full of Juch 
 truths, as they cannot deny in particular, though they prote/i agatuji any 
 fuch end. The cardinal Franciotti was the firft that fent this paper unto 
 the o-eneral of the order, concerned in it; fome others did afterwards 
 follow his example. It is thought to be written by ibme of the fame 
 order, as containing fecrets that could hardly come to the knowledge of 
 others. Some think that the cardinal Pallavicini duth not diflike this, 
 that brings his brethren into fome trouble, for there are fome things in 
 pra£tice amongft them which he is laid not to approve of; and the fliarp 
 -Ndfitation which difpleafed them fo much the laft year is looked upon 
 as his work. / have written to my corrcfpondent at Frankfort, for fir 
 Philip Sydney's piBure. I could not fend your lordpip a thing of lefs 
 value than my own f, but fince fir J. Templey^j'j your lordjhip would have 
 it, I will fend it. If you pleafe to have any thing elfe provided here, that 
 will be an ornament to your new buildings, as pi(i^ures, ftatues, marble 
 tables, or mofaic work, I fliall mod diligently provide fuch as your lord- 
 Ihip ihall pleafe to command me. I hear your lordfhip hath fome 
 fufpicions concerning me; if I might know in what, I do upon my word 
 promife your lordOiip, to let you know my thoughts pun£lually, without 
 cither diflimulation or refervation. Sir John fpeaks fomething of your 
 lordfliip's laying down the money for the two mortgages upon Swing field. 
 I confefs that is more than I could have defired of your lordfhip, but if 
 you will pleafe to favour me fo much in the ruin of my fortune, as to 
 take off that burden, fo that I may have that land free for my fubfiftance, 
 I fhall as long as I live endeavour to deferve it, and that is all the argument 
 1 can give to perfuade you, unlefs I fhould add, that at my age, growing 
 very near forty, and giving marks of declining by the ^colour of my hair, 
 it is time that 1 had fomething which I may call my own, out of which 
 I may in reft have bread, when fortune hath taken from me all means of 
 gaining it by my induftry. Here is one Plunket, a young Irifi prieft, 
 that gives me fome trouble by foolifh difcourfes. Amongft others, he 
 fays I am an atheift, and bred up in your lordfhip's houfe, under a mafter 
 from whom I learned thofe opinions. He was anfwered, that was very im- 
 probable, and that my life and converfation gave teftimony of the con- 
 trary ; but though that were, it concerned no body here. This anfwer 
 was made by the abbot Hillarione, with fome addition to my advantage, 
 upon which he remained fo mortified, that he confelled himfelf raif- 
 informed, and came hither two or three days fince, to make me an 
 apology. I was glad of it, for though he could do me no prejudice, I 
 
 t The pi£ture was fent, is an excellent one, and now at PcnJImrJ}. It was painted at 
 Brujfch\n the year 1663, by fujliis van Egmondt. 
 
 There is likewife extant a proof imprcnfion of a fcal of the head of A. Sydney, now in the 
 pofleiTion of Thomas Hol/is, F. R. and A. SS. which fcal was engraved during the civil wars, 
 by that celebrated EngliJIi artift Thomas Simon, 
 
 would
 
 TAKEN FROM THE SYDNEY PAPERS 39 
 
 would mofl; unwillingly have any difputc with him, for he is eflccmcd 
 one of the beft wits in Rome. The other day I was informed, that orders 
 had been fent from the court here to the internuulio in Florida's, to 
 make the befl enquiry he could of me, my birth, perfon, and quality. 
 To whom information was given by one Wbite^ an Irijl.nnan (that had 
 fometimes been fecretary to Don Alonfo di Cardenas, and his interpreter 
 at fome audiences which he had had of me, as one of his commiilaries) 
 that I was ever found to be violent againft monarchy, a friend unto Roman 
 catholics, one that in our Lift troubles meddled little with j)rivate bufmefs, 
 and that had made my fortune by the war, with fome other things like 
 unto this, part true and part fdfe, but none that I can learn which doth 
 me any prejudice. They were put upon this enquiry by the foolifli 
 prating of fome priefts, who i'poke of me as the only enemy the king 
 had left, and that I being taken away, his majefty might reign in quiet. 
 ^hefe are but very Jlight vapour ., and if nothing comes J'rotn England to my 
 prejudice, I will eajily blow them away. The laft week Mr. Thomas 
 Somerfet did refign his canonicate of San Pietro into the hands of the 
 pope, and as isfaid, will put himfelf among the Padri del Oratorio. He is 
 difcontentcd, and thought to gain latisfa£tion by fliewing that he was fo ; 
 but he hath no reputation at all, nor is confidered by any body, fo that 
 his refignation is accepted, and I believe may wait until he be weary, 
 before he gains any thing better. The ftrangers now begin to haften out 
 of town, which is a great confolation to me, who never found any 
 inconvenience here, but by their company and neighbourhood. I do 
 ever write a great many trifles, having nothing to fav that is worth hearing, 
 unlefs it be of bufmefs, which is fo far from your lordflup, that I believe 
 it would be tedious. I am 
 
 Your Lordfliip's, etc. 
 April '^ , 1661. Alg. Sydney. 
 
 I wrote all that is above on Saturday laft, and thinking it not unlikely 
 that your lordfliip will be contented to hear what pafied here on Eajier 
 day, being ihc moft folemn function of the whole year, I will relate 
 fomething of what I faw that day. The cardinal Azzolini had invited me 
 to fee his flmdiion, as he called it, wherein he was to aflift as deacon 
 cardinal. I went, and upon the ftalrs going up to the Vatican, found 
 him and cardinal Pallavicini, who brought me into the chamber where 
 the cardinals were all aflembled, fitting v/ithout order, as in the confiftory. 
 The pope foon came in, and laying afide his ordinary habit, was clothed 
 in that of a deacon. The cardinals had all very rich copes, the ground 
 of which v/ere white, embroidered as they pleafed, with white mitres. 
 In that equipage they went down into St. Peter^s church, two and two 
 together, the youngeft going firft ; laft of all came the pope, carried in 
 an open chair, upon the fhoulders of twelve men. At the entry, he was 
 ■met by the cardinal Barbarini, as arch-prieft of that church, and con- 
 ducn;ed unto a chair, placed on the right hand of the high altar ; there he 
 
 I was
 
 40 LETTERS OF ALGERNON SYDNEY, 
 
 was adored by all the cardinals, according to the manner introduced ia 
 the time of fchifm. After that he laid afide the deacon's habit, and 
 cardinal Azzolini clothed him with thofe belonging to a prieft, arch- 
 bifhop, and patriarch, one upon another, but all fo light, that I believe 
 they did little trouble him. Then he began to fing mafs, attended by 
 cardinal Barharini in the forcmentioned quality, and the cardinals d'EJie 
 and Vrfinl as the antienteft of the deacons ; but more particularly ferved 
 by Azzolini, as deacon, and Monfignore Bevi racqiia Vditore di Ruota as 
 fubJeacon. The other cardinals were upon two benches on each fide of 
 the altar. At the end of one of them, next unto cardinal Albizzi^ I 
 placed myfelf, and he explained unto me thofe parts of the ceremony that 
 I underftood not. In this order the pope began to fing mafs, performing, 
 that part which belongs to the patriarch, while the reft was fung by the 
 muficians. He retired to a throne under a canopy, over againft the 
 altar, about twenty paces diftant from it, the cardinals benches making 
 two fides of the quadrangle. When the time of the elevation came, I 
 retired behind the cardinal's bench, that I might neither give fcandal, nor 
 do any thing that I did diflike. The pope, having confecrated both the 
 elements, retired to his throne, the cardinals Urfmi anA d'EJie fitting upoa 
 little ftools on each fide ; the ambaffadors of Venice, Florence, Don Marioy 
 Don Agojlino, and the duke of Bracciano, ftanding upon the fteps. 
 Cardinal Azzolini read the epiftle and gofpcl in Latin ; two Grecians the, 
 fame in Greek. Bracciano brought the pope water to wafh his hands, 
 Azzolini brought the confecrated ojiia, with which he did communicate. 
 The facramental wine was brought by Bevi Pacqua ; 'the wine to wafh 
 his mouth, by other prelates. The water for his hands, after having 
 touched the facrament, was given by Don Agojlino, One thing was. 
 remarkable, he did not drink the wine, as is ordinary, but fucked ii; 
 through a quill of gold. Then Bevi Pacqua brought other little confecrated 
 ojiias, which the pope with his own hands gave to all the deacon cardinals, 
 the hve that ftood upon the fteps of his throne, and the four Roman 
 magiftrates. In the remaining part of the mafs there was nothing extra- 
 ordinary. That being finillied, all returned in the fune order as they 
 came. Cardinal Barbarini meeting his holinefs at the door of the church, 
 gave him a little purfe with fifteen ^////cfj in it (which is worth about feven 
 Ihillings and fix-pence) with thefe words, Per aver ben cantato 7neffa.. 
 Trom thence, the cardinals going before in couples, he went up to a 
 gallery that makes part of the frontifpiece of the church, and from a 
 balcony in it he bleifcd all the people of Rome, aflcmbled in the piazza di 
 Sin Pictro, in no^mne Patris, Filii, et Spiritus Sandli; and did moreover 
 beg a blefling upon them, pro merit is beatae Marine femper Firginis, beati 
 Michaelis Archangeli, beati Johannis Baptijlae, bealorum apojioloi-um Petri 
 et Pauli; adding an abfolution of all fins unto thofe that were truly 
 penitent, and praying God of his grace to give them amendment of lite. 
 1 he noife was fo great I could nnt hear this diilindly, but was placed by 
 cardinal Chigi fo near the pope, that I faw the book as well as himfclf, 
 
 and
 
 TAKEN FROM THE SYDNEY PAPERS 41 
 
 and read it all as he fpoke it. This bein^^ done, the people gave a great 
 fhout of joy, the cannon of the cafllc Sunt'' Angela \^ ex o. fired, the pope 
 was condudled back to the chamber where he was lirft clothed, there laid 
 afide his pontifical garments, and took thofe that he wears ordinarily. 
 The cardinals put off their copes and mitres, aflumed their ufual fcarlet, 
 and every one returned to his own home. I (hoidd have told ybu, that 
 in the time of the mafs, the pope had a mitre of cloth of gold ; that 
 being finiflied, he put on a light triple crown, made of cloth of filver, 
 embroidered with gold, in rclcmblance of the true crown, which was too 
 heavy for him to wear. This fund;ion lafted four hours, and he per- 
 formed it all with a very decent gravity. I begin to think they will be 
 much difappointed, who hope foon to be chooiing him a fuccelfor. His 
 face is pale, fallow, and Ihrivelled, but his eyes, hands, and voice, do 
 not fliew him to be fifty years old. In one of my next letters, I will 
 fend your lordfhip fhort charadlers of all the principal cardinals, according 
 to what I have obferved, or can learn from the moft knowing perfons. 
 And though I have much good to fay of them, and little ill, it is not 
 polfible to fpeak truth of fo many perfons without adding fome things 
 that would difpleafe, if they were known. Therefore, inflead of marking 
 them, I fhall only mention them as firft, fecond, third, etc. in the fame 
 order that is here fet down. Firft, Albizzi. 2. Sacchetli. 3. Palla- 
 vicini. 4. Spadn. 5. Barbarin'i. 6. AzzoUni, y. Imperiali^ governor of 
 'Rome. 8. Rojpigl'wzi, fecretary of ftate. g. P allot ta. 10. Borromeo. 
 II. Chigi. 12. Pio. Retaining this, their names will be eafily known. 
 
 A. SYDNEY TO HIS FATHER ROBERT EARL OF LEICESTER 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 In my laft, I fent your lordflilp the names of fome perfons, of wliom 
 I fhould now have occafion to fpeak. I will make that order my rule, in 
 mentioning them. For though I know that a picture well drawn to the 
 life, will be eafily known, though the name of the perfon be not written 
 upon it ; and thofe charadcrs of perfons, which do not at firft fight 
 difcover for whom they are made, do fufliciently difcover the ignorance 
 of the writer, or his malicious deviation from truth; neverthelefs, the 
 oft"ence is much more fliarp, when a perfon finds himfelf diredlly taxed, 
 for fome defedl in nature or manners, than if he fees a paper, wherein 
 nobody is named, that leaves him a liberty of faying, whatever difpleafeth 
 him is not laid unto him, and yet may acknowledge his own likenefs in 
 any thing that is faid to his praife. I fliall at this time fay little of their 
 families, offices, friendlliips, or enmities, or the particular adlions of 
 their lives ; it being the fame thing to name the cardinals Barbarini^ or 
 Chigi; or tofay the nephew of /^rAr/ VIII, or ^A'x. VII : he doth as well 
 denote Pallavmni, who mentions him that was difpleafed with AUnz<i, 
 for fome exceptions taken to his hiftory of the council of I'rent, at the 
 
 congregation
 
 jp. LETTERS OF ALGERNON SYDNEY, 
 
 congregation of the Sant* JJffizio, as he that writes the name at length : 
 no man here is fo ignorant as not to know, that if I mentioned him, 
 who, by Innocent the tenth, was taken into the place of his nephew, and 
 afterwards difgraced, and put out of town, upon the difcovery made by 
 AlBlzzi, and Azzolini, of his being gained by the Spaniards.^ and revealing 
 to them all the counfcls and affairs of his uncle, I mean. Aft alii : but 
 leaving that work, of fpeaking more particularly of their actions, 
 relations, and intereft, to another time, I will now fpcak only of their 
 diipofitions, humours, and qualities. 
 
 The^r// is S^Albizzr\ of a free, open nature, little favoured at court for 
 the plainnefs of his language, exprelfuig his diflike to all things thai: 
 deferve it. Excellently verfed in the affairs of this court. Never employed 
 abroad. Virtuous in his life, zealous in his religion, honeft in his 
 dealings. His difpofition is not ill reprefented by his countenance, which 
 though fomething hard, and fevere, hath fo much of vigour,, vivacity, 
 and conftancy, as renders him not unlovely, and very efteemable. He 
 is induftrious, ftudious, and learned, efpecially in divinity ; and hath been 
 an excellent preacher. Not much a friend to the third. He deferves the 
 triple crown, but is not likely to wear it. The opinion of his fevere and 
 refolute nature, will probably exclude him, as too ftridl and dangerous, 
 both to cardinals and prelates. 
 
 T\\Q Jl'cottd is \_Sacchetti'\ gentle, and affable in behaviour. Sincere and 
 incorrupt in the charges that he hath exercifed. A'luch verfed in bufmefs, 
 not much acquainted with books. Very conftant in the repulies he hath 
 received, which were fo Iharp, and dire£t, as to deferve the name of 
 affronts. More a lover of honour, than of profit. Careful of his health, 
 perhaps in hopes of repairing, by living long, his formerly well grounded, 
 but failing pretences. I have found him a little troubled with the difeafe 
 incident to old men, that have been eminent in the world. He loves to 
 talk a little too much, and often makes his own adions the lubjedt of 
 his difcourfe. Thofe pleafe him befl, wherein he hath fhewed integrity 
 and conftancy, rather than great fubtilty of wit. He glories mofl, in 
 having been advanced to all the principal charges of this court, without 
 ever having fought any, and refufing fome, that were very confiderable. 
 I confefs, thefe things might found better from others, than from himfelf: but 
 he that hath fo much good to fay of his oivn life, and all true, deferves to be 
 excufed, if he employ a few tnore words in it than ought to be allowed another 
 of h'fs merit. He feemed to be pleafed once, when I told him. That he had 
 found a way of attaining that dignity which is equal to kings^ by meriting 
 it; and had afcended unto that which is a'wve them all, to the completing of 
 his glory and fortune, if he had not merited it too well. Which, though a 
 complnnent, is exaBly true. 
 
 Italy hath not a finer wit than the third \Pallavicim'\ nor hath any 
 convent a monk of a ftrider life. It is laid, that fix-pence a day fcrvcs 
 him in meat ; his bread and wine is furnifhed from the palace. Women 
 never trouble his thoughts. The ufe of them is unknown to him. He 
 
 hath
 
 TAKEN FROM THE SYDNEY PAPERS 43 
 
 iiath conftantly refufcd great church livings ; and being lately prcfTcd by 
 the pope, who favours him very much, to receive one of great value, he 
 anlwcred. Your holinefs can add nothing to the favoiu- of giving me this 
 hat, but by employing me in fiich things, as may be for your fervicc, 
 and bear teftimony of my gratitude: I want nothing elfc. He makes 
 good his words, receiving not above three or four thoufand crowns a year, 
 to keep up the ftate of a cardinal, having had nothing before he came to 
 it. He labours inccflantly in thofe knotty bulnicffes, that require much 
 pains., and yield no profit . This humour defends him from having rivals 
 in his pretences. He hath fliewcd it is poffible for the fame man, to 
 be excellent in the Belle Lett ere ^ and the moft deep and abftrufe Iciences. 
 I do not think he hath lb well joined the theory and practice of bufinefs. 
 The extreme acutenefs of his wit renders him admirable in the one, and 
 fills his head with notions too nice and high for the other. Befidcs 
 this, he hath lived more among books and papers, than men. He ever 
 aims at perfeSlion, and frames ideas in his fancy ^ not always proportionable 
 to worldly bitfnejj'es : fometimes forgetting that the coimfcls^ as well the 
 perfons of men, are ever dfe£live ; and that in human affairs^ governors 
 and minijiers are not f 7nuch to feek what is exaSlly good., as what is 
 leajl evily or leaji evil of thofe things., that he hath power to accomplijh. 
 He is moft meek and humble in his behaviour ; eafy and gentle 
 In treating of his own concernments ; but in fpiritual and ecclefiaflic 
 affairs, his zeal renders him fliarp and violent. Thefe qualities fliew 
 him to be an excellent cardinal, but would render him an ill pope ; 
 at leaft, in the opinion of the courtiers, who will not endure to be over- 
 looked by fo {harp lighted a mafler, nor reformed by fuch a bitter enemy 
 to corruption and loofcnefs. His feverity beginning with himfelf, it is 
 not hoped that he will fpare others. 
 
 The fourth \^Spada~\ is fubtle, and loyes to be thought fo. He is 
 pleafed both with honour and profit : glories in what he gets by his 
 wit and induftry. He allows not above four hours in a night, and half 
 an hour after dinner, for fleep. He is not at all afhamed to appear 
 folicitous for his family : it is numerous, and finds good fruit of his 
 dexterity. When he went into the lafl conclave, a friend told him, he 
 hoped to fee him come out pope : he anfwered, No, my nephews deftroy 
 me. Age hath not taught him to be idle. When he goes to take the air 
 for a few days, his principal entertainment is with books, and Ibme 
 learned perfons that he takes with him. When he is at home, his time 
 is divided between bufinefs and fludy. Though he hath many qualities 
 that are highly effimable, he is more pleafed with the praife given to one 
 of his epigrams, than fome think is fuitable to his age, dignity, and 
 perfon. No man is thought to excel him in fitnefs to manage great 
 buhnefs, nor in human learning. He is a great patron of thofe that 
 have qualities like unto his own. He is a living hiflory ; and his memory 
 is a magazine, where the records of all affairs of the world are kept in fo 
 good order, that he knows when, and how, to bring forth every piece 
 
 4 F to
 
 ^^ LETTERS OF ALGERNON SYDNEY, 
 
 to the befl advantage of bufinefs, or converfation. If any particular hath 
 efcaped his knowledge, he gives very iharp and adequate judgments, upon 
 the hearing of it. He doth not much love diffimulation, but knows how 
 to do it, when it is neceffary. 
 
 The fifth \Barbarin'i\ hath great fharpnefs of wit and invention : fome 
 think him defective in point of judgment. He loves fubtle and intricate 
 ways, better than ftraight paths. Age hath not abated his vivacity. His 
 induftry is indefatigable. In times of greatefl trouble and danger he is 
 befl ; and of no ufe, when bunnefs runs foftly and quietly in its ufual 
 channel. No man ever faw him frighted, or defpairing, though he hath 
 had reafon enough for both. Some fay he is a great diffembler ; I hope 
 not, for he fhews much kindnefs to me, and I lliould be forry to find it 
 not real. A great man told me, there was no commerce between his 
 tongue and his heart. He is' kind to his friends and family; a great 
 delpifer of fenfual pleafures ; fimple in the manner of his life ; intent upon 
 bufinefs. The nation that is under his protection fpeaks ill of him ; 
 but truly, I think, their difcontent proceeds rather from the repulfes 
 which they draw upon themfelves by their impudent importunity in 
 afking, and ravenous and infatiable thirif of gaining more than is reafon- 
 able to defirc, or poffible to obtain for them, than that he fails of helping 
 them as far as he can. If this pope dies, he is likely to have a great part 
 in the choice of his fucceflbr ; but his own pretences are weak. 
 
 They/A"//' \Azxolini'\ owes his advancement to his wit and virtue. The 
 laft pope was pleafed with his excellent qualities, and gave him fuch a 
 part, in the management of affairs, as was thought improportionable to 
 his age. But he w^as known to be fo good a judge of men, that the 
 wifefl durft not blame his choice. This foon ripe young man, by his 
 behaviour, fhewed his own merit, and that his mailer's judgment was 
 well grounded. He received .the purple, when he was 29 years old, as 
 a teftimony and reward of his fidelity. That pope who had many qualities, 
 and great adlions to glory in, thought the choice of this minifter dcferved 
 to be bragged of. He is of a cheerful nature ; not a defpifer of innocent 
 pleafure ; delights in things of fplendor ; gives good teftimonies of incli- 
 nations to liberality, if his fortune gave him the power of exercifing it. 
 He could never in the leafl: degree be accufed of covetoufnefs, but the 
 narrownefs of his fortune obligeth him to avoid unneccfTary expences, 
 and by that means he lives fo handfbmely, that he who fees his palace, 
 would think he fpends twice as much as he doth. His converfation is 
 fweet and affable, wit fliarp, fubtile, and dexterous. Inferior to the third 
 in learning, but much above him in praflice, and knowledge of worldly 
 bufinefs, as well as ability to manage great ones. The one is more 
 fpeculative, the other hath an underftanding far better fuitcd to govern- 
 ment. He would never be engaged to be of the French or Spanijh fcidion, 
 by which means he hath lefs money, and better reputation, than thofe that 
 too clofely join themfelves to either. He is eftecmcd, Capo dcllo fquadro7ie 
 volante ; though he hath no prerogative above his companions, but their 
 
 voluntary
 
 TAKEN FROM THE SYDNEY PAPERS 45 
 
 voluntary yielding unto him, for his merit. His youth for the prefcnt» 
 cuts off his pretences to the papacy. If he lives, he is likely to meet 
 with no greater obftacle, than that which accompanies thofc that come 
 young to be eminent. It is obferved they fcldom rife above the degree 
 of cardinals ; for no perfon is fo perfedt, as not to have fome defeat, nor 
 fo innocent, as not to offend fomebody. The one cannot be long con- 
 cealed, and the other muft certainly make enemies, who will ufe all 
 means to crofs his pretences, being incited by thofe two fliarp fpurs, 
 defire of revenge, and fear of refentment, if he whom they hate, and 
 think themfelves hated by, fhould come to be their mafter. Upon this 
 occaflon I will a little wander from my purpofe, and relate an accident of 
 great importance, known to few. The cardinal PanciroUi did ufe to fay 
 nothing was more dellrudtive to a cardinal's pretences to the papacy, than 
 to be thought revengeful. To take away that opinion of himfelf (v.'hich 
 was too common at court) he did by all means imaginable advance the 
 intcreft of the cardinal Chigi, now pope, with whom he was known to 
 have ancient difputes. He commended his perfon, as the true model of 
 a perfect prelate, equal in modefty and integrity to the ancient fathers ; 
 which coming from the mouth of one known to be a very good judge of 
 men, and his enemy, was looked upon as a confeffion, extorted by the 
 certainty and evidence of truth, but had an effedl very different from the 
 intention of the author ; who inftead of gaining the opinion of meeknefs, 
 which he fought, gave fuch a reputation to his enemy, as raifcd him to 
 the throne, and was no advantage to himfelf. 
 
 The fevcnth \_I?npe}-iaH'\ fhews his difpofition by his face, full of that 
 fharp fiercenefs, which fuits better with a foldier, than a cardinal ; but 
 his wit, diligence, and dexterity in bufinefs make amends for much 
 greater faults. The fecond perfon that I mention in my lift was the 
 firft that took notice of him, as an extraordinary man ; and according to 
 his cufcom, and nature, ever inclined to favour virtue, fought by all 
 means to advance him. His choice and judgment is juftified by his 
 behaviour in all the charges that he hath borne ; efpecially in that which 
 he now executes, which is full of thorns. He fliews himfelf as incorrupt 
 as any of his predeceffors, and of better difpatch than any : He is 
 generally called, a man of execution. I believe that is a true charaiSter ; his 
 ready wit, and great boldnefs, are good ingredients for fuch a compofition. 
 
 The eighth [Rojpiglioji'] is thought a good man, rather regular and 
 methodical, in the management of affairs, than of extraordinary acutenefs. 
 His abilities are rather acquired by practice, than the gifts of nature. 
 Others of this place, and age, apply their thoughts to bufinefs, and 
 perhaps ufe a little poetry, for entertainment. Poetry is his principle 
 bufinefs, other affairs come in by chance, and are performed, par ttianiere 
 d* acquit. I do not hear of any great exception to him, but that he may 
 be as likely to be chofen pope, as any other ; and being known not to 
 
 4 F 2 have
 
 46 LETTERS OF ALGERNON SYDNEY, 
 
 have an aQive, dangerous head, may perhaps be advanced before thofe 
 that are more eminent. 
 
 The ninth \P allot td\ hath, by long experience, gained great knowledge 
 of bufinefs, and hath very good natural underflanding, acute and coni- 
 preheniive, but contufed ; and he is thought capricious, and fantaftical. 
 He fpeaks well of all things, and delights in nothing more than the found 
 of his own tongue. He doth as little want good intentions, as know- 
 ledge ; but the length of his difcourfes renders him unfit for any bufmefs. 
 Some think that proceeds from his earneft dcfire to be exadl in all his 
 actions, that makes him fearch {o nicely into every thing, that comes 
 before him. Others take it to be oftentation of wit and eloquence, and 
 thole are not wanting, who attribute all, to the greatnci's of his fancy and 
 memory, which upon all occafions rcprefent unto him fuch a multitude 
 of fpecies, that they perplex and confound his judgment, which naturally 
 is not very diftin£l ; fo that every flight matter proves to him a molt 
 intricate labyrinth. Whatever the reafon is, it is certain, he that I named 
 laft, fave one, will difpatch twenty bufmelles, while he flicks upon one. 
 This quality will keep him from being pope ; in other refpedts, he might 
 have good pretences. 
 
 The tenth \Borromeo\ is a principal ornament to the college ; few 
 excel him, either in natural parts, learning, or innocence, and ftriiSlnefs 
 of life ; none in all thole qualities. The faculty in which he moft excels 
 is the law. He drinks but eight ounces at a meal. His life in all things 
 is proportionable unto this. In countenance and difpofition, he relemblcs 
 his great uncle, whofe memory is ib highly reverenced. His delight is 
 in ftudy, and converfation with learned perfons. He yields to fome of 
 the college, in experience of ftate buiinefs, perhaps to none in qualities 
 fit to make a great minifter, unlefs a pure and flrifl confcience, be an 
 obflacle and imperfedllon. If God gives him life, no head is more likely 
 to wear the triple crown, lince none deferves it better. 
 
 The eleventh \ChigiA^ is rather innocent than good, or good than wife. 
 He could never have attained to that degree, by merit or induftry, to 
 which he is advanced by fortune. But he is to be commended, that he 
 doth behave himfelf modeflly in it. He thinks the ufe of pleafures is an 
 advantage juftly belonging to greatnefs, fmce he ufeth no ill means to 
 procure them. 
 
 The twelfth \Pio\ is more a gentleman, than a prelate, and would have 
 been a gallant man in a fecular court, or perhaps better in an army. 
 Nevcrthclcls he doth accommodate himfelf well enough to the life of an 
 ccclefiaftic. He doth not pretend to be very zealous, but hves very free 
 from Icandal. He is magnificent in his nature, and his riches give him 
 good opportunity of Ihewing it. He is more courted by cavaliers than 
 j)riells ; and if he ever afcends into St. Peterh chair, he mufl be chofen 
 for being of a frank, ingenuous, and good nature, as free from feverity 
 to others, as corruption in himfelf. 
 
 I here
 
 TAKEN FROM THE SYDNEY PAPERS 47 
 
 I here fend your lordfliip what I promifed in my Ia(}, thhiking you 
 would not be unwilling to know fomething of thofc pcrfons, that hn've 
 fo great a part in the government of the world, and cf whom truth is 
 fcUomfpohn. Few ftrangcrs that come hither return any better informed 
 than they came, except pricjls; and of them I have known none of our 
 nation, but father Courtney, that knows any thing worth a ftraw. And 
 their reports are to be JhfpcBed, as Jrom perfons ordinarily partial, and 
 governed more by the inlercji of the cliirch, than by truth *.- often their jiidg- 
 nients are perverted by malice, to particular perfons, from ivhom they hnve 
 received dijlajie. lam free from all biaffes. That which I fay may be 
 relied upon as truth, at leaft fo far as the perfons I mention have dif- 
 covered themfelves : but I conffs they 7nay have fecret qualities, very 
 different from 'what I have mentioned. I think the piilures of thefe eminent 
 perfons, would be good ornaments to your new building. I will fend 
 fome of them with the books; more fhall follow, if your lordfhip com- 
 mand me. The cardinal Mazarini doth ftill cxercife the Roman wits. 
 I fend this fatirical epitaph, written by a Francifcan friar, wdio being for- 
 merly a jefuit, refiding at Madrid, was the firll contriver of the revolt 
 of Portugal, with the cardinal Richlieu. He is a native of that kingdom, 
 and was with the ambaifadors, when your lordfhip did vifit them in the 
 Rue de Tournon. He is much efteemed here, and I Ihall give your lord- 
 fhip fome of his works. Your lordfhip will not wonder to hear I am 
 weary, when you fee what I have wa-itten, without ever rifing from my 
 chair. I defire your pardon for the errors, and it there be any thing of 
 this kind, or any other, wherein I may ferve your lordfliip, my diligence 
 and obedience fhall be teftimonies, that I am 
 
 Your Lordfliip's, etc. 
 April 44, 1 66 1. Alg. Sydney. 
 
 The lord of Brijloiv is at Milan, lodged in the palace, and treated liker 
 to a king, than a perfon fent privately by a king. The princefs he v^'ent 
 to fee is young and handfome, but as much inferior to her of Modena in 
 beauty, as in birth. If the firfl: be too nearly depending upon Spain, the 
 other is without that exception, having fome relation to France. I leave 
 it to men that are at prefent in bufmefs to judge, whether fuch ties are 
 reafons for or againft taking either of them. This court would be more 
 pJeafed to fee one of thefe two princeffes crowned in England, than any 
 other. 
 
 * Why feek we truths from priefts ? 
 
 The fmiles of courtiers and the harlots tears. 
 The tradeTman's oath, and mourning of an heir. 
 
 Are truths to what priefts tell Lee. 
 
 The Roman clergy are a confederacy of deceivers, that to obtain dominion over other men, 
 endeavour by myftery and nonfenfe to cxtinguifh in them both the light of nature ami the gofpel. 
 
 Memorable Sayings of Thomai Hobbcs of Malmesbury. 
 They neither plough nor fow ; and yet they reap 
 The fat of all the land, and fuck the poor. 
 
 Shakefpean,
 
 ^g LETTERS OF ALGERNON SYDNEY, 
 
 A. SYDNEY TO HIS FATHER ROBERT EARL OF LEICESTER 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 i vvrote lb much to your lordfliip thelafl: week, that I might have a very 
 juflexcufe for being lilent now; but Ibme of ray friends telling me, you 
 are not diCpleafed wit.h the relation of fuch little things here, as come to 
 my knowledge, I will fend them very conftantly, defiring your lordfhip to 
 believe, that when you do not receive them, I am either fick, out of town, or 
 hindered by fome inevitable accident, or that my letters mifcarry, for as long 
 as I am able to write, and in town, I wall not omit it ; unlefs I find, 
 that, inftead of fervlce, your lordfhip looks upon my letters as a trouble. 
 
 On Thurfday lall the pope went to CaJUe Gandolpho^ a pleafant place, 
 feated in the hills, twelve miles from hence. There are fine walks, which 
 he ufeth much, both for delight, and prefervation of health. I am forry 
 to hear your lordfnip hath negleded that help, which being one of the 
 beftthat hath been found out amongil men, I fear you will find the want 
 of it. The {kill of preferving health is in great perfedion in this place, 
 exerciled mofl: upon old men. Little purging phyfic is ufed ; things that 
 are cooling, and deficcative, are mofl choi'en. Their rules are reduced to 
 thefe two principal heads ; a flender diet, and much exercife. An old 
 cardinal the other day told me, th^t in other places exercife was good, 
 citrafiidorem, but in Rome, by reafon of the grolTnefs of the air, it muft be ufed 
 tifque ddfudorem. Befides the natural defire of living long and well, they are 
 invited unto a more than ordinary care, by- hopes of advancing their for- 
 tune ; few attaining unto any great matter here, until they come to be 
 old. Cardinal Sacchetti'is, now in his feventy fifth year, and doth ordina- 
 rily walk three or fou- miles, without refling ; by which means, he en-^ 
 joys a profperous health, and preferves his wits frefh, and clear, as in his 
 youth. The cardinal Maz,arini\ obfequies, were the laft week cele- 
 brated with great folemnity, in a little church which he had built. The 
 funeral oration was made by Pere Leon, a French Carmelite friar, of great 
 fame for learning, and prudence in affairs of ftate, in which he had been 
 much employed. There were prefent the cardinals Antonio Barharini, 
 Sforza, Grimaldi, AJialli, EJie, Urfmi, Mancini, Albizzi, and Colonna\ 
 the feven firfl:, as declared of the French fadlion, Albizzi fomething inclined 
 to it, and a friend to his perfon ; Colonna, by reafon of the new alliance 
 contracted between their families ; and the firfl: ftep the dead perfon had 
 made towards being known in the world, was by being a fcrvant unto 
 him when he was nuncio in Spain. It is faid, young '^itlio at that time 
 fell in love with a common whore at Madrid, who having gained fome 
 money by her trade, he did intend to marry her, and propofed unto his 
 mafler that defign, as a thing which he thought of great advantage; but 
 Colonna knowing that after he had made that flep, he could never hope 
 for any higher preferment, than to be a bawd to his wife; having no 
 other way of diverting him, under pretence of honouring him with a 
 
 packet,
 
 TAKEN FROM THE SYDNEY PAPERS 49. 
 
 packet, fent him into Italy with one, that contained little more than the 
 difcovery of his defign, and advice unto liis father, not to fuffer him to 
 return into Spain. The lafl week tlie cardinal Guidone came into town, 
 and was to have received the hat from the pope's hand at a public confiftory ; 
 but his health is fo ill, that it is thought more likely, that he will rather 
 foon leave unto his holinefs the difpofal of his cap, than receive the hat 
 from him. I did receive draughts of thcfe two enclofed writing's from fir 
 y. Ttmple^ with diredion to have them written out, and fent unto your 
 lordfliip, ligned and fealed, which I herewith have accordingly performed. 
 I confefs the intention of them is unknown to me, and not at all explained 
 by him. Thus much only I do underftand, that the lands are worth 
 more than double the fum for which they were mortgaged, and that I 
 can either fell them outright to the perfons, or redeem them, by paying 
 the money hereafter, and have the overplus unto myfelf, which is the 
 beft part of that poor fortune which I have left in the world ; but I know 
 my intereft is never fo fafe, as in your lordfliip's hands ; and not doubting, 
 but that your lordfhip's intention is to favour me, and not to make ufe of 
 fuch a power to my prejudice, I here inclofed, as the utmofl a£l of refign- 
 ing myfelf into your power, fend them unto you. I have at this time little 
 to lay, and am troubled with one of my ordinary fits of the headache, which 
 perfuades me to conclude, defiring your lordlhip ever to look upon me, as 
 
 Your Lordfhip's, etc. 
 
 M^ 1661. _ Alg. Sydney. 
 
 I did intend to have faid no more ; but it is a folly to conceal the evils 
 that opprefs me. I have with difficulty wrote this ; and the troubled 
 thoughts into which the letters received by the lafl: pofl have cart me, 
 give me not eafily the liberty of faying more. The misfortunes into 
 which I was fallen.! fy i^<^ deJlru£fio7t of our party, did not fl.hike nic. The 
 cheats and thefts of fervants, were too ordinary to trouble me. I iuf- 
 fered my mother's legacy to be drawn from me, upon which I miglit 
 have fubfifled a good while. I was not very much furprized to find my- 
 felf betrayed, and robbed of all that with which I had trufted lady Sirang- 
 ford, but I confefs, that I am forely troubled to find, that fir J. Temple \s, 
 going into //vAzwi^; the agreement which he had fo often faid fliould be 
 made with Strangford broken ; from which I might expedt f'ome part oi 
 what is due unto me, to live upon ; the mortgage to the earl of Thdh'et 
 to continue upon Andrews^ land, which is the fbrefl mifchief that ever fell 
 upon me fince I was born, and that I was fo often proinilcd flaould be , 
 taken off, and -^wX-W^on Port ling lands, as it ought to be: and by all 
 thefe means together, I find myiclf deftitute of all help at home, and ex- 
 pofed to all thofe troubles, inconveniences, and mifchiefs unto which 
 they are expofed, who have nothing to fubfiil upon, in a place far from 
 home, where no afliflance can polfibly be expecSled, and where I am known 
 to be of a quality, which makes all low and mean ways of living 
 
 I fhameful
 
 ;^o LETTERS OF ALGERNON SYDNEY, 
 
 ■ihameful and deteftable, Thefe are part of the evils with which I find 
 myfelf encompafl'ed, and out of which I fee no iflue; nor can I make one 
 •ilep, that is not as likely to prove my deftru£lion as prefervation. It will 
 not, I think, be thought ftrange, that I am fenfible of them, fince he that 
 is not muft be an angel, or a beaft: my only hope is, that God will fome 
 way or other put an end to my troubles, or my life. No bookleller in 
 Rome hath the life of cardinal Fincejitiiis Laureus ; but I found it in car- 
 dinal Barbarmi'% library, and borrowed it to read^ which I did yefterday 
 in two hours, walking in the garden of Montalto. It appears to me a 
 flight thing, written by the abbot of Pmarol, rather to fliew his gratitude 
 to his mafter, than to do any great good in the world. When he came 
 firft to Rome, he put himfelf into the fervice of cardinal Cozif^^/wz/j-, Avho, 
 at that time alfo, had Ugo Buoncompagniis, who was afterwards pope Gre- 
 gory XIII. CozeJttim/s dying, he was entertained by cardinal Gaddhis ; after 
 his death by the cardinal ^^ T(3z<;r«i?« ; by him, and the princes of the 
 houfe of G////J, employed unto Z/rt^we-z, general of the jefuits, in their de- 
 fign of giving the crown of France to the king of Spain. That defign 
 foon vanifhed, as a vain thing, and was. peremptorily refufed by Pere- 
 nottus, ambaflador of Spain. ToiimoJi dying, he came to the fervlce of 
 Anthony king of Navarre, After a few months, his death left him free to 
 feek a new mafter, who proved to be Hippolitus d''EJie, cardinal of Ferrara; 
 with him he return^ed to Rome, after the death of Pius partus, pope, to 
 be at the conclave, where Pita ^linttis was chofen. Vincent lus was by 
 this pope made Mx^oy^ oi Mo7is Regalis ; defigned nuncio into Scot/and ; 
 advanced as far as Paris ; detained there by letters from queen Mary, 
 whofe troubles then began, and never ended. Some relation is made of 
 her anions, with lefs afperity than is iifed by Buchanan ; but the main 
 tnatters of which he acciifeth her, confejj'cth, mitigated only as eJf'eSls of 
 human frailty % ajid all falved at lafi, with dying a catholic. After this, he 
 was fent by the fame pope nuncio unto Fmanucl Phihbcrt, duke o^ Savoy. 
 And, upon Henry duke oi Anjou being chofen king oi Poland, fcnt to 
 congratulate his cledllon, and to refide as nuncio with him, when he came 
 into his kingdom. Plenry not remaining there long, the Polanders came 
 to a new eledlion, Vincentius did induftrloufly favour the pretences of 
 Maximilian the emperor, by whofe flackneis the defign failed, when it 
 was brought almoftto maturity. Stepbanus being chofen, and Maximilia7i 
 tlying, he remained fome time nuncio in Poland : from thence was fent 
 the fecond time into Savoy, while the difpute was about the marquifate of 
 Sahifes. At this time he was made cardinal by Gregorius XIII, his ancient 
 companion; who dying foon after, Vincentius went to Rome, and received 
 the hat from the hand of Sixtus ^intus, and was then made proteiftor of 
 the queen, and nation of Scotland. A few days after, he received the 
 queen's will, made the day before her death; wherein Jlje gave the crown 
 «/" England to the iing of Spa.\n, if her fon would not turn catholic. After 
 this, nothing is reported that is memorable, but his pretenfion to be pope 
 in the conclaves, wherein P'rbanWl. and Greg. XIV. were chofen: both 
 J difappointed
 
 TAKEN FROM THE SYDNEY PAPERS 
 
 cllfappointed by the Spaniards^ from whom he expeded the greateft affift- 
 ance. I have here fent your lordfliip an epitome of this book: if yet you 
 care to have it, I will caufe it to be written out. 
 
 In one of thefe writings fent me by fir "J. Temple, the lands lying within' 
 Ripfon Park, called tbe Hoods, were mentioned as mortgaged, with Boine- 
 toriy to the earl, which is not true; but were long lince fold outright, 
 which made me leave that out of the writing I fcaled, which in all other 
 refpeds is according to the draught that was fent me. 
 
 ^^ 
 
 A. SYDNEY TO HIS FATHER ROBERT EARL OF LEICESTER 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 The laft week I did not write into England, being employed at the time 
 the poft went away, in fettling my fmall affairs upon my remove hither,- 
 By the civility of a ftranger, I find myfelf at prefent as well as I can be, 
 until the time come that I may conveniently return to my own country. 
 The prince Pamphili, nephew to the laft pope, hath given me very con- 
 venient lodgings in his Villa di Belvedere, which is one of the fineft of 
 Italy. Whilft every body at Rome is panting and gafping for life in the 
 heat, which they fay this year is much greater than ordinary, I enjoy fo. 
 frefli an air, as to have no reafon at all to complain of the fun. Here are 
 walks and fountains in the greateft perfedlion, and though my natural 
 delight in folitude is very much encreafed this laft year, I cannot defire to 
 be more alone than I am, and hope to continue. My converfation is with 
 birds, trees, and books : in thefe laft months that I have had no bufinefs 
 at all, I have applied myfelf to ftudy a little more than I have done for- 
 merly ; and though one who begins at my age cannot hope to make any 
 confiderable progrefs that way, I find fo much falisfailion in it, that for 
 the future I fhall very unwillingly (though I had the opportunity) put my- 
 felf into any way of living that fhall deprive me of that entertainment. 
 Whatever hath been formerly the objedls of my thoughts and defires, 
 I have now intention of feeking very little more than quietnefs and retire- 
 ment. This place is about half a mile from Franfcati, where there hath 
 been ftore of company this fpring, but they are almoft all returned to Rome, 
 and the reft within a few days will follow; there being an opinion, that 
 after the latter end oi June it is extremely unwholefome to go from hence 
 io Rome, until the air be purged by the rain, which ordinarily comes in 
 OBobcr, which is enough to perfuade every one to return, it beiiig hard 
 to find a man here that doth not inake rules of health the principal care of Ijis 
 life. The cardinal Sacchetti vfent from hence on Thurfday laft, having firft 
 with great civility ofi'ered me his Filla, with many conveniences in it, for 
 this fummer; but I being fettled here, excufed my remove. The confta- 
 ble Colonna was expefted at Rome on Friday laft, but he is detained at 
 Macerata by the ficknefs of his wife. Ro?ne is ever full of bitter toncues,. 
 and moft of them are at prefent exercifed againft that young couple. They 
 fay, that at Milan \\t fhewed no virtue that hath been eminent in his 
 
 4. G family,
 
 ja XETTERS OF ALGERNON SYDNEY, 
 
 family, but good hufbandry, and keeping himfelf incognito ; was known 
 enly in (hops by his exadtnefs in examining prizes : and though his lady 
 at firft meeting paiTed twenty hours in bed with him, it is faid fhe rofe as 
 pure a maid as when fhe laid down: to thefe are added a hundred ugly 
 things of her, if it be poffible, worfe than are written from Paris of Mr. 
 de la MeiUieray and his fifter. The duke de Nevers is returned into France 
 v.'ithout feeing her. His fhort flay and little bufinefs make people fay 
 his journey was only to \ifit Diana Fel/irana, a courtezan, with whom 
 he fpent the moft part of his time. He came hither with little reputation, and 
 returned with lefs. The Padre Oliva (whom I have formerly mentioned 
 to your lordfhip} is, by the general chapter of the Jefuits, chofen Vicario 
 GeneraJe of their order, with power to ad; without dependance upon the 
 general, and aiJurance of fucceihon if he outlives him. This ele£tion gives 
 general fatisfaction, certainly v/ith reafon, for he is a wife and worthy 
 man. It is true, the chapter had no precedent for conflituting an officer 
 with fuch power ; but it is confefl'ed by all, that they have fupreme autho- 
 rity in what belongs unto themfelves ; and the incapacity of the prefent 
 general, not perfectly exempted from the grofs German vices, did oblige 
 them to uie it. It is flrange that man could ever come to be their chief, 
 who never had one before that was not a very eminent perfon. Perhaps 
 he was one that did appear digmts iinperio niji imperajfet. The cardinal 
 d'Aragona made his entry into PoJne the lafl week, and is, as I hear, to 
 receive the red hat to-morrow. It was faid that he had loft great treafures 
 in his paflage by fea from Spain ; but people begin to think that report was 
 fpread only for an excufe not to live in that fplendor which is more fuit- 
 able to his birth, dignity, and humour, than to his fortune. Others fay 
 he is rich enough, but that covetoufhefs is more prevalent with him than 
 his delight in oftentation ; but all agree his greateft lofs was fome boxes 
 of chocolate. The cardinal d''Ejle remains ftill at Modcna, expelling the 
 effect of his defign formerly mentioned to your lordfliip. The prince Mattia 
 de'' Medici is expected every day at Livonia^ with the young princefs from 
 Marfeilles. The Gran Duca doth certainly intend to receive her with the 
 greateft magnificence that in many ages hath been feen in Italy. I am 
 
 Your Lordfhip's, etc. 
 Franfcati, June ^-V* 1661. Alg. Sydney. 
 
 I did long fincc hear from my colleague fir Ro/n-rt Honywood., that all 
 'the bills charged by us upon the council from the north were ordered to 
 'be paid, and the fame allowance until the time the goods were deli- 
 vered ; by which means the laft bill which was for 600/. being money laid 
 out equally between him and me, ought to be divided between us, and 
 IJkcwife the reft, which is near as much more. I wrote to him and fir 
 y. Temple about this bufinefs, but could have no anfwer; fo that I doubt 
 lie intends, as many others have done, to take advantage of my abfence, 
 ;inddeal ill with mc, I do not know how the order was granted, and there- 
 fore can do nothing in it. I befeech your lordlliip when you come to 
 London to take a little care of it; he will be afraid to deceive mc, if your 
 lordfliin appear in it.
 
 TAKEN FROM THE SYDNEY PAPERS 
 
 A. SYDNEY TO HIS -,^„^ 
 
 •THER ROBERT EARL OF LEICESTER.' 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 I have already once or twice written unto your lordiiiip, . 
 to^this place ; but I did not think it neceffary to perform that duryfis 
 conftantly, as whilfl: I was at Rome having nothing at all to fay. I know 
 nothing of what is done in the world, and have retired hitlier that" 
 I might know nothing, unlefs it be that which relates unto Rngland- 
 my friends there do, as it feems, think the knowledge of that would difturb 
 my folitude, by making me as much a ftranger unto all that is done there, 
 as to the affairs of China. I left Rone, where I had made a great deal of 
 acquaintance, to avoid the neceffity of making and receiving vifits, and 
 live now as a hermit in- a palace. Nature, art, and treafurc can hardly 
 make a place more pleafant than this. The defcription of it would look- 
 more like poetry than truth. A SpaniJJj lady coming not long llnce to fee 
 this houfe, feated in a large plain, out of the middle of a rock, and a 
 river brought to the top of the mountain, with the walks and fountains; 
 ingenioufly deiired thofe that were prefent not to pronounce the name of 
 our Saviour, lell: it fhould dilTolve this beautiful enchantment. We have 
 paft the folftice, and' I have not yet had occafion to complain of heat, which 
 in Rome is very exceffive, and hath filled the town with ficknefs, efpeciallv 
 that part of it where I lived. Here is what I looked for, health, quiet, arid 
 fditiide. lam with fome eagernefs fallen to reading, and find fo much fatis— 
 fadlion in it, that though I every morning fee the fun rife, I never go abroad', 
 until fix or f even of the clock at night ; yet cannot I be Jo fare of jny temper,. 
 as to know certainly how long this manner of life will plea fe tne. I cannot 
 but rejoice a little to find, that wheti I wander as a vagabond through the 
 world, forfaken of my friends, poor, and known only to be a broken limb of 
 a fidip-wreckcd faSlion; I yet find, humanity and civility from thofe who arc- 
 in the height of for tune and reputation. But I do alfo well know, I am in a- 
 firange land, how far thofe civilities do extend, and that they are too airy to 
 jecd or clothe a man. I cannot fo unite my thoughts unto one objeB, as 
 abfolutely to forbid the memory offuch things as thefe are to enter into than ;. 
 but I go as far as I can ; andfince L canjiot forget what is pafed, nor be 
 abfolutely infe?ifible of what is prefent, I defend myfelf reafonably well fro?}i- 
 encreafing or anticipating evils by forefight. The power of forefeeing is a- 
 happy quality unto thofe who prof per, and can. ever propofe to themfelves= 
 fome thing of greater felicity than they enjoy; but a niofi df per ate mifchief 
 unto them,, who by forefeeing can dij'cover ?iothing that is not worfe than the 
 evils they do already feci. He that is naked, alone, and without help in the 
 open fea, is lefs unhappy in the night, when he may hope the land is near, 
 than in the day, when he fees it is not, and that there is no poffibility ofjafety. 
 Perhaps, Iharp-fighted people might, in a condition like unto mine^. 
 find more occafion of trouble than I do. I find ftupidity an advantage; 
 nature hath given me a large proportion of it, and I did artificially. 
 eacreaie it to that degree, that if I were not awakened with the bitter 
 
 4 G 2^ fenfe 
 
 S3
 
 ^^ LETTERS OF ALGERNON SYDNEY, 
 
 fenfe of fome mlfchiefs that the Lady ^^r.^gforn..^^^^^^^^^ 
 ' (which fir Joh^ Temple ever made me hope h;^ ^^^^^^. ^^^^^(^ 
 
 reft well enough at eafe, m_ a dull mdolY ^^^^jj j^^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^^ 4,.^^ 
 with the thought^ot^^gvn'-^^,/fo,.j£^ip j^^^^ ,,1^^, ^^^^^ ^^^^^^^.^ ^^^j f^^_ 
 
 months,^ Drought one that received life from you. I have not much to 
 Complain of (unlefs in that one point I mentioned) lefs to defire, and leaft 
 of all to be pleafed with. Whilft I was in Rome I wrote letters without 
 much pa:in, fmce I had not fo divided my time as to be very fenfible of 
 lofing an hour or two ; now I am alone time grows much more precious 
 unto me, and I am very unwilling to lofe any part of it. I think this a 
 lavvful excuie for writing feldom to your lordfhip, only when I have 
 nothing to fay that you can care to hear ; if it were otherwife, I would wave 
 all refpeds to entertain you. I need make fmall apologies to my other 
 friends ; their filence commands mine. I am 
 
 Your Lordfnip's, etc. 
 
 Franfcati, jT.''^^' 1661. Alg. Sydney. 
 
 A. SYDNEY TO HIS FATHER ROBERT EARL OF LEICESTER 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 I write conftantly to your lordfhip, at the leaft once a fortnight; though 
 I have not fo much as the encouragement of knowing you do receive my 
 letters or would have me write. Whilft I was at Ro>ne I thought it more 
 probable your lordfliip would have me write than not, becaufe I had fome- 
 times fomething to fay, that perhaps you would not be unwilling to hear; 
 but that now failing, I am inclined to think my filence would pleafe you 
 beft, and therefore am perfuaded to make my packets fewer and lighter 
 than formerly. I have extreme little to fay, becaufe I neither do any 
 thing, nor know what is done by others. I intend this half burial, as a 
 preparative, be an entire one; and fhall not be much troubled though I find, 
 if upon the knowledge of my manner of life, they who the laft year at 
 Whitehall did exercife their tongues upon me, as a very unruly headed 
 man, do fo far change their opinion of me, on the fiidden, as to believe 
 me fo dull and lazy as to be fit for nothing. When that opinion is well 
 fettled, I may hope to live quietly in E,ngland^ and then fhall think it a 
 feafonable time to return. I have fome inclinations this autumn to go to 
 Naples, and from thence to Sicily and Malta, and to pafs the winter in 
 fome ofthofe places, and return to Ro}ne in the fpring. It is not ufual for 
 me to look fo many months before hand, nor poflible to extend my fight 
 any further. I muft then know from my friends at home, whether it be 
 yet time to return thither ; I have ever had it in my thoughts to choofe 
 that before any thing; but if it be ftill inconvenient for me to take that 
 refolution, I muft then think of making another paufe at Rome, or fome 
 other place, that may prove convenient. I wrote two or three letters to your 
 Jordlhip, which defcrve at leaft fo much of an anfvver, as to know what your 
 
 lordlhip
 
 TAKENf FROM THE SYDNEY PAPERS 
 
 lordHiip will do in the fubjed of the one, ahd what dircdions you will be 
 plealed to give me in thole things I mentioned in the other. The firll: was 
 accompanied with two deeds, of whicli I received draughts from fir yohn 
 1'e?npk, wherein I did make over unto fome of your fervants my right of 
 redemption in two farms at Swingjleld, hoping that your lordfhip will 
 be pleafed to redeem them. In the other, I fent a lift of books, defiring 
 your lordfliip's commands for providing fo many of them as fhould pleafe 
 you. I fliould alfo be glad to know whether you received that wherein I 
 mentioned the 1 2 cardinals. I give your lordfhip many thanks for the 
 money fent me by Mr. Ho/kins. I have received his bill, direded to the 
 fon of the old parfoa, vv'ho hath dealt (o ill with me concerning that, and 
 a little more money which was fent to me, that I think I fhall be forced to 
 proteft the hills. I am glad your lordfhip hath the black gelding, I think 
 he may be tit for yonr fervice, for which he was firft intended; if I have 
 any other young horfes, or breeding mares, that may yet be ufeful, I 
 befeech your lordfhip to fend fome body down to the place where they are, 
 and take as many as he likes. I know this is not now fo much as a com- 
 pliment, for they will be worth nothing to me ; they that have robbed me 
 of almoft all I had will not leave me any thing that is worth taking : be- 
 fore all be gone, I wifli your lordlhip would take fo many as you fliall care 
 to have. I am fure there were good ftore of mares and colts, and I believe 
 the heft in England of that kind ; but I do not know what remains. I did 
 alfo many months fmce, fend to Mr. Hojkins to prefent your lordfhip with 
 my fables ; but I hear nothing of the receipt of my letter ; if it mifcarried, 
 I do by this dciire your lordfliip to command him to deliver them to you. 
 If I knew in what I might be ferviceable to your lordfliip, I would be very 
 induftrious in improving any opportunity. I am 
 
 Your Lordfhip's, etc. 
 July^;, 1 66 1. • Alg. Sydney-c 
 
 5j^ 
 
 A. SYDNEY TO HIS FATHER ROBERT EARL OF LEICESTER. 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 I have written an extreme long letter unto your lordihip, concerning a 
 bufinefs of yours, I now begin another relating unto myfelf. I received 
 the laft week a letter from Mr. Ho/kins^ who faid, that young Culpepper 
 had a regiment of thofe men reported to be raifed for the fervice ot the 
 emperor, who bid him tell me, that if I would engage myfelf in that 
 bufinefs, I might have a good employment. I am not much inclined to 
 believe thofe men are intended for that fervice, nor that thofe who dilpole 
 of the commands will be loilling to employ me ; nor if they were, fliould I 
 rely much upon the judgment of him that fent the melTage, nor enter far 
 upon the treaty of a bufinefs of fuch importance with him that conveyed 
 it. I did therefore return no other anfwer unco him, than that I vv^as not 
 in a condition to refufe a good employment ; and if I might know in 
 what company, and upon what terms I might have it, I would return a 
 
 1 fpeedy
 
 5<3 LETTERS OF ALGERNON SYDNEY 
 
 fpeedy anfwer. I have refleded upon this bufmefs fmce I wrote that letter, 
 and joining it with fome other circumftances that have come to my 
 knowledge, I incline to believe the propofer did follow the diredions of 
 fome perfon more important than himfelf, rather than his own opinion> 
 which perfaades me to fend a better anfwer. If there be any thing of 
 reality in the propofition, I can afcribe it only to the dcfire that thofe in 
 power may have, to fend away thofe that are fufpedted by them. They 
 fhall have their end ; I will ferve them in it, if they pleafe, and upon 
 more eafy terms than will be expe<fled by others. I will undertake to 
 tranfport a good ftrong body of the bell officers and foldiers of our old 
 army, both horfe and foot. Though the obtaining of this would be a 
 very confiderable advantage unto me, and fome of my friends, I do not 
 afk it as a favour ; / kno-w neither they nor I JJ.hiII receive any thing upon 
 that account. The firft that I ever did afk, and the leafl that I ever can 
 afk, (I mean affurance of being permitted to live quietly for a few months 
 at Penjlmrjl) not having been granted, I am like to make few requefts- 
 for the future. But as I think that the advantage which the king expedls 
 by ridding the land of thofe perfons, is the motive upon which the offer 
 was made, I believe it to be a very confiderable one, for they who find 
 themfelves fufpefted may poffibly grow unquiet ; the deftroying of them 
 will be a work of time, and not without difficulty and danger, and it 
 cannot be expecSled, that they will of their own accord leave their 
 country, unlefs it be with fome man, of whom they have a good opinion, 
 and all thofe are as little favoured as I am. I defire your lordffiip to fend 
 for Culpepper, and know of him upon what ground he made the propo- 
 fition, and then to proceed as you fhall think fit. If it be granted, it is 
 well, and I hope to carry thofe who will gain honour unto the nation,, 
 wherefocver they go, and either find fortunes for themfelves, or graces, 
 which is as good, and it will be very fuitable unto my intention, who. 
 as I told you in a letter about three weeks fince, have thoughts of- 
 paffing the next fummer as a volunteer in Hungary. I doubt your 
 Ibrdfliip will be unwilling to propofe this, left it fhould make the king 
 or his minifters believe that I am upon better terms with my old- com- 
 panions than you would have them think me. I defire your lordfhip to 
 wave that fcruple ; / have credit enough "with them for fuch a biijinfs as 
 this is; and if I were not thought at court to have far more than I have y 
 i hey would not trouble themfelves with me fo tnuch as they do. Whatever 
 it is, I defire to make ufe of it, to carry me, and a good number of thofe 
 in the fame condition, fo far from England^ that thofe who hate us, may 
 give over fufpeding us. I am 
 
 Your Lordflilp's, etc. 
 Brufficls, T-V Dec. 1663, Alg. Sydney. 
 
 I defire your lordfliip v.'ill be plcafed to fend me an anfwer of this 
 bufinefs as foon as you can, and to communicate this unto lord Sunderland. 
 S
 
 LETTERS OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 TO HENRY SAVILE 
 
 AMBASSADOR IN FRANCE.
 
 (•■■• 
 
 LETTERS OF ALGERNON SYDNEY 
 TO HENRY SAVILE AMBASSADOR IN FRANCE*. 
 
 Sir, London, Feb. -J,-, 1678-g. 
 
 I hope you will be fo juft unto me, as not to think I gave over writing 
 unto you during the fitting of the parliament, bccaufe I did not in a good 
 while receive an anfwer unto my iirft letter. I feldomjiand uponfuch 
 ceremonies^ and never with thofe ivho have obliged w^, as you have done. 
 The truth is, fome of your friends, and mine, were fo entangled ia 
 bufinefs then upon the ftage, that I could fay nothing to the purpofe, 
 without mentioning them ; and the parts they had taken ujx)n themfelves 
 were fuch as I was unwilling to relate. The refult of all this is, that the 
 lord Sunderland is out of his place and the council : the lord Conway 
 fucceeds him, and hath the feals. Eflex is alfo put out of the council 
 and lieutenancy of Hertfordfliire, upon prefenting a petition from the 
 lords. Godolphin hoped to have had the honour of accompanying them 
 in their difgrace ; but Temple only hath it. The council being hereby 
 weakened is reinforced by the admiffion of the earls of Oxford, Chefter- 
 field and Aylcfbury ; and it is hoped that, to render it complete, the 
 lords Berkeley, Craven and Arundel of Trerice, fliall be called. The 
 lord Halifax is gone to ruminate upon thefe matters at RufFord, and fays 
 he will not return fouthward, until the parliament meet at Oxford. The 
 fruits expected from the lall parliament having been loft by little imder- 
 hand bargains, and, as fome fay, the king and parliament equally betrayed 
 by thofe that were trufted by them, mens minds feem to be filled with 
 various conceits, and many jealoufics. Some think, the writs for calling 
 the parliament are in themfelves void, as being without advice of council ; 
 and that the law takes notice of nothing done by the king, fine fapientuni 
 et magnatwn conjilio : or that if it fhould meet at Oxford^ its ads would 
 be void, or fubjedl to be vacated for want of the freedom of voting, which 
 is eflential unto it. Others fay, the validity of the writs depends folely 
 upon the /i^r/ow of the king, and that others ought to think themfelves 
 lafe, where he is fafe, though their danger be from him, I know not 
 what this will produce, but I never faw mens minds more heated than at 
 prefent ; and cannot think that portends lefs evil than the comet. People 
 are every where bufy in choofing parliament men of their own principles, 
 and they will probably be like unto the laft ; but it is thought, many 
 officers will be prevailed with to make /rt/^i? returns. I hear of no eledUon 
 paOed, but that of Amerjl^am. Of thofe who by the laft parliament were 
 there judged capable of giving their voices, Sir Robert Hill had forty; 
 Mr. Sydney itvtn and thirty ; Sir Jofeph Drake twenty eight ; Mr. 
 
 4 H Cheyney 
 
 * Henry Savile was younger brother to Georjje Lord Malitd.\', created afterwaiJ". r^i\^ 
 and marquis of Halifax.
 
 LETTERS OF ALGERNON SYDNEY 
 
 Cheyney tweny nine ; but the conftables have been pleafed to return 
 the two latter. To-morrow is appointed for the elediion of the city- 
 members, who, people beheve, will be the fame as formerly. Some 
 think his royal highnefs * hath bufmefs enough to employ his thoughts : 
 others fay, he is at fuch perfect leifure, that the maid of honour, who 
 accompanied him, cannot employ all his fpare time ; and for that rcafon, 
 or to give her time to lay afide fomething that troubled her, he applies 
 himfelf to a young gentlewoman, who with much refpedt and gratitude, 
 receives the honour he is pleafed to do her; but fhe hath an old crabbed 
 hufband, who doth not take that for a juft recompence of the great refped; 
 he hath fhewed unto his royal highnefs, and is not likely to learn better 
 manners from his Prefbyterian brethren. 
 
 Notwithftanding what is faid, we good fubjefts hope all will go per- 
 fe£lly well. His majefty, as is faid, refolves to reform his court, that all 
 fhallbeof one mind. Mr. Seymour, being now looked upon as the greateft 
 man, brings his two friends Conway and Ranelagh into the management 
 of bufmefs ; and the firfl of thefe being as eminent for fmeffe of wit, 
 quicknefs and eafinefs in ftate affairs, as the other in the excellency of all 
 moral virtues, things cannot but go well ; and we particularly hope that 
 England will keep up its reputation of being, as the cardinal Pallavicini ' 
 fays, the mother and nurfe of the bejl ivits in the world, when all foreign 
 minifters fliall come to treat with Jenkins and Conway, who will be 
 taken for patterns of the genius of the nation, and not thought the only 
 men it produceth, that deferve the higheft praifes ; and left any thing 
 fhould be wanting, Mr. Hide is joined unto thefe. It is true that we have 
 not of our nation, a man to put at the head of the foldiers, as admirable 
 in military fkill and virtues, as thofe above-mentioned are in civils and 
 morals : but the knowledge of our own defeds, the fagacity of difcovering 
 in the earl of Feverfham the qualities which we have not, and the 
 prudent humility of fubmitting unto him that is bleffed with them, though 
 a ftranger, deferves fome commendations : and I am confident, that ivben 
 thinss^s jhall be brought unto fuch order, that a Pap ft may appear open-faced^ we 
 ihall fliew as great refpedl unto the lord Dunbarton. France and Germany, 
 that are full of their trophies, cannot but admire this, whilft we reft fecurc 
 under their ftiadow. Fit men may more eafily be found for lefs eminent 
 places ; and the earl of Thanet, as is faid, ihall fuccecd Mr. Rullel in the 
 command of the foot guards. Civil and military afi'airs being thus fettled, 
 trcafures flowing in unto us on all fides, and all foreign princes, concerned 
 in our affairs, being fure unto us, we need not fear a few dfcontented lords-, 
 a mutinous city, or murmuring counties ; and prefuming that the vaft ma- 
 
 * See where the duke in divan dnmn'd docs fit, 
 To's vaft dcfigns racking his pigmy wit ; 
 "U'hilft: a choice fenatc of//)' Ignatian crew 
 The vjciys to tniodcr, trfcifgn, conquejl JIicw, 
 
 State Poems by J. Marvdl. 
 
 gazines
 
 TO HENRY SAVILE AMBASSADOR IN FRAiNCE 
 
 gazincs of arms made at Breft, and fome that with a good quantity of 
 ammunition were lately fent into Ireland^ are in purl'uance of agreements 
 made with you, we cannot hut think all Avill tend to our good. 1 am 
 
 Your moll humhic and faithful fervant. 
 
 Sir, London, Ech. lo, 1678-9. 
 
 I hope you will excufe the trouble I give you, in enclofing this, and 
 dcfire you to fend it forward into Gafcony. It is a climate where I 
 cannot be fufpeiSted of fending any thing of a dangerous nature; but we 
 have fo many at the poft-houfe infedicd with the moft impertinent folly, 
 that a packet though direded thither can hardly pafs uavilited, unlefs the 
 perfon to whom it is dire£led do protect: it. 
 
 The laft relolutions of the city, have been as pleafmg to the county as 
 diflafleful to the court. Yefterday the company of artillery intended to liave 
 chofen prince Rupert to be their captain, and Sir Thomas Player their 
 leader ; but a letter was produced from the king, rather deliring than 
 commanding that no new officers fliould be chofen ; and they, having 7:0 
 conJUtution beyond an a5l of kmgand council^ depending upon his mqjejly''s linll^ 
 did iinwiilingly obey. 
 
 Parliament-men are for the moft part chofen by the parties moft con- 
 trary to the court, and many believe this next houfe of commons will not 
 be at all more pliable than the laft. Sir William Waller and Poultney 
 were this day chofen at Weftminfter without any oppofition. Col. Titus 
 and Sir Thomas Proby were with the fame facility chofen knights of 
 Huntingtonftiire ; Hambden the elder, and Wharton, of Buckingham- 
 Ihire ; with a multitude of others. 
 
 The lady Portfmouth is faid to have entirely recovered her loft favour. 
 The earl of Sunderland is at his houfe in Queen-ftreet. The lady Halifax, 
 on Tuefday, followed her lord to Ruffbrd. I am. 
 
 Your moft humble and faithful fervant= 
 
 Sir, London, April -/^-, 1679. 
 
 Being confcious unto myfelf, that what I could lay of bufmefs now up- 
 on the ftage would be of little ufe unto you, I thought it fitter for me to 
 be one of the laft in writing to you, than to take place according to my 
 defire of ferving you, which would fuffer me to yield to none ; but left 
 this acknowledgment fliould be taken for a pretence to cover lazinefs, I 
 will here give you fuch a fight of things as I have ; and intend to continue 
 to do the like as often as I can without troubling you. You will have heard 
 from all hands, what temper the houfe of commons appears to be of, and 
 that the earl of Danby hath accompliflied his promife of bringing it into 
 an entire fubje^tion unto the king*s will, as well as the other two points, 
 
 4 H 2 ^ of
 
 LETTERS OF ALGERNON SYDNEY 
 
 of paying his majefty's debts, encreafing his treafure, and rendering hini 
 conliderable among his neighbouring princes ; which are verified in leav- 
 ing twenty two fliillings and ten pence in the exchequer, two and forty 
 hundred thoufand pounds of paffive debts, and the revenue anticipated 
 for almoft a year and half, and the account his lordihip was pleafed to 
 give in his fpeech to the peers, of the efteem the king of France had for 
 his perfon and government. Notwithftanding all this, he is fo far con- 
 fidered at court, that his concernments are a general obftrudlon to all 
 bufii^cffcs. The lord Berkeley, Frecheville, and others of the learned, 
 think he hath behaved himfelf fo well, as to deferve no punifliment, and 
 therefore oppofed jthe commitment of the bill of attainder, : that it might 
 be call out : Shaftfbury, FLffex and Halifax differing fomething in opinion 
 from them, in compliance unto the king's defires, did, as an amendment, 
 wipe out the word attainder^ and made it almoft the fame wnth that which 
 their lordfhips had formerly fent up to banifh him, and declaring him at- 
 tainted only if he came into England after the firft of May next : the 
 confideration of which bufinefs is likely this day to pofl'efs the houfe of 
 commons, and if their mind be known before this letter be fealed, it 
 fliall be inferted. 
 
 The next important point likely to be purfued is, to profecute the 
 laft week's vote, that all the forces now in Etiglandy * except the trained 
 
 bandsy 
 
 [* Except the trained bands, ivere kept up contrary to law.'} 
 Sir Robert Atkins, in his remarks on Lord Ruflel's indiiSlment, wherein t/je attempting 
 to feize and deflroy the king's guards was laid as an overt aii of treafon, afks, " The 
 guards, what guards ? what or whom does the law underftand or allow to be the 
 king's guards, for the prefervation of his perfon ? Whom fhall the court that tried 
 this NOBLE lord, whom fhall the judges of the law that were then prefent and upoji 
 their oaths, whom fhall they judge, or legally underftand by thefe guards ? They 
 never read of them in all their law books. There is not any ftatute law that makes 
 the leafl: mention of any fuch guards ; and therefore the indiflment is uncertain and void; 
 
 The king is guarded by the fpccial proteftion of Almighty God, by whom he reigns, 
 and whofe Vicegerent he is. He has an invifible guard, a guard of glorious angels. 
 
 Non eget Mauri jaculis, neque arcu, 
 Nee venenatis gravida fagittis, 
 Crede, pbaretra. 
 The kijig is guarded by the love of his fubjefts, the next under God, and the furcjl 
 guard. He is guarded by the Law and the Courts of Juftice. The Militia and the 
 'Trained Bands arc his legal guard, and the whole kingdom's guard. The veiy Jtidges 
 that tried this noble Lord were the King's guards and the Kingdom's guards ; and 
 this Lord Rullel's guard againlt all erroneous and imperfed: indidments, from all falfe 
 evidence and proof, from all flrains of wit and oratory mifapplied and abufcd by Council. 
 
 What other guards are there ? We know of no law for more. King Henry VH. of 
 this Kingdom, as hiftory tells us, -wns the firjl that fet up the Band of Pcnfioners. Since 
 this, the Yeomen of the Guard ; fince them> certain armed bands, commonly now a 
 days, after the French mode, called the King's life guard, rid about, and appearing with 
 naked Iwords to the terror of the Nation : but where is the law ? where is the authority 
 fur tlicm i' 
 
 See " Parliamentary and political trafls" by Sir Robert Atkins, [the up- 
 tight'] Lord chief Earon of the Exchequer, in that uwi-t infilled " A 
 Defence of the late Lord Rufill's innoccncy." p. 359. 
 Our trained bands are the truftieft and mofl proper ftrength of a free Nation not at war 
 WUhia iifelf, Jtikonoklalles of John Milton.
 
 TO HENRY SAVILE AMBASSADOR IN FRANCE 
 
 hands, were kept up contrary to law ; and though it was objeded that the 
 king's guards and the garriibns of Portfmouth and other phtces would be 
 inckided, it was anfwcrcd, that kings governing jujlly according to law had 
 no need of ciijlodia corporis ; and that it was better to have no garriibns at 
 all, than fuch as were commanded by Lcgg, Holmes, and their peers. 
 
 The controverfy concerning the eledion at Grinftead, was determined 
 at the committee in favour of Mr. Powell, chofen by the commons, and 
 Thomas Pelham, by the major part of the corporation, no complaint be- 
 ing made againfl him. Powell choofmg to ftand as he is chofen for Ci- 
 rcnccfter, the difpute upon the new eledion is like to be between Scroggs 
 and Sir Thomas Littleton, who is like to have the afhftance of the Dorfet 
 family, the Pelhams, and fome others. On Friday laft, the fame com- 
 mittee voted the right of eledtion at Windfor to be in the commons ; and 
 that Ernely and his companion having been unduly chofen by the corpo- 
 ration, a new eledtion fhould be made ; but the houfe approving of the 
 firft part only, annulled the eledlion of Ernely and the other, and ap- 
 proved that of Windhood and Storkey, 
 
 All foreign affairs are at a ftand, only Van Beuninghen takes great 
 pains to make people believe the king of France intends to add England 
 unto his other conquefts, and difabufe fuch as were fo foolilh as to be- 
 lieve there was any thing of truth in the reports of thofe that had fpoken 
 of the popifh plot ; and finding me infedted with the fame opinion, with 
 fome of my friends, he was pleafed to fpend two hours the other day 
 in the park, to convince me of my error, in which he did fucceed as 
 well as he ufed to do in his great defigns. 
 
 The king certainly inclines not to be fo ftiff as formerly in advancing 
 only thofe that exalt prerogative * ; but the earl of EiTex, and fome others 
 
 that 
 
 [* In advancing only thofe that exalt prerogative. '\ 
 Nobk Venetian. Now, Sir, I think we are at an end of our Qiieftions, and I, for 
 my part, am convinced, that as the King cannot better himfelf any way by talling^ 
 out with his people at this time, fo that his goodnefs and wifdom is fuch, that he 
 will rather choofe to imitate the moft glorious and generous of his predecellbrs, as Ed- 
 ward the firft and Edward the third [who, it had been before obferved, had very great 
 demands made them by Parliaments and granted than all] than thofe that were of lefs 
 worth and more unfortunate, as Edward the Second, and Richard the Second. And 
 therefore we are now ready to hear what you will think fit to afk of fo excellent a prince. 
 
 Englijh Gentleman. I never undertook to be fo prefumptuous. There is a parliament 
 to fit fpcedily, and certainly tliey are the fittefl every way to fearch into fuch matters; 
 and to anticipate their wifdom would be unreafonable, and give them juft offence. But 
 becaufe all this tittle tattle may not go for nothing, I fhall prefume to give you mv 
 thoughts how the cure mufl be wrought, without defcending to particulars. The cau'e 
 itnmediate, as v/e have fuid, of our difeafe, is the inexecuiicn of our laivs ; and it is moji 
 trw, that ivhen that is altered for the letter, and all our laws are duly, executed, we are 
 in health. For as we never can have the entire benefit of them till our government is upon 
 a right bafis ; fo whenever we enjoy this happinefs to have the full benefit of thofe 
 conftitutions which were made by our ar.ccftors for our fafe and orderly living, our govern- 
 ment is upon a right bafis ; therefore we muft enquire into the caufe why our laws are 
 not executed, and when you have found and taken away that caufe, all is well. Tlie 
 caufe can be no other than this, that the king is told and does believe, chat moft of 
 
 thefe
 
 g LETTERS OF ALGERNON SYDNEY 
 
 't"hat are coming into play thereupon, cannot avoid being fufpedled of 
 having intentions different from what they have hitherto profeffed. 
 
 The earl of Ormond's mifcarriages are fo extreme, and his favour to 
 the Irifh fo apparent, that few believe he can continue in the government 
 of Ireland. Some fpeak of three juftices and a good commander of the 
 army, wholly fixed upon an Engliih intereft ; but if a lieutenant be fent, 
 I believe it will be Eifex or Halifax. 
 
 That you may fee the good humour we are in, I here inclofed fend you 
 a piece of poetry given unto me by a friend of yours ; and if you have 
 Slot feen another, which is the fpeech of Hodge the clown from the 
 
 top 
 
 thefe great charters or rights of the people, of which we tiow chiefly treat, are againft 
 his Majefty's intereft ; though this be very falfe, as has been faid, yet we will not difpute 
 it at this time, but take it for granted, fo that the King having the lupreme execution of 
 the laws in his hand, cannot be reafonably fuppofed to be willing to execute them when- 
 ever he can choofe whether he will do it or no, it being natural for every man not to do 
 any thing againft his own intereft when he can help it. Now when you have thoughC 
 well what it fhould be that glvfs the King a liberty to choofe whether any part of the law 
 Jhall be current or no, you will find, that it is the great, power the king enjoys in the go- 
 vernment. When the Parliament has difcovered this, they will no doubt demand of his 
 Majcjly, an abatement of his royal prerogative in thofe matters only which concern cur enjoy- 
 ment of our all, that is our lives, liberties and eflates ; and le<ive his royal power entire and 
 untouched in all the other branches of it. When this is done, we (hall be as if feme great 
 hero had performed the adventure of diffolving the inchantment we have been under for 
 fo many years ; and all our ftatutes, from the higheft to the loweft, from Magna Charta 
 to that for burying in woollen, zuill be current ; and tve Jhall neither fear the bringing in of 
 Popery ; nor arbitrary power in the intervals of parliament ; neither will there be any diffentions 
 in them ; all caifes of fusions between the Country and Court party being entirely aboUJlied, fo 
 that the people fliall have no reafon to di/li ufi their prince, nor he them. 
 
 Doeior. You make us a fine golden age ; but after all this, will you not be pleafcd 
 to fhew us a fmall profpei5l of this Canaan or country of reft ; will you not vouchfafe 
 to particularize a little what powers there are in the King which you would have dif- 
 continued ? Would you have fuch prerogatives abolifhed or placed elfewhere ? 
 
 Ene,UJh Gentleman. There can be no government if they be abolifhed. But I will not 
 be liice a man who refufcs to fing among his friends, at their entreaty, becaufe he has 
 an ill voice ; I will rather fufFer myfelf to be laughed at by you in delivering my fmall 
 judgment in this matter, but ftill with this proteftation, that I do believe, th;it an infinity 
 of men better qualified than myfelf for fuch fublime matters, and much more the Houfb 
 of Commons, who reprefent the wifdom as well as the power of this Kingdom, may 
 find out a far better way, than my poor parts and capacity can fuggeft. The powers 
 then, which, now being in the Crown, do hinder the execution of our laws and pre\'ent 
 by confequcnce our happincfs and fcttlemcnt, are four. The abfolute power of making 
 war and peace, treaties and alliances with all nations in the world ; hy which means, 
 by ignorant Counfcllors or wicked Minifters, many of our former Kings have made con- 
 federations and wars, very contrary and dcftrudivc to the intereft of England, and by 
 the ui\fortunate management of them have often put the Kingdom in great hazard of 
 jnvafion. Ijcfidcs that, as long as there is a diftincStion made between the Court party 
 and tliat of the Country, there will ever be a jcaloufy in the People, that thcfe wicked 
 Counfcllors, who may think they can be fafe no other way, will make alliances with 
 powerful princes, in which there may be a fecret article by which thofc Princes fliail 
 iHpulate to iiflift them with forces upon a (hort warning to curb the Parliament, and 
 poflibly, to change the government. And this apprchcnfion in the People will be the lets 
 unrcafonablc, becaufe Oliver Cromwell, the great pattern of fomc of our Courtiers, 
 is notorioufly known to have infcrted an article in his treaty with Cardinal Mazarin, 
 during this King of France's inijiority, that he fliould be afliftcd with ten thoufand
 
 TO HENRY SAVILE AMBASSADOR IN FRANCE ^ 
 
 top of the pyramid, \_by A. Marvell^ I will endeavour to fend it untO' 
 you. 
 
 The houfe of commons have this day prcfented unto the lords, the 
 articles drawn againfl: the five lords in the Tower. I alio hear juft 
 now, that they do adhere to the hill of attainder of the earl of Danby, 
 and will no ways admit of the lords amendments of it. One Reading, 
 a lawyer, not long fmce offered four thoufand pounds, and three hun- 
 dred pounds a year in land to Bedloc, if he would dilavow the tefti- 
 mony he had given againfl the lords of Powis, Bcllalis and Peters % 
 which being communicated unto prince Robert and the earl of EfTex, 
 
 he 
 
 men from Fiance, upon occafion, to preferve and defend him in his umrpcd govern- 
 ment, againll his Majefty that now is, or the People of England, or in fine his owm 
 army, whofe revolt he often feared. The fecond rre-.it prerog.ifivc the Kinj^ enjoys^ 
 is the fole difpofal and ordering of the Militia by fca and land, raihng forces, gari- 
 foning and fortifying places, fctting out fliips of war, fo far as he can do all this 
 without putting taxations upon the people ; and this not only in the intervals of Par- 
 liament, but even during their feflion, fo that they cannot raife the trained bands of 
 the Country or City to guard themfelves, or fecure the peace of the Kingdom. The 
 third point is, that it is in his Majcfty's pov/er to nominate and appoint, as he pleafes and 
 for what time he thinks fit, all the officers of the kingdom that are of truft or profit, 
 both civil, military and ecclefiaftical, as they will be called, except where there is Jus 
 Patronatus. Thefe two laft powers may furnifli a Prince who will hearken to ill defigning 
 Counfellors, with the means of either invading the government by force, or by his 
 judges .ind other creatures undermining it by fraud j efpecially by enjoying the fourth 
 advantage, which is the laying out and imploying, as he pleafes, all the public Revenues 
 of the Crown and Kingdom, and that without having any regard, except he thinks 
 fit, to the neceffity of the navy or any other thin j; that concerns the fafcty of the pub- 
 lic. So that all thefe four great poivers, as things n.ui Jiand, may be adoperaied at any time,^ 
 as well to dejlroy and ruin the good order and government of the Stale, as to preferve and fup- 
 port it, as they ought to do. 
 
 Noble Venetian. But if you diveft the King of thefe powers, will you have the Parlia- 
 ment fit always to govern thefe matters. 
 
 Ei.gliflj Ge>itlt>nan. Sir, I would not diveft the King of them, much lefs would I 
 have the Parlianient afTume them or perpetuate their fitting. They are a body more fitted 
 to make laws, and punifli the breakers of them, than to execute them. I would have 
 them therefore petition his Majefty, by way of bill, that he will pleafe to exercife 
 thefe four great Magnnlia of Government, with the confent of four feveral Councils to be 
 appointed for that end, and not otherwife ; that is, with the confent of the major part 
 of them, if any of t)iem difient. In all which councils, his Majefty, or who he, pleafes 
 to rppoint, fliall prefic'e ; the Councils to be named in Parliament, firfl all the number,, 
 and every year afterwards a third part ; fo that each year a third part fhall go out, and 
 a recruit of an equal number come in ; and in three years they fhall be all new : and 
 no perfon to come into that Council, or any other of the four, till he have kept 
 out of any of them full three years, being as long as he was in. And this I learnt 
 from your Qiiarantia's at Venice ; and the ufe is excellent ; for being in fuch a circulation, 
 and fure to have their intervals of power, they will neither grow fo infolent as to brave 
 their King, nor will the Prince have any occafion to corrupt them, although he had the 
 m.ans to do it, which in this new .model he cannot have. Thel'e men in their feveral 
 Councils fhould have no other inllruiftions, but to difpofe of all things and aft in their 
 feveral charges, f«r the interejl and glory of England ; and fhall be anfwerable to Parlia- 
 ment, from time to time, for any malicious or advifed mifdemeanour. Only that Council 
 which manages the public revenue, ihall (befides a very copious and honorable revenue 
 which fh.'.ll be left to his Majcfty's difpofal for his own entertainment, as belongs to 
 the fplcndor and majefty of the government} have inftruiSions to i'ervc his Majefty (if 
 
 he
 
 lO 
 
 LETTERS OF ALGERNON SYDNEY 
 
 he brought Reading by their advice into a place, where two witnefles 
 heard him ; v-hereupon Reading was apprehended, and he having found 
 means whilft he was in the ferjeant's hands to fend a letter to his 
 wife, to be delivered to Mr. Chyvins (defiring to be admitted to the 
 king's prefence, promifing to tell great matters) his majefty refers him 
 wholly to the houfe of commons, and offers to iffue out a commiflion 
 of oyer and terminer for his trial, which will be very fpeedy, if he 
 fave not himlelf by difcoveries : this morning a letter was intercepted 
 written to him by his wife, wherein fhe tells him, that every body fays 
 he is a rogue, and if he doth not confefs all, he will be hanged, and 
 {he together with her children ruined. I am. 
 
 Your moft humble fervant. 
 
 he pleafes to command them and not otherwife) in the regulating and ordering his 
 Oeconomy and Houfliold ; and, if they fhall fee it neceflary, for extraordinary occafions 
 of treating foreign Princes and Ambafladors, or prefenting them, and the like oHentation 
 of greatnefs, to confent with his Majelty moderately to charge the Revenue to that end, 
 I verily believe, that this expedient is much more cfFeftual than either the Juftitia of 
 Aragon was, or the Ephori of Sparta ; who being to check the King almoft in every 
 thing, without having any fliare in his Councils or underftanding them, could not choofe 
 but make a fullen poilure of affairs : whereas thefe both feem and really are the King's 
 minifters, only obliged by Parliament to aft faithfully and honeflly, to which, even 
 without that, all other Counfcllors are bound by oath. As for the other Council, now 
 called the Privy Council, the King may ftill continue to nominate them at his pleafure ; 
 fo they a£l: nothing in any of the matters properly within the jurifdiftion of thefe 
 four councils, but meddle with the affairs of merchants, plantations, charters, and other 
 matters, to which the regal power extendeth. And, provided, that his Majefty call 
 none of the perfons employed in thefe other four councils during their being fo ; nor 
 that this Council do any way intermeddle with any affairs, criminal or civil, which are 
 to be decided by law, and do belong to the jurifdidtion of other Courts or Magiftrates ; 
 they being no eftablifhed judicatory or congregation, which either our government or 
 laws do take notice of, as was faid before, but perfons congregated by the King, as 
 his friends and faithful fubjedts, to give him their opinion in the execution of his 
 regal office. As for example, the King does exercife, at this time, a negative voice as 
 to bills prefented him by Parliament, which he claims by right ; no man ever faid that 
 the privy council had a negative voice ; yet former Kings did not only afk their advice 
 as to the palTing or not pafTing of fuch bills, but often decided the matter by their 
 votes ; which, although it be a higft prefumption in them, when they venture to give 
 him counfel contrary to what is given him by his great council, yet never any of them 
 have been queftioned for it, being looked upon as private men, who fpeak according 
 to the beft of their cunning, and fuch as have no public capacity at all. But if this be 
 not fo, and that this council have fome foundation in law, and fome public capacity, 
 I wifh in this new fettlement it may be made otherwife, and that his Majefty pleafc to 
 take their counfel in private, but fummon no perfons to appear before them ; much lefs 
 give them authority to fend for in cuftody or imprifon any fubjeiSf, which may as well 
 be done by the judges and magiftrates, who, if fecrecy be required, may as well be 
 fworn to fecrecy as thefe Gentlemen, and I believe can keep counfel as well and give 
 it too. 
 
 ISiobU Venetian. But would you have none to manage ftate affairs, none imprifoned for 
 fecret confpiracics, and kept till they can be fully difcovcrcd ? You have made an ndt 
 here lately about Imprifonmcnts, that every perfon ftiall have his Habeas Corpus, I think 
 you call It ; fo that no man, for what occafion foever, can lie in prifon above a night, 
 but the caufe muft be revealed, though there be great caufe for the concealing it. 
 
 Englijh Gentleman. This art you mention and a great many more which we have to the 
 lame piirpofc, that is, againft illegal imprifonmcnts, fliews, that for a long time the 
 
 power
 
 TO HENRY SAVILE AMBASSADOR IN FRANCE n 
 
 Sir, London, April -^.i. 
 
 You are fo much afore-hand in obliging me when I moft wanted a 
 friend, that I cannot hope in a long time to pay my debt, though I were 
 in a place that gave me more advantages, than any I can ever reafonably 
 expedl ; but you may ever be fure of all that is v/ithin my reach. I write 
 now in fome hafte, but am unwilling this poft fliould go without a letter 
 from me. I prefume you know that the earl of Danby rendered himfelf 
 to the black rod on Wcdnefday lafl: ; and that defiring of the lords at the 
 bar, that for his health he might be fuffered to continue under his cuftody; 
 that he might have recourfe, as often as occafion fliould require, to all 
 
 ftate 
 
 power over men's perfons has been cxercifed, under his Majefty, by fuch as were very 
 likely rather to employ it ill than well ; that is, would rather imprifon ten men for honour- 
 able aiSlions, fuch as flanding for the people's rights in Parliament, refufing to pay illegal 
 taxes and the like, than one for projecting and inventing illegal monopolies, or any other 
 kind of oppreffing of the People. This made firft Magna Charta, then the Petition of Right, 
 and divers a£ts befides this laft, take that Power quite away, and make the law and the j.idges 
 the only difpofers of the liberties of our perfons. And it may be, when the Parliament fhall fee 
 the fruit of this alteration we are now difcourfing of, and that flate affairs are in better 
 hands, they ma- think fit to provide, that a return or warrant of imprifonment from one of 
 thefe four Councils (which I fuppofe will have a power of commitment given ihem as to 
 perfons appearing delinquents before them) wherein it fhall be exprefled that he Public is 
 like to fuffer or be defrauded if the matter be immediately divulged, I fay in this cafe, the 
 Parliancnt may pleafe to make it lawful for the Judge to delay the bailing of him for fome 
 fmall time ; becaufe it is not to be judged, that thefe counfellors fo chofen and fo inftruiSled, 
 and to continue fo fmall a time, will ufe their power ill, efpecially being accountable for 
 any abufmg of it to the next Parliament. And I fuppofe the Pailiament, amongfl: other 
 provifions in this behalf, will require that there fhall be a regifter kept cf all the votes of 
 thefe fcveial Councils, with the names of thofe who confented, as of fuch who dillented. 
 As to the form( r part of your queftion, whether I would have none to manage State affairs .' 
 I think there are very kw State affairs that do not concern either peace and war, and trea- 
 ties ab;oad ; the management of the arms, militia and pofle comitatus at home; the ma- 
 nagement of all the public monies, and the eleffion of all oiScers whatfoever. The other 
 parts of State affairs, which are making and repealing of laws, punifhing high crimes 
 againft the StJte, with levying and proportioning all manner of impofitions upon the People, 
 this is referved to the Parliament itfelf; and the execution of all laws to the judges and 
 magiftrates : and I can think of no other affairs of St:Ue than thefe. 
 
 DoSlor. Do you intend that the Council for choofing officers fnall elefl them cf the king's 
 houfhold, that is his menial fervants ? 
 
 EngUJh Gentleman. No, that were unreafonable, except any of them have any jurifdiclion 
 in the Kingdom or any place or pre-eminence in Parliament annexed to fuch office. But in 
 thefe things which concern the powers and jurifdictions of thefe fevcral Councils, wherein, 
 LA GVARQIA DELLA LiBERTA, as Machiavel calls it, is nov/ to be placed, I fliall not pre- 
 fume to fay any thing ; but afi'uie yourfclf, if ever it come to that, it w 11 be very well 
 digefted in Parliament, they being very good at contriving fuch matters and making thenj 
 pra<£licable, as well as at performing all other matters that concern the intereft and great- 
 )iefs of the kingdom. 
 
 DoEior. I have thought that the Ephores of Sparta were an admirable magiflracy, not only 
 for the intereft of the people, but likewife for the prefervation of the authority of the Kin^s 
 and of th-ir lives too. For Plutarch obferves, that the cities of Meflene and Argos had the 
 fame government with Lacedemon ; and yet for want of erecting fuch an authority as was 
 in the Ephores, they v/ere not only perpetually in broils amonuft themfelves, and' for that 
 reafn ever beaten by their enemies, whereas the Spartans were always vicflorious, but even 
 their Kings were the n ofl mifcrable of men, being often called in queftion judiciallv and fo 
 loft their lives, and many of them murdered by infurrcclions of the Peopl; : And^t laft in 
 
 4 I coth
 
 12 
 
 LETTERS OF ALGERNON SYDNEY 
 
 ftate papers that were neceflary to him in making his defence ; that he 
 might at once have a copy of all his charge, and be obliged not to anfwer 
 to any part, until the whole were before him ; and that he might have 
 fcrjeant Ys'^efton, ferjeant Raymond, Mr. Saunders and Mr. Holt afligned 
 unto him for counfel : he received no other anfwer, than that if he told 
 what papers he defired, the houfe would do as was ufual in thofe cafes ; 
 that the houfe of commons could not be abridged of the liberty retained to 
 itfelf, of bringing in additional charges, if it were thought tit ; that he 
 might have for his counfel, fuch of thofe he had named as were not 
 of the king's ; and that he mull be committed to the Tower, where Cheeke 
 
 received 
 
 both thefe cities, the Kings were driven out, their families extirpated, the territory new 
 divided, and the government turned into a Democracy. And 1 ever thought that this expedient 
 you propofe, for I have heard you difcourfe of it often before now, would prove a more fafe 
 and a tnore nolle reformation than the injiitution of Ephores was, and that a Prince who is a 
 liver of his country., who is gracious, zuife and juji, fuch a one as it has pleafed God to fend 
 us at this time, Jhall be ten times more ahfolute when this regulation is rtiade, than ever he luas 
 or could be before ; and that whatfoeier he propofes in any of thefe Councils will be received as a 
 law, nay as an oracle : And on the other fide, ill and weak Princes Jhall have no pofftbility of 
 corrupting men, or doing either themfelves or their People any kind of barm or mifchief. But 
 have you done now ? 
 
 Englifli Gentleman. No, Sir, when this provifion is made for the execution of the laws, 
 which I think very efFedual not to fay infallible, although it is not to be doubted, but that 
 there will be from time to time many excellent laws enadled, yet two I would have palled 
 immediately. The one concerning the whole regulation of the eleftions to Parliament, 
 which we need very much, and no doubt but it will be well done. That part which is 
 necefiary to go hand in hr.nd v/ith our fettlement and which indeed muft be part of it, is, 
 that a Parliament be elected every year at a certain day, and that without any writ or 
 fummons, the People meeting of courfe at the time appointed in the ufual place, as they do 
 in parifhes at the Church-houfe to choofe officers, and that the flierlfts be there ready to 
 prefide and to certify the eleftion. And that the Parliament fo chofen £hall meet at the 
 time appointed, and fit and adjourn as their bufinefs is more or lefs urgent ; but ftill fettino- 
 yet a time for their coming together again : but if there {hall be a neceffity, bv reafin of 
 invafion or fome other caufe, for their affembling fooner, then the King to call the Coun- 
 fellors of thefe four Councils all together, and with the confent of the major part of them, 
 intimate their meeting fooner ; but when the day comes for the annual meeting of ano- 
 ther Parliament, they muft be underftood to be diffolved in law, without any other 
 ceremony, and the new one to take their place. 
 
 DoSlor. I would have this confidered too and provided for, that no ele£lion fhould be 
 made of any pcrfon who had not the majority of the Eleftors prefent to vote for him ; fo the 
 v/rit orders it and fo rcafon diiftates; for elfe how can he be faid to reprcfent the County, 
 if not a fifth part have confentcd to his choice, as happens fometimes and may do oftener .? 
 for where feveii or eight ftand for one vacant place, as I have known in our lail: Long 
 Parliament, where the votes being fet in columns, he who has held moft votes, has 
 not exceeded four hundred of above two thoufand who were prefent. 
 
 Noble Venetian. This is a ftrange way. I thought you had put every man by himfelf, 
 as wc do in our governtiient, and as I underftood they do in the Houfe of Commons, 
 wlien there is any nomination, and then, if he has not the major part, he is rejeiSted. 
 
 Englijl} Gentleman. This is very material and indeed cllbntial ; but I m.ake no doubt, 
 but if this projsdt (hould come in play in Parliament, this and all other particulars 
 which would be both needlefs and tedious to difcourfe of here, will be well and effedually 
 prov idcd for. The next adt I would have paffed, fliould be concerning the Houfe of 
 Peers, that, as I take it for granted, there will be a clayfe in the Bill concerning clcdions, 
 that no new Boroughs (hall be enabled to fend Members to Parliament except they iliall he 
 capacitated thereunto by an ad ; fo, it being of the fame nectlTity, .as to the Liberty of 
 
 Parliament,
 
 TO HENRY SAVILE AMBASSADOR IN FRANCE 
 
 received him. Subtle men find great myflerics in his rendering himfcif, 
 and make the king to be of the plot ; but thofc that fee no farther than I, 
 believe he hath had in this, and all his bufinefTes of late, no other counfcl 
 than his lady. 
 
 You will perhaps be fiirprized to hear, that yefterday the kin_p- did 
 entirely diflblve his old privy council, and chofc a new one, confifling of 
 fifteen officers of the crown, ten lords, and five commoners; his majefty 
 retaining unto hinifelf the liberty of naming a prefident, calling fuch 
 princes of the blood, as fhould be from time to time ; and the fecretary 
 of Scotland for the time being, if he thought fit; declaring moreover, 
 
 that 
 
 Parliament, that the Peers (who do and muft enjoy both a negative and a deliberative 
 voice in all Parliamentary traniac^ions except what concern levj'inj; of money origiiially) be 
 exempted from depending abfolutely upon tiie Prince, and that therefore it be declared by 
 adl, for the future, that no Peer fhall be made but by adt of Parliament, and then that it 
 be hereditary in his male line. 
 
 Noble renetian. I am not yet fully fatished how you can order your matteij concerning 
 this Houfe of Peers ; nor do I fee how the contefts between the Houli; of Commons and 
 them, can be fo laid afleep but that they will rife again. Befides, the Houfe of Commons 
 mult neceffaril) be extremely concerned to find the Houfe of Peers, which confifls of pri- 
 vate pcrfons though very great and honourable ones, in an inflrant dafh all that they have 
 been fo long hammering for the good of all t.ie People of England whom they reprefcnt. 
 Were it not bett< r, now you are upon fo great alterations, to make an annual elcclrive 
 Senate, or at leaf!: one wherein the Members fliould be but for life and not hereditary. 
 
 EngUft) GentUtnan. By no means, oir, the lefs change the better, and in this cafe the 
 metaphyfical maxim is more true than in any, viz. Entia non funt multipUcanda fine ne- 
 cejjitate ; for great alterations fright men and puzzle them, and tliere is no need of it at all 
 in this cale. I have told you before, that there is a necefiity of a Senate, and hov/ fhort 
 this government would be without it, and how confufcd in the mean time. The Roman 
 Senate was hereditary amongft the Patricii, except the Cenfor left any of them out of the 
 roll during his Magillracy for fome very great and fcandalous offence ; and in that cafe 
 too there was an appeal to the People, as in all other caufes, witnefs the cafe of Lucius 
 Quintius and many others. To fliew that there can be no need of fuch a change here 
 as you fpeak of, you may pleafe to confider, that all differences between the feveral parts of 
 any government come upon the account of intereft ; now when this fettlement is made, the 
 Houfe of Peers and the Houfe of Commons, can have no intercfl to dilTent : for as to all 
 things of private intereft, that is, the rights of Peers, both during the fitting of Parlia- 
 ments and in the intervals, is left to their own Houfe to judge of, as it is to the Houfe 
 of Commons to judge of their own privileges. And as for the contell of the Peers jurifdic- 
 tion fs to appeals from Courts of equity, befides that I would have that fettled in the act: 
 which (liould pafs concerning the Lords' houfe, I believe it will never happen more when 
 the government is upon a right foundation ; it having been hitherto fomented by two dif- 
 ferent Parties, the Court-party fometimes blowing up that difference to bieak the Sefiion, 
 left fome good bills for the People fhould pafs, or that the King by rejefting them m-ip-hc 
 difcontent his people, to avoid which dilemma, there needed no more but to procure fome 
 perfon to profecute his appeal before the Lords : fome honeft Patriots afterwards poflibly 
 might ufe the fame policy which they learnt from the Courtiers, to quafh fome very de- 
 ftrudlive bill in which they were out-voted in the Commons Houfe. Otherv.ife it is fo 
 far from tlie intereft of the Commons to hinder appeals from Courts of equity, that there 
 is none amongft them, but know we are almoft deftroyed for want of itj and when they 
 have confidered well, and that fome fuch reformation as this fhall take place, thev will find, 
 that it can never be placed in a more honourable and unbiafTed judicatory than this. And 
 I could wifh, that even in the intermiffion of Parliamentary feliions, the whole Peeracrc of 
 England, as many of thcn> as can conveniently be in town, may fit in their judicial ca- 
 pacities, and hear appeals in equity as well as judge upon writs of error. Now, as to your 
 
 4 I 2 other
 
 14 LETTERS OF ALGERNON SYDNEY 
 
 that whenever any place fliould be vacant, he would name none without 
 the advice of the council ; and that the perfon named fhould be called 
 by a letter fubfcribed by them all. To which he was pleafed to add, 
 That he would have no firji or principal minijier^ no committee of foreign 
 affairs, or cabinet council ; but that in all things he would follov>r and 
 rely upon their advice, next vmto that of his great council, the parlia- 
 ments, which was alio fpeciiied in the letter lent by his majefty for the 
 calling of every one of them, who are now to ferve in council. The 
 officers, who by their places are to be of the council (as I remember) are 
 the chancellor, chief juftice, privy feal, Ormond Iteward, Arlington 
 
 chamberlain, 
 
 other obje£lion, which is indeed of great weight, that the Houfe of Commans niuft needs 
 take it ill, that the Lords fhould fruftrate their endeavours for the People's good by tlieir 
 negatives ; if you confider one thing, the force of this objeftion will vanifh, which is, that 
 when this new cor.ftitution fliall be ad.nitted, the Lords cannot have any intereft or tempta- 
 tion to differ with the Commons in any thing wherein the public good is concerned, but 
 are obliged by all the ties of the world, to run the fame courfe and fortune with the 
 Commons, their intereft: being exaftly the fame : fo that if there be any diflenting upon 
 bills between the two houfes when each of them fliall think their own expedient conduces 
 moft to the advantage of the publick ; this difference will ever be decided by right reafon 
 at conferences, and the Lords may as well convince the Commons as be convinced by 
 them. And thefe contefts are and ever will be of admirable ufe and benefit to the 
 Commonwealth. The reafon why it is otherwife now, and that the Houfe of Peers is 
 made ufe of to hinder many bills from puffing that are fuppofed to be for the eafe of 
 the People, is, that the great Counfellors and Officers which fit in that Houfe, do fug- 
 gelf, whether true or falfe, that it is againfl his Majefty 's will and intereft that fuch an z& 
 Ihould pafs, whereupon it has found obflrudion ; but hereafter, if our expedient take place, 
 it cannot be fo. Firfl, becaufe our King himfelf cannot have any defigns going, as was 
 proved before, which fhall make it his advantage to hinder any good intended his people, 
 whofe profperity then will be his own. And then, becaufe in a fhort time the Peers 
 being made by aft of Parliament, will confifi: of the beft men in England both for parts 
 and cffates ; and thofe who are already made, if any of them have fmall eflates, the King, 
 if he had the intereft, would not have the means to corrupt them, the publick monies 
 and the great oifices being to be difpenfed in another manner than formerly: fo their 
 Lordfhips will have no motive in the world to fteer their votes and councils, but their 
 own honour and confcience and the prefervation and profperity of their Country. So that 
 it would be both needlefs and unjuft to pretend any change of this kind. Befides, this 
 alteration in the adminiflration of our government being propofed to be done by the unani- 
 mous confent of King, Lords and Commons, and not otherwife, it would be very pre- 
 pofterous to believe, that the Peers would depofe themfelves of their hereditary rights 
 and betake themfelves to the hopes of being elected. It is true, they have loft the power 
 they had over the Commons, but that has not been taken from them by any law no more 
 than it was given them by any, but is fallen by the courfe of nature, as has been flicwn 
 at large. But though they cannot lead the Commons by their tenures, as formerly, yet 
 there is no reafon or colour that they fliould lofe their Co-ordination, which I am fure 
 they have by law and by the fundamental conftitution of the government ; and which 
 is fo far from being prejudicial to a lafting fetdement, as was faid, that it infinitely 
 contributes to it, and prevents the confufion which would dcftroy it. If I fhould have 
 propofed any thing in this difcourfe which fhould have intrenched upon the King's heredi- 
 tary right, or tliit fhould have hindered the Majefty and greatncfs of thefe kingdoms 
 from being reprcfentcd by his royal perfon, I fhould have made your ftory of the Capuchine 
 fryar very ipplicable to me. 
 
 Noble l^cnct'wn. I fee you have not forgiven mc that novel yet. But pray let mc afk you 
 one queftion, Why do you make the eledtion of great officers to be by a fmall fccret Coun- 
 cil that had been more proper for a numerous aflcmbly, as it is in mcift Commonwealths > 
 
 EugUJl)
 
 TO HENRY SAVILE AMBASSADOR IN FRANCE 15 
 
 chamberlain, Suflex, as firfl: commiflioner of the treafury, fir Henry 
 Capell as firfl: commiflioner of the Admirahy, the chancellor of the 
 exchequer, the archbifl^iop of Canterbury and bifiiop of London, the two 
 fecretaries, and fome others that I have forgot ; but Newport and Maynard 
 are none. The lords are, the dukes of Newcaftle and Albemarle, the 
 marquillcs of Winchefter and Worcefter, earls of Bridgewater and 
 Salifbury, vifcounts Fauconberg and Halifax, barons Roberts and 
 Hollys. Commoners are, the lords Ruflel and Cavendilh, Mr. Powell, 
 Mr. Seymour, and (as I hear) fir William Temple. I hear alio fcven 
 commilfioners named for the admiralty, fir Henry Capell, Merres, Little- 
 ton, 
 
 EngUjh Gentleman. It is fo in Democracies, and was fo in Sparta, and is done by your 
 great Council in Venice ; but we are not making fucli a kind of government, but rectifying 
 an ancient monarchy., and giving the Piince fome help in the adminiitration of that great 
 branch of his regality. Befides, it is fufficient, that our Parliament choofes thefe Councils, 
 that is always underltood the Lords and Commons, with the King's confent. Befides, it 
 is poflible, that if fuch a regulation as this come in debate amongft: them, the Parliament 
 will referve to itfelf the approbation of the great officers, as Chancellor, Judges, General 
 Officers of an army and the like ; and that fuch fhall not have a fettlement in tho'; charges, 
 tffl they are accordingly allowed of, but many in the mean time exercife them. As to par- 
 ticulars, I fliall always refer you to what the Parliament will judge fit to order in the cafe j 
 but if you have any thing to obje£f, or to fliew in general that fome fuch regulation as this 
 cannot be efteilual towards the putting our diftradled Country into better order, I fhall 
 think myfelf obliged to anfwer you if you can have patience to hear me and are not weary 
 already as you may very well be. 
 
 l^^oble Venetian. I fhall certainly never be weary of fuch difcourfe ; however I fliall give 
 you no further trouble in this m.atter, for I am fully'fatisfied, that fuch Reformation, if it 
 could be compafled, would not only unite all parties but make you flourifliing at home and 
 very great abroad. But have you any hopes that fuch a thing will ever come into debate i" 
 What do the Parliament- men fay to it ? 
 
 Englijh Gentleman. I never had any difcourfe to this purpofe either with any Lord or 
 Member of the Commons Houfe, otherwife than as pofTibly fome of thefe notion'; night 
 fall in at ordinary conveifation ; for I do not intend to intrench upon the office of God, ta 
 teach our Senators wifdom. I have known fome men fo full of their own notions that they 
 
 went up and down, etc. But yet to anfwer your queftion and give you my con- 
 
 jetlure. I believe we are not ripe yet for any great reform, not only becaufe we are a very 
 dcbauch'd People ; I do not only mean that we are given to whoring, drinking, gamine and 
 idlenefs, but chiefly that we have a politique debauch, which is a negleiSf of all thinos^that 
 concern the publick welfare and a fetting up our own private intereft againfl: it ; I fay, this 
 is not all, for then the polity of no Country could be redreft, for every Commonwealth that 
 is out of order has ever all thefe debauches that we fpeak of, as confequences of their loofe 
 ftate. But there are two other confiderations which induce me to fear that our cure is not 
 yet near. The firlt is, becaufe moft of the wife and grave men of the kingdom are very 
 iilent and will not open their budget upon any terms; and although they diflike 
 the prefent condition we are in as much as any men, and fee the precipice it leads to, yet will 
 never open their mouths to prefcribe a cure, but being afked what they would advife o-ive a 
 
 fhrug like your Countrymen, etc. The next reafon I have to make me fear that 
 
 fuch an expedient as we have been talking of will not be propoftd (uddenly, is the great 
 diftruft the Parliament has of men, which will make moft Members fliy of venturing at 
 fuch matters, which being very new, at the firft motion are not perfe6lly underftood, at leaft 
 to fuch as have not been verfed in authors who have written of politicks ; and therefore 
 the mover may be fufpeiSled of having been fet on by the Court-party to puzzle them, 
 and fo to divert, by offering new expedients, fome fmart mettlefjme debates they may 
 be upon concerning the fucceffion to the Crown, or other high matters : for it is the na- 
 ture of all popular councils (even the wifeft that ever were, witnefs the People of Rome 
 
 and
 
 ,6 LETTERS OF ALGERNON SYDNEY 
 
 ton, Vaughan, Mr. Daniel Finch, and two others, that I have forgotten. 
 The lord Shaftefbury is declared preiident of the council. Thefe were 
 fworn this morning ; and that ceremony being performed, the king went 
 to the houfe of lords, and fent for the houfe of commons, to whom 
 he did impart all that had pafied ; and all that I have yet fpoken 
 with feem much plealed ; though it might have been wifhed, that 
 fome of thole that are chofen had been left out. A friend * of 
 yours and mine is, as far as I »underftand, the author of all this ; and 
 if he and two more can well agree amongft themfelves, I believe they 
 will have the management of almjft all bufinefles, and may bring much 
 honour to themfelves, and good to our nation. 
 
 I find 
 
 and Athens, which Machiavel fo much extols) in turbulent times, to like dtfcourfes that 
 heighten their pajfioris and blow pp their iiidignation, better ihan thofe that endeavour to reSlify 
 their judgntcnti and tend to provide for their fafety. And the truth is, our Parliamert is 
 very much to be excufed or rather jailified in thi; diitrufl: they have of pcrfon , Jince Jure 
 hath been of late fo many and fo fucceffd attempts vfd by the late grea' Minijhrs to de- 
 bauch the mop eminent Afembers of tie Com?nons hcuje by penftons and offices ; and therefore 
 it would wonderfully conduce to the good of the Commonweakii unci to the conipoling 
 our difordered State, if there were m n of fo hgh and unqueftionable a reput. tion, that 
 they were above all fufpicion and diftruft, : na lo mi^ht adventure upon bold, that is, in 
 this cafe, moderate council;;, for the faving of iheir country. Such men there were in the 
 Parliament of 1640, at leajl wenty or thirty, who havi-ig Jlood their ground in fcven Parliaments 
 before, which in the two lafi Kings reign had been difjol. ed abruptly and in wrath, and having 
 reffied the feor of imprifonment and great fines FOR TfiEiR LOVE TO England, as well as the 
 temptati^jn of money and offices to betray it, both offered by the wicked Counfellors of that age, 
 tending both to the ruin of our jujl rights and the detriment of their maflers affairs ; I fay, hav- 
 ing conflayitly and with great magna dmity an ' honour made proof of the^r integrity, they had 
 acquired fo great a reputati.n, that not only the Parliament but even almojl the ivhole People 
 fiuck to them, and were fwayed by them in actions of a much higher nature than any are now 
 difcourfed of, without fear of being deferted, or as we fay, left in the lurch, as the People of 
 France often are by their Grandees, when they raife little civil wars to get great places, which 
 as foon as they are offered, they lay down arms and leave their followers to be hanged. But al- 
 though thcle two reafons of the filcnce of lome wife men, and the want of reputation in 
 others, does give us but a fad profpesSt of our land of promife, yet we have one con- 
 fideration which does encourage us to hope better things ere long. And that is the infallible 
 certainty that we cannot long continue as we are, and that we can never meliorate, but by 
 fome fuch principles as we have been here all this while difcourfing of, and that without fuch 
 helps and fuccours as niay be drawn from thence, we muft go from one dift:ra(Sion to ano- 
 ther, till we come into a civil war, and in the tlofe of it be certainly a prey to the King 
 of France, who (on which fide it matters not) will be a g;;mcftcr and fweep flakes at laft; 
 the world not being now equally ballanced between two Princes alike powerful, as it was 
 during our lafl: civil war ; and if as well this danger, as the only means to prevent it, be 
 undcrftood in time (as no doubt it will) we fhall be the happicft and the greateft Nation in 
 the world in a little time; and in the mean time, may enjoy the beft and moft juft eafy 
 government of any People upon earth. If you afk me whether I could have offered any 
 thing that 1 thought better than this, I anfwer you as Solon did a Philofopher, who afked 
 him whether he could not have made a better government for Athens ? Yes, but that his 
 v/.is the bcft, that the People would or could receive. And now I believe you will bear me 
 witnefs, that I have not treated you as a wife man would have done in filencc ; but it is time 
 to put an end to this tittle tattle which has naufeatcd you for three days t gether. 
 
 Plato redivivus. Or l^ialogucs concerning 
 Government. Edit. 3. [By H. Neville] 
 
 • The earl of Halifax, and the earls of Sunderland and Eflcx. See letter of May 12.
 
 TO HENRY SAVILE AMBASSADOR IN FRANCE 
 
 I find men's hearts much fet upon taking the government of Ireland 
 out of the earl of Ormond's hands. If a Ucutcnant be named, I bchcve 
 it will be Eflex or HaUfax ; and, if neither of them, three juflices. 
 
 Others defign Halifax fucceflbr to his uncle Coventry. You will per- 
 haps wonder, not to hear his brother William mentioned ; but as yet 
 there is no occafion for it. 
 
 We have every day foolilh alarms from the French fleet, and I find 
 no body but the lord Sunderland and myfelf that believe not one word 
 of it. Morgan, governor of Jcrfey, is dead, and Laheer appointed to 
 fucceed him. That our affairs may be managed by as able a man abroad 
 as that ifland is defended by, fir H. Goodrike expedls in a few days 
 to be difpatched for Spain. We do not yet fee what effe£t the death 
 of the king of Sweden will have as to the peace of Europe. I received 
 the good piece of poetry, that I fent you, from the lord Halifax. You 
 fhould have Hodge's Speech by this poft, but it is very long ; and I muft 
 write it in my own hand, which obligeth me to flay until the next 
 week. The houfe of commons hath been all this day upon fir John 
 Hobert's petition concerning the ele<Clion of knights of the Ihire for 
 Norfolk, but I know not the fuccefs. I am, 
 
 Your moll humble and faithful fervant. 
 
 '7 
 
 Sir, London, April 28. 
 
 On this day was a fe'nnight, I writ unto you what I had heard of 
 the pafl'ages of the foregoing week ; and though I make no doubt, 
 you have many that give you far better accounts of what is done than 
 I am able to do, I will not make that an excufe for filence, left others 
 fhould allege the fame, and covering true lazinefs with feigned modefty, 
 leave you in the dark, as my friends did me when I was abroad. 
 
 The five popifli lords in the tower, had at the firft given in cavilling 
 uncertain aniwers ; but Bellafyfe and Peters on Thurfday, and Powis, 
 Stafford and Arundel on Saturday, without any ambiguity, pleaded 
 not guilty, and declared they put themfelves upon tlae lords juftice. 
 
 The earl of Danby hath not thought fit, as yet, to deal fo clearly, 
 but hath put in a huge long anfwer, containing great prateftations of his 
 own innocence, as to every part of his charge ; and then pleads his 
 pardon, which enumerates and acquits him of all the crimes, that it 
 is almoft poffible for a man to commit. This is by fome thought very 
 ftrange ; his innocence that he protefts declaring that he had no need 
 of pardon, and the pardon pleaded in effedl acknowledging the truth 
 of his charge ; it being ufelefs if he be not guilty. Hereupon other 
 queftions do arife, as whether the king can pardon ? Whether if he 
 have this power, he hath rightly executed it, the formalities nnt having 
 been obferved ? And laftly, whether he will infifl upon th^s anfwer, 
 which will not leave him any plea at all, if the pardon be aidged de- 
 fective ? I dare give no opinion upon thefe points, but I hear ihe lea ned 
 
 fav, 
 
 4
 
 i8 LETTERS OF ALGERNON SYDNEY 
 
 fay, the king cannot pardon a man impeached by parliament upon a public 
 account : that though he could, this would be of no value, being de- 
 fedive in all the formalities : and though perhaps the court may be 
 prevalent enough in the houfe of lords, to have it admitted ; that would 
 be of evil confequence, no man doubting but the houfe of commons 
 will extremely diilike fuch a judgment, and grow very refractory there- 
 upon ; and the whole nation would follow them in it, fo that all bu- 
 fmefs would be thereby obftrudted ; by which means the king, upon 
 the perfonal account of the earl of Danby, would lofe the advantage 
 of all that hath been done of late to pleafe the nation ; which I leave 
 to your judgment, that know the court much better than I do. This 
 point I only find to be clear, that if the pardon can be found good, 
 though the formalities are wanting, it will be made good ; and the 
 burthen left upon the chancellor, that put the great feal unto it, with- 
 out taking care of feeing them obferved. 
 
 Some judges were yefterday put out ; Wild for inability of body, 
 and Barton and Thurland of mind, with fome others ; to whom old 
 Ellys, Raymond and Pemmerton, Leake and Atkins the younger are to 
 fucceed. The houfe of lords is bufy upon one bill concerning popery, 
 and the houfe of commons upon another, both inclining to find a way 
 of diftinguifhing proteftants only from papifts, but cannot yet refolve 
 upon it, fo as to include the feveral diffenting feds ; that papifts may 
 not be fheltered, and receive the indulgence (which is not intended them) 
 under other names ; and this difficulty is chiefly occafioned by the quakers, 
 who, for more than one reafon, are thought leafi: to deferve much to 
 be cared for. Shaftejhury and Halifax are eminent in pleading * for 
 
 indulgence 
 
 [ * For indulgence to tender -ccnfc'ienced ProteJiants\ 
 Laws are either ecclefiaftical or civil, fuch as concern religion or government. Laws 
 ecclefiaftical or fuch as concern religion, according unto the univerfal courfe cf ancient prudence, 
 are in the power of the magiftrate ; according unto the cotnmcn practic: of modern prudence, f.nce 
 the papacy, torn out of his hands. 
 
 But, as a government pretending unto liberty, and fupprefling the liberty of confcience, 
 which (becaufe religion not according to a man's confcience, can as to him be none at all) 
 is the main, muft be a contradiction ; fo a man that pleading for the liberty of private 
 confcience refufeth liberty unto the national confcience, muft be abfurd. A conmonwealth 
 is nothing elfe but the national confcience. And if the conviction of a man's private 
 confcience, produce his private religion ; the conviction of the national confcience, muft 
 produce a national religion. Whether this be well reafoned, as alfo whether thcfe two 
 may ftand together, will beft be fhewn by the examples of the ancient Commonwealths 
 taken in their order. 
 
 In that of Ijracl the government of the national religion appertained not unto the 
 priefts and knites, otherwife than as they happened to be of the S<inhedri?n or Senate, to which 
 they had no right at all but by elctlion. It is in this capacity therefore, that the people 
 are commanded, under pain of death, to hearken unto them, and do according to the fentenci 
 of the law vjhich they Jhould teach ; (Deut. 17.) but in Ifrael, the law ecclefiaftical and 
 civil was the fame, therefore the Sanhedrim having the power of one, had the power of 
 both. But as the national religion appertained unto the jurildidion of the Sanhedriniy 
 fo the liberty of confcience appertained, from the fame date and by the iame right, unto 
 
 the prophets and tlicir difciples ; as where it is faid, / will raife up a prophet and 
 
 whofotver will not hearken unto my words ivhich he ftiatt fpeak in my name^ I ivill require 
 
 it
 
 TO HENRY SAVILE AMBASSADOR IN FRANCE 
 
 // of him. Deut. i8. The words relate unto prophetic right, which was above all the 
 orders of this commonwealth ; whence Elijah not only rcfufed to obey the king, but deftroyed 
 his meflengers with fire: and whereas it was not lawful by the national religion to facrifice 
 in any other place than the Temple, a prophet was his own temple, and might facrifice 
 where he would, as Elijah did in Mount Carmcl. By this right 'John the Baptifl and f<ur 
 Saviour, unto whom it more particularly related, had their difcipL-s, and taught the 
 people ; whence is derived our prefent right oi gathered congregations : wherefore the Chriftian 
 religion grew up according unto the orders of the commonwealth of Ifrael, and not againil: 
 them. Nor was liberty of cotifcience infringed by this government, till the civil liberty of the fame 
 ■was lofl, as under Herod, Pilate, and Tiberius, a three pil'd tyranny. 
 
 To proceed, Athens preferved her religion, by the teftimony of Paul, with great fuper- 
 ftition. If Jlcibiades, that atheiftical fellow, had not fliewcd them a pair of heels, they 
 had fhaven ofFhis head for fliaving their Mercuries, and making their Gods look ridiculoufly 
 upon them without bcaids. Neverthelefs, if Paul reafoncd with them, they loved news, 
 for which he was the more welcome; and if he converted Dionyfus the Areopagite, that is, 
 one of the Senators, there followed neither any hurt to him, nor lofs of honour to Dionyfws. 
 And for Rome, if Cicero in his molt excellent book De natura dcorurn, overthrew the national 
 religion of that Commonwealth, he was never the further from being conful. But there is a 
 MEANNESS and poomcfs IN modern prudence, not only unto the damage cf ciiil government, 
 but of religion itfelf : for to make a man in matter of religion, which admittLth not of fenfible 
 demonftration, jurare in verba magiftri, engage to believe no othcrwife than is believed by 
 my Lord Bifliop, or Goodman Prefbyter, is ^Pedantifm, that hath made the fvvord to be a 
 rod in the hands of schoolmasters : by which means, whereas the Chriftian rcliaioa 
 is the faitheft of any from countenancing war, there never was a war of religion but fince 
 Chrijlianily. For which we are beholden to the Pope; for the pope not giving liberty of 
 confcience unto Princes and Commonwealths, they cannot give that unto their fubjecfls which 
 they have not : whence both princes and fubjeiSts, either through his infligation, or difputes 
 among themfelves, have introduced that execrable custom, never known in the world 
 before, of fighting for religion, and denying the magiflrate to have any jurifdiiiion of 
 it; whereas the magiflrate' s loftng the power of religion, lofelh the liberty of confcience, which in 
 that cafe hath nothing to proteii it. But if the people be otherwife taught, it concerns them 
 to look about, and diftinguifli between the flireeking of the lapwing, and the voice of the turtle. 
 
 The Commonwealth of Oceana. By James Harrington. 
 London, printed 1656, in folio, p. 27, 28, 29. 
 
 'Yet'iiaW C3.nnotheoi onz TS\inA, as who looks they Jhould be? this doubtles is more whole- 
 fome, more prudent, and more chriftian, that many be tolerated, rather than all compelled. I 
 mean not tolerated popery, and open fuperftition, v/hich as it extirpats all religions and civiil 
 fupremacies, fo itfelf Ihould be extirpat, provided firft, that all charitable and compaiiionate 
 mcanes be ufed to win and regain the weak and the mifled. 
 
 Areopagitica of y<3/)« ^/////««. London, printed 1644 in quarto. 
 
 It is no great adventure to fay, that the world was better ordered under the ancient 
 Monarchies and Commonwealths, that the number of virtuous men was then greater, and 
 that the Chri/lians found fairer quarter under thofe than among themj'elvcs ; nor hath there any 
 advantage accrued unto mankind from that moll: perfefl: and practical model of human fociety, 
 except the fpeculation of a better way to future h^ppinefs, concerning which the very guides 
 difagree, .md of thofe few that follow, no man is (ufFered to pafs vv'ithout paying at their 
 turnpikes. All which had proceeded from no ether reafon, but that men inftead of fquarina: 
 their governments by the rule of Chriftianity, have fliaped Chriftianity by the meafures of 
 their governments, have reduced that ftraight line by the crooked, and bungling divine and 
 human things together, have been always hacking and hewing one another, to frame an irregular 
 figure of political incongruity. 
 
 An account of the growth of Popery, and arbitrary power in England. 
 la'j Andreiu Mar veil. 
 
 For all agree in teaching and commanding, in planting and improving, not only thofe 
 moral Virtues, which conduce to the felicity and tranquillity of every private man's life; but 
 alfo to the peace, order and fafety of all civil focieties and governments amongft men. AV 
 could I ever undcrjland how thoj'e, who adl themflves, and the world ufually calls, religious men, 
 came to put fo great weight upon thoj'e points of belief which inen never have agreed in, andjo little 
 Upon thofe of virtue and morality, in ivhich they have hardly ever difagrecd. Nor why a Jlate 
 
 4 k: ft)ouid
 
 CO 
 
 LETTERS OF ALGERNON SYDNEY 
 
 indulgence to tender-confcienced protejlanfs., and fever tty againjl fapijls*. 
 
 The 
 
 JhouU venture the fubvei-fion of their peeice and ord-er, luhich are certain goods and fo univerfally 
 iJhemed,for the propagation of uncertain or contejled opinions. 
 
 Sir W. Temple's works. 
 Now I appeal to the confcicnces of thofe that perfecute, torment, deftroy, and kill other 
 men upon pretence of religion, whether they do it out of friendship and kindnefs towards 
 them or no : and I (hall then indeed, and not till then, believe they do fo, when 1 fhall fee 
 thofe fiery zealots cor: eiting, in the fame manner, their friends and familiar acquaintance, 
 for the manifeft fins they commit againft the precepts of the gofpel ; when I fhall fee them 
 profecute with fire and fword the members of their own communion that are tainted with 
 enormous vices, and without amendment are in danger of eternal perdition ; and when I 
 fhall fee them thus exprefs their love and defire of the falvation of their fouls, by the infliction 
 of torments, and exercife of all manner of cruelties. For if it be out of a principle of 
 charity, as they pretend, and love to mens fouls, that they deprive them of their ellates, 
 maim them with corporal punifhments, ftarve and torment them in noifome prifons, and in 
 the end even take away their lives ; I fay if all this be done merely to make men Chriftians, 
 and procure their falvation, why then do they fuffer ivhoredoin, fraud, malice, and fuch like 
 enormities; which (according to the apoftle, Rom. i,) raanifeftly relifli of heatheni/h cor- 
 ruption, to abound amongft their flecks and people ? Thcfe, and fuch like things, are certainly 
 7nore contrary to the glory of God, to the purity of the Church, and to the falvation of fouls, than- 
 any confcientious difjentfrom ecclefiafiical decifions, or feparationfrom public worjhip, xvhilfl accom- 
 panied with innoceucy of life, etc. etc. etc. 
 
 A letter concerning toleration. Licenfed, OiS. 3, i68g. The fecond edition 
 correfted. [By John Lode.'} 
 The great lord Bacon, in his excellent treatife on the advancement of learning ; a work that' 
 cannot fufficiently be praifed, and to which Mr. Boyle, Mr. Loch, and the great Sir Ifaac 
 Nnvton, owe the firfl rudiments of the feveral fyftems which they have fince carried to fo 
 great perfection : in this wonderful treatife, wherein lord Bacon is fhcwing the deficiency of 
 each fpecics of learning, and is pointing out the errors which have prevented the progrefs 
 and advancement of it; the fcience of theology comes, among others, under his confi- 
 deration, upon which he has this remark, which for fear of being miflaken in the quotation,. 
 I have written down, and fliall beg leave toread toyour lordfhips. " Here, therefore, I note 
 this deficiencv, that there hath not been, to my underftanding, fufficiently enquired and 
 handled, the true limits and ufe of reafon in fpiritual things, as a kind of divine dialeftic; 
 which for that it is not done, it feemeth to me a thing ufual, by pretext of true conceiving 
 that which is revealed, to fearch and mine into that, which is not revealed. " 
 
 You have now heard, my lords, the fentiment of this great man, which is, that the 
 fi-arching and mining into things not revealed, under pretence of their being contained in. 
 that which is revealed, is the error which he notes in the advancement of Theology. Accord- 
 ingly, if we enquire into the cvnt and confequence of the afore-mentioned determination; 
 m the council of Nice, we fhall find, that the courfe of religion was thereby diverted into a 
 wrong channel ; and that Chriftianity from thence forward, inftead of being confidered as a; 
 practical obligation, was changed into a fpcculative fcience ; men's minds were irritated 
 againft one another, on account of niceties that were of no confequence to religion ; and the 
 doctrine of faith, or of belief in punililios of this kind, was fo magnified and extolled, as- 
 being neceflary to falvation, that the righteoufnefs of works was intirely ncgleiSted. Polemical' 
 divinity was introduced into religion, whereby the church was rendered, if I may be- 
 allowed the expreflion, literally militant; and the divine yiTcccptof univerfal love, which our 
 Saviour recommended to his difciples, as his command, was changed into tha.t of hatred ta 
 (ill who would not fuhfcribe. 
 
 The bifliop of Clogher's [Dr. Robert Clayton's] fpecch, made in the houfe of 
 lords in Ireland, Feb. 2, 1756; for omitting the Nicene and Athanafian creeds 
 out of the liturgy, etc. Taken in fhort hand, at the time when it was fpokcn,, 
 by D, S. London printed 1757, in oiStavo. 
 
 [* And fevcrity againjl Papifts.} 
 Entre les pieces originales, qu'on a juge a propos dc nicttre a la fin do cot ouvragc, on en 
 avolt oublie deux (onfidaal/h que i'wn nc ftra p4S fiichc dc trouvpr ici en latinj fuice qu'on 
 
 n'a
 
 TO HENRY SAVILE AMBASSADOR IN FRANCE 
 
 The firfl of thefe faid the other day, " he neither could live 'witb or under 
 *' n papijL " On Saturday it was reported to the houfe of commons, that 
 the lord Cottington, who died many years ago in Spain, had appointed 
 an epitaph to be written upon his tomb, cxprefling his dcfirc, that his 
 body might reft there until England were reflorcd to the church, and then 
 carried over ; this it was the Lift year, and a warrant was produced from 
 the earl of Danby to the commiflloners of the cuftoms to let it pafs. 
 
 Yeflerday 
 
 ti'a pu les dcnner qu'cn fraiJ9ois ilans Ic cours de la narration. Ce font deux decret du Concile 
 de Co>!j}ance ; I'un toucliant les (aid'conduits donnez par !cs Princes feculiers a des gens 
 fufpedts d'hercfie, I'autre touchant le faufconduit de Jean Hus en particulier. 
 
 Quod non obflantibus falvis condu6libus Imperatoriim, Reguni, etc. pofllt per Judicem 
 competentem de haerctita pravitale inquiri. Von dir Hardt. t. iv. p. 521. 
 
 Praefens I'anfta Synodus ex quovis falvo condudu per Impcratorsm, Reges, et alios fcculr 
 Principes liaereticis, vcl do haereft diftamatis, putantes eofdcm fic a luis erioribus revocare, 
 quocunque vinculo fe adftrinxerint, conceflb, nulluni fidei catholicae vel jurifdidlioni eccle- 
 fiafticac praejudicium generari, vcl impedimcntiim praeftari pofie feu debere, dcclarat, quo 
 minus falvo dlSio conduilu non ohjiante, liceat jud'tci competenti ecdefiajlico de ejufmodi pcrfonarum 
 erroribiis inquirere, et aliin contra eos debiie procedcre, eajdemque pun'ire, quantum jujlit'wfuadehit, 
 ft Juos pert'inacite?- recufaverint revocare err ores, etiamfi de falvo conduilu confifi ad locum venerint 
 judicii, alias non venturi (in Lipf. et Goth, addltum ; rue fic promittentem-, ciim alias fecerity 
 quod in ipfo ejl, ex lioc in aliquo rernanfijfe obligatum.) 
 
 Qiio ftatuto, five ordinatione le<5lis, idem ftatutum fuit approbatum per diftos Dominos 
 Epiicopos nomine quatuor Nationum ac reverendiflimum patrem Dominum Cardinalem 
 Vivaricnfem nomine Collegii Cardinalium, per verbum Placet. 
 
 De falvo condu£tu Huflbnis. Ibid, ex MS. Vindob. Dorr. 
 Sacrofanfta etc. Quia nonnulli nimis intelligentis, aut finiftrae intentionls, vcl forfan 
 folcntes fapere plus quam opportet, nedum rcgiae majeftati, fed etiam facro, ut fcrtur, 
 concilio linguis malediftis detrahunt, publice et occulte diccntes, vel innuentes, quod falvus 
 conduftus perinvidtiflimum principem Dominum Sigifmundum Romanorum ut Una;ariae etc. 
 Regem, quondam 'Jobanni Hus, haerefiarchae damnatae memoriae datus, fuit contra juftitiam 
 aut honcftatem indebite violatus : cian tamen diSlus "Johannes Hus fidem orthodoxam periinaciter 
 impugnans fe ah omni conduilu et privilegio reddiderit alienu?n, nee aliqua fibi fides aut promiffto de 
 jure naturali, divino, vel hu?nano fuerit in praejudicium catholicae fidei obfervanda : Idcirco 
 dida fandta Synodus praefentium tenore declarat, diSlum invi£liffi7num Principem circa prae- 
 diSlum quondam Johannem Hus, non ohjlante me7norato falvo conduftu, ex juris debito fecijfe quod 
 Jictiit, et quod decuit regiain majejhiiein ; ftatuens et ordinans omnibus et fmgulis Chrifti 
 fidelibus, cujufcunque dignitatis, gradus, preeminentiae, conditionis, flatus, aut fexus 
 exiftant, quod nullus deinccps facro concilio aut regiae majeftati de geftis circa praedi6tuni 
 quondam Johannem //z/j detrahat, five quomodolibet obloquatur. ^li vera contrarium fecerit, 
 tanquam fautor haereticae pravitatis et reus criyninis laefae majejlatis irremijfibi liter puniatur. 
 
 Hilioire du Concile de Conflance, tiree principalement d'auteurs qui ont affifte au 
 Concile. Par Jaques L'Enfant. Tome i. p. 47, 48. 
 
 Argumentum. 
 GravifiTimis explicatis detrimentis, quae per Paftiones Altranftadenfes inter Pleiiipotentiarios, 
 feu Cominifiarios cla. mem. Imperatoris Jofephi, et Plenipotentlarios, feu CommilTarios 
 Regis Svecorum anno 1707 initas catholicae lidei, et ecclefiafticae jurifdidioni illata fucrunt : 
 fafdem Paiiiones darnnat, improhat, ac irritas, nulliufque roboris ejfe dcclarat, Deinde Impera- 
 torcin Carolum, ut illas effeilu prorfus carere Jhtdeat, enixe hortatur. 
 
 Chariflimo in Chrifto Filio noftro, Carolo Hlfpaniarum Catholico, r.ec non Hungariae et 
 Bohemia Regi illu(tri, in Romanorum Imperatorem elefbo, Clemens P. P. Xl. 
 
 CharifTime in Chrifto Fili nofter, falutem et apoftolicam Benediftionem. Plurima, et f'.ne 
 fervida ftudia, quae ab eterodoxis principibus indefinentei adhiberi novimus in tra£tati- 
 onibus Ultrajefti inftitutis, ut quidquid prope finem quarti articuli pacificationis Rifvvicenfis 
 
 4 K 2 favoie'
 
 LETTERS OF ALGERNON SYDNEY 
 
 Yefterday was appointed extraordinary by the houfe of commons, 
 to confider of the fucceffion of the crown in relation to popery, upon 
 the debate of which fecretary Coventry, amongtl other things, is faid 
 to have reproached Birch, that his difcourfes favoured of the years 
 1640 and 41, but that himfelf continued in the fame mind he had 
 ever been ; and having taken the oaths of allegiance and fupremacy 
 to the king and his fuccellbrs, could not without perjury fail of per^ 
 
 forming. 
 
 favore catholicorum, et orthoJoxae fidei adje£tum fiiit, penitus abrogetur : e contra vero 
 Weftphalicae pacis capita ad religionis negotium pcrtinentia, nedum olim ab hac fandla fedc 
 reprobata, fed et per ipfum articulum quartum* RiCvvicenfem corre£la inftaurentur, et 
 executioni demandentur, qua de re non ita pridem Majeftati tuae fufe perfcripfimus, nobis 
 in mcmoriam revocant infelices illas, et nunquam fads dtplorandas paftiones, quas dudum 
 codem plane confilio inferendi abominationem in loco ian£lo Sveci Pleiiipotentiarii, feu 
 Commiflarii non minus violenter quam injufle exprefierunt a Plenipotentiariis, feu Com- 
 miflariis c!a. mem. Jofephi, dum A'iveret, in Romanorum Imperatorem elefti germani fratris 
 tui, quaeque anno 1707, in caftris Altranfbadenfibus inter eofdem utriufque partis Com- 
 mifiarios initae fuerunt. Sumrnus profedto dolor, quo tunc affedti fuimus, cum animo 
 reputaremus, praeter alia gravifllma catholicae religioni, ac jurifdiflioni ecclefiafticae per 
 cas pattiones illata detrimenta, iiifignem adeo ecclefiarum numerum turn in tribus Ducatibus 
 Lignienfi, Bregenfi, ac Munllerbergenfi, turn in ipfa Uratiflavienfi civitate, ac in reliquii 
 etiam Silefiae principatibus vero Dei cuitui eripi et auferri, ac execrandae fectae impietati 
 tradi, et aiTignari, nunc maxime non tantum renovatur, fed majorem ctiam in modum 
 intenditur ac augetur, dum cogitatione compledlimur, atque profpicimus quantam inde 
 fpem fumpturi fmt acatholici reliquas etiam nefarias eorum machinationes, atque confdia 
 perficiendi. Porro tametfi compertum habeamus Majeftatem tuam minime latere quain 
 alieno a memoratis paiiionibus animo idem frater tuus fuerit : quantopere doluerit, quod, 
 ob res (uas tunc in ar<£lo pofitas ejufmodi Juras, ac planeimpias conditiones accipere coaflus 
 fuerit : et quo tandem aeftuaverit defiderio congruis remediis, quae perperam a£ta fuerant, 
 farciendi ac reparandi : quae omnia ipfe Uteris fua vumu exaratis diferte ncbis fignificavit, ct 
 hadcntivs etiam ac uherius diliilo filio noftro Aymibali fanilae Romcinae ecckftae Cardinali Albano 
 no^ro fecundum carncm ex fratre nepoti per idem ternpus apiid enm ogenti non Jewel expUcavit : et 
 quamvis itidem ambigere nequaquam poflimus, quin Majeftas tua pro eximia pietate ac 
 lludio, quo incenlii eft, caufae Dei, veraeque religionis,, probe intelligat, et agnofcat 
 ejufmodi pactiones prorfus inanes, et fuapte natura irritas, ac nullius roboris, vcl moment! 
 txiitiile, et exiflere, qucmadmodum eas germanus fiater tuus a nobis adinonitus palam. 
 agnovit, ei profeffus fuit : et propterea optime etiam perfpiciat nullam prorfus tarura 
 habendam e/le rationem, nee illas a quoquam allegari, aut obfervari ullo modo poffe, nee 
 dcberc ; nihilominus turn ut quae femper fuerit, et adhuc fit noftra ea de re fententia, 
 Majcftati tuae claiius et apertius innotefcat, turn etiam ut apoftolico noftro judicio innixa 
 J-.>lidius et alacrius pracdi£fas conventiones prorfus contemneie, ac ita illas habere poflit, 
 tamquam fi numqiiam factae fuiflcnt : Majejlati tuae per praefentes denuiiciamus, ac infimtd 
 tradiia mhis ab dnnipotenti Deo authoritate decLirainus, praeiiarratas diSli traflatus Altranfia- 
 denfis pailiones, cetcraque in eo contenlUy quae catholicae fidei, diviiio cuitui, animarum fahiii, 
 uclefiaeque autboritati, jurifdiinoiti, Ithcrtati, ac juribus quibufcumque quoinodolibet cff.ciunt, five 
 fraejudicium etiam viinimum afferunt, aut inferre, feu intuliji:, vel alias njcere, feu nocuijfe quxh- 
 quomodo dici, cenferi, praetcndi, vel inielligi pojfint, cum omnibus ct fingulis inde fccutis, et quando- 
 cuinque fcuturis, ipfo jure nulla, irrita, invalida, injujla, rc[»obata, inaniei, ziribtifquc, et 
 effcilu penitus, ac o?nnino vacua ab ipfo initio fuiffe, ct effe, ac jerpctuo fcrc, ncmlnemque ad 
 iU'.rum, feu cujufibet eorum, etiamfi plurics ratificata, ac juramento vailata fmt, cbfervantiam 
 Uncri, imo nee ilia tdlatenus a quoquam obfervari pctuife, ac debiiijje, aut poffe, et debere, neque 
 tx illis cuiquam aliquod jus, vel aP/tonem, aut titulum, etiam color utum, vcl }>oJJidendi, ac pracfcri- 
 bcndi caifain, acqufttum; vel acquiflain fiiJJ'e, ncc ejf, minufque ullo tempore acquiri, ct competere 
 poffe, neque ilia ilium Jlatum facere, vel fecijfc, fd perinde ac f numquam emanaffent, nee faiia 
 fuijfent, pro non extant i bus, et non falls perpctuo hahtri ilebere. Et nihikminus ad ubcrioiem 
 tautetamy ct quatenus opus.J]t, pailiones praediiJas, aliaque praewiffa, ut pracfcrturt praejudldarui 
 
 harum
 
 TO HENRY SAVILE AMBASSADOR IN FRANCE 23: 
 
 forming the contents of them to his fucceflbr, what religion foever 
 he fhould happen to be of. Unto which Birch replied, allcrting hid 
 own fervices to the king ; taxing Coventry ot leaving broken his word 
 to the parliament twice the laft year, in relation to a war pronillcd 
 to be declared and adtually made upon France; differved the king and 
 station, in having been a principal caufe of breaking the triple league ; 
 and concluded, he was as lit to be turned out of the council as any 
 
 one 
 
 harmn ferie improhanuis, yefcindimus, cajjamus, irritnmus, et aiinuUamus, inrlbufqiie et cffeclu 
 penitus, ac omnino vacnamus. Age igitur, Chariffime in Chiifto Fill nofter, ac padioiiibua 
 hujafmodi penitus rcjeftis, iifque omnibus, quae in earii'n executionem quovis modo gefta 
 fuerunt, refciflis, ecclchae, religionis, ac Dei caufam fortiter lucre, et ab ejus patrocinio 
 fufcepti tui regifTiinis Felicia aufpicare primordia. Oftende fatis tibi pcrfuafum efle praeci- 
 puas tuas partes pro ea, quam obtines, imperii Majeftate non alias effe debere, quam in 
 propugnandis fidei et ecclefiae juribus, quae religiofiflimi, inclytique Imperatores majores tui 
 aflerere fempfr, atque amplificare pro viribus ftuducrunt. Ita plane perenneni tuo noirun^ 
 faudem et gloriam, coeleftefque tibi, ac tuae auguftae domui benedifliones magis, ma(jirque 
 conciliabis ; quarum in aul'picium cum perpettio feiicitatis tuae voto conjunftam apoilolicam- 
 benedn^tionem JVIajcftati tuae amantiffime iiiipertimur. Datum Romae apud fanduni 
 Fetrum iub annujo prifcatoris die 4 Junii 17 12, Pontificatus noftri anno duodecimo. 
 
 dementis XI. Pont. max. epiftolae et brevia feleftiora. (Tom. 11, pag. 173.) 
 Romae 1724, ex typographia revcrendae camerae (ipojlcilicae. Superiorum pcrmilfii^ 
 et privilfgio. 
 The reader may fee this important TubjeiSl amply difcufled in the following trac}, which': 
 was firft printed 1682 in quarto, and again 172^ in oiflavo, and was written by Dr. Daniel- 
 Whitby. " A Difcourfe concerning the laws, ecclcfiaftical and civil, made againft heretics, 
 by Popes, Emperors, and Kings, provincial and g^-neral Councils, approved by the Church 
 of Rome: (hewing, I. What Proteftant fubjedls miy exped to fuffcr under a popifh prince 
 ailing according to thofe laws. II. That no oath or promife of fiich a prince can ^ive 
 them any juft fecurity that he will not execute thefe laws upon them. With a preface 
 againft perfecuting and deftroying Heretics." — There are other valuable tracls againft the 
 Romilh religion, written by this learned, ab!e, active, faithful, proteftant Divine. 
 
 Puif-que nous fommes fur Particle de la peinture, il faut que je vous dife quelque chofe 
 6\i MaJJhcre de rJtmral Ccligni, d'ont I'hiftoire fe voit en trois grands tableau, dans la fala 
 [yet there] ou le Pape donne audience aux AmbaJJadeiirs. Dans le piemicr tableau, 
 KaflafTin Alorcvel z.-^-iw'i blefle Coligni d'un coup d'arquebufe, on le porte dans ii maifon ; er 
 2U bas du tableau eft ecrit " Gajpar Co/igidia Aiiiirallius accepto vnlmre domnm rcfcrtur, Greg. 
 XIII. Pont. max. 1572." Dans le fecond, I'Amlral eft malTacre dans U meme maifon, 
 avec Teligni fon gendie, et quelques autres. Ces paroles font fur le tableau. " Caedts 
 Coligmi et fociorinn ejm" Dans le troifiime, la nouvelle de cette execution eft rapportee au 
 Roi, lequel temoigne en etre fatisfait. " Rex Collgnii necem probnt." 
 
 Le Pape ne contenta pas de faire peindre I'hiftoire de ce Mnjfacre, comma un trophee 
 dans fon Palais. Pour mieux eternifer un fait fi memorable, il fit encore frapper des 
 niedailles, ou I'on voit fon image " Gregor'rui XIII. Pent. max. an. i." Et fur le revers 
 un Ange fxterininateur, qui d'une main ticnt une croix, et de I'autre une epce dont i! perca 
 a bras racourci, avec ces paroles " Ugomttorumjirages IST^" ^^^ medailles font devenue? 
 fort rares, [the dyes have been lately renewed] cependant nies amis m'en ont 
 fait avoir quelques unes. 
 
 Le Cardinal de Lorraine, qui etoit a Rome, fit prefent de mille ecus a celui qui apporta 
 ]a bonne nouvelle du Maffacre. II y eut fcux de joye, jubile, aftions de graces, proceftions- 
 folenelles, etc. etc. etc. 
 
 Nouveau voyage d'ltalie. Par MaximiUen M'lffon. Quatricme edition. 
 
 On peut dire que le College Romain, qui eft le grand College et la principalc maifon 
 
 des Jejultes de Rome, eft un des plus beaux palais de la ville. La Bibliotheque eft bonne 
 
 et nombreufc, mais elle n'a ni manufcrits anciens, ni autre chofe fort rare. Dans une 
 
 g^rande fale, ou font, les portraits des Jefuitcs Martyrs, nous avons remarque celui da 
 
 fameux.
 
 24 LETTERS OF ALGERNON SYDNEY 
 
 one that had been fo. Bennet not long before had faid, that though 
 this council feemed in fome degree to be reformed, no good could 
 reafonably be expected, as long as one continued in it, who did by 
 fuch violences and other undue ways advance arbitrary power in Scot- 
 land, and one that had maflcs daily faid for him in Ireland : for the 
 firft of thefe he named Latherdale, and left the houfe in an opinion, 
 that for the other he meant Anglefey. At the laft it was concluded, 
 
 that 
 
 fameux Garnet, ce hard'i f-rvlteur ch la Soc'tete, qui fut pendu et ecartelc pour la trahlfon des 
 Poudres. Un Angc I encourage, et lui montre le del ouDert. The fame author, honc^ jVIlJJon. 
 
 The CoWegz oi J if uiti at Frlbourg is, they fay, the fined in Sivitzerlund. There is a 
 great deal of room in it, and fevcral beautiful views from the different parts of it. They 
 have a colkiifion of pictures, reprefenting moft of the fathers of their order, who have 
 been eminent for their piety and learning. Among the reft many Engti/lomen, [still 
 there] whom we name rebels, and they martyres. ■Addlfon% Travels. 
 
 If View the sanguinary medais in the " Nwn'ifmata clegantiora of Luckius ;" in the 
 ■•' Medailks de Louis le grand ;" in the " Hijloire mctallique des XVII. Provinces dcs Pays has 
 of Van Loon ;'" in tlie '■'■ Numifmata Rsmanorum Pontificum prae/lantiora of Fenuti ;" in the 
 " Nu/iiifmata of the carl of Pembroke ; " and in the cabinets of the curious. 
 
 And yet alfo by fome other meanes, to furder thefe intentions, becaufe they could not 
 readily prevayle by force, finding forreine princes of better coiifideration and not readily 
 inclined to their wicked purpofes, it vi"as devifed to ereft up certaine fchooles, which they 
 called Seminaries, to nourifh and bring up perfons difpofed naturally to fedition, to continue 
 their race and trade, and to become feedmen in their tillage of fedition, and them to fende 
 il-cretly into thefe the Queene's Majefties realmes of England and Ireland under fecret 
 mafkes, foine of priefthood, fome of other inferior orders, with titles of 5f/n/VMr//?j- for fome 
 of the meaner fort, and of 'Jefuites for the ftagers and ranker fort and fuch like ; but yet fo 
 vvarely they crept into the land, as none brought the marks of their priefthoode with them, 
 but in divers corners of her Majefties dominions thefe Seminarifls or feedmen and Jefuites, 
 •brin2;ing with them ccrteine romi/Ii trafh, as of their hallowed ware, their agnus del, and 
 fuch like, have as tillage men laboured fecretly to perfwade the people to allowe of the 
 Pope's forefaide bulles and warrantcs, and of his abfolute authoritie over all Princes and 
 Countries, and ftriking many with prickes of confcience to obey the fame, whereby in 
 procefs of f mall time, if this wicked and dangerous, traiterous and craftie courfe had not 
 bene by God's goodnes fpied and ftaied, there had followed imminent danger of horrible 
 uprores in the realmes, and a manifcft bloody di.ftruction of great multitudes of chiiflians. 
 J^'or it cannot he denied, but that lb many as fliould have bene induced, and throughly 
 perfwadcd to have ob?yed the wicked warrant of the Popes, and the contents thereof, 
 fhould haue been forthwith in their hearts and confciences fecret traitors, and for tj be 
 indecde errant and open traitors, there jhould have wanted nothing but opportunitie to feel their 
 Jirength and to ajfcmble themfelvcs in fuch nombers with armour and weapons, as they might have 
 prefumed to have bene the greater part, and Jo by open civill warre to have come to their wicked 
 fiurpofs. But God's tfoodncfle by v;home Kinges doe rule, and by whofe blaft traitors are 
 commonly wafted and confounded, hath otherwife given to her Majeftic as to his h^.ndmayde 
 and deare fervant, ruling under him, the fpirit of wiflome and power, whereby (he h.ath 
 xraufed fome of thefe f;;dicious feedemcn a)id fovvers of rebellion, to be difcov^-rcd for all 
 their fecret lurkings, and to be taken and charged with thefe former poyntes of high treafon, 
 
 NOT BEING DELT V/ITHALL UI'ON QUESTIONS OF RELIGION, liUT lUSTLY BY ORDER OF 
 iAWS, OPENLY CONDEMNED AS TRAITORS, CtC. etc. etc. 
 
 The execution of juftice in England, for niainienance of publique and chriftian 
 peace, againft: certeine ftirrers of fedition, and adherents to the traytors and 
 enemies of the realmc, without any pcrfecution of them for quejlions of religion, as 
 is falfely leported and publifhed by the fautors and fofterers of tli?ir trcafons. 
 Secondly imprinted, at London, menfc Jan. 1583, with fome fmall alterations 
 of thingcs miftaken or omitted in the tranfcript of the firft originall. — A maftcr 
 traft, by the lord treafurer Burleigh. Tlic running title of ic is, " Execution 
 for trcajoii and not for religion."
 
 TO HENRY SAVILE AMBASSADOR IN FRANCE 2>s 
 
 that the l>.ing fhould be defircd to give order for the execution oF 
 Pickering and another condemned prieft ; that a proclamation fhould 
 be iflued to banifli all papills without any other exceptions than pub- 
 lic minifters, and their followers, twenty miles out of London : the 
 lady Portfmouth was named, but not purfaed : that the duke of York 
 being a papift, the hopes of his fucceeding unto the crown had been 
 the principal ground and foundation of the plot againll the king's 
 
 life - 
 
 And in the hooVz o^ thavkfgiving appointed for the fifth of Ncvember^ fet forth by 
 
 King James and che Parliamenis fpeciall direction, this obfcrvable prayer, (I'omcvvhac 
 altered hy x.\\z now Arch-prcbte oi Cdnterbttty [In the margin is added, "who confellltli 
 and jnftifitth it in his fpcech in the Star-chamber, June 14, 1637"] in the latter editions 
 to plcafure his friends the Papifts) whofe religion is rehellioHy whofe faith is fiiTlinn, xvhofe 
 pra£lice is murthering of fouls and bodies, and to rootc them out of the confines of this King- 
 dome, etc. etc. etc. 
 
 The treachery and difloyalty of Papifls to their Soveraignes, in dodlrlne and 
 
 praflice, etc. The fecond edition enlarged. By William Prynne, Utter- 
 
 barrcfter of Lincolnes Line. London, 1643, in quarto, p. 2. In the Title 
 
 appears alfo " It is this fecond of- May, 1643, ordered by the C(5mmittee of 
 
 the houfe of Commons in Parliament for printing, that this book intituled. 
 
 The Treachery and dijliyalty of Papifls to their Soveraignes, etc. with the additions, 
 
 be re-ptinted by Michael Sparie, fenior. John lyhitef" 
 
 Legato Hifpanico. 
 
 Parlamenttim Reipuhlicae AngUae cum intellig.it, plurimos ex populo in hac urbe tarn 
 
 Excellentiae veftrae, quam aliorum Legatorum et Minijlrorum ab exteris regionibus publicorum 
 
 hie verfantium domos Miffae audiendae caufa frequentare, ConciUo Status mandavit, uti 
 
 Excellentiae veftrae fignificaret, ciun hoc gentis hiijus legibus damnaiwn, ac in hac nojira Rcpithlica 
 
 mail admodum exempli fit, offenfionifque plsmmt, cenfere fe, fui plant officii effe, ne quid tale dehinc 
 
 fiat providere ; coetujque ejufmodi in futurum prorsits intercL'ccre. Qua de re Excellentiarn veftrani 
 
 admonitam nunc elle cupimus, tit ne quern ex pspith hujus Reipuhlicae Miffae audiendae ca'/fa 
 
 fuam i'l dommn pcjlhac vclit admittere. Et quemadmodum Parlamcntum diligenter curabir, 
 
 ut Legati jus et privilcgia quaeque veftrae Excellentiae invioiata ferventur ; ita hoc fibi 
 
 perfualiffimum habet, Excellentiarn veftram, quamdiu hie commoratur, leges hujus Reipublicat 
 
 per fe fuofve nolle ullo mode violatas. 
 
 Litetae Senatus Anglicani, nomine ac jufTu confcriptae a Joanne Miltono. 
 Who doubts lefs of the dangeroufnefs of your principles and praiSlices, than they that 
 have read moft, and had moft experience of them ? We can give you no greater inftance 
 than in King James, who was no ftranger to You either way, and this is his judgment of 
 you, " That as on the one part, many honeft men, feduced by fome of the errors of 
 Popery, way yet remain good ayid faithful fubjefts \ fo on the other part, none of thofe, that 
 truly know and believe the whole grounds and fchool conclufions of their dodlrines, can ever 
 prove cither good Chrijiians or goodfubjeHs." 
 
 The late Apology in behalf of the Papifts, [fuppofed to have been written by 
 
 Roger Palmer, Earl of Caftiemayne, affifted by Robert Pugh, a fecular prieftj 
 
 reprinted, and anfwered. London 1667 in quarto — by William Lloyd, D. D. 
 
 afterwards Bifliop of St. Afaph, and of Lichfield. 
 
 Another more fecret evil, but more dangerous to the Commonwealth, is, when men 
 
 arrogate to themfelves, and to thofe of their own fe£l, fome peculiar prerogative, covered over 
 
 with a fpecious fhew of deccitfid words, but in effett oppcfitc to the civil right of the Community, 
 
 For example. We cannot find any feift that teaches cxprefly, and openly, that men are 
 
 not obliged to keep their promife ; that Princes may be dethroned by thofe that differ from 
 
 them in religion ; or that the Dominion of all things belongs only to themfelves. Forthefe 
 
 things propofed thus nakedly and plainly, would foon draw on them the eye and hand of 
 
 the Magiftrate, and awaken all the care of the Commonwealth to a watchfulnefs againfl: 
 
 the fpreading of fo dangerous an evil. But neverthelefs, we find thofe that fay the fame 
 
 things ill other v/ords. What elfe do they mean, who teach, that Faith is not to be kept 
 
 with
 
 26 LETTERS OF ALGERNON SYDNEY 
 
 life and the proteftant religion : that the fecret committee fhould, on 
 Wednefday next, bring into the houfe fuch letters and papers as they 
 had in their hands relating unto the faid duke. The concurrence of 
 the lords is defired, as to the proclamation, and the firft vote concern- 
 ing the duke ; and the lord Ruffell, notwithftanding his being a privy 
 counfellor, appointed to carry up the mefl'age. They alfo voted an 
 addrefs to be made to the king, that all lea-ports, places of ftrength, 
 
 and 
 
 with Heretics ? Their meaning, forfooth, is that the privilege of breaking faith belongs 
 unto themfelves : for they declare all that are not of their communion to be Heretics, or at 
 leaft may declare them To whenfoever they think fit. What can be the meaning of their 
 afTerting, ibat Kings excommunicated forfeit their Crowns and Kingdoms ? It is evident that they 
 thereby arrogate unto themfelves the power of depofing Kings : becaufe they challenge the 
 power of excommunication, as the peculiar right of their Hierarchy, 7hat Dominion is 
 founded in grace, is alfo an ailertion by which thofe that maintain it do plainly lay claim to 
 the pofTelTion or all things : for they are not fo wanting to themfelves as not to believe, or 
 St leaft as not to profefs, them.felvcs to be the only pious and faithful. Thife therefore, and 
 the like, who attribute unto the faithful, religious and orthodox, that is, in plain terms, unto 
 thetif elves ; any peculiar priviledge or power above other mortals in civil concernments ; or who., 
 upon pretence of Religion, do challenge any manner of authority over fuch as are not affociatcd with 
 them in their Ecclefiajiical comjnunion, I fay thefe have no right to be tolerated by the Magiftrate; 
 as neither thfe that will not oivn and teach the duty of tolerating all men in matters of MERE 
 relfion : for ivhat do all thefe and the like doHrines figntfie, but that thofe men may, and are ready 
 upoti any occafton to feize the government, and poffefs themfelves of the efiates and fortunes of their 
 fellow- fubje^s ; and that they only afh leave to he tolerated by the magijlraie fo long, until they find 
 ' themfelves Jhong enough to effe£l it. 
 
 A letter concerning toleration. Edit. 2. — The firft edition of this incomparable 
 
 letter was printed in latin. The title of it is, " Kpiftola de To!er.intia ; ad 
 
 •clariflimum virum t. a. R. p. t. o. l. a. [theologiae apud remonftrantes 
 
 .profeflbrem, tyranniJis oforem, Limburgium, AmftelodamenfemJ fcripta a 
 
 p. A. p. o. I. L. A. [pacis amico, perfecutionisofore, Joanne Lockio, Anglo,} 
 
 Goudae, 1689. 
 
 My averfion to Popery is grounded, not only on its paganifm and idolatry, but on its being 
 
 calculated for the fupport of defpotic power, and inconfiftent with the genius of a free 
 
 government. This I take to be its RIZAL character ; which I do not however extend to the particular 
 
 profeffors of it; many of whom I kmiu to be men of great probity, politcncfs, and humanity ; wht 
 
 through the prejudice of education, do nit either fee the confeqtienccs of what they are trained tt 
 
 profefi ; or through a mi fiaken point of honor, think it a duty to adhere to the religion of their 
 
 tmcrjlors. With thefe 1 can live, not only in charity, but in frienijhip ; ivithout the leaf} inclination 
 
 to offend them, any farther, than by ob/iruSiing all endeavours to introduce a religion among/} us, 
 
 which wou'd necefjari'y be ruinous to the liberty of our Country. Thus much I thought myfelf 
 
 obliged to fay upon the occafion of ths foregoing leiter ; //;// while the Pap\Jh look upon ine as 
 
 an E'lemv, they may confider me at leajl as A I'AIR ONE ; an enemy to the idolatrous and flavijh 
 
 principl-s of their church ; but free from all prejudice or cmnity to their ptifons. 
 
 A letter from Rome, (hewing the cxa£l conformity betw>;en Popery and Paga- 
 nifm : or the religion of the piefent Romans, derive 1 from that of their heathen 
 Anceftors. The fourth edition. To which arc addeJ, I. A prefaratory dif- 
 couife, containing an anfwer to all the obicftions of the writer of a popifh 
 ■book, intituled, '• ll>e cathdic chriflian in)}niSlcd," etc. with many new facts 
 and teftimonies, in farther confirmation of the gcr<eral argument of the letter. 
 And ]i. A poftfcript, in which Mr. Warburton's opinion concerning the 
 Paganifm of Rome is particularly conddered. ^y Conyers Middleton D. D. 
 l>rincipal librarian of the Univerfity of Cambridge — in the prefaratory difcciirfe. 
 The hiftories of Chriflend-M for thefe laft two hundred years, arc full of the hardfhips 
 and fufterings of Protrftants, from the hands oi Papilh, when they have had them in their 
 yower. In Queen Marfs ftiort reign of live years, fome hundred of fires were lighted up 
 3 in
 
 TO HENRY SAVILE AMBASSADOR IN FRANCE 27 
 
 and command of fliips may be put into trufty hands, and concluded '* 
 
 to refer the farther confideration of this bufincfs to Wednefday next, 
 and I beheve it will be then debated, whether llich an alTociation fliall 
 be entered into as was appointed in queen Elizabeth's time ; or an a.0: 
 
 made, 
 
 in Sinithjield and other parts of this Kingdom, to deflroy thofe that would not fwallow 
 down tranfiibjhintiation^ and other errors oi Popery. — In the MnJJ'acre which begun at Paris 
 on St. Bartholomew's day, and thence fpread all over France., Thuanus, an author of undoubted 
 veracity, afllires us, there were murdered little lefs than ti;irty l/jonfand psrfons, fonie oi'ihcm 
 the n^olt confiderable of all the reformed in that Kingdom. In the Irrjh Ma/ficre, there 
 were a gieat many more. By a book printed at LiJJjon i'oon afier, done by a prieft, who 
 called h'wnicU Coiij7a>itius MaruUus, above a htiudrtYl thoujand proteiidnts are faid to have been 
 killed ; [Milton, in his hilconoklaftes, fays " the number was 154000 in the province of 
 V//ier only, by their ov^-n computation, which added to the other thac, makes up the total 
 fum of that flaughtcr, in all likelyhood, four times as great"] and Tome of them with moil: 
 exquifite and before unhcjrd of torments. And the lame ;iuthor, to fhew his cathdic 
 charitv', adds, utinam omnes ! — To come nearer to our own times. In th. rc^n of 
 Leiiis XIV, upon the revocation of the ediiSt of Nantes, how many thoufand in op pant 
 families, atier tiragootiing, impyifonmmt, and every othir hardjkip, were driven out of iheir 
 own country, and took refuge among us? [On the leveife of a medal ftruck by him on 
 that octaiion, where he is rcprefented trampling upon Hcrefy and crowned by Religion, is 
 this infcription, '■'■ Ob vicies cer.tcna inlliia Culvhiiano) urn ad e:cl,Jiam kevoc at a" — j Then 
 the Executions at Titorn, and the perfecutions n the Arch'-ifhoprick ot Sdlizb^'-'g, wht'eby 
 between twenty and tbiny thou/i'nd innocent peciple. were foiced at a ftiort day to leave 
 their native cduntry, and all their effedis behind thetn, only for their fteady adherence to 
 the reformed Religion, are recent ^Imolt in every one's memory. Nay, the very laft year 
 furniflies us with a tiefh inftance of the fame perfecuting fpirit of Poperv, by two edids 
 publifued in France, one bearing date Feb. 1, the other Feb 16 ; whereby the Prote/tanls 
 in and about Moi:tauhan, whoci'.l-.er had, or fiiould affift at the affemhiirs for divine worftiip 
 afierthe reformed way, were infhu.tly, without fo inticb as the form cr af'pearana of a trial, lo ! e lent 
 to the Fr<:uch King's gcdiifS Jor life, there to Jerve as Jlaves ; and the IVomen and Girh 11 be fout up 
 for ever in places wh'ch Jhoidd be appointed for them ; and more than this, if any allembly was 
 held in any one community of a diviftoii, the whole divifion was to be refponfible lor it, fuhjedi 
 to a fne arbitrary, to be levied by a military force ; which cdiSls v/ere procured by the Popijh 
 clergy, at the pi ice of their advancing ;ii'^«/)i/««r millions oi livres {'or a free gilt to thtrir 
 Sovereign inflead of fixteen ; and have been moft rigoroifly executed. 
 
 Curling no argument of fmceriiy : or, an anfwer to a UzCx, entituled, " A 
 Vindication of the Roman catholics." By William Primait, M. A. Reilor 
 of a MEDiETY of V/e(l Walton in Norfolk. Norwich, printed 1746, in 
 quarto. 
 
 In the beginning of the Pebellion 174c, the number of Papi/ls in London and Wtjitninjler 
 . was coiTipi:ted C7u hundred thoifand. — In fuch open defiance of our laws h:\s popery been long 
 msking great progrefs. And whether the threatning confequences are not formidable, 
 may well deferve the confideration of fuch, who aie able to difcern the ineftimable value of 
 our civil and religious liberties. — It would be far from us, after all, to defire any pains or 
 penalties fliould be inflidedon men, becaufe they have an extravagant ritual, and are fond 
 of worfhipping a troop of deities or demons ; or for faying prayers by tale or number, 
 either to real or imaginaiy faints ; for venerating a wafer or a crucifix : fince he who can 
 feal'I his foul, either on gold, filver, or precious ffones, or who can bell relifli wood, hay, 
 or fiubble, flrould only have our pity, and we ought to wifli a lels depraved appetite. But 
 fo long as the Pafijl holds opinions jubverfive of morality, diJlruElive of focitty, dangerous to the 
 civil and religious rites of mankind ; that is, f long as the hand tf pspery is ogainjl every man ; 
 fo long every man s hand fould be againjl popery, 
 
 Three queflioni refolvcd. London, 1757, in otSlavo. 
 
 It is much to be lamented, that the lav/s relating to Papifts were not reduced into one acl 
 ef Parliament, and alteied, amended, flrengthencd as fhould be found necelLiry ; mt ts 
 their dcJlruBion, hut our SAFETY. 
 
 4 L
 
 28" LETTERS OF ALGERNON SYDNEY 
 
 If 
 
 made, that this parliament fnould not determine in fuch a time as fliould 
 
 be limited, though the king fliould die, or in fo many months after,. 
 or fomething to that purpofe, which may tend to the king's fecurity. 
 I do not well know what the houfes have done this morning, but 
 hear the meffage from the houfe of commons is carried up to the 
 lords, and that they have appointed the earl of Danby to be at their 
 bar to-morrow morning. The commons have alfo perfe*!led their bill 
 for difbanding of the army, by a land-tax of tvv'enty thoufand pounds 
 the month, lubfequent to that which will expire in February next^ 
 Several priefts were taken the laft night, of which two confefs they 
 were fent over by all means to endeavour to invalidate Gates and 
 Bedloe's teftimony. Reading was this morning in the pillory, and is 
 condemned to a year's imprifonment and i coo pounds^ fine, for having 
 endeavoured to corrupt Bedloe. Stubbs, the countefs of Shrewfbury's 
 butler, confejjl'th he had been induced by three friejls^ to gain as ?tiany 
 fervants as he coidd^ to fet fire to their majlers houfes ; of which a ivench 
 was apprehended for firing her jnafter'^s in Fetter-lane. I am, 
 
 Your moft humble fervant.. 
 
 Sir, London, May _^-^; 
 
 Though the lafl: week was fpent rather in wrangling than the dil- 
 patch of any bufmefs of importance, I continue to give you an ac- 
 count of what I hear, becaufe thefe irregular motions are often the 
 forerunners of great matters ; and as they denote the temper of a na- 
 tion, they give good grounds of gueffing what they wmU end in, I 
 do not fend you the king and chancellor's fpeeches, becaufe I prefume 
 care was taken to fend them to you by the lail: poft ; but perhaps others 
 have not been fo free in telling you the efFedl of it as I (hall be. 
 The courtiers did believe, that the king's yielding that the parliament 
 ihould not end with his life, or be revived by his death, if it chanced 
 to be diflblved in his life-time, and have the nomination of all of- 
 ficers, both civil and military, if his fucceffor proved to be a papift, 
 would have given entire fatisfadtion unto the houfe of commons. But 
 to the contrary it is certain, that the fuppofition that the next in blood 
 muft be king, though a papift, is lb diliafteful to them, that nothing 
 will pleafe upon that odious condition ; and as to this particular, it is 
 looked upon as a trick to bring the parliament to confefs and confirm 
 the duke's title, that is, a little gilding to cover a poifonous pill. This 
 puts them upon various counfels : fome would impeach him, upon what 
 is difcovered of his part in the plot : others incline more to bring in 
 an a6t, to exclude him from the fucccfiion of the crown, as being a 
 papift, and thereby a friend luito, and dependent upon, a foreign and 
 enemy power. Some of thofc that arc of this mind look " who is 
 " fittcft to fucceed, if this fliould be ; and they are for the moft part 
 
 " divided
 
 TO HENRY SAVILE AMBASSADOR IN FRANCE 
 
 " divided between the prince of Orange and duke of Monmouth. The 
 *' firlt hath plainly the moft plaulible title, by his mother and his 
 " wife ; but, befides the opinion of the influence it is believed tlic 
 *' duke of York would have over him, it is feared that the common- 
 " wealth-party in Holland, would be fo frighted with that, as to cafl: 
 *' itfelf abfolutely into the hands of the king of France, who might 
 " thereby have a fair occafion of ruining both England and Holland." 
 I need not tell you the reafons againfl: Monmouth; but the ftrongefl; 
 I hear alleged for him are, that whofoever is oppofed to York, will 
 have a good party, and all Scotland, which is every day like to be 
 in arms, doth certainly favour him, " and may probably be of as 
 " much importance in the troubles that are now likely to fall upon 
 *' us, as they were in the beginning of the laft." Others are only 
 upon negatives. But when I have faid what I can upon this bufinefs, 
 I mufl confefs I do not know three men of a mind, and that a fpirit 
 of giddinefs reigns amongft us, far beyond any I have ever obfervcd in 
 my life. 
 
 Nothing w^as done the lafl; week concerning the popifh lords in 
 the tower. The earl of Danby on Saturday laft did iniift upon his 
 former plea and anfwer, how little fenfe foever there be in it. Some 
 fay it is, ex indujlria perplexa ; and that having the court and houfe 
 of lords to favour him, he cares not for the inconfiftence of protefting 
 his innocence, which renders his pardon ufelefs, and pleading his par- 
 don, which is a confeffion of guilt ; hoping that if the commons do 
 demur in law upon the two points, (firft, that the king cannot par- 
 don a delinquent impeached by one commoner, much lefs by all the 
 commons in England ; fecondly, that though it were granted he might 
 pardon, this pardon could not hold, bccaule it wants ail the form.alities) 
 the lords would over-rule it, and then he is acquitted. 
 
 The bill for the Habeas Corpus was pafled by the lords on F- iday 
 laft, and fcnt down to the commons. The fame day they alfo paffed 
 an aft for the banifhing of the papifts out of London, aj:d penned 
 it fo well by the indiijiry of the bif^ops, that f the co^mnons fiould pafs 
 it without amendment^ all the non-cotfrmifs of London would be drroeiz 
 out of town^ a7id half the Jljops Jljut up. The bill for difoanding the 
 army is pafled the two houi'es, and I prefume will not ftay long for 
 the royal affent. The lords did aflent to the vote of the commons, 
 that the duke being a papiil:, had been the occafion of the plot, but 
 added the word unwillingly. The whole bufmefs formerly mentioned 
 of the earl of Danby's endeavour to fuborn Bedloe to renounce his 
 teftimony, was the laft week verified before a committee of lords, and 
 Durablain his man confcfied he had been employed to do it ; fo that 
 his lordlhip is found to have done juft the Tame thing, for which 
 Reading ftood the laft week in the pillory. Some fcholars fent from 
 St. Omers were lately apprehended by Sir William Waller, and con- 
 fefs they are fent hither by the jefuits, by any means to Invalidate 
 
 4 L z Oates 
 
 29
 
 3° 
 
 LETTERS OF ALGERNON SYDNEY 
 
 Oates and Bedloe's teftimonles, but they rather confirm them. The lord Rofs 
 having been put out of the houie of commons, is by writ called to the 
 houfe of lords. Sir John Hartop, who petitioned againft him, is, upon 
 the invalidating of his eledion, chofen by the freeholders of the county, 
 and took his place in the houfe on Friday. This day is appointed 
 for the new eledion in Norfolk, and it is thought Sir John HobberE 
 will have the fame fuccefs. 
 
 Sir, I defire you to tell Monfieur de Ruvygny the younger, that 
 upon his recommendation I did addrefs the duke de Gramont's efquire, 
 to the places where all the bell horfes in England are to be had ; but 
 he has rid four hundred miles, and is returned without liking any. 
 To fay the truth, he is fuch a proud afs, that he neither knows what 
 is good, nor will believe any body elfe. I had direded him to fee 
 two, that are faid to be as fine young horfes of five years old as any 
 are in England, which having never been trained were fat, and as he 
 faid, trop relevee. Near Lincoln he faw two of the lord Caftletown's, 
 which had the fame faults. At the lord Burlington's in Yorkfhire he 
 faw one, that is thought to be worth as much as any one in England, 
 bred of an Arabian, fix years old paffed, never run but once at Kipling, 
 and then won the plate ; and being novvr thin, and drawn for another 
 courfe, he is to run within this week, this wife gentlem.an took him 
 for a mazette : he did the like with fome others in the fame place 
 and at the marquis of Winchefter's ; upon all which I have no more 
 to fay to ?v'Ionf. Ruvygny, than that he fliould find a way to revive 
 Bucephalus, or fend a man that hath more wit than this, to take fuch 
 as the world affords. 
 
 The horrible reports made from France of poifoning, affright rea- 
 fonable perfons here, as much as the difcourfes of the lieet at Brell do 
 fools. 
 
 The houfe of commons have voted that the pardon pretended by 
 the earl of Danby was of no value, and went up to defire juftice upon 
 him of the houfe of lords. We live in a time that no man, by ivhat 
 is paffed, can well judge what is to he expeBed for the future ; but I 
 am much inclined to believe, that Danby having in this laft adl fol- 
 lowed his own difpofition, that ever delighted in juggling and indi- 
 rcdtnefs, will, by the tricks he hath played, have found a way to hang 
 himfelf It is faid, that the king will be at the houfe to-morrow, in his 
 robes, to pafs the adl for di (banding the army. This morning, fecrc- 
 tary Coventry not being well, the lord Ruffcl from the king declared 
 unto the houfe of commons, he expedted no fupply froni them this 
 feffions, but defired care might be taken of the navy. ' I am. 
 
 Your mod humble and faithful fcrvant.
 
 TO HENRY SAVILE AMBASSADOR IN FRANCE ^j 
 
 Sir, _ London, May 12. 
 
 I have received your letter of May 13, and continue my ciidom of giv- 
 ing you once a week an account of what comes to my knowledge, though 
 to dlfcourage me / can only make the unpkafant relations of fiich dif- 
 orders here, as in my opinion threaten us with the greatejl mifchiefs that 
 can befal a yiation. The three that I meant in my letter, that you 
 would have me explain, were the earls of Sunderland, Effex, and Hali- 
 fax, and I am flill of the fame mind, fo far as the power of the court 
 goes. 
 
 The laft week was fpent for the mofl part in janglings hetween the 
 two houfes, upon points of privilege relating unto the rights the lords 
 pretend unto in points of judicatories ; which the lords Frecheville, 
 Ikrkeley, Ferrers, Aylefbury, Northampton, and fome others equal unto 
 them in underilanding, eloquence and reputation, do with the help of 
 the billiops very magnanimoufly defend. Several propofals have been 
 made by the commons of conferring with them upon all the points 
 in queftion, or appointing a committee of both houfes, which, meeting 
 together, might adjuft all thofe that might be occafion of difference; 
 but their lordlhips difdaining to confer upon points that as they did 
 fuppofe depended wholly upon their will, on Friday laft did vote that 
 they would have no fuch committee, which vote was carried only by 
 two voices, the one fide having 54, the other 52. Of eighteen bilhops 
 that were prefent, fixteen were on the vidorious fide, and only Durham 
 and Carlifle were fo humble as to join with the vanquifhed. Of thofe 
 52, one and lifty the next day protcfted, and I think only lazinefs 
 hindered the earl of Leicefter, who was the other, not to proteft, as 
 well as the others with whom he had voted. On Saturday there was 
 a conference between the two houfes upon this bufinefs, and it ap- 
 pearing that all proceedings would ftop thereupon, it being impofTible 
 for two to agree upon any thing, unlefs their thoughts and reafons 
 are communicated, they were pleafed yefterday to recede from that vote, 
 and appointed a committee of twelve lords to confer with a double 
 number of commons thereupon. 
 
 The houfe of commons have made an addrefs unto his majefty, de- 
 firing him to remove the duke of Latherdale * out of all employinents 
 in England and Ireland, and from his prefence for ever; to which 
 they received a dilatory anfwer. 
 
 The archbifliop of St. Andrev^^'s hath been lately murther'd in his 
 coach three miles from St. Andrew's, by ten men, that there fet upon 
 him, of which two were taken by fome horfe that came fuddenly to 
 the place. It is not known who they are, nor who employed them ; 
 but Latherdale is gracioufly pleafed to lay it upon the non-conformifts, 
 and hath thereupon caufed a very fevere proclamation to be iiTued out 
 againfi: them : but others believe it was upon a private quarrel with 
 fome gentlemen, that by fraud and power the prelate had thrown out 
 
 * Lauderdale. 
 
 of
 
 32 LETTEIIS OF ALGERNON SYDNEY 
 
 -of their eftates, he having been moji remarkable for outragious covetmifncfs, 
 befidcs other epijcopul qualities. 
 
 The houfe of commons have forbidden all commoners of England 
 to be of counfel to the earl of Danby, under the pain of being elleemed 
 betrayers of the rights of all the commons, by whom he is accufed, 
 unlefs leave be aflied and given by them. The bill for difbanding 
 the army is pafl'ed. On Saturday the king having appointed fixteen 
 fmall pieces of ordnance to be fent to Portfmouth, notice was taken 
 thereof in the houfe of commons, and a great fufpicion, that they be- 
 ing fcnt with field-carriages, harneffes for horfes, and all necellaries 
 -belonging to the train of a marching army, they might be intended 
 rather for fuch an ufe, than to turnifli a garrifon as is pretended. At 
 the fame time reports were fpread, that the duke of York was re- 
 turned into England, or hourly expedled, and fome believe his bufinefs 
 is to hinder the difbanding of the army, with fuch others as the know- 
 ledge of his nature, together with the perfons that command in Portf- 
 mouth, the Ille of Wight, and fome other places may fuggeft, in the 
 jnoil: jealous time that I have ever lived in. 
 
 The houfe of commons fat yefterday, being Sunday, to hear fuch 
 papers read, as the fecret committee thought fit to produce relating to 
 ihe duke of York, which had been found amongft the cardinal of Nor- 
 folk's papers, and other places. They are many in number, which fpeak 
 >of his aflbnting unto and approving of the plot in all points, but none 
 diredted to him, or written by him. Many various motions were made, 
 but in the end it was ordered, that a bill fhould be drawn up, to 
 debar him from the fucceflion of the crown. Sir Francis Winning- 
 ton and Mr. Vaughan would have put off the debate, until the trial 
 of Danby and the popifli lords was over. Sir William Coventry, fir 
 Thomas Littleton, and others, fpoke diredly againft the thing, but the 
 major part by much was of the other opinion, fo that on the divilion 
 appointed upon the queftion, whether there fhould be candles, the in- 
 equality was fo great, that the pains of telling was fpared, and v^'hen 
 the main queftion was put, there was no divifion at all. Not to trouble 
 you with many particulars, I will only recite one, which is, that a 
 gentleman moving the words fliould be put in, " Or ever have been 
 " a papift," they were laid afide, as fome believe, in refpedl unto 
 him, wiio by the dirediion of the late lord Crofts, was brought up 
 xmder the difcipline of the Peres de POratoire. The next v^-ork was 
 to make an addrefs to his majefty, full of humility and loyalty, ex- 
 preffing their utmoft rcfolution to ferve him with their lives and for- 
 tunes in the prcfervation of the proteftant religion. 
 
 I hope the new method refolved upon here, in relation unto pub- 
 lic minifters, will be of as little prejudice unto you where you are, 
 .as the report of the occafion which began with you will do you here. 
 i am, 
 
 Your mofl humble and faithful fervant.
 
 TO HENRY SAVILE AMBASSADOR IN FRANCE 
 
 Sir, London, May re;. 
 
 I have been abroad all this day, and come with a head fo difordcrcd 
 with the eaft-wind and duft, that I can fay very little this night. The 
 lords and commons have not yet found the way of agreeing upon tlie 
 method of trying the earl of Danby and the other lords. The bifliops are 
 the principal caufes of the difputc, afl'ccling a right to fit as judges, and 
 content themfclves to leave the cxercife of it to the papifts, but with a 
 proteftation that the precedent be not alleged againft them for the fu- 
 ture, but infi/l upon fitting in the earl of Danby's cafe, until they come 
 to vote upon life or death ; and to fliew how ingenious they are in that 
 point, they profefs they do no prejudice to their calling, in being his 
 judges, refolving not to condemn him. The truth is, that bufinefs is 
 full of a multitude of difficulties, that are very hard to decide ; the chief 
 of which are, firfl, whether the king hath power to pardon one im- 
 peached by the commons ; fecondly, whether that judgement belonging 
 to the declaratory part of the law, is to be given by one or both houfcs. 
 Thirdly, in cafe the king can pardon, whether this hath the formalities 
 required. Fourthly, if this pardon be not good, whether he may be ad-- 
 mitted to plead any thing clfe. Fifthly, if he may plead, whether the 
 points he is accufed of amount to treafon, which may probably exercife 
 the houfe until it be diflblved or prorogued. The two houfes differ alfo,-, 
 in that the lords would firft try the popifli lords, and the commons would- 
 give the preference to Danby. 
 
 The duke Hamilton arrived the lafl week from Scotland with a great 
 train, and was received here in triumph : all that come with him fay,, 
 the archbifliop of St. Andrew's was killed by one that had been his own- 
 fleward, and others that were not conventicle-men. 
 
 The /evere bill againft the duke of Tork Vv^as read on Thurfday laft, 
 and is appointed to be read again to-morrow. It recites the pope's pre- 
 tenfions to power over kings, particularly in England, the immorality 
 of the Roman religion, incompatibility of thofe that profefs it with Eng- 
 lifti proteftants, their perpetual plots againft the government, fedulity 
 in feducing the duke, and a multitude of other things of the like nature 
 in the preamble ; afferts the power of parliam-ent to difpofe of the fuccef- 
 fion, as beft conduced to the good of the kingdom, which had been often 
 exercifed in debarring thofe that were neareft in blood, but never with fo ■ 
 much reafon as now: wherefore it doth enadl, " that the duke fhould^ 
 *' be, and was thereby excluded; declares him attainted of high treafon,. 
 " if he landed in Blngland before or after the king's death ; forbids com- 
 " merce or correfpondency with him, under the fame penalty of treafon." 
 This pleafeth the city fo well, that a petition is framing there, which 
 will be prefented in two days, figned by one hundred tboiifand men, to give 
 thanks unto the parliament for their vigorous proceeding in difcovering 
 the plot, and oppofing of popery, and promifing to aflift them in fo do- 
 
 ing with their lives and fortunes. 
 
 The,
 
 34 
 
 LETTERS OF ALGERNON SYDNEY 
 
 The committee of lords being informed that fome important papers 
 -were hid in a wall at Tart-hall, they fent to break it, and in a copper 
 box found thofe v.^hich the attorney general fays give more light into the 
 plot, than all they had formerly feen ; but particularly againft the 
 lord Stafford. I am almoft afleep, and can only affure you, I am. 
 
 Your moft humble and faithful fervant. 
 
 Sir, London, June — . 
 
 Your nephew arrived here laft night, and I going to welcome him 
 received your letter from him. His friends find he bears in his face too 
 fair marks of a Spanifh journey, but in all things elle, I believe he will 
 give them as entire fatisfaction as unto me, who ever had an extraordi- 
 nary good opinion of him. 
 
 This day was le'nnight the prorogation of the parliament was fpoken 
 of, but being then uncertain, and (as I thought) not like to be, I was 
 not willing to mention it ; but it fell out the next day, and all men's 
 wits have been fcrewcd ever fince that day to find out the confequences. 
 Every body hath had his conjedlure, and the moft ignorant fliewed them- 
 felves the moft bold in aflerting their opinions. Many find that the king 
 •would not have done it, if he had not refolved to fend for the duke, 
 keep up the army, defire aftiftances from abroad, fell jcrfey and Tan- 
 gier to the French, (for which Mr. Savile is to make the bargain) fet the 
 earl of Danby at liberty, and v»ath the help of the papifts and bilhops fet 
 up for himfelf. But inftead of this we fee little reafon to believe the duke 
 will think himfelf well here. The army is in part difljanded, and had 
 been entirely before this day, if it had pleafed colonel Birch. The place from 
 whence the foreign afliftances fliould come is not known : Mr. Savile is 
 not thought very good at fuch treaties : The earl of Danby is like to lie 
 where he is, and the utmoft help his majefty can (for ought I hear) exped:, 
 until the parliament do meet, is, by Fox, Kent, and Duncomb's credit, 
 which perhaps v^'ill not be found to be very fteddy foundation. No man 
 will avow having been the king's counlellor in this bufinefs ; and fome 
 wonder, that his majefty in conftituting the privy council, having pro- 
 mifed that he would have no cabinet council, but that he would m all 
 things follow their advices, next unto thofe of his great council the par- 
 liament ; fiiould fo fuddenly prorogue that great council, without fo 
 much as afliing the other. This fills men with many ill humours ; the 
 parliament-men go down difcontented, and are like by their reports to 
 add unto the difcontents of the countries, which are already very great ; 
 and the fears from the papifts at home, and their friends abroad, being 
 added thereunto, they begin to look more than formerly unto the means 
 of preferving themfelves. 
 
 There hath been a fuit at law in Scotland, betv.-ccn the carl of Ar- 
 _gyie, and one Maclaine, a great man in the Highlands, and the earl 
 
 (as
 
 TO HENRY SAVILE AMBASSADOR IN FRANCE 
 
 (as is faid) by the fiivour of duke Latherdalc, hath obtained a decree for 
 the lands in qucftion ; which by order from hence, is to be put into exe- 
 cution, by the ftrength of all the king's forces in Scotland, and fire and 
 fword to be ufed in cafe they iind refiitance ; as probably they will, Mac- 
 laine refolving he will not be turned out of his ancient inheritance by 
 a trick in law, and a decree from corrupt judges. Tills man being head 
 of a numerous and ftout people, helped by the faftnefs and poverty of 
 their country, may perhaps make good what he propofeth unto himfelf ; 
 and to fhew he is not to be furprifcd, he hath already entered into Argyle's 
 country with 800 or 1000 men. The earl of Athol is his neighbour, 
 friend, and enemy to Argyle, fo as it is believed, he may give him fecret 
 afliftance at the firil, and afterwards more openly. About the fame time 
 a proclamation was there publifhed, making it treafon to be pTefcnt at 
 any of the field-conventicles that are armed ; and every man knowing 
 the preillires they are expofed unto if they go difarmed, they muft incur 
 the penalties, or abftain wholly from going, which they will hardly be 
 perfuaded unto. Things being thus brought unto extremities, the king 
 hath been perfuaded to give a hearing unto what the duke Hamilton, and 
 other Scotch lords, have to fay againft Latherdale, as is appointed before 
 the council. 
 
 Two affociates were offered unto Sir Thomas Chichely, for the better 
 executing of his office of mafter of the ordnance ; but he thinking that 
 an affront to a man of fo eminent abilities as himfelf, refufed them, 
 which hath obliged the king to difmifs him from the place, and put it 
 into commiffion, as fome others have been ; fir Thomas Littleton, fir 
 William Hickman, and fir Jofeph Lowther are faid to be the men. If 
 what is faid be true, the ill management of the treafury was not more 
 extreme, than this of the ordnance ; for befides the extravagancies of 
 furnifiing the French armies, with arms and ammunition, (whereas the 
 flores were fuller two years ago than ever they were known to have been) 
 there are now but fix hundred mufkets left in the tower, and other things 
 in proportion. 
 
 Some think thefe ways of employing many parliament-men, may 
 ftrengthen the king's party in the houfe. Others think, that a king 
 is ever a lofer when he enters into a faBion^ and * bajidys agai?ift his fub- 
 
 jeSfsi 
 
 [* Bandy s againft his fubjeSfs ;] 
 That I never knew but one foreigner that underftood England well, which was Gourvllle, 
 whom I knew the King [Charles II.] efteemed the foundeit head of any Frenchman he had 
 ever feen. That when I was at BrulTels in the firft Dutch war, and he had heard the People 
 grew weary of it, he faid, " The King had nothing to do but to make the peace. That he 
 had been long enough in England, feen enough of our Court and People, and Parliament 
 to conclude, ^'un Rot d' Angleterre qui veut etre I'homme de fon peuple, eji le plus grand roi da 
 tnonde ; mais s'il veut etre quelque chofe d'avantcigr, par Dieu il nejl plus rien." The King 
 [C. II.] heard me very attentively, but feemed a little impatient at firft. Yet at laft he 
 faid, " I had reafon in all, and fo had Gourvilk;" and laying his hand upon mine, added, 
 *' Etje veux etre rhomme de mon peuple." 
 
 Sir W. Temple's works. 
 4 M There 
 
 ss
 
 ^ LETTERS OF ALGERNON SYDNEY 
 
 je^s; befide that thefe men will lofe their credit, and, having only fingle 
 votes, Vfill be overpowered by number. I do not find the new privy 
 counfellors well at eafe, and am not free from fear, that whilTl they en- 
 deavour to keep fair with both parties, they may give diftafte unto both. 
 Harry Sydney is to go envoy extraordinary into Holland, and yefterday 
 the king declared unto him his intention to that purpofe. 
 
 Vanlieu the Holland ambaillidor is arrived, and Van Beuninghen going 
 away. He made the laft week a great noife about a meflage lent by the 
 king of France unto his mafters, concerning the contribution-money due 
 from the country about Breda ; denouncing in a very terrible manner, 
 his intention of levying it by force, if it were not paid ; and that in an 
 Ottoman flile, which unto fome filly people gave as filly a hope, that 
 the peace would break, and the league be renewed againft the French ; 
 but the French ambaflador fays, it is a thing of no moment at all, and 
 already compofed. However I fee no inclinations in difcreet men hei-e, 
 to defire fuch a dlfcompofure of things abroad, as fhould Engage us to 
 take any part in them, until our affairs are better fettled at home than 
 tliey are yet like to be. 
 
 Ireland is in extreme diforder, by the duke of Ormond''s negligence, 
 ignorance, and favour to the Irilh. Douglas's regiment thinking to 
 ufe the fame licentioufnefs at Kinfale, as it had been accuftomed to in 
 France, gives great diftafte, and apprehenfions of fuch works as began 
 almoll by the fame ways in 1641. Old Roberts, in appearing of late for 
 the king and bilhops, thinks himfelf of merit to fucceed him ; but he is 
 as fingular in that opinion as in many others. 
 
 Some that know matters better than I do, muft tell you, whether we 
 fhall have the fame parliament, at the end of the prorogation, or a new 
 one, or none at all. But I think, this, or another will be found necef— 
 fary; and if this be diflblved, another will be chofen of lefs inclinations 
 to favour the court. The four priefts are lent down to be hanged, where 
 they were condemned. The council gave order to the lord mayor, to 
 be very diligent in putting the proclamations againft the papifts in exe- 
 cution, and careful under that name not to trouble proteftant diffenters. 
 It is faid that Langhorne, Wakeman, fir Jofeph Gage, fir William Go- 
 ring, and other popifti commoners, fhall be foon brought to their trial.. 
 Now the parliament doth not fit, little news will be ftirring, but you 
 fhall conftantly have fuch as I know, or any other fervice that lies in the 
 power of 
 
 Your moft humble fervant.. 
 
 There is no civil government that hath been known, no not the Spartan nor the Roman, 
 though both for this refpccl fo much prais'J by the wife Polybiiis, more divinely and har--. 
 monioudy tun'd, more equally balanc'd as it were by the hand and fcale of JulHce, than 
 is the Commonwealth of £«^/r-W; where under a free and untutor'd Monarchy the nobkft, 
 worthieft, and moft prudent men, with full approbation and fufFrage of the people, have in 
 tlicir pov/cr the fupreme and final dctcrmijiation of highcft aftairs. 
 
 Of Reformation touching church-diftipline in England: And the caufesth.it 
 hitherto have hindered it. Two booLs, wiittcn to a fiitnd [by John MiltonJ 
 London printed 1641, in quarto, p. 72.
 
 TO HENRY SAVILE AMBASSADOR IN FRANCE 57 
 
 9 
 
 -Tv-t 
 
 Sir, London, June 
 
 The befl: news I can now fend you, is, that your nephew and mine is 
 looked upon as we wifli, and I believe he will perform all that you and 
 I expetil: from him. 
 
 There hath been a fuit at law depending this good while in Scotland, 
 between the earl of Argyle, and one Machine, the head of a great and 
 numerous family in the highlands. The earl (as is fiid) by the help of 
 the duke of Latherdale, obtained of late a decree for the pofleffion of the 
 lands in quellion, and an order was fent from hence unto the king's 
 officers, to affift the earl in executing the decree, and ufe lire and fword 
 againfl fuch as fliould oppofe it ; which was io far profecutcd, that he 
 with 300 of the king's men and 500 of his own, raifed upon an ifland 
 of Maclaine's, which he was not able to defend, or perhaps thought it 
 his bcft courfe by way of dlverfion to draw Argyle from thence ; but what 
 reafon foever perfwaded him, he fiid he would not be put out of the 
 inheritance of his anceftors by a trick in law, and the corruption of the 
 judges ; and joining the Macdonnalds unto himfelf, fell into Argyle's 
 country with near 3000 men, where he found no refiftance ; the lady of 
 Argyle was obliged to leave her houfe, and in fome hade retired to Edin- 
 burgh to get relief, which could not eafily be granted, left the fanaticks 
 fliould take advantage of the king's forces being fo employed. Some fay 
 this is only a family feud, others believe it hath a deeper root ; but what- 
 foever this is, no man doubts of the truth of the nev/s brought hither by 
 an exprefs on Saturday morning ; which is, that the conventicle-men in 
 the county of Glafgow are in arms ; that one captain Grimes coming 
 fomething too near them, with his troop and other forces, was beaten 
 back, with the lofs of his cornet and fourteen troopers ; which according 
 to the pofture he found them in, he was perfwaded to content himfelf with, 
 rather than to prefs farther. The council was called upon this occafion 
 on Saturday laft, but nothing (as I hear) refolved until they hear more, 
 fome doubting whether it be a laid bufinefs, or a fudden tumult raifed by 
 accident. I know not the truth of this, hit the difcoiirfes I have heard 
 very often of late, of tbofe -who every day expeBed fome fuch things per- 
 ftiades me to believe it is not fallen out by chance. Though no refolu- 
 tion was taken at council upon this matter, it is faid, that private orders 
 are given out to feveral officers of the late difbanded troops, to get their 
 men again together ; and to others, upon the moft plaufible pretences 
 that they can invent, to delay their difbanding as much as may be. 
 Thefe fufplcions go too far, and already reach fome of your friends and 
 mine, to fuch a degree, that coiafelhrs are rather faid to be changed than. 
 councils ; and if they do not find a way to cure that fore, at the next 
 meeting of the parliament, they will be looked on as their predeceflbrs. 
 If nothing from Scotland hinders, the court will go to Windfor to-morrow. 
 I prefume you know that H. Sydney hath bought Mr. Godolphin's place . 
 of mailer of the robes, gives 6000 pounds, and is to go envoy extraordl- 
 
 4 M z nary
 
 3S. LETTERS OF ALGERNON SYDNEY 
 
 nary into Holland. The lord Ranelagh for the faid fum paid to the lord 
 Sunderland is made gentleman of the bed-chamber in his place, and the 
 great bufmefs concerning his account is referred to the council in Ire- 
 land. 
 
 Many things may pafs in the town, that you may be willing to hear,, 
 but they come not into the cell that covers 
 
 Your moft humble fervant* 
 
 Sir, London, June -'4* 
 
 The Scotch news that I mentioned to you laft week, doth ftill poiTcfs 
 the minds of all men here ; but all relations that come from Scotland are 
 fo imperfed:, that no man knows what to make of them ; and thofe that 
 come to court being more particularly fo than others, no men are thought 
 to underftand lefs of the bufmefs than privy counfellors. This is attri- 
 buted to Latherdale ; and though it be concluded, that what he fays is 
 not true, fome think the bulinefs worfe, others better, than it is repre- 
 fented. The fa£t, as far as I hear, is, that the earl of Lithco v/ith above 
 five and twenty hundred horfe and foot did come within a few miles of 
 the conventicle-men, and finding them in fuch a pofture, as he did not 
 think it prudent to charge them, he concluded the beft was to let them 
 take Glafgow, where they are- faid to have found good ftore of arms,, 
 ammunition and fome cannon, and having left fo many men in the town 
 as are thought fufficient to guard it, they march with four pieces. They 
 are faid to encreafe in number every day, but we know nothing of them 
 certainly, unlefs it be that they have no landed men amongft them, nor 
 any gentlemen, but a younger brother to a knight of the Hamilton 
 family. The laft week we heard of nothing but ralfing of great forces 
 to fubdue thefe rebels. The dukes of Monmouth, Albemarle, and lord 
 Garret were to have regiments of horfe, Feverfliam one of dragoons and 
 grenadiers, the lord Cavendifh, Grey of Werk, Mr. T. Thynne, and 
 fome others, regiments of foot ; but that heat feems to be fomethlng 
 abated. The lord Grey gave up his commlflion, Mr. Thynne refufed to 
 take any ; Cavendilli doth not ralfe any men upon his, and Garret fwears 
 he will not be at a penny charge to ralfe a man, but if the commif- 
 fioners for the trcafury will ralfe him a regiment, and provide money to 
 pav it, he will command it. Whllft, ways were fought to remove thefe 
 difficulties, the Scotch lords that are here endeavoured to perfuade them 
 that the bufinefs may be ended by far more certain and lefs chargeable 
 ways, in as much as thefe men having been driven into a necefllty of 
 taking arms, by the extreme preifure fullered from thofe that did abufe 
 the authority his majcfty had trnfted them with, the people being eafed 
 of thofe burthens, the perfons removed that had caufed them, and fuch 
 men placed In the government, as were acceptable to the nation, they 
 durfl; undertake that all may be compofed without blood. This vvas not 
 
 I (as
 
 TO HENRY SAVILE AMBASSADOR IN FRANCE ' 39 
 
 (as I hear) tlifliked, but another point was ftarted, that roth yet more 
 incline the court to mild courfcs ; which is in the year 1641 ads of par- 
 liament were made in both kingdoms, making it treafon for any perfon 
 belonging unto either to make war upon or invade the other, without the 
 confent of parliament. And though one or two of the judges fay, that 
 the adts being reciprocal, the Scots having rcfcindcd theirs, ours falls of 
 itfelf ; or though it did not, the a6t forbidding an invafion, no ways 
 toucheth fuch as by the king's command fliould go to fubdue rebels ; 
 others fiy, that what the Scots did might indeed give unto the parlia- 
 ment of England a jufl: ground of annulling their adt alfo, but not hav- 
 ing done it, no man can doubt but it remains in force ; and whofoever 
 marcheth againft Scotland incurs the penalties of treafon denounced by 
 it. And fome that were prefent at the making of it, are fo ,far from ap- 
 proving the diftindlion between invading ?in6. Jubdiiing rebels as to fay, 
 that the parliament then finding they had been upon the like pretence 
 engaged againft Scotland in 1638 and 39, made this a6t exprefsly to hin- 
 der any fuch bufinefs as that which is now depending ; and to take care 
 * that England Ihould never be again engaged againft Scotland, with- 
 out the confent of the parliament ; which was ;:lfo the reafon why the 
 adl was continued in force on our fide, though it was dllTolved on theirs.- 
 This renders men of eftates unwilling to engage ; and hereupon the duke 
 of Monmouth was fent away yefterday in fuch hafte, as to carry no more 
 company with him, than could go in one day to your good town of 
 Nevv^ark, where he was to lodge the laft night. He is furniflied with 
 powers of indulgence to compofe rather than deftroy ; and the lord Mel— 
 via (who is thought well enough inclined to non-conformifts, and well 
 liked by them) is fent with him, as being thouglit a fit minifter of a good 
 agreement. The foot that was embarked in the Thames is gone for 
 Berwick, where it is to llay to fecure the town ; and the other forces, 
 that are newly entertained, are to continue only for a month. This looks 
 as if your friend Latherdale may within a while be left as naked as the 
 earl of Danby. The army is almoft every where difbanded, unlefs it be 
 thefe that upon this occafion are again taken into pay, and the countries 
 almoft every where exprefs the utmoft hatred unto them, as foon as they 
 have laid down their arms. Douglas's regiment now in Ireland, as is . 
 
 [* 77?^/ England flnuld never again be engaged agalnj} Scotland'^ 
 Go on both hand in hand O nations r.cvir to be dijiinited, be the piaife and heroic fonp; of 
 all poftcrity ; merit this., but feck only virtue, not to extend your limits; for what needs? ' 
 To win a fading triumphant laurel out of the tears of wretched men, but to fettle the pure' 
 worfnip of God in his church, and jujiice in the Jlate. Then fhall the hardefl difficulties fmootli, 
 out themfeives before you; envy fliall fink to hell, craft and malice be ccnfounded, whe- 
 ther it be home-bred mifchief, or outlandifh cunning : yea all other nations will then covet 
 to ferve you, far Lordfnip and ViSlory are but the pages of'jujlice and Virtue. Commit fecurely 
 to true Wifdom the vanquifning and uncafing of craft and fubtlety, which are but her two 
 yunnagates : join your invincible might to do worthy, and godlike deed;, and then he that feeks 
 t.o break your union, a cleaving curfe be his inheritance to all generations. 
 
 Of Reformation by Jchn Milton.. 
 
 ' faid,.
 
 4® 
 
 LETTERS OF ALGERNON SYDNEY 
 
 faid, hath orders to march into Scothind, •w^hich giving people occafion 
 to talk of that country, they fay that the king having lately placed the 
 greateft powers of the three kingdoms in the hands of the three worft 
 men that could be found in them, can never be at eafe until they are 
 all facrihced, to expiate the faults of the government, and appeaie the 
 difcontents of the nation. 
 
 Harry Sydney hath his inftrudions for Holland. Sir Henry Good- 
 rike is going into Spain, as a pattern by which that court may judge of 
 the wit and good fenfe of our nation. On Friday laft Harcourt, ^Yhite- 
 bread, and three other priefts were, at the Old Baily, found guilty of 
 the plot, and condemned as traitors. On Saturday the like fentence palled 
 upon Langhorne. The trials were in all refpedls fair, even by the con- 
 feliion of the. adverfaries. The arraigned perfons placed all the hopes of 
 their defence upon the invalidating of Oates's teftimony, to which 
 end they had about i6 witnefles fent from St. Omers, to affert that they 
 J^ad feen him every day in May and June was a twelvemonth at St. 
 Omers, and confequently he could not be here as he doth affert ; but as 
 tiiree of them, having been apprehended by hr William Waller, at their 
 firft coming, told him they were come to be witnefles, and being alked 
 what they were to witnefs, they faid they miiji know that from their fupe- 
 riors ; it did plainly appear at the trial, that they were ready to fay what- 
 ever they were bid j and Oates did plainly prove by a knight and two of 
 his fervants, two proteftant parfons, a popilh prieft, and fome others, 
 that. he was here at that timj ; fo as his teffimony was taken without 
 difpute. This is a dangerous leading cafe for the lords in the tower, 
 "whofe principal hopes were to invalidate the teftimony of Oates, Bed- 
 loe, and Dugdale ; all which being confirmed by the judgment of a jury 
 in the face of all London, cannot be queftioned. Wakcman was to have 
 been tried the fime day, but being arraigned the trial was put off for a 
 month, as is faid, at the follicitation of the Portugal ambaffiidor, and in 
 a way that to many feemed fcandalous. It the Scotch bufinefs be fettled, 
 the king will go to Windibr as he intended. You may remember that 
 the laft year four Iriftimen were fpoken of, for having been fent down 
 thither to attempt upon the king's life ; it is now laid that one Antonio, 
 a fervant to the queen, told one belonging to the duke of Monmouth at 
 that time, that four Iriihmen were expected there about a bufinefs of great 
 importance ; and the king's harbinger fays, four fuch were then recom- 
 mended to him, as men he muft take a care of, and fee well lodged. 
 How little foevcr I have to fay, I fill my paper like a Gazette, and have 
 foom only to add that I am, 
 
 Your humble and faithful fervant.
 
 TO HENRY SAVILE AMBASSADOR IN FRANCE 41 
 
 Sir, London, June 23. July 2.. 
 
 I told you in my laft, that the duke of Monmouth was gone towards 
 Scotland, fmce wliich time reports have been fo various, that no man- 
 well knows what to make of that bufinefs ; and the caufe of this uncer- 
 tainty is imputed to the diligence of the king's oiTicers, who intercept 
 and keep all letters diredled unto perfons any ways fufpeded, fo that no- 
 more is known, than they think fit to divulge. An exprefs arrived here 
 on Saturday-night from Edinburgh, and brought news tbat the duke of 
 Monmouth arrived there on Wednefday : that he had been received with 
 great joy, and as much honour, as thofe that were there could fliew untcj 
 him ; that the council having been immediately called, he expofed untO' 
 them his commilfion, which was very well liked ; that the chancellor 
 invited him to fupper that night, and that he was the next morning tO: 
 go to the army, having firft fent an exprefs to the lord Lithco *, that com- 
 mands it, no ways to engage in any adlion before he comes. Some 
 think that he hath the conventicle-men at an advantage, and will purfue 
 it to their deftrudion. Others fay, that upon the extreme averfion that 
 is fhewn all over England to a war in Scotland, and the little probability, 
 yet appearing of the parliament's being any tvays engageablc in it, he 
 hath received much more gentle inftrudions, and intends by the help of 
 the lord Melvln, to compofe thofe bufineffes if he can ; and if he can. 
 accompliih it, will certainly render himfelf very popular in England and 
 Scotland. 
 
 The duke Hamilton and fome other Scotch lords, having let his majerty 
 know, that the diforders in Scotland proceeded only from the extreme 
 prelfures the people were brought under, by thofe who contrary to law, 
 abufed the power his majefly had trulled them with, did undertake to. 
 linifh all without blood, if he would be pleafed to eafe them of thofe. 
 prelfures, and, removing thofe who had caufed them, put the govern- 
 ment of the kingdom into the hands of luch perfons as were well-pleafmg, 
 unto the nation. This having been taken into confideration for fome. 
 days, the duke Hamilton with the reft, and one Lockhart, were fent fof 
 by the king, who told them, the points formerly fpoken of did relate 
 unto his prerogative^ which in three points he would not faff"er to be- 
 touched : ift, That he having a right of difpofing of all places^ might. 
 Incapacitate fuch perfons as he fhould think fit : 2dly, That it belonging: 
 to him to prevent confpiracies^ he might fecure and imprifon fufpeiled 
 perfons ; and that there was no fuch thing as a Habeas Corpus in Scot- 
 land, nor fliould be as long as he liv'd : sdly, That it being his part to- 
 prevent or to quell rebellions, he might raife fuch forces as he pleafed, . 
 quarter them where he thought fit, and employ them as occafion fliould. 
 rfquire. To which Lockhart replied, that the places in queftion vv-ere 
 thofe belonging to counties and corporations, which had ever been chofen 
 by the people refpedively according to their charters. And as to what, 
 cpncerns confpiracies and rebellions^ he thought he could prove, that what; 
 
 * Linlithgow. 
 
 Hiss
 
 ^a LETTERS OF ALGERNON SYDNEY 
 
 Tiis majefty did aflert did neither agree with the laws of Scotland, nor 
 any other law, nor the ends for which that, or any other government 
 was -conftituted. . 
 
 The next point in difcourfe was concerning fome articles exhibited 
 againft Latherdale; in which it is faid, that " his Majefty for feveral 
 " years palled had been utterly millnformed, and never known the truth 
 *' of any thing relating unto Scotland, but been guided by fuch reports 
 *' as heft fuited with Latherdale's interefls." That he had been thereby 
 induced to bring down the laft year that army of barbarous Highlanders, 
 upon pretence of mutiaous and feditious field-conventicles ; vrhereas fuch 
 meetings as had been, were modeft and quiet ; and quartered them in 
 thofe countries where there never had been any at all. Several other 
 mifdemeanors are faid to be mentioned, and amongft others, that of 
 Michell, who had been put to death after having had a promife of life 
 and limb, by falfe oaths made by Latherdale and fome others of the 
 privy council. The conclufion was, tJie king commanded the Duke, that 
 thefe articles Jljould not he made publick. In which he excufed himfelf, 
 forafmuch as having done nothing in the dark, feveral copies had been 
 taken, which were not in his power. Some fay, we fhall this day fee 
 them in print, vv^ith the declaration of the conventicle-men, printed at 
 ■Glafgow, which is very well worth feeing. The forces of thefe con- 
 venticle-men, or, as they call themfelves, the Weftern army, are vari- 
 cufly reported. Some fay, they have 14000 or 15000 men; others, that 
 this day was a fe'nnight they had, not fir from Stirling, between two 
 and three thoufand horfe, well armed and mounted, with about the like 
 number of foot ; that a brother of the earl of Galloway was coming 
 to them, and within three hours march, with above four hundred horfe 
 and foot, and that they had parties of good ftrength in feveral other 
 places. 
 
 The five priefts formerly condemned, were executed on Saturday, 
 confefling nothing. Langhorne is reprieved for fome time, upon his offer 
 to confefs that which Ihall deferve his life. The earl of Shaftefbury 
 hath been twice with him, but, as is faid, hath as yet gained nothing 
 from him, but the difcovery of fome lands belonging to the Jefuits, 
 Francifcans, and Benedidins, not exceeding two thoufand pounds a year, 
 which will not fave his life. Wakeman is to be tried this week at 
 the king's bench bar. His relations defire he fhould confefs, and think 
 he will. It is faid that about this time was a twelvemonth, fome women 
 vifiting his wife, faw a daughter of his, growing up to be marriageable, 
 w^hich gave occafion to the goffips to afk the mother, what portion fhe 
 fhould have ? To which fhe anfwered, that if one thing hit right, fir 
 George would give her ten thoufand pounds ; which people now refledl- 
 ing upon, together with the life and cftate of the perfon, belieye that 
 one thing which was to enable him to give fo large a portion, was the 
 J 5000 pounds, which was promifed him to poifon the king. 
 
 There
 
 TO HENRY SAVILE AMBASSADOR IN FRANCE 45 
 
 There is a certain petition preparing in London to be prefented unto 
 the kir)g, which, as is iaid, will be ligned by many lords, gentlemen, 
 and all the principal houfeholders of the city of London, taking notice 
 of the army having been raifed upon pretence of the French war, kept 
 up by Danby's means contrary to an adl of parliament, as a ftanding 
 army. In the next place it mentions the acis of parliament made in 
 England and Scotland, making it treafon for the fubjedls of either king- 
 dom to invade the other, or the fubjefts thereof, giving power and 
 enjoining all other fubjedls of either to fall upon and dcllroy fuch as 
 fhould in any time attempt to do it, as rebels and traitors ; and fhewing 
 the dangerous confequences of forcing the proteflants of his kingdom to 
 imbrue their hands in each others blood, if according to the rumour fpread 
 of a war in Scotland, any men fhould contrary to the a£t march againft 
 them ; defiring his majefty to put an end to their fears in that point, 
 compofe things there, fufFer the parliament to meet the 14th of Auguft, 
 bring Danby and others to their trials, perfect the difbanding of the army, 
 and other new-rais'd forces. If this petition do take, as fome believe, 
 it will be fent to the grand juries in the feveral counties, and come up 
 figned by fo many as fliall approve of it. Some fay, the Highlanders 
 have laid down their arms, and fubmit the determination of their diffe- 
 rences with Argyle to the king. 
 
 The fpeaker Jeffryes is made a baron of the exchequer in the place 
 of Leake, who refigned it. Whilft I write this, news is come by an 
 exprefs, that the duke of Monmouth is within a mile of the Scotch con- 
 venticle-men, who lodged them in duke Hamilton's little park, with fo little 
 fkill and fo much diforder, that all men give them for loft. I am fure 
 our friends will be as cautious as you wifh concerning ticklifh places. 
 H. Sydney is to be here again in Odober, but to return after the dif- 
 patch of fome private buhnefles. I am, 
 
 Your mofl humble fervant*;' 
 
 P. S. This long letter was to have been fent by the laft poft, and left 
 by accident till it is in danger of appearing unfeaibnable. A courier 
 arrived the laft night from Scotland, who brings word, that the duke of 
 Monmouth had attacked the conventicle-men, and eafily forcing a little 
 barricado they had made to defend a bridge, had utterly defeated them. 
 Some letters fay, two thoufand are killed upon the place ; but my lord 
 Sunderland tells me there is only fome hundreds {lain, many taken, 
 and the whole party diffipated and deftroyed ; by which means it is faid, 
 that the duke of Monmouth will have made himfelf as popular in Eng- 
 land and Scotland as the duke of York. Men here will be ftartled at 
 prefent, but that will not hold. The Scotch lords here have been fo 
 wife as to leave their countrymen to be cut in pieces, but (as fome believe) 
 not enough to keep themfelves lb free from correfponding with them, as 
 not to leave that, which being well followed may bring their heads to 
 the block. I am. 
 
 Your moft humbJe and faithful fervant, 
 4 N
 
 44 LETTERS OF ALGERNON SYDNEY 
 
 I fhall not be In town on Monday to write unto you according to my 
 cuftom. The peace of Brandenburgh could not be otherwife than as 
 it is. 
 
 The gentleman, to whom the incloicd is addrelTed, hath received one 
 letter that pafled through your liands, and will wait upon you for this. 
 
 Sir, London, June 30. July 9.. 
 
 I write to you now rather to keep my day, thtm from an opinion that 
 thefe iaft days have produced any thing that deferves to be communicated 
 unto you. The news concerning the Scots, mentioned in my Iaft, is 
 confirmed by feveral expreffes, and all fhew their defeat to have been 
 entire, the party diflipated, and thofe who efcaped the fury of the fword 
 remain expofed to the difcretion of their conquerors. I find men's judg- 
 ments as various, as to the ufe which will be made of this advantage, as of 
 the duke of Monmouth's action in what is pafled. Some did think that 
 they being a poor people, brought into defpair by the moft violent per- 
 fecution, pitied by all both in England and Scotland, helped by none, 
 without head or condu£l, were to be fpared ; and that in doing fo, he 
 might have made himfelf very popular in both kingdoms, (which he is 
 thought with reafon much to defire) and beft to have provided for the 
 king's intereft. Others, who look upon it as a fine thing to kill a great 
 many men, and believe monarchies are beft kept up by terror, extol the 
 adion, and fay there is no other way of fupprefling old rebellions, or 
 preventing new ones, than by force and rigour ; looking upon Caligula 
 as a great ftatefman, and oderint dum metiiant as a good maxim. Some 
 think that the duke of Monmouth's firft inftru£tions were according to 
 the firft of thefe ways, but that he was followed by others, which favoured 
 much of the fecond ; thofe that were of the firft opinion, do now think 
 the beft way were to compofe things there, and by fliewing indulgence 
 not only in fparing thofe that are obnoxious, but in giving them fuch 
 indulgence in matters of confcience, as may fatisfy them, prevent the 
 like, and pleafe the body of the Englifti nation, which hath given many 
 tokens of being much concerned for them. On the other fid'. , thofe 
 are not wanting who think the beft way to bring that ftubborn people 
 into lubjedlion, and keep them, as they call it, in peace, free from rebel- 
 lions, is to ufe the utmoft rigour upon thofe that are in their power, and 
 to dlfcover who did in any meafure aflTift or abet them ; and in order 
 thereunto the prifoncrs are ufed mpft cruelly, and it is faid, that at the 
 leaft forty of the moft noted men amongft them fliall be put into the 
 boots my lord of Latherdale hath brought into faflrion, to make them 
 difcovcr what correfpondence the great men held with them. I know 
 not how far this may concern fome that are, or lately have been here, 
 but it is probable enough they may have the fortune that ordinarily 
 accompanies them that pretending to be very fubtile and keep well with 
 
 both
 
 TO HENRY SAVILE AMBASSADOR IN FRANCE 45 
 
 both fides, ever do too much or too little ; and that whereas they might 
 hav.^ prevented all tumults, if they had endeavoured it, by denying all 
 manner of favour to the difcontented people ; or reformed the ftate of 
 that kingdom, if they vv^ould have taken the condudl of them, arid very 
 well provided for their own intereft by either way, may have ruined thefe 
 poor people by ftirring them up, and leaving them to themfelves ; brought 
 the whole nation under the power of their enemy, and given fuch advan- 
 tages againft themfelves, as may be their ruin, if they are purfued ; that 
 is, to perifh or be faved by the mercy of him they profefs to abhor. Duke 
 Hamilton complains he is ruined by this bufmefs, and that not only all 
 the provifions of viduals and corn and grafs upon the ground is deftroyed, 
 but that there is not a cow, one horfe or fheep left upon his whole eftate ; 
 and his own houfe had been plundered, if the Duke of Monmouth had 
 not lent an officer to preferve it. But Latherdale fays, he cannot believe 
 that Hamilton's friends, tenants, and fervants, would fo far forget their 
 dependence, obligations and good manners, as to deal uncivilly with 
 him. Such as are near unto thofe who manage bufmefles may fpeak po- 
 fitively of them, but 1 muft as you fee fufpend my judgment, until the 
 ^uke of Monmouth comes back, which is expecSted in a few days. 
 
 The petition I mentioned in my Lift did meet Vv-ith fome interruption, 
 but the defeat of the Scots put an end to it. Thofe who ufe to extol 
 all that relates to Rome, admire the conftancy of the five priefts executed 
 the laft week, but we fimple people find no more in it, than that the papifisy 
 hy arts formerly iinknoivn to raankind., have found ways of reconciling falf- 
 hood 171 the utmoft degree with the hopes of filvation, and at the befi have 
 no more to brag of than that they have made men die with lies in their 
 tnouths. Langhorne's difcoveries being trivial, relating only to lands of 
 a fmall value belonging to convents, I think he will be hanged this day 
 or to-morrow. Wakeman's trial is put off, as is believed, to avoid the 
 indecency of the difcourfes that would have been made. This day and 
 to-morrow will bring all the court to Windfor. The king is tc meet 
 the council every Thurfday at Hampton court, and we of the vulgar 
 expedl after their firft meeting to hear, whether the parliament fhall meet 
 or no, at the time appointed. Some fpeak as if our fmall queen, upon 
 pretence of going to Burton, would be fo cruel as to leave us. I am. 
 
 Your humble and faithful fervant. 
 
 Sir, - London, July 44- 
 
 If I had a mind to play the politiCj like a houfe of commons man 
 newly preferred to be a privy counlellor, I ihould very gravely excufs- 
 niyfelf for not writing to you by the laft poft, and lay the fault upon my 
 y/ant of leifure, putting as ntucli weight upon a law-fuit, as they do upon 
 affairs of ftate ; but having at their cofts learnt, that thofe who make 
 fuch difcourfes, cheat none but themfelves, I ingenuoufly confcfs I had 
 
 4 N 2 noihing
 
 45 LETTERS OF ALGERNON SYDNEY 
 
 nothing to fay ; and that now the parliament is prorogued and the courC 
 at Windfor, I hear little more than I fhall do when I am dead. The 
 truth is, fome of our friends being newly grown men of bufinefs, are fo 
 politic and fecret, that a man who fees it can hardly forbear laughing ;. 
 but none is fo ingenuous as to be content men fhould do it, except the 
 lord Halifax, who is fometimes free enough with his companions to be- 
 gin. I long fmce found that the defign of fending H. Sydney into 
 Holland, was like the rcii of Sir William Temple's projeds, a matter of 
 great depth, and kept fo clofe, that not one of them would fpeak to me 
 of it ; but this day was a fe'nnight a gentleman that came to fee me, took 
 a letter out of his pocket, newly come from Holland, wherein the whole 
 end of his negotiation is fet out very plainly; which in Ihort is under- 
 ftood to be no more, than under the pretence of a guaranty to draw 
 Holland and Spain into a league with England, which may help the 
 prince of Orange with an occafion of breaking the peace lately made ;; 
 which I believe will take effed, if the French can be perfuaded to fleep> 
 three months, and take no notice of it ; if the Louvefteine party in Hol- 
 land, and their affociates can be brought to believe the prince of Orange 
 thinks of advancing no intereft but the public good of the country ; and 
 if our houfe of commons can be fo well fatisfied with the management of 
 the laft bufinefs in Flanders, as to be willing to raife a new army under 
 the fame condud, and to believe one that is fo raifed, will conduce to the. 
 defence of Flanders, as much as the laft. 
 
 The laft poft brought me yours of July the I2th, and if you confefs. 
 you did not know what to make of the Scotch bufinefs before you had. 
 my letters, I may conclude you were as much in the dark afterwards,, 
 for I could not make you underftand that which I am ignorant of; and; 
 to fay the truth, I am fo ; a great part of our modern prudence being tO: 
 fupprefs informations of the truth, which I take to be as great a point> 
 of fubtilty as that of one of our friends, who concealed a misfortune be- 
 fallen him in the firft acquaintance he had with a woman, until he was- 
 like to fall into pieces. Some think the great lords will be found to have, 
 incited the poor people, and then endeavoured to value themfelves at 
 court upon the power they had of appeafing them ; and if that prove, 
 true, they may have the fortune that ordinarily accompanies thofe that: 
 do too much or too little, and my lord Lathcrdale's boots will be a. 
 powerful means of difcovering whether this be fo or no. 
 
 Monfieur de Flamarin hath been received at Windfor as ferioufly, as 
 if it had been believed the queen of Spain's marriage ftiould not hold, 
 iinlefs it were here approved, and the formalities that arc ulual with men' 
 of bufinefs, having been obfervcd to him, he is grown to think he is fo. 
 You know Monfieur de Barillon governs us (if he be not miftakcn) but he 
 fcems not to be fo much pleafed with that, as to find his embonpoint 
 cncreafcd by the moiftncfs of our air, by frequently clapping his hands 
 upon his thighs, fliewing the delight he hath in the (harpnefs of the found 
 that teltilics the plumpncfs and hardnefs of his flcfli ; and certainly if this 
 
 climate
 
 TO HENRY SAVILE AMBASSADOR IN FRANCE 
 
 climate did not nourifh him better than any other, the hairs in his nofe, 
 and nails of his fingers could not grow fo fall as to furnifli enough of the 
 one to pull out, and of the other to cut off in all companies, which being 
 done, he picks his ears with as good a grace as my lord La. The diflTo- 
 lution of the tables at Windfor hath caufed a great folitude there, which 
 leaves the king few better entertainments than fifliing, and unto fomc of 
 our friends a good opportunity of making their court, which they im- 
 prove. A man is come out of the North, who fays, that Sir Thomas 
 Gafcoigne did treat with him to undertake to kill the king, fent him to 
 London to receive flxrther inftrudtions, and tells his flory fo difcrcetly, 
 that every body believes him. He feems to involve Sir George Radcliffe 
 of Northumberland, who had been formerly taxed by Gates. One Car- 
 ril, a Suffex gentleman, was laft week feized and brought before Oales ; 
 he fays he is a jefuit, and the fime man that by thofe of the fociety was 
 called Blundell, of whom much hath been fiid. 
 
 I dare not afliire you that the gentleman, to whom the letters were' 
 addreffed that I fent to you, is as honeft as he is underftanding in bufi- 
 nefs, becaufe I doubt men that are neceifitous and live by their wits, may 
 be apt to fwerve from the beft way, and I know fome of his near rela- 
 tions to be very naught ; but I can truly fay, that in many years acquaint- 
 ance I have not found him guilty of any ill thing, and I am fure that a' 
 brother of his, having undertaken one that was abominable, he was fo^ 
 far from joining with him, that he difcovered it to the perfon concerned' 
 in it, and as I believe thereby faved his life ; and fince that time fo broke 
 with his brother, as never to have looked upon him for this 13 or 14 
 years. I hear the duke of Monmouth is expected here this day. We 
 poor people know nothing of the fitting of the parliament, but are con- 
 fident it will not be in Auguft.^ I am, fir. 
 
 Your moft humble and faithful fervant.. 
 
 47 
 
 Sir,. London, July 16, 
 
 You may with reafon believe, I am little informed of what paffeth in; 
 the world, that in my lafl: letter I faid nothing of the parliament, which- 
 I make ao doubt but others, that wrote to you the fame day, faid was dif- 
 f->lved. The truth is, the bufinefs being done at Hampton-Court, the. 
 news came not hither until the afternoon, and I having it two or three 
 hours later than others, had already fent my letter to the port, and could. 
 not recover it to make an addition, though of fo great importance. This, 
 bufinefs is wholly imputed unto your two friends, and the other that- 
 ever joins with them; but the king finding it would not pafs at council,, 
 tikes it wholly upon himfelf; tho' that, as well as fomc other things of- 
 the like nature, is thought not well to agree with what his majefty was. 
 pleafed to declare when he made the new coancil, to have no cajinet. 
 council, but next unto the advices of the parliament to follow their's in 
 
 aU:
 
 4S LETTERS OE ALGERNON SYDNEY 
 
 ai\ tilings ; and the world looking upon this as the v/ork of the three 
 above mentioned, they begin to be ipoken of all over England in the fame 
 manner as Danby, and I fear may be impeached the next parliament upon 
 this point, and the war in Scotland, as is faid, contrary to an a£t of par- 
 liament in the year 1641. The new parliament is to meet on the yth of 
 Ociiober : there will be as great canvaffing for places as ever, people 
 believing this parliament was diflblved only in hopes of having one that 
 would be lefs careful of the public intereft. All men that wifh well 
 unto it, think it neceifary to imploy all their induftry in endeavouring to 
 make it better in that fenfe ; and many believe they will effecft it, though 
 fome probably will grow weary of the expences of elecflions, and the ways 
 of preventing them as yet are not fettled. The lord Halifax is made an 
 Earl, under the fame title. The lord Sunderland hath orders to prepare 
 warrants to confer the fame honour -upon the lords Garret and Roberts. 
 
 The lord of Wiltfhire's marriage with Mrs. Coventry was the lail week 
 celebrated with great folemnity ; and yefterday the young couple came to 
 the Marquefs of Winchefter's houfe, where there was a mighty feaft, 
 and much dancing and rejoicing. Langhorne was yefterday hanged, pro- 
 feffing the fame innocence that the jefuits did, and had the fortune as well 
 as they^ to be believed only by thofe that are in the fame criynes, or are con- 
 cerned in having them coficeakd. This day the council was extraordi- 
 narily aflembled at Hampton-Court, to confider of Wakeman's bufmefs, 
 with its confequences, notwithftanding which he is to be tried to-morrow 
 at the Old Baily. 
 
 The laft week the king gave the Scotch lords a hearing againft Lather- 
 dale ; they had council on both fides ; Lockhart and Cunningham did 
 undertake to prove a multitude of things done by Latherdale to have been 
 againft law ; and Mackenzie, the king's advocate, being of counfel for 
 him, could no ways difprove them, but had recourfe unto the royal autho- 
 rity. The lords of Eflex and Halifax were prefent, and both of them, 
 but efpecially the latter, did very much uphold the complainants, and, 
 amongft other things, told the king he faw the Scottifli nation was more 
 free than the Englifti. Neverthelefs anfwer was returned to them, tlrat 
 Latherdale had done nothing but what his majcfty had commanded, and 
 which he would uphold by Anrtue oi his prerogative, ivhich was above the 
 law. Tliis, as is thought, v/ill preferve him from punilhment, but his 
 place of fecretary -Cs'ill be given to the lord Magennis. 
 
 The duke of Monmouth, before he came from Scotland, had taken 
 care that the Scotch prifoners fliould be ufed with more humanity than 
 they found amongft their countrymen, and iince his arrival here, orders 
 are fcnt to enlarge the indulgence granted unto the non-conformifts in 
 their meetings. The refult of that bufinefs, as far as 1 underftand it, is, 
 a great many fools have been killed; their blood lies upon Latherdale; 
 their folly and the cruelty fhevved unto them hath gained a great deal 
 of companion for thofe that remain of their party, which probably will 
 perfuade thofe in authority here to proceed more gently ; and that which 
 4. is
 
 TO HENRY SAVILE AMBASSADOR IN FRANCE 49 
 
 is reafdnable in itfelf, will be rendered ablblately neceflliry, if the pnrlia- 
 ment be fuflered to fit ; for uulefs they prove to be of a temper very dif- 
 ferent from what is expcdted, they will fufFcr nothing like unto that which 
 hath been. A bufinefs happened lately, which makes a great deal of 
 iiolfe. A certain captain under the flicker of the African company, com- 
 mitted feveral piracies upon the Englifli company trading in Turky, and 
 lately coming to town, five or fix principal merchants that had received 
 the damage, arrefted him, whereupon he complained to the commiflion- 
 ers of the Admiralty, vv^ho fent for the merchants, and upon their refu- 
 fal to releafe the captain, committed them. "> hey addrefled themfclves 
 to one of the judges for a Habeas Corpus, who before he granted it, 
 gave notice unto the commiflioners, tliat the commitment of the mer- 
 chants was againfl law, advifed their releafe before the Habeas Corpus 
 was granted, which could not be denied, which the commifTioners re- 
 fufed to do ; but advifing farther wicli lawyers, found not only that 
 what they had done was unwarrantable, but that they were fubjed: to 
 aftions for falfe imprifonment, upon which the injured^ perfons would 
 obtain great damages ; fo that they found no better way than to releafe 
 the men, v/ith a great many fair words : but they not being therewith 
 fatisfied, refolved to fue them at law, or bring the bufinefs into par- 
 liament. I write this two days before the going of the poft, becaufe 
 I am obliged to make a little journey this day, and jQaall not be back 
 until he be gone. I am, 
 
 Your humble and faithful fervant. 
 
 Sir, London, September ^^. 
 
 I have been out of tovsrn almoft this month,, fo that my laft letter 
 to you was dated about that time. At my return I found men's minds 
 more difturbed than ever I remember them to have been, fo that there 
 is no extremity of diforder to be imagined, which we might not pro- 
 bably have fallen into if the king had died, or which may not yet rea- 
 fonably be feared if he ftiould relapfe. All that is now to be told 
 of news, is from the court, and mufl: be known from thofe that are 
 more converfant there than I am. Though the parliament is like to 
 fignify little, people are bufy in bringing thofe in, who are of their 
 own mind ; and the party that is moft averfe to the court feems to 
 prevail in the counties and great corporations, as the other doth in 
 many of the fmall boroughs ; and upon the whole matter, many be- 
 lieve the houfe will be compofed as the lafl; was, or as fome think, 
 of a more harfli humour, the fame men being fomething fiiarpened. 
 
 Your friend the lord Latherdale is more powerful than ever in Scot- 
 land, openly oppofeth the duke of Monmouth, and hath fo far pre-, 
 vailed, as to render the indulgences obtained by him utterly ineffectual : 
 but left his power there fliould not be fufficient to protedt him here,
 
 so XETTERSOF ALGERNON SYDNEY 
 
 if the parliament meets, he doth not difdaln a pardon, and as I hear, 
 one is preparing for him. I know not how much your friends and 
 mine do grow at court, nor whether the gains they can expedl to 
 make there, will countervail what they lofe in the nation ; but I do 
 think myfelf affured, that two of them f, who were generally as well 
 efteemed as any men I know, are now as ill fpoken of as any ; and 
 the afperity one of them fhewed againfl the papifts, is moft bitterly 
 retorted upon him. If the parliament fits, I Ihall not be fo ignorant 
 as I am of what pafleth, and I will with the fame care that I did the 
 laft time, let you know what I hear, and, as far as I dare trufi; letters 
 fent by the poft, what I think. I am. 
 
 Your mofl humble and faithful fervant. 
 
 Sir, London, Odober 29. 
 
 It is indeed a good while fmce I heard from you, and I have been 
 lefs diligent in writing to you than formerly, partly becaufe I doubted, 
 whether my letters were any ways acceptable unto you, and partly be- 
 caufe one that is far from court knows nothing worth relating, unlefs 
 it be in parliament-time, when all that is done is made public, or 
 at the leaft comes to the knowledge of thofe that have any acquaintance. 
 I am not able to give fo much as a guefs, whether the parliament 
 will fit the 26th of January or not, and though I think myfelf in 
 all refpefts well chofen, am uncertain whether I fhall be of it, or not, 
 there being a double return ; and nothing can be aflured, until the 
 queftlon arifing thereupon be determined, unlefs it be that as I and 
 my principles are out of f.ifhion, my inclinations going one way, my 
 friendfhip and alliance with thofe that are like to give occafion for 
 the greateft contefts drawing another, I fhall be equally difliked and 
 fufpefted by both parties, and thereby become the mofl inconfiderable 
 member of the houfe. But however matters go, if the houfe doth 
 fit, and you care to know what I either hear or think, I fo far ab- 
 hor the excufe that is worn out by having been fo often alleged by 
 liars and fools, as never to pretend to much bufinefs as a reaion for 
 my omillion ; and I think I fliall make none. 
 
 I have often heard of monfieur D'Avaux's behaviour in Holland, 
 but did not need any information as to matter of fadl, to be aflured 
 he would oppofe it ; to believe he would fuccccd, and indeed with fome 
 confidence to conclude, that our difappointment in that cafe is much 
 more for our advantage than what we fought. And as it is faid in 
 religion, that nothing is more terrible than the return of ill-conceived 
 prayers, nothing is more to be feared in politicks than the fuccefs of 
 unreafonable and ill-grounded counfels. And though the " propofition 
 
 t The carls of Halifax and Efilx. 
 
 *' that
 
 TO HENRY SAVILE AMBASSADOR IN FRANCE ji 
 
 " that was made being rcjeded, will certainly raifc the party In Hol- 
 ** land that is lead for the prince of Orange, and caft it into a dc- 
 *' pendence upon France ; that is lefs mortal unto us than a league, 
 *• that would certainly have produced a rupture of the peace, renewed 
 *' the war all over Europe, expofed Flanders to he loft the lirft year 
 " (which this muft have done;" it being as certain, the affiftances ex- 
 pedted from hence would have failed, as that it hath not in itfelf 
 that which is neceflary for its defence.) This, and a great deal more 
 xipon the like fubjedl was told the lord Sunderland, and Mr. FI. Sydney 
 before he went; but fir William, who was taken for the oracle of 
 thofe parts, allured them, there was no fuch thing as a party in Hoi* 
 land inclined to oppofe the prince of Orange ; that all was fiibmittcd 
 unto his authority, and united in defiring inch an alliance with us ; 
 that it would certainly be accepted as foon as ofl'ered, and that the 
 French which had made the peace for fear of us, would by the fame 
 reafon more exadlly keep it, vi^hen it was feen that we were joined 
 with them. I fhould think him bewitched, that doth not fee there 
 is as many falfities, as to matter of fadt, and miftakes in judgment in 
 this matter, as there are words ; but I fee no intention of receding 
 from fuch counfels, nor remedy for the mifchiefs they bring upon us. 
 It was alfo believed this bufmefs would have been liked by the par- 
 liament, but I am as confident, as of this that is pafled, that if the 
 parliament had met, neither this nor any thing that is like to engage 
 us in any war would have been endured by them, nor that they would 
 have given a pqiny towards it. 
 
 You will certainly have heard of a precious plot, carried on by a 
 man of four names (who had been almoft: as many times in the pillory 
 for perjury, and fuch other pieces of wit) whereby the prefbyterians 
 fliould be brought under the fufpicion of having one now on foot, 
 which fhould have given occafion of bailing the lords in the Tower ; 
 but he having had the ill luck to miftake Manfell for Mansfield, car- 
 ried a bundle of letters, he had forged, to a wrong place ; and bring- 
 ing fome officers of the cuftoms to fearch Manfell's lodgings for Flan- 
 ders lace, and other prohibited commodities, was feign to find them 
 himfelf ; but the miftake of the fuperfcripticn, which v/as to Mansfield, 
 the feals not opened, and other circumftances making the fraud to ap- 
 pear, the whole matter vanifhed. About the fame time another de- 
 fign of equal prudence and integrity was carried on to fuborn Dugdale 
 to renounce his teftimony concerning the popifli plot ; but he con- 
 fulted with fome friends, placed two good witnefles under the hang- 
 ing to teftify what the woman faid, who treated with him ; and when 
 he faw a fit time, difcovered all to the council, fo that that plot alfo 
 is enervated. We hear of feveral other perfons that would more fully 
 difcover the popifli plot ; but as things ftand, none dares appear. Ser- 
 jeant, long fpoken of, hath depofed what he knows, and, as I hear, 
 delivered it into fafe hands figned and fealed. H. Sydney is laid to 
 
 4 O have
 
 53 
 
 LETTERS OF ALGERNON SYDNEY 
 
 have made a very IH difcourfe to him at the Hague, and if it come 
 before the parUament, will probably have evil effeds. The duke went 
 towards Scotland on Monday, full of various imaginations, as is faid, 
 but fome underftanding men think he hath nothing, that ought more 
 to pleafe him in his journey than good weather. There is a paper 
 caft about the town of the earl of Danby's cafe, which makes a 
 very ill one of it ; and amongit other things to prove he was not of 
 the French fadion, he fays, he needs allege only the French arn- 
 baflkdor's dilcourfes of him at Madame Mazarin's ; this new logic of 
 proving a thing by a propofition, either falfe, or as uncertain as itfelf, 
 being looked upon as the invention of that excellent wit. 
 
 I am glad to hear of the dulnefs you obferve in your neighbour- 
 hood, and wifli you could find means to increafe it, believing that no- 
 thing elfe can keep them from taking advantage of our follies, as I 
 am fure the league would have done, if it had been accepted in Hol- 
 land. H. Sydney arrived here yefterday. The duke's firfl: lodging 
 was at Hatfield ; the earl of Salifbury being at Quickfliot, fix miles 
 off, fent his fon to excufe his not coming to wait upon his royal 
 highnefs, for that he had been let blood five days before. No pro- 
 vifions for his entertainment appeared in the houfe, but two does upon 
 the table, one barrel of fmall beer in the cellar, and a pile of faggots. 
 The duke's fervants fent into the town to buy all things neceffary, 
 even to candles, and to borrow candleflicks. The gentlemen of the 
 neighbourhood were fo charitable as to take the lord of Ofl'ory and 
 many others to their houfes, where they were well entertained. 
 The duke being unwilling to be burthenfome to a poor lord, appointed 
 fir J. Worden to pay for what he had, and the iteward took money 
 for the faggots, and eight fliillings for the barrel of beer. The earl 
 of Orrery is dead, and the lord of Ormond hath made his fon Arran, 
 major-general in his ftead ; that if the French invade that kingdom, the 
 army commanded by himfelf and his tvv'o fons may be fit to oppofe them. 
 I am, 
 
 Your mofl humble and faithful fervant. 
 
 Sir, London, Odobergr. 
 
 We are In a bufy time, and how empty foever any man'^s head hath- 
 formerly been, the variety of reports concerning things in agitation do fo 
 fill it, at leafi: with an imagination of contributing fomething to other 
 men's inventions, that they have little leifure to do any thing elfe. This 
 obligeth me to write in hafte, and without any other confideration than 
 of the agreement made between you and me, to fct down nothing but 
 truth ; to tell you in fliort, that the firft day of the parliament the lord 
 Ruficl named Mr. Williams to be fpcaker, who being approved of with- 
 out contradi£lion, was with little ceremony, and no excufe made for 
 himfelf, allcnted unto by the king. The two next days were fpent in 
 
 3 fwcaring
 
 TO HENRY SAVILE AMBASSADOR IN FRANCE 
 
 fwcaring the members of the houfe of commons, and putting tlicm to 
 the tcft. On Monday the five and twentieth, the committees were 
 named, and a muhitude of petitions concerning eledions prefented, and 
 referred to that of privileges and elections. 
 
 On Tuefday the 26th, Dangerfield was brought to the bar of the houfe 
 of commons, where he did declare himfelf pofitivcly, that the duke had 
 offered him a great fum of money to kill the king. He alfo faid, tliat 
 the lord privy feal, Peterborough and fir Robert Payton, were privy unto 
 and contrivers of the Meal-Tub-Plot. The fame day the lord lluficl, re- 
 ]>refenting the mifchiefs and dangers that threaten our nation, fliewed 
 the duke to be the centre of all. Sir H. Capell feconded him. Sir Francis 
 Winnington made a recapitulation of all that had been done fince the 
 lafl: parliament to the prejudice of the nation, in favour of poperv, and 
 imputed the greatcil part thereof unto the fame caufe ; whereupon a vote 
 was palled by the houfe ncmine contradicente^ that the houfe fhould 
 proceed inccflantly upon the further difcovery of the plot, and the means 
 of preventing a popifh fuccelfor. 
 
 Wednefday the 27th, Dangerfield was brought into the fpeaker's cham- 
 ber, and being put to his oath by a juftice of the peace, did depofe 
 what he had formerly faid. lAw Hyde only and fir Lionel Jenkins did 
 fpeak in favour of the duke ; and the latter having the ill luck to fay, he 
 did in his heart believe his royal highnefs was as good a fubjedl as any 
 is in England, one, that was not far off, whifper'd, " and as good a pro- 
 '-' teftantr 
 
 The fame day complaint being made in the houfe of commons of thofe 
 who had obftrudled petitions, and fome members feverely anfwering fuch 
 as had been guilty thereof, fir Robert Howard defired the houfe to pro- 
 ceed cautloufly therein, his majefly having by proclamation declared fuch 
 petitions to be contrary to law. Notvvithftanding which admonition, the 
 houfe did vote newine contradicente^ That it was, and had ever been the 
 right of the fubjedls of England to petition his majefty for the meeting 
 and fitting of parliaments, until all petitions were heard and grievances 
 redrefiied. In the fecond place they appointed a committee to examine 
 who had been guilty of obfiiruding fuch petitions, and therein betraying 
 their country. There are fix or feven members of the houfe of com- 
 mons faid to have declared themfelves detefters and abhorrers of fuch pe- 
 titions, who, as is thought, will be turned out of the houfe without other 
 ceremony. 
 
 The fame day fir Robert Payton was fufpended the houfe. 
 
 An American jew, lately interpreter to the laft Portugal embaflador 
 that was here, did teilify before a committee of the houfe of lords, that 
 he had been fuborned by the faid embaffador to kill the earl of Shaftefbury, 
 by calling hand-granadoes into his coach as he fhould be going to, or 
 coming from Chelfea ; and to find others to kill Arnold, Oates and Bedloe. 
 He mentlon'd this at firft in the phrenfy of a fever, and finding that he 
 iiad fo difcover'd himfelf, found no better way of fecurity than to declare 
 
 4O 3 the 
 
 Si
 
 54 
 
 LETTERS OF ALGERNON SYDNEY 
 
 the whole to the earl of Clarendon the firft day of May laft, and de- 
 livered unto him the whole matter in writing. The earl doth neither 
 deny the receipt of the papers, nor give any reafon why he concealed it. 
 
 Many terrible accufations come in againft Angleiey. 
 
 The lord Halifax brought in a bill for the Ipecdy difcovery and con- 
 vidion of papirts, and eafe of nonconformifls, but fo contrived, that both 
 parties are almojl equally incenj'ed againfi^ him for it. The houfe of lords 
 was on Thurfday turned into a committee, and, as I hear, will be fo 
 every day, to confider of it, and try whether it can be fo mended, as to 
 be ufeful unto the ends intended. I know not whether that can be done 
 or no ; but I could have wiped^ that intending to oblige above a million of 
 men, that go under a name of nonconformijls , he had been f leafed to confnlt 
 'With one of that number^ concerning the ivays of doing it. 
 
 On Friday twenty-nine lords and commoners were invited by the lord 
 mayor to his feaft, and after dinner the duke of Monmouth came to 
 them. In his return he was accompanied by a great number of people, 
 that ran to fee him and efquire Thynne. It was obferved that having 
 formerly had a bar in his arms upon his coach, it was then wiped out. 
 
 Odlober 30, Dugdale did declare unto the houfe of commons, that 
 Ewers the jefult told him, there had been a conteft between the duke of 
 York and Coleman ; he complaining that the duke put him upon bufinefles 
 that would bring him to be hanged, the duke told him, he would fe- 
 cure his life, if he would hold his peace : Coleman anfwered, he could 
 do fo for the future ; but he had already confeffed fo much unto his 
 friend fir Edmond Godfrey, that it was in his power to difcover him 
 and all his bufmefs ; whereupon the duke replied, that ought not to 
 trouble him, for orders fhould be taken to keep Godfrey from doing any 
 hurt, which in a few days was p:rformed by his death. Cann of Briftol, 
 and Withins Steward of Weftminfter, are put out of the houfe of com- 
 mons for difcountenancing and oppofmg petitioning. 
 
 I believe to-morrow will be a great day in the houfe of commons, in 
 as much as it relates to the duke ; he is faid to be arrived in Scotland^ 
 but no certain nev^'s is come of him, fmce he was feen off from New- 
 caflle on Monday laft. If the orders fent into Flanders from Spain con- 
 cerning reprifals upon the duke of Brandenburgh by fea or land be 
 executed (as is faid) by fending two or three thoufand horfe into the Pais 
 de Cleves & de Juliers, I look upon the peace as broken ; for the French 
 will certainly defend it, or do the like in Flanders. I am. 
 
 Your moft humble and faithful fervant» 
 
 The lord Ogle is dead. 
 
 The length of this letter will perfuade you I am not in the hafte I 
 mentioned ; but abundance of matter hath made a letter of fix pages, 
 when 1 intended but one.
 
 TO HENRY SAVILE AMBASSADOR IN FRANCE ss 
 
 Sir, London, July 26, 1682. 
 
 I had not flilled of feeing you, when you were here, if it could have 
 been compafled by induftry, for I was more than once at your old lodg- 
 ing in King-ftreet, and the new one which I then heard you had taken 
 near St. James's ; but courtiers arc always in motion, ih that to nieet with 
 them is as hard as to fhoot flying, and though my intention was to have 
 done it, I found that fl^ill was wanting. I was in that enquiry guided by 
 my own inclinations unto you, and the knowledge of obligations received 
 from you, both of which join in perfuading me to wifli you in a way 
 more fuitable unto your humoui;, than that which engageth you in trou- 
 blefome removes to follow a prince, [Lev/is XIV.] who perhaps doth not 
 always know his own mind, or that thinks it a part of his grcatnels to 
 vex as many as he can. Thofe that he fcnt lately hither, fpake of no- 
 thing fo much as * la gloire de Icur Maitre ; though perhaps there were 
 
 more 
 
 {* La gloire de Icur 7naitre'] 
 Pour moi, qui fur ton nom deja brulant d'ecrire. 
 Sens au bout de ma plume expirer la fatirc, 
 Je n'ofe de mes vers vanter ici le prix. 
 Toutefois, fi quelcun de mes foibles ecrits 
 Des ans injurieux peut eviter I'outrage, 
 Peut etre pour ta gloire aura-t-il fon ufage. 
 Et comme tes exploits, etonnant les ledteurs, 
 Seront a peine crus fur la foi des auteurs ; * 
 
 Si quelque efprit m.alin les veut trailer de fables. 
 On dira quelque jour pour les rendre croi'ablcs j 
 Boileau, qui dans fes vers p!ei>is de Jiticerite., 
 Jadis a tout fon fiecle a dit la vcrite ; 
 Qiii mit a tout blamer fon etude et fa gloire 
 A pourtant de ce Rol parle cominc Vhijloire. 
 
 Epitre I, au Roy. 
 
 The writer of the long though curious note on this pafHige, among other things obfirves, 
 ♦• Notre Poete revint de la cour comble d'honneurs et de liens. Cependant il a dit plufieurs 
 fois, que la premiere rifexion que lui irifptr-a fa nouvelle fortune, fut un fentiment de trijiejfe, en- 
 vifageant Id pcrte de fa liberie, comme une ftiite inevitable des bicnfaits dont il iJenoit d'etre ho- 
 norc." But away. Reader, from the time-ferving, penfioned, yet ingenious Boikau, to 
 honeft Andrexv Marvell, and the matchlefs fohn Milton. 
 
 Whilft in truth's mirror this good fcene he fpy'J 
 
 Enter'd a Dame beJeck'd with fpotted pride. 
 
 Fair Floiuer-de-luce \ within an azure field. 
 
 Her left hand bears the ancient gallic iTiield, 
 
 By her ufurp'd ; her right a bloody fword, 
 
 Infcrib'd Leviathan, our fovcrcign lord ; 
 
 Her tow'ry front a fiery meteor bears. 
 
 An exhalation bred of blood and tears. 
 
 Around her Jove's leud rav'nous curs complain. 
 
 Pale death, lujl, tortures, fill her potnpous train. 
 
 State poems by Andrevn Murvelh 
 
 He afk'd thee, haft thou feen my fervant 'Job ? 
 
 Famous he was in heaven, on earth lefs known ; 
 
 Where glory is falfe glory, attributed 
 
 To thirigs not glorious, men not worthy of fame. 
 
 They err who count it glorious to fubdue
 
 ^6 LETTERS OF ALGERNON SYDNEY 
 
 -more of true glory in the ftcadinefs of a little good common fenfe, than 
 •in all the vanities and whimiies their heads are filled with. But if you 
 find fonie inconvenience in being obliged in a degree to comply with 
 them where you are, I doubt whether you would have been exempted 
 from the like here, for even we that are afar of from that fire, are f 
 •much fcorched by it, that we expert not trouble but ruinjrom it. I am, fir. 
 
 Your mofl: humble and faithful fervant. 
 
 Sir, Paris, November 1-% 1682*. 
 
 The time that I have remained here beyond my expeilation, might 
 have given you leifure to let me know what fuccefs you had in the bu- 
 finefs you were pleafed to fpeak to me of, but the licknefs, which as I 
 hear you fell into foon after your arrival, may have detained you, till 
 you had reafon to believe I was removed into a country far from this ; 
 but if your recovery give you opportunity of making an effay, I defire 
 you either to give your letter, by w^hich I may know it, to my lady Sun- 
 derland, to be fent unto me, or direcfl it to monfieur du Moulins, who is 
 with your nephew here, to be fent after me. I have bought a horfe of 
 Mr. Porter, in which I think he hath dealt civilly wath me, as he fays, 
 upon your confideration, which I have reafon to believe, and am very 
 willing to acknowledge, as from a perfon from whom I receive much 
 greater obligations, and to whom I fhall be ever ready to render all that 
 agrees with the title of 
 
 Your moll humble and obedient fervant. 
 
 Ey conquefl: far and wide, to over-run 
 Large countries, and in fields great battles win. 
 Great cities by aftriult ; What do thefe worthies, 
 But rob and fpoil, burn, (laughter, and enflave 
 Peaceable nations, neighbouring, or remote. 
 Made captive, yet deferving freedom more 
 Then thofe their conquerors, who leave behind 
 Js^othing hut ruin ■whcrejoe' er they rove. 
 And ail the Jiourijhing luorks of peace dejiroy. 
 Then fwcll with pride, and muft be titl'd Gods, 
 Great benefaftors of mankind, deliverers, 
 Worfliip't with temple, prieft and facrifice ; 
 One is the fon of fove, of Man the other. 
 Till conqucrour death difcover them fcarce men, 
 Rowling in briitifh vices, and deforni'd. 
 Violent or fiMmeful death their due reward, 
 But if there be in glory aught of good. 
 It may by vuans far difj'ercnt he attain d. 
 Without ambition, war, or violence; 
 By deeds ok peace, l>y wifdom eminent 
 
 By patience, temperance. 
 
 Paradife Regain'd, 
 
 ■* It is probable, that this and the following letter were written in the year 1676.
 
 TO HENRY SAVILE AMBASSADOR IN FRANCE 57 
 
 Sir, Ncrac, December-^', 1682.- 
 
 I received yefterday in one and the fame packet three letters from you, 
 of which one had palled through Paris whilll I was there, and that Avould 
 have fpared me a journey of four hundred leagues, if I had then received 
 it. This would have been a convenience unto me ; but my obligation 
 unto you is the fame, and I fo far acknowledge it to be the greateft that I 
 have in a long time received from any man, as not to value the leave 
 you have obtained for me to return into my country after fo long an ab- 
 fence, at a lower rate than' the favifig of my life. You having proceeded 
 thus far, I will, without any fcruple, put myl'elf entirely upon the king's 
 word; and defire you only to obtain a pafs to fignify it, and that his 
 majefty is pleafed to fend for me ; fo that the officers of the ports or other 
 places may not flop me, as they will be apt to do as foon as they know 
 my name, if I have not that for my protedion. You took that which 
 had pafTed between you and me fo rightly, that I have nothing to add 
 unto it. I have no other bufinefs than what folely concerns my perfon- 
 and family. I defire not to be a day in England unknown to the king, 
 or his minifters ; and will lofe no time in waiting upon the fecretary, 
 as foon as I can after my arrival f. I think it no ways reafonable that 
 I fhould flay in England, if the king do not fee I may do it without 
 any fhadow or poffibility of prejudice unto him ; and unlefs I can fitisfy 
 him in that point, I defn'e no more than to return on this fide the feas 
 after the three months, where I intend to finifh my days, without think- 
 ing any more of living in England. You fee my thoughts fnnply expofed ; 
 I befeech you to accomplifh the work you have fo well begun. Send 
 your anfwer to monfieur du Moulins, and believe no man in the world 
 can be more obliged unto you, than 
 
 Your moft humble and obedient fervant.. 
 
 t He arrived about Auguft or September 1676. See " The apology in the day of.his 
 « death."
 
 THE TRIAL OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 4P
 
 THE ARRAIGNMENT, TRIAL, AND CONDEMNATION 
 OF ALGERNON SYDNEY, FOR HIGH TREASON FOR 
 CONSPIRING THE DEATH OF THE KING, AND IN- 
 TENDING TO RAISE A REBELLION IN THIS 
 
 KINGDOM. 
 BEFORE THE RIGHT HON. SIR GEORGE JEFFREYS, 
 KNIGHT AND BARONET, LORD CHIEF JUSTICE OF 
 ENGLAND; AT HIS MAJESTY'S COURT OF KING'S 
 BENCH AT WESTMINSTER, ON THE SEVENTH, 
 TWENTY FIRST, AND TWENTY SEVENTH OF 
 NOVEMBER, MDCLXXXIII 
 
 THE ARRAIGNMENT, NOV. VII 
 
 Algernon Sydney Efquire by Habeas Corpus brought up to the bar of 
 the court of kuig's-bench ; and the clerk of the crown having read the 
 return, Mr. Attorney-General informed the court, there was an indid;- 
 ment againfl the prifoner, and prayed he might be charged with it. 
 Clerk of the Crown. Algernon Sydney, hold up thy hand [which he did.] 
 Midd. If. The jurors for our lord the king upon their oath do 
 prefent, that Algernon Sydney, late of the pari£h of St. Mdrlin in the 
 Fields, in the county of Middlcfex, Efquire, as a falfe traitor againfl; the 
 moll: ilkiftrious, moft excellent prince, our lord Charles the Second, by 
 the grace of God king of England, Scotland, Frafice, and Ireland, and 
 his natural lord ; not having the fear of God in his heart, nor weighing 
 the duty of his allegiance, but moved and feduced by the infiigation of 
 the devil, utterly withdrawing the cordial love, and true, due, and natural 
 obedience which a true and faithful fubjedl of our faid lord the king 
 fhould bear towards him the faid lord the king, and of right is bound to 
 bear ; contriving, and with all his ftrength intendmg, lo diflurb the 
 peace and common tranquillity of this kingdom oi England, and to ftir 
 up and move war and rebellion againfl the faid lord the king, and to 
 fubvert the government of the faid lord the king, in this kingdom of 
 England, and to depofe and deprive the faid lord the king, and to fubvert 
 the government of the faid lord the king from the title, honour, and 
 regal name, of the imperial crown of his king-dom of England, and to 
 bring and put the faid lord the king to death and final deilrudlion, the 
 thirtieth day of June, in the five and thirtieth year of the reign of cm- 
 lord king Charles the Second, now king of England, etc. and divers 
 other days and times, as well before, as after, at the parifli of St. Giles 
 in the Fields^ in the county of Middlefex, malicioufly and traitcroufly, 
 
 4 P 2 ^^ith
 
 THE TRIAL OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 v/ith divers other traitors to the jurors aforefaid unknown, did confplre, 
 compafs, imagine, and intend to deprive and caft down the faid lord the 
 king, his fupreme natural lord ; not only from the regal ftate, title, 
 power, and rule of his kingdom of 'England, but alfo to kill, and bring 
 and put to death, the fame lord the king, and to change, alter, and 
 utterly fubvert, the ancient government of this his kingdom of Rngland^ 
 and to caufe and procure a miferable flaughter among the fubjedts of the 
 faid lord the king through his whole kingdom of England, and to move 
 and ftir up an infurredtion and rebellion againfl: the faid lord the king,- 
 ■within this kingdom of England. And to fulfil and perfect thofe hiS' 
 mofc horrid, wicked, and diabolical treafons, and traiterous compaffings, 
 imaginations, and purpofes, the fame Algernon Sydney^ as a falfe traitor, 
 then and there, and divers other days and times as well before as after, 
 nialicioufly, traiterouily, and advifedly, did affemble himfelf, meet and 
 confult with the aforefaid other traitors to the jurors aforefaid unknown, 
 and with the fame traitors did treat of, and for, thofe his treafons and trai- 
 terous compaffmgs, imaginations, and purpofes, to be executed and fulfilled. 
 And that the aforefaid Algernon Sydney, as a falfe traitor, malicioufly, trai- 
 teroufly, and advifedly, then and there, and divers other days and times as 
 well before as after, upon himfelf did aflume, and to the aforefxid other trai- 
 tors did promife, that he would be aiding and affifting in the execution of 
 their treafons and traiterous compaffings, imaginations, and purpofes afore- 
 faid. And to fulfil, perfedt, and reduce to cff^edt, thofe their moft horrid trea- 
 fons and traiterous compaffings, imaginations, and purpofes aforefaid, the 
 fame Algernon Sydney, as a falfe traitor, then and there, talfely, malicioufly, 
 advifedly, and traiteroufly did fend one Aaron Smith into Scotland, to invite, 
 procure, and incite divers evil-difpofed fubjeds of our faid lord the king, of 
 his kingdom oi Scotland, to come into this kingdom oi England, to advife 
 and confult with the aforefaid Algernon Sydney, and the aforefaid other 
 unknown traitors in this kingdom of England, of aid and affiftance to be 
 expelled and fupplled from the kingdom of Scotland to fulfil, perfect, 
 and reduce to effedt, thofe their moft wicked, horrid, and traiterous 
 treafons aforefaid. And that the aforefaid Algernon Sydney, to fulfil and' 
 perfedl thofe moft wicked, horrid, and devil ifh treafons, and traiterous: 
 compaffings, imaginations, and purpofes aforefiid, and to pei'fuade the 
 fubjefts of the faid lord the king of this kingdom oi England, that it is 
 lawful to make and ftir up an infurreiThion and rebellion againft the faid 
 lord the king that now is, the faid thirtieth day of June, in the five and thir- 
 tieth year of the reign of the faid lord the king that now is, at the pariih of 
 St. Giles in theFieldsm the county of Middle/'cx, falfcly, unlawfully, wickedly, 
 feditioully, and traiteroufly, did make, compofe, and write, and caufed to be 
 made, compofed, and written, a certain falle, feditious and traiterous libel, 
 in which faid falfe, feditious and traitorous hbcl among other things is 
 contained as followeth in thefe Englifh words, viz. " The power origi- 
 " nally in the people of England is delegated unto the parliament. He 
 ** [the moft fcrcnc lord, Cvarles the Second now king of England^ 
 " meaning] is fubje(^ untc the law of God, as he is a man ; to the 
 
 " people
 
 THE TRIAL OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 *' people that makes him a king, inafmuch as he is a king : the law fcts 
 " a meafure unto that fubjedlion, and the parliament judges of the 
 *' particular cafes thereupon arifing. He muft be content to fubmit his 
 " interefl unto theirs, fince he is no more than any one of them in any 
 " other refpc(£l than that he is, by the confent of all, raifed above any 
 " other. If he doth not like this condition, he may renounce the crown ; 
 *' but if he receive it upon that condition (as all magiilrates do the power 
 " they receive) and fwear to perform it, he mufl expeft that the per- 
 " formance will be exafled, or revenge taken by thofe that he hath 
 " betrayed." And that in another place in the faid falfe, feditious, and 
 traiterous libel, among other things, thefe falfe, feditious, and traiterous 
 Englifli fentences are contained (that is to fay) " We may therefore change 
 " or take away kings, without breaking any yoke ; or that is made a 
 " yoke which ought not to be one: the injury is therefore in making 
 " or impofing, and there can be none in breaking it," Againft the duty 
 of his allegiance, againft the peace of the faid now lord the king, his 
 crown and dignity, etc. And againft the form of the ftatutes in this 
 cafe made and provided, etc. 
 
 How fayeft thou, art thou guilty of this high treafoa whereof thou 
 ftandeft indidled, or not guilty ? 
 
 Col. Sydney. My lord, I find here an heap of crimes put together, 
 diftin£l in nature one from another, and diftinguiftied by law ; and I do 
 conceive, my lord, that the indicStment itfelf is thereupon void, and I 
 cannot be impeached upon it. 
 
 Lord Chief Jujiice. We are not to admit any difcourfcs till you anfwer- 
 the queftion, whether you be guilty, or not guilty. 
 
 Mr. Att. Gen. [Sir Robert Sawyer^ Knt.] If he will demur, my lord, 
 we will give him leave. 
 
 Col. Sydney. I prefume your lordfhip will dired: me, for I am an 
 ignorant man in matters of this kind, I may eafily be furprifed in it, I 
 never was at a trial in my life of any body, and never read a law-book. 
 
 L. C. y. Becaufe no prifoner under your circumftances is to have 
 counfel, but in fpecial cafes to be alFigued in matters of law, the court is 
 bound by their oaths and duty of their places, that they fhall not fee any 
 wrong done to you : but the bufinefs we are to tell you now is. You 
 are to plead guilty, or not guilty, or demur, which is a confefTion in 
 point of law. 
 
 Col. Syd. Under favour, my lord, there may be indid:ments that are- 
 erroneous ; and if they are erroneous and vicious, they are null, and 
 73ught not to be anfwered to. 
 
 Mr. Jujl. U'y thins. If you pleafe to demur to it, you fliall have 
 liberty to make any exceptions. 
 
 Col. Sydney. I do not demur, it is only exceptions. I think in matters- 
 of life, a man may give in his exceptions to the bill, and plead not guilty 
 afterwards. I am fure, in fir Henry Vane's cafe the court faid it, audJ 
 offered him to do it ; that which, under favour, I hope to do^ 
 4
 
 6, THETRIALO FA. SYDNEY 
 
 L. C. y. You muft plead or demur. 
 
 Co/. Sydney. My lord, if I put in exceptions to the bill, I do not 
 plead till thofe exceptions are over-ruled. This was in the cafe of fir 
 Henry Vane^ 
 
 L. C. y. Sir, I muft tell you, you muft either plead, or demur. 
 
 Co/. Sydney. My lord, There are in this indidlment fome treafous, or 
 reputed treafons, that may come within the ftatute of the 13th of this 
 king, which is limited by time; the profecution muft be in fix months, 
 and the indictment within three. Now, my lord, if this bufinefs that is 
 mentioned be above fix months before my commitment, or above three 
 before the indiftmeut, I think, under favour, I ought not to anfwer to 
 thefe matters. 
 
 L. C. y. You are miftaken in the law. That will be faved when the 
 fad comes to appear. If they allege the thing to be at a time, which 
 according to that allegation would maintain the indidmcnt ; if upon the 
 trial it appear otherwife, the court is bound to take notice of it when you 
 come to your trial : but we are not bound to examine that before you 
 have pleaded. 
 
 Co/. Sydney. My lord, every body will acknowledge, that there have 
 laeen, or may be, vicious indidmcnts. Now if I plead to an erroneous 
 indiflment, and am acquitted, I may be indidted again. Bills of attainder 
 have been upon errors in original indidlments, as that of the duke of 
 Somcrfet. Now if there be here feveral things diftind: in nature, and 
 diftinguifhed by law, that are put together, it is impofliblc to make a 
 pofitive anfwer to any one. If any one fliould tell me, that I by myfelf, 
 or by others, by fword or by piftol, confpircd to kill the king, I can 
 fay, I did it, or I did it not. If any one fay, I have levied war, and 
 by feveral ads undertake to prove I have done it, I can fay I have done 
 it, or I have not. But here I do not find any thing fpecified, nor can tell 
 upon vi^hat ftatute I am indidled. I pray, I may fee the record. 
 
 L. C. y. That we cannot do. You fliall hear it read again if you 
 will. If you think it to be a void indidment, demur to it if you will. 
 
 Co/. Sydney. My lord, I defire you to accept of this [ihiewing a 
 parchment.] 
 
 L. C. y. What is it ? Put in what plea you fliall be advifed ; but if 
 you put in a fpecial plea, and Mr. Attorney demurs, you may have 
 judgment of death, and by that you wave the fad. 
 
 Co/. Sydney. I cannot make any objedion to the bill after I have 
 pleaded not guilty ; for I accept the bill thereby to be good. 
 
 L. C.y. If you can aftign any matter of law, do. But otherwife, 
 W'hat a kind of thing would it be ? All criminals would fay in all cafes, I 
 <loubt whether the bill be good or bad, and after I have thus confidered 
 of it, I will plead. You are mif-informed j and this the court tells you, 
 as a duty incumbent on them. 
 
 ^>'- y"fi- ^yyt/jins. If you demur, and flaevv what your caufcs are, 
 wc will alfign you counfcl.
 
 THE TRIAL OFA. SYDNEY 
 
 Col. Sydney. I defire you would not try me, and" make me to nm on 
 dark and flippery places. I do not Ice my way. 
 
 L. C. y. Do not apprehend yourfclf to be fo, as if the court 
 would run you on any inconvenience. But they arc bound to fee the 
 methods of juftice preferved ; they are thofe that you, and all the king's- 
 fubjedls, are bound to conform to. If any one of us were in the fame 
 condition, we muft obferve the fame methods of law. 
 
 C/erk of the Crown. Art thou guilty, or not guilty ? 
 
 Col. Sydney. Then pray, my lord, will you tell me this, Is it true, 
 that a man, how vicious ibever an indidment is, muft anfwcr or demur. 
 to it ? 
 
 L. C. y. He muft either anfwer or demur. 
 
 Col. Sydney. Are there no exceptions to be admitted ? 
 
 L. C. y. None. And if you do not do the one, or the other, judg- 
 ment pafl'es as if you had pleaded. 
 
 Col. Sydney. This is a plea. 
 
 Mr. yujl. Wythins. "Will you ftand by it ? Confider yourfelf, and 
 your life. If you put in that plea, and Mr. Attorney demurs, if your 
 plea be not good, your life is gone. 
 
 Col. Sydney. Pray, my lord, give me a day to confider of it. 
 
 L. C. y. No. We muft not introduce new methods or forms for any 
 body. The fame cafe that is with you, may be with other people. 
 
 Col. Sydney. My lord, I do not pretend to any thing but what is law, 
 and due to every man upon Englifli ground. I would be very forry to do 
 that which may be hurtful. 
 
 L. C. y. You have the rule of the court. You muft do one or the 
 other. Call him to it. 
 
 Col. Sydney. I defire this may be read [fliewing the fame parchment.] 
 
 L. C. y. It fhall not be read, unlefs you put it in as a plea. 
 
 Mr. Att. Gen. I muft do my duty : Mr. Williams exceeds his liberty, 
 he informs the prifoner of feveral things. 
 
 Mr. Williams. I only faid, if it was a plea, put it in. Mr. Attorney 
 can hear all I fay. [Whereupon Mr. Williams was reproved by the Lord 
 Chief Juftice.] 
 
 Col. Sydney. I only give it as exceptions to the bill. 
 
 Clerk of the Croivn. Art thou guilty, or not guilty ? 
 
 Col. Sydney. If any one fliould aft?: me any particular thing, I could 
 tell how to anfwer. 
 
 L. C. y. He afks you a particular thing. It is the duty of the court 
 to pronounce judgment, if you do not plead. 
 
 Col. Sydney. Why then, if you drive me upon it, I muft plead. 
 
 L. C. y. I am fure there is no gentleman of the long robe would put 
 any fuch thing into your head. There was never any fuch thing done in 
 capital matters. 
 
 Col. Sydney. My lord, I am there indidled for confpiring the death of 
 tlie king ; I have not confpired the death of the king. I am there indicted 
 
 I for
 
 THE TRIAL OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 for levying of war, I have not done that. I am indlded for having 
 invited in others, of another nation, I have not done that neither. I am 
 there indidled to have written a fediiious hbel to ftir up the fpirlts of the 
 people againft the king, I have not written any thing to flir up the people 
 againft the king — 
 
 L. C. y. We are not to hear all this. You muft plead as other people; 
 or elfe, in plain Englilli, we will pronounce fentence. We ought to 
 give all men flitisfadion that will be fatisfied ; but if they will not be 
 directed, we cannot help that. 
 
 Co/. Sydney. My lord, if you put me upon this Inevitable neceflity, 
 it lies upon you ; I inufl: plead then. 
 
 Ckrk of the Crown. Art thou guilty, or not guilty ? 
 
 Col. Sydney. Not guilty. 
 
 Clerk of the Crown. Culprit, how wilt thou be tried ? 
 
 Col. Sydney. By God and my country. 
 
 Clerk of the Crown. God fend thee a good deliverance. 
 
 L. C. J. If you be not guilty, I pray God you may efcape. 
 
 Mr. Att. Gen. My lord, w^U you pleaie to appoint a day for his trial, 
 that he may take notice of it now ? 
 
 L. C. J. What time would you have ? 
 
 Mr. Att. Gen. A week's time, do you think that will be enough ? 
 
 Col. Sydfiey. No : pray, my lord, give me a fortnight's time. 
 
 Mr. Att. Gen. I will not oppofe it. 
 
 Col. Sydney. In the next place I defire a copy of the indi£lment. 
 
 L. C. J. We cannot grant it by law. 
 
 Col. Sydney. I defire you would pleafe to give me counfel. 
 
 L. C. J. We cannot do it. If you affign us any particular point of 
 law, it the court think it fuch a point as may be worth the debating, you 
 fhall have counfel ; but if you afk for counfel for no other reafon than 
 becaufe you afk it, we muft not grant it. The court is bound to fee that 
 nothing be done againft you, but what is according to the rules of law. 
 I would be very loth to draw the guilt of any man's blood upon me. 
 
 Col. Sydney. Has not every body counlel ? 
 
 L. C. y. No. 
 
 Col. Sydney. I have feveral points of law. 
 
 L. C. y. Tell us them. 
 
 Col. Sydney. My lord, will you oblige me, that am an ignorant man, 
 and confcfs myfelf fo, upon hearing my indidtments for things I know 
 not of, a long thing, prefently to raife a point of law ? 
 
 L. C. y. It is not we oblige you, Mr. Sydney; it is the law obliges 
 you. We are the minifters of the law. It is the law fays, we are not to 
 allow you counfel without making your objedtions, that the court may 
 undcrftand whether it be fit ; it is the law fays we may not allow you a 
 copy of the indidment : Therefore do not go away and fiy that we as 
 men fitting here impofc upon you : we fit here only to admiaiftcr the 
 jufticc of the nation.
 
 THE TRIAL OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 Mr. Ji/Jf. IVytb'ms. Sir, you will have a fortnight's time to confidcr 
 of objedl:ions in law. 
 
 L. C. y. If you will have it read, you fhall. Thofe things that you 
 may have by law, God forbid but you fliould have the benefit of them. 
 
 Co/. Sydney. I dcfire, my lord, to hear it read again. 
 
 Mr. Att. Gen. Would you have it read in latin ? 
 
 Col. Sydney. Yes, if you pleafc, I do underftand a little latin. 
 [Then the indi£lment was read in latin.] 
 
 Col. Sydney. What is that ftatute ? 
 
 L. C. y. When you come to your trial, Mr. Attorney will tell you 
 what ftatute he goes upon. And he may give in evidence any a6t of 
 parliament that comprehends treafon. 
 
 Col. Sydney. Methiuks he fhould fay what llatute he goes upon. 
 
 Mr. yuj}. Wy thins. Sir, would you have a new indidlment for you ? 
 
 L. C. y. He muft take notice of his trial this day fortnight. Lieutenant 
 of the Tower, you may take the prifoner back again. 
 
 Then the lieutenant of the Tower took away his prifoner. 
 
 THE TRIAL NOV. XXl. 
 
 Algernon Sydney^ Efquire, was brought to the bar of the court of 
 King's Bench by Habeas corpus, and proclamation for information being 
 made, he defired pen, ink and paper, which were granted him. And 
 he alfo defired, that two perfons, viz. Mr. Wynn and Mr. Gibbs, might 
 write for him ; w^hich was alfo allowed by the court. 
 
 Col. Sydney. My lord, when I w^as lafl: here before your lordfliip, I 
 did defire a copy of my indidtment, and I thought the law did allow it 
 me. But being in an hurry, carried firft to a tavern, then led through 
 foldiers, and furprifed abfolutely, I could not give that reafon why I 
 thought the law allowed me a copy. My lord, I was denied a copy, and 
 thereby I was deprived of the benefit of a fpecial plea I defigned to have 
 put In. This would have been a great help to your lordfhip, and to me ; 
 the denial of which hath been a great prejudice. Now, my lord, that 
 which I thought was law then, I think I can give a better teflimony that 
 it is fo now, upon the ftatute of 46 E. 3. wherein it is exprefied, that 
 tout partes & tout gents., that is, all people, fliall have a copy of every 
 record ; and it enumerates feveral matters, as well that againft the king 
 as other people. This is a general law fiill in force. My lord Strafi^ord 
 had a copy, and my lord Stafford, and the lords in the Tower had 
 copies of their indidlments : And, under favour, I think it w^as never 
 more neceifary than to me, there never having been, perhaps, a charge 
 fo long, and lb confufed. Now, my lord, I have a copy tranfcribed of 
 this flatute. \Shewiiig a paper,] 
 
 40.
 
 10 THETRIALOFA. SYDNEY 
 
 jL. C. y. We remember tke law very well. Mr. Sydney did move 
 for a copy of the inditStinent, and the court denied hlin then, and fo 
 Ihall now. And yet all this while we fhalt deny you nothing tliat is 
 law. You fhalt have the right that becomes a fubjeiEl in your condition. 
 And we muft tell you, that notwithftanding all that cafe, we ought not 
 to have given you fo much favour (perhaps in ftridtnefs) as we did. And 
 becaule you did particularly take notice of the cafe of fir Henry Vane 
 lafl: time, I will fhew you the court did indulge more to you, than was 
 done to that perfon. In fir Kenry Vane's cafe, by the opinion of all the 
 . judges it was declared, that no copy ought to be given, neither of the 
 
 whole, nor any part of the indi'^ment, except they Ihew matter of law. 
 But your counfel, fmce you went away, moved for the copy of the indift- 
 ment ; and, to fatisfy them, I direiled the cafe that you took notice of to 
 be read in the court. And I thought they had been fufHciently fatisfied. 
 You had the indidment read to you ia latin ; which was denied in the 
 cafe of fir Henry Vane. Ami tbe?e is a later cafe known to moft perfons 
 here. By the opinion of all the judges of England, a copy of the indift- 
 ment was denied to my lord RulTel. Therefore arraign hirn upon the 
 indidlment; we muft not fpend our time in difcourfes to captivate the 
 people. 
 
 Col. Sydney. Is not this a good law, my lord ? {Holding out a paper. ] 
 
 L. C. y. You have the rule of the court. « 
 
 Mr. yiijl. Wythlns. Any thing the law will allow you, you fhall 
 have : but, I am fure, if you did advife with your counfel, they muffe 
 tell you the fame thing. 
 
 So the clerk of the crown called the jury ; and, after feA'eral challenges,^ 
 the names of the jury were as follow. 
 
 T H E J u R Y. 
 
 John Amger. 
 Richard White. 
 William Linn. 
 Lawrence Wood. 
 Adam Andrews. 
 Emery Arguife. 
 
 Jofias Gierke.. 
 George Glifby.. 
 Nicholas Baxter., 
 William Reeves. 
 William Grove. 
 John Burt, 
 
 L. C. y. Look you, gentlemen of the jury : there are fome gentle- 
 men at the bar, as we are informed, are apt to whlfper the jury ; it is 
 no part of their duty, nay, it is againft their duty : and therefore,, 
 gentlemen, if you hear any of them by you, that offer to whifper, or 
 make comments in this caufe, as you are upon your oaths, and 1 doubt 
 not but will do your duty between the king and the prifoner ; fo I 
 expcdt, if you hear the counfel fay any thing, you will inform the court. - 
 Let us have no remarks, but a fair trial, in God's name. 
 
 C/er^ of the Crown. You that are fvvorn, look upon the prifoner, and 
 hearken to his caufe. He ftands indided by the name of Algernon Sydney 
 of etc. as in the indidment.. Your charge is to cnciuire etc.
 
 THE TRIAL OF A. SYDNEY x.x 
 
 Then proclamation for evidence ivas tn-adc. 
 
 Mr. Dolben. May it pleafe your lordiliip, aud you gciitlcracn that 
 are fwoni. This is an indidmeiit of higli treafon pix-t'cnx-d aj.';ainf}; 
 Algernon Sydney, the prllbner at the bar. The indictiucnt fcts forth. 
 That he, as a falfe traitor againft our mort ilkifirious prince Charles the 
 Second his natural lord, not having the fear of God in his heart, etc. on 
 the thirtieth of June in the thirty fifth year of the king, and divers other 
 days and times, as well before as after, in the parith of St. Giles in the 
 Fields, in the county of Middlefex, traiteroully, with divers traitors 
 unknown, did confpirc the death of the king, and to levy war within 
 this kingdom. And to complete thefe traiterous purpofes did then and 
 there malicioufly, advifedly, and traiteroully, fend one Aaron Smitli into 
 Scotland, to excite fome ill-difpofed pcrlons of that kingdom to come 
 into this, and to confult with the laid Algernon Sydney, and othcf 
 traitors, of and upon alhftance from the kingdom of Scotland, to carry 
 on thole defigns. And the indictment fets forth further, that to pcrfuade 
 the peijple of England it was lawful to raife rebellion, the laid Algernon 
 Sydney did caufe to be written a falfe feditious libel, in which is contained 
 thefe Englilh words, " The power originally in the people of England 
 " is delegated unto the parliament. The king is fubje£t to the law of 
 *' God as he is a man ; to the people that makes him a king, in as much 
 *' as he is a king : the law fees a meafure unto that fubjcdtion," etc. 
 [as in the indicfment.] This is laid to be againll the duly of his alle- 
 giance, againft the peace of the king, his crown and dignity, and againft 
 the form of the ftatute in that cafe made and provided. If we prove him 
 guilty, we doubt not but you will find it. 
 
 Mr. Att. Gen. My lord, and you gentlemen of the jury, the prlfoner 
 at the bar ftands indicted of the higheft crimes, the confpiring the death 
 of the king, and the overthrow of the Englilh monarchy. Gentlemen, 
 we fliali ufe this method in our evidence. We fliall fhew by many 
 witnelTes, that there was a defign of railing and making a rebel! ion. within 
 this kingdom. For, gentlemen, you mull take notice, and I think there 
 is no Englifliman but does believe, that for feveral years laft paft a defign 
 was laid, and for that purpofe feveral iniinuations were made ufe of, 
 and public libels fpread abroad, to perfuade the people that tlie king 
 was introducing arbitrary power, that he fubverted all their rights, 
 liberties, properties, and whatever was dear to them. They endeavoured 
 to maice the world believe the king was a papift. And when, gentlemen, 
 by fuch ftratagems they had worked upon many incautelous perfcas, 
 when they thought they had gotten a fufficient party, then there was a 
 defign of an open rifing, for they thought all things were ripened, and 
 that was to be in feveral parts of the kingdom. Some pcrfons, to effedl 
 this defign, were for a prefent affaffination of the king. Others would 
 do it in a more fair and genteel way ; they thought it below perfons of 
 that great quality as the prifoner is, and therefore were for doing it by 
 open force. 
 
 4 0^2 AVheix
 
 12 THETRIALOF A. SYDNEY 
 
 When we have given that general evidence, we fliall then come to lliew 
 you what fiiare and part the prifoner had in this defign. For certainly he 
 was looked upon as a very eminent perfon, whofe education abroad, and 
 former pradices at home, had rendered him fit to advife and proceed in 
 fuch affairs. We fhall prove, when thefe matters were ripe this gentle- 
 man was of the council of ftate, of the fix that were to manage this matter 
 of the rifing. We fhall fliew the feveral confultations they held ; one at 
 Mr. Hambden's houfe, another at the houfe of my lord Ruffel. There 
 we fhall acquaint you what debates they had, for they afted like very 
 fubtle men, and there they debated, whether the rifing fhould be firfl in 
 the country, or city, or both together. They came to a refolution it 
 fhould be in both places at once. Then when they had afferted that 
 point, they come to confider the time of rifing ; and upon that they 
 thought fit to call in aid of Scotland firfl: ; and that was this gentleman's 
 particular province : for he, being a man of great fecrefy, was to fend an 
 emiifary into that kingdom, and invite fome perfons over to treat v/ith 
 them about it. We fliall prove that an emiffary was fent, and this gentle- 
 man gave him a confiderable fum to bear his charges. We fliall prove 
 that feveral T-cotch gentlemen, in purfuance of this refolve, came here to 
 treat with this great council of ftate, about this affair : and fhall make it 
 appear to you, that as foon as ever the leaft difcovery of this plot was, 
 thefc perfons concealed themfelves and withdrew, as the refl of the plotters 
 that have fled from juflice. 
 
 Gentlemen, this was not enough for this gentleman, to confult on thefe 
 feveral paffages ; but, to demonflrate to the world that his head and heart 
 was entire in this fervice, and that he might carry it on the more 
 effedlually, he was at this very time, when this emiffary was gone into 
 Scotland, preparing a mofl feditious and traiterous libel : we inflance in 
 fome particular words of it ; but we fhall fhew you, that the whole defign 
 of this treatife is to perfuade the people of England, that it is lawful, 
 nay, that they have a right, to fet afide their prince, in cafe it appear to 
 them that he hath broken the truft laid upon him by the people. Gentle- 
 men, he does ufe in that treatife feveral arguments drawn from the mofi: 
 rebellious times that ever were in England, from the late rebellion (I mufl 
 needs ufe that word notwithflanding the ad; of oblivion, when a gentle- 
 man fliall now attempt to do thofe things for which he was pardoned 
 then) and from other kingdoms where rebellion hath been profperous 
 againfl: princes. Then he falls to reafoning, and ufcs great reafon in the 
 cafe, that all the power of tlie prince is originally in the people ; and 
 applies that difconrfe, that the power of the king was derived from the 
 people upon trufi: ; and they had already declared the king had invaded 
 their rights : and therefore he comes to argue, they might rcfumc that 
 original power they had conferred. And he tells ihc king, that is no 
 hard condition ; if he thinks it fo, he fhould lay down his crown ; if not, 
 he threatens the condition would be cxadled, or othcrwife fliould be 
 revenged by thofc he had betrayed : and who but this gentleman and his 
 
 confederates,
 
 THETRIALOF A. SYDNEY 13 
 
 confederates, that thought hunfelf not only able to govern this nation, 
 but many monarchies, Ihould call him to account for it ? For he lays 
 down this principle, That though all the people do rife againft their 
 prince, it is no rebellion. The whole book is an argument for the people 
 to rife in arms, and vindicate their wrongs. He lays it down, " That 
 *' the king has no authority to diflblve the parliament ; but it is apparent 
 " the king hath diflblvcd many ; therefore he hath broken his truft, and 
 " invaded our rights." And at lafl; concludes with that paffage laid in 
 the indi(!ilment, " We may therefore fhake off our yoke ; for it is not a 
 *' yoke we fubmitted to, but a yoke by tyranny, that muft be the 
 *' meaning of it, they have impofed on us." 
 
 Gentlemen, if we prove all thefc matters to you, I doubt not you will 
 do right to the king and kingdom, and Ihew your abhorrence of thofe 
 republican principles ; which, if put in practice, will not only deftroy the 
 king, but the befl monarchy in the world. 
 
 Mr. So!. Gen. [Hcncage Finch, Efq;] Pray call Mr. Weft. [Who appeared.'] 
 
 Col. Sydney. I pray one word, my lord, before Mr. Weft be fworn. 1 
 have heard, my lord, Mr. Weft hath confefled many treafons, and I 
 defire to know whether he is pardoned, or no. 
 
 L. C. y. I do not know that. 
 
 Col. Sydney. My lord, how can he be a witnefs then ? 
 
 L. C. J. Swear him, for I know no legal objeilion againft him. He 
 was a good witnefs in my lord Ruifel's trial. 
 
 Col. Sydney. My lord, if another did not except againft him, it is 
 nothing to me. 
 
 Mr. North. Pray give an account to the court of what you kn )w of 
 a general inlurreition intended in England. 
 
 Col. Sydney. What he knows concerning me. 
 
 L. C. y. We will take care of that, that no evidence be given but 
 what ought to be. 
 
 Col. Sydney. Is it ordinary that he fhould fay any thing, unlefs it be 
 to me and my indictment ? 
 
 L. C. y. Mr. Sydney, you remember in all the trials about the late 
 popifli plot, how there was firft a general account given of the plot in 
 Coleman's trial, and fo in Plunket's, and others ; I do not doubt but you 
 remember it. And Sir William Jones, againft whofe judgment, I believe, 
 you will not objedl, was attorney at that time. 
 
 Mr. North. Mr. Weft, what do you know of the general infurredion 
 lately defigned ? 
 
 Mr. JVeJi. My lord, I have had the honour to know Colonel Sydney 
 feveral years ; but 1 don't remember that I ever faw him from the time I 
 came acquainted with any part of the confpiracy, till the difcovery that 
 was at the council. «^ 
 
 Mr. North. Pray give an account of what you know of the plot in 
 general. 
 
 Mr. Weft. My lord, in Odober laft captain Walcot came to me, and told 
 me that my lord Shaftcfljury had deligned an infurrediion in Novemb r,. 
 
 I uied
 
 34 
 
 T H E TRIAL OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 I ufed fome arguments to diiTuacle him from it. But a little afterwards 
 he came and told me the thing was vvhoUy difappointed, and then it 
 went off, and my lord Shafteflmry went for Holland. Colonel Rumfey 
 afterwards, about Chriftmas, faid there were ibme lords and gentlemen 
 intended to make an infurreclion : the perfons were the duke of I\Ion- 
 ixiouth, my lord of EfTex, my lord Howard, my lord R.u(fcl, the prifoner 
 at the bar, and Mr. Ham.bden junior. Ai'ter fome time, he "told me they 
 hid altered their meafures, and were refolved not to venture upon an in- 
 furreclion in England, till they had a concurrency in Scotland. After- 
 wards, I \vas not pnvj to any thing die, but what I had the report of 
 fron.-i Mr. Nelthorp and Mr. Fergufon. Mr. Nelthorp told m^e the prifotier 
 liad faid — ■ — 
 
 Co/. Syduey. My lord, I am very unwilling to interrupt the gentle- 
 man — 
 
 L. C. y. You muft not interrupt the wltnels. Go on, fir. 
 
 Mr. IVeJl. Mr. Neidiorp told me, the prifoner at the bar had fent 
 Aaron Smith into Scotland!, and given him a fum of money to bear his 
 charges, and fent letters to fome Scotch gentlemen to invite them to town. 
 The letter bore a cant of fettling fome bufmefs in Carolina ; but the hu- 
 finefs was coming up about the infurredion. After this Mr. Smith 
 returned, and fome Scotch gentlemen with him ; and foon after Mr. 
 Fergufon gave an account of that affair, and fiid, the Scots propofed, 
 if they might have thirty thoufxnd pounds in ready money, they vvould 
 undertake to make an infurredlion in Scotland without the concurrence 
 of England. He faid this propofal was agreed to, and money would 
 be foon ready ; and he faid, that Sheppard would return the monev ; 
 that the arms were ready bought, and my lord of Argyll v,'ould go into 
 Scotland, and head the Scots. He told me when things were thus fettled, 
 fome difi-erence arofe about raifing the money ; and at laft he told me, 
 my lord Grey did offer to raife ten thoufand pounds out of his own eftate, 
 if the reft; would pay their proportion. Then the Scots came down to 
 lefs; but that would not be complied with. The places for the rifing 
 were Briftol, Taunton, York, Cheftcr, Exeter, London. That there had 
 been fome debates whether they fhould begin at London, or the other 
 places ; and at lart it was refolved, they fliould begin at London, with 
 the reft of the places. 
 
 My lord, this was the account I had of the matter in general, of Mr. 
 Fergufon ; but he faid they were difappointed. Afterwards he told me, the 
 prifoner at the bar and major Wildman were very inftrumental in work- 
 ing of it off, becaufe they could not agree upon the declaration to be 
 made upon the infurrcdion. The Englifli were for a commonwealth ; 
 but the Scotch gentlemen anfwercd fairly, it might come to it in time, 
 but the noblemen •^here would not agree to it at prclent. As to the 
 prifoner in particular, I know nothing, and did never fpeak with him 
 till lince the difcovery. 
 
 Mr. Att. Gen. Colonel Rumfey, ; [fuorii.^
 
 T H E T R I A L O F A. S Y D N E r i^ 
 
 Mr. North. Pray, fir, will you give the court an account of what 
 you know of any infurrctftion intended, and how they dciigneci to carry 
 it on. 
 
 CoL Rumfey. My lord, the latter end of Oclober, or beginning; of No- 
 vember, I was dehred by my lord Shaftefbury to go to Mr. Sheppard's, 
 to know of the gentlemen that were met there, v/hat was done 
 about the rifiag intended at Taunton : and I had their anfwcr, that Mr. 
 Trenchard had failed them, and that it mufl; ceaie for that time. That 
 was all at tliat time. 
 
 Mr. Sol. Gen. What elfe do you know of any infurrection afterwards ? 
 
 Col. Rumjly. After that, we had feveral meetings at Mr. Weft's cham- 
 ber, where he had divided the city into twenty parts, and fcven parts Mr- 
 Goodenough had brought an account of; the other thirteen he faid 
 nothing of j for he had not fpoke with tliofe that were to tell him how 
 many men they would afford. There was there captain Walcot, Mr,. 
 Weft, the two Gocxlenoughs, Mr. Borne, Mr. Wade-, and myfelf. 
 
 L. C. J. What was the refult of thofe debates ? 
 
 Col. Ritmfey. To fee what number of men they could produce in thC' 
 city for the infurre^flion. 
 
 L. C. y. Was there a rifuig defigned ? 
 
 Ccl. Rumfey. Yes. 
 
 JL. C. y. And did thefe people meet ?" 
 
 Col. Rumfey. There was no time fet. 
 
 Mr. Sol. Gen. When was the meeting?' 
 
 CaJ. Rumfey. There v/ere feveral meetings In March, and April, and 
 May, 
 
 Mr. Sol. Gen. After the meeting at Sheppard's ? 
 
 Col. Rumfey. Yes, a great while. It ceafed, I think, fix weeks or 
 three months. 
 
 L. C. y. Who did you meet with at Mr. Sheppard's ? 
 
 Col. Rumfey. There was the duke of Monmouth, my lord Grey, my 
 lord RuiTel, fir Thomas Armitrong, Mr. Fergufon, and Mr. Shepnard.. 
 
 Mr. Sol. Gen. Who did you expe£l ihould head this army ? 
 
 Col. Rumfey. That was never faid any thing of. 
 
 Mr. Att. Gen. Who were to manage the rifing ? 
 
 Ccl. Rumfey. We that met there. 
 
 Mr. Att. Gen. Had you no expectation of great men ? 
 
 Col. Rumfey. Mr. Weft * told m.e, and Mr. Goodenough, that there 
 was a council, v/hich were the duke of Monmouth, my lord Eifex, 
 
 my 
 
 * The witneffes of the other parts of the plot were now brouglit out again to make a 
 fhew ; for they knew nothing of Sydney. Only they faid, that they had heard of a council 
 of fix, and that he was one of them. Yet even in that tbey contradi£!e.l one another; Rumfey 
 iwearing that he had it from JVeJt^ and Wejl fwearing that he had it from him ; vjhich iias . • 
 7iot ohjerved till the trial came out. If it had been obf,.rved fooner, perhaps Jefferies would 
 have oidered it to be ftruck out ; as he did all that Sydney had objeded upon the point of the 
 ytoy, becaufe they.iverc not freeholder i. 
 
 Buriuet's Hift. of his own times, v. i. p. 5ji..
 
 a6 THE TRIAL OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 my lord Howard, colonel Sydney, Mr. Hambden, and my lord Ruflel : 
 there was fix. 
 
 L. C. y. What did he tell you of them fix ? 
 
 Co/. Kiimfey. He told me they were managing a bufinefs with Scotland. 
 
 L. G: y. A bufmefs, pray fpeak plain, tell all you know. 
 _ Co/. Rumfey. For the Jnfurredion. 
 
 L. C. y. Say fo then, we know nothing of the bufinefs you were 
 about. 
 
 Co/. Rumfey. My lord, Mr. Weft had that difcourfe with my lord 
 Howard I never had ; he is more fit to fpeak to that than me. 
 
 L. C. y. Speak your own knowledge, and no more. 
 
 Mr. yones. After the death of my lord Shaftefbury, who were the 
 managers, and were to carry it on ? 
 
 Co/. Rumjey. I told you Mr. Weft and Mr. Goodenough did tell me 
 the duke of Monmouth, my lord Effex 
 
 Afr. Att. Gen. He told you fo before. Do you know there was an 
 infurredtion then intended ? 
 
 Co/. Riwifey. Yes, becaufe we met towards the management of it, che 
 company that met at Mr. Weft's chamber, and other places. 
 
 Mr. Att. Gen. What difcourfe had you \Yith Mr. Fergufon about it ? 
 
 Co/. Riimjey. None about thofe gentlemen. 
 
 Mr. North. The next thing we fhall fhew fhall be, that the Scotch- 
 men came to town. 
 
 Co/. Sydney. My lord, I muft ever put you in mind, whether it be 
 ordinary to examine men upon indi£lments of treafon concerning me 
 that I never faw, nor heard of in my life. 
 
 L. C. y. I tell you, all this evidence does not affect you, and I tell the 
 jury fo. 
 
 Co/. Sydney. But it prepoflefles the jury. 
 
 Mr. Kei/ing ca//ed and fioorn. 
 
 Mr. Att. Gen. I aflc you in general, what you know of the rifing 
 to have been laft fpring ? 
 
 Mr. Kei/ing. My lord, it was fome time laft fummer Mr. Good- 
 enough came to me, and brought me three papers numbered on the 
 back-fide. I afked him to what end he delivered them me ? He told 
 me, one was for myfelf, and I was to deliver the other two to whom 
 I could truft in the two divifions. I afked him, what was the defign ? 
 he faid. To raife men ; fays I, Do you defign a general infurredion ? 
 he faid, If he did not, if the king was taken off^ this would do M-ell ; 
 for then the people would know how to have recourfe to a formidable 
 body. And I have heard him fay, that colonel Sydney, whom I do not 
 know, had a confiderablc part in the management of that affair. 
 
 Mr. Att. Gen, We charge him with confpiring, and there muft be 
 contederatet; \n the cafe. Now then we come to' the prifoner, we will call 
 my lord Hov/ard, that was one of the pcrfons that did confult.
 
 THE TRIAL OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 The lord Howard pioorn. 
 
 Mr. Att. Gen. Pray acquaint my lord and the jury of your knowledge 
 of what tranfaftions there have been with the prifoner about this affair 
 of the general riling. 
 
 Lord Howard. Truly, my lord, in the entering of the evidence I am 
 about to give, I cannot but obfcrve what a natural uniformity there is 
 in truth. For the gentlemen tliat have been before, have fo exactly 
 inllanccd in every particular with what I have to fay, that two tallies 
 could not more exadly fall into one another, though, I confefs, I had 
 not feen their faces, till the plot brake out, for fome months before. 
 
 My lord, and gentlemen of the jury, about the middle of January laft, 
 it was confidered by fome of us that met together, that it v/,'* very 
 neceflary and expedient to an enterprize that had been long in hand, and 
 fallen flat then, that it ihould be revived by fome confult or cabal that 
 fhould be fet up to give life to it, and governance to the motions of it. 
 The firft (for ought 1 know) movers of this, were the duke of Monmouth, 
 the gentleman at the bar, and myfelf : and there we did agree, that we 
 fhould bethink ourfclves of fome few, we were willing it fhould not 
 exceed five, at the mofi; feven. This agreement being at firfl: between us 
 three ; I remember the duke of Monmouth undertook to engage my lord 
 Ruffel and my lord SalifbUry ; and this gentleman, colonel Sydney," for 
 my lord of Eflex and Mr. Hambden ; and thefe being put together, did 
 prefently conftitute a little cabal of as great a number as was intended. 
 This being fettled among them, it was within a few days after, I cannot 
 certainly tell when, but between the middle and latter end of January, 
 that I was told, that the perfons had agreed to enter iato this conjunc- 
 tion of counfels ; and, in order to that, they had appointed a meeting 
 at Mr. Hambden's houfe, to which I was invited. This in time was 
 between the middle and latter end of January, but I cannot tell exaiflly. 
 When we came there, there v/as nil thofe gentlemen I before named, the 
 duke of Monmouth, my lord Eflex, my lord Ruffel, colonel Sydney, 
 Mr. Hambden, and myfelf. It was at Mr. Hambden's houle, which 
 ranges on the fame row v^ath Southampton houfe : and being met, Mr. 
 Hambden, I fuppofe, did think it moll properly belonged to him, to 
 take upon him the part, as it were, to open the feffions ; that was, to 
 give us a little account of the reafon, end, and intention of that meeting : 
 in which difcourfe, he took occafion to recapitulate fome defign, that had 
 been before chiefly carried on by my lord Shaftefliury, before this time 
 dead; and alfo took notice of the ready difpofition and inclination of the 
 minds of men to go on with it ; and did give one inftance of his judg- 
 ment of it, that it being a defign communicated to fo many, it had not 
 been fo much as revealed, or a murmur or whifper gone about it : from 
 whence he took occafion to tell us, that it was abfolutely neceffary for 
 the future there fhould be fome council, that fhould be as a fpring a little 
 to guide and govern the motions of the reft ; for that there were divers 
 things to be taken care of, which, if not taken care of by particular 
 
 4 R perfons. 
 
 17
 
 ,8 THE TRI AL OF A. S YDN EY 
 
 perfons, would all miicarry. This was the fubftance of the prologue and 
 introdudion he made. From hence he made a tranfition to Ibme par- 
 ticular things that he thought were mofl: principally to be taken care of. 
 And though it is impoffible for me to remember the order and method in 
 which we difcourfed, or who faid this or that ; but that which the fenfe 
 of all refulted to was this. That fmce we did not come prepared for it, 
 we fhould confider what were the things that would hereafter challenge 
 our particular care ; that was, the time when, the places where, and 
 perfons by whom, thefe things fliould be carried on. This led into fome 
 particular difcourfe concerning fome of thefe heads : for the time, that it 
 Ihould be fhortly, left the minds of men fhould chill : and then as to 
 the place where, whether in the city or country, or both jointly ; in all 
 thefe, fome opinions were given, but not fettled to any refolution, but 
 they were committed to our thoughts to be digefted afterwards. But 
 thefe being the things that every one was to take upon his thoughts, there 
 was this pre-requifite to the undertaking, and that was, to confider what 
 magazines were to be got : and that led to another particular, which 
 was, with what they fhould be gotten, and that was money ; and there- 
 upon was propounded a confiderable fum to be raifed ; and, as I remember, 
 the fum propounded by the duke of Monmouth was twenty-five thoufand 
 pounds, or thirty thoufand pounds. And then it was confidered, how it 
 ihould be raifed without drawing obfervation or jealoufy. Thefe are only 
 the heads that were then agreed on, hereafter to be better confidered. 
 But the prefent refolution that was taken, was, that before any procedure 
 was made in any of thefe things, or any advance towards the undertaking, 
 the lirft thing to be confidered was, how to make a coalition of councils 
 between Scotland and what we were doing here ; and for that purpofe we 
 fhould bethink ourfelves of fome fit perfon to be fent thither to unite us 
 into one fenfe and care. This is as much as occurs to my memory upon 
 that meeting. About a fortnight or three weeks after, which I fuppofe 
 carried it to the middle of February next, we had another meeting, and 
 that was at Southampton houfe at my lord Ruffel's, and there was every 
 one of the ^ame perfons ; and when we came there, there happened to 
 tall in a difcourfe which I know not how it came in, but it was a little 
 warmly urged, and thought to be untimely, and unfeafonable ; and that 
 I remember was by Mr. Hambden, who did tell us, that having now 
 united ourfelves into fuch an undertaking as this was, ic could not but be 
 expelled that it would be a queftion put to many of us, To what end all 
 this was ? Where it was we intended to terminate ? Into what we in- 
 tended to refolve ? that thefe were queftions he met with ; and, it was 
 probable, every one had or would meet with, from thofe perfons whofc 
 affiflance we cxpedfcd ; and that if there was any thing of a perfonal in- 
 tereft defigned or intended, that there were but very few of thofe, whofe 
 hearts were now with us, but would fall off : and therefore, fince we 
 were upon futli an undertaking, we fhould ref'olve ourfelves into fiich 
 principles, as fhould put the properties and liberties of the people into 
 
 fuch
 
 THE TRIAL OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 fuch hands, as they fhoukl not be eafily invaded by any that were truflcd 
 ■with the fupreme authority of the hind : and it was mentioned, to rcfolve 
 all into the authority of the parliament. This was moved by him, and 
 had a little harflmefs to Ibmc that were there ; but yet upon the wliole 
 matter we generally confented to it, that it was nothing but a public 
 good that we all intended. But then, after that, we fell to that which 
 we charged ourfelvcs with at the firft meeting, and that was concerning 
 fending into Scotland, and of fettling an underftanding with my lord of 
 Argyll : And, in order to tl\is, it was neceflary to fend a rneflcnger 
 thither to fome perfons whom we thought were the moft leading men of 
 the intereft in Scotland. This led us to the infilling on fome particular 
 perfons ; the gentlemen named were my lord Melvin, fir John Cockram, 
 and the Campbells; I am fure it was fome of the alliance of my lord 
 of Argyll, and I think of the name. As foon as this was propounded, 
 it was offered by this gentleman, colonel Sydney, that he would take the 
 care of the perfon ; and he had a perfon in his thoughts, that he thought 
 a very fit man to be intruded ; one or two, but one in fpecial, and he 
 named Aaron Smith to be the man, who was known to fome of us, to 
 others not; I was one that did know him, and as many as knew him, 
 thought him a proper perfon. This is all that occurs to me that was at 
 the fecond meeting, and they are the only confults that I was at. 
 
 Mr. Att. Gen. What was he to do ? 
 
 Liord Howard. There was no particular deed for him, more than to 
 carry a letter. The duke of Monmouth undertook to bring my lord 
 Melvin hither, becaufe he had a particular dependance upon him, and I 
 think fome relation to his lady : but to fir John Cockram there was a letter 
 to be fent under the difguife of carrying on fome bufinefs of the plantation 
 in Carolina. This letter, I fuppofe, was writ by my lord Iluffel (though 
 I know it not) for he was perfonally known to my lord Ruffel, and I 
 do not know that he was known to any of us. About three weeks after 
 this, then he was difpatched, I fuppofe. 
 
 Mr. Att. Gen. To what purpofe were thefe gentlemen to come up ? 
 
 Lord Howard. Thefe were to acquaint us how they found Scotland 
 tempered, and what opportunities or advantages there were or might be 
 of putting them into a commotion, and how men might be raifed, and 
 how they would fall under Argyll, and alfo to keep time and place with us. 
 After this, I was with colonel Sydney when he was going into London, 
 and he did take out feveral guineas, I cannot tell how much it was, I 
 fuppofe they might be about fixty, and put them into his pocket (and 
 fet me down at my lodging) which he faid were to give Aaron Smith ; 
 whether he gave it or no, I do not know 5 and after that he was fent. 
 
 Mr. Att. Gen. Who told you fo ? 
 
 Lord Howard. Colonel Sydney, for I was inquiring of him ; and he 
 faid, he had not heard of him in three weeks, or but once when he was 
 about Newcaftle. After this, 1 had occafions that called me into the 
 country, and there I was. Some time after that, I went to the Bath : 
 And this is all the account I can give. 
 
 4R 2 
 
 19
 
 20 THETRIALOF A. SYDNEY 
 
 Mr. Sol. Gen. Do you know that Aaron Smith did go ? 
 
 Lord Howard. I know nothing but by hear-fay. Colonel Sydney 
 told me, he was gone, and was upon the road, and he heard from him 
 about Newcaftle. 
 
 L. C. J- Did you underftand by the difcourfe after he was gone, that 
 he went in purfuance of that debate ? 
 
 Lord Howard. Yes, my lord, that was the whole end of his going. 
 
 Mr, Jiiji. Wythins. I think you fay, that gentleman (I'peaking of col. 
 Sydney) undertook to fend him ? 
 
 Lord Howard. Yes, he did. 
 
 L. C. y. Will you afk him any queftions ? 
 
 Col. Sydney. I have no queftions to' afk him. 
 
 Mr. Att. Gen. Silence You know the proverb. The next ftep is 
 
 to fhew you, my lord, that thefe perlbns came up immediately after Aaron 
 Smith went down thither ; and, according to that which was faid to be the 
 fhadow and pretence of their coming hither, they pretended they came 
 about Carolina bulinefs. Sir Andrew Fofter and Mr. Blathwaite. 
 
 Sir Andrew Fojier /worn. 
 
 Mr. Att. Gen. Pray, fir, give an account what Scotch gentlemen 
 came up lately. 
 
 Sir A. FoJler. My lord, about the end of the fpring, or beginning of 
 fummer, as I remember, thefe gentlemen, fir John Cockram, and com- 
 miifary Monro, and the two Campbells, father and fon, came up hither. 
 I did not fee the father at all, but I faw the fon the day of the lord 
 Ruifel's trial ; but the other two, I think, I law a little before the difcovery 
 of the plot. 
 
 Mr. Att. Gen. What did they pretend they came about ? 
 
 Sir A. Fojier. They pretended they came to make a purchafe in Caro- 
 lina, and I faw their commiffion from the perfons faid to be concerned ia 
 that defign. 
 
 L. C. y. Who do you fpeak of? 
 
 Sir A. Fojier. Sir John Cockram and commiflary Monro. 
 
 Mr. Att. Gen. As foon as the rumour came of the plot, what became 
 of thofe gentlemen ? 
 
 Sir A. Fojier. Sir John Cockram abfconded, but commiflary Monro 
 never abfconded, and the Campbells, I heard, were feized changing their 
 lodging from place to place. 
 
 Mr. Atterbury J'worn. 
 
 Mr. Att. Gen. Mr. Atterbury, will you give my lord and the jury an 
 account what you know; of thefe Scotchmen their abfconding and lying hid ? 
 
 Mr. Atterbury. My lord, upon the latter end of June, or the begin- 
 ning of July, the beginning of July it was, I was fent for into London 
 upon a difcovery of ibmc Scotch gentlemen that lay about Black-Friars ; 
 and when I came down there, there was the common fcrgcanl, and fome 
 others, had been before me, and found thcni making an efcapc into a 
 boat.
 
 THE TRIAL OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 Mr. Aft. Gen. Who were they ? 
 
 Mr. Atterbury. Sir Hugh Campbell, and fir John Cockram, and one 
 that was committed to the Gate-houfe by the council as foon as brought 
 thither. 
 
 Mr. Att. Gen. We fhall end here, my lord. How long had they 
 been in town ? 
 
 Mr. Atterbury. They had been in town fomc little time. 
 Mr. Att. Gen. We have done with this piece of our evidence. Nov/ 
 to {hew that while this emiflary was in Scotland, at the fame time the 
 colonel (which will be another overt a(3: of the treafon) was writing a 
 treafonable pamphlet, I will call you the witnelfes. It is all of his own 
 writing. 
 
 Sir Philip Lloyd fworn. 
 Mr. Att. Gen. Sir Philip Lloyd, pray, will you look upon thofe 
 papers, and give my lord and the jury an account where you found them ? 
 Sir Philip Lloyd. I had a warrant, my lord, from the Secretary by the 
 king and council, to feize Mr. Algernon Sydney's papers ; and, purfuant 
 to it, I did go to his houfe, and fuch as I found there I put up. I found 
 a great many upon the table, among which were thefe, I fuppofe it is 
 where he ufually writes. I put them in a pillowbear I borrowed in the 
 houfe, and that in a trunk. I defired Col. Sydney would put his feal 
 upon them, that there fhould be no miftake. He refufed : fo I took my 
 feal, and fealed up the trunk, and it was carried before me to Mr. Secre- 
 tary Jenkins's office. When the committee fat, I was commanded to 
 undo the trunk, and I did fo, and found my own feal upon it. And I 
 took the papers out of the bag I put them into before. 
 
 L. C. y . Was colonel Sydney prefent when you feized thefe papers ? 
 
 Sir P. Lloyd. Yes. 
 
 Mr. Att. Gen. Are thefe fome of thofe papers ? 
 
 Sir P. Lloyd. Yes, I verily believe it. 
 
 Mr. Att. Gen. In the next place, I think we have fome papers of his 
 particular affairs which will prove his hand. Call Mr. Sheppard, Mr> 
 Cooke, and Mr. Cary. 
 
 Mr. North. Sir Philip Lloyd, when were they feized ? 
 
 Sir P. Lloyd. Towards the latter end of June, my lord». 
 
 Jury-Man. Which June ? 
 
 Sir P. Lloyds Laft June. 
 
 Mr. Sheppard fworn, 
 
 Mr. Att. Gen. Praywill you look upon thofe writings? [Jloewingthe libel.'\ 
 Are you acquainted with colonel Sydney's hand ? 
 
 Mr. Sheppard. Yes, my lord. 
 
 Mr. Att. Gen. Is that his hand-writing ? 
 
 Mr. Sheppard. Yes, Sir, I believe fo. I believe all thefe fheets to be 
 his hand. 
 
 Mr. Att. Gen. How come you to be acquainted with his hand ? 
 
 Mr. Sheppard. I have icQn him write the indorfement upon feveral 
 bills of exchange.. 
 
 21
 
 ii THETRIALOF A. SYDNEY 
 
 Mr. Car J fworn. 
 
 Col. Sydney. My lord, I defire you would pleafe to confider this, that 
 fimilitude of hands can be no evidence. 
 
 L.C.y. Referve yourlelf till anon, and make all the advantageous 
 remarks you can. 
 
 Mr. Att. Gen. Have you had any dealing with him ? 
 
 Mr. Cary. I never faw him write to my knowledge more than once in 
 mv life, hut I have feen his indorfement upon bills, and it is very like that. 
 
 L. C. y. Do you believe it is his hand as tar as you can guefs ? 
 
 Mr. Cary. My lord, it is like what came to me for his hand writing. 
 
 L. C. y. And you believe it to be his hand ? 
 
 Mr. Cary. Yes. 
 
 Mr. Cooke Jworn, and the papers Jliewn him. 
 
 i. C. y. What fay you, Mr. Cooke ? 
 
 Mr. Cooka. My lord, I did never fee Col. Sydney write, but I have 
 ■feen feveral notes that have come to me with indorfement of his name, 
 and we have paid them, and -it is like to this. 
 
 L. C. y. And you were never called to account for mifpayment ? 
 
 Mr. Cooke. No, my lord. 
 
 Mr. Att. Gen. I pray it may be read. We will read as much as is 
 neceflary to prove the indidment. 
 
 Col. Sydney. I pray it may be all read. 
 
 L. C. y. Mr. Attorney mull have what part he defires read, and you 
 fhall have what part you will have read afterwards. 
 
 Col. Sydney. 1 defire all may be read. 
 
 Mr. Att. Gen. Begin there. " Secondly, There was no abfurdity in 
 ■*' this., becaufe it was their own cafe. 
 Clerk reads. 
 
 *' 2dly, There was no abfurdity in this, though it was their own cafe ; 
 *' but to the contrary, becaufe it was their ov/n cafe, that is, concerning 
 *' themfelves only, and they had no fuperior. They only were the com- 
 " petent judges, they decided their controverfics, as every man in his 
 " own family doth fuch as arife betv/een him and his children, and his 
 " fervants. This power hath no other refhiflion, than what is put 
 " upon it by the municipal law of the country where any man lives ; 
 *' and that hath no other force, than as he is underfLood to have confented 
 *' unto it. Thus in England every man, in a degree, hath a right of 
 " chaftifmg them ; and in many places, even by the law of Cod, the 
 *' mailer hath a power of life and death over his fervant. It were a moft 
 " abfurd folly to fay that a man might not put away, or in fome cafes 
 " kill, an adulterous wife, a difobedient fon, or an unfaithful fervant, 
 " becaufe he is party and judge; for the cafe doth admit of no other, 
 *' unlefs he liad abridged his own right by entering into a focicty where 
 *' other rules arc agreed upon, and a fuperior judge conftituted : there 
 *' being none fuch between king and people, the peo[)le muft needs be 
 " the judge of things happening between them and him, whom they did 
 
 " not
 
 THETRIALOF A, SYDNEY 23. 
 
 " not conftitute that he might be great, glorious, and rich ; but that he 
 " might judge them, and fight their battles j or otherwile do good unto- 
 " them as they Ihould dircd:. In this fenfe, he that hjingiilis major, and 
 " ought to be obeyed by every man in his jirfl: and lawful commands 
 " tending to the public good, mult be lliffered to do nothing againft it, 
 *' nor in any relpe£l more than the law doth allow. 
 
 " For this realbn Bradon faith, that the king hath three fuperiors, to- 
 " wit, Dcu/n, legem, et parliamenf ; that is, the power originally in the 
 " people of England is delegated unto the parliament. He is fubjed 
 " unto the law of God as he is a man ; to the people tliat makes him 
 " a king, in as much as he is a king: the law fets a mcafure unto- 
 " that fubjedion, and the parliament judges of the particular cafes - 
 " thereupon arifing : he muft be content to fubmit his intercft unto- 
 *' theirs, fince he is no more than any one of them, in any other refped 
 *' than that he is, by the confent of all, raifed above any other. 
 
 " If he doth not like this condition, he may renounce the crown ; but 
 " if he receive it upon that condition, as all magiftrates do the power- 
 " they receive, and fwear to perform it, he muft exped that the perfor- 
 *' mance will be exaded, or revenge taken by thofe that he hath betrayed-. 
 
 " If this be not fo, 1 defire to know of our author, hov/ one or more 
 " men can come to be guilty of treafon againft the king, as lex facit iit 
 " fit rex. No man can owe more unto him than unto any other, or he 
 " unto every other man, by any rule but the law; and if he muft not 
 " be judge in his own cafe, neither he, nor any other by power received 
 " from him, would ever try any man for an offence againft him, or the 
 " law. 
 
 " If the king, or fuch as he appoints, cannot judge him, he cannot 
 " be judged by the ways ordinarily known among us. If he, or other 
 " by authority from him, may judge, he is judge in his own cafe, and' 
 " we fall under that which he accounts the utmoft of all abfurdities : if 
 " a remedy be found for this, he muft fay that the king in his own cafe 
 " may judge the people, but the people muft not judge the king, becaufe 
 " it is theirs : that is to fay, the fcrvants entertained by the mafter may 
 *-* judge him, but the mafter muft not judge the fervant whom he took 
 " only for his own uie ; the magiftrate is bound by no oath or contrad' 
 " to the people that created him, but the people is bound to its own 
 " creature, the magiftrate. 
 
 " This feems to be the ground of all our author's follies : he cannot 
 " comprehend that magiftrates are for or by the people ; but makes this 
 *' conclufion, as if nations were created by or for the glory or pleafure of 
 " magiftrates : and, after fuch a piece of nonfenfe, it ought not to be 
 " thought ftrange if he reprefent, as an abfurd thing, that the- headlefs 
 " multitude may ftiake off^the yoke when they pleafe. But I would know 
 " how the multitude comes under the yoke ; it is a badge of flavery. He 
 " fays that the power of kings is for the prefervation of liberty and 
 ** property. \Vc may therefore change or take away kings without 
 
 " breaking
 
 24 
 
 THE TRIAL OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 *' breaking any yoke, or that is made a yoke which ought not to be one-j 
 *' the injury is therefore in making or impoling, and there can be none 
 *' in breaking it. 
 
 " That if there be not an injury, there may perhaps be an inconve- 
 *' nience if the headlefs mukitude may fhake off the yoke. I know not 
 *' why the mukitude fhould be conckided to be headlefs ; it is not always 
 *' fo. Mofes was head of the mukitude that went out of Egypt. Othniel 
 " led them againft the king of Mefbpotamia. Under the condudl of 
 *' Phineas tliey obtained a vi<n;ory againft the Midianites : they had the 
 *' like fuccefs under Shamgar, Barak, Gideon, Jephthah, Samuel, Samfon, 
 *' and others, againft Canaanites, Moabites, Philiftines, and others. 
 *' The mukitude that oppofed Saul and Ifliboiheth had David for its head ; 
 *' and the ten tribes that rejecfted Rehoboam chofe unto themfelvcs 
 *' Jeroboam. The Athenians rifing againft the thirty tyrants had Thra- 
 *' fybulus ; thofe that drave from Thebes were condudted by 
 
 " Pelopidas. When the Romans drave out the Tarquins, they chofe 
 *' Brutus and Publicola ; and they deftroyed the Decemviri under 
 *' Horatius and Valerius. All the multitudes that afterwards revoked 
 *' from them under Mauritius, Telerius, Spartanus, and others, were 
 *' not headlefs ; and we know of none that were, but all either found 
 " heads, or made them. The Germans fet up Arminius ; the Britains, 
 " and others ; in latter times, the Caftiliahs, that rofe againft Peter the 
 *' Cruel, had the lord de T'aftamare. 
 
 " The French, when they grew weary of the corrupted races of Phara- 
 " mond and Pepin, had the fame Pepin and Hugh Capet : the Scots, 
 " when they flew Jam.es the third, had his fon to be their head : and 
 *' when they depofed and imprifoned Queen Mary, the earl of Murray 
 " and others fupplied the want of age that vv^as in her fon : and in all 
 *' the revolutions we have had in England, the people have been headed 
 " by the Parliament, or the nobility and gentry that compofed it ; and, 
 *' wliCn the kings failed of their duties, by their own authority called it. 
 " The mukitude therefore is not ever headlefs, but doth ever find or create 
 *' heads unto itfelf, as occafion doth require ; and whether it be one man, 
 " or a few, or more, for a ftiort or a longer time, we fee nothing more 
 *' regular than Its motions. But they mav, filth our author, fliake oft^ 
 *' the yoke. And \vhy may they not, if it prove uncafy or hurtful unto 
 *' them ? Why fnoultl not the Ifraclites fliake off" the yoke of Pharaoh, 
 *' Jabin, SIfera, and others that opprcfFcd them ? 
 
 " When pride had changed Nebuchadnev'zar into a beaft, what fhould 
 *' perfuade the Alfyrians not to drive him out among beafts, until God 
 ** had reftored unto him the heart of a man ? When Tarquin had turned 
 *' the legal monarchy of Rome into a moft abominable tyranny, why 
 " ftiould they not abolini it ? And when the Proteftants of the Low- 
 ** Countries were fo grievoufly opprefted by the power of Spain, under 
 " the proud, cruel, and favage condud of the duke of Alva, why fhould 
 *' they not make ufc of all the means that God had put into their hands 
 3 " for
 
 THE TRIAL OF A. SYDNEY- 
 
 for their deliverance ? Let any man, who fees the prefcnt ftate of the 
 provinces that then united themfelvcs, judge whether it is better for 
 them to be as they are, or in the condition unto which his fury woukl 
 have reduced them, unlefs they had, to pleafe him, renounced God and 
 their religion. Our author may fay, they ought to have fuffcred ; the 
 king of Spain, by their refiftancc, loft thofe countries ; and that they 
 ought not to have been judges in their own cafe. To whicli I anfwer. 
 That by refifting they laid the foundation of many churches that have 
 produced multitudes of men eminent in gifts and graces ; and eftabliflied 
 a moft glorious and happy commonwealth, that hath been, fince its 
 firft beginning, the ftrongeft pillar of the Proteftant caufe now in the 
 world, and a place of refuge unto thofe who in all parts of Europe have 
 been oppreiled for the name of Chrift : whereas they had flavifhlv, 
 and, I think I may fay, wickedly as well as fooliflily, fuffcred them- 
 felves to be butchered, if they had left thofe empty provinces under 
 the power of Antichrift, where the name of God is no otherwife 
 known, than to be blafphemed. 
 
 " If the king of Spain denred to keep his fubjeds, he fliould have 
 governed them with more juftice and mercy. When, contrary unto 
 all laws, both human and divine, he feeks to deftroy thofe he ought 
 to have preferved, he can blame none but himfelf, if they deliver 
 themfelves from his tyranny : and when the matter is brought to that, 
 that he muft not reign, or they over whom he would reign muft 
 perifh, the matter is eafdy decided : as if the queftion had been 
 aflvcd in the time of Nero and Domitian, Whether they fliould be left 
 at liberty to deftroy the beft part of the world, as they endeavoured 
 to do, or it fliould be refcued by their deftrudion ? And as for the 
 people's being judges in their own cafe, it is plain, they ought to be 
 the only judges, becaufe it is their own, and only concerns themfelves." 
 Mr. Att. Ge?i. The latter end, the laft flieet of all, § 35. 
 L. C. y. The argument runs through the book, fixing the power in 
 
 the people. 
 
 C/erA of the Crown. " The general revolt of a nation from its own 
 
 *' magiftrates, can never be called rebellion." 
 Mr. Att. Gen. § 37. 
 Clerk of the Crown. " The power of calling and diffolving parliaments 
 
 *' is not in the king," 
 
 Mr. Att. Gen. So much we ftiall make ufe of; if the Colonel p|cafe 
 
 to have any other part read to explain it, he may. 
 
 TZ'tVz the fleets were Jhewn to Col. Sydney. 
 Col. Sydney. I do not know what to make of it, I can read it. 
 L. C. y. Ay, no doubt of it, better than any man here. Fix on any 
 
 part you have a mind to have read. 
 
 Col. Sydney. I do not know what to fay to it, to read it in pieces thus. 
 L C. y. I perceive you have difpofed of them under certain heads ; 
 
 to what heads will you have read ? 
 
 -.)
 
 26 THETRIALOF A. SYDNEY 
 
 Col. Sydney. My lord, let him give an account of it that did It. 
 
 Mr. Att. Gen. My lord, we will not delay colonel Sydney from 
 entering on his defence ; only we have this piece of evidence to give 
 further. One of his complices was my lord Ruffel, we will give in evi- 
 dence his convidion. We will only afk my lord Howard, was your 
 Lordfhip fworn as a witnefs at the trial of my lord Ruffel ? 
 
 Lord Howard. Yes. 
 
 Mr. Att. Gen. Whether or no, when you met, were there in thofe 
 debates any refledlions upon the king, that he had broken his duty ? 
 
 Lord Howard. Not that I remember. 
 
 Mr. Att. Gen. Why would you rife ? 
 
 Lord Howard. If you mean upon the mifgovernment, not perfonally 
 upon the king ? 
 
 Mr. Att. Gen. Ay. 
 
 Lord Howard. Yes, and principally and chiefly that, which we thought 
 was the general difgufl of the nation, the impohng upon the city at that 
 time. 
 
 Mr. Juji. Wythins. That was complained of at that time ? 
 
 Lord Howard. Yes, my lord : we took it all along to be the chief 
 grievance. 
 
 L. C. y. Have you any more witneffes ? 
 
 Mr. Att. Gen. Only the record. 
 
 Mr. Sol. Gen. I know there is no time mifpent to make things clear. 
 If the jury have a mind to have the words read again 
 
 L. C. J. If they have a mind, let it. 
 
 Then Mr. Trinder was fworn., and tejiified it to be a true copy of the 
 
 record., and faid he examined it at Fi/hmonger''s-Hall with Mr. Tanner. 
 Then the record of the conviSlion of the lord Ruffel was read. 
 
 L. C. y. What will you go to next, Mr. Attorney ? 
 
 Mr. Sol. Gen. We have done, unlefs the jury defire to have the words- 
 of the libel read again. [But they did not.] 
 
 Col Sydney. My lord, I defire to know upon what ftatute I am indidled ? 
 
 Mr. Att. Gen. My lord, I will give as plain an anfwer :. you are 
 indidted upon the old ftatute of 25 E. 3. 
 
 Col. Sydney. Then I defire to know upon what branch of that ftatute ? 
 
 Mr. Att. Gen. Why, I will acquaint you : it is upon the firft branclt 
 of that ftatute, for confpiring and compalfrng the death of the king. 
 
 Col. Sydney. Then I conceive, what docs not come within that, does 
 not touch me. 
 
 Mr. Att. Gen. Make what inferences you pleafe. Colonel, we will 
 anfwer you. 
 
 Colonel Sydney. I defire to know what the witnefles have fworn againft 
 me upon that point ? 
 
 Mr. Att. Gen. Go on, you have heard the witnefles as well as we. 
 
 L. C. y. He fays, you are indidted upon the ftatute of 25 E. 3. which 
 ftatute makes il high treafon to confplrc the deatli of tlie king; and the 
 
 2 overt-adt
 
 THETRIALOF A. SYDNEY 27 
 
 ovcrt:-a£b is fufficiently fct forth in the indi(Slm.ent ; now the queftlon is, 
 whether it is proved ? 
 
 Col. Sydney. They have proved a paper found in my fludy of Giligula 
 and Nero, that is compafring the death of the king, is it ? 
 
 L. C. y. That I fhall tell the jury. The point in law you are to 
 take from the court, gentlemen : whether there be fadt fufficient, that is 
 your duty to confider. 
 
 Col. Sydney. I fay, my lord, that fmce I am indicted upon that ftatute, 
 I am not to take notice of any other. I am indidted for confpiring the 
 death of the king, becaufe fuch a paper is found in my houfe. Under 
 favour, I think that can be nothing at all to me: for though fir Philip 
 Lloyd did afk me, whether I would put my feal to it, he did not afk me 
 till he had been in my clofet, and I knew not what he had put in ; and fo 
 I told him I would not do it. Then come thefc gentlemen upon fimili- 
 tude of hands. My lord, we know what fimilitude of hands is in this 
 age. One told me within thefe two days, that one came to him, and 
 offered him to counterfeit any hand he fliould fhew him in half an hour. 
 So then, my lord, I have nothing to fay to thefe papers. Then for 
 point of witnefs, I cannot be indidled, much lefs tried or condemned, on 
 25 E. 3. for by that adl there muft be two witnefles to that very branch 
 luito which the treafon does relate, which muft be diftinguifhed. For 
 the levying of war, and confpiring the death of the king, are two diftimft 
 things, diftindt in nature and reafon, and fo diftinguifhed in the ftatute. 
 And therefore the confpiring the death of the king is treafon, and the 
 other not. i E. 6. 12. 5 E. 6. 11. does exprefly fay, there muft be two 
 witnefles to either of thefe a£ts. Now here is my lord Howard (I have 
 enough to fay of him by and by) it is he only who fpeaks of fix men, whom 
 he calls a fele£l council, and yet feledted by no man in the world. I 
 defire to know who feledted my lord Howard ? Who feledled me ? If 
 they were felefhed by no body, it is a bull to fay they were a feleift council. 
 If they were not feledled, but eredled themfelves into a cabal, then they 
 have either confidence in one another, or find they are near equally able 
 to aflift in the defign. Here is nothing of all this : thefe fix men were 
 ftrangers to one another. For my own part, I never fpake with the duke 
 of Monmouth above three times in my life, and one time was when my 
 lord Howard brought him to my houfe and cozened us both. He told 
 the duke I invited him, and he told me the duke invited himfelf ; and 
 neither of them was true. Now, that fuch men as thefe are, not hardly 
 knowing one another, fliould prefently fall into a great and intimate 
 friendship, and truft and management of fuch bufinefles as thefe are, is a 
 thing utterly improbable, unlefs they were mad. Now I do find in my 
 lord Howard's depofition againft my lord Rulfel, that they were in pro- 
 fecution of my lord Shaftefbury's defign ; and yet he acknowledges the 
 duke of Monmouth faid he was mad, and he himfelf faid fo too. Now 
 that they fhould join with four more in the profccution of the defign of a 
 madman, they muft be mad too. Now whether my lord Howard would 
 have you think he was mad becaufe a madman cannot be guilty of treafon, 
 
 4 S 2 I cannot
 
 28 THETRIALOr A. SYDNEY 
 
 I cannot tell. My lord Howard in his laft depofition at my lord Ruflel's 
 trial, fixes the two meetings, one about the middle of January, the other 
 ten days after : now he fixes one to be the latter end of January, the other 
 the middle of February. Then he makes it to be the prol'ecution of my 
 lord Shaftefbury's defign. I do not find that any one there had any thing 
 to do with my lord Shaftefbury : for my part I had not ; I had not leen his 
 face in two years. Then, my lord, that I go upon is, M'hatever my lord 
 Howard is, here is but one witnefs. The law of God and the law of man, 
 imderftoodand taken by all men, does require two witnefl'es*: Mofes fays fo; 
 fo the Apoftles the fame after him ; and Chrifl: fays the fame, that every 
 matter is to be ejlablijhcd by tii'o loitneJJ'es. There ought to be two wit- 
 nefl^es to the fame thing. Now for one to come and tell a tale of a tub, 
 of an imaginary council, and another of a libel, a paper written no body 
 knows when, is fuch a thing, you can never go over it. But if the law 
 of God be, that there muft be two witnefles to the fame fa6t, there is an 
 end of this matter. And under the judicial law, the penalty would be in 
 this cafe, to put a man to death. Now here there are but two things, 
 which if allowed of, no body will be fafe for perjury. The one is, to 
 fuffer men to give their teftimony, one to one thing, and another to 
 another, that the fraud cannot be difcovered ; and the other is, to take 
 away the punifliment. Now the punifhment is taken away in fome mea- 
 fure : and do but take away the other point whereby the fraud cannot be 
 difcovered, and then there is no defence can be made. That both wit- 
 nefles fhould be to the fame point, fee the ftory of Sufanna. Two elders 
 teftified they faw her in the a6t of adultery : they were carrying of her to 
 her death ; both of them faid the fame thing : until they were taken 
 afunder and examined, the fraud was not difcovered ; and then one faid, 
 flie was under a tree of the right hand, and the other, under the tree on 
 the left ; and fhe efcaped, and they were puniflied. But now if you 
 apply it to feveral fads, my lord Howard may fay what he pleafes, and 
 if another fhall come with a fupplemental proof, no jufl;ice can be had. 
 But, my lord, I delire this. If there be two witnelTes to prove the con- 
 fpiracy, and in that there were thofe matters done that are treafon, I muft 
 anfwer to it ; but if there be not, I prefume, I need fay nothing to it. 
 If you do not allow it me, I defire counfel to argue it. 
 
 L. C. y. That is a point of fadt, whether there be two witnefTes ? L 
 tell you beforehand, one witnefs is not fufiicient. 
 
 •* " Mr. Peiham. I did prcrume ycflerday to tell you, that Mr. Algernon Sydney did" 
 " ftand upon it as his natural rigiit, that they could not proceed agninft him, there being 
 " but one witnefs. I did not bring his cafe as parallel to this, nor think, that his authority 
 " (hould influence you. But he was a man, that had that love for Liberty and the good of his- 
 *■'■ Country, that he would not have faid fo, even to fave his own life, if he bad thought it incon- 
 " fiflent with either of them. But I have looked upon his trial fuicc, and there he does 
 " declare. That the being condemned by two witnefles is the law of God and the law of 
 " man, the jull law that is obferved by all men and in all places. It is certain he rcacl-.cd 
 " even by thefe words the power of Parliament : when I do fay power, I do not mean, but 
 •' that when fuch a law is pafTcd, all are bound to obey it; hut in fome fenfe, we may fay, 
 " You cannot do ivhat is net juji for you to do : Tou can do but what is jujl and fuitable to the 
 **• trujl rejjofed in you."' 
 
 The proceedings againft Sir John Fcnwick, Bart, etc
 
 THE TRIAL OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 Col. Sydney. Why then there is my lord Howard, and never another. 
 
 L. C. y. Nay, do not make thofe inferences. I will tell the jury, 
 if there be not two witneflcs as the law requires in this cafe, they ought 
 to acquit you. 
 
 Co/. Syd/uy. You confound me, I cannot ftir. You talk of a confpi- 
 racy ; what is a confpiracy to kill the king ? Is there ar^y more witneffes 
 than one for levying of war ? 
 
 L. C. y. Pray do not deceive yourfelf. You mufi: not think the 
 court and you intend to enter into a dialogue. Anfwer to the fad: : if 
 there be not fufficient fad;, the jury will acquit you. Make what anfwer 
 you can to it. 
 
 Col. Sydney. Then I fay. There being but one witnefs, I am not to 
 anfwer to it at all. 
 
 L. C. y. If you rely upon that, we will dired the jury prefently. 
 
 CoL Sydney. Then for levying war, what does any one fay ? My lord 
 Howard, let him, if he pleafe, reconcile what he hath faid now, with 
 what he faid at my lord Ruflel's trial. There he faid, he faid all he could ; 
 and now he has got I do not know how many things that were never 
 fpoken of there. I appeal to the court, whether he did then fpealc one 
 word of that, that he now lays of Mr. Hambden. He fets forth his 
 evidence very rhetorically ; but it does not become a witnefs, for he is 
 only to tell what is done and faid : but he does not tell what was done 
 and fiid. He fays they took upon tliem to confider, but does not fay 
 what one man faid, or what one man refolved, much lefs what I did. My 
 lord, if thefe things are not to be diftinguiflied, but fliall be jumbled all 
 up together, I confefs I do not know what to fay. 
 
 L. C. y. Take what liberty you pleafe. If you will make no defence, 
 then we will diredt the jury prefently. We will dire£t them in the law, 
 and recoiled matter of fads as well as we can. 
 
 Col. Sydney. Why then, my lord, I defire the law may be referved to 
 me ; I defire I may have counfel to that point of there being but one 
 witnefs. 
 
 L. C. y. That is a point of fad. If you can give any teftimony to 
 difparage the witnefs, do it. 
 
 Col. Sydnty. I have a great deal to that. 
 
 L. C. y. Go on to it then. 
 
 Col. Sydney. Then, my lord, was there a war levied ? Or was it 
 prevented ? Why then, if it be prevented, it is not levied ; if it be not 
 levied, it is not within the ftatute ; fo this is nothing to me. 
 
 L. C. J. The court will have patience to hear you; but at the fame- 
 time I think it is my duty to advertife you, that this is but mifpending of 
 your time. If you can anfwer the fad, or if you have any mind to put 
 any difparagement upon the witnefles, that they are not perfons to be 
 believed, do it, but do not afk us qneflions this way or the other. 
 
 Col. Sydney. I have this to fay concerning my lord Howard : he hath' 
 accufed himfelf of divers treafons, and I do not hear that he has his 
 
 pardca 
 
 4
 
 30 
 
 THETRIALOFA. SYDNEY 
 
 pardon of any : he is under tlie terror of thofe treafons, and the punllhment 
 
 for them : he hath fhewn himfelf to be under that terror : he hath faid, 
 
 that he could not get his pardon until he had done fome other jobbs, till 
 
 he was paft this drudgery of fwearing : that is, my lord, that he having 
 
 incurred the penalty of high-treafon, he would get his own indemnity by 
 
 deftroying others. This by the law of God and man, I think, deftroys 
 
 a man's teftimony. Befides, my lord, he is my debtor, he owes me a 
 
 confiderable fum of money I lent him in time of his great neceflity : he 
 
 made fome covenants with me for the payment of that money, which he 
 
 hath broken ; and when his mortgage was forfeited, and I fhould take 
 
 the advantage the law gives me, he finds out a way to have me laid up in 
 
 the Tower. He is a very fubtle man. At my lord RufTel's trial, he 
 
 carried his knife, he faid, between the paring and the apple; and fo this 
 
 is a point of great nicety and cunning, at one time to get his own pardon, 
 
 and at the fame time to fave his money. Another thing, my lord, is, 
 
 when I was prilbner, he comes to rr.y houfe, and fpeaks with my fervant, 
 
 and fays, how forry he was that 1 Ihould be brought in danger upon 
 
 this account of the plot ; and there he did, in the prefence of God, with 
 
 hands and eyes lifted up to Heaven, fwear, he did not believe any plot, 
 
 and that it was but a fham ; and that he was confident if I had known 
 
 any thing, I would have told it him. He hath faid fomewhat of this 
 
 before, I have feveral witnelTes to prove both. He was defirous to go 
 
 further ; and he would not only pay my debt by his teftimony againft me, 
 
 but he would have got my plate and other goods in my hands into his 
 
 hands ; and he defired my men, as a place of truft, to put them into his 
 
 hands. And the ne.s;t news was, that there was a warrant againft my 
 
 lord Ruflel and me. But then, my lord, he made other affirmations in 
 
 the fame prefence of God, that I was innocent in his opinion ; and he 
 
 was confident of it, for if he had known any thing of it, he would have 
 
 told it. Now I know, in my lord Ruflel's cnfe, there was Dr. Burnet 
 
 faid fomething like it. And when he came to anfwer it, he faid he was 
 
 to fiice it out, and make the beft of it he could. Now he did face it out 
 
 bravely againft God, but he was timorous of man. So that, my lord, he 
 
 ■does fay at the fame time, at my lord RuiTel's trial, upon his oath, that 
 
 he did believe that the religious obligation of an oath did not confift in the 
 
 formality of applying it to the place, el?c. but in calling God to witnefs. 
 
 So that when he did call God to witnefs before Dr. Burnet and my 
 
 fervant, and others, this is not confiftent with the oath he has taken 
 
 here, as the gentleman faid at my lord llufl^el's trial, unlefs he has one 
 
 foul in court, and had another at my houfe : thefe things arc inconfiftcnt, 
 
 and cannot be true ; and if he fwear both under the religion of an oath, 
 
 he fwears himfelf perjured. Then, my lord, he talks of Aaron Smith: 
 
 what have I to do with Aaron Smith ? He fays I fent him. My lord, 
 
 there is no body elfe fpeaks a word of it. Then, by a ftrangc kind of 
 
 conftru£lion and imagination, they will have it, that fome papers here, 
 
 which are faid to be found in my ftudy, have relation to this plot, as 
 
 they
 
 THETRIALOF A. SYDNEY 3, 
 
 they call it ; I know of none nor am in none. Now, my lord, I am not 
 to give an acceinit of thefe papers, I do not think they are before you, 
 for there is nothing hut the fniiilitude of hands offered for proof. There 
 is the like cafe of my lady Carr fome few years ago : fhe was indidled of 
 perjury, and, as evidence againfl: her, fome letters of hers were produced,, 
 that were contrary to what Ihe fwore in Chancery, and her hand was 
 proved; that is to fay, it was like it: but my lord chief juftice Keiling 
 diredls the jury, that though in civil caufes it is a proof, yet it is the 
 fmalleft and leafi: of proofs ; but in criminal cafes it was none at all. So 
 that my lord Howard's teftimony is fingle ; and what he talks of thofe 
 two bufmelTes, that he calls a confult, and Aaron Smith, is dcftroycd by 
 want of proof. What could fix men do.? Can my lord Howard raife 
 five men by his credit ? by his purfe ? Let him fay as much for me, with 
 all my heart ; for my part I do not know where to raife five men. That 
 fuch men as we are, that have no followers, fhould undertake fo vafl a 
 defign, is very unlikely : and this great defign that was carried on thus, 
 it had neither officers nor foldiers, no place, no time, no money for it. 
 That which he faid laft time, which he forgot now : he talked of twenty 
 five or thirty thoufand pound ; but no man knew where it was to be had : 
 but laft time he faid, it was fpoken in jeft. Now this is a pretty cabal, 
 that fix men fliould meet about a bufinefs, and they negledl every one of • 
 the points relating to the thing they met about, make no ftep about the 
 bufinefs, and if any one did fpeak of it, it was but in jeft. This is a very 
 deep maintaining of the plot. Then, my lord, as to thefe papers, I do 
 not think, I am to give any account of them i I would fay nothing to 
 the difparagement of fir Philip Lloyd, I never faw him till he came to my 
 houfe : but yet I fay, he is the king's officer, and when I am profecuted 
 at the king's fuit, I think he ought to be no witnefs. The government 
 of France is violent and abfolute ; but yet, a few years ago, a minifter 
 of ftate had his papers taken from him, and abundance of them had 
 dangerous plots agalnft the king in them ; but becaufe they were inven- 
 toried in his officer's prefence, or thofe deputed by him, there was no 
 ufe could be made of them ; it was an irreparable fault in the procefs, and 
 that faved him. The fimilitude of hands is nothing : we know that 
 hands will be counterfeited, fo that no man fhall know his own hand. 
 A gentleman that is now dead told me, that my lord Arlington, about 
 five years ago, defired him to write a letter, and feal it as well as he could. 
 He wrote it with care, and fealed it with a wafer and wax upon it ; and 
 within a few days my lord Arlington brought him five letters, and he 
 did not know which was his own. The attorney fhews thefe papers to 
 me, I do not know whether they are n\y own, or no ; but thefe very 
 papers, fuch as they are, do abhor as much, as any one can, fuch a 
 defign. Look upon them, you fee they are all old ink. Thefe papers 
 may be writ perhaps thefe twenty years, the ink is fo old. But, my lord, 
 it is a polemical difcourfe, it feems to be an anfwer to Filmer, wlaich is 
 not calculated for any particular government in the world, it goes only 
 
 upon
 
 32 THETRIALOF A. SYDNEY 
 
 upon thefe general principles. That according to the univerfal law of 
 God and nature there is but one government in the wcrld, and that is 
 entire and abfolute ; and that the king can be bound by no law, by no 
 oath, but he may make all laws, and abolifla them as he pleafes : and 
 this whether of age or no, a man, or a child, of fenfe, or out of his 
 fenfe. Now, my lord, what if any man in his cabiiiCt fhould have 
 written this book ? Then he has another principle, he lays, it is the fame 
 thing whether a king come in by eledtion, by donation, by inheritance or 
 ufurpation, or any other way ; than w^hich, I think, never was a thing 
 more defperately faid. Cromwell, when one White a pried wrote a 
 book *, wherein he undertook to prove. That pojj'ejjion imas the only right to 
 power, though he was a tyrant, and a violent one f, (you need not wonder 
 1 call him tyrant, I did fo every day in his life, and adled againft him 
 too) it would be fo odious a principle, he could not endure it, and ufed 
 him very llightly for it. Now this Filmcr, that no man muft write 
 againft, is the man that does aflert it, That it is no matter how they come 
 by their power ; and gives the fame power to the worft ufurpers, as they 
 that moft rightly come to the crown. By the (ame argument, if the 
 arranteft rafcal of liVael had killed Mofes, David, etc. and feizcd upon 
 the power, he had been poflelfed of that powder, and been father of the 
 people. If this be dodrine, my lord, that is juft and good, then I confefs 
 it may be dangerous for any thing that may be found in a man's houfe 
 contrary to it; but if a commoner of England write his prefent thoughts, 
 and another man upon looking on his book, write his prefent thoughts 
 
 of 
 
 * The title of the book (a curious one too, the above notwithftanding) is, The Grounds 
 cf obedience and government. By T)}omas IFbite, Gentleman. [A fecular Romifli prieft.] 
 
 There are two editions of it. The fecond edition was printed, London, 1655, in i6to. 
 The Motto to the title is, Salm populi fupretna lex. See many circumilanccs relating to 
 this learned able writer, and his works, in A. Wood's Athenae Oxonienfes, and Bifliop 
 Kennct's Hift. re^ifter. 
 
 [f Milton had held out the Beacon to him in his Sonnet. " To the Lord General 
 " Cromwell," May, 1651 ; before he deftroyed the Parliament, and, by Authority of the 
 Anr.y, fet up T)rant, for himfclf. 
 
 Cronnvcll, our chief of men, that through a croud, 
 
 Not of war only, but detractions rude, 
 
 Guided by faith and matchlefs fortitude. 
 
 To peace and truth thy glorious way hafl: plough'd, 
 
 And fought God's battles, and his work purfu'd ; 
 
 While Darwent itreams with blood oi Scots imbru'd. 
 
 And Dunbar field refound thy praifcs loud, 
 
 And Worc'Jhr''^ laureat wreath. Yet much remains 
 
 To conquer Jlill ; peace hath her viffries 
 
 No lefs than thofe of uar. New foes arife 
 
 Threat'ning to bind our fouls in fecular chains : 
 
 Help MS to fave free confciencc from the paw 
 
 Of hireling wolves, whofe gofpel is their maw. 
 And in his Defenfto fecunda, he threw it out, nobly, a fecoml time, in the following beau- 
 tiful addrefs to Cromiuell, then felf-made protcdlor. " Tu igitur, Cromuclle, magnitudine 
 ilia aiiimi ma(5lc cfto ; te cuim dccct j tu patriae liberator, libcitatis auiSor, cuflof4uc idem 
 
 et
 
 THE TRIAL OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 of it, what great hurt is there in it ? And I afk Mr. Attorney, how many- 
 years ago that was written ? 
 
 L. C, J. I do not know what the book was in anfwer to. We are 
 not to fpcak of any book that Sir Robert Filmer wrote ; but you are to 
 make your defence touching a book that was found in your ftudy, and 
 fpend not your time, and the court's time, in that which ferves to no 
 other purpofe, than to gratify a luxuriant way of talking that you have. 
 We have nothing to do with his book ; you had as good tell me a'^ain, 
 that there was a parcel of people rambling about, pretending to my lord 
 Ruffel's ghoft, and fo we may anfwer all the comedies in England. 
 Anfwer to the matter you are indidted for. Do you own that paper ? 
 
 Col. Sydney. No, my lord. 
 
 L. C. y. Go on then. It does not become us to be impatient to 
 hear you, but we ought to advertife you, that you fpend not youi time to 
 no purpofe, and do yourfclf an injury. 
 
 Col. Sydney. I fay, firft, it is not proved upon me ; and fecondly, it 
 is not a crime if it be proved 
 
 L. C. y. You began very materially in one thing : it is material for 
 you to apply yourfelf to take off the credibility of my lord Howard that 
 is a witnefs ; call your witnefles to that purpofe, or if you have any other 
 point to take away the credibility of any other witnefs. 
 
 Co/. Sydney. My lord, I have feven or eight points of law. 
 
 L. C. y. I hear not one yet. 
 
 et coiifervator, neque graviorem perfonam, neque auguftiorem, fufcipere potes ajiam ; qui 
 non modo rcgum res geltas, led Heroum quoque noftrorum fahulas faL'iis exupcrafti. Cc-rita 
 faepius quam caram rem, ab quam cara partnte tua, libi.Ttate,n a patria tibi commendarani 
 atque concreditain, apud te depolitain habes : quod ab eleftiffimis gentis univerfae viris 
 ilia modo expeilabat, id nunc a te uno expcclat, per te ununi confequi fperat : Reverere 
 taniam cle te expcSlationemy fpem patriae de te unicain ; reverere vulfus et vulnera tot forthim 
 virorum, quotquot, te dtice, pro libertate, tarn Jirenue dceertarunt ; manes etiam eorum, qui in 
 ipfo certamine occchuerunt : reverere exterarum quoque civitatum e.vylimationcm tie mils ataue 
 fermones ; qunntas res de libertate nojira, tarn fortitcr part.i, de nojira Reptddiea, tmn glortos> 
 e.xorta ftbi polUceayitur : quae fi tarn cito quafi ahorta evanuerit, profeHo nihil aeque dedecirol'um 
 huic genti, atque pudendian Juerit : tdpfutn denique revei'ere^ ut pro qua adipifcenda libertate, 
 tot aerumnas pertulifti, tot pericula adiifti, eam adeptus, violatam per te, aut ulla in parLC 
 imminutam aliis, ne finas effe. Profefto tu ipfe liber fine nob s elTe non potes ; fie enim 
 narura comparatum eft, ut qui alicnim libertntem occujiat, fuam ipfe primus omnium 
 amittat ; fcque primum omnium intclligat fervire: atque id qnidem non injuria. Jt -jeri 
 fi patronus ipfe libertatis, et quafi tutelaris deus, fi is, quo nemo jujlior, nemo fitnSlior eji habitus^ 
 nemo vir melior, quam vindicavit ipfe, eam pojimod.m invaferit, id non ipfi tant' m, fed uni- 
 verfae virtutis ac pi. tatis rationi perniciofum ae lethale propemodum fit neceffe eft : ipfu hone/las, 
 ipfa virtus decoxijfe videbitur, religionis augufia fides, cxifiimatio perexigua in pcjienim erit, 
 quo gravius generi humano vulnus, pojl illud primum , infdgi tiullum poterit." 
 
 The fame afterwards did Harrington in hij Oceana ; and thou2;h more covertly, accordin<T 
 to his plan, yet like an Englifljinan and a Gentlanan. The title of his book is, " The 
 Commonwealth of Oceana. Dedicated to his Highnelle the Lord Protedtor of the Com- 
 monwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland. [^IVincb >nakes the whole Dedication.] Br 
 James Harrington. London printed 1656" — in folio. Cromwell, after the perufal of the 
 book faid, " The Gentleman had like to trepan him out of his power; but that what he 
 " got by the fword, he would not quit for a little paper (hot" etc. As fee in the life of 
 Harington, with divers finj^ulur obfervations on that fpeech. 
 
 4T 
 
 Si
 
 THE TRIAL OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 Col Sydney. Why, my lord, confplring to levy war is not treafon, 
 and I defire to have counfel upon that. 
 
 L. C. J. It is not a queftion. You had as good afk me, vs^hether the 
 firft chapter in Littleton be law ? 
 
 Col. Sydney. My lord, I have neither made war, nor confplred to levy 
 war. 
 
 L. C. y. You are ftill in a miftake : you fhall not think that we 
 intend to dialogue with you, to let you know how far the proof hath been 
 giveri or not given ; but when we come to diredl the Jury, then we fliall 
 obferve how far the law requires there fhould be two witneffes. But 
 whether there be fuch a proof, that muH: be left to the jury. 
 
 Mr. y. Wythins. If you agree to the confpiracy, I will tell you my 
 mind of it : I cannot give you my opinion in law, till the fadl be ftated. 
 
 L. C. y. The law always ariies upon a point of fadl ; there can be 
 no doubt in point of law, till there be a fettlement in point of fadl. 
 
 Idr. y. Holloivay. My lord has put you in a right way : the confpiracy 
 is proved but by one v.'itnefs, if you have any thing to take oif his credi- 
 bility, it is to the purpofe. 
 
 Col. Sydney. Truly, my lord, I do as little intend to mifpend my own 
 fpirit, and your time, as ever any man that came before you. Now, 
 my lord, if you will make a concatenation of one thing, a fuppofition 
 upon fuppofition, I would take all this afunder, and Ihew, if none of 
 thele things are any thing in themfelves, there can be nothing joined 
 together, 
 
 L. C. y. Take your own method, Mr. Sydney ; but I lay, if you are 
 a man of low fpirits and weak body, it is a duty incumbent upon the 
 court, to exhort you not to fpend your time upon things that are not 
 material. 
 
 Col. Sydney. My lord, I think it is very material that a whimfical 
 imagination of a confpiracy ihould not pafs for a real confpiracy of the 
 death of the king: befides, if thefe papers were found in my houfe, it is 
 a crime created fmce my irnprifonment, and that cannot come in, for 
 they were found fince. My lord, if thefe papers are right, it mentions 
 two hundred and odd flicets, and thefe fliew neither beginning nor 
 ending ; and will you, my lord, indldl a man for trcafon for fcraps of 
 paper, found in his houfe relating to an ancient paper, intended as inno- 
 cently as anv thing in the world, and piece and patch this to my lord 
 Hoivardh difcourfe, to make this a contrivance to kill the king. Then, 
 my lord, I think it is a right of mankind, and ic is cxercifed by all 
 ftudious men, that they write in their own clofets wliat they plcafe for 
 their own mcmoiy, and no man can be anfwerable for it, unlcls they 
 publlfli it. 
 
 L. C y. Pray do not go away with that riglit cf mankind, that it 
 is Lawful for me to write what I will in my own clofct, unlels 1 publiih 
 it. I have been told, Curfe not the king, not in thy thoughts, not in thy 
 bcd-chainbcr, the birds of the air will carry it. I took it to be the duty 
 of mankind, to obferve that.
 
 THE TRIAL OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 Col. Sydney. I have lived under the inquifition- 
 
 o^ 
 
 L. C. y. God be thanked, we are governed by law. 
 
 Co/. Sydney. I have lived under the inquifition, and there is no man 
 in Spain can be tried for herefy 
 
 Mr. y. JVyihitis. Draw no precedents from the inquifition, here, I 
 befeech you. Sir. 
 
 L. C. y. We muft not endure men to talk, that by the right of nature 
 every one may contrive mifchicf in his own chamber, and he is not to be 
 puniflied till he thinks lit to be called to it. 
 
 Col. Sydney. My Lord, if you will take Scripture by pieces, you will 
 make all the penmen of the Scripture blafphemous ; you may accufe 
 David, of faying, There is no God ; and accufe the Evangelifls of faying, 
 Chrift was a blafphemcr and a feduccr ; and the apoftles, that they were 
 drunk. 
 
 L. C. y. Look you, Mr. Sydney, if there be any part of it that 
 explains the fenfe of it, you {hall have it read ; indeed we are trifled with 
 a little. It is true, in fcripture, it is faid, " There is no God," and you 
 muft not take that alone, but you muft fay, " The fool hath faid in his 
 *' heart, There is no God." Now here is a thing imputed to you in the 
 libel ; if you can fay, there is any part that is in excufe of it, call for it. 
 As for the purpofe, whofoever does publifli, that the king may be put in 
 chains or depofed, is a traitor ; but whofoever fays, that none but traitors 
 would put the king in chains or depofe him, is an honeft man ; there- 
 fore apply ad idi-m, but do not let us make excurfions. 
 
 Col. Sydney. If they will produce the whole, my lord, then I can fee 
 whether one part contradidls another. 
 
 L. C. y. Well, if you have any witnefTes call them. 
 
 Col. Sydney. The earl of Anglefey. 
 
 L. C. y. Ay, in God's name, ftay till to morrow in things that are 
 pertinent. 
 
 Col. Sydney. I defire to know of my lord Anglefey, what my lord 
 Howard faid to him concerning the plot that was broken out. 
 
 Lord Anglefey. Concerning this plot you are now queftioned for ? 
 
 Col. Sydney. The plot for which my lord Ruflel and I was in prifon. 
 
 Lord Anglefey. The queftion I am aflied, is, what my lord Howard 
 faid before the trial of my lord Ruflel, concerning the plot ; I fuppofc, 
 this goes as a branch of that he was accufed for. I was then in the 
 country, when the bufmefs was on foot, and ufed to come to tGwn a day 
 or two in the week, living near in Hertfordfliire ; and I underftanding 
 the afflidion my lord of Bedford vv'as in, I went to give my lord a vifil, 
 we having been acquaintance of above fifty years ftanding, and bred 
 together in Maudlin College in Oxford. When I came to my lord of 
 Bedford, and had adminiftred that comfort that was fit for one Chriftian 
 to give another in that diftrefs, I was ready to leave him, and my lord 
 Howard came in. It was upon the Friday before my lord Howard v.-^.& 
 taken, he was taken (as I take it) upon Sunday or Monday. My lord 
 
 4 T 2 Howard
 
 36 THETRIALOF A. SYDNEY 
 
 Howard fell into the fame cliriftlan office that I had been juft difchargmg, 
 to compaflionate my lord's affliiftion, to ufe arguments to comfort and 
 fupport him under it, and told him, he was not to be troubled, for he 
 had a difcreet, a wiie, and a virtuous fon, and he could not be in any 
 fuch plot, (I think that was the word he ufed at firft, though he gave 
 another name to it afterward) and his lordihip might therefore well expe(Sl: 
 a good iffue of that bufinefs, and he might believe his fon fecure, for he 
 believed he v/as neither guilty, nor fo much as to be fufpeded. My 
 lord proceeded further, and did fay, that he kiiew of no fuch barbarous- 
 defign (I think he called it fo in the fecond place) and could not charge 
 my lord Ruffel with it, nor any body elfe. This was the efFe£t of what 
 my lord Howafftl faid at that time, and I have nothing to fiy of my ov.'n 
 knowledge more than this ; but to obferve that I was prefent when the 
 jury did put my lord Howard particularly to it ; " What have you to 
 iky to what my lord Anglefey teftities againft you ? " My lord, I think, 
 did in three feveral places give a fhort account of himfelf, and faid it 
 was very true ; and gave them fome further account why he faid it, and 
 iaid, he lliould be very glad it might have been advantageous to my lord 
 iluifel. 
 
 Col. Sydney. My Lord of Clare, I defire to know of my lord of Clare, 
 what my lord Howard faid concerning this plot and me. 
 
 Lord Clare. My lord, a little after Colonel Sydney was taken, fpeaking 
 of the times, he faid, that if ever he was queftioned again, he would 
 never plead ; the cjuickeft difpatch was the beft ; he was fure they would 
 have his life, though he was never fo innocent : and dil'courfmg of the 
 late primate of Armagh's prophecy. For my part, fays he, I think the 
 perfecution is begun, and 1 believe it will be very fliarp ; but 1 hope it 
 will be fhort : and I faid, I hoped fo too. 
 
 Mr. Att. Gen. What anfv\'er did your lordfliip give to it ? 
 
 Lord Clare. I have told you what I know : my lord is too full of dif- 
 courfe for me to anfwer all he fays ; but for Colonel Sydney, he did 
 with great aiTeverations alfert, that he was as innocent as any man. 
 breathing, and ufed great encomiums in his praife, and then he feemed 
 to bemoan his misfortune ; which I thought real, for never was any man 
 more engaged to another, xhan he was to Colonel Sydney, I believe.. 
 Then 1 told, they talked of papers that were found, I am fure, fays he,, 
 they can make nothing of any papers of his. 
 
 Mr. Att. Gen. When was this ? 
 
 Lord Clare. Tliis was at my houfe the beginning of July. 
 
 Mr. Att. Gen. How long before my lord Howard was taken \ 
 
 Lord Clare. About a v.xek before. 
 
 Mr. Att. Gen. I would aflc you, my lord, upon your honour, would 
 not any man have faid as much, that had been in the plot ? 
 
 Lord Clare. I cannot tell, I knov/ of no plot. 
 
 Col. Sydney. Mr. Philip Howard. 
 
 Mr. Jiijl. Wythins^ What da you afk him ?
 
 THE TRIAL OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 Col. Sydney. What you heard my lord Howard fay concerning this 
 pretended plot, or my being in it ? 
 
 Mr. Phil. Howard. My lord, when the plot firfl brake out, I ufed to. 
 meet my lord Howard very often at my brolhcr's houfc, and coming one 
 day from Whiteliall, he afked me, What news ? I told him. My lord, 
 fays I, there are abundance of people that have confefTed the horrid dellgn 
 of murthering the king, and the duke. How, fays he, is fuch a thing 
 poffible ? Says I, It is fo, they have all confelTed it. Says he. Do you- 
 know any of their names ? Yes, fiys I, 1 have heard their names. What 
 are their names ? fays he. Why, fays I, Colonel llomfey, and Mr. Weft, 
 and one Walcoti and others, that are in the proclamalion (I cannot tell 
 whether Walcott was in hold.) Says he. It is impoflible fuch a thing 
 can be, fays he : there are in all countries people that wifli ii! to the 
 government, and, fays he, I believe there are fome here ; but, fays he, 
 for any man of honour, intercil, or eftate, to go about it, is v.diolly 
 impolfible. Says T, My lord, fo it is, and I believe It. Says I, My lord, 
 do you know any of thefe people ? No, fays he, none of them, only one 
 day, fays he, pafTmg through the Exchange, a man fduted me, with a 
 biemilh upon his eye, and he embraced me, and wiflied me all happlncfs ; 
 fays he, I could not call to mind who this man Vv'as : but afterwards, I 
 recolle^led myfelf, that I met him at my lord Shaftefbury's, and heard 
 
 afterwards, and concluded his name to be his at whofe houfe the king 
 
 was to be aflalfinated 
 
 Mr. A:f. Gen. Rombald. 
 
 Mr. Howard. Ay, Rombald. My Lord, may I afk, if my lord 
 Howard be here ? 
 
 L. C. y. He is there behind you. 
 
 M: Howard. Then he will hear me. My lord, fays I, what does- 
 your lordfhip think of this bufinefs ? Says he, I am in a maze. Says I, 
 If you will he ruled by me, you have a good opportunity to addrefs to the 
 king, and all the difcontented lords, as they are called ; and to fliew your 
 deteftation and abhorrence of this thing ; for, fays I, this will be a good 
 means to reconcile all things. Says he, You have put one of the belt 
 ;iotions in my head that ever was put. Says I, You are a very good 
 penman, draw up the firft addrefs (and I believe, I was tliefirftthat men- 
 tioned an addrefs, you have had many an one fince, God fend them good 
 fucceff.) Says he, I am forry my Lord of ElTex is out of town, he lEouId 
 prefcnt it. But, lays I, here is my lord Ruifel, my lord of Bedford, my 
 lord of Clare, all of you that are dlfaffedied, and fo accounted, go about 
 this bufmefs, and make the nation happy, and king happy. Says he. 
 Will you ftay till 1 come back? Ay, lays I, if you will come in any 
 time ; but he never came back while I was there. The next day, I think, 
 my lord Ruffel was taken, and I came and found him at my brother's 
 houfe again (for there he was day and night.) Says he, Coufin, what 
 news ? Says I, My lord Ruflel is fent to the Tower. We are all undone 
 then, fays he. Pray, fays he, go to my lord Privy-feal, and fee if you 
 
 can. 
 
 37
 
 o8 THETRIALOF A. SYDNEY 
 
 can find I am to be taken up : fays he, I doubt it is a fham-plot ; if it 
 was a true plot, I fhould fear nothing. Says I, What do you put me to 
 go to lord Privy-feal for ? He is one of the king's cabinet council ; do 
 you think he will tell me ? I will not go ; but, fays I, if you are not 
 guilty, why would you have me go to inquire ? Why, fays, he, becaufe I fear 
 it is not a true plot, but a plot made upon us, and therefore, fays he, there is 
 no man free. My lord, I can fay no more as to that time, (and there 
 is no man that fits here, that wifhes the king better than I do.) The 
 next thing I come to, is this, I came the third day, and he was mighty 
 fad and melancholy, that was when colonel Sydney was taken : fays I, 
 Why are you melancholy, becaufe colonel Sydney is taken ? Says I, 
 Colonel Svdney was a man talked of before ; why, you were not troubled 
 for my lord Ruflel that is of your blood. Says he, I have that particular 
 obligation from colonel Sydney, that no one man had from another. I 
 have one thing to fay farther, I pray I may be rightly underllood in what 
 I have faid. 
 
 L. C. y. What, you would have us undertake for all the people that 
 hear you ? I think you have fpoken very materially, and 1 will obferve it 
 by and by to the jury. 
 
 Col. Sydney. Pray call dodor Burnet. 
 
 Mr. Jiift. Walcott. What do you afk doctor Burnet ? 
 
 Col. Sydney. I have only to afk dodor Burnet, whether, after the news 
 of this pretended plot, my lord Howard came to him ? And what he faid 
 to him ? 
 
 Dr. Burnet. My lord, the day after this plot brake out, my lord 
 Howard came to fee me, and upon fome difcourfe of the plot, with hands 
 and eyes lifted up to heaven he protefted he knew nothing of any plot, 
 and believed nothing of it, and faid, that he looked upon it as a ridiculous 
 thing. 
 
 [it'fv Lord Paget t 'wasfentfor at the prifoner'' s reqiieji, being in the Ha//.] 
 
 Co/. Sydney. My lord, I defire Jofeph Ducas may be called, [icho ap- 
 peared, being a Frenc/jinan.'\ 
 
 Col. Sydney. 1 defire to know, whether he was not in my houfe when 
 my lord Howard came thither, a little after I was made a prifoner, and 
 what he laid upon it ? 
 
 Ducas. Yes. My lord, my lord Howard came the day afteh the 
 colonel Sydney was taken, and he afkcd me, where was the colonel 
 Sydney ? and I faid, he was taken, by an order of the king. And he 
 faid, Oh Lord ! what is that for ? I faid. They have taken papers. He 
 faid, Are fome papers left? Yes. Have they taken fomcthing more? 
 No. Well, you mufi: take all the things out of the houfe, and carry them 
 to fome you can trufl. I dare trufl: no body. Says he, 1 will lend my 
 ■coach and coach-man. I faid, if the colonel Sydney will five his goods, 
 he lave them ; if not, ii: is no matter. A little after tbe lord Howard 
 came in the houfe of colonel Sydney about eleven a clock at night. When 
 he was in, I told him. What is this ? They talk of a plot to kill the king 
 and the duke ; and I told him, they fpake of one general inlurredion ; 
 
 5 ii"^l
 
 THE TRIAL OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 and I told him more, that I underftood that colonel Sydney was fent into 
 Scotland. When my lord Howard undcrllood that, he faid, God knows, 
 I know nothing of this, and J am fure if the colonel Sydney was con- 
 cerned In the matter, he would tell me fomething, but I know nothing. 
 Well, my lord, I told him, I believe you are not fafe in this houfe, there 
 is more danger here than in another place. Says he, I have been a pri- 
 foner, and I had rather do any thing in the world than be a prifoncr again. 
 
 [Then my lord Pagett came into the court.] 
 
 Col. Sydney. Pray, my lord, be pleafed to tell the court, if my lord 
 Howard has faid any thing to you concerning this late pretended plot, or 
 my being any party in it. 
 
 Lord Pagett. My lord, I was fubposna'd to come hither, and did not 
 know upon what account. I am obliged to fay, my lord Hov/ard was 
 with me prefently after the breaking out of this plot, and before his 
 appearing in that part which he now a(ftip, he came to me ; and I told 
 him, that I was glad to fee him abroad, and that lie was not concerned in 
 this diforder. He faid, he had joy from feveral concerning it, and he 
 took it as an injury to him, for that it looked as if he were guilty. He 
 faid, he knew nothing of himfelf, nor any body elfe. And though he 
 was free in difcourfe, and free to go into any company indifferently ; yet 
 he faid, he had not feen any body that could fay any thing of him, or give 
 him occafion to fay any thing of any body elfe. 
 
 Col. Sydney. Mr. Edward Howard. 
 
 Mr. Ed. Howard. Mr. Sydney, what have you to fay to me ? 
 
 Col. Sydney. My lord, I defire you would aflc Nir. Edward Howard 
 the fame thing, what difcourfe he had with my lord Howard about this 
 plot ? 
 
 L. C. J. Mr. Howard, Mr. Sydney defires you to tell what difcourfe 
 you had with my lord Howard about this plot. 
 
 Mr. Howard, My lord, I have been for fome time very intimate with 
 my lord, not only upon the account of our alliance, but upon a ftricl 
 intimacy and correfpondence of friendfliip, and, I think, I vs^as as much 
 his as he could expect from that alliance. I did move him during this 
 time, to ferve the king upon the moft honourable account I could, but 
 that proved inefTedual : I pafs that, and come to the bufinefs here. As 
 foon as the plot brake out, my lord having a great intimacy with me, 
 exprefled a great dcteftation and furprifmg in himfelf to hear of it, wherein 
 my lord Howard afl'ured me, under very great aifeverations, that he could 
 neither accufe himfelf, nor no man living. He told me moreover, that 
 there were certain perfons of quality whom he was very much concerned 
 for, that they fnould be fo much reflected upon or troubled, and he con- 
 doled very much their condition both before and after they were taken. 
 My lord, I believe in my confcience, he did this without any mental 
 refervation, or equivocation, for he had no reafon to do it with me. I 
 add moreover, if I have any fenfe of my lord's difpofition, I think if he 
 had known any luch thing, he would not have Hood his being taken, or 
 
 made 
 
 39
 
 40 THETRIALOF A. SYDNEY 
 
 made his application to the king in this manner, I am afraid not fo fuit- 
 able to his quahty. 
 
 L. C. y. No rcflecftions upon any body. 
 
 Mr. Howard. My lord, I refle£l upon no body, I underftand where 
 I am, and have a refpedl for the place ; but fince your lordlhip has given 
 me this occalion, I muft needs fay, that that reproof that was accidentally 
 given me, at the trial of my lord Ruffel, by reafon of a weak memory, 
 made me omit fome particulars I will fpeak now, which are thefe, and I 
 think they are material : my lord upon the difcourfe of this plot did 
 further affure me, that it was certainly a fliam, even to his knowledge. 
 How, my lord, fays I, do you mean a fham ? Why, fays he, fuch an 
 one, coulm, as is too black for any minifter of public employment to 
 have devifed : but, fays he, it was forged by people in the dark, fuch as 
 jefuits and papijis ; and, fays he, this is my confcience. Says I, My 
 lord, if you arc fure of this thing, then pray, my lord, do that honour- 
 able thing that becomes your quality, that is, give the king fatisfad:ion as 
 becomes you ; pray make an addrefs under your hand to the king, 
 whereby you exprefs your deteftation and abhorrence of this thing. Says 
 he, I thank you for your council : to what minifter, fays he, fliall I 
 apply myfelf ? I pitched upon my lord Halifax, and I told him of my 
 lord's defire, and I remember my lord Howard named the duke of Mon- 
 mouth, my lord of Bedford, the earl of Clare, and he laid he was fure 
 they would do it ; that he was fure of their innocence, and would be 
 glad of the occafion : and I went to my lord Halifax, and told him that 
 my lord was willing to fet it under his hand, his deteftation of this plot, 
 and that there was no fuch thing to his knowledge. My lord Halifax 
 very wortliily received me ; fays he, I will introduce it. But my lord 
 Rulfel being taken, this was laid afide, and my lord gave this reafon. 
 I'^or, fays he, there will be fo many people taken, they will be himlered. 
 1 muft needs add from my confcience, and from my heart before God and 
 man, that if my lord had fpoken before the king, fitting upon his throne, 
 abating for the folemnity of the prefence I could not have more believed 
 lum, from that afturance he had in me. And I am fure from what I 
 have faid, if 1 had the honour to be of this gentleman's jury, I would 
 not believe him. 
 
 L. C. y. That muft not be fuifcrcd. 
 
 Mr. Alt. Gen. You ought to be bound to your good behaviour for 
 that. 
 
 L. C. y. The jury arc bound by their oaths to go according to their 
 x;vicience, they are not to go by men's conjectures. 
 
 Mr. HoiViUii. May I go, my lord ? 
 
 Mr. Att. Gen. My lord Howard dcfires he may ftay : we ftiall make 
 ufe of him. 
 
 Col. Sydney. My lord, T fpake of a mortgage that I had of my lord 
 Howard ; I do not know whether it is needful to be proved ; but it is I'o, 
 
 Lord HouHird. I confcfs it.
 
 THE TRIAL OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 Col. Sydney. Then, my lord, here is the other point ; he is under the 
 fear, that he dare not but fay what he thinks will conduce towards the 
 gaining his pardon ; and that he hath expreflcd, that he could not have 
 his pardon, but he mull hrft do this drudgery of fwearing, I need 
 not fay, that his fon fliould fay, that he was forry his father could not 
 get his pardon unlefs he did fwear againft fome others. 
 
 Lol. Sydney. Call Mr. Blake \yDho appeared?^ My lord, I dcfire he may 
 be afkcd, whether my lord Howard did not tell him that he could not get 
 his pardon yet, and he could afcribe it to nothing, but that the drudgery 
 of fwearing muft be over firft, 
 
 'Then my Lord Cbiefjujlice ajked the qiiejlion. 
 
 Mr. Blake. My lord, I am very forry I fhould be called to give a 
 public account of a private converfation. How it comes about I do not 
 know. My lord fent for me about fix weeks ago, to come and fee him. 
 I went, and we talked of news. I told him I heard no body had their 
 pardon but he that firft difcovered the plot. He told me no, but he had 
 his warrant for it : and, fiys he, I have their word and honour for it, 
 but, fays he, I will do nothing in it till I have further order ; and, fays 
 he, I hear nothing of it, and I can afcribe it to no other reafon, but I muft 
 not have my pardon till the drudgery of fwearing is over. Thefe words 
 my lord faid, I believe my lord will not deny it. 
 Then Mr. Sydney called Mr. Hunt and Burroughs^ hut they did not appear. 
 
 Col. Sydney. It is a hard cafe they do not appear : one of them was to 
 prove that my lord Howard faid he could not have his pardon till he had 
 done fome other jobs. 
 
 L. C. J. I cannot help it ; if you had come for afliftance from the 
 court I would willingly have done what I could. 
 
 Then Col. Sydtiey ?nentioned the duke of Buckingham, but he ivas informed 
 
 he was not fubpxna'd. 
 
 Col. Sydney. Call Grace Tracy and Elizabeth Penwick \p.oho appeared?^ 
 I afk you only, what my lord Howard faid to you at my houfe concerning 
 the plot, and my being in it ? 
 
 Tracy. Sir, he faid that he knew nothing of a plot, he protefted, and 
 he was fure Colonel Sydney knew nothing of it. And he faid, if you 
 knew any thing of it, he muft needs know of it, for he knew as much 
 of your concerns as any one in the world. 
 
 Col. Sydney. Did he take God to witnefs upon it ? 
 
 Tracy. Yes. 
 
 Col. Sydney. Did he defire my plate at my houfe ? 
 
 Tracy. I cannot tell that : he liiid the goods might be fent to his houfe. 
 
 Col. Sydney, Penwick, what did my lord Howard fay in your hearing 
 concerning the pretended plot, or my plate carrying away ? 
 
 Penivick. When he came he afked for your honour ; and they faid 
 your honour was taken away by a man to the Tower for the plot ; and 
 tJicn he took God to witnefs he knew nothing of it, and believed your 
 
 4 U honour 
 
 41
 
 THE TRIAL OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 honour did not neither. He faid he was in the Tower two years ago, and 
 your honour, he believed, faved his Hte. 
 
 Col. Sydney. Did he defire the plate? 
 
 Pemoick. Yes, and faid it lliould be fent to his houfe to be fecured. He 
 f:\id it was only malice. 
 
 Mr. Wharton Jlood up. 
 
 Mr. Wharton. It is only this I have to lay, that if your lordfliip 
 pleafes to {hew me any of thefe fheets of paper, I will undertake to imitate 
 them in a little time that you iliall not know which is which. It is 
 the eafieft hand that ever I faw in my life. 
 
 Mr. Alt. Gen. You did not write thefe, Mr. Wharton ? 
 
 Mr. Wharton. No, but I will do this in a very little time if you 
 pleafe. 
 
 L. C. y. Have you any more witnefTes ? 
 
 Co/. Sydney. No, my lord. 
 
 L. C. J. Then apply yourfelf to the jury. 
 
 Co/. Sydney. Then this is that I have to fay. Here is a huge compli- 
 cation of crimes laid to my charge. I did not know at firfl: under what 
 ftatutc they were, now I find it is the ftatute of 25 Ed. 3. This ftatute 
 hath two branches ; one relating to war, the other to the perfon of the 
 king. That relating to the perfon of the king, makes the confpiring, 
 imagining, and compafling his death, criminal. That concerning war, 
 is not unlcfs it be levied : now, my lord, I cannot imagine to which of 
 thefe they refer my crime ; and I did defire your lordfhip to explain it. 
 For to fay that a man did meet to confpire the king's death, and he that 
 gives you the account of the bufmefs does not fpeak one word of it, 
 feems extravagant ; for confpiracies have ever their denomination from 
 that point to which they tend ; as a confpiracy to make falfe coin infers 
 inftruments and the like. A confpiracy to take away a woman, to kill, 
 or rob, are all direfted to that end. So confpiring to kill the king, muft 
 immediately aim at killing the king. The king hath two capacities, 
 natural and politic : that which is the politic cannot be within the ftatute ; 
 in that fenfe he never dies ; and it is abfurd to fay it fhould be a fault to 
 kill the king that cannot die. So then it muft be the natural fenfe it 
 muft be undcrrtood in, which muft be done by fword, by piftol, or any 
 other way. Now if there be not one word of this, then that is utterly.- 
 at an end, though the witnefs had been good. 
 
 The next point is concerning levying of war. Levying of war Is 
 made treafon there, fo it be proved by overt-a£t : but an overt-ad of that 
 never was, or can be, pretended here. If the war be not levied, it is 
 not within the adl ; for confpiring to levy war is not in the a£l. My 
 lord, there is no man that thinks that I would kill the king, that knowS' 
 me; I am not a man to have fuch a dellgn ; perhaps I may fay I have 
 faved his life once. So that it muft be by implication, that is, it is firft 
 imagined that I intended to raife a war, and then it is imagined that war. 
 {hould tend to the dcftrudion of the king. Now I know that may 
 
 follow
 
 THE TRIAL OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 follow ; but that is not natural or neceffary : and being not natural or 
 necefTary, it cannot be fo undcrftood by the law. That it is not, is plain ; 
 for many wars have been made, and the death of the king has not fol- 
 lowed. David made war upon Saul, yet no body will fay he fought his 
 death : he had him under his power and did not kill him. David made 
 war upon Ifhbofheth, yet did not defign his death : and fo, in England 
 and France, kings have been taken prifoners, but they did not kill them. 
 King Stephen was taken prifouer, but they did not kill him. So that it 
 is two diftindl things, to make war, and to endeavour to kill the king. 
 Now as there is no manner of pretence that I Ihould endeavour to kill 
 the king directly, fo it cannot be by inference, becaufe it is treafon under 
 another fpecies. I confefs I am not iit to argue theie points ; I think I 
 ought to have counfel : but if you will not allow it me, I cannot help it : 
 but thefe things are impolfible to be jumbled up together. Now I fay 
 this, if I am not under the firft branch, if not diredlly I cannot be by 
 implication ; though I did make war, I cannot be laid to confpire the 
 death of the king, becaufe it is a diftin6t fpecies of treafon; and my lord 
 Coke fays, it is the overthrow of all juftice to confound membra divi- 
 dentia. Now if the making of war cannot be underftood to be a confpiring 
 the death of the king, then I am not guilty of this indictment : but here, 
 my lord, is neither confpiring the death of the king, nor making war, 
 nor confpiring to make war. Befides, I fay, it is not the beft man's 
 evidence here would be good in this cafe, becaufe the law requires two. 
 
 The next thing is the bufinefs of Aaron Smith, which, my lord, tells 
 fo imperfe£lly, and fo merely conjectural, that there is nothing in it, 
 but his rhetorick in fetting it out. He tells you of a letter fent with him ; 
 but he does not tell you by whom writ, what was in it, or whether it 
 was delivered or no : fo that I think we may lay that afide as the other, 
 as things nothing in them at all. Then fays Mr. Attorney, thefe Scotch 
 gentlemen are come to town. I profefs I never heard the names of one 
 of them till he named them to me in the Tower. I have not lent myfelf, 
 nor writ, a letter into Scotland never fmce the year 59 ; nor do I know 
 one man in Scotland to w^hom I can write, or from whom I ever received 
 one. I returned into England in the year 77, and fince that time ha^'e 
 not writ nor received a letter from Scotland. Then, fome gentlemen 
 came hither. What is that to me? I never favv one of the Campbells 
 in my life, nor Monro. If any one can prove I have had communication 
 with them, I will be glad to fuffer. 
 
 Then here are papers : if any thing is to be made of them, you muft 
 produce the whole, for it is impoffible to make any thing of a part of 
 them. You afk me, what other pallage 1 would have read ? I do not 
 know a paffage in them, I cannot tell whether it be good or bad. But 
 if there are any papers found (it is a great doubt whether they were found 
 in my ftudy or no, or whether they be not counterfeit ; but though that 
 he admitted that they were found in my houfe) the hand is fuch that it 
 ihews they have been writ very many ;[,ear&. Then that which feems to 
 
 4 U 2 be 
 
 43
 
 44 THETRIALOF A. SYDNEY 
 
 be an account of the fedions and chapters, that is but a fcrap ; and what 
 if any body had, my lord, either in my own hand or another's found 
 papers that are not ^vell juftlnable, is this treafon ? Does this imagine the 
 death of the king ? If any man can fay I ever printed a fheet in my 
 life, I will fubmit to any punifhment. Many others, my lord, they 
 write, and they write what comes into their heads. I believe there is a 
 brother of mine here has forty quire of paper written by my father, and 
 never one fheet of them was publifhed ; but he writ his own mind to fee 
 what he could think of it another time, and blot it out again, may be. 
 And I myfelf, 1 believe, have burned more papers of my own writing, 
 than a horfe can carry. So that for thcfe papers 1 cannot anfwer for them. 
 There is nothing in it, and what concatenation can this have with the 
 other defign that is in itfelf nothing, with my lord's feled: council felefted 
 by no body to purfue the defign of my lord Shafteihury ? And this 
 council, that he pretends to be fet up for fo great a bufmefs, was to be 
 adjufted with fo much finenels, fo as to bring things together. What 
 was this finenefs to do, taking it for granted, which I do not. This was 
 nothing, it he was a credible witnefs, but a few men talking at large of 
 what might be or not be, what was like to fall out without any manner 
 of intention or doing any thing. They did not fo much as enquire 
 whether there was men in the country, arms, or ammunition A war 
 to he made: by five or fix men, not knowing one another ; not trufting 
 one another ! What faid Dr. Coxe in his evidence at my lord Ruflel's 
 trial, of my lord Rudcl's trufting my lord Howard ? He might fay the 
 fame of fome others. So that, my lord, I fay, thefe papers have no 
 manner of coherence, no dependance upon any fuch defign. You m.uft 
 go upon conjedure ; and, after all, you find nothing but only papers, 
 never perfed:, only fcraps, written many years ago, and that could not 
 be calculated for the raifing of the people. Now, pray, what imagi- 
 nation can be more vain than that ? and what man can be fafe if the king's 
 counfel may make fuch (whimfical I will not fay, but) groundlefs con- 
 ftrudtions ? Mr. Attorney fays the plot was broken to the Scots (God 
 knows we were neither broken nor joined) and that the Campbells came 
 to town about that time I was taken, and in the m.ean time my lord 
 Howard, the great contriver of all this plot, who was moft adlive, and 
 advifed the bufmefs that confifted of fo much finenefs; he goes there and 
 agrees of nothing : and then goes into Effex upon great Important bufi- 
 nefs, greater than the war of England and Scotland, to what purpofe ? 
 to look after a little pimping manor : and what then ? Why, then, it 
 mull be laid afide, and he mult be idle five weeks at the Dath, and there 
 is no enquiring after it. Now I defire your lordlhip to confider, whether 
 there be a polfibility for any men, that have the fenfe of porters and grooms, 
 to do fuch things as he would put upon us. 1 would only liiy this, if 
 Mr. Attorney be in the right, there was a combination \v\d\ the Scots, 
 and then this paper was writ : for thofe that fay, I did it, lay, I was 
 doing ol: it then, and by the notes, there is work enough for four or five 
 
 years.
 
 THE TRIAL OF A. SYDNEY 45 
 
 years, to make out what is mentioned in thofe fcraps of paper, and this 
 muft be to kill the king. And I fay this, my lord, that, under favour, 
 for all conftrudive treafons you are to make none, but to go according to 
 plain proof; and that thefe conftructive treafons belong only to parlia- 
 ment, and by the immediate provifo in that a£t. Now, my lord, I leave 
 it to your lordfliip, to fee whether there is in this any thing that you can 
 fay is an overt-ad: of treafon mentioned in 25 E. 3. If it be not plainly 
 under one of the two branches, that I have endeavoured to kill the king, 
 or levied war, then it is matter of conflrudion, and that belongs to no 
 court, but tlie parliament. Then, my lord, this hath been adjudged 
 already in Throgmortoii's cafe. There are twenty judgments of parlia- 
 ment, the ad of 13 Eliz. that fay 1 fhould have fome body to fpealc 
 
 for me, my lord. 
 
 L. C. y. We are of another opinion. 
 
 Mr. yi</L Wytb'ms. If you acknowledge the matter of fad, you fay 
 •well. 
 
 Col. Sydney. I fay there are fcveral judgments of parliament, that do 
 fliew whatever is conftrudive-treafon does not belong to any private court : 
 that of I Mary, i Ed. 6. i Eliz. 5 Eliz. 18. another 13 Car. fhew this. 
 Now, my lord, I fay that the bufinefs concerning the papers, it is only a. 
 fimilitude of hands, which is juft nothing. In my lady Carr's cafe, it 
 was refolved to extend to no criminal caiife; if not to any, then not to 
 the greateft, the moft capital. So that I have only this to fay, that I think 
 it is impoflible for the jury to fnd this matter; for the firft point you 
 proved by my lord Howard, that, I think, is no body ; and the laft con- 
 cerning the papers, is only imagination from the fimilitude of hands. If 
 I had publiflied it, I mufl: have anfwered for it ; or if the thing had been 
 whole and mine, I mufl have anfwered for it ; but for thefe fcraps never 
 fhewcd any body, that, I think, does not at all concern me. And I 
 fay, if the jury fliould find it (which is impofTible they can) I defire to 
 have the law referved unto me. 
 
 Mr. Sol. Gen. My lord, and you gentlemen of the jury. The evi- 
 dence hath been long ; but I will endeavour to repeat it, as faithfully as I 
 can. The crime the prifoner Hands accufed for, is compafling and 
 imagining the death of the king. That, which we go about to prove 
 that compaffing and imagining by, is by his meeting and confulting how 
 to ralfe arms agalnft the king, and by plain matter in writing under his 
 own hand, where he does affirm, it is lawful to take away and deftroy the 
 king. Gentlemen, I will begin with the firft part of it, the meeting and 
 confiiltation to ralfe arms asrainft the kin":. 
 
 The prisoner, gentlemen, hath endeavoured to avoid the whole force 
 of this evidence by faying, that this in point of law cannot affed him, 
 if it were all proved ; for this does not amount to a proof of his com- 
 paffing and imagining the death of the king : and he is very long in 
 interpreting the ad of parliament to you of 25 E. 3. and dividing of it 
 
 into
 
 THE TRIAL OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 into feveral members or branches of treafon ; and does infift upon It, tbat 
 though this fliould be an ofFence within one branch of that ftatute, yet 
 that is not a proof of the other, which is the branch he is proceeded 
 upon, that is, the firft claufe againft the compaffing and imagining the 
 death of the king. And, fays he, confpiring to levy war is not fo much 
 .as one branch of that ftatute, but it muft be war adlually levied. This is 
 a matter he is wholly miftaken in, in point of law. It hath been adjudged 
 over and over again, that an a£l which is in one branch of that ftatute, 
 may be an overt-a£t to prove a man guilty of another branch of it. As 
 levying war is an overt-adl to prove a man guilty of confpiring the death 
 of the king ; and this was adjudged in the cafe of fir Henry Vane : fo is 
 meeting and coniulting to raile to arms. And reafon does plainly fpeak 
 it to be fo ; for they that confpire to raife war againft the king, cannot 
 be prefumed to ftop any where till they have dethroned or murdered the 
 king. Gentlemen, I will not be long in citing authorities : it hath been 
 fettled lately by all the judges of England, in the cafe of my lord Ruflel, 
 who hath fuft'ered for this confpiracy. Therefore that point of law will 
 be very plain againft the prifoner. 
 
 He hath mentioned fome other things ; as, that there muft be two 
 ^\'itnefles to every particular fa£l ; and one witnefs to one fa£t, and an- 
 other to another, is not fufiicient. It hath been very often obje£led, and 
 as often over-ruled : it was over-ruled folemnly in the cafe of my lord 
 Staftbrd. Therefore if we have one witnefs to one overt-adl, and another 
 to another, they will be two witnefles in law to convidl this prifoner. 
 
 In the firft part of our evidence, we give you an account of the general 
 tlefign of an infiirreftion that was to have been ; that this was contrived 
 firft when my lord Shaftefl^ury was in England; that after my lord 
 Shaftefljury was gone, the bufincfs did not fall, but they thought fit to 
 revive it again, and, that they might carry it on the more fteadily, they 
 <lid contrive a coimcil among themfelves of fix, whereof the prifoner at 
 the bar was one. They were the duke of Monmouth, my lord of Efl'ex, 
 my lord Howard, my lord Ruflel, the priibner at the bar, and Mr. 
 Elambden. This council they contrived to manage this affair, and to 
 carry on that defign that feemed to fall by the death of my lord of 
 Shaftefbury ; and they met. This we give you an account of, firft by 
 wimeffos that gave you an account in general of it : and though they 
 were not privy to it, yet they heard of this council, and that colonel 
 iSydney was to be one of this council. This, gentlemen, it it had ftond 
 alone by itfelf, had been nothing to afi"ccl: the prifoner at all. But this 
 will ihew you, that this was difcourfed among them that were in this 
 confpiracy. 'i'hen my lord Howard gives you an account, that firft 
 the duke of Monniouth, and he, and colonel Sydney met, and it was 
 agreed to be neccllary to have a council that Ihould conlift of fix or feven, 
 and they were to carry it on : that the duke of Monmouth undertook to 
 difpoic my lord Ruflel to it, and colonel Sydney to difpofe the earl of 
 Eflex, and Mr. Hambdcn : that thefe gentlemen did meet accordingly, 
 
 and
 
 THE TRIAL OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 and the fubftance of their difcourfe was, taking notice how the defign had 
 fallen upon tlie death of my lord Shaftefbury ; that it was fit to carry it 
 on before men's inclinations were cool, for they found they were ready 
 to it, and had great reafon to believe it, becaufe this being a bufincis 
 communicated to fo many, yet for all that it was kept very fecret, and no 
 body had made any mention of it, which they looked upon as a certain 
 argument that men were ready to engage in it. This encouraged them 
 to go on in this conTpiracy. Then when the fix met at Mr. Hambden's 
 houfe, they debated concerning the place of rifing, and the time: the 
 time they conceived muft be fuddenly before men's minds were cool, 
 for now they thought they were ready and very much difpofed to it : and 
 for place, they had in debate whether they fliould rile firft in the town, or 
 in the country, or both together : and for the perfons, they thought it 
 abfolutely neceflary for them to have the united counfels of Scotland to 
 join with them, and therefore they did refer this matter to be better con- 
 fidered of another time; and they met afterwards at rhy lord lluflel's 
 houfe in February, and there they had difcourfe to the fame purpofe. But 
 there they began to confider with themfelves, being they were to deftroy 
 this government, what they fhould fet up in the room of it ; to what 
 purpofe they engaged. For they did very wifely confider, if this be only 
 to ferve a turn, and to make one man great, this will be a great hindrance 
 in their affair : therefore they thought it was neceflary to engage upon a 
 public account, and to refolve all into the authority of a parliament, 
 which furely they either thought to force the king to call, or otherwife, 
 that the people might call a parliament, if the king refufed ; and fo they 
 to choofe their own heads. 
 
 But ftill they were upon this point, that it was neceflary for their friends 
 in Scotland to have their counfels united with them ; and in order to that,, 
 it was neceflary to contrive fome way to fend a meflienger into Scotland,, 
 to bring fome men here to treat and confult about it ; and colonel Sydney 
 is the man that does engage to fend this mefl'enger : and he had a man 
 very fit for his turnj, that is, Aaron Smith, whom he could confide in, 
 and him he undertook to fend into Scotland. This meflenger was to 
 fetch my lord Melvin, the two Campbells, and fir John Cockram. 
 Colonel Sydney as he engaged to do this, fo afterwards he did fliew to 
 my lord Howard money, which he afiirmed was for that bufinefs : he 
 fays it was a fum of about fixty guineas, and he believes he gave it him,, 
 for that colonel Sydney told him, that Aaron Smith was gone into Scot- 
 land, that the pretence was not bare-faced, to invite them over to confult 
 of a rebellion, but to confult about the bufinefs of Carolina, being a 
 plantation for the perfecuted brethren, as they pretended, in Scotland.. 
 Gentlemen, thefe Scotchmen that v/ere thus fent for over,, they came 
 accordingly, that is, the two Campbells, and fir John Cockram : and the 
 difcourfe with fir Andrew Fofter was according to. this cant that was 
 agreed on beforehand, concerning a plantation In Carolina. This was that 
 that ^^ as pretended for their coming hither ; but the true errand was, the 
 
 bufinefs 
 
 47
 
 48 THETRIALOF A. SYDNEY 
 
 Itufinefs of the infurre£tion intended. Gentlemen, that they came upon Tuch 
 a defign, is evident from the circumftances : they came about the time the 
 bufinefs brake out, and in that time fufpicioufly changing theif lodging, 
 they were taken making their efcape, and this at a time before it was 
 probable to be known abroad that thefe men were named as part of the 
 confpirators. Thefe things do very much verify the evidence my lord 
 Hov/ard hath given, and there is nothing has been faid does at all inva- 
 lidate it. The fending of Aaron Smith into Scotland, and his going, 
 and the coming of thefe men, and their endeavouring to make their 
 efcape, are mighty concurrent evidences with the whole evidence my lord 
 Howard has given. Now, vv^hat objections are made againft this evi- 
 dence ? Truly none at all. Here are perfons of great quality have given 
 their teftimony, and they do not impeach my lord Howard in the leaft ; 
 but fomc do extremely confirm the truth of my lord Hovv^ard. My lord 
 Angleley gives you an account of a difcourfe at my lord of Bedford's ; 
 that my lord Howard came in, and that my lord Hov/ard fliould there 
 comfort my lord of Bedford, and enlarge in the commendations of his 
 fon, and fay he was confident he knew nothing of the defign, and he muft 
 be innocent. Gentlemen, this is the nature of the moft part of the evi- 
 dence. My lord of Clare his evidence is much the like, that is, his 
 denying that he knew of any plot. Now here is my lord Howard under 
 a guilt of high-treafon ; for he was one of thofe confpirators not yet dif- 
 covered, nor no evidence of any difcourfe leading to any thing that Ihould 
 give occafion to him to proteft his innocency : and, fays he, I know 
 nothing of the plot. You would have wondered if he fhould have been 
 talking in all places his knowledge, and declaring himfelf : his denying 
 ofit under the guilt, when he was not accufed, is nothing to his con- 
 feffion when he comes to be apprehended and taken for it. Here Mr. 
 Philip Howard fays, he had feveral difcourfes with him about this bufinefs 
 upon the breaking out of the plot, and that he advifed him to make an 
 addrels, and that this was a thing that would be very acceptable, and 
 very much for their vindication ; and my lord Howard (he fiiys) thanked 
 him for his very good advice, and faid, he would follow it: and prcfcntly 
 after when my lord Uulfel was apprehended, Mr. Howard tells him the 
 news that my lord Ruifel was apprehended ; this was fudden to him. 
 And what fays he ? " We arc all undone." When my lord RufTcl, that 
 was one of this council that was a fecret council, and could not be 
 traced but by fome of thenilelves, when he is apprehended, then he 
 falls out into this exprcffion : " We are all undone." This is an 
 argument my lord Howard had a guilt upon him. For, why were they 
 all undone, that my lord Rufiel was apprehended, any more than upon 
 the apprehending the rcfl; ? Yes, becaufe my lord was one ot the iix, and 
 now it was come to the knowing of that part of the confpiracy. It was 
 traced to the council of Cix, which in all likelihood would break the 
 neck of the defign. Now though he put it oft" afterwards, faying, " I 
 ** believe it is a fliam plot," yet this was but a trivial put-off. And 
 S then,
 
 THE TRIAL OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 then, when colonel Sydney is taken, the fame wltnefs Mr. Howard tells 
 you, my lord was very fad and melancholy ; for then he had greater 
 reafon to lie under an apprehenfion of being dete(3:ed. Therefore, gentle- 
 men, this will rather confirm the truth of the evidence, than any way 
 impeach it. Then (for I would repeat it all, though 1 think it hath no 
 great weight in it) Dr. Burnet fays, that after the plot, my lord Howard 
 pretended he knew of no plot. This is no more than was tcftified by 
 the other lords before ; and all it imports, is, that my lord did not dif- 
 cover himfelf to Dr. Burnet. But I would fain know if my lord had told 
 Dr. Burnet, had it not argued that he had great confidence in him, that 
 he thouQ;ht him a man fit to be trufled with fuch a fecret : and unlefs the 
 ilodtor defires to be thought fuch a man, himfelf muft own, it is no 
 objection, that my lord Howard did not tell him. Ducas's teftimony is 
 no more neither, that he proteftcd he was innocent, and believed colonel 
 Sydney was innocent ; and this was before my lord Howard difcovcred 
 any thing of this plot. Then colonel Sydney objects, this is by nuJiee, 
 my lord Howard owes him money, and feeks to pay his debts by taking 
 away his life ; and, in further profecution of this malice, would have 
 feized upon his goods. But the evidence does not receive fuch conftruc- 
 tion ; for my lord Howard only offered colonel Sydney the civility 
 of his houfe to protect his plate and goods. Now, gentlemen, there 
 were two other witneffes, my lord Paget, and Mr. Edward Howard ; 
 but they fay no more than the reft of them, that he did proteft his 
 innocency, and Mr. Howard fays, he advifed him to make an addrefs to 
 the king. This, gentlemen, I repeat, not that it is material, but for no 
 other reafon, than becaufe colonel Sydney had produced it ; and fo we are 
 to think, he intended to make fome ufe of it : but I cannot fee any infe- 
 rence to be drawn from it. There is one witnefs more, and that is Mr. 
 Blake, to the credit of my lord Howard, who comes here, and fays, 
 that when he difcourfed about a pardon, my lord fhould fay, that he had 
 a warrant for his pardon, but that he had not yet paifed it, and could not 
 yet ; and he apprehended the reafon was, becaufe the drudgery of fwearing 
 was not over. But this is but v/hat my lord Howard had conjedlured : 
 firft, it does not appear, that there is any promife of pardon at all to my 
 lord Howard, or any terms impofed on him. In the next place, what- 
 ever expedlation he has of a pardon, he cannot reafonably hope for it 
 without making a clear difcovery of all he knows : for to ftifle his evi- 
 dence he has given, is not a way to deferve a pardon of his prince. 
 Therefore, gentlemen, whatever expreflions were ufed, though he called 
 it the drudgery of fwearing, however unwilling he is to come to it, and 
 though he gives it very many hard names, and might think it very harfli 
 to come and own himfelf to be one of the confpirators, it might be 
 irkfome, and very irkfome, yet none of them tell you, that my lord 
 Howard fhould fay, that what he faid was not true. Now he has come 
 and given his evidence, and you have heard all thefe objections againft it, 
 and not one of them touch it in the leaft. 
 
 4 X I come 
 
 49
 
 ^ 
 
 THE TRIAL OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 I come in the next place to the other part of the evidence, the papers 
 found in colonel Sydney's houfe. And in the firft place he objects, they 
 cannot afi'ed: him ; for, fays he, there is no proof they were found in 
 my houfe, no proof they were written by me ; for comparifon of hands, 
 thac is nothing ; and if they were proved to be mine, it is nothing at all 
 to the purpofe : they are an aniwer to a polemical difcourle, wherewith 
 he entertained himfelf privately in his ftudy. Why, you have obferved, 
 I know, that fir Philip Lloyd in the firft place fwears, that by warrant 
 from the fecretary he learched his houfe, and he found the papers lying 
 upon colonel Sydney's table in his ftudy, when he came in there ; and 
 there is no ground nor colour for you to fufpedt otherwife than that 
 they were there, and he found them there. For the furmife of the 
 prifoner at the bar, that they might be laid there, it is fo foreign and 
 without ground, that by and by you will think there is nothing at all in 
 it. In th^ next place, we prove colonel Sydney's hand, and that by as 
 much proof as the thing is capable of; fuch a proof as in all cafes hath 
 been allowed; and that is, for men to come that know and are acquainted 
 with the hand-writing, and fwear they know his hand-writing, and they 
 believe this to be his hand. You have heard from Mr. Sheppard, a man 
 that ufed to tranfadl bufmefs for him, pay money for him ; and Mr. 
 Cooke, and Mr. Gary, men of known credit in the city of London, that 
 have had the like dealings with colonel Sydney, and they fwcar, this is 
 his hand-writing, as they verily believe. So that, gentlemen, this proof 
 to you of colonel Sydney's hand-writing, does verify fir Philip Lloyd, 
 that thefe papers muft be found there, if colonel Sydney writ them : and 
 then this being found that they were writ by him, the next thing will 
 be, how far this will be an evidence to prove his compafling and imagin- 
 -ing the death of the king. Compafling and imagining the death of the 
 king, is the adt of the mind, and is treafon whilft it remains fecret in 
 the heart, though no fuch treafon can be punifhed, becaufe there is no 
 way to prove it : but when once there is any overt-ad:, that is, any thing 
 that does manifeft and declare fuch intention, then the law takes hold of 
 it, and puniflies it as high-treafon. 
 
 Now after this evidence, I think no man will doubt, whether it was in 
 the heart of the prifoner at the bar to deftroy the king. But firft he 
 obje<3;s, that this is a part of a book, and unlefs you take the whole, 
 nothing can be made of it ; as it is in wrefting of texts of fcripture, fays 
 he, you may as well fay, that David fays there is no God, becaufe 
 David hath faid, The fool hath J'a'id in his hart there is no God. But, gentle- 
 men, the application will not hold ; for you fee a long difcourfe hath been 
 read to you, a continued thread of argument ; it is not one propofition, 
 but a whole fcries of argument : thefe arc the pofitions, " that the king 
 " derives all his power from the People ; that it is originally in the 
 ** People, and that the meafure of fuhjedion muft be adjudged by the 
 *' Parliament; and if the king does fall from doing his duty, he muft 
 " cxped the People will cxa^O; it." And this he has laid down as no 
 
 way
 
 THE TRIAL OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 way prejudicial to him ; for, fays he, the king may refirfe the crown, if 
 he does not like it upon thefe terms. But, fays he, if he does accept it, 
 he muft expetfl the performance will be exacted, or revenge taken by 
 thofe he hath betrayed. Then next he fets up an objection, and then 
 argues againft it : Ay, but lliall the people be judge in their own caufe ? 
 And thus he anfwers, It muft be fo ; for is not the king a judge in his 
 own caufe ? How can any man elfe be tried, or convidcd of any offence, 
 if the king may not be judge in his own caufe ; for to judge by a man's 
 felf, or by his deputy, is the fame thing ; and fo a crime againft the king 
 cannot be puniflied. And then he takes notice of it as a very abfurd 
 pofition, that the King Ihall judge in his own caufe; and not the People. 
 That would be to fay, " The fervant entertained by the mafter, lliall 
 judge the mafter, but the mafter fhall not judge the fervant." Gentle- 
 men, after this fort of argument he comes to this fettled pofition, " We 
 *' may therefore, fays he, change, or take away kings (without breaking 
 ** any yoke, or that is made a yoke which ought not to be one ;) the 
 " injury is therefore in impofing the yoke, and there can be none at all 
 *' in breaking of it." But he goes on in his book, and that is by way of 
 anfwer to an objection, That if there be no injury, yet there may be. 
 inconvenience, if the headlefs multitude fhould fhake off the yoke. But, 
 fays he, I would fain know how the multitude comes to be headlefs : and 
 there he gives many inftances in ftory ; and from foreign nations he 
 comes home to the Englilh, and tells you how all rebellions in latter ages 
 have been headed ; and tells you the parliament is the head, or the nobi- 
 lity and gentry that compofe it ; and when the king fails in his duty, the 
 People may call it. The multitude therefore is never headlefs, but they 
 either hnd or create an head. So that here is a plain and an avowed 
 principle of rebellion eftabliftied upon the ftrongeft reafon he has to back 
 it. Gentlemen, this with the other evidence that has been given, will be 
 fufficient to prove his compafling the death of the king. You fee the 
 affirmations he makes : when Kings do break their truft they may be 
 called to account by the People. This is the dodlrine he broaches and 
 argues for : he fays in his book in another part, that the calling and 
 diffolving of parliaments is not in the king's power. Gentlemen, you 
 all know how many parliaments the king hath called and diffolved ; if 
 it be not in his power, he hath done that that was not in his power, and 
 fo contrary to his truft. Gentlemen, at the entrance into this confpiracy 
 they were under an apprehenfion that their liberties were invaded, as 
 you hear in the evidence from my lord Howard, that they were juft 
 making the infurredion upon that tumultuous oppofition of electing of 
 fheriffs in London. They enter into a confultation to raife arms againft 
 the king ; and it is proved by my lord Howard, that the prifoner at the 
 bar was one. Gentlemen, words fpoken upon a fuppofition will be high 
 treafon, as was held in king James's time, in the cafe of Collins in Roll's 
 Reports, " the king being excommunicate may be depofed and mur- 
 " dered," without affirming he was excommunicated : and this was 
 
 4X2 enough 
 
 l»
 
 Sz THE TRIAL OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 enough to convict him of high treafon. Now, according to that cafe, tO' 
 fay, the king having broken his truft may be depofed by his people,- 
 •would be high treafon ; but here he does as good as affirm the king had 
 broke his truft, when every one fees the king hath diffolved parlia- 
 ments : this reduces it to an affirmation. And though this book be not 
 brought to that council to be perufed, and there debated ; yet it will be 
 another, and more than two witneffes, againft the prifoner : for I would- 
 aftc any man, fuppofe a man was in a room, and there were two men,- 
 and he talks with both apart, and he comes to one and endeavours to 
 perfuadc him that it is lawful to rife in arms againft the king, if fo be 
 he break his truft; and he fliould go to another man, and tell him the 
 king hath broken his truft, and we muft feck fome way to redrefs our- 
 felves, and perfuade the people to rife; thefe two witneffes do fp tack, 
 this treafon together, that they will be two witneffes to prove him guilty 
 of high treafon. And you have heard one witnefs prove it pofitively ta 
 you, that he confulted to rife in arms againft the king, and here is his 
 own book fiys, it is lawful for a man to rife in arms againft the king, if 
 he break his truft, and in efi^ecft he hath faid, the king hath broken his 
 truft : therefore this will be a fufficient demonftration what the imagina- 
 tion of the heart of this man was, that it was nothing but the deftrudion 
 of the king and the government, and indeed of all governments. There 
 can be no fuch thing as government if the people ffiall be judge in the 
 cafe : for what fo uncertain as the heady and giddy multitude ? Gentle- 
 men, I think this will be a fufficient evidence of his confulting the deatli 
 of the king. You have here the prifoner at the bar that is very deep in 
 it. Indeed fome m.en may by paffion be tranfported into fuch an offence, 
 and though the offence be never the lefs, whatever the motives are ; yet 
 in fome it is lefs dangerous : for thofe that venture, upon paffion, to 
 raife commotions and rebellion, are not always fo much upon their guard, 
 but that they may make fome falfe fteps to intrap themfelves : but this 
 gentleman proceeds upon a furer foundation, it is his reafon, it is his 
 principle, it is the guide of all his adions, it is that by which he' 
 leads and direfls the fteady courfe of his life. A man convinced of 
 thefe principles, and that walks accordingly, what will not he do to 
 accomplifli his defigns ? How wary Vvill he be in all his adions, ftill 
 reafoning with himfelf which way to bring it moft fecurely about. 
 Gentlemen, this is the more dangerous confpiracy in this man, by how 
 much the more it is rooted in him : and how deep it is, you hear, whca 
 a man fhall write as his principle, that it is lawful for to depofe kings, 
 they breaking their truft, and that the revolt of the whole nation cannot 
 be called rebellion. It will be a very ful cafe when people ad thus 
 according to their confcicnces, and do all this for the good of the people,. 
 as they would have it thought ; but this is the principle of this man. 
 Gentlemen, we think we have plainly made it out to you, and proved it 
 fufficicntly, that it was the imngination of his heart to fleftroy the king> 
 and made fufficient proof of high treafon.
 
 THE TRIAL OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 Col. Sydney. Give me leave, my lord, to fay a very few words. I 
 defire Mr. Solicitor would not think it his duty to lake away men's 
 
 lives any how : firft, we have had a long flory 
 
 L. C. J. Nay, Mr. Sydney, we mult not have vying and revying. 
 I aflced you before, what you had to fay ; the courfe of evidence is, 
 after the king's counfel have concludcdy we never admit the prifoner to 
 fay any thing. 
 
 Col. Sydney. My lord, it was a wife man faid, there never could he too 
 much delay in the life of a man : I know the king's counfel may con- 
 clude if they pleafe. Mr. Solicitor, I would not have him think that it 
 is enough, by one way or another, to bring a man to death : my lord,. 
 
 this matter of fir Henry Vane is utterly mifreprcfcnted 
 
 L. C. y. I muft tell you, gentlemen of the jury, that what the 
 prifoner fays that is not proved, and what the king's counfel have faid,. 
 of which there is no proof to make it out, mud not be taken into any 
 confideration. 
 
 Co/. Sydney. Then, my lord, here is a place or two in old Hale's- 
 [turning over my lord Hale's book] for the overt a£l of one treafon, not 
 being an overt a£l of another. Your lordlhip knows Coke and Hales 
 were both againft it [he reads] " Compafling by bare words is not an 
 " overt a£t ; confpirlng to levy war is no overt ad:." 
 
 Mr. Sol. Gen. I defire but one word more for my own fake, as well 
 as the prifoner's, and that is, that if I have faid any thing that is not 
 law, or mifrepeated or mifapplied the evidence which hath been given, I 
 do make it my humble requeft to your lordfhip to re<fiify thofe mif- 
 takes, as well in point of fadl, as point of law ; for God forbid the pri- 
 foner fhould fuffer by any miftake ! 
 
 L, C. y. Gentlemen, the evidence has been long, and it is a caufe of 
 great concernment, and it is far from the thoughts of the king, or from, 
 the thoughts or defire of any of his judges here, to be inflrumental to take 
 away the life of any man that by law his life ought not to be taken 
 away. For I had rather many guilty men fhould efcape, than one inno- 
 cent man fuffer. The queflion is, Whether upon all the evidence you 
 have heard againft the prifoner, and the evidence on his behalf, there is 
 evidence fufficlent to convift the prifoner of the high treafon he ftands 
 charged with. And as you muft not be moved by the denial of the 
 prifoner further than as it is backed with proof, fo you are not to be 
 inveigled by any infinuations made againft the prifoner at the bar, further 
 or otherwife than as the proof is made out to you. But it is ufual, and it 
 is a duty incumbent on the king's counfel, to urge, againft all fuch 
 criminals, whatfoever they obferve in the evidence againft them, and 
 likewile to endeavour to give anfwers to the objedlions that are made on 
 their behalf. And therefore, fince we have been kept fo long in this 
 caufe, it will not be amifs for me and my brothers, as they fhall think fit, 
 to help your memory in the fatl, and difcharge that duty that is incumbent 
 upon, the court as to the points of Law. 
 
 This 
 
 35
 
 5-4 
 
 THE TRIAL OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 This mdlclment is for h\v^h treafon, and is grounded upon the ftatute 
 of 25 E. 3. by which ftatute the compafling and imagining the death of 
 the king, and declaring the fame by an overt a£l, is made high treafon. 
 The reafon of that law was, becaufe at Common Law there was great 
 doubt what was treafon ; wherefore, to reduce that high crime to a cer- 
 tainty, was that law made, that thofe that were guilty might know what 
 to expedl. And there are feveral ads of parliament made between the 
 time of Edward the third, and that of i M. but by that ftatute all 
 treafons, that are not enumerated by after-afts of parliament, remain as 
 they were declared by that ftatute of 25 E. 3. And fo arc challenges, 
 and other matters infifted upon by the prifoner, left as they were at the 
 time of that adt. I am alfo to tell you, that, in point of law, it is not 
 only the opinion of us here, but the opinion of them that fat before us, 
 and the opinion of all the Judges of England, and within the memory of 
 many of you, that though there be two witnefles required to prove a man 
 guilty of high-treafon ; yet it is not neceffary there fliould be two wit- 
 nefles to the fame thing at one time. But, if two witnefl^es prove two 
 feveral fa£ls that have a tendency to the fame treafon, they are two wit- 
 nefl^es fufhcient to convidl any man of high treafon. In the cafe of my 
 lord Stafford in parliament, all the judges affifting, it is notorioufly 
 known, that one witnefs to a confpiracy in England, and another to a 
 confpiracy in France, were held two witnefles fufficient to convict him of 
 high treafon. In the next place, I am to tell you, that though fome 
 judges have been of opinion, that words of themfelves were not an overt 
 adt ; but my lord Hales, nor my lord Coke, nor any other of the fages 
 of the law, ever queftioned but that a letter would be an overt adt, 
 fufficient to prove a man guilty of high treafon ; for, fcribere ejl agere. 
 Mr. Sydney fays. The king is a politic perfon ; but you muft deftroy 
 him in his natural capacity, or it is not treafon. But I muft tell you, if 
 any man compafs to imprifon the king, it is high treafon : fo was the' 
 cafe of my lord Cobham. And my lord Coke, when he fays, If a man 
 do attempt to make the king do any thing by force and compulfion, 
 otherwife than he ought to do, that it is high treafon within that adt of 
 25 E. 3. but if it were an indidlment only for the levying of war, there 
 muft be an adlual war levied. But this is an indi(Ctment for fompafling 
 the death of the king; and the other treafon mentioned in that adt of 
 parliament, for the levying of war, may be given in evidence to prove 
 the confpiring the king's death : for it is rightly told you by the king's 
 counfcl, that the imagination of a man's heart is not to be difccrned ; 
 biit if I declare fuch my imagination by an overt adl, which overt adl 
 does naturally evince that the king muft be depofed, dcftroycd, impri- 
 foned, or the like, it will be fufficient evidence of treafon within that ad". 
 
 In the next place, having told you what the law is, for, gentlemen, 
 it is our duty upon our oaths, to declare the law to you, and you are 
 bound to receive our declaration of the law ; and upon this declaration, 
 to enquire whether there be a fad fufficiently proved, to find the prifoncT 
 guilty of the high treafon of which he ftands indidcd : and for that, I 
 4 muft
 
 THE TRIAL OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 muft tell you, whatever happens to be hearfay from others, it is not to 
 be applied immediately to the prifoner ; but, however, thofe matters that 
 are remote at firft, may ferve for this purpofe, to prove there was 
 generally a confpiracy to deftroy the king and government: and for 
 that matter, you all remember it was the conftant rule and method 
 obferved about the popifli plot, firft to produce the evidence of the plot in 
 general : this was done in that famous cafe of my lord Stafford in parlia- 
 ment. Gentlemen, I am alfo to tell you, this alone does not at all affed 
 the prifoner at the bar, but is made ufe of as a circumftance to fupport the 
 credibility of the witnefles : and is thus far applicable to the bufinefs 
 before you, that it is plain by perfons that do not touch the prifoner at 
 the bar (and I am forry any man makes a doubt of it at this time of day) 
 that there was a confpiracy to kill the king ; for after fo full a proof in 
 this place, and in others, and the execution and confeffion of feveral of 
 the offenders, I am furprifed to obferve that the prifoner at the bar, and 
 fome others prefent, feem not to believe it. 
 
 But, gentlemen, you hear the firft witnefs, I fpeak of Weft : he tells 
 you, he had the honour to be acquainted with Mr. Sydney, and that he 
 had difcourfe with Mr. Walcot, a perfon convided and executed for this 
 horrid confpiracy. Why, fays he, he told me at my chamber, that they 
 were not only the perfons concerned, but that there were other perfons 
 of great quality that had their meetings for the carrying on the bufinefs 
 in other places. And Fergufon, that was the ringleader in this confpi- 
 racy, told him there was a defign of a general infurredion ; it was once 
 laid down, but it is now taken up again. There are other counfellors of 
 great importance ; and he names, among the reft, the prifoner at the 
 bar. Mr. Weft goes a little further, and he tells you rhis : fays he, He 
 did not only tell me fo, but that there was a defign to conciliate a corref- 
 pondence with fome perfons in Scotland, and they were to do it under the 
 cant of having bufinefs in Carolina. There is Mr. Keeling, he tells 
 you too, there was a defign for a general and public infurredion ; that he 
 was prefent with the Goodenoughs, one and the other ; and that they 
 had taken upon them to divide, and did divide, the city into fuch and 
 fuch diftrids. And what was the bufinefs ? It was, that there might be 
 a general infurredion ; might be an infurredion, not only to deftroy the 
 king and the duke, but to deftroy all the king's loyal fubjeds ; and, 
 in taking away their lives, to take away the life of monarchy itfelf, an'd 
 to fubvert the religion eftablifhed by law. Then comes in colonel Rumfev, 
 and he gives you an account that he had heard of fuch things in Mr. 
 Weft's chamber; and tells you he had received fuch intelligence. And 
 all thefe give you an account that there was fuch a defign to kill the 
 king : and this is the fubftance of the general evidence produced to prove 
 the confpiracy. 
 
 Then to make this matter come home to the prifoner at the bar, firft 
 my lord Howard gives you an account, and does diredly fwear, that 
 about the middle or latter end of January laft, he happened to meet with 
 
 colonel 
 
 S3
 
 ^5 THETRIALOF A. SYDNEY 
 
 colonel Sydney, the prifoner at the bar, and the duke of Monmouth 
 (they were the perfons firft began to have difcourfe about this matter) and 
 how they met with a difappointment ; the thing had flept a great while, 
 and that it was fit it fhould be revived again ; and that perfons of quality 
 were mentioned, who were to have an immediate care in the carrying on 
 of the bufmefs, and that it fhould not be divulged to too many : accord- 
 ingly there was my lord Rullel, my lord of Eflex, my lord of Salifbury, 
 and Mr. Hambden named. He tells you, the prifoner at the bar under- 
 took for my lord of Ellex, and Mr. Hambden ; and he tells you, the 
 duke of Monmouth undertook for my lord Rufl'el, and the reft; and that 
 this was the refult of one meeting. He goes yet further : that, purfuant 
 to this, it was communicated to thofe perfons fo to be engaged, and the 
 place and time was appointed ; the place, Mr. Hambden's houfe ; but is 
 not fo pofitive to the time, but only to the place, and perfons. He fays, 
 all thefe perfons met, and he gives you an account that Mr. Hambden, 
 becaufe it was neceflliry for fome perfons to break filence, gave fome fliort 
 account of the defign of their meeting, and made fome reflexions upon 
 the mifchiefs that attended the government, and what apprehenfions 
 many people had upon the late choice of Sheriffs, and that there had 
 been a maleadminiftration of public juftice ; that it was fit fome means 
 fliould be ufed to redrefs thefe grievances. He cannot tell you pofitively, 
 what this man, or that man faid there ; but fays, that all did unani- 
 moufly confent to what was then debated about an infurre£tion ; and, in 
 order to it, they difcourfed about the time when it fhould be ; and that 
 they thought fit it fhould be done fuddenly, when men's minds were 
 wound up to that heighth, as they then were ; and, as the firft witnefs 
 tells you, there was a confideration, whether it fhould be at one place, or 
 at feveral places together. Ele fays, then it was taken into confideration, 
 that this could not be carried on but there muft be arms and ammunition 
 provided. The next ftep is about a neceffary concern, the concern of 
 money, and therefore our law calls money the Jine-ws of war. My lord 
 Howard tells you, that the duke of Monmouth propofed 25 or 30,000/. 
 that my lord Grey was to advance 10,000/. out of his own eftate : but 
 then they thought to make their party more ftrong, by the affiftance of a 
 difcontcnted people in Scotland, my lord of Argyll and fir John Cockram, 
 and feveral other people there, to join with them ; that, purfuant to 
 this, they all after met at my lord Rulfcl's ; and the fame debate is re- 
 affumed, and among the reft, this particular thing of conciliating a fricnd- 
 Ihip with the Scots; the Campbells, my lord of Argyll, and my lord 
 Melvin were particularly mentioned : that colonel Sydney took upon 
 himfclf to find out a meft'cnger, but it was my lord Ruffcl's part to write 
 the letter. One of the melfengers named to convey the fame was Aaron 
 Smith, he was known, fays my lord Howard, to fome of us ; and then 
 we all agreed that Aaron Smith was the moft proper man. Upon this 
 they brake up that very time. Afterwards comes my lord Eloward to 
 colonel Sydney at Ibme diftance of time, and he comes to him, and fhcws 
 
 him
 
 THE TRIAL OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 lilm threefcore guineas, and told Iiim, he was going into the city, and 
 that they were to be given to Aaron Smith. He tells you after this, that 
 he had fomc other dilcourfe, about a fortnight or three weeks after, with 
 colonel Sydney ; and that colonel Sydney did take notice that he had 
 fent him, and that he had an account of him, as far as Newcaftle. So 
 that it is very plain, that it was not fuddcn and rafh thoughts, it is a 
 little more than according to the language we meet with in feme 
 pamphlets of late, more than heats and llirs. Gentlemen, then I muil 
 tell you, here are circumftances proved in purfuance of this defign, for 
 fir Andrew Fofter informs you, how that fir John Cockram and the 
 Campbells, and one Monro, as I take it, came to town, and that he 
 had difcourfe with fome of them about their bufinefs of comin"- out of 
 Scotland ; and he fays, they pretended it was about buiinefs of fome 
 trade to Carolina ; which does ftill corroborate the evidence. lie tells you 
 likewife, that there being a noife of difcovcring the plot, they began 
 to hide; fir John Cockram began to hide, and fculk from place to place : 
 they came firft with that cant in their mouths, about Carolina. The 
 meflenger Atterbury tells you, when they came to take thefe men, how 
 they fhuffled from place to place. 
 
 So, gentlemen, I mufi: tell you, that in cafe there be but one witncfs 
 to prove a direct treafon, and another witnefs to a circumftance that 
 contributes to that treafon, that will make tvv'o witneffes to prove the 
 treafon. Becaule I would explain my mind : not long ago all the judges 
 of England were commanded to meet together, and one that is the fenior 
 of the king's counfel was pleafed to put this cale: If I buy a knife of J. S, 
 to kill the king, and it be proved by one witnefs I bought a knife for this 
 purpofe, and another comes and proves, I bought fuch a knife of J. S. 
 they are two witnefles fufficient to prove a man guilty of high-treafon : 
 and fo it was held by all the judges of England then prefent, in the pre- 
 fence of all the king's counfel. And therefore Mr. Sydney is mightily 
 miftaken in the law : for in cafe of any treafon (except the treafon at the 
 bar) or in treafon for clipping and coining, one witnefs is fufficient at 
 this day. 
 
 Now, gentlemen, fuppofing all this fhould not be fufficient, here is 
 a libel, and it is a moft traiterous and feditious libel. If you believe that 
 that was colonel Sydney's book, writ by him, no man can doubt but 
 if is a fufficient evidence that he is guilty of compaffing and imagining 
 the death of the king; and Jet us confider v,hat proof can be greater 
 than what has been given of it. . Mr. Sheppard, an intimate acquaint- 
 ance of his, that has feen him write, he looks upon the h-and, and fays» 
 he is extremely acquainted with the hand, and fays he, I believe in 
 my confcience this book is colonel Sydney's hand. Gentlemen, da 
 you expedl Mr. Sydney would call a witnefs to be by to fee him 
 ■write that book? In the next place, you have two tradefmen, Coke 
 andCary, and they tell you, one had feen liim write once, the other had 
 ieen liis hand-writing; and they have good reafon, for they have paid 
 feveral funos of money, upon notes v\rhich they took, as well as this, to 
 
 4Y be 
 
 57
 
 5$ TH£ TRIAL OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 be his hand-wi-iting. Gentlemen, befides that, give me leave to tell you, 
 here is another thing that makes it more plain. This very book is found' 
 in colonel Sydney's houfe, on the table in his ftudy, where he ufed to^ 
 '.vrite, by a gentleman againft whom colonel Sydrrey cannot make the 
 leaft objedion ; and that there was that fairnefs offered by the gentleman,- 
 *' Pray, colonel, put your feal upon it, that you may fee that no injury 
 " be done you." But Mr. Sydney would not do it. Therefore he feals them^ 
 with his own feal, and carries them to Whitehall, where they were 
 broken open r and fwears that thofe papers were found In his clofet, 
 whereof this w^as one. Another thing wlaich I muft take notice of to 
 you in this cafe, is, to mind you, how this book contains all the malice, 
 and revenge and treafon, that mankind can be guilty of: it fixes the fole 
 power in the parliament and the people ; I'o that he carries on the defign- 
 ftill, for their debates at their meetings were to that purpofe. And fuch doc- 
 trines as thefe fuit with their debates ; for there a general infurredlion was 
 defigned, and that was difcourfed of in this book and encouraged. They 
 muft not give it an ill name : it muft not be called a rebellion, it being- 
 the general ad of the people. The king, it fays, is refponfible to them, 
 the king is but their truftee; that he had betrayed his truft, he had mif- 
 governed, and now he is to give it up, that they may be all kings them- 
 felves. Gentlemen, I muft tell you, I think I ought more than ordinarily 
 to prefs this upon you, becaufe, I know, the misfortune of the late un- 
 happy rebellion, and the bringing the late bleffed king to the fcaffbld, 
 was firft begun by fuch kind of principles: they cried, he had betrayed 
 the truft that was delegated to him from the people. Gentlemen, in' 
 the next place, becaufe he is afraid their power alone will not do it, he 
 endeavours to poifon menu's judgments ; and the way he makes ufe of, 
 he colours it with religion, and quotes feripture for it too ; and you know, 
 how far that went in the late times; how we were for " binding our king 
 *' in chains, and our nobles in fetters of iron." Gentlemen, this is like- 
 wife made ufe of by him to ftir up the people to rebellion. Gentlemen, 
 if in cafe the prifoner did defign the depoung the king, the removing the 
 king, and if, in order thereunto, he be guilty of confpiring to levy war^ 
 or, as to the letter writ by my lord Rufl'el, if he was privy to it, thefe 
 will be evidences againft hitn. So that it is not upon two, but it is upore 
 greater evidences than twenty-two, if you believe this book was writ by 
 him. Next I muft tell you, Gentlemen, upon, I think, a lefs teftimony, 
 an indidment was preferred againft the lord Ruftel, and he was there- 
 upon convided and executed ; of whicli they have, brought the record. 
 Thefe are the evidences for the king. 
 
 For the prifoner, he hath made feveral objedions ; as, that there was 
 no levied war ; for that, gentlemen, at the beginning of the caufe, I 
 told you what I took the law to be, and I take it to be fo very plainly. But, 
 gentlemen, as to the credibility of my lord Howard, he offers you feveral' 
 circumftances. Firft, he offers you a noble lord, my lord Anglefey, who- 
 lays, that he, attending my lord of Bedford, upon the misforttme of the 
 
 iroprifoiimcnt 
 
 4
 
 THE TRIAL OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 • 
 imprifonmcnt of his fon; after he had done, my lord Howard came to 
 ■fecond that part of a Chriftian's office which he had performed : and told 
 ■him, he had a very good Ion, and he knew no harm of him ; and as to 
 the plot, he knew nothing of it. Anollicr noble lord; my lord Clirc, tells 
 you that he had fomc difcourfe with my lord Howard, and he faid, that 
 if he were accufed, he thought ihey would but tell nofes, and his bufinefs 
 was done. Then Mr. Philip Ploward, he tells you, how he was not fo 
 intimate with him as others, but he often came to his brother's; and that 
 he {hould fay he knew nothing of a plot, nor did he believe any; but at 
 the fame time he faid, he believed there was a fliam plot : and then he 
 preffed him about the bufinefs of the addrefs; but that now my lord of ElTex 
 was out of town, and fo it went off. Another thing Mr. Sydney took 
 notice of, fays he. It is an adl of revenge in my lord Howard, for he 
 owes him a debt; that he does, befides by his allegation docs not 
 appear. 
 
 Col. Sydney. My lord, he hath confeffed it. 
 
 L. C. y. Admit it; yet in cafe colonel Sydney fhould be convifted of 
 this treafon, the debt accrues to the king, and he cannot be a farthing the 
 better for it. But how does -it look like revenge ? I find my lord Howard, 
 when he fpeaks of colonel Sydney, fays, he was more beholden to him 
 than any body, and was more forry for him; fo fays my lord Clare. 
 Gentlemen, you have it likewife offered, that he came to colonel Sydney's 
 houfe, and there he was defirous to have the plate and goods removed to his 
 houfe, and that he would affift them with his coach and coachman to 
 carry them thither; and did affirm, that he knew nothing of the plotj 
 and did not believe colonel Sydney knew any thing : and this is likewife 
 proved by a couple of maid-fervants, as well as the Frenchman. You !u /e 
 likewife fomething to the fame purpofe faid by my lord Paget, and this is 
 offered to take off the credibility of my lord Howard. Do you believe, 
 becaufe my lord Howard did not tell them, I am in a confpiracy to kill 
 the king; therefore he knew nothing of it? He knew thefe perfons 
 •were men of honour, and would not be concerned in any fuch thing. 
 But do you think, becaufe a man goes about and denies his being in a plot, 
 therefore he was not in it ? Nay, it feems fo far from being an evidence of 
 his innocence, that it is an evidence of his guilt. What ihould provoke a 
 man to difcourfe after this manner, if he had not apprehenfions of guilt 
 within himfelf ? This is the teftimony offered againft my lord Howard, 
 in difparagement of his evidence. Ay, but further it is objected, he is in 
 expedtation of a pardon : and he did fay, he thought he fhould not have 
 the king's pardon, till fuch time as the drudgery of fweafing was over. 
 Why, gentlemen, I take notice, before this difcourfe happened, he fwore 
 the fame thing at my lord Ruflel's trial. And I mufl tell you, though 
 it is the duty of every man to difcover all treafons ; yet, I tell you, for a 
 man to come and fwear himfelf over and over guilty, in the face of a 
 court of juflice, may feem irkfome, and provoke a man to give it fuch an 
 epithet, it is therefore for his credit that he is an unwilling witnefs; 
 but, gentlemen, confider, if thefe things fhould have been allowed to 
 
 4 Y 2 take 
 
 59
 
 6o THETRIALOF A. SYDNEY 
 
 take away the credibility of a witnefs, what would have become of the 
 teflimonies that have been given of late days? What would become of the 
 evidence of all thofe that have been fo profligate in their lives? Would 
 you have the king's counfel to call none but men that were not concerned 
 in tliis plot, to prove that they were plotting? Ay, but, gentlemen, it 
 is further objedcd^ this hand looks like an old hand, and it may not be 
 the prironer''shand, but be counterfeited ; and for that there is a gentleman 
 who tells you what a dexterous man he is. He fays, he believes he conld. 
 counterfeit any hand in half an hour : it is an ugly temptation, but I 
 hope he hath more honour than to make ufe of that art he fo much 
 glories in. But v;hat time could there be for counterfeiting this book ? 
 Can you imagine that fir Philip Lloyd, through the bag fealcd up, did it ? 
 Or, who elfe, can you imagine, fliould, or does the priibncr pretend, did,, 
 write this book ? So that on one fide, God forbid but we fhoukl be careful 
 of mens lives! fo, on the other fide, God forbid that llourifhes and varniilx 
 Ihould come to indanger the life of the king, and the deftruction of the 
 government ! But, gentlemen, we are not to anticipate you in point of 
 fadl ; I have according to my memory recapitulated the matters given in 
 evidence : it remains purely in you now, whether you do believe upoa 
 the whole matter, that the prifoner is guilty of the high-treafon v/hereof he 
 is indided. 
 
 Mr. 'Jiiji. Wythins. Gentlemen, it is fit you fhould have our opinions : In 
 all the points of law we concur with my Lord Chief Juftice. — Says colonel 
 Sydney, here is a mighty confpiracy, but there is nothing comes of it. 
 Who nuift we thank for that ? None but the almighty Providence. — One 
 of themfelves was troubled in confcience, and comes and difcovers it. 
 ]iad nof Keeling difcovered, God knovvs whether we might have been 
 alive at this day. 
 
 7 hen the jury ivithdreiv, and in about half an bourns time returned^ and 
 brought the prifoner in guilty . 
 
 And the lieutenant of the Tower took away his prifoner. 
 
 MONDAY MOV. XXVI, MDCLXXXIII, ALGERNON SYDNEY WAS 
 
 BROUGHT UP TO THE BAR OF THE COURT OF KINg's-BENCH 
 
 TO RECEIVE HIS SENTENCE. 
 
 L. C. J. Mr. Attorney, will you move any thing? 
 
 Mr. Att. Gen. My lord, the prifoner at the bar is convided of high- 
 treafon, 1 demand judgment againft him. 
 
 Clerk of the Crown. Algernon Sydney, hold up thy hand [which he did.] 
 Thou hall been indided of high trealbn, and thereupon arraigned, and 
 thereunto pleaded Not guilty; and, for thy trial, put thyfelf upon Cod 
 iind the country, which country has found thcc guilty ; what can'ft thou 
 
 iay
 
 THETRIALOF A. SYDNEY 6i 
 
 fay for thyfclf, why judgment of death fhould not be given againfl thee, 
 and execution awarded according to law? 
 
 Col. Sydney. My lord, I humbly conceive, I have had no trial. I 
 was to he tried by my country, I do not find my country in the jury 
 that did try me. There were feme of them that were not freeholders. I 
 think, my lord, there is neither law nor precedent of any man that has 
 been tried by a jury upon an indidment laid in a country, that were not 
 freeholders. So I do humbly conceive that I have had no trial at all j and 
 if I have had no trial, there can be no judgment. 
 
 L. C. y. Mr. Sydney, you had the opinion of the court in that matter 
 before: v/e were unanimous in it, for it was the opinion of all the judges 
 of England in fhe cafe next preceding yours, though that was a cafe 
 relating to corporations ; but they were of opinion, that by the ftatute 
 of queen Mary, the trial of treafon was put as it was at common-law, 
 and that there was no fuch challenge at common-law. 
 
 Co/. Sydmy. Under favour, my lord, I prefume in fuch a cafe as this, 
 of life, and for Avhat I know concerns every man in England, you will 
 give me a day and counfel to argue it. 
 ■ L. C. y. It is not in the power of the court to do it. 
 
 Col. Sydmy. My lord, I defire the indiftment againft me may be read, 
 
 L. C. y. To what purpofe ? 
 
 Col. Sydney. \ have fomething to fay to it. 
 
 Zr. C. y. Well, read the indictment, 
 
 'Then the clerk of the crown read the indlSlment. 
 
 Col. Sydney. Pray, fir, will you give me leave to fee it, if it pleafe you,- 
 
 L. C. y. No, that we cannot do. 
 
 Col. Sydney. My lord, there is one thing then that makes this abfolutely 
 void ; it deprives the king of his title, which is treafon by law : dcfenjhr 
 Jidely there is no fuch thing there, if I heard it right. 
 
 Z/. C. y. In that you would deprive the king of his life, that is in 
 very full, I think. 
 
 Col. Sydney. If no body would deprive the king, no more than T, he 
 would be in no danger. Under favour, thefe are things not to be over- 
 ruled, in point of life, fo eafily. 
 
 L. C. y. Mr. Sydney, we very well underftand our duty, we do not 
 need to be told by you what our duty is : we tell you nothing, but what 
 is law : and if you make objections that are immaterial, we muft over- 
 rule them. Do not think that we over-rule in your cafe that we would 
 not over-rule in all men's cafes in your condition. The treafon is fuf- 
 ficiently laid. 
 
 Col. Sydney. My lord, I conceive this too, that thofe words, that are 
 faid to be written in the paper, that there is nothing of treafon in them ; 
 bcfidcs that there was nothing at all proved of them, only by fimilitude 
 of hands, which, upon the cafe I alleged to your lordfhip, was not to 
 be admitted in a criminal cafe. Now it is eafy to cjill a thing proditory ; 
 
 but
 
 62 
 
 THETRIALOF A. SYDNEY 
 
 but yet let the nature of the thing be examined, I put myfelf upon it, that 
 there is no treafon in it. 
 
 L. C. J. There is not a Une in the book fcarce, but what is treafon. 
 
 Mr. Jiiji. Wytbins, I believe you do not beheve it treafon. 
 
 L. C. J. That is the worft part of your cafe : when men are riveted 
 in opinion that kings may be depofed, that they are accountable to their 
 people, that a general infurredion is no rebellion, and juftify it, it is high 
 time, upon my word, to call them to account. 
 
 Col. Sydney. My lord, the other day I had a book, wherein I had king 
 James's fpeech, upon which all that is there is grounded in his own 
 Ipeechto the parliament in 1603 ; and there is nothing in thefe papers, 
 which is called a book though it never appeared ; for if it were true, it 
 was only papers found in a private man's ftudy never fliewed to any 
 body ; and Mr. Attorney takes this to bring it to a crime, in order to fome 
 other counfel; and this was to come out fuch a time when the infurreftion 
 brake out. My lord, there is one perfon I did not know where to find 
 then, but every body knows where to find now, that is the duke of Mon- 
 mouth ; if there had been any thing in confultation, by this means to 
 bring any thing about, he muft have known of it, for it muft be taken 
 to be in profecution of thofe defigns of his : and if he will fay there ever 
 was any fuch thing, or knew any thing of it, I will acknowledge what- 
 ever you pleafe. 
 
 L. C. J. That is over; you were tried for this fa£t: we muft not 
 fend for the duke of Monmouth. 
 
 Col. Sydney. I humbly think I ought, and defire to be heard upon it. 
 
 L. C. J. Upon what ? 
 
 Col. Sydney. If you will call it a trial 
 
 L. C. J. I do. The law calls it fo. 
 
 Mr. Jujl. Wythins. We muft not hear fuch difcourfes, after you have 
 been tried here, and the jury have given their verdid; as if you had not 
 juftice done you. 
 
 Mr. Juji. Holloway. I think it was a very fair trial. 
 
 Col. Sydney. My lord, I defire that you would hear my reafons why 
 1 fhould be brought to a new trial. 
 
 L. C. y. That cannot be. 
 
 Col. Sydney. Be the trial what it will ? 
 
 Clerk of the Crown. Cryer, make an Oyes. 
 
 Col. Sydney. Cannot I be heard, my lord ? 
 
 L. C. y. Yes, if you will fpeak that which is proper. It is a ftrange 
 thing, you feem to appeal, as if you had fome great hardftiip put upon 
 you. I am fure, I can as well appeal as you. I am furc you had all the 
 favour fliewed you, that ever any prifoner had. The court heard you 
 with patience when you fpake what was proper ; but if you begin to 
 arraign the juftice of the nation, it concerns the juftice of the nation to 
 prevent you : we are bound by our confcicnccs and our oaths to fee right 
 done to you ; and though we are judges upon earth, we are accountable 
 
 to
 
 THE TRIAL OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 to the judge of heaven and earth ; and we a£t according to our confciences 
 though we do not adl according to your opinion. 
 
 Col. Sydney. My lord, I fay, in the firft place, I was hrought to 
 Weftminfter by Habeas corpus, the 7th of this month, granted the day 
 before, to be arraigned, when yet no bill was exhibited againfl: me ; and 
 my prolecutors could not know it would be found, unlefs they had a 
 correfpondence with the grand jury; which, under favour, ought not 
 to have been had. 
 
 L. C. y. We know nothing of it: you had as good tell us of fome- 
 body's ghoft, as you did at the trial. 
 
 Co/. Sydney. I told you of two infamous perfons that aded my lord' 
 Ruffel's ghoft. 
 
 L. C. y. Go on, if you have any thing e\fe. 
 
 Col. Sydney. I prayed a copy of the indidment, making my objedions 
 againft it, and putting in a fpecial plea, which the law, I humbly con- 
 ceive, allowed me : the help of counfel to frame it was denied. 
 
 L. C. y. For the copy of the indidment, it was denied in the cafe 
 you cited. This favour fhewed you to day, was denied at any time to 
 in Henry Vane, that is, to have the indidment read in latin. Do not 
 fay on the other fide, we refufed your plea. I told you, have a care of 
 putting it in. If the plea was fuch as Mr. Attorney did demur to it, I told 
 you, you were anfwerable for the confequences of it. 
 
 Mr. yuji. Wythins. We told you, you might put it in ; but you mufl 
 put it in at your peril. 
 
 Col. Sydney. My lord, I would have put it in. 
 
 L. C. y. I did advertife you, if you put in a plea, upon your peril be 
 it. I told you, we are bound by law to give you that fair advertifement 
 of the great danger you would fall under, if it were not a good plea. 
 Col. Sydney. My lord, my plea was that could never hurt me. 
 i. C. y. We do not know that. 
 
 Col. Sydney. I defire, my lord, this, that it may be confidered, that, 
 being brought here to my trial, I did defire a copy of the indi£tment, 
 upon the ftatute of 46 E. 3. which does allow it to all men in all cafes. 
 
 L. C. J. I tell you, the law is otherwife, and told you fo then, and 
 tell you fo now. 
 
 Col. Sydney. Your lordfliip did not tell me, that was not a law. 
 
 L. C. y. Unlefs there be a law particular for colonel Sydney. If ycir 
 
 have any more to fay 
 
 Col. Sydney. I am probably informed, and, if your lordfhip will give 
 me time, fliall be able to prove it, that the jury was not fummoned as 
 it ought to be: my lord, if this jury was not fummoned by the bailiff^ 
 according to the ordinary way, but they were agreed upon by the under- 
 flierifFs, Graham and Burton, I defire to know, whether that be a good* 
 jury ? 
 
 L. C. y. We can take notice of nothing, but what is upon the recort^ 
 Here is a retura by the fherifFi if there had been any indiredl means 
 
 6|
 
 ^4 
 
 THETRIALOF A. SYDNEY 
 
 ufed with the fherifF, or any elfe, you fliould have mentioned it before 
 they were fworn. 
 
 Col. Sydney. Is there any thing in the world more irregular than that ? 
 
 Xj. C. J. I know nothing of it. That time is paft. 
 
 Col. Sydney. Now, my lord, all men are admitted on the jury. 
 
 L. C. y. Why, you did not like gentlemen, and now you do not like 
 thofethat you had. In plain Englifh, if any jury had found you guilty 
 it had been the fame thing. It had been a good fummons, if they had 
 acquitted you. 
 
 CoL Sydney. When the jury, thus compofed, was fworn, four wit- 
 neffes, of whom three were under the terror of death for treafons, were pro- 
 duced againrt me; and they confefled themfelves guilty of crimes of which 
 I had no knowledge, and told ftories by heariay. And your lordfhip 
 did promife, in fumming up the evidence, that the jury fhould be 
 informed what did reach me, and what not ; and I do not remember that 
 
 Avas done. 
 
 L. C. J. I did it particularly : I think I was as careful of it as 
 
 poffibly I could be. 
 
 Col. Sydney. My lord Howard being the only witnefs that faid any 
 thing againft me ; papers, which were faid to be found in my houfe, 
 were produced as another witnefs, and no other teftimony given 
 concerning them, but that the hand was like unto mine. No man can fay, 
 I read them or {hewed them to any man. None knew when they were 
 -written : the ink fhewed, they had been done many, and perhaps, twenty 
 or thirty years; yea, fome paflages were read out of them, without exa- 
 mining what went before and after. When I dcfired the whole might 
 be read, it was refufed, unlefs I fpecified the paflage, which I could not do, 
 knowing not one word in them. When I alleged, that in criminal cafes 
 fimllitude of hands could not be taken for evidence, propofed my points 
 of law concerning conflrudlive treafon, etc. and I did conceive, that no 
 court under the parliament could be judges of it, and did defire the ftatute, 
 which did fo enad it, might be read, it could not be obtained : and I 
 cited many judgments in parUament. 
 
 L. C. J. Mr. Sydney, if you arraign the juftice of the nation fo, 
 as though we had denied you the methods of juftice, I muft tell you, you 
 do what does not become you, for we denied you nothing that ought to 
 have been granted. If we had granted you lefs, I think we had done 
 more our duty. What points of law do you mean ? 
 Col. Sydney. That of confl:ru£live treafon, my lord. 
 L. C. J. We do not go upon conftrudive treafon, it is plain treafon 
 withiii 25 E. 3. 
 
 C'J. Sydney. Is writing an ad ? 
 
 L. C. y. Yes, it is agere. fProclcwiation made for Jilence.) 
 
 Mr. Bamfu'ld. Sir, I pray you to hear me one word as amicus curia. I 
 
 humbly fuppofe that your lordfl-iip will not give judgment, if there be a 
 
 material dcfcd in the iiulidment : as the clerk did read it, he left out 
 
 JJeJ'enJbrfdeit which is part of the ftyle of his majefty.
 
 THE TRIAL OF A. SYDNEY 65 
 
 X,. C. y. We have heard of It already ; we thank you for your 
 friendfhip, and are fatisfied. Mr. Sydney, there remains nothing for the 
 court, but to difcharge their duty, in pronouncing that judgment the law 
 requires to be pronounced againft all pcrfons convidled of high-treafon ; 
 and I muft tell you, that though you fcem to arraign the juftice of the 
 court, and the proceeding — 
 
 Col. Sydney. I mufl appeal to God and the v/orld. I am not heard. 
 
 L. C. y. Appeal to whom you will. I could wifli with all my heart", 
 inftead of appealing to the world, as though you had received fomething 
 extreme hard in your cafe, that you would appeal to the great God of 
 Heaven, and conlider the guilt you have contradled by the great offence 
 you have committed. 1 wifli with all my heart, you would confidcr 
 your condition ; but if your own ingenuity will not provoke you, nothing 
 I can fay will prevail with you, to do it : if the king's general pardon, 
 in which you had fo great a fliare of the king's mercy, will not, 1 could 
 wifh that as a gentleman and as a chriftian you would confidcr under 
 what particular obligations you lie to that gracious king that hath done 
 much more for you. I ihould have thought it would have wrought in 
 you fuch a temper of mind, as to have turned the reft of your life into a 
 generous acknowledgement of his bounty and mercy, and not into a ftate 
 of conftant combining and writing, not only to deftroy him, but to fub- 
 vert the government ; and I am forry to fee you fo earneft in the juftifi- 
 cation of the book, in which there is fcarce a line, but what contains the 
 rankefl treafon, fuch as depofing the king: it not only encourages, but 
 juftifies, all rebellion. Mr. Sydney, you are a gentleman of quality, 
 and need no counfcl from me : if I could give you any, my charity to 
 your immortal foul would provoke me to it. I pray, God feafon this 
 affliction to you! There remains nothing with the court, but to pro- 
 nounce that iudgment that is exped:ed, and the law requires, and there- 
 fore the judgement of the court is, 
 
 That you be carried hence to the place from lahenceyoti came., and from thence 
 yoiifiMll he drawn upon an hurdle to the place of execution^ where you fiall be 
 hanged by the neck., and, being alive., cut down ; your privy members Jhall be 
 cut off'., afid burned before your face ; your head fevered Jrom your body., and 
 your body divided into four quarters ; and tfjey to be difpofed at the pkafure of 
 the king. And the God of infnite mercy l.mve mercy upon your foul ! 
 
 Col. Sydney. Then, O God, O God, I befeech thee to fandify thefe fuiTer- 
 ings unto me, and impute not my blood to the country, nor the city 
 through which I am tobe drawn ; let no inquifition be made for it, but if any, 
 nnd the Ihedding of blood that is innocent muft be revenged, let the weight 
 of it fall upon thoie that malicioufly perfecute me for righteoufnefs i'ake. 
 
 L. C. y. I pray God work in you a temper ht to go unto the other world, 
 for I fee you are not fit for this. 
 
 Col. Sydney. My lord, feel my pulfe [fjolding out his hand] and fee if I 
 mv\ difordered. I blefs God, I never was in better temper, than I ain now. 
 
 Then t/je lieutenant of the Tower carried back his^rifoner.
 
 THE APOLOGY OF A. SYDNEY 
 IN THE DAY OF HIS DEATH.
 
 THE APOLOG¥ OF A. SYDNEY 
 IN THE DAY OF HIS DEATH.* 
 
 Being ready to dye under an accufation of many crimes, I thought fit to 
 leaue this as a teftimony unto the world, that, as I had from my you: h cndea- 
 uoured to uphold the common rights of mankind^ the laives of this land^ and 
 the true Protejlant religioJi^ ^^^2////? corrupt principles.^ arbitrary power., and 
 Popery., I doe now "willingly lay downe my life for the fame, and hauing a 
 fure witnefle within me, that God doth abfohie me, and uphold me, iiv 
 the utmoft extremityes, am uery littell follicitous, though man doth con- 
 demne me» 
 
 I am noe ivayes- afiamed to anote., that, from the yeare 1642, untill the 
 €om?mngin of the king, I did prof e cute the above-mentioned principles ; and^ 
 hauing then finifhed to the aduantage of all Europe, and the honour of this 
 nation, a negotiation, upon which I had been employed in the north,, 
 chofe rather to remaine beyond the feas, then to returne into my owne 
 country, though general Monk, upon the acount of many obligations- 
 receaued from me, did defire me to returne, with large ofFera of all the- 
 aduantages he could procure for me. 
 
 I well knew his power, and did not doubt of his intentions ; buLthough; 
 1 thought it my duty to fubmit unto the prouidence of God, in Xhejlrange 
 reuolutions brought amongfl: us, through the unfearchable councels of his 
 will, durft not recead from the wayes of righteoufaefle j and through- 
 his grace was able to reje£l the rewards of iniquity. 
 
 It being acknowledged, that though I had euer oppofed the then triumphing" 
 party, noe man had ever fiewed himfelf to be a fairer enemy, ayid that I had 
 done many perfo7iall and ?noJi important ferinces, as well to the royall family, 
 as untofuch as depended upon it, I hoped that noe man ivoicldfearch into my- 
 prefent thoughts, nor fo far to remember ?ny former anions, as to diflurbe me 
 in a 77iofl i^inocent exile ; and that the moft malicious of my enemyes fliould; 
 not pretend that I pradliced any thing againfl: the gouernement, I made 
 Rome the place of my retreat, which was certainly an ill fcene to ^Oi any 
 thing, that was difpleafing unto it. 
 
 But I foone found, that noe inqff'cnfueneffe of behauiour could preferue me 
 agaitifl the malice of t hoes, whoe fought to defray ?ne ; a7td was defhidedfronv 
 fuch as there defgned to affafjitiate me, only by the charity of f rangers. 
 
 When the care of my priuate affaires brought me into Flanders and^ 
 Holland, anno 1663, the fame dangers accompanied me; and, that 7ioe place 
 might be fafe unto 7ne, A/idrew White, with fo77ie at hers ^ werefent i7ito the 
 mofl re77iote parts of Germa7iy, to 7nurther 77ie. 
 
 * The reader will find a difficulty in underftanding fome words and paflages in this> 
 Apology, which, it is not improbable, was diitattd to a Frenchman, Jofeph Ducas, the fame. 
 who gave evidence on the trial, 
 
 5 The
 
 THE APOLOGY OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 The afperity of this perfecution obliged me to feek the prote(£lion of 
 fomme forraine priaces; and, being;|^en in the ftrength of my age, had 
 reputation enough to haue gained honourable imployments; but all my 
 defignes were broken by letters and meflages from this court, fo as none 
 durfl: entertaine me ; and when 1 could not comprehend the grounds of 
 dealing with me in fuch a way, when I knew that many others, whoe had 
 been my compaignons, and giuen (as I thought ) more juft caufes of ha- 
 tred againft them, then I had done, were receaued intofauour, or fulTer'd 
 to live quietly. A man of quality, whoe well knew the temper of the 
 court, explained the miflery unto me, by letting me know, that I was 
 diJiinguiJJied from the rejl^ bec.mfe it was knowne, that I could not be 
 corrupted. 
 
 Noe ?nan could have thought it Jlrange^ if this has cajl me into the utmofi 
 ■txtreamityes \ and perhaps occafons of b^ing reuenged wou^d not have been 
 wa?7ting, if I had flight them ; but, inftead of thai, 1 caft niyfelf into 
 unfufpeded retirement in the moll remote part of France, where I pafled 
 aboue eleuen yeares, and was drawne out of it only by a defire ofjeeing my 
 aged father before he died^ and obtained the king's pafTepoi t lor my fecurity. 
 
 My father dyed within a few weeks after my comming cuei ; and, when 
 I prepared myfelf to returne into Gual'cony, there to palle the remaining part 
 of my life, I was hindered by the earl of Licefter my brother, who quef- 
 tioned all that my father had giuen me for my iubfiftance; and by a long 
 and tedious fuitte in fhancery, detained me in England, untill I was made 
 a priibner. 
 
 When a fimourable decree, obtained in fhancery, gave me hopes of be- 
 ing freed from fuch uexatious bufmeile, I reaflumed my former defigne 
 of returning into France ; and to th:it end boughc a fmal! parcell of 
 ground, in a friend's name, with an intention of going immediately unto 
 it. This proceeded fro-n the uneafncfe of ttiy Ife, when I found, that not 
 only the reall difcontents, that greiv to be too common^ were a/bribed unto }?te^ 
 hut J])am plots j'ljiened upon me^ foe as I could never think ffiy life a day 
 in fifty. 
 
 Not long after the difco^'ery of the popifli plot, Itis majeftye was in- 
 formed of a great plot of the nonconformills, and that 1 was at the head 
 of it ; and though (b;:ing admi'ted unto his m^jcftve's prefenc'^'l I did truly 
 ih€w unto him, that there neither was nor could be any thing of that 
 nature, as things then flood ; becaufe it would call his majeftye into con- 
 jundllon with the Poplfh, which they did moft abhorrc; the fham was 
 continued, as appeares by the mealetub bulinefle. Though my name was 
 not there f )und, I am well informed, that, if it had fuccceded, I fliould 
 have been inuolued in it. 
 
 Other wayes were inucnted to uex and mine me. When I only looked 
 ouer a balcony to fee what paifed at the cletSlion of the llicriffs ot London, 
 1 was indided for a riot. 
 
 In April lafl I was told by a perf)n of eminent quality, uirtue, and 
 undcrftaudlng, that 1 fliould inlaillibly be made a priloncr. 1 aiked upon 
 
 what 
 2 •
 
 IN THE DAY OF HIS DEATH 
 
 what pretence. He alleagued fomme things that were entirely friuolous, 
 relating unto vile perfons, whoes laces and names I did not know, but 
 con.-'uded fomme or other would be found ; and that if I was once taken,, 
 it mattered not for what caufe ; // being impojjible to auoide condemnation^, 
 before fuch judges and jury ex as Ijhoidd be tryed by. 
 
 About the middell of June the towne was full of rumours of a plot 
 fayd to be difcouered by Keeling, and not long after by Weft. Some 
 perfons fled, and a proclamation ilfucd to haue tiiem apprehended. My 
 name was in every coffee-houfe, and feueral informations were given me, 
 that I fhould certainely be feafed. I mentioned this to feucrall perfons ; 
 but knowing no raifon why I fhould abfent myfelf, refolued not to do it ;. 
 and continued in that minde, though I was told, earely in the morning 
 on the 26th of June, that the duke of Monmouth was retired, and 
 colonel Rumfey had rendered himfelf. 
 
 This concerned me foe littell, that I fpent that morning upon my ufuall 
 fludyes, or entertaining fuch friends as came to fee me ; and, whileft I 
 was at diner, a meflenger came and arrefted me in the king's name, by 
 an order from four lords of the privy councell. Immediately after fir 
 Philip Lloyd came, with another order from the fame lords, to feafe my 
 papers. He fearched many fecret places, but did not find one that he 
 thought fit to take, exept fuch as lay openly upon my table, or in a 
 trunck that had not been fhut in fomme yeares. When he had ranfaked 
 all, and put what he pleafed into a trunck and pillowbear, he would haue 
 perfuaded me to put my feale unto them ; but I, remembring what had 
 pafled at collonell Manfell's lodging, and fomme other occafions of the 
 hke nature, refufed to doe it ; wheareupon he put his own feale, but 
 promifed, that they fhould not be opened, unlefle it were in my prefence ; 
 which was obferved as othei? promifes of that nature have been ; for I 
 never faw the faid trunk or pillowbeare to this day. From my owne 
 houfe I was carried to the meilengers, and from thence to Whitehall, 
 before the four lords, by whoes order I had bin apprehended. 
 
 The lord keeper [North] afked me fome queftions concerning fir John 
 Cockram, and Aaron Smith, unto which I returned anfweares with all 
 the refpedl I could, without preiudice unto the truth ; and, when I thought 
 that I had giuen full fatisfa£lion, was taken into the cuftody of a ferieant 
 at armes, and, by a warrant from fir Leolin Jenkins *, [fecretary of 
 
 ftatej 
 
 * Hithe. Sir LeoVm Jenkins, fon of a taylour, judge of the Admiralty, was in hopes to 
 be Archbifliop of Canterbury; employed in four embafTies, and whofe indefatigable indiiftry 
 
 in pr moting a peace for France, has been our ; [curfe or ruin.] He affirmed in. 
 
 the Houfe of Commons, That upon necejfity, the King might raife monies without aSl of Parliaments 
 A feafonable argument to perfuade all the Grand Juries in England, to petition 
 for a new Parliament. Or a lift of the principal labourers in the gnat defign of 
 Popery and arbitrary power ; who have betrayed their country to the Confpira^ 
 tors, and bargaine 1 with them to maintain -3. Jlanding army in England, under 
 the command o( the bigottcd popijh Duke, who by the affiftance of the L. L's 
 [Lord Lieutenant" si Scotch army, the forces in Ireland, and thofe in France, hope 
 to bring all back to Rome. Amfteidam, printed in the year 1677, in quartOi. 
 [By Andrew Marvell.]
 
 THE APOLOGY OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 ilate] eommitted to the Tower for Kigh-treafon, and there detained a 
 iclofe prifoner. Within a few days after, my houfe, mony, horfes, 
 goods, and chattels, were feafed both in the towne and country, which I 
 take to be contrary to the iawes of the land, in thees three points : firft, 
 •it is exprcilHy fayd in magna charta, confirmed by above thirty parlia- 
 'inents, 'and many other ftatutes now in force, that noe man Ihall be 
 imprifoned, unleffe it be by the judgment of his peeres, upon the tefti- 
 anony of tow credible witneffes, or his ov/n free confelfion, without force 
 ■or violence ; whereas here was no indidlemcnt or witneife produced untill 
 the 7 of November, and, though extreame violence was ufed to me, I 
 confefled noe crime at all. adiy. The law of England appoints impri- 
 fonmeiit " in cuftodiam, not in psenam," acknowledges no clofe impri- 
 fonment; whereas I was kept with the moft extreame rigour, to the 
 .great preiudice of my health, and almoft deftrudion of m.y life, without 
 ^ny con'blation from my friends, untill a few dayes before my tryall. 
 3dly, The law of England admits of noe feifure of goods till after con- 
 -vi(£llon ; whereas diuers lewd fellowes were put into my houfe, whoe, 
 tefides many infolencles commiiled, did (as I am informed) felonioufly 
 takeaway my coaches, feveral parcells of goods, and fom me mony, long- 
 before any Indidement was exhibited againft me, and, though I made 
 feuerai adrefles unto the king and councell, for the remouall of thoes 
 violences, could obtaine noe reliefe. 
 
 November 6, I receaued notice from the lieutenant of the Tower, that 
 an habeas corpus was brought unto him, and a command to bring me the 
 next day before the king's bench ; and I was accordingly brought into 
 the pillace-yard of Weftminfter, between ten and eleven the clock in the 
 m(\rning, before the grand jury aifembled, or the king's councell could know 
 the bill would be found, unleife they had the faculty of divining, or held 
 fuch an intelligence with the grand jury, as utterly ouerthrowes all juftice. 
 
 The bill being found, I was immediately hurried to the bar, through 
 a Arong guard of Ibldicrs, to be arraigned. The bill was read in Englifli 
 and in Latin. I found it to be uery long, perplexed, confufed, and 
 containing a heap of erimcs, diilin£t in nature, diftinguiihed from each 
 other by Iawes relating unto feuerall ftatutes, which required leuerall 
 conliderations ; noe ouert a<3: was prccilely fet forth, v/ith its due circum- 
 llances ; noe man named, with whome I was fayd to haue confpired ; 
 the meetings to confpirc were fiyd to be on the 30th of June, and 
 many Oih-er dayes botli before and fince; ivbereas I ivas then, and had 
 hill fhmnie ddycs hi fore, and ever fince^ a clofe prifoner : hereupon I defircd 
 •the advice of councell, to frame excptions againft the bill, profefling 
 that to m.e it feemed to be voide, as many had bin declared to he foe, 
 and particularly that of the duke of Somerfet. I inft^iccd, that the 
 .-court had allowed unto fir IT. Vane the liberty of making his exeptions, 
 and pleading over, which the Iawes allowc in matters of lite ; but all was 
 jcfufcd, without any other rcafon then the will of the judges. T then 
 defired councell to frame a ipeciall plea, opening, as well as I could, the 
 fcope of it J but could ciblaine nothing j and laflly, wlieft I offered a 
 
 fpeciall
 
 IN THE DAY OF HIS DEATH 
 
 fpeclall plea, ready engrofTed, the court would not receaue it, unlcflc it 
 might be peremptory, declaring, that if it were ouer-ruled, I fhould be 
 noe further heard ; which condition I was not willing to accept of, inaf- 
 much as, though I belieued my plea to be good, I was more confident of 
 the merits of my caufe ; and, leaft I fliould be deprived of the benefit of 
 pleading, was forced to comme to the general ilTue. 
 
 This proceeded mcerely from my ownc ignorance in the lawe, and 
 want of councell, which if I had had, the court could not have impofed 
 fo notorious a fraud upon me, as to make me believe, that I could not 
 be admitted to plead not guilty, if that fpeclall plea came to be ouer- 
 ruled ; euery one that is any-v\rayes verfed in the lav/e knowing, that I 
 might doe it without danger. If it had bin receaued, the court would 
 have bin obliged to cut off thoes intricacyes, ambiguitycs, by which I 
 was entangled, and the jury brought to bring in a veredid: v/hich they 
 did not underftand ; or impudently, in the face of the world, to have 
 fliowne, that they had noe confideration of lawe or common fenk: and 
 whatfoeuer they did, might then haue comme to the generall ilTue. Being 
 driven upon theis extremltyes, ^y the iiiolence and f mud of the chief jvjlice^ 
 whoe threatened, that judgement of treafon fliould be immediately entered, 
 if I did not comme to the generall ifliie, I was forced to plead not guiltv, 
 and theareby loft the aduantage, which was neuer to be recouered, unleiVe 
 the judges could haue bin changed : they, whoe knew I could neuer be 
 condemned upon fuch evidence, as, by confulting with the kino-'s 
 councell, they knew would be produced, unlelTe the matter could be 
 rendered unintelligible by a common jury, refolved againfl: anv thing 
 that fliould explaine it, or make the truth to appeare, and would never 
 fufl'er me to get out of the fnare in which they had caught me. 
 
 The court, for fafliion's lake, allowed me a fortnight to prepare for 
 my tryall ; but, left the fraud or errours of the indidtement fliould be 
 dilcouered, as that time might be of any benefite unto me ; the coopy of 
 it, and the help of councell, were again denycd, unlefle I could tell upon 
 what points in lawe I would defire theyr aduice. This was noe lefle 
 then to inioine impoiibilltyes. Having neuer ftuddyed the lawe, I v/as 
 utterly ignorant of it ; the indidenient was foe long, perplexed, and 
 intricate, that the ableft lawyers could give me but a very imnerfcd: 
 account of it upon hearing, though the wholle contexture of if feemed to 
 be fuch as was not to be upheld by lawe ; it v/as hard for them juftiv to 
 fixe upon the wayes of overthrov^ing it, when the exeptions, and' the 
 fpeclall plea that I offered, had bin rejected, unlefle they had had it before 
 them, and nicely examined it ; much lefl'e could it be done by me, whoe 
 .am utterly unexperienced in thoes matters. '■' Mr. Atturney [fir Robert 
 
 Sawyer, 
 
 * Chipping JVicham. Sir Rcbert Saiuyer, a lawyer of as ill reputation .is his father. Has 
 had for his attendance this feflioii loool. and is promifedj as hs infinuates, to be Attorney 
 General and Speaker of the Houfe of Cominons. 
 
 A feafonable ara:ument, etc. 
 
 s A
 
 THE APOLOGY OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 Sawyer, Knt.] had then fo much confidence, and foe Httell charity, as 
 openly to avow, that I fliould not have councell, left they fhould furnifh 
 or teach me the points of lawe that I might infift upon. This appeared 
 ftrange unto all thoes whoe have any knowledge of the lawes of God or 
 man, and that are not cqualy depriued of charity and humanity. 'The 
 obtaining of jujlice is the end of the lawe, mid truth the rule of it : hereupon 
 it is agreed hy 7nankinde, that every man ought to know his accufation, that 
 be may know to direci his defence, or receaue advice, if he be ignorant in it. 
 It is an abfurd peruerfion of all lawe, to fay, that 1 heard it read ; when 
 it was rendered foe long and intricate, that neither I, nor any other 
 man^ was, u}X)n reading, able to comprehend it. One of the worft aifts 
 that w^ere imputed unto Caligula, the worft and bafeft of men, was, that 
 lie caufed edicis to be written in a hand, and fet up in a place where no 
 man could read them : hereby he turned the lawe into a fnare, and 
 deftroyed thoes who did not conforme thcmfelves unto the rule they ncuer 
 knew. They fall under the fame condemnation whoe make acculations 
 obfcure, and fufFer them not to be examined, leaft they fhould be under- 
 flood. To euade this, my profecutors falfely pretend, that noe fuch 
 prluilegc is allowed to prifoners in England. But, bciidcs that natural! 
 and univerfal rule of juftice, which can be ouer-ruled by noe municipall 
 law, I did produce the flat, of 46 Ed. III. which doth plainely ena£t, that 
 all men, in all cafes, w^heathcr they be fuch as fall out againft the king, 
 or any others, fliall haue coppy of fuch records as are againft them ; and 
 fliewed, that the parliament, whoes example all other courts ought to 
 followe, had allowed unto the earl of Straff"ord, the earl of Danby, the 
 lord Stafford, and the popifch lords now in the Tov/er, coppycs of their 
 indiilement : and, if it had bin pretended, that fuch a priuilcdge was 
 allowed only unto peeres, I was ready to fay, that though I am not a 
 peere, I am of the wood cf "which they are made, and doe not find, that our 
 anceftors were leffe careful! rf the Hues of commoners, then of peeres, or that 
 one lawe is made for them., and another for us ; but are all cjitirely under the 
 fame lawe, and the fame rules. 
 
 I confefte that, at the time of mv arraignement, I was not fully 
 prouided with arguments and proofes of thcfe matters ; but v/hcn I came 
 to my tryall, had thoes that were abundantly fuflicient : ncuerthelefle the 
 chief juftice (whoe, by his oath, and the king's, ought to have informed 
 me of that lawe, if I did not know it) would not fuffer the flatute to be 
 read, when I produced an authentike coppy of it, nor allowe me the coppy 
 of my indidlement, which, according unto the true meaning and exprcfle 
 v/ords thereof, I demanded. 
 
 Though 1 was thus irregularly hurried unto tryall, I thought that miy 
 birth, education, and life, might haue dcfcrued a jury of the principal 
 knights and gentlemen that were freeholders in Middlefcx ; or, if that 
 rule were broken, the moft eminent men for quality and underftanding, 
 reputation and uirtue, whoe lined in the county, though they had not 
 freeholds, might have bin taken to fill up the pannell. The importance 
 
 iiud
 
 IN THE DAY OF HIS D E A TIT 
 
 and difficulty of the matter in qucflion fccmcd farther to enforce it ; hut, 
 \Vhcn a coppy of the pannell was Tent unto nic, I found that all rules of' 
 decency^ dijcretion, and humanity, had bin nrgleBed, as well as thoes of laise ; 
 the baillfcs had not bin fuffered to fummon fiich of the freeholders, in 
 their feuerall hundreds, as feemed moft fit for fuch a feruice ; but rcccaued 
 orders to fummon by name fuch as Graham and Burton had, with the 
 under-fhenff', agreed upon : the coppy of the pannell was fent unto me 
 before one of them was fummoned ; and, if I am rightly informed, 
 fomme of the bcfl: being put in only for faftuon-fahe, did neuer rcccaue. 
 any fummons ; but fare I am they did not appeare. 
 
 The life I haue led might haue giuen me fomme kinde of knowledge 
 of fuch as rcafonably might be thought fit to be my judges; but I did 
 not know the face of one, nor the names of more than three of the whoile 
 pannell, and they laft, as did not appeare. Upon examination I found, 
 that they had not only put in uery many that were not freeholders, 
 but picked up a rabble of men of the meaneft callings, ruined fortunes, 
 loft reputation, and hardly endowed with fuch underflanding, as is 
 required for a jury in a nifi prius court for a bufmeffe of fiue pounds. 
 
 This might have bin a littcll mended by fifting, if the rcafons alleaged 
 againft fuch as were the king's feruants in pay, wanted freehold, or> for 
 fomme a£l fpecifyed, were notorioufly infamous, had bin accepted ; but 
 the lord chief juftice being pleafed, without pretence of lawe, reafon, or 
 precedent, or buffering the point of lawe concerning freehold to be argued, 
 to reiedt my exeptions, I was forced to challenge them peremptorily, 
 whom I knew to have bin chofen to deftroy me ; and was thereby depriued 
 of the benefite allowed by the lawe, and forced to admit of others moft 
 like unto them (whereas it is fayed, that I reieiftcd men of quality, and 
 took fuch as were mean, I doc profelTe, that I doe not know of a man, 
 family, name, or fortune, upon the pannell, but Mr. Burt, fir Charles 
 Gerard, and Mr. Haw^try, Vv'homc I refolvcd to have accepted ; and, if I 
 did challange any other like unto them, it was meerely by miftake ;) and, 
 to embroile the minds of a jury thus conftituted, the king's counccll pro- 
 duced Mr. Weft, colonel Rumfey, Keeling, and fir Andrew Fofter, to 
 telljloryes upon hcarefay. The three firft fpake of a plot betweenc thcm- 
 felues and others, in which I was no more concerned, then that they, 
 "whoe had not reputation to carry on fuch a work, were willing to make 
 people believe, that I, and fomme that had more, were engaged in it. 
 This, in truth, did uery much tend to my juftification ; for it is not to 
 he imagined, that, if I had bin engaged in their defignes, I fliould not 
 rather have communicated with Weft and Rumfey, then fuch meane 
 perlbns, as were hardly in a diftance of being knowne by me : and 
 Vofter's depofition went noe farther, then that, as the lord Howard favd 
 fomme Scotch gentellmcn were deiired to comme up upon a pretence of 
 treating concerning Carolina, fomme did comme to treat of the fame ; 
 but of me, or any corrcfjiondcnce between me and them, he favs not a 
 word. The lord Howard's depofition was uery rhetoricall, but notlaing 
 
 5 A 2 ' iVt
 
 lO 
 
 THE APOLOGY OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 at all to the prefent purpofe. The indldement fet forth a confplracy on 
 the 30th of June, wherein I, and diners others to the jury unknowne,. 
 did then, and many other days both before and after, in the parifli of 
 St. Giles, not hauing the feare of God before our eyes, at the inftigation 
 of the diuell, had traiteroufly coufpired the king to depofe and kill ; the 
 gouuernment to fubucrt ; to leauy war, and a cruell flaughter of his 
 fubiedts to make ; and, in order heareunto, had written a falfe and fedi- 
 tious libell or book to ftirre up the people. 
 
 The witneiTes produced by me were three eminent peeres, tow gentel- 
 men of great quality, coufin germains of the lord Howard, a dodlor of 
 diuinity, a Frenfli gentelman, tow of my feruanls, and a very confider- 
 able citizen. Six of thefe did depofe, that the lord Howard, with hands 
 and eyes lifted up to heauen, and calling God to witneffe, had moft 
 follemly declared he knew of noe plot ; belieued there was none ; took 
 that which is mentioned, to be a fham inuented by the priefts and jefuits, . 
 and the more dangerous for being a fham, becaufe noe man knew wheare 
 it would end. Four of them fayd expreflely, he had, with the fame 
 aiTeuerations, declared his confidence, that 1 knew of none ; for that I 
 , was fo mucli his friend, that, if I had knowne of any, I would have 
 communicated it unto him. 
 
 Before I was brought to my tryall, I had fet downe a certaine methode 
 to be kept in making my deffence, and twelve points of lawe to be 
 argued by councell, or faued to be found fpecially, if the jury did finde 
 any facfl againll: me. But all was inuerted by the uiolence of the chief 
 juftice, who perpetually interrupted me ; and was obferued foe well to 
 choofe his time of breaking of my difcourfe, as never to fiifFer m.e to 
 finifh any point that plnflied too hard upon the undue pracftices of my 
 profecutors, or moft conduced to my defence. Whenfoeuer I cited a 
 lawe, or a judged cafe, that made for me, or propofed a point of lawe to 
 be argued or referued, he would tell me it was nothing to the purpofe, 
 they had already determined it, and obliged me to be filent. Then I 
 thereupon fayd it was to noe purpofe to /peak, if laiv, rcafon^ and truths 
 were not regarded. He told me, that if I would not fpeak^ they knew how 
 to proceed. 
 
 When, by the impudence of his extrauagance, I was driuen into theis 
 ftrcights, I faw noe better way then to fliewe, that the only witneffe 
 againft me was the lord Howard ; and he could deferue noe credite ; that 
 hauing, at the lord Ruftel's triall, acknowledged, that the religious obli- 
 gation of an oath did not confift in the outward adminiftring of it, but 
 ihc calling of God to be a witneffe unto it ; that he had there;, as- in the 
 prefence of God, afferted things inconfiftent v;ith what he had then 
 fworne (foe as Mr. Howard fajal it was impoffible that what he fiyd unto 
 him, and what he had then Iworne in the court, could be true, unlcfle 
 his lordfhip had one foul on Sunday, and another on Munday ;) that he 
 had thereby fworne himfclf periurcd, which was beyond any legall con- 
 
 uidion.
 
 IN THE DAY OF HIS DEATir „ 
 
 uidion, and ought to deftroy his tcftlmony, as well as if he had been 
 Icgaly conuidted. 
 
 That he had now added new perjuries unto the former, in fwearing 
 things different from, and inconfiftent with, what he had fworne againft 
 the lord Ruflel ; and then concluded, that he knew noe more. 
 
 That, being under the guilt of many confefTed crimes, the terrours of 
 death, the defpaire of obtaining a pardon, unlefle it were by the drudgery 
 of fwearing, as was tcftified by Mr. Blake, or doing other jobs, as had 
 bin fayd by Hunt and Burroughs, whoe durfl: not appeare, though 
 fuppoenas had been fent them ; he did in effedl confefle his former crimes 
 were to be redeemed only by committing more; he ought not to be' 
 credited; that he was my debtor; and, hauing defrauded me in the 
 matter, and for the mony, with which I had trufted him, comming to 
 ray hoLife under the name of a friend, he had endevoured to get my plate, 
 and other things of value into his hands. 
 
 That the matter of his depofition was as abfurd and impoffible as falfe ; 
 that the fix, which were fayd to be a feled: councell, were feleded by 
 noe man ; that they, not being chofen by any, could not eredl themfelues • 
 into a cabal, to manage fuch bufineifc as were by noe man committed 
 unto their charge : that they did not knowe, and could haue noe 
 confidence in one another ; that I had neuer fpoken unto the duke of 
 Monmouth untill he brought the faid duke to dine with me by a cheat 
 put upon us both a few days before the pretended meetings ; that, upon 
 fuch occafions, when men did inuite themfelues to confpire, they did euer 
 choofe fuch as they trufled, and could help forwards the defignes for 
 which they did confpire ; that the lord Howard was trufted by none of 
 them, and was foe far from being able to doe any thing towards fuch an 
 end, that he durft not fay he could bring fiue men into the field, furnifh 
 nue pounds by his purfe or credite, or knew how to command them if 
 they were brought together by any other ; that, if he faid the fam.e thing 
 of me, I might, confefle it; and did confcffe, I did not knowe fiue men 
 in England that would followe me; and could haue fayd uery much 
 more, if I had not bin hindered by the chief juftice his frequent 
 interruptions. 
 
 That, his depoiition being deftroyed, nothing remained ; or though . 
 contrary to lav/e and reafon it were receaued, it could be of noe ualue, , 
 being Jingk. 
 
 That no ufe could be made of the papers fayd to be found in my houfe. 
 That, though the gouernment of France is iayd to be uiolent, noe ufe " 
 could be m.ide of many papers ofmoft dangerous confequence, fayd to be 
 taken in M. de Fouquet's houfe, by the king of France his officers; and 
 the error of not inuentorying them, in the prcfence of fome perfons trufted 
 by him, was neuer to be repaired, and he had bin faued by it. That noe 
 man faid I writ them, and fimilitude of' writing, in criminal cafes, could ; 
 be noe euidence, as appeared by the judgement of the chief juftice Keeling, 
 and the wholle court, in the lady Car's cafe. . 
 
 3 That, .
 
 12 THEAPOLOGYOF A. SYDNEY 
 
 That, whofoeuer writ them, they appeared to be only fomme fcraps of 
 a large treatife, in anfwere to Filmer's book, which, being full of abomi- 
 nable maximes^ might be oppofed by any man : the like hauing been 
 written by one White a priefl:, in fauour of Cromewell, when he was 
 in poffcllion of the power ; he, though a tyrant, abominated it, and a 
 gentleman who prefented it: that, if I had written and publifhed a book, 
 , I muft be anlwearable for the contents of it, the wholle being confidered ; 
 but, when a few fheets, relating unto fomme hundreds mentioned in them, 
 ■were produced, not only the fcope of the wholle remained unknowne, but 
 the antecedents and the confequents of the words they had read, being kept 
 fecrets, noe man could fay wheather this work were good or euill, true 
 or falfe : that, when I defired thoes papers brought into the court fliould 
 be all read, it was abfurdly propofed, that I fliould name the paffiige, I, 
 not knowing any word that was in them : that the ink and paper did 
 euidently fhcw they were uery old, and it was impoffible they fliould haue 
 any dependence upon bufinefi'e pretended to be now in agitation ; fuch as. 
 had bin WTitten many, perhaps twenty or thirty yeares agoe, could not 
 relate unto the pretended confultations within ten moneths. 
 
 That noc tribunall did euer take notice of a man's priuate, crude, and 
 undigefled thoughts : that, though the inquifition is the worfl: and mofh 
 bloody tribunall that hath bin knowne in the world, I neuer feared to 
 writte what I pleafed againft the religion there profeffed, when 1 lined 
 under it; and, though it raged in Spaine more then any other place, noe 
 monk could be queftioned for any fuch writings, though they contained 
 the mod: dangerous herefyes, if not publiiTied; and it were enough for 
 him that had written them, to fay, that he was perhaps miftaken. This 
 being foe, there is neither matter nor euldence; the lord Howard's tefti- 
 iTiony is nothing in itfelf, and cannot be fupplyed by that which is alfo 
 nothing, or, if it were to be receaved by itfelf, could have noe relation to 
 the confults of which he acciifeth me. I muft euer infift upon the lawe 
 of God giuen by the hand of Mofcs, confirmed by Chrift and his Apoftles, 
 \vheareby tow witnefles are neceflarily required to euery word, and euery 
 flatter. This is receaued by all that profefle the name of Chrift, and foe 
 xinderftood by all, that noe man in any place can be put to death, unlefle 
 tow or more teftify the fame word or thing. The reafon of this is pot 
 becaufe tow or more euill men may not be found, as appeares by the ftory 
 of Sufanna ; but becaufe it is hard for tow or more loc to agree upon all 
 circumftanccs relating unto a lye, as not to thwart one another : and 
 whoefocuer admits of tow teftifying feucrall things done or faydat fcucrall 
 times or places, conducing, as is fayd of late, unto the fame ends, de- 
 ftroyes the reafon of that lawe, takes away all the defence that the moft 
 innocent men can haue for their hues, and opens a wide gate for perjury, 
 by taking away xill pofllbllity of dilcoucring it. Tliis would be far more 
 niifchicuous in England, where there is no law of retaliation, then other 
 couiitrycs, where a falfe witncife undergoes the fame punifl\mcnt as fliould 
 haue bin inflicted upon the uccufcd pcrfon, if his words had bin found 
 
 true;
 
 IN THE DAY OF HIS DEATH rs 
 
 true; but the lawc of England doth require tow witneflcs unto tlie fame 
 thing, in the ftatut. Ed. VI. whereby compaffing, by exprcffe word, to 
 depofe the king is made penall by forfeiture of goods ; etc. and the flat. 3 
 Eli. 2. & 13 Car. 22. enacfling, that conrpiriug to Icuy war fliould be 
 treafon, nccefiarily required tow witneiTes for the proofe of it. The ad- 
 mifliori of tow teflifying things pafTing at feuerall times and places, is but 
 a ivy<v inucnlion. The lords \\~zre brought to fwallow it at the lord 
 Stafford's tryall, by the perfect concurrence of the tcftimonyes_ of Turuile 
 and Bugdale, in the fame thing, vid. murthering the king, though the one 
 was in France, the other in Staffordlhire; but If that, which was then perhaps 
 too farre ftrained, be carried foe much farther, as to extend to any thing 
 that thefe geademen lliall fancy may conduce unto the faine end, there is 
 noe faffetye in the lawc, and noc man can be found iiuiocent, unleffe he 
 plcafe, as was fayd by one of the v/orft magillratcs that cucr was ia Rome 
 in the woril time, " Icituros nemincm fe inuito repcriri poffe infontem." 
 Sig. de imp. occ. That though there were fuch a number of wiincifes a^ 
 the lawes of God and man require, and they of credlte, noe criine is fixed 
 upon me that is or hath eucr bin declared to be treafon by the lavve. It is 
 fayd in the indidlement, that I confpired the death of the king: I'lft noe 
 man fayed ^ that any mention was ever made of it in }ny prefence ; eiicn the kin^ 
 knoives I am not a man to have any fuch defigne ; and I am noe more capabb 
 of it then cf eating him, if he were death [dead.] 1 1 hink I tnay fay , I did once 
 fiue his lije^ hut I am Jure I neucr endeauourcd to take it away. If the 
 meetings mentioned were to be taken for confpiracyes againfl his majeflyes 
 life, fbmething muft haue bin there propofed and refolued concerning the 
 wayes, manner, time, place, or pcrfons, by whome it fliould be 
 cfFecled ; of which not one word is pretended, nor that he was foe much, 
 as named. 
 
 That confpiracyes take their denomination from the thing that the con~ 
 fpirators endeauour to compalfe ; and noe men were euer fayd to confpire 
 to do that which was neuer fpoken of timongfl: them. 
 
 That the compafTmg of the king's death, declared to be treafon in the 
 firft branih of the flat. 25 Ed. III. was meant his corporall death, inaimuch 
 as, in his politike capacity, he can neuer dye ; and cannot be impiyed by- 
 the branfh relating unto the leuying of war, which is an act dlilin£l in. 
 nature, and diflinguiflied by lawe from it : the authorityes of Cooke and ..^ 
 
 Hales, were alleaged to prone this difiindLion, that to leuy war was not 
 to compaffe the death of the king ; and, being treafon of different fpecies, 
 the ouert a£t of the one could not be the ouert acS of the other : that con- 
 fpirlng to leuy war, was not treafon of itfelf, nor by implication, as ap- 
 peared by feuerall temporary ads of the i of Mar. 13 Eli. 13 Car, 26. and 
 others, whereby, after a certaine time during theire hues, to conl'plre to 
 leuy war is made treafon, which had bin impertinent, if it had bin euer foe. 
 by the ancient ftat. of 25 Ed. HI. 
 
 The cafe of fir H. Vane was alleadged, whoe, though he had bin an- 
 eminent man in all the councells relating unto the firft war, by which the 
 
 lite
 
 ^4 
 
 THE APOLOGY OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 'late king was brought to death, it was neuer imputed unto him, becaufe 
 euery man knew he had noe hand in it ; and, though he did not deny 
 but he had the like part in the war continued againft his magefty now 
 raigning, he could not be conuidled without proofe of his appearing with 
 a regiment in South wark: but, as to the prefent cafe, here is neither king 
 brought to death, nor war leuyed, nor any thing done in relation to 
 
 either. Here is nothing but a meeting a£ted a confpiracy wherein it 
 
 is not foe much as pretended, that the matter which they are fayd to have 
 confpired, was euer mentioned; and fhew war my accufers dreame of, 
 was to be made without men, money, armes, ammunition, officers, fol- 
 diers, places, or any thing done towards the prouiding any of them. 
 Much might have bin hereupon fayd concerning the incongruity, uanity, 
 falfity, and abfurdity, of the lord Howard floryes : at the lord Rulfell's 
 tryall he made the foundation of the councill of fix to haue bin in profe- 
 cution of the earl of Shaftefburyes dengues ; and there apprehenfions, 
 that a bufinefle knowne to foe many, could not continue fecret ; and pre- 
 tended their end to have bin, to adiuft, with much fineneife, a bufinefle 
 confifting of many pieces ; whereas it doth [not] appeare, that any of the 
 fix (except himfelf) knew any thing of what that earl had defigned ; but 
 certaine it is, that none of them had in a long time had any communication 
 with him. The duke of Monmouth and himfelf thought him to be mad. 
 I could fay much of the earl of EfTex his thoughts of the fame kind; and, 
 belides the knowne diflikes which he had unto me, and I unto him ahd 
 his wayes, I did not fee his face in allmofi: a yeare before he went out of 
 England, and had no communication with him afterwards. Noe man but 
 the lord Howard had to this day explained the vafl: defignes that were 
 then knowne to foe many, that they could not be concealed ; and he had 
 not told the name of one of the ten thoufand brifk boys, that were to doe 
 fuch wonders. If he fay true, nothing was done to adiuft with fuch fine- 
 nefle the bufineffe of many pieces, beyond the moft common difcourfes ; 
 and noe word fixed upon any man except the duke of Monmouth, who 
 was of opinion, that a rabble could not refift a well m.etodized army. A 
 fcoller, that knoweth not the diflerence betweene metcde and difcipline, 
 might give fuch a terme unto the right foldiers of an army ; but he that 
 attributes it unto a foldier, fhewcs, that the wholle is an inuention of his 
 owne. 
 
 The mennagcment of this affaire by the councill, or cabal, was equall 
 unto the rcafons of forming it ; not one of thoes pieces were taken into 
 a confidcration : noe care taken of prouiding men, armies, amunition, or 
 places ; noe mention made of any correfpondance in citty or country, and 
 mony, which was the principall point, was fpoken of only jocofely, or by 
 the waye of mirth. 
 
 This is a new way of carrying on the greateft bufinefle in the world, 
 and, ii it were true, could only flhew, that the fix were as mad as fomme 
 •of them thought the carl of Shaftefburyc ; but, if the reputation that 
 fomme of them have or had in the world, be comnared unto that of the 
 
 lord
 
 IN THE DAY OF HIS DEATH i- 
 
 lord Howard, it will bethought more probable tluit he is a lier, then tli.tt 
 they were fooles. 
 
 The reft of the romance is fuitable unto this. He faith, that a corref- 
 pondance was refolucd with the earl of Argile ; but doth not fay how, by 
 whonie, when or why. The matter relating unto the other Scotchmen 
 is not leiTe crude: fuch as beft underftood matters of Scotland fiioiild be 
 fent for; a canting letter written, and fent by Aaron Smith; but he nei- 
 ther tells certainely whoe writ the letter, or to whome it was direflcd, 
 what were the exprelle words or contents of it, nor wheather it was 
 euer dclluercd, or not: and he was fo carcleffe of this important affaire, 
 as ijot to remember the names of men ; and he, that ought to be fatisfied 
 
 they were fit for inch a work, was forced to learn the name of fir 
 
 Cambell, by deicripticm, which is impofliblc : noe man can know the like- 
 neffe of a picture, unlefle lie knew the man for whom it was drawne; 
 nor by dcfcription him that he doth otherv.'ife knowc. The laft part of 
 that ftory agrees well enough with the reft. Having cmbarqued himfelf 
 and his friends in this vaft bufinelTe, and aduanced it foe far as you haue 
 heard, he thought that all was well, and it did not deferue his farther 
 care: he lay idle at the leaft ten weeks in London, or at KnightiLrid^-c, 
 contenting himfelf only in aflcing me, wheather Aaron Smith was gone; 
 and then thought himfelf more concerned in uifiting a mannor of about 
 tow hundred pounds a yeare in Eflcx, then aduancing the bufinefie of 
 war and ftate that he had undertaken: after hauingfor a while loitered there, 
 with the fvme indiff'erence and fcrenity of minde, he m.ade another iourney 
 to the Bath : this is the parenthefis he mentions, that laftcd allmoft fix 
 moneths : fomme may impute it to the fedate conftancy of a philofophcr, 
 others to the ftupidity of a beaft ; but whofoever confidcrs the nature of the 
 thing, and the temper of the perfon, can neuer belieue, that a wife or 
 virtuous man could foe fliamefully negle<5l the moft important intereft oj^ 
 his friends or country ; and fuch as know how much his lordfliip, through 
 a moft tender loue unto himfelf, is concerned in tlie moft triuiall ailaires 
 that relate unto his perfon or intereft, will as littell think he could be fo 
 well at leifure, as not to look after thoes that came foe neare unto his life 
 and fortune, if any fuch had bin then in agitation. " Oportet mendaccm 
 " eft'ememorem." If the prouerbe be true, that licrs ought to have good 
 memoryes, his lordfliip, at my tryall, ought to haue thought of what he 
 had fayd at the lord Ruifell's ; and, if the ftory had bin too long to be ex- 
 atSlIy related, he might have had recourfe unto that which is in print. Sir 
 H. Vane the elder, and others being examined at the earl of Strafford^s 
 iryall, defired to fee their lirft examinations taken in writing, leaft tiiey 
 might fade in any wortl; and the profecutors, as well as judges, feeking 
 nothing but truth and juftice, allowed it. If the fame ends had bin now 
 fought, he might have read out of the book what he had laid at his firft 
 tryall, and fuff'ered to lay noe more : but the drudgery of fwearing was 
 not ouer; fomme other jobbs muft be done, before he could haue his par- 
 don; that which he had fayd was not enough; and, notwithftaading his 
 
 5 B oath,
 
 iS THEAPOLOGYOF A. SYDNEY 
 
 oath, that he knew noe more, he muft fweare more, wheather he knew 
 it, or not. A fruitful fancy, fpurred on by feare, and reftrained neither 
 by confcience nor fliame, furnilhed matter abundantly; and all waa 
 reccavcd, though directly contrary to his former depofition upon the fame 
 thing : he frames a formal! fpeech for Mr. Hamden, as an ouerture of the 
 fefTions; reduced the jocular diicourfe of mony to a more ferious confider- 
 ation of raifmg thirty or twenty-five thoufand pounds; fuppofes the lord 
 Ruflfell to have bin the writer of the letter fent by Aaron Smith ; makes 
 another fpeech for Mr. Hamden, which he calls inuidious, as tending to 
 an intention of referring all to the will of the parliement ; but neither 
 fmeth upon any thing done, or to be done, nor relates a word fayd by me, 
 unlelfe it were in priuate unto himfelf, concerning A. Smith. 
 
 Such ftuffe would not (as I fuppofe) haue bin receaued in any court of 
 juftice in Europe, nor in Weftminfter-hall, ////// ivas fiirnijhed with theis 
 judges \ but they, refoluing to receave all that was againfl me, though eui- 
 dently falfe, would neither fuffer me to fay the tenth part of what I had to 
 alleage in my defence, iior to explaine or proue that which I propofed. 
 When the chief juftice did cut me off, I did as juftly as I could, defire him 
 to proceed foftly and fairely : that a wife heathen had fayd, noe delay 
 ought to be efteemed long, when the life of a man was in queftion ; and 
 that the fcripture put an euill character upon thoes whoes feet were fwift 
 to fhed blood; but all was in uaine ; the points of lawe concerning the dif- 
 ferent forts of treafons could not be heard ; noe councell allowed to argue 
 them ; noe point of lawe faued, when I fhewed, that here was in my cafe 
 neither confpiracy againft the life of the king, nor war leuyed ; and that if». 
 by longferies of far-fetched incohearent fuppolitions, any man fancied me 
 to be guilty of treafon, it muft be by conftrudlions which none but the par- 
 liement could make: to proue this I cited the ftat. 25 Ed. III. and defired 
 it might be read, with the prouifoe that noe other court fhould take cog- 
 niiance thereof; but I was ouerborne by the unreafonable uiolence of the 
 cliief juftice, and denyed the reading of the ftatutc, the aftlftance of coun- 
 cell to argue the points of lawe, or that any of thoes propofed by me 
 fhould be faued unto me. 
 
 The firft was, that, by the lawe, no man could be tryed upon an indi£le- 
 ment layd in a county, unlefl'e it were compofed of freeholders. 2dly, 
 The court hauing declared, that I was tryed upon the ftat. 21 Ed. III. it 
 ought to be declared upon what branch of that ftatute. 3dly, That, 
 though a confpiracy to levy war were fwore by one witnefle, and that a 
 credible one, I ought not to be thereupon indidled by the ftat. i Ed. VL 
 12. the 5 of Ed. VI. 11. and the 13 Car. II. 4thly, That confpiracy to 
 leuy war is not treafon, by the ftat. 21 Ed. III. 5thly, That, by the famc^ 
 confpiring to leuy war, is not an overt-acTt of compafling the king's death ; 
 and, though oucrt-ads were pretended, they are not to be inquired into, 
 without the teftlmony of tow credible witnclfcs by the 1 Ed. VI. 12. and 
 <; Ed. VI. 1 1, and 1 ought not to be obliged to confefle fuch a confpiracy, 
 if it be not proucd. 6thly, Without admitting the faO:, I ought to haue 
 
 counccli
 
 tN THE DAY OF HIS DEATH ,y 
 
 councell to argue the points of lawe arifing upon the euidence ; inafmuch 
 as I may have caufe to demurre unto the euidence, and v/ant their advice 
 thereupon, ythly, That, fuppofing the lord Hov^^ard to be a credible 
 witneffe, he is but one : noe man can be thereupon found guilty, as ap- 
 peares by Whitebread's cafe ; the papers cannot be taken for another 
 witneffe, fimilitude of hands is noe euidence, whofocuer writ them ; they 
 can have noe concurrence with what is fayd, being unknowne to him, 
 written many yeares fmcc, as appears by the ink and paper, and noe way 
 relating unto the matter in queftion, nor applyed unto any particular time 
 or cafe whatfoeuer. 8thly, That, though the meetings mentioned by the 
 lord Howard were fuppofed to be to confult to levy \Yi\r, fjch a(femblyes 
 could not be taken for overt-adts of confpiring the death of the king, noe 
 word or ouert-a<^ tending thereunto in giuing in euidence; nothing arifing 
 from fuppofitions, arguments, prefumptions, or conllrudlions, can make 
 a man a traitor : the end of the flat. 25 Ed. III. was to take awaye ambi- 
 guityes, and uarlety of opinions, and the decilions of all luch cafes as arc 
 theareby referred to the parliament. 
 
 If thefe points were not allowed, councell- might hauc bin admitted to 
 argue them, or faued to be found fpecially, as was defircd; /)ut all in 
 uaine. 
 
 I well knew the diforder that had bin brought upon the nation in the 
 time of Ri. the II. whcnas it is fayd in the flat, i H. IV. noe man knew 
 what to fpeak, or what to doe, for feare of treafon ; that the like was de- 
 clared, flat. I Ma. and by the — Ed. VI. exprefle words, and open preach- 
 ing, to compaffe the depofnig of the king, fetting up another title, etc. 
 though proued expreffely by tow credible witnefl'es, were not made treafon; 
 and could haue eafily inferred a fortiori, that a polemike dlfcourfe, 
 left imperfeft, neuer examined, neuer fhewed to any man, writ long fince, 
 relating in generall unto fuch cafes as thoes of Tarquin, Caligula, Nero, 
 Vitellius, Peter the cruell ofCaflile, the degenerated races of Meroueus, 
 or Charles the Great, or the like, could haue no relation unto any flatute of 
 treafon in England; but the chief juflice would not fuffer me to fpeak. 
 
 This explained a myflery which noe man could before undexfland : they, 
 whoe faw I was not brought to a tryall with the lordRuflel, belieiied, that, 
 if the iayles did not furnifh fomme other euidence againfl me *, I iliould 
 
 * Mr. Aaron Smith depofcd, that he was a Pr'ifoner in the Totucr when Lord RtiJJl-l and 
 Colonel Sydtii-y were tr\'cd ; and was kept clafe Prtfoncr absve nineteen weeks at five pounds a 
 week charge, and two iP'ardcrs watched him, or lay in the room. That one of his JFarders told 
 him that Mr. Ambrofe Philips was come to fpeak with him, and had an order from one of the 
 Secretaries to come as ofen as he would, and bring whom he would with htm; but then he was 
 aloue. When Mr. Philips came in, after fome other difcourfc, he told him, it was in his 
 foxver to make himfelf tuhat he ivculd; for, faid he, Ton knoiu this rogue Sydney is a trtiytor^ 
 and you may make yourfelf what you will, if you will di [cover what you know of his defgns againjl 
 the government . That he replied, He could not fas any thing that could touch a hiiir of Colonel 
 Sydney's head; and that then Mr. Philips faid, If he might advife the King, he would have all 
 the damn d WHIG rcgues hanged, etc. etc. etc. 
 
 A Difplay of Tyranny, part j, p. 281. 
 
 5 B z be
 
 i8 THEAPOLOGYOF A. SYDNEY 
 
 be releafed without a tryall ; but when theis, and many other points of lawCj 
 were ouer-ruled without hearing, it pla'mely appeared^ that my tryall ivas 
 deffered \ untill an underJJ^er'tffe could be made, that would pack a jury with 
 Burton and Graham, and the bejich could be filled with fiich judges, as had 
 noe underftiinding of the lawe, nor regard unto reafon, jujlice, truth, or com- 
 mon fenje; for words, though fworne by tow credible witnelTes, could 
 not be brought within the 25 Ed. III. only by any but fuch as theis, 
 according to the authority of Cook and Hales, and Pine's cafe, nor taken 
 
 for 
 
 [t Untill an imderfl>£v]ffe could he made, that would pad a jury with Burton and Graham, and 
 the bench could he filUd with J uch judges, as had noe underjlanding of the laiv, nor regard unto 
 
 reafon, jujllce, truth, or common J'enfe .'\ 
 The Sheriffs were, Peter Daniel, Efq; and Samuel Dajhwood, Efq; who, together witb 
 fir Henry Tulfe, Knt. Mayor, v/ere appointed by a commiffion under t'le great leal. The 
 Under SherifFs were, Thomas Rowfe, Gent, and Charles Hargrave, Gent. 
 
 There was all this fumnisr [1681] flrange praftifing with witnefles to find more matter 
 againil hisn [the Earl of Shaftefbury] : AVilkinfon a prifonerfor debt that had been often 
 with him was dealt with to accufe him. The Court had found out tiuo folicitors to manage. 
 fuch matters. Burton aad Graham; viho were, indeed, fitter men to Imve ferved in a Court of 
 hiquifition, than in a legal government. 
 
 Burnet's Hift. of his own times. 
 
 Mr. Graham, the Solicit'r of all the late jliam plots upon Protcjiants, and pay-mafler of corrupt 
 
 Juries and perjured witnejfes, folicited this profecution [againd the Earl of Shattefbui-y] 
 
 and hence took K\s frjl Jlep to fuch preferment as enabled him to give eight or ten thoufand 
 
 pounds with a daughter. 
 
 A Difplay of Tyranny. Or remarks upon the illegal and arbitrary proceedings 
 in the Courts of Weitminlter and Guild-hall ; from the year 1678, to the abdi- 
 cation of the late King James: in which time the rule was " ^lod principi 
 placuit lex ejio." London, printed anno Angliae falutls prima, 1689, part 1. 
 p. 66, in duod. 
 Then the fury immediately gave in their verdift, that the Defendant [Sir Samuel Barnar.- 
 difton, Bart.] was guilty of the offence and mifdemeanor charged in the IndiiTtment ; as ne 
 doubt they refolved to do, before they heard one word of the matter. The judgment upon this 
 verdict was, " Tliat the Defendant Jhould pay ten thoufand pounds fine, and he imprifoned till 
 " paid, and to find fureties for his good behaviour for life." Accordingly he was committed 
 for the fine, to the King's-bench, and continued a Prifoner four or five years, which fatisficd 
 not ; but Graham and Burton, thofe inflruments of rapin and opprefT.on, broke in upon his 
 eltate, and befides the wii/ie and dejiruifion made, levyed to their own ufe and the King's about 
 fix thoufand pounds. 
 
 The fame, p. 214. 
 Upon this occafion of Health drinking, I cannot hinder myfelf from remembering the caie 
 of Mr. Elias Befi, a fubflantial citizen, hut one who had been an ignoramus 'Juryman, a great 
 reproach and an unpardonable crime in that day, as, fir, you very feelingly knozv. He was 
 indidted for the frolic of drinking to the pious jnemory ofhonejl Stephen Colledge, aad condeiraie'J' 
 to ti fine of a thoufand pounds ; to ftand three times in the Pillory ; and to give fureties for 
 his good behaviour for life. On this judgment, he was imprifoned three years ; to the lofe 
 of a good trade, and to the ruin of his health and eftate ; and when almoit ready to expire, 
 he was gracioufiy pardoned, upon payment oi £100 to the Empfon and Dudly of the late reign, 
 Graham and Burton. 
 
 The fame, part II. in the epiftle dedicatory, to fir Samuel Barnardifion, Bart. 
 
 Mr. Normarfel -Anft Mr. Trotman, the Secondaries, depofed, that Graham and Burton iu»r,e 
 
 the Proficutors of Lord Ruffell ; that Sir Dudly North had the books from them, and returned 
 
 Lord Ruffell' s 'Jury ; that Juries had ufually been returned by the Secondaries, and taken out of two,, 
 
 three or four wards ; but this Jury ivas. taken out of above nineteen wards. .Mr. Trotman 
 
 added, that Graham and Burton were alfo the Profccutors of Alderman Cornifi). Sir Dudly 
 
 North
 
 IN THE DAY OF HIS DEATH 
 
 for an oucrt-ad: of compairing the king's death. But they could bring titc 
 moft confufed improbable and contradi<n:ory relations of one man of noc 
 crcditc a proofe of a confpiracy; and as an oiiert-adl hath [hatch] up his 
 credite with papers as ill proued, and containing matters unknowne inito 
 him, and hauing noe cohearence with what he fayd. Such as they only could 
 fuffer a wltnclfe to guefle a man into trealbn, or make the moft cxtrauagent 
 gueflings or fuppofition to paflfe for euidencc. 
 
 Such 
 
 North %vcnt on fa}-ing, that he hnpannelkdthe Juries for the SeJJiom whc7i the Lord Rujjell was 
 tryed; that he rctiuned the beft Jury he could, without obfeivingany ward ; and drew this 
 
 out of feveral wards, becaufe they might be the more fubftantiarmen ; that the Juries 
 
 before, were returned by the Secondaries, but this bcins; a vcrj extraordinary bufiiiefs, he thought 
 it requifite to take care of it himltlf. 
 
 The fame, part II. p. 285, 6, 7. 
 After this he [John Hambden, Efq;] was brought to a trial for mijdeineanour, and was 
 convided on the Lord Howard's evidence. He pleaded Magna charta, that a Salvo (ontene- 
 mev.to; but the Court fined \\\\t\ forty thoufand pounds, and to imprifonment till the fine was 
 paid, and lecurity for his good behaviour. The king made his choice of putting him iru 
 prifon, and he was committed to the Marflial's houfe in the Kina;'s-bench, where he was 
 ten months. He offered feveral fums of money, and they anfwered, " They lad rather have 
 him rot in prifon than fay the fine." After this, they put him in the Common prifon, where he 
 V/as kept ten or eleven months very clofe. Then, they contrived a writ, called a long writ,. 
 to reacli his real and perfinal ejfate, whiUl he was thus a prifoner, Afcer this, he henrd a r.eZ 
 witnefs appeared, which was after the defeat of the Duke of Monmouth. He was [then] fent 
 clef prifoner to the Tower, by the Lord Sunderland's w.irrant ; and put into fuch a room- 
 where he had no conveniency, and with two of therudeft vjarders in tlic Tov.'er, to lie in 
 the room with him. y\fctr fevcn or eight weeks, he was removed to Newgate, where he 
 was kept clofe eleven weeks. His Friends offered money for his pardon to fom; in powcr»., 
 who were the Lord Jefferyes and Mr. Petre ; the fumwas fix thoufand pounds, and that was 
 effeav.cL It is not pcifible for a man to fuffer more than he did. By the help of the inoiiey^. 
 m corulition he ziould plead guilty to his htiHrtment, he was to eome off. His friends advifed hiin 
 to it, beeatfe it could hurt none ; there being none living of thofe called the Ccuncil of f.x, but 
 theLord Howard. Whereupon, pleading guilty, he was difcharged ; paying three or four 
 hundred trunds to Burton <7w/ Graham _/(?;• the charge of his Pardon. 
 
 The fame, part II. p. 301. 
 
 Monday, jan. 20, 1689. 
 
 Mr. Chrifiy reported from the Committee, to whom the bill for annulling the attaind ral Sir 
 Thomas Jrwjirofig was recommitted; fome amendments to i\\fi hill; as f.l!b who were hii 
 
 i^q:. 
 
 author clfewhere obfervesj Sir Francis iVythens, the Executors of the late Lord Jcffryes and 
 of the late jiif ice JValcot, Air. Graham and Air. Burton do attend the Houfe [of Commons] on 
 Saturday morning next, to anfxver to fuch matters as aie charged againji . them touching Sir 
 Thomas Armjlrong." Then Mrs. Matihcv^s, Sir Thomas Ar7rip.rong\ daughter, was clilled 
 in, and examined what fhe knew of the profecutlon againit her father; and Sir R:he?t 
 Sawyer, then Attorney Genercd, being named by her, as one of the Profccutors, after file was 
 withdrawn, he v/ss heard in his place to what was objecfled againll him, and then he 
 withdrew, and upon debate of the m.atter it was lefolved, '■'■'That Sir Robert Sawyer s name be 
 put into the bill as one of the profccutors of Sir Thomas Armjirgrg. Refolved, " That Sir 
 Robert Sawyer be expelled the houfe for the fume " 
 Saturday, Jan. 25, i68g. 
 
 Rid 
 call'
 
 2<^ THEAPOLOGYOF A. SYDNEY 
 
 Such as they only could fancy, that a few fcraps of old paper, refuting 
 the do£lrines of one of the moft wicked and foolish books that ever was 
 written in the world, tended to the fubuerfion of our gouernment ; and 
 that his approbation of the flaughter of Caligula, or the infurredions 
 againfl Nero, were ouert-adts of confpiring the death of the king now 
 
 raigning 
 
 firong. And alfo the Executors of the late Lord Jeffryes., that were attending at the door 
 were likewife called in, and afked what they had to fay why reparation fhould not be made 
 out of the Lord 'Jeffryes eflate to the faid Sir Thanuis Armftrongi family. No perfons 
 ,nppearing zs, Executors y.o the l^Xc 'JtiJUce lV<ilcot ; the Houf e v/diS acquainted, that be dyed 
 ■intejlate, and had not left an ejlate fujficicnt to pay his debts. After the perfons beforementioncd 
 were heard and withdrawn, JVIr. Blmcy was called in, who gave the Houfe an account of 
 the Proceedings in the Court of King's- bench, upon the awarding execution againll: Sir 
 ^rhomas Armjlrong. And then the Houfe proceeded upon the amendments made by the 
 Committee to the bill, for annulling the attainder of Sir Thomas Armjhovg : and after having 
 inferted the n.ime oi 'i\x Robert Sawyer, as a Profecutor, and refolved, " Thrt the fum of five 
 .tb-ufand pci'.ndi Jhould be paid by the fudges and Profecutors to Sir "Th'jmas Armjlrong s Lady 
 •cird Children, as a recompence of the lojfes they had fvjlained by rcafm of his Attainder; (the bill 
 was recommitted, etc. etc.) Tlie fame, part I. p. 225. 
 
 The Commons f 1680] did alfo afTert the right of the People to petition for a Parliament. 
 And becaufe fome in their counter-petitions had exprefll'd their abhorrence of this practice, 
 thev voted thefe abhorrers to be betrayers of the liberties of the Nation. They expelled 
 one Wythens out of their Houfe for figning one of thefe, though he with great humility 
 confefied his fault, and begged pardon for it. The merit of this foon raifed him to be a judge ; 
 for indeed he had no other merit. They fell alfo on Sir George Jefferyes, a furious declaimer 
 at the bar : hut he ivas raifd by that, as ive/l as by this prcfcution. 
 
 Burnet's Hill, of his own times, Vol. I. p. 484. 
 
 The addrefles had now [1683] gone round England. The Grand furies made after that 
 high prefcntnients againjl all that were eftecmcd IVhigs and Nonconformijfs. Great pains were 
 taken to find out more witnefles. Pardons and rewards were offered very freely. But none 
 can:e in ; which made it evident, that nothing was fo well laid, or brought ib near execution 
 as the witneffes had depofed : otherivife people would have been crouding in for pardons. All 
 people were apprehenfive of very black designs, when they faw Jejflryes made Lord 
 Chief Juftice, who was fcandaloudy vicious, and was drunk every day; betides a drunkcn- 
 iiefs of fury in his temper, that looked like Enthufiafm. He did not confider the decencies 
 of his pod : nor did he fo much as affcift to feem impartial as became a Judge, but run 
 out upon all occafions into declamations, that did not become the Bar, much lefs the 
 Bench. He was not learned in his profcffion ; and his eloquence, though vicioufly 
 copious, yet was neither correal nor agreeable. Pemberton was turned out of the Common 
 pleas, and Jones was put in his place: and Jefferyes had three Judges joined ivith him in the 
 King's bench fit to fit by him. The fame. Part I. p. 568. 
 
 When Jefferyes cair.e to the King at W:ndfor foon after this trial [of Sir Thornas Arm- 
 Jirong, 1684,] the King fC. H.] took a ring of good value from his finger, and gave it 
 him for thefe fervices. 'i'he ring upon that was called his blood Jione. The AV;;^ gave him 
 one advice, which was fomcwhat extraordinary from a King to a Judge; but it was not the 
 lefs nccefTary to him: the King faid, it was a hot fummer, and he v/as going the Circuit, 
 he therefore defired he would not drink too much. The fame, p. 580. 
 
 Kirk, who had commanded long in Temgier, was become fo favagc by the neighbourhood 
 x)f the jl^!>(;rj there, that after tiie battle [oi Sedgemore, fought July 6, 1685,] he ordered 
 Icvcral of the prifoni rs to be hanged at Taunton, without fo much as the form of law, he 
 snd his company looking on from an cnteriainmcnt they were at. At every new health 
 another prifoner was hang;d up. And they were fo brutal, that obferving tlic fliaking of 
 ihc legs of thofe whom they hanged, it was faid among them, they were dancing ; and 
 upon that mufick was caKcd for. l"his was fo illegal, and fo inhuman, that it might 
 inve been expected that fome jiotice would have been taken of it. But Kirl; was onlv chid 
 
 ' for
 
 I N T H E D A Y O F H I S D E A T H 2r 
 
 faigning in England. The tiling was fit to be brought only before fuch as 
 fought to deferue the preferrements unto which they were unworthily 
 aduanced, by doing fuch jobs, as would have bin abhorred by any that 
 had undcrftood the principles or ends of gouernments ; examined the 
 hiflory of the world, or fecn that if it ivere in no cafe lawfiill for people to 
 
 rife 
 
 for it : and it was faiJ, that he had a particular order for fomc military executions, fo that 
 he could only be chid for the manner of it. 
 
 But, as if this had been nothing, jfefferycs was fent the Jp'rjlern circuit to try the prifoners. 
 His behaviour was beyond any thing that xvas ever heard of in a civilixed Nation. He wax- 
 perpetually either drunk, or in a rage, likcr a fury than the zeal of a Judge. He required 
 the prifoners to plead guilty, and in that cafe he j;ave thein fomc hope of favour, if they 
 gave him no trouhle ; otherwife he told them he would execute the letter of the law upon. 
 them in its utmofl feverity. This made many plead guilty, who had a great defence in 
 law. But he fliewed no mercy. He ordered a great many to be hanged up immediately, 
 without allowing them a minute's time to fay their prayers. He hanged, in feveraj 
 places, about six hundred perfons. The greateft part of thefe were of the meaneft fort,, 
 and of no diflinftion. The impieties with which he treated them, and his behaviour 
 towards fomc of the Nobility and Gentry that were well afFeiSted, but came and pleaded in 
 favour of fome prifoners, would have amazed one if done by a Bafiaw in Turhy. England 
 had never known any thing like it. The inftances are too many to be reckoned up. 
 
 But that which brought all his exceffes to be imputed to the King himfelf and to the 
 orders given by him was, that the King had a particular account of all his proceedings writ to 
 him every day ; and he took pleafure to relate them in the drawing room to foreign Minifters 
 and at his table, calling it Jefferyes^s campaign : fpeaking of all he had done in a ftile, thar 
 neither became the majr/ly nor the mereifulnefs of a great Prince, etc. etc. etc. 
 
 The fame, p. 648., 
 As foon as it was known at London, that the King [James H.] was gone, the prentices 
 and the rabble, who had been a little quieted when they faw a treaty on foot between the 
 King and the Prince, [of Orange,] now broke out again upon all fufpecled houfes, where 
 they believed there were either Prie/ls or Papijls. They made great hax'ock of many places, 
 not fparing the houfes of Ambafllrdours. But none ivcre killed, no houjcs burnt, nor %i'ert 
 any robberies committed. Never was fo much fury Jcen under Jo much management, fefferycsy 
 Ending t'ne King was gone, faw what reafon he had to look to himfelf: and, apprehending, 
 that he was now expofed to the rage of the people, whom he had provoked with fo particular 
 a brutaUiy, he had difguifed himfelf to make his efcape. But he fell into the hands of 
 fome who knew him. He was infulted by them with as much fcorn and rudenefs as they 
 could invent : and, after many hours toffing him about, he was carried to the Lord Mayor, 
 [Sir fohn Chapman, Knt.] whom they charged to commit him to the Tower, which the 
 Lord Lucas had then feizeJ, and in it had declared for the Prince. The Lord Mayor was 
 fojlruck with the terror of this rude Populace, and with the difgrace of a man who had 
 made all People tremble before him, that he fell into fts upon it, of which he died foon after. 
 
 The fame, p. jgj. 
 During thefe irruptions of the mob. Chancellor fefferyes, difguifed in z. fea7nans habit, 
 in order to efcape in a vefiel freighted for Hamburgh, was difcoveied by a clerk in chancery, 
 that accidentally palled by, as he was looking out of the window of the houfe where he 
 had concealed himfelf. He was immediately feized by the mob, and, after many indig- 
 nities put upon him, carried before the Lord Mayor, who declined meddling with him. 
 But the Chancellor feeing himfelf in the hands of an enraged mob, which threatned to tear 
 him in pieces, defired that he might be fent to the Tower, which at lait was granted him, 
 not as a favour, but in hopes of feeing him Jliortly conduced from thence to the Gallcivs. It is 
 pretended, he offered to difcover many fecrets, and for that real'on, was kept fome time in 
 prifon, till the aftairs of government fliould be fettled. But he died in tliat interval, by 
 the blows he had received, according to fome ; drinking fpirituous liquors, according to 
 others; and, as fome pretend, oftheilone. Never man had better deferred a public punijhinent, 
 as an atonaiwit for all the mifcbief clone to his Country, and for all the blood fpilt by his means^ 
 
 Rapiji's liift. .of England,
 
 .2 THE APOLOGY OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 ^ije agahijl a prince, there is not a prince in the worlds that can have a 
 ■ lawfull title to the crowne he hears \ the moj} part of our kings fine e William 
 the Norman., were ufurpcrs , or, ivhich is ivoyfe^ ifurpation confvres a juf 
 title. 
 
 Thcis only hauing admitted an indiclement, grounded wholly upon 
 fuppofitions innuendoes and intemionels, could hearken unto the lord 
 lioward ; whoe conie(Slures what I and others meant, whoe writ the 
 letter into Scotland, to vvhome it was directed, what were the contents 
 and efFeds of it, though he would not fpeak precifely to any of thoes 
 points. 
 
 Theis only could think him a credible witneffe, when they had heard 
 him fweare himielf pcriured, and the contents of his dcpofition were, by 
 ■his owne alTertions, as in the prefcnce of God, proued to be falfe by nine 
 irreproacheable witnePi'cs. 
 
 Theis only could futrer a jury to fuppofe, that an evidence can be 
 grounded upon an opinion of a funilitude in writing, when they know it 
 •is none ; that a book was written with an intention to flirre up the people, 
 ■when they hardly fawe the fiftyeth part of it, and would not fuifer the 
 tenth of that to be read ; that papers, written perhaps twenty or thirty 
 yearcs agoe, were intended in profecution of defignes layd within ten 
 months. 
 
 Theis only could receaue an indiflement, in which the king's title of 
 tlciicndcr of the faith was omitted ; refufe a copy, when it was demanded, 
 and the flat. 46 Ed. III. produced, whereby it is enacled, that it Ihouid, 
 in all cafts, be allowed unto euery man, leaft the irreparable errors of it 
 Ihotild bedifcouered. Theis only could give credite vmto a grand jury, 
 Avhoe, upon their oaths, prefented a bill, vs^herein I am fiyd to have 
 traiterouily, on the 30th of June, and many other dayp, both before and 
 after, confpired with many other falfe traitors, to them unknowne ; 
 ^.vhereas I ivas then, and have bin euerfnce, a clofe prijoner in the "Tozcrr., 
 and it is moraly impoihble for any man to know I did confpire, unlefs 
 they did knowe with whome. 
 
 They only could pach [patch] up an euidence, confifting of tow parts, as 
 the lord Howard's depofition, and the papers upon the iimilitude of a 
 hand, when they knew both of them to be voide in lawe ; and tack them 
 together, when it was apparent, they neither had nor could haue any 
 relation unto each other. 
 j It was a work for them only impudently and without hearing, to 
 •ouer-rule many moft important points of lawe ; by their word to depriue 
 ■the wholle Englifli nation of their right of being tryed by freeholders, 
 v/hich is a gencrall and anticut, as any paft of our lawes ; to make dif- 
 <;ourfes at a priuate meeting, imperfeftly uarioully and to their owne 
 knowledge falfely reported, by a man of a moft profligate life and repu- 
 tation, to pafle for a confpiracy ; to oblige a prifoncr lalfcly to acknow- 
 ledge he had confpired to leuy war, or, contrary to the judgment of 
 auany parliaments, to make a confpiracy to Icuy war to pallc for trcafon; 
 
 by
 
 IN THE DAY OF HIS DEATH 
 
 by the 25th of Ed. III. to make fuch a confplracy, wliich could not be 
 treafon in itfelf (though it had bin true) to be trcafon, as imagining the 
 death of the king, though the lawes, and the moll reuerenced expofitors 
 of them, declare that is not fo. 
 
 They only could take upon them by uarious improbable abfurd and falfe 
 conftrudions, to make ads noe-wayes comprehended within the words 
 or meaning of the ftat. 25 Ed. III. to paflTe for treafon, when they knew 
 themfelues, by the fame, to be forbidden to make any conftrudion at all ; 
 and neither to fufFer the ftatute to be read, councell heard, nor the points 
 of law to be faued unto me. 
 
 None but fuch as they would have fuffered Mr. Sollicitor, by a long 
 painted fpeech, to haue mifrepeated the euidence on both-fidcs to miilcad 
 the jury; to haue reprefented the lord Howard's frequent atteftations of 
 God, that he knew of noe plot, belieued that was none, and took that 
 which was fpoken of, to be an inuention of the priefts, only as willing- 
 neife to confefle it, and his many periuryes, as a mark of the truth of 
 what he had fworne : and by fuch conftrud:ions as were abfurd impofhble 
 and falfe, to drive them headlong into a uerdid upon noe euidence, in 
 matter of which they were utterly incapable of judging, if the law 
 had referred unto them, and whoe were foe compadted and compofed, 
 as not to be capable of judging any matter relating unto the meaneli 
 thiefe. 
 
 If any others then thels had bin upon the benfh, I might haue bin 
 heard, when I offered to anfwer unto theis fallacyes, and haue unraualled 
 all his frauds ; though fuch a work could hardly be expcded from a 
 man of my education, and in an age, that had much abated his uigour 
 and memory. If this was denyed, the points of lawe might haue bin 
 left to be found fpecialy; but I was in all things ouerborne by the fury of 
 the chief jujiice. He did probably feare he fhould not be taken for Cefar's 
 freind, if he did let this man goe. He was to deferue his otherwife 
 undeferued preferrement. To this end, he made a fpeech of about a 
 hower and a quarter, foe confufed, that I can giue noe other account of 
 it, then that, as he had bin long obferued to excell in the lawdable faculty 
 of mifleading juryes, he did exercife it with more confidence upon the 
 benfh, then euer he had done at the bar ; declared treafons that had bin 
 hetherto unknowne, and that the jury was obliged to take that to be law, 
 which he judged to be foe ; mifreprefented the euidence more then the 
 follicitor had done ; and as a rule which they were to followe, afierted, 
 that if one man /wore ^ that fuch a one fay ci, he would ivith his knife kill the 
 king^ and another^ that he had of him bought that knife, it was fujjicient 
 evidence to convi5l atiy man. 
 
 It may as eafily be guelTed, what uerdid: I expelled from an ignorant 
 ibrdide and packed jury *, upon fuch a diredion, as what fecurity any 
 
 man 
 
 * Mr. Richard Wynne declared, That he was Solicitor to Colonel Sydney ; that the Colonel 
 excepted Ti'p^xw'^ Icveral of the ^ury ; to fome as not being Freeholders, and others, as being in the 
 King' s fervice, and receiving wages from his Majejfy, That piefently after the Tryal, the 
 
 5 C Urd 

 
 24 
 
 THE APOLOGY OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 man in England can have for his life and eftate, when fuch ftuffe can be 
 made to paffe for law : but I was ftill ouerborne, and could not be heard, 
 when I endcauoured to bring the chief juftice to refle£l upon his own ex- 
 trauagancyes. 
 
 Before the tryall, I was credibly informed, that his lordfliip had foe far 
 humbled himfelf, as to aduife with the king's councell of the wayes of 
 compafling my death ; and, that a paper, containing the refult of that con- 
 fnltation, had been feene upon Mr. Attorney's table. Since that time I 
 haue bin told by perfons of unblemiflicd reputation, that, not fatisfied 
 with the diredions given in publike, he had bin farther pleafed, when he 
 retired upon pretence of taking a glaffe of fack, to foUowc the jury and 
 give them more particular inftrudlions. 
 
 Vpon the firft part, I was aduifed to coniure his lordfhip, in the pre- 
 fence of God, to declare, wheather he had not confultcd as aforefayd; but 
 the teftimony his lordlTiip gaue upon my tryall of the tendernefle of his 
 confcience, and how far he uallued the religion of his owne, and the 
 king's oath, perfuaded me to be fdent. 
 
 When the jury brought in their verdict, I defired to examine them " fe- 
 *' riatim," whether every one of them had found me guilty before it was 
 recorded ; and prepared to alk them particularly, wheather they had 
 found me guilty of compafling the king's death ? idly. Of leuying war 
 againft the king ? 3dly, If they found me guilty of any treafon, within the 
 ftatute 25 of Ed. Ill ? 4thly, If they found any treafon proued againft me 
 by tow witnefles ? And this I did, that I might not be depriued of the 
 benifite of giuing my exeptions ; as I have heard the lord Ruflel had loft 
 it by not hauing moued it before the uerdid was recorded, but the chief 
 juftice would not heare me. 
 
 The irregularity of thels proceedings (that I may not ufe a harder word) 
 obliged me, on the 25th of Nouember, to preient a petition unto his 
 majefty, fliewing, 
 
 " That your petitioner, after a long and clofe imprifonment, was on 
 the 1 7th of this month, brought with a guard of foldiers into the pallace- 
 yard, upon a habeas corpus, diredled to the lieutenant of the tower, be- 
 fore any indidment had been found againft him ; that v«'hilcft he v.'as there 
 
 detained, 
 
 Lcrl Chief JujUce fcnt him Prifaner to the King'<i Bench, for faying, the Jury wsrc ^. Logger- 
 head Jury ; and tliat they h;id not evidence fiifficiciit to find fuch a VerdiSl; or found a Ver- 
 di£i contrary to evidence. 
 
 Mr. JVynne faid this to Angler, the Fareman of that murdering Jury, and to GHJby, another 
 of the three Carpenters which were upon that Jtiry, and to another of their Brethren near the 
 King's Bench court ; whereupon they went to lay hold on Mr. JVynne ; at v/hich inftiiiit 
 Mr. Forth the King's Joyner coming, interpofed ; upon which Angler faid, Mr. Forth, will 
 you aflift this man? He fays. Colonel Sydney' s Jury -was a loggerhead Jury : To which Mr. 
 /ar/A anfvvercd, I have nothing to do with the Jiry, but Glifby knows, tl^at I know he is a log- 
 gerhead. Of this, they complained to Jcjfryes, who committed Mr. IVynne and Mr. Forth 
 to the King's Bench. It coft Mr. Forth ^howt fifty pounds, whereof Burton iiad twenty-four ; 
 and he hc'mg a. Protejlant joiner, fcaped well out of their hands, as times then vvcnt; efpcci- 
 ally with that Trade. 
 
 A Difplay of Tyranny,, etc. part 2. p. 306,
 
 INTHEDAYOFHISDEATH 2j 
 
 detained, a bill was exhibited and found ; wheareupon he was immediately 
 carried to the king's benrti, and there arraigned ; in this furprife, he de- 
 iired a copy of the indidtmcnt, leave to make his cxeptions, or to put in 
 a fpeciall plea, ready engroifcd, which was alfoe rcjedtcd without reading; 
 and being thretned, that if he did not immediately plead guilty, or not 
 guilty, a judgement of high treafon Ihould be entered, he was forced, 
 contrary to law, as he fuppolcd, to comme to a generall iffue, in pleading 
 non guilty. l 
 
 Nouember2i. he was brought to his triall, and the indi£tement being i 
 perplexed and confufed, foe as neither he, nor any one of his friends that 
 heard it, could fully comprehend the fcope of it, he was utterly un}irouided i 
 of all the helps that the lawe alloweth unto every raan for his defence ; ' 
 wheareupon he did again deiire a copy, and produced an authentike copy 
 of the flat. 46 Ed. Ill, wheareby it is enabled, that euery man fliall have 
 a copy of any record that toucheth him in any manner, as well that which 
 is againfl the king as any other perfonc ; but could neither obtaine a coppy 
 of his indidlement, nor that ftatute Ihould be read. 
 
 The jury by which he was to be tryed, was not, as he is informed, 
 fummoned by the bailifs of the fcuerall hundreds in the ufuall and legall 
 manner, but names were agreed upon by Graham, Burton, and the 
 underflierife, and direcSlion given to the bailiffe to fumraon them ; and 
 being alfoe chofen, the coppy of the pannell was of noe ufe unto him. 
 
 When they came to be called, he exepted againft fomme for being your 
 majeftye's feruants, which he did hope Ihould not have been returned, 
 when he was profecuted by your majeftye, with many others for not 
 being freeholders, which exeptions he thinks are good in lawe : others 
 were lewd and infamous perfons, not befit to be of any jury, but v/as 
 ouer-ruled by lord chief juftice ; and your petitioner forced to challenge 
 them peremptorily, whome he found to be picked, as moft fuitable unto 
 their intentions, whoe fought his ruine, wheareby he loft the benefite 
 allowed by the lawe, of making his exeption, and was forced to admit of 
 mekanike perfons, utterly unable to judge of fuch matters as were to be 
 brought before them. 
 
 The jury being fworne, noe witnefs was produced, whoe fixed any 
 thing beyond Lear fay upon your petitioner, except the lord Howard; and 
 fomme that fwore the papers fayd to be found in his houfe and offered as a 
 fecond witnefle, vv'ere written in a hand by your petitioner. Your peti- 
 tioner produced ten witnefles, the moft of them men of eminent quality, 
 the others of unblemiflied fame, to Ihew the lord Howard's teftimony v* as 
 inconfiftent with what he had, as in the prefcnce of God, affirmed unto 
 many of them, as he fwore in the tryall of lord Ruflell, under the fame 
 religious obligation of an oath, as if it had been legally adminiftercd. 
 Your petitioner did endeauour farther to fhew the incongruity of his tefti- 
 mony, he being guilty of many crimes, which he did not pretend had any 
 knowledge of; and having noe other hope of pardon, then by the 
 drudgery of fvvearing againft him, deferued not to be belieucd ; and that 
 
 J C i fui.ilitude
 
 26 THEAPOLOGYOF A. SYDNEY 
 
 fimilitude of hands could not be euidence, as was declared by the lord chief 
 juftice Keeling, and the wholle court in the lady Car's caufe, fo as noe 
 euidence at all remained againft him: that whofoeuer writ thoes papers, 
 they were but a fmall part of a polemike difcourfe, in anfwer to a book 
 written aboue thirty yeares agoe, upon a generall propofition, applyed to 
 noe time, or any particular cafe; that it was impoffible to judge of any 
 part of it, unleffe the wholle did appeare, which did not ; that the fence 
 of fuch as were produced, could not be comprehended, unlefle the wholle 
 were read, which was denyed ; that the ink and paper fhewed them to be 
 written many years agoe ; and the lord Howard knowing nothing of 
 them, they could have no concurrence with, what your petitioner was fayd 
 to haue defigned with him and others. 
 
 That the confufion and errors in writing it, fhewed that they had neuer 
 foe much as bin reuiewed, and written in a hand that noe man could read; 
 were neither fit for the prefle, nor could be in fomme yeares, though the 
 writer of them did intend it, which did not appeare; that being only the 
 prefent ftudy and priuate thoughts of a man, for the exercifie of his owne 
 underftanding in his ftudy, neuer fhewed unto any, nor applyed unto a 
 particular cafe, could not fall under the ftat. 25 Ed. III. which takes cog- 
 niflance of noe fuch matters, being referued thereby to the parliament, as 
 declared in the prouifo which he did defire might be read, but was 
 refufed. 
 
 Eight or nine important points of lawe did hereupon emerge, upon 
 which your petitioner, knowing his owne weaknefle, did defire his coun- 
 eell might be heard, or referued to be found fpecially, but was oueruled 
 by the uiolence of the lord chief juftice ; and your petitioner foe frequently 
 interrupted, the wholle methode of his deffence was broken, and he not 
 fuffered to fay the tenth part of what he could haue alleaged in his 
 defence, and the jury carried into a uerdi£l that they did not know nor 
 underftand. 
 
 For as much as no man that is oppreffed in England can have any relicfe 
 unleffe it be from your majeftye, your petitioner humbly prays, the pre- 
 mifes confidered, your majefty will be pleafed to admit him into your pre- 
 fence ; and if he does not fhew, that it is for your majeftye's honour and; 
 intereft to preferue him from the fayd oppreffion, he will not complaine, 
 though he be left to be deftroycd." 
 But he was pleafed to referre me to the fame judges of ivhome I complained. 
 
 Nouember 26, I was again brought to the bar, and afked by the chief 
 juftice, what reafon I could alleage why judgment of death fliould not be 
 pronounced againft me? My firft anfwer was, that I had had noe tryall, the 
 jury not hauing been compofcd of freeholders, as the law required. The 
 chief juftice fayd the queftion had been decided at the lord Rulfell's tryall. 
 I replycd, the queftion had then bin concerning a corporation, this was 
 upon an indiiftement layed in a county. He fayd, that was nothing, the 
 decifion had been generall. I dcfired to know, wheather any precedent 
 could be alleaged, of an Englifhman tryed by others then by freeholders ; 
 
 and
 
 INTHEDAYOFHISDEATH 2.7 
 
 and that if this rule were broken, any man might be tryed by his owns 
 groomes, or a jury made up of porters, carmen, or fcauingers, and there- 
 upon defired councell to argue it, which was denyed. 
 
 I then defired the indi£tement might be againe read, which was granted, 
 but was not fuffercd to perufe it : this I did alfoe defire, upon an informa- 
 tion, that the bill had bin mended fmce it came into the court: and that 
 by a ftatute of Henry the Sixth, every indidemcnt was made void, whcarcin 
 any word or fillable had bin added or changed; but not being fuffered to 
 fee it, I could not tell what additions or alterations had bin made. 
 
 I then pleaded, that by the flat. 13 Car. II. it was treafon to depriue the 
 king of any of his titles; and that defenfor fidei not being in the indide- 
 ment it was void, and delircd councell to argue it; but though the chief 
 juftice fccmed to be furpriled at the objedion, be oueruled it, and would 
 not heare councell. 
 
 I then moued for anew tryall, by reafon of the many mifcarriages that 
 had bin in this, which he -was pleafed to call a tryal, though 1 took it to 
 be none. I then pleaded, that trialls being inflitutcd for the execution of 
 juftice, through the dil'couery of truth, that ought to be taken for none,. 
 whearein abufes had bin committed to the ouerthrowe of juftice ; and that 
 if I might be patiently heard, I thought I could make it appeare to haue 
 bin foe in this my cafe : and went about to fhew reafons for what I 
 fayd. Amongft others I fhewed, that on the 7th of Nouember, I had bin 
 brought to Weftminfter, by an habeas corpus granted the day before, when 
 as yet noe bill was exhibited againft me, and my profecutors could not 
 know it would be found, unleffe they had undewly correfpondcd with 
 the grand jury. 2dly, That a copy of the indidement, the benefite of 
 making my exeptions againft it, or putting in a fpeciall plea, which the 
 lawe doth allowc, and the help of councell to frame them, or either of 
 them, had bin denyed unto me. sdly, The fpeciall plea which I pre- 
 fented, ready engrofled, to preuent the mifchlefes that would followe 
 upon my generall anfwer unto a long, confufed, imperfed, unintelligible 
 indidement, had bin reieded, and theareby forced to conime to a generall 
 iflTue in pleading not guilty. Heareupon juftice Withins, being (as feemed- 
 tome) uery drunk^ told me, it noas falj'e \ and the chief juftice fayd, ha 
 had not reieded my plea, but told me the danger of putting it in, becaufe 
 the king's councell would demure unto it, and I could not be fufi^ered to 
 plead heareafter. Hereupon I replyed, that hauing lined aboue three/core 
 yeares^ I had neuer receaued or defer ued Jnch language^ for that I had neuer 
 ajferted any thing that was falj'e ; but as to this particular, all that were 
 prefent could witnefs my fayd plea had bin reieded : and the condition 
 afterwards irapofed, that I ftiould not be admitted to put in any other plea 
 if that came to be oueruled, was not according unto lawe ; but I being ig- 
 norant of it, and denyed the help of a councell, had bin forced to fubmit,. 
 which I ftiould not haue done, if I had bin then as well informed as I am, 
 ijow, that I finde myfelf circumuented by the fraud of thoes, who by their 
 oatbes ought to haue preferued me. 4thly, That being brought unto a 
 
 tryall,
 
 28 THEAPOLOGYOF A. SYDNEY 
 
 Iryall, Nou. 21. I had againe defired a copy of the indidement, alleaged 
 precedents, produced an authentike copy of the ftat. 46 Ed. III. enacting, 
 that all men, in all cafes, as well againft the king as others, fhould haue 
 copyes of any records in which they were concerned; but could neither 
 obtain it, nor that the ftatute fliould be read. 5thly, I am probably in- 
 formed, and if time be allowed doubt not but I fhall proue it, that the 
 ballifes of the hundreds of Middlefex, had not the liberty of fummoning 
 the freeholders according unto lawe, but fuch only (whether freeholders or 
 not) whoes names were agreed by Graham and Burton, with the under- 
 fherife; of whome many were not fummoned, when the copy of the pan- 
 nell was fent unto me, and fomme of them not at all. 6thly, Many of 
 the king's fervants now in pay, from whome impartiall juftice could not 
 be expedled whilft I was profecuted at the king's fuite, were returned upon 
 the pannell, and many whoe were not freeholders, and fomme lewd and 
 infamous perfons, who deferue not to be of any jury ; all my lawful exep- 
 tions reiedied; the councell prayed to argue the points of law arifingupon 
 the euidence refufed: wheareby I had not only bin obliged to admit of 
 thoes whome I knew to be chofen to deftroy me, and forced to anfwer 
 before a jury compofed of mechanike perlbns, utterly incapable of judg- 
 ing fuch matters as came before them, but depriued of all lawfuU 
 defence. 
 
 I had many other things to offer, concerning the uncertainety and inua- 
 lidety of the lord Howard's teftimony. The utter impoffibility of bringing 
 papers written many yeares agoe, into a concurrence with a new plot, of 
 which the plotters knew nothing, I defired that the duke of Monmouth, 
 •who now appeared^ might be afked, wheather he had euer heard of" them, 
 as he muft haue done, if they had been defigned to ftirre up the people, in 
 order unto councells taken with him. The weakenefle of an euidence 
 taken from a fimilitude of hands ; the unreafonableneife of judging of a 
 fewftieetsofa treatife, without feeing thewhoUe; the impoflibility of 
 bringing the matters layd unto my charge, within the ftat. of 25 Ed. III. 
 though they had bin proucd; the iniuftice of breaking the methode let for 
 my defence ; the fraud of the follicitour's reprefentations ; the irregularity 
 and miftakes of his lordfhip's direction ; the direct incapacity layd upon 
 that court to judge of conftruclive trcafms ; the manyfold errors in con- 
 ftruing this to be treafon, there being nothing to lead them unto it, but 
 feauen or eight fiippofitions, of which euery one was falfe ; and refolution 
 taken not to heare any point of lawe argued, left they fliould be thereby 
 led unto truth : but nothing could be heard. 
 
 I had alfoe reafon to moue for an arrcft of judgment, that though I had 
 granted what had bin fayd by lord Howard to be true, confulting to Icuy 
 war can amount only unto words, and words only are not to be treafon, 
 according to Cook and Hales, and Pine's cafe 4 Car. pr. i. 
 
 ConUilting to levy war is noe overt ad of compafting the king's death, 
 as is fayd exprelTely by Cook and Hales ; aflembling to confult, can amount 
 unto no more than to confult, and, legally conlidered, can be no more 
 
 then
 
 IN THE DAY OF HIS DEATH 
 
 then confulllng, it being impoflible in law or nature to confult without 
 affcmbling, that is, comming together, foe as aflembUng to confult is noe 
 more than bare confulting, that is, bare words. 
 
 That confulting, and fending into Scotland, if it had bin true, were 
 noe more then to confult with thoes that were to comme; that all this 
 being teiliiicd only by the lord Howard, had bin inualide, though their 
 credite had bin good; as appeares by Blake his law, and the popilh lords 
 now in the tower, who are thought to hold their lines only upon the 
 weakneile of one witnelTe, though there were many concurrent circum- 
 ftances. Whltebread's tryall was put otFfor the fame rcaf)ns : and, befide 
 that hath bin already fayd of the papers, I ought to haiie added the abfur- 
 dity of pretending, that fuch as had been written many yeares agoe, not 
 perfeded, nor to be perfedcd, in a long time, perhaps neuer, and neuer 
 fhewne to any man lining, lliould be intended to ilirre up the people; 
 whcareupon a new tryall, an arrcft of judgment, Ihould be giuen ; but I 
 could not be heard : and though I did atteft God and man, that I had not 
 bin fufficiently heard, the chief juftice with his ufuall precipitation pro- 
 nounced judgment of death againft me as a traitor. 
 
 Somme that were prefcnt, affirm, that he acknowledged the late pre- 
 tended plot did not afFcdt me: but I confeffe I did not obferue that, and 
 think myfelf obliged unto him in nothing, but that he Jcemed to lay iiery 
 much weight upon the Old Can fe^ and my engagement in it, with which I am 
 Jo well Jatisfyed as contentedly to dye for it. 
 
 When I heard the judgement, to the bell of my remembrance I fayd 
 theis words. 
 
 Why then, oh Lord, fandify, I befeech thee, theis my fufferings unto 
 me; fandify me through my fufferings ; fandify me through thy truth ; 
 thy word is truth ; impute not my blood unto this nation ;. impute it not 
 unto the great city through which I Ihall be led to the place of death ; let 
 not my foul cry though it lay under the altar ; make no inquifition for it; 
 or, if innocent blood muft be expiated, let thy iiangeance fall oily upon 
 the head cf thoes, whce knowingly and malicioujly perfecute me for righteouj- 
 nefefake. 
 
 The chief juftice then fpeaking, as if I had been a diftempered man, 
 / held out my arme, and dejlred any that were prefent to feele my pulfe, and 
 wheat her any man could be ?nore free from emotion ; and I doe profefe., 
 that foe far as I doe knowe and did then feele myfelf I was Jieuer in a 
 more quiet temper; glory and thanks be unto God for euer, whoe had 
 filled me with comforts, and foe upholds me, that hauing, as I hope, 
 through Chrift uanquifhed fm, he doth preferue me from the feares 
 of death. 
 
 The chief juftice hauing performed this exploit, is fayd to haue bragged 
 unto the king, that noe man in his place had euer rendered unto any king of 
 'Bngl and fuch feruiccs as he had done, in making it to pafe for lawe, that any 
 man might be now tryed by a jury not confijiing of freeholders ; and that one 
 witncfje, with any concurrent circiimfance fas that of the buying the knife J » 
 
 2 ivas 
 
 29
 
 !• 
 
 THE APOLOGY OF A. SYDNEY 
 
 voas fuffic'ient to conui£i him. In this he feems to haue fpoken uery mo- 
 deftly ; for he might truly haue fayd, that he had oueruled eight or ten 
 uery important points of lawe, and decided them without hearing ; 
 whereby the lawe itfelfwas made a fnare, which noe man could aiioide, nor 
 haue any fecurity for his life or fortune, if one vile wretch could be found to 
 fweare againjl himfuch circumflances as he required. Neuertheleffe wee all 
 know, that the like had bin done in former times. In the dayes of 
 Richard II. the nation was brought into Inch a condition, through the 
 peruerfion of the lawe, that no man knew what to fay or doe for feare of 
 treafon, as is exprefTed in the flat, i Hen. IV. and were thereby driuen 
 oipon the moft violent remedyes. God only knowes what will be the iflue 
 of the like practice in theis our days. Perhaps he will in his mercy fpeedily 
 uifit his afflicted people. / dye in the faith that he will doe it, though I 
 know not the titne or wayes ; and am foe ?nuch the more confident he will doe 
 itf that his caufe^ and his people is more concerned now then it was informer 
 time. The lufi of one man and his f any rites was then only to be fet up in the 
 ^xercife of arbitrary power ouer perfons and fates ; but now^ the tyranny 
 ■ouer confciences is principally affeiled *, and the ciuill powers are ftretched unto 
 
 this 
 
 * " There has now for diverfe Years, a defign been carried on, to change the Lawful! 
 Government of England into an Abfolute Tyranny, and to convert the eftablifhed Proteftant 
 Religion into downright Popery : than both which, nothing can be more deftruiStive or con- 
 trary to the Interelt and Happineffe, to the Conftitution and Being of the King and 
 Kingdom. 
 
 For if, firft, we confider the State, the Kings of England rule not upon the fame terms 
 tiith thofe of our neighbour Nations, who, having by force or by addreffe ufurped that due 
 fhare which their people had in the government, are now for fome ages in pofleflion of an 
 Arbitrary power {which yet no Prefeription ean make legail) and exercife it over their perfons 
 andeftates in a moft tyrannical manner. But here the fubje£is retain their proportion in the Lc- 
 giflature ; the very meaneit commoner of England is reprefented in Parliament, and is a 
 party to thofe laws by which the prince is fworn to govern himfelf and his people. No mony 
 is to be levied but ty the common confent. No man is for Life, Limb, Goods, or Liberty 
 at the Soveraigns difcretion : but we have the fame Right (modeftly underftood) in our propriety 
 tlmt the I'rince hath in his Rigality ; and in all Cafes where the King is concerned, we have 
 ourjuft remedy as againft any private perfon of the neighbourhood, in the Courts of Weft- 
 miniter-Hall or in the High Court of Parliament. His very Prerogative is no more than 
 what the Law has dcttrmined. His Broad Seal, which is the Legitimate ftamp of his plea- 
 fure, yet is no longer currant, than upon the Trial it is found to be Legal. He cannot 
 commit any perfon by his particular warrant. He cannot himfelf be witncd'e in any caufe : 
 the B.iilance of Publick Juftice being fo delicate, not the hand only but even the breath of 
 the Prince wouKl turn the fi ale. Nothing is left to the King's will, but all is fubjeiled to his 
 authority : by which menns it folloivs that he can do no wrong, nor can he receive wrong ; and a 
 King of England, keeping to thefe meafures, may without arrogance be /aid to remain the only 
 Intelligent Ruler over a Rationed People. In recompence therefore and acknowledgment of fo good 
 a (rovc'->:>:ent under his influeice, his Perfon is moil facred and inviolable; and whatfo^.-vcr 
 ej<ccfles are committed againft fo high a truft, nothing of them is imputed to him, as being 
 free from the neceflity or ttmptation, but his Mmifters only arc accountable for all, and 
 nuiftanfwer it at their pcrills. He hath a vaft Revenue conftantly arifing from the Ikarih 
 ofthc Houftioldcr, the Sweat of the Labourer, the Rent of the Farmer, the Induftry of the 
 Merchant, and confequently out of the Eftate of the Gentleman : a large competence to 
 defray 1 he ordinary cxpcncc of the Crown, and maintain its luftre. And if any extraor- 
 dxriiX)' occafion happen, or be but with any probable decency pretended, the whole Land at 
 
 tuhatfocvsr
 
 I N T H £ DAY 01 HIS D E A T H 
 
 ibis exarhkant height, for the ejlahlipjincnt of popery. I belieuc that the 
 people of God in England hauc, in theis late ycarcs, generally grovv-ne 
 taint. Somme, tlu-ough fearc, hauc dcfleitcd from the integrity of their 
 principles. Somme haue too deeply plunged themfelves in worldly 
 cares, and, foe as they might enjoy their trades and wealth, haue lelTc 
 regarded the treafure that is layd up in heauen. But 1 think there are uery 
 many whoe haue kept their garments unfi)otted ; and * hope that God will 
 dcliuer them and the nation for their fakes. God will not fuffer this land, 
 
 where 
 
 whatfjsver fcafon of the year does yield him a plcntifuU HcirveJ}. So forward arc his peoples 
 affections to give even to fupcrfluity, that a Forainer (or Englifhman that hath been long 
 abroad) would think they could neither will norchufe, but that the afking a fupply, were 
 a meer formality, it is fo readily granted. He is the Fountain of all Honours, and has more- 
 over the dill:nbution of fo many profitable Offices of the Houfhold, of the Revenue, of 
 State, of Lawe, of Religion, of the Navy (and, fince his prefent Majefties time, of the 
 Army) that it feems as if the Nation could far fe furnijh hone/l men enow to fpply all thof em- 
 ployments. So that the Kings of England are in nothing infcriour to other Princes, <ave in 
 being more abridged from injuring their own fubjeiSts : but have as large a field as any of 
 external felicity, wherein to exercife their own Virtue, and fo reward and encourage it 
 in others. Injhort, there is nothing that comes nearer in Government to the Divine Pcrfe^ion., 
 than where the Monarch, as xvith us, injoys a capacity of doing all the good imaginable to mankind^ 
 under a dijability to all that is evil. 
 
 And as wc are thus happy in the conftitutinn of our State, fo are we yet more blelTed in 
 that of our Church ; being free from that Romijh Yoak, which fo great a part of Chriften- 
 dome do yet draw and labour under. That Popery is fuch a thing as cannot, but for wait of a 
 word to exprefs it, be called a Religion : nor is it to be mentioned ivith that civility which is other wife 
 decent to he ufed, in fpeaking of the differences of humane opinion about Divine Matters. Were 
 it either open Judaifme, or plain Turkery, or honed Paganifme, there is yet a certain Bonit 
 fidei in the molt extravagant Belief, and the finccrity of an erroneous profeffion may render 
 it more pardonable: but this is a compound of all the three, anextraiS of whatfoever' is moft 
 ridiculous and impious in them, incorporated with more peculiar abfurdityes of its own, 
 in which thoCe were deficient ; and all this deliberately contrived, knowingly carried on by 
 the bold impofture of Priefts under the name of Chriftianity. The wTfdom cf this fifth 
 Religion, this last and insolentest attempt upon the credulity of mankind, fcenis to me 
 (though not ignoran^otherwile of the times, degrees, and methods of its progrefie) princi- 
 pally to have confifted in their owning the Scriptures to be the word of God, and the Rule of 
 Faith and Manners, but in prohibiting at the fam time their common ufe, or the reading of them 
 ■in puhlick Churches but in a Latine tranfcition to the vulgar : there being no better or more rati- 
 onal way to frujlrate the very defign of the great Injlitutor of Chrijiianity, who f.rfl planted it by 
 the extraordinary gift cf Tongues, then to forbid ike ufe even of the ordinary hr.rua'^es. For 
 having thus a book which is univerially avowed to be of Divine Authority, but fequeflrino- 
 it only into fuch hands as were intrufted in the cheat, they had the opportunity to vitiate, fup- 
 prefje, or interpret to their own profit thofe Records by zvhich the poor people hold their falvaticn. 
 And this neceflary point being once gained, there was thenceforward nothing fo tnonjhous to 
 reafon, fo abhorring fro7n morality, or fo contrary to fripture iuhich they might not in prudence 
 adventure en, etc. etc. etc. 
 
 An account of l\\e growth o( pop^ery and arbitrary government in Encland. More 
 
 particularly from the long prorogation of N',i-. 1675, ending Feb. 15, 1676, 
 
 till the lall meeting of parliament, July lb, 1677. Amjlerdam, printed in the 
 
 year 1677, in quarto. [^^ Andrew Marv ell, "• Who'dyed fliortly after, vot 
 
 without Jirong fufpicions of being poyfoned."] 
 
 Of James I. Charles J. Charles II. James II. their evil deeds and finnings againft their 
 
 people, fee an admirable recapitulation, in that m.alkr tract intitlcd " A fhort hiftorv ct' 
 
 itanding armies in England," by that fpirited excellent Englifli Gentleman forn Trencha'rd. 
 
 * In his bounty he did deliver them and foon too, at the inoft noble moil happy 
 Rcvolu-tion. 
 
 .? D
 
 3i THEAPOLOGYOF A. SYDNEY, etc. 
 
 where the gofpell hath of late floriflied more than in any part of the world, 
 to become a flave of the world ; he will not fuffer it to be made a land of 
 , grauen images : he will ftirre up witneffes of the truth, and, in his owne 
 
 time, fpirit his people to ftand up for his caufe, and deliver them. I liucd 
 in this belief, and am now about to dye in it. I know my Redeemer Hues; 
 and, as he hath in a great mefure upheld me in the day of my calamity, 
 hope that he will ftill uphold me by his fpirite in this laft moment, and 
 giuing me grace to glorify him in my death, receaue me into the glory 
 prepared for thoes that feare him, when my body fhall be diffolued. 
 Amen.
 
 A GENERAL VIEW OF 
 GOVERNMENT IN EUROPE 
 
 5 D 2
 
 This GENERAL VIEW OF GOVERNMENT was printed in 1 744,. 
 in a work intitled, the " Ufe and Abufe of Parliaments," faid to have 
 been written by the late Mr. Ralph, the hiftorian. To this trad: is 
 prefixed the following advertifement : 
 
 " As an a£t of juftice to the memory of a great man, it is neceffary to 
 " acquaint the reader, that he ftands indebted for this difcourfe to the 
 " celebrated Algernon Sydney*" 
 
 Upon the authority of this advertifement, and at the requefl; of a friend, 
 the editor has annexed this treatife to A. Sydney's works ; though, by the 
 ftyle in which it is written, the author's manner of reafoning, and the 
 books which are cited in it, he is convinced, that it is the produ(3:ion of a 
 different hand.
 
 A GENERAL VIEW OF GOVERNMENT IN EUROPE 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 Sir, 
 
 See the effe6t of your commands. The want of time, of books, and; 
 afliftance in this my retirement, make me very incapab e of the imdcr- 
 taking : but my obedience and performance with a kid, will I hope be 
 accepted, when I cannot facrlfice an hundred bulls, 
 
 "VVithout farther ceremony or introducStlon, according to my appre- ' 
 henfion, when we enquire into the authority and nature of parliaments,, 
 our thoughts fliould be raifed above all prejudice and particukrities ; we 
 Ihould not conceive of them, as of fome creature, formed and nouriflied 
 under this or that conftitution, but have a notion as large and general, as 
 is that of government or civil fociety. 
 
 We muft not be confined to the Vv^riters of this or that age,, or country ;•. 
 but confult the univerfal reafon and fenfe of human kind, where civil 
 government has been exercifed. Much lefs is any particular profeflion or 
 fadlion of writers to be the only authors of credit with us, in this enquiry.. 
 Our knowledge mufl be fomething digefted ; and an impartial refult from 
 a confideration of all, as well times and countries, as writers and cuftoms. 
 
 The civilians, with their Bartolus and Baldus *, are not to didlate to us 
 on this occafion. Thefe were bred out of the corruption of the Roman- 
 liberty ; and were inftrumcnts of fervitude from the beginning. Their 
 work was, by hook and crook, to rap and bring all under the emperor's, 
 power ; that was their ftudy, that their province. But they were always- 
 ignorant of the pradlices of better times, and utter ftrangers to the jufl. 
 rights of a free people ; their rules and their maxims were, in effect, nO' 
 other, than fo many ftripes, fo many marks, and items of flavery to the- 
 fubjedls. 
 
 Then, for the mu.nicinal lawyers of every nation, they alfo arc 
 educated under too narr.ivv a difpenfation to think juftly in thefe matters.. 
 The letter is the fphere where they Ihew their aftivity, even fometimes,. 
 to the perverting and turning it againft the reafon and intentions of the' 
 legiflator.. Their fmall niceties, and their iubtleties, and their inferences,. 
 are too fine drawn to bear or fupport a matter of this weight and circum- 
 ference. Their deduftions and argumentations muft ever be taken with^ 
 fome grains of allowance; the caufe here requires other forms and confi— 
 derations. We are not to ftick at the letter, but go to the foundation, to 
 the Infide and effence of things. By their acquaintance with the cuftoms 
 and laws, they may aid and dire£b, but not overrule ; they may apply 
 
 their 
 
 * Bartolus de Saxoferrato flouriOied about the year 1350. Baldus was his fcholar. Th&' 
 works of ths latter are very volumuious.- Vide Hill. Littrar. Hofnianni Le;<icon.. -
 
 A GENERAL VIEW OF 
 
 their obfervations to ftrengthen the fundamental reafon, but are not to 
 perplex and fubvert the form of government. 
 
 My lord Coke tells us, parliament is derived from parler le ment, i. e. 
 from fpeaking the mind *. He might as honeftly have taught us that 
 firmament is firma mentis, a farm for the mind ; or fundament, the bot- 
 tom of the mind. My lord Coke, how fage foever otherwife, in parlia- 
 ment-houfe is no more authority than Thomas Aquinas. And take him 
 from his ordinary element, his reafons are many times as ridiculous as his 
 etymologies. 
 
 Then for the holy Scripture ; the defign of it is no more to teach us 
 politics, than to make us philofophers. Ahaz's dial is no precedent for 
 our time or meafures ; nor may the Theocracy of the Jews authorize us 
 to fet up for king Jefus. Our blefled Saviour did not diftiuguifh whether 
 Caelar demanded tribute, as tribune and fervant of the people ; nor 
 whether the Roman empire remained ftill democratical, as Caefar pre- 
 tended, or was monarchical, as, in efFedt, it pro'-'ed. The Holy Ghoft 
 neither altered the completion, nor refined the education ; but a fhepherd, 
 notwithflanding the oracles he delivered, continued the fame in other 
 circumftances, as if he never had been infpired. In like manner, where- 
 ever Chrift is preached, the foul-faving dodrine in no wife operates upon 
 the policy or civil conftitutions ; but leaves thofe affairs to be influenced 
 by ordinary prudence and difcretion. 
 
 Whether therefore it be fome particular generofity in our nature, 
 that renders us impatient of flavery ; or whether the temperatenefs of 
 the climate inclines us to a moderation in our government ; or whether, 
 it may be fome favourable afped: of the planets, as Ptolomy would per- 
 fuade us, that difpofes Europe to the love of liberty ; fo far as any record 
 or hlftory can inform us, that arbitrary and unlimited domination, fo fa- 
 miliar in the eaftcrn parts of the world, amongft us did always fhew 
 imcouth, and to be flared upon no lefs than their elephants : and Indeed 
 to us fcem altogether inconfiftent with a civil people. And it can be no 
 more the bufinefs of the gofpel to reconcile us to that yoke, than it is to 
 emafculate our completion and nature, to change the temper of our 
 climate, or to turn our ftars from their courfe. 
 
 SECTION I 
 
 OF THE ORIGIN, POWER AND ANTIQUITY OF PARLI A.AIENTS 
 
 All power Is from God, and we are to be fubjedt to the higher powers: 
 this all confent to ; this Is dodrlne alike true in Holland as in France, 
 at Venice as at Conftantinople. But where this high power and fove- 
 reignty refts, in whom it is lodged, this is a point not fo obvious: nor 
 can the Scriptures or holy fathers any way help us in the difcovery. The 
 
 cuftoms 
 ♦ Coke's InftituCcs, p. i. b. 2. § 164
 
 GOVERNMENT IN EUROPE 
 
 cuftoms and particular laws of every nation arc only capable to diretft 
 us in that fcrutiny. 
 
 Obedience is as much a duty, and rebellion as black a fin, where the 
 people are king, as where a fnigL- perfon has the fovereign Avay. 
 
 The title of king, monarch, jr emperor, the fccpter, the crown, the 
 royal throne, with all the robes and pomps, and badges of fovercignty, 
 and the precedency before other chriilian kings, have the fliadow of 
 majelly, but have none of the fubftance, as Bodin truly obfcrveo. 
 
 The Caefars were never fo abfolute, as when the fcnate had the fhew, 
 and the name of all. But afterwards when their power declined, then did 
 their fhadows lengthen, and their titles fwell beyond all fobriety and 
 proportion. 
 
 The French parliaments in their frarlct robes, know none of that 
 fovcreign power which their plain anceftors fo long had exercifed in their 
 grey jackets. 
 
 The pontificalibus and formality derogates from the antiquity and in- 
 dependency ; and our houfe of commons may feem in a manner, if I may 
 fo fay, to have committed fome kind of folecifm, in taking a mace to be 
 carried before them, but that their fimplicity and plainncfs otherwife fuf- 
 ficiently demonftrates them the true, fuicere, original, fundamental com- 
 mon-council, conftituted and formed before forms and pageantries and 
 fopperies obtained in our Englifli world. For badge and ornament they 
 had Jupiter's fceptre ; which Plato interprets to be, not a tipt batoon, or 
 glittering engraven thing, but the laws and legiflative power. 
 
 Homer has taught the world to call kings paftors of the people. We 
 commit not the charge of our cattle to any one of the herd, nor for our 
 Iheep do we choofe one out of the flock to be their fliepherd ; but fet over 
 them a more excellent fort of animal; fome man is appointed for the 
 neatherd, and for the fhepherd, to govern and take the charge of them. 
 
 Now fince for the condu£l and fway over men, the world is not fur- 
 niihed with any fpecies more noble than man, art fupplies what is wanted 
 in nature ; an artificial maia is framed a politic creature, a king that never 
 dies, that can do no wrong, that cannot be deceived, whofe councils and 
 determinations are the refult of the joint experience and wifdom of a 
 whole nation. 
 
 Now whether this artificial creature, may be called a mixed fort of 
 government, as the ancients imagined ; or it is originally, effentially,. 
 and fundamentally a democracy, monarchical in the adminiftration, as 
 Bodin and our modern politicians feem to underftand, this certainly is- 
 the government that always has obtained in Europe ; and that which, 
 all, amidfl: their commotions, diftraftions, and convulfions, in ibme man- 
 ner or other, with more or lefs fuccefs and perfection, have tended to, as 
 their centre, and only place of reft. 
 
 If therefore the Jews had defired a king after the manner of the Eu- 
 ropeans, their importunity peradventure might not have been fo provoking 
 to the Almighty J and we lliould have found another kind of catalogue of 
 
 their-
 
 ^ AGENERALVIEWOF 
 
 their fair qualities, than that delivered us by the prophet : for, however 
 their Afian or African neighbours might have domineered it, and bhiftered, 
 a calmer gale was always wont to breathe amongft us in Europe ; and, 
 God be thanked, we are many degrees northern latitude from Og the 
 king of Baihan, and the lands of thofe other giants, Amalekites and 
 Philiftines. 
 
 The firfi writers amongft us had their imaginations fo over borne 
 with the excellency of kingly government, that they fancied in heaven 
 Jupiter to be the king of the gods : and yet they thought the common 
 council fo necelfary and eflential, that Homer reprefents even Jupiter, 
 upon a great occafion, calling his Qsuv ixyo^riV, his parliament of the gods. 
 Zeug ^e 3s:<v ayoor,v TrciriCrcTjo Tifi7rix.spavi@<; 
 
 AKOOTIXTyj K00V(P'/I TTOXDdStOCCCog UvXVfJLT^OiO *. 
 
 I have heard divines obferve fomething of this kind, as figured of 
 Ood Almighty from thofe w^ords, " Let us make man." Thofe words 
 in the plural number to them feemed to import, as if God fummoned 
 a parliament of the Trinity, to confult upon that arduous affair. 
 
 Our chriftian poets have taken the fime liberty, and fancied this, as 
 an image of greatnefs, where could be no acceffion to the wifdom and 
 omnipotence. 
 
 But again. Homer (whom Plato in his book of laws mentions as ar 
 prophet, and one who reveals thofe things concerning government by 
 infpiration, which are not by human knowledge to be attained) to {hew the 
 utmoft inhumanity and barbarity of the Cyclopes, and their government, 
 tells us, they neither held parliaments for council, nor had right. 
 Toictv S' HT ayo^oci (:isX'y](po^oi, are ^E^wig-Ef "j". 
 
 He joins parliament and right, as of late days Guicciardini does par- 
 liament and liberty ; as if parliament, right, and liberty, were to ftand 
 and fall together. 
 
 And indeed amongft the Greeks, how many perfons, excellent other- 
 wife, have been branded for tyrants and monilers, and made odious to 
 all pofterity, becaufe they affedcd a more fmguiar and unbounded power 
 than was confiftent with the cuftoms and conftitutions of their country ? 
 
 Nor was this policy lefs known or pra£lifed by the Latins. None of 
 the ancient kings of Italy or Rome exercifcd other goA'crnmcnt than by 
 parliament, till Tarquin the Proud with much ftratagem and artifice at- 
 tempted a new way : but how fatal did he find that innovation ? 
 
 Afterwards when the Caefars ufurpcd the empire, when their power 
 was the highcft, they affected to have all done in the name of the people 
 and fcnate. " Neqne tam parvum quidquam, neque tarn magnum publici 
 *' privatique negotii fuit, dc quo non ad patres confcriptos referretur if." 
 And, notwithftanding the ancient liberty and government was fo run down, 
 yet, on Ibme occalions, the authority of the fenate would be exerting 
 
 itfclf. 
 
 • Jupiter vero dcorum concilium habuit gandeiis fijiniiiie, 
 
 Suninio in vertice multa-cacuiniiia-liabciuis Olympi. 11. 8. v. 2 
 
 t Illii. vero nccjuc coiicioncs confiliaiiac, neque leges. OcIyfT. 9. v. 112 
 
 X Sucton. in vita Tiberii, § 30
 
 GOVERNMENT IN EUROPE 
 
 itfclf. They declared Nero an enemy of the ftate, and their fentencc 
 had its efFedi:. Nor could the Delight of human kind, Titus, thoui^h fo 
 far engaged in love and honour, ftcm the authority of the fenate, in 
 favour of his dear Berenice ; but was forced to difmifs her, bccaufc they 
 forbad the banns. And in effed:, the power of the fenate once gone, 
 that of the emperors fignified little; the giddy foldiers broke all rules and 
 meafures. They mutinied, and made and unmade emperors, where, and 
 when, and whom they had a mind to. So that the emperor was only 
 tenant at will to the army. 
 
 SECTION ir 
 
 OF THE ANCIENT CONSTITUTION OF ENGLAND, BOTH UNDER 
 
 THE BRITONS AND SAXONS 
 
 Our botchers of hiftory fhew a jolly fucceflion of monarchs on their file 
 for Britain in thofe days : but Caefar's Commentaries are of much better 
 credit, who reprefents the government of Gaul and Britain, as much 
 the fame in his time; he fays of Britain, " fumma imperii beliique ad- 
 *' miniftrandi, communi confdio, permifla eft Caffivellauno, &c *." The 
 chief command and condud: of the war, was by the common council 
 committed to Caffiyellaunus. Compare thefe words with what he writes 
 of the Gauls : " Re in controverfiam deduda, totius Galliae concilium 
 *• Bibrade indicitur. Eodem conveniunt undique frequentes : multitudinis 
 *' fuffragiis res permittitur ; ad unum omnes Vercingetorigem probant 
 " imperatorem f ." Here the council of all Gaul, by reafon of the war, 
 put it to the vote who fliould be their general ; and it was carried with a 
 nemine contradicente for Vercingetorix. And it is beyond difpute, that 
 their government continued the fame in the times of which Dion Caffius 
 and Tacitus write. Nor is their uniformity fo ftrange, confidering the 
 authority of the Druids, and their correfpondence in both nations. 
 
 When the Englifh and French came from Germanv to people Britain 
 and Gaul, the German liberty and moderate fway were tranfplanted with 
 them ; and ftill the common council had the main ftroke in all weighty 
 aftairs ; for to that policy had they alfo been educated. The fcheme of 
 the German government appears in thefe paflages of Tacitus. " De 
 *' minoribus rebus principes confultant, de majoribus omnes :}:." In leffer 
 matters the principal men only, in the greateft- affairs all confult. Elfe- 
 where he fliys of them, " Ubi rex vcl princcps audiuntur, authoritate 
 *' fuadendi magis quam jubendi poteftate §." Where the king or prince are 
 heard for the reafons they bring to perfuade, rather than for any authority 
 
 t(? 
 
 * Caefarde BelloGnll. 1. 5. § 9 t lb. I. 7. § 5f 
 
 J Tacitus de morib. Germ. §11 § Ibid.
 
 A GENERAL VIEW OF 
 
 to command. Hereby It is manifeft, that in Germany alfo the people had 
 their fhare in debating and direfting all affairs of moment. 
 
 When therefore the French under Waramond, or Pharamond, came to» 
 fettle and mix with the Gauls, whatever other differences might happen, 
 in point of government they were agi-eed beforehand, both refting upon 
 the fame bafis, the com.mon council. Accordingly in thofe firft days, 
 we find them making their kings, and again, upon occafion, unmaking 
 them by general confent. Hence come thefe phrafes fo frequent in 
 Aimoinus, Sigebert, Eginhardus, and the other writers of thole times. 
 " Confenfu omnium Francorum rex conftituitur *, ele<3:ione Francorum f , 
 " fecundum morem Francorum eledtus in regem J." On the other hand, 
 ** Franci regno deturbant, a Francis repudiatur, depofitus ac detonfus in 
 *' monafterium detrufus elT:, a Francis in monachum tonforatur, &c ||." 
 Where we may note, that our authors intend by their " per Francos" as 
 much as " per confenfum Francorum," or " fecundem morem Francorum," 
 which is, by the common council, and not in any unufual, mutinous, and 
 tumultuous way, as fome might objecll. 
 
 Nor are we to imagine the government prefently altered, as often as we 
 find the hiftorians varying their phrafe. We muff now and then be 
 content with fuch words as the monks of thofe times were pleafed to coin 
 for us, and have new barbarous names for the fame old civil conftitution. 
 Whether they fpeak of Germany, of the French, or of our nation, they 
 indifferently diverfify, and employ for the fame common affembly 
 amongft others, the appellations and circumlocutions following. Some- 
 times they call it curia, and curia imperialis, and curia regalis, curia 
 folennis, generalis curia, magna curia. 
 
 " Concelebranda patrum folenni curia coetu §, 
 
 " Curia Roncaliis jampridem indifta coiret^," 
 fay their poets : which is cxpreffed in the German tongue, by " hof, 
 " koniglicher hof, groffcr hof." Elfewhere it is called " congregationes," 
 which the Germans render " reichfverfammlung."^ Sometimes it is called 
 " concilium principum, totius Germaniae concilium, concilium gencrale." 
 Gunther fays, 
 
 " Concilium procerum toto de corpore regni 
 
 " Convocat**." 
 And the monk of Paderborn, who lived about eight hundred years 
 ago, in his annals of Charles the Great, 
 
 Et 
 
 * Vita K.iroli Magni per EginharJum fcripta, § 2 
 
 ■f- Fipimis L-x ekdiioiie Fr:.ncorum i'adlus eli rtx. Gotfridi Viterb. Chron. pars 17. c. 4 
 Sigcberti Chron. fub anno 750 J Rcginonis Chron. fiib anno 750 
 
 II Hildericum Franci regno (jcturbaar. Sigebcrti Chron. fub anno 461. — Carolus 
 impcrator, corpore et animo deficicr.i;, ab optimatibus regni repudiatur. Ibid, fub anno 890. 
 — I^cpofito ac detonfo regc Hiidcrico. Hcnnanni Contr. Cfiion. fub anno 750. — Detonfo 
 nilderico et in moiiafteriuiTi detrufo. Otto Frifing. 1. 5. c. 23. — Hildcricus rex Francorum 
 in n-.onachuiii tonforatur. Sigcberti Chron. fub anno 750 
 
 § Gunthtrus dt Gcft. Fiidcrici 1.1.6. Vide S^riptores Rcruni Germ, per Reubcruin 
 edltos, p. 371. Edit. Franc. 1584 
 
 f Ibid. 1. g. p. 425 ** Ibid. 1. 1. p. 292
 
 GOVERNMENT IN EUROPE 
 
 Et rex Wormatiam Carolus collcgit in urbem, 
 Francorum proceres ad concilium generale *. ^ 
 
 " Poftqnani imperialia concilia ceffavere, penc omnes dcformltatcs funt 
 " introdudac," lays cardinal de Cufa f. Elfcwhere thefc were called 
 " conventus, conventus generalis, conventus publiciis, convenire gcneraliter 
 " populum fuum praecepit. Habuit populi fui gcneralcm convcntum :|:. 
 " Habitoque juxta morem general! conventu 11." The monk of Paderborn 
 tluis verfifies. 
 
 " Ad Duriam vicum properant : nam rege jubcnte, 
 *' Mlic conventus populi generalis habetur §. 
 *' Venit, et ad fontes tluvii, cui Lippia nomcn, 
 " Conventum fieri procerum julFit gcneralem H. 
 " Publicus in Paderbrunno conventus habetur **." 
 Mofl: commonly it was called placitum. — Rex Pipinus tenuit placitura 
 fuum in Compendio. — Habuit placitum generale Francorum ff. Rejt 
 Pipinus habuit placitum fuum in Nivernis. Regino, Anno 763 :j:|. 
 — Anno 777, Placitum tenuit in loco, qui dicitur Padrefbrunna. — 
 Abbas Stadenfis in Chr. Anno 811. " Imperator habito placito general! ||||." 
 And the aforefaid monk, 
 
 " Conventum placitl generalis habere, 
 
 " Gum ducibus fe velle fuis denunciat illic §§.'* 
 Regino calls it " fynodus. Anno 770, Carolus habuit fyrtodum in 
 " Wormatia." — Anno 771, " fynodum habuit ad Valenlianas." — Anno 
 772, " fynodum habuit in Wormatia." — Anno 775, " habuit fynodum 
 •' in villa quae dicitur Duria." — Anno 780, " venit ad locum ubi Lippa 
 *• confurgit, et ib! fynodum tenuit.— Convenerant mult! epifcopi, abbates, 
 " et principes ad imperialem fynodum HIT." Afterwards in Germany, 
 diet was the name that generally prevailed, as that of parliament in France 
 and England. 
 
 Now thefe quotations and authorities fliew, not only that by all this 
 variety of names were underftood the fame common council, but that the 
 ** principes, proceres, primores, duces, patres, etc." imported no more 
 in truth, nor llgnified other manner of men, than the very fame with 
 " populus." 
 
 And 
 
 * Poetae Saxonici Annales de Geftis CarOli Magni, 1. i. fub anno 772. Vide Hiftor. 
 Franc. Script, a Du Chefne editos, vol. ii. p. 136 
 
 f De Concord. Cathol. 1. 3. c. 33 
 
 X Eginhardi Annales fub anno 770 
 
 H Ibid, fub anno 779 § Poetae Saxonici Annaics fub anno 775 
 
 IT Ibid. 1. 2. fub anno 7S2 ** Ibid. 1. 2. fub anno 785 
 
 •ft Annales Metcnfcs, fub annis 757 et 763. Vide Script. Rer. Francarum a Dti 
 Chefne editos, vol, iii 
 
 XX Chronica Reginonis. Vide Script. Rerum Germ. aPiftorio edit. vol. i 
 
 lill Alberti, Abbatis Stadenfis, Chronicon, fub anno 811 
 
 §§ Poetae Saxonici Annr.les, fub anno 777 
 
 "f fl Trithemii Chronica Mojiaft. Herfaugienfie, fub anno 838. p. <> 
 
 5 E 2
 
 i^ AGENERALVIEWOF 
 
 And the fame aflembly by one writer barely called " populus," or " con- 
 " ventus populi," is by another ftiled " conventus procerum, conventus 
 *' principum, etc." which thofe terms *' fecundum morem, juxta morem, 
 " more folenni, lit folebat," more fully demonftrate ; which feem to refer 
 and fend us back to Tacitus : " Confultant de majoribus omnes." This I 
 the rather note, becaufe I find Mr. Petty (amongft many other excellent 
 memorials) obferving the like In old records of parliament, where thofe 
 fomewhere called populus, and vulgus, and the commons, are other- 
 whiles dignified with the gay additions of Noble, MofI: Noble, Moll 
 Illuftrious, Moft Gracious, Seigniors, Monfeigniors, and Sires the Com- 
 mons ; and likewife, for that I'ome unwary and fuperficial readers, from 
 this root, have propagated and improved many errors of pernicious confe- 
 quence to our antieut and fundamental policy and government. 
 
 The French, incorporating and growing one people with the former 
 inhabitants, had ^ much eafier province ; they fettled, and purlued their 
 native cuftoms and forms of government, nor met with that difficulty 
 and oppofition which in this nation attended the Englifh and Saxons. 
 Thefe had a much harder game to play. Thel'e could in no wife fix, or 
 find any fure footing, without firll clearing their way, and driving the 
 Britons up by themfelves, into a corner of the land. And after much 
 tumbling and buftle, we find them formed into a heptarchy. Hov/ 
 regularly they moved as to civil affairs, how clofely they followed their 
 country-cuftoms, or where they innovated and varied from their German 
 forms and policy, in thofe dark times, is hard to be traced. 
 
 Some footfteps however appeared then, which remained to pofterity : 
 as the divifion of the country into hundreds, after the German manner 
 defcribed by Tacitus ; befides the other royalties in the people : as that 
 of appointing Iheriifs, and choofing annual magiftrates, the jurifdidlion 
 and power of life and death by our juries, etc. And, even before all came 
 imited under one monarch, we find the people interpofing their authority, 
 and, for the mifcarriages of queen Eadburga *, providing that thereafter, 
 " no queen fhoyld fit by the king, nor have the title of queen, but be 
 " called only the king's wife. Gens namque occidental ium Saxonum 
 " reginam juxta regem federe non patitur ; nee etiam reginam appellari, 
 " fed regis conjugem permittitf." But I lliall not repeat what Camden 
 and Selden, and our other antiquaries have colle£led on this occafion ; 
 but Germany being the fource both of our people and laws, I choofe 
 rather *' petere fontes : " and thence it may be concluded how far we 
 do " flare fuper vias antiquas," and continue firm upon the old bottom. 
 
 * Hacc infamia ab Eadburga, Oliae regis filia, ejufdem generis regina, exorta eft, quae 
 virum fnuni Biiihriciim veneno perdidit, ct juxta regem fcdcns, omucs regni nobUes 
 accufi:i\; folebat. Mat. Wcftni. fub anno 854. 
 
 t Afllrus dc Aclfredi Rebus Geftis, fub anno 855
 
 G O V E R N M E N T t N E U R O r F; rr 
 
 SECTION III 
 
 OF THE GERMAN EMPIRE, TflR ELECTORS, THE R KCROACHMENTS" 
 OF CAESAR, AND THE GOLDEN BULL. 
 
 When the people and fcnatc of Rome had transferred all their righc 
 upon Charles the Great, or Charlemagne, as the French call him, and 
 Germany was m:ide the feat of the v^ .dcrn empire, one might think, if 
 there could be an opportunity of introducing a new form of policy, this- 
 was the time. Yet Charles, la victorious, fo auguft, fo great, the like in; 
 no age before him or fince ever k "nwn on thij> fide the Alps, notwith- 
 llanding all that power and fortune, and the imperial crown that adorned 
 him, his language was ftill the high German, and his government did 
 ftill in the old parliamqjitary v>'ay go on and profper. Therefore we find 
 him every year with his parliament. Eginhardus, who was his fon-in- 
 law, and chancellor, fays of him : " Rex lie ad publicum populi fui con— 
 " ventum, qui annuatim ob regni utilitatem celebrabatur, ire, fic domum. 
 " redire, folebat *." And Aimoinus, " generalem con ventum quo tannis. 
 « habuit f." 
 
 And to thefe parliaments, under God, fo far as human reafon may judge^ 
 does Hinemar, archbilhop of Rheims, and chancellor in thofe times, af- 
 cribe his happy reign. " Secunda divifio, qua totius regni ftatus, antepofito, 
 " ficuti femper et ubiciincjue, omnipotentis Dei judicio, quantiim ad 
 " humanam rationem pertinebat, confervari videbatur, haec eft. Confue— 
 *' tudo autem tunc temporis talis erat, ut non faepiias, fed bis in anno- 
 " placita duo tenerentur. Unum, quando ordinabatur ftatus totius regni ad 
 *' anni vertentis fpatlum, quod ordinatum nullus eventus rerum, nifi fumma- 
 " neceflitas, quae fimiliter toto regno incumbebat, mutabat. In quo 
 " placitogeneralitas univerforum majorum, tarn clericorum quam laicorum,. 
 " conveniebat. Aliud cum fenioribus tantum et praecipuis conliliariis l^. 
 
 All this feems but a paraphrafe upon the paffage afore-cited out of 
 Tacitus, as to the form of government. The princes and feniors are for 
 the matters of lefs weight; the former here mentioned, was the " generale 
 " placitum," which the Germans more particularly call, ** die jiihrliche 
 " verfammlung," the yearly affembly ; whofe bufinefs (he tells us) was^ 
 " to order the ftate of the kingdom." 
 
 He fliews us likewife hov\r binding thefe their ordinances were, and nof 
 to be contravened, unlefs upon the iitmoft neceffity ; not a fuggefted, in- 
 vifible, court-neccllity, but "quae toti regno incumbebat,*' a.necelfity 
 that lay upon the whole kingdoni. In elfe^l, the parliament ordered, 
 and he executed their orders ; his office was the adminilb'ation, 
 
 Amongft 
 
 * Vita Karoli Magni per Eginhardum fcripta, § i. 
 
 •f Annonius [AimoinusJ Ue G>;ftis Francorum, 1. 4. c. 74. Edit. Paris. 1514. Egin- 
 hardi Annahs fub anno 782 
 
 X Hincniarus ad Proceres regrii, § 29, Vide Hincmari Opera, vgl. ii. p. 211. Edit,. 
 Paris. 1645
 
 ^2 A GENERAL VIEW OF 
 
 Amongfl: other particulars, we find him in parliament adjufling the 
 matter of fucceffion, as Eglnhard and the abbot of Staden, anno 813, 
 inform us ; of which the monk of Paderborn : 
 
 *' Unde duces, ac primores folcnniter oranes 
 " Atque magiftratus, ad concilium generale 
 " Undique collegit, natoque fuo Ludovico 
 "*' Cundiorum cum confilio jus orane regendi 
 " Tradidit imperii, fucceffbremque paterni, 
 " Impofito defignavit diademate, regni *." 
 
 And accordingly his fon Lodowic by general confent of parliament did 
 
 fucceed him. " Poft mortem patris, Aquifgrani lummo omnium Francorum 
 
 *' confenfii adminiilrationem accepit f-" The fame author tells us that this 
 
 . Lodowic, " Lotharium filium primogenitum confortem imperii conftituere 
 
 *'" volens, Aquifgrani in conventu, more folito, inflituto, cum coronavit J." 
 
 In like manner we have the fon of Arnulph chofen in parliament to 
 fucceed his father. " Proceres et optimates ad Forachem congregati, Ludo- 
 " vicum filium praefati principis, quern ex legitimo matrimonio fufceperat, 
 ■*' regem fuper fe creant, et coronatum, regiifque ornamentis indutum, in 
 *' faftigio regni fublimant |1." 
 
 Nor was this done only out of formality, and for the greater ftate and 
 folemnity on thofe occafions ; for we fometimes find them refufing to 
 grant what the emperor laboured to obtain. Amongft other inftances, 
 we have this laft named Arnolph attempting to get the parliament to 
 make his fon Zundlbolch king of Lorrain. But they would not gratify 
 him. " Wormatiam venit, Ibique placitum tenuit volens Zundibolch filium 
 •*' fuum regno Lotharii praeficere ; fed, minime optimates praedidi regni 
 " ea vice aifenfum praebuerunt §." But the next year he prevailed, fays the 
 fame author : " In conventu Wormatiae, omnibus afientientibus atque col- 
 *' laudantibus, Zundibolch filium regno Lotharii praeficit ^," 
 
 Hitherto thefe appear to be the fame Germans, " ubi rex vel princeps 
 *' audiuntur, authoritate fuadendi magis quam jubendi poteftate **." And 
 ■feeing that this of fucceffion is one of thofe points that are of greateft impor- 
 Jtance, it is flrange how the right of eleding the emperors came afterwards 
 4:0 be left in fo few hands, and to be fettled in the feven only, who, in 
 courfe of time got the name of princes ele<il:ors. Neither the occafion, nor 
 the time when this cuftom began, can be difcovered. Some would deduce 
 it from Charles the Great. Some from Otho the third, who reigned about 
 the year 990. Others from Otho the fourth, an. 1200. Others again 
 from Henry the fecond, who was emperor, an. looi. Fr6m which un- 
 certainty we may only gather, that the cuftom was very ancient : but it is 
 not to be unagincd that the other ftatcs by any public ad transferred the 
 right upon thole fevciu 
 
 Among 
 
 * Poetae Saxonici Aiinalcs, fubanjioSlJ 
 
 f E2inhardi Anniilcs, fub anno 814 
 
 X Ibkl. fub anno 817 U Chron. Reginonis, 1. 2. fub anno 9C0 
 
 5 Hid. 1. 2. Tub anno 894 ^I IbiJ. I. 2, fub anno 895 
 
 ** i'icitus lit iVloiib. (Jerni. § 11
 
 G O V E R N M E M T IN EUROPE nj 
 
 Among the fallacies and cheats of ftate, whereby the ricli men may 
 impolc upon the poorer fort, and worm them out of all their fliare in tlie , 
 government, Ariftotle reckons thefe : " That it be penal for the rich to be 
 " ablbnt from the common councils, to refufe being in rfhce, to want, or 
 " omit the exerciie of arms, not to ferve upon juries," etc. " But tlie 
 " poorer fort may ufe their dilcretion, it Ihall not be penal to them ; 
 *' they may choolc whether or no they will be prcfent in common council, 
 " bear office, be at the charge of arms and training, be empannelled upon 
 " juries," etc*. In thele cafes this fpecious liberty fools and bewitches them : 
 for, fo long as no reftraint is upon them, and they are not excluded or 
 flighted, or dilVefpcdted any way in the matter, they rather follow their pri- 
 vate occafions at home, and the bulinefs of their family. And thus by 
 degrees infeulibly is the commonwealth and government changed; and that 
 is effed:ed by art and trick, which openly aixd fairly, could never have been 
 brought to pafs. 
 
 We need not think that the Germans were over-reached by any the like 
 fophiftry and deceitful laws ; but it is likely, that to many it was fufficient 
 that it lay in their choice whether they would a£t or no ; and in that fe- 
 curity many fat down. Some could not conveniently fpare time froni. 
 their family ; fome were indifferent which way the world went ; foma 
 could not part from their dear delights, their pots and their hounds ; and 
 fome ftaid at home, becaufe they could not make that fhew, and appear 
 in a pomp and equipage like their neighbours. By reafon of thefe, and 
 many the like weighty confiderations, together with a general degenerate- 
 nefs, fupinenefs, and negle£t of the public, the affairs of ftate became 
 abandoned, and fhuffled into a very few hands ; infomuch that few 
 befides thofe few now called the feven electors, made any great figure, or 
 much laboured in that fphcre. But thofe feven were fuflcred from time 
 to time by a filent ufurpation to manage all, till infenfibly it grew into 
 a cuftom. So that (under Charles the fourth, when the privileges and'! 
 rights of every body came to be ftated, and reduced by general conlent 
 into a ftanding law) in the beginning of the Golden Bull, this minlftry of 
 the feven eleilors is faid to be " an ancient and laudable cuflom." 
 
 Some will have thefe eledors to be a committee of the whole empire, 
 and that (there being one king, one duke, one marquifs, one count, with 
 the churchmen) all the feveral orders in the empire are reprefented by 
 them ; and confequently that their adl is virtually the a£t of the empirei 
 But it feems more reafonable, that this fort of ariflocracy fprung'up to • 
 overtop the ancient more popular government, by the negligence or inad- 
 vertency of the other orders ; who were fatisfied in feeing the emperor 
 thereby cffedlually held within compafs, and had no eare or confidera- 
 tion farther. For all their fears and apprchenfions had rifen from tha 
 emperor, and provided they might be fecured againft his encroachments 
 and oppreflion, they were content to fet up thofe electors, to oppofe the 
 emperor, and ftand as a bulwark betwixt him and them. And therefore ■ 
 
 by 
 
 * TKula y.iv sv oAij'«pp(;i3<« (rcpt<ru«T« tji; ko^oOeot*:*;, Sec. Vide Arift. de Repub- 1. 4. c. 13 ;
 
 ^4 AGENERALVIEWOF 
 
 'by their free ad in the Golden Bull, they fettle and confirm to the eleftors 
 ■that prerogative, which no prefcription otherwife could have made juft 
 ^nd authentic. 
 
 Above an hundred years before, in the church had the government 
 .changed face ; an ariflocracy obtained, and the election of the pope 
 <:eafed to be any longer popular. About the fame time, in England alio, 
 the old laws and policy ran a dangerous rifk from an inundation of 
 -.arbitrary power, that threatened to break down all the ancient banks and 
 t)arriers. For the Normans, having come amongft us, partly by confent, 
 partly by force, puffed up and wanton with their new acquifitions and 
 fwing of fortune, they could not well be kept within bounds. Now and 
 then fpeeches of conqueft and holding by the fword, and the like bug- 
 titles, were bandied to and fro amongft the giddy courtiers, with now and 
 then a fally and inroad upon the people, trampling property under foot. 
 Thefe infolences and invafions kept the nation awake, and put them 
 iipon their guard, to wait an opportunity whereby their ancient rights 
 .and cuftoms might be reduced into form, and folemnly recognized by 
 fucceeding kings in the Great Charter. Thus was the cockatrice crufhed 
 in the egg ; and an early flop put to arbitrary fway in England ; and 
 the government returned to its old centre of parliaments again. 
 
 Germany, in this junfture, lay moft open and expofed : the emperor, 
 lord of the world, and head of the nations, fucceflbr to thofe Caefars that 
 liad broken down all forms and fences, fo that liberty and property lay 
 wafte every where before them. Thefe owed all their power to the fword. 
 The imperial crown, the kx regia, the whole bulk and body of the civil 
 law, were wholly and entirely their own proper creatures ; and what more 
 might be devifed to make a prince unlimited, uncontrolable, great and 
 barbarous, and render him a Cyclops or a Leviathan ? 
 
 But the refult was, the cuftoms and liberties of the Germans were 
 far more ancient and more facred to them, than any new fong that the 
 civilians could teach them. Therefore all this long rattle of imperial 
 prerogative only armed them, and made them provide the better for 
 their fecurity. And as their danger was the moft threatening, and armed 
 with ftronger titles and pretenfions than in other nations, fo have they 
 with more care fought their prefervation : and the golden bull with them 
 was framed, and had the fame eff"e£l as Magna Charta with us ; which 
 they ftrengthen and make fupplements to, by new capitulations upon 
 occafion, according as the emperors abufis their power, or tricks are de- 
 vifcJ, by colour of the letter, to elude the honeft intention of that fun- 
 damental law and couftitutlon. 
 
 Thus wc fee it true, in refpe£t of fovereigns, as well as of fubjc£ts, 
 that evil manners are the caufe of good and wholelomc laws.
 
 GOVERNMENT IN EUROPE i^ 
 
 SECTION IV 
 
 OF THE FRENCH COVilRNMENT AND PARLIAMENT 
 
 The French have no Golden BviU, nor Magna Gharta ; peradvcnturCv 
 bccaufe no king of theirs had thofc pretenfions of conqucft, as the Nor- 
 mans here ; nor had that imperial title of the fword, and the civil laws, 
 as the Caefars, to tranfport them beyond the bounds of moderation and 
 reafon ; which put them upon other mcafurcs, and gave them oppor- 
 tunity, flep by Hep, flily, infcniibly, and furcly, to effedl what more 
 openly could never have fuccecded. As in the fable, the ftorm and 
 violence of the wind could not force away the traveller's cloke from 
 him ; but the fun coming filcntly upon him, diflblvcs him prefently, 
 makes him unbutton, and ftrips him of all. Noife and bluller make 
 the people the more obftinate and tenacious. But things remote affe£l 
 them not. They never fee confequences, nor lay aught to heart that is 
 not immediately prefent before their eyes. If any thing, now and then, 
 in the courfe of their king's reign, happened that was fliocking, all 
 was looked upon as fome perfonal and accidental flip only, without foun- 
 dation for continuance, or without giving jealoufy of being repeated to 
 pofterity. 
 
 About a hundred years after Magna Gharta was eftabliflied, was that 
 project of the modern parliament in France fet on foot, to render un- 
 neceflary the ancient aflembly of the ftates, and confequently to alter 
 the government. But the Englifh arms gave a check to their wanton, 
 career, and for a long time diverted them from purfuing that defign, 
 or bringing it to any head. However, this new aflembly or vice-par- 
 liament was cultivated and improved daily. They aflumcd all the power, 
 they confulted and determined the weighty affairs : and, in cafe the king 
 offered any violence to the laws, they encountered and oppofed his ex- 
 orbitant courfes ; they laid before him his coronation-oath, and plied 
 him with remonftrance upon remonftrancc, till they brought him to 
 reafon. Neither wax nor alliance could be made, nor could his edid: 
 or command have effed:, till ratified and approved by them. So that to 
 the unwary multitude thefe ferved the turn as well; thefe were as effcdlual 
 and fufEcient, and more ready and expeditious than the great old par- 
 liament. 
 
 But afterwards came new-fafhioned kings to reign, who would not be 
 over-come by reafons or remonftrances. And yet then alfo, was a formal 
 compliance of this parliament thought neceffary ; and, as an expedient, 
 when not fatisfied in confcience that an edi(£l ought to be ratified, was in- 
 troduced that claufe, mandato regis ; which imported, that they did not 
 ratify fuch an edidl upon their own judgment, but that they were over- 
 ruled by the king's particular command. Afterwards again came the 
 'Sxpreffo mandato, and exprefliffimo mandato regis, according as they pafled 
 
 5F it
 
 i6 
 
 A GENERAL VIEW OF 
 
 it ■with a greater reludancy, and greater violence had been offered to their 
 judgment. 
 
 But Henry the fourth, who had fought through all oppofitlon into his 
 kingdom, and had fubdued to his will all that had faced him in the field, 
 grew impatient, after fo great contrafts, to find his refolutions eroded, and 
 contelled by tame gownfinen ; therefore, to rid himfelf at once of all 
 thofe verbal frays and formalities, made a law, that thereafter the king's 
 edidts ihould be ratified and emologated * upon fight, without more formal 
 trifling and difpute. Thus were thofe remains of fovereign power, that 
 had furvived in this diminutive parliament, baffled and extinguifhed, 
 without much labour : but as they never poffeffed the vigour and fpirit of 
 the ancient aflembly, the people were never fo ftupid to truft, or lay much 
 ilrefs on their valour and performance : and therefore did more early 
 fhow their refentment ; nor, without a general convulfion and civil war, 
 could bear the apprehenfion of a court-defign to lay afide the old par- 
 liament. 
 
 It was the boaft of Lewis the eleventh on this occafion, that he had 
 ^' mis la royaute hors de pagef". He had fo ordered matters, that the royal 
 ftate fhould be no more a pupil ; in him it came of age to difpofe things, 
 and adt of its own head, and fhould not need to be tutored, or be under 
 a guardian any longer. This was a prince of a particular humour, and of 
 fmgular endowments. It was no wonder if he did not like the check 
 of a parliament ; he had before attempted by two or three rebellions 
 to free himfelf from the authority of his king and father. The good 
 old king Charles the feventh, weathered the open violence, but fear of 
 poifon overcame him ; infomuch, that he durfi: neither eat nor drink any 
 thing, but after five days fafting died. And now Lewis being king, 
 his firfl: work was to clear the court from all who ferved his father, and 
 pack off all the princes of the blood, and ancient nobility, and to create 
 a new fet of nobles and courtiers for his purpofe. The people took the 
 alarm, and clamoured for a parliament to regulate difordcrs, and prevent 
 the evils that threatened and hung over them. A parliament ! a par- 
 liament ! was the cry and expedation throughout the kingdom. The 
 bifliop of Paris and clergy, the courts of juflice, and the city, the 
 three bodies of greateft confideration and gravity, prefented to him their 
 feveral remonftrances. He, diffembling being his talent, took all kindly; 
 and to break their difconients, or divert them, took fix perfons out of 
 each of their companies, to be of his ordinary council, in fhew only; for 
 in effc(5l he was ftill the fame. And amongfl: the profligate rabble about 
 the court, there wanted not in the mean time a fort of wretches who 
 made an hubbub, and, as formerly, declared their detcflation and ab- 
 horrence of their pradices who had importuned the king with the re- 
 monftrances, and called it an unparalleled violation of their duty. Nay, 
 Philip de Comines tells us, the courtiers went fo far, that they called it 
 rebellion to mention a parliament. Nor was it ftrange fuch cattle fliould 
 
 then 
 
 • Emologarc, i.e. confirmare. Vide Gloflarium a Du Frefne. 
 \ Mczeray, en la vie dc Louis xi %
 
 GOVERNMEMT IN EUROPE 
 
 then be flieltered about the court, when a mountebank was fct up for lord 
 chancellor, taylors and barbers, Jean Doyac, Olivier le Diable dit le Daim, 
 &c. the prime miniflcrs of ftate *. 
 
 This jarring and mifunderftanding was followed by a civil war, which 
 was called " the public good." This produced a parliament. And this 
 parliament would no longer trufl: Lewis, fingle with the adminiftration of 
 affairs ; but appointed him thirty fix commiffioners, curateurs, to be 
 his affiftantst. However, Lewis's excellency lay in playing an after- 
 game. In the war, he had fent to his ally Alexander Sforza J for aid ; 
 who returned him anfwer, that men he had none to fpare, but would 
 give advice which (hould be as effedual ; lb the Italian advifed him, 
 *' always to agree with his enemies upon any conditions, and then find 
 " the opportunity to cut their throats." According to this, Bodin fpeaks 
 of him, " pacem inire coadus efi:, fed eos omnes, paucis admodum exceptis, 
 " clam aut aperte necandos curavit ; fratrem quoque Carolum veneno "§. 
 
 This is the dexterity which Comines fo much labours to glofs over, 
 and fet a countenance upon ; thefe the belles adions, and the fineffe, 
 which the modern French fo much celebrate at this day ; all is copied 
 from this original. Perjuries and poifons were his ordinary arms, vet 
 none fo devout, none fo fuperftitious, none made the like largefTes to the 
 church. But his maffes and pilgrimages did always portend fome ftrange 
 horrid murder about to be executed. Thefe were but perfonal vices ; his 
 cajoling the citizens, and affeded gallantry to their wives, was politic 
 enough. But what proved moft effeftual to his defign of changing the 
 government, and excluding parliaments, was his laying afide the franc- 
 archers ; who hitherto had been the train-bands, and ordinary militia of 
 the country. 
 
 In the war, called " the public good," he found that thofe franc-archersj 
 being men of a fettled habitation and way of living, took part with 
 their landlords and neighbours againft him ; therefore from thence- 
 forward he flighted them, and by beat of drum from town to town, 
 gathered and lifted fuch as voluntarily offered themfelves to his fervicc. 
 I'hefe were then called adventurers, becaufe they fought their adven- 
 ture by the fortune of war ; as, afterward, when Charles the eighth 
 carried them over the Alps, they got the name of foldiers, from the 
 fold or pay they received upon that expedition. But as this Lewis 
 could not truft the militia, fo within a little time he began to think 
 himfelf not fafe amongft his adventurers. Thefe yet were not remote 
 enough from the interefl: of their country, and had fome fmall fenfe of 
 
 5F2 its' 
 
 * Olivier le Diable, barbier du roi Loiiis xi, avoit change fon furnom, fort convenable a 
 fes moeurs, en celui de Daim. Doyac etoit homme de meme treinpe, Mczera\ , en la \ie 
 de Charles viii 
 
 t Hotomanni Franco-Gallia, c. 18 
 
 t Francis, not Alexander, Sforza. — Phil, de Comines, de Serren, and other hiflorian';, 
 tell us, thu Sforza fent Lewis 350O men under the command of his fon, Comines, 1. i- 
 r, 8. De Seires en la vie de Loiiis xi 
 
 § Bodinus de Rep. 1. 5. p. 953. Edit. Urfel. 1601
 
 ,8 A GENERAL VIEW OF 
 
 ks oppreflion. Thereupon for the more immediate guard of his perfon, 
 he takes into penfion four thoufand Switzers ; and by that eftablifli- 
 ment, feems to have completed his defign, and altered the old parlia- 
 mentary into a military government. And now it was not fo hard a 
 matter to borrow money of the citizens, and olherwife make thofe levies 
 which no king before him ever attempted. Thus it was that he brought 
 the royalty " hors de page" ; or, rather (according to the paraphrafe of 
 Tueli- liillorian Mezeray) " hors du fens, & de la railbn *." 
 
 Though in Germany the condition of their parliaments is not alto- 
 ■Tcther fo deplorable and defperate ; yet of later times there have not 
 Vv-anted lufty endeavours by force and by artifice to deftroy them. Right 
 and wrong are ever the fame, but times and manners' vary faces very 
 much. One while, inftead of all other penalty for a crime, it was fuf- 
 ilcient that the law cenfured it with an improbe fadum. To fay, he 
 tliat does fo, or fo, is to blame, was more effedual and coercive in thofe 
 faturnian days, than are racks and gibbets with us. 
 
 *' Radamanthus's way of adminiftring juftice in all caufes between party 
 **^ and party was by putting them both to their oaths, and determming 
 ** their right accordingly. This, fays Plato, was a proper and ready way in 
 *' that age, when every body was poffeffed with the fear of God. But, 
 *' fays he, this would not do now in our times, when fome make it a 
 *' cueftion, whether there be a God or no ; others make a doubt whether 
 " God regards what we do on earth ; mofl: and the worfl: of men have a 
 ** conceit, that though there be a God, yet they can pacify him with 
 " their vile adulations, their mummeries and their mafles ; fo that they 
 *' may ftill be as wicked as they pleafe. Therefore, fays he, when men's 
 " opinions are changed, the laws alfo muft be changed ; for, otherwife, if 
 " our judges now were to make Radamanthus their prefident, we fhould 
 '•' all be over head and ears in perjuries f." 
 
 The like may be obferved in relation to fovereigns. In old times, at 
 iirlt there was only a fimple confidence between them and their people ; 
 and never were kings fo referved, as then when they had no boimds. 
 Afterwards, the mifbehaviour of fome princes introduced that check of a 
 coronation-oath. And where that is the only check, it is an argument 
 they had never yet been there tainted with the atheifm and infidelity 
 which Plato mentions; but had continually lived and ruled with that 
 fmipllcity and religious fear, fo memorable in thofe days, when Minos 
 and Radamanthus were king and chief juftice of Crete. Claude de Seiflel 
 reckons feveral refreins, bridles, that curb the French kings ; but now_ 
 when the old parliament is obfolete, this would be remarked upon, as a 
 gracelefs, unmannerly metaphor in their refmed language %. 
 
 * Mcvxray, en la vie dc Loiiis xi 
 
 + Plato de Lt gibus, 1. 12. p- 987. Edit. Ficini, l6o2 
 
 j La Graudi; Monarchic de France, par M. Claude de ScilRl, 
 
 3
 
 GCVEIINMENT IN EUROPE 
 
 SECTION V 
 
 A' TRANSITION TO THE REPUBLIC OK VEKICE; OF THE STATES 
 
 <yy 'nut k.mpike, their power and PRn-iLEGEs, and ok the 
 
 IMPERIAL PREROGATIVE 
 
 In the ftate of Venice, at firfl: their prince was as abfolute as any bar- 
 barian ; till leaving llrayed, and given feme inftanccs of human frailty, 
 new curbs and new ties were dcvifed for him ; but the Italian proved 
 (till too witty to be held by any. The Venetians, however, would not 
 be dallied withal ; they would not fufFer the tranfgreffor to rejoice long, 
 in his extravagance, but purfucd him with exemplary punifhment. 
 Sabellicus reckons to the number of twelve that loft their heads for Hipping 
 their bridles. At length, when the Venetians found that neither the 
 fimple truft was facred, nor the coronation-oath inviolable, nor the 
 exemplary puniflim.ent effedlual, to reftrain their prince v«^ithin the bounds 
 that were confiftent with a free people, they concluded, that the public 
 fafety could not be fufficiently provided for, and fecured againft their 
 prince, till they ftript him of all the reality and fubftance ; leaving him 
 barely the formalities and trappings, and empty fhadow of fovercignty. 
 
 Now to come back to the Germans, Whatever fhifts other people 
 have been put to, to maintain their liberty, they, it fhould feem, never 
 trufted the fovereignty out of their own hands ; fo that, whether it be a . 
 mixed, or what other fort of government you call it, the great aflairs 
 were always referved to be determined in parliament; there was the 
 fupreme power, there was the majefty. , Yet no people have been for- 
 warder in adorning their prince with all the titles and expreffions of 
 greatnefs, and an arbitrary, uncontrolable power than they. All the aCts 
 and laws run in his name, and are called Caefar's laws, and Caefar's 
 conftitutions. Where the emperor and the empire are named, he con- 
 ftantly has the precedence. In the public ordinances and_ recedes, every 
 thing from him are ftiled precepts and commands ; from the ftates merely 
 obedience and prayers, though he cannot wag a finger without their 
 confent. They every where fpeak of, and own in him a fulnefs of power 
 " vollkommenheit ;" and this they give alio to the king of the Romans at 
 the fame time, to Ihew the emptincfs and vanity of it : as both are called 
 heads of the empire, though the latter has no power at all, during the 
 emperor's life. They and all the world falute him by the title of imperial 
 majefty. And the German ftyle will not allow majefty to any other kings ; 
 " diekonigliche wlirde," not " die koniglichemacht," the king's worlhip, 
 not majefty. Yet after all, TEneas Sylvius fays, " Qiiamvis imperatorem, . 
 " et regem, ctdominum veftrum efie fatemini, precario tamcn ille imperare 
 " videtur, nulla ejus poteftentia eft*." The fliadow and flourifti only were 
 
 io. - 
 
 *"iEn£ae Sylvil Germania, c. 43 
 
 '9
 
 20 ^ AGENERALVIEWOF 
 
 i.i the emperor; but the jura majeftatis, the vis Imperii, the eflent'als of 
 majefty were always ref'^rved and exerciCed by the common afl'embly, as 
 by the particulars more plainly appear. 
 
 1. One of the rights of fovereignty is to be above the law, and to give laws 
 to the people. Neither of thefe royalties belong to the emperor ; he may 
 he called to account for violating the laws. In the Golden Bull, the 
 forms and proceedings againft him are ftated. It is there faid to be the 
 cuftom, and accordingly fettled and agreed for law, that the electors 
 may impeach the emperor, in the aifembly of the ftates ; and the count 
 Palatine of the Rhine, as chief eledlor, is to be the prefident or judge. 
 For the legiflation, or making laws, the emperor propofes, the ftates are 
 free which propofitions they will proceed upon. When an aO. is to be 
 pafled, the electors have fix votes, the princes fix, the cities two, the 
 emperor has but one, the laft vote. Without a majority he can do 
 nothing. They can decree without him if he is abfent. The ordinances 
 are to be confirmed by his feal and fubfcription ; but if the ftates perfift, 
 he muft of neceflity comply. Even Charles the fifth in vain contefted 
 that point, as may be feen in Sleidan *. Thefe fandlions are regularly 
 fubfcribed by Gaefar, and by fome of the ftates for the empire ; and are 
 enrolled at Mentz, in the chancery of the empire. The feveral members 
 of the ftates are fworn to be true to the emperor and to the empire; and 
 are faid to be fubjedls of the emperor, and of the facred empire. 
 
 2. In matters of religion, in all times, the head of the ftate had the 
 fupreme diredlion, as it was faid of Tiberius, " Deum munere, fummum 
 " pontificum, fummum hominum elTe f." And the firft chriftian princes, 
 before the papal tyranny ufurpt upon them, were always the chief pontifs, 
 and received the pontifical habit from that college. But upon the reforma- 
 tion in Germany, Anno 1555, both the emperor and Pope were excluded, 
 and their pontifical fupremacy abrogated. In the point of religion, the 
 emperor was not confidered as the chief and head of the empire, but as 
 a party : for by joining himfelf to the Roman-catholics, he made their 
 caufe and concern his own. It was therefore agreed and concluded, that 
 the ftates only 'ftiould determine in matters of religion ; and that with a 
 tender hand. In an amicable way only. 
 
 3. War and peace are tranfiited in the name of the emperor ; but in 
 cffeft, all Is referved to the ftates. He muft at the leaft have the confent 
 of the cledlors. Yet any prince of the empire may levy foldiers, may 
 make leagues and aflbclations without any body's leave. 
 
 4. For jurifdiilion and the laft appeal, the civilians fay the emperor is 
 *' fons omnis jurifdidinnis ; " but here it is far otherwifc. The princes, in 
 caufes touching their life, their honour, or their fee, always claimed their 
 privilege " das fiirften-recht" they call it, to be tried by their peers the 
 princes of the empire. The common pleas were tried by the emperor, 
 and attended his motion, till by the increafe of fuits, that judicature 
 
 was 
 
 * Comment, dc Siatu R<lip:. ct Rcip. C.rolo V. Caefare, 1. 4 
 t Tacit. Aniial. 1. 3. § 58
 
 GOVERNMENT IN EUROPE 
 
 •was no longer fi:fficicnt, the judges grew corrupt, and many other in- 
 conveniences appearing, the ftates in their anbmbly at Franckfort, Anno 
 1489, ordered a place certain for the decifion of thofe ordinary caufes ; 
 whereupon the imperial chamber at Spires was crcded. All the procefs 
 and decrees of the court ran in the emperor's name, and are under his. 
 feal ; and it is called Caefar's court : but it is alfo called the court of the 
 empire. The emperor only named the prefident ; by the ftates were the 
 reft of the judges appointed ; and the other officers of the court by the 
 ele£tor of Mentz, arth-chanccllor of the emj)irc. The ftates likewife 
 execute the fentence. They vifit and reform the court by their commif- 
 fioners ; and to thefe vifitors are the appeals, not to the emperor. Yet 
 fome voluntary references that were made to the emperor and his privy- 
 council, and to their arbitration, gave them opportunity _of late to ufurp 
 a jurifdidtion. 
 
 5. Taxes are all levied in the emperor's name; but in truth, nothing 
 of that nature can be done without the aflcmbly of the ffatcs. Nor is the 
 emperor trufted with the money in his exchequer ; the ftates keep it till 
 it be employed ; they have their feveral treaftiries. Sometimes the feveral 
 circles keep their refpedive money ; f)metimes a public treafury is agreed 
 upon, and one or more " pfenningmeifters," penny-mafters appointed. 
 Anno 1495, they ordered feven treafurers, one to be named by the 
 emperor, and fix by the ftates. Thefe fwear to the ftates. And if any 
 be, by fpecial oath or obligation, bound to the emperor or other particular 
 ftate, he is incapable of that truft. Thefe are accountable to the ftates 
 only. If the occafion for which the tax was raifed be taken awav, 
 the money cannot be diverted to other ufes, but by the confent of the 
 ftates. 
 
 6. The chief magiftrates are, none of them, made by the emperor. 
 The count eledor Palatine is vicar or protedlor of the empire, and has 
 the charge of it in the emperor's abfencc. The three ecclefiaftical 
 eledlors, who are chofen by their chapters, are of courfe the arch-chan- 
 cellors of the empire. The ftates appoint the " relchs-fchatzmeifter, or 
 *' reichs-pfenningmcifter," the treafurer of the empire. Sometimes they 
 leave the general to be named by the emperor, and the ten circles appoint 
 their feveral directors or council for him. For the other particulars, as 
 the infpedion and care of coining money, the hearing and fending am- 
 bafladors, etc. the emperor has no great matter of advantage above the 
 other ftates. On a common account, where the concern is general, the 
 ftates muft be confulted ; and nothing can be done v»'ithout their confent 
 and approbation. The cIed;ors are in poffeffion, and exercife a particular 
 fovereignty in fome points of greateft moment. They are the truftees 
 and reprefentatives of the whole empire, in their eledlion of the emperor. 
 And hereupon they undertake likewife to loofen his power, or tie it up 
 fliort, and make what capitulations they pleafe with him : and thereby 
 would afflime to themfelves more than the other ftates will ever be content 
 to allow them. But the emperor fingly, befides the name, and pomps,. 
 
 and; 
 
 21
 
 22 A GENERAL VIEW OF 
 
 and empty tides, has very little of the fubftantlal fovereignty entrufted 
 with him. The invefllture of the great fiefs belongs to him. This is a 
 prerogative, goodly in fhew, and were of moment, could he lay any 
 conditions or charge on the perfon invefted ; but nothing is left to his 
 will ; he cannot deny, nor delay the lawful heir. Nor does the fee for 
 want of heirs efcheat to the emperor, but to the public patrimony. He 
 grants privileges, where a third perfon or the public is not injured. He 
 founds unlverlities, grants fairs, makes denizens, etc. He creates kings, 
 princes, dukes, marquifl'es, counts, poet-laureats, dodlors, etc. He gives 
 only the bare, titulary honour of prince, but not the qualifications ;- he 
 cannot make him capable to fit and vote amongft the other princes of the 
 empire. So that here the ftates are not fubjed: to that Impofition which 
 the Roman fenate once fuffered under Tarquinius Prifcus, who created an 
 hundred new fenators, to the end he might be fure of a court-party, by his 
 creatures, and have a majority of votes in the houfe. In fhort, the 
 Germans feem to have obferved the rule in politics, that he who is the 
 moil: high in name and dignity, fliould in real power be the leaf! con- 
 fiderable. Yet in the laft age, the ftates gave way to feveral innovations, 
 which proved of mifchievous confequence afterwards. 
 
 SECTION VI 
 
 •OF THE REGIMENT OR DIET OF THE EMPIRE, WITH A SHORT 
 RETROSPECT TO THE PARLIAMENT OF FRANCE, AND PANE- 
 GYRIC UPON THAT OF ENGLAND 
 
 It had antlently been the cuftom for the aflcmbly of the ftates, to fend 
 for the emperor to come to them upon occafion ; fo Hlncmar tells us of 
 Charles the Great, " Rogatu ipforum in concilium venlebat, quotiefcunque 
 *' voluntas eikt ut ad eos veniret; fimllltcr quoque quanto fpatio voluiftent, 
 " cum lis confifteret, etc."* "Upon their mefl'age to him, he cam'e to 
 " the affembly, as often as they had a mind he fliould come to them ; and 
 ■*' in like manner he ftayed fo long with them as they defired :" and 
 this cuftom continued, as may be fccn in Lehmannus, 1. y. c. 80. and 
 c. 115. till utider Maximilian, and then the ftates began to go to the em- 
 peror. 
 
 This Maximilian likcwlfe, upon pretence of fuddcn occafions that ad- 
 mitted not delays, would, now and then, be ailing fingly, and ufurping 
 in. feveral particulars the power that of right could only be exercifed by 
 the ftates. Therefore the ftates, an. 1500, to take off^ thefe pretences, 
 and prevent all attempts of this kind, and partly, pcradventure, for their 
 qwn cafe, fubftituted In their abfence a committee, which tliey called the 
 regiment, and the members regents. This regiment was an epitome of 
 :the whole empire, and was endued with all the powers and fovereignty 
 
 accordingly. 
 * :Hiacmarus aJ Proccrcs Rcgni, § 35
 
 GOVERNMENTIN EUROPE 23 
 
 accordingly. It confifted of twenty pcrfons, who were chofcn out of the 
 feveral orders of the ftates, and took an oath " to be true to the emperor, 
 " and to the facred empire." The emperor, or liis proxy, was their prefident; 
 but, left this might give too great advantage to the emperor^ an eledlor 
 was added, as a joiiit-prefident with the emperor, or his proxy. No pcr- 
 fon of dependance on, or particuhir obhgation to the emperor, was capa- 
 ble of being a member. The emperor had no more vote than any one 
 of the twenty regents ; nor could determine aught, unlcfs the majority 
 were for him. Thefe were not fimply to confult, but had the execution 
 alfo. 
 
 This conftitution held for fome years ; and then the annual affembly 
 returned, and refumed their power, and aded again ; but in cafe of fud- 
 den necelFity, left another expedient for the emperor. They conftituted 
 for him a counfel confifling of eight pcrfons, four chofen by the eledlors, 
 and four by. the other ftates. Thefe were fworn to be true to the emperor 
 and to the empire, " fchweren der keyferlichen majeflat und dem heiligea 
 " reich getreu, &c." But Charles the fifth coming to reign, he went upon 
 the new model immediately ; he reftored the regiment, but made the con- 
 ditions altogether different. Now it confiftcd not of twenty, but twenty 
 two perfons. He as emperor would have two votes added, thereby in 
 efFeft to be mailer of five votes ; two as emperor, one as prefident ; one 
 for Auftria, and one for Burgundy. The former regiment might, ac-^ 
 cording to the old cuftom, fend for the emperor to come to them. Now 
 it was ordered that Caefar might call them to what place he had a mind. 
 Formerly, if the emperor came not, they might proceed without him ; 
 now, Charles the fifth forbad them to make leagues and alliances, or do 
 aught in his abfence. The oath was altered, and the members were only 
 fworn to the emperor, and faid to be the counfel of the emperor ; whereas 
 the former was called the counfel of the empire. In the former conftitu- 
 tion, the eledor in the name of the empire fubfcribed their ordinances • 
 here, with the eledor's fubfcription, is joined that of the prefident, in the 
 name of the emperor. In fhort, the former was conftituted by the ftates, 
 and entrurted with their power, to be a check upon the emperor ; this 
 was formed by Caefiir, to quiet the people, and entertain them with a 
 Ihew ; whilft he the more infcnfibly made his advances to invade their 
 ancient rights, and ufurp all the power into his own hands. 
 
 The next projed, in cafe of emergencies, was the alfenibly of tliC 
 deputies. This confifted of the fix eledors, fix other princes, and two 
 cities ; to which were afterwards added four princes more. This continued 
 till the year 1606, with fome efi^ed:. Afterwards it proved of little confe- 
 quence, court-artifice prevailing; and the Ferdinands found a way to 
 manage the deputies, and render them as unprofitable to the public, as 
 Charles the fifth had made the regiment. The fccond Ferdinand called 
 what deputies he knew would vote for him ; the reft he excluded, and 
 iupplied their place with others, who he underftood were entirely at his 
 
 5 G devotion,
 
 24 
 
 A GENERAL VIEW OF 
 
 devotion, as he told my lord Digby, ambaflador with him, an. 1621*. 
 Amongft thefe projedts, may be mentioned the counfel of the emperor's 
 court, and the privy council. Thefe alfo, that they might fhew as if the 
 empire had their intereft in them, were at the firft fworn to the eledtor of 
 Mentz, as arch-chancellor of the empire : which oath came, after fome 
 time, to be omitted. 
 
 Thus we have feen that the cuftom of the empire was to have a yearly 
 aflembly ; thefe, at the end of their feffion, ahvays appointed the time 
 and place for their next meeting. If there was neceifity for them fooner, 
 then was the emperor to call an aflembly extraordinary ; which happen- 
 ing frequently, the ftates for their eafe appointed the regiment, and 
 other expedients. This gave a precedent for the emperors to devife 
 fomething of the like nature, which they might more eafily pervert to 
 their own arbitrary intereft and advantage. If it have but the name or 
 refemblance, the people look no farther ; they fee not into the trick and 
 fecrets of it ; they are led by the appearance fo long, till they are part 
 recovery, and no way is left them for a retreat. And indeed the emperors 
 of the laft age ceafed to deal bona fide ; the old German honefty wore out 
 of fafhion ; and they no longer treated on the fquare with their people. 
 Artifice and juggle came in place ; and in the days of Charles the fifth, 
 began to get a fpecious appellation, and be named, forfooth, " reafon of 
 *' ftate." But more efpecially, fince the Jefuits there, have refined upon 
 the court-fophiftry, and minced away all the old remains of morality and 
 conference ; for the Jefuits could the worft of all others endure thefe fame 
 mixed governments. They would have the pyramid inverted, and the 
 whole ftrefs of things reft upon one fingle leg, that their art might play 
 the more freely, and they the more cleverly trip tt down. This broad- 
 bottomed monarchy and government, founded on the people, puts them 
 to other meafures. A dofe of poifon, or confecrated dagger, will not do 
 the work: they muft here go about and about, make flow approaches, 
 ripen a plot of many years, and draw a long concatenation of intrigue, 
 ere they can think to compafs their defign. When the commonwealth 
 has but one neck, the Jefuit will have it under his girdle ; if not, one 
 blov/ does the feat, and his dexterity is admirable. Therefore in Germany 
 the Jefuits have left no ftone unturned, for their part, to bring all the 
 fovereign power from the ftates to the emperor. And to that end, of late 
 times, the emperor (whether by their influence upon his councils or no, 
 is not our enquiry) has employed all the undue pradlices, and fet all 
 engines at vv^ork, to render the public aflembly ufclcfs, burthenfomc, and 
 odious to the people. On this foot, care has been taken, that fome vex- 
 atious tax fhould be the only refult and conclufion of every feffion. " Aid 
 " againft the Turk " was a conftant, perpetual pretence ; money the head 
 of all his propofals ; money the efFe<ft and fubftance of all his fpecches. 
 This affair once adjuftcd, other debates were out of doors ; grievances not 
 then longer to be touched upon, but all adjourned to another feffion ;. 
 
 bcfides 
 
 * Lundorp. Tern. ?.. an. 1621
 
 GOVERNMENT IN EUROPE 
 
 b'efides the mlfchievous devices to embroil the ftates amongft themfelves, 
 and turn all their heat upon fruitlefs difputes and altercations. 
 
 In the fecond place, the electoral college have not been too fair in their 
 refpedts to the diet. Thefe could be content, that betwixt Cacfar and 
 themfelves, all the matters of ftate be tranfaded ; and have fomctimes, 
 accordingly, ftretched a text of the Golden Bull to ferve a turn, and 
 collogued w^ith him, that he again might be complacent to them ; till, 
 amongft them, the public patrimony and common right and prerogatives 
 of the empire became engroffed in a few hands, and made a fpoil to 
 their unreafonable ambition. Thefe electors muft, every one, under his 
 hand and feal, fignify their confcnt to the emperor, before he can fum- 
 mon an aflembly of the ftates. They got to themfelves the making of 
 the emperor ; and now, in effedl, the ftates cannot meet without their 
 order. They were wont to be reckoned fix eledtors ; to fome purpofes 
 feven ; now they make eight; but before they fill up the number of 
 the Roman Decemviri, they will do well to remember their fate* Thefe 
 ten, as Livy tells us, having got all the fupreme authority, for a time, 
 into their hands, that they might reign abfolute, " took an oath toge* 
 *' ther never to call the common council" * ; yet their tyranny held not 
 long; -this cheat would not down with the old Romans; but with a 
 general indignation they broke over the forms and captivity of the letter. 
 For, according to that old law in Homer, 
 
 to free their country from flavery, they executed an unwarranted piece 
 of juftice upon thefe ten ufurpers, or ten Tarquins, as fomebody then 
 called them. 
 
 Laftly, the ftates have not a little been wanting to themfelves, in the 
 affair of this their fo ancient and fundamental prerogative : one princi- 
 pal caufe of which, amongft many others, has been their difterences 
 about religion. For the proteftants being fure to be outvoted in the 
 diet, think they can barter with Caefar for better conditions, and are 
 therefore well enough content that the yearly aflembly be neglefted. 
 In a word, the German diet is ftill oil foot, rather encumbered, and 
 clogged, and puzzled, than deftroyed* 
 
 The parliament of France feems quite antiquated and fubdued ; the 
 ghoft and ftiadow of the defundl has appeared three or four times fince 
 Lewis Xl ; but to revive that aflembly in its full and perfed; vigour, 
 requires a miracle like the refurredion. So that in eff"ed:, we may date the 
 demife of the parliamentary fovereignty in France, from Lewis XI ; and 
 the decay of that in Germany from Charles V. 
 
 It is in England only, that the ancient, generous, manly government 
 of Europe furvives, and continues in its original luftre and perfedion. 
 Were there not fomething in that faying of the emperor Maximilian, 
 
 " that 
 
 * Opinio fine aucftore exierat, rion iii praefentis modo temporis eos injuriam confpirafle^ 
 fed foedus clandeftinum inter ipfos jurejuiando idtu'm, ne comitia haberent, Sec. Liv. 1. 3. § 36 
 f Unum augurium eft praeftantiflimum, pugnare pro patrid. 11. 12. v. 24.3 
 
 5G 2
 
 a6 AGENERALVIEWOF 
 
 " that the French king is a king of afles ;" yet, however, that fame le- 
 gerete, on which the French (o value themfelves, is but, in plain Englifh, 
 a lightnefs of humour, by which they are eafily piped into a new 
 mode of government. But our Englifh anceflors have always been of 
 a more fteady principle, more wife, and more weighed, than to dance 
 after their politics. The reformation of religion leaves no room at our 
 court for jefuitical infedlion, fo fatal to the Germans. Nor, on the other 
 hand, have we yet had any Swifs guards, or Lewifes for our kings. 
 Ours have ftill been true Englifh originals, no copies of the French. 
 Magna Charta, inftead of being fuperannuated, renews and recovers its 
 prilline ftrength, and athletic vigour, by the Petition of Right, with our 
 many other explanatory or declaratory llatutes. And the annual parlia- 
 ment is as well known to our laws, as ever it had been famous amongll 
 the cuftoms of France and Germany. 
 
 I have not formally anfvvered many objections that might be ftarted ; 
 nor much regarded the fingle inftances of fome hiftorians, and perhaps 
 may be judged lame in feveral particulars that I have flighted. Take all 
 together, you may as eafily hnd an anfwer, as raife a fcruple. But the 
 fliort of what I would have faid, is, you are not to expedl truth from an 
 hiftoriographer royal ; it may drop from their pen by chance ; but the 
 general herd underftand not their bufinefs ; they fill us with ftory, acci- 
 dental, incoherent, without end or fide, and never know the government 
 or policy where they write. Even the records themfelves are not always 
 accurately worded. The ftile of the court, and a form of words, impofes 
 upon many. Names are taken for things, ceremonies for effentials. 
 The civilians are vafllils to a foreign jurifdidion ; Caefar, the fword, tha 
 military, imperial (or rather imperatorial) difcipline, is to them for fceptre 
 and civil policy: the Germans, anno 1441, were for excluding them 
 from all offices, and places of trufl:*. Our common lawyers are for 
 comparing and meafuring by their rule, what is antecedent and above 
 their rules and comparifons. Chrifl's kingdom is not of this world ; nor, 
 ought the divines ■ay^xyyMTVj^iv^ to meddle in this political province. 
 
 SECTION VII 
 
 OF THE NECESSITY OF PARLIAMENTS; WITH A TRANSITION 
 TO THE CONSTITUTION OF ENGLAND. 
 
 In the general notion, monarchy or kingly government is the moft eafy,, 
 and molt excellent ; but corruption coming into the world, neither the 
 fons of Jupiter, nor the fons of Hercules, found perfedlion entailed upon 
 them ; nor were exempt from their fliare of human frailty. *' Many, 
 " fays TalTo, are fervants by fortune, who are naturally princes ; fome 
 *' again, though defcended from an hundred kings, are yet born to be 
 
 " ilavesj 
 * Limnaei Jus publicum Imp. Romano-Grrmamci, l.u
 
 iC 
 
 GOVERN IMENT IN EUROPE 
 
 *' flavcs ; and (maugre all their high race of royal progenitors) wilf her 
 " commanded, and governed, and managed hy a minion, or a miftrclk. 
 " Theie are, really and indeed flaves ; hut are not judged Inch, hecaufc 
 " the people, who only look on the outhdc, judge of men's conditic^ns, 
 " as in plays, where he is called a king, who, clad in purple, and 
 
 gliifering with gold and gems, does perfonate Agamemnon : if he 
 " does not reprefent him well, he has the name of king nevcrthclcfs ; 
 " only it is laid, the king was out in his part, or the king aded his 
 " part fcurvily *." And Fhivius Vopifcus tells im, " Aurclius Cael'ar 
 " dicehat, Coliigunt fe quatuor vel quinque, atqiie unum concilium ad 
 *' decipiendum imperatorem capiunt : dicunt quid prohandum fit. Im- 
 " perator, qui domi claullis elt, vera non novit ; cogitur hoc tantuni 
 " fcire, quod llli loquuntur; facitjudices quos fieri non oportct ; amovet 
 " a repuhlica, quos dehebat obtinerc. Quid multa ? iit Diocletianua 
 *•' ipic dicehat, bonus, cautus, optimus venditur imperator t." " Aurelius 
 " C'aelar was wont to lay, four or live get together about the emperor, 
 " all their confult is, how to cheat him ; what they fay is to be law ; the 
 " emperor, who is fhut up from other counfcl, never knows the true 
 " ftate of things, but is forced to underftand juft fo much only as they 
 •' tell him; he makes judges, who the leaft of all fhould be; turns out 
 " of commiffion thofe who ought to be the Quorum ; in a word, accord- 
 " ing to Dioclefian's faying, the emperor, fo good, {o v/ary, and fo too 
 " good, is bought and fold before his face." 
 
 If then It be true, that he who Is of royal extrafti'on, clad in purpFc, 
 and called a king, is not always naturally fuch ; it was wifdom, certainly 
 moft feafonable, to find the means that might corred, and, as it were, 
 enfure nature againft the impotence and tyranny of the minion or midrefs 
 which Taflb mentions. And if the obicrvation of Aurelius Caefar be 
 juft, that cabals, are fo pernicious ; and that four or five perfons, who get 
 the prince into their hands and poffelfion, fhall abufe, and cheat, and 
 betray him to his face. In fpite of all his goodnefs, his caution, and 
 royal virtues ; if, I fay, thefe things be true, the neceffity of parliaments 
 cannot be difputed. Homer, as before obferved, reckoned it barbarity in 
 the degree remoteft from all things of God and goodnefs, and a C^'clopeaa 
 prefumption, to rule without parliaments.. 
 
 Old 
 
 * Quefta differenza <li fervo e dl fignore e fondata fuvra la natura : perciocche alcuni ci 
 iiafcono natuialmente a comandare, altri ad ubbidire ; e colui, che per ubbidire e nato, 
 iebben fofle di fchiattadi re, veramente e fervo, nondimeno tale non e giudicato, perciocche 
 il popolo, che guarda folamente alle cofe efteriori, giudica delle condizioni degli uomini, 
 non aUramente che cgli faccia nelle tragedie, nelle quali re e chiamato, chi e vcftito di. 
 porpora, e refplendente di oro, e di gemme, foftiene la perfona di Agamennone, o di Atreo, 
 o di Eteocle : e fe avviene, cheegli ben non rapprefenti la perfona, della quale fi e veftito; 
 non percio altro che re e chiamato, ma fi dira, che il re non ha fatto la parte fua, fimil- 
 mente chi non ben foftiene la perfona di principe, o di gentiluomo, etc. . II Padre di famigli;!,. 
 Dialogo. Opere di Taffo, Tom. iii. p. 194 
 
 f. " Aurelius Caefar dicebat" is a miftake. " Coliigunt fe, etc." are the words ofi 
 Yogifcus. Vide Flav. Vopifcum in vita Divi Aareliani, § 43 
 
 = 7
 
 Z^ AGENERALVIEWOF 
 
 Old Hefiod, in his homely way, gives an enigmatical reproof to theft 
 kings that would be grafping all, and be fo abfolute, 
 
 Olio oTov ev fzoiXoc^Yi ts koci ucr/pooiXu (/.By ovBixp*. 
 as if he had faid, " Thefe fools know not, how much more the half is 
 *' than the whole ; and that a fhoulder of mutton, w^ith the love of the 
 " people, is more worth than the ragouts, and the hautgouts, and all 
 *' the French kickfhaws whatfoever." Plato tells us, that even in Afia, 
 they who performed any great atchievements, or enlarged the empire, 
 were thofe (as the grand Cyrus for example) who flackened the prero- 
 gative, and admitted the people to a fhare in the government. But fuch 
 as Cambyfes, who, againft all fenfe and reafon, ftretched and ftrutted 
 upon the to Se<nror;iiovy the lordly domination, brought all again into 
 confufion and ruin f . 
 
 Amongft the Latins, even the founder of the Roman name, Romulus, 
 becaufe he took upon himfelf an arbitrary power, to rule without the 
 fenate, they (it is thought) tore him to pieces ; infomuch, that they left 
 nothing of his body for a fped:acle to the rabble ; as afterwards their 
 fucceflbrs unluckily did, who killed Caefar. The imperial power that 
 began with the Caefars, was only " magnum latrocinium," one huge, 
 horrid oppreffion. Military government, martial law, barbarous nations, 
 Goths and Vandals, overran, and made havock of the old civil Roman 
 empire. 
 
 In Britain, Gaul, and Germany, all this while, liberty, and a partici- 
 pation in the government, was the common right and inheritance un- 
 alienable ; the common-council was the bafis and hinge, however the 
 adminiftration roiled. Afterwards, when Germany gave us people, it 
 gave us a German and a free people. 
 
 About anno dom. 800, Charlemagne, or Charles the Great, united 
 France and Germany under one head, and one empire. All hiftories are 
 full of his reign and aftions : he ruled " more folenni, fecundum morem," 
 in the old cuftomary, parliamentary way, every where. The nations 
 round about fubmitted and took laws from him ; and he fubmitted all 
 again to the *' ordinatum," the ordinance of parliament. An annual 
 parliament was then reckoned the cuftom, and inviolable right of the 
 people. And thus the affairs of ftate proceeded ; and this fcheme of 
 government continued in Germany, till the late unhappy diviilons about 
 religion, weakning and embroiling the dates, gave way to the Auflrian 
 ambition, new proje<its, and jcfuitical artifice ; fo that the aflembly of the 
 ftates at this day keeps on foot indeed, but Tick, heavy, and unwieldy. 
 
 The French court had nu.rh fooncr learned the terms " de proprio 
 ** motu, et poteftatc abfoluta," by their neighbourhood and correfpon- 
 
 dence 
 * Stulti, ncque fciunt quanto plus dlmidiiim fit tolo, 
 Neqiie quam magiuim in malva et afphodclo bonum. 
 
 Hef. Epy. XXI 'H//t£p. I. i. v. 4O 
 t Plato de Legibus, I, 3, p. 815. Edit. Ficini, 160*
 
 GOVERNMENT IN EUROPE 29 
 
 dence with the pope at Avignon. But fo long as the Englifli arms kept 
 them in mind of their mortality, it was no time for them to think, of 
 ruling without a parliament. But when Charles the feventh had fent 
 home the Englilh, Lewis the eleventh, with Olivier le diahlc, his 
 barbers, and his cut-throat devils, thought no attempt too wicked for 
 them. He, forfooth, was hors de page ; he wanted not to be led, he 
 was paft an infant ; and a loud outcry he made againft the unmannerly, 
 clump-fifted, bumpkin parliament. But when the " bien public," or war 
 for the public good, hindred him from bringing about his dcfign openly 
 and directly, he compaffed it, in effed, by flighting the militia, and 
 laying his project of a (landing army. 
 
 In England we have alio heard of minions, and miftrefles, and cabals ;. 
 and have had unhappy princes. But the laws and old cufl:oms of the 
 land, the generofity of the people, and the genius of the nation, have 
 ftill prevailed, and been too Ihong fc^r all their pradices and machinations. 
 
 When the Normans came to the crown, after fome years of eafc 
 and profperity, they began ^o forget on what conditions they had entered. 
 Conqueft was a fliort, a compendious title, and without intricacy. And 
 nowxlikewife the church-men were every where agog for changing the 
 government both of church and flate, into abfolute monarchy. But the 
 beft of it was, the pretences were vifible and notorious. Befides that 
 the temporal and fpiritual, the prince and the prelatical lord could not 
 agree who fliould be fupreme. Which differences gave breath to the 
 people, and put into their hands an opportunity to affert their antient, 
 juft rights, and bottom all upon the parliament again. 
 
 And now, fmce the Great Charter, and Petition of Right, and the many 
 other declarations, what can threaten us ? neither the gun-powder treafon, 
 nor the late more facred invention of a penlloned parliament, could take 
 
 effett. NO ROOM IS left AiMONCST us FOR A STANDING ARMY, 
 
 which enflaved the French. And our franc-archers, our militia, continues 
 after the old model. Nor, with us, as in Germany, is the Papifl; like to 
 bear up againft, and balance our Proteftant votes in parliament ; thereby 
 to render the conftitution ufelefs and impradicablc. And it may be hoped, 
 we fhall never fo far give way, and be gulled by jefuitical artifice, as to 
 find another divifion in religion amongft us ; that may favour their 
 defigns, and, under other names, do their work as completely. 
 
 You need not be cautioned to diftinguifh Plato the divine, from Plato 
 the philofopher. Poets and divines, you know, have a particular way of 
 exprellion, and give their thoughts a turn different from that of other 
 people. They attribute every thing to God ; though the whole operation 
 and train of caufes and proceedings be ever fo natural and plain before 
 their face : the images they make are often taken in the groileft fenfe, 
 and worfhipped by the vulgar ; and many times the ftatefman is willing 
 to contribute to their idolatry. Hence it comes, that for the Perfians, 
 Zoroafler was faid to receive his laws from Horomazes ; Trifmegiftus for 
 the Aegyptians, from Mercury; Minos for the Cretans, from Jupiter; 
 
 Oiarondas
 
 3a AGENERALVIEWOF 
 
 Charondas for the Carthaginians, from Saturn ; Lycurgus for the Lace- 
 demonians, from Apollo ; Draco and Solon for the Athenians, from 
 Minerva; Numa Pompilius for the Romans, from Egeria ; Zamolxis 
 for the Scythians, from Vefla ; and all thefe as truly, as Mahomet had 
 his Alcoran from the angel Gabriel. This fort of dodtrine went current 
 enough while monkery and ignorance fat in the chair ; but now, in an 
 age of hiflory and human realbn, the blind traditions go hardly down 
 with us : fo that Jure Divino at this day makes but a very litigious title. 
 
 Nor is it confiftent with the brevity of a letter, to obfcrve minutely 
 how long the remains of the Roman domination continued amongfi: us ; 
 as, namely, that the Roman was the only authentic language for judicial 
 matters in Germany, till the reign of Rodolph the firft, about the year 
 1287, in England till Edward the third, in France till Francis the firft. 
 But in church-affairs, that old mark of llavery is not yet worn off: the 
 fpiritual emperor will remit nothing, he ftill holds his vaffals to the 
 Roman tongue even in divine fervice; only in England, and where the 
 reformation has prevailed, this, with the other appurtenances of Romaa 
 bondage, are no longer neceifary. 
 
 Nor is it proper in this general draught to refle«Sl on all the feveral 
 fteps, and little difpofitions to change, in each nation. As, how fome- 
 times a practice has prevailed againft the form and letter ; fometimes the 
 form of words has been neceflary, but the practice obfolete. The ufe in 
 commiffions of the phrafe, " pour enjouer tant qu'il nous plaira," was 
 not known in France till Lewis the eleventh tried its virtue ; which occa- 
 fioned their parliament, anno 1467, to ordain that notwithftanding the 
 daufe, " tant qu'il nous plaira," offices fhould not be void, fave only by 
 death, refignation, or forfeiture, as Pafquier in his Recherches informs us. 
 
 SECTION VIII 
 
 OF THE THREE ESTATES; AKD FINALLY OF KING-CRAFT, OR 
 
 TRICKS OF STATE 
 
 But, peradventure, fmce it has been fo much controverted of late among 
 us who are the three ftates, and the word occurring fo frequently in the 
 German tongue, you may expeil fome account who they be, that have 
 the name of ilates in Germany. 
 
 They cxprefs the word ftates in their own language, and call them 
 ftiinde, and reichs-ftande, becaufe, fays Goldaftus, the empire ftands and 
 refts upon them, as upon its bafis and pillars. " Status imperii dicantur, 
 *' quod in ilTiB, ceu mcmbris, id eft, bafibus et columnis, ipfum imperium 
 *' ftet ct fulififtat. Thofe are faid to be ftiinde, who have the right to 
 fit and vote in the common alfembly of the empire. " Hi quidem ftatus, 
 " rcichs-ftiinde appellantur, idco quod ftatum et locum votandi et fedendi
 
 GOVERNMENT IN EUROPE 3j 
 
 " In comitiis imperii habent ; hac quippe imlca ct propria qiiafi nnta, 
 «* flatus ab aliis imperii lubjedis feccrnuntur *." So that all the queftion 
 is, how many feveral ranks, or diftinft orders there may be of thcfe ftandc ? 
 From Polybius, we have had a particular account of mixed govern- 
 ments, where he calls thofe that reprefent the monarchical, the ariftocra- 
 tical, and the popular flate, Tpjas ^te^ij ra nfXTuvTot t-,j? 7roXiTux;f, •' the 
 " three governing parts of the commonwealth." So the king, the 
 fenate, and the ephori at Sparta ; the confuls, the fenate, and the tribunes 
 at Rome, were there the three ftatcs, and had each their particular 
 fhares in the government. 
 
 The like feems to have obtained in France, under the names of the 
 king, the peers, and the third ftate : nor did the power of the clergy, . 
 how great foever otherwife, make any new diftindl order, but they were 
 mixed and included with the other ftates, as their learned archbifhop- 
 Claude Seiflel in his treatife of the French monarchy fhcws us if. 
 
 In Germany, how the government has been fhared, and who have had a- 
 right of voting in old times, we may learn from what has before been cited 
 out of Tacitus ; the " rex," the " principes," and the " omnes," denote 
 the three ftates, who had their feveral fhares, and right of voting in the 
 government. , 
 
 The fame diftin£tion continued ftill under the weftern empire. Hinc- 
 mar, at the yearly alTembly, or " generale placitum" under Charle- . 
 
 magne, does comprehend all under the terms of feniores and minores || ; 
 fo that the emperor, the feniors, and the commons, feem to have then 
 been the three ftates. Senior, which the Germans exprefTed in their 
 ealdermen §, we may fuppofe, was a word which grew current in the 
 provincial, or vulgar Roman about that time; and afterwards was 
 diverfified into fieur, and fire, and lir, and monfeigneur, and monfieur, . 
 and was ordinarily applied to men in great office. " Cum feniori urbis 
 " nunciata fuiffent, etc. ^ Seniores loci illius, etc. ** Nihil per me feciy - 
 *' nifi quae mihi a dominis noftris et fenioribus imperata funt "ff . 
 ** Tempore fenioris noftri, etc. ;};:{: Ex parte fenioris mei Caroli, etc. jiil " 
 Thefe, and the like pafTages in Gregory Turonenfis may fhew the 
 extent of the word, and that the feniores in Hincmar, were the fame with 
 the principes in Tacitus : nor did the figniories become hereditary till 
 Otho the firft's reign. 
 
 But what moft affedled the government, and proved of greateft confe- 
 quence in this affair, were the innovations that happened in Frederic the 
 third^s time ; for, whereas, formerly, a proclamation was wont to be 
 iffued out for fummoning the afTembly, whereupon, " deledi ex fingulis 
 '* civitatibus," fays Aimoinus, from every town and city were chofen, 
 
 5 H the 
 
 * Arumaeus Comm. de Comitiis Romano-Germanici imperii, c. 4 
 
 ■\ Polyb. Hift. 1. 6. § 9 
 
 j La Grand Monarchic de France, par M. Claude de SeifTel, 
 
 II Hincmari Epift. ad Proceres regni, § 29. Vide fupra, p. 1 1 § 6a!t)ejameP, Sax. 
 
 ^ Greg. Turon. 1. 10. § 2 ** Ibid. 1. 8. § 31 ft Il>'d- \-_ 6. § 24 
 
 XX Confccratio Caroli Calvi, apud Hift. Franc. Script, a I>u Chefne Edit. vol. ii. p. 449 
 
 yil Padio Aquiigranenfis, Ibid. p. 453
 
 32 A GENERAL VIEAV OF 
 
 the burgeffes and citizens to :go:their reprefcntatiyes to the afiemhly, now^ 
 fo many grieved at the charge, and negleded the proclamations, that 
 oftentimes the affembly could not proceed for fv'j^nt of a coiupeteijt 
 number of^ members ; wherefore Freaeric let the proclamations alone, 
 and, inftead thereof, fent particular letters to the feveral towns > and, 
 henceforward, none thought themfelves obliged to attend, who had not 
 letters directed to them. Many of the poorer tov/ns were glad to be 
 excufed, and private gentlemen left off going; fo that, within a little 
 time, the government was brought into a iew hands, and every day 
 rendered lefs and lefs popular. Thofe cities that preferved their fnare in 
 t-lie government, and right of voting, by continuing to fend their repre- 
 lentatives to' the affembly, are now therefore called imperial cities. 
 
 Although the electoral princes had a name much fooner, yet were they 
 fiill one and the fame ftate with the other princes, till under tliis Frederic, 
 in the diet at Francfort, anno 1489, they parted, and became a particular 
 alTembly, and voted feverally, and from that time got the name of a 
 dlillntl Rate, and formed a new fort of an ariftocracy by themfelves. Yet 
 all this while the clergy did never fet up for a feparate order in the com- 
 monwealth, but always made a mixed ftate with the laity; mixed they 
 . are in the electoral ftate, and mixed in that of the princes, v>'here 
 
 the " geiftHcher" and " weltlicher," ghoftly and wordly, as they call 
 , them, together with the counts, barons, and other gcnllemen, make but 
 
 one ftate. They have indeed a particular bench, " die geiftliche bank," 
 to fit upon by themfelves ; fave that the arch-duke of Auftria, and duke 
 of Burgundy only ftt upon it above them. 
 
 Now, v/hether we fix our notion of the three ftates upon the doftrine 
 of the antients, as delivered by Polybius ; or call them the ftates, who 
 have a right of voting, the emperor is clearly one of the ftates : nor is it 
 m.aterial, that the ordinary ftile and form of words feem to imply the 
 contrary ; for if the faying, emperor and the ftates, argues the emperor 
 himfelf to be none of the ftates, by the fame reafon the form {o frequent 
 in their rcceffes or public ordinances, " churflirften, fiirften und ftiinde," 
 that is, electoral princes, princes and ftates, will exclude the electors and 
 the other princes alfo, from being either of them ftates. The form 
 emperor and ftates, does no more prove him to be none of the ftates, 
 than whh us the fiying, king and parliament, does imply, that the king 
 is no part of the parliament. 
 
 I ftiall not trouble you with the difputes, what were the boundaries of 
 Auftrafia and Neuftria, or whether by the devolution of this weftern empire, 
 Germany was added to France, or France to Germany ; or, whether more 
 properly, Charlemagne be to be reckoned amongft the French or the 
 Germans : his having been born at Ingelheim, as moft affirm, or at 
 Carlcfburg in the upper Bavaria, as many believe ; and his fpeaking the 
 ■German tnuguc, with this tcftimony of Fginhardus : " Menfibus juxta 
 *' patriani linguani nomina impofuit ; cum ante id tempus apud Francos, 
 *' partim latinis, partim barbaris nominibus appellarcntur. Januarium 
 *{ appcllavit Wintcrmonat, Fcbruarium Hornung, Martium Lentzmonat, 
 
 ^' etc.
 
 GO VERNMENT I N EURO P E -^t 
 
 o J 
 
 *' etc.*" Thefc, I fay, arc urged by the Germans, as no mean argu- 
 ments. But thcfc matters concern not our enquiry. 
 
 " 'If you cannot reconcile the emperor's being Ibmewhere fald to be " facri 
 imperii mlnifter," and clfewhere declared to have no fuperior, " niftJDcuna 
 " ct enlem," but God and the fword, Bartolus tells youj " de verbis non 
 " curat jureconfultus," the intention is to be regarded before the v^'.ords : 
 the intention of the dates in that declaration, anno 1338, was niolie 
 other than to exclude the wild pretenfions of the pope; to deny a foreign 
 jurifdidion, not to confefs or introduce any new fubjedliun in themfelves : 
 " limitata ex certa caufa confefTio non nifi limitatum producat cfFedtum.'* 
 
 But I cannot conclude without fome reflection on thcfc frauds a la mode, 
 the rufe and fmeiTe, which the French fo loudly boafl: at this day. Lewis 
 the eleventh would not have his fon learn more latin than " qui nefcit difli- 
 " mulare, nefcit regnare." The old Romans had raiother fort of fpirit : we 
 are told in Livy, " haec R.omana efle, non verfutiarum Punicarum, neque 
 " callidltatis Graecae, apud quos fallere hoftcm quam vivi fuperare glorio- 
 *' fius fuerit, dolo quam virtutef." Il is like a Roman, to deal openly 
 and roundly ; not to pradlice the Carthaginian legerdemain tricks, or 
 Graecian cunning, whofe glory is to circumvent ; and by fraud, not 
 virtue, overcome an enemy. 
 
 The Venetians at this day are commended for the fame ftyle. " II 
 *' procedere veramente regio negli affari publici, il negoziare faldo, e 
 " libero, e fenza artificio o duplicita ; non mafcherato, non finto, ma 
 " fincero, e del tutto alieno da ogni diffimulazione e fidlacia." Their 
 proceedings in public affairs, fays our author, is truly royal ; they nego- 
 ciate upon the fquare, frankly, and without artifice, or double-dealing, 
 not difguifed, or upon the fham ; but fincere, and every way far from 
 all diflembling and tricks. And indeed the bugle and inganni, and little 
 Italian fhifts, would better become duke Valentine and the petty princes, 
 than any kingdom or commonwealth of true ftrength and folid reputation. 
 The (ro(pKTfzxTot, and the ■ur^o(poi.crug, the fophiftries and" ftate-pretences of 
 this kind, however furbifhed up, and gloffed over of late by our politic 
 brokers, were all ftale cheats, and worn out even in Ariftotle's time X. 
 
 Thus have I hinted matters to you, and only touched upon heads without 
 anticipating your reflections and applications. I have not treated you like 
 a ftranger, but as one thoroughly informed, before-hand, and to whona 
 all thofe difficulties are familiar, which I can only difcover at a difl.ance. 
 And after all, I mufl: fly from your judgment, to your good nature. 
 
 I am, etc. 
 
 * Vita Karoli Magni per EginharJum fciipta. Vide Script. Rcrum Germ, per Reuberura 
 editos. t Liv. 1. 42, § 47 
 
 X EtTTi S' oa-ix TrpoipacrEajf ^ap" sv roa; TroX^Tt^a.^i (TCipi^oulxi irpo; to Sri(A»v, Ttiili rtn stj)i9u.o>, 
 etc. Arift. de Repub. 1. 4. c."i3.~Vide fupra, le6t, 3. p. 13
 
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