it we will suppose that by his Goths and Northern people he means the Saxons for the Danes were but a very little while I think not thirty years masters of England and so what may be gather'd in favour of his popular Government from them if any thing could would not be much material We will imagine then that our Saxons were of the race of the Goths and that retaining their customs They introduc'd many of them amongst us such as might be the division of the lands into several Feuds which they called Thane lands and were like our Mannors or Lordships under certain Tenures or Services Many also they might have found amongst the Britains and retain'd them under their own Government for it is certain the Britains held lands by several Tenures but whether they were originally of their own Institution or the remains of the Roman Clientela's and Praeda militaria I will not determine I have already told you that the Goths upon their first Transplantation and after they were setled in their new possessions were govern'd by Kings whose power encreas'd despotically according as the people grew secure and civiliz'd and so they continued above a thousand years nor do I find that the people in all this time pretended to any other share in the government than to meet in General Councils when the affairs of the Kingdom oblig'd their King to assemble them And truly I ever thought such National Assemblies when well regulated very conducible to the security and happy subsistence of all Governments and such our antient Monarchs have thought fit to make use of and have transmitted the custom of convoking such Councils which we not call Parliaments even to our days But that these Counsellors should have any right of command is so contrary to the design of their Institution that as this must needs be dangerous to the Government it self so they make their good Institution useless by rendring themselves suspected to the King who alone hath the right to assemble them For what wise Magistrate would by his own authority raise a power which he apprehends might shock his own The sad effects of this we have seen of late days among our selves when our Commoners in Parliament who were meer Counsellors and no more or Representatives with a power to consent have arrogated to themselves a Soveraign authority and under that pretence have forceably and violently subverted our antient Government and destroyed our Lawful and Natural Governour himself and have besides of late spent so much time in unnecessary new disputes concerning their own rights and prerogatives which really do not much concern us that they have totally neglected those main ends of their meeting which are the Security of our Government under our Lawful Soveraign and the peace and happiness of his people and which are the only blessings and benefits which we desire of them Nay they have been so far from procuring those advantages for us to which purposes they have been solely entrusted by us that their disputes concerning the Succession to the Crown of England which is indisputable The Right which the King hath to borrow money upon good Security which was never taken from the poorest of his Subjects shewing mercy upon unfortunate offenders which is his Nature as well as undoubted Prerogative and several such other irregular Heats and Animosities are the most apparent causes of our present horrid Conspiracies troubles and distractions But to return to our Goths I have told you that after their division those that spread toward the West and Southern parts of Europe were in a continual state of war and so their King was but their General whom sometimes they did depose or continue according as they found him capable of that great employment upon whose conduct in their dangerous circumstances their Lives and Fortunes did chiefly depend and such in some respects was the case of our Saxons under their Heptarchy here in England All the world knows that they invaded us without any pretence of title being only call'd in as friends by Vortigern the British King to assist him against the Scots and by degrees encroaching upon the Britains they erected several Kingdoms until at length the Native Inhabitants were totally over-power'd But this made very little alteration in their affairs for wanting a common enemy they were always quarrelling amongst themselves usurping upon one another untill their several little Governments were united under one Soveraign Monarch who was Egbert as some write or Alfred the eighteenth King of the West-Saxons ` T is true that during Vide Chron. Sir R Baker their Heptarchy they chose one amongst themselves who was the Supreme head of the rest and was call'd King of Engle-lond And it is recorded that eight of the Mercian Kings in a continued succession kept the Imperial Crown of the Heptarchy But it was rather a titular honour than a Soveraign right of Government and I do not find but that every particular King in his own Province did generally exercise those two great Regalities of making Laws and levying Taxes by vertue of his own authority But whether they did or not it is little to our purpose since we have no reason to follow the examples of those petty Kings and Vsurpers especially when we consider their circumstances But if we must lay aside the form of Government since the Norman conquest from whence our Aera begins and concerning which our Histories are more certain and Authentick let us then rather consult the Administration of those West-Saxons who solely and Soveraignly enjoy'd the Crown of England And not to be too tedious we will six upon King Edward the Confessor the last except Harold of our English Saxon Kings I shall not trouble you with much neither concerning him because you may find at large whatever can be said of him in our own English Histories I shall only therefore make this remark that we have had no Kings since William the Conqueror nor was he himself more absolute than King Edward the Confessor was I remember nothing of his impositions but rather believe there might have been none during his reign because I find that he remitted to his people the yearly Tribute of 40000 l. that had been gathered by the name of Danegelt But for Laws which now are made by Act of Parliament I observe no such Parliamentary way of proceedings in his days It is true that he called a Councel or Wittena Gemote which some call very improperly a Parliament especially as it is now understood in the second year of his Reign but the Commoners were so far from having any right of power that their presence was not really necessary Minores laici non sammoneri debent sed si eorum praesentia necessaria fuerit c. Which shews plainly that they might be omitted Nay although they were summoned and did not appear nevertheless the Parliament was taken to be full without them Which is a sufficient proof that the Commons
great Power and Trust in so few hands was look'd upon as a great Obligation to those Lords and a great Security to that King so long as their Interests stood united in their new Conquest yet in the next Age when the heat of that Action was over their Interests divided and the Obligation forgotten it proved to the succeeding Kings so great a Curb and Restraint to Sovereignty that nothing fell more intimately into their Care than how to retrench as much as they durst the Power of that Nobility which they began to suspect and was like in time to mate even Monarchy it self Though others foresaw the mischief in time yet none attempted the Remedy untill King John who no sooner began to reign in his own Right for by the way he practis'd a little in his Brother's time and by that Experience found Mat. Paris his Words true of the Barons viz. Quot Domini tot Tyranni But he bethought himself to frame his Counsel of such a Constitution as he might have Credit and Influence upon it To be short he was the first that durst restrain the tumultuary access of the Barons to Council he was the first that would admit of none but such as he should summon and would summon none but such as he thought fitting and besides he would send out Summons to several of the Commons or lesser Tenants mixing them with the Nobles and engaging them thereby to his Interest and whereas before the Council consisted of the Nobility and Clergy he erected a third Estate a Body of the Commons or lesser Tenants which might in some measure equal the rest and be faithful to him All which appears in the Clause Rolls and Patent Rolls of the sixth Year of this King and in vain before that time shall any Man seek either for Summons or Advice of the Commons in any of these great Councils King John having put this Cheque upon the Councils considers next how to ballance the unequal power of the unruly Barons and first he tampers with the Bishops and Clergy sain he would have drawn them into his Party at least to his Dependency but that Tryal cost him dear In the next place therefore that he might create new Dependances and new Strength to himself he becomes a great Patron and Founder or at least Benefactor to many considerable Corporations as Newcastle Yarmouth Lynn and others insomuch that he is taken notice of by Speed and other of our Chroniclers and stiled particularly the Patron of Corporations Thus you see not only when but for what Reason the Institution of the House of Commons was first thought upon and indeed according to their old or first Constitution their Attendance in Parliament or as we say their serving in Parliament was look'd upon rather as an easier Service due to the King than otherwise as a Priviledge granted to the People as may be seen not only in the Case of the Burgesses of St. Albans in temp Ed. 2. recited by the Worthy Dr. Brady against Petit but also by many other good Authorities too long for this place But begging your Pardon for this long Story I now proceed to the second Parenthesis in which he makes no Scruple to accuse his present Majejesty and his late Sacred Father of breaking the Law in adjourning proroguing and dissolving Parliaments Indeed Cousin I know nothing that reflects more truly upon the Constitution of our Government than that it suffers such pestilent seditious Men as our Author seems to be to live under it For nothing sure is more evident in the whole or any part of the Law whether Statute common or customary than that the Kings of England ever since the first Parliament that ever was call'd have had and exercis'd the same Power in adjourning proroguing and dissolving them as his present Majesty or his Father of Blessed Memory ever did And that you may have Plato's own Authority against himself I must anticipate so much of his Discourse as to inform you That in p. 105. you will find these very Words That which is undoubtedly the King 's Right or Prerogative is to Call and Dissolve Parliaments Nay more so great was the Authority and Prerogative of our Kings over the House of Commons according to their old Constitution That they have in their Writs of Summons named and appointed the particular Persons all over England who were to be returned to their Parliaments sometimes have order'd that only one Knight for the Shire and one Burgess for a Corporation should be sent to their Parliaments and those also named to the Sheriffs and sometimes more as may be seen by the very Writs of Edw. 2. and Edw. 3. fully recited by the aforesaid Dr. Brady from p. 243. to p. 252. Besides Sir what is more reasonable and equitable than that our Kings should enjoy the Power of Adjourning Proroguing and Dissolving that their Council or Parliament when and as often as they please since our Kings alone in Exclusion to all other mortal Power in England whatsoever enjoy â—olely the Prerogative of Calling or Assembling these their Parliaments when and where they alone shall think convenient Mer. I confess we generally say That it is a great Weakness in a cunning Man to raise a Spirit which afterwards he cannot lay and that in such case the Spirit tears him in pieces first who rais'd him And I think we have had the Misfortune to see somewhat very tragical of this kind in the beginning of our late Troubles if it were not possibly the great Cause of his late Majesty's fatal Catastrophe But truly excepting that case I never heard the King's Authority in proroguing or dissolving Parliaments question'd before Trav. Well Sir go forward to the twenty fifth Page for all between is nothing but quacking and ridiculous Complements or Matter as little worth our notice Mer. He tells us there that it remains undiscovered how the first Regulation of Mankind began that Necessity made the first Government that every Man by the Law of Nature had like Beasts in a Pasture Right to every thing That every Individual if he were stronger might seise whatever any other had possessed himself of before Trav. Hold a little Sir that we may not have too much Work upon our Hands at once I think he said before at Page 22. That he would not take upon him so much as to conjecture how and when Government began in the World c. This Cousin I cannot pass by because it seems to be the only piece of Modesty which I observe in his whole Treatise And I should commend him for it much but that I have great reason to suspect that he pretends Ignorance only to cover his Knavery and thereby leave room to introduce several other most false and pernicious Principles which we shall endeavour to refute First therefore I shall take the Liberty not only to conjecture but to tell him plainly when and where Covernment began and how also it continued
to embrace Shadows than retain Substances I have endeavoured to distinguish Both unmask our Republican Daemon shew no less his horrid Claws than his Cloven-feet I should now make some excuse that this Answer comes so late into the World but I have a sufficient Witness that I had never seen the Book call'd Plato Redivivus before I received it at Paris about May last from My Lord Preston His Majesties Envoy Extraordinary in the French Court To his Lordship I owe the first motion and encouragement of answering it you the advantage if any be and satisfaction of the Answer Next I must inform you that I meddle little with the Law-part which is now and then to be met withal in Our Author not only because it hath been sufficiently answer'd already but besides if there be any breach of the Law or Government by any Person whatsoever the Courts of Justice are open which are the proper places for Law matters and when Plato shall think fit to shew himself and legally accuse both himself and such other of the Kings Subjects who may have been deceived by him will receive a more full ample satisfaction than I durst pretend to give them The historical and rational part I endeavour to answer as plainly as my judgment and little time would permit which I have done also by way of Dialogue that I might in all things comply with Our Authors method as far as is reasonable Many impertinencies I have passed by to avoid tediousness Those faults in this Discourse which shall not be found malicious I hope the Reader will excuse small mistakes may be easily rectified And as to the whole if the Reader shall please to examine it as impartially as it is writ sincerely I persuade my self that he will find nothing misbecoming an Honest Man and a Loyal Subject Farewell PLATO'S Daemon OR The State-Physician unmaskt BEING A Discourse in Answer to a Book call'd Plato Redivivus The Argument An English Gentleman lately return'd from France and Italy where he had spent several years is invited by a very considerable Merchant and his near Kinsman to his Country House where discoursing of many things with great liberty the Merchant accidentally opens a Book call'd Plato Redivivus which the Traveller had brought down with him into the Country This becomes a new subject of Discourse and both deliver their opinions concerning it with great freedom as follows First Discourse Merchant GOod morrow Cousin What up and ready too so early How do you like our Old English Country Air Traveller Very well Sir and indeed the pleasantness of this situation with those many delights which appear round about it are sufficient to raise any Man from his Bed especially one who hath been so long a stranger to the happinesses of a Country retirement and who loves them so much as I do Mer. I rather feared that notwithstanding our best endeavours here your time would pass tediously away for having seen all France and Italy which they call the Garden of Europe I apprehended that the best part of England would have appeared no better to you then an uncultivated Desert Trav. No nor yet shall Lumbardy nor Capua which is the Garden of Italy be ever preferr'd by me before our own blest happy soil Mer. I am glad to find you so good an Englishman the rather because we may now hope to keep you henceforward in a place which it seems you like so well Trav. Believe me Tutto il mondo è paâ—se All Countries are in this alike that they have their conveniences and inconveniences their particular delights and their particular wants And when we shall have made a just estimate of all the Kingdoms in Europe I know none which for pleasure and profit ought to be preferr'd justly before our own Mer. Sir I was always satisfied with my own Countrey and the little encouragement you give me to exchange it for any other confirms me now so much in my Opinion that I am resolv'd never to cross the Seas except some greater Business than I can foresee should necessitate me Trav. I have now spent somewhat more than Eight years as you know Cousin out of England The first time I went abroad I only learnt my Exercises and made those Tours of France and Italy which generally other Gentlemen use to do I could then have told you who was the best Dancing Master of Paris where liv'd the most fashionable Taylor the airiest Perriwig-maker and such like In Italy where the best Wines and what Curiosities were particular to every City But having almost lost the bon goust as they say or rellish for those youthful pleasures since I went last abroad I have made other remarks and grown more sullen possibly than I ought to be can tell you now of the pride and libertinage of the French Noblesse the impertinence coquetry and debauchery of the Gentry the misery of the Commonalty the extream poverty of most and slavery of all In Italy the restraint of their Wives and Women the jealousie of Husbands and their general vindicative humour At Venice the insupportable insolence of their Nobili Venetiani and triumphant Vice At Genoua the scandalous Mechanick Traffick and notorious Avarice oâ— their Grandees insomuch that they starve even a Jew in his own Trade Their frequent assassinations pride and ill manners The dull Bigotry of Florence and hard impositions upon Subjects The formalities of Rome the lost Vertue and Courage and natural Cowardize and Poltronery of the degenerated Romans the insolence of the Commonalty del regna as they call it or Kingdom of Naples the Robberies of their Banditti the great Titles and small Estates of the Nobility the hereditary risses or quarrels of the Piedmontesi and those of Monferat and from their ill administration of Justice their eternal Processes And to conclude add to this the arbitrary Government exercis'd generally all over Italy and the heavy impositions upon their Subjects greater than they ought to bear Now Cousin with all I have said compare the extream happiness of the English Nation The Riches of the Commonalty insomuch that some have thought it to be the greatest part of our disease The vast trade and prosperous condition of our Merchants The Hospitality Wealth and Modesty of our Gentry The high quality and true worth of our Nobility their uncorrupted Loyalty to their Prince and unaffected kindness for the People But above all let us reflect seriously upon the most happy security and liberty of our Persons and Estates which all strangers are forc't both to admire and envy Our freedom and exemption from all manner of Taxes and Impositions but such as we our selves shall consent to And not to be too tedious upon a subject which is so large let us truly consider and at the same time bless God Almighty for our just Laws and impartial execution of them for the admirable equal Constitution of our Government where the Prince hath so great
Trav. Most willingly And to help the unfaithfulness of my memory I 'le take my constant companion Grotius in my Pocket Mer. And I that I may be able now and then to make some opposition or at least ask some pertinent Questions will take with me our friend Plato Redivivus Trav. Best of all You will find whatever is well or ill said by him already scor'd to your hand Mer. Come then let us walk You see Cousin that my Garden is but small but the Soil is very proper for Fruit and lies well enough to the South Sun which is a great advantage to us Trav. Yes And I see you have plasht your Vines upon Treilles which sure ripens the Fruit better than when they touch the Walls Then your Gravel walks are particular to our Country and finer than any thing I have seen of that kind either in France or Italy Mer. You may take notice also that I want not Water for I have an excellent Spring which lies close by the Arbour to which we are going that serves all the offices of my House Here Sir is the walk I told you of Trav. It is indeed very pleasant and I suppose we see at the end of it the Arbour you mean Mer. The same There we shall have a very fine prospect over a great part of our Country But what will please me much better I hope to have there the advantage of your Discourse upon a subject which will be no less delightful than profitable to a man who has had neither time nor learning enough to examine those high points which do not much belong to a man of my profession Trav. Sir I am very well satisfied concerning your judgment and your learning also For I remember you were reputed the best Scholar in Paul's School when I was at Westminster And if the death of your Father had not happen'd in the nick of time you were design'd for Oxford when I went to Cambridg However having lately had occasion to read somewhat more of these matters than it may be you have done I shall be very willing to give you my opinion as far as my reading goes provided you will excuse my ignorance and presumption in seeming to inform you of what possibly you are better instructed than my self Mer. Pray dear Cousin let 's lose no time in complements we are now in the Arbour and here are seats convenient enough Trav. Sir I am ready to obey your commands And that we may proceed in some method at least as good as your Author there has taken and because I suppose it is thought by some that he has treated as fully and clearly upon that subject as is necessary to satisfie a reasonable man let us examine him from the beginning to the end Mer. That I fear will be too tedious for you Trav. No Sir you have only to read those places which are marked with the red lead Pen And if you please to add any arguments of your own which I am confident will have more weight than many which he has produc'd I will endeavour to give you the most plain and satisfactory Answers I can Mer. Agreed And in the first place I find you have wounded even Plato himself in the very Title of the Book Trav. No Sir it is only his Ghost or Doemon Plato Redivivus For to tell you the truth I never was a friend to such troublesome spirits But in earnest do you not think it a little arrogance in our Polypragmatick notwithstanding the gentle excuse of the Publisher to assume the Title even of Plato himself I am confident could Plato look into the world again he would be much asham'd to see how ill a figure his Ghost makes among all sober men and it would prove a second death more cruel than the first to see himself so ill Travestie Mar. But Cousin he that maintains Plato's opinions may surely without offence call himself Plato's Friend and Disciple and Honoris gratia as our Author says take upon himself the name of him whom he admires and follows that is common enough at this day among our selves Trav. 'T is true but in that case he ought rather to have stiled himself Plato Britannicus That would have made distinction enough between the Master and the Scholar agreed better with the instances which you have brought on his behalf and have been more modest than Redivivus However you must consider that Plato and others living then under Common-wealths wrote in favour of that Form of Government under which their lives and fortunes were protected And besides many of them being but the late corruptions of Monarchy or Aristocracy wanted the learn'd Philosopher's defence But to alter nay totally destroy the ancient establish'd Government under which we enjoy all the blessings and liberties which our Ancestors ever did or we can reasonably desire would have been so much contrary to the Wisdom and Judgment of Plato that he would no more-have wrote in our days for a Democracy in London than for Monarchy at Athens Add to this the vast difference between the State of Greece in those days and that of Great Britain in these The first was divided into several different Governments all aemulous of one anothers greatness and were oftentimes forc'd to make great alterations in their Polities according to the misfortunes or success of their Neighbours who besides were all upon the same Continent and had no other bounds or separation between them than a hedge or brook or at most a little River But England having subsisted gloriously and happily more than 1700 years as authentick History can witness under a Monarchical Government and divided from the world by a Ditch which nature has made not easily passable Toto divisos orbe Britannos fears no interruption whatsoever in our Tranquillity or Government but such as may proceed from seditious men whom false mischievous and calumniating persons such as our Author may if tolerated decoy into some Rebellion as unnatural as to themselves destructive To conclude I appeal to all wise men whether the Government of Athens in those days be more applicable and necessary for us and ours in these than to affirm that the Government of France could not possibly subsist except they introduce the Discipline of Geneva or Polity of the little Commonwealth of Luca or Genoua Mer. I am much pleased with this way of reasoning and am well satisfi'd that times and places and circumstances may alter our reason exceedingly and that no one Polity or Form of Governments or laws whatsoever are universally proper for all places Plato I think introduc'd in his Commonwealth a commonalty or common use of Wives or Women as well as of all other Goods and Chattels Lycurgus forbad the use of Gold and Silver divided all the Lands equally amongst all and permitted the noble exercise of stealing Sure could these two learned men preach the same Doctrine in our days at London as they did then in Sparta
and Athens they would be look'd upon rather as mad-men than great Law-givers and Philosophers Trav. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or rapto vivere was indeed commendable among the Aegyptians and generally all the Grecians as well as Spartans But it was not ad sumptum libidini proebendum as Gellius observes but only pro exercitio disciplináque reipublicoe factitatum To accustom their youth to vigilance and agility that thereby they might be initiated in some measure in military affairs and learn the practical part of laying as well as avoiding the snares and ambushes of their enemies This practice in Peace prepar'd them for War abroad and the impossibility of gaining any thing at home together with the small reward of Industry so inclin'd them to it that they fancied they could be no where more miserable than in their own Houses nor ever lead a more unfortunate than a peaceable life Ils estoient si malheureux en leurs maisons says my Author qu' ils ne demandoient que la guerre pour en sontir trouver dans la fatique des armes du soulagement a leurs maux And I am confident whosoever shall consider impartially the Laws and Constitutions of those older Democratical Governments I mean of Rome as well as Sparta and Athens will find that they were adapted and contriv'd rather for the eâ—largement and conquest of other Countries than the peace and security of their own and in effect they were all three in contitinual Wars sometimes Conquerors sometimes reduc'd to the utmost extremities of Conquest untill at last having past through all the miseries which Change and Wars produce they were united all and consolidated under a Monarchy from which only true solid Form of Government they at first proceeded Now how improper such Laws and Constitutions would prove for us who are in no measure in their circumstances and to whom all foreign acquisitions have been justly thought rather chargeable and prejudicial than advantageous I leave to you and all sober men to determin As for Plato it is true that he permitted the promiscuous use of Women as may be seen in his 4 Repub. for which amongst other things Aristotle reprehends him in his 2 Polit. c. 5. But that might proceed from the little respect which he had for that Sex and great love for the other which made him so great a Paederastist or to speak plainer a Sodomite that he wish'd himself as many eyes as there were Stars in the Heavens the better to admire his dear Alexis his Phedius or his Agathon witness amongst other tender expressions that celebrated Distich to his beloved Agathon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I cannot pass by a memorable passage to this purpose of Philo a great favourer of Plato who tells us in his Book De vita Contemplatrice that Plato's Convivia's were all spent in the affairs of love not of Men towards Women or Women towards Men which the Law of nature doth very well approve but of Men towards one another or youths no way differing but in their Ages 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Now whether our Climate be warm enough to entertain such Philosophical and Amorous notions will be an experiment amongst his Politicks worthy the name of Plato Redivivus But to return to his Government and that you may not be carried away with the fame only or great reputation of any man whether ancient or modern give me leave to mind you that Plato as great a Philosopher as he was had nevertheless an Antagonist as eminent in all manner of learning as himself I mean the admirable Xenophon who whilst Plato instituted his Common-wealth defended worthily the most excellent Government of Monarchy as may be seen at large in his Cyropaidia And so jealous were these two famous men of their name and honour that as Plato in all his writings never named Xenophon tho' contemporaries so Xenophon also never made any mention of Plato Mer. This Cousin is thus far very plain and satisfactory that is to say that the ancient Customs Laws and Governments of Greece or any other part of the World though contriv'd and modell'd by men extreamly learned and most proper for those times and Countries where they were in force are not for that single reason practicable in our days and in our Kingdom any farther than our case and circumstances agree with theirs And that the Authority of Plato Lycurgus or Solon or any other are to be admitted no farther than their laws are proper or convenient for us Trav. Right for though Galen Hypocrates or Aesculapius himself should have deliver'd as an Oracle that Phlebotomy is good in Feavers yet if a modern Physician shall from thence affirm that we may as safely bleed an ancient Phlegmatick person languishing under a malignant Feaver as a vigorous young Sanguine man who is sick of a burning Feaver I think in reason we ought not to admit of his inference Besides you must again remark that as Democracy so Monarchy had equally its learned Champions as Homer Callimachus Aristotle Seneca and others Mer. I apprehend you and from thence you would insinuate that the Republiques of Holland Venice or Geneva may as well follow the Maxims of Xenophon and imitate the Governments of Persia and generally all the Eastern Monarchies upon the bare credit of that Great Man and example of those Flourishing Empires as England France or Spain the discipline of Plato upon his sole Authority and Fortune of his little Grecian Common-wealth Your inference is most reasonable and your design most just which is to disengage our judgments from the dependance upon any Mans great Reputation I have only one question or two to ask you before we leave Greece the rather because I would be well informed concerning a Country whose prosperity under their good Laws and Democratical form of Government our Author has produced as great arguments and rules for our imitation Trav. By all means Sir for as nothing can oblige me more than to use all possible freedom in asking whatsoever you doubt or seems difficult to you so you can never make this Discourse without that liberty either pleasurable or profitable Mer. Pray then Sir give me leave to mind you that you were just now saying that some of those Grecian Republicks were but the corruptions of Monarchy or Aristocracy and that notwithstanding their excellent Laws they were not only engaged in many most desperate Wars but that their very Laws themselves seem'd to induce them If your memory can serve to make this out or bring any few examples I shall be extremely satisfied especially since the true knowledge of the ancient state of Greece will be a great help to me in your following discourse Trav. I shall endeavour to give you as plain and as short an answer as the case and my memory will permit And to your first Question I must tell you that all Greece was originally Govern'd under most absolute
want of due Obedience the sole Consideration of their Force makes Men dare to disobey What then can be more irrational and absurd than that the Governour should by granting a Right of Power countenance their Violence and by giving a pretence to Disobedience make it more difficult if not impossible for himself to govern It is like uncurbing or laying the Reins upon the Necks of headstrong Horses which is against the Reason and Practice of all good Governments upon Earth Were the Beasts well tempered it were yet more practicable but by how much their Strength is dangerous by so much a stricter Hand ought to be kept over them What wise Pilot would ever trust the Helm into the Hands of an insolent Crew of Mariners Or What prudent Prince would submit his Scepter to the Will of arrogant Subjects whose Wills they themselves declare to be to govern equally if not superiour to the King If our Author had meant a subordinate Power we would easily have agreed and I think there are few People under Heaven who enjoy a larger Proportion of profitable and honourable Employments than our English Subjects do But an independent Right of Power is destructive to the Prince as well as People and would only serve the turn of a few pragmatical ambitious antiquated Politicians Mer. But Sir if the People have the Force as they have by enjoying so great a share in the Land and shall think it reasonable to have the Government also how will you help your self This is the main Point which you have not yet answered Trav. Have a little Patience for my Clock cannot strike Twelve all at once and this is the second point viz. That by having this Interest in the Property as our Author calls it they have not thereby a greater Power or Force or Strength than if they had it not And first you must admit that the Possession of Lands giving thereby no Right of Power as hath been sufficiently prov'd If then the People by Force only endeavour to procure to themselves this Right it is a formal Rebellion and what they shall obtain thereby is absolute Vsurpation But in the next place by having the Possession of these Lands suppos'd they are not more enabled to usurp this Power than if they had them not for the Strength of all Governments being eternally in the Persons of the Governed whether they be rich or whether they be poor it must follow that when they please to rebell no Governour or Governours whatever under Heaven can of themselves possibly reduce them for the Number is even in the most popular Government ten thousand of the Governed to one that governs And this is a natural irresistible Inequality of Strength which even in their natural naked Estate without other Arms than such as Nature hath given all Creatures according to their different Kinds puts them always in a Condition to destroy the Government when they please You must not urge that a great Number may probably preserve their Obedience and follow the Party of the Governours For it is already suppos'd in our Case that the greater Number having the Possession of the Lands must and will share the Government Might indeed if put in Execution will ever be too hard for Right and May and Ought can never stand against the Torrent of Will and Must This needs no farther Demonstration Ten Servants in a Family will easily turn their Master out of Doors though they have not the Propriety of one foot of Land upon the Earth Examples we need not However since our Author hath furnish'd us with one as he hath done many others against himself I shall mind you of it The Turk he tells us who is absolute Proprietor of all the Lands in his vast Empire is not yet thereby so secure but that the Palace and Seraglio have often become the Shambles of those Princes Mer. But Sir that he tells you has been done by his Janizaries which he calls a Mercenary Army and not his natural Subjects But could he introduce his Timariots into the places of those Janizaries this horrid Flaw and Inconvenience in the Government had been wholly avoided Trav. But why does he entertain these Janizaries if not to preserve him from the Violence of his discontented and numerous Subjects And why dare the Janizaries act these horrid Murders if not because they know themselves too strong And what Security can he give that his Spahis would not do the same thing if their Prince should endeavour to keep them in too severe Subjection Never sure did any sober Author maintain Propositions so irrational nay insomuch that their contrary is true What People are more happy and quiet than those who possessing a reasonable Proportion of Lands live in Plenty and enjoy in Security the Fruit of their own Labours In this our Nation is blessed particularly above all others for setting aside Ambition what do we want to make us happy And what hinders our Happiness from being secure who can offend us and remain unpunish'd Our Cattel our Houses our Lands are inviolable our Persons as free as the Air which is it self restrain'd within certain Bounds and we as all Men ought to be within the Compass of just and reasonable Laws What People who are at ease would of themselves disturb their own Happiness And what oftner occasions Rebellion than the Pretence of Misery and Oppression What made the People of Athens according to our Author endeavour a Change in the Government but their great Incumbrances and Debts to the Nobility What made the People of Rome mutiny against the Senate but the want of their Lands And what occasion'd the Barons Wars in King John and Henry the Third's Time but the Severity of their Tenures and want of their Rights and Priviledges as they pretended What indeed begins all Wars on the Peoples side but Oppression and what establisheth Peace but Ease and Plenty Our Author 's divine Machiavel is wholly of our Opinion and tells us amongst other things That if a Prince will preserve to his Subjects their Possessions their Priviledges and their Women he runs no manner of Danger but such as may proceed from the Ambition of a few which yet he assures us we may easily and by many ways prevent In odium omnium maximè adducunt bonorum direptio suarum raptus mulierum Quotiescunque bonis parcitur multitudinis honori praeclarè secum agi ducunt homines Id duntaxat fit reliquum oppugnandum ambitio nimirum paucorum quoe multis modis nulloque negotio reprimi potest Prin. cap. 19. Mer. Sir I can very hardly grant you this Point it being one of our strongest Holds which we must defend to the last Drop of Blood I must tell you therefore that though the greatest Number such as I must own is ever compos'd of the People be always capable of usurping the Government over the Governour who is indeed no more than a single Man against a whole
Nation in point of Strength yet whilst the Tenures are preserv'd such as were formerly in England the Prince had a stricter Tye upon the People than when having relinquish'd them he hath no other Obligation upon them than his Parchment Right of Power and if you please their Oaths of Allegiance both which are cancell'd in a Moment while the Lands remain eternally in the People Trav. I have already told you That publick Right of Government or if you will the Right of publick Government doth not in the least depend upon Tenures for they are only particular Services and Royalties which Princes have sometimes thought good to reserve to themselves more or less according as they alone have thought fit and may be alter'd or relinquish'd without diminishing their Publick Right of Government over the Nation they being such as regard rather the private Person of the King as Lord of a Mannor than his Politick Capacity as Supreme Magistrate or Governour of the State And indeed many of these Services and Tenures were rather very inconvenient and burthensome to the People than beneficial to the Government Many such were anciently known in England and Scotland as well as France Amongst others what was more inhumane than that the Lord should have a Right to lye with his Tenants Wife the first Night they married which in France they call Droit de Jambage Some Services were very ridiculous and some extravagant So I have heard of a Tenure in France by which the Tenant is oblig'd at certain Times to drive a Cart with twelve Oxen round the Court of the Mannor House In which time if any of the Oxen happen to dung in the Court the Cart with the twelve Oxen was forfeited to the Lord of the Mannor but if none of the Oxen should dung untill they were driven out of the Court then the Lord was to receive only one Egg. Now how do these and many other such Services relate to a Right of Government So many Mannors were held of the King to accompany him in his Wars in England or in France or elsewhere some were obliged to carry his Spear some his Sword others his Helmet and such like which are all merely private Obligations and which any private Man might reserve upon consideration of Lands given It is true the King had then a stronger Tye upon particular Persons than since he hath released them But this I say hath no influence upon his Publick Right of Power for the Supreme Magistrate is always notwithstanding any such Release Master both of our Estates and Persons as far as they are necessary for the Preservation of the Government So you see Care is taken that all Lands shall pay their Quotas towards Horses and Footmen which is in use at this day which Forces so paid we call the Militia His Majesty may press Souldiers and by the Consent of his great Council the Parliament charge our Estates and Persons with such Sums as shall be thought expedient for the Occasion And this brings me to the third Point which is That all Sovereign Princes have a Right of Power over the Lands notwithstanding the Property be divided amongst the People And this proceeds from the Dominium Supereminens which is eternally in all Supreme Magistrates or Magistrate whatsoever whose Duty it is to look after and by all means secure the Preservation of the Whole in which every particular is involv'd Nor is it a sufficient Objection to say That Laws or Impositions may lye very heavy upon particular Men if such an Arbitrary Power should rest in any Government for Laws cannot be always made so easie but that Occasions may happen which may make them seem very hard to some Id modò quoeritur si majori parti in summo prosint Hence Grotius from Thucydides remarks an excellent Passage of Pericles to this purpose Sic existimo saith he etiam singulis hominibus plus eam prodesse civitatem quoe tota rectè se habeat quam si privatis floreat utilitatibus ipsa autem universim laboret Qui enim domesticas fortunas bene collocatas habet patria tamen eversa pereat ipse necesse est c. All which Livy thus briefly expresses Respublica incolumis privatas res salvas facile proestat Publica prodendo tua nequicquam serves That whilst the Commonwealth is safe in general our particular Concerns may be also easily secur'd But by deserting the publick Interest of the Nation we do thereby no ways preserve our own Nothing therefore seems more reasonable and indeed necessary than that the Government should have always a Power to compell every particular Subject who standing upon their private Rights and Properties would thereby suffer the Whole to be destroy'd For though naturally every Man hath a Right to maintain what is his own and by consequence might oppose whosoever would endeavour to take his Property from him yet Grotius tells us That Government which is instituted for the publick Tranquillity of the Whole or Tranquillitas publica in qua singulorum continetur acquires thereby a more Sovereign Right even â—ver our Persons as well as Possessions than we our selves can pretend to that is as far as shall be necessary for obtaining that great end of publick Preservation Civili societate ad tuendam Tranquillitatem instituta statim civitati jus quoddam majus in nos nostra nascitur quatenus ad finem illum id necessarium est Whence Seneca observes That the Power of all is ever in the Supreme Magistrate but the Property remains nevertheless in the Hands of particular Subjects Ad Reges Potestas omnium pertinet ad singulos Proprietas And so as hath been said the King in Parliament hath a Right to dispose of our Estates and Persons as shall be thought necessary for our publick Security And where Sovereign Princes act without Parliaments they have in themselves the same Authority I have spoke already of the Power which the Government hath over our Estates and for our Persons Grotius hath furnish'd us with a Case very strong to shew the great Extent of Sovereign Authority He puts a Question Whether an innocent Citizen may be abandoned ad Exitium even to Destruction for the Common Good Without doubt says he such an innocent Citizen may be so abandon'd Dubium non est quin deseri potest And going still on how far such a Citizen is oblig'd to deliver himself he concludes That he may be forc'd to it and sacrific'd too to prevent an imminent Mischief both against his Will and entirely innocent Quare in nostra controversia verius videtur cogi posse civem for saith he Though one Citizen cannot compell another to any thing more than what is strictly just according to Law yet the Superiour hath a lawful Authority as Superiour to force an innocent Man to suffer for the Common Good Par parem cogere non potest nisi ad id quod jure debetur strictè dicto