as they secure us from the danger of any Despotical Power or arbitrary Government which can rise up amongst our selves so they do no less protect the Person of our Supream Magistrate or King from all manner of Violence or Jurisdiction of the People Mer. In the next place then we come to an Aphorism which is That Empire is founded in Property Upon which he tells us he must build the most of his subsequent Reasoning Trav. Ay marry here 's Work indeed And no doubt but the Foundation being so solid the Building will last eternally But let us see in page 40. he gives us this Aphorism in Latine and then it runs thus Imperium fundatur in Dominio which lest we might not understand he tells us his meaning of Dominium is the Possession of Lands And that what Kings soever in former times had no Companion in the Sovereign Power they had no share likewise in the Possession of the Ground or Land Truly Cousin I do not remember to have met with such grave and serious Fooling in any Author besides himself But we will examine his Reasoning and his Aphorism as fully and impartially as we can And in the first place it is most necessary that we should define the Word Imperium which surely we cannot do more plainly than when we say That Imperium est jus Imperandi Empire is a Right of Command Now that this Right of Command should be fix'd or founded upon what in it self is incapable of receiving any Command or paying any Obedience I mean Land is so absurd a Proposition that it makes Empire an empty Name only and Sound for when you thunder your Imperial Laws through your hollow Rocks your shady Groves and Woods those stiff and stately Subjects of your new found Empire will pay no other Homage or Obedience than a Return of your Commands upon your own Royal Head by the Repetition of a foolish Eccho the only Subject which can entertain you with Discourse You in the mean time must remain like Midas amidst his Gold without Service or Sustenance except being wholly transform'd into an Ass or grazing like Nebuchadnezar amidst your fertile Pastures you might indeed in such case become a fat and lusty though a beastly Emperour But Cousin to be serious the great Folly of our Authors Aphorism will appear more demonstrable by putting a familiar Case or two and such as may shew us plainly upon what Empire is truly founded and upon what it is not Let us suppose then that the King should make some Nobleman or Gentleman Duke or Prince or if you will Emperour of some vast tract of Land in the Western Part of Terra Australis incognita which we will also imagine totally uninhabited What kind of Emperour do you think this Nobleman would be Mer. Truly Sir if he had no Subjects I think he would appear much such another kind of Prince as Duke Trinkolo in the Comedy Trav. You have hit upon a very proper Instance Mer. But pray Cousin why may not our Emperour have Subjects having Land to bestow Trav. Undoubtedly so he may but they must be procur'd one of these three ways either from his own Loins as in the old World that is from his Wife and Children or from Slaves such as may possibly be bought in some other Part of the World or from Free People whom he may probably carry over with him Mer. Very well and why may not the Land be peopled in time by his own Family especially if Polygamy be permitted as formerly it was and both himself and Sons take to themselves several Wives Trav. So it may Sir but this will not do our Business for his Empire in that case will not be founded upon the Possession of his Land but the Persons of his Children who become naturally his Subjects even when he did not possess one Acre of Land For God and Nature have so invested a Sovereign Right of Command in Fathers over their Children that no Power upon Earth can take that Right away 'T is true the Civil Law for the Good of all has reduc'd even Fathers themselves under the Civil Government who is still Pater Patrioe But naturally every Father is Emperour in his own Family Mer. I understand you Sir for Fathers having naturally a Sovereign Right of Command over their own Children if then he peoples a Country by his own Posterity the Possession of his Land gives him no more Power than what he had originally and from a higher Title too before It is plain but why may he not then stock his Land with Slaves from Guiney or other Parts of Africa Trav. O Cousin but properly speaking there is no Empire of Slaves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For Aristotle lib. 8. de Rep. and from thence Grotius assure us That such a Government is not properly an Empire but an over-grown Family Qui ergo tali tenetur imperio populus in posterum non civitas erit sed magna Familia Besides Reason it self convinces us of this Truth for no Man is a Slave willingly and what we hold by force is not truly an Empire which as I said is Jus Imperandi but a Tyranny which always includes Injustice Mer. But by your leave may not a Man justly command his Slave Trav. Yes Sir as he may use his Oxe or his Horse and they are always look'd upon as part of our Personal Estate and pass accordingly But naturally or according to the Law of Nature which is Justice no Man is born a Slave Servi natura id est citra factum humanum hominum nulli sunt saith Grotius lib. 3. Whence the Civilians tell us Contra naturam esse hanc servitutem Lawfully indeed which is humane Institution Men become and are sometimes born Slaves but Subjects we are both by Law and Nature too All Politicians therefore and Civilians have made a Distinction between Subjects and Slaves the last are so by Accident and Misfortune and against their Will for the sole Benefit of their Lord and Master the others are Subjects by Nature and willingly continue so not only for the Honour of their Emperour King or Supreme Governour but for the peaceable and happy Subsistence of themselves So Tacitus distinguisheth them in these Words Non Dominationem servos seâ— rectorem cives cogitatet And Xenophon of Agesilaus whatsoever Cities he reduc'd under his Government he exempted from those servile Offices which Slaves pay their Lords and only commanded such things as were fit for Free-Men to pay their Supreme Governour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nor are there or ever were there any such Kingdoms of Slaves For though the Turk and Tartars at present the Persians and generally all other Eastern Kings anciently govern'd despotically yet their Subjects always had a Civil as well as a Personal Liberty and were generally so far from being govern'd against their Wills that as Apollonius observes the Assyrians and Medes adâ—r'd their Monarchy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
Jure proprietatis or In patrimonio imperantis that is properly or in Property or in chief or how else you please to render these Words in English Which Grotius in the same Chapter explains by a Jus regendi non aliunde pendens A Right of Government not depending upon any other humane Authority whatsoever Mer. But Sir since you have founded Empire upon a Supreme Right of Government or Power over Men how comes it to pass that we find a Right of Power and Priviledges and Government too so founded in the Possession of several Lands that the Possession of those Lands alone gives a Man several Rights and Prerogatives For example amongst us 't is said That whosoever hath the Right and Possession of the Barony of Burgaveny besides some others becomes thereby a Baron of England and enjoys those Priviledges which belong to it In France I have heard say That nothing is more common than for Men to receive their Titles according to their Lands whether Count Baron Marquess and so forth Is it not plain then That the Right of Command or Power which is Empire may be founded upon Property according to our Author's Interpretation that is the Possession of Lands Trav. I agree to what you have urg'd that is to say That several Priviledges and Right of Power are annexed to several Lordships or Terres Nobles that they have thereby haute basse Justice and their Jurisdiction extends to Life and Death Nay more in several parts of Italy and particularly in Lombardy there are several Imperial Feuds which Grotius seems to call Regna Feudalia which have almost as great Prerogatives as some other Kingdoms have They make Laws raise Taxes and mint Money as other greater Kingdoms do And yet all this makes little for our Author's Aphorism as by him interpreted Mer. The Reason if you please Trav. Because all those little Lordships or Principalities whether they were instituted at first by the Goths and Vandals or Lombards or granted afterwards by several later Emperours and Kings or both as is most probable yet they did and still do at this day depend upon a Superiour Power and pay Homage and Fealty for those Priviledges which they enjoy which is much different from Empire or a Sovereign Right of Power And yet even in this Case this subordinate Power is so far from being founded upon the Possession of all the Land belonging to the Feud which is our Author's Proposition that very often their Liberties depend only upon the old Walls of a ruinated Castie and a very inconsiderable Number of Acres which represent the whole Feud or Mannor the rest of the Land having been sold away and become the Property of others some small Rent only or Acknowledgment being reserv'd And after this manner the Supreme Power may as well tye Priviledges to a Post and grant the Possessor of that Post such Royalties as the Proprietor of such a Castle or Land Which is very far from proving that the Possession of Lands doth thereby originally create a Sovereign Right of Power Mer. Cousin I have heard and read too I think that the Sea hath formerly eaten up a considerable part of your ancient Patrimony and from thence it may be you are no Friend to Lands But for my part I will stand up for Land as long as I can and must therefore ask you Why those Rents or Acknowledgments were reserv'd if not to testifie that they came originally from the Lord and that thereby he still keeps up a kind of Sovereign Right to the Lands themselves knowing well enough that his Power according to our Author is founded upon them Trav. This yet signifies nothing for although the Reservation of these Rents or Services do preserve the Memory of the Benefactor and continue the Respect due from the Tenant yet this is personal only and hath no Relation to the publick Right of Power or Government For when this Rent was not reserv'd yet whosoever lives within the Jurisdiction of such a Fewd or Mannor is always subject to him who enjoys the Lordship So in England Services and Quit-Rents have been generally receiv'd and paid untill the late King and his present Majesty were pleas'd to dispose of them But to believe that this hath lessened his Sovereign Right of Government is a Fancy that sure cannot enter into the Head of any sober Man But let us put a plain Case Suppose the Kingdom of England were at any time obtain'd by absolute Conquest as I conceive it was more than once and that such Conquest gives the Conquerour a Sovereign Right not only to our real and personal Estates which we find to have been wholly in the hands of some of our Kings but also over our Liberties and Lives as may be fully seen in Grotius de Jur. B. P. Now Sir supposing a People in this Condition and having nothing of their own submit themselves and all they have to the Mercy of the Conquerour as the Carthaginians did to the Romans you will grant I imagine that this Conquerour is an Emperour to all Intents having an absolute Right of Power over the People and their Land also Mer. Yes certainly as long as he keeps himself and People in that Condition there cannot want any thing to make him an absolute Monarch Trav. But we will farther suppose That our Conquerour being of a more noble and more humane Temper than it may be our Author would have been orders diligent Inquisition to be made into the Value of his conquer'd Lands Which being done and enter'd into a Register such as we call Doomsday Book the Conquerour divides most of these Lands between the Conquerours and the Conquered some he returns to their former Owners upon certain Conditions or Services others he changeth To his Noblemen and Favourites he grants great Titles and Priviledges to the Gentry less and to the vulgar or common sort some small Possessions which with a little Labour and Diligence will enable them to live easily and peaceably the rest of their days All these become an Inheritance to themselves and their Heirs according to their several Tenures which the Conquerours have generally created and which we call Property These Sir being thus established and the Lands of the Kingdom setled after this manner the Conquerour or King himself reserves it may be a small part which we call Crown Lands and in Consideration of his Right of Conquest and those Benefits which he hath bestowed upon his People in granting them their Liberties Lives and Lands he continueth to himself the Power of making and abolishing Laws according as he shall think most fit and proper for the Peace Honour and Safety of his Government He creates Magistrates for the due Execution of these Laws who in his stead and by his Authority have a Power to judge between his Subjects and in some Cases between his Subjects and himself or his Attorney Besides these he retains the sole Power of making Peace and War of
disposing of the Treasury whether it be his own particular Revenue or such as may be granted for the Defence and Security of the Kingdom and such other Prerogatives as Sovereign Princes generally pretend to And after all he obligeth all his Subjects generally and in particular to pay him Homage and Fealty for the Land and Priviledges which they hold or have receiv'd from him and to bind themselves and their Heirs for ever to become true and faithful Subjects unto him their Liege Lord his Heirs and Successors for ever as may be seen at large in the Form of our general Oath of Allegiance and this under no less Penalty than the loss of our Lives Honour and Estates whatever they be Now Cousin after the Disposition of the Lands as hath been here suppos'd and this Establishment of the Government according to the good Will and Pleasure of him who is Master of all and the Consent and Confirmation of the People who have receiv'd those Lands and Priviledges can you believe that our Conquerour is less an Emperour than he was when he kept all the Lands in his own Hands and undistributed Mer. Methinks in good Reason in Justice and in Gratitude he should lose nothing of the Power which he hath reserv'd by reason of the Graces and Priviledges which he hath granted Trav. No sure Sir he rather acquires another Right and becomes doubly their Soveraign that is to say both King and Father of his Country for since Government is agreed even by our Author to have been instituted for the Good of Man certainly that Governour who doth the greatest Good is by consequence the greatest Emperour So Josephus in the Speech which Judah makes in the Behalf of his Brother Benjamin to his unknown Brother Joseph chief Minister of the Egyptian Kingdom observes That Power was given Men to do Good And by how much we extend our Bounty by so much we enlarge our Empire Ad servandos homines potentiam datam existimare quô pluribus salutem dederis hôc te ipsum illustriorem fore Mer. Cousin all this is very fine and seems indeed most reasonable and most just But I perceive we are not yet come to a right Understanding of the Case For if a Prince or Sovereign Monarch shall out of a Principle of Goodness or what you please entrust Part of his Power in the hands of the People let the Conditions be what they will when they are once possessed of that Power most likely they will think it reasonable to share the Government also or to use our Author's Expression p. 45. if the People have the greatest Interest in the Property they will and must have it in the Empire So if a Master of a Family shall think fit to arm his Servants to the Intent only and upon the express Condition that they shall never use them but in Defence of their Master and Family and that only according to his own Commands yet nevertheless if in process of Time the Servants shall believe that the Master doth not govern his Family for their mutual Advantage and Security it is ten to one but that having the Power in their Hands they will pretend to govern the Family as well as the Master nay and if the Master prove too obstinate turn even himself out of the Government and Family too Trav. Very well I did indeed expect that at last we should come to Club Law and that your convincing Arguments would end in the invincible Force of Powder Ball and Musket Pardon me Sir I do not speak this of your self for I know that according to our Agreement and for the Support of our Discourse you only personate our Author whose Words are They will and must have it in the Empire Now though will and must are not proper Terms amongst civiliz'd and reasonable Men yet nevertheless since we know that Deformity in some Countries and when in Vogue passeth for Beauty and a Disease grown Epidemical assumes the Name of Health according to that of Seneca Recti locum tenet error ubi fit publicus I shall endeavour to pull off the ugly Vizard and unmask our ignorant State-Physician and demonstrate first That it is not reasonable that those who have the greatest Interest in the Property or the Possession of the Lands according to our Author's Interpretation should have any Right of Power in the Government otherwise than what is subordinate and deriv'd from the Supream Magistrate Secondly That by having this Interest in the Property they have not thereby more Right no nor more Power than if they had it not Thirdly That all Sovereign Princes have a Right of Power over the Lands themselves notwithstanding the Property be divided amongst the People Fourthly That most Kings who have had the Sovereign Power have yet had many Companions and Sharers in the Possession of the Land And lastly I shall give an Answer to your Instance which you have produc'd concerning a Master and his Servant Mer. Dear Cousin Excuse the Liberty I take since you know we at first granted it to each other Besides the deciding these main Points will be in a great measure ending the Trouble which I give you And being confident that you will be able to make good what you have promis'd I shall reap the Advantage of your Pains and you the Honour and Satisfaction of confirming me and it may be many others in an Opinion which we were rather willing to believe than able to justifie Trav. Sir not to lose Time I shall begin with the first That it is not reasonable that those who have the greatest Interest in the Property should have any Right of Power in the Government except what is subordinate and deriv'd from the supream Magistrate To prove this we must make these two general Distinctions which are and ever were in all Governments whatever That is to say between the Governour and the Governed which must of necessity be two different Persons for as Plutarch observes in his Introduction to the Lives of Agis and Cleomenes one Man cannot be Master and Servant nor can he who commands be able at the same Time to obey So Grotius tells us Quod cogens coactum requirunt distinctas personas neque sufficiunt distincti respectus I never heard but that the People were always taken for the Governed To moderate and regulate whose unruly Passions and inclinations Government it self has been hitherto continued in the World and they are generally call'd the Body of the Kingdom The Governour has been ever understood to be a single Person or Counsel or more who are likewise properly call'd the Head Both form the Body Politick Right of Power is like the Soul and is seated in the Head whence dispersing itsvital Heat through proper Arteries and Veins it nourisheth and gives Motion to all the Body and every part of it The Body thereby is enabled to preserve the Head from Violence The Head alone commands and the Body performs
at that time saying c. Here you see the authority proceeding wholly from himself and for its extent you read immediately after that Moses reserves all appeals to himself which is the undoubted mark of Supreme Authority And the cause which is too hard for you bring it unto me and I will hear it And so you see in the forementioned cases of David Jehosaphat Zedekiah and others that the practice was conformable to the institution where the Kings of Judah exercised their Soveraign power even in those cases which belonged most particularly to the knowledge of the Sanhedrim This Brutus confesses in express words who contradicts himself as such false men do in most that he says Propterea boni Reges quales David Jehosaphat caeteri quia omnibus jus dicere ipsi non potuissent etsi in gravioribus causis ut è Samuele apparet supremum sibi judicium recipiebant nil prius vel antiquius habuerunt quam ut Judices bonos peritos ubique locorum constituerent q. 3. p. 89. Of these Judges the greater Court was call'd Sanhedrim Gedola the Supreme Senate the lesser Sanhedrim Ketanna the lesser and inferiour Court The lesser was again subdivided and out of these were Judges distributed into most of the Cities for the ease of the people From them appeal might be made to the Court or Sanhedrim Gedola which always was at Jerusalem and who had many priviledges above the others possibly not much unlike our House of Lords at this day Now Cousin if I understand Latin and English I think the case is plain that the Hebrew Kings notwithstanding the Sanhedrim had the sole Soveraign right of power But I refer all to your better Judgment Mer. I have nothing to reply against Scripture arguments especially when they are so clear as these seem to be I am only afraid that this great trouble which I have given you hath taken away the pleasure you might have had in viewing our Country and talking of some other more diverting subject But presuming still upon your goodness I must desire that you would compleat the Reformation which you have more than begun in me and by giving me some account of the Gothick Government which it seems hath prevail'd in a great part of Europe you may make me capable of defending the doctrine and the good constitution of our Government against all hot-brain'd and ambitious innovators Trav. Sir I have no greater pleasure than in obeying your commands nor have I lost thereby the advantage of this fine evening The Goths therefore if we may believe Jordanes who was himself of that race and whom Procopius writing only of the latter Goths no where contradicts broke out of the Island Scanzia or Scandinavia and with all their substance men women and children advanc d south-east And after several Skirmishes and Victories by the way they at last sat down about the palus Moeotis Here they inhabited many years and following the warmth of the Sun spread Eastwards towards the South of Scythia and the lower Asia Their Government all this while which lasted many hundred of years was an absolute Monarchy and the Tenth part of the lands were generally appropriated to the support of their Prince who descended from father to son as at this day amongst us and in Ottofrising you have a long catalogue of their names and an account of their memorable actions But in process of time those Northern people propagating very much under a warmer climate than their own a great detachment past over into Europe whence came the distinction of the Visigoths and Ostrogoths which is as much as to say the Southern and the Western Goths The latter spread themselves over Germany and France and erected several Kingdoms Their Government was Arbitrary enough and somewhat more than that of the Germans Paulo jam addictius regnantur quam caeterae Germanorum gentes saith Tacitus de moribus Germ. Yet we find the Germans themselves under a Kingly Government the lands divided and yet neither their Noblemen nor people had any other share in the Government than by way of Council or a subordinate authority for the Administration of Justice whch is much different from a right of Power or Command Agri pro numero cultorum ab universis per vices occupantur quos mox inter se secundum dignitatem partiuntur These were like great Farms which they chose according as the situation pleas'd them Colunt discreti ac diversi ut fons ut nemus ut campus placuit Their Councils were compos'd of the Commoners and of the Nobility but were distinct and the Noblemen had the greatest interest De minoribus rebus Principes consultant de majoribus omnes Ita tamen ut ea quoque quorum penes plebem arbitrium est apud Principes pertractentur But in all these elder Governments we must consider their circumstances which were confus'd and much different from those which are at this day established generally all the world over The people were more barbarous than now they are unsetled and much addicted to wars Whence they appear'd more like the children of Israel in the Wilderness than the people of God in Jerusalem And I cannot think that their polities though they make little against us ought to be propos'd by any sober man as examples for our imitation We come now to the Ostrogoths as nearer to our time and purpose A great body then of these passing the Danube possessed themselves of Hungary or Pannonia and some of Thrace where they inhabited sorty eight years In Hungary they had their Kings and paid them too such an awful obedience that they esteemed it the greatest impiety so much as to whisper any thing that detracted from their honour Solummodo susurris lacerare nefas ducunt And if by chance any of the Noblemen should have offended their King though in never so small a matter and even unjustly accus'd yet the poorest Scullion belonging to and sent by the King had a power though alone to seize that Nobleman encompassed and guarded by all his friends and adherents And thus without Messenger or Serjeant both imprisoneth or otherwise punisheth the unhappy offender according to the Order of the Prince whose Will passeth amongst all for an unquestionable Law Quod si aliquis ex comitum ordine regem vel in modico offenderit quando etiam iniustè infamatus fuerit quilibet infimae conditionis lixa a Rege missus Comitem licet satelliâ—ibus suis stipatum solus comprehendit c. Sola Principis voluntas apud omnes pro ratione habetur Ottofris de reb gest Fred. primi lib. 1. ca. 31. Now if Plato Redivivus will needs produce ancient customs among the Goths and impose them without any farther consideration upon us I hope he will give me leave also to offer the example of these Loyal Ostrogoths which I am sure if duly followed would prove a better cure for us whatever our disease be than
for personal estate the subjects may enjoy it in the largest proportion without being able to invade the Empire and that the subjects with their Money cannot invade the Crown This is the first time that I remember to have observed where lay the weak side of invincible Gold Indeed till now I should have laid the odds for money against land and I am the more confirm'd in that opinion because I remember very well that in an election of a Knight for the Shire a certain money'd Merchant not having three hundred pound per Annum lands in the world was able nevertheless to carry the Election against a worthy Gentleman of an ancient Family who had at that time above four thousand pounds per Annum lands of inheritance And it was thought that the force of money procured the advantage Many such cases I suppose have happened in other Counties which argument sure will hold in a Kingdom as well as in a County since the former is composed of the latter But our Author who has the legislative power in his head makes there what card trump he thinks sit And from his unerring judgment there is no appeal Merch. I think Plato is mistaken But Sir you have slipt a remark a little before this and it is that Modern writers are of opinion that Aegypt till of late was not a Monarchy and the only conjecture which he produces is that originally all Arts and Sciences had their rise in Aegypt which they think very improbable to have been under a Monarchy Trav. O silly truly for our Authors reputations sake I thought to have passed by so childish a conjecture I will not go about to prove that really all Arts and Sciences had their rise in that Countrey because our Author hath confessed it Nor tell you that Aegypt was an absolute Monarchy many hundred years before because I have already given you good authorities for it Neither will I trouble you with a long Catalogue of most excellent men for all manner of learning who lived as well under the elder Monarchies as later ones of Rome Germany Spain France England and many others Let our Authors own profound Learning rise up in judgment in this case against himself since it is plain that his vast politick knowledge sprang up bloom'd brought forth fruit withered and decayed and all under a Monarchical Government For whether we consider him in the days of King Charles the I st or under Oliver or at Rome or since his present Majesties happy Restoration he hath still sucked in a Monarchical Air. I do not hear that all was effected at Geneva though most probably the first sowre Grapes came from thence which have set his teeth on edge ever since Merch. Indeed I think so sober a politician might have spared such a little malicious remark But to go on he tells us p. 45. That Rome was the best and most glorious Government that the Sun ever saw Trav. Our Statesman hath coupled best and glorious together as Poulterers use to do a lean and a fat Rabbit that one may help off with the other But his vulgar cheat must not pass For glorious we will admit of that Epithete and good Authors give us the reason how it came to be so which is not much to our purpose But for best we must examine that a little farther I could cite many Authorities to prove that the Roman Commonwealth was one of the worst Governments that ever subsisted so long But because I would speak somewhat to our noble Venetian who ought to have read his own Authors concerning Government at home before he came to judge of another abroad I will refer him for full satisfaction in this point to the Discorsi politici of Paulus Paruta a Nobleman and Senator of Venice and Procurator of Saint Marco Who in his first discourse comparing several Antient Commonwealths with that of Venice when he comes to Rome he tells us plainly That the Sun never saw a more confused State That it was really no regular government at all and that its chief default proceeded from the exorbitant power of the people Whence Tacitus calls it lib. 3. Corruptissima Respublica Now Sir if this noble Senator who also had been Ambassador abroad understood any thing of Government as I believe he did even more than the English Gent. Young Venetian and learned Doctor put all together then we must conclude that our Author is mistaken But since it is not the first time we will put it to account Mer. Well Sir he saith next p. 52. That Moses Theseus and Romulus were founders of Democracies What say you to that Trav. If I mistake not he tells us the same thing in p. 28. 32 69. In some of which he calls their Democracy in plain English a Common-wealth For Moses I have already prov'd his authority to have been Independent even in the highest measure upon any but God and that in the exercise none ever us'd it more arbitrarily witness the severe punishments against the Idolaters when he came down from Mount Sinai Where without any farther Ceremonies or legal trial he call'd the Sons of Levi to him and said Put every man his sword by his side and go in from gate to gate throughout the Camp and slay every man his brother and every man his companion and every man his neighbour And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses and there fell of the people that day about 3000. men Many other instances there are of his Despotical power besides the Text saith in plain words that Moses was King in Jeshurun For the calling together the Congregation of the Lord by sound of Trumpet all men who ever read the Bible know that it was generally to tell them some message from God reproach them for their misdeeds exhort them to amendment and such like But I am confident they never did any one act which proceeded from a right of power while Moses liv'd Nay on the contrary when the Seditious Princes Corah Datban and Abiram as also Aaron and Miriam murmured against Moses's Soveraign authority being desirous to have shar'd with him in the Government we find that God punished their Sedition most severely and the two last escaped the Justice of Gods sentence only through the great intercession of Moses Who knows not that his Praesecti Jethroniani were only subordinate Judges appointed by his own order and for his own ease All which besides the common consent of learned men makes it clear that Moses held the Supreme Civil power wholly in himself call him King or Captain or what you please Next Theseus being own'd after his long Travels by his father Aegeus found Attica Tributary to Minos King of Candia and the Kingdom divided in it self into several little Burgs which set up for so many particular several Governments Theseus therefore being a discreet Prince endeavour'd to reduce them to their former obedience by peaceable means To that purpose
away the Kings Prerogative in the Affirmative Yet notwithstanding this and ten times more that may be said to this purpose our King is advised and perswaded nay almost necessitated as our Author would have it not only to quit some One of his Prerogatives but to make short work to release and give them up all at once In the next place let us consider Plato's excellent new model it self and here like a wise Politician he hath made Three co-ordinate powers in being at the same time that is to say King Lords and Commons I confess for the King he says little of him and with great reason for indeed he signifies nothing more than a Cypher which as in Arithmetick is only to make the Commons more valuable But to do our Author right he hath yet a farther use to make of this his otherwise useless Prince that is to say whilest neither his own Right nor his Power nor our Laws can secure himself his Name nevertheless is to preserve these his Masters With that they hope to prevent all opposition and civil wars at home For should they forceably depose him they justly apprehend that his Loyal Subjects in England would endeavour to revenge such an insupportable wrong Nor can they believe that the Kingdoms of Scotland and Ireland would again tamely submit their Necks to the servile yoke of a few ambitious English Commoners or that foreign Princes themselves would even for their own securities sake quietly and unconcern'd countenance this horrid injustice and outrage done to the sacred dignity of Kings But if they can perswade his Majesty willingly to depose himself and at the same time disinherit his Heirs and Successors they imagine that none can pretend to disapprove much less blame or impute to them the volunry act of a King For as Volenti non fit injuria and by consequence no offence in them so they will certainly reserve to themselves the honour of punishing in the King as their master-piece and last act of justice the Treason which he shall have committed against himself To facilitate all this our Author hath taken from his Majesty his Militia and his Revenue that is men and monâ—y which are the strength and sinews of Power and in the Commoners he hath plac'd the Royal authority of Calling Proroguing and Dissolving themselves And left the King in this miserable condition should have yet any hopes left even of securing his own Person he hath taken from him the power of making his own Officers and bestowing those imployments which have always depended upon the Regal authority Nay the Lords themselves are no more to receive their Honours from the Fountain of all Honour but must lick the dust from the shooes of their once obsequious vassals So our poor Master having nothing now to give must lose the hopes even of a grateful friend who in his extremity might at least wish him well and speak a good word for him to his insolent Governours Mer. But Sir our Author leaves most of these things in the disposition of the Parliament by which he tells us that he ever understood the King Lords and Commons so that neither his Militia nor Revenue can be said to be so absolutely taken from himself as granted to the Parliament in general of which he is still to be the head Trav. Ah Cousin there is deadly poison in this his varnished treacherous Cup and you will easily perceive it when you consider Plato cares not so much that the Militia should be in the power of the Commons as out of the King For whilest the King cannot dispose of it without the consent of his Lower House judge you whether they will ever agree to the raising any force which they shall not themselves command If then any difference arise upon that or any other point which unavoidably and designedly will happen then are the Commoners become immediately masters of all For what can the King do though joyn'd with the House of Lords without a right of command or force against a multitude and that so unequal too that if the House of Commons in Parliament represent the whole Nation as they pretend they do then are they at least ten thousand men against one though all the Nobility be included with the King The necessary consequence of all this must be that if on the one hand the King and Lords agree with the Commons in all things then the Commons govern more absolutely than if there were neither the one nor the other because there is no pretence against them On the other hand if they in any thing differ from the Commons then undoubtedly the disagreeing Lords as formerly shall be turned out of doors the King set aside and the Votes made by the House of Commons Jan. 4. 1648 revived and confirmed which being very short but plain I shall here repeat First That the people under God are the original of all just power Secondly That the Commons of England assembled in Parliament being chosen by and representing the people have the Supreme Authority of this Nation Thirdly That whatever is enacted and declared for Law by the Commons of England assembled in Parliament hath the force of a Law Fourthly That all the people of this Nation are included thereby although the consent and concurrence of the King and House of Peers be not had thereunto What think you now Cousin of these four Votes even whilst the King and Lords were yet in being Do they not look as if they designed a Commonwealth or rather to establish an arbitrary Tyrannical power in the House of Commons and yet their propositions all along to the King were the same which Plato hath again offered us that is leaving the Militia the publick revenue nomination of officers and such like to the Parliament by which was always meant King Lords and Commons This is the politick web which our Author pretends to have spun out of his own shallow brains and indeed it is so very wondrous thin that if our present Statesmen could not with half an eye see through it I should be apt to agree with our Author p. 22. that they ought in conscience to excuse themselves from that sublime imployment and betake themselves to callings more suitable to their capacities as Shoomakers Tailors and such other mechanick professions Merch. Sir the Sun at noon day is never more clear than that he designs at best a Commonwealth And indeed where three co-ordinate powers are in being at the same time it is impossible they should continue long in that state but some one or two must certainly in time over balance and get the advantage of the other I think Lucan confirmed this long ago when he said Nulla fides regni sociis omnisque potestas Impatiens consortis erit And the King having neither power strength money nor officers it is ten thousand to one as you observe on the Commons side who are actually possessed of all Pray therefore proceed