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A67148 Monarchy asserted, or, The state of monarchicall & popular government in vindication of the consideration upon Mr. Harrington's Oceana / by M. Wren. Wren, M. (Matthew), 1629-1672. 1659 (1659) Wing W3677; ESTC R27081 99,610 206

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of Wealth having put off the Sobriety and Moderation of their Predecessors and addicted themselves to Avarice and Luxurie or as Thucydides expresses it Their desire of Mony being improved with their Power governed their People with all manner of Insolence and Oppression But most of the Tyrannies were then at that time first erected for the old Monarchies having by the failing of the Royall Arist Polit. lib. 3. cap. 14. lib. 5. cap. 5. Lines or by the remisseness of the Princes been changed into Commonwealths the Supream Power was afterward usurped by such Persons who having no just Claime were forced to secure themselves by Violent and Tyrannicall Courses Last of all Because Thucydides comparing only the Actions of the old Graecians with those He is about to describe gives the Advantage to the latter calling the other the Imbecillity of Antient Times He would therefore have it thought that the Considerer has made an unlucky choise of Thucydides his Testimony But it is easy for Me to convince him that though I had on my side no other Testimony which by the way is untrue the matter being attested by all the Greek Histories of those remote Ages but this of Thucydides I were upon Terms secure enough For first Thucydides mentions this Imbecillity only in reference to the times before the Trojan War and not the whole time that Greece was governed by Hereditary Monarchs And then again this Imbecillity is no diminution of the Antiquity of that Government which was the sole thing at that time in Debate between Us nor yet any Imputation to the Prudence of it For it is not to be understood of any Morall or Politicall Imbecillity radicated in the Nature of that Government but of a Naturall one equally attending the Infancy of all Governments Arms Shipping Mony and the other Provision by which a Nation frees it self from this Imbecillity being not originall or essentiall Members of any Government but like Haire the Productions of Age and Grouth I could not at a less Expence of Time and Pains satisfie my Promise to consider these Passages of Thucydides To some Readers it will not possibly be unacceptable to have been rescued from an Erroneous Apprehension of of that excellent Author For my own part I gain by it the satisfaction of observing that I am not the only Person who suffer by Mr Harrington CHAP. IV. Whether the Ballance of Empire be well divided into Nationall and Provinciall And whether these two or Nations that are of distinct Ballance coming to depend upon one and the same Head such a mixture create a New Ballance TO make recompence for the length of the last Chapter this shall be a very short one The Question was put by the Considerer Whether there may not be a Mixture of the Nationall and Provinciall Ballance so that the severall Parts of an Empire may come to poise one another and by that produce a New Ballance To this Mr Harrington gives a Solution in the H. p. 22. Negative by saying that No one Government whatsoever hath any more then One of two Ballances That of Land which is Nationall or that of Arms which is Provinciall I might without Prejudice to my Cause abstain from any further Discussion of this Question for coming just now from digging up the Roots of the Doctrine of the Ballance these Branches of it must of themselves wither and fall off Yet to show that I did not at first without Reason propose the Question this shall be added in Explication of it There is scarse any one of the Considerable Dominions of Europe which is not like a rich Fur composed of Tips of Sables made up of severall Pieces Spain consists of the Crowns of Castile Arragon Navarre and Granada besides divers Kingdomes Islands and Provinces in distant Parts of the World France though it looks like an entire Piece is constituted by severall Provinces which have by various Occasions come to be united in that Potent Kingdome In Spain the power of the Castilian Kings was more absolute then that of the Aragonese In France some of the Provinces retain Priviledges not injoyed by the rest as the Liberty of Assembling their particular Estates and the like The Considerer to prove the Mixture of the Ballance made Instance in the Kingdome of Arragon where since the Union with Castile the Regall Power is very much advanced And yet without reducing it to a Provinciall Ballance seeing Arragon is still as to the maine governed by their own Lawes and by their own Officers and not by an Army This Instance is rejected by Mr Harrington because the Ballance both in Castile and Aragon being that of a Nobility They both saies He continue Nationall I am desirous of giving him all faire Satisfaction and therefore am Content to lay aside this Instance and instead of it fix upon One in France which is not liable to the same Objection And this shall be the Imperiall Cities of Metz Thoul and Verdun These Cities were free Members of the Empire governed in the way of a Republique by their own Citizens as Strasbourg and other Imperiall Cities are at this day and by Consequence their Ballance must necessarily have been Popular They were somewhat more then an hundred yeares agoe surprized by the French who have since incorporated them into the Crown the Ballance of which is by a Nobility And the last King of France erected a Parliament there after the manner of the other Members of that Crown Now I am to demand of Mr Harrington Whether the Ballance in these Cities be changed from Popular to that by a Nobility If He affirms it to be changed We shall not be obliged to believe him unless He brings Proofs strong enough to overthrow the Vehement Presumption that We may have for the Contrary by observing that these Cities continue still to be of great Traffique which must of Necessity keep the Wealth in the People's hands If He replies that the Ballance of them is Provinciall It will be very difficult to apprehend the Truth of that Answer seeing the Inhabitants of them injoy all the Privileges of French Subjects and are governed by the same Lawes and the same Forme of Administration of Justice with the rest of France T is true indeed they live under the Power of a Governour but in that They differ not from Picardie Champagne Languedoc and all other Parts of that Kingdome whose Ballance notwithstanding is not therefore Provinciall Nor can it be denied that they have a Garrison upon them but in this their Case is the same with all the Frontire Towns in France which are secured with Garrisons not so much out of Jealousie of the People as of a Forreign Enemy If then the Ballance of these Cities can neither be said to be the Nationall One of the Crown they live under nor yet Provinciall I had Reason to put the Question Whether there might not be a Mixture of the Nationall and Provinciall Ballance