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
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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
were to protect them not only in all Law Suits but in what other occurrences might happen to them The Plebeians also were styled Clientes or their Clients who besides the Protection of their Patrons received also Lands from them under certain conditions which remained many years inviolable for example in case the Patron should be taken by the Enemy the Client was to contribute towards his Ransome as also towards the advancement of their Daughters in their Marriages they were not to inform or give testimony against their Patrons or if they did they were accursed and condemned as Traitors Diis inferis devovebantur proditionis erant rei besides many other obsequious duties and respects so we read that Appiuâ— Claudius gave Lands to his Clients even in the very Infancy of the Roman Government Nor was this jus tutelare personal only but it was also Gentilitium that is it extended it self into whole families as for instance some of them with their whole Generation were Clients under the protection of the Aemilian some under the Julian and others under the Claudian Families This constitution was of great use to the Common-wealth for the credit which the Patricii had with their Clients was sufficient oftentimes to appease their popular disturbances who yielding either to the Authority or Entreaties of their Patrons were brought to acquiesce though with some little prejudice to their own right and this continued many Ages until the ambition of the Tribunes interrupted this good correspondence between the Princes and the People and so honourable did the name of Client grow that many States and Governments who have voluntarily committed themselves to the fidelity or protection of the Romans did not disdain that Title Thus we see the Lands even within the narrow compass of the first Roman Monarchy divided amongst the Princes and the People which Lands so given to the latter were called Clientela's and accordingly we may observe under Servius Tullius their sixth King a Register of their particular Estates Regis solertia ita est ordinata respublica ut omnia Patrimonii dignitatis aetatis artium officiorumque discrimina in tabulas referrentur Flor. c. 6. So we read of the Confiscation of the particular lands of Tarquinius superbus and yet Romulus and his successors were as absolute Monarchs as any of the Caesars have been and Julius Caesar himself by Will deviseth part of his own private estate to the Romans Thus was property or the possession of Lands divided amongst the people during the first Roman Monarchy thus it continued under the Roman as well as Graecian Empire thus it remains at present in the German Empire and thus it is established in all the most Christian Monarchies upon earth and not to forget our own Country I must observe out of a learned Author that our ancient British Kings who were as absolute as any made distribution also of their Land amongst their Subjects after this manner one paâ—t they gave to the Archflamens to pray for the Kings and their posterity a second part to the Nobility to do them Knights service a third to the Husbandmen to hold of them in Sâ—â—â—age and a fourth to the Mechanicks to hold in Bâ—rgage l. MS. Hâ—st Brit. And yet Plato Red. dares obtrude this proposition upon us p. 40. That in all states if the King had no Companions in the Soveraign Power he had no sharers likewise in the Dominion or possession of the Lands But for further satisfaction let us consider the Government of Gods people or the Kingdom of the Jews I think all will agree that the Hebrews were proprietors of their Lands and held them upon as good a Title as the people of England do theirs even at this day We find in that History a particular account of the distribution of the Lands according to their Tribes who were at that time under a Monarchical Government whether we look upon God Almighty as their King who according to Grotius Hobbs Junius Brutus and all good Authors was Rex peculiaris Israelitarum or as Brutus tells us De jure Mag. p. 226. Ab initio Deus ipse aternus ejus Monarcha fuit non eo tantum nomine quod ipse rerum omnium supremum dominium obtinuit sed singulari quodam modo nempe c. Or whether under their High Priest who was Gods vicegerent except when he raised them up a Judge We hear of no Tenures or services amongst them other than such as all Subjects upon earth are oblig'd to perform for the honour of the King and publick safety It is plain from the story of Ahab in the case of Naboth's vineyard that Naboth had a clear right and property in the possession of his lands and that their Kings had no authority in their private capacities to force any Subject so much as to sell his land upon reasonable conditions Yet nevertheless neither the Kings of Persia nor of Egypt nor of any part of the East were more absolute than the Kings of Israel were and yet none had a less proportion in the possession of the lands Mer. Sir I shall grant you all except this That the Kings of Israel were absolute which I can hardly believe especially since our Author tells us the contrary and instances in the Sanhedrim the Assembly of the Tribes and Congregation of the Lord who all had a share in the Government as they had in the property Trav. I confess several zealous Commonwealths men have asserted this false doctrine and amongst others their old Coryphaeus Junius Brutus But I find no colour of pretence for this their assertion but we will examine the case as fully as this occasion will permit and refer you afterwards to what I have writ more at large concerning this point elsewhere And first it is necessary that we should agree what we mean by an absolute Monarch which is indeed a point rather controverted than clearly decided by any Author that I have yet met withal Sallust thinks it consists in an exemption from all humane jurisdiction Impune quidvis facere hoc est Regem esse Others that to be absolute a Prince ought to govern peremptorily according to his will So Juvenal Sic volo sic jubeo stat pro ratione voluntas A third sort have declar'd that King truly absolute who giving Laws to others is subject to none himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to command without being oblig'd to give a reason why or wherefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Aeschylus saith and again Rex est suo utens jure nulli obnoxius Hobbs will have it consist in the subjection of our wills to that of the Prince Homo ille vel concilium illud cujus voluntati singuli suam voluntatem subjecerunt summam potestatem sive summum imperium sive dominium habere dicitur Grotius whose opinion I must always esteem very much tells us that the most absolute or highest power is of that Prince whose actions are not accountable
At superior cogere potest etiam ad illa quae quaelibet virtus praecipit quia in jure proprio Superioris quâ superior est hoc est comprehensum We find even in the Common-wealth of Holland so much envied and applauded by Men who are given to change that in the late Wars with England and France they taxed Mens Purses with such heavy Contributions that they were almost as much dissatisfied with their Governours at home as afraid of their Enemies abroad and all this was done much against the Wills of almost every particular Subject Nay more I have heard say That their Fond or Principal the greatest part of their Estates for want of Land consisting in Money is so involv'd in the great Bank that they can never retrieve their Principal again But their Estates being wholly at the Dispose of the Government when that falls they perish I confess I do not know of any Christian Kingdom where a more arbitrary power is exercis'd But it is it seems necessary for their affairs that it should be so Yet nevertheless it is no rule for our imitation their circumstances being extremely different from ours Mer. I perceive you will not be perswaded to let us enjoy our properties and our share in the government together notwithstanding our author assures us that we will and must have it But pray Sir setting aside your reasons why you have taken from us our shares which indeed at present I know not how to confute let me prevail with you to be rul'd in this matter by examples of other great Kingdoms And you know Plato Redivivus tells us for certain that those Kings who had no companions in the Soveraign power had no sharers likewise in the Dominion or possession of the land But if the Senate or people or both did share the land they shar'd also in the Administration of the Soveraignty And pray why should we who enjoy no small possessions be excluded Trav. Cousin under-favour your Plato redivivus is a most impudent Ghost For provided it serves his turn he makes no Conscience of advancing downright falshood for undeniable matter of fact which will appear more fully hereafter We will begin with the Scythians who contending with the Egyptians for antiquity have been thought the first people which inhabited the earth after the sloud The people were not known in History before their Kings whose power also was arbitrary So sure it is that the first known Governments upon earth were Monarchical Principio rerum gentium nationumque Imperium penes Reges erat says Justin And immediately after Populus nullis legibus tenebatur arbitria Principum pro legibus erant And yet we find the ground so common to all that every man was as much Proprietor as the King himself Hominibus inter se nulli sines neque enim agrum exercent nec domus illis ulla armenta pecora semper pascentibus per incultas solitudines errare solitis Every man had a propriety to as much ground as was necessary for himself and his cattle which also he chose as he thought most convenient Yet so far were the people from pretending any share in the Government that no Kings were more absolute than the Scythians nor did any enjoy their Government longer And if we follow them into the upper Asia which they totally conquer'd we do not find their Kings pretending to one foot of the land Mer. What good then did their conquest do them if they did not enjoy the possessions of the conquered Trav. They made the same use of it as all Conquerors generally have done that is to say leaving the lands to their proper owners they only exacted a Tribute which was gathered amongst themselves Yet nevertheless contrary to our Author's Proposition they always retain'd the Empire or Government over them and that for no less time than 1500 years Asiam perdomitam vectigalem fecere modico tributo magis in titulum imperii quam victoriae praemium imposito His igitur Asia per mille quingentos annos vectigalis fuit Pendendi tributi finem Ninus Rex Assyriorum imposuit Ninus then was the first who freed the Assyrians from their Tribute and the Scythian Empire Nor do we read that he enslaved them more under his own But leaving them their possessions entire yet preserving always the Supreme right of Government required only such Contributions as himself thought necessary After the Assyrian Empire that of the Medes began But no alteration can I find in the Property of the lands On the contrary we read that the Persians became only Tributary to the Medes Sed civitates quae Medorum tributariae fuerant mutato imperio conditionem suam mutatam arbitrantes à Cyro defecerunt That Those Persian Cities which were tributary to the Medes under Astyages revolted from Cyrus But to leave no dispute in the case Xenophon in his Cyri Inst l. 4. tells us in plain words that Cyrus bid the Assyrians be of good heart that their condition should be no ways altered but in the change of their King That they should enjoy their houses and their lands as formerly they did and have the same right over their wives and children Cyrus victos Assyrios jubebat bono esse animo eandem ipsorum sortem fore quae fuerat mutato tantum Rege Mansuras ipsis domos agros jus in uxores in liberos ut fuisset hactenus This I think shews most clearly that the people enjoy'd the Property in their lands not only under the Medes but the Persians also And yet they were so far from sharing any part of the Government that all men agree no Princes to have been more absolute than the Medes and Persians Now if this be true as sure it is for Xenophon was a very good Judge who wrote particularly the History of Cyrus what an ignorant or what an impudent Author is Plato Redivivus who boldly affirms p. 52. that Cyrus by name and other conquering Monarchs before him took all for themselves From Asia let us travel into Egypt and by the way we will take notice of the Government of Sodom and Gomorrha and those five Kingdoms which we read in Scripture to have been subject to Senacherib King of Assyria for twelve years But we do not find that either before or after their defection the King of Assyria had any right to their lands but only a tribute which they at length refus'd to pay With the History of the Bible Josephus agrees who tells us chap. 10. Eodem tempore cum Imperium Asiae penes Assyrios esset Sodomitarum res tam opibus quam numerosa juventute florebat ut a quinque Regibus administrarentur donec victi ab Assyriis Tributum eis solvebant The Egyptian Kings notwithstanding the conceit of our Author and it may be of some other his Antimonarchical Accomplices were as absolute as any Kings of the East Egyptiorum Reges saith Grotius ut alios Reges Orientis summo imperio
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
so that power which the Roman people pretended to under the Seditious Gracchi and others was the true cause which made the Commonwealth no longer governable under that form Haec ipsa in perniciem redibant misera Respublica in exitium suum merces erat Flor. l. 3. c. 13. But lest all should come to ruine and the conquering Romans be at last overcome by their own victorious arms the arbitrary government of the Roman Emperours was introduc'd as the only remedy for the truly distempered State Non aliud discordantis patriae remedium fuisse quam ut ab uno regeretur Tacit. Ann. 1. But how the Gracchi endeavour'd to prevent this power in the people who stood up so violently for them is a riddle which can be salv'd this only way That in truth though they set on foot the popular pretence of Liberty and Property yet honour and Empire was the true game which they themselves hunted Seditionum omnium causâ—s saith Florus Tribunitia potestas excitavit quae specie quidem Plebis tuendae cujus in auxilium comparata est re autâ—m Dominationem sibi acquirens studium populi ac favorem Agrariis frumentariis Judiciariis legibus aucupabatur Mer. Sir I am apt to believe that our Author means by which in the last place The ruin of the people's Liberty which the Gracchi endeavour'd to prevent Trav. Indeed the sence is somewhat mended but the English is stark nought however we 'l consider it according to your construction the story then is this Tib. Gracchus an ambitious Gentleman and discontented with the Senate for what reason I care not struck in with the people and became their Tribune The first great thing which he undertook in outward appearance for the good of the people but truly for the advancement of his own private designs and Empire which he affected was the establishment of the Agrarian law and restitution of the lands among the people Mer. Pray what was the Agrarian law and land which the people so much desired might be restored Had they any injustice done them or were they forceably taken from them Trav. No sure Sir If there were any injustice in the case it lay in the restoration but you shall be Judge your self When the Romans under the Infancy of their Government had conquer'd any of their neighbours they usually took away some of their lands which were disposed of partly for the support of the State or publick revenue and the other part was distributed among the indigent Citizens and Soldiers especially the Lame Ancient and decrepit and such as had deserved well who were thence called Emeriti or Veterani milites now these Lands remained to them and their heirs upon the payment of some small acknowledgment or performance of some certain Services which were in the Nature of Tenures But in process of time when the Roman Empire and with it luxury encreas'd the common people following the example of their Governours liv'd in great ease and plenty To support which many sold their lands either to the richer Noblemen or to their fellow Citizens as they could find a Chapman Vnde enim Pop. Romanus Agros Cibarios flagitat nisi per samâ—m quam Luxus fecerat hinc ergo Gracchana seditio Flor. l. 3. cap. 12. Mer. Was there no difference between the Lands given to the Citizens and those which were thus bestowed upon the Soldiers Trav. Yes those granted to the Citizens were of the more ancient Institution and called Clientela's which some good Authors believe to have been the original of all Tenures Those given to the Soldiers were called Praeda militaria or stipendiaria and were such lands as had been taken from some conquered Provinces as hath been before declared Those which bordered upon the Skirts of the Enemies Countries were generally granted unto some of their principal Captains and Commanders which became an Inheritance to themselves and posterity upon presumption and Condition that they should and would defend their Prince and Country with the greater courage and fidelity since in effect they secured at the same time their own Estates Hence it is supposed that those Inheritances which we now call Feuds had in process of time their first Institution though the word Feodâ—m was unknown to the ancient Romans And it is further conjectured That from the differences between those Clientela's and these Praeda militaria sprang our ancient Tenures and their several diversities as grand Serjeanty Knights Service Soccage c. Now these Praeda militaria were not in their Original Institution alienable so as the Clientela's were whence as hath been said the Citizens or Clientes took the liberty to sell these lands as their occasions required which lands so sold became as in good reason they ought the inheritance of the purchasers and so descended from father to son for several generations till at last it came into the fancy of Tib. Gracchus to have these lands restor'd again to the people And that he might kill two birds with one stone that is impoverish the Senate or Government which being an Aristocracy he hated and enrich the people whom he seemingly protected he order d that the purchasers or those in whose families these lands were found should be re-imburst out of the publick revenue You may guess what a disturbance this must needs make among the Senators and Noblemen whom it chiefly concern'd and what inconveniences would inevitably happen upon a redistribution of those lands which had been so long consolidated with their own Mer. Nothing methinks could be more unreasonable and unjust Trav. No matter Sir for as I have seen two doors of a room so artificially contriv'd that the shutting of one hath at the same motion open'd the other so generally wheresoever Ambition enters Justice immediately avoids the place and indeed Haud bene conveniunt Gracchus therefore eagerly pursuing Dominion Vt qui die Comitiorum prorogari sibi vellet Imperium puts forward this Agrarian Law with great vehemency Which when his Collegue and another Tribune of the people M. Octavius oppos'd without whose consent nothing could be concluded nor law pass'd most contrary to all Justice and Law too Gracchus by force and violence a thing before unheard of turns him out of his Office Having thus gain'd his point and ready to finish what he had so prosperously begun Scipio Nasica with the most worthy of the Citizens and Nobility cuts him off and for a mark of ignominy flings his carkass into the river Now as the same Laws were promoted by his brother Caius with this difference that he extended his insolence farther deferring the Judgment of cases which had been ever particular to the Senate to the people and introducing the antiquated Licinian Law by which no Citizen was to possess above 500. acres of land within the Domicilium Imperii so the same fate attended him and that even with the consent of the people for whose sake he seem'd to have pursu'd this