of Helmets open at either ear to give passage to the hands of the Ballotants and flanting with noble Plumes to direct the March of the People Wherfore he proceded to 10. Order THE tenth ORDER requiring of the Deputys of the Parishes That upon every Monday next ensuing the last of February they make their personal appearance Horse and Foot in Arms accordingly at the Rendevouz of the Tribe where being in Disciplin the Horse upon the right and the Foot upon the left before the Pavilion and having made Oath by holding up their hands upon the tender of it by the Lord High Sheriff to make Election without favour and of such only as they shall judg fittest for the Commonwealth The Conductor shall take three Balls the one inscrib'd with these words outward Files another with these words inward Files and the third with these middle Files which Balls he shall cast into a little Vrn and present it to the Lord High Sheriff who drawing one shall give the words of Command as they are therupon inscrib'd and the Ballot shall begin accordingly For example if the Ball be inscrib'd middle Files the Ballot shall begin by the middle that is the two Files that are middle to the Horse shall draw out first to the Horse Vrn and the two Files that are middle to the Foot shall draw out first to the Foot Vrn and be follow'd by all the rest of the Files as they are next to them in order The like shall be don by the inward or by the outward Files in case they be first call'd And the Files as every Man has drawn his Ball if it be Silver shall begin at the Vrn to countermarch to their places but he that has drawn a Gold Ball at a side Vrn shall procede to the middle Vrn where if the Ball he draws be Silver he also shall countermarch But if it be Gold he shall take his place upon a form set cross the Pavilion with his face toward the Lord High Sheriff who shall be seated in the middle of the Pavilion with certain Clercs by him one of which shall write down the names of every Elector that is of every one that drew a Gold Ball at the middle Vrn and in the Order his Ball was drawn till the Electors amount to six in number And the first six Electors Horse and Foot promiscuously are the first Order of Electors the second six still accounting them as they are drawn the second Order the third six the third Order and the fourth six the fourth Order of Electors every Elector having place in his order according to the order wherin he was drawn But so soon as the first Order of Electors is complete the Lord High Sheriff shall send them with a Copy of the following List and a Clerc that understands the Ballot immediately to a little Tent standing before the Pavilion in his ey to which no other Person but themselves during the Election shall approach The List shall be witten in this manner Anno Domini The List of the Prime Magnitude or first days Election of Magistrats Institution of the Prime Magnitude 1. The Lord High Sheriff Commander in Chief of the Tribe of Nubia containing at this present Muster 700 Horse and 1500 Foot in all 2200 Deputys 2. Lord Lieutenant 3. Lord Custos Rotulorum Mustermaster General 4. The Conductor being Quartermaster General 5. The first Censor 6. The second Censor AND the Electors of the first hand or order being six shall each of them name to his respective Magistracy in the left such as are not already elected in the Hundreds till one Competitor be chosen to every Magistracy in the List by the Ballot of the Electors of the first Order which don the List with the Competitors therunto annex'd shall be return'd to the Lord High Sheriff by the Clerc attending that Order but the Electors shall keep their places for they have already given their Suffrage and may not enter into the Ballot of the Tribe If there arises any Dispute in an Order of Electors one of the Censors or Subcensors appointed by them in case they be Electors shall enter into the Tent of that Order and that Order shall stand to his Judgment in the decision of the Controversy The like shall be don exactly by each other Order of Electors being sent as they are drawn each with another Copy of the same List into a distinct Tent till there be return'd to the Lord High Sheriff four Competitors to every Magistracy in the List that is to say one Competitor elected to every Office in every one of the four Orders which Competitors the Lord High Sheriff shall cause to be pronounc'd or read by a Cryer to the Congregation and the Congregation having heard the whole Lists repeated the Names shall be put by the Lord High Sheriff to the Tribe one by one beginning with the first Competitor in the first Order thence proceding to the first Competitor in the second Order and so to the first in the third and fourth Orders And the Suffrages being taken in boxes by boys as has bin already shewn shall be pour'd into the Bowls standing before the Censors who shall be seated at each end of the Table in the Pavilion the one numbring the Affirmatives and the other the Negatives and he of the four Competitors to the first Magistracy that has most above half the Suffrages of the Tribe in the Affirmative is the first Magistrat The like is to be don successively by the rest of the Competitors in their order But because soon after the Boxes are sent out for the first name there be others sent out for the second and so for the third c. by which means divers names are successively at one and the same time in ballotting the Boy that carrys a Box shall sing or repeat continually the name of the Competitor for whom that Box is carrying with that also of the Magistracy to which he is propos'd A Magistrat of the Tribe happening to be an Elector may substitute any one of his own Order to execute his other Function The Magistrats of the Prime Magnitude being thus elected shall receive the present Charge of the Tribe IF it be objected against this Order that the Magistrats to be elected by it will be Men of more inferior rank than those of the Hundreds in regard that those are chosen first it may be remember'd that so were the Burgesses in the former Government nevertheless the Knights of the Shire were Men of greater quality And the Election at the Hundred is made by a Council of Electors of whom less cannot be expected than the discretion of naming Persons fittest for those Capacitys with an ey upon these to be elected at the Tribe As for what may be objected in point of Difficulty it is demonstrable by the foregoing Orders that a Man might bring ten thousand Men if there were occasion with as much ease and as suddenly to
extraordinary gives at once the Commission and takes security in a balance added to the Council of War tho securer before by the Tribuns of the People than that of Venice which yet never incur'd Jealousy For if the younger Nobility have bin often girding at it that happen'd not so much thro the apprehension of danger in it to the Commonwealth as thro the aw of it upon themselves Wherfore the Graver have doubtlesly shewn their Prudence in the Law wherby the Magistracy of these Counsillors being to last till their Successors be created the Council is establish'd THE Instructions of the Councils for their matter being shewn it remains that I shew the Instructions for the manner of their proceding as they follow in 20. Order Instructions for the Councils as to their manner of Proceding THE twentieth ORDER containing the Method of Debates to be observ'd by the Magistrats and the Councils successively in order to a Decree of the Senat. THE Magistrats of the Signory as Counsillors of this Commonwealth shall take into their consideration all matters of State or of Government and having right to propose in any Council may any one or more of them propose what business he or they please in that Council to which it most properly belongs And that the Councils may be held to their duty the said Magistrats are superintendents and inspectors of the same with right to propose to the Senat. THE Censors have equal Power with these Magistrats but in relation to the Council of Religion only ANY two of the three Provosts in every Council may propose to and are the more peculiar Proposers of the same Council to the end that there be not only an inspection and superintendency of business in general but that every work be also committed to a peculiar hand ANY one or more of the Magistrats or any two of the Provosts respectively having propos'd the Council shall debate the business so propos'd to which they of the third Region that are willing shall speak first in their order they of the second next and they of the first last and the opinions of those that propos'd or spoke as they shall be thought the most considerable by the Council shall be taken by the Secretary of the same in writing and each of them sign'd with the name of the Author THE Opinions being thus prepar'd any Magistrat of the Signory the Censor or any two of the Provosts of that Council upon this occasion may assemble the Senat. THE Senat being assembled the Opinions for example if they be four shall be read in their Order that is according to the Order or Dignity of the Magistrats or Counsillors by which they were sign'd And being read if any of the Council introducing them will speak they as best acquainted with the business shall have precedence and after them the Senators shall speak according to their Regions beginning by the third first and so continuing till every man that will has spoken and when the Opinions have bin sufficiently debated they shall be put all together to the Ballot after this manner FOVR Secretarys carrying each of them one of the Opinions in one hand with a white Box in the other and â—ach following the other according to the order of the Opinions shall present his Box naming the Author of his Opinion to every Senator and one Secretary or Ballotin with a green Box shall follow the four white ones and one Secretary or Ballotin with a red Box shall follow the green one and every Senator shall put one Ball into som one of these six boxes The Suffrage being gather'd and open'd before the Signory if the red Box or Nonsincere had above half the Suffrages the Opinions shall he all cast out for the major part of the House is not clear in the business If no one of the four Opinions had above half the Suffrages in the Affirmative that which had fewest shall be cast out and the other three shall be balloted again If no one of the three had above half that which had fewest shall be cast out and the other two shall ballot again If neither of the two had above half that which had fewest shall be cast out and the remaining Opinion shall be balloted again And if the remaining Opinion has not above half it shall also be cast out But the first of the Opinions that arrives at most above half in the Affirmative is the Decree of the Senat. The Opinions being all of them cast out by the Nonsincere may be review'd if occasion permits by the Council and brought in again If they be cast out by the Negative the case being of advice only the House approves not and there is an end of it the case being necessary and admitting delay the Council is to think again upon the business and to bring in new Opinions but the Case being necessary and not admitting delay the Senat immediatly electing the Juncta shall create the Dictator * Et videat Dictator ne quid Respub detrimenti capiat And let the Dictator as the Roman saying is take care that the Commonwealth receives no harm THIS in case the Debate concludes not in a Decree But if a Decree be past it is either in matter of State or Government according to Law enacted already and then it is good without going any further or it is in matter of Law to be enacted repeal'd or amended and then the Decree of the Senat especially if it be for a War or for a Levy of Men or Mony is invalid without the result of the Commonwealth which is in the Prerogative Tribe or Representative of the People THE Senat having prepar'd a Decree to be propos'd to the People shall appoint their Proposers and no other may propose for the Senat to the People but the Magistrats of the House that is to say the three Commissioners of the Seal or any two of them the three of the Treasury or any two of them or the two Censors THE Senat having appointed their Proposers shall require of the Tribuns a muster of the People at a set time and place and the Tribuns or any two of them having muster'd the People accordingly the Proposers shall propose the Sense or Decree of the Senat by clauses to the People And that which is propos'd by the Authority of the Senat and resolv'd by the Command of the People is the Law of Oceana TO this Order implicitly containing the sum very near of the whole Civil part of the Commonwealth my Lord ARCHON spoke thus in Council My Dear Lords THERE is a Saying That a man must cut his Coat according to his Cloth When I consider what God has allow'd or furnish'd to our present work I am amaz'd You would have a popular Government he has weigh'd it to you in the present balance as I may say to a dram you have no more to do but to fix it For the Superstructures of such a Government they
better Proveditor than the Venetian another Strategus sitting with an Army standing by him wherupon that which is marching if there were any probability it should would find as little possibility that it could recoil as a foren Enemy to invade you These things consider'd a War will appear to be of a contrary nature to that of all other reckonings inasmuch as of this you must never look to have a good account if you be strict in imposing checks Let a Council of Huntsmen assembl'd beforehand tell you which way the Stag shall run where you shall cast about at the fault and how you shall ride to be in at the chase all the day but these may as well do that as a Council of War direct a General The hours that have painted wings and of different colors are his Council he must be like the Ey that makes not the Scene but has it so soon as it changes That in many Counsillors there is strength is spoken of Civil Administrations as to those that are military there is nothing more certain than that in many Counsillors there is weakness Joint Commissions in military affairs are like hunting your Hounds in their Couples In the Attic War CLEOMENES and DEMARATUS Kings of Lacedemon being thus coupl'd tug'd one against another and while they should have join'd against the Persian were the cause of the common calamity wherupon that Commonwealth took better Counsil and made a Law wherby from thenceforth there went at once but one of her Kings to Battel THE Fidenati being in rebellion and having slain the Colony of the Romans four Tribuns with Consular Power were created by the People of Rome wherof one being left for the guard of the City the other three were sent against the Fidenati who thro the division that happen'd among them brought nothing home but Dishonor wherupon the Romans created the Dictator and LIVY gives his Judgment in these words * * Tres Tribuni potestate Consulari documento fuêre quà m plurium imperium bello inutile esset tendendo ad sua quisque consilia cum alii aliud videretur aperuerunt ad occasionem locum hosti The three Tribuns with Consular Power were a lesson how useless in War is the joint Command of several Generals for each following his own Counsils while they all differ'd in their opinions gave by this opportunity an advantage to the Enemy When the Consuls QUINTIUS and AGRIPPA were sent against the AEQUI AGRIPPA for this reason refus'd to go with his Collegue saying * * Saluberrimum in administratione magnarum rerum summam imperii apud unum esse That in the administration of great Actions it was most safe that the chief Command should be lodg'd in one Person And if the Ruin of modern Armys were well consider'd most of it would be found to have faln upon this point it being in this case far safer to trust to any one Man of common Prudence than to any two or more together of the greatest Parts The Consuls indeed being equal in Power while one was present with the Senat and the other in the Field with the Army made a good Balance and this with us is exactly follow'd by the Election of a new Strategus upon the march of the old one THE seven and twentieth Order wherby the Elders in case of Invasion are oblig'd to equal duty with the Youth and each upon their own charge is sutable to Reason for every Man defends his own Estate and to our Copy as in the War with the Samnits and Tuscans ††Senatus justitium indici delectum omnis generis hominum haberi jussit nec ingenui modo juniores Sacramento adacti sunt sed seniorum etiam cohortes factae The Senat order'd a Vacation to be proclaim'd and a Levy to be made of all sorts of Persons And not only the Freemen and Youths were listed but Cohorts of the old Men were likewise form'd This Nation of all others is the least obnoxious to Invasion Oceana says a French Politician is a Beast that cannot be devour'd but by her self nevertheless that Government is not perfect which is not provided at all points and in this ad Triarios res rediit the Elders being such as in a martial State must be Veterans the Commonwealth invaded gathers strength like ANTAEUS by her fall while the whole number of the Elders consisting of five hundred thousand and the Youth of as many being brought up according to the Order give twelve successive Battels each Battel consisting of eighty thousand Men half Elders and half Youth And the Commonwealth whose Constitution can be no stranger to any of those Virtues which are to be acquir'd in human life grows familiar with Death ere she dys If the hand of God be upon her for her Transgressions she shall mourn for her Sins and ly in the dust for her Iniquitys without losing her Manhood Si fractus illabatur orbis Impavidam ferient ruinae THE remaining part being the Constitution of the Provincial Orb is partly Civil or consisting of the Elders and partly Military or consisting of the Youth The Civil part of the provincial Orb is directed by 28. Order Constitution of the Civil part of the Provincial Orb. THE twenty eighth ORDER wherby the Council of a Province being constituted of twelve Knights divided by four into three Regions for their term and revolution conformable to the Parlament is perpetuated by the annual election at the Tropic of four Knights being triennial Magistrats out of the Region of the Senat whose term expires and of one Knight out of the same Region to be Strategus or General of the Province which Magistracy is annual The Strategus or Magistrat thus chosen shall be as well President of the Provincial Council with power to propose to the same as General of the Army The Council for the rest shall elect weekly Provosts having any two of them also right to propose after the manner of the Senatorian Councils of Oceana And wheras all Provincial Councils are Members of the Council of State they may and ought to keep diligent correspondence with the same which is to be don after this manner Any Opinion or Opinions legitimatly propos'd and debated at a Provincial Council being therupon sign'd by the Strategus or any two of the Provosts may be transmitted to the Council of State in Oceana and the Council of State proceding upon the same in their natural course whether by their own Power if it be a matter within their Instructions or by Authority of the Senat therupon consulted if it be a matter of State which is not in their Instructions or by Authority of the Senat and Command of the People if it be a matter of Law as for the Levys of Men or Mony upon common use and safety shall return such Answers Advice or Orders as in any of the ways mention'd shall be determin'd upon the case The Provincial Councils of
such an Example are posted As if for a Christian Commonwealth to make so much use of Israel as the Roman did of Athens whose Laws she transcrib'd were against the Interest of the Clergy which it seems is so hostil to popular Power that to say the Laws of Nature tho they be the Fountains of all Civil Law are not the Civil Law till they be the Civil Law or thus that thou shalt not kill thou shalt not steal tho they be in natural Equity yet were not the Laws of Israel or of England till voted by the People of Israel or the Parlament of England is to assert Consid p. 35 40. the People into the mighty Liberty of being free from the whole moral Law and inasmuch as to be the Adviser or Persuader of a thing is less than to be the Author or Commander of it to put an Indignity upon God himself In which Fopperys the Prevaricator boasting of Principles but minding none first confounds Authority and Command or Power and next forgets that the dignity of the Legislator or which is all one of the Senat succeding to his Office as the Sanhedrim to MOSES is the greatest dignity in a Commonwealth and yet that the Laws or Orders of a Commonwealth derive no otherwise whether from the Legislator as MOSES LYCURGUS SOLON c. or the Senat as those of Israel Lacedemon or Athens than from their Authority receiv'd and confirm'd by the Vote or Command of the People It is true that with Almighty God it is otherwise than with a mortal Legislator but thro another Nature which to him is peculiar from whom as he is the cause of being or the Creator of Mankind Omnipotent Power is inseparable yet so equal is the goodness of this Nature to the greatness therof that as he is the cause of welbeing by way of Election for example in his chosen People Israel or of Redemption as in the Christian Church himself has prefer'd his Authority or Proposition before his Empire What else is the Book I meaning of these words or of this proceding of his Now therfore if ye will obey my Voice indeed and keep my Covenant ye shall be to me a Exod. 19. 5. Kingdom or I will be your King which Proposition being voted by the People in the Affirmative God procedes to propose to them the ten Commandments in so dreadful a manner that the People being excedingly Exod. 20. 19. afrighted say to MOSES Speak thou with us and we will hear thee that is be thou henceforth our Legislator or Proposer and we will resolve accordingly but let not God speak with us lest we dy From whenceforth God proposes to the People no otherwise than by MOSES whom he instructs in this manner These are the Judgments which thou shalt propose or set before them Wherfore it is said of the Deut. 29. 1. Book of Deuteronomy containing the Covenant which the Lord commanded MOSES to make with the Children of Israel in the Land of Moab besides the Covenant which he made with them in Horeb This is Deut. 4. 44. the Law which MOSES set before the Children of Israel Neither did GOD in this case make use of his Omnipotent Power nor CHRIST in the like who also is King after the fame manner in his Church and would have bin in Israel where when to this end he might have muster'd up Legions of Angels and bin victorious with such Armys or Argyraspides as never Prince could shew the like he says no more Matth. 23. 37. than O Jerusalem Jerusalem how often would I have gather'd thee and thy Children as a Hen gathers her Chickens under her wings and ye would not where it is plain that the Jews rejecting CHRIST that he should not reign over them the Law of the Gospel came not to be the Law of the Jews and so if the ten Commandments came to be the Law of Israel it was not only because God propos'd them seeing Christ also propos'd his Law which nevertheless came not to be the Law of the Jews but because the People receiv'd the one and rejected the other It is not in the nature of Religion that it should be thought a profane saying that if the Bible be in England or in any other Government the Law or Religion of the Land it is not only because God has propos'd it but also because the People or Magistrat has receiv'd it or resolv'd upon it otherwise we must set lighter by a Nation or Government than by a privat Person who can have no part nor portion in this Law unless he vote it to himself in his own Conscience without which he remains in the condition he was before and as the Heathen who are a Law to themselves Thus wheras in a Covenant there must be two Partys the Old and New Testament being in sum the Old and New Covenant these are that Authority and Proposition of GOD and CHRIST to which they that refuse their Vote or Result may be under the Empire of a Clergy but are none of his Commonwealth Nor seeing I am gon so far dos this at all imply Freewil but as is admirably observ'd by Mr. HOBBS the freedom of that which naturally precedes Will namely Deliberation or Debate in which as the Scale by the weight of Reason or Passion coms to be turn'd one way or other the Will is caus'd and being caus'd is necessitated When God coms in thus upon the Soul of Man he gives both the Will and the Deed from which like Ossice of the Senat in a Commonwealth that is from the excellency of their Deliberation and Debate which prudently and faithfully unsolded to the People dos also frequently cause and necessitat both the Will and the Deed. GOD himself has said of the Senat that they are Gods an expression tho divine yet not unknown to the Heathens Homo homini Deus one man for the excellency of his Aid may be a God to Chap. 8 another But let the Prevaricator look to it for he that leads the blind out of his way is his Devil FOR the things I have of this kind as also for what I have said upon the words Chirotonia and Ecclesia the Prevaricator is delighted to make me beholden underhand to Mr. HOBBS notwithstanding the open enmity which he says I profess to his Politics As if JOSEPHUS upon that of SAMUEL They have not rejected thee but they have rejected me 1 Sam. 8. 7. that I should not reign over them had not said of the People 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that they unchirotoniz'd or unvoted God of the Kingdom Now if they unchirotoniz'd or unvoted God of the Kingdom then they had chirotoniz'd or voted him to the Kingdom and so not only the Doctrin that God was King in Israel by Compact or Covenant but the use of the word Chirotonia also in the sense I understand it is more antient than Mr. HOBBS I might add that of CAPELLUS
non potest which could not be more confirm'd than by him who in the example of MARIUS shews that the contrary course spoil'd all THE Romans if they had sent a Successor to PUBLILIUS PHILO at Palaepolis it may be might have let the Victory slip out of his hands it may be not however this had bin no greater wound to the Commonwealth than that her Acquisition would have bin slower which ought not to com in competition with the safety of a Government and therfore amounts not to a Dilemma this being a kind of Argument that should not be stub'd of one horn but have each of equal length and danger Nor is it so certain that increase is slower for Rotation seeing neither was this interrupted by that nor that by this as the greatest Actions of Rome the Conquest of Carthage by SCIPIO AFRICANUS of MACEDON by FLAMINIUS and of ANTIOCHUS by ASIATICUS are irrefragable Testimonys I WOULD be loth to spoil the Considerer's preferment but he is not a safe Counsillor for a Prince whose Providence not supplying the defect of Rotation whether in civil or military affairs with somthing of like nature exposes himself if not his Empire as much to danger as a Commonwealth Thus the Sons of ZERVIAH JOAB 2 Sam. 3. 39. Captain of the Host and ABISHAI his Brother were too strong for DAVID thus the Kings of Israel and of Juda fell most of them Book I by their Captains or Favorits as I have elswhere observ'd more particularly Thus BRUTUS being standing Captain of the Guards could cast out TARQUIN thus SEJANUS had means to attemt against TIBERIUS OTHO to be the Rival of GALBA CASPERIUS AELIANUS of NERVA CASSIUS of ANTONINUS PERENNIS of COMMODUS MAXIMINUS of ALEXANDER PHILIPPUS of GORDIAN AEMILIANUS of GALLUS INGEBUS LOLLIANUS AUREOLUS of GALLIENUS MAGNESIUS of CONSTANTIUS MAXIMUS of GRATIAN ARBOGASTES of VALENTINIAN RUFFINUS of ARCADIUS STILICO of HONORIUS Go from the West into the East upon the death of MARCIANUS ASPARIS alone having the command of the Arms could prefer LEO to the Empire PHOCAS deprive MAURITIUS of the same HERACLIUS depose PHOCAS LEO ISAURIUS do as much to THEODOSIUS ADRAMYTTENUS NICEPHORUS to IRENE LEO ARMENIUS to MICHAEL CUROPALATES ROMANUS LAGAPENUS to CONSTANTIN NICEPHORUS PHOCAS to ROMANUS PUER JOHANNES ZISMISCES to NICEPHORUS PHOCAS ISAAC COMNENUS to MICHAEL STRATIOTICUS BOTONIATES to MICHAEL the Son of DUCAS ALEXIUS COMNENUS to BOTONIATES which work continu'd in such manner till the destruction of that Empire Go from the East to the North GUSTAVUS attain'd to the Kingdom of Sweden by his Power and Command of an Army and thus SECECHUS came near to supplant BOLESLAUS the Third of Poland If WALLESTEIN had liv'd what had becom of his Master In France the Race of PHARAMOND was extinguish'd by PIPIN and that of PIPIN in like manner each by the Major of the Palace a standing Magistracy of exorbitant Trust Go to the Indys You shall find a King of Pegu to have bin thrust out of the Realm of Tangu by his Captain General Nay go where you will tho this be pretty well you shall add more than one example But as to the Prevaricator if he was not given to make such mouths as eat up nothing else but his own words I needed not have brought any other Testimony to absolve a Commonwealth of Malice in this order than his own where he Consid p. 47 48. says that when som Person overtops the rest in Commands it is a Disease of Monarchy which easily admits of this cure that he be reduc'd to a less Volum and level'd to an equality with the rest of his Order Now a Prince can no otherwise level a Nobleman that excels the rest thro Command to equality with his Order than by causing those of the same Order to take their turns in like command Good Wits have ill Consid p. 93. Memorys But says he I know not what advantage Mr. HARRINGTON may foresee from the Orders of this Rotation for my part I can discover no other effect of it than this that in a Commonwealth like that of Oceana taking in the Many for in Venice he confesses it to be otherwise where every man will press forward towards Magistracy this Law by taking off at the end of one year som Officers and all at the end of three will keep the Republic in a perpetual Minority No man having time allow'd him to gain that Experience which may serve to lead the Commonwealth to the understanding of her true Interest either at home or abroad WHAT I have confest to be otherwise in Venice I have shewn Chap. 12 already at least so far as concerns the present occasion the causes of that defect being incompatible with a Commonwealth consisting of the Many otherwise why was not the like found in Athens or Rome where tho every man prest forward towards Magistracy yet the Magistrats were for illustrious examples more in weight and number than are to be found in all the rest of the world IF where Elections were the most expos'd to the Ambition of the Competitor and the humors of the People they yet fail'd not to excel all others that were not popular what greater Vindication can there be of the natural integrity of popular Suffrage even at the worst But this where it is given by the Ballot is at the best and free from all that pressing for Magistracy in the Competitor or Faction of the People that can any ways be laid to the former or let the Considerer consider again and tell me by what means either of these in such a State can be dangerous or troublesom or if at worst the Orders for Election in Oceana must not perform that part better than a Croud and a Sherif Well but putting the case the Elections which were not quarrel'd much withal be rightly stated yet this Law for Terms and Vacations by taking off at the end of one year som Officers and all at the end of three will keep the Republic in perpetual Minority no man having time allow'd him to gain that Experience which may serve to lead the Commonwealth to the understanding of her true Interest at home or abroad Because every man will press forward for Magistracy therfore there ought not to be Terms and Vacations lest these should keep the Commonwealth in perpetual Minority I would once see an Argument that might be reduc'd to Mode and Figure The next Objection is that these Orders take off at the end of one year som Officers which is true and that at the end of three years they take off all which is false for wheras the Leaders of the Commonwealth are all triennial the Orders every year take off no more than such only as have finish'd their three years term which is not all but a third part Wherfore let him speak out three years is too short a term for acquiring that knowlege which is necessary to the leading of a Commonwealth To let
Remains that are so much darker it be not so clearly provable And the necessary Prerogative to be given by a Commonwealth to Estates is in som measure in the nature of Industry and the use of it to the Public * Populus Romanus per Classes divisus erat pro Patrimonii facultate censebantur ex iis omnes quibus res erat ad militiam ducebantur diligenter enim pro victoria laborabant qui ex libertate bona patriam desendebant Illi autem quibus nullae opes erant caput suum quod solum possidebâ—nt censebantur belli tempore in moenibus residebant facile enim poterant existere proditores quia egestas haud facile habetur sine damno Hos igitur Marius quibus non fuerat Resp committenda duxit ad bellum The Roman People says JULIUS EXUPERANTIUS were divided into Classes and tax'd according to the value of their Estates All that were worth the Sums appointed were imploy'd in the Wars for they most eagerly contend for the Victory who fight for Liberty in defence of their Country and Possessions But the poorer sort were pol'd only for their Heads which was all they had and kept in Garison at home in time of War For these might betray the Armys for Bread by reason of their Poverty which is the reason that MARIUS to whom the care of the Government ought not to have bin committed was the first that led 'em into the field and his Success was accordingly There is a mean in things as exorbitant Riches overthrow the Balance of a Commonwealth so extreme Poverty cannot hold it nor is by any means to be trusted with it The Clause in the Order concerning the Prodigal is Athenian and a very laudable one for he that could not live upon his Patrimony if he coms to touch the public Mony makes a Commonwealth Bankrupt 4. Order Into Parishes Hundreds and Tribes THE fourth ORDER distributes the People according to the places their Habitation into Parishes Hundreds and Tribes FOR except the People be methodically distributed they cannot be methodically collected but the being of a Commonwealth consists in the methodical Collection of the People wherfore you have the Israelitish Divisions into Rulers of Thousands of Hundreds of Fiftys and of Tens and of the whole Commonwealth into Tribes The Laconic into Obas Moras and Tribes the Roman into Tribes Centurys and Classes and somthing there must of necessity be in every Government of the like nature as that in the late Monarchy by Countys But this being the only Institution in Oceana except that of the Agrarian which requir'd any charge or included any difficulty ingages me to a more particular Description of the manner how it was perform'd as follows The use and method of the Surveyors A THOUSAND Surveyors commissionated and instructed by the Lord ARCHON and the Council being divided into two equal numbers each under the inspection of two Surveyors General were distributed into the Northern and Southern parts of the Territory divided by the River Hemisua the whole wherof contains about ten thousand Parishes som ten of those being assign'd to each Surveyor For as to this matter there needed no great exactness it tending only by shewing whither every one was to repair and wherabout to begin to the more orderly carrying on of the work the nature of their Instructions otherwise regarding rather the number of the Inhabitants than of the Parishes The Surveyors therfore being every one furnish'd with a convenient proportion of Urns Balls and balloting Boxes in the use wherof they had bin formerly exercis'd and now arriving each at his respective Parishes began with the People by teaching them their first lesson which was the Ballot and tho they found them in the beginning somthing froward as at toys with which while they were in expectation of greater matters from a Council of Legislators they conceiv'd themselves to be abus'd they came within a little while to think them pretty sport and at length such as might very soberly be us'd in good earnest wherupon the Surveyors began the Institution included in 5. Order Institution of the Parishes of the Ballot and of the Deputys THE fifth ORDER requiring That upon the first Monday next insuing the last of December the bigger Bell in every Parish throout the Nation be rung at eight of the Clock in the morning and continue ringing for the space of one hour and that all the Elders of the Parish respectively repair to the Church before the Bell has don ringing where dividing themselves into two equal Numbers or as near equal as may be they shall take their places according to their Dignitys if they be of divers qualitys and according to their Seniority if they be of the same the one half on the one side and the other half on the other in the body of the Church which don they shall make Oath to the Overseers of the Parish for the time being instead of these the Surveyors were to officiat at the Institution or first Assembly by holding up their hands to make a fair Election according to the Laws of the Ballot as they are hereafter explain'd of such Persons amounting to a fifth part of their whole number to be their Deputys and to exercise their Power in manner hereafter explain'd as they shall think in their Consciences to be fittest for that trust and will acquit themselves of it to the best advantage of the Commonwealth And Oath being thus made they shall procede to Election if the Elders of the Parish amount to one thousand by the Ballot of the Tribe as it is in due place explain'd and if the Elders of the Parish amount to fifty or upwards but within the number of one thousand by the Ballot of the hundred as it is in due place explain'd But if the Elders amount not to fifty then they shall procede to the Ballot of the Parish as it is in this place and after this manner explain'd The two Overseers for the time being shall seat themselves at the upper end of the middle Ally with a Table before them their faces being towards the Congregation And the Constable for the time being shall set an Vrn before the Table into which he shall put so many Balls as there be Elders present wherof there shall be one that is gilded the rest being white and when the Constable has shaken the Vrn sufficiently to mix the Balls the Overseers shall call the Elders to the Vrn who from each side of the Church shall com up the middle Ally in two files every man passing by the Vrn and drawing out one Ball which if it be Silver he shall cast into a Bowl standing at the foot of the Vrn and return by the outward Ally on his side to his place But he who draws the golden Ball is the Proposer and shall be seated between the Overseers where he shall begin in what order he pleases and name
such as upon his Oath already taken he conceives fittest to be chosen one by one to the Elders and the Party nam'd shall withdraw while the Congregation is balloting his name by the double Box or Boxes appointed and mark'd on the outward part to shew which side is Affirmative and which Negative being carry'd by a Boy or Boys appointed by the Overseers to every one of the Elders who shall hold up a pellet made of linen Rags between his Finger and his Thumb and put it after such a manner into the Box as tho no man can see into which side he puts it yet any man may see that he puts in but one pellet or suffrage And the suffrage of the Congregation being thus given shall be return'd with the Box or Boxes to the Overseers who opening the same shall pour the affirmative Balls into a white Bowl standing upon the Table on the right hand to be number'd by the first Overseer and the Negative into a green Bowl standing on the left hand to be number'd by the second Overseer and the suffrages being number'd he who has the major part in the Affirmative is one of the Deputys of the Parish and when so many Deputys are chosen as amount to a full fifth part of the whole number of the Elders the Ballot for that time shall cease The Deputys being chosen are to be listed by the Overseers in order as they were chosen except only that such as are Horse must be listed in the first place with the rest proportionable to the number of the Congregation after this manner Anno Dom. The List of the first Mover A. A. Ord. Eq. 1 Dep. of the Parish of in the Hundred of and the Tribe of which Parish at the present Election contains 20 Elders wherof one is of the Horse or Equestrian Order B. B. 2 Dep. C. C. 3 Dep. D. D. 4 Dep. E. E. 5 Dep. The first and second in the List are Overseers by consequence the third is the Constable and the fourth and fifth are Churchwardens the Persons so chosen are Deputys of the Parish for the space of one year from their Election and no longer nor may they be elected two years together This List being the Primum Mobile or first Mover of the Commonwealth is to be register'd in a Book diligently kept and preserv'd by the Overseers who are responsible in their places for these and other Dutys to be hereafter mention'd to the Censors of the Tribe and the Congregation is to observe the present Order as they will answer the contrary to the Phylarch or Prerogative Troop of the Tribe which in case of failure in the whole or any part of it have power to sine them or any of them at discretion but under an Appeal to the Parlament FOR proof of this Order First in Reason It is with all Politicians past dispute that paternal Power is in the right of Nature and this is no other than the derivation of Power from Fathers of Familys as the natural root of a Commonwealth And for Experience if it be otherwise in that of Holland I know no other example of the like kind In Israel the soverain Power came clearly from the natural Root the Jos 24. 1. Elders of the whole People and Rome was born Comitiis Curiatis in her Parochial Congregations out of which ROMULUS first rais'd her Senat then all the rest of the Orders of that Commonwealth which rose so high For the depth of a Commonwealth is the just height of it * Ipsa haeret Scopulis tantum vertice ad Auras Aethereas quantum râ—dice ad Tartara tendit She raises up her Head unto the Skys Near as her Root unto the Center lys AND if the Commonwealth of Rome was born of thirty Parishes this of Oceana was born of ten thousand But wheras mention in the birth of this is made of an Equestrian Order it may startle such as know that the division of the People of Rome at the Institution of that Commonwealth into Orders was the occasion of its ruin The distinction of the Patrician as a hereditary Order from the very Institution ingrossing all the Magistracys was indeed the destruction of Rome but to a Knight or one of the Equestrian Order says HORACE Si quadringentis sex septem millia desunt Plebs eris By which it should seem that this Order was not otherwise hereditary than a mans Estate nor did it give any claim to Magistracy wherfore you shall never find that it disquieted the Commonwealth nor dos the name denote any more in Oceana than the Duty of such a man's Estate to the Public BUT the Surveyors both in this place and in others forasmuch as they could not observe all the Circumstances of this Order especially that of the time of Election did for the first as well as they could and the Elections being made and register'd took each of them Copys of those Lists which were within their Allotments which don they produc'd 4. Order Of Ordination a National Religion and Liberty of Conscience THE sixth ORDER directing in case a Parson or Vicar of a Parish coms to be remov'd by Death or by the Censors that the Congregation of the Parish assemble and depute one or two Elders by the Ballot who upon the charge of the Parish shall repair to one of the Vniversitys of this Nationwith a Certificat sign'd by the Overseers and addrest to the Vice-Chancellor which Certificat giving notice of the Death or Removal of the Parson or Vicar of the value of the Parsonage or Vicarage and of the desire of the Congregation to receive a Probationer from that Vniversity the Vice-Chancellor upon the receit therof shall call a Convocation and having made choice of a fit Person shall return him in due time to the Parish where the Person so return'd shall receive the full fruits of the Benefice or Vicarage and do the duty of the Parson or Vicar for the space of one year as Probationer and that being expir'd the Congregation of the Elders shall put their Probationer to the Ballot and if he attains not to two parts in three of the Suffrage affirmative he shall take his leave of the Parish and they shall send in like manner as before for another Probationer but if their Probationer obtains two parts in three of the Suffrage affirmative he is then Pastor of that Parish And the Pastor of the Parish shall pray with the Congregation preach the Word and administer the Sacraments to the same according to the Directory to be hereafter appointed by the Parlament Nevertheless such as are of gather'd Congregations or from time to time shall join with any of them are in no wise oblig'd to this way of electing their Teachers or to give their Votes in this case but wholly left to the liberty of their own Consciences and to that way of Worship which they shall chuse being not Popish Jewish or Idolatrous And to
likewise regardless of this point into which nevertheless he saw so far as not seldom to prophesy sad things to his Successors neither his new Peerage which Chap. 3 in abundance he created nor the old avail'd him any thing against that dread wherin more freely than prudently he discover'd himself to stand of Parlaments as now mere Popular Councils and running to popularity of Government like a Bowl down a hill not so much I may say of Malice prepens'd as by natural instinct wherof the Petition of Right well consider'd is a sufficient Testimony All persuasion of Court Eloquence all patience for such as but look'd that way was now lost There remain'd nothing to the destruction of a Monarchy retaining but the name more than a Prince who by contending should make the People to feel those advantages which they could not see And this happen'd in the next King who too secure in that undoubted right wherby he was advanc'd to a Throne which had no foundation dar'd to put this to an unseasonable trial on whom therfore fell the Tower in Silo. Nor may we think that they upon whom this Tower fell were Sinners above all men but that we unless we repent and look better to the true foundations must likewise perish We have had latter Princes latter Parlaments In what have they excel'd or where are they The Balance not consider'd no effectual work can be made as to settlement and consider'd as it now stands in England requires to settlement no less than the Superstructures natural to Popular Government and the Superstructures natural to Popular Government require no less than the highest skill or art that is in Political Architecture The sum of which Particulars amounts to this That the safety of the People of England is now plainly cast upon skill or sufficiency in Political Architecture it is not enough therfore that there are honest men addicted to all the good ends of a Commonwealth unless there be skill also in the formation of those proper means wherby such Ends may be attain'd Which is a sad but a true account this being in all experience and in the judgment of all Politicians that wherof the Many are incapable And tho the meanest Citizen not informing the Commonwealth of what he knows or conceives to concern its safety commits a hainous Crime against God and his Country yet such is the temper of later times that a man having offer'd any light in this particular has scap'd well enough if he be despis'd and not ruin'd BUT to procede if the Balance or state of Property in a Nation be the efficient cause of Government and the Balance being not fix'd the Government as by the present Narrative is evinc'd must remain inconstant or floting then the process in the formation of a Government must be first by a fixation of the Balance and next by erecting such Superstructures as to the nature therof are necessary CHAP. III. Of Fixation of the Balance or of Agrarian Laws FIXATION of the Balance of Property is not to be provided for but by Laws and the Laws wherby such a Provision is made are commonly call'd Agrarian Laws Now as Governments thro the divers Balance of Property are of divers or contrary natures Book I that is Monarchical or Popular so are such Laws Monarchy requires of the standard of Property that it be vast or great and of Agrarian Laws that they hinder recess or diminution at least in so much as is therby intail'd upon Honor But Popular Government requires that the standard be moderat and that its Agrarian prevent accumulation In a Territory not exceding England in Revenue if the It is at present in more hands but without fixation may com into fewer Balance be in more hands than three hundred it is declining from Monarchy and if it be in fewer than five thousand hands it is swerving from a Commonwealth which as to this point may suffice at present CHAP. IV. Shewing the Superstructures of Governments The Superstructures of Absolute Monarchy THAT the Policy or Superstructures of all absolute Monarchs more particularly of the Eastern Empires are not only contain'd but meliorated in the Turkish Government requires no farther proof than to compare them but because such a work would not ly in a small compass it shall suffice for this time to say that such Superstructures of Government as are natural to an absolute Prince or the sole Landlord of a large Territory require for the first story of the Building that what Demeans he shall think fit to reserve being set apart the rest be divided into Horse quarters or Military Farms for life or at will and not otherwise And that every Timariots Tenant for every hundred pounds a year so held be by condition of his Tenure oblig'd to attend his Soverain Lord in Person in Arms and at his proper cost and charges with one Horse so often and so long as he shall be commanded upon service These among the Turks are call'd Timariots Beglerbegs THE second Story requires that these Horse quarters or Military Farms be divided by convenient Precincts or Proportions into distinct Provinces and that each Province have one Governor or Commander in chief of the same at the will and pleasure of his Grand Signior or for three years and no longer Such among the Turks unless by additional honors they be call'd Bashaws or Viziers are the Beglerbegs Janizarys and Spahys FOR the third Story there must of necessity be a Mercenary Army consisting both of Horse and Foot for the Guard of the Prince's Person and for the Guard of his Empire by keeping the Governors of Provinces so divided that they be not suffer'd to lay their arms or heads together or to hold correspondence or intelligence with one another Which Mercenary Army ought not to be constituted of such as have already contracted som other interest but to consist of Men so educated from their very childhood as not to know that they have any other Parent or native Country than the Prince and his Empire Such among the Turks are the Foot call'd Janizarys and the Horse call'd Spahys The Divan and the Grand Signior THE Prince accommodated with a Privy Council consisting of such as have bin Governors of Provinces is the Topstone This Council among the Turks is call'd the Divan and this Prince the Grand Signior THE Superstructures proper to a regulated Monarchy or to the Chap. 4 Government of a Prince three or four hundred of whose Nobility The Superstructures of Regulated Monarchy or of whose Nobility and Clergy hold three parts in four of the Territory must either be by his personal influence upon the Balance or by virtue of Orders IF a Prince by easing his Nobility of Taxes and feeding them with such as are extorted from the People can so accommodat their Ambition and Avarice with great Offices and Commands that a Party rebelling he can overbalance and reduce them
by a greater part of their own Order he may have greater Power and less Security as at present in France THE safer way of this Government is by Orders and the Orders proper to it specially consist of a Hereditary Senat of the Nobility admitting also of the Clergy and of a Representative of the People made up of the Lords menial Servants or such as by Tenure and for Livelihood have immediat dependence upon them as formerly in England No such thing as pure Aristocracy or pure Democracy AN Aristocracy or State of Nobility to exclude the People must govern by a King or to exclude a King must govern by the People Nor is there without a Senat or mixture of Aristocracy any Popular Government Whence tho for discourse sake Politicians speak of pure Aristocracy and pure Democracy there is no such thing as either of these in Nature Art or Example The Superstructures of Popular Government WHERE the People are not overbalanc'd by one Man or by the Few they are not capable of any other Superstructures of Government or of any other just and quiet settlement whatsoever than of such only as consists of a Senat as their Counsillors of themselves or their Representatives as Soverain Lords and of a Magistracy answerable to the People as distributers and executioners of the Laws made by the People And thus much is of absolute necessity to any or every Government that is or can be properly call'd a Commonwealth whether it be well or ill order'd Definition of a well order'd Common-wealth Distinction of Magistracy BUT the necessary definition of a Commonwealth any thing well order'd is That it is a Government consisting of the Senat proposing the People resolving and the Magistracy executing MAGISTRACY is a stile proper to the executive part yet because in a Discourse of this kind it is hardly avoidable but that such as are of the proposing or resolving Assemblys will be somtimes compriz'd under this name or stile it shall be enough for excuse to say that Magistracy may be esteem'd of two kinds the one proper or Executive the other improper or Legislative Senats and their kinds A SENAT may consist of a Hereditary Order elective for life by it self or by som Magistrat or Magistrats of the same as the Senat of Rome consisted of the Patrician Order therinto eligible first by the Consuls and then by the Censors A Senat may consist of Senators elected by the People for life as that of Lacedemon It may consist of Senators eligible by the People for terms without any vacation or interval as the Senat of Venice or with intervals as the Senat of Athens which also for another difference was elected by lot Popular Assemblys and their kinds A POPULAR Assembly may consist of the whole People as the great Council of Venice for the Venetians tho call'd in respect of their Subjects Nobility are all that free People which is compriz'd in that Commonwealth or of a Representative as in Israel Again a Representative Book I of the People may be for life as in the particular Citys or Soveraintys of Holland improperly call'd Senats or it may be upon Rotation that is to say by changes or courses as that of Israel and the present Representative in England it may also be by lot as the Roman Tribes call'd the Prerogative and the Jurevocatae Supreme Magistrats and their kinds TO speak of Magistrats in a Commonwealth and all their kinds were to begin an endless discourse the present I shall therfore confine to such only as may be call'd Supreme Magistrats The Supreme Magistracy of a Commonwealth may be in one or more and it may be for life or for terms and vacations In one elective by the People for life as in the Duke of Venice whose Function is Civil and not Military In two Hereditarily as in the two Kings of Lacedemon whose Function was rather Military than Civil In nine annually elective by the People as in the nine Princes or Archons of Athens In two annually elected by the People as the Roman Consuls whose Power was both Military and Civil In a word it may be in one or more for life or for terms and vacations as shall best sute with the occasion Other differences in Commonwealths SOM Commonwealths consist of distinct Soveraintys as Switzerland and Holland others are collected into one and the same Soverainty as most of the rest Again som Commonwealths have bin upon Rotation or Courses in the Representative only as Israel Others in the Magistracy only as Rome Som in the Senat and in the Magistracy as Athens and Venice Others in som part of the Magistracy and in others not as Lacedemon in the Ephori and not in the Kings and Venice not in the Duke nor in the Procuratori but in all the rest Holland except in the Election of States Provincial which is emergent admits not of any rotation or courses There may be a Commonwealth admitting of Rotation throout as in the Senat in the Representative and in the Magistracy as that propos'd in Oceana Rotation or Courses ROTATION if it be perfect is equal election by and succession of the whole People to the Magistracy by terms and vacations Popular Election EQUAL Election may be by Lot as that of the Senat of Athens by Suffrage as that of Lacedemon or by Ballot as that of Venice which of all others is the most equal The Ballot THE Ballot as it is us'd in Venice consists of a Lot whence procedes the right of proposing and of an unseen way of suffrage or of resolving The different Genius of Commonwealths FROM the wonderful variety of parts and the difference of mixture hitherto scarce touch'd by any result those admirable differences that are in the Constitution and Genius of Popular Governments som being for defence som for increase som more equal others inequal som turbulent and seditious others like soft streams in a perpetual tranquillity Tâ—◠〈◊〉 â—f Sedition in a Comm nwealth THAT which causes innat Sedition in a Commonwealth is Inequality as in Rome where the Senat opprest the People But if a Commonwealth be perfectly equal it is void of Sedition and has attain'd to perfection as being void of all internal causes of dissolution Definition of an equal Common-wealth AN equal Commonwealth is a Government founded upon a balance which is perfectly Popular being well fix'd by a sutable Agrarian and which from the balance thro the free suffrage of the People given by the Ballot amounts in the Superstructures to a Senat debating Chap. 4 and proposing a Representative of the People resolving and a Magistracy executing each of these three Orders being upon Courses or Rotation that is elected for certain tâ—rms injoining like Intervals The difference between Laws and Orders SUCH Constitutions in a Government as regard the Frame or Model of it are call'd Orders and such things as