began in Rome presently after the second Punic War among the Nobility and Gentry became every year worse and worse till at last Caesar destroyed the Commonwealth And after his time under the succeeding Emperors every Senate grew more abject and complying than the other till in Process of Time the old Roman Spirit was utterly extinguish'd and then that Empire by degrees became a Prey to Barbarous Nations If all parts of the State do not with their utmost power promote the Publick Good if the Prince has other Aims than the safety and welfare of his Country if such as represent the People do not preserve their Courage and Integrity If the Nations Treasure is wasted If Ministers are allow'd to undermine the Constitution with Impunity If Judges are suffer'd to pervert Justice and wrest the Law then is a mixt Government the greatest Tyranny in the world it is Tyranny establish'd by a Law 't is authoris'd by Consent and such a People are bound with Fetters of their own making A Tyranny that governs by the Sword has few Friends but Men of the Sword But a Legal Tyranny where the People are only call'd to confirm Iniquity with their own Voices has of its Side the Rich the Fearful the Lazy those that know the Law and get by it Ambitious Churchmen and all those whose Livelihood depends upon the quiet Posture of Affairs Aud the Persons here discrib'd compose the Influencing Part of most Nations So that such a Tyranny is hardly to be shaken off Men may be said to be inslav'd by Law or their own Consent under Corrupt or degenerate Republicks such as was the Roman Commonwealth from the time of Cinna till the Attempts of Caesar and under degenerate mix'd Governments such as Rome was while the Emperors made a show of Ruling by Law but with an aw'd and corrupted Senate To which Form of Government England was almost reduc'd till the King came over to put our Liberties upon a better Foot But what has been may be and tho we are safe during his Reign yet in after Ages bad and designing Ministers may think their Conduct is no way to be maintain'd but by the Sword and that they cannot securely prey upon the Commonwealth till they have made their Master absolute upon which Score in these Inquiries concerning the Methods whereby England may be a Gainer in the General Ballance of Trade we think it needful to lay down That all that Wealth and Power which must defend this State upon any Emergencies or Invasions from abroad depends upon our preserving inviolate the antient Constitution of this Kingdom Men do as industriously contrive Fallacies to deceive themselves when they have a Mind to be deceiv'd as they study Frauds whereby to deceive Others And if it leads to their Ends and gratifies their present Ambition they care not what they do thinking it time enough to serve the Public when they have serv'd themselves and in this view very many betray their Trusts Comply Give up the Peoples Rights and let Fundamentals be invaded flattering themselves that when they are grown as great as they desire to be 't will be then time enough to make a stand and redeem the Commonweulth The same Notion led Pompey to joyn with those who intended to Subvert the Roman Liberties But he found them too strong and himself too weak when he desir'd to save his Country In the same manner if there be any in this Nation who desire to build their Fortunes upon the Publick Ruin they ought to consider that their great Estates high Honours and Preferments will avail 'em little when the Subversion of Liberty has weaken'd and impoverish'd us so as to make way for the bringing in of Foreign Power It imports all Degrees of Men in their several Posts to endeavour at the Preserving that Form of Government under which we have prosper'd for near seven hundred Years It happens seldom that any Country is totally subdu'd by Foreign Force and Civil War is indeed a raging Fever but it goes away of itself when the Humours that fed it are spent and is often no more than the Sign of a Health too florid and the Effects only of too much Blood in the Body Politick But ill Conduct in a State long continued wastes it by slow and certain degrees and at last brings an incurable Consumption upon all its Parts and Members If the Affairs of this Kingdom should ever happen to be ill conducted which we hope is a Remote Fear the Legislative Power must then interpose with its Authority and the united Wisdom of the Nation must rescue Us out of weak and polluted hands for such a Ministry is a surer Engine to destroy a State than any its Enemies can bring against it 'T is true such as would correct Errors and watch that no Invasion may be made on Liberty have been heretofore call'd a Faction by the Persons in Power but 't is not properly their Name and ought to be given to another sort of Men. 'T is wrong to call them the Faction who by all dutiful and modest Ways promote the Cause of Liberty as the true means to endear a Prince to his Subjects and to lay upon them a stronger tye and obligation to preserve his Government For a People will certainly best love and defend that Prince by whom the greatest Immunities and most good Laws have been granted They cannot properly be term'd the Faction who desire a War should be manag'd upon such a Foot of Expence as the Nation is able to bear Who would have the Publick Treasure not wasted the Prince not deceiv'd in his Grants and Bargains who would have the Ministry watchful and Industrious and who when they complain are angry with Things and not with Persons The Name of Faction does more truly belong to them who tho the Body Politick has all the Signs of Death upon it yet say all is well that the Riches of the Nation are not to be exhausted that there is no misgovernment in all its Business that it feels no decay and that its OEconomy is perfect and who all the while are as arrogant and assuming as if they had sav'd that very People whom their Folly and mad Conduct has in a manner ruin'd They may be rather term'd the Faction who were good Patriots out of the Court but are better Courtiers in it and who pretended to fear excess of Power while it was not communicated to them but never think the Monarchy can be high enough advanc'd when they are in the Administration In Nations where for a long time Matters have not been plac'd upon a Foot of Honesty their great Assemblies consist commonly of two Parties in both of which Sides there are many who have the same right Intentions to the Public and many who in all their Councils consult only their private Interest Of one side some out of Principle love their Country and are jealous of its Liberties and yet at the same time
submit to a Tax once lawful than to pay a new Duty against Law The Tonnage and Poundage illegally levied in the former part of King Charles I.'s Reign did not occasion half the Clamour as the new Imposition of Ship-Mony In the beginning of King James II. d's Reign the Tonnage and Poundage and Temporary Excise determined by King Charles his Death was paid without opposition but if King James had attempted to raise a new Tax by the Regal Authority his Subjects without doubt would not have paid it Besides when a Tax is lawful in its Original 't is to be feared that the People will not much concern themselves who is to receive it the Court or such as have trusted the Exchequer but they would be alarm'd to some purpose if they should be called upon to make new Payments not warranted by Law So that in all probability more Danger may arise to our Liberties from breaking into old Fonds appropriated and stopping the Exchequer than from making new and forcible Levies upon the Subject And though there is no Cause in this Reign to fear such Attempts yet it must certainly be Wisdom to provide against future Evils especially when 't is possible that one desperate and wicked Council may destroy that Constitution for which we have been so long contending The true way to hinder such a Disease from ever coming upon the Body-Politick will be to remove the Cause by lessening assoon as possible these Payments to the Publick of three Millions and a half per Annum besides Polls and Land-Taxes which large Issues may endanger Liberty and without doubt hurt us in the Ballance of Trade The Debts for which these Fonds are a Security by Negligence will every Year increase insomuch that in a very short time and with a very little more Carelessness the Raising more and more will grow unavoidable for our common Defence till at last we shall come to pay constantly between five and six Millions per Annum And when this Kingdom shall be arrived at that Period of ill Conduct we may venture to Pronounce That the Common People of England will in all Circumstances be then as poor and miserable as the Common People of France were before the War And we desire all good Patriots to carry this Reflection in their minds On the contrary by good Management this Debt may be lessen'd so that the Fonds which are its Security instead of of being continued may be dropt every Year till at last we may come to pay to the Government for its Support and Defence such a Sum as will not be dangerous to our Freedoms nor prejudicial to our Foreign Traffick He who proposes Thrift may please the Common People but he shall be sure to disgust some others However the Writer of these Papers thinks it his Duty to Recommend Frugality in the State and he believes 't is the Wisest and Honestest way of Inriching the Publick to make it Rich out of its own Revenues As to what Improvements may be made in the Revenues already granted we refer the Reader to what we have formerly said upon this Subject in our Discourses on the Revenues and Trade of England We have laid down that several Branches there specified may by good Management and without Oppression be Annually Encreased 736,075 l. Nor upon Enquiry since do we find any Reason to receed from this Opinion on the contrary we have good Cause to think that they are rather Capable of greater Improvements than we had then taken notice of The Malt is indeed an Article in that Accompt but 't is an expiring Duty which the People of England hope never to see continued therefore an Abatement is to be made upon that Head But the remaining Branches if well look'd after would ease us of very many Burthens In that Discourse we have shown several Reasons not yet Answered Why the Excise on Beer and Ale single and double is Improvable in the whole 318,000 l. per Annum but instead of rising the Excise is again fallen since the Accompt was Stated  l. Single and Double Excise Year Ending 24 June 1697. Produced about 900,000 The said Duties Year Ending 24 June 1698. Produced about 860,000 The Duties fallen about 40,000 So that the Excise now almost Doubled produces but about the same Sum which it yielded formerly with the single Duty only upon it for which we shall presume to say the Managers neither have given nor can give any well grounded and solid Reason When we consider how much the Excise was Advanced in six Years by good Management we cannot but be of Opinion that a very great Sum might be Raised every Year towards Clearing the gross Debt by Skill and careful Conduct in such as Govern the respective Branches But tho it imports the State to a high Degree to have the utmost of its Legal Dues and just Revenues fairly brought in yet a great deal more depends upon having this Revenue Frugally and Wisely laid out For as in private Instances He who lives with Oeconomy shall be Richer tho his Gains are but small than a Prodigal let his Gettings be never so large So Governments which manage their Affairs thriftily shall have more Wealth than States which have the way to obtain never so large Contributions from their People What is to be got by good Management in bringing in the Revenues is nothing in comparison of what may be saved in laying out the Publick Treasure one way the Proffit is limited and narrow and the other boundless one way we can reckon but by Hundreds the other way by Millions A Venetian Ambassador once told Cardinal Richlieu That there needed no more to make France happy than wisely to lay out what was vainly dissipated Qu'elle Scut aussi bien despenser ce qu'elle dissipoit sans Raison que la Republique scavoit bien n'employer pas un seul Quadrain sans besoin et sans beaucoup de Menage A State must be plunged into endless Debts and Difficulties unless it has a strict Eye over all its Expences especially such as relate to a War which is always a greedy Monster but Devours much more when 't is left to feed at random To come at such a future Thrift as may bring us out of that Debt which lies so heavy in the other Scale when we consider of the Ballance of Trade One way perhaps will be severely to Enquire how the Forty eight Millions already given have been Expended Besides it will not peradventure be difficult to show that of the many Millions still owing a large Sum might be saved if the Publick Accompts from their very beginning were overhaled A Government that will get out of Debt must look nicely into every particular It ought in Prudence to examine into all Grants made by the Crown when the People lay under the Burthen of Heavy Taxes 'T is said that the Forfeitures in Ireland and the Lands possessed by the Crown in 1688 would satisfie
a Strong hand over the Men of Business 'T would be endless to enumerate all the Dangers that may befall a Free Government if it should have at the Head of its Affairs a Minister of a bold and Enterprizing Spirit who from a low Degree aspires to the highest Greatness and whose Ambition is not restrain'd by any Private or Publick Considerations If in some future Reigns it should be our Case to have such a Man in a Station and with the Power of doing much Hurt all such as desire to preserve their Civil Rights should with undaunted Courage set themselves to stop him in his Career and to intercept him in his Growth Machiavel says There is one Rule infallible to Princes in the Election of such as are to serve ' em When you observe your Officer more careful of himself than of you and all his Actions and Designs pointing at his own Interest and Advantage that Man will never be a good Minister We shall beg the Reader 's Pardon for one short Digression in this Place and it is to take notice of another fine Remark of the same Author who says The Actions of a new Prince are liable to a stricter Observation than if he were Hereditary and when they are known to be Virtuous gain more upon People and oblige them farther than Antiquity of Blood because Men are more affected with present than pass'd things But to return to our Matter The Spaniards were in a flourishing Condition in Richlieu's time And in the beginning of his Ministry the Affairs of France were in great Disorder He wholly attributes the Prosperity of Spain to this Principle running through all their Councils at that time and prevailing with all their Ministers of preferring the Publick Good to Private Interest and the contrary obtaining in France he says was the Cause of all their Disorders So that we may justly think the present Greatness of the French has taken its Rise from this Noble Principle having gotten there deeper Footing now than it had heretofore Ministers whose Chief Aim in all they do is their own Greatness can neither be good for Prince nor People And when they consult their Private Interest more than the Public Good 't is in many Instances apparent to all the World as for Example First When they take no Care of their Master's Revenue For in all Countreys and in all Ages bad Statesmen have thriven best under Princes plung'd in Debts and Difficulties Secondly When they have made a false Step and do not own it and recede but rather call in the Prince's Authority and all his more immediate Dependants to help 'em out and to countenance their Errors 't is a Sign they have more regard to themselves than to his Honor. Thirdly When they enter upon new and desperate Councils which if they succeed well will redound to their proper Glory and if they should have a bad Event may hazzard his Ruin 't is a plain Mark that they are ready to sacrifice his Safety to their own Vanity or Ambition Fourthly When they conceal from him Truths which he ought to know when they do not acquaint him with the State of his Affairs nor with the true Condition of the Nation when they do not endeavour to moderate his Expences and when they do not quit when sound Councils cannot prevail 't is an evident Proof That they prefer keeping up their Interest as they call it and holding their Post and Employments to all other Considerations whatsoever Fifthly When they are ready to do any thing let it be never so hurtful to their Master provided it square with the Interest and Measures of the Party of which they are at the Head and by whom they are buoy'd up 'T is a Mark that they aim at being independant even of the Prince himselfe and that they think to subsist more by the Strength of their own Faction than by his Favour Sixthly When Man to Man and singly they are willing to own any Errors but say at the same time that they were against this and that accusing their Brethren of the State for every Miscarriage 't is a Sign that provided they themselves are well thought on they do not care what Opinion the People entertain of the whole Goverment Seventhly When they are for proposing dishonorable and unjust Shifts to raise Money rather than to take the Pains of forming before hand better Schemes for Ways and Means 't is a Sign that they prefer the Momentary Arts of recommending themselves to all Thoughts whatsoever and that they consult more their own ease than the Publick Good 'T is likewise an Evidence that they are not of Richlieu's mind who says That publick Administration takes up the Thoughts of Judicious Ministers insomuch that the perpetual Meditations they are oblig'd to make to foresee and prevent the Evils that may happen deprives them of all manner of Rest and Contentement excepting that which they receive in seeing many Sleep quietly relying on their Watchings and live happy by their Misery Eigthly When contrary to the Constitution of the Land they promote Councils which tend to the keeping up an Arm'd Force 't is a sign that not daring to trust the Laws they would have their Proceedings maintain'd another way that they desire such an Impunity as the Sword has seldom fail'd to give bad Ministers in other Countries 'T is a Mark that their own Safety is their principal Object and that they had rather the Nation should be burthen'd with Taxes and have the Form of Government alter'd and that the Prince should lose his Subjects Hearts than venture themselves before a Free and angry People We have given some of the Marks which selfish and designing Statesmen may be known by hereafter And if in future times it should be our Case to see Persons of this Character upon the Stage of Business we must rowse up the Vigour of our Ancient Constitution we must awaken all the Laws and direct 'em boldly to the Heads of such a dangerous sort of Men. Machiavel says That they who govern'd the State of Florence from Anno 1434 to 1494 were wont to say That it was necessary every five Years to review the State for otherwise it would be very hard to maintain it They call'd reviewing the State reducing the People to the same Terror and Awe as they had upon 'em of old when every Man was punish'd according to his Crime let his Quality be what it would He lays down likewise That Kingdoms as well as Commonwealths have often occasion to be reduc'd to their first Principles Which he says was done in France by the Parliaments who reviv'd the Ancient Government as often as they oppos'd the King in his Arrests and as often as they call'd great Delinquents to account whose Crimes if they are suffer'd to grow cannot be reform'd but with Disorder if not the Dissolution of the whole Government For want of pursuing some such like Courses the French
Safety of the Nation so that there may be no more danger of the Nations falling at any time hereafter under Arbitrary Government 'T was certainly a great Omission not to bring on in the very beginning of the Revolution the Act for Triennial Parliaments which our own Corruptions produc'd at last If the State had enter'd early into that wholesom Council it had made the Kings entire Reign more easy to himself and less costly to his People It had given a Rise to that Virtue and Publick Honesty he came over to plant and had answer'd all the ends of his Declaration They who were not well principled must have pretended so to be for the Paths and Road to Preferment had been thereby quite alter'd The Ingredients which before compos'd a Statesman were Skill to govern the House Ability now and then to make an Important Turn knowledge of the Members that is who were to be taken off and what was their Price Diligence in keeping that Band together who were right or wrong to be unanimous They who were thus qualify'd themselves or who would blindly follow the Professors of these pernicious Arts engross'd the whole Business and Employments of the Nation But by neglecting to put Matters under a good Settlement in the beginning one and the same House of Commons came to continue sitting with short Intervals for Six Years and this wrong measure being taken renew'd all the former Errors of our Constitution and for a time restor'd to Men the same dishonest Interest they had before and if any were so wicked gave them fresh opportunity and room to endeavour once more the Subversion and Ruin of this Kingdom not by the very ways practis'd in former times but by the same corrupt Inclinations and Councils dress'd in other Shapes And tho without doubt none of 'em are chosen into this Parliament yet 't is to be fear'd that in those Sessions of Six Years continuance there was rear'd up a new brood of Men of Business as high Flatterers more false designing and rapacious than their Predecessors but without the same Skill and Dexterity to support their Malice However 't is hop'd the Act for Triennial Parliaments may have given a Check to this Ulcer which was growing in the Body Politick and that it may hinder the Gangreen from proceeding further yet tho the old Venome may be restrain'd a while by Remedies 't is to be fear'd it lurks still within us ready to break out upon the first Occasion If that Party which once seem'd so Jealous of our Rights had not abandoned all their old Principles they might have form'd us a lasting Establishment such as could not have been shaken by Domestick Rage or Foreign Power whereas now we depend alone upon the Reputation Merit and Virtues of the King that bind and hold us together But when he must yield to Nature which Misfortune we hope is very distant from us in all Humane Probability nothing can be expected but Confusion and Civil War When the Breaches made upon our Constitution in the late Reigns had induc'd many of the best Sort to judge a Revolution needful the People had reason to expect that in a new Modell'd Government all things should have been set upon the Foot of Honesty and Virtue and to see all that Male-Administration reform'd which some persons had been reasonably complaining of for 30 Years We thought to see a virtuous Court a watchful State an Industrious and frugal Ministry If all these our Expectations had been answer'd what Disasters from without or within could have hurt England Must not the Change have been tacitly consented to if not applauded even by those that suffer'd in it Had we not at home a discontented Party which was to be silenc'd by showing 'em an honester more steady more difinterested and a wiser Conduct than what they had known before and still linger'd after Had we not abroad a Potent Enemy against whom our Strength was to be husbanded discreetly that it might last the longer And lastly was not the best and most irreproachable Management in the world necessary and hardly sufficient to enable us to carry on that War with which so great an Alteration was certain to be follow'd But instead of building upon these Foundations and taking such measures as had render'd our Proceedings safe in their Consequences and not obnoxious to any Censure some Persons have given manifest Proof that they were acted by no sort of Principle and that in their Doings they were rather sway'd by Private Interest Revenge Ambition and their other Appetites than guided by any sence of the Publiick Good for we no sooner had upon the Throne a Prince fear'd and reverenc'd broad and Idoliz'd here but some persons immediately forgot the Cause for which they call'd him over If we had shown any Desire to assist and imitate his Perfections what a fair Fame of our selves had we transmitted to After Ages If some Men had consider'd wisely they would have found that all things were not secure because Religion was out of danger whose Concerns are soon forgotten when we begin to be press'd with other Fears Besides if Matters are not so order'd that Spain may not fall under the Power of France Popery and universal Monarchy are still to be apprehended Prosperity a flowing Trade and great Riches may admit of Prodigality Negligence in the State and false steps in the Ministry but a People exhausted by long Taxes desire to see in those above 'em Thrift for the Public Vigilance and as much good Conduct as can be expected in humane Business Power is seldom Invidious to the Common People when plac'd in virtuous Hands nor are Calamities intolerable which could not have been avoided by any Care or Caution When the Ministers do well those under 'em suffer quietly but on the Contrary If they observe themselves rul'd in the Subordinate parts of Government by such as make a prey of the Common-wealth and to that end only take upon 'em its Administration if they plainly perceive their miseries and Misfortunes to proceed chiefly from the Corrupt or weak Councils of such Statesmen they become dishearten'd and lose that Mettle and Spirit without which the high designs of their powerful Neighbours are not to be resisted But tho some Errors might be committed in the beginning of the Revolution 't is hoped all things are now well that Peace has put an End to those Disorders in Government which War does commonly beget and that our present Management is not lyable to any Censure And what is said here and what may be observ'd hereafter of the like kind in the Series of this Discourse is not at all the present case of England 't is hoped we are not a Corrupt People but in Process of time we may grow so and lose that Virtue which is presumed to shine in this Age. This Section is therefore directed to Posterity which alone is concern'd in the Ethicks here advanced In future Ages perhaps Ambitious