An Army without Pay is the most Dangerous Enemy Money is the Interest of the World What 's the Benefit of a Standing Army The mischief and danger of it A Royal Guard necessary and sufficient With the timely execution of good Laws Conscience the strongest Tye. The Rise of Schism The method of it The motion of Schism into Sedition The Design And Effect of it Note Qu. May an enemy to Bishops exercise the Ministry Three Questions propoundded by King Charles the Martyr concerning Church Government The derivation of Episcopal Government Christ's Mandate to the Apostles Episcopacy unalterable Corruptio Optimi Pessima The method of Schism A Scandalous Clergy makes a Seditious Layety Slander is the Sin and Practice of the Devil Shun Appearances of Scandal Ignorance a Species of Scandal Bishops blamed by the more blameable Fears and Jealousies Bishops charged with Pride by the prouder Brethren Conscience hnd Law govern the World Occasions of Sedition Seditious Lawyers and Schismatical Divines are the most abominable Seducers Plotters of Sedition Are of three Sorts Usurpers Monarchomachists Jesuited Puritans Time is the best Tryal of Fidelity The Knowledge of Persons is more then the Understanding of Matters The Noblest Natures most easily Deceived Abuses from Great Persons hardly Rectify'd What he must do that undertakes it The Art of Flattery Conscientious Sedition An Ambitious Person The Test of an Honest Favourite An ill sign Another as bad Note Mark again The Advantages of a Confederacy in Councell Their Method Rather to Countenance a Sedition then Head it How to know the Faction By their Haunts By their Cabales By their Debates By their Domesticks By their Favourites The Composition of a fit Instrument for a Corrupt States-man By their Conversation and Behaviour An honester sort of Ill Subjects A Caveat to Courtiers The Politicks of the Vulgar The Effects of Corruption in a Court. Court-Beggers Non-payment of Debts The Interests of the Souldiery An Ambitious Commander does better Abroad then at-Home A Holy War is a Contradiction Hazard not a Rebellion in one Place for fear of a Sedition in another The Constitution of a Guard-Royall Court and City seldom agree The Reason of it The Power of a City The Manner of Preparing the People for Sedition A Seditious Principle The King only Accountable to God and the People to the King Cursed be the Sons of Cham. Religious Sedition either referring to Heresie or Schism Rebellion upon a point of Heresie more Pardonable then That from Schism Seditions arising from Schism The Means of provoking Sedition The Advantages of Great Towns for Seditions Cities are inclinable to Seditions from the Temper of the Inhabitants Religions Innovatours begin with Women Four Reasons why A Zealous Sister And her Confessour A Shee-Proselyte Oppression causes Sedition A Presbyterian Trick The Politick Hypocrite Loyalty is Indispensable Citizens are tender of their Priviledges Principally in point of Trade Their Immunities are Precarious Neither Prince nor People can be secure but by Agreement Poverty an Irresistible Incentive to Sedition The most dangerous Poverty Corruption the Cause of Scarcity Private Hoardsbreed Publick Penury The Composition of wicked Ministers of State The Misery of them If either they look back Forward Round about Above them Below or within them The Sollicitous estate of the Guilty Taxes may cause or occasion a Scarcity divers ways Subjects are to Obey without Disputing Leave no Mark standing to remember a Discourtesie by Josh. 4.6 Shifting passes for Wisdom Excessive Building Knavery of Tradesmen The Country is sure to be undone by a War The Fruits of it A Discontented Nobleman Ambition Pride Revenge The Rich Churle The Contentious Free-born Subject The Dangerous mixture of a Representative The Designing Party Their Industry and Combination The Matter they work upon Their manner of Proceeding The Permitters of Seditious Contrivements The Deserters of their Trust are taken off by Profit Pleasure Vanity by Sloth and Neglect by Partiality Passion Fear or Personal Animosity Fools are fit Instruments for Knaves Love and Reverence are the Pillars of Majesty The Power of a Prince depends upon the Love of his People The Grounds of Sedition Let a Prince Stick to his Laws and his People will stick to him The Oath of Protecting implies a Power of Protecting Where a King has it not in his Power to Oppress his People They have it in Theirs to destroy their King A Mixture of Indulgence and Severity Obliges the Loyal and Aws the Refractary The Influence of Prudence and Courage A Prince that bears Affronts and Familiarities from his Subjects Lessens himself How to hinder the Spreading of a Seditious Humour Let a Prince keep an Eye over Great Assemblies Let him be Quick and Watchful The most dangerous of all Seets A sure way to prevent Schism Have a Care The Presbyterians Set-form And Method Their Modesty The means of Preventing Schism Object Petition for Peace pag. 4 5. Answ. The Hazards of Toleration The Foundation of Presbytery 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pag. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 239. Let Pagans blush at These Christians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 263. The Growth of Schism A Noble Resolve Let the Prince Reform betime And Impartially Ambition is the Cause no matter what 's the Cry Corrupt Divines and Lawyers are in the forlorn of all Rebellions But the Contrary are the Pillars and Blessings of Society The Common Crime of Vitious Lawyers is Avarice The Basest of Corruptions An Ignorant Judge is a Dangerous Minister And so is a Timorous A hard matter to make a good Choice A Rule to Choose by Hae nuga Seria ducunt in mala A way to prevent Treasonous Mistakes The Contrivers of Seditions are of Three Sorts The Puritan Religion is but Talk Every man for himself A Traytour is of no Religion No ill Story The Presbyterian has gotten a Strain A Ceremony may be as well impos'd as a Tax Ambition dangerous in a Favourite A Caution Ambition does better in a Souldier then in a Counsellour It is the Interest of a Prince to dispose of Offices by Particular Direction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pag. 240. How to crush an Insolent Favourite The Danger of a Favourite that upholds Faction And manage of his Design Sir F. Bacon How to disappoint an Ambitious Design Favourites necessary to the Prince And desirable to the People Concerning the Choice of Servants Let them be Honest and Fit Of approved Loyalty to the Father Nor upon Recommendation Publick Natures for Publick Places Not One to all Purposes Let a Prince set his Confident his Bounds afore-hand In Points of Conscience Honour and Convenience let not a Favourite press the Soveraign The Danger of Over-greatness as to the People A Proud man in Power Easily crush'd A Covetous Great man The Mischief of False Intelligence Good Advice to a Counsellor Prudence provides for the worst Reward and Punishment keep People in Order Honest Truths are Dangerous A Case put The Lower Region of the Court. Four or Five Beggars in Chief Corrupt Officers a General Pest. An Excellent way of Raising Moneys Ill-pay the reason of Ill-payment Want of Money makes People Religious The Ill-principled Courtier Dangers from the Camp How Mutinies may be caused Good Pay will bear good Discipline Modelling and Disbanding are dangerous How to New model an Army How to Disband The Causes of Revolts A good Choice is the best Security against a Revolt The Danger of an Ill-order'd City Pretext of Religion is a dangerous and wicked Quarrel Is there a God Or is there None All Seditions proceed from Misgovernment Begin with the Clergy to prevent Schism Let the Magistracy be well-affected Oppression procur'd by Ill-Instruments Though the Levy be Extraordinary let the Way be Ordinary Priviledges are Sacred Poverty is a terrible Enemy The Prince not to forsake his Metropolis Let the Choice be Legal and Prudent Better the Soveraign Reform than the Councel The Effects of a good Choice and of a bad The Mischieves of Partiality Better a Tyranny than an Anarchy
Devotion and so more susceptible of delusive Impressions that bear a face of Piety Secondly as it is too Innocent to suspect a Deceipt and too Credulous to Examine it so is it probably not crafty enough to Discover it Thirdly Women are supposed not only to Entertain what they Like with more Earnestness of Affection but also to impart what they know with a Greater Freedom of Communication which proceeds from a Particular propensity in That Gracious Sex to enter into a strict Intelligence concerning Matters Curious and Novell Fourthly They are as well the Best Advocates as the Freest Publishers Get them but once engaged and at next word all their Children are to be taught short-hand and new Catechisms the Table shall be blest in a Tune not the Heel of a Lark no not so much as a Prune in the White-Broth shall scape without a Particular Benediction And Then the Wrought Cushion the Damask Napkin the Best Room and the First Cut at the Table are reserved for the Adored Genius of the Family The Good Man of the House shall not presume to Close his Eyes without an Opiate to make it English accordding to the Directory and when he opens them again next day 't is odds he finds his wakefull Bedfellow Shifting her Linnen and Preparing for a Mornings Exercise This Reverend Wight has commonly some Skill in Physick too enough to Comfort a Professing Sister that Keeps her Bed for grief no doubt because her Lord perhaps is call'd aside by State or Business Nor does The Pious Matron Confine her Bounteous Dispensations within the Circle of her Private Family but with an Over-flowing Charity reaches a helping hand to all the Members of the Distressed Brother-hood and like a Christian to the very Letter Layes every thing in Common These are the Early and Late Advocates the warm Sollicitresses What Husband would not Glory to see his Wife and Fortune so dispos'd of Let not some few Mistakes persuade the world yet that Woman is not of all Creatures the most accomplish'd and the best dispos'd to the End she was made for That Women are in General the fittest Agents of all Others for a Religious Errour to me seems past a Question Now why a City-Dame is for That Purpose the fittest Instrument even of all Sorts of Women First her Employment's Little she keeps much at Home and her dead Leisures are beyond doubt not absolutely Thoughtless Is not her Mixture Sociable as That of other Mortals Phansie her Solitary Entertainment now Does not she wish to see and to be seen as well as other Women Nay does she not Contrive too how to Compass it Playes there are none perhaps at hand Festivals come but seldome While shee 's Thus casting How and How in Steps the Tempter dreams out an Hour or Two in Prologue and at last happily hits her Humour asks her what Church she goes to and invites her to a Lecture Away she goes enters her self a Member of his Congregation never to be Reclaimed and so Farewell she After all This let me profess I take the better sort of Citizens for an Intelligent Frank and Sober People nor do I find more Prudence Modesty Virtue then under That Denomination Yet is it not to be Expected that so Vast a Multitude should be without some Loose Examples And I divide the Blame even There too betwixt an Idle Course of Life and the Alluring Artifice of their Seducers But this I stick to A Schismatical Clergy infects the Women They the City and a Schismatical City destroyes a Kingdom Sub-section II. Oppression OPpression provokes Sedition many waies and many waies it is Procur'd even by the most Seditious Themselves with Express end that it may provoke Sedition The Haughty and Imperious Rudeness of a Churlish Officer that without either Proof or Hearing Law or Reason hand over head Condemns and Punishes only perchance to Vaunt his Power This is a Boldness that Reflects upon the Safety and the Honour of his Master rendring both the Minister hated and the Prince suspected Vnlimitted Protections Irregular and Heavy Taxes Billetting and Free-quartering of Souldiers The Denyall of Equal Right c. Stir up Seditious Humours in a City But These are down-right Provocations There are that go a cleanlyer way to work that squeeze the People under Colour of serving the King winding up the Pin of Authority till they Crack the very strings by which That and Subjection are tack'd together They undo all by Overdoing and under an humble shew of holding the Stirrup till the Prince seats himself they draw so hard they turn the Saddle or if he needs a Lift to help him Vp they 'l give him one but such a One shall cast him Over In fine what ever may be Plausible for the present fatall in the Consequence wherein the Promoters may either seem Innocent or not appear at all and a Publick Obloquy rest upon the Soveraign This is a Device to do Their Business Is there any Colourable fear of a Sedition Their Counsell will be then to raise such a Force as in all likely-hood will cause a Rebellion Are the Prince's Coffers full Occasions will be sought to Empty Them by Breaking with One Interest Wedding Another A Thousand Remedies there are for that Sur-charge of Treasure When they have drawn the Monarch dry they know he must be re-supply'd and they know what a Peevish task it is to fix Regality upon a new Bottome As their first Aime was to Provoke Expence that he might Want it will be now Their work in such manner to sollicite his Supply that he shall suffer more by the Ill Method of it then Gain by the Recruit Briefly if they can Effect that what Themselves call a Supply the Generality may understand to be an Oppression and so They wish it Vnderstood The City Clamours first and Popular Tumults are but the Forlorn to a Rebellion Not that either Force or Cruelty can ever discharge a Subject of his Allegeance Nay should his Prince command one of his Armes for Dogs-meat he were a Traytor should he yet refuse to serve his Master with the other Sub-section III. Privileges A Third Particular of no small Force upon the Genius of a City is what concerns their Privileges whereof they Principally are Tender First in points of Trade and Commerce Secondly in Affairs of Order and Custome relating to the Counsell and Government of the City Thirdly in Matters of Personal Freedom and Advantage Any Empeachment in the point of Trade they take hainously as Disappointing at once the very Purpose of their Incorporations the Hopes of their Well-being and the main Business of their Lives In this Respect they are many times so Delicate as not to distinguish between Benefits of Grace and Rights of Privilege clayming a Title to Those Advantages which they hold only by Favour They are likewise Subject to forget that even their clearest Immunities
People take them for Guides they will be the apter to follow them so that the fairer their Credit is the worse is their Argument Nor are they laid aside as if the Difference it self were so Criminal but for the evill Consequences of Retaining Them First it advances the Reputation of the Dissenting Party to have the matter Look as if either the Power or Reason were on Their side Next it Subjects the Prince to be Thought Diffident either of his Authority to Command or of the Iustice of the Thing Commanded Thirdly a Dissenting Minister makes a Dissenting Congregation Fourthly it makes Conscience a Cloak for Sedition and under Colour of Dividing from the Church it Ministers Occasion for People to unite against the State Fifthly it not only leads to Novel Opinions whereof the Vulgar are both Greedy and Curious but it Possesses the Multitude with These Two Desperate and Insociable Persuasions First That the People are Iudges of the Law and Next That because God alone has Power over their Souls the Soveraign has none over their Bodies As to the Honesty of a Dissenting Brother his Honesty is only to himself but his Dissent is to the Publick and the Better the Man is the Worse is the President Vpon these hazards depends the Royalty of That Soveraign that dispenses with the Law to Indulge This Faction and which is the great Pitty of all the better he deserves the worse they use him So that the only way for a Prince to deal Safely with These People is first to lay aside That Dangerous and Fatal Goodness and Steer his Resolutions by the Compass of a Severe and Inexorable Reason Not that Kings are Gods in any Respect more then in their Power and Mercy but there are certain Cases and Instances wherein That Power and Mercy may be Restrain'd and wherein 't is possible that what is Excellent in Nature may be a slip in Government 'T is One Thing for a Party to ask Pardon for a Fault already Committed and another thing to beg a Dispensation beforehand to Commit it And there 's this Difference also in the Issue of the Grants The Prince has the Faction at his Mercy the One way and the Faction has got the Prince at Theirs the Other But to the Point Will the Monarch's yielding to this or that content them They 'l say 't is all they aime at and truly I 'd believe them would they but shew me out of their whole Tribe any one Instance of This Moderation to save the Credit of my Charity Any Presbyterian Interest in Nature that is not Rais'd upon the Ruins of a Prince and Cimented with Broken Vows and Promises If it be thus Nothing less then a Miracle can secure that Monarch that makes this Faction Master of the Pulpit and this King Charles the Martyr prov'd by sad Experience For not a Soul that by the Instigation of Schismatical Lectures deserted the Church but became an Enemy to the State So that Effectually a Gracious Toleration in some Cases is by some People understood no otherwise then as a Tacit Commission from the Person of the King to Levy a Warr against his Office And it is very rarely that such an Indulgence is better Employ'd In which Opinion we are not a little Confirm'd by the Reflections of that Blessed Prince above mentioned I wish sayes he I had not suffered My own Iudgment to have been over-borne in some Things more by others Importunities then their Arguments My Confidence had less betrayed My self and My Kingdoms to Those Advantages which some men sought for who wanted nothing but Power and Occasion to do Mischief And after the utmost Tryall of Bounty and Remissness to that Faction These are his words to his Royall Successour I cannot yet Learn That Lesson nor I hope never will you That it is safe for a King to gratifie any Faction with the perturbation of the Laws in which is wrapt up the Publick Interest and the Good of the Community Finally Those Perfidious Creatures which at first Petition'd their Soveraign afterwards fought against him and Imprison'd him Refusing him in his Distress the Comfort of his own Chaplains in Requitall for having Granted them the Liberty of their Consciences Who strook the Fatall Blow it matters not If he had not been Disarm'd he had not been Kill'd Subjects do not Hunt Kings for Sport only to Catch Them and let them go again To Conclude He was Persecuted with Propositions worse then Death as by his Choice appear'd for he Preferr'd rather to Die then Sign Them But to Signalize the Honor of his Memory and the Glory of his Martyrdome take his Last Resolution and Profession I look upon it with infinite more content and quiet of Soul to have been worsted in my Enforced contestation for and vindication of the Laws of the Land the Freedom and Honour of Parliaments the Rights of my Crown the Iust Liberty of my Subjects and the true Christian Religion in its Doctrine Government and due Encouragements then if I had with the greatest Advantages of Success over-born them all as some men have now Evidently done whatever Designs they at first pretended From a Supposition of the first Inclination to Schism proposing also how to strangle it in the Birth we are now to Consider it in some Degree of Growth and Progression and to enquire after the best means to prevent such Mischieves as may arise from the further Encrease and spreading of it That is the Mischieves of Conspiracy which may be Promoted either be Speech or Writing The first great Hazard is when Popular Persons are put in Popular Employments and in Populous Places A Cunning and a Factious Minister is a Dangerous Instrument in a City and the more Dangerous if Tollerated for Then he stirs up Tumults by Authority and who shall blame the Flock for Following the Shepheard The Liberties of Conventicles and Pamphlets are likewise of Desperate Influence upon the People but These as is already said are easily Suppress'd by the Seasonable Execution of Laws But There 's no Dallying with the Combination If through the fault of Negligent Officers the Distemper be gone too far and the Confederacy grown Strong and Bold enough to struggle with the Law Then Other Arts must be found out either to Amuse Ensnare or Disunite the Faction The Last Resort is violence which must be Timely too before the Reverence of Authority is quite Lost. And let the King himself appear not only to Ask but Take the Heads of the Sedition before the Quarrel is Transferr'd from his Ministers to his Person if he but Stoops he Falls How horrible a Mutiny was That which Caesar Quieted at Placentia Single Unarm'd and with One wretched word QVIRITES Nec dum desaeviat Ira Expectat Medios properat tent are Furores Nor Waites he till the Hot Fit should asswage But at the Maddest Scorns and Braves their Rage As the Resolve was
Open for it is in a Peculiar manner his Duty to Relieve the Oppressed A Prince that Invades the Priviledges of a City Breaks his Word If they are Forfeited he may Resume or Remit at Pleasure Otherwise let them stand Sacred It can never be safe to Govern ad Libitum for when People find no Security in Obedience it puts them upon the Experiment of Sedition If a Monarch has an Over-grown Subject that he would be quit of that he would Sacrifice to his Proper Advantage let him but give him a Temptation to Encroach upon the Rights or Customs of his Imperial City and if he take the Bait let him Discover him and bring him upon the Stage of a Publick Oppressor Such an Action lays That City at his Feet To Finish That Prince that would have his Subjects firm to Him in Danger must be Kind to Them in Peace The Fourth and Last Motive to Sedition is Poverty A Terrible Enemy to a Great and Populous City Nor is such a City in Extream Want a less Formidable Enemy to the Monarch for Hunger is neither to be Aw'd nor Flatter'd The Causes of it are so many and so incertain 't is hard to assign particular Remedies In some Cases Restraint of Building is convenient In others Sumptuary Laws the Regulation and Emprovement of Trade The calling of Corrupt Ministers to Account c. For fear of the worst it is good if the Necessitous Party grow Numerous for the Prince rather to make War with Them abroad then to stay till They make it upon Him at Home by That means exchanging a Civil War for a Forreign If the Mischief be too far gone and that it breaks forth into a Direct Sedition yet can it very hardly happen that a Prince can warrant the forsaking of his Metropolis First with Five Hundred Men he keeps a Million in Awe That is If He Himself and his whole Party be not Coup'd up under the same Roof They can Destroy Him by Number and He Them by Fire in case of being put to that last Extremity Next Let the Prince but carry the First Scuffle and the World to nothing the Town is his own Whereas let Him withdraw so great is the Advantage he leaves to the Rebels both as to the Readiness and Proportion of Men and Provisions for War that at a Distance he may get the Better of Five or Six Pitch'd Battels and yet Lose all at Last For They shall sooner Re-enforce a Broken Army than He Recruit a Scatter'd Regiment A Third Reason may be that it lessens the Reputation of his Power to give Ground We shall conclude with the Fourth which is That Citizens will stand better far from Home than under their own Walls for what with the Importunities of their Relations Their Interests in view and the Convenience of a Near Retreat They Fight in Distraction We speak here of a Civil War for against a Forreign Force These Reasons transport them into a more Determinate Obstination From the City now to the Country Sect. VI. How to Prevent Seditions from the COUNTRY IT is very rarely seen that the Country begins a Seditious Quarrel unless in case of some Barbarous and Depopulating Tyranny or for pure want of Bread In Truth their Business is too Innocent and They 're so Full on 't too they have scarce Leisure from their Sleep and Labour to Think of Wrangling and when they do they dread it The hurt They do is by Siding and Seconding and That Vnwillingly too So that to keep Them Quiet no more is Necessary than to have an Eye upon their Patrons and to allow the Common Sort only to Live upon their Labours Sect. VII Certain CAUTIONS Directing how to Prevent and Avoid Dangers arising from the BODY REPRESENTATIVE THere are Three Grand Hazards which Occur in the Consideration of a Body Representative The Choice of the Persons The Manage of Affairs And the Subject Matter of their Consultations Touching the Choice Regard must be first had to the Legality and Then to the Prudence of it That the Candidate may be of such Age and Quality and Chosen in such Manner as the Law of the Place requires And moreover that he be a Person of Moral Integrity A Lover of his Prince and Country and One that Understands his Duty and Employment There is a Duty also Incumbent upon the Electors That they be not Corrupted by Money Overborn by Importunity or Transported by Fear or Favour to an Vnworthy and Vnsuitable Choice From the want of This Care and Fidelity proceed many times the Ruine of Princes and the Subversion of Kingdoms Before the Soveraign Summons This Grand Convention he may consider how the Last Ended the Present Temper of his People and hold a Strict Intelligence concerning such Persons and Fellowships as are likely to Cross him If the Last Assembly Acted and Concluded to the Satisfaction of Himself and the Kingdom he may Hope well of the Next but if the Contrary let him expect a Faction Unless in the Intervall he take off That Animosity which may be attain'd by doing That Himself as of his own meer Grace and Motion which may bear some Proportion with what they would have done by Their Deputies but within the Bounds of Honour and Prudence there 's a great Difference betwixt a King's Reforming of Abuses by Himself and by his Counsell In the One Case it looks as if the People help'd Themselves and makes them think better of their Own Authority then they ought to do In the Other they find Themselves Dependent upon the Grace of the Soveraign and ascribe the Relief to his Bounty In fine it is no tamifs for a Prince still to usher in the Call of his Great Assembly with some Particular Obligation upon his Subjects As to the Rest if the Prince finds the Temper of the People Peevish and Factions Boyling such as no Clemency and Goodness can Engage the less Subject for Clamour he leaves them 't is the Better and if upon Convening he finds the Mixture Petulant and Soure he may with the less noise Dismiss them According to the Choice of Persons will be the Manage of Affairs The Publick Good Particular Iustice and the Dignity of the Assembly will be the Chief Care of a Good Choice but if the Choice be Bad These Noble Offices and Regards will be the Least part of their Business They fall then into Partialities and Sidings Help me to day and I 'le Help you to morrow Acts of State will be Bias'd by Particular Interests Matters Concluded by Surprize rather then by any formal Determination and the Reverence of Order and Reason will be dash'd out of Countenance by the Voicings of Faction and Clamour As Politick Bodies have no Souls so Publick Persons should have no Bodies but leave those Impediments of Iustice and Distractions of Counsell Project and Passion at the Dore of the Senate In short where such a Partiality happens
a Vote is pass'd for taking the Case of Absent Members into Consideration upon the fifth of Ianuary next and upon the Day appointed they Resolve That the Members Discharg'd from Voting or Sitting in 1648. and 49. do stand duly Discharg'd by Iudgement of Parliament and that Writs do Issue forth for New in their Places And now They think their Game Cocksure having already Voted the Disbanding of Lambert's Army Setled their Counsell of One and Thirty and Offer'd Grace to the Revolted Officers Lambert himself by Name that would lay down before the Ninth of Ianuary whereupon Lamberts Forces disperse He himself submits and the General receives an Invitation to London In Conclusion after Many Indignities cast upon the Honest Part of the Nation for desiring a Free-Parliament by That wretched Conventicle that intended only to Perpetuate it self The General arrives at London Feb. 3. and upon the 7. comes out the 100000 l. Tax which produced a Common-Counsell the day following to advise upon it where it was Resolv'd To adhere to a former Vote of the Court in the Negative This Refusal puzzled the Counsell of State who without being Masters of the City and of Money were able to do little so that they forthwith Order'd the Reducing of the City by Emprisoning half a Score of their Citizens and upon another Denyal to take away their Posts and Chains and destroy their Gates and Portcullisses which was accordingly Executed but with such Regret that thereupon they lodg'd the Government of the Army in Five Commissioners the General being One with Evident Design to wipe him of his Employment But Their Ingratitude wrought little with him whose Actions were only steer'd by the Compass of Loyalty and Prudence So that having humour'd the People at Westminster till they had made themselves sufficiently Odious and abundantly try'd the Affections of the City to his Design in hand Upon the 11 of Feb. he gave the House to understand the Necessity of their timely Dissolution in order to the right of Successive Parliaments the very hopes of which Release gave the People a Joy to the Degree of Madness Upon the 21. were re-admitted the Secluded Members of 1648. by whom were Writs Issued out for a Representative to meet upon the 25. of April 1660. and March 16. 1659. they formally Dissolve themselves Committing the Government in that Interval to a Counsel of State Upon the day Appointed the Convention meets but not altogether so Leaven'd as by the Qualifications was intended Excluding Father and Son of such as had serv'd the King from the Election In fine the Major Part of that Assembly according to their Duty gave the King his own again without those Shackles and Conditions which the Qualifiers would have Impos'd upon his Majesty Upon whose Legal and Imperial Freedom depends the Safety and Well-being of his People CAP. VIII The Vsurper Oliver was principally distress'd by the War with Spain and his Standing Army WE have now brought Rebellion from the Cradle to the Grave We have seen it Triumphant and now we see it in the Dust subjected at the Feet of our Most Gracious Soveraign to account for the Blood of his Royal Father Be it our Business next to enquire What hindred Oliver from Establishing himself Upon what Reason of State Cause Errour or Necessity that prosperous Vsurper fail'd But some will not allow he fail'd as if the sole Fatality of the Cause was his Decease and the Design only miscarried through the ill Manage of a weak Successor For granted by good Order it might have been Caudled up and kept above ground a little longer But still it seems to Me that before Oliver Dy'd the Cause was Bed-rid and Hectick past Recovery Opinion is Free any Man 's as Mine and Mine as any Mans so that submitting my Reasons to the Wise and Recommending my Weakness to the Charitable I proceed Cromwell did wisely to take his Rise to the Soveraignty upon the Necks of those Vsurpers whom he cast out in 1653. For in the same Action he Oblig'd the People Master'd his Enemies and Fill'd his Pockets Yet were not those Means that advanc'd the Tyrant sufficient to Establish him One Obstacle was the Inconsistence of his Doctrine with his Design for the same Arguments that Rais'd him Ruin'd him The People were instructed to Destroy Kings not to set them Vp and beside he that had so many Sharers in the Hazzards of the Rebellion could not fail of some Competitors for the Benefit of it Further he had no considerable Party sure to his Interest and all but his Meer Creatures and Allies were utter Enemies to it The City Hated him for their Loss of Trade the Country for their Taxes the Royalists for his Rebellion and Cruelty the Presbyterians for his Breach of Covenant That is for not destroying the King after Their Way The Levellers for his Ambition and in fine all the hope he had was to New-Modell an Army to his purpose that fail'd him too at last for want of Money and Credit to maintain it Which Want was chiefly hasten'd and procur'd by his precipitate Breach with Spain together with the Necessity of keeping up a Standing Army The former of These was doubtless his Mistake or rather a Temerity scarce advised upon For having brought the Hollander to his Knees the only Stranger he had then to fear and after That shak'd hands with him his next Course should have been by Thrift and Popularity to Ingratiate himself at Home and not by a Rambling Needless and Expensive War to squander away the life-blood of the Nation and in That Indigent Extremity of the State to make Ducks and Drakes with the Publick Treasure Nor was the Consequence less Fatal to him than was the Enterprize to a common Eye Imprudent the hopes of carrying his Design in no wise Countervailing the risque he ran of losing all he had Got in case he missed it I might Instance in a Thousand ways of Profusion and Oppression Common to all Usurpers both Practised by Him and exposing him to great Necessities but I shall rather bestow the rest I have to say upon the Fatality of that Tyrant's Condition Which forced him to make use of for his Safety the greatest of all Dangers to wit A Standing Army For Order sake We 'll first Consider Vpon what Pretense and to what end 't was Rais'd In the Next Place We 'll see what it produc'd and weigh the Benefits with the Inconveniences Lastly Wee 'll look into the probable Effects and Influence of it as related to the English Temper Custom and Government To the first what I here call a Standing Army was but the Emprovement of a Slight Temporary force rais'd in pretense at first as an Expedient against Plots being indeed it self the Greatest but Encreas'd Continued and Carried on by Policy and Power This Project came from the Cabale in 1641. Couch'd under the Notion of A Guard for
Prince is sold into the hands of his Enemies In short Corruption does more Immediately expose a Monarch and Embroyle a Court but Inordinate Begging does more Empoverish and distress a People particularly if the Request be preter-Legall and pinching either upon Trade or Tillage in which cases the Benefit of a Single Person enters into Competition with the Quiet and Security of a Nation There is an Evill yet behind which of all Evills so trivial in appearance is possibly of the most fatall and malitious consequence and That is the Non-Payment of Debts which not only draws upon a Court the most Violent of all Passions Envy and Hatred but upon Monarchy it self a Popular Prejudice 'T is Dangerous in regard both of the Quality and Number of their Creditours They are for the most part Citizens Poor and Many They lie together in a Body meet daily conferring and dispersing their Complaints and Clamours they Break at last and Then they Tumult Sect. IV. The CAMP THe Two Grand Interests of the Souldiery are Pay and Honour that is such Honour as belongs to them as Sword-men As for Instance 't is their Profession not to put up Affronts They do not love to have their Vnder-Officers rais'd over their heads New-Modelling or Disbanding is a Thing they do not like and a Publick disgrace is never to be forgiven By Ill Order in These Two Particulars are commonly occasion'd Mutinies and Revolts which become then most perillous when a disobliged General has a Purse to Engage a Discontented Army We speak here of an Army Employ'd by a Prince as a Security against his own Subjects which is quite another Case then against a Foreign Enemy for the same Popular and Ambitious Humour that in a Commander Abroad is most Proper and Necessary is on the Contrary as Dangerous at Home The safety of the State depending only upon the Insuperable Virtue and Fidelity of such a Person Some Armies we have known to Prove Troublesome and to Divide upon Pretenses of Religion but a Holy War is a Contradiction and a Story only fit to pass upon Women and Children Upon the whole it seems that an Army within it self and without any Separate Interest may be troublesome upon These Three Accounts Either Want of Pay which causes a General Mutiny or Disgrace which more Peculiarly reflecting upon such or such Officers Troops or Parties provokes Animosities Factions and Revolts or Ambition which more directly attempts upon the Sovereignty It may be also Hazardous by reason of some Errour in the Constitution of it That is if it be composed of Persons Ill-affected to the Government it cannot rationally be expected that it should labour to Preserve what it wishes to Destroy But we are treating of Distempers acquir'd and rather proceeding from the ill menage of an Army than from the first Mis-choice or founded in the Iudgment of it Concerning a Standing-Army enough is said in the foregoing Chapter a word we 'l add It is in This Regard an Affair of a Peevish Quality that either a General has too little Power to do his Masters Business or enough to do his own As it is not safe for a Monarch at any time to entrust the Chief Officer of an Army with so much Power for fear of a Sedition as may enable him to move a Rebellion So is it a work of great Skill and Difficulty so dexterously to Resume or Ballance that over-grown Power as to bring it under Command without discovering such a Iealousie as may Provoke him to abuse it Let This suffice as to the Disorders of an Army within it self Another Hazard is lest it be Corrupted into a Dependence upon some other Interest into which Defection it may be partly Driven by the Neglect or Vnkindness of the Prince and partly Drawn by the Allurements of Profit and Reward Having spoken of the Mischief a Seditious Army may Doe very briefly let us behold what Mischiefs a Vicious and Vndisciplin'd Army may Cause There never fails to be an Opposition betwixt the Civil and the Military Power and in like manner betwixt the People and the Souldiery Whom nothing else can Reconcile but down-right Force and Necessity So that the fairest State of a Nation over-aw'd by an Army of their own Country men is an extorted Patience accompany'd with Readiness to embrace any opportunity of working their Deliverance If at the best the bare appearance of a Force be so Generally distastfull what Havock will not the Licentious abuse of it Cause in a Kingdom Especially in Populous Towns where One Affront Exasperates a Million and 't is not two hours work to destroy an Army A Royall Guard is of another Quality and such it ought to be for Choice and Number as both suitable to the Charge they undertake for the Safety of The Sacred Person of their Prince and sufficient to the Execution of it Sect. V. The CITY BY the City we intend the Metropolis of a Kingdom which in many Respects challenges a Place and Consideration in This Chapter of Seditions Particularly in Regard of Inclination and Power There is not Generally speaking so fair an Intelligence between the Court and City as for the Common Good of Both were to be wish'd and This proceeds Chiefly from a Pride of Blood on the One side and of Wealth on the Other breeding mutual Envy between them This Envy by degrees boyles up to an Animosity and Then Tales are Carried to the Monarch of the insolence of the Citizens and Stories on the other side to the People of the Height and Excesses of the Court and Here 's the Embryo of a Sedition From Hence each Party enters into a Cross Contrivement These how to tame the Boldness of the One and Those how to supplant the Greatness of the Other Both equally unmindfull of their Inseparable Concerns the Citizen that he holds his Charter of the Bounty of his Prince and the Courtier that it is a flourishing Trade that makes a flourishing Empire By These Heats is a City-Humour against the Court emprov'd into a Popular Distemper against the King and here 's the Inclination of a Disorder'd City As to their Power they have Men Money and Arms at an hour's warning the very Readiness of which Provision makes it worth double the Proportion Their Correspondencies are Commonly strong and Firme and their dependencies Numerous for the Pretense being Trade and Liberty hooks in all Places of the same Interest to the same Faction Beside That General device seeming Religion that stamps the Cause and Prints a GOD WITH US upon it In fine a Potent and a Peevish City is a shrew'd Enemy Their first work is to Possess the Vulgar with This Notion that in some Cases the Monarch is limited and the Subject free intending that the Prince is bounded by the Law and that the People are at Liberty where the Law is silent and so likewise in points of
Conscience By which Argument the People Govern where there is no express Law and the King only where there is Taking it once for Granted that the Prince is Limited by the Law which Conscientiously he is for in observing the Law he does but keep his own word They presently Conclude that if the King transgress the Rule of his Power he forfeits the Right of it and that for such a Violation he is accountable to the People for whose Behoof the Law was made This is a Specious but a Poysonous Inference and rather adapted to a Mutinous Interest than to a Peaceable and candid Reason Let a Transgression be supposed are there any Laws Paenal upon the Monarch But there are none that warrant Tyranny Right but there are some yet that forbid Rebellion and without questioning the cause that declare all Violences whatsoever upon the Person or Authority of the King to be Crimina Laesae Majestatis or Treason Are there any Laws now on the Other side that depose Kings for Male-administration If none the Law being Peremptorily against the One and only not for the Other what does it but constitute the Subject in all cases accountable for his Resistance to the Sovereign and Leave the Supream Magistrate in all cases to answer for his Mis-government to Almighty God But let the Controversie pass for we are not here so much to enter into the True State of Matters as to deliver their Appearances And now is the time to bring the Faylings and Misfortunes of the Prince upon the Stage and by exposing him Naked before the Multitude to make his Person Cheap and his Government Odious to his People Which they Effect by certain Oblique Discourses from the Press and Pulpit by Lamentable Petitions craving Deliverance from such and such Distresses of Estate or Conscience and These they Print and Publish converting their pretended supplications for Relief into bitter Remonstrances of the Cruelty and Injustice of their Rulers By These wiles are the Vulgar drawn to a dislike of Monarchy and That 's the Queue to a discourse of the Advantages of a Popular Government The next step to the Design of introducing it There 's none of This or That they cry at Amsterdam and in short from these Grudgings of Mutiny These Grumblings against Authority they slide Insensibly into direct and open Practises against it Alas what are These Motions but the sparkling of a Popular Disposition now in the Act of Kindling which only wants a little Blowing of the Cole to Puff up all into a Flame From the Leading and Preparatory Motives to Sedition now to the more Immediate and Enflaming Causes of it which are reducible either to Religion Oppression Privileges or Poverty Subsection I. Seditions which concern Religion THose Seditions which concern Religion referr either to Doctrine or Discipline Haeresie or Schism The Former is a Strife as they say for a better or a worse a Contest betwixt the Persuasion of the People and the Religion of the Government in matter of Faith and tending either to Overthrow the One or to Establish the Other In This Case the People may be in the Right as to the Opinion but never so as to justifie the Practice for Christianity does not dissolve the Order of Society To Obey God rather than Man is Well Let us Obey him then in not Resisting those Powers to which his Ordinance hath Subjected us Touching This with the Brethren's Leave I take it to be the more Venial-Mortal Sin of the Two That is the Rebellion of Haeresie is less unpardonable than That of Schism in regard first that the Subject of the Difference is a matter of greater Import Secondly 't is not Impossible but the Mis-persuasion may be founded upon Invincible Ignorance I do not say that I had rather be an Arrian than a Calvinist but I averr that he is the foulest Rebell that for the Slightest Cause upon the Least Provocation and against the Clearest Light Murthers his Sovereign Those Seditions which are mov'd upon account of Schism are commonly a combination of Many against One of Errour against Truth and a Design that strikes as well at the Civil Power as the Ecclesiastick This being a Subject which both in the first Section of This Chapter and Else-where is sufficiently discours'd upon we shall rather address our selves to the Means Peculiar to a City of comforting and aiding these unquiet agitations as more properly the Business of our present Argument Great Towns have first the Advantage of Great Numbers of People within a Small Compass of Place where with much Ease and Privacy Those of the Faction may hold their full and frequent Meetings Debate Contrive nay and Execute with all Convenience For when the Plot is Laid the Manner and the Time Appointed there 's no more trouble for the Rendezvous the Partie 's Lodg'd already the Town it self being the most Commodious Quarter 'T is in respect of these favourable concurrences that men of Turbulent and Factious Spirits rather make choice of Populous Cities to Practise in Another Hazard may arise from the Temper of the Inhabitants as well as from the Condition of the Place and from the very Humour and Application of the Women in a notion distinct from That of the Men. From the Temper of the Inhabitants first as partaking usually of the Leaven of their Correspondents whom we find very often both Famous for Trade and Notorious for Schism But Men are Generally so good-Natur'd as to think well of any Religion they Thrive under Further their Employment being Traffick or Negotiating for Benefit and their Profession being to Buy as Cheap as they can and to Sell as Dear without any measure between the Risque or Disbursment and the Profit they are commonly better Accountants than Casuists and will rather stretch their Religion to their Interest than shrink their Interest to their Religion They have again so superstitious a Veneration for the Iustice of Paying Mony upon the Precise Hour that they can very hardly believe any man to be of the right-Religion that Breaks his Day And observe it let a Prince run himself deep in Debt to his Imperial City they shall not so much Clamour at him for an ill Pay-Master as upon a Fit of Holiness suspect him for an Heretick or Idolater Proposing a Tumult as the ready way to Pay themselves and That I reckon as the first step into a Rebellion Now how the Women come to be concern'd That first and Then why the City-Dames more then Other It is the Policy of all Cunning Innovatours when they would put a Trick upon the World in matter of Religion which they desire may be Receiv'd with Passion recommended with Zeal and Dispersed with Deligence to begin with the stronger Sex though the Weaker Vessel that excellent Creature Woman And This Course they take out of These Considerations First as That Sex is Naturally scrupulous and Addicted to
be some Allowancies which to proportion to their Various Instances is neither for This Place nor for my Meaning That Subjects are to Obey Lawful Commands without disputing the Reasons of Them is beyond Question Yet is 't not in the Power of Humane Nature to keep men from Surmising and from Guessing at them We 'l Grant ye too that in some Cases some People will in some Sort do some Things as they ought to do Yet we are where we were that is they will be Guessing still If Taxes follow quicker and run higher then Ordinary they cry so much and the next Question 's Why 'T is true they should not Aske but who can hinder them Is it for the Honor or Safety of the Prince 'T is Consequently for the Publick Good and he deserves to be expell'd Humane Society that narrowly prefers his Little dirty Interest before so Sacred and so great a Benefit A Third is the Inequality of Taxes the Over-pressing of any One Party As if the Burthen lies heavyer upon the City then Country upon the Gentry then Yeomanry c. If upon the City they call it Spite if upon the Country Oppression And in fine fall the Disproportion where it fall can it breeds ill bloud for That Weight breaks the Back of any One Interest which evenly dispos'd would seem no heavy Load upon the Shoulders of All. Ferre quam sortem patiuntur Omnes Nemo recusat The Consequence of This Inequality is a Generall Ruine but piece-meal and One Part after Another Touching the Manner of Imposing or Levying we waive That and pass to the Subject Matter of the Tax A point how little soever reguarded scarce less Considerable then the Totall Amount of it If the Device be Novell the People shy and ticklish if there be Factions Stirring and the Prince not absolutely Master better raise Thrice the Value in the Rode of Levies then hazzard the Experiment of a By-way 'T is Machiavell's advice concerning Sanguinary Cruelties where Cruelty is Necessary do it at once or at least seldome as possible But then be sure to follow it with Frequent Acts of Clemency by which Means you shall be fear'd for your Resolution and belov'd for your Good-Nature whereas a Little and Often Terrifies Less and Disquiets people much more imprinting Jealousies of further Inconveniencies so that they know not what to Trust to Most Certain it is that as Many petty Injuries deface the Impression of One Great Benefit so in like manner do Many slight Benefits deface the Impression of One Great Injury the Last Act sinking deepest For 't is from Thence Men Measure their expectation of the Future and as they look for Good or Bad they are Peaceable or Troublesome Wherefore as it is Duty to do Well always so 't is Wisdom to do Well last and where a Pressure cannot be avoided not to leave standing so near as may be any Memorial of it Least When your Children shall ask their Father in time to come saying What mean you by these Stones c. The ways of Supplying Princes are Various according to their Several Interests Practices Powers and Constitutions Not to lose my self in Particulars One General shall serve for all It behoves a State to be very wary how they Relieve a Present need upon the Foundation of a Lasting Inconvenience for though in some Extremities there is no Choice yet it very rarely happens that a Prince is the Better for the Money where he is the worse for the President Sir Thomas Rowe in a Speech at the Council-Table 1640. directed to the dashing of a Project tending to the Enfeebling of the Coyn as he Phrases it Cites the Lord Treasurer Burleigh and Sir Thomas Smith giving their Opinion to Queen Elizabeth in these words That it was not the short end of Wits nor starting holes of Devises that can sustain the Expence of a Monarchy but sound and solid Courses Horace his Rem facias Rem Si possis Rectè si non quocunque modo Rem will not serve the turn 'T is sharply said of Sir Francis Bacon That the Wisdom of all these Latter Times in Princes Affairs is rather fine Deliveries and shiftings of Dangers and Mischiefs when they are near than solid and grounded Courses to keep them aloof But says he again It is the Solaecism of Power to think to Command the End and yet not to endure the Mean These are the Sleights the Ill-husbandry of Government through which Mistakes insensibly a Great Revenue moulders away and yet the State never out of Debt Excessive Building is another Cause of General Soarcity for it leaves the Country too Thin and Over-peoples the City Enhansing the Rate and Consuming the Means of Living It wasts the Nobility and Gentry It Impoverishes also and Disobliges the Populacy All that is got in the Country being spent in the City beside the hazardous disproportion betwixt the Head and the Body One Reason of this Scarcity may be from some Defect in the Law it self as where sufficient Provision is not made for strict and peremptory payment upon Bond. Men will not part freely with their Mony where they may be put off by Shifts and Delayes and driven to a Vexatious Suit to get it In again Another great Inconvenience proceeds from a General Grasping at more Trade then they can Master which causes many Failings one upon the Neck of another To what 's already said not to be endless we 'l only add Two Causes more The One is the deceipt and Knavery of Artizans and Trades-men who for a Private Gain betray the Interest of the Publick and invert the Ballance of Trade by such Abusive Manufactures as are neither Saleable abroad nor Serviceable at Home which both necessitates the Importation of Forraign Commodities and hinders the Issue of Native beside the Treble Charge their Dearness and their little Vsefullness consider'd We shall Conclude with Pride which were 't in nothing else but what 's expended upon Guildings Gold and Silver Lace and Forraign Curiosities of Needle-work would not be inconsiderable But where 't is General and extends both to all Sorts of Superfluities and all Degrees of Persons That City goes by the Post to Ruine for Pride is not only the Fore-runner of Destruction and the Cause of it but the Loud and Crying Provoker of it Sect. VI. The COUNTRY THat Interest which contributes the Least to a Sedition and suffers the most by it is That of the Country which is properly comprised under Tillage and Pasture For I reckon all Populous Places whether Towns or Villages that subsist by steady Traffick or Handy-crafts to be no other then Dependencies upon the Metropolis which is usually That in Proportion to the Kingdom which the Principal City of every Province is to the Other Parts of it This Interest seldom or never Heads a Sedition upon it's own Account and when it does engage under Protection possibly of the next strong Hold or in
Military Force has the Face rather of an Enemy then of a Guard But where Persons of Eminent Repute and Integrity in the Country are joyned in Commission with others as Eminent for Martial Affaires Both sides are satisfi'd and the Common Good better provided for Sect. V. How to Prevent or Remedy Seditions arising from the CITY WHere the Metropolis is not well Season'd and in good Order Many and Great are the Advantages it has to Disturbe a Government It has Men Mony and Armes always at hand But yet let a Prince in his Greatest Distress have a Care how he Abandons it for 't is by much a more dangerous Enemy at a Distance then at Home The Ordinary Pretenses of a Troubled City are either concerning Religion Oppression Privileges or Poverty but still 't is Ambition that sets the Wheel going and it is the Monarch's yielding at first that destroyes him in the End For while the Party is Tender and Wavering the Humour Corvigible and the Authority of the Prince not as yet either exposed by Patience or Prophan'd by Popular Contempt and the Insolencies of the Rabble Then is the time to cut off all Possibility of Sedition Murmurings are but the Smoak of Rebellion the Fire 's already in the Straw but easily smother'd That is if seasonably look'd after for if it break forth into a Blaze All the Buckets in the Town will hardly Quench it The very first Mutterings against the Government are but a pretty way of putting the Question as who should say Sir May we Rebell And the Forbearance of the Prince seems to Answer them Yes Ye may And Then to work they go First upon Religion the most Dangerous and the most wicked Quarrell in Nature Is there a God Or Is there none Let any Reasonable Rebell whether Atheistick or Religious answer me If a God there be Upon what Nation will he power out the fierceness of his Wrath Upon what Heads will he employ his Thunder If not upon That Nation where his Divinity is made a Stale His Majesty Affronted in all his Attributes And upon Those Heads that entitle the Basest of Corruptions to his Immaculate Purity and the Dictates of the Devill to the Inspirations of the Blessed Spirit Now to Those that say in their Heart There is no God They 'l yet allow the Political Convenience of persuading the People otherwise So that were This Freedom in Matters of Religion is permitted to the Multitude Either the Abuse draws down a Vengeance from Heaven or the Superstitious League among the People unites a Party against the Soveraign To deal frankly All Seditions are to be imputed to Misgovernment To the want of Early Care in the Magistrate One Man begins He Imparts himself to Others They Conferr with Their Interests and so the Mischief Branches it self till it comes to Overspread a Nation How easie a matter is it to Smother a Spark in the Tinder-Box A little Harder to blow out a Candle Harder yet to put out the Fire In short when the Town is in a Flame thank Him that neglected the first Spark The Prince that would prevent Schismaticall Seditions in a City must begin with the Clergy and assure himself of the Pulpit To say 't is Dangerous may in some Cases be a Truth But Dangerous as it is If it be more so to let them Alone What signifies that Objection Suppose the Hazard almost desperate on the One side But there 's a never failing Certainty on the Other Here 't is Hard There 't is Impossible It is Necessary also to suppress Conventicles Pamphlets and all other Irregularities which either Draw People together or Vnite them in Order to a Separation In a Particular manner let heed be taken that the Magistracy of the City consist of Persons Well-affected to the Government of the Church And if they Struggle let them be timely Taught that the Liberty of their Charter does not discharge the Bond of their Allegiance This Strictness ought to be indispensible for it is not to be Expected that One Schismatick should Punish Another The Second Grievous Complaint is Oppression and whether it be True or False let it be strongly Vrg'd and Credited 't is the same thing Some Oppressions are Procur'd at the Instance of certain Ill Instruments about the Soveraign on purpose to stir up the People against him And this is done by shewing how Other Princes hamper Their Capital Cities Never considering that the same manner of Governing will no more fit all Varieties of Custom Temper and Scituation than the same Doublet and Hose will fit all Bodies And then they Cry This Damn'd City must be Humbled and Taken down 'T is very Right but This must be spoken softly and done warily For to Level the Menace at the City in stead of the Delinquent is a great mistake In such a Heat as This a Prince needs no more than Three or Four Churlish and Rash Officers Two on Three spiteful and Illegal Actions to bring his Royalty in danger Briefly a Mean there is betwixt Fury and Slumber and equally ruinous to Princes are Those Counsels that lead to either of These Extreams May not That very Thing which these People pretend they aim at be done by Gentle Legal and Familiar Means Let them Choose their own Officers That pleases the City But 't is the Publick Care to see the Choice be Honest and that secures the Prince On the One side no Clemency can be too great that stands with the Rule of Government On the Other side no Severity too strict in Case of a Contumacy that Crosses it Burthensom Taxes are many times a Great Complaint and sometimes a Iust One. Lighter or Heavier they are according to the various Humours of the Prince and the different Exigencies of Times and Occasions Nay and according to the differing Disposition in the People at several times to understand them Publick Necessities must be Supply'd and the Supream Magistrate is the Iudge of Publick Necessities Yet still where a more than Ordinary Levy is Necessary the Ordinary way of Raising it may be Convenient for the One way they only stumble at the Present Burthen but the Other they are startled with an Apprehension of the Perpetuity of it In which Case it fares with Rulers as it does with Racking Landlords in Comparison with Those that Let better Penny-worths The One has more in his Rental but the Other has more in his Pocket And the Reason is the Tenants run away with the Rent Sir Francis Bacon is of Opinion That Taxes and Imposts upon Merchants do seldom good to the King's Revenue for that he wins in the Hundred he loses in the Shire the Particular Rates being Encreased but the Total Bulk of Trading rather Decreased Some Oppressions again there are that proceed only from the violence of Extorting and Corrupt Officers To Complaints against Abuses of this Quality a Prince his Ear is to be ever