envious Demagog going to summon him upon som pretence or other to answer for himself before the Assembly the People fell into such a Mutiny as could not be appeas'd but by TIMOLEON who understanding the matter reprov'd them by repeating the pains and travel which he had gon thro to no other end than that every Man might have the free use of the Laws Wherfore when DAEMENETUS another Demagog had brought the same Design about again and blam'd him impertinently to the People for things which he did when he was General TIMOLEON answer'd nothing but raising up his hands gave the Gods thanks for their return to his frequent Prayers that he might but live to see the Syracusians so free that they could question whom they pleas'd NOT long after being old thro som natural imperfection he fell blind but the Syracusians by their perpetual visits held him tho he could not see their greatest Object if there arriv'd Strangers they brought them to see this sight Whatever came in debate at the Assembly if it were of small consequence they determin'd it themselves but if of importance they always sent for TIMOLEON who being brought by his Servants in a Chair and set in the middle of the Theater there ever follow'd a great shout after which som time was allow'd for the Benedictions of the People and then the matter propos'd when TIMOLEON had spoken to it was put to the Suffrage which given his Servants bore him back in his Chair accompany'd by the People clapping their hands and making all expressions of Joy and Applause till leaving him at his House they return'd to the dispatch of their Business And this was the Life of TIMOLEON till he dy'd of Age and drop'd like a mature Fruit while the Eys of the People were as the Showers of Autumn THE Life and Death of my Lord ARCHON but that he had his Senses to the last and that his Character as not the Restorer but the Founder of a Commonwealth was greater is so exactly the same that seeing by Men wholly ignorant of Antiquity I am accus'd of writing Romance I shall repeat nothing but tell you that this year the whole Nation of Oceana even to the Women and Children were in mourning where so great or sad a Funeral Pomp had never bin seen or known Somtime after the performance of the Exequys a Colossus mounted on a brazen Horse of excellent Fabric was erected in the Piazza of the Pantheon ingrav'd with this Inscription on the Eastern side of the Pedestal HIS NAME IS AS Precious Ointment And on the Western with the following GRATA PATRIA Piae Perpetuae Memoriae D. D. Olphaus Megaletor Lord ARCHON and sole LEGISLATOR OF OCEANA Pater Patriae Invincible in the Field Inviolable in his Faith Vnfained in his Zeal Immortal in his Fame The Greatest of Captains The Best of Princes The Happiest of Legislators The Most Sincere of Christians Who setting the Kingdoms of Earth at Liberty Took the Kingdom of the Heavens by Violence Anno Aetat suae 116. Hujus Reipub. 50. THE PREROGATIVE OF Popular Government BEING A POLITICAL DISCOURSE In Two Books The former Containing the first Preliminary of OCEANA inlarg'd interpreted and vindicated from all such Mistakes or Slanders as have bin alleg'd against it under the Notion of Objections The Second Concerning Ordination against Dr. H. HAMMOND Dr. L. SEAMAN and the Authors they follow In which Two Books is contain'd the whole Commonwealth of the Hebrews or of Israel Senat People and Magistracy both as it stood in the Institution by MOSES and as it came to be form'd after the Captivity As also the different Policys introduc'd into the Church of CHRIST during the time of the Apostles Without Council Purposes are disappointed but in the multitude of Counsillors they are establish'd SOLOMON La multitudine è piu Savia è piu costante ch'un Principe MACCHIAVEL EPISTLE to the READER VVHOSOEVER sheds mans blood by man shall his blood be shed for in the Image of God made he Man If this Rule holds as well in shedding the blood of a Turk as of a Christian then that wherin Man is the Image of God is REASON Of all Controversys those of the Pen are the most honorable for in those of Force there is more of the Image of the Beast but in those of the Pen there is more of the Image of God In the Controversys of the Sword there is but too often no other Reason than Force but the Controversy of the Pen has never any Force but Reason Of all Controversys of the Pen next those of Religion those of Government are the most honorable and the most useful the true end of each tho in a different way being that the Will of God may be don in Earth as it is in Heaven Of all Controversys of Government those in the vindication of Popular Government are the most noble as being that Constitution alone from whence all we have that is good is descended to us and which if it had not existed Mankind at this day had bin but a Herd of Beasts The Prerogative of Popular Government must either be in an ill hand or else it is a game against which there is not a Card in the wole pack for we have the Books of MOSES those of the Greecs and of the Romans not to omit MACCHIAVEL all for it What have the Asserters of Monarchy what can they have against us A Sword but that rusts or must have a Scabbard and the Scabbard of this kind of Sword is a good frame of Government A MAN may be possest of a piece of Ground by force but to make use or profit of it he must build upon it and till it by Reason for whatever is not founded upon Reason cannot be permanent In Reason there are two parts Invention and Judgment As to the latter In a multitude of Counsillors say both SOLOMON and MACCHIAVEL there is strength Nay as for Judgment there is not that Order in Art or Nature that can compare with a Popular Assembly THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE IS THE VOICE OF GOD. Hence it is that in all well-order'd Policys the People have the ultimat result but unless there be som other to invent a Popular Assembly can be of no effect at all but Confusion Invention is a solitary thing All the Physicians in the world put together invented not the Circulation of the Blood nor can invent any such thing tho in their own Art yet this was invented by one alone and being invented is unanimously voted and imbrac'd by the generality of Physicians The Plow and Wheels were at first you must think the invention of som rare Artists but who or what shall ever be able to tear the use of them from the People Hence where Government is at a loss a sole Legislator is of absolute necessity nay where it is not at a loss if well model'd as in Venice the Proposers tho frequently changeable
Scots but at last the Picts taking distast at the Romans enter'd into a secret League with the Scots and agreed that FERGUS whose Uncle the last King was being then in banishment and of a military breeding and inclination should be chosen King With him the Danes maintain'd a long War against the Romans and pul'd down the Picts wall at last he and the King of Picts were in one day slain in a Battel against them This Man's access to Government was strange ignotus Rex ab ignoto populo accersitus and may be thought temerarious he having no Land for his People and the Roman Name inimical yet founded he a Monarchy there having been Kings ever since and we are to note this is the first man that the sounder Writers will allow to be real and not fabulous Him succeded his Son EUGENIUS whose Grandfather GRAHAM had all the power a warlike Prince whom some say slain some dead of a disease After him his Brother DONGARD who after the spending of five superstitious years left the Crown as they call it to his youngest Brother CONSTANTIN who from a good privat Man turn'd a leud Prince and was slain by a Nobleman whose Daughter he had ravish'd He was succeded by CONGAL CONSTANTIN'S Son who came a tolerable good Prince to a loose People and having spent som two and twenty years in slight excursions against the Saxons left the rule to his Brother GORAN who notwithstanding he made a good League against the Britans which much conduc'd to his and the Peoples settlement yet in requital after thirty four years they made away with him which brought in EUGENIUS the Third of that name the Son of CONGAL who was strongly suspected to have a hand in his Death insomuch that GORAN'S Widow was forc'd to fly into Ireland with her Children This man in thirty three years time did nothing but reign and make short Incursions upon the Borders he left the Rule to his Brother CONGAL a monastical superstitious and inactive Prince who reign'd ten years KINNATEL his Brother was design'd for Successor yet AIDAN the Son of GORAN laid his claim but was content to suspend in respect of the Age and Diseases of KINNATEL which after fourteen Months took him out of the World and clear'd the controversy and AIDAN by the consent of COLUMBA a Priest that govern'd all in those days came to be King a Man that after thirty four years turbulently spent being beaten by the Saxons and struck with the Death of COLUMBA dy'd of Grief AFTER him was chosen KENNETH who has left nothing behind him but his Name Then came EUGENIUS the Fourth the Son of AIDAN so irregular is the Scots Succession that we see it inverted by Usurpation or cross Elections in every two or three Generations This man left an ambiguous Fame for HECTOR BOETIUS says he was peaceable the Manuscript implacably severe He reign'd sixteen years and left his Son FERCHARD Successor who endeavoring to heighten the Prerogative by the Dissensions of the Nobility was on the contrary impeach'd by them and call'd to an account which he denying was clapt in Prison where he himself sav'd the Executioner a labor So that his Brother DONALD succeded who being taken up with the Piety of those days left nothing memorable except that he in person interpreted Scots Sermons to the Saxons He was follow'd by his Nephew FERCHARD Son to the first of that Name a Thing like a King in nothing but his Exorbitancys who in hunting was wounded by a Wolf which cast him into a Fever wherin he not observing the impos'd Temperance brought on himself the lousy Disease upon which discomforted he was by the persuasion of COLMAN a religious man brought out in his Bed cover'd with Hair-cloth where he made a public Acknowlegement to the People and soon after dy'd MALDWIN DONALD'S Son follow'd who after twenty years ignoble Reign was strangled by his Wife EUGENIUS the Fifth succeded Son they say of King DONGARD tho Chronology seems to refute it This man spent five years in slight Incursions and was succeded by EUGENIUS the Sixth Son of FERCHARD This man is famous for a little Learning as the times went and the Prodigy of raining Blood seven days all Milkmeats turning into blood AMBERKELLETH Nephew to EUGENIUS the Fifth who succeded this rude Prince while he was discharging the burden of Nature was slain by an Arrow from an unknown hand EUGENIUS the Seventh follow'd who being attemted by Conspirators had his new marry'd Wife slain in bed beside him for which he being accus'd produc'd the Murderers before his Trial and was acquitted and so ended the rest of his 17 years in Peace recommending to the People MORDAC Son of AMBERKELLETH who continuing a blank Reign or it may be a happy one in regard it was peaceable left it to ETFYN Son of EUGENIUS the Seventh the first part of his Reign was peaceable but Age obliging him to put the Government into the hands of four of his Servants it happen'd to him as it dos to other Princes whose Fortunes decay commonly with their Strength that it was very unhappy and turbulent Which Miserys EUGENIUS the Eighth Son of MORDAC restrain'd But he it seems having a Nature fitter to appease Tumults than to enjoy Rest at the first enjoyment of Peace broke into such Leudness that the Nobility at a meeting stab'd him and made way for FERGUS the Son of ETFYN one like his Predecessor in manner death and continuance of Reign which was three years the only dissimilitude was that the latters Wife brought his Death for which others being impeach'd she stept in and confest it and to avoid punishment punish'd her self with a knife SOLUATH Son of EUGENIUS the Eighth follow'd him who tho his Gout made him of less Action yet it made his Prudence more visible and himself not illaudable His Death brought in ACHAIUS the Son of ETFYN whose Reign was innobled with an Irish War and many learned Men besides the Assistance lent HUNGUS to fight against the Northumbrians whom he beat in a famous Battel which if I may mention the matter was presignify'd to HUNGUS in a Dream St. Andrew appearing to him and assuring him of it and in the time of Battel a white Cross that which the Heralds call a Saltier and we see commonly in the Scots Banners appear'd in the Sky and this I think to have bin the occasion of that bearing and an Order of Knights of St. Andrew somtimes in reputation in Scotland but extinguish'd for ought I can perceive before the time of JAMES the Sixth tho the Collar and Pendant of it are at this day worn about the Scots Arms. To this man CONGAL his Cousin succeded who left nothing behind him but five years to stretch out the account of time DONGAL the Son of SOLUATH came next who being of a Nature fierce and insupportable there was an endeavor to set up ALPIN Son of ACHAIUS which Design by ALPIN himself was
frustated which made the King willinger to assist ALPIN in his pretension to the Kingdom of Picts in which Attemt he was drown'd and left to ALPIN that which he before had so nobly refus'd who making use of the former rais'd an Army beat the Picts in many signal Victorys but at last was slain by them leaving his name to the place of his Death and the Kingdom to his Son KENNETH This man seeing the People broken with the late War and unwilling to fight drew them on by this Subtilty he invites the Nobility to dinner and after plying them with Drink till midnight leaves them sleeping on the floor as the manner was and then hanging Fishskins about the Walls of the Chamber and making one speak thro a Tube and call them to war they waking and half asleep suppos'd somthing of Divinity to be in it aud the next morning not only consented to War but so strange is deluded imagination with unspeakable Courage fell upon the Enemy and put them to the rout which being confirm'd by other great Victorys utterly ruin'd the Pictish Name This man may be added to the two FERGUSES and truly may be said to be the Founder of the Scots Empire not only in making that the middle of his Dominion which was once the bounds but in confirming his Acquisitions with good Laws having the opportunity of a long Peace which was sixteen years his whole time of Government being twenty This was he that plac'd that Stone famous for that illusory Prophecy Ni fallat fatum c. which first was brought out of Spain into Ireland and from thence into Argyle at Scoon where he put it in a Chair in which all his Successors till EDWARD the First brought it away were crown'd and since that all the Kings of England till the happiness of our Commonwealth made it useless His Brother DONALD was his Successor a man made up of extremitys of Virtues and Vices no man had more bravery in the Field nor more Vice at home which increasing with his yeras the Nobility put him in prison where either for fear or scorn he put an end to his days leaving behind him his Brother CONSTANTIN a Man wanting nothing of him but his Vices who strugling with a potent Enemy for the Picts had call'd in the Danes and driving them much into despair a Bravery that has not seldom rain'd many excellent Captains was taken by them put into a little Cave and there slain He was succeded by ETHUS his Brother who had all his eldest Brother's Vices and none of his second 's Virtues Nature it seems making two extremes and a middle in the three Brethren This man voluptuous and cowardly was forc'd to resign or as others say dy'd of Wounds receiv'd in a Duel from his Successor who was GREGORY Son of DONGAL who was not only an excellent Man but an excellent Prince that both recover'd what the others had lost and victoriously travers'd the Northern Countys of England and a great part of Ireland of whose King a Minor and in his power he generously made no advantage but settled his Country and provided faithful and able Guardians for him These things justly yield him the name of Great DONALD Son of CONSTANTIN the Second by his recommendation succeded in his Power and Virtues notwithstanding some say he was remov'd by Poison Next was CONSTANTIN the the Third Son of ETHUS an unstable person who assisted the Danes which none of his Predecessors would do and after they had deserted him basely yet yielded them Succors consisting of the chief of the Scots Nobility which with the whole Danish Army were routed by the Saxons This struck him so that he retir'd among the Culdys which were as the Greec Caloyers or Romish Monks at this day and there bury'd himself alive After him was MILCOM Son of DONALD the Third who tho a good Prince and well skil'd in the Arts of Peace was slain by a Conspiracy of those to whom his Virtue was burdensom His Successor was INDULF by what Title I find not who fighting with the Danes that with a Navy unexpectedly came into the Frith was slain DUF his Son succedes famous for an Accident which if it be true seems nearly distant from a Fable He was suddenly afflicted by a sweating Disease by which he painfully languish'd yet no body could find the cause till at last a Girl that had scatter'd som words after torments confest that her Mother and som other women had made an Image of Wax which as it wasted the King should wast by sweating much the place being diligently search'd it was found accordingly so the Image being broke he instantly recover'd That which disturb'd his five years Reign was the turbulency of the Northern People whom when he had reduc'd and taken with intent to make exemplary Punishment DONALD the Commander of the Castle of Forres where he then lay interceded for som of them but being repuls'd and exasperated by his Wife after he had made all his Servants drunk slew him in his Bed and bury'd him under a little Bridg lest the cutting of Turfs might discover a Grave near Kilros Abby tho others say he turn'd aside a River and after he had bury'd him suffer'd it to take its former Chanel CULEN the Son of INDULF by the Election of Parlament or Convention of the People succeded good only in this one Action of inquiring and punishing his Predecessor's Death but after by the neglect of Discipline and the exquisiteness of his Vices became a Monster and so continued three years till being weakned and exhausted in his Body and vext with perpetual Diseases he was summon'd by the Parlament and in the way was slain by a Thane so they then call'd Lieutenants of Counties whose Daughter he had ravish'd THEN came KENETH Brother to DUF tho the forepart of his Reign was totally unlike his who being invaded by the Danes beat them in that famous Battle which was won by the three HAYS Husbandmen from whom all the HAYS now give three Shields Gules who with their Sythes reinforc'd the lost Battle but in his latter time he lost this reputation by poisoning MILCOLM Son of DUF to preserve the Crown for a Son of his Name tho of less merit for says BUCHANAN They use to chuse the fittest not the nearest which being don he got ordain'd in a Parlament that the Succession should be lineal the Son should inherit and be call'd Prince of Scots and if he were a Minor be govern'd by som wise Man here coms the pretence of Succession wheras before it was clearly Elective and at fifteen he should chuse his Guardian himself But the Divine Vengeance which seldom even in this life passes by Murder overtook him for he was ensnar'd by a Lady whose Son he had caus'd to be executed and slain by an Arrow out of an Ambush she had laid CONSTANTIN the Son of CULEN notwithstanding all the Artifice of KENNETH by his reasoning
his Son JAMES into France the Boy was taken at Flamburg and kept by our HENRY the Fourth upon the hearing of which his Father swounded and soon after dy'd His Reign was memorable for nothing but his breaking with GEORGE Earl of March to whose Daughter upon the payment of a great part of her Portion which he never would repay he had promis'd his Son DAVID for a Husband to take the Daughter of DOUGLAS who had a greater which occasion'd the Earl of March to make many inrodes with our HENRY HOTSPUR and a famous Duel of three hundred men apiece wherof on the one side ten remain'd and on the other one which was the only way to appease the deadly Feuds of these two Familys The Interreign was govern'd by ROBERT who enjoying the Power he had too much coveted little minded the Liberty of his Nephew only he sent som Auxiliarys into France who they say behav'd themselves worthily and his slothful Son MORDAC who making his Sons so bold with Indulgence that one of them kil'd a Falcon on his fist which he deny'd to give him he in revenge procur'd the Parlament to ransom the King who had bin eighteen years a Prisoner This JAMES was the First of that name and tho he was an excellent Prince yet had a troublesom Reign first in regard of a great Pension rais'd for his Ransom next for domestic Commotions and lastly for raising of Mony which tho the Revenue was exhausted was call'd Covetousness This having offended ROBERT GRAHAM he conspir'd with the Earl of Athol slew him in his Chamber his Wife receiving two wounds endeavoring to defend him THIS JAMES left the Second a Boy of six years whose Infancy by the misguidance of the Governor made a miserable People and betray'd the Earl DOUGLAS to death and almost all that great Family to ruin but being supplanted by another Earl DOUGLAS the King in his just age suffer'd Minority under him who upon displeasure rebel'd and was kil'd by the King 's own hand Afterwards having his middle years perpetually molested with civil Broils yet going to assist the Duke of York against HENRY the Sixth he was diverted by an English Gentleman that counterfeited himself a Nuncio which I mention out of a Manuscript because I do not remember it in our Storys and broke up his Army Soon after besieging Roxburg he was slain by the bursting of a Cannon in the twenty ninth year of his Age. JAMES the Second left a Boy of seven Years govern'd by his Mother and afterwards by the BOYDS thro the persuasions of Astrologers and Witches to whom he was strongly addicted he declin'd to Cruelty which so inrag'd the Nobility that headed by his Son they conspir'd against him routing his Forces near Sterling where he flying to a Mill and asking for a Confessor a Priest came who told him that tho he was no good Priest yet he was a good Leech and with that stab'd him to the heart A Parlament approv'd his death and order'd Indemnitys to all that had fought against him JAMES the Fourth a Boy of fifteen Years is made King govern'd by the Murderers of his Father a prodigal vainglorious Prince slain at Floddon Field or as som suppose at Kelsy by the HUMES which as the Manuscript alleges seems more probable in regard that the Iron Belt to which he added a Ring every Year which he wore in repentance for the death of his Father was never found and there were many the day of Battle habited like him His Successor was his Son JAMES the Fifth of that name a Boy of not above two years of age under whose Minority what by the misgovernment of Tutors and what by the Factions of the Nobility Scotland was wasted almost into Famin and Solitude however in his just Age he prov'd an industrious Prince yet could not so satisfy the Nobility but that he and they continued in a mutual hate till that barbarous execution of young HAMILTON so fil'd him with Remorse that he dream'd he came and cut of his two Arms and threaten'd after to cut of his Head And he displeas'd the People so much that he could not make his Army fight with the English then in Scotland wherupon he dy'd of grief having first heard the death of his two Sons who dy'd at the instant of his Dream and leaving a Daughter of five days old whom he never saw THIS was that MARY under whose Minority by the weakness of the Governor and ambition of the Cardinal the Kingdom felt all those Woes that are threaten'd to them whose King is a Child till at length the prevalency of the English Arms awak'd for her cause brought the great design of sending her into France to perfection So at five Years old she was transported and at fifteen marry'd to the Dolphin FRANCIS after King while her Mother a Daughter of the GUISE in her Regency exercis'd all Rage against the Professors of the pure Religion then in the dawn FRANCIS after two Years left her a childless Widow so that at eighteen she return'd into Scotland to succede her Mother then newly dead in her Exorbitancys I HAD almost forgot to tell that this young Couple in the transport of their nuptial Solemnitys took the Arms and Title of England which indiscrete Ambition we may suppose first quicken'd the jealousy of ELIZABETH against her which after kindl'd so great a flame IN Scotland she shew'd what a strange influence loose Education has upon Youth and the weaker Sex All the French Effeminacys came over with her and the Court lost that little Severity which was left DAVID RIZIO an Italian Fidler was the only Favorit and it is too much fear'd had those enjoyments which no Woman can give but she that gives away her Honor and Chastity BUT a little after HENRY Lord Darnly coming with MATTHEW Earl of Lenox his Father into Scotland she cast an ey upon him and marry'd him Whether it were to strengthen her pretension to England he being com of HENRY the Seventh's Daughter as we shall tell anon or to color her Adulterys and hide the shame of an Impregnation tho som have whisper'd that she never conceiv'd and that the Son was supposititious or som Phrenzy of Affection drew her that way certain it is she soon declin'd her Affection to her Husband and increas'd it to DAVID he being her perpetual Companion at board and managing all Affairs while the King with a contemtible Train was sent away insomuch that som of the Nobility that could not digest this enter'd a Conspiracy which the King headed and slew him in her Chamber THIS turn'd all her neglect of the King into rage so that her chiefest business was to appease her Favorits Ghost with the slaughter of her Husband poison was first attemted but it being it seems too weak or his Youth overcoming it that expectation fail'd But the Devil and BOTHWEL furnish'd her with another that succeded she so intices him being so sick
Law I might as well say The Declaration to all men by these presents that a man ows Mony is call'd a Bond which if it outlives the Person that enter'd into that Bond it is only because the Persons that succede him in his Estate are presum'd to have the same Will unless they manifest the contrary and that is the abrogation or cancelling of the Bond so that still the Debt is not in the Bond but in his Will who gave a being to that Bond. If it be alleg'd against this example that it is a privat one the case may be put between several Princes States or Governments or between several States of the same Principality or Government whether it be a Regulated Monarchy or a Commonwealth for in the like Obligation of the States as of the King the Lords and Commons or Partys agreeing Authoritate Patrum jussu Populi till the Partys that so agreed to the Obligation shall agree to repeal or cancel it lys all Law that is not merely in the Will of one Man or of one State or Party as the Oligarchy But not to dispute these things further in this place let the Government be what it will for the Prevaricator to fetch the Origination of Law no further than the Will while he knows very well that I fetch'd it from Interest the Antecedent of Will and yet Book I to boast that he has outthrown me I say he is neither an honest Man nor a good Bowler No matter he will be a better Gunner for where I said that the Magistrat upon the Bench is that to the Law which a Gunner upon his Platform is to his Cannon he gos about to take better aim and says If the proportion of things be accuratly consider'd it will appear that the laden Cannon answers not to the Laws but to the Power of the Person whose Will created those Laws Which if som of them that the Power of the Person whose Will created them intended should be of as good Stuff or Carriage as the rest do nevertheless according to the nature of their Matter or of their Charge com short or over and others break or recoil sure this Report of the Prevaricator is not according to the bore of my Gun but according to the bore of such a Gunner Yet again if he be not so good a Gunner he will be a better Anatomist for wheras I affirm that to say ARISTOTLE and CICERO wrote not the Rights or Rules of their Politics from the Principles of Nature but transcrib'd them into their Books out of the practice of their own Commonwealths is as if a man should say of famous HARVEY that he transcrib'd his Circulation of the Blood not out of the Principles of Nature but out of the Anatomy of this or that Body He answers that the whole force of this Objection amounts but to this that because HARVEY in his Circulation has follow'd the Principles of Nature therfore ARISTOTLE and CICERO have don so in their Discourses of Government PRETTY It is said in Scripture Thy Word is sweet as Hony Amounts that but to this Because Hony is sweet therfore the Word of God is sweet To say that my Lord Protector has not conquer'd many Nations were as if one should say that CESAR had not conquer'd many Nations Amounts that but to this that because CAESAR conquer'd many Nations therfore my Lord Protector has conquer'd many Nations What I produce as a Similitude he calls an Objection where I say as he says because what ingenuous man dos not detest such a cheat A Similitude is brought to shew how a thing is or may be not to prove that it is so it is us'd for Illustration not as an Argument The Candle I held did not set up the Post but shew where the Post was set and yet this blind Buzzard has run his head against it Nor has he yet enough if he be not the better Naturalist he will be the better Divine tho he should make the worse Sermon My Doctrin and Use upon that of SOLOMON I have seen Servants upon Horses and Princes walking as Servants upon the Ground discovers the true means wherby the Principles of Power and Authority the Goods of the Mind and of Fortune may so meet and twine in the Wreath or Crown of Empire that the Government standing upon Earth like a holy Altar and breathing perpetual Incense to Heaven in Justice and Piety may be somthing as it were between Heaven and Earth while that only which is propos'd by the best and resolv'd by the most becoms Law and so the whole Government an Empire of Laws and not of Men. This he says is a goodly Sermon it is honest and sense But let any man make sense or honesty Consid p. 7. of this Doctrin which is his own To say that Laws do or can govern is to amuse our selves with a Form of Speech as when we say Time or Age or Death dos such a thing to which indeed the Phansy of Poets and Superstition of Women may adapt a Person and give a Power of Action but wise Men know they are only Expressions of such Actions or Qualifications as belong to Things or Chap. 3 Persons SPEAK out Is it the Word of God or the Knavery and Nonsense of such Preachers that ought to govern Are we to hearken to that of the Talmud There is more in the word of a Scribe than in the words of the Law or that which Christ therupon says to the Pharisees You have made the Word of God of no effect by your Traditions Mat. 15. 6. Say is the Commonwealth to be govern'd in the Word of a Priest or a Pharisee or by the Vote of the People and the Interest of Mankind CHAP. III. Whether the Balance of Dominion in Land be the natural Cause of Empire THE Doctrin of the Balance is that tho he strains at it which choaks the Prevaricator for this of all others is that Principle which makes the Politics not so before the invention of the same to be undeniable throout and not to meddle with the Mathematics an Art I understand as little as Mathematicians do this the most demonstrable of any whatsoever FOR this cause I shall rather take pleasure than pains to look back or tread the same path with other and perhaps plainer steps as thus If a man having one hundred pounds a year may keep one Servant or have one man at his command then having one hundred times so much he may keep one hundred Servants and this multiply'd by a thousand he may have one hundred thousand men at his command Now that the single Person or Nobility of any Country in Europe that had but half so many men at command would be King or Prince is that which I think no man will doubt But * Point de Argent point de Suisse no Mony no Switzers as the French speak If the Mony be flown so are the Men also Tho
the courses of Israel which were monthly and the annual Magistracys of Athens and Rome go if three years be too short a term for this purpose what was three months A Parlament in the late Government was rarely longer liv'd than three months nor more frequent than once in a year so that a man having bin twelve years a Parlament-man in England could not have born his Magistracy above three years tho he were not necessarily subject to any Vacation Wheras a Parlament in Oceana may in twelve years have born his Magistracy six notwithstanding the necessity of his Vacations Now which of these two are most straiten'd in the time necessary to the gaining of due experience or knowlege for the leading of a Commonwealth Nevertheless the Parlament of England was seldom or never without men of sufficient Skill and Ability tho the Orders there were more in number less in method not written and of greater difficulty than they be in Oceana There if not the Parlament man the Parlament it self was upon Terms and Vacations which to a Council of such a nature is the most dangerous thing in the world seeing Dissolution whether to a Body natural or political is Death For if Parlaments happen'd to rise again and again this was Book I not so much coming to themselves seeing a Council of so different Genius has not bin known as a new Birth and a Council that is every year new born indeed must keep a Commonwealth in perpetual Minority or rather Infancy always in danger of being overlaid by her Nurse or strangl'd by her Guardian wheras an Assembly continu'd by Succession or due Rotation regulated by Terms giving sufficient time for digestion grows up and is like a man who tho he changes his Flesh neither changes his Body nor his Soul Thus the Senat of Venice changing Flesh tho not so often as in a Common-wealth consisting of the Many were requisit yet oftenest of any other in the world is both in Body and Soul or Genius the most unchangeable Council under Heaven Flesh must be cháng'd or it will stink of it self there is a Term necessary to make a man able to lead the Commonwealth to her Interest and there is a Term that may inable a man to lead the Commonwealth to his Interest In this regard it is that according to MAMERCUS the Vacations are maxima libertatis custodia the Keepers of the Libertys of Oceana THE three Regions into which each of the leading Councils is divided are three Forms as I may say in the School of State for them of the third tho there be care in the choice it is no such great matter what be their Skill the Ballot which they practis'd in the Tribe being that in the performance wherof no man can be out and this is all that is necessary to their Novitiat or first year during which time they may be Auditors By the second they will have seen all the Scenes or the whole Rotation of the Orders so facil and so intelligible that at one reading a man understands them as a Book but at once acting as a Play and so methodical that he will remember them better Tell me then what it is that can hinder him for the second year from being a Speaker or why for the third should he not be a very able Leader THE Senat and the Prerogative or Representative of the People being each of like constitution drop annually four hundred which in a matter of ten years amount to four thousand experienc'd Leaders ready upon new Elections to resume their leading ANOTHER thing which I would have consider'd is whether our most eminent men found their Parts in Parlament or brought them thither For if they brought them think you not the military Orders of the Youth the Disciplin of the Tribes the eight years Orb of the Embassadors the provincial Armys of Oceana likely to breed men of as good Parts as to such matters Nor have Astronomers that familiarity with the Stars which men without these Orbs will have with such as are in them He is very dull who cannot perceive that in a Government of this frame the Education must be universal or diffus'd throout the whole Body Another thing which is as certain as comfortable is that the pretended depth and difficulty in matters of State is a mere cheat From the beginning of the World to this day you never found a Commonwealth where the Leaders having honesty enough wanted skill enough to lead her to her true Interest at home or abroad that which is necessary to this end is not so much Skill as Honesty and let the Leaders of Oceana be dishonest if they can In the leading of a Commonwealth aright this is certain Wisdom and Honesty are all one and tho you shall find defects in their Virtue those that have had the fewest have ever bin and for ever shall be the wisest ROME was never ruin'd till her Balance being broken the Nobility Chap. 12 forsaking their antient Virtue abandon'd themselves to their Lusts and the Senators who as in the case of JUGURTHA were all brib'd turn'd Knaves at which Turn all their Skill in Government and in this never men had bin better skill'd could not keep the Commonwealth from overturning CICERO an honest man labor'd might and main POMPONIUS ATTICUS another despair'd CATO tore out his own Bowels the Poigniards of BRUTUS and CASSIUS neither consider'd Prince nor Father But the Commonwealth had sprung her Planks and spilt her Ballast the world could not save her Consid p. 3◠p. 94. FOR the close the Prevaricator who had judg'd before that there was much reason to expect som of the Clergy against all of whom Mr. HARRINGTON has declar'd War would undertake the Quarrel tells me in the last line that there be to whom he has recommended the Disquisition of the Jewish Commonwealth IT is a miserable thing to be condemn'd to the perpetual Budget once turn an honest man to me In the mean time that it may be further seen how much I am delighted in fair play since som Divines it may be are already at work with me and I have not so fully explain'd my self upon that Point which with them is of the greatest concernment that they can yet say they have peep'd into my hand or seen my game as I have won this trick Gentlemen or speak so I play them out the last Card in the next Book for Up. An Advertisment to the Reader or a Direction contain'd in certain Querys how the Common-wealth of Oceana may be examin'd or answer'd by divers sorts of men without spoiling their high Dance or cutting off any part of their Elegance or freeness of Expression To the Scholar that has pass'd his Novitiat in Story I. WHETHER the Balance of Property in Land coming thró Civil Vicissitude by slow and undiscern'd degrees to alter as it did and to stand as it dos in Oceana any other Government could have bin
of the Knights last elected into the Senat. That there be a Council for Trade consisting of a like number elected and perpetuated in the same manner Council of War THAT there be a Council of War not elected by the Senat but elected by the Council of State out of themselves That this Council of War consist of nine Knights three out of each Order and be perpetuated by the annual Election of three out of the last Knights elected into the Council of State The Dictator THAT in case the Senat adds nine Knights more out of their own number to the Council of War the said Council be understood by this addition to be DICTATOR of the Commonwealth for the term of three months and no longer except by farther Order of the Senat the said Dictatorian Power be prolong'd for a like term The Proposers general THAT the Signory have Session and Suffrage with right also jointly or severally to propose both in the Senat and in all Senatorian Councils THAT each of the three Orders or Divisions of Knights in each Provosts or particular Proposers Senatorian Council elect one Provost for the term of one week and that any two Provosts of the same Council so elected may propose to their respective Council and not otherwise Academy THAT som fair Room or Rooms well furnish'd and attended be allow'd at the States charge for a free and open Academy to all comers at som convenient hour or hours towards the Evening That this Academy be govern'd according to the Rules of good Breeding or civil Conversation by som or all of the Proposers and that in the same it be lawful for any man by word of mouth or by writing in jest or in earnest to propose to the Proposers FROM the frame or structure of these Councils I should pass to their Functions but that besides annual Elections there will be som biennial and others emergent in which regard it is propos'd first for biennial Elections Embassadors in ordinary THAT for Embassadors in ordinary there be four Residences as France Spain Venice and Constantinople that every Resident upon the Election of a new Embassador in ordinary remove to the next Residence in the Order nominated till having serv'd in them all he returns home That upon Monday next insuing the last of November there be every second year elected by the Senat som fit Person being under thirty five years of Age and not of the Senat or popular Assembly that the Party so elected repair upon Monday next insuing the last of March following as Embassador in ordinary to the Court of France and there reside for the term of two years to be computed from the first of April next insuing his Election That every Embassador in ordinary be allow'd three thousand pounds a year during the term of his Residences and that if a Resident coms to dy there be an extraordinary Election into his Residence for his term and for the remainder of his Removes and Progress Emergent Elections THAT all emergent Elections be made by Scrutiny that is by a Council or by Commissioners proposing and by the Senat resolving in the manner following That all Field-Officers be propos'd by the Council of War that all Embassadors extraordinary be propos'd by the Council of State that all Judges and Serjeants at Law be propos'd by the Commissioners of the great Seal that all Barons and Officers of Trust in the Exchequer be propos'd by the Commissioners of the Treasury and that such as are thus propos'd and approv'd by the Senat be held lawfully elected THESE Elections being thus dispatch'd I com to the Functions of the Senat and first to those of the Senatorian Councils for which it is propos'd Function of the Senatorian Councils THAT the cognizance of all matters of State to be consider'd or Law to be enacted whether it be Provincial or National Domestic or Foren pertain to the Council of State That such Affairs of either kind as they shall judg to require more Secrecy be remitted by this Council and belong to the Council of War being for that end a select part of the same That the cognizance and protection both of the National Religion and of the Liberty of Conscience equally establish'd in this Nation after the manner to be shewn in the Religious part of this Model pertain to the Council for Religion That all matters of Traffic and the regulation of the same belong to the Council of Trade That in the exercise of these several Functions which naturally are Senatorian or Authoritative only no Council assume any other Power than such only as shall be settl'd upon the same by Chap. 1 Act of Parlament Function of the Senat. THAT what shall be propos'd to the Senat by any one or more of the Signory or Proposers general or whatever was propos'd by any two of the Provosts or particular Proposers to their respective Council and upon debate at that Council shall com to be propos'd by the same to the Senat be necessarily debatable and debated by the Senat. That in all cases wherin Power is committed to the Senat by a Law made or by Act of Parlament the Result of the Senat be ultimat that in all cases of Law to be made or not already provided for by an Act of Parlament as War and Peace levy of Men or Mony or the like the Result of the Senat be not ultimat That whatsoever is resolv'd by the Senat upon a case wherin their Result is not ultimat be propos'd by the Senat to the Prerogative Tribe or Representative of the People except only in cases of such speed or secrecy wherin the Senat shall judg the necessary slowness or openness in this way of proceding to be of detriment or danger to the Commonwealth Function of the Dictator THAT if upon the motion or proposition of a Council or Proposer General the Senat adds nine Knights promiscuously chosen out of their own number to the Council of War the same Council as therby made Dictator have power of Life and Death as also to enact Laws in all such cases of speed or secrecy for and during the term of three months and no longer except upon a new Order from the Senat. And that all Laws enacted by the Dictator be good and valid for the term of one year and no longer except the same be propos'd by the Senat and resolv'd by the People THIS Dictatorian Council as may already appear consists fundamentally of the Signory with nine Knights elected by the Council of State additionally of nine Knights more emergently chosen by the Senat and of the four Tribuns of course as will appear when I com to speak of that Magistracy Now if Dictatorian Power be indeed formidable yet this in the first place is remarkable that the Council here offer'd for a Dictator is of a much safer Constitution than what among us hitherto has bin offer'd for a
Senat. 33. THAT in all cases wherin Power is deriv'd to the Senat by Law made or by Act of Parlament the result of the Senat be ultimat That in all cases of Law to be made or not already provided for by Act of Parlament as som particular Peace or War levy of Men or Mony or the like the Result of the Senat be not ultimat but preparatory only and be propos'd by the Senat to the Prerogative Tribe or Assembly of the People except only in cases of such speed or secrecy wherin the Senat shall judg the necessary slowness or openness of like proceding to be of detriment or danger to the Commonwealth 34. THAT if upon the motion or proposition of a Council or Proposer General the Senat add nine Knights promiscuously or not promiscuously chosen out of their own number to the Council of War the said Council of War be therby made Dictator and have power of Life and Death as also to enact Laws in all cases of speed or secrecy for and during the term of three months and no longer except upon new Order from the Senat And that all Laws enacted by the Dictator be good and valid for the term of one year and no longer except the same be propos'd by the Senat and resolv'd by the People 35. THAT the Burgesses of the annual Election return'd by the Tribes enter into the Prerogative Tribe on Monday next insuing the last of March and that the like number of Burgesses whose term is expir'd recede at the same time That the Burgesses thus enter'd elect to themselves out of their own number two of the Horse one to be Captain and the other to be Cornet of the same and two of the Foot one to be Captain the other to be Insign of the same each for the term of three years That these Officers being thus elected the whole Tribe or Assembly procede to the election of four annual Magistrats two out of the Foot to be Tribuns of the Foot and two out of the Horse to be Tribuns of the Horse That the Tribuns be Commanders in chief of this Tribe so far as it is a Military Body and Presidents of the same as it is a Civil Assembly And lastly that this whole Tribe be paid weekly as follows to each of the Tribuns of the Horse seven pounds to each of the Tribuns of the Foot six pounds to each of the Captains of Horse five pounds to each of the Captains of Foot four pounds to each of the Cornets three pounds to each of the Insigns two pounds seven shillings to every Horseman one pound ten shillings and to every one of the Foot one pound 36. THAT inferior Officers as Captains Cornets Insigns be only for the Military Disciplin of the Tribe That the Tribuns have Session in the Senat without Suffrage That of course they have Session and Suffrage in the Dictatorian Council so often as it is created by the Senat. That in all cases to be adjudg'd by the People they be Presidents of the Court or Judicatory 37. THAT Peculat or Defraudation of the Public and all Cases or Crimes tending to the subversion of the Government be triable by the Prerogative Tribe or the Assembly of the People and that to the same there ly an Appeal in all Causes and from all Courts Magistrats or Councils National or Provincial 38. THAT the right of Debate as also of proposing to the People be wholly and only in the Senat without any power at all of Result not deriv'd from the People and estated upon the Senat by act of Parlament 39. THAT the power of Result be wholly and only in the People without any right at all of Debate 40. THAT the Senat having debated and agreed upon a Law to be propos'd cause promulgation of the said Law to be made for the space of six weeks before Proposition that is cause the Law to be written fair and hung up for the time aforesaid in som of the most eminent places of the City and of the Suburbs 41. THAT promulgation being made the Signory demand of the Tribuns sitting in the Senat an Assembly of the People That the Tribuns upon such demand of the Signory or of the Senat be oblig'd to assemble the Prerogative Tribe in Arms by sound of Trumpet with Drums beating and Colors flying in any Town Field or Marketplace being not above six miles distant upon the day and at the hour appointed except the meeting thro inconvenience of the Weather or the like be prorogu'd by consent of the Signory and of the Tribuns That the Prerogative Tribe being assembl'd accordingly the Senat propose to them by two or more of the Senatorian Magistrats therto appointed at the first promulgation of the Law That the Proposers for the Senat open to the People the occasion motives and reasons of the Senat for the Law to be propos'd and that the same being don they put the Law or Proposition by distinct clauses to the Ballot of the People That if any material Clause or Clauses of the Proposition or Law so propos'd be rejected by the People the Clause or Clauses so rejected may be review'd alter'd and propos'd again to the third time if the Senat think fit but no oftner 42. THAT what is thus propos'd by the Senat and resolv'd by the People be the Law of the Land and no other except what is already receiv'd as such or reserv'd to the Dictatorian Council 43. THAT every Magistracy Office or Election throout this whole Commonwealth whether annual or triennial be understood of course or consequence to injoin an interval or vacation equal to the term of the same That the Magistracy or Office of a Knight and of a Burgess be in this relation understood as one and the same and that this Order regard only such Elections as are National or Domestic and not such as are foren or contain'd in the Provincial part of this Model 44. THAT for an Exception from this Rule where there is but one Elder of the Horse in one and the same Parish that Elder be eligible in the same without interval and where there be above four Elders of the Horse in one and the same Parish there be not above half nor under two of them eligible at the same Election 45. THAT throout all the Assemblys and Councils of this Commonwealth the Quorum consist of one half in the time of health and of one third part in a time of sickness being so declar'd by the Senat. THE use of the Ballot being as full of prolixity and abstruseness in writing as of dispatch and facility in practice is presum'd throout all Elections and Results in this Model and for the rest refer'd rather to practice than writing There remain the Religious Military and Provincial parts of this Frame But the Civil part being approv'd they follow or being not approv'd may be spar'd CONCLUSION or the use of these PROPOSITIONS THESE Propositions are so laid
them be refer'd the Judgment of all Magistrats in Cases of Maladministrations in their Offices AND in prosecution of these Principles YOVR Petitioners humbly propose for the settlement of this Commonwealth that it be ordain'd 1. THAT the Parlament or the supreme Authority of England be chosen by the free People to represent them with as much equality as may be 2. THAT a Parlament of England shall consist of two Assemblys the lesser of about three hundred in whom shall reside the intire power of consulting debating and propounding Laws the other to consist of a far greater number in whom shall rest the sole power of resolving all Laws so propounded 3. THAT the free People of England in their respective divisions at certain days and places appointed shall for ever annually chuse one third part to each Assembly to enter into their Authority at certain days appointed the same days the Authority of a third of each of the said Assemblys to cease only in the laying the first Foundation in this Commonwealth's Constitution the whole number of both the Assemblys to be chosen by the People respectively viz. one third of each Assembly to be chosen for one year one third for two years and one third for three years 4. THAT such as shall be chosen having serv'd their appointed time in either of the said Assemblys of Parlament shall not be capable to serve in the same Assembly during som convenient interval or vacation 5. THAT the Legislative Power do wholly refer the execution of the Laws to the Magistracy according to the sixth Principle herein mention'd 6. THAT in respect to Religion and Christian Liberty it be ordain'd that the Christian Religion by the appointment of all succeding Parlaments be taught and promulgated to the Nation and public Preachers therof maintain'd and that all that shall profess the said Religion tho of different Persuasions in parts of the Doctrin or Disciplin therof be equally protected in the peaceable profession and public exercise of the same and be equally capable of all Elections Magistracys Preferments in the Commonwealth according to the order of the same Provided always that the public exercise of no Religion contrary to Christianity be tolerated nor the public exercise of any Religion tho professedly Christian grounded upon or incorporated into the Interest of any Foren State or Prince THESE your Petitioners humbly conceive to be the Essentials of the form of a free Commonwealth which if they were made fit for practice by your Honors appointing the numbers times places and all other necessary circumstances and settl'd as the fundamental Orders of the Commonwealth would naturally dispose those that should hereafter be chosen into the Parlaments from the love of their own interest to seek the common good being oblig'd by the Constitutions here humbly offer'd to partake with the whole body of the People of the good or evil that shall happen to the Commonwealth having no probable temtations or means left to compass any privat or factious ends in matters Religious or Civil And your Petitioners cannot imagin a greater security for the Cause and Interest contended for with such effusion of Blood than by disposing the free People into this kind of order wherby the same Cause would becom their common Interest Yet if your Honors should think it necessary or convenient for securing the minds of such as are doubtful and jealous that the People may betray their own Libertys there may be inserted into the fundamental Orders of the Commonwealth these following Expedients viz. 1. THAT for securing the Government of this Commonwealth and of the Religious and Civil freedom of the good People therof it may be for ever esteem'd and judg'd Treason against the Common-wealth for any Member of either Assembly of Parlament or any other person whatsoever to move or propose in either of the said Assemblys the restitution of Kingly Government or the introduction of any single Person to be chief Magistrat of England or the alteration of that part of the fundamental Order herein contain'd that concerns the equal freedom and protection of Religious persons of different Persuasions 2. THAT about the number of twelve persons of the most undoubted Fidelity and Integrity may be authoriz'd and impower'd for som certain number of years next insuing to seize apprehend and in safe custody to detain any person or persons whatsoever till he or they be in due form of Law deliver'd as is hereafter specify'd that shall move or propose in either of the said Assemblys of Parlament the restitution of Kingly Government or the introduction of any single Person to be chief Magistrat of this Commonwealth or the alteration of that part of the fundamental Order herein contain'd that concerns the equal freedom and protection of religious persons of different persuasions but for no other matter or cause whatsoever And when it shall happen that any person or persons shall be arrested or seiz'd for any of the causes aforesaid in manner aforesaid then a Commission of Oyer and Terminer may issue forth in due form of Law to the said twelve or any six of them to procede in due form of Law within one month after the apprehension of any such person or persons to the arrainment and public trial of every such person or persons and upon the legal conviction of him or them by the testimony of two sufficient Witnesses of any of the Treasons herein declar'd to condemn to the pains of death and to cause the same Judgment to be duly executed and the Keeper or Keepers of the Great Seal of England that shall be for the time being may be authoriz'd and requir'd from time to time during the term of years to issue out Commissions to the said twelve or any six of them authorizing them to procede as aforesaid AND if your Honors shall further judg it convenient the fundamental Orders of the Government may be consented to or subscrib'd by the People themselves if their express Pact shall be esteem'd any additional security other Nations upon the like occasions of expulsion of their Kings having taken the Peoples Oaths against their returning And the same may be proclaim'd as often as our Ancestors provided for the proclaiming of Magna Charta and any further security also added if any can be found among men that has a foundation in Justice NOW your Petitioners having with humble submission to your grave Wisdoms thus declar'd their apprehensions of the present condition of this distracted Nation and the only effectual means under God to prevent the impending Mischiefs They do must humbly pray THAT such speedy considerations may be had of the Premises as the Condition of this Nation requires and that such a method may be settled for the debating and consulting about the Government that your wise Results may be seasonable for the healing all the breaches of the Commonwealth and establishing the sure foundations of Freedom Justice Peace and Unity And your Petitioners shall always pray c. Wednesday July the 6 th 1659. THE House being inform'd that divers Gentlemen were at the door with a Petition they were call'd in and one of the Petitioners in behalf of himself and the rest said We humbly present you a Petition to which we might have had many thousand hands but the Matter rather deserves your serious Consideration than any public Attestation and therfore we do humbly present it to this Honorable House Which after the Petitioners were withdrawn was read and was intitl'd The humble Petition of divers wellaffected Persons Resolv'd THAT the Petitioners have the Thanks of the House THE Petitioners were again call'd in and Mr. Speaker gave them this Answer Gentlemen THE House has read over your Petition and find it without any privat end and only for the public Interest and I am commanded to let you know that it lys much upon them to make such a Settlement as may be most for the good of Posterity and they are about that work and intend to go forward with it with as much expedition as may be And for your parts they have commanded me to give you Thanks and in their names I do give you the Thanks of this House accordingly Tho. St. Nicholas Clerc of the Parlament FINIS Advertisement DIscourses concerning Government by ALGERNON SIDNEY Son to ROBERT Earl of Leicester and Ambassador from the Commonwealth of England to CHARLES GUSTAVUS King of Sweden Published from an Original Manuscript of the Author Price 15 s. A Complete Collection of the Historical Political and Miscellaneous Works of JOHN MILTON both English and Latin With som Papers never before publish'd In 3 Vol. To which is prefix'd The Life of the Author containing besides the History of his Works several extraordinary Characters of Men and Books Sects Partys and Opinions Price 35 s. Both printed by J. DARBY and sold by the Booksellers