mixture of both Interests Patrician and Popular under which Form they attained to the height of all their Glory and Greatness In this Form of Free-State we now see the Venetian where the Patrician is predominant and the People a little too much kept under The same Form is imbraced also by our Neighbours the United Provinces but the best part of their Interest lies deposited in the hands of the people Rome kept up their Senate as their standing Councel for the managing of State-affairs which require Wisdom and Experience but as for making of Laws and the main Acts of Supremacy they were reserv'd to the Grand Assemblies so that the People gave Rules whereby to govern and the secrets of Government were intrusted in the hands of the Senate And this Commonwealth ever thriv'd best when the People had most Power and used most Moderation and though they made use of it now and then to fly out into extravagant courses yet they were no lasting fits like those distempers that brake out through the Ambition of the Senators Besides we cannot but take notice as long as the Popular Interest continued regular and more predominant than the other so long the People were secure of their Liberties which enjoyment was a good Allay and Recompence for many harsh inconveniences that brake out when they were unruly and irregular Whereas when the Senate afterwards worm'd the People out of Power as that design went on by degrees so Rome lost her Liberty the Senate domineering over the People and particular Factions over the Senate till those Factions tearing one another to pieces at length he that was head of the paramount surviving Faction by name Caesar took occasion to usurp over all swallowing up the Rights and Liherties of the Romans in the Gulph of a single Tyranny It was a Noble saying though Machiavel's Not he that placeth-a vertuous Government in his own hands or family but he that establisheth a free and laâ—ting Form for the Peoples constant security is most to be commended Whosoever hath this oportunity may improve his actions to a greater height of glory than ever followed the fame of any ambitious Idol that hath grasâ—'d a Monarchy for as 〈◊〉 saith in Plutarch Even the greatest Kings or Tyrants refar inferiour to those that are emiâ—ent in free-Free-States and Commonwealths Nâ—r were those mighty Monarchs of old to be compared with Epimanoâ—das Pericles Themistocles Marcus Carius Amilcâ—r Fahius and Scipio and other excellent Captains in free-Free-States whiâ—h purchasâ—d themselves a fame in defence of their Liberties And though the very name of Liberty was for a time grown odious or ridiculous among us having been long a stranger in these and other parts yet in Ancient time Nations were wont to reckon themselves so much the more Noble as they were free from the Regal yoke which was the cause why then there were so many Free-States in all parts of the world Nor is it onely a meer Gallantry of spirit that excites men to the love of Freedom but experience assures it to be the most commodious and profitable way of Government conducing every way to the enlarging a people in Wealth and Dominion It is incredible to be spoken saith Salust how exceedingly the Romane Commonwealth increased in a short time after they had obtained Liberty And Gâ—icciardâ—ne affirms That Free-States must needs be more pleasing to God than any other Form because in them more regard is to be had to the common good more care for the impartial distribution of Justice and the mindes of men are more enflamed thereby to the love of Glory and Vertue and become much more zealous in the love of Religion than in any other Government whatsoever It is wonderful to consider how mightily the Athenians were augmented in a few yeâ—rs both in Wealth and Power after they had freed themselves from the Tyranny of Pistratus but the Romans arrived to such a height as was beyond all imagination after the expulsion of their Kings and Kingly Go ernment Nor do these things happen without special reason it being usual in Free-States to be more tender of the Publick in all their Decrees than of particular Interests whereas the case is otherwise in a Monarchy because in this Form the Princes pleasure weighs down all Considerations of the Common good And hence it is that a Nation hath no sooner lost its Liberty and stoop'd under the yoke of a single Tyrant but it immediately loseth its former lustre the Body fills with ill humors and may swell in Titles but cannot thrive either in Power or Riches according to that proportion which it formerly enjoyed because all new Acquisitions are appropriated as the Princes peculiar and in no wise conduce to the ease and benefit of the Publick It was the pride of Richard Nevil the great Earl of Warwick and he reckoned it the greatest of earthly glories to be called as indeed he was a King-maker in that he made and unmade Kings at his pleasure for we read in our Chronicles how that he first pull'd down the House of Lancaster and brought King Henry the sixth from a Crown to a Prison setting up the Title of the House of York in the person of King Edward the fourth afterwards he deposed this Edward drave him out of England and restored the same Henry to the Crown whom he had before depress'd But the great Query is Wherefore and how this was done One would have thought there had been no hope of reconciliation betwixt him and the House of Lancaster having so highly disobliged them in casting down and imprisoming the person of Henry But yet it is very observable of this man Warwick being on a sudden discontented with the change that he had made because he missed of those ends which he aimed at in bringing it about and perceived other persons whom he conceived his inferiours to partake of the interest and favour of Edward therefore out of an emulous impatience of Spirit he presently cast about to undo all that before he had done he supprest the new Government to advance the old From which piece of Story we may very well conclude how unsafe it is in a new alteration to trust any man with too great a share of Government or place of Trust for such persons stand ever ready like that Warwick upon any occasion of discontent or of serving their own Interests to betray and alter the Government especially if they have Warwick's main Guard that is if they can as he did bring the Prince whom they formerly disobliged to come in upon their own terms and upon such conditions as may bridle him and secure the Power so in their own Hands that whilst he King it onely in Title themselves may be Kings de facto and leave their old Friends in the lurcâ— or yeeld them up at Mâ—rcy as Warwick did to gratifie the Tyrant and their own Tyrannical ambition How much therefore doth it concern every Commonwealth in such a case
of State that made Saul to spare Agag and plot the ruine of David It was Reason of State that made Jeroboam to set up Calves in Dan and Bethel It was Reason of State and a shrew'd one too when Achitophel caused Absalom to defile his Fathers Concubines in the sight of all Israel You know what end they both came to It was the same that caused Abner first to take part with the house of Saul and that caused Joab to kil him after he came to be his Rival in Fame and the Favour of David their Ends were both bloudy Hence it was that Solomon having pardoned Adonijah thought fit afterwards to put him to death upon a very slender occasion And Jehu though he had Warrant from God to destroy all the house of Ahab his Master yet because in the Execution of it he mingled Reason of State in relation to his own Interest and minded the Establishment of himself thereby more than the Command and Honour of God in the Execution of Justice therefore God cursed him for his pains threatning by the mouth of the Prophet Hosea to avenge the bloud of Ahabs family upon the house of Jehu It was Reason of State that moved Herod to endeavour the destruction of Christ as soon as he was born It was Reason of State in the Jewes lest the Romans should come and take away their Place and Nation and in Pilate lest he should be thought no friend to Caesar that made them both joyn in crucifying the Lord of Glory and incur that heavy Curse which at length fell upon the Jewish Place and Nation It is Reason of State that makes the Pope and the Cardinals stick so close one to another and binds them and the Monarchs of Christendom in one common Interest for the greatning of themselves and the inslaving of the People for which a sad destruction doth attend them It was Reason of State that destroyed so many millions of men forboth in the Holy War that so Princes might not have time to take notice of the Popes Usurpation nor the People leisure and opportunity to call their Princes to an account for their unbounded Tyranny It was Reason of State that was pleaded in behalf of Borgia to justifie all his Villanies in wading through so much bloud and mischief to a Principality in Italy but he escaped not to enjoy the fruit of all his labour It was the same Devil that made Henry the 4 of France to renounce his Religion and turn Papist to secure himself from Popish Reveng but God purâ—sht him and sent a Popish Dagger through his heart It made Richard the Third in England to butcher his own Nephew for which vengeance pursued him being at last tied a thwart a horse back naked and bloudy like a Calf of the Shambles It made Henry the 7 to extinguish the Line of Plantagâ—nâ—t and his Son after him not onely to dabble his hands in the bloud of many but to persecute the Protestants not withstanding that he fell heavy also upon the Papists It made his Daughter Mary to fill up the measure of her Fathers iniquities as they could not be expiated by the vertues of her sister and Successor whose onely faâ—â—â— was in following Reason of State so far as to serve the Interest of Monarchy above that of Religion by upholding an Order of Prelacy so that in her the direct Line of that Family ended After this it was wicked Reason of State that continued Monarchy and brought in a Scotch-man upon us This was James who was so great an Admirer of Reason of State that he adopted it for its own Darling by the name of King-craft and his Motto No Bishop no King shewed that he prefer'd Reason of State before the Interest of Religion as in other things before honesty witness among many other his quitting the Cause of God and the Patatinate to keep fair with the house of Austria for which and for the same Reason of State put in practice by his Son Charles for the ruine of Religion and Liberty by a bloudly war the whole Family hath been brought to â—ad destruction These Examples are sufficient to shew that Reason of State prefer'd before the Rule of Honesty is an Errour in Policy with a vengeance as they that will not believe shall be sure to feel iâ— since it brings unavoidable Ruine not onely to particular persons but upon whole Families and Nations A fifth Errour in Policy hath been this viz. a permitting of the Legislative and Executive Powers of a State to rest in one and the same hands and persons By the Legislative Power we understand the Power of making altering or repealing Laws which in all well-ordered Governments hath ever been lodged in a succession of the supream Councels of Assemblies of a Nation By the Executive Power we mean that Power which is derived from the other and by their Authority transfer'd into the hand or hands of one Person called a Prince or into the hands of many called States for the administration of Government in the Execution of those Laws In the keeping of these two Powers distinct flowing in distinct Channels so that they may never meet in one save upon some short extraordinary occasion consists the safety of a State The Reason is evident because if the Law-makers who ever have the Supream Power should be also the constant Administrators and Dispencers of Law and Justice then by confequence the People would be left without Remedy in case of Injustice since no Appeal can lie under Heaven against such as have the Supremacy which if once admitted were inconsistent with the very intent and natural import of true Policy which ever supposeth that men in Power may be unrighteous and therefore presuming the worst points alwayes in all determinations at the Enormities and Remedies of Government on the behalf of the People For the clearing of this it is worthy your observation that in all Kingdomes and States whatsoever where they have had any thing of Freedom among them the Legislative and Executive Powers have been managed in distinct hands That is to say the Law-makers have set down Laws as Rules of Government and then put Power into the hands of others not their own to govern by those Rules by which means the people were happy having no Governours but such as were liable to give an account of Government to the supream Councel of Law-Makers And on the other side it is no less worthy of a very serious observation That Kings and standing States never became absolute over the People till they brought both the making and execution of Lawes into their own hands and as this Usurpation of theirs took place by degrees so unlimited Arbitrary Power crept up into the Throne there to domineet o're the World and defie the Liberties of the People Cicero in his second Book de Offic. and his third de Legibus speaking of the first institution of Kings tells us how they were at
Liberty against Rome that they endured Wars so many yeers with utmost extremity before ever they could brought to bow under the Romane Yoke This magnanimous State of Freedom was the cause also why Charthage was enabled so long not only to oppose but often to hazard the Romane Fortune and usurp the Laurel It brought Hannibal within view and the Gauls within the Walls of the City to a besieging of the Capitol to shew that their Freedom had given them the courage to rob her of her Maiden-head who afterwards became Mistriss of the whole World But what serves all this for but onely to shew That as nothing but a State of Freedom could have enabled those Nations with a Courage sufficient so long to withstand the Romane Power so Rome her self also was beholden to this State of Freedom for those Sons of Courage which brought the Necks of her Sister-States and Nations under her Girdle And it is observable also in after-times when Tyranny took place against Liberty the Romans soon lost their ancient Courage and Magnanimity first under usurping Dictators then under Emperors and in the end the Empire it self Now as on the one side we feel a loss of Courage and Magnanimity follow the loss of Freedom so on the other side the People ever grow magnanimous and couragious upon a Recovery witness at present the valiant Swisses the Hollanders and not long since our own Nation when declared a Free-State and a Re-establishment of our Freedom in the hands of the People procured though not secured what noble Designs were undertaken and prosecuted with success The Consideration whereof must needs make highly for the Honour of all Governours in Free-States who have been or shall be instrumental in redeeming and setting any People in a fulness of Freedom that is in a due and orderly succession of their supreme Assemblies The eleventh Reason is because in this Form no Determinations being carried but by consent of the People therefore they must needs remain secure out of the reach of Tyranny and free from the Arbitrary Disposition of any commanding Power In this Case as the People know what Laws they are to obey and what Penalties they are to undergo in case of Transgression so having their share and interest in the making of Laws with the Penalties annexed they become the more inexcusable if they offend and the more willingly submit unto punishment when they suffer for any offence Now the case is usually far otherwise under all standing Powers for when Government is managed in the hands of a particular Person or continued in the hands of a certain number of Great Men the People then have no Laws but what Kings and Great Men please to give Not do they know how to walk by those Laws or how to understand them because the sense is oftentimes left at uncertainty and it is reckoned a great Mystery of State in those Forms of Government That no Laws shall be of any sense or sorce but as the Great Ones please to expound them so as by this means the People many times are left as it were without Law because they bear no other construction and meaning but what sutes with particular mens Interests and Phant'sies not with Right Reason or the Publike Liberty For the proof of this under Kingly Government we might run all the world over but our own Nation affords Instances enough in the Practices of all our Kings yet this Evil never came to such a height as it did in the Raign of Henry the seventh who by usurping a Prerogative of expounding the Laws after his own pleasure made them rather Snares than Instruments of Relief like a grand Catch-pole to pill poll and geld the Purses of the People as his Son Harry did after him to deprive many Gallant Men both of their Lives and Fortunes For the Judges being reputed the Oracles of the Law and the power of creating Judges being usurp'd by Kings they had a care ever to create such as would make the Laws speak in Favour of them upon any occasion The Truth whereof hath abundantly appeared in the dayes of the late King and his Father James whose usual Language was this As long as I have power of making what Judges and Bishops I please I am sure to have no Law nor Gospel but what shall please me This very providing for this Inconvenience was the great Commendation of Lycurgus his Institution in Sparta who though he cut out the Lacedemonian Commonwealth after the Grandee fashion confirming the Supremacy within the Walls of the Senate for their King was but a Cypher yet he so ordered the matter that he took away the Grandeur that as their King was of little more value than any one of the Senators so the Senate was restrained by Laws walking in the same even pace of subjection with the People having very few Offices of Dignity or Profit allowed which might make them swell with State and Ambition but were prescribed also the same Rules of Frugality Plainness and Moderation as were the Common People by which means immoderate lusts and desires being prevented in the Great Ones they were the less inclined to Pride and Oppression and no great profit or pleasure being to be gotten by Authority very few desired it and such as were in it sate free from Envie by which means they avoided that odium and emulation which uses to rage betwixt the Great Ones and the People in that Form of Government But now the case is far otherwise in the Commonwealth of Venice where the People being excluded from all interest in Government the power of making and executing of Laws and bearing of Offices with all other Immunities lies onely in the hands of a standing Senate and their Kindred which they call the Patrocian or Noble Order Their Duke or Prince is indeed restrained and made just such another Officer as were the Lacedemonian Kings differing from the rest of the Senate onely in a Corner of his Cap besides a little outward Ceremony and Splendor but the Senators themselves have Liberty at random Arbitrarily to ramble and do what they please with the people who excepting the City it self are so extreamly oppress'd in all their Territories living by no Law but the Arbitrary Dictates of the Senate that it seems rather a Junta than a Commonwealth and the Subjects take so little content in it that seeing more to be enjoyed under the Turk they that are his Borderers take all opportunities to revolt and submit rather to the mercy of a Pagan-Tyranny Which disposition if you consider together with the little Courage in their Subjects by reason they press them so hard and how that they are forced for this cause to relie upon Forrain Mercenaries in all warlike Expeditions you might wonder how this State hath held up so long but that we know the Interest of Christendom being concerned in her Security she hath been chiefly supported by the Supplies and Arms of others
Rome though they were declared and called a Free-state et it was a long time ere they could be free indeed in regard Brutus cheated them with a meer shadow and pretence of liberty he had indeed an Ambition high enough and opportunity fairenough to have seized the Crown into his own hands but there were many considerations that deterr'd him from it for he well perceived how odious the name of King was grown Besides had he sought to Inthrone himself men would have judged it was not love to his Country made him take up Arms but desire of Dominion nor could he forget that serene privacy is to be preferr'd before Hazardous Royalty For what hope could he have to keep the Seat long who by his own example had taught the people both the Theory and practice of opposing Tyranny It was necessary therefore that he should think of some other course more plausible whereby to worke his own ends and yet preserve the love of the people who not having been used to liberty did very little understand it and therefore were the more easily gul'd out of the substance and made content with the shadow For the carrying on this Design all the projecting Grandees joyned pates together wherein as one observes Regnum quidem nomen sed non Regia potestas Româ fuit expulsa Though the Name of King were exploded with alacrity yet the Kingly power was retained with all Art and subtilty and shared under another notion among themselves who were the great ones of the City For all Authority was confin'd within the walls of a standing Senate out of which two Consuls were chosen yeerly so by turns they dub'd one another with a new kinde of Regality the people being no gainers at all by this alteration of Government save onely that like Asses they were sadled with new Paniers of Slavery But what followed The Senate having got all power into their own hands in a short time degenerated from their first Virtue and Institution to the practice of Avarice Riot and Luxury whereby the love of their Country was changed into a Study of Ambition and Faction so that they fell into divisions among themselves as well as oppressions over the people by which divisions some leading Grandees more potent than their Fellows took occasion to wipe their Noses and to assume the Power into their own hands to the number of ten persons This Form of Government was known by the Name of the Decemvirate wherein these new Usurpers joyning Forces together made themselves rich with the spoiles of the people not caring by what unlawful means they purchased either Profit or Pleasure till that growing every day more insupportable they were in the end by force cashiered of their Tyranny But what then The people being flesh'd with this Victory and calling to minde how gallantly their Ancestors had in like manner banished Kings began at last to know their own strength and stomack'd it exceedingly that themselves on whose shoulders the frame of State was supported and for whose sakes all States are founded should be so much vassalized at the will of others that they who were Lords abroad should be Slaves at home so that they resolved to be ridden no longer under fair shews of Liberty They raised a Tumult under the conduct of their Tribune Canuâ—eius nor could they by any perswasion be induced to lay down Arms till they were put in possession of their Rights and Priviledges They were made capable of Offices of the Government even to the Dictatorship had Officers of their own called Tribunes who were held sacred and inviolable as Protectors of the Commons and retained a power of meeting and acting with all Freedom in their great Assemblies Now and never till now could they be called a Free State and Commonwealth though long before declared so for the way being open to all without exception vertue learning and good Parts made as speedy a Ladder to climbe unto Honours as Nobility of Birth and a Good Man as much respected as a Great which was a rare felicity of the Times not to be expected again but upon the dawning of another golden Age. The main Observation then arising out of this Discourse is this That not onely the Name of King but the Thing King whether in the hands of one or of many was pluck'd up root and branch before ever the Romans could attain to a full Establishment in their Rights and Freedoms Now when Rome was thus declared A Free State the next work was to establish their Freedom in some sure certain way in order to this the first business they pitch'd upon was not onely to ingage the people by an Oath against the return of Tarquin's Family to the Kingdom but also against the admission of any such Officer as a King for ever because those brave men who glorified themselves in laying the foundation of a Commonwealth well knew that in a short Revolution others of a less publick Spirit would arise in their places and gape again after a Kingdom And therefore it was the special care of those worthy Patriots to imprint such Principles in mens mindes as might actuate them with an irreconcilable enmity to the former Power insomuch that the very Name of King became odious to the Roman People yea and they were so zealous herein that in process of time when Caesar took occasion by Civil Discords to assume the Soveraignty into his single Hands he durst not entertain it under the fatal Name of King but clothed himself with the more plausible stile of Emperor which nevertheless could not secure him from the fatal stab that was given him by Brutus in revenge on the behalf of the people Our Neighbours of Holland traced this example at the heels when upon recovery of their Freedom from Spain they binde themselves by * Oaths in those dayes were not like an old Almanack an Oath to abjure the Government not onely of King Philip but of all Kings for ever Kings being cashiered out of Rome then the Right of Liberty together with the Government was retained within the hands and bounds of the Patrician or Senatorian Order of Nobility the people not being admitted into any share till partly by Mutinies and partly by Importunities they compell'd the Senate to grant them an Interest in Offices of State and in the Legislative Power which were circumscribed before within the bounds of the Senate Hence arose those Officers called Tribunes and those Conventions called Assemblies of the People which were as Bridles to restrain the Power and Ambition of the Senate or Nobility Before the erection of those whilst all was in the hands of the Senate the Nation was accounted Free because not subjected to the will of any single person But afterwards they were Free indeed when no Laws could be imposed upon them without a consent first had in the Peoples Assemblies so that the Government in the end came to be setled in an equal
less luxurious than Kings or the Great Ones because they are bounded within a more lowly pitch of Desire and Imagination give them but panem tircenses Bread Sport and Ease and they are abundantly satisfied Besides the People have less means and opportunities for Luxury than those pompous standing powers whether in the hands of one or many so that were they never so much inclined to Vice or Vanity yet they are not able to run on to the same measure of Excess and Riot Secondly as it appears they are less Luxurious so for this Cause also it is cleer They that is their successive Representatives must be the best Governours not onely because the current of succession keeps them the less corrupt and presumptious but also because being the more free from luxurious Courses they are likewise free from those oppressive and injurious Practices which Kings and Grandees are most commonly led and forced unto to hold up the port and splendor of their Tyranny and to satisfie those natural appetites of Covetousness Pride Ambition and Ostentation which are the perpetual Attendants of Great Ones and Luxury Thus much for Reason Now for Example we might produce a Cloud of Instances to shew That free-Free-States or the People duely qualified with the Supreme Authority are less devoted to Luxury than the Grandee or Kingly Powers but we shall give you onely a few The first that comes in our way is the State of Athens which whilst it remained free in the Peoples Hands was adorned with such Governours as gave themselves up to a serious abstemious severe course of Life so that whilst Temperance and Liberty walked hand in hand they improved the points of Valour and Prudence so high that in a short time they became the onely Arbitrators of all Affairs in Greece But being at the height then after the common fate of all worldly Powers they began to decline for contrary to the Rules of a Free-State permitting some men to greaten themselves by continuing long in Power and Authority they soon lost their pure Principles of Severity and Libertie for upstarted those thirty Grandees commonly called the Tyrants who having usurped a standing Authority unto themselves presently quitted the old Discipline and Freedom gave up themselves first to Charms of Luxury and afterwards to all the practices of an absolute Tyranny Such also was the condition of that State when at another time as in the dayes of Pistratus it was usurp'd in the hands of a single Tyrant From Athens let us pass to Rome where we finde it in the dayes of Tarquin dissolved into Debauchery Upon the change of Government their manners were somewhat mended as were the Governours in the Senate but that being a standing Power soon grew corrupt and first let in Luxury then Tyranny till the people being interested in the Government established a good Discipline and Freedom both together which was upheld with all Severity till the ten Grandees came in play after whose Deposition Liberty and Sobriety began to breath again till the dayes of Sylla Marius and other Grandees that followed down to Caesar in whose time Luxury and Tyranny grew to such a height that unless it were in the Life and Conversation of Cato there was not so much as one spark that could be raked out of the ashes of the old Roman Discipline and Freedom so that of all the World onely Cato remained as a Monument of that Temperance Virtue and Freedom which flourished under the Government of the People Omitting many other Examples our Conclusion upon these Particulars shall be this That since the Grandee or Kingly Powers are ever more luxurious than the popular are or can be and since Luxury ever brings on Tyranny as the onely bane of Liberty certainly the Rights and Priviledges of the People placed and provided for in a due and orderly succession of their Supreme Assemblies must needs remain more secure in their own Hands than in any others whatsoever A tenth Reason to prove the excellency of a Free-State or Government by the People above any other Form of Government is because under this Government the People are ever indued with a more magnanimous active and noble temper of Spirit than under the Grandeur of any standing power whatsoever And this arises from that apprehension which every particular Man hath of his own immediate share in the publick Interest as well as of that security which â—he possesses in the enjoyment of his private Fortune free from the reach of any Arbitrary Power Hence it is that whensoever any good success or happiness betides the Publick every one counts iâ— his own if the Commonwealth conquer thrive in Dominion Wealth or Honour he reckons all done for himself if he sees Distributions of Honour high Offices or great Rewards to Valiant Vertuous or Learned Persons he esteems them as his own as long as he hath a door left open to succeed in the same Dignities and Enjoyments if he can attain unto the same measure of Desert This it is which makes men aspire unto great Actions when the Reward depends not upon the Will and Pleasure of particular Persons as it doth under all standing Powers but is conferred upon Men without any consideration of Birth or Fortune according to merit as it ever is and ought to be in free-Free-States that are rightly constituted The Truth of this will appear much more evident if ye list a little to take a view of the condition of People under various Forms of Government for the Romanes of old while under Kings as you heard before remained a very inconsiderable People either in Dominion or Reputation and could never inlarge their Command very far beyond the Walls of their City Afterwards being reduced unto that standing power of the Senate they began to thrive a little better for a little time yet all they could do was only to struggle that for a subsistence among bad Neighbours But at length when the People began to know claim and possess their Liberties in being govern'd by a sucession of their Supreme Officers and Assemblies then it was and never till then that they laid the Foundation and built the Structure of that wondrous Empire that overshadowed the whole World And truely the founding of it must needs be more wonderful and a great Argument of an extraordinary Courage and Magnanimity wherewith the People was indued in Recovery of Liberty because their first Conquests were laid in the ruine of mighty Nations and such as were every jot as free as themselves which made the difficulties-so much the more by how much the more free and consequently the more couragious they were against whom they made opposition for as in those dayes the World abounded with Free-States more than any other Form as all over Italy Gallia Spain and Africa c. so specially in Italy where the Tuscans the Samnites and other Emulators and Competitors of the Romane Freedom approved themselves magnanimous Defenders of their
upon their Families whereby the Peoples Election will be made of no effect further than for Fashion to mock the poor People and adorn the Triumphs of an aspiring Tyranny as it hath been seen in the Elective Kingdoms of Bohemia Poland Hungaria and Sweden where the Forms of Election were and are still retained but the Power swallowed up and the Kingdoms made Hereditary not onely in Sweden by the Artifice of Gustavus Ericus but also in Poland and the Empire where the peoples right of election was soon eaten out by the cunning of the two Families of Casimira and Austria Let this serve to manifest that a Government by a free Election and Consent of the People setled in a due and orderly succession of their supreme Assemblies is more consonant to the light of Nature and Reason and consequently much more excellent than any Hereditary standing Power whatsoever To take off all mis-constructions when we mention the People observe all along that we do not mean the confused promiscuous Body of the People nor any part of the people who have forfeited their Rights by Delinquency Neutrality or Apostacy c. in relation to the divided state of any Nation for they are not to be reckon'd within the Lists of the People The thirteenth Reason to prove the excellency of a Free-State above any other Form is because in Free-States there are fewer opportunities of Oppression and Tyranny than in the other Forms And this appears in that it is ever the care of Free-Commonwealths for the most part to preserve not an Equality which were irrational and odious but an Equability of Condition among all the Members so that no particular Man or Men shall be permitted to grow over-great in Power nor any Rank of Men be allowed above the ordinary Standard to assume unto themselves the State and Title of Nobility The Observation of the former setures the Peoples Liberty from the reach of their own Officers such as being entrusted with the Affairs of high Trust and Imployment either in Campe and Council might perhaps take occasion thereby to aspire beyond Reason if not restrained and prevented The Observation of the later secures the People from the pressures and Ambition of such perty Tyrants as would usurp and claim a Prerogative Power and Greatness above others by Birth and Inheritance These are a sort of Men not to be endured in any well-ordered Commonwealth for they alwayes bear a Natural and Implacable Hate towards the People making it their Interest to deprive them of their Liberty so that if at any time it happen that any great Man or Men whatsoever arrive to so much Power and Confidence as to think of usurping or to be in a Condition to be tempted thereunto these are the first that will set them on mingle Interests with them and become the prime Instruments in heaving them up into the Seat of Tyranny For the clearing of these Truths and first to manifest the Inconvenience of permitting any persons to be over-great in any State and that Free-States that have not avoided it have soon lost their Liberty we shall produce a File of Examples In Greece we finde that the Free-State of Athens lost its Liberty upon that account once when they suffered certain of the Senators to over-top the rest in power which occasioned that multiplied Tyranny made famous by the name of the thirty Tyrants at another time when by the same Error they were constrained through the power of Pistrâ—tus to stoop unto his single Tyranny Upon this score also the people of Syracusa had the same misfortune under the Tyrant Hiero as had they of Sicily under Dyonlsius and Agathocles In Rome also the case is the same too for during the time that Liberty was included within the Senate they gave both Malius Manlius an opportunity to aspire by permitting them a growth of too much Greatness but by good fortune escaping their clutches they afterwards fell as foolishly into the hands of ten of their Fellow-Senators called the Decemviri in giving them so much power as tempted them unto Tyranny Afterwards when the people scuffled and made a shift to recover their Liberty out of the hands of the Senate they committed the same Error too by permitting of their Servants to grow over-great such as Sylla who by power tyrannized and made himself Dictator for five yeers as Caesar afterwards secled the Dictatorship upon himself for ever and after Caesar's death they might have recovered their Liberty again if they had taken care as they might easily have done to prevent the growing Greatness of Augustus who gaining power first by the courtesie good will of the Senate and People made use of it to establish himself in a Tyranny which could never after be extinguished but in the ruine of the Roman Empire it self Thus also the Free-State of Florence foolishly ruined it self by the greatning of Cosmus first permitting him to ingross the Power which gave him opportunity to be a tyrant then as foolishly forcing him to declare himself a Tyrant by an unseasonable demand of the power back out of his hands Many more instances might be fetch'd out of Milan Switzerland and other places but we have one neerer home and of a later date in Holland whereby permitting the Family of Orange to greaten a little more than beseemed a Member of a Free-State they were insensibly reduced to the last cast to run the hazzard of the loss of their Liberty Therefore one prime Principle of State is To keep any man though he have deserved never so well by good success or service from being too great or popular it is a notable means and so esteemed by all free-Free-States to keep and preserve a Commonwealth from the Rapes of Usurpation A fourteenth Reason and though the last yet not the least to prove a Free-State or Government by the People setled in a due and orderly succession of their supreme Assemblies is much more excellent than any other Form is because in this Form all Powers are accountable for misdemeanors in Government in regard of the nimble Returns and Periods of the Peoples Election by which means he that ere-while was a Governour being reduced to the condition of a Subject lies open to the force of the Laws and may with ease be brought to punishment for his offence so that after the observation of such a course others which succeed will become the less daring to offend or to abuse their Trust in Authority to an oppression of the People Such a course as this cuts the very throat of all Tyranny and doth not onely root it up when at full growth but crusheth the Cockatrice in the Egg destroys it in the Seed in the principal and in the very possiblities of its being for ever after And as the safety of the People is the Soveraign and Supreme Law so an establishment of this Nature is an impregnable Bulwark of the Peoples safety because without it no certain
Right under the Will of another and is no less than Tyranny which seating it self in an unlimited uncontrollable Prerogative over others without their Consent becomes the very bane of propriety and however disquieted or in what Form soever it appears is indeed the very Interest of Monarchy Now that a free-Free-State or successive Government of the People c. is the onely preservative of Propriety appears by Instances all the World over yet we shall cite but a few Under Monarchs we shall finde ever That the Subjects had nothing that they could call their own neither Lives nor Fortunes nor Wives nor any thing else that the Monarch pleased to command because the poor people knew no remedy against the levelling Will of an unbounded Soveraignity as may be seen in the Records of all Nations that have stoop'd under that wretched Form whereof we have also very sad Examples in France and other Kingdoms at this very day where the People have nothing of Propriety but all depends upon the Royal Pleasure as it did of late â—ere in England Moreover it is very observable That in Kingdoms where the People have enjoyed any thing of Liberty and Propriety they have been such Kingdoms onely where the frame of Government hath been so well tempered as that the best share of it hath been retained in the Peoples Hands and by how much the greater influence the People have had therein so much the more sure and certain they have been in the enjoyment of their Propriety To pass by many other Instances consider how firm the Aragonians were in their Liberties and Properties so long as they held their hold over their Kings in their supreme Assemblies and no sooner had Philip the second deprived them of their share in the Government but themselves and their properties became a prey and have been ever since to the Will and Pleasure of their Kings The like also may be said of Erance where as long as the Peoples Interest bore sway in their supreme Assemblies they could call their Lives and Fortunes their own and no longer for all that have succeeded since Lewis the eleventh followed his levelling pattern so far that in short time they destroyed the Peoples Property and became the greatest Levellers in Christendom We were almost at the same pass here in England for as long as the Peoples Interest was preserved by frequent and successive Parliaments so long we were in some measure secure of our Properties but as Kings began to worm the People out of their share in Government by discontinuing of Parliaments So they carried on their levelling design to the destroying of our Properties and had by this means brought it so high that the Oracles of the Law and Gospel spake it out with a good levelling Grace That all was the King's and that we had nothing we might call our own Thus you see how much Levelling and little of Propriety the people hâ—â—e had certain under Monarchs and if any at all by what means and upon what terms they have had it Nor hath it been thus onely under Kings but we finde the People have ever had as little of Property secure under all other Forms of standing Powers which have produced as errant Levellers in this particular as any of the Monarchies In the Free-State of Athens as long as the People kept free indeed in an enjoyment of their successive Assemblies so long they were secure in their Properties and no longer For to say nothing of their Kings whose History is very obscure we finde after they were laid side they erected another Form of standing Power in a single Person called a Governour for Life who was also accountable for misdemeanours but yet a Tryal being made of nine of them the People saw so little security by them that they pitch'd upon another standing Form of Decimal Government and being oppress'd by them too they were cashier'd The like miseries they tasted under the standing power of Thirty which were a sort of Levellers more rank than all the rest who put to death banishâ—d pill'd and poll'd whom they pleased without Cause or Exception so that the poor people having been tormented under all the Forms of standing Power were in the end forced as their last remedy to take Sanctuary under the Form of a Free State in their successive Assemblies And though it may be objected That afterwards they fell into many divisions and miseries even in that Form yet whoever observes the Story shall finde it was not the fault of the Government but of themselves in swerving from the Rules of a Free-State by permitting the continuance of Power in particular hands who having an opportunity thereby to create Parties of their own among the People did for their own ends inveigle ingage and intangle them in popular Tumults and Divisions This was the true Reason of their Miscarriages And if ever any Government of the People did miscarry it was upon that account Thus also the Lacedemonians after they had for some yeers tryed the Government of one King then of two Kings at once of two distinct Families afterwards came in the Ephori as Supervisers of their Kings after I say they had tryed themselves through all the Forms of a standing Power and found them all to be Levellers of the Peoples Interest and Property then necessity taught them to seek shelter in a Free-State under which they lived happily till by a forementioned Error of the Athenians they were drawn into Parties by powerful Persons and so made the Instruments of Division among themselves for the bringing of new Levellers into play such as were Manchanidas and Nabis who succeeded each other in a Tyranny In old Rome after the standing Form of Kings was extinct and a new one established the people found as little of safety and property as ever for the standing Senate and the Decemviri proved as great Levellers as Kings so that they were forced to settle the Government of the People by a due and orderly succession of their supreme Assemblies Then they began again to recover their propertie in having somewhat they might call their own and they happily enjoyed it till as by the same Error of the Lacedemonians and Athenians swerving from the Rules of a Free-State lengthning of power in particular hands they were drawn and divided into Parties to serve the lusts of such powerful men as by craft became their Leaders so that by this means through their own default they were deprived of their Liberty long before the dayes of Imperial Tytanny Thus Cinna Sylla Marins and the rest of that succeeding Gang down to Caesar used the Peoples favour to obtain a continuation of power in their own hands and then having sadled the people with a new standing Form of their own they immediately rooted up the Peoples Liberty and Property by Arbitrary Sentences of death Proscriptions Fines and Confiscations which strain of levelling more intolerable than the former was maintained by the same
Arts of Devillish Policy down to Caesar who striking in a Favourite of the People and making use of their Affections to lengthen power in his own hands at length by this Errour of the people gained opportunity to introduce a new levelling Form of standing power in himself to an utter and irrecoverable ruine of the Romane Liberty and property In Florence they have been in the same case there under every Form of standing power It was so when the Great Ones ruled it was so under Goderino it was so under Savanarola the Monk When they once began to lengthen power by the peoples Favour they presently fell to levelling and domineering as did Cosmus afterwards that crafty Founder of the present Dukedom Upon the same terms the Republick of Pisa lost themselves and became the prey of several Usurpations Mantua was once a Free-City of the Empire but neglecting their successive Assemblies and permitting the Great Ones and most Wealthy to form a standing power in themselves the people were so vexed with them that one Pafferimo getting power in his own hands and then lengthening it by Artifice turn'd Leveller too subjecting all to his own will so that the poor people to rid their hands of him were forced to pitch upon another as bad and translate their power into a petty Dukedom in the hands of the Family of Gonzaga We may from hence safely conclude against all objecting Monarchs and Royalists of what name and Title soever that a Free-State or Commonwealth by the people in their successive Assemblies is so far from levelling or destroying propertie that in all ages it hath been the onely preservative of Liberty and property and the onely remedy against the Levellings and Usurpations of standing powers for it is cleer That Kings and all standing powers are the Levellers A second Objection in the Mouths of many is this That the erecting of such a Form in the Peoples hands were the ready way to cause confusion in Government when all persons without distinction are allowed a right to chuse and be chosen members of the supreme Assemblies For answer to this know we must consider a Commonwealth in a twofold condition either in its setled state when fully stablished and founded and when all men were supposed Friends to its establishment or else when it is newly founding or founded and that in the close of a civil War upon the ruine of a former Government and those that stood for it in which case it even hath a great party within it self that are enemies to its establishment As to the first to wit a Common-wealth in its setled and composed state when all men within it are presumed to be its Friends questionless a right to chuse and to be chosen is then to be allowed the people without distinction in as great a latitude as may stand with right Reason and Convenience for managing a matter of so high Consequence as their Supreme Assemblies wherein somewhat must be left to humane Prudence and therefore that latitude being to be admitted more or less according to the Nature Circumstance and Necessities of any Nation is not here to be determined But as to a Commonwealth under the second consideration when it is founding or newly founded in the close of a Civil War upon the mine of a former Government In this case I say to make no distinction betwixt men but to allow the conquered part of the people an equal right to chuse and to be chosen c. were not onely to take away all proportion in policy but the ready way to destroy the Common-wealth and by a promiscuous mixture of opposite Interests to turn all into confusion Now that the Enemies of Liberty being subdued upon the close of a Civil War are not to be allowed sharers in the Rights of the people is evident for divers Reasons not onely because such an allowance would be a means to give them opportunity to sow the seeds of new Broyls and Divisions and bring a new hazard upon the Liberties of the People which are Reasons derived from Convenience but there is a more special Argument from the equity of the thing according to the Law and Custom of Nations That such as have commenced War to serve the Lusts of Tyrants against the Peoples Interest should not be received any longer a part of the people but may be handled as slaves when subdued if their Subduers please so to use them because by their Treasons against the Majesty of the people which they ought to have maintained they have made forfeiture of all their Rights and Priviledges as Members of the People and therefore if it happens in this case at any time That any Immunities Properties or Enjoyments be indulged unto them they must not take them as their own by Right but as Boons bestowed upon them by the peoples courtesie The old Commonwealth of Greece was very severe in this particular for as they were wont to heap up all Honours they could vent upon such as did or suffered any thing for the maintenance of their Liberty so on the other side they punished the Underminers of it or those that any wayes appeared against it with utmost extremity persecuting them with For Feitures both of Life and Fortune and if they escaped with Life they usually became slaves and many times they persecuted them being dead branding their Memories with an Eternal Mark of Infamy In old Rome they dealt more mildly with the greatest part of those that had sided with the Tarquins after their Expulsion but yet they were not restored to all their former Priviledges In process of time as oft as any conspired against the Peoples Interest in their successive Assemblies after they had once gotten them themselves were banished and their Estates confiscated not excepting many of the Senators as well as others and made for ever incapable of any Trust in the Commonwealth Afterwards they took the same course with as many of Catiline's Fellow-Traytors and Conspirators as were worthy any thing and had no doubt sufficiently paid Caesar's Abettors in the same Coin but that he wore out all opposites with his prosperous Treason Thus Millain and the rest of those States when they were free as also the Swisses and Hollanders in the Infancy of the Helvetian and Belgick Freedoms who took the same course with all those uunatural Paricides and Apostates that offered first to strangle their Liberty in the Birth or afterwards in the Cradle by secret Conspiracy or open violence Nor ought this to seem strange since if a right of Conquest may be used over a Forain who onely is to be accounted a fair enemy much more against such as against the light of Nature shall engage themselves in so foul practices as tend to ruine the Liberty of their Native Country Seeing therefore that the people in their Government upon all occasions of Civil War against their Liberties have been most zealous in vindicating those Attempts upon the heads of
saw the Senators seated in a lofty posture over them when they felt the weight of that State and Dignity pressing upon shoulders that were promised to be at ease and free when they found themselves exempted from the enjoyment of the same common Priviledges excluded from all Offices or Alliance with the Senators their purses emptied of Money their bellies of Meat and their hearts of Hope then it was that they began to grumble and mutiny and never until they got a power to bridle the Great ones by an happie succession of their Supreme Assemblies A second Occasion of the peoples being inclined to Discontent and Tumult under their Free Form of Government appears in Story to be this When they felt themselves not fairly dealt withal by such as became their Leaders and Generals Thus in Syracusa Dionysius cloathing himself with a pretence of the peoples Liberties and being by that means made their General and then making use of that power to other ends than was pretended became the Fire-Brand of that State and put the people all into Flames for the expulsion of him who had made a Forfeiture of all his glorious pretences Thus in Sparta the people were peaceable enough under their own Government till they found themselves over-reached and their credulity abused by such as they trusted whose designs were laid in the dark for the converting of Liberty into Tyranny under Manchanidas and Nabis In old Rome under the peoples Government it is true it was a sad sight oftentimes to see the people swarming in tumults their shops shut up and all trading given over throughout the City and somtimes the City forsaken and left empty But here as also in Athâ—ns the Occasion was the same for as the people naturally love Peace and Ease so finding themselves often out-witted and abused by the slights and fears of the Senate they presently as it is their Nature upon such Occasions grew out of all patience The case was the same also when any one of their Senators or of themselves arrived to any height of power by insinuating into the peoples favour upon specious and popular pretences and then made a forfeiture of those pretences by taking a contrary course Thus Sylla of the Senatorian order and Marius of the Plebeian both got power into their hands upon pretence of the peoples good as many others did before and after not onely in Rome but in other Free-States also but forfeiting their pretences by taking Arbitrary courses they were the sole Causes of all those Tumults and Slaughters among the Romanes the infamy whereof hath most injuriously been cast upon the peoples Government by the profane pens of such as have been bold in Pension or Relation in the Courts of Princes Thus Caesar also himself striking as a Favorite of the people upon fair pretences and forfeiting them when in power was the onely cause of all those succeeding Civil Broyles and Tragedies among the people A third Occasion of the Peoples being inclined to Discontent and Tumult in a Free-State is this when they are sensible of Oppression For I say again The people are naturally of a peaceable temper minding nothing but a free Enjoyment but if once they finde themselves circumvented misled or squeezed by such as they have intrusted then they swell like the Sea and over-run the Bounds of Just and Honest ruining all before them In a word there is not one precedent of Tumults or Sedition can be cited out of all Stories by the Enemies of Freedom against the peoples Government but it will appear likewise thereby that the people were not in fault but either drawn in or provoked thereto by the Craft or Injustice of such fair Pretenders as have had by-ends of their own and by-designs upon the publick Liberty Nevertheless admit that the people were tumultuous in their own Nature yet those Tumults when they happen are more easily to be borne than these Inconveniences that arise from the Tyranny of Monarchs and Great Ones for popular Tumults have these three Qualities First The Injury of them never extends further than some few Persons and those for the most part guilty enough as were the thirty Grandees in Athens the Ten in Rome and those other State-Mountebanks that suffered for their Practices by the Peoples Fury Secondly Those Tumults are not lasting but like fits quickly over for an Eloquent Oration or Perswasion as we see in the Example of Menenius Agrippa or the Reputation of some grave or honest Man as in the Example of Virginus and afterwards of Cato doth very easily reduce and pacifie them Thirdly The ending of those Tumults though they have ruined some particulars yet it appears they have usually turned to the good of the Publick for we sâ—â— that both in Athens and Rome the Great Ones were by this means kept in awe from Injustice the Spirits of the people were kept warm with high thoughts of themselves and their Liberty which turned much to the inlargement of their Empire And lastly By this means they came off alwayes with good Laws for their profit as in the case of the Law of twelve Tables brought from Athens to Rome or else with an Augmentation of their Immunities and Priviledges as in the case of procuring the Tribunes and their Supreme Assemblies and afterwards in the frequent confirmation of them against the Incroachments of the Nobles Now the case is far otherwise under the standing power of the Great Ones they in their Counsels Projects and Designs are fast and tenacious so that the Evils under those Forms are more remediless Besides they reach to the whole Body of a Commonweal and so the Evils are more Universal And lastly those Tumults Quarrels and Inconveniences that arise from among them never tend nor end but to the farther oppression and suppression of the people in their Interest and Propriety For conclusion then by these particulars you may plainly see the vanity of this Objection about Tumults how far they are from being natural effects of the Peoples Government insomuch as by the Records of History it appears rather that they have been the necessary consequences of such Tricks and Cheats of Great Men as in the dayes of yore have been put upon the people A fifth Objection against the Form of a free-Free-State or Government by the people in their successive Assemblies and which we finde most in the Mouths of Royalists and Parasites is this That little security is to be had therein for the more wealthy and powerful sort of men in regard of that Liberty which the people assume unto themselves to accuse or calumniate whom they please upon any occasion For answer to this know That calumniation which signifies ambitious slandering of men by whisperings reports or false accusations was never allowed or approved in this Form of Government 'T is true indeed that such Extravagancies there have been more or less in all Forms whatsoever but in this less than any it being most in use
that they have alwayes been excessive in their Rewards and Honours to such men as deserved any way of the Publike whilst they conformed themselves to Rules and kept in a posture suiting to Liberty Witness their Consecration of Statues Incense Sacrifices and Crowns of Laurel inrolling such men in the number of their Deities Therefore the crime of Ingratitude cannot in any peculiar manner be fastned upon the People but if we consult the Stories of all standing Powers we may produce innumerable testimonies of their Ingratitude toward such as have done them the greatest service ill recompence being a Mystery of State practised by all Kings and Grandees who as Tacitus tells us ever count themselves disobliged by the bravest actions of their subjects Upon this account Alexander hated Antipater and Parmenio and put the later to death Thus the Emperour Vespasian cashiered and ruined the meritorious Antonies Thus also was Alphonsus Atbuquerque served by his Master the King of Portugal and Consalvus the Great by Ferdinand of Aragon as was also that Stanley of the House of Derby who set the Crown upon King Hâ—nry the seventh's head Thus Sylla the Romane Grandee destroyed his choicest Instruments that help'd him into the Saddle as Augustus served his friend Cicero and exposed him to the malice and murther of Anthonie Innumerable are the Examples of this kinde which evidence that such unworthy dealings are the effect of all standing Powers and therefore more properly to be objected against them than against the Government of the People Thus having answered all or the main Objections brought by the adversaries of a Free-State before we proceed to the Errours of Government and Rules of Policie it will not be amiss but very convenient to say something of that which indeed is the very Foundation of all the rest to wit That the Original of all Just Power and Government is in the PEOPLE The Original of all Just Power is in the People THose Men that deny this Position are fain to run up as high as Noah and Adam to gain a pretence for their Opinion alledging That the primitive or first Governments of the World were not instituted by the consent and election of those that were governed but by an absolute Authority invested in the persons governing Thus thâ—â— say our first Parent ruled by a 〈◊〉 Power and Authority in himself onely as did also the Patriarchs before and after the Flood too for some time becoming Princes by vertue of a paternal right over all the Families of their own Generation and Extraction so that the Fathers by reason of their extraordinary long Lives and the multiplicity of Wives happened to be Lords of Kingdoms or Principalities of their own begetting And so some deriving the Pedigree or Government of this Paternal Right of Soveraignty would by all means conclude That the Original of Government neither was nor ought to be in the People For answer to this consider That Magistracy or Government is to be considered as Natural or as Political Naturally he was a true publick Magistrate or Father of his Country who in those Patriarchal times ruled over his own Children and their Descendants This Form of Government was only temporary and took an end not long after the Flood when Nimrod changed it and by force combining 〈◊〉 of distinct Families into one Bod◠〈◊〉 subjecting them to his own Regiment did by an Arbitrary Power seated in his own Will and Sword constrain them to submit unto what Laws and Conditions himself pleased to impose on them Thus the Paternal Form became changed into a Tyrannical Neither of these had I confess their Original in or from the People nor hath either of them any relation to that Government which we intend in our Position But secondly There is a Government Political not grounded in Nature nor upon Paternal Right by Natural Generation but founded upon the free Election Consent or mutual Compact of men entring into a form of civil society This is the Government we now speak of it having been in request in most ages and still is whereas the other was long since out of date being used onely in the first age of the World as proper onely for that time So that to prevent all Objections of this nature when we speak here of Government we mean onely the Political which is by Consent or Compact whose original we shall prove to be in the people As for the Government of the Israelites first under Moses then Joshua and the Judges The Scripture plainly shews that they were extraordiâ—nary Governours being of God's immediate institution who raised them up by his Spirit and imposed them upon that people whose peculiar happiness it was in cases of this nature to have so infallible and sure a direction so that their Government was a Theocracie as some have called it having God himself for its onely Original and therefore no wonder we have in that time Nation so few visible foot-steps of the peoples Election or of an institution by Compact But yet we finde after the Judges when this people rejected this more immediate way of Government by God as the Lord told Samuel They have not rejected thee but me and de-desired a Government after the manner of other Nations then God seems to forbear the use of his Prerogative and leave them to an exercise of their own natural Rights and Liberties to make choice of a new Government and Governour by suffrage and compact The Government they aimed at was Kingly God himself was displeased at it and so was Samuel too who in hope to continue the old Form and to fright them from the new tells them what Monsters in Government Kings would prove by assuming unto themselves an Arbitrary Power not that a King might lawfully and by right do what Samuel describes but onely to shew how far Kings would presume to abuse their power which no doubt Samuel foresaw not onely by Reason but by the Spirit of Prophecie Nevertheless the people would have a King say they Nay but there shall be a King over us whereupon saith God to Samuel Hearken to their voice Where we plainly see first God gives them leave to use their own natural Rights in making choice of their own Form of Government but then indeed for the choice of their Governor there was one thing extraordinary in that God appointed them one he vouchsafing still in an extraordinary and immediate manner to be their Director and Protector but yet though God was pleased to nominate the person he left the confirmation and ratification of the Kingship unto the people to shew that naturally the right of all was in them however the exercise of it were superseded at that time by his Divine pleasure as to the point of nomination for that the people might understand it was their Right Samuel calls them all to Mizpeh as if the matter were all to be done anew on their part and there by lot they at length made choice
or ruine it have proceeded as we have formerly proved either from the peoples neglect or rather ignorance of those Meanes and Rules that should be committed unto them both for Practice and Observation having therefore made brief Collections out of the Monuments of this kind of Learning I shall here insert them that the People of every Common-wealth which mean to preserve their Freedom may be informed how to steer their course according to such Rules as have bin put in practice heretofore by divers Nations First it hath bin a Custom not only to breed up all the young Fry in Principles of Dislike and Enmity against Kingly Government but also to cause all that were capable of swearing to enter into an Oath of Abjuration to abjure a toleration of Kings and Kingly Power in time to come Thus Brutus bound the Romans by an Oath against Kings That they should never suffer any man again to reign at Rome Thus the Hollanders preserved themselves also entering into an Oath of Abjuration not onely against King Philipâ— and his Family but all Kings for ever And Brutus to make sure work did not onely do this but divided the Royal Revenues among the People which was a good way to make them resolute to Extremity knowing That if ever any King came in play again He would take all away again by vertue of his Prerogative and Crown He brake also all the Images and Statues of the Tâ—rquint and he levell'd their houses with the ground that they might not remain as Temptations to any ambitious Spirits Suitable to this Policy was that of Henry the 8th who when he disposed of the Revenues of Abbies demolished also the Building osaying Destroy the Nests and the Rockes will ne're return again Which questionless was a most sure way both in him and Brutus to be imitated or neglected as there may be occasion But they thought in a ease of this Nature that the convenience in keeping them could not counterâ—ail the danger Secondly It hath bin usual not to suffer particular persons to Grandise or great â—n themselves more than ordinary for that by the Romans was called affectatio Regnt an aspiring to Kingship Which being observed in Mâ—lius and Manlius two noble Romans that had deserved highly of the State yet their past-merits services could not exempt them from the just anger of the People who made them Examples to Posterity Yea the Name of the latter though Livy cals him an incomparable man had he not lived in a Free-State was ever after disowned by his whole Family that famous Family of the Manlii and both the Name and Memory of Him and of his Consulship was rased out of all publike Records by Decree of the Senate The not keeping close to this Rule had of late like to have cost the Low-countries the loss of their Liberty for the Wealth of the House of Orange grown up to excess and permitting the last man to match into a Kingly Family put other thoughts and designs into his head than beseemed a member of a Free-State which had he not been prevented by the Providence of God and a dark night might in all probability have reduced them under the Yoak of Kingly Power Thirdly Especial care hath been taken non Diurnare Imperia not to permit a Continuation of Command and Authority in the hands of particular persons or families This point we have been very large in The Romans had a notable care herein till they grew corrupt Livy in his fourth Book saith Libertatis magna custodâ—a est â—si magna Imperia esse non sinas temporis modus imponatuâ— It is a grand preservative of Liberty if you do not permit great Powers and Commands to continue long and if so be you limit in point of time To this purpose they had a Law called the Emilian Law to restrain them as we find in the Ninth Book where he brings in a Noble Roman saying thus Hoc quidem Regno simile est And this indeed is like a Kingship That I alone should bear this great Office of the Censorship Triennium sex menses three years and six moneths contrary to the Emiliam Law In his third Book also he speaks of it as of a monstrous business That the Ides of May were come which was the time of their years choice and yet no new Election appointed Id-verò Regnum haud dubiè videre deploratur in perspetuum libertas It with doubt seems no other than a Kingdom and Liberty is utterly lost for ever It was Treason for any man to hold that high Office of the Dictatorship in his own hand beyond six moneths He that would see notable stuff to this purpose let him read Ciceroes Epistles to Atticus concerning Caesar The care of that people in this particular appeared also that they would not permit any man to bear the same Office twice together This was observed likewise as Aristotle tells us in all the Free-States of Greece And in Rome we find Cincinnatus one of the brave Romane Generals making a Speech unto the People to perswade them to let him lay down his Command Now the time was come though the Enemy was almost at their Gates and never more need than at that time of his valour and prudence as the people told him but no perswasion would serve the turn resign he would telling them There would be more danger to the State in prolonging his Power than from the Enemy since it might prove a President most pernicious to the Romane Freedome Such another Speech was made by M. Rutilius Censorinus to the People when they forced him to undergo the Office of Censor twice together contrary to the intent and practice of their Ancestors yet he accepted it but as Plutarch tell us upon this condition That a Law might pass against the Title in that and other Officers least it should be drawn into President in time to come Thus the People dealt also with their own Tribunes the Law being That none of them should be continued two years together So tender were the Romans in this particular as one principal Rule and Means for the preservation of their Liberty A fourth Rule not to let two of one Family to bear Offices of High Trust at one time nor to permit a Continuation of great Powers in any own Family The former usually brings on the latter And if the latter be prevented there is the less danger in the former but however both are to be avoided The reason is evident because a permission of them gives a particular Family an opportunity to bring their own private Interest into competition with that of the Publique from whence presently ensues this grand inconvenience in State the Affairs of the Commonwealth will be made subservient to the ends of a few persons no Corn shall be measured but in their bushel nor any Materials be allowed for the Publick Work unless they square well with the building of a private Interest or Family
with Freedome return to their Affairs For the truth is so long as Rome acted by the pure Principles of a Free-State it used no Arms to defend itself but such as we call sufficient men such as for the most part were men of Estate Masters of Families that took Arms only upon occasion pro Aris Focis for their Wives their Children and their Countrey In those days there was no difference in order between the Citizen the Husbandman and the Souldier for he that was a Citizen or Villager yesterday became a Souldier the next if the Publick Liberty required it and that being secured by repelling of Invaders both Forreign and Domestick immediatly the Souldier became Citizen again so that the first and best brave Roman Generals and Souldiers came from the Plough and returned thither when the Work was over This was the usual course even before they had gained their Tribunes and Assemblies that is in the Infancy of the Senate immediatly after the Expulsion of their Kings for then even in the Senatick Assembly there were some Sparks of Liberty in being and they took this course to maintain it The Tarquins being driven out but having a Party left still within that attempted to make several Invasions with confidence to carry all before them and yet in the Intervalls we find not any form of souldiery only the Militia was lodged and exercised in the hands of that Party which was firm to the Interest of Freedom who upon all occasions drew forth at a Nod of the Senate with little charge to the Publick and so rescued themselves out of the Clawes of Kingly Tyranny Nor do we find in after times that they pâ—rmitted a Deposition of the Arms of the Common-wealth in any other way till that their Empire increasing necessity constrained them to erect a continued stipendary Souldiery abroad in forreign parts either for the holding or winning of Provinces Then Luxury increasing with Dominion the strict Rule and Discipline of Freedome was soon quitted Forces were kept up at home but what the consequences were stories will tell you as well as in the Provinces abroad The Ambition of Cinna the horid Tyranny of Sylla the insolence of Marius and the self-ends of divers other Leaders both before and after them filled all Italy with Tragdeies and the World with wonder so that in the end the People seeing what misery they had brought on themselves by keeping their Armies within the bowels of Italy passed a Law to prevent it and to employ them abroad or at a convenient distance the Law was That if any General marched over the River of Rubicon he should be declared a publike Enemy And in the passage of that River this following Inscription was erected to put the men of Arms in mind of their duty Imperator sive miles sive Tyrannus armatus quisquis sistito vexillum armaque deponito nec citra hunc Amnem trajicitio General or Souldier or Tyrant in Arms whosoever thou be stand quit thy Standard and lay aside thy Arms or else cross not this River For this cause it was that when Caesar had presumed once to march over this River he conceived himself so far ingaged that there was no Retreat no Game next but have at all advanceth to Rome it self into a possession of the Empire By this means it was the Common-wealth having lost its Arms lost it self too the Power being reduced both effectually and formally into the hands of a single Person and his Dependants who ever after kept the Armes out of the hands of the People Then followed the erecting of a Praetorian Band instead of a Publick Militia he being followed here in by Augustus and the rest of his Successors imitated of latter-times by the Grand Seignor by Cosmus the first great Duke of Tuscany by the Muscoviâ—e the Russian the Tartar and the French who by that means are all Absolute and it was strongly endeavored here too in England by the late King who first attempted it by a Design of introducing Forreigners viz. the German Horse and afterwards by corrupting of the Natives as when he laboured the Army in the North in their return to rifle the Parliament neglected Train-Bands and at length flew out himâ—elf into open Arms against the Nation So that you see the way of Freedome hath bin to lodge the Arms of a Common-Wealâ— in the hands of that part of the People which are firm to its Establishment Seveâ—â—hly that Children should be educated and instructed in the Principles of Freedom Aristotle speaks plainly to this purpose saying That the institution of Youth should be accommodated to that Form of Government under which they live forasmuch as it makes exceedingly for preservation of the present Government whatsoever it be The Reason of it appeâ—â—s in this because all the Tinctures and Impression that men receive in their Youth they retain in the full Age though never so bad unless they happen which is very rare to quell the corrupt Principles of Education by an Excellency of Reason and sound Judgment And for confirmation of this we might cite the various Testimonies of Plutarch Isocrates with many more both Philosophers Orators and others that have treated of this particular touching the Education of Children as it relates either to Domestick or Civil Government But we shall take it for granted without more ado supposing none will deny of what effect it is in all the Concernments of Mankind either in Conversation or in Action The necessity of this Point appears from hence as well as the Reason That if care be nor taken to temper the Youth of a Common-Wealth with Principâ—es and Humours suitable to that Form no sure settlement or peace can ever be expected for Schools Academies with alâ— other Seed-plots and Seminaries of Youth will otherwise be but so many Nurseries of Rebellion publike Enemies and unnatural Monsters that will tear the bowels of their Mother-Countrey And this Neglect if it follow an alteration of Government after a Civil War is so much the more dangerous because as long as Youngsters are nuzled up in the old Ways and Rudiments by the old ill-affected Paedagogues there will ever be a hankering after the Old Government which must ever be in a fair probability of return when new Generations shall be catechised into old Tenets and Affections contrary to the Establishment of a Free-State That being taken for the declared Interest of this Nation Therefore the consequence of such Neglect is clearly this That the Enmity will be immortal a Settâ—ement impossible there must be a perpetual Disposition to Civil-War in stead of Civil Society Upon this account it was that in Plutarch and Isocrates we find so many good Testimonies of the great care that was had amongst all the free-Free-States of Greece in this particular which tyed up their Paedagogues and Teachers to certain Rules and selected certain Authors to be read onely as Classical for the Institution of their Youth And that it was
so in the days of Julius Caesar even in that barbarous Country of Gallia appeares by Caesars own Commentaries who tells how that it was the main Office of those famous men amongst them called Druides to breed up their Youth not onely in Religion but also to instruct them in the Nature of a Common-wealth and mould them with Principles answerable to the Government If we reflect upon the two Grand Turns of State in Rome the first from a Monarchy to a Free-State and then from a Free-State to a Monarchy again they minister matter of notable Observation in this particular In the first we find how difficult it was for the Romans to preserve their Freedom when they had gotten it because most of the Youth had bin educated in Monarchical Principles and such Tutors were ever inclining that way upon the least opportunity so that the sons even of Brutus himself who was the Founder of their Liberty quitted that natural affection which they owed unto their Father and Councrey and being sway'd by the Monarchick Principles of corrupt Education drew in a great part of the Roman Youth like themselves to joyn with them in a Design for the bringing back of the Tarquins to the Kingdom It is very observable also what a do that Common-wealth had to settle so long as any of the old stock of Education were living because those corrupt points of Discipline and Government wherewith they were seasoned when young could not be worn out with Age but hurried many of them along with the storm of every Insurrection and Invasion of the publike Enemy On the other side in the Turn of a Free-State to a Monarchy again we see with what difficulty Caesar met in setling his own Domination over a People that had been educated in a Free-State and in Principles of Freedom insomuch that in the end it cost him his life being stab'd for his Usurpation by a combination of some of the Senators and the Fact applauded not onely by the People but by Cicero and all the Roman Writers and others that had been bred up under the Form of Freedom And afterwards when Augustus took upon him the Inheritance and Title of his Uncle Caesar he did it lentopede very slowly and warily for fear of conjuring up the same spirit in the people that had flown into revenge against his Uncle for his Rape upon their Liberty And it is Noted by Tacitus that among the other advantages that Augustus had for his Establishment there was this That he never declared himself till after many delayes and shifts for the continuation of Power in his own hands he got insensibly into the Throne when the old men were most of them dead and the young Generation grown up having been pretty well educated and inured to his Lordly Domination The words of Tacitus are these All saith he was quiet in the City the old names of the Magistrates remained unchanged the young men were all born after Augustus his Victory at Actium and the greatest part of the old men during the Civil Wars when the free-Free-State was imbroiled and usurpt in effect though retained stil in name by powerful and ambitious persons so that when he assumed and owned the Empire there was not one man Living that had so much as seen the ancient Form of Government of a Free-State which indeed facilitated his Design very much the Generation then Living being by his Artifice and Power bred up to his own Monarchy-Interest and Devotion We might be larger but this is enough to shew of what consequence the careful Education of Youth is in the Constitution of Government and therefore without doubt it is one essential point to be observed in the Establishment of a Free-State that all wayes and meanes be used for their seasoning and instruction in the principles of Freedom The Eighth Rule is that which more especially relates unto the People themselves in point of behaviour viz. That being once possessed of Liberty they ought to use it with moderation lest it turn to licentiousness which as it is a Tyranny it self so in the end it usually occasions the corruption and conversion of a Free State into Monarchical Tyranny And therefore by way of prevention it is necessary to set down a few Cautions First That in a Free State it is above all things necessary to avoid Civil Dissention and to remember this That the uttermost Remedy is not to be used upon every Distemper or Default of those that shall be intrusted with the Peoples Power and Authority for if one Inconvenience happen in Government the correction or curing of it by violence introduceth a thousand And for a man to think Civil War or the Sword is a way to be ordinarily used for the recovery of a sick-State it were as great a madness as to give strong Waters in a high Feaver or as if he should let himself blood in the Heart to cure the aking of his Head And therefore seeing that Enormity of Tumult Dissention and Sedition is the main that hath bin objected by Tyrants their Creatures against the Peoples Government the onely Expedient to confute it is That those People that are or shall be setled in a State of Freedom do upon all occasions give them the Lie by a diserâ—eâ— and moderate behaviour in all their proceedings and a due reverence of such as they have once elected and made their Superiors And as this is most requisite on the one side so on the other side if there be just but they must be sure it be just cause to use sharp and quick Remedies for the Cure of a Common-wealth then seeing all Majesty and Authority is really and fundamentally in the people and but Ministerially in their Trustees or Representatives it concerns the people by all means to see to the Cure And that is in a word in such cases onely as appear to be manifest intrenchments either in design or in being by men of Power upon the Fundamentals or Essentials of their Liberty without which Liberty cannot consist What those Essentials are may be collected out of the past-discourse the sence of all shall be illustrated by one instance It is that famous Contention which lasted for three hundred years in Rome betwixt the Senate and the People about the dividing of such Lands as were conquered and taken from the Enemy The Senators they sharing the lands amongst themselves allowed little or none unto the people which gave such Discontents that the people made a Law to curb them enacting That no Senator should possess above 500 Acres of Land The Senators cryed it was against their Liberty thus to be abridged by the people And the people cryed it was inconsistent with Liberty that the Senators should thus greaten themselvs by an ingrosment of wealth and power into their own hands Livy saith The people in this said right and the Senators did wrong but that they both did ill in making it a ground of Civil
Livy Pomponius Dionysius and others that have written of the Roman Affaires and Antiquities A fourth sort of Treason against that People was manifest Usurpation acted over and over long before the time of Caesar Some other Particulars also there were of less consideration that came within the compass of Treason And in all they were very strict to vindicate the Interest of the Common-Wealth without respect of Persons To those passages out of the old Common-wealth of Rome let us add the rest we have to say about this point out of the practices of the present State of Venice the most exact for Punctillo's of that Nature that ever was in the World and therefore questionless it is the most principal cause of her so long continuance It is there Death without mercy for any man to have the least attempt or thought of conspiring against the Common-weal and in several other Cases as followeth Secondly it is Treason in case any Senator betray Counsels there it is an unpardonable Crime and such a mortal sin that draws on Death without mercy This severity also was retained in the Roman State where such as became guilty of this Crime were either burnt alive or hanged upon a Gibber Hereupon saith Valerius Max. lib. 2. when any matter was delivered or debated it was as if no man had heard a syllable of what had been said among so many From whence it came to pass that the Decrees of their Senate were called Tacita that is to say things concealed because never discovered untill they came to Execution Thirdly it is Treason without mercy for any Senators or other Officers of Venice to receive Gifts or Pensions from any forreign Prince or State upon any pretence whatsoever It was an old Proverb among the Heathens That the gods themselves might be taken with gifts and therefore the consequences must needs be dangerous in the inferiour Courts of States and Princes since nothing can be carryed in this Case according to Native Interest and Sound Reason but onely by Pluralities of Forreign Dictates and Compliances But in Venice they are so free from this treacherous Impiety that all States which transact with them must do it above-board consult before-hand with their brains and not their purses so that as Thuanus saith the King of France needs not use much labour to purchase an Interest with any Prince or State in Italy unless it be the Venetian Republick where all Forreign Compliances and Pensioners are punished with utmost severity but escape well enough in other places Fourthly It is Treason for any of her Senators to have any private Conference with Forreign Ambassadors and Agents It is very observable also among our Neighbours of the Low-Countries that one Article of the Charge whereby they took off Barnevelts head was for that he held familiarity and converse with the Spanish Ambassador at the same time when Spain was an Enemy Thus you have a brief Description of Treason in the most notable kinds of it according to the Customes and Opinions of two of the most eminent Free-States which may serve instead of all the rest that hath been in the World who as a principal Rule and Means for the preservation of Freedom made it a Crime unpardonable to incur the guilt of Treason in any of these kinds against the Interest and Majesty of the People in a Free-State We now return to the former main Point of this Discourse in tracing out the Remainders of those Errours that have been received in the Practice of Policy A fourth error in Policy which is indeed Epidemical hath been the Regulation of affaires by Reason of State not by the strict Rule of Honest But for fear be mistaken you are to understand that by Reason of State here we do not condemn the equitable Results of prudence right Reason for upon determinations of this nature depends the safety of all states and princes but that reason of state that flowes from a corrupt principle to an indirect end that reason of state which is the states mans reason or rather his will and lust when he admits Ambition to be a reason Perferment Power Profit Revenge and Opportunity to be reason sufficient to put him upon any designe of Action that may tend to the present advantage though contrary to the Law of God or the law of common honesty of Nations A more lively description of this strange Pocus called Reason of State take as followeth It is the most soveraign Commudaer the most important Counsellor Reason of State is the Care and compass of the ship the life of a State That which answers all objections and quarrels about Mall government That 's it which makes War imposes Taxes cuts off Offenders pardons Offenders sends and treats Ambassadors It can say and unsay do and undo baulk the Common Road make High-wayes to become By-wayes and the furthest about to become the nearest Cut. If a difficult Knot come to be untied which neither the Divine by Scripture nor Lawyer by Case or precedent can untie then Reason of State or a hundred wayes more which Idiots knows not dissolves it This is that great Empress which the Italians call Raggione distatâ— It can rant as a Souldier complement as a Monfieur trick it as a Juggler strut it as a States man and is as changable as the Moon in the variety of her appearances But we may take notice of a more excellent way in oppsition to this sandy Foundation of Policy called Reason of State viz. a simple reliance upon God in the vigorous and present actings of all Righteousness exprest by honest men in plain language to this effect Fiat justitia fractus illabatur Orbis Deal uprightly walke close and real to your promises and principles though the Fabrick of Heaven and earth should fall yet God is able to support he expects but so much faith as will counterpoise a grain of mustard-seed Besides in following singly a just and righteous principle a man gains this aduantage that we may go on boldly with a mind free from that torturing sollicitude of success he is subject to none of those heats and colds those fits and frights wherewith men are perpetually vexed for fear of discovery or miscarriage when they have once intangled themselves in any by-acting of Engagements he either prospers to the great good of his Nation or else dies with honour and triumph But those that follow the other principle of Humane Invention and serve that Italian Goddess Raggione di Stato they may live a while as gods but shall die like men and perish like one of the Princes But because words will not serve the turn take a few Examples of those many that might be fetcht from all Ages and Nations It was Reason of State made Pharoah hold the Israelites in bondage and afterwards when they were freed to endeavour to bring them back again to their old slavery but you know what he came to It was Reason