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VINDICATION O F
NATURAL SOCIETY: O
R,
A View of the to
Miseries and Evils arifi...
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s
-3%
•«
Po/.Sci
1
A
35594v
VINDICATION O F
NATURAL SOCIETY: O
R,
A View of the to
Miseries and Evils arifing Mankind from every Species of
ARTIFICIAL SOCIETY. Letter
In a
By
a late
to
Lord
****
Noble Writer.
LONDON: Printed for
[Price
M. Cooper
One
in Pater-nq/fer-Row,
Shilling
1756.
and Six-pence.]
ADVERTISEMENT.
TH
E
following Letter appears to
have been written about the Year
whom
1748, and the Perfon to
it is
ad-
As it Noble Writer had no De-
dreffed need not be pointed out. is
probable the
fign that
it
fhould ever appear in Publick,
having kept no
this will account for his
Copy of
it,
and confequently,
appearing amongft the
By what Means the Editor,
is
it
not
at'
into the
all
it's
not
of his Works.
reft
came
for
Hands of
material to the
Publick, any farther than
as
fuch an Ac-
count might tend to authenticate the Genuinenefs of it, and for this it
might
Evidence.
fafely
rely
on
it
it's
was thought
own
internal
']
r
A
LETTER T O
LORD SHALL our
****
I venture to fay,
that in
late
were inclined
my Lord,
Converfation,
to the Party
you
which you
adopted rather by the Feelings of your
good Nature, than by the Conviction of your Judgment ? We laid open the Foundations of Society
the
Curiofity
of
;
and you
this
feared, that
Search might en-
danger the Ruin of the whole Fabrick.
You would readily have allowed my ciple,
Prin-
but you dreaded the Confequences
-,
you thought, that having once entered upon
B
thefe
L.«] thefe Reafonings, fenfibly
we
and
we might
be carried in-
irrefiftably farther
than
at firft
could either have imagined or wifhed.
my part, my Lord,
But for
I
then thought,
and
am
ror,
and not Truth of any Kind,
ous
ftill
that
j
of the fame Opinion, that Eris
danger-
Conclufions can only flow
ill
that, to
know
whether any Proportion be true or
falfe,
from
it is
by
falfe
Propofitions
a prepoflerous
it's
and
>
y
Method
to
examine
it
apparent Confequences.
Thefe were the Reafons which induced
me to go
fo far into that
are the Reafons
Enquiries.
which
Enquiry; and they
direct
had indeed often
I
on that 'Subject before
I
They were
choly enough carry
us
Things
make
;
;
all
my
reflected
could prevail upon
myfelf to communicate
any body.
me in
my
Reflections to
generally melan-
as thofe ufually are
which
beyond the mere Surface of and which would undoubtedly
the Lives of
all
thinking
Men
ex-
tremely miferable, if the fame Philofophy
which
3
t
which caufed the
Time
On
1
Grief, did not at the
fame
adminifter the Comfort.
confidering political Societies, their
Origin, their Conftitution, and their Effects,
deal
I
have fometimes been
more than Doubt, whether
tor did ever really intend
He
of Happinefs. a
in
Number of
Man
a good
the Creafor a State
has mixed in his
Cup
natural Evils, (in Spite
of
the Boafts of Stoicifm they are Evils) and
every Endeavour which the Art and Policy
of Mankind has ufed from the Begin-
ning of the
World
Day,
to this
in order to
or cure them, has only ferved to
alleviate,
new
introduce
Mifchiefs,
and inflame the
Mind of Man
old.
itfelf is
a Principle ever to
of Quiet.
or to aggravate
Befides
the
too adlive and reftlefs
fettle
on the
difcovers every
It
this,
true Point
Day fome
craving Want in a Body, which really wants
but
little.
artificial if
It
every
Rule
left to
Day
invents
to guide that
itfelf
were the
B
2
fome new
Nature which beft
and
fureft
Guide.
;
[43 Guide.
It finds out
imaginary Beings pre*
imaginary Lawsj and then,
fcribing
it
imaginary Terrors to fupport a Be-
raifes
lief in the Beings,
and an Obedience to the
Many Things have been
Laws.
faid,
and
very well undoubtedly, on the Subje&iori in
which we fhould
preferve our Bodies
Government of our Underflanding but enough has not been faid upon the Reto the
ftraint
which our bodily
to lay
on the extravagant Sublimities, and
Neceflities
excentrick Rovings of our Minds.
Body, or
as
rior Nature,
is
wifer in
to call it's
it,
The
our infe-
own plain Way,
own Bufinefs more Mind with all it's
and attends than the
fome love
ought
it's
dire
boafted
Subtilty.
In the State of Nature, without Queftion,
Mankind was fubje&ed
great Inconveniencies.
to
Want
many and of Union,
Want of mutual Affiftance, Want common Arbitrator to refort to in Differences.
of a their
Thefe were Evils which they could
;
[5] could not but have
many
The
Occafions.
on
pretty feverely
felt
original Children of
the Earth lived with their Brethren of the
much
other Kinds in
Diet muft
have
been
confined almoft
wholly to the vegetable Kind
fame Tree, which
in
and the
-,
flourishing State
it's
produced them Berries, in
it's
Decay gave
The mutual Defires
them an
Habitation.
of the
Sexes uniting their
Bodies and
which
the Children,
Afte&ions,
Their
Equality.
were
the Refults of thefe Intercourfes, intro-
duced
firft
taught
it's
Notion of
the
Conveniences.
Society,
This Society,
founded in natural Appetites and
and not call
in
is,
not
Thus
Society.
went, and fucceeded farther.
Inftindts,
any pofitive Inftitution
Natural
;
but
and
far
I fhall
;
Nature
Man would
go
The great Error of our Nature to know where to flop, not to be
fatisfied
with any reafonable Acquirement;
not to
compound with our Condition
but to lofe
all
we
have gained by an infa-
tiablePurfuit after more. 1
Man found
a con-
fiderablc
;
t6] fiderable
Advantage by
ny Perfons
to
Union of ma-
this
form one Family
fore judged that
he would
he there-
;
Account
find his
many FaAnd as Na-
pfoportibnably in an Union of milies into one
ture has
them
Body
politick.
formed no Bond of Union
together,
he fupplied
this
to hold
Defedt by
Laws. This
is
the Sources of what States,
into
And
hence
ufually
called
Political Society,
civil
Societies,
are
or
Governments
fome Form of which, more extended
Of reftrainedj fallen*
that
And
We owe
Mankind have
all
fince
it
gradually
has fo happened, and
an implicit Reverence to
all
the Institutions of our Anceftors,
we
fhall
with
all
that
confider thefe
Inftitutions
Modefly with which we ought
to
condudl
ourfelves in examining a received Opinion
but with
all
that
which we owe find
own
it,
or
to
however
j
Freedom and Candour Truth wherever we it
may
Notions, or oppofe our
contradidl our
own
Interefts.
There
[7] There
is
a moft abfurd and audacious Me-*
thod of reafoning avowed by fbme Bigots
and Enthufiafts, and through Fear affented to
by fome wifer and
They
this.
Men
better
argue againft a
fair
5
it is
Difcuffion
of popular Prejudices, becaufe, fay they, tho'
they would be found without any
reafonable
Support,
the Difcovery
yet
might be productive of the moft danger^ ous Confequences.
mous Notion
!
Abfurd and blafphe* Happinefs was not
as if all
connected with the Practice of Virtue,
which
neceffarily
ledge of Truth
;
depends upon theKnow^ that
is,
upon the Know**
ledge of thofe unalterable Relations
which
Providence has ordained that every thing
Thefe Rela-
fhould bear to every other. tions,
which
are
tion of Virtue,
Truth
itfelf,
the
Founds
and confequently, the only
Meafures of Happinefs, fhould be likewif§ the only Meafures by which diredt our Reafoning.
conform
in
To
good Earneft
to force Nature,
and
thefe •
we we
fhoukl fhould
and not think
the. whole
Order of
Hz
;
[8] her Syftem, by a Compliance with our Pride, and Folly, to ficial
Regulations.
conform It is
Method we owe
to this
the few Truths
to our arti-
by a Conformity the Difcovery of
we know, and
Liberty and rational Happinefs
We
have fomething
fairer
the
we
little
enjoy.
Play than a
Reafoner could have expefted formerly
we
and
derive Advantages from
which
it
are very vilible.
The
Fabrick of Superflition has in
Age and Nation
our
Shocks than
it
received
had ever
felt
much before
this
ruder ;
and
through the Chinks and Breaches of our Prifon,
and
we fee
feel
fuch refrefhing Airs of Liberty, as
daily raife our feries
tion,
fuch Glimmerings of Light,
Ardor
derived to
under the
ecclefiaftical
for
more.
Mankind from
Name
The MiSuperfli-
of Religion, and of
Tyranny under the
Name
Church Government, have been and
ufefully expofed.
and
to a£t
We
of
clearly
begin to think
from Reafon and from Nature alone.
;
[9] This
alone.
by
far the
is
true of feveral, but
Majority in the fame old State
of Blindnefs and Slavery to be feared that lapfe, whilft all
ftill is
we
;
much
and
is it
(hall perpetually re-
the real productive Caufe of Folly, enthufiaftical
this fuperftitious
Nonfenfe, and holy Tyranny, holds a reverend Place thofe
who are
Civil
from
in
the Eftimation even of
otherwife enlightened.
Government borrows
ecclefiaftical
;
and
a Strength
arrificial
Laws
re-
ceive a Sanction from artificial Revelations.
The
Ideas of Religion and
are-clofely connected
ceive
Government
;
Government
as a
Thing
draw
re-
neceflary,
or even ufeful to our well-being, in fpite of us
we
and whilft
we
fhall
in, as a necefTary, tho'
undefirable Confequeflce, an artificial
Re-
To
this
ligion
of fome Kind or other.
the Vulgar will always be voluntary Slaves
and even thofe of a Rank of Underftanding fuperior,
will
now and
feel it's Influence.
C
then involuntarily
It is therefore
of the deepeft
10]
t
deepeft Concernment to us to be fet right in
Point
this
whether
natural
warm
and fuch a
Evils,
Nurfe and Increafer of of
fatisfied
Government be fuch a Pro-
civil
from
tedtor
and to be well
j
as thofe
Bleffings,
Imaginations promife. In fuch a
am
Difcuffion, far
I
from propofing
on our
leaft to reflect
mod
wife
Government ; no more than
my
the freer Parts of ings,
mean
and
Perfe&ion
in the
Form of would
I
philofophical Writ-
Truth
to objedl to the Piety,
of
Both
Church.
I
our
am
moft excellent have their
fenfible
No
Foundations on a Rock.
Difcovery
On
of Truth can prejudice them. contrary, the
more
in
the
clofely the Origin
of
Religion and Government are examined, ,
the
more
appear. Fire.
clearly their Excellencies
They come
My
Bufinefs
Having entered a tions
from
ence,
not
how
far
with them.
Proteft againft
thefe Quarters, I
freely enquire
from the
purified is
muft
all
may
Objec-
the
more
from Hiftory and ExperiPolicy has contributed in all
m
r all
Times
]
to alleviate thofe Evils
which
Providence, that perhaps has defigned us for a State of Imperfection, has
how
far
and whether,
;
new ones,
not have introduced
able perhaps
by no
Judgment on
cure-
Skill.
it
it ;
which
that Relation
it
fecond, that Relation
it's
States.
component
the governing, and the governed,
The
bear to each other. external
View of all
as Friends,
makes
Hiftory, that fords
The
bears in Point
of Friendfhip or Enmity to other
Parts,
two
prefents itfelf in
Lights, the external and the internal.
The
it
looking over any State to form a
In
firft,
;
our phyfical Skill has cured our
conftitutional Diforders
may
impofed
me
expatiate.
Nation to
1
but
am
Part of the
States, their
Relation
fo trifling a Figure in
very forry to fay,
little
it
af-
Matter on which to
The good it's
firft
Offices
Neighbour
(a)-,
done by one the Support
given (a)
Had
his Lordfhip lived to
noble Relief given by
this
our Days, to have feen the
Nation to the diftxeftedPortuguefe, " he C2
«3
[
]
given in publick Diftrefs
the Relief
-,
aft-
forded in general Calamity; the Protection
granted in emergent Danger
Return of Kindnefs and
But
jedl for Hiftory. all
Civility,
alas
!
Times, concerning
all
the Hif-
all
Nations,
does not afford Matter enough to Pages, though
it
Amplification
The
Guicciardini himfelf. is
of Enmity.
that
which the
or almoft
which we can Society,
is
in
only Actions, feen,
and
War
ftill
of
a
Side
glaring
the Matter
is
Hiftory, and confequently
fills all
only,
ten
fill
mould be fpun out by
Wire-drawing
the
would
ample and very pleafing Subr
afford a very
tory of
the mutual
;
the
only
to fee
in
of political
fee the external
a hoftile
View
Shape
;
and the
which we have always all
of
them
intent, are
fuch, as tend to the Deftru&ion of one another.
War,
fays Mackiavell,
ought to be
the only Study of a Prince; and by a Prince, |)e had perhaps owned this Part of his Argument a little •weakened, but we do not think ourfe'ves intitled to alter his Lordmip's Words, but that we are bound to follow him
cxadtly.
3
he .
13
[ lie
means every
He
ftituted.
fort of State
however eon-
ought, fays this great poli-
Do&or, only
tical
]
confider Peace as a
breathing Time, which gives
him
Leifure
to contrive, and furnifhes Ability to exe-
cute military Plans.
Conduct of
political
A Meditation on
the
made
old
Societies
War was the State of if a Man judged of the
Hobbes imagine, that
Nature
and
;
truly,
Individuals of our
Race by
duct
when
tions
and Kingdoms,
that every
their
Con-
united and packed into
fort
Na-
he might imagine
of Virtue was unnatural
and foreign to the Mind of Man.
The firft Accounts we have
Accounts of their Butcheries of
are but
All Empires have been ce-
each other.
mented riods firft
in
Blood
when
to
of Mankind
the
;
and
in thofe early
Race of Mankind began
form themfelves into
Combinations, the bination,
Pe-
firft
Parties
Effect of the
and indeed the End
for
and
Com-
which
it
feems purpofely formed, and beft calculated,
[ lated,
their
is
14]
mutual Definition.
All
One
antient Hiftory
is
dark and uncertain.
thing however
is
clear.
There were Con-
and Conquefts,
querors,
and confequently,
by which they
all
in
that
are formed,
Days;
thofe
Devaftation,
and
that
all
Qppreffion by which theyare maintained.
We
know
little
of Sejb/lris, but that he led
out of Egypt an
Men
;
Coaft
that
of above 700,000
he overran the Mediterranean
as far as Colchis , that in
he met but flied
Army
lome
Refiftance, and of courfe
little
not a great deal of Blood
he found
Places,
in others, a People
but that
;
who knew
the Value of their Liberties, and fold dear.
Whoever
confiders the
them
Army
Conqueror headed, the Space he
this
traverfed,
and the Oppofition he frequently met
;,
with the natural Accidents of Sicknefs,
and the Dearth and Badnefs of Provifion
he ,
mud
rietv
have been fubjedt to in the Va-
of Climates and Countries his March
lay through, if
he knows any thing, he
muft know, that even the Conqueror's
Army
[i5l Army that,
muft have fuffered greatly; and
of this immenfe Number, but a very
fmall Part cou'd have returned to enjoy
the Plunder accumulated by the Lofs of fo
many of
their
Companions, and the
Devaftation of fo confiderable a Part of the
World.
If this
was the
muft have been quered, thofe
this at the leaft
that is
who
Nations
Liberty, and thofe
Lofs.
of the Vic-
and from the Circumftances,
torious,
gether,
State
who
j
it
Con-
the
their
loft
fought for
it
to-
muft have had a much heavier
They muft have Number, as the
loft at leaft
double
greateft Slaughter
always in the Flight, and great Carnage
did in thofe
tend the
Times and Countries ever
firft
Rage of Conqueft.
at-
This
we have on the Re(though, as we have
Conqueror, the oldeft cords of Hiftory,
obferved before, the Chronology of thefe
remote Times
is
extremely
uncertain),
opens the Scene by a Deftrudtion of at
1,800,000 of his
Species,
leaft
unprovoked
but by his Ambition, without any
Motives
i6]
[
tives
but Pride, Cruelty and Madnefs,
without any Benefit to himfelf; exprefsly
arid
(for Juftin
he did not maintain
tells us,
make
Conquefts) but folely to
fo
his
many
People, in fo diftant Countries, feel expe-
how
rimentally,
fevere a Scourge Provi-
dence intends for the
he
Man
gives one
and
arms
his
human
the
Race,
when
Power over many,
naturally impotent,
feeble Rage, with the
Hands
who know no common
and
of Millions, Principle
of
Action, but a blind Obedience to the Paffions
of their Ruler.
The
next Perfonage
who
Tragedies of
this ancient
ramis: For
we
figures in the
Theatre
is
Semi-
have no Particulars of
Ninus, but that he made immenfe and rapid Conquefts,
which
doubtlefs
were
not compafled without the ufual Carnage,
We
Army of above three employed in a War againft the
hear of her
Millions Indians. greater 5
We hear and of a
of their having a yet
War
continued with
much
17]
[
much
fury,
and with various Succefs.
This ends in an Account of her Retreat, with fcarce a third of the Troops employed in the Expedition at this rate
;
an Expedition, which
muft have
coft
of Souls on her part; and
two Millions
it is
not unrea-
sonable to judge that the Country
which
was the Seat of War, muft have been an equal Sufferer.
Its
Lofs muft in
this
way
of Computation be two Millions more.
So that
in this
other Wars) in
War
alone, (for ihe
this fingle
had
Reign, and in
this one Spot of the Globe, did four Mil-
lions
of Souls expire, with
all
the horrid
and {hocking Circumftances which attend all
Wars, and
in a Quarrel, in
which none
of the Sufferers cou'd have the tional
leaft ra-
Concern.
The
Babylonian, Affyrian, Median, and
Perjian Monarchies muft have poured out Seas of Blood in their Formation, and in their Deftrudtion.
The Armies and
Fleets
of Xerxes, their Numbers, the glorious
D
Stand
18]
C
made
Stand tuate
are
Event of all
known
and the unfor-
againft them, his
mighty Preparations,
of
dition, gleaning half AJia
he led an
tants,
Army
fatal
it's
Inhabi-
of about two Mil-
and wafted, by a
lions to be flaughtered,
thoufand
In this Expe-
to every body.
Accidents, in the fame Place
had before by a
where
his Predecefibrs
limilar
Madnefs confumed the Flower of
fo
many Kingdoms, and
wafted the Force
of fo extenfive an Empire.
It
is
a cheap
Calculation to fay, that the Perjian pire in
it's
Sythians,
Wars,
againft the Greeks,
threw away
in
and
four Mil-
at leait
fay nothing of
lions of their Subjefts, to their other
Em-
Wars, and the Loffes fuftained
them. Thefe were theirLoffes abroad
but the firft
War was
by
treat,
I
have
;
not,
nor
more than Hints
Lordfhip's Erudition.
to
is
to
You
by
this
Re-
make
very
in
it
3
them,
afterwards,
the Books neceffary to
exadt Calculations give
and
Agejilaus,
Alexander.
home
brought
neceffary to
one
of your
will recoiled his
*9
[
3
hia uninterrupted Series of Suecefs.
will run over his Battles.
to
mind
you
give a Glance of the
will agree
Hero no
lefs
me
with
will call
which was made.
the Carnage
You will
You
You
;
Whole, and
that to
form
this
than twelve hundred thoufand
Lives muft have been facrificed
;
but no
fooner had he fallen himfeif a Sacrifice to his
than
Vices,
thoufand Breaches
a
were made for Ruin the
laft
hand
Deftrudtion.
divided
•>
to enter*
and give
Scene of Mifery and
to this
His Kingdom was rent and
which
ferved to
employ the more
diftinc! Parts to tear
each other to Pieces,
and bury the whole
Blood and Slaughter.
The Kings
in
of Syria and of Egypt\ the
Kings of Pergamus and Macedon> without Intermiffion worried each other for above
two hundred Years
Power
until at laft a ftrong
5
Weft, rufhed
arlfing in the
them and volving
filenced their
all
in
upon
Tumuls, by
in-
the contending Parties in the
fame Deftrudtion.
It
is little
to fay, that
the Contentions between the Succeffors of
D
2
Alexander
;
[20] Alexander depopulated that Part of the
World of at lead
three Millions.
The Struggle between and Greeks, and before of
themfelves, riority,
that,
an
for
One
is
feffing five or fix
Men
fuch
fufficient
Ambition of pof-
thoufand more Acres, or
more
or three
how
aftonifhed
to facrifice to the pitiful
this
Supe-
unprofitable
a fmall Spot could furnifh
the
among
form one of the bloodieft Scenes
in Hiftory.
two
the Difputes
Commonwealths
Greek
the
the Macedonians
Acrimony and
Villages
Bitternefs
:
Yet
to fee
with which
was difputed between the Athenians
and Lacedemonians
what
Fleets
Number
;
and captived
But
!
fi:ch ever
in a real
;
one
to believe the Decifion
of the Fate of Mankind it
a
of Cities facked, and their Inha-
would be induced
upon
off;
and burnt; what
funk,
flaughtered,
bitants
what Armies cut
at leaft,
depended
thefe Difputes ended as all
have done, and ever will do
Weaknefs of all
Parties
;
a
mo-
mentary
mentary Shadow, and Dream of Power in
and the Subjection of all
fome one
;
Yoke of
a Stranger,
who knows how
of their Divifions.
profit
This
was the Cafe of the Greeks from the
earlieft
to the
$
to
at
leaft
and
fure,
Accounts of them, to their
Abforption into the Roman Empire,
we
cannot judge that their inteftine Divifions, to fay nothing of their foreign
fumed
lefs
Wars, con-
than three Millions of their In-
habitants.
What Blood
an Aceldama, what a Field of
Sicily has
whilft the
Mode
been in antient times, of
it's
Government was
controverted between the Republican and
Tyrannical Parties, ftruggled for
and
the Pofleffion
by the Natives, the Greeks, the
Carthaginians, and the Romans, yourLordfhip
will eafily
member
the
Bodies as an
recoiled;.
total
Army
You
will find every
dyed
in Blood,
You
Deftruftion
will re-
of fuch
of 300,000
Page of
it's
Men.
Hiftory
and blotted and confounded
by
[22] by Tumults, Rebellions, Maffacres, Aflaf* filiations,
and a Series of
Profcriptions,
Horror beyond the Hiftories perhaps of any other Nation in the World
made up of
the Hiftories of all Nations are I once
fimilar Matter.
point
felf in
Books. But
though
;
more excufe my-
of Exadtnefs for want of eftimate the Slaughters
I fhall
in this Iflajid but at
two Millions ; which
your Lordfhip will find
much
fhort of the
Reality.
Let us pafs by the Wars, and the Consequences of them, which wafted Grecian
Magna,
before the
Roman Power
in that Part of Italy.
exaggerated
them
at
-,
They
therefore I
one Million.
are perhaps
fhall
only rate
Let us haften to
open that great Scene which the
prevailed
Roman Empire, and forms
eftablifhes
the grand
Cataftrophe of the antient Drama.
Empire, whilft an EfTufion of dible.
The
in
it's
This
Infancy, began
human Blood neighbouring
by
fcarcely crelittle
States
teemed
teemed
newDeftrudtion
for
the Samnites,
Mqui, the
which had no
Slaughters
The Sabines>
fome hundreds of Years
which upon
all fides
the
Volfci,
were broken by a
HetrurianSy
for
the
:
of
Series
Interruption, ;
Slaughters
confumed more than
two Millions of the wretched People. The Gauls ruftiing into
added the
Italy
about
total Deftrudtion
this
of their
own
to thofe of the antient Inhabitants.
Armies
In fhort,
it
were hardly
poffible to
ceive a
more horrid and bloody
if that
which the Punic Wars
Here we
it.
find that
Devaftation, and Ruin,
con-
Pidture,
that enfued
foon after did not prefent one, that ceeds
Time,
ex-
far
Climax of
which feemed
to
The Extent of War which embraced fo many Na-
fhake the whole Earth. this
tions,
and both Elements, and the Havock
of the
human
aftonifhes
nakedly
which from
it,
Species caufed in both, really
beyond Expreffion, when confidered,
are
apt
it
is
and thofe Matters
to divert our Attention
the Characters, Anions, and
Defigns
figns of the Perfons concerned, are
taken into the Account.
mean
Thefe Wars,
I
thofe called the Punic Wars, cou'd
human Race
not have flood the
than
not
five
in lefs
And
Millions of the Species*
yet this forms but a Part only, and a very
fmall Part, of the
Havock caufed by the
Roman Ambition. The Mithridatick War was very little lefs bloody ; that Prince cut off at one Stroke 150,000 Romans
In that
a Maflfacre.
300,000
Men
Commander
at
War Sylla
deftroyed
The fame
Cheronea.
defeated Mithridates*
under DcrHaus, and flew 300,000.
fame Prince Cyzicum.
loft
by
Army The
another 300,000 before
In the courfe of the
War
he
had innumerable other Lofles
;
many
Intervals of Succefs,
he revenged
them
feverely.
overthrown
;
He
nexions with
The
at
and he crufhed
King of Armenia nefs of his
was
Ruin.
him
his
and having
laft
totally
to Pieces the
Ally by the great-
All
who had Con-
fhared the fame Fate.
mercilefs Genius of Sylla
had
it's
full
25]
C full
Scope ; and the
riot
the only ones
At
which ran with Blood.
this Period, the
Sword, glutted with
foreign Slaughter, turned
the Bowels of the
of Athens were
Streets
Edge upon
it's
Roman Republick
itfelf;
and prefented a Scene of Cruelties and Treafons enough almoft to obliterate the
Memory
of
all
the external Devaftations.
my Lord,
I intended,
to
have proceeded
Method in eftimating the Numbers of Mankind cut off in thefe Wars which we have on Record. But I a fort of
in
am
obliged to alter
my
Such a
Defign.
Uniformity of Havock and
Mur*
der would difguft your Lordfhip as
much
tragical
as
would
it
feel
my
obferve
$
and
I
confefs I already
eyes ake by keeping
on
intent
me
fo
little
them
bloody a Profpeft.
on the
Wars
fhall
1
the Social,
Servile,
the Gallic, and Spanijh
fo long
3
nor upon
thofe with Jugnrtha, nor Antiochus y nor
many
others equally important, and carried
on with equal Fury. Julius Cczfar alone,
E
The are
Butcheries of
calculated
by
fome
fome body
elfe
the
;
Numbers he
has been
a means of deftroying have been reckoned at
But to give your Lordfhip
1,200,000.
an Idea that
by which others
-,
may
fome degree, the
to meafure, in
you
Standard,
ferve as a
will turn
your Eyes on Judea-,
a very inconfiderable Spot of the Earth in
though ennobled by the fingular
itfelf,
El vents
which had
Rife
their
in
that
Country.
This Spot happened,
by what means,
it
matters not here
become
at feveral
times
extremely populous, and to fupply
Men
to
for Slaughters fcarcely credible, if other
well-known and given
them
well-attefted ones
a Colour.
The
had not
firft fettling
of the Jews here, was attended by an almoft entire Extirpation of Inhabitants.
Their
own
all
the former
civil
Wars, and
thofe with their petty Neighbours,
fumed for
vaft Multitudes almoft
feveral Centuries
-,
con-
every Year
and the Irruptions
of the Kings of Babylon and Jjjyria made
immenfe
;
f
27]
immenfe Ravages.
Yet
Hiflory but fufed
partially, in
manner
;
we
an
have their
indiflindl
fo that I (hall only
con-
throw
the ftrong Point of Light upon that Part
which
with Roman Hiftory,
coincides
and of that Part only on the Point of
Time when
they
received the great and
made them no more a Nation a Stroke which is allowed to have cut off little lefs than two Millions of final
Stroke which ;
of the Loppings
that People.
I fay nothing
made from
that Stock whilft
it
flood
nor from the Suckers that grew out of the old Root ever fince.
But
if in this
inconfiderable Part of the Globe,
Carnage has been made fhort Reigns, as
it is,
the
and that
in
this
fuch a
two or three
Carnage, great
makes but a minute Part of what
Hiftories of that People inform
they fufFered; what fhall
we
us
judge of
more extended, and which have waged Wars by far more confiderable ?
Countries
Jnftances
of
Sort
this
E
2
comppfe the uniform
[28] uniform ofHiftory.
when no
Periods
But there have been than univerfal De-
lefs
finition to the Race of
Mankind feems
When
have been threatened.
to
the Goths,
the Vandals,
and the Huns poured into
Gaul, Italy,
Spain,
and Africa,
Greece,
them
carrying Deftru&ion before
as
they
advanced, and leaving horrid Defarts every
where behind them. lentium, fecreti ieEla
;
colles
Vajiutn ubique fi~ ;
fumantia procul
nemo exploratoribus obvius,
Tacitus calls fades Victoria. fo
;
but was here emphatically
is
It is
what
always
From
fo.
the North proceeded the Swarms of Goths, Vandals,
towards
Huns, the
OJlrogoths,
South
into Africa
which
fuffered as all to the
done.
About
this
who
ran itfelf,
North had
Time, another Torrent
of Barbarians, animated by the fame Fury,
and encouraged by
the
fame Succefs,
poured out of the South, and ravaged to the North-Eaft,
and Weft,
to
all
the re-
oiPerfa on one hand, and the Banks of the Loire or further on
rnoteft Parts
to
the
[ 29 ] the other curious
;
deftroying
all
the proud and
Monuments of human
not even the furvive of the
Art,
that
Memory might feem to former Inhabitants. What
has been done fince, and what will continue to be done whilft the
ments
to
upon.
War
I fhall
fame Induce-
continue, I fhall not dwell
only in one
Word
mention
the horrid Effedts of Bigotry and Avarice, the Conquefl of Spanijh America
in
a
;
Conqueft on a low Eflimation effedted
by the Murder of ten Millions of the
draw
Species.
I fhall
this Part,
by making
of the Whole.
I
to a Conclufion
a general Calculation
think I have actually
mentioned above forty Millions. not
particularized
any more.
pretend to Exadtnefs
-,
Sake of a general View, all
I I
have don't
therefore for the I fhall lay
thofe actually flain in Battles,
beginning of the
of
World
to this
together
from the Day, in
the four Parts of it, only at a thoufand times as
much
-,
a trifling Calculation, allowing for
[
for Time
3° J
and Extent.
We have not perhaps
lpoke of the Five Hundredth Part, I fure I have not of what
is
ed in Hiftory
how much of
;
but
am
adtually afcertain-
thefe
Butcheries are only expreffed in generals,
what part of time Hiftory has never reached,
and what
Globe
vaft Spaces
of the habitable
has not embraced,
it
mention
your Lordfhip.
to
need to exaggerate
;
and
I
I
need not
I
have no
have purpofely
avoided a Parade of Eloquence on this fhould defpife
Occafion.
I
Occafion
elfe in
ters,
it
;
is
might be
it
upon any
mentioning thefe Slaugh-
obvious
how much
the whole
by an affe&ing
heightened,
Defcription of the Horrors that attend the
Wafting of Kingdoms, Cities.
But
I
and Sacking of
do not w rite T
to the Vulgar,
nor to that which only governs the Vulgar, their Paffions. I
go upon a naked and mode-
rate Calculation, juft
enough,without a Pe-
dantical Exa&nefs, to give your Lordfhip
fome Feeling of the Effe&s of Political Society,
[3i ciety.
on
whole of thefe
I charge the
Political Society.
and
fhall prefently
]
avow
I
make
it
Effedts
the Charge,
good to your
Lordfhip's Satisfadlion.The Numbers I particularized are about
40 Millions. Ifuppofe
a Thoufand times as
many
killed in Battles.
But I muft make another Addition not lefs than the former, for the Confequences of
Wars,
Skirmifhes,
in
contagious Diforders,
which
my
So that allowing
Exuberance one way
War,
Numbers of Men now
moft.
are
computed
what you
this
which may lefs
at
500 Millions
Here the Slaughter of Man-
amounts
of Souls
one
Deftru&ion
I think the
kind, on
to
my De-
Eighty Thoufand Mil-
upon Earth
lation,
me
at
caufed by
at the
for
I rate the
ficiencies in others,
lions.
and the Famine
more deftru&ive than
attend them,
Battles themfelves.
in
the
Maffacres,
to
will call a fmall Calcu-
160 times the
Day on
the Globe.
Number
A
Point
furnifh matter of Refledtion
inclined to
draw Confequences
than your Lordfhip. I
now
to fhew,
that Political
juftly chargeable
with much the
now come
I
Society
is
Part of this Deftruftion of the
greateft
But to give the
Species.
every fide of the Queftion, I will there
is
own that
a Haughtinefs, and Fiercenefs in
human
Nature,
merable
you
Play to
faireft
Broils,
pleafe
which place
Men
but owning
j
will caufe innuin
this,
what I
State
ftill infift
Regulations, that in charging to Political fo cruel, thefe Broils are fo frequent,
and attended with
In a State of Nature,
quences.
be impoffible to join together a of Men,
Confe-
fo deplorable
fufficiently
it
would
Number
agreed in the fame
ver^ bloody Defign, neceffary to make a and if extenfive Havock of their .Species ;
come
they would
to fuch an
Agreement,
the (an impoffible Suppofition) yet
Means
fupplied them with, that fimple Nature has to fuch a Purare by no Means adequate Scratches, many Bruifes un~
pofe
5
many
aoubtedly
hands
;
would be received upon
but only
a few,
all
a very few
Deaths.
t
Society,
Deaths.
33
]
and
which
Politicks,
given us thefe deftruftive Views,
have
have given us too the Means of them.
From
licy to
this
the earlieft
fatisfying
Dawnings of Po-
the Invention of
Day,
Men
has been fharpening and improving the
Myftery of Murder, from the
firft
rude
Eflays of Clubs and Stones, to the prefent
Perfection of
Gunnery,
Cannoneering,
Bombarding, Ruining, and cies
of
artificial,
Cruelty, at
all
learned,
which we
are
thefe Spe*
and refined
now
fo
expert,
and which make a principal Part of what have taught us to believe
Politicians
is
our principal Glory,
How
mere Nature would have carwe may judge by the Example of far
ried us,
who
thofe Animals,
and even thofe ^pofitions terrible
ufe.
there
more
follow her Laws,
whom fhe has
fierce,
is
given Dif-
and Arms more
than ever (he intended
It is
to
ftill
we
fhould
an inconteftible Truth, that
more Havock made
F
in
one Year
by
[
by Men,
by
]
of Men, than has been made
the
all
34
Lions,
Tygers,
Panthers,
Ounces, Leopards, Hyenas, Rhinocerofes, Elephants, Bears, and Wolves, feveral Species, fince the
World
;
with each other, and have a
Compofition than
we
their
Beginning of the
though thefe agree
Proportion of Rage
upon
much greater
and Fury have.
enough
ill
their
in
But with re-
fpedi to you, ye Legiflators, yeCivilizers
of Mankind
!
Thefeufes,
Solons,
nofes,
Numas
!
Mi-
ye Orpheus's, Mofefes,
Lycurgufes,
with Refpedt to you be
it
fpoken,
your Regulations have done more Mifchief in cold Blood, than all the fierceft
Animals
Rage of the
in their % greateft Terrors,
Or Furies, has ever done, or ever could
do!
Thefe Evils are not
accidental.
Who-
ever will take the pains to confider the
Na-
ture of Society, will find they refult
di-
redlly
from
it's
Conftitution.
ordination, or in other
For
as
Sub-
Words, the Reciprocation
r
35]
procation of Tyranny, and Slavery,
is
re-
the In-
quifite to fupport thefe Societies,
theAmbition,the Malice, or the Re-
tereft,
nay even the
venge,
of one ruling
Whim
Man among
and Caprice
them,
is
enough
arm all the reft, without any private Views of their own, to the worft and
to
blacked Purpofes
;
and what
is
at
once
la-
mentable, and ridiculous, thefe Wretches
engage under thofe Banners with a Fury greater than if they
venge
for their
It is
no
artificial
lefs
proper Wrongs,
Divifion of is
that this
Mankind,
fe-
a perpetual Source in
The Names which enough
are
and Rage.
diftinguifh
blow up Hatred,
to
Examine Hiftory
prefent Experience;
feveral Nations,
other Occafion,
•
confult
and you will
that far the greater Part of the
between
into
Hatred and Diffention among
of
them.
them
own
worth obferving,
parate Societies, itfelf
were animated by Re-
find,
Quarrels
had fcarce any
than that they were ano-
F
2
iher
[•3*3 thcr Combination of People, and called
another
Name;
—
to an
Name of a Frenchman, much more
lian, raife
the
Englijloman,
a Spaniard, an Ita-
a Turk, or
Tartar,
a
of courfe Ideas of Haired, and Con-
Would you
tempt. triot
by
infpire this
Compa-
of ours with Pity or Regard, for one
of thefe
?
ftindtion?
Would you not hide that DiYou would not pray him to
companionate the poor Frenchman, or the
unhappy German.
Far from
would fpeak of him Accident to which
would
reprefent
him
is
and
fubjedt. to
you
;
an
as a Foreigner,
all
You
are liable.
as a
Man
taking with us of the fame ture,
it
;
one par-
common Na-
the fame
Law. There
fomething fo averfe to Nature in thefe
artificial
Political
Diftin&ions,
that
we
need no other Trumpet to kindle us to
War, and Deflru&ion. But
there
is
fome-
thing fo benign and healing in the general
Voice of Humanity, that maugre
our Regulations to prevent applied properly, never falutary Effect
it,
fails
the to
all
Name
work
a
This
;
[
37
3
natural unpremeditated Effedt
This
of
Policy on the unpoffefTed Paffions of Mankind, appears
very
Name
on other Occafions.
of a
The,
Politician, a Statefman,
fure to caufe Terror and Hatred
always connected
with
it
the
;
it
is
has
Ideas of
Treachery, Cruelty, Fraud and Tyranny
and thofe Writers
who
veiled the Myfteries
have faithfully un-
of State-freemafonty,
have ever been held in general Deteftation, for even
knowing
The
deteftable. at
firfl
fpedt.
fo perfectly a
Theory
Cafe of Machiavel feems
Sight fomething hard in that
He
is
fo
Re-
obliged to bear the Iniquities
of thofe whofe Maxims and Rules of Go-
vernment he is
publiflied.
more abhorred than But
if
His Speculation
their Pra&ice.
there were no other
Arguments
againft Artificial Society than this I
ing to mention, methinks
by
that
one only.
it
am go-
ought to
fall
All Writers on the Sci-
ence of Policy are agreed, and they agree
with
[38] with Experience, that
all
Governments
muft frequently infringe the Rules of Juftice
to fupport themfelves
muft give way
to Diffimulation
to Convenience
Myftery of Iniquity It
is
is
this
tained culars is
is
called the
a Reafon,
What
not penetrate.
itfelf
The Whole
the reigning Intereft.
State.
Honefty
•
and Humanity
;
Truth
that
;
which
I
of
to
this
Reafon of
own
I
can-
Sort of a Protedion is
main-
by infringing the Rights of
Parti-
of the general 'Right, that
?
What
Sort of Juftice
inforced by Breaches of
Thefe Paradoxes
I leave
is
it's
to
which
this,
own Laws ? be folved by
the able Heads of Legiflators and Politicians.
For
my Part,
I fhould fay
what a
plain
Man
I can
never believe, that any Inftitution
would
fay
on fuch an Occafion.
agreeable to Nature, and proper for
kind, could find
it
Man-
neceflary, or even expe-
dient in any Cafe whatfoever to do,
what
the beft and worthieft Inftinfts of
Man-
kind warn us to avoid.
But no wonder, that
[39] that
what
is
fet
up
in Oppofition to the
State of Nature, fhould preferve itfelf
trampling upon the
To
Law
by
of Nature.
prove, that thefe Sort of policed
Societies are a Violation offered to Nature,
and a Conftraint upon the human Mind, it
needs only to look upon the fanguinary
and Inftruments of Violence
Meafures,
which
are
every where ufed to fupport
them.
Let us take a Review of the Dun-
geons,
Whips, Chains, Racks, Gibbets,
with which every Society
abundantly
is
y which hundreds of Vi
two
in Pride
and Madnefs, and Millions
in an abjeft Servitude,
There was reverential licy
-
y
a
and Dependence.
Time, when
Awe
I
looked with a
on thefe Myfleries of Po-
but Age, Experience, and Philofo-
phy have
rent the Veil
SanEium SanBorum^
,
and
at leaft,
enthuliaftick Admiration.
I
I
view
this
without any
acknowledge
indeed, the Neceflity of fuch a Proceeding in
[40] fuch Inftitutions
ill
but I can have but
;
a very humble Opinion of Inftitutions
where fuch Proceedings are
It
neceffary.
a Misfortune, that in no Part of the
is
Globe
natural Liberty
and natural Reli-
gion are to be found pure and free from the Mixture
of Political Adulterations,
Yet we have implanted in us by Providence Ideas,
Axioms, Rules, of what
juft, fair, honeft,
which no
is
pious,
Political Craft,
nor learned Sophiftry, can entirely expel
from our
we
By
Breafts.
thefe
we judge, and
cannot otherwife judge of the feveral
Modes of Religion and Society, and determine of them as they approach
artificial
to, or
recede from this Standard.
The
fimpleft
Defpotifm,
Power
are
Form of Government
where
them, directed
by the
the inferior Orbs of
all
moved merely by
the Supreme, and
all
in the
is
the Will of
that are fubjedted to
fame Manner, merely
occafional Will of the Magiftrate.
This
Ui This Form, is
as
it is
infinitely the
Power.
Men
And
general. is
continually
it
Scarce any
exempted from
in thofe
what they
enjoy
makes
the moft fimple, fo
moft
World
Part of the
1
it's
few Places where call Liberty,
in a tottering
it
is
and
Situation,
greater and greater Strides to that
Gulph of Defpotifm which
at laft
fwallows
up every Species of Government.
Manner of ruling
This
being directed merely by
the Will of the weakeft, and generally the
worftMan
moft
foolifh
in the Society,
becomes the
and capricious Thing,
fame time that
it is
the moft terrible and
definitive that well
can
be conceived.
In a Defpotifm the principal Perfon that let the Want,Mifery, his Subjects,
at the
finds,
and Indigence of
be what they will, he can
yet poffefs abundantly of every thing to his
moft
does more.
He
gratify
cations
increafe
infatiable
Wifhes.
He
finds that thefe Gratifi-
in
Proportion
to
the
Wretchednefs and Slavery of his Subjects.
So that neglecting the publick Welfare,
G
and
42]
!
£nd by
his Station placed
and Fear, he proceeds
above both Shame
to the
moft horrid
and (hocking Outrages upon Mankind.
Their Perfons become Victims of his Sus-
The
picions.
and a
flighteft
a difagreeable
Crime
as
Anger
Afpect
is
High Treafon.
is
Death;
often as great
In the Court
of Nero a Perfon of Learning, of unqueftioned Merit, and of unfufpected Loyalty,
was put that he
to Death for
no other Reafon than
had a pedantick Countenance which
difpleafed the
Emperor.
ger of Mankind appeared
This very in the
Mon-
Beginning
of his Reign to be a Perfon of Virtue.
Many
of the greatefl Tyrants on the
Re-
cords of Hiftory have begun to rule in the fairefl
But the Truth
Manner.
unnatural
Power
corrupts both the Heart,
and the Underftanding. the
And
to prevent
Amendment, a King is furrounded by a Crowd of infamous
leaft
ever
Hope
this
is,
Flatterers,
of
who find
their Account in
keep-
ing
him from
all
Ideas of Rectitude and Juftice are ut-
the leaft Light of Reafon,
till
terly
43
I
from
terly erafed
his
1
When
Mind.
Alex-
ander had in his Fury inhumanly butchered one of his beft Friends, and braved
Captains
on the Return of Reafon he
->
begun to conceive an Horror
fuitable to
the Guilt of fuch a Murder. In this Juncture,
Council came to his Affiitance.
his
But what did
him
his
a Philofopher
out
And
Comfort.
Man, and
?
what Manner did
in
him
Philofopher comfort
fuch a
They found who gave him
Council
this
for the Lofs
of
heal his Confcience, fla-
grant with the Smart of fuch a Crime
You have the Matter at Length
He told him " he will) " becaufe
iC ;
all hi
that
let
sABions
?
in Plutarch.
a Sovereign do 'what are jujl a?id lawful,
The
they are his''
Palaces of
all
Princes abound with fuch courtly Philofophers.
The Confequence was
He grew
might be expected. a Monfter
more abandoned
fuch
every
as
Day
to unnatural
Luft, to Debauchery, to Drunkennefs, and
And yet this was originally Man, of uncommon Capacity, and
to Murder. a great
G
2
aflrong
[44] a ftrong Propenfity to Virtue.
But un-
bounded Power proceeds Step by
Step,until
it
It
has eradicated every laudable Principle. has been remarked, that there
Prince fo bad, whofe Favourites and nifters are
not worfe. There
is
governed in
as arbitrary a
Mi-
hardly any
Prince without a Favourite, by is
no
is
whom
Manner
as
he he
governs the Wretches fubjected to him.
Here
two
Courts, and
different
The
Tyranny
the
a Tyrant
Time
doubled.
two
Interefts
from the
Favourite
as that
is
as
is
of a
Interefts
knows
There ;
are
both very
of the People.
that the
Regard of
unconftant and capricious
Woman
to be fhort,
;
and concluding his
he makes Hafte to
fill
up^the Meafure of his Iniquity, in Kapine, in
Luxury,
Avenue
and
to the
oppreffes,
in
Throne
Revenge. is
fhut up.
fects
by
his
own
Murmurs
OppreiTion are the Ef-
of Difaffedion to the Prince's
vernment.
He
and ruins the People, whilft he
perfuades the Prince, that thofe raifed
Every
Then
is
Go-
the natural Violence
of
;
[45] ofDefpotifm inflamed, and aggravated
To
Hatred, and Revenge.
of the State
To
is
a
Crime
"by
deferve well
againft the Prince.
be popular, and to be a Traitor, are
Nay,
confidered as fynonimous Terms.
even Virtue
is
dangerous, as an afpiring
Efteem by
Quality, that claims an
itfelf,
and independent of the Countenance of the Court. chief,
is
What
has been faid of the
true of the inferior Officers of this
Species of
Government
;
each in his Pro-
vince exercifing the fame Tyranny, and
grinding the People by an Oppreffion, the
more
feverely
exercifed
felt,
as
it is
near them, and
by bafe and fubordinate Perfons.
For the Grofs of the People confidered as a really in a little all
mere Herd of
Time become no
the Dignity of their Nature,
makes
Worth
a ;
they are
Cattle
Principle of honeft Pride,
Slavery.
;
is
all
;
and
better
Senfe of
loft in their
The Day, fays Homer, which Man a Slave, takes away half his and in Fact, he
pulfe to Action, but
that
lofes
every
low and
Imbafe
one
;
[46] In this Kind of Govern-
one of Fear.
ment human Nature and
infulted, but
it is
not only abufed,
is
a&ually degraded and
funk into a Species of Confideration of this
with great this
The
Brutality.
made Mr. Locke fay,
Juitice, that a
Government of
Kind was worfe than Anarchy
in-
;
and detefted by
deed
it is
fo abhorred,
who
live
under Forms that have a milder
Appearance, that there
Man we
fcarce a rational
is
Europe, that would not prefer
in
Death
all
to Afiatick Defpotifm.
Here then
have the Acknowledgement of a great
NaGovernment
Philofopher, that an irregular State of preferable to fuch a
ture
is
we
have the Confent of
all fenfible
and
Men, who carry it yet further, and avow that Death itfelf is preferable ; generous
and yet juftly tefted,
this
Species of
condemned, and is
what
Government, fo generally
fo
de-
infinitely the greater Part
of Mankind groan under, and have groaned under from the Beginning. fure
So that by
and uncontefted Principles, the greateft
[47] eft
Part of the Governments on Earth
muft be concluded, Tyrannies, Impoftures, Violations of the Natural Rights of
Man-
kind, and worfe than the moft diforderly
How much other Forms ex-
Anarchies.
ceed
this,
In
we
fhall confider
Parts of the
all
however debafed, Feeling
;
World, Mankind,
retains
ftill
the Senfe of
Weight of Tyranny,
the
becomes infupportable is
immediately.
not fo eafy
;
but the
at laft,
Remedy
in general, the only
;
Re-
medy by which
they attempt to cure the
Tyranny,
change the Tyrant ;
is,
is
to
and always was the Cafe
this
for the greater
Part.
In fome Countries however, were
found
Men of more Penetration
covered,
" was
They thod,
" that
to live
the Caufe
of
all
by one
-
9
who dis-
Man's
Men's Mifery."
therefore changed their former
and affembling the
feveral Societies,
Will,
Men
Me-
in their
moft refpedlable for
their
Underftanding, and Fortunes, they confided to
them the Charge of the Publick Welfare,
;
[48] This
Welfare. is
formed what
originally
They hoped,
called an Ariftocracy.
would be impoffible
that fuch a
it
Number
could ever join in any Defign againft the general
Good
;
and they promifed them*
felves a great deal nefs,
of Security and Happi-
from the united Counfels of fo many But
able and experienced Perfons.
it
is
i)ow found by abundant Experience, that
an Ariftocracy, and a Defpotifm, in
Name
;
and that a People,
general excluded
much
Slaves,
when
felt,
who are
in
and Purpofes^
twenty, independ-
ent of them, govern,
domineers.
but
from any Share of the
Legiflative, are to all Intents as
differ
as
when
The Tyranny
as every Individual
is
but one
even more
of the Nobles has
the Haughtinefs of a Sultan; the People are
more
miserable, as they feem on the
Verge
of Liberty, from which they are for ever debarred a vain
5
this Profpeft, whilft
Shadow of Happinefs
it
prefents
to the Subject,
binds fafler the Chains of their Subje&ion
what
is left
undone, by the natural Avarice
;
[49 rice
who
and Pride of thofe
above the others, Suspicions, and rity,
3
compleated by their
is
Dread of lofing an Autho-
which has no Support
Venetian Republick, fpotifm
where you
j
in the
A
of the Nation.
Utility
are railed
common
Genoefe,
or a
a concealed
is
De-
fame Pride of
find the
the Rulers, the fame bafe Subje&ion of the
In one refpcdt the
Policy.
fufpicious
Arijiocracy
A
is
worfe than the Defpotifm.
Body
Politick, whilft
thority,
never changes
Defpotifm, a
Maxims of a
the fame bloody
People,
which
it's
Au-
Maxims Day horrible
it's
this
is
retains
it
;
a to
fupreme Degree, by the Caprice natural
to the
Heart of Man,
Caprice otherwife the next
-,
may, by the fame
exerted,
in a Succeffion,
be
it is
as lovely
poffible to
meet with fome good Princes. If there have been Tiberius' s, Caligulas, Nero's, there have been likewife the
ferener
Vejpafians, Titus's, Trajans,
but a Body Politick Caprice or
Whim,
is it
H
Days of
and Antonines
not influenced by
proceeds in a regular
Manner j
[So] Manner every
;
it's
Man
as
Succeffion
is
he enters
it,
infenfible
j
and
either has, or
foon attains the Spirit of the whole Body.
Never was
it
known,
that an Arijlocracy,
which was haughty and Century, next.
became
eafy,
and mild in the
Yoke of
In Effect, the
of Government
tyrannical in one
that
fo galling,
is
this Species
when-
ever the People have got the leaft Power,
they have fhaken Indignation,
Form
off with the utmoft
it
and eftablifhed a Popular
and when they have not had
-,
Strength enough to fupport themfelves,
they have thrown
Arms of
themfelves into
Defpotifm, as the
of the two
Evils.
Cafe of Denmark,
This
who
more
latter
eligible
was the
fought a Refuge
from the Oppreffion of it's Nobility, flrong
Hold of Arbitrary Power.
has atprefent the it is it is
this
Name
known,
that the
Government,
is
in the
Poland
of Republick, and
one of the Ariflocratick well
the
Form
little
heavier
5
but
Finger of than
the
Loins of Arbitrary Power in moft Nations.
The
5*
[
The
\
People are not only Politically, but
and treated with the
Perfonally Slaves,
The Republick
utmoft Indignity. Venice
fomewhat more moderate $ yet
is
even here, fo heavy
Yoke,
of
that the
the Ariftocratick
is
Nobles have been obliged
by
to enervate the Spirit of their Subje&s
every Sort
of Debauchery;
have
they
denied them the Liberty of Reafon, and
have recompenfed ing,
by not only allow-
it,
them
but encouraging
corrupt
to
themfclves in the moft fcandalous Manner.
They confider their does the holds to
Hog he
him
wallow
Subje&s, as the Farmer
keeps to
faft in his Stye,
as
much
as
upon.
He
but allows
him
feaft
he pleafes
in his
beloved Filth and Gluttony. Sofcandaloufly
debauched a People to be
as that
met with no where
Low, Men, Women, are all alike. lefs afraid
of Venice^ elfe.
is
High,
Clergy, and Laity,
The Ruling
Nobility are
no
of one another, than they are of
the People
;
and
for that Reafon, politi-
cally enervate their
H
own Body by 2
the fame
effeminate
;
t 52 3
effeminate Luxury,
by which they cor-
rupt their Subjects.
They
are
impo verifi-
ed by every means which can be invented
and they are kept
in a perpetual
the Horrors of a State Inquifition
you
fee a
People deprived of
;
Terror by
all
;
here
rational
Freedom, and tyrannized over by about
two Thoufand Men \ and yet this Body of two Thoufand, are fo far from enjoying any Liberty by the Subjection of the that they are in an
reft,
State
of Slavery
;
they
the moft degenerate,
Mankind, they
may
to the
for
the
infinitely
make and
feverer
themfelves
unhappy of
no other Purpofe than
more
effe&ualiy contribute
Mifery of an whole Nation,
ihort, the regular
that
In
and methodical Proceed-
ings of an Ari/locracy y are
more
intolerable
than the very Exceffes of a Defpotifm> and in general,
Thus,
much further from any Remedy,
my
Lord,
Jtriihcracy through
we
it's
we
have purfued
whole Progrefs
have fcta the Seeds, the Growth, and the
[53 the Fruit.
It
3
could boaft none of the
AcU
vantages of a Defpotifm, miferable as thofe
Advantages were, and
was overloaded
it
with an Exuberance of Mifchiefs, unknown
even
to Defpotifm
no more than a
Form
itfelf.
In
Effecft,
it
is
Tyranny. This
diforderly
therefore could be
little
approved,
even in Speculation, by thofe
who were
capable of thinking, and
born in Practice by any ble
could be
who were
lefs
capa-
However, the fruitful was not yet exhaufted. He
of feeling.
Man
Policy of
had yet another Farthing Candle the Deficiencies of the Sun. the third Form,
under the
Name
of Democracy. all
Laws were made by
only.
fecured
by
In this
all
own
Perfons
:
themfelves, and
upon any Failure of Duty, were accountable
Here the
Publick Bufinefs, or
the greater Part of it, in their
them
This was
known by Political Writers
People tranfadted
their
to fupply
their Officers
to themfelves,
and to
appearance, they had
Method
the Advantages
of Order and good Government, without
paying
1
r 54 paying their Liberty for
the Purchafe.
Now, my
come
we
Lord,
are
to the
Mafter-piece of Grecian Refinement, and
Roman
The of
earlieftand
this
Popular Government.
Solidity, a
moft celebrated Republick
Model, was that of Athens.
conftru&ed by no celebrated
Poet and Philofopher,
Solon.
this Political
launched from the Stocks, than
Veflcl it
over-
even in the Life-time of the Builder.
fet,
by
was
an Artift, than the
lefs
But no fooner was
A
It
Tyranny immediately fupervened
5
not
by Accident,
a foreign Conqueft, not
but by the very Nature and Confutation of a Democracy.
An
artful
popular, the People had
hands,
Man became
Power
in
their
and they devolved a confiderable
Share of their Power upon their Favourite;
and the only ufe he made of was,
to
Slavery.
plunge thofe
who
this
gave
Power, it
Accident reftored their Liberty,
and the fame good Fortune produced of
into
uncommon
Abilities
and
Men
uncommon
Virtues amongft them. But thefc Abilities
were
[55] were
fuffered to be
of
little
Service either
to their Pofleffors or to the State.
others they imprifonsd,
they banifhed,
and
all
Ckcum-
they treated with various
ftances of the
moft fhameful Ingratitude.
Republicks have
many things
of abfolute Monarchy, than this
;
Some
but none more
Merit
a fhining
in the Spirit
is
ever hated
or fufpe&ed in a Popular Affembly, as well as in a
Court
State, are
and
->
Services
all
done the
looked upon as dangerous to the
The
Rulers, whether Sultans or Senators.
Ojlracijm at Athens was built Principle.
The
giddy People
upon
whom
this
we-
have
now
elated
with fome Flafhes of Succefs, which
they
owed
under Conlideration,
to nothing lefs than
being
any Merit
of their own, began to tyrannize over their
Equals,
them
for their
their
who had common
affociated
Defence.
Prudence they renounced
ance of Juflice. rafhly
They
and wantonly.
fuccefsful, inflead
all
With
Appear-
entered into If they
with
Wars
were un-
of growing wifer by their
Mif-
[56] Misfortune, they threw the whole Blame of their
own Mifcondudt on
who had
and the Generals
advifed,
had conduced thofe Wars grees they had cut off
them at
the Minifters
all
until
;
who
who
by De-
could ferve
in their Councils or their Battles.
any time thefe Wars had an happier
Iffue,
it
was no
lefs
difficult to deal
with
them on account of
their Pride
knee.
their Adverfity,
Furious in
a
rannical in their Succeffes,
had more trouble
and Info-
to concert his
rations
of the Campaign.
enough
for a General,
Defpotifm of the
It
ty-
Commander Defence
before the People, than to plan the
ill
If
Ope-
was frequent
under the horrid
Roman Emperors,
to
be
received in Proportion to the Greatnefs
of his Services. fiance of this.
No Man
is
a ftrong In-
had done greater
nor with an honefler Ambition.
things,
Yet on
Agricola
his
to enter
Return to Court, he was obliged
Rome with
Criminal.
He w ent
like a victorious
T
all
to
the Secrecy of a
the Palace,
not
Commander who had merited
57
[
demand
merited and might
Rewards, but
come
J
the greateft
an Offender
like
who had
to fupplicate a Pardon for his
His Reception was anfwerable
Crimes.
" Brevi
:
&
" ofculo, nullo fermone except usy turba u firvientium immiftuseji" Yet in that
word
Seafon of this worft of monarchical
* Tyrannies, Modefty, Difcretion, and a Coolnefs of Temper,
formed fome Kind
of Security even for the higheft Merit.
But
Athens, the niceft and beft ftudied
at
Behaviour was not a
Man
of great Capacity.
braveft
for a
Some of
their
Commanders were
their Country,
vice of
Guard
fufficient
it's
fome
obliged to fly
to enter into the Ser-
Enemies, rather than abide a
popular Determination on their Condudt, left,
as
one of them
faid, their
Giddinefs
might make the People condemn where they meant to acquit
Bean, even
when
;
to
throw
in a black
they intended a white
one. * Sciant quibus moris malis principibus
magnos
illicita
I
ctlam fub 42 to the End of it.
mifari, poffe
viros, &c. Sec
The
The
mod
]
made
Athenians
grefs to the
58
L
.
a very rapid Pro-
enormous Excefles. The
People under no Reftraint foon grew
dif-
They
re-
folute,
luxurious,
nounced
They loft Honour or
idle.
Labour, and began
all
themfelves
and
to fubfift
from the publick Revenues. all
Concern
Safety,
for their
common
and could bear no Ad-
At
vice that tended to reform them.
Time Truth became
offenfive
to
this
thofe
Lords the People, and moft highly dangerous to the Speaker.
The
Orators no
longer afcended the Roflrum, but to corrupt
them
Adulation.
by
moft fulfome
Thefe Orators were
foreign Princes
other. this
further with the
And
all
bribed
on the one Side or the
befides
it's
own
Parties,
in
City there were Parties, and avowed
ones too, for the Perjians, Spartans and
Macedonians^ fupported each of them by
one or more? Demagogues penfioned and bribed to this iniquitous Service. People, forgetful of Spirit,
all
The
Virtue and publick
and intoxicated with the
Flatteries
of
[59] of
their Orators (thefe Courtiers of Repub-
and endowed with the diftinguifh-
licks,
ing Chara&ers of
all
other Courtiers) this
People, I fay, at
laft
arrived at that Pitch
of Madnefs, that they coolly and deliberately,
for
any
the
by an exprefs Law, made
Man
to propofe
it
capital
an Application of
immenfe Sums fquandered
in publick
Shows, even to the moft neceffary Purpofes of the
People
of
murdering
State.
this
When
you
fee the
Republick banifhing or
their beft
and
ableft Citizens,
diffipating the publick Treafure
with the
Extravagance, and fpending
moft
fenfelefs
their
whole Time,
as Spectators or Arbors,
in playing, fidling,
dancing and finging,
does
it
not,
my Lord,
nation with the
plex Nero ? the greater
one
Man
ftrike
Image of
your Imagi-
a Sort
of a com-
And does it not ftrike you with Horror, when you obferve, not
only, but a
whole City, grown
drunk with Pride and Power, running with a Rage of Folly into the fame mean
and
fenfelefs
Debauchery and ExtravaI 2
gance
?
[6o] gance
But
?
if this
People refembled Nero
in their Extravagance,
much more did
referable and even exceed
and
Time
In the
Iiijuftice.
him
they
in Cruelty
of Pericles t
one of the moft celebrated Times
in the
Hifiory of that Commonwealth, a King of
them a Donation of Corn. This they were mean enough to accept. And had Egypt
fent
the Egyptian Prince intended the Ruin of this
City of wicked Bedlamites, he could
not have taken a more effectual to
do
The
Method
than by fuch an enfnaring Largefs.
it,
Distribution of this Bounty caufed a
Quarrel
the Majority
-
y
fet
on foot an En-
quiry into the Title of the Citizens, and
upon
Pretence
of
Illegitimacy,
newly and occasionally
fet
up, they de-
a
vain
prived of their Share of the royal tion
no
lefs
than five thoufand of their
They went
Body.
franchifed
them
;
with an Aft of L
Bounds
them
to
Dona-
it.
further;
own
they dif-
and having once begun juftice,
Not
they could
fet
no
content with cutting
off from the Rights of Citizens, they
plundered
[6i
]
plundered thefe unfortunate Wretches of all their Subftance$and to
crown
this
Mafter-
piece of Violence and Tyranny, they adtually fold every
Man
as Slaves in the
publick Market. Obfervc,
my Lord, fpeak
of,
of the
thoufand
five
that the five thoufand
we
here
were cut off from a Body of no
more than nineteen thoufand
;
for the entire
Number of Citizens was no greater at that Time. Could the Tyrant who wifhed the Roman People but one Neck, could
the
Tyrant himfelf have done, nay, he could Scarcely wifh for a greater Mifchief, than to
have cut
his People Series
?
off, at
Or
one Stroke, a fourth of
has the Cruelty of that
of fanguine Tyrants, the Ccefars^
ever prefented fuch a Piece of flagrant cxtenfive Wickednefs
?
The whole
tory of this celebrated Republick
is
and
Hif-
but one
Tiffue of Rafhnefs, Folly, Ingratitude, injuftice,
Tumult, Violence, and Tyranny,
and indeed of every Species of Wickednefs that can well be imagined.
This was
a City of Wifemen, in which a Minifter
could
[62] could not exercife his Functions like People,
amongft
whom
a war-
;
a General did
not dare either to gain or lofe a Battle learned Nation, in
which
;
a
a Philofopher
could not enter on a free Enquiry.
was the City which banifhed
This
Tbemijlocles,
ftarved Ariflides^ forced into Exile Milti-
drove out Anaxagoras, and poifoned
adeS)
This was a City which changed
Socrates.
the
Form
Moon daily,
;
of
it's
eternal
Government with the
Confpiracies, Revolutions
A Re-
nothing fixed and eftablifhed.
publick, as an antient Philofopher has obferved,
is
no one Species of Government,
but a Magazine of every Species
you
find every Sort
As
worft Form.
Change, one
you have licy,
all
rifing
of
and that
it,
there
>
is
here
j
in the
a perpetual
and the other
falling,
the Violence and wicked Po-
by which a beginning Power muft
always acquire
Weaknefs by
it's
Strength, and
which
falling
all
States
the are
brought to a complete Deftru&ion.
Rome
C
63 1
more venerable Afpedt than and fhe condu&ed her Affairs, Athens fo far as related to the Ruin and Oppreflion
Rome
has a
;
of the greateft Part of the World, with
more Wifdom and Uniformity. But domeftick Oeconomy was nearly or gether the fame.
An
their alto-
internal Diffention
conftantly tore to Pieces the Bowels of this
Commonwealth. You fufion,
find the
the fame Factions
at Athens,
fame Con-
which
the fame Tumults,
fubfifted
the fanje
Revolutions, and in fine, the fame Slavery, If perhaps their former Condition did not
deferve that
Name altogether as
well.
All
other Republicks were of the fame Charadler. Florence
And
the
was a Tranfcriptof Athens,
modern Republicks,
proach more or
lefs
to the
as
they ap-
Democratick
Form, partake more of lefs of the Nature of thofe
which
I
have defcribed.
We are now at the Clofe of our Review of the three fimple Forms of Artificial Society,
and
we have fhewn them, however they
64
r
may
they
differ in
Name,
Circumftances, to be
we
or in
fome
were inclined
ample Conceflions
let
;
flight
alike in Effedt
all
make
to
j
But fup-
to be all Tyrannies.
ia Effett,
pofe
]
the moft.
us concede Athens,
Rome, Carthage, and two or three more of the antient, and
Commonwealths, free
many of to
have been, or to be
and happy, and to owe
and Happinefs
fence does this
Freedom
their
to their Political Conftitu-
Yet allowing
tion.
modern,
the
make
all
what De-
this,
for Artificial Society
in general, that thefe inconfiderable Spots
of the Globe have for fome
Time
But when
?
free, or
we
call thefe
different
if
we
Govern-
concede that their Citizens
were happier than thofe which
tia.
Space of
flood as Exceptions to a Charge fo
general
ments
fliort
Forms,
it
is
lived under
merely ex Abundan-
For we fhould be greatly miftaken, really
the People
thought that the Majority of
which
filled
joyed even that nominal
of which
I
thefe Cities, enPolitical
have fpoken fo
Freedom
much
already.
In
[ 6S
]
In Reality, they had no Part of it. InAthens there were ufually from ten to thirty thou-
fand Freemen
:
This was the utmoft. But
the Slaves ufually amounted to four hun-
dred thoufand, and fometimes to a great
many more. The Freemen of Sparta and Rome were not more numerous in Proportion to thofe
whom they held
even more
terrible
Therefore
ftate the
in a Slavery,
than the Athenians.
Matter
fairly:
The
free
never formed, though they were
States
taken altogether, the thoufandth Part of the habitable Globe; the Freemen in thefe
were never the twentieth Part of
States
the People, and the is
Time
of Duration in which are fo
Time and
nearly commenfurate.
call thefe free States,
$
Slavery
Therefore
or popular
ments, or what you pleafe sider
they fubfifted
immenfe Ocean
fcarce any thing in that
Govern-
when we con-
the^Majority of their
Inhabitants,
and regard the natural Rights of Mankind, jthey
muft appear in Reality and Truth,
[
;no better than
66
pitiful
]
and oppreffive Oli-
garchies.
After fo
fair
an Examen, wherein no-
thing has been exaggerated
no Fadl pro-
>,
duced which cannot be proved, and none
which has been produced
in
any wife
forced or ftrained. while thoufands have, for Brevity,
been omitted
a Difcuffion in
all
Refpe&s
what Bigot
fo paffive,
after fo
•
fo
Enthufiaft fo headlong, fo hardened, as to ftand
;
what Slave
what
blind,
what up
candid
in
Politician
Defence of
a Syftem calculated for a Curfe to
Man-
kind? a Curfe under which they fmart and
groan to
this
Hour, without thoroughly
knowing the Nature of
the Difeafe, and
wanting Underftanding or Courage ply the
I
to ap-
Remedy.
need not excufe myfelf to your Lord-
fhip, nor,
I
think, to any
the Zeal I have
fhewn
honeftMan,
in this Caufe
5
for for it
67
1
an honeft Zeal, and in a good Caufe.
it is
I
]
have defended Natural Religion againft a
Confederacy of Atheifts and Divines.
now
plead for Natural Society againft Po-
and
liticians, all
I
for Natural
When
three.
Reafon againft
World
the
in a fitter
is
Temper than it is at prefent to hear Truth, or when I fhall be more indifferent about it's Temper my Thoughts may become more publick. In the mean time, let them ;
my own of fuch Men
repofe in
Bofom, and
in
the
Bofoms
as are
be
ini-
the
in
tiated
and Reafon.
done
as
fober Myfteries
My Antagonifts
much
fit
as I
of Truth
have already
could defire.
and Politicks make
in Religion
to
Parties fufficient
Difcoveries concerning each other, to give a fober all.
Man
a proper
Caution againft them
The Monarchick,
Ariftocratical,
and
Popular Partizans have been jointly laying their
Axes
and have
to the in
Root of all Government,
their
Turns proved each
other abfurd and inconvenient.
you
tell
me
that Artificial
K
2
In vain
Government
is
good,
t 68 3 good, but that I
The Thing
Abufe.
the Abufe
out only with the
fall
Obferve,
!
the
Thing
itfelf is
my
Lord,
I
!
you, that grand Error upon artificial legiflative
Power
was obferved,
Men
Paffions,
that
which made
it
They
jver
them
for this
all
It
had ungovernable necefiary to guard
might
offer to
appointed Governors
Reafon
;
but a worfe
and more perplexing Difficulty to
which
founded.
is
againft the Violence they
each other.
pray
arifes,
how
be defended againft the Governors ? Qui$
cujiodiet ipfos cujiodes ?
from a
fingle
In vain they change
Perfon to a few.
Thefe
few have the Paffions of the one, and they unite
ftrengthen themfelves, and
to
to
fecure the Gratification of their lawlefs Paffions at the
Good.
The
Expence of the general
In vain do v/e
Cafe
is
worfe
;
fly to
the
Manyi
their Paffions are lefs
under the Government of Reafon, they are
augmented by the Contagion, and de-
fended againft
all
Mul-
Attacks by their
titude. I
have
69
r
j
t have purpofely avoided the
6f the mixed
mention
Form of Government,
for
Reafons that will be very obvious to your Lordfhip.
But
but
You
little.
me
againft
You
me
can avail
will not fail
to urge
it
in favour of Political Society.
will not
of the
my Caution
fhew
to
fail
how
Modes
feveral fimple
the Errors
are corrected
by a Mixture of all of them, and
a proper
Ballance of the feveral Powers in fuch a
my Lord,
I confefs,
State.
that
this
has been long a darling Miftake of
own
;
made
and that of all the
Sacrifices I
by
to Truth, this has been
greateft.
When
I confefs that I
Notion a Miftake, fpeaking > for
I
am
are like Liquors,
know
I
have
far
the
think this
whom I am
to
fatisfied
my
that Reafons
and there are fome of
fuch a Nature as none but ftrong Heads
can bear.
There
can communicate
are fo
few with freely as
whom
I
with Pope.
But Pope cannot bear every Truth. has a Timidity which hinders the
full
He Ex-
ertion of his Faculties, almoft as effe&ually as
;
[jo] Bigotry cramps thofe of the general
as
Herd of Mankind.
But whoever
is
a
genuine Follower of Truth, keeps his Eye fteady
he
is
upon
led,
his
provided that fhe
And, my Lord, it
were
Guide, indifferent whither is
the Leader.
if it be properly
infinitely better to
confidered,
remain poffeffed
by the whole Legion of vulgar Miftakes, than to rejedt fome, and
at
the fame time
to retain a Fondnefs for others altogether
and
as abfurd
The
irrational.
at leaft a Confiftency, that
makes
however erroneoufly, uniform but the
latter
firft
Man,
a
at
way of proceeding
has
leaft is
fuch
an inconfiftent Chimaera and Jumble of Philofophy and
vulgar
Prejudice,
that
hardly any thing more ridiculous can be
Let us therefore
freely,
and
without Fear or Prejudice, examine
this
conceived.
laft
Contrivance of Policy.
And
without
how near the Quick our Inmay come, let us fearch it to
confidering
ftruments
the Bottom.
Firft
[7*
Men
Firft then, all this
]
are agreed, that
of Regal,
Jundtion
Ariftocratick,
and Popular Power, muft form a very and
complex, nice,
Machine,
intricate
which being compofed of fuch of
a variety
with fuch oppofite Tendencies
Parts,
and Movements, Accident
it
be
to
muft be
liable
on every
To
difordered.
fpeak
without Metaphor, fuch a Government
muft be
liable
to frequent Cabals,
mults, and Revolutions, from ftitution.
it's
veryCon-
Thefe are undoubtedly
Effedts, as can
in fuch a Cafe,
Community,
happen
Tu-
as
in a Society
ill
for
;
the Clofenefs acquired
inftead of ferving for
by
mutual
Defence, fervesonly to increafe the Danger.
Such a Syftem
is
like a City,
where Trades
that require conftant Fires are ercifed,
where the Houfes
much
are
built
ex-
of
combuftible Materials, and where they ftand extremely clofe.
In the fecond Place, the feveral conftituent Parts
having their I
diftindt Rights,
and
72
[
]
and thefe many of them fary to be determined
at
once
fo necef-
with Exadtnefs, are
yet fo indeterminate in their Nature, that it
becomes a new and conftant Source of
Hence
Debate and Confufion. whilft the Bufinefs of
that
it is,
Government fhould
be carrying on, the Queftion
is,
who
has
3 Right to exercife this or that Fundtior*
Men
of it, or what their this
Offices
have Power to keep
any Function.
in
Conteft continues,
and whilft the
Ballance in any fort continues,
any Remiffion
;
all
Whilft
it
has never
manner of Abufes and
Villainies in Officers
remain unpunifhed,
the greateft Frauds and Robberies in the
Publick Revenues are committed in Defiance of Juftice
Time and
$
and Abufes grow, by
Impunity, into Cuftoms
they prefcribe againfl the Laws, and
until
j
grow
too inveterate often to admit a Cure, unlefs
fuch as
may
be
as
bad
as the Difeafe,
Thirdly, the feveral Parts of this Species
of Government, though united, preferve the
[73] which each Form has
the Spirit
feparately.
Kings are ambitious ; the Nobility haughty; and
Populace tumultuous and
the
Each
ungovernable.
however
Party,
in
appearance peaceable, carries on a Defign
upon the others that in
all
;
and
it is
owing
to this,
Queftions, whether concerning
foreign or domeftick Affairs, the
generally turns
Whole
more upon fome Party
Matter than upon the Nature of the Thing
Whether fuch
itfelf.
or augment the
a Step will diminiffy
Power of
the
Crown, or
of the
SubjecT: are
how
far the Privileges
like
to
And
thefe Queftions are
be extended or restricted by
it.
conftantly re-
without any Consideration of the
fblved,
Merits of the Caufe, merely as the Parties
who uphold
thefe jarring Interefts
chance to prevail the Ballance
now upon is
is
^
and
overfet,
the other.
as
may
they prevail,
now upon one fide, The Government
one Day, arbitrary Power in a fingle
Perfon
;
another, a juggling Confederacy
of a few to cheat the Prince and enflav^
L
the
[74] the People;
and the
third, a frantick
The great In-
unmanageable Democracy. ftrument of
infufes a peculiar is
Party.
and what
thefe Changes,
all
Venom
and
them,
into all of
of no Confequence what
It is
the Principles of any Party, or what their Pretenfions are all Parties is
the fame
;
bition, of Self-Intereft,
Treachery.
This
Am-
of Oppreffion, and entirely reverfes
which
benevolent
a
Nature has[erefted within us all
actuates
the Spirit of
Spirit
the Principles
all
which
the Spirit
;
;
Honefty,
all
equal Juftice, and even the Ties of
Natural ArTedlions.
Natural Society, the
In a word,
and
my
Lord, we have
all
feeny
any outward Confiderations were
if
worthy the
lafting
Concern of a wife
Man, we have fome of us preffion
felt,
fuch
from Party Government
other Tyranny can parallel.
Op-
as
no
We behold daily
the moft important Rights, Rights upon
which
all
the others depend,
thefe Rights determined in fort,
without the
leaft
we
the
behold
laft
Re-
Attention even to the
[75
]
we
be-
without Emotion, becaufe
we
Appearance or Colour of Juftice hold
this
;
have grown up in the conflant View of fuch Practices prifed to
a
hear a
Knave and a
Indifference
Man
are
with
the
if
as
not
refuied,
fur-
be
to
as
much
moft
ordinary
we
hear this
and
;
not
requefted
Traitor,
Favour were afked Requeft
we
and
;
becaufe
is
it
a
moft unjuft~and unreafonable Defire, but that this
Worthy
has already engaged his
Thefe and many
Injuftice to another.
more Points
I
am
far
You
their full Extent.
do not put forth half you cannot be
A Man
from fpreading to
at a
are fenfible that I
my
Strength
;
and
Lofs for the Reafon.
Freedom of Thought, provided he knows how to is
allowed fufficient
chufe his Subjed: properly. ticife freely
upon the
and obferve with pleafe tive
Chinefe Conftitution,
much
Severity as
you
upon the abfurd Tricks, or deftruc-
Bigotry of
Scene
as
You may cri-
is
changed
the Bonzees. as
But the
you come homeward,
L
2
and
(j6) and Atheifm or Treafon
Names
be
thajr
thb
given in Britain, to what would
be Reafon and Truth I fubmit to
if afferted
of China.
the Condition, and though
me,
I have a notorious Advantage before
wave the it is
For
Purfuit.
my
elfe,
Lord,
very obvious what a Picture might be
drawn of the Excefles of Party even
bwn
Nation.
I
in
bur
could {hew, that the fame
Faction has in one Reign promoted popular Seditions,
and
Tyranny;
tron of
been a Pa-
in the next I
could fhew,
them betrayed
that
they have
all
of
Safety at
all
Times, and have very
quently with equal Perfidy
of their
own
ciates. I
could fliew
have
the publick
made
Caufe, and their
how
a
fre-
Market
own
Aflb-
vehemently they
contended for Names, and
how
filently
they have paffcd over Things of
the
Importance.
laft
ftrate, that
of doing
And
I
could demon-
they have had the Opportunity
all this
Mifchief, nay,
that they
themfelves had their Origin and
Growth
from that complex Form of Government
which
[77 which we
1
are wifely taught to look
as fo great a Blefling. Revolve,
our Hiftory fcarce ever
my Lord,
from the Conqueft.
We
who by
Fraud,
had a Prince,
made fome
or Violence, had not
ment on
upon
Infringe*
We fcarce ever
the Conftitution.
had a Parliament which knew, when attempted to thority,
Evils
fet
how
Limits to the Royal
to fet Limits to
we have had
Reformation,
it's
it
Au-
own.
continually calling for
and
Reformations
more
Our boafted Lifometimes trodden down, fometimes
grievous than any Evils. berty
giddily fet up,
and ever precarioufly fluc-
tuating and urifettled alive
by the
-,
Blafts
it
has been only kept
of continual Feuds,
Wars, and Confpiracies. in
In no Country
Europe has the Scaffold
with the Blood of cations, tions,
it's
fo often blufhed
Nobility.
Confif-
Banifhments, Attainders, Execu-
make
a large Part of the Hiftory of
fuch of our Families tinguifhed
as are
by them.
not utterly ex-
Formerly indeed
Things had a more ferocious Appearance than
[78] than they have
this
at
Day.
In thefe
and unrefined Ages, the jarring Parts
early
of a certain Chaotic Conftitution fupported their feveral Pretenfions
by the Sword.
Experience and Policy have fince taught other Methods.
Res vero nunc agitur tenui pulmone rubefy
how
But
far
Corruption, Venality,
Contempt of Honour, the Oblivion of
Duty
to our Country,
doned publick the
to
more
of Faction, mine.
Sure
all
and the moft aban-
Proftitution, are preferable
glaring
I will not I
the
am that
and violent Effects
prefume
to deter-
they are very great
Evils.
I
have done with the Forms of Go-
vernment. quiry you rial
During the Courfe of
may have
my En-
obferved a very mate-
Difference between
Reafoning and that which
my Manner is
in
of
Uk amongft
the Abbetors ofArtificial Society. They form their
[79] their Plans
to their
mod
upon what feems
Imaginations,
of Mankind.
for
the
I difcover the
thofe Plans, from the real
eligible
ordering
Miftakes in
known
Confe-
quences which have refulted from them.
They have
and employ
itfelf,
that
inlifted
it is
Reafon to
it's
whole Force
to
prove
an infufficient Guide to them in
the Conducft of their Lives. pily for us, in Proportion as
viated
light againft
But unhap-
we
have de-
from the plain Rule of our Nature,
and turned our Reafon againft Proportion have
we
itfelf,
in that
increafed the Follies
and Miferies of Mankind.
The more deeply
we penetrate into the Labyrinth of Art, the further we find ourfelves from thofe Ends for which we entered it. This has happened
almoft every Species of Artificial So-
in
ciety,
we
and
thought
in all
we found,
having every Caufe. firft
Times.
Man
We found,
or
an Inconvenience in
the Judge of his
Therefore Judges were
fet
with difcretionary Powers.
was foon found a miferable Slavery
own
up, at
But to
it
have our
r
so]
our Lives and Properties precarious, and
hanging upon the arbitrary Determination
of any one Man, or Set of Men.
We flew
Laws as a Remedy for this Evil. By thefe we perfuaded ourfelves we might to
know
with fome Certainty upon what
Ground we
flood.
But
lo
Differences
!
arofe
upon the Senfe and
thefe
Laws. Thus we were brought back
Interpretation of
New
Laws were made to expound the old ; and new Difficulties arofe upon the new Laws as Words to our old Incertitude.
,
multiplied, Opportunities of cavilling
them
multiplied
was had
alfo.
to Notes,
upon
Then Recourfe
Comments,
Glofles,
ReportSyRe/ponfaPrudentum, learned Read-
Eagle flood againfl Eagle.
ings
:
rity
was
were
fet
allured
up
againfl Authority.
Autho-
Some
by the modern, others reve-
The new were morg
renced the antient.
enlightened, the old were
more
Comment,
Some adopted
the
to the Text.
The
venerable.
others fluck
Confufion increafed,
the Mift thickened, until
it
could be dis-
covered
I8i
]
covered no longer what was allowed or forbidden,
what Things were
and what common.
in Property,
In this Uncertainty,
(uncertain even to the Profeflbrs, an /Egyp-
Darknefs to the
tian
the contending Parties effectually ruined
of Mankind)
reft
themfelves
felt
more
by the Delay than they
could have been by the Injuftice of any
Our
Decifion.-
Inheritances are
a Prize for Difputation Litigations are
of
ways walked hand of
feflbrs
End,
in
Artificial
his
actly the fame, to
fimilar.
Inheritance.
Artificial
Law
have al-
hand with the Pro-
in
Theology.
As
their
confounding the Reafon of Man,
and abridging
Means
and Difputes and
;
become an
The Profeflbrs
become
that
The
Natural Freedom,
is
ex-
they have adjufted the
End
in a
Divine
Way
entirely
thunders out his
Anathemas with more Noife and Terror againft
the Breach of one of his pofitive
Inftitutions, or the trivial
Neglect of fome of his
Forms, than againft the Negleft or
M
Breach
[
8»]
Breach of thofe Duties and
Command-
ments of Natural Religion, which by thefe
Forms and
Inftitutions lie pretends to en-
The Lawver
force.
has his Forms, and
his pofitive Inftitutions too,
to
them with
a Veneration altogether as
The
religious.
and he adheres
worft Caufe cannot be fo
prejudicial to the Litigant, as his Advocate's
or Attorney's Ignorance or Negledl of thefe
Forms.
A
Law-fuit
is
Difpute, in which the
like firft
an ill-managed Objedt
is
foon
out of Sight, and the Parties end upon a
Matter wholly foreign to that on which they began. In a Law-fuit the Queftion
who has a Right to a certain Houfe or Farm And this Queftion is daily deteris,
?
mined, not upon the Evidences of the Right, but upon the Obfervance or le
of fome Forms of Words
amongft them,amongft which there amongft themfelves fuch
Neg-
in
Ufe
is
even
a Difagreement,
that the moft experienced Veterans in the Profeffion can never be pofitively affured that they are not miftajten.
Let
a
1
83
r
Let us expoflulate with thefe learned Sages, thefe Priefts of the facred
of
Are we Judges of our own
Juftice.
Property are
By no Means. You
?
blindfold Goddefs,
have a Right
inform
by the hazard of my
my Brow The ?
reafons
I
do
me
?
An
Life, or the
The
Negative
I
thefe three
My
Sweat of
me
the learned Bar-
and upon the
fide
ftarts
What
up and
enter the Field,
Perfons to defend
Caufe, which
I
reverend Serjeant
;
upon one
Antagonift
hard.
whether
have earned
other, and concludes nothing. I
who
grave Dodlor anfwers
in the Affirmative. replies in the
me
Bread
to eat the
then,
Myfteries of the
the
into
initiated
rifter
Temple
mail
preffes
and return
my
Caufe.
two Farmers from the
Plough could have decided
in half an hour,
takes the Court twenty Years.
I
am how-
ever at the end of my Labour, and have in
Reward
Judgment fagacious
Army
my Toil and Vexation, a my Favour. But hold—
for all in
Commander,
has found a
Flaw
M
in the Adverfary's
in the Proceeding.
2
My
84
r.
My
Tritimph
is
]
turned into Mourning.
I
have ufed or y inftead of and, or fome Miftake, fmall in Appearance, but dreadful in it's
Confequences, and have the whole of
my
Writ of Error. I from Court to
Succefs quafhed in a
remove
my
Court
I fly
;
Suit
I
;
fhift
from Equity
to
Law, and
Law to Equity equal Uncertainty attends me every where And a Miftake from
;
:
in
which
upon
I
had no Share> decides
my Liberty and
from the Court ing I
my
Family
am innocent, it
Beggary and Famine.
Gentlemen, of the Darknefs
from any Share
I
in the
with Chicane excluded
Conduct of my
fo intricate, it
:
You
for^vour Errors.
but
it,
even for yourfelves
loft in
never
the Science was too deep for
acknowledged
way
it
You have
and Sophiftry.
;
I
with abfurd and contradictory
Notions, nor confounded
Caufe
me
and adjudg-
and Uncertainty of your Science. darkened
once
Property, fending
to a Prifon, to
at
:
own me 5
was too deep
You have made
that err,
it
me
the
you are yourfelves
me The
and you punifh
The Delay of the Law is, your Lordfhip will it's
me, a
tell
Topick, and which of
trite
Abufes have not been too feverely
not to be often complained of?
Property
is
A
felt
Man's
to ferve for the Purpofes of his
Support; and therefore to delay a Determination concerning that, juftice,
becaufe
and Purpofe
it
for
the worft In-
is
End
cuts off the very
which
I
applied to the
Quite contrary in
Judicature for Relief.
Cafe of a Man's Life, there the Determi-
much
nation can hardly be too
protradted.
Miftakes in this Cafe are as often fallen into as in any other, and if the is
Judgement
fudden, the Miftakes are the mofl irre-
trievable
men
of all others.
of the
Robe
Of this
are themfelves fenfible,
and they have brought
De But
morte hominis nulla
what
could
to reverfe the
that Reafon
the Gentle-
eft
have
Rules,
which
it
into a
cunSiatio longa.
induced
them
and to contradict
dictated
utterly unable to guefs.
Maxim.
A
them,
I
am
Point concern-
ing Property,which ought, for the Reafons Ijuft
[86] I juft
mentioned, to be moft fpeedily de-
cided, frequently exercifes the ceffions
Wit of Suc-
of Lawyers, for manyGenerations.
Multa virum volvem durandofacula vincit. But the Queftion concerning a Man's that
great Queftion in
which no Delay
ought to be counted tedious,
is
commonly
determined in Twenty-four Hours utmoft. Injuftice
rable
It is
not to be wondered
at the
at,
that
and Abfurdity fhould be infepa-
Companions.
End
Afk of Politicians Laws were originally
defigned
will anfwer,
Laws were
that the
as a Protection for
Powerful.
for $
which
and they defigned
the Poor and
Weak,
But furely no Pretence can be
Man might as well tell taken off my Load, becaufe he
fo ridiculous
he has
the
Oppreffion of the Rich and
againft the
me
Life,
;
a
has changed the Burthen.
If the poor
Man is not able to fupport his Suit,
accord-
ing to the vexatious and expenfive
manner
eftablifhed in civilized Countries,
has not
i
the
[8 7
]
him
the Rich as great an Advantage over
Weak in
as the Strong has over the
of Nature State
?
But we
God, in competition with
which In a
of Nature,
of fuperior Force it is
true,
it is
that I
am
make
of Man.
which
I
may be
or rob
at full
me
;
way.
Reprifal
a rich I
but
Liberty to
by Sur-
fuperior to him.
in Political Society, in another
Man
true, that a
by any other way
prize or by Cunning, or
me
the Reign of
Political Society,
may beat
defend myfelf, or
in
is
the abfurd Usurpation
is
State
then
not place the
will
of Nature, which
a State
But
Man may
cannot defend
rob
my-
Money is the only Weapon with which we are allowed to fight. And if I felf ;
for
attempt
to
avenge
Force of that Society
my
the
myfelf, is
whole
ready to compleat
Ruin.
A
good Parfon once
faid,
that
Myftery begins, Religion ends. of
fay,
as
tbat
where Myftery begins^
truly at lead,
where
Cannot
I
human Laws, Juftice ends
?
It
[
It
hard to
is
Law
fay,
88
whether the Do&ors of
made
or Divinity have
Advances
Lawyers,
as
well as the
My-
Theo-
have eredted another Reafon be-
logians,
Natural Reafon another
been,
the greater
in the lucrative Bufinefs of
The
ftery.
fides
]
-
y
befides Natural
Juftice
They have
Juftice.
and the Refult has
bewildered the
fo
World and themfelves in unmeaning Forms and Ceremonies, and fo perplexed Matters with metaphyseal
the plaineft Jargon, that to a
Man
it
carries the higheft
Danger
out of that Profeffion, to
make
the leaft Step without their Advice and
Thus by
Affiftance.
confining to them-
felves the
Knowledge of the Foundation of
Mens
Lives and Properties, they have
all
reduced
and
fervile
into the
Dependence.
moft
5
and
abje
We are Tenants
Will of theie Gentlemen
at the
thing
Mankind
all
a metaphyfical
for every
Quibble
is
to
decide whether the greateft Villain breathing fhall meet his Deferts,
or efcape with
Impunity, or whether the beft
Man
in the
Society
['«9
J
Society fhall not be reduced to the loweft
and moft defpicable Condition In a word,
my Lord,
Puerility,
falfe
Myftery of the
who envy
the
affords,.
the InjuHice^ Delay*
Refinement, and affedled
Law
under
live
it
an; fuch, that
come
it
Expedition,
to
many
admire and
and
Simplicity*
Equality of Arbitrary Judgments. I need infift
the
lefs
on
this Article to
your Lord-
you have frequently lamented the
ihip, as
Miferies derived to us from Artificial
and your Candor mired
is
more
the
and applauded in
this,
Law,
to be adas
your
Lordfhip's noble Houfe has derived
Wealth and
it's
Honours from
it's
that Pro-
fefiion.
Before tificial
we finifh
Society,
I
our Examination of Ar-
fhall lead
your Lordfhip
into a clofer Confideration of the Relations
which if
it
gives Birth to, and the Benefits,
fuch they are, which
Relations.
Society
is
The moft into
refult
obvious Divifion of
Rich and Poor
N
from thefe
>
and
it
is
no
[9°] no
lefs
Number
obvious, that the
of the
former bear a great Difproportion to thofe
of the
The whole
latter.
Poor is to adminifter
to the Idlenefs, Folly,
and Luxury of the Rich Rich, in return,
is
Bufinefs of the
-
y
and that of the
to find the beft
Methods
of confirming the Slavery and increafing the Burthens of the Poor.
Nature,
is
it
an invariable Law, that a
Man's Acquifitions
a
Law
thofe
that
are in proportion to his
In a State of Artificial Society,
Labours. it is
In a State of
as conftant
who
and
as invariable,,
labour moft, enjoy the
feweft things ; and that thofe
not at
all,
have the greateft
A
Enjoyments, this,
ftrange and ridiculous
preffion.
we
Conftitution
We
are told
fore our
it,
who labour Number of of things
beyond Ex-
fcarce believe a thing
which we
when
adlually fee be-
Eyes every Day without being in
the leaft furprized.
I fuppofe that there
are in Great Britain
upwards of an hun-
dred thoufand People employed in Lead, Tin, Iron, Copper, and Coal Mines > thefe
unhappy
[9i unhappy Wretches
]
fcarce ever fee the Light
of the Sun; they are buried
of the Earth
and
difmal
there they
;
in the
work
at a fevere
without
Tafk,
the
Profpedt of being delivered from fubfift
upon the
of Fare
$
coarfeft
Bowels
leaft
they
it ;
and worft
fort
they have their Health miferably
impaired, and their Lives cut fhort,
by
being perpetually confined in the clofe
Vapour of
thefe malignant Minerals
hundred thoufand more at without
Remiffion
Smoak,
intenfe Fires,
leaft are
by the
tortured
fuffocating
and conftant Drud-
gery neceflary in the refining and naging the Products of thofe Mines.
any
Man
An
maIf
informed us that two hundred
innocent Perfons were condemned to fo
how
intolerable Slavery,
the unhappy Sufferers,
would be our thofe
who
and
Indignation
juft
againft
infli&ed fo cruel and ignomi-
nious a Punifliment
?
This
I could not wifh a ftronger, berlefs
we pity how great
fhould
Things which
N
2
we
i$
an Inftance,
of the
pafs
by
num-
in their
common
common
which fhock
Drefs, yet
us
when
they are nakedly reprefented.
But
Number,
and the
considerable as
Slavery, with
what the
at
Home,
of Lead,
is
nothing to
of the World affords of the
reft
fame Nature. Millions poifonous
is,
Bafenefs and Horror,
all it's
which we have
it
this
Damps and
Silver,
daily bathed in the
deftru<3ive Effluvia
Copper, and Arfenick.
fay nothing of thofe other
To
Employments,
thofe Stations of Wretchednefs and
Con-
which Civil Society has placed the numerous Enfans perdus of her Army, tempt
in
Would any
rational
Man
fubmit to one
of the moft tolerable of thefe Drudgeries for all
the
Policy has
artificial
made
By no Means.
to
And
Enjoyments which refult
are not at fidering
all
the
who
who
find the
arrive at the
the fame Perfons. ftrange
?
yet need I fuggeft to
your Lordfhip, that thofe
Means, and thofe
from them
On
End, con-
and unaccountable
Fancies and Contrivances of Artificial Reafpn s I have
fomewhere
called this Earth
the
[93
]
the Bedlam of our Syftem.
upon the
Effects of
may we
Looking now
fome of
thofe Fancies,
not with equal Reafon
call
it
likewife the Newgate, and the Bridewell
of the Univerfe.
Indeed the Blindnefs of
one Part of Mankind co-operating with the Frenzy
and Villainy of the other,
has been the real Builder of this refpectable Fabrick
of Political Society
:
And
as
their Blindnefs has caufed their Slavery,
Return their State of Slavery
in
is
made a
aPretence for continuing them in a State
of Blindnefs ; for the Politician will
you
tell
gravely, that their Life of Servitude
them
difqualifies
for a Search
of Truth,
and fupplies them with no other than
mean and too true
inefficient Ideas.
and
;
which
for
In a
I
this is
ing
fome few
t>ut
a few,
of
but
Inftitutions,
this
Lenities,
nine
is
one of the Reafons
blame fuch
Mifery
This
Sort,
and
Parts in
admit-
thofe too
ten
of the
whole Race of Mankind drudge through Life.
[94] Life. It
may be
of this.,
that, at leaft, the
urged perhaps, in palliation
confiderable and
real
Rich
Few find a
Benefit
from the
Wretchednefs of the Many. fo in fadl
a
little
more Attention.
two
this
is
Let us examine the Point with
?
the Rich in into
But
For
Societies
all
Claffes.
The
this
may
firft is
purpofe
be thrown
who
of thofe
are Powerful as well as Rich, and conducft
Ma-
the Operations of the vaft Political chine. their
The
other
is
Riches wholly
Pleafure.
As
to the
of thofe
who employ
in the Acquifition of firft
tinual Care, Anxiety, their toilfome
and
fleeplefs Nights, are
Thefe Circumftances
con*
Sort, their
Days
next to Proverbial.
are fufficient almoft
to level their Condition to that of the
happy Majority
;
un-
but there are other Cir-
cumftances which place them in a far
lower Condition.
Not only
ftandings labour continually, fevereft
Under-
which
is
the
Labour, but their Hearts are torn
1>y the worft, fatiable
their
of
all
moft troublefome, and Paffions,
in-
by Avarice, by Ambition^
95 1
[
Ambition, by Fear and Jealoufy. part of the extirpates
and
No
Mind has Reft. Power gradually from the Mind every humane Pity, Benevolence,
gentle Virtue.
Friendship are Things almoft
unknown
in high Stations.
Vera
inveniuntur in
qui in honoribus reipub-
licee
its
amicitice rarijjime
verfantur, fays Cicero*
Courts are the
Schools
And
indeed,
where Cruelty,
Pride, Diffimulation and
Treachery are
ftudied and taught in the moft vicious
This
Perfe&ion.
a Point fo clear and
is
acknowledged, that
my
a neceflary Part of pafs
me
it
by
at
not
Subjedt,
And
entirely.
from drawing
if it did
this has
full length,
the moft ftriking Colours,
this
I
make Should
hindered
and in Shocking
Pidlure of the Degeneracy and Wretchednefs of is
human
Nature, in that Part which
vulgarly thought
amiable
State.
Originals
I
it's
happieft and moft
You know from what
could
copy fuch Pictures.
who know enough of them to know their littleValue, and who
Happy
are
they
have
[96] have been fnatched from that Poll of
Danger with the Remains of
their Virtue
j
Lofs of Honours, Wealth, Titles and even the Lofs of one's Country
nothing in
is
Ballance with fo great an Advantage.
Let us the Rich,
now view the other Species of thofe who devote their Time
and Fortunes
Idlenefs
to
and Pleafure.
How much
happier are they
which
are agreeable to
fiires
The Plea-
?
Nature are
within the reach of all, and therefore can
form no Diftindlion
The is
which Art
Pleafures
feldom
fincere,
worfe,
this
Pleafure takes
in favour
and never
of the Rich.
forces
up
fatisfying.
are
What
conftant Application to
away from the Enjoyment,
or rather turns
it
into
the Nature of a
very burthenfome and laborious Bufinefs. It
has Confequences yet worfe.
duces a
weak
It
pro-
valetudinary State of .Body,
attended byall thofe horrid Diforders, and yet
more horrid Methods of Cure, which
are the Refult of Luxury
on one hand, and the
97]
C the
weak and
ridiculous Efforts of
human
Art on theother.TheirPleafuresare fcarcely felt as
Pleafures;
at
tne fame time that
P
ins
and Difeafes, which
they bring on
The Mind
are felt but too feverely. it's
Share of the Misfortune
grows
it
;
has
lazy and enervate, unwilling and unable to fearch for Truth, and utterly uncapable
of knowing, much
of relifhing real
lefs
The Poor by
Happinefs.
Labour, and the Rich by
Luxury, are
fet
upon
View
difmal
to
enormous
their
a Level
equally ignorant of any
might conduce
their exceffive
and made
Knowledge which Happinefs.
their
of the Interior of
A Civil
all
The lower Part broken and ground down by the moft cruel OpprefSociety.
fion
;
and
the Rich
Method of Life themfelves, poffibly
Very tural
different State,
is
their
on
artificial
Tyranny could
thofe
below them.
the Profpedi of the
Here
which Nature
their
bringing worfe Evils on
than
inflidl
by
there
gives,
O
is
no
*
Na-
want
and they can be fenfible
[98] no other Wants, which
fenfible of
to be fupplied
of Labour Neither
is
Man
fingle
Life
is
therefore there
is
there any Luxury,
no Slavery. becaufe no
can fupply the Materials of
unequal State
it.
happy.
it is
my Lord,
confcious,
Politician will urge this
not
a very moderate degree
Ample, and therefore
am
I
j
by
is
r
your
that
in his Defence, that
highly
is
That
ufefiil.
without dooming fome Part of Mankind to extraordinary Toil, the Arts tivate Life could not
demand of this came
to
which cul-
be exercifed.
Politician,
be neceflary
?
how
He
But
I
fuch Arts
anfwers, that
Civil Society could not well exift without
So that thefe
them.
Arts' are neceflary to
Civil Society, and Civil Society neceflary
again to thefe Arts.
without
Circle,
out
Thus running
Modefty, and
in a
with-
End; and making one Error and
Extravagance an Excufe for the other. Sentiments about thefe Caufe,
I
Arts
My
and their
have often difcourfed with
my
Friends
[99} Friends at large. Pope has expreffed them
good Verfe, where he
in
much
with fo
talks
Force of Reafon and Elegance of
Language
of the State of Nature.
in Praife
Then was
not Pride, nor Arts that Pride
to aid,
Man
walk'd with Beaft, Joint-tenant of
the Shade.
On
the whole,
my Lord,
Society, in whatever
Many
the
if Political
Form, has
ftill
Few
the Property of the
made ;
if it
has introduced Labours unneceflary, Vices
and Difeafes unknown, and Pleafures incompatible with Nature tries
it
;
and miferable,
fhall
fo deftrudive an Idol, to
it
Peace
our Health, ?
Coun-
abridges the Lives of Millions, and
renders thofe of Millions je<3:
if in all
Or
Heap of Frattices,
fhall
more
we
utterly ab-
ftill
worfhip
and daily
facrifice
our Liberty,
we
pafs
by
this
and our monftrous
abfurd Notions, and abominable thinking
we have
Oz
fufficiently
difcharged
!
[
ioo
]
difcharged our Duty in expofing the trifling Cheats, and ridiculous Juggles of a few
mad dcfigning, or ambitious Priefts ? Alas my Lord, we labour under a mortal Confumption, whilft we are fo anxious about the Cure of a fore Finger. this
For has not
Leviathan of Civil Power overflowed
the Earth with a Deluge of Blood, as
were made
We have
he
and play therein
to difport
fhewn, that
if
Political Society,
a moderate Calculation,
has
been
?
on the
Means of murdering an hundred and forty times the
upon
Number of
the Earth, during
now
Inhabitants
it's
fhort Exiftence,
not upwards of four thoufand Years in any
Accounts
to be
depended on. But we have
faid nothing of the other,
and perhaps as bad
Confequence of thefe Wars, which
fpilled
fuch Seas of Blood, and reduced fo
many
Millions to a mercilefs Slavery.
But thefe
are only the Ceremonies performed in the
Porch of the
Political
Temple.
Much
more
horrid ones are feen as you enter
The
feveral Species
of Government
it.
vie
with
[
ioi ]
with each other in the Abfurdity of their Conftitutions,
make
they
and the Oppreffion which
them under what Form you are
Take
their Subjects endure.
in Effect
pleafe,
they
but a Defpotifm, and
fall,
both in Effect an Appearance too,
after
a
very (hort Period, into that cruel and deteftable Species
ther call
of Tyranny 5 which
becaufe
it,
we have been
under another Form, than that
I ra-
educated this
is
of
worfe Confequences to Mankind. For the free
Governments, for the Point of their
Space, and the
have
felt
more
Moment
of their Duration,
more Confufion, and committed of Tyranny, than the
flagrant Acts
mod perfect defpotick Governments which we
Turn your Eye Labyrinth of the Law, and the
have ever known.
next to the
Iniquity conceived ceflfes.
in the
in
it's
intricate
Re-
Confider the Ravages committed
Bowels of
all
Commonwealths by
Ambition, by Avarice, Envy, Fraud, open Injuftice,
and pretended Friendship; Vices
which could draw
little
Support from a State
*°2
[
State of Nature, but flourifh in the
which bloflbm and
Ranknefs of
Political Soci-
Revolve our whole Difcourfe
ety.
to
]
it all
thofe Reflections
good Underftanding
make
a
ftrenuous
$
add
which your own
(hall
fuggeft,
and
Effort
beyond
the
Reach of Vulgar Philofophy, to
confefs that
the Caufe of Artificial Society
is
fencelefs
even than that of
gion; that
it
is
as
more de-
Artificial Reli-
derogatory from the
Honour of the Creator, as fubverfive of human Reafon, and productive of infinitely more Mifchief to the human Race. If pretended Revelations
Wars
where
have caufed
they were oppofed,
and
Slavery where they were received, the pre-
tended wife Inventions of Politicians have
done the fame.
much
But the Slavery has been
heavier, the
Wars
far
more bloody,
and both more univerfal by many Degrees.
Shew me any Mifchief produced by
the
Madnefs or Wickednefs of Theologians, and
I will
fhew you an hundred,
refulting
from
[103
]
from the Ambition and Villainy of Con-
Shew me an Ab-
querors and Statefmen. furdity in Religion,
I will
lhew you an hundred
Laws and
is
one in
Political
If you fay, that
Inftitutions.
Religion
Natural
for
undertake to
Guide
a fufficient
without the foreign Aid of Revelation,
on what Principle fhould
Laws
Political
become neceffary t Is not the fame Reafon available in Theology and in Politicks ? If the
God,
dom
Laws of Nature is it
Laws of
are the
confident with the Divine
to prefcribe Rules to us,
Wif-
and leave
the Enforcement of them to the Folly of
human
Inftitutions?
Will you follow Truth
but to a certain Point
?
We are
indebted
for all our Miferies to our Diftruft
of that
Guide, which Providence thought
fuffici-
ent for tural
our
Reafon,
Human
Condition,
own Na-
which reje&ing both
and Divine
things,
given our Necks to the tical
our
in
we have
Yoke of
Poli-
We
have
and Theological Slavery.
renounced the Prerogative of Man, and
it is
io 4
[
greater, as the
all
is
much
Crime we commit
jecting the lawful
in
the re-
Dominion of our Reafon
If after
greater.
fhould be treated
But our Mifery
like Beafts.
is
we
not wonderful that
is
1
all,
you fhould confefs
thefe things, yet plead the Neceffity of
weak and wicked
Political Inftitutions,
they
are,
as
can argue with equal, perhaps
I
fuperior Force concerning the Neceffity of Artificial Religion
5
and every Step you ad-
your Argument,
vance in
Strength to mine. folved
to
So that
you add a if
we
are re-
fubmit our Reafon and
Liberty to Civil Ufurpation,
we
our
have no-
thing to do but to conform as quickly as
we
can to the vulgar Notions which are
up
their
well as their Politicks.
But
connected with
Theology
as
this,
and, take
we think this Neceffity than real, we fhould
if
Dreams of
Society,
Vifions of Religion,
rather imaginary
renounce
their
together with their
and vindicate our-
felves into perfect Liberty.
You
*°S
r
You
my Lord,
are,
into the
]
World ;
am
I
but juft entering
going out of it.
I
have played long enough to be heartily tired
of the Drama.
adted
my
will
Part in
it
Whether
well or
ill,
I have Pofterity
judge with more Candor than
than the prefent Age,
it
The
For
my
without a Sigh, and fubmit
to the Sovereign Order without ing.
or
with our prefent
Paffions, can poffibly pretend to.
Part, I quit
I,
murmur-
we approach to the the better we begin to under-
nearer
Goal of Life,
ftand the true Value of our Exiftence, and
Weight of our Opinions. We out much in Love with both ; but we
the real fet
leave iirft
much behind
us as
we
advance.
We
throw away the Tales along with the
Rattles of our Nurfes.
keep
their
hold a
Thofe of the Prieft
little
longer
our Governors the longeft of Paffions
which prop
withdrawn one (hews us what a
all.
But the
and the cool
at the Setting
falfe
thofe of
thefe Opinions are
after another,
Light of Reafon
;
of our Life
Splendor played upon
P
thefe
io6]
[
thefe
Obje&s during our more fanguine
Scafons.
Happy,
my
Lord,
if
by my Experience, and even by early to
of things,
as
to your Life.
Comfort
my Errors,
make fuch an Eftimate may give Freedom and Eafe
you come
me
inftru&ed
I at
am happy
my
that
Death.
FINIS.
it
promifes
u
I
.•^i
m