Essay 9. OF PUBLIC CREDIT
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ESSAY IX: OF PUBLIC CREDIT
It appears to have been the common practice of antiquity, to make provision,
during peace, for the necessities of war, and to hoard up treasures before-hand,
as the instruments either of conquest or defence; without trusting to
extraordinary impositions, much less to borrowing, in times of disorder and
confusion. Besides the immense sums above mentioned,†1 which were amassed by
ATHENS, and by the PTOLEMIES, and other successors of ALEXANDER; we learn from
PLATO,†2 that the frugal LACEDEMONIANS had also collected a great treasure; and
ARRIAN†3 and PLUTARCH†4 take notice of the riches which ALEXANDER got possession
of on the conquest of SUSA and ECBATANA, and which were reserved, some of them,
from the time of CYRUS. If I remember right, the scripture also mentions the
treasure of HEZEKIAH and the JEWISH princes; as profane history does that of
PHILIP and PERSEUS, kings of MACEDON. The ancient republics of GAUL had commonly
large sums in reserve.†5 Every one knows the treasure seized in ROME by JULIUS
CAESAR, during the civil wars: and we find afterwards, that the wiser emperors,
AUGUSTUS, TIBERIUS, VESPASIAN, SEVERUS, &c. always discovered the prudent
foresight, of saving great sums against any public exigency.
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On the contrary, our modern expedient, which has become very general, is to
mortgage the public revenues, and to trust that posterity will pay off the
incumbrances contracted by their ancestors: And they, having before their eyes,
so good an example of their wise fathers, have the same prudent reliance on
their posterity; who, at last, from necessity more than choice, are obliged to
place the same confidence in a new posterity. But not to waste time in
declaiming against a practice which appears ruinous,†a beyond all controversy;
it seems pretty apparent, that the ancient maxims are, in this respect, more
prudent than the modern; even though the latter had been confined within some
reasonable bounds, and had ever, in any instance, been attended with such
frugality, in time of peace, as to discharge the debts incurred by an expensive
war. For why should the case be so different between the public and an
individual, as to make us establish different maxims of conduct for each? If the
funds of the former be greater, its necessary expences are proportionably
larger; if its resources be more numerous, they are not infinite; and as its
frame should be calculated for a much longer duration than the date of a single
life, or even of a family, it should embrace maxims, large, durable, and
generous, agreeably to the supposed extent of its existence. To trust to chances
and temporary expedients, is, indeed, what the necessity of human affairs
frequently renders unavoidable; but whoever voluntarily depend on such
resources, have not necessity, but their own folly, to accuse for their
misfortunes, when any such befal them.
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If the abuses of treasures be dangerous, either by engaging the state in rash
enterprizes, or making it neglect military discipline, in confidence of its
riches; the abuses of mortgaging are more certain and inevitable; poverty,
impotence, and subjection to foreign powers.
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According to modern policy war is attended with every destructive circumstance;
loss of men, encrease of taxes, decay of commerce, dissipation of money,
devastation by sea and land. According to ancient maxims, the opening of the
public treasure, as it produced an uncommon affluence of gold and silver, served
as a temporary encouragement to industry, and atoned, in some degree, for the
inevitable calamities of war.
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†b It is very tempting to a minister to employ such an expedient, as enables him
to make a great figure during his administration, without overburthening the
people with taxes, or exciting any immediate clamours against himself. The
practice, therefore, of contracting debt will almost infallibly be abused, in
every government. It would scarcely be more imprudent to give a prodigal son a
credit in every banker's shop in London, than to impower a statesman to draw
bills, in this manner, upon posterity.
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What then shall we say to the new paradox, that public incumbrances, are, of
themselves, advantageous, independent of the necessity of contracting them; and
that any state, even though it were not pressed by a foreign enemy, could not
possibly have embraced a wiser expedient for promoting commerce and riches, than
to create funds, and debts, and taxes, without limitation? Reasonings, such as
these, might naturally have passed for trials of wit among rhetoricians, like
the panegyrics on folly and a fever, on BUSIRIS and NERO, had we not seen such
absurd maxims patronized by great ministers, and by a whole party among us.†c
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Let us examine the consequences of public debts, both in our domestic
management, by their influence on commerce and industry; and in our foreign
transactions, by their effect on wars and negociations.†d
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Public securities are with us become a kind of money, and pass as readily at the
current price as gold or silver. Wherever any profitable undertaking offers
itself, how expensive soever, there are never wanting hands enow to embrace it;
nor need a trader, who has sums in the public stocks, fear to launch out into
the most extensive trade; since he is possessed of funds, which will answer the
most sudden demand that can be made upon him. No merchant thinks it necessary to
keep by him any considerable cash. Bank-stock, or India-bonds, especially the
latter, serve all the same purposes; because he can dispose of them, or pledge
them to a banker, in a quarter of an hour; and at the same time they are not
idle, even when in his scritoire, but bring him in a constant revenue. In short,
our national debts furnish merchants with a species of money, that is
continually multiplying in their hands, and produces sure gain, besides the
profits of their commerce. This must enable them to trade upon less profit. The
small profit of the merchant renders the commodity cheaper, causes a greater
consumption, quickens the labour of the common people, and helps to spread arts
and industry throughout the whole society.
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There are also, we may observe, in ENGLAND and in all states, which have both
commerce and public debts, a set of men, who are half merchants, half
stock-holders, and may be supposed willing to trade for small profits; because
commerce is not their principal or sole support, and their revenues in the funds
are a sure resource for themselves and their families. Were there no funds,
great merchants would have no expedient for realizing or securing any part of
their profit, but by making purchases of land; and land has many disadvantages
in comparison of funds. Requiring more care and inspection, it divides the time
and attention of the merchant; upon any tempting offer or extraordinary accident
in trade, it is not so easily converted into money; and as it attracts too much,
both by the many natural pleasures it affords, and the authority it gives, it
soon converts the citizen into the country gentleman. More men, therefore, with
large stocks and incomes, may naturally be supposed to continue in trade, where
there are public debts; and this, it must be owned, is of some advantage to
commerce, by diminishing its profits, promoting circulation, and encouraging
industry.†e
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But, in opposition to these two favourable circumstances, perhaps of no very
great importance, weigh the many disadvantages which attend our public debts, in
the whole interior economy of the state: You will find no comparison between the
ill and the good which result from them.
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First, It is certain, that national debts cause a mighty confluence of people
and riches to the capital, by the great sums, levied in the provinces to pay the
interest; and perhaps, too, by the advantages in trade above mentioned, which
they give the merchants in the capital above the rest of the kingdom. The
question is, whether, in our case, it be for the public interest, that so many
privileges should be conferred on LONDON, which has already arrived at such an
enormous size, and seems still encreasing? Some men are apprehensive of the
consequences. For my own part, I cannot forbear thinking, that, though the head
is undoubtedly too large for the body, yet that great city is so happily
situated, that its excessive bulk causes less inconvenience than even a smaller
capital to a greater kingdom. There is more difference between the prices of all
provisions in PARIS and LANGUEDOC, than between those in LONDON and YORKSHIRE.†f
The immense greatness, indeed, of LONDON, under a government which admits not of
discretionary power, renders the people factious, mutinous, seditious, and even
perhaps rebellious. But to this evil the national debts themselves tend to
provide a remedy. The first visible eruption, or even immediate danger, of
public disorders must alarm all the stockholders, whose property is the most
precarious of any; and will make them fly to the support of government, whether
menaced by Jacobitish violence or democratical frenzy.
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Secondly, Public stocks, being a kind of paper-credit, have all the
disadvantages attending that species of money. They banish gold and silver from
the most considerable commerce of the state, reduce them to common circulation,
and by that means render all provisions and labour dearer than otherwise they
would be.†g
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Thirdly, The taxes, which are levied to pay the interests of these debts,†h are
apt either to heighten the price of labour, or be an oppression on the poorer
sort.
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Fourthly, As foreigners possess a great share of our national funds, they render
the public, in a manner, tributary to them, and may in time occasion the
transport of our people and our industry.
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Fifthly, The greater part of the public stock being always in the hands of idle
people, who live on their revenue, our funds, in that view, give great
encouragement to an useless and unactive life.
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But though the injury, that arises to commerce and industry from our public
funds, will appear, upon balancing the whole, not inconsiderable, it is trivial,
in comparison of the prejudice that results to the state considered as a body
politic, which must support itself in the society of nations, and have various
transactions with other states in wars and negociations. The ill, there, is pure
and unmixed, without any favourable circumstance to atone for it; and it is an
ill too of a nature the highest and most important.
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We have, indeed, been told, that the public is no weaker upon account of its
debts; since they are mostly due among ourselves, and bring as much property to
one as they take from another. It is like transferring money from the right hand
to the left; which leaves the person neither richer nor poorer than before. Such
loose reasonings and specious comparisons will always pass, where we judge not
upon principles. I ask, Is it possible, in the nature of things, to overburthen
a nation with taxes, even where the sovereign resides among them? The very doubt
seems extravagant; since it is requisite, in every community, that there be a
certain proportion observed between the laborious and the idle part of it. But
if all our present taxes be mortgaged, must we not invent new ones? And may not
this matter be carried to a length that is ruinous and destructive?
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In every nation, there are always some methods of levying money more easy than
others, agreeably to the way of living of the people, and the commodities they
make use of. In GREAT BRITAIN, the excises upon malt and beer afford a large
revenue; because the operations of malting and brewing are tedious, and are
impossible to be concealed; and at the same time, these commodities are not so
absolutely necessary to life, as that the raising of their price would very much
affect the poorer sort. These taxes being all mortgaged, what difficulty to find
new ones! what vexation and ruin of the poor!
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Duties upon consumptions are more equal and easy than those upon possessions.
What a loss to the public, that the former are all exhausted, and that we must
have recourse to the more grievous method of levying taxes!
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Were all the proprietors of land only stewards to the public, must not necessity
force them to practise all the arts of oppression used by stewards; where the
absence or negligence of the proprietor render them secure against enquiry?
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It will scarcely be asserted, that no bounds ought ever to be set to national
debts; and that the public would be no weaker, were twelve or fifteen shillings
in the pound, land-tax, mortgaged, with all the present customs and excises.
There is something, therefore, in the case, beside the mere transferring of
property from the one hand to another. In 500 years, the posterity of those now
in the coaches, and of those upon the boxes, will probably have changed places,
without affecting the public by these revolutions.
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†i Suppose the public once fairly brought to that condition, to which it is
hastening with such amazing rapidity; suppose the land to be taxed eighteen or
nineteen shillings in the pound; for it can never bear the whole twenty; suppose
all the excises and customs to be screwed up to the utmost which the nation can
bear, without entirely losing its commerce and industry; and suppose that all
those funds are mortgaged to perpetuity, and that the invention and wit of all
our projectors can find no new imposition, which may serve as the foundation of
a new loan; and let us consider the necessary consequences of this situation.
Though the imperfect state of our political knowledge, and the narrow capacities
of men, make it difficult to fortel the effects which will result from any
untried measure, the seeds of ruin are here scattered with such profusion as not
to escape the eye of the most careless observer.
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In this unnatural state of society, the only persons, who possess any revenue
beyond the immediate effects of their industry, are the stock-holders, who draw
almost all the rent of the land and houses, besides the produce of all the
customs and excises. These are men, who have no connexions with the state, who
can enjoy their revenue in any part of the globe in which they chuse to reside,
who will naturally bury themselves in the capital or in great cities, and who
will sink into the lethargy of a stupid and pampered luxury, without spirit,
ambition, or enjoyment. Adieu to all ideas of nobility, gentry, and family. The
stocks can be transferred in an instant, and being in such a fluctuating state,
will seldom be transmitted during three generations from father to son. Or were
they to remain ever so long in one family, they convey no hereditary authority
or credit to the possessor; and by this means, the several ranks of men, which
form a kind of independent magistracy in a state, instituted by the hand of
nature, are entirely lost; and every man in authority derives his influence from
the commission alone of the sovereign. No expedient remains for preventing or
suppressing insurrections, but mercenary armies: No expedient at all remains for
resisting tyranny: Elections are swayed by bribery and corruption alone: And the
middle power between king and people being totally removed, a grievous despotism
must infallibly prevail. The landholders, despised for their poverty, and hated
for their oppressions, will be utterly unable to make any opposition to it.
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Though a resolution should be formed by the legislature never to impose any tax
which hurts commerce and discourages industry, it will be impossible for men, in
subjects of such extreme delicacy, to reason so justly as never to be mistaken,
or amidst difficulties so urgent, never to be seduced from their resolution. The
continual fluctuations in commerce require continual alterations in the nature
of the taxes; which exposes the legislature every moment to the danger both of
wilful and involuntary error. And any great blow given to trade, whether by
injudicious taxes or by other accidents, throws the whole system of government
into confusion.
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But what expedient can the public now employ, even supposing trade to continue
in the most flourishing condition, in order to support its foreign wars and
enterprizes, and to defend its own honour and interests, or those of its allies?
I do not ask how the public is to exert such a prodigious power as it has
maintained during our late wars; where we have so much exceeded, not only our
own natural strength, but even that of the greatest empires. This extravagance
is the abuse complained of, as the source of all the dangers, to which we are at
present exposed. But since we must still suppose great commerce and opulence to
remain, even after every fund is mortgaged; these riches must be defended by
proportional power; and whence is the public to derive the revenue which
supports it? It must plainly be from a continual taxation of the annuitants, or,
which is the same thing, from mortgaging anew, on every exigency, a certain part
of their annuities; and thus making them contribute to their own defence, and to
that of the nation. But the difficulties, attending this system of policy, will
easily appear, whether we suppose the king to have become absolute master, or to
be still controuled by national councils, in which the annuitants themselves
must necessarily bear the principal sway.
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If the prince has become absolute, as may naturally be expected from this
situation of affairs, it is so easy for him to encrease his exactions upon the
annuitants, which amount only to the retaining money in his own hands, that this
species of property would soon lose all its credit, and the whole income of
every individual in the state must lie entirely at the mercy of the sovereign: A
degree of despotism, which no oriental monarchy has ever yet attained. If, on
the contrary, the consent of the annuitants be requisite for every taxation,
they will never be persuaded to contribute sufficiently even to the support of
government; as the diminution of their revenue must in that case be very
sensible, would not be disguised under the appearance of a branch of excise or
customs, and would not be shared by any other order of the state, who are
already supposed to be taxed to the utmost. There are instances, in some
republics, of a hundredth penny, and sometimes of the fiftieth, being given to
the support of the state; but this is always an extraordinary exertion of power,
and can never become the foundation of a constant national defence. We have
always found, where a government has mortgaged all its revenues, that it
necessarily sinks into a state of languor, inactivity, and impotence.
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Such are the inconveniencies, which may reasonably be foreseen, of this
situation, to which GREAT BRITAIN is visibly tending. Not to mention, the
numberless inconveniencies, which cannot be foreseen, and which must result from
so monstrous a situation as that of making the public the chief or sole
proprietor of land, besides investing it with every branch of customs and
excise, which the fertile imagination of ministers and projectors have been able
to invent.
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I must confess, that there is a strange supineness, from long custom, creeped
into all ranks of men, with regard to public debts, not unlike what divines so
vehemently complain of with regard to their religious doctrines. We all own,
that the most sanguine imagination cannot hope, either that this or any future
ministry will be possessed of such rigid and steady frugality, as to make a
considerable progress in the payment of our debts; or that the situation of
foreign affairs will, for any long time, allow them leisure and tranquillity for
such an undertaking.†j What then is to become of us? Were we ever so good
Christians, and ever so resigned to Providence; this, methinks, were a curious
question, even considered as a speculative one, and what it might not be
altogether impossible to form some conjectural solution of. The events here will
depend little upon the contingencies of battles, negociations, intrigues, and
factions. There seems to be a natural progress of things, which may guide our
reasoning. As it would have required but a moderate share of prudence, when we
first began this practice of mortgaging, to have foretold, from the nature of
men and of ministers, that things would necessarily be carried to the length we
see; so now, that they have at last happily reached it, it may not be difficult
to guess at the consequences. It must, indeed, be one of these two events;
either the nation must destroy public credit, or public credit will destroy the
nation. It is impossible that they can both subsist, after the manner they have
been hitherto managed, in this, as well as in some other countries.
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There was, indeed, a scheme for the payment of our debts, which was proposed by
an excellent citizen, Mr. HUTCHINSON, above thirty years ago, and which was much
approved of by some men of sense, but never was likely to take effect. He
asserted, that there was a fallacy in imagining that the public owed this debt;
for that really every individual owed a proportional share of it, and paid, in
his taxes, a proportional share of the interest, beside the expence of levying
these taxes. Had we not better, then, says he, make a distribution of the debt
among ourselves, and each of us contribute a sum suitable to his property, and
by that means discharge at once all our funds and public mortgages? He seems not
to have considered, that the laborious poor pay a considerable part of the taxes
by their annual consumptions, though they could not advance, at once, a
proportional part of the sum required. Not to mention, that property in money
and stock in trade might easily be concealed or disguised; and that visible
property in lands and houses would really at last answer for the whole: An
inequality and oppression, which never would be submitted to. But though this
project is not likely to take place; it is not altogether improbable, that, when
the nation becomes heartily sick of their debts, and is cruelly oppressed by
them, some daring projector may arise with visionary schemes for their
discharge. And as public credit will begin, by that time, to be a little frail,
the least touch will destroy it, as happened in FRANCE during the regency; and
in this manner it will die of the doctor.†k
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But it is more probable, that the breach of national faith will be the necessary
effect of wars, defeats, misfortunes, and public calamities, or even perhaps of
victories and conquests. I must confess, when I see princes and states fighting
and quarrelling, amidst their debts, funds, and public mortgages, it always
brings to my mind a match of cudgel-playing fought in a China shop. How can it
be expected, that sovereigns will spare a species of property, which is
pernicious to themselves and to the public, when they have so little compassion
on lives and properties, that are useful to both? Let the time come (and surely
it will come) when the new funds, created for the exigencies of the year, are
not subscribed to, and raise not the money projected. Suppose, either that the
cash of the nation is exhausted; or that our faith, which has hitherto been so
ample, begins to fail us. Suppose, that, in this distress, the nation is
threatened with an invasion; a rebellion is suspected or broken out at home; a
squadron cannot be equipped for want of pay, victuals, or repairs; or even a
foreign subsidy cannot be advanced. What must a prince or minister do in such an
emergence? The right of self-preservation is unalienable in every individual,
much more in every community. And the folly of our statesmen must then be
greater than the folly of those who first contracted debt, or, what is more,
than that of those who trusted, or continue to trust this security, if these
statesmen have the means of safety in their hands, and do not employ them. The
funds, created and mortgaged, will, by that time, bring in a large yearly
revenue, sufficient for the defence and security of the nation: Money is perhaps
lying in the exchequer, ready for the discharge of the quarterly interest:
Necessity calls, fear urges, reason exhorts, compassion alone exclaims: The
money will immediately be seized for the current service, under the most solemn
protestations, perhaps, of being immediately replaced. But no more is requisite.
The whole fabric, already tottering, falls to the ground, and buries thousands
in its ruins. And this, I think, may be called the natural death of public
credit: For to this period it tends as naturally as an animal body to its
dissolution and destruction.
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†l So great dupes are the generality of mankind, that, notwithstanding such a
violent shock to public credit, as a voluntary bankruptcy in ENGLAND would
occasion, it would not probably be long ere credit would again revive in as
flourishing a condition as before. The present king of FRANCE, during the late
war, borrowed money at lower interest than ever his grandfather did; and as low
as the BRITISH parliament, comparing the natural rate of interest in both
kingdoms. And though men are commonly more governed by what they have seen, than
by what they foresee, with whatever certainty; yet promises, protestations, fair
appearances, with the allurements of present interest, have such powerful
influence as few are able to resist. Mankind are, in all ages, caught by the
same baits: The same tricks, played over and over again, still trepan them. The
heights of popularity and patriotism are still the beaten road to power and
tyranny; flattery to treachery; standing armies to arbitrary government; and the
glory of God to the temporal interest of the clergy. The fear of an everlasting
destruction of credit, allowing it to be an evil, is a needless bugbear. A
prudent man, in reality, would rather lend to the public immediately after we
had taken a spunge to our debts, than at present; as much as an opulent knave,
even though one could not force him to pay, is a preferable debtor to an honest
bankrupt: For the former, in order to carry on business, may find it his
interest to discharge his debts, where they are not exorbitant: The latter has
it not in his power. The reasoning of TACITUS,†6 as it is eternally true, is
very applicable to our present case. Sed vulgus ad magnitudinem beneficiorum
aderat: Stultissimus quisque pecuniis mercabatur: Apud sapientes cassa
habebantur, quae neque dari neque accipi, salva republica, poterant. The public
is a debtor, whom no man can oblige to pay. The only check which the creditors
have upon her, is the interest of preserving credit; an interest, which may
easily be overbalanced by a great debt, and by a difficult and extraordinary
emergence, even supposing that credit irrecoverable. Not to mention, that a
present necessity often forces states into measures, which are, strictly
speaking, against their interest.
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These two events, supposed above, are calamitous, but not the most calamitous.
Thousands are thereby sacrificed to the safety of millions. But we are not
without danger, that the contrary event may take place, and that millions may be
sacrificed for ever to the temporary safety of thousands.†7 Our popular
government, perhaps, will render it difficult or dangerous for a minister to
venture on so desperate an expedient, as that of a voluntary bankruptcy. And
though the house of Lords be altogether composed of proprietors of land, and the
house of Commons chiefly; and consequently neither of them can be supposed to
have great property in the funds. Yet the connections of the members may be so
great with the proprietors, as to render them more tenacious of public faith,
than prudence, policy, or even justice, strictly speaking, requires. And perhaps
too, our foreign enemies†m may be so politic as to discover, that our safety
lies in despair, and may not, therefore, show the danger, open and barefaced,
till it be inevitable. The balance of power in EUROPE, our grandfathers, our
fathers, and we, have all deemed too unequal to be preserved without our
attention and assistance. But our children, weary of the struggle, and fettered
with incumbrances, may sit down secure, and see their neighbours oppressed and
conquered; till, at last, they themselves and their creditors lie both at the
mercy of the conqueror. And this may properly enough be denominated the violent
death of our public credit.
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These seem to be the events, which are not very remote, and which reason
foresees as clearly almost as she can do any thing that lies in the womb of
time. And though the ancients maintained, that in order to reach the gift of
prophecy, a certain divine fury or madness was requisite, one may safely affirm,
that, in order to deliver such prophecies as these, no more is necessary, than
merely to be in one's senses, free from the influence of popular madness and
delusion.
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†1 Essay V.
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†2 ALCIB. I. p. 123.
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†3 Lib. iii. 16 and 19.
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†4 PLUT. in vita ALEX. 36, 37. He makes these treasures amount to 80,000
talents, or about 15 millions sterl. QUINTUS CURTIUS (lib. v. cap. 2.) says,
that ALEXANDER found in SUSA above 50,000 talents.
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†5 STRABO, lib. iv. p. 188.
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†6 Hist. lib. iii. 55.
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†7 I have heard it has been computed, that all the creditors of the public,
natives and foreigners, amount only to 17,000. These make a figure at present on
their income; but in case of a public bankruptcy, would, in an instant, become
the lowest, as well as the most wretched of the people. The dignity and
authority of the landed gentry and nobility is much better rooted; and would
render the contention very unequal, if ever we come to that extremity. One would
incline to assign to this event a very near period, such as half a century, had
not our fathers' prophecies of this kind been already found fallacious, by the
duration of our public credit so much beyond all reasonable expectation. When
the astrologers in FRANCE were every year foretelling the death of HENRY IV.
These fellows, says he, must be right at last. We shall, therefore, be more
cautious than to assign any precise date; and shall content ourselves with
pointing out the event in general.
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†a Editions H to P add: Beyond the evidence of a hundred demonstrations.
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†b This paragraph was added in Ed. Q.
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†c Editions H to P add: And these puzzling arguments, (for they deserve not the
name of specious) though they could not be the foundation of LORD ORFORD'S
conduct, for he had more sense; served at least to keep his partizans in
countenance, and perplex the understanding of the nation.
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†d Editions H to P add: There is a word, which is here in the mouth of every
body, and which, I find, has also got abroad, and is much employed by foreign
writers,†1 in imitation of the ENGLISH; and this is, CIRCULATION. This word
serves as an account of every thing; and though I confess, that I have sought
for its meaning in the present subject, ever since I was a school-boy, I have
never yet been able to discover it. What possible advantage is there which the
nation can reap by the easy transference of stock from hand to hand? Or is there
any parallel to be drawn from the circulation of other commodities, to that of
chequer-notes and INDIA bonds? Where a manufacturer has a quick sale of his
goods to the merchant, the merchant to the shopkeeper, the shopkeeper to his
customers; this enlivens industry, and gives new encouragement to the first
dealer or the manufacturer and all his tradesmen, and makes them produce more
and better commodities of the same species. A stagnation is here pernicious,
wherever it happens; because it operates backwards, and stops or benumbs the
industrious hand in its production of what is useful to human life. But what
production we owe to CHANGE-ALLEY, or even what consumption, except that of
coffee, and pen, ink, and paper, I have not yet learned; nor can one forsee the
loss or decay of any one beneficial commerce or commodity, though that place and
all its inhabitants were for ever buried in the ocean.
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But though this term has never been explained by those who insist so much on the
advantages that result from a circulation, there seems, however, to be some
benefit of a similar kind, arising from our incumbrances: As indeed, what human
evil is there, which is not attended with some advantage? This we shall
endeavour to explain, that we may estimate the weight which we ought to allow
it.
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†1 MELON, DU TOT, LAW, in the pamphlets published in FRANCE.
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†e Editions H to O add as a note: On this head, I shall observe, without
interrupting the thread of the argument, that the multiplicity of our public
debts serves rather to sink the interest, and that the more the government
borrows, the cheaper may they expect to borrow; contrary to first appearance,
and contrary to common opinion. The profits of trade have an influence on
interest. See Essay IV.
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†f The remainder of this paragraph was added in Ed. Q.
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†g Edition P adds: We may also remark, that this increase of prices, derived
from paper-credit, has a more durable and a more dangerous influence than when
it arises from a great increase of gold and silver: Where an accidental overflow
of money raises the price of labor and commodities, the evil remedies itself in
a little time: The money soon flows out into all the neighbouring nations: The
prices fall to a level: And industry may be continued as before; a relief, which
cannot be expected, where the circulating specie consists chiefly of paper, and
has no intrinsic value.
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†h Editions H to N read: Are a check upon industry, heighten the price of
labour, and are an oppr. &c.
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†i The six following paragraphs were added in Ed. O.
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†j Editions H to P add the note: In times of peace and security, when alone it
is possible to pay debt, the monied interest are averse to receive partial
payments, which they know not how to dispose of to advantage; and the landed
interest are averse to continue the taxes requisite for that purpose. Why
therefore should a minister persevere in a measure so disagreeable to all
parties? For the sake, I suppose, of a posterity, which he will never see, or of
a few reasonable reflecting people, whose united interest, perhaps, will not be
able to secure him the smallest burrough in ENGLAND. 'Tis not likely we shall
ever find any minister so bad a politician. With regard to these narrow
destructive maxims of politics, all ministers are expert enough.
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†k Editions H to P add: Some neighbouring states practise an easy expedient, by
which they lighten their public debts. The French have a custom (as the Romans
formerly had) of augmenting their money; and this the nation has been so much
familiarised to, that it hurts not public credit, though it be really cutting
off at once, by an edict, so much of their debts. The Dutch diminish the
interest without the consent of their creditors, or, which is the same thing,
they arbitrarily tax the funds, as well as other property. Could we practise
either of these methods, we need never be oppressed by the national debt; and it
is not impossible but one of these, or some other method, may, at all
adventures, be tried, on the augmentation of our incumbrances and difficulties.
But people in this country are so good reasoners upon whatever regards their
interests, that such a practice will deceive nobody; and public credit will
probably tumble at once, by so dangerous a trial.
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†l This paragraph appears in Editions H to P as a footnote.
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†m Editions H to P: or rather enemy (for we have but one to dread.)
Essay 10. OF SOME REMARKABLE CUSTOMS
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ESSAY X: OF SOME REMARKABLE CUSTOMS I shall observe three remarkable customs in
three celebrated governments; and shall conclude from the whole, that all
general maxims in politics ought to be established with great caution; and that
irregular and extraordinary appearances are frequently discovered in the moral,
as well as in the physical world. The former, perhaps, we can better account
for, after they happen, from springs and principles, of which every one has,
within himself, or from observation, the strongest assurance and conviction: But
it is often fully as impossible for human prudence, before-hand, to foresee and
foretel them.
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I. One would think it essential to every supreme council or assembly, which
debates, that entire liberty of speech should be granted to every member, and
that all motions or reasonings should be received, which can any wise tend to
illustrate the point under deliberation. One would conclude, with still greater
assurance, that, after a motion was made, which was voted and approved by that
assembly in which the legislative power is lodged, the member who made the
motion must for ever be exempted from future trial or enquiry. But no political
maxim can, at first sight, appear more undisputable, than that he must, at
least, be secured from all inferior jurisdiction; and that nothing less than the
same supreme legislative assembly, in their subsequent meetings, could make him
accountable for those motions and harangues, to which they had before given
their approbation. But these axioms, however irrefragable they may appear, have
all failed in the ATHENIAN government, from causes and principles too, which
appear almost inevitable.
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By the {graphe paranomon}, or indictment of illegality, (though it has not been
remarked by antiquaries or commentators) any man was tried and punished in a
common court of judicature, for any law which had passed upon his motion, in the
assembly of the people, if that law appeared to the court unjust, or prejudicial
to the public. Thus DEMOSTHENES, finding that ship-money was levied irregularly,
and that the poor bore the same burden as the rich in equipping the gallies,
corrected this inequality by a very useful law, which proportioned the expence
to the revenue and income of each individual. He moved for this law in the
assembly: he proved its advantages;†1 he convinced the people, the only
legislature in ATHENS; the law passed, and was carried into execution: Yet was
he tried in a criminal court for that law, upon the complaint of the rich, who
resented the alteration that he had introduced into the finances.†2 He was
indeed acquitted, upon proving anew the usefulness of his law.
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CTESIPHON moved in the assembly of the people, that particular honours should be
conferred on DEMOSTHENES, as on a citizen affectionate and useful to the
commonwealth: The people, convinced of this truth, voted those honours: Yet was
CTESIPHON tried by the {graphe paranomon}. It was asserted, among other topics,
that DEMOSTHENES was not a good citizen, nor affectionate to the commonwealth:
And the orator was called upon to defend his friend, and consequently himself;
which he executed by that sublime piece of eloquence, that has ever since been
the admiration of mankind.
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After the battle of CHAERONEA, a law was passed upon the motion of HYPERIDES,
giving liberty to slaves, and inrolling them in the troops.†3 On account of this
law, the orator was afterwards tried by the indictment above-mentioned, and
defended himself, among other topics, by that stroke celebrated by PLUTARCH and
LONGINUS. It was not I, said he, that moved for this law: It was the necessities
of war; it was the battle of CHAERONEA. The orations of DEMOSTHENES abound with
many instances of trials of this nature, and prove clearly, that nothing was
more commonly practised.
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The ATHENIAN Democracy was such a tumultuous government as we can scarcely form
a notion of in the present age of the world. The whole collective body of the
people voted in every law, without any limitation of property, without any
distinction of rank, without controul from any magistracy or senate;†4 and
consequently without regard to order, justice, or prudence. The ATHENIANS soon
became sensible of the mischiefs attending this constitution: But being averse
to checking themselves by any rule or restriction, they resolved, at least, to
check their demagogues or counsellors, by the fear of future punishment and
enquiry. They accordingly instituted this remarkable law; a law esteemed so
essential to their form of government, that AESCHINES insists on it as a known
truth, that, were it abolished or neglected, it were impossible for the
Democracy to subsist.†5
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The people feared not any ill consequence to liberty from the authority of the
criminal courts; because these were nothing but very numerous juries, chosen by
lot from among the people. And they justly considered themselves as in a state
of perpetual pupillage; where they had an authority, after they came to the use
of reason, not only to retract and controul whatever had been determined, but to
punish any guardian for measures which they had embraced by his persuasion. The
same law had place in THEBES;†6 and for the same reason.
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It appears to have been a usual practice in ATHENS, on the establishment of any
law esteemed very useful or popular, to prohibit for ever its abrogation and
repeal. Thus the demagogue, who diverted all the public revenues to the support
of shows and spectacles, made it criminal so much as to move for a repeal of
this law.†7 Thus LEPTINES moved for a law, not only to recal all the immunities
formerly granted, but to deprive the people for the future of the power of
granting any more.†8 Thus all bills of attainder†9 were forbid, or laws that
affected one ATHENIAN, without extending to the whole commonwealth. These absurd
clauses, by which the legislature vainly attempted to bind itself for ever,
proceeded from an universal sense in the people of their own levity and
inconstancy.
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II. A wheel within a wheel, such as we observe in the GERMAN empire, is
considered by Lord SHAFTESBURY†10 as an absurdity in politics: But what must we
say to two equal wheels, which govern the same political machine, without any
mutual check, controul, or subordination; and yet preserve the greatest harmony
and concord? To establish two distinct legislatures, each of which possesses
full and absolute authority within itself, and stands in no need of the other's
assistance, in order to give validity to its acts; this may appear, before-hand,
altogether impracticable, as long as men are actuated by the passions of
ambition, emulation, and avarice, which have hitherto been their chief governing
principles. And should I assert, that the state I have in my eye was divided
into two distinct factions, each of which predominated in a distinct
legislature, and yet produced no clashing in these independent powers; the
supposition may appear incredible. And if, to augment the paradox, I should
affirm, that this disjointed, irregular government, was the most active,
triumphant, and illustrious commonwealth, that ever yet appeared; I should
certainly be told, that such a political chimera was as absurd as any vision of
priests or poets. But there is no need for searching long, in order to prove the
reality of the foregoing suppositions: For this was actually the case with the
ROMAN republic.
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The legislative power was there lodged in the comitia centuriata and comitia
tributa. In the former, it is well known, the people voted according to their
census; so that when the first class was unanimous, though it contained not,
perhaps, the hundredth part of the commonwealth, it determined the whole; and,
with the authority of the senate, established a law. In the latter, every vote
was equal; and as the authority of the senate was not there requisite, the lower
people entirely prevailed, and gave law to the whole state. In all
party-divisions, at first between the PATRICIANS and PLEBEIANS, afterwards
between the nobles and the people, the interest of the Aristocracy was
predominant in the first legislature; that of the Democracy in the second: The
one could always destroy what the other had established: Nay, the one, by a
sudden and unforeseen motion, might take the start of the other, and totally
annihilate its rival, by a vote, which, from the nature of the constitution, had
the full authority of a law. But no such contest is observed in the history of
ROME: No instance of a quarrel between these two legislatures; though many
between the parties that governed in each. Whence arose this concord, which may
seem so extraordinary?
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The legislature established in ROME, by the authority of SERVIUS TULLIUS, was
the comitia centuriata, which, after the expulsion of the kings, rendered the
government, for some time, very aristocratical. But the people, having numbers
and force on their side, and being elated with frequent conquests and victories
in their foreign wars, always prevailed when pushed to extremity, and first
extorted from the senate the magistracy of the tribunes, and next the
legislative power of the comitia tributa. It then behoved the nobles to be more
careful than ever not to provoke the people. For beside the force which the
latter were always possessed of, they had now got possession of legal authority,
and could instantly break in pieces any order or institution which directly
opposed them. By intrigue, by influence, by money, by combination, and by the
respect paid to their character, the nobles might often prevail, and direct the
whole machine of government: But had they openly set their comitia centuriata in
opposition to the tributa, they had soon lost the advantage of that institution,
together with their consuls, praetors, ediles, and all the magistrates elected
by it. But the comitia tributa, not having the same reason for respecting the
centuriata, frequently repealed laws favourable to the Aristocracy: They limited
the authority of the nobles, protected the people from oppression, and
controuled the actions of the senate and magistracy. The centuriata found it
convenient always to submit; and though equal in authority, yet being inferior
in power, durst never directly give any shock to the other legislature, either
by repealing its laws, or establishing laws, which, it foresaw, would soon be
repealed by it.
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No instance is found of any opposition or struggle between these comitia; except
one slight attempt of this kind, mentioned by APPIAN in the third book of his
civil wars. MARK ANTHONY, resolving to deprive DECIMUS BRUTUS of the government
of CISALPINE GAUL, railed in the Forum, and called one of the comitia, in order
to prevent the meeting of the other, which had been ordered by the senate. But
affairs were then fallen into such confusion, and the ROMAN constitution was so
near its final dissolution, that no inference can be drawn from such an
expedient. This contest, besides, was founded more on form than party. It was
the senate who ordered the comitia tributa, that they might obstruct the meeting
of the centuriata, which, by the constitution, or at least forms of the
government, could alone dispose of provinces.
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CICERO was recalled by the comitia centuriata, though banished by the tributa,
that is, by a plebiscitum. But his banishment, we may observe, never was
considered as a legal deed, arising from the free choice and inclination of the
people. It was always ascribed to the violence alone of CLODIUS, and to the
disorders introduced by him into the government.
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III. The third custom, which we purpose to remark, regards ENGLAND; and though
it be not so important as those which we have pointed out in ATHENS and ROME, is
no less singular and unexpected. It is a maxim in politics, which we readily
admit as undisputed and universal, that a power, however great, when granted by
law to an eminent magistrate, is not so dangerous to liberty, as an authority,
however inconsiderable, which he acquires from violence and usurpation. For,
besides that the law always limits every power which it bestows, the very
receiving it as a concession establishes the authority whence it is derived, and
preserves the harmony of the constitution. By the same right that one
prerogative is assumed without law, another may also be claimed, and another,
with still greater facility; while the first usurpations both serve as
precedents to the following, and give force to maintain them. Hence the heroism
of HAMPDEN'S conduct, who sustained the whole violence of royal prosecution,
rather than pay a tax of twenty shillings, not imposed by parliament; hence the
care of all ENGLISH patriots to guard against the first encroachments of the
crown; and hence alone the existence, at this day, of ENGLISH liberty.
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There is, however, one occasion, where the parliament has departed from this
maxim; and that is, in the pressing of seamen. The exercise of an irregular
power is here tacitly permitted in the crown; and though it has frequently been
under deliberation, how that power might be rendered legal, and granted, under
proper restrictions, to the sovereign, no safe expedient could ever be proposed
for that purpose; and the danger to liberty always appeared greater from law
than from usurpation. While this power is exercised to no other end than to man
the navy, men willingly submit to it, from a sense of its use and necessity; and
the sailors, who are alone affected by it, find no body to support them, in
claiming the rights and privileges, which the law grants, without distinction,
to all ENGLISH subjects. But were this power, on any occasion, made an
instrument of faction or ministerial tyranny, the opposite faction, and indeed
all lovers of their country, would immediately take the alarm, and support the
injured party; the liberty of ENGLISHMEN would be asserted; juries would be
implacable; and the tools of tyranny, acting both against law and equity, would
meet with the severest vengeance. On the other hand, were the parliament to
grant such an authority, they would probably fall into one of these two
inconveniencies: They would either bestow it under so many restrictions as would
make it lose its effect, by cramping the authority of the crown; or they would
render it so large and comprehensive, as might give occasion to great abuses,
for which we could, in that case, have no remedy. The very irregularity of the
practice, at present, prevents its abuses, by affording so easy a remedy against
them.
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I pretend not, by this reasoning, to exclude all possibility of contriving a
register for seamen, which might man the navy, without being dangerous to
liberty. I only observe, that no satisfactory scheme of that nature has yet been
proposed. Rather than adopt any project hitherto invented, we continue a
practice seemingly the most absurd and unaccountable. Authority, in times of
full internal peace and concord, is armed against law. A continued violence is
permitted in the crown, amidst the greatest jealousy and watchfulness in the
people; nay proceeding from those very principles: Liberty, in a country of the
highest liberty, is left entirely to its own defence, without any countenance or
protection: The wild state of nature is renewed, in one of the most civilized
societies of mankind: And great violence and disorder†a are committed with
impunity; while the one party pleads obedience to the supreme magistrate, the
other the sanction of fundamental laws.
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†1 His harangue for it is still extant; {peri Symmorias}.
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†2 Pro CTESIPHONTE.
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†3 PLUTARCHUS in vita decem oratorum. DEMOSTHENES gives a different account of
this law. Contra ARISTOGITON. orat. II. 803-4. He says, that its purport was, to
render the {atimoi epitimoi}, or to restore the privilege of bearing offices to
those who had been declared incapable. Perhaps these were both clauses of the
same law.
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†4 The senate of the Bean was only a less numerous mob, chosen by lot from among
the people; and their authority was not great.
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†5 In CTESIPHONTEM. It is remarkable, that the first step after the dissolution
of the Democracy by CRITIAS and the Thirty, was to annul the {graphe paranomon},
as we learn from DEMOSTHENES {kata Timok}. The orator in this oration gives us
the words of the law, establishing the {graphe paranomon}, pag. 297. ex edit.
ALDI. And he accounts for it, from the same principles we here reason upon.
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†6 PLUT. in vita PELOP. c. 25.
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†7 DEMOST. Olynth. 1. 2.
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†8 DEMOST. contra LEPT. 457.
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†9 DEMOST. contra ARISTOCRATEM, 649.
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†10 Essay on the freedom of wit and humour, part 3. sec. 2.
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†a Editions H to P: Among the people, the most humane and the best natured.
Essay 11. OF THE POPULOUSNESS OF ANCIENT NATIONS
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ESSAY XI: OF THE POPULOUSNESS OF ANCIENT NATIONS
There is very little ground, either from reason or observation, to conclude the
world eternal or incorruptible. The continual and rapid motion of matter, the
violent revolutions with which every part is agitated, the changes remarked in
the heavens, the plain traces as well as tradition of an universal deluge, or
general convulsion of the elements; all these prove strongly the mortality of
this fabric of the world, and its passage, by corruption or dissolution, from
one state or order to another. It must therefore, as well as each individual
form which it contains, have its infancy, youth, manhood, and old age; and it is
probable, that, in all these variations, man, equally with every animal and
vegetable, will partake. In the flourishing age of the world, it may be
expected, that the human species should possess greater vigour both of mind and
body, more prosperous health, higher spirits, longer life, and a stronger
inclination and power of generation. But if the general system of things, and
human society of course, have any such gradual revolutions, they are too slow to
be discernible in that short period which is comprehended by history and
tradition. Stature and force of body, length of life, even courage and extent of
genius, seem hitherto to have been naturally, in all ages, pretty much the same.
The arts and sciences, indeed, have flourished in one period, and have decayed
in another: But we may observe, that, at the time when they rose to greatest
perfection among one people, they were perhaps totally unknown to all the
neighbouring nations; and though they universally decayed in one age, yet in a
succeeding generation they again revived, and diffused themselves over the
world. As far, therefore, as observation reaches, there is no universal
difference discernible in the human species; and though it were allowed, that
the universe, like an animal body, had a natural progress from infancy to old
age; yet as it must still be uncertain, whether, at present, it be advancing to
its point of perfection, or declining from it, we cannot thence presuppose any
decay in human nature.†1 To prove, therefore, or account for that superior
populousness of antiquity, which is commonly supposed, by the imaginary youth or
vigour of the world, will scarcely be admitted by any just reasoner. These
general physical causes ought entirely to be excluded from this question.
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There are indeed some more particular physical causes of importance. Diseases
are mentioned in antiquity, which are almost unknown to modern medicine; and new
diseases have arisen and propagated themselves, of which there are no traces in
ancient history. In this particular we may observe, upon comparison, that the
disadvantage is much on the side of the moderns. Not to mention some others of
less moment; the small-pox commits such ravages, as would almost alone account
for the great superiority ascribed to ancient times. The tenth or the twelfth
part of mankind, destroyed every generation, should make a vast difference, it
may be thought, in the numbers of the people; and when joined to venereal
distempers, a new plague diffused every where, this disease is perhaps
equivalent, by its constant operation, to the three great scourges of mankind,
war, pestilence, and famine. Were it certain, therefore, that ancient times were
more populous than the present, and could no moral causes be assigned for so
great a change; these physical causes alone, in the opinion of many, would be
sufficient to give us satisfaction on that head.
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But is it certain, that antiquity was so much more populous, as is pretended?
The extravagancies of VOSSIUS, with regard to this subject, are well known. But
an author of much greater genius and discernment has ventured to affirm, that,
according to the best computations which these subjects will admit of, there are
not now, on the face of the earth, the fiftieth part of mankind, which existed
in the time of JULIUS CAESAR.†2 It may easily be observed, that the comparison,
in this case, must be imperfect, even though we confine ourselves to the scene
of ancient history; EUROPE, and the nations round the MEDITERRANEAN. We know not
exactly the numbers of any EUROPEAN kingdom, or even city, at present: How can
we pretend to calculate those of ancient cities and states, where historians
have left us such imperfect traces? For my part, the matter appears to me so
uncertain, that, as I intend to throw together some reflections on that head, I
shall intermingle the enquiry concerning causes with that concerning facts;
which ought never to be admitted, where the facts can be ascertained with any
tolerable assurance. We shall, first, consider whether it be probable, from what
we know of the situation of society in both periods, that antiquity must have
been more populous; secondly, whether in reality it was so. If I can make it
appear, that the conclusion is not so certain as is pretended, in favour of
antiquity, it is all I aspire to.
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In general, we may observe, that the question, with regard to the comparative
populousness of ages or kingdoms, implies important consequences, and commonly
determines concerning the preference of their whole police, their manners, and
the constitution of their government. For as there is in all men, both male and
female, a desire and power of generation, more active than is ever universally
exerted, the restraints, which they lie under, must proceed from some
difficulties in their situation, which it belongs to a wise legislature
carefully to observe and remove. Almost every man who thinks he can maintain a
family will have one; and the human species, at this rate of propagation, would
more than double every generation.†a How fast do mankind multiply in every
colony or new settlement; where it is an easy matter to provide for a family;
and where men are nowise straitened or confined, as in long established
governments? History tells us frequently of plagues, which have swept away the
third or fourth part of a people: Yet in a generation or two, the destruction
was not perceived; and the society had again acquired their former number. The
lands which were cultivated, the houses built, the commodities raised, the
riches acquired, enabled the people, who escaped, immediately to marry, and to
rear families, which supplied the place of those who had perished.†3 And for a
like reason, every wise, just, and mild government, by rendering the condition
of its subjects easy and secure, will always abound most in people, as well as
in commodities and riches.†b A country, indeed, whose climate and soil are
fitted for vines, will naturally be more populous than one which produces corn
only, and that more populous than one which is only fitted for pasturage. In
general, warm climates, as the necessities of the inhabitants are there fewer,
and vegetation more powerful, are likely to be most populous: But if every thing
else be equal, it seems natural to expect, that, wherever there are most
happiness and virtue, and the wisest institutions, there will also be most
people.
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The question, therefore, concerning the populousness of ancient and modern
times, being allowed of great importance, it will be requisite, if we would
bring it to some determination, to compare both the domestic and political
situation of these two periods, in order to judge of the facts by their moral
causes; which is the first view in which we proposed to consider them.
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The chief difference between the domestic economy of the ancients and that of
the moderns consists in the practice of slavery, which prevailed among the
former, and which has been abolished for some centuries throughout the greater
part of EUROPE. Some passionate admirers of the ancients, and zealous partizans
of civil liberty, (for these sentiments, as they are, both of them, in the main,
extremely just, are found to be almost inseparable) cannot forbear regretting
the loss of this institution; and whilst they brand all submission to the
government of a single person with the harsh denomination of slavery, they would
gladly reduce the greater part of mankind to real slavery and subjection. But to
one who considers coolly on the subject it will appear, that human nature, in
general, really enjoys more liberty at present, in the most arbitrary government
of EUROPE, than it ever did during the most flourishing period of ancient times.
As much as submission to a petty prince, whose dominions extend not beyond a
single city, is more grievous than obedience to a great monarch; so much is
domestic slavery more cruel and oppressive than any civil subjection whatsoever.
The more the master is removed from us in place and rank, the greater liberty we
enjoy; the less are our actions inspected and controled; and the fainter that
cruel comparison becomes between our own subjection, and the freedom, and even
dominion of another. The remains which are found of domestic slavery, in the
AMERICAN colonies, and among some EUROPEAN nations, would never surely create a
desire of rendering it more universal. The little humanity, commonly observed in
persons, accustomed, from their infancy, to exercise so great authority over
their fellow-creatures, and to trample upon human nature, were sufficient alone
to disgust us with that unbounded dominion. Nor can a more probable reason be
assigned for the severe, I might say, barbarous manners of ancient times, than
the practice of domestic slavery; by which every man of rank was rendered a
petty tyrant, and educated amidst the flattery, submission, and low debasement
of his slaves.
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According to ancient practice, all checks were on the inferior, to restrain him
to the duty of submission; none on the superior, to engage him to the reciprocal
duties of gentleness and humanity. In modern times, a bad servant finds not
easily a good master, nor a bad master a good servant; and the checks are
mutual, suitably to the inviolable and eternal laws of reason and equity.
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The custom of exposing old, useless, or sick slaves in an island of the TYBER,
there to starve, seems to have been pretty common in ROME; and whoever
recovered, after having been so exposed, had his liberty given him, by an edict
of the emperor CLAUDIUS; in which it was likewise forbidden to kill any slave
merely for old age or sickness.†4 But supposing that this edict was strictly
obeyed, would it better the domestic treatment of slaves, or render their lives
much more comfortable? We may imagine what others would practise, when it was
the professed maxim of the elder CATO, to sell his superannuated slaves for any
price, rather than maintain what he esteemed a useless burden.†5
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The ergastula, or dungeons, where slaves in chains were forced to work, were
very common all over ITALY. COLUMELLA†6 advises, that they be always built under
ground; and recommends†7 it as the duty of a careful overseer, to call over
every day the names of these slaves, like the mustering of a regiment or ship's
company, in order to know presently when any of them had deserted. A proof of
the frequency of these ergastula, and of the great number of slaves usually
confined in them.†c
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A chained slave for a porter, was usual in ROME, as appears from OVID,†8 and
other authors.†9 Had not these people shaken off all sense of compassion towards
that unhappy part of their species, would they have presented their friends, at
the first entrance, with such an image of the severity of the master, and misery
of the slave?
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Nothing so common in all trials, even of civil causes, as to call for the
evidence of slaves; which was always extorted by the most exquisite torments.
DEMOSTHENES says,†10 that, where it was possible to produce, for the same fact,
either freemen or slaves, as witnesses, the judges always preferred the
torturing of slaves, as a more certain evidence.†11
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SENECA draws a picture of that disorderly luxury, which changes day into night,
and night into day, and inverts every stated hour of every office in life. Among
other circumstances, such as displacing the meals and times of bathing, he
mentions, that, regularly about the third hour of the night, the neighbours of
one, who indulges this false refinement, hear the noise of whips and lashes;
and, upon enquiry, find that he is then taking an account of the conduct of his
servants, and giving them due correction and discipline. This is not remarked as
an instance of cruelty, but only of disorder, which, even in actions the most
usual and methodical, changes the fixed hours that an established custom had
assigned for them.†12
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But our present business is only to consider the influence of slavery on the
populousness of a state. It is pretended, that, in this particular, the ancient
practice had infinitely the advantage, and was the chief cause of that extreme
populousness, which is supposed in those times. At present, all masters
discourage the marrying of their male servants, and admit not by any means the
marriage of the female, who are then supposed altogether incapacitated for their
service. But where the property of the servants is lodged in the master, their
marriage forms his riches, and brings him a succession of slaves that supply the
place of those whom age and infirmity have disabled. He encourages, therefore,
their propagation as much as that of his cattle; rears the young with the same
care; and educates them to some art or calling, which may render them more
useful or valuable to him. The opulent are, by this policy, interested in the
being at least, though not in the well-being of the poor; and enrich themselves,
by encreasing the number and industry of those who are subjected to them. Each
man, being a sovereign in his own family, has the same interest with regard to
it, as the prince with regard to the state; and has not, like the prince, any
opposite motives of ambition or vain-glory, which may lead him to depopulate his
little sovereignty. All of it is, at all times, under his eye; and he has
leisure to inspect the most minute detail of the marriage and education of his
subjects.†13
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Such are the consequences of domestic slavery, according to the first aspect and
appearance of things: But if we enter more deeply into the subject, we shall
perhaps find reason to retract our hasty determinations. The comparison is
shocking between the management of human creatures and that of cattle; but being
extremely just, when applied to the present subject, it may be proper to trace
the consequences of it. At the capital, near all great cities, in all populous,
rich, industrious provinces, few cattle are bred. Provisions, lodging,
attendance, labour are there dear; and men find their account better in buying
the cattle, after they come to a certain age, from the remoter and cheaper
countries. These are consequently the only breeding countries for cattle; and by
a parity of reason, for men too, when the latter are put on the same footing
with the former. To rear a child in LONDON, till he could be serviceable, would
cost much dearer, than to buy one of the same age from SCOTLAND or IRELAND;
where he had been bred in a cottage, covered with rags, and fed on oatmeal or
potatoes. Those who had slaves, therefore, in all the richer and more populous
countries, would discourage the pregnancy of the females, and either prevent or
destroy the birth. The human species would perish in those places where it ought
to encrease the fastest; and a perpetual recruit be wanted from the poorer and
more desert provinces. Such a continued drain would tend mightily to depopulate
the state, and render great cities ten times more destructive than with us;
where every man is master of himself, and provides for his children from the
powerful instinct of nature, not the calculations of sordid interest. If LONDON,
at present, without much encreasing, needs a yearly recruit from the country, of
5000 people, as is usually computed, what must it require, if the greater part
of the tradesmen and common people were slaves, and were hindered from breeding
by their avaricious masters?
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All ancient authors tell us, that there was a perpetual flux of slaves to ITALY
from the remoter provinces, particularly SYRIA, CILICIA,†14 CAPPADOCIA, and the
Lesser ASIA, THRACE, and AEGYPT: Yet the number of people did not encrease in
ITALY; and writers complain of the continual decay of industry and
agriculture.†15 Where then is that extreme fertility of the ROMAN slaves, which
is commonly supposed? So far from multiplying, they could not, it seems, so much
as keep up the stock, without immense recruits. And though great numbers were
continually manumitted and converted into ROMAN citizens, the numbers even of
these did not encrease,†16 till the freedom of the city was communicated to
foreign provinces.
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The term for a slave, born and bred in the family, was verna;†17 and these
slaves seem to have been entitled by custom to privileges and indulgences beyond
others; a sufficient reason why the masters would not be fond of rearing many of
that kind.†18 Whoever is acquainted with the maxims of our planters, will
acknowledge the justness of this observation.†19
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ATTICUS is much praised by his historian for the care, which he took in
recruiting his family from the slaves born in it:†20 May we not thence infer,
that this practice was not then very common?
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The names of slaves in the GREEK comedies, SYRUS, MYSUS, GETA, THRAX, DAVUS,
LYDUS, PHRYX, &c. afford a presumption, that, at ATHENS at least, most of the
slaves were imported from foreign countries. The ATHENIANS, says STRABO,†21 gave
to their slaves, either the names of the nations whence they were bought, as
LYDUS, SYRUS; or the names that were most common among those nations, as MANES
or MIDAS to a PHRYGIAN, TIBIAS to a PAPHLAGONIAN.
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DEMOSTHENES, having mentioned a law which forbad any man to strike the slave of
another, praises the humanity of this law; and adds, that, if the barbarians
from whom the slaves were bought, had information, that their countrymen met
with such gentle treatment, they would entertain a great esteem for the
ATHENIANS.†22 ISOCRATES†23 too insinuates, that the slaves of the GREEKS were
generally or very commonly barbarians.†e ARISTOTLE in his Politics†24 plainly
supposes, that a slave is always a foreigner. The ancient comic writers
represented the slaves as speaking a barbarous language.†25 This was an
imitation of nature.
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It is well known that DEMOSTHENES, in his nonage, had been defrauded of a large
fortune by his tutors, and that afterwards he recovered, by a prosecution at
law, the value of his patrimony. His orations, on that occasion, still remain,
and contain an exact detail of the whole substance left by his father,†26 in
money, merchandise, houses, and slaves, together with the value of each
particular. Among the rest were 52 slaves, handicraftsmen, namely, 32
sword-cutlers, and 20 cabinet-makers;†27 all males; not a word of any wives,
children or family, which they certainly would have had, had it been a common
practice at ATHENS to breed from the slaves: And the value of the whole must
have much depended on that circumstance. No female slaves are even so much as
mentioned, except some house-maids, who belonged to his mother. This argument
has great force, if it be not altogether conclusive.
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Consider this passage of PLUTARCH,†28 speaking of the Elder CATO. "He had a
great number of slaves, whom he took care to buy at the sales of prisoners of
war; and he chose them young, that they might easily be accustomed to any diet
or manner of life, and be instructed in any business or labour, as men teach any
thing to young dogs or horses.-- And esteeming love the chief source of all
disorders, he allowed the male slaves to have a commerce with the female in his
family, upon paying a certain sum for this privilege: But he strictly prohibited
all intrigues out of his family." Are there any symptoms in this narration of
that care which is supposed in the ancients, of the marriage and propagation of
their slaves? If that was a common practice, founded on general interest, it
would surely have been embraced by CATO, who was a great economist, and lived in
times when the ancient frugality and simplicity of manners were still in credit
and reputation.
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It is expressly remarked by the writers of the ROMAN law, that scarcely any ever
purchase slaves with a view of breeding from them.†29
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Our lackeys and house-maids, I own, do not serve much to multiply their species:
But the ancients, besides those who attended on their person, had almost all
their labour performed,†f and even manufactures executed, by slaves, who lived,
many of them, in their family; and some great men possessed to the number of
10,000. If there be any suspicion, therefore, that this institution was
unfavourable to propagation, (and the same reason, at least in part, holds with
regard to ancient slaves as modern servants) how destructive must slavery have
proved?
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History mentions a ROMAN nobleman, who had 400 slaves under the same roof with
him: And having been assassinated at home by the furious revenge of one of them,
the law was executed with rigour, and all without exception were put to
death.†30 Many other ROMAN noblemen had families equally, or more numerous; and
I believe every one will allow, that this would scarcely be practicable, were we
to suppose all the slaves married, and the females to be breeders.†31
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So early as the poet HESIOD,†32 married slaves, whether male or female, were
esteemed inconvenient. How much more, where families had encreased to such an
enormous size as in ROME, and where the ancient simplicity of manners was
banished from all ranks of people?
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XENOPHON in his Economics, where he gives directions for the management of a
farm, recommends a strict care and attention of laying the male and the female
slaves at a distance from each other. He seems not to suppose that they are ever
married. The only slaves among the GREEKS that appear to have continued their
own race, were the HELOTES, who had houses apart, and were more the slaves of
the public than of individuals.†33
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†g The same author†34 tells us, that NICIAS'S overseer, by agreement with his
master, was obliged to pay him an obolus a day for each slave; besides
maintaining them, and keeping up the number. Had the ancient slaves been all
breeders, this last circumstance of the contract had been superfluous.
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The ancients talk so frequently of a fixed, stated portion of provisions
assigned to each slave,†35 that we are naturally led to conclude, that slaves
lived almost all single, and received that portion as a kind of board-wages.
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The practice, indeed, of marrying slaves seems not to have been very common,
even among the country-labourers, where it is more naturally to be expected.
CATO,†36 enumerating the slaves requisite to labour a vineyard of a hundred
acres, makes them amount to 15; the overseer and his wife, villicus and villica,
and 13 male slaves; for an olive plantation of 240 acres, the overseer and his
wife, and 11 male slaves; and so in proportion to a greater or less plantation
or vineyard.
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VARRO,†37 quoting this passage of CATO, allows his computation to be just in
every respect, except the last. For as it is requisite, says he, to have an
overseer and his wife, whether the vineyard or plantation be great or small,
this must alter the exactness of the proportion. Had CATO'S computation been
erroneous in any other respect, it had certainly been corrected by VARRO, who
seems fond of discovering so trivial an error.
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The same author,†38 as well as COLUMELLA,†39 recommends it as requisite to give
a wife to the overseer, in order to attach him the more strongly to his master's
service. This was therefore a peculiar indulgence granted to a slave, in whom so
great confidence was reposed.
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In the same place, VARRO mentions it as an useful precaution, not to buy too
many slaves from the same nation, lest they beget factions and seditions in the
family: A presumption, that in ITALY, the greater part, even of the country
labouring slaves, (for he speaks of no other) were bought from the remoter
provinces. All the world knows, that the family slaves in ROME, who were
instruments of show and luxury, were commonly imported from the east. Hoc
profecere, says PLINY, speaking of the jealous care of masters, mancipiorum
legiones, et in domo turba externa, ac servorum quoque causa nomenclator
adhibendus.†40
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It is indeed recommended by VARRO,†41 to propagate young shepherds in the family
from the old ones. For as grasing farms were commonly in remote and cheap
places, and each shepherd lived in a cottage apart, his marriage and encrease
were not liable to the same inconveniencies as in dearer places, and where many
servants lived in the family; which was universally the case in such of the
ROMAN farms as produced wine or corn. If we consider this exception with regard
to shepherds, and weigh the reasons of it, it will serve for a strong
confirmation of all our foregoing suspicions.†42
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COLUMELLA,†43 I own, advises the master to give a reward, and even liberty to a
female slave, that had reared him above three children: A proof, that sometimes
the ancients propagated from their slaves; which, indeed, cannot be denied. Were
it otherwise, the practice of slavery, being so common in antiquity, must have
been destructive to a degree which no expedient could repair. All I pretend to
infer from these reasonings is, that slavery is in general disadvantageous both
to the happiness and populousness of mankind, and that its place is much better
supplied by the practice of hired servants.
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The laws, or, as some writers call them, the seditions of the GRACCHI, were
occasioned by their observing the encrease of slaves all over ITALY, and the
diminution of free citizens. APPIAN†44 ascribes this encrease to the propagation
of the slaves: PLUTARCH†45 to the purchasing of barbarians, who were chained and
imprisoned, {barbarika desmoteria}.†46 It is to be presumed that both causes
concurred.
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SICILY, says FLORUS†47 was full of ergastula, and was cultivated by labourers in
chains. EUNUS and ATHENIO excited the servile war, by breaking up these
monstrous prisons, and giving liberty to 60,000 slaves. The younger POMPEY
augmented his army in SPAIN by the same expedient.†48 If the country labourers,
throughout the ROMAN empire, were so generally in this situation, and if it was
difficult or impossible to find separate lodgings for the families of the city
servants, how unfavourable to propagation, as well as to humanity, must the
institution of domestic slavery be esteemed?
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CONSTANTINOPLE, at present, requires the same recruits of slaves from all the
provinces, that ROME did of old; and these provinces are of consequence far from
being populous.
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EGYPT, according to Mons. MAILLET, sends continual colonies of black slaves to
the other parts of the TURKISH empire; and receives annually an equal return of
white: The one brought from the inland parts of AFRICA; the other from
MINGRELIA, CIRCASSIA, and TARTARY.
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Our modern convents are, no doubt, bad institutions: But there is reason to
suspect, that anciently every great family in ITALY, and probably in other parts
of the world, was a species of convent. And though we have reason to condemn all
those popish institutions, as nurseries†i of superstition, burthensome to the
public, and oppressive to the poor prisoners, male as well as female; yet may it
be questioned whether they be so destructive to the populousness of a state, as
is commonly imagined. Were the land, which belongs to a convent, bestowed on a
nobleman, he would spend its revenue on dogs, horses, grooms, footmen, cooks,
and house-maids; and his family would not furnish many more citizens than the
convent.
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The common reason, why any parent thrusts his daughters into nunneries, is, that
he may not be overburthened with too numerous a family; but the ancients had a
method almost as innocent, and more effectual to that purpose, to wit, exposing
their children in early infancy. This practice was very common; and is not
spoken of by any author of those times with the horror it deserves, or
scarcely†49 even with disapprobation. PLUTARCH, the humane, good-natured
PLUTARCH,†50 mentions it as a merit in ATTALUS, king of PERGAMUS, that he
murdered, or, if you will, exposed all his own children, in order to leave his
crown to the son of his brother, EUMENES; signalizing in this manner his
gratitude and affection to EUMENES, who had left him his heir preferably to that
son. It was SOLON, the most celebrated of the sages of GREECE, that gave parents
permission by law to kill their children.†51
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Shall we then allow these two circumstances to compensate each other, to wit,
monastic vows and the exposing of children, and to be unfavourable, in equal
degrees, to the propagation of mankind? I doubt the advantage is here on the
side of antiquity. Perhaps, by an odd connexion of causes, the barbarous
practice of the ancients might rather render those times more populous. By
removing the terrors of too numerous a family it would engage many people in
marriage; and such is the force of natural affection, that very few, in
comparison, would have resolution enough, when it came to the push, to carry
into execution their former intentions.
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CHINA, the only country where this practice of exposing children prevails at
present, is the most populous country we know of; and every man is married
before he is twenty. Such early marriages could scarcely be general, had not men
the prospect of so easy a method of getting rid of their children. I own, that
PLUTARCH†52 speaks of it as a very general maxim of the poor to expose their
children; and as the rich were then averse to marriage, on account of the
courtship they met with from those who expected legacies from them, the public
must have been in a bad situation between them.†53
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Of all sciences there is none, where first appearances are more deceitful than
in politics. Hospitals for foundlings seem favourable to the encrease of
numbers; and perhaps, may be so, when kept under proper restrictions. But when
they open the door to every one, without distinction, they have probably a
contrary effect, and are pernicious to the state. It is computed, that every
ninth child born at PARIS, is sent to the hospital; though it seems certain,
according to the common course of human affairs, that it is not a hundredth
child whose parents are altogether incapacitated to rear and educate him. The†j
great difference, for health, industry, and morals, between an education in an
hospital and that in a private family, should induce us not to make the entrance
into the former too easy and engaging. To kill one's own child is shocking to
nature, and must therefore be somewhat unusual; but to turn over the care of him
upon others, is very tempting to the natural indolence of mankind.
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Having considered the domestic life and manners of the ancients, compared to
those of the moderns; where, in the main, we seem rather superior, so far as the
present question is concerned; we shall now examine the political customs and
institutions of both ages, and weigh their influence in retarding or forwarding
the propagation of mankind.
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Before the encrease of the ROMAN power, or rather till its full establishment,
almost all the nations, which are the scene of ancient history, were divided
into small territories or petty commonwealths, where of course a great equality
of fortune prevailed, and the center of the government was always very near its
frontiers.
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This was the situation of affairs not only in GREECE and ITALY, but also in
SPAIN, GAUL, GERMANY, AFRIC, and a great part of the Lesser ASIA: And it must be
owned, that no institution could be more favourable to the propagation of
mankind. For, though a man of an overgrown fortune, not being able to consume
more than another, must share it with those who serve and attend him; yet their
possession being precarious, they have not the same encouragement to marry, as
if each had a small fortune, secure and independent. Enormous cities are,
besides, destructive to society, beget vice and disorder of all kinds, starve
the remoter provinces, and even starve themselves, by the prices to which they
raise all provisions. Where each man had his little house and field to himself,
and each county had its capital, free and independent; what a happy situation of
mankind! How favourable to industry and agriculture; to marriage and
propagation! The prolific virtue of men, were it to act in its full extent,
without that restraint which poverty and necessity imposes on it, would double
the number every generation: And nothing surely can give it more liberty, than
such small commonwealths, and such an equality of fortune among the citizens.
All small states naturally produce equality of fortune, because they afford no
opportunities of great encrease; but small commonwealths much more, by that
division of power and authority which is essential to them.
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When XENOPHON†54 returned after the famous expedition with CYRUS, he hired
himself and 6000 of the GREEKS into the service of SEUTHES, a prince of THRACE;
and the articles of his agreement were, that each soldier should receive a daric
a month, each captain two darics, and he himself, as general, four: A regulation
of pay which would not a little surprise our modern officers.
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DEMOSTHENES and AESCHINES, with eight more, were sent ambassadors to PHILIP of
MACEDON, and their appointments for above four months were a thousand drachmas,
which is less than a drachma a day for each ambassador.†55 But a drachma a day,
nay sometimes two,†56 was the pay of a common foot-soldier.
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A centurion among the ROMANS had only double pay to a private man, in POLYBIUS'S
time,†57 and we accordingly find the gratuities after a triumph regulated by
that proportion.†58 But MARK ANTHONY and the triumvirate gave the centurions
five times the reward of the other.†59 So much had the encrease of the
commonwealth encreased the inequality among the citizens.†60
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It must be owned, that the situation of affairs in modern times, with regard to
civil liberty, as well as equality of fortune, is not near so favourable, either
to the propagation or happiness of mankind. EUROPE is shared out mostly into
great monarchies; and such parts of it as are divided into small territories,
are commonly governed by absolute princes, who ruin their people by a mimicry of
the greater monarchs, in the splendor of their court and number of their forces.
SWISSERLAND alone and HOLLAND resemble the ancient republics; and though the
former is far from possessing any advantage either of soil, climate, or
commerce, yet the numbers of people, with which it abounds, notwithstanding
their enlisting themselves into every service in EUROPE, prove sufficiently the
advantages of their political institutions.
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The ancient republics derived their chief or only security from the numbers of
their citizens. The TRACHINIANS having lost great numbers of their people, the
remainder, instead of enriching themselves by the inheritance of their
fellow-citizens, applied to SPARTA, their metropolis, for a new stock of
inhabitants. The SPARTANS immediately collected ten thousand men; among whom the
old citizens divided the lands of which the former proprietors had perished.†61
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After TIMOLEON had banished DIONYSIUS from SYRACUSE, and had settled the affairs
of SICILY, finding the cities of SYRACUSE and SELLINUNTIUM extremely depopulated
by tyranny, war, and faction, he invited over from GREECE some new inhabitants
to repeople them.†62 Immediately forty thousand men (PLUTARCH†63 says sixty
thousand) offered themselves; and he distributed so many lots of land among
them, to the great satisfaction of the ancient inhabitants: A proof at once of
the maxims of ancient policy, which affected populousness more than riches; and
of the good effects of these maxims, in the extreme populousness of that small
country, GREECE, which could at once supply so great a colony. The case was not
much different with the ROMANS in early times. He is a pernicious citizen, said
M. CURIUS, who cannot be content with seven acres.†64 Such ideas of equality
could not fail of producing great numbers of people.
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We must now consider what disadvantages the ancients lay under with regard to
populousness, and what checks they received from their political maxims and
institutions. There are commonly compensations in every human condition: and
though these compensations be not always perfectly equal, yet they serve, at
least, to restrain the prevailing principle. To compare them and estimate their
influence, is indeed difficult, even where they take place in the same age, and
in neighbouring countries: But where several ages have intervened, and only
scattered lights are afforded us by ancient authors; what can we do but amuse
ourselves by talking pro and con, on an interesting subject, and thereby
correcting all hasty and violent determinations?
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First, We may observe, that the ancient republics were almost in perpetual war,
a natural effect of their martial spirit, their love of liberty, their mutual
emulation, and that hatred which generally prevails among nations that live in
close neighbourhood. Now, war in a small state is much more destructive than in
a great one; both because all the inhabitants, in the former case, must serve in
the armies; and because the whole state is frontier, and is all exposed to the
inroads of the enemy.
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The maxims of ancient war were much more destructive than those of modern;
chiefly by that distribution of plunder, in which the soldiers were indulged.
The private men in our armies are such a low set of people, that we find any
abundance, beyond their simple pay, breeds confusion and disorder among them,
and a total dissolution of discipline. The very wretchedness and meanness of
those, who fill the modern armies, render them less destructive to the countries
which they invade: One instance, among many of the deceitfulness of first
appearances in all political reasonings.†65
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Ancient battles were much more bloody, by the very nature of the weapons
employed in them. The ancients drew up their men 16 or 20, sometimes 50 men
deep, which made a narrow front; and it was not difficult to find a field, in
which both armies might be marshalled, and might engage with each other. Even
where any body of the troops was kept off by hedges, hillocks, woods, or hollow
ways, the battle was not so soon decided between the contending parties, but
that the others had time to overcome the difficulties which opposed them, and
take part in the engagement. And as the whole army was thus engaged, and each
man closely buckled to his antagonist, the battles were commonly very bloody,
and great slaughter was made on both sides, especially on the vanquished. The
long thin lines, required by fire-arms, and the quick decision of the fray,
render our modern engagements but partial rencounters, and enable the general,
who is foiled in the beginning of the day, to draw off the greater part of his
army, sound and entire.†k
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The battles of antiquity, both by their duration, and their resemblance to
single combats, were wrought up to a degree of fury quite unknown to later ages.
Nothing could then engage the combatants to give quarter, but the hopes of
profit, by making slaves of their prisoners. In civil wars, as we learn from
TACITUS,†66 the battles were the most bloody, because the prisoners were not
slaves.
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What a stout resistance must be made, where the vanquished expected so hard a
fate! How inveterate the rage, where the maxims of war were, in every respect,
so bloody and severe!
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Instances are frequent, in ancient history, of cities besieged, whose
inhabitants, rather than open their gates, murdered their wives and children,
and rushed themselves on a voluntary death, sweetened perhaps by a little
prospect of revenge upon the enemy. GREEKS,†67 as well as BARBARIANS, have often
been wrought up to this degree of fury. And the same determined spirit and
cruelty must, in other instances less remarkable, have been destructive to human
society, in those petty commonwealths, which lived in close neighbourhood, and
were engaged in perpetual wars and contentions.
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Sometimes the wars in GREECE, says PLUTARCH,†68 were carried on entirely by
inroads, and robberies, and piracies. Such a method of war must be more
destructive in small states, than the bloodiest battles and sieges.
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By the laws of the twelve tables, possession during two years formed a
prescription for land; one year for moveables:†69 An indication, that there was
not in ITALY, at that time, much more order, tranquillity, and settled police,
than there is at present among the TARTARS.
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The only cartel I remember in ancient history, is that between DEMETRIUS
POLIORCETES and the RHODIANS; when it was agreed, that a free citizen should be
restored for 1000 drachmas, a slave bearing arms for 500.†70
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But, secondly, it appears that ancient manners were more unfavourable than the
modern, not only in times of war, but also in those of peace; and that too in
every respect, except the love of civil liberty and of equality, which is, I
own, of considerable importance. To exclude faction from a free government, is
very difficult, if not altogether impracticable; but such inveterate rage
between the factions, and such bloody maxims, are found, in modern times amongst
religious parties alone.†m In ancient history, we may always observe, where one
party prevailed, whether the nobles or people (for I can observe no difference
in this respect†71) that they immediately butchered all of the opposite party
who fell into their hands, and banished such as had been so fortunate as to
escape their fury. No form of process, no law, no trial, no pardon. A fourth, a
third, perhaps near half of the city was slaughtered, or expelled, every
revolution; and the exiles always joined foreign enemies, and did all the
mischief possible to their fellow-citizens; till fortune put it in their power
to take full revenge by a new revolution. And as these were frequent in such
violent governments, the disorder, diffidence, jealousy, enmity, which must
prevail, are not easy for us to imagine in this age of the world.
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There are only two revolutions I can recollect in ancient history, which passed
without great severity, and great effusion of blood in massacres and
assassinations, namely, the restoration of the ATHENIAN Democracy by
THRASYBULUS, and the subduing of the ROMAN republic by CAESAR. We learn from
ancient history, that THRASYBULUS passed a general amnesty for all past
offences; and first introduced that word, as well as practice, into GREECE.†72
It appears, however, from many orations of LYSIAS,†73 that the chief, and even
some of the subaltern offenders, in the preceding tyranny, were tried, and
capitally punished.†n And as to CAESAR'S clemency, though much celebrated, it
would not gain great applause in the present age. He butchered, for instance,
all CATO'S senate, when he became master of UTICA;†74 and these, we may readily
believe, were not the most worthless of the party. All those who had borne arms
against that usurper, were attainted; and, by HIRTIUS'S law, declared incapable
of all public offices.
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These people were extremely fond of liberty; but seem not to have understood it
very well. When the thirty tyrants first established their dominion at ATHENS,
they began with seizing all the sycophants and informers, who had been so
troublesome during the Democracy, and putting them to death by an arbitrary
sentence and execution. Every man, says SALLUST†75 and LYSIAS,†76 was rejoiced
at these punishments; not considering, that liberty was from that moment
annihilated.
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The utmost energy of the nervous style of THUCYDIDES, and the copiousness and
expression of the GREEK language, seem to sink under that historian, when he
attempts to describe the disorders, which arose from faction throughout all the
GRECIAN commonwealths. You would imagine, that he still labours with a thought
greater than he can find words to communicate. And he concludes his pathetic
description with an observation, which is at once refined and solid. "In these
contests," says he, "those who were the dullest, and most stupid, and had the
least foresight, commonly prevailed. For being conscious of this weakness, and
dreading to be overreached by those of greater penetration, they went to work
hastily, without premeditation, by the sword and poinard, and thereby got the
start of their antagonists, who were forming fine schemes and projects for their
destruction."†77
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Not to mention DIONYSIUS†78 the elder, who is computed to have butchered in cool
blood above 10,000 of his fellow-citizens; or AGATHOCLES,†79 NABIS,†80 and
others, still more bloody than he; the transactions, even in free governments,
were extremely violent and destructive. At ATHENS, the thirty tyrants and the
nobles, in a twelvemonth, murdered, without trial, about 1200 of the people, and
banished above the half of the citizens that remained.†81 In ARGOS, near the
same time, the people killed 1200 of the nobles; and afterwards their own
demagogues, because they had refused to carry their prosecutions farther.†82 The
people also in CORCYRA killed 1500 of the nobles, and banished a thousand.†83
These numbers will appear the more surprising, if we consider the extreme
smallness of these states. But all ancient history is full of such instances.†84
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When ALEXANDER ordered all the exiles to be restored throughout all the cities;
it was found, that the whole amounted to 20,000 men;†85 the remains probably of
still greater slaughters and massacres. What an astonishing multitude in so
narrow a country as ancient GREECE! And what domestic confusion, jealousy,
partiality, revenge, heart-burnings, must tear those cities, where factions were
wrought up to such a degree of fury and despair.
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It would be easier, says ISOCRATES to PHILIP, to raise an army in GREECE at
present from the vagabonds than from the cities.
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Even when affairs came not to such extremities (which they failed not to do
almost in every city twice or thrice every century) property was rendered very
precarious by the maxims of ancient government. XENOPHON, in the Banquet of
SOCRATES, gives us a natural unaffected description of the tyranny of the
ATHENIAN people. "In my poverty," says CHARMIDES, "I am much more happy than I
ever was while possessed of riches: as much as it is happier to be in security
than in terrors, free than a slave, to receive than to pay court, to be trusted
than suspected. Formerly I was obliged to caress every informer; some imposition
was continually laid upon me; and it was never allowed me to travel, or be
absent from the city. At present, when I am poor I look big, and threaten
others. The rich are afraid of me, and show me every kind of civility and
respect; and I am become a kind of tyrant in the city."†86
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In one of the pleadings of LYSIAS,†87 the orator very coolly speaks of it, by
the by, as a maxim of the ATHENIAN people, that, whenever they wanted money,
they put to death some of the rich citizens as well as strangers, for the sake
of the forfeiture. In mentioning this, he seems not to have any intention of
blaming them; still less of provoking them, who were his audience and judges.
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Whether a man was a citizen or a stranger among that people, it seems indeed
requisite, either that he should impoverish himself, or that the people would
impoverish him, and perhaps kill him into the bargain. The orator last mentioned
gives a pleasant account of an estate laid out in the public service;†88 that
is, above the third of it in raree-shows and figured dances.
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I need not insist on the GREEK tyrannies, which were altogether horrible. Even
the mixed monarchies, by which most of the ancient states of GREECE were
governed, before the introduction of republics, were very unsettled. Scarcely
any city, but ATHENS, says ISOCRATES, could show a succession of kings for four
or five generations.†89
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Besides many other obvious reasons for the instability of ancient monarchies,
the equal division of property among the brothers in private families, must, by
a necessary consequence, contribute to unsettle and disturb the state. The
universal preference given to the elder by modern laws, though it encreases the
inequality of fortunes, has, however, this good effect, that it accustoms men to
the same idea in public succession, and cuts off all claim and pretension of the
younger.
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The new settled colony of HERACLEA, falling immediately into faction, applied to
SPARTA, who sent HERIPIDAS with full authority to quiet their dissentions. This
man, not provoked by any opposition, not inflamed by party rage, knew no better
expedient than immediately putting to death about 500 of the citizens.†90 A
strong proof how deeply rooted these violent maxims of government were
throughout all GREECE.
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If such was the disposition of men's minds among that refined people, what may
be expected in the commonwealths of ITALY, AFRIC, SPAIN, and GAUL, which were
denominated barbarous? Why otherwise did the GREEKS so much value themselves on
their humanity, gentleness, and moderation, above all other nations? This
reasoning seems very natural. But unluckily the history of the ROMAN
commonwealth, in its earlier times, if we give credit to the received accounts,
presents an opposite conclusion. No blood was ever shed in any sedition at ROME,
till the murder of the GRACCHI. DIONYSIUS HALICARNASSAEUS,†91 observing the
singular humanity of the ROMAN people in this particular, makes use of it as an
argument that they were originally of GRECIAN extraction: Whence we may
conclude, that the factions and revolutions in the barbarous republics were
usually more violent than even those of GREECE above-mentioned.
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If the ROMANS were so late in coming to blows, they made ample compensation,
after they had once entered upon the bloody scene; and APPIAN'S history of their
civil wars contains the most frightful picture of massacres, proscriptions, and
forfeitures, that ever was presented to the world. What pleases most, in that
historian, is, that he seems to feel a proper resentment of these barbarous
proceedings; and talks not with that provoking coolness and indifference, which
custom had produced in many of the GREEK historians.†92
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The maxims of ancient politics contain, in general, so little humanity and
moderation, that it seems superfluous to give any particular reason for the acts
of violence committed at any particular period. Yet I cannot forbear observing,
that the laws, in the later period of the ROMAN commonwealth, were so absurdly
contrived, that they obliged the heads of parties to have recourse to these
extremities. All capital punishments were abolished: However criminal, or, what
is more, however dangerous any citizen might be, he could not regularly be
punished otherwise than by banishment: And it became necessary, in the
revolutions of party, to draw the sword of private vengeance; nor was it easy,
when laws were once violated, to set bounds to these sanguinary proceedings. Had
BRUTUS himself prevailed over the triumvirate, could he, in common prudence,
have allowed OCTAVIUS and ANTHONY, to live, and have contented himself with
banishing them to RHODES or MARSEILLES, where they might still have plotted new
commotions and rebellions? His executing C. ANTONIUS, brother to the triumvir,
shows evidently his sense of the matter. Did not CICERO, with the approbation of
all the wise and virtuous of ROME, arbitrarily put to death CATILINE'S
accomplices, contrary to law, and without any trial or form of process? And if
he moderated his executions, did it not proceed, either from the clemency of his
temper, or the conjunctures of the times? A wretched security in a government
which pretends to laws and liberty!
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Thus, one extreme produces another. In the same manner as excessive severity in
the laws is apt to beget great relaxation in their execution; so their excessive
lenity naturally produces cruelty and barbarity. It is dangerous to force us, in
any case, to pass their sacred boundaries.
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One general cause of the disorders, so frequent in all ancient governments,
seems to have consisted in the great difficulty of establishing any Aristocracy
in those ages, and the perpetual discontents and seditions of the people,
whenever even the meanest and most beggarly were excluded from the legislature
and from public offices. The very quality of freemen gave such a rank, being
opposed to that of slave, that it seemed to entitle the possessor to every power
and privilege of the commonwealth. SOLON'S†93 laws excluded no freeman from
votes or elections, but confined some magistracies to a particular census; yet
were the people never satisfied till those laws were repealed. By the treaty
with ANTIPATER,†94 no ATHENIAN was allowed a vote whose census was less than
2000 drachmas (about 60l. Sterling). And though such a government would to us
appear sufficiently democratical, it was so disagreeable to that people, that
above two-thirds of them immediately left their country.†95 CASSANDER reduced
that census to the half;†96 yet still the government was considered as an
oligarchical tyranny, and the effect of foreign violence.
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SERVIUS TULLIUS'S†97 laws seem equal and reasonable, by fixing the power in
proportion to the property: Yet the ROMAN people could never be brought quietly
to submit to them.
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In those days there was no medium between a severe, jealous Aristocracy, ruling
over discontented subjects; and a turbulent, factious, tyrannical Democracy.†q
At present, there is not one republic in EUROPE, from one extremity of it to the
other, that is not remarkable for justice, lenity, and stability, equal to, or
even beyond MARSEILLES, RHODES, or the most celebrated in antiquity. Almost all
of them are well-tempered Aristocracies.
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But thirdly, there are many other circumstances, in which ancient nations seem
inferior to the modern, both for the happiness and encrease of mankind. Trade,
manufactures, industry, were no where, in former ages, so flourishing as they
are at present in EUROPE. The only garb of the ancients, both for males and
females, seems to have been a kind of flannel, which they wore commonly white or
grey, and which they scoured as often as it became dirty. TYRE, which carried
on, after CARTHAGE, the greatest commerce of any city in the MEDITERRANEAN,
before it was destroyed by ALEXANDER, was no mighty city, if we credit ARRIAN'S
account of its inhabitants.†98 ATHENS is commonly supposed to have been a
trading city: But it was as populous before the MEDIAN war as at any time after
it, according to HERODOTUS;†99 yet its commerce, at that time, was so
inconsiderable, that, as the same historian observes,†100 even the neighbouring
coasts of ASIA were as little frequented by the GREEKS as the pillars of
HERCULES: For beyond these he conceived nothing.
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Great interest of money, and great profits of trade, are an infallible
indication, that industry and commerce are but in their infancy. We read in
LYSIAS†101 of 100 per cent. profit made on a cargo of two talents, sent to no
greater distance than from ATHENS to the ADRIATIC: Nor is this mentioned as an
instance of extraordinary profit. ANTIDORUS, says DEMOSTHENES,†102 paid three
talents and a half for a house which he let at a talent a year: And the orator
blames his own tutors for not employing his money to like advantage. My fortune,
says he, in eleven years minority, ought to have been tripled. The value of 20
of the slaves left by his father, he computes at 40 minas, and the yearly profit
of their labour at 12.†103 The most moderate interest at ATHENS, (for there was
higher†104 often paid) was 12 per cent.,†105 and that paid monthly. Not to
insist upon the high interest, to which the vast sums distributed in elections
had raised money†106 at ROME, we find, that VERRES, before that factious period,
stated 24 per cent. for money which he left in the hands of the publicans: And
though CICERO exclaims against this article, it is not on account of the
extravagant usury; but because it had never been customary to state any interest
on such occasions.†107 Interest, indeed, sunk at ROME, after the settlement of
the empire: But it never remained any considerable time so low, as in the
commercial states of modern times.†108
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Among the other inconveniencies, which the ATHENIANS felt from the fortifying of
DECELIA by the LACEDEMONIANS, it is represented by THUCYDIDES,†109 as one of the
most considerable, that they could not bring over their corn from EUBEA by land,
passing by OROPUS; but were obliged to embark it, and to sail round the
promontory of SUNIUM. A surprising instance of the imperfection of ancient
navigation! For the water-carriage is not here above double the land.
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I do not remember a passage in any ancient author, where the growth of a city is
ascribed to the establishment of a manufacture. The commerce, which is said to
flourish, is chiefly the exchange of those commodities, for which different
soils and climates were suited. The sale of wine and oil into AFRICA, according
to DIODORUS SICULUS,†110 was the foundation of the riches of AGRIGENTUM. The
situation of the city of SYBARIS, according to the same author†111 was the cause
of its immense populousness; being built near the two rivers CRATHYS and
SYBARIS. But these two rivers, we may observe, are not navigable; and could only
produce some fertile vallies, for agriculture and tillage; an advantage so
inconsiderable, that a modern writer would scarcely have taken notice of it.
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The barbarity of the ancient tyrants, together with the extreme love of liberty,
which animated those ages, must have banished every merchant and manufacturer,
and have quite depopulated the state, had it subsisted upon industry and
commerce. While the cruel and suspicious DIONYSIUS was carrying on his
butcheries, who, that was not detained by his landed property, and could have
carried with him any art or skill to procure a subsistence in other countries,
would have remained exposed to such implacable barbarity? The persecutions of
PHILIP II. and LEWIS XIV. filled all EUROPE with the manufacturers of FLANDERS
and of FRANCE.
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I grant, that agriculture is the species of industry chiefly requisite to the
subsistence of multitudes; and it is possible, that this industry may flourish,
even where manufactures and other arts are unknown and neglected. SWISSERLAND is
at present a remarkable instance; where we find, at once, the most skilful
husbandmen, and the most bungling tradesmen, that are to be met with in EUROPE.
That agriculture flourished in GREECE and ITALY, at least in some parts of them,
and at some periods, we have reason to presume; And whether the mechanical arts
had reached the same degree of perfection, may not be esteemed so material;
especially, if we consider the great equality of riches in the ancient
republics, where each family was obliged to cultivate, with the greatest care
and industry, its own little field, in order to its subsistence.
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But is it just reasoning, because agriculture may, in some instances, flourish
without trade or manufactures, to conclude, that, in any great extent of
country, and for any great tract of time, it would subsist alone? The most
natural way, surely, of encouraging husbandry, is, first, to excite other kinds
of industry, and thereby afford the labourer a ready market for his commodities,
and a return of such goods as may contribute to his pleasure and enjoyment. This
method is infallible and universal; and, as it prevails more in modern
government than in the ancient, it affords a presumption of the superior
populousness of the former.
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Every man, says XENOPHON,†112 may be a farmer: No art or skill is requisite: All
consists in industry, and in attention to the execution. A strong proof, as
COLUMELLA hints, that agriculture was but little known in the age of XENOPHON.
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All our later improvements and refinements, have they done nothing towards the
easy subsistence of men, and consequently towards their propagation and
encrease? Our superior skill in mechanics; the discovery of new worlds, by which
commerce has been so much enlarged; the establishment of posts; and the use of
bills of exchange: These seem all extremely useful to the encouragement of art,
industry, and populousness. Were we to strike off these, what a check should we
give to every kind of business and labour, and what multitudes of families would
immediately perish from want and hunger? And it seems not probable, that we
could supply the place of these new inventions by any other regulation or
institution.
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Have we reason to think, that the police of ancient states was any wise
comparable to that of modern, or that men had then equal security, either at
home, or in their journies by land or water? I question not, but every impartial
examiner would give us the preference in this particular.†113
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Thus, upon comparing the whole, it seems impossible to assign any just reason,
why the world should have been more populous in ancient than in modern times.
The equality of property among the ancients, liberty, and the small divisions of
their states, were indeed circumstances favourable to the propagation of
mankind: But their wars were more bloody and destructive, their governments more
factious and unsettled, commerce and manufactures more feeble and languishing,
and the general police more loose and irregular. These latter disadvantages seem
to form a sufficient counterbalance to the former advantages; and rather favour
the opposite opinion to that which commonly prevails with regard to this
subject.
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But there is no reasoning, it may be said, against matter of fact. If it appear,
that the world was then more populous than at present, we may be assured, that
our conjectures are false, and that we have overlooked some material
circumstance in the comparison. This I readily own: All our preceding
reasonings, I acknowledge to be mere trifling, or, at least, small skirmishes
and frivolous rencounters, which decide nothing. But unluckily the main combat,
where we compare facts, cannot be rendered much more decisive. The facts,
delivered by ancient authors, are either so uncertain or so imperfect as to
afford us nothing positive in this matter. How indeed could it be otherwise? The
very facts, which we must oppose to them, in computing the populousness of
modern states, are far from being either certain or complete. Many grounds of
calculation proceeded on by celebrated writers, are little better than those of
the Emperor HELIOGABALUS, who formed an estimate of the immense greatness of
ROME, from ten thousand pound weight of cobwebs which had been found in that
city.†114
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It is to be remarked, that all kinds of numbers are uncertain in ancient
manuscripts, and have been subject to much greater corruptions than any other
part of the text; and that for an obvious reason. Any alteration, in other
places, commonly affects the sense or grammar, and is more readily perceived by
the reader and transcriber.
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Few enumerations of inhabitants have been made of any tract of country by any
ancient author of good authority, so as to afford us a large enough view for
comparison.
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It is probable, that there was formerly a good foundation for the number of
citizens assigned to any free city; because they entered for a share in the
government, and there were exact registers kept of them. But as the number of
slaves is seldom mentioned, this leaves us in as great uncertainty as ever, with
regard to the populousness even of single cities.
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The first page of THUCYDIDES is, in my opinion, the commencement of real
history. All preceding narrations are so intermixed with fable, that
philosophers ought to abandon them, in a great measure, to the embellishment of
poets and orators.†115
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With regard to remote times, the numbers of people assigned are often
ridiculous, and lose all credit and authority. The free citizens of SYBARIS,
able to bear arms, and actually drawn out in battle, were 300,000. They
encountered at SIAGRA with 100,000 citizens of CROTONA, another GREEK city
contiguous to them; and were defeated. This is DIODORUS SICULUS'S†116 account;
and is very seriously insisted on by that historian. STRABO†117 also mentions
the same number of SYBARITES.
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DIODORUS SICULUS,†118 enumerating the inhabitants of AGRIGENTUM, when it was
destroyed by the CARTHAGINIANS, says, that they amounted to 20,000 citizens,
200,000 strangers, besides slaves, who, in so opulent a city as he represents
it, would probably be, at least, as numerous. We must remark, that the women and
the children are not included; and that, therefore, upon the whole, this city
must have contained near two millions of inhabitants.†119 And what was the
reason of so immense an encrease! They were industrious in cultivating the
neighbouring fields, not exceeding a small ENGLISH county; and they traded with
their wine and oil to AFRICA, which, at that time, produced none of these
commodities.
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PTOLEMY, says THEOCRITUS,†120 commands 33,339 cities. I suppose the singularity
of the number was the reason of assigning it. DIODORUS SICULUS†121 assigns three
millions of inhabitants to AEGYPT, a small number: But then he makes the number
of cities amount to 18,000: An evident contradiction.
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He says,†122 the people were formerly seven millions. Thus remote times are
always most envied and admired.
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That XERXES'S army was extremely numerous, I can readily believe; both from the
great extent of his empire, and from the practice among the eastern nations, of
encumbering their camp with a superfluous multitude: But will any rational man
cite HERODOTUS'S wonderful narrations as an authority? There is something very
rational, I own, in LYSIAS'S†123 argument upon this subject. Had not XERXES'S
army been incredibly numerous, says he, he had never made a bridge over the
HELLESPONT: It had been much easier to have transported his men over so short a
passage, with the numerous shipping of which he was master.
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POLYBIUS†124 says, that the ROMANS, between the first and second PUNIC wars,
being threatened with an invasion from the GAULS, mustered all their own forces,
and those of their allies, and found them amount to seven hundred thousand men
able to bear arms: A great number surely, and which, when joined to the slaves,
is probably†r not less, if not rather more, than that extent of country affords
at present.†125 The enumeration too seems to have been made with some exactness;
and POLYBIUS gives us the detail of the particulars. But might not the number be
magnified, in order to encourage the people?
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DIODORUS SICULUS†126 makes the same enumeration amount to near a million. These
variations are suspicious. He plainly too supposes, that ITALY in his time was
not so populous: Another suspicious circumstance. For who can believe, that the
inhabitants of that country diminished from the time of the first PUNIC war to
that of the triumvirates?
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JULIUS CAESAR, according to APPIAN,†127 encountered four millions of GAULS,
killed one million, and made another million prisoners.†128 Supposing the number
of the enemy's army and that of the slain could be exactly assigned, which never
is possible; how could it be known how often the same man returned into the
armies, or how distinguish the new from the old levied soldiers? No attention
ought ever to be given to such loose, exaggerated calculations; especially where
the author does not tell us the mediums, upon which the calculations were
founded.
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PATERCULUS†129 makes the number of GAULS killed by CAESAR amount only to
400,000: A more probable account, and more easily reconciled to the history of
these wars given by that conqueror himself in his Commentaries.†130†u The most
bloody of his battles were fought against the HELVETII and the GERMANS.
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One would imagine, that every circumstance of the life and actions of DIONYSIUS
the elder might be regarded as authentic, and free from all fabulous
exaggeration; both because he lived at a time when letters flourished most in
GREECE, and because his chief historian was PHILISTUS, a man allowed to be of
great genius, and who was a courtier and minister of that prince. But can we
admit, that he had a standing army of 100,000 foot, 10,000 horse, and a fleet of
400 gallies?†131 These, we may observe, were mercenary forces, and subsisted
upon pay, like our armies in EUROPE. For the citizens were all disarmed; and
when DION afterwards invaded SICILY, and called on his countrymen to vindicate
their liberty, he was obliged to bring arms along with him, which he distributed
among those who joined him.†132 In a state where agriculture alone flourishes,
there may be many inhabitants; and if these be all armed and disciplined, a
great force may be called out upon occasion: But great bodies of mercenary
troops can never be maintained, without either great trade and numerous
manufactures, or extensive dominions. The United Provinces never were masters of
such a force by sea and land, as that which is said to belong to DIONYSIUS; yet
they possess as large a territory, perfectly well cultivated, and have much more
resources from their commerce and industry. DIODORUS SICULUS allows, that, even
in his time, the army of DIONYSIUS appeared incredible; that is, as I interpret
it, was entirely a fiction, and the opinion arose from the exaggerated flattery
of the courtiers, and perhaps from the vanity and policy of the tyrant
himself.†v
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It is a usual fallacy, to consider all the ages of antiquity as one period, and
to compute the numbers contained in the great cities mentioned by ancient
authors, as if these cities had been all cotemporary. The GREEK colonies
flourished extremely in SICILY during the age of ALEXANDER: But in AUGUSTUS'S
time they were so decayed, that almost all the produce of that fertile island
was consumed in ITALY.†133
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Let us now examine the numbers of inhabitants assigned to particular cities in
antiquity; and omitting the numbers of NINEVEH, BABYLON, and the EGYPTIAN
THEBES, let us confine ourselves to the sphere of real history, to the GRECIAN
and ROMAN states. I must own, the more I consider this subject, the more am I
inclined to scepticism, with regard to the great populousness ascribed to
ancient times.
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ATHENS is said by PLATO†134 to be a very great city; and it was surely the
greatest of all the GREEK†135 cities, except SYRACUSE, which was nearly about
the same size in THUCYDIDES'S†136 time, and afterwards encreased beyond it. For
CICERO†137 mentions it as the greatest of all the GREEK cities in his time; not
comprehending, I suppose, either ANTIOCH or ALEXANDRIA under that denomination.
ATHENAEUS†138 says, that, by the enumeration of DEMETRIUS PHALEREUS, there were
in ATHENS 21,000 citizens, 10,000 strangers, and 400,000 slaves. This number is
much insisted on by those whose opinion I call in question, and is esteemed a
fundamental fact to their purpose: But, in my opinion, there is no point of
criticism more certain, than that ATHENAEUS and CTESICLES, whom he quotes, are
here mistaken, and that the number of slaves is, at least, augmented by a whole
cypher, and ought not to be regarded as more than 40,000.
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First, When the number of citizens is said to be 21,000 by ATHENAEUS,†139 men of
full age are only understood. For, (1.) HERODOTUS says,†140 that ARISTAGORAS,
ambassador from the IONIANS, found it harder to deceive one SPARTAN than 30,000
ATHENIANS; meaning, in a loose way, the whole state, supposed to be met in one
popular assembly, excluding the women and children. (2.) THUCYDIDES†141 says,
that, making allowance for all the absentees in the fleet, army, garrisons, and
for people employed in their private affairs, the ATHENIAN assembly never rose
to five thousand. (3.) The forces, enumerated by the same historian,†142 being
all citizens, and amounting to 13,000 heavy-armed infantry, prove the same
method of calculation; as also the whole tenor of the GREEK historians, who
always understand men of full age, when they assign the number of citizens in
any republic. Now, these being but the fourth of the inhabitants, the free
ATHENIANS were by this account 84,000; the strangers 40,000; and the slaves,
calculating by the smaller number, and allowing that they married and propagated
at the same rate with freemen, were 160,000; and the whole of the inhabitants
284,000: A number surely large enough. The other number, 1,720,000, makes ATHENS
larger than LONDON and PARIS united.
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Secondly, There were but 10,000 houses in ATHENS.†143
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Thirdly, Though the extent of the walls, as given us by THUCYDIDES,†144 be
great, (to wit, eighteen miles, beside the sea-coast): Yet XENOPHON†145 says,
there was much waste ground within the walls. They seem indeed to have joined
four distinct and separate cities.†146
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Fourthly, No insurrection of the slaves, or suspicion of insurrection, is ever
mentioned by historians; except one commotion of the miners.†147
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Fifthly, The treatment of slaves by the ATHENIANS is said by XENOPHON,†148 and
DEMOSTHENES,†149 and PLAUTUS,†150 to have been extremely gentle and indulgent:
Which could never have been the case, had the disproportion been twenty to one.
The disproportion is not so great in any of our colonies; yet are we obliged to
exercise a rigorous military government over the negroes.
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Sixthly, No man is ever esteemed rich for possessing what may be reckoned an
equal distribution of property in any country, or even triple or quadruple that
wealth. Thus every person in ENGLAND is computed by some to spend six-pence a
day: Yet is he esteemed but poor who has five times that sum. Now TIMARCHUS is
said by AESCHINES†151 to have been left in easy circumstances; but he was master
only of ten slaves employed in manufactures. LYSIAS and his brother, two
strangers, were proscribed by the thirty for their great riches; though they had
but sixty a-piece.†152 DEMOSTHENES was left very rich by his father; yet he had
no more than fifty-two slaves.†153 His workhouse, of twenty cabinet-makers, is
said to be a very considerable manufactory.†154
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Seventhly, During the DECELIAN war, as the GREEK historians call it, 20,000
slaves deserted, and brought the ATHENIANS to great distress, as we learn from
THUCYDIDES.†155 This could not have happened, had they been only the twentieth
part. The best slaves would not desert.
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Eighthly, XENOPHON†156 proposes a scheme for maintaining by the public 10,000
slaves: And that so great a number may possibly be supported, any one will be
convinced, says he, who considers the numbers we possessed before the DECELIAN
war. A way of speaking altogether incompatible with the larger number of
ATHENAEUS.
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Ninthly, The whole census of the state of ATHENS was less than 6000 talents. And
though numbers in ancient manuscripts be often suspected by critics, yet this is
unexceptionable; both because DEMOSTHENES,†157 who gives it, gives also the
detail, which checks him; and because POLYBIUS†158 assigns the same number, and
reasons upon it. Now, the most vulgar slave could yield by his labour an obolus
a day, over and above his maintenance, as we learn from XENOPHON,†159 who says,
that NICIAS'S overseer paid his master so much for slaves, whom he employed in†w
mines. If you will take the pains to estimate an obolus a day, and the slaves at
400,000, computing only at four years purchase, you will find the sum above
12,000 talents; even though allowance be made for the great number of holidays
in ATHENS. Besides, many of the slaves would have a much greater value from
their art. The lowest that DEMOSTHENES estimates any of his†160 father's slaves
is two minas a head. And upon this supposition, it is a little difficult, I
confess, to reconcile even the number of 40,000 slaves with the census of 6000
talents.
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Tenthly, CHIOS is said by THUCYDIDES,†161 to contain more slaves than any GREEK
city, except SPARTA. SPARTA then had more than ATHENS, in proportion to the
number of citizens. The SPARTANS were 9000 in the town, 30,000 in the
country.†162 The male slaves, therefore, of full age, must have been more than
780,000; the whole more than 3,120,000. A number impossible to be maintained in
a narrow barren country, such as LACONIA, which had no trade. Had the HELOTES
been so very numerous, the murder of 2000 mentioned by THUCYDIDES,†163 would
have irritated them, without weakening them.
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Besides, we are to consider, that the number assigned by ATHENAEUS,†164 whatever
it is, comprehends all the inhabitants of ATTICA, as well as those of ATHENS.
The ATHENIANS affected much a country life, as we learn from THUCYDIDES;†165 and
when they were all chased into town, by the invasion of their territory during
the PELOPONNESIAN war, the city was not able to contain them; and they were
obliged to lie in the porticoes, temples, and even streets, for want of
lodging.†166
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The same remark is to be extended to all the other GREEK cities; and when the
number of citizens is assigned, we must always understand it to comprehend the
inhabitants of the neighbouring country, as well as of the city. Yet, even with
this allowance, it must be confessed, that GREECE was a populous country, and
exceeded what we could imagine concerning so narrow a territory, naturally not
very fertile, and which drew no supplies of corn from other places. For,
excepting ATHENS, which traded to PONTUS for that commodity, the other cities
seem to have subsisted chiefly from their neighbouring territory.†167
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RHODES is well known to have been a city of extensive commerce, and of great
fame and splendor; yet it contained only 6000 citizens able to bear arms, when
it was besieged by DEMETRIUS.†168
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THEBES was always one of the capital cities of GREECE:†169 But the number of its
citizens exceeded not those of RHODES.†170 PHLIASIA is said to be a small city
by XENOPHON,†171 yet we find, that it contained 6000 citizens.†172 I pretend not
to reconcile these two facts.†z Perhaps, XENOPHON calls PHLIASIA a small town,
because it made but a small figure in GREECE, and maintained only a subordinate
alliance with SPARTA; or perhaps the country, belonging to it, was extensive,
and most of the citizens were employed in the cultivation of it, and dwelt in
the neighbouring villages.
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MANTINEA was equal to any city in ARCADIA:†173 Consequently it was equal to
MEGALOPOLIS, which was fifty stadia, or six miles and a quarter in
circumference.†174 But MANTINEA had only 3000 citizens.†175 The GREEK cities,
therefore, contained often fields and gardens, together with the houses; and we
cannot judge of them by the extent of their walls. ATHENS contained no more than
10,000 houses; yet its walls, with the sea-coast, were above twenty miles in
extent. SYRACUSE was twenty-two miles in circumference; yet was scarcely ever
spoken of by the ancients as more populous than ATHENS. BABYLON was a square of
fifteen miles, or sixty miles in circuit; but it contained large cultivated
fields and inclosures, as we learn from PLINY. Though AURELIAN'S wall was fifty
miles in circumference;†176 the circuit of all the thirteen divisions of ROME,
taken apart, according to PUBLIUS VICTOR, was only about forty-three miles. When
an enemy invaded the country, all the inhabitants retired within the walls of
the ancient cities, with their cattle and furniture, and instruments of
husbandry: and the great height, to which the walls were raised, enabled a small
number to defend them with facility.
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SPARTA, says XENOPHON,†177 is one of the cities of GREECE that has the fewest
inhabitants. Yet POLYBIUS†178 says, that it was forty-eight stadia in
circumference, and was round.
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All the AETOLIANS able to bear arms in ANTIPATER'S time,†aa deducting some few
garrisons, were but ten thousand men.†179
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POLYBIUS†180 tells us, that the ACHAEAN league might, without any inconvenience,
march 30 or 40,000 men: And this account seems probable: For that league
comprehended the greater part of PELOPONNESUS. Yet PAUSANIAS,†181 speaking of
the same period, says, that all the ACHAEANS able to bear arms, even when
several manumitted slaves were joined to them, did not amount to fifteen
thousand.
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The THESSALIANS, till their final conquest by the ROMANS, were, in all ages,
turbulent, factious, seditious, disorderly.†182 It is not therefore natural to
suppose, that this part of GREECE abounded much in people.
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†bb We are told by THUCYDIDES,†183 that the part of PELOPONNESUS, adjoining to
PYLOS, was desart and uncultivated. HERODOTUS says,†184 that MACEDONIA was full
of lions and wild bulls; animals which can only inhabit vast unpeopled forests.
These were the two extremities of GREECE.
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All the inhabitants of EPIRUS, of all ages, sexes and conditions, who were sold
by PAULUS AEMILIUS, amounted only to 150,000.†185 Yet EPIRUS might be double the
extent of YORKSHIRE.†cc
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†dd JUSTIN†186 tells us, that, when PHILIP of MACEDON was declared head of the
GREEK confederacy, he called a congress of all the states, except the
LACEDEMONIANS, who refused to concur; and he found the force of the whole, upon
computation, to amount to 200,000 infantry, and 15,000 cavalry. This must be
understood to be all the citizens capable of bearing arms. For as the GREEK
republics maintained no mercenary forces, and had no militia distinct from the
whole body of the citizens, it is not conceivable what other medium there could
be of computation. That such an army could ever, by GREECE, be brought into the
field, and be maintained there, is contrary to all history. Upon this
supposition, therefore, we may thus reason. The free GREEKS of all ages and
sexes were 860,000. The slaves, estimating them by the number of ATHENIAN slaves
as above, who seldom married or had families, were double the male citizens of
full age, to wit, 430,000. And all the inhabitants of ancient GREECE, excepting
LACONIA, were about one million two hundred and ninety thousand: No mighty
number, nor exceeding what may be found at present in SCOTLAND, a country of not
much greater extent, and very indifferently peopled.
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We may now consider the numbers of people in ROME and ITALY, and collect all the
lights afforded us by scattered passages in ancient authors. We shall find, upon
the whole, a great difficulty, in fixing any opinion on that head; and no reason
to support those exaggerated calculations, so much insisted on by modern
writers.
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DIONYSIUS HALICARNASSAEUS†187 says, that the ancient walls of ROME were nearly
of the same compass with those of ATHENS, but that the suburbs ran out to a
great extent; and it was difficult to tell, where the town ended or the country
began. In some places of ROME, it appears, from the same author,†188 from
JUVENAL,†189 and from other ancient writers,†190 that the houses were high, and
families lived in separate storeys, one above another: But it is probable, that
these were only the poorer citizens, and only in some few streets. If we may
judge from the younger PLINY'S†191 account of his own house, and from BARTOLI'S
plans of ancient buildings, the men of quality had very spacious palaces; and
their buildings were like the CHINESE houses at this day, where each apartment
is separated from the rest, and rises no higher than a single storey. To which
if we add, that the ROMAN nobility much affected extensive porticoes, and even
woods†192 in town; we may perhaps allow VOSSIUS (though there is no manner of
reason for it) to read the famous passage of the elder PLINY†193 his own way,
without admitting the extravagant consequences which he draws from it.
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The number of citizens who received corn by the public distribution in the time
of AUGUSTUS, were two hundred thousand.†194 This one would esteem a pretty
certain ground of calculation: Yet is it attended with such circumstances as
throw us back into doubt and uncertainty.
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Did the poorer citizens only receive the distribution? It was calculated, to be
sure, chiefly for their benefit. But it appears from a passage in CICERO†195
that the rich might also take their portion, and that it was esteemed no
reproach in them to apply for it.
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To whom was the corn given; whether only to heads of families, or to every man,
woman, and child? The portion every month was five modii to each†196 (about 5/6
of a bushel). This was too little for a family, and too much for an individual.
A very accurate antiquary,†197 therefore, infers, that it was given to every man
of full age: But he allows the matter to be uncertain.
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Was it strictly enquired, whether the claimant lived within the precincts of
ROME; or was it sufficient, that he presented himself at the monthly
distribution? This last seems more probable.†198
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Were there no false claimants? We are told,†199 that CAESAR struck off at once
170,000, who had creeped in without a just title; and it is very little
probable, that he remedied all abuses.
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But, lastly, what proportion of slaves must we assign to these citizens? This is
the most material question; and the most uncertain. It is very doubtful, whether
ATHENS can be established as a rule for ROME. Perhaps the ATHENIANS had more
slaves, because they employed them in manufactures, for which a capital city,
like ROME, seems not so proper. Perhaps, on the other hand, the ROMANS had more
slaves, on account of their superior luxury and riches.
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There were exact bills of mortality kept at ROME; but no ancient author has
given us the number of burials, except SUETONIUS,†200 who tells us, that in one
season, there were 30,000 names carried to the temple of LIBITINA: But this was
during a plague; which can afford no certain foundation for any inference.
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The public corn, though distributed only to 200,000 citizens, affected very
considerably the whole agriculture of ITALY:†201 a fact no wise reconcileable to
some modern exaggerations with regard to the inhabitants of that country.
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The best ground of conjecture I can find concerning the greatness of ancient
ROME, is this: We are told by HERODIAN,†202 that ANTIOCH and ALEXANDRIA were
very little inferior to ROME. It appears from DIODORUS SICULUS,†203 that one
straight street of ALEXANDRIA reaching from gate to gate, was five miles long;
and as ALEXANDRIA was much more extended in length than breadth, it seems to
have been a city nearly of the bulk of PARIS;†204 and ROME might be about the
size of LONDON.
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There lived in ALEXANDRIA, in DIODORUS SICULUS'S time,†205 300,000 free people,
comprehending, I suppose, women and children.†206 But what number of slaves? Had
we any just ground to fix these at an equal number with the free inhabitants, it
would favour the foregoing computation.
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There is a passage in HERODIAN, which is a little surprising. He says
positively, that the palace of the Emperor was as large as all the rest of the
city.†207 This was NERO'S golden house, which is indeed represented by
SUETONIUS†208 and PLINY as of an enormous extent;†209 but no power of
imagination can make us conceive it to bear any proportion to such a city as
LONDON.
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We may observe, had the historian been relating NERO'S extravagance, and had he
made use of such an expression, it would have had much less weight; these
rhetorical exaggerations being so apt to creep into an author's style, even when
the most chaste and correct. But it is mentioned by HERODIAN only by the by, in
relating the quarrels between GETA and CARACALLA.
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It appears from the same historian,†210 that there was then much land
uncultivated, and put to no manner of use; and he ascribes it as a great praise
to PERTINAX, that he allowed every one to take such land either in ITALY or
elsewhere, and cultivate it as he pleased, without paying any taxes. Lands
uncultivated, and put to no manner of use! This is not heard of in any part of
CHRISTENDOM; except in some remote parts of HUNGARY; as I have been informed.
And it surely corresponds very ill with that idea of the extreme populousness of
antiquity, so much insisted on.
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We learn from VOPISCUS,†211 that there was even in ETRURIA much fertile land
uncultivated, which the Emperor AURELIAN intended to convert into vineyards, in
order to furnish the ROMAN people with a gratuitous distribution of wine; a very
proper expedient for depopulating still farther that capital and all the
neighbouring territories.
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It may not be amiss to take notice of the account which POLYBIUS†212 gives of
the great herds of swine to be met with in TUSCANY and LOMBARDY, as well as in
GREECE, and of the method of feeding them which was then practised. "There are
great herds of swine," says he, "throughout all ITALY, particularly in former
times, through ETRURIA and CISALPINE GAUL. And a herd frequently consists of a
thousand or more swine. When one of these herds in feeding meets with another,
they mix together; and the swine-herds have no other expedient for separating
them than to go to different quarters, where they sound their horn; and these
animals, being accustomed to that signal, run immediately each to the horn of
his own keeper. Whereas in GREECE, if the herds of swine happen to mix in the
forests, he who has the greater flock, takes cunningly the opportunity of
driving all away. And thieves are very apt to purloin the straggling hogs, which
have wandered to a great distance from their keeper in search of food."
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May we not infer from this account, that the north of ITALY, as well as GREECE,
was then much less peopled, and worse cultivated, than at present? How could
these vast herds be fed in a country so full of inclosures, so improved by
agriculture, so divided by farms, so planted with vines and corn intermingled
together? I must confess, that POLYBIUS'S relation has more the air of that
economy which is to be met with in our AMERICAN colonies, than the management of
a EUROPEAN country.
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We meet with a reflection in ARISTOTLE'S†213 Ethics, which seems unaccountable
on any supposition, and by proving too much in favour of our present reasoning,
may be thought really to prove nothing. That philosopher, treating of
friendship, and observing, that this relation ought neither to be contracted to
a very few, nor extended over a great multitude, illustrates his opinion by the
following argument. "In like manner," says he, "as a city cannot subsist, if it
either have so few inhabitants as ten, or so many as a hundred thousand; so is
there a mediocrity required in the number of friends; and you destroy the
essence of friendship by running into either extreme." What! impossible that a
city can contain a hundred thousand inhabitants! Had ARISTOTLE never seen nor
heard of a city so populous? This, I must own, passes my comprehension.
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PLINY†214 tells us that SELEUCIA, the seat of the GREEK empire in the East, was
reported to contain 600,000 people. CARTHAGE is said by STRABO†215 to have
contained 700,000. The inhabitants of PEKIN are not much more numerous. LONDON,
PARIS, and CONSTANTINOPLE, may admit of nearly the same computation; at least,
the two latter cities do not exceed it. ROME, ALEXANDRIA, ANTIOCH, we have
already spoken of. From the experience of past and present ages, one might
conjecture that there is a kind of impossibility, that any city could ever rise
much beyond this proportion. Whether the grandeur of a city be founded on
commerce or on empire, there seem to be invincible obstacles, which prevent its
farther progress. The seats of vast monarchies, by introducing extravagant
luxury, irregular expence, idleness, dependence, and false ideas of rank and
superiority, are improper for commerce. Extensive commerce checks itself, by
raising the price of all labour and commodities. When a great court engages the
attendance of a numerous nobility, possessed of overgrown fortunes, the middling
gentry remain in their provincial towns, where they can make a figure on a
moderate income. And if the dominions of a state arrive at an enormous size,
there necessarily arise many capitals, in the remoter provinces, whither all the
inhabitants, except a few courtiers, repair for education, fortune, and
amusement.†216 LONDON, by uniting extensive commerce and middling empire, has,
perhaps, arrived at a greatness, which no city will ever be able to exceed.
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Chuse DOVER or CALAIS for a center: Draw a circle of two hundred miles radius:
You comprehend LONDON, PARIS, the NETHERLANDS, the UNITED PROVINCES, and some of
the best cultivated parts of FRANCE and ENGLAND. It may safely, I think, be
affirmed, that no spot of ground can be found, in antiquity, of equal extent,
which contained near so many great and populous cities, and was so stocked with
riches and inhabitants. To balance, in both periods, the states, which possessed
most art, knowledge, civility, and the best police, seems the truest method of
comparison.
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It is an observation of L'ABBE DU BOS,†217 that ITALY is warmer at present than
it was in ancient times. "The annals of ROME tell us," says he, "that in the
year 480 ab U.C. the winter was so severe that it destroyed the trees. The TYBER
froze in ROME, and the ground was covered with snow for forty days. When
JUVENAL†218 describes a superstitious woman, he represents her as breaking the
ice of the TYBER, that she might perform her ablutions:
Hybernum fracta glacie descendet in amnem,
Ter matutino Tyberi mergetur.
He speaks of that river's freezing as a common event. Many passages of HORACE
suppose the streets of ROME full of snow and ice. We should have more certainty
with regard to this point, had the ancients known the use of thermometers: But
their writers, without intending it, give us information, sufficient to convince
us, that the winters are now much more temperate at ROME than formerly. At
present the TYBER no more freezes at ROME than the NILE at CAIRO. The ROMANS
esteem the winters very rigorous, if the snow lie two days, and if one see for
eight and forty hours a few icicles hang from a fountain that has a north
exposure."
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The observation of this ingenious critic may be extended to other EUROPEAN
climates. Who could discover the mild climate of FRANCE in DIODORUS
SICULUS'S†219 description of that of GAUL? "As it is a northern climate," says
he, "it is infested with cold to an extreme degree. In cloudy weather, instead
of rain there fall great snows; and in clear weather it there freezes so
excessive hard, that the rivers acquire bridges of their own substance, over
which, not only single travellers may pass, but large armies, accompanied with
all their baggage and loaded waggons. And there being many rivers in GAUL, the
RHONE, the RHINE, &c. almost all of them are frozen over; and it is usual, in
order to prevent falling, to cover the ice with chaff and straw at the places
where the road passes."†ee Colder than a GALLIC Winter, is used by PETRONIUS as
a proverbial expression. ARISTOTLE says, that GAUL is so cold a climate that an
ass could not live in it.†220
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North of the CEVENNES, says STRABO,†221 GAUL produces not figs and olives: And
the vines, which have been planted, bear not grapes, that will ripen.
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OVID positively maintains, with all the serious affirmation of prose, that the
EUXINE sea was frozen over every winter in his time; and he appeals to ROMAN
governours, whom he names, for the truth of his assertion.†222 This seldom or
never happens at present in the latitude of TOMI, whither OVID was banished. All
the complaints of the same poet seem to mark a rigour of the seasons, which is
scarcely experienced at present in PETERSBURGH or STOCKHOLM.
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TOURNEFORT, a Provencal, who had travelled into the same country, observes, that
there is not a finer climate in the world: And he asserts, that nothing but
OVID'S melancholy could have given him such dismal ideas of it. But the facts
mentioned by that poet, are too circumstantial to bear any such interpretation.
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POLYBIUS†223 says, that the climate in ARCADIA was very cold, and the air moist.
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"ITALY," says VARRO,†224 "is the most temperate climate in EUROPE. The inland
parts" (GAUL, GERMANY, and PANNONIA, no doubt) "have almost perpetual winter."
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The northern parts of SPAIN, according to STRABO,†225 are but ill inhabited,
because of the great cold.
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Allowing, therefore, this remark to be just, that EUROPE is become warmer than
formerly; how can we account for it? Plainly, by no other method, than by
supposing, that the land is at present much better cultivated, and that the
woods are cleared, which formerly threw a shade upon the earth, and kept the
rays of the sun from penetrating to it. Our northern colonies in AMERICA become
more temperate, in proportion as the woods are felled;†226 but in general, every
one may remark, that cold is still much more severely felt, both in North and
South AMERICA, than in places under the same latitude in EUROPE.
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SASERNA, quoted by COLUMELLA,†227 affirmed, that the disposition of the heavens
was altered before his time, and that the air had become much milder and warmer;
as appears hence, says he, that many places now abound with vineyards and olive
plantations, which formerly, by reason of the rigour of the climate, could raise
none of these productions. Such a change, if real, will be allowed an evident
sign of the better cultivation and peopling of countries before the age of
SASERNA;†228 and if it be continued to the present times, is a proof, that these
advantages have been continually encreasing throughout this part of the world.
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Let us now cast our eye over all the countries which are the scene of ancient
and modern history, and compare their past and present situation: We shall not,
perhaps, find such foundation for the complaint of the present emptiness and
desolation of the world. AEGYPT is represented by MAILLET, to whom we owe the
best account of it, as extremely populous; though he esteems the number of its
inhabitants to be diminished. SYRIA, and the Lesser ASIA, as well as the coast
of BARBARY, I can readily own, to be desart in comparison of their ancient
condition. The depopulation of GREECE is also obvious. But whether the country
now called TURKY in EUROPE may not, in general, contain more inhabitants than
during the flourishing period of GREECE, may be a little doubtful. The THRACIANS
seem then to have lived like the TARTARS at present, by pasturage and
plunder:†229 The GETES were still more uncivilized:†230 And the ILLYRIANS were
no better.†231 These occupy nine-tenths of that country: And though the
government of the TURKS be not very favourable to industry and propagation; yet
it preserves at least peace and order among the inhabitants; and is preferable
to that barbarous, unsettled condition, in which they anciently lived.
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POLAND and MUSCOVY in EUROPE are not populous; but are certainly much more so
than the ancient SARMATIA and SCYTHIA; where no husbandry or tillage was ever
heard of, and pasturage was the sole art by which the people were maintained.
The like observation may be extended to DENMARK and SWEDEN. No one ought to
esteem the immense swarms of people, which formerly came from the North, and
over-ran all EUROPE, to be any objection to this opinion. Where a whole nation,
or even half of it remove their seat; it is easy to imagine, what a prodigious
multitude they must form; with what desperate valour they must make their
attacks; and how the terror they strike into the invaded nations will make these
magnify, in their imagination, both the courage and multitude of the invaders.
SCOTLAND is neither extensive nor populous; but were the half of its inhabitants
to seek new seats, they would form a colony as numerous as the TEUTONS and
CIMBRI; and would shake all EUROPE, supposing it in no better condition for
defence than formerly.
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GERMANY has surely at present twenty times more inhabitants than in ancient
times, when they cultivated no ground, and each tribe valued itself on the
extensive desolation which it spread around; as we learn from CAESAR,†232 and
TACITUS,†233 and STRABO.†234 A proof, that the division into small republics
will not alone render a nation populous, unless attended with the spirit of
peace, order, and industry.
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The barbarous condition of BRITAIN in former times is well known, and the
thinness of its inhabitants may easily be conjectured, both from their
barbarity, and from a circumstance mentioned by HERODIAN,†235 that all BRITAIN
was marshy, even in SEVERUS'S time, after the ROMANS had been fully settled in
it above a century.
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It is not easily imagined, that the GAULS were anciently much more advanced in
the arts of life than their northern neighbours; since they travelled to this
island for their education in the mysteries of the religion and philosophy of
the DRUIDS.†236 I cannot, therefore, think, that GAUL was then near so populous
as FRANCE is at present.
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Were we to believe, indeed, and join together the testimony of APPIAN, and that
of DIODORUS SICULUS, we must admit of an incredible populousness in GAUL. The
former historian†237 says, that there were 400 nations in that country; the
latter†238 affirms, that the largest of the GALLIC nations consisted of 200,000
men, besides women and children, and the least of 50,000. Calculating,
therefore, at a medium, we must admit of near 200 millions of people, in a
country, which we esteem populous at present, though supposed to contain little
more than twenty.†239 Such calculations, therefore, by their extravagance, lose
all manner of authority. We may observe, that the equality of property, to which
the populousness of antiquity may be ascribed, had no place among the GAULS.†240
Their intestine wars also, before CAESAR'S time, were almost perpetual.†241 And
STRABO†242 observes, that, though all GAUL was cultivated, yet was it not
cultivated with any skill or care; the genius of the inhabitants leading them
less to arts than arms, till their slavery under ROME produced peace among
themselves.
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CAESAR†243 enumerates very particularly the great forces which were levied in
BELGIUM to oppose his conquests; and makes them amount to 208,000. These were
not the whole people able to bear arms: For the same historian tells us, that
the BELLOVACI could have brought a hundred thousand men into the field, though
they engaged only for sixty. Taking the whole, therefore, in this proportion of
ten to six,†ff the sum of fighting men in all the states of BELGIUM was about
350,000; all the inhabitants a million and a half. And BELGIUM being about a
fourth of GAUL, that country might contain six millions, which is not†gg near
the third of its present inhabitants.†244†ii We are informed by CAESAR, that the
GAULS had no fixed property in land; but that the chieftains, when any death
happened in a family, made a new division of all the lands among the several
members of the family. This is the custom of Tanistry, which so long prevailed
in IRELAND, and which retained that country in a state of misery, barbarism, and
desolation.
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The ancient HELVETIA was 250 miles in length, and 180 in breadth, according to
the same author;†245 yet contained only 360,000 inhabitants. The canton of BERNE
alone has, at present, as many people.
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After this computation of APPIAN and DIODORUS SICULUS, I know not, whether I
dare affirm, that the modern DUTCH are more numerous than the ancient BATAVI.
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SPAIN is, perhaps, decayed from what it was three centuries ago; but if we step
backward two thousand years, and consider the restless, turbulent, unsettled
condition of its inhabitants, we may probably be inclined to think, that it is
now much more populous. Many SPANIARDS killed themselves, when deprived of their
arms by the ROMANS.†246 It appears from PLUTARCH,†247 that robbery and plunder
were esteemed honourable among the SPANIARDS. HIRTIUS†248 represents in the same
light the situation of that country in CAESAR'S time; and he says, that every
man was obliged to live in castles and walled towns for his security. It was not
till its final conquest under AUGUSTUS, that these disorders were repressed.†249
The account which STRABO†250 and JUSTIN†251 give of SPAIN, corresponds exactly
with those above mentioned. How much, therefore, must it diminish from our idea
of the populousness of antiquity, when we find, that TULLY, comparing ITALY,
AFRIC, GAUL, GREECE, and SPAIN, mentions the great number of inhabitants, as the
peculiar circumstance, which rendered this latter country formidable?†252
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ITALY, however, it is probable, has decayed: But how many great cities does it
still contain? VENICE, GENOA, PAVIA, TURIN, MILAN, NAPLES, FLORENCE, LEGHORN,
which either subsisted not in ancient times, or were then very inconsiderable?
If we reflect on this, we shall not be apt to carry matters to so great an
extreme as is usual, with regard to this subject.
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When the ROMAN authors complain, that ITALY, which formerly exported corn,
became dependent on all the provinces for its daily bread, they never ascribe
this alteration to the encrease of its inhabitants, but to the neglect of
tillage and agriculture.†253 A natural effect of that pernicious practice of
importing corn, in order to distribute it gratis among the ROMAN citizens, and a
very bad means of multiplying the inhabitants of any country.†254 The sportula,
so much talked of by MARTIAL and JUVENAL, being presents regularly made by the
great lords to their smaller clients, must have had a like tendency to produce
idleness, debauchery, and a continual decay among the people. The parish-rates
have at present the same bad consequences in ENGLAND.
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Were I to assign a period, when I imagine this part of the world might possibly
contain more inhabitants than at present, I should pitch upon the age of TRAJAN
and the ANTONINES; the great extent of the ROMAN empire being then civilized and
cultivated, settled almost in a profound peace both foreign and domestic, and
living under the same regular police and government.†255 But we are told, that
all extensive governments, especially absolute monarchies, are pernicious to
population, and contain a secret vice and poison, which destroy the effect of
all these promising appearances.†256 To confirm this, there is a passage cited
from PLUTARCH,†257 which being somewhat singular, we shall here examine it.
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That author, endeavouring to account for the silence of many of the oracles,
says, that it may be ascribed to the present desolation of the world, proceeding
from former wars and factions; which common calamity, he adds, has fallen
heavier upon GREECE than on any other country; insomuch, that the whole could
scarcely at present furnish three thousand warriors; a number which, in the time
of the MEDIAN war, were supplied by the single city of MEGARA. The gods,
therefore, who affect works of dignity and importance, have suppressed many of
their oracles, and deign not to use so many interpreters of their will to so
diminutive a people.
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I must confess, that this passage contains so many difficulties, that I know not
what to make of it. You may observe, that PLUTARCH assigns, for a cause of the
decay of mankind, not the extensive dominion of the ROMANS, but the former wars
and factions of the several states; all which were quieted by the ROMAN arms.
PLUTARCH'S reasoning, therefore, is directly contrary to the inference, which is
drawn from the fact he advances.
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POLYBIUS supposes, that GREECE had become more prosperous and flourishing after
the establishment of the ROMAN yoke;†258 and though that historian wrote before
these conquerors had degenerated, from being the patrons, to be the plunderers
of mankind; yet as we find from TACITUS,†259 that the severity of the emperors
afterwards corrected the licence of the governors, we have no reason to think
that extensive monarchy so destructive as it is often represented.
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We learn from STRABO,†260 that the ROMANS, from their regard to the GREEKS,
maintained, to his time, most of the privileges and liberties of that celebrated
nation; and NERO afterwards rather encreased them.†261 How therefore can we
imagine, that the ROMAN yoke was so burdensome over that part of the world? The
oppression of the proconsuls was checked; and the magistracies in GREECE being
all bestowed, in the several cities, by the free votes of the people, there was
no necessity for the competitors to attend the emperor's court. If great numbers
went to seek their fortunes in ROME, and advance themselves by learning or
eloquence, the commodities of their native country, many of them would return
with the fortunes which they had acquired, and thereby enrich the GRECIAN
commonwealths.
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But PLUTARCH says, that the general depopulation had been more sensibly felt in
GREECE than in any other country. How is this reconcileable to its superior
privileges and advantages?
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Besides, this passage, by proving too much, really proves nothing. Only three
thousand men able to bear arms in all GREECE! Who can admit so strange a
proposition, especially if we consider the great number of GREEK cities, whose
names still remain in history, and which are mentioned by writers long after the
age of PLUTARCH? There are there surely ten times more people at present, when
there scarcely remains a city in all the bounds of ancient GREECE. That country
is still tolerably cultivated, and furnishes a sure supply of corn, in case of
any scarcity in SPAIN, ITALY, or the south of FRANCE.
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We may observe, that the ancient frugality of the GREEKS, and their equality of
property, still subsisted during the age of PLUTARCH; as appears from
LUCIAN.†262 Nor is there any ground to imagine, that that country was possessed
by a few masters, and a great number of slaves.
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It is probable, indeed, that military discipline, being entirely useless, was
extremely neglected in GREECE after the establishment of the ROMAN empire; and
if these commonwealths, formerly so warlike and ambitious, maintained each of
them a small city-guard, to prevent mobbish disorders, it is all they had
occasion for: And these, perhaps, did not amount to 3000 men, throughout all
GREECE. I own, that, if PLUTARCH had this fact in his eye, he is here guilty of
a gross paralogism, and assigns causes no wise proportioned to the effects. But
is it so great a prodigy, that an author should fall into a mistake of this
nature?†263
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But whatever force may remain in this passage of PLUTARCH, we shall endeavour to
counterbalance it by as remarkable a passage in DIODORUS SICULUS, where the
historian, after mentioning NINUS'S army of 1,700,000 foot and 200,000 horse,
endeavours to support the credibility of this account by some posterior facts;
and adds, that we must not form a notion of the ancient populousness of mankind
from the present emptiness and depopulation which is spread over the world.†264
Thus an author, who lived at that very period of antiquity which is represented
as most populous,†265 complains of the desolation which then prevailed, gives
the preference to former times, and has recourse to ancient fables as a
foundation for his opinion. The humour of blaming the present, and admiring the
past, is strongly rooted in human nature, and has an influence even on persons
endued with the profoundest judgment and most extensive learning.
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†1 COLUMELLA says, lib. iii. cap. 8. that in AEGYPT and AFRICA the bearing of
twins was frequent, and even customary; gemini partus familiares, ac paene
solennes sunt. If this was true, there is a physical difference both in
countries and ages. For travellers make no such remarks on these countries at
present. On the contrary, we are apt to suppose the northern nations more
prolific. As those two countries were provinces of the ROMAN empire, it is
difficult, though not altogether absurd, to suppose that such a man as COLUMELLA
might be mistaken with regard to them.
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†2 Lettres PERSANES. See also L'Esprit de Loix, liv. xxiii. cap. 17, 18, 19.
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†3 This too is a good reason why the small-pox does not depopulate countries so
much as may at first sight be imagined. Where there is room for more people,
they will always arise, even without the assistance of naturalization bills. It
is remarked by DON GERONIMO DE USTARIZ, that the provinces of SPAIN, which send
most people to the INDIES, are most populous; which proceeds from their superior
riches.
Hume: ESY Pt. 2 E. 11 Foot. 4 mp. 384 gp. 386
†4 SUETONIUS in vita CLAUDII, 25.
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†5 PLUT. in vita CATONIS, 4.
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†6 Lib. i. cap. 6.
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†7 Id. lib. xi. cap. 1.
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†8 Amor. lib. i. eleg. 6.
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†9 SUETON. de claris rhetor, 3. So also the ancient poet, Janitoris tintinnire
impedimenta audio.
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†10 In Onetor. orat. 1. 874.
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†11 The same practice was very common in ROME; but CICERO seems not to think
this evidence so certain as the testimony of free-citizens. Pro Coelio, 28.
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†12 Epist. 122. The inhuman sports exhibited at ROME, may justly be considered
too as an effect of the people's contempt for slaves, and was also a great cause
of the general inhumanity of their princes and rulers. Who can read the accounts
of the amphitheatrical entertainments without horror? Or who is surprised, that
the emperors should treat that people in the same way the people treated their
inferiors? One's humanity is apt to renew the barbarous wish of CALIGULA, that
the people had but one neck. A man could almost be pleased, by a single blow, to
put an end to such a race of monsters. You may thank God, says the author above
cited, (epist. 7.) addressing himself to the ROMAN people, that you have a
master (viz. the mild and merciful NERO) who is incapable of learning cruelty
from your example. This was spoke in the beginning of his reign: But he fitted
them very well afterwards; and, no doubt, was considerably improved by the sight
of the barbarous objects, to which he had, from his infancy, been accustomed.
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†13 We may here observe, that if domestic slavery really encreased populousness,
it would be an exception to the general rule, that the happiness of any society
and its populousness are necessary attendants. A master, from humour or
interest, may make his slaves very unhappy, yet be careful, from interest, to
encrease their number. Their marriage is not a matter of choice with them, more
than any other action of their life.
Hume: ESY Pt. 2 E. 11 Foot. 14 mp. 388 gp. 389
†14 Ten thousand slaves in a day have often been sold for the use of the ROMANS,
at DELUS in CILICIA. STRABO, lib. xiv., 668.
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†15 COLUMELLA, lib. i. proaem. et cap. 2, et 7. VARRO, lib. iii. cap. 1. HORAT,
lib. ii. od. 15. TACIT. annal. lib. iii. cap. 54. SUETON. in vita AUG. cap.
xlii. PLIN. lib. xviii, cap. 13.
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†16 Minore indies plebe ingenua, says TACITUS, ann. lib. iv. cap. 27.
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†17 As servus was the name of the genus, and verna of the species, without any
correlative, this forms a strong presumption, that the latter were by far the
least numerous. It is an universal observation which we may form upon language,
that where two related parts of a whole bear any proportion to each other, in
numbers, rank or consideration, there are always correlative terms invented,
which answer to both the parts, and express their mutual relation. If they bear
no proportion to each other, the term is only invented for the less, and marks
its distinction from the whole. Thus man and woman, master and servant, father
and son, prince and subject, stranger and citizen, are correlative terms. But
the words seaman, carpenter, smith, tailor, &c. have no correspondent terms,
which express those who are no seamen no carpenters, &c. Languages differ very
much with regard to the particular words where this distinction obtains; and may
thence afford very strong inferences, concerning the manners and customs of
different nations. The military government of the ROMAN emperors had exalted the
soldiery so high, that they balanced all the other orders of the state: Hence
miles and paganus became relative terms; a thing, till then, unknown to ancient,
and still so to modern languages. Modern superstition exalted the clergy so
high, that they overbalanced the whole state: Hence clergy and laity are terms
opposed in all modern languages, and in these alone. And from the same
principles I infer, that if the number of slaves bought by the ROMANS from
foreign countries, had not extremely exceeded those which were bred at home,
verna would have had a correlative, which would have expressed the former
species of slaves. But these, it would seem, composed the main body of the
ancient slaves, and the latter were but a few exceptions.
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†18 Verna is used by ROMAN writers as a word equivalent to scurra, on account of
the petulance and impudence of those slaves. MART. lib. i. ep. 42. HORACE also
mentions the vernae procaces; and PETRONIUS, cap. 24. vernula urbanitas. SENECA,
de provid. cap. 1. vernularum licentia.
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†19 It is computed in the WEST INDIES, that a stock of slaves grow worse five
per cent. every year, unless new slaves be bought to recruit them. They are not
able to keep up their number, even in those warm countries, where cloaths and
provisions are so easily got. How much more must this happen in EUROPEAN
countries, and in or near great cities?†d I shall add, that, from the experience
of our planters, slavery is as little advantageous to the master as to the
slave, wherever hired servants can be procured. A man is obliged to cloath and
feed his slave; and he does no more for his servant: The price of the first
purchase is, therefore, so much loss to him: not to mention, that the fear of
punishment will never draw so much labour from a slave, as the dread of being
turned off and not getting another service, will from a freeman.
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†20 CORN. NEPOS in vita ATTICI. We may remark, that ATTICUS'S estate lay chiefly
in EPIRUS, which, being a remote, desolate place, would render it profitable for
him to rear slaves there.
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†21 Lib. vii., 304.
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†22 In MIDIAM, p. 221, ex. edit. ALDI.
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†23 Panegyr.
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†24 Lib. vii. cap. 10, sub fin.
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†25 ARISTOPH. Equites, 1. 17. The ancient scholiast remarks on this passage
{barbarizei os doulos}.
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†26 In Amphobum orat. 1. 816.
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†27 {klinopoioi}, makers of those beds which the ancients lay upon at meals.
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†28 In vita CATONIS, 21.
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†29 "Non temere ancillae ejus rei causa comparantur ut pariant." Digest. lib. 5.
tit. 3. de haered. petit. lex 27. The following texts are to the same purpose,
"Spadonem morbosum non esse, neque vitiosum, verius mihi videtur; sed sanum
esse, sicuti illum qui unum testiculum habet, qui etiam generare potest."
Digest. lib. 2. tit. 1. de aedilitio edicto, lex 6. sec. 2. "Sin autem quis ita
spado sit, ut tam necessaria pars corporis penitus absit, morbosus est." Id. lex
7. His impotence, it seems, was only regarded so far as his health or life might
be affected by it. In other respects, he was full as valuable. The same
reasoning is employed with regard to female slaves. "Quaeritur de ea muliere
quae semper mortuos parit, an morbosa sit? et ait Sabinus, si vulvae vitio hoc
contingit, morbosam esse." Id. lex 14. It had even been doubted, whether a woman
pregnant was morbid or vitiated; and it is determined, that she is sound, not on
account of the value of her offspring, but because it is the natural part or
office of women to bear children. "Si mulier praegnans venerit, inter omnes
convenit sanam eam esse. Maximum enim ac praecipuum munus foeminarum accipere ac
tueri conceptum. Puerperam quoque sanam esse; si modo nihil extrinsecus accedit,
quod corpus ejus in aliquam valetudinem immitteret. De sterili Coelius
distinguere Trebatium dicit, ut si natura sterilis sit, sana sit; si vitio
corporis, contra." Id.
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†30 TACIT. ann. lib. xiv. cap. 43.
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†31 The slaves in the great houses had little rooms assigned to them, called
cellae. Whence the name of cell was transferred to the monk's room in a convent.
See farther on this head, JUST. LIPSIUS, Saturn. i. cap. 14. These form strong
presumptions against the marriage and propagation of the family slaves.
Hume: ESY Pt. 2 E. 11 Foot. 32 mp. 393 gp. 392
†32 Opera et Dies, 405, also 602.
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†33 STRABO, lib. viii. 365.
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†34 De ratione redituum, 4, 14.
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†35 See CATO de re rustica, cap. 56. Donatus in Phormion, l. 1, 9. SENECAE
epist. 80.
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†36 De re rust. cap. 10, 11.
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†37 Lib. i. cap. 18.
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†38 Lib. i. cap. 17.
Hume: ESY Pt. 2 E. 11 Foot. 39 mp. 395 gp. 393
†39 Lib. i. cap. 18.
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†40 Lib. xxxiii. cap. 1. So likewise TACITUS, annal. lib. xiv. cap. 44.†h
Hume: ESY Pt. 2 E. 11 Foot. 41 mp. 396 gp. 394
†41 Lib. ii. cap. 10.
Hume: ESY Pt. 2 E. 11 Foot. 42 mp. 396 gp. 394
†42 Pastoris duri est hic filius, ille bubulci. JUVEN, sat. 11, 151.
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†43 Lib. i. cap. 8.
Hume: ESY Pt. 2 E. 11 Foot. 44 mp. 396 gp. 394
†44 De bel. civ. lib. i. 7.
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†45 In vita TIB. & C. GRACCHI.
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†46 To the same purpose is that passage of the elder SENECA, ex controversia 5.
lib. v. "Arata quondam populis rura, singulorum ergastulorum sunt; latiusque
nunc villici, quam olim reges, imperant. At nunc eadem," says PLINY, "vincti
pedes, damnatae manus, inscripti vultus exercent." Lib. xviii. cap. 3. So also
MARTIAL.
"Et sonet innumera compede Thuscus ager." Lib. ix. ep. 23.
And LUCAN.
"Tum longos jungere fines
Agrorum, et quondam duro sulcata Camilli,
Vomere et antiquas Curiorum passa ligones,
Longa sub ignotis extendere rura colonis." Lib. i. 167.
"Vincto fossore coluntur
Hesperiae segetes." Lib. vii. 402.
Hume: ESY Pt. 2 E. 11 Foot. 47 mp. 397 gp. 395
†47 Lib. iii. cap. 19.
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†48 Id. lib. iv. cap. 8.
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†49 TACITUS blames it. De morib. Germ. 19.
Hume: ESY Pt. 2 E. 11 Foot. 50 mp. 398 gp. 396
†50 De fraterno amore. SENECA also approves of the exposing of sickly infirm
children. De ira, lib. i. cap. 15.
Hume: ESY Pt. 2 E. 11 Foot. 51 mp. 399 gp. 396
†51 SEXT. EMP. lib. iii. cap. 24.
Hume: ESY Pt. 2 E. 11 Foot. 52 mp. 399 gp. 396
†52 De amore prolis.
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†53 The practice of leaving great sums of money to friends, though one had near
relations, was common in GREECE as well as ROME; as we may gather from LUCIAN.
This practice prevails much less in modern times; and BEN. JOHNSON'S VOLPONE is
therefore almost entirely extracted from ancient authors, and suits better the
manners of those times.
Hume: ESY Pt. 2 E. 11 Foot. 53 Para. 2/2 mp. 400 gp. 397
It may justly be thought, that the liberty of divorces in ROME was another
discouragement to marriage. Such a practice prevents not quarrels from humour,
but rather encreases them; and occasions also those from interest, which are
much more dangerous and destructive. See farther on this head, Essays moral,
political, and literary, Part I. Essay XIX. Perhaps too the unnatural lusts of
the ancients ought to be taken into consideration, as of some moment.
Hume: ESY Pt. 2 E. 11 Foot. 54 mp. 401 gp. 398
†54 De exp. CYR. lib. vii. 6.
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†55 DEMOST. de falsa leg. 390. He calls it a considerable sum.
Hume: ESY Pt. 2 E. 11 Foot. 56 mp. 402 gp. 398
†56 THUCYD. lib. iii. 17.
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†57 Lib. vi. cap. 37.
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†58 TIT. LIV. lib. xli. cap. 7, 13 & alibi passim.
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†59 APPIAN. De bell. civ. lib. iv., 20.
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†60 CAESAR gave the centurions ten times the gratuity of the common soldiers, De
bello Gallico, lib. viii. 4. In the RHODIAN cartel, mentioned afterwards, no
distinction in the ransom was made on account of ranks in the army.
Hume: ESY Pt. 2 E. 11 Foot. 61 mp. 403 gp. 399
†61 DIOD. SIC. lib. xii. 59. THUCYD. lib. iii. 92.
Hume: ESY Pt. 2 E. 11 Foot. 62 mp. 403 gp. 399
†62 DIOD. SIC. lib. xvi. 82.
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†63 In vita TIMOL., 23.
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†64 PLIN. lib. 18. cap. 3. The same author, in cap. 6. says, Verumque fatentibus
latifundia perdidere ITALIAM; jam vero et provincias. Sex domi semissem AFRICAE
possidebant, cum interfecit eos NERO princeps. In this view, the barbarous
butchery committed by the first ROMAN emperors, was not, perhaps, so destructive
to the public as we may imagine. These never ceased till they had extinguished
all the illustrious families, which had enjoyed the plunder of the world, during
the latter ages of the republic. The new nobles who arose in their place, were
less splendid, as we learn from TACIT. ann. lib. 3. cap. 55.
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†65 The ancient soldiers, being free citizens, above the lowest rank, were all
married. Our modern soldiers are either forced to live unmarried, or their
marriages turn to small account towards the encrease of mankind. A circumstance
which ought, perhaps, to be taken into consideration, as of some consequence in
favour of the ancients.
Hume: ESY Pt. 2 E. 11 Foot. 66 mp. 405 gp. 401
†66 Hist. lib. ii. cap. 44.
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†67 As ABYDUS, mentioned by LIVY, lib. xxxi. cap. 17, 18, and POLYB. lib. xvi.
34. As also the XANTHIANS, APPIAN. de bell. civil. lib. iv. 80.
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†68 In vita ARATI, 6.
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†69 INST. lib. ii. cap. 6.†l
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†70 DIOD. SICUL. lib. xx. 84.
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†71 LYSIAS, who was himself of the popular faction, and very narrowly escaped
from the thirty tyrants, says, that the Democracy was as violent a government as
the Oligarchy. Orat. 25, de statu popul.
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†72 CICERO, PHILIP. 1, 1.
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†73 As orat. 12. contra ERATOST. orat. 13. contra AGORAT. orat. 16. pro MANTITH.
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†74 APPIAN, de bell. civ. lib. ii. 100.
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†75 See CAESAR's speech de bell. Catil. c. 51.
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†76 Orat. 25, 173. And in orat. 30, 184, he mentions the factious spirit of the
popular assemblies as the only cause why these illegal punishments should
displease.
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†77 Lib. iii.†o
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†78 PLUT. de virt. & fort. ALEX.
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†79 DIOD. SIC. lib. xviii, xix.
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†80 TIT. LIV. xxxi. xxxiii. xxxiv.
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†81 DIOD. SIC. Lib. xiv. 5. ISOCRATES says there were only 5000 banished. He
makes the number of those killed amount to 1500. AREOP. 153. AESCHINES contra
CTESIPH. 455 assigns precisely the same number. SENECA (de tranq. anim. cap. 5.)
says 1300.
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†82 DIOD. SIC. lib. xv. c. 58.
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†83 DIOD SIC. lib. xiii. c. 48.
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†84 We shall mention from DIODORUS SICULUS alone a few massacres, which passed
in the course of sixty years, during the most shining age of GREECE. There were
banished from SYBARIS 500 of the nobles and their partizans; lib. xii. p. 77, ex
edit. RHODOMANNI. Of CHIANS, 600 citizens banished; lib. xiii. p. 189. At
EPHESUS, 340 killed, 1000 banished; lib. xiii. p. 223. Of CYRENIANS, 500 nobles
killed, all the rest banished; lib. xiv. p. 263. The CORINTHIANS killed 120,
banished 500; lib. xiv. p. 304. PHAEBIDAS the SPARTAN banished 300 BAEOTIANS;
lib. xv. p. 342. Upon the fall of the LACEDAEMONIANS, Democracies were restored
in many cities, and severe vengeance taken of the nobles, after the GREEK
manner. But matters did not end there. For the banished nobles, returning in
many places, butchered their adversaries at PHIALAE, in CORINTH, in MEGARA, in
PHLIASIA. In this last place they killed 300 of the people; but these again
revolting, killed above 600 of the nobles, and banished the rest; lib. xv. p.
357. In ARCADIA 1400 banished, besides many killed. The banished retired to
SPARTA and to PALLANTIUM: The latter were delivered up to their countrymen, and
all killed; lib. xv. p. 373. Of the banished from ARGOS and THEBES, there were
509 in the SPARTAN army; id. p. 374. Here is a detail of the most remarkable of
AGATHOCLES'S cruelties from the same author. The people before his usurpation
had banished 600 nobles; lib. xix. p. 655. Afterwards that tyrant, in
concurrence with the people, killed 4000 nobles, and banished 6000; id. p. 647.
He killed 4000 people at GELA; id. p. 741. By AGATHOCLES'S brother 8000 banished
from SYRACUSE; lib. xx. p. 757. The inhabitants of AEGESTA, to the number of
40,000, were killed, man, woman, and child; and with tortures, for the sake of
their money; id. p. 802. All the relations, to wit, father, brother, children,
grandfather, of his LIBYAN arms, killed; id. p. 803. He killed 7000 exiles after
capitulation; id. p. 816. It is to be remarked, that AGATHOCLES†p was a man of
great sense and courage, and is not to be suspected of wanton cruelty, contrary
to the maxims of his age.
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†85 DIOD. SIC. lib. xviii. c. 8.
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†86 Pag. 885. ex edit. LEUNCLAV.
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†87 Orat. 29. in NICOM. 185.
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†88 In order to recommend his client to the favour of the people, he enumerates
all the sums he had expended. When {choregos}, 30 minas: Upon a chorus of men 20
minas; {eis pyrrichistas}, 8 minas; {andrasi choregon}, 50 minas; {kykliko
choro}, 3 minas; Seven times trierarch, where he spent 6 talents: Taxes, once 30
minas, another time 40; {gymnasiarchon}, 12 minas; {choregos paidiko choro}, 15
minas; {komodois choregon}, 18 minas; {pyrrichistais ageneiois}, 7 minas;
{prierei amillomenos}, 15 minas; {architheoros}, 30 minas: In the whole ten
talents 38 minas. An immense sum for an ATHENIAN fortune, and what alone would
be esteemed great riches, Orat. 21, 161. It is true, he says, the law did not
oblige him absolutely to be at so much expence, not above a fourth. But without
the favour of the people, no body was so much as safe; and this was the only way
to gain it. See farther, orat. 25. de pop. statu. In another place, he
introduces a speaker, who says that he had spent his whole fortune, and an
immense one, eighty talents, for the people. Orat. 26. de prob. EVANDRI. The
{metoikoi}, or strangers, find, says he, if they do not contribute largely
enough to the people's fancy, that they have reason to repent it. Orat. 31.
contra PHIL. You may see with what care DEMOSTHENES displays his expences of
this nature, when he pleads for himself de corona; and how he exaggerates
MIDIAS'S stinginess in this particular, in his accusation of that criminal. All
this, by the by, is a mark of a very iniquitous judicature: And yet the
ATHENIANS valued themselves on having the most legal and regular administration
of any people in GREECE.
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†89 Panath. 258.
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†90 DIOD. SIC. lib. xiv. 38.
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†91 Lib. i. 89.
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†92 The authorities cited above, are all historians, orators, and philosophers,
whose testimony is unquestioned. It is dangerous to rely upon writers who deal
in ridicule and satyr. What will posterity, for instance, infer from this
passage of Dr. SWIFT: "I told him, that in the kingdom of TRIBNIA (BRITAIN) by
the natives called LANGDON (LONDON) where I had sojourned some time in my
travels, the bulk of the people consist, in a manner, wholly of discoverers,
witnesses, informers, accusers, prosecutors, evidences, swearers, together with
their several subservient and subaltern instruments, all under the colours, the
conduct, and pay of ministers of state and their deputies. The plots in that
kingdom are usually the workmanship of those persons," &c. GULLIVER'S travels.
Such a representation might suit the government of ATHENS; not that of ENGLAND,
which is remarkable even in modern times, for humanity, justice, and liberty.
Yet the Doctor's satyr, though carried to extremes, as is usual with him, even
beyond other satyrical writers, did not altogether want an object. The Bishop of
ROCHESTER, who was his friend, and of the same party, had been banished a little
before by bill of attainder, with great justice, but without such a proof as was
legal, or according to the strict forms of common law.
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†93 PLUTARCHUS in vita SOLON, 18.
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†94 DIOD. SIC. lib. xviii. 18.
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†95 Id. ibid.
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†96 Id. ibid. 74.
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†97 TIT. LIV. lib. i. cap. 43.
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†98 Lib. ii. 24. There were 8000 killed during the siege; and the captives
amounted to 30,000. DIODORUS SICULUS, lib. xvii. 46, says only 13,000: But he
accounts for this small number, by saying that the TYRIANS had sent away
before-hand part of their wives and children to CARTHAGE.
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†99 Lib. v. 97, he makes the number of the citizens amount to 30,000.
Hume: ESY Pt. 2 E. 11 Foot. 100 mp. 417 gp. 410
†100 Ib. viii. 132.
Hume: ESY Pt. 2 E. 11 Foot. 101 mp. 417 gp. 410
†101 Orat. 32. 908 advers. DIOGIT.
Hume: ESY Pt. 2 E. 11 Foot. 102 mp. 417 gp. 410
†102 Contra APHOB. p. 25. ex edit. ALDI.
Hume: ESY Pt. 2 E. 11 Foot. 103 mp. 417 gp. 410
†103 Id. p. 19.
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†104 Id. ibid.
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†105 Id. ibid. and AESCHINES contra CTESIPH. 104.
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†106 Epist. ad ATTIC. lib. iv. epist. 15.
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†107 Contra VERR. orat. 3, 71.
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†108 See Essay IV.
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†109 Lib. vii. 28.
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†110 Lib. xiii. 81.
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†111 Lib. xii. 9.
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†112 Econ. 15, 10.
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†113 See Part I. Essay XI.
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†114 AELII LAMPRID. in vita HELIOGAB. cap. 26.
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†115 In general, there is more candour and sincerity in ancient historians, but
less exactness and care, than in the moderns. Our speculative factions,
especially those of religion, throw such an illusion over our minds, that men
seem to regard impartiality to their adversaries and to heretics, as a vice or
weakness: But the commonness of books, by means of printing, has obliged modern
historians to be more careful in avoiding contradictions and incongruities.
DIODORUS SICULUS is a good writer, but it is with pain I see his narration
contradict, in so many particulars, the two most authentic pieces of all GREEK
history, to wit, XENOPHON'S expedition, and DEMOSTHENES'S orations. PLUTARCH and
APPIAN seem scarce ever to have read CICERO'S epistles.
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†116 Lib. xii. 9.
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†117 Lib. vi. 26.
Hume: ESY Pt. 2 E. 11 Foot. 118 mp. 423 gp. 415
†118 Lib. xiii. 90.
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†119 DIOGENES LAERTIUS (in vita EMPEDOCLIS) says, that AGRIGENTUM contained only
800,000 inhabitants.
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†120 Idyll. 17.
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†121 Lib. i. 18.
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†122 Id. Ibid.
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†123 Orat. funebris, 193.
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†124 Lib. ii. 24.
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†125 The country that supplied this number, was not above a third of ITALY, viz.
the Pope's dominions, TUSCANY, and a part of the kingdom of NAPLES: But perhaps
in those early times there were very few slaves, except in ROME, or the great
cities.†s
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†126 Lib. ii. 5.
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†127 CELTICA, c. 2.
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†128 PLUTARCH (in vita CAES. 15) makes the number that CAESAR fought with amount
to three millions; JULIAN (in CAESARIBUS) to two.
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†129 Lib. ii. cap. 47.
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†130 PLINY, lib. vii. cap. 25, says, that CAESAR used to boast, that there had
fallen in battle against him one million one hundred and ninety-two thousand
men, besides those who perished in the civil wars. It is not probable, that that
conqueror could ever pretend to be so exact in his computation. But allowing the
fact, it is likely, that the HELVETII, GERMANS, and BRITONS, whom he
slaughtered, would amount to near a half of the number.†t
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†131 DIOD. SIC. lib. ii. 5.
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†132 PLUTARCH in vita DIONYS, 25.
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†133 STRABO, lib vi. 273.
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†134 Apolog. SOCR. 29 D.
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†135 ARGOS seems also to have been a great city; for LYSIAS contents himself
with saying that it did not exceed ATHENS. Orat. 34, 922.
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†136 Lib. vi. See also PLUTARCH in vita NICIAE, 17.
Hume: ESY Pt. 2 E. 11 Foot. 137 mp. 427 gp. 418
†137 Orat. contra VERREM, lib. iv. cap. 52. STRABO, lib. vi. 270, says, it was
twenty-two miles in compass. But then we are to consider, that it contained two
harbours within it; one of which was a very large one, and might be regarded as
a kind of bay.
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†138 Lib. vi. cap. 20.
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†139 DEMOSTHENES assigns 20,000; contra ARISTOG, 785.
Hume: ESY Pt. 2 E. 11 Foot. 140 mp. 427 gp. 419
†140 Lib. v. 99.
Hume: ESY Pt. 2 E. 11 Foot. 141 mp. 428 gp. 419
†141 Lib. viii. 72.
Hume: ESY Pt. 2 E. 11 Foot. 142 mp. 428 gp. 419
†142 Lib. ii. 13. DIODORUS SICULUS'S account perfectly agrees, lib. xii. 40.
Hume: ESY Pt. 2 E. 11 Foot. 143 mp. 428 gp. 419
†143 XENOPHON. Mem. lib. iii. 6, 14.
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†144 Lib. ii. 13.
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†145 De ratione red. 2, 6.
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†146 We are to observe, that when DIONYSIUS HALYCARNASSAEUS says, that if we
regard the ancient walls of ROME, the extent of that city will not appear
greater than that of ATHENS; he must mean the ACROPOLIS and high town only. No
ancient author ever speaks of the PYRAEUM, PHALERUS, and MUNYCHIA, as the same
with ATHENS. Much less can it be supposed, that DIONYSIUS would consider the
matter in that light, after the walls of CIMON and PERICLES were destroyed, and
ATHENS was entirely separated from these other towns. This observation destroys
all VOSSIUS'S reasonings, and introduces common sense into these calculations.
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†147 ATHEN. lib. vi. 104.
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†148 De rep. ATHEN, 1.
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†149 PHILIP. 3, 31.
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†150 STICHO. 3. 1, 39.
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†151 Contra TIMARCH. 42.
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†152 Orat. xii.
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†153 Contra APHOB. 816.
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†154 Ibid.
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†155 Lib. vii. 27.
Hume: ESY Pt. 2 E. 11 Foot. 156 mp. 430 gp. 420
†156 De rat. red. 4, 25.
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†157 De classibus, 183.
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†158 Lib. ii. cap. 62.
Hume: ESY Pt. 2 E. 11 Foot. 159 mp. 430 gp. 421
†159 De rat. red. 4, 14.
Hume: ESY Pt. 2 E. 11 Foot. 160 mp. 430 gp. 421
†160 Contra APHOBUM, 816.
Hume: ESY Pt. 2 E. 11 Foot. 161 mp. 431 gp. 421
†161 Lib. viii. 40.
Hume: ESY Pt. 2 E. 11 Foot. 162 mp. 431 gp. 421
†162 PLUTARCH, in vita LYCURG, 8.
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†163 Lib. iv. 80.
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†164 The same author affirms, that CORINTH had once 460,000 slaves, AEGINA
470,000. But the foregoing arguments hold stronger against these facts, which
are indeed entirely absurd and impossible. It is however remarkable, that
ATHENAEUS cites so great an authority as ARISTOTLE for this last fact: And the
scholiast on PINDAR mentions the same number of slaves in AEGINA.
Hume: ESY Pt. 2 E. 11 Foot. 165 mp. 431 gp. 422
†165 Lib. ii. 14.
Hume: ESY Pt. 2 E. 11 Foot. 166 mp. 432 gp. 422
†166 Id. lib. ii. 17.
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†167 DEMOST. contra LEPT. 466. The ATHENIANS brought yearly from PONTUS 400,000
medimni or bushels of corn, as appeared from the custom-house books. And this
was the greater part of their importation of corn. This by the by is a strong
proof that there is some great mistake in the foregoing passage of ATHENAEUS.
For ATTICA itself was so barren of corn, that it produced not enough even to
maintain the peasants. Tit. Liv. lib. xliii. cap. 6.†x And 400,000 medimni would
scarcely feed 100,000 men during a twelvemonth. LUCIAN, in his navigum sive
vota, says, that a ship, which, by the dimensions he gives, seems to have been
about the size of our third rates, carried as much corn as would maintain all
ATTICA for a twelvemonth. But perhaps ATHENS was decayed at that time; and
besides, it is not safe to trust to such loose rhetorical calculations.
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†168 DIOD. SIC. lib. xx. 84.
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†169 ISOCR. paneg.
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†170 DIOD. SIC. lib. xvii. 14.†y When ALEXANDER attacked THEBES, we may safely
conclude, that almost all the inhabitants were present. Whoever is acquainted
with the spirit of the GREEKS, especially of the THEBANS, will never suspect,
that any of them would desert their country, when it was reduced to such extreme
peril and distress. As ALEXANDER took the town by storm, all those who bore arms
were put to the sword without mercy; and they amounted only to 6000 men. Among
these were some strangers and manumitted slaves. The captives, consisting of old
men, women, children, and slaves, were sold, and they amounted to 30,000. We may
therefore conclude that the free citizens in THEBES, of both sexes and all ages,
were near 24,000; the strangers and slaves about 12,000. These last, we may
observe, were somewhat fewer in proportion than at ATHENS; as is reasonable to
imagine from this circumstance, that ATHENS was a town of more trade to support
slaves, and of more entertainment to allure strangers. It is also to be
remarked, that thirty-six thousand was the whole number of people, both in the
city of THEBES, and the neighbouring territory: A very moderate number, it must
be confessed; and this computation, being founded on facts which appear
indisputable, must have great weight in the present controversy. The
above-mentioned number of RHODIANS too were all the inhabitants of the island,
who were free, and able to bear arms.
Hume: ESY Pt. 2 E. 11 Foot. 171 mp. 433 gp. 423
†171 Hist. GRAEC. lib. vii. 2, 1.
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†172 Id. lib. vii.
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†173 POLYB. lib. ii. 56.
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†174 POLYB. lib. ix. cap. 20.
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†175 LYSIAS, orat. 34, 92.
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†176 VOPISCUS in vita AUREL, 222 B.
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†177 De rep. LACED. 1, 1. This passage is not easily reconciled with that of
PLUTARCH above, who says, that SPARTA had 9000 citizens.
Hume: ESY Pt. 2 E. 11 Foot. 178 mp. 435 gp. 424
†178 POLYB. lib. ix. cap. 20.
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†179 DIOD. SIC. lib. xviii. 24.
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†180 LEGAT.
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†181 In ACHAICIS, 7. 15, 7.
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†182 TIT. LIV. lib. xxxiv. cap. 51. PLATO in CRITONE, 53 D.
Hume: ESY Pt. 2 E. 11 Foot. 183 mp. 436 gp. 424
†183 Lib. iv. 3.
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†184 Lib. vii. 126.
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†185 TIT. LIV. lib. xlv. cap. 34.
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†186 Lib. ix. cap. 5.
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†187 Lib. iv. 13.
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†188 Lib. x. 32.
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†189 Satyr. iii. 1. 269, 270.
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†190 STRABO, liv. v. says, that the emperor AUGUSTUS prohibited the raising
houses higher than seventy feet. In another passage, lib. xvi. he speaks of the
houses of ROME as remarkably high. See also to the same purpose VITRUVIUS, lib.
ii. cap. 8. ARISTIDES the sophist, in his oration {eis Romen}, says, that ROME
consisted of cities on the top of cities; and that if one were to spread it out,
and unfold it, it would cover the whole surface of ITALY. Where an author
indulges himself in such extravagant declamations, and gives so much into the
hyperbolical style, one knows not how far he must be reduced. But this reasoning
seems natural: If ROME was built in so scattered a manner as DIONYSIUS says, and
ran so much into the country, there must have been very few streets where the
houses were raised so high. It is only for want of room, that any body builds in
that inconvenient manner.
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†191 LIB. ii. epist. 16. lib. v. epist. 6. It is true, PLINY there describes a
country-house: But since that was the idea which the ancients formed of a
magnificent and convenient building, the great men would certainly build the
same way in town. "In laxitatem ruris excurrunt," says SENECA of the rich and
voluptuous, epist. 114. VALERIUS MAXIMUS, lib. iv. cap. 4. speaking of
CINCINNATUS'S field of four acres, says, "Auguste se habitare nunc putat, cujus
domus tantum patet quantum CINCINNATI rura patuerant." To the same purpose see
lib. xxxvi. cap. 15. also lib. xviii. cap. 2.
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†192 VITRUV. lib. v. cap. 11. TACIT. annal. lib. xi. cap. 3. SUETON. in vita
OCTAV. cap. 72, &c.
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†193 "MOENIA ejus (ROMAE) collegere ambitu imperatoribus, censoribusque
VESPASIANIS, A.U.C. 828. pass. xiii. MCC. complexa montes septem, ipsa dividitur
in regiones quatuordecim, compita earum 265. Ejusdem spatii mensura, currente a
milliario in capite ROM. Fori statuto, ad singulas portas, quae sunt hodie
numero 37, ita ut duodecim portae semel numerentur, praetereanturque ex
veteribus septem, quae esse desierunt, efficit passuum per directum 30,775. Ad
extrema vero tectorum cum castris praetoriis ab eodem Milliario, per vicos
omnium viarum, mensura collegit paulo amplius septuaginta millia passuum. Quo si
quis altitudinem tectorum addat, dignam profecto, aestimationem concipiat,
fateaturque nullius urbis magnitudinem in toto orbe potuisse ei comparari."
PLIN. lib. iii. cap. 5.
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All the best manuscripts of PLINY read the passage as here cited, and fix the
compass of the walls of ROME to be thirteen miles. The question is, What PLINY
means by 30,775 paces, and how that number was formed? The manner in which I
conceive it, is this. ROME was a semicircular area of thirteen miles
circumference. The Forum, and consequently the Milliarium, we know, was situated
on the banks of the TYBER, and near the center of the circle, or upon the
diameter of the semicircular area. Though there were thirty-seven gates to ROME,
yet only twelve of them had straight streets, leading from them to the
Milliarium. PLINY, therefore, having assigned the circumference of ROME, and
knowing that that alone was not sufficient to give us a just notion of its
surface, uses this farther method. He supposes all the streets, leading from the
Milliarium to the twelve gates, to be laid together into one straight line, and
supposes we run along that line, so as to count each gate once: In which case,
he says, that the whole line is 30,775 paces: Or, in other words, that each
street or radius of the semicircular area is upon an average two miles and a
half; and the whole length of ROME is five miles, and its breadth about half as
much, besides the scattered suburbs.
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PERE HARDOUIN understands this passage in the same manner; with regard to the
laying together the several streets of ROME into one line, in order to compose
30,775 paces: But then he supposes, that streets led from the Milliarium to
every gate, and that no street exceeded 800 paces in length. But (1.) a
semicircular area, whose radius was only 800 paces, could never have a
circumference near thirteen miles, the compass of ROME as assigned by PLINY. A
radius of two miles and a half forms very nearly that circumference. (2.) There
is an absurdity in supposing a city so built as to have streets running to its
center from every gate in its circumference. These streets must interfere as
they approach. (3.) This diminishes too much from the greatness of ancient ROME,
and reduces that city below even BRISTOL or ROTTERDAM.
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The sense which VOSSIUS in his Observationes variae, puts on this passage of
PLINY, errs widely in the other extreme. One manuscript of no authority, instead
of thirteen miles, has assigned thirty miles for the compass of the walls of
ROME. And VOSSIUS understands this only of the curvilinear part of the
circumference; supposing, that as the TYBER formed the diameter, there were no
walls built on that side. But (1.) this reading is allowed to be contrary to
almost all the manuscripts. (2.) Why should PLINY, a concise writer, repeat the
compass of the walls of ROME in two successive sentences? (3.) Why repeat it
with so sensible a variation? (4.) What is the meaning of PLINY'S mentioning
twice the MILLIARIUM, if a line was measured that had no dependence on the
MILLIARIUM? (5.) AURELIAN'S wall is said by VOPISCUS to have been drawn laxiore
ambitu, and to have comprehended all the buildings and suburbs on the north side
of the TYBER; yet its compass was only fifty miles; and even here critics
suspect some mistake or corruption in the text; since the walls, which remain,
and which are supposed to be the same with AURELIAN'S, exceed not twelve miles.
It is not probable, that ROME would diminish from AUGUSTUS to AURELIAN. It
remained still the capital of the same empire; and none of the civil wars in
that long period, except the tumults on the death of MAXIMUS and BALBINUS, ever
affected the city. CARACALLA is said by AURELIUS VICTOR to have encreased ROME.
(6.) There are no remains of ancient buildings, which mark any such greatness of
ROME. VOSSIUS'S reply to this objection seems absurd, that the rubbish would
sink sixty or seventy feet under ground. It appears from SPARTIAN (in vita
Severi) that the five-mile stone in via Lavicana was out of the city. (7.)
OLYMPIODORUS and PUBLIUS VICTOR fix the number of houses in ROME to be betwixt
forty and fifty thousand. (8.) The very extravagance of the consequences drawn
by this critic, as well as LIPSIUS, if they be necessary, destroys the
foundation on which they are grounded: That ROME contained fourteen millions of
inhabitants; while the whole kingdom of FRANCE contains only five, according to
his computation, &c.
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The only objection to the sense which we have affixed above to the passage of
PLINY, seems to lie in this, That PLINY, after mentioning the thirty-seven gates
of ROME, assigns only a reason for suppressing the seven old ones, and says
nothing of the eighteen gates, the streets leading from which terminated,
according to my opinion, before they reached the Forum. But as PLINY was writing
to the ROMANS, who perfectly knew the disposition of the streets, it is not
strange he should take a circumstance for granted, which was so familiar to
every body. Perhaps too, many of these gates led to wharfs upon the river.
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†194 Ex monument. Ancyr.
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†195 Tusc. Quaest. lib. iii. cap. 48.
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†196 Licinius apud Sallust. hist. frag. lib. iii.
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†197 Nicolaus Hortensius de re frumentaria Roman.
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†198 Not to take the people too much from their business, AUGUSTUS ordained the
distribution of corn to be made only thrice a-year: But the people finding the
monthly distributions more convenient, (as preserving, I suppose, a more regular
economy in their family) desired to have them restored. SUETON. AUGUST. cap. 40.
Had not some of the people come from some distance for their corn, AUGUSTUS'S
precaution seems superfluous.
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†199 Sueton. in Jul. cap. 41.
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†200 In vita Neronis. 39.
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†201 Sueton. Aug. cap. 42.
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†202 Lib. iv. cap. 5.
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†203 Lib. xvii. 52.
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†204 Quintus Curtius says, its walls were ten miles in circumference, when
founded by Alexander; lib. iv. cap. 8. Strabo, who had travelled to Alexandria,
as well as Diodorus Siculus, says it was scarce four miles long, and in most
places about a mile broad; lib. xvii. Pliny says it resembled a Macedonian
cassock, stretching out in the corners; lib. v. cap. 10. Notwithstanding this
bulk of Alexandria, which seems but moderate, Diodorus Siculus, speaking of its
circuit as drawn by Alexander (which it never exceeded, as we learn from
Ammianus Marcellinus, lib. xxii. cap. 16.) says it was {megethei diapheronta},
extremely great, ibid. The reason which he assigns for its surpassing all cities
in the world (for he excepts not Rome) is, that it contained 300,000 free
inhabitants. He also mentions the revenues of the kings, to wit, 6000 talents,
as another circumstance to the same purpose: No such mighty sum in our eyes,
even though we make allowance for the different value of money. What Strabo says
of the neighbouring country, means only that it was well peopled, {oikoumena
kalos}. Might not one affirm, without any great hyperbole, that the whole banks
of the river from Gravesend to Windsor are one city? This is even more than
Strabo says of the banks of the lake Mareotis, and of the canal to Canopus. It
is a vulgar saying in Italy, that the king of Sardinia has but one town in
Piedmont; for it is all a town. Agrippa, in Josephus de bello Judaic. lib. ii.
cap. 16. to make his audience comprehend the excessive greatness of Alexandria,
which he endeavours to magnify, describes only the compass of the city as drawn
by Alexander: A clear proof that the bulk of the inhabitants were lodged there,
and that the neighbouring country was no more than what might be expected about
all great towns, very well cultivated, and well peopled.
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†205 Lib. xvii. 52.
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†206 He says {eleutheroi}, not {politai}, which last expression must have been
understood of citizens alone, and grown men.
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†207 Lib. iv. cap. 1. {pases poleos}. POLITIAN interprets it "aedibus majoribus
etiam reliqua urbe."
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†208 He says (in NERONE, cap. 30.) that a portico or piazza of it was 3000 feet
long; "tanta laxitas ut porticus triplices milliarias haberet." He cannot mean
three miles. For the whole extent of the house from the PALATINE to the
ESQUILINE was not near so great. So when VOPISC. in AURELIANO mentions a portico
in SALLUST'S gardens, which he calls porticus milliarensis, it must be
understood of a thousand feet. So also HORACE:
"Nulla decempedis
Metata privatis opacam
Porticus excipiebat Arcton."
Lib. ii. ode 15.
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So also in lib. i. satyr. 8.
"Mille pedes in fronte, trecentos cippus in agrum
Hic dabat."
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†209 PLINIUS, lib. xxxvi. cap. 15. "Bis vidimus urbem totam cingi domibus
principum, CAII ac NERONIS."
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†210 Lib. ii. cap. 15.
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†211 In AURELIAN. cap. 48.
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†212 Lib. xii. cap. 2.
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†213 Lib. ix. cap. 10. His expression is {anthropos}, not {polites}; inhabitant,
not citizen.
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†214 Lib. vi. cap. 28.
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†215 Lib. xvii. 833.
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†216 Such were ALEXANDRIA, ANTIOCH, CARTHAGE, EPHESUS, LYONS, &c. in the ROMAN
empire. Such are even BOURDEAUX, THOLOUSE, DIJON, RENNES, ROUEN AIX, &c. in
FRANCE; DUBLIN, EDINBURGH, YORK, in the BRITISH dominions.
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†217 Vol. 2. Sect. 16.
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†218 Sat. 6. 522.
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†219 Lib. iv. 25.
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†220 De generat. anim. lib. ii. 8, 14.
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†221 Lib. iv. 178.
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†222 Trist. lib. iii. eleg. 10. De Ponto, lib. iv. eleg. 7, 9, 10.
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†223 Lib. iv. cap. 21.
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†224 Lib. i. cap. 2.
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†225 Lib. iii. 137.
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†226 The warm southern colonies also become more healthful: And it is
remarkable, that in the SPANISH histories of the first discovery and conquest of
these countries, they appear to have been very healthful; being then well
peopled and cultivated. No account of the sickness or decay of CORTES'S or
PIZARRO'S small armies.
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†227 Lib. i. cap. 1.
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†228 He seems to have lived about the time of the younger AFRICANUS; lib. i.
cap. 1.
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†229 Xenoph. Exp. lib. vii. Polyb. lib. iv. cap. 45.
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†230 Ovid. passim, &c. Strabo, lib. vii.
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†231 Polyb. lib. ii. cap. 12.
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†232 De Bello Gallico, lib. vi. 23.
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†233 De Moribus Germ.
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†234 Lib. vii.
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†235 Lib. iii. cap. 47.
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†236 CAESAR de Bello Gallico, lib. vi. 13. STRABO, lib. vii. 290 says, the GAULS
were not much more improved than the GERMANS.
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†237 Celt. pars 1. lib. iv. 2.
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†238 Lib. v. 25.
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†239 Ancient Gaul was more extensive than modern FRANCE.
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†240 CAESAR de Bello Gallico, lib. vi. 13.
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†241 Id. ibid. 15.
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†242 Lib. iv. 178.
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†243 De Bello Gallico, lib. ii. 4.
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†244 It appears from CAESAR'S account, that the GAULS had no domestic slaves,†hh
who formed a different order from the Plebes. The whole common people were
indeed a kind of slaves to the nobility, as the people of POLAND are at this
day: And a nobleman of GAUL had sometimes ten thousand dependents of this kind.
Nor can we doubt, that the armies were composed of the people as well as of the
nobility. The fighting men amongst the HELVETII were the fourth part of the
inhabitants; a clear proof that all the males of military age bore arms. See
CAESAR de bello Gall. lib. 1.
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We may remark, that the numbers in CAESAR'S commentaries can be more depended on
than those of any other ancient author, because of the GREEK translation, which
still remains, and which checks the LATIN original.
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†245 De Bello Gallico, lib. i. 2.
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†246 Titi Livii, lib. xxxiv. cap. 17.
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†247 In vita Marii. 6.
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†248 De Bello Hisp. 8.
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†249 Vell. Paterc. lib. ii. sec. 90.
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†250 Lib. iii.
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†251 Lib. xliv.
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†252 "Nec numero Hispanos, nec robore Gallos, nec calliditate Poenos, nec
artibus Graecos, nec denique hoc ipso hujus gentis, ac terrae domestico
nativoque sensu, Italos ipsos ac Latinos--superavimus." De harusp. resp. cap. 9.
The disorders of SPAIN seem to have been almost proverbial: "Nec impacatos a
tergo horrebis Iberos." Virg. Georg. lib. iii. 408. The IBERI are here plainly
taken, by a poetical figure, for robbers in general.
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†253 VARRO de re rustica, lib. ii. praef. COLUMELLA praef. SUETON. AUGUST. cap.
42.
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†254 Though the observations of L'Abbe du Bos should be admitted, that ITALY is
now warmer than in former times, the consequence may not be necessary, that it
is more populous or better cultivated. If the other countries of EUROPE were
more savage and woody, the cold winds that blew from them, might affect the
climate of ITALY.
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†255 The inhabitants of MARSEILLES lost not their superiority over the GAULS in
commerce and the mechanic arts, till the ROMAN dominion turned the latter from
arms to agriculture and civil life. See STRABO, lib. iv. That author, in several
places, repeats the observation concerning the improvement arising from the
ROMAN arts and civility: And he lived at the time when the change was new, and
would be more sensible. So also PLINY: "Quis enim non, communicato orbe
terrarum, majestate ROMANI imperii, profecisse vitam putet, commercio rerum ac
societate festae pacis, omniaque etiam, quae occulta antea fuerant, in promiscuo
usu facta." Lib. xiv. proem. "Numine deum electa (speaking of ITALY) quae coelum
ipsum clarius faceret, sparsa congregaret imperia, ritusque molliret, & tot
populorum discordes, ferasque linguas sermonis commercio contraheret ad
colloquia, & humanitatem homini daret; breviterque, una cunctarum gentium in
toto orbe patria fieret;" lib. ii. cap. 5. Nothing can be stronger to this
purpose than the following passage from TERTULLIAN, who lived about the age of
SEVERUS. "Certe quidem ipse orbis in promptu est, cultior de die & instructior
pristino. Omnia jam pervia, omnia nota, omnia negotiosa. Solitudines famosas
retro fundi amoenissimi obliteraverunt, silvas arva domuerunt, feras pecora
fugaverunt; arenae seruntur, saxa panguntur, paludes eliquantur, tantae urbes,
quantae non casae quondam. Jam nec insulae horrent, nec scopuli terrent; ubique
domus, ubique populus, ubique respublica, ubique vita. Summum testimonium
frequentiae humanae, onerosi sumus mundo, vix nobis elementa sufficiunt; &
necessitates arctiores, et querelae apud omnes, dum jam nos natura non
sustinet." De anima, cap. 30. The air of rhetoric and declamation which appears
in this passage, diminishes somewhat from its authority, but does not entirely
destroy it.†jj The same remark may be extended to the following passage of
ARISTIDES the sophist, who lived in the age of ADRIAN. "The whole world," says
he, addressing himself to the ROMANS, "seems to keep one holiday; and mankind,
laying aside the sword which they formerly wore, now betake themselves to
feasting and to joy. The cities, forgetting their ancient animosities, preserve
only one emulation, which shall embellish itself most by every art and ornament;
Theatres every where arise, amphitheatres, porticoes, aqueducts, temples,
schools, academies; and one may safely pronounce, that the sinking world has
been again raised by your auspicious empire. Nor have cities alone received an
encrease of ornament and beauty; but the whole earth, like a garden or paradise,
is cultivated and adorned: Insomuch, that such of mankind as are placed out of
the limits of your empire (who are but few) seem to merit our sympathy and
compassion."
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It is remarkable, that though DIODORUS SICULUS makes the inhabitants of AEGYPT,
when conquered by the ROMANS, amount only to three millions; yet JOSEPH. de
bello Jud. lib. ii. cap. 16. says, that its inhabitants, excluding those of
ALEXANDRIA, were seven millions and a half, in the reign of NERO: And he
expressly says, that he drew this account from the books of the ROMAN publicans,
who levied the poll-tax. STRABO, lib. xvii. 797, praises the superior police of
the ROMANS with regard to the finances of AEGYPT, above that of its former
monarchs: And no part of administration is more essential to the happiness of a
people. Yet we read in ATHENAEUS, (lib. i. cap. 25.) who flourished during the
reign of the ANTONINES, that the town MAREIA, near ALEXANDRIA, which was
formerly a large city, had dwindled into a village. This is not, properly
speaking, a contradiction. SUIDAS (AUGUST.) says, that the Emperor AUGUSTUS,
having numbered the whole ROMAN empire, found it contained only 4,101,017 men
({andres}). There is here surely some great mistake, either in the author or
transcriber. But this authority, feeble as it is, may be sufficient to
counterbalance the exaggerated accounts of HERODOTUS and DIODORUS SICULUS with
regard to more early times.
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†256 L'Esprit de Loix, liv. xxiii. chap. 19.
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†257 De Orac. Defectu.
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†258 Lib. ii. cap. 62. It may perhaps be imagined, that POLYBIUS, being
dependent on ROME, would naturally extol the ROMAN dominion. But, in the first
place, POLYBIUS, though one sees sometimes instances of his caution, discovers
no symptoms of flattery. Secondly, This opinion is only delivered in a single
stroke, by the by, while he is intent upon another subject; and it is allowed,
if there be any suspicion of an author's insincerity, that these oblique
propositions discover his real opinion better than his more formal and direct
assertions.
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†259 Annal. lib. i. cap. 2.
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†260 Lib. viii. and ix.
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†261 PLUTARCH. De his qui sero a Numine puniuntur.
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†262 De mercede conductis.
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†263 I must confess that that discourse of PLUTARCH, concerning the silence of
the oracles, is in general of so odd a texture, and so unlike his other
productions, that one is at a loss what judgment to form of it. It is written in
dialogue, which is a method of composition that PLUTARCH commonly but little
affects. The personages he introduces advance very wild, absurd, and
contradictory opinions, more like the visionary systems or ravings of PLATO than
the plain sense of PLUTARCH. There runs also through the whole an air of
superstition and credulity, which resembles very little the spirit that appears
in other philosophical compositions of that author. For it is remarkable, that,
though PLUTARCH be an historian as superstitious as HERODOTUS or LIVY, yet there
is scarcely, in all antiquity, a philosopher less superstitious, excepting
CICERO and LUCIAN. I must therefore confess, that a passage of PLUTARCH, cited
from this discourse, has much less authority with me, than if it had been found
in most of his other compositions.
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There is only one other discourse of PLUTARCH liable to like objections, viz.,
that concerning those whose punishment is delayed by the Deity. It is also writ
in dialogue, contains like superstitious, wild visions, and seems to have been
chiefly composed in rivalship to PLATO, particularly his last book de republica.
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And here I cannot but observe, that Mons. FONTENELLE, a writer eminent for
candor, seems to have departed a little from his usual character, when he
endeavours to throw a ridicule upon PLUTARCH on account of passages to be met
with in this dialogue concerning oracles. The absurdities here put into the
mouths of the several personages are not to be ascribed to PLUTARCH. He makes
them refute each other; and, in general, he seems to intend the ridiculing of
those very opinions, which FONTENELLE would ridicule him for maintaining. See
Histoire des oracles.
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†264 Lib. ii. 5.
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†265 He was cotemporary with CAESAR and AUGUSTUS.
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†a Editions H to W add: Were every one coupled as soon as he comes to the age of
puberty.
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†b A country . . . to . . . pasturage, was added in Edition H, and In general .
. . to . . . populous, in Edition Q.
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†c Editions H and I added the misquotation: Partem Italiae ergastula a
solitudine vindicant.
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†d The remainder of this note was added in Ed. R.
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†e The remainder of this paragraph was added in Edition M.
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†f And even manufactures executed; added in Edition Q.
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†g This paragraph was added in Edition K.
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†h This reference to TACITUS was added in Edition K.
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†i Of the most abject superstition: Editions H to P.
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†j Infinite: Editions H to P.
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†k Editions H to P add: Could FOLARD'S project of the column take place (which
seems impracticable†1) it would render modern battles as destructive as the
antient.
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†1 What is the advantage of the column after it has broke the enemy's line?
only, that it then takes them in flank, and dissipates whatever stands near it
by a fire from all sides. But till it has broke them, does it not present a
flank to the enemy, and that exposed to their musquetry, and, what is much
worse, to their cannon?
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†l Editions H to P add: 'Tis true the same law seems to have continued till the
time of JUSTINIAN. But abuses introduced by barbarism are not always corrected
by civility.
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†m Editions H to P add: Where bigotted priests are the accusers, judges, and
executioners.
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†n Editions H to Q add: This is a difficulty not cleared up, and even not
observed by antiquarians and historians.
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†o The country in EUROPE in which I have observed the factions to be most
violent, and party-hatred the strongest, is IRELAND. This goes so far as to cut
off even the most common intercourse of civilities between the Protestants and
Catholics. Their cruel insurrections and the severe revenges which they have
taken of each other, are the causes of this mutual ill will, which is the chief
source of the disorder, poverty, and depopulation of that country. The GREEK
factions I imagine to have been inflamed still to a higher degree of rage; the
revolutions being commonly more frequent, and the maxims of assassination much
more avowed and acknowledged. Editions H to P.
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†p The remainder is not in Editions H to O. P has instead of it: His violent
tyranny, therefore, is a stronger proof of the measures of the age.
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†q The remainder of this paragraph was added in Edition R.
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†r Not less, if not rather--added in Edition M.
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†s The last clause was added in Edition K.
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†t This note was added in Edition R.
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†u This sentence was added in Edition R.
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†v Editions H to M proceed as follows: The critical art may very justly be
suspected of temerity, when it pretends to correct or dispute the plain
testimony of ancient historians by any probable or analogical reasonings: Yet
the licence of authors upon all subjects, particularly with regard to numbers,
is so great, that we ought still to retain a kind of doubt or reserve, whenever
the facts advanced depart in the least from the common bounds of nature and
experience. I shall give an instance with regard to modern history. Sir William
Temple tells us, in his memoirs, that having a free conversation with Charles
the II., he took the opportunity of representing to that monarch the
impossibility of introducing into this island the religion and government of
France, chiefly on account of the great force requisite to subdue the spirit and
liberty of so brave a people. "The Romans," says he, "were forced to keep up
twelve legions for that purpose" (a great absurdity),†1 "and Cromwell left an
army of near eighty thousand men." Must not this last be regarded as
unquestioned by future critics, when they find it asserted by a wise and learned
minister of state cotemporary to the fact, and who addressed his discourse, upon
an ungrateful subject, to a great monarch who was also cotemporary, and who
himself broke those very forces about fourteen years before? Yet, by the most
undoubted authority, we may insist, that Cromwell's army, when he died, did not
amount to half the number here mentioned.†2
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†1 Strabo, lib. iv. 200, says, that one legion would be sufficient, with a few
cavalry; but the Romans commonly kept up somewhat a greater force in this
island, which they never took the pains entirely to subdue.
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†2 It appears that Cromwell's parliament, in 1656, settled but 1,300,000 pounds
a year on him for the constant charges of government in all the three kingdoms.
See Scobel, chap. 31. This was to supply the fleet, army, and civil list. It
appears from Whitelocke, that in the year 1649, the sum of 80,000 pounds a month
was the estimate for 40,000 men. We must conclude, therefore, that Cromwell had
much less than that number upon pay in 1656. In the very instrument of
government, 20,000 foot and 10,000 horse are fixed by Cromwell himself, and
afterwards confirmed by the parliament, as the regular standing army of the
commonwealth. That number, indeed, seems not to have been much exceeded during
the whole time of the protectorship. See farther Thurlo, Vol. 11. pp. 413, 499,
568. We may there see, that though the Protector had more considerable armies in
Ireland and Scotland, he had not sometimes more than 4,000 or 5,000 men in
England.
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†w In digging of mines, and also kept up the number of slaves: Editions H and I.
In digging of mines: K to Q.
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†x This sentence was added in Edition Q.
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†y DIOD. SIC. lib. 15 and 17: Editions H and I, and omit the rest of this note.
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†z The remainder of the paragraph was added in Edition K.
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†aa Deducting some few garrisons: not in F and G.
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†bb This paragraph was added in Edition K.
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†cc Editions H and I add the following note, in place of the following
paragraph: A late French writer, in his observations on the Greeks, has
remark'd, that Philip of Macedon, being declar'd captain-general of the GREEKS,
wou'd have been back'd by the force of 230,000 of that nation in his intended
expedition against Persia. This number comprehends, I suppose, all the free
citizens, throughout all the cities; but the authority, on which that
compilation is founded, has, I own, escap'd either my memory or reading; and
that writer, tho' otherwise very ingenious, has given into a bad practice, of
delivering a great deal of erudition, without one citation. But supposing, that
that enumeration cou'd be justify'd by good authority from antiquity, we may
establish the following computation. The free Greeks of all ages and sexes were
920,000. The slaves, computing them by the number of Athenian slaves as above,
who seldom marry'd or had families, were double the male citizens of full age,
viz. 460,000. And the whole inhabitants of antient Greece about one million,
three hundred and eighty thousand. No mighty number nor much exceeding what may
be found at present in Scotland, a country of nearly the same extent, and which
is very indifferently peopl'd.
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†dd This paragraph was added in Edition K.
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†ee The next two sentences are not in Editions H to K: and the latter was added
in Edition R.
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†ff Editions H and I read as follows: The sum of fighting men in all the States
of BELGIUM was above half a million; the whole inhabitants two millions. And
BELGIUM being about the fourth of GAUL, that country might contain eight
millions, which is scarce above the third of its present inhabitants.
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†gg "Near" was added in Edition R.
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†hh "who . . . Plebes" not in Editions H and I.
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†ii The remainder of the paragraph was added in Edition N.
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†jj Editions H and I add: A man of violent imagination, such as TERTULLIAN,
augments everything equally; and for that reason his comparative judgments are
the most to be depended on.
Essay 12. OF THE ORIGINAL CONTRACT
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ESSAY XII: OF THE ORIGINAL CONTRACT
As no party, in the present age, can well support itself, without a
philosophical or speculative system of principles, annexed to its political or
practical one; we accordingly find, that each of the factions, into which this
nation is divided, has reared up a fabric of the former kind, in order to
protect and cover that scheme of actions, which it pursues. The people being
commonly very rude builders, especially in this speculative way, and more
especially still, when actuated by party-zeal; it is natural to imagine, that
their workmanship must be a little unshapely, and discover evident marks of that
violence and hurry, in which it was raised. The one party, by tracing up
government to the DEITY, endeavour to render it so sacred and inviolate, that it
must be little less than sacrilege, however tyrannical it may become, to touch
or invade it, in the smallest article. The other party, by founding government
altogether on the consent of the PEOPLE, suppose that there is a kind of
original contract, by which the subjects have tacitly reserved the power of
resisting their sovereign, whenever they find themselves aggrieved by that
authority, with which they have, for certain purposes, voluntarily entrusted
him. These are the speculative principles of the two parties; and these too are
the practical consequences deduced from them.
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I shall venture to affirm, That both these systems of speculative principles are
just; though not in the sense, intended by the parties: And, That both the
schemes of practical consequences are prudent; though not in the extremes, to
which each party, in opposition to the other, has commonly endeavoured to carry
them.
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That the DEITY is the ultimate author of all government, will never be denied by
any, who admit a general providence, and allow, that all events in the universe
are conducted by an uniform plan, and directed to wise purposes. As it is
impossible for the human race to subsist, at least in any comfortable or secure
state, without the protection of government; this institution must certainly
have been intended by that beneficent Being, who means the good of all his
creatures: And as it has universally, in fact, taken place, in all countries,
and all ages; we may conclude, with still greater certainty, that it was
intended by that omniscient Being, who can never be deceived by any event or
operation. But since he gave rise to it, not by any particular or miraculous
interposition, but by his concealed and universal efficacy; a sovereign cannot,
properly speaking, be called his vice-gerent, in any other sense than every
power or force, being derived from him, may be said to act by his commission.
Whatever actually happens is comprehended in the general plan or intention of
providence; nor has the greatest and most lawful prince any more reason, upon
that account, to plead a peculiar sacredness or inviolable authority, than an
inferior magistrate, or even an usurper, or even a robber and a pyrate. The same
divine superintendant, who, for wise purposes, invested†a a TITUS or a TRAJAN
with authority, did also, for purposes, no doubt, equally wise, though unknown,
bestow power on a BORGIA or an ANGRIA. The same causes, which gave rise to the
sovereign power in every state, established likewise every petty jurisdiction in
it, and every limited authority. A constable, therefore, no less than a king,
acts by a divine commission, and possesses an indefeasible right.
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When we consider how nearly equal all men are in their bodily force, and even in
their mental powers and faculties, till cultivated by education; we must
necessarily allow, that nothing but their own consent could, at first, associate
them together, and subject them to any authority. The people, if we trace
government to its first origin in the woods and desarts, are the source of all
power and jurisdiction, and voluntarily, for the sake of peace and order,
abandoned their native liberty, and received laws from their equal and
companion. The conditions, upon which they were willing to submit, were either
expressed, or were so clear and obvious, that it might well be esteemed
superfluous to express them. If this, then, be meant by the original contract,
it cannot be denied, that all government is, at first, founded on a contract,
and that the most ancient rude combinations of mankind were formed chiefly by
that principle. In vain, are we asked in what records this charter of our
liberties is registered. It was not written on parchment, nor yet on leaves or
barks of trees. It preceded the use of writing and all the other civilized arts
of life. But we trace it plainly in the nature of man, and in the equality,†b or
something approaching equality, which we find in all the individuals of that
species. The force, which now prevails, and which is founded on fleets and
armies, is plainly political, and derived from authority, the effect of
established government. A man's natural force consists only in the vigour of his
limbs, and the firmness of his courage; which could never subject multitudes to
the command of one. Nothing but their own consent, and their sense of the
advantages resulting from peace and order, could have had that influence.
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†c Yet even this consent was long very imperfect, and could not be the basis of
a regular administration. The chieftain, who had probably acquired his influence
during the continuance of war, ruled more by persuasion than command; and till
he could employ force to reduce the refractory and disobedient, the society
could scarcely be said to have attained a state of civil government. No compact
or agreement, it is evident, was expressly formed for general submission; an
idea far beyond the comprehension of savages: Each exertion of authority in the
chieftain must have been particular, and called forth by the present exigencies
of the case: The sensible utility, resulting from his interposition, made these
exertions become daily more frequent; and their frequency gradually produced an
habitual, and, if you please to call it so, a voluntary, and therefore
precarious, acquiescence in the people.
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But philosophers, who have embraced a party (if that be not a contradiction in
terms) are not contented with these concessions. They assert, not only that
government in its earliest infancy arose from consent or rather the voluntary
acquiescence of the people; but also, that, even at present, when it has
attained full maturity, it rests on no other foundation. They affirm, that all
men are still born equal, and owe allegiance to no prince or government, unless
bound by the obligation and sanction of a promise. And as no man, without some
equivalent, would forego the advantages of his native liberty, and subject
himself to the will of another; this promise is always understood to be
conditional, and imposes on him no obligation, unless he meet with justice and
protection from his sovereign. These advantages the sovereign promises him in
return; and if he fail in the execution, he has broken, on his part, the
articles of engagement, and has thereby freed his subject from all obligations
to allegiance. Such, according to these philosophers, is the foundation of
authority in every government; and such the right of resistance, possessed by
every subject.
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But would these reasoners look abroad into the world, they would meet with
nothing that, in the least, corresponds to their ideas, or can warrant so
refined and philosophical a system. On the contrary, we find, every where,
princes, who claim their subjects as their property, and assert their
independent right of sovereignty, from conquest or succession. We find also,
every where, subjects, who acknowledge this right in their prince, and suppose
themselves born under obligations of obedience to a certain sovereign, as much
as under the ties of reverence and duty to certain parents. These connexions are
always conceived to be equally independent of our consent, in PERSIA and CHINA;
in FRANCE and SPAIN; and even in HOLLAND and ENGLAND, wherever the doctrines
above-mentioned have not been carefully inculcated. Obedience or subjection
becomes so familiar, that most men never make any enquiry about its origin or
cause, more than about the principle of gravity, resistance, or the most
universal laws of nature. Or if curiosity ever move them; as soon as they learn,
that they themselves and their ancestors have, for several ages, or from time
immemorial, been subject to such a form of government or such a family; they
immediately acquiesce, and acknowledge their obligation to allegiance. Were you
to preach, in most parts of the world, that political connexions are founded
altogether on voluntary consent or a mutual promise, the magistrate would soon
imprison you, as seditious, for loosening the ties of obedience; if your friends
did not before shut you up as delirious, for advancing such absurdities. It is
strange, that an act of the mind, which every individual is supposed to have
formed, and after he came to the use of reason too, otherwise it could have no
authority; that this act, I say, should be so much unknown to all of them, that,
over the face of the whole earth, there scarcely remain any traces or memory of
it.
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But the contract, on which government is founded, is said to be the original
contract; and consequently may be supposed too old to fall under the knowledge
of the present generation. If the agreement, by which savage men first
associated and conjoined their force, be here meant, this is acknowledged to be
real; but being so ancient, and being obliterated by a thousand changes of
government and princes, it cannot now be supposed to retain any authority. If we
would say any thing to the purpose, we must assert, that every particular
government, which is lawful, and which imposes any duty of allegiance on the
subject, was, at first, founded on consent and a voluntary compact. But besides
that this supposes the consent of the fathers to bind the children, even to the
most remote generations, (which republican writers will never allow) besides
this, I say, it is not justified by history or experience, in any age or country
of the world.
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Almost all the governments, which exist at present, or of which there remains
any record in story, have been founded originally, either on usurpation or
conquest, or both, without any pretence of a fair consent, or voluntary
subjection of the people. When an artful and bold man is placed at the head of
an army or faction, it is often easy for him, by employing, sometimes violence,
sometimes false pretences, to establish his dominion over a people a hundred
times more numerous than his partizans. He allows no such open communication,
that his enemies can know, with certainty, their number or force. He gives them
no leisure to assemble together in a body to oppose him. Even all those, who are
the instruments of his usurpation, may wish his fall; but their ignorance of
each other's intention keeps them in awe, and is the sole cause of his security.
By such arts as these, many governments have been established; and this is all
the original contract, which they have to boast of.
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The face of the earth is continually changing, by the encrease of small kingdoms
into great empires, by the dissolution of great empires into smaller kingdoms,
by the planting of colonies, by the migration of tribes. Is there any thing
discoverable in all these events, but force and violence? Where is the mutual
agreement or voluntary association so much talked of?
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Even the smoothest way, by which a nation may receive a foreign master, by
marriage or a will, is not extremely honourable for the people; but supposes
them to be disposed of, like a dowry or a legacy, according to the pleasure or
interest of their rulers.
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But where no force interposes, and election takes place; what is this election
so highly vaunted? It is either the combination of a few great men, who decide
for the whole, and will allow of no opposition: Or it is the fury of a
multitude, that follow a seditious ringleader, who is not known, perhaps, to a
dozen among them, and who owes his advancement merely to his own impudence, or
to the momentary caprice of his fellows.
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Are these disorderly elections, which are rare too, of such mighty authority, as
to be the only lawful foundation of all government and allegiance?
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In reality, there is not a more terrible event, than a total dissolution of
government, which gives liberty to the multitude, and makes the determination or
choice of a new establishment depend upon a number, which nearly approaches to
that of the body of the people: For it never comes entirely to the whole body of
them. Every wise man, then, wishes to see, at the head of a powerful and
obedient army, a general, who may speedily seize the prize, and give to the
people a master, which they are so unfit to chuse for themselves. So little
correspondent is fact and reality to those philosophical notions.
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Let not the establishment at the Revolution deceive us, or make us so much in
love with a philosophical origin to government, as to imagine all others
monstrous and irregular. Even that event was far from corresponding to these
refined ideas. It was only the succession, and that only in the regal part of
the government, which was then changed: And it was only the majority of seven
hundred, who determined that change for near ten millions. I doubt not, indeed,
but the bulk of those ten millions acquiesced willingly in the determination:
But was the matter left, in the least, to their choice? Was it not justly
supposed to be, from that moment, decided, and every man punished, who refused
to submit to the new sovereign? How otherwise could the matter have ever been
brought to any issue or conclusion?
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The republic of ATHENS was, I believe, the most extensive democracy, that we
read of in history: Yet if we make the requisite allowances for the women, the
slaves, and the strangers, we shall find, that that establishment was not, at
first, made, nor any law ever voted, by a tenth part of those who were bound to
pay obedience to it: Not to mention the islands and foreign dominions, which the
ATHENIANS claimed as theirs by right of conquest. And as it is well known, that
popular assemblies in that city were always full of licence and disorder,
notwithstanding the institutions and laws by which they were checked: How much
more disorderly must they prove, where they form not the established
constitution, but meet tumultuously on the dissolution of the ancient
government, in order to give rise to a new one? How chimerical must it be to
talk of a choice in such circumstances?
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†d The ACHAEANS enjoyed the freest and most perfect democracy of all antiquity;
yet they employed force to oblige some cities to enter into their league, as we
learn from POLYBIUS.†1
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HARRY the IVth and HARRY the VIIth of ENGLAND, had really no title to the throne
but a parliamentary election; yet they never would acknowledge it, lest they
should thereby weaken their authority. Strange, if the only real foundation of
all authority be consent and promise!
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It is in vain to say, that all governments are or should be, at first, founded
on popular consent, as much as the necessity of human affairs will admit. This
favours entirely my pretension. I maintain, that human affairs will never admit
of this consent; seldom of the appearance of it. But that conquest or
usurpation, that is, in plain terms, force, by dissolving the ancient
governments, is the origin of almost all the new ones, which were ever
established in the world. And that in the few cases, where consent may seem to
have taken place, it was commonly so irregular, so confined, or so much
intermixed either with fraud or violence, that it cannot have any great
authority.
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†e My intention here is not to exclude the consent of the people from being one
just foundation of government where it has place. It is surely the best and most
sacred of any. I only pretend, that it has very seldom had place in any degree,
and never almost in its full extent. And that therefore some other foundation of
government must also be admitted.
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Were all men possessed of so inflexible a regard to justice, that, of
themselves, they would totally abstain from the properties of others; they had
for ever remained in a state of absolute liberty, without subjection to any
magistrate or political society: But this is a state of perfection, of which
human nature is justly deemed incapable. Again; were all men possessed of so
perfect an understanding, as always to know their own interests, no form of
government had ever been submitted to, but what was established on consent, and
was fully canvassed by every member of the society: But this state of perfection
is likewise much superior to human nature. Reason, history, and experience shew
us, that all political societies have had an origin much less accurate and
regular; and were one to choose a period of time, when the people's consent was
the least regarded in public transactions, it would be precisely on the
establishment of a new government. In a settled constitution, their inclinations
are often consulted; but during the fury of revolutions, conquests, and public
convulsions, military force or political craft usually decides the controversy.
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When a new government is established, by whatever means, the people are commonly
dissatisfied with it, and pay obedience more from fear and necessity, than from
any idea of allegiance or of moral obligation. The prince is watchful and
jealous, and must carefully guard against every beginning or appearance of
insurrection. Time, by degrees, removes all these difficulties, and accustoms
the nation to regard, as their lawful or native princes, that family, which, at
first, they considered as usurpers or foreign conquerors. In order to found this
opinion, they have no recourse to any notion of voluntary consent or promise,
which, they know, never was, in this case, either expected or demanded. The
original establishment was formed by violence, and submitted to from necessity.
The subsequent administration is also supported by power, and acquiesced in by
the people, not as a matter of choice, but of obligation. They imagine not, that
their consent gives their prince a title: But they willingly consent, because
they think, that, from long possession, he has acquired a title, independent of
their choice or inclination.
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Should it be said, that, by living under the dominion of a prince, which one
might leave, every individual has given a tacit consent to his authority, and
promised him obedience; it may be answered, that such an implied consent can
only have place, where a man imagines, that the matter depends on his choice.
But where he thinks (as all mankind do who are born under established
governments) that by his birth he owes allegiance to a certain prince or certain
form of government; it would be absurd to infer a consent or choice, which he
expressly, in this case, renounces and disclaims.
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Can we seriously say, that a poor peasant or artizan has a free choice to leave
his country, when he knows no foreign language or manners, and lives from day to
day, by the small wages which he acquires? We may as well assert, that a man, by
remaining in a vessel, freely consents to the dominion of the master; though he
was carried on board while asleep, and must leap into the ocean, and perish, the
moment he leaves her.
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What if the prince forbid his subjects to quit his dominions; as in TIBERIUS'S
time, it was regarded as a crime in a ROMAN knight that he had attempted to fly
to the PARTHIANS, in order to escape the tyranny of that emperor?†2 Or as the
ancient MUSCOVITES prohibited all travelling under pain of death? And did a
prince observe, that many of his subjects were seized with the frenzy of
migrating to foreign countries, he would doubtless, with great reason and
justice, restrain them, in order to prevent the depopulation of his own kingdom.
Would he forfeit the allegiance of all his subjects, by so wise and reasonable a
law? Yet the freedom of their choice is surely, in that case, ravished from
them.
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A company of men, who should leave their native country, in order to people some
uninhabited region, might dream of recovering their native freedom; but they
would soon find, that their prince still laid claim to them, and called them his
subjects, even in their new settlement. And in this he would but act conformably
to the common ideas of mankind.
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The truest tacit consent of this kind, that is ever observed, is when a
foreigner settles in any country, and is beforehand acquainted with the prince,
and government, and laws, to which he must submit: Yet is his allegiance, though
more voluntary, much less expected or depended on, than that of a natural born
subject. On the contrary, his native prince still asserts a claim to him. And if
he punish not the renegade, when he seizes him in war with his new prince's
commission; this clemency is not founded on the municipal law, which in all
countries condemns the prisoner; but on the consent of princes, who have agreed
to this indulgence, in order to prevent reprisals.
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†f Did one generation of men go off the stage at once, and another succeed, as
is the case with silk-worms and butterflies, the new race, if they had sense
enough to choose their government, which surely is never the case with men,
might voluntarily, and by general consent, establish their own form of civil
polity, without any regard to the laws or precedents, which prevailed among
their ancestors. But as human society is in perpetual flux, one man every hour
going out of the world, another coming into it, it is necessary, in order to
preserve stability in government, that the new brood should conform themselves
to the established constitution, and nearly follow the path which their fathers,
treading in the footsteps of theirs, had marked out to them. Some innovations
must necessarily have place in every human institution, and it is happy where
the enlightened genius of the age give these a direction to the side of reason,
liberty, and justice: but violent innovations no individual is entitled to make:
they are even dangerous to be attempted by the legislature: more ill than good
is ever to be expected from them: and if history affords examples to the
contrary, they are not to be drawn into precedent, and are only to be regarded
as proofs, that the science of politics affords few rules, which will not admit
of some exception, and which may not sometimes be controuled by fortune and
accident. The violent innovations in the reign of HENRY VIII. proceeded from an
imperious monarch, seconded by the appearance of legislative authority: Those in
the reign of CHARLES I. were derived from faction and fanaticism; and both of
them have proved happy in the issue: But even the former were long the source of
many disorders, and still more dangers; and if the measures of allegiance were
to be taken from the latter, a total anarchy must have place in human society,
and a final period at once be put to every government.
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Suppose, that an usurper, after having banished his lawful prince and royal
family, should establish his dominion for ten or a dozen years in any country,
and should preserve so exact a discipline in his troops, and so regular a
disposition in his garrisons, that no insurrection had ever been raised, or even
murmur heard, against his administration: Can it be asserted, that the people,
who in their hearts abhor his treason, have tacitly consented to his authority,
and promised him allegiance, merely because, from necessity, they live under his
dominion? Suppose again their native prince restored, by means of an army, which
he levies in foreign countries: They receive him with joy and exultation, and
shew plainly with what reluctance they had submitted to any other yoke. I may
now ask, upon what foundation the prince's title stands? Not on popular consent
surely: For though the people willingly acquiesce in his authority, they never
imagine, that their consent made him sovereign. They consent; because they
apprehend him to be already, by birth, their lawful sovereign. And as to that
tacit consent, which may now be inferred from their living under his dominion,
this is no more than what they formerly gave to the tyrant and usurper.
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When we assert, that all lawful government arises from the consent of the
people, we certainly do them a great deal more honour than they deserve, or even
expect and desire from us. After the ROMAN dominions became too unwieldly for
the republic to govern them, the people, over the whole known world, were
extremely grateful to AUGUSTUS for that authority, which, by violence, he had
established over them; and they shewed an equal disposition to submit to the
successor, whom he left them, by his last will and testament. It was afterwards
their misfortune, that there never was, in one family, any long regular
succession; but that their line of princes was continually broken, either by
private assassinations or public rebellions. The praetorian bands, on the
failure of every family, set up one emperor; the legions in the East a second;
those in GERMANY, perhaps, a third: And the sword alone could decide the
controversy. The condition of the people, in that mighty monarchy, was to be
lamented, not because the choice of the emperor was never left to them; for that
was impracticable: But because they never fell under any succession of masters,
who might regularly follow each other. As to the violence and wars and
bloodshed, occasioned by every new settlement; these were not blameable, because
they were inevitable.
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The house of LANCASTER ruled in this island about sixty years;†g yet the
partizans of the white rose seemed daily to multiply in ENGLAND. The present
establishment has taken place during a still longer period. Have all views of
right in another family been utterly extinguished; even though scarce any man
now alive had arrived at years of discretion, when it was expelled, or could
have consented to its dominion, or have promised it allegiance? A sufficient
indication surely of the general sentiment of mankind on this head. For we blame
not the partizans of the abdicated family, merely on account of the long time,
during which they have preserved their imaginary loyalty. We blame them for
adhering to a family, which, we affirm, has been justly expelled, and which,
from the moment the new settlement took place, had forfeited all title to
authority.
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But would we have a more regular, at least a more philosophical, refutation of
this principle of an original contract or popular consent; perhaps, the
following observations may suffice.
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All moral duties may be divided into two kinds. The first are those, to which
men are impelled by a natural instinct or immediate propensity, which operates
on them, independent of all ideas of obligation, and of all views, either to
public or private utility. Of this nature are, love of children, gratitude to
benefactors, pity to the unfortunate. When we reflect on the advantage, which
results to society from such humane instincts, we pay them the just tribute of
moral approbation and esteem: But the person, actuated by them, feels their
power and influence, antecedent to any such reflection.
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The second kind of moral duties are such as are not supported by any original
instinct of nature, but are performed entirely from a sense of obligation, when
we consider the necessities of human society, and the impossibility of
supporting it, if these duties were neglected. It is thus justice or a regard to
the property of others, fidelity or the observance of promises, become
obligatory, and acquire an authority over mankind. For as it is evident, that
every man loves himself better than any other person, he is naturally impelled
to extend his acquisitions as much as possible; and nothing can restrain him in
this propensity, but reflection and experience, by which he learns the
pernicious effects of that licence, and the total dissolution of society which
must ensue from it. His original inclination, therefore, or instinct, is here
checked and restrained by a subsequent judgment or observation.
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The case is precisely the same with the political or civil duty of allegiance,
as with the natural duties of justice and fidelity. Our primary instincts lead
us, either to indulge ourselves in unlimited freedom, or to seek dominion over
others: And it is reflection only, which engages us to sacrifice such strong
passions to the interests of peace and public order. A small degree of
experience and observation suffices to teach us, that society cannot possibly be
maintained without the authority of magistrates, and that this authority must
soon fall into contempt, where exact obedience is not payed to it. The
observation of these general and obvious interests is the source of all
allegiance, and of that moral obligation, which we attribute to it.
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What necessity, therefore, is there to found the duty of allegiance or obedience
to magistrates on that of fidelity or a regard to promises, and to suppose, that
it is the consent of each individual, which subjects him to government; when it
appears, that both allegiance and fidelity stand precisely on the same
foundation, and are both submitted to by mankind, on account of the apparent
interests and necessities of human society? We are bound to obey our sovereign,
it is said; because we have given a tacit promise to that purpose. But why are
we bound to observe our promise? It must here be asserted, that the commerce and
intercourse of mankind, which are of such mighty advantage, can have no security
where men pay no regard to their engagements. In like manner, may it be said,
that men could not live at all in society, at least in a civilized society,
without laws and magistrates and judges, to prevent the encroachments of the
strong upon the weak, of the violent upon the just and equitable. The obligation
to allegiance being of like force and authority with the obligation to fidelity,
we gain nothing by resolving the one into the other. The general interests or
necessities of society are sufficient to establish both.
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If the reason be asked of that obedience, which we are bound to pay to
government, I readily answer, because society could not otherwise subsist: And
this answer is clear and intelligible to all mankind. Your answer is, because we
should keep our word. But besides, that no body, till trained in a philosophical
system, can either comprehend or relish this answer: Besides this, I say, you
find yourself embarrassed, when it is asked, why we are bound to keep our word?
Nor can you give any answer, but what would, immediately, without any circuit,
have accounted for our obligation to allegiance.
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But to whom is allegiance due? And who is our lawful sovereign? This question is
often the most difficult of any, and liable to infinite discussions. When people
are so happy, that they can answer, Our present sovereign, who inherits, in a
direct line, from ancestors, that have governed us for many ages; this answer
admits of no reply; even though historians, in tracing up to the remotest
antiquity, the origin of that royal family, may find, as commonly happens, that
its first authority was derived from usurpation and violence. It is confessed,
that private justice, or the abstinence from the properties of others, is a most
cardinal virtue: Yet reason tells us, that there is no property in durable
objects, such as lands or houses, when carefully examined in passing from hand
to hand, but must, in some period, have been founded on fraud and injustice. The
necessities of human society, neither in private nor public life, will allow of
such an accurate enquiry: And there is no virtue or moral duty, but what may,
with facility, be refined away, if we indulge a false philosophy, in sifting and
scrutinizing it, by every captious rule of logic, in every light or position, in
which it may be placed.
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The questions with regard to private property have filled infinite volumes of
law and philosophy, if in both we add the commentators to the original text; and
in the end, we may safely pronounce, that many of the rules, there established,
are uncertain, ambiguous, and arbitrary. The like opinion may be formed with
regard to the succession and rights of princes and forms of government.†h
Several cases, no doubt, occur, especially in the infancy of any constitution,
which admit of no determination from the laws of justice and equity: And our
historian RAPIN†i pretends, that the controversy between EDWARD the Third and
PHILIP DE VALOIS was of this nature, and could be decided only by an appeal to
heaven, that is, by war and violence.
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Who shall tell me, whether GERMANICUS or DRUSUS ought to have succeeded to
TIBERIUS, had he died, while they were both alive, without naming any of them
for his successor? Ought the right of adoption to be received as equivalent to
that of blood, in a nation, where it had the same effect in private families,
and had already, in two instances, taken place in the public? Ought GERMANICUS
to be esteemed the elder son because he was born before DRUSUS; or the younger,
because he was adopted after the birth of his brother? Ought the right of the
elder to be regarded in a nation, where he had no advantage in the succession of
private families? Ought the ROMAN empire at that time to be deemed hereditary,
because of two examples; or ought it, even so early, to be regarded as belonging
to the stronger or to the present possessor, as being founded on so recent an
usurpation?
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COMMODUS mounted the throne after a pretty long succession of excellent
emperors, who had acquired their title, not by birth, or public election, but by
the fictitious rite of adoption. That bloody debauchee being murdered by a
conspiracy suddenly formed between his wench and her gallant, who happened at
that time to be Praetorian Praefect; these immediately deliberated about
choosing a master to human kind, to speak in the style of those ages; and they
cast their eyes on PERTINAX. Before the tyrant's death was known, the Praefect
went secretly to that senator, who, on the appearance of the soldiers, imagined
that his execution had been ordered by COMMODUS. He was immediately saluted
emperor by the officer and his attendants; chearfully proclaimed by the
populace; unwillingly submitted to by the guards; formally recognized by the
senate; and passively received by the provinces and armies of the empire.
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The discontent of the Praetorian bands broke out in a sudden sedition, which
occasioned the murder of that excellent prince: And the world being now without
a master and without government, the guards thought proper to set the empire
formally to sale. JULIAN, the purchaser, was proclaimed by the soldiers,
recognized by the senate, and submitted to by the people; and must also have
been submitted to by the provinces, had not the envy of the legions begotten
opposition and resistance. PESCENNIUS NIGER in SYRIA elected himself emperor,
gained the tumultuary consent of his army, and was attended with the secret
good-will of the senate and people of ROME. ALBINUS in BRITAIN found an equal
right to set up his claim; but SEVERUS, who governed PANNONIA, prevailed in the
end above both of them. That able politician and warrior, finding his own birth
and dignity too much inferior to the imperial crown, professed, at first, an
intention only of revenging the death of PERTINAX. He marched as general into
ITALY; defeated JULIAN; and without our being able to fix any precise
commencement even of the soldiers' consent, he was from necessity acknowledged
emperor by the senate and people; and fully established in his violent authority
by subduing NIGER and ALBINUS.†3
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Inter haec Gordianus CAESAR (says CAPITOLINUS, speaking of another period)
sublatus a militibus. Imperator est appellatus, quia non erat alius in
proesenti, It is to be remarked, that GORDIAN was a boy of fourteen years of
age.
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Frequent instances of a like nature occur in the history of the emperors; in
that of ALEXANDER'S successors; and of many other countries: Nor can any thing
be more unhappy than a despotic government of this kind; where the succession is
disjointed and irregular, and must be determined, on every vacancy, by force or
election. In a free government, the matter is often unavoidable, and is also
much less dangerous. The interests of liberty may there frequently lead the
people, in their own defence, to alter the succession of the crown. And the
constitution, being compounded of parts, may still maintain a sufficient
stability, by resting on the aristocratical or democratical members, though the
monarchical be altered, from time to time, in order to accommodate it to the
former.
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In an absolute government, when there is no legal prince, who has a title to the
throne, it may safely be determined to belong to the first occupant. Instances
of this kind are but too frequent, especially in the eastern monarchies.†j When
any race of princes expires, the will or destination of the last sovereign will
be regarded as a title. Thus the edict of LEWIS the XIVth, who called the
bastard princes to the succession in case of the failure of all the legitimate
princes, would, in such an event, have some authority.†4†k Thus the will of
CHARLES the Second disposed of the whole SPANISH monarchy. The cession of the
ancient proprietor, especially when joined to conquest, is likewise deemed a
good title. The general obligation, which binds us to government, is the
interest and necessities of society; and this obligation is very strong. The
determination of it to this or that particular prince or form of government is
frequently more uncertain and dubious. Present possession has considerable
authority in these cases, and greater than in private property; because of the
disorders which attend all revolutions and changes of government.†l
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We shall only observe, before we conclude, that, though an appeal to general
opinion may justly, in the speculative sciences of metaphysics, natural
philosophy, or astronomy, be deemed unfair and inconclusive, yet in all
questions with regard to morals, as well as criticism, there is really no other
standard, by which any controversy can ever be decided. And nothing is a clearer
proof, that a theory of this kind is erroneous, than to find, that it leads to
paradoxes, repugnant to the common sentiments of mankind, and to the practice
and opinion of all nations and all ages. The doctrine, which founds all lawful
government on an original contract, or consent of the people, is plainly of this
kind; nor has the most noted of its partizans, in prosecution of it, scrupled to
affirm, that absolute monarchy is inconsistent with civil society, and so can be
no form of civil government at all;†5 and that the supreme power in a state
cannot take from any man, by taxes and impositions, any part of his property,
without his own consent or that of his representatives.†6 What authority any
moral reasoning can have, which leads into opinions so wide of the general
practice of mankind, in every place but this single kingdom, it is easy to
determine.†m
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The only passage I meet with in antiquity, where the obligation of obedience to
government is ascribed to a promise, is in PLATO'S Crito: where SOCRATES refuses
to escape from prison, because he had tacitly promised to obey the laws. Thus he
builds a tory consequence of passive obedience, on a whig foundation of the
original contract.
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New discoveries are not to be expected in these matters. If scarce any man, till
very lately, ever imagined that government was founded on compact, it is
certain, that it cannot, in general, have any such foundation.
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The crime of rebellion among the ancients was commonly expressed by the terms
{neoterizein}, novas res moliri.
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†1 Lib. ii. cap. 38.
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†2 TACIT. Ann. vi. cap. 14.
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†3 HERODIAN, lib. ii.
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†4 It is remarkable, that, in the remonstrance of the duke of BOURBON and the
legitimate princes, against this destination of LOUIS the XIVth, the doctrine of
the original contract is insisted on, even in that absolute government. The
FRENCH nation, say they, chusing HUGH CAPET and his posterity to rule over them
and their posterity, where the former line fails, there is a tacit right
reserved to choose a new royal family; and this right is invaded by calling the
bastard princes to the throne, without the consent of the nation. But the Comte
de BOULAINVILLIERS, who wrote in defence of the bastard princes, ridicules this
notion of an original contract, especially when applied to HUGH CAPET; who
mounted the throne, says he, by the same arts, which have ever been employed by
all conquerors and usurpers. He got his title, indeed, recognized by the states
after he had put himself in possession: But is this a choice or contract? The
Comte de BOULAINVILLIERS, we may observe, was a noted republican; but being a
man of learning, and very conversant in history, he knew that the people were
never almost consulted in these revolutions and new establishments, and that
time alone bestowed right and authority on what was commonly at first founded on
force and violence. See Etat de la France, Vol. III.
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†5 See LOCKE on Government, ‡‡chap. vii. sec. 90.
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†6 Id. chap. xi. sec. 138, 139, 140.
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†a An Elizabeth or a Henry the 4th of France: Edition D to P.
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†b Or . . . equality: added in Edition Q.
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†c This paragraph was added in Edition R.
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†d The two following paragraphs were added in Edition K.
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†e This paragraph and the next were added in Edition K.
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†f This paragraph was added in Edition R.
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†g The latter half of this sentence was added in Edition K.
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†h Edition D omits from this sentence down to "monarchies" on page 459: and
substitutes as follows--The Discussion of these Matters would lead us entirely
beyond the Compass of these Essays. 'Tis sufficient for our present Purpose, if
we have been able to determine, in general, the Foundation of that Allegiance,
which is due to the established Government, in every Kingdom and Commonwealth.
When there is no legal Prince, who has a Title to a Throne, I believe it may
safely be determined to belong to the first Occupier. This was frequently the
Case with the ROMAN Empire.
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†i Allows: Editions K to P.
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†j In Edition D the remainder of this paragraph is given in continuation of note
17.
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†k This sentence was added in Edition M.
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†l Here Editions K to P subjoin in a note what is now the concluding paragraph
of the Essay.
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†m At this point Editions D to P stop. Editions K to P give the two next
paragraphs as a note; they have already given the concluding one as a note.
Essay 13. OF PASSIVE OBEDIENCE
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ESSAY XIII: OF PASSIVE OBEDIENCE
In the former essay, we endeavoured to refute the speculative systems of
politics advanced in this nation; as well the religious system of the one party,
as the philosophical of the other. We come now to examine the practical
consequences, deduced by each party, with regard to the measures of submission
due to sovereigns.
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As the obligation to justice is founded entirely on the interests of society,
which require mutual abstinence from property, in order to preserve peace among
mankind; it is evident, that, when the execution of justice would be attended
with very pernicious consequences, that virtue must be suspended, and give place
to public utility, in such extraordinary and such pressing emergencies. The
maxim, fiat Justitia et ruat Coelum, let justice be performed, though the
universe be destroyed, is apparently false, and by sacrificing the end to the
means, shews a preposterous idea of the subordination of duties. What governor
of a town makes any scruple of burning the suburbs, when they facilitate the
approaches of the enemy? Or what general abstains from plundering a neutral
country, when the necessities of war require it, and he cannot otherwise subsist
his army? The case is the same with the duty of allegiance; and common sense
teaches us, that, as government binds us to obedience only on account of its
tendency to public utility, that duty must always, in extraordinary cases, when
public ruin would evidently attend obedience, yield to the primary and original
obligation. Salus populi suprema Lex, the safety of the people is the supreme
law. This maxim is agreeable to the sentiments of mankind in all ages: Nor is
any one, when he reads of the insurrections against NERO†a or PHILIP the Second,
so infatuated with party-systems, as not to wish success to the enterprize, and
praise the undertakers. Even our high monarchical party, in spite of their
sublime theory, are forced, in such cases, to judge, and feel, and approve, in
conformity to the rest of mankind.
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Resistance, therefore, being admitted in extraordinary emergencies, the question
can only be among good reasoners, with regard to the degree of necessity, which
can justify resistance, and render it lawful or commendable. And here I must
confess, that I shall always incline to their side, who draw the bond of
allegiance very close, and consider an infringement of it, as the last refuge in
desperate cases, when the public is in the highest danger, from violence and
tyranny. For besides the mischiefs of a civil war, which commonly attends
insurrection; it is certain, that, where a disposition to rebellion appears
among any people, it is one chief cause of tyranny in the rulers, and forces
them into many violent measures which they never would have embraced, had every
one been inclined to submission and obedience. Thus the tyrannicide or
assassination, approved of by ancient maxims, instead of keeping tyrants and
usurpers in awe, made them ten times more fierce and unrelenting; and is now
justly, upon that account, abolished by the laws of nations, and universally
condemned as a base and treacherous method of bringing to justice these
disturbers of society.
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Besides we must consider, that, as obedience is our duty in the common course of
things, it ought chiefly to be inculcated; nor can any thing be more
preposterous than an anxious care and solicitude in stating all the cases, in
which resistance may be allowed. In like manner, though a philosopher reasonably
acknowledges, in the course of an argument, that the rules of justice may be
dispensed with in cases of urgent necessity; what should we think of a preacher
or casuist, who should make it his chief study to find out such cases, and
enforce them with all the vehemence of argument and eloquence? Would he not be
better employed in inculcating the general doctrine, than in displaying the
particular exceptions, which we are, perhaps, but too much inclined, of
ourselves, to embrace and to extend?
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There are, however, two reasons, which may be pleaded in defence of that party
among us, who have, with so much industry, propagated the maxims of resistance;
maxims, which, it must be confessed, are, in general, so pernicious, and so
destructive of civil society. The first is, that their antagonists carrying the
doctrine of obedience to such an extravagant height, as not only never to
mention the exceptions in extraordinary cases (which might, perhaps, be
excusable) but even positively to exclude them; it became necessary to insist on
these exceptions, and defend the rights of injured truth and liberty. The
second, and, perhaps, better reason, is founded on the nature of the BRITISH
constitution and form of government.
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It is almost peculiar to our constitution to establish a first magistrate with
such high pre-eminence and dignity, that, though limited by the laws, he is, in
a manner, so far as regards his own person, above the laws, and can neither be
questioned nor punished for any injury or wrong, which may be committed by him.
His ministers alone, or those who act by his commission, are obnoxious to
justice; and while the prince is thus allured, by the prospect of personal
safety, to give the laws their free course, an equal security is, in effect,
obtained by the punishment of lesser offenders, and at the same time a civil war
is avoided, which would be the infallible consequence, were an attack, at every
turn, made directly upon the sovereign. But though the constitution pays this
salutary compliment to the prince, it can never reasonably be understood, by
that maxim, to have determined its own destruction, or to have established a
tame submission, where he protects his ministers, perseveres in injustice, and
usurps the whole power of the commonwealth. This case, indeed, is never
expressly put by the laws; because it is impossible for them, in their ordinary
course, to provide a remedy for it, or establish any magistrate, with superior
authority, to chastise the exorbitancies of the prince. But as a right without a
remedy would be an absurdity; the remedy in this case, is the extraordinary one
of resistance, when affairs come to that extremity, that the constitution can be
defended by it alone. Resistance therefore must, of course, become more frequent
in the BRITISH government, than in others, which are simpler, and consist of
fewer parts and movements. Where the king is an absolute sovereign, he has
little temptation to commit such enormous tyranny as may justly provoke
rebellion: But where he is limited, his imprudent ambition, without any great
vices, may run him into that perilous situation. This is frequently supposed to
have been the case with CHARLES the First; and if we may now speak truth, after
animosities are ceased, this was also the case with JAMES the Second. These were
harmless, if not, in their private character, good men; but mistaking the nature
of our constitution, and engrossing the whole legislative power, it became
necessary to oppose them with some vehemence; and even to deprive the latter
formally of that authority, which he had used with such imprudence and
indiscretion.
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†a Or a Caracalla: Edition D; or a Philip: Editions K to P.
Essay 14. OF THE COALITION OF PARTIES
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ESSAY XIV: OF THE COALITION OF PARTIES†a
To abolish all distinctions of party may not be practicable, perhaps not
desirable, in a free government. The only dangerous parties are such as
entertain opposite views with regard to the essentials of government, the
succession of the crown, or the more considerable privileges belonging to the
several members of the constitution; where there is no room for any compromise
or accommodation, and where the controversy may appear so momentous as to
justify even an opposition by arms to the pretensions of antagonists. Of this
nature was the animosity, continued for above a century past, between the
parties in ENGLAND; an animosity which broke out sometimes into civil war, which
occasioned violent revolutions, and which continually endangered the peace and
tranquillity of the nation. But as there have appeared of late the strongest
symptoms of an universal desire to abolish these party distinctions; this
tendency to a coalition affords the most agreeable prospect of future happiness,
and ought to be carefully cherished and promoted by every lover of his country.
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There is not a more effectual method of promoting so good an end, than to
prevent all unreasonable insult and triumph of the one party over the other, to
encourage moderate opinions, to find the proper medium in all disputes, to
persuade each that its antagonist may possibly be sometimes in the right, and to
keep a balance in the praise and blame, which we bestow on either side. The two
former Essays, concerning the original contract and passive obedience, are
calculated for this purpose with regard to the philosophical†b and practical
controversies between the parties, and tend to show that neither side are in
these respects so fully supported by reason as they endeavour to flatter
themselves. We shall proceed to exercise the same moderation with regard to the
historical disputes between the parties, by proving that each of them was
justified by plausible topics; that there were on both sides wise men, who meant
well to their country; and that the past animosity between the factions had no
better foundation than narrow prejudice or interested passion.
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The popular party, who afterwards acquired the name of whigs, might justify, by
very specious arguments, that opposition to the crown, from which our present
free constitution is derived. Though obliged to acknowledge, that precedents in
favour of prerogative had uniformly taken place during many reigns before
CHARLES the First, they thought, that there was no reason for submitting any
longer to so dangerous an authority. Such might have been their reasoning: As
the rights of mankind are for ever to be deemed sacred, no prescription of
tyranny or arbitrary power can have authority sufficient to abolish them.
Liberty is a blessing so inestimable, that, wherever there appears any
probability of recovering it, a nation may willingly run many hazards, and ought
not even to repine at the greatest effusion of blood or dissipation of treasure.
All human institutions, and none more than government, are in continual
fluctuation. Kings are sure to embrace every opportunity of extending their
prerogatives: And if favourable incidents be not also laid hold of for extending
and securing the privileges of the people, an universal despotism must for ever
prevail amongst mankind. The example of all the neighbouring nations proves,
that it is no longer safe to entrust with the crown the same high prerogatives,
which had formerly been exercised during rude and simple ages. And though the
example of many late reigns may be pleaded in favour of a power in the prince
somewhat arbitrary, more remote reigns afford instances of stricter limitations
imposed on the crown; and those pretensions of the parliament, now branded with
the title of innovations, are only a recovery of the just rights of the people.
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These views, far from being odious, are surely large, and generous, and noble:
To their prevalence and success the kingdom owes its liberty; perhaps its
learning, its industry, commerce, and naval power: By them chiefly the ENGLISH
name is distinguished among the society of nations, and aspires to a rivalship
with that of the freest and most illustrious commonwealths of antiquity. But as
all these mighty consequences could not reasonably be foreseen at the time when
the contest began, the royalists of that age wanted not specious arguments on
their side, by which they could justify their defence of the then established
prerogatives of the prince. We shall state the question, as it might have
appeared to them at the assembling of that parliament, which, by its violent
encroachments on the crown, began the civil wars.
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The only rule of government, they might have said, known and acknowledged among
men, is use and practice: Reason is so uncertain a guide that it will always be
exposed to doubt and controversy: Could it ever render itself prevalent over the
people, men had always retained it as their sole rule of conduct: They had still
continued in the primitive, unconnected, state of nature, without submitting to
political government, whose sole basis is, not pure reason, but authority and
precedent. Dissolve these ties, you break all the bonds of civil society, and
leave every man at liberty to consult his private interest, by those expedients,
which his appetite, disguised under the appearance of reason, shall dictate to
him. The spirit of innovation is in itself pernicious, however favourable its
particular object may sometimes appear: A truth so obvious, that the popular
party themselves are sensible of it; and therefore cover their encroachments on
the crown by the plausible pretence of their recovering the ancient liberties of
the people.
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But the present prerogatives of the crown, allowing all the suppositions of that
party, have been incontestably established ever since the accession of the House
of TUDOR; a period, which, as it now comprehends a hundred and sixty years, may
be allowed sufficient to give stability to any constitution. Would it not have
appeared ridiculous, in the reign of the Emperor ADRIAN, to have talked of the
republican constitution as the rule of government; or to have supposed, that the
former rights of the senate, and consuls, and tribunes were still subsisting?
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But the present claims of the ENGLISH monarchs are much more favourable than
those of the ROMAN emperors during that age. The authority of AUGUSTUS was a
plain usurpation, grounded only on military violence, and forms such an epoch in
the ROMAN history, as is obvious to every reader. But if HENRY VII. really, as
some pretend, enlarged the power of the crown, it was only by insensible
acquisitions, which escaped the apprehension of the people, and have scarcely
been remarked even by historians and politicians. The new government, if it
deserve the epithet, is an imperceptible transition from the former; is entirely
engrafted on it; derives its title fully from that root; and is to be considered
only as one of those gradual revolutions, to which human affairs, in every
nation, will be for ever subject.
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The House of TUDOR, and after them that of STUART, exercised no prerogatives,
but what had been claimed and exercised by the PLANTAGENETS. Not a single branch
of their authority can be said to be an innovation. The only difference is,
that, perhaps, former kings exerted these powers only by intervals, and were not
able, by reason of the opposition of their barons, to render them so steady a
rule of administration.†c But the sole inference from this fact is, that those
ancient times were more turbulent and seditious; and that royal authority, the
constitution, and the laws have happily of late gained the ascendant.
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Under what pretence can the popular party now speak of recovering the ancient
constitution? The former controul over the kings was not placed in the commons,
but in the barons: The people had no authority, and even little or no liberty;
till the crown, by suppressing these factious tyrants, enforced the execution of
the laws, and obliged all the subjects equally to respect each others rights,
privileges, and properties. If we must return to the ancient barbarous and†d
feudal constitution; let those gentlemen, who now behave themselves with so much
insolence to their sovereign, set the first example. Let them make court to be
admitted as retainers to a neighbouring baron; and by submitting to slavery
under him, acquire some protection to themselves; together with the power of
exercising rapine and oppression over their inferior slaves and villains. This
was the condition of the commons among their remote ancestors.
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But how far back must we go, in having recourse to ancient constitutions and
governments? There was a constitution still more ancient than that to which
these innovators affect so much to appeal. During that period there was no magna
charta: The barons themselves possessed few regular, stated privileges: And the
house of commons probably had not an existence.
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It is ridiculous to hear the commons, while they are assuming, by usurpation,
the whole power of government, talk of reviving ancient institutions. Is it not
known, that, though representatives received wages from their constituents; to
be a member of the lower house was always considered as a burden, and an
exemption from it as a privilege? Will they persuade us, that power, which, of
all human acquisitions, is the most coveted, and in comparison of which even
reputation and pleasure and riches are slighted, could ever be regarded as a
burden by any man?
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The property, acquired of late by the commons, it is said, entitles them to more
power than their ancestors enjoyed. But to what is this encrease of their
property owing, but to an encrease of their liberty and their security? Let them
therefore acknowledge, that their ancestors, while the crown was restrained by
the seditious barons, really enjoyed less liberty than they themselves have
attained, after the sovereign acquired the ascendant: And let them enjoy that
liberty with moderation; and not forfeit it by new exorbitant claims, and by
rendering it a pretence for endless innovations.
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The true rule of government is the present established practice of the age. That
has most authority, because it is recent: It is also best known, for the same
reason. Who has assured those tribunes, that the PLANTAGENETS did not exercise
as high acts of authority as the TUDORS? Historians, they say, do not mention
them. But historians are also silent with regard to the chief exertions of
prerogative by the TUDORS. Where any power or prerogative is fully and
undoubtedly established, the exercise of it passes for a thing of course, and
readily escapes the notice of history and annals. Had we no other monuments of
ELIZABETH'S reign, than what are preserved even by CAMDEN, the most copious,
judicious, and exact of our historians, we should be entirely ignorant of the
most important maxims of her government.
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Was not the present monarchical government, in its full extent, authorized by
lawyers, recommended by divines, acknowledged by politicians, acquiesced in, nay
passionately cherished, by the people in general; and all this during a period
of at least a hundred and sixty years, and till of late, without the smallest
murmur or controversy? This general consent surely, during so long a time, must
be sufficient to render a constitution legal and valid. If the origin of all
power be derived, as is pretended, from the people; here is their consent in the
fullest and most ample terms that can be desired or imagined.
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But the people must not pretend, because they can, by their consent, lay the
foundations of government, that therefore they are to be permitted, at their
pleasure, to overthrow and subvert them. There is no end of these seditious and
arrogant claims. The power of the crown is now openly struck at: The nobility
are also in visible peril: The gentry will soon follow: The popular leaders, who
will then assume the name of gentry, will next be exposed to danger: And the
people themselves, having become incapable of civil government, and lying under
the restraint of no authority, must, for the sake of peace, admit, instead of
their legal and mild monarchs, a succession of military and despotic tyrants.
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These consequences are the more to be dreaded, as the present fury of the
people, though glossed over by pretensions to civil liberty, is in reality
incited by the fanaticism of religion; a principle the most blind, headstrong,
and ungovernable, by which human nature can possibly be actuated. Popular rage
is dreadful, from whatever motive derived: But must be attended with the most
pernicious consequences, when it arises from a principle, which disclaims all
controul by human law, reason, or authority.
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These are the arguments, which each party may make use of to justify the conduct
of their predecessors, during that great crisis. The event, if that can be
admitted as a reason, has shown, that the arguments of the popular party were
better founded; but perhaps, according to the established maxims of lawyers and
politicians, the views of the royalists ought, before-hand, to have appeared
more solid, more safe, and more legal. But this is certain, that the greater
moderation we now employ in representing past events; the nearer shall we be to
produce a full coalition of the parties, and an entire acquiescence in our
present establishment. Moderation is of advantage to every establishment:
Nothing but zeal can overturn a settled power: And an over-active zeal in
friends is apt to beget a like spirit in antagonists. The transition from a
moderate opposition against an establishment, to an entire acquiescence in it,
is easy and insensible.
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There are many invincible arguments, which should induce the malcontent party to
acquiesce entirely in the present settlement of the constitution. They now find,
that the spirit of civil liberty, though at first connected with religious
fanaticism, could purge itself from that pollution, and appear under a more
genuine and engaging aspect; a friend to toleration, and an encourager of all
the enlarged and generous sentiments that do honour to human nature. They may
observe, that the popular claims could stop at a proper period; and after
retrenching the high claims of prerogative, could still maintain a due respect
to monarchy, to nobility, and to all ancient institutions. Above all, they must
be sensible, that the very principle, which made the strength of their party,
and from which it derived its chief authority, has now deserted them, and gone
over to their antagonists. The plan of liberty is settled; its happy effects are
proved by experience; a long tract of time has given it stability; and whoever
would attempt to overturn it, and to recall the past government or abdicated
family, would, besides other more criminal imputations, be exposed, in their
turn, to the reproach of faction and innovation. While they peruse the history
of past events, they ought to reflect, both that those rights of the crown are
long since annihilated, and that the tyranny, and violence, and oppression, to
which they often gave rise, are ills, from which the established liberty of the
constitution has now at last happily protected the people. These reflections
will prove a better security to our freedom and privileges, than to deny,
contrary to the clearest evidence of facts, that such regal powers ever had an
existence. There is not a more effectual method of betraying a cause, than to
lay the stress of the argument on a wrong place, and by disputing an untenable
post, enure the adversaries to success and victory.
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†a This Essay first appeared in Edition M.
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†b And practical: added in Edition R.
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†c Editions M to Q append the note: The author believes that he was the first
writer who advanced that the family of TUDOR possessed in general more authority
than their immediate predecessors: An opinion, which, he hopes, will be
supported by history, but which he proposes with some diffidence. There are
strong symptoms of arbitrary power in some former reigns, even after signing of
the charters. The power of the crown in that age depended less on the
constitution than on the capacity and vigour of the prince who wore it.
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†d GOTHIC: Editions M to Q.
Essay 15. OF THE PROTESTANT SUCCESSION
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ESSAY XV: OF THE PROTESTANT SUCCESSION
I suppose, that a member of parliament, in the reign of King WILLIAM or Queen
ANNE, while the establishment of the Protestant Succession was yet uncertain,
were deliberating concerning the party he would chuse in that important
question, and weighing, with impartiality, the advantages and disadvantages on
each side. I believe the following particulars would have entered into his
consideration.
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He would easily perceive the great advantage resulting from the restoration of
the STUART family; by which we should preserve the succession clear and
undisputed, free from a pretender, with such a specious title as that of blood,
which, with the multitude, is always the claim, the strongest and most easily
comprehended. It is in vain to say, as many have done, that the question with
regard to governors, independent of government, is frivolous, and little worth
disputing, much less fighting about. The generality of mankind never will enter
into these sentiments; and it is much happier, I believe, for society, that they
do not, but rather continue in their natural prepossessions. How could stability
be preserved in any monarchical government, (which, though, perhaps, not the
best, is, and always has been, the most common of any) unless men had so
passionate a regard for the true heir of their royal family; and even though he
be weak in understanding, or infirm in years, gave him so sensible a preference
above persons the most accomplished in shining talents, or celebrated for great
atchievements? Would not every popular leader put in his claim at every vacancy,
or even without any vacancy; and the kingdom become the theatre of perpetual
wars and convulsions? The condition of the ROMAN empire, surely, was not, in
this respect, much to be envied; nor is that of the Eastern nations, who pay
little regard to the titles of their sovereign, but sacrifice them, every day,
to the caprice or momentary humour of the populace or soldiery. It is but a
foolish wisdom, which is so carefully displayed, in undervaluing princes, and
placing them on a level with the meanest of mankind. To be sure, an anatomist
finds no more in the greatest monarch than in the lowest peasant or
day-labourer; and a moralist may, perhaps, frequently find less. But what do all
these reflections tend to? We, all of us, still retain these prejudices in
favour of birth and family; and neither in our serious occupations, nor most
careless amusements, can we ever get entirely rid of them. A tragedy, that
should represent the adventures of sailors, or porters, or even of private
gentlemen, would presently disgust us; but one that introduces kings and
princes, acquires in our eyes an air of importance and dignity. Or should a man
be able, by his superior wisdom, to get entirely above such prepossessions, he
would soon, by means of the same wisdom, again bring himself down to them, for
the sake of society, whose welfare he would perceive to be intimately connected
with them. Far from endeavouring to undeceive the people in this particular, he
would cherish such sentiments of reverence to their princes; as requisite to
preserve a due subordination in society. And though the lives of twenty thousand
men be often sacrificed to maintain a king in possession of his throne, or
preserve the right of succession undisturbed, he entertains no indignation at
the loss, on pretence that every individual of these was, perhaps, in himself,
as valuable as the prince he served. He considers the consequences of violating
the hereditary right of kings: Consequences, which may be felt for many
centuries; while the loss of several thousand men brings so little prejudice to
a large kingdom, that it may not be perceived a few years after.
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The advantages of the HANOVER succession are of an opposite nature, and arise
from this very circumstance, that it violates hereditary right; and places on
the throne a prince, to whom birth gave no title to that dignity. It is evident,
from the history of this island, that the privileges of the people have, during
near two centuries, been continually upon the encrease, by the division of the
church-lands, by the alienations of the barons' estates, by the progress of
trade, and above all, by the happiness of our situation, which, for a long time,
gave us sufficient security, without any standing army or military
establishment. On the contrary, public liberty has, almost in every other nation
of EUROPE, been, during the same period, extremely upon the decline; while the
people were disgusted at the hardships of the old†a feudal militia, and rather
chose to entrust their prince with mercenary armies, which he easily turned
against themselves. It was nothing extraordinary, therefore, that some of our
BRITISH sovereigns mistook the nature of the constitution, at least, the genius
of the people; and as they embraced all the favourable precedents left them by
their ancestors, they overlooked all those which were contrary, and which
supposed a limitation in our government. They were encouraged in this mistake,
by the example of all the neighbouring princes, who bearing the same title or
appellation, and being adorned with the same ensigns of authority, naturally led
them to claim the same powers and prerogatives.†b It appears from the speeches,
and proclamations of JAMES I. and the whole train of that prince's actions, as
well as his son's, that he regarded the ENGLISH government as a simple monarchy,
and never imagined that any considerable part of his subjects entertained a
contrary idea. This opinion made those monarchs discover their pretensions,
without preparing any force to support them; and even without reserve or
disguise, which are always employed by those, who enter upon any new project, or
endeavour to innovate in any government. The flattery of courtiers farther†c
confirmed their prejudices; and above all, that of the clergy, who from several
passages of scripture, and these wrested too, had erected a regular and avowed
system of arbitrary power. The only method of destroying, at once, all these
high claims and pretensions, was to depart from the true hereditary line, and
choose a prince, who, being plainly a creature of the public, and receiving the
crown on conditions, expressed and avowed, found his authority established on
the same bottom with the privileges of the people. By electing him in the royal
line, we cut off all hopes of ambitious subjects, who might, in future
emergencies, disturb the government by their cabals and pretensions: By
rendering the crown hereditary in his family, we avoided all the inconveniencies
of elective monarchy: And by excluding the lineal heir, we secured all our
constitutional limitations, and rendered our government uniform and of a piece.
The people cherish monarchy, because protected by it: The monarch favours
liberty, because created by it. And thus every advantage is obtained by the new
establishment, as far as human skill and wisdom can extend itself.
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These are the separate advantages of fixing the succession, either in the house
of STUART, or in that of HANOVER. There are also disadvantages in each
establishment, which an impartial patriot would ponder and examine, in order to
form a just judgment upon the whole.
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The disadvantages of the protestant succession consist in the foreign dominions,
which are possessed by the princes of the HANOVER line, and which, it might be
supposed, would engage us in the intrigues and wars of the continent, and lose
us, in some measure, the inestimable advantage we possess, of being surrounded
and guarded by the sea, which we command. The disadvantages of recalling the
abdicated family consist chiefly in their religion, which is more prejudicial to
society than that established amongst us, is contrary to it, and affords no
toleration, or peace, or security to any other communion.
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It appears to me, that these advantages and disadvantages are allowed on both
sides; at least, by every one who is at all susceptible of argument or
reasoning. No subject, however loyal, pretends to deny, that the disputed title
and foreign dominions of the present royal family are a loss. Nor is there any
partizan of the STUARTS, but will confess, that the claim of hereditary,
indefeasible right, and the Roman Catholic religion, are also disadvantages in
that family. It belongs, therefore, to a philosopher alone, who is of neither
party, to put all the circumstances in the scale, and assign to each of them its
proper poise and influence. Such a one will readily, at first, acknowledge that
all political questions are infinitely complicated, and that there scarcely ever
occurs, in any deliberation, a choice, which is either purely good, or purely
ill. Consequences, mixed and varied, may be foreseen to flow from every measure:
And many consequences, unforeseen, do always, in fact, result from every one.
Hesitation, and reserve, and suspence, are, therefore, the only sentiments he
brings to this essay or trial. Or if he indulges any passion, it is that of
derision against the ignorant multitude, who are always clamorous and
dogmatical, even in the nicest questions, of which, from want of temper, perhaps
still more than of understanding, they are altogether unfit judges.
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But to say something more determinate on this head, the following reflections
will, I hope, show the temper, if not the understanding of a philosopher.
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Were we to judge merely by first appearances, and by past experience, we must
allow that the advantages of a parliamentary title in the house of HANOVER are
greater than those of an undisputed hereditary title in the house of STUART; and
that our fathers acted wisely in preferring the former to the latter. So long as
the house of STUART ruled in GREAT BRITAIN, which, with some interruption, was
above eighty years, the government was kept in a continual fever, by the
contention between the privileges of the people and the prerogatives of the
crown. If arms were dropped, the noise of disputes continued: Or if these were
silenced, jealousy still corroded the heart, and threw the nation into an
unnatural ferment and disorder. And while we were thus occupied in domestic
disputes, a foreign power, dangerous to public liberty, erected itself in
EUROPE, without any opposition from us, and even sometimes with our assistance.
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But during these last sixty years, when a parliamentary establishment has taken
place; whatever factions may have prevailed either among the people or in public
assemblies, the whole force of our constitution has always fallen to one side,
and an uninterrupted harmony has been preserved between our princes and our
parliaments. Public liberty, with internal peace and order, has flourished
almost without interruption: Trade and manufactures, and agriculture, have
encreased: The arts, and sciences, and philosophy, have been cultivated. Even
religious parties have been necessitated to lay aside their mutual rancour: And
the glory of the nation has spread itself all over EUROPE;†d derived equally
from our progress in the arts of peace, and from valour and success in war. So
long and so glorious a period no nation almost can boast of: Nor is there
another instance in the whole history of mankind, that so many millions of
people have, during such a space of time, been held together, in a manner so
free, so rational, and so suitable to the dignity of human nature.
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But though this recent experience seems clearly to decide in favour of the
present establishment, there are some circumstances to be thrown into the other
scale; and it is dangerous to regulate our judgment by one event or example.
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We have had two rebellions during the flourishing period above mentioned,
besides plots and conspiracies without number. And if none of these have
produced any very fatal event, we may ascribe our escape chiefly to the narrow
genius of those princes who disputed our establishment; and we may esteem
ourselves so far fortunate. But the claims of the banished family, I fear, are
not yet antiquated; and who can foretel, that their future attempts will produce
no greater disorder?
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The disputes between privilege and prerogative may easily be composed by laws,
and votes, and conferences, and concessions; where there is tolerable temper or
prudence on both sides, or on either side. Among contending titles, the question
can only be determined by the sword, and by devastation, and by civil war.
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A prince, who fills the throne with a disputed title, dares not arm his
subjects; the only method of securing a people fully, both against domestic
oppression and foreign conquest.
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Notwithstanding our riches and renown, what a critical escape did we make, by
the late peace, from dangers, which were owing not so much to bad conduct and
ill success in war, as to the pernicious practice of mortgaging our finances,
and the still more pernicious maxim of never paying off our incumbrances? Such
fatal measures would not probably have been embraced, had it not been to secure
a precarious establishment.†e
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But to convince us, that an hereditary title is to be embraced rather than a
parliamentary one, which is not supported by any other views or motives; a man
needs only transport himself back to the aera of the restoration, and suppose,
that he had had a seat in that parliament which recalled the royal family, and
put a period to the greatest disorders that ever arose from the opposite
pretensions of prince and people. What would have been thought of one, that had
proposed, at that time, to set aside CHARLES II. and settle the crown on the
Duke of YORK, or GLOUCESTER, merely in order to exclude all high claims, like
those of their father and grandfather? Would not such a one have been regarded
as an extravagant projector, who loved dangerous remedies, and could tamper and
play with a government and national constitution, like a quack with a sickly
patient?†f
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In reality, the reason assigned by the nation for excluding the race of STUART,
and so many other branches of the royal family, is not on account of their
hereditary title (a reason, which would, to vulgar apprehensions, have appeared
altogether absurd), but on account of their religion. Which leads us to compare
the disadvantages above mentioned in each establishment.
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I confess, that, considering the matter in general, it were much to be wished,
that our prince had no foreign dominions, and could confine all his attention to
the government of this island. For not to mention some real inconveniencies that
may result from territories on the continent, they afford such a handle for
calumny and defamation, as is greedily seized by the people, always disposed to
think ill of their superiors. It must, however, be acknowledged, that HANOVER,
is, perhaps, the spot of ground in EUROPE the least inconvenient for a King of
ENGLAND. It lies in the heart of GERMANY, at a distance from the great powers,
which are our natural rivals: It is protected by the laws of the empire, as well
as by the arms of its own sovereign: And it serves only to connect us more
closely with the house of AUSTRIA, our natural ally.†g
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The religious persuasion of the house of STUART is an inconvenience of a much
deeper dye, and would threaten us with much more dismal consequences. The Roman
Catholic religion, with its train of priests and friers, is more expensive than
ours: Even though unaccompanied with its natural attendants of inquisitors, and
stakes, and gibbets, it is less tolerating: And not content with dividing the
sacerdotal from the regal office (which must be prejudicial to any state), it
bestows the former on a foreigner, who has always a separate interest from that
of the public, and may often have an opposite one.
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But were this religion ever so advantageous to society, it is contrary to that
which is established among us, and which is likely to keep possession, for a
long time, of the minds of the people. And though it is much to be hoped, that
the progress of reason will, by degrees, abate the†h acrimony of opposite
religions all over EUROPE; yet the spirit of moderation has, as yet, made too
slow advances to be entirely trusted.†i
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Thus, upon the whole, the advantages of the settlement in the family of STUART,
which frees us from a disputed title, seem to bear some proportion with those of
the settlement in the family of HANOVER, which frees us from the claims of
prerogative: But at the same time, its disadvantages, by placing on the throne a
Roman Catholic, are greater than those of the other establishment, in settling
the crown on a foreign prince. What party an impartial patriot, in the reign of
K. WILLIAM or Q. ANNE, would have chosen amidst these opposite views, may,
perhaps, to some appear hard to determine.†j
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But the settlement in the house of HANOVER has actually taken place. The princes
of that family, without intrigue, without cabal, without solicitation on their
part, have been called to mount our throne, by the united voice of the whole
legislative body. They have, since their accession, displayed, in all their
actions, the utmost mildness, equity, and regard to the laws and constitution.
Our own ministers, our own parliaments, ourselves have governed us; and if aught
ill has befallen us, we can only blame fortune or ourselves. What a reproach
must we become among nations, if, disgusted with a settlement so deliberately
made, and whose conditions have been so religiously observed, we should throw
every thing again into confusion; and by our levity and rebellious disposition,
prove ourselves totally unfit for any state but that of absolute slavery and
subjection?
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The greatest inconvenience, attending a disputed title, is, that it brings us in
danger of civil wars and rebellions. What wise man, to avoid this inconvenience,
would run directly into a civil war and rebellion? Not to mention, that so long
possession, secured by so many laws, must, ere this time, in the apprehension of
a great part of the nation, have begotten a title in the house of HANOVER,
independent of their present possession: So that now we should not, even by a
revolution, obtain the end of avoiding a disputed title.
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No revolution made by national forces, will ever be able, without some other
great necessity, to abolish our debts and incumbrances, in which the interest of
so many persons is concerned. And a revolution made by foreign forces, is a
conquest: A calamity, with which the precarious balance of power threatens us,
and which our civil dissentions are likely, above all other circumstances, to
bring upon us.
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†a GOTHIC: Editions H to N.
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†b For this sentence and the next, Editions H to P read as follows; K to P, in a
note: It appears from the speeches, and proclamations, and whole train of King
JAMES I.'s actions, as well as his son's, that they considered the ENGLISH
government as a simple monarchy, and never imagined that any considerable part
of their subjects entertained a contrary idea. This made them discover their
pretensions, without preparing any force to support them; and even without
reserve or disguise, which are always employed by those, who enter upon any new
project, or endeavour to innovate in any government. King JAMES told his
parliament plainly, when they meddled in state affairs, Ne sutor ultra crepidam.
He used also, at his table, in promiscuous companies, to advance his notions, in
a manner still more undisguised: As we may learn from a story told in the life
of Mr. WALLER, and which that poet used frequently to repeat. When Mr. WALLER
was young, he had the curiosity to go to court; and he stood in the circle, and
saw King JAMES dine, where, amongst other company, there sat at table two
bishops. The King, openly and aloud, proposed this question, Whether he might
not take his subjects money, when he had occasion for it, without all this
formality of parliament? The one bishop readily replied, God forbid you should
not: For you are the breath of our nostrils. The other bishop declined
answering, and said he was not skilled in parliamentary cases. But upon the
King's urging him, and saying he would admit of no evasion, his lordship replied
very pleasantly, Why, then, I think your majesty may lawfully take my brother's
money: For he offers it. In Sir WALTER RALEIGH'S preface to the History of the
World, there is this remarkable passage. PHILIP II. by strong hand and main
force, attempted to make himself not only an absolute monarch over the
Netherlands, like unto the kings and sovereigns of England and France; but
Turk-like, to tread under his feet all their natural and fundamental laws,
privileges, and antient rights. SPENSER, speaking of some grants of the ENGLISH
kings to the IRISH corporations, says, "All which, tho', at the time of their
first grant, they were tolerable, and perhaps reasonable, yet now are most
unreasonable and inconvenient. But all these will easily be cut off with the
superior power of her majesty's prerogative, against which her own grants are
not to be pleaded or inforced." State of IRELAND, p. 1537. Edit. 1706.
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As these were very common, if not, perhaps, the universal notions of the times,
the two first princes of the house of STUART were the more excusable for their
mistake. And RAPIN, [Editions H and I read: The most judicious of historians.]
suitable to his usual malignity and partiality, seems to treat them with too
much severity, upon account of it.
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†c Blinded them: Editions H to N.
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†d For the remainder of this sentence, Editions H to P substitute: While we
stand the bulwark against oppression, and the great antagonist of that power
which threatens every people with conquest and subjection.
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†e Editions H to P add the note: Those who consider how universal this
pernicious practice of lending has become all over EUROPE, may perhaps dispute
this last opinion. But we lay under less necessity than other states.
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†f Editions H to P add the following paragraph: The advantages which result from
a parliamentary title, preferably to an hereditary one, tho' they are great, are
too refined ever to enter into the conception of the vulgar. The bulk of mankind
would never allow them to be sufficient for committing what would be regarded as
an injustice to the prince. They must be supported by some gross, popular, and
familiar topics; and wise men, though convinced of their force, would reject
them, in compliance with the weakness and prejudices of the people. An
incroaching tyrant or deluded bigot alone, by his misconduct, is able to enrage
the nation, and render practicable what was always perhaps desirable.
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†g Editions H to P insert the following paragraph: In the last war, it has been
of service to us, by furnishing us with a considerable body of auxiliary troops,
the bravest and most faithful in the world. The Elector of HANOVER is the only
considerable prince in the empire, who has pursued no separate end, and has
raised up no stale pretensions, during the late commotions of EUROPE; but has
acted, all along, with the dignity of a King of BRITAIN. And ever since the
accession of that family, it would be difficult to show any harm we have ever
received from the electoral dominions, except that short disgust in 1718, with
CHARLES XII., who, regulating himself by maxims very different from those of
other princes; made a personal quarrel of every public injury. [Editions O and P
append the note: This was published in 1752.]
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†h The virulent acrimony: Editions H to N.
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†i Editions H to P add: The conduct of the SAXON family, where the same person
can be a Catholic King and Protestant Elector, is, perhaps, the first instance,
in modern times, of so reasonable and prudent a behaviour. And the gradual
progress of the Catholic superstition does, even there, prognosticate a speedy
alteration: After which, 'tis justly to be apprehended, that persecutions will
put a speedy period to the Protestant religion in the place of its nativity.
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†j Editions H to P add: For my part, I esteem liberty so invaluable a blessing
in society, that whatever favours its progress and security, can scarce be too
fondly cherished by every one who is a lover of human kind.
Essay 16. IDEA OF A PERFECT COMMONWEALTH
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ESSAY XVI: IDEA OF A PERFECT COMMONWEALTH
†a It is not with forms of government, as with other artificial contrivances;
where an old engine may be rejected, if we can discover another more accurate
and commodious, or where trials may safely be made, even though the success be
doubtful. An established government has an infinite advantage, by that very
circumstance of its being established; the bulk of mankind being governed by
authority, not reason, and never attributing authority to any thing that has not
the recommendation of antiquity. To tamper, therefore, in this affair, or try
experiments merely upon the credit of supposed argument and philosophy, can
never be the part of a wise magistrate, who will bear a reverence to what
carries the marks of age; and though he may attempt some improvements for the
public good, yet will he adjust his innovations, as much as possible, to the
ancient fabric, and preserve entire the chief pillars and supports of the
constitution.
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The mathematicians in EUROPE have been much divided concerning that figure of a
ship, which is the most commodious for sailing; and HUYGENS, who at last
determined the controversy, is justly thought to have obliged the learned, as
well as commercial world; though COLUMBUS had sailed to AMERICA, and Sir FRANCIS
DRAKE made the tour of the world, without any such discovery. As one form of
government must be allowed more perfect than another, independent of the manners
and humours of particular men; why may we not enquire what is the most perfect
of all, though the common botched and inaccurate governments seem to serve the
purposes of society, and though it be not so easy to establish a new system of
government, as to build a vessel upon a new construction? The subject is surely
the most worthy curiosity of any the wit of man can possibly devise. And who
knows, if this controversy were fixed by the universal consent of the wise and
learned, but, in some future age, an opportunity might be afforded of reducing
the theory to practice, either by a dissolution of some old government, or by
the combination of men to form a new one, in some distant part of the world? In
all cases, it must be advantageous to know what is most perfect in the kind,
that we may be able to bring any real constitution or form of government as near
it as possible, by such gentle alterations and innovations as may not give too
great disturbance to society.
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All I pretend to in the present essay is to revive this subject of speculation;
and therefore I shall deliver my sentiments in as few words as possible. A long
dissertation on that head would not, I apprehend, be very acceptable to the
public, who will be apt to regard such disquisitions both as useless and
chimerical.
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All plans of government, which suppose great reformation in the manners of
mankind, are plainly imaginary. Of this nature, are the Republic of PLATO, and
the Utopia of Sir THOMAS MORE. The OCEANA is the only valuable model of a
commonwealth, that has yet been offered to the public.
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The chief defects of the OCEANA seem to be these. First, Its rotation is
inconvenient, by throwing men, of whatever abilities, by intervals, out of
public employments. Secondly, Its Agrarian is impracticable. Men will soon learn
the art, which was practised in ancient ROME, of concealing their possessions
under other people's name; till at last, the abuse will become so common, that
they will throw off even the appearance of restraint. Thirdly, The OCEANA
provides not a sufficient security for liberty, or the redress of grievances.
The senate must propose, and the people consent; by which means, the senate have
not only a negative upon the people, but, what is of much greater consequence,
their negative goes before the votes of the people. Were the King's negative of
the same nature in the ENGLISH constitution, and could he prevent any bill from
coming into parliament, he would be an absolute monarch. As his negative follows
the votes of the houses, it is of little consequence: Such a difference is there
in the manner of placing the same thing. When a popular bill has been debated in
parliament, is brought to maturity, all its conveniencies and inconveniencies,
weighed and balanced; if afterwards it be presented for the royal assent, few
princes will venture to reject the unanimous desire of the people. But could the
King crush a disagreeable bill in embryo (as was the case, for some time, in the
SCOTTISH parliament, by means of the lords of the articles), the BRITISH
government would have no balance, nor would grievances ever be redressed: And it
is certain, that exorbitant power proceeds not, in any government, from new
laws, so much as from neglecting to remedy the abuses, which frequently rise
from the old ones. A government, says MACHIAVEL, must often be brought back to
its original principles. It appears then, that, in the OCEANA, the whole
legislature may be said to rest in the senate; which HARRINGTON would own to be
an inconvenient form of government, especially after the Agrarian is abolished.
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Here is a form of government, to which I cannot, in theory, discover any
considerable objection.
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Let GREAT BRITAIN and IRELAND, or any territory of equal extent, be divided into
100 counties, and each county into 100 parishes, making in all 10,000. If the
country, proposed to be erected into a commonwealth be of more narrow extent, we
may diminish the number of counties; but never bring them below thirty. If it be
of greater extent, it were better to enlarge the parishes, or throw more
parishes into a county, than encrease the number of counties.
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†b Let all the freeholders of twenty pounds a-year in the county, and all the
householders worth 500 pounds in the town parishes, meet annually in the parish
church, and chuse, by ballot, some freeholder of the county for their member,
whom we shall call the county representative.
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Let the 100 county representatives, two days after their election, meet in the
county town, and chuse by ballot, from their own body, ten county magistrates,
and one senator. There are, therefore, in the whole commonwealth, 100 senators,
1100 county magistrates, and 10,000 county representatives. For we shall bestow
on all senators the authority of county magistrates, and on all county
magistrates the authority of county representatives.
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Let the senators meet in the capital, and be endowed with the whole executive
power of the commonwealth; the power of peace and war, of giving orders to
generals, admirals, and ambassadors, and, in short, all the prerogatives of a
BRITISH King, except his negative.
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Let the county representatives meet in their particular counties, and possess
the whole legislative power of the commonwealth; the greater number of counties
deciding the question; and where these are equal, let the senate have the
casting vote.
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Every new law must first be debated in the senate; and though rejected by it, if
ten senators insist and protest, it must be sent down to the counties. The
senate, if they please, may join to the copy of the law their reasons for
receiving or rejecting it.
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Because it would be troublesome to assemble all the county representatives for
every trivial law, that may be requisite, the senate have their choice of
sending down the law either to the county magistrates or county representatives.
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The magistrates, though the law be referred to them, may, if they please, call
the representatives, and submit the affair to their determination.
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Whether the law be referred by the senate to the county magistrates or
representatives, a copy of it, and of the senate's reasons, must be sent to
every representative eight days before the day appointed for the assembling, in
order to deliberate concerning it. And though the determination be, by the
senate, referred to the magistrates, if five representatives of the county order
the magistrates to assemble the whole court of representatives, and submit the
affair to their determination, they must obey.
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Either the county magistrates or representatives may give, to the senator of the
county, the copy of a law to be proposed to the senate; and if five counties
concur in the same order, the law, though refused by the senate, must come
either to the county magistrates or representatives, as is contained in the
order of the five counties.
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Any twenty counties, by a vote either of their magistrates or representatives,
may throw any man out of all public offices for a year. Thirty counties for
three years.
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The senate has a power of throwing out any member or number of members of its
own body, not to be re-elected for that year. The senate cannot throw out twice
in a year the senator of the same county.
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The power of the old senate continues for three weeks after the annual election
of the county representatives. Then all the new senators are shut up in a
conclave, like the cardinals; and by an intricate ballot, such as that of VENICE
or MALTA, they chuse the following magistrates; a protector, who represents the
dignity of the commonwealth, and presides in the senate; two secretaries of
state; these six councils, a council of state, a council of religion and
learning, a council of trade, a council of laws, a council of war, a council of
the admiralty, each council consisting of five persons; together with six
commissioners of the treasury and a first commissioner. All these must be
senators. The senate also names all the ambassadors to foreign courts, who may
either be senators or not.
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The senate may continue any or all of these, but must re-elect them every year.
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The protector and two secretaries have session and suffrage in the council of
state. The business of that council is all foreign politics. The council of
state has session and suffrage in all the other councils.
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The council of religion and learning inspects the universities and clergy. That
of trade inspects every thing that may affect commerce. That of laws inspects
all the abuses of law by the inferior magistrates, and examines what
improvements may be made of the municipal law. That of war inspects the militia
and its discipline, magazines, stores, &c. and when the republic is in war,
examines into the proper orders for generals. The council of admiralty has the
same power with regard to the navy, together with the nomination of the captains
and all inferior officers.
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None of these councils can give orders themselves, except where they receive
such powers from the senate. In other cases, they must communicate every thing
to the senate.
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When the senate is under adjournment, any of the councils may assemble it before
the day appointed for its meeting.
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Besides these councils or courts, there is another called the court of
competitors; which is thus constituted. If any candidates for the office of
senator have more votes than a third of the representatives, that candidate, who
has most votes, next to the senator elected, becomes incapable for one year of
all public offices, even of being a magistrate or representative: But he takes
his seat in the court of competitors. Here then is a court which may sometimes
consist of a hundred members, sometimes have no members at all; and by that
means, be for a year abolished.
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The court of competitors has no power in the commonwealth. It has only the
inspection of public accounts, and the accusing of any man before the senate. If
the senate acquit him, the court of competitors may, if they please, appeal to
the people, either magistrates or representatives. Upon that appeal, the
magistrates or representatives meet on the day appointed by the court of
competitors, and chuse in each county three persons; from which number every
senator is excluded. These, to the number of 300, meet in the capital, and bring
the person accused to a new trial.
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The court of competitors may propose any law to the senate; and if refused, may
appeal to the people, that is, to the magistrates or representatives, who
examine it in their counties. Every senator, who is thrown out of the senate by
a vote of the court, takes his seat in the court of competitors.
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The senate possesses all the judicative authority of the house of Lords, that
is, all the appeals from the inferior courts. It likewise appoints the Lord
Chancellor, and all the officers of the law.
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Every county is a kind of republic within itself, and the representatives may
make bye-laws; which have no authority 'till three months after they are voted.
A copy of the law is sent to the senate, and to every other county. The senate,
or any single county, may, at any time, annul any bye-law of another county.
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The representatives have all the authority of the BRITISH justices of peace in
trials, commitments, &c.
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The magistrates have the appointment of all the officers of the revenue in each
county. All causes with regard to the revenue are carried ultimately by appeal
before the magistrates. They pass the accompts of all the officers; but must
have their own accompts examined and passed at the end of the year by the
representatives.
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The magistrates name rectors or ministers to all the parishes.
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The Presbyterian government is established; and the highest ecclesiastical court
is an assembly or synod of all the presbyters of the county. The magistrates may
take any cause from this court, and determine it themselves.
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The magistrates may try, and depose or suspend any presbyter.
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The militia is established in imitation of that of SWISSERLAND, which being well
known, we shall not insist upon it. It will only be proper to make this
addition, that an army of 20,000 men be annually drawn out by rotation, paid and
encamped during six weeks in summer; that the duty of a camp may not be
altogether unknown.
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The magistrates appoint all the colonels and downwards. The senate all upwards.
During war, the general appoints the colonel and downwards, and his commission
is good for a twelvemonth. But after that, it must be confirmed by the
magistrates of the county, to which the regiment belongs. The magistrates may
break any officer in the county regiment. And the senate may do the same to any
officer in the service. If the magistrates do not think proper to confirm the
general's choice, they may appoint another officer in the place of him they
reject.
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All crimes are tried within the county by the magistrates and a jury. But the
senate can stop any trial, and bring it before themselves.
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Any county may indict any man before the senate for any crime.
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The protector, the two secretaries, the council of state, with any five or more
that the senate appoints, are possessed, on extraordinary emergencies, of
dictatorial power for six months.
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The protector may pardon any person condemned by the inferior courts.
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In time of war, no officer of the army that is in the field can have any civil
office in the commonwealth.
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The capital, which we shall call LONDON, may be allowed four members in the
senate. It may therefore be divided into four counties. The representatives of
each of these chuse one senator, and ten magistrates. There are therefore in the
city four senators, forty-four magistrates, and four hundred representatives.
The magistrates have the same authority as in the counties. The representatives
also have the same authority; but they never meet in one general court: They
give their votes in their particular county, or division of hundreds.
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When they enact any bye-law, the greater number of counties or divisions
determines the matter. And where these are equal, the magistrates have the
casting vote.
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The magistrates chuse the mayor, sheriff, recorder, and other officers of the
city.
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In the commonwealth, no representative, magistrate, or senator, as such, has any
salary. The protector, secretaries, councils, and ambassadors, have salaries.
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The first year in every century is set apart for correcting all inequalities,
which time may have produced in the representative. This must be done by the
legislature.
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The following political aphorisms may explain the reason of these orders.
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The lower sort of people and small proprietors are good judges enough of one not
very distant from them in rank or habitation; and therefore, in their parochial
meetings, will probably chuse the best, or nearly the best representative: But
they are wholly unfit for county-meetings, and for electing into the higher
offices of the republic. Their ignorance gives the grandees an opportunity of
deceiving them.
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Ten thousand, even though they were not annually elected, are a basis large
enough for any free government. It is true, the nobles in POLAND are more than
10,000, and yet these oppress the people. But as power always continues there in
the same persons and families, this makes them, in a manner, a different nation
from the people. Besides the nobles are there united under a few heads of
families.
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All free governments must consist of two councils, a lesser and greater; or, in
other words, of a senate and people. The people, as HARRINGTON observes, would
want wisdom, without the senate: The senate, without the people, would want
honesty.
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A large assembly of 1000, for instance, to represent the people, if allowed to
debate, would fall into disorder. If not allowed to debate, the senate has a
negative upon them, and the worst kind of negative, that before resolution.
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Here therefore is an inconvenience, which no government has yet fully remedied,
but which is the easiest to be remedied in the world. If the people debate, all
is confusion: If they do not debate, they can only resolve; and then the senate
carves for them. Divide the people into many separate bodies; and then they may
debate with safety, and every inconvenience seems to be prevented.
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Cardinal de RETZ says, that all numerous assemblies, however composed, are mere
mob, and swayed in their debates by the least motive. This we find confirmed by
daily experience. When an absurdity strikes a member, he conveys it to his
neighbour, and so on, till the whole be infected. Separate this great body; and
though every member be only of middling sense, it is not probable, that any
thing but reason can prevail over the whole. Influence and example being
removed, good sense will always get the better of bad among a number of
people.†c
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There are two things to be guarded against in every senate: Its combination, and
its division. Its combination is most dangerous. And against this inconvenience
we have provided the following remedies. 1. The great dependence of the senators
on the people by annual elections; and that not by an undistinguishing rabble,
like the ENGLISH electors, but by men of fortune and education. 2. The small
power they are allowed. They have few offices to dispose of. Almost all are
given by the magistrates in the counties. 3. The court of competitors, which
being composed of men that are their rivals, next to them in interest, and
uneasy in their present situation, will be sure to take all advantages against
them.
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The division of the senate is prevented, 1. By the smallness of their number. 2.
As faction supposes a combination in a separate interest, it is prevented by
their dependence on the people. 3. They have a power of expelling any factious
member. It is true, when another member of the same spirit comes from the
county, they have no power of expelling him: Nor is it fit they should; for that
shows the humour to be in the people, and may possibly arise from some ill
conduct in public affairs. 4. Almost any man, in a senate so regularly chosen by
the people, may be supposed fit for any civil office. It would be proper,
therefore, for the senate to form some general resolutions with regard to the
disposing of offices among the members: Which resolutions would not confine them
in critical times, when extraordinary parts on the one hand, or extraordinary
stupidity on the other, appears in any senator; but they would be sufficient to
prevent†d intrigue and faction, by making the disposal of the offices a thing of
course. For instance, let it be a resolution, That no man shall enjoy any
office, till he has sat four years in the senate: That, except ambassadors, no
man shall be in office two years following: That no man shall attain the higher
offices but through the lower: That no man shall be protector twice, &c. The
senate of VENICE govern themselves by such resolutions.
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In foreign politics the interest of the senate can scarcely ever be divided from
that of the people; and therefore it is fit to make the senate absolute with
regard to them; otherwise there could be no secrecy or refined policy. Besides,
without money no alliance can be executed; and the senate is still sufficiently
dependant. Not to mention, that the legislative power being always superior to
the executive, the magistrates or representatives may interpose whenever they
think proper.
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The chief support of the BRITISH government is the opposition of interests; but
that, though in the main serviceable, breeds endless factions. In the foregoing
plan, it does all the good without any of the harm. The competitors have no
power of controlling the senate: They have only the power of accusing, and
appealing to the people.
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It is necessary, likewise, to prevent both combination and division in the
thousand magistrates. This is done sufficiently by the separation of places and
interests.
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But lest that should not be sufficient, their dependence on the 10,000 for their
elections, serves to the same purpose.
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Nor is that all: For the 10,000 may resume the power whenever they please; and
not only when they all please, but when any five of a hundred please, which will
happen upon the very first suspicion of a separate interest.
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The 10,000 are too large a body either to unite or divide, except when they meet
in one place, and fall under the guidance of ambitious leaders. Not to mention
their annual election,†e by the whole body of the people, that are of any
consideration.
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A small commonwealth is the happiest government in the world within itself,
because every thing lies under the eye of the rulers: But it may be subdued by
great force from without. This scheme seems to have all the advantages both of a
great and a little commonwealth.
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Every county-law may be annulled either by the senate or another county; because
that shows an opposition of interest: In which case no part ought to decide for
itself. The matter must be referred to the whole, which will best determine what
agrees with general interest.
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As to the clergy and militia, the reasons of these orders are obvious. Without
the dependence of the clergy on the civil magistrates, and without a militia, it
is in vain to think that any free government will ever have security or
stability.
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In many governments, the inferior magistrates have no rewards but what arise
from their ambition, vanity, or public spirit. The salaries of the FRENCH judges
amount not to the interest of the sums they pay for their offices. The DUTCH
burgo-masters have little more immediate profit than the ENGLISH justices of
peace, or the members of the house of commons formerly. But lest any should
suspect, that this would beget negligence in the administration (which is little
to be feared, considering the natural ambition of mankind), let the magistrates
have competent salaries. The senators have access to so many honourable and
lucrative offices, that their attendance needs not be bought. There is little
attendance required of the representatives.
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That the foregoing plan of government is practicable, no one can doubt, who
considers the resemblance that it bears to the commonwealth of the United
Provinces,†f a wise and renowned government. The alterations in the present
scheme seem all evidently for the better. 1. The representation is more equal.
2. The unlimited power of the burgo-masters in the towns, which forms a perfect
aristocracy in the DUTCH commonwealth, is corrected by a well-tempered
democracy, in giving to the people the annual election of the county
representatives. 3. The negative, which every province and town has upon the
whole body of the DUTCH republic, with regard to alliances, peace and war, and
the imposition of taxes, is here removed. 4. The counties, in the present plan,
are not so independent of each other, nor do they form separate bodies so much
as the seven provinces; where the jealousy and envy of the smaller provinces and
towns against the greater, particularly HOLLAND and AMSTERDAM, have frequently
disturbed the government. 5. Larger powers, though of the safest kind, are
intrusted to the senate than the States-General possess; by which means, the
former may become more expeditious, and secret in their resolutions, than it is
possible for the latter.
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The chief alterations that could be made on the BRITISH government, in order to
bring it to the most perfect model of limited monarchy, seem to be the
following. First, The plan of†g CROMWELL'S parliament ought to be restored, by
making the representation equal, and by allowing none to vote in the county
elections who possess not†h a property of 200 pounds value. Secondly, As such a
house of Commons would be too weighty for a frail house of Lords, like the
present, the Bishops and SCOTCH Peers ought to be removed:†i The number of the
upper house ought to be raised to three or four hundred: Their seats not
hereditary, but during life: They ought to have the election of their own
members; and no commoner should be allowed to refuse a seat that was offered
him. By this means the house of Lords would consist entirely of the men of chief
credit, abilities, and interest in the nation; and every turbulent leader in the
house of Commons might be taken off, and connected by interest with the house of
Peers. Such an aristocracy would be an excellent barrier both to the monarchy
and against it. At present, the balance of our government depends in some
measure on the abilities and behaviour of the sovereign; which are variable and
uncertain circumstances.
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This plan of limited monarchy, however corrected, seems still liable to three
great inconveniencies. First, It removes not entirely, though it may soften, the
parties of court and country. Secondly, The king's personal character must still
have great influence on the government. Thirdly, The sword is in the hands of a
single person, who will always neglect to discipline the militia, in order to
have a pretence for keeping up a standing army.†j
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We shall conclude this subject, with observing the falsehood of the common
opinion, that no large state, such as FRANCE or GREAT BRITAIN, could ever be
modelled into a commonwealth, but that such a form of government can only take
place in a city or small territory. The contrary seems probable. Though it is
more difficult to form a republican government in an extensive country than in a
city; there is more facility, when once it is formed, of preserving it steady
and uniform, without tumult and faction. It is not easy, for the distant parts
of a large state to combine in any plan of free government; but they easily
conspire in the esteem and reverence for a single person, who, by means of this
popular favour, may seize the power, and forcing the more obstinate to submit,
may establish a monarchical government. On the other hand, a city readily
concurs in the same notions of government, the natural equality of property
favours liberty, and the nearness of habitation enables the citizens mutually to
assist each other. Even under absolute princes, the subordinate government of
cities is commonly republican; while that of counties and provinces is
monarchical. But these same circumstances, which facilitate the erection of
commonwealths in cities, render their constitution more frail and uncertain.
Democracies are turbulent. For however the people may be separated or divided
into small parties, either in their votes or elections; their near habitation in
a city will always make the force of popular tides and currents very sensible.
Aristocracies are better adapted for peace and order, and accordingly were most
admired by ancient writers; but they are jealous and oppressive. In a large
government, which is modelled with masterly skill, there is compass and room
enough to refine the democracy, from the lower people, who may be admitted into
the first elections or first concoction of the commonwealth, to the higher
magistrates, who direct all the movements. At the same time, the parts are so
distant and remote, that it is very difficult, either by intrigue, prejudice, or
passion, to hurry them into any measures against the public interest.
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It is needless to enquire, whether such a government would be immortal. I allow
the justness of the poet's exclamation on the endless projects of human race,
Man and for ever! The world itself probably is not immortal. Such consuming
plagues may arise as would leave even a perfect government a weak prey to its
neighbours. We know not to what length enthusiasm, or other extraordinary
movements of the human mind, may transport men, to the neglect of all order and
public good. Where difference of interest is removed, whimsical and
unaccountable factions often arise, from personal favour or enmity. Perhaps,
rust may grow to the springs of the most accurate political machine, and
disorder its motions. Lastly, extensive conquests, when pursued, must be the
ruin of every free government; and of the more perfect governments sooner than
of the imperfect; because of the very advantages which the former possess above
the latter. And though such a state ought to establish a fundamental law against
conquests; yet republics have ambition as well as individuals, and present
interest makes men forgetful of their posterity. It is a sufficient incitement
to human endeavours, that such a government would flourish for many ages;
without pretending to bestow, on any work of man, that immortality, which the
Almighty seems to have refused to his own productions.
Hume: ESY Pt. 2 E. 16 Var. a mp. 647 gp. 480
†a Editions H to P begin as follows: Of all mankind there are none so pernicious
as political projectors, if they have power; nor so ridiculous, if they want it:
As on the other hand, a wise politician is the most beneficial character in
nature, if accompanied with authority; and the most innocent, and not altogether
useless, even if deprived of it.
Hume: ESY Pt. 2 E. 16 Var. b mp. 647 gp. 482
†b Editions H and I read: Let all the freeholders in the country parishes, and
those who pay scot and lot in the town parishes, &c. K to P, read: Let all the
freeholders of ten pounds a year in the country, and all the householders worth
200 pounds in the town-parishes, &c.
Hume: ESY Pt. 2 E. 16 Var. c mp. 647 gp. 488
†c Editions H to P add: Good sense is one thing: But follies are numberless; and
every man has a different one. The only way of making a people wise, is to keep
them from uniting into large assemblies.
Hume: ESY Pt. 2 E. 16 Var. d mp. 647 gp. 489
†d Brigue: Editions H to P.
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†e By almost the whole body of the people: so Editions H to M end the paragraph.
Hume: ESY Pt. 2 E. 16 Var. f mp. 647 gp. 490
†f Formerly one of the wisest and most renowned governments in the world:
Editions H to P.
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†g Of the republican parliament: Editions H to P.
Hume: ESY Pt. 2 E. 16 Var. h mp. 647 gp. 491
†h A hundred a year: Editions H and I.
Hume: ESY Pt. 2 E. 16 Var. i mp. 647 gp. 491
†i Whose behaviour, in former parliaments, destroyed entirely the authority of
that house: Editions H to P.
Hume: ESY Pt. 2 E. 16 Var. j mp. 647 gp. 491
†j Editions H to P add: It is evident, that this is a mortal distemper in the
BRITISH government, of which it must at last inevitably perish. I must, however,
confess, that SWEDEN seems, in some measure, to have remedied this
inconvenience, and to have a militia, with its limited monarchy, as well as a
standing army, which is less dangerous than the BRITISH.
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