A LETTER TO LORD ****

SHALL I venture to ſay, my LORD, that in our late Converſation, you were inclined to the Party which you adopted rather by the Feelings of your good Nature, than by the Conviction of your Judgment? We laid open the Foun⯑dations of Society; and you feared, that the Curioſity of this Search might en⯑danger the Ruin of the whole Fabrick. You would readily have allowed my Prin⯑ciple, but you dreaded the Conſequences; you thought, that having once entered upon [2] theſe Reaſonings, we might be carried in⯑ſenſibly and irreſiſtably farther than at firſt we could either have imagined or wiſhed. But for my part, my LORD, I then thought, and am ſtill of the ſame Opinion, that Er⯑ror, and not Truth of any Kind, is danger⯑ous; that ill Concluſions can only flow from falſe Propoſitions; and that, to know whether any Propoſition be true or falſe, it is a prepoſterous Method to examine it by it's apparent Conſequences.

Theſe were the Reaſons which induced me to go ſo far into that Enquiry; and they are the Reaſons which direct me in all my Enquiries. I had indeed often reflected on that Subject before I could prevail upon myſelf to communicate my Reflections to any body. They were generally melan⯑choly enough; as thoſe uſually are which carry us beyond the mere Surface of Things; and which would undoubtedly make the Lives of all thinking Men ex⯑tremely miſerable, if the ſame Philoſophy [3] which cauſed the Grief, did not at the ſame Time adminiſter the Comfort.

On conſidering political Societies, their Origin, their Conſtitution, and their Ef⯑fects, I have ſometimes been in a good deal more than Doubt, whether the Crea⯑tor did ever really intend Man for a State of Happineſs. He has mixed in his Cup a Number of natural Evils, (in Spite of the Boaſts of Stoiciſm they are Evils) and every Endeavour which the Art and Po⯑licy of Mankind has uſed from the Begin⯑ning of the World to this Day, in order to alleviate, or cure them, has only ſerved to introduce new Miſchiefs, or to aggravate and inflame the old. Beſides this, the Mind of Man itſelf is too active and reſtleſs a Principle ever to ſettle on the true Point of Quiet. It diſcovers every Day ſome craving Want in a Body, which really wants but little. It every Day invents ſome new artificial Rule to guide that Nature which if left to itſelf were the beſt and ſureſt [4] Guide. It finds out imaginary Beings pre⯑ſcribing imaginary Laws; and then, it raiſes imaginary Terrors to ſupport a Be⯑lief in the Beings, and an Obedience to the Laws. Many Things have been ſaid, and very well undoubtedly, on the Subjection in which we ſhould preſerve our Bodies to the Government of our Underſtanding; but enough has not been ſaid upon the Re⯑ſtraint which our bodily Neceſſities ought to lay on the extravagant Sublimities, and excentrick Rovings of our Minds. The Body, or as ſome love to call it, our infe⯑rior Nature, is wiſer in it's own plain Way, and attends it's own Buſineſs more directly than the Mind with all it's boaſted Subtilty.

In the State of Nature, without Queſ⯑tion, Mankind was ſubjected to many and great Inconveniencies. Want of Union, Want of mutual Aſſiſtance, Want of a common Arbitrator to reſort to in their Differences. Theſe were Evils which they [5] could not but have felt pretty ſeverely on many Occaſions. The original Children of the Earth lived with their Brethren of the other Kinds in much Equality. Their Diet muſt have been confined almoſt wholly to the vegetable Kind; and the ſame Tree, which in it's flouriſhing State produced them Berries, in it's Decay gave them an Habitation. The mutual Deſires of the Sexes uniting their Bodies and Affections, the Children, which were the Reſults of theſe Intercourſes, intro⯑duced firſt the Notion of Society, and taught it's Conveniences. This Society, founded in natural Appetites and Inſtincts, and not in any poſitive Inſtitution; I ſhall call Natural Society. Thus far Nature went, and ſucceeded; but Man would go farther. The great Error of our Nature is, not to know where to ſtop, not to be ſatisfied with any reaſonable Acquirement; not to compound with our Condition; but to loſe all we have gained by an inſa⯑tiable Purſuit after more. Man found a con⯑ſiderable [6] Advantage by this Union of ma⯑ny Perſons to form one Family; he there⯑fore judged that he would find his Account proportionably in an Union of many Fa⯑milies into one Body politick. And as Na⯑ture has formed no Bond of Union to hold them together, he ſupplied this Defect by Laws.

This is Political Society. And hence the Sources of what are uſually called States, civil Societies, or Governments; into ſome Form of which, more extended or reſtrained, all Mankind have gradually fallen. And ſince it has ſo happened, and that we owe an implicit Reverence to all the Inſtitutions of our Anceſtors, we ſhall conſider theſe Inſtitutions with all that Modeſty with which we ought to conduct ourſelves in examining a received Opinion; but with all that Freedom and Candour which we owe to Truth wherever we find it, or however it may contradict our own Notions, or oppoſe our own Intereſts. [7] There is a moſt abſurd and audacious Me⯑thod of reaſoning avowed by ſome Bigots and Enthuſiaſts, and through Fear aſſented to by ſome wiſer and better Men; it is this. They argue againſt a fair Diſcuſſion of popular Prejudices, becauſe, ſay they, tho' they would be found without any reaſonable Support, yet the Diſcovery might be productive of the moſt danger⯑ous Conſequences. Abſurd and blaſphe⯑mous Notion! as if all Happineſs was not connected with the Practice of Virtue, which neceſſarily depends upon the Know⯑ledge of Truth; that is, upon the Know⯑ledge of thoſe unalterable Relations which Providence has ordained that every thing ſhould bear to every other. Theſe Rela⯑tions, which are Truth itſelf, the Founda⯑tion of Virtue, and conſequently, the only Meaſures of Happineſs, ſhould be likewiſe the only Meaſures by which we ſhould direct our Reaſoning. To theſe we ſhould conform in good Earneſt; and not think to force Nature, and the whole Order of [8] her Syſtem, by a Compliance with our Pride, and Folly, to conform to our arti⯑ficial Regulations. It is by a Conformity to this Method we owe the Diſcovery of the few Truths we know, and the little Liberty and rational Happineſs we enjoy. We have ſomething fairer Play than a Reaſoner could have expected formerly; and we derive Advantages from it which are very viſible.

The Fabrick of Superſtition has in this our Age and Nation received much ruder Shocks than it had ever felt before; and through the Chinks and Breaches of our Priſon, we ſee ſuch Glimmerings of Light, and feel ſuch refreſhing Airs of Liberty, as daily raiſe our Ardor for more. The Mi⯑ſeries derived to Mankind from Superſti⯑tion, under the Name of Religion, and of eccleſiaſtical Tyranny under the Name of Church Government, have been clearly and uſefully expoſed. We begin to think and to act from Reaſon and from Nature [9] alone. This is true of ſeveral, but ſtill is by far the Majority in the ſame old State of Blindneſs and Slavery; and much is it to be feared that we ſhall perpetually re⯑lapſe, whilſt the real productive Cauſe of all this ſuperſtitious Folly, enthuſiaſtical Nonſenſe, and holy Tyranny, holds a re⯑verend Place in the Eſtimation even of thoſe who are otherwiſe enlightened.

Civil Government borrows a Strength from eccleſiaſtical; and artificial Laws re⯑ceive a Sanction from artificial Revelations. The Ideas of Religion and Government are cloſely connected; and whilſt we re⯑ceive Government as a Thing neceſſary, or even uſeful to our well-being, we ſhall in ſpite of us draw in, as a neceſſary, tho' undeſirable Conſequence, an artificial Re⯑ligion of ſome Kind or other. To this the Vulgar will always be voluntary Slaves; and even thoſe of a Rank of Underſtanding ſuperior, will now and then involuntarily feel it's Influence. It is therefore of the [10] deepeſt Concernment to us to be ſet right in this Point; and to be well ſatisfied whether civil Government be ſuch a Pro⯑tector from natural Evils, and ſuch a Nurſe and Increaſer of Bleſſings, as thoſe of warm Imaginations promiſe. In ſuch a Diſcuſſion, far am I from propoſing in the leaſt to reflect on our moſt wiſe Form of Government; no more than I would in the freer Parts of my philoſophical Writ⯑ings, mean to object to the Piety, Truth and Perfection of our moſt excellent Church. Both I am ſenſible have their Foundations on a Rock. No Diſcovery of Truth can prejudice them. On the contrary, the more cloſely the Origin of Religion and Government are examined, the more clearly their Excellencies muſt appear. They come purified from the Fire. My Buſineſs is not with them. Having entered a Proteſt againſt all Objec⯑tions from theſe Quarters, I may the more freely enquire from Hiſtory and Experi⯑ence, how far Policy has contributed in [11] all Times to alleviate thoſe Evils which Providence, that perhaps has deſigned us for a State of Imperfection, has impoſed; how far our phyſical Skill has cured our conſtitutional Diſorders; and whether, it may not have introduced new ones, cure⯑able perhaps by no Skill.

In looking over any State to form a Judgment on it; it preſents itſelf in two Lights, the external and the internal. The firſt, that Relation which it bears in Point of Friendſhip or Enmity to other States. The ſecond, that Relation it's component Parts, the governing, and the governed, bear to each other. The firſt Part of the external View of all States, their Relation as Friends, makes ſo trifling a Figure in Hiſtory, that I am very ſorry to ſay, it af⯑fords me but little Matter on which to expatiate. The good Offices done by one Nation to it's Neighbour^a; the Support [12] given in publick Diſtreſs; the Relief af⯑forded in general Calamity; the Protection granted in emergent Danger; the mutual Return of Kindneſs and Civility, would afford a very ample and very pleaſing Sub⯑ject for Hiſtory. But alas! all the Hiſ⯑tory of all Times, concerning all Nations, does not afford Matter enough to fill ten Pages, though it ſhould be ſpun out by the Wire-drawing Amplification of a Guicciardini himſelf. The glaring Side is that of Enmity. War is the Matter which fills all Hiſtory, and conſequently the only, or almoſt the only View in which we can ſee the external of political Society, is in a hoſtile Shape; and the only Actions, to which we have always ſeen, and ſtill ſee all of them intent, are ſuch, as tend to the Deſtruction of one an⯑other. War, ſays Machiavell, ought to be the only Study of a Prince; and by a Prince, [13] he means every ſort of State however con⯑ſtituted. He ought, ſays this great poli⯑tical Doctor, only conſider Peace as a breathing Time, which gives him Leiſure to contrive, and furniſhes Ability to exe⯑cute military Plans. A Meditation on the Conduct of political Societies made old Hobbes imagine, that War was the State of Nature; and truly, if a Man judged of the Individuals of our Race by their Con⯑duct when united and packed into Na⯑tions and Kingdoms, he might imagine that every ſort of Virtue was unnatural and foreign to the Mind of Man.

The firſt Accounts we have of Mankind are but Accounts of their Butcheries of each other. All Empires have been ce⯑mented in Blood; and in thoſe early Pe⯑riods when the Race of Mankind began firſt to form themſelves into Parties and Combinations, the firſt Effect of the Com⯑bination, and indeed the End for which it ſeems purpoſely formed, and beſt calcu⯑lated, [14] is their mutual Deſtruction. All antient Hiſtory is dark and uncertain. One thing however is clear. There were Con⯑querors, and Conqueſts, in thoſe Days; and conſequently, all that Devaſtation, by which they are formed, and all that Oppreſſion by which they are maintained. We know little of Seſoſtris, but that he led out of Egypt an Army of above 700,000 Men; that he overran the Mediterranean Coaſt as far as Colchis, that in ſome Places, he met but little Reſiſtance, and of courſe ſhed not a great deal of Blood; but that he found in others, a People who knew the Value of their Liberties, and ſold them dear. Whoever conſiders the Army this Conqueror headed, the Space he traverſed, and the Oppoſition he frequently met; with the natural Accidents of Sickneſs, and the Dearth and Badneſs of Proviſion he muſt have been ſubject to in the Va⯑riety of Climates and Countries his March lay through, if he knows any thing, he muſt know, that even the Conqueror's [15] Army muſt have ſuffered greatly; and that, of this immenſe Number, but a very ſmall Part cou'd have returned to enjoy the Plunder accumulated by the Loſs of ſo many of their Companions, and the Devaſtation of ſo conſiderable a Part of the World. If this was the State of the Vic⯑torious, and from the Circumſtances, it muſt have been this at the leaſt; the Con⯑quered, thoſe Nations who loſt their Liberty, and thoſe who fought for it to⯑gether, muſt have had a much heavier Loſs. They muſt have loſt at leaſt double that Number, as the greateſt Slaughter is always in the Flight, and great Carnage did in thoſe Times and Countries ever at⯑tend the firſt Rage of Conqueſt. This Conqueror, the oldeſt we have on the Re⯑cords of Hiſtory, (though, as we have obſerved before, the Chronology of theſe remote Times is extremely uncertain), opens the Scene by a Deſtruction of at leaſt 1,800,000 of his Species, unprovoked but by his Ambition, without any Mo⯑tives [16] but Pride, Cruelty and Madneſs, and without any Benefit to himſelf; (for Juſtin expreſsly tells us, he did not maintain his Conqueſts) but ſolely to make ſo many People, in ſo diſtant Countries, feel expe⯑rimentally, how ſevere a Scourge Provi⯑dence intends for the human Race, when he gives one Man the Power over many, and arms his naturally impotent, and feeble Rage, with the Hands of Millions, who know no common Principle of Action, but a blind Obedience to the Paſ⯑ſions of their Ruler.

The next Perſonage who figures in the Tragedies of this ancient Theatre is Semi⯑ramis: For we have no Particulars of Ninus, but that he made immenſe and rapid Conqueſts, which doubtleſs were not compaſſed without the uſual Carnage. We hear of her Army of above three Millions employed in a War againſt the Indians. We hear of their having a yet greater; and of a War continued with [17] much fury, and with various Succeſs. This ends in an Account of her Retreat, with ſcarce a third of the Troops employed in the Expedition; an Expedition, which at this rate muſt have coſt two Millions of Souls on her part; and it is not unrea⯑ſonable to judge that the Country which was the Seat of War, muſt have been an equal Sufferer. Its Loſs muſt in this way of Computation be two Millions more. So that in this War alone, (for ſhe had other Wars) in this ſingle Reign, and in this one Spot of the Globe, did four Mil⯑lions of Souls expire, with all the horrid and ſhocking Circumſtances which attend all Wars, and in a Quarrel, in which none of the Sufferers cou'd have the leaſt ra⯑tional Concern.

The Babylonian, Aſſyrian, Median, and Perſian Monarchies muſt have poured out Seas of Blood in their Formation, and in their Deſtruction. The Armies and Fleets of Xerxes, their Numbers, the glorious [18] Stand made againſt them, and the unfor⯑tuate Event of all his mighty Preparations, are known to every body. In this Expe⯑dition, gleaning half Aſia of it's Inhabi⯑tants, he led an Army of about two Mil⯑lions to be ſlaughtered, and waſted, by a thouſand fatal Accidents, in the ſame Place where his Predeceſſors had before by a ſimilar Madneſs conſumed the Flower of ſo many Kingdoms, and waſted the Force of ſo extenſive an Empire. It is a cheap Calculation to ſay, that the Perſian Em⯑pire in it's Wars, againſt the Greeks, and Sythians, threw away at leaſt four Mil⯑lions of their Subjects, to ſay nothing of their other Wars, and the Loſſes ſuſtained in them. Theſe were their Loſſes abroad; but the War was brought home to them, firſt by Ageſilaus, and afterwards, by Alexander. I have not, in this Re⯑treat, the Books neceſſary to make very exact Calculations; nor is it neceſſary to give more than Hints to one of your Lordſhip's Erudition. You will recollect [19] his uninterrupted Series of Succeſs. You will run over his Battles. You will call to mind the Carnage which was made. You will give a Glance of the Whole, and you will agree with me; that to form this Hero no leſs than twelve hundred thouſand Lives muſt have been ſacrificed; but no ſooner had he fallen himſelf a Sacrifice to his Vices, than a thouſand Breaches were made for Ruin to enter, and give the laſt hand to this Scene of Miſery and Deſtruction. His Kingdom was rent and divided; which ſerved to employ the more diſtinct Parts to tear each other to Pieces, and bury the whole in Blood and Slaughter. The Kings of Syria and of Egypt, the Kings of Pergamus and Macedon, without Intermiſſion worried each other for above two hundred Years; until at laſt a ſtrong Power ariſing in the Weſt, ruſhed in upon them and ſilenced their Tumuls, by in⯑volving all the contending Parties in the ſame Deſtruction. It is little to ſay, that the Contentions between the Succeſſors of [20] Alexander depopulated that Part of the World of at leaſt three Millions.

The Struggle between the Macedonians and Greeks, and before that, the Diſputes of the Greek Commonwealths among themſelves, for an unprofitable Supe⯑riority, form one of the bloodieſt Scenes in Hiſtory. One is aſtoniſhed how ſuch a ſmall Spot could furniſh Men ſufficient to ſacrifice to the pitiful Ambition of poſ⯑ſeſſing five or ſix thouſand more Acres, or two or three more Villages: Yet to ſee the Acrimony and Bitterneſs with which this was diſputed between the Athenians and Lacedemonians; what Armies cut off; what Fleets ſunk, and burnt; what a Number of Cities ſacked, and their Inha⯑bitants ſlaughtered, and captived; one would be induced to believe the Deciſion of the Fate of Mankind at leaſt, depended upon it! But theſe Diſputes ended as all ſuch ever have done, and ever will do; in a real Weakneſs of all Parties; a mo⯑mentary [21] Shadow, and Dream of Power in ſome one; and the Subjection of all to the Yoke of a Stranger, who knows how to profit of their Diviſions. This at leaſt was the Caſe of the Greeks; and ſure, from the earlieſt Accounts of them, to their Abſorption into the Roman Empire, we cannot judge that their inteſtine Diviſions, to ſay nothing of their foreign Wars, con⯑ſumed leſs than three Millions of their In⯑habitants.

What an Aceldama, what a Field of Blood Sicily has been in antient times, whilſt the Mode of it's Government was controverted between the Republican and Tyrannical Parties, and the Poſſeſſion ſtruggled for by the Natives, the Greeks, the Carthaginians, and the Romans, your Lord⯑ſhip will eaſily recollect. You will re⯑member the total Deſtruction of ſuch Bodies as an Army of 300,000 Men. You will find every Page of it's Hiſtory dyed in Blood, and blotted and confounded [22] by Tumults, Rebellions, Maſſacres, Aſſaſ⯑ſinations, Proſcriptions, and a Series of Horror beyond the Hiſtories perhaps of any other Nation in the World; though the Hiſtories of all Nations are made up of ſimilar Matter. I once more excuſe my⯑ſelf in point of Exactneſs for want of Books. But I ſhall eſtimate the Slaughters in this Iſland but at two Millions; which your Lordſhip will find much ſhort of the Reality.

Let us paſs by the Wars, and the Con⯑ſequences of them, which waſted Grecia-Magna, before the Roman Power prevailed in that Part of Italy. They are perhaps exaggerated; therefore I ſhall only rate them at one Million. Let us haſten to open that great Scene which eſtabliſhes the Roman Empire, and forms the grand Cataſtrophe of the antient Drama. This Empire, whilſt in it's Infancy, began by an Effuſion of human Blood ſcarcely cre⯑dible. The neighbouring little States [23] teemed for new Deſtruction: The Sabines, the Samnites, the Aequi, the Volſci, the Hetrurians, were broken by a Series of Slaughters which had no Interruption, for ſome hundreds of Years; Slaughters which upon all ſides conſumed more than two Millions of the wretched People. The Gauls ruſhing into Italy about this Time, added the total Deſtruction of their own Armies to thoſe of the antient Inhabitants. In ſhort, it were hardly poſſible to con⯑ceive a more horrid and bloody Picture, if that which the Punic Wars that enſued ſoon after did not preſent one, that far ex⯑ceeds it. Here we find that Climax of Devaſtation, and Ruin, which ſeemed to ſhake the whole Earth. The Extent of this War which embraced ſo many Na⯑tions, and both Elements, and the Havock of the human Species cauſed in both, really aſtoniſhes beyond Expreſſion, when it is nakedly conſidered, and thoſe Matters which are apt to divert our Attention from it, the Characters, Actions, and De⯑ſigns [24] of the Perſons concerned, are not taken into the Account. Theſe Wars, I mean thoſe called the Punic Wars, cou'd not have ſtood the human Race in leſs than five Millions of the Species. And yet this forms but a Part only, and a very ſmall Part, of the Havock cauſed by the Roman Ambition. The Mithridatick War was very little leſs bloody; that Prince cut off at one Stroke 150,000 Romans by a Maſſacre. In that War Sylla deſtroyed 300,000 Men at Cheronea. The ſame Commander defeated Mithridates' Army under Dorilaus, and ſlew 300,000. The ſame Prince loſt another 300,000 before Cyzicum. In the courſe of the War he had innumerable other Loſſes; and having many Intervals of Succeſs, he revenged them ſeverely. He was at laſt totally overthrown; and he cruſhed to Pieces the King of Armenia his Ally by the great⯑neſs of his Ruin. All who had Con⯑nexions with him ſhared the ſame Fate. The mercileſs Genius of Sylla had it's [25] full Scope; and the Streets of Athens were not the only ones which ran with Blood. At this Period, the Sword, glutted with foreign Slaughter, turned it's Edge upon the Bowels of the Roman Republick itſelf; and preſented a Scene of Cruelties and Treaſons enough almoſt to obliterate the Memory of all the external Devaſtations. I intended, my LORD, to have proceeded in a ſort of Method in eſtimating the Numbers of Mankind cut off in theſe Wars which we have on Record. But I am obliged to alter my Deſign. Such a tragical Uniformity of Havock and Mur⯑der would diſguſt your Lordſhip as much as it would me; and I confeſs I already feel my eyes ake by keeping them ſo long intent on ſo bloody a Proſpect. I ſhall obſerve little on the Servile, the Social, the Gallic, and Spaniſh Wars; nor upon thoſe with Jugurtha, nor Antiochus, nor many others equally important, and carried on with equal Fury. The Butcheries of Julius Caeſar alone, are calculated by [26] ſome body elſe; the Numbers he has been a means of deſtroying have been reckoned at 1,200,000. But to give your Lordſhip an Idea that may ſerve as a Standard, by which to meaſure, in ſome degree, the others; you will turn your Eyes on Judea; a very inconſiderable Spot of the Earth in itſelf, though ennobled by the ſingular Events which had their Riſe in that Country.

This Spot happened, it matters not here by what means, to become at ſeveral times extremely populous, and to ſupply Men for Slaughters ſcarcely credible, if other well-known and well-atteſted ones had not given them a Colour. The firſt ſettling of the Jews here, was attended by an almoſt entire Extirpation of all the former Inhabitants. Their own civil Wars, and thoſe with their petty Neighbours, con⯑ſumed vaſt Multitudes almoſt every Year for ſeveral Centuries; and the Irruptions of the Kings of Babylon and Aſſyria made [27] immenſe Ravages. Yet we have their Hiſtory but partially, in an indiſtinct con⯑fuſed manner; ſo that I ſhall only throw the ſtrong Point of Light upon that Part which coincides with Roman Hiſtory, and of that Part only on the Point of Time when they received the great and final Stroke which made them no more a Nation; a Stroke which is allowed to have cut off little leſs than two Millions of that People. I ſay nothing of the Loppings made from that Stock whilſt it ſtood; nor from the Suckers that grew out of the old Root ever ſince. But if in this inconſiderable Part of the Globe, ſuch a Carnage has been made in two or three ſhort Reigns, and that this Carnage, great as it is, makes but a minute Part of what the Hiſtories of that People inform us they ſuffered; what ſhall we judge of Countries more extended, and which have waged Wars by far more conſiderable?

Inſtances of this Sort compoſe the [28] uniform of Hiſtory. But there have been Periods when no leſs than univerſal De⯑ſtruction to the Race of Mankind ſeems to have been threatened. When the Goths, the Vandals, and the Huns poured into Gaul, Italy, Spain, Greece, and Africa, carrying Deſtruction before them as they advanced, and leaving horrid Deſarts every where behind them. Vaſtum ubique ſi⯑lentium, ſecreti colles; fumantia procul tecta; nemo exploratoribus obvius, is what Tacitus calls facies Victoriae. It is always ſo; but was here emphatically ſo. From the North proceeded the Swarms of Goths, Vandals, Huns, Oſtrogoths, who ran towards the South into Africa itſelf, which ſuffered as all to the North had done. About this Time, another Torrent of Barbarians, animated by the ſame Fury, and encouraged by the ſame Succeſs, poured out of the South, and ravaged all to the North-Eaſt, and Weſt, to the re⯑moteſt Parts of Perſia on one hand, and to the Banks of the Loire or further on [29] the other; deſtroying all the proud and curious Monuments of human Art, that not even the Memory might ſeem to ſurvive of the former Inhabitants. What has been done ſince, and what will con⯑tinue to be done whilſt the ſame Induce⯑ments to War continue, I ſhall not dwell upon. I ſhall only in one Word mention the horrid Effects of Bigotry and Avarice, in the Conqueſt of Spaniſh America; a Conqueſt on a low Eſtimation effected by the Murder of ten Millions of the Species. I ſhall draw to a Concluſion of this Part, by making a general Calculation of the Whole. I think I have actually mentioned above forty Millions. I have not particularized any more. I don't pretend to Exactneſs; therefore for the Sake of a general View, I ſhall lay together all thoſe actually ſlain in Battles, from the beginning of the World to this Day, in the four Parts of it, only at a thouſand times as much; a trifling Calculation, allowing [30] for Time and Extent. We have not perhaps ſpoke of the Five Hundredth Part, I am ſure I have not of what is actually aſcertain⯑ed in Hiſtory; but how much of theſe Butcheries are only expreſſed in generals, what part of time Hiſtory has never reach⯑ed, and what vaſt Spaces of the habitable Globe it has not embraced, I need not mention to your Lordſhip. I have no need to exaggerate; and I have purpoſely avoided a Parade of Eloquence on this Occaſion. I ſhould deſpiſe it upon any Occaſion; elſe in mentioning theſe Slaugh⯑ters, it is obvious how much the whole might be heightened, by an affecting Deſcription of the Horrors that attend the Waſting of Kingdoms, and Sacking of Cities. But I do not write to the Vulgar, nor to that which only governs the Vulgar, their Paſſions. I go upon a naked and mode⯑rate Calculation, juſt enough, without a Pe⯑dantical Exactneſs, to give your Lordſhip ſome Feeling of the Effects of Political So⯑ciety. [31] I charge the whole of theſe Effects on Political Society. I avow the Charge, and ſhall preſently make it good to your Lordſhip's Satisfaction. The Numbers I par⯑ticularized are about 40 Millions. I ſuppoſe a Thouſand times as many killed in Battles. But I muſt make another Addition not leſs than the former, for the Conſequences of Wars, in Skirmiſhes, Maſſacres, the contagious Diſorders, and the Famine which attend them, more deſtructive than Battles themſelves. So that allowing me in my Exuberance one way for my De⯑ficiencies in others, I rate the Deſtruction cauſed by War, at Eighty Thouſand Mil⯑lions. I think the Numbers of Men now upon Earth are computed at 500 Millions at the moſt. Here the Slaughter of Man⯑kind, on what you will call a ſmall Calcu⯑lation, amounts to 160 times the Number of Souls this Day on the Globe. A point which may furniſh matter of Reflection to one leſs inclined to draw Conſequences than your Lordſhip.

[32] I now come to ſhew, that Political Society is juſtly chargeable with much the greateſt Part of this Deſtruction of the Species. But to give the faireſt Play to every ſide of the Queſtion, I will own that there is a Haughtineſs, and Fierceneſs in human Nature, which will cauſe innu⯑merable Broils, place Men in what State you pleaſe; but owning this, I ſtill inſiſt in charging to Political Regulations, that theſe Broils are ſo frequent, ſo cruel, and attended with ſo deplorable Conſe⯑quences. In a State of Nature, it would be impoſſible to join together a Number of Men, ſufficiently agreed in the ſame bloody Deſign, neceſſary to make a very extenſive Havock of their Species; and if they would come to ſuch an Agreement, (an impoſſible Suppoſition) yet the Means that ſimple Nature has ſupplied them with, are by no Means adequate to ſuch a Pur⯑poſe; many Scratches, many Bruiſes un⯑doubtedly would be received upon all hands; but only a few, a very few [33] Deaths, Society, and Politicks, which have given us theſe deſtructive Views, have given us too the Means of ſatisfying them. From the earlieſt Dawnings of Po⯑licy to this Day, the Invention of Men has been ſharpening and improving the Myſtery of Murder, from the firſt rude Eſſays of Clubs and Stones, to the preſent Perfection of Gunnery, Cannoneering, Bombarding, Ruining, and all theſe Spe⯑cies of artificial, learned, and refined Cruelty, at which we are now ſo expert, and which make a principal Part of what Politicians have taught us to believe is our principal Glory,

How far mere Nature would have car⯑ried us, we may judge by the Example of thoſe Animals, who ſtill follow her Laws, and even thoſe to whom ſhe has given Diſ⯑poſitions more fierce, and Arms more terrible than ever ſhe intended we ſhould uſe. It is an inconteſtible Truth, that there is more Havock made in one Year [34] by Men, of Men, than has been made by all the Lions, Tygers, Panthers, Ounces, Leopards, Hyenas, Rhinoceroſes, Elephants, Bears, and Wolves, upon their ſeveral Species, ſince the Beginning of the World; though theſe agree ill enough with each other, and have a much greater Proportion of Rage and Fury in their Compoſition than we have. But with re⯑ſpect to you, ye Legiſlators, ye Civilizers of Mankind! ye Orpheus's, Moſeſes, Mi⯑noſes, Solons, Theſeuſes, Lycurguſes, Numas! with Reſpect to you be it ſpoken, your Regulations have done more Miſchief in cold Blood, than all the Rage of the fierceſt Animals in their greateſt Terrors, or Furies, has ever done, or ever could do!

Theſe Evils are not accidental. Who⯑ever will take the pains to conſider the Na⯑ture of Society, will find they reſult di⯑rectly from it's Conſtitution. For as Sub⯑ordination, or in other Words, the Reci⯑procation [35] of Tyranny, and Slavery, is re⯑quiſite to ſupport theſe Societies, the In⯑tereſt, the Ambition, the Malice, or the Re⯑venge, nay even the Whim and Caprice of one ruling Man among them, is enough to arm all the reſt, without any private Views of their own, to the worſt and blackeſt Purpoſes; and what is at once la⯑mentable, and ridiculous, theſe Wretches engage under thoſe Banners with a Fury greater than if they were animated by Re⯑venge for their own proper Wrongs.

It is no leſs worth obſerving, that this artificial Diviſion of Mankind, into ſe⯑parate Societies, is a perpetual Source in itſelf of Hatred and Diſſention among them. The Names which diſtinguiſh them are enough to blow up Hatred, and Rage. Examine Hiſtory; conſult preſent Experience; and you will find, that far the greater Part of the Quarrels between ſeveral Nations, had ſcarce any other Occaſion, than that they were ano⯑ther [36] Combination of People, and called by another Name;—to an Engliſhman, the Name of a Frenchman, a Spaniard, an Ita⯑lian, much more a Turk, or a Tartar, raiſe of courſe Ideas of Hatred, and Con⯑tempt. Would you inſpire this Compa⯑triot of ours with Pity or Regard, for one of theſe? Would you not hide that Di⯑ſtinction? You would not pray him to compaſſionate the poor Frenchman, or the unhappy German. Far from it; you would ſpeak of him as a Foreigner, an Accident to which all are liable. You would repreſent him as a Man; one par⯑taking with us of the ſame common Na⯑ture, and ſubject to the ſame Law. There is ſomething ſo averſe to Nature in theſe artificial Political Diſtinctions, that we need no other Trumpet to kindle us to War, and Deſtruction. But there is ſome⯑thing ſo benign and healing in the gene⯑ral Voice of Humanity, that maugre all our Regulations to prevent it, the Name applied properly, never fails to work a ſalutary Effect.

[37] This natural unpremeditated Effect of Policy on the unpoſſeſſed Paſſions of Man⯑kind, appears on other Occaſions. The very Name of a Politician, a Stateſman, is ſure to cauſe Terror and Hatred; it has always connected with it the Ideas of Treachery, Cruelty, Fraud and Tyranny; and thoſe Writers who have faithfully un⯑veiled the Myſteries of State-freemaſonry, have ever been held in general Deteſtation, for even knowing ſo perfectly a Theory ſo deteſtable. The Caſe of Machiavel ſeems at firſt Sight ſomething hard in that Re⯑ſpect. He is obliged to bear the Iniquities of thoſe whoſe Maxims and Rules of Go⯑vernment he publiſhed. His Speculation is more abhorred than their Practice.

But if there were no other Arguments againſt Artificial Society than this I am go⯑ing to mention, methinks it ought to fall by that one only. All Writers on the Sci⯑ence of Policy are agreed, and they agree [38] with Experience, that all Governments muſt frequently infringe the Rules of Juſ⯑tice to ſupport themſelves; that Truth muſt give way to Diſſimulation; Honeſty to Convenience; and Humanity itſelf to the reigning Intereſt. The Whole of this Myſtery of Iniquity is called the Reaſon of State. It is a Reaſon, which I own I can⯑not penetrate. What Sort of a Protection is this of the general Right, that is main⯑tained by infringing the Rights of Parti⯑culars? What Sort of Juſtice is this, which is inforced by Breaches of it's own Laws? Theſe Paradoxes I leave to be ſolved by the able Heads of Legiſlators and Politi⯑cians. For my Part, I ſhould ſay what a plain Man would ſay on ſuch an Occaſion. I can never believe, that any Inſtitution agreeable to Nature, and proper for Man⯑kind, could find it neceſſary, or even expe⯑dient in any Caſe whatſoever to do, what the beſt and worthieſt Inſtincts of Man⯑kind warn us to avoid. But no wonder, [39] that what is ſet up in Oppoſition to the State of Nature, ſhould preſerve itſelf by trampling upon the Law of Nature.

To prove, that theſe Sort of policed Societies are a Violation offered to Nature, and a Conſtraint upon the human Mind, it needs only to look upon the ſanguinary Meaſures, and Inſtruments of Violence which are every where uſed to ſupport them. Let us take a Review of the Dun⯑geons, Whips, Chains, Racks, Gibbets, with which every Society is abundantly ſtored, by which hundreds of Victims are annually offered up to ſupport a dozen or two in Pride and Madneſs, and Millions in an abject Servitude, and Dependence. There was a Time, when I looked with a reverential Awe on theſe Myſteries of Po⯑licy; but Age, Experience, and Philoſo⯑phy have rent the Veil; and I view this Sanctum Sanctorum, at leaſt, without any enthuſiaſtick Admiration. I acknowledge indeed, the Neceſſity of ſuch a Proceeding [40] in ſuch Inſtitutions; but I can have but a very humble Opinion of Inſtitutions where ſuch Proceedings are neceſſary.

It is a Misfortune, that in no Part of the Globe natural Liberty and natural Reli⯑gion are to be found pure and free from the Mixture of Political Adulterations. Yet we have implanted in us by Providence Ideas, Axioms, Rules, of what is pious, juſt, fair, honeſt, which no Political Craft, nor learned Sophiſtry, can entirely expel from our Breaſts. By theſe we judge, and we cannot otherwiſe judge of the ſeveral artificial Modes of Religion and Society, and determine of them as they approach to, or recede from this Standard.

The ſimpleſt Form of Government is Deſpotiſm, where all the inferior Orbs of Power are moved merely by the Will of the Supreme, and all that are ſubjected to them, directed in the ſame Manner, merely by the occaſional Will of the Magiſtrate. [41] This Form, as it is the moſt ſimple, ſo it is infinitely the moſt general. Scarce any Part of the World is exempted from it's Power. And in thoſe few Places where Men enjoy what they call Liberty, it is continually in a tottering Situation, and makes greater and greater Strides to that Gulph of Deſpotiſm which at laſt ſwallows up every Species of Government. This Manner of ruling being directed merely by the Will of the weakeſt, and generally the worſt Man in the Society, becomes the moſt fooliſh and capricious Thing, at the ſame time that it is the moſt terrible and deſtructive that well can be conceived. In a Deſpotiſm the principal Perſon finds, that let the Want, Miſery, and Indigence of his Subjects, be what they will, he can yet poſſeſs abundantly of every thing to gratify his moſt inſatiable Wiſhes. He does more. He finds that theſe Gratifi⯑cations increaſe in Proportion to the Wretchedneſs and Slavery of his Subjects. So that neglecting the publick Welfare, [42] and by his Station placed above both Shame and Fear, he proceeds to the moſt horrid and ſhocking Outrages upon Mankind. Their Perſons become Victims of his Suſ⯑picions. The ſlighteſt Anger is Death; and a diſagreeable Aſpect is often as great a Crime as High Treaſon. In the Court of Nero a Perſon of Learning, of unqueſ⯑tioned Merit, and of unſuſpected Loyalty, was put to Death for no other Reaſon than that he had a pedantick Countenance which diſpleaſed the Emperor. This very Mon⯑ſter of Mankind appeared in the Beginning of his Reign to be a Perſon of Virtue. Many of the greateſt Tyrants on the Re⯑cords of Hiſtory have begun to rule in the faireſt Manner. But the Truth is, this unnatural Power corrupts both the Heart, and the Underſtanding. And to prevent the leaſt Hope of Amendment, a King is ever ſurrounded by a Crowd of infamous Flatterers, who find their Account in keep⯑ing him from the leaſt Light of Reaſon, till all Ideas of Rectitude and Juſtice are ut⯑terly [43] eraſed from his Mind. When Alex⯑ander had in his Fury inhumanly butch⯑ered one of his beſt Friends, and braveſt Captains; on the Return of Reaſon he begun to conceive an Horror ſuitable to the Guilt of ſuch a Murder. In this Junc⯑ture, his Council came to his Aſſiſtance. But what did his Council? They found him out a Philoſopher who gave him Comfort. And in what Manner did this Philoſopher comfort him for the Loſs of ſuch a Man, and heal his Conſcience, fla⯑grant with the Smart of ſuch a Crime? You have the Matter at Length in Plutarch. He told him; ‘"that let a Sovereign do what he will, all his Actions are juſt and lawful, becauſe they are his."’ The Palaces of all Princes abound with ſuch courtly Philoſo⯑phers. The Conſequence was ſuch as might be expected. He grew every Day a Monſter more abandoned to unnatural Luſt, to Debauchery, to Drunkenneſs, and to Murder. And yet this was originally a great Man, of uncommon Capacity, and [44] a ſtrong Propenſity to Virtue. But un⯑bounded Power proceeds Step by Step, until it has eradicated every laudable Principle. It has been remarked, that there is no Prince ſo bad, whoſe Favourites and Mi⯑niſters are not worſe. There is hardly any Prince without a Favourite, by whom he is governed in as arbitrary a Manner as he governs the Wretches ſubjected to him. Here the Tyranny is doubled. There are two Courts, and two Intereſts; both very different from the Intereſts of the People. The Favourite knows that the Regard of a Tyrant is as unconſtant and capricious as that of a Woman; and concluding his Time to be ſhort, he makes Haſte to fill up the Meaſure of his Iniquity, in Rapine, in Luxury, and in Revenge. Every Avenue to the Throne is ſhut up. He oppreſſes, and ruins the People, whilſt he perſuades the Prince, that thoſe Murmurs raiſed by his own Oppreſſion are the Ef⯑fects of Diſaffection to the Prince's Go⯑vernment. Then is the natural Violence [45] of Deſpotiſm inflamed, and aggravated by Hatred, and Revenge. To deſerve well of the State is a Crime againſt the Prince. To be popular, and to be a Traitor, are conſidered as ſynonimous Terms. Nay, even Virtue is dangerous, as an aſpiring Quality, that claims an Eſteem by itſelf, and independent of the Countenance of the Court. What has been ſaid of the chief, is true of the inferior Officers of this Species of Government; each in his Pro⯑vince exerciſing the ſame Tyranny, and grinding the People by an Oppreſſion, the more ſeverely felt, as it is near them, and exerciſed by baſe and ſubordinate Perſons. For the Groſs of the People; they are conſidered as a mere Herd of Cattle; and really in a little Time become no better; all Principle of honeſt Pride, all Senſe of the Dignity of their Nature, is loſt in their Slavery. The Day, ſays Homer, which makes a Man a Slave, takes away half his Worth; and in Fact, he loſes every Im⯑pulſe to Action, but that low and baſe [46] one of Fear.—In this Kind of Govern⯑ment human Nature is not only abuſed, and inſulted, but it is actually degraded and ſunk into a Species of Brutality. The Conſideration of this made Mr. Locke ſay, with great Juſtice, that a Government of this Kind was worſe than Anarchy; in⯑deed it is ſo abhorred, and deteſted by all who live under Forms that have a milder Appearance, that there is ſcarce a rational Man in Europe, that would not prefer Death to Aſiatick Deſpotiſm. Here then we have the Acknowledgement of a great Philoſopher, that an irregular State of Na⯑ture is preferable to ſuch a Government; we have the Conſent of all ſenſible and generous Men, who carry it yet further, and avow that Death itſelf is preferable; and yet this Species of Government, ſo juſtly condemned, and ſo generally de⯑teſted, is what infinitely the greater Part of Mankind groan under, and have groaned under from the Beginning. So that by ſure and unconteſted Principles, the great⯑eſt [47] Part of the Governments on Earth muſt be concluded, Tyrannies, Impoſtures, Violations of the Natural Rights of Man⯑kind, and worſe than the moſt diſorderly Anarchies. How much other Forms ex⯑ceed this, we ſhall conſider immediately.

In all Parts of the World, Mankind, however debaſed, retains ſtill the Senſe of Feeling; the Weight of Tyranny, at laſt, becomes inſupportable; but the Remedy is not ſo eaſy; in general, the only Re⯑medy by which they attempt to cure the Tyranny, is to change the Tyrant; this is, and always was the Caſe for the greater Part. In ſome Countries however, were found Men of more Penetration; who diſ⯑covered, ‘"that to live by one Man's Will, was the Cauſe of all Men's Miſery."’ They therefore changed their former Me⯑thod, and aſſembling the Men in their ſeveral Societies, moſt reſpectable for their Underſtanding, and Fortunes, they con⯑fided to them the Charge of the Publick [48] Welfare. This originally formed what is called an Ariſtocracy. They hoped, it would be impoſſible that ſuch a Number could ever join in any Deſign againſt the general Good; and they promiſed them⯑ſelves a great deal of Security and Happi⯑neſs, from the united Counſels of ſo many able and experienced Perſons. But it is now found by abundant Experience, that an Ariſtocracy, and a Deſpotiſm, differ but in Name; and that a People, who are in general excluded from any Share of the Legiſlative, are to all Intents and Purpoſes, as much Slaves, when twenty, independ⯑ent of them, govern, as when but one domineers. The Tyranny is even more felt, as every Individual of the Nobles has the Haughtineſs of a Sultan; the People are more miſerable, as they ſeem on the Verge of Liberty, from which they are for ever debarred; this Proſpect, whilſt it preſents a vain Shadow of Happineſs to the Subject, binds faſter the Chains of their Subjection; what is left undone, by the natural Ava⯑rice [49] and Pride of thoſe who are raiſed above the others, is compleated by their Suſpicions, and Dread of loſing an Autho⯑rity, which has no Support in the common Utility of the Nation. A Genoeſe, or a Venetian Republick, is a concealed De⯑ſpotiſm; where you find the ſame Pride of the Rulers, the ſame baſe Subjection of the People, the ſame bloody Maxims of a ſuſpicious Policy. In one reſpect the Ariſtocracy is worſe than the Deſpotiſm. A Body Politick, whilſt it retains it's Au⯑thority, never changes it's Maxims; a Deſpotiſm, which is this Day horrible to a ſupreme Degree, by the Caprice natural to the Heart of Man, may, by the ſame Caprice otherwiſe exerted, be as lovely the next; in a Succeſſion, it is poſſible to meet with ſome good Princes. If there have been Tiberius's, Caligulas, Nero's, there have been likewiſe the ſerener Days of Veſpaſians, Titus's, Trajans, and Antonines; but a Body Politick is not influenced by Caprice or Whim, it proceeds in a regular [50] Manner; it's Succeſſion is inſenſible; and every Man as he enters it, either has, or ſoon attains the Spirit of the whole Body. Never was it known, that an Ariſtocracy, which was haughty and tyrannical in one Century, became eaſy, and mild in the next. In Effect, the Yoke of this Species of Government is ſo galling, that when⯑ever the People have got the leaſt Power, they have ſhaken it off with the utmoſt Indignation, and eſtabliſhed a Popular Form; and when they have not had Strength enough to ſupport themſelves, they have thrown themſelves into the Arms of Deſpotiſm, as the more eligible of the two Evils. This latter was the Caſe of Denmark, who ſought a Refuge from the Oppreſſion of it's Nobility, in the ſtrong Hold of Arbitrary Power. Poland has at preſent the Name of Republick, and it is one of the Ariſtocratick Form; but it is well known, that the little Finger of this Government, is heavier than the Loins of Arbitrary Power in moſt Nations. [51] The People are not only Politically, but Perſonally Slaves, and treated with the utmoſt Indignity. The Republick of Venice is ſomewhat more moderate; yet even here, ſo heavy is the Ariſtocratick Yoke, that the Nobles have been obliged to enervate the Spirit of their Subjects by every Sort of Debauchery; they have denied them the Liberty of Reaſon, and have recompenſed it, by not only allow⯑ing, but encouraging them to corrupt themſelves in the moſt ſcandalous Manner. They conſider their Subjects, as the Farmer does the Hog he keeps to feaſt upon. He holds him faſt in his Stye, but allows him to wallow as much as he pleaſes in his beloved Filth and Gluttony. So ſcandalouſly debauched a People as that of Venice, is to be met with no where elſe. High, Low, Men, Women, Clergy, and Laity, are all alike. The Ruling Nobility are no leſs afraid of one another, than they are of the People; and for that Reaſon, politi⯑cally enervate their own Body by the ſame [52] effeminate Luxury, by which they cor⯑rupt their Subjects. They are impoveriſh⯑ed by every means which can be invented; and they are kept in a perpetual Terror by the Horrors of a State Inquiſition; here you ſee a People deprived of all rational Freedom, and tyrannized over by about two Thouſand Men; and yet this Body of two Thouſand, are ſo far from enjoy⯑ing any Liberty by the Subjection of the reſt, that they are in an infinitely ſeverer State of Slavery; they make themſelves the moſt degenerate, and unhappy of Mankind, for no other Purpoſe than that they may the more effectually contribute to the Miſery of an whole Nation. In ſhort, the regular and methodical Proceed⯑ings of an Ariſtocracy, are more intolerable than the very Exceſſes of a Deſpotiſm, and in general, much further from any Remedy.

Thus, my Lord, we have purſued Ariſtocracy through it's whole Progreſs; we have ſeen the Seeds, the Growth, and [53] the Fruit. It could boaſt none of the Ad⯑vantages of a Deſpotiſm, miſerable as thoſe Advantages were, and it was overloaded with an Exuberance of Miſchiefs, unknown even to Deſpotiſm itſelf. In Effect, it is no more than a diſorderly Tyranny. This Form therefore could be little approved, even in Speculation, by thoſe who were capable of thinking, and could be leſs born in Practice by any who were capa⯑ble of feeling. However, the fruitful Policy of Man was not yet exhauſted. He had yet another Farthing Candle to ſupply the Deficiencies of the Sun. This was the third Form, known by Political Writers under the Name of Democracy. Here the People tranſacted all Publick Buſineſs, or the greater Part of it, in their own Perſons: their Laws were made by themſelves, and upon any Failure of Duty, their Officers were accountable to themſelves, and to them only. In all appearance, they had ſecured by this Method the Advantages of Order and good Government, without [54] paying their Liberty for the Purchaſe. Now, my Lord, we are come to the Maſter-piece of Grecian Refinement, and Roman Solidity, a Popular Government. The earlieſt and moſt celebrated Republick of this Model, was that of Athens. It was conſtructed by no leſs an Artiſt, than the celebrated Poet and Philoſopher, Solon. But no ſooner was this Political Veſſel launched from the Stocks, than it over⯑ſet, even in the Life-time of the Builder. A Tyranny immediately ſupervened; not by a foreign Conqueſt, not by Accident, but by the very Nature and Conſtitution of a Democracy. An artful Man became popular, the People had Power in their hands, and they devolved a conſiderable Share of their Power upon their Favourite; and the only uſe he made of this Power, was, to plunge thoſe who gave it into Slavery. Accident reſtored their Liberty, and the ſame good Fortune produced Men of uncommon Abilities and uncommon Virtues amongſt them. But theſe Abilities [55] were ſuffered to be of little Service either to their Poſſeſſors or to the State. Some they baniſhed, others they impriſoned, and all they treated with various Circum⯑ſtances of the moſt ſhameful Ingratitude. Republicks have many things in the Spirit of abſolute Monarchy, but none more than this; a ſhining Merit is ever hated or ſuſpected in a Popular Aſſembly, as well as in a Court; and all Services done the State, are looked upon as dangerous to the Rulers, whether Sultans or Senators. The Oſtraciſm at Athens was built upon this Principle. The giddy People whom we have now under Conſideration, being elated with ſome Flaſhes of Succeſs, which they owed to nothing leſs than any Merit of their own, began to tyrannize over their Equals, who had aſſociated with them for their common Defence. With their Prudence they renounced all Appear⯑ance of Juſtice. They entered into Wars raſhly and wantonly. If they were un⯑ſucceſsful, inſtead of growing wiſer by their [56] Misfortune, they threw the whole Blame of their own Miſconduct on the Miniſters who had adviſed, and the Generals who had conducted thoſe Wars; until by De⯑grees they had cut off all who could ſerve them in their Councils or their Battles. If at any time theſe Wars had an happier Iſſue, it was no leſs difficult to deal with them on account of their Pride and Inſo⯑lence. Furious in their Adverſity, ty⯑rannical in their Succeſſes, a Commander had more trouble to concert his Defence before the People, than to plan the Ope⯑rations of the Campaign. It was frequent enough for a General, under the horrid Deſpotiſm of the Roman Emperors, to be ill received in Proportion to the Greatneſs of his Services. Agricola is a ſtrong In⯑ſtance of this. No Man had done greater things, nor with an honeſter Ambition. Yet on his Return to Court, he was obliged to enter Rome with all the Secrecy of a Criminal. He went to the Palace, not like a victorious Commander who had [57] merited and might demand the greateſt Rewards, but like an Offender who had come to ſupplicate a Pardon for his Crimes. His Reception was anſwerable: ‘"Brevi oſculo, & nullo ſermone exceptus, turba ſervientium immiſtus eſt."’ Yet in that worſt Seaſon of this worſt of monarchical ^*Tyrannies, Modeſty, Diſcretion, and a Coolneſs of Temper, formed ſome Kind of Security even for the higheſt Merit. But at Athens, the niceſt and beſt ſtudied Behaviour was not a ſufficient Guard for a Man of great Capacity. Some of their braveſt Commanders were obliged to fly their Country, ſome to enter into the Ser⯑vice of it's Enemies, rather than abide a popular Determination on their Conduct, leſt, as one of them ſaid, their Giddineſs might make the People condemn where they meant to acquit; to throw in a black Bean, even when they intended a white one.

[58] The Athenians made a very rapid Pro⯑greſs to the moſt enormous Exceſſes. The People under no Reſtraint ſoon grew diſ⯑ſolute, luxurious, and idle. They re⯑nounced all Labour, and began to ſubſiſt themſelves from the publick Revenues. They loſt all Concern for their common Honour or Safety, and could bear no Ad⯑vice that tended to reform them. At this Time Truth became offenſive to thoſe Lords the People, and moſt highly dan⯑gerous to the Speaker. The Orators no longer aſcended the Roſtrum, but to cor⯑rupt them further with the moſt fulſome Adulation. Theſe Orators were all bribed by foreign Princes on the one Side or the other. And beſides it's own Parties, in this City there were Parties, and avowed ones too, for the Perſians, Spartans and Macedonians, ſupported each of them by one or more Demagogues penſioned and bribed to this iniquitous Service. The People, forgetful of all Virtue and publick Spirit, and intoxicated with the Flatteries [59] of their Orators (theſe Courtiers of Repub⯑licks, and endowed with the diſtinguiſh⯑ing Characters of all other Courtiers) this People, I ſay, at laſt arrived at that Pitch of Madneſs, that they coolly and delibe⯑rately, by an expreſs Law, made it capital for any Man to propoſe an Application of the immenſe Sums ſquandered in publick Shows, even to the moſt neceſſary Pur⯑poſes of the State. When you ſee the People of this Republick baniſhing or murdering their beſt and ableſt Citizens, diſſipating the publick Treaſure with the moſt ſenſeleſs Extravagance, and ſpending their whole Time, as Spectators or Actors, in playing, fidling, dancing and ſinging, does it not, my LORD, ſtrike your Imagi⯑nation with the Image of a Sort of a com⯑plex Nero? And does it not ſtrike you with the greater Horror, when you obſerve, not one Man only, but a whole City, grown drunk with Pride and Power, running with a Rage of Folly into the ſame mean and ſenſeleſs Debauchery and Extrava⯑gance? [60] But if this People reſembled Nero in their Extravagance, much more did they reſemble and even exceed him in Cruelty and Injuſtice. In the Time of Pericles, one of the moſt celebrated Times in the Hiſtory of that Commonwealth, a King of Egypt ſent them a Donation of Corn. This they were mean enough to accept. And had the Egyptian Prince intended the Ruin of this City of wicked Bedlamites, he could not have taken a more effectual Method to do it, than by ſuch an enſnaring Largeſs. The Diſtribution of this Bounty cauſed a Quarrel; the Majority ſet on foot an En⯑quiry into the Title of the Citizens, and upon a vain Pretence of Illegitimacy, newly and occaſionally ſet up, they de⯑prived of their Share of the royal Dona⯑tion no leſs than five thouſand of their own Body. They went further; they diſ⯑franchiſed them; and having once begun with an Act of Injuſtice, they could ſet no Bounds to it. Not content with cutting them off from the Rights of Citizens, they [61] plundered theſe unfortunate Wretches of all their Subſtance; and to crown this Maſter⯑piece of Violence and Tyranny, they actu⯑ally ſold every Man of the five thouſand as Slaves in the publick Market. Obſerve, my LORD, that the five thouſand we here ſpeak of, were cut off from a Body of no more than nineteen thouſand; for the entire Number of Citizens was no greater at that Time. Could the Tyrant who wiſhed the Roman People but one Neck, could the Tyrant himſelf have done, nay, he could ſcarcely wiſh for a greater Miſchief, than to have cut off, at one Stroke, a fourth of his People? Or has the Cruelty of that Series of ſanguine Tyrants, the Caeſars, ever preſented ſuch a Piece of flagrant and extenſive Wickedneſs? The whole Hiſ⯑tory of this celebrated Republick is but one Tiſſue of Raſhneſs, Folly, Ingratitude, In⯑juſtice, Tumult, Violence, and Tyranny, and indeed of every Species of Wicked⯑neſs that can well be imagined. This was a City of Wiſemen, in which a Miniſter [62] could not exerciſe his Functions; a war⯑like People, amongſt whom a General did not dare either to gain or loſe a Battle; a learned Nation, in which a Philoſopher could not enter on a free Enquiry. This was the City which baniſhed Themiſtocles, ſtarved Ariſtides, forced into Exile Milti⯑ades, drove out Anaxagoras, and poiſoned Socrates. This was a City which changed the Form of it's Government with the Moon; eternal Conſpiracies, Revolutions daily, nothing fixed and eſtabliſhed. A Re⯑publick, as an antient Philoſopher has ob⯑ſerved, is no one Species of Government, but a Magazine of every Species; here you find every Sort of it, and that in the worſt Form. As there is a perpetual Change, one riſing and the other falling, you have all the Violence and wicked Po⯑licy, by which a beginning Power muſt always acquire it's Strength, and all the Weakneſs by which falling States are brought to a complete Deſtruction.

[63] Rome has a more venerable Aſpect than Athens; and ſhe conducted her Affairs, ſo far as related to the Ruin and Oppreſſion of the greateſt Part of the World, with more Wiſdom and Uniformity. But their domeſtick Oeconomy was nearly or alto⯑gether the ſame. An internal Diſſention conſtantly tore to Pieces the Bowels of this Commonwealth. You find the ſame Con⯑fuſion, the ſame Factions which ſubſiſted at Athens, the ſame Tumults, the ſame Revolutions, and in fine, the ſame Slavery. If perhaps their former Condition did not deſerve that Name altogether as well. All other Republicks were of the ſame Cha⯑racter. Florence was a Tranſcript of Athens. And the modern Republicks, as they ap⯑proach more or leſs to the Democratick Form, partake more of leſs of the Nature of thoſe which I have deſcribed.

We are now at the Cloſe of our Review of the three ſimple Forms of Artificial So⯑ciety, and we have ſhewn them, however [64] they may differ in Name, or in ſome ſlight Circumſtances, to be all alike in Effect; in Effect, to be all Tyrannies. But ſup⯑poſe we were inclined to make the moſt ample Conceſſions; let us concede Athens, Rome, Carthage, and two or three more of the antient, and many of the modern Commonwealths, to have been, or to be free and happy, and to owe their Freedom and Happineſs to their Political Conſtitu⯑tion. Yet allowing all this, what De⯑fence does this make for Artificial Society in general, that theſe inconſiderable Spots of the Globe have for ſome ſhort Space of Time ſtood as Exceptions to a Charge ſo general? But when we call theſe Govern⯑ments free, or concede that their Citizens were happier than thoſe which lived under different Forms, it is merely ex Abundan⯑tia. For we ſhould be greatly miſtaken, if we really thought that the Majority of the People which filled theſe Cities, en⯑joyed even that nominal Political Freedom of which I have ſpoken ſo much already. [65] In Reality, they had no Part of it. In Athens there were uſually from ten to thirty thou⯑ſand Freemen: This was the utmoſt. But the Slaves uſually amounted to four hun⯑dred thouſand, and ſometimes to a great many more. The Freemen of Sparta and Rome were not more numerous in Propor⯑tion to thoſe whom they held in a Slavery, even more terrible than the Athenians. Therefore ſtate the Matter fairly: The free States never formed, though they were taken altogether, the thouſandth Part of the habitable Globe; the Freemen in theſe States were never the twentieth Part of the People, and the Time they ſubſiſted is ſcarce any thing in that immenſe Ocean of Duration in which Time and Slavery are ſo nearly commenſurate. Therefore call theſe free States, or popular Govern⯑ments, or what you pleaſe; when we con⯑ſider the Majority of their Inhabitants, and regard the natural Rights of Mankind, they muſt appear in Reality and Truth, [66] no better than pitiful and oppreſſive Oli⯑garchies.

After ſo fair an Examen, wherein no⯑thing has been exaggerated; no Fact pro⯑duced which cannot be proved, and none which has been produced in any wiſe forced or ſtrained, while thouſands have, for Brevity, been omitted; after ſo candid a Diſcuſſion in all Reſpects; what Slave ſo paſſive, what Bigot ſo blind, what Enthuſiaſt ſo headlong, what Politician ſo hardened, as to ſtand up in Defence of a Syſtem calculated for a Curſe to Man⯑kind? a Curſe under which they ſmart and groan to this Hour, without thoroughly knowing the Nature of the Diſeaſe, and wanting Underſtanding or Courage to ap⯑ply the Remedy.

I need not excuſe myſelf to your Lord⯑ſhip, nor, I think, to any honeſt Man, for the Zeal I have ſhewn in this Cauſe; for [67] it is an honeſt Zeal, and in a good Cauſe. I have defended Natural Religion againſt a Confederacy of Atheiſts and Divines. I now plead for Natural Society againſt Po⯑liticians, and for Natural Reaſon againſt all three. When the World is in a fitter Temper than it is at preſent to hear Truth, or when I ſhall be more indifferent about it's Temper; my Thoughts may become more publick. In the mean time, let them repoſe in my own Boſom, and in the Boſoms of ſuch Men as are fit to be ini⯑tiated in the ſober Myſteries of Truth and Reaſon. My Antagoniſts have already done as much as I could deſire. Parties in Religion and Politicks make ſufficient Diſcoveries concerning each other, to give a ſober Man a proper Caution againſt them all. The Monarchick, Ariſtocratical, and Popular Partizans have been jointly laying their Axes to the Root of all Government, and have in their Turns proved each other abſurd and inconvenient. In vain you tell me that Artificial Government is [68] good, but that I fall out only with the Abuſe. The Thing! the Thing itſelf is the Abuſe! Obſerve, my LORD, I pray you, that grand Error upon which all artificial legiſlative Power is founded. It was obſerved, that Men had ungovernable Paſſions, which made it neceſſary to guard againſt the Violence they might offer to each other. They appointed Governors over them for this Reaſon; but a worſe and more perplexing Difficulty ariſes, how to be defended againſt the Governors? Quis cuſtodiet ipſos cuſtodes? In vain they change from a ſingle Perſon to a few. Theſe few have the Paſſions of the one, and they unite to ſtrengthen themſelves, and to ſecure the Gratification of their lawleſs Paſſions at the Expence of the general Good. In vain do we fly to the Many. The Caſe is worſe; their Paſſions are leſs under the Government of Reaſon, they are augmented by the Contagion, and de⯑fended againſt all Attacks by their Mul⯑titude.

[69] I have purpoſely avoided the mention of the mixed Form of Government, for Reaſons that will be very obvious to your Lordſhip. But my Caution can avail me but little. You will not fail to urge it againſt me in favour of Political Society. You will not fail to ſhew how the Errors of the ſeveral ſimple Modes are corrected by a Mixture of all of them, and a proper Ballance of the ſeveral Powers in ſuch a State. I confeſs, my LORD, that this has been long a darling Miſtake of my own; and that of all the Sacrifices I have made to Truth, this has been by far the greateſt. When I confeſs that I think this Notion a Miſtake, I know to whom I am ſpeaking, for I am ſatisfied that Reaſons are like Liquors, and there are ſome of ſuch a Nature as none but ſtrong Heads can bear. There are few with whom I can communicate ſo freely as with Pope. But Pope cannot bear every Truth. He has a Timidity which hinders the full Ex⯑ertion of his Faculties, almoſt as effectually [70] as Bigotry cramps thoſe of the general Herd of Mankind. But whoever is a genuine Follower of Truth, keeps his Eye ſteady upon his Guide, indifferent whither he is led, provided that ſhe is the Leader. And, my LORD, if it be properly conſidered, it were infinitely better to remain poſſeſſed by the whole Legion of vulgar Miſtakes, than to reject ſome, and at the ſame time to retain a Fondneſs for others altogether as abſurd and irrational. The firſt has at leaſt a Conſiſtency, that makes a Man, however erroneouſly, uniform at leaſt; but the latter way of proceeding is ſuch an inconſiſtent Chimaera and Jumble of Philoſophy and vulgar Prejudice, that hardly any thing more ridiculous can be conceived. Let us therefore freely, and without Fear or Prejudice, examine this laſt Contrivance of Policy. And without conſidering how near the Quick our In⯑ſtruments may come, let us ſearch it to the Bottom.

[71] Firſt then, all Men are agreed, that this Junction of Regal, Ariſtocratick, and Popular Power, muſt form a very complex, nice, and intricate Machine, which being compoſed of ſuch a variety of Parts, with ſuch oppoſite Tendencies and Movements, it muſt be liable on every Accident to be diſordered. To ſpeak without Metaphor, ſuch a Government muſt be liable to frequent Cabals, Tu⯑mults, and Revolutions, from it's very Con⯑ſtitution. Theſe are undoubtedly as ill Effects, as can happen in a Society; for in ſuch a Caſe, the Cloſeneſs acquired by Community, inſtead of ſerving for mutual Defence, ſerves only to increaſe the Danger. Such a Syſtem is like a City, where Trades that require conſtant Fires are much ex⯑erciſed, where the Houſes are built of combuſtible Materials, and where they ſtand extremely cloſe.

In the ſecond Place, the ſeveral con⯑ſtituent Parts having their diſtinct Rights, [72] and theſe many of them at once ſo neceſ⯑ſary to be determined with Exactneſs, are yet ſo indeterminate in their Nature, that it becomes a new and conſtant Source of Debate and Confuſion. Hence it is, that whilſt the Buſineſs of Government ſhould be carrying on, the Queſtion is, who has a Right to exerciſe this or that Function of it, or what Men have Power to keep their Offices in any Function. Whilſt this Conteſt continues, and whilſt the Ballance in any ſort continues, it has never any Remiſſion; all manner of Abuſes and Villainies in Officers remain unpuniſhed, the greateſt Frauds and Robberies in the Publick Revenues are committed in De⯑fiance of Juſtice; and Abuſes grow, by Time and Impunity, into Cuſtoms; until they preſcribe againſt the Laws, and grow too inveterate often to admit a Cure, unleſs ſuch as may be as bad as the Diſeaſe.

Thirdly, the ſeveral Parts of this Species of Government, though united, preſerve [73] the Spirit which each Form has ſeparately. Kings are ambitious; the Nobility haugh⯑ty; and the Populace tumultuous and ungovernable. Each Party, however in appearance peaceable, carries on a Deſign upon the others; and it is owing to this, that in all Queſtions, whether concerning foreign or domeſtick Affairs, the Whole generally turns more upon ſome Party Matter than upon the Nature of the Thing itſelf. Whether ſuch a Step will diminiſh or augment the Power of the Crown, or how far the Privileges of the Subject are like to be extended or reſtricted by it. And theſe Queſtions are conſtantly re⯑ſolved, without any Conſideration of the Merits of the Cauſe, merely as the Parties who uphold theſe jarring Intereſts may chance to prevail; and as they prevail, the Ballance is overſet, now upon one ſide, now upon the other. The Government is one Day, arbitrary Power in a ſingle Perſon; another, a juggling Confederacy of a few to cheat the Prince and enſlave [74] the People; and the third, a frantick and unmanageable Democracy. The great In⯑ſtrument of all theſe Changes, and what infuſes a peculiar Venom into all of them, is Party. It is of no Conſequence what the Principles of any Party, or what their Pretenſions are; the Spirit which actuates all Parties is the ſame; the Spirit of Am⯑bition, of Self-Intereſt, of Oppreſſion, and Treachery. This Spirit entirely reverſes all the Principles which a benevolent Nature has erected within us; all Honeſty, all equal Juſtice, and even the Ties of Natural Society, the Natural Affections. In a word, my LORD, we have all ſeen, and if any outward Conſiderations were worthy the laſting Concern of a wiſe Man, we have ſome of us felt, ſuch Op⯑preſſion from Party Government as no other Tyranny can parallel. We behold daily the moſt important Rights, Rights upon which all the others depend, we behold theſe Rights determined in the laſt Re⯑ſort, without the leaſt Attention even to [75] Appearance or Colour of Juſtice; we be⯑hold this without Emotion, becauſe we have grown up in the conſtant View of ſuch Practices; and we are not ſur⯑priſed to hear a Man requeſted to be a Knave and a Traitor, with as much Indifference as if the moſt ordinary Favour were aſked; and we hear this Requeſt refuſed, not becauſe it is a moſt unjuſt and unreaſonable Deſire, but that this Worthy has already engaged his Injuſtice to another. Theſe and many more Points I am far from ſpreading to their full Extent. You are ſenſible that I do not put forth half my Strength; and you cannot be at a Loſs for the Reaſon. A Man is allowed ſufficient Freedom of Thought, provided he knows how to chuſe his Subject properly. You may cri⯑ticiſe freely upon the Chineſe Conſtitution, and obſerve with as much Severity as you pleaſe upon the abſurd Tricks, or deſtruc⯑tive Bigotry of the Bonzees. But the Scene is changed as you come homeward, [76] and Atheiſm or Treaſon may be the Names given in Britain, to what would be Reaſon and Truth if aſſerted of China. I ſubmit to the Condition, and though I have a notorious Advantage before me, wave the Purſuit. For elſe, my LORD, it is very obvious what a Picture might be drawn of the Exceſſes of Party even in our own Nation. I could ſhew, that the ſame Faction has in one Reign promoted popu⯑lar Seditions, and in the next been a Pa⯑tron of Tyranny; I could ſhew, that they have all of them betrayed the publick Safety at all Times, and have very fre⯑quently with equal Perfidy made a Market of their own Cauſe, and their own Aſſo⯑ciates. I could ſhew how vehemently they have contended for Names, and how ſilently they have paſſed over Things of the laſt Importance. And I could demon⯑ſtrate, that they have had the Opportunity of doing all this Miſchief, nay, that they themſelves had their Origin and Growth from that complex Form of Government [77] which we are wiſely taught to look upon as ſo great a Bleſſing. Revolve, my LORD, our Hiſtory from the Conqueſt. We ſcarce ever had a Prince, who by Fraud, or Violence, had not made ſome Infringe⯑ment on the Conſtitution. We ſcarce ever had a Parliament which knew, when it attempted to ſet Limits to the Royal Au⯑thority, how to ſet Limits to it's own. Evils we have had continually calling for Reformation, and Reformations more grievous than any Evils. Our boaſted Li⯑berty ſometimes trodden down, ſometimes giddily ſet up, and ever precariouſly fluc⯑tuating and unſettled; it has been only kept alive by the Blaſts of continual Feuds, Wars, and Conſpiracies. In no Country in Europe has the Scaffold ſo often bluſhed with the Blood of it's Nobility. Confiſ⯑cations, Baniſhments, Attainders, Execu⯑tions, make a large Part of the Hiſtory of ſuch of our Families as are not utterly ex⯑tinguiſhed by them. Formerly indeed Things had a more ferocious Appearance [78] than they have at this Day. In theſe early and unrefined Ages, the jarring Parts of a certain Chaotic Conſtitution ſupported their ſeveral Pretenſions by the Sword. Experience and Policy have ſince taught other Methods.

But how far Corruption, Venality, the Contempt of Honour, the Oblivion of all Duty to our Country, and the moſt aban⯑doned publick Proſtitution, are preferable to the more glaring and violent Effects of Faction, I will not preſume to deter⯑mine. Sure I am that they are very great Evils.

I have done with the Forms of Go⯑vernment. During the Courſe of my En⯑quiry you may have obſerved a very mate⯑rial Difference between my Manner of Reaſoning and that which is in Uſe amongſt the Abbetors of Artificial Society. They form [79] their Plans upon what ſeems moſt eligible to their Imaginations, for the ordering of Mankind. I diſcover the Miſtakes in thoſe Plans, from the real known Conſe⯑quences which have reſulted from them. They have inliſted Reaſon to fight againſt itſelf, and employ it's whole Force to prove that it is an inſufficient Guide to them in the Conduct of their Lives. But unhap⯑pily for us, in Proportion as we have de⯑viated from the plain Rule of our Nature, and turned our Reaſon againſt itſelf, in that Proportion have we increaſed the Follies and Miſeries of Mankind. The more deeply we penetrate into the Labyrinth of Art, the further we find ourſelves from thoſe Ends for which we entered it. This has happen⯑ed in almoſt every Species of Artificial So⯑ciety, and in all Times. We found, or we thought we found, an Inconvenience in having every Man the Judge of his own Cauſe. Therefore Judges were ſet up, at firſt with diſcretionary Powers. But it was ſoon found a miſerable Slavery to have [80] our Lives and Properties precarious, and hanging upon the arbitrary Determination of any one Man, or Set of Men. We flew to Laws as a Remedy for this Evil. By theſe we perſuaded ourſelves we might know with ſome Certainty upon what Ground we ſtood. But lo! Differences aroſe upon the Senſe and Interpretation of theſe Laws. Thus we were brought back to our old Incertitude. New Laws were made to expound the old; and new Diffi⯑culties aroſe upon the new Laws; as Words multiplied, Opportunities of cavilling upon them multiplied alſo. Then Recourſe was had to Notes, Comments, Gloſſes, Reports, Reſponſa Prudentum, learned Read⯑ings: Eagle ſtood againſt Eagle. Autho⯑rity was ſet up againſt Authority. Some were allured by the modern, others reve⯑renced the antient. The new were more enlightened, the old were more venerable. Some adopted the Comment, others ſtuck to the Text. The Confuſion increaſed, the Miſt thickened, until it could be diſ⯑covered [81] no longer what was allowed or forbidden, what Things were in Property, and what common. In this Uncertainty, (uncertain even to the Profeſſors, an Aegyp⯑tian Darkneſs to the reſt of Mankind) the contending Parties felt themſelves more effectually ruined by the Delay than they could have been by the Injuſtice of any Deciſion. Our Inheritances are become a Prize for Diſputation; and Diſputes and Litigations are become an Inheritance.

The Profeſſors of Artificial Law have al⯑ways walked hand in hand with the Pro⯑feſſors of Artificial Theology. As their End, in confounding the Reaſon of Man, and abridging his Natural Freedom, is ex⯑actly the ſame, they have adjuſted the Means to that End in a Way entirely ſimilar. The Divine thunders out his Anathemas with more Noiſe and Terror againſt the Breach of one of his poſitive Inſtitutions, or the Neglect of ſome of his trivial Forms, than againſt the Neglect or [82] Breach of thoſe Duties and Command⯑ments of Natural Religion, which by theſe Forms and Inſtitutions he pretends to en⯑force. The Lawyer has his Forms, and his poſitive Inſtitutions too, and he adheres to them with a Veneration altogether as religious. The worſt Cauſe cannot be ſo prejudicial to the Litigant, as his Advocate's or Attorney's Ignorance or Neglect of theſe Forms. A Law-ſuit is like an ill-managed Diſpute, in which the firſt Object is ſoon out of Sight, and the Parties end upon a Matter wholly foreign to that on which they began. In a Law-ſuit the Queſtion is, who has a Right to a certain Houſe or Farm? And this Queſtion is daily deter⯑mined, not upon the Evidences of the Right, but upon the Obſervance or Neg⯑lect of ſome Forms of Words in Uſe amongſt them, amongſt which there is even amongſt themſelves ſuch a Diſagreement, that the moſt experienced Veterans in the Profeſſion can never be poſitively aſſured that they are not miſtaken.

[83] Let us expoſtulate with theſe learned Sages, theſe Prieſts of the ſacred Temple of Juſtice. Are we Judges of our own Property? By no Means. You then, who are initiated into the Myſteries of the blindfold Goddeſs, inform me whether I have a Right to eat the Bread I have earned by the hazard of my Life, or the Sweat of my Brow? The grave Doctor anſwers me in the Affirmative. The reverend Serjeant replies in the Negative; the learned Bar⯑riſter reaſons upon one ſide and upon the other, and concludes nothing. What ſhall I do? An Antagoniſt ſtarts up and preſſes me hard. I enter the Field, and return theſe three Perſons to defend my Cauſe. My Cauſe, which two Farmers from the Plough could have decided in half an hour, takes the Court twenty Years. I am how⯑ever at the end of my Labour, and have in Reward for all my Toil and Vexation, a Judgment in my Favour. But hold—a ſagacious Commander, in the Adverſary's Army has found a Flaw in the Proceeding. [84] My Triumph is turned into Mourning. I have uſed or, inſtead of and, or ſome Miſ⯑take, ſmall in Appearance, but dreadful in it's Conſequences, and have the whole of my Succeſs quaſhed in a Writ of Error. I remove my Suit; I ſhift from Court to Court; I fly from Equity to Law, and from Law to Equity; equal Uncertainty attends me every where: And a Miſtake in which I had no Share, decides at once upon my Liberty and Property, ſending me from the Court to a Priſon, and adjudg⯑ing my Family to Beggary and Famine. I am innocent, Gentlemen, of the Darkneſs and Uncertainty of your Science. I never darkened it with abſurd and contradictory Notions, nor confounded it with Chicane and Sophiſtry. You have excluded me from any Share in the Conduct of my own Cauſe; the Science was too deep for me; I acknowledged it, but it was too deep even for yourſelves: You have made the way ſo intricate, that you are yourſelves loſt in it: You err, and you puniſh me for your Errors.

[85] The Delay of the Law is, your Lordſhip will tell me, a trite Topick, and which of it's Abuſes have not been too ſeverely felt not to be often complained of? A Man's Property is to ſerve for the Purpoſes of his Support; and therefore to delay a Determi⯑nation concerning that, is the worſt In⯑juſtice, becauſe it cuts off the very End and Purpoſe for which I applied to the Judicature for Relief. Quite contrary in Caſe of a Man's Life, there the Determi⯑nation can hardly be too much protracted. Miſtakes in this Caſe are as often fallen into as in any other, and if the Judgement is ſudden, the Miſtakes are the moſt irre⯑trievable of all others. Of this the Gentle⯑men of the Robe are themſelves ſenſible, and they have brought it into a Maxim. De morte hominis nulla eſt cunctatio longa. But what could have induced them to reverſe the Rules, and to contradict that Reaſon which dictated them, I am utterly unable to gueſs. A Point concern⯑ing Property, which ought, for the Reaſons [86] I juſt mentioned, to be moſt ſpeedily de⯑cided, frequently exerciſes the Wit of Suc⯑ceſſions of Lawyers, for many Generations. Multa virûm volvens durando ſaecula vincit. But the Queſtion concerning a Man's Life, that great Queſtion in which no Delay ought to be counted tedious, is commonly determined in Twenty-four Hours at the utmoſt. It is not to be wondered at, that Injuſtice and Abſurdity ſhould be inſepa⯑rable Companions.

Aſk of Politicians the End for which Laws were originally deſigned; and they will anſwer, that the Laws were deſigned as a Protection for the Poor and Weak, againſt the Oppreſſion of the Rich and Powerful. But ſurely no Pretence can be ſo ridiculous; a Man might as well tell me he has taken off my Load, becauſe he has changed the Burthen. If the poor Man is not able to ſupport his Suit, accord⯑ing to the vexatious and expenſive manner eſtabliſhed in civilized Countries, has not [87] the Rich as great an Advantage over him as the Strong has over the Weak in a State of Nature? But we will not place the State of Nature, which is the Reign of God, in competition with Political Society, which is the abſurd Uſurpation of Man. In a State of Nature, it is true, that a Man of ſuperior Force may beat or rob me; but then it is true, that I am at full Liberty to defend myſelf, or make Repriſal by Sur⯑prize or by Cunning, or by any other way in which I may be ſuperior to him. But in Political Society, a rich Man may rob me in another way. I cannot defend my⯑ſelf; for Money is the only Weapon with which we are allowed to fight. And if I attempt to avenge myſelf, the whole Force of that Society is ready to compleat my Ruin.

A good Parſon once ſaid, that where Myſtery begins, Religion ends. Cannot I ſay, as truly at leaſt, of human Laws, that where Myſtery begins, Juſtice ends? [88] It is hard to ſay, whether the Doctors of Law or Divinity have made the greater Advances in the lucrative Buſineſs of My⯑ſtery. The Lawyers, as well as the Theo⯑logians, have erected another Reaſon be⯑ſides Natural Reaſon; and the Reſult has been, another Juſtice beſides Natural Juſtice. They have ſo bewildered the World and themſelves in unmeaning Forms and Ceremonies, and ſo perplexed the plaineſt Matters with metaphyſical Jargon, that it carries the higheſt Danger to a Man out of that Profeſſion, to make the leaſt Step without their Advice and Aſſiſtance. Thus by confining to them⯑ſelves the Knowledge of the Foundation of all Mens Lives and Properties, they have reduced all Mankind into the moſt abject and ſervile Dependence. We are Tenants at the Will of theſe Gentlemen for every thing; and a metaphyſical Quibble is to decide whether the greateſt Villain breath⯑ing ſhall meet his Deſerts, or eſcape with Impunity, or whether the beſt Man in the [89] Society ſhall not be reduced to the loweſt and moſt deſpicable Condition it affords. In a word, my LORD, the Injuſtice, Delay, Puerility, falſe Refinement, and affected Myſtery of the Law are ſuch, that many who live under it come to admire and envy the Expedition, Simplicity, and Equality of Arbitrary Judgments. I need inſiſt the leſs on this Article to your Lord⯑ſhip, as you have frequently lamented the Miſeries derived to us from Artificial Law, and your Candor is the more to be ad⯑mired and applauded in this, as your Lordſhip's noble Houſe has derived it's Wealth and it's Honours from that Pro⯑feſſion.

Before we finiſh our Examination of Ar⯑tificial Society, I ſhall lead your Lordſhip into a cloſer Conſideration of the Relations which it gives Birth to, and the Benefits, if ſuch they are, which reſult from theſe Relations. The moſt obvious Diviſion of Society is into Rich and Poor; and it is [90] no leſs obvious, that the Number of the former bear a great Diſproportion to thoſe of the latter. The whole Buſineſs of the Poor is to adminiſter to the Idleneſs, Folly, and Luxury of the Rich; and that of the Rich, in return, is to find the beſt Methods of confirming the Slavery and increaſing the Burthens of the Poor. In a State of Nature, it is an invariable Law, that a Man's Acquiſitions are in proportion to his Labours. In a State of Artificial Society, it is a Law as conſtant and as invariable, that thoſe who labour moſt, enjoy the feweſt things; and that thoſe who labour not at all, have the greateſt Number of Enjoyments. A Conſtitution of things this, ſtrange and ridiculous beyond Ex⯑preſſion. We ſcarce believe a thing when we are told it, which we actually ſee be⯑fore our Eyes every Day without being in the leaſt ſurprized. I ſuppoſe that there are in Great Britain upwards of an hun⯑dred thouſand People employed in Lead, Tin, Iron, Copper, and Coal Mines; theſe [91] unhappy Wretches ſcarce ever ſee the Light of the Sun; they are buried in the Bowels of the Earth; there they work at a ſevere and diſmal Taſk, without the leaſt Proſpect of being delivered from it; they ſubſiſt upon the coarſeſt and worſt ſort of Fare; they have their Health miſerably impaired, and their Lives cut ſhort, by being perpetually confined in the cloſe Vapour of theſe malignant Minerals. An hundred thouſand more at leaſt are tortured without Remiſſion by the ſuffocating Smoak, intenſe Fires, and conſtant Drud⯑gery neceſſary in the refining and ma⯑naging the Products of thoſe Mines. If any Man informed us that two hundred innocent Perſons were condemned to ſo intolerable Slavery, how ſhould we pity the unhappy Sufferers, and how great would be our juſt Indignation againſt thoſe who inflicted ſo cruel and ignomi⯑nious a Puniſhment? This is an Inſtance, I could not wiſh a ſtronger, of the num⯑berleſs Things which we paſs by in their [92] common Dreſs, yet which ſhock us when they are nakedly repreſented. But this Number, conſiderable as it is, and the Slavery, with all it's Baſeneſs and Horror, which we have at Home, is nothing to what the reſt of the World affords of the ſame Nature. Millions daily bathed in the poiſonous Damps and deſtructive Effluvia of Lead, Silver, Copper, and Arſenick. To ſay nothing of thoſe other Employments, thoſe Stations of Wretchedneſs and Con⯑tempt in which Civil Society has placed the numerous Enfans perdus of her Army. Would any rational Man ſubmit to one of the moſt tolerable of theſe Drudgeries for all the artificial Enjoyments which Policy has made to reſult from them? By no Means. And yet need I ſuggeſt to your Lordſhip, that thoſe who find the Means, and thoſe who arrive at the End, are not at all the ſame Perſons. On con⯑ſidering the ſtrange and unaccountable Fancies and Contrivances of Artificial Rea⯑ſon, I have ſomewhere called this Earth [93] the Bedlam of our Syſtem. Looking now upon the Effects of ſome of thoſe Fancies, may we not with equal Reaſon call it likewiſe the Newgate, and the Bridewell of the Univerſe. Indeed the Blindneſs of one Part of Mankind co-operating with the Frenzy and Villainy of the other, has been the real Builder of this reſpec⯑table Fabrick of Political Society: And as their Blindneſs has cauſed their Slavery, in Return their State of Slavery is made a a Pretence for continuing them in a State of Blindneſs; for the Politician will tell you gravely, that their Life of Servitude diſqualifies them for a Search of Truth, and ſupplies them with no other than mean and inſufficient Ideas. This is but too true; and this is one of the Reaſons for which I blame ſuch Inſtitutions.

In a Miſery of this Sort, admit⯑ing ſome few Lenities, and thoſe too but a few, nine Parts in ten of the whole Race of Mankind drudge through [94] Life. It may be urged perhaps, in palliation of this, that, at leaſt, the Rich Few find a conſiderable and real Benefit from the Wretchedneſs of the Many. But is this ſo in fact? Let us examine the Point with a little more Attention. For this purpoſe the Rich in all Societies may be thrown into two Claſſes. The firſt is of thoſe who are Powerful as well as Rich, and conduct the Operations of the vaſt Political Ma⯑chine. The other is of thoſe who employ their Riches wholly in the Acquiſition of Pleaſure. As to the firſt Sort, their con⯑tinual Care, Anxiety, their toilſome Days and ſleepleſs Nights, are next to Proverbial. Theſe Circumſtances are ſufficient almoſt to level their Condition to that of the un⯑happy Majority; but there are other Cir⯑cumſtances which place them in a far lower Condition. Not only their Under⯑ſtandings labour continually, which is the ſevereſt Labour, but their Hearts are torn by the worſt, moſt troubleſome, and in⯑ſatiable of all Paſſions, by Avarice, by [95] Ambition, by Fear and Jealouſy. No part of the Mind has Reſt. Power gradually extirpates from the Mind every humane and gentle Virtue. Pity, Benevolence, Friendſhip are Things almoſt unknown in high Stations. Verae amicitiae rariſſime inveniuntur in iis qui in honoribus reipub⯑licae verſantur, ſays Cicero. And indeed, Courts are the Schools where Cruelty, Pride, Diſſimulation and Treachery are ſtudied and taught in the moſt vicious Perfection. This is a Point ſo clear and acknowledged, that if it did not make a neceſſary Part of my Subject, I ſhould paſs it by entirely. And this has hindered me from drawing at full length, and in the moſt ſtriking Colours, this ſhocking Picture of the Degeneracy and Wretched⯑neſs of human Nature, in that Part which is vulgarly thought it's happieſt and moſt amiable State. You know from what Originals I could copy ſuch Pictures. Happy are they who know enough of them to know their little Value, and who [96] have been ſnatched from that Poſt of Danger with the Remains of their Virtue; Loſs of Honours, Wealth, Titles and even the Loſs of one's Country is nothing in Ballance with ſo great an Advantage.

Let us now view the other Species of the Rich, thoſe who devote their Time and Fortunes to Idleneſs and Pleaſure. How much happier are they? The Plea⯑ſures which are agreeable to Nature are within the reach of all, and therefore can form no Diſtinction in favour of the Rich. The Pleaſures which Art forces up are ſeldom ſincere, and never ſatisfying. What is worſe, this conſtant Application to Pleaſure takes away from the Enjoyment, or rather turns it into the Nature of a very burthenſome and laborious Buſineſs. It has Conſequences yet worſe. It pro⯑duces a weak valetudinary State of Body, attended by all thoſe horrid Diſorders, and yet more horrid Methods of Cure, which are the Reſult of Luxury on one hand, and [97] the weak and ridiculous Efforts of human Art on the other. Their Pleaſures are ſcarcely felt as Pleaſures; at the ſame time that they bring on Pains and Diſeaſes, which are felt but too ſeverely. The Mind has it's Share of the Misfortune; it grows lazy and enervate, unwilling and unable to ſearch for Truth, and utterly uncapable of knowing, much leſs of reliſhing real Happineſs. The Poor by their exceſſive Labour, and the Rich by their enormous Luxury, are ſet upon a Level and made equally ignorant of any Knowledge which might conduce to their Happineſs. A diſmal View of the Interior of all Civil Society. The lower Part broken and ground down by the moſt cruel Oppreſ⯑ſion; and the Rich by their artificial Method of Life bringing worſe Evils on themſelves, than their Tyranny could poſſibly inflict on thoſe below them. Very different is the Proſpect of the Na⯑tural State. Here there is no want which Nature gives, and they can be [96] [...] [97] [...] [98] ſenſible of no other Wants, which is not to be ſupplied by a very moderate degree of Labour; therefore there is no Slavery. Neither is there any Luxury, becauſe no ſingle Man can ſupply the Materials of it. Life is ſimple, and therefore it is happy.

I am conſcious, my LORD, that your Politician will urge in his Defence, that this unequal State is highly uſeful. That without dooming ſome Part of Mankind to extraordinary Toil, the Arts which cul⯑tivate Life could not be exerciſed. But I demand of this Politician, how ſuch Arts came to be neceſſary? He anſwers, that Civil Society could not well exiſt without them. So that theſe Arts are neceſſary to Civil Society, and Civil Society neceſſary again to theſe Arts. Thus running in a Circle, without Modeſty, and with⯑out End; and making one Error and Extravagance an Excuſe for the other. My Sentiments about theſe Arts and their Cauſe, I have often diſcourſed with my [99] Friends at large. Pope has expreſſed them in good Verſe, where he talks with ſo much Force of Reaſon and Elegance of Language in Praiſe of the State of Nature.

On the whole, my LORD, if Political Society, in whatever Form, has ſtill made the Many the Property of the Few; if it has introduced Labours unneceſſary, Vices and Diſeaſes unknown, and Pleaſures in⯑compatible with Nature; if in all Coun⯑tries it abridges the Lives of Millions, and renders thoſe of Millions more utterly ab⯑ject and miſerable, ſhall we ſtill worſhip ſo deſtructive an Idol, and daily ſacrifice to it our Health, our Liberty, and our Peace? Or ſhall we paſs by this monſtrous Heap of abſurd Notions, and abominable Practices, thinking we have ſufficiently [100] diſcharged our Duty in expoſing the trifling Cheats, and ridiculous Juggles of a few mad, deſigning, or ambitious Prieſts? Alas! my LORD, we labour under a mortal Con⯑ſumption, whilſt we are ſo anxious about the Cure of a ſore Finger. For has not this Leviathan of Civil Power overflowed the Earth with a Deluge of Blood, as if he were made to diſport and play therein? We have ſhewn, that Political Society, on a moderate Calculation, has been the Means of murdering an hundred and forty times the Number of Inhabitants now upon the Earth, during it's ſhort Exiſtence, not upwards of four thouſand Years in any Accounts to be depended on. But we have ſaid nothing of the other, and perhaps as bad Conſequence of theſe Wars, which ſpilled ſuch Seas of Blood, and reduced ſo many Millions to a mercileſs Slavery. But theſe are only the Ceremonies performed in the Porch of the Political Temple. Much more horrid ones are ſeen as you enter it. The ſeveral Species of Government vie [101] with each other in the Abſurdity of their Conſtitutions, and the Oppreſſion which they make their Subjects endure. Take them under what Form you pleaſe, they are in Effect but a Deſpotiſm, and fall, both in Effect an Appearance too, after a very ſhort Period, into that cruel and de⯑teſtable Species of Tyranny; which I ra⯑ther call it, becauſe we have been educated under another Form, than that this is of worſe Conſequences to Mankind. For the free Governments, for the Point of their Space, and the Moment of their Duration, have felt more Confuſion, and committed more flagrant Acts of Tyranny, than the moſt perfect deſpotick Governments which we have ever known. Turn your Eye next to the Labyrinth of the Law, and the Iniquity conceived in it's intricate Re⯑ceſſes. Conſider the Ravages committed in the Bowels of all Commonwealths by Ambition, by Avarice, Envy, Fraud, open Injuſtice, and pretended Friendſhip; Vices which could draw little Support from a [102] State of Nature, but which bloſſom and flouriſh in the Rankneſs of Political Soci⯑ety. Revolve our whole Diſcourſe; add to it all thoſe Reflections which your own good Underſtanding ſhall ſuggeſt, and make a ſtrenuous Effort beyond the Reach of Vulgar Philoſophy, to confeſs that the Cauſe of Artificial Society is more de⯑fenceleſs even than that of Artificial Reli⯑gion; that it is as derogatory from the Honour of the Creator, as ſubverſive of human Reaſon, and productive of infinitely more Miſchief to the human Race.

If pretended Revelations have cauſed Wars where they were oppoſed, and Slavery where they were received, the pre⯑tended wiſe Inventions of Politicians have done the ſame. But the Slavery has been much heavier, the Wars far more bloody, and both more univerſal by many Degrees. Shew me any Miſchief produced by the Madneſs or Wickedneſs of Theologians, and I will ſhew you an hundred, reſulting [103] from the Ambition and Villainy of Con⯑querors and Stateſmen. Shew me an Ab⯑ſurdity in Religion, I will undertake to ſhew you an hundred for one in Political Laws and Inſtitutions. If you ſay, that Natural Religion is a ſufficient Guide without the foreign Aid of Revelation, on what Principle ſhould Political Laws become neceſſary? Is not the ſame Reaſon available in Theology and in Politicks? If the Laws of Nature are the Laws of God, is it conſiſtent with the Divine Wiſ⯑dom to preſcribe Rules to us, and leave the Enforcement of them to the Folly of human Inſtitutions? Will you follow Truth but to a certain Point? We are indebted for all our Miſeries to our Diſtruſt of that Guide, which Providence thought ſuffici⯑ent for our Condition, our own Na⯑tural Reaſon, which rejecting both in Human and Divine things, we have given our Necks to the Yoke of Poli⯑tical and Theological Slavery. We have renounced the Prerogative of Man, and it [104] is not wonderful that we ſhould be treated like Beaſts. But our Miſery is much the greater, as the Crime we commit in re⯑jecting the lawful Dominion of our Reaſon is greater. If after all, you ſhould confeſs all theſe things, yet plead the Neceſſity of Political Inſtitutions, weak and wicked as they are, I can argue with equal, perhaps ſuperior Force concerning the Neceſſity of Artificial Religion; and every Step you ad⯑vance in your Argument, you add a Strength to mine. So that if we are re⯑ſolved to ſubmit our Reaſon and our Liberty to Civil Uſurpation, we have no⯑thing to do but to conform as quickly as we can to the vulgar Notions which are connected with this, and take up their Theology as well as their Politicks. But if we think this Neceſſity rather imaginary than real, we ſhould renounce their Dreams of Society, together with their Viſions of Religion, and vindicate our⯑ſelves into perfect Liberty.

[105] You are, my LORD, but juſt entering into the World; I am going out of it. I have played long enough to be heartily tired of the Drama. Whether I have acted my Part in it well or ill, Poſterity will judge with more Candor than I, or than the preſent Age, with our preſent Paſſions, can poſſibly pretend to. For my Part, I quit it without a Sigh, and ſubmit to the Sovereign Order without murmur⯑ing. The nearer we approach to the Goal of Life, the better we begin to under⯑ſtand the true Value of our Exiſtence, and the real Weight of our Opinions. We ſet out much in Love with both; but we leave much behind us as we advance. We firſt throw away the Tales along with the Rattles of our Nurſes. Thoſe of the Prieſt keep their hold a little longer; thoſe of our Governors the longeſt of all. But the Paſſions which prop theſe Opinions are withdrawn one after another, and the cool Light of Reaſon at the Setting of our Life ſhews us what a falſe Splendor played upon [106] theſe Objects during our more ſanguine Seaſons. Happy, my Lord, if inſtructed by my Experience, and even by my Errors, you come early to make ſuch an Eſtimate of things, as may give Freedom and Eaſe to your Life. I am happy that it promiſes me Comfort at my Death.