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LETTERS 
 
 O N 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF 
 
 PATRIOTISM: 
 
 O N 
 
 THE IDEA OF A 
 
 PATRIOT KING: 
 
 AND ON 
 THE STATE OF 
 
 PARTIES 
 
 At the Acceflion of 
 
 King GEORGE the Firft. 
 By the late Right Honorable 
 
 H enrt S** John, 
 
 Lord Viscount Bolingbroke, 
 
 LONDON, 
 
 Printed for A. Millar, 
 
 MDCCLII. 
 
LETTER I. 
 
 ON THE 
 
 SPIRIT 
 
 PATRIOTISM. 
 
 O U have engaged me on a 
 
 fubjecl:, which interrupts the 
 
 feries of thofe letters I was 
 writing to you ; but it is one, which, I 
 confefs, I have very much at heart. I 
 fhall, therefore, explain myfelf fully, 
 nor blulh to reafon on principles that 
 are out of faftiion among men, who in- 
 
 O F 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 B 2 
 
 tend 
 
4 ON THE SPIRIT 
 
 tend nothing, by ferving the public, buf 
 to feed their avarice, their vanity, and 
 their luxury, without the fenfe of any 
 duty they owe to God or man. 
 
 It feems tome, that in order to main- 
 tain the moral fyftem of the world at a 
 certain point, far below that of ideal 
 perfection (for we are made capable of 
 conceiving what we are incapable of 
 attaining) but, however, fufficient upon 
 the whole to conflitute a ftate eafy and 
 happy, or at the worft tolerable : I fay, 
 it feems to me, that the Author of na- 
 ture has thought fit to mingle, from 
 time to time, among the focieties of 
 men, a few, and but a few, of thofe on 
 whom he is gracioufly pleafed to bellow 
 a larger proportion of the ethereal fpi- 
 rit, than is given in the ordinary courfe 
 of his providence to the fons of men. 
 Thefe are they who engrofs almoft the 
 whole reafon of the fpecies who are 
 born to inftrucl, to guide, and to pre- 
 
 fervej 
 
OF PATRIOTISM. 5 
 
 ferve; who are defigned to be the tu- 
 tors and the guardians of human kind. 
 When they prove fuch, they exhibit to 
 us examples of the higheft virtue, and 
 the trueft piety: and they deferve to 
 have their feftivals kept, inftead of that 
 pack of Anachorites and Enthufiafls^ with 
 whofe names the kalendar is crowded 
 and difgraced; When thefe men ap- 
 ply their talents to other purpofes,when 
 they ftrive to be great, and defpife being 
 good, they commit a moil facrilegious 
 breach of trull \ they pervert the means, 
 they defeat, as far as lies in them, the 
 defigns of providence, and difturb, in 
 fome fort, the fyflem of infinite wifdom. 
 To mifapply thefe talents is the moil 
 diffufed, and, therefore, the greatefl of 
 crimes in it's nature and confequences ; 
 but to keep them unexerted, and un- 
 employed, is a crime too. Look about 
 you, my Lord, from the palace to the 
 cottage you will find that the bulk of 
 mankind is made to breathe the air of 
 B 3 this 
 
6 ON THE SPIRIT 
 
 this atmofphere, to roam about this 
 globe, and to confume, like the cour- 
 tiers of ALciNOus,the fruits of the earth. 
 Nos numerus fumus, et fruges confumere 
 nati. When they have trod this infipid 
 round a certain number of years, and 
 begot others to do the fame after them, 
 they have lived : and if they have per- 
 formed, in fome tolerable degree, the 
 ordinary moral duties of life, they have 
 done all they were born to do. Look 
 about you again, my Lord, nay look 
 into your own breaft, and you will find 
 that there are fuperior fpirits, men who 
 mew even from their infancy, tho it be 
 not always perceived by others, perhaps 
 not always felt by themfelves, that they 
 were born for fomething more, and bet- 
 ter. Thefe are the men to whom the 
 part I mentioned is affigned. Their ta- 
 lents denote their general defignation : and 
 the opportunities of conforming them- 
 felves to it, that arife in the courfe of 
 things, or that are prefented to them by 
 
 any 
 
OF PATRIOTISM. 7 
 
 any circumftances of rank and (ituation 
 in the fociety to which they belong, 
 denote the particular vocation, which it 
 is not lawful for them to refift, nor even 
 to neglecT. The duration of the lives 
 of fuch men as thefe is to be determin- 
 ed, I think, by the length and import- 
 ance of the parts they aft, not by the 
 number of years that pafs between their 
 coming into the world, and their going 
 out of it. Whether the piece be of three, 
 or five acts, the part may be long : and 
 he, who fuftains it thro the whole, may 
 be faid to die in the fulnefs of years 
 whilft he, who declines it fooner, may 
 be faid not to live out half his days. 
 
 I have fometimes reprefented to my- 
 felf the vulgar, who are accidentally di- 
 flinguilhed by the titles of king and 
 fubjecl:, of lord and vafTal, of nobleman 
 and peafant; and the few, who are diftin- 
 guifhed by nature fo eiTentially from the 
 herd of mankind, that (figure apart) 
 B 3 they 
 
8 ON THE SPIRIT 
 
 they feem to be of another fpecies, m 
 this manner: The former come into the 
 world, and continue in it, like Dutch 
 travellers in a foreign country. Every 
 thingthey meet has the grace of novelty: 
 and they are fond alike of every thing 
 that is new. They wander about from 
 one object, to another, of vain curiofity, 
 or inelegant pleafure. If they are indu- 
 ftrious, they fhew their induftry in copy- 
 ing figns, and collecting mottos and 
 epitaphs. They loiter, or they trifle away 
 their whole time : and their prefence 
 or their abfence would be equally un- 
 perceived, if caprice or accident did not 
 raife them often to ftations, wherein 
 their ftupidity, their vices, or their follies, 
 make them a public misfortune. The 
 latter come into the world, or at leaft 
 continue in it after the effects of furprize 
 and inexperience are over, like men 
 who are fenton more important errands. 
 They obferve with diftinction, they ad- 
 mire with knowledge. They may in- 
 dulge 
 
OF PATRIOTISM. 9 
 
 dulge themfelves in pleafure^ but as 
 their induftry is not employed about 
 trifles, fo their amufements are not made 
 the bufinefs of their lives. Such men 
 cannot pafs unperceived thro a country. 
 If they retire from the world, their fplen- 
 dor accompanies them, and enlightens 
 even the obfcurity of their retreat. If 
 they take a part in public life, the effect 
 is never indifferent. They either appear 
 like minifters of divine vengeance, and 
 their courfe thro the world is marked 
 bydefolation and oppreflion, by poverty 
 and fervitude : pr they are the guardian 
 angels of the country they inhabit, bufy 
 to avert even the moft diftant evil, 
 and to maintain or to procure peace, 
 plenty, and, the greateft of human^blef- 
 fings, liberty. 
 
 From the obfervation, that fuperiori- 
 ty of parts is often employed to do fu- 
 pcrior mifchief, no confequence can be 
 drawn againft the truth I endeavour to 
 
 eftablifh. 
 
jo ON THE SPIRIT 
 
 eftablifh. Reafon colle&s the will of 
 God from the conftitution of things, in 
 this as in other cafes \ but in no cafe 
 does the Divine power impel us necef • 
 farily to conform ourfelves to this will : 
 and, therefore, from the mifapplication of 
 fuperior parts to the hurt, no argument 
 can be drawn againft this pofition, that 
 they were given for the good, of man- 
 kind. Reafon deceives us not: we de- 
 ceive ourfelves, and fuffer our wills to 
 be determined by other motives. Mon- 
 taigne or Charron would fay, Vhom- 
 me fe pipe, " man is at once his own 
 " fharper, and his own bubble." Hu- 
 man nature is her own bawd, fays 
 Tullv, blanda conciliatrix^ et quaji Una 
 fui. He who confiders the univerfal 
 wants, imperfeclicns, and vices of his 
 kind, muft agree that men were in- 
 tended not only for fociety, but to unite 
 in commonwealths \ and to fubmit to 
 laws : legum idcirco cmnes fervifumus^ ut 
 liberi ejfe poffimus. And yet this very 
 
 man 
 
OF PATRIOTISM. u 
 
 man will be feduced by his own paflions, 
 or the paflions and examples of others, 
 to think, or to act as if he thought, the 
 very contrary. So he who is conlcious 
 of fuperior endowments, fuch as render 
 him more capable, than the generality of 
 men, to fecure and improve the advan- 
 tages of focial life, by preferving the 
 commonwealth in ftrength andfplendor, 
 even he may be feduced to think, or to 
 act as if he thought, that thefe endow- 
 ments were given him for the gratifi- 
 cation of his ambition, and his other 
 paflions * and that there is no difference 
 between vice and virtue, between a 
 knave and an honeft man, but one, which 
 a prince, who died not many year ago* 
 afTerted, " that men of great fenfewere, 
 " therefore, knaves, and men of little 
 " fenfe were, therefore, honeft." But 
 in neither of thefe cafes will the truth 
 and reafon of things be altered, by fuch 
 examples of human frailty. It will be 
 ilill true, and reafon will ftill demon- 
 
 ftrate, 
 
12 ON THE SPIRIT 
 
 ftrate, that all men are directed, by the* 
 general conftitution of human nature* 
 to fubmit to government ; and that fome 
 men are in a particular manner defign- 
 ed to take care of that government on 
 which the common happinefs depends. 
 The ufe that reafon will make of fuch 
 examples, will be only this, that fmce 
 men are fo apt, in every form of life and 
 every degree of underftanding, to act 
 againft their intereft and their duty too, 
 without benevolence to mankind, or 
 regard to the divine will j it is the more 
 incumbent on thofe who have this be- 
 nevolence and this regard at heart, to 
 employ all the means that the nature of 
 the government allows, and that rank* 
 circumftances of fituation, or fuperi- 
 ority of talents, give them, to oppofe 
 evil, and promote good government; 
 and contribute thus to preferve the 
 moral fyftem of the world at that 
 point of perfection at leaft, which 
 feems to have been prefcribed to it by 
 
 the 
 
OF PATRIOTISM. 13 
 
 the great Creator of every fyftem of 
 beings. 
 
 Give me leave now, my Lord, to 
 caft my eyes for a moment homeward, 
 and to apply what I have been faying 
 to the prefent ftate of Britain, That 
 there is no profufion of the ethereal 
 fpirit to be obferved among us, and that 
 we do not abound with men of fuperior 
 genius, I am ready to confefs but, I 
 think, there is no ground for the com- 
 plaints I have heard made, as if nature 
 had not done her part in our age, as 
 well as in former ages, by producing 
 men capable of ferving the common- 
 wealth. The manners of our forefathers 
 were, I believe, in many refpects better: 
 they had more probity perhaps, they 
 had certainly more mow of honor, and 
 greater induftry. But ftill nature fows 
 alike, tho we do not reap alike. There 
 are, and as there always have been, there 
 always will be, fuch creatures in go- 
 vernment 
 
i 4 ON THE SPIRIT 
 
 yernment as I have defcribed above. 
 Fortune maintains a kind of rivalfhip 
 with wifdom, and piques herfelf often 
 in favor of fools as well as knaves. 
 Socrates ufed to fay, that altho no 
 man undertakes a trade he has not 
 learned, even the meaneft; yet every 
 one thinks himfelf fufficiently qualified 
 for the hardeft of all trades, that of 
 government. He faid this upon the 
 experience he had in Greece. He would 
 not change his opinion if he lived now 
 in Britain. But, however, fuch charac- 
 ters as thefe would do little hurt, gene- 
 rally fpeaking, or would not do it long, 
 if they ftood alone. To do great hurt, 
 fome genius, fome knowledge, fome 
 talents in Ihort, natural or acquired, are 
 necefTary : lefs indeed, far lefs than are 
 required to do good, but always fome. 
 Yet, I imagine, not the worft minifter 
 could do all the mifchief he does, by the 
 mifapplication of his talents alone, if 
 it were not for the mifapplication of 
 
 much 
 
OF PATRIOTISM. 15 
 
 much better talents than his, by fome 
 who join with him, and the non-appli- 
 cation, or the faint and unfteady exer- 
 cife of their talents by fome who oppofe 
 him, as well as the general remiflhefs 
 of mankind in acquiring knowledge, and 
 improving the parts which God has 
 given them, for theferviceof the public. 
 Thefe are the great fprings of national 
 misfortunes. There have been mon- 
 fters in other ages, and other countries, 
 as well as ours - 9 but they never conti- 
 nued their devaluations long, w T hen there 
 were heroes to oppofe them. We will 
 fuppofe a man imprudent, ram, pre- 
 fumptuous, ungracious, infolent, and 
 profligate in fpeculation as well as prac- 
 tice. He can bribe, but he cannot fe- 
 duce : he can buy, but he cannot gain : 
 he can lye, but he cannot deceive. 
 From whence then has fuch a man his 
 ftrength ? From the general corruption 
 of the people, nurfed up to a full matu- 
 rity under his adminiftration from the 
 
 venality 
 
,6 ON THE SPIRIT 
 
 venality of all orders and all ranks of 
 men, fome of whom are fo proftitute, 
 that they fet themfelves to fale, and even 
 prevent application. This would be the 
 anfwer, and it would be a true one as far 
 as it goes ; but it does not account for 
 the whole. Corruption could not fpread 
 with fo much fuccefs, tho reduced into 
 fyftem, and tho fome minifters, with 
 equal impudence and folly, avowed it, 
 by themfelves and their advocates, to 
 be the principal expedient by which 
 they governed, if a long and almoft 
 unobferved progreffion of caufes and 
 effects did not prepare the conjuncture. 
 Let me explain it, and apply it, as J 
 conceive it. One party had given their 
 whole attention, during feveral years, 
 to the project of enriching themfelves, 
 and impoverishing the reft of the nation, 
 and, by thefe and other means, of efta- 
 bliiriing their dominion under the go- 
 vernment and with the favor of a fa- 
 mily, who were foreigners, and there- 
 fore 
 
OF PATRIOTISM. i 7 
 
 fore might believe, that they were efta- 
 blilhed on the throne by the good-will 
 and flrength of this party alone. This 
 party in general were fo intent on thefe 
 views, and many of them, I fear, are fo 
 ftill, that they did not advert in time to 
 the necefTary confequences of the mea- 
 fures they abetted : nor did they confi- 
 der, that the power they raifed, and by 
 which they hoped to govern their coun- 
 try, would govern them with the very 
 rod of iron they forged, and would be 
 the power of a prince or minifter, not 
 that of a party long. Another party 
 continued four, fullen, and inactive, 
 with judgments fo weak, and pamons 
 fo ftrong, that even experience, and a 
 a fevere one furely, was loft upon them. 
 They waited, like the Jews > for 2iMe£iab 9 
 that may never come-, and under whom, 
 if he did come, they would be ftrangely 
 difappointed in their expectations of 
 glory, and triumph, anduniverfal domi- 
 nion. Whilft they waited, they were 
 C marked 
 
18 ON THE SPIRIT 
 
 marked out, like the Jews, a diftinft 
 race, hewers of wood and drawers of 
 water, fcarce members of the commu- 
 nity, tho born in the country. All in- 
 different men flood as it were at a gaze : 
 and the few, who were jealous of the 
 court, were ftill more jealous of one an- 
 other; fo that a ftrength fufficient to 
 oppofe bad minifters was not eafy to be 
 formed. When this ftrength was form - 
 ed, and the infufficiency or iniquity of 
 the adminiftration was daily expofed to 
 public view, many adhered at firft to 
 the minifter, and others were fince gain- 
 ed to his caufe, becaufe they knew no- 
 thing of the conftitution of their own, 
 nor of the hiftory of other countries ; 
 but imagined wildly, that things always 
 went as they faw them go, and that 
 liberty has been, and therefore may be, 
 preferred, under the influence of the 
 fame corruption. Others perhaps were 
 weak enough to be frightened at firft, 
 as fome are hypocritical enough to pre- 
 tend 
 
OF PATRIOTISM. 19 
 
 tend to be ftill, with the appellations of 
 Tory and Jacobite, which are always 
 ridiculoufly given to every man who 
 does not bow to the brazen image that 
 the king has fet up. Others again might 
 be perfuaded, that no fatal ufe at leaft 
 would be made of the power acquired 
 by corruption: and men of fuperior 
 parts might and may ftill flatter them- 
 felves, that if this power mould be fo 
 employed, they lhall have time and 
 means to ftop the effects of it. The firft 
 of thefe are feduced by their ignorance 
 and futility ; the fecond, if they are not 
 hypocrites, by their prejudices j the third, 
 by their partiality and blind confidence -> 
 the laft, by their prefumption; and all 
 of them by the mammon of unrighte- 
 oufnefs, their private interefl, which 
 they endeavour to palliate and to recon- 
 cile as well as they can to that of the 
 public: et caeca cupiditate corrupt^ non 
 intelligunt fe, dum vendunt, et venire. 
 
 C 2 Accord- 
 
2o ON THE SPIRIT 
 
 According to this reprefentation, 
 which I take to be true, your Lordfliip 
 will agree that our unfortunate country 
 affords an example in proof of what is 
 afferted above* The Butch travellers I 
 fpoke of, men of the ordinary or below 
 the ordinary fize of underftanding, tho 
 they are called by caprice, or lifted any 
 other way into power, cannot do great 
 and long mifchief, in a country of li- 
 berty; unlefsmenof genius, knowledge, 
 and experience, mifapply thefe talents, 
 and become their leaders. A minifte- 
 rial faction would have as little ability 
 to do hurt, as they have inclination to 
 do good, if they were not formed and 
 conducted by one of better parts than 
 they nor would fuch a minifter be 
 able to fupport, at the head of this 
 tru fly phalanx, the ignominious tyranny 
 impofed on his country, if other men, 
 of better parts and much more confe- 
 quence than himfelf, were not drawn 
 
 in 
 
OF PATRIOTISM. 21 
 
 in to mifapply thefe parts to the vileft 
 drudgery imaginable j the daily drudgery 
 of explaining nonfenfe, covering igno- 
 rance, difguifing folly, concealing and 
 even juftifying fraud and corruption" : 
 inftead of employing their knowledge, 
 their elocution, their (kill, experience, 
 and authority, to correct the admini- 
 stration and to guard the conftitution. 
 But this is not all : the example lhews 
 a great deal more. Your Lordfhip's 
 experience, as well as mine, will juftify 
 what I am going to fay. It fliews fur- 
 ther, that fuch a conjuncture could not 
 be rendered effectual to preferve power 
 in fome of the weakeft and fome of the 
 worft hands in the kingdom, if there 
 was not a non-application, or a faint 
 and unfteady exercife of parts on one^ 
 fide, as well as an iniquitous mifappli- 
 cation of them on the other: and I 
 cannot help faying, let it fall where it 
 will, what I have faid perhaps already, 
 that the former is a crime but one de- 
 C 3 gvcc 
 
22 ON THE SPIRIT 
 
 gree inferior to the latter. The more 
 genius, induftry, andfpirit are employed 
 to deftroy, the harder the talk of faving 
 our country becomes but the duty 
 increafes with the difficulty, if the prin- 
 ciples on which I reafon are true. In 
 fuch exigences it is not enough that 
 genius be oppofed to genius fpirit muft 
 be matched by fpirit. They, who go 
 about to deftroy, are animated from 
 the firft by ambition and avarice, the 
 love of power and of money: fear 
 makes them often defperate at laft. 
 They muft be oppofed, therefore, or 
 they will be oppofed in vain, by a fpirit 
 able to cope with ambition, avarice, and 
 defpair itfelf by a fpirit able to cope 
 with thefe paffions, when they are fa- 
 vored and fortified by the weaknefs of 
 a nation, and the ftrength of a govern- 
 ment. In fuch exigencies there is little 
 difference, as to the merit or the effed, 
 between oppofmg faintly and unfteadily^ 
 and not oppofing at all : nay the former 
 
 may 
 
OF PATRIOTISM. 23 
 
 may be of worfe confequence, in certain 
 circumftances, than the latter. And this 
 is a truth I wifh with all my heart you 
 may not fee verified in our country, 
 -where many, I fear, undertake oppofi- 
 tion not as a duty y but as an adventure: 
 and looking on themfelves like volun- 
 teers, not like men lifted in the fervice, 
 they deem themfelves a,t liberty to take 
 as much or as little of this trouble, and 
 to continue in it as long, or end it as 
 foon, as they pleafe. It is but a few 
 years ago that not the merchants alone, 
 but the whole nation, took fire at the 
 project of new excifes. The project was 
 oppofed not on mercantile confider- 
 ations and interefts alone, but on the 
 true principles of liberty. In parlia- 
 ment, the oppofition was ftrenuoufly 
 enough fupported for a time ; but there 
 was fo little difpofition to guide and 
 improve the fpirit, that the chief con- 
 cern of thofe who took the lead feemed 
 applied to keep it down : and yet your 
 C 4 Lord- 
 
24 ON THE SPIRIT 
 
 Lordfhip remembers how high it con- 
 tinued againft the projector, till it was 
 calmed juft before the elections of the 
 prefent parliament, by the remarkable 
 indolence and inactivity of the laft fef- 
 fion of the laft. But thefe friends of 
 ours, my Lord, -are as much miftaken 
 in their ethics, as the event will mew 
 they have been in their politics. 
 
 The fervice of our country is no chi- 
 merical, but a real duty. He who ad- 
 mits the proofs of any other moral duty, 
 drawn from the conftitution of human 
 nature, or from the moral fitnefs and 
 unfitnefs of things, muft admit them in 
 favor of this duty, or be reduced to 
 the moft abfurd inconfiftency. When 
 he has once admitted the duty on thefe 
 proofs, it will be no difficult matter to 
 demonftrate to him, that his obligation 
 to the performance of it is in proportion 
 to the means and the opportunities he 
 has of performing it ^ and that nothing 
 
 can 
 
OF PATRIOTISM. 25 
 
 can difcharge him from this obligation 
 as long as he has thefe means and thefe 
 opportunities in his power, and as long 
 as his country continues in the fame 
 want of his fervices. Thefe obligations, 
 then, to the public fervice may become 
 obligations for life on certain perfons. 
 No doubt they may : and mall this con- 
 fideration become a reafon for denying 
 or evading them ? On the contrary, fure 
 it mould become a reafon for acknow- 
 ledging and fulfilling them, with the 
 greateft gratitude to the Supreme Be- 
 ing, who has made us capable of acting 
 fo excellent a part, and with the utmoft 
 benevolence to mankind. Superior ta- 
 lents, and fuperior rank amongft our 
 fellow-creatures, whether acquired by 
 birth, or by the courfe of accidents, 
 and the fuccefs of our own induftry, are 
 noble prerogatives. Shall he, who pof- 
 felfes them, repine at the obligation 
 they lay him under, of pafling his whole 
 life in the nobleft occupation of which 
 
 human 
 
26 ON THE SPIRIT 
 
 human nature is capable? To what 
 higher ftation, to what greater glory 
 can any mortal afpire, than to be, du- 
 ring the whole courfe of his life, the 
 fupport of good, the controul of bad 
 government, and the guardian of public 
 liberty ? To be driven from hence by 
 fuccefsful tyranny, by lofs of health or 
 of parts, or by the force of accidents, 
 is to be degraded in fuch a manner as 
 to deferve pity, and not to incur blame; 
 but to degrade ourfelves, to defcend 
 voluntarily, and by choice, from the 
 highefl to a lower, perhaps to the low- 
 eft rank among the fons of Adam ; to 
 abandon the government of men for 
 that of hounds and horfes, the care of 
 a kingdom for that of a parifh, and a 
 fcene of great and generous efforts in 
 public life, for one of trifling amufe- 
 ments and low cares, of floth and of 
 idlenefs, what is it, my Lord ? I had 
 rather your Lordfhip fhould name it 
 than I. Will it be faid that it is hard 
 
 to 
 
OF PATRIOTISM. 27 
 
 to exact from fome men, in favor of 
 others, that they mould renounce all 
 the pleafures of life, and drudge all their 
 days in bufinefs, that others may in- 
 dulge themfelves in eafe ? It will be faid 
 without grounds. A life dedicated to 
 the fervice of our country admits the 
 full ufe, and no life mould admit the 
 abufe, of pleafures : the leaft are con- 
 fiftenr. with a conftant difcharge of our 
 public duty, the greateft arife from it. 
 The common, the fenfual pleafures to 
 which nature prompts us, and which 
 reafon therefore does not forbid, tho fhe 
 mould always direct, are fo far from 
 being excluded out of a life of bufinefs, 
 that they are fometimes neceffary in it, 
 and are always heightened by it: thofe 
 of the table, for inftance, may be or- 
 dered fo as to promote that which the 
 elder Cato calls viiae conjunftionem. In 
 the midfl: of public duties, private ftu- 
 dies, and an extreme old age, he found 
 time to frequent the fodalitates, or clubs 
 
 of 
 
28 ON THE SPIRIT 
 
 of friends, at Rome, and to fit up all 
 night with his neighbours in the coun- 
 try of the Sabines. Cato's virtue often 
 glowed with wine : and the love of wo- 
 men did not hinder C^sar from form- 
 ing and executing the greater!: projects 
 that ambition ever fuggefted. But if 
 C^sar, whilft he labored to deftroy 
 the liberties of his country, enjoyed 
 thefe inferior pleafures of life, which a 
 man who labors to fave thofe liberties 
 may enjoy as well as he; there are 
 fuperior pleafures in a bufy life, that 
 C^sar never knew; thofe, I mean, 
 that arife from a faithful difcharge of 
 our duty to the commonwealth. Nei- 
 ther Montaigne in writing his eflays, 
 norDEsCARTES inbuildingnew worlds, 
 nor Burnet in framing an antediluvian 
 earth, no, nor Newton in difcovering 
 and eftablilhing the true laws of nature 
 on experiment and a fublimer geometry, 
 felt more intellectual joys, than he feels 
 who is a real patriot, who bends all the 
 
 force 
 
OF PATRIOTISM. 29 
 
 force of his underftanding, and directs 
 all his thoughts anda&ions, to the good 
 of his country. When fuch a man forms 
 a political fcheme, and adjufts various 
 and feemingly independent parts in it 
 to one great and good defign, he is 
 tranfported by imagination, or abforbed 
 in meditation, as much and as agree- 
 ably as they : and the fatisfa&ion that 
 arifes from the different importance of 
 thefe objects, in every ftep of the work, 
 is vaftly in his favor. It is here that 
 the fpeculative philofopher's labor and 
 pleafure end. But he, who fpeculates 
 in order to aB, goes on, and carries his 
 fcheme into execution. His labor con- 
 tinues, it varies, it increafes but fo 
 does his pleafure too. The execution 
 indeed is often traverfed, by unforefeen 
 and untoward circumftances, by the 
 perverfenefs or treachery of friends, and 
 by the power or malice of enemies : 
 but the firft and the laftof thefe animate, 
 and the docility and fidelity of fome 
 
 men 
 
3 o ON THE SPIRIT 
 
 mem make amends for the perverfenefs 
 and treachery of others. Whilft a great 
 event is in fufpenfe, the action warms, 
 and the very fufpenfe, made up of hope 
 and fear, maintains no unpleafing agi- 
 tation in the mind. If the event is de- 
 cided fuccefsfully, fuch a man enjoys 
 pleafure proportionable to the good he 
 has done ; a pleafure like to that which 
 is attributed to the Supreme Being, on 
 a furvey of his works. If the event is 
 decided otherwife, and ufurping courts, 
 or overbearing parties prevail ; fuch a 
 man has ftill the teftimony of his con- 
 fcience, and a fenfe of the honor he has 
 acquired, to foothe his mind, and fup- 
 port his courage. For altho the courfe 
 of ftate-afFairs be to thofe who meddle 
 in them like a lottery, yet it is a lottery 
 wherein no good man can be a lofer : 
 he may be reviled, it is true, inflead of 
 being applauded, and may fuffer vio- 
 lence of many kinds. I will not fay, 
 like Seneca, that the nobleft fpectacle, 
 
 which 
 
OF PATRIOTISM. 31 
 
 which God can behold, is a virtuous 
 man fuffering, and ftruggling with 
 afflictions : but this I will fay, that the 
 fecond Cato, driven out of the forum, 
 and dragged to prifon, enjoyed more 
 inward pleafure, and maintained more 
 outward dignity, than they who infulted 
 him, and who triumphed in the ruin of 
 their country. But the very example 
 of Cato may be urged, perhaps, againft 
 what I have infilled upon : it may be 
 afked, what good he did to Rome, by 
 dedicating his whole life to her fervice, 
 what honor to himfelf, by dying at 
 Utica ? It may be faid, that govern- 
 ments have their periods, like all things 
 human; that they may be brought back 
 to their primitive principles during a 
 certain time, but that when thefe prin- 
 ciples are worn out in the minds of 
 men, it is a vain enterprife to endeavour 
 to renew them ; that this is the cafe of 
 all governments when the corruption 
 of the people comes to a great pitch, 
 
 and 
 
32 ON THE SPIRIT 
 
 and is grown univerfal ; that when a 
 houfe which is old and quite decayed, 
 tho often repaired, not only cracks, but 
 totters even from the foundations, every 
 man in his fenfes runs out of it, and 
 takes Ihelter where he can, and that 
 none but madmen continue obftinate to 
 repair what is irreparable, till they are 
 crufhed in the ruin : juft fo, that we 
 muft content ourfelves to live under the 
 government we like the leaft, when 
 that form which we like the moft is 
 deftroyed, or worn out; according to 
 the counfel of Dolabella in one of his 
 letters to Cicero. But, my Lord, if 
 Cato could not fave, he prolonged the 
 life of liberty: the liberties of Rome 
 would have been loft when Catiline 
 attacked them, abetted probably by 
 Caesar and Crassus, and the worft 
 citizens of Rome-, and when Cicero 
 defended them, abetted by Cato and 
 the belt. That Cato erred in his con- 
 duct, by giving way too much to the 
 
 natural 
 
OF PATRIO TISM. 33 
 
 natural roughnefs of his temper, and 
 by allowing too little for that of the Ro~ 
 mans, among whom luxury had long 
 prevailed, ,and corruption was openly 
 practifed, is moft true. He was inca- 
 pable of employing thofe feeming com- 
 pliances that are reconcileable to the 
 greateft fteadinefs and treated unfkil- 
 fully a crazy conftitution. The fafety 
 of the commonwealth depended, in that 
 critical conjuncture, on a coalition of 
 parties, the fenaforian and the equeftrian : 
 Tully had formed it, Cato broke it. 
 But if this good, for I think he was not 
 an able, man erred in the particular re- 
 fpects I have ventured to mention, he 
 deferved moft certainly the glory he ac- 
 quired by the general tenor of his con- 
 duct, and by dedicating the whole la- 
 bor of his life to the fervice of his coun- 
 try. He would have deferved more, if 
 he had perfifted in maintaining the fame 
 caufe to the end, and would have died, 
 I think, with a better grace at Munda 
 D than 
 
34 ON THE SPIRIT 
 
 than at Utica. If this be fo, if Cato 
 may be cenfured, feverely indeed, but 
 juftly, for abandoning the caufe of li- 
 berty, which he would not, however, 
 furvive ; what fhall we fay of thofe who 
 embrace it faintly, purfue it irrefolute- 
 ly, grow tired of it when they have 
 much to hope, and give it up when they 
 have nothing to fear ? 
 
 My Lord, I have infilled the more 
 on this duty which men owe to their 
 country, becaufe I came out of England^ 
 and continue ftill, ftrongly affected with 
 what I faw when I was there. Our go- 
 vernment has approached nearer, than 
 ever before, to the true principles of it, 
 fince the revolution of one thoufand fix 
 hundred and eighty eight : and the ac- 
 ceflion of the prefent family to the 
 throne has given the fairefl opportuni- 
 ties, as well as the jufteft reafons, for 
 completing the fcheme of liberty, and 
 improving it to perfection. But it feems 
 
 to 
 
OF PATRIOTISM. 35 
 
 to me, that, in our feparate world, as 
 the means of aflerting and fupporting 
 liberty are increafed, all concern for it 
 is diminifhed. I beheld, when I was a- 
 mong you, more abject fervility, in the 
 manners and behaviour of particular 
 men, than I ever faw in France, or than 
 has been feen there, I believe, fince the 
 days of that Gafcon, who, being turned 
 out of the minifter's door, leaped in a- 
 gain at his window. As to bodies of 
 men, I dare challenge your Lordlhip, 
 and I am forry for it, to produce any 
 inftances of refiftance to the unjuft de- 
 mands, or wanton will of a court, that 
 Britifh parliaments have given, compa- 
 rable to fuch as I am able to cite to the 
 honor of the parliament of Paris, and 
 the whole body of the law in that coun- 
 try, within the fame compafs of time. 
 This abject fervility may appear juftly 
 the more wonderful in Britain, becaufe 
 the government of Britain has, in fome 
 fort, the appearance of an oligarchy : 
 D 2 and 
 
36 ON THE SPIRIT 
 
 and monarchy is rather hid behind 
 it than fhewn, rather weakened than 
 ftrengthened, rather impofed upon than 
 obeyed. The wonder, therefore, is to 
 obferve, how imagination and cuftom, 
 a giddy fool and a formal pedant, have 
 rendered thefe cabals, or oligarchies, 
 more refpecled than majefty itfelf. That 
 this mould happen in countries where 
 princes, who have abfolute power, may 
 be tyrants themfelves, or fubftitute fub- 
 ordinate tyrants, is not wonderful. It 
 has happened often : but that it mould 
 happen in Britain^ may be juftly an ob- 
 ject of wonder. In thefe countries, the 
 people had loft the armour of their con- 
 ftitution : they were naked and defcnce- 
 lefs. Ours is more complete than ever.. 
 But tho we have preferved the armour ^ 
 we have loft the fpirit, of our constitu- 
 tion : and therefore we bear, from lit- 
 tle engroflers of delegated power, what 
 our fathers would not have fuffered from 
 true proprietors of the royal authority. 
 : Par- 
 
OF PATRIOTISM. 37 
 
 Parliaments are not only, what they al- 
 ways were, efTentiai parts of our confti- 
 tution, but efiential parts of our admi- 
 niftration too. They do not claim the 
 executive power : No. But the execu- 
 tive power cannot be exercifed without 
 their annual concurrence. How few 
 months, inftead of years, have princes 
 and minifters now to pafs, without in- 
 ipection and controul ? How eajy, there- 
 fore, is it become to check every grow- 
 ing evil in the bud ; to change every 
 bad adminiftration, to keep fuch farmers 
 of government in awe ; to maintain, and 
 revenge, if need be, the conftitution ? It 
 is become fo eafy, by the prefent form 
 of our government, that corruption alone 
 could not defbroy us. We muft want 
 fprity as well as virtue^ to perifh. Even 
 able knaves would preferve liberty in 
 fuch circumftances as ours, and high- 
 waymen would fcorn to receive the 
 wages, and do the drudgery of pick- 
 pockets. But all is little, and low, and 
 D 3 mean 
 
38 ON THE SPIRIT 
 
 mean among us ! Far from having the 
 virtues, we have not even the vices, of 
 great men. He who had pride inftead 
 of vanity, and ambition but equal to his 
 defire of wealth, could never bear, I do 
 not fay, to be the under-ftrapper to any 
 farmer of royal authority, but to fee 
 patiently one of them, at beft his fellow, 
 perhaps his inferior in every refpect, lord 
 it over him, and the reft of mankind, 
 difTipating the wealth, and trampling on 
 the liberties of his country, with impu- 
 nity. This could not happen, if there 
 was the leaft fpirit among us. But there 
 is none. What paries among us for am- 
 bition, is an odd mixture of avarice and 
 vanity : the moderation we have feen 
 pra&ifed is pufillanimity, and the phn 
 lofophy that fome men affecl, is floth. 
 Hence it comes that corruption has 
 fpred, and prevails. 
 
 I expect little from the principal 
 aftors that tread the ilage at prefent. 
 
 They 
 
OF PATRIOTISM. 39 
 
 They are divided, not fo much as it has 
 feemed, and as they would have it be- 
 lieved, about meafures : the true divifion 
 is about their different ends. Whilft the 
 minifter was not hard pufhed, nor the 
 profpecl: of fucceeding to him near, they 
 appeared to have but one end, the re- 
 formation of the government. The de- 
 ftruction of the minifter was purfued 
 only as a preliminary, but of effential 
 and indifpenfable neceflity to that end. 
 But when his deftru&ion feemed to ap- 
 proach, the objeft of his fucceffion inter- 
 pofed to the fight of many, and the re- 
 formation of the government was no longer 
 their point of view. They divided the 
 flcin, at leaft in their thoughts, before 
 they had taken the beaft : and the com- 
 mon fear, of hunting him down for o- 
 thers, made them all faint in the chace. 
 It was this , and this alone, that has faved 
 him, or has put off his evil day. Cor- 
 ruption, fo much, and fo juftly com- 
 plained of, could not have done it alone. 
 
 D 4 When 
 
4 o ON THE SPIRIT 
 
 When I fay that I expect little from 
 the principal actors that tread the ftage 
 at prefent, I am far from applying to all 
 of them what I take to be true of the far 
 greater!: part. There are men among 
 them who certainly intend the good of 
 their country, and whom I love and 
 honor for that reafon. But thefe men 
 have been clogged, or milled, or over- 
 borne by others \ and, feduced by natu^ 
 tural temper to inactivity, have taken 
 any excufe, or yielded to any pretence 
 that favoured it. That they mould 
 roufe, therefore, in themfelves, or in 
 any one elfe, the fpirit they have fufrer- 
 ed, nay, helped to die away, I do not 
 expect. I turn my eyes from the gene- 
 ration that is going off, to the genera- 
 tion that is coming on the ftage. I ex- 
 pect good from them, and from none 
 of them more than from you, my Lord, 
 Remember, that the oppofition, in which 
 you have engaged at your firft entrance 
 
 into 
 
OF PATRIOTISM. 41 
 
 into bufmefs, is not an oppofltion only 
 to a bad adminiftration of public affairs, 
 but to an adminiftration that fupports 
 itfelf by means, eftabliihes principles, 
 introduces cuftoms, repugnant to the 
 conftitution of our government, and de- 
 ftruclive of all liberty ; that you do not 
 only combat prefent evils, but attempts 
 to intail thefe evils upon you and your 
 pofterity ; that if you ceafe the combat, 
 you give up the caufe and that he,who 
 does not renew, on every occafion, his 
 claim, may forfeit his right. 
 
 Our difputes were formerly, to fay 
 the truth, much more about perfons 
 than things ; or, at moft, about parti- 
 cular points of political conduct, in 
 which we mould have foon agreed, if 
 perfons and perfonal interefts had been 
 lefs concerned, and the blind prejudice 
 of party lefs prevalent. Whether the 
 Big-endians, or the Little-endians got the 
 better, I believe, no man of fenfe and 
 
 know- 
 
42 ON THE SPIRIT 
 
 knowledge thought the conftitution 
 concerned ; notwithftanding all the cla- 
 mor raifed at one time about the dan- 
 ger of the church, and at another 
 about the danger of the protejlant fuc- 
 ceffton. But the cafe is, at this time, 
 vaftly altered. The means of invading 
 liberty more effectually by the confti- 
 tution of the revenue, than it ever had 
 been invaded by prerogative, were not 
 then grown up into ftrength. They are 
 fo now : and a bold and an infolent ufe 
 is made of them. To reform the ftate, 
 therefore, is, and ought to be, the ob- 
 ject of your oppofition, as well as to re- 
 form the adminiftration. Why do I fay 
 as well ? It is fo, and it ought to be fo, 
 much more. Wreft the power of the 
 government, if you can, out of hands 
 that have employed it weakly and wick- 
 edly, ever fince it was thrown into them 
 by a filly bargain made in one reign, 
 and a corrupt bargain made in another. 
 But do not imagine this to be your fole, 
 
 or 
 
OF PATRIOTISM. 43 
 
 or your principal, bufinefs. You owe to 
 your country, to your honor, to your 
 fecurity, to the prefent, and to future 
 ages, that no endeavours of yours be 
 wanting to repair the breach that is 
 made, and is increafing daily in the con- 
 ftitution ; and to fhut up, with all the 
 bars and bolts of law, the principal en- 
 tries through which thefe torrents of 
 corruption have been let in upon us. I 
 fay, the principal entries ; becaufe, how- 
 ever it may appear in pure fpeculation, 
 I think it would not be found in prac- 
 tice pofllble, no, nor eligible neither, 
 to fhut them up all. As entries of cor- 
 ruption none of them deferve to be ex- 
 cepted : but there is a juft diftindtion to 
 be made, becaufe there is a real differ- 
 ence. Some of thefe entries are open- 
 ed by the abufe of powers necefTary to 
 maintain fubordination and to carry on 
 even good government, and therefore 
 necefTary to be preferved in the crown, 
 notwithflanding the abufe that is fome- 
 
 times 
 
44 ON THE SPIRIT 
 
 times made of them; for no human infti- 
 tution can arrive at perfection, and the 
 moft that human wifdom can do, is to* 
 procure the fame or greater good, at 
 the expence of lefs evil. There will be 
 always fome evil, either immediate or 
 remote, either in caufe or confequence. 
 But there are other entries of corrup- 
 tion, and thefe are by much the great- 
 er!:, for fuffering of which to continue 
 open, no reafon can be afTigned, or has 
 been pretended to be affigned, but that 
 which is, to every honed and wife man, 
 a reafon for fhutting them up ; the in- 
 creafe of the means of corruption, which 
 are oftener employed for the fervice of 
 the oligarchy, than for the fervice of the 
 monarchy. Shut up thefe^ and you will 
 have nothing to fear from the others. By 
 thefe, a more real and a more danger- 
 ous power has been gained to minifters, 
 than was loft to the crown by the re- 
 ftraints on prerogative. 
 
 There 
 
OF PATRIOTISM. 45 
 
 There have been periods when our 
 government continued free, with ftrong 
 appearances of becoming abfolute. Let 
 it be your glory, my Lord, and that of 
 the new generation fpringing up with 
 you, that this government do not be- 
 come abfolute at any future period, with 
 the appearances of being free. How- 
 ever you may be employed, in all your 
 counfels, in all your actions, keep this 
 regard to the conftitution always in 
 fight. The .fcene that opens before you 
 is. great, and the part that you will have 
 to act, difficult. It is difficult, indeed, 
 to bring men, from ftrong habits of cor- 
 ruption, to prefer honor to profit, and 
 liberty to luxury \ as it is hard to teach 
 princes the great art of governing all by 
 ail, or to prevail on them to practife it. 
 But if it be a difficult, it is a glorious 
 attempt ; an attempt, worthy to exert 
 the greater! talents, and to fill the moll 
 
 extended 
 
4 6 ON THE SPIRIT 
 
 extended life. Purfue it with courage, 
 my Lord, nor defpair of fuccefs. 
 
 Deus hate fort off e benigna 
 Reducet in fedem vice. 
 
 A parliament, nay, one houfe of parlia- 
 ment, is able, at any time, and at once, 
 to deftroy any corrupt plan of power. 
 Time produces every day new conjunc- 
 tures. Be prepared to improve them. 
 We read, in the Old teftament, of a city 
 that might have efcaped divine ven- 
 geance, if five righteous men had been 
 found in it. Let not our city perifh for 
 want of fo fmall a number : and if the 
 generation that is going off could not 
 furniih it, let the generation that is 
 coming on furniih a greater. 
 
 We may reafonably hope that it will, 
 from the firft efTays which your Lord- 
 fhip and fome others of our young fe- 
 nators have made in public life. You 
 
 have 
 
OF PATRIOTISM. 47 
 
 have raifed the hopes of your country 
 by the proofs you have given of fupe- 
 rior parts. Confirm thefe hopes by 
 proofs of uncommon induftry, applica- 
 tion, and perfeverance. Superior parts, 
 nay, even fuperior virtue, without thefe 
 qualities, will be infufficient to fupport 
 your character and your caufe. How 
 many men have appeared in my time* 
 who have made thefe eflays with fuc- 
 cefs, and have made no progrefs after- 
 wards ? Some have dropped, from their 
 firft flights, down into the vulgar crowd, 
 have been diftinguilhed, nay, heard of 
 no more ! Others, with better parts, 
 perhaps with more prefumption, but 
 certainly with greater ridicule, have per- 
 fifted in making thefe effays towards 
 bufinefs all their lives, and have never 
 been able to advance farther, in their 
 political courfe, than a premeditated 
 harangue on fome choice fubjecl:. I 
 never faw one of thefe important per- 
 fons fit down after his oration, with re- 
 peated 
 
48 ON THE SPIRIT 
 
 peated hear-hims ringing in his ears^ 
 and inward rapture glowing in his eyes, 
 that he did not reeal to my memory the 
 ftory of a conceited member of fome 
 parliament in France, who was over- 
 heard, after his tedious harangue, mut- 
 tering moft devoutly to himfelf, Non 
 nobis^ Dojnine y non nobis^ fed nomini tuo 
 da gloriam ! 
 
 Eloquence has charms to lead man- 
 kind, and gives a nobler fuperiority 
 than power, that every dunce may ufe, 
 or fraud, that every knave may employ. 
 But eloquence muft flow like a ftream 
 that is fed by an abundant fpring, and 
 not fpout forth a little frothy water on 
 fome gaudy day, and remain dry the 
 reft of the year. The famous orators of 
 Greece and Rome were the ftatefmen and 
 minifters of thofe commonwealths. The 
 nature of their governments, and the 
 humour of thofe ages made elaborate 
 orations neceflary. They harangued of- 
 
 tener 
 
OF PATRIOTISM. 49 
 
 tener than they debated : and the ars 
 dicendi required more ftudy and more 
 exercife of mind, and of body too, a- 
 mong them, than are neceflary among 
 us. But as much pains as they took in 
 learning how to conduct the ftream of 
 eloquence, they took more to enlarge 
 the fountain from which it flowed. Hear 
 Demosthenes, hear Cicero, thunder 
 againft Philip, Catiline, and Anto- 
 ny. I chufe the example of the firlt, 
 rather than that of Pericles, whom he 
 imitated, or of Phocion, whom he op- 
 pofed, or of any other confiderable per- 
 fonage in Greece and the example of 
 Cicero rather than that of Crassus, 
 or of Hortensius, or of any other of 
 the great men of Rome becaufe the e- 
 loquence of thefe two has been fo cele- 
 brated, that we are accuftomed to look 
 upon them almoft as mere orators. They 
 were orators indeed, and no man who 
 has a foul can read their orations, after 
 the revolution of fo many ages, af- 
 E ter 
 
5 o ON THE SPIRIT 
 
 ter the extinction of the governments, 
 and of the people for whom they were 
 compofed, without feeling, at this hour, 
 the pafllons they were defigned to move, 
 and the fpirit they were defigned to raife. 
 But if we look into the hiftory of thefe 
 two men, and confider the parts they 
 aded, we (hall fee them in another light, 
 and admire them in an higher fphere of 
 action. Demosthenes had been neg- 
 lected, in his education, by the fame 
 tutors who cheated him of his inherit- 
 ance. Cicero was bred with greater 
 advantage : and Plutarch, I think, 
 fays, that when he firft appeared the 
 people ufed to call him, by way of de~ 
 rifion, the Greek, and the fcholar. But 
 whatever advantage of this kind the lat- 
 ter might have over the former, and to 
 which of them foever you afcribe the fu- 
 perior genius, the progrefs which both 
 of them made in every part of political 
 knowledge, by their induftry and appli- 
 cation, was marvellous. Cicero might 
 
 be 
 
OF PATRIOTISM. 51 
 
 be a better philofopher, but Demosthe- 
 nes was no lefs a ftatefman : and both 
 of them performed actions, and acquired 
 fame, above the reach of eloquence a- 
 lone. Demosthenes ufed to compare 
 eloquence to a weapon, aptly enough ; 
 for eloquence, like every other weapon, 
 is of little ufe to the owner, unlefs he 
 have the force and the fkill to ufe it. 
 This force and this fkill Demosthenes 
 had in an eminent degree. Obferve 
 them in one inftance among many. It 
 was of mighty importance to Philip, 
 to prevent the acceflion of 'Thebes to 
 the grand alliance that Demosthenes, 
 at the head of the Atlienian common- 
 wealth, formed againft the growing 
 power of the Macedonians. Philip had 
 emiflaries and his ambafladors on the 
 fpot, to oppofe to thofe of Athens, and 
 we may be allured that he neglected 
 none of thofe arts upon this occafion, 
 that he employed fo fuccefsfully on o- 
 thers. The ftruggle was great, but De~ 
 E 2 mosthenes 
 
52 ON THE SPIRIT 
 
 mosthenes prevailed, and the Thebans 
 engaged in the war againft Philip. Was 
 it by his eloquence alone that he prevail- 
 ed, in a divided ftate, over all the fub- 
 tilty of intrigue, all the dexterity of ne- 
 gotiation, all the feduction, all the cor- 
 ruption, and all the terror that the ableft 
 and moil powerful prince could em- 
 ploy ? Was Demosthenes wholly taken 
 up with compofmg orations, and ha- 
 ranguing the people in this remarka- 
 ble crifis ? He harangued them, no 
 doubt, at Thebes, as well as at Athens, . 
 and in the reft of Greece, where all the 
 great refolutions of making alliances, 
 waging war, or concluding peace, were 
 determined in democratical alTernblies. 
 Rut yet haranguing was, no doubt, the 
 ieaft part of his bufinefs, and eloquence 
 was neither the fole, nor the principal 
 talent, as the ftyle of writers would in- 
 duce us to believe, on which his fuccefs 
 depended. He mud have been mailer 
 of other arts, fubferviently to which his 
 
 eloquence 
 
OF PATRIOTISM. 63 
 
 eloquence was employed, and muft have 
 had a thorough knowledge of his own 
 ftate, and of the other ftates of Greece, 
 of their difpofitions, and of their inter- 
 efts relatively to one another, and re- 
 latively to their neighbours, to the Per- 
 fians particularly, with whom he held a 
 correfpondence, not much to his ho- 
 nor in appearance, whatever he might 
 intend by it : I fay, he muft have been 
 mafter of many other arts, and have 
 pofTelTed an immenfe fund of know- 
 ledge, to make his eloquence in every 
 cafe fuccefsful, and even pertinent or 
 feafonable in fome, as well as to direct 
 it, and to furniih it with matter when- 
 ever he thought proper to employ this 
 weapon. 
 
 Let us confider Tully on the great- 
 eft theatre of the known world, and in 
 the moft difficult circumftances. We 
 are better acquainted with him than we 
 are with Demosthenes \ for we fee him 
 E 3 nearer. 
 
54 ON THE SPIRIT 
 
 nearer, as it were, and in more different 
 lights. How perfect a knowledge had 
 he acquired of the Roman conftitution 
 of government, ecclefiaftical and civil 
 of the original and progrefs, of the ge- 
 neral reafons and particular occafions of 
 the laws and cuftoms of his country • 
 of the great rules of equity, and the low 
 practice of courts ; of the duty of every 
 magiftracy and office in the ftate, from 
 the dictator down to the lictor ; and of 
 all the fteps by which Rome had rifen, 
 from her infancy, to liberty, to power, 
 and grandeur, and dominion, as well as 
 of all thofe by which fne began to de- 
 cline, a little before his age, to that fer- 
 vitude which he died for oppofing, but 
 lived to fee eftablimed, and in which 
 not her liberty alone, but her pow- 
 er, and grandeur, and dominion were 
 loft ? How well was he acquainted with 
 the Roman colonies and provinces, with 
 the allies and enemies of the empire, 
 with the rights and privileges of the 
 
 former, 
 
OF PATRIOTISM. 55 
 
 former, the difpofitions and conditions 
 of the latter, with the interefts of them 
 all relatively to Rome y and with the in- 
 terefts of Rome relatively to them ? 
 How prefent to his mind were the anec- 
 dotes of former times concerning the, 
 Roman and other ftates, and how cu- 
 rious was he to obferve the minuted 
 circumftances that pafled in his own ? 
 His works will anfwer fufficiently the 
 queftions I afk, and eftablifh in the 
 mind of every man who reads them the 
 idea I would give of his capacity and 
 knowledge, as well as that which is fo 
 univerfally taken of his eloquence. To 
 a man fraught with all this ftock of 
 knowledge, and induftrious to improve 
 it daily, nothing could happen that was 
 entirely new, nothing for which he 
 was quite unprepared, fcarce any effect 
 whereof he had not conMdered the caufe, 
 fcarce any caufe wherein his fagacity 
 could not difcern the latent effect. His 
 eloquence in private caufes gave him 
 £ 4 firft 
 
56 ON THE SPIRIT 
 
 firft credit at Rome : but it was this 
 knowledge, this experience, and the con- 
 tinued habits of bufinefs, that fupport- 
 ed his reputation, enabled him to do fo 
 much fervice to his country, and gave 
 force and authority to his eloquence. 
 To little purpofe would he have at- 
 tacked Catiline with all the vehe- 
 mence that indignation, and even fear, 
 added to eloquence, if he had trufted to 
 this weapon alone. This weapon alone 
 would have fecured neither him nor the 
 fenate from the poniard of that afTafiin. 
 He would have had no occafion -to 
 boafl, that he had driven this infamous 
 citizen out of the walls of Rome, abut, 
 excejfit, evafit, em-pit, if he had not made 
 it, before-hand, impoffible for him to 
 continue any longer in them. As little 
 occafion would he have had to affume 
 the honor of defeating, without any tu- 
 mult, or any diforder, the defigns of 
 thofc who confpired to murder the Ro- 
 man people, to defcroy the Roman em- 
 pire. 
 
OF PATRIOTISM. 57 
 
 pire, and to extinguilh the Roman 
 name if he had not united, by fkill 
 and management, in the common caufe 
 of their country, orders of men the 
 moft averfe to each other ; if he had 
 not watched all the machinations of the 
 confpirators in filence, and prepared a 
 ftrength fufficient to refift them at Rome, 
 and in the provinces, before he opened 
 this fcene of villainy to the fenate and 
 the people : in a word, if he had not 
 made much more ufe of political pru- 
 dence, that is, of the knowledge of man- 
 kind, and of the arts of government, 
 which ftudy and experience give, than 
 of all the powers of his eloquence. 
 
 Such was Demosthenes, fuch was 
 Cicero, fuch were all the great men 
 whofe memories are preferved in hiftory, 
 and fuch muft every man be, or endea- 
 vour to be, if he has either fenfe or fen- 
 timent, who prefumes to meddle in af- 
 fairs of government, of a free govern- 
 ment 
 
 i 
 
5 S ON THE SPIRIT 
 
 ment I mean, and hopes to maintain a 
 diftinguiflied character in popular affem- 
 blies, whatever part he takes, whether 
 that of fupporting, or that of oppofing. 
 I put the two cafes purpofely, my Lord, 
 becaufe I have obferved, and your Lord- 
 ihip will have frequent occafions of ob- 
 ferving, many perfons who feem to think 
 that oppofition to an adminiftration re- 
 quires fewer preparatives, and lefs con- 
 flant application, than the conduct of 
 it. Now, my Lord, I take this to be a 
 grofs error, and, I am fure, it has been 
 a fatal one. It is one of thofe errors, and 
 there are many fuch,which men impute 
 to judgment, and which proceed from 
 the defect of judgment, as this does 
 from lightnefs, irrefolution, lazinefs, 
 and a falfe notion of oppofition ; unlefs 
 the perfons, who feem to think, do not 
 really think in this manner, but, ferving 
 the public purely for intereft, and not 
 for fame, nor for duty, decline taking 
 the fame pains when they oppofe with- 
 out 
 
OF PATRIOTISM. 59 
 
 out perfonal and immediate reward, as 
 they are willing to take when they are 
 paid for ferving. Look about you, and 
 you will fee men eager to fpeak, and 
 keen to act, when particular occafions 
 prefs them, or particular motives excite 
 them, but quite unprepared for either : 
 and hence all that fuperficiality in fpeak- 
 ing, for want of information ; hence all 
 that confufion or inactivity, for want of 
 concert ; and all that difappointment, 
 for want of preliminary meafures. They 
 who affect to head an oppofition, or to 
 make any confiderable figure in it, muft 
 be equal, at leaft, to thofe whom they 
 oppofe y I do not fay, in parts only, 
 but in application and induftry, and the 
 fruits of both, information, knowledge, 
 and a certain conftant preparednefs for 
 all the events that may arife. Every 
 adminiftration is a fyftem of conduct : 
 oppofition, therefore, mould be a fyftem 
 of conduct likewife an oppofite, but 
 ziot a dependent fyftem. I mail explain 
 
 rnyfelf 
 
6o ON THE SPIRIT 
 
 myfelf better by an example. When 
 two armies take the field, the generals 
 on both fides have their different plans, 
 for the campaign, either of defence, or 
 of offence : and as the former does not 
 fufpend his meafures till he is attacked, 
 but takes them before-hand on every 
 probable contingency, fo the latter does 
 not fufpend his till the opportunity of 
 attacking prefents itfelf, but is alert, 
 and conftantly ready to feize it when- 
 ever it happens ; and, in the mean time* 
 is bufy to improve all the advantages of 
 fkill, of force, or of any other kind that 
 he has, or that he can acquire, indepen- 
 dently of the plan, and of the motions 
 of his enemy. 
 
 Lnt a word, my Lord, this is my no- 
 tion, and I fubmit it to you. Accord- 
 ing to the prefent form of our conftitu- 
 tion, every member of either houfe of 
 parliament is a member of a national 
 landing council, born, or appointed by 
 
 the 
 
OF PATRIOTISM. 61 
 
 the people, to promote good, and to 
 oppofe bad government and if not 
 veiled with the power of, a minifter of 
 ftate, yet veiled with the fuperior pow- 
 er of controlling thofe who are appoint- 
 ed fuch by the crown. It follows from 
 hence, that they who engage in oppo- 
 fition, are under as great obligations 
 to prepare themfelves to controul, as 
 they who ferve the crown are under to 
 prepare themfelves to carry on, the ad- 
 miniftration : and that a party, formed 
 - for this purpofe, do not act like good 
 citizens, nor honeft men, unlefs they 
 propofe true, as well as oppofe falfe mea- 
 fures of government. Sure I am, they 
 do not act like wife men ? unlefs they 
 act fyftematically, and unlefs they con- 
 trail, on every occafion, that fcheme 
 of policy which the public intereft re- 
 quires to be followed, with that which 
 is fuited to no intereft but the private 
 intereft of the prince, or his minifters. 
 
 Cunning 
 
6z ON THE SPIRIT 
 
 Cunning men (feveral fuch there are 
 among you) will diflike this confe- 
 quence, and object, that fuch a con- 
 duel: would fupport, under the appear- 
 ance of oppofing, a weak, and even a 
 wicked adminiftration ; and that to 
 proceed in this manner, would be to 
 give good counfel to a bad minifter, 
 and to extricate him out of diftreffes 
 that ought to be improved to his ruin. 
 But cunning pays no regard to virtue, 
 and is but the low mimic of wifdom. 
 It were eafy to demonftrate what I have 
 aflerted concerning the duty of an op- 
 pofing party : and I prefume there is 
 no need of labouring to prove, that a 
 party who oppofed, fyftematically, a 
 wife to a filly, an honeft to an ini- 
 quitous, fcheme of government, would 
 acquire greater reputation and ftrength, 
 and arrive more furely at their end, 
 than a party who oppofed, occafionally 
 as it were, without any common fyftem, 
 
 without 
 
OF PATRIOTISM. 6 3 
 
 without any general concert, with lit- 
 tle uniformity, little preparation, little 
 perfeverance, and as little knowledge or 
 political capacity. But it is time to 
 leave this invidious fubjeft, and to 
 haften to the conclufion of my letter 
 before it grows into a book. 
 
 I am, 
 
 My Lord, &c. 
 
LETTER II. 
 The Idea of 
 
 A Patriot King. 
 
( 67 ) 
 
 The Idea of 
 
 A Patriot King. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Dec. i. 1738. 
 
 REVISING fome letters I writ to 
 my Lord ***, I found in one of 
 them a great deal faid concern- 
 ing the duties which men owe to their 
 country, thofe men particularly who live 
 under a free conftitution of government ; 
 with a ftrong application of thefe gene- 
 ral doctrines to the prefent ftate of Great 
 Britain, and to the characters of the pre- 
 fent aftors on this ftage. 
 
 F 2 I SAW 
 
63 thb: idea of 
 
 I saw no reafon to alter, none even 
 to foften, any thing that is there ad- 
 vanced. On the contrary, it came into 
 my mind to carry thefe considerations 
 further, and to delineate, for I pretend 
 not to make a perfect draught, the du- 
 ties of a king to his country \ of thofe kings 
 particularly who are appointed by the 
 people, for I know of none who are 
 anointed by God to rule in limited mon- 
 archies. After which, I propofed to 
 apply the general doctrines in this cafe, 
 as ftrongly and as directly as in the 
 other, to the prefent fiate of Great Bri- 
 tain. 
 
 I am not one of thofe oriental flaves, 
 who deem it unlawful prefumption to 
 look their kings in the face ; neither 
 am I fwayed by my Lord Bacon's au- 
 thority, to think this cuftom good and 
 reafonable in it's meaning, tho it favours 
 of barbarifm in it's inftitution : Ritu 
 
 quidem 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 69 
 
 quidem barbarus^ fed fignificatione bonus. 
 Much otherwife. It feems to me, that 
 no fecrets are fo important to be known, 
 no hearts deferve to be pryed into with 
 more curiofity and attention, than thofe 
 of princes. But many things have con- 
 curred, befides age and temper, to fet 
 me at a great diftance from the prefent 
 court. Far from prying into the hearts, 
 I fcarce know the faces, of our royal 
 family. I mall therefore decline all ap- 
 plication to their characters, and all 
 mention of any influence which their 
 characters may have on their own for- 
 tune, or on that of this nation. 
 
 The principles I have reafoncd upon 
 in my letter to my Lord ***, and thofe 
 I mall reafon upon here, are the fame. 
 They are laid in the fame fyftem of hu- 
 man nature. They are drawn from that 
 fource from whence all the duties of 
 public and private morality muft be de- 
 rived, or they will be often falfly, and 
 F 3 always 
 
70 THE IDEA OF 
 
 always precarioufly, eflablifhed. Up to 
 this fource there are few men who take 
 the pains to go : and, open as it lies, 
 there are not many who can find their 
 way to it. By fuch as do, I mall be un- 
 derftood and approved : and, far from 
 fearing the cenfure, or the ridicule, I 
 mould reproach myfelf with the ap~ 
 plaufe, of men who meafure their in- 
 tereft by their pafiions, and their duty 
 by the examples of a corrupt age ; that 
 is, by the examples they afford to one 
 another. Such, I think, are the great- 
 er! part of the prefent generation ; not 
 of the vulgar alone, but of thofe who 
 ftand foremofr, and are raifed higherl 
 in our nation. Such we may juftly ap- 
 prehend too that the next will be ; 
 fince they who are to compofe it will 
 fet out into the world under a direction 
 that muft incline them ftrongly to the 
 fame courfe of felf-intereft, profligacy* 
 and corruption. 
 
 Thi 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 71 
 
 The iniquity of all the principal men in 
 any community, of kings and minifters 
 efpecially, does not confift alone in the 
 crimes they commit, and in the imme- 
 diate confequences of thefe crimes : and 
 therefore their guilt is not to be mea- 
 fured by thefe alone. Such men fib at 
 gainft pofterity, as well as againft their 
 own age : and when the confequences of 
 their crimes are over, the confequences 
 of their example remain. I think, and 
 every wife and honeft man in genera- 
 tions yet unborn will think, if the hi- 
 ftory of this adminiftration defcends to 
 blacken our annals, that the greatefl: 
 iniquity of the minifter, on whom the 
 whole iniquity ought to be charged, fince 
 he has been fo long in pofTeffion of the 
 whole power, is the conflant endeavour 
 he has employed to corrupt the morals 
 of men. I fay thus generally, the mo- 
 rals ; becaufe he, who abandons or be- 
 trays his country, will abandon or be- 
 F 4 tray 
 
72 THE IDEA OF 
 
 tray his friend and becaufe he, who is 
 prevailed on to act in parliament with- 
 out any regard to truth or juftice, will 
 eafily prevail on himfelf to act in the 
 fame manner every where elfe. A wifer 
 and honefter administration may re- 
 lieve our trade from that oppremon, 
 and the public from that load of debt, 
 under which it muft be fuppofed that 
 he has induftrioufly kept it becaufe we 
 are able to prove, by fair calculations, 
 that he might have provided effectually 
 for the payment of it, fince he came to 
 the head of the treafury. A wifer and 
 honefter administration may draw us 
 back to our former credit and influence 
 abroad, from that ftate of contempt 
 into which we are funk among all our 
 neighbours. But will the minds of men, 
 which this minifler has narrowed to 
 perfonal regards alone, will their views, 
 which he has confined to the prefent 
 moment, as if nations were mortal like 
 the men who compofe them, and Bri- 
 tain 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 73 
 
 tain was to perifli with her degenerate 
 children ; will thefe, I fay, be fo eaftly 
 or fo foon enlarged ? Will their fenti- 
 mwts 9 which are debafed from the love 
 of liberty, from zeal for the honor and 
 profperity of their country, and from a 
 defire of honeft fame, to an abfolute 
 unconcernednefs for all thefe, to an ab- 
 ject fubmhTion, and to a rapacious ea- 
 gernefs after wealth, that may fate their 
 avarice, and exceed the profufion of 
 their luxury will thefe, 1 fay again, 
 be fo eafily, or fo foon elevated? In a 
 word, will the Britijh fpirit^ that fpirit 
 which has preferved liberty hitherto in 
 one corner of the world at leart, be fo 
 eqfily or fo foon reinfufed into the Britijh 
 nation ? I think not. We have been 
 long coming to this point of deprava- 
 tion : and the progrefs from confirmed 
 habits of evil is much more flow than 
 the progrefs to them. Virtue is not 
 placed on a rugged mountain of diffi- 
 cult and dangerous acccfs, as they who 
 
 would 
 
74 THE IDEA OF 
 
 would excufe the indolence of their tem- 
 per, or the perverfenefs of their will, de- 
 fire to have it believed *, but lhe is feat- 
 ed, however, on an eminence. We may 
 go up to her with eafe, but we muft go 
 up gradually^ according to the natural 
 progreflion of reafon^ who is to lead the 
 way, and to guide our fteps. On the 
 other hand, if we fall from thence, we 
 are fure to be hurried down the hill with 
 a blind impetuofity, according to the 
 natural violence of thofe appetites and 
 paffions that caufed our fall at firft, and 
 urge it on the fafler, the further they 
 are removed from the controul that be- 
 fore reftrained them. 
 
 To perform, therefore, fo great a 
 work, as to reinfufe the fpirit of liberty^ 
 to reform the morals^ and to raife the 
 fentiments of a people, much time is re- 
 quired and a work which requires fo 
 much time, may, too probably, be never 
 completed ; confidering how unfteadily 
 
 an4 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 75 
 
 and unfyftematicallyeven the beftof men 
 are apt often to proceed, and how this 
 reformation is to be carried forward, in 
 oppofition to public fajhion^ and private 
 inclination^ to the authority of the men in 
 power, and to the fecret bent of many of 
 thofe who are out of power. Let us not 
 flatter ourfelves : I did fo too long. It is 
 more to be wifhed than to be hoped, that 
 the contagion mould fpread no further 
 than that leprous race, who carry on 
 their fkins, expofed to public fight, the 
 fcabs and blotches of their diftemper. 
 The minifter preaches corruption aloud 
 and conftantly, like an impudent mif- 
 fionary of vice : and fome there are who 
 not only infinuate, but teach the fame 
 occafionally. I fay, fome ; becaufe I 
 am as far from thinking, that all thofe 
 who join with him, as that any of thofe 
 who oppofe him, wait only to be more 
 authorized, that they may propagate it 
 with greater fuccefs, and apply it to 
 their own ufe, in their turn. 
 
 It 
 
76 THE IDEA OF 
 
 It feems to me, upon the whole mat- 
 ter, that to fave or redeem a nation, 
 under fuch circumftances, from per- 
 dition, nothing lefs is necefTary than 
 fome great, fome extraordinary con 
 juncture of ill fortune, or of good, 
 which may purge , yet fo as by fire. Di- 
 ftrefs from abroad, bankruptcy at home, 
 and other circumftances of like na- 
 ture and tendency, may beget uni- 
 $ verfal confufion. Out of confufion or- 
 der may arife : but it may be the order 
 of a wicked tyranny, inftead of the or- 
 der of a juft monarchy. Either may 
 happen : and fuch an alternative, at 
 the difpofition of fortune, is fufficient 
 to make a Stoic tremble ! We may be 
 faved, indeed, by means of a very dif- 
 ferent kind but thefe means will not 
 offer themfelves, this way of falvation 
 will not be opened to us, without the 
 concurrence, and the influence, of a 
 Patriot King, the moft uncommon 
 
 of 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 77 
 
 of all phenomena in the phyfical or 
 moral world. 
 
 Nothing can fo furely and fo effec- 
 tually reftore the virtue and public fpi- 
 rit effentiai to the prefervation of li- 
 berty and national profperity, as the 
 reign of fuch a prince. 
 
 We are willing to indulge this pleaf- 
 ing expectation, and there is nothing 
 we defire more ardently than to be able 
 to hold of a Britijh prince, without flat- 
 tery, the fame language that was held 
 of a Roman emperor, with a great deal, 
 
 Nil ' oriturum alias , nil ortum talefatentes. 
 
 But let us not neglect, on our part, 
 fuch means as are in our power, to 
 keep the caufe of truth, of reafon, of 
 virtue, and of liberty, alive. If the 
 blefling be with-held from us, let us de- 
 ferve, at leaft, that it ftiould be granted 
 
 to 
 
78 THE IDEA OF 
 
 to us. If heaven, in mercy, bellows it 
 on us, let us prepare to receive it, to 
 improve it, and to co-operate with it. 
 
 I speak as if I could take my fhare 
 in thefe glorious efforts. Neither mall 
 I recal my words. Stripped of the 
 rights of a Britijh fubjecl:, of all except 
 the meaneft of them, that of inheriting, 
 I remember that I am a Briton flilL I 
 apply to myfelf what I have read in Se- 
 neca, Officia Ji civis ami ferity hominis ex- 
 erceat. I have renounced the world, 
 not in Ihew, but in reality, and more 
 by my way of thinking, than by my 
 way of living, as retired as that may 
 feem. But I have not renounced my 
 country, nor my friends : and by my 
 friends I mean all thofe, and thofe alone, 
 who are fuch to their country, by what- 
 ever name they have been, or may be 
 ftill diftinguifhed \ and tho in that num- 
 ber there mould be men, of whofe 
 paft ingratitude, injuftice, or malice, 
 
 I 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 79 
 
 I might complain, on my own ac- 
 count, with the greateft reafon. Thefe 
 I will never renounce. In their profpe- 
 rity, they mall never hear of me : in 
 their diftrefs, always. In that retreat, 
 wherein the remainder of my days mall 
 be fpent, I may be of fome ufe to them ; 
 fince, even from thence, I may advife, 
 exhort, and warn them. Nec enim is folus 
 reipublicae prodeft, qui candidates extra- 
 hit, et tuetur reos, et de pace, belloque cen- 
 fet ; fed qui juventutem exhort atur, qui, in 
 tanta bonorum praeceptorum inopia, virtute 
 inftruit animos \ qui ad pecuniam luxuriant- 
 que curfu ruentes, prenfat ac retrahit, et, 
 ft nihil aliud, certe moratur ; in privato 
 publicum negotium agit. 
 
 The 
 
( «i ) 
 
 The Idea of 
 
 A Patriot King. 
 
 MY intention is not to introduce 
 what I have to fay concerning 
 the duties of kings, by any nice inquiry 
 into the original o{ their institution. What 
 is to be known of it will appear plainly 
 enough, to fuch as are able and can fpare 
 time to trace it, in the broken tradi- 
 tions which are come down to us of a 
 few nations. But thofe, who are not a- 
 ble to trace it there, may trace fome- 
 thing better, and more worthy to be 
 known, in their own thoughts : I mean 
 what this inftitution ought to have been, 
 whenever it began, acccrding to the 
 
 G rule 
 
82 THE IDEA OF 
 
 rule of reafon> founded in the common 
 rights , and inter efts, of mankind. On 
 this head it is quite neceflary to make 
 fome reflections, that will, like angu- 
 lar ftones laid on a rock, fupport the 
 little fabric, the model however of a 
 great building, that I propofe to raife. 
 
 So plain a matter could never have 
 been rendered intricate and voluminous, 
 had it not been for lawiefs ambition, 
 extravagant vanity, and the deteftable 
 fpirit of tyranny, abetted by the private 
 interefts of artful men, by adulation and 
 fuperftition, two vices to which that 
 flaring timid creature man is exceflively 
 prone \ if authority had not impofed on 
 fuch as did not pretend to reafon ; and 
 if fuch as did attempt to reafon had not 
 been caught in the common fnares of 
 fophifm, and bewildered in the laby- 
 rinths of difputation. In this cafe, there- 
 fore, as in all thofeof great concernment, 
 the ftiorteft and the fureft method of. 
 
 ar- 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 83 
 
 arriving at real knowledge is to unlearn the 
 leflbns we have been taught, to remount 
 to firft principles^ and take no body's 
 word about them- y for it is about them 
 that almoft all the juggling and leger- 
 demain, employed by men whofe trade 
 it is to deceive, are fet to work. 
 
 Now he, who does fo in this cafe, 
 will difcover foon, that the notions con- 
 cerning the divine infiitution and right of 
 kings, as well as the abfolute power be- 
 longing to their office, have no founda- 
 tion in fact or reafon, but have rifen 
 from an old alliance between ecclefiaftical 
 and civil policy. The characters of king 
 and prieft have been fometimes blended 
 together: and when they have been di- 
 vided, as kings have found the great ef- 
 fects wrought in government by the 
 empire which priefts obtain over the 
 confciences of mankind, fo priefts have 
 been taught by experience, that the belt 
 method to prefer ve their own rank, di- 
 G 2 gnity, 
 
84 THE IDEA OF 
 
 gnity, wealth, and power, all raifed up- 
 on a fuppofed divine right? is to com- 
 municate the fame pretenfion to kings, 
 and, by a fallacy common to both, im- 
 pofe their ufurpations on a filly world. 
 This they have done : and, in the ftate? as 
 in the church? thefe pretenfions to a divine 
 right have been generally carried higheft 
 by thofe, who have had the leaft pre- 
 tenfion to the divine favor. 
 
 It is worth while to obferve, on what 
 principle fome men were advanced to 
 a great pre-eminence over others, in the 
 early ages of thofe nations that are a 
 little known to us : I fpeak not of fuch 
 as raifed themfelves by conqiiefi? but of 
 fuch as were raifed by common confent. 
 Now you will find, in all thefe proceed- 
 ings, an entire uniformity of principle. 
 The authors of fuch inventions, as were 
 of general ufe to the well-being of man- 
 kind, were not only reverenced and o- 
 beyed during their lives, but worfliip- 
 
 ped 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 85 
 
 ped after their deaths: they became 
 principal Gods, Dii majorum gentium. 
 The founders of common-wealths, the 
 law-givers, and the heroes of particular 
 ftates, became Gods of a fecond clafs* 
 Dii minor um gentium. All pre-eminence 
 was given in heaven, as well as on earth, 
 in proportion to the benefits that men 
 received. Majefty was the nrft, and di- 
 vinity the fecond, reward. Both were 
 earned by fervices done to mankind, 
 whom it was eafy to lead, in thofe days 
 of fimplicity and fuperflition, from ad- 
 miration and gratitude, to adoration and 
 expectation. 
 
 When advantage had been taken, 
 by fome particular men, of thefe difpo- 
 fitions in the generality, and religion 
 and government were become two trades 
 or myn:eries, new means of attaining to 
 this pre-eminence were foon devifed, 
 and new and even contrary motives 
 worked the fame effec>. Merit had given 
 G 3 rank ; 
 
86 THE IDEA OF 
 
 rank; but rank was foon kept, and, 
 which is more prepofterous, obtained 
 too, without merit. Men were then made 
 kings for reafons as little relative to good 
 government, as the neighing of the horfe 
 of the fon of Hystaspes. 
 
 But the moft prevalent, and the ge- 
 neral motive was proximity of blood to 
 the lafty not to the heft, king. Nobility 
 in China moknts upwards: and he, who 
 has it conferred upon him, enobles his 
 •anceftors, not his pofterity. A wife inftitu- 
 tion! and efpecially among a people in 
 whofe minds a great veneration for their 
 forefathers has been always carefully 
 maintained. But in China, as well as 
 in moft other countries, royalty has 
 defcended, and kingdoms have been reck - 
 oned the patrimonies of particular fa- 
 milies. 
 
 I have read in one of the hiftorians 
 of the latter Roman empire, hiftorians, by 
 
 the 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 87 
 
 the way, whom I will not advife others 
 to mifpend their time in reading, that 
 Sapores, the famous king of Perfia a- 
 gainft whom Julian made the expedi- 
 tion wherein he loft his life, was crown- 
 ed in his mother's womb. His father 
 left her with child : the magi declared 
 that the child would be a male where- 
 upon the royal enfigns were brought 
 forth, they were placed on her majefty's 
 belly, and the princes and the fatrapes 
 proftrate recognifed the embryo-mon- 
 arch. But to take a more known ex- 
 ample, out of multitudes that prefent 
 themfelves Domitian, the worft, and 
 Trajan, the beft of princes, were pro- 
 moted to the empire by the fame title. 
 Domitian was the fon of Flavius, and 
 the brother, thopofliblythe poifonertoo, 
 of Titus Vespasian: Trajan was the 
 adopted fon of Nerva. Hereditary 
 right fervcd the purpofe of one, as well 
 as of the other: and if Trajan was 
 tranflated to a place among the gods, 
 
 G 4 this 
 
88 THE IDEA OF 
 
 this was no greater a diftindtion than 
 fome of the word of his predecefTors 
 obtained, for reafons generally as good 
 as that which Seneca puts into the 
 mouth of Diespiter in the Apokolokyn- 
 tofts of Claudius; cum fit e republica 
 ejfe aliquem, qui cumRomulo pojfit ferventia 
 rapa v or are. To fay the truth, it would 
 Jiave been a wifer meafure to have made 
 thefe royal perfons gods at once : as gcds 
 they would have done neither good nor 
 hurt; but as emperors, in their way to 
 divinity, they acted like devils. 
 
 If my readers are ready by this time 
 to think me antimonarchial, and in par- 
 ticular an enemy to the fucceffion of 
 kings by hereditary right, I hope to be 
 foon reftored to their good opinion. I 
 efteem monarchy above any other form 
 of government, and hereditary monar- 
 chy above elective. I reverence kings, 
 their office, their rights, their perfons : 
 and it will never be owing to the prin- 
 ciples 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 89 
 
 dpks I am going to eftablifh, becaufe 
 the character and government of a Pa- 
 triot King can be eftablifhed on no 
 other, if their office and their right are 
 not always held divine, and their per- 
 fins always facred. 
 
 Now, we arefubjeft, by the conftitu- 
 tion of human nature, and therefore by 
 the will of the Author of this and every 
 other nature, to two laws. One given 
 immediately to all men by God, the 
 fame to all, and obligatory alike on all. 
 The other given to man by man; and 
 therefore not the fame to all, nor obli- 
 gatory alike on all : founded indeed on 
 the fame principles, but varied by dif- 
 ferent applications of them to times, to 
 characters, and to a number, which may 
 be reckoned infinite, of other circum- 
 fiances. By the firft, I mean the uni- 
 verfal law of reafon; and by the fe- 
 c.ond, the particular law, or conftitu- 
 
 tion 
 
£)o THE IDEA OF 
 
 tion of laws, by which every diftincl: 
 community has chofen to be governed. 
 
 The obligation, of fubmiffion to both, 
 is difcoverable by fo clear and fo fim- 
 ple an ufe of our intelle&ual faculties, 
 that it may be faid properly enough to 
 be revealed to us by God : and tho both 
 thefe laws cannot be faid properly to be 
 given by Him, yet our obligation to 
 fubmit to the civil law is a principal pa- 
 ragraph in the natural law, which he 
 has mofl manifeftly given us. In truth 
 we can no more doubt of the obliga- 
 tions of both thefe laws, than of the exi- 
 ftence of the lawgiver. As fupreme 
 lord over all his works, his general pro- 
 vidence regards immediately the great 
 common-wealth of mankind ; but then, as 
 fupreme lord likewife, his authority 
 gives a fanclion to the particular bodies 
 of law which are made under it. The 
 law of nature v$> the law of all his fubjecls: 
 the conftitutions of particular govern- 
 ments 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 9 x 
 
 ments are like the by-laws of cities, or 
 the appropriated cuftoms of provinces. 
 It follows, therefore, that he who breaks 
 the laws of his country refills the ordinance 
 of God> that is, the law of his nature. 
 God has inftituted neither monarchy, 
 nor ariftocracy, nor democracy, nor mix- 
 ed government : but tho God has infti- 
 tuted no particular form of government 
 among men, yet by the general laws of 
 his kingdom he exacts our obedience to 
 the laws of thofe communities, to which 
 each of us is attached by birth, or to 
 which we may be attached by a fubfe- 
 quent and lawful engagement. 
 
 From fuch plain, unrefined, and 
 therefore, I fuppofe, true reafoning, the 
 juft authority of kings , and the due obedience 
 of fubjefls, may be deduced with the 
 utmoft certainty. And furely it is far 
 better for kings themfelves to have their 
 authority thus founded on principles in- 
 conteftable, and on fair deductions from 
 
 them, 
 
92 THE IDEA OF 
 
 them, than on the chimeras of madmen, 
 or, what has been more common, the 
 fophifms of knaves. A human right , that 
 cannot be controverted, is preferable, 
 furely, to a pretended divine right , which 
 every man muft believe implicitely, as 
 -few will do, or not believe at all. 
 
 But the principles we have laid down 
 do not flop here. A divine right in 
 kings is to be deduced evidently from 
 them : a divine right to govern well> and 
 conformably to the conftitution at the 
 head of which they are placed. A di- 
 vine right to govern z//, is an abfurdity; 
 to aflert it, is blafphemy. A people 
 may choofe, or hereditary fucceflion may 
 raife, a bad prince to the throne; but a 
 good king alone can derive his right to 
 govern from God. The reafon is plain : 
 good government alone can be in the di- 
 vine intention. God has made us to de- 
 fire happincfs; he has made our happi- 
 nefs dependent on fociety; and the hap- 
 
 pinefs 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 93 
 
 pjnefs of fociety dependent on good or 
 bad government. His intention, there- 
 fore, was, that government mould be 
 good. 
 
 This is effential to his wifdom; for 
 wifdom confifts, furely, in proportions 
 ing means to ends: therefore it cannot 
 be faid without abfurd impiety, that he 
 confers a right to oppofe his intention. 
 
 The office of kings is, then, of right 
 divine, and their perfons are to be re- 
 puted facred. As men, they have no fuch 
 right, no fuch facrednefs belonging to 
 them : as kings, they have both, uniefs 
 they forfeit them. Reverence for go- 
 vernment obliges to reverence govern- 
 ors, who, for the fake of it, are raif- 
 ed above the level of other men : but 
 reverence for governors, independently 
 of government, any further than reve- 
 rence would be due to their virtues if they 
 were private men, is prepofterous, and 
 
 repu- 
 
94 THE IDEA OF 
 
 repugnant to common fenfe. The fpring 
 from whicn this legal reverence, for fo 
 I may call it, arifes, is national, not per- 
 fond. As well might we fay that a fhip 
 is built, and loaded, and manned, for 
 the fake of any particular pilot, inftead 
 of acknowledging that the pilot is made 
 for the fake of the fhip, her lading, and 
 her crew, who are always the owners in 
 the political veffel; as to fay that king- 
 doms were inftituted for kings, not 
 kings for kingdoms. In mort, and to 
 carry our allufion higher, majefty is not 
 an inherent, but a reflected light. 
 
 All this is as true of hereditary, as it 
 is of elective monarchy ; tho the fcribiers 
 for tyranny, under the name of monar- 
 chy, would have us believe that there 
 is fomething more auguft, and more fa- 
 cred in one than the other. They are 
 facred alike, and this attribute is to be 
 afcribed or not afcribed, to them, as 
 they anfwer, or do not anfwer, the ends 
 
 of 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 95 
 
 of their inftitution. But there is another 
 companion to be made, in which a great 
 and molt important diflimilitude will be 
 found between hereditary and elective 
 monarchy. Nothing can be more ab- 
 furd, in pure /peculation, than an here- 
 ditary right in any mortal to govern o- 
 ther men : and yet, in praftice, nothing 
 can be more abfurd than to have a king 
 to chufe at every vacancy of a throne. 
 We draw at a lottery indeed in one cafe, 
 where there are many chances to lofe, 
 and few to gain. But have we much 
 more advantage of this kind in the o- 
 ther ? I think not. Upon thefe, and upon 
 moft occafions, the multitude would do 
 at leaft as w T ell to trull to chance as choice, 
 and to their fortune as to their judgment. 
 But in another refpect, the advantage is 
 entirely on the fide of hereditary fuccef- 
 fion-, for, in elective monarchies, thefe e- 
 lections, whether well or ill made, are of- 
 ten attented with fuch national calamities, 
 that even the belt reigns cannot make 
 
 amends 
 
9 6 THE IDEA OF 
 
 amends for them: whereas, in hereditary 
 monarchy, whether a good or a bad prince 
 fucceeds, thefe calamities are avoided. 
 There is one fource of evil the lefs o- 
 pen : and one fource of evil the lefs in 
 human affairs, where there are fo ma- 
 ny, is fufficient to decide. We may la- 
 ment the imperfections of our human 
 ftate, which is fuch, that in cafes of the 
 utmoft importance to the order and good 
 government of fociety, and by confe- 
 quence to the happinefs of our kind, we 
 are reduced, by the very conftitution of 
 our nature, to have no part to take that 
 our reafon can approve abfolutely. But 
 tho we lament it, we muft fubmit to it. 
 We muft tell ourfelves once for all, that 
 perfecl fchemes are not adapted to our 
 imperfect ftate ; that Stoical morals and 
 Platonic politics are nothing better than a- 
 mufements for thofe who have had little 
 experience in the affairs of the world, 
 and who have much leifure, verba otio- 
 fortim fenufft ad imperii os juvenes - 3 which 
 
 was. 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 9? 
 
 was the cenfure, and a juft one too, that 
 Dionysius paft on fome of the doctrines 
 of the father of the Academy. In truth, 
 all that human prudence can do, is to 
 furnilh expedients, and to compound, as 
 it were, with general vice and folly; em- 
 ploying reafon to act even againft. her 
 own principles, and teaching us, if I 
 may fay fo, infanire cum ratione, which 
 appears on many occasions not to be the 
 paradox it has been thought. 
 
 To conclude this head therefore : as 
 I think a limited monarchy the beft. of go- 
 vernments, fo I think an hereditary mon- 
 archy the beft of monarchies. I faid a 
 limited monarchy - 9 for an unlimited mon- 
 archy, wherein arbitrary will, which is 
 in truth no rule, is however the fole rule, 
 or ftands inftead of all rule of govern- 
 ment, muft be allowed fo great an ab- 
 furdity, both in reafon informed and un- 
 informed by experience, that it feems 
 H a go- 
 
93 THE IDEA OF 
 
 a government fitter for favages than for 
 civilized people. 
 
 But I think it proper to explain a 
 little more what I mean, when 1 fay a 
 limited monarchy., that I may leave no- 
 thing untouched which ought to be 
 taken into confederation by us, when we 
 attempt to fix our ideas of a Patriot 
 King. 
 
 Among many reafons which deter- 
 mine me to prefer monarchy to every o- 
 ther form of government, this is a prin- 
 cipal one. When monarchy is the ef- 
 fential form, it may be more eafily and 
 more nfefully tempered with arijlGcracy or 
 democracy , or bcth, than cither of them, 
 when they are the efTential forms, can be 
 tempered with monarchy. It feems to me, 
 that the introduction of a real perma- 
 nent monarchical power, or any thing 
 more than the pageantry of it, into ei- 
 ther 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 99 
 
 ther of thefe, muftdeftroy them and ex- 
 tinguifti them, as a greater light extin- 
 guishes a lefs. Whereas it may eafily 
 be fhewn, and the true form of our 
 government will demonftrate, without 
 feeking any other example, that very 
 confiderable ariftocratical and democratic al 
 powers may be grafted on a monarchical 
 ftock^ without diminifhing the mitre, or 
 retraining the power and authority of 
 the prince, enough to alter in any de- 
 gree the effential form. 
 
 A great difference is made in na- 
 ture, and therefore the diftinclion mould 
 be always preferved in our notions, be- 
 tween two things that we are apt to 
 confound in fpeculaticn, as they have 
 been confounded in praclice, legijlative 
 and monarchical power. There mud be an 
 abfolute, unlimited, and uncontroulable 
 power lodged fomew her em every govern- 
 ment-, but to conftitute monarchy, or 
 the government of a fuigle perfon, it 
 H 2 is 
 
ioo THE IDEA OF 
 
 isnotneceflary that this power fliould be 
 lodged in the monarch alone. It is no 
 moreneceflary that he fliould exclusive- 
 ly and independently eftablilh the rule of 
 his government, than it is, that he fhould 
 govern without any rule at all : and this 
 furely will be thought reafonable by no 
 man. 
 
 I would not fay God governs by a 
 rule that we know, or may know, as 
 well as he, and upon our knowledge of 
 which he appeals to men for the juftice 
 of his proceedings towards them ; which 
 a famous divine has impioufly advanced, 
 in a pretended demonftration of his be- 
 ing and attributes. God forbid! But this 
 I may fay, that God does always that 
 which is fitted to be done, and that this 
 fitnefs, whereof neither that prefumptu- 
 ous dogmatift was, nor any created being 
 is, a competent judge, refults from the 
 various natures , and more various rela- 
 tions of things : fo that, as creator of all 
 
 fyftems 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 101 
 
 fyftems by which thefe natures and re- 
 lations are conftituted, he prefcribed to 
 himfeJf the rule, which he follows as 
 governor of every fyftem of being. In 
 fhort, with reverence be it fpoken, God 
 is a monarch, yet not an arbitrary but 
 a limited monarch, limited by the rule 
 which infinite wifdom prefcribes to infinite 
 power, I know well enough the impro- 
 priety of thefe expreflions but, when 
 our ideas are inadequate, our expreflions 
 muft needs be improper. Such concep- 
 tions, however, as we are able to form 
 of thefe attributes, and of the exercife 
 of them in the government of the uni- 
 verfe, may ferve to mew what I have 
 produced them to fhew. If governing 
 without any rule, and by arbitrary will, 
 be not efTential to our idea of the mon- 
 archy of the Supreme Being, it is plainly 
 ridiculous to fuppofe them necelfarily 
 included in the idea of a human mon- 
 archy : and tho God, in his eternal ideas> 
 for we are able to conceive no other man- 
 Pi 3 ner 
 
I0 2 THE IDEA OF 
 
 ner of knowing, has prefcribed to himfelf 
 that rule by which he governs the uni- 
 verfe he created, it will be juft as ridi- 
 culous to affirm, that the idea of human 
 monarchy cannot be prefer ved, if kings 
 are obliged to govern according to a rule 
 eflablimed by thewifdom of a ftate, that 
 was a flare before they were kings, and 
 by the ccnfent of a people that they did 
 not moil certainly create-, efpecially when 
 the whole executive power is exclu- 
 fively in their hands, and the legiflative 
 power cannot be exercifed without their 
 concurrence. 
 
 There are limitations indeed that 
 would deftroy the ejfential form of mon- 
 archy : or, in other words, a monarchical 
 conftitution may be changed, under pre- 
 tence of limiting the monarch. This 
 happened among us in the lafl: century, 
 when the vilcft ufurpation, and the moft 
 infamous tyranny, were eftablifhed over 
 our nation, by fpme of the worft and 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 103 
 
 fome of the meaneft men in it. I will 
 not fay, that the effential form of mon- 
 archy mould be preferved tho the pre- 
 fervation of it were to caufe the lofs of 
 liberty. Salus reipublicae fuprema lex efto, 
 is a fundamental law: and, fure I am, 
 the fafety of a commonwealth is ill 
 provided for, if the liberty be given 
 up. But this I prefume to fay, and 
 can demonftrate, that all the limita- 
 tions neceflary to preferve liberty, as 
 long as the fpirit of it fubfifts, and long- 
 er than that no limitations of monar- 
 chy, nor any other form of government, 
 can preferve it, are compatible with mon- 
 archy. I think on thefe fubjects, nei- 
 ther as the Tories, nor as the Whigs have 
 thought: at leaft I endeavour to avoid 
 the exceffes of both. I neither drefs up 
 kings like fo many burlefque Jupiters, 
 weighing the fortunes of mankind in the 
 fcales of fate, and darting thunderbolts 
 at the heads of rebellious giants : nor 
 do I ftrip them naked, as it were, and 
 H 4 leave 
 
104 THE IDEA OF 
 
 leave them at mod a few tattered rags 
 to clothe their majefty^ but fuch as can 
 ferve really as little for ufe as for orna- 
 ment. My aim is to fix this principle; 
 that limitations on a crown ought to be 
 carried as far as it is neceflary to fecure 
 the liberties of a people and that all 
 fuch limitations may fubfift, without weak- 
 ening or endangering monarchy. 
 
 I shall be told perhaps, for I have 
 heard it faid by many, that this point 
 is imaginary; and that limitations, fuf- 
 ficient to procure good government and 
 to fecure liberty under a bad prince, 
 cannot be made, unlefs they are fuch 
 as will deprive the fubjects of many be- 
 nefits in the reign of a good prince, clog 
 his adminiftration, maintain an unjuft 
 jcaloufy between him and his people, 
 and occafion a defect of power, necejfTary 
 to preferve the public tranquillity, and 
 to promote the national profperity. If 
 this was true, here would be a much 
 
 more 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 105 
 
 more melancholy inftance of the imper- 
 fection of our nature, and of the ineffi- 
 cacy of our reafon to fupply this imper- 
 fection, than the former. In the for- 
 mer, reafon prompted by experience 
 avoids a certain evil effectually, and is 
 able to provide, in fome meafure, a- 
 gainft the contingent evils that may arife 
 from the expedient itfelf. But in the 
 latter, if what is there advanced was 
 true, thefe provifions againft contingent 
 evils would, in fome cafes, be the oc- 
 cafions of much certain evil, and of po- 
 fitive good in none : under a good prince 
 they would render the adminiftration de- 
 fective, and under a bad one there would 
 be no c-overnment at g ut t h e truth 
 is widely different from this reprefenta- 
 tion. The limitations neceffary to pre- 
 ferve liberty under monarchy will re- 
 ftrain effectually a bad prince, without 
 being ever felt as jhackles by a good one. 
 Our conftitution is brought, or almoft 
 brought, to fuoh a point, a point of per- 
 fection 
 
io6 THE IDEA OF 
 
 fection I think it, that no king, who is 
 not, in the true meaning of the word, a 
 patriot, can govern Britain with eafe, 
 fecurity, honor, dignity, or indeed with 
 fufficient power and ftrength. But yet a 
 king, who is a patriot, may govern with 
 all the former; and, befides them, with 
 power as extended as the mod abfolute 
 monarch can boaft, and a power, too, 
 far more agreeable in the enjoyment, as 
 well as more effectual in the operation. 
 
 To attain thefe great and noble ends, 
 the patriotifm muft be real, and not in 
 jhew alone. It is fomething to defire to 
 - appear a patriot : and the defire of hav- 
 ing fame is a ftep towards deferving it> 
 becaufe it is a motive the more to de- 
 fer ve it. If it be true, as Tacitus fays, 
 contempt® famae contemni virtutem, that a 
 contempt of a good name, or an indif- 
 ference about it, begets or accompanies 
 always a contempt of virtue ; the con- 
 trary will be true : and they are certain- 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 107 
 
 ]y both true. But this motive alone is 
 not fufhcient. To conftitute a patriot , 
 whether king or fubjecl> there mufl be 
 fomething more fu.bftantial than a de- 
 fire of fame, in the compofition : and if 
 there be not, this defire of fame will 
 never rife above that fentiment which 
 may be compared to the coquetry of 
 women ; a fondnefs of tranfient applaufe? 
 which is courted by vanity ', given by flat- 
 tery^ and fpends itfelf in Jhew, like the 
 qualities which acquire it. Patriotifm 
 mufl be founded in great principles, and 
 fupported by great virtues. The chief 
 of thefe principles I have endeavoured 
 to trace ; and I will not fcruple to af- 
 fert, that a man can be a good king upon 
 no other. He may, without them and 
 by complexion, be unambitious, gene- 
 rous, good-natured ; but, without them, 
 the exercife even of thefe virtues will be 
 often ill direcled: and, with principles 
 of another fort, he will be drawn eafily, 
 notwithftanding thefe virtues, from all 
 the purpofes of his inftitution. 
 
 I MEN- 
 
io8 THE IDEA OF 
 
 I mention thefe oppofite principles 
 the rather, becaufe,inftead of wondering 
 that fo many kings, unfit and unwor- 
 thy to be trufted with the government 
 of mankind, appear in the world, I have 
 been tempted to wonder that there are 
 any tolerable; when I have confidered 
 the flattery that environs them moft com- 
 monly from the cradle, and the tenden- 
 cy of all thofe falfe notions that are in- 
 ftilled into them by precept, and by ex- 
 ample, by the habits of courts, and by 
 the interefted felfifh views of courtiers. 
 They are bred to efteem themfelves of 
 a diftintt and fuperior /pedes among men^ 
 as men are among animals. 
 
 Lewis the fourteenth was a ftrong in- 
 fiance of the effect of this education^ which 
 trains up kings to be tyrants, without 
 knowing that they are fo. That oppref- 
 fion under which he kept his people, 
 during the whole courfe of a long reign, 
 
 might 
 
A PATRIOT KING. xo 9 
 
 might proceed, in fome degree, from 
 the natural haughtinefs of his temper 5 
 but it proceeded, in a greater degree, 
 from the principles and habits of his 
 education. By this he had been brought 
 to look on his kingdom as a patrimony 
 that defcended to him from his ance- 
 ftors, and that was to be confidered in 
 no other light : fo that when a very con- 
 fiderable man had difcourfed to him at 
 large of the miferable condition, to 
 which his people was reduced, and had 
 frequently ufed this word, Vetat ; tho the 
 king approved the fubftance of all he had 
 faid, yet he was fhocked at the frequent 
 repetition of this word, and complained 
 of it as of a kind of indecency to himfelf. 
 This will not appear fo ftrange to our 
 fecond, as it may very juftly to our firft 
 reflections ; for what wonder is it, that 
 princes are eafily betrayed into an error 
 that takes it's rife in the general im- 
 perfection of our nature, in our pride, our 
 vanity, and our prefumption ? the ba- 
 
 (lard 
 
no THE IDEA OF 
 
 ftard children, but the children ftill, of 
 felf-love; a fpurious brood, but often a 
 favorite brood, that governs the whole 
 family. As men are apt to make them- 
 felves the meafure of all being, fo they 
 make themfelves the final caufe of all 
 creation. Thus the reputed orthodox 
 philofophers in all ages have taught, that 
 the world was made for man, the earth 
 for him to inhabit, and all the lumi- 
 nous bodies, in the immenfe expanfe a- 
 round us, for him to gaze at. Kings 
 do no more, no not fo much, when 
 they imagine themfelves the final caufe 
 for which focieties were formed, and 
 governments inftituted. 
 
 This capital error, in which almoit 
 every prince is confirmed by his educa- 
 tion^ has fo great extent and fo general 
 influence, that a right to do every in- 
 iquitous thing in government may be 
 derived from it. But, as if this was not 
 enough, the characters of princes are 
 
 fpoiled 
 
A PATRIOT KING, in 
 
 fpoiJed many more ways by their educa- 
 tion. I ihall not defcend into a detail 
 of fuch particulars, nor prefume fo 
 much as to hint what regulations might 
 be made about the education of princes, 
 nor what part our parliaments might 
 take occafionally in this momentous af- 
 fair, left I mould appear too refining, 
 or tooprefumptuous, in my fpeculations. 
 But I may affert in general, that the in- 
 difference of mankind upon this head, 
 efpecially in a government conftituted 
 like ours, is monftrous, 
 
 I may alfo take notice of another 
 caufeofthe miftakes of princes, I mean 
 the general conduct of thofe who are 
 brought near to their perfons. Such 
 men, let me fay, have a particular duty 
 arifingfrom this very fituation; a duty 
 common to them all, becaufe it arifes 
 not from their ftations, which are dif- 
 ferent, but from their fituation, which 
 is the fame. To enumerate the various 
 
 ap- 
 
U2 THE IDEA OF 
 
 applications of this duty would be too 
 minute and tedious ; but this may fuf- 
 fice, that all fuch men mould bear con- 
 ftantly in mind, that the matter they 
 ferve is, or is to be the king of their coun- 
 try; that their attachment to him, there- 
 fore, is not to be like that of other fer- 
 vants to other mafters, for his fake alone, 
 or for his fake and their own, but for the 
 fake of their country likewife. 
 
 Craterus loves the king, but Hephe- 
 stion loves Alexander, was afaying of 
 the laft that has been often quoted, but 
 not cenfured as it ought to be. Alexan- 
 der gave the preference to the attach- 
 ment of Hephestion; but this prefer- 
 ence was due undoubtedly to that of 
 Craterus. Attachment to a private 
 perfon muft comprehend a great con- 
 cern for his character and his interefts: 
 but attachment to one who is, or may 
 be a king, much more; becaufe the 
 character of the latter is more important 
 
 to 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 113 
 
 to himfelf and others ; and becaufe his 
 interefts are vaftly more complicated 
 with thofe of his country, and in fome 
 fort with thofe of mankind. Alexan- 
 der himfelf feemed, upon one occafion^ 
 to make the diftinction that mould be 
 always made between our attachments 
 to a prince, and to any private perfon. 
 It was when Parmenio advifed him to 
 accept the terms of peace which Darius 
 offered: they were great, he thought 
 them fo; but he thought, no matter for 
 my purpofe whether juftly or not, that 
 it would be unbecoming him to accept 
 them; therefore he rejected them, but 
 acknowledged, that " he would have 
 " done as he was advifed to do, if he 
 " had been Parmenio." 
 
 As to perfons who are not about a 
 prince in the fituation here fpoken of, 
 they can do little more than proportion 
 their applaufe, and the demonftrations 
 of their confidence and affection, to the 
 I benefits 
 
ii4 THE IDEA OF 
 
 benefits they actually receive from the 
 prince on the throne, or to the juft ex- 
 pectations that a fuccefTor gives them. 
 It is of the latter I propofe to fpeak here 
 particularly. If he gives them thofe of 
 a good reign, we may affure ourfelves that 
 they will carry, and in this cafe they 
 ought to carry that applaufe, and thofe 
 demonftrations of their confidence and 
 affection, as high as fuch a prince himfelf 
 can defire. Thus the prince and the peo - 
 ple take, in effect, a fort of engagement 
 with one another; the prince to govern 
 well, and the people to honour and o- 
 bey him. If he gives them expectati- 
 ons of a bad reign, they have this obli- 
 gation to him at leaft, that he puts them 
 early on their guard-, and an obligation, 
 and an advantage it will be, if they pre- 
 pare for his acceffion as for a great and 
 inevitable evil \ and if they guard on 
 every occafion againft the ill ufe, they 
 forefee, that he will make of money and 
 power. Above all, they lhould not fuf- 
 
 fer 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 115 
 
 fer themfelves to be caught in the com- 
 mon fnare, which is laid under fpecious 
 pretences of" gaining fuch a prince, and 
 " of keeping him by public compliances 
 " outof bad hands That argument has 
 been preffed more than once, has pre- 
 vailed, and has been fruitful of mofl 
 pernicious confequences. None indeed 
 can be more abfurd. It is not unlike 
 the reafoning of thofe favages who wor- 
 fhip the devil, not becaufethey love him 
 or honour him, or expect any good from 
 him, but that he may do them no hurt. 
 Nay, it is more abfurd \ for the favages 
 fuppofe that the devil has, independently 
 of them, the power to hurt them: 
 whereas the others put more power into 
 the hands of a prince, becaufe he has al- 
 ready fome power to hurt them and 
 truft to the juftice and gratitude of one, 
 who wants fenfe, virtue, or both, rather 
 than increafe and fortify the barriers a- 
 gainft his folly and his vices. 
 
 But 
 
tVB THE IDEA OF 
 
 But the truth is, that men, who rea- 
 fon and act in this manner, either mean, 
 or elfe are led by fuch as mean, nothing 
 more than to make a. private court at the 
 public expence; who chufe to be the in- 
 ftruments of a bad king rather than to 
 be out of power and who are often fo 
 wicked, that they would prefer fuch a 
 ferviee to that of the beft of kings. In 
 fine, thefe reafons, and every other rea- 
 fon for providing againft a bad reign in 
 profpeft, acquire a new force, when one 
 weak or wicked prince is, in the order 
 of fucceflion, to follow another of the 
 .fame character. Such provifions indeed 
 are bar deft to be obtained when they are 
 the moft neceffary\ that is, when the fpi- 
 rit of liberty begins to flag in a free peo- 
 ple, and when they become difpofed, 
 by habits that have grown infenfibly up- 
 on them, to a bafe fubmiflion. But 
 they are necejjary too, even when they 
 are eafiejv to be obtained-, that is, when 
 
 the 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 117 
 
 the fpirit of liberty is in full ftrength, 
 and a difpofition to oppofe all inftances 
 of male-adminiftration, and to refill all 
 attempts on liberty, is univerfal. In 
 both cafes, the endeavours of every man 
 who loves his country will be employed 
 with incefiant care and conftancy to ob- 
 tain them, that good government and 
 liberty may be the better preferved and 
 fecured; but in the latter cafe for this 
 further reafon alfo, that the prefervation 
 and fecurity of thefe may be provided 
 for, not only better, but more confiftently 
 with public tranquillity r , by confiitutional 
 methods, and a legal courfe of oppofi- 
 tion to the excefTes of regal or minifte, 
 rial power. What I touch upon here 
 might be made extremely plain; and I 
 think the obfervation would appear to 
 be of no fmall importance : but I mould 
 be carried too far from my fubjecl:, and 
 my fubjecl: will afford me matter of 
 more agreeable fpeculation. 
 
 I 3 It 
 
n8 THE IDEA OF 
 
 It is true that a prince, who gives 
 juft reafons to expect that his reign will 
 be that of a Patriot King, may not 
 always meet, and from all perfons, fuch 
 returns as fuch expectations deferve : but 
 they muft not hinder either the prince 
 from continuing to give them, or the 
 people from continuing to acknowledge 
 them. United, none can hurt them : and 
 if no artifice interrupts, no power can de- 
 feat, the effects of their perfeverance. It 
 will blaft many a wicked project, keep 
 virtue in countenance, and vice, to fome 
 degree at leaft, in awe. Nay, if it fliould 
 fail to have thefe effects, if we mould even 
 fuppofe a good prince to fuffer with the 
 people, and in fome meafure for them, 
 yet many advantages would accrue to 
 him: for inftance, the caufe of the peo- 
 ple he is to govern, and his own caufe, 
 would be made the fame by their com- 
 mon enemies. He would feel grievan- 
 ces himfelf as a fubject, before he had 
 the power of impofing them as a king. 
 
 He 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 119 
 
 He would be formed in that fchool out 
 of which the greateft and the beft of 
 monarchs have come, the fchool of af- 
 fliction: and all the vices, which had 
 prevailed before his reign, would ferve as 
 fo many foils to the glories of it. But 
 I haften to fpeak of the greateft of all 
 thefe advantages, and of that which a 
 Patriot King will efteem to be fuch; 
 whofe ways of thinking and acting to 
 fo glorious a purpofe as the re-eftablifh- 
 ment of a free conftitution, when it has 
 been fhook by the iniquity of former 
 adminiftrations, I mall endeavour to 
 explain. 
 
 What I have here faid will pafs a- 
 mong fome for the reveries of a diftem- 
 pered brain, at beft for the vain fpecu- 
 lations of an idle man who has loft fight 
 of the world, or who had never fagacity 
 enough to difcern in government the 
 practicable from the impracticable. Will 
 it not be faid, that this is advifing a 
 I 4 king 
 
120 THE IDEA OF 
 
 king to rouze a fpirit which may turn 
 againft himfelf to reject the fole expe- 
 dient of governing a limited monarchy 
 with fuccefs ; to labour to confine, in- 
 ftead of labouring to extend, his power; 
 to patch up an old conftitution, which 
 his people are difpofed to lay afide, in- 
 ftead of forming a new one more agree- 
 able to them, and more advantageous 
 to him ; to refufe, in fhort, to be an ab- 
 solute monarch, when every circumftance 
 invites him to it ? All thefe particulars, 
 in every one of which the queftion is 
 begged, will be thus reprefented, and 
 will be then ridiculed as paradoxes fit 
 to be ranked among the mirabilia et in- 
 cpinata of the Stoics, and fuch as no 
 man in his fenfes can maintain in earneft. 
 Thefe judgments and thefe reafonings 
 may be expected in an age as futile and 
 as corrupt as ours : in an age wherein fo 
 many betray the caufe of liberty, ancj 
 act not only without regard, but in di- 
 rect oppofition, to the mo ft important 
 
 interefts 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 121 
 
 interefts of their country; not only 00 
 cafionally, by furprife, by weaknefs, 
 by ftrong temptation, or fly fedu&ion, 
 but conftantly, fteadily, by deliberate 
 choice, and in purfuance of principles 
 they avow and propagate : in an age 
 when fo many others fhrink from the 
 fervice of their country, or promote it 
 cooly and uncertainly, in fubordination 
 to their own intereft and humour, or to 
 thofe of a party: in an age, when to 
 aflert the truth is called fpreading of 
 delufion, and to a/Tert the caufe of li- 
 berty and good government, is termed 
 fowing of fedition. But I have declar- 
 ed already my unconcernednefs at the 
 cenfure or ridicule of fuch men as thefe ; 
 for whofe fuppofed abilities I have much 
 well-grounded contempt, and againft 
 whofe real immorality I have as juft in- 
 dignation. 
 
 Let us come, therefore, to the bar 
 .of reafon and experience, where we fhall 
 
 find 
 
122 THE IDEA OF 
 
 find thefe paradoxes admitted as plain 
 and almoft felf-evidentpropofitions, and 
 thefe reveries and vain fpeculations as 
 important truths, confirmed by expe- 
 rience in all ages and all countries. 
 
 Machiavel is an author who mould 
 have great authority with the perfons 
 likely to oppofe me. He propofes to 
 princes the amplification of their power, 
 the extent of their dominion, and the 
 fubje&ion of their people, as the fole 
 objects of their policy. He devifes and 
 recommends all means that tend to thefe 
 purpofes, without the confideration of 
 any duty owing to God or man, or any 
 regard to the morality or immorality of 
 actions. Yet even he declares the af- 
 fectation of virtue to be ufeful to prin- 
 ces: he is fo far on my fide in the pre- 
 fent queftion. The only difference be- 
 tween us is, I would have the virtue 
 real: he requires no more than the ap- 
 pearance of it. 
 
 In 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 123 
 
 In the tenth chapter of the firft book 
 of Difcourfes, he appears convinced, fuch 
 is the force of truth, but how conting- 
 ently with himfelf let others determine, 
 that the fupreme glory of a prince ac- 
 crues to him who eftablifhes good go- 
 vernment and a free conftitution \ and that 
 a prince, ambitious of fame, muft wifh 
 to come into pofTefiion of a difordered 
 and corrupted Hate, not to finifh the 
 wicked work that others have begun, 
 and to complete the ruin, but to flop 
 the progrefs of the firft, and to prevent 
 the laft. He thinks this not only the 
 true way to fame^ but to fecurity and 
 quiet \ as the contrary leads, for here is 
 no third way, and a prince muft make 
 his option between thefe two, not only 
 to infamy, but to danger and to perpe- 
 tual difquietude. He reprefents thofe 
 who might eftablifh a commonwealth 
 or a legal monarchy, and who chufe to 
 improve the opportunity of eftablifhing 
 
 tyranny, 
 
124 THE IDEA OF 
 
 tyranny, that is, monarchy without any 
 rule of law, as men who are deceived 
 by falfe notions of good, and falfe ap- 
 pearances of glory, and who are in ef- 
 fect blind to their true intereft in every 
 refpect : ne ft auvegono per quefto partit 
 quanta fama, quanta gloria^ quant o honor 'e, 
 ficurta^ quiete^ con fatisfatione tfanimo % 
 fuggono y et in quanta infamia, vituperio, 
 biafimoy pericolo £sf inquietudine incorrono. 
 He touches another advantage which 
 patriot princes reap : and in that he con- 
 tradicts flatly the main point on which 
 his half-taught fcholars infift. He de- 
 nies thatfuchprinces diminijh their power 
 by circumfcr thing it: and affirms, with 
 truth on his fide, that Timoleon, and 
 others of the fame character whom he 
 had cited, pofTefied as great authority 
 in their country, with every other ad- 
 vantage befides, as Dionysius or Pha- 
 laris had acquired, with the lofs of all 
 thofe advantages. Thus far Machia- 
 vel reafonsjuftlyj but he takes in only a 
 
 part 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 125 
 
 part of his fubject, and confines himfelf 
 to thofe motives that mould determine 
 a wife prince to maintain liberty, be- 
 caufe it is his intereft to do fo. He ri- 
 fes no higher than the confideration of 
 mere intereft, of fame, of fecurity, of 
 quiet, and of power, all perfonal to the 
 prince : and by fuch motives alone even 
 his favourite Borgia might have been 
 determined to affect the virtues of a pa- 
 triot prince more than which this great 
 doctor in political knowledge would not 
 have required of him. But he is far 
 from going up to that motive which 
 Ihould above all determine a good prince 
 to hold this conduct, becaufe it is his 
 duty to do fo; a duty that he owes to God 
 by one law, and to his people by an- 
 other. Now it is with this that I mall 
 begin what I intend to offer concerning 
 the fyftem of principles and conduct by 
 which a Patriot King will govern 
 himfelf and his people. I mall not only 
 begin higher, but defcend into more 
 
 detail, 
 
125 THE IDEA OF 
 
 detail, and keep ftill in my eye the ap- 
 plication of the whole to the confuta- 
 tion of Great Britain, even to the pre- 
 fent ftate of our nation, and temper of 
 our people. 
 
 I think enough has been already 
 faid, to eftablifh the firft and true prin- 
 ciples of monarchical and indeed of every 
 ether kind of government : and I will fay 
 with confidence, that no principles but 
 thefe, and fuch as thefe, can be advanced, 
 which defer ve to be treated ferioufly, 
 tho Mr. Locke condefcended to exa- 
 mine thofe of Filmer, more out of re- 
 gard to the prejudices of the time, than 
 to the importance of the work. Upon 
 fuch foundations we mult conclude, that 
 fince men were directed by nature to 
 form /octettes, becaufe they cannot by 
 their nature fubfift without them, nor 
 in a ftate of individuality ; and fince they 
 were directed in like manner to eftablilh 
 governments, becaufe fbcieties cannot be 
 
 main- 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 127 
 
 maintained without them, nor fubfift 
 in a ftate of anarchy ; the ultimate end 
 of all governments is the good of the 
 people, for whofe fake they were made, 
 and without whofe confent they could not 
 have been made. In forming focieties, 
 and fubmitting to government, men gave 
 up part of that liberty to which they are 
 all born, and all alike. But why? is 
 government incompatible with a full 
 enjoyment of liberty? By no means. But 
 becaufe popular liberty without govern- 
 ment will degenerate into licence, as go- 
 vernment without fufficient liberty will 
 degenerate into tyranny, they are mutu- 
 ally neceflary to each other, good go- 
 vernment to fupport legal liberty, and 
 legal liberty to preferve good govern- 
 ment. 
 
 I speak not here of people, if any 
 fuch there are, who have been favage 
 or ftupid enough to fubmit to tyranny 
 by original contract; nor of thofe na- 
 tions 
 
128 THE IDEA OF 
 
 tions on whom tyranny has ftolen as k 
 were imperceptibly, or been impofed by 
 violence, and fettled by prefcription. I 
 mail exercife no political cafuiftry about 
 the rights of fuch kings, and the obliga- 
 tions of fuch people. Men are to take 
 their lots, perhaps, in governments as 
 in climates, to fence againft the incon- 
 veniences of both, and to bear what 
 they cannot alter. But I fpeak of peo • 
 pie who have been wife and happy e- 
 nough to eftablifh, and to preferve, free 
 tonfiitutions of government, as the peo- 
 ple of this ifland have done. To thefe, 
 therefore, I fay, that their kings are un- 
 der the mo ft facred obligations that hu- 
 man law can create, and divine law au- 
 thorize, to defend and maintain, in the 
 firft place, and preferably to every o- 
 ther confideration, the freedom of fuch 
 conftitutions. 
 
 The good of the people is the ultimate 
 and true end of government. Governors 
 
 are, 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 129 
 
 are, therefore, appointed for this end, 
 and the civil conftitution which appoints 
 them, and inverts them with their power, 
 is determined to do fo by that law of 
 nature and reafon, which has determined 
 the end of government, and which ad- 
 mits this form of government as the pro- 
 per mean of arriving at it. Now, the 
 greateft good of a people is their liberty: 
 and, in the cafe here referred to, the peo- 
 ple has judged it fo, and provided for it 
 accordingly. Liberty is to the collective 
 body, what health is to every individual 
 body. Without health no pleafure can 
 be tailed by man: without liberty no 
 happinefs can be enjoyed by fociety. The 
 obligation, therefore, to defend and main- 
 tain the freedom of fuch constitutions, will 
 appear moft facred to a Patriot King. 
 
 Kings who have we ale understand- 
 ings, bad hearts, and ftrong prejudices ? 
 and all thefe, as it often happens, in- 
 flamed by their paffions, and rendered 
 K inctt?- 
 
130 THE IDEA OF 
 
 incurable by their felf-conceit and pre- 
 emption ^ fuch kings are apt to ima- 
 gine, and they conduct themfeives fo as 
 to make many of their fubjedts imagine, 
 that the king and the people in free go- 
 vernments are rival powers, who ftand 
 in competition with one another, who 
 have different interefis, and muft of courfe 
 have different views : that the rights and 
 privileges of the people are fo many fpoils 
 taken from the right and prerogative of 
 the crown and that the rules and laws, 
 made for the exercife and fecurity of the 
 former, are fo many diminutions of their 
 dignity, and refiraints on their power. 
 
 A Patriot King will fee all this in 
 a far different and much truer light. 
 The conftitution will be confidered by 
 him as one law, confifting of two tables* 
 containing the rule of his government, 
 and the meafure of his fubjects obedi- 
 ence or as one fyftem, compofed of dif- 
 ferent parts and powers, but all duly pro- 
 
 por- 
 
A PATRIOT KING. j 3 i 
 
 portioned to one another, and confpir- 
 ing by their harmony to the perfection 
 of the whole. He will make one, and 
 but one^ diftinction between his rights, 
 and thofe o f his people : he will look on 
 his to be a truft, and theirs a property t 
 He will difcern, that he can have a right 
 to no more than is trufted to him by the 
 conftitution : and that his people, who 
 had an original right to the whole by the 
 law of nature, can have the fole inde- 
 feafible right to any part, and really 
 have fuch a right to that part which, 
 they have referved to themfelves. In 
 fine, the conftitution will be reverenced 
 by him as the law of God and of man\ 
 the force of which binds the king as much 
 as the meaneft fubject, and the reafon 
 of which binds him much more. 
 
 Thus he will think, and on thefe 
 principles he will act, whether he come 
 to the throne by immediate or remote 
 election. I fay remote \ for in hereditary 
 K 2 mon- 
 
ij2 THE IDEA OF 
 
 monarchies, where men are not elected, 
 families are : and, therefore, fome authors 
 would have it believed, that when a fa- 
 mily has been once admitted, and an 
 hereditary right to the crown recognized 
 in it, that right cannot be forfeited, nor 
 that throne become vacant, as long as 
 any heir of the family remains. How 
 much more agreeable to truth and to 
 common fenfe would thefe authors have 
 written, if they had maintained, that 
 every prince who comes to a crown in 
 the courfe of fucceflion, were he the 
 loft of five hundred, comes to it under 
 the fame conditions under which the firft 
 took it, whether exprefled or implied; 
 as well as under thofe, if any fuch there 
 be, which have been fince made by le- 
 gal authority : and that royal blood can 
 give no right, nor length of fucceflion 
 any prefcription, againfl the ccnditution 
 of a government ? The firft and the I aft 
 hold by the fame tenure. 
 
 I MEN- 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 133 
 
 I mention this the rather, becaufe I 
 have an imperfect remembrance, that 
 lbme fcribler was employed, or employ- 
 ed himfelf, to after t the hereditary right 
 of the prefent family. A tafk fo unne- 
 cefTary to any good purpofe, that, I be- 
 lieve, a fufpicion arofe of it's having been 
 defigned for a bad one. A Patriot 
 King will never countenance fuch im- 
 pertinent fallacies, nor deign to lean on 
 broken reeds. He knows that his right 
 is founded on the laws of God and man<> 
 that none can make it but himfelf, and 
 that his own virtue is fufficient to main- 
 tain it againft all oppofition. 
 
 I have dwelt the longer on the firft 
 and general principles of monarchical go- 
 vernment, and have recurred the oftener 
 to them, becaufe it feems to me that 
 they are the feeds of patriot! fin, which 
 muft be fown as foon as poffible in the 
 mind of a prince, left their growth 
 K 3 fhould 
 
i 3 4 THE IDEA OF 
 
 flaould be checked by luxuriant weeds, 
 which are apt to abound in fuch foils, 
 and under which no crop of kingly 
 virtues can ever flourilh. A prince, who 
 does not know the true principles, cannot 
 propofe to himfelf the true ends y of go- 
 vernment : and he, who does not propofe 
 them, will never direct his conduct ftea- 
 dily to them. There is not a deeper, 
 nor a finer obfervation in all my Lord 
 Bacon's works, than one which I fhall 
 apply and paraphrafe on this occafion. 
 The moll: compendious, the moft noble, 
 and the moft effectual remedy, which 
 can be oppofed to the uncertain and ir- 
 regular motions of the human mind, a- 
 gitated by various paftions, allured by 
 various temptations, inclining fometimes 
 towards a ftate of moral perfection, and 
 oftener, even in the bell, towards a 
 ftate of moral depravation, is this. We 
 muft chufe betimes fuch virtuous cbjeffs 
 as are proportioned to the means we have 
 of purfuing them, and as belong par- 
 ticularly 
 
A PATRIOT KING. i 35 
 
 ticularly to the ftations we are in, and 
 to the duties of thofe ftations. We muft 
 determine and fix our minds in fuch man- 
 ner upon them, that the purfuit of them 
 may become the bufinefs^ and the attain- 
 ment of them the end of our whole lives. 
 Thus we fhall imitate the great ope- 
 rations of nature, and not the feeble, 
 flow, and imperfect operations of art. 
 We muft not proceed, in forming the 
 moral character, as a ftatuary proceeds 
 in forming a ftatue, who works fome- 
 times on the face, fometimes on one 
 part, and fometimes on another : but we 
 muft proceed, and it is in our power 
 to proceed, as nature does in forming 
 a flower, an animal, or any other of her 
 productions ; rudimenta partium omnium 
 fimul far it et producit. " She throws 
 <c out altogether, and at once, the whole 
 <c fyftem of every being, and the rudi- 
 u ments of all the parts. 55 The vege- 
 table or the animal grows in bulk, and 
 increafes in ftrengthj but is the fame 
 K 4 from 
 
136 THE IDEA OF 
 
 .from the firft. Juft fo our Patriot 
 King muft be a patriot from the firft. 
 He muft be fuch in refolution, before 
 he grows fuch in practice. He muft fix 
 at once the general principles and ends of 
 all his actions, and determine that his 
 whole conduct Ihall be regulated by 
 them, and directed to them. When he 
 has done this, he will have turned, by 
 one great effort, the bent of his mind 
 fo ftrongly towards the perfection of a 
 kingly character, that he will exercife 
 with eafe, and as it were by a natural 
 determination, all the virtues of it ; which 
 will be fuggefted to him on every occa- 
 fion by the principles wherewith his mind 
 is imbued, and by thofe ends that are 
 the conftant objects of his attention. 
 
 Let us then fee in what manner, and 
 with what effect he will do this, upon 
 the greateft occafion he can have of ex- 
 ercifing thefe virtues, the maintenance of 
 
 liberty^ 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 137 
 
 liberty, and the re-eftablijhment of a free 
 conftitution. 
 
 The freedom of a conftitution refts 
 on two points. The orders of it are 
 one: fo Machiavel calls them, and I 
 know not how to call them more figni- 
 ficantly. He means not only the forms 
 and cuftoms, but the different claffes 
 and affemblies of men, with different 
 pov/ers and privileges attributed to them, 
 which are eftablifhed in the ftate. The 
 fpirit and character of the people are the 
 other. On the mutual conformity and 
 harmony of thefe the prefervation of 
 liberty depends. To take away, or ef- 
 fentially to alter the former, cannot be 
 brought to pafs, whilft the latter re- 
 mains in original purity and vigor : nor 
 can liberty be deftroyed by this method, 
 unlefs the attempt be made with a mi- 
 litary force fumcient to conquer the na- 
 tion, which would not fubmit in this 
 cafe till it was conquered, nor with much 
 
 fecurity 
 
138 THE IDEA OF 
 
 fecurity to the conqueror even then. 
 But thefe orders of the ftate may be ef- 
 fentially altered, and ferve more effectu- 
 ally to the deftruction of liberty, than 
 the taking of them away would ferve, 
 if the fpirit and character of the people 
 are loft. 
 
 Now this method of deftroying li- 
 berty is the moft dangerous on many 
 accounts, particularly on this; that e- 
 ven the reign of the weakeft prince, and 
 the policy of the weakeft miniftry, may 
 effect the deftruction, when circum- 
 ftances are favorable to this method. 
 If a people is growing corrupt, there is 
 no need of capacity to contrive, nor of 
 infmuation to gain, nor of plaufibility 
 to feduce, nor of eloquence to perfuade, 
 nor of authority to impofe, nor of cou- 
 rage to attempt. The moft incapable, 
 auk ward, ungracious, mocking, pro- 
 fligate, and timorous wretches, inverted 
 with power, and mafters of the purfe, 
 
 will 
 
A PATRIOT KING. i 39 
 
 will be fufficient for the work, when the 
 people are complices in it. Luxury is 
 rapacious ; let them feed it : the more 
 it is fed, the more profufe it will grow. 
 Want is the confequence of profufion, 
 venality of want, and dependance of ve- 
 nality. By this progreflion, the fir ft 
 men of a nation will become the pen- 
 fioners of the laft ; and he who has ta- 
 lents, the moft implicit tool to him 
 who has none. The diftemper will foon 
 defcend, not indeed to make a depofite 
 below, and to remain there, but to per- 
 vade the whole body. 
 
 It may feem a Angular, but it is per- 
 haps a true proportion, that fuch a 
 king and fuch a miniftry are more likely 
 to begin, and to purfue with fuccefs, this 
 method of deftroying a free conftitution 
 of government, than a king and a mi- 
 niftry that were held in great efteem 
 would be. This very efteem might put 
 many on their guard againft the latter 
 
 but 
 
i4o THE IDEA OF 
 
 but the former may draw from contempt 
 the advantage of not being feared : and 
 an advantage this is in the beginning of 
 corruption. Men are willing to excufe, 
 not only toothers but to themfelves, the 
 firft fteps they take in vice, and efpe- 
 cially in vice that affects the public, and 
 whereof the public has a right to com- 
 plain. Thofe, therefore, who might 
 withftand corruption in one cafe, from 
 a perfuafion that the confequence was 
 too certain to leave them any excufe, 
 may yield to it when they can flatter 
 themfelves, and endeavour to flatter o- 
 thers, that liberty cannot be deftroyed, 
 nor the conilitution be demolilhed, by 
 fuch hands as hold the fceptre, and guide 
 the reins of the adminiftration. But a- 
 las! the flattery is grofs, and the excufe 
 without colour. Thefe men may ruin 
 their country, but they cannot impofe 
 on any, unlefs it be on themfelves. Nor 
 will even this impofition on themfelves 
 b« long neceffary. Their confciences 
 
 will 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 141 
 
 will be foon feared, by habit and by ex- 
 ample : and they, who wanted an excufe 
 to begin, will want none to continue and 
 to complete, the tragedy of their country. 
 Old men will outlive the fhame of lof- 
 ing liberty, and young men will arife 
 who know not that it ever exifted. A 
 fpirit of flavery will oppofe and opprefs 
 the fpirit of liberty, and feem at lead 
 to be the genius of the nation. Such 
 too it will become in time, when cor- 
 ruption has once grown to this height, 
 unlefs the progrefs of it can be inter- 
 rupted. 
 
 How ineftimable a blefiing therefore 
 muft the fucceflion of a Patriot King 
 be efteemed in fuch circumflances as 
 thefe, which would be a bleffing, and 
 a great one too, in any other ? He, and 
 he alone, can fave a country whofe ruin 
 is fo far advanced. The utmoft that 
 private men can do, who remain un- 
 tainted by the general contagion, is to 
 
 keep 
 
142 THE IDEA OF 
 
 keep the fpirit of liberty alive in a few 
 brealisj to proteft againft what they 
 cannot hinder, and to claim on every 
 occafion what they cannot by their own 
 ftrength recover. 
 
 Machiavel has treated, in the dif- 
 courfes before cited, this queftion, * whe- 
 
 * ther, when the people are grown cor- 
 
 * rupt^ a free government can be main- 
 
 * tained, if they enjoy it j or eftablifh- 
 6 ed, if they enjoy it not?' And up- 
 on the whole matter he concludes for 
 the difficulty, or rather the impoflibility, 
 of fucceeding in either cafe. It will be 
 worth while to obferve his way of rea- 
 foning. HealTerts very truly, and proves 
 by the example of the Roman common- 
 wealth, that thofe orders which are pro- 
 per to maintain liberty, whilft a people 
 remain uncorrupt, become improper and 
 hurtful to liberty, when a people is 
 grown corrupt. To remedy this abufe, 
 new laws alone will not be fufficient. 
 
 Thefe 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 143 
 
 Thefe rders, therefore, muft be changed, 
 according to him, and the conftitution 
 muft be adapted to the depraved man- 
 ners of the people. He fhews, that fuch 
 a change in the orders, and conftituent 
 parts of the government, is impractica- 
 ble, whether the attempt be made by- 
 gentle and (low, or by violent and pre- 
 cipitate meafures : and from thence he 
 concludes, that a free commonwealth can 
 neither be maintained by a corrupt people, 
 nor be eftablijhed among them. But he 
 adds, that ' if this can poffibly be done, 
 c it muft be done by drawing the con- 
 * ftitution to the monarchical form of go- 
 c vernment, 3 accioche quelli huomini i quali 
 dalle leggi non poffono effere corretti^ fuf- 
 fero da una podeftd, in qualche modo^ fre- 
 nati. " That a corrupt people whom 
 " law cannot correct, may be reftrained 
 " and corrected by a kingly power " Here 
 is the hinge on which the whole turns. 
 
 Ano 
 
THE IDEA OF 
 
 Another advantage that a free mon- 
 archy has over all other forms of free 
 government, befides the advantage of 
 being more eafily and more ufefully 
 tempered with ariftocratical and demo- 
 cratical powers, which is mentioned a- 
 bove, is this. Thofe governments are 
 made up of different parts, and are apt 
 to be disjointed by the mocks to which 
 they are expofed : but a free monarchical 
 government is more compact, becaufe 
 there is a part the more that keeps, like 
 the key-ftone of a vault, the whole build- 
 ing together. They cannot be mended 
 in a ftate of corruption, they muft be 
 in effect confiituted anew, and in that 
 attempt they may be diflblved forever : 
 but this is not the cafe of a free monar- 
 chy. To preferve liberty by new laws 
 and new fchemes of government, whilfl 
 the corruption of a people continues and 
 grows, is abfolutely impoffible : but to 
 refcore and preferve it under old laws, 
 
 and 
 
A PATRIOT KING. i 45 
 
 and an old conftitution, by reinfufing 
 into the minds of men the fpirit of this 
 conftitution, is not only poflible, but is, 
 in a particular manner, eafy to a king. 
 A corrupt commonwealth remains with- 
 out remedy, thd all the orders and forms 
 of it fubfift : a free monarchical govern- 
 ment cannot remain abfolutely fo, as 
 long as the orders and forms of the 
 conftitution fubfift. Thefe, alOne, are 
 indeed nothing more than the dead let- 
 ter of freedom, or mafks of liberty. In 
 the firft character they ferve to no good 
 purpofe whatfoever : in the fecond they 
 ferve to a bad one becaufe tyranny, or 
 government by will, becomes more fe- 
 vere, and more fecure, under their dif- 
 guife, than it would if it was barefaced 
 and avowed. But a king can, eafily to 
 himfelf and without violence to his peo- 
 ple, renew the fpirit of liberty in their 
 minds, quicken this dead letter, and 
 pull off this malk. 
 
 L 
 
 As 
 
M THE IDEA OF 
 
 As foon as corruption ceafes to be 
 an expedient of government, and it will 
 ceafe to be fuch as foon as a Patriot 
 King is raifed to the throne, the panacea 
 is applied ; the fpirit of the conftitution 
 revives of courfe : and, as faft as it re- 
 vives, the orders and forms of the con- 
 ftitution are reftored to their primitive 
 integrity, and become what they were 
 intended to be, real barriers againft ar- 
 bitrary power, not blinds nor majks un- 
 der which tyranny may lie concealed. 
 Depravation of manners expofed the 
 conftitution to ruin: reformation will 
 fecure it. Men decline eafily from vir- 
 tue ; for there is a devil too in the po- 
 litical fyftem, a conftant tempter at 
 hand: a Patriot King will want nei- 
 ther power nor inclination to caft out 
 this devil, to make the temptation ceafe, 
 and to deliver his fubjefts if not from 
 the guilt, yet from the confequence, of 
 their fall. Under him, they will not 
 
 only 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 147 
 
 only ceafe to do evil, but learn to do 
 well* for, by rendering public virtue 
 and real capacity the fole means of ac- 
 quiring any degree of power or pro- 
 fit in the ftate, he will fet the paflions 
 of their hearts on the fide of liberty 
 and good government. A Patriot 
 King is the moft powerful of all re- 
 formers ; for he ishimfelf a fort of {land- 
 ing miracle, fo rarely feen and fo little 
 underftood, that the fure effects of his 
 appearance will be admiration and love 
 in every honeft breaft, confufion and ter- 
 ror to every guilty confcience, but fub- 
 miflion and refignation in all. A new 
 people will feem toarifewitha new king. 
 Innumerable metamorphofes, like thofe 
 which poets feign, will happen in very 
 deed: and, while men are confcious that 
 they are the fame individuals, the dif- 
 ference of their fentiments will almoft 
 perfuade them that they are changed 
 into different beings. 
 
 Put 
 
148 THE IDEA OF 
 
 But, that we may not expect more 
 from fuch a king than even he can per- 
 form, it is necelfary to premife another 
 general obfervation, after which I mall 
 defcend into fome that will be more 
 particular. 
 
 Absolute liability is not to be ex- 
 pected in any thing human ; for that 
 which exifls immutably exifts alone ne- 
 ceffarily, and this attribute of the Su- 
 preme Being can neither belong to 
 man, nor to the works of man. The 
 beft inftituted governments, like the belt 
 conftituted animal bodies, carry in them 
 the feeds of their deftruction : and, tho 
 they grow and improve for a time, they 
 will foon tend vifibly to their diffolu- 
 tion. Every hour they live is an hour 
 the lefs that they have to live. All that 
 can be done, therefore, to prolong the 
 duration of a good government, is to 
 draw it back, on every favorable occa- 
 
 fion, 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 149 
 
 fion, to the firft good principles on which 
 it was founded. When thefe occafions 
 happen often, and are well improved, 
 fuch governments are profperous and 
 durable. When they happen feldom, 
 or are ill improved, thefe political bo- 
 dies live in pain, or in languor, and die 
 foon. 
 
 A Patriot King affords one of the 
 occafions I mention in a free monarchi- 
 cal ftate, and the very beft that can 
 happen. It mould be improved, like 
 fnatches of fair weather at fea, to repair 
 the damages fuftained in the laft ftorm, 
 and to prepare to refift the next. For 
 fuch a king cannot fecure to his people- 
 a fucceflion of princes like himfelf. He 
 will do all he can towards it, by his ex- 
 ample and by his inftrucr.ion. But af- 
 ter all, the royal mantle will not. con- 
 vey the fpirit of patriotifm into another 
 king, as the mantle of Elijah did the 
 gift of prophecy into another prophet. 
 
 K 3 The 
 
IfQ THE IDEA OF 
 
 The utmoft he can do, and that which 
 deferves the utmoft gratitude from his 
 fubjects, is to reftore good government, 
 to revive the fpirit of it, and to main- 
 tain and confirm both, during the whole 
 courfe of his reign. The reft his peo- 
 ple mult do for themfelves. If they do 
 not, they will have none but themfelves 
 to blame: if they do, they will have 
 the principal obligation to him. In all 
 events, they will have been free men 
 one reign the longer by his means, and 
 perhaps more ; fince he will leave them 
 much better prepared and difpofed to 
 defend their liberties, than he found 
 them. 
 
 This general obfervation being made, 
 let us now defcend, in fome detail, to 
 the particular fteps and meafures that 
 fuch a king muft purfue, to merit a 
 much ncbler title than all thofe which 
 many princes of the weft, as well as the 
 eaft, are fo proud to accumulate. 
 
 First 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 151 
 
 First then, he mull begin to go- 
 vern as foon as he begins to reign. For 
 the very firft fteps he makes in govern- 
 ment will give the firft impreflion, and 
 as it were the prefage of his reign ; and 
 may be of great importance in many 
 other refpects befides that of opinion and 
 reputation. His firft care will be, no 
 doubt, to purge his court, and to call into 
 the adminiftration fuch men as he can 
 allure himfelf will ferve on the fame prin- 
 ciples on which he intends to govern. 
 
 As to the firft point ; if the prece- 
 dent reign has been bad, we know how 
 he will find the court compofed. The 
 men in power will be fome of thofe ad- 
 venturers, bufy and bold, who thruft 
 and crowd tjiemfelves early into the 
 intrigue of party and the management 
 of affairs of ftate, often without true 
 ability, always without true ambition, 
 or even the appearances of virtue : who 
 \i 4 mean 
 
1 52 THE IDEA OF 
 
 mean nothing more than what is called 
 making a fortune, the acquifition of 
 wealth to fatisfy avarice, and of titles 
 and ribbands to fatisfy vanity. Such as 
 thefe are fure to be employed by a weak, 
 or a wicked king: they impofe on the 
 firft, and are chofen by the laft. Nor 
 is it marvellous that they are fo, fince 
 every other want is fupplied in them by 
 the want of good principles and a good 
 confcience; and fince thefe defects become 
 minifterial perfections, in a reign when 
 meafures are purfued and defigns car- 
 ried on that every hone ft man will dis- 
 approve. All the proftitutes who fet 
 themfelves to fale, all the locufts who 
 devour the land, with crowds of fpies, 
 parafites, and fycophants, will furround 
 the throne under the patronage of fuch 
 miniilers and whole fwarms of little, 
 nuifome, namelefs infects will hum and 
 buzz in every corner of the court. Such 
 miniilers will be caft off, and fuch a- 
 bettors of a miniftry will be chafed 
 
 away 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 153 
 
 away together, and at once, by a Pa- 
 triot King. 
 
 Some of them perhaps will be aban- 
 doned by him-, not to party-fury, but 
 to national juftice not to fate private 
 refentments, and to ferve particular in- 
 terefts, but to make fatisfa&ion for 
 wrongs done to their country, and to 
 ftand as examples of terror to future 
 adminiftrations. Clemency makes, no 
 doubt, an amiable part of the character 
 I attempt to draw; but clemency, to be 
 a virtue, muft have it's bounds, like o- 
 ther virtues : and furely thefe bounds 
 are extended enough by a maxim I have 
 read fomewhere, that frailties and even 
 vices may be pafTed over, but not e- 
 normous crimes; mult a donanda ingeniis 
 puto, fed donanda vitia, non portent a. 
 
 Among the bad company, with which 
 fuch a court v/ill abound, may be rec- 
 koned a fort of men too low to be much 
 
 regarded, 
 
i 5 4 THE IDEA OF 
 
 regarded, and too high to be quite ne^ 
 glecled ; the lumber of every admini- 
 ftration, the furniture of every court. 
 Thefe gilt carved things are feldom an- 
 fwerable for more than the men on a 
 chefs- board, who are moved about at 
 will, and on whom the conduct of the 
 game is not to be charged. Some of 
 thefe every prince muft have about him. 
 The pageantry of a court requires that 
 he lhould : and this pageantry, like 
 many other defpicable things, ought 
 not to be laid afide. But as much fame- 
 nefs as there may appear in the cha- 
 racters of this fort of men, there is one 
 diftinction that will be made, when ever 
 a good prince fucceeds to the throne 
 after an iniquitous adminiftration : the 
 diftinction I mean is, between thofe who 
 have affected to dip themfelves deeply 
 in precedent iniquities, and thofe who 
 have had the virtue to keep aloof from 
 them, or the good luck not to be called 
 to any mare in them. And thus much 
 
 for 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 155 
 
 for the firft point, that of purging his 
 court. 
 
 As to the fecond, that of calling to 
 his adminiftration fuch men as he can 
 allure himfelf will ferve on the fame 
 principles on which he intends to govern, 
 there is no need to enlarge much upon 
 it. A good prince will no more chufe 
 ill men, than a wife prince will chufe 
 fools. Deception in one cafe is indeed 
 more eafy than in the other ; becaufe a 
 knave may be an artful hypocrite, where- 
 as a filly fellow can never impofe himfelf 
 tor a man of fenfe. And leaft of all, 
 in a country like ours, can either of 
 thefe deceptions happen, if any degree 
 of the difcernment of fpirits be employ- 
 ed to chufe. The reafon is, becaufe 
 every man here, who ftands forward 
 enough in rank and reputation to be 
 called to the councils of his king, mull 
 have given proofs before-hand of his 
 patriotifm, as well as of his capacity, 
 
 if 
 
j S 6 THE IDEA OF 
 
 if he has either, fufficient to determine 
 his general character. 
 
 There is, however, one diftindtion 
 to be made as to the capacity of mini- 
 llers, on which I will infift a little : be- 
 caufe I think it very important at all 
 times, particularly fo at this time; and 
 becaufe it efcapes obfervation moft com- 
 monly. The diftinction I mean is that 
 between a cunning man and a wife man: 
 and this diftinclion is built on a mani- 
 feft difference in nature, how impercepti- 
 ble foever it may become to weak eyes, or 
 to eyes that look at their object through 
 the falfe medium of cuftom and habit. 
 My lord Bacon fays, that cunning is 
 left-handed or crooked wifdom. I would 
 rather fay, that it is a part, but the loweft 
 part, of wifdom; employed alone by 
 fome, becaufe they have not the other 
 parts to employ ; and by fome, becaufe 
 it is as much as they want, within thofe 
 bounds of action which they prefcribeto 
 
 them- 
 
A PATRIOT KING. i 57 
 
 themfelves, and fufficient to the ends 
 that they propofe. The difference feems 
 to confift in degree, and application, 
 rather than in kind. Wifdom is neither 
 left-handed, nor crooked : but the heads 
 of fome men contain little, and the hearts 
 of others employ it wrong. To ufe my 
 lord Bacon's own comparifon, the cun- 
 ning man knows how to pack the cards, 
 the wife man how to play the game bet- 
 ter: but it would be of no ufe to the 
 firft to pack the cards, if his knowledge 
 flopped here, and he had no fkill in the 
 game; nor to the fecond to play the 
 game better, if he did not know how 
 to pack the cards, that he might un- 
 pack them by new muffling. Inferior 
 wifdom or cunning may get the better 
 of folly ; but fuperior wifdom will get 
 the better of cunning. Wifdom and 
 cunning have often the fame objects ; 
 but a wife man will have more and 
 greater in his view. The leaft will not 
 fill his foul, nor ever become the prin- 
 cipal 
 
158 THE IDEA OF 
 
 cipal there ; but will be purfued in fub- 
 ferviency, in fubordination at ieaft,tothe 
 other. Wifdom and cunning may employ 
 fometimes the fame means too : but the 
 wife man ftoops to thefe means, and the 
 other cannot rife above them. Simulation 
 and diflimulation, for inftance, are the 
 chief arts of cunning : the firft will be 
 efteemed always by a wife man unwor- 
 thy of him, and will be therefore avoid- 
 ed by him, in every poffible cafe; for, to 
 refume my lord Bacon's comparifon, 
 fimulation is put on that we may look 
 into the cards of another, whereas dif- 
 fxmulation intends nothing more than 
 to hide our own. Simulation is a fti- 
 letto, not only an offenfive, but an un- 
 lawful weapon : and the ufe of it may 
 be rarely, very rarely, excufed, but ne- 
 ver juftified. Difllmulation is a fhield, 
 as fecrecy is armour : and it is no more 
 poflible to preferve fecrecy in the ad- 
 miniftration of public affairs without 
 fome degree of diflimulation, than it is 
 
 to 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 
 
 to fucceed in it without fecrecy. Thofe 
 two arts of cunning are like the alloy 
 mingled with pure ore. A little is ne- 
 ce/Tary, and will not debafe the coin be - 
 low it's proper ftandard ; but if more 
 than that little be employed, the coin 
 lofes it's currency, and the coiner \m 
 credit. 
 
 We may obferve much the fame dif- 
 ference between wifdom and cunning, 
 both as to the objects they propofe and 
 to the means they employ, as we ob- 
 ferve between the vifual powers of dif- 
 ferent men. One fees diftinctly the ob- 
 jects that are near to him, their imme- 
 diate relations, and their direct tenden- 
 cies : and a fight like this ferves well 
 enough the purpofe of thofe who con- 
 cern themfelves no further. The cun- 
 ning minifter is one of thofe: he nei- 
 ther fees, nor is concerned to fee, any 
 further than his perfonal interefts, and 
 the fupport of his adminiftration, re- 
 quire. 
 
160 THE IDEA OF 
 
 quire. If fuch a man overcomes any 
 actual difficulty, avoids any immediate 
 diftrefs, or, without doing either of thefe 
 effectually, gains a little time, by all the 
 low artifice which cunning is ready to 
 fuggeft and bafenefs of mind to employ, 
 he triumphs, and is flattered by his 
 mercenary train, on the great event; 
 which amounts often to no more than 
 this, that he got into diftrefs by one fe- 
 ries of faults, and out of it by another. 
 The wife minifter fees, and is concerned 
 to fee further, becaufe government has 
 a further concern : he fees the objects that 
 are diftant as well as thofe that are near, 
 and all their remote relations, and even 
 their indirect tendencies. He thinks of - 
 fame as well as of applaufe, and prefers 
 that, which to be enjoyed muft given, 
 to that which may be bought. He con- 
 fiders his adminiftration as a fingle day 
 in the great year of government; but 
 as a day that is affected by thofe which 
 went before, and that muft affect thofe 
 
 which 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 161 
 
 which are to follow. He combines, 
 therefore, and compares all thefe ob- 
 jects, relations, and tendencies : and the 
 judgment he makes, on an entire not a 
 partial furvey of them, is the rule of 
 his conduct. That fcheme of the rea- 
 fon of flate, which lies open before a 
 wife minifter, contains all the great 
 principles of government, and all the 
 great interefts of his country : fo that, as 
 he prepares fome events, he prepares 
 againft others, whether they be likely 
 to happen during his administration, or 
 in fome future time. 
 
 Many reflections might be added to 
 thefe, and many examples be brought 
 to illuftrate them. Some I could draw 
 from the men I have feen at the head 
 of bufinefs, and make very Itrong con- 
 trails of men of great wifdom with 
 thofe of mere cunning. But I conclude 
 this head, that I may proceed to an- 
 other of no lefs importance. 
 
 M To 
 
t& THE IDEA OF 
 
 To efpoufe no party, but to govern 
 like the common father of his people, is 
 fo effential to the character of a Pa- 
 triot King, that he who does other- 
 wife forfeits the title. It is the peculiar 
 privilege and glory of this character, 
 that princes who maintain it, and they 
 alone, are fo far from the neceflity, that 
 they are not expofed to the temptation, 
 of governing by a party: which mult al- 
 ways end in the government of a faction : 
 the faction of the prince, if he has ability; 
 the faction of his minifiers, if he has not; 
 and, either one way or other, in the op- 
 preffion of the people. For fatlion is 
 to party what the fuperlative is to the 
 pqfitive: party is a political evil, and 
 fattion is the worji of all parties. The 
 true image of a free people, governed 
 by a Patriot King, is that of a pa- 
 triarchal family, where the head and all 
 the members are united by one com- 
 mon intereft, and animated by one com- 
 mon fpirit : and where, if any are per- 
 
 verfe 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 163 
 
 verfe enough to have another, they will 
 be foon borne down by the fuperiority 
 of thofe who have the fame-, and, far 
 from making a divifion^ they will but 
 confirm the union of the little ftate. That 
 to approach as near as poffible to thefe 
 ideas of perfect government, and focial 
 happinefs under it, is defirable in every 
 ftate, no man will be abfurd enough to 
 deny. The fole queftion is, therefore, how 
 near to them it is poffible to attain ? For, 
 if this attempt be not abfolutely im- 
 practicable, all the views of a Patriot 
 King will be directed to make it fuc- 
 ceed. Inftead of abetting the divifions 
 of his people, he will endeavour to u- 
 nite them, and to be himfelf the centre 
 of their union : inftead of putting him- 
 felf at the head of one party in order to 
 govern his people, he will put himfelf at 
 the head of his people in order to go- 
 vern, or more properly to fubdue, all 
 parties. Now, to arrive at this defir- 
 able union, and to maintain it, will be 
 M 2 found 
 
1 64 THE IDEA OF 
 
 found more difficult in fome cafes than 
 in others, but abfolutely impoffible in 
 none, to a wife and good prince. 
 
 If his people are united in their fub- 
 niifilon to him, and in their attachment 
 to the eftablifhed government, he muft 
 not only efpoufe but create a party, in 
 order to govern by one: and what fhould 
 tempt him to purfue fo wild a meafure ? 
 A prince, who aims at more power than 
 the conflitution gives him, may be fo 
 tempted \ becaufe he may hope to ob- 
 tain in the diforders of the ftate what 
 cannot be obtained in quiet times; and 
 becaufe contending parties will give 
 what a nation will not. Parties, even 
 before they degenerate into abfolute fac- 
 tions, are ftill numbers of men aiToci- 
 ated together for certain purpofes, and 
 certain interefts, which are not, or which 
 are not allowed to be, thofe of the com- 
 munity by others. A more private or 
 perfonal intereft comes but too foon, 
 and too often, to be fuperadded, and to 
 
 grow 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 165 
 
 grow predominant in them : and when 
 it does fo, whatever occafions or prin- 
 ciples began to form them, the fame 
 logic prevails in them that prevails in 
 every church. The intereft of the 
 ftate is fuppofed to be that of the par- 
 ty, as the intereft of religion is fup- 
 pofed to be that of the church: and, 
 with this pretence or prepofleflion, the 
 intereft of the ftate becomes, like that 
 of religion, a remote confideration, is 
 never purfued for it's own fake, and is 
 often facrificed to the other. A king, 
 therefore, who has ill defigns to carry 
 on, muft endeavour to divide an unit- 
 ed people; and by blending or feeming 
 to blend his interefts with that of a 
 party, he may fucceed perhaps, and his 
 party and he may fhare the fpoils of a 
 ruined nation : but fuch a party is then 
 become a faction, fuch a king is a ty- 
 rant, and fuch a government is a con- 
 fpiracy. A Patriot King muft re- 
 nounce his character, to have fuch de- 
 M 3 %ns; 
 
166 THE IDEA OF 
 
 figns; or aft againft his own defigns, 
 to purfue fuch methods. Both are too 
 abfurd to be fuppofed. It remains, there- 
 fore, that as all the good ends of govern- 
 ment are mod attainable in an united 
 ftate, and as the divifions of a people can 
 ferve to bad purpofes alone, the king 
 we fuppofe here will deem the union or 
 his fubjefts his greater!: advantage, and 
 will think himfelf happy to find that 
 eftablifhed, which he would have em- 
 ployed the whole labor of his life to 
 bring about. This feems fo plain, that 
 I am ready to make excufes for having 
 infilled at all upon it. 
 
 Let us turn ourfelves to another fup- 
 pofition, to that of a divided ftate. This 
 will fall in oftener with the ordinary 
 courfe of things in free governments, 
 and efpecially after iniquitous and weak 
 adminiftrarions. Such a ftate may be 
 better or worfe, and the great and good 
 purpofes of a Patriot King more or 
 
 lefs 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 167 
 
 lefs attainable in it, according to the 
 different nature of thofe divifions : and, 
 therefore, we will confider this ftate in 
 different lights. 
 
 A people may be united in fubmif- 
 fion to the prince, and to the eftabliffi- 
 ment, and yet be divided about general 
 principles^ or particular meafures of go- 
 vernment. In the firft cafe, they will do 
 by their conftitution what has been fre- 
 quently done by the Scripture, {train it 
 to their own notions and prejudices; 
 and, if they cannot {train it, alter it as 
 much as is neceffary to render it con- 
 formable to them. In the fecond, they 
 will fupport or oppofe particular ads of 
 adminiftrations, and defend or attack 
 the perfons employed in them : and both 
 thefe ways a conflict of parties may a- 
 rife, but no great difficulty to a prince 
 who determines to purfue the union of 
 his fubjects, and the profperity of his 
 kingdoms independently of all parties. 
 
 M 4 When 
 
1 68 THE IDEA OF 
 
 When parties are divided by different 
 notions and principles concerning fome 
 particular ecclefiaftical or civil institu- 
 tions, the constitution, which ftiould be 
 their rule, muft be that of the prince. 
 He may and he ought to fliew his diflike 
 or his favor, as he judges the conftitu- 
 tion may be hurt or improved, by one 
 fide or the other. The hurt he is never 
 to fuffer, not for his own fake; and 
 therefore furely not for the fake of any 
 whimfical, factious, or ambitious fet 
 of men. The improvement he muft al- 
 ways defire; but as every new modifi- 
 cation in a fcheme of government and 
 of national policy is of great import- 
 ance, and requires more and deeper con- 
 fideration than the warmth, and hurry, 
 and rafhnefs of party- conduct admit, the 
 duty of a prince feems to require that 
 he fhould render by his influence the 
 proceedings more orderly and more de- 
 liberate, even when he approves the end 
 
 to 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 169 
 
 to which they are directed. All this 
 may be done by him without fomenting 
 divifion ; and, far from forming or e- 
 lpoufing a,party, he will defeat party in 
 defence of the conftitution, on fome oc- 
 cafions; and lead men, from acting with 
 a party-fpirit, to act with a national fpi- 
 rit, on others. 
 
 When the divifion is about particular 
 meafures of government, and the con- 
 duct of the adminiftration is alone con- 
 cerned, a Patriot King will ftand in 
 want of party as little as in any other 
 cafe. Under his reign, the opportuni- 
 ties of forming an oppofition of this fort 
 will be rare, and the pretences generally 
 weak. IN ay, the motives to it will lofe 
 much of their force, when a govern- 
 ment is ftrong in reputation, and men 
 are kept in good humor by feeling the 
 rod of a party on no occafion, tho they 
 feel the weight of the fceptre on fome. 
 Such opportunities, however, may hap- 
 pen; 
 
lyo THE IDEA OF 
 
 pen ; and there may be reafon, as well as 
 pretences, fometimes for oppofition even 
 in fuch a reign : at leaft we will fup- 
 pofe fo, that we may include in this ar- 
 gument every contingent cafe. Griev- 
 ances then are complained of, miftakes 
 and abufes in government are pointed 
 out, and minifters are profecuted by 
 their enemies. Shall the prince on the 
 throne form a party by intrigue, and 
 by fecret and corrupt influence, to op- 
 pofe the profecution ? When the prince 
 and the miniflers are participes criminis^ 
 when every thing is to be defended, left 
 fomething mould come out, that may 
 unravel the filly wicked fcheme, and 
 difclofe to public fight the whole tur- 
 pitude of the adminiftration ; there is 
 no help, this muft be done, and fuch a 
 party muft be formed, becaufe fuch a 
 party alone will fubmit to a drudgery 
 of this kind. But a prince, who is not 
 in thefe circumftances, will not have 
 recourfe to thefe means. He has others 
 
 more 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 171 
 
 more open, more noble, and more ef- 
 fectual in his power : he knows that the 
 views of his government are right, and 
 that the tenor of his adminiftration is 
 good ; but he knows that neither he nor 
 his miniflers are infallible, nor impec- 
 cable. There may be abufes in his go- 
 vernment, miftakes in his adminiftra- 
 tion, and guilt in his minifters, which 
 he has not obferved : and he will be far 
 from imputing the complaints, that 
 gave him occafion to obferve them, to 
 a fpirit of party j much lefs will he treat 
 thofe who carry on fuch profecutions 
 in a legal manner, as incendiaries, and 
 as enemies to his government. On the 
 contrary, he will diftinguilh the voice 
 of his people from the clamor of a fac- 
 tion, and will hearken to it. He will 
 redrefs grievances, correct errors, and 
 reform or punifh minifters. This he 
 will do as a good prince : and as a wife 
 one, he will do it in fuch a manner that 
 his dignity (hall be maintained, and that 
 
 his 
 
172 THE IDEA OF 
 
 his authority mall increafe, with his re- 
 putation, by it. 
 
 Should the efforts of a mere faction be 
 bent to calumniate his government, and 
 to diftrefs theadminiftration onground- 
 lefs pretences, and for inefficient rea- 
 fons j he will not neglect, but he will 
 not apprehend neither, the fhort-lived 
 and contemptible fcheme. He will in- 
 deed have no reafon to do fo for let the 
 fautors of male-adminiftration, when- 
 ever an oppofition is made to it, af- 
 fect to infinuate as much as they pleafe, 
 that their matters are in no other cir- 
 curn fiances than thofe to which the very 
 beft minifters ftand expofed, objects of 
 general envy and of particular malice, 
 it will remain eternally true, that ground- 
 lefs oppofition, in a well-regulated mon- 
 archy, can never be ftrong and dur- 
 able. To be convinced of the truth 
 of this propofition, one needs only to 
 reflect how many well-grounded attacks 
 
 have 
 
A PATRIOT KING. i 73 
 
 have been defeated, and how few have 
 fucceeded, againft the moft wicked and 
 the weakeft adminiftrations. Every 
 king of Britain has means enough in 
 his power, to defeat and to calm op- 
 pofition. But a Patriot King, a- 
 bove all others, may fafely reft his caufe 
 on the innocency of his adminiftration, 
 on the constitutional ftrength of the 
 crown, and on the concurrence of his 
 people, to whom he dares appeal, and 
 by whom he will be Supported. 
 
 To conclude all I will fay on the di^ 
 vifions of this kind ; let me add, that 
 the cafe of a groundlefs oppofition can 
 hardly happen in a bad reign, becaufe 
 in fuch a reign juft occafions of oppo- 
 fition muft of courfe be frequently given 
 (as we have allowed that they may be 
 given fometimes, tho very rarely, in a 
 good reign-,) butthat, whetheritbe well 
 or ill grounded, whether it be that of 
 the nation, or that of a faction, the con- 
 duel: 
 
i 7 4 THE IDEA OF 
 
 duel: of the prince with refpect to it will 
 be the fame ; and one way or other this 
 conduct muft have a very fatal event. 
 Such a prince will not mend the ad- 
 ministration, as long as he can refift the 
 jufteft and moll popular oppofition : 
 and, therefore, this oppofition will laft 
 and grow, as long as a free conflitution 
 is in force, and the fpirit of liberty is 
 preferved for fo long even a change of 
 his minifters, without a change of his 
 meafures, will not be fufflcient. The 
 former without the latter is a mere ban- 
 ter, and would be deemed and taken 
 for fuch, by every man who did not 
 oppofe on a factious principle^ that I 
 mean of getting into power at any rate, 
 and ufmg it as ill, perhaps worfe than 
 the men he helped to turn out of it. 
 Now if fuch men as thefe abound, and 
 they will abound in the decline of a free 
 government, a bad prince, whether he 
 changes or does not change his minifters, 
 may hope to govern by the fpirit and 
 
 art 
 
A PATRIOT KING. i 75 
 
 art of a faction, againft the fpirit and 
 ftrength of the nation. His character 
 may be too low, and that of his minifter 
 too odious, to form originally even a 
 faction that mall be able to defend them. 
 But they may apply to their purpofes a 
 party that was formed on far different 
 occafions, and bring numbers to fight 
 for a caufe in which many of them 
 would not have lifted. The names, and 
 with the names the animofity of par- 
 ties, may be kept up, when the caufes 
 that formed them fubfift no longer. 
 
 When a party is thus revived or con- 
 tinued in the fpirit of a faction, the cor- 
 rupt and the infatuated members of it 
 will act without any regard to right or 
 wrong : and they who have aliened li- 
 berty in one reign, or oppofed invafions 
 of one kind, will give it up in another 
 reign, and abet invafions of another 
 kind; tho they ftill diftinguifli them- 
 fel ves by the fame appellation, ftill fpread 
 
 the 
 
176 THE IDEA OF 
 
 the fame banner^ and ftill deafen their 
 adverfaries and one another with the 
 fame cry. If the national caufe prevails 
 againft all the wicked arts of corruption 
 and divifion, that an obftinate prince 
 and flagitious miniftry can employ, yet 
 will the ftruggle be long, and the diffi- 
 culties, the diftrefles, and the danger 
 great, both to the king and to the peo- 
 ple. The bell he can hope for, in fuch 
 a cafe, will be to efcape with a diminu- 
 tion of his reputation, authority, and 
 power. He may be expofed to fome- 
 thing worfe and his obftinacy may 
 force things to fuch extremities, as they 
 who oppofe him will lament, and as the 
 prefervation of liberty and good govern- 
 ment can alone juftify. If the wicked 
 arts I fpeak of prevail, faction will be 
 propagated through the whole nation, an 
 ill or well grounded oppofition will be 
 the queftion no longer, and the contelt 
 among parties will be, who mall go- 
 vern, not, how they mall be governed. 
 
 In 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 177 
 
 In fhort, univerfal confufion will fol- 
 low, and a complete victory, on any 
 fide, will enflave all fides. 
 
 I have not over-charged the draught. 
 Such confequences muft follow fuch a 
 conduct: and therefore let me afk, 
 how much more fafe, more eafy, more 
 pleafant, more honorable is it, for a 
 prince to correct, if he has not prevent- 
 ed, male-adminiftration ? that he may 
 be able to reft his caufe, as I faid be- 
 fore, on the ftrength of the crown and 
 the concurrence of his people, when- 
 ever any faction prefumes to rife in op- 
 pofition to him. 
 
 This a Patriot King will do. He 
 may favour one party and difcourage 
 another, upon occafions wherein the 
 ftate of his kingdom makes fuch a tem- 
 porary meafure neceffary : but he will 
 efpoufe none, much lefs will he pro- 
 scribe any. He will lift no party, much 
 N lefs 
 
178 THE IDEA OF 
 
 lefs will he do the meaneft and moil 
 imprudent thing a king can do, lift 
 himfelf in any. It will be his aim to 
 purfue true principles of government 
 independently of all : and, by a fteddy 
 adherence to this meafure, his reign 
 will become an undeniable and glorious 
 proof, that a wife and good prince may 
 unite his fubjects, and be himfelf the 
 centre of their union, notwithftanding 
 any of thefe divifions that have been 
 hitherto mentioned. 
 
 Let us now view the divided ftate of 
 a nation in another light. In this, the 
 divifions will appear more odious, more 
 dangerous ; lefs dependent on the influ- 
 ence, and lefs fubject to the authority, 
 of the crown. Such will be the ftate, 
 whenever a people is divided about fub- 
 mijfion to their prince, and a party is form - 
 ed, of fpirit and ftrength fufficient to 
 oppofe, even in arms, the eftablifhed 
 government. But in this cafe, defpe- 
 
 rate 
 
A PATRIOT KING. i 79 
 
 rate as it may feem, a Patriot King 
 will not delpair of reconciling, and re- 
 uniting his fubjects to himfelf, and to 
 one another. , He may be obliged, per- 
 haps, as Henry the fourth of France 
 was, to conquer his own; but then, like 
 that great prince, if he is the conque- 
 ror, he will be the father too, of hi a 
 people. He muft purfue in arms thofe 
 who prefume to take arms againft him ; 
 but he will purfue them like rebellious 
 children whom he feeks to reclaim, and 
 not like irreconcileable enemies whom 
 he endeavours to exterminate. Another 
 prince may blow up the flame of civil 
 war by unprovoked feverity, render 
 thofe zealous againft him who were at 
 worft indifferent, and determine the dif- 
 affection of others to open rebellion. 
 When he has prevailed againft the fac- 
 tion he helped to form, as he could not 
 have prevailed if the bent of the nation 
 had been againft him, he may be willing 
 to afcribe his fuccefs to a party ^ that he 
 N 2 may 
 
i8o THE IDEA OF 
 
 may have that pretence to govern by % 
 party : and, far from reconciling the 
 minds that have been alienated from 
 him, and re- uniting his fubjecls in a 
 willing unforced fubmiflion to him, he 
 may be content to maintain himfelf on 
 that throne, where the laws of God and 
 man have placed him, by the melan- 
 choly expedient that ufurpers and ty- 
 rants, who have no other in their power, 
 employ, the expedient of force. But 
 a Patriot King will act with another 
 fpirit, and entertain nobler and wifer 
 views, from firft to laft, and through the 
 whole courfe of fuch a conjuncture. No- 
 thing lefs than the hearts of his people 
 will content fuch a prince i nor will he 
 think his throne eftablifhed^ till it is 
 eftablifhed there. That he may have 
 time and oportunity to gain them, there- 
 fore, he will prevent the flame from 
 breaking out, if by art and management 
 he can do it. If he cannot, he will en- 
 deavour to keep it from fpreading: and, 
 
 if 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 181 
 
 if the phrenfy of rebellion difappoints 
 him in both thefe attempts, he will re- 
 member peace, like the heroic king I 
 juffc now quoted, in the midft of war. 
 Like him, he will forego advantages of 
 pufhing the latter, rather than lofe an 
 opportunity of promoting the former: 
 like him, in the heat of battle he will 
 fpare, and in the triumph of victory 
 condefcend : like him, he will beat down 
 the violence of this flame, by his va- 
 lour, and extinguish even the embers of 
 it, by his lenity. 
 
 It may happen, that a prince, capa- 
 ble of holding fuch a conduct as this, 
 may not have the opportunity. He 
 may fucceed to the throne after a con- 
 trary conduct has been held > and when, 
 among other divifions which male-ad- 
 miniftration and the tyranny of faction 
 have increafed and confirmed, there is 
 one againft the eftablifhed government 
 ftill in being, though not {till in arms. 
 
 N 3 The 
 
m THE IDEA OF 
 
 The ufe is obvious, which a faction in 
 power might make of fuch a circum- 
 ftance under a weak prince, by ranking 
 in that divifion all thofe who oppofed 
 the adminiftration -> or at leaft by hold- 
 ing out equal danger to him from two 
 quarters, from their enemies who meant 
 him no harm, and from his enemies 
 who could do him none. But fo grofs 
 an artifice will not impofe on a prince 
 of another character : he will foon dif- 
 cern the diftinctions it becomes him to 
 make. He will fee, in this inftance, 
 how faction breeds, nourifhes, and per- 
 petuates faction: he will obferve how far 
 that of the court contributed to form the 
 other, and contributes flill to keep it in 
 countenance and credit, among thofe 
 who confider more what fuch men are 
 againft, than what they are for. He 
 will obferve, how much that of the dif- 
 affected gives pretence to the other who 
 keeps a monopoly of power and wealth \ 
 one of which oppreifes, and the other 
 
 beggars, 
 
A PATRIOT KING. iS 3 
 
 beggars, the reft of the nation. His 
 penetration will foon difcover, that thefe 
 factions break in but little on the body 
 of his people, and that it depends on 
 him alone to take from them even the 
 ftrength they have; becaufe that of the 
 former is acquired entirely by his autho- 
 rity and purfe, and that of the latter prin- 
 cipally by the abufe which the former 
 makes of both. Upon the whole, the 
 meafures he has to purfue towards the 
 great object of a Patriot King, the 
 union of his people, will appear to him 
 extremely eafy. How mould they be 
 otherwife ? One of the factions muft be 
 difTolved, the moment that the favor 
 of the prince is withdrawn : and the o- 
 ther is difarmed, as foon as it is marked 
 out. It will have no fhelter, and it muft 
 therefore be fo marked out, under a 
 good and wife adminiftration; for, whe- 
 ther the members of it avow their prin- 
 ciples by refufing thofe tefts of fidelity 
 which the law requires, orperjure them- 
 N 4 felves 
 
i8 4 THE IDEA OF 
 
 felves by taking them, they will be 
 known alike. One difference, and but 
 one will be made between them in the 
 general fenfe of mankind, a difference 
 arifing from the greater degree of in- 
 famy that will belong juftly to the latter. 
 The firft may pafs for fools ; the latter 
 muff pafs, without excufe, for knaves. 
 
 The terms I ufe found harfhly, but 
 the cenfure is juft: and it will appear 
 to be fo in the higher! degree, and upon 
 the highefl: reafon, if we flop to make 
 a reflection or two, that deferve very 
 well to be made, on the conduct of our 
 Jacobites ; for I defire no ftronger in- 
 ftance on which to eflablifh the cenfure, 
 and to juftify the terms I have ufed. 
 Now all thefe, whether they fwear or 
 whether they do not, are liable to one 
 particular objection, that did not lie 
 againfl: thofe who were, in former days, 
 enemies to the king on the throne. In 
 the days of York and Lancafier^ for in- 
 
 ftance ? 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 185 
 
 ftance, a man might be againft the 
 prince on the throne, without being a- 
 gainft the conftitution of his country. 
 The conftitution conveyed the crown by 
 hereditary right in the fame family : and 
 he who was a Torkift> and he who was 
 a Lancaftrian, might, and I doubt not 
 did, pretend in every conteft to have 
 this right on his fide. The fame con- 
 ftitution was acknowledged by both: 
 and, therefore, fo much indulgence was 
 fliewn by law to both, at lead in the 
 time of Henry the feventh, that fub- 
 miflion to a king de fatlo could not be 
 imputed as a crime to either. Thus 
 again, to defcend lower in hiftory ; when 
 the exclufion of the duke of York was 
 prefTed in the reign of Charles the 
 fecond, the right of that prince to the 
 crown was not difputed. His divine 
 right indeed, fuch a divine right as his 
 grandfather and father had afTerted be- 
 fore him, was not much regarded; but 
 his right by the conftitution, his legal 
 
 right 
 
it6 THE IDEA OF 
 
 right, was fufficiently owned by thofc 
 who infilled on a law as neceffary to 
 bar it. But every Jacobite, at this 
 time, goes beyond all thefe examples, 
 and is a rebel to the conftitution under 
 which he is born, as well as to the prince 
 on the throne. The law of his coun- 
 try has fettled the right of fucceftion in 
 a new family. He refills this law, and 
 afferts, on his own private authority, 
 not only a right in contradiction to it, 
 but a right extinguished by it. This 
 abfurdity is fo great, that it cannot be 
 defended, except by advancing a great- 
 er: and therefore it is urged, that no 
 power on earth could alter the confti- 
 tution in this refpect, nor extinguifli 
 a right to the crown inherent in the 
 Stuart family, and derived from a fu- 
 perior, that is, from a divine, autho- 
 rity. This kind of plea for refufing 
 fubmifiion to the laws of the land, if it 
 was admitted, would ferve any purpofe 
 as well as that for which it is brought. 
 
 Our 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 187 
 
 Our fanatics urged it formerly, and 1 
 do not fee why a confcientious fifth- 
 monarchy man had not as much right 
 to urge it formerly, as a Jacobite has 
 now. But if confcience, that is private 
 opinion, may excufe the fifth-monar- 
 chy man- and the Jacobite, who aft con- 
 formably to it, from all imputations ex- 
 cept thofe of madnefs and folly, how 
 (hall the latter be excufed when he for- 
 fwears the principles he retains, acknow- 
 ledges the right he renounces, takes 
 oaths with an intent to violate them, 
 and calls God to witnefs to a premedi- 
 tated lye ? Some cafuiftry has been em- 
 ployed to excufe thefe men to them- 
 felves and to others. But fuch cafuiftry, 
 and in truth every other, deftroys, by 
 diftinclions and exceptions, all mora- 
 lity, and effaces the efTential difference 
 between right and wrong, good and 
 evil. This the fchoolmen in general 
 have done on many occafions •, the fons 
 of Loyola in particular: and I wifti 
 
 with 
 
i88 THE IDEA OF 
 
 with all my heart that nothing of the 
 fame kind could be objected to any o- 
 ther divines. Some political reafoning 
 has been employed, as well as the cafui- 
 ftry here fpoken of, and to the fame pur~ 
 pofe. It has been faid, that the con- 
 duel: of thofe who are enemies to the 
 eftablifhment, to which they fubmit 
 and fwear, is juftified by the principles 
 of the Revolution. But nothing can be 
 more falfe and frivolous. By the prin- 
 ciples of the Revolution, a fubject may 
 refill, no doubt, the prince who endea- 
 vours to ruin and enflave his people, 
 and may pufh this refiftance to the de- 
 thronement and exclufion of him and 
 his race : but will it follow, that, be- 
 caufe we may juftly take arms againft 
 a prince whofe right to govern we once 
 acknowledged, and who by fubfequent 
 acts has forfeited that right, we may 
 fwear to a right we do not acknow- 
 ledge, and refift a prince whofe conduct 
 has not forfeited the right we fwore to, 
 
 nor 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 189 
 
 nor given any juft difpenfation From 
 bur oaths ? 
 
 But I lhall lengthen this digreflion 
 no further: it is on a fubjecl I have 
 treated in public writings, the refuta- 
 tion of which never came to my hands, 
 and, I think, never will. I return to 
 the fubjecl of my prefent difcourfe. And 
 I fay, that fuch factions as thefe can 
 never create any obftruclion to a prince 
 who purfues the union of his fubjecls, 
 nor difturb the peace of his govern- 
 ment. The men who compofe them 
 mull be defperate, and impotent; the 
 moft defpicable of all characters, when 
 they go together. Every honeft and 
 fenfible man will diftinguilh himfelf out 
 of their number : and they will remain, 
 as they deferve to be, hewers of wood, 
 and drawers of water, to the reft of 
 their fellow- fubjecls. 
 
 They 
 
190 THE IDEA OF 
 
 They will remain fuch, if they are 
 abandoned to themfelves, and to that 
 habitual infatuation which they have 
 not fenfe and fpirit enough to break. 
 But if a prince, out of goodnefs or po- 
 licy, fhould think it worth his while 
 to take them from under this influence, 
 and to break thefe habits ; even this 
 diviflon, the mod abfurd of all others, 
 will not be found incurable. A man 
 who has not feen the infide of parties, 
 nor had opportunities to examine near- 
 ly their fecret motives, can hardly con- 
 ceive how little a mare principle of 
 any fort, tho principle of fome fort or 
 other be always pretended, has in the 
 determination of their conduct. Rea- 
 fon has fmall effect on numbers. A 
 turn of imagination, often as violent 
 and as fudden as a guft of wind, deter- 
 mines their conduct : and paflion is tak- 
 en, by others, and by themfelves too* 
 when it grows into habit efpecially, for 
 
 prin- 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 191 
 
 principle. What gave ftrength and fpi- 
 rit to a Jacobite party after the late 
 king's acceflion? The true anfwer is, 
 A fudden turn of the imaginations of a 
 whole party to refentment and rage, 
 that were turned a little before to quiet 
 fubmiffion, and patient expectation. 
 Principle had as little fhare in making 
 the turn, as reafon had in conducting 
 it. Men who had fenfe, and temper 
 too, before that moment, thought of 
 nothing, after it, but of fetting up a 
 tory king againft a whig king: and 
 when fome of them were afked, if they 
 were fure a popifh king would make a 
 good tory king? or whether they were 
 determined to facrifice their religion and 
 liberty to him? the anfwer was, No; 
 that they would take arms againft him 
 if he made attempts on either - 9 that this 
 might be the cafe, perhaps, infix months 
 after his reftoration, but that, in the 
 mean time, they would endeavour his 
 
 reftora- 
 
192 THE IDEA OF 
 
 reftoration. This is no exaggerated fact : 
 and I leave all men to judge, to what 
 fuch fentiments and conduct muft be 
 afcribed, to principle or paflion, to rea- 
 fon or madnefs ? What gives obftinacy 
 without ftrength, and fullennefs without 
 fpirit, to the Jacobite-tories at this 
 time ? Another turn of imagination, 
 or rather the fame mewing itfelf in an- 
 other form; a factious habit, and a fac- 
 tious notion, converted into a notion of 
 policy and honor. They are taught to 
 believe, that by clinging together they 
 are a confiderable weight, which may 
 be thrown in to turn the fcale in any 
 great event and that, in the mean time, 
 to be a fteddy fuffering party is an ho- 
 nor they may flatter themfelves with 
 very juftly. Thus, they continue fted- 
 dy to engagements which moil of them 
 wiih in their hearts they had never tak- 
 en ; and fuffer for principles, in fupport 
 of which not one of them would ven- 
 ture 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 193 
 
 ture further, than talking the treafonthat 
 claret infpires. 
 
 It refults, therefore, from all that 
 has been faid, and from the reflections 
 which thefe hints may fuggeft, that in 
 whatever light we view the divided ftate 
 of a people, there is none in which thefe 
 divifions will appear incurable, nor an 
 union of the members of a great com- 
 munity with one another, and with their 
 head, unattainable. It may happen in 
 this cafe as it does in many others , that 
 things uncommon may pafs for impro- 
 bable or impofTible: and, as nothing 
 can be more uncommon than a Pa- 
 triot King, there will be no room to 
 wonder if the natural and certain effects 
 of his conduct mould appear improba- 
 ble or impofTible to many. But there 
 is ftill fomething more in this cafe. 
 Tho the union we fpeak of be fo much 
 for the intereft of every king and every 
 people, that their glory and their pro- 
 CD fperity 
 
194 THE IDEA OF 
 
 fperity muft increafe, or diminifh, iri 
 proportion as they approach nearer to 
 it, or are further removed from it ; yet 
 is there another intereft, by which prin- 
 ces and people both are often impofed 
 upon fo far, as to miftake it for their 
 own. The intereft I mean, is that of 
 private ambition. It would be eafy to 
 fhew in many inftances, and particular- 
 ly in this, of uniting inftead of divid- 
 ing, and of governing by a national 
 concurrence inftead of governing by the 
 management of parties and factions in 
 the ftate, how widely different, nay how 
 repugnant, the interefts of private ambi- 
 tion and thofe of real patriotifm are. 
 Men, therefore, who are warmed by the 
 firft, and have no fenfe of the laft, will 
 declare for divifion, as they do for cor- 
 ruption, in oppofition to union and to 
 integrity of government. They will not 
 indeed declare directly, that the two 
 former are in the abftracl preferable ; 
 but they will ahirm, with great airs of 
 
 fuf- 
 
A PATRIOT KING. j 95 
 
 fumciency, that both are incurable; and 
 conclude from hence, that in practice 
 it is neceflary to comply with both. 
 This fubterfuge once open, there is no 
 falfe and immoral meafure, in political 
 management, which may not be avowed 
 and recommended. But the very men, 
 who hope to efcape by opening it, fhut'it 
 up again, and fecure their own condem- 
 nation, when they labor to confirm di- 
 visions, and to propagate corruption, and 
 thereby to create the very necejpty that 
 they plead in their excufe. NecefTity 
 of this kind there is in reality none; 
 for it feems full as abfurd to fay, that 
 popular divifions muft be cultivated, 
 becaufe popular union cannot be pro- 
 cured, as it would be to fay that poi- 
 fon mud be poured into a wound, be- 
 caufe it cannot be healed. The prac- 
 tice of morality, in private life, will 
 never arrive at ideal perfection : muft we 
 give up ourfelves, therefore, to all man- 
 ner of immorality? and muft thofe 
 O 2 who 
 
i 9 6 THE IDEA OF 
 
 who are charged with our inftructiort 
 endeavour to make us the moft profli- 
 gate of men, becaufe they cannot make 
 us faints ? 
 
 Experience of the depravity of hu- 
 man nature made men defirous to unite 
 in fociety and under government, that 
 they might defend themfelves the bet- 
 ter againft injuries : but the fame de- 
 pravity foon infpired to fome the dc- 
 fign of employing focieties to invade 
 and fpoil focieties; and to difturb the 
 peace of the great common-wealth of 
 mankind, with more force and effect in 
 fuch collective bodies, than they could 
 do individually. Juft fo it happens in 
 the domeftic ceconomy of particular 
 ftates : and their peace is difturbed by 
 the fame paflions. Some of their mem- 
 bers content themfelves with the com- 
 mon benefits of fociety, and employ all 
 their induftry to promote the public 
 good : but fome propofe to themfelves 
 
 a fe- 
 
A PATRIOT KING. i 97 
 
 a fcparate intereft ; and, that they may 
 purfue it the more effectually, they af- 
 fociate with others. Thus faftions are 
 in them, what nations are in the world j 
 they invade and rob one another : and, 
 while each purfues a feparate intereft, 
 the common intereft is facrificed by 
 them all; that of mankind in one cafe, 
 that of fome particular community in 
 the other. This has been, and muft 
 always be, in fome meafure, the courfe 
 of human affairs, efpecially in free coun- 
 tries, where the paffions of men are lefs 
 reftrained by authority : and I am not 
 wild enough to fuppofe that a Patriot 
 King can change human nature. But 
 I am reafonable enough to fuppofe, 
 that, without altering human nature, 
 he may give a check to this courfe of 
 human affairs, in his own kingdom at 
 leaft-, that he may defeat the defigns, 
 and break the fpirit of faction, inftead 
 of partaking in one, and a/Turning the 
 pther; and that, if he cannot render 
 O 3 the 
 
198 THE IDEA OF 
 
 the union of his fubje&s univerfal, he 
 may render it fo general as to anfwer 
 ail the ends of good government, pri- 
 vate fecurity, public tranquillity, wealth, 
 power, and fame. 
 
 If thefe ends were ever anfwered, 
 they were fo, furely, in this country, 
 in the days of our Elizabeth. She 
 found her kingdom full of factions, and 
 factions of another confequence and 
 danger than thefe of our days, whom 
 Hie would have difperfed with a puff of 
 her breath. She could not re-unite 
 them, it is true: the papifc continued 
 a papifl, the puritan a puritan; one 
 furious, the other fullen. But fhe unit- 
 ed the great body of the people in her 
 and their common inter eft ^ me inflamed 
 them with one national fpirit : and, thus 
 armed, me maintained tranquillity at 
 home, and carried fuccour to her friends 
 2 nd terror to her enemies abroad. There 
 were cabals at her court, and intrigues 
 
 among 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 199 
 
 among her minifters. It is faid too, 
 that me did not diflike that there mould 
 be fuch. But thefe were kept v/ithin her 
 court. They could not creep abroad, to 
 fow divifion among her people : and her 
 greater! favorite the earl of Essex paid 
 the price of attempting it with his head. 
 Let our great doctors in politics, who 
 preach fo learnedly on the trite text Di- 
 vide et impera, compare the conduct of 
 Elizabeth in this refpect with that of 
 her fuccefTor, who endeavoured to go- 
 vern his kingdom by the notions of a 
 faftion that he raifed, and to manage 
 his parliament by undertakers : and they 
 muft be very obftinate indeed, if they 
 refufe to acknowledge, that a wife and 
 good prince can unite a divided peo- 
 ple, though a weak and wicked prince 
 cannot-, and that the confequences of na- 
 tional union are glory and happinefs to 
 the prince and to the people whilftthofe 
 of dif-union bring fhame and mifery on 
 both, and entail them too on poflerity. 
 
 O 4 I 
 
zoo THE IDEA OF 
 
 I have dwelt long on the laft head, 
 not only becaufe it is of great importance 
 in itfelf, and at all times* but becaufe 
 it is rendered more fo than ever at this 
 time, by the unexampled avowal of 
 contrary principles. Hitherto it has 
 been thought the higheft pitch of pro- 
 fligacy to own, inftead of concealing, 
 crimes ; and to take pride in them, in- 
 ftead of being afhamed of them. But in 
 our age men have foared to a pitch ftill 
 higher. The firfl is common, it is the 
 practice of numbers, and by their num- 
 bers they keep one another in counte- 
 nance. But the choice fpirits of thefe 
 days, the men of mode in politics, are 
 far from flopping where criminals of 
 all kinds have ftopt, when they have 
 gone even to this point; for generally 
 the molt hardened of the inhabitants of 
 Newgate do not go fo far. The men I 
 fpeak of contend, that it is not enough to 
 
 be 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 201 
 
 be vicious by praclice and habit, but that 
 it is neceflary to be fo by principle. They 
 make themfelves miflionaries of faction 
 as well as of corruption : they recom- 
 mend both, they deride all fuch as ima- 
 gine it poflible, or fit, to retain truth, 
 integrity, and a difinterefted regard to 
 the public in public life, and pronounce 
 every man a fool who is not ready to 
 act like a knave. I hope that enough 
 has been faid, tho much more might 
 have been faid, to expofe the wickednefs 
 of thefe men, and the abfurdity of their 
 fchemes; and to mew that a Patriot 
 King may walk moreeafily and fuccefs- 
 fully in other paths of government, per 
 tutum planumque iter religionis, juftitiae, 
 honeftatis, virtutumque moralium. Let 
 me proceed, therefore, to mention two 
 other heads of the conduct that fuch * 
 king will hold, and it mall be my endea- 
 vour not to fall into the fame prolixity, 
 
 A King 
 
 i 
 
102 THE IDEA OF 
 
 A King who efteems it his duty to 
 fupport, or to reftore, if that be need- 
 ful, the free conftitution of a limited 
 monarchy ; who forms and maintains a 
 wife and good adminiftration who fub- 
 dues faction, and promotes the union of 
 his people^ and who makes their great- 
 er!: good the conftant object of his go- 
 vernment, may be faid, no doubt, to 
 be in the true intereft of his kingdom. 
 All the particular cafes, that can arife, 
 are included in thefe general character- 
 iftics of a wife and good reign. And 
 yet it feems proper to mention, under 
 a diftinct head, fome particular in (lan- 
 ces that have not been touched, where- 
 in this wifdom and goodnefs will exert 
 themfelves. 
 
 Now, tho the true intereft of feveral 
 ftates may be the fame in many refpecls, 
 'yet is there always fome difference to be 
 perceived, by a difcerning eye, both in 
 thefe interefts, and in the manner of 
 
 purfuing 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 203 
 
 purfuing them ; a difference that arifes 
 from the fituation of countries, from 
 the character of people, from the na- 
 ture of government, and even from that 
 of climate and foil ; from circumftances 
 that are, like thefe, permanent, and 
 from others that may be deemed more 
 accidental. To illuftrate all this by- 
 examples, would be eafy, but long. I 
 mall content myfelf therefore to men- 
 tion, in fome inftances only, the differ- 
 ence that arifes, from the caufes refer- 
 red to, between the true intereft of our 
 country, and that of fome or all our 
 neighbours on the continent ; and leave 
 others to extend and apply in their own 
 thoughts the comparifon I mail hint at, 
 rather than enlarge upon. 
 
 The fituation of Great Britain, the 
 character of her people, and the nature 
 of her government, fit her for trade and 
 commerce. Her climate and her foil 
 make them neceffary to her well-being. 
 
 By 
 
I 
 
 204 THE IDEA OF 
 
 By trade and commerce we grow a rich 
 and powerful nation, and by their de- 
 cay we are growing poor and impotent. 
 As trade and commerce enrich, fo they 
 Fortify, our country. The fea is our 
 barrier, mips are our fortrefTes, and the 
 mariners, that trade and commerce a- 
 lone can furnilh, are the garrifons to 
 defend them. France lies under great 
 difad'/antages in trade and commerce, 
 by the nature of her government. Her 
 advantages, in fituation, are as great 
 at lean: as ours. Thofe that arife, from 
 the temper and character of her people, 
 are a little different perhaps, and yet 
 upon the whole equivalent. Thofe of 
 her climate and her foil are fuperior to 
 ours, and indeed to thofe of any Euro- 
 fean nation. The United Provinces have 
 the fame advantages that we have in the 
 nature of their government, more per- 
 haps in the temper and character of their 
 people, lefs to be fure in their fituation, 
 climate, and foil. But, without de- 
 fending 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 20$ 
 
 fcending into a longer detail of the ad- 
 vantages and difadvantages attending 
 each of thefe nations in trade and com- 
 merce, it is fufEcient for my prefent pur- 
 pofeto obferve, that Great Britain ftands 
 in a certain middle between the other 
 two, with regard to wealth and power 
 arifing from thefe fprings. A lefs, and 
 a lefs conftant, application to the im- 
 provement of thefe may ferve the ends 
 of France - 9 a greater is neceffary in this 
 country; and a greater ftill in Holland. 
 The French may improve their natural 
 wealth and power by the improvement 
 of trade and commerce. We can have 
 no wealth, nor power by confequence, 
 as Europe is now conftituted, without 
 the improvement of them, nor in any 
 degree but proportionably to this im- . 
 provement. ' The Dutch cannot fubfift 
 without them. They bring wealth to 
 other nations, and are necelfary to the 
 well-being of them ; but they fupply the 
 
 Dutch 
 
io6 THE IDEA OF 
 
 Dutch with food and raiment, and are 
 neceflary even to their being. 
 
 The refult of what has been faid is, 
 in general^ that the wealth and power of 
 all nations depending fo much on their 
 trade and commerce, and every nation 
 being, like the three I have mentioned, 
 in fuch different circumftances of ad- 
 vantage or difadvantage in the purfuit 
 of this common intereft ; a good govern- 
 ment, and therefore the government of 
 a Patriot King, will be directed con- 
 ftantly to make the mo ft of every ad- 
 vantage that nature has given, or art 
 can procure, towards the improvement 
 of trade and commerce. And this is 
 one of the principal criterions by which 
 we are to judge, whether governors are 
 in the true intereft of the people or 
 not. 
 
 It refults, in particular , that Great 
 Britain might improve her wealth and 
 
 power 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 207 
 
 power in a proportion fuperior to that 
 of any nation who can be deemed her 
 rival, if the advantages fhe has were as 
 wifely cultivated, as they will be in the 
 reign of a Patriot King. To be con- 
 vinced more thoroughly of this truth, 
 a very lliort procefs of reafoning will 
 fufflce. Let any man, who has know- 
 ledge enough for it, firft compare the 
 natural (late of Great Britain, and of the 
 United Provinces, and then their artifi- 
 cial ftate together ; that is, let him con- 
 fider minutely the advantages we have 
 by the fituation, extent, and nature of 
 our ifland, over the inhabitants of a 
 few fait marines gained on the fea, 
 and hardly defended from it : and after 
 that, let him confider how nearly thefe 
 provinces have raifed themfelves to 
 an equality of wealth and power with 
 the kingdom of Great Britain. From 
 whence arifes this difference of im- 
 provement? It arifes plainly from hence: 
 the Butch have been, from the foun- 
 dation 
 
20$ THE IDEA OF 
 
 dation of their common-wealth, a na- 
 tion of patriots and merchants. The fpi- 
 rit of that people has not been diverts 
 ed from thefe two objects, the defence 
 of their liberty, and the improvement 
 of their trade and commerce-, which 
 have been carried on by them with un- 
 interrupted and unflackened applica- 
 tion, induftry, order, and ceconomy. 
 In Great Britain the cafe has not been 
 the fame, in either refpect; but here 
 we confine ourfelves to fpeak of the 
 laft alone. 
 
 Trade and commerce, fuch as they 
 were in thofe days, had been fometimes, 
 and in fome^in fiances, before the reign 
 of Queen Elizabeth, encouraged and 
 improved : but the great encouragements 
 were given, the great extenfions and 
 improvements were made, by that glo- 
 rious princefs. To her we owe that fpi- 
 rit of domeftic and foreign trade which 
 i« not quite extinguimed. It was lhe 
 
 who 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 209 
 
 who gave that rapid motion to our 
 whole mercantile fyftem which is not 
 entirely ceafed. They both flagged 
 under her fucceffor; were not revived 
 under his fon ; were checked, divert- 
 ed, clogged, and interrupted, during, 
 our civil wars: and began to exert 
 new vigor after the reftoration, in a 
 long courfe of peace but met with new 
 difficulties, too, from the confirmed 
 rivalry of the Dutch, and the growing 
 rivalry of the French. To one of thefe 
 the pufillanimous character of James 
 the firft gave many fcandalous occa- 
 fions : and the other was favoured by 
 the conduct of Charles the fecond,who 
 never was in the true intereil of the 
 people he governed. From the revo- 
 lution to the death of queen Anne, 
 however trade and commerce might be 
 aided and encouraged in other refpecls, 
 they were necefTarily fubjecled to de- 
 predations abroad, and over-loaded by 
 taxes at home, during the courfe of 
 P two 
 
ai o THE IDEA OF 
 two great wars. From the acceffiort 
 of the late king to this hour, in the 
 midfl of a full peace, the debts of the 
 nation continue much the fame, the 
 taxes have been encreafed, and for» 
 eighteen years of this time we have 
 tamely fuffered continual depredations 
 from the moft contemptible maritime 
 power in Europe^ that of Spain, 
 
 A Patriot King will neither neg- 
 lect, nor faerifice his country's intereft. 
 No other intereft, neither a foreign nor 
 a domeftic, neither a public nor a pri- 
 vate, will influence his conduct in go- 
 vernment. He will not multiply taxes 
 wantonly, nor keep up thofe unnecef- 
 farily which neceffity has laid, that he 
 may keep up legions of tax-gatherers. 
 He will not continue national debts, by 
 all forts of political and other profufion - 9 
 nor, more wickedly ftill, by a fettled 
 purpofe of oppreffing and impoveriiri- 
 ing the people ; that he may with great- 
 er 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 211 
 
 er eafe corrupt fome, and govern the 
 whole, according to the dictates of his 
 paffions and arbitrary will. To give 
 eafe and encouragement to manufactory 
 at home, to affift and protect trade a- 
 broad, to improve and keep in heart 
 the national colonies, like fo many farms 
 of the mother-country, will be princi- 
 pal and conftant parts of the attention 
 of fuch a Prince. The wealth of the 
 nation he will moft juflly efteem to be 
 his wealth, the power his power, the 
 fecurity and the honor, his fecurity and 
 honor: and, by the very means by 
 which he promotes the two firft, he will 
 wifely preferve the two laft; for by 
 thefe means, and by thefe alone, can 
 the great advantage of the fituation of 
 this kingdom be taken and improved. 
 
 Great Britain is an ifland : and, whilft 
 nations on the continent are at immenfe 
 charge in maintaining their barriers, 
 and perpetually on their guard, and fre- 
 P % quently 
 
2i2 THE IDEA OF 
 
 quently embroiled, to extend or ftrength- 
 en them, Great Britain may, if her go- 
 vernors pleafe, accumulate wealth in 
 maintaining hers; make herfelf fecure 
 from invafions, and be ready to invade 
 others when her own immediate intereft, 
 or the general intereft of Europe, re- 
 quires it. Of all which queen Eliza- 
 beth's reign is a memorable example, 
 and undeniable proof. I faid the gene- 
 ral intereft of Europe; becaufe it feems 
 to me that this, alone, mould call our 
 councils off from an almoft entire ap- 
 plication to their domeftic and proper 
 bufinefs. Other nations muft watch 
 over every motion of their neighbours 5 
 penetrate, if they can, every defign ; 
 rorefee every minute event, and take 
 part by fome engagement or other in 
 almoft every conjuncture that arifes. 
 But as we cannot be eafily nor fudden- 
 ly attacked, and as we ought not to 
 aim at any acquifition of territory on. 
 the continent, it may be our intereft to. 
 
 watch 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 213 
 
 watch the fecret workings of the feve- 
 ral councils abroad; to advife, and 
 warn ; to abet, and oppofe ; but it ne- 
 ver can be our true intereft eafily and 
 officioufly to enter into action, much 
 lefs into engagements that imply ac- 
 tion and expence. Other nations, like 
 the V elites or light- armed troops, ftand 
 forernoft in the field, and fkirmifh 
 perpetually. When a great war be- 
 gins, we ought to look on the powers 
 of the continent, to whom we incline, 
 like the two flrft lines, the Principes 
 and Haftati of a Roman army : and on 
 ourfelves, like the Triarii^ that are not 
 to charge with thefe legions on every 
 occafion, but to be ready for the con- 
 flict whenever the fortune of the day* 
 be it fooner or later, calls us to it, and 
 the fum of things, or the general intereft, 
 makes it neceflary. 
 
 P 3 This 
 
2i 4 THE IDEA OF 
 
 This is that poft of advantage and 
 honor y which our lingular fituation a- 
 mong the powers of Europe determines 
 us, or mould determine us, to take, in 
 all difputes that happen on the conti- 
 nent. If we neglect it, and diflipate our 
 ftrength on occafions that touch us re- 
 motely or indirectly, we are governed 
 by men who do not know the true in- 
 tereft of this ifland, or who have fome 
 other intereft more at heart. If we ad- 
 here to it, fo at leaft as to deviate lit- 
 tle and feldom from it, as we fhall do 
 whenever we are wifely and honeftly go- 
 verned, then will this nation make her 
 proper figure : and a great one it will 
 be. By a continual attention to im- 
 prove her natural, that is her maritime 
 ftrength, by collecting all her forces with- 
 in herfelf, and referving them to be laid 
 out on great occafions, fuch as regard 
 her immediate interefts and her honor, or 
 fuch as are truly important to the ge- 
 neral 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 215 
 
 neral fyftem of power in Europe; me 
 may be the arbitrator of differences, the 
 guardian of liberty, and the preferver 
 of that balance, which has been fo 
 much talked of, and is fo little under- 
 ftood. 
 
 " Are we never to be foldiers ?" it 
 will be faid. Yes, conftantly, in fuch 
 proportion as is neceffary for the defence 
 of good government. To eftablifh fuch 
 a military force as none but bad gover-r 
 nors can want, is to eftablifh tyranni- 
 cal power in the king or in the mini- 
 fters; and may be wanted by the latter, 
 when the former would be fecure with- 
 out his army, if he broke his minifter. 
 Occafionally too we muft be foldiers, 
 and for offence as well as defence; but 
 in proportion to the nature of the con- 
 juncture, confidered always relatively to 
 thediiference here infilled upon between 
 our fituation, our intereft, and the na- 
 ture of our ftrength, compared with 
 P 4 thofe 
 
216 THE IDEA OF 
 
 thofe of the other powers of Europe and 
 not in proportion to the defires, or even 
 to the wants, of the nations with whom 
 we are confederated. Like other am- 
 phibious animals, *we muft come occa- 
 fionally on fliore : but the water is more 
 properly our element, and in it, like 
 them, as we find our greater! fecurity, 
 fo we exert our created force. 
 
 What I touch upon here, very fiiort- 
 ly, deferves to be confidered, and re- 
 confidered, by every man who has, or 
 may have, any fhare in the government 
 of Great Britain. For we have not only 
 departed too much from our true nati- 
 onal intereft in this refpect; but we have 
 done fo with the general applaufe even 
 of well-meaning men, who did not dif- 
 cern that we wafted ourfelves by an 
 improper application of our ftrength in 
 conjunctures when we might have ferv- 
 ed the common caufe far more ufefully, 
 nay with entire effect, by a proper ap- 
 
 P ii- 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 217 
 
 plication of our natural ftrength. There 
 -was fome thing more than this. Armies 
 grew fo much into falhion, in time of 
 war, among men who meant well to 
 their country, that they who mean ill 
 to it have kept, and keep them flill up 
 in the profoundeft peace : and the num- 
 ber of our foldiers, in this ifland alone, 
 is almoft double to that of our feamen. 
 That they are kept up againft foreign 
 enemies, cannot be faid with any color. 
 If they are kept for mew, they are ridi- 
 culous j if they are kept for any otherpur- 
 pofe whatever, they are too dangerous to 
 befuffered. APatriot King, feconded 
 by minifters attached to the true interefl 
 of their country, would foon reform this 
 abufe, and fave a great part of this ex- 
 pence ; or apply it, in a manner preferable 
 even to the faving it, to the maintenance 
 of a body of marine foot, and to the charge 
 of a regifter of thirty or forty thoufand 
 feamen. But no thoughts like thefe, no 
 great defigns for the honor and interefl: 
 
 of 
 
2i8 THE IDEA OF 
 
 of the kingdom, will be entertained, till 
 men who have this honor and intereft 
 at heart arife to power. 
 
 I come now to the laft head under 
 which I (hall confider the character and 
 conduct of a Patriot King : and let 
 it not be thought to be of the leaft im- 
 portance, tho it may feem, at the firfc 
 mention, to concern appearances rather 
 than realities, and to be nothing more 
 than acircumftance contained in or imr 
 plied by the great parts of the charac- 
 ter and conduct of fuch a king. It is 
 of his perfonal behaviour, of his man- 
 ner of living with other men, and, in 
 a word, of his private as well as pub- 
 lic life that I mean to fpeak. It is of 
 that decency and grace, that bienfeance 
 of the French^ that decorum of the Latins , 
 that of the Greeks^ which can ne- 
 ver be reflected on any character that 
 is not laid in virtue : but for want of 
 which, a character that is fo laid will 
 
 lofe, 
 
A PATRIOT KING. tig 
 
 lofe, at all times, part of the luftre be- 
 longing to it, and may be fometimes 
 not a little mifunderftood and underva- 
 lued. Beauty is not feparable from health, 
 nor this luftre^ faid the Stoics, from 
 virtue: but as a man may be healthful 
 without being handfome, fo he may be 
 virtuous without being amiable. 
 
 There are certain finifhing ftrokes, 
 a laft hand as we commonly fay, to be 
 given to all the works of art. When 
 that is not given, we may fee the excel- 
 lency of a general defign, and the beauty 
 of fome particular parts. A judge of 
 the art may fee further; he may allow 
 for what is wanting, and difcern the full 
 merit of a complete work in one that is 
 imperfect. But vulgar eyes will not 
 be fo flruck. The work will appear to 
 them defective, becaufe unfinifhed: fo 
 that, without knowing precifely what 
 they diflike, they may admire, but they 
 will not be pleafed. Thus in moral 
 
 cha- 
 
£20 THE IDEA OF 
 
 characters, tho every part be virtuous 
 and great, or tho the few and fmall de- 
 fects in it be concealed under the blaze 
 of thofe fhining qualities that compenfate 
 for them ; yet is not this enough even 
 in private life : it is lefs fo in public life, 
 and ftill lefs fo in that of a prince. 
 
 There is a certain /pedes liberalise 
 more eafily underftood than explained, 
 and felt than defined, that mull be ac- 
 quired and rendered habitual to him. 
 A certain propriety of words and actions, 
 that refults from their conformity to na- 
 ture and character, mull always accom- 
 pany him, and create an air and man- 
 ner that run uniformly through the whole 
 tenor of his conduct and behaviour : 
 which air and manner are fo far from 
 any kind or degree of affectation, that 
 they cannot be attained except by him 
 who is void of all affectation. We may 
 illuftrate this to ourfelves, and make 
 it more fenfible, by reflecting on the 
 
 conduct 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 221 
 
 conduft of good dramatic or epic wri- 
 ters. They draw the characters, which 
 they bring on the fcene, from nature, 
 they fuftain them through the whole 
 piece, and make their actors neither fay 
 nor do any thing that is not exactly pro- 
 per to the character each of them repre- 
 fents. Oderint dum metuant, came pro- 
 perly out of the mouth of a tyrant ; but 
 Euripides would never have put that 
 execrable fentence into the mouth of Mi- 
 nos or iEACus. 
 
 A man of fenfe and virtue both will 
 not fall into any great impropriety of 
 character, or indecency of conduct : but 
 he may Hide or be furprifed into fmall 
 ones, from a thoufand reafons, and in 
 a thoufand manners, which I mall not 
 ftay to enumerate. Againft thefe, there- 
 fore, even men, who are incapable of 
 falling into the others, muft be ftill on 
 their guard, and no men fo much as 
 princes. When their minds are filled 
 and their hearts warmed with truenotions 
 
 of 
 
Z2z THE IDEA OF 
 
 of government, when they know their 
 duty, and love their people, they will not 
 fail in the great parts they are to act, in 
 the council, in the field, and in all the 
 arduous affairs that belong to their king- 
 ly office : at leafl they will not begin to 
 fail, by failing in them. But as they 
 are men, fufceptible of the fame impref- 
 fions, liable to the fame errors, and ex- 
 pofed to the fame paflions, fo they are 
 likewife expofed to more and ftronger 
 temptations than others. Befides, the 
 elevation in which they are placed, as it 
 gives them great advantages, gives 
 them great difadvantages too, that of- 
 ten countervail the former. Thus, for 
 inftance, a little merit in a prince is feen 
 and felt by numbers : it is multiplied, 
 as it. were, and in proportion to this ef- 
 fect his reputation is raifed by it. But 
 then, a little failing is feen and felt by 
 numbers too: it is multiplied in the 
 fame manner, and his reputation finks 
 in the fame proportion. 
 
 I SPOKE 
 
A PATRIOT KING, 223 
 
 I spoke above of defects that may be 
 concealed under the blaze of great and 
 mining qualities. This may be the cafe ; 
 it has been that of fome princes. There 
 goes a tradition that Henry the fourth 
 of France afked a Spanijh ambafTador, 
 what miftrefTes the king of Spain had I 
 The ambafTador replied, like a formal 
 pedant, that his m after was a prince who 
 feared God, and had nomiftrefs but the 
 queen. Henry the fourth felt the re- 
 flection, and alked him in return, with 
 fome contempt, "Whether his mailer 
 
 had not virtues enough to cover one 
 " vice?" 
 
 The faults or defects, that may be 
 thus covered or compenfated, are, I 
 think, thofe of the man, rather than 
 thofeofthe king fuch as arife from con- 
 ftitution, and the natural rather than the 
 moral character ; fuch as may be deem- 
 ed accidental ftarts of paflion, or acci- 
 dental 
 
224 THE IDEA OF 
 
 dental remiflhefs in fome unguarded 
 hours-, furprifes, if I may fay fo, of 
 the man on the king. When thefe hap- 
 pen feldom, and pafs foon, they may 
 be hid like fpots in the fun : but they 
 are fpots (till. He who has the means 
 of feeing them, will fee them : and he 
 who has not, may feel the effects of 
 them without knowing precifely the 
 caufe. When they continue (for here 
 is the danger, becaufe, if they continue* 
 they willincreafe ) they are fpots no long- 
 er: they fpread a general made, and 
 obfcure the light in which they were 
 drowned before. The virtues of the king 
 are loft in the vices of the man. 
 
 Alexander had violent pafiions, and 
 thofe for wine and women were predo- 
 minant, after his ambition. They were 
 fpots in his character before they prevail- 
 ed by the force of habit : as foon as they 
 began to do fo, the king and the hero 
 appeared lefs, the rake and bully more. 
 
 Perfepolis 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 225 
 
 Perfepolis was burnt at the inftigation of 
 Thais, and Clytus was killed in a 
 drunken brawl. He repented indeed of 
 thefe two horrible actions, and was again 
 the king and hero upon manyoccafions ; 
 but he had not been enough on hisguard, 
 when the ftrongefl incitements to vanity 
 and to fenfual pleafures offered them- 
 felves at every moment to him: and, 
 when he flood in all his eafy hours fur- 
 rounded by women and eunuchs, by 
 the pandars, parafites, and buffoons of 
 a voluptuous court, they, who could 
 not approach the king, approached the 
 man, and by feducing the man, they 
 betrayed the king. His faults became 
 habits. The Macedonians, who did not 
 or would not fee the one, faw the other ; 
 and he fell a facrifice to their refent- 
 ments, to their fears, and to thofe fac- 
 tions that will arife under an odious 
 government, as well as under one that 
 grows into contempt. 
 
226 THE IDEA OF 
 
 Other characters might be brought 
 to contrafte with this-, the firft Scipio 
 Africanus, for example, or the eldeft 
 Cato : and there will be no objection 
 to acomparifonof fuch citizens of Rome y 
 as thefe were, with kings of the firft 
 magnitude. Now, the reputation of the 
 firft Scipio was not fo clear and un- 
 controverted in private as in public life > 
 nor was he allowed by all, to be a man 
 of fuch fevere virtue, as he affected, and 
 as that age required. N^vius wa s 
 thought to mean him in fome verfes- 
 Gellius has preferved: and Valerius 
 Antias made no fcruple to affert, that* 
 far from reftoring the fair Spaniard to 
 her family, he debauched and kept her. 
 Notwithftanding this, what authority 
 did he not maintain ? In what efteem 
 and veneration did he not live and die ? 
 With what panegyrics has not the whole 
 torrent of writers rolled down his repu- 
 tation even to thefe days? This could 
 not have happened, if the vice imputed 
 
 to 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 227 
 
 to him had flicwn itfelf in any fcandalous 
 appearances, to eclipfe the luitre of the 
 general, the conful, or the citizen. The 
 fame reflection might be extended to 
 Cato, who loved wine as well as Scipio 
 loved women. Men did not judge in 
 the days of the elder Cato perhaps, as 
 Seneca was ready to do in thofe of the 
 younger 9 that drunkennefs could be no 
 crime if Cato drank : but Cato's paf- 
 fion as well as that of Scipio, was fub- 
 dued and kept under by his public cha- 
 racter. His virtue warmed, hrftead of 
 cooling, by this indulgence to his ge- 
 nius or natural temper: and one may 
 gather, from what Tully puts into his 
 mouth, in the treatife concerning Old 
 age^ that even his love of wine was ren- 
 dered fubfervient, inftead of doing hurt, 
 to the meafures he purfued in his pub- 
 lic character. 
 
 Give me leave to infill a little on the 
 two firft Caesars, and on Marc An- 
 tony. I quote none of them as good 
 2 men, 
 
228 THE IDEA OF 
 
 men, but I may quote them all as great 
 men, and therefore properly in this 
 place ; fince a Patriot King muft a- 
 void the defects that diminifh a great 
 character, as well as thofe that corrupt 
 a good one. Old Curio called Julius 
 C^sar the hufband of every wife, and 
 the wife of every hufband ; referring to 
 his known adulteries, and to the com- 
 pliances that he was fufpected of in his 
 youth for Nicomedes. Even his own 
 foldiers, in the licence of a triumph, 
 fung lampoons on him for his profufion 
 as well as lewdnefs. The youth of Au- 
 gustus was defamed as much as that of 
 Julius Cjes ar, and both as much as that 
 of Antony. When Rome was ranfacked 
 by the panda rs of Augustus, and ma- 
 trons and virgins were ftripped and 
 fearched, like flaves in a market, to 
 chufe the fitteft to fatisfy his luft, did 
 Antony do more? When Julius fet 
 no bounds to his debauches in Egypt, 
 except thofe that fatiety impofed, poft- 
 
 quam 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 229 
 
 f uam epulis bacchoque modum laffata volu- 
 ntas impofuit, when he trifled away his 
 time with Cleopatra in the very crifis 
 of the civil war, and till his troops re- 
 fufed to follow him any further in his 
 effeminate progrefs up the Nik—- did 
 Antony do more ? No all three had 
 vices which would have been fo little 
 borne in any former age of Rome, that 
 no man could have raifed himfelf, un- 
 der the weight of them, to popularity 
 and to power. But we muft not won- 
 der that the people, who bore the tyrants, 
 bore the libertines nor that indulgence 
 was fhewn to the vices of the great, in 
 a city where univerfal corruption and 
 profligacy of manners were eftablifhed: 
 and yet even in this city, and among 
 thefe degenerate Romans, certain it is 
 that different appearances, with the 
 fame vices, helped to maintain the C^:- 
 sars, and ruined Antony. I might 
 produce many anecdotes to mew how 
 the two former faved appearances whilft 
 
 3 their 
 
2 3 o THE IDEA OF 
 
 their vices were the moil flagrant, and 
 made fo much amends for the appear- 
 ances they had not faved, by thofe of a 
 contrary kind, that a great part at leaft 
 of all which was faid to defame them 
 might pafs, and did pafs, for the ca- 
 lumny of party. 
 
 But Antony threw off all decorum 
 from the firft, and continued to do fo to 
 the laft. Not only vic€ t but indecency 
 became habitual to him. He ceafed to 
 be a general, a conful, a triumvir, a 
 citizen of Rome. He became an Egy~ 
 pian king, funk into luxurious effemi- 
 nacy, and proved he was unfit to govern 
 men, by fuffering himfelf to be govern- 
 ed by a woman. His vices hurt him, 
 but his habits ruined him. If a politi- 
 cal modefty at leaft had made him dif- 
 guife the firft, they would have hurt 
 him lefs, and he might have efcaped 
 the laft : but he was fo little fenfible of 
 this, that in a fragment of one of his 
 
 letters 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 231 
 
 letters to Augustus, which Suetonius 
 has preferved, he endeavours to juftify 
 himfelf by pleading this very habit. 
 " What matter is it whom we lie with?'' 
 fays he: " this letter may find you 
 <c perhaps with Tertulla, or Teren- 
 cc t ilia," " or others that he names, I 
 " lie with Cleopatra, and have I 
 " not done fo thefe nine years?" 
 
 These great examples, which I 
 have produced, not to encourage vice, 
 but to mew more ftrongly the advan- 
 tages of decency in private behaviour, 
 may appear in fome fort figures bigger 
 than the life. Few virtues and few 
 vices grow up, in thefe parts of the 
 world and thefe latter ages, to the fize 
 of thofe I have mentioned ; and none 
 have fuch fcenes wherein to exert them- 
 felves. But the truths I am defirous 
 to inculcate will be as juftly deliver- 
 ed in this manner, and perhaps more 
 ftrongly felt. Failings or vices that 
 Q^4 flow 
 
232 THE IDEA OF 
 
 flow from the fame fource of human 
 nature, that run the fame courfe through 
 the conduct of princes, and have the 
 fame effects on their characters, and 
 confequently on their government and 
 their fortune, have all the proportion 
 neceflary to my application of them. 
 It matters little, whether a prince, who 
 abandons that common decorum which 
 refults from nature and which reafon 
 prefcribes, abandons the particular de- 
 corums of this country or that, of this 
 age or that, which refult from mode, 
 and which cuftom exacts. It matters 
 little, for inftance, whether a prince 
 gives himfelf up to the more grofs lux- 
 ury of the weft, or to the more refined 
 luxury of the eaft; whether he become 
 the Have of a domeftic harlot, or of a 
 foreign queen-, in fhort, whether he 
 forget himfelf in the arms of one whore, 
 or of twenty, and whether he imitate 
 Antony, or a king of Achin, who is 
 reported to have palled his whole time 
 
 in 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 233 
 
 in a feraglio, eating, drinking, chew- 
 ing betel, playing with women, and 
 talking of cock-fighting. 
 
 To fum up the whole and draw to a 
 conclufion : this decency y this grace ^ this 
 propriety of manners to characler^ is fo 
 cfTential to princes in particular, that 
 whenever it is neglected, their virtues 
 lofe a great degree of luftre, and their 
 defects acquire much aggravation. Nay- 
 more j by neglecting this decency and 
 this grace, and for want of a fufficient 
 regard to appearances, even their vir- 
 tues may betray them into failings, 
 their failings into vices, and their vices 
 into habits unworthy of princes and 
 unworthy of men. 
 
 The conftitutions of governments^ and 
 the different tempers and characters of 
 people ', may be thought juftly to de- 
 ferve fome confideration, in determin- 
 ing the behaviour of princes in pri- 
 vate 
 
3j4 THE IDEA OF 
 
 vate life as well as in public ; and to 
 put a difference, for inftance, between 
 the decorum of a king of France , and 
 that of a king of Great Britain. 
 
 Lewis the fourteenth was king in 
 an abfolute monarchy, and reigned o- 
 ver a people whofe genius makes it as 
 fit perhaps to impofe on them by ad- 
 miration and awe, as to gain and hold 
 them by affection. Accordingly he 
 kept great ftate ; was haughty, was re- 
 fer ved ; and all he faid or did appeared 
 to be forethought and planned. His 
 regard to appearances was fuch, that 
 when his miftrefs was the wife of ano- 
 ther man, and he had children by her 
 every year, he endeavoured to cover 
 her conftant refidence at court by a 
 place me filled about the queen : and 
 he dined and fupped and cohabited with 
 the latter in every apparent refpect as if 
 he had had no miftrefs at all. Thus he 
 raifed a great reputation he was rever- 
 ed 
 
A PATRIOT KING. *jf 
 
 ed by his fubjects, and admired by his 
 neighbours : and this was due princi- 
 pally to the art with which he managed 
 appearances, fo as to fet off his virtues, 
 to difguife his failings and his vices, and 
 by his example and authority to keep 
 a veil drawn over the futility and de- 
 bauch of his court. 
 
 His fucceflbr, not to the throne, but 
 to the fovereign power, was a mere 
 rake, with fome wit, and no morals ; 
 nay, with fo little regard to them, that 
 he made them a fubjecl: of ridicule in 
 difcourfe, and appeared in his whole 
 conduct more profligate, if that could 
 be, than he was in principle. The dif- 
 ference between thefe characters foon 
 appeared in abominable effects; fuch 
 as, cruelty apart, might recal the me- 
 mory of Nero, or, in the other fex, that 
 of Messalina, and fuch as I leave the 
 chroniclers of fcandal to relate. 
 
 Our. 
 
*3<S THE IDEA OF 
 
 Our Elizabeth was queen in a li- 
 mited monarchy, and reigned over a 
 people at all times more eafily led than 
 driven; and at that time capable of 
 being attached to their prince and their 
 country, by a more generous principle 
 than any of thofe which prevail in our 
 days, by affettion. There was a ftrong 
 prerogative then in being, and the 
 crown was in pofTefllon of greater le- 
 gal power. Popularity was, however, 
 then, as it is now, and as it muft be 
 always in mixed government, the fole 
 true foundation of that fufficient autho- 
 rity and influence, which other confti- 
 tutions give the prince gratis y and in 1 
 dependency of the people, but which a 
 king of this nation muft acquire. The 
 wife queen faw it, and me faw too, 
 how much popularity depends on thofe 
 appearances, that depend on the deco- 
 rum, the decency, the grace, and the 
 propriety of behaviour of which we are 
 
 fpeak- 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 237 
 
 fpeaking. A warm concern for the 
 intereft and honor of the nation, a 
 tendernefs for her people, and a confi- 
 dence in their affections, were appear- 
 ances that run through her whole public 
 conduct, and gave life and color to it. 
 She did great things, and me knew how 
 to fet them off according to their full 
 value, by her manner of doing them. 
 In her private behaviour fhe mewed 
 great affability, fhe defcended even to 
 familiarity, but her familiarity was 
 fuch as could not be imputed to her 
 weaknefs, and was, therefore, moft juftly 
 afcribed to her goodnefs. Tho a woman, 
 fhe hid all that was womanifh about 
 her : and if a few equivocal marks of 
 coquetry appeared on fome occafions, 
 they paffed like flames of ligh tning, va- 
 nifhed as foon as they were difcerned, 
 and imprinted no blot on her character. 
 She had private friend/hips^ Hie had fa- 
 vourites : but fhe never fuffered her 
 friends to forget fhe was their queen ; 
 
 and 
 
238 THE IDEA OF 
 
 and when her favourites did, me made 
 them feel that me was fo. 
 
 Her fucceflbr had no virtues to fet 
 off, but he had failings and vices to 
 conceal. He could not conceal the 
 latter and, void of the former, he 
 could not compenfate for them. His 
 failings and his vices therefore {land- 
 ing in full view, he paffed for a weak 
 prince and an ill man ; and fell into all 
 the contempt wherein his memory re- 
 mains to this day. The methods he 
 took, to preferve himfelf from it, ferved 
 but to confirm him in it. No man can 
 keep the decorum of manners in life, 
 who is not free from every kind of af- 
 fectation, as it has been faid already: 
 but he who affects what he has no pre- 
 tentions to, or what is improper to his 
 character and rank in the world, is 
 guilty of molt confummate folly-, he 
 becomes doubly ungracious, doubly 
 indecent, and quite ridiculous. James 
 
 the 
 
 j 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 239 
 
 the firft, not having one quality to 
 conciliate the efteem or affection of his 
 people to him, endeavoured to impofe 
 on their underftandings ; and to create 
 a refpect for himfelf, by fpreading the 
 moft extravagant notions about kings 
 in general, as if they were middle be- 
 ings between God and other men \ and 
 by comparing the extent and unfearch- 
 able myfteries of their power and pre- 
 rogative to thofe of the divine provi- 
 dence. His language and his behaviour 
 were commonly fuited to fuch foolifli 
 pretenfions and thus, by afluming a 
 claim to fuch refpect and fubmiffion as 
 were not due to him, he loft a great 
 part of what was due to him. In mort, 
 he begun at the wrong end ; for tho 
 the mining qualities of the king may 
 cover fome failings and fome vices that 
 do not grow up to ftrong habits in the 
 man, yet muft the character of a great 
 and goodkingbc founded in that of a, great 
 and good man, A king who lives out 
 
 of 
 
2 4 o THE IDEA OF 
 
 of the fight of his fubjects, or is never 
 feen by them except on his throne, can 
 fcarce be defpifed as a man, tho he may 
 be hated as a king. But the king who 
 lives more in their fight, and more un- 
 der their obfervation, may be defpif- 
 ed before he is hated, and even with- 
 out being hated. This happened to 
 king James : a thoufand circumftances 
 brought it to pafs, and none more 
 than the indecent weaknejjes he had for 
 his minions. He did not endeavour to 
 cure this contempt and raife his charac- 
 ter, only by affecting what he had no 
 pretenfions to, as in the former cafe; 
 but he endeavoured likewife moil vain- 
 ly to do it by affecting what was impro- 
 per to his character and rank. He did 
 not endeavour indeed to difguife his na- 
 tural pufillanimity and timidity under the 
 malk of a bully, whilft he was impofed 
 upon and infulted by all his neighbours, 
 and above all by the Spaniards ; but he 
 retailed the fcraps* of Buchanan, af- 
 fected 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 24s 
 
 fected to talk much, figured in church 
 controverfies, and put on all the pe- 
 dantic appearances of a fcholar, whilft 
 he neglected all thofe of a great and 
 good man, as well as king. 
 
 Let not princes flatter themfelvesV 
 They will be examined clofely, in pri- 
 vate as well as in public life: and thofe 5 
 who cannot pierce further, will judge 
 of them by the appearances they give 
 in both. To obtain true popularity, 
 that which is founded in efteem and af- 
 fection, they mull, therefore, maintain 
 their characters in both and to that end 
 neglect appearances in neither, but ob- 
 ferve the decorum necefTary to preferve 
 the efteem, whilft they win the affec- 
 tions, of mankind. Kings ^ they muft ne- 
 ver forget that they are men : men^ they 
 muft never forget that they are kings. 
 The fentiments, which one of thefe re- 
 flections of courfe infpires, will give a 
 humane and affable air to their whole 
 R beha- 
 
242 THE IDEA OF 
 
 behaviour, and make them tafte in that 
 high elevation all thejoys of focial life. 
 The fentiments, that the other reflection 
 fuggefts, will be found very compatible 
 with the former: and they may never 
 forget that they are kings, tho they do 
 not always carry the crown on their 
 heads, nor the fceptre in their hands. 
 Vanity zndfolly muft entrench themfelves 
 in a conftant affectation of ftate, to pre- 
 ferve regal dignity : a wife prince will 
 know how to preferve it when he lays 
 his majefty afide. He will dare to ap- 
 pear a private man, and in that charac- 
 ter he will draw to himfelf a refpecl: lefs 
 oftentatious, but more real and more 
 pleafing to him, than any which is paid 
 to the monarch. By never faying what 
 is unfit for him to fay, he will never 
 hear what is unfit for him to hear. By 
 never doing what is unfit for him to do, 
 he will never fee what is unfit for him 
 to fee. Decency and propriety of man- 
 ners are fo far from leffening the plea- 
 
 fures 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 243 
 
 fares of life, that they refine them, and 
 give them an higher tafte : they are fo 
 far from retraining the free and eafy 
 commerce of focial life, that they ba- 
 nifn the bane of it, licentioufnefs of be- 
 haviour. Ceremony is the barrier againlh 
 this abufe of liberty in public, polilenefs 
 and decency are fo in private : and the 
 prince, who practifes and exacts them, 
 willamufe himfelf much better, and ob- 
 lige thofe, "who have the honor to be 
 in his intimacy and to mare his plea- 
 fures with him, much more, than he 
 could poinbly do by the moil abfolute 
 and unguarded familiarity. 
 
 That which is here recommended 
 to princes, that conftant guard on their 
 own behaviour even in private life, and 
 that conilant decorum which their ex- 
 ample ought to exact from others, will 
 not be found fo difficult in practice as 
 may be imagined if they ufe a proper 
 difcernment in the choice of the f erf cm 
 R 2 whom 
 
244 THE IDEA OF 
 
 whom they admit to the neareft degrees 
 of intimacy with them. A prince mould 
 chufe his companions with as great care 
 as his minifiers. If he trufts the bufinefs 
 of his ftate to thefe, he trufts his cha- 
 racter to thofe : and his character will 
 depend on theirs much more than is 
 commonly thought. General experi- 
 ence will lead men to judge that a fimi- 
 litude of character determined the choice ; 
 even when chance, indulgence to afii- 
 duity, good-nature, or want of reflec- 
 tion, had their fhare in the introduction 
 of men unworthy of fuch favor. But, 
 in fuch cafes, certain it is that they, who 
 judged wrong at htft concerning him, 
 will judge right at laft. He is not a 
 trifier, for inftance. Be it fo : but if 
 he takes trifling futile creatures, men of 
 mean characters, or of no character, in- 
 to his intimacy, he fhews a difpofition 
 to become fuch; and will become fuch, 
 unlefs he breaks thefe habits early, and 
 before puerile amufements are grov/n 
 
 up 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 245 
 
 up to be the bufinefs of his life. I 
 mean, that the minds of princes, like 
 the minds of other men, will be brought 
 down infenfibly to the tone of the com- 
 pany they keep. 
 
 A worse confequence, even than this, 
 may follow a want of difcernment in 
 princes how to chufe their companions, 
 and how to conduct themfelves in pri- 
 vate life. Silly kings have refigned 
 themfelves to their minifters^ have fuf- 
 fered thefe to Hand between them and 
 their people, and have formed no 
 judgments, nor taken any meafures on 
 their own knowledge, but all implicit- 
 ly on the reprefentations made to them 
 by their minifters. Kings of fuperior 
 capacity have refigned themfelves in 
 the fame manner to their favourites , 
 male and female, have fuffered thefe 
 to ftand between them and their molt 
 able and faithful counfellors: their 
 judgments have been influenced, and 
 R 3 their 
 
246 THE IDEA OF 
 
 their meafures directed by infinuations 
 of women, or of men as little fitted as 
 women, by nature and education, to 
 be harkened to, in the great affairs 
 of government. Hiftory is full of fuch 
 examples; all melancholy, many tra- 
 gical! fufficient, one would imagine, 
 to deter princes, if attended to, from 
 permitting the companions of their idle 
 hours, or the infcruments of their plea- 
 fures, to exceed the bounds of thofe 
 provinces. Should a minifter of ftate 
 pretend to vie with any of thefe, about; 
 the forms of a drawing room, the regu- 
 lation of a ruelle, the decoration of a 
 ball, or the drefs of a fine lady, he would 
 be thought ridiculous, and he would 
 be truly fo. But then are not any of 
 thefe impertinent, when they prefumeto 
 meddle in things at lead as much above * 
 them, as thofe that have been mention- 
 ed are below the others ? And arc not 
 princes, who fuffer them to do fo, un- 
 accountably weak? 
 
 What 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 247 
 
 What lhall I fay further on this 
 head? Nothing more is neceffary. 
 Let me wind it up, therefore, by aiTert- 
 ing this great truth, that refults from 
 what has been already faid: As he can 
 never fill the character of a Patriot 
 King, tho his perfonal great and good 
 qualities be in every other refpect equal 
 to it, who lies open to the flattery of 
 courtier to the fedudtion of women, and 
 to the partialities and affections which 
 are eafily contracted by too great in- 
 dulgence in private life; fo the prince, 
 who is defirous to eftablilh this charac- 
 ter, muft obferve fuch a decorum, and 
 keep fuch a guard cn himfelf, as may 
 prevent even the fufpicion of being lia- 
 ble to fuch influences. For as the rea- 
 lity would ruin, the very fufpicion will 
 leifen him in the opinion of mankinds 
 and the opinion of mankind, which is 
 fame after death, is fuperior ftrength and 
 $ower in life. 
 
 R 4 And 
 
248 THE IDEA OF 
 
 And now, if the principles and 
 meafures of conduct, laid down in this 
 difcourfe, as neceflary to conftitute that 
 greateft and moil glorious of human 
 beings, a Patriot King, be fufficient 
 to this purpofe $ let us confider, too, 
 how eafy it is, or ought to be, to efta- 
 blim them in the minds of princes* 
 They are founded on true proportions, 
 all of which are obvious, nay, many 
 of them felf-evident. They are con- 
 firmed by univerfal experience. In a 
 word, no underftanding can refill them, 
 and none but the weakeft can fail, or 
 be milled, in the application of them. 
 To a prince, whofe heart is corrupt, it 
 is in vain to fpeak : and, for fuch a 
 prince, 1 would not be thought to 
 write. But if the heart of a prince be 
 not corrupt, thefe truths will find an eafy 
 ingreffion, through the understanding, 
 to it. Let us confider again, what the 
 fure, the neceffary effects of fuch prin- 
 ciples 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 249 
 
 ciples and meafures of conduct muft 
 be, to the prince, and to the people. 
 On this fubject let the imagination 
 range through the whole glorious fcene 
 of a patriot reign : the beauty of the 
 idea will infpire thofe tranfports, which 
 Plato imagined the vilion of Virtue 
 would infpire, if Virtue could be feen. 
 What in truth can be fo lovely, what 
 fo venerable, as to contemplate a King 
 on whom the eyes of a whole people 
 are fixed, filled with admiration, and 
 glowing with affection ? a King, in 
 the temper of whofe government, like 
 thatofNERVA, things fo feldom allied 
 as empire and liberty are intimately 
 mixed, co-exill together infeparably, and 
 conftitute one real effence? What fpec- 
 tacle can be prefented to the view of 
 the mind fo rare, fo nearly divine, as 
 a king poffeffed of abfolute power* 
 neither ufurped by fraud, nor main- 
 tained by force, but the genuine effect 
 of efteem, of confidence, and affec- 
 tion ; 
 
250 THE IDEA OF 
 
 tion \ the free gift of Liberty who finds 
 her grcateft fecurity in this power, and 
 would defire no other if the prince on 
 the throne could be, what his people 
 wifh him to be, immortal ? Of fuch a 
 prince, and of fuch a prince alone, it 
 may be faid with ftricl: propriety and 
 truth, 
 
 Volentes 
 
 Per populos dat jura, viamque affefi l at 
 Olympo. 
 
 Civil fury will have no place in this 
 draught : or, if the monfter is feen, he 
 muft be feen as Virgil defcribes him, 
 
 Centum vinftus ahenis 
 Pofi tergum nodis y /remit horridus ore cm- 
 ertto. 
 
 He mud be feen fubdued, bound, 
 chained, and deprived entirely of pow- 
 er to do hurt. In his place, Concord 
 will appear, brooding Peace and Pro- 
 fperity on the happy land > Joy fitting 
 
 in 
 
A PATRIOT KING. 251 
 
 in every face, Content in every heart ; 
 a people unoppreffed, undifturbed, un- 
 alarmed ; bufy to improve their private 
 property and the public flock ; fleets co- 
 vering the ocean, bringing home wealth 
 by the returns of induftry, carrying 
 afliflance or terror abroad by the direc- 
 tion of wifdom, and afTerting trium- 
 phantly the right and the honor of 
 Great Britain* as far as waters roll and 
 as winds can waft them. 
 
 Those who live to fee fuch happy 
 days, and to act in fo glorious a fcene, 
 will perhaps call to mind, with fome 
 tendernefs of fentiment, when he is no 
 more, a man* who contributed his mite 
 to carry on fo good a work, and who 
 defired life for nothing fo much, as to 
 fee a king of Great Britain the mofr po- 
 pular man in his country, and a Pa- 
 triot King at the head of an united 
 •people. 
 
 LET- 
 
LETTER III. 
 
 OF THE 
 
 State of Parties 
 
 AT THE 
 
 Acceffion of king George thefirft. 
 
( 255 ) 
 LETTER III. 
 
 O F T H E 
 
 STATE of PARTIES 
 
 AT THE 
 
 Acceffion of king George L 
 
 Perceive by yours that my Dif- 
 1 courfe of the character and con- 
 duct of a Patriot King, in that 
 article which relates to party ^ has not 
 entirely fatisfied your expe elation s. You 
 expected, from fome things that I re- 
 member to have faid to you in conver- 
 fation, and others that have fallen on 
 that occafion from my pen, a more 
 particular application of thofe general 
 reafonings to the prefent time, and to 
 the (late of parties, from the late king's 
 
 accef- 
 
2 5 6 OF THE STATE 
 
 acceflion to the throne. The fubject is 
 delicate enough, and yet I fhall fpeak 
 upon it what truth exacts from me, 
 with the utmoft franknefs : for I know- 
 all our parties too well, to efteem any; 
 and I am too old, and too refigned to 
 my fate, to want, or to fear any. 
 
 Whatever anecdotes you have 
 been told, for you are too young to have 
 feen the pafTages of the times I am go- 
 ing to mention, and whatever prepof- 
 feiTions you have had, take thefe facts 
 for undoubted truths : That there was 
 no defign on foot, during the four laft 
 years of queen Anne's reign, to fet 
 afide the fuccellion of the houfe of 
 Hanover •, and to place the crown on the 
 head of the pretender to it; nor any 
 party formed for this purpofe at the 
 time of the death of that princefs, whofe 
 memory I honor, and therefore feel a 
 juft indignation at the irreverence with 
 which we have feen it treated. If fuch 
 
 a de- 
 
OF PARTIES. 257 
 
 a defign had been on foot, during that 
 time, there were moments when the 
 execution of it would not have been 
 difficult, or dangerous enough, to have 
 Hopped men of the moft moderate re- 
 folution. Neither could a defign of 
 that nature have been carried on fo 
 long, tho it was not carried into execu- 
 tion, without leaving fome traces, which 
 would have appeared when fuch Uriel: 
 inquifitions were made ; when the pa- 
 pers of fo many of the queen's fervants 
 were feized, and even her own papers, 
 even thofe fhc had fealed up to be 
 burnt after her death, were expofed to 
 fo much indecent infpedtion. But, lay- 
 ing afide all arguments of the probable 
 kind, I deny the facl; abfolutely : and 
 I have the better title to expeel: credit, 
 becaufe it could not be true without 
 my knowledge, or at leaft fufpicion of 
 it; and becaufe even they who believed 
 it, for all who alTerted it did not be- 
 lieve it, had no proof to produce, nor 
 S have 
 
s 5 8 OF THE STATE 
 
 have to this hour, but vain furmifes j 
 nor any authority to reft upon, but 
 the clamor of party. 
 
 That there were particular men, who 
 correfponded indirectly, and directly too, 
 with the Pretender, and with others for 
 his fervice \ that thefe men profefled 
 themfelves to be zealous in it, and 
 made large promifes, and raifed fome 
 faint hopes, I cannot doubt : tho this 
 was unknown to me at that time, or 
 at leaft I knew it not with the fame 
 certainty, and in the fame detail, that I 
 have known it fince. But if this was 
 done by fome who were in the queen' 
 fervice, it was done too by fome who 
 were out of it, and, I think, with little 
 fincerity by either. 
 
 It may well feem ftrange to one who 
 carries in his breaft a heart like yours, 
 that men of any rank, and efpecially 
 of the higheft, mould hold a conduct 
 fo falfe, fo dangerous, always of un- 
 certain 
 
OF PARTIES. 259 
 
 certain event, and often, as it was in 
 the cafe here mentioned, upon remote 
 contingencies, and fuch as they thern- 
 felves think the leaft probable. Even 
 I think it ftrange, who have been much 
 longer mingled in a corrupt world, and 
 who have feen many more examples of 
 the folly, of the cunning, and the per- 
 fidy of mankind. A great regard to 
 wealth, and a total contempt of virtue 
 are fentiments very nearly allied: and 
 they muil poflefs the v/hole fouls of 
 men whom they can determine to 
 fuch infamous duplicity, to fuch double 
 treachery. In facl: they do fo. One 
 is fo afraid of lofing his fortune, that 
 he lays in claims to fecure it, perhap s 
 to augment it, on all fides, and to pre- 
 vent even imaginary dangers. Another 
 values fo little the inward teftimony 
 of a good confcience, or the future re_ 
 proaches of thofe he has deceived, tha t 
 he fcruples not to take engagements, 
 for a time to come, that he has no de_ 
 S 2 fign 
 
160 OF THE STATE 
 
 fign to keep; if they may ferve as ex- 
 pedients to facilitate, in any ffhall de- 
 gree, the fuccefs of an immediate pro- 
 ject. All this was done at the time, on 
 the occafion, and by the perfons I in- 
 tend. But the fcheme of defeating the 
 Proteftant fucceflion was fo far from 
 being laid by the queen and her mi- 
 nifters, and fuch a refolution was fo 
 far from being taken, that the very 
 men I fpeak of, when they were prefTed 
 by the other fide, that is from Versailles 
 and St. Germains^ to be more particular, 
 and to come into a clofer concert, de- 
 clined both, and gave the moft eva- 
 five anfwers. 
 
 A little before, or about, the time 
 of the queen's death, fome other per- 
 fons, who figured afterwards in the re- 
 bellion, entered in good earneft into 
 thofe engagements, as I believe; for 
 I do not know exactly the date of them. 
 But whenever they took them, they 
 
 took 
 
OF PARTIES. 261 
 
 took them as Jingle men. They could 
 anfwer for no party to back them. They 
 might flatter themfelves with hopes 
 and dreams, like Pompey, if little men 
 and little things may be compared with 
 great, of legions ready to rife at the 
 Itamp of their feet. But they had no 
 affurance, no nor grounds to expect 
 any troops, except thofe of the high- 
 lands ; whofe difpofition in general was 
 known to every man, but whofe infur- 
 rection, without the concurrence of o- 
 ther infurrections and other troops, was 
 deemed, even by thofe that made them 
 take arms afterwards, not a ftrength 
 but a weaknefs^ ruin to the poor peo- 
 ple, and ruin to the caufe. In a word, 
 thefe men were fo truly fingle in their 
 engagements, and their meafures were 
 fo unripe for action when the refolution 
 of acting immediately was taken by 
 them, that, I am perfuaded, they durft 
 not communicate their defign to any 
 one man of confequence that ferved at 
 S 3 that 
 
262 OF THE STATE 
 
 time with them. What perfuades me 
 of it is this. One man, whom they 
 thought likely to incline to them on fe- 
 veral accounts, they attempted indirect- 
 ly and at a great diftance : they came 
 no nearer to the point with him, neither 
 then, that is juft before the queen's 
 death, nor afterwards. They had in- 
 deed no encouragement to do it; for, 
 upon this hint and another circumftance 
 which fell in, both he and others took 
 feveral occafions to declare, that tho 
 they would ferve the queen faithfully, 
 and excluhvely of all other regards or 
 engagements, to her laft breath, yet 
 after her deceafe they would acknow- 
 ledge the prince on whom the fuccef • 
 fion devolved by law, and to which 
 they had fworn, and no other. This 
 declaration would have been that of the 
 far greateft number of the fame party, 
 and would have been ftuck to by them, 
 if the pafhons and private interefts of 
 mother party had not prevailed over 
 
 the 
 
OF PARTIES. 263 
 
 the true intereft of a new family that 
 was going to mount the throne. You 
 may afk me now, and the queftion will 
 not be at all improper, How it came to 
 pafs, if the queen and her minifters had 
 no defign to defeat the fucceflion, that 
 fo much fufpicion of it prevailed, that 
 fo great an alarm was taken, and fo 
 great a clamor raifed ? I might anfwer 
 you very Ihortly and very truly, By the 
 ftrange conduct of a firft minifter, by 
 the contefts about the negociations of 
 the peace, and by the arts of a party. 
 
 The minds of fome minifters are 
 like the fanftum fanftorum of a temple I 
 have read of fomewhere: before it a 
 great curtain was folemnly drawn \ with- 
 in it nothing was to be feen but a con- 
 fufed groupe of mif-fhapen, and im- 
 perfect forms, heads without bodies, 
 bodies without heads, and the like. To 
 develope the moft complicated cafes, 
 and to decide in the moft doubtful, has 
 S 4 been 
 
264 OF THE STATE 
 
 been the talent of great minifters : it is 
 that of others to perplex the mo ft fim~ 
 pie, and to be puzzled by the plaineft. 
 No man was more defirous of power 
 than the minifter here intended, and he 
 had a competent mare of cunning to 
 wriggle himfelf into it; but then his 
 part was over, and no man was more 
 at a lofs how to employ it. The ends, 
 he propofed to himfelf, he faw for the 
 molt part darkly and indiftinclly: and 
 if he faw them a little better, he ftill 
 made ufe of means disproportionate to 
 them. That private correfpondence 
 with the queen, which produced the 
 change of the miniflry in 1710, was 
 begun with him whilft he was fecre- 
 tary of ftate, and was continued, through 
 him, during the two years that interven- 
 ed between his leaving the court, and 
 his return to it. This gave him the 
 fole confidence of the queen, put him 
 more abfolutely at the head of the par- 
 tyjthat^ came into power, and inveiled 
 
 him 
 
OF PARTIES, 265 
 
 him with all the authority that a firft 
 minifter could have in thofe days, and 
 before any man could prefume to rival, 
 in that rank, and in this kingdom, the 
 rank of the ancient mayors of the palace 
 in France. The tories, with whom and 
 by whom he had rifen, expected much 
 from him. Their expectations were ill 
 anfwered: and I think that fuch ma- 
 nagement as he employed would not 
 have hindered them long from break- 
 ing from him, if new things had not 
 fallen in, to engage their whole atten- 
 tion, and to divert their paflions. 
 
 The foolilh profecution of Sache- 
 verel had carried party-rage to the 
 heighth, and the late change of the mi- 
 niflry had confirmed it there. Thefe 
 circumftances, and many others relative 
 to them, which I omit, would have 
 made it impoffible, if there had been 
 honefty and wifdom enough to defire 
 jt, to bring about a coalition of the 
 
 bulk 
 
266 OF THE STATE 
 
 bulk of the tories and whigs at the lat- 
 ter end of this reign : as it had been 
 brought about a few years before under 
 the adminiftration of my lord Marl^ 
 borough and my lord Godolphin, who 
 broke it foon, and before it had time 
 to cement, by making fuch an ufe of 
 it as I am unable to account for, even 
 at -this hour. The two parties were 
 in truth become factions, in the ftrict 
 fenfe of the word. I was of one, and I 
 own the guilt , which no man of the 
 other would have a good grace to deny. 
 In this refpect they were alike ; but 
 here was the difference : one was well 
 united, well conducted, and determined 
 to their future, as well as their prefent 
 objects. Not one of thefe advantages 
 attended the other. The minifter had 
 evidently no bottom to reft his admini- 
 ftration upon, but that of the party at 
 the head of which he came into power : 
 if he had refted it therepf he had gained 
 their confidence, inftead of creating, 
 
 even 
 
OF PARTIES. 267 
 
 even wantonly, if I may fay fo, a dif- 
 truft of himfelf in them, it is certain he 
 might have determined them to every 
 national intereft during the queen's time, 
 and after her death. But this was a- 
 bove his conception as well as his ta- 
 lents. He meant to keep power as long 
 as he could, by the little arts by which 
 he had got into it : he thought that he 
 fhould be able to compound for him- 
 felf in all events, and cared little what 
 became of his party, his miftrefs, or the 
 nation. That this was the whole of 
 his fcheme appeared fufficiently in the 
 courfe of his adminiftration ; was then 
 feen by fome ; and has been fince ac- 
 knowledged by all people. For this 
 purpofe he coaxed and perfecuted 
 whigs; he flattered and difappointed 
 tories; and fupported, by a thoufand 
 little tricks, his tottering adminiftra- 
 tion. To the tory party he held out 
 the peace, as an aera when all they ex- 
 pected mould be done for them, and 
 
 when 
 
268 OF THE STATE 
 
 when they mould be placed in fuch fuK 
 nefs of power and fuch ftrength of par- 
 ty, that it would be more the inter eft of the 
 fuccejfor to be well with them, than theirs 
 to be well with him. Such exprefiions 
 were often ufed, and others of like 
 import : and, I believe, thefe oracular 
 fpeeches were interpreted, as oracles ufed 
 to be, according as every man's incli- 
 nations led him. 
 
 The contefts that foon followed, by 
 the violent oppofition to the negotia- 
 tions of peace, did the good hinted at 
 above to the minifter, and enabled him 
 to amufe and banter his party a little 
 longer. But they did great, and in fome 
 refpecls irreparable, mifchief to Great 
 Britain, and to all Europe. One part 
 of the mifchief they did at home is pro- 
 per to be mentioned here. They dip* 
 ped the houfe of Hanover in our party- 
 quarrels, unfeafonably, I prefume to 
 think, and impopularly^ for tho the 
 
 conteft 
 
OF PARTIES. *6 9 
 
 contcft was maintained by two parties 
 that pretended equally to have the na- 
 tional intereft at heart, yet the national 
 intereft was fo plainly on one fide of 
 the queftion, and the other fide was fo 
 plainly partial, at the expence of this 
 intereft, to the emperor, the princes of 
 the empire, and our other allies, that a 
 fuccelfor to the crown, who was himfelf 
 a prince of Germany, mould have pre- 
 ferred, in good policy, for this very rea- 
 fon, the appearance at leaft of fome 
 neutrality. The means employed open- 
 ly to break the queen's meafures were 
 indecent and unjuftifiable : thofe em- 
 ployed fecretly, and meditated to be 
 employed, were worfe. The minifters 
 of Hanover^ whofe conduct I may cen- 
 fure the more freely becaufe the late 
 king did not approve it all, took fo 
 remarkable a Ihare in the firft, that 
 they might be, and they were, fu- 
 fpected of having fome in the others. 
 This had a very bad effect, which was 
 
 improved 
 
2 7 o OF THE STATE 
 
 improved by men in the two extremes. 
 The whigs defired nothing more than 
 to have it thought that the fucceflbr was 
 theirs, if I may repeat an infolent ex- 
 preflion which was ufed at that time : 
 the notion did them honor, and, tho 
 it could give no color, it gave fomc 
 ftrength, to their oppofition. The Ja- 
 cobites infinuated induftrioufly the fame 
 thing; and reprefented that the efla- 
 blifhment of the houfe of Hanover would 
 be the eftablifhment of the whig party, 
 and that the interefts of Great Britain 
 would be conftantly facrificed to foreign 
 interefts, and her wealth drained to fup- 
 port them under that family. I leave 
 you to judge what ingreflion fuch exag- 
 gerations muft find, on fuch occafion* 
 and in fuch a ferment. I do not think 
 they determined men to Jacobitifm. I 
 know they did not y but I know that 
 t hey dif-inclined men from the fuc~ 
 ceflion, and made many, who refolv- 
 ed to fubmit to it, fubmit to it rather 
 
 as 
 
OF PARTIES. 271 
 
 as a ncccffary evil, than as an eligible 
 good. 
 
 This was, to the beft of my obfer- 
 vation and knowledge, the ftate of one 
 party. An abfurd one it was, and the 
 confequences of it were forefeen, fore- 
 told, and preffed upon the minifter at 
 the time, but always without effe<5t, and 
 fometimes without any anfwers. He 
 had fome private intrigue for himfelf 
 at Hanover : fo he had at Bar. He was 
 the bubble of one in the end : the Pre- 
 tender was fo of the other. But his 
 whole management in the mean time 
 was contrived to keep up a kind of ge- 
 neral indetermination in the party a- 
 bout the fucceffion ; which made a man 
 of great temper once fay to him with 
 paflion, that " he believed no other 
 " minifter, at the head of a powerful 
 " party, would not be better at Hano- 
 " w, if he did not mean to be worfe 
 £ there." 
 
 The 
 
i 7 2 OF THE STATE * 
 
 The ftate of the other party was 
 this. The whigs had appeared zealous 
 for the proteftant fucceffion from the 
 time when king William propofed it, 
 after the death of the duke of Glou- 
 cester. The tories voted for it then; 
 and the acts that were judged neceflary 
 to fecure it, fome of them at leaft, were 
 promoted by them. Yet were they not 
 thought, nor did they affect, as the others 
 did, to be thought, extremely fond of 
 it. King William did not come into 
 this meafure, till he found, upon trial, 
 that there was no other fafe and practi- 
 cable : and the tories had an air of com- 
 ing into it for no other reafon. Befides 
 which, it is certain that there was at 
 that time a much greater leaven of Ja- 
 cobitifm in the tory-lump, than at the 
 time fpoken of here. 
 
 Now, thus far the whigs acted like a 
 national party, who thought that their 
 
 reli- 
 
OF PARTIES. 5*73 
 
 religion and liberty could be fecured by 
 no other expedient, and therefore ad- 
 hered to this fettlement of the crown 
 with diftinguifhed zeal. But this na- 
 tional party degenerated foon into facti- 
 on that is, the national intereft became 
 foon a fecondary and fubfervient mo- 
 tive, and the caufe of the fucceflion was 
 fupported more for the fake of the party 
 or faction, than for the fake of the nati- 
 on ; and with views that went more direct- 
 ly to the eftablifhment'of their own admi- 
 niftration, than to a folid fettlement of 
 the prefent royal family. This appear- 
 ed, evidently enough, to thofe whom 
 noife and fhew could not impofe upon, 
 in the latter end of the queen's reign, 
 and plain beyond difpute to all man- 
 kind, after her deceafe. The art of the 
 whigs was to blend, as undiftinguifh- 
 ably as they could, all their party-inter- 
 efts with thofe of the fucceffion: and 
 they made juft the fame factious life 
 of the fuppofed danger of it, as the 
 T tories 
 
274 OF THE STATE 
 
 tories had endeavoured to make, fomt 
 time before, of the fuppofed danger of 
 the church. As no man is reputed a 
 friend to chriftianity beyond the Alps 
 and the Pyrenees ', who does not acknow- 
 ledge the papal fupremacy, fo here no 
 man was to be reputed a friend to the 
 proteftant fucceffion, who was not rea- 
 dy to acknowledge their fupremacy. 
 The intereft of the prefent royal family 
 was, to fucceed without oppofition and 
 rifque, and to come to the throne in a 
 calm. It was the intereft of a faction 
 that they mould come to it in a ftorm. 
 Accordingly the whigs were very near 
 putting in execution fome of the wild- 
 eft projects of infurreclions and rebel- 
 lion, under pretence of fecuring what 
 there was not fufrlcient difpofition, nor 
 any preparation at all made to obftrucl. 
 Happily for the public thefe defigns pro- 
 ved abortive. They were too well known 
 to have fucceeded ; but they might have 
 had, and they would have had, moft fa- 
 tal 
 
OF PARTIES. 275 
 
 tal confequences. The ftorm, that was 
 not raifed to difturb and endanger the 
 Jate king's acceffion, was only deferred. 
 To a party, who meant nothing lefs than 
 engrofting the whole power of the go- 
 vernment and the whole wealth of the 
 nation under the fucceflbr, a ftorm, in 
 which every other man mould be driven 
 from him, was too necefTary, not to be 
 conj ured up at any rate ; and it was fo im- 
 mediately after the late king's acceffion. 
 He came to the throne eafily, and quiet- 
 ly, and took pofTeflion of the kingdom 
 with as little trouble, as h^ could have 
 expected if he had been not only the 
 queen's fucceflbr, but her fon. The 
 whole nation fubmitted chearfully to his 
 government, and the queen's fervants 
 difcharged the duty of their offices, 
 whilft he continued them in their offices, 
 in fuch a manner as to merit his appro- 
 bation. This was fignified to fome of 
 them, to the fecretaries in particular, in 
 the ftrongeft terms, and according to 
 T 2 his 
 
276 OF THE STATE 
 
 his majefty's exprefs order, before the 
 whole council of ft ate. He might I 
 think, I thought then that he ought, 
 and every man, except the earl of O — d, 
 who believed, or had a mind to make 
 others believe, that his influence would 
 be great in the new reign, expected, 
 that he would have given his principal 
 confidence and the principal power of 
 the admmiftration to the whigs: but it 
 was fcarce pouible to expect, that he 
 would immediately let loofe the whole 
 fury of party, fuffer the queen's fer- 
 vants, who had furely been guilty of no 
 crime againft hirn, nor the ftate, to be 
 fo bitterly perfecuted; and profcribe in 
 effect every man in the country who 
 did not bear the name of whig. Prin- 
 ces have often forgot, on their acceflion 
 to a throne, even perfonal injuries re- 
 ceived in party quarrels : and the faying 
 of Lewis the twelfth of France , in an- 
 fwer to thofe who would have perfuaded 
 him to Ihew feverityto la Tremouille, 
 
 is 
 
OF PARTIES; , 277 
 
 is very defervedly famous. "God for- 
 bid," faid he, "that Lewis the twelfth 
 " mould revenge the quarrels of the duke 
 "of Orleans." Other princes, who have 
 fought their way to the throne, have 
 not only exercifed clemency, but fhewn 
 favor to thofe who had ftood in arms 
 againft them : and here again I might 
 quote the example of another king of 
 France, that of Henry the fourth. But 
 to take an example in our own country, 
 look back to the reftoration, confider 
 all that pa{Ted from the year 1641 to 
 the year 1660, and then compare the 
 meafures that king Charles the fecond 
 was advifed to purfue, for the eftablifh- 
 ment of his government, in the circum- 
 ftances of that time, with thofe which 
 the late king was advifed, and prevail- 
 ed on, againft his opinion, inclination, 
 and firft refolution, to purfue, in the 
 circumftances I have juft mentioned. I 
 leave the conclufion to the candor and 
 good fenfe of every impartial reader. 
 
 To 
 
27 s OF THE STATE 
 
 To thefe meafures of unexpected vio- 
 lence, alone, it muft be afcribed, that 
 the pretender had any party for him 
 of ftrength fufficient to appear and act. 
 Thefe meafures, alone, produced the 
 troubles that followed, and dyed the 
 royal ermines of a prince, no way fan - 
 guinary, in blood. I am far from ex- 
 cufing one party, for fuffering another 
 to drive them into rebellion. I wifh 
 I could forget it myfelf. But there are 
 two obfervations on that event, which 
 I cannot refufe myfelf to make. One 
 is, that the very manner in which this 
 rebellion was begun, lhews abundantly 
 that it was a ftart of pafllon, a fudden 
 phrenfy of men tranfported by their re- 
 fentment, and nothing lefs than the exe- 
 cution of a defign long premeditated and 
 prepared. The other is, that few ex- 
 amples are to be found in hiftory, per- 
 haps none, of what happened on this 
 occafion, when the fame men, in the 
 
 fame 
 
OF PARTIES. 279 
 
 fame country, and in the compafs of 
 the fame year, were ready to rife in 
 arms againft one prince without any 
 national caufe ; and then provoked, by 
 the violence of their councils, the op- 
 pofite faction to rife in actual rebel- 
 lion againft the fuccelfor. 
 
 These are fome of the effects of 
 maintaining dhifions in a nation, and of 
 governing by fattion. I might defcend 
 into a detail of many fatal confequences 
 that have followed, from the firft falfe 
 Hep which was taken, when the prefent 
 fettlement was fo avowedly made, on 
 the narrow bottom of party. But I con- 
 fider that this difcourfe is growing into 
 length-, that I have had, and mail have 
 occafion to mention fome of thefe con- 
 fequences elfewherej and that your own 
 reflections on what has been faid will 
 more than fupply what I omit to fay in 
 this place. Let me therefore conclude 
 by repeating, that divifion has caufed 
 
 all 
 
2 8o OF THE STATE &c. 
 
 all the mifchief we lament, that union 
 can alone retrieve it, and that a great 
 advance towards this union was the co- 
 alition of parties, lb happily begun, fo 
 fuccefsfully carried on, and of late fo 
 unaccountably neglected, to fay no worfe. 
 But let me add, that this union can ne- 
 ver be complete, till it become an uni- 
 on of the head with the members, as well 
 as of the members with one another: 
 and that fuch an union can never be 
 expected till patriotifm fills the throne, 
 and faffiion be baniflied from the admi- 
 niftration. 
 
 <THE END.