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(of 12), by Edmund Burke + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. VII. (of 12) + +Author: Edmund Burke + +Release Date: July 14, 2005 [EBook #16292] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EDMUND BURKE *** + + + + +Produced by Paul Murray, Susan Skinner and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team from images generously made +available by the Bibliotheque nationale de France +(BnF/Gallica) at http://gallica.bnf.fr + + + + + + +</pre> + +<p><a name="Page_-3" id="Page_-3"></a></p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2>THE WORKS +<br /><br /> +<span style="font-size: 71%">OF</span> +<br /><br /> +THE RIGHT HONOURABLE<br /> + +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 200%">EDMUND BURKE</span></h2> + +<h3>IN TWELVE VOLUMES<br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: smaller">VOLUME THE SEVENTH</span></h3> +<p /> +<div style="text-align: center"> +<img src="images/001.png" alt="BURKE COAT OF ARMS." title="BURKE COAT OF ARMS" /> +</div> +<p /> +<p style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0"><b>London</b><br /> + +<br /> + +JOHN C. NIMMO<br /> +<br /> +14, KING WILLIAM STREET, STRAND, W.C.<br /> + +MDCCCLXXXVII<br /></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a name="Page_-2" id="Page_-2"></a><a name="Page_-1" id="Page_-1"></a> +</p> + + + +<h2><a name="CONTENTS_OF_VOL_VII" id="CONTENTS_OF_VOL_VII"></a>CONTENTS OF VOL. VII</h2> + + +<ul class="TOC"> +<li><a href="#FRAGMENTS_AND_NOTES">FRAGMENTS AND NOTES OF SPEECHES IN PARLIAMENT.</a></li> + +<li><ul class="TOCSub"> + <li><a href="#THE_ACTS_OF_UNIFORMITY">SPEECH ON THE ACTS OF UNIFORMITY, February 6, 1772</a> <span class="tocright"><a href="#Page_3">3</a></span></li> + + <li><a href="#A_BILL_FOR_THE_RELIEF_OF_PROTESTANT_DISSENTERS">SPEECH ON A BILL FOR THE RELIEF OF PROTESTANT DISSENTERS, + March 7, 1773</a> <span class="tocright"><a href="#Page_21">21</a></span></li> + + <li><a href="#A_BILL_TO_REPEAL_AND_ALTER_CERTAIN_ACTS_RESPECTING_RELIGIOUS_OPINIONS">SPEECH ON A MOTION FOR LEAVE TO BRING IN A BILL TO REPEAL AND + ALTER CERTAIN ACTS RESPECTING RELIGIOUS OPINIONS, UPON THE + OCCASION OF A PETITION OF THE UNITARIAN SOCIETY, May 11, 1792</a> <span class="tocright"><a href="#Page_39">39</a></span></li> + + <li><a href="#THE_MIDDLESEX_ELECTION">SPEECH RELATIVE TO THE MIDDLESEX ELECTION, February 7, 1771</a> <span class="tocright"><a href="#Page_59">59</a></span></li> + + <li><a href="#A_BILL_FOR_SHORTENING_THE_DURATION_OF_PARLIAMENTS">SPEECH ON A BILL FOR SHORTENING THE DURATION OF PARLIAMENTS, + May 8, 1780</a> <span class="tocright"><a href="#Page_69">69</a></span></li> + + <li><a href="#STATE_OF_THE_REPRESENTATION_OF_THE_COMMONS">SPEECH ON A MOTION FOR A COMMITTEE TO INQUIRE INTO THE STATE OF + THE REPRESENTATION OF THE COMMONS IN PARLIAMENT, May 7, 1782</a> <span class="tocright"><a href="#Page_89">89</a></span></li> + + <li><a href="#POWERS_OF_JURIES_IN_PROSECUTIONS_FOR_LIBELS">SPEECH ON A MOTION FOR LEAVE TO BRING IN A BILL FOR EXPLAINING + THE POWERS OF JURIES IN PROSECUTIONS FOR LIBELS, March 7, 1771. + TOGETHER WITH A LETTER IN VINDICATION OF THAT MEASURE, AND A + COPY OF THE PROPOSED BILL</a> <span class="tocright"><a href="#Page_105">105</a></span></li> + + <li><a href="#BILL_FOR_THE_REPEAL_OF_THE_MARRIAGE_ACT">SPEECH ON A BILL FOR THE REPEAL OF THE MARRIAGE ACT, + June 15, 1781</a> <span class="tocright"><a href="#Page_129">129</a></span></li> + + <li><a href="#BILL_TO_QUIET_THE_POSSESSIONS_OF_THE_SUBJECT">SPEECH ON A MOTION FOR LEAVE TO BRING IN A BILL TO QUIET THE + POSSESSIONS OF THE SUBJECT AGAINST DORMANT CLAIMS OF THE CHURCH, + February 17, 1772</a> <span class="tocright"><a href="#Page_137">137</a></span></li> +</ul></li> + +<li><a href="#HINTS">HINTS FOR AN ESSAY ON THE DRAMA</a> <span class="tocright"><a href="#Page_143">143</a></span></li> + + +<li><a href="#ABRIDGMENT_OF_THE_ENGLISH_HISTORY">AN ESSAY TOWARDS AN ABRIDGMENT OF THE ENGLISH HISTORY. IN THREE BOOKS.</a></li> + +<li><div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align='center'></td><td align='center'><a href="#BOOK_I">BOOK I.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>CHAP. <a href="#BOOK_I_CHAPTER_I">I.</a></td><td align='left'><a href="#BOOK_I_CHAPTER_I">Causes of the Connection between the Romans and +Britons.—Cæsar's two Invasions of Britain</a></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_159'>159</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#BOOK_I_CHAPTER_II">II.</a></td><td align='left'><a href="#BOOK_I_CHAPTER_II">Some Account of the Ancient Inhabitants of Britain</a></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_170'>170</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#BOOK_I_CHAPTER_III">III.</a></td><td align='left'><a href="#BOOK_I_CHAPTER_III">The Reduction of Britain by the Romans</a></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_189'>189</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#BOOK_I_CHAPTER_IV">IV.</a></td><td align='left'><a href="#BOOK_I_CHAPTER_IV">The Fall of the Roman Power in Britain</a></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_214'>214</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center'></td><td align='center'><a href="#BOOK_II">BOOK II.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>CHAP. <a href="#BOOK_II_CHAPTER_I">I.</a></td><td align='left'><a href="#BOOK_II_CHAPTER_I">The Entry and Settlement of the Saxons, and their +Conversion to Christianity</a></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_227'>227</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#BOOK_II_CHAPTER_II">II.</a></td><td align='left'><a href="#BOOK_II_CHAPTER_II">Establishment of Christianity—of Monastic Institutions +—and of their Effects</a></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_240'>240</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#BOOK_II_CHAPTER_III">III.</a></td><td align='left'> <a href="#BOOK_II_CHAPTER_III">Series of Anglo-Saxon Kings from Ethelbert to Alfred: +with the Invasion of the Danes</a></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_255'>255</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#BOOK_II_CHAPTER_IV">IV.</a></td><td align='left'><a href="#BOOK_II_CHAPTER_IV">Reign of King Alfred</a></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_261'>261</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#BOOK_II_CHAPTER_V">V.</a></td><td align='left'><a href="#BOOK_II_CHAPTER_V">Succession of Kings from Alfred to Harold</a></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_269'>269</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#BOOK_II_CHAPTER_VI">VI.</a></td><td align='left'><a href="#BOOK_II_CHAPTER_VI">Harold II.—Invasion of the Normans.—Account of that +People, and of the State of England at the Time of the Invasion</a></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_280'>280</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#BOOK_II_CHAPTER_VII">VII.</a></td><td align='left'><a href="#BOOK_II_CHAPTER_VII">Of the Laws and Institutions of the Saxons</a></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_291'>291</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center'></td><td align='center'><a href="#BOOK_III">BOOK III.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>CHAP. <a href="#BOOK_III_CHAPTER_I">I.</a></td><td align='left'><a href="#BOOK_III_CHAPTER_I">View of the State of Europe at the Time of the Norman +Invasion</a></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_327'>327</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#BOOK_III_CHAPTER_II">II.</a></td><td align='left'><a href="#BOOK_III_CHAPTER_II">Reign of William the Conqueror</a></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_335'>335</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#BOOK_III_CHAPTER_III">III.</a></td><td align='left'><a href="#BOOK_III_CHAPTER_III">Reign of William the Second, surnamed Rufus</a></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_364'>364</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#BOOK_III_CHAPTER_IV">IV.</a></td><td align='left'><a href="#BOOK_III_CHAPTER_IV">Reign of Henry I</a></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_375'>375</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#BOOK_III_CHAPTER_V">V.</a></td><td align='left'><a href="#BOOK_III_CHAPTER_V">Reign of Stephen</a></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_386'>386</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#BOOK_III_CHAPTER_VI">VI.</a></td><td align='left'> <a href="#BOOK_III_CHAPTER_VI">Reign of Henry II</a></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_394'>394</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#BOOK_III_CHAPTER_VII">VII.</a></td><td align='left'><a href="#BOOK_III_CHAPTER_VII">Reign of Richard I</a></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_425'>425</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#BOOK_III_CHAPTER_VIII">VIII.</a></td><td align='left'> <a href="#BOOK_III_CHAPTER_VIII">Reign of John</a></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_437'>437</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#BOOK_III_CHAPTER_IX">IX.</a></td><td align='left'> <a href="#BOOK_III_CHAPTER_IX">Fragment.—An Essay towards an History of the Laws of England</a></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_475'>475</a></td></tr> +</table></div></li> +</ul> + +<p><a name="FRAGMENTS_AND_NOTES" id="FRAGMENTS_AND_NOTES"></a></p> +<p><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2" title="2" class="pagenum"></a></p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><span style="font-size: 85%;">FRAGMENTS AND NOTES</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 60%;">OF</span><br /> +<br /> +SPEECHES.</h2> + + +<p>During the period of Mr. Burke's Parliamentary labors, some alterations +in the Acts of Uniformity, and the repeal of the Test and Corporation +Acts, were agitated at various times in the House of Commons. It appears +from the state of his manuscript papers, that he had designed to publish +some of the Speeches which he delivered in those discussions, and with +that view had preserved the following Fragments and detached Notes, +which are now given to the public with as much order and connection as +their imperfect condition renders them capable of receiving. The +Speeches on the Middlesex Election, on shortening the Duration of +Parlia<a name="Page_3" id="Page_3" title="3" class="pagenum"></a>ments, on the Reform of the Representation in Parliament, on the +Bill for explaining the Power of Juries in Prosecutions for libels, and +on the Repeal of the Marriage Act, were found in the same imperfect +state.</p> + +<p><br /><a name="THE_ACTS_OF_UNIFORMITY" id="THE_ACTS_OF_UNIFORMITY"></a></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>SPEECH<br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 60%;">ON</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 85%;">THE ACTS OF UNIFORMITY</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 60%;">FEBRUARY 6, 1772.</span></h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4" title="4" class="pagenum"></a></p> +<h2>NOTE.</h2> + + +<p>The following Speech was occasioned by a petition to the House of +Commons from certain clergymen of the Church of England, and certain of +the two professions of Civil Law and Physic, and others, praying to be +relieved from subscription to the Thirty-Nine Articles, as required by +the Acts of Uniformity. The persona associated for this purpose were +distinguished at the time by the name of "The Feathers Tavern +Association," from the place where their meetings were usually held.<a name="Page_5" id="Page_5" title="5" class="pagenum"></a> +Their petition was presented on the 6th of February, 1772; and on a +motion that it should be brought up, the same was negatived on a +division, in which Mr. Burke voted in the majority, by 217 against 71.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>SPEECH.</h2> + + +<p>Mr. Speaker,—I should not trouble the House upon this question, if I +could at all acquiesce in many of the arguments, or justify the vote I +shall give upon several of the reasons which have been urged in favor of +it. I should, indeed, be very much concerned, if I were thought to be +influenced to that vote by those arguments.</p> + +<p>In particular, I do most exceedingly condemn all such arguments as +involve any kind of reflection on the personal character of the +gentlemen who have brought in a petition so decent in the style of it, +and so constitutional in the mode. Besides the unimpeachable integrity +and piety of many of the promoters of this petition, which render those +aspersions as idle as they are unjust, such a way of treating the +subject can have no other effect than to turn the attention of the House +from the merits of the petition, the only thing properly before us, and +which we are sufficiently competent to decide upon, to the motives of +the petitioners, which belong exclusively to the Great Searcher of +Hearts.</p> + +<p>We all know that those who loll at their ease in high dignities, whether +of the Church or of the State, are com<a name="Page_6" id="Page_6" title="6" class="pagenum"></a>monly averse to all reformation. +It is hard to persuade them that there can be anything amiss in +establishments which by feeling experience they find to be so very +comfortable. It is as true, that, from the same selfish motives, those +who are struggling upwards are apt to find everything wrong and out of +order. These are truths upon one side and on the other; and neither on +the one side or the other in argument are they worth a single farthing. +I wish, therefore, so much had not been said upon these ill-chosen, and +worse than ill-chosen, these very invidious topics.</p> + +<p>I wish still more that the dissensions and animosities which had slept +for a century had not been just now most unseasonably revived. But if we +must be driven, whether we will or not, to recollect these unhappy +transactions, let our memory be complete and equitable, let us recollect +the whole of them together. If the Dissenters, as an honorable gentleman +has described them, have formerly risen from a "whining, canting, +snivelling generation," to be a body dreadful and ruinous to all our +establishments, let him call to mind the follies, the violences, the +outrages, and persecutions, that conjured up, very blamably, but very +naturally, that same spirit of retaliation. Let him recollect, along +with the injuries, the services which Dissenters have done to our Church +and to our State. If they have once destroyed, more than once they have +saved them. This is but common justice, which they and all mankind have +a right to.</p> + +<p>There are, Mr. Speaker, besides these prejudices and animosities, which +I would have wholly removed from the debate, things more regularly and +argumentatively urged against the petition, which, however, do not at +all appear to me conclusive.</p><p><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7" title="7" class="pagenum"></a></p> + +<p>First, two honorable gentlemen, one near me, the other, I think, on the +other side of the House, assert, that, if you alter her symbols, you +destroy the being of the Church of England. This, for the sake of the +liberty of that Church, I must absolutely deny. The Church, like every +body corporate, may alter her laws without changing her identity. As an +independent church, professing fallibility, she has claimed a right of +acting without the consent of any other; as a church, she claims, and +has always exercised, a right of reforming whatever appeared amiss in +her doctrine, her discipline, or her rites. She did so, when she shook +off the Papal supremacy in the reign of Henry the Eighth, which was an +act of the body of the English Church, as well as of the State (I don't +inquire how obtained). She did so, when she twice changed the Liturgy in +the reign of King Edward, when she then established Articles, which were +themselves a variation from former professions. She did so, when she cut +off three articles from her original forty-two, and reduced them to the +present thirty-nine; and she certainly would not lose her corporate +identity, nor subvert her fundamental principles, though she were to +leave ten of the thirty-nine which remain out of any future confession +of her faith. She would limit her corporate powers, on the contrary, and +she would oppose her fundamental principles, if she were to deny herself +the prudential exercise of such capacity of reformation. This, +therefore, can be no objection to your receiving the petition.</p> + +<p>In the next place, Sir, I am clear, that the Act of Union, reciting and +ratifying one Scotch and one English act of Parliament, has not rendered +any change whatsoever in our Church impossibl<a name="Page_8" id="Page_8" title="8" class="pagenum"></a>e, but by a dissolution of +the union between the two kingdoms.</p> + +<p>The honorable gentleman who has last touched upon that point has not +gone quite so far as the gentlemen who first insisted upon it. However, +as none of them wholly abandon that post, it will not be safe to leave +it behind me unattacked. I believe no one will wish their interpretation +of that act to be considered as authentic. What shall we think of the +wisdom (to say nothing of the competence) of that legislature which +should ordain to itself such a fundamental law, at its outset, as to +disable itself from executing its own functions,—which should prevent +it from making any further laws, however wanted, and that, too, on the +most interesting subject that belongs to human society, and where she +most frequently wants its interposition,—which should fix those +fundamental laws that are forever to prevent it from adapting itself to +its opinions, however clear, or to its own necessities, however urgent? +Such an act, Mr. Speaker, would forever put the Church out of its own +power; it certainly would put it far above the State, and erect it into +that species of independency which it has been the great principle of +our policy to prevent.</p> + +<p>The act never meant, I am sure, any such unnatural restraint on the +joint legislature it was then forming. History shows us what it meant, +and all that it could mean with any degree of common sense.</p> + +<p>In the reign of Charles the First a violent and ill-considered attempt +was made unjustly to establish the platform of the government and the +rites of the Church of England in Scotland, contrary to the <a name="Page_9" id="Page_9" title="9" class="pagenum"></a>genius and +desires of far the majority of that nation. This usurpation excited a +most mutinous spirit in that country. It produced that shocking +fanatical Covenant (I mean the Covenant of '36) for forcing their ideas +of religion on England, and indeed on all mankind. This became the +occasion, at length, of other covenants, and of a Scotch army marching +into England to fulfil them; and the Parliament of England (for its own +purposes) adopted their scheme, took their last covenant, and destroyed +the Church of England. The Parliament, in their ordinance of 1648, +expressly assign their desire of conforming to the Church of Scotland as +a motive for their alteration.</p> + +<p>To prevent such violent enterprises on the one side or on the other, +since each Church was going to be disarmed of a legislature wholly and +peculiarly affected to it, and lest this new uniformity in the State +should be urged as a reason and ground of ecclesiastical uniformity, the +Act of Union provided that presbytery should continue the Scotch, as +episcopacy the English establishment, and that this separate and +mutually independent Church-government was to be considered as a part of +the Union, without aiming at putting the regulation within each Church +out of its own power, without putting both Churches out of the power of +the State. It could not mean to forbid us to set anything ecclesiastical +in order, but at the expense of tearing up all foundations, and +forfeiting the inestimable benefits (for inestimable they are) which we +derive from the happy union of the two kingdoms. To suppose otherwise is +to suppose that the act intended we could not meddle at all with the +Church, but we must as a preliminary destroy the State.</p> + +<p>Well, then, Sir, this is, I hope,<a name="Page_10" id="Page_10" title="10" class="pagenum"></a> satisfactory. The Act of Union does +not stand in our way. But, Sir, gentlemen think we are not competent to +the reformation desired, chiefly from our want of theological learning. +If we were the legal assembly....</p> + +<p>If ever there was anything to which, from reason, nature, habit, and +principle, I am totally averse, it is persecution for conscientious +difference in opinion. If these gentlemen complained justly of any +compulsion upon them on that article, I would hardly wait for their +petitions; as soon as I knew the evil, I would haste to the cure; I +would even run before their complaints.</p> + +<p>I will not enter into the abstract merits of our Articles and Liturgy. +Perhaps there are some things in them which one would wish had not been +there. They are not without the marks and characters of human frailty.</p> + +<p>But it is not human frailty and imperfection, and even a considerable +degree of them, that becomes a ground for your alteration; for by no +alteration will you get rid of those errors, however you may delight +yourselves in varying to infinity the fashion of them. But the ground +for a legislative alteration of a legal establishment is this, and this +only,—that you find the inclinations of the majority of the people, +concurring with your own sense of the intolerable nature of the abuse, +are in favor of a change.</p> + +<p>If this be the case in the present instance, certainly you ought to make +the alteration that is proposed, to satisfy your own consciences, and to +give content to your people. But if you have no evidence of this nature, +it ill becomes your gravity, on the petition of a few gentlemen, to +listen to anything that tends to shake one of the capital pillars of the +state, and<a name="Page_11" id="Page_11" title="11" class="pagenum"></a> alarm the body of your people upon that one ground, in which +every hope and fear, every interest, passion, prejudice, everything +which can affect the human breast, are all involved together. If you +make this a season for religious alterations, depend upon it, you will +soon find it a season of religious tumults and religious wars.</p> + +<p>These gentlemen complain of hardship. No considerable number shows +discontent; but, in order to give satisfaction to any number of +respectable men, who come in so decent and constitutional a mode before +us, let us examine a little what that hardship is. They want to be +preferred clergymen in the Church of England as by law established; but +their consciences will not suffer them to conform to the doctrines and +practices of that Church: that is, they want to be teachers in a church +to which they do not belong; and it is an odd sort of hardship. They +want to receive the emoluments appropriated for teaching one set of +doctrines, whilst they are teaching another. A church, in any legal +sense, is only a certain system of religious doctrines and practices +fixed and ascertained by some law,—by the difference of which laws +different churches (as different commonwealths) are made in various +parts of the world; and the establishment is a tax laid by the same +sovereign authority for payment of those who so teach and so practise: +for no legislature was ever so absurd as to tax its people to support +men for teaching and acting as they please, but by some prescribed rule.</p> + +<p>The hardship amounts to this,—that the people of England are not taxed +two shillings in the pound to pay them for teaching, as divine truths, +their own particular fancies. For the state has so <a name="Page_12" id="Page_12" title="12" class="pagenum"></a>taxed the people; and +by way of relieving these gentlemen, it would be a cruel hardship on the +people to be compelled to pay, from the sweat of their brow, the most +heavy of all taxes to men, to condemn as heretical the doctrines which +they repute to be orthodox, and to reprobate as superstitious the +practices which they use as pious and holy. If a man leaves by will an +establishment for preaching, such as Boyle's Lectures, or for charity +sermons, or funeral sermons, shall any one complain of an hardship, +because he has an excellent sermon upon matrimony, or on the martyrdom +of King Charles, or on the Restoration, which I, the trustee of the +establishment, will not pay him for preaching?—S. Jenyns, Origin of +Evil.—Such is the hardship which they complain of under the present +Church establishment, that they have not the power of taxing the people +of England for the maintenance of their private opinions.</p> + +<p>The laws of toleration provide for every real grievance that these +gentlemen can rationally complain of Are they hindered from professing +their belief of what they think to be truth? If they do not like the +Establishment, there are an hundred different modes of Dissent in which +they may teach. But even if they are so unfortunately circumstanced that +of all that variety none will please them, they have free liberty to +assemble a congregation of their own; and if any persons think their +fancies (they may be brilliant imaginations) worth paying for, they are +at liberty to maintain them as their clergy: nothing hinders it. But if +they cannot get an hundred people together who will pay for their +reading a liturgy after their form, with what face can they insist upon +the nation's conforming to their ideas, for no other visible purpose +than the enabling them to receive with a good consci<a name="Page_13" id="Page_13" title="13" class="pagenum"></a>ence the tenth part +of the produce of your lands?</p> + +<p>Therefore, beforehand, the Constitution has thought proper to take a +security that the tax raised on the people shall be applied only to +those who profess such doctrines and follow such a mode of worship as +the legislature, representing the people, has thought most agreeable to +their general sense,—binding, as usual, the minority, not to an assent +to the doctrines, but to a payment of the tax.</p> + +<p>But how do you ease and relieve? How do you know, that, in making a new +door into the Church for these gentlemen, you do not drive ten times +their number out of it? Supposing the contents and not-contents strictly +equal in numbers and consequence, the possession, to avoid disturbance, +ought to carry it. You displease all the clergy of England now actually +in office, for the chance of obliging a score or two, perhaps, of +gentlemen, who are, or want to be, beneficed clergymen: and do you +oblige? Alter your Liturgy,—will it please all even, of those who wish, +an alteration? will they agree in what ought to be altered? And after it +is altered to the mind of every one, you are no further advanced than if +you had not taken a single step; because a large body of men will then +say you ought to have no liturgy at all: and then these men, who now +complain so bitterly that they are shut out, will themselves bar the +door against thousands of others. Dissent, not satisfied with +toleration, is not conscience, but ambition.</p> + +<p>You altered the Liturgy for the Directory. This was settled by a set of +most learned divines and learned laymen: Selden sat amongst the<a name="Page_14" id="Page_14" title="14" class="pagenum"></a>m. Did +this please? It was considered upon both sides as a most unchristian +imposition. Well, at the Restoration they rejected the Directory, and +reformed the Common Prayer,—which, by the way, had been three times +reformed before. Were they then contented? Two thousand (or some great +number) of clergy resigned their livings in one day rather than read it: +and truly, rather than raise that second idol, I should have adhered to +the Directory, as I now adhere to the Common Prayer. Nor can you content +other men's conscience, real or pretended, by any concessions: follow +your own; seek peace and ensue it. You have no symptoms of discontent in +the people to their Establishment. The churches are too small for their +congregations. The livings are too few for their candidates. The spirit +of religious controversy has slackened by the nature of things: by act +you may revive it. I will not enter into the question, how much truth is +preferable to peace. Perhaps truth may be far better. But as we have +scarcely ever the same certainty in the one that we have in the other, I +would, unless the truth were evident indeed, hold fast to peace, which +has in her company charity, the highest of the virtues.</p> + +<p>This business appears in two points of view: 1st, Whether it is a matter +of grievance; 2nd, Whether it is within our province to redress it with +propriety and prudence. Whether it comes properly before us on a +petition upon matter of grievance I would not inquire too curiously. I +know, technically speaking, that nothing agreeable to law can be +considered as a grievance. But an over-attention to the rules of any act +does sometimes defeat the ends of it; and I think it does so in this +Parliamentary act, as much at least as in a<a name="Page_15" id="Page_15" title="15" class="pagenum"></a>ny other. I know many +gentlemen think that the very essence of liberty consists in being +governed according to law, as if grievances had nothing real and +intrinsic; but I cannot be of that opinion. Grievances may subsist by +law. Nay, I do not know whether any grievance can be considered as +intolerable, until it is established and sanctified by law. If the Act +of Toleration were not perfect, if there were a complaint of it, I would +gladly consent to amend it. But when I heard a complaint of a pressure +on religious liberty, to my astonishment I find that there was no +complaint whatsoever of the insufficiency of the act of King William, +nor any attempt to make it more sufficient. The matter, therefore, does +not concern toleration, but establishment; and it is not the rights of +private conscience that are in question, but the propriety of the terms +which are proposed by law as a title to public emoluments: so that the +complaint is not, that there is not toleration of diversity in opinion, +but that diversity in opinion is not rewarded by bishoprics, rectories, +and collegiate stalls. When gentlemen complain of the subscription as +matter of grievance, the complaint arises from confounding private +judgment, whose rights are anterior to law, and the qualifications which +the law creates for its own magistracies, whether civil or religious. To +take away from men their lives, their liberty, or their property, those +things for the protection of which society was introduced, is great +hardship and intolerable tyranny; but to annex any condition you please +to benefits artificially created is the most just, natural, and proper +thing in the world. When <i>e nova</i> you form an arbitrary benefit, an +advantage, preëminence, or emolument, not by Nature, but institution, +you order a<a name="Page_16" id="Page_16" title="16" class="pagenum"></a>nd modify it with all the power of a creator over his +creature. Such benefits of institution are royalty, nobility, +priesthood, all of which you may limit to birth; you might prescribe +even shape and stature. The Jewish priesthood was hereditary. Founders' +kinsmen have a preference in the election of fellows in many colleges of +our universities: the qualifications at All Souls are, that they should +be <i>optime nati, bene vestiti, mediocriter docti</i>.</p> + +<p>By contending for liberty in the candidate for orders, you take away the +liberty of the elector, which is the people, that is, the state. If they +can choose, they may assign a reason for their choice; if they can +assign a reason, they may do it in writing, and prescribe it as a +condition; they may transfer their authority to their representatives, +and enable them to exercise the same. In all human institutions, a great +part, almost all regulations, are made from the mere necessity of the +case, let the theoretical merits of the question be what they will. For +nothing happened at the Reformation but what will happen in all such +revolutions. When tyranny is extreme, and abuses of government +intolerable, men resort to the rights of Nature to shake it off. When +they have done so, the very same principle of necessity of human affairs +to establish some other authority, which shall preserve the order of +this new institution, must be obeyed, until they grow intolerable; and +you shall not be suffered to plead original liberty against such an +institution. See Holland, Switzerland.</p> + +<p>If you will have religion publicly practised and publicly taught, you +must have a power to say what that religion will be which you will +protect and encourage, and to distinguish it by such marks and +<a name="Page_17" id="Page_17" title="17" class="pagenum"></a>characteristics as you in your wisdom shall think fit. As I said before, +your determination may be unwise in this as in other matters; but it +cannot be unjust, hard, or oppressive, or contrary to the liberty of +any man, or in the least degree exceeding your province. It is, +therefore, as a grievance, fairly none at all,—nothing but what is +essential, not only to the order, but to the liberty, of the whole +community.</p> + +<p>The petitioners are so sensible of the force of these arguments, that +they do admit of one subscription,—that is, to the Scripture. I shall +not consider how forcibly this argument militates with their whole +principle against subscription as an usurpation on the rights of +Providence: I content myself with submitting to the consideration of the +House, that, if that rule were once established, it must have some +authority to enforce the obedience; because, you well know, a law +without a sanction will be ridiculous. Somebody must sit in judgment on +his conformity; he must judge on the charge; if he judges, he must +ordain execution. These things are necessary consequences one of the +other; and then, this judgment is an equal and a superior violation of +private judgment; the right of private judgment is violated in a much +greater degree than it can be by any previous subscription. You come +round again to subscription, as the best and easiest method; men must +judge of his doctrine, and judge definitively: so that either his test +is nugatory, or men must first or last prescribe his public +interpretation of it.</p> + +<p>If the Church be, as Mr. Locke defines it, <i>a voluntary society</i>, &c., +then it is essential to this voluntary society to exclude from her +voluntary society any member she thinks fit, or to oppose the entrance +of any u<a name="Page_18" id="Page_18" title="18" class="pagenum"></a>pon such conditions as she thinks proper. For, otherwise, it +would be a voluntary society acting contrary to her will, which is a +contradiction in terms. And this is Mr. Locke's opinion, the advocate +for the largest scheme of ecclesiastical and civil toleration to +Protestants (for to Papists he allows no toleration at all).</p> + +<p>They dispute only the extent of the subscription; they therefore tacitly +admit the equity of the principle itself. Here they do not resort to the +original rights of Nature, because it is manifest that those rights give +as large a power of controverting every part of Scripture, or even the +authority of the whole, as they do to the controverting any articles +whatsoever. When a man requires you to sign an assent to Scripture, he +requires you to assent to a doctrine as contrary to your natural +understanding, and to your rights of free inquiry, as those who require +your conformity to any one article whatsoever.</p> + +<p>The subscription to Scripture is the most astonishing idea I ever heard, +and will amount to just nothing at all. Gentlemen so acute have not, +that I have heard, ever thought of answering a plain, obvious question: +What is that Scripture to which they are content to subscribe? They do +not think that a book becomes of divine authority because it is bound in +blue morocco, and is printed by John Baskett and his assigns. The Bible +is a vast collection of different treatises: a man who holds the divine +authority of one may consider the other as merely human. What is his +Canon? The Jewish? St. Jerome's? that of the Thirty-Nine Articles? +Luther's? There are some who reject the Canticles; others, six of the +Epistles; the Apocalypse has been suspected even as<a name="Page_19" id="Page_19" title="19" class="pagenum"></a> heretical, and was +doubted of for many ages, and by many great men. As these narrow the +Canon, others have enlarged it by admitting St. Barnabas's Epistles, the +Apostolic Constitutions, to say nothing of many other Gospels. +Therefore, to ascertain. Scripture, you must have one article more; and +you must define what that Scripture is which, you mean to teach. There +are, I believe, very few who, when Scripture is so ascertained, do not +see the absolute necessity of knowing what general doctrine a man draws +from it, before he is sent down authorized by the state to teach, it as +pure doctrine, and receive a tenth of the produce of our lands.</p> + +<p>The Scripture is no one summary of doctrines regularly digested, in +which, a man could not mistake his way. It is a most venerable, but most +multifarious, collection of the records of the divine economy: a +collection of an infinite variety,—of cosmogony, theology, history, +prophecy, psalmody, morality, apologue, allegory, legislation, ethics, +carried through different books, by different authors, at different +ages, for different ends and purposes. It is necessary to sort out what +is intended for example, what only as narrative,—what to be understood +literally, what figuratively,—where one precept is to be controlled and +modified by another,—what is used directly, and what only as an +argument <i>ad hominem</i>,—what is temporary, and what of perpetual +obligation,—what appropriated to one state and to one set of men, and +what the general duty of all Christians. If we do not get some security +for this, we not only permit, but we actually pay for, all the dangerous +fanaticism which, <a name="Page_20" id="Page_20" title="20" class="pagenum"></a>can be produced to corrupt our people, and to derange +the public worship of the country. We owe the best we can (not +infallibility, but prudence) to the subject,—first sound doctrine, then +ability to use it.</p> + + +<p><a name="A_BILL_FOR_THE_RELIEF_OF_PROTESTANT_DISSENTERS" id="A_BILL_FOR_THE_RELIEF_OF_PROTESTANT_DISSENTERS"></a><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21" title="21" class="pagenum"></a></p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>SPEECH<br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 60%;">ON</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 85%;">A BILL FOR THE RELIEF OF PROTESTANT DISSENTERS.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 60%;">MARCH 17, 1773.</span></h2> + + +<p><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22" title="22" class="pagenum"></a></p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>NOTE.</h2> + + +<p>This speech is given partly from the manuscript papers of Mr. Burke, and +partly from a very imperfect short-hand note taken at the time by a +member of the House of Commons. The bill under discussion was opposed by +petitions from several congregations calling themselves "Protestant +Dissenters," who appear to have <a name="Page_23" id="Page_23" title="23" class="pagenum"></a>been principally composed of the people +who are generally known under the denomination of "Methodists," and +particularly by a petition from a congregation of that description +residing in the town of Chatham.</p> + + +<p><br /></p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>SPEECH.</h2> + + +<p>I assure you, Sir, that the honorable gentleman who spoke last but one +need not be in the least fear that I should make a war of particles upon +his opinion, whether the Church of England <i>should, would</i>, or <i>ought</i> +to be alarmed. I am very clear that this House has no one reason in the +world to think she is alarmed by the bill brought before you. It is +something extraordinary that the only symptom of alarm in the Church of +England should appear in the petition of some Dissenters, with whom, I +believe very few in this House are yet acquainted, and of whom you know +no more than that you are assured by the honorable gentleman that they +are not Mahometans. Of the Church we know they are not, by the name that +they assume. They are, then, Dissenters. The first symptom of an alarm, +comes from some Dissenters assembled round the lines of Chatham: these +lines become the security of the Church of England! The honorable +gentleman, in speaking of the lines of Chatham, tells us that they serve +not only for the security of the wooden walls of England, but for the +defence of the Church of England. I suspect the wooden walls of England +secure the lines of Chatham, rather than the lines of Chatham secure the +wooden walls of England.</p><p><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24" title="24" class="pagenum"></a></p> + +<p>Sir, the Church of England, if only defended by this miserable petition +upon your table, must, I am afraid, upon the principles of true +fortification, be soon destroyed. But, fortunately, her walls, bulwarks, +and bastions are constructed of other materials than of stubble and +straw,—are built up with the strong and stable matter of the gospel of +liberty, and founded on a true, constitutional, legal establishment. +But, Sir, she has other securities: she has the security of her own +doctrines; she has the security of the piety, the sanctity, of her own +professors, —their learning is a bulwark to defend her; she has the +security of the two universities, not shook in any single battlement, in +any single pinnacle.</p> + +<p>But the honorable gentleman has mentioned, indeed, principles which +astonish me rather more than ever. The honorable gentleman thinks that +the Dissenters enjoy a large share of liberty under a connivance; and he +thinks that the establishing toleration by law is an attack upon +Christianity.</p> + +<p>The first of these is a contradiction in terms. Liberty under a +connivance! Connivance is a relaxation from slavery, not a definition of +liberty. What is connivance, but a state under which all slaves live? If +I was to describe slavery, I would say, with those who <i>hate</i> it, it is +living under will, not under law; if as it is stated by its advocates, I +would say, that, like earthquakes, like thunder, or other wars the +elements make upon mankind, it happens rarely, it occasionally comes now +and then upon people, who, upon ordinary occasions, enjoy the same legal +government of liberty. Take it under the description of those who would +<a name="Page_25" id="Page_25" title="25" class="pagenum"></a>soften those features, the state of slavery and connivance is the same +thing. If the liberty enjoyed be a liberty not of toleration, but of +connivance, the only question is, whether establishing such by law is an +attack upon Christianity. Toleration an attack upon Christianity! What, +then! are we come to this pass, to suppose that nothing can support +Christianity but the principles of persecution? Is that, then, the idea +of establishment? Is it, then, the idea of Christianity itself, that it +ought to have establishments, that it ought to have laws against +Dissenters, but the breach of which laws is to be connived at? What a +picture of toleration! what a picture of laws, of establishments! what a +picture of religious and civil liberty! I am persuaded the honorable +gentleman, does not see it in this light. But these very terms become +the strongest reasons for my support of the bill: for I am persuaded +that toleration, so far from being an attack upon Christianity, becomes +the best and surest support that possibly can be given, to it. The +Christian religion itself arose without establishment,—it arose even +without toleration; and whilst its own principles were not tolerated, it +conquered all the powers of darkness, it conquered all the powers of the +world. The moment it began to depart from these principles, it converted +the establishment into tyranny; it subverted its foundations from that +very hour. Zealous as I am for the principle of an establishment, so +just an abhorrence do I conceive against whatever may shake it. I know +nothing but the supposed necessity of persecution that can make an +establishment disgusting. I would have toleration a part of +establishment, as a principle favorable to Christianity, and as a part +of Christianity.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26" title="26" class="pagenum"></a>All seem agreed that the law, as it stands, inflicting penalties on +all-religious teachers and on schoolmasters who do not sign the +Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion, ought not to be executed. We are all +agreed that <i>the law is not good</i>: for that, I presume, is undoubtedly +the idea of a law that ought not to be executed. The question, +therefore, is, whether in a well-constituted commonwealth, which we +desire ours to be thought, and I trust intend that it should be, whether +in such a commonwealth it is wise to retain those laws which it is not +proper to execute. A penal law not ordinarily put in execution seems to +me to be a very absurd and a very dangerous thing. For if its principle +be right, if the object of its prohibitions and penalties be a real +evil, then you do in effect permit that very evil, which not only the +reason of the thing, but your very law, declares ought not to be +permitted; and thus it reflects exceedingly on the wisdom, and +consequently derogates not a little from the authority, of a legislature +who can at once forbid and suffer, and in the same breath promulgate +penalty and indemnity to the same persons and for the very same actions. +But if the object of the law be no moral or political evil, then you +ought not to hold even a terror to those whom you ought certainly not to +punish: for if it is not right to hurt, it is neither right nor wise to +menace. Such laws, therefore, as they must be defective either in +justice or wisdom or both, so they cannot exist without a considerable +degree of danger. Take them which way you will, they are pressed with +ugly alternatives.</p> + +<p>1st. All penal laws are either upon popular prosecution, or on the part +of the crown. Now if they may be roused from their sleep, whenever a +ministe<a name="Page_27" id="Page_27" title="27" class="pagenum"></a>r thinks proper, as instruments of oppression, then they put vast +bodies of men into a state of slavery and court dependence; since their +liberty of conscience and their power of executing their functions +depend entirely on his will. I would have no man derive his means of +continuing any function, or his being restrained from it, but from the +laws only: they should be his only superior and sovereign lords.</p> + +<p>2nd. They put statesmen and magistrates into an habit of playing fast +and loose with the laws, straining or relaxing them as may best suit +their political purposes,—and in that light tend to corrupt the +executive power through all its offices.</p> + +<p>3rd. If they are taken up on popular actions, their operation in that +light also is exceedingly evil. They become the instruments of private +malice, private avarice, and not of public regulation; they nourish the +worst of men to the prejudice of the best, punishing tender consciences, +and rewarding informers.</p> + +<p>Shall we, as the honorable gentleman tells us we may with perfect +security, trust to the manners of the age? I am well pleased with the +general manners of the times; but the desultory execution of penal laws, +the thing I condemn, does not depend on the manners of the times. I +would, however, have the laws tuned in unison with the manners. Very +dissonant are a gentle country and cruel laws; very dissonant, that your +reason is furious, but your passions moderate, and that you are always +equitable except in your courts of justice.</p> + +<p>I will beg leave to state to the House one argument which has been much +relied upon: that the Dissenters are not unanimous upon this business; +that many persons are alarmed; that it will create a disunion among the +Dissenters.</p><p><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28" title="28" class="pagenum"></a></p> + +<p>When any Dissenters, or any body of people, come here with a petition, +it is not the number of people, but the reasonableness of the request, +that should weigh with the House. A body of Dissenters come to this +House, and say, "Tolerate us: we desire neither the parochial advantage +of tithes, nor dignities, nor the stalls of your cathedrals: no! let the +venerable orders of the hierarchy exist with all their advantages." And +shall I tell them, "I reject your just and reasonable petition, not +because it shakes the Church, but because there are others, while you +lie grovelling upon the earth, that will kick and bite you"? Judge which +of these descriptions of men comes with a fair request: that which says, +"Sir, I desire liberty for my own, because I trespass on no man's +conscience,"—or the other, which says, "I desire that these men should +not be suffered to act according to their consciences, though I am +tolerated to act according to mine. But I sign a body of Articles, which +is my title to toleration; I sign no more, because more are against my +conscience. But I desire that you will not tolerate these men, because +they will not go so far as I, though I desire to be tolerated, who will +not go as far as you. No, imprison them, if they come within five miles +of a corporate town, because they do not believe what I do in point of +doctrines." Shall I not say to these men, <i>Arrangez-vous, canaille?</i> +You, who are not the predominant power, will not give to others the +relaxation under which you are yourself suffered to live. I have as high +an opinion of the doctrines of the Church as you. I receive them +implicitly, or I put my own<a name="Page_29" id="Page_29" title="29" class="pagenum"></a> explanation on them, or take that which +seems to me to come best recommended by authority. There are those of +the Dissenters who think more rigidly of the doctrine of the Articles +relative to Predestination than others do. They sign the Article +relative to it <i>ex animo</i>, and literally. Others allow a latitude of +construction. These two parties are in the Church, as well as among the +Dissenters; yet in the Church we live quietly under the same roof. I do +not see why, as long as Providence gives us no further light into this +great mystery, we should not leave things as the Divine Wisdom has left +them. But suppose all these things to me to be clear, (which Providence, +however, seems to have left obscure,) yet, whilst Dissenters claim a +toleration in things which, seeming clear to me, are obscure to them, +without entering into the merit of the Articles, with what face can +these men say, "Tolerate us, but do not tolerate them"? Toleration is +good for all, or it is good for none.</p> + +<p>The discussion this day is not between establishment on one hand and +toleration on the other, but between those who, being tolerated +themselves, refuse toleration to others. That power should be puffed up +with pride, that authority should degenerate into rigor, if not +laudable, is but too natural. But this proceeding of theirs is much +beyond the usual allowance to human weakness: it not only is shocking to +our reason, but it provokes our indignation. <i>Quid domini facient, +audent cum talia fures?</i> It is not the proud prelate thundering in his +Commission Court, but a pack of manumitted slaves, with the lash of the +beadle flagrant on their backs, and their legs still galled with their +fetters, that would <a name="Page_30" id="Page_30" title="30" class="pagenum"></a>drive their brethren into that prison-house from +whence they have just been permitted to escape. If, instead of puzzling +themselves in the depths of the Divine counsels, they would turn, to the +mild morality of the Gospel, they would read their own +condemnation:—"O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt +because thou desiredst me: shouldest not thou also have compassion on +thy fellow-servant, even as I had pity on thee?"</p> + +<p>In my opinion, Sir, a magistrate, whenever he goes to put any restraint +upon religious freedom, can only do it upon this ground,—that the +person dissenting does not dissent from the scruples of ill-informed +conscience, but from a party ground of dissension, in order to raise a +faction in the state. We give, with regard to rites and ceremonies, an +indulgence to tender consciences. But if dissent is at all punished in +any country, if at all it can be punished upon any pretence, it is upon +a presumption, not that a man is supposed to differ conscientiously from +the establishment, but that he resists truth for the sake of +faction,—that he abets diversity of opinions in religion to distract +the state, and to destroy the peace of his country. This is the only +plausible,—for there is no true ground of persecution. As the laws +stand, therefore, let us see how we have thought fit to act.</p> + +<p>If there is any one thing within the competency of a magistrate with +regard to religion, it is this: that he has a right to direct the +exterior ceremonies of religion; that, whilst interior religion is +within the jurisdiction of God alone, the external part, bodily action, +is within the province of the chief governor. Hooker, and all the great +lights of the Church, have<a name="Page_31" id="Page_31" title="31" class="pagenum"></a> constantly argued this to be a part within +the province of the civil magistrate. But look at the Act of Toleration +of William and Mary: there you will see the civil magistrate has not +only dispensed with those things which are more particularly within his +province, with those things which faction might be supposed to take up +for the sake of making visible and external divisions and raising a +standard of revolt, but has also from sound politic considerations +relaxed on those points which are confessedly without his province.</p> + +<p>The honorable gentleman, speaking of the heathens, certainly could not +mean to recommend anything that is derived from that impure source. But +he has praised the tolerating spirit of the heathens. Well! but the +honorable gentleman will recollect that heathens, that polytheists, must +permit a number of divinities. It is the very essence of its +constitution. But was it ever heard that polytheism tolerated a dissent +from a polytheistic establishment,—the belief of one God only? Never! +never! Sir, they constantly carried on persecution against that +doctrine. I will not give heathens the glory of a doctrine which I +consider the best part of Christianity. The honorable gentleman must +recollect the Roman law, that was clearly against the introduction of +any foreign rites in matters of religion. You have it at large in Livy, +how they persecuted in the first introduction the rites of Bacchus; and +even before Christ, to say nothing of their subsequent persecutions, +they persecuted the Druids and others. Heathenism, therefore, as in +other respects erroneous, was erroneous in point of persecution. I do +not say every heathen who persecuted was therefore an impious man: I +<a name="Page_32" id="Page_32" title="32" class="pagenum"></a>only say he was mistaken, as such a man is now. But, says the honorable +gentleman, they did not persecute Epicureans. No: the Epicureans had no +quarrel with their religious establishment, nor desired any religion for +themselves. It would have been very extraordinary, if irreligious +heathens had desired either a religious establishment or toleration. +But, says the honorable gentleman, the Epicureans entered, as others, +into the temples. They did so; they defied all subscription; they defied +all sorts of conformity; there was no subscription to which they were +not ready to set their hands, no ceremonies they refused to practise; +they made it a principle of their irreligion outwardly to conform to any +religion. These atheists eluded all that you could do: so will all +freethinkers forever. Then you suffer, or the weakness of your law has +suffered, those great dangerous animals to escape notice, whilst you +have nets that entangle the poor fluttering silken wings of a tender +conscience.</p> + +<p>The honorable gentleman insists much upon this circumstance of +objection,—namely, the division amongst the Dissenters. Why, Sir, the +Dissenters, by the nature of the term, are open to have a division among +themselves. They are Dissenters because they differ from the Church of +England: not that they agree among themselves. There are Presbyterians, +there are Independents,—some that do not agree to infant baptism, +others that do not agree to the baptism of adults, or any baptism. All +these are, however, tolerated under the acts of King William, and +subsequent acts; and their diversity of sentiments with one another did +not and could not furnish an argument against their toleration, when +their difference with ourselves furnished none.</p> +<p><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33" title="33" class="pagenum"></a></p> +<p>But, says the honorable gentleman, if you suffer them to go on, they +will shake the fundamental principles of Christianity. Let it be +considered, that this argument goes as strongly against connivance, +which you allow, as against toleration, which you reject. The gentleman +sets out with a principle of perfect liberty, or, as he describes it, +connivance. But, for fear of dangerous opinions, you leave it in your +power to vex a man who has not held any one dangerous opinion +whatsoever. If one man is a professed atheist, another man the best +Christian, but dissents from two of the Thirty-Nine Articles, I may let +escape the atheist, because I know him to be an atheist, because I am, +perhaps, so inclined myself, and because I may connive where I think +proper; but the conscientious Dissenter, on account of his attachment to +that general religion which perhaps I hate, I shall take care to punish, +because I may punish when I think proper. Therefore, connivance being an +engine of private malice or private favor, not of good government,—an +engine which totally fails of suppressing atheism, but oppresses +conscience,—I say that principle becomes, not serviceable, but +dangerous to Christianity; that it is not toleration, but contrary to +it, even contrary to peace; that the penal system to which it belongs is +a dangerous principle in the economy either of religion or government. +The honorable gentleman (and in him I comprehend all those who oppose +the bill) bestowed in support of their side of the question as much +argument as it could bear, and much more of learning and decoration than +it deserved. He thinks connivance consistent, but legal toleration +inconsistent, with the interests of Christianity. Perhaps I would go as +far as tha<a name="Page_34" id="Page_34" title="34" class="pagenum"></a>t honorable gentleman, if I thought toleration inconsistent +with those interests. God forbid! I may be mistaken, but I take +toleration to be a part of religion. I do not know which I would +sacrifice: I would keep them both: it is not necessary I should +sacrifice either. I do not like the idea of tolerating the doctrines of +Epicurus: but nothing in the world propagates them so much as the +oppression of the poor, of the honest and candid disciples of the +religion we profess in common,—I mean revealed religion; nothing sooner +makes them take a short cut out of the bondage of sectarian vexation +into open and direct infidelity than tormenting men for every +difference. My opinion is, that, in establishing the Christian religion +wherever you find it, curiosity or research is its best security; and in +this way a man is a great deal better justified in saying, Tolerate all +kinds of consciences, than in imitating the heathens, whom the honorable +gentleman quotes, in tolerating those who have none. I am not over-fond +of calling for the secular arm upon these misguided or misguiding men; +but if ever it ought to be raised, it ought surely to be raised against +these very men, not against others, whose liberty of religion you make a +pretext for proceedings which drive them into the bondage of impiety. +What figure do I make in saying, I do not attack the works of these +atheistical writers, but I will keep a rod hanging over the +conscientious man, their bitterest enemy, because these atheists may +take advantage of the liberty of their foes to introduce irreligion? The +best book that ever, perhaps, has been written against these people is +that in which the author has collected in a body the whole of the +infidel code, and has b<a name="Page_35" id="Page_35" title="35" class="pagenum"></a>rought the writers into one body to cut them all +off together. This was done by a Dissenter, who never did subscribe the +Thirty-Nine Articles,—Dr. Leland. But if, after all this, danger is to +be apprehended, if you are really fearful that Christianity will +indirectly suffer by this liberty, you have my free consent: go +directly, and by the straight way, and not by a circuit in which, in +your road you may destroy your friends; point your arms against these +men who do the mischief you fear promoting; point your arms against men +who, not contented with endeavoring to turn your eyes from the blaze and +effulgence of light by which life and immortality is so gloriously +demonstrated by the Gospel, would even extinguish that faint glimmering +of Nature, that only comfort supplied to ignorant man before this great +illumination, —them, who, by attacking even the possibility of all +revelation, arraign all the dispensations of Providence to man. These +are the wicked Dissenters you ought to fear; these are the people +against whom you ought to aim the shaft of the law; these are the men to +whom, arrayed in all the terrors of government, I would say, You shall +not degrade us into brutes! These men, these factious men, as the +honorable gentleman properly called them, are the just objects of +vengeance, not the conscientious Dissenter,—these men, who would take +away whatever ennobles the rank or consoles the misfortunes of human +nature, by breaking off that connection of observances, of affections, +of hopes and fears, which bind us to the Divinity, and constitute the +glorious and distinguishing prerogative of humanity, that of being a +religious creature: against these I would have the laws rise in all +their majesty o<a name="Page_36" id="Page_36" title="36" class="pagenum"></a>f terrors, to fulminate such vain and impious wretches, +and to awe them into impotence by the only dread they can fear or +believe, to learn that eternal lesson, <i>Discite justitiam moniti, et non +temnere Divos</i>!</p> + +<p>At the same time that I would cut up the very root of atheism, I would +respect all conscience,—all conscience that is really such, and which +perhaps its very tenderness proves to be sincere. I wish to see the +Established Church of England great and powerful; I wish to see her +foundations laid low and deep, that she may crush the giant powers of +rebellious darkness; I would have her head raised up to that heaven to +which she conducts us. I would have her open wide her hospitable gates +by a noble and liberal comprehension, but I would have no breaches in +her wall; I would have her cherish all those who are within, and pity +all those who are without; I would have her a common blessing to the +world, an example, if not an instructor, to those who have not the +happiness to belong to her; I would have her give a lesson of peace to +mankind, that a vexed and wandering generation might be taught to seek +for repose and toleration in the maternal bosom of Christian charity, +and not in the harlot lap of infidelity and indifference. Nothing has +driven people more into that house of seduction than the mutual hatred +of Christian congregations. Long may we enjoy our church under a learned +and edifying episcopacy! But episcopacy may fail, and religion exist. +The most horrid and cruel blow that can be offered to civil society is +through atheism. Do not promote diversity; when you have it, bear it; +have as many sorts of religion as you find in your country; there is a +reasonable worship in them all. The others, the in<a name="Page_37" id="Page_37" title="37" class="pagenum"></a>fidels, are outlaws of +the constitution, not of this country, but of the human race. They are +never, never to be supported, never to be tolerated. Under the +systematic attacks of these people, I see some of the props of good +government already begin to fail; I see propagated principles which will +not leave to religion even a toleration. I see myself sinking every day +under the attacks of these wretched people. How shall I arm myself +against them? By uniting all those in affection, who are united in the +belief of the great principles of the Godhead that made and sustains the +world. They who hold revelation give double assurance to their country. +Even the man who does not hold revelation, yet who wishes that it were +proved to him, who observes a pious silence with regard to it, such a +man, though not a Christian, is governed by religious principles. Let +him be tolerated in this country. Let it be but a serious religion, +natural or revealed, take what you can get. Cherish, blow up the +slightest spark: one day it may be a pure and holy flame. By this +proceeding you form an alliance offensive and defensive against those +great ministers of darkness in the world who are endeavoring to shake +all the works of God established in order and beauty.</p> + +<p>Perhaps I am carried too far; but it is in the road into which the +honorable gentleman has led me. The honorable gentleman would have us +fight this confederacy of the powers of darkness with the single arm of +the Church of England,—would have us not only fight against infidelity, +but fight at the same time with all the faith in the world except our +own. In the moment we make a front against the common enemy, we have to +combat with all those wh<a name="Page_38" id="Page_38" title="38" class="pagenum"></a>o are the natural friends of our cause. Strong +as we are, we are not equal to this. The cause of the Church of England +is included in that of religion, not that of religion in the Church of +England. I will stand up at all times for the rights of conscience, as +it is such,—not for its particular modes against its general +principles. One may be right, another mistaken; but if I have more +strength than my brother, it shall be employed to support, not to +oppress his weakness; if I have more light, it shall be used to guide, +not to dazzle him....</p> + + +<p><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39" title="39" class="pagenum"></a> +<a name="A_BILL_TO_REPEAL_AND_ALTER_CERTAIN_ACTS_RESPECTING_RELIGIOUS_OPINIONS" id="A_BILL_TO_REPEAL_AND_ALTER_CERTAIN_ACTS_RESPECTING_RELIGIOUS_OPINIONS"></a> +</p><hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>SPEECH<br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 60%;">ON A</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 85%;">MOTION MADE IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS BY THE RIGHT HON. C.J. FOX,</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 60%;">MAY 11, 1793,</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 60%;">FOR LEAVE TO BRING IN</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 85%;">A BILL TO REPEAL AND ALTER CERTAIN ACTS RESPECTING RELIGIOUS OPINIONS,</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 60%;">UPON THE OCCASION OF</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 85%;">A PETITION OF THE UNITARIAN SOCIETY</span></h2> + +<p><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40" title="40" class="pagenum"></a></p> +<p><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41" title="41" class="pagenum"></a></p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><br /></p> +<p>I never govern myself, no rational man ever did govern himself, by +abstractions and universals. I do not put abstract ideas wholly out of +any question; because I well know that under that name I should dismiss +principles, and that without the guide and light of sound, +well-understood principles, all reasonings in politics, as in everything +else, would be only a confused jumble of particular facts and details, +without the means of drawing out any sort of theoretical or practical +conclusion. A statesman differs from a professor in an university: the +latter has only the general view of society; the former, the statesman, +has a number of circumstances to combine with those general ideas, and +to take into his consideration. Circumstances are infinite, are +infinitely combined, are variable and transient: he who does not take +them into consideration is not erroneous, but stark mad; <i>dat operam ut +cum ratione insaniat</i>; he is metaphysically mad. A statesman, never +losing sight of principles, is to be guided by circumstances; and +judging contrary to the exigencies of the moment, he may ruin his +country forever.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42" title="42" class="pagenum"></a>I go on this ground,—that government, representing the society, has a +general superintending control over all the actions and over all the +publicly propagated doctrines of men, without which it never could +provide adequately for all the wants of society: but then it is to use +this power with an equitable discretion, the only bond of sovereign +authority. For it is not, perhaps, so much by the assumption of unlawful +powers as by the unwise or unwarrantable use of those which are most +legal, that governments oppose their true end and object: for there is +such a thing as tyranny, as well as usurpation. You can hardly state to +me a case to which legislature is the most confessedly competent, in +which, if the rules of benignity and prudence are not observed, the most +mischievous and oppressive things may not be done. So that, after all, +it is a moral and virtuous discretion, and not any abstract theory of +right, which keeps governments faithful to their ends. Crude, +unconnected truths are in the world of practice what falsehoods are in +theory. A reasonable, prudent, provident, and moderate coercion may be a +means of preventing acts of extreme ferocity and rigor: for by +propagating excessive and extravagant doctrines, such extravagant +disorders take place as require the most perilous and fierce corrections +to oppose them.</p> + +<p>It is not morally true that we are bound to establish in every country +that form of religion which in <i>our</i> minds is most agreeable to truth, +and conduces most to the eternal happiness of mankind. In the same +manner, it is not true that we are, against the conviction of our own +judgment, to establish a system of opinions and practices directly +contrary to those ends, only because some majority of the <a name="Page_43" id="Page_43" title="43" class="pagenum"></a>people, told +by the head, may prefer it. No conscientious man would willingly +establish what he knew to be false and mischievous in religion, or in +anything else. No wise man, on the contrary, would tyrannically set up +his own sense so as to reprobate that of the great prevailing body of +the community, and pay no regard to the established opinions and +prejudices of mankind, or refuse to them the means of securing a +religious instruction suitable to these prejudices. A great deal depends +on the state in which you find men....</p> + +<p>An alliance between Church and State in a Christian commonwealth is, in +my opinion, an idle and a fanciful speculation. An alliance is between +two things that are in their nature distinct and independent, such as +between two sovereign states. But in a Christian commonwealth the Church +and the State are one and the, same thing, being different integral +parts of the same whole. For the Church has been always divided into two +parts, the clergy and the laity,—of which the laity is as much an +essential integral part, and has as much its duties and privileges, as +the clerical member, and in the rule, order, and government of the +Church has its share. Religion is so far, in my opinion, from being out +of the province or the duty of a Christian magistrate, that it is, and +it ought to be, not only his care, but the principal thing in his care; +because it is one of the great bonds of human society, and its object +the supreme good, the ultimate end and object of man himself. The +magistrate, who is a man, and charged with the concerns of men, and to +whom very specially nothing human is remote and indifferent, has a right +and a duty to watch over it with an unceasing vigilance, to <a name="Page_44" id="Page_44" title="44" class="pagenum"></a>protect, to +promote, to forward it by every rational, just, and prudent means. It is +principally his duty to prevent the abuses which grow out of every +strong and efficient principle that actuates the human mind. As +religion is one of the bonds of society, he ought not to suffer it to be +made the pretext of destroying its peace, order, liberty, and its +security. Above all, he ought strictly to look to it, when men begin to +form new combinations, to be distinguished by new names, and especially +when they mingle a political system with their religious opinions, true +or false, plausible or implausible.</p> + +<p>It is the interest, and it is the duty, and because it is the interest +and the duty, it is the right of government to attend much to opinions; +because, as opinions soon combine with passions, even when they do not +produce them, they have much influence on actions. Factions are formed +upon opinions, which factions become in effect bodies corporate in the +state; nay, factions generate opinions, in order to become a centre of +union, and to furnish watchwords to parties; and this may make it +expedient for government to forbid things in themselves innocent and +neutral. I am not fond of defining with precision what the ultimate +rights of the sovereign supreme power, in providing for the safety of +the commonwealth, may be, or may not extend to. It will signify very +little what my notions or what their own notions on the subject may be; +because, according to the exigence, they will take, in fact, the steps +which seem to them necessary for the preservation of the whole: for as +self-preservation in individuals is the first law of Nature, the same +will prevail in societies, who will, right or wrong, make th<a name="Page_45" id="Page_45" title="45" class="pagenum"></a>at an object +paramount to all other rights whatsoever. There are ways and means by +which a good man would not even save the commonwealth.... All things +founded on the idea of danger ought in a great degree to be temporary. +All policy is very suspicious that sacrifices any part to the ideal good +of the whole. The object of the state is (as far as may be) the +happiness of the whole. Whatever makes multitudes of men utterly +miserable can never answer that object; indeed, it contradicts it wholly +and entirely; and the happiness or misery of mankind, estimated by their +feelings and sentiments, and not by any theories of their rights, is, +and ought to be, the standard for the conduct of legislators towards the +people. This naturally and necessarily conducts us to the peculiar and +characteristic situation of a people, and to a knowledge of their +opinions, prejudices, habits, and all the circumstances that diversify +and color life. The first question a good statesman would ask himself, +therefore, would be, How and in what circumstances do you find the +society? and to act upon them.</p> + +<p>To the other laws relating to other sects I have nothing to say: I only +look to the petition which has given rise to this proceeding. I confine +myself to that, because in my opinion its merits have little or no +relation to that of the other laws which the right honorable gentleman +has with so much ability blended with it. With the Catholics, with the +Presbyterians, with the Anabaptists, with the Independents, with the +Quakers, I have nothing at all to do. They are in <i>possession</i>,—a great +title in all human affairs. The tenor and spirit of our laws, whether +they were restraining or whether they were relaxing, have hithe<a name="Page_46" id="Page_46" title="46" class="pagenum"></a>rto taken +another course. The spirit of our laws has applied their penalty or +their relief to the supposed abuse to be repressed or the grievance to +be relieved; and the provision for a Catholic and a Quaker has been +totally different, according to his exigence: you did not give a +Catholic liberty to be freed from an oath, or a Quaker power of saying +mass with impunity. You have done this, because you never have laid it +down as an universal proposition, as a maxim, that nothing relative to +religion was your concern, but the direct contrary; and therefore you +have always examined whether there was a grievance. It has been so at +all times: the legislature, whether right or wrong, went no other way to +work but by circumstances, times, and necessities. My mind marches the +same road; my school is the practice and usage of Parliament.</p> + +<p>Old religious factions are volcanoes burnt out; on the lava and ashes +and squalid scoriæ of old eruptions grow the peaceful olive, the +cheering vine, and the sustaining corn. Such was the first, such the +second condition of Vesuvius. But when a now fire bursts out, a face of +desolations comes on, not to be rectified in ages. Therefore, when men +come before us, and rise up like an exhalation from the ground, they +come in a questionable shape, and we must <i>exorcise</i> them, and try +whether their intents be wicked or charitable, whether they bring airs +from heaven or blasts from hell. This is the first time that our records +of Parliament have heard, or our experience or history given us an +account of any religious congregation or association known by the name +which these petitioners have assumed. We are now to see by what people, +of what character, and <a name="Page_47" id="Page_47" title="47" class="pagenum"></a>under what temporary circumstances, this business +is brought before you. We are to see whether there be any and what +mixture of political dogmas and political practices with their religious +tenets, of what nature they are, and how far they are at present +practically separable from them. This faction (the authors of the +petition) are not confined to a <i>theological</i> sect, but are also a +<i>political</i> faction. 1st, As theological, we are to show that they do +not aim at the quiet enjoyment of their own liberty, but are +<i>associated</i> for the express purpose of proselytism. In proof of this +first proposition, read their primary association. 2nd, That their +purpose of proselytism is to collect a multitude sufficient by force and +violence to overturn the Church. In proof of the second proposition, see +the letter of Priestley to Mr. Pitt, and extracts from his works. 3rd, +That the designs against the Church are concurrent with a design to +subvert the State. In proof of the third proposition, read the +advertisement of the Unitarian Society for celebrating the 14th of July. +4th, On what <i>model</i> they intend to build,—that it is the <i>French</i>. In +proof of the fourth proposition, read the correspondence of the +Revolution Society with the clubs of France, read Priestley's adherence +to their opinions. 5th, What the <i>French</i> is with regard to religious +toleration, and with regard to, 1. Religion,—2. Civil happiness,—3. +Virtue, order, and real liberty,—4. Commercial opulence,—5. National +defence. In proof of the fifth proposition, read the representation of +the French minister of the Home Department, and the report of the +committee upon it.</p> + +<p>Formerly, when the superiority of two parties contending for dogmas and +an establishment was t<a name="Page_48" id="Page_48" title="48" class="pagenum"></a>he question, we knew in such a contest the whole +of the evil. We knew, for instance, that Calvinism would prevail +according to the Westminster Catechism with regard to <i>tenets</i>. We knew +that Presbytery would prevail in <i>church government</i>. But we do not +know what opinions would prevail, if the present Dissenters should +become masters. They will not tell us their present opinions; and one +principle of modern Dissent is, not to discover them. Next, as their +religion, is in a continual fluctuation, and is so by principle and in +profession, it is impossible for us to know what it will be. If religion +only related to the individual, and was a question between God and the +conscience, it would not be wise, nor in my opinion equitable, for human +authority to step in. But when religion is embodied into faction, and +factions have objects to pursue, it will and must, more or less, become +a question of power between them. If even, when embodied into +congregations, they limited their principle to their own congregations, +and were satisfied themselves to abstain from what they thought +unlawful, it would be cruel, in my opinion, to molest them in that +tenet, and a consequent practice. But we know that they not only +entertain these opinions, but entertain them with a zeal for propagating +them by force, and employing the power of law and place to destroy +establishments, if ever they should come to power sufficient to effect +their purpose: that is, in other words, they declare they would +persecute the heads of our Church; and the question is, whether you +should keep them within the bounds of toleration, or subject yourself to +their persecution.</p> + +<p>A bad and very censurable practice it is to warp doubtful and ambiguous +expressions to a <a name="Page_49" id="Page_49" title="49" class="pagenum"></a>perverted sense, which makes the charge not the crime +of others, but the construction of your own malice; nor is it allowed to +draw conclusions from allowed premises, which those who lay down the +premises utterly deny, and disown as their conclusions. For this, +though it may possibly be good logic, cannot by any possibility +whatsoever be a fair or charitable representation of any man or any set +of men. It may show the erroneous nature of principles, but it argues +nothing as to dispositions and intentions. Far be such a mode from me! A +mean and unworthy jealousy it would be to do anything upon, the mere +speculative apprehension of what men will do. But let us pass by <i>our</i> +opinions concerning the danger of the Church. What do the gentlemen +themselves think of that danger? They from, whom the danger is +apprehended, what do they declare to be their own designs? What do they +conceive to be their own forces? And what do they proclaim to be their +means? Their designs they declare to be to destroy the Established +Church; and not to set up a new one of their own. See Priestley. If they +should find the State stick to the Church, the question is, whether they +love the constitution in <i>State</i> so well as that they would not destroy +the constitution of the State in order to destroy that of the Church. +Most certainly they do not.</p> + +<p>The foundations on which obedience to governments is founded are not to +be constantly discussed. That we are here supposes the discussion +already made and the dispute settled. We must assume the rights of what +represents the public to control the individual, to make his will and +his acts to submit to their will, until some intolerable grievance<a name="Page_50" id="Page_50" title="50" class="pagenum"></a> shall +make us know that it does not answer its end, and will submit neither to +reformation nor restraint. Otherwise we should dispute all the points of +morality, before we can punish a murderer, robber, and adulterer; we +should analyze all society. Dangers by being despised grow great; so +they do by absurd provision against them. <i>Stulti est dixisse, Non +putâram</i>. Whether an early discovery of evil designs, an early +declaration, and an early precaution against them be more wise than to +stifle all inquiry about them, for fear they should declare themselves +more early than otherwise they would, and therefore precipitate the +evil,—all this depends on the reality of the danger. Is it only an +unbookish jealousy, as Shakspeare calls it? It is a question of fact. +Does a design against the Constitution of this country exist? If it +does, and if it is carried on with increasing vigor and activity by a +restless faction, and if it receives countenance by the most ardent and +enthusiastic applauses of its object in the great council of this +kingdom, by men of the first parts which this kingdom produces, perhaps +by the first it has ever produced, can I think that there is no danger? +If there be danger, must there be no precaution at all against it? If +you ask whether I think the danger urgent and immediate, I answer, Thank +God, I do not. The body of the people is yet sound, the Constitution is +in their hearts, while wicked men are endeavoring to put another into +their heads. But if I see the very same beginnings which have commonly +ended in great calamities, I ought to act as if they might produce the +very same effects. Early and provident fear is the mother of safety; +because in that state of things the mind is firm and collected, and the +judgment unembarras<a name="Page_51" id="Page_51" title="51" class="pagenum"></a>sed. But when the fear and the evil feared come on +together, and press at once upon us, deliberation itself is ruinous, +which saves upon all other occasions; because, when perils are instant, +it delays decision: the man is in a flutter, and in a hurry, and his +judgment is gone,—as the judgment of the deposed King of France and his +ministers was gone, if the latter did not premeditately betray him. He +was just come from his usual amusement of hunting, when the head of the +column of treason and assassination was arrived at his house. Let not +the king, let not the Prince of Wales, be surprised in this manner. Let +not both Houses of Parliament be led in triumph along with him, and have +law dictated to them, by the Constitutional, the Revolution, and the +Unitarian Societies. These insect reptiles, whilst they go on only +caballing and toasting, only fill us with disgust; if they get above +their natural size, and increase the quantity whilst they keep the +quality of their venom, they become objects of the greatest terror. A +spider in his natural size is only a spider, ugly and loathsome; and his +flimsy net is only fit for catching flies. But, good God! suppose a +spider as large as an ox, and that he spread cables about us, all the +wilds of Africa would not produce anything so dreadful:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Quale portentum neque militaris<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Daunia in latis alit esculetis,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nec Jubæ tellus generat, leonum<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Arida nutrix.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Think of them who dare menace in the way they do in their present state, +what would they do, if the<a name="Page_52" id="Page_52" title="52" class="pagenum"></a>y had power commensurate to their malice? God +forbid I ever should have a despotic master!—but if I must, my choice +is made. I will have Louis the Sixteenth rather than Monsieur Bailly, or +Brissot, or Chabot,—rather George the Third, or George the Fourth, +than. Dr. Priestley, or Dr. Kippis,—persons who would not load a +tyrannous power by the poisoned taunts of a vulgar, low-bred insolence. +I hope we have still spirit enough to keep us from the one or the other. +The contumelies of tyranny are the worst parts of it.</p> + +<p>But if the danger be existing in reality, and silently maturing itself +to our destruction, what! is it not better to take <i>treason</i> unprepared +than that <i>treason</i> should come by surprise upon us and take us +unprepared? If we must have a conflict, let us have it with all our +forces fresh about us, with our government in full function and full +strength, our troops uncorrupted, our revenues in the legal hands, our +arsenals filled and possessed by government,—and not wait till the +conspirators met to commemorate the 14th of July shall seize on the +Tower of London and the magazines it contains, murder the governor, and +the mayor of London, seize upon the king's person, drive out the House +of Lords, occupy your gallery, and thence, as from an high tribunal, +dictate to you. The degree of danger is not only from the circumstances +which threaten, but from the value of the objects which are threatened. +A small danger menacing an inestimable object is of more importance than +the greatest perils which regard one that is indifferent to us. The +whole question of the danger depends upon facts. The first fact is, +whether those who sway in France at present confine themselves to the +regulation<a name="Page_53" id="Page_53" title="53" class="pagenum"></a> of their internal affairs,—or whether upon system they +nourish cabals in all other countries, to extend their power by +producing revolutions similar to their own. 2. The next is, whether we +have any cabals formed or forming within these kingdoms, to coöperate +with them for the destruction of our Constitution. On the solution of +these two questions, joined with our opinion of the value of the object +to be affected by their machinations, the justness of our alarm and the +necessity of our vigilance must depend. Every private conspiracy, every +open attack upon the laws, is dangerous. One robbery is an alarm to all +property; else I am sure we exceed measure in our punishment. As +robberies increase in number and audacity, the alarm increases. These +wretches are at war with us upon principle. They hold this government to +be an usurpation. See the language of the Department.</p> + +<p>The whole question is on the <i>reality</i> of the danger. Is it such a +danger as would justify that fear <i>qui cadere potest in hominem +constantem et non metuentem</i>? This is the fear which the principles of +jurisprudence declare to be a lawful and justifiable fear. When a man +threatens my life openly and publicly, I may demand from him securities +of the peace. When every act of a man's life manifests such a design +stronger than by words, even though he does not make such a declaration, +I am justified in being on my guard. They are of opinion that they are +already one fifth of the kingdom. If so, their force is naturally not +contemptible. To say that in all contests the decision will of course be +in favor of the greater number is by no means true in fact. For, first, +the greater number is generally composed of men of sluggish tempers, +slow to act, and unwilling to attempt, and, by being in possession, are +so disposed to peace that they are unwilling t<a name="Page_54" id="Page_54" title="54" class="pagenum"></a>o take early and vigorous +measures for their defence, and they are almost always caught +unprepared:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Nec coïere pares: alter vergentibus annis<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In senium, longoque togæ tranquillior usu.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Dedidicit jam pace ducem;...<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nec reparare novas vires, multumque priori<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Credere fortunæ: stat magni nominis umbra.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor" title=" Lucan, I. 129 to 135.">[1]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="noindent">A smaller number, more expedite, awakened, active, vigorous, and +courageous, who make amends for what they want in weight by their +superabundance of velocity, will create an acting power of the greatest +possible strength. When men are furiously and fanatically fond of an +object, they will prefer it, as is well known, to their own peace, to +their own property, and to their own lives: and can there be a doubt, in +such a case, that they would prefer it to the peace of their country? Is +it to be doubted, that, if they have not strength enough at home, they +will call in foreign force to aid them?</p> + +<p>Would you deny them <i>what is reasonable</i>, for fear they should? +Certainly not. It would be barbarous to pretend to look into the minds +of men. I would go further: it would not be just even to trace +consequences from principles which, though evident to me, were denied by +them. Let them disband as a faction, and let them act as individuals, +and when I see them with no other views than to enjoy their own +conscience in peace, I, for one, shall most cheerfully vote for their +relief.</p><p><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55" title="55" class="pagenum"></a></p> + +<p>A tender conscience, of all things, ought to be tenderly handled; for if +you do not, you injure not only the conscience, but the whole moral +frame and constitution is injured, recurring at times to remorse, and +seeking refuge only in making the conscience callous. But the conscience +of faction,—the conscience of sedition,—the conscience of conspiracy, +war, and confusion....</p> + +<p>Whether anything be proper to be denied, which is right in itself, +because it may lead to the demand of others which it is improper to +grant? Abstractedly speaking, there can be no doubt that this question +ought to be decided in the negative. But as no moral questions are ever +abstract questions, this, before I judge upon any abstract proposition, +must be embodied in circumstances; for, since things are right or wrong, +morally speaking, only by their relation and connection with other +things, this very question of what it is politically right to grant +depends upon this relation to its effects. It is the direct office of +wisdom to look to the consequences of the acts we do: if it be not this, +it is worth nothing, it is out of place and of function, and a downright +fool is as capable of government as Charles Fox. A man desires a sword: +why should he be refused? A sword is a means of defence, and defence is +the natural right of man,—nay, the first of all his rights, and which +comprehends them all. But if I know that the sword desired is to be +employed to cut my own throat, common sense, and my own self-defence, +dictate to me to keep out of his hands this natural right of the sword. +But whether this denial be wise or foolish, just or unjust, prudent or +cowardly, depends entirely on the state of the man's means. A man may +have very ill dispositions, and yet be so very weak as to <a name="Page_56" id="Page_56" title="56" class="pagenum"></a>make all +precaution foolish. See whether this be the case of these Dissenters, as +to their designs, as to their means, numbers, activity, zeal, foreign +assistance.</p> + +<p>The first question, to be decided, when we talk of the Church's being in +danger from any particular measure, is, whether the danger to the Church +is a public evil: for to those who think that the national Church +Establishment is itself a national grievance, to desire them to forward +or to resist any measure, upon account of its conducing to the safety of +the Church or averting its danger, would be to the last degree absurd. +If you have reason to think thus of it, take the reformation instantly +into your own hands, whilst you are yet cool, and can do it in measure +and proportion, and not under the influence of election tests and +popular fury. But here I assume that by far the greater number of those +who compose the House are of opinion that this national Church +Establishment is a great national benefit, a great public blessing, and +that its existence or its non-existence of course is a thing by no means +indifferent to the public welfare: then to them its danger or its safety +must enter deeply into every question which has a relation to it. It is +not because ungrounded alarms have been given that there never can exist +a real danger: perhaps the worst effect of an ungrounded alarm is to +make people insensible to the approach of a real peril. Quakerism is +strict, methodical, in its nature highly aristocratical, and so regular +that it has brought the whole community to the condition of one family; +but it does not actually interfere with the government. The principle of +your pet<a name="Page_57" id="Page_57" title="57" class="pagenum"></a>itioners is no passive conscientious dissent, on account of an +over-scrupulous habit of mind: the dissent on their part is fundamental, +goes to the very root; and it is at issue not upon this rite or that +ceremony, on this or that school opinion, but upon this one question of +an Establishment, as unchristian, unlawful, contrary to the Gospel and +to natural right, Popish and idolatrous. These are the principles +violently and fanatically held and pursued,—taught to their children, +who are sworn at the altar like Hannibal. The war is with the +Establishment itself,—no quarter, no compromise. As a party, they are +infinitely mischievous: see the declarations of Priestley and +Price,—declarations, you will say, of <i>hot</i> men. Likely enough: but who +are the <i>cool</i> men who have disclaimed them? Not one,—no, not one. +Which of them has ever told you that they do not mean to <i>destroy the +Church</i>, if ever it should be in their power? Which of them has told you +that this would not be the first and favorite use of any power they +should get? Not one,—no, not one. Declarations of hot men! The danger +is thence, that they are under the <i>conduct</i> of hot men: <i>falsos in +amore odia non fingere</i>.</p> + +<p>They say they are well affected to the State, and mean only to destroy +the Church. If this be the utmost of their meaning, you must first +consider whether you wish your Church Establishment to be destroyed. If +you do, you had much better do it now in temper, in a grave, moderate, +and parliamentary way. But if you think otherwise, and that you think it +to be an invaluable blessing, a way fully sufficient to nourish a manly, +rational, solid, and at the same time humble piety,—if you find it well +fitted to the frame and pattern of your civil constitution,—if you find +it a barrier against fanaticism, infidelity, and atheism,—if you find +that it furnishes support to the human mind in the afflictions and +distresses of the world, consolation in sickness, pain, poverty, and +death,—if it dignifies our nature with the hope of immortality, leaves +inquiry free, whilst it preserves an authority to teach, where authority +only can teach, <i>communia altaria, æque ac patriam, diligite, colite, +fovete</i>.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58" title="58" class="pagenum"></a>In the discussion of this subject which took place in the year 1790, Mr. +Burke declared his intention, in case the motion for repealing the Test +Acts had been agreed to, of proposing to substitute the following test +in the room of what was intended to be repealed:—</p> + +<p>"I, <i>A.B.</i>, do, in the presence of God, sincerely profess and believe +that a religious establishment in this state is not contrary to the law +of God, or disagreeable to the law of Nature, or to the true principles +of the Christian religion, or that it is noxious to the community; and I +do sincerely promise and engage, before God, that I never will, by any +conspiracy, contrivance, or political device whatever, attempt, or abet +others in any attempt, to subvert the constitution of the Church of +England, as the same is now by law established, and that I will not +employ any power or influence which I may derive from any office +corporate, or any other office which I hold or shall hold under his +Majesty, his heirs and successors, to destroy and subvert the same, or +to cause members to be elected into any corporation or into Parliament, +give my vote in the election of any member or members of Parliament, or +into any office, for or on account of their attachment to any other or +different religious opinions or establishments, or with any hope that +they may promote the same to the prejudice of the Established Church, +but will dutifully and peaceably content myself with my private liberty +of conscience, as the same is allowed by law. So help me God."</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Lucan, I. 129 to 135.</p></div> +</div> +<p><a name="THE_MIDDLESEX_ELECTION" id="THE_MIDDLESEX_ELECTION"></a></p> +<p><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59" title="59" class="pagenum"></a></p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>SPEECH<br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 60%;">ON</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 85%;">THE MOTION MADE IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS,</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 60%;">FEBRUARY 7, 1771,</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 60%;">RELATIVE TO</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 85%;">THE MIDDLESEX ELECTION.</span></h2> + + +<p><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60" title="60" class="pagenum"></a></p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>NOTE.</h2> + + +<p>The motion supported in the following Speech, which was for leave to +bring in a bill to ascertain the rights of the electors in respect to +the eligibility of persons to serve in Parliament, was rejected by a +majority of 167 against 103.</p> + + +<p><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61" title="61" class="pagenum"></a></p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>SPEECH.</h2> + + +<p>In every complicated constitution (and every free constitution is +complicated) cases will arise when the several orders of the state will +clash with one another, and disputes will arise about the limits of +their several rights and privileges. It may be almost impossible to +reconcile them....</p> + +<p>Carry the principle on by which you expelled Mr. Wilkes, there is not a +man in the House, hardly a man in the nation, who may not be +disqualified. That this House should have no power of expulsion is an +hard saying: that this House should have a general discretionary power +of disqualification is a dangerous saying. That the people should not +choose their own representative is a saying that shakes the +Constitution: that this House should name the representative is a saying +which, followed by practice, su<a name="Page_62" id="Page_62" title="62" class="pagenum"></a>bverts the Constitution. They have the +right of electing; you have a right of expelling: they of choosing; you +of judging, and only of judging, of the choice. What bounds shall be set +to the freedom of that choice? Their right is prior to ours: we all +originate there. They are the mortal enemies of the House of Commons who +would persuade them to think or to act as if they were a self-originated +magistracy, independent of the people, and unconnected with their +opinions and feelings. Under a pretence of exalting the dignity, they +undermine the very foundations of this House. When the question is asked +<i>here</i>, What disturbs the people? whence all this clamor? we apply to +the Treasury bench, and they tell us it is from the efforts of +libellers, and the wickedness of the people: a worn-out ministerial +pretence. If abroad the people are deceived by popular, within we are +deluded by ministerial cant.</p> + +<p>The question amounts to this: Whether you mean to be a legal tribunal, +or an arbitrary and despotic assembly? I see and I feel the delicacy and +difficulty of the ground upon which we stand in this question. I could +wish, indeed, that they who advise the crown had not left Parliament in +this very ungraceful distress, in which they can neither retract with +dignity nor persist with justice. Another Parliament might have +satisfied the people without lowering themselves. But our situation is +not in our own choice: our conduct in that situation is all that is in +our own option. The substance of the question is, to put bounds to your +own power by the rules and principles of law. This is, I am sensible, a +difficult thing to the corrupt, grasping, and ambitious part of human +nature. But the very difficulty argues and enforces the necessity of it. +Fi<a name="Page_63" id="Page_63" title="63" class="pagenum"></a>rst, because the greater the power, the more dangerous the abuse. +Since the Revolution, at least, the power of the nation has all flowed +with a full tide into the House of Commons. Secondly, because the House +of Commons, as it is the most powerful, is the most corruptible part of +the whole Constitution. Our public wounds cannot be concealed; to be +cured, they must be laid open. The public does think we are a corrupt +body. In our <i>legislative capacity</i>, we are, in most instances, +esteemed a very wise body; in our judicial, we have no credit, no +character at all. Our judgments stink in the nostrils of the people. +They think us to be not only without virtue, but without shame. +Therefore the greatness of our power, and the great and just opinion of +our corruptibility and our corruption, render it necessary to fix some +bound, to plant some landmark, which we are never to exceed. This is +what the bill proposes.</p> + +<p>First, on this head, I lay it down as a fundamental rule in the law and +Constitution of this country, that this House has not by itself alone a +legislative authority in any case whatsoever. I know that the contrary +was the doctrine of the usurping House of Commons, which threw down the +fences and bulwarks of law, which annihilated first the lords, then the +crown, then its constituents. But the first thing that was done on the +restoration of the Constitution was to settle this point. Secondly, I +lay it down as a rule, that the power of occasional incapacitation, on +discretionary grounds, is a legislative power. In order to establish +this principle, if it should not be sufficiently proved by being stated, +tell me what are the criteria, the characteristics, by which you +distinguish between a legislative and a juridical act. It will be +necessary to state, shortly, the difference between a legislative and a +juridical act.</p><p><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64" title="64" class="pagenum"></a></p> + +<p>A legislative act has no reference to any rule but these two,—original +justice, and discretionary application. Therefore it can give +rights,—rights where no rights existed before; and it can take away +rights where they were before established. For the law, which binds all +others, does not and cannot bind the law-maker: he, and he alone, is +above the law. But a judge, a person exercising a judicial capacity, is +neither to apply to original justice nor to a discretionary application +of it. He goes to justice and discretion only at second hand, and +through the medium of some superiors. He is to work neither upon his +opinion of the one nor of the other, but upon a fixed rule, of which he +has not the making, but singly and solely the <i>application</i> to the case.</p> + +<p>The power assumed by the House neither is nor can be judicial power +exercised according to known law. The properties of law are, first, that +it should be known; secondly, that it should be fixed, and not +occasional. First, this power cannot be according to the first property +of law; because no man does or can know it, nor do you yourselves know +upon what grounds you will vote the incapacity of any man. No man in +Westminster Hall, or in any court upon earth, will say that is law, upon +which, if a man going to his counsel should say to him, "What is my +tenure in law of this estate?" he would answer, "Truly, Sir, I know not; +the court has no rule but its own discretion; they will determine." It +is not a fixed law; because you profess you vary it according to the +occasion, exercise it according to your discretion, no man can call for +it as a right. It is argue<a name="Page_65" id="Page_65" title="65" class="pagenum"></a>d, that the incapacity is not originally +voted, but a consequence of a power of expulsion. But if you expel, not +upon legal, but upon arbitrary, that is, upon discretionary grounds, and +the incapacity is <i>ex vi termini</i> and inclusively comprehended in the +expulsion, is not the incapacity voted in the expulsion? Are they not +convertible terms? And if incapacity is voted to be inherent in +expulsion, if expulsion be arbitrary, incapacity is arbitrary also. I +have therefore shown that the power of incapacitation is a legislative +power; I have shown that legislative power does not belong to the House +of Commons; and therefore it follows that the House of Commons has not a +power of incapacitation.</p> + +<p>I know not the origin of the House of Commons, but am very sure that it +did not create itself; the electors were prior to the elected, whose +rights originated either from the people at large, or from some other +form of legislature, which never could intend for the chosen a power of +superseding the choosers.</p> + +<p>If you have not a power of declaring an incapacity simply by the mere +act of declaring it, it is evident to the most ordinary reason you +cannot have a right of expulsion, inferring, or rather including, an +incapacity. For as the law, when it gives any direct right, gives also +as necessary incidents all the means of acquiring the possession of that +right, so, where it does not give a right directly, it refuses all the +means by which such a right may by any mediums be exercised, or in +effect be indirectly acquired. Else it is very obvious that the +intention of the law in refusing that right might be entirely +frustrated, and the whole power of the legislature baffled. If there be +no certain, invariable rule of eligibility, it were better to get +simplicity, if certainty is not to be had, and<a name="Page_66" id="Page_66" title="66" class="pagenum"></a> to resolve all the +franchises of the subject into this one short proposition,—the will and +pleasure of the House of Commons.</p> + +<p>The argument drawn from the courts of law applying the principles of law +to new cases as they emerge is altogether frivolous, inapplicable, and +arises from a total ignorance of the bounds between civil and criminal +jurisdiction, and of the separate maxims that govern these two +provinces of law, that are eternally separate. Undoubtedly the courts of +law, where a new case comes before them, as they do every hour, then, +that there may be no defect in justice, call in similar principles, and +the example of the nearest determination, and do everything to draw the +law to as near a conformity to general equity and right reason as they +can bring it with its being a fixed principle. <i>Boni judicis est +ampliare justitiam</i>,—that is, to make open and liberal justice. But in +criminal matters this parity of reason and these analogies ever have +been and ever ought to be shunned.</p> + +<p>Whatever is incident to a court of judicature is necessary to the House +of Commons as judging in elections. But a power of making incapacities +is not necessary to a court of judicature: therefore a power of making +incapacities is not necessary to the House of Commons.</p> + +<p>Incapacity, declared by whatever authority, stands upon two principles: +first, an incapacity arising from the supposed incongruity of two duties +in the commonwealth; secondly, an incapacity arising from unfitness by +infirmity of nature or the criminality of conduct. As to the first class +of incapacities, they have no <a name="Page_67" id="Page_67" title="67" class="pagenum"></a><i>hardship</i> annexed to them. The persons so +incapacitated are paid by one dignity for what they abandon in another, +and for the most part the situation arises from their own choice. But as +to the second, arising from an unfitness not fixed by Nature, but +superinduced by some positive acts, or arising from honorable motives, +such as an occasional personal disability, of all things it ought to be +defined by the fixed rule of law, what Lord Coke calls the golden +metwand of the law, and not by the crooked cord of discretion. Whatever +is general is better borne. We take our common lot with men of the same +description. But to be selected and marked out by a particular brand of +unworthiness among our fellow-citizens is a lot of all others the +hardest to be borne, and consequently is of all others that act winch +ought only to be trusted to the legislature, as not only <i>legislative</i> +in its nature, but of all parts of legislature the most odious. The +question is over, if this is shown not to be a legislative act.</p> + +<p>But what is very usual and natural is, to corrupt judicature into +legislature. On this point it is proper to inquire whether a court of +judicature which decides without appeal has it as a necessary incident +of such judicature, that whatever it decides is <i>de jure</i> law. Nobody +will, I hope, assert this; because the direct consequence would be the +entire extinction of the difference between true and false judgments. +For if the judgment makes the law, and not the law directs the judgment, +it is impossible there should be such a thing as an illegal judgment +given.</p> + +<p>But instead of standing upon this ground, they introduce another +question wholly foreign to it: Whether it ought not to be submitted to +as if it were law? And then the question is,—By the Constitution of +this country, what degree of submission is due to the authoritative acts +of a limited power? This question of submission, determine it how you +please, has nothing to do in this discussion and in this House. Here it +is not, how long the people are bound to tolerate the illegality of our +judgments, but whether we have a right to substitute our occasional +opinion in the place of law, so as to deprive the citizen of his +franchise....</p> + +<p><a name="A_BILL_FOR_SHORTENING_THE_DURATION_OF_PARLIAMENTS" id="A_BILL_FOR_SHORTENING_THE_DURATION_OF_PARLIAMENTS"></a></p> +<p><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68" title="68" class="pagenum"></a></p><p><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69" title="69" class="pagenum"></a></p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>SPEECH<br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 60%;">ON</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 85%;">A BILL FOR SHORTENING THE DURATION OF PARLIAMENTS.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 60%;">MAY 8, 1780.</span></h2> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70" title="70" class="pagenum"></a></p><p><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71" title="71" class="pagenum"></a></p> +<p>It is always to be lamented, when men are driven to search into the +foundations of the commonwealth. It is certainly necessary to resort to +the theory of your government, whenever you propose any alteration in +the frame of it,—whether that alteration means the revival of some +former antiquated and forsaken constitution of state, or the +introduction of some new improvement in the commonwealth. The object of +our deliberation is, to promote the good purposes for which elections +have been instituted, and to prevent their inconveniences. If we thought +frequent elections attended with no inconvenience, or with but a +trifling inconvenience, the strong overruling principle of the +Constitution would sweep us like a torrent towards them. But your remedy +is to be suited to your disease, your present disease, and to your whole +disease. That<a name="Page_72" id="Page_72" title="72" class="pagenum"></a> man thinks much too highly, and therefore he thinks weakly +and delusively, of any contrivance of human wisdom, who believes that it +can make any sort of approach to perfection. There is not, there never +was, a principle of government under heaven, that does not, in the very +pursuit of the good it proposes, naturally and inevitably lead into some +inconvenience which makes it absolutely necessary to counterwork and +weaken the application of that first principle itself, and to abandon +something of the extent of the advantage you proposed by it, in order +to prevent also the inconveniences which have arisen from the instrument +of all the good you had in view.</p> + +<p>To govern according to the sense and agreeably to the interests of the +people is a great and glorious object of government. This object cannot +be obtained but through the medium of popular election; and popular +election is a mighty evil. It is such and so great an evil, that, though +there are few nations whose monarchs were not originally elective, very +few are now elected. They are the distempers of elections that have +destroyed all free states. To cure these distempers is difficult, if not +impossible; the only thing, therefore, left to save the commonwealth is, +to prevent their return too frequently. The objects in view are, to have +Parliaments as frequent as they can be without distracting them in the +prosecution of public business: on one hand, to secure their dependence +upon the people; on the other, to give them that quiet in their minds +and that ease in their fortunes as to enable them to perform the most +arduous and most painful duty in the world with spirit, with efficiency, +with independency, and with experience, as r<a name="Page_73" id="Page_73" title="73" class="pagenum"></a>eal public counsellors, not +as the canvassers at a perpetual election. It is wise to compass as many +good ends as possibly you can, and, seeing there are inconveniences on +both sides, with benefits on both, to give up a part of the benefit to +soften the inconvenience. The perfect cure is impracticable; because the +disorder is dear to those from whom alone the cure can possibly be +derived. The utmost to be done is to palliate, to mitigate, to respite, +to put off the evil day of the Constitution to its latest possible +hour,—and may it be a very late one!</p> + +<p>This bill, I fear, would precipitate one of two consequences,—I know +not which most likely, or which most dangerous: either that the crown, +by its constant, stated power, influence, and revenue, would wear out +all opposition in elections, or that a violent and furious popular +spirit would arise. I must see, to satisfy me, the remedies; I must see, +from their operation in the cure of the old evil, and in the cure of +those new evils which are inseparable from all remedies, how they +balance each other, and what is the total result. The excellence of +mathematics and metaphysics is, to have but one thing before you; but he +forms the best judgment in all moral disquisitions who has the greatest +number and variety of considerations in one view before him, and can +take them in with the best possible consideration of the middle results +of all.</p> + +<p>We of the opposition, who are not friends to the bill, give this pledge +at least of our integrity and sincerity to the people,—that in our +situation of systematic opposition to the present ministers, in which +all our hope of rendering it effectual depends upon popular interest and +favor, we will not flatter them by a surrender of our uninfluenced<a name="Page_74" id="Page_74" title="74" class="pagenum"></a> +judgment and opinion; we give a security, that, if ever we should be in +another situation, no flattery to any other sort of power and influence +would induce us to act against the true interests of the people.</p> + +<p>All are agreed that Parliaments should not be perpetual; the only +question is, What is the most convenient time for their duration?—on +which there are three opinions. We are agreed, too, that the term ought +not to be chosen most likely in its operation to spread corruption, and +to augment the already overgrown influence of the crown. On these +principles I mean to debate the question. It is easy to pretend a zeal +for liberty. Those who think themselves not likely to be incumbered with +the performance of their promises, either from their known inability or +total indifference about the performance, never fail to entertain the +most lofty ideas. They are certainly the most specious; and they cost +them neither reflection to frame, nor pains to modify, nor management to +support. The task is of another nature to those who mean to promise +nothing that it is not in their intention, or may possibly be in their +power to perform,—to those who are bound and principled no more to +delude the understandings than to violate the liberty of their +fellow-subjects. Faithful watchmen we ought to be over the rights and +privileges of the people. But our duty, if we are qualified for it as we +ought, is to give them information, and not to receive it from them: we +are not to go to school to them, to learn the principles of law and +government. In doing so, we should not dutifully serve, but we should +basely and scandalously betray the people, who ar<a name="Page_75" id="Page_75" title="75" class="pagenum"></a>e not capable of this +service by nature, nor in any instance called to it by the Constitution. +I reverentially look up to the opinion of the people, and with an awe +that is almost superstitious. I should be ashamed to show my face before +them, if I changed my ground as they cried up or cried down men or +things or opinions,—if I wavered and shifted about with every change, +and joined in it or opposed as best answered any low interest or +passion,—if I held them up hopes which I knew I never intended, or +promised what I well knew I could not perform. Of all these things they +are perfect sovereign judges without appeal; but as to the detail of +particular measures, or to any general schemes of policy, they have +neither enough of speculation in the closet nor of experience in +business to decide upon it. They can well see whether we are tools of a +court or their honest servants. Of that they can well judge,—and I wish +that they always exercised their judgment; but of the particular merits +of a measure I have other standards....</p> + +<p>That the frequency of elections proposed by this bill has a tendency to +increase the power and consideration of the electors, not lessen +corruptibility, I do most readily allow: so far it is desirable. This is +what it has: I will tell you now what it has not. 1st. It has no sort of +tendency to increase their integrity and public spirit, unless an +increase of power has an operation upon voters in elections, that it has +in no other situation in the world, and upon no other part of mankind. +2nd. This bill has no tendency to limit the quantity of influence in the +crown, to render its operation more difficult, or to counteract that +operation which it cannot prevent in any way whatsoever. It has its full +weight, i<a name="Page_76" id="Page_76" title="76" class="pagenum"></a>ts full range, and its uncontrolled operation on the electors +exactly as it had before. 3rd. Nor, thirdly, does it abate the interest +or inclination of ministers to apply that influence to the electors: on +the contrary, it renders it much more necessary to them, if they seek to +have a majority in Parliament, to increase the means of that influence, +and redouble their diligence, and to sharpen dexterity in the +application. The whole effect of the bill is, therefore, the removing +the application of some part of the influence from the elected to the +electors, and further to strengthen and extend a court interest already +great and powerful in boroughs: here to fix their magazines and places +of arms, and thus to make them the principal, not the secondary, theatre +of their manœuvres for securing a determined majority in Parliament.</p> + +<p>I believe nobody will deny that the electors are corruptible. They are +men,—it is saying nothing worse of them; many of them are but ill +informed in their minds, many feeble in their circumstances, easily +overreached, easily seduced. If they are many, the wages of corruption +are the lower; and would to God it were not rather a contemptible and +hypocritical adulation than a charitable sentiment, to say that there is +already no debauchery, no corruption, no bribery, no perjury, no blind +fury and interested faction among the electors in many parts of this +kingdom!—nor is it surprising, or at all blamable, in that class of +private men, when they see their neighbors aggrandized, and themselves +poor and virtuous without that <i>éclat</i> or dignity which attends men in +higher situations.</p> + +<p>But admit it were true that the great mass of the electors were too vast +an object for court influence to<a name="Page_77" id="Page_77" title="77" class="pagenum"></a> grasp or extend to, and that in despair +they must abandon it; he must be very ignorant of the state of every +popular interest, who does not know that in all the corporations, all +the open boroughs, indeed in every district of the kingdom, there is +some leading man, some agitator, some wealthy merchant or considerable +manufacturer, some active attorney, some popular preacher, some +money-lender, <i>&c., &c.,</i> who is followed by the whole flock. This is +the style of all free countries.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i1">Multum in Fabiâ valet hic, valet ille Velinâ;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Cuilibet hic fasces dabit, eripietque curule.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="noindent">These spirits, each of which informs and governs his own little orb, are +neither so many, nor so little powerful, nor so incorruptible, but that +a minister may, as he does frequently, find means of gaining them, and +through, them all their followers. To establish, therefore, a very +general influence among electors will no more be found an impracticable +project than to gain an undue influence over members of Parliament. +Therefore I am apprehensive that this bill, though it shifts the place +of the disorder, does by no means relieve the Constitution. I went +through almost every contested election in the beginning of this +Parliament, and acted as a manager in very many of them; by which, +though as at a school of pretty severe and rugged discipline, I came to +have some degree of instruction concerning the means by which +Parliamentary interests are in general procured and supported.</p> + +<p>Theory, I know, would suppose that every general election is to the +representative a day of judgment, in whic<a name="Page_78" id="Page_78" title="78" class="pagenum"></a>h he appears before his +constituents to account for the use of the talent with which they +intrusted him, and for the improvement he has made of it for the public +advantage. It would be so, if every corruptible representative were to +find an enlightened and incorruptible constituent. But the practice and +knowledge of the world will not suffer us to be ignorant that the +Constitution on paper is one thing, and in fact and experience is +another. We must know that the candidate, instead of trusting at his +election to the testimony of his behavior in Parliament, must bring the +testimony of a large sum of money, the capacity of liberal expense in +entertainments, the power of serving and obliging the rulers of +corporations, of winning over the popular leaders of political clubs, +associations, and neighborhoods. It is ten thousand times more necessary +to show himself a man of power than a man of integrity, in almost all +the elections with which I have been acquainted. Elections, therefore, +become a matter of heavy expense; and if contests are frequent, to many +they will become a matter of an expense totally ruinous, which no +fortunes can bear, but least of all the landed fortunes, incumbered as +they often, indeed as they mostly are, with debts, with portions, with +jointures, and tied up in the hands of the possessor by the limitations +of settlement. It is a material, it is in my opinion a lasting +consideration, in all the questions concerning election. Let no one +think the charges of elections a trivial matter.</p> + +<p>The charge, therefore, of elections ought never to be lost sight of in a +question concerning their frequency; because the grand object you seek +is independence. Independence of mind will ever be mo<a name="Page_79" id="Page_79" title="79" class="pagenum"></a>re or less +influenced by independence of fortune; and if every three years the +exhausting sluices of entertainments, drinkings, open houses, to say +nothing of bribery, are to be periodically drawn up and renewed,—if +government favors, for which now, in some shape or other, the whole race +of men are candidates, are to be called for upon every occasion, I see +that private fortunes will be washed away, and every, even to the least, +trace of independence borne down by the torrent. I do not seriously +think this Constitution, even to the wrecks of it, could survive five +triennial elections. If you are to fight the battle, you must put on +the armor of the ministry, you must call in the public to the aid of +private money. The expense of the last election has been computed (and I +am persuaded that it has not been overrated) at 1,500,000<i>l.</i>,—three +shillings in the pound more in [than?] the land-tax. About the close of +the last Parliament and the beginning of this, several agents for +boroughs went about, and I remember well that it was in every one of +their mouths, "Sir, your election will cost you three thousand pounds, +if you are independent; but if the ministry supports you, it may be done +for two, and perhaps for less." And, indeed, the thing spoke itself. +Where a living was to be got for one, a commission in the army for +another, a lift in the navy for a third, and custom-house offices +scattered about without measure or number, who doubts but money may be +saved? The Treasury may even add money: but, indeed, it is superfluous. +A gentleman of two thousand a year, who meets another of the same +fortune, fights with equal arms; but if to one of the candidates you add +a thousand a year in places for himself, and a power of giving away as +much among others, one must, o<a name="Page_80" id="Page_80" title="80" class="pagenum"></a>r there is no truth in arithmetical +demonstration, ruin his adversary, if he is to meet him and to fight +with him every third year. It will be said I do not allow for the +operation of character: but I do; and I know it will have its weight in +most elections,—perhaps it may be decisive in some; but there are few +in which it will prevent great expenses. The destruction of independent +fortunes will be the consequence on the part of the candidate. What will +be the consequence of triennial corruption, triennial drunkenness, +triennial idleness, triennial lawsuits, litigations, prosecutions, +triennial frenzy,—of society dissolved, industry interrupted, +ruined,—of those personal hatreds that will never be suffered to +soften, those animosities and feuds which will be rendered immortal, +those quarrels which are never to be appeased,—morals vitiated and +gangrened to the vitals? I think no stable and useful advantages were +ever made by the money got at elections by the voter, but all he gets is +doubly lost to the public: it is money given to diminish the general +stock of the community, which is in the industry of the subject. I am +sure that it is a good while before he or his family settle again to +their business. Their heads will never cool; the temptations of +elections will be forever glittering before their eyes. They will all +grow politicians; every one, quitting his business, will choose to +enrich himself by his vote. They will all take the gauging-rod; new +places will be made for them; they will run to the custom-house quay; +their looms and ploughs will be deserted.</p> + +<p>So was Rome destroyed by the disorders of continual elections, though +those of Rome were sober disorders. They had nothing but faction, +bribery, bread, and stage-plays, to debauch them:<a name="Page_81" id="Page_81" title="81" class="pagenum"></a> we have the +inflammation of liquor superadded, a fury hotter than any of them. There +the contest was only between citizen and citizen: here you have the +contests of ambitious citizens of one side supported by the crown to +oppose to the efforts (let it be so) of private and unsupported ambition +on the other. Yet Rome was destroyed by the frequency and charge of +elections, and the monstrous expense of an unremitted courtship to the +people. I think, therefore, the independent candidate and elector may +each be destroyed by it, the whole body of the community be an infinite +sufferer, and a vicious ministry the only gainer.</p> + +<p>Gentlemen, I know, feel the weight of this argument; they agree, that +this would be the consequence of more frequent elections, if things were +to continue as they are. But they think the greatness and frequency of +the evil would itself be, a remedy for it,—that, sitting but for a +short time, the member would not find it worth while to make such vast +expenses, while the fear of their constituents will hold them the more +effectually to their duty.</p> + +<p>To this I answer, that experience is full against them. This is no new +thing; we have had triennial Parliaments; at no period of time were +seats more eagerly contested. The expenses of elections ran higher, +taking the state of all charges, than they do now. The expense of +entertainments was such, that an act, equally, severe and ineffectual, +was made against it; every monument of the time bears witness of the +expense, and most of the acts against corruption in elections were then +made; all the writers talked of it and lamented it. Will any one think +that a corporation will be contented with a bowl of punch or a piece of +beef the l<a name="Page_82" id="Page_82" title="82" class="pagenum"></a>ess, because elections are every three, instead of every seven +years? Will they change their wine for ale, because they are to get more +ale three years hence? Don't think it. Will they make fewer demands for +the advantages o£ patronage in favors and offices, because their member +is brought more under their power? We have not only our own historical +experience in England upon this subject, but we have the experience +coexisting with us in Ireland, where, since their Parliament has been +shortened, the expense of elections has been so far from being lowered, +that it has been very near doubled. Formerly they sat for the king's +life; the ordinary charge of a seat in Parliament was then fifteen +hundred pounds. They now sit eight years, four sessions; it is now +twenty-five hundred pounds, and upwards. The spirit of <i>emulation</i> has +also been extremely increased, and all who are acquainted with the tone +of that country have no doubt that the spirit is still growing, that new +candidates will take the field, that the contests will be more violent, +and the expenses of elections larger than ever.</p> + +<p>It never can be otherwise. A seat in this House, for good purposes, for +bad purposes, for no purposes at all, (except the mere consideration +derived from being concerned in the public counsels,) will ever be a +first-rate object of ambition in England. Ambition is no exact +calculator. Avarice itself does not calculate strictly, when it games. +One thing is certain,—that in this political game the great lottery of +power is that into which men will purchase with millions of chances +against them. In Turkey, where the place, where the fortune, where the +head itself are so insecure that scarcely any have died in their beds +for ages, so that the bowstrin<a name="Page_83" id="Page_83" title="83" class="pagenum"></a>g is the natural death of bashaws, yet in +no country is power and distinction (precarious enough, God knows, in +all) sought for with such boundless avidity,—as if the value of place +was enhanced by the danger and insecurity of its tenure. Nothing will +ever make a seat in this House not an object of desire to numbers by any +means or at any charge, but the depriving it of all power and all +dignity. This would do it. This is the true and only nostrum for that +purpose. But an House of Commons without power and without dignity, +either in itself or in its members, is no House of Commons for the +purposes of this Constitution.</p> + +<p>But they will be afraid to act ill, if they know that the day of their +account is always near. I wish it were true; but it is not: here again +we have experience, and experience is against us. The distemper of this +age is a poverty of spirit and of genius: it is trifling, it is futile, +worse than ignorant, superficially taught, with the politics and morals +of girls at a boarding-school rather than of men and statesmen: but it +is not yet desperately wicked, or so scandalously venal as in former +times. Did not a triennial Parliament give up the national dignity, +approve the peace of Utrecht, and almost give up everything else, in +taking every step to defeat the Protestant succession? Was not the +Constitution saved by those who had no election at all to go to, the +Lords, because the court applied to electors, and by various means +carried them from their true interests, so that the Tory ministry had a +majority without an application to a single member? Now as to the +conduct of the members, it was then far from pure and independent. +Bribery was infinitely more flagrant. A predecessor of yours, Mr. +Speaker, put the question of his own expulsion for bribery. Sir William +Musgrave was a w<a name="Page_84" id="Page_84" title="84" class="pagenum"></a>ise man, a grave man, an independent man, a man of good +fortune and good family; however, he carried on, while in opposition, a +traffic, a shameful traffic, with the ministry. Bishop Burnet knew of +six thousand pounds which he had received at one payment. I believe the +payment of sums in hard money, plain, naked bribery, is rare amongst us. +It was then far from uncommon.</p> + +<p>A triennial was near ruining, a septennial Parliament saved your +Constitution; nor, perhaps, have you ever known a more flourishing +period, for the union of national prosperity, dignity, and liberty, +than the sixty years you have passed under that constitution of +Parliament.</p> + +<p>The shortness of time in which they are to reap the profits of iniquity +is far from checking the avidity of corrupt men; it renders them +infinitely more ravenous. They rush violently and precipitately on their +object; they lose all regard to decorum. The moments of profits are +precious; never are men so wicked as during a general mortality. It was +so in the great plague at Athens, every symptom of which (and this its +worse symptom amongst the rest) is so finely related by a great +historian of antiquity. It was so in the plague of London in 1665. It +appears in soldiers, sailors, &c. Whoever would contrive to render the +life of man much shorter than it is would, I am satisfied, find the +surest receipt for increasing the wickedness of our nature.</p> + +<p>Thus, in my opinion, the shortness of a triennial sitting would have the +following ill effects: It would make the member more shamelessly and +shockingly corrupt; it would increase his dependence on those who could +best support him at his election; it would wrac<a name="Page_85" id="Page_85" title="85" class="pagenum"></a>k and tear to pieces the +fortunes of those who stood upon their own fortunes and their private +interest; it would make the electors infinitely more venal; and it would +make the whole body of the people, who are, whether they have votes or +not, concerned in elections, more lawless, more idle, more debauched; it +would utterly destroy the sobriety, the industry, the integrity, the +simplicity of all the people, and undermine, I am much afraid, the +deepest and best-laid foundations of the commonwealth.</p> + +<p>Those who have spoken and written upon this subject without doors do +not so much deny the probable existence of these inconveniences in their +measure as they trust for their prevention to remedies of various sorts +which they propose. First, a place bill. But if this will not do, as +they fear it will not, then, they say, We will have a rotation, and a +certain number of you shall be rendered incapable of being elected for +ten years. Then for the electors, they shall ballot. The members of +Parliament also shall decide by ballot. A fifth project is the change of +the present legal representation of the kingdom. On all this I shall +observe, that it will be very unsuitable to your wisdom to adopt the +project of a bill to which there are objections insuperable by anything +in the bill itself, upon the hope that those objections may be removed +by subsequent projects, every one of which is full of difficulties of +its own, and which are all of them very essential alterations in the +Constitution. This seems very irregular and unusual. If anything should +make this a very doubtful measure, what can make it more so than that in +the opinion of its advocates it would aggravate all our old +inconveniences in such a manner as to require a total alt<a name="Page_86" id="Page_86" title="86" class="pagenum"></a>eration in the +Constitution of the kingdom? If the remedies are proper in triennial, +they will not be less so in septennial elections. Let us try them +first,—see how the House relishes them,—see how they will operate in +the nation,—and then, having felt your way, and prepared against these +inconveniences....</p> + +<p>The honorable gentleman sees that I respect the principle upon which he +goes, as well as his intentions and his abilities. He will believe that +I do not differ from him wantonly and on trivial grounds. He is very +sure that it was not his embracing one way which determined me to take +the other. <i>I</i> have not in newspapers, to derogate from his fair fame +with the nation, printed the first rude sketch of his bill with +ungenerous and invidious comments. <i>I</i> have not, in conversations +industriously circulated about the town, and talked on the benches of +this House, attributed his conduct to motives low and unworthy, and as +groundless as they are injurious. <i>I</i> do not affect to be frightened +with this proposition, as if some hideous spectre had started from hell, +which was to be sent back again by every form of exorcism and every kind +of incantation. <i>I</i> invoke no Acheron to overwhelm him in the whirlpools +of its muddy gulf. <i>I</i> do not tell the respectable mover and seconder, +by a perversion of their sense and expressions, that their proposition +halts between the ridiculous and the dangerous. <i>I</i> am not one of those +who start up, three at a time, and fall upon and strike at him with so +much eagerness that our daggers hack one another in his sides. My +honorable friend has not <a name="Page_87" id="Page_87" title="87" class="pagenum"></a>brought down a spirited imp of chivalry to win +the first achievement and blazon of arms on his milk-white shield in a +field listed against him,—nor brought out the generous offspring of +lions, and said to them,—"Not against that side of the forest! beware +of that!—here is the prey, where you are to fasten your paws!"—and +seasoning his unpractised jaws with blood, tell him,—"This is the milk +for which you are to thirst hereafter!" <i>We</i> furnish at his expense no +holiday,—nor suspend hell, that a crafty Ixion may have rest from his +wheel,—nor give the common adversary (if he be a common adversary) +reason to say,—"I would have put in my word to oppose, but the +eagerness of your allies in your social war was such that I could not +break in upon you." I hope he sees and feels, and that every member sees +and feels along with him, the difference between amicable dissent and +civil discord.</p> + +<p><a name="STATE_OF_THE_REPRESENTATION_OF_THE_COMMONS" id="STATE_OF_THE_REPRESENTATION_OF_THE_COMMONS"></a></p> +<p><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88" title="88" class="pagenum"></a></p><p><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89" title="89" class="pagenum"></a></p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>SPEECH<br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 60%;">ON A</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 85%;">MOTION MADE IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS,</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 60%;">MAY 7, 1782,</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 60%;">FOR</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 85%;">A COMMITTEE TO INQUIRE INTO THE STATE OF THE REPRESENTATION OF THE +COMMONS IN PARLIAMENT.</span></h2> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90" title="90" class="pagenum"></a></p><p><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91" title="91" class="pagenum"></a></p> + +<p>Mr. Speaker,—We have now discovered, at the close of the eighteenth +century, that the Constitution of England, which for a series of ages +had been the proud distinction of this country, always the admiration +and sometimes the envy of the wise and learned in every other +nation,—we have discovered that this boasted Constitution, in the most +boasted part of it, is a gross imposition upon the understanding of +mankind, an insult to their feelings, and acting by contrivances +destructive to the best and most valuable interests of the people. Our +political architects have taken a survey of the fabric of the British +Constitution. It is singular that they report nothing against the crown, +nothing against the lords: but in the House of Commons everything is +unsound; it is ruinous in every part; it is infested by the dry rot, and +ready to tumble abo<a name="Page_92" id="Page_92" title="92" class="pagenum"></a>ut our ears without their immediate help. You know by +the faults they find what are their ideas of the alteration. As all +government stands upon opinion, they know that the way utterly to +destroy it is to remove that opinion, to take away all reverence, all +confidence from it; and then, at the first blast of public discontent +and popular tumult, it tumbles to the ground.</p> + +<p>In considering this question, they who oppose it oppose it on different +grounds. One is in the nature of a previous question: that some +alterations may be expedient, but that this is not the time for making +them. The other is, that no essential alterations are at all wanting, +and that neither <i>now</i> nor at <i>any</i> time is it prudent or safe to be +meddling with the fundamental principles and ancient tried usages of our +Constitution,—that our representation is as nearly perfect as the +necessary imperfection of human affairs and of human creatures will +suffer it to be,—and that it is a subject of prudent and honest use and +thankful enjoyment, and not of captious criticism and rash experiment.</p> + +<p>On the other side there are two parties, who proceed on two grounds, in +my opinion, as they state them, utterly irreconcilable. The one is +juridical, the other political. The one is in the nature of a claim of +right, on the supposed rights of man as man: this party desire the +decision of a suit. The other ground, as far as I can divine what it +directly means, is, that the representation is not so politically framed +as to answer the theory of its institution. As to the claim of <i>right</i>, +the meanest petitioner, the most gross and ignorant, is as good as the +best: in some respects his<a name="Page_93" id="Page_93" title="93" class="pagenum"></a> claim is more favorable, on account of his +ignorance; his weakness, his poverty, and distress only add to his +titles; he sues <i>in forma pauperis</i>; he ought to be a favorite of the +court. But when the <i>other</i> ground is taken, when the question is +political, when a new constitution is to be made on a sound theory of +government, then the presumptuous pride of didactic ignorance is to be +excluded from the counsel in this high and arduous matter, which often +bids defiance to the experience of the wisest. The first claims a +personal representation; the latter rejects it with scorn and fervor. +The language of the first party is plain and intelligible; they who +plead an absolute right cannot be satisfied with anything short of +personal representation, because all <i>natural</i> rights must be the rights +of individuals, as by <i>nature</i> there is no such thing as politic or +corporate personality: all these ideas are mere fictions of law, they +are creatures of voluntary institution; men as men are individuals, and +nothing else. They, therefore, who reject the principle of natural and +personal representation are essentially and eternally at variance with +those who claim it. As to the first sort of reformers, it is ridiculous +to talk to them of the British Constitution upon any or upon all of its +bases: for they lay it down, that every man ought to govern, himself, +and that, where he cannot go, himself, he must send his representative; +that all other government is usurpation, and is so far from having a +claim to our obedience, it is not only our right, but our duty, to +resist it. Nine tenths of the reformers argue thus,—that is, on the +natural right.</p> + +<p>It is impossible not to make some reflection on the nature of this +claim, or avoid a co<a name="Page_94" id="Page_94" title="94" class="pagenum"></a>mparison between the extent of the principle and the +present object of the demand. If this claim be founded, it is clear to +what it goes. The House of Commons, in that light, undoubtedly, is no +representative of the people, as a collection of individuals. Nobody +pretends it, nobody can justify such an assertion. When you come to +examine into this claim of right, founded on the right of +self-government in each individual, you find the thing demanded +infinitely short of the principle of the demand. What! <i>one third</i> only +of the legislature, and of the government no share at all? What sort of +treaty of partition is this for those who have an inherent right to the +whole? Give them all they ask, and your grant is still a cheat: for how +comes only a third to be their younger-children's fortune in this +settlement? How came they neither to have the choice of kings, or lords, +or judges, or generals, or admirals, or bishops, or priests, or +ministers, or justices of peace? Why, what have you to answer in favor +of the prior rights of the crown and peerage but this: Our Constitution +is a prescriptive constitution; it is a constitution whose sole +authority is, that it has existed time out of mind? It is settled in +these <i>two</i> portions against one, legislatively,—and in the whole of +the judicature, the whole of the federal capacity, of the executive, the +prudential, and the financial administration, in one alone. Nor was your +House of Lords and the prerogatives of the crown settled on any +adjudication in favor of natural rights: for they could never be so +partitioned. Your king, your lords, your judges, your juries, grand and +little, all are prescriptive; and what proves it is the disputes, not +yet concluded, and never n<a name="Page_95" id="Page_95" title="95" class="pagenum"></a>ear becoming so, when any of them first +originated. Prescription is the most solid of all titles, not only to +property, but, which is to secure that property, to government. They +harmonize with each other, and give mutual aid to one another. It is +accompanied with another ground of authority in the constitution of the +human mind, presumption. It is a presumption in favor of any settled +scheme of government against any untried project, that a nation has long +existed and flourished under it. It is a better presumption even of the +<i>choice</i> of a nation,—far better than any sudden and temporary +arrangement by actual election. Because a nation is not an idea only of +local extent and individual momentary aggregation, but it is an idea of +continuity which extends in time as well as in numbers and in space. And +this is a choice not of one day or one set of people, not a tumultuary +and giddy choice; it is a deliberate election of ages and of +generations; it is a constitution, made by what is ten thousand times +better than choice; it is made by the peculiar circumstances, occasions, +tempers, dispositions, and moral, civil, and social habitudes of the +people, which, disclose themselves only in a long space of time. It is a +vestment which accommodates itself to the body. Nor is prescription of +government formed upon blind, unmeaning prejudices. For man is a most +unwise and a most wise being. The individual is foolish; the multitude, +for the moment, is foolish, when they act without deliberation; but the +species is wise, and, when time is given to it, as a species, it almost +always acts right.</p> + +<p>The reason for the crown as it is, for the lords as they are, is my +reason for the<a name="Page_96" id="Page_96" title="96" class="pagenum"></a> commons as they are, the electors as they are. Now if the +crown, and the lords, and the judicatures are all prescriptive, so is +the House of Commons of the very same origin, and of no other. We and +our electors have their powers and privileges both made and +circumscribed by prescription, as much to the full as the other parts; +and as such we have always claimed them, and on no other title. The +House of Commons is a legislative body corporate by prescription, not +made upon any given theory, but existing prescriptively,—just like the +rest. This proscription has made it essentially what it is, an aggregate +collection of three parts, knights, citizens, burgesses. The question +is, whether this has been always so, since the House of Commons has +taken its present shape and circumstances, and has been an essential +operative part of the Constitution,—which, I take it, it has been for +at least five hundred years.</p> + +<p>This I resolve to myself in the affirmative: and then another question +arises:—Whether this House stands firm upon its ancient foundations, +and is not, by time and accidents, so declined from its perpendicular as +to want the hand of the wise and experienced architects of the day to +set it upright again, and to prop and buttress it up for +duration;—whether it continues true to the principles upon which it has +hitherto stood;—whether this be <i>de facto</i> the constitution of the +House of Commons, as it has been since the time that the House of +Commons has without dispute become a necessary and an efficient part of +the British Constitution. To ask whether a thing which has always been +the same stands to its usual principle seems to me to be perfectly +absurd: for how do you know the principles, but from the construction? +and if that remains the same, the principles remain the<a name="Page_97" id="Page_97" title="97" class="pagenum"></a> same. It is true +that to say your Constitution is what it has been is no sufficient +defence for those who say it is a bad constitution. It is an answer to +those who say that it is a degenerate constitution. To those who say it +is a bad one, I answer, Look to its effects. In all moral machinery, the +moral results are its test.</p> + +<p>On what grounds do we go to restore our Constitution to what it has been +at some given period, or to reform and reconstruct it upon principles +more conformable to a sound theory of government? A prescriptive +government, such as ours, never was the work of any legislator, never +was made upon any foregone theory. It seems to me a preposterous way of +reasoning, and a perfect confusion of ideas, to take the theories which +learned and speculative men have made from that government, and then, +supposing it made on those theories which were made from it, to accuse +the government as not corresponding with them. I do not vilify theory +and speculation: no, because that would be to vilify reason itself, +<i>Neque decipitur ratio, neque decipit unquam</i>. No,—whenever I speak +against theory, I mean always a weak, erroneous, fallacious, unfounded, +or imperfect theory; and one of the ways of discovering that it is a +false theory is by comparing it with practice. This is the true +touchstone of all theories which regard man and the affairs of +men,—Does it suit his nature in general?—does it suit his nature as +modified by his habits?</p> + +<p>The more frequently this affair is discussed, the stronger the case +appears to the sense and the feelings of mankind. I have no more doubt +than I entertain of my existenc<a name="Page_98" id="Page_98" title="98" class="pagenum"></a>e, that this very thing, which is stated +as an horrible thing, is the means of the preservation of our +Constitution whilst it lasts,—of curing it of many of the disorders +which, attending every species of institution, would attend the +principle of an exact local representation, or a representation on the +principle of numbers. If you reject personal representation, you are +pushed upon expedience; and, then what they wish us to do is, to prefer +their speculations on that subject to the happy experience of this +country, of a growing liberty and a growing prosperity for five hundred +years. Whatever respect I have for their talents, this, for one, I will +not do. Then what is the standard of expedience? Expedience is that +which is good for the community, and good for every individual in it. +Now this expedience is the <i>desideratum</i>, to be sought either without +the experience of means or with that experience. If without, as in case +of the fabrication of a new commonwealth, I will hear the learned +arguing what promises to be expedient; but if we are to judge of a +commonwealth actually existing, the first thing I inquire is, What has +been <i>found</i> expedient or inexpedient? And I will not take their +<i>promise</i> rather than the <i>performance</i> of the Constitution.</p> + +<p>.... But no, this was not the cause of the discontents. I went through +most of the northern parts,—the Yorkshire election was then raging; the +year before, through most of the western counties,—Bath, Bristol, +Gloucester: not one word, either in the towns or country, on the subject +of representation; much on the receipt tax, something on Mr. Fox's +ambition; much greater apprehension of danger from thence<a name="Page_99" id="Page_99" title="99" class="pagenum"></a> than from want +of representation. One would think that the ballast of the ship was +shifted with us, and that our Constitution had the gunwale under water. +But can you fairly and distinctly point out what one evil or grievance +has happened which you can refer to the representative not following the +opinion of his constituents? What one symptom do we find of this +inequality? But it is not an arithmetical inequality with which we ought +to trouble ourselves. If there be a moral, a political equality, this is +the <i>desideratum</i> in our Constitution, and in every constitution in the +world. Moral inequality is as between places and between classes. Now, +I ask, what advantage do you find that the places which abound in +representation possess over others in which it is more scanty, in +security for freedom, in security for justice, or in any one of those +means of procuring temporal prosperity and eternal happiness the ends +for which society was formed? Are the local interests of Cornwall and +Wiltshire, for instance, their roads, canals, their prisons, their +police, better than Yorkshire, Warwickshire, or Staffordshire? Warwick +has members: is Warwick or Stafford more opulent, happy, or free than +Newcastle, or than Birmingham? Is Wiltshire the pampered favorite, +whilst Yorkshire, like the child of the bondwoman, is turned out to the +desert? This is like the unhappy persons who live, if they can be said +to live, in the statical chair,—who are ever feeling their pulse, and +who do not judge of health by the aptitude of the body to perform its +functions, but by their ideas of what ought to be the true balance +between the several secretions. Is a committee of Cornwall, &c., +thronged, and the others deserted? No. You have an equal representation, +because you have men equally interested in the pro<a name="Page_100" id="Page_100" title="100" class="pagenum"></a>sperity of the whole, +who are involved in the general interest and the general sympathy; and, +perhaps, these places furnishing a superfluity of public agents and +administrators, (whether in strictness they are representatives or not I +do not mean to inquire, but they are agents and administrators,) they +will stand clearer of local interests, passions, prejudices, and cabals +than the others, and therefore preserve the balance of the parts, and +with a more general view and a more steady hand than the rest....</p> + +<p>In every political proposal we must not leave out of the question the +political views and object of the proposer; and these we discover, not +by what he says, but by the principles he lays down. "I mean," says he, +"a moderate and temperate reform: that is, I mean to do as little good +as possible." If the Constitution be what you represent it, and there be +no danger in the change, you do wrong not to make the reform +commensurate to the abuse. Fine reformer, indeed! generous donor! What +is the cause of this parsimony of the liberty which you dole out to the +people? Why all this limitation in giving blessings and benefits to +mankind? You admit that there is an extreme in liberty, which may be +infinitely noxious to those who are to receive it, and which in the end +will leave them no liberty at all. I think so, too. They know it, and +they feel it. The question is, then, What is the standard of that +extreme? What that gentleman, and the associations, or some parts of +their phalanxes, think proper? Then our liberties are in their pleasure; +it depends on their arbitrary will how far I shall be free. I will have +none of that freedom. If, therefore, the standard of <a name="Page_101" id="Page_101" title="101" class="pagenum"></a>moderation be +sought for, I will seek for it. Where? Not in their fancies, nor in my +own: I will seek for it where I know it is to be found,—in the +Constitution I actually enjoy. Here it says to an encroaching +prerogative,—"Your sceptre has its length; you cannot add an hair to +your head, or a gem to your crown, but what an eternal law has given to +it." Here it says to an overweening peerage,—"Your pride finds banks +that it cannot overflow": here to a tumultuous and giddy people,—"There +is a bound to the raging of the sea." Our Constitution is like our +island, which uses and restrains its subject sea; in vain the waves +roar. In that Constitution, I know, and exultingly I feel, both that I +am free, and that I am not free dangerously to myself or to others. I +know that no power on earth, acting as I ought to do, can touch my life, +my liberty, or my property. I have that inward and dignified +consciousness of my own security and independence, which constitutes, +and is the only thing which, does constitute, the proud and comfortable +sentiment of freedom in the human breast. I know, too, and I bless God +for, my safe mediocrity: I know, that, if I possessed all the talents of +the gentlemen on the side of the House I sit, and on the other, I +cannot, by royal favor, or by popular delusion, or by oligarchical +cabal, elevate myself above a certain very limited point, so as to +endanger my own fall, or the ruin of my country. I know there is an +order that keeps things fast in their place: it is made to us, and we +are made to it. Why not ask another wife, other children, another body, +another mind?</p> + +<p>The great object of most of these reformers is, to prep<a name="Page_102" id="Page_102" title="102" class="pagenum"></a>are the +destruction of the Constitution, by disgracing and discrediting the +House of Commons. For they think, (prudently, in my opinion,) that, if +they can persuade the nation that the House of Commons is so constituted +as not to secure the public liberty, not to have a proper connection +with the public interests, so constituted as not either actually or +virtually to be the representative of the people, it will be easy to +prove that a government composed of a monarchy, an oligarchy chosen by +the crown, and such a House of Commons, whatever good can be in such a +system, can by no means be a system of free government.</p> + +<p>The Constitution of England is never to have a quietus; it is to be +continually vilified, attacked, reproached, resisted; instead of being +the hope and sure anchor in all storms, instead of being the means of +redress to all grievances, itself is the grand grievance of the nation, +our shame instead of our glory. If the only specific plan proposed, +individual personal representation, is directly rejected by the person +who is looked on as the great support of this business, then the only +way of considering it is a question of convenience. An honorable +gentleman prefers the individual to the present. He therefore himself +sees no middle term whatsoever, and therefore prefers, of what he sees, +the individual: this is the only thing distinct and sensible that has +been advocated. He has, then, a scheme, which is the individual +representation,—he is not at a loss, not inconsistent,—which scheme +the other right honorable gentleman reprobates. Now what does this go +to, but to lead directly to anarchy? For to discredit the only +government which he either possesses or can project, what is this but to +destroy all government? and this i<a name="Page_103" id="Page_103" title="103" class="pagenum"></a>s anarchy. My right honorable friend, +in supporting this motion, disgraces his friends and justifies his +enemies in order to blacken the Constitution of his country, even of +that House of Commons which supported him. There is a difference between +a moral or political exposure of a public evil relative to the +administration of government, whether in men or systems, and a +declaration of defects, real or supposed, in the fundamental +constitution of your country. The first may be cured in the individual +by the motives of religion, virtue, honor, fear, shame, or interest. Men +may be made to abandon also false systems, by exposing their absurdity +or mischievous tendency to their own better thoughts, or to the contempt +or indignation of the public; and after all, if they should exist, and +exist uncorrected, they only disgrace individuals as fugitive opinions. +But it is quite otherwise with the frame and constitution of the state: +if that is disgraced, patriotism is destroyed in its very source. No man +has ever willingly obeyed, much less was desirous of defending with his +blood, a mischievous and absurd scheme of government. Our first, our +dearest, most comprehensive relation, our country, is gone.</p> + +<p>It suggests melancholy reflections, in consequence of the strange course +we have long held, that we are now no longer quarrelling about the +character, or about the conduct of men, or the tenor of measures, but we +are grown out of humor with the English Constitution itself: this is +become the object of the animosity of Englishmen. This Constitution in +former days used to be the admiration and the envy of the world: it was +the pattern for politicians, the theme of the eloquent, the meditation +of the philosopher<a name="Page_104" id="Page_104" title="104" class="pagenum"></a>, in every part of the world. As to Englishmen, it was +their pride, their consolation. By it they lived, for it they were ready +to die. Its defects, if it had any, were partly covered by partiality, +and partly borne by prudence. Now all its excellencies are forgot, its +faults are now forcibly dragged into day, exaggerated by every artifice +of representation. It is despised and rejected of men, and every device +and invention of ingenuity or idleness set up in opposition or in +preference to it. It is to this humor, and it is to the measures growing +out of it, that I set myself (I hope not alone) in the most determined +opposition. Never before did we at any time in this country meet upon +the theory of our frame of government, to sit in judgment on the +Constitution of our country, to call it as a delinquent before us, and +to accuse it of every defect and every vice,—to see whether it, an +object of our veneration, even our adoration, did or did not accord with +a preconceived scheme in the minds of certain gentlemen. Cast your eyes +on the journals of Parliament. It is for fear of losing the inestimable +treasure we have that I do not venture to game it out of my hands for +the vain hope of improving it. I look with filial reverence on the +Constitution of my country, and never will cut it in pieces, and put it +into the kettle of any magician, in order to boil it, with the puddle of +their compounds, into youth and vigor. On the contrary, I will drive +away such pretenders; I will nurse its venerable age, and with lenient +arts extend a parent's breath.</p> + +<p><a name="POWERS_OF_JURIES_IN_PROSECUTIONS_FOR_LIBELS" id="POWERS_OF_JURIES_IN_PROSECUTIONS_FOR_LIBELS"></a> +<a name="Page_105" id="Page_105" title="105" class="pagenum"></a></p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>SPEECH<br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 60%;">ON</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 85%;">A MOTION, MADE BY THE RIGHT HON. WILLIAM DOWDESWELL,</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 60%;">MARCH 7, 1771,</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 60%;">FOR LEAVE TO BRING IN</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 85%;">A BILL FOR EXPLAINING THE POWERS OF JURIES IN PROSECUTIONS FOR LIBELS.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 60%;">TOGETHER WITH</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 85%;">A LETTER IN VINDICATION OF THAT MEASURE,</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 60%;">AND</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 85%;">A COPY OF THE PROPOSED BILL.</span></h2> + +<p><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106" title="106" class="pagenum"></a></p><p><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107" title="107" class="pagenum"></a></p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><br /></p> +<p>I have always understood that a superintendence over the doctrines as +well as the proceedings of the courts of justice was a principal object +of the constitution of this House,—that you were to watch at once over +the lawyer and the law,—that there should be an orthodox faith, as well +as proper works: and I have always looked with a degree of reverence and +admiration on this mode of superintendence. For, being totally +disengaged from the detail of juridical practice, we come something +perhaps the better qualified, and certainly much the better disposed, to +assert the genuine principle of the laws, in which we can, as a body, +have no other than an enlarged and a public interest. We have no common +cause of a professional attachment or pro<a name="Page_108" id="Page_108" title="108" class="pagenum"></a>fessional emulations to bias +our minds; we have no foregone opinions which from obstinacy and false +point of honor we think ourselves at all events obliged to support. So +that, with our own minds perfectly disengaged from the exercise, we may +superintend the execution of the national justice, which from this +circumstance is better secured to the people than in any other country +under heaven it can be. As our situation puts us in a proper condition, +our power enables us to execute this trust. We may, when we see cause of +complaint, administer a remedy: it is in our choice by an address to +remove an improper judge, by impeachment before the peers to pursue to +destruction a corrupt judge, or by bill to assert, to explain, to +enforce, or to reform the law, just as the occasion and necessity of the +case shall guide us. We stand in a situation very honorable to ourselves +and very useful to our country, if we do not abuse or abandon the trust +that is placed in us.</p> + +<p>The question now before you is upon the power of juries in prosecuting +for libels. There are four opinions:—1. That the doctrine as held by +the courts is proper and constitutional, and therefore should not be +altered; 2. That it is neither proper nor constitutional, but that it +will be rendered worse by your interference; 3. That it is wrong, but +that the only remedy is a bill of retrospect; 4. The opinion of those +who bring in the bill, that the thing is wrong, but that it is enough to +direct the judgment of the court in future.</p> + +<p>The bill brought in is for the purpose of asserting and securing a great +object in the juridical constitution of this kingdom, which, from a long +series of practices and opinions in our judges, has <i>in one point</i>, and +in one very essential point, <a name="Page_109" id="Page_109" title="109" class="pagenum"></a>deviated from the true principle.</p> + +<p>It is the very ancient privilege of the people of England, that they +shall be tried, except in the known exceptions, not by judges appointed +by the crown, but by their own fellow-subjects, the peers of that county +court at which they owe their suit and service; and out of this +principle the trial by juries has grown. This principle has not, that I +can find, been contested in any case by any authority whatsoever; but +there is one case in which, without directly contesting the principle, +the whole substance, energy, and virtue of the privilege is taken out +of it,—that is, in the case of a trial by indictment or information for +a libel. The doctrine in that case, laid down by several judges, amounts +to this: that the jury have no competence, where a libel is alleged, +except to find the gross corporeal facts of the writing and the +publication, together with the identity of the things and persons to +which it refers; but that the intent and the tendency of the work, in +which intent and tendency the whole criminality consists, is the sole +and exclusive province of the judge. Thus having reduced the jury to the +cognizance of facts not in themselves presumptively criminal, but +actions neutral and indifferent, the whole matter in which the subject +has any concern or interest is taken out of the hands of the jury: and +if the jury take more upon themselves, what they so take is contrary to +their duty; it is no <i>moral</i>, but a merely <i>natural</i> power,—the same by +which they may do any other improper act, the same by which they may +even prejudice themselves with regard to any other part of the issue +before them. <a name="Page_110" id="Page_110" title="110" class="pagenum"></a>Such is the matter, as it now stands in possession of your +highest criminal courts, handed down to them from very respectable legal +ancestors. If this can once be established in this case, the application +in principle to other cases will be easy, and the practice will run upon +a descent, until the progress of an encroaching jurisdiction (for it is +in its nature to encroach, when once it has passed its limits) coming to +confine the juries, case after case, to the corporeal fact, and to that +alone, and excluding the intention of mind, the only source of merit and +demerit, of reward or punishment, juries become a dead letter in the +Constitution.</p> + +<p>For which reason it is high time to take this matter into the +consideration of Parliament: and for that purpose it will be necessary +to examine, first, whether there is anything in the peculiar nature of +this crime that makes it necessary to exclude the jury from considering +the intention in it, more than in others. So far from it, that I take it +to be much less so from the analogy of other criminal cases, where no +such restraint is ordinarily put upon them. The act of homicide is +<i>primâ facie</i> criminal; the intention is afterwards to appear, for the +jury to acquit or condemn. In burglary do they insist that the jury have +nothing to do but to find the taking of goods, and that, if they do, +they must necessarily find the party guilty, and leave the rest to the +judge, and that they have nothing to do with the word <i>felonicè</i> in the +indictment?</p> + +<p>The next point is, to consider it as a question of constitutional +policy: that is, whether the decision of the question of libel ought to +be left to the judges as a presumption of law, rather than to the jury +as matter of popular judgment,—as the malice in the case of murder, the +felony in the case of stealing. If the inten<a name="Page_111" id="Page_111" title="111" class="pagenum"></a>t and tendency are not +matters within the province of popular judgment, but legal and technical +conclusions formed upon general principles of law, let us see what they +are. Certainly they are most unfavorable, indeed totally adverse, to the +Constitution of this country.</p> + +<p>Here we must have recourse to analogies; for we cannot argue on ruled +cases one way or the other. See the history. The old books, deficient in +general in crown cases, furnish us with little on this head. As to the +crime, in the very early Saxon law I see an offence of this species, +called folk-leasing, made a capital offence, but no very precise +definition of the crime, and no trial at all. See the statute of 3rd +Edward I. cap. 84. The law of libels could not have arrived at a very +early period in this country. It is no wonder that we find no vestige of +any constitution from authority, or of any deductions from legal +science, in our old books and records, upon that subject. The statute of +<i>Scandalum Magnatum</i> is the oldest that I know, and this goes but a +little way in this sort of learning. Libelling is not the crime of an +illiterate people. When they were thought no mean clerks who could read +and write, when he who could read and write was presumptively a person +in holy orders, libels could not be general or dangerous; and scandals +merely <i>oral</i> could <i>spread</i> little and must <i>perish</i> soon. It is +writing, it is printing more emphatically, that imps calumny with those +eagle-wings on which, as the poet says, "immortal slanders fly." By the +press they spread, they last, they leave the sting in the wound. +Printing was not known in England much earlier than the reign of Henry +the Seventh, and <a name="Page_112" id="Page_112" title="112" class="pagenum"></a>in the third year of that reign the court of +Star-Chamber was established. The press and its enemy are nearly coeval. +As no positive law against libels existed, they fell under the +indefinite class of misdemeanors. For the trial of misdemeanors that +court was instituted. Their tendency to produce riots and disorders was +a main part of the charge, and was laid in order to give the court +jurisdiction chiefly against libels. The offence was new. Learning of +their own upon the subject they had none; and they were obliged to +resort to the only emporium where it was to be had, the Roman law. After +the Star-Chamber was abolished in the 10th of Charles I., its authority +indeed ceased, but its maxims subsisted and survived it. The spirit of +the Star-Chamber has transmigrated and lived again; and Westminster Hall +was obliged to borrow from the Star-Chamber, for the same reasons as the +Star-Chamber had borrowed from the Roman Forum, because they had no law, +statute, or tradition of their own. Thus the Roman law took possession +of our courts,—I mean its doctrine, not its sanctions: the severity of +capital punishment was omitted, all the rest remained. The grounds of +these laws are just and equitable. Undoubtedly the good fame of every +man ought to be under the protection of the laws, as well as his life +and liberty and property. Good fame is an outwork that defends them all +and renders them all valuable. The law forbids you to revenge; when it +ties up the hands of some, it ought to restrain the tongues of others. +The good fame of government is the same; it ought not to be traduced. +This is necessary in all government; and if opinion be support, what +takes away this destroys that support: but the liberty of the press is +necessary to this government.</p> +<p><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113" title="113" class="pagenum"></a></p> +<p>The wisdom, however, of government is of more importance than the laws. +I should study the temper of the people, before I ventured on actions of +this kind. I would consider the whole of the prosecution of a libel of +such importance as Junius, as one piece, as one consistent plan of +operations: and I would contrive it so, that, if I were defeated, I +should not be disgraced,—that even my victory should not be more +ignominious than my defeat; I would so manage, that the lowest in the +predicament of guilt should not be the only one in punishment. I would +not inform against the mere vender of a collection of pamphlets. I +would not put him to trial first, if I could possibly avoid it. I would +rather stand the consequences of my first error than carry it to a +judgment that must disgrace my prosecution or the court. We ought to +examine these things in a manner which becomes ourselves, and becomes +the object of the inquiry,—not to examine into the most important +consideration which can come before us with minds heated with prejudice +and filled with passions, with vain popular opinions and humors, and, +when we propose to examine into the justice of others, to be unjust +ourselves.</p> + +<p>An inquiry is wished, as the most effectual way of putting an end to the +clamors and libels which are the disorder and disgrace of the times. For +people remain quiet, they sleep secure, when they imagine that the +vigilant eye of a censorial magistrate watches over all the proceedings +of judicature, and that the sacred fire of an eternal constitutional +jealousy, which, is the guardian of liberty, law, and justice, is alive +night and day, and burning in this House. But when the magistrate gives +up his office and his duty, the people assume <a name="Page_114" id="Page_114" title="114" class="pagenum"></a>it, and they inquire too +much and too irreverently, because they think their representatives do +not inquire at all.</p> + +<p>We have in a libel, 1st, the writing; 2nd, the communication, called by +the lawyers the publication; 3rd, the application to persons and facts; +4th, the intent and tendency; 5th, the matter,—diminution of fame. The +law presumptions on all these are in the communication. No intent can +make a defamatory publication good, nothing can make it have a good +tendency; truth is not pleadable. Taken <i>juridically</i>, the foundation +of these law presumptions is not unjust; taken <i>constitutionally</i>, they +are ruinous, and tend to the total suppression of all publication. If +juries are confined to the fact, no writing which censures, however +justly or however temperately, the conduct of administration, can be +unpunished. Therefore, if the intent and tendency be left to the judge, +as legal conclusions growing from the fact, you may depend upon it you +can have no public discussion of a public measure; which is a point +which even those who are most offended with the licentiousness of the +press (and it is very exorbitant, very provoking) will hardly contend +for.</p> + +<p>So far as to the first opinion,—that the doctrine is right, and needs +no alteration. 2nd. The next is, that it is wrong, but that we are not +in a condition to help it. I admit it is true that there are cases of a +nature so delicate and complicated that an act of Parliament on the +subject may become a matter of great difficulty. It sometimes cannot +define with exactness, because the subject-matter will not bear an exact +definition. It may seem to <i>take away</i> <a name="Page_115" id="Page_115" title="115" class="pagenum"></a>everything which it does not +positively <i>establish</i>, and this might be inconvenient; or it may seem, +<i>vice versâ</i>, to <i>establish</i> everything which it does not <i>expressly +take away</i>. It may be more advisable to leave such matters to the +enlightened discretion of a judge, awed by a censorial House of Commons. +But then it rests upon those who object to a legislative interposition +to prove these inconveniences in the particular case before them. For it +would be a most dangerous, as it is a most idle and most groundless +conceit, to assume as a general principle, that the rights and liberties +of the subject are impaired by the care and attention of the +legislature to secure them. If so, very ill would the purchase of Magna +Charta have merited the deluge of blood which was shed in order to have +the body of English privileges defined by a positive written law. This +charter, the inestimable monument of English freedom, so long the boast +and glory of this nation, would have been at once an instrument of our +servitude and a monument of our folly, if this principle were true. The +thirty-four confirmations would have been only so many repetitions of +their absurdity, so many new links in the chain, and so many +invalidations of their right.</p> + +<p>You cannot open your statute-book without seeing positive provisions +relative to every right of the subject. This business of juries is the +subject of not fewer than a dozen. To suppose that juries are something +innate in the Constitution of Great Britain, that they have jumped, like +Minerva, out of the head of Jove in complete armor, is a weak fancy, +supported neither by precedent nor by reason. Whatever is most ancient +and venerable in our Constitutio<a name="Page_116" id="Page_116" title="116" class="pagenum"></a>n, royal prerogative, privileges of +Parliament, rights of elections, authority of courts, juries, must have +been modelled according to the occasion. I spare your patience, and I +pay a compliment to your understanding, in not attempting to prove that +anything so elaborate and artificial as a jury was not the work of +<i>chance</i>, but a matter of institution, brought to its present state by +the joint efforts of legislative authority and juridical prudence. It +need not be ashamed of being (what in many parts of it, at least, it is) +the offspring of an act of Parliament, unless it is a shame for our laws +to be the results of our legislature. Juries, which sensitively shrink +from the rude touch of Parliamentary remedy, have been the subject of +not fewer than, I think, forty-three acts of Parliament, in which they +have been changed with all the authority of a creator over its creature, +from Magna Charta to the great alterations which were made in the 29th +of George II.</p> + +<p>To talk of this matter in any other way is to turn a rational principle +into an idle and vulgar superstition,—like the antiquary, Dr. Woodward, +who trembled to have his shield scoured, for fear it should be +discovered to be no better than an old pot-lid. This species of +tenderness to a jury puts me in mind of a gentleman of good condition, +who had been reduced to great poverty and distress: application was made +to some rich fellows in his neighborhood to give him some assistance; +but they begged to be excused, for fear of affronting a person of his +high birth; and so the poor gentleman was left to starve, out of pure +respect to the antiquity of his family. From this principle has arisen +an opinion, that I find current amongst gent<a name="Page_117" id="Page_117" title="117" class="pagenum"></a>lemen, that this distemper +ought to be left to cure itself:—that the judges, having been well +exposed, and something terrified on account of these clamors, will +entirely change, if not very much relax from their rigor;—if the +present race should not change, that the chances of succession may put +other more constitutional judges in their place;—lastly, if neither +should happen, yet that the spirit of an English jury will always be +sufficient for the vindication of its own rights, and will not suffer +itself to be overborne by the bench. I confess that I totally dissent +from all these opinions. These suppositions become the strongest +reasons with me to evince the necessity of some clear and positive +settlement of this question of contested jurisdiction. If judges are so +full of levity, so full of timidity, if they are influenced by such mean +and unworthy passions that a popular clamor is sufficient to shake the +resolution they build upon the solid basis of a legal principle, I would +endeavor to fix that mercury by a positive law. If to please an +administration the judges can go one way to-day, and to please the crowd +they can go another to-morrow, if they will oscillate backward and +forward between power and popularity, it is high time to fix the law in +such a manner as to resemble, as it ought, the great Author of all law, +in whom there is no variableness nor shadow of turning.</p> + +<p>As to their succession I have just the same opinion. I would not leave +it to the chances of promotion, or to the characters of lawyers, what +the law of the land, what the rights of juries, or what the liberty of +the press should be. My law should not depend upon the fluctuation of +the closet or the complexion of men. Whether a black-haired man or a +fair-haired man presided in the Court of King's Ben<a name="Page_118" id="Page_118" title="118" class="pagenum"></a>ch, I would have the +law the same; the same, whether he was born <i>in domo regnatrice</i> and +sucked from his infancy the milk of courts, or was nurtured in the +rugged discipline of a popular opposition. This law of court cabal and +of party, this <i>mens quædam nullo perturbata affectu</i>, this law of +complexion, ought not to be endured for a moment in a country whose +being depends upon the certainty, clearness, and stability of +institutions.</p> + +<p>Now I come to the last substitute for the proposed bill,—the spirit of +juries operating their own jurisdiction. This I confess I think the +worst of all, for the same reasons on which I objected to the +others,—and for other weighty reasons besides, which are separate and +distinct. First, because juries, being taken at random out of a mass of +men infinitely large, must be of characters as various as the body they +arise from is large in its extent. If the judges differ in their +complexions, much more will a jury. A timid jury will give way to an +awful judge delivering oracularly the law, and charging them on their +oaths, and putting it home to their consciences to beware of judging, +where the law had given them no competence. We know that they will do +so, they have done so in an hundred instances. A respectable member of +your own House, no vulgar man, tells you, that, on the authority of a +judge, he found a man guilty in whom at the same time he could find no +guilt. But supposing them full of knowledge and full of manly confidence +in themselves, how will their knowledge or their confidence inform or +inspirit others? They give no reason for their verdict, they can but +condemn or acquit; and no man can tell the motives on which they have +acquitted or condemned. So that this <a name="Page_119" id="Page_119" title="119" class="pagenum"></a>hope of the power of juries to +assert their own jurisdiction must be a principle blind, as being +without reason, and as changeable as the complexion of men and the +temper of the times.</p> + +<p>But, after all, is it fit that this dishonorable contention between the +court and juries should subsist any longer? On what principle is it that +a jury [juror?] refuses to be directed by the court as to his +<i>competence</i>? Whether a libel or no libel be a question of law or of +fact may be doubtful; but a question of jurisdiction and competence is +certainly a question of law: on this the court ought undoubtedly to +judge, and to judge solely and exclusively. If they judge wrong from +excusable error, you ought to correct it, as to-day it is proposed, by +an explanatory bill,—or if by corruption, by bill of <i>penalties</i> +declaratory, and by punishment. What does a juror say to a judge, when +he refuses his opinion upon a question of judicature? "You are so +corrupt, that I should consider myself a partaker of your crime, were I +to be guided by your opinion"; or, "You are so grossly ignorant, that I, +fresh from my hounds, from my plough, my counter, or my loom, am fit to +direct you in your own profession." This is an unfitting, it is a +dangerous state of things. The spirit of any sort of men is not a fit +<i>rule</i> for deciding on the bounds of their jurisdiction: first, because +it is different in different men, and even different in the same at +different times, and can never become the proper directing line of law; +next, because it is not reason, but feeling, and, when once it is +irritated, it is not apt to confine itself within i<a name="Page_120" id="Page_120" title="120" class="pagenum"></a>ts proper limits. If +it becomes not difference in opinion upon law, but a trial of spirit +between parties, our courts of law are no longer the temple of justice, +but the amphitheatre for gladiators. No,—God forbid! Juries ought to +take their law from the bench only; but it is <i>our</i> business that they +should hear nothing from the bench but what is agreeable to the +principles of the Constitution. The jury are to hear the judge: the +judge is to hear the law, where it speaks plain; where it does not, he +is to hear the legislature. As I do not think these opinions of the +judges to be agreeable to those principles, I wish to take the only +method in which they can or ought to be corrected,—by bill.</p> + +<p>Next, my opinion is, that it ought to be rather by a bill for removing +controversies than by a bill in the state of manifest and express +declaration and in words <i>de præterito</i>. I do this upon reasons of +equity and constitutional policy. I do not want to censure the present +judges. I think them to be excused for their error. Ignorance is no +excuse for a judge; it is changing the nature of his crime; it is not +absolving. It must be such error as a wise and conscientious judge may +possibly fall into, and must arise from one or both these causes:—1. A +plausible principle of law; 2. The precedents of respectable +authorities, and in good times. In the first, the principle of law, that +the judge is to decide on law, the jury to decide on fact, is an ancient +and venerable principle and maxim of the law; and if supported in this +application by precedents of good times and of good men, the judge, if +wrong, ought to be corrected,—he ought not to be reproved or to be +disgraced, or the authority or respect to your tribunals to be impaired. +In cases in which declaratory bills have been mad<a name="Page_121" id="Page_121" title="121" class="pagenum"></a>e, where by violence +and corruption some fundamental part of the Constitution has been struck +at, where they would damn the principle, censure the persons, and annul +the acts,—but where the law has been by the accident of human frailty +depraved or in a particular instance misunderstood, where you neither +mean to rescind the acts nor to censure the persons, in such cases you +have taken the explanatory mode, and, without condemning what is done, +you direct the future judgment of the court.</p> + +<p>All bills for the reformation of the law must be according to the +subject-matter, the circumstances, and the occasion, and are of four +kinds:—1. Either the law is totally wanting, and then a new enacting +statute must be made to supply that want; or, 2. it is <i>defective</i>, then +a new law must be made to enforce it; 3. or it is opposed by power or +fraud, and then an act must be made to declare it; 4. or it is rendered +doubtful and controverted, and then a law must be made to explain it. +These must be applied according to the exigence of the case: one is just +as good as another of them. Miserable indeed would be the resources, +poor and unfurnished the stores and magazines of legislation, if we were +bound up to a little narrow form, and not able to frame our acts of +Parliament according to every disposition of our own minds and to every +possible emergency of the commonwealth,—to make them declaratory, +enforcing, explanatory, repealing, just in what mode or in what degree +we please.</p> + +<p>Those who think that the judges living and dead are to be condemned, +that your tribunals of justice are to be dishonored, that their acts and +judgments on this business are to be rescin<a name="Page_122" id="Page_122" title="122" class="pagenum"></a>ded,—they will undoubtedly +vote against this bill, and for another sort.</p> + +<p>I am not of the opinion of those gentlemen who are against disturbing +the public repose: I like a clamor, whenever there is an abuse. The +fire-bell at midnight disturbs your sleep, but it keeps you from being +burned in your bed. The hue-and-cry alarms the county, but it preserves +all the property of the province. All these clamors aim at <i>redress</i>. +But a clamor made merely for the purpose of rendering the people +discontented with their situation, without an endeavor to give them a +practical remedy, is indeed one of the worst acts of sedition.</p> + +<p>I have read and heard much upon the conduct of our courts in the +business of libels. I was extremely willing to enter into, and very free +to act as facts should turn out on that inquiry, aiming constantly at +remedy as the end of all clamor, all debate, all writing, and all +inquiry; for which reason I did embrace, and do now with joy, this<a name="Page_123" id="Page_123" title="123" class="pagenum"></a> +method of giving quiet to the courts, jurisdiction to juries, liberty to +the press, and satisfaction to the people. I thank my friends for what +they have done; I hope the public will one day reap the benefit of their +pious and judicious endeavors. They have now sown the seed; I hope they +will live to see the flourishing harvest. Their bill is sown in +weakness; it will, I trust, be reaped in power. And then, however, we +shall have reason to apply to them what my Lord Coke says was an +aphorism continually in the mouth of a great sage of the law,—"Blessed +be not the complaining tongue, but <i>blessed be the amending hand</i>."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="LETTER" id="LETTER"></a>LETTER</h2> + +<p>ON</p> + +<p>MR. DOWDESWELL'S BILL FOR EXPLAINING THE POWERS OF JURIES IN +PROSECUTIONS FOR LIBELS.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor" title=" The manuscript from which this Letter is taken is in Mr. +Burke's own handwriting, but it does not appear to whom it was +addressed, nor is there any date affixed to it. It has been thought +proper to insert it here, as being connected with the subject of the +foregoing Speech.">[2]</a></p> + +<p>An improper and injurious account of the bill brought into the House of +Commons by Mr. Dowdeswell has lately appeared in one of the public +papers. I am not at all surprised at it, as I am not a stranger to the +views and politics of those who have caused it to be inserted.</p> + +<p>Mr. Dowdeswell did not <i>bring in an enacting bill to give to juries</i>, as +the account expresses it, <i>a power to try law and fact in matter of +libel</i>. Mr. Dowdeswell b<a name="Page_124" id="Page_124" title="124" class="pagenum"></a>rought in a bill to put an end to those doubts +and controversies upon that subject which have unhappily distracted our +courts, to the great detriment of the public, and to the great dishonor +of the national justice.</p> + +<p>That it is the province of the jury, in informations and indictments for +libels, to try nothing more than the fact of the composing and of the +publishing averments and innuendoes is a doctrine held at present by all +the judges of the King's Bench, probably by most of the judges of the +kingdom. The same doctrine has been held pretty uniformly since the +Revolution; and it prevails more or less with the jury, according to the +degree of respect with which they are disposed to receive the opinions +of the bench.</p> + +<p>This doctrine, which, when it prevails, tends to annihilate the benefit +of trial by jury, and when it is rejected by juries, tends to weaken and +disgrace the authority of the judge, is not a doctrine proper for an +English judicature. For the sake both of judge and jury, the controversy +ought to be quieted, and the law ought to be settled in a manner clear, +definitive, and constitutional, by the only authority competent to it, +the authority of the legislature.</p> + +<p>Mr. Dowdeswell's bill was brought in for that purpose. It <i>gives</i> to the +jury no <i>new</i> powers; but, after reciting the doubts and controversies, +(which nobody denies actually to subsist,) and after stating, that, if +juries are not reputed competent to try the whole matter, the benefit of +trial by jury will be of none or imperfect effect, it enacts, not that +the jury <i>shall</i> have the <i>power</i>, but that they shall be <i>held and +reputed in law and right competent</i> to try the whole matter laid in the +information. The bill is directing to the judges concerning the opinion +in law which they are known to h<a name="Page_125" id="Page_125" title="125" class="pagenum"></a>old upon this subject,—and does not in +the least imply that the jury were to derive a new right and power from +that bill, if it should have passed into an act of Parliament. The +implication is directly the contrary, and is as strongly conveyed as it +is possible for those to do who state a doubt and controversy without +charging with criminality those persons who so doubted and so +controverted.</p> + +<p>Such a style is frequent in acts of this nature, and is that only which +is suited to the occasion. An insidious use has been made of the words +<i>enact</i> and <i>declare</i>, as if they were formal and operative words of +force to distinguish different species of laws producing different +effects. Nothing is more groundless; and I am persuaded no lawyer will +stand to such an assertion. The gentlemen who say that a bill ought to +have been brought in upon the principle and in the style of the Petition +of Right and Declaration of Right ought to consider how far the +circumstances are the same in the two cases, and how far they are +prepared to go the whole lengths of the reason of those remarkable laws. +Mr. Dowdeswell and his friends are of opinion that the circumstances are +not the same, and that therefore the bill ought not to be the same.</p> + +<p>It has been always disagreeable to the persons who compose that +connection to engage wantonly in a paper war, especially with gentlemen +for whom they have an esteem, and who seem to agree with them in the +great grounds of their public conduct; but they can never consent to +purchase any assistance from any persons by the forfeiture of their own +reputation. They respect public opinion; and the<a name="Page_126" id="Page_126" title="126" class="pagenum"></a>refore, whenever they +shall be called upon, they are ready to meet their adversaries, as soon +as they please, before the tribunal of the public, and there to justify +the constitutional nature and tendency, the propriety, the prudence, and +the policy of their bill. They are equally ready to explain and to +justify all their proceedings in the conduct of it,—equally ready to +defend their resolution to make it one object (if ever they should have +the power) in a plan of public reformation.</p> + +<p>Your correspondent ought to have been satisfied with the assistance +which his friends have lent to administration in defeating that bill. He +ought not to make a feeble endeavor (I dare say, much to the displeasure +of those friends) to disgrace the gentleman who brought it in. A measure +proposed by Mr. Dowdeswell, seconded by Sir George Savile, and supported +by their friends, will stand fair with the public, even though it should +have been opposed by that list of names (respectable names, I admit) +which have been printed with so much parade and ostentation in your +papers.</p> +<p><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127" title="127" class="pagenum"></a></p> +<p>It is not true that Mr. Burke spoke in praise of Lord Mansfield. If he +had found anything in Lord Mansfield praiseworthy, I fancy he is not +disposed to make an apology to anybody for doing justice. Your +correspondent's reason for asserting it is visible enough; and it is +altogether in the strain of other misrepresentations. That gentlemen +spoke decently of the judges, and he did no more; most of the gentlemen +who debated, on both sides, held the same language; and nobody will +think their zeal the less warm, or the less effectual, because it is not +attended with scurrility and virulence.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> The manuscript from which this Letter is taken is in Mr. +Burke's own handwriting, but it does not appear to whom it was +addressed, nor is there any date affixed to it. It has been thought +proper to insert it here, as being connected with the subject of the +foregoing Speech.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="LIBEL_BILL" id="LIBEL_BILL"></a>LIBEL BILL.</h2> + + +<p>Whereas doubts and controversies have arisen at various times concerning +the right of jurors to try the whole matter laid in indictments and +informations for seditious and other libels; and whereas trial by juries +would be of none or imperfect effect, if the jurors were not held to be +competent to try the whole matter aforesaid: for settling and clearing +such doubts and controversies, and for securing to the subject the +effectual and complete benefit of trial by juries in such indictments +and informations,</p> + +<p>Be it enacted, &c., That jurors duly impanelled and sworn to try the +issue between the king and the defendant upon any indictment or +information for a seditious libel, or a libel under any other +denomination or description, shall be held and reputed competent, to all +intents and purposes, in law and in right, to try every part of the +matter laid or charged in said indictment or information, comprehending +the criminal intention of the defendant, and the evil tendency of the +libel charged, as well as the mere fact of the publication thereof, and +the application by innuendo of blanks, initial letters, pictures, and +other devices; any opinion, question, ambiguity, or doubt to the +contrary notwithstanding.</p> + +<p><a name="BILL_FOR_THE_REPEAL_OF_THE_MARRIAGE_ACT" id="BILL_FOR_THE_REPEAL_OF_THE_MARRIAGE_ACT"></a></p> +<p><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128" title="128" class="pagenum"></a></p><p><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129" title="129" class="pagenum"></a></p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>SPEECH<br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 60%;">ON</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 85%;">A BILL FOR THE REPEAL OF THE MARRIAGE ACT.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 60%;">JUNE 15, 1781.</span></h2> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130" title="130" class="pagenum"></a></p><p><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131" title="131" class="pagenum"></a></p> + +<p>This act [<i>the Marriage Act</i>] stands upon <i>two</i> principles: one, that +the power of marrying without consent of parents should not take place +till twenty-one years of age; the other, that all marriages should be +<i>public</i>.</p> + +<p>The proposition of the honorable mover goes to the first; and +undoubtedly his motives are fair and honorable; and even, in that +measure by which he would take away paternal power, he is influenced to +it by filial piety; and he is led into it by a natural, and to him +inevitable, but real mistake,—that the ordinary race of mankind advance +as fast towards maturity of judgment and understanding as he does.</p> + +<p>The question is not now, whe<a name="Page_132" id="Page_132" title="132" class="pagenum"></a>ther the law ought to acknowledge and +protect such a state of life as minority, nor whether the continuance +which is fixed for that state be not improperly prolonged in the law of +England. Neither of these in general are questioned. The only question, +is, whether matrimony is to be taken out of the general rule, and +whether the minors of both sexes, without the consent of their parents, +ought to have a capacity of contracting the matrimonial, whilst they +have not the capacity of contracting any other engagement. Now it +appears to me very clear that they ought not. It is a great mistake to +think that mere <i>animal</i> propagation is the sole end of matrimony. +Matrimony is instituted not only for the propagation of men, but for +their nutrition, their education, their establishment, and for the +answering of all the purposes of a rational and moral being; and it is +not the duty of the community to consider alone of how many, but how +useful citizens it shall be composed.</p> + +<p>It is most certain that men are well qualified for propagation long +before they are sufficiently qualified even by bodily strength, much +less by mental prudence, and by acquired skill in trades and +professions, for the maintenance of a family. Therefore to enable and +authorize any man to introduce citizens into the commonwealth, before a +rational security can be given that he may provide for them and educate +them as citizens ought to be provided for and educated, is totally +incongruous with the whole order of society. Nay, it is fundamentally +unjust; for a man that breeds a family without competent means of +maintenance incumbers other men with his children, and disables them so +far from maintaining their own. The improvident marriage of one m<a name="Page_133" id="Page_133" title="133" class="pagenum"></a>an +becomes a tax upon the orderly and regular marriage of all the rest. +Therefore those laws are wisely constituted that give a man the use of +all his faculties at one time, that they may be mutually subservient, +aiding and assisting to each other: that the time of his completing his +bodily strength, the time of mental discretion, the time of his having +learned his trade, and the time at which he has the disposition of his +fortune, should be likewise the time in which he is permitted to +introduce citizens into the state, and to charge the community with +their maintenance. To give a man a family during his apprenticeship, +whilst his very labor belongs to another,—to give him a family, when +you do not give him a fortune to maintain it,—to give him a family +before he can contract any one of those engagements without which no +business can be carried on, would be to burden the state with families +without any security for their maintenance. When parents themselves +marry their children, they become in some sort security to prevent the +ill consequences. You have this security in parental consent; the state +takes its security in the knowledge of human nature. Parents ordinarily +consider little the passion of their children and their present +gratification. Don't fear the power of a father: it is kind to passion +to give it time to cool. But their censures sometimes make me +smile,—sometimes, for I am very infirm, make me angry: <i>sæpe bilem, +sæpe jocum movent</i>.</p> + +<p>It gives me pain to differ on this occasion from many, if not most, of +those whom I honor and esteem. To suffer the grave animadversion and +censorial rebuke of the honorable gentleman who made the motion, of him +whose good-<a name="Page_134" id="Page_134" title="134" class="pagenum"></a>nature and good sense the House look upon with a particular +partiality, whose approbation would have been one of the highest objects +of my ambition,—this hurts me. It is said the Marriage Act is +aristocratic. I am accused, I am told abroad, of being a man of +aristocratic principles. If by aristocracy they mean the peers, I have +no vulgar admiration, nor any vulgar antipathy towards them; I hold +their order in cold and decent respect. I hold them to be of an absolute +necessity in the Constitution; but I think they are only good when kept +within their proper bounds. I trust, whenever there has been a dispute +between these Houses, the part I have taken has not been equivocal. If +by the aristocracy (which, indeed, comes nearer to the point) they mean +an adherence to the rich and powerful against the poor and weak, this +would, indeed, be a very extraordinary part. I have incurred the odium +of gentlemen in this House for not paying sufficient regard to men of +ample property. When, indeed, the smallest rights of the poorest people +in the kingdom are in question, I would set my face against any act of +pride and power countenanced by the highest that are in it; and if it +should come to the last extremity, and to a contest of blood,—God +forbid! God forbid!—my part is taken: I would take my fate with the +poor and low and feeble. But if these people came to turn their liberty +into a cloak for maliciousness, and to seek a privilege of exemption, +not from power, but from the rules of morality and virtuous discipline, +then I would join my hand to make them feel the force which a few united +in a good cause have over a multitude of the profligate and ferocious.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135" title="135" class="pagenum"></a>I wish the nature of the ground of repeal were considered with a little +attention. It is said the act tends to accumulate, to keep up the power +of great families, and to add wealth to wealth. It may be that it does +so. It is impossible that any principle of law or government useful to +the community should be established without an advantage to those who +have the greatest stake in the country. Even some vices arise from it. +The same laws which secure property encourage avarice; and the fences +made about honest acquisition are the strong bars which secure the +hoards of the miser. The dignities of magistracy are encouragements to +ambition, with all the black train of villanies which attend that wicked +passion. But still we must have laws to secure property, and still we +must have ranks and distinctions and magistracy in the state, +notwithstanding their manifest tendency to encourage avarice and +ambition.</p> + +<p>By affirming the parental authority throughout the state, parents in +high rank will generally aim at, and will sometimes have the means, too, +of preserving their minor children from any but wealthy or splendid +matches. But this authority preserves from a thousand misfortunes which +embitter every part of every man's domestic life, and tear to pieces the +dearest lies in human society.</p> + +<p>I am no peer, nor like to be,—but am in middle life, in the mass of +citizens; yet I should feel for a son who married a prostituted woman, +or a daughter who married a dishonorable and prostituted man, as much as +any peer in the realm.</p> + +<p>You are afraid of the avaricious principle of fathers. But observe that +the avaricious principle is here mitigated very considerably. It is +avarice by proxy; it is avarice not working by itself or for itself, but +through the medium of parental affection, meaning to procure good to its +offspring. But the contest is not between love a<a name="Page_136" id="Page_136" title="136" class="pagenum"></a>nd avarice.</p> + +<p>While you would guard against the possible operation of this species of +benevolent avarice, the avarice of the father, you let loose another +species of avarice,—that of the fortune-hunter, unmitigated, +unqualified. To show the motives, who has heard of a man running away +with a woman not worth sixpence? Do not call this by the name of the +sweet and best passion,—love. It is robbery,—not a jot better than any +other.</p> + +<p>Would you suffer the sworn enemy of his family, his life, and his +honor, possibly the shame and scandal and blot of human society, to +debauch from his care and protection the dearest pledge that he has on +earth, the sole comfort of his declining years, almost in infantine +imbecility,—and with it to carry into the hands of his enemy, and the +disgrace of Nature, the dear-earned substance of a careful and laborious +life? Think of the daughter of an honest, virtuous parent allied to vice +and infamy. Think of the hopeful son tied for life by the meretricious +arts of the refuse of mercenary and promiscuous lewdness. Have mercy on +the youth of both sexes; protect them from their ignorance and +inexperience; protect one part of life by the wisdom of another; protect +them by the wisdom of laws and the care of Nature.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137" title="137" class="pagenum"></a> +<a name="BILL_TO_QUIET_THE_POSSESSIONS_OF_THE_SUBJECT" id="BILL_TO_QUIET_THE_POSSESSIONS_OF_THE_SUBJECT"></a> +</p><hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>SPEECH<br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 60%;">ON A</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 85%;">MOTION MADE IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS,</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 60%;">FEBRUARY 17, 1772,</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 60%;">FOR LEAVE TO BRING IN</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 85%;">A BILL TO QUIET THE POSSESSIONS OF THE SUBJECT AGAINST DORMANT CLAIMS OF +THE CHURCH.</span></h2> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138" title="138" class="pagenum"></a></p><p><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139" title="139" class="pagenum"></a></p> +<p>If I considered this bill as an attack upon the Church, brought in for +the purpose of impoverishing and weakening the clergy, I should be one +of the foremost in an early and vigorous opposition to it.</p> + +<p>I admit, the same reasons do not press for limiting the claims of the +Church that existed for limiting the crown, by that wisest of all laws +which, has secured the property, the peace, and the freedom of this +country from the most dangerous mode of attack which could be made upon +them all.</p> + +<p>I am very sensible of the propriety of maintaining that venerable body +with decency,—and with more than mere decency. I would maintain it +according to the ranks wisely established in it, with that sober and +temperate splendor that is suitable to a sacred character invested with +high dignity.</p> +<p><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140" title="140" class="pagenum"></a></p> +<p>There ought to be a symmetry between all the parts and orders of a +state. A <i>poor</i> clergy in an <i>opulent</i> nation can have little +correspondence with the body it is to instruct, and it is a disgrace to +the public sentiments of religion. Such irreligious frugality is even +bad economy, as the little that is given is entirely thrown away. Such +an impoverished and degraded clergy in quiet tunes could never execute +their duty, and in time of disorder would infinitely aggravate the +public confusions.</p> + +<p>That the property of the Church is a favored and privileged property I +readily admit. It is made with great wisdom; since a perpetual body, +with a perpetual duty, ought to have a perpetual provision.</p> + +<p>The question is not, the property of the Church, or its security. The +question is, whether you will render the principle of prescription a +principle of the law of this laud, and incorporate it with the whole of +your jurisprudence,—whether, having given it first against the laity, +then against the crown, you will now extend it to the Church.</p> + +<p>The acts which were made, giving limitation against the laity, were not +acts against the property of those who might be precluded by +limitations. The act of quiet against the crown was not against the +interests of the crown, but against a power of vexation.</p> + +<p>If the principle of prescription be not a constitution of positive law, +but a principle of natural equity, then to hold it out against any man +is not doing him injustice.</p> + +<p>That <i>tithes</i> are due of common right is readily granted; and if this +principle had been kept in its original straitness, it might, indeed, be +supposed that to plead an exemption was to plead a long-continued +<i>fraud</i>, and th<a name="Page_141" id="Page_141" title="141" class="pagenum"></a>at no man could <i>be deceived</i> in such a title,—as the +moment he bought land, he must know that he bought land tithed: +prescription could not aid him, for prescription can only attach on a +supposed <i>bonâ fide</i> possession. But the fact is, that the principle has +been broken in upon.</p> + +<p>Here it is necessary to distinguish two sorts of property.</p> + +<p>1. Land carries no <i>mark</i> on it to distinguish it as ecclesiastical, as +tithes do, which are a <i>charge</i> on land; therefore, though it had been +made <i>inalienable</i>, it ought perhaps to be subject to limitation. It +might <i>bonâ fide</i> be held.</p> + +<p>But, first, it was not originally inalienable, no, not by the Canon Law, +until the restraining act of the 11th [1st?] of Elizabeth. But the great +revolution of the dissolution of monasteries, by the 31st Hen., ch. 13, +has so mixed and confounded ecclesiastical with lay property, that a man +may by every rule of good faith be possessed of it. The statute of Queen +Elizabeth, ann. 1, ch. 1, [?] gave away the bishop's lands.</p> + +<p>So far as to <i>lands</i>.</p> + +<p>As to <i>tithes</i>, they are not things in their own nature subject to be +barred by prescription upon the general principle. But tithes and Church +lands, by the statutes of Henry VIII. and the 11th [1st?] Eliz., have +become objects <i>in commercio</i>: for by coming to the crown they became +grantable in that way to the subject, and a great part of the Church +lands passed through the crown to the people.</p> + +<p>By passing to the king, tithes became property to a mixed party; by +passing from the king, they became absolutely <i>lay</i> property: the +partition-wall was broken down, and tithes and Church possession became +no longe<a name="Page_142" id="Page_142" title="142" class="pagenum"></a>r synonymous terms. No [A?] man, therefore, might become a fair +purchaser of tithes, and of exemption from tithes.</p> + +<p>By the statute of Elizabeth, the lands took the same course, (I will not +inquire by what justice, good policy, and decency,) but they passed into +lay lands, became the object of purchases for valuable consideration, +and of marriage settlements.</p> + +<p>Now, if tithes might come to a layman, land in the hands of a layman +might be also tithe-free. So that there was an object which a layman +might become seized of equitably and <i>bonâ fide</i>; there was something +on which a prescription might attach, the end of which is, to secure the +natural well-meaning ignorance of men, and to secure property by the +best of all principles, continuance.</p> + +<p>I have therefore shown that a layman may be equitably seized of Church +lands,—2. of tithes,—3. of exemption from tithes; and you will not +contend that there should be no prescription. Will you say that the +alienations made before the 11th of Elizabeth shall not stand good?</p> + +<p>I do not mean anything against the Church, her dignities, her honors, +her privileges, or her possessions. I should wish even to enlarge them +all: not that the Church of England is incompetently endowed. This is to +take nothing from her but the power of making herself odious. If she be +secure herself, she can have no objection to the security of others. For +I hope she is secure from lay-bigotry and anti-priestcraft, for +certainly such things there are. I heartily wish to see the Church +secure in such possessions as will not only enable her ministers to +preach the Gospel with ease, but of such a kind as will enable them to +preach it with its full effect, so that the pastor shall not have the +inauspicious appearance of a tax-gatherer,—such a maintenance as is +compatible with the civil prosperity and improvement of their country.</p> + + +<p><a name="HINTS" id="HINTS"></a><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143" title="143" class="pagenum"></a></p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>HINTS<br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 60%;">FOR</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 85%;">AN ESSAY ON THE DRAMA.</span></h2> + + + +<p><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144" title="144" class="pagenum"></a></p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>NOTE.</h2> + + +<p>These hints appear to have been first thoughts, which were probably +intended to be amplified and connected, and so worked up into a regular +dissertation. No date appears of the time when they were written, but it +was probably before the year 1765.</p> + + +<p><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145" title="145" class="pagenum"></a></p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>HINTS<br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 85%;">FOR AN ESSAY ON THE DRAMA.</span></h2> + + +<p>It is generally observed that no species of writing is so difficult as +the dramatic. It must, indeed, appear so, were we to consider it upon +one side only. It is a dialogue, or species of composition which in +itself requires all the mastery of a complete writer with grace and +spirit to support. We may add, that it must have a fable, too, which +necessarily requires invention, one of the rarest qualities of the human +mind. It would surprise us, if we were to examine the thing critically, +how few good original stories there are in the world. The most +celebrat<a name="Page_146" id="Page_146" title="146" class="pagenum"></a>ed borrow from each other, and are content with some new turn, +some corrective, addition, or embellishment. Many of the most celebrated +writers in that way can claim no other merit. I do not think La Fontaine +has one original story. And if we pursue him to those who were his +originals, the Italian writers of tales and novels, we shall find most +even of them drawing from antiquity, or borrowing from the Eastern +world, or adopting and decorating the little popular stories they found +current and traditionary in their country. Sometimes they laid the +foundation of their tale in real fact. Even after all their borrowing +from so many funds, they are still far from opulent. How few stories has +Boccace which are tolerable, and how much fewer are there which you +would desire to read twice! But this general difficulty is greatly +increased, when we come to the drama. Here a fable is essential,—a +fable which is to be conducted with rapidity, clearness, consistency, +and surprise, without any, or certainly with very little, aid from +narrative. This is the reason that generally nothing is more dull in +telling than the plot of a play. It is seldom or never a good story in +itself; and in this particular, some of the greatest writers, both in +ancient and modern theatres, have failed in the most miserable manner. +It is well a play has still so many requisites to complete it, that, +though the writer should not succeed in these particulars, and therefore +should be so far from perfection, there are still enough left in which +he may please, at less expense of labor to himself, and perhaps, too, +with more real advantage to his auditory. It is, indeed, very difficult +happily to excite the passions and draw the characters of men; but our +nature lead<a name="Page_147" id="Page_147" title="147" class="pagenum"></a>s us more directly to such paintings than to the invention of +a story. We are imitative animals; and we are more naturally led to +imitate the exertions of character and passion than to observe and +describe a series of events, and to discover those relations and +dependencies in them which will please. Nothing can be more rare than +this quality. Herein, as I believe, consists the difference between the +inventive and the descriptive genius. By the inventive genius I mean the +creator of agreeable facts and incidents; by the descriptive, the +delineator of characters, manners, and passions. Imitation calls us to +this; we are in some cases almost forced to it, and it is comparatively +easy. More observe the characters of men than the order of things: to +the one we are formed by Nature, and by that sympathy from which we are +so strongly led to take a part in the passions and manners of our +fellow-men; the other is, as it were, foreign and extrinsical. Neither, +indeed, can anything be done, even in this, without invention; but it is +obvious that this invention is of a kind altogether different from the +former. However, though the more sublime genius and the greatest art are +required for the former, yet the latter, as it is more common and more +easy, so it is more useful, and administers more directly to the great +business of life.</p> + +<p>If the drama requires such a combination of talents, the most common of +which is very rarely to be found and difficult to be exerted, it is not +surprising, at a time when almost all kinds of poetry are cultivated +with little success, to find that we have done no great matters in this. +Many causes may be assigned for our present weakness<a name="Page_148" id="Page_148" title="148" class="pagenum"></a> in that oldest and +most excellent branch of philosophy, poetical learning, and particularly +in what regards the theatre. I shall here only consider what appears to +me to be one of these causes: I mean the wrong notion of the art itself, +which begins to grow fashionable, especially among people of an elegant +turn of mind with a weak understanding; and these are they that form the +great body of the idle part of every polite and civilized nation. The +prevailing system of that class of mankind is indolence. This gives them +an aversion to all strong movements. It infuses a delicacy of sentiment, +which, when it is real, and accompanied with a justness of thought, is +an amiable quality, and favorable to the fine arts; but when it comes +to make the whole of the character, it injures things more excellent +than those which it improves, and degenerates into a false refinement, +which diffuses a languor and breathes a frivolous air over everything +which it can influence....</p> + +<p>Having differed in my opinion about dramatic composition, and +particularly in regard to comedy, with a gentleman for whose character +and talents I have a very high respect, I thought myself obliged, on +account of that difference, to a new and more exact examination of the +grounds upon which I had formed my opinions. I thought it would be +impossible to come to any clear and definite idea on this subject, +without remounting to the natural passions or dispositions of men, which +first gave rise to this species of writing; for from these alone its +nature, its limits, and its true character can be determined.</p> + +<p>There are but four general principles which can move men to interest +themselves in the characters of others, and they may be classed under +the heads of good and ill opinion: on the side of the first may be +classed admiration and love, h<a name="Page_149" id="Page_149" title="149" class="pagenum"></a>atred and contempt on the other. And these +have accordingly divided poetry into two very different kinds,—the +panegyrical, and the satirical; under one of which heads all genuine +poetry falls (for I do not reckon the didactic as poetry, in the +strictness of speech).</p> + +<p>Without question, the subject of all poetry was originally direct and +personal. Fictitious character is a refinement, and comparatively +modern; for abstraction is in its nature slow, and always follows the +progress of philosophy. Men had always friends and enemies before they +knew the exact nature of vice and virtue; they naturally, and with +their best powers of eloquence, whether in prose or verse, magnified and +set off the one, vilified and traduced the other.</p> + +<p>The first species of composition in either way was probably some +general, indefinite topic of praise or blame, expressed in a song or +hymn, which is the most common and simple kind of panegyric and satire. +But as nothing tended to set their hero or subject in a more forcible +light than some story to their advantage or prejudice, they soon +introduced a narrative, and thus improved the composition into a greater +variety of pleasure to the hearer, and to a more forcible instrument of +honor or disgrace to the subject.</p> + +<p>It is natural with men, when they relate any action with any degree of +warmth, to represent the parties to it talking as the occasion requires; +and this produces that mixed species of poetry, composed of narrative +and dialogue, which is very universal in all languages, and of which +Homer is the noblest example in any. This mixed kind of poetry seems +also to be most perfect, as it takes in a variety o<a name="Page_150" id="Page_150" title="150" class="pagenum"></a>f situations, +circumstances, reflections, and descriptions, which must be rejected on +a more limited plan.</p> + +<p>It must be equally obvious, that men, in relating a story in a forcible +manner, do very frequently mimic the looks, gesture, and voice of the +person concerned, and for the time, as it were, put themselves into his +place. This gave the hint to the drama, or acting; and observing the +powerful effect of this in public exhibitions....</p> + +<p>But the drama, the most artificial and complicated of all the poetical +machines, was not yet brought to perfection; and like those animals +which change their state, some parts of the old narrative still adhered. +It still had a chorus, it still had a prologue to explain the design; +and the perfect drama, an automaton supported and moved without any +foreign help, was formed late and gradually. Nay, there are still +several parts of the world in which it is not, and probably never may +be, formed. The Chinese drama.</p> + +<p>The drama, being at length formed, naturally adhered to the first +division of poetry, the satirical and panegyrical, which made tragedy +and comedy.</p> + +<p>Men, in praising, naturally applaud the dead. Tragedy celebrated the +dead.</p> + +<p>Great men are never sufficiently shown but in struggles. Tragedy turned, +therefore, on melancholy and affecting subjects,—a sort of +threnodia,—its passions, therefore, admiration, terror, and pity.</p> + +<p>Comedy was satirical. Satire is best on the living.</p> + +<p>It was soon found that the best way to depress an hated character was to +turn it into ridicule; and therefore the greater vices, which in the +beginning were lashed, gave place to the <i>contemptible</i>. Its passion, +therefore, became ridicule.</p> + +<p>Every writing must have its characteristic pass<a name="Page_151" id="Page_151" title="151" class="pagenum"></a>ion. What is that of +comedy, if not ridicule?</p> + +<p>Comedy, therefore, is a satirical poem, representing an action carried +on by dialogue, to excite laughter by describing ludicrous characters. +See Aristotle.</p> + +<p>Therefore, to preserve this definition, the ridicule must be either in +the action or characters, or both.</p> + +<p>An action may be ludicrous, independent of the characters, by the +ludicrous situations and accidents which may happen to the characters.</p> + +<p>But the action is not so important as the characters. We see this every +day upon the stage.</p> + +<p>What are the characters fit for comedy?</p> + +<p>It appears that no part of human life which may be subject to ridicule +is exempted from comedy; for wherever men run into the absurd, whether +high or low, they may be the subject of satire, and consequently of +comedy. Indeed, some characters, as kings, are exempted through decency; +others might be too insignificant. Some are of opinion that persons in +better life are so polished that their tone characters and the real bent +of their humor cannot appear. For my own part, I cannot give entire +credit to this remark. For, in the first place, I believe that +good-breeding is not so universal or strong in any part of life as to +overrule the real characters and strong passions of such men as would be +proper objects of the drama. Secondly, it is not the ordinary, +commonplace discourse of assem<a name="Page_152" id="Page_152" title="152" class="pagenum"></a>blies that is to be represented in comedy. +The parties are to be put in situations in which their passions are +roused, and their real characters called forth; and if their situations +are judiciously adapted to the characters, there is no doubt but they +will appear in all their force, choose what situation of life you +please. Let the politest man alive game, and feel at loss; let this be +his character; and his politeness will never hide it, nay, it will put +it forward with greater violence, and make a more forcible contrast.<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor" title=" Sic in MS.">[3]</a></p> + +<p>But genteel comedy puts these characters, not in their passionate, but +in their genteel light; makes elegant cold conversation, and virtuous +personages.<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor" title=" Sic in MS.">[4]</a> Such sort of pictures disagreeable.</p> + +<p>Virtue and politeness not proper for comedy; for they have too much or +no movement.</p> + +<p>They are not good in tragedy, much less here.</p> + +<p>The greater virtues, fortitude, justice, and the like, too serious and +sublime.</p> + +<p>It is not every story, every character, every incident, but those only +which answer their end.—Painting of artificial things not good; a thing +being useful does not therefore make it most pleasing in +picture.—Natural manners, good and bad.—Sentiment. In common affairs +and common life, virtuous sentiments are not even the character of +virtuous men; we cannot bear these sentiments, but when they are pressed +out, as it were, by great exigencies, and a certain contention which is +above the general style of comedy....</p> + +<p>The first character of propriety the Lawsuit possesses in an eminent +degree. The <a name="Page_153" id="Page_153" title="153" class="pagenum"></a>plot of the play is an iniquitous suit; there can be no +fitter persons to be concerned in the active part of it than low, +necessitous lawyers of bad character, and profligates of desperate +fortune. On the other hand, in the passive part, if an honest and +virtuous man had been made the object of their designs, or a weak man of +good intentions, every successful step they should take against him +ought rather to fill the audience with horror than pleasure and mirth; +and if in the conclusion their plots should be baffled, even this would +come too late to prevent that ill impression. But in the Lawsuit this is +admirably avoided: for the character chosen is a rich, avaricious +usurer: the pecuniary distresses of such a person can never be looked +upon with horror; and if he should be even handled unjustly, we always +wait his delivery with patience.</p> + +<p>Now with regard to the display of the character, which is the essential +part of the plot, nothing can be more finely imagined than to draw a +miser in law. If you draw him inclined to love and marriage, you depart +from the height of his character in some measure, as Molière has done. +Expenses of this kind he may easily avoid. If you draw him in law, to +advance brings expense, to draw back brings expense; and the character +is tortured and brought out at every moment.</p> + +<p>A sort of notion has prevailed that a comedy might subsist without +humor. It is an idle disquisition, whether a story in private life, +represented in dialogues, may not be carried on with some degree of +merit without humor. It may unquestionably; but what shines chiefly in +comedy, the painting the manners of life, must be in a great measure +wanting. A character which has nothing extravagant, wrong, or singular +in it can affect but very little: and this is what makes Aristotle draw +<a name="Page_154" id="Page_154" title="154" class="pagenum"></a>the great line of distinction between tragedy and comedy. +<span title="[Greek: En autê de tê diaphora kai ê tragôdia]">Ἐν αὐτῇ δὲ τῇ +διαφορᾷ καὶ ἡ τραγῳδία</span>, &c. Arist. Poet. Ch. II.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>There is not a more absurd mistake than that whatever may not +unnaturally happen in an action is of course to be admitted into every +painting of it. In Nature, the great and the little, the serious and the +ludicrous, things the most disproportionate the one to the other, are +frequently huddled together in much confusion, And what then? It is the +business of Art first to choose some determinate end and purpose, and +then to select those parts of Nature, and those only, which conduce to +that end, avoiding with most religious exactness the intermixture of +anything which would contradict it. Else the whole idea of propriety, +that is, the only distinction between the just and chimerical in the +arts, would be utterly lost. An hero eats, drinks, and sleeps, like +other men; but to introduce such scenes on the stage, because they are +natural, would be ridiculous. And why? Because they have nothing to do +with the end for which the play is written. The design of a piece might +be utterly destroyed by the most natural incidents in the world. Boileau +has somewhere criticized with what surely is a very just severity on +Ariosto, for introducing a ludicrous tale from his host to one of the +principal persons of his poem, though the story has great merit in its +way. Indeed, that famous piece is so monstrous and extravagant in all +its parts that one is not particularly shocked with this indecorum<a name="Page_155" id="Page_155" title="155" class="pagenum"></a>. But, +as Boileau has observed, if Virgil had introduced Æneas listening to a +bawdy story from his host, what an episode had this formed in that +divine poem! Suppose, instead of Æneas, he had represented the impious +Mezentius as entertaining himself in that manner; such a thing would not +have been without probability, but it would have clashed with the very +first principles of taste, and, I would say, of common sense.</p> + +<p>I have heard of a celebrated picture of the Last Supper,—and if I do +not mistake, it is said to be the work of some of the Flemish masters: +in this picture all the personages are drawn in a manner suitable to +the solemnity of the occasion; but the painter has filled the void under +the table with a dog gnawing bones. Who does not see the possibility of +such an incident, and, at the same time, the absurdity of introducing it +on such an occasion! Innumerable such cases might be stated. It is not +the incompatibility or agreeableness of incidents, characters, or +sentiments with the probable in fact, but with propriety in design, that +admits or excludes them from a place in any composition. We may as well +urge that stones, sand, clay, and metals lie in a certain manner in the +earth, as a reason for building with these materials and in that manner, +as for writing according to the accidental disposition of characters in +Nature. I have, I am afraid, been longer than it might seem necessary in +refuting such a notion; but such authority can only be opposed by a good +deal of reason. We are not to forget that a play is, or ought to be, a +very short composition; that, if one passion or disposition is to be +wrought up with tolerable success, I believe it is as much as c<a name="Page_156" id="Page_156" title="156" class="pagenum"></a>an in any +reason be expected. If there be scenes of distress and scenes of humor, +they must either be in a double or single plot. If there be a double +plot, there are in fact two. If they be in checkered scenes of serious +and comic, you are obliged continually to break both the thread of the +story and the continuity of the passion,—if in the same scene, as Mrs. +V. seems to recommend, it is needless to observe how absurd the mixture +must be, and how little adapted to answer the genuine end of any +passion. It is odd to observe the progress of bad taste: for this mixed +passion being universally proscribed in the regions of tragedy, it has +taken refuge and shelter in comedy, where it seems firmly established, +though no reason can be assigned why we may not laugh in the one as well +as weep in the other. The true reason of this mixture is to be sought +for in the manners which are prevalent amongst a people. It has become +very fashionable to affect delicacy, tenderness of heart, and fine +feeling, and to shun all imputation of rusticity. Much mirth is very +foreign to this character; they have introduced, therefore, a sort of +neutral writing.</p> + +<p>Now as to characters, they have dealt in them as in the passions. There +are none but lords and footmen. One objection to characters in high life +is, that almost all wants, and a thousand happy circumsta<a name="Page_157" id="Page_157" title="157" class="pagenum"></a>nces arising +from them, being removed from it, their whole mode of life is too +artificial, and not so fit for painting; and the contrary opinion has +arisen from a mistake, that whatever has merit in the reality +necessarily must have it in the representation. I have observed that +persons, and especially women, in lower life, and of no breeding, are +fond of such representations. It seems like introducing them into good +company, and the honor compensates the dulness of the entertainment.</p> + +<p>Fashionable manners being fluctuating is another reason for not choosing +them.—Sensible comedy,—talking sense a dull thing—....</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Sic in MS.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Sic in MS.</p></div> +</div> +<p><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158" title="158" class="pagenum"></a></p> +<p><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159" title="159" class="pagenum"></a></p> + +<p><a name="ABRIDGMENT_OF_THE_ENGLISH_HISTORY" id="ABRIDGMENT_OF_THE_ENGLISH_HISTORY"></a></p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>AN ESSAY<br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 40%">TOWARDS AN</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 85%">ABRIDGMENT OF THE ENGLISH HISTORY.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 60%">IN THREE BOOKS.</span></h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><span style="font-size: 85%">AN</span><br /> +<br /> +ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.<br /> +<br /> +<a name="BOOK_I" id="BOOK_I"></a>BOOK I.</h2> + +<h3><a name="BOOK_I_CHAPTER_I" id="BOOK_I_CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.<br /> +<br /> +CAUSES OF THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE ROMANS AND BRITONS.—CAESAR'S TWO +INVASIONS OF BRITAIN.</h3> + + +<p>In order to obtain a clear notion of the state of Europe before the +universal prevalence of the Roman power, the whole region is to be +divided into two principal parts, which we shall call Northern and +Southern Europe. The northern part is everywhere separated from the +southern by immense and continued chains of mountains. From Greece it is +divided by Mount Hæmus; from Spain by the Pyrenees; from Italy <a name="Page_160" id="Page_160" title="160" class="pagenum"></a>by the +Alps. This division is not made by an arbitrary or casual distribution +of countries. The limits are marked out by Nature, and in these early +ages were yet further distinguished by a considerable difference in the +manners and usages of the nations they divided.</p> + +<p>If we turn our eyes to the northward of these boundaries, a vast mass of +solid continent lies before us, stretched out from the remotest shore of +Tartary quite to the Atlantic Ocean. A line drawn through this extent, +from east to west, would pass over the greatest body of unbroken land +that is anywhere known upon the globe. This tract, in a course of some +degrees to the northward, is not interrupted by any sea; neither are the +mountains so disposed as to form any considerable obstacle to hostile +incursions. Originally it was all inhabited but by one sort of people, +known by one common denomination of Scythians. As the several tribes of +this comprehensive name lay in many parts greatly exposed, and as by +their situation and customs they were much inclined to attack, and by +both ill qualified for defence, throughout the whole of that immense +region there was for many ages a perpetual flux and reflux of barbarous +nations. None of their commonwealths continued long enough established +on any particular spot to settle and to subside into a regular order, +one tribe continually overpowering or thrusting out another. But as +these were only the mixtures of Scythians with Scythians, the triumphs +of barbarians over barbarians, there were revolutions in empire, but +none in manners. The Northern Europe, until some parts of it were +subdued by the progress of the Roman arms, remained almost equally +covered with all the ruggedness of prim<a name="Page_161" id="Page_161" title="161" class="pagenum"></a>itive barbarism.</p> + +<p>The southern part was differently circumstanced. Divided, as we have +said, from the northern by great mountains, it is further divided within +itself by considerable seas. Spain, Greece, and Italy are peninsulas. By +these advantages of situation the inhabitants were preserved from those +great and sudden revolutions to which the Northern world had been always +liable; and being confined within a space comparatively narrow, they +were restrained from wandering into a pastoral and unsettled life. It +was upon one side only that they could be invaded by land. Whoever made +an attempt on any other part must necessarily have arrived in ships of +some magnitude, and must therefore have in a degree been cultivated, if +not by the liberal, at least by the mechanic arts. In fact, the +principal colonies-which we find these countries to have received were +sent from Phœnicia, or the Lesser Asia, or Egypt, the great fountains +of the ancient civility and learning. And they became more or less, +earlier or later, polished, as they were situated nearer to or further +from these celebrated sources. Though I am satisfied, from a comparison +of the Celtic tongues with the Greek and Roman, that the original +inhabitants of Italy and Greece were of the same race with the people of +Northern Europe, yet it is certain they profited so much by their +guarded situation, by the mildness of their climate favorable to +humanity, and by the foreign infusions, that they came greatly to excel +the Northern nations in every respect, and particularly in the art and +discipline of war. For, not being so strong in their bodies, partly from +the temperature of their climate, partly from a degree of softness +induced by a more cultivated life, they applied themselves to remove the +few incon<a name="Page_162" id="Page_162" title="162" class="pagenum"></a>veniences of a settled society by the advantages which it +affords in art, disposition, and obedience; and as they consisted of +many small states, their people were well exercised in arms, and +sharpened against each other by continual war.</p> + +<p>Such was the situation of Greece and Italy from a very remote period. +The Gauls and other Northern nations, envious of their wealth, and +despising the effeminacy of their manners, often invaded them with, +numerous, though ill-formed armies. But their greatest and most frequent +attempts were against Italy, their connection with which country alone +we shall here consider. In the course of these wars, the superiority of +the Roman discipline over the Gallic ferocity was at length +demonstrated. The Gauls, notwithstanding the numbers with which their +irruptions were made, and the impetuous courage by which that nation was +distinguished, had no permanent success. They were altogether unskilful +either in improving their victories or repairing their defeats. But the +Romans, being governed by a most wise order of men, perfected by a +traditionary experience in the policy of conquest, drew some advantage +from every turn of fortune, and, victorious or vanquished, persisted in +one uniform and comprehensive plan of breaking to pieces everything +which endangered their safety or obstructed their greatness. For, after +having more than once expelled the Northern invaders out of Italy, they +pursued them over the Alps; and carrying the war into the country of +their enemy, under several able generals, and at last under Caius Cæsar, +they reduced all the Gauls from the Mediterranean Sea to the Rhine and +the Ocean. During the prog<a name="Page_163" id="Page_163" title="163" class="pagenum"></a>ress of this decisive war, some of the +maritime nations of Gaul had recourse for assistance to the neighboring +island of Britain. Prom thence they received considerable succors; by +which means this island first came to be known with any exactness by the +Romans, and first drew upon it the attention of that victorious people.</p> + +<p>Though Cæsar had reduced Gaul, he perceived clearly that a great deal +was still wanting to make his conquest secure and lasting. That +extensive country, inhabited by a multitude of populous and fierce +nations, had been rather overrun than conquered. The Gauls were not yet +broken to the yoke, which they bore with murmuring and discontent. The +ruins of their own strength were still considerable; and they had hopes +that the Germans, famous for their invincible courage and their ardent +love of liberty, would be at hand powerfully to second any endeavors for +the recovery of their freedom; they trusted that the Britons, of their +own blood, allied in manners and religion, and whose help they had +lately experienced, would not then be wanting to the same cause. Cæsar +was not ignorant of these dispositions. He therefore judged, that, if he +could confine the attention of the Germans and Britons to their own +defence, so that the Gauls, on which side soever they turned, should +meet nothing but the Roman arms, they must soon be deprived of all hope, +and compelled to seek their safety in an entire submission.</p> + +<p>These were the public reasons which made the invasion of Britain and +Germany an undertaking, at that particular time, not unworthy a wise and +able general. But these enterprises, though reasonab<a name="Page_164" id="Page_164" title="164" class="pagenum"></a>le in themselves, +were only subservient to purposes of more importance, and which he had +more at heart. Whatever measures he thought proper to pursue on the side +of Germany, or on that of Britain, it was towards Rome that he always +looked, and to the furtherance of his interest there that all his +motions were really directed. That republic had receded from many of +those maxims by which her freedom had been hitherto preserved under the +weight of so vast an empire. Rome now contained many citizens of immense +wealth, eloquence, and ability. Particular men were more considered than +the republic; and the fortune and genius of the Roman people, which +formerly had been thought equal to everything, came now to be less +relied upon than the abilities of a few popular men. The war with the +Gauls, as the old and most dangerous enemy of Rome, was of the last +importance; and Cæsar had the address to obtain the conduct of it for a +term of years, contrary to one of the most established principles of +their government. But this war was finished before that term was +expired, and before the designs which he entertained against the liberty +of his country were fully ripened. It was therefore necessary to find +some pretext for keeping his army on foot; it was necessary to employ +them in some enterprise that might at once raise his character, keep his +interest alive at Rome, endear him to his troops, and by that means +weaken the ties which held them to their country.</p> + +<p>From this motive, colored by reasons plausible and fit to be avowed, he +resolved in one and the same year, and even when that was almost +expired, upon two expeditions, the objects of which lay at a great +distance from each other, and were as yet untouched by the Roman arms. +And first he resolved to pass the Rhine, and penet<a name="Page_165" id="Page_165" title="165" class="pagenum"></a>rate into Germany.</p> + +<p>Cæsar spent but twenty-eight days in his German expedition. In ten he +built his admirable bridge across the Rhine; in eighteen he performed +all he proposed by entering that country. When the Germans saw the +barrier of their river so easily overcome, and Nature herself, as it +were, submitted to the yoke, they were struck with astonishment, and +never after ventured to oppose the Romans in the field. The most +obnoxious of the German countries were ravaged, the strong awed, the +weak taken into protection. Thus an alliance being formed, always the +first step of the Roman policy, and not only a pretence, but a means, +being thereby acquired of entering the country upon any future occasion, +he marched back through Gaul to execute a design of much the same nature +and extent in Britain.</p> + +<p>The inhabitants of that island, who were divided into a great number of +petty nations, under a very coarse and disorderly frame of government, +did not find it easy to plan any effectual measures for their defence.<span class="sidenote">B.C. 55.</span> +In order, however, to gain time in this exigency, they sent ambassadors +to Cæsar with terms of submission. Cæsar could not colorably reject +their offers. But as their submission rather clashed than coincided with +his real designs, he still persisted in his resolution of passing over +into Britain; and accordingly embarked with the infantry of two legions +at the port of Itium.<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor" title=" Some think this port to be Witsand, others Boulogne.">[5]</a> His landing was obstinately disputed by the +natives, and brought on a very hot and doubtful engagement. But the +superior dispositions of so accomplished a commander, the resources of +the Roman discipline, and the effect of the military engines on <a name="Page_166" id="Page_166" title="166" class="pagenum"></a>the +unpractised minds of a barbarous people prevailed at length over the +best resistance which could be made by rude numbers and mere bravery. +The place where the Romans first entered this island was somewhere near +Deal, and the time fifty-five years before the birth of Christ.</p> + +<p>The Britons, who defended their country with so much resolution in the +engagement, immediately after it lost all their spirit. They had laid no +regular plan, for their defence. Upon their first failure they seamed to +have no resources left. On the slightest loss they betook themselves to +treaty and submission; upon the least appearance in their favor they +were as ready to resume their arms, without any regard to their former +engagements: a conduct which demonstrates that our British ancestors had +no regular polity with a standing coercive power. The ambassadors which +they sent to Cæsar laid all the blame of a war carried on by great +armies upon the rashness of their young men, and they declared that the +ruling people had no share in these hostilities. This is exactly the +excuse which the savages of America, who have no regular government, +make at this day upon the like occasions; but it would be a strange +apology from one of the modern states of Europe that had employed armies +against another. Cæsar reprimanded them for the inconstancy of their +behavior, and ordered them to bring hostages to secure their fidelity, +together with provisions for his army. But whilst the Britons were +engaged in the treaty, and on that account had free access to the Roman +camp, they easily observed that the army of the invaders was neither +numerous nor well provided; and having about the same time received +intelligenc<a name="Page_167" id="Page_167" title="167" class="pagenum"></a>e that the Roman fleet had suffered in a storm, they again +changed their measures, and came to a resolution of renewing the war. +Some prosperous actions against the Roman foraging parties inspired them +with great confidence. They were betrayed by their success into a +general action in the open field. Here the disciplined troops obtained +an easy and complete victory; and the Britons were taught the error of +their conduct at the expense of a terrible slaughter.</p> + +<p>Twice defeated, they had recourse once more to submission. Cæsar, who +found the winter approaching, provisions scarce, and his fleet not fit +to contend with that rough and tempestuous sea in a winter voyage, +hearkened to their proposals, exacting double the number of the former +hostages. He then set sail with his whole army.</p> + +<p>In this first expedition into Britain, Cæsar did not make, nor indeed +could he expect, any considerable advantage. He acquired a knowledge of +the sea-coast, and of the country contiguous to it; and he became +acquainted with the force, the manner of fighting, and the military +character of the people. To compass these purposes he did not think a +part of the summer ill-bestowed. But early in the next he prepared to +make a more effective use of the experience he had gained. He embarked +again at the same port, but with a more numerous army. The Britons, on +their part, had prepared more regularly for their defence in this than +the former year. Several of those states which were nearest and most +exposed to the danger had, during Cæsar's absence, combined for their +common safety, and chosen Cassibelan, a chief of power and reputation, +for the leader of their union. They seemed reso<a name="Page_168" id="Page_168" title="168" class="pagenum"></a>lved to dispute the +landing of the Romans with their former intrepidity. But when they +beheld the sea covered, as far as the eye could reach, with the +multitude of the enemy's ships, (for they were eight hundred sail,) they +despaired of defending the coast, they retired into the woods' and +fastnesses, and Cæsar landed his army without opposition.</p> + +<p>The Britons now saw the necessity of altering their former method of +war. They no longer, therefore, opposed the Romans in the open field; +they formed frequent ambuscades; they divided themselves into light +flying parties, and continually harassed the enemy on his march. This +plan, though in their circumstances the most judicious, was attended +with no great success. Cæsar forced some of their strongest +intrenchments, and then carried the war directly into the territories of +Cassibelan.</p> + +<p>The only fordable passage which he could find over the Thames was +defended by a row of palisadoes which lined the opposite bank; another +row of sharpened stakes stood under water along the middle of the +stream. Some remains of these works long subsisted, and were to be +discerned in the river<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor" title=" Coway Stakes, near Kingston-on-Thames.">[6]</a> down almost to the present times. The Britons +had made the best of the situation; but the Romans plunged into the +water, tore away the stakes and palisadoes, and obtained a complete +victory. The capital, or rather chief fastness, of Cassibelan was then +taken, with a number of cattle, the wealth of this barbarous city. After +these misfortunes the Britons were no longer in a condition to act with +effect. Their ill-success in the field soon dissolved the ill-cemented +union of th<a name="Page_169" id="Page_169" title="169" class="pagenum"></a>eir councils. They split into factions, and some of them +chose the common enemy for their protector, insomuch that, after some +feeble and desultory efforts, most of the tribes to the southward of the +Thames submitted themselves to the conqueror. Cassibelan, worsted in so +many encounters, and deserted by his allies, was driven at length to sue +for peace. A tribute was imposed; and as the summer began to wear away, +Cæsar, having finished the war to his satisfaction, embarked for Gaul.</p> + +<p>The whole of Cæsar's conduct in these two campaigns sufficiently +demonstrates that he had no intention of making an absolute conquest of +any part of Britain. Is it to be believed, that, if he had formed such +a design, he would have left Britain without an army, without a legion, +without a single cohort, to secure his conquest, and that he should sit +down contented with an empty glory and the tribute of an indigent +people, without any proper means of securing a continuance of that small +acquisition? This is not credible. But his conduct here, as well as in +Germany, discovers his purpose in both expeditions: for by them he +confirmed the Roman dominion in Gaul, he gained time to mature his +designs, and he afforded his party in Rome an opportunity of promoting +his interest and exaggerating his exploits, which they did in such a +manner as to draw from the Senate a decree for a very remarkable +acknowledgment of his services in a supplication or thanksgiving of +twenty days. This attempt, not being pursued, stands single, and has +little or no connection with the subsequent events.</p> + +<p>Therefore I shall in this place, where the narrative will be the least +broken, insert from the best authorities which are left, and the best +conjectures which in so obscure a matter I am able to form, some account +of the first peopling of this island, the manners of its inhabitants, +their art of war, their religious and civil discipline. These are +matters not only worthy of attention as containing a very remarkable +piece of antiquity, but as not wholly unnecessary towards comprehending +the great change made in all these points, when the Roman conquest came +afterwards to be completed.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Some think this port to be Witsand, others Boulogne.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> Coway Stakes, near Kingston-on-Thames.</p></div> +</div> + +<p><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170" title="170" class="pagenum"></a><a name="BOOK_I_CHAPTER_II" id="BOOK_I_CHAPTER_II"></a></p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3>CHAPTER II.<br /> +<br /> +SOME ACCOUNT OF THE ANCIENT INHABITANTS OF BRITAIN.</h3> + + +<p>That Britain was first peopled from Gaul we are assured by the best +proofs,—proximity of situation, and resemblance in language and +manners. Of the time in which this event happened we must be contented +to remain in ignorance, for we have no monuments. But we may conclude +that it was a very ancient settlement, since the Carthaginians found +this island inhabited when they traded hither for tin,—as the +Phœnicians, whose tracks they followed in this commerce, are said to +have done long before them. It is true, that, when we consider the short +interval between the universal deluge and that period, and compare it +with the first settlement of men at such a distance from this corner of +the world, it may seem not easy to reconcile such a claim to antiquity +with the only authentic <a name="Page_171" id="Page_171" title="171" class="pagenum"></a>account we have of the origin and progress of +mankind,—especially as in those early ages the whole face of Nature was +extremely rude and uncultivated, when the links of commerce, even in the +countries first settled, were few and weak, navigation imperfect, +geography unknown, and the hardships of travelling excessive. But the +spirit of migration, of which we have now only some faint ideas, was +then strong and universal, and it fully compensated all these +disadvantages. Many writers, indeed, imagine that these migrations, so +common in the primitive times, were caused by the prodigious increase of +people beyond what their several territories could maintain. But this +opinion, far from being supported, is rather contradicted by the +general appearance of things in that early time, when in every country +vast tracts of land were suffered to lie almost useless in morasses and +forests. Nor is it, indeed, more countenanced by the ancient modes of +life, no way favorable to population. I apprehend that these first +settled countries, so far from being overstocked with inhabitants, were +rather thinly peopled, and that the same causes which occasioned that +thinness occasioned also those frequent migrations which make so large a +part of the first history of almost all nations. For in these ages men +subsisted chiefly by pasturage or hunting. These are occupations which +spread the people without multiplying them in proportion; they teach +them an extensive knowledge of the country; they carry them frequently +and far from their homes, and weaken those ties which might attach them +to any particular habitation.</p> + +<p>It was in a great degree from this manner of life that mankind became +scattered in the earliest times over the whole globe. But their peaceful +<a name="Page_172" id="Page_172" title="172" class="pagenum"></a>occupations did not contribute so much to that end as their wars, which +were not the less frequent and violent because the people were few, and +the interests for which they contended of but small importance. Ancient +history has furnished us with many instances of whole nations, expelled +by invasion, falling in upon others, which they have entirely +overwhelmed,—more irresistible in their defeat and ruin than in their +fullest prosperity. The rights of war were then exercised with great +inhumanity. A cruel death, or a servitude scarcely less cruel, was the +certain fate of all conquered people; the terror of which hurried men +from habitations to which they were but little attached, to seek +security and repose under any climate that, however in other respects +undesirable, might afford them refuge from the fury of their enemies. +Thus the bleak and barren regions of the North, not being peopled by +choice, were peopled as early, in all probability, as many of the milder +and more inviting climates of the Southern world; and thus, by a +wonderful disposition of the Divine Providence, a life of hunting, which +does not contribute to increase, and war, which is the great instrument +in the destruction of men, were the two principal causes of their being +spread so early and so universally over the whole earth. From what is +very commonly known of the state of North America, it need not be said +how often and to what distance several of the nations on that continent +are used to migrate, who, though thinly scattered, occupy an immense +extent of country. Nor are the causes of it less obvious,—their hunting +life, and their inhuman wars.</p> + +<p>Such migrations, sometimes by choice, more frequently from<a name="Page_173" id="Page_173" title="173" class="pagenum"></a> necessity, +were common in the ancient world. Frequent necessities introduced a +fashion which subsisted after the original causes. For how could it +happen, but from some universally established public prejudice, which +always overrules and stifles the private sense of men, that a whole +nation should deliberately think it a wise measure to quit their country +in a body, that they might obtain in a foreign land a settlement which +must wholly depend upon the chance of war? Yet this resolution was taken +and actually pursued by the entire nation of the Helvetii, as it is +minutely related by Cæsar. The method of reasoning which led them to it +must appear to us at this day utterly inconceivable. They were far from +being compelled to this extraordinary migration by any want of +subsistence at home; for it appears that they raised, without +difficulty, as much corn in one year as supported them for two; they +could not complain of the barrenness of such a soil.</p> + +<p>This spirit of migration, which grew out of the ancient manners and +necessities, and sometimes operated like a blind instinct, such as +actuates birds of passage, is very sufficient to account for the early +habitation of the remotest parts of the earth, and in some sort also +justifies that claim which has been so fondly made by almost all nations +to great antiquity.</p> + +<p>Gaul, from whence Britain was originally peopled, consisted of three +nations: the Belgæ, towards the north; the Celtæ, in the middle +countries; and the Aquitani, to the south. Britain appears to have +received its people only from the two former. From the Celtæ were +derived the most ancient tribes of the Britons, of which the most +considerable were called Brigantes. The Belgæ, who did not even settle +in Gaul until after Britain had been<a name="Page_174" id="Page_174" title="174" class="pagenum"></a> peopled by colonies from the +former, forcibly drove the Brigantes into the inland countries, and +possessed the greatest part of the coast, especially to the south and +west. These latter, as they entered the island in a more improved age, +brought with them the knowledge and practice of agriculture, which, +however, only prevailed in their own countries. The Brigantes still +continued their ancient way of life by pasturage and hunting. In this +respect alone they differed: so that what we shall say, in treating of +their manners, is equally applicable to both. And though the Britons +were further divided into an innumerable multitude of lesser tribes and +nations, yet all being the branches of these two stocks, it is not to +our purpose to consider them more minutely.</p> + +<p>Britain was in the time of Julius Cæsar what it is at this day, in +climate and natural advantages, temperate and reasonably fertile. But +destitute of all those improvements which in a succession of ages it has +received from ingenuity, from commerce, from riches and luxury, it then +wore a very rough and savage appearance. The country, forest or marsh; +the habitations, cottages; the cities, hiding-places in woods; the +people naked, or only covered with skins; their sole employment, +pasturage and hunting. They painted their bodies for ornament or terror, +by a custom general amongst all savage nations, who, being passionately +fond of show and finery, and having no object but their naked bodies on +which to exercise this disposition, have in all times painted or cut +their skins, according to their ideas of ornament. They shaved the beard +on the chin; that on the upper lip was suffered to remain, and grow to +an extraordinary length, to favor the martial appearance, in which they +placed their glory. Th<a name="Page_175" id="Page_175" title="175" class="pagenum"></a>ey were in their natural temper not unlike the +Gauls, impatient, fiery, inconstant, ostentatious, boastful, fond of +novelty,—and like all barbarians, fierce, treacherous, and cruel. Their +arms were short javelins, small shields of a slight texture, and great +cutting swords with a blunt point, after the Gaulish fashion.</p> + +<p>Their chiefs went to battle in chariots, not unartfully contrived nor +unskilfully managed. I cannot help thinking it something extraordinary, +and not easily to be accounted for, that the Britons should have been so +expert in the fabric of those chariots, when they seem utterly ignorant +in all other mechanic arts: but thus it is delivered to us. They had +also horse, though of no great reputation, in their armies. Their foot +was without heavy armor; it was no firm body, nor instructed to preserve +their ranks, to make their evolutions, or to obey their commanders; but +in tolerating hardships, in dexterity of forming ambuscades, (the art +military of savages,) they are said to have excelled. A natural ferocity +and an impetuous onset stood them in the place of discipline.</p> + +<p>It is very difficult, at this distance of time, and with so little +information, to discern clearly what sort of civil government prevailed +among the ancient Britons. In all very uncultivated countries, as +society is not close nor intricate, nor property very valuable, liberty +subsists with few restraints. The natural equality of mankind appears +and is asserted, and therefore there are but obscure lines of any form +of government. In every society of this sort the natural connections are +the same as in others, though the political ties are weak. Among such +barbarians, therefore, though there is little authority in the +magistrate, there is often great powe<a name="Page_176" id="Page_176" title="176" class="pagenum"></a>r lodged, or rather left, in the +father: for, as among the Gauls, so among the Britons, he had the power +of life and death in his own family, over his children and his servants.</p> + +<p>But among freemen and heads of families, causes of all sorts seem to +have been decided by the Druids: they summoned and dissolved all the +public assemblies; they alone had the power of capital punishments, and +indeed seem to have had the sole execution and interpretation of +whatever laws subsisted among this people. In this respect the Celtic +nations did not greatly differ from others, except that we view them in +an earlier stage of society. Justice was in all countries originally +administered by the priesthood: nor, indeed, could laws in their first +feeble state have either authority or sanction, so as to compel men to +relinquish their natural independence, had they not appeared to come +down to them enforced by beings of more than human power. The first +openings of civility have been everywhere made by religion. Amongst the +Romans, the custody and interpretation of the laws continued solely in +the college of the pontiffs for above a century.<a name="FNanchor_A_7" id="FNanchor_A_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_7" class="fnanchor" title=" _Digest. Lib. I. Tit. ii. De Origine et Progressu Juris, § +6._">[7]</a></p> + +<p>The time in which the Druid priesthood was instituted is unknown. It +probably rose, like other institutions of that kind, from low and +obscure beginnings, and acquired from time, and the labors of able men, +a form by which it extended itself so far, and attained at length so +mighty an influence over the minds of a fierce and otherwise +ungovernable people. Of the place where it arose there is somewhat less +doubt: Cæsar mentions it as the common opinion that this institution +began in Britain, that there it always remained in the highest +perfection, and that from th<a name="Page_177" id="Page_177" title="177" class="pagenum"></a>ence it diffused itself into Gaul. I own I +find it not easy to assign any tolerable cause why an order of so much +authority and a discipline so exact should have passed from the more +barbarous people to the more civilized, from the younger to the older, +from the colony to the mother country: but it is not wonderful that the +early extinction of this order, and that general contempt in which the +Romans held all the barbarous nations, should have left these matters +obscure and full of difficulty.</p> + +<p>The Druids were kept entirely distinct from the body of the people; and +they were exempted from all the inferior and burdensome offices of +society, that they might be at leisure to attend the important duties of +their own charge. They were chosen out of the best families, and from +the young men of the most promising talents: a regulation which placed +and preserved them in a respectable light with the world. None were +admitted into this order but after a long and laborious novitiate, which +made the character venerable in their own eyes by the time and +difficulty of attaining it. They were much devoted to solitude, and +thereby acquired that abstracted and thoughtful air which is so imposing +upon the vulgar; and when they appeared in public, it was seldom, and +only on some great occasion,—in the sacrifices of the gods, or on the +seat of judgment. They prescribed medicine; they formed the youth; they +paid the last honors to the dead; they foretold events; they exercised +themselves in magic. They were at once the priests, lawgivers, and +physicians of their nation, and consequently concentred in themselves +all that respect that men hav<a name="Page_178" id="Page_178" title="178" class="pagenum"></a>e diffusively for those who heal their +diseases, protect their property, or reconcile them to the Divinity. +What contributed not a little to the stability and power of this order +was the extent of its foundation, and the regularity and proportion of +its structure. It took in both sexes; and the female Druids were in no +less esteem for their knowledge and sanctity than the males. It was +divided into several subordinate ranks and classes; and they all +depended upon a chief or Arch-Druid, who was elected to his place with +great authority and preeminence for life. They were further armed with a +power of interdicting from their sacrifices, or excommunicating, any +obnoxious persons. This interdiction, so similar to that used by the +ancient Athenians, and to that since practised among Christians, was +followed by an exclusion from all the benefits of civil community; and +it was accordingly the most dreaded of all punishments. This ample +authority was in general usefully exerted; by the interposition of the +Druids differences were composed, and wars ended; and the minds of the +fierce Northern people, being reconciled to each other under the +influence of religion, united with signal effect against their common +enemies.</p> + +<p>There was a class of the Druids whom they called Bards, who delivered in +songs (their only history) the exploits of their heroes, and who +composed those verses which contained the secrets of Druidical +discipline, their principles of natural and moral philosophy, their +astronomy, and the mystical rites of their religion. These verses in all +probability bore a near resemblance to the Golden Verses of +Pythagoras,—to those of Phocylides, Orpheus, and other remnants of the +most ancient Greek poets. The Druids, even in Gaul, where they were not +altogether ignorant of the use of letters, in ord<a name="Page_179" id="Page_179" title="179" class="pagenum"></a>er to preserve their +knowledge in greater respect, committed none of their precepts to +writing. The proficiency of their pupils was estimated principally by +the number of technical verses which they retained in their memory: a +circumstance that shows this discipline rather calculated to preserve +with accuracy a few plain maxims of traditionary science than to improve +and extend it. And this is not the sole circumstance which leads us to +believe that among them learning had advanced no further than its +infancy.</p> + +<p>The scholars of the Druids, like those of Pythagoras, were carefully +enjoined a long and religious silence: for, if barbarians come to +acquire any knowledge, it is rather by instruction than, examination; +they must therefore be silent. Pythagoras, in the rude times of Greece, +required silence in his disciples; but Socrates, in the meridian of the +Athenian refinement, spoke less than his scholars: everything was +disputed in the Academy.</p> + +<p>The Druids are said to be very expert in astronomy, in geography, and in +all parts of mathematical knowledge; and authors speak in a very +exaggerated strain of their excellence in these, and in many other +sciences. Some elemental knowledge I suppose they had; but I can +scarcely be persuaded that their learning was either deep or extensive. +In all countries where Druidism was professed, the youth, were generally +instructed by that order; and yet was there little either in the manners +of the people, in their way of life, or their works of art, that +demonstrates profound science or particularly ma<a name="Page_180" id="Page_180" title="180" class="pagenum"></a>thematical skill. +Britain, where their discipline was in its highest perfection, and which +was therefore resorted to by the people of Gaul as an oracle in +Druidical questions, was more barbarous in all other respects than Gaul +itself, or than any other country then known in Europe. Those piles of +rude magnificence, Stonehenge and Abury, are in vain produced in proof +of their mathematical abilities. These vast structures have nothing +which can be admired, but the greatness of the work; and they are not +the only instances of the great things which the mere labor of many +hands united, and persevering in their purpose, may accomplish with very +little help from mechanics. This may be evinced by the immense +buildings and the low state of the sciences among the original +Peruvians.</p> + +<p>The Druids were eminent above all the philosophic lawgivers of antiquity +for their care in impressing the doctrine of the soul's immortality on +the minds of their people, as an operative and leading principle. This +doctrine was inculcated on the scheme of Transmigration, which some +imagine them to have derived from Pythagoras. But it is by no means +necessary to resort to any particular teacher for an opinion which owes +its birth to the weak struggles of unenlightened reason, and to mistakes +natural to the human mind. The idea of the soul's immortality is indeed +ancient, universal, and in a manner inherent in our nature; but it is +not easy for a rude people to conceive any other mode of existence than +one similar to what they had experienced in life, nor any other world as +the scene of such an existence but this we inhabit, beyond the bounds of +which the mind extends itself <a name="Page_181" id="Page_181" title="181" class="pagenum"></a>with great difficulty. Admiration, indeed, +was able to exalt to heaven a few selected heroes: it did not seem +absurd that those who in their mortal state had distinguished themselves +as superior and overruling spirits should after death ascend to that +sphere which influences and governs everything below, or that the proper +abode of beings at once so illustrious and permanent should be in that +part of Nature in which they had always observed the greatest splendor +and the least mutation. But on ordinary occasions it was natural some +should imagine that the dead retired into a remote country, separated +from the living by seas or mountains. It was natural that some should +follow their imagination with a simplicity still purer, and pursue the +souls of men no further than the sepulchres in which their bodies had +been deposited;<a name="FNanchor_7_8" id="FNanchor_7_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_8" class="fnanchor" title=" Cic. Tusc. Quest. Lib. I">[8]</a> whilst others of deeper penetration, observing that +bodies worn out by age or destroyed by accident still afforded the +materials for generating new ones, concluded likewise that a soul being +dislodged did not wholly perish, but was destined, by a similar +revolution in Nature, to act again, and to animate some other body. This +last principle gave rise to the doctrine of Transmigration: but we must +not presume of course, that, where it prevailed, it necessarily excluded +the other opinions; for it is not remote from the usual procedure of the +human mind, blending in obscure matters imagination and reasoning +together, to unite ideas the most inconsistent. When Homer represents +the ghosts of his heroes appearing at the sacrifices of Ulysses, he +supposes them endued with life, sensation, and a capacity of moving; but +he has <a name="Page_182" id="Page_182" title="182" class="pagenum"></a>joined to these powers of living existence uncomeliness, want of +strength, want of distinction, the characteristics of a dead carcass. +This is what the mind is apt to do: it is very apt to confound the ideas +of the surviving soul and the dead body. The vulgar have always and +still do confound these very irreconcilable ideas. They lay the scene of +apparitions in churchyards; they habit the ghost in a shroud; and it +appears in all the ghastly paleness of a corpse. A contradiction of this +kind has given rise to a doubt whether the Druids did in reality hold +the doctrine of Transmigration. There is positive testimony that they +did hold it; there is also testimony as positive that they buried or +burned with the dead utensils, arms, slaves, and whatever might be +judged useful to them, as if they were to be removed into a separate +state. They might have held both these opinions; and we ought not to be +surprised to find error inconsistent.</p> + +<p>The objects of the Druid worship were many. In this respect they did not +differ from other heathens: but it must be owned that in general their +ideas of divine matters were more exalted than those of the Greeks and +Romans, and that they did not fall into an idolatry so coarse and +vulgar. That their gods should be represented under a human form they +thought derogatory to beings uncreated and imperishable. To confine what +can endure no limits within walls and roofs they judged absurd and +impious. In these particulars there was something refined and suitable +enough to a just idea of the Divinity. But the rest was not equal. Some +notions they had, like the greatest part of mankind, of a Being eternal +and infinite; but they also, like the greatest part of mankind, paid +their worship to inferior objects, from the nature of ignorance and +<a name="Page_183" id="Page_183" title="183" class="pagenum"></a>superstition always tending downwards.</p> + +<p>The first and chief objects of their worship were the elements,—and of +the elements, fire, as the most pure, active, penetrating, and what +gives life and energy to all the rest. Among fires, the preference was +given to the sun, as the most glorious visible being, and the fountain +of all life. Next they venerated the moon and the planets. After fire, +water was held in reverence. This, when pure, and ritually prepared, was +supposed to wash away all sins, and to qualify the priest to approach +the altar of the gods with more acceptable prayers: washing with water +being a type natural enough of inward cleansing and purity of mind. +They also worshipped fountains and lakes and rivers.</p> + +<p>Oaks were regarded by this sect with a particular veneration, as, by +their greatness, their shade, their stability, and duration, not ill +representing the perfections of the Deity. From the great reverence in +which they held this tree, it is thought their name of Druids is +derived: the word Deru, in the Celtic language, signifying an oak. But +their reverence was not wholly confined to this tree. All forests were +held sacred; and many particular plants were respected, as endued with a +particular holiness. No plant was more revered than the mistletoe, +especially if it grew on the oak,—not only because it is rarely found +upon that tree, but because the oak was among the Druids peculiarly +sacred. Towards the end of the year they searched for this plant, and +when it was found great rejoicing ensued; it was approached with, +reverence; it was cut with a golden hook; it was not suffered to fall to +the ground, but received with great care and solemnity upon a white +garment.</p><p><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184" title="184" class="pagenum"></a></p> + +<p>In ancient times, and in all countries, the profession of physic was +annexed to the priesthood. Men imagined that all their diseases were +inflicted by the immediate displeasure of the Deity, and therefore +concluded that the remedy would most probably proceed from those who +were particularly employed in his service. Whatever, for the same +reason, was found of efficacy to avert or cure distempers was considered +as partaking somewhat of the Divinity. Medicine was always joined with +magic: no remedy was administered without mysterious ceremony and +incantation. The use of plants and herbs, both in medicinal and magical +practices, was early and general. The mistletoe, pointed out by its very +peculiar appearance and manner of growth, must have struck powerfully on +the imaginations of a superstitious people. Its virtues may have been +soon discovered. It has been fully proved, against the opinion of +Celsus, that internal remedies were of very early use.<a name="FNanchor_8_9" id="FNanchor_8_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_9" class="fnanchor" title=" See this point in the Divine Legation of Moses.">[9]</a> Yet if it had +not, the practice of the present savage nations supports the probability +of that opinion. By some modern authors the mistletoe is said to be of +signal service in the cure of certain convulsive distempers, which, by +their suddenness, their violence, and their unaccountable symptoms, have +been ever considered as supernatural. The epilepsy was by the Romans for +that reason called <i>morbus sacer</i>; and all other nations have regarded +it in the same light. The Druids also <a name="Page_185" id="Page_185" title="185" class="pagenum"></a>looked upon vervain, and some +other plants, as holy, and probably for a similar reason.</p> + +<p>The other objects of the Druid worship were chiefly serpents, in the +animal world, and rude heaps of stone, or great pillars without polish +or sculpture, in the inanimate. The serpent, by his dangerous qualities, +is not ill adapted to inspire terror,—by his annual renewals, to raise +admiration,—by his make, easily susceptible of many figures, to serve +for a variety of symbols,—and by all, to be an object of religious +observance: accordingly, no object of idolatry has been more +universal.<a name="FNanchor_9_10" id="FNanchor_9_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_10" class="fnanchor" title="[Greek: Para panti nomizominôn par' humin theon ophis +sumbolon mega kai mysterion anagraphetai.]—Justin Martyr, in +Stillingfleet's Origines Sacræ.">[10]</a> And this is so natural, that serpent-veneration seems to +be rising again, even in the bosom of Mahometanism.<a name="FNanchor_10_11" id="FNanchor_10_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_11" class="fnanchor" title=" Norden's Travels.">[11]</a></p> + +<p>The great stones, it has been supposed, were originally monuments of +illustrious men, or the memorials of considerable actions,—or they were +landmarks for deciding the bounds of fixed property. In time the memory +of the persons or facts which these stones were erected to perpetuate +wore away; but the reverence which custom, and probably certain +periodical ceremonies, had preserved for those places was not so soon +obliterated. The monuments themselves then came to be venerated,—and +not the less because the reason for venerating them was no longer known. +The landmark was in those times held sacred on account of its great +uses, and easily passed into an object of worship. Hence the god +Terminus amongst the Romans. This religious observance towards rude +stones is one of the most ancient and universal of all customs. Traces +of it are to be found in almost all, and especially in these Northern +nations; and to this d<a name="Page_186" id="Page_186" title="186" class="pagenum"></a>ay, in Lapland, where heathenism is not yet +entirely extirpated, their chief divinity, which they call +<i>Storjunkare,</i> is nothing more than a rude stone.<a name="FNanchor_11_12" id="FNanchor_11_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_12" class="fnanchor" title=" Scheffer's Lapland, p. 92, the translation.">[12]</a></p> + +<p>Some writers among the moderns, because the Druids ordinarily made no +use of images in their worship, have given into an opinion that their +religion was founded on the unity of the Godhead. But this is no just +consequence. The spirituality of the idea, admitting their idea to have +been spiritual, does not infer the unity of the object. All the ancient +authors who speak of this order agree, that, besides those great and +more distinguishing objects of their worship already mentioned they had +gods answerable to those adored by the Romans. And we know that the +Northern nations, who overran the Roman Empire, had in fact a great +plurality of gods, whose attributes, though not their names, bore a +close analogy to the idols of the Southern world.</p> + +<p>The Druids performed the highest act of religion by sacrifice, agreeably +to the custom of all other nations. They not only offered up beasts, but +even human victims: a barbarity almost universal in the heathen world, +but exercised more uniformly, and with circumstances of peculiar +cruelty, amongst those nations where the religion of the Druids +prevailed. They held that the life of a man was the only atonement for +the life of a man. They frequently inclosed a number of wretches, some +captives, some criminals, and, when these were wanting, even innocent +victims, in a gigantic statue of wicker-work, to which they set fire, +and invoked their deities amidst the horrid cries and shrieks of the +sufferers, and the shouts of those who assisted at this <a name="Page_187" id="Page_187" title="187" class="pagenum"></a>tremendous rite.</p> + +<p>There were none among the ancients more eminent for all the arts of +divination than the Druids. Many of the superstitious practices in use +to this day among the country people for discovering their future +fortune seem to be remains of Druidism. Futurity is the great concern of +mankind. Whilst the wise and learned look back upon experience and +history, and reason from things past about events to come, it is natural +for the rude and ignorant, who have the same desires without the same +reasonable means of satisfaction, to inquire into the secrets of +futurity, and to govern their conduct by omens, dreams, and prodigies. +The Druids, as well as the Etruscan and Roman priesthood, attended with +diligence the flight of birds, the pecking of chickens, and the entrails +of their animal sacrifices. It was obvious that no contemptible +prognostics of the weather were to be taken from certain motions and +appearances in birds and beasts.<a name="FNanchor_12_13" id="FNanchor_12_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_13" class="fnanchor" title=" Cic. de Divinatione, Lib. I.">[13]</a> A people who lived mostly in the +open air must have been well skilled in these observations. And as +changes in the weather influenced much the fortune of their huntings or +their harvests, which were all their fortunes, it was easy to apply the +same prognostics to every event by a transition very natural and common; +and thus probably arose the science of auspices, which formerly guided +the deliberations of councils and the motions of armies, though now they +only serve, and scarcely serve, to amuse the vulgar.</p> + +<p>The Druid temple is represented to have been nothing more than a +consecrated wood. The ancients speak of no other. But monuments remain +<a name="Page_188" id="Page_188" title="188" class="pagenum"></a>which show that the Druids were not in this respect wholly confined to +groves. They had also a species of building which in all probability was +destined to religious use. This sort of structure was, indeed, without +walls or roof. It was a colonnade, generally circular, of huge, rude +stones, sometimes single, sometimes double, sometimes with, often +without, an architrave. These open temples were not in all respects +peculiar to the Northern nations. Those of the Greeks, which were +dedicated to the celestial gods, ought in strictness to have had no +roof, and were thence called <i>hypæthra</i>.<a name="FNanchor_13_14" id="FNanchor_13_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_14" class="fnanchor" title=" Decor.... perficitur statione,.... cum Jovi Fulguri, et +Cœlo, et Soli, et Lunæ ædificia sub divo hypæthraque constituentur. +Horum enim deorum et species et effectus in aperto mundo atque lucenti +præsentes videmus.—Vitruv. de Architect. p. 6. de Laet. Antwerp.">[14]</a></p> + +<p>Many of these monuments remain in the British islands, curious for +their antiquity, or astonishing for the greatness of the work: enormous +masses of rock, so poised as to be set in motion with the slightest +touch, yet not to be pushed from their place by a very great power; vast +altars, peculiar and mystical in their structure, thrones, basins, heaps +or cairns; and a variety of other works, displaying a wild industry, and +a strange mixture of ingenuity and rudeness. But they are all worthy of +attention,—not only as such monuments often clear up the darkness and +supply the defects of history, but as they lay open a noble field of +speculation for those who study the changes which have happened in the +manners, opinions, and sciences of men, and who think them as worthy of +regard as the fortune of wars and the revolutions of kingdoms.</p> + +<p>The short account which I have here given does not contain the whole of +what is handed down to us by ancient writers, or discovered by modern +research, concerning this remarkable order. But I have selected those +which appear to me the most striking features, and such as throw the +strongest light on the genius and true character of the Druidical +institution. In some respects it was undoubtedly very singular; it stood +out more from the body of the people than the priesthood of other +nations; and their knowledge and policy appeared the more striking by +being contrasted with the great simplicity and rudeness of the people +over whom they presided. But, notwithstanding some peculiar appearances +and practices, it is impossible not to perceive a great conformity +between this and the ancient orders which have been established for the +purposes of religion in almost all countries. For, to say nothing of the +resemblance which many have traced between this and the Jewish +priesthood, the Persian Magi, and the Indian Brahmans, it did not so +greatly differ from the Roman priesthood, either in the original objects +or in the general mode of worship, or in the constitution of their +hierarchy. In the original institution neither of these nations had the +use of images; the rules of the Salian as well as Druid discipline were +delivered in verse; both orders were under an elective head; and both +were for a long time the lawyers of their country. So that, when the +order of Druids was suppressed by the Emperors, it was rather from a +dread of an influence incompatible with the Roman government than from +any dislike of their religious opinions.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_7" id="Footnote_A_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> <i>Digest. Lib. I. Tit. ii. De Origine et Progressu Juris, § +6.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_8" id="Footnote_7_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Cic. Tusc. Quest. Lib. I</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_9" id="Footnote_8_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> See this point in the Divine Legation of Moses.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_10" id="Footnote_9_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a><span title="[Greek: Para panti nomizominôn par' humin theon ophis +sumbolon mega kai mysterion anagraphetai.]">Παρὰ παντὶ νομιζομίνων παρ' ὑμῖν θεῶν ὄφις σύμβολον μέγα καὶ +μιστήριον ἀναγράφεται</span>—Justin Martyr, in +Stillingfleet's Origines Sacræ.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_11" id="Footnote_10_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> Norden's Travels.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_12" id="Footnote_11_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> Scheffer's Lapland, p. 92, the translation.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_13" id="Footnote_12_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> Cic. de Divinatione, Lib. I.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_14" id="Footnote_13_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> Decor.... perficitur statione,.... cum Jovi Fulguri, et +Cœlo, et Soli, et Lunæ ædificia sub divo hypæthraque constituentur. +Horum enim deorum et species et effectus in aperto mundo atque lucenti +præsentes videmus.—Vitruv. de Architect. p. 6. de Laet. Antwerp.</p></div> +</div> + +<p><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189" title="189" class="pagenum"></a></p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190" title="190" class="pagenum"></a></p> +<h3><a name="BOOK_I_CHAPTER_III" id="BOOK_I_CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.<br /> +<br /> +THE REDUCTION OF BRITAIN BY THE ROMANS.</h3> + + +<p>The death of Cæsar, and the civil wars which ensued, afforded foreign +nations some respite from the Roman ambition. Augustus, having restored +peace to mankind, seems to have made it a settled maxim of his reign not +to extend the Empire. He found himself at the head of a new monarchy; +and he was more solicitous to confirm it by the institutions of sound +policy than to extend the bounds of its dominion. In consequence of this +plan Britain was neglected.</p> + +<p>Tiberius came a regular successor to an established government. But his +politics were dictated rather by his character than his situation. He +was a lawful prince, and he acted on the maxims of an usurper. Having +made it a rule never to remove far from the capital, and jealous of +every reputation which seemed too great for the measure of a subject, he +neither undertook any enterprise of moment in his own person nor cared +to commit the conduct of it to another. There was little in a British +triumph that could affect a temper like that of Tiberius.</p> + +<p>His successor, Caligula, was not influenced by this, nor indeed by any +regular system; for, having undertaken an expedition to Britain without +any determinate view, he abandoned it on the point of execution without +reason. And adding ridicule to his disgrace, his soldiers returned to +Rome loaded with shells. These spoils he displayed as the ornaments of a +triumph which he celebrated over the Ocean,—if in all these particulars +we may trust to the historians of that time, who relate things almost +<a name="Page_191" id="Page_191" title="191" class="pagenum"></a>incredible of the folly of their masters and the patience of the Roman +people.</p> + +<p>But the Roman people, however degenerate, still retained much of their +martial spirit; and as the Emperors held their power almost entirely by +the affection of the soldiery, they found themselves often obliged to +such enterprises as might prove them no improper heads of a military +constitution. An expedition to Britain was well adapted to answer all +the purposes of this ostentatious policy. The country was remote and +little known, so that every exploit there, as if achieved in another +world, appeared at Rome with double pomp and lustre; whilst the sea, +which divided Britain from the continent, prevented a failure in that +island from being followed by any consequences alarming to the body of +the Empire. A pretext was not wanting to this war. The maritime Britons, +while the terror of the Roman arms remained fresh, upon their minds, +continued regularly to pay the tribute imposed by Cæsar. But the +generation which experienced that war having passed away, that which +succeeded felt the burden, but knew from rumor only the superiority +which had imposed it; and being very ignorant, as of all things else, so +of the true extent of the Roman power, they were not afraid to provoke +it by discontinuing the payment of the tribute.</p> + +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 43</span>This gave occasion to the Emperor Claudius, ninety-seven years after the +first expedition of Cæsar, to invade Britain in person, and with a great +army. But he, having rather surveyed than conducted the war, left in a +short time the management of it to his legate, Plautius, who <a name="Page_192" id="Page_192" title="192" class="pagenum"></a>subdued +without much difficulty those countries which lay to the southward of +the Thames, the best cultivated and most accessible parts of the island. +But the inhabitants of the rough inland countries, the people called +Cattivellauni, made a more strenuous opposition. They were under the +command of Caractacus, a chief of great and just renown amongst all the +British nations. This leader wisely adjusted his conduct of the war to +the circumstances of his savage subjects and his rude country. Plautius +obtained no decisive advantages over him. He opposed Ostorius Scapula, +who succeeded that general, with the same bravery, but with unequal +success; for he was, after various turns of fortune, obliged to abandon +his dominions, which Ostorius at length subdued and disarmed.</p> + +<p>This bulwark of the British freedom being overturned, Ostorius was not +afraid to enlarge his plan. Not content with disarming the enemies of +Rome, he proceeded to the same extremities with those nations who had +been always quiet, and who, under the name of an alliance, lay ripening +for subjection. This fierce people, who looked upon their arms as their +only valuable possessions, refused to submit to terms as severe as the +most absolute conquest could impose. They unanimously entered into a +league against the Romans. But their confederacy was either not +sufficiently strong or fortunate to resist so able a commander, and only +afforded him an opportunity, from a more comprehensive victory, to +extend the Roman province a considerable way to the northern and western +parts of the island. The frontiers of this acquisition, which extended +along the rivers Severn and Nen, he secured by a chain of forts and +stations; th<a name="Page_193" id="Page_193" title="193" class="pagenum"></a>e inland parts he quieted by the settlement of colonies of +his veteran troops at Maldon and Verulam: and such was the beginning of +those establishments which afterwards became so numerous in Britain. +This commander was the first who traced in this island a plan of +settlement and civil policy to concur with his military operations. For, +after he had settled these colonies, considering with what difficulty +any and especially an uncivilized people are broke into submission to a +foreign government, he imposed it on some of the most powerful of the +British nations in a more indirect manner. He placed them under kings of +their own race; and whilst he paid this compliment to their pride, he +secured their obedience by the interested fidelity of a prince who knew, +that, as he owed the beginning, so he depended for the duration of his +authority wholly upon their favor. Such was the dignity and extent of +the Roman policy, that they could number even royalty itself amongst +their instruments of servitude.</p> + +<p>Ostorius did not confine himself within the boundaries of these rivers. +He observed that the Silures, inhabitants of South Wales, one of the +most martial tribes in Britain, were yet unhurt and almost untouched by +the war. He could expect to make no progress to the northward, whilst an +enemy of such importance hung upon his rear,—especially as they were +now commanded by Caractacus, who preserved the spirit of a prince, +though he had lost his dominions, and fled from nation to nation, +wherever he could find a banner erected against the Romans. His +character obtained him reception and command.</p> + +<p>Though the Silures, thus headed, did everything that became their +martial reputation, both in the choice and defence of their posts, the +Roma<a name="Page_194" id="Page_194" title="194" class="pagenum"></a>ns, by their discipline and the weight and excellence of their arms, +prevailed over the naked bravery of this gallant people, and defeated +them in a great battle. <span class="sidenote">A.D. 51</span>Caractacus was soon after betrayed into their +hands, and conveyed to Rome. The merit of the prisoner was the sole +ornament of a triumph celebrated over an indigent people headed by a +gallant chief. The Romans crowded eagerly to behold the man who, with +inferior forces, and in an obscure corner of the world, had so many +years stood up against the weight of their empire.</p> + +<p>As the arts of adulation improved in proportion as the real grandeur of +Rome declined, this advantage was compared to the greatest conquests in +the most flourishing times of the Republic: and so far as regarded the +personal merit of Caractacus, it could not be too highly rated. Being +brought before the emperor, he behaved with such manly fortitude, and +spoke of his former actions and his present condition with so much plain +sense and unaffected dignity, that he moved the compassion of the +emperor, who remitted much of that severity which the Romans formerly +exercised upon their captives. Rome was now a monarchy, and that fierce +republican spirit was abated which had neither feeling nor respect for +the character of unfortunate sovereigns.</p> + +<p>The Silures were not reduced by the loss of Caractacus, and the great +defeat they had suffered. They resisted every measure of force or +artifice that could be employed against them, with the most generous +obstinacy: a resolution in which they were confirmed by some imprudent +words of the legate, threatening to extirpate, or, what appeared to them +scarcely less dreadful, to transplant their nat<a name="Page_195" id="Page_195" title="195" class="pagenum"></a>ion. Their natural +bravery thus hardened into despair, and inhabiting a country very +difficult of access, they presented an impenetrable barrier to the +progress of that commander; insomuch that, wasted with continual cares, +and with the mortification to find the end of his affairs so little +answerable to the splendor of their beginning, Ostorius died of grief, +and left all things in confusion.</p> + +<p>The legates who succeeded to his charge did little more for about sixty +years than secure the frontiers of the Roman province. But in the +beginning of Nero's reign the command in Britain was devolved on +Suetonius Paulinus, a soldier of merit and experience, who, when he +came to view the theatre of his future operations, and had well +considered the nature of the country, discerned evidently that the war +must of necessity be protracted to a great length, if he should be +obliged to penetrate into every fastness to which the enemy retired, and +to combat their flying parties one by one. He therefore resolved to make +such a blow at the head as must of course disable all the inferior +members.</p> + +<p>The island then called Mona, now Anglesey, at that time was the +principal residence of the Druids. Here their councils were held, and +their commands from hence were dispersed among all the British nations. +Paulinus proposed, in reducing this their favorite and sacred seat, to +destroy, or at least greatly to weaken, the body of the Druids, and +thereby to extinguish the great actuating principle of all the Celtic +people, and that which was alone capable of communicating order and +energy to their operations.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196" title="196" class="pagenum"></a>Whilst the Roman troops were passing that strait which divides this +island from the continent of Britain, they halted on a sudden,—not +checked by the resistance of the enemy, but suspended by a spectacle of +an unusual and altogether surprising nature. On every side of the +British army were seen bands of Druids in their most sacred habits +surrounding the troops, lifting their hands to heaven, devoting to death +their enemies, and animating their disciples to religious frenzy by the +uncouth ceremonies of a savage ritual, and the horrid mysteries of a +superstition familiar with blood. The female Druids also moved about in +a troubled order, their hair dishevelled, their garments torn, torches +in their hands, and, with an horror increased by the perverted softness +of their sex, howled out the same curses and incantations with greater +clamor.<a name="FNanchor_14_15" id="FNanchor_14_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_15" class="fnanchor" title=" There is a curious instance of a ceremony not unlike this +in a fragment of an ancient Runic history, which it may not be +disagreeable to compare with this part of the British manners. "Ne vero +regent ex improviso adoriretur Ulafus, admoto sacculo suo, eundem +quatere cœpit, carmen simul magicum obmurmurans, hac verborum +formula: Duriter increpetur cum tonitru; stringant Cyclopia tela; +injiciant manum Parcæ; ... acriter excipient monticolæ genii plurimi, +atque gigantes ... contundent; quatient; procellæ ..., disrumpent +lapides navigium ejus...."—Hickesii Thesaur. Vol. II. p. 140.">[15]</a> Astonished at this sight, the Romans for some time neither +advanced nor returned the darts of the enemy. But at length, rousing +from their trance, and animating each other with the shame of yielding +to the impotence of female and fanatical fury, they found the resistance +by no means proportioned to the horror and solemnity of the +preparations. These overstrained efforts had, as frequently happens, +exhausted the spirits of the men, and stifled that ardor they were +intended to kindle. The Britons were defeated; and Paulinus, pretending +to detest<a name="Page_197" id="Page_197" title="197" class="pagenum"></a> the barbarity of their superstition, in reality from the +cruelty of his own nature, and that he might cut off the occasion of +future disturbances, exercised the most unjustifiable severities on this +unfortunate people. He burned the Druids in their own fires; and that no +retreat might be afforded to that order, their consecrated woods were +everywhere destroyed. Whilst he was occupied in this service, a general +rebellion broke out, which his severity to the Druids served rather to +inflame than allay.</p> + +<p>From the manners of the republic a custom had been ingrafted into the +monarchy of Rome altogether unsuitable to that mode of government. In +the time of the Commonwealth, those who lived in a dependent and +cliental relation on the great men used frequently to show marks of +their acknowledgment by considerable bequests at their death. But when +all the scattered powers of that state became united in the emperor, +these legacies followed the general current, and flowed in upon the +common patron. In the will of every considerable person he inherited +with the children and relations, and such devises formed no +inconsiderable part of his revenue: a monstrous practice, which let an +absolute sovereign into all the private concerns of his subjects, and +which, by giving the prince a prospect of one day sharing in all the +great estates, whenever he was urged by avarice or necessity, naturally +pointed out a resource by an anticipation always in his power. This +practice extended into the provinces. A king of the Iceni<a name="FNanchor_15_16" id="FNanchor_15_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_16" class="fnanchor" title=" Inhabitants of Norfolk and Suffolk.">[16]</a> had +devised a considerable part of<a name="Page_198" id="Page_198" title="198" class="pagenum"></a> his substance to the emperor. But the +Roman procurator, not satisfied with entering into his master's portion, +seized upon the rest,—and pursuing his injustice to the most horrible +outrages, publicly scourged Boadicea, queen to the deceased prince, and +violated his daughters. These cruelties, aggravated by the shame and +scorn that attended them,—the general severity of the government,—the +taxes, (new to a barbarous people,) laid on without discretion, extorted +without mercy, and, even when respited, made utterly ruinous by +exorbitant usury,—the farther mischiefs they had to dread, when more +completely reduced,—all these, with, the absence of the legate and the +army on a remote expedition, provoked all the tribes of the Britons, +provincials, allies, enemies, to a general insurrection. The command of +this confederacy was conferred on Boadicea, as the first in rank, and +resentment of injuries. They began by cutting off a Roman legion; then +they fell upon the colonies of Camelodunum and Verulam, and with a +barbarous fury butchered the Romans and their adherents to the number of +seventy thousand.</p> + +<p>An end had been now put to the Roman power in this island, if Paulinus, +with unexampled vigor and prudence, had not conducted his army through +the midst of the enemy's country from Anglesey to London. There uniting +the soldiers that remained dispersed in different garrisons, he formed +an army of ten thousand men, and marched to attack the enemy in the +height of their success and security. The army of the Britons is said to +have amounted to two hundred and thirty thousand; but it was ill +composed, and without choice or order,—women, boys, old men, +priests,—full of presumption, tumult, and confusion. Boadicea was at +their head,—a woman of masculine spirit, but precipitant, and without +any military knowledge.</p><p><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199" title="199" class="pagenum"></a></p> + +<p>The event was such as might have been expected. Paulinus, having chosen +a situation favorable to the smallness of his numbers, and encouraged +his troops not to dread a multitude whose weight was dangerous only to +themselves, piercing into the midst of that disorderly crowd, after a +blind and furious resistance, obtained a complete victory. Eighty +thousand Britons fell in this battle.</p> + +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 61</span>Paulinus improved the terror this slaughter had +produced by the unparalleled severities which he exercised. This method +would probably have succeeded to subdue, but at the same time to +depopulate the nation, if such loud complaints had not been made at Rome +of the legate's cruelty as procured his recall.</p> + +<p>Three successive legates carried on the affairs of Britain during the +latter part of Nero's reign, and during the troubles occasioned by the +disputed succession. But they were all of an inactive character. The +victory obtained by Paulinus had disabled the Britons from any new +attempt. Content, therefore, with recovering the Roman province, these +generals compounded, as it were, with the enemy for the rest of the +island. They caressed the troops; they indulged them in their +licentiousness; and not being of a character to repress the seditions +that continually arose, they submitted to preserve their ease and some +shadow of authority by sacrificing the most material parts of it. And +thus they continued, soldiers and commanders, by a sort of compact, in a +common neglect of all duty on the frontiers of the Empire, in the face +of a bold and incensed enemy.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200" title="200" class="pagenum"></a></p> + +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 69<br /> +A.D. 71</span>But when Vespasian arrived to the head of affairs, he caused the vigor +of his government to be felt in Britain, as he had done in all the other +parts of the Empire. He was not afraid to receive great services. His +legates, Cerealis and Frontinus, reduced the Silures and Brigantes,—one +the most warlike, the other the most numerous people in the island. But +its final reduction and perfect settlement were reserved for Julius +Agricola, a man by whom, it was a happiness for the Britons to be +conquered. He was endued with all those bold and popular virtues which +would have given him the first place in the times of the free Republic; +and he joined to them all that reserve and moderation which enabled him +to fill great offices with safety, and made him a good subject under a +jealous despotism.</p> + +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 84.</span>Though the summer was almost spent when he arrived in Britain, knowing +how much the vigor and success of the first stroke influences all +subsequent measures, he entered immediately into action. After reducing +some tribes, Mona became the principal object of his attention. The +cruel ravages of Paulinus had not entirely effaced the idea of sanctity +which the Britons by a long course of hereditary reverence had annexed +to that island: it became once more a place of consideration by the +return of the Druids. Here Agricola observed a conduct very different +from that of his predecessor, Paulinus: the island, when he had reduced +it, was treated with great lenity. Agricola was a man of humanity and +virtue: he pitied the condition and respected the prejudices of the +conquered. This behavior facilitated the progres<a name="Page_201" id="Page_201" title="201" class="pagenum"></a>s of his arms, insomuch +that in less than two campaigns all the British nations comprehended in +what we now call England yielded themselves to the Roman government, as +soon as they found that peace was no longer to be considered as a +dubious blessing. Agricola carefully secured the obedience of the +conquered people by building forts and stations in the most important +and commanding places. Having taken these precautions for securing his +rear, he advanced northwards, and, penetrating into Caledonia as far as +the river Tay, he there built a <i>prætentura</i>, or line of forts, between +the two friths, which are in that place no more than twenty miles +asunder. The enemy, says Tacitus, was removed as it were into another +island. And this line Agricola seems to have destined as the boundary +of the Empire. For though in the following year he carried his arms +further, and, as it is thought, to the foot of the Grampian Mountains, +and there defeated a confederate army of the Caledonians, headed by +Galgacus, one of their most famous chiefs, yet he built no fort to the +northward of this line: a measure which he never omitted, when he +intended to preserve his conquests. The expedition of that summer was +probably designed only to disable the Caledonians from attempting +anything against this barrier. But he left them their mountains, their +arms, and their liberty: a policy, perhaps, not altogether worthy of so +able a commander. He might the more easily have completed the conquest +of the whole island by means of the fleet which he equipped to coöperate +with his land forces in that expedition. This fleet sailed quite round +Britain, which had not been before, by any certain proof, known to be an +island: a circumnavigation, in that immature state of naval skill, of +little less fame than a voyage round the globe in the present a<a name="Page_202" id="Page_202" title="202" class="pagenum"></a>ge.</p> + +<p>In the interval between his campaigns Agricola was employed in the great +labors of peace. He knew that the general must be perfected by the +legislator, and that the conquest is neither permanent nor honorable +which is only an introduction to tyranny. His first care was the +regulation of his household, which under former legates had been always +full of faction and intrigue, lay heavy on the province, and was as +difficult to govern. He never suffered his private partialities to +intrude into the conduct of public business, nor in appointing to +employments did he permit solicitation to supply the place of merit, +wisely sensible that a proper choice of officers is almost the whole of +government. He eased the tribute of the province, not so much by +reducing it in quantity as by cutting off all those vexatious practices +which attended the levying of it, far more grievous than the imposition +itself. Every step in securing the subjection of the conquered country +was attended with the utmost care in providing for its peace and +internal order. Agricola reconciled the Britons to the Roman government +by reconciling them to the Roman manners. He moulded that fierce nation +by degrees to soft and social customs, leading them imperceptibly into a +fondness for baths, for gardens, for grand houses, and all the +commodious elegancies of a cultivated life. He diffused a grace and +dignity over this new luxury by the introduction of literature. He +invited instructors in all the arts and sciences from Rome; and he sent +the principal youth of Britain to that city to be educated at his own +expense. In short, he subdued the Britons by civilizing them, and made +<a name="Page_203" id="Page_203" title="203" class="pagenum"></a>them exchange a savage liberty for a polite and easy subjection. His +conduct is the most perfect model for those employed in the unhappy, but +sometimes necessary task, of subduing a rude and free people.</p> + +<p>Thus was Britain, after a struggle of fifty-four years, entirely bent +under the yoke, and moulded into the Roman Empire. How so stubborn an +opposition, could have been so long maintained against the greatest +power on earth by a people ill armed, worse united, without revenues, +without discipline, has justly been deemed an object of wonder. Authors +are generally contented with attributing it to the extraordinary bravery +of the ancient Britons. But certainly the Britons fought with armies as +brave as the world ever saw, with superior discipline, and more +plentiful resources.</p> + +<p>To account for this opposition, we must have recourse to the general +character of the Roman politics at this time. War, during this period, +was carried on upon principles very different from, those that actuated +the Republic. Then one uniform spirit animated one body through whole +ages. With whatever state they were engaged, the war was so prosecuted +as if the republic could not subsist, unless that particular enemy were +totally destroyed. But when the Roman dominion had arrived to as great +an extent as could well be managed, and that the ruling power had more +to fear from disaffection to the government than from enmity to the +Empire, with regard <a name="Page_204" id="Page_204" title="204" class="pagenum"></a>to foreign affairs common rules and a moderate +policy took place. War became no more than a sort of exercise for the +Roman forces.<a name="FNanchor_16_17" id="FNanchor_16_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_17" class="fnanchor" title=" Rem Romanam huc satietate gloriæ provectam, ut externis +quoque gentibus quietem velit.—Tacit. Annal. XII. 11.">[17]</a> Even whilst they were declaring war they looked +towards an accommodation, and were satisfied with reasonable terms when +they concluded it. Their politics were more like those of the present +powers of Europe, where kingdoms seek rather to spread their influence +than to extend their dominion, to awe and weaken rather than to destroy. +Under unactive and jealous princes the Roman legates seldom dared to +push the advantages they had gained far enough to produce a dangerous +reputation.<a name="FNanchor_17_18" id="FNanchor_17_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_18" class="fnanchor" title=" Nam duces, ubi impetrando triumphalium insigni sufficere +res suas crediderant, hostam omittebant.—Tacit. Annal. IV. 23.">[18]</a> They wisely stopped, when they came to the verge of +popularity. And these emperors fearing as much from the generals as +their generals from them, such frequent changes were made in the +command that the war was never systematically carried on. Besides, the +change of emperors (and their reigns were not long) almost always +brought on a change of measures; and the councils even of the same reign +were continually fluctuating, as opposite court factions happened to +prevail. Add to this, that during the commotions which followed the +death of Nero the contest for the purple turned the eyes of the world +from every other object. All persons of consequence interested +themselves in the success of some of the contending parties; and the +legates in Britain, suspended in expectation of the issue of such mighty +quarrels, remained unactive till it could be determined for what master +they were to conquer.</p> + +<p>On the side of the Roman government these seem to have been some of the +causes which so long protracted the fate of Britain. Others arose from +the nature of the country itself, and <a name="Page_205" id="Page_205" title="205" class="pagenum"></a>from the manners of its +inhabitants. The country was then extremely woody and full of morasses. +There were originally no roads. The motion of armies was therefore +difficult, and communication in many cases impracticable. There were no +cities, no towns, no places of cantonment for soldiers; so that the +Roman forces were obliged to come into the field late and to leave it +early in the season. They had no means to awe the enemy, and to prevent +their machinations during the winter. Every campaign they had nearly the +same work to begin. When a civilized nation suffers some great defeat, +and loses some place critically situated, such is the mutual dependence +of the several parts by commerce, and by the orders of a well-regulated +community, that the whole is easily secured. A long-continued state of +war is unnatural to such a nation. They abound with artisans, with +traders, and a number of settled and unwarlike people, who are less +disturbed in their ordinary course by submitting to almost any power +than in a long opposition; and as this character diffuses itself through +the whole nation, they find it impossible to carry on a war, when they +are deprived of the usual resources. But in a country like ancient +Britain there are as many soldiers as inhabitants. They unite and +disperse with ease. They require no pay nor formal subsistence; and the +hardships of an irregular war are not very remote from their ordinary +course of life. Victories are easily obtained over such a rude people, +but they are rarely decisive; and the final conquest becomes a work of +time and patience. All that can be done is to facilitate communication +by roads, and to secure the principal avenues and the most remarkable +posts on the navigable rivers by forts and stations. To conquer the +people, you must subdue the nature of the country. The Romans at length +effected this; <a name="Page_206" id="Page_206" title="206" class="pagenum"></a>but until this was done, they never were able to make a +perfect conquest.</p> + +<p>I shall now add something concerning the government the Romans settled +here, and of those methods which they used to preserve the conquered +people under an entire subjection. Those nations who had either +passively permitted or had been instrumental in the conquest of their +fellow-Britons were dignified with the title of allies, and thereby +preserved their possessions, laws, and magistrates: they were subject to +no kind of charge or tribute. But as their league was not equal, and +that they were under the protection, of a superior power, they were +entirely divested of the right of war and peace; and in many cases an +appeal lay to Rome in consequence of their subordinate and dependent +situation. This was the lightest species of subjection; and it was +generally no more than a step preparatory to a stricter government.</p> + +<p>The condition of those towns and communities called <i>municipia</i>, by +their being more closely united to the greater state, seemed to partake +a degree less of independence. They were adopted citizens of Rome; but +whatever was detracted from their ancient liberty was compensated by a +more or less complete possession of the privileges which constituted a +Roman city, according to the merits which had procured their adoption. +These cities were models of Rome in little; their courts and magistrates +were the same; and though they were at liberty to retain their old laws, +and to make new at their pleasure, they commonly conformed to those of +Rome. The <i>municipia</i> were not subject to tribute.</p> + +<p>When a whole people had resisted the<a name="Page_207" id="Page_207" title="207" class="pagenum"></a> Roman power with great obstinacy, +had displayed a readiness to revolt upon every occasion, and had +frequently broken their faith, they were reduced into what the Romans +called the form of a province: that is, they lost their laws, their +liberties, their magistrates; they forfeited the greatest part of their +lands; and they paid a heavy tribute for what they were permitted to +retain.</p> + +<p>In these provinces the supreme government was in the prætor sent by the +senate, who commanded the army, and in his own person exercised the +judicial power. Where the sphere of his government was large, he deputed +his legates to that employment, who judged according to the standing +laws of the republic, aided by those occasional declarations of law +called the prætorial edicts. The care of the revenue was in the quæstor. +He was appointed to that office in Rome; but when he acted in a judicial +capacity, it was always by commission from the prætor of the +province.<a name="FNanchor_18_19" id="FNanchor_18_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_19" class="fnanchor" title=" Sigonii de Antiquo Jure Provinciarum, Lib. 1 and 2.">[19]</a> Between these magistrates and all others who had any share +in the provincial government the Roman manners had established a kind of +sacred relation, as inviolable as that of blood.<a name="FNanchor_19_20" id="FNanchor_19_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_20" class="fnanchor" title=" Cic. in Verrem, I.">[20]</a> All the officers +were taught to look up to the prætor as their father, and to regard each +other as brethren: a firm and useful bond of concord in a virtuous +administration; a dangerous and oppressive combination in a bad one. +But, like all the Roman institutions, it operated strongly towards its +principal purpose, the security of dominion, which is by nothing so much +exposed as the <a name="Page_208" id="Page_208" title="208" class="pagenum"></a>factions and competitions of the officers, when the +governing party itself gives the first example of disobedience.</p> + +<p>On the overthrow of the Commonwealth, a remarkable revolution ensued in +the power and the subordination of these magistrates. For, as the prince +came alone to possess all that was by a proper title either imperial or +prætorial authority, the ancient prætors dwindled into his legates, by +which the splendor and importance of that dignity were much diminished. +The business of the quæstor at this time seems to have been transferred +to the emperor's procurator. The whole of the public revenue became part +of the fisc, and was considered as the private estate of the prince. But +the old office under this new appellation rose in proportion as the +prætorship had declined. For the procurator seems to have drawn to +himself the cognizance of all civil, while capital cases alone were +reserved for the judgment of the legate.<a name="FNanchor_20_21" id="FNanchor_20_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_21" class="fnanchor" title=" Duobus insuper inserviendum tyrannis; quorum legatus in +sanguinem, procurator in bona sæviret—Tacit. Annal. XII. 60.">[21]</a> And though his power was at +first restrained within narrow bounds, and all his judgments were +subject to a review and reversal by the prætor and the senate, he +gradually grew into independence of both, and was at length by Claudius +invested with a jurisdiction absolutely uncontrollable. Two causes, I +imagine, joined to produce this change: first, the sword was in the +hands of the legate; the policy of the emperors, in order to balance +this dangerous authority, thought too much weight could not be thrown +into the scale of the p<a name="Page_209" id="Page_209" title="209" class="pagenum"></a>rocurator: secondly, as the government was now +entirely despotical, a connection between the inferior officers of the +empire and the senate<a name="FNanchor_21_22" id="FNanchor_21_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_22" class="fnanchor" title=" Ne vim principatus resolveret cuncta ad senatum vocando, +eam conditionem esse imperandi, ut non aliter ratio constet, quam si uni +reddatur.—Tacit. Annal. I. 6.">[22]</a> was found to shock the reason of that absolute +mode of government, which extends the sovereign power in all its fulness +to every officer in his own district, and renders him accountable to his +master alone for the abuse of it.</p> + +<p>The veteran soldiers were always thought entitled to a settlement in the +country which had been subdued by their valor. The whole legion, with +the tribunes, the centurions, and all the subordinate officers, were +seated on an allotted portion of the conquered lands, which were +distributed among them according to their rank. These colonies were +disposed throughout the conquered country, so as to sustain each other, +to surround the possessions that were left to the conquered, to mix with +the <i>municipia</i> or free towns, and to overawe the allies. Rome extended +herself by her colonies into every part of her empire, and was +everywhere present. I speak here only of the military colonies, because +no other, I imagine, were ever settled in Britain.</p> + +<p>There were few countries of any considerable extent in which all these +different modes of government and different shades and gradations of +servitude did not exist together. There were allies, <i>municipia</i>, +provinces, and colonies in this island, as elsewhere; and those +dissimilar parts, far from being discordant, united to make a firm and +compact body, the motion of any member of which could only serve to +confirm and establish the whole; and when time was given to this +structure to coalesce and settle, it was found impossible to break any +part of it from the Empire.</p><p><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210" title="210" class="pagenum"></a></p> + +<p>By degrees the several parts blended and softened into one another. And +as the remembrance of enmity, on the one hand, wore away by time, so, on +the other, the privileges of the Roman citizens at length became less +valuable. When, nothing throughout so vast an extent of the globe was of +consideration but a single man, there was no reason to make any +distinction amongst his subjects. Claudius first gave the full rights of +the city to all the Gauls. Under Antoninus Rome opened her gates still +wider. All the subjects of the Empire were made partakers of the same +common rights. The provincials flocked in; even slaves were no sooner +enfranchised than they were advanced to the highest posts; and the plan +of comprehension, which had overturned the republic, strengthened the +monarchy.</p> + +<p>Before the partitions were thus broken down, in order to support the +Empire, and to prevent commotions, they had a custom of sending spies +into all the provinces, where, if they discovered any provincial laying +himself out for popularity, they were sure of finding means, for they +scrupled none, to repress him. It was not only the prætor, with his +train of lictors and apparitors, the rods and the axes, and all the +insolent parade of a conqueror's jurisdiction; every private Roman +seemed a kind of magistrate: they took cognizance of all their words and +actions, and hourly reminded them of that jealous and stern authority, +so vigilant to discover and so severe to punish the slightest deviations +from obedience.</p> + +<p>As they had framed the action <i>de pecuniis repetundis</i> against the +avarice and rapacity of the provincial governors, they made at length a +law<a name="FNanchor_22_23" id="FNanchor_22_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_23" class="fnanchor" title=" Tacit. Annal. XV. 21, 22.">[23]</a> which, one may say, was ag<a name="Page_211" id="Page_211" title="211" class="pagenum"></a>ainst their virtues. For they +prohibited them from receiving addresses of thanks on their +administration, or any other public mark of acknowledgment, lest they +should come to think that their merit or demerit consisted in the good +or ill opinion of the people over whom they ruled. They dreaded either a +relaxation of government, or a dangerous influence in the legate, from +the exertion of an humanity too popular.</p> + +<p>These are some of the civil and political methods by which the Romans +held their dominion over conquered nations; but even in peace they kept +up a great military establishment. They looked upon the interior country +to be sufficiently secured by the colonies; their forces were therefore +generally quartered on the frontiers. There they had their <i>stativa</i>, or +stations, which were strong intrenched camps, many of them fitted even +for a winter residence. The communication between these camps, the +colonies, and the municipal towns was formed by great roads, which they +called military ways. The two principal of these ran in almost straight +lines, the whole length of England, from north to south. Two others +intersected them from east to west. The remains show them to have been +in their perfection noble works, in all respects worthy the Roman +military prudence and the majesty of the Empire. The Anglo-Saxons called +them streets.<a name="FNanchor_23_24" id="FNanchor_23_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_24" class="fnanchor" title=" The four roads they called Watling Street, Ikenild Street, +Ermin Street, and the Fosseway.">[24]</a> Of all the Roman works, they respected and kept up +these alone. They regarded them, with a sort of sacred reverence, +granting them a peculiar protection and great immunities. Those who +travelled on them were privile<a name="Page_212" id="Page_212" title="212" class="pagenum"></a>ged from arrests in all civil suits.</p> + +<p>As the general character of the Roman government was hard and austere, +it was particularly so in what regarded the revenue. This revenue was +either fixed or occasional. The fixed consisted, first, of an annual tax +on persons and lands, but in what proportion to the fortunes of the one +or the value of the other I have not been able to ascertain. Next was +the imposition called <i>decuma</i>, which consisted of a tenth, and often a +greater portion of the corn of the province, which was generally +delivered in kind. Of all other products a fifth was paid. After this +tenth had been exacted on the corn, they were obliged to sell another +tenth, or a more considerable part, to the prætor, at a price estimated +by himself. Even what remained was still subject to be bought up in the +some manner, and at the pleasure of the same magistrate, who, +independent of these taxes and purchases, received for the use of his +household a large portion of the corn of the province. The most valuable +of the pasture grounds were also reserved to the public, and a +considerable revenue was thence derived, which they called <i>scriptura</i>. +The state made a monopoly of almost the whole produce of the land, which +paid several taxes, and was further enhanced by passing through several +hands before it came to popular consumption.</p> + +<p>The third great branch of the Roman revenue was the <i>portorium</i>, which +did not differ from those impositions which we now call customs and +duties of export and import.</p> + +<p>This was the ordinary revenue; besides which there were occasional +impositions for shipping, for military stores and provisions, and for +defraying the e<a name="Page_213" id="Page_213" title="213" class="pagenum"></a>xpense of the prætor and his legates on the various +circuits they made for the administration of the province. This last +charge became frequently a means of great oppression, and several ways +were from time to time attempted, but with little effect, to confine it +within reasonable bounds.<a name="FNanchor_24_25" id="FNanchor_24_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_25" class="fnanchor" title=" Cod. lib. XII. Tit. lxii.">[25]</a> Amongst the extraordinary impositions must +be reckoned the obligation they laid on the provincials to labor at the +public works, after the manner of what the French call the <i>corvée</i>, and +we term statute-labor.</p> + +<p>As the provinces, burdened by the ordinary charges, were often in no +condition of levying these occasional taxes, they were obliged to borrow +at interest. Interest was then to communities at the same exorbitant +rate as to individuals. No province was free from a most onerous public +debt; and that debt was far from operating like the same engagement +contracted in modern states, by which, as the creditor is thrown into +the power of the debtor, they often add considerably to their strength, +and to the number and attachment of their dependants. The prince in this +latter case borrows from a subject or from a stranger. The one becomes +more the subject, and the other less a stranger. But in the Roman +provinces the subject borrowed from his master, and he thereby doubled +his slavery. The overgrown favorites and wealthy nobility of Rome +advanced money to the provincials; and they were in a condition both to +prescribe the terms of the loan and to enforce the payment. The +provinces groaned at once under all the severity of public imposition +and the rapaciousness of private usury. They were overrun by publicans, +farmers of the taxes, agents, confiscators, usurers, bankers, those +numerous and insatiable bodies which always flourish in a burdened and +complicated revenue. In a word, the taxes in the Roman Empire were so +heavy, and in many respects so injudiciously laid on, that they have +been not improperly considered as one cause of its decay and ruin. The +Roman government, to the very last, carried something of the spirit of +conquest in it; and this system of taxes seems rather calculated for the +utter impoverishment of nations, in whom a long subjection had not worn +away the remembrance of enmity, than for the support of a just +commonwealth.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_15" id="Footnote_14_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> There is a curious instance of a ceremony not unlike this +in a fragment of an ancient Runic history, which it may not be +disagreeable to compare with this part of the British manners. "Ne vero +regent ex improviso adoriretur Ulafus, admoto sacculo suo, eundem +quatere cœpit, carmen simul magicum obmurmurans, hac verborum +formula: Duriter increpetur cum tonitru; stringant Cyclopia tela; +injiciant manum Parcæ; ... acriter excipient monticolæ genii plurimi, +atque gigantes ... contundent; quatient; procellæ ..., disrumpent +lapides navigium ejus...."—Hickesii Thesaur. Vol. II. p. 140.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_16" id="Footnote_15_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> Inhabitants of Norfolk and Suffolk.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_17" id="Footnote_16_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> Rem Romanam huc satietate gloriæ provectam, ut externis +quoque gentibus quietem velit.—Tacit. Annal. XII. 11.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_18" id="Footnote_17_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> Nam duces, ubi impetrando triumphalium insigni sufficere +res suas crediderant, hostam omittebant.—Tacit. Annal. IV. 23.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_19" id="Footnote_18_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> Sigonii de Antiquo Jure Provinciarum, Lib. 1 and 2.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_20" id="Footnote_19_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> Cic. in Verrem, I.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_21" id="Footnote_20_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> Duobus insuper inserviendum tyrannis; quorum legatus in +sanguinem, procurator in bona sæviret—Tacit. Annal. XII. 60.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_22" id="Footnote_21_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> Ne vim principatus resolveret cuncta ad senatum vocando, +eam conditionem esse imperandi, ut non aliter ratio constet, quam si uni +reddatur.—Tacit. Annal. I. 6.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_23" id="Footnote_22_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> Tacit. Annal. XV. 21, 22.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_24" id="Footnote_23_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> The four roads they called Watling Street, Ikenild Street, +Ermin Street, and the Fosseway.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_25" id="Footnote_24_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> Cod. lib. XII. Tit. lxii.</p></div> +</div> + +<p><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214" title="214" class="pagenum"></a></p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="BOOK_I_CHAPTER_IV" id="BOOK_I_CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.<br /> +<br /> +THE FALL OF THE ROMAN POWER IN BRITAIN.</h3> + + +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 117.</span>After the period which we have just closed, no mention is made of the +affairs of Britain until the reign of Adrian. At that time was wrought +the first remarkable change in the exterior policy of Rome. Although +some of the emperors contented themselves with those limits which they +found at their accession, none before this prince had actually +contracted the bounds of the Empire: for, being more perfectly +acquainted with all the countries that composed it than any of his +predecessors, what was strong and what weak, and having formed to +himself a plan wholly defensive, he purposely abandoned several large +tracts of territory, that he might render what remained more solid and +compact.</p> + +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 121. <br />A.D. 140.</span>This plan part<a name="Page_215" id="Page_215" title="215" class="pagenum"></a>icularly affected Britain. All the conquests of Agricola +to the northward of the Tyne were relinquished, and a strong rampart was +built from the mouth of that river, on the east, to Solway Frith, on the +Irish Sea, a length of about eighty miles. But in the reign of his +successor, Antoninus Pius, other reasonings prevailed, and other +measures were pursued. The legate who then commanded in Britain, +concluding that the Caledonians would construe the defensive policy of +Adrian into fear, that they would naturally grow more numerous in a +larger territory, and more haughty when they saw it abandoned to them, +the frontier was again advanced to Agricola's second line, which +extended between the Friths of Forth and Clyde, and the stations which +had been established by that general were connected with a continued +wall.</p> + +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 207<br />A.D. 208<br />A.D. 209</span>From this time those walls become the principal object in the British +history. The Caledonians, or (as they are called) the Picts, made very +frequent and sometimes successful attempts upon this barrier, taking +advantage more particularly of every change in government, whilst the +soldiery throughout the Empire were more intent upon the choice of a +master than the motions of an enemy. In this dubious state of unquiet +peace and unprosecuted war the province continued until Severus came to +the purple, who, finding that Britain had grown into one of the most +considerable provinces of the Empire, and was at the same time in a +dangerous situation, resolved to visit that island in person, and to +provide for its security. He led a vast army into the wilds of +Caledonia, and w<a name="Page_216" id="Page_216" title="216" class="pagenum"></a>as the first of the Romans who penetrated to the most +northern boundary of this island. The natives, defeated in some +engagements, and wholly unable to resist so great and determined a +power, were obliged to submit to such a peace as the emperor thought +proper to impose. Contenting himself with a submission, always cheaply +won from a barbarous people, and never long regarded, Severus made no +sort of military establishment in that country. On the contrary, he +abandoned the advanced work which had been raised in the reign of +Antoninus, and, limiting himself by the plan of Adrian, he either built +a new wall near the former, or he added to the work of that emperor such +considerable improvements and repairs that it has since been called the +Wall of Severus.</p> + +<p>Severus with great labor and charge terrified the Caledonians; but he +did not subdue them. He neglected those easy and assured means of +subjection which the nature of that part of Britain affords to a power +master of the sea, by the bays, friths, and lakes with which it is +everywhere pierced, and in some places almost cut through. A few +garrisons at the necks of land, and a fleet to connect them and to awe +the coast, must at any time have been sufficient irrecoverably to subdue +that part of Britain. This was a neglect in Agricola occasioned probably +by a limited command; and it was not rectified by boundless authority in +Severus. The Caledonians again resumed their arms, and renewed their +ravages on the Roman frontier. Severus died before he could take any new +measures; and from his death there is an almost total silence concerning +the affairs of Britain until the division of the Empire.</p> + +<p>Had the unwieldy mass of that overgrown dom<a name="Page_217" id="Page_217" title="217" class="pagenum"></a>inion been effectively +divided, and divided into large portions, each forming a state, separate +and absolutely independent, the scheme had been far more perfect. Though +the Empire had perished, these states might have subsisted; and they +might have made a far better opposition to the inroads of the barbarians +even than the whole united; since each nation would have its own +strength solely employed in resisting its own particular enemies. For, +notwithstanding the resources which might have been expected from the +entireness of so great a body, it is clear from history that the Romans +were never able to employ with effect and at the same time above two +armies, and that on the whole they were very unequal to the defence of a +frontier of many thousand miles in circuit.</p> + +<p>But the scheme which was pursued, the scheme of joint emperors, holding +by a common title, each governing his proper territory, but not wholly +without authority in the other portions, this formed a species of +government of which it is hard to conceive any just idea. It was a +government in continual fluctuation from one to many, and from many +again to a single hand. Each state did not subsist long enough +independent to fall into those orders and connected classes of men that +are necessary to a regular commonwealth; nor had they time to grow into +those virtuous partialities from which nations derive the first +principle of their stability.</p> + +<p>The events which follow sufficiently illustrate these reflections, and +will show the reason of introducing them in this place, with regard to +the Empire in general, and to Britain more particularly.</p> + +<p>In the division which Diocletian first made of the Roman t<a name="Page_218" id="Page_218" title="218" class="pagenum"></a>erritory, the +western provinces, in which Britain was included, fell to Maximian. It +was during his reign that Britain, by an extraordinary revolution, was +for some time entirely separated from the body of the Empire. Carausius, +a man of obscure birth, and a barbarian, (for now not only the army, but +the senate, was filled with foreigners,) had obtained the government of +Boulogne. He was also intrusted with the command of a fleet stationed in +that part to oppose the Saxon pirates, who then began cruelly to infest +the northwest parts of Gaul and the opposite shore of Britain. But +Carausius made use of the power with which he had been intrusted, not so +much to suppress the pirates as to aggrandize himself. He even permitted +their depredations, that he might intercept them on their return, and +enrich himself with the retaken plunder. By such methods he acquired +immense wealth, which he distributed with so politic a bounty among the +seamen of his fleet and the legions in Britain that by degrees he +disposed both the one and the other to a revolt in his favor.</p> + +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 286<br />A.D. 290<br />A.D. 293</span>As there were then no settled principles either of succession or +election in the Empire, and all depended on the uncertain faith of the +army, Carausius made his attempt, perhaps, with the less guilt, and +found the less difficulty in prevailing upon the provincial Britons to +submit to a sovereignty which seemed to reflect a sort of dignity on +themselves. In this island he established the seat of his new dominion; +but he kept up and augmented his fleet, by which he preserved his +communication with his old government, and commanded the intermediate +seas. He entered into a close alliance with the<a name="Page_219" id="Page_219" title="219" class="pagenum"></a> Saxons and Frisians, by +which he at once preserved his own island from their depredations and +rendered his maritime power irresistible. He humbled the Picts by +several defeats; he repaired the frontier wall, and supplied it with +good garrisons. He made several roads equal to the works of the greatest +emperors. He cut canals, with vast labor and expense, through all the +low eastern parts of Britain, at the same time draining those fenny +countries, and promoting communication and commerce. On these canals he +built several cities. Whilst he thus labored to promote the internal +strength and happiness of his kingdom, he contended with so much success +against his former masters that they were at length obliged not only to +relinquish their right to his acquisition, but to admit him to a +participation of the imperial titles. He reigned after this for seven +years prosperously and with great glory, because he wisely set bounds to +his ambition, and contented himself with the possession of a great +country, detached from the rest of the world, and therefore easily +defended. Had he lived long enough, and pursued this plan with +consistency, Britain, in all probability, might then have become, and +might have afterwards been, an independent and powerful kingdom, +instructed in the Roman arts, and freed from their dominion. But the +same distemper of the state which had raised Carausius to power did not +suffer him long to enjoy it. The Roman soldiery at that time was wholly +destitute of military principle. That religious regard to their oath, +the great bond of ancient discipline, had been long worn out; and the +want of it was not supplied by that punctilio of honor and loyalty which +is the support of modern armies. Carausius was assassinated, and +succeeded in his kingdom by Allectus, the captain of his guards. But the +murderer, who did not possess abilities to support the power he had +acquired by h<a name="Page_220" id="Page_220" title="220" class="pagenum"></a>is crimes, was in a short time defeated, and in his turn +put to death, by Constantius Chlorus. In about three years from the +death of Carausius, Britain, after a short experiment of independency, +was again united to the body of the Empire.</p> + +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 304</span>Constantius, after he came to the purple, chose this island for his +residence. Many authors affirm that his wife Helena was a Briton. It is +more certain that his son Constantine the Great was born here, and +enabled to succeed his father principally by the helps which he derived +from Britain.</p> + +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 306.</span>Under the reign of this great prince there was an almost total +revolution in the internal policy of the Empire. This was the third +remarkable change in the Roman government since the dissolution of the +Commonwealth. The first was that by which Antoninus had taken away the +distinctions of the <i>municipium</i>, province, and colony, communicating to +every part of the Empire those privileges which had formerly +distinguished a citizen of Rome. Thus the whole government was cast into +a more uniform and simple frame, and every mark of conquest was finally +effaced. The second alteration was the division of the Empire by +Diocletian. The third was the change made in the great offices of the +state, and the revolution in religion, under Constantine.</p> + +<p>The <i>præfecti prætorio</i>, who, like the commanders of the janizaries of +the Porte, by their ambition and turbulence had kept the government in +continual ferment, were reduced by the happiest art imaginable.<a name="Page_221" id="Page_221" title="221" class="pagenum"></a> Their +number, only two originally, was increased to four, by which their power +was balanced and broken. Their authority was not lessened, but its +nature was totally changed: for it became from that time a dignity and +office merely civil. The whole Empire was divided into four departments +under these four officers. The subordinate districts were governed by +their <i>vicarii</i>; and Britain, accordingly, was under a vicar, subject to +the <i>præfectus prætorio</i> of Gaul. The military was divided nearly in the +same manner; and it was placed under officers also of a new creation, +the <i>magistri militiæ</i>. Immediately under these were the <i>duces</i>, and +under those the <i>comites</i>, dukes and counts, titles unknown in the time +of the Republic or in the higher Empire; but afterwards they extended +beyond the Roman territory, and having been conferred by the Northern +nations upon their leaders, they subsist to this day, and contribute to +the dignity of the modern courts of Europe.</p> + +<p>But Constantine made a much greater change with regard to religion by +the establishment of Christianity. At what time the Gospel was first +preached in this island I believe it impossible to ascertain, as it came +in gradually, and without, or rather contrary to, public authority. It +was most probably first introduced among the legionary soldiers; for we +find St. Alban, the first British martyr, to have been of that body. As +it was introduced privately, so its growth was for a long time +insensible; but it shot up at length with great vigor, and spread itself +widely, at first under the favor of Constantius and the protection of +Helena, and at length under the establishment of Constantine. From this +time it is to be considered as the ruling religion; though heathenism +subsisted long after, and at last expired imperceptibly, and with as +little noise as Christianity had been at first introduced.</p> +<p><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222" title="222" class="pagenum"></a></p> + + +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 368.</span>In this state, with regard to the civil, military, and religious +establishment, Britain, remained without any change, and at intervals in +a tolerable state of repose, until the reign of Valentinian. Then it was +attacked all at once with incredible fury and success, and as it were in +concert, by a number of barbarous nations. The principal of these were +the Scots, a people of ancient settlement in Ireland, and who had thence +been transplanted into the northern part of Britain, which afterwards +derived its name from that colony. The Scots of both nations united with +the Picts to fall upon the Roman province. To these were added the +piratical Saxons, who issued from the mouths of the Rhine. For some +years they met but slight resistance, and made a most miserable havoc, +until the famous Count Theodosius was sent to the relief of +Britain,—who, by an admirable conduct in war, and as vigorous +application to the cure of domestic disorders, for a time freed the +country from its enemies and oppressors, and having driven the Picts and +Scots into the barren extremity of the island, he shut and barred them +in with a new wall, advanced as far as the remotest of the former, and, +what had hitherto been imprudently neglected, he erected the +intermediate space into a Roman province, and a regular government, +under the name of Valentia. But this was only a momentary relief. The +Empire was perishing by the vices of its constitution.</p> + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 388.</span>Each province was then possessed by the inconsiderate ambition of +appointing a head to the whole; although, when the end was obtained, the +vict<a name="Page_223" id="Page_223" title="223" class="pagenum"></a>orious province always returned to its ancient insignificance, and +was lost in the common slavery. A great army of Britons followed the +fortune of Maximus, whom they had raised to the imperial titles, into +Gaul. They were there defeated; and from their defeat, as it is said, +arose a new people. They are supposed to have settled in Armorica, which +was then, like many other parts of the sickly Empire, become a mere +desert; and that country, from this accident, has been since called +Bretagne.</p> + +<p>The Roman province thus weakened afforded opportunity and encouragement +to the barbarians again to invade and ravage it. Stilicho, indeed during +the minority of Honorius, obtained some advantages over them, which +procured a short intermission of their hostilities. But as the Empire on +the continent was now attacked on all sides, and staggered under the +innumerable shocks which, it received, that minister ventured to recall +the Roman forces from Britain, in order to sustain those parts which he +judged of more importance and in greater danger.</p> + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 411.</span>On the intelligence of this desertion, their barbarous enemies break in +upon the Britons, and are no longer resisted. Their ancient protection +withdrawn, the people became stupefied with terror and despair. They +petition the emperor for succor in the most moving terms. The emperor, +protesting his weakness, commits them to their own defence, absolves +them from, their allegiance, and confers on them a freedom which they +have no longer the sense to value nor the virtue to defend. The princes +whom after this desertion they raised and d<a name="Page_224" id="Page_224" title="224" class="pagenum"></a>eposed with a stupid +inconstancy were styled Emperors. So hard it is to change ideas to which +men have been long accustomed, especially in government, that the +Britons had no notion of a sovereign who was not to be emperor, nor of +an emperor who was not to be master of the Western world. This single +idea ruined Britain. Constantine, a native of this island, one of those +shadows of imperial majesty, no sooner found himself established at home +than, fatally for himself and his country, he turned his eyes towards +the continent. Thither he carried the flower of the British youth,—all +who were any ways eminent for birth, for courage, for their skill in the +military or mechanic arts; but his success was not equal to his hopes or +his forces. The remains of his routed army joined their countrymen in +Armorica, and a baffled attempt upon the Empire a second time recruited +Gaul and exhausted Britain.</p> + +<p>The Scots and Picts, attentive to every advantage, rushed with redoubled +violence into this vacuity. The Britons, who could find no protection +but in slavery, again implore the assistance of their former masters. At +that time Aëtius commanded the imperial forces in Gaul, and with the +virtue and military skill of the ancient Romans supported the Empire, +tottering with age and weakness. Though he was then hard pressed by the +vast armies of Attila, which like a deluge had overspread Gaul, he +afforded them a small and temporary succor. This detachment of Romans +repelled the Scots; they repaired the walls; and animating the Britons +by their example and instructions to maintain their freedom, they +departed. But the Scots easily perceived and took advantage of their +departure. Whilst they ravaged the country, the Britons renewed their +supplications to Aëtius. They once more obtained a reinforcement, which +again reëstablished their affairs. They were, however, given to +understand that this was t<a name="Page_225" id="Page_225" title="225" class="pagenum"></a>o be their last relief. The Roman auxiliaries +were recalled, and the Britons abandoned to their own fortune forever.</p> + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 432.</span>When the Romans deserted this island, they left a country, with regard +to the arts of war or government, in a manner barbarous, but destitute +of that spirit or those advantages with which sometimes a state of +barbarism is attended. They carried out of each province its proper and +natural strength, and supplied it by that of some other, which had no +connection with the country. The troops raised in Britain often served +in Egypt; and those which were employed for the protection of this +island were sometimes from Batavia or Germany, sometimes from provinces +far to the east. Whenever the strangers were withdrawn, as they were +very easily, the province was left in the hands of men wholly +unpractised in war. After a peaceable possession of more than three +hundred years, the Britons derived but very few benefits from their +subjection to the conquerors and civilizers of mankind. Neither does it +appear that the Roman people were at any time extremely numerous in this +island, or had spread themselves, their manners, or their language as +extensively in Britain as they had done in the other parts of their +Empire. The Welsh and the Anglo-Saxon la<a name="Page_226" id="Page_226" title="226" class="pagenum"></a>nguages retain much less of +Latin than the French, the Spanish, or the Italian. The Romans subdued +Britain at a later period, at a time when Italy herself was not +sufficiently populous to supply so remote a province: she was rather +supplied from her provinces. The military colonies, though in some +respects they were admirably fitted for their purposes, had, however, +one essential defect: the lands granted to the soldiers did not pass to +their posterity; so that the Roman people must have multiplied poorly in +this island, when their increase principally depended on a succession of +superannuated soldiers. From this defect the colonies were continually +falling to decay. They had also in many respects degenerated from their +primitive institution.<a name="FNanchor_25_26" id="FNanchor_25_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_26" class="fnanchor" title=" Neque conjugiis suscipiendis neque alendis liberis sueti, +orbas sine posteris domos relinquebant. Non enim, ut olim, universæ +legiones deducebantur cum tribunis et centurionibus et suis cujusque +ordinis militibus, ut consensu et caritate rempublicam efficerent, sed +ignoti inter se, diversis manipulis, sine rectore, sine affectibus +mutuis, quasi ex alio genere mortalium repente in unum collecti, numerus +magis quam colonia—Tacit. Annal. XIV. 27.">[26]</a> We must add, that in the decline of the +Empire a great part of the troops in Britain were barbarians, Batavians +or Germans. Thus, at the close of this period, this unhappy country, +desolated of its inhabitants, abandoned by its masters, stripped of its +artisans, and deprived of all its spirit, was in a condition the most +wretched and forlorn.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_26" id="Footnote_25_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> Neque conjugiis suscipiendis neque alendis liberis sueti, +orbas sine posteris domos relinquebant. Non enim, ut olim, universæ +legiones deducebantur cum tribunis et centurionibus et suis cujusque +ordinis militibus, ut consensu et caritate rempublicam efficerent, sed +ignoti inter se, diversis manipulis, sine rectore, sine affectibus +mutuis, quasi ex alio genere mortalium repente in unum collecti, numerus +magis quam colonia—Tacit. Annal. XIV. 27.</p></div> +</div> + +<p><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227" title="227" class="pagenum"></a></p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="BOOK_II" id="BOOK_II"></a>BOOK II</h2> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h3><a name="BOOK_II_CHAPTER_I" id="BOOK_II_CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.<br /> +<br /> +THE ENTRY AND SETTLEMENT OF THE SAXONS, AND THEIR CONVERSION TO +CHRISTIANITY.</h3> + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 447.</span>After having been so long subject to a foreign dominion, there was among +the Britons no royal family, no respected order in the state, none of +those titles to government, confirmed by opinion and long use, more +efficacious than the wisest schemes for the settlement of the nation. +Mere personal merit was then the only pretence to power. But this +circumstance only added to the misfortunes of a people who had no +orderly method of elec<a name="Page_228" id="Page_228" title="228" class="pagenum"></a>tion, and little experience of merit in any of the +candidates. During this anarchy, whilst they suffered the most dreadful +calamities from the fury of barbarous nations which invaded them, they +fell into that disregard of religion, and those loose, disorderly +manners, which are sometimes the consequence of desperate and hardened +wretchedness, as well as the common distempers of ease and prosperity.</p> + +<p>At length, after frequent elections and deposings, rather wearied out by +their own inconstancy than, fixed by the merit of their choice, they +suffered Vortigern to reign over them. This leader had made some figure +in the conduct of their wars and factious. But he was no sooner settled +on the throne than he showed himself rather like a prince born of an +exhausted stock of royalty in the decline of empire than one of those +bold and active spirits whose manly talents obtain them the first place +in their country, and stamp upon it that character of vigor essential to +the prosperity of a new commonwealth. However, the mere settlement, in +spite of the ill administration of government, procured the Britons some +internal repose, and some temporary advantages over their enemies, the +Picts. But having been long habituated to defeats, neither relying on +their king nor on themselves, and fatigued with the obstinate attacks of +an enemy whom they sometimes checked, but could never remove, in one of +their national assemblies it was resolved to call in the mercenary aid +of the Saxons, a powerful nation of Germany, which had been long by +their piratical incursions terrible not only to them, but to all the +adjacent countries. This resolution has been generally condemned. It has +been said, that they s<a name="Page_229" id="Page_229" title="229" class="pagenum"></a>eem to have through mere cowardice distrusted a +strength not yet worn down, and a fortune sufficiently prosperous. But +as it was taken by general counsel and consent, we must believe that the +necessity of such a step was felt, though the event was dubious. The +event, indeed, might be dubious: in a state radically weak, every +measure vigorous enough for its protection must endanger its existence.</p> + +<p>There is an unquestioned tradition among the Northern nations of Europe, +importing that all that part of the world had suffered a great and +general revolution by a migration from Asiatic Tartary of a people whom +they call Asers. These everywhere expelled or subdued the ancient +inhabitants of the Celtic and Cimbric original. The leader of this +Asiatic army was called Odin or Wodin: first their general, afterwards +their tutelar deity. The time of this great change is lost in the +imperfection of traditionary history, and the attempts to supply it by +fable. It is, however, certain, that the Saxon nation believed +themselves the descendants of those conquerors: and they had as good a +title to that descent as any other of the Northern tribes; for they used +the same language which then was and is still spoken, with small +variation of the dialects, in all the countries which extend from the +polar circle to the Danube. This people most probably derived their +name, as well as their origin, from, the Sacæ, a nation of the Asiatic +Scythia. At the time of which we write they had seated themselves in the +Cimbric Chersonesus, or Jutland, in the countries of Holstein and +Sleswick, and thence extended along the Elbe and Weser to the coast of +the German Ocean, as far as the mouths of the Rhine. In that tract they +lived in a sort of l<a name="Page_230" id="Page_230" title="230" class="pagenum"></a>oose military commonwealth of the ordinary German +model, under several leaders, the most eminent of whom was Hengist, +descended from Odin, the great conductor of the Asiatic colonies. It was +to this chief that the Britons applied themselves. They invited him by a +promise of ample pay for his troops, a large share of their common +plunder, and the Isle of Thanet for a settlement.</p> + +<p>The army which came over under Hengist did not exceed fifteen hundred +men. The opinion which the Britons had entertained of the Saxon prowess +was well founded; for they had the principal share in a decisive victory +which was obtained over the Picts soon after their arrival, a victory +which forever freed the Britons from all terror of the Picts and Scots, +but in the same moment exposed them to an enemy no less dangerous.</p> + +<p>Hengist and his Saxons, who had obtained by the free vote of the Britons +that introduction into this island they had so long in vain attempted by +arms, saw that by being necessary they were superior to their allies. +They discovered the character of the king; they were eye-witnesses of +the internal weakness and distraction of the kingdom. This state of +Britain was represented with so much effect to the Saxons in Germany, +that another and much greater embarkation followed the first; new bodies +daily crowded in. As soon as the Saxons began to be sensible of their +strength, they found it their interest to be discontented; they +complained of breaches of a contract, which they construed according to +their own designs; and then fell rudely upon their unprepared and feeble +allies, who, as they had not bee<a name="Page_231" id="Page_231" title="231" class="pagenum"></a>n able to resist the Picts and Scots, +were still less in a condition to oppose that force by which they had +been protected against those enemies, when turned unexpectedly upon +themselves. Hengist, with very little opposition, subdued the province +of Kent, and there laid the foundation of the first Saxon kingdom. Every +battle the Britons fought only prepared them for a new defeat, by +weakening their strength and displaying the inferiority of their +courage. Vortigern, instead of a steady and regular resistance, opposed +a mixture of timid war and unable negotiation. In one of their meetings, +wherein the business, according to the German mode, was carried on +amidst feasting and riot, Vortigern was struck with the beauty of a +Saxon virgin, a kinswoman of Hengist, and entirely under his influence. +Having married her, he delivered himself over to her counsels.</p> + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 452</span>His people, harassed by their enemies, betrayed by their prince, and +indignant at the feeble tyranny that oppressed them, deposed him, and +set his son Vortimer in his place. But the change of the king proved no +remedy for the exhausted state of the nation and the constitutional +infirmity of the government. For even if the Britons could have +supported themselves against the superior abilities and efforts of +Hengist, it might have added to their honor, but would have contributed +little to their safety. The news of his success had roused all Saxony. +Five great bodies of that adventurous people, under different and +independent commanders, very nearly at the same time broke in upon as +many different parts of the island. They came no longer as pirates, but +as invaders. Whilst the Britons contended with one bo<a name="Page_232" id="Page_232" title="232" class="pagenum"></a>dy of their fierce +enemies, another gained ground, and filled with slaughter and desolation +the whole country from sea to sea. A devouring war, a dreadful famine, a +plague, the most wasteful of any recorded in our history, united to +consummate the ruin of Britain. The ecclesiastical writers of that age, +confounded at the view of those complicated calamities, saw nothing but +the arm of God stretched out for the punishment of a sinful and +disobedient nation. And truly, when we set before us in one point of +view the condition of almost all the parts which had lately composed the +Western Empire,—of Britain, of Gaul, of Italy, of Spain, of Africa,—at +once overwhelmed by a resistless inundation of most cruel barbarians, +whose inhuman method of war made but a small part of the miseries with +which these nations were afflicted, we are almost driven out of the +circle of political inquiry: we are in a manner compelled to acknowledge +the hand of God in those immense revolutions by which at certain periods +He so signally asserts His supreme dominion, and brings about that great +system of change which is perhaps as necessary to the moral as it is +found to be in the natural world.</p> + +<p>But whatever was the condition of the other parts of Europe, it is +generally agreed that the state of Britain was the worst of all. Some +writers have asserted, that, except those who took refuge in the +mountains of Wales and in Cornwall, or fled into Armorica, the British +race was in a manner destroyed. What is extraordinary, we find England +in a very tolerable state of population in less than two centuries after +the first invasion of the Saxons; and it is hard to imagine either the +transplantation or the increase of that single people to have been in so +short a time sufficient for the settlement of so great an extent of<a name="Page_233" id="Page_233" title="233" class="pagenum"></a> +country. Others speak of the Britons, not as extirpated, but as reduced +to a state of slavery; and here these writers fix the origin of personal +and predial servitude in England.</p> + +<p>I shall lay fairly before the reader all I have been able to discover +concerning the existence or condition of this unhappy people. That they +were much more broken and reduced than any other nation which had fallen +under the German power I think may be inferred from two considerations. +First, that in all other parts of Europe the ancient language subsisted +after the conquest, and at length incorporated with that of the +conquerors; whereas in England the Saxon language received little or no +tincture from the Welsh; and it seems, even among the lowest people, to +have continued a dialect of pure Teutonic to the time in which it was +itself blended with the Norman. Secondly, that on the continent the +Christian religion, after the Northern irruptions, not only remained, +but flourished. It was very early and universally adopted by the ruling +people. In England it was so entirely extinguished, that, when Augustin +undertook his mission, it does not appear that among all the Saxons +there was a single person professing Christianity.</p> + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 500</span>The sudden extinction of the ancient religion, and language appears +sufficient to show that Britain must have suffered more than any of the +neighboring nations on the continent. But it must not be concealed that +there are likewise proofs that the British race, though much diminished, +was not wholly extirpated, and that those who remained were not, merely +as Britons, reduced to servitude. For they are mentio<a name="Page_234" id="Page_234" title="234" class="pagenum"></a>ned as existing in +some of the earlier Saxon laws. In these laws they are allowed a +compensation on the footing of the meaner kind of English; and they are +even permitted, as well as the English, to emerge out of that low rank +into a more liberal condition. This is degradation, but not slavery.<a name="FNanchor_26_27" id="FNanchor_26_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_27" class="fnanchor" title=" Leges Inæ, 32, De Cambrico Homine Agrum possidente.—Id. +54">[27]</a> +The affairs of that whole period are, however, covered with an obscurity +not to be dissipated. The Britons had little leisure or ability to write +a just account of a war by which they were ruined; and the Anglo-Saxons +who succeeded them, attentive only to arms, were, until their +conversion, ignorant of the use of letters.</p> + +<p>It is on this darkened theatre that some old writers have introduced +those characters and actions which have afforded such ample matter to +poets and so much perplexity to historians. This is the fabulous and +heroic age of our nation. After the natural and just representations of +the Roman scene, the stage is again crowded with enchanters, giants, and +all the extravagant images of the wildest and most remote antiquity. No +personage makes so conspicuous a figure in these stories as King Arthur: +a prince whether of British or Roman origin, whether born on this island +or in Amorica, is uncertain; but it appears that he opposed the Saxons +with remarkable virtue and no small degree of success, which has +rendered him and his exploits so large an argument of romance that both +are almost disclaimed by history. Light scarce begins to dawn until the +introduction of Christianity, which, bringing with it the use of letters +and the arts of civil life, affords at once a juster account of things +and facts that are more worthy of relation: nor is there, indeed, any +revolution so remarkable in the English story.</p> + +<p>The bishops of Rome had for some time meditated the conversion of the +Anglo-Saxons. Pope Gregory, who is surnamed the Great, affected that +<a name="Page_235" id="Page_235" title="235" class="pagenum"></a>pious design with an uncommon zeal; and he at length found a +circumstance highly favorable to it in the marriage of a daughter of +Charibert, a king of the Franks, to the reigning monarch of Kent. This +opportunity induced Pope Gregory to commission Augustin, a monk of +Rheims, and a man of distinguished piety, to undertake this arduous +enterprise.</p> + +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 600</span>It was in the year of Christ 600, and 150 years after the coming of the +first Saxon colonies into England, that Ethelbert, king of Kent, +received intelligence of the arrival in his dominions of a number of +men in a foreign garb, practising several strange and unusual +ceremonies, who desired to be conducted to the king's presence, +declaring that they had things to communicate to him and to his people +of the utmost importance to their eternal welfare. This was Augustin, +with forty of the associates of his mission, who now landed in the Isle +of Thanet, the same place by which the Saxons had before entered, when +they extirpated Christianity.</p> + +<p>The king heard them in the open air, in order to defeat,<a name="FNanchor_27_28" id="FNanchor_27_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_28" class="fnanchor" title=" "Veteri usus augurio," says Henry of Huntingdon, p. 321.">[28]</a> upon a +principle of Druidical superstition, the effects of their enchantments. +Augustin spoke by a Frankish interpreter. The Franks and Saxons were of +the same origin, and used at that time the same language. He was +favorably received; and a place in the city of Canterbury, the capital +of Kent, was allotted for the residence of him and his companions. They +entered Canterbury i<a name="Page_236" id="Page_236" title="236" class="pagenum"></a>n procession, preceded by two persons who bore a +silver cross and the figure of Christ painted on a board, singing, as +they went, litanies to avert the wrath of God from that city and people.</p> + +<p>The king was among their first converts. Tho principal of his nobility, +as usual, followed that example, moved, as it is related, by many signal +miracles, but undoubtedly by the extraordinary zeal of the missionaries, +and the pious austerity of their lives. The new religion, by the +protection of so respected a prince, who held under his dominion or +influence all the countries to the southward of the Humber, spread +itself with great rapidity. Paganism, after a faint resistance, +everywhere gave way. And, indeed, the chief difficulties which +Christianity had to encounter did not arise so much from the struggles +of opposite religious prejudices as from the gross and licentious +manners of a barbarous people. One of the Saxon princes expelled the +Christians from his territory because the priest refused to give him +some of that white bread which he saw distributed to his congregation.</p> + +<p>It is probable that the order of Druids either did not at all subsist +amongst the Anglo-Saxons, or that at this time it had declined not a +little from its ancient authority and reputation; else it is not easy to +conceive how they admitted so readily a new system, which at one stroke +cut off from their character its whole importance. We even find some +chiefs of the Pagan priesthood amongst the foremost in submitting to the +new doctrine. On the first preaching of the Gospel in Northumberland, +the heathen pontiff of that territory immediately mounted a horse, which +<a name="Page_237" id="Page_237" title="237" class="pagenum"></a>to those of his order was unlawful, and, breaking into the sacred +inclosure, hewed to pieces the idol he had so long served.<a name="FNanchor_28_29" id="FNanchor_28_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_29" class="fnanchor" title=" Bede, Hist. Eccl. Lib. II. c 13.">[29]</a></p> + +<p>If the order of the Druids did not subsist amongst the Saxons, yet the +chief objects of their religion appear to have been derived from that +fountain. They, indeed, worshipped several idols under various forms of +men and beasts; and those gods to whom they dedicated the days of the +week bore in their attributes, and in the particular days that were +consecrated to them, though not in their names, a near resemblance to +the divinities of ancient Rome. But still the great and capital objects +of their worship were taken from Druidism,—trees, stones, the elements, +and the heavenly bodies.<a name="FNanchor_29_30" id="FNanchor_29_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_30" class="fnanchor" title=" Deos gentiles, et solem vel lunam, ignem vel fluvium, +torrentem vel saxa, vel alicujus generis arborum ligna.—L. Cnut. +5.—Superstitiosus ille conventus, qui Frithgear dicitur, circa lapidem, +arborem, fontem.—Leg. Presb. Northumb.">[30]</a> These were their principal devotions, laid +the strongest hold upon their minds, and resisted the progress of the +Christian religion with the greatest obstinacy: for we find these +superstitions forbidden amongst the latest Saxon laws. A worship which +stands in need of the memorial of images or books to support it may +perish when these are destroyed; but when a superstition is established +upon those great objects of Nature which continually solicit the senses, +it is extremely difficult to turn the mind from things that in +themselves are striking, and that are always present. Amongst the +objects of this class must be reckoned the goddess Eostre, who, from the +etymology of the name, as well as from the season sacred to her, was +probably that beautiful planet which the Greeks and Romans worshipped +under the names of <a name="Page_238" id="Page_238" title="238" class="pagenum"></a>Lucifer and Venus. It is from this goddess that in +England the paschal festival has been called Easter.<a name="FNanchor_30_31" id="FNanchor_30_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_31" class="fnanchor" title=" Spelman's Glossary, Tit. eod.">[31]</a> To these they +joined the reverence of various subordinate genii, or demons, fairies, +and goblins,—fantastical ideas, which, in a state of uninstructed +Nature, grow spontaneously out of the wild fancies or fears of men. +Thus, they worshipped a sort of goddess, whom they called Mara, formed +from those frightful appearances that oppress men in their sleep; and +the name is still retained among us.<a name="FNanchor_31_32" id="FNanchor_31_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_32" class="fnanchor" title=" The night-mare.">[32]</a></p> + +<p>As to the manners of the Anglo-Saxons, they were such as might be +expected in a rude people,—fierce, and of a gross simplicity. Their +clothes were short. As all barbarians are much taken with exterior +form, and the advantages and distinctions which are conferred by Nature, +the Saxons set an high value on comeliness of person, and studied much +to improve it. It is remarkable that a law of King Ina orders the care +and education of foundlings to be regulated by their beauty.<a name="FNanchor_32_33" id="FNanchor_32_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_33" class="fnanchor" title=" L. Inæ, 26.">[33]</a> They +cherished their hair to a great length, and were extremely proud and +jealous of this natural ornament. Some of their great men were +distinguished by an appellative taken from the length of their hair.<a name="FNanchor_33_34" id="FNanchor_33_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_34" class="fnanchor" title=" Oslacus ... promissâ cæsarie heros.—Chron. Saxon. 123.">[34]</a> +To pull the hair was punishable;<a name="FNanchor_34_35" id="FNanchor_34_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_35" class="fnanchor" title=" L. Ælfred. 31. L. Cnut. apud Brompt. 27.">[35]</a> and forcibly to cut or injure it +was considered in the same criminal light with cutting off the nose or +thrusting out the eyes. In the same design of barbarous ornament, their +faces were generally painted and scarred. They were so fond of chains +and bracelets that they have given a surname to some of their kings from +<a name="Page_239" id="Page_239" title="239" class="pagenum"></a>their generosity in bestowing such marks of favor.<a name="FNanchor_35_36" id="FNanchor_35_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_36" class="fnanchor" title=" Eadgarus nobilibus torquium largitor.—Chron. Sax. 123 +Bed. Hist. Eccl. Lib. IV. c. 29.">[36]</a></p> + +<p>Few things discover the state of the arts amongst people more certainly +than the presents that are made to them by foreigners. The Pope, on his +first mission into Northumberland, sent to the queen of that country +some stuffs with ornaments of gold, an ivory comb inlaid with the same +metal, and a silver mirror. A queen's want of such female ornaments and +utensils shows that the arts were at this time little cultivated amongst +the Saxons. These are the sort of presents commonly sent to a barbarous +people.</p> + +<p>Thus ignorant in sciences and arts, and unpractised in trade or +manufacture, military exercises, war, and the preparation for war, was +their employment, hunting their pleasure. They dwelt in cottages of +wicker-work plastered with clay and thatched with rushes, where they sat +with their families, their officers and domestics, round a fire made in +the middle of the house. In this manner their greatest princes lived +amidst the ruins of Roman magnificence. But the introduction of +Christianity, which, under whatever form, always confers such +inestimable benefits on mankind, soon made a sensible change in these +rude and fierce manners.</p> + +<p>It is by no means impossible, that, for an end so worthy, Providence on +some occasions might directly have interposed. The books which contain +the history of this time and change are little else than a narrative of +miracles,—frequently, however, with such apparent marks of weakness or +design that they afford little encouragement to insist on them. They +were then received with a blind credulity: they have been since rejected +with as undistinguishing a disregard. But as it is not in my design nor +inclination, nor indeed in my power, either to establish or refute these +stories, it is sufficient to observe, that the reality or opinion of +such miracles was the principal cause of the early acceptance and rapid +progress of Christianity in this island. Other causes undoubtedly +concurred; and it will be more to our purpose to consider some of the +human and politic ways by which religion was advanced in this nation, +and those more particularly by which the monastic institution, then +interwoven with Christianity, and making an equal progress with it, +attained to so high a pitch, of property and power, so as, in a time +extremely short, to form a kind of order, and that not the least +considerable, in the state.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_27" id="Footnote_26_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> Leges Inæ, 32, De Cambrico Homine Agrum possidente.—Id. +54</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_28" id="Footnote_27_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> "Veteri usus augurio," says Henry of Huntingdon, p. 321.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_29" id="Footnote_28_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> Bede, Hist. Eccl. Lib. II. c 13.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_30" id="Footnote_29_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> Deos gentiles, et solem vel lunam, ignem vel fluvium, +torrentem vel saxa, vel alicujus generis arborum ligna.—L. Cnut. +5.—Superstitiosus ille conventus, qui Frithgear dicitur, circa lapidem, +arborem, fontem.—Leg. Presb. Northumb.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_31" id="Footnote_30_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> Spelman's Glossary, Tit. eod.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31_32" id="Footnote_31_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> The night-mare.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_33" id="Footnote_32_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> L. Inæ, 26.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33_34" id="Footnote_33_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> Oslacus ... promissâ cæsarie heros.—Chron. Saxon. 123.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34_35" id="Footnote_34_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> L. Ælfred. 31. L. Cnut. apud Brompt. 27.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35_36" id="Footnote_35_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> Eadgarus nobilibus torquium largitor.—Chron. Sax. 123 +Bed. Hist. Eccl. Lib. IV. c. 29.</p></div> +</div> +<p><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240" title="240" class="pagenum"></a></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="BOOK_II_CHAPTER_II" id="BOOK_II_CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.<br /> +<br /> +ESTABLISHMENT OF CHRISTIANITY—OF MONASTIC INSTITUTIONS—AND OF THEIR +EFFECTS.</h3> + + +<p>The marriage of Ethelbert to a Christian princess was, we have seen, a +means of introducing Christianity into his dominions. The same influence +contributed to extend it in the other kingdoms of the Heptarchy, the +sovereigns of which were generally converted by their wives. Among the +ancient nations of Germany, the female sex was possessed not only of its +natural and<a name="Page_241" id="Page_241" title="241" class="pagenum"></a> common ascendant, but it was believed peculiarly sacred,<a name="FNanchor_36_37" id="FNanchor_36_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_37" class="fnanchor" title=" Inesse quinetiam sanctum aliquid et providum putant; nec +aut consilia carum aspernantur aut responsa negligunt.—Tacit. de Mor. +Ger. c. 8.">[37]</a> +and favored with more frequent revelations of the Divine will; women +were therefore heard with an uncommon attention in all deliberations, +and particularly in those that regarded religion. The Pagan superstition +of the North furnished, in this instance, a principle which contributed +to its own destruction.</p> + +<p>In the change of religion, care was taken to render the transition from +falsehood to truth as little violent as possible. Though the first +proselytes were kings, it does not appear that there was any +persecution. It was a precept of Pope Gregory, under whose auspices this +mission was conducted, that the heathen temples should not be destroyed, +especially where they were well built,—but that, first removing the +idols, they should be consecrated anew by holier rites and to better +purposes,<a name="FNanchor_37_38" id="FNanchor_37_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_38" class="fnanchor" title=" Bed. Hist. Eccl. Lib. I. c. 30.">[38]</a> in order that the prejudices of the people might not be +too rudely shocked by a declared profanation of what they had so long +held sacred, and that, everywhere beholding the same places to which +they had formerly resorted for religious comfort, they might be +gradually reconciled to the new doctrines and ceremonies which, were +there introduced; and as the sacrifices used in the Pagan worship were +always attended with feasting, and consequently were highly grateful to +the multitude, the Pope ordered that oxen, should as usual be +slaughtered near the church, and the people indulged in their ancient +festivity.<a name="FNanchor_38_39" id="FNanchor_38_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_39" class="fnanchor" title=" Id. c. cod.">[39]</a> Whatever popular customs of heathenism<a name="Page_242" id="Page_242" title="242" class="pagenum"></a> were found to be +absolutely not incompatible with Christianity were retained; and some of +them were continued to a very late period. Deer were at a certain season +brought into St. Paul's church in London, and laid on the altar;<a name="FNanchor_39_40" id="FNanchor_39_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_40" class="fnanchor" title=" Dugdale's History of St. Paul's.">[40]</a> and +this custom subsisted until the Reformation. The names of some of the +Church festivals were, with a similar design, taken from those of the +heathen which had been celebrated at the same time of the year. Nothing +could have been more prudent than these regulations: they were, indeed, +formed from a perfect understanding of human nature.</p> + +<p>Whilst the inferior people were thus insensibly led into a better order, +the example and countenance of the great completed the work. For the +Saxon kings and ruling men embraced religion with so signal, and in +their rank so unusual a zeal, that in many instances they even +sacrificed to its advancement the prime objects of their ambition. +Wulfhere, king of the West Saxons, bestowed the Isle of Wight on the +king of Sussex, to persuade him to embrace Christianity.<a name="FNanchor_40_41" id="FNanchor_40_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_41" class="fnanchor" title=" Bed. Hist. Eccl. Lib. IV. c. 13.">[41]</a> This zeal +operated in the same manner in favor of their instructors. The greatest +kings and conquerors frequently resigned their crowns and shut +themselves up in monasteries. When kings became monks, a high lustre was +reflected upon the monastic state, and great credit accrued to the power +of their doctrine, which was able to produce such extraordinary effects +upon persons over whom religion has commonly the slightest influence.</p> + +<p>The zeal of the missionaries was also much assisted by their superiority +in the arts of civil life. At their first preaching in Sussex, that +<a name="Page_243" id="Page_243" title="243" class="pagenum"></a>country was reduced to the greatest distress from a drought, which had +continued for three years. The barbarous inhabitants, destitute of any +means to alleviate the famine, in an epidemic transport of despair +frequently united forty and fifty in a body, and, joining their hands, +precipitated themselves from the cliffs, and were either drowned or +dashed to pieces on the rocks. Though a maritime people, they knew not +how to fish; and this ignorance probably arose from a remnant of +Druidical superstition, which had forbidden the use of that sort of +diet. In this calamity, Bishop Wilfrid, their first preacher, collecting +nets, at the head of his attendants, plunged into the sea; and having +opened this great resource of food, he reconciled the desperate people +to life, and their minds to the spiritual care of those who had shown +themselves so attentive to their temporal preservation.<a name="FNanchor_41_42" id="FNanchor_41_42"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_42" class="fnanchor" title=" Bed. Hist. Eccl. Lib IV. c. 13.">[42]</a></p> + +<p>The same regard to the welfare of the people appeared in all their +actions. The Christian kings sometimes made donations to the Church of +lands conquered from their heathen enemies. The clergy immediately +baptized and manumitted their new vassals. Thus they endeared to all +sorts of men doctrines and teachers which could mitigate the rigorous +law of conquest; and they rejoiced to see religion and liberty advancing +with, an equal progress. Nor were the monks in this time in anything +more worthy of praise than in their zeal for personal freedom. In the +canon<a name="Page_244" id="Page_244" title="244" class="pagenum"></a> wherein they provided against the alienation of their lands, among +other charitable exceptions to this restraint they particularize the +purchase of liberty<a name="FNanchor_42_43" id="FNanchor_42_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_42_43" class="fnanchor" title=" Spelm. Concil. p. 329.">[43]</a> . In their transactions with the great the same +point was always strenuously labored. When they imposed penance, they +were remarkably indulgent to persons of that rank; but they always made +them purchase the remission of corporal austerity by acts of +beneficence. They urged their powerful penitents to the enfranchisement +of their own slaves, and to the redemption of those which belonged to +others; they directed them to the repair of highways, and to the +construction of churches, bridges, and other works of general +utility.<a name="FNanchor_43_44" id="FNanchor_43_44"></a><a href="#Footnote_43_44" class="fnanchor" title=" Instauret etiam Dei ecclesiam; ... et instauret vias +publicas pontibus super aquas profundas et super cænosas vias; ... +manumittat servos suos proprios, et redimat ab aliis hominibus servos +suos ad libertatem.—L Eccl. Edgari, 14.">[44]</a> They extracted the fruits of virtue even from crimes; and +whenever a great man expiated his private offences, he provided in the +same act for the public happiness. The monasteries were then the only +bodies corporate in the kingdom; and if any persons were desirous to +perpetuate their charity by a fund for the relief of the sick or +indigent, there was no other way than to confide this trust to some +monastery. The monks were the sole channel through which the bounty of +the rich could pass in any continued stream to the poor; and the people +turned their eyes towards them in all their distresses. We must observe, +that the monks of that time, especially those from Ireland,<a name="FNanchor_44_45" id="FNanchor_44_45"></a><a href="#Footnote_44_45" class="fnanchor" title=" Aidanus, Finan, Colmannus miræ sanctitatis fuerunt et +parsimoniæ.... Adeo autem sacerdotes erant illius temporis ab avaritia +immunes, ut nec territoria nisi coacti acciperent.—Hen. Huntingd. Lib. +III. p. 333. Bed. Hist. Eccl. Lib. III c. 26.">[45]</a> who had +a considerable share in the conversion of all the northern parts, did +not show that rapacious desire of riches which long disgraced <a name="Page_245" id="Page_245" title="245" class="pagenum"></a>and +finally ruined their successors. Not only did they not seek, but seemed +even to shun such donations. This prevented that alarm which might have +arisen from an early and declared avarice. At this time the most fervent +and holy anchorites retired to places the furthest that could be found +from human concourse and help, to the most desolate and barren +situations, which even from their horror seemed particularly adapted to +men who had renounced the world. Many persons followed them in order to +partake of their instructions and prayers, or to form themselves upon +their example. An opinion of their miracles after their death drew still +greater numbers. Establishments were gradually made. The monastic life +was frugal, and the government moderate. These causes drew a constant +concourse. Sanctified deserts assumed a new face; the marshes were +drained, and the lands cultivated. And as this revolution seemed rather +the effect of the holiness of the place than of any natural causes, it +increased their credit; and every improvement drew with it a new +donation. In this manner the great abbeys of Croyland and Glastonbury, +and many others, from the most obscure beginnings, were advanced to a +degree of wealth and splendor little less than royal.</p> + +<p>In these rude ages government was not yet fixed upon solid principles, +and everything was full of tumult and distraction. As the monasteries +were better secured from violence by their character than any other +places by laws, several great men, and even sovereign princes, were +obliged to take refuge in convents; who, when, by a more happy +revolution in their fortunes, they were reinstated in their former +dignities, thought they could never make a sufficient return for the +safety they had enjoyed under the sacred hospitality of these roofs. Not +content to enrich them with ample possessions, that<a name="Page_246" id="Page_246" title="246" class="pagenum"></a> others also might +partake of the protection they had experienced, they formally erected +into an asylum those monasteries, and their adjacent territory. So that +all thronged to that refuge who were rendered unquiet by their crimes, +their misfortunes, or the severity of their lords; and content to live +under a government to which their minds were subject, they raised the +importance of their masters by their numbers, their labor, and, above +all, by an inviolable attachment.</p> + +<p>The monastery was always the place of sepulture for the greatest lords +and kings. This added to the other causes of reverence a sort of +sanctity, which, in universal opinion, always attends the repositories +of the dead: and they acquired also thereby a more particular +protection against the great and powerful; for who would violate the +tomb of his ancestors or his own? It was not an unnatural weakness to +think that some advantage might be derived from lying in holy places and +amongst holy persons: and this superstition was fomented with the +greatest industry and art. The monks of Glastonbury spread a notion that +it was almost impossible any person should be damned whose body lay in +their cemetery. This must be considered as coming in aid of the amplest +of their resources, prayer for the dead.</p> + +<p>But there was no part of their policy, of whatever nature, that procured +to them a greater or juster credit than their cultivation of learning +and useful arts: for, if the monks contributed to the fall of science in +the Roman Empire, it is certain that the introduction of learning and +civility into this Northern world is entirely owing to their la<a name="Page_247" id="Page_247" title="247" class="pagenum"></a>bors. It +is true that they cultivated letters only in a secondary way, and as +subsidiary to religion. But the scheme of Christianity is such that it +almost necessitates an attention to many kinds of learning. For the +Scripture is by no means an irrelative system of moral and divine +truths; but it stands connected with so many histories, and with the +laws, opinions, and manners of so many various sorts of people, and in +such different times, that it is altogether impossible to arrive to any +tolerable knowledge of it without having recourse to much exterior +inquiry: for which reason the progress of this religion has always been +marked by that of letters. There were two other circumstances at this +time that contributed no less to the revival of learning. The sacred +writings had not been translated into any vernacular language, and even +the ordinary service of the Church was still continued in the Latin +tongue; all, therefore, who formed themselves for the ministry, and +hoped to make any figure in it, were in a manner driven to the study of +the writers of polite antiquity, in order to qualify themselves for +their most ordinary functions. By this means a practice liable in itself +to great objections had a considerable share in preserving the wrecks of +literature, and was one means of conveying down to our times those +inestimable monuments which otherwise, in the tumult of barbarous +confusion on one hand, and untaught piety on the other, must inevitably +have perished. The second circumstance, the pilgrimages of that age, if +considered in itself, was as liable to objection as the former; but it +proved of equal advantage to the cause of literature. A principal object +of these pious journeys was Rome, which contained all the little that +was left i<a name="Page_248" id="Page_248" title="248" class="pagenum"></a>n the Western world of ancient learning and taste. The other +great object of those pilgrimages was Jerusalem: this led them into the +Grecian Empire, which still subsisted in the East with great majesty and +power. Here the Greeks had not only not discontinued the ancient +studies, but they added to the stock of arts many inventions of +curiosity and convenience that were unknown to antiquity. When, +afterwards, the Saracens prevailed in that part of the world, the +pilgrims had also by the same means an opportunity of profiting from the +improvements of that laborious people; and however little the majority +of these pious travellers might have had such objects in their view, +something useful must unavoidably have stuck to them; a few certainly +saw with more discernment, and rendered their travels serviceable to +their country by importing other things besides miracles and legends. +Thus a communication was opened between this remote island and countries +of which it otherwise could then scarcely have heard mention made; and +pilgrimages thus preserved that intercourse amongst mankind which is now +formed by politics, commerce, and learned curiosity.</p> + +<p>It is not wholly unworthy of observation, that Providence, which +strongly appears to have intended the continual intermixture of mankind, +never leaves the human mind destitute of a principle to effect it. This +purpose is sometimes carried on by a sort of migratory instinct, +sometimes by the spirit of conquest; at one time avarice drives men from +their homes, at another they are actuated by a thirst of knowledge; +where none of these causes can operate, the sanctity of particular +places attracts men from the most distant quarters. It was this motive +which sent thousands in those ages to Jerusalem and Rome, a<a name="Page_249" id="Page_249" title="249" class="pagenum"></a>nd now, in a +full tide, impels half the world annually to Mecca.</p> + +<p>By those voyages the seeds of various kinds of knowledge and improvement +were at different times imported into England. They were cultivated in +the leisure and retirement of monasteries; otherwise they could not have +been cultivated at all: for it was altogether necessary to draw certain +men from the general rude and fierce society, and wholly to set a bar +between them and the barbarous life of the rest of the world, in order +to fit them for study and the cultivation of arts and science. +Accordingly, we find everywhere in the first institutions for the +propagation of knowledge amongst any people, that those who followed it +were set apart and secluded from the mass of the community.</p> + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 682</span>The great ecclesiastical chair of this kingdom, for near a century, was +filled by foreigners. They were nominated by the Popes, who were in that +age just or politic enough to appoint persons of a merit in some degree +adequate to that important charge. Through this series of foreign and +learned prelates, continual accessions were made to the originally +slender stock of English literature. The greatest and most valuable of +these accessions was made in the time and by the care of Theodorus, the +seventh Archbishop of Canterbury. He was a Greek by birth, a man of a +high ambitious spirit, and of a mind more liberal and talents better +cultivated than generally fell to the lot of the Western prelates. He +first introduced the study of his native language into this island. He +brought with him a number of valuable books in many faculties, and +amongst them a magnificent copy of the works of Homer, the most ancient +and best of poets, and the best chosen to in<a name="Page_250" id="Page_250" title="250" class="pagenum"></a>spire a people just +initiated into letters with an ardent love and with a true taste for the +sciences. Under his influence a school was formed at Canterbury; and +thus the other great fountain of knowledge, the Greek tongue, was opened +in England in the year of our Lord 669.</p> + +<p>The southern parts of England received their improvements directly +through the channel of Rome. The kingdom of Northumberland, as soon as +it was converted, began to contend with the southern provinces in an +emulation of piety and learning. The ecclesiastics then [there?] also +kept up and profited by their intercourse with Rome; but they found +their principal resources of knowledge from another and a more +extraordinary quarter. The island of Hii, or Columbkill,<a name="FNanchor_45_46" id="FNanchor_45_46"></a><a href="#Footnote_45_46" class="fnanchor" title=" Icolmkill, or Iona.">[46]</a> is a small +and barren rock in the Western Ocean. But in those days it was high in +reputation as the site of a monastery which had acquired great renown +for the rigor of its studies and the severity of its ascetic discipline. +Its authority was extended over all the northern parts of Britain and +Ireland; and the monks of Hii even exercised episcopal jurisdiction over +all those regions. They had a considerable share both in the religious +and literate institution of the Northumbrians. Another island, of still +less importance, in the mouth of the Tees [Tweed?], and called +Lindisfarne, was about this time sanctified by the austerities of an +hermit called Cuthbert. It soon became also a very celebrated monastery. +It was, from a dread of the ravages of pirates, removed first to the +adjacent part of the continent, and on the same account finally to +Durham. The heads of this monastery omitted nothing which could +contribute to the glory of their foun<a name="Page_251" id="Page_251" title="251" class="pagenum"></a>der and to the dignity of their +house, which became, in a very short time, by their assiduous endeavors, +the most considerable school perhaps in Europe.</p> + +<p>The great and justest boast of this monastery is the Venerable Beda, who +was educated and spent his whole life there. An account of his writings +is an account of the English learning in that age, taken in its most +advantageous view. Many of his works remain, and he wrote both in prose +and verse, and upon all sorts of subjects. His theology forms the most +considerable part of his writings. He wrote comments upon almost the +whole Scripture, and several homilies on the principal festivals of the +Church. Both the comments and sermons are generally allegorical in the +construction of the text, and simply moral in the application. In these +discourses several things seem strained and fanciful; but herein he +followed entirely the manner of the earlier fathers, from whom the +greatest part of his divinity is not so much imitated as extracted. The +systematic and logical method, which seems to have been first introduced +into theology by John of Damascus, and which after wards was known by +the name of School Divinity, was not then in use, at least in the +Western Church, though soon after it made an amazing progress. In this +scheme the allegorical gave way to the literal explication, the +imagination had less scope, and the affections were less touched. But it +prevailed by an appearance more solid and philosophical, by an order +more scientific, and by a readiness of application either for the +solution or the exciting of doubts and difficulties.</p> + +<p>They also c<a name="Page_252" id="Page_252" title="252" class="pagenum"></a>ultivated in this monastery the study of natural philosophy +and astronomy. There remain of Beda one entire book and some scattered +essays on these subjects. This book, <i>De Rerum Natura</i>, is concise and +methodical, and contains no very contemptible abstract of the physics +which were taught in the decline of the Roman Empire. It was somewhat +unfortunate that the infancy of English learning was supported by the +dotage of the Roman, and that even the spring-head from whence they drew +their instructions was itself corrupted. However, the works of the great +masters of the ancient science still remained; but in natural philosophy +the worst was the most fashionable. The Epicurean physics, the most +approaching to rational, had long lost all credit by being made the +support of an impious theology and a loose morality. The fine visions of +Plato fell into some discredit by the abuse which heretics had made of +them; and the writings of Aristotle seem to have been then the only ones +much regarded, even in natural philosophy, in which branch of science +alone they are unworthy of him. Beda entirely follows his system. The +appearances of Nature are explained by matter and form, and by the four +vulgar elements, acted upon by the four supposed qualities of hot, dry, +moist, and cold. His astronomy is on the common system of the ancients, +sufficient for the few purposes to which they applied it, but otherwise +imperfect and grossly erroneous. He makes the moon larger than the +earth; though a reflection on the nature of eclipses, which he +understood, might have satisfied him of the contrary. But he had so much +to copy that he had little time to examine. These speculations, however +erroneous, were still useful; for, though men err in assigning the +causes of natural operations, the works of Nature are by this means +brought <a name="Page_253" id="Page_253" title="253" class="pagenum"></a>under their consideration, which cannot be done without +enlarging the mind. The science may be false or frivolous; the +improvement will be real. It may here be remarked, that soon afterwards +the monks began to apply themselves to astronomy and chronology, from +the disputes, which were carried on with so much heat and so little +effect, concerning the proper time of celebrating Easter; and the +English owed the cultivation of these noble sciences to one of the most +trivial controversies of ecclesiastic discipline.</p> + +<p>Beda did not confine his attention to those superior sciences. He +treated of music, and of rhetoric, of grammar, and the art of +versification, and of arithmetic, both by letters and on the fingers; +and his work on this last subject is the only one in which that piece +of antique curiosity has been preserved to us. All these are short +pieces; some of them are in the catechetical method, and seem designed +for the immediate use of the pupils in his monastery, in order to +furnish them with some leading ideas in the rudiments of these arts, +then newly introduced into his country. He likewise made, and probably +for the same purpose, a very ample and valuable collection of short +philosophical, political, and moral maxims, from Aristotle, Plato, +Seneca, and other sages of heathen antiquity. He made a separate book of +shining commonplaces and remarkable passages extracted from the works of +Cicero, of whom he was a great admirer, though he seems to have been not +an happy or diligent imitator in his style. From a view of these pieces +we may form an idea of what sto<a name="Page_254" id="Page_254" title="254" class="pagenum"></a>ck in the science the English at that +time possessed, and what advances they had made. That work of Beda which +is the best known and most esteemed is the Ecclesiastical History of the +English nation. Disgraced by a want of choice and frequently by a +confused ill disposition of his matter, and blemished with a degree of +credulity next to infantine, it is still a valuable, and for the time a +surprising performance. The book opens with a description of this island +which would not have disgraced a classical author; and he has prefixed +to it a chronological abridgment of sacred and profane history +connected, from the beginning of the world, which, though not critically +adapted to his main design, is of far more intrinsic value, and indeed +displays a vast fund of historical erudition. On the whole, though this +father of the English learning seems to have been but a genius of the +middle class, neither elevated nor subtile, and one who wrote in a low +style, simple, but not elegant, yet, when we reflect upon the time in +which he lived, the place in which he spent his whole life, within the +walls of a monastery, in so remote and wild a country, it is impossible +to refuse him the praise of an incredible industry and a generous thirst +of knowledge.</p> + +<p>That a nation who not fifty years before had but just begun to emerge +from a barbarism so perfect that they were unfurnished even with an +alphabet should in so short a time have established so flourishing a +seminary of learning, and have produced so eminent a teacher, is a +circumstance which I imagine no other nation besides England can boast.</p> + +<p>Hitherto we have spoken only of their Latin and Greek literature. They +cultivated also their native language, which, according to the opinions +of the most adequate judges, was deficient neither in energy nor beauty, +and was possessed of such an happy flexibility as to be capable of +expressing with grace and effect every new technical idea introduced +either by theology or science. They were fond of poetry; they sung at +all their feasts; and it was counted extremely disgraceful not to be +able to take a part in these performances, even when they challenged +each other to a sudden exertion of the poetic spirit. Cædmon, afterwards +one of the most eminent of their poets, was disgraced in this manner +into an exertion of a latent genius. He was desired in his turn to sing, +but, being ignorant and full of natural sensibility, retired in +confusion from the company, and by instant and strenuous application +soon became a distinguished proficient in the art.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_36_37" id="Footnote_36_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> Inesse quinetiam sanctum aliquid et providum putant; nec +aut consilia carum aspernantur aut responsa negligunt.—Tacit. de Mor. +Ger. c. 8.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_37_38" id="Footnote_37_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> Bed. Hist. Eccl. Lib. I. c. 30.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_38_39" id="Footnote_38_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> Id. c. cod.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_39_40" id="Footnote_39_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> Dugdale's History of St. Paul's.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_40_41" id="Footnote_40_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_41"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> Bed. Hist. Eccl. Lib. IV. c. 13.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_41_42" id="Footnote_41_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_42"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> Bed. Hist. Eccl. Lib IV. c. 13.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_42_43" id="Footnote_42_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42_43"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> Spelm. Concil. p. 329.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_43_44" id="Footnote_43_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43_44"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> Instauret etiam Dei ecclesiam; ... et instauret vias +publicas pontibus super aquas profundas et super cænosas vias; ... +manumittat servos suos proprios, et redimat ab aliis hominibus servos +suos ad libertatem.—L Eccl. Edgari, 14.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_44_45" id="Footnote_44_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44_45"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> Aidanus, Finan, Colmannus miræ sanctitatis fuerunt et +parsimoniæ.... Adeo autem sacerdotes erant illius temporis ab avaritia +immunes, ut nec territoria nisi coacti acciperent.—Hen. Huntingd. Lib. +III. p. 333. Bed. Hist. Eccl. Lib. III c. 26.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_45_46" id="Footnote_45_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45_46"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> Icolmkill, or Iona.</p></div> +</div> +<p><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255" title="255" class="pagenum"></a></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="BOOK_II_CHAPTER_III" id="BOOK_II_CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.<br /> +<br /> +SERIES OF ANGLO-SAXON KINGS FROM ETHELBERT TO ALFRED: WITH THE INVASION +OF THE DANES.</h3> + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 799</span>The Christian religion, having once taken root in Kent, spread itself +with great rapidity throughout all the other Saxon kingdoms in England. +The manners of the Saxons underwent a notable alteration by this change +in their religion: their ferocity was much abated; they became more mild +and sociable; and their laws began to partake of the softness of their +manners, everywhere recommending mercy and a tenderness for Christian +blood. There never was any people who embraced religion with a more +fervent zeal than the Anglo-Saxons, nor with more simplicity of spirit. +Their history for a long time s<a name="Page_256" id="Page_256" title="256" class="pagenum"></a>hows us a remarkable conflict between +their dispositions and their principles. This conflict produced no +medium, because they were absolutely contrary, and both operated with +almost equal violence. Great crimes and extravagant penances, rapine and +an entire resignation of worldly goods, rapes and vows of perpetual +chastity, succeeded each other in the same persons. There was nothing +which the violence of their passions could not induce them to commit; +nothing to which they did not submit to atone for their offences, when +reflection gave an opportunity to repent. But by degrees the sanctions +of religion began to preponderate; and as the monks at this time +attracted all the religious veneration, religion everywhere began to +relish of the cloister: an inactive spirit, and a spirit of scruples +prevailed; they dreaded to put the greatest criminal to death; they +scrupled to engage in any worldly functions. A king of the Saxons +dreaded that God would call him to an account for the time which he +spent in his temporal affairs and had stolen from prayer. It was +frequent for kings to go on pilgrimages to Rome or to Jerusalem, on +foot, and under circumstances of great hardship. Several kings resigned +their crowns to devote themselves to religious contemplation in +monasteries,—more at that time and in this nation than in all other +nations and in all times. This, as it introduced great mildness into the +tempers of the people, made them less warlike, and consequently prepared +the way to their forming one body under Egbert, and for the other +changes which followed.</p> + +<p>The kingdom of Wessex, by the wisdom and courage of King Ina, the +greatest legislator and politician<a name="Page_257" id="Page_257" title="257" class="pagenum"></a> of those times, had swallowed up +Cornwall, for a while a refuge for some of the old Britons, together +with the little kingdom of the South Saxons. By this augmentation it +stretched from the Land's End to the borders of Kent, the Thames flowing +on the north, the ocean washing it on the south. By their situation the +people of Wessex naturally came to engross the little trade which then +fed the revenues of England; and their minds were somewhat opened by a +foreign communication, by which they became more civilized and better +acquainted with the arts of war and of government. Such was the +condition of the kingdom of Wessex, when Egbert was called to the throne +of his ancestors. The civil commotions which for some time prevailed had +driven this prince early in life into an useful banishment. He was +honorably received at the court of Charlemagne, where he had an +opportunity of studying government in the best school, and of forming +himself after the most perfect model. Whilst Charlemagne was reducing +the continent of Europe into one empire, Egbert reduced England into one +kingdom. The state of his own dominions, perfectly united under him, +with the other advantages which we have just mentioned, and the state of +the neighboring Saxon governments, made this reduction less difficult. +Besides Wessex, there were but two kingdoms of consideration in +England,—Mercia and Northumberland. They were powerful enough in the +advantages of Nature, but reduced to great weakness by their divisions. +As there is nothing of more moment to any country than to settle the +succession of its government on clear and invariable principles, the +Saxon monarchies, which were supported by no such principles, were +continually tottering<a name="Page_258" id="Page_258" title="258" class="pagenum"></a>. The right of government sometimes was considered +as in the eldest son, sometimes in all; sometimes the will of the +deceased prince disposed of the crown, sometimes a popular election +bestowed it. The consequence of this was the frequent division and +frequent reunion of the same territory, which were productive of +infinite mischief; many various principles of succession gave titles to +some, pretensions to more; and plots, cabals, and crimes could not be +wanting to all the pretenders. Thus was Mercia torn to pieces; and the +kingdom of Northumberland, assaulted on one side by the Scots, and +ravaged on the other by the Danish incursions, could not recover from a +long anarchy into which its intestine divisions had plunged it. Egbert +knew how to make advantage of these divisions: fomenting them by his +policy at first, and quelling them afterwards by his sword, he reduced +these two kingdoms under his government. The same power which conquered +Mercia and Northumberland made the reduction of Kent and Essex +easy,—the people on all hands the more readily submitting, because +there was no change made in their laws, manners, or the form of their +government.</p> + + +<p><span class="sidenote">Egbert A.D. 827.<br />A.D. 832</span>Egbert, when he had brought all England under his dominion, made the +Welsh tributary, and carried his arms with success into Scotland, +assumed the title of Monarch of all Britain.<a name="FNanchor_46_47" id="FNanchor_46_47"></a><a href="#Footnote_46_47" class="fnanchor" title=" No Saxon monarch until Athelstan.">[47]</a> The southern part of +the island was now for the first time authentically known by the name of +England, and by every appearance promised to have arrived at the +fortunate moment for forming a permanent and splendid monarchy. But +Egbert had not r<a name="Page_259" id="Page_259" title="259" class="pagenum"></a>eigned seven years in peace, when the Danes, who had +before showed themselves in some scattered parties, and made some +inconsiderable descents, entered the kingdom in a formidable body. This +people came from the same place whence the English themselves were +derived, and they differed from them in little else than that they still +retained their original barbarity and heathenism. These, assisted by the +Norwegians, and other people of Scandinavia, were the last torrent of +the Northern ravagers which overflowed Europe. What is remarkable, they +attacked England and France when these two kingdoms were in the height +of their grandeur,—France under Charlemagne, England united by Egbert. +The good fortune of Egbert met its first check from these people, who +defeated his forces with great slaughter near Charmouth in Dorsetshire. +It generally happens that a new nation, with a new method of making +war, succeeds against a people only exercised in arms by their own civil +dissensions. Besides, England, newly united, was not without those +jealousies and that disaffection which give such great advantage to an +invader. But the vigilance and courage of Egbert repaired this defeat; +he repulsed the Danes; and died soon after at Winchester, full of years +and glory.</p> + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">Ethelwolf A.D. 838</span>He left a great, but an endangered succession, to his son Ethelwolf, who +was a mild and virtuous prince, full of a timid piety, which utterly +disqualifies for government; and he began to govern at a time when the +greatest capacity was wanted. The Danes pour in upon every side; the +king rouses from his lethargy; battles are fought with various success, +which it were useless and tedious to recount. The event see<a name="Page_260" id="Page_260" title="260" class="pagenum"></a>ms to have +been, that in some corners of the kingdom the Danes gained a few +inconsiderable settlements; the rest of the kingdom, after being +terribly ravaged, was left a little time to recover, in order to be +plundered anew. But the weak prince took no advantage of this time to +concert a regular plan of defence, or to rouse a proper spirit in his +people. Yielding himself wholly to speculative devotion, he entirely +neglected his affairs, and, to complete the ruin of his kingdom, +abandoned it, in such critical circumstances, to make a pilgrimage to +Rome. At Rome he behaved in the manner that suited his little genius, in +making charitable foundations, and in extending the Rome-scot or +Peter-pence, which the folly of some princes of the Heptarchy had +granted for their particular dominions, over the whole Kingdom. His +shameful desertion of his country raised so general a discontent, that +in his absence his own son, with the principal of his nobility and +bishops, conspired against him. At his return, he found, however, that +several still adhered to him; but here, too, incapable of acting with +rigor, he agreed to an accommodation, which placed the crown on the head +of his rebellious son, and only left to himself a sphere of government +as narrow as his genius,—the district of Kent, whither he retired to +enjoy an inglorious privacy with a wife whom he had married in France.</p> + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">Ethelred, A.D. 866</span>On his death, his son Ethelred still held the crown, which he had +preoccupied by his rebellion, and which he polluted with a new stain. He +married his father's widow. The confused history of these times +furnishes no clear account either of the successions of the kings or of +their actions. During the reign of this prince and his successors +Ethelbert and Ethelred, the people in several parts of England seem to +have withdrawn from the kingdom of Wessex, and to have revived their +former independency. This, added to the weakness of the government, made +way for new swarms of Danes, who burst in upon this ill-governed and +divided people, ravaging the whole country in a terrible manner, but +principally directing their fury against every monument of civility or +piety. They had now formed a regular establishment in Northumberland, +and gained a very considerable footing in Mercia and East Anglia; they +hovered over every part of the kingdom with their fleets; and being +established in many places in the heart of the country, nothing seemed +able to resist them.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_46_47" id="Footnote_46_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46_47"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> No Saxon monarch until Athelstan.</p></div> +</div> +<p><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261" title="261" class="pagenum"></a></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="BOOK_II_CHAPTER_IV" id="BOOK_II_CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.<br /> +<br /> +REIGN OF KING ALFRED.</h3> + + + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 871<br />A.D. 875</span>It was in the midst of these distractions that Alfred succeeded to a +sceptre which, was threatened every moment to be wrenched from his +hands. He was then only twenty-two years of age, but exercised from his +infancy in troubles and in wars that formed and displayed his virtue. +Some of its best provinces were torn from his kingdom, which was shrunk +to the ancient bounds of Wessex; and what remained was weakened by +dissension, by a long war, by a raging pestilence, and surrounded by +enemies whose numbers seemed inexhaustible, and whose fury was equally +increased by victories or defeats. All these difficulties served only to +increase the vigor <a name="Page_262" id="Page_262" title="262" class="pagenum"></a>of his mind. He took the field without delay; but he +was defeated with considerable loss. This ominous defeat displayed more +fully the greatness of his courage and capacity, which found in +desperate hopes and a ruined kingdom such powerful resources. In a short +time after he was in a condition to be respected: but he was not led +away by the ambition of a young warrior. He neglected no measures to +procure peace for his country, which wanted a respite from the +calamities which had long oppressed it. A peace was concluded for +Wessex. Then the Danes turned their faces once more towards Mercia and +East Anglia. They had before stripped the inhabitants of all their +movable substance, and now they proceeded without resistance to seize +upon their lands. Their success encouraged new swarms of Danes to crowd +over, who, finding all the northern parts of England possessed by their +friends, rushed into Wessex. They were adventurers under different and +independent leaders; and a peace little regarded by the particular party +that made it had no influence at all upon the others. Alfred opposed +this shock with so much firmness that the barbarians had recourse to a +stratagem: they pretended to treat; but taking advantage of the truce, +they routed a body of the West Saxon cavalry that were off their guard, +mounted their horses, and, crossing the country with amazing celerity, +surprised the city of Exeter. This was an acquisition of infinite +advantage to their affairs, as it secured them a port in the midst of +Wessex.</p> + +<p>Alfred, mortified at this series of misfortunes, perceived clearly that +nothing could dislodge the Danes, or redress their continual incursions, +but a powerful fleet which might intercept them at <a name="Page_263" id="Page_263" title="263" class="pagenum"></a>sea. The want of +this, principally, gave rise to the success of that people. They used +suddenly to land and ravage a part of the country; when a force opposed +them, they retired to their ships, and passed to some other part, which +in a like manner they ravaged, and then retired as before, until the +country, entirely harassed, pillaged, and wasted by these incursions, +was no longer able to resist them. Then they ventured safely to enter a +desolated and disheartened country, and to establish themselves in it. +These considerations made Alfred resolve upon equipping a fleet. In this +enterprise nothing but difficulties presented themselves: his revenue +was scanty, and his subjects altogether unskilled in maritime affairs, +either as to the construction or the navigation of ships. He did not +therefore despair. With great promises attending a little money, he +engaged in his service a number of Frisian seamen, neighbors to the +Danes, and pirates, as they were. He brought, by the same means, +shipwrights from the continent. He was himself present to everything; +and having performed the part of a king in drawing together supplies of +every kind, he descended with no less dignity into the +artist,—improving on the construction, inventing new machines, and +supplying by the greatness of his genius the defects and imperfections +of the arts in that rude period. By his indefatigable application the +first English navy was in a very short time in readiness to put to sea. +At that time the Danish fleet of one hundred and twenty-five ships stood +with full sail for Exeter; they met; but, with an omen prosperous to the +new naval power, the Danish fleet was entirely vanquished and dispersed. +This success drew on the surrendry of Exeter, and a peace, which Alfred +much wanted to put the affairs of his kingdom in orde<a name="Page_264" id="Page_264" title="264" class="pagenum"></a>r.</p> + +<p>This peace, however, did not last long. As the Danes were continually +pouring into some part of England, they found most parts already in +Danish hands; so that all these parties naturally directed their course +to the only English kingdom. All the Danes conspired to put them in +possession of it, and bursting unexpectedly with the united force of +their whole body upon Wessex, Alfred was entirely overwhelmed, and +obliged to drive before the storm of his fortune. He fled in disguise +into a fastness in the Isle of Athelney, where he remained four months +in the lowest state of indigence, supported by an heroic humility, and +that spirit of piety which neither adverse fortune nor prosperity could +overcome. It is much to be lamented that a character so formed to +interest all men, involved in reverses of fortune that make the most +agreeable and useful part of history, should be only celebrated by pens +so little suitable to the dignity of the subject. These revolutions are +so little prepared, that we neither can perceive distinctly the causes +which sunk him nor those which again raised him to power. A few naked +facts are all our stock. From these we see Alfred, assisted by the +casual success of one of his nobles, issuing from his retreat; he heads +a powerful army once more, defeats the Danes, drives them out of Wessex, +follows his blow, expels them from Mercia, subdues them in +Northumberland, and makes them tributary in Bast Anglia; and thus +established by a number of victories in a full peace, he is presented to +us in that character which makes him venerable to posterity. It is a +refreshment, in the midst of such a gloomy waste of barbarism and +desolation, to fall upon so fair and cultivated a spot.</p> +<p><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265" title="265" class="pagenum"></a></p> + +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 880.<br />A.D. 896.</span>When Alfred had once more reunited the kingdoms of his ancestors, he +found the whole face of things in the most desperate condition: there +was no observance of law and order; religion had no force; there was no +honest industry; the most squalid poverty and the grossest ignorance had +overspread the whole kingdom. Alfred at once enterprised the cure of all +these evils. To remedy the disorders in the government, he revived, +improved, and digested all the Saxon institutions, insomuch that he is +generally honored as the founder of our laws and Constitution.<a name="FNanchor_47_48" id="FNanchor_47_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_47_48" class="fnanchor" title=" Historians, copying after one another, and examining +little, have attributed to this monarch the institution of juries, an +institution which certainly did never prevail amongst the Saxons. They +have likewise attributed to him the distribution of England into shires, +hundreds, and tithings, and of appointing officers over these divisions. +But it is very obvious that the shires were never settled upon any +regular plan, nor are they the result of any single design. But these +reports, however ill imagined, are a strong proof of the high veneration +in which this excellent prince has always been held; as it has been +thought that the attributing these regulations to him would endear them +to the nation. Be probably settled them in such an order, and made such +reformations in his government, that some of the institutions themselves +which he improved have been attributed to him: and, indeed, there was +one work of his which serves to furnish us with a higher idea of the +political capacity of that great man than any of these fictions. He made +a general survey and register of all the property in the kingdom, who +held it, and what it was distinctly: a vast work for an age of ignorance +and time of confusion, which has been neglected in more civilized +nations and settled times. It was called the Roll of Winton, and served +as a model of a work of the same kind made by William the Conqueror.">[48]</a></p> + +<p>The shire he divided into hundreds, the hundreds into tithings; every +freeman was obliged to be ente<a name="Page_266" id="Page_266" title="266" class="pagenum"></a>red into some tithing, the members of +which were mutually bound for each other, for the preservation of the +peace, and the avoiding theft and rapine. For securing the liberty of +the subject, he introduced the method of giving bail, the most certain +fence against the abuses of power. It has been observed that the reigns +of weak princes are times favorable to liberty; but the wisest and +bravest of all the English princes is the father of their freedom. This +great man was even jealous of the privileges of his subjects; and as his +whole life was spent in protecting them, his last will breathes the same +spirit, declaring that he had left his people as free as their own +thoughts. He not only collected with great care a complete body of laws, +but he wrote comments on them for the instruction of his judges, who +were in general, by the misfortune of the time, ignorant. And if he +took care to correct their ignorance, he was rigorous towards their +corruption. He inquired strictly into their conduct, he heard appeals in +person; he held his Wittenagemotes, or Parliaments, frequently; and kept +every part of his government in health and vigor.</p> + +<p>Nor was he less solicitous for the defence than he had shown himself for +the regulation of his kingdom. He nourished with particular care the new +naval strength which he had established; he built forts and castles in +the most important posts; he settled beacons to spread an alarm on the +arrival of an enemy; and ordered his militia in such a manner that there +was always a great power in readiness to march, well appointed and well +disciplined. But that a suitable revenue might not be wanting for the +support of his fleets and fortifications, he gave great encouragement to +trade, which, by the piracies on the coasts, and the rapine and +injustice exercised by the people within, had long become a stranger to +<a name="Page_267" id="Page_267" title="267" class="pagenum"></a>this island.</p> + +<p>In the midst of these various and important cares, he gave a peculiar +attention to learning, which by the rage of the late wars had been +entirely extinguished in his kingdom. "Very few there were" (says this +monarch) "on this side the Humber that understood their ordinary +prayers, or that were able to translate any Latin book into English,—so +few, that I do not remember even one qualified to the southward of the +Thames when I began my reign." To cure this deplorable ignorance, he was +indefatigable in his endeavors to bring into England men of learning in +all branches from every part of Europe, and unbounded in his liberality +to them. He enacted by a law that every person possessed of two hides +of land should send their children to school until sixteen. Wisely +considering where to put a stop to his love even of the liberal arts, +which are only suited to a liberal condition, he enterprised yet a +greater design than that of forming the growing generation,—to instruct +even the grown: enjoining all his earldormen and sheriffs immediately to +apply themselves to learning, or to quit their offices. To facilitate +these great purposes, he made a regular foundation of an university, +which with great reason is believed to have been at Oxford. Whatever +trouble he took to extend the benefits of learning amongst his subjects, +he showed the example himself, and applied to the cultivation of his +mind with unparalleled diligence and success. He could neither read nor +write at twelve years old; but he improved his time in such a manner +that he became one of the most knowing men of his age, in geometry, in +philosophy, in architecture, and in music. He applied himself to the +improvement of his native language; he translated<a name="Page_268" id="Page_268" title="268" class="pagenum"></a> several valuable works +from Latin; and wrote a vast number of poems in the Saxon tongue with a +wonderful facility and happiness. He not only excelled in the theory of +the arts and sciences, but possessed a great mechanical genius for the +executive part; he improved the manner of ship-building, introduced a +more beautiful and commodious architecture, and even taught his +countrymen the art of making bricks,—most of the buildings having been +of wood before his time. In a word, he comprehended in the greatness of +his mind the whole of government and all its parts at once, and, what is +most difficult to human frailty, was at the same time sublime and +minute.</p> + +<p>Religion, which in Alfred's father was so prejudicial to affairs, +without being in him at all inferior in its zeal and fervor, was of a +more enlarged and noble kind; far from being a prejudice to his +government, it seems to have been the principle that supported him in so +many fatigues, and fed like an abundant source his civil and military +virtues. To his religious exercises and studies he devoted a full third +part of his time. It is pleasant to trace a genius even in its smallest +exertions,—in measuring and allotting his time for the variety of +business he was engaged in. According to his severe and methodical +custom, he had a sort of wax candles made of different colors in +different proportions, according to the time he allotted to each +particular affair; as he carried these about with him wherever he went, +to make them burn evenly he invented horn lanterns. One cannot help +being amazed that a prince, who lived in such turbulent times, who +commanded personally in fifty-four pitched battles, who had so +disordered a province to regulate, who was not only a legislator, but a +judge, and who was continually superintending his armies, his navies, +the traffic of his kingdom, his revenues, and the conduct of all his +officers, could have bestowed so much of his time on religious exercises +and speculative knowledge; but the exertion of all his faculties and +virtues seemed to have given a mutual strength to all of them. Thus all +historians speak of this prince, whose whole history was one panegyric; +and whatever dark spots of human frailty may have adhered to such a +character, they are entirely hid in the splendor of his many shining +qualities and grand virtues, that throw a glory over the obscure period +in which he lived, and which is for no other reason worthy of our +knowledge.</p> + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 897.</span>The latter part of his reign was molested with new and formidable +attempts from the Danes: but they no longer found the country in its +former condition; their fleets were attacked; and those that landed +found a strong and regular opposition. There were now fortresses which +restrained their ravages, and armies well appointed to oppose them in +the field; they were defeated in a pitched battle; and after several +desperate marches from one part of the country to the other, everywhere +harassed and hunted, they were glad to return with half their number, +and to leave Alfred in quiet to accomplish the great things he had +projected. This prince reigned twenty-seven, years, and died at last of +a disorder in his bowels, which had afflicted him, without interrupting +his designs or souring his temper, during the greatest part of his life.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_47_48" id="Footnote_47_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47_48"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> Historians, copying after one another, and examining +little, have attributed to this monarch the institution of juries, an +institution which certainly did never prevail amongst the Saxons. They +have likewise attributed to him the distribution of England into shires, +hundreds, and tithings, and of appointing officers over these divisions. +But it is very obvious that the shires were never settled upon any +regular plan, nor are they the result of any single design. But these +reports, however ill imagined, are a strong proof of the high veneration +in which this excellent prince has always been held; as it has been +thought that the attributing these regulations to him would endear them +to the nation. Be probably settled them in such an order, and made such +reformations in his government, that some of the institutions themselves +which he improved have been attributed to him: and, indeed, there was +one work of his which serves to furnish us with a higher idea of the +political capacity of that great man than any of these fictions. He made +a general survey and register of all the property in the kingdom, who +held it, and what it was distinctly: a vast work for an age of ignorance +and time of confusion, which has been neglected in more civilized +nations and settled times. It was called the Roll of Winton, and served +as a model of a work of the same kind made by William the Conqueror.</p></div> +</div> + +<p><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269" title="269" class="pagenum"></a></p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="BOOK_II_CHAPTER_V" id="BOOK_II_CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.<br /> +<br /> +SUCCESSION OF KINGS FROM ALFRED TO HAROLD.</h3> + + + + +<p><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270" title="270" class="pagenum"></a></p> + + +<p><span class="sidenote">Edward, A.D. 900.<br />Athelstan A.D. 925.<br />Edmund, A.D. 942.<br />Edred, A.D. 947.<br />Edwin, A.D. 957.</span>His son Edward succeeded. Though of less learning than his father, he +equalled him in his political virtues. He made war with success on the +Welsh, the Scots, and the Danes, and left his kingdom strongly +fortified, and exercised, not weakened, with the enterprises of a +vigorous reign. Because his son Edmund was under age, the crown was set +on the head of his illegitimate offspring, Athelstan. His, like the +reigns of all the princes of this time, was molested by the continual +incursions of the Danes; and nothing but a succession of men of spirit, +capacity, and love of their country, which providentially happened at +this time, could ward off the ruin of the kingdom. Such Athelstan was; +and such was his brother Edmund, who reigned five years with great +reputation, but was at length, by an obscure ruffian, assassinated in +his own palace. Edred, his brother, succeeded to the late monarchy: +though he had left two sons, Edwin and Edgar, both were passed by on +account of their minority. But on this prince's death, which happened +after a troublesome reign of ten years, valiantly supported against +continual inroads of the Danes; the crown devolved on Edwin; of whom +little can be said, because his reign was short, and he was so embroiled +with his clergy that we can take his character only from the monks, who +in such a case are suspicious authority.</p> + + +<p><span class="sidenote">Edgar, A.D. 959.</span><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271" title="271" class="pagenum"></a></p> +<p>Edgar, the second son of King Edmund, came young to the throne; but he +had the happiness to have his youth formed and his kingdom ruled by men +of experience, virtue, and authority. The celebrated Dunstan was his +first minister, and had a mighty influence over all his actions. This +prelate had been educated abroad, and had seen the world to advantage. +As he had great power at court by the superior wisdom of his counsels, +so by the sanctity of his life he had great credit with the people, +which gave a firmness to the government of his master, whose private +character was in many respects extremely exceptionable. It was in his +reign, and chiefly by the means of his minister, Dunstan, that the +monks, who had long prevailed in the opinion of the generality of the +people, gave a total overthrow to their rivals, the secular clergy. The +secular clergy were at this time for the most part married, and were +therefore too near the common modes of mankind to draw a great deal of +their respect; their character was supported by a very small portion of +learning, and their lives were not such as people wish to see in the +clergy. But the monks were unmarried, austere in their lives, regular in +their duties, possessed of the learning of the times, well united under +a proper subordination, full of art, and implacable towards their +enemies. These circumstances, concurring with the dispositions of the +king and the designs of Dunstan, prevailed so far that it was agreed in +a council convened for that purpose to expel the secular clergy from +their livings, and to supply their places with monks, throughout the +kingdom. Although the partisans of the secular<a name="Page_272" id="Page_272" title="272" class="pagenum"></a> priests were not a few, +nor of the lowest class, yet they were unable to withstand the current +of the popular desire, strengthened by the authority of a potent and +respected monarch. However, there was a seed of discontent sown on this +occasion, which grew up afterwards to the mutual destruction of all the +parties. During the whole reign of Edgar, as he had secured the most +popular part of the clergy, and with them the people, in his interests, +there was no internal disturbance; there was no foreign war, because +this prince was always ready for war. But he principally owed his +security to the care he took of his naval power, which was much greater +and better regulated than that of any English monarch before him. He had +three fleets always equipped, one of which annually sailed round the +island. Thus the Danes, the Scots, the Irish, and the Welsh were kept +in awe. He assumed the title of King of all Albion. His court was +magnificent, and much frequented by strangers. His revenues were in +excellent order, and no prince of his time supported the royal character +with more dignity.</p> + + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">Edward, A.D. 975.<br />Ethelred, A.D. 979.</span>Edgar had two wives, Elfleda and Elfrida. By the first he had a son +called Edward; the second bore him one called Ethelred. On Edgar's +death, Edward, in the usual order of succession, was called to the +throne; but Elfrida caballed in favor of her son, and finding it +impossible to set him up in the life of his brother, she murdered him +with her own hands in her castle of Corfe, whither he had retired to +refresh himself, wearied with hunting. Ethelred, who by the crimes of +his mother ascended a throne sprinkled with <a name="Page_273" id="Page_273" title="273" class="pagenum"></a>his brother's blood, had a +part to act which exceeded the capacity that could be expected in one of +his youth and inexperience. The partisans of the secular clergy, who +were kept down by the vigor of Edgar's government, thought this a fit +time to renew their pretensions. The monks defended themselves in their +possession; there was no moderation on either side, and the whole nation +joined in these parties. The murder of Edward threw an odious stain on +the king, though he was wholly innocent of that crime. There was a +general discontent, and every corner was full of murmurs and cabals. In +this state of the kingdom, it was equally dangerous to exert the fulness +of the sovereign authority or to suffer it to relax. The temper of the +king was most inclined to the latter method, which is of all things the +worst. A weak government, too easy, suffers evils to grow which often +make the most rigorous and illegal proceedings necessary. Through an +extreme lenity it is on some occasions tyrannical. This was the +condition of Ethelred's nobility, who, by being permitted everything, +were never contented.</p> + +<p>Thus all the principal men held a sort of factious and independent +authority; they despised the king, they oppressed the people, and they +hated one another. The Danes, in every part of England but Wessex as +numerous as the English themselves, and in many parts more numerous, +were ready to take advantage of these disorders, and waited with +impatience some new attempt from abroad, that they might rise in favor +of the invaders. They were not long without such an occasion; the Danes +pour in almost upon every part at once, and distract the defence which +the weak prince was preparing to make.</p> + +<p>In those days of wretchedness and ignorance, when all the maritime parts +of Europe were attacked by these formidable enemies at once, they never +thought of entering into any alliance against them; they equally +neglected the other obvious method to prevent their incursions, which +was, to carry the war into the invaders' country.</p><p><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274" title="274" class="pagenum"></a></p> + +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 987.<br />A.D. 991.</span>What aggravated these calamities, the nobility, mostly disaffected to +the king, and entertaining very little regard to their country, made, +some of them, a weak and cowardly opposition to the enemy; some actually +betrayed their trust; some even were found who undertook the trade of +piracy themselves. It was in this condition, that Edric, Duke of Mercia, +a man of some ability, but light, inconstant, and utterly devoid of all +principle, proposed to buy a peace from the Danes. The general weakness +and consternation disposed the king and people to take this pernicious +advice. At first 10,000<i>l.</i> was given to the Danes, who retired with +this money and the rest of their plunder. The English were now, for the +first time, taxed to supply this payment. The imposition was called +Danegelt, not more burdensome in the thing than scandalous in the name. +The scheme of purchasing peace not only gave rise to many internal +hardships, but, whilst it weakened the kingdom, it inspired such a +desire of invading it to the enemy, that Sweyn, King of Denmark, came in +person soon after with a prodigious fleet and army. The English, having +once found the method of diverting the storm by an inglorious bargain, +could not bear to think of any other way of resistance. A greater sum, +48,000<i>l.</i>, was now paid, which the Danes accepted with pleasure, as +they could by this means exhaust their enemies and enrich themselves +with little danger or trouble. With very short intermissions they still +returned, continually increasing in their demands. In a few years they +extorted upwards of 160,000<i>l.</i> from the English, besides an annual +tribute of 48,000<i>l.</i> The country was wholly exhausted both of money and +spirit. The Danes in En<a name="Page_275" id="Page_275" title="275" class="pagenum"></a>gland, under the protection of the foreign Danes, +committed a thousand insolencies; and so infatuated with stupidity and +baseness were the English at this time, that they employed hardly any +other soldiers for their defence.</p> + + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 1002<br />A.D. 1003</span>In this state of shame and misery, their sufferings suggested to them a +design rather desperate than brave. They resolved on a massacre of the +Danes. Some authors say, that in one night the whole race was cut off. +Many, probably all the military men, were so destroyed. But this +massacre, injudicious as it was cruel, was certainly not universal; nor +did it serve any other or better end than to exasperate those of the +same nation abroad, who the next year landed in England with a powerful +army to revenge it, and committed outrages even beyond the usual tenor +of the Danish cruelty. There was in England no money left to purchase a +peace, nor courage to wage a successful war; and the King of Denmark, +Sweyn, a prince of capacity, at the head of a large body of brave and +enterprising men, soon mastered the whole kingdom, except London. +Ethelred, abandoned by fortune and his subjects, was forced to fly into +Normandy.</p> + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">Edmund Ironside, A.D. 1016.</span>As there was no good order in the English affairs, though continually +alarmed, they were always surprised; they were only roused to arms by +the cruelty of the enemy, an<a name="Page_276" id="Page_276" title="276" class="pagenum"></a>d they were only formed into a body by being +driven from their homes: so that they never made a resistance until they +seemed to be entirely conquered. This may serve to account for the +frequent sudden reductions of the island, and the frequent renewals of +their fortune when it seemed the most desperate. Sweyn, in the midst of +his victories, dies, and, though succeeded by his son Canute, who +inherited his father's resolution, their affairs were thrown into some +disorder by this accident. The English were encouraged by it. Ethelred +was recalled, and the Danes retired out of the kingdom; but it was only +to return the nest year with a greater and better appointed force. +Nothing seemed able to oppose them. The king dies. A great part of the +land was surrendered, without resistance, to Canute. Edmund, the eldest +son of Ethelred, supported, however, the declining hopes of the English +for some time; in three months he fought three victorious battles; he +attempted a fourth, but lost it by the base desertion of Edric, the +principal author of all these troubles. It is common with the conquered +side to attribute all their misfortunes to the treachery of their own +party. They choose to be thought subdued by the treachery of their +friends rather than the superior bravery of their enemies. All the old +historians talk in this strain; and it must be acknowledged that all +adherents to a declining party have many temptations to infidelity.</p> + +<p>Edmund, defeated, but not discouraged, retreated to the Severn, where he +recruited his forces. Canute followed at his heels. And now the two +armies were drawn up which were to decide the fate of England, when it +was proposed to determine the war by a single combat between the two +kings. Neither was unwilling; the Isle of Alney in the Severn was chosen +for the lists. Edmund had the advantage by the greatness of his +strength, Canute by his address; for when Edmund had so far prevailed as +to disarm him, he proposed a parley, in which he persuaded Edmund to a +peace, and to a division of the kingdom. Their armies accepted the +agreement, and both kings departed in a seeming friendship. But Edmund +died soon after, with a probable suspicion of being murdered by the +instruments of his associate in the empire.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277" title="277" class="pagenum"></a></p> + + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">The Danish race.<br />Canute.<br />Harold I., A.D. 1035.<br />Hardicanute, A.D. 1035<br />The Saxon line restored.</span>Canute, on this event, assembled the states of the kingdom, by whom he +was acknowledged King of all England. He was a prince truly great; for, +having acquired the kingdom by his valor, he maintained and improved it +by his justice and clemency. Choosing rather to rule by the inclination +of his subjects than the right of conquest, he dismissed his Danish +army, and committed his safety to the laws. He reëstablished the order +and tranquillity which so long a series of bloody wars had banished. He +revived the ancient statutes of the Saxon princes, and governed through +his whole reign with such steadiness and moderation that the English +were much happier under this foreign prince than they had been under +their natural kings. Canute, though the beginning of his life was +stained with those marks of violence and injustice which attend +conquest, was remarkable in his latter end for his piety. According to +the mode of that time, he made a pilgrimage to Rome, with a view to +expiate the crimes which paved his way to the<a name="Page_278" id="Page_278" title="278" class="pagenum"></a> throne; but he made a good +use of this peregrination, and returned full of the observations he had +made in the country through which he passed, which he turned to the +benefit of his extensive dominions. They comprehended England, Denmark, +Norway, and many of the countries which lie upon the Baltic. Those he +left, established in peace and security, to his children. The fate of +his Northern possessions is not of this place. England fell to his son +Harold, though not without much competition in favor of the sons of +Edmund Ironside, while some contended for the right of the sons of +Ethelred, Alfred and Edward. Harold inherited none of the virtues of +Canute; he banished his mother Emma, murdered his half-brother Alfred, +and died without issue after a short reign, full of violence, weakness, +and cruelty. His brother Hardicanute, who succeeded him, resembled him +in his character; he committed new cruelties and injustices in revenging +those which his brother had committed, and he died after a yet shorter +reign. The Danish power, established with so much blood, expired of +itself; and Edward, the only surviving son of Ethelred, then an exile in +Normandy, was called to the throne by the unanimous voice of the +kingdom.</p> + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">Edward the Confessor, A.D. 1041.<br />A.D. 1053<br />A.D. 1066.</span>This prince was educated in a monastery, where he learned piety, +continence, and humility, but nothing of the art of government. He was +innocent and artless, but his views were narrow, and his genius +contemptible. The character of such a prince is not, therefore, what +influences the government, any further than as it puts it in the hands +of others. When he came to the throne, Godwin, Earl of Kent, was the +most popular man in England; he possessed a very great estate, an +<a name="Page_279" id="Page_279" title="279" class="pagenum"></a>enterprising disposition, and an eloquence beyond the age he lived in; +he was arrogant, imperious, assuming, and of a conscience which never +put itself in the way of his interest. He had a considerable share in +restoring Edward to the throne of his ancestors; and by this merit, +joined to his popularity, he for some time directed everything according +to his pleasure. He intended to fortify his interest by giving in +marriage to the king his daughter, a lady of great beauty, great virtue, +and an education beyond her sex. Godwin had, however, powerful rivals in +the king's favor. This monarch, who possessed many of the private +virtues, had a grateful remembrance of his favorable reception in +Normandy; he caressed the people of that country, and promoted several +to the first places, ecclesiastical and civil, in his kingdom. This +begot an uneasiness in all the English; but Earl Godwin was +particularly offended. The Normans, on the other hand, accused Godwin of +a design on the crown, the justice of which imputation the whole tenor +of his conduct evinced sufficiently. But as his cabals began to break +into action before they were in perfect ripeness for it, the Norman +party prevailed, and Godwin was banished. This man was not only very +popular at home by his generosity and address, but he found means to +engage even, foreigners in his interests. Baldwin, Earl of Flanders, +gave him a very kind reception. By his assistance Godwin fitted out a +fleet, hired a competent force, sailed to England, and having near +Sandwich deceived the king's navy, he presented himself at London before +he was expected. The king made ready as great a force as the time would +admit to oppose him. The galleys of Edward and Godwin met on the Thames; +but such was the general favor to Godwin, such the popularity of his +cause, that the king's men threw down their arms, and refused to fight +against their countrymen in favor of strangers. Edward was obliged to +treat with his own subjects, and in consequence of this treaty to +dismiss the Normans, whom he believed to be the best attached to his +interests. Godwin used the power to which he was restored to gratify his +personal revenge, showing no mercy to his enemies. Some of his sons +behaved in the most tyrannical manner. The great lords of the kingdom +envied and hated a greatness which annihilated the royal authority, +eclipsed them, and oppressed the people; but Godwin's death soon after +quieted for a while their murmurs. The king, who had the least share in +the transactions of his own reign, and who was of a temper not to +perceive his own insignificance, begun in his old age to think of a +successor. He had no children: for some weak reasons of religion or +personal dislike, he had never cohabited with his wife. He sent for his +nephew Edward, the son of Edmund Ironside, out of Hungary, where he had +taken refuge; but he died soon after he came to England, leaving a son +called Edgar Atheling. The king himself irresolute in so momentous an +affair, died without making any settlement. His reign was properly that +of his great men, or rather of their factions. All of it that was his +own was good. He was careful of the privileges of his subjects, and took +care to have a body of the Saxon laws, very favorable to them, digested +and enforced. He remitted the heavy imposition called Danegelt, +amounting to 40,000<i>l.</i> a year, which had been constantly collected +after the occasion had ceased; he even repaid to his subjects what he +found in the treasury at his accession. In short, there is little in his +life that can call his title to sanctity in question, though he can +never be reckoned among the great kings.</p> +<p><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280" title="280" class="pagenum"></a></p> +<p><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281" title="281" class="pagenum"></a></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="BOOK_II_CHAPTER_VI" id="BOOK_II_CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.<br /> +<br /> +HAROLD II.—INVASION OF THE NORMANS.—ACCOUNT OF THAT PEOPLE, AND OF THE +STATE OF ENGLAND AT THE TIME OF THE INVASION.</h3> + + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">Harold II., A.D. 1066.</span>Though Edgar Atheling had the best title to the succession, yet Harold, +the son of Earl Godwin, on account of the credit of his father, and his +own great qualities, which supported and extended the interest of his +family, was by the general voice set upon the throne. The right of +Edgar, young, and discovering no great capacity, gave him little +disturbance in comparison of the violence of his own brother Tosti, whom +for his infamous oppression he had found himself obliged to banish. This +man, who was a tyrant at home and a traitor abroad, insulted the +maritime parts with a piratical fleet, whilst he incited all the +neighboring princes to fall upon his country. Harold Harfager, King of +Norway, after the conquest of the Orkneys, with a powerful navy hung +over the coasts of England. But nothing troubled Harold so much as the +pretensions and the formidable preparation of William, Duke of Normandy, +one of the most able, ambitious, and enterprising men of that age. We +have mentioned the partiality of <a name="Page_282" id="Page_282" title="282" class="pagenum"></a>King Edward to the Normans, and the +hatred he bore to Godwin, and his family. The Duke of Normandy, to whom +Edward had personal obligations, had taken a tour into England, and +neglected no means to improve these dispositions to his own advantage. +It is said that he then received the fullest assurances of being +appointed to the succession, and that Harold himself had been sent soon +after into Normandy to settle whatever related to it. This is an obscure +transaction, and would, if it could be cleared up, convey but little +instruction. So that whether we believe or not that William had engaged +Harold by a solemn oath to secure him the kingdom, we know that he +afterwards set up a will of King Edward in his favor, which, however, he +never produced, and probably never had to produce. In these delicate +circumstances Harold was not wanting to himself. By the most equitable +laws and the most popular behavior he sought to secure the affections of +his subjects; and he succeeded so well, that, when he marched against +the King of Norway, who had invaded his kingdom and taken York, without +difficulty he raised a numerous army of gallant men, zealous for his +cause and their country. He obtained a signal and decisive victory over +the Norwegians. The King Harfager, and the traitor Tosti, who had joined +him, were slain in the battle, and the Norwegians were forced to +evacuate the country. Harold had, however, but little time to enjoy the +fruits of his victory.</p> + +<p>Scarce had the Norwegians departed, when William, Duke of Normandy, +landed in the southern part of the kingdom with an army of sixty +thousand chosen men, and struck a general terror through all the nation, +which was well acquainted with the character of the commander and the +courage and d<a name="Page_283" id="Page_283" title="283" class="pagenum"></a>iscipline of his troops.</p> + +<p>The Normans were the posterity of those Danes who had so long and so +cruelly harassed the British islands and the shore of the adjoining +continent. In, the days of King Alfred, a body of these adventurers, +under their leader, Rollo, made an attempt upon England; but so well did +they find every spot defended by the vigilance and bravery of that great +monarch that they were compelled to retire. Beaten from these shores, +the stream of their impetuosity bore towards the northern parts of +France, which had been reduced to the most deplorable condition by their +former ravages. Charles the Simple then sat on the throne of that +kingdom; unable to resist this torrent of barbarians, he was obliged to +yield to it; he agreed to give up to Rollo the large and fertile +province of Neustria, to hold of him as his feudatory. This province, +from the new inhabitants, was called Normandy. Five princes succeeded +Rollo, who maintained with great bravery and cultivated with equal +wisdom his conquests. The ancient ferocity of this people was a little +softened by their settlement; but the bravery which, had made the Danes +so formidable was not extinguished in the Normans, nor the spirit of +enterprise. Not long before this period, a private gentleman of +Normandy, by his personal bravery, had acquired the kingdom of Naples. +Several others followed his fortunes, who added Sicily to it. From one +end of Europe to the other the Norman name was known, respected, and +feared. Robert, the sixth Duke of Normandy, to expiate some crime which +lay heavy upon his conscience, resolved, according to the ideas of that +time, upon a pilgrimag<a name="Page_284" id="Page_284" title="284" class="pagenum"></a>e to Jerusalem. It was in vain that his nobility, +whom he had assembled to notify this resolution to them, represented to +him the miserable state to which his country would be reduced, abandoned +by its prince, and uncertain of a legal successor. The Duke was not to +be moved from his resolution, which appeared but the more meritorious +from the difficulties which attended it. He presented to the states +William, then an infant, born of an obscure woman, whom, +notwithstanding, he doubted not to be his son; him he appointed to +succeed; him he recommended to their virtue and loyalty; and then, +solemnly resigning the government in his favor, he departed on the +pilgrimage, from whence he never returned. The states, hesitating some +time between, the mischiefs that attend the allowing an illegitimate +succession, and those which might arise from admitting foreign +pretensions, thought the former the least prejudicial, and accordingly +swore allegiance to William. But this oath was not sufficient to +establish a right so doubtful. The Dukes of Burgundy and Brittany, as +well as several Norman noblemen, had specious titles. The endeavors of +all these disquieted the reign of the young prince with perpetual +troubles. In these troubles he was formed early in life to vigilance, +activity, secrecy, and a conquest over all those passions, whether bad +or good, which obstruct the way to greatness. He had to contend with all +the neighboring princes, with the seditions of a turbulent and +unfaithful nobility, and the treacherous protection of his feudal lord, +the King of France. All of these in their turns, sometimes all of these +together, distressed him. But with the most unparalleled good fortune +and conduct he overcame all opposition, and triumphed over every enemy, +raising his power and reputat<a name="Page_285" id="Page_285" title="285" class="pagenum"></a>ion above that of all his ancestors, as +much as he was exalted by his bravery above the princes of his own time.</p> + +<p>Such was the prince who, on a pretended claim from the will of King +Edward, supported by the common and popular pretence of punishing +offenders and redressing grievances, landed at Pevensey in Sussex, to +contest the crown with Harold. Harold had no sooner advice of his +landing than he advanced to meet him with all possible diligence; but +there did not appear in his army, upon this occasion, the same unanimity +and satisfaction which animated it on its march against the Norwegians. +An ill-timed economy in Harold, which made him refuse to his soldiers +the plunder of the Norwegian camp, had created a general discontent. +Several deserted; and the soldiers who remained followed heavily a +leader under whom there was no hope of plunder, the greatest incitement +of the soldiery. Notwithstanding this ill disposition, Harold still +urged forward, and by forced marches advanced within seven miles of the +enemy. The Norman, on his landing, is said to have sent away his ships, +that his army might have no way of safety but in conquest; yet had he +fortified his camp, and taken every prudent precaution, that so +considerable an enterprise should not be reduced to a single effort of +despair. When the armies, charged with the decision of so mighty a +contest, had approached each other, Harold paused awhile. A great deal +depended on his conduct at this critical time. The most experienced in +the council of war, who knew the condition of their troops, were of +opinion that the engagement ought to be deferred,—that the country +ought to be wasted,—that, as the winter approached, the Normans would +in all probability be obliged <a name="Page_286" id="Page_286" title="286" class="pagenum"></a>to retire of themselves,—that, if this +should not happen, the Norman army was without resources, whilst the +English would be every day considerably augmented, and might attack +their enemy at a time and manner which might make their success certain. +To all these reasons nothing was opposed but a false point of honor and +a mistaken courage in Harold, who urged his fate, and resolved on an +engagement. The Norman, as soon as he perceived that the English, were +determined on a battle, left his camp to post himself in an advantageous +situation, in which his whole army remained the night which preceded the +action.</p> + +<p>This night was spent in a manner which prognosticated the event of the +following day. On the part of the Normans it was spent in prayer, and +in a cool and steady preparation for the engagement; on the side of the +English, in riot and a vain confidence that neglected all the necessary +preparations. The two armies met in the morning; from seven to five the +battle was fought with equal vigor, until at last the Norman army +pretending to break in confusion, a stratagem to which they had been +regularly formed, the English, elated with success, suffered that firm +order in which their security consisted to dissipate, which when William +observed, he gave the signal to his men to regain their former +disposition, and fall upon the English, broken and dispersed. Harold in +this emergency did everything which became him, everything possible to +collect his troops and to renew the engagement; but whilst he flew from +place to place, and in all places restored the battle, an arrow pierced +his brain, and he died a king, in a manner worthy of a warrior. The +English immediately fled; the rout <a name="Page_287" id="Page_287" title="287" class="pagenum"></a>was total, and the slaughter +prodigious.</p> + +<p>The consternation which this defeat and the death of Harold produced +over the kingdom was more fatal than the defeat itself. If William had +marched directly to London, all contest had probably been at an end; but +he judged it more prudent to secure the sea-coast, to make way for +reinforcements, distrusting his fortune in his success more than he had +done in his first attempts. He marched to Dover, where the effect of his +victory was such that the strong castle there surrendered without +resistance. Had this fortress made any tolerable defence, the English +would have had leisure to rouse from their consternation, and plan some +rational method for continuing the war; but now the conqueror was on +full march to London, whilst the English were debating concerning the +measures they should take, and doubtful in what manner they should fill +the vacant throne. However, in this emergency it was necessary to take +some resolution. The party of Edgar Atheling prevailed, and he was owned +king by the city of London, which even at this time was exceedingly +powerful, and by the greatest part of the nobility then present. But his +reign was of a short duration. William advanced by hasty marches, and, +as he approached, the perplexity of the English redoubled: they had done +nothing for the defence of the city; they had no reliance on their new +king; they suspected one another; there was no authority, no order, no +counsel; a confused and ill-sorted assembly of unwarlike people, of +priests, burghers, and nobles confounded with them in the general panic, +struck down by the consternation o<a name="Page_288" id="Page_288" title="288" class="pagenum"></a>f the late defeat, and trembling under +the bolts of the Papal excommunication, were unable to plan any method +of defence: insomuch that, when he had passed the Thames and drew near +to London, the clergy, the citizens, and the greater part of the nobles, +who had so lately set the crown on the head of Edgar, went out to meet +him; they submitted to him, and having brought him in triumph to +Westminster, he was there solemnly crowned King of England. The whole +nation followed the example of London; and one battle gave England to +the Normans, which had cost the Romans, the Saxons, and Danes so much +time and blood to acquire.</p> + +<p>At first view it is very difficult to conceive how this could have +happened to a powerful nation, in which it does not appear that the +conqueror had one partisan. It stands a single event in history, unless, +perhaps, we may compare it with the reduction of Ireland, some time +after, by Henry the Second. An attentive consideration of the state of +the kingdom at that critical time may, perhaps, in some measure, lay +open to us the cause of this extraordinary revolution. The nobility of +England, in which its strength consisted, was much decayed. Wars and +confiscations, but above all the custom of gavelkind, had reduced that +body very low. At the same time some few families had been, raised to a +degree of power unknown in the ancient Saxon times, and dangerous in +all. Large possessions, and a larger authority, were annexed to the +offices of the Saxon magistrates, whom they called Aldermen. This +authority, in their long and bloody wars with the Danes, it was found +necessary<a name="Page_289" id="Page_289" title="289" class="pagenum"></a> to increase, and often to increase beyond the ancient limits. +Aldermen were created for life; they were then frequently made +hereditary; some were vested with a power over others; and at this +period we begin to hear of dukes who governed over several shires, and +had many aldermen subject to them. These officers found means to turn +the royal bounty into an instrument of becoming independent of its +authority. Too great to obey, and too little to protect, they were a +dead weight upon the country. They began to cast an eye on the crown, +and distracted the nation by cabals to compass their designs. At the +same time they nourished the most terrible feuds amongst themselves. The +feeble government of Edward established these abuses. He could find no +method of humbling one subject grown too great, but by aggrandizing in +the same excessive degree some others. Thus, he endeavored to balance +the power of Earl Godwin by exalting Leofric, Duke of Mercia, and +Siward, Duke of Northumberland, to an extravagant greatness. The +consequence was this: he did not humble Godwin, but raised him potent +rivals. When, therefore, this prince died, the lawful successor to the +crown, who had nothing but right in his favor, was totally eclipsed by +the splendor of the great men who had adorned themselves with the spoils +of royalty. The throne was now the prize of faction; and Harold, the son +of Godwin, having the strongest faction, carried it. By this success the +opposite parties were inflamed with a new occasion of rancor and +animosity, and an incurable discontent was raised in the minds of Edwin +and Morcar, the sons of Duke Leofric, who inherited their father's power +and popularity: but this animosity operated nothing in favor of the +legitimate heir<a name="Page_290" id="Page_290" title="290" class="pagenum"></a>, though it weakened the hands of the governing prince.</p> + +<p>The death of Harold was far from putting an end to these evils; it +rather unfolded more at large the fatal consequences of the ill measures +which had been pursued. Edwin and Morcar set on foot once more their +practices to obtain the crown; and when they found themselves baffled, +they retired in discontent from the councils of the nation, withdrawing +thereby a very large part of its strength and authority. The council of +the nation, which was formed of the clashing factions of a few great +men, (for the rest were nothing,) divided, disheartened, weakened, +without head, without direction, dismayed by a terrible defeat, +submitted, because they saw no other course, to a conqueror whose valor +they had experienced, and who had hitherto behaved with great +appearances of equity and moderation. As for the grandees, they were +contented rather to submit to this foreign prince than to those whom +they regarded as their equals and enemies.</p> + +<p>With these causes other strong ones concurred. For near two centuries +the continual and bloody wars with the Danes had exhausted the nation; +the peace, which for a long time they were obliged to buy dearly, +exhausted it yet more; and it had not sufficient leisure nor sufficient +means of acquiring wealth to yield at this time any extraordinary +resources. The new people, which after so long a struggle had mixed with +the English, had not yet so thoroughly incorporated with the ancient +inhabitants that a perfect union might be expected between them, or that +any strong, uniform, national effort might have resulted from it. +Besides, the people of England were the most backward in Europe in all +improvements, whether in military or in civil life. Their towns were +meanly built, and more meanly fortified; there was scarcely anything +that deserved the name of a strong place in the kingdom; there was no +fortress which, by retarding the progress of a conqueror, might give the +people an opportunity of recalling their spirits and collecting their +strength. To these we may add, that the Pope's approbation of William's +pretensions gave them great weight, especially amongst the clergy, and +that this disposed and reconciled to submission a people whom the +circumstances we have mentioned had before driven to it.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291" title="291" class="pagenum"></a></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="BOOK_II_CHAPTER_VII" id="BOOK_II_CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.<br /> +<br /> +OF THE LAWS AND INSTITUTIONS OF THE SAXONS.</h3> + + +<p>Before we begin to consider the laws and constitutions of the Saxons, +let us take a view of the state of the country from whence they are +derived, as it is portrayed in ancient writers. This view will be the +best comment on their institutions. Let us represent to ourselves a +people without learning, without arts, without industry, solely pleased +and occupied with war, neglecting agriculture, abhorring cities, and +seeking their livelihood only from pasturage and hunting through a +boundless range of morasses and forests. Such a people must necessarily +be united to each other by very feeble bonds; their ideas of government +will necessarily be imperfect, their freedom and their love of freedom +great. From these dispositions it must happen, of course, that <a name="Page_292" id="Page_292" title="292" class="pagenum"></a>the +intention of investing one person or a few with the whole powers of +government, and the notion of deputed authority or representation, are +ideas that never could have entered their imaginations. When, therefore, +amongst such a people any resolution of consequence was to be taken, +there was no way of effecting it but by bringing together the whole body +of the nation, that every individual might consent to the law, and each +reciprocally bind the other to the observation of it. This polity, if so +it may be called, subsists still in all its simplicity in Poland.</p> + +<p>But as in such a society as we have mentioned the people cannot be +classed according to any political regulations, great talents have a +more ample sphere in which to exert themselves than in a close and +better formed society. These talents must therefore have attracted a +great share of the public veneration, and drawn a numerous train after +the person distinguished by them, of those who sought his protection, or +feared his power, or admired his qualifications, or wished to form +themselves after his example, or, in fine, of whoever desired to partake +of his importance by being mentioned along with him. These the ancient +Gauls, who nearly resembled the Germans in their customs, called +Ambacti; the Romans called them Comites. Over these their chief had a +considerable power, and the more considerable because it depended upon +influence rather than institution: influence among so free a people +being the principal source of power. But this authority, great as it +was, never could by its very nature be stretched to despotism; because +any despotic act would have shocked the only principle by which that +authority was supported, the general good opinion. On the <a name="Page_293" id="Page_293" title="293" class="pagenum"></a>other hand, it +could not have been bounded by any positive laws, because laws can +hardly subsist amongst a people who have not the use of letters. It was +a species of arbitrary power, softened by the popularity from whence it +arose. It came from popular opinion, and by popular opinion it was +corrected.</p> + +<p>If people so barbarous as the Germans have no laws, they have yet +customs that serve in their room; and these customs operate amongst them +better than laws, because they become a sort of Nature both to the +governors and the governed. This circumstance in some measure removed +all fear of the abuse of authority, and induced the Germans to permit +their chiefs<a name="FNanchor_48_49" id="FNanchor_48_49"></a><a href="#Footnote_48_49" class="fnanchor" title=" They had no other nobility; yet several families amongst +them were considered as noble.">[49]</a> to decide upon matters of lesser moment, their private +differences,—for so Tacitus explains the <i>minores res</i>. These chiefs +were a sort of judges, but not legislators; nor do they appear to have +had a share in the superior branches of the executive part of +government,—the business of peace and war, and everything of a public +nature, being determined, as we have before remarked, by the whole body +of the people, according to a maxim general among the Germans, that what +concerned all ought to be handled by all. Thus were delineated the faint +and incorrect outlines of our Constitution, which has since been so +nobly fashioned and so highly finished. This fine system, says +Montesquieu, was invented in the woods; but whilst it remained in the +woods, and for a long time after, it was far from being a fine one,—no +more, indeed, than a very imperfect attempt at government, a system for +a rude and barbarous people, calculated to maintain them in their +barbarity.</p> +<p><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294" title="294" class="pagenum"></a></p> +<p>The ancient state of the Germans was military: so that the orders into +which they were distributed, their subordination, their courts, and +every part of their government, must be deduced from an attention to a +military principle.</p> + +<p>The ancient German people, as all the other Northern tribes, consisted +of freemen and slaves: the freemen professed arms, the slaves cultivated +the ground. But men were not allowed to profess arms at their own will, +nor until they were admitted to that dignity by an established order, +which at a certain age separated the boys from men. For when a young man +approached to virility,<a name="FNanchor_49_50" id="FNanchor_49_50"></a><a href="#Footnote_49_50" class="fnanchor" title=" Arma sumere non ante cuiquam moris, quàm civitas +suffecturum probaverit.—Tacitus de Mor. Germ. 13.">[50]</a> he was not yet admitted as a member of the +state, which was quite military, until he had been invested with a +spear in the public assembly of his tribe; and then he was adjudged +proper to carry arms, and also to assist in the public deliberations, +which were always held armed.<a name="FNanchor_50_51" id="FNanchor_50_51"></a><a href="#Footnote_50_51" class="fnanchor" title=" Nihil autem neque publicæ neque privatæ rei nisi armati +agunt.—Tacitus de Mor. Germ. 13.">[51]</a> This spear he generally received from +the hand of some old and respected chief, under whom he commonly entered +himself, and was admitted among his followers.<a name="FNanchor_51_52" id="FNanchor_51_52"></a><a href="#Footnote_51_52" class="fnanchor" title=" Cæteri robustioribus ac jam pridem probatis +aggregantur.—Id. ibid.">[52]</a> No man could stand +out as an independent individual, but must have enlisted in one of these +military fraternities; and as soon as he had so enlisted, immediately he +became bound to his leader in the strictest dependence, which was +<a name="Page_295" id="Page_295" title="295" class="pagenum"></a>confirmed by an oath,<a name="FNanchor_52_53" id="FNanchor_52_53"></a><a href="#Footnote_52_53" class="fnanchor" title=" Illum defendere, tueri, sua quoque fortia facta gloriæ +ejus as signare, præcipuum sacramentum est.—Id. 14.">[53]</a> and to his brethren in a common vow for their +mutual support in all dangers, and for the advancement and the honor of +their common chief. This chief was styled Senior, Lord, and the like +terms, which marked out a superiority in age and merit; the followers +were called Ambacti, Comites, Leudes, Vassals, and other terms, marking +submission and dependence. This was the very first origin of civil, or +rather, military government, amongst the ancient people of Europe; and +it arose from the connection that necessarily was created between the +person who gave the arms, or knighted the young man, and him that +received them; which implied that they were to be occupied in his +service who originally gave them. These principles it is necessary +strictly to attend to, because they will serve much to explain the whole +course both of government and real property, wherever the German +nations obtained a settlement: the whole of their government depending +for the most part upon two principles in our nature,—ambition, that +makes one man desirous, at any hazard or expense, of taking the lead +amongst others,—and admiration, which makes others equally desirous of +following him, from the mere pleasure of admiration, and a sort of +secondary ambition, one of the most universal passions among men. These +two principles, strong, both of them, in our nature, create a voluntary +inequality and dependence. But amongst equals in condition there could +be no such bond, and this was supplied by confederacy; and as the first +of these principles created the senior and the knight, the second +produced the <i>conjurati fratres</i>, which, sometimes as a more extensive, +sometimes as a stricter bond, are perpetually mentioned in the old laws +and histories.</p> + +<p>The relation between the lord<a name="Page_296" id="Page_296" title="296" class="pagenum"></a> and the vassal produced another +effect,—that the leader was obliged to find sustenance for his +followers, and to maintain them at his table, or give them some +equivalent in order to their maintenance. It is plain from these +principles, that this service on one hand, and this obligation to +support on the other, could not have originally been hereditary, but +must have been entirely in the free choice of the parties.</p> + +<p>But it is impossible that such a polity could long have subsisted by +election alone. For, in the first place, that natural love which every +man has to his own kindred would make the chief willing to perpetuate +the power and dignity he acquired in his own blood,—and for that +purpose, even during his own life, would raise his son, if grown up, or +his collaterals, to such a rank as they should find it only necessary to +continue their possession upon his death. On the other hand, if a +follower was cut off in war, or fell by natural course, leaving his +offspring destitute, the lord could not so far forget the services of +his vassal as not to continue his allowance to his children; and these +again growing up, from reason and gratitude, could only take their +knighthood at his hands from whom they had received their education; and +thus, as it could seldom happen but that the bond, either on the side of +the lord or dependant, was perpetuated, some families must have been +distinguished by a long continuance of this relation, and have been +therefore looked upon in an honorable light, from that only circumstance +from whence honor was derived in the Northern world. Thus nobility was +seen in Germany; and in the earliest Anglo-Saxon times some families +were distinguished by the tit<a name="Page_297" id="Page_297" title="297" class="pagenum"></a>le of Ethelings, or of noble descent. But +this nobility of birth was rather a qualification for the dignities of +the state than an actual designation to them. The Saxon ranks are +chiefly designed to ascertain the quantity of the composition for +personal injuries against them.</p> + +<p>But though this hereditary relation was created very early, it must not +be mistaken for such a regular inheritance as we see at this day: it was +an inheritance only according to the principles from whence it was +derived; by them it was modified. It was originally a military +connection; and if a father loft his son under a military age, so as +that he could neither lead nor judge his people, nor qualify the young +men who came up under him to take arms,—in order to continue the +cliental bond, and not to break up an old and strong confederacy, and +thereby disperse the tribe, who should be pitched upon to head the +whole, but the worthiest of blood of the deceased leader, he that ranked +next to him in his life?<a name="FNanchor_53_54" id="FNanchor_53_54"></a><a href="#Footnote_53_54" class="fnanchor" title=" Deputed authority, guardianship, &c., not known to the +Northern nations; they gained this idea by intercourse with the Romans.">[54]</a> And this is Tanistry, which is a succession +made up of inheritance and election, a succession in which blood is +inviolably regarded, so far as it was consistent with military purposes. +It was thus that our kings succeeded to the throne throughout the whole +time of the Anglo-Saxon, empire. The first kings of the Franks succeeded +in the same manner, and without all doubt the succession of all the +inferior chieftains was regulated by a similar law. Very frequent +examples occur in the Saxon times, where t<a name="Page_298" id="Page_298" title="298" class="pagenum"></a>he son of the deceased king, +if under age, was entirely passed over, and his uncle, or some remoter +relation, raised to the crown; but there is not a single instance where +the election has carried it out of the blood. So that, in truth, the +controversy, which has been managed with such heat, whether in the Saxon +times the crown was hereditary or elective, must be determined in some +degree favorably for the litigants on either side; for it was certainly +both hereditary and elective within the bounds, which we have mentioned. +This order prevailed in Ireland, where the Northern customs were +retained some hundreds of years after the rest of Europe had in a great +measure receded from them. Tanistry continued in force there until the +beginning of the last century. And we have greatly to regret the narrow +notions of our lawyers, who abolished the authority of the Brehon law, +and at the same time kept no monuments of it,—which if they had done, +there is no doubt but many things of great value towards determining +many questions relative to the laws, antiquities, and manners of this +and other countries had been preserved. But it is clear, though it has +not been, I think, observed, that the ascending collateral branch was +much regarded amongst the ancient Germans, and even preferred to that of +the immediate possessor, as being, in case of an accident arriving to +the chief, the presumptive heir, and him on whom the hope of the family +was fixed: and this is upon the principles of Tanistry. And the rule +seems to have taken such deep root as to have much influenced a +considerable article of our feudal law: for, what is very singular, and, +I take it, otherwise unaccountable, a collateral warranty bound, even +without any descending assets, where the lineal did not, unless +something descended; and this subsisted invariably in the law until this +century.</p> +<p><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299" title="299" class="pagenum"></a></p> +<p>Thus we have seen the foundation of the Northern government and the +orders of their people, which consisted of dependence and confederacy: +that the principal end of both was military; that protection and +maintenance were due on the part of the chief, obedience on that of the +follower; that the followers should be bound to each other as well as to +the chief; that this headship was not at first hereditary, but that it +continued in the blood by an order of its own, called Tanistry.</p> + +<p>All these unconnected and independent parts were only linked together by +a common council: and here religion interposed. Their priests, the +Druids, having a connection throughout each state, united it. They +called the assembly of the people: and here their general resolutions +were taken; and the whole might rather be called a general confederacy +than a government. In no other bonds, I conceive, were they united +before they quitted Germany. In this ancient state we know them from +Tacitus. Then follows an immense gap, in which undoubtedly some changes +were made by time; and we hear little more of them until we find them +Christians, and makers of written laws. In this interval of time the +origin of kings may be traced out. When the Saxons left their own +country in search of new habitations, it must be supposed that they +followed their leaders, whom they so much venerated at home; but as the +wars which made way for their establishment continued for a long time, +military obedience made them familiar with a stricter authority. A +subordination, too, became necessary among the leaders of each band of +adventurer<a name="Page_300" id="Page_300" title="300" class="pagenum"></a>s: and being habituated to yield an obedience to a single +person in the field, the lustre of his command and the utility of the +institution easily prevailed upon them to suffer him to form the band of +their union in time of peace, under the name of King. But the leader +neither knew the extent of the power he received, nor the people of that +which they bestowed. Equally unresolved were they about the method of +perpetuating it,—sometimes filling the vacant throne by election, +without regard to, but more frequently regarding, the blood of the +deceased prince; but it was late before they fell into any regular plan +of succession, if ever the Anglo-Saxons attained it. Thus their polity +was formed slowly; the prospect clears up by little and little; and this +species of an irregular republic we see turned into a monarchy as +irregular. It is no wonder that the advocates for the several parties +among us find something to favor their several notions in the Saxon +government, which was never supported by any fixed or uniform principle. +To comprehend the other parts of the government of our ancestors, we +must take notice of the orders into winch they were classed. As well as +we can judge in so obscure a matter, they were divided into nobles or +gentlemen, freeholders, freemen that were not freeholders, and slaves. +Of these last we have little to say, as they were nothing in the state. +The nobles were called Thanes, or servants. It must be remembered that +the German chiefs were raised to that honorable rank by those +qualifications which drew after them a numerous train of followers and +dependants.<a name="FNanchor_54_55" id="FNanchor_54_55"></a><a href="#Footnote_54_55" class="fnanchor" title=" Jud. Civ. Lund. apud Wilk. post p. 68.">[55]</a> If it was honorable to be followed by a numerous train, +so it was honorable i<a name="Page_301" id="Page_301" title="301" class="pagenum"></a>n a secondary degree to be a follower of a man of +consideration; and this honor was the greater in proportion to the +quality of the chief, and to the nearness of the attendance on his +person. When a monarchy was formed, the splendor of the crown naturally +drowned all the inferior honors; and the attendants on the person of the +king were considered as the first in rank, and derived their dignity +from their service. Yet as the Saxon government had still a large +mixture of the popular, it was likewise requisite, in order to raise a +man to the first rank of thanes, that he should have a suitable +attendance and sway amongst the people. To support him in both of these, +it was necessary that he should have a competent estate. Therefore in +this service of the king, this attendance on himself, and this estate to +support both, the dignity of a thane consisted. I understand here a +thane of the first order.</p> + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">Hallmote, or Court-Baron.</span>Every thane, in the distribution of his lands, had two objects in view: +the support of his family, and the maintenance of his dignity. He +therefore retained in his own hands a parcel of land near his house, +which in the Saxon times was called inland, and afterwards his demesne, +which served to keep up his hospitality: and this land was cultivated +either by slaves, or by the poorer sort of people, who held lands of him +by the performance of this service. The other portion of his estate he +either gave for life or lives to his followers, men of a liberal +condition, who served the greater thane, as he himself served the king. +They were called Under Thanes, or, according to the langua<a name="Page_302" id="Page_302" title="302" class="pagenum"></a>ge of that +time, Theoden.<a name="FNanchor_55_56" id="FNanchor_55_56"></a><a href="#Footnote_55_56" class="fnanchor" title=" Spelman of Feuds, ch. 5.">[56]</a> They served their lord in all public business; they +followed him in war; and they sought justice in his court in all their +private differences. These may be considered as freeholders of the +better sort, or indeed a sort of lesser gentry therefore, as they were +not the absolute dependants, but in some measure the peers of their +lord, when they sued in his court, they claimed the privilege of all the +German freemen, the right of judging one another: the lord's steward was +only the register. This domestic court, which continued in full vigor +for many ages, the Saxons called Hall mote, from the place in which it +was held; the Normans, who adopted it, named it a Court-Baron. This +court had another department, in which the power of the lord was more +absolute. From the most ancient times the German nobility considered +themselves as the natural judges of those who were employed in the +cultivation of their lands, looking on husbandmen with contempt, and +only as a parcel of the soil which they tilled: to these the Saxons +commonly allotted some part of their outlands to hold as tenants at +will, and to perform very low services for them. The differences of +these inferior tenants were decided in the lord's court, in which his +steward sat as judge; and this manner of tenure probably gave an origin +to copyholders.<a name="FNanchor_56_57" id="FNanchor_56_57"></a><a href="#Footnote_56_57" class="fnanchor" title=" Fuerunt etiam in conquestu liberi homines, qui libere +tenuerunt tenementa sua per libera servitia vel per liberas +consuetudines.—For the original of copyholds, see Bracton, Lib. I. fol. +7.">[57]</a> Their estates were at will, but their persons were +free: nor can we suppose that villains, if we consider villains as +synonymous to slaves, could ever by any natural course have risen to +copyholders; because the servile condition of the villain's person would +always have prevented that stable tenure in the lands which the +copyholders came to in very early times. The merely servile part of the +nation seems<a name="Page_303" id="Page_303" title="303" class="pagenum"></a> never to have been known by the name of Villains or +Ceorles, but by those of Bordars, Esnes, and Theowes.</p> + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">Tithing Court.</span>As there were large tracts throughout the country not subject to the +jurisdiction of any thane, the inhabitants of which were probably some +remains of the ancient Britons not reduced to absolute slavery, and such +Saxons as had not attached themselves to the fortunes of any leading +man, it was proper to find some method of uniting and governing these +detached parts of the nation, which had not been brought into order by +any private dependence. To answer this end, the whole kingdom was +divided into Shires, these into Hundreds, and the Hundreds into +Tithings.<a name="FNanchor_57_58" id="FNanchor_57_58"></a><a href="#Footnote_57_58" class="fnanchor" title=" Ibi debent populi omnes et gentes universæ singulis annis, +semel in anno scilicet, convenire, scilicet in capite Kal. Maii, et se +fide et sacramento non fracto ibi in unam et simul confœderare, et +consolidare sicut conjurati fratres ad defendendum regnum contra +alienigenas et contra inimicos, unâ cum domino suo rege, et terras et +honores illius omni fidelitate cum eo servare, et quod illi ut domino +suo regi intra et extra regnum universum Britanniæ fideles esse +volunt—LL. Ed. Conf. c. 35.—Of Heretoches and their election, vide Id. +eodem. +Probibitum erat etiam in eadem lege, ne quis emeret vivum animal vel +pannum usatum sine plegiis et bonis testibus.—Of other particulars of +buying and selling, vide Leges Ed. Conf. 38.">[58]</a> This division was not made, as it is generally imagined, +by King Alfred, though he might have introduced better regulations +concerning it; it prevailed on the continent, wherever the Northern +nations had obtained a settlement; and it is a species of order +extremely obvious to all who use the decimal notati<a name="Page_304" id="Page_304" title="304" class="pagenum"></a>on: when for the +purposes of government they divide a county, tens and hundreds are the +first modes of division which occur. The Tithing, which was the smallest +of these divisions, consisted of ten heads of families, free, and of +some consideration. These held a court every fortnight, which they +called the Folkmote, or Leet, and there became reciprocally bound to +each other and to the public for their own peaceable behavior and that +of their families and dependants. Every man in the kingdom, except those +who belonged to the seigneurial courts we have mentioned, was obliged to +enter himself into some tithing: to this he was inseparably attached; +nor could he by any means quit it without license from the head of the +tithing; because, if he was guilty of any misdemeanor, his district was +obliged to produce him or pay his fine. In this manner was the whole +nation, as it were, held under sureties: a species of regulation +undoubtedly very wise with regard to the preservation of peace and +order, but equally prejudicial to all improvement in the minds or the +fortunes of the people, who, fixed invariably to the spot, were +depressed with all the ideas of their original littleness, and by all +that envy which is sure to arise in those who see their equals +attempting to mount over them. This rigid order deadened by degrees the +spirit of the English, and narrowed their conceptions. Everything was +new to them, and therefore everything was terrible; all activity, +boldness, enterprise, and invention died away. There may be a danger in +straining too strongly the bonds of government. As a life of absolute +license tends to turn men into savages, the other extreme of constraint +operates much in the same manner: it reduces them to the same ignorance, +but leaves them nothing of the savage spirit. These regulations helped +to keep the people of England the most backward in Europe; for though +the division into shires and hun<a name="Page_305" id="Page_305" title="305" class="pagenum"></a>dreds and tithings was common to them +with the neighboring nations, yet the <i>frankpledge</i> seems to be a +peculiarity in the English Constitution; and for good reasons they have +fallen into disuse, though still some traces of them are to be found in +our laws.</p> + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">Hundred Court.</span>Ten of these tithings made an Hundred. Here in ordinary course they held +a monthly court for the centenary, when all the suitors of the +subordinate tithings attended. Here were determined causes concerning +breaches of the peace, small debts, and such matters as rather required +a speedy than a refined justice.</p> + + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">County Court.<br />Ealdorman and Bishop.</span>There was in the Saxon Constitution a great simplicity. The higher order +of courts were but the transcript of the lower, somewhat more extended +in their objects and in their power; and their power over the inferior +courts proceeded only from their being a collection of them all. The +County or Shire Court was the great resort for justice (for the four +great courts of record did not then exist). It served to unite all the +inferior districts with one another, and those with the private +jurisdiction of the thanes. This court had no fixed place. The alderman +of the shire appointed it. Hither came to account for their own conduct, +and that of those beneath them, the bailiffs of hundreds and tithings +and boroughs, with their people,—the thanes of either rank, with their +dependants,—a vast concourse of the clergy of all orders: in a word, of +all who sought or distributed j<a name="Page_306" id="Page_306" title="306" class="pagenum"></a>ustice. In this mixed assembly the +obligations contracted in the inferior courts were renewed, a general +oath of allegiance to the king was taken, and all debates between the +several inferior coördinate jurisdictions, as well as the causes of too +much weight for them, finally determined. In this court presided (for in +strict signification he does not seem to have been a judge) an officer +of great consideration in those times, called the Ealdorman of the +Shire. With him sat the bishop, to decide in whatever related to the +Church, and to mitigate the rigor of the law by the interposition of +equity, according to the species of mild justice that suited the +ecclesiastical character. It appears by the ancient Saxon laws, that the +bishop was the chief acting person in this court. The reverence in which +the clergy were then held, the superior learning of the bishop, his +succeeding to the power and jurisdiction of the Druid, all contributed +to raise him far above the ealdorman, and to render it in reality his +court. And this was probably the reason of the extreme lenity of the +Saxon laws. The canons forbade the bishops to meddle in cases of blood. +Amongst the ancient Gauls and Germans the Druid could alone condemn to +death; so that on the introduction of Christianity there was none who +could, in ordinary course, sentence a man to capital punishment: +necessity alone forced it in a few cases.</p> + +<p>Concerning the right of appointing the Alderman of the Shire there is +some uncertainty. That he was anciently elected by his county is +indisputable; that an alderman of the shire was appointed by the crown +seems equally clear from the writings of King Alfred. A conjecture of +Spelman thro<a name="Page_307" id="Page_307" title="307" class="pagenum"></a>ws some light upon this affair. He conceives that there were +two aldermen with concurrent jurisdiction, one of whom was elected by +the people, the other appointed by the king. This is very probable, and +very correspondent to the nature of the Saxon Constitution, which was a +species of democracy poised and held together by a degree of monarchical +power. If the king had no officer to represent him in the county court, +wherein all the ordinary business of the nation was then transacted, the +state would have hardly differed from a pure democracy. Besides, as the +king had in every county large landed possessions, either in his +demesne, or to reward and pay his officers, he would have been in a much +worse condition than any of his subjects, if he had been destitute of a +magistrate to take care of his rights and to do justice to his numerous +vassals. It appears, as well as we can judge in so obscure a matter, +that the popular alderman was elected for a year only, and that the +royal alderman held his place at the king's pleasure. This latter +office, however, in process of time, was granted for life; and it grew +afterwards to be hereditary in many shires.</p> + + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">The Sheriff.<br />Sheriff's Tourn.</span>We cannot pretend to say when the Sheriff came to be substituted in the +place of the Ealdorman: some authors think King Alfred the contriver of +this regulation. It might have arisen from the nature of the thing +itself. As several persons of consequence enough to obtain by their +interest or power the place <a name="Page_308" id="Page_308" title="308" class="pagenum"></a>of alderman were not sufficiently qualified +to perform the duty of the office, they contented themselves with the +honorary part, and left the judicial province to their substitute.<a name="FNanchor_58_59" id="FNanchor_58_59"></a><a href="#Footnote_58_59" class="fnanchor" title=" Sheriff in the Norman times was merely the king's officer, +not the earl's. The earl retained his ancient fee, without jurisdiction; +the sheriff did all the business. The elective sheriff must have +disappeared on the Conquest; for then all land was the king's, either +immediately or mediately, and therefore his officer governed.">[59]</a> +The business of the robe to a rude martial people was contemptible and +disgusting. The thanes, in their private jurisdictions, had delegated +their power of judging to their reeves, or stewards; and the earl, or +alderman, who was in the shire what the thane was in his manor, for the +same reasons officiated by his deputy, the shire-reeve. This is the +origin of the Sheriff's Tourn, which decided in all affairs, civil and +criminal, of whatever importance, and from which there lay no appeal but +to the Witenagemote. Now there scarce remains the shadow of a body +formerly so great: the judge being reduced almost wholly to a +ministerial officer; and to the court there being left nothing more +than the cognizance of pleas under forty shillings, unless by a +particular writ or special commission. But by what steps such a +revolution came on it will be our business hereafter to inquire.</p> + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">Witenagemote.</span>The Witenagemote or Saxon Parliament, the supreme court, had authority +over all the rest, not upon any principle of subordination, but because +it was formed of all the rest. In this assembly, which was held +annually, and sometimes twice a year, sat the earls and bishops and +greater thanes, with the other officers of the crown.<a name="FNanchor_59_60" id="FNanchor_59_60"></a><a href="#Footnote_59_60" class="fnanchor" title=" How this assembly was composed, or by what right the +members sat in it, I cannot by any means satisfy myself. What is here +said is, I believe, nearest to the truth.">[60]</a> So far as we +can judge by the style of the Saxon laws, none but the thanes, or +nobility, were considered as ne<a name="Page_309" id="Page_309" title="309" class="pagenum"></a>cessary constituent parts of this +assembly, at least whilst it acted deliberatively. It is true that great +numbers of all ranks of people attended its session, and gave by their +attendance, and their approbation of what was done, a sanction to the +laws; but when they consented to anything, it was rather in the way of +acclamation than by the exercise of a deliberate voice, or a regular +assent or negative. This may be explained by considering the analogy of +the inferior assemblies. All persons, of whatever rank, attended at the +county courts; but they did not go there as judges, they went to sue for +justice,—to be informed of their duty, and to be bound to the +performance of it. Thus all sorts of people attended at the +Witenagemotes, not to make laws, but to attend at the promulgation of +the laws;<a name="FNanchor_60_61" id="FNanchor_60_61"></a><a href="#Footnote_60_61" class="fnanchor" title=" Hence, perhaps, all men are supposed cognizant of the +law.">[61]</a> as among so free a people every institution must have +wanted much of its necessary authority, if not confirmed by the general +approbation. Lambard is of opinion that in these early times the commons +sat, as they do at this day, by representation from shires and boroughs; +and he supports his opinion by very plausible reasons. A notion of this +kind, so contrary to the simplicity of the Saxon ideas of government, +and to the genius of that people, who held the arts and commerce in so +much contempt, must be founded on such appearances as no other +explanation can account for.</p> + +<p>To the reign of Henry the Second, the citizens and burgesses were little +removed from absolute slaves. They might be taxed individually at what +sum the king thought fit to demand; or they might be discharged by +offering the king a sum, from which, if he accepted it, the citizens +were not at liberty to recede; and in either case the demand was exacted +with severity, and even cruelty. A great difference is made between +taxing t<a name="Page_310" id="Page_310" title="310" class="pagenum"></a>hem and those who cultivate lands: because, says my author, +their property is easily concealed; they live penuriously, are intent by +all methods to increase their substance, and their immense wealth is not +easily exhausted. Such was their barbarous notion of trade and its +importance. The same author, speaking of the severe taxation, and +violent method of extorting it, observes that it is a very proper +method,—and that it is very just that a degenerate officer, or other +freeman, rejecting his condition for sordid gain, should be punished +beyond the common law of freemen.</p> + +<p>I take it that those who held by ancient demesne did not prescribe +simply not to contribute to the expenses of the knight of the shire; but +they prescribed, as they did in all cases, upon a general principle, to +pay no tax, nor to attend any duty of whatever species, because they +were the king's villains. The argument is drawn from the poverty of the +boroughs, which ever since the Conquest have been of no consideration, +and yet send members to Parliament; which they could not do, but by some +privileges inherent in them, on account of a practice of the same kind +in the Saxon times, when they were of more repute. It is certain that +many places now called boroughs were formerly towns or villages in +ancient demesne of the king, and had, as such, writs directed to them to +appear in Parliament, that they might make a free gift or benevolence, +as the boroughs did; and from thence arose the custom of summoning them. +This appears by sufficient records. And it appears by records also, that +it was much at the discretion of the sh<a name="Page_311" id="Page_311" title="311" class="pagenum"></a>eriff what boroughs he should +return; a general writ was directed to him to return for all the +boroughs in a shire; sometimes boroughs which had formerly sent members +to Parliament were quite passed over, and others, never considered as +such before, were returned. What is called the prescription on this +occasion was rather a sort of rule to direct the sheriff in the +execution of his general power than a right inherent in any boroughs. +But this was long after the time of which we speak. In whatever manner +we consider it, we must own that this subject during the Saxon times is +extremely dark. One thing, however, is, I think, clear from the whole +tenor of their government, and even from the tenor of the Norman +Constitution long after: that their Witenagemotes or Parliaments were +unformed, and that the rights by which the members held their seats +were far from being exactly ascertained. The <i>Judicia Civitatis +Londoniæ</i> afford a tolerable insight into the Saxon method of making and +executing laws. First, the king called together his bishops, and such +other persons <i>as he thought proper</i>. This council, or Witenagemote, +having made such laws as seemed convenient, they then swore to the +observance of them. The king sent a notification of these proceedings to +each Burgmote, where the people of that court also swore to the +observance of them, and confederated, by means of mutual strength and +common charge, to prosecute delinquents against them. Nor did there at +that time seem to be any other method of enforcing new laws or old. For +as the very form of their government subsisted by a confederacy +continually renewed, so, when a law was made, it was necessary fo<a name="Page_312" id="Page_312" title="312" class="pagenum"></a>r its +execution to have again recourse to confederacy, which was the great, +and I should almost say the only, principle of the Anglo-Saxon +government.</p> + +<p>What rights the king had in this assembly is a matter of equal +uncertainty.<a name="FNanchor_61_62" id="FNanchor_61_62"></a><a href="#Footnote_61_62" class="fnanchor" title=" Debet etiam rex omnia rite facere in regno, et per +judicium procerum regni.—Debet ... justitiam per consilium procerum +regni sui tenere.—Leges Ed. 17.">[62]</a> The laws generally run in his name, with the assent of +his wise men, &c. But considering the low estimation of royalty in those +days, this may rather be considered as the voice of the executive +magistrate, of the person who compiled the law and propounded it to the +Witenagemote for their consent, than of a legislator dictating from his +own proper authority. For then, it seems, the law was digested by the +king or his council for the assent of the general assembly. That order +is now reversed. All these things are, I think, sufficient to show of +what a visionary nature those systems are which would settle the ancient +Constitution in the most remote times exactly in the same form in which +we enjoy it at this day,—not considering that such mighty changes in +manners, during so many ages, always must produce a considerable change +in laws, and in the forms as well as the powers of all governments.</p> + +<p>We shall next consider the nature of the laws passed in these +assemblies, and the judicious manner of proceeding in these several +courts which we have described.</p> + + +<p><span class="sidenote">Saxon laws.</span><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313" title="313" class="pagenum"></a></p> +<p>The Anglo-Saxons trusted more to the strictness of their police, and to +the simple manners of their people, for the preservation of peace and +order, than to accuracy or exquisite digestion of their laws, or to the +severity of the punishments which they inflicted.<a name="FNanchor_62_63" id="FNanchor_62_63"></a><a href="#Footnote_62_63" class="fnanchor" title=" The non-observance of a regulation of police was always +heavily punished by barbarous nations; a slighter punishment was +inflicted upon the commission of crimes. Among the Saxons moat crimes +were punished by fine; wandering from the highway without sounding an +horn was death. So among the Druids,—to enforce exactness in time at +their meetings, he that came last after the time appointed was punished +with death.">[63]</a> The laws which +remain to us of that people seem almost to regard two points only: the +suppressing of riots and affrays,—and the regulation of the several +ranks of men, in order to adjust the fines for delinquencies according +to the dignity of the person offended, or to the quantity of the +offence. In all other respects their laws seem very imperfect. They +often speak in the style of counsel as well as that of command. In the +collection of laws attributed to Alfred we have the Decalogue +transcribed, with no small part of the Levitical law; in the same code +are inserted many of the Saxon institutions, though these two laws were +in all respects as opposite as could possibly be imagined. These +indisputable monuments of our ancient rudeness are a very sufficient +confutation of the panegyrical declamations in which some persons would +persuade us that the crude institutions of an unlettered people had +attained an height which the united efforts of necessity, learning, +inquiry, and experience can hardly reach to in many ages. We must add, +that, although as one people under one head there was some resemblance +in the laws and customs of our Saxon ancestors throughput the kingdom, +yet there was a considerable difference, in many material points, +between the customs of the several shires: nay, that in different manors +subsisted a variety of laws not reconcilable with each other, some of +which custom, that caused them, has abrogated; others have been +overruled by laws or public judgment to the contrary; not a few subsist +to this time.</p> + + +<p><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314" title="314" class="pagenum"></a></p> + + +<p><span class="sidenote">Purgation by oath.<br />By ordeal.</span>The Saxon laws, imperfect and various as they were, served in some +tolerable degree a people who had by their Constitution an eye on each +other's concerns, and decided almost all matters of any doubt amongst +them by methods which, however inadequate, were extremely simple. They +judged every controversy either by the conscience of the parties, or by +the country's opinion of it, or what they judged an appeal to +Providence. They were unwilling to submit to the trouble of weighing +contradictory testimonies; and they were destitute of those critical +rules by which evidence is sifted, the true distinguished from the +false, the certain from the uncertain. Originally, therefore, the +defendant in the suit was put to his oath, and if on oath he denied the +debt or the crime with which he was charged, he was of course acquitted. +But when the first fervors of religion began to decay, and fraud and the +temptations to fraud to increase, they trusted no longer to the +conscience of the party. They cited him to an higher tribunal,—the +immediate judgment of God. Their trials were so many conjurations, and +the magical ceremonies of barbarity and heathenism entered into law and +religion. This supernatural method of process they called God's Dome; it +is generally known by the name of <i>Ordeal</i>, which in the Saxon language +signifies the Great Trial. This trial was made either by fire or water: +that by fire was principally reserved for persons of rank; that by water +decided the fate of the vulgar; sometimes it was at the choice of the +<a name="Page_315" id="Page_315" title="315" class="pagenum"></a>party. A piece of iron, kept with a religious veneration in some +monastery, which claimed this privilege as an honor, was brought forth +into the church upon the day of trial; and it was there again +consecrated to this awful purpose by a form of service still extant. A +solemn mass was performed; and then the party accused appeared, +surrounded by the clergy, by his judges, and a vast concourse of people, +suspended and anxious for the event; all that assisted purified +themselves by a fast of three days; and the accused, who had undergone +the same fast, and received the sacrament, took the consecrated iron, of +about a pound weight, heated red, in his naked hand, and in that manner +carried it nine feet. This done, the hand was wrapped up and sealed in +the presence of the whole assembly. Three nights being passed, the +seals were opened before all the people: if the hand was found without +any sore inflicted by the fire, the party was cleared with universal +acclamation; if on the contrary a raw sore appeared, the party, +condemned by the judgment of Heaven, had no further plea or appeal. +Sometimes the accused walked over nine hot irons: sometimes boiling +water was used; into this the man dipped his hand to the arm. The +judgment by water was accompanied by the solemnity of the same +ceremonies. The culprit was thrown into a pool of water, in which if he +did not sink, he was adjudged guilty, as though the element (they said) +to which they had committed the trial of his innocency had rejected him.</p> + +<p>Both these species of ordeal, though they equally appealed to God, yet +went on different principles. In the fire ordeal a miracle must be +wrought to acquit the party; in the water a miracle was necessary to +convic<a name="Page_316" id="Page_316" title="316" class="pagenum"></a>t him. Is there any reason for this extraordinary distinction? or +must we resolve it solely into the irregular caprices of the human mind? +The greatest genius which has enlightened this age seems in this affair +to have been carried by the sharpness of his wit into a subtilty hardly +to be justified by the way of thinking of that unpolished period. +Speaking of the reasons for introducing this method of trial, "<i>Qui ne +voit</i>," says he, "<i>que, chez un peuple exercé à manier des armes, la +peau rude et calleuse ne devoit pas recevoir assez l'impression du fer +chaud, ... pour qu'il y parût trois jours après? Et s'il y paroissoit, +c'étoit une marque que celui qui faisoit l'épreuve étoit un efféminé</i>." +And this mark of effeminacy, he observes, in those warlike times, +supposed that the man has resisted the principles of his education, that +he is insensible to honor, and regardless of the opinion of his +country. But supposing the effect of hot iron to be so slight even on +the most callous hands, of which, however, there is reason to doubt, yet +we can hardly admit this reasoning, when we consider that women were +subjected to this fire ordeal, and that no other women than those of +condition could be subjected to it. Montesquieu answers the objection, +which he foresaw would be made, by remarking, that women might have +avoided this proof, if they could find a champion to combat in their +favor; and he thinks a just presumption might be formed against a woman +of rank who was so <a name="Page_317" id="Page_317" title="317" class="pagenum"></a>destitute of friends as to find no protector. It must +be owned that the barbarous people all over Europe were much guided by +presumptions in all their judicial proceedings; but how shall we +reconcile all this with the custom of the Anglo-Saxons, among whom the +ordeal was in constant use, and even for women, without the alternative +of the combat, to which it appears this people were entire strangers? +What presumption can arise from the event of the water ordeal, in which +no callosity of hands, no bravery, no skill in arms, could be in any +degree serviceable? The causes of both may with more success be sought +amongst the superstitious ideas of the ancient Northern world. Amongst +the Germans the administration of the law was in the hands of the +priests or Druids.<a name="FNanchor_63_64" id="FNanchor_63_64"></a><a href="#Footnote_63_64" class="fnanchor" title=" The Druids judged not as magistrates, but as interpreters +of the will of Heaven. "Ceterum neque animadvertere, neque vincire, +neque verberare quidem, nisi sacerdotibus permissum; non quasi in +pœnam, nec ducis jussu, sed velut Deo imperante," says Tacitus, de +Mor. German. 7.">[64]</a> And as the Druid worship paid the highest respect +to the elements of fire and water, it was very natural that they who +abounded with so many conjurations for the discovery of doubtful facts +or future events should make use of these elements in their divination. +It may appear the greater wonder, how the people came to continue so +long, and with, such obstinacy, after the introduction of Christianity, +and in spite of the frequent injunctions of the Pope, whose authority +was then much venerated, in the use of a species of proof the +insufficiency of which a thousand examples might have detected. But this +is perhaps not so unaccountable. Persons were not put to this trial, +unless there was pretty strong evidence against them, something +sufficient to form what is equivalent to a <i>corpus delicti</i>; they must +have been actually found guilty by the <i>duodecemvirale judicium</i>, before +they could be subjected in any sort to the ordeal. It was in effect +<a name="Page_318" id="Page_318" title="318" class="pagenum"></a>showing the accused an indulgence to give him this chance, even such a +chance as it was, of an acquittal; and it was certainly much milder than +the torture, which is used, with full as little certainty of producing +its end, among the most civilized nations. And the ordeal without +question frequently operated by the mere terror. Many persons, from a +dread of the event, chose to discover rather than to endure the trial. +Of those that did endure it, many must certainly have been guilty. The +innocency of some who suffered could never be known with certainty. +Others by accident might have escaped; and this apparently miraculous +escape had great weight in confirming the authority of this trial. How +long did we continue in punishing innocent people for witchcraft, though +experience might, to thinking persons, have frequently discovered the +injustice of that proceeding! whilst to the generality a thousand +equivocal appearances, confessions from fear or weakness, in fine, the +torrent of popular prejudice rolled down through so many ages, conspired +to support the delusion.</p> + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">Compurgation.</span>To avoid as much as possible this severe mode of trial, and at the same +time to leave no inlet for perjury, another method of clearing was +devised. The party accused of any crime, or charged in a civil +complaint, appeared in court with some of his neighbors, who were called +his Compurgator<a name="Page_319" id="Page_319" title="319" class="pagenum"></a>s; and when on oath he denied the charge, they swore that +they believed his oath to be true.<a name="FNanchor_64_65" id="FNanchor_64_65"></a><a href="#Footnote_64_65" class="fnanchor" title=" Si quis emendationem oppidorum vel pontium vel +profectionem militarem detrectaverit, compenset regi cxx solidis, ... +vel purget se, et nominentur ei xiv, et eligantur xi.—Leges Cnuti, 62.">[65]</a> These compurgators were at first +to be three; afterwards five were required; in process of time twelve +became necessary.<a name="FNanchor_65_66" id="FNanchor_65_66"></a><a href="#Footnote_65_66" class="fnanchor" title=" Si accusatio sit, et purgatio male succedat, judicet +Episcopus.—Leges Cnuti, 53.">[66]</a> As a man might be charged by the opinion of the +country, so he might also be discharged by it: twelve men were necessary +to find him guilty, twelve might have acquitted him. If opinion supports +all government, it not only supported in the general sense, but it +directed every minute part in the Saxon polity. A man who did not seem +to have the good opinion of those among whom he lived was judged to be +guilty, or at least capable of being guilty, of every crime. It was upon +this principle that a man who could not find the security of some +tithing or friborg for his behavior,<a name="FNanchor_66_67" id="FNanchor_66_67"></a><a href="#Footnote_66_67" class="fnanchor" title=" Every man not privileged, whether he be paterfamilias, +(heorthfest) or pedissequa, (folghere) must enter into the +hundred and tithing, and all above twelve to swear he will not be a +thief or consenting to a thief.—Leges Cnuti, 19.">[67]</a> he that was upon account of +this universal desertion called Friendless Man, was by our ancestors +condemned to death,—a punishment which the lenity of the English laws +in that time scarcely inflicted for any crime, however clearly proved: a +circumstance which strongly marks the genius of the Saxon government.</p> + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">Trial by the Country.</span>On the same principle from which the trial by the oath of compurgators +was derived, was derived also the Trial by the Country, which was the +method of taking the sense of the neighborhood on any dubious fact. If +the matter was of <a name="Page_320" id="Page_320" title="320" class="pagenum"></a>great importance, it was put in the full Shiremote; +and if the general voice acquitted or condemned, decided for one party +or the other, this was final in the cause. But then it was necessary +that all should agree: for it does not appear that our ancestors, in +those days, conceived how any assembly could be supposed to give an +assent to a point concerning which several who composed that assembly +thought differently. They had no idea that a body composed of several +could act by the opinion of a small majority. But experience having +shown that this method of trial was tumultuary and uncertain, they +corrected it by the idea of compurgation. The party concerned was no +longer put to his oath,—he simply pleaded; the compurgators swore as +before in ancient times; therefore the jury were strictly from the +neighborhood, and were supposed to have a personal knowledge of the man +and the fact. They were rather a sort of evidence than judges: and from +hence is derived that singularity in our laws, that most of our +judgments are given upon verdict, and not upon evidence, contrary to the +laws of most other countries. Neither are our juries bound, except by +one particular statute, and in particular cases, to observe any positive +testimony, but are at liberty to judge upon presumptions. These are the +first rude chalkings-out of our jurisprudence. The Saxons were extremely +imperfect in their ideas of law,—the civil institutions of the Romans, +who were the legislators of mankind, having never reached them. The +order of our courts, the discipline of our jury, by which it is become +so elaborate a contrivance, and the introduction of a sort of scientific +reason in the law, have been the work of ages.</p> +<p><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321" title="321" class="pagenum"></a></p> +<p>As the Saxon laws did not suffer any transaction, whether of the sale of +land or goods, to pass but in the shire and before witnesses, so all +controversies of them were concluded by what they called the <i>scyre +witness</i>.<a name="FNanchor_67_70" id="FNanchor_67_70"></a><a href="#Footnote_67_70" class="fnanchor" title=" Si quis terram defenderit testimonio provinciæ, &c.—Leges +Cnuti, 76: And sethe land gewerod hebbe be scyre gewitnesse.">[68]</a> This was tried by the oaths of the parties, by <i>vivâ voce</i> +testimony, and the producing of charters and records. Then the people, +laity and clergy, whether by plurality of votes or by what other means +is not very certain, affirmed the testimony in favor of one of the +claimants. Then the proceeding was signed, first by those who held the +court, and then by the persons who affirmed the judgment, who also swore +to it in the same manner.<a name="FNanchor_68_71" id="FNanchor_68_71"></a><a href="#Footnote_68_71" class="fnanchor" title=" See, in Madox, the case in Bishop of Bathes Court See also +Brady, 272, where the witnesses on one side offer to swear, or join +battle with the other.">[69]</a></p> + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">Punishments.</span>The Saxons were extremely moderate in their punishments. Murder and +treason were compounded, and a fine set for every offence. Forfeiture +for felony was incurred only by those that fled. The punishment with +death was very rare,—with torture unknown. In all ancient nations, the +punishment of crimes was in the family injured by them, particularly in +case of murder.<a name="FNanchor_69_72" id="FNanchor_69_72"></a><a href="#Footnote_69_72" class="fnanchor" title=" Parentibus occisi fiat emendatio, vel guerra eorum +portetur; unde Anglicè proverbium habetur, Bige spere of side, oththe +bær; id est, Eme lanceam a latere, aut fer.—Leges Ed. 12. +The fines on the town or hundred. +Parentes murdrati sex marcas haberent, rex quadraginta. [This different +from the ancient usage, where the king had half.] Si parentes deessent, +dominus ejus reciperet. Si dominum non haberet, felagus ejus, id est, +fide cum eo ligatus.—Leges Ed. 15.">[70]</a> This brought deadly feuds amongst the people, which, +in the German <a name="Page_322" id="Page_322" title="322" class="pagenum"></a>nations particularly, subsisted through several +generations. But as a fruitless revenge could answer little purpose to +the parties injured and was ruinous to the public peace, by the +interposal of good offices they were prevailed upon to accept some +composition in lieu of the blood of the aggressor, and peace was +restored. The Saxon government did little more than act the part of +arbitrator between the contending parties, exacted the payment of this +composition, and reduced it to a certainty. However, the king, as the +sovereign of all, and the sheriff, as the judicial officer, had their +share in those fines. This unwillingness to shed blood, which the Saxon +customs gave rise to, the Christian religion confirmed. Yet was it not +altogether so imperfect as to have no punishment adequate to those great +delinquencies which tend entirely to overturn a state, public robbery, +murder of the lord.<a name="FNanchor_70_73" id="FNanchor_70_73"></a><a href="#Footnote_70_73" class="fnanchor" title=" Purveyance. Vide Leges Cnuti, 67. +Si quis intestatus ex hac vita decedat, sive sit per negligentiam ejus, +sive per mortem subitaneam, tunc non assumat sibi dominus plus +possessionis (æhta) ipsius quam justum armamentum; sed post mortem +possessio (æhtgescyft) ejus quam justissime distribuatur uxori et +liberis, et propinquis cognatis, cuilibet pro dignitate quæ ad cum +pertinet.—Leges Cnuti, 68.">[71]</a></p> + + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">Origin of succession.<br />Annual property.</span>As amongst the Anglo-Saxons government depended in some measure upon +land-property, it will not be amiss to say something upon their manner +of holding and inheriting their lands. It must not be forgot that the +Germans were of Scythian original, and had preserved that way of life +and those peculiar manners which distinguished the parent nation. As the +Scythians lived principally by pasturage and hunting, from the nature of +that way of employment they were continually changing their habitations. +But even in this case some small degree of agriculture was carried on, +<a name="Page_323" id="Page_323" title="323" class="pagenum"></a>and therefore some sort of division of property became necessary. This +division was made among each tribe by its proper chief. But their shares +were allotted to the several individuals only for a year, lest they +should come to attach themselves to any certain habitation: a settlement +being wholly contrary to the genius of the Scythian, manners.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Campestres melius Scythæ,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Quorum plaustra vagas rite trahunt domos,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Vivunt, et rigidi Getæ,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Immetata quibus jugera liberas<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Fruges et Cererem ferunt,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nec cultura placet longior annuâ.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p><span class="sidenote">Estates for life.<br />Inheritance.<br />Book-land.<br />Folk-land.<br />Saxon fiefs.</span>This custom of an annual property probably continued amongst the Germans +as long as they remained in their own country; but when their conquests +carried them into other parts, another object besides the possession of +the land arose, which obliged them to make a change in this particular. +In the distribution of the conquered lands, the ancient possessors of +them became an object of consideration, and the management of these +became one of the principal branches of their polity. It was expedient +towards holding them in perfect subjection, that they should be +habituated to obey one person, and that a kind of cliental relation +should be created between them; therefore the land, with the slaves, and +the people in a state next to slave<a name="Page_324" id="Page_324" title="324" class="pagenum"></a>ry, annexed to it, was bestowed for +life in the general distribution. When life-estates were once granted, +it seemed a natural consequence that inheritances should immediately +supervene. When a durable connection is created between a certain man +and a certain portion of land by a possession for his whole life, and +when his children have grown up and have been supported on that land, it +seems so great an hardship to separate them, and to deprive thereby the +family of all means of subsisting, that nothing could be more generally +desired nor more reasonably allowed than an inheritance; and this +reasonableness was strongly enforced by the great change wrought in +their affairs when life-estates were granted. Whilst according to the +ancient custom lands were only given for a year, there was a rotation so +quick that every family came in its turn to be easily provided for, and +had not long to wait; but the children of a tenant for life, when they +lost the benefit of their father's possession, saw themselves as it +were immured upon every side by the life-estates, and perceived no +reasonable hope of a provision from any new arrangement. These +inheritances began very early in England. By a law of King Alfred it +appears that they were then of a very ancient establishment: and as such +inheritances were intended for great stability, they fortified them by +charters; and therefore they were called Book-land. This was done with +regard to the possession of the better sort: the meaner, who were called +<i>ceorles</i>, if they did not live in a dependence on some thane, held +their small portions of land as an inheritance likewise,—not by +charter, but by a sort of prescription. This was called Folk-land. These +estate<a name="Page_325" id="Page_325" title="325" class="pagenum"></a>s of inheritance, both the greater and the meaner, were not fiefs; +they were to all purposes allodial, and had hardly a single property of +a feud; they descended equally to all the children, males and females, +according to the custom of gavelkind, a custom absolutely contrary to +the genius of the feudal tenure; and whenever estates were granted in +the later Saxon times by the bounty of the crown with an intent that +they should be inheritable, so far were they from being granted with the +complicated load of all the feudal services annexed, that in all the +charters of that kind which subsist they are bestowed with a full power +of alienation, <i>et liberi ab omni seculari gravamine</i>. This was the +general condition of those inheritances which were derived from the +right of original conquest, as well to all the soldiers as to the +leader; and these estates, as it is said, were not even forfeitable, no, +not for felony, as if that were in some sort the necessary consequence +of an inheritable estate. So far were they from resembling a fief. But +there were other possessions which bore a nearer resemblance to fiefs, +at least in their first feeble and infantile state of the tenure, than, +those inheritances which were held by an absolute right in the +proprietor. The great officers who attended the court, commanded armies, +or distributed justice must necessarily be paid and supported; but in +what manner could they be paid? In money they could not, because there +was very little money then in Europe, and scarce any part of that little +came into the prince's coffers. The only method of paying them was by +allotting lands for their subsistence whilst they remained in his +service. For this reason, in the original distribution, vast tracts of +land were l<a name="Page_326" id="Page_326" title="326" class="pagenum"></a>eft in the hands of the king. If any served the king in a +military command, his land may be said to have been in some sort held by +knight-service. If the tenant was in an office about the king's person, +this gave rise to sergeantry; the persons who cultivated his lands may +be considered as holding by socage. But the long train of services that +made afterwards the learning of the tenures were then not thought of, +because these feuds, if we may so call them, had not then come to be +inheritances,—which circumstance of inheritance gave rise to the whole +feudal system. With the Anglo-Saxons the feuds continued to the last but +a sort of pay or salary of office. The <i>trinoda necessitas</i>, so much +spoken of, which was to attend the king in his expeditions, and to +contribute to the building of bridges and repair of highways, never +bound the lands by way of tenure, but as a political regulation, which +equally affected every class and condition of men and every species of +possession.</p> + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">Gavelkind.</span>The manner of succeeding to lands in England at this period was, as we +have observed, by Gavelkind,—an equal distribution amongst the +children, males and females. The ancient Northern nations had but an +imperfect notion of political power. That the possessor of the land +should be the governor of it was a simple idea; and their schemes +extended but little further. It was not so in the Greek and Italian +commonwealths. In those the property of the land was in all respects +similar to that of goods, and had nothing of jurisdiction annexed to it; +the government there was a merely political institution. Amongst such a +people the custom of distribution could be of no ill consequence, +because it only affected property. But gavelkind amongst the Saxons was +very prejudicial; for, as government was annexed to a certain possession +in land, this possession, which was continually changing, kept the +government in a very fluctuating state: so that their civil polity had +in it an essential evil, which contributed to the sickly condition in +which the Anglo-Saxon state always remained, as well as to its final +dissolution.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_48_49" id="Footnote_48_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48_49"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> They had no other nobility; yet several families amongst +them were considered as noble.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_49_50" id="Footnote_49_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49_50"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> Arma sumere non ante cuiquam moris, quàm civitas +suffecturum probaverit.—Tacitus de Mor. Germ. 13.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_50_51" id="Footnote_50_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50_51"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> Nihil autem neque publicæ neque privatæ rei nisi armati +agunt.—Tacitus de Mor. Germ. 13.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_51_52" id="Footnote_51_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51_52"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> Cæteri robustioribus ac jam pridem probatis +aggregantur.—Id. ibid.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_52_53" id="Footnote_52_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52_53"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> Illum defendere, tueri, sua quoque fortia facta gloriæ +ejus as signare, præcipuum sacramentum est.—Id. 14.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_53_54" id="Footnote_53_54"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53_54"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> Deputed authority, guardianship, &c., not known to the +Northern nations; they gained this idea by intercourse with the Romans.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_54_55" id="Footnote_54_55"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54_55"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> Jud. Civ. Lund. apud Wilk. post p. 68.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_55_56" id="Footnote_55_56"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55_56"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> Spelman of Feuds, ch. 5.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_56_57" id="Footnote_56_57"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56_57"><span class="label">[57]</span></a> Fuerunt etiam in conquestu liberi homines, qui libere +tenuerunt tenementa sua per libera servitia vel per liberas +consuetudines.—For the original of copyholds, see Bracton, Lib. I. fol. +7.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_57_58" id="Footnote_57_58"></a><a href="#FNanchor_57_58"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> Ibi debent populi omnes et gentes universæ singulis annis, +semel in anno scilicet, convenire, scilicet in capite Kal. Maii, et se +fide et sacramento non fracto ibi in unam et simul confœderare, et +consolidare sicut conjurati fratres ad defendendum regnum contra +alienigenas et contra inimicos, unâ cum domino suo rege, et terras et +honores illius omni fidelitate cum eo servare, et quod illi ut domino +suo regi intra et extra regnum universum Britanniæ fideles esse +volunt—LL. Ed. Conf. c. 35.—Of Heretoches and their election, vide Id. +eodem. +</p><p> +Probibitum erat etiam in eadem lege, ne quis emeret vivum animal vel +pannum usatum sine plegiis et bonis testibus.—Of other particulars of +buying and selling, vide Leges Ed. Conf. 38.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_58_59" id="Footnote_58_59"></a><a href="#FNanchor_58_59"><span class="label">[59]</span></a> Sheriff in the Norman times was merely the king's officer, +not the earl's. The earl retained his ancient fee, without jurisdiction; +the sheriff did all the business. The elective sheriff must have +disappeared on the Conquest; for then all land was the king's, either +immediately or mediately, and therefore his officer governed.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_59_60" id="Footnote_59_60"></a><a href="#FNanchor_59_60"><span class="label">[60]</span></a> How this assembly was composed, or by what right the +members sat in it, I cannot by any means satisfy myself. What is here +said is, I believe, nearest to the truth.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_60_61" id="Footnote_60_61"></a><a href="#FNanchor_60_61"><span class="label">[61]</span></a> Hence, perhaps, all men are supposed cognizant of the +law.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_61_62" id="Footnote_61_62"></a><a href="#FNanchor_61_62"><span class="label">[62]</span></a> Debet etiam rex omnia rite facere in regno, et per +judicium procerum regni.—Debet ... justitiam per consilium procerum +regni sui tenere.—Leges Ed. 17.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_62_63" id="Footnote_62_63"></a><a href="#FNanchor_62_63"><span class="label">[63]</span></a> The non-observance of a regulation of police was always +heavily punished by barbarous nations; a slighter punishment was +inflicted upon the commission of crimes. Among the Saxons moat crimes +were punished by fine; wandering from the highway without sounding an +horn was death. So among the Druids,—to enforce exactness in time at +their meetings, he that came last after the time appointed was punished +with death.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_63_64" id="Footnote_63_64"></a><a href="#FNanchor_63_64"><span class="label">[64]</span></a> The Druids judged not as magistrates, but as interpreters +of the will of Heaven. "Ceterum neque animadvertere, neque vincire, +neque verberare quidem, nisi sacerdotibus permissum; non quasi in +pœnam, nec ducis jussu, sed velut Deo imperante," says Tacitus, de +Mor. German. 7.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_64_65" id="Footnote_64_65"></a><a href="#FNanchor_64_65"><span class="label">[65]</span></a> Si quis emendationem oppidorum vel pontium vel +profectionem militarem detrectaverit, compenset regi cxx solidis, ... +vel purget se, et nominentur ei xiv, et eligantur xi.—Leges Cnuti, 62.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_65_66" id="Footnote_65_66"></a><a href="#FNanchor_65_66"><span class="label">[66]</span></a> Si accusatio sit, et purgatio male succedat, judicet +Episcopus.—Leges Cnuti, 53.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_66_67" id="Footnote_66_67"></a><a href="#FNanchor_66_67"><span class="label">[67]</span></a> Every man not privileged, whether he be paterfamilias, +(heorthfest,<a name="FNanchor_B_68" id="FNanchor_B_68"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_68" class="fnanchor">[A]</a>) or pedissequa, (folghere,<a name="FNanchor_C_69" id="FNanchor_C_69"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_69" class="fnanchor">[B]</a>) must enter into the +hundred and tithing, and all above twelve to swear he will not be a +thief or consenting to a thief.—Leges Cnuti, 19.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_68" id="Footnote_B_68"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_68"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> Heorthfeste,—the same with Husfastene, i.e. the master of +a family, from the Saxon, Hearthfæst, i.e. fixed to the house or +hearth.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_69" id="Footnote_C_69"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_69"><span class="label">[B]</span></a> The Folgheres, or Folgeres, were the menial servants or +followers of the Husfastene, or Housekeepers.—Bracton, Lib. III., +Tract. 2, cap. 10. Leges Hen. I. cap. 8.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_67_70" id="Footnote_67_70"></a><a href="#FNanchor_67_70"><span class="label">[68]</span></a> Si quis terram defenderit testimonio provinciæ, &c.—Leges +Cnuti, 76: And sethe land gewerod hebbe be scyre gewitnesse.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_68_71" id="Footnote_68_71"></a><a href="#FNanchor_68_71"><span class="label">[69]</span></a> See, in Madox, the case in Bishop of Bathes Court See also +Brady, 272, where the witnesses on one side offer to swear, or join +battle with the other.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_69_72" id="Footnote_69_72"></a><a href="#FNanchor_69_72"><span class="label">[70]</span></a> Parentibus occisi fiat emendatio, vel guerra eorum +portetur; unde Anglicè proverbium habetur, Bige spere of side, oththe +bær; id est, Eme lanceam a latere, aut fer.—Leges Ed. 12. +</p><p> +The fines on the town or hundred. +</p><p> +Parentes murdrati sex marcas haberent, rex quadraginta. [This different +from the ancient usage, where the king had half.] Si parentes deessent, +dominus ejus reciperet. Si dominum non haberet, felagus ejus, id est, +fide cum eo ligatus.—Leges Ed. 15.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_70_73" id="Footnote_70_73"></a><a href="#FNanchor_70_73"><span class="label">[71]</span></a> Purveyance. Vide Leges Cnuti, 67. +</p><p> +Si quis intestatus ex hac vita decedat, sive sit per negligentiam ejus, +sive per mortem subitaneam, tunc non assumat sibi dominus plus +possessionis (æhta) ipsius quam justum armamentum; sed post mortem +possessio (æhtgescyft) ejus quam justissime distribuatur uxori et +liberis, et propinquis cognatis, cuilibet pro dignitate quæ ad cum +pertinet.—Leges Cnuti, 68.</p></div> +</div> +<p><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327" title="327" class="pagenum"></a></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="BOOK_III" id="BOOK_III"></a>BOOK III.</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="BOOK_III_CHAPTER_I" id="BOOK_III_CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.<br /> +<br /> +VIEW OF THE STATE OF EUROPE AT THE TIME OF THE NORMAN INVASION.</h3> + +<p><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328" title="328" class="pagenum"></a></p> +<p>Before the period of which we are going to treat, England was little +known or considered in Europe. Their situation, their domestic +calamities, and their ignorance circumscribed the views and politics of +the English within the bounds of their own island. But the Norman +conqueror threw down all these barriers. The English laws, manners, and +maxims were suddenly changed; the scene was enlarged; and the +communication with the rest of Europe, being thus opened, has been +preserved ever since in a continued series of wars and negotiations. +That we may, therefore, enter more fully into the matters which lie +before us, it is necessary that we understand the state of the +neighboring continent at the time when this island first came to be +interested in its affairs.</p> + +<p>The Northern nations who had overran the Roman Empire were at first +rather actuated by avarice than ambition, and were more intent upon +plunder than conquest; they were carried beyond their original purposes, +when they began, to form regular governments, for which they had been +prepared by no just ideas of legislation. For a long time, therefore, +there was little of order in their affairs or foresight in their +designs. The Goths, the Burgundians, the Franks, the Vandals, the Suevi, +after they had prevailed over the Roman Empire, by turns prevailed over +each other in continual wars, which were carried on upon no principles +of a determinate policy, entered into upon motives of brutality and +caprice, and ended as fortune and rude violence chanced to prevail. +Tumult, anarchy, confusion, overspread the face of Europe; and an +obscurity rests upon the transactions of that time which suffers us to +discover nothing but its extreme barbarity.</p> +<p><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329" title="329" class="pagenum"></a></p> +<p>Before this cloud could be dispersed, the Saracens, another body of +barbarians from the South, animated by a fury not unlike that which gave +strength to the Northern irruptions, but heightened by enthusiasm, and +regulated by subordination and an uniform policy, began to carry their +arms, their manners, and religion, into every part of the universe. +Spain was entirely overwhelmed by the torrent of their armies, Italy and +the islands were harassed by their fleets, and all Europe alarmed by +their vigorous and frequent enterprises. Italy, who had so long sat the +mistress of the world, was by turns the slave of all nations. The +possession of that fine country was hotly disputed between the Greek +Emperor and the Lombards, and it suffered infinitely by that contention. +Germany, the parent of so many nations, was exhausted by the swarms she +had sent abroad.</p> + +<p>However, in the midst of this chaos there were principles at work which +reduced things to a certain form, and gradually unfolded a system in +which the chief movers and main springs were the Papal and the Imperial +powers,—the aggrandizement or diminution of which have been the drift +of almost all the politics, intrigues, and wars which have employed and +distracted Europe to this day.</p> + +<p>From Rome the whole Western world had received its Christianity; she was +the asylum of what learning had escaped the general desolation; and even +in her ruins she preserved something of the majesty of her ancient +greatness. On these accounts she had a respect and a weight which +increased every day amongst a simple religious pe<a name="Page_330" id="Page_330" title="330" class="pagenum"></a>ople, who looked but a +little way into the consequences of their actions. The rudeness of the +world was very favorable for the establishment of an empire of opinion. +The moderation with which the Popes at first exerted this empire made +its growth unfelt until it could no longer be opposed; and the policy of +later Popes, building on the piety of the first, continually increased +it: and they made use of every instrument but that of force. They +employed equally the virtues and the crimes of the great; they favored +the lust of kings for absolute authority, and the desire of subjects for +liberty; they provoked war, and mediated peace; and took advantage of +every turn in the minds of men, whether of a public or private nature, +to extend their influence, and push their power from ecclesiastical to +civil, from subjection to independency, from independency to empire.</p> + +<p>France had many advantages over the other parts of Europe. The Saracens +had no permanent success in that country. The same hand which expelled +those invaders deposed the last of a race of heavy and degenerate +princes, more like Eastern monarchs than German leaders, and who had +neither the force to repel the enemies of their kingdom nor to assert +their own sovereignly. This usurpation placed on the throne princes of +another character, princes who were obliged to supply their want of +title by the vigor of their administration. The French monarch had need +of some great and respected authority to throw a veil over his +usurpation, and to sanctify his newly acquired power by those names and +appearances which are necessary to make it respectable to the people. On +the other hand, the Pope, who hated the Grecian Empire, and equally +feared the success <a name="Page_331" id="Page_331" title="331" class="pagenum"></a>of the Lombards, saw with joy this new star arise in +the North, and gave it the sanction of his authority. Presently after be +called it to his assistance. Pepin passed the Alps, relieved the Pope, +and invested him with the dominion of a large country in the best part +of Italy.</p> + +<p>Charlemagne pursued the course which was marked out for him, and put an +end to the Lombard kingdom, weakened by the policy of his father and the +enmity of the Popes, who never willingly saw a strong power in Italy. +Then he received from the hand of the Pope the Imperial crown, +sanctified by the authority of the Holy See, and with it the title of +Emperor of the Romans, a name venerable from the fame of the old Empire, +and which was supposed to carry great and unknown prerogatives; and thus +the Empire rose again out of its ruins in the West, and, what is +remarkable, by means of one of those nations which had helped to destroy +it. If we take in the conquests of Charlemagne, it was also very near as +extensive as formerly; though its constitution was altogether different, +as being entirely on the Northern model of government. From Charlemagne +the Pope received in return an enlargement and a confirmation of his new +territory. Thus the Papal and Imperial powers mutually gave birth, to +each other. They continued for some ages, and in some measure still +continue, closely connected, with a variety of pretensions upon each +other, and on the rest of Europe.</p> + +<p>Though, the Imperial power had its origin in France, it was soon divided +into two branches, the Gallic and the German. The latter alone supported +the title of Empire; but<a name="Page_332" id="Page_332" title="332" class="pagenum"></a> the power being weakened by this division, the +Papal pretensions had the greater weight. The Pope, because he first +revived the Imperial dignity, claimed a right of disposing of it, or at +least of giving validity to the election of the Emperor. The Emperor, on +the other hand, remembering the rights of those sovereigns whose title +he bore, and how lately the power which insulted him with such demands +had arisen from the bounty of his predecessors, claimed the same +privileges in the election of a Pope. The claims of both were somewhat +plausible; and they were supported, the one by force of arms, and the +other by ecclesiastical influence, powers which in those days were very +nearly balanced. Italy was the theatre upon which this prize was +disputed. In every city the parties in favor of each of the opponents +were not far from an equality in their numbers and strength. Whilst +these parties disagreed in the choice of a master, by contending for a +choice in their subjection they grew imperceptibly into freedom, and +passed through the medium of faction and anarchy into regular +commonwealths. Thus arose the republics of Venice, of Genoa, of +Florence, Sienna, and Pisa, and several others. These cities, +established in this freedom, turned the frugal and ingenious spirit +contracted in such communities to navigation and traffic; and pursuing +them with skill and vigor, whilst commerce was neglected and despised by +the rustic gentry of the martial governments, they grew to a +considerable degree of wealth, power, and civility.</p> + +<p>The Danes, who in this latter time preserved the spirit and the numbers +of the ancient Gothic people, had seated themselves in England, in the +Low Countries, and in Normandy. They passed from thence to the southern +<a name="Page_333" id="Page_333" title="333" class="pagenum"></a>part of Europe, and in this romantic age gave rise in Sicily and Naples +to a new kingdom and a new line of princes.</p> + +<p>All the kingdoms on the continent of Europe were governed nearly in the +same form; from whence arose a great similitude in the manners of their +inhabitants. The feodal discipline extended itself everywhere, and +influenced the conduct of the courts and the manners of the people with +its own irregular martial spirit. Subjects, under the complicated laws +of a various and rigorous servitude, exercised all the prerogatives of +sovereign power. They distributed justice, they made war and peace at +pleasure. The sovereign, with great pretensions, had but little power; +he was only a greater lord among great lords, who profited of the +differences of his peers; therefore no steady plan could be well +pursued, either in war or peace. This day a prince seemed irresistible +at the head of his numerous vassals, because their duty obliged them to +war, and they performed this duty with pleasure. The next day saw this +formidable power vanish like a dream, because this fierce undisciplined +people had no patience, and the time of the feudal service was contained +within very narrow limits. It was therefore easy to find a number of +persons at all times ready to follow any standard, but it was hard to +complete a considerable design which required a regular and continued +movement. This enterprising disposition in the gentry was very general, +because they had little occupation or pleasure but in war, and the +greatest rewards did then attend personal valor and prowess. All that +professed arms became in some sort on an equality. A knight was the peer +of a king, and men had been used to see the bravery of private persons +opening a road to that dignity. The temerity of ad<a name="Page_334" id="Page_334" title="334" class="pagenum"></a>venturers was much +justified by the ill order of every state, which left it a prey to +almost any who should attack it with sufficient vigor. Thus, little +checked by any superior power, full of fire, impetuosity, and ignorance, +they longed to signalize themselves, wherever an honorable danger called +them; and wherever that invited, they did not weigh very deliberately +the probability of success.</p> + +<p>The knowledge of this general disposition in the minds of men will +naturally remove a great deal of our wonder at seeing an attempt founded +on such slender appearances of right, and supported by a power so little +proportioned to the undertaking as that of William, so warmly embraced +and so generally followed, not only by his own subjects, but by all the +neighboring potentates. The Counts of Anjou, Bretagne, Ponthieu, +Boulogne, and Poictou, sovereign princes,—adventurers from every +quarter of France, the Netherlands, and the remotest parts of Germany, +laying aside their jealousies and enmities to one another, as well as to +William, ran with an inconceivable ardor into this enterprise, +captivated with the splendor of the object, which obliterated all +thoughts of the uncertainty of the event. William kept up this fervor +by promises of large territories to all his allies and associates in the +country to be reduced by their united efforts. But after all it became +equally necessary to reconcile to his enterprise the three great powers +of whom we have just spoken, whose disposition must have had the most +influence on his affairs.</p> + +<p>His feudal lord, the King of France, was bound by his most obvious +interests to oppose the further aggrandizement of one already too potent +for a vassal. But the King of France was then a minor; and Baldwin, Earl +of Flanders, whose daughter William had married, was regent of the +kingdom. This circumstance rendered the remonstrance of the French +Council against his design of no effect: indeed, the opposition of the +Council itself was faint; the idea of having a king under vassalage to +their crown might have dazzled the more superficial courtiers; whilst +those who thought more deeply were unwilling to discourage an enterprise +which they believed would probably end in the ruin of the undertaker. +The Emperor was in his minority, as well as the King of France; but by +what arts the Duke prevailed upon the Imperial Council to declare in his +favor, whether or no by an idea of creating a balance to the power of +France, if we can imagine that any such idea then subsisted, is +altogether uncertain; but it is certain that he obtained leave for the +vassals of the Empire to engage in his service, and that he made use of +this permission. The Popes consent was obtained with still less +difficulty. William had shown himself in many instances a friend to the +Church and a favorer of the clergy. On this occasion he promised to +improve those happy beginnings in proportion to the means he should +acquire by the favor of the Holy See. It is said that he even proposed +to hold his new kingdom as a fief from Rome. The Pope, therefore, +entered heartily into his interests; he excommunicated all those that +should oppose his enterprise, and sent him, as a means of insuring +success, a consecrated banner.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335" title="335" class="pagenum"></a></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="BOOK_III_CHAPTER_II" id="BOOK_III_CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.<br /> +<br /> +REIGN OF WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR.</h3> +<p><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336" title="336" class="pagenum"></a></p> + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 1065.</span>After the Battle of Hastings, the taking of Dover, the surrender of +London, and the submission of the principal nobility, William had +nothing left but to order in the best manner the kingdom he had so +happily acquired. Soon after his coronation, fearing the sudden and +ungoverned motions of so great a city, new to subjection, he left London +until a strong citadel could be raised to overawe the people. This was +built where the Tower of London now stands. Not content with this, he +built three other strong castles in situations as advantageously chosen, +at Norwich, at Winchester, and at Hereford, securing not only the heart +of affairs, but binding down the extreme parts of the kingdom. And as he +observed from his own experience the want of fortresses in England, he +resolved fully to supply that defect, and guard the kingdom both against +internal and foreign enemies. But he fortified his throne yet more +strongly by the policy of good government. To London he confirmed by +charter the liberties it had enjoyed under the Saxon kings, and +endeavored to fix the affections of the English in general by governing +them with equity according to their ancient laws, and by treating them +on all occasions with the most engaging deportment. He set up no +pretences which arose from absolute conquest. He confirmed their estates +to all those who had not appeared in arms against him, and seemed not to +aim at subjecting the English to the Normans, but to unite the two +<a name="Page_337" id="Page_337" title="337" class="pagenum"></a>nations under the wings of a common parental care. If the Normans +received estates and held lucrative offices and were raised by wealthy +matches in England, some of the English were enriched with lands and +dignities and taken into considerable families in Normandy. But the +king's principal regards were showed to those by whose bravery he had +attained his greatness. To some he bestowed the forfeited estates, which +were many and great, of Harold's adherents; others he satisfied from the +treasures his rival had amassed; and the rest, quartered upon wealthy +monasteries, relied patiently on the promises of one whose performances +had hitherto gone hand in hand with his power. There was another +circumstance which conduced much to the maintaining, as well as to the +making, his conquest. The posterity of the Danes, who had finally +reduced England under Canute the Great, were still very numerous in that +kingdom, and in general not well liked by nor well affected to the old +Anglo-Saxon inhabitants. William wisely took advantage of this enmity +between the two sorts of inhabitants, and the alliance of blood which +was between them and his subjects. In the body of laws which he +published he insists strongly on this kindred, and declares that the +Normans and Danes ought to be as sworn brothers against all men: a +policy which probably united these people to him, or at least so +confirmed the ancient jealousy which subsisted between them and the +original English as to hinder any cordial union against his interests.</p> + +<p>When the king had thus settled his acquisitions by all the methods of +force and policy, he thought it expedient to visit his patrimonial +territory, which, with regard to its internal state, and the jealousies +which his additional greatness revived in many of the bordering princes, +was critically situated. He appointed to the regency in his absence his +brother Odo, an ecclesiastic, whom he had made Bishop of Bayeux, in +France, and Earl of Kent, with great power and pree<a name="Page_338" id="Page_338" title="338" class="pagenum"></a>minence, in +England,—a man bold, fierce, ambitious, full of craft, imperious, and +without faith, but well versed in all affairs, vigilant, and courageous. +To him he joined William Fitz-Osbern, his justiciary, a person of +consummate prudence and great integrity. But not depending on this +disposition, to secure his conquest, as well as to display its +importance abroad, under a pretence of honor, he carried with him all +the chiefs of the English nobility, the popular Earls Edwin and Morcar, +and, what was of most importance, Edgar Atheling, the last branch of the +royal stock of the Anglo-Saxon kings, and infinitely dear to all the +people.</p> + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 1607.</span>The king managed his affairs abroad with great address, and covered, all +his negotiations for the security of his Norman dominions under the +magnificence of continual feasting and unremitted diversion, which, +without an appearance of design, displayed his wealth and power, and by +that means facilitated his measures. But whilst he was thus employed, +his absence from England gave an opportunity to several humors to break +out, which the late change had bred, but which the amazement likewise +produced by that violent change, and the presence of their conqueror, +wise, vigilant, and severe, had hitherto repressed. The ancient line of +their kings displaced, the only thread on which it hung carried out of +the kingdom and ready to be cut off by the jealousy of a merciless +usurper, their liberties none<a name="Page_339" id="Page_339" title="339" class="pagenum"></a> by being precarious, and the daily +insolencies and rapine of the Normans intolerable,—these discontents +were increased by the tyranny and rapaciousness of the regent, and they +were fomented from abroad by Eustace, Count of Boulogne. But the people, +though ready to rise in all parts, were destitute of leaders, and the +insurrections actually made were not carried on in concert, nor directed +to any determinate object; so that the king, returning speedily, and +exerting himself everywhere with great vigor, in a short time dissipated +these ill-formed projects. However, so general a dislike to William's +government had appeared on this occasion, that he became in his turn +disgusted with his subjects, and began to change his maxims of rule to a +rigor which was more conformable to his advanced age and the sternness +of his natural temper. He resolved, since he could not gain the +affections of his subjects, to find such matter for their hatred as +might weaken them, and fortify his own authority against the enterprises +which that hatred might occasion. He revived the tribute of Danegelt, so +odious from its original cause and that of its revival, which he caused +to be strictly levied throughout the kingdom. He erected castles at +Nottingham, at Warwick, and at York, and filled them with Norman +garrisons. He entered into a stricter inquisition for the discovery of +the estates forfeited on his coming in; paying no regard to the +privileges of the ecclesiastics, he seized upon the treasures which, as +in an inviolable asylum, the unfortunate adherents to Harold had +deposited in monasteries. At the same time he entered into a resolution +of deposing all the English, bishops, on none of whom he could rely, and +filling their places with Normans. But he mitigated the rigor of these +proceedings by the wise choice he made in filling the places of those +whom he had deposed, and gave by that means these violent changes the +air rather of reformation than oppression. He began with Stigand, +<a name="Page_340" id="Page_340" title="340" class="pagenum"></a>Archbishop of Canterbury. A synod was called, in which, for the first +time in England, the Pope's legate <i>a latere</i> is said to have presided. +In this council, Stigand, for simony and for other crimes, of which it +is easy to convict those who are out of favor, was solemnly degraded +from his dignity. The king filled his place with Lanfranc, an Italian. +By his whole conduct he appeared resolved to reduce his subjects of all +orders to the most perfect obedience.</p> + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 1068.</span>The people, loaded with new taxes, the nobility, degraded and +threatened, the clergy, deprived of their immunities and influence, +joined in one voice of discontent, and stimulated each other to the most +desperate resolutions. The king was not unapprised of these motions, nor +negligent of them. It is thought he meditated to free himself from much +of his uneasiness by seizing those men on whom the nation in its +distresses used to cast its eyes for relief. But whilst he digested +these measures, Edgar Atheling, Edwin and Morcar, Waltheof, the son of +Siward, and several others, eluded his vigilance, and escaped into Scot +land, where they were received with open arms by King Malcolm. The +Scottish monarch on this occasion married the sister of Edgar; and this +match engaged him more closely to the accomplishment of what his +gratitude to the Saxon kings and the rules of good policy had before +inclined him. He entered at last into the cause of his brother-in-law +and the distressed English. He persuaded the King of Denmark to enter +into the same measures, who agreed to invade England with a fleet of a +thousand ships. Drone, an Irish king, declared in their<a name="Page_341" id="Page_341" title="341" class="pagenum"></a> favor, and +supplied the sons of Earl Godwin with vessels and men, with which they +held the English coast in continual alarms.</p> + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 1069.</span>Whilst the forces of this powerful confederacy were collecting on all +sides, and prepared to enter England, equal dangers threatened from +within the kingdom. Edric the Forester, a very brave and popular Saxon, +took up arms in the counties of Hereford and Salop, the country of the +ancient Silures, and inhabited by the same warlike and untamable race of +men. The Welsh strengthened him with their forces, and Cheshire joined +in the revolt. Hereward le Wake, one of the most brave and indefatigable +soldiers of his time, rushed with a numerous band of fugitives and +outlaws from the fens of Lincoln and the Isle of Ely, from whence, +protected by the situation of the place, he had for some time carried on +an irregular war against the Normans. The sons of Godwin landed with a +strong body in the West; the fire of rebellion ran through the kingdom; +Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, at once threw off the yoke. Daily skirmishes +were fought in every part of the kingdom, with various success and with +great bloodshed. The Normans retreated to their castles, which the +English had rarely skill or patience to master; out of these they +sallied from time to time, and asserted their dominion. The conquered +English for a moment resumed their spirit; the forests and morasses, +with which this island then, abounded, served them for fortifications, +and their hatred to the Normans stood in the place of discipline; each +man, exasperated by his own wrongs, avenged them in his own manner. +Everything was full of blood and violence: murders, burnings, rapine, +and confusion overspread the whole kingdom. During <a name="Page_342" id="Page_342" title="342" class="pagenum"></a>these distractions, +several of the Normans quitted the country, and gave up their +possessions, which they thought not worth holding in continual horror +and danger.</p> + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 1070.</span>In the midst of this scene of disorder, the king alone was present to +himself and to his affairs. He first collected all the forces on whom he +could depend within the kingdom, and called powerful succors from +Normandy. Then he sent a strong body to repress the commotions in the +West; but he reserved the greatest force and his own presence against +the greatest danger, which menaced from the North. The Scots had +penetrated as far as Durham; they had taken the castle, and put the +garrison to the sword. A like fate attended York from the Danes, who had +entered the Humber with a formidable fleet. They put this city into the +hands of the English malcontents, and thereby influenced all the +northern counties in their favor. William, when he first perceived the +gathering of the storm, endeavored, and with some success, to break the +force of the principal blow by a correspondence at the court of +Denmark; and now he entirely blunted the weapon by corrupting, with a +considerable sum, the Danish general. It was agreed, to gratify that +piratical nation, that they should plunder some part of the coast, and +depart without further disturbance. By this negotiation the king was +enabled to march with an undissipated force against the Scots and the +principal body of the English. E<a name="Page_343" id="Page_343" title="343" class="pagenum"></a>verything yielded. The Scots retired +into their own country. Some of the most obnoxious of the English fled +along with them. One desperate party, under the brave Waltheof, threw +themselves into York, and ventured alone to resist his victorious army. +William pressed the siege with vigor, and, notwithstanding the prudent +dispositions of Waltheof, and the prodigies of valor he displayed in its +defence, standing alone in the breach, and maintaining his ground +gallantly and successfully, the place was at last reduced by famine. The +king left his enemies no time to recover this disaster; he followed his +blow, and drove all who adhered to Edgar Atheling out of all the +countries northward of the Humber. This tract he resolved entirely to +depopulate, influenced by revenge, and by distrust of the inhabitants, +and partly with a view of opposing an hideous desert of sixty miles in +extent as an impregnable barrier against all attempts of the Scots in +favor of his disaffected subjects. The execution of this barbarous +project was attended with all the havoc and desolation that it seemed to +threaten. One hundred thousand are said to have perished by cold, +penury, and disease. The ground lay untilled throughout that whole space +for upwards of nine years. Many of the inhabitants both of this and all +other parts of England fled into Scotland; but they were so received by +King Malcolm as to forget that they had lost their country. This wise +monarch gladly seized so fair an opportunity, by the exertion of a +benevolent policy, to people his dominions, and to improve his native +subjects. He received the English nobility according to their rank, he +promoted them to offices according to their merit, and enriched them by +considerable estates from his own demesne. From these noble refugees +several considerable families in Scotland are descended.</p> + +<p>William, on the other hand, amidst all the excesses which the insolence +of victory and the cruel precautions of usurped a<a name="Page_344" id="Page_344" title="344" class="pagenum"></a>uthority could make him +commit, gave many striking examples of moderation and greatness of mind. +He pardoned Waltheof, whose bravery he did not the less admire because +it was exerted against himself. He restored him to his ancient honors +and estates; and thinking his family strengthened by the acquisition of +a gallant man, he bestowed upon him his niece Judith in marriage. On +Edric the Forester, who lay under his sword, in the same generous manner +he not only bestowed his life, but honored it with an addition of +dignity.</p> + +<p>The king, having thus, by the most politic and the most courageous +measures, by art, by force, by severity, and by clemency, dispelled +those clouds which had gathered from every quarter to overwhelm him, +returned triumphant to Winchester, where, as if he had newly acquired +the kingdom, he was crowned with great solemnity. After this he +proceeded to execute the plan he had long proposed of modelling the +state according to his own pleasure, and of fixing his authority upon an +immovable foundation.</p> + +<p>There were few of the English who in the late disturbances had not +either been active against the Normans or shown great disinclination to +them. Upon some right, or some pretence, the greatest part of their +lands were adjudged to be forfeited. William gave these lands to +Normans, to be held by the tenure of knight-service, according to the +law which modified that service in all parts of Europe. These people he +chose because he judged they must be faithful to the interest on which +they depended; and this tenure he chose because it raised an army +without ex<a name="Page_345" id="Page_345" title="345" class="pagenum"></a>pense, called it forth at the least warning, and seemed to +secure the fidelity of the vassal by the multiplied ties of those +services which were inseparably annexed to it. In the establishment of +these tenures, William only copied the practice which was now become +very general. One fault, however, he seems to have committed in this +distribution: the immediate vassals of the crown were too few; the +tenants <i>in capite</i> at the end of this reign did not exceed seven +hundred; the eyes of the subject met too many great objects in the state +besides the state itself; and the dependence of the inferior people was +weakened by the interposal of another authority between them and the +crown, and this without being at all serviceable to liberty. The ill +consequence of this was not so obvious whilst the dread of the English +made a good correspondence between the sovereign and the great vassals +absolutely necessary; but it afterwards appeared, and in a light very +offensive to the power of our kings.</p> + +<p>As there is nothing of more consequence in a state than the +ecclesiastical establishment, there was nothing to which this vigilant +prince gave more of his attention. If he owed his own power to the +influence of the clergy, it convinced him how necessary it was to +prevent that engine from being employed in its turn against himself. He +observed, that, besides the influence they derived from their character, +they had a vast portion of that power which always attends property. Of +about sixty thousand knights' fees, which England was then judged to +contain, twenty-eight thousand were in the hands of the clergy; and +these they held discharged of <a name="Page_346" id="Page_346" title="346" class="pagenum"></a>all taxes, and free from every burden of +civil or military service: a constitution undoubtedly no less +prejudicial to the authority of the state than detrimental to the +strength of the nation, deprived of so much revenue, so many soldiers, +and of numberless exertions of art and industry, which were stifled by +holding a third of the soil in dead hands out of all possibility of +circulation. William in a good measure remedied these evils, but with +the great offence of all the ecclesiastic orders. At the same time that +he subjected the Church lands to military service, he obliged each +monastery and bishopric to the support of soldiers, in proportion to the +number of knights' fees that they possessed. No less jealous was he of +the Papal pretensions, which, having favored so long as they served him +as the instruments of his ambition, he afterwards kept within very +narrow bounds. He suffered no communication with Rome but by his +knowledge and approbation. He had a bold and ambitious Pope to deal +with, who yet never proceeded to extremities with nor gained one +advantage over William during his whole reign,—although he had by an +express law reserved to himself a sort of right in approving the Pope +chosen, by forbidding his subjects to yield obedience to any whose right +the king had not acknowledged.</p> + +<p>To form a just idea of the power and greatness of this king, it will be +convenient to take a view of his revenue. And I the rather choose to +dwell a little upon this article, as nothing extends to so many objects +as the public finances, and consequently nothing puts in a clearer or +more decisive light the manners of the people, and the form, as well as +<a name="Page_347" id="Page_347" title="347" class="pagenum"></a>the powers, of government at any period.</p> + +<p>The first part of this consisted of the demesne. The lands of the crown +were, even before the Conquest, very extensive. The forfeitures +consequent to that great change had considerably increased them. It +appears from the record of Domesday, that the king retained in his own +hands no fewer than fourteen hundred manors. This alone was a royal +revenue. However, great as it really was, it has been exaggerated beyond +all reason. Ordericus Vitalis, a writer almost contemporary, asserts +that this branch alone produced a thousand pounds a day,<a name="FNanchor_71_74" id="FNanchor_71_74"></a><a href="#Footnote_71_74" class="fnanchor" title=" I have known, myself, great mistakes in calculation by +computing, as the produce of every day in the year, that of one +extraordinary day.">[72]</a>—which, +valuing the pound, as it was then estimated, at a real pound of silver, +and then allowing for the difference in value since that time, will make +near twelve millions of our money. This account, coming from such an +authority, has been copied without examination by all the succeeding +historians. If we were to admit the truth of it, we must entirely change +our ideas concerning the quantity of money which then circulated in +Europe. And it is a matter altogether monstrous and incredible in an age +when there was little traffic in this nation, and the traffic of all +nations circulated but little real coin, when the tenants paid the +greatest part of their rents in kind, and when it may be greatly +doubted whether there was so much current money in the nation as is said +to have come into the king's coffers from this one branch, of his +revenue only. For it amounts to a twelfth part of all the circulating +species which a trade infinitely more extensive has derived from sources +infinitely more exuberant, to this wealthy nation, in this improved age. +Nei<a name="Page_348" id="Page_348" title="348" class="pagenum"></a>ther must we think that the whole revenue of this prince ever rose to +such a sum. The great fountain which fed his treasury must have been +Danegelt, which, upon any reasonable calculation, could not possibly +exceed 120,000<i>l.</i> of our money, if it ever reached that sum. William +was observed to be a great hoarder, and very avaricious; his army was +maintained without any expense to him, his demesne supported his +household; neither his necessary nor his voluntary expenses were +considerable. Yet the effects of many years' scraping and hoarding left +at his death but 60,000<i>l.</i>,—not the sixth part of one year's income, +according to this account, of one branch of his revenue; and this was +then esteemed a vast treasure. Edgar Atheling, on being reconciled to +the king, was allowed a mark a day for his expenses, and he was thought +to be allowed sufficiently, though he received it in some sort as an +equivalent for his right to the crown. I venture on this digression, +because writers in an ignorant age, making guesses at random, impose on +more enlightened times, and affect by their mistakes many of our +reasonings on affairs of consequence; and it is the error of all +ignorant people to rate unknown times, distances, and sums very far +beyond their real extent. There is even something childish and whimsical +in computing this revenue, as the original author has done, at so much +a day. For my part, I do not imagine it so difficult to come at a pretty +accurate decision of the truth or falsehood of this story.</p> + +<p>The above-mentioned manors are charged with rents from five to an +hundred pounds each. The greatest number of those I have seen in print +are under fifty; so that we may safely take that number as a just +medium;<a name="Page_349" id="Page_349" title="349" class="pagenum"></a> and then the whole amount of the demesne rents will be +70,000<i>l.</i>, or 210,000<i>l.</i> of our money. This, though almost a fourth +less than the sum stated by Vitalis, still seems a great deal too high, +if we should suppose the whole sum, as that author does, to be paid in +money, and that money to be reckoned by real pounds of silver. But we +must observe, that, when sums of money are set down in old laws and +records, the interpretation of those words, pounds and shillings, is for +the most part oxen, sheep, corn, and provision. When real coin money was +to be paid, it was called white money, or <i>argentum album</i>, and was only +in a certain stipulated proportion to what was rendered in kind, and +that proportion generally very low. This method of paying rent, though +it entirely overturns the prodigious idea of that monarch's pecuniary +wealth, was far from being less conducive to his greatness. It enabled +him to feed a multitude of people,—one of the surest and largest +sources of influence, and which always outbuys money in the traffic of +affections. This revenue, which was the chief support of the dignity of +our Saxon kings, was considerably increased by the revival of Danegelt, +of the imposition of which we have already spoken, and which is supposed +to have produced an annual income of 40,000<i>l.</i> of money, as then +valued.</p> + +<p>The nest branch of the king's revenue were the feudal duties, by him +first introduced into England,—namely, ward, marriage, relief, and +aids. By the first, the heir of every tenant who held immediately from +the crown, during his minority, was in ward for his body and his land to +the king; so that he had the formation of his mind at that early and +ductile age to mould to his own purposes, and the entire profits of his +estate either to augment his demesne or to gratify his dependants: and +as we have already seen how many and how vast estates, or rather, +princely possessions, were then held immediately of the crown, we may +<a name="Page_350" id="Page_350" title="350" class="pagenum"></a>comprehend how important an article this must have been.</p> + +<p>Though the heir had attained his age before the death of his ancestor, +yet the king intruded between him and his inheritance, and obliged him +to redeem, or, as the term then was, to relieve it. The quantity of this +relief was generally pretty much at the king's discretion, and often +amounted to a very great sum.</p> + +<p>But the king's demands on his rents in chief were not yet satisfied. He +had a right and interest in the marriage of heirs, both males and +females, virgins and widows,—and either bestowed them at pleasure on +his favorites, or sold them to the best bidder. The king received for +the sale of one heiress the sum of 20,000<i>l.</i>, or 60,000<i>l.</i> of our +present money,—and this at a period when the chief estates were much +reduced. And from hence was derived a great source of revenue, if this +right were sold,—of influence and attachment, if bestowed.</p> + +<p>Under the same head of feudal duties were the casual aids to knight his +eldest son and marry his eldest daughter. These duties could be paid but +once, and, though not considerable, eased him in these articles of +expenses.</p> + +<p>After the feudal duties, rather in the order than in point of value, was +the profit which arose from the sale of justice. No man could then sue +in the king's court by a common or public right, or without paying +largely for it,—sometimes the third, and sometimes even half, the value +of the estate or debt sued for. These presents were called oblations; +<a name="Page_351" id="Page_351" title="351" class="pagenum"></a>and the records preceding Magna Charta, and for some time after, are +full of them. And, as the king thought fit, this must have added greatly +to his power or wealth, or indeed to both.</p> + +<p>The fines and amercements were another branch, and this, at a time when +disorders abounded, and almost every disorder was punished by a fine, +was a much greater article than at first could readily be imagined,—- +especially when we consider that there were no limitations in this point +but the king's mercy, particularly in all offences relating to the +forest, which were of various kinds, and very strictly inquired into. +The sale of offices was not less considerable. It appears that all +offices at that time were, or might be, legally and publicly sold,—that +the king had many and very rich employments in his gift, and, though it +may appear strange, not inferior to, if they did not exceed, in number +and consequence, those of our present establishment. At one time the +great seal was sold for three thousand marks. The office of sheriff was +then very lucrative: this charge was almost always sold. Sometimes a +county paid a sum to the king, that he might appoint a sheriff whom they +liked; sometimes they paid as largely to prevent him from appointing a +person disagreeable to them; and thus the king had often from the same +office a double profit in refusing one candidate and approving the +other. If some offices were advantageous, others were burdensome; and +the king had the right, or was at least in the unquestioned practice, of +forcing his subjects to accept these employments, or to pay for there +immunity; by which means he could either punish his enemies or augment +his wealth, as his avarice or his resentments prevailed.</p> +<p><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352" title="352" class="pagenum"></a></p> +<p>The greatest part of the cities and trading towns were under his +particular jurisdiction, and indeed in a state not far removed from +slavery. On these he laid a sort of imposition, at such a time and in +such a proportion as he thought fit. This was called a <i>tallage</i>. If the +towns did not forthwith pay the sum at which they were rated, it was not +unusual, for their punishment, to double the exaction, and to proceed in +levying it by nearly the same methods and in the same manner now used to +raise a contribution in an enemy's country.</p> + +<p>But the Jews were a fund almost inexhaustible. They were slaves to the +king in the strictest sense; insomuch that, besides the various tallages +and fines extorted from them, none succeeded to the inheritance of his +father without the king's license and an heavy composition. He sometimes +even made over a wealthy Jew as a provision to some of his favorites for +life. They were almost the only persons who exercised usury, and thus +drew to themselves the odium and wealth of the whole kingdom; but they +were only a canal, through which it passed to the royal treasury. And +nothing could be more pleasing and popular than such exactions: the +people rejoiced, when they saw the Jews plundered,—not considering +that they were a sort of agents for the crown, who, in proportion to the +heavy taxes they paid, were obliged to advance the terms and enforce +with greater severity the execution of their usurious contracts. Through +them almost the whole body of the nobility were in 'debt to the king; +and when he thought proper to confiscate the effects of the Jews, the +securities passed into his hands; and by this means he must have +possessed one of the strongest and most terrible instruments of +authority that could possibly<a name="Page_353" id="Page_353" title="353" class="pagenum"></a> be devised, and the best calculated to +keep the people in an abject and slavish dependence.</p> + +<p>The last general head of his revenue were the customs, prisages, and +other impositions upon trade. Though the revenue arising from traffic in +this rude period was much limited by the then smallness of its object, +this was compensated by the weight and variety of the exactions levied +by an occasional exertion of arbitrary power, or the more uniform system +of hereditary tyranny. Trade was restrained, or the privilege granted, +on the payment of tolls, passages, paages, pontages, and innumerable +other vexatious imposts, of which, only the barbarous and almost +unintelligible names subsist at this day.</p> + +<p>These were the most constant and regular branches of the revenue. But +there were other ways innumerable by which money, or an equivalent in +cattle, poultry, horses, hawks, and dogs, accrued to the exchequer. The +king's interposition in marriages, even where there was no pretence from +tenure, was frequently bought, as well as in other negotiations of less +moment, for composing of quarrels, and the like; and, indeed, some +appear on the records, of so strange and even ludicrous a nature, that +it would not be excusable to mention them, if they did not help to show +from how many minute sources this revenue was fed, and how the king's +power descended to the most inconsiderable actions of private life.<a name="FNanchor_72_75" id="FNanchor_72_75"></a><a href="#Footnote_72_75" class="fnanchor" title=" The Bishop of Winchester fined for not putting the king in +mind to give a girdle to the Countess of Albemarle.—Robertus de +Vallibus debet quinque optimos palafredos, ut rex taceret de uxore +Henrici Pinel.—The wife of Hugh do Nevil fined in two hundred hens, +that she might lie with, her husband for one night; another, that he +might rise from, his infirmity; a third, that he might eat.">[73]</a> +It is<a name="Page_354" id="Page_354" title="354" class="pagenum"></a> not easy to penetrate into the true meaning of all these +particulars, but they equally suffice to show the character of +government in those times. A prince furnished with so many means of +distressing enemies and gratifying friends, and possessed of so ample a +revenue entirely independent of the affections of his subjects, must +have been very absolute in substance and effect, whatever might have +been the external forms of government.</p> + +<p>For the regulation of all these revenues, and for determining all +questions which concerned them, a court was appointed, upon the model of +a court of the same nature, said to be of ancient use in Normandy, and +called the Exchequer.</p> + +<p>There was nothing in the government of William conceived in a greater +manner, or more to be commended, than the general survey he took of his +conquest. An inquisition was made throughout the kingdom concerning the +quantity of land which was contained in each county,—the name of the +deprived and the present proprietor,—the stock of slaves, and cattle of +every kind, which it contained. All these were registered in a book, +each article beginning with the king's property, and proceeding +downward, according to the rank of the proprietors, in an excellent +order, by which might be known at one glance the true state of the royal +revenues, the wealth, consequence, and natural connections of every +person in the kingdom,—in order to ascertain the taxes that might be +imposed, and, to serve purposes in the state as well as in civil causes, +to be general and uncontrollable evidence of property<a name="Page_355" id="Page_355" title="355" class="pagenum"></a>. This book is +called Domesday or the Judgment Book, and still remains a grand monument +of the wisdom of the Conqueror,—a work in all respects useful and +worthy of a better age.</p> + +<p>The Conqueror knew very well how much discontent must have arisen from +the great revolutions which his conquest produced in all men's property, +and in the general tenor of the government. He, therefore, as much as +possible to guard against every sudden attempt, forbade any light or +fire to continue in any house after a certain bell, called curfew, had +sounded. This bell rung at about eight in the evening. There was policy +in this; and it served to prevent the numberless disorders which arose +from the late civil commotions.</p> + +<p>For the same purpose of strengthening his authority, he introduced the +Norman law, not only in its substance, but in all its forms, and ordered +that all proceedings should be had according to that law in the French +language.<a name="FNanchor_73_76" id="FNanchor_73_76"></a><a href="#Footnote_73_76" class="fnanchor" title=" For some particulars of the condition of the English of +this time, vide Eadmer, p. 110.">[74]</a> The change wrought by the former part of this regulation +could not have been very grievous; and it was partly the necessary +consequence of the establishment of the new tenures, and which wanted a +new law to regulate them: in other respects the Norman institutions were +not very different from the English. But to force, against nature, a new +language upon a conquered people, to make them, strangers in those +courts of justice in which they were still to retain a considerable +share, to be reminded, every time they had recourse to government for +protection, of the slavery in which it held them,—this is one of those +acts of superfluous tyranny from which very few conquering nations or +parties have forborne, though no way necessary, but often prejudicial to +their safety.</p><p><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356" title="356" class="pagenum"></a></p> + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 1071.</span>These severities, and affronts more galling than severities, drove the +English to another desperate attempt, which was the last convulsive +effort of their expiring freedom. Several nobles, prelates, and others, +whose estates had been confiscated, or who were in daily apprehension of +their confiscation, fled into the fens of Lincoln and Ely, where +Hereward still maintained his ground. This unadvised step completed the +ruin of the little English interest that remained. William hastened to +fill up the sees of the bishops and the estates of the nobles with his +Norman favorites. He pressed the fugitives with equal vivacity; and at +once to cut off all the advantage they derived from their situation, he +penetrated into the Isle of Ely by a wooden bridge two miles in length; +and by the greatness of the design, and rapidity of the execution, as +much as by the vigor of his charge, compelled them to surrender at +discretion. Hereward alone escaped, who disdained to surrender, and had +cut his way through his enemies, carrying his virtue and his sword, as +his passports, wheresoever fortune should conduct him. He escaped +happily into Scotland, where, as usual, the king was making some slow +movements for the relief of the English. William lost no time to oppose +him, and had passed with infinite difficulty through a desert of his own +making to the frontiers of Scotland. Here he found the enemy strongly +intrenched. The causes of the war being in a good measure spent by +William's late successes, and neither of the princes choosing to risk a +battle in a country where the consequences of a defeat must be so +dreadful, they agreed to an accommodation, which included a pardon for +Edgar Atheling on a renunciatio<a name="Page_357" id="Page_357" title="357" class="pagenum"></a>n of his title to the crown. William on +this occasion showed, as he did on all occasions, an honorable and +disinterested sense of merit, by receiving Hereward to his friendship, +and distinguishing him by particular favors and bounties. Malcolm, by +his whole conduct, never seemed intent upon coming to extremities with +William: he was satisfied with keeping this great warrior in some awe, +without bringing things to a decision, that might involve his kingdom in +the same calamitous fate that had oppressed England; whilst his wisdom +enabled him to reap advantages from the fortunes of the conquered, in +drawing so many useful people into his dominions, and from the policy of +the Conqueror, in imitating those feudal regulations which he saw his +neighbor force upon the English, and which appeared so well calculated +for the defence of the kingdom. He compassed this the more easily, +because the feudal policy, being the discipline of all the considerable +states in Europe, appeared the masterpiece of government.</p> + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 1073.</span>If men who have engaged in vast designs could ever promise themselves +repose, William, after so many victories, and so many political +regulations to secure the fruit of them, might now flatter himself with +some hope of quiet. But disturbances were preparing for his old age from +a new quarter, from whence they were less expected and less +tolerable,—from the Normans, his companions in victory, and from his +family, which h<a name="Page_358" id="Page_358" title="358" class="pagenum"></a>e found not less difficulty in governing than his +kingdom. Nothing but his absence from England was wanting to make the +flame blaze out. The numberless petty pretensions which the petty lords +his neighbors on the continent had on each other and on William, +together with their restless disposition and the intrigues of the French +court, kept alive a constant dissension, which made the king's presence +on the continent frequently necessary. The Duke of Anjou had at this +time actually invaded his dominions. He was obliged to pass over into +Normandy with an army of fifty thousand men. William, who had conquered +England by the assistance of the princes on the continent, now turned +against them the arms of the English, who served him with bravery and +fidelity; and by their means he soon silenced all opposition, and +concluded the terms of an advantageous peace. In the mean time his +Norman subjects in England, inconstant, warlike, independent, fierce by +nature, fiercer by their conquest, could scarcely brook that +subordination in which their safety consisted. Upon some frivolous +pretences, chiefly personal disgusts,<a name="FNanchor_74_77" id="FNanchor_74_77"></a><a href="#Footnote_74_77" class="fnanchor" title=" Upon occasion of a ward refused in marriage. Wright thinks +the feudal right of marriage not then introduced.">[75]</a> a most dangerous conspiracy +was formed: the principal men among the Normans were engaged in it; and +foreign correspondence was not wanting. Though this conspiracy was +chiefly formed and carried on by the Normans, they knew so well the use +which William on this occasion would not fail to make of his English +subjects, that they endeavored, as far as was consistent with secrecy, +to engage several of that nation, and above all, the Earl Waltheof, as +the first in rank and reputation among his countrymen. Waltheof, +thinking it base to engage in any cause but that of his country against +his benefactor, unveils the whole design to Lanfranc, who immediately +took measures for securing the chief conspirators. He dispatched +messengers to inform the king of his danger, who returned without delay +at the head of his forces, and by his presence, and his usual bold +<a name="Page_359" id="Page_359" title="359" class="pagenum"></a>activity, dispersed at once the vapors of this conspiracy. The heads +were punished. The rest, left under the shade of a dubious mercy, were +awed into obedience. His glory was, however, sullied by his putting to +death Waltheof, who had discovered the conspiracy; but he thought the +desire the rebels had shown of engaging him in their designs +demonstrated sufficiently that Waltheof still retained a dangerous +power. For as the years, so the suspicions, of this politic prince +increased,—at whose time of life generosity begins to appear no more +than a splendid weakness.</p> + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 1079</span>These troubles were hardly appeased, when others began to break forth in +his own family, which neither his glory, nor the terror which held a +great nation in chains, could preserve in obedience to him. To remove in +some measure the jealousy of the court of France with regard to his +invasion of England, he had promised upon his acquisition of that +kingdom to invest his eldest son, Robert, with the Duchy of Normandy. +But as his new acquisition did not seem so secure as it was great and +magnificent, he was far from any thoughts of resigning his hereditary +dominions, which he justly considered as a great instrument in +maintaining his conquests, and a necessary retreat, if he should be +deprived of them by the fortune of war. So long as the state of his +affairs in England appeared unsettled, Robert acquiesced in the +reasonableness of this conduct; but when he saw his father established +on his throne, and found himself growing old in an inglorious +subjection, he began first to murmur at the injustice of t<a name="Page_360" id="Page_360" title="360" class="pagenum"></a>he king, soon +after to cabal with the Norman barons and at the court of France, and at +last openly rose in rebellion, and compelled the vassals of the Duchy to +do him homage. The king was not inclined to give up to force what he had +refused to reason. Unbroken with age, unwearied with so many +expeditions, he passed again into Normandy, and pressed his son with the +vigor of a young warrior.</p> + +<p>This war, which was carried on without anything decisive for some time, +ended by a very extraordinary and affecting incident. In one of those +skirmishes which were frequent according to the irregular mode of +warfare in those days, William and his son Robert, alike in a forward +and adventurous courage, plunged into the thickest of the fight, and +unknowingly encountered each other. But Robert, superior by fortune, or +by the vigor of his youth, wounded and unhorsed the old monarch, and was +just on the point of pursuing his unhappy advantage to the fatal +extremity, when the well-known voice of his father at once struck his +ears and suspended his arm. Blushing for his victory, and overwhelmed +with the united emotions of grief, shame, and returning piety, he fell +on his knees, poured out a flood of tears, and, embracing his father, +besought him for pardon. The tide of nature returning strongly on both, +the father in his turn embraced his son, and bathed him with his tears; +whilst the combatants on either side, astonished at so unusual a +spectacle, suspended the fight, applauded this striking act of filial +piety and paternal tenderness, and pressed that it might become the +prelude to a lasting peace. Peace was made, but entirely to the +advantage of the father, who carried his son into England, to secure +Normandy from the dangers to which his ambition and popularity might +expose that dukedo<a name="Page_361" id="Page_361" title="361" class="pagenum"></a>m.</p> + +<p>That William might have peace upon no part, the Welsh and Scots took +advantage of these troubles in his family to break into England: but +their expeditions were rather incursions than invasions: they wasted the +country, and then retired to secure their plunder. But William, always +troubled, always in action, and always victorious, pursued them and +compelled them to a peace, which was not concluded but by compelling the +King of Scotland and all the princes of Wales to do him homage. How far +this homage extended with regard to Scotland I find it difficult to +determine.</p> + +<p>Robert, who had no pleasure but in action, as soon as this war was +concluded, finding that he could not regain his father's confidence, and +that he had no credit at the court of England, retired to that of +France. Edgar Atheling saw likewise that the innocence of his conduct +could not make amends for the guilt of an undoubted title to the crown, +and that the Conqueror, soured by continual opposition, and suspicious +through age and the experience of mankind, regarded him with an evil +eye. He therefore desired leave to accompany Robert out of the kingdom, +and then to make a voyage to the Holy Land. This leave was readily +granted. Edgar, having displayed great valor in useless acts of chivalry +abroad, after the Conqueror's death returned to England, where he long +lived in great tranquillity, happy in himself, beloved by all the +people, and unfeared by those who held his sceptre, from his mild and +inactive virtue.</p> + + + +<p><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362" title="362" class="pagenum"></a></p> + +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 1084.<br />A.D. 1087.</span>William had been so much a stranger to repose that it became no longer +an object desirable to him. He revived his claim, to the Vexin Français, +and some other territories on the confines of Normandy. This quarrel, +which began, between him and the King of France on political motives, +was increased into rancor and bitterness, first, by a boyish contest at +chess between their children, which was resented, more than became wise +men, by the fathers; it was further exasperated by taunts and mockeries +yet less becoming their age and dignity, but which infused a mortal +venom into the war. William entered first into the French territories, +wantonly wasting the country, and setting fire to the towns and +villages. He entered Mantes, and as usual set it on fire; but whilst he +urged his horse over the smoking ruins, and pressed forward to further +havoc, the beast, impatient of the hot embers which burned his hoofs, +plunged and threw his rider violently on the saddle-bow. The rim of his +belly was wounded; and this wound, as William was corpulent and in the +decline of life, proved fatal. A rupture ensued, and he died at Rouen, +after showing a desire of making amends for his cruelty by restitutions +to the towns he had destroyed, by alms and endowments, the usual fruits +of a late penitence, and the acknowledgments which expiring ambition +pays to virtue.</p> + +<p>There is nothing more memorable in history than the actions, fortunes, +and character of this great man,—whether we consider the grandeur of +the plans he formed, the courage and wisdom with which they were +executed, or the splendor of that success whic<a name="Page_363" id="Page_363" title="363" class="pagenum"></a>h, adorning his youth, +continued without the smallest reverse to support his age, even to the +last moments of his life. He lived above seventy years, and reigned +within ten years as long as he lived, sixty over his dukedom, above +twenty over England,—both of which he acquired or kept by his own +magnanimity, with hardly any other title than he derived from his arms: +so that he might be reputed, in all respects, as happy as the highest +ambition, the most fully gratified, can make a man. The silent inward +satisfactions of domestic happiness he neither had nor sought. He had a +body suited to the character of his mind, erect, firm, large, and +active, whilst to be active was a praise,—a countenance stern, and +which became command. Magnificent in his living, reserved in his +conversation, grave in his common deportment, but relaxing with a wise +facetiousness, he knew how to relieve his mind and preserve his dignity: +for he never forfeited by a personal acquaintance that esteem he had +acquired by his great actions. Unlearned in books, he formed his +understanding by the rigid discipline of a large and complicated +experience. He knew men much, and therefore generally trusted them but +little; but when he knew any man to be good, he reposed in him an entire +confidence, which prevented his prudence from degenerating into a vice. +He had vices in his composition, and great ones; but they were the vices +of a great mind: ambition, the malady of every extensive genius,—and +avarice, the madness of the wise: one chiefly actuated his youth,—the +other governed his age. The vices of young and light minds, the joys of +wine and the pleasures of love, never reached his aspiring nature. The +general run of men he looked on with contempt, and treated with cruelty +when they opposed him. Nor was the rigor of his mind to be softened but +with the appearance of extraordinary fortitude in his enemies, which, by +a sympathy congenial to his own virtues, always excited his admiration +and insured his mercy. So that there were often seen in this one man, at +the same time, the extremes of a savage cruelty, and a generosity that +does honor to human nature. Religion, too, seemed to have a great +influence on his mind, from policy, or from better motives; but his +religion was displayed in the regularity with which he performed its +duties, not in the submission he showed to its ministers, which was +never more than what good government required. Yet his choice of a +counsellor and favorite was, not according to the mode of the time, out +of that order, and a choice that does honor to his memory. This was +Lanfranc, a man of great learning for the times, and extraordinary +piety. He owed his elevation to William; but though always inviolably +faithful, he never was the tool or flatterer of the power which raised +him; and the greater freedom he showed, the higher he rose in the +confidence of his master. By mixing with the concerns of state he did +not lose his religion and conscience, or make them the covers or +instruments of ambition; but tempering the fierce policy of a new power +by the mild lights of religion, he became a blessing to the country in +which he was promoted. The English owed to the virtue of this stranger, +and the influence he had on the king, the little remains of liberty they +continued to enjoy, and at last such a degree of his confidence as in +some sort counterbalanced the severities of the former part of his +reign.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_71_74" id="Footnote_71_74"></a><a href="#FNanchor_71_74"><span class="label">[72]</span></a> I have known, myself, great mistakes in calculation by +computing, as the produce of every day in the year, that of one +extraordinary day.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_72_75" id="Footnote_72_75"></a><a href="#FNanchor_72_75"><span class="label">[73]</span></a> The Bishop of Winchester fined for not putting the king in +mind to give a girdle to the Countess of Albemarle.—Robertus de +Vallibus debet quinque optimos palafredos, ut rex taceret de uxore +Henrici Pinel.—The wife of Hugh do Nevil fined in two hundred hens, +that she might lie with, her husband for one night; another, that he +might rise from, his infirmity; a third, that he might eat.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_73_76" id="Footnote_73_76"></a><a href="#FNanchor_73_76"><span class="label">[74]</span></a> For some particulars of the condition of the English of +this time, vide Eadmer, p. 110.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_74_77" id="Footnote_74_77"></a><a href="#FNanchor_74_77"><span class="label">[75]</span></a> Upon occasion of a ward refused in marriage. Wright thinks +the feudal right of marriage not then introduced.</p></div> +</div> +<p><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364" title="364" class="pagenum"></a></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="BOOK_III_CHAPTER_III" id="BOOK_III_CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.<br /> +<br /> +REIGN OF WILLIAM THE SECOND, SURNAMED RUFUS.</h3> + +<p><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365" title="365" class="pagenum"></a></p> + + +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 1087.</span>William had by his queen Matilda three sons, who survived him,—Robert, +William, and Henry. Robert, though in an advanced age at his father's +death, was even then more remarkable for those virtues which make us +entertain hopes of a young man than for that steady prudence which is +necessary when the short career we are to run will not allow us to make +many mistakes. He had, indeed, a temper suitable to the genius of the +time he lived in, and which therefore enabled him to make a considerable +figure in the transactions which distinguished that period. He was of a +sincere, open, candid nature; passionately fond of glory; ambitious, +without having any determinate object in view; vehement in his pursuits, +but inconstant; much in war, which he understood and loved. But guiding +himself, both in war and peace, solely by the impulses of an unbounded +and irregular spirit, he filled the world with an equal admiration and +pity of his splendid qualities and great misfortunes. William was of a +character very different. His views were short, his designs few, his +genius narrow, and his manners brutal; full of craft, rapacious, without +faith, without religion; but circumspect, steady, and courageous for his +ends, not for glory. These qualities secured to him that fortune which +the virtues of Robert deserved. Of Henry we shall speak hereafter.</p> + + +<p><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366" title="366" class="pagenum"></a></p> +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 1088.</span>We have seen the quarrels, together with the causes of them, which +embroiled the Conqueror with his eldest son, Robert. Although the wound +was skinned over by several temporary and palliative accommodations, it +still left a soreness in the father's mind, which influenced him by his +last will to cut off Robert from the inheritance of his English +dominions. Those he declared he derived from his sword, and therefore he +would dispose of them, to that son whose dutiful behavior had made him +the most worthy. To William, therefore, he left his crown; to Henry he +devised his treasures: Robert possessed nothing but the Duchy, which was +his birthright. William had some advantages to enforce the execution of +a bequest which was not included even in any of the modes of succession +which then were admitted. He was at the time of his father's death in +England, and had an opportunity of seizing the vacant government, a +thing of great moment in all disputed rights. He had also, by his +presence, an opportunity of engaging some of the most considerable +leading men in his interests. But his greatest strength was derived from +the adherence to his cause of Lanfranc, a prelate of the greatest +authority amongst the English as well as the Normans, both from the +place he had held in the Conqueror's esteem, whose memory all men +respected, and from his own great and excellent qualities. By the +advice of this prelate the new monarch professed to be entirely +governed. And as an earnest of his future reign, he renounced all the +rigid maxims of conquest, and swore to protect the Church and the +people, and to govern by St. Edward's Laws,—a promise extremely +grateful and popular to all parties: for the Normans, finding the +English passionately desirous of these laws, and only knowing that they +were in general favorable to liberty and conducive to peace and order, +became equally clamorous for their r<a name="Page_367" id="Page_367" title="367" class="pagenum"></a>eëstablishment. By these measures, +and the weakness of those which were adopted by Robert, William +established himself on his throne, and suppressed a dangerous conspiracy +formed by some Norman noblemen in the interests of his brother, although +it was fomented by all the art and intrigue which his uncle Odo could +put in practice, the most bold and politic man of that age.</p> + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 1089.</span>The security he began to enjoy from this success, and the strength which +government receives by merely continuing, gave room to his natural +dispositions to break out in several acts of tyranny and injustice. The +forest laws were executed with rigor, the old impositions revived, and +new laid on. Lanfranc made representations to the king on this conduct, +but they produced no other effect than the abatement of his credit, +which from that moment to his death, which happened soon after, was very +little in the government. The revenue of the vacant see was seized into +the king's hands. When the Church lands were made subject to military +service, they seemed to partake all the qualities of the military +tenure, and to be subject to the same burdens; and as on the death of a +military vassal his land was in wardship of the lord until the heir had +attained his age, so there arose a pretence, on the vacancy of a +bishopric, to suppose the land in ward with the king until the seat +should be filled. This principle, once established, opened a large field +for various lucrative abuses; nor could it be supposed, whilst the +vacancy turned to such good account, that a necessitous or avaricious +king would show any extraordinary haste to put the bishoprics and +abbacies out of his power. In effect, William always kept them a long +time vacant, and in the vacancy granted away much of their possessions, +<a name="Page_368" id="Page_368" title="368" class="pagenum"></a>particularly several manors belonging to the see of Canterbury; and when +he filled this see, it was only to prostitute that dignity by disposing +of it to the highest bidder.</p> + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 1093.</span>To support him in these courses he chose for his minister Ralph +Flambard, a fit instrument in his designs, and possessed of such art and +eloquence as to color them in a specious manner. This man inflamed all +the king's passions, and encouraged him in his unjust enterprises. It is +hard to say which was most unpopular, the king or his minister. But +Flambard, having escaped a conspiracy against his life, and having +punished the conspirators severely, struck such a general terror into +the nation, that none dared to oppose him. Robert's title alone stood in +the king's way, and he knew that this must be a perpetual source of +disturbance to him. He resolved, therefore, to put him in peril for his +own dominions. He collected a large army, and entering into Normandy, he +began a war, at first with great success, on account of a difference +between the Duke and his brother Henry. But their common dread of +William reconciled them; and this reconciliation put them in a condition +of procuring an equal peace, the chief conditions of which were, that +Robert should be put in possession of certain seigniories in England, +and that each, in case of survival, should succeed to the other's +dominions. William concluded this peace the more readily, because +Malcolm, King of Scotland, who hung over him, was ready upon every +advantage to invade his territories, and had now actually entered +England with a powerful army. Robert, who courted action, without +regarding what interest might have dictated, immediately on concluding +the treaty entered into his brother's service in this war against the +Scots; which, on the king's return, being in appearance laid asleep by +an accommodation, broke out with redoubled fury<a name="Page_369" id="Page_369" title="369" class="pagenum"></a> the following year. The +King of Scotland, provoked to this rupture by the haughtiness of +William, was circumvented by the artifice and fraud of one of his +ministers: under an appearance of negotiation, he was attacked and +killed, together with his only son. This was a grievous wound to +Scotland, in the loss of one of the wisest and bravest of her kings, and +in the domestic distractions which afterwards tore that kingdom to +pieces.</p> + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 1094.<br />A.D. 1096.</span>No sooner was this war ended, than William, freed from an enemy which +had given himself and his father so many alarms, renewed his ill +treatment of his brother, and refused to abide by the terms of the late +treaty. Robert, incensed at these repeated perfidies, returned to +Normandy with thoughts full of revenge and war. But he found that the +artifices and bribes of the King of England had corrupted the greatest +part of his barons, and filled the country with faction and disloyalty. +His own facility of temper had relaxed all the bands of government, and +contributed greatly to these disorders. In this distress he was obliged +to have recourse to the King of France for succor. Philip, who was then +on the throne, entered into his quarrel. Nor was William, on his side, +backward; though prodigal to the highest degree, the resources of his +tyranny and extortion were inexhaustible. He was enabled to enter +Normandy once more with a considerable army. But the opposit<a name="Page_370" id="Page_370" title="370" class="pagenum"></a>ion, too, +was considerable; and the war had probably been spun out to a great +length, and had drawn on very bloody consequences, if one of the most +extraordinary events which are contained in the history of mankind had +not suspended their arms, and drawn, all inferior views, sentiments, and +designs into the vortex of one grand project. This was the Crusade, +which, with astonishing success, now began to be preached through all +Europe. This design was then, and it continued long after, the principle +which influenced the transactions of that period both at home and +abroad; it will, therefore, not be foreign to our subject to trace it to +its source.</p> + +<p>As the power of the Papacy spread, the see of Rome began to be more and +more an object of ambition; the most refined intrigues were put in +practice to attain it; and all the princes of Europe interested +themselves in the contest. The election of Pope was not regulated by +those prudent dispositions which have since taken place; there were +frequent pretences to controvert the validity of the election, and of +course several persons at the same time laid claim to that dignity. +Popes and Antipopes arose. Europe was rent asunder by these disputes, +whilst some princes maintained the rights of one party, and some +defended the pretensions of the other: sometimes the prince acknowledged +one Pope, whilst his subjects adhered to his rival. The scandals +occasioned by these schisms were infinite; and they threatened a deadly +wound to that authority whose greatness had occasioned them. Princes +were taught to know their <a name="Page_371" id="Page_371" title="371" class="pagenum"></a>own power. That Pope who this day was a +suppliant to a monarch to be recognized by him could with an ill grace +pretend to govern him with an high hand the next. The lustre of the Holy +See began to be tarnished, when Urban the Second, after a long contest +of this nature, was universally acknowledged. That Pope, sensible by his +own experience of the ill consequence of such disputes, sought to turn +the minds of the people into another channel, and by exerting it +vigorously to give a new strength to the Papal power. In an age so +ignorant, it was very natural that men should think a great deal in +religion depended upon the very scene where the work of our Redemption +was accomplished. Pilgrimages to Jerusalem were therefore judged highly +meritorious, and became very frequent. But the country which was the +object of them, as well as several of those through which the journey +lay, were in the hands of Mahometans, who, against all the rules of +humanity and good policy, treated the Christian pilgrims with great +indignity. These, on their return, filled the minds of their neighbors +with hatred and resentment against those infidels. Pope Urban laid hold +on this disposition, and encouraged Peter the Hermit, a man visionary, +zealous, enthusiastic, and possessed of a warm irregular eloquence +adapted to the pitch of his hearers, to preach an expedition for the +delivery of the Holy Land.</p> + +<p>Great designs may be started and the spirit of them inspired by +enthusiasts, but cool heads are required to bring them into form. The +Pope, not relying solely on Peter, called a council at Clermont, where +an infinite number of people of all sorts were assembled. Here<a name="Page_372" id="Page_372" title="372" class="pagenum"></a> he +dispensed with a full hand benedictions and indulgences to all persons +who should engage in the expedition; and preaching with great vehemence +in a large plain, towards the end of his discourse, somebody, by design +or by accident, cried out, "It is the will of God!" This voice was +repeated by the next, and in a moment it circulated through this +innumerable people, which rang with the acclamation of "It is the will +of God! It is the will of God!"<a name="FNanchor_75_78" id="FNanchor_75_78"></a><a href="#Footnote_75_78" class="fnanchor" title=" Maimbourg.">[76]</a> The neighboring villages caught up +those oracular words, and it is incredible with what celerity they +spread everywhere around into places the most distant. This +circumstance, then considered as miraculous, contributed greatly to the +success of the Hermit's mission. No less did the disposition of the +nobility throughout Europe, wholly actuated with devotion and chivalry, +contribute to forward an enterprise so suited to the gratification of +both these passions. Everything was now in motion; both sexes, and every +station and age and condition of life, engaged with transport in this +holy warfare.<a name="FNanchor_76_79" id="FNanchor_76_79"></a><a href="#Footnote_76_79" class="fnanchor" title=" Chron. Sax. 204.">[77]</a> There was even a danger that Europe would be entirely +exhausted by the torrents that were rushing out to deluge Asia. These +vast bodies, collected without choice, were conducted without skill or +order; and they succeeded accordingly. Women and children composed no +small part of those armies, which were headed by priests; and it is +hard to say which is most lamentable, the destruction of such multitudes +of men, or the frenzy which drew it upon them. But this design, after +innumerable calamities, began at last to be conducted in a manner worthy +of so grand and bold a project. Raimond, Count of Toulouse, Godfrey of +Bouillon, and several other princes, who were great captains as well as +dev<a name="Page_373" id="Page_373" title="373" class="pagenum"></a>otees, engaged in the expedition, and with suitable effects. But none +burned more to signalize his zeal and courage on this occasion than +Robert, Duke of Normandy, who was fired with the thoughts of an +enterprise which seemed to be made for his genius. He immediately +suspended his interesting quarrel with his brother, and, instead of +contesting with him the crown to which he had such fair pretensions, or +the duchy of which he was in possession, he proposed to mortgage to him +the latter during five years for a sum of thirteen thousand marks of +gold. William, who had neither sense of religion nor thirst of glory, +intrenched in his secure and narrow policy, laughed at a design that had +deceived all the great minds in Europe. He extorted, as usual, this sum +from his subjects, and immediately took possession of Normandy; whilst +Robert, at the head of a gallant army, leaving his hereditary dominions, +is gone to cut out unknown kingdoms in Asia.</p> + +<p>Some conspiracies disturbed the course of the reign, or rather tyranny, +of this prince: as plots usually do, they ended in the ruin of those who +contrived them, but proved no check to the ill government of William. +Some disturbances, too, he had from the incursions of the Welsh, from +revolts in Normandy, and from a war, that began and ended without +anything memorable either in the cause or consequence, with France.</p> + +<p>He had a dispute at home which at another time had raised great +disturbances; but nothing was now considered but the expedition to the +Holy Land. After the death of Lanfranc, William omitted for a long time +to fill up that see, and had even alienated a considerable portion of +the revenue. A fit of sickness, however, softened his mind; and the +clergy, taking advantage of those happy moments, among other parts of +misgovern<a name="Page_374" id="Page_374" title="374" class="pagenum"></a>ment which they advised him to correct, particularly urged him +to fill the vacant sees. He filled that of Canterbury with Anselm, +Bishop of Bec, a man of great piety and learning, but inflexible and +rigid in whatever related to the rights, real or supposed, of the +Church. This prelate refused to accept the see of Canterbury, foreseeing +the troubles that must arise from his own dispositions and those of the +king; nor was he prevailed upon to accept it, but on a promise of +indemnification for what the temporalities of the see had suffered. But +William's sickness and pious resolutions ending together, little care +was taken about the execution of this agreement. Thus began a quarrel +between this rapacious king and inflexible archbishop. Soon after, +Anselm declared in favor of Pope Urban, before the king had recognized +him, and thus subjected himself to the law which William the Conqueror +had made against accepting a Pope without his consent. The quarrel was +inflamed to the highest pitch; and Anselm desiring to depart the +kingdom, the king consented.</p> + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 1100.</span>The eyes of all men being now turned towards the great transactions in +the East, William, Duke of Guienne, fired by the success and glory that +attended the holy adventurers, resolved to take the cross; but his +revenues were not sufficient to support the figure his rank required in +this expedition. He applied to the King of England, who, being master of +the purses of his subjects, never wanted money; and he was politician +enough to avail himself of the prodigal, inconsiderate zeal of the times +to lay out this money to great advantage. He acted the part of usurer to +the Croises; and as he had taken Normandy in mortgage from his brother +Robert, having advanced the Duke of Guienne a sum on the same +conditions, he was ready to confirm his bargain by taking possession, +when he was killed in hunting by an accidental stroke of an arrow which +pierced his heart. This accident happened in the New Forest, which his +father with such infinite oppression of the people had made, and in +which they both delighted extremely. In the same forest the Conqueror's +eldest son, a youth of great hopes, had several years before met his +death from the horns of a stag; and these so memorable fates to the same +family and in the same place easily inclined men to think this a +judgment from Heaven: the people consoling themselves under their +sufferings with these equivocal marks of the vengeance of Providence +upon their oppressors.</p> + +<p>We have painted this prince in the colors in which he is drawn by all +the writers who lived the nearest to his time. Although the monkish +historians, affected with the partiality of their character, and with +the sense of recent injuries, expressed themselves with passion +concerning him, we have no other guides to follow. Nothing, indeed, in +his life appears to vindicate his character; and it makes strongly for +his disadvantage, that, without any great end of government, he +contradicted the prejudices of the age in which he lived, the general +and common foundation of honor, and thereby made himself obnoxious to +that body of men who had the sole custody of fame, and could alone +transmit his name with glory or disgrace to posterity.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_75_78" id="Footnote_75_78"></a><a href="#FNanchor_75_78"><span class="label">[76]</span></a> Maimbourg.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_76_79" id="Footnote_76_79"></a><a href="#FNanchor_76_79"><span class="label">[77]</span></a> Chron. Sax. 204.</p></div> +</div> + +<p><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375" title="375" class="pagenum"></a></p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="BOOK_III_CHAPTER_IV" id="BOOK_III_CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.<br /> +<br /> +REIGN OF HENRY I.</h3> + +<p><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376" title="376" class="pagenum"></a></p> + + +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 1100.</span>Henry, the youngest son of the Conqueror, was hunting at the same time +and in the same forest in which his brother met his fate. He was not +long before he came to a resolution of seizing on the vacant crown. The +order of succession had already been broken; the absence of Duke Robert, +and the concurrence of many circumstances altogether resembling those +which had been so favorable to the late monarch, incited him to a +similar attempt. To lose no time at a juncture when the use of a moment +is often decisive, he went directly to Winchester, where the regalia and +the treasures of the crown were deposited. But the governor, a man of +resolution, and firmly attached to Robert, positively refused to deliver +them. Henry, conscious that great enterprises are not to be conducted in +a middle course, prepared to reduce him by force of arms. During this +contest, the news of the king's death, and the attempts of Henry, drew +great numbers of the nobility to Winchester, and with them a vast +concourse of the inferior people. To the nobility he set forth his +title to the crown in the most plausible manner it could bear: he +alleged that he was born after his father had acquired his kingdom, and +that he was therefore natural heir of the crown; but that his brother +was, at best, only born to the inheritance of a dukedom. The nobility +heard the claim of this prince; but they were mor<a name="Page_377" id="Page_377" title="377" class="pagenum"></a>e generally inclined to +Robert, whose birthright, less questionable in itself, had been also +confirmed by a solemn treaty. But whilst they retired to consult, Henry, +well apprised of their dispositions, and who therefore was little +inclined to wait the result of their debates, threw himself entirely +upon the populace. To them he said little concerning his title, as he +knew such an audience is little moved with a discussion of rights, but +much with the spirit and manner in which they are claimed; for which +reason he began by drawing his sword, and swearing, with a bold and +determined air, to persist in his pretensions to his last breath. Then +turning to the crowd, and remitting of his severity, he began to soothe +them with the promises of a milder government than they had experienced +either beneath his brother or his father; the Church should enjoy her +immunities, the people their liberties, the nobles their pleasures; the +forest laws should cease; the distinction of Englishman and Norman be +heard no more. Next he expatiated on the grievances of the former +reigns, and promised to redress them all. Lastly, he spoke of his +brother Robert, whose dissoluteness, whose inactivity, whose unsteady +temper, nay, whose very virtues, threatened nothing but ruin to any +country which he should govern. The people received this popular +harangue, delivered by a prince whose person was full of grace and +majesty, with shouts of joy and rapture. Immediately they rush to the +house where the council is held, which they surround, and with clamor +and menaces demand Henry for their king. The nobility were terrified by +the sedition; and remembering how little present Robert had been on a +former occasion to his own interests, or to those who defended him, they +joined their voice to that of the people, and Henry was proclaimed +without opposition. The treasure which he seized he divided amongst +those that seemed wavering in hi<a name="Page_378" id="Page_378" title="378" class="pagenum"></a>s cause; and that he might secure his +new and disputed right by every method, he proceeded without delay to +London to be crowned, and to sanctify by the solemnity of the unction +the choice of the people. As the churchmen in those days were the +arbiters of everything, and as no churchman possessed more credit than +Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, who had been persecuted and banished +by his brother, he recalled that prelate, and by every mark of +confidence confirmed him in his interests. Two other steps he took, +equally prudent and politic: he confirmed and enlarged the privileges of +the city of London, and gave to the whole kingdom a charter of +liberties, which was the first of the kind, and laid the foundation of +those successive charters which at last completed the freedom of the +subject. In fine, he cemented the whole fabric of his power by marrying +Maud, daughter of Malcolm, King of Scotland, by the sister of Edgar +Atheling,—thus to insure the affection, of the English, and, as he +flattered himself, to have a sure succession to his children.</p> + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 1101.</span>The Crusade being successfully finished by the taking of Jerusalem, +Robert returned into Europe. He had acquired great reputation in that +war, in which he had no interest; his real and valuable rights he +prosecuted with languor. Yet such was the respect paid to his title, and +such the attraction of his personal accomplishments, that, when he had +at last taken possession of his Norman territories, and entered England +with an army to assert his birthright, he found most of the Norman +barons, and many of the English, in readiness to join him. But the +diligence of Anselm, who employed all his credit to keep the people firm +to the oath they had taken, prevented him from profiting of the general +inclination in his favor. <a name="Page_379" id="Page_379" title="379" class="pagenum"></a>His friends began to fall off by degrees, so +that he was induced, as well by the situation of his affairs as the +flexibility of his temper, to submit to a treaty on the plan of that he +had formerly entered into with his brother Rufus.</p> + + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 1103.<br />A.D. 1106.</span>This treaty being made, Robert returned to his dukedom, and gave himself +over to his natural indolence and dissipation. Uncured by his +misfortunes of a loose generosity that flowed indiscriminately on all, +he mortgaged every branch of his revenue, and almost his whole domain. +His barons, despising his indigence, and secure in the benignity of his +temper, began to assume the unhappy privilege of sovereigns. They made +war on each other at pleasure, and, pursuing their hostilities with the +most scandalous license, they reduced that fine country to a deplorable +condition. In vain did the people, ruined by the tyranny and divisions +of the great, apply to Robert for protection: neither from his +circumstances nor his character was he able to afford them any effectual +relief; whilst Henry, who by his bribes and artifices kept alive the +disorder of which he complained and profited, formed a party in Normandy +to call him over, and to put the dukedom under his protection. +Accordingly, he prepared a considerable force for the expedition, and +taxed his own subjects, arbitrarily, and without m<a name="Page_380" id="Page_380" title="380" class="pagenum"></a>ercy, for the relief +he pretended to afford those of his brother. His preparations roused +Robert from his indolence, and united likewise the greater part of his +barons to his cause, unwilling to change a master whose only fault was +his indulgence of them for the severe vigilance of Henry. The King of +France espoused the same side; and even in England some emotions were +excited in favor of the Duke by indignation for the wrongs he had +suffered and those he was going to suffer. Henry was alarmed, but did +not renounce his design. He was to the last degree jealous of his +prerogative; but knowing what immense resources kings may have in +popularity, he called on this occasion a great council of his barons and +prelates, and there, by his arts and his eloquence, in both which he was +powerful, he persuaded the assembly to a hearty declaration in his +favor, and to a large supply. Thus secured at home, he lost no time to +pass over to the continent, and to bring the Norman army to a speedy +engagement. They fought under the walls of Tinchebrai, where the bravery +and military genius of Robert, never more conspicuous than on that day, +were borne down by the superior fortune and numbers of his ambitious +brother. He was made prisoner; and notwithstanding all the tender pleas +of their common blood, in spite of his virtues, and even of his +misfortunes, which pleaded so strongly for mercy, the rigid conqueror +held him in various prisons until his death, which did not happen until +after a rigorous confinement of eighteen, some say twenty-seven, years. +This was the end of a prince born with a thousand excellent qualities, +which served no other purpose than to confirm, from the example of his +misfortunes, that a facility of disposition and a weak beneficence are +the greatest vices that can enter into the composition of a monarch, +equally ruinous to himself and to his subjects.</p> + + +<p><a name="Page_381" id="Page_381" title="381" class="pagenum"></a></p> + +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 1107.<br />A.D. 1108.</span>The success of this battle put Henry in possession of Normandy, which he +held ever after with very little disturbance. He fortified his new +acquisition by demolishing the castles of those turbulent barons who had +wasted and afterwards enslaved their country by their dissensions. Order +and justice took place, until everything was reduced to obedience; then +a severe and regular oppression succeeded the former disorderly tyranny. +In England things took the same course. The king no longer doubted his +fortune, and therefore no longer respected his promises or his charter. +The forests, the savage passion of the Norman princes, for which both +the prince and people paid so dearly, were maintained, increased, and +guarded with laws more rigorous than before. Taxes were largely and +arbitrarily assessed. But all this tyranny did not weaken, though it +vexed the nation, because the great men were kept in proper subjection, +and justice was steadily administered.</p> + +<p>The politics of this remarkable reign consisted of three branches: to +redress the gross abuses which prevailed in the civil government and the +revenue, to humble the great barons, and keep the aspiring spirit of +the clergy within proper bounds. The introduction of a new law with a +new people at the Conquest had unsettled everything: for whilst some +adhered to the Conqueror's regulations, and others contended for those +of St. Edward, neither of them were well executed or properly obeyed. +The king, therefore, with the assistance of his justiciaries, compiled a +new body of laws, in order to find a temper between both<a name="Page_382" id="Page_382" title="382" class="pagenum"></a>. The coin had +been miserably debased, but it was restored by the king's vigilance, and +preserved by punishments, cruel, but terrifying in their example. There +was a savageness in all the judicial proceedings of those days, that +gave even justice itself the complexion of tyranny: for whilst a number +of men were seen in all parts of the kingdom, some castrated, some +without hands, others with their feet cut off, and in various ways +cruelly mangled, the view of a perpetual punishment blotted out the +memory of the transient crime, and government was the more odious, +which, out of a cruel and mistaken mercy, to avoid punishing with death, +devised torments far more terrible than death itself.</p> + +<p>But nothing called for redress more than the disorders in the king's own +household. It was considered as an incident annexed to their tenure, +that the socage vassals of the crown, and so of all the subordinate +barons, should receive their lord and all his followers, and supply them +in their progresses and journeys, which custom continued for some ages +after in Ireland, under the name of <i>coshering</i>. But this indefinite and +ill-contrived charge on the tenant was easily perverted to an instrument +of much oppression by the disorders of a rude and licentious court; +insomuch that the tenants, in fear for their substance, for the honor +of their women, and often for their lives, deserted their habitations +and fled into the woods on the king's approach. No circumstance could be +more dishonorable to a prince; but happily, like many other great +abuses, it gave rise to a great reform, which went much further than its +immediate purposes. This disorder, which the punishment of offenders +could only palliate, was entirely taken <a name="Page_383" id="Page_383" title="383" class="pagenum"></a>away by commuting personal +service for a rent in money; which regulation, passing from the king to +all the inferior lords, in a short time wrought a great change in the +state of the nation. To humble the great men, more arbitrary methods +were used. The adherence to the title of Robert was a cause, or a +pretence, of depriving many of their vast possessions, which were split +or parcelled out amongst the king's creatures, with great injustice to +particulars, but in the consequences with general and lasting benefit. +The king held his courts, according to the custom, at Christmas and +Easter, but he seldom kept both festivals in the same place. He made +continual progresses into all parts of his kingdom, and brought the +royal authority and person home to the doors of his haughty barons, +which kept them in strict obedience during his long and severe reign.</p> + +<p>His contests with the Church, concerning the right of investiture, were +more obstinate and more dangerous. As this is an affair that troubled +all Europe as well as England, and holds deservedly a principal place in +the story of those times, it will not be impertinent to trace it up to +its original. In the early times of Christianity, when religion was only +drawn from its obscurity to be persecuted, when a bishop was only a +candidate for martyrdom, neither the preferment, nor the right of +bestowing it, were sought with great ambition. Bishops were then +elected, and often against their desire, by their clergy and the people: +the subordinate ecclesiastical districts were provided for in the same +manner. After the Roman Empire became Christian, this usage, so +generally established, still maintained its ground. However, in the +principal <a name="Page_384" id="Page_384" title="384" class="pagenum"></a>cities, the Emperor frequently exercised the privilege of +giving a sanction to the choice, and sometimes of appointing the bishop; +though, for the most part, the popular election still prevailed. But +when, the Barbarians, after destroying the Empire, had at length +submitted their necks to the Gospel, their kings and great men, full of +zeal and gratitude to their instructors, endowed the Church with large +territories and great privileges. In this case it was but natural that +they should be the patrons of those dignities and nominate to that power +which arose from their own free bounty. Hence the bishoprics in the +greatest part of Europe became in effect, whatever some few might have +been in appearance, merely donative. And as the bishoprics formed so +many seigniories, when the feudal establishment was completed, they +partook of the feudal nature, so far as they were subjects capable of +it; homage and fealty were required on the part of the spiritual vassal; +the king, on his part, gave the bishop the investiture, or livery and +seizin of his temporalities, by the delivery of a ring and staff. This +was the original manner of granting feudal property, and something like +it is still practised in our base-courts. Pope Adrian confirmed this +privilege to Charlemagne by an express grant. The clergy of that time, +ignorant, but inquisitive, were very ready at finding types and +mysteries in every ceremony: they construed the staff into an emblem of +the pastoral care, and the ring into a type of the bishop's allegorical +marriage to his church, and therefore supposed them designed as emblems +of a jurisdiction merely spiritual. The Papal pretensions increased with +the general ignorance and superstition; and the better to support these +pretensions, it was necessary at once to exalt the clergy extremely, +and, by breaking off all ti<a name="Page_385" id="Page_385" title="385" class="pagenum"></a>es between them and their natural sovereigns, +to attach them wholly to the Roman see. In pursuance of this project, +the Pope first strictly forbade the clergy to receive investitures from +laymen, or to do them homage. A council held at Rome entirely condemned +this practice; and the condemnation was the less unpopular, because the +investiture gave rise to frequent and flagrant abuses, especially in +England, where the sees were on this pretence with much scandal long +held in the king's hands, and afterwards as scandalously and publicly +sold to the highest bidder. So it had been in the last reign, and so it +continued in this.</p> + +<p>Henry, though vigorously attacked, with great resolution maintained the +rights of his crown with regard to investitures, whilst he saw the +Emperor, who claimed a right of investing the Pope himself, subdued by +the thunder of the Vatican. His chief opposition was within his own +kingdom. Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, a man of unblamable life, and +of learning for his time, but blindly attached to the rights of the +Church, real or supposed, refused to consecrate those who received +investitures from the king. The parties appealed to Rome. Rome, +unwilling either to recede from her pretensions or to provoke a powerful +monarch, gives a dubious answer. Meanwhile the contest grows hotter. +Anselm is obliged to quit the kingdom, but is still inflexible. At last, +the king, who, from the delicate situation of his affairs in the +beginning of his reign, had been obliged to temporize for a long time, +by his usual prudent mixture of management with force obliged the Pope +to a temperament which seemed extremely judicious. The king received +homage and fealty from his vassal; the investiture, as it was generally +understood to relate to spiritual jurisdiction, was given up, and on +this equal bottom peace was established. The secret of the Pope's +moderation was this: he was at that juncture close pressed by the +Emperor, and it might be highly dangerous to contend with two such +enemies at once; and he was much more ready to yield to Henry, who had +no reciprocal demands on him, than to the Emperor, who had many and just +ones, and to whom he could not yield any one point without giving up an +infinite number of others very material and interesting.</p> + + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 1120.<br />A.D. 1127.</span>As the king extricated himself happily from so great an affair, so all +the other difficulties of his reign only exercised, without endangering +him. The efforts of France in favor of the son of Robert were late, +desultory, and therefore unsuccessful. That youth, endued with equal +virtue and more prudence than his father, after exerting many useless +acts of unfortunate bravery, fell in battle, and freed Henry from all +disturbance on the side of France. The incursions of the Welsh in this +reign only gave him an opportunity of confining that people within +narrower bounds. At home he was well obeyed by his subjects; abroad he +dignified his family by splendid alliances. His daughter Matilda he +married to the Emperor. But his private fortunes did not flow with so +even a course as his public affairs. His only son, William, with a +natural daughter, and many of the flower of the young nobility, perished +at sea between Normandy and England. From that fatal accident the king +was never seen to smile. He sought in vain from a second marriage to +provide a male successor; but when he saw all prospect of this at an +end, he called a great council of his barons and prelates. His daughter +Matilda, after the decease of the Emperor, he had given in marriage to +Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou. As she was his only remaining +issue, he caused her to be acknowledged as his successor by the great +council; he enforced this acknowledgment by solemn oaths of fealty,—a +sanction which he weakened rather than confirmed by frequent repetition: +vainly imagining that on his death any ties would bind to the respect of +a succession so little respected by himself, and by the violation of +which he had procured his crown. Having taken these measures in favor of +his daughter, he died in Normandy, but in a good old age, and in the +thirty-sixth year of a prosperous reign.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_386" id="Page_386" title="386" class="pagenum"></a></p> +<p><a name="Page_387" id="Page_387" title="387" class="pagenum"></a></p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="BOOK_III_CHAPTER_V" id="BOOK_III_CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.<br /> +<br /> +REIGN OF STEPHEN.</h3> + + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 1135.</span>Although the authority of the crown had been exercised with very little +restraint during the three preceding reigns, the succession to it, or +even the principles of the succession, were but ill ascertained: so that +a doubt might justly have arisen, whether the crown was not in a great +measure elective. This uncertainty exposed the nation, at the death of +every king, to all the calamities of a civil war; but it was a +circumstance favorable to the designs of Stephen, Earl of Boulogne, who +was son of Stephen, Earl of Blois, by a daughter of the Conqueror. The +<a name="Page_388" id="Page_388" title="388" class="pagenum"></a>late king had raised him to great employments, and enriched him by the +grant of several lordships. His brother had been made Bishop of +Winchester; and by adding to it the place of his chief justiciary, the +king gave him an opportunity of becoming one of the richest subjects in +Europe, and of extending an unlimited influence over the clergy and the +people. Henry trusted, by the promotion of two persons so near him in +blood, and so bound by benefits, that he had formed an impenetrable +fence about the succession; but he only inspired into Stephen the design +of seizing on the crown by bringing him so near it. The opportunity was +favorable. The king died abroad; Matilda was absent with her husband; +and the Bishop of Winchester, by his universal credit, disposed the +churchmen to elect his brother, with the concurrence of the greatest +part of the nobility, who forgot their oaths, and vainly hoped that a +bad title would necessarily produce a good government. Stephen, in the +flower of youth, bold, active, and courageous, full of generosity and a +noble affability, that seemed to reproach the state and avarice of the +preceding kings, was not wanting to his fortune. He seized immediately +the immense treasures of Henry, and by distributing them with a +judicious profusion removed all doubts concerning his title to them. He +did not spare even the royal demesne, but secured himself a vast number +of adherents by involving their guilt and interest in his own. He +raised a considerable army of Flemings, in order to strengthen himself +against another turn of the same instability which had raised him to the +throne; and, in imitation of the measures of the late king, he concluded +all by giving a charter of liberties as ample as the people at that time +aspired to. This charter contained a renunciation of the forests made by +his predecessor, a grant to the ecclesiastics of a jurisdiction over +their own vassals, and to the people in general an immunity from unjust +tallages and exactions. <a name="Page_389" id="Page_389" title="389" class="pagenum"></a>It is remarkable, that the oath of allegiance +taken by the nobility on this occasion was conditional: it was to be +observed so long as the king observed the terms of his charter,—a +condition which added no real security to the rights of the subject, but +which proved a fruitful source of dissension, tumult, and civil +violence.</p> + +<p>The measures which the king hitherto pursued were dictated by sound +policy; but he took another step to secure his throne, which in fact +took away all its security, and at the same time brought the country to +extreme misery, and to the brink of utter ruin.</p> + +<p>At the Conquest there were very few fortifications in the kingdom. +William found it necessary for his security to erect several. During the +struggles of the English, the Norman nobility were permitted (as in +reason it could not be refused) to fortify their own houses. It was, +however, still understood that no new fortress could be erected without +the king's special license. These private castles began very early to +embarrass the government. The royal castles were scarcely less +troublesome: for, as everything was then in tenure, the governor held +his place by the tenure of castle-guard; and thus, instead of a simple +officer, subject to his pleasure, the king had to deal with a feudal +tenant, secure against him by law, if he performed his services, and by +force, if he was unwilling to perform them. Every resolution of +government required a sort of civil war to put it in execution. The two +last kings had taken, and demolished several of these ca<a name="Page_390" id="Page_390" title="390" class="pagenum"></a>stles; but when +they found the reduction, of any of them difficult, their custom +frequently was, to erect another close by it, tower against tower, ditch +against ditch: these were called Malvoisins, from their purpose and +situation. Thus, instead of removing, they in fact doubled the mischief. +Stephen, perceiving the passion of the barons for these castles, among +other popular acts in the beginning of his reign, gave a general license +for erecting them. Then was seen to arise in every corner of the +kingdom, in every petty seigniory, an inconceivable multitude of +strongholds, the seats of violence, and the receptacles of murderers, +felons, debasers of the coin, and all manner of desperate and abandoned +villains. Eleven hundred and fifteen of these castles were built in this +single reign. The barons, having thus shut out the law, made continual +inroads upon each other, and spread war, rapine, burning, and desolation +throughout the whole kingdom. They infested the highroads, and put a +stop to all trade by plundering the merchants and travellers. Those who +dwelt in the open country they forced into their castles, and after +pillaging them of all their visible substance, these tyrants held them +in dungeons, and tortured them with a thousand cruel inventions to +extort a discovery of their hidden wealth. The lamentable representation +given by history of those barbarous times justifies the pictures in the +old romances of the castles of giants and magicians. A great part of +Europe was in the same deplorable condition. It was then that some +gallant spirits, struck with a generous indignation at the tyranny of +these miscreants, blessed solemnly by the bishop, and followed by the +praises and vows of the people, sallied forth to vindicate the chastity +of women and to redress the wrongs of travellers and peaceable men. The +adventurous humor inspired by the Crusade heightened and extended this +spirit; and thus the idea of knight-errantry was formed.</p> + + + +<p><a name="Page_391" id="Page_391" title="391" class="pagenum"></a></p> + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 1138.<br />A.D. 1139.<br />A.D. 1141.</span>Stephen felt personally these inconveniences; but because the evil was +too stubborn to be redressed at once, he resolved to proceed gradually, +and to begin with the castles of the bishops,—as they evidently held +them, not only against the interests of the crown, but against the +canons of the Church. From the nobles he expected no opposition to this +design: they beheld with envy the pride of these ecclesiastical +fortresses, whose battlements seemed to insult the poverty of the lay +barons. This disposition, and a want of unanimity among the clergy +themselves, enabled Stephen to succeed in his attempt against the Bishop +of Salisbury, one of the first whom he attacked, and whose castles, from +their strength and situation, were of the greatest importance. But the +affairs of this prince were so circumstanced that he could pursue no +council that was not dangerous. His breach with the clergy let in the +party of his rival, Matilda. This party was supported by Robert, Earl of +Gloucester, natural son to the late king,—a man powerful by his vast +possessions, but more formidable through his popularity, and the courage +and abilities by which he had acquired it. Several other circumstances +weakened the cause of Stephen. The charter, and the other favorable +acts, the scaffolding of his ambition, when he saw the structure raised, +he threw down and contemned. In order to maintain his troops, as well as +to attach men to his cause, where no principle bound them, vast and +continual largesses became necessary: all his legal revenue had been +dissipated; and he was therefore obliged to have recourse to such +methods of raising money as were evidently illegal. These causes every +<a name="Page_392" id="Page_392" title="392" class="pagenum"></a>day gave some accession of strength to the party against him; the +friends of Matilda were encouraged to appear in arms; a civil war +ensued, long and bloody, prosecuted as chance or a blind rage directed, +by mutual acts of cruelty and treachery, by frequent surprisals and +assaults of castles, and by a number of battles and skirmishes fought to +no determinate end, and in which nothing of the military art appeared, +but the destruction which it caused. Various, on this occasion, were the +reverses of fortune, while Stephen, though embarrassed by the weakness +of his title, by the scantiness of his finances, and all the disorders +which arose from both, supported his tottering throne with wonderful +activity and courage; but being at length defeated and made prisoner +under the walls of Lincoln, the clergy openly declare for Matilda. The +city of London, though unwillingly, follows the example of the clergy. +The defection from Stephen was growing universal.</p> + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 1153.</span>But Matilda, puffed up with a greatness which as yet had no solid +foundation and stood merely in personal favor, shook it in the minds of +all men by assuming, together with the insolence of conquest, the +haughty rigor of an established dominion. Her title appeared but too +good in the resemblance she bore to the pride of the former kings. This +made the first ill success in her affairs fatal. Her great support, the +Earl of Gloucester, was in his turn made prisoner. In exchange for his +liberty that of Stephen was procured, wh<a name="Page_393" id="Page_393" title="393" class="pagenum"></a>o renewed the war with his usual +vigor. As he apprehended an attempt from Scotland in favor of Matilda, +descended from the blood royal of that nation, to balance this weight, +he persuaded the King of France to declare in his favor, alarmed as he +was by the progress of Henry, the son of Matilda, and Geoffrey, Count of +Anjou. This prince, no more than sixteen years of age, after receiving +knighthood from David, King of Scotland, began to display a courage and +capacity destined to the greatest things. Of a complexion which strongly +inclined to pleasure, he listened to nothing but ambition; at an age +which is usually given up to passion, he submitted delicacy to politics, +and even in his marriage only remembered the interests of a +sovereign,—for, without examining too scrupulously into her character, +he married Eleanor, the heiress of Guienne, though divorced from her +husband for her supposed gallantries in the Holy Land. He made use of +the accession of power which he acquired by this match to assert his +birthright to Normandy. This he did with great success, because he was +favored by the general inclination of the people for the blood of their +ancient lords. Flushed with this prosperous beginning, he aspired to +greater things; he obliged the King of France to submit to a truce; and +then he turned his arms to support the rights of his family in England, +from whence Matilda retired, unequal to the troublesome part she had +long acted. Worn out with age, and the clashing of furious factions, she +shut herself up in a monastery, and left to her son the succession of a +civil war. Stephen was now pressed with renewed vigor. Henry had rather +the advantage in the field; Stephen had the possession, of the +government. Their fortunes appearing nearly balanced, and the fuel of +dissension being consumed by a continual and bloody war of thirteen +years, an accommodation was proposed and accepted. Henry found it +dangerous to refuse his consent, as the bishops and barons, even of his +own party, dreaded the consequences, if a prince, in the prime of an +ambitious youth, should establish an hereditary title by the force of +foreign arms. This treaty, signed at Wallingford, left the possession of +the crown for his life to Stephen, but secured the succession to Henry, +whom that prince adopted. The castles erected in this reign were to be +demolished; the exorbitant grants of the royal demesne to be resumed. To +the son of Stephen all his private possessions were secured.</p> + +<p>Thus ended this tedious and ruinous civil war. Stephen survived it near +two years; and now, finding himself more secure as the lawful tenant +than he had been as the usurping proprietor of the crown, he no longer +governed on the maxims of necessity. He made no new attempts in favor of +his family, but spent the remainder of his reign in correcting the +disorders which arose from his steps in its commencement, and in healing +the wounds of so long and cruel a war. Thus he left the kingdom in peace +to his successor, but his character, as it is usual where party is +concerned, greatly disputed. Wherever his natural dispositions had room +to exert themselves, they appeared virtuous and princely; but the lust +to reign, which often attends great virtues, was fatal to his, +frequently hid them, and always rendered them suspected.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_394" id="Page_394" title="394" class="pagenum"></a></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="BOOK_III_CHAPTER_VI" id="BOOK_III_CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.<br /> +<br /> +REIGN OF HENRY II.</h3> + + + +<p><a name="Page_395" id="Page_395" title="395" class="pagenum"></a></p> + + +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 1154.<br />A.D. 1158.</span>The death of Stephen left an undisputed succession for the first time +since the death of Edward the Confessor. Henry, descended equally from +the Norman Conqueror and the old English kings, adopted by Stephen, +acknowledged by the barons, united in himself every kind of title. It +was grown into a custom for the king to grant a charter of liberties on +his accession to the crown. Henry also granted a charter of that kind, +confirming that of his grandfather; but as his situation was very +different from that of his predecessors, his charter was +different,—reserved, short, dry, conceived in general terms,—a gift, +not a bargain. And, indeed, there seems to have been at that juncture +but little occasion to limit a power which seemed not more than +sufficient to correct all the evils of an unlimited liberty. Henry spent +the beginning of his reign in repairing the ruins of the royal +authority, and in restoring to the kingdom peace and order, along with +its ancient limits; and he may well be considered as the restorer of the +English monarchy. Stephen had sacrificed the demesne of the crown, and +many of its rights, to his subjects; and the necessity of the times +obliged both that prince and the Empress Matilda to purchase, in their +turns, the precarious friendship of the King of Scotland by a cession of +almost all the country north of the Humber. But Henry obliged the King +of Scotland to restore his acquisitions, and to renew his homage. He +took the same methods with his barons. Not sparing the grants of his +mother, he resumed what had been so lavishly squandered by both of the +<a name="Page_396" id="Page_396" title="396" class="pagenum"></a>contending parties, who, to establish their claims, had given away +almost everything that made them valuable. There never was a prince in +Europe who better understood the advantages to be derived from its +peculiar constitution, in which greater acquisitions of dominion are +made by judicious marriages than by success in war: for, having added to +his patrimonial territories of Anjou and Normandy the Duchy of Guienne +by his own marriage, the male issue of the Dukes of Brittany failing, he +took the opportunity of marrying his third son, Geoffrey, then an +infant, to the heiress of that important province, an infant also; and +thus uniting by so strong a link his northern to his southern dominions, +he possessed in his own name, or in those of his wife and son, all that +fine and extensive country that is washed by the Atlantic Ocean, from +Picardy quite to the foot of the Pyrenees.</p> + +<p>Henry, possessed of such extensive territories, and aiming at further +acquisitions, saw with indignation that the sovereign authority in all +of them, especially in England, had been greatly diminished. By his +resumptions he had, indeed, lessened the greatness of several of the +nobility. He had by force of arms reduced those who forcibly held the +crown lands, and deprived them of their own estates for their +rebellion. He demolished many castles, those perpetual resources of +rebellion and disorder. But the great aim of his policy was to break the +power of the clergy, which each of his predecessors, since Edward, had +alternately strove to raise and to depress,—at first in order to gain +that potent body to their interests, and then to preserve <a name="Page_397" id="Page_397" title="397" class="pagenum"></a>them in +subjection to the authority which they had conferred. The clergy had +elected Stephen; they had deposed Stephen, and elected Matilda; and in +the instruments which they used on these occasions they affirmed in +themselves a general right of electing the kings of England. Their share +both in the elevation and depression of that prince showed that they +possessed a power inconsistent with the safety and dignity of the state. +The immunities which they enjoyed seemed no less prejudicial to the +civil economy,—and the rather, as, in the confusion of Stephen's reign, +many, to protect themselves from the prevailing violence of the time, or +to sanctify their own disorders, had taken refuge in the clerical +character. The Church was never so full of scandalous persons, who, +being accountable only in the ecclesiastical courts, where no crime is +punished with death, were guilty of every crime. A priest had about this +time committed a murder attended with very aggravating circumstances. +The king, willing at once to restore order and to depress the clergy, +laid hold of this favorable opportunity to convoke the cause to his own +court, when the atrociousness of the crime made all men look with an +evil eye upon the claim of any privilege which might prevent the +severest justice. The nation in general seemed but little inclined to +controvert so useful a regulation with so potent a prince.</p> + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 1162.</span>Amidst this general acquiescence one man was found bold enough to oppose +him, who for eight years together embroiled all his affairs, poisoned +his satisfactions, endangered his dominions, and at length in his death +triumphed over all the power and policy of this wise and potent monarch. +This was Thomas à-Becket, a man mem<a name="Page_398" id="Page_398" title="398" class="pagenum"></a>orable for the great glory and the +bitter reproaches he has met with from posterity. This person was the +son of a respectable citizen of London. He was bred to the study of the +civil and canon law, the education, then, used to qualify a man for +public affairs, in which he soon made a distinguished figure. By the +royal favor and his own abilities, he rose, in a rapid succession +through several considerable employments, from an office under the +sheriff of London, to be High Chancellor of the kingdom. In this high +post he showed a spirit as elevated; but it was rather a military spirit +than that of the gownman,—magnificent to excess in his living and +appearance, and distinguishing himself in the tournaments and other +martial sports of that age with much ostentation of courage and expense. +The king, who favored him greatly, and expected a suitable return, on +the vacancy, destined Becket, yet a layman, to the see of Canterbury, +and hoped to find in him a warm promoter of the reformation he intended. +Hardly a priest, he was made the first prelate in the kingdom. But no +sooner was he invested with the clerical character than the whole tenor +of his conduct was seen to change all at once: of his pompous retinue a +few plain servants only remained; a monastic temperance regulated his +table; and his life, in all respects formed to the most rigid austerity, +seemed to prepare him for that superiority he was resolved to assume, +and the conflicts he foresaw he must undergo in this attempt.</p> + +<p>It will not be unpleasing to pause a moment at this remarkable period, +in order to view in what consisted that greatness of the clergy, which +enabled them to bear so very considerable a sway in all public +affairs,—what foundations supported the weight of so vast a +power,—whence it h<a name="Page_399" id="Page_399" title="399" class="pagenum"></a>ad its origin,—what was the nature, and what the +ground, of the immunities they claimed,—that we may the more fully +enter into this important controversy, and may not judge, as some have +inconsiderately done, of the affairs of those times by ideas taken from +the present manners and opinions.</p> + +<p>It is sufficiently known, that the first Christians, avoiding the Pagan +tribunals, tried most even of their civil causes before the bishop, who, +though he had no direct coercive power, yet, wielding the sword of +excommunication, had wherewithal to enforce the execution of his +judgments. Thus the bishop had a considerable sway in temporal affairs, +even before he was owned by the temporal power. But the Emperors no +sooner became Christian than, the idea of profaneness being removed from +the secular tribunals, the causes of the Christian laity naturally +passed to that resort where those of the generality had been before. But +the reverence for the bishop still remained, and the remembrance of his +former jurisdiction. It was not thought decent, that he, who had been a +judge in his own court, should become a suitor in the court of another. +The body of the clergy likewise, who were supposed to have no secular +concerns for which they could litigate, and removed by their character +from all suspicion of violence, were left to be tried by their own +ecclesiastical superiors. This was, with a little variation, sometimes +in extending, sometimes in restraining the bishops' jurisdiction, the +condition of things whilst the Roman Empire subsisted. But though their +immunities were great and their possessions ample, yet, living under an +absolute form of government, they were powerful only by influence. No +jurisdictions were annexed to their l<a name="Page_400" id="Page_400" title="400" class="pagenum"></a>ands; they had no place in the +senate; they were no order in the state.</p> + +<p>From the settlement of the Northern nations the clergy must be +considered in another light. The Barbarians gave them large landed +possessions; and by giving them land, they gave them jurisdiction, +which, according to their notions, was inseparable from it. They made +them an order in the state; and as all the orders had their privileges, +the clergy had theirs, and were no less steady to preserve and ambitious +to extend them. Our ancestors, having united the Church dignities to the +secular dignities of baronies, had so blended the ecclesiastical with +the temporal power in the same persons that it became almost impossible +to separate them. The ecclesiastical was, however, prevalent in this +composition, drew to it the other, supported it, and was supported by +it. But it was not the devotion only, but the necessity of the tunes, +that raised the clergy to the excess of this greatness. The little +learning which then subsisted remained wholly in their hands. Few among +the laity could even read; consequently the clergy alone were proper for +public affairs. They were the statesmen, they were the lawyers; from +them were often taken the bailiffs of the seigneurial courts, sometimes +the sheriffs of counties, and almost constantly the justiciaries of the +kingdom.<a name="FNanchor_77_80" id="FNanchor_77_80"></a><a href="#Footnote_77_80" class="fnanchor" title=" Seld. Tithes, p. 482.">[78]</a> The Norman kings, always jealous of their order, were +always forced to employ them. In abbeys the law was studied; abbeys were +the palladiums of the public liberty by the custody of the royal +charters and most of the records. Thus, necessary to the great by their +knowledge, venerable to the poor by their hospitality, dreadful to all +<a name="Page_401" id="Page_401" title="401" class="pagenum"></a>by the power of excommunication, the character of the clergy was exalted +above everything in the state; and it could no more be otherwise in +those days than it is possible it should be so in ours.</p> + +<p>William the Conqueror made it one principal point of his politics to +reduce the clergy; but all the steps he took in it were not equally well +calculated to answer this intention. When he subjected the Church lands +to military service, the clergy complained bitterly, as it lessened +their revenue: but I imagine it did not lessen their power in +proportion; for by this regulation they came, like other great lords, to +have their military vassals, who owed them homage and fealty: and this +rather increased their consideration amongst so martial a people. The +kings who succeeded him, though they also aimed at reducing the +ecclesiastical power, never pursued their scheme on a great or +legislative principle. They seemed rather desirous of enriching +themselves by the abuses in the Church than earnest to correct them. One +day they plundered and the next day they founded monasteries, as their +rapaciousness or their scruples chanced to predominate; so that every +attempt of that kind, having rather the air of tyranny than reformation, +could never be heartily approved or seconded by the body of the people.</p> + + +<p>The bishops must always be considered in the double capacity of clerks +and barons. Their courts, therefore, had a double jurisdiction: over the +clergy and laity of their diocese for the cognizance of crimes against +ecclesiastical law, and over the vassals of their barony as lords +paramount. But these two departments, so different in their nature, they +frequently confounded, by making use of the spiritual weapon of +excommunication to enforce the judgments of both; and this sentence, +cutting off the party from the common society of mankind, lay equally +heavy on all ranks: for, as it deprived the lower sort of the fellowship +of their equals and<a name="Page_402" id="Page_402" title="402" class="pagenum"></a> the protection of their lord, so it deprived the +lord of the services of his vassals, whether he or they lay under the +sentence. This was one of the grievances which the king proposed to +redress.</p> + +<p>As some sanction of religion is mixed with almost every concern of civil +life, and as the ecclesiastical court took cognizance of all religious +matters, it drew to itself not only all questions relative to tithes and +advowsons, but whatever related to marriages, wills, the estate of +intestates, the breaches of oaths and contracts,—in a word, everything +which did not touch life or feudal property.</p> + +<p>The ignorance of the bailiffs in lay courts, who were only possessed of +some feudal maxims and the traditions of an uncertain custom, made this +recourse to the spiritual courts the more necessary, where they could +judge with a little more exactness by the lights of the canon and civil +laws.</p> + +<p>This jurisdiction extended itself by connivance, by necessity, by +custom, by abuse, over lay persons and affairs. But the immunity of the +clergy from lay cognizances was claimed, not only as a privilege +essential to the dignity of their order, supported by the canons, and +countenanced by the Roman law, but as a right confirmed by all the +ancient laws of England.</p> + +<p>Christianity, coming into England out of the bosom of the Roman Empire, +brought along with it all those ideas of immunity.<a name="Page_403" id="Page_403" title="403" class="pagenum"></a> The first trace we +can find of this exemption from lay jurisdiction in England is in the +laws of Ethelred;<a name="FNanchor_78_81" id="FNanchor_78_81"></a><a href="#Footnote_78_81" class="fnanchor" title=" LL. Ethelred. Si presbyter homicida fieret, &c.">[79]</a> it is more fully established in those of +Canute;<a name="FNanchor_79_82" id="FNanchor_79_82"></a><a href="#Footnote_79_82" class="fnanchor" title=" LL. Cnuti, 38, De Ministro Altaris Homicida. Idem, 40, De +Ordinato Capitis reo.">[80]</a> but in the code of Henry I. it is twice distinctly +affirmed.<a name="FNanchor_80_83" id="FNanchor_80_83"></a><a href="#Footnote_80_83" class="fnanchor" title=" LL. H.I. 57, De Querela Vicinorum; and 56 [66?]. De +Ordinato qui Vitam forisfaciat, in Fœd. Alured. et Guthurn., apud +Spel. Concil. 376, 1st vol.; LL. Edw. et Guthurn., 3, De Correctione +Ordinatorum.">[81]</a> This immunity from the secular jurisdiction, whilst it +seemed to encourage acts of violence in the clergy towards others, +encouraged also the violence of others against them. The murder of a +clerk could not be punished at this time by death; it was against a +spiritual person, an offence wholly spiritual, of which the secular +courts took no sort of cognizance. In the Saxon times two circumstances +made such an exemption less a cause of jealousy: the sheriff sat with +the bishop, and the spiritual jurisdiction was, if not under the +control, at least under the inspection of the lay officer; and then, as +neither laity nor clergy were capitally punished for any offence, this +privilege did not create so invidious and glaring a distinction between +them. Such was the power of the clergy, and such the immunities, which +the king proposed to diminish.</p> + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 1164.</span>Becket, who had punished the ecclesiastic for his crime by +ecclesiastical law, refused to deliver him over to the secular judges +for farther punishment, on the principle of law, that no man ought to be +twice questioned for the same offence. The king, provoked at this +opposition, summoned a council of the barons and bishops at Clarendon; +and here, amongst others of less moment, the following were unanimously +declared to be the ancient prerogatives of the crown. And it is +something remarkable, and certainly makes much for the honor of their +moderation, that the bishops and abbots who must have composed so large +and weighty a part of the great council seem not only to have made no +opposition to regulations which so remarkably contracted their +jurisdiction, but even seem to have forwarded them.</p> +<p><a name="Page_404" id="Page_404" title="404" class="pagenum"></a></p> +<p>1st. A clerk accused of any crime shall appear in the king's court, that +it may be judged whether he belongs to ecclesiastical or secular +cognizance. If to the former, a deputy shall go into the bishop's court +to observe the trial; if the clerk be convicted, he shall be delivered +over to the king's justiciary to be punished.</p> + +<p>2nd. All causes concerning presentation, all causes concerning +Frankalmoign, all actions concerning breach of faith, shall be tried in +the king's court.</p> + +<p>3rd. The king's tenant <i>in capite</i> shall not be excommunicated without +the king's license.</p> + +<p>4th. No clerk shall go out of the kingdom without giving security that +he will do nothing to the prejudice of the king or nation. And all +appeals shall be tried at home.</p> + +<p>These are the most material of the Constitutions or Assizes of +Clarendon, famous for having been the first legal check given to the +power of the clergy in England. To give these constitutions the greater +weight, it was thought proper that they should be confirmed by a bull +from the Pope. By this step the king seemed to doubt the entireness of +his own authority in his dominions; and by calling in foreign aid when +it served his purpose, he gave it a force and a sort of legal sanction +<a name="Page_405" id="Page_405" title="405" class="pagenum"></a>when it came to be employed against himself. But as no negotiation had +prepared the Pope in favor of laws designed in reality to abridge his +own power, it was no wonder that he rejected them with indignation. +Becket, who had not been prevailed on to accept them but with infinite +reluctance, was no sooner apprised of the Pope's disapprobation than he +openly declared his own; he did penance in the humblest manner for his +former acquiescence, and resolved to make amends for it by opposing the +new constitutions with the utmost zeal. In this disposition the king saw +that the Archbishop might be more easily ruined than humbled, and his +ruin was resolved. Immediately a number of suits, on various pretences, +were commenced against him, in every one of which he was sure to be +foiled; but these making no deadly blow at his fortunes, he was called +to account for thirty thousand pounds which he was accused of having +embezzled during his chancellorship. It was in vain that he pleaded a +full acquittance from the king's son, and Richard de Lucy, the guardian +and justiciary of the kingdom, on his resignation of the seals; he saw +it was already determined against him. Far from yielding under these +repeated blows, he raised still higher the ecclesiastical pretensions, +now become necessary to his own protection. He refused to answer to the +charge, and appealed to the Pope, to whom alone he seemed to acknowledge +any real subjection. A great ferment ensued on this appeal. The +courtiers advised that he should be thrown into prison, and that his +temporalities should be seized. The bishops, willing to reduce Becket +without reducing their own order, proposed to accuse him before the +Pope, and to pursue him to degradation. Some of his friends pressed him +to give up his cause; others urged him to resign his dignity. The king's +servants threw out menaces against his life<a name="Page_406" id="Page_406" title="406" class="pagenum"></a>. Amidst this general +confusion of passions and councils, whilst every one according to his +interests expected the event with much anxiety, Becket, in the disguise +of a monk, escaped out of the nation, and threw himself into the arms of +the King of France.</p> + +<p>Henry was greatly alarmed at this secession, which put the Archbishop +out of his power, but left him in full possession of all his +ecclesiastical weapons. An embassy was immediately dispatched to Rome, +in order to accuse Becket; but as Becket pleaded the Pope's own cause +before the Pope himself, he obtained an easy victory over the king's +ambassadors. Henry, on the other hand, took every measure to maintain +his authority: he did everything worthy of an able politician, and of a +king tenacious of his just authority. He likewise took measures not only +to humble Becket, but also to lower that chair whose exaltation had an +ill influence on the throne: for he encouraged the Bishop of London to +revive a claim to the primacy; and thus, by making the rights of the see +at least dubious, he hoped to render future prelates more cautious in +the exercise of them. He inhibited, under the penalty of high treason, +all ecclesiastics from going out of his dominions without license, or +any emissary of the Pope's or Archbishop's from entering them with +letters of excommunication or interdict. And that he might not supply +arms against himself, the Peter-pence were collected with the former +care, but detained in the royal treasury, that matter might be left to +Rome both for hope and fear. In the personal treatment of Becket all the +proceedings were full of anger, and by an unnecessary and unjust +severity greatly discredited both the cause and cha<a name="Page_407" id="Page_407" title="407" class="pagenum"></a>racter of the king; +for he stripped of their goods and banished all the Archbishop's +kindred, all who were in any sort connected with him, without the least +regard to sex, age, or condition. In the mean time, Becket, stung with +these affronts, impatient of his banishment, and burning with all the +fury and the same zeal which had occasioned it, continually threatened +the king with the last exertions of ecclesiastical power; and all things +were thereby, and by the absence and enmity of the head of the English +Church, kept in great confusion.</p> + +<p>During this unhappy contention several treaties were set on foot; but +the disposition of all the parties who interested themselves in this +quarrel very much protracted a determination in favor of either side. +With regard to Rome, the then Pope was Alexander the Third, one of the +wisest prelates who had ever governed that see, and the most zealous for +extending its authority. However, though incessantly solicited by Becket +to excommunicate the king and to lay the kingdom under an interdict, he +was unwilling to keep pace with the violence of that enraged bishop. +Becket's view was single; but the Pope had many things to consider: an +Antipope then subsisted, who was strongly supported by the Emperor; and +Henry had actually entered into a negotiation with this Emperor and +this pretended Pope. On the other hand, the king knew that the lower +sort of people in England were generally affected to the Archbishop, and +much under the influence of the clergy. He was therefore fearful to +drive the Pope to extremities by wholly renouncing his authority. These +dispositions in the two principal powers made way for s<a name="Page_408" id="Page_408" title="408" class="pagenum"></a>everal +conferences leading to peace. But for a long time all their endeavors +seemed rather to inflame than to allay the quarrel. Whilst the king, +steady in asserting his rights, remembered with bitterness the +Archbishop's opposition, and whilst the Archbishop maintained the claims +of the Church with an haughtiness natural to him, and which was only +augmented by his sufferings, the King of France appeared sometimes to +forward, sometimes to perplex the negotiation: and this duplicity seemed +to be dictated by the situation of his affairs. He was desirous of +nourishing a quarrel which put so redoubted a vassal on the defensive; +but he was also justly fearful of driving so powerful a prince to forget +that he was a vassal. All parties, however, wearied at length with a +contest by which all were distracted, and which in its issue promised +nothing favorable to any of them, yielded at length to an accommodation, +founded rather on an oblivion and silence of past disputes than on the +settlement of terms for preserving future tranquillity. Becket returned +in a sort of triumph to his see. Many of the dignified clergy, and not a +few of the barons, lay under excommunication for the share they had in +his persecution; but, neither broken by adversity nor softened by good +fortune, he relented nothing of his severity, but referred them all for +their absolution to the Pope. Their resentments were revived with +additional bitterness; new affronts were offered to the Archbishop, +which brought on new excommunications and interdicts. The contention +thickened on all sides, and things seemed running precipitately to the +former dangerous extremities, when the account of these contests was +brought, with much aggravation against Becket, to the ears of the king, +then in Normandy, who, foreseeing a new series of troubles, broke out in +a violent passion of grief and anger,—"I have no friends, or I had not +so long been insulted by this hau<a name="Page_409" id="Page_409" title="409" class="pagenum"></a>ghty priest!" Four knights who attended +near his person, thinking that the complaints of a king are orders for +revenge, and hoping a reward equal to the importance and even guilt of +the service, silently departed; and passing with great diligence into +England, in a short time they arrived at Canterbury. They entered the +cathedral; they fell on the Archbishop, just on the point of celebrating +divine service, and with repeated blows of their clubs they beat him to +the ground, they broke his skull in pieces, and covered the altar with +his blood and brains.</p> + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 1171.</span>The horror of this barbarous action, increased by the sacredness of the +person who suffered and of the place where it was committed, diffused +itself on all sides with incredible rapidity. The clergy, in whose cause +he fell, equalled him to the most holy martyrs; compassion for his fate +made all men forget his faults; and the report of frequent miracles at +his tomb sanctified his cause and character, and threw a general odium +on the king. What became of the murderers is uncertain: they were +neither protected by the king nor punished by the laws, for the reason +we have not long since mentioned. The king with infinite difficulty +extricated himself from the consequences of this murder, which +threatened, under the Papal banners, to arm all Europe against him; nor +was he absolved, but by renouncing the most material parts of the +Constitutions of Clarendon, by purging himself upon oath of the murder +of Becket, by doing a very humiliating penance at his tomb to expiate +the rash words which ha<a name="Page_410" id="Page_410" title="410" class="pagenum"></a>d given occasion to his death, and by engaging to +furnish a large sum of money for the relief of the Holy Land, and taking +the cross himself as soon as his affairs should admit it. The king +probably thought his freedom from the haughtiness of Becket cheaply +purchased by these condescensions: and without question, though Becket +might have been justifiable, perhaps even laudable, for his steady +maintenance of the privileges which his Church and his order had +acquired by the care of his predecessors, and of which he by his place +was the depository, yet the principles upon which he supported these +privileges, subversive of all good government, his extravagant ideas of +Church power, the schemes he meditated, even to his death, to extend it +yet further, his violent and unreserved attachment to the Papacy, and +that inflexible spirit which all his virtues rendered but the more +dangerous, made his death as advantageous, at that time, as the means by +which it was effected were sacrilegious and detestable.</p> + +<p>Between the death of Becket and the king's absolution he resolved on the +execution of a design by which he reduced under his dominion a country +not more separated from the rest of Europe by its situation than by the +laws, customs, and way of life of the inhabitants: for the people of +Ireland, with no difference but that of religion, still retained the +native manners of the original Celts. The king had meditated this design +from the very beginning of his reign, and had obtained a bull from the +then Pope, Adrian the fourth, an Englishman, to authorize the attempt. +He well knew, from the internal weakness and advantageous situation of +this noble island, the easiness and importance of such a <a name="Page_411" id="Page_411" title="411" class="pagenum"></a>conquest. But +at this particular time he was strongly urged to his engaging personally +in the enterprise by two other powerful motives. For, first, the murder +of Becket had bred very ill humors in his subjects, the chiefs of whom, +always impatient of a long peace, were glad of any pretence for +rebellion; it was therefore expedient, and serviceable to the crown, to +find an employment abroad for this spirit, which could not exert itself +without being destructive at home. And next, as he had obtained the +grant of Ireland from the Pope, upon condition of subjecting it to +Peter-pence, he knew that the speedy performance of this condition would +greatly facilitate his recovering the good graces of the court of Rome. +Before we give a short narrative of the reduction of Ireland, I propose +to lay open to the reader the state of that kingdom, that we may see +what grounds Henry had to hope for success in this expedition.</p> + +<p>Ireland is about half as large as England. In the temperature of the +climate there is little difference, other than that more rain falls; as +the country is more mountainous, and exposed full to the westerly wind, +which, blowing from the Atlantic Ocean, prevails during the greater part +of the year. This moisture, as it has enriched the country with large +and frequent rivers, and spread out a number of fair and magnificent +lakes beyond the proportion of other places, has on the other hand +incumbered the island with an uncommon multitude of bogs and morasses; +so that in general it is less praised for corn than pasturage, in which +no soil is more rich and luxuriant. Whilst it possesses these internal +means of wealth, it opens on all sides a great number of ports, spacious +and secure, and by their <a name="Page_412" id="Page_412" title="412" class="pagenum"></a>advantageous situation inviting to universal +commerce. But on these ports, better known than those of Britain in the +time of the Romans, at this time there were few towns, scarce any +fortifications, and no trade that deserves to be mentioned.</p> + +<p>The people of Ireland lay claim to a very extravagant antiquity, through +a vanity common to all nations. The accounts which are given by their +ancient chronicles of their first settlements are generally tales +confuted by their own absurdity. The settlement of the greatest +consequence, the best authenticated, and from which the Irish deduce the +pedigree of the best families, is derived from Spain: it was called Clan +Milea, or the descendants of Milesius, and Kin Scuit, or the race of +Scyths, afterwards known by the name of Scots. The Irish historians +suppose this race descended from a person called Gathel, a Scythian by +birth, an Egyptian by education, the contemporary and friend of the +prophet Moses. But these histories, seeming clear-sighted in the obscure +affairs of so blind an antiquity, instead of passing for treasuries of +ancient facts, are regarded by the judicious as modern fictions. In +cases of this sort rational conjectures are more to be relied on than +improbable relations. It is most probable that Ireland was first peopled +from Britain. The coasts of these countries are in some places in sight +of each other. The language, the manners, and religion of the most +ancient inhabitants of both are nearly the same. The Milesian colony, +whenever it arrived in Ireland, could have made no great change in the +manners or language; as the ancient Spaniards were a branch of the +Celtæ, as well as the old<a name="Page_413" id="Page_413" title="413" class="pagenum"></a> inhabitants of Ireland. The Irish language is +not different from that of all other nations, as Temple and Rapin, from +ignorance of it, have asserted; on the contrary, many of its words bear +a remarkable resemblance not only to those of the Welsh and Armoric, but +also to the Greek and Latin. Neither is the figure of the letters very +different from the vulgar character, though their order is not the same +with that of other nations, nor the names, which are taken from the +Irish proper names of several species of trees: a circumstance which, +notwithstanding their similitude to the Roman letters, argues a +different original and great antiquity. The Druid discipline anciently +flourished in that island. In the fourth century it fell down before the +preaching of St. Patrick. Then the Christian religion was embraced and +cultivated with an uncommon zeal, which displayed itself in the number +and consequence of the persons who in all parts embraced the +contemplative life. This mode of life, and the situation of Ireland, +removed from the horror of those devastations which shook the rest of +Europe, made it a refuge for learning, almost extinguished everywhere +else. Science flourished in Ireland during the seventh and eighth +centuries. The same cause which destroyed it in other countries also +destroyed it there. The Danes, then pagans, made themselves masters of +the island, after a long and wasteful war, in which they destroyed the +sciences along with the monasteries in which they were cultivated. By as +destructive a war they were at length expelled; but neither their +ancient science nor repose returned to the Irish, who, falling into +domestic distractions as soon as they were freed from their foreign +enemies, sunk quickly into a state of ignorance, poverty, and barbarism, +which must have been very great, since it exceeded <a name="Page_414" id="Page_414" title="414" class="pagenum"></a>that of the rest of +Europe. The disorders in the Church were equal to those in the civil +economy, and furnished to the Pope a plausible pretext for giving Henry +a commission to conquer the kingdom, in order to reform it.</p> + +<p>The Irish were divided into a number of tribes or clans, each clan +forming within itself a separate government. It was ordered by a chief, +who was not raised to that dignity either by election or by the ordinary +course of descent, but as the eldest and worthiest of the blood of the +deceased lord. This order of succession, called Tanistry, was said to +have been invented in the Danish troubles, lest the tribe, during a +minority, should have been endangered for want of a sufficient leader. +It was probably much more ancient: but it was, however, attended with +very great and pernicious inconveniencies, as it was obviously an affair +of difficulty to determine who should be called the worthiest of the +blood; and a door being always left open for ambition, this order +introduced a greater mischief than it was intended to remedy. Almost +every tribe, besides its contention with the neighboring tribes, +nourished faction and discontent within itself. The chiefs we speak of +were in general called Tierna, or Lords, and those of more consideration +Riagh, or Kings. Over these were placed five kings more eminent than +the rest, answerable to the five provinces into which the island was +anciently divided. These again were subordinate to one head, who was +called Monarch of all Ireland, raised to that power by election, or, +more properly speaking, by violence.</p> + +<p>Whilst the dignities of the state were disposed of by a sort of +election, the office of judges, who were called Brehons, the trades of +mechanics, and even those arts which we are apt to consider as depending +principally on natural genius, such as poetry and music, were confined +in succession to certain races: the Irish imag<a name="Page_415" id="Page_415" title="415" class="pagenum"></a>ining that greater +advantages were to be derived from an early institution, and the +affection of parents desirous of perpetuating the secrets of their art +in their families, than from the casual efforts of particular fancy and +application. This is much in the strain of the Eastern policy; but these +and many other of the Irish institutions, well enough calculated to +preserve good arts and useful discipline, when these arts came to +degenerate, were equally well calculated to prevent all improvement and +to perpetuate corruption, by infusing an invincible tenaciousness of +ancient customs.</p> + +<p>The people of Ireland were much more addicted to pasturage than +agriculture, not more from the quality of their soil than from a remnant +of the Scythian manners. They had but few towns, and those not +fortified, each clan living dispersed over its own territory. The few +walled towns they had lay on the sea-coast; they were built by the +Danes, and held after they had lost their conquests in the inland parts: +here was carried on the little foreign trade which the island then +possessed.</p> + +<p>The Irish militia was of two kinds: one called <i>kerns</i>, which were +foot, slightly armed with a long knife or dagger, and almost naked; the +other, <i>galloglasses,</i> who were horse, poorly mounted, and generally +armed only with a battle-axe. Neither horse nor foot made much use of +the spear, the sword, or the bow. With indifferent arms, they had still +worse discipline. In these circumstances, their natural bravery, which, +though considerable, was not superior to that of their invaders, stood +them in little stead.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_416" id="Page_416" title="416" class="pagenum"></a></p> + +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 1167.</span>Such was the situation of things in Ireland, when Dermot, King of +Leinster, having violently carried away the wife of one of the +neighboring petty sovereigns, Roderic, King of Connaught and Monarch of +Ireland, joined with the injured husband to punish so flagrant an +outrage, and with their united forces spoiled Dermot of his territories, +and obliged him to abandon the kingdom. The fugitive prince, not +unapprised of Henry's designs upon his country, threw himself at his +feet, implored his protection, and promised to hold of him, as his +feudatory, the sovereignty he should recover by his assistance. Henry +was at this time at Guienne. Nothing could be more agreeable to him than +such an incident; but as his French dominions actually lay under an +interdict, on account of his quarrel with Becket, and all his affairs, +both at home and abroad, were in a troubled and dubious situation, it +was not prudent to remove his person, nor venture any considerable body +of his forces on a distant enterprise. Yet not willing to lose so +favorable an opportunity, he warmly recommended the cause of Dermot to +his regency in England, permitting and encouraging all persons to arm in +his favor: a permission, in this age of enterprise, greedily accepted by +many; but the person who brought the most assistance to it, and indeed +gave a form and spirit to the whole design, was Richard, Earl of +Strigul, commonly known by the name of Strongbow. Dermot, to confirm in +his interest this potent and warlike peer, promised him his daughter in +marriage, with the reversion of his crown.</p> + + + +<p><a name="Page_417" id="Page_417" title="417" class="pagenum"></a></p> +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 1169.<br />A.D. 1171.</span>The beginnings of so great an enterprise were formed with a very slender +force. Not four hundred men landed near Wexford: they took the town by +storm. When reinforced, they did not exceed twelve hundred; but, being +joined with three thousand men by Dermot, with an incredible rapidity of +success they reduced Waterford, Dublin, Limerick, the only considerable +cities in Ireland. By the novelty of their arms they had obtained some +striking advantages in their first engagements; and by these advantages +they attained a superiority of opinion over the Irish, which every +success Increased. Before the effect of this first impression had time +to wear off, Henry, having settled his affairs abroad, entered the +harbor of Cork with a fleet of four hundred sail, at once to secure the +conquest, and the allegiance of the conquerors. The fame of so great a +force arriving under a prince dreaded by all Europe very soon disposed +all the petty princes, with their King Roderic, to submit and do homage +to Henry. They had not been able to resist the arms of his vassals, and +they hoped better treatment from submitting to the ambition of a great +king, who left them everything but the honor of their independency, than +from the avarice of adventurers, from which nothing was secure. The +bishops and the body of the clergy greatly contributed to this +submission, from respect to the Pope, and the horror of their late +defeats, which they began to regard as judgments. A national council was +held at Cashel for bringing the Church of Ireland to a perfect +conformity in rites and discipline to that of England. It is not to be +thought that in this council the temporal interests of England were +entirely forgotten. Many of the English were established in their +particular conquests under the tenure of knights' service, now first +introd<a name="Page_418" id="Page_418" title="418" class="pagenum"></a>uced into Ireland: a tenure which, if it has not proved the best +calculated to secure the obedience of the vassal to the sovereign, has +never failed in any instance of preserving a vanquished people in +obedience to the conquerors. The English lords built strong castles on +their demesnes; they put themselves at the head of the tribes whose +chiefs they had slain; they assumed the Irish garb and manners; and +thus, partly by force, partly by policy, the first English families took +a firm root in Ireland. It was, indeed, long before they were able +entirely to subdue the island to the laws of England; but the continual +efforts of the Irish for more than four hundred years proved +insufficient to dislodge them.</p> + +<p>Whilst Henry was extending his conquests to the western limits of the +known world, the whole fabric of his power was privately sapped and +undermined, and ready to overwhelm him with the ruins, in the very +moment when he seemed to be arrived at the highest and most permanent +point of grandeur and glory. His excessive power, his continual +accessions to it, and an ambition which by words and actions declared +that the whole world was not sufficient for a great man, struck a just +terror into all the potentates near him: he was, indeed, arrived at that +pitch of greatness, that the means of his ruin could only be found in +his own family. A numerous offspring, which is generally considered as +the best defence of the throne, and the support as well as ornament of +declining royalty, proved on this occasion the principal part of the +danger. Henry had in his lawful bed, besides daughter<a name="Page_419" id="Page_419" title="419" class="pagenum"></a>s, four sons, +Henry, Richard, Geoffrey, and John, all growing up with great hopes from +their early courage and love of glory. No father was ever more delighted +with these hopes, nor more tender and indulgent to his children. A +custom had long prevailed in France for the reigning king to crown his +eldest son in his lifetime. By this policy, in turbulent times, and +whilst the principles of succession were unsettled, he secured the crown +to his posterity. Henry gladly imitated a policy enforced no less by +paternal affection than its utility to public peace. He had, during his +troubles with Becket, crowned his son Henry, then no more than sixteen +years old. But the young king, even on the day of his coronation, +discovered an haughtiness which threatened not to content itself with +the share of authority to which the inexperience of his youth and the +nature of a provisional crown confined him. The name of a king +continually reminded him that he only possessed the name. The King of +France, whose daughter he had espoused, fomented a discontent which grew +with his years. Geoffrey, who had married the heiress of Bretagne, on +the death of her father claimed to no purpose the entire sovereignty of +his wife's inheritance, which Henry, under a pretence of guardianship to +a son of full age, still retained in his hands. Richard had not the same +plausible pretences, but he had yet greater ambition. He contended for +the Duchy of Guienne before his mother's death, which, alone could give +him the color of a title to it. The queen, his mother, hurried on by her +own unquiet spirit, or, as some think, stimulated by jealousy, +encouraged their rebellion against her husband. The King of France, who +moved all the other engines, engaged the King of Scotland, the Earl of +Flanders, then a powerful prince, the Earl of Blois, and the Earl of +Boulogne in the conspiracy. The barons in Bretagne, in Guienne, and even +in England, were ready to take up arms in the same cause; whether it was +that they perceived the uniform plan the king had pursued in order to +their reduction, or were solely instigated by the natural fierceness and +<a name="Page_420" id="Page_420" title="420" class="pagenum"></a>levity of their minds, fond of every dangerous novelty. The historians +of that time seldom afford us a tolerable insight into the causes of the +transactions they relate; but whatever were the causes of so +extraordinary a conspiracy, it was not discovered until the moment it +was ready for execution. The first token of it appeared in the young +king's demand to have either England or Normandy given up to him. The +refusal of this demand served as a signal to all parties to put +themselves in motion. The younger Henry fled into France; Louis entered +Normandy with a vast army; the barons of Bretagne under Geoffrey, and +those of Guienne under Richard, rose in arms; the King of Scotland +pierced into England; and the Earl of Leicester, at the head of fourteen +thousand Flemings, landed in Suffolk.</p> + + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 1173<br />A.D. 1174</span>It was on this trying occasion that Henry displayed a greatness +independent of all fortune. For, beset by all the neighboring powers, +opposed by his own children, betrayed by his wife, abandoned by one part +of his subjects, uncertain of the rest, every part of his state rotten +and suspicious, his magnanimity grew beneath the danger; and when all +the ordinary resources failed, he found superior resources in his own +courage, wisdom, and activity. There were at that time dispersed over +Europe bodies of mercenary troops, called Brab<a name="Page_421" id="Page_421" title="421" class="pagenum"></a>ançons, composed of +fugitives from different nations, men who were detached from any +country, and who, by making war a perpetual trade, and passing from +service to service, had acquired an experience and military knowledge +uncommon in those days. Henry took twenty thousand of these mercenaries +into his service, and, as he paid them punctually, and kept them always +in action, they served him with fidelity. The Papal authority, so often +subservient, so often prejudicial to his designs, he called to his +assistance in a cause which did not misbecome it,—the cause of a father +attacked by his children. This took off the ill impression left by +Becket's death, and kept the bishops firm in their allegiance. Having +taken his measures with judgment, he pursued the war in Normandy with +vigor. In this war his mercenaries had a great and visible advantage +over the feudal armies of France: the latter, not so useful while they +remained in the field, entered it late in the summer, and commonly left +it in forty days. The King of France was forced to raise the siege of +Verneuil, to evacuate Normandy, and agree to a truce. Then, at the head +of his victorious Brabançons, Henry marched into Brittany with an +incredible expedition. The rebellious army, astonished as much by the +celerity of his march as the fury of his attack, was totally routed. The +principal towns and castles were reduced soon after. The custody of the +conquered country being lodged in faithful hands, he flew to the relief +of England. There his natural son Geoffrey, Bishop elect of Ely, +faithful during the rebellion of all his legitimate offspring, steadily +maintained his cause, though with forces much inferior to his zeal. The +king, before he entered into action, thought it expedient to perform his +expiation at the tomb of Becket. Hardly had he finished this ceremony, +when the news arrived that the Scotch army was totally defeated, and +their king made prisoner. Thi<a name="Page_422" id="Page_422" title="422" class="pagenum"></a>s victory was universally attributed to the +prayers of Becket; and whilst it established the credit of the new +saint, it established Henry in the minds of his people: they no longer +looked upon their king as an object of the Divine vengeance, but as a +penitent reconciled to Heaven, and under the special protection of the +martyr he had made. The Flemish army, after several severe checks, +capitulated to evacuate the kingdom. The rebellious barons submitted +soon after. All was quiet in England; but the King of France renewed +hostilities in Normandy, and laid siege to Rouen. Henry recruited his +army with a body of auxiliary Welsh, arrived at Rouen with his usual +expedition, raised the siege, and drove the King of France quite out of +Normandy. It was then that he agreed to an accommodation, and in the +terms of peace, which he dictated in the midst of victory to his sons, +his subjects, and his enemies, there was seen on one hand the tenderness +of a father, and on the other the moderation of a wise man, not +insensible of the mutability of fortune.</p> + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 1176</span>The war which threatened his ruin being so happily ended, the greatness +of the danger served only to enhance his glory; whilst he saw the King +of France humbled, the Flemings defeated, the King of Scotland a +prisoner, and his sons and subjects reduced to the bounds of their duty. +He employed this interval of peace to secure its continuance, and to +prevent a return of the like evils; for which reason he made many +reforms in the laws and polity of his domini<a name="Page_423" id="Page_423" title="423" class="pagenum"></a>ons. He instituted itinerant +justices, to weaken the power of the great barons, and even of the +sheriffs, who were hardly more obedient,—an institution which, with +great public advantages, has remained to our times. In the spirit of the +same policy he armed the whole body of the people: the English +commonalty had been in a manner disarmed ever since the Conquest. In +this regulation we may probably trace the origin of the militia, which, +being under the orders of the crown rather in a political than a feudal +respect, were judged more to be relied on than the soldiers of tenure, +to whose pride and power they might prove a sort of counterpoise. Amidst +these changes the affairs of the clergy remained untouched. The king had +experienced how dangerous it was to attempt removing foundations so +deeply laid both in strength and opinion. He therefore wisely aimed at +acquiring the favor of that body, and turning to his own advantage a +power he should in vain attempt to overthrow, but which he might set up +against another power, which it was equally his interest to reduce.</p> + +<p>Though these measures were taken with the greatest judgment, and seemed +to promise a peaceful evening to his reign, the seeds of rebellion +remained still at home, and the dispositions that nourished them were +rather increased abroad. The parental authority, respectable at all +times, ought to have the greatest force in times when the manners are +rude and the laws imperfect. At that time Europe had not emerged out of +barbarism, yet this great natural bond of society was extremely weak. +The number of foreign obligations and duties almost dissolved the family +obligations. From the moment a young man was knighted, so far as related +to his father, he became absolute master of his own conduct; but he +contracted at the same time a sort of filial relation with the person +who had knighted him. These various principles of duty distracted one +another. The custom which then prevailed, of bestowing lands and +jurisdictions, under the name of Appanages, to the sons of kings and the +greater nobility, gave them a power which was frequently employed +against the giver; and the military and licentious manners of the age +almost destroyed every trace of every kind of regular authority. In the +East, where th<a name="Page_424" id="Page_424" title="424" class="pagenum"></a>e rivalship of brothers is so dangerous, such is the force +of paternal power amongst a rude people, we scarce ever hear of a son in +arms against his father. In Europe, for several ages, it was very +common. It was Henry's great misfortune to suffer in a particular manner +from this disorder.</p> + + + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 1180.<br />A.D. 1183.<br />A.D. 1188.<br />A.D. 1189.</span>Philip succeeded Louis, King of France. He followed closely the plan of +his predecessor, to reduce the great vassals, and the King of England, +who was the greatest of them; but he followed it with far more skill and +vigor, though he made use of the same instruments in the work. He +revived the spirit of rebellion in the princes, Henry's sons. These +young princes were never in harmony with each other but in a confederacy +against their father, and the father had no recourse but in the +melancholy safety derived from the disunion of his children. This he +thought it expedient to increase; but such policy, when discovered, has +always a dangerous effect. The sons, having just quarrelled enough to +give room for an explanation of each other's designs, and to display +those of their father, enter into a new conspiracy. In the midst of +these motions the young king dies, and showed at his death such signs of +a sincere repentance as served to revive the old king's tenderness, and +to take away all comfort for his loss. The death of his third son, +Geoffrey, followed close upon the heels of this funeral. He died at +Paris, whither he had gone to concert measures against his father. +Richard and John remained. Richard, fiery, restless, ambitious, openly +took up arms, and pursued the war with implacable rancor, and such +success as drove the king, in the decline of his life, to a dishonorable +treaty; nor was he then content, but excited new troubles. John was his +youngest and favorite child; in him he reposed all his hopes, and +consoled himself for the undutifulness of his other sons; but after +concluding the treaty with the King of France and Richard, he found too +soon that John had been as deep as any in the conspiracy. This was his +last wound: afflicted by his children in their deaths and harassed in +their lives, mortified as a father and a king, worn down with cares and +sorrows more than with years, he died, cursing his fortune, his +children, and the hour of his birth. When he perceived that death +approached him, by his own desire he was carried into a church and laid +at the altar's foot. Hardly had he expired, when he was stripped, then +forsaken by his attendants, and left a long time a naked and unheeded +body in an empty church: affording a just consolation for the obscurity +of a mean fortune, and an instructive lesson how little an outward +greatness and enjoyments foreign to the mind contribute towards a solid +felicity, in the example of one who was the greatest of kings and the +unhappiest of mankind.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_77_80" id="Footnote_77_80"></a><a href="#FNanchor_77_80"><span class="label">[78]</span></a> Seld. Tithes, p. 482.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_78_81" id="Footnote_78_81"></a><a href="#FNanchor_78_81"><span class="label">[79]</span></a> LL. Ethelred. Si presbyter homicida fieret, &c.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_79_82" id="Footnote_79_82"></a><a href="#FNanchor_79_82"><span class="label">[80]</span></a> LL. Cnuti, 38, De Ministro Altaris Homicida. Idem, 40, De +Ordinato Capitis reo.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_80_83" id="Footnote_80_83"></a><a href="#FNanchor_80_83"><span class="label">[81]</span></a> LL. H.I. 57, De Querela Vicinorum; and 56 [66?]. De +Ordinato qui Vitam forisfaciat, in Fœd. Alured. et Guthurn., apud +Spel. Concil. 376, 1st vol.; LL. Edw. et Guthurn., 3, De Correctione +Ordinatorum.</p></div> +</div> +<p><a name="Page_425" id="Page_425" title="425" class="pagenum"></a></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_426" id="Page_426" title="426" class="pagenum"></a></p> +<h3><a name="BOOK_III_CHAPTER_VII" id="BOOK_III_CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.<br /> +<br /> +REIGN OF RICHARD I.</h3> + + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">Richard I. A.D. 1189</span>Whilst Henry lived, the King of France had always an effectual means of +breaking his power by the divisions in his family. But now Richard +succeeded to all the power of his father, with an equal ambition to +extend it, with a temper infinitely more fiery and impetuous, and free +from every impediment of internal dissension. These circumstances filled +the mind of Philip with great and just uneasiness. There was no security +but in finding exercise for the enterprising genius of the young king at +a distance from home. The new Crusade afforded an advantageous +opportunity. A little before his father's death, Richard had taken the +cross in conjunction with the King of France. So precipitate were the +fears of that monarch, that Richard was hardly crowned when ambassadors +were dispatched to England to remind him of his obligation, and to pique +his pride by acquainting him that their master was even then in +readiness to fulfil his part of their common vow. An enterprise of this +sort was extremely agreeable to the genius of Richard, where religion +sanctified the thirst of military glory, and where the glory itself +seemed but the more desirable by being unconnected with interest. He +immediately accepted the proposal, and resolved to insure the success as +well as the lustre of his expedition by the magnificence of his +preparations. Not content with the immense treasures amassed by his +father, he drew in vast sums by the sale of almost all the demesnes of +the crown, and <a name="Page_427" id="Page_427" title="427" class="pagenum"></a>of every office under it, not excepting those of the +highest trust. The clergy, whose wealth and policy enabled them to take +advantage of the necessity and weakness of the Croises, were generally +the purchasers of both. To secure his dominions in his absence, he made +an alliance with the princes of Wales, and with the King of Scotland. To +the latter he released, for a sum of money, the homage which had been +extorted by his father.</p> + +<p>His brother John gave him most uneasiness; but finding it unworthy, or +impracticable, to use the severer methods of jealous policy, he resolved +to secure his fidelity by loading him with benefits. He bestowed on him +six earldoms, and gave him in marriage the Lady Avisa, sole heiress of +the great house of Gloucester; but as he gave him no share in the +regency, he increased his power, and left him discontented in a kingdom +committed to the care of new men, who had merited their places by their +money.</p> + +<p>It will be proper to take a view of the condition of the Holy Land at +the time when this third Crusade was set on foot to repair the faults +committed in the two former. The conquests of the Croises, extending +over Palestine and a part of Syria, had been erected into a sovereignty +under the name of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. This kingdom, ill-ordered +within, surrounded on all sides by powerful enemies, subsisted by a +strength not its own for near ninety years. But dissensions arising +about the succession to the crown, between Guy of Lusignan and Raymond, +Earl of Tripoli, Guy, either because he thought the assistance of the +European princes too distant, or that he feared their decision, called +in the aid of Saladin,<a name="Page_428" id="Page_428" title="428" class="pagenum"></a> Sultan of Egypt. This able prince immediately +entered Palestine. As the whole strength of the Christians in Palestine +depended upon foreign succor, he first made himself master of the +maritime towns, and then Jerusalem fell an easy prey to his arms; whilst +the competitors contended with the utmost violence for a kingdom which +no longer existed for either of them. All Europe was alarmed at this +revolution. The banished Patriarch of Jerusalem filled every place with +the distresses of the Eastern Christians. The Pope ordered a solemn fast +to be forever kept for this loss, and then, exerting all his influence, +excited a new Crusade, in which vast numbers engaged, with an ardor +unabated by their former misfortunes; but wanting a proper subordination +rather than a sufficient force, they made but a slow progress, when +Richard and Philip, at the head of more than one hundred thousand chosen +men, the one from Marseilles, the other from Genoa, set sail to their +assistance.</p> + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 1191</span>In his voyage to the Holy Land accident presented Richard, with an +unexpected conquest. A vessel of his fleet was driven by a storm to take +shelter in the Isle of Cyprus. That island was governed by a prince +named Isaac, of the imperial family of the Comneni, who not only +refused all relief to the sufferers, but plundered them of the little +remains of their substance. Richard, resenting this inhospitable +treatment, aggravated by the insolence of the tyrant, turned his force +upon Cyprus, vanquished Isaac in the field, took the ca<a name="Page_429" id="Page_429" title="429" class="pagenum"></a>pital city, and +was solemnly crowned king of that island. But deeming it as glorious to +give as to acquire a crown, he soon after resigned it to Lusignan, to +satisfy him for his claim on Jerusalem; in whose descendants it +continued for several generations, until, passing by marriage into the +family of Cornaro, a Venetian nobleman, it was acquired to that state, +the only state in Europe which had any real benefit by all the blood and +treasure lavished in the Holy War.</p> + +<p>Richard arrived in Palestine some time after the King of France. His +arrival gave new vigor to the operations of the Croises. He reduced Acre +to surrender at discretion, which had been in vain besieged for two +years, and in the siege of which an infinite number of Christians had +perished; and so much did he distinguish himself on this and on all +occasions, that the whole expedition seemed to rest on his single valor. +The King of France, seeing him fully engaged, had all that he desired. +The climate was disagreeable to his constitution, and the war, in which +he acted but a second part, to his pride. He therefore hastened home to +execute his projects against Richard, amusing him with oaths made to be +violated,—leaving, indeed, a part of his forces under the Duke of +Burgundy, but with private orders to give him underhand all possible +obstruction. Notwithstanding the desertion of his ally, Richard +continued the war with uncommon alacrity. With very unequal numbers he +engaged and defeated the whole army of Saladin, and slew forty thousand +of his best troops. He obliged him to evacuate all the towns on the +sea-coast,<a name="Page_430" id="Page_430" title="430" class="pagenum"></a> and spread the renown and terror of his arms over all Asia. A +thousand great exploits did not, however, enable him to extend his +conquests to the inland country. Jealousy, envy, cabals, and a total +want of discipline reigned in the army of the Crosses. The climate, and +their intemperance more than the climate, wasted them with a swift +decay. The vow which brought them to the Holy Land was generally for a +limited time, at the conclusion of which they were always impatient to +depart. Their armies broke up at the most critical conjunctures,—as it +was not the necessity of the service, but the extent of their vows, +which held them together. As soon, therefore, as they had habituated +themselves to the country, and attained some experience, they were gone; +and new men supplied their places, to acquire experience by the same +misfortunes, and to lose the benefit of it by the same inconstancy. Thus +the war could never be carried on with steadiness and uniformity. On the +other side, Saladin continually repaired his losses; his resources were +at hand; and this great captain very judiciously kept possession of that +mountainous country which, formed by a perpetual ridge of Libanus, in a +manner walls in the sea-coast of Palestine. There he hung, like a +continual tempest, ready to burst over the Christian army. On his rear +was the strong city of Jerusalem, which secured a communication with the +countries of Chaldea and Mesopotamia, from whence he was well supplied +with everything. If the Christians attempted to improve their successes +by penetrating to Jerusalem, they had a city powerfully garrisoned in +their front, a country wasted and destitute of forage to act in, and +Saladin with a vast army on their rear advantageously posted to cut off +their convoys and reinforcements.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_431" id="Page_431" title="431" class="pagenum"></a></p> + +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 1192.</span>Richard was laboring to get over these disadvantages, when he was +informed by repeated expresses of the disorder of his affairs in +Europe,—disorders which arose from the ill dispositions he had made at +his departure. The heads of his regency had abused their power; they +quarrelled with each other, and the nobility with them. A sort of a +civil war had arisen, in which they were deposed. Prince John was the +main spring of these dissensions; he engaged in a close communication of +councils with the King of France, who had seized upon several places in +Normandy. It was with regret that Richard found himself obliged to leave +a theatre on which he had planned such an illustrious scene of action. A +constant emulation in courtesy and politeness, as well as in military +exploits, had been kept up between him and Saladin. He now concluded a +truce with that generous enemy, and on his departure sent a messenger to +assure him that on its expiration he would not fail to be again in +Palestine. Saladin replied, that, if he must lose his kingdom, he would +choose to lose it to the King England. Thus Richard returned, leaving +Jerusalem in the hands of the Saracens; and this end had an enterprise +in which two of the most powerful monarchs in Europe were personally +engaged, an army of upwards of one hundred thousand men employed, and to +furnish which the whole Christian world had been vexed and exhausted. +It is a melancholy reflection, that the spirit of great designs can +seldom be inspired, but where the reason of mankind is so uncultivated +that they can be turned to little advantage.</p> + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 1193</span>With this war ended the fortune of Richard, who found the Sara<a name="Page_432" id="Page_432" title="432" class="pagenum"></a>cens less +dangerous than his Christian allies. It is not well known what motive +induced him to land at Aquileia, at the bottom of the Gulf of Venice, in +order to take his route by Germany; but he pursued his journey through, +the territories of the Duke of Austria, whom he had personally affronted +at the siege of Acre. And now, neither keeping himself out of the power +of that prince, nor rousing his generosity by seeming to confide in it, +he attempted to get through his dominions in disguise. Sovereigns do not +easily assume the private character; their pride seldom suffers their +disguise to be complete: besides, Richard had made himself but too well +known. The Duke, transported with the opportunity of base revenge, +discovered him, seized him, and threw him into prison; from whence he +was only released to be thrown into another. The Emperor claimed him, +and, without regarding in this unfortunate captive the common dignity of +sovereigns, or his great actions in the common cause of Europe, treated +him with yet greater cruelty. To give a color of justice to his +violence, he proposed to accuse Richard at the Diet of the Empire upon +certain articles relative to his conduct in the Holy Land.</p> + +<p>The news of the king's captivity caused the greatest consternation in +all his good subjects; but it revived the hopes and machinations of +Prince John, who bound himself by closer ties than ever to the King of +France, seized upon some strongholds in England, and, industriously +spreading a report of his brother's death, publicly laid claim to the +crown as lawful successor. All his endeavors, however, served only to +excite the indignation of the people, and to attach th<a name="Page_433" id="Page_433" title="433" class="pagenum"></a>em the more firmly +to their unfortunate prince. Eleanor, the queen dowager, as good a +mother as she had been a bad wife, acted with the utmost vigor and +prudence to retain them in their duty, and omitted no means to procure +the liberty of her son. The nation seconded her with a zeal, in their +circumstances, uncommon. No tyrant ever imposed so severe a tax upon his +people as the affection of the people of England, already exhausted, +levied upon themselves. The most favored religious orders were charged +on this occasion. The Church plate was sold. The ornaments of the most +holy relics were not spared. And, indeed, nothing serves more to +demonstrate the poverty of the kingdom, reduced by internal dissensions +and remote wars, at that time, than the extreme difficulty of collecting +the king's ransom, which amounted to no more than one hundred thousand +marks of silver, Cologne weight. For raising this sum, the first +taxation, the most heavy and general that was ever known in England, +proved altogether insufficient. Another taxation was set on foot. It was +levied with the same rigor as the former, and still fell short. +Ambassadors were sent into Germany with all that could be raised, and +with hostages for the payment of whatever remained. The king met these +ambassadors as he was carried in chains to plead his cause before the +Diet of the Empire. The ambassadors burst into tears at this affecting +sight, and wept aloud; but Richard, though touched no less with the +affectionate loyalty of his subjects than with his own fallen condition, +preserved his dignity entire in his misfortunes, and with a cheerful air +inquired of the state of his dominions, the behavior of the King of +Scotland, and the fidelity of his brother, the Count John. At the Diet, +no longer protected by the character of a sovereign, he was supported by +his personal abilities. He had a ready wit and great natural eloquence; +and his high reputation and the weight of his cause pleadin<a name="Page_434" id="Page_434" title="434" class="pagenum"></a>g for him +more strongly, the Diet at last interested itself in his favor, and +prevailed on the Emperor to accept an excessive ransom for dismissing a +prisoner whom he detained without the least color of justice. Philip +moved heaven and earth to prevent his enlargement: he negotiated, he +promised, he flattered, he threatened, he outbid his extravagant ransom. +The Emperor, in his own nature more inclined to the bribe, which tempted +him to be base, hesitated a long time between these offers. But as the +payment of the ransom was more certain than Philip's promises, and as +the instances of the Diet, and the menaces of the Pope, who protected +Richard, as a prince serving under the Cross, were of more immediate +consequence than his threats, Richard was at length released; and though +it is said the Emperor endeavored to seize him again, to extort an other +ransom, he escaped safely into England.</p> + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 1194</span>Richard, on his coming to England, found all things in the utmost +confusion; but before he attempted to apply a remedy to so obstinate a +disease, in order to wipe off any degrading ideas which might have +arisen from his imprisonment, he caused himself to be new crowned. Then +holding his Court of Great Council at Southampton, he made some useful +regulations in the distribution of justice. He called some great +offenders to a strict account. Count John deserved no favor, and he lay +entirely at the king's mercy, who, by an unparalleled generosity, +pardoned him his multiplied offences, only depriving him of the power of +which he had made so bad a use. Generosity did not oblige<a name="Page_435" id="Page_435" title="435" class="pagenum"></a> him to forget +the hostilities of the King of France. But to prosecute the war money +was wanting, which new taxes and new devices supplied with difficulty +and with dishonor. All the mean oppressions of a necessitous government +were exercised on this occasion. All the grants which were made on the +king's departure to the Holy Land were revoked, on the weak pretence +that the purchasers had sufficient recompense whilst they held them. +Necessity seemed to justify this, as well as many other measures that +were equally violent. The whole revenue of the crown had been +dissipated; means to support its dignity must be found; and these means +were the least unpopular, as most men saw with pleasure the wants of +government fall upon those who had started into a sudden greatness by +taking advantage of those wants.</p> + +<p>Richard renewed the war with Philip, which continued, though frequently +interrupted by truces, for about five years. In this war Richard +signalized himself by that irresistible courage which on all occasions +gave him a superiority over the King of France. But his revenues were +exhausted; a great scarcity reigned both in France and England; and the +irregular manner of carrying on war in those days prevented a clear +decision in favor of either party. Richard had still an eye on the Holy +Land, which he considered as the only province worthy of his arms; and +this continually diverted his thoughts from the steady prosecution of +the war in France. The Crusade, like a superior orb, moved along with +all the particular systems of politics of that time, and suspended, +accelerated, or put back all operations on motives foreign to the things +themselves. In this war it must be remarked, that Richard made a +considerable use of the mercenaries who had been so serviceable to Henry +the Second; and the King of France, perceiving how much his father, +Louis,<a name="Page_436" id="Page_436" title="436" class="pagenum"></a> had suffered by a want of that advantage, kept on foot a standing +army in constant pay, which none of his predecessors had done before +him, and which afterwards for a long time very unaccountably fell into +disuse in both kingdoms.</p> + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 1199.</span>Whilst this war was carried on, by intervals and starts, it came to the +ears of Richard that a nobleman of Limoges had found on his lands a +considerable hidden treasure. The king, necessitous and rapacious to the +last degree, and stimulated by the exaggeration and marvellous +circumstances which always attend the report of such discoveries, +immediately sent to demand the treasure, under pretence of the rights of +seigniory. The Limosin, either because he had really discovered nothing +or that he was unwilling to part with so valuable an acquisition, +refused to comply with the king's demand, and fortified his castle. +Enraged at the disappointment, Richard relinquished the important +affairs in which he was engaged, and laid siege to this castle with all +the eagerness of a man who has his heart set upon a trifle. In this +siege he received a wound from an arrow, and it proved mortal; but in +the last, as in all the other acts of his life, something truly noble +shone out amidst the rash and irregular motions of his mind. The castle +was taken before he died. The man from whom Richard had received the +wound was brought before him. Being asked why he levelled his arrow at +the king, he answered, with an undaunted countenance, "that the king +with his own hand had slain his two brothers; that he thanked God who +gave him an opportunity to revenge their deaths even with the certainty +of his own." Richard, more touched with the magnanimity of the man than +offended at the injury he had received or the boldness of the answer, +ordered that his life should be spared. He appointed his brother John to +the succession; and with these acts ended a life and reign distinguished +by a great variety of fortunes in different parts of the world, and +crowned with great military glory, but without any accession of power to +himself, or prosperity to his people, whom he entirely neglected, and +reduced, by his imprudence and misfortunes, to no small indigence and +distress.</p> + +<p>In many respects, a striking parallel presents itself between this +ancient King of England and Charles the Twelfth, of Sweden. They were +both inordinately desirous of war, and rather generals than kings. Both +were rather fond of glory than ambitious of empire. Both of them made +and deposed sovereigns. They both carried on their wars at a distance +from home. They were both made prisoners by a friend and ally. They were +both reduced by an adversary inferior in war, but above them in the arts +of rule. After spending their lives in remote adventures, each perished +at last near home in enterprises not suited to the splendor of their +former exploits. Both died childless. And both, by the neglect of their +affairs and the severity of their government, gave their subjects +provocation and encouragement to revive their freedom. In all these +respects the two characters were alike; but Richard fell as much short +of the Swedish hero in temperance, chastity, and equality of mind as he +exceeded him in wit and eloquence. Some of his sayings are the most +spirited that we find in that time; and some of his verses remain, which +is a barbarous age might have passed for poetry.</p> +<p><a name="Page_437" id="Page_437" title="437" class="pagenum"></a></p> + + +<p><a name="Page_438" id="Page_438" title="438" class="pagenum"></a></p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="BOOK_III_CHAPTER_VIII" id="BOOK_III_CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.<br /> +<br /> +REIGN OF JOHN.</h3> + + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 1199</span>We are now arrived at one of the most memorable periods in the English +story, whether we consider the astonishing revolutions which were then +wrought, the calamities in which both the prince and people were +involved, or the happy consequences which, arising from the midst of +those calamities, have constituted the glory and prosperity of England +for so many years. We shall see a throne founded in arms, and augmented +by the successive policy of five able princes, at once shaken to its +foundations: first made tributary by the arts of a foreign power; then +limited, and almost overturned, by the violence of its subjects. We +shall see a king, to reduce his people to obedience, draw into his +territories a tumultuary foreign army, and destroy his country instead +of establishing his government. We shall behold the people, grown +desperate, call in another foreign army, with a foreign prince at its +head, and throw away that liberty which they had sacrificed everything +to preserve. We shall see the arms of this prince successful against an +established king in the vigor of his years, ebbing in the full tide of +their prosperity, and yielding to an infant: after this, peace and order +and liberty restored, the foreign force and foreign title purged off, +and all things settled as happily as beyond all hope.</p><p><a name="Page_439" id="Page_439" title="439" class="pagenum"></a></p> + +<p>Richard dying without lawful issue, the succession to his dominions +again became dubious. They consisted of various territories, governed by +various rules of descent, and all of them uncertain. There were two +competitors: the first was Prince John, youngest son of Henry the +Second; the other was Arthur, son of Constance of Bretagne, by Geoffrey, +the third son of that monarch. If the right of consanguinity were only +considered, the title of John to the whole succession had been +indubitable. If the right of representation had then prevailed, which +now universally prevails, Arthur, as standing in the place of his +father, Geoffrey, had a solid claim. About Brittany there was no +dispute. Anjou, Poitou, Touraine, and Guienne declared in favor of +Arthur, on the principle of representation. Normandy was entirely for +John. In England the point of law had never been entirely settled, but +it seemed rather inclined to the side of consanguinity. Therefore in +England, where this point was dubious at best, the claim of Arthur, an +infant and a stranger, had little force against the pretensions of John, +declared heir by the will of the late king, supported by his armies, +possessed of his treasures, and at the head of a powerful party. He +secured in his interests Hubert, Archbishop of Canterbury, and +Glanville, the chief justiciary, and by them the body of the +ecclesiastics and the law. It is remarkable, also, that he paid court to +the cities and boroughs, which is the first instance of that policy: but +several of these communities now happily began to emerge from their +slavery, and, taking advantage of the ne<a name="Page_440" id="Page_440" title="440" class="pagenum"></a>cessities and confusion of the +late reign, increased in wealth and consequence, and had then first +attained a free and regular form of administration. The towns new to +power declared heartily in favor of a prince who was willing to allow +that their declaration could confer a right. The nobility, who saw +themselves beset by the Church, the law, and the burghers, had taken no +measures, nor even a resolution, and therefore had nothing left but to +concur in acknowledging the title of John, whom they knew and hated. But +though they were not able to exclude him from the succession, they had +strength enough to oblige him to a solemn promise of restoring those +liberties and franchises which they had always claimed without having +ever enjoyed or even perfectly understood. The clergy also took +advantage of the badness of his title to establish one altogether as ill +founded. Hubert, Archbishop of Canterbury, in the speech which he +delivered at the king's coronation, publicly affirmed that the crown of +England was of right elective. He drew his examples in support of this +doctrine, not from the histories of the ancient Saxon kings, although a +species of election within a certain family had then frequently +prevailed, but from the history of the first kings of the Jews: without +doubt in order to revive those pretensions which the clergy first set up +in the election of Stephen, and which they had since been obliged to +conceal, but had not entirely forgotten.</p> + +<p>John accepted a sovereignty weakened in the very act by which he +acquired it; but he submitted to the times. He came to the throne at the +age of thirty-two. He had entered early into business, and had been +often involved in difficult and arduous enterprises, in which he +experienced a variety of men and fortunes. His father, whilst he was +very young, had sent him into Ireland, which kingdom was destined for +his portion,<a name="Page_441" id="Page_441" title="441" class="pagenum"></a> in order to habituate that people to their future +sovereign, and to give the young prince an opportunity of conciliating +the favor of his new subjects. But he gave on this occasion no good +omens of capacity for government. Full of the insolent levity of a young +man of high rank without education, and surrounded with others equally +unpractised, he insulted the Irish chiefs, and, ridiculing their uncouth +garb and manners, he raised such a disaffection to the English +government, and so much opposition to it, as all the wisdom of his +father's best officers and counsellors was hardly able to overcome. In +the decline of his father's life he joined in the rebellion of his +brothers, with so much more guilt as with more ingratitude and +hypocrisy. During the reign of Richard he was the perpetual author of +seditions and tumults; and yet was pardoned, and even favored by that +prince to his death, when he very unaccountably appointed him heir to +all his dominions.</p> + +<p>It was of the utmost moment to John, who had no solid title, to +conciliate the favor of all the world. Yet one of his first steps, +whilst his power still remained dubious and unsettled, was, on pretence +of consanguinity, to divorce his wife Avisa, with whom he had lived many +years, and to marry Isabella of Angoulême, a woman of extraordinary +beauty, but who had been betrothed to Hugh, Count of Marche: thus +disgusting at once the powerful friends of his divorced wife, and those +of the Earl of Marche, whom he had so sensibly wronged.</p> + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 1200.</span>The King of France, Philip Au<a name="Page_442" id="Page_442" title="442" class="pagenum"></a>gustus, saw with pleasure these proceedings +of John, as he had before rejoiced at the dispute about the succession. +He had been always employed, and sometimes with success, to reduce the +English power through the reigns of one very able and one very warlike +prince. He had greater advantages in this conjuncture, and a prince of +quite another character now to contend with. He was therefore not long +without choosing his part; and whilst he secretly encouraged the Count +of Marche, already stimulated by his private wrongs, he openly supported +the claim of Arthur to the Duchies of Anjou and Touraine. It was the +character of this prince readily to lay aside and as readily to reassume +his enterprises, as his affairs demanded. He saw that he had declared +himself too rashly, and that he was in danger of being assaulted upon +every side. He saw it was necessary to break an alliance, which the nice +circumstances and timid character of John would enable him to do. In +fact, John was at this time united in a close alliance with the Emperor +and the Earl of Flanders; and these princes were engaged in a war with +France. He had then a most favorable opportunity to establish all his +claims, and at the same time to put the King of France out of a +condition to question them ever after. But he suffered himself to be +overreached by the artifices of Philip: he consented to a treaty of +peace, by which he received an empty acknowledgment of his right to the +disputed territories, and in return for which acknowledgment he +renounced his alliance with the Emperor. By this act he at once +strengthened his enemy, gave up his ally, and lowered his character with +his subjects and with all the world.</p> + + + +<p><a name="Page_443" id="Page_443" title="443" class="pagenum"></a></p> +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 1201.<br />A.D. 1202.</span>This treaty was hardly signed, when the ill consequences of his conduct +became evident. The Earl of Marche and Arthur immediately renewed their +claims and hostilities under the protection of the King of France, who +made a strong diversion by invading Normandy. At the commencement of +these motions, John, by virtue of a prerogative hitherto undisputed, +summoned his English barons to attend him into France; but instead of a +compliance with his orders, he was surprised with a solemn demand of +their ancient liberties. It is astonishing that the barons should at +that time have ventured on a resolution of such dangerous importance, as +they had provided no sort of means to support them. But the history of +those times furnishes many instances of the like want of design in the +most momentous affairs, and shows that it is in vain to look for +political causes for the actions of men, who were most commonly directed +by a brute caprice, and were for the greater part destitute of any fixed +principles of obedience or resistance. The king, sensible of the +weakness of his barons, fell upon some of their castles with such timely +vigor, and treated those whom he had reduced with so much severity, that +the rest immediately and abjectly submitted. He levied a severe tax upon +their fiefs; and thinking himself more strengthened by this treasure +than the forced service of his barons, he excused the personal +attendance of most of them, and, passing into Normandy, he raised an +army there. He found that his enemies had united their forces, and +invested the castle of Mirebeau, a place of importance, in which his +mother, from whom he derived his right to Guienne, was besieged. He flew +to the relief of this place with the spirit of a greater character, and +the success was answerable. The Breton and Poitevin army was defeated, +his mother was freed, and the young Duke of Brittany and his sister were +<a name="Page_444" id="Page_444" title="444" class="pagenum"></a>made prisoners. The latter he sent into England, to be confined in the +castle of Bristol; the former he carried with him to Rouen. The good +fortune of John now seemed to be at its highest point; but it was +exalted on a precipice; and this great victory proved the occasion of +all the evils which afflicted his life.</p> + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 1203.</span>John was not of a character to resist the temptation of having the life +of his rival in his hands. All historians are as fully agreed that he +murdered his nephew as they differ in the means by which he accomplished +that crime. But the report was soon spread abroad, variously heightened +in the circumstances by the obscurity of the fact, which left all men at +liberty to imagine and invent, and excited all those sentiments of pity +and indignation which a very young prince of great hopes, cruelly +murdered by his uncle, naturally inspire. Philip had never missed an +occasion of endeavoring to ruin the King of England: and having now +acquired an opportunity of accomplishing that by justice which he had in +vain sought by ambition, he filled every place with complaints of the +cruelty of John, whom, as a vassal to the crown of France, the king +accused of the murder of another vassal, and summoned him to Paris to +be tried by his peers. It was by no means consistent either with the +dignity or safety of John to appear to this summons. He had the argument +of kings to justify what he had done. But as in all great crimes there +is something of a latent wea<a name="Page_445" id="Page_445" title="445" class="pagenum"></a>kness, and in a vicious caution something +material is ever neglected, John, satisfied with removing his rival, +took no thought about his enemy; but whilst he saw himself sentenced for +non-appearance in the Court of Peers, whilst he saw the King of France +entering Normandy with a vast army in consequence of this sentence, and +place after place, castle after castle, falling before him, he passed +his time at Rouen in the profoundest tranquillity, indulging himself in +indolent amusements, and satisfied with vain threatenings and boasts, +which only added greater shame to his inactivity. The English barons who +had attended him in this expedition, disaffected from the beginning, and +now wearied with being so long witnesses to the ignominy of their +sovereign, retired to their own country, and there spread the report of +his unaccountable sloth and cowardice. John quickly followed them; and +returning into his kingdom, polluted with the charge of so heavy a +crime, and disgraced by so many follies, instead of aiming by popular +acts to reestablish his character, he exacted a seventh of their +movables from the barons, on pretence that they had deserted his +service. He laid the same imposition on the clergy, without giving +himself the trouble of seeking for a pretext. He made no proper use of +these great supplies, but saw the great city of Rouen, always faithful +to its sovereigns, and now exerting the most strenuous efforts in his +favor, obliged at length to surrender, without the least attempt to +relieve it Thus the whole Duchy of Normandy, originally acquired by the +valor of his ancestors, and the source from which the greatness of his +family had been derived, after being supported against all shocks for +three hundred years, was torn forever from the stock of Rollo, and +reunited to the crown of France. Immediately all the rest of the +provinces which he held on the continent, except a part of Guienne, +despairing of his protection, and abhorring his government, t<a name="Page_446" id="Page_446" title="446" class="pagenum"></a>hrew +themselves into the hands of Philip.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the king by his personal vices completed the odium which he +had acquired by the impotent violence of his government. Uxorious and +yet dissolute in his manners, he made no scruple frequently to violate +the wives and daughters of his nobility, that rock on which tyranny has +so often split. Other acts of irregular power, in their greatest +excesses, still retain the characters of sovereign authority; but here +the vices of the prince intrude into the families of the subject, and, +whilst they aggravate the oppression, lower the character of the +oppressor.</p> + +<p>In the disposition which all these causes had concurred universally to +diffuse, the slightest motion in his kingdom threatened the most +dangerous consequences. Those things which in quiet times would have +only raised a slight controversy, now, when the minds of men were +exasperated and inflamed, were capable of affording matter to the +greatest revolutions. The affairs of the Church, the winds which mostly +governed the fluctuating people, were to be regarded with the utmost +attention. Above all, the person who filled the see of Canterbury, which +stood on a level with the throne itself, was a matter of the last +importance. Just at this critical time died Hubert, archbishop of that +see, a man who had a large share in procuring the crown for John, and in +weakening its authority by his acts at the ceremony of the coronation, +as well as by his subsequent conduct. Immediately on the death o<a name="Page_447" id="Page_447" title="447" class="pagenum"></a>f this +prelate, a cabal of obscure monks, of the Abbey of St. Augustin, +assemble by night, and first binding themselves by a solemn oath not to +divulge their proceedings, until they should be confirmed by the Pope, +they elect one Reginald, their sub-prior, Archbishop of Canterbury. The +person elected immediately crossed the seas; but his vanity soon +discovered the secret of his greatness. The king received the news of +this transaction with surprise and indignation. Provoked at such a +contempt of his authority, he fell severely on the monastery, no less +surprised than himself at the clandestine proceeding of some of its +members. But the sounder part pacified him in some measure by their +submission. They elected a person recommended by the king, and sent +fourteen of the most respectable of their body to Rome, to pray that the +former proceedings should be annulled, and the later and more regular +confirmed. To this matter of contention another was added. A dispute had +long subsisted between the suffragan bishops of the province of +Canterbury and the monks of the Abbey of St. Austin, each claiming a +right to elect the metropolitan. This dispute was now revived, and +pursued with much vigor. The pretensions of the three contending parties +were laid before the Pope, to whom such disputes were highly pleasing, +as he knew that all claimants willingly conspire to flatter and +aggrandize that authority from which they expect a confirmation of +their own. The first election, he nulled, because its irregularity was +glaring. The right of the bishops was entirely rejected: the Pope looked +with an evil eye upon those whose authority he was every day usurping. +The second election was set aside, as made at the king's instance: this +was enough to make it very irregular. The canon law had now grown up to +its full strength. The enlargement of the prerogative of the Pope was +the great object of this jurisprudence,—a prerogative which, founded on +fictitious monuments, tha<a name="Page_448" id="Page_448" title="448" class="pagenum"></a>t are forged in an ignorant age, easily +admitted by a credulous people, and afterwards confirmed and enlarged by +these admissions, not satisfied with the supremacy, encroached on every +minute part of Church government, and had almost annihilated the +episcopal jurisdiction throughout Europe. Some canons had given the +metropolitan a power of nominating a bishop, when the circumstances of +the election were palpably irregular; and as it does not appear that +there was any other judge of the irregularity than the metropolitan +himself, the election below in effect became nugatory. The Pope, taking +the irregularity in this case for granted, in virtue of this canon, and +by his plenitude of power, ordered the deputies of Canterbury to proceed +to a new election. At the same time he recommended to their choice +Stephen Langton, their countryman,—a person already distinguished for +his learning, of irreproachable morals, and free from every canonical +impediment. This authoritative request the monks had not the courage to +oppose in the Pope's presence and in his own city. They murmured, and +submitted.</p> + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 1208.</span>In England this proceeding was not so easily ratified. John drove the +monks of Canterbury from their monastery, and, having seized upon their +revenues, threatened the effects of the same indignation against all +those who seemed inclined to acquiesce in the proceedings of Rome. But +Rome had not made so bold a step with intention to recede. On the king's +positive refusal<a name="Page_449" id="Page_449" title="449" class="pagenum"></a> to admit Langton, and the expulsion of the monks of +Canterbury, England was laid under an interdict. Then divine service at +once ceased throughout the kingdom; the churches were shut; the +sacraments were suspended; the dead were buried without honor, in +highways and ditches, and the living deprived of all spiritual comfort. +On the other hand, the king let loose his indignation against the +ecclesiastics,—seizing their goods, throwing many into prison, and +permitting or encouraging all sorts of violence against them. The +kingdom was thrown into the most terrible confusion; whilst the people, +uncertain of the object or measure of their allegiance, and distracted +with opposite principles of duty, saw themselves deprived of their +religious rites by the ministers of religion, and their king, furious +with wrongs not caused by them, falling indiscriminately on the innocent +and the guilty: for John, instead of soothing his people in this their +common calamity, sought to terrify them into obedience. In a progress +which he made into the North, he threw down the inclosures of his +forests, to let loose the wild beasts upon their lands; and as he saw +the Papal proceedings increase with his opposition, he thought it +necessary to strengthen himself by new devices. He extorted hostages and +a new oath of fidelity from his barons. He raised a great army, to +divert the thoughts of his subjects from brooding too much on their +distracted condition. This army he transported into Ireland; and as it +happened to his father in a similar dispute with the Pope, whilst he was +dubious of his hereditary kingdom, he subdued Ireland. At this time he +is said to have established the English laws in that kingdom, and to +have appointed itinerant justices.</p> +<p><a name="Page_450" id="Page_450" title="450" class="pagenum"></a></p> +<p>At length the sentence of excommunication was fulminated against the +king. In the same year the same sentence was pronounced upon the Emperor +Otho; and this daring Pope was not afraid at once to drive to +extremities the two greatest princes in Europe. And truly, nothing is +more remarkable than the uniform steadiness of the court of Rome in the +pursuits of her ambitious projects. For, knowing that pretensions which +stand merely in opinion cannot bear to be questioned in any part, though +she had hitherto seen the interdict produce but little effect, and +perceived that the excommunication itself could draw scarce one poor +bigot from the king's service, yet she receded not the least point from +the utmost of her demand. She broke off an accommodation just on the +point of being concluded, because the king refused to repair the losses +which the clergy had suffered, though he agreed to everything else, and +even submitted to receive the archbishop, who, being obtruded on him, +had in reality been set over him. But the Pope, bold as politic, +determined to render him perfectly submissive, and to this purpose +brought out the last arms of the ecclesiastic stores, which were +reserved for the most extreme occasions. Having first released the +English subjects from their oath of allegiance, by an unheard-of +presumption, he formally deposed John from his throne and dignity; he +invited the King of France to take possession of the forfeited crown; +he called forth all persons from all parts of Europe to assist in this +expedition, by the pardons and privileges of those who fought for the +Holy Land.</p> + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 1218.</span>This proceeding did not astonish the world. The K<a name="Page_451" id="Page_451" title="451" class="pagenum"></a>ing of France, having +driven John from all he held on the continent, gladly saw religion +itself invite him to farther conquests. He summoned all his vassals, +under the penalty of felony, and the opprobrious name of +<i>culvertage</i>,<a name="FNanchor_81_84" id="FNanchor_81_84"></a><a href="#Footnote_81_84" class="fnanchor" title=" A word of uncertain derivation, but which signifies some +scandalous species of cowardice.">[82]</a> (a name of all things dreaded by both nations,) to +attend in this expedition; and such force had this threat, and the hope +of plunder in England, that a very great army was in a short time +assembled. A fleet also rendezvoused in the mouth of the Seine, by the +writers of these times said to consist of seventeen hundred sail. On +this occasion John roused all his powers. He called upon all his people +who by the duty of their tenure or allegiance were obliged to defend +their lord and king, and in his writs stimulated them by the same +threats of <i>culvertage</i> which had been employed against him. They +operated powerfully in his favor. His fleet in number exceeded the vast +navy of France; his army was in everything but heartiness to the cause +equal, and, extending along the coast of Kent, expected the descent of +the French forces.</p> + +<p>Whilst these two mighty armies overspread the opposite coasts, and the +sea was covered with their fleets, and the decision of so vast an event +was hourly expected, various thoughts arose in the minds of those who +moved the springs of these affairs. John, at the head of one of the +finest armies in the world, trembled inwardly, when he reflected how +little he possessed or merited their confidence. Wounded by the +consciousness of his crimes, excommunicated by the Pope, hated by his +subjects, in danger of being at once abandoned by heaven and earth, he +was filled with the most fearful anxiety. The legates of the Pope had +hitherto seen everythi<a name="Page_452" id="Page_452" title="452" class="pagenum"></a>ng succeed to their wish. But having made use of +an instrument too great for them to wield, they apprehended, that, when +it had overthrown their adversary, it might recoil upon the court of +Rome itself; that to add England to the rest of Philip's great +possessions was not the way to make him humble; and that in ruining John +to aggrandize that monarch, they should set up a powerful enemy in the +place of a submissive vassal.</p> + +<p>They had done enough to give them a superiority in any negotiation, and +they privately sent an embassy to the King of England. Finding him very +tractable, they hasted to complete the treaty. The Pope's legate, +Pandulph, was intrusted with this affair. He knew the nature of men to +be such that they seldom engage willingly, if the whole of an hardship +be shown them at first, but that, having advanced a certain length, +their former concessions are an argument with them to advance further, +and to give all because they have already given a great deal. Therefore +he began with exacting an oath from the king, by which, without showing +the extent of his design, he engaged him to everything he could ask. +John swore to submit to the legate in all things relating to his +excommunication. And first he was obliged to accept Langton as +archbishop; then to restore the monks of Canterbury, and other deprived +ecclesiastics, and to make them a full indemnification for all their +losses. And now, by these concessions, all things seemed to be perfectly +settled. The cause of the quarrel was entirely removed. But when the +king expected for so perfect a submission a full absolution, the legate +began a labored harangue on his rebellion, his tyranny, and the +<a name="Page_453" id="Page_453" title="453" class="pagenum"></a>innumerable sins he had committed, and in conclusion declared that there +was no way left to appease God and the Church but to resign his crown to +the Holy See, from whose hands he should receive it purified from all +pollutions, and hold it for the future by homage and an annual tribute.</p> + +<p>John was struck motionless at a demand so extravagant and unexpected. He +knew not on which side to turn. If he cast his eyes toward the coast of +France, he there saw his enemy Philip, who considered him as a criminal +as well as an enemy, and who aimed not only at his crown, but his life, +at the head of an innumerable multitude of fierce people, ready to rush +in upon him. If he looked at his own army, he saw nothing there but +coldness, disaffection, uncertainty, distrust, and a strength in which +he knew not whether he ought most to confide or fear. On the other hand, +the Papal thunders, from the wounds of which he was still sore, were +levelled full at his head. He could not look steadily at these +complicated difficulties: and truly it is hard to say what choice he +had, if any choice were left to kings in what concerns the independence +of their crown. Surrounded, therefore, with these difficulties, and that +all his late humiliations might not be rendered as ineffectual as they +were ignominious, he took the last step, and in the presence of a +numerous assembly of his peers and prelates, who turned their eyes from +this mortifying sight, formally resigned his crown to the Pope's +legate, to whom at the same time he did homage and paid the first fruits +of his tribute. Nothing could be added to the humiliation of the king +upon this occasion, but the insolence of the legate, who spurned the +treasure with his foo<a name="Page_454" id="Page_454" title="454" class="pagenum"></a>t, and let the crown remain a long time on the +ground, before he restored it to the degraded owner.</p> + +<p>In this proceeding the motives of the king may be easily discovered; but +how the barons of the kingdom, who were deeply concerned, suffered +without any protestation the independency of the crown to be thus +forfeited is mentioned by no historian of that time. In civil tumults it +is astonishing how little regard is paid by all parties to the honor or +safety of their country. The king's friends were probably induced to +acquiesce by the same motives that had influenced the king. His enemies, +who were the most numerous, perhaps saw his abasement with pleasure, as +they knew this action might be one day employed against him with effect. +To the bigots it was enough that it aggrandized the Pope. It is perhaps +worthy of observation that the conduct of Pandulph towards King John +bore a very great affinity to that of the Roman consuls to the people of +Carthage in the last Punic War,—drawing them from concession to +concession, and carefully concealing their design, until they made it +impossible for the Carthaginians to resist. Such a strong resemblance +did the same ambition produce in such distant times; and it is far from +the sole instance in which we may trace a similarity between the spirit +and conduct of the former and latter Rome in their common design on the +liberties of mankind.</p> + +<p>The legates, having thus triumphed over the king, passed back into +France, but without relaxing the interdict or excommunication, which +they still left hanging over him, lest he should be tempted to throw off +the chains of his new subjection. Arriving in France, the<a name="Page_455" id="Page_455" title="455" class="pagenum"></a>y delivered +their orders to Philip with as much haughtiness as they had done to +John. They told him that the end of the war was answered in the +humiliation of the King of England, who had been rendered a dutiful son +of the Church,—and that, if the King of France should, after this +notice, proceed to further hostilities, he had to apprehend the same +sentence which had humbled his adversary. Philip, who had not raised so +great an army with a view of reforming the manners of King John, would +have slighted these threats, had he not found that they were seconded by +the ill dispositions of a part of his own army. The Earl of Flanders, +always disaffected to his cause, was glad of this opportunity to oppose +him, and, only following him through fear, withdrew his forces, and now +openly opposed him. Philip turned his arms against his revolted vassal. +The cause of John was revived by this dissension, and his courage seemed +rekindled. Making one effort of a vigorous mind, he brought his fleet to +an action with the French navy, which he entirely destroyed on the coast +of Flanders, and thus freed himself from the terror of an invasion. But +when he intended to embark and improve his success, the barons refused +to follow him. They alleged that he was still excommunicated, and that +they would not follow a lord under the censures of the Church. This +demonstrated to the king the necessity of a speedy absolution; and he +received it this year from the hands of Cardinal Langton.</p> + +<p>That archbishop no sooner came into the kingdom than he discovered +designs very different from those which the Pope had raised him to +promote. He formed schemes of a very deep and extensive nature, and +became the first mover in all the affairs which<a name="Page_456" id="Page_456" title="456" class="pagenum"></a> distinguish the +remainder of this reign. In the oath which he administered to John on +his absolution, he did not confine himself solely to the ecclesiastical +grievances, but made him swear to amend his civil government, to raise +no tax without the consent of the Great Council, and to punish no man +but by the judgment of his court. In these terms we may Bee the Great +Charter traced in miniature. A new scene of contention was opened; new +pretensions were started; a new scheme was displayed. One dispute was +hardly closed, when he was involved in another; and this unfortunate +king soon discovered that to renounce his dignity was not the way to +secure his repose. For, being cleared of the excommunication, he +resolved to pursue the war in France, in which he was not without a +prospect of success; but the barons refused upon new pretences, and not +a man would serve. The king, incensed to find himself equally opposed in +his lawful and unlawful commands, prepared to avenge himself in his +accustomed manner, and to reduce the barons to obedience by carrying war +into their estates. But he found by this experiment that his power was +at an end. The Archbishop followed him, confronted him with the +liberties of his people, reminded him of his late oath, and threatened +to excommunicate every person who should obey him in his illegal +proceedings. The king, first provoked, afterwards terrified at this +resolution, forbore to prosecute the recusants.</p> + +<p>The English barons had privileges, which they knew to have been +violated; they had always kept up the memory of the ancient Saxon +liberty; and if they were the conquerors of Britain, they did not think +that their own servitude was the just fruit of their victory. They<a name="Page_457" id="Page_457" title="457" class="pagenum"></a> had, +however, but an indistinct view of the object at which they aimed; they +rather felt their wrongs than understood the cause of them; and having +no head nor council, they were more in a condition of distressing their +king and disgracing their country by their disobedience than of applying +any effectual remedy to their grievances. Langton saw these +dispositions, and these wants. He had conceived a settled plan for +reducing the king, and all his actions tended to carry it into +execution. This prelate, under pretence of holding an ecclesiastical +synod, drew together privately some of the principal barons to the +Church of St. Paul in London. There, having expatiated on the miseries +which the kingdom suffered, and having explained at the same time the +liberties to which it was entitled, he produced the famous charter of +Henry the First, long concealed, and of which, with infinite difficulty, +he had procured an authentic copy. This he held up to the barons as the +standard about which they were to unite. These were the liberties which +their ancestors had received by the free concession of a former king, +and these the rights which their virtue was to force from the present, +if (which God forbid!) they should find it necessary to have recourse to +such extremities. The barons, transported to find an authentic +instrument to justify their discontent and to explain and sanction their +pretensions, covered the Archbishop with praises, readily confederated +to support their demands, and, binding themselves by every obligation of +human and religious faith, to vigor, unanimity, and secrecy, they depart +to confederate others in their design.</p> + +<p>This plot was in the hands of too many to be perfectly concealed; and +John saw, without knowing how to ward it off, a more dangerous blow +levelled at his authority than any of the former. He had no resources +within his kingdom, where all ranks and orders were united<a name="Page_458" id="Page_458" title="458" class="pagenum"></a> against him +by one common hatred. Foreign alliance he had none, among temporal +powers. He endeavored, therefore, if possible, to draw some benefit from +the misfortune of his new circumstances: he threw himself upon the +protection of the Papal power, which he had so long and with such reason +opposed. The Pope readily received him into his protection, but took +this occasion to make him purchase it by another and more formal +resignation of his crown. His present necessities and his habits of +humiliation made this second degradation easy to the king. But Langton, +who no longer acted in subservience to the Pope, from whom he had now +nothing further to expect, and who had put himself at the head of the +patrons of civil liberty, loudly exclaimed at this indignity, protested +against the resignation, and laid his protestation on the altar.</p> + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 1214.</span>This was more disagreeable to the barons than the first resignation, as +they were sensible that he now degraded himself only to humble his +subjects. They were, however, once more patient witnesses to that +ignominious act,—and were so much overawed by the Pope, or had brought +their design to so little maturity, that the king, in spite of it, still +found means and authority to raise an army, with which he made a final +effort to recover some part of his dominions in France. The juncture was +altogether favorable to his design. Philip had all his attention +abundantly employed in another quarter, against the terrible attacks of +the Emperor Otho in a confederacy with the Earl of Flanders. John, +strengthened by this diversion, carried on the war in Poitou for some +time with good appearances. The Battle of Bouvines, which was fought +this year, put an end to al<a name="Page_459" id="Page_459" title="459" class="pagenum"></a>l these hopes. In this battle, the Imperial +army, consisting of one hundred and fifty thousand men, were defeated by +a third of their number of French forces. The Emperor himself, with +difficulty escaping from the field, survived but a short time a battle +which entirely broke his strength. So signal a success established the +grandeur of France upon immovable foundations. Philip rose continually +in reputation and power, whilst John continually declined in both; and +as the King of France was now ready to employ against him all his +forces, so lately victorious, he sued, by the mediation of the Pope's +legate, for a truce, which was granted to him for five years. Such +truces stood in the place of regular treaties of peace, which were not +often made at that time.</p> + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 1215.</span>The barons of England had made use of the king's absence to bring their +confederacy to form; and now, seeing him return with so little credit, +his allies discomfited, and no hope of a party among his subjects, they +appeared in a body before him at London. All in complete armor, and in +the guise of defiance, they presented a petition, very humble in the +language, but excessive in the substance, in which they declared their +liberties, and prayed that they might be formally allowed and +established by the royal authority. The king resolved not to submit to +their demands; but being at present in no condition to resist, he +required time to consider of so important an affair. The time which was +granted to the king to deliberate he employed in finding means to av<a name="Page_460" id="Page_460" title="460" class="pagenum"></a>oid +a compliance. He took the cross, by which he hoped to render his person +sacred; he obliged the people to renew their oath of fealty; and, +lastly, he had recourse to the Pope, fortified by all the devices which +could be used to supply the place of a real strength, he ventured, when +the barons renewed their demands, to give them a positive refusal; he +swore by the feet of God (his usual oath) that he would never grant them +such liberties as must make a slave of himself.</p> + +<p>The barons, on this answer, immediately fly to arms: they rise in every +part; they form an army, and appoint a leader; and as they knew that no +design can involve all sorts of people or inspire them with +extraordinary resolution, unless it be animated with religion, they call +their leader the Marshal of the Army of God and Holy Church. The king +was wholly unprovided against so general a defection. The city of +London, the possession of which has generally proved a decisive +advantage in the English civil wars, was betrayed to the barons. He +might rather be said, to be imprisoned than defended in the Tower of +London, to which close siege was laid; whilst the marshal of the barons' +army, exercising the prerogatives of royalty, issued writs to summon all +the lords to join the army of liberty, threatening equally all those who +should adhere to the king and those who betrayed an indifference to the +cause by their neutrality. John, deserted by all, had no resource but in +temporizing and submission. Without questioning in any part the terms of +a treaty which he intended to observe in none, he agreed to everything +the barons thought fit to ask, hoping that the exorbitancy of their +demands would justify in the eyes of th<a name="Page_461" id="Page_461" title="461" class="pagenum"></a>e world the breach of his +promises. The instruments by which the barons secured their liberties +were drawn up in form of charters, and in the manner by which grants had +been usually made to monasteries, with a preamble signifying that it was +done for the benefit of the king's soul and those of his ancestors. For +the place of solemnizing this remarkable act they chose a large field, +overlooked by Windsor, called Running-mede, which, in our present +tongue, signifies the Meadow of Council,—a place long consecrated by +public opinion, as that wherein the quarrels and wars which arose in the +English nation, when divided into kingdoms or factions, had been +terminated from the remotest times. Here it was that King John, on the +15th day of June, in the year of our Lord 1215, signed those two +memorable instruments which first disarmed the crown of its unlimited +prerogatives, and laid the foundation of English liberty. One was called +the Great Charter; the other, the Charter of the Forest. If we look back +to the state of the nation at that time, we shall the better comprehend +the spirit and necessity of these grants.</p> + +<p>Besides the ecclesiastical jurisprudence, at that time, two systems of +laws, very different from each other in their object, their reason, and +their authority, regulated the interior of the kingdom: the Forest Law, +and the Common Law. After the Northern nations had settled here, and in +other parts of Europe, hunting, which had formerly been the chief means +of their subsistence, still continued their favorite diversion. Great +tracts of each country, wasted by the wars in which it was conquered, +were set apart for this kind of sport, and guarded in<a name="Page_462" id="Page_462" title="462" class="pagenum"></a> a state of +desolation by strict laws and severe penalties. When, such waste lands +were in the hands of subjects, they were called Chases; when in the +power of the sovereign, they were denominated Forests. These forests lay +properly within the jurisdiction of no hundred, county, or bishopric; +and therefore, being out both of the Common and the Spiritual Law, they +were governed by a law of their own, which was such as the king by his +private will thought proper to impose. There were reckoned in England no +less than sixty-eight royal forests, some of them of vast extent. In +these great tracts were many scattered inhabitants; and several persons +had property of woodland, and other soil, inclosed within their bounds. +Here the king had separate courts and particular justiciaries; a +complete jurisprudence, with all its ceremonies and terms of art, was +formed; and it appears that these laws were better digested and more +carefully enforced than those which belonged to civil government. They +had, indeed, all the qualities of the worst of laws. Their professed +object was to keep a great part of the nation desolate. They hindered +communication and destroyed industry. They had a trivial object, and +most severe sanctions; for, as they belonged immediately to the king's +personal pleasures, by the lax interpretation of treason in those days, +all considerable offences against the Forest Law, such as killing the +beasts of game, were considered as high treason, and punished, as high +treason then was, by truncation of limbs and loss of eyes and testicles. +Hence arose a thousand abuses, vexatious suits, and pretences for +imposition upon all those who lived in or near these places. The deer +were suffered to run loose upon their lands; and many oppressions were +used with relation t<a name="Page_463" id="Page_463" title="463" class="pagenum"></a>o the claim of commonage which the people had in +most of the forests. The Norman kings were not the first makers of the +Forest Law; it subsisted under the Saxon and Danish kings. Canute the +Great composed a body of those laws, which still remains. But under the +Norman kings they were enforced with greater rigor, as the whole tenor +of the Norman government was more rigorous. Besides, new forests were +frequently made, by which private property was outraged in a grievous +manner. Nothing, perhaps, shows more clearly how little men are able to +depart from the common course of affairs than that the Norman kings, +princes of great capacity, and extremely desirous of absolute power, did +not think of peopling these forests, places under their own uncontrolled +dominion, and which might have served as so many garrisons dispersed +throughout the country. The Charter of the Forests had for its object +the disafforesting several of those tracts, the prevention of future +afforestings, the mitigation and ascertainment of the punishments for +breaches of the Forest Law.</p> + +<p>The Common Law, as it then prevailed in England, was in a great measure +composed of some remnants of the old Saxon customs, joined to the feudal +institutions brought in at the Norman Conquest. And it is here to be +observed, that the constitutions of Magna Charta are by no means a +renewal of the Laws of St. Edward, or the ancient Saxon laws, as our +historians and law-writers generally, though very groundlessly, assert. +They bear no resemblance in any particular to the Laws of St. Edward, or +to any other collection of these ancient institutions. Indeed, how +should they? The object of Magna Charta is the correction of the feudal +policy, which was first introduced,<a name="Page_464" id="Page_464" title="464" class="pagenum"></a> at least in any regular form, at the +Conquest, and did not subsist before it. It may be further observed, +that in the preamble to the Great Charter it is stipulated that the +barons shall <i>hold</i> the liberties there granted <i>to them and their +heirs, from the king and his heirs</i>; which shows that the doctrine of an +unalienable tenure was always uppermost in their minds. Their idea even +of liberty was not (if I may use the expression) perfectly free; and +they did not claim to possess their privileges upon any natural +principle or independent bottom, but just as they held their lands from +the king. This is worthy of observation.</p> + +<p>By the Feudal Law, all landed property is, by a feigned conclusion, +supposed to be derived, and therefore to be mediately or immediately +held, from the crown. If some estates were so derived, others were +certainly procured by the same original title of conquest by which the +crown itself was acquired, and the derivation from the king could in +reason only be considered as a fiction of law. But its consequent rights +being once supposed, many real charges and burdens grew from a fiction +made only for the preservation of subordination; and in consequence of +this, a great power was exercised over the persons and estates of the +tenants. The fines on the succession to an estate, called in the feudal +language <i>reliefs</i>, were not fixed to any certainty, and were therefore +frequently made so excessive that they might rather be considered as +redemptions or new purchases than acknowledgments of superiority and +tenure. With respect to that most important article of marriage, there +was, in the very nature of the feudal holding,<a name="Page_465" id="Page_465" title="465" class="pagenum"></a> a great restraint laid +upon it. It was of importance to the lord that the person who received +the feud should be submissive to him; he had, therefore, a right to +interfere in the marriage of the heiress who inherited the feud. This +right was carried further than the necessity required: the male heir +himself was obliged to marry according to the choice of his lord; and +even widows, who had made one sacrifice to the feudal tyranny, were +neither suffered to continue in the widowed state nor to choose for +themselves the partners of their second bed. In fact, marriage was +publicly set up to sale. The ancient records of the Exchequer afford +many instances where some women purchased by heavy fines the privilege +of a single life, some the free choice of an husband, others the liberty +of rejecting some person particularly disagreeable. And what may appear +extraordinary, there are not wanting examples where a woman has fined in +a considerable sum, that she might not be compelled to marry a certain +man; the suitor, on the other hand, has outbid her, and solely by +offering more for the marriage than the heiress could to prevent it, he +carried his point directly and avowedly against her inclinations. Now, +as the king claimed no right over his immediate tenants that they did +not exercise in the same or in a more oppressive manner over their +vassals, it is hard to conceive a more general and cruel grievance than +this shameful market, which so universally outraged the most sacred +relations among mankind. But the tyranny over women was not over with +the marriage. As the king seized into his hands the estate of every +deceased tenant in order to secure his relief, the widow was driven +often by an heavy composition to purchase the admission to her dower, +into which it should seem she could not enter without the king's +consent.</p><p><a name="Page_466" id="Page_466" title="466" class="pagenum"></a></p> + +<p>All these were marks of a real and grievous servitude. The Great Charter +was made, not to destroy the root, but to cut short the overgrown +branches of the feudal service: first, in moderating and in reducing to +a certainty the reliefs which the king's tenants paid on succeeding to +their estate according to their rank; and, secondly, in taking off some +of the burdens which had been laid on marriage, whether compulsory or +restrictive, and thereby preventing that shameful market which had been +made in the persons of heirs, and the most sacred things amongst +mankind.</p> + +<p>There were other provisions made in the Great Charter that went deeper +than the feudal tenure, and affected the whole body of the civil +government. A great part of the king's revenue then consisted in the +fines and amercements which were imposed in his courts. A fine was paid +there for liberty to commence or to conclude a suit. The punishment of +offences by fine was discretionary; and this discretionary power had +been very much abused. But by Magna Charta, things were so ordered, that +a delinquent might be punished, but not ruined, by a fine or amercement; +because the degree of his offence, and the rank he held, were to be +taken into consideration. His freehold, his merchandise, and those +instruments by which he obtained his livelihood were made sacred from +such impositions.</p> + +<p>A more grand reform was made with regard to the administration of +justice. The kings in those days seldom resided long in one place, and +their courts followed their persons. This erratic justice must have been +productive of infinite inconvenience to the litigants. It was now +provided that ci<a name="Page_467" id="Page_467" title="467" class="pagenum"></a>vil suits, called <i>Common Pleas</i>, should be fixed to +some certain place. Thus one branch of jurisdiction was separated from +the king's court, and detached from his person. They had not yet come to +that maturity of jurisprudence as to think this might be made to extend +to criminal law also, and that the latter was an object of still greater +importance. But even the former may be considered as a great revolution. +A tribunal, a creature of mere law, independent of personal power, was +established; and this separation of a king's authority from his person +was a matter of vast consequence towards introducing ideas of freedom, +and confirming the sacredness and majesty of laws.</p> + +<p>But the grand article, and that which cemented all the parts of the +fabric of liberty, was this,—that "no freeman shall be taken, or +imprisoned, or disseized, or outlawed, or banished, or in any wise +destroyed, but by judgment of his peers."</p> + +<p>There is another article of nearly as much consequence as the former, +considering the state of the nation at that time, by which it is +provided that the barons shall grant to their tenants the same liberties +which they had stipulated for themselves. This prevented the kingdom +from degenerating into the worst imaginable government, a feudal +aristocracy. The English barons were not in the condition of those +great princes who had made the French monarchy so low in the preceding +century, or like those who reduced the Imperial power to a name. They +had been brought to moderate bounds, by the policy of the first and +second Henrys, and were not in a condition to set up for petty +<a name="Page_468" id="Page_468" title="468" class="pagenum"></a>sovereigns by an usurpation equally detrimental to the crown and the +people. They were able to act only in confederacy; and this common cause +made it necessary to consult the common good, and to study popularity by +the equity of their proceedings. This was a very happy circumstance to +the growing liberty.</p> + +<p>These concessions were so just and reasonable, that, if we except the +force, no prince could think himself wronged in making them. But to +secure the observance of these articles, regulations were made, which, +whilst they were regarded, scarcely left a shadow of regal power. And +the barons could think of no measures for securing their freedom, but +such as were inconsistent with monarchy. A council of twenty-five barons +was to be chosen by their own body, without any concurrence of the king, +in order to hear and determine upon all complaints concerning the breach +of the charter; and as these charters extended to almost every part of +government, a tribunal of his enemies was set up who might pass judgment +on all his actions. And that force might not be wanting to execute the +judgments of this new tribunal, the king agreed to issue his own writs +to all persons, to oblige them to take an oath of obedience to the +twenty-five barons, who were empowered to distress him by seizure of his +lands and castles, and by every possible method, until the grievance +complained of was redressed according to their pleasure: his own person +and his family were alone exempted from violence.</p> + +<p>By these last concessions, it must be confessed, he was effectually +dethroned, and with all the circumstan<a name="Page_469" id="Page_469" title="469" class="pagenum"></a>ces of indignity which could be +imagined. He had refused to govern as a lawful prince, and he saw +himself deprived of even his legal authority. He became of no sort of +consequence in his kingdom; he was held in universal contempt and +derision; he fell into a profound melancholy. It was in vain that he had +recourse to the Pope, whose power he had found sufficient to reduce, but +not to support him. The censures of the Holy See, which had been +fulminated at his desire, were little regarded by the barons, or even by +the clergy, supported in this resistance by the firmness of their +archbishop, who acted with great vigor in the cause of the barons, and +even delivered into their hands the fortress of Rochester, one of the +most important places in the kingdom. After much meditation the king at +last resolved upon a measure of the most extreme kind, extorted by +shame, revenge, and despair, but, considering the disposition of the +time, much the most effectual that could be chosen. He dispatched +emissaries into France, into the Low Countries and Germany, to raise men +for his service. He had recourse to the same measures to bring his +kingdom to obedience which his predecessor, William, had used to conquer +it. He promised to the adventurers in his quarrel the lands of the +rebellious barons, and it is said even empowered his agents to make +charters of the estates of several particulars. The utmost success +attended these negotiations in an age when Europe abounded with a +warlike and poor nobility, with younger brothers, for whom there was no +provision in regular armies, who seldom entered into the Church, and +never applied themselves to commerce, and when every considerable family +was surrounded by an innumerab<a name="Page_470" id="Page_470" title="470" class="pagenum"></a>le multitude of retainers and dependants, +idle, and greedy of war and pillage. The Crusade had universally +diffused a spirit of adventure; and if any adventure had the Pope's +approbation, it was sure to have a number of followers.</p> + +<p>John waited the effect of his measures. He kept up no longer the solemn +mockery of a court, in which a degraded long must always have been the +lowest object. He retired to the Isle of Wight: his only companions were +sailors and fishermen, among whom he became extremely popular. Never was +he more to be dreaded than in this sullen retreat, whilst the barons +amused themselves by idle jests and vain conjectures on his conduct. +Such was the strange want of foresight in that barbarous age, and such +the total neglect of design in their affairs, that the barons, when, +they had got the charter, which was weakened even by the force by which +it was obtained and the great power which it granted, set no watch upon +the king, seemed to have no intelligence of the great and open +machinations which were carrying on against them, and had made no sort +of dispositions for their defence. They spent their time in tournaments +and bear-baitings, and other diversions suited to the fierce rusticity +of their manners. At length the storm broke forth, and found them +utterly unprovided. The Papal excommunication, the indignation of their +prince, and a vast army of lawless and bold adventurers were poured +down at once upon their heads. Such numbers were engaged in this +enterprise that forty thousand are said to have perished at sea. Yet a +number still remained sufficient to compose two great armies, one of +which, with the enraged king at its head, ravaged without mercy the +North of England, whilst the other turned all the West to a like scene +of blood and de<a name="Page_471" id="Page_471" title="471" class="pagenum"></a>solation. The memory of Stephen's wars was renewed, with +every image of horror, misery, and crime. The barons, dispersed and +trembling in their castles, waited who should fall the next victim. They +had no army able to keep the field. The Archbishop, on whom they had +great reliance, was suspended from his functions. There was no hope even +from submission: the king could not fulfil his engagements to his +foreign troops at a cheaper rate than the utter ruin of his barons.</p> + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">A.D. 1216</span>In these circumstances of despair they resolved to have recourse to +Philip, the ancient enemy of their country. Throwing off all allegiance +to John, they agreed to accept Louis, the son of that monarch, as their +king. Philip had once more an opportunity of bringing the crown of +England into his family, and he readily embraced it. He immediately sent +his son into England with seven hundred ships, and slighted the menaces +and excommunications of the Pope, to attain the same object for which he +had formerly armed to support and execute them. The affairs of the +barons assumed quite a new face by this reinforcement, and their rise +was as sudden and striking as their fall. The foreign army of King John, +without discipline, pay, or order, ruined and wasted in the midst of its +successes, was little able to oppose the natural force of the country, +called forth and recruited by so considerable a succor. Besides, the +French troops who served under John, and made a great part of his army, +immediately went over to the enemy, unwilling to serve against their<a name="Page_472" id="Page_472" title="472" class="pagenum"></a> +sovereign in a cause which now began to look desperate. The son of the +King of France was acknowledged in London, and received the homage of +all ranks of men. John, thus deserted, had no other ally than the Pope, +who indeed served him to the utmost of his power, but with arms to which +the circumstances of the time alone can give any force. He +excommunicated Louis and his adherents; he laid England under an +interdict; he threatened the King of France himself with the same +sentence: but Philip continued firm, and the interdict had little effect +in England. Cardinal Langton, by his remarkable address, by his interest +in the Sacred College, and his prudent submissions, had been restored to +the exercise of his office; but, steady to the cause he had first +espoused, he made use of the recovery of his authority to carry on his +old designs against the king and the Pope. He celebrated divine service +in spite of the interdict, and by his influence and example taught +others to despise it. The king, thus deserted, and now only solicitous +for his personal safety, rambled, or rather fled, from place to place, +at the head of a small party. He was in great danger in passing a marsh +in Norfolk, in which he lost the greatest part of his baggage, and his +most valuable effects. With difficulty he escaped to the monastery of +Swineshead, where, violently agitated by grief and disappointments, his +late fatigue and the use of an improper diet threw him into a fever, of +which he died in a few days at Newark, not without suspicion of poison, +after a reign, or rather a struggle to reign, for eighteen years, the +most turbulent and calamitous both to king and people of any that are +recorded in the English history.</p> + +<p>It may not be imp<a name="Page_473" id="Page_473" title="473" class="pagenum"></a>roper to pause here for a few moments, and to consider +a little more minutely the causes which had produced the grand +revolution in favor of liberty by which this reign was distinguished, +and to draw all the circumstances which led to this remarkable event +into a single point of view. Since the death of Edward the Confessor +only two princes succeeded to the crown upon undisputed titles. William +the Conqueror established his by force of arms. His successors were +obliged to court the people by yielding many of the possessions and many +of the prerogatives of the crown; but they supported a dubious title by +a vigorous administration, and recovered by their policy, in the course +of their reign, what the necessity of their affairs obliged them to +relinquish for the establishment of their power. Thus was the nation +kept continually fluctuating between freedom and servitude. But the +principles of freedom were predominant, though the thing itself was not +yet fully formed. The continual struggle of the clergy for the +ecclesiastical liberties laid open at the same time the natural claims +of the people; and the clergy were obliged to show some respect for +those claims, in order to add strength to their own party. The +concessions which Henry the Second made to the ecclesiastics on the +death of Becket, which were afterwards confirmed by Richard the First, +gave a grievous blow to the authority of the crown; as thereby an order +of so much power and influence triumphed over it in many essential +points. The latter of these princes brought it very low by the whole +tenor of his conduct. Always abroad, the royal authority was felt in its +full vigor, without being supported b<a name="Page_474" id="Page_474" title="474" class="pagenum"></a>y the dignity or softened by the +graciousness of the royal presence. Always in war, he considered his +dominions only as a resource for his armies. The demesnes of the crown +were squandered. Every office in the state was made vile by being sold. +Excessive grants, followed by violent and arbitrary resumptions, tore to +pieces the whole contexture of the government. The civil tumults which +arose in that king's absence showed that the king's lieutenants at least +might be disobeyed with impunity. Then came John to the crown. The +arbitrary taxes which he imposed very early in his reign, which, +offended even more by the improper use made of them than their +irregularity, irritated the people extremely, and joined with all the +preceding causes to make his government contemptible. Henry the Second, +during his contests with the Church, had the address to preserve the +barons in his interests. Afterwards, when the barons had joined in the +rebellion of his children, this wise prince found means to secure the +bishops and ecclesiastics. But John drew upon himself at once the hatred +of all orders of his subjects. His struggle with the Pope weakened him; +his submission to the Pope weakened him yet more. The loss of his +foreign territories, besides what he lost along with them in reputation, +made him entirely dependent upon England: whereas his predecessors made +one part of their territories subservient to the preservation of their +authority in another, where it was endangered. Add to all these causes +the personal character of the king, in which there was nothing uniform +or sincere, and which introduced the like unsteadiness into all his +government. He was indolent, yet restless, in his disposition; fond of +working by violent methods, without any vigor; boastful, but continually +betraying his fears; showing on all occasions such a desire of peace as +hindered him from ever enjoying it. Having no spirit of order, he never +looked forward,—content by any temporary expedient to extricate himself +from a present difficulty. Rash, arrogant, perfidious, irreligious, +unquiet, he made a tolerable head of a party, but a bad king, and had +talents fit to disturb another's government, not to support his own.</p> + +<p>A most striking contrast presents itself between the conduct and fortune +of John and his adversary Philip. Philip came to the crown when many of +the provinces of Prance, by being in the hands of too powerful vassals, +were in a manner dismembered from the kingdom; the royal authority was +very low in what remained. He reunited to the crown a country as +valuable as what belonged to it before; he reduced his subjects of all +orders to a stricter obedience than they had given to his predecessors; +he withstood the Papal usurpation, and yet used it as an instrument in +his designs: whilst John, who inherited a great territory and an entire +prerogative, by his vices and weakness gave up his independency to the +Pope, his prerogative to his subjects, and a large part of his dominions +to the King of France.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_81_84" id="Footnote_81_84"></a><a href="#FNanchor_81_84"><span class="label">[82]</span></a> A word of uncertain derivation, but which signifies some +scandalous species of cowardice.</p></div> +</div> +<p><a name="Page_475" id="Page_475" title="475" class="pagenum"></a></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="BOOK_III_CHAPTER_IX" id="BOOK_III_CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.<br /> +<br /> +FRAGMENT.—AN ESSAY TOWARDS AN HISTORY OF THE LAWS OF ENGLAND.</h3> + + +<p>There is scarce any object of curiosity more rational <a name="Page_476" id="Page_476" title="476" class="pagenum"></a>than the origin, +the progress, and the various revolutions of human laws. Political and +military relations are for the greater part accounts of the ambition and +violence of mankind: this is an history of their justice. And surely +there cannot be a more pleasing speculation than to trace the advances +of men in an attempt to imitate the Supreme Ruler in one of the most +glorious of His attributes, and to attend them in the exercise of a +prerogative which it is wonderful to find intrusted to the management of +so weak a being. In such an inquiry we shall, indeed, frequently see +great instances of this frailty; but at the same time we shall behold +such noble efforts of wisdom and equity as seem fully to justify the +reasonableness of that extraordinary disposition by which men, in one +form or other, have been always put under the dominion of creatures like +themselves. For what can be more instructive than to search out the +first obscure and scanty fountains of that jurisprudence which now +waters and enriches whole nations with so abundant and copious a +flood,—to observe the first principles of RIGHT springing up, involved +in superstition and polluted with violence, until by length of time and +favorable circumstances it has worked itself into clearness: the laws +sometimes lost and trodden down in the confusion of wars and tumults, +and sometimes overruled by the hand of power; then, victorious over +tyranny, growing stronger, clearer, and more decisive by the violence +they had suffered; enriched even by those foreign conquests which +threatened their entire destruction; softened and mellowed by peace and +religion; improved and exalted by commerce, by social intercourse, and +that great opener of the mind, ingenuous science?</p> + +<p>These certain<a name="Page_477" id="Page_477" title="477" class="pagenum"></a>ly were great encouragements to the study of historical +jurisprudence, particularly of our own. Nor was there a want of +materials or help for such an undertaking. Yet we have had few attempts +in that province. Lord Chief Justice Hale's History of the Common Law +is, I think, the only one, good or bad, which we have. But with all the +deference justly due to so great a name, we may venture to assert that +this performance, though not without merit, is wholly unworthy of the +high reputation of its author. The sources of our English law are not +well, nor indeed fairly, laid open; the ancient judicial proceedings are +touched in a very slight and transient manner; and the great changes and +remarkable revolutions in the law, together with their causes, down to +his time, are scarcely mentioned.</p> + +<p>Of this defect I think there were two principal causes. The first, a +persuasion, hardly to be eradicated from the minds of our lawyers, that +the English law has continued very much in the same state from an +antiquity to which they will allow hardly any sort of bounds. The second +is, that it was formed and grew up among ourselves; that it is in every +respect peculiar to this island; and that, if the Roman or any foreign +laws attempted to intrude into its composition, it has always had vigor +enough to shake them off, and return to the purity of its primitive +constitution.</p> + +<p>These opinions are flattering to national vanity and professional +narrowness; and though they involved those that supported them in the +most glaring contradictions, and some absurdities even too ridiculous to +mention, we have always been, and in a great measure still are, +extremely <a name="Page_478" id="Page_478" title="478" class="pagenum"></a>tenacious of them. If these principles are admitted, the +history of the law must in a great measure be deemed, superfluous. For +to what purpose is a history of a law of which it is impossible to trace +the beginning, and which during its continuance has admitted no +essential changes? Or why should we search foreign laws or histories for +explanation or ornament of that which is wholly our own, and by which we +are effectually distinguished from all other countries? Thus the law has +been confined, and drawn up into a narrow and inglorious study, and that +which should be the leading science in every well-ordered commonwealth +remained in all the barbarism of the rudest times, whilst every other +advanced by rapid steps to the highest improvement both in solidity and +elegance; insomuch that the study of our jurisprudence presented to +liberal and well-educated minds, even in the best authors, hardly +anything but barbarous terms, ill explained, a coarse, but not a plain +expression, an indigested method, and a species of reasoning the very +refuse of the schools, which deduced the spirit of the law, not from +original justice or legal conformity, but from causes foreign to it and +altogether whimsical. Young men were sent away with an incurable, and, +if we regard the manner of handling rather than the substance, a very +well-founded disgust. The famous antiquary, Spelman, though no man was +better formed for the most laborious pursuits, in the beginning deserted +the study of the law in despair, though he returned to it again when a +more confirmed age and a strong desire of knowledge enabled him to +wrestle with every difficulty.</p> + +<p>The opinions which have drawn the law into such narrowness, as they are +weakly founded, so they are very easily refuted. With regard to that +species of eternity which they attribute t<a name="Page_479" id="Page_479" title="479" class="pagenum"></a>o the English law, to say +nothing of the manifest contradictions in which those involve themselves +who praise it for the frequent improvements it has received, and at the +same time value it for having remained without any change in all the +revolutions of government, it is obvious, on the very first view of the +Saxon laws, that we have entirely altered the whole frame of our +jurisprudence since the Conquest. Hardly can we find in these old +collections a single title which is law at this day; and one may venture +to assert, without much hazard, that, if there were at present a nation +governed by the Saxon laws, we should find it difficult to point out +another so entirely different from everything we now see established in +England.</p> + +<p>This is a truth which requires less sagacity than candor to discover. +The spirit of party, which has misled us in so many other particulars, +has tended greatly to perplex us in this matter. For as the advocates +for prerogative would, by a very absurd consequence drawn from the +Norman Conquest, have made all our national rights and liberties to have +arisen from the grants, and therefore to be revocable at the will of the +sovereign, so, on the other hand, those who maintained the cause of +liberty did not support it upon more solid principles. They would hear +of no beginning to any of our privileges, orders, or laws, and, in +order to gain them a reverence, would prove that they were as old as the +nation; and to support that opinion, they put to the torture all the +ancient monuments. Others, pushing things further, have offered a still +greater violence to them. N. Bacon, in order to establish his +republican, system, has so distorted all the ev<a name="Page_480" id="Page_480" title="480" class="pagenum"></a>idence he has produced, +concealed so many things of consequence, and thrown such false colors +upon the whole argument, that I know no book so likely to mislead the +reader in our antiquities, if yet it retains any authority. In reality, +that ancient Constitution and those Saxon laws make little or nothing +for any of our modern parties, and, when fairly laid open, will be found +to compose such a system as none, I believe, would think it either +practicable or desirable to establish. I am sensible that nothing has +been, a larger theme of panegyric with, all our writers on politics and +history than the Anglo-Saxon government; and it is impossible not to +conceive an high, opinion of its laws, if we rather consider what is +said of them than what they visibly are. These monuments of our pristine +rudeness still subsist; and they stand out of themselves indisputable +evidence to confute the popular declamations of those writers who would +persuade us that the crude institutions of an unlettered people had +reached a perfection which the united efforts of inquiry, experience, +learning, and necessity have not been able to attain in many ages.</p> + +<p>But the truth is, the present system of our laws, like our language and +our learning, is a very mixed and heterogeneous mass: in some respects +our own; in more borrowed from the policy of foreign, nations, and +compounded, altered, and variously modified, according to the various +necessities which the manners, the religion, and the commerce of the +people have at different times imposed. It is our business, in some +measure, to follow and point out these changes and improvements: a task +we undertake, not from any ability for the greatness of such a work, but +purely to give some short and plain account of these matters to the very +<a name="Page_481" id="Page_481" title="481" class="pagenum"></a>ignorant.</p> + +<p>The Law of the Romans seems utterly to have expired in this island +together with their empire, and that, too, before the Saxon +establishment. The Anglo-Saxons came into England as conquerors. They +brought their own customs with them, and doubtless did not take laws +from, but imposed theirs upon, the people they had vanquished. These +customs of the conquering nation were without question the same, for the +greater part, they had observed before their migration from Germany. The +best image we have of them is to be found in Tacitus. But there is +reason to believe that some changes were made suitable to the +circumstances of their new settlement, and to the change their +constitution must have undergone by adopting a kingly government, not +indeed with unlimited sway, but certainly with greater powers than their +leaders possessed whilst they continued in Germany. However, we know +very little of what was done in these respects until their conversion to +Christianity, a revolution which made still more essential changes in +their manners and government. For immediately after the conversion of +Ethelbert, King of Kent, the missionaries, who had introduced the use of +letters, and came from Rome full of the ideas of the Roman civil +establishment, must have observed the gross defect arising from a want +of written and permanent laws. The king,<a name="FNanchor_82_85" id="FNanchor_82_85"></a><a href="#Footnote_82_85" class="fnanchor" title=" Decreta illi judiciorum juxta exempla Romanorum cum +consilio sapientium constituit.—Beda, Eccl. Hist. Lib. II. c. 5.">[83]</a> from their report of the +Roman method, and in imitation of it, first digested the most material +custo<a name="Page_482" id="Page_482" title="482" class="pagenum"></a>ms of this kingdom into writing, without having adopted anything +from the Roman law, and only adding some regulations for the support and +encouragement of the new religion. These laws still exist, and strongly +mark the extreme simplicity of manners and poverty of conception of the +legislators. They are written in the English of that time; and, indeed, +all the laws of the Anglo-Saxons continued in that language down to the +Norman Conquest. This was different from the method of the other +Northern nations, who made use only of the Latin language in all their +codes. And I take the difference to have arisen from this. At the time +when the Visigoths, the Lombards, the Franks, and the other Northern +nations on the continent compiled their laws, the provincial Romans were +very numerous amongst them, or, indeed, composed the body of the people. +The Latin, language was yet far from extinguished; so that, as the +greatest part of those who could write were Romans, they found it +difficult to adapt their characters to these rough Northern tongues, and +therefore chose to write in Latin, which, though not the language of the +legislator, could not be very incommodious, as they could never fail of +interpreters; and for this reason, not only their laws, but all their +ordinary transactions, were written in that language. But in England, +the Roman name and language having entirely vanished in the seventh +century, the missionary monks were obliged to contend with the +difficulty, and to adapt foreign characters to the English language; +else none but a very few could possibly have drawn any advantage from +the things they meant to record. And to this it was owing that many, +even the ecclesiastical constitutions, and not a few of the ordinary +evidences of the land, were written in the language of the country.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_483" id="Page_483" title="483" class="pagenum"></a>This example of written laws being given by Ethelbert, it was followed +by his successors, Edric and Lothaire. The next legislator amongst the +English, was Ina, King of the West Saxons, a prince famous in his time +for his wisdom and his piety. His laws, as well as those of the +above-mentioned princes, still subsist. But we must always remember that +very few of these laws contained any new regulation, but were rather +designed to affirm their ancient customs, and to preserve and fix them; +and accordingly they are all extremely rude and imperfect. We read of a +collection of laws by Offa, King of the Mercians; but they have been +long since lost.</p> + +<p>The Anglo-Saxon laws, by universal consent of all writers, owe more to +the care and sagacity of Alfred than of any of the ancient kings. In the +midst of a cruel war, of which he did not see the beginning nor live to +see the end, he did more for the establishment of order and justice than +any other prince has been known to do in the profoundest peace. Many of +the institutions attributed to him undoubtedly were not of his +establishment: this shall be shown, when we come to treat more minutely +of the institutions. But it is clear that he raised, as it were, from +the ashes, and put new life and vigor into the whole body of the law, +almost lost and forgotten in the ravages of the Danish war; so that, +having revived, and in all likelihood improved, several ancient +national regulations, he has passed for their author, with a reputation +perhaps more just than if he had invented them. In the prologue which he +wrote to his own code, he informs us that he collected there whatever +appeared to him most valuable in the laws of Ina and Offa a<a name="Page_484" id="Page_484" title="484" class="pagenum"></a>nd others of +his progenitors, omitting what he thought wrong in itself or not adapted +to the time; and he seems to have done this with no small judgment.</p> + +<p>The princes who succeeded him, having by his labors enjoyed more repose, +turned their minds to the improvement of the law; and there are few of +them who have not left us some collection more or less complete.</p> + +<p>When the Danes had established their empire, they showed themselves no +less solicitous than the English to collect and enforce the laws: +seeming desirous to repair all the injuries they had formerly committed +against them. The code of Canute the Great is one of the most moderate, +equitable, and full, of any of the old collections. There was no +material change, if any at all, made in their general system by the +Danish conquest. They were of the original country of the Saxons, and +could not have differed from them in the groundwork of their policy. It +appears by the league between Alfred and Guthrum, that the Danes took +their laws from the English, and accepted them as a favor. They were +more newly come out of the Northern barbarism, and wanted the +regulations necessary to a civil society. But under Canute the English +law received considerable improvement. Many of the old English customs, +which, as that monarch justly observes, were truly odious, were +abrogated; and, indeed, that code is the last we have that belongs to +the period before the Conquest. That monument called the Laws of Edward +the Confessor is certainly of a much later date; and what is +extraordinary, though the historians after the Conquest continually +speak of the Laws of King Edward, it does not appear that he ever made a +collection, or that any such laws existed at that time<a name="Page_485" id="Page_485" title="485" class="pagenum"></a>. It appears by +the preface to the Laws of St. Edward, that these written constitutions +were continually falling into disuse. Although these laws had +undoubtedly their authority, it was, notwithstanding, by traditionary +customs that the people were for the most part governed, which, as they +varied somewhat in different provinces, were distinguished accordingly +by the names of the West Saxon, the Mercian, and the Danish Law; but +this produced no very remarkable inconvenience, as those customs seemed +to differ from each other, and from the written laws, rather in the +quantity and nature of their pecuniary mulcts than in anything +essential.</p> + +<p>If we take a review of these ancient constitutions, we shall observe +that their sanctions are mostly confined to the following objects.</p> + +<p>1st. The preservation of the peace. This is one of the largest titles; +and it shows the ancient Saxons to have been a people extremely prone to +quarrelling and violence. In some cases the law ventures only to put +this disposition under regulations:<a name="FNanchor_83_86" id="FNanchor_83_86"></a><a href="#Footnote_83_86" class="fnanchor" title=" Leg. Ælfred. 38, De Pugna.">[84]</a> prescribing that no man shall +fight with another until he has first called him to justice in a legal +way; and then lays down the terms under which he may proceed to +hostilities. The other less premeditated quarrels, in meetings for +drinking or business, were considered as more or less heinous, according +to the rank of the person in whose house the dispute happened, or, to +speak the language of that time, whose peace they had violated.</p> + +<p>2d. In proportioning the pecuniary mulcts imposed by them for all, even +the highest crimes, according to the dignify of the person injured, and +to the quantity of the offence. For this purpose they classed the people +with great regularity and exactness, both in the ecclesiastic<a name="Page_486" id="Page_486" title="486" class="pagenum"></a> and the +secular lines, adjusting with great care the ecclesiastical to the +secular dignities; and they not only estimated each man's life according +to his quality, but they set a value upon every limb and member, down +even to teeth, hair, and nails; and these are the particulars in which +their laws are most accurate and best defined.</p> + +<p>3d. In settling the rules and ceremonies of their oaths, their +purgations, and the whole order and process of their superstitious +justice: for by these methods they seem to have decided all +controversies.</p> + +<p>4th. In regulating the several fraternities of Frank-pledges, by which +all the people were naturally bound to their good behavior to one +another and to their superiors; in all which they were excessively +strict, in order to supply by the severity of this police the extreme +laxity and imperfection of their laws, and the weak and precarious +authority of their kings and magistrates.</p> + +<p>These, with some regulations for payment of tithes and Church dues, and +for the discovery and pursuit of stealers of cattle, comprise almost all +the titles deserving notice in the Saxon laws. In those laws there are +frequently to be observed particular institutions, well and prudently +framed; but there is no appearance of a regular, consistent, and stable +jurisprudence. However, it is pleasing to observe something of equity +and distinction gradually insinuating it<a name="Page_487" id="Page_487" title="487" class="pagenum"></a>self into these unformed +materials, and some transient flashes of light striking across the gloom +which prepared for the full day that shone out afterwards. The clergy, +who kept up a constant communication with Rome, and were in effect the +Saxon legislators, could not avoid gathering some informations from a +law which never was perfectly extinguished in that part of the world. +Accordingly we find one of its principles had strayed hither so early as +the time of Edric and Lothaire.<a name="FNanchor_84_87" id="FNanchor_84_87"></a><a href="#Footnote_84_87" class="fnanchor" title=" Justum est ut proles matrem sequatur.—Edric and +Lothaire.">[85]</a> There are two maxims<a name="FNanchor_85_88" id="FNanchor_85_88"></a><a href="#Footnote_85_88" class="fnanchor" title=" Negatio potior est affirmatione. Possessio proprior est +habenti quam deinceps repetenti.—L. Cnut.">[86]</a> of civil +law in their proper terms in the code of Canute the Great, who made and +authorized that collection after his pilgrimage to Rome; and at this +time, it is remarkable, we find the institutions of other nations +imitated. In the same collection there is an express reference to the +laws of the Werini. From hence it is plain that the resemblance between +the polity of the several Northern nations did not only arise from their +common original, but also from their adopting, in some cases, the +constitutions of those amongst them who were most remarkable for their +wisdom.</p> + +<p>In this state the law continued until the Norman Conquest. But we see +that even before that period the English law began to be improved by +taking in foreign learning; we see the canons of several councils mixed +indiscriminately with the civil constitutions; and, indeed, the +greatest part of the reasoning and equity to be found in them seems to +be derived from that source.</p> + +<p>Hitherto we have observed the progress of the Saxon laws, which, +conformably to their manners, were rude and simple,—agreeably to their +confined situat<a name="Page_488" id="Page_488" title="488" class="pagenum"></a>ion, very narrow,—and though in some degree, yet not +very considerably, improved by foreign communication. However, we can +plainly discern its three capital sources. First, the ancient +traditionary customs of the North, which, coming upon this and the other +civilized parts of Europe with the impetuosity of a conquest, bore down +all the ancient establishments, and, by being suited to the genius of +the people, formed, as it were, the great body and main stream of the +Saxon laws. The second source was the canons of the Church. As yet, +indeed, they were not reduced into system and a regular form of +jurisprudence; but they were the law of the clergy, and consequently +influenced considerably a people over whom that order had an almost +unbounded authority. They corrected, mitigated, and enriched those rough +Northern institutions; and the clergy having once, bent the stubborn +necks of that people to the yoke of religion, they were the more easily +susceptible of other changes introduced under the same sanction. These +formed the third source,—namely, some parts of the Roman civil law, and +the customs of other German nations. But this source appears to have +been much the smallest of the three, and was yet inconsiderable.</p> + +<p>The Norman Conquest is the great era of our laws. At this time the +English jurisprudence, which, had hitherto continued a poor stream, fed +from some few, and those scanty sources, was all at once, as from a +mighty flood, replenished with a vast body of foreign learning, by +which, indeed, it might be said rather to have been increased than much +improved: for this foreign law, being imposed, not adopted, for a long +time bore strong appearances of that violence by which it had been first +introduced. All our monuments bear a strong evidence to this change. New +courts of justice, new names and powers of officers, in a word, a new +tenure of land as well as new possessors of it, took place. Even the +language of public proceedings was in a great measure changed.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_82_85" id="Footnote_82_85"></a><a href="#FNanchor_82_85"><span class="label">[83]</span></a> Decreta illi judiciorum juxta exempla Romanorum cum +consilio sapientium constituit.—Beda, Eccl. Hist. Lib. II. c. 5.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_83_86" id="Footnote_83_86"></a><a href="#FNanchor_83_86"><span class="label">[84]</span></a> Leg. Ælfred. 38, De Pugna.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_84_87" id="Footnote_84_87"></a><a href="#FNanchor_84_87"><span class="label">[85]</span></a> Justum est ut proles matrem sequatur.—Edric and +Lothaire.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_85_88" id="Footnote_85_88"></a><a href="#FNanchor_85_88"><span class="label">[86]</span></a> Negatio potior est affirmatione. Possessio proprior est +habenti quam deinceps repetenti.—L. Cnut.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3>END OF VOL. VII.</h3> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Works of the Right Honourable +Edmund Burke, Vol. VII. 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