The words of Thomas Gordon, from Cato's Letter No. 26, describing Algernon Sidney. About the "Discourses Concerning Government"--the book which helped put Sidney's head on the axe-man's block--Gordon has this to say:
"The book is every way excellent: He had read and digested all history; and this performance of his takes in the whole business of government: It makes us some amends for the loss of Cicero's book De Republica. Colonel Sidney had all the clear and comprehensive knowledge, and all the dignity of expression, of that great master of eloquence and politicks; his love of liberty was as warm, his honesty as great, and his courage greater."
The "Discourses" were the "other" classic written in reply to Sir Robert Filmer's "Patriarcha," the most famous being John Locke's "Two Treatises of Government." Filmer flattered the nobility with an argument for the Divine Right of Kings; Sidney, like Locke, offered the necessary corrective.
Gordon's comments notwithstanding, the book is a bit of a mixed bag, and far from perfect. It was never properly finished, and gives the impression, at times, of a rough draft. It's rather long, but lacks proper focus, tending to meander and indulge in digressions of, at best, marginal relevance. There are contradictions and obvious gaps in the logic, which is inconsistent, as well. Sidney's "quotations" are usually rough paraphrases, and his footnotes are a hopeless mess, probably scratched out from memory, never consistent, and sometimes completely inaccurate (we've eschewed them entirely from this version).
Warts and all, though, it's an often fascinating read, the product of
a very learned mind, and it earns the high esteem in which it was held
by Gordon, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and so many others.
SECTION 1.
Introduction
SECTION 2.
The common notions of Liberty are not from School Divines, but from
Nature.
SECTION 3.
Implicit Faith belongs to Fools, and Truth is comprehended by examining
Principles.
SECTION 4.
The Rights of particular Nations cannot subsist, if General Principles
contrary to them are received as true.
SECTION 5.
To depend upon the Will of a Man is Slavery.
SECTION 6.
God leaves to man the choice of Forms in Government; and those who
constitute one Form, may abrogate it.
SECTION 7.
Abraham and the Patriarchs were not Kings.
SECTION 8.
Nimrod was the f irst King, during the life of Cush, Ham, Shem, and
Noah.
SECTION 9.
The Power of a Father belongs only to a Father.
SECTION 10.
Such as enter into Society, must in some degree diminish their Liberty.
SECTION 11.
No Man comes to command many, unless by Consent or by Force.
SECTION 12.
The pretended paternal Right is divisible or indivisible: if divisible,
'tis extinguished; if indivisible, universal.
SECTION 13.
There was no shadow of a paternal Kingdom amongst the Hebrews, nor
precept for it.
SECTION 14.
If the paternal Right had included Dominion, and was to be transferred
to a single Heir, it must perish if he were not known; and could be applied
to no other person.
[Section 14 ends with a break in the manuscript--when it resumes, Section 15 is underway.]
SECTION 16.
The Ancients chose those to be Kings, who excelled in the Virtues that
are most beneficial to Civil Societies.
SECTION 17.
God having given the Government of the World to no one Man, nor declared
how it should be divided, left it to the Will of Man.
SECTION 18.
If a right of Dominion were esteemed Hereditary according to the Law
of Nature, a multitude of destructive and inextricable Controversies would
thereupon arise.
SECTION 19.
Kings cannot confer the Right of Father upon Princes, nor Princes upon
Kings.
SECTION 20.
All just Magistratical Power is from the People.
SECTION 1.
That 'tis natural for Nations to govern, or to chuse Governors; and
that Virtue only gives a natural preference of one man above another, or
reason why one should be chosen rather than another.
SECTION 2.
Every Man that hath Children, hath the right of a Father, and is capable
of preferment in a Society composed of many.
SECTION 3.
Government is not instituted for the good of the Governor, but of the
Governed; and Power is not an Advantage, but a Burden.
SECTION 4.
The Paternal Right devolves to, and is inherited by all the Children.
SECTION 5.
Freemen join together, and frame greater or lesser Societies, and give
such Forms to them as best please themselves.
SECTION 6.
They who have a right of chusing a King, have the right of making a
King.
SECTION 7.
The Laws of every Nation are the measure of Magistratical Power.
SECTION 8.
There is no natural propensity in Man or Beast to Monarchy.
SECTION 9.
The Government instituted by God over the Israelites was Aristocratical.
SECTION 10.
Aristotle was not simply for Monarchy, or against Popular Government,
but approved or disapproved of either according to circumstances.
SECTION 11.
Liberty produceth Virtue, Order and Stability: Slavery is accompanied
with Vice, Weakness and Misery.
SECTION 12.
The Glory, Virtue, and Power of the Romans, began and ended with their
Liberty.
SECTION 13.
There is no disorder or prejudice in changing the name or number of
Magistrates, whilst the root and principle of their Power continues entire.
SECTION 14.
No Sedition was hurtful to Rome, til through their Prosperity some
men gained a Power above the Laws.
SECTION 15.
The Empire of Rome perpetually decay'd when it fell into the hands
of one Man.
SECTION 16.
The best Governments of the World have been composed of Monarchy, Aristocracy,
and Democracy.
SECTION 17.
Good Governments admit of Changes in the Superstructures, whilst the
Foundations remain unchangeable.
SECTION 18.
Xenophon in blaming the Disorders of Democracies, favours Aristocracies,
not Monarchies.
SECTION 19.
That Corruption and Venality which is natural to Courts, is seldom
found in Popular Governments.
SECTION 20.
Man's natural love to Liberty is temper'd by Reason which originally
is his Nature.
SECTION 21.
Mixed and Popular Governments preserve Peace, and manage Wars better
than Absolute Monarchies.
SECTION 22.
Commonwealths seek Peace or War, according to the Variety of their
Constitutions.
SECTION 23.
That is the best Government, which best provides for War
SECTION 24.
Popular Governments are less subject to Civil Disorders than Monarchies;
manage them more ably, and more easily recover out of them.
SECTION 25.
Courts are more subject to Venality and Corruption than Popular Governments.
SECTION 26.
Civil Tumults and Wars are not the greatest Evils that befall Nations.
SECTION 27.
The Mischiefs and Cruelties proceeding from Tyranny are greater than
any that can come from Popular or mixed Governments.
SECTION 28.
Men living under Popular or Mix'd Governments, are more careful of
the publick Good, than in Absolute Monarchies.
SECTION 29.
There is no assurance that the Distempers of a State shall be cured
by the Wisdom of a Prince.
SECTION 30.
A Monarchy cannot be well regulated, unless the Powers of the Monarch
are limited by Law.
SECTION 31.
The Liberties of Nations are from God and Nature, not from Kings.
SECTION 32.
The Contracts made between Magistrates, and the Nations that created
them, were real, solemn, and obligtory.
SECTION 1.
Kings not being fathers of their People, nor excelling all others in
Virtue, can have no other just Power than what the Laws give; nor any title
to the privileges of the Lord's Anointed.
SECTION 2.
The Kings of Israel and Judah were under a Law not safely to be transgress'd.
SECTION 3.
Samuel did not describe to the Israelites the glory of a free Monarchy;
but the Evils the People should suffer, that he might divert them from
desiring a King.
SECTION 4.
No People can be obliged to suffer from their Kings what they have
not a right to do.
SECTION 5.
The Mischiefs suffer'd from wicked Kings are such as render it both
reasonable and just for all Nations that have virtue and Power, to exert
both in repelling them.
SECTION 6.
'Tis not good for such Nations as will have Kings, to suffer them to
be glorious, powerful, or abounding in Riches.
SECTION 7.
When the Israelites asked for such a King as the Nations about them
had, they asked for a Tyrant tho they did not call him so.
SECTION 8.
Under the name of Tribute no more is understood than what the Law of
each Nation gives to the Supreme Magistrate for the defraying of publick
Charges; to which the customs of the Romans, or sufferings of the Jews
have no relation.
SECTION 9.
Our own Laws confirm to us the enjoyment of our native Rights.
SECTION 10.
The words of St. Paul enjoining obedience to higher Powers, favour
all sorts of Governments no less than Monarchy.
SECTION 11.
That which is not just, is not Law; and that which is not Law ought
not to be obeyed.
SECTION 12.
The Right and Power of a Magistrate depends upon his Institution, not
upon his Name.
SECTION 13.
Laws were made to direct and instruct Magistrates, and if they will
not be directed, to restrain them.
SECTION 14.
Laws are not made by Kings, not because they are busied in greater
matters than doing Justice, but because Nations will be governed by Rule,
and not Arbitrarily.
SECTION 15.
A general presumption that Kings will govern well, is not a sufficient
security to the People.
SECTION 16.
The observation of the Laws of Nature is absurdly expected from Tyrants,
who set themselves up against all Laws: and be that subjects Kings to no
other Law than what is common to Tyrants destroys their being.
SECTION 17.
Kings cannot be the Interpreters of the Oaths they take.
SECTION 18.
The next in blood to deceased Kings cannot generally be said to be
Kings till they are crowned.
SECTION 19.
The greatest Enemy of a just Magistrate is he who endeavours to invalidate
the Contract between him and the People, or to corrupt their Manners.
SECTION 20.
Unjust Commands are not to be obey'd, and no man is obliged to suffer
for not obeying such as are against Law.
SECTION 21.
It cannot be for the good of the People that the Magistrate have a
power above the Law: And he is not a Magistrate who has not his power by
Law.
SECTION 22.
The rigour of the Law is to be temper'd by men of known integrity and
judgment, and not by the Prince, who may be ignorant or vicious.
SECTION 23.
Aristotle proves, that no man is to be entrusted with an absolute power,
by showing that no one knows how to execute it, but such a man as is not
to be found.
SECTION 24.
The power of Augustus Caesar was not given, but usurped.
SECTION 25.
The Regal Power was not the first in this Nation; nor necessarily to
be continued, tho it had been the first.
SECTION 26.
Tho the King may be entrusted with the power of chusing Judges, yet
that by which they act is from the Law.
SECTION 27.
Magna Charta was not the Original, but a Declaration of the English
Liberties. The King's Power is not restrained, but created by that and
other Laws: and the Nation that made them can only correct the defects
of them.
SECTION 28.
The English Nation has always been governed by itself or its Representatives.
SECTION 29.
The King was never Master of the Soil.
SECTION 30.
Henry the First was King of England by as good a Title as any of his
Predecessors or Successors.
SECTION 31.
Free Nations have a right of meeting, when and where they please, unless
they deprive themselves of it.
SECTION 32.
The powers of Kings are so various according to the Constitutions of
several States, that no consequence can be drawn to the prejudice or advantage
of any one, merely from the name.
SECTION 33.
The Liberty of a People is the gift of God and Nature.
SECTION 34.
No Veneration paid, or Honor conferr'd upon a just and lawful Magistrate,
can diminish the Liberty of a Nation.
SECTION 35.
The Authority given by our Law to the Acts performed by a King de facto,
detract nothing from the people's right of creating whom they please.
SECTION 36.
The general revolt of a Nation cannot be called a Rebellion.
SECTION 37.
The English Government was not ill constituted, the defects more lately
observed proceeding from the change of manners, and corruption of the times.
SECTION 38.
The Power of calling and dissolving Parliaments is not simply in the
King. The variety of Customs in chusing Parliament men, and the Errors
a people may commit, neither prove that Kings are or ought to be Absolute.
SECTION 39.
Those Kings only are heads of the People, who are good, wise, and seek
to advance no Interest but that of the Publick.
SECTION 40.
Good Laws prescribe easy and safe Remedies against the Evils proceeding
from the vices or infirmities of the Magistrate; and when they fail, they
must be supplied.
SECTION 41.
The People for whom and by whom the Magistrate is created, can only
judge whether he rightly perform his Office or not.
SECTION 42.
The Person that wears the Crown cannot determine the Affairs which
the Law refers to the King.
SECTION 43.
Proclamations are not Laws.
SECTION 44.
No People that is not free can substitute Delegates.
SECTION 45.
The Legislative Power is always Arbitrary, and not to be trusted in
the hands of any who are not bound to obey the Laws they make.
SECTION 46.
The coercive power of the Law proceeds from the Authority of Parliament