for for Time and Extent. We have not perhaps lpoke of the Five Hundredth Part, I am fure I have not of what is adtually afcertain- ed in Hiftory; but how much of thefe Butcheries are only expreffed in generals, what part of time Hiftory has never reach- ed, and what vaft Spaces of the habitable Globe it has not embraced, I need not mention to your Lordfhip. I have no need to exaggerate; and I have purpofely avoided a Parade of Eloquence on this Occafion. I fhould defpife it upon any Occafion; elfe in mentioning thefe Slaugh- ters, it is obvious how much the whole might be heightened, by an affe&ing Defcription of the Horrors that attend the Wafting of Kingdoms, and Sacking of Cities. But I do not wTrite to the Vulgar, nor to that which only governs the Vulgar, their Paffions. I go upon a naked and mode- rate Calculation, juft enough,without a Pe- dantical Exa&nefs, to give your Lordfhip fome Feeling of the Effe&s of Political Society, ciety, ciety. I charge the whole of thefe Effedts on Political Society. I avow the Charge, and fhall prefently make it good to your Lordfhip's Satisfadlion.The Numbers I par- ticularized are about 40 Millions. Ifuppofe a Thoufand times as many killed in Battles. But I muft make another Addition not lefs than the former, for the Confequences of Wars, in Skirmifhes, Maffacres, the contagious Diforders, and the Famine which attend them, more deftru&ive than Battles themfelves. So that allowing me in my Exuberance one way for my De- ficiencies in others, I rate the Deftru&ion caufed by War, at Eighty Thoufand Mil- lions. I think the Numbers of Men now upon Earth are computed at 500 Millions at the moft. Here the Slaughter of Man- kind, on what you will call a fmall Calcu- lation, amounts to 160 times the Number of Souls this Day on the Globe. A Point which may furnifh matter of Refledtion to one lefs inclined to draw Confequences than your Lordfhip.
I now I now I now come to fhew, that Political Society is juftly chargeable with much the greateft Part of this Deftruftion of the Species. But to give the faireft Play to every fide of the Queftion, I will own that there is a Haughtinefs, and Fiercenefs in human Nature, which will caufe innu- merable Broils, place Men in what State you pleafe j but owning this, I ftill infift in charging to Political Regulations, that thefe Broils are fo frequent, fo cruel, and attended with fo deplorable Confe- quences. In a State of Nature, it would be impoffible to join together a Number of Men, fufficiently agreed in the fame bloody Defign, neceffary to make a ver^ extenfive Havock of their.Species; and if they would come to fuch an Agreement, (an impoffible Suppofition) yet the Means that fimple Nature has fupplied them with, are by no Means adequate to fuch a Pur- pofe 5 many Scratches, many Bruifes un~ aoubtedly would be received upon all hands; but only a few, a very few Deaths.
Deaths.
Deaths. Society, and Politicks, which have given us thefe deftruftive Views, have given us too the Means of fatisfying them. From the earlieft Dawnings of Po- licy to this Day, the Invention of Men has been fharpening and improving the Myftery of Murder, from the firft rude Eflays of Clubs and Stones, to the prefent Perfection of Gunnery, Cannoneering, Bombarding, Ruining, and all thefe Spe* cies of artificial, learned, and refined Cruelty, at which we are now fo expert, and which make a principal Part of what Politicians have taught us to believe is our principal Glory, How far mere Nature would have car- ried us, we may judge by the Example of thofe Animals, who ftill follow her Laws, and even thofe to whom fhe has given Dif- ^pofitions more fierce, and Arms more terrible than ever (he intended we fhould ufe. It is an inconteftible Truth, that there is more Havock made in one Year F by F by by Men, of Men, than has been made by all the Lions, Tygers, Panthers, Ounces, Leopards, Hyenas, Rhinocerofes, Elephants, Bears, and Wolves, upon their feveral Species, fince the Beginning of the World; though thefe agree ill enough with each other, and have a much greater Proportion of Rage and Fury in their Compofition than we have. But with re- fpedi to you, ye Legiflators, yeCivilizers of Mankind! ye Orpheus's, Mofefes, Mi- nofes, Solons, Thefeufes, Lycurgufes, Numas! with Refpedt to you be it fpoken, your Regulations have done more Mifchief in cold Blood, than all the Rage of the fierceft Animals in their% greateft Terrors, Or Furies, has ever done, or ever could do!
Thefe Evils are not accidental. Who- ever will take the pains to confider the Na- ture of Society, will find they refult di- redlly from it's Conftitution. For as Sub- ordination, or in other Words, the Reci- procation procation of Tyranny, and Slavery, is re- quifite to fupport thefe Societies, the In- tereft, theAmbition,the Malice, or the Re- venge, nay even the Whim and Caprice of one ruling Man among them, is enough to arm all the reft, without any private Views of their own, to the worft and blacked Purpofes; and what is at once la- mentable, and ridiculous, thefe Wretches engage under thofe Banners with a Fury greater than if they were animated by Re- venge for their own proper Wrongs, It is no lefs worth obferving, that this artificial Divifion of Mankind, into fe- parate Societies, is a perpetual Source in itfelf of Hatred and Diffention among them. The Names which diftinguifh them are enough to blow up Hatred, and Rage. Examine Hiftory • confult prefent Experience; and you will find, that far the greater Part of the Quarrels between feveral Nations, had fcarce any other Occafion, than that they were ano- F 2 iher thcr Combination of People, and called by another Name; — to an Englijloman, the Name of a Frenchman, a Spaniard, an Ita- lian, much more a Turk, or a Tartar, raife of courfe Ideas of Haired, and Con- tempt. Would you infpire this Compa- triot of ours with Pity or Regard, for one of thefe? Would you not hide that Di- ftindtion? You would not pray him to companionate the poor Frenchman, or the unhappy German. Far from it; you would fpeak of him as a Foreigner, an Accident to which all are liable. You would reprefent him as a Man; one par- taking with us of the fame common Na- ture, and fubjedt. to the fame Law. There is fomething fo averfe to Nature in thefe artificial Political Diftin&ions, that we need no other Trumpet to kindle us to War, and Deflru&ion. But there is fome- thing fo benign and healing in the gene- ral Voice of Humanity, that maugre all our Regulations to prevent it, the Name applied properly, never fails to work a falutary Effect This This natural unpremeditated Effedt of Policy on the unpoffefTed Paffions of Man- kind, appears on other Occafions. The, very Name of a Politician, a Statefman, is fure to caufe Terror and Hatred; it has always connected with it the Ideas of Treachery, Cruelty, Fraud and Tyranny; and thofe Writers who have faithfully un- veiled the Myfteries of State-freemafonty, have ever been held in general Deteftation, for even knowing fo perfectly a Theory fo deteftable. The Cafe of Machiavel feems at firfl Sight fomething hard in that Re- fpedt. He is obliged to bear the Iniquities of thofe whofe Maxims and Rules of Go- vernment he publiflied. His Speculation is more abhorred than their Pra&ice.
But if there were no other Arguments againft Artificial Society than this I am go- ing to mention, methinks it ought to fall by that one only. All Writers on the Sci- ence of Policy are agreed, and they agree with with Experience, that all Governments muft frequently infringe the Rules of Juf- tice to fupport themfelves; that Truth muft give way to Diffimulation • Honefty to Convenience; and Humanity itfelf to the reigning Intereft. The Whole of this Myftery of Iniquity is called the Reafon of State. It is a Reafon, which I own I can- not penetrate. What Sort of a Protedion is this of the general 'Right, that is main- tained by infringing the Rights of Parti- culars? What Sort of Juftice is this, which is inforced by Breaches of it's own Laws? Thefe Paradoxes I leave to be folved by the able Heads of Legiflators and Politi- cians. For my Part, I fhould fay what a plain Man would fay on fuch an Occafion. I can never believe, that any Inftitution agreeable to Nature, and proper for Man- kind, could find it neceflary, or even expe- dient in any Cafe whatfoever to do, what the beft and worthieft Inftinfts of Man- kind warn us to avoid. But no wonder, that that what is fet up in Oppofition to the State of Nature, fhould preferve itfelf by trampling upon the Law of Nature.
To prove, that thefe Sort of policed Societies are a Violation offered to Nature, and a Conftraint upon the human Mind, it needs only to look upon the fanguinary Meafures, and Inftruments of Violence which are every where ufed to fupport them. Let us take a Review of the Dun- geons, Whips, Chains, Racks, Gibbets, with which every Society is abundantly ftored, y which hundreds of Vi<ftims are annually offered up to fupport a dozen or two in Pride and Madnefs, and Millions in an abjeft Servitude, and Dependence. There was a Time, when I looked with a reverential Awe on thefe Myfleries of Po- licy -y but Age, Experience, and Philofo- phy have rent the Veil, and I view this SanEium SanBorum^ at leaft, without any enthuliaftick Admiration. I acknowledge indeed, the Neceflity of fuch a Proceeding in ill fuch Inftitutions; but I can have but a very humble Opinion of Inftitutions where fuch Proceedings are neceffary.
It is a Misfortune, that in no Part of the Globe natural Liberty and natural Reli- gion are to be found pure and free from the Mixture of Political Adulterations, Yet we have implanted in us by Providence Ideas, Axioms, Rules, of what is pious, juft, fair, honeft, which no Political Craft, nor learned Sophiftry, can entirely expel from our Breafts. By thefe we judge, and we cannot otherwife judge of the feveral artificial Modes of Religion and Society, and determine of them as they approach to, or recede from this Standard.
The fimpleft Form of Government is Defpotifm, where all the inferior Orbs of Power are moved merely by the Will of the Supreme, and all that are fubjedted to them, directed in the fame Manner, merely by the occafional Will of the Magiftrate.
This Ui 1 This Form, as it is the moft fimple, fo it is infinitely the moft general. Scarce any Part of the World is exempted from it's Power. And in thofe few Places where Men enjoy what they call Liberty, it is continually in a tottering Situation, and makes greater and greater Strides to that Gulph of Defpotifm which at laft fwallows up every Species of Government. This Manner of ruling being directed merely by the Will of the weakeft, and generally the worftMan in the Society, becomes the moft foolifh and capricious Thing, at the fame time that it is the moft terrible and definitive that well can be conceived. In a Defpotifm the principal Perfon finds, that let the Want,Mifery, and Indigence of his Subjects, be what they will, he can yet poffefs abundantly of every thing to gratify his moft infatiable Wifhes. He does more. He finds that thefe Gratifi- cations increafe in Proportion to the Wretchednefs and Slavery of his Subjects. So that neglecting the publick Welfare, G and £nd by his Station placed above both Shame and Fear, he proceeds to the moft horrid and (hocking Outrages upon Mankind. Their Perfons become Victims of his Sus- picions. The flighteft Anger is Death; and a difagreeable Afpect is often as great a Crime as High Treafon. In the Court of Nero a Perfon of Learning, of unquef- tioned Merit, and of unfufpected Loyalty, was put to Death for no other Reafon than that he had a pedantick Countenance which difpleafed the Emperor. This very Mon- ger of Mankind appeared in the Beginning of his Reign to be a Perfon of Virtue. Many of the greatefl Tyrants on the Re- cords of Hiftory have begun to rule in the fairefl Manner. But the Truth is, this unnatural Power corrupts both the Heart, and the Underftanding. And to prevent the leaft Hope of Amendment, a King is ever furrounded by a Crowd of infamous Flatterers, who find their Account in keep- ing him from the leaft Light of Reafon, till all Ideas of Rectitude and Juftice are ut- terly terly erafed from his Mind. When Alex- ander had in his Fury inhumanly butch- ered one of his beft Friends, and braved Captains -> on the Return of Reafon he begun to conceive an Horror fuitable to the Guilt of fuch a Murder. In this Junc- ture, his Council came to his Affiitance. But what did his Council? They found him out a Philofopher who gave him Comfort. And in what Manner did this Philofopher comfort him for the Lofs of fuch a Man, and heal his Confcience, fla- grant with the Smart of fuch a Crime? You have the Matter at Length in Plutarch. He told him; iC that let a Sovereign do 'what " he will) all hi sAB ions are jujl a?id lawful, " becaufe they are his'' The Palaces of all Princes abound with fuch courtly Philofo- phers. The Confequence was fuch as might be expected. He grew every Day a Monfter more abandoned to unnatural Luft, to Debauchery, to Drunkennefs, and to Murder. And yet this was originally a great Man, of uncommon Capacity, and G 2 aflrong a ftrong Propenfity to Virtue. But un- bounded Power proceeds Step by Step,until it has eradicated every laudable Principle. It has been remarked, that there is no Prince fo bad, whofe Favourites and Mi- nifters are not worfe. There is hardly any Prince without a Favourite, by whom he is governed in as arbitrary a Manner as he governs the Wretches fubjected to him. Here the Tyranny is doubled. There are two Courts, and two Interefts; both very different from the Interefts of the People. The Favourite knows that the Regard of a Tyrant is as unconftant and capricious as that of a Woman; and concluding his Time to be fhort, he makes Hafte to fill up^the Meafure of his Iniquity, in Kapine, in Luxury, and in Revenge. Every Avenue to the Throne is fhut up. He oppreffes, and ruins the People, whilft he perfuades the Prince, that thofe Murmurs raifed by his own OppreiTion are the Ef- fects of Difaffedion to the Prince's Go- vernment. Then is the natural Violence of of ofDefpotifm inflamed, and aggravated "by Hatred, and Revenge. To deferve well of the State is a Crime againft the Prince. To be popular, and to be a Traitor, are confidered as fynonimous Terms. Nay, even Virtue is dangerous, as an afpiring Quality, that claims an Efteem by itfelf, and independent of the Countenance of the Court. What has been faid of the chief, is true of the inferior Officers of this Species of Government; each in his Pro- vince exercifing the fame Tyranny, and grinding the People by an Oppreffion, the more feverely felt, as it is near them, and exercifed by bafe and fubordinate Perfons. For the Grofs of the People; they are confidered as a mere Herd of Cattle; and really in a little Time become no better; all Principle of honeft Pride, all Senfe of the Dignity of their Nature, is loft in their Slavery. The Day, fays Homer ■, which makes a Man a Slave, takes away half his Worth; and in Fact, he lofes every Im- pulfe to Action, but that low and bafe one one one of Fear. In this Kind of Govern- ment human Nature is not only abufed, and infulted, but it is a&ually degraded and funk into a Species of Brutality. The Confideration of this made Mr. Locke fay, with great Juitice, that a Government of this Kind was worfe than Anarchy; in- deed it is fo abhorred, and detefted by all who live under Forms that have a milder Appearance, that there is fcarce a rational Man in Europe, that would not prefer Death to Afiatick Defpotifm. Here then we have the Acknowledgement of a great Philofopher, that an irregular State of Na- ture is preferable to fuch a Government; we have the Confent of all fenfible and generous Men, who carry it yet further, and avow that Death itfelf is preferable; and yet this Species of Government, fo juftly condemned, and fo generally de- tefted, is what infinitely the greater Part of Mankind groan under, and have groaned under from the Beginning. So that by fure and uncontefted Principles, the great- eft eft Part of the Governments on Earth muft be concluded, Tyrannies, Impoftures, Violations of the Natural Rights of Man- kind, and worfe than the moft diforderly Anarchies. How much other Forms ex- ceed this, we fhall confider immediately.
In all Parts of the World, Mankind, however debafed, retains ftill the Senfe of Feeling; the Weight of Tyranny, at laft, becomes infupportable; but the Remedy is not fo eafy; in general, the only Re- medy by which they attempt to cure the Tyranny, is to change the Tyrant; this is, and always was the Cafe for the greater Part. In fome Countries however, were found Men of more Penetration -9 who dis- covered, " that to live by one Man's Will, " was the Caufe of all Men's Mifery." They therefore changed their former Me- thod, and affembling the Men in their feveral Societies, moft refpedlable for their Underftanding, and Fortunes, they con- fided to them the Charge of the Publick Welfare, Welfare, Welfare. This originally formed what is called an Ariftocracy. They hoped, it would be impoffible that fuch a Number could ever join in any Defign againft the general Good; and they promifed them* felves a great deal of Security and Happi- nefs, from the united Counfels of fo many able and experienced Perfons. But it is i)ow found by abundant Experience, that an Ariftocracy, and a Defpotifm, differ but in Name; and that a People, who are in general excluded from any Share of the Legiflative, are to all Intents and Purpofes^ as much Slaves, when twenty, independ- ent of them, govern, as when but one domineers. The Tyranny is even more felt, as every Individual of the Nobles has the Haughtinefs of a Sultan; the People are more miserable, as they feem on the Verge of Liberty, from which they are for ever debarred 5 this Profpeft, whilft it prefents a vain Shadow of Happinefs to the Subject, binds fafler the Chains of their Subje&ion; what is left undone, by the natural Ava- rice rice and Pride of thofe who are railed above the others, is compleated by their Suspicions, and Dread of lofing an Autho- rity, which has no Support in the common Utility of the Nation. A Genoefe, or a Venetian Republick, is a concealed De- fpotifm j where you find the fame Pride of the Rulers, the fame bafe Subje&ion of the People, the fame bloody Maxims of a fufpicious Policy. In one refpcdt the Arijiocracy is worfe than the Defpotifm. A Body Politick, whilft it retains it's Au- thority, never changes it's Maxims; a Defpotifm, which is this Day horrible to a fupreme Degree, by the Caprice natural to the Heart of Man, may, by the fame Caprice otherwife exerted, be as lovely the next -, in a Succeffion, it is poffible to meet with fome good Princes. If there have been Tiberius' s, Caligulas, Nero's, there have been likewife the ferener Days of Vejpafians, Titus's, Trajans, and Antonines; but a Body Politick is not influenced by Caprice or Whim, it proceeds in a regular H Manner j [So] [So] Manner; it's Succeffion is infenfible j and every Man as he enters it, either has, or foon attains the Spirit of the whole Body. Never was it known, that an Arijlocracy, which was haughty and tyrannical in one Century, became eafy, and mild in the next. In Effect, the Yoke of this Species of Government is fo galling, that when- ever the People have got the leaft Power, they have fhaken it off with the utmoft Indignation, and eftablifhed a Popular Form -, and when they have not had Strength enough to fupport themfelves, they have thrown themfelves into the Arms of Defpotifm, as the more eligible of the two Evils. This latter was the Cafe of Denmark, who fought a Refuge from the Oppreffion of it's Nobility, in the flrong Hold of Arbitrary Power. Poland has atprefent the Name of Republick, and it is one of the Ariflocratick Form 5 but it is well known, that the little Finger of this Government, is heavier than the Loins of Arbitrary Power in moft Nations.
The The The People are not only Politically, but Perfonally Slaves, and treated with the utmoft Indignity. The Republick of Venice is fomewhat more moderate $ yet even here, fo heavy is the Ariftocratick Yoke, that the Nobles have been obliged to enervate the Spirit of their Subje&s by every Sort of Debauchery; they have denied them the Liberty of Reafon, and have recompenfed it, by not only allow- ing, but encouraging them to corrupt themfclves in the moft fcandalous Manner. They confider their Subje&s, as the Farmer does the Hog he keeps to feaft upon. He holds him faft in his Stye, but allows him to wallow as much as he pleafes in his beloved Filth and Gluttony. Sofcandaloufly debauched a People as that of Venice^ is to be met with no where elfe. High, Low, Men, Women, Clergy, and Laity, are all alike. The Ruling Nobility are no lefs afraid of one another, than they are of the People; and for that Reafon, politi- cally enervate their own Body by the fame H 2 effeminate H 2 effeminate effeminate Luxury, by which they cor- rupt their Subjects. They are impo verifi- ed by every means which can be invented; and they are kept in a perpetual Terror by the Horrors of a State Inquifition; here you fee a People deprived of all rational Freedom, and tyrannized over by about two Thoufand Men \ and yet this Body of two Thoufand, are fo far from enjoy- ing any Liberty by the Subjection of the reft, that they are in an infinitely feverer State of Slavery; they make themfelves the moft degenerate, and unhappy of Mankind, for no other Purpofe than that they may the more effe&ualiy contribute to the Mifery of an whole Nation, In ihort, the regular and methodical Proceed- ings of an Ari/locracyy are more intolerable ■ than the very Exceffes of a Defpotifm> and in general, much further from any Remedy, Thus, my Lord, we have purfued Jtriihcracy through it's whole Progrefs; we have fcta the Seeds, the Growth, and the the Fruit. It could boaft none of the AcU vantages of a Defpotifm, miferable as thofe Advantages were, and it was overloaded with an Exuberance of Mifchiefs, unknown even to Defpotifm itfelf. In Effecft, it is no more than a diforderly Tyranny. This Form therefore could be little approved, even in Speculation, by thofe who were capable of thinking, and could be lefs born in Practice by any who were capa- ble of feeling. However, the fruitful Policy of Man was not yet exhaufted. He had yet another Farthing Candle to fupply the Deficiencies of the Sun. This was the third Form, known by Political Writers under the Name of Democracy. Here the People tranfadted all Publick Bufinefs, or the greater Part of it, in their own Perfons: their Laws were made by themfelves, and upon any Failure of Duty, their Officers were accountable to themfelves, and to them only. In all appearance, they had fecured by this Method the Advantages of Order and good Government, without paying paying paying their Liberty for the Purchafe. Now, my Lord, we are come to the Mafter-piece of Grecian Refinement, and Roman Solidity, a Popular Government. The earlieftand moft celebrated Republick of this Model, was that of Athens. It was conftru&ed by no lefs an Artift, than the celebrated Poet and Philofopher, Solon. But no fooner was this Political Veflcl launched from the Stocks, than it over- fet, even in the Life-time of the Builder. A Tyranny immediately fupervened 5 not by a foreign Conqueft, not by Accident, but by the very Nature and Confutation of a Democracy. An artful Man became popular, the People had Power in their hands, and they devolved a confiderable Share of their Power upon their Favourite; and the only ufe he made of this Power, was, to plunge thofe who gave it into Slavery. Accident reftored their Liberty, and the fame good Fortune produced Men of uncommon Abilities and uncommon Virtues amongft them. But thefc Abilities were were were fuffered to be of little Service either to their Pofleffors or to the State. Some they banifhed, others they imprifonsd, and all they treated with various Ckcum- ftances of the moft fhameful Ingratitude. Republicks have many things in the Spirit of abfolute Monarchy, but none more than this; a fhining Merit is ever hated or fufpe&ed in a Popular Affembly, as well as in a Court -> and all Services done the State, are looked upon as dangerous to the Rulers, whether Sultans or Senators. The Ojlracijm at Athens was built upon this Principle. The giddy People whom we- have now under Conlideration, being elated with fome Flafhes of Succefs, which they owed to nothing lefs than any Merit of their own, began to tyrannize over their Equals, who had affociated with them for their common Defence. With their Prudence they renounced all Appear- ance of Juflice. They entered into Wars rafhly and wantonly. If they were un- fuccefsful, inflead of growing wifer by their Mif- Mif- Misfortune, they threw the whole Blame of their own Mifcondudt on the Minifters who had advifed, and the Generals who had conduced thofe Wars; until by De- grees they had cut off all who could ferve them in their Councils or their Battles. If at any time thefe Wars had an happier Iffue, it was no lefs difficult to deal with them on account of their Pride and Info- knee. Furious in their Adverfity, ty- rannical in their Succeffes, a Commander had more trouble to concert his Defence before the People, than to plan the Ope- rations of the Campaign. It was frequent enough for a General, under the horrid Defpotifm of the Roman Emperors, to be ill received in Proportion to the Greatnefs of his Services. Agricola is a ftrong In- fiance of this. No Man had done greater things, nor with an honefler Ambition. Yet on his Return to Court, he was obliged to enter Rome with all the Secrecy of a Criminal. He wTent to the Palace, not like a victorious Commander who had merited merited merited and might demand the greateft Rewards, but like an Offender who had come to fupplicate a Pardon for his Crimes. His Reception was anfwerable: " Brevi " ofculo, & nullo fermone except us y turba u firvientium immiftuseji" Yet in that word Seafon of this worft of monarchical * Tyrannies, Modefty, Difcretion, and a Coolnefs of Temper, formed fome Kind of Security even for the higheft Merit. But at Athens, the niceft and beft ftudied Behaviour was not a fufficient Guard for a Man of great Capacity. Some of their braveft Commanders were obliged to fly their Country, fome to enter into the Ser- vice of it's Enemies, rather than abide a popular Determination on their Condudt, left, as one of them faid, their Giddinefs might make the People condemn where they meant to acquit; to throw in a black Bean, even when they intended a white one.
* Sciant quibus moris illicita mifari, poffe ctlam fub malis principibus magnos viros, &c. Sec 42 to the End of it.
I The The Athenians made a very rapid Pro- grefs to the mod enormous Excefles. The People under no Reftraint foon grew dif- folute, luxurious, and idle. They re- nounced all Labour, and began to fubfift themfelves from the publick Revenues. They loft all Concern for their common Honour or Safety, and could bear no Ad- vice that tended to reform them. At this Time Truth became offenfive to thofe Lords the People, and moft highly dan- gerous to the Speaker. The Orators no longer afcended the Roflrum, but to cor- rupt them further with the moft fulfome Adulation. Thefe Orators were all bribed by foreign Princes on the one Side or the other. And befides it's own Parties, in this City there were Parties, and avowed ones too, for the Perjians, Spartans and Macedonians^ fupported each of them by one or more? Demagogues penfioned and bribed to this iniquitous Service. The People, forgetful of all Virtue and publick Spirit, and intoxicated with the Flatteries of of of their Orators (thefe Courtiers of Repub- licks, and endowed with the diftinguifh- ing Chara&ers of all other Courtiers) this People, I fay, at laft arrived at that Pitch of Madnefs, that they coolly and delibe- rately, by an exprefs Law, made it capital for any Man to propofe an Application of the immenfe Sums fquandered in publick Shows, even to the moft neceffary Pur- pofes of the State. When you fee the People of this Republick banifhing or murdering their beft and ableft Citizens, diffipating the publick Treafure with the moft fenfelefs Extravagance, and fpending their whole Time, as Spectators or Arbors, in playing, fidling, dancing and finging, does it not, my Lord, ftrike your Imagi- nation with the Image of a Sort of a com- plex Nero? And does it not ftrike you with the greater Horror, when you obferve, not one Man only, but a whole City, grown drunk with Pride and Power, running with a Rage of Folly into the fame mean and fenfelefs Debauchery and Extrava- I 2 gance?