Discourses concerning government by Algernon Sidney ... ; published from an original manuscript of the author.

Title

Discourses concerning government by Algernon Sidney ... ; published from an original manuscript of the author.

Author

Sidney, Algernon, 1622-1683.

Publication

London :: Printed, and are to be sold by the booksellers of London and Westminster,

1698.

Rights/Permissions

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Subject terms

Filmer, Robert, -- Sir, d. 1653. -- Patriarcha.

Allegiance.

Link to this Item

https://name.umdl.umich.edu/a60214.0001.001 content_copy

Cite this Item

"Discourses concerning government by Algernon Sidney ... ; published from an original manuscript of the author." In the digital collection Early English Books Online. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/a60214.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed June 14, 2024. content_copy

Contents

• title page
• THE PREFACE.
• DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT.
  • CHAP. I.
    • SECTION I. INTRODUCTION.
    • SECT. II. The common Notions of Liberty are not from School Divines, but from Nature.
    • SECT. III. Implicit Faith belongs to Fools, and Truth is comprehended by exa∣mining Principles.
    • SECT. IV. The Rights of particular Nations cannot subsist, if General Prin∣ciples contrary to them are received as true.
    • SECT. V. To depend upon the Will of a Man is Slavery.
    • SECT. VI. God leaves to Man the choice of Forms in Government; and those who constitute one Form, may abrogate it.
    • SECT. VII. Abraham and the Patriarchs were not Kings.
    • SECT. VIII. Nimrod was the first King, during the Life of Chush, Cham, Shem, and Noah.
    • SECT. IX. The Power of a Father belongs only to a Father.
    • SECT. X. Such as enter into Society, must in some degree diminish their Liberty.
    • SECT. XI. No Man comes to command many, unless by Consent or by Force.
    • SECT. XII. The pretended paternal Right is divisible or indivisible: if divi∣sible, 'tis extinguished; if indivisible, universal.
    • SECT. XIII. There was no shadow of a paternal Kingdom amongst the Hebrews, nor precept for it.
    • SECT. XIV. If the paternal Right had included Dominion, and was to be trans∣ferred to a single Heir, it must perish if he were not known; and could be applied to no other person.
    • SECT. XVI. The Antients chose those to be Kings, who excelled in the Vertues that are most beneficial to Civil Societies.
    • SECT. XVII. 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.
    • SECT. XVIII. If a right of Dominion were esteemed Hereditary according to the Law of Nature, a multitude of destructive and inextricable Controversies would thereupon arise.
    • SECT. XIX. Kings cannot confer the right of Father upon Princes, nor Princes upon Kings.
    • SECT. XX. All just Magistratical Power is from the People.
  • CHAP. II.
    • SECT. I. That 'tis natural for Nations to govern, or to chuse Governors; and that Vertue only gives a natural preference of one man above another, or reason why one should be chosen rather than another.
    • SECT. II. Every Man that hath Children, hath the right of a Father, and is capable of preferment in a Society composed of many.
    • SECT. III. Government is not instituted for the good of the Governor, but of the Governed; and Power is not an Advantage, but a Burden.
    • SECT. IV. The Paternal Right devolves to, and is inherited by all the Children.
    • SECT. V. Freemen join together and frame greater or lesser Societies, and give such Forms to them as best please themselves.
    • SECT. VI. They who have a right of chusing a King, have the right of making a King.
    • SECT. VII. The Laws of every Nation are the measure of Migistratical Power.
    • SECT. VIII. There is no natural propensity in Man or Beast to Monarchy.
    • SECT. IX. The Government instituted by God over the Israelites was Aristocratical.
    • SECT. X. Aristotle was not simply for Monarchy or against Popular Go∣vernment; but approved or disapproved of either according to circumstances.
    • SECT. XI. Liberty produceth Vertue, Order and Stability: Slavery is accom∣panied with Vice, Weakness and Misery.
    • SECT. XII The Glory, Vertue, and Power of the Romans began and ended with their Liberty.
    • SECT. XIII. There is no disorder or prejudice in changing the name or number of Magistrates, whilst the root and principle of their Power continues intire.
    • SECT. XIV. No Sedition was hurtful to Rome, till through their Prosperity some men gained a Power above the Laws.
    • SECT. XV. The Empire of Rome perpetually decay'd when it fell into the hands of one Man.
    • SECT. XVI. The best Governments of the World have bin composed of Monarchy, Aristocracy, and Democracy.
    • SECT. XVII. Good Governments admit of Changes in the Superstructures, whilst the Foundations remain unchangeable.
    • SECT. XVIII. Xenophon in blaming the Disorders of Democracies, favours Aristocracies, not Monarchies.
    • SECT. XIX. That Corruption and Venality which is natural to Courts, is seldom found in Popular Governments.
    • SECT. XX. Man's natural love to Liberty is temper'd by Reason, which originally is his Nature.
    • SECT. XXI. Mixed and Popular Governments preserve Peace, and manage VVars, better than Absolute Monarchies.
    • SECT. XXII. Commonwealths seek Peace or VVar according to the Variety of their Constitutions.
    • SECT. XXIII. That is the best Government, which best provides for War.
    • SECT. XXIV. Popular Governments are less subject to Civil Disorders than Mo∣narchies; manage them more ably, and more easily recover out of them.
    • SECT. XXV. Courts are more subject to Venality and Corruption than Popular Governments.
    • SECT. XXVI. Civil Tumults and Wars are not the greatest Evils that befal Nations.
    • SECT. XXVII. The Mischiefs and Cruelties proceeding from Tyranny are greater than any that can come from Popular or mixed Governments.
    • SECT. XXVIII. Men living under Popular or Mix'd Governments, are more care∣ful of the publick Good, than in Absolute Monarchies.
    • SECT. XXIX. There is no assurance that the Distempers of a State shall be cured by the Wisdom of a Prince.
    • SECT. XXX. A Monarchy cannot be well regulated, unless the Powers of the Monarch are limited by Law.
    • SECT. XXXI. The Liberties of Nations are from God and Nature, not from Kings.
    • SECT. XXXII. The Contracts made between Magistrates, and the Nations that created them, were real, solemn, and obligatory.
  • CHAP. III.
    • SECT. I. 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.
    • SECT. II. The Kings of Israel and Judah were under a Law not safe∣ly to be transgress'd.
    • SECT. III. Samuel did not describe to the Israelites the glory of a free Mo∣narchy; but the Evils the People should suffer, that he might divert them from desiring a King.
    • SECT. IV. No People can be obliged to suffer from their Kings what they have not a right to do.
    • SECT. V. 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.
    • SECT. VI. 'Tis not good for such Nations as will have Kings, to suffer them to be glorious, powerful, or abounding in Riches.
    • S E C T. VII. 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.
    • SECT. VIII. Under the name of Tribute no more is understood than what the Law of each Nation gives to the supreme Magistrate for the de∣fraying of publick Charges; to which the Customs of the Romans, or sufferings of the Jews have no relation.
    • SECT. IX. Our own Laws confirm to us the enjoyment of our native Rights.
    • SECT. X. The words of St. Paul enjoying obedience to higher Powers, favour all sorts of Governments no less than Monarchy.
    • SECT. XI. That which is not just, is not Law; and that which is not Law, ought not to be obeyed.
    • SECT. XII. The Right and Power of a Magistrate depends upon his Insti∣tution, not upon his Name.
    • SECT. XIII. Laws were made to direct and instruct Magistrates, and, if they will not be directed, to restrain them.
    • SECT. XIV. Laws are not made by Kings, not because they are busied in great∣er matters than doing Justice, but because Nations will be go∣verned by Rule, and not Arbitrarily.
    • SECT. XV. A general presumption that Kings will govern well, is not a sufficient security to the People.
    • SECT. XVI. The observation of the Laws of Nature is absurdly expected from Tyrants, who set themselves up against all Laws: and he that subjects Kings to no other Law than what is common to Tyrants, destroys their being.
    • SECT. XVII. Kings cannot be the Interpreters of the Oaths they take.
    • SECT. XVIII. The next in blood to deceased Kings cannot generally be said to be Kings till they are crowned.
    • SECT. XIX. The greatest Enemy of a just Magistrate is he who endeavours to invalidate the Contract between him and the People, or to cor∣rupt their Manners.
    • SECT. XX. Unjust Commands are not to be obey'd; and no man is obliged to suffer for not obeying such as are against Law.
    • S E C T. XXI. 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.
    • SECT. XXII. The rigour of the Law is to be temper'd by men of known integri∣ty and judgment, and not by the Prince who may be ignorant or vicious.
    • SECT. XXIII. Aristotle proves, that no man is to be entrusted with an absolute Power, by shewing that no one knows how to execute it, but such a man as is not to be found.
    • SECT. XXIV. The power of Augustus Cesar was not given, but usurped.
    • SECT. XXV. The Regal Power was not the first in this Nation; nor necessarily to be continued, tho it had bin the first.
    • SECT. XXVI. Tho the King may be entrusted with the power of chusing Judges, yet that by which they act is from the Law.
    • SECT. XXVII. 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.
    • SECT. XXVIII. The English Nation has always bin governed by it self or its Representatives.
    • SECT. XXIX. The King was never Master of the Soil.
    • SECT. XXX. Henry the First was King of England by as good a Title as any of his Predecessors or Successors.
    • SECT. XXXI. Free Nations have a right of meeting, when and where they please, unless they deprive themselves of it.
    • SECT. XXXII. 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.
    • SECT. XXXIII. The Liberty of a People is the gift of God and Nature.
    • SECT. XXXIV. No Veneration paid, or Honor conferr'd upon a just and lawful Magistrate, can diminish the Liberty of a Nation.
    • SECT. XXXV. The Authority given by our Law to the Acts performed by a King de facto, detract nothing from the peoples right of creating whom they please.
    • SECT. XXXVI. The general revolt of a Nation cannot be called a Rebellion.
    • SECT. XXXVII. The English Government was not ill constituted, the defects more lately observed proceeding from the change of manners, and corruption of the times.
    • SECT. XXXVIII. 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.
    • SECT. XXXIX. Those Kings only are heads of the People, who are good, wise, and seek to advance no Interest but that of the Publick.
    • SECT. XL. Good Laws prescribe easy and safe Remedies against the Evils pro∣ceeding from the vices or infirmities of the Magistrate; and when they fail, they must be supplied.
    • SECT. XLI. The People for whom and by whom the Magistrate is created, can only judg whether he rightly perform his Office or not.
    • SECT. XLII. The Person that wears the Crown cannot determine the Affairs which the Law refers to the King.
    • SECT. XLIII. Proclamations are not Laws
    • SECT. XLIV. No People that is not free can substitute Delegates.
    • SECT. XLV. 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.
    • SECT. XLVI. The coercive power of the Law proceeds from the Authority of Parliament.
• THE TABLE.
• ERRATA.