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<DATE>2009-08-05</DATE>
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<NAME>Mona Logarbo</NAME>
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<ITEM>Proofed and reviewed as part of batch B090715.pdcc.</ITEM>
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<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
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<P>A COMMONVVEALTH, AND Commonvvealths-men, A&s;&s;erted and Vindicated: Wherein The Nece&s;&s;ity and Advantage of putting their Principles into &s;peedy practice, is briefly repeated; And PEACE and UNITY, Commended to the People of this Nation.</P>
<Q LANG="lat"><BIBL>Tacit. Lib. 3. Annal.</BIBL>
<P>Po&s;tquam exui aequalitas, &amp; pro mode&s;ti&acirc; ac pudore, ambitio &amp; vis in|cedebat, Proven&ecirc;re dominationes: multo&s;que apud populos aeternum man&s;crit. Quidam &s;tatim, aut po&s;tquam REGUM pertoe&s;um, LEGES maluerunt.</P></Q>
<P><HI>London,</HI> Printed for <HI>Henry Fletcher,</HI> at the three Gilt Cups in <HI>Paul</HI>'s Church-yard. 1659. <ADD>June. 28</ADD></P>
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<HEAD>A COMMONWEALTH, AND COMMONWEALTHS-MEN, A&s;&s;erted and Vindicated.</HEAD>
<P>THough in this time of general &s;cribling, and day|ly impregnating the Pre&s;s with no le&s;s &s;editious then ridiculous Pamphlets, it cannot but be thought an Act accountable to di&s;cretion, for any one of a &s;ober Spirit &amp; &s;ettled Principles to appear in Print among &s;uch lewd Company, or to offer any thing of &s;eriou&s;ne&s;s, in a way now rendered &s;o unagreeable for bu&s;ine&s;s of that nature: Yet for the better compo&s;ing &amp; &s;ettling the minds of tho&s;e who may by &s;uch and &s;o many interfering va|rieties, and &s;purious i&s;&s;ues of corrupt brains, be render|ed tottering from their foundations, either of Piety, Pru|dence or Obedience; and for the vindicating the Inte|grity and Reputations of tho&s;e, who for their Love and Loyalty to their Country, are by all means and artifice endeavoured to be rendered liable to Obloquy and Di&s;|grace, I &s;hall adventure to break that &s;ilence which Prudence might per&s;wade: And though neither the Cau&s;e now under agitation, nor the Per&s;ons acting, can with rational Men, receive any di&s;advantage from &s;uch
<PB N="2" REF="3"><!-- PDF PAGE 45 -->poor pamphleting Opponents, yet the number of the Hone&s;t and Wife being now and alwayes but &s;mall, the pre&s;ent &s;tate of Affairs, may ju&s;tly exact &s;omething of Rea&s;on and Judgement to be repeated, for the e&s;tabli&s;h|ing of Mens Minds in the Equity and Right of that Cau&s;e which is endeavoured to be made &s;o dubious, and dangerous, if not de&s;tructive.</P>
<P>That therefore a Government is nece&s;&s;ary to the con|&s;i&s;tencie of all Societies of Men, is not (notwith&s;tanding the Anarchical tendencies of &s;ome Mens Spirits) &s;o much the Di&s;pute among&s;t us, as, What &s;ort and kinde of Government is mo&s;t agreeable to the pre&s;ent &s;tate of the&s;e Nations. And the difference herein (the Parlia|ment having now freed them&s;elves from all jealou&s;ies of introducing an Oligarchy (the wor&s;t of Governments) remains onely between the Monarchi&s;ts and Common|wealths-men. The fir&s;t, receiving the &s;pecious ju&s;tifi|cation of the precedent Cu&s;tom and U&s;e of this Nation: The latter, the di&s;advantagious imputation of a Nove|li&s;m, unpracti&s;ed, and impracticable among&s;t us. In which Ca&s;e, though it be confe&s;&s;ed that Antient Laws and U&s;ages are not ea&s;ily, and upon &s;light occa&s;ions to be changed, according to that <HI>Quadrane</HI> of <HI>Pibrac,</HI>
<Q LANG="fre"><L>La ley &s;oubs qui l'e&s;tat &s;a force a pri&s;e</L>
<L>Garde la bien, pour goffe qu'elle &s;oit:</L>
<L>Le bon heur vient d'ou' ton nes' appercoit,</L>
<L>Et bien &s;ouvent de ce que lou me&s;pri&s;e.</L></Q>
<Q><L>Maintain tho&s;e Laws (however rude and plain)</L>
<L>Whereby before thy Commonwealth hath thriv'd:</L>
<L>Good Fortune oft comes by the lowe&s;t mean,</L>
<L>How, or from whence, &s;ometimes is &s;carce perceiv'd.</L></Q>
<PB N="3" REF="3"><!-- PDF PAGE 45 -->Yet it cannot likewi&s;e but be granted, that <HI>Quod recte a|lio tempore con&s;titutum e&s;t, itidem recte alio tempore pote&s;t mu|tari:</HI> That upon a mutation of the cau&s;es of things, the things them&s;elves may (nay mu&s;t) be likewi&s;e changed, and that without any imputation of Novelty. <HI>Augu|&s;tines</HI> A&s;&s;ertion being indubitably true, <HI>Id quod in tempore novum e&s;t, non e&s;t novum apud eum qui condidit tempora, &amp; &s;ine tempore habet omnia, quae &s;uis quibu&s;&abque; temporibus pro eo|rum VARIETATE di&s;tribuit:</HI> That which in the pre&s;ent time appears new to us, is not new with him who ap|pointed that time, and who before the time, compre|hends tho&s;e things which he di&s;tributes to every particu|lar time, <HI>according to its variety and change.</HI> So that we may conclude with <HI>Seneca, Non incidunt cuncta, ut puta|mus, &s;ed veniunt;</HI> Things do not &s;uddenly and newly hap|pen, as we conceive, but come in their due and appoin|ted cour&s;e. And therefore where GOD Almighty in his eternal Providence manife&s;ted to us in the pre&s;ent time, hath thought fit to change and &s;ubvert old founda|tions, and to lay new ones among&s;t us, let it not be thought Novelty in tho&s;e, who &s;till to maintain the building upright and firm, relinqui&s;h the old rotten and ob&s;olete foundations, and apply them&s;elves to the erect|ing of &s;uch agreeable &s;uper&s;tructures on tho&s;e which are now laid among&s;t us, as &s;hall be mo&s;t for the &s;afety of the people, which is the Supreme Law of all Nations.</P>
<P>But to arbitrate more clearly between the&s;e parties, I &s;hall proceed upon &s;uch undenyable principles, as re|ceive their confirmation both from Rea&s;on and Expe|rience. And of tho&s;e, this &s;hall be the Corner-&s;tone, That from the legall di&s;tribution and over-balance of pro|priety, deriveth naturally all Government. Which <HI>Ma|xime</HI> hath had &s;uch a general reception, is &s;o obvious to
<PB N="4" REF="4"><!-- PDF PAGE 46 -->every capacity, and &s;o manife&s;ted by experience, that it &s;tands not in need of any further illu&s;tration. The ca&s;e hath been learnedly and clearly deduced <HI>ab origine</HI> from the Government of Families,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Mr.</HI> J. H.</NOTE> which may be either Monarchical, or Popular, according to the balance of propriety. If one Man have 1000 <HI>l. per annum,</HI> he in &s;uch ca&s;e is ab&s;olute Monarch over his Sons and Servants, who depend &s;olely upon him, and (as hath been well &s;aid) are hung upon him by the teeth: And if (as we have too frequent examples among&s;t us) this 1000 <HI>l. per annum</HI> be &s;pent or con&s;umed, his Monarchy imme|diately thereupon fails, and he him&s;elf is reduced to the condition of a Servant, and of equality with tho&s;e who formerly &s;erved him&s;elf. Whereby it appears, that the foundation or balance of his Empire was in the 1000 <HI>l. per annum,</HI> and not otherwi&s;e. But now, if &s;ix or ten men having 300 <HI>l. per annum</HI> apiece, agree to dwell together as one Family, not any one of the&s;e can pretend to be Lord and Ma&s;ter of the &s;ame; But they all agree together upon &s;uch Orders, unto which they con&s;ent equally to &s;ubmit: And the parity of their E&s;tates, creating in them a parity of minds and condi|tions, (in which ca&s;e the old Rules hold, <HI>par in parem non habet imperium, &amp; Aequalibus velle imperare e&s;t contra na|turam &s;uperbire</HI>) they naturally contract a common equal intere&s;t, and devolve into the State of a free Com|monwealth, and are only capable of a Government of Laws and Orders, and not of one or more men. In ei|ther of which ca&s;es, being thus put, it is referred to every or any capacity, whether without violence, or mo|ring of propriety, a Popular family can be made of the Monarchical, or a Monarchical family of the popular. And we know, a Family is but a &s;maller &s;ociety or Na|tion;
<PB N="5" REF="4"><!-- PDF PAGE 46 -->and a Nation, but a greater &s;ociety or Family.</P>
<P>This therefore being premi&s;ed as granted; and it being likewi&s;e yielded by me, that the over-balance of propriety in the&s;e Nations, as it lately was in the King and Nobility, doth naturally produce either an Ari&s;to|cracy, or a mixt Monarchy, as by a &s;ufficient experience hath been manife&s;t among&s;t us, And which (if the ba|lance had &s;o &s;till remained) we might with &s;ome hap|pine&s;s yet have enjoyed; It remains for the determining the que&s;tion, only to &s;hew that the balance is altered from the former Monarchical, and now remains in a popular &s;cale: And then, according to that known rule, <HI>Restran&s;it cum &s;u&acirc; cau&s;&acirc;,</HI> It will nece&s;&s;arily follow, that the balance, the cau&s;e of Government, being changed; the Government it &s;elf, as the effect, mu&s;t follow the balance it's cau&s;e. And that, and how the Engli&s;h Balance hath been and is varied and changed, is mo&s;t politely and politiquely demon&s;trated by the Excellent Mr. <HI>Harrington</HI> (who&s;e writings, if they were received and con&s;idered, with that re&s;pect, candour and inge|nuity, which the Author and they de&s;erve from this Na|tion, they would &s;oon give a conviction to the mo&s;t &s;tre|nuous opponents of this cau&s;e.) I &s;hall need therefore only to touch the matter of fact, and (with him) to af|firm, that the Lands now in hold of the people, over|balance tho&s;e in the hold of the Nobility at lea&s;t nine in ten; whereby it is evident that we now are upon a Po|pular balance, down-weight; and being &s;o, cannot ad|mit of any other form of Government then &s;uch as is Popular, without violence and force offered to proprie|ty: which once rightly perceived and under&s;tood, would I per&s;wade my &s;elf, &s;oon put a &s;top to the proceedings of the mo&s;t violent A&s;&s;ertors of Monarchy, and <HI>rebus lo|quentibus,
<PB N="6" REF="5"><!-- PDF PAGE 47 -->nobis tacentibus,</HI> convince them, That Mr. <HI>Wrens</HI> robu&s;tious Arguments, to alter and &s;uit the Balance to the Government, and not the Government to the Ba|lance, whereby, he &s;aith, he hath at once inverted the aim, and overturned the frame of the whole Common|wealth of <HI>Oceana,</HI> is but bad Logick, and would prove wor&s;e Policy; and which (as he truly &s;aith) would real|ly overturn and de&s;troy the whole frame of this flouri|&s;hing Nation.</P>
<P>The nece&s;&s;ity of a Commonwealth being now evin|ced, and that we are forced upon that form of Govern|ment; It might be thought fit likewi&s;e to be &s;hewn, that this nece&s;&s;ity is no way hazardous, but advantagious to us; and that we are not con&s;trained to that which is hurtful, but even to the embracement of our own hap|pine&s;s: Which though I deny not, but that it may be, and hath been had under other Governments, yet it is and hath been in a more eminent and grateful man|ner, under that of a Commonwealth. But the ad|vantage of this Government is &s;o cleerly already &s;et forth to publique con&s;ideration,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>By</HI> I. H.</NOTE> that there is not any thing which may remain further to be de&s;ired therein.</P>
<P>It may &s;uffice that we but take notice, that the nature and effect of this Government is &s;o well known to be Freedom, that it is thereby de&s;cribed; and in all Wri|ters, the mo&s;t frequent di&s;tingui&s;hing terms between Monarchy and a Commonwealth, are <HI>Servitus</HI> and <HI>Li|bertas;</HI> as one &s;peaking of the incon&s;tancy of mens minds,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Clapmar.</HI> &amp; <HI>Tac.</HI> in vita Agric. di|cit, <Q LANG="lat">Princi|patum ac liberta|tem res e&s;&s;e di&s;&s;ociabi|les.</Q></NOTE> under either the one or the other, &s;aith, <HI>Qui in &s;ervitute &s;unt libertatem exoptant, qui in libertate &s;ervitutem.</HI> And we know that Liberty (in what re&s;pect &s;oever) is the mo&s;t grateful and de&s;irable thing, this world either doth or can afford us; and is that which hath been alwayes in|grafted
<PB N="7" REF="5"><!-- PDF PAGE 47 -->in a mo&s;t &s;pecial manner, in the hearts and minds of this Nation, of whom, even whil&s;t the name (though not the nature) of Liberty was &s;carce known to them, <HI>Tacitus</HI> thus relates: <HI>Ip&s;i Britanni dilectum, ac tri|buta &amp; injuncta imperii munera, impigre obeunt, &s;i injuriae ab|&s;int, has aegre tolerant, jam domiti ut pareant, nondum ut &s;er|viant.</HI></P>
<P>And now I cannot but enter into an admiration of the waywardne&s;s of our people of this Age, who are &s;o fa&s;t and wilfully fettered to their old U&s;ages and Cu|&s;toms, that though they cannot retain, yet will they not be per&s;waded to part with them; being of his froward humour in the Poet:</P>
<Q LANG="lat">Nec po&s;&s;um tecum vivere, nec &s;ine te.</Q>
<P>But in&s;tead of endeavouring and applying them&s;elves to the advancement of &s;uch a &s;ettlement as the nation in the pre&s;ent &s;tate of things is capable of, they e&s;tuate and torment them&s;elves with repining and di&s;&s;atisfacti|on at the Providence and Prudence of GOD, and &s;eem rather de&s;irous to ru&s;h into Anarchy, or like the bea&s;t into the Battle, then to yeild their compliance or a&s;&s;i&s;t|ance to the building of agreeable Super&s;tructures upon that Ba&s;is of Government which even GOD and Nature have laid among&s;t us. Nay, &s;uch is the temper of the&s;e times, that tho&s;e Per&s;ons who are both prudent in under|&s;tanding of, and faithful in acting for the intere&s;t &amp; &s;et|tlement of their Country, are forced to complain, That having offered ayd at this lo&s;s, they have e&s;caped well if they be &s;corned, and not ruined, by their ungrateful Country, who&s;e Liberty whil&s;t they indeavour to pro|cure, they thereby indanger their own.</P>
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<Q LANG="lat"><L>&mdash;Pudet haec approbria nobis</L>
<L>Et dici potui&s;&s;e, &amp; non potui&s;&s;e refelli.</L></Q>
<P>That this hath been, and &s;till is the temper of many among&s;t us, who are guided more by Zeal then Kow|ledge, is more apparent then that it &s;hould need to be &s;hewn; and &s;o much a crime, as that it cannot receive the palliation of any other excu&s;e, then that whereby <HI>St. Paul</HI> extenuates his per&s;ecuting, <HI>It is done out of Ignorance.</HI> For the removing therefore of the Cau&s;e, and con&s;e|quently the Di&s;ea&s;e; I cannot think of any more whole&s;ome <HI>Recipe</HI>'s then the&s;e which follow:
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. That Mr. <HI>Harringtons</HI> Writings be diligently and &s;eriou&s;ly read and peru&s;ed.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. That before they be taken in hand, the Reader lay a&s;ide all prejudicate thoughts and opinions, concerning either the Author or them; but yeild him&s;elf up to be led by them, if he finde in them rea&s;on &s;ufficient to do it.</ITEM>
<ITEM>3. That afterwards (&s;ince <HI>oppo&s;ita juxta&s;e po&s;it a clarius illuce&s;cunt</HI>) Mr. <HI>Wren</HI> be likewi&s;e read&punc; And then both together being laid in the Balance of Rea&s;on and Judge|ment, the Readers re&s;titution to a &s;ound mind concern|ing a Commonwealth will be expected.</ITEM>
</LIST></P>
<P>In the mean time, let us be a&s;&s;ured, That Di&s;traction and War, wherein is the ab&s;ence of all Government, is infinitely more noxious then the e&s;tabli&s;hment of the wor&s;t of Governments (were &s;uch a one intended to be impo&s;ed upon us) can po&s;&s;ibly be. And though there be no great cau&s;e either to doubt or fear our being redu|ced into &s;uch a &s;tate, yet the frequent Births and pub|like
<PB N="9" REF="6"><!-- PDF PAGE 48 -->expo&s;ing of the many late pe&s;tilent Libels, being the i&s;&s;ues of weak corrupted Judgements, and di&s;conten|ted Mindes, cannot but be looked upon as tendencies and excitements thereunto. It onely remains therefore that we be all per&s;waded to a free and voluntary, or at lea&s;t, an <HI>Acquie&s;cent</HI> &s;ubmi&s;&s;ion and obedience to the pre|&s;ent Providence and Power manife&s;ted and &s;et up a|mong&s;t us, and in peace and patience wait the re&s;ult of their con&s;ultations and actions, which they have &s;olemn|ly promi&s;ed and engaged &s;hall be for our pre&s;ervation in our Liberties, as Men and Chri&s;tians, and for the &s;et|ling of us upon the &s;olid and &s;ure Foundation of a Free and Equal Commonwealth; and of their performance whereof, we have not as yet had, and with much confi|dence per&s;wade our &s;elves we &s;hall not at any time have any cau&s;e to doubt. I conclude with that Ob&s;ervation of <HI>Tacitus,</HI> That it was onely our di&s;-union that formerly rendered us &s;ubject to the conque&s;t of the Romans; and for a farewel, give you his occa&s;ional con&s;ideration thereupon:</P>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q LANG="lat">Nec aliud adver&s;us validi&s;simas gentes pro no|bis utilius quam quod in commune non con&s;ulunt, Ita dum &s;inguli pugnant, Univer&s;i vincuntur.</Q>
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<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
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