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World, with greater Wisdom and more Uniformity. But the domestic Economy of these two States was nearly or altogether the fame. An internal Diffenfion conftantly tore to Pieces the Bowels of the Roman Commonwealth. You find the fame Confufion, the fame Factions which fubfifted at Athens, the fame Tumults, the fame Revolutions, and in fine, the fame Slavery: If, perhaps, their former Condition did not deferve that Name altogether as well. All other Republics were of the fame Character. Florence was a Tranfcript of Athens. And the modern Republics, as they approach more or less to the Democratic Form, partake more or lefs of the Nature of those which I have defcribed.

We are now at the Clofe of our Review of the three fimple Forms of artificial Society, and we have fhewn them, however they may differ in Name, or in fome flight Circumstances, to be all alike in Effect; in Effect, to be all Tyrannies. But suppose we were inclined to make the most ample Conceffions; let us concede Athens, Rome, Carthage, and two or three more of the antient, and as many of the modern Commonwealths, to have been, or to be, free and happy, and to owe their Freedom and Happinefs to their political Conftitution: Yet allowing all this, what Defence does this make for artificial Society in general, that these inconfiderable Spots of the Globe have for fome fhort Space of Time stood as Exceptions to a Charge fo general? But when we call these Governments free, or concede that their Citizens were happier than those which lived under

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different Forms, it is merely ex abundanti. For we fhould be greatly mistaken, if we really thought that the Majority of the People, which filled these Cities, enjoyed even that nominal political Freedom of which I have fpoken fo much already. In reality, they had no Part of it. In Athens there were usually from ten to thirty thousand Freemen : This was the utmost. But the Slaves ufually amounted to four hundred thoufand, and fometimes to a great many more. The Freemen of Sparta and Rome were not more numerous in Proportion to those whom they held in a Slavery, even more terrible than the Athenian. Therefore state the matter fairly: The free States never formed, though they were taken all together, the thousandth Part of the habitable Globe; the Freemen in these States were never the twentieth Part of the People, and the Time they fubfifted is fcarce any thing in that immenfe Ocean of Duration in which Time and Slavery are fo nearly commenfurate. Therefore call these free States, or popular Governments, or what you please; when we confider the Majority of their Inhabitants, and regard the natural Rights of Mankind, they must appear, in Reality and Truth, no better than pitiful and oppreffive Oligarchies.

After so fair an Examen, wherein nothing has been exaggerated; no Fact produced which cannot be proved, and none which has been produced in any wife forced or ftrained, while Thoufands have, for Brevity, been omitted; after fo candid a Dif cuffon in all Refpects; what Slave so paffive, what E 2 Bigot

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Bigot fo blind, what Enthusiast so headlong, what Politician fo hardened, as to stand up in Defence of a Syftem calculated for a Curfe to Mankind? A Curfe under which they smart and groan to this Hour, without thoroughly knowing the Nature of the Disease, and wanting Understanding or Courage to apply the Remedy.

I need not excufe myself to your Lordship, nor, I think, to any honest Man, for the Zeal I have fhewn in this Caufe; for it is an honeft Zeal, and in a good Caufe. I have defended Natural Religion against a Confederacy of Atheists and Divines. I now plead for Natural Society againft Politicians, and for Natural Reason against all three. When the World is in a fitter Temper than it is at prefent to hear Truth, or when I fhall be more indifferent about its Temper; my Thoughts may become more public. In the mean Time, let them repofe in my own Bofom, and in the Bofoms of such Men as are fit to be initiated in the fober Myfteries of Truth. and Reafon. My Antagonists have already done as much as I could defire. Parties in Religion and Politics make fufficient Discoveries concerning each other, to give a fober Man a proper Caution against them all. The Monarchic, Ariftocratical, and Popular Partizans have been jointly laying their Axes to the Root of all Government, and have in their Turns proved each other abfurd and inconvenient. In vain you tell me that Artificial Government is good, but that I fall out only with the Abuse. The Thing! the Thing itself is the Abuse! Observe, my

Lord,

Lord, I pray you, that grand Error upon which all artificial legislative Power is founded. It was obferved, that Men had ungovernable Paffions, which made it necessary to guard against the Violence they might offer to each other. They appointed Governors over them for this Reason; but a worse and more perplexing Difficulty arifes, how to be defended against the Governors? Quis cuftodiet ipfos cuftodes? In vain they change from a fingle Perfon to a few. Thefe few have the Paffions of the one, and they unite to ftrengthen themselves, and to fecure the Gratification of their lawless Paffions at the Expence of the general Good. In vain do we fly to the Many. The Cafe is worse; the Paffions are less under the Government of Reason, they are augmented by the Contagion, and defended a gainft all Attacks by their Multitude,

I have purposely avoided the mention of the mixed Form of Government, for Reasons that will be very obvious to your Lordship. But my Caution can avail me but little, You will not fail to urge it against me in favour of Political Society. You will not fail to fhew how the Errors of the feveral fimple Modes are corrected by a Mixture of all of them, and a proper Ballance of the feveral Powers in fuch a State. I confefs, my Lord, that this has been long a darling Mistake of my own; and that of all the Sacrifices I have made to Truth, this has been by far the greatest. When I confefs that I think this Notion a Mistake, I know to whom I am fpeaking

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fpeaking, for I'am fatisfied that Reasons are like Liquors, and there are some of such a Nature as none but ftrong Heads can bear. There are few with whom I can communicate fo freely as with Pope. Rut Pope cannot bear every Truth. He has a Timidity which hinders the full Exertion of his Faculties, almost as effectually as Bigotry cramps those of the general Herd of Mankind. But whoever is a genuine Follower of Truth, keeps his Eyes fteady upon his Guide, indifferent whither he is led, provided that she is the Leader. And, my Lord, if it be properly confidered, it were infinitely better to remain poffeffed by the whole Legion of vulgar Miftakes than to reject fome, and at the fame time to retain a Fondnefs for others altogether as abfurd and irrational. The firft has at leaft Confiftency, that makes a Man, however erroneously, uniform at leaft; but the latter way of proceeding is such an inconfiftent Chimera and Jumble of Philosophy and vulgar Prejudice, that hardly any thing more ridiculous can be conceived. Let us therefore freely, and without Fear or Prejudice, examine this laft Contrivance of Policy. And without confidering how near the Quick our Instruments may come, let us fearch it to the Bottom,

First then, all Men are agreed, that this Junction of Regal, Ariftocratick, and Popular Power, muft form a very complex, nice, and intricate Machine, which, being composed of such a Variety of Parts, with fuch oppofite Tendencies and Movements, it

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