John Dryden - Delphi Poets Series

by John Dryden

  The strange illegal Votes declaring several eminent persons to be Enemies to the King and Kingdom, are not so strange, he says, but very justifiable. I hope he does not mean, that illegal Votes are now not strange in the House of Commons: But observe the reason which he gives: for the House of Commons had before address’d for their removal from about the King. It was his business to have prov’d, that an Address of the House of Commons, without Process, order of Law, hearing any Defence, or offering any proof against them is sufficient ground to remove any person from the King: But instead of this he only proves, that former Addresses have been made, Which no body can deny. When he has throughly settled this important point, that Addresses have certainly been made, instead of an Argument to back it, he only thinks, that one may affirm by Law, That the King ought to have no person about him, who has the misfortune of such a Vote. But this is too ridiculous to require an Answer. They who will have a thing done, and give no reason for it, assume to themselves a manifest Arbitrary Power. Now this Power cannot be in the Representatives, if it be not in the People: or if it be in them, the People is absolute. But since he wholly thinks it, let him injoy the privilege of every Free Born Subject, to have the Bell clinck to him what he imagines.

  Well; all this while he has been in pain about laying his Egg: at the last we shall have him cackle.

  If the House of Commons declare they have just Reasons to fear, that such a person puts the King upon Arbitrary Councils, or betrays His and the Nations Interest, in such a Case, Order and Process of Law is not necessary to remove him; but the Opinion and Advice of the Nation is enough; because bare removing neither fines him, nor deprives him of Life, Liberty, or Offices, wherein State Affairs are not concern’d.

  Hitherto, he has only prov’d, according to his usual Logick, that bare removing, is but bare removing, and that to deprive a man of a Publick Office is not so much as it would be to hang him: all that possibly can be infer’d from this Argument, is only that a Vote may do a less wrong, but not a greater. Let us see how be proceeds.

  If he be not remov’d upon such Address, you allow him time to act his Villany; and the Nation runs the hazard.

  I answer, if the House have just Reasons on their side, ’tis but equitable they should declare them; for an Address in this Case is an Appeal to the King against such a man: and no Appeal is supposed to be without the Causes which induc’d it. But when they ask a Removal, and give no reason for it; they make themselves Judges of the Matter, and consequently they appeal not, but command. If they please to give their Reasons, they justifie their Complaint; for then their Address is almost in the nature of an Impeachment; and in that Case they may procure a hearing when they please. But barely to declare, that they suspect any man, without charging him with particular Articles, is almost to confess, they can find none against him. To suppose a man has time to act his Villanies, must suppose him first to be a Villain: and if they suspect him to be such, nothing more easie than to name his Crimes, and to take from him all opportunities of future mischief. But at this rate of bare addressing, any one who has a publick profitable Employment might be remov’d; for upon the private Picque of a Member he may have a party rais’d for an Address against him. And if his Majesty can no sooner reward the Services of any one who is not of their party, but they can vote him out of his Employment; it must at last follow, that none but their own party must be employ’d, and then a Vote of the House of Commons, is in effect the Government. Neither can that be call’d the Advice and Opinion of the whole Nation, by my Author’s favour, where the other two Estates, and the Soveraign are not consenting.

  ’Tis no matter, says this Gentleman; there are some things so reasonable, that they are above any written Law: and will in despite of any Power on Earth have their effect, whereof this is one.

  I love a man who deals plainly; he explicitly owns this is not Law, and yet it is reasonable; and will have its effect as if it were. See then, in the first place the written Law is laid aside: that sence is thrown open to admit reason in a larger denomination. Now that reason which is not Law, must be either Enthusiasm, or the head-strong will of a whole Nation combin’d: because in despite of any Earthly Power it will have its effect; so that, which way soever our Author takes it, he must mean Fanaticism, or Rebellion: Law grounded on reason is resolv’d into the Absolute Power of the People; and this is Ratio ultima Reipublicae.

  Furthermore; The King is a publick Person: in his private capacity, as we are told, he can only eat and drink; and perform some other acts of nature which shall be nameless. But his actings without himself, says my grave Author, are only as a King. In his politick capacity he ought not to marry, love, hate, make war, or peace, but as a King; and agreeable to the People, and their Interest he governs.

  In plain terms then, as he is a man he has nothing left to do: for the Actions which are mention’d, are those only of an Animal, or which are common to Man and Beast. And as he is a King he has as little Business, for there he is at the disposing of the People: and the only use that can be made of such a Monarch, is for an Innkeeper to let upon a Sign-Post to draw custom. But these Letters of Instruction how he should behave himself in his Kingly Office, cannot but call to mind how he was school’d and tutor’d, when the Covenanters made just such another Prince of him in Scotland. When the terrible fasting day was come, if he were sick in bed, no remedy, he must up and to Kirk; and that without a mouthful of Bread to stay his Stomach; for he fasted then in his Politick Capacity. When he was seated, no looking aside from Mr. John; not a whisper to any man, but was a disrespect to the Divine Ordinance. After the first Thunderer had spent his Lungs, no Retirement, the first is reinforc’d by a second and a third: all chosen Vessels, dieted for Preaching, and the best breath’d of the whole Country. When the Sun went down, then up went the Candles, and the fourth arises to carry on the work of the night, when that of the day was at an end.

  ’Tis true what he says, that our greatest Princes have often hearkened to the Addresses of their People, and have remov’d some persons from them; but it was when they found those Addresses reasonable themselves. But they who consult the manner of Addresses in former times, will find them to have been manag’d in the House of Commons, with all the calmness and circumspection imaginable. The Crimes were first maturely weigh’d, and the whole matter throughly winnow’d in Debates. After which, if they thought it necessary for the publick wellfare, that such a person should be remov’d, they dutifully acquainted the King with their opinion, which was often favourably heard; and their desires granted. But now the Case is quite otherwise; Either no Debate, or a very slight one precedes Addresses of that nature. But a man is run down with violent Harangues; and ’tis thought sufficient, if any member rises up, and offers that he will make out the Accusation afterwards: when things are carried in this heady manner, I suppose ’tis no sign of a Great Prince, to have any of his Servants forc’d from him. But such Addresses will insensibly grow into Presidents: you see our Author is nibbling at one already. And we know a House of Commons is always forgiving the Crescent in their Arms. If they gain a point, they never recede from it, they make sure work of every concession from the Crown, and immediately put it into the Christmass Box: from whence there is no Redemption.

  In justification of the two Votes against lending or advancing Money to the King, he falls to railing, like a Sophister in the Schools, when his Syllogisms are at an end. He arraigns the Kings private manner of living, without considering that his not being supplied has forc’d him to it. I do not take upon me to defend any former ill management of the Treasury; but, if I am not deceiv’d, the great grievance of the other party at present, is, that it is well manag’d. And, that notwithstanding nothing has been given for so many years, yet a competent provision is still made for all expences of the publick, if not so large as might be wish’d, yet at least as much as is necessary. And I can tell my Author for his farther mortification, that at present no money is furnish’d to his Majesties Occasions, at such
unconscionable Usury as he mentions. If he would have the Tables set up again, let the King be put into a condition, and then let eating and drinking flourish, according to the hearty, honest and greasie Hospitality of our Ancestors. He would have the King have recourse to Parliaments, as the only proper Supply to a King of England, for those things which the Treasury in this low Ebb cannot furnish out: but when he comes to the Conditions, on which this money is to be had, they are such, that perhaps forty in the Hundred to a Jew Banquer were not more unreasonable. In the mean time, if a Parliament will not give, and others must not lend, there is a certain story of the Dog in the Manger, which out of good manners I will not apply.

  The Vote for not prosecuting Protestant Dissenters upon the Penal Laws; which at this time is thought to be a Grievance to the Subject, a weakning of the Protestant Religion, and an Incouragement to Popery, is a matter more tenderly to be handled. But if it be true what has been commonly reported since the Plot, that Priests, Jesuits, and Friars, mingle amongst Anabaptists, Quakers, and other Sectaries, and are their Teachers, must not they be prosecuted neither? Some men would think, that before such an uniting of Protestants, a winnowing were not much amiss; for after they were once sent together to the Mill, it would be too late to divide the Grist. His Majesty is well known to be an indulgent Prince, to the Consciences of his dissenting Subjects: But whoever has seen a Paper call’d, I think, An intended Bill for uniting, &c. which lay upon the Table of every Coffee-House, and was modelling to pass the House of Commons, may have found things of such dangerous concernment to the Government, as might seem not so much intended to unite Dissenters in a Protestant Church, as to draw together all the Forces of the several Fanatick Parties, against the Church of England. And when they were encouraged by such a Vote, which they value as a Law; (for so high that Coin is now inhaunc’d) perhaps it is not unreasonable to hold the Rod over them. But for my own part, I heartily wish, that there may be no occasion for Christians to persecute each other. And since my Author speaks with some moderation, candor, and submission to his Mother Church, I shall only desire him and the dissenting Party, to make the use they ought, of the King Gracious Disposition to them, in not yet proceeding with all the violence which the penal Laws require against them. But this calm of my Author, was too happy to last long. You find him immediately transported into a storm about the business of Fitz-Harris, which occasion’d the Dissolution of the Parliament at Oxford: and accusing, according to his sawcy Custom, both his Majesty, and the House of Lords, concerning it. As for the House of Lords, they have already vindicated their own right, by throwing out the Impeachment: and sure the People of England ought to own them as the Assertors of the publick Liberty in so doing; for Process being before ordered against him at Common Law, and no particular Crime being laid to his Charge by the House of Commons, if they had admitted his Cause to be tryed before the Lordships, this would have grown a President in time, that they must have been forc’d to judge all those whom the House of Commons would thrust upon them, till at last the number of Impeachments would be so increas’d; that the Peers would have no time for any other business of the Publick: and the Highest Court of Judicature would have been reduc’d to be the Ministers of Revenge to the Commons. What then would become of our ancient Privilege to be tryed per pares? Which in process of time would be lost to us and our posterity: except a proviso were made on purpose, that this judgment might not be drawn into farther President; and that is never done, but when there is a manifest necessity of breaking rules, which here there was not. Otherwise the Commons may make Spaniels of the Lords, throw them a man, and bid them go judge, as we command a Dog to fetch and carry. But neither the Lords Reasons, nor the King first having possession of the Prisoner, signifie any thing with our Author. He will tell you the reason of the Impeachment was to bring out the Popish Plot. If Fitz-Harris really know any thing but what relates to his own Treason, he chuses a fine time of day to discover it now, when ’tis manifestly to save his Neck, that he is forc’d to make himself a greater Villain; and to charge himself with new Crimes to avoid the punishment of the old. Had he not the benefit of so many Proclamations, to have come in before, if he then knew any thing worth discovery? And was not his fortune necessitous enough at all times, to catch at an impunity, which was baited with Rewards to bribe him? ’tis not for nothing that Party has been all along so favourable to him: they are conscious to themselves of some other matters than a Popish Plot. Let him first be tryed for what he was first accus’d: if he be acquitted, his Party will be satisfied, and their strength increas’d by the known honesty of another Evidence: but if he be condemn’d, let us see what truth will come out of him, when he has Tyburn and another World before his Eyes. Then, if he confess any thing which makes against the Cause, their Excuse is ready; he died a Papist, and had a dispensation from the Pope to lie. But if they can bring him silent to the Gallows, all their favour will be, to wish him dispatch’d out of his pain, as soon as possibly he may. And in that Case they have already promis’d they will be good to his Wife, and provide for her, which would be a strong encouragement, for many a woman, to perswade her Husband to digest the Halter. This remembers me of a certain Spanish Duke, who commanding a Sea-Port-Town, set an Officer of his, underhand to rob the Merchants. His Grace you may be confident was to have the Booty, and the Fellow was assur’d if he were taken to be protected. It fell out, after some time, that he was apprehended: His Master, according to Articles, brought him off. The Rogue went again to his vocation, was the second time taken, delivered again, and so the third. At last the matter grew so notorious, that the Duke found, it would be both scandalous and difficult to protect him any longer; But the poor Malefactor sending his Wife to tell him that if he did not save him he must be hanged to morrow, and that he must confess who set him on: His Master very civilly sent him this Message; Prithee suffer thy self to be hanged this once to do me a Courtesie, and it shall be the better for thy Wife and Children.

  ‘But that which makes amends for all, says our Author, is the Kings resolution to have frequent Parliaments. Yet this, it seems, is no amends neither: for he says Parliaments are like Terms, if there be Ten in a Year, and all so short to near no Causes, they do no good.’

  I say on the other hand, If the Courts will resolve beforehand to have no Causes brought before them, but one which they know they cannot dispatch; let the Terms be never so long, they make them as insignificant as a Vacation.

  The Kings Prerogative, when and where they should be call’d, and how long they should sit, is but subservient, as our Friend tells us, to the great design of Government; and must be accommodated to it, or we are either denyed or deluded of that Protection and Justice we are born to.

  My Author is the happiest in one faculty, I ever knew. He is still advancing some new Position, which without proving, he slurs upon us for an Argument: though he knows, that Doctrines without proofs will edifie but little. That the Kings Prerogative is subservient, or in order to the ends of Government is granted him. But what strange kind of Argument is this, to prove that we are cheated of that Protection to which we are born. Our Kings have always been indued with the power of calling Parliaments, nominating the time, appointing of the Place, and Dissolving them when they thought it for the publick good: And the People have wisely consulted their own welfare in it. Suppose, for example, that there be a Jarring between the three Estates, which renders their sitting at that time Impracticable; since none of them can pretend to Judge the proceedings of the other two, the Judgment of the whole must either reside in a Superiour power, or the discord must terminate in the ruine of them all. For if one of the three incroach too far, there is so much lost in the Balance of the Estates, and so much more Arbitrary power in one; ’Tis as certain in Politiques, as in Nature; That where the Sea prevails the Land loses. If no such discord should arise, my Authors Argument is of no farther use: for where the Soveraign and Parliament agree, there can be no deluding of the People; So, that in short, his quarrel is to
the constitution of the Government.

  And we see what nettles him, That the King has learnt from the unhappy example of his Father, not to perpetuate a Parliament. But he will tell you, that they desire only a lasting Parliament, which may dispatch all causes necessary and proper for the publick: And I Answer him, that it lyes in themselves to make it so. But who shall Judge when it shall be proper to put an end to such a Parliament? there is no farther Answer left him; but only, that the Reason of things is the only Rule: for when all necessary causes are dispatch’d, then is the proper time of Dissolution. But if you mark it, this Argumentation is still running in a Circle. For the Parliament, that is the House of Commons, would constitute themselves Judges of this reason of things; and of what causes were necessary to be dispatch’d. So that my Author had as good have laid down this Position bare-fac’d, that a Parliament ought never to be Dissolved, till an House of Commons would sit no longer.

  My Author goes on scoffingly, That he has nothing to say for those angry men (he means of his own Party) whose particular Designs are disappointed; only that they might have kept their places; and that he can find no difference betwixt them who are out, and those who are put in, but that the former could have ruin’d us, and would not: and these cannot if they would.

  I am willing to let them pass as lightly as he pleases: Angry they are, and they know the Proverb. I hope I may have leave to observe transiently, that none but angry men, that is, such as hold themselves disobliged at Court, are the Pillars of his Party. And where are then the principles of Vertue, Honour and Religion, which they would persuade the World, have animated their endeavours for the publick? What were they before they were thus Angry? or what would they be, could they make so firm an Interest in Court, that they might venture themselves in that bottom? This, the whole Party cannot choose but know; for Knaves can easily smell out one another. My Author, an experienced man, makes but very little difference, betwixt those who are out, and those who are put in. But the Nation begins to be awake: his party is mouldring away, and as it falls out, in all dishonest Combinations, are suspecting each other so very fast, that every man is shifting for himself, by a separate Treaty: and looking out for a Plank in the common Shipwrack, so that the point is turn’d upon him; those who are out, would have ruin’d us, and cou’d not; and those who are in, are endeavouring to save us if they can.