Chapter 1
Produced by Stan Goodman, Turgut Dincer and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
[Transcriber's note: The source text contained inconsistencies in spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and italicization; these inconsistencies have been retained in this etext.]
Franco-Gallia: OR, AN ACCOUNT OF THE Ancient Free State OF _FRANCE_, AND Most other Parts of EUROPE, before the Loss of their Liberties.
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_Written Originally in Latin by the Famous Civilian_ FRANCIS HOTOMAN, In the Year 1574. _And Translated into_ English _by the Author of the_ Account of DENMARK.
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The SECOND EDITION, with Additions, and a _New Preface_ by the Translator.
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LONDON:
Printed for Edward Valentine, at the Queen's Head against St. Dunstan's Church, Fleetstreet, 1721.
Translated by The Author of the _Account of_ DENMARK.
The BOOKSELLER TO THE READER.
_The following Translation of the Famous_ Hotoman's Franco-Gallia _was written in the Year 1705, and first publish'd in the Year 1711. The Author was then at a great Distance from_ London, _and the Publisher of his Work, for Reasons needless to repeat, did not think fit to print the Prefatory Discourse sent along with the Original. But this Piece being seasonable at all Times for the Perusal of_ Englishmen _and more particularly at this Time, I wou'd no longer keep back from the Publick, what I more than conjecture will be acceptable to all true Lovers of their Country._
THE TRANSLATOR's PREFACE.
Many Books and Papers have been publish'd since the late _Revolution_, tending to justify the Proceedings of the People of _England_ at that happy juncture; by setting in a true Light our just Rights and Liberties, together with the solid Foundations of our _Constitution:_ Which, in truth, is not ours only, but that of almost all _Europe_ besides; so wisely restor'd and establish'd (if not introduced) by the _Goths_ and _Franks_, whose Descendants we are.
These Books have as constantly had some things, called _Answers_, written to them, by Persons of different Sentiments; who certainly either never seriously consider'd, that the were thereby endeavouring to destroy their own Happiness, and overthrow her Majesty's Title to the Crown: or (if they knew what they did) presumed upon the _Lenity_ of that Government they decry'd; which (were there no better Reason) ought to have recommended it to their Approbation, since it could patiently bear with such, as were doing all they could to undermine it.
Not to mention the Railing, Virulency, or personal false Reflections in many of those Answers, (which were always the Signs of a weak Cause, or a feeble Champion) some of them asserted the _Divine Right_ of an _Hereditary Monarch_, and the Impiety of _Resistance_ upon any Terms whatever, notwithstanding any _Authorities_ to the contrary.
Others (and those the more judicious) deny'd positively, that sufficient _Authorities_ could be produced to prove, that a _free People_ have a _just Power_ to defend themselves, by opposing their _Prince_, who endeavours to oppress and enslave them: And alledged, that whatever was said or done tending that way, proceeded from a Spirit of _Rebellion_, and _Antimonarchical Principles_.
To confute, or convince this last Sort of Arguers (the first not being worthy to have Notice taken of them) I set about translating the _Franco-Gallia_ of that most Learned and Judicious _Civilian_, _Francis Hotoman_; a Grave, Sincere and Unexceptionable Author, even in the Opinion of his Adversaries. This Book gives an Account of the Ancient Free State of above Three Parts in Four of _Europe_; and has of a long time appeared to me so convincing and instructive in those important Points he handles, that I could not be idle whilst it remain'd unknown, in a manner, to _Englishmen_: who, of all People living, have the greatest Reason and Need to be thoroughly instructed in what it contains; as having, on the one hand, the most to lose, and on the other, the least Sense of their Right, to that, which hitherto they seem (at least in a great measure) to have preserv'd.
It will be obvious to every Reader, that I have taken no great Pains to write elegantly. What I endeavour at, is as plain a Stile as possible, which on this Occasion I take to be the best: For since the Instruction of Mankind ought to be the principal Drift of all Writers (of History especially); whoever writes to the Capacity of most Readers, in my Opinion most fully answers the End.
I am not ignorant, how tiresome and difficult a Piece of Work it is to translate, nor how little valued in the World. My Experience has convinced me, that 'tis more troublesome and teazing than to write and invent at once. The Idiom of the Language out of which one translates, runs so in the Head, that 'tis next to impossible not to fall frequently into it. And the more bald and incorrect the Stile of the Original is, the more shall that of the Translation be so too. Many of the Quotations in this Book are drawn from Priests, Monks, Friars, and Civil Lawyers, who minded more, in those barbarous Ages, the Substance than the Stile of their Writings: And I hope those Considerations may atone for several Faults, which might be found in my Share of this Work.
But I desire not to be misunderstood, as if (whilst I am craving Favour for my self) I were making any Apology for such a Number of mercenary Scribblers, Animadverters, and Translators, as pester us in this Age; who generally spoil the good Books which fall into their Hands, and hinder others from obliging the Publick, who otherwise would do it to greater Advantage.
I take this Author to be one of those few, that has had the good Luck to escape them; and I make use of this Occasion to declare, that the chief Motive which induces me to send abroad this small Treatise, is a sincere desire of instructing the only Possessors of true Liberty in the World, what Right and Title that have to that Liberty; of what a great Value it is; what Misery follows the Loss of it; how easily, if Care be taken in time, it may be preserv'd: And if this either opens the Eyes, or confirms the honourable Resolutions of any of my worthy Countrymen, I have gained a glorious End; and done that in my Study, which I shou'd have promoted any other way, had I been called to it. I hope to die with the Comfort of believing, that _Old England_ will continue to be a free Country, and _know_ itself to be _such_; that my Friends, Relations and Children, with their Posterity, will inherit their Share of this inestimable Blessing, and that I have contributed my Part to it.
But there is one very great Discouragement under which both I, and all other Writers and Translators of Books tending to the acquiring or preserving the publick Liberty, do lie; and that is, the heavy Calumny thrown upon us, that we are all _Commonwealth's-Men_: Which (in the ordinary Meaning of the Word) amounts to _Haters_ of _Kingly_ Government; now without broad, malicious Insinuations, that we are no great Friends of the present.
Indeed were the _Laity_ of our Nation (as too many of our _Clergy_ unhappily are) to be guided by the Sense of one of our Universities, solemnly and publickly declared by the burning of Twenty seven Propositions (some of them deserving that Censure, but others being the very Foundation of all our Civil Rights;) I, and many like me, would appear to be very much in the wrong. But since the _Revolution_ in Eighty-eight, that we stand upon another and a better Bottom, tho no other than our own old one, 'tis time that our _Notions_ should be suited to our _Constitution_. And truly, as Matters stand, I have often wondred, either how so many of our Gentlemen, educated under such Prejudices, shou'd retain any Sense at all of Liberty, for _the hardest Lesson is to unlearn_; [Footnote: St. Chrysostom] or how an Education so diametrically opposite to our Bill of Rights, shou'd be so long encouraged.
Methinks a _Civil Test_ might be contrived, and prove very convenient to distinguish those that own the _Revolution Principles_, from such as Tooth and Nail oppose them; and at the same time do fatally propagate Doctrines, which lay too heavy a Load upon _Christianity_ it self, and make us prove our own Executioners.
The Names of _Whig_ and _Tory_ will, I am afraid, last as long among us, as those of _Guelf_ and _Ghibelline_ did in _Italy_. I am sorry for it: but to some they become necessary for Distinction Sake; not so much for the Principles formerly adapted to each Name, as for particular and worse Reasons. For there has been such chopping and changing both of Names and Principles, that we scarce know who is who. I think it therefore necessary, in order to appear in my own Colours, to make a publick Profession of my _Political Faith_; not doubting but it may agree in several Particulars with that of many worthy Persons, who are as undeservedly aspers'd as I am.
My Notion of a _Whig_, I mean of a real _Whig_ (for the Nominal are worse than any Sort of Men) is, That he is one who is exactly for keeping up to the Strictness of the true old _Gothick Constitution_, under the _Three Estates_ of _King_ (or _Queen_) _Lords_ and _Commons_; the _Legislature_ being seated in all Three together, the _Executive_ entrusted with the first, but accountable to the whole Body of the People, in Case of Male Administration.
A true _Whig_ is of Opinion, that the Executive Power has as just a Title to the _Allegiance_ and Obedience of the Subject, according to the _Rules of known Laws enacted by the Legislative_, as the _Subject_ has to _Protection, Liberty_ and _Property_: And so on the contrary.
A true _Whig_ is not afraid of the Name of a _Commonwealthsman_, because so many foolish People, who know not what it means, run it down: The _Anarchy_ and _Confusion_ which these Nations fell into near Sixty Years ago, and which was _falsly_ called a _Commonwealth_, frightning them out of the true Construction of the Word. But Queen _Elizabeth_, and many other of our best Princes, were not scrupulous of calling our Government a _Commonwealth_, even in their solemn Speeches to _Parliament_. And indeed if it be not one, I cannot tell by what Name properly to call it: For where in the very _Frame_ of the _Constitution_, the Good of the _Whole_ is taken care of by the _Whole_ (as 'tis in our Case) the having a _King_ or _Queen_ at the Head of it, alters not the Case; and the softning of it by calling it a _Limited Monarchy_, seems a Kind of Contradiction in Terms, invented to please some weak and doubting Persons.
And because some of our _Princes_ in this last Age, did their utmost Endeavour to destroy this Union and Harmony of the _Three Estates_, and to be _arbitrary_ or _independent, they_ ought to be looked upon as the _Aggressors_ upon our Constitution.
This drove the other _Two Estates_ (for the Sake of the publick Preservation) into the fatal Necessity of providing for themselves; and when once the Wheel was set a running, 'twas not in the Power of Man to stop it just where it ought to have stopp'd. This is so ordinary in all violent Motions, whether mechanick or political, that no body can wonder at it.
But no wise Men approved of the ill Effects of those violent Motions either way, cou'd they have help'd them. Yet it must be owned they have (as often as used, thro an extraordinary Piece of good Fortune) brought us back to our old Constitution again, which else had been lost; for there are numberless Instances in History of a Downfal from a State of _Liberty_ to a _Tyranny_, but very few of a Recovery of _Liberty_ from _Tyranny_, if this last have had any Length of Time to fix it self and take Root.
Let all such, who either thro Interest or Ignorance are Adorers of _absolute Monarchs_, say what they please; an _English Whig_ can never be so unjust to his Country, and to right Reason, as not to be of Opinion, that in all Civil Commotions, which Side soever is the _wrongful Aggressor_, is accountable for all the evil Consequences: And thro the Course of his reading (tho my Lord _Clarendon's_ Books be thrown into the Heap) he finds it very difficult to observe, that ever the People of _England_ took up Arms against their _Prince_, but when constrain'd to it by a necessary Care of their _Liberties_ and true _Constitution_.
'Tis certainly as much a _Treason_ and _Rebellion_ against this _Constitution_, and the _known_ Laws, in a _Prince_ to endeavor to break thro them, as 'tis in the _People_ to rise against him, whilst he keeps within their Bounds, and does his Duty. Our Constitution is a Government of _Laws_, not of _Persons. Allegiance_ and _Protection_ are Obligations that cannot subsist separately; when one fails, the other falls of Course. The true Etymology of the word _Loyalty_ (which has been so strangely wrested in the late Reigns) is an entire Obedience to the Prince in all his Commands according to Law; that is, to the _Laws themselves_, to which we owe both an active and passive Obedience.
By the old and true Maxim, that _the King can do no Wrong_, nobody is so foolish as to conclude, that he has not Strength to murder, to offer Violence to Women, or Power enough to dispossess a Man wrongfully of his Estate, or that whatever he does (how wicked soever) is just: but the Meaning is, he has no _lawful Power_ to do such Things; and our Constitution considers no _Power_ as _irresistible_, but what is _lawful_.
And since _Religion_ is become a great and universal Concern, and drawn into our Government, as it affects every single Man's Conscience; tho my private Opinion, they ought not to be mingled, nor to have any thing to do with each other; (I do not speak of our Church Polity, which is a Part of our State, and dependent upon it) some account must be given of that Matter.
_Whiggism_ is not circumscrib'd and confin'd to any one or two of the _Religions_ now profess'd in the World, but diffuses it self among all. We have known _Jews_, _Turks_, nay, some Papists, (which I own to be a great Rarity) very great Lovers of the Constitution and Liberty; and were there rational Grounds to expect, that any Numbers of them cou'd be so, I shou'd be against using Severities and Distinctions upon Account of Religion. For a Papist is not dangerous, nor ought to be ill us'd by any body, because he prays to Saints, believes Purgatory, or the real Presence in the Eucharist, and pays Divine Worship to an Image or Picture (which are the common Topicks of our Writers of Controversy against the Papists;) but because Popery sets up a _foreign Jurisdiction paramount to our Laws_. So that a _real Papist_ can neither be a true _Governor_ of a _Protestant_ Country, nor a true _Subject_, and besides, is the most _Priest-Ridden_ Creature in the World: and (when uppermost) can bear with no body that differs from him in Opinion; little considering, that whosoever is against _Liberty of Mind_, is, in effect, against _Liberty of Body_ too. And therefore all Penal _Acts_ of _Parliament_ for Opinions _purely_ religious, which have no Influence on the _State_, are so many Encroachments upon _Liberty_, whilst those which restrain Vice and Injustice are against _Licentiousness_.
I profess my self to have always been a Member of the _Church_ of _England_ and am for supporting it in all its _Honours_, _Privileges_ and _Revenues_: but as a Christian and a _Whig_, I must have Charity for those that differ from me in _religious_ Opinions, whether _Pagans_, _Turks_, _Jews_, _Papists_, _Quakers_, _Socinians_, _Presbyterians_, or others. I look upon _Bigotry_ to have always been the very Bane of human Society, and the Offspring of Interest and Ignorance, which has occasion'd most of the great Mischiefs that have afflicted Mankind. We ought no more to expect to be all of one Opinion, as to the Worship of the _Deity_, than to be all of one Colour or Stature. To stretch or narrow any Man's Conscience to the Standard of our own, is no less a Piece of Cruelty than that of _Procrustes_ the Tyrant of _Attica_, who used to fit his Guests to the Length of his own Iron Bedsted, either by cutting them shorter, or racking them longer. What just Reason can I have to be angry with, to endeavour to curb the natural Liberty, or to retrench the Civil Advantages of an honest Man (who follows the golden Rule, of _doing to others, as he wou'd have others do to him_, and is willing and able to serve the Publick) only because he thinks his Way to Heaven surer or shorter than mine? No body can tell which of us is mistaken, till the Day of Judgment, or whether any of us be so (for there may be different Ways to the same End, and I am not for circumscribing God Almighty's Mercy:) This I am sure of, one shall meet with the same Positiveness in Opinion, in some of the Priests of all these Sects; The same Want of Charity, engrossing Heaven by way of _Monopoly_ to their own _Corporation_, and managing it by a joint Stock, exclusive of all others (as pernicious in Divinity as in trade, and perhaps more) The same Pretences to _Miracles, Martyrs, Inspirations, Merits, Mortifications, Revelations, Austerity, Antiquity_, &c. (as all Persons conversant with History, or that travel, know to be true) and this _cui bono_? I think it the Honour of the Reformed Part of the Christian Profession, and the Church of _England_ in particular, that it pretends to fewer of these unusual and extraordinary Things, than any other Religion we know of in the World; being convinced, that these are not the distinguishing Marks of the Truth of any Religion (I mean, the assuming obstinate Pretences to them are not;) and it were not amiss, if we farther enlarg'd our Charity, when we can do it with Safety, or Advantage to the State.
Let us but consider, how hard and how impolitick it is to condemn all People, but such as think of the Divinity just as we do. May not the Tables of Persecution be turn'd upon us? A _Mahometan_ in _Turky_ is in the right, and I (if I carry my own Religion thither) am in the Wrong. They will have it so. If the _Mahometan_ comes with me to _Christendom_, I am in the right, and he in the wrong; and hate each other heartily for differing in Speculations, which ought to have no Influence on Moral Honesty. Nay, the _Mahometan_ is the more charitable of the two, and does not push his Zeal so far; for the Christians have been more cruel and severe in this Point than all the World besides. Surely Reprizals may be made upon us; as _Calvin_ burnt _Servetus_ at _Geneva_, Queen _Mary_ burnt _Cranmer_ at _London_. I am sorry I cannot readily find a more exact Parallel. The Sword cuts with both Edges. Why, I pray you, may we not all be Fellow-Citizens of the World? And provided it be not the Principle of one or more Religions to extirpate all others, and to turn Persecutors when they get Power (for such are not to be endured;) I say, why shou'd we offer to hinder any Man from doing with his own Soul what he thinks fitting? Why shou'd we not make use of his Body, Estate, and Understanding, for the publick Good? Let a Man's Life, Substance, and Liberty be under the Protection of the Laws; and I dare answer for him (whilst his Stake is among us) he will never be in a different Interest, nor willing to quit this Protection, or to exchange it for _Poverty, Slavery_, and _Misery_.
The thriving of any one _single Person_ by honest Means, is the Thriving of the _Commonwealth_ wherein he resides. And in what Place soever of the World such Encouragement is given, as that in it one may securely and peaceably enjoy _Property_ and _Liberty_ both of _Mind_ and _Body_; 'tis impossible but that Place must flourish in _Riches_ and in _People_, which are the _truest Riches_ of any Country.
But as, on the one hand, a true _Whig_ thinks that all Opinions purely spiritual and notional ought to be indulg'd; so on the other, he is for _severely punishing_ all _Immoralities, Breach_ of _Laws, Violence_ and _Injustice_. A Minister's Tythes are as much his Right, as any Layman's Estate can be his; and no Pretence of Religion or Conscience can warrant the substracting of them, whilst the Law is in Being which makes them payable: For a _Whig_ is far from the Opinion, that they are due by any other Title. It wou'd make a Man's Ears tingle, to hear the _Divine Right_ insisted upon for any _human Institutions_; and to find God _Almighty_ brought in as a Principal there, where there is no Necessity for it. To affirm, that _Monarchy, Episcopacy, Synods, Tythes_, the _Hereditary Succession_ to the _Crown_, &c. are _Jure Divino_; is to cram them down a Man's Throat; and tell him in plain Terms, that he must submit to any of them under all Inconveniencies, whether the Laws of his Country are for it or against it. Every _Whig_ owns _Submission_ to Government to be an _Ordinance_ of God. _Submit your selves to every Ordinance of Man, for the Lord's Sake_, says the Apostle. Where (by the way) pray take notice, he calls them _Ordinances of Man_; and gives you the true Notion, how far any thing can be said to be _Jure Divino_: which is far short of what your high-flown Assertors of the _Jus Divinum_ wou'd carry it, and proves as strongly for a _Republican_ Government as a _Monarchical_; tho' in truth it affects neither, where the very Ends of Government are destroyed.
A right _Whig_ looks upon _frequent Parliaments_ as such a _fundamental_ Part of the Constitution, that even no _Parliament_ can part with this Right. _High Whiggism_ is for _Annual_ Parliaments, and _Low Whiggism_ for _Triennial_, with annual Meetings. I leave it to every Man's Judgment, which of these wou'd be the truest Representative; wou'd soonest ease the House of that Number of Members that have Offices and Employments, or take Pensions from the Court; is least liable to Corruption; wou'd prevent exorbitant Expence, and soonest destroy the pernicious Practice of drinking and bribing for Elections, or is most conformable to ancient Custom. The Law that lately pass'd with so much Struggle for _Triennial_ Parliaments shall content me, till the _Legislative_ shall think fit to make them _Annual_.
But methinks (and this I write with great Submission and Deference) that (since the passing that Act) it seems inconsistent with the Reason of the thing, and preposterous, for the _first_ Parliament after any Prince's _Accession_ to the _Crown_, to give the publick Revenue _arising by Taxes_, for a longer time than that _Parliament's own Duration_. I cannot see why the Members of the _first_ Parliament shou'd (as the Case now stands) engross to themselves all the Power of giving, as well as all the Merit and Rewards due to such a Gift: and why _succeeding_ Parliaments shou'd not, in their turn, have it in their Power to oblige the Prince, or to streighten him, if they saw Occasion; and pare his Nails, if they were convinced he made _ill Use_ of such a _Revenue_. I am sure we have had Instances of this Kind; and a wise Body of Senators ought always to provide against the worst that might happen. The _Honey-Moon_ of _Government_ is a dangerous Season; the Rights and Liberties of the People run a greater Risk at that time, thro their own Representatives Compliments and Compliances, than they are ever likely to do during that Reign: and 'tis safer to break this Practice, when we have the Prospect of a good and gracious Prince upon the Throne, than when we have an inflexible Person, who thinks every Offer an Affront, which comes not up to the Height of what his Predecessor had, without considering whether it were well or ill done at first.