their own Snare.
View, Gentlemen, the di final and rnelanchoK
ly Scene before your Eyes : Behold, not above-
Thirty Years fince, a powerful Nation engag'd
rn^an expenfivebut fuccefsful War, for Defence
of their own Liberties, and of all Europe ; which
might have been equally carried on with lefs
Money than is now paid for Intereft, withouc
leaving us one Penny in Debt ; but a Nations
in late Reigns almoft undone by the vile and
deipicable Arts of Stockjobbers, combining
with others, from whom we expected Prefer-
vatkyi, and rrow loaded with numerous Taxes*
Their Fipmces diicompos'd ; their Trade
loaded Vv'kh various and burchenfome Duties,,.
's LETTERS.
or manacled with excluGve Companies ; and i
3ebt almoft fixty Millions, and by that means
(as we have lately experienced) unable to con-
tend wjrh fmall Powers, without every Year
encreafmg our Debts and Burthens, and no ef-
fectual Method ever yet taken to pay them off,
or leffen them ; but always new Methods found
out to enhaunce the Account.
Sure, Gentlemen, none of you can hope that
neighbouring Nations will fit (till, and not take
Advantage of our Weaknefs, and even thofe
Nations for whofe Sakes we are brought into
this forlorn Condition. The Viciflitude of hu-
raaneAffairsmud bring new Wars upon us, the'
none among ourfelves could find their Account
in courting them ; and how think you, in fuch
a Circumftance, we (hall defend our Country ?
For my own part, I can fee but one Remedy
at hand, and that is a dreadful one, unlefs we
take fpeedy and effectual Methods to leffen the
Publick Expences, to cut off all exorbitant:
Fees, Pcnfions and unneceffary Salaries, encou-
rage Trade, regulate our Finances, and all De-
feels in the^Adminiftratson ; and by fuch Means
fa ye all which can be faved, and apply it to the
Difchargeof the publick Burdens.
I wifa our Dabblers in Corruption would
count ^ their Gains, and ballance their Loffes:
xvith their wicked Advantages. Let them fee
down in one Column their mercenary Gifts,
and precarious Dependencies ; (braetimes half
purchased with Money, fometimes by dividing
the Profits with Paraiites, and always witblhe
Lofs of their Integrity and Reputation : and on
the other bide, let them write down expenfive
Contentions
CATO's LETTERS.
Contentions, and conftant Attendance in Town
to the negledfc of their Families and Affairs,
and a Manner of Living often unfuitable to
their Fortunes, and deflru&ive to their Health,
and at leaft one fourth Part of their Eftates
mortgaged, and liable to the difcharge of the
publick Debts ; and above all the reft-, the In-
fecurity of what remains, which mufi be in-
volv'd in every Species of publick Mi fery : And
then let them cad up the Account, and fee
where the Ballance lies. This is not a fi61:itiou
and imaginary Computation, like South-Sea
Stock, but a real and true State of the unhappy
Cafe of twenty Dealers in Corruption, for one
who has been a Gainer by it; without mention-
ing the juft Loffes which many of them have
fuffer'd by the laft detedable Proieh
Confider too, what a Figure they make
in their feveral Countries amongft their
Neighbours, their Acquaintance, their former
Friends, and often, even amongft: their own
Relations. See how they have been hunted and
purfued from Place to Place, with Reproaches
and Curies from every honeft Man in England,
how they have been rejected in Counties, and
populous and rich Boroughs, and indeed, only
hoped for Succefs any where by the meer Force
of Exorbitant Corruption, which has fwallow'd
up a great Part of their unjiift Extortions.
Then let them fet againft all thele Evils a good
Confcicnce, a clear Reputation, a difcngag'd
Eftate, and being the happy Members of a
free, powerful, and fafe Kingdom \ all which
was once their Cafe, and might have continued
fa, if they had a6led with Integrity. Sure k
ijo CA TO's LETTERS.
Is worth no Man's Time to exchange an Eftate
of Inheritance, fecur'd to him by fteady and
impartial Laws, for a precarious Title to the
greateft Advantages at the Will of any Man
whatfbever.
But even thefe corrupt Advantages are no
longer to be had upon the fame Terms : The
Bow is ftretch'd fb far, that it muft break if it
goes farther: Corruption, like all other Things
has its Bounds ; and muft at lad deftroy it (elf,
or deftroy every Thing elfe. We are already
almoft mortgaged from Head to Foot : There
js fcarce any Thing which can be tax'd, that is
not rax'd : Our Veins have been open'd and
draln'd fb long, that there is nothing left but our
Heart's Blood ; and yet every Day new Occa-
fions arife upon us, which muft be fupply'd oue
of exhaufted Channels, or cannot be fupply'd
at all. How think you, Gentlemen, this can
be done ? What has been rais'd within the Year
has not been found fufficient to defray the Ex-
pences of the Year : And will any one amongft
you, in Times of full Peace, confent to new
mortgage the Kingdom to fupply the current
Service? And if you could be prevaiTd upon
to confent to it, how long do you believe it can
laft, or that you can find Creditors ? And whafc
can be the Confluence of f'uch Credit ? Sure
it muft make the Payment defperate ; and if
ever that grows to be the Cafe, what think
you will be the Event ? Who do you imagine
will have rhefweeping of the Stakes ? Do you
believe thpfe^who brought your Misfortunes
upon you. will pay the Reckoning at kft, or
ikve thcmlclves by endeavouring to compleat
tfeeir
CA ro's LETTERS.
their Wickednefs ? There is no Way, Gentle-
men, to prevent all thefe Evils which lour over
and threaten you and us, but by preventing or
removing the Caufes of them ; and ] hope you
will think it worthy your bed Confiderations,
and moft vigorous Endeavours to do fb, rather
than to fuffer under, and be undone by them.
By doing this great Service to your Country,
you will not only confult your Reputation,
your own Interefts, and the Interefts of thofe
you reprefent ; but in the moft effectual Man-
ner will ferve your Prince, by making him a
glorious King over an happy, fatisfy'd, duti-
ful and grateful People. A great and rich
People can alone make a great King; their dif-
fufive and accumulative Wealth, is his Wealth,
and always at his Command, when employ'd
for his true Glory, which is ever their Happi-
nefs and Security ; and the Figure he does or
can make among foreign States, bears exacl;
Proportion to the Afte&ions he has amongft his
own People : If his People are difaffe&ed, his
Neighbours and his Enemies will defplfe him j
and the latter will Jnfult him, if they think his
Subjects will riot defend him ; and therefore,
fince nothing is wanting en his Majefty's Pare
to make him belov'd, honour'd, I had almoft
faid, ador'd by his People ; it lies upon you,
Gentlemen, to remove all thofe Caufes, which
at any Time hereafter, by the Fault of other?,
may fully and blemifh his hi^h Character. It
is your Duty and your Interefi too, to acquaint
him with ail Mifcarriages in the inferiour Ad-
miniflrarion, which you have frequent Oppor-
tunities of knowing, and which 'tis next to
impoiiibie
' CA TO's LETTERS.
impofiible he fhould otherwise know. Princes-
are feared aloft in the upper Regions, and can
only view the Whole of Things, but muft leave
the Detail and Execution of them to inferior
Agents.
I ftm, 6cc.
SIR,
I Know not a more laudable Ambition in any
Man, than that of procuring by his Credit
with the People, a Place in the "Legiflature >
and when it is procured this Way, it is a Teftl-
mony given by his Country to his Uprightnefs,
and to his Capacity to ferve it. This is as high
an Honour as an Engltfhman can arrive at, and
few but Englishmen can arrive at it ; and the
Truft is ftiii as high as the Honour, and increa-
fes it. The Liberty 7 , the Property, nay the
Virtue, Credit, and Religion of his Country,
are in his Hands. Can Heaven or Earth afford
ftronger Motives for Diligence, Probity, and
Attendance ? When the Happlnefs or Mifery,
the Security or Bankruptcy, the Freedom or
Servitude of a Nation, and all the Good or
Evil which this Life anords, depends upon his
Behaviour, he will find fufficienr Caufe from
Virtue, Tendernefs, and Duty, to Call up all
.his Care, Induftry, and Zeal
But fo it has often happf-red in the World,
that all the Activity and Attendance, or rnoft
of ir 3 have been on the wrong Side , and as
the
's LETTERS.
the Evil that is in the World, does infinitely
over-ballance the Good, they who pull down,
are vaflly more numerous, as well as more
bufy, than they who build up. Vice reigns
amongft Men, while Virtue fcarce fubfifts ; and
in many Countries the Publick has been as vi-
gnroi'fiy aflaulted, as it has been (lowly and
faintly defended. Thus it is, that Liberty is
al mo ft every where loft : Her Foes are artful,
united, and diligent: Her Defenders are few,
difunited, and unaclive. And therefore we
have feen great Nations, free, happy, and in
love with their own Condition, fir ft made
Slaves by a handful of Traytors, and then kept
fb by a handful of Soldiers : I mean a hand-
ful in Comparifbn of the People, but ftili e-
nough to keep them in Chains
So that in mod Nation?, for want of this
particular Zeal in every Man for his Country,
in which all Men are comprized, the Publick,
which is every Man's Bufmels, becomes aimoflb
any Man's Prey. It was thus under the firft
Triumvirate, when Pornpcy, Crsjfus, and C*far 9
three Citizens of Rcme, were, by the Affift-
ance of fywsin Armies, fharing out the %cman
World among themfelves : Nay, they pro-
cured the Authority of the Senate and the
Sanction of the People, for this mcnftrous
Three-headed Tyranny over Senate and Peo-
ple ; and procured it by Means that will al-
ways procure it : Some they bought, others
they terrified, and all they deceived, corrupted,
and opprefled, The Tribunes of the People,
who were the People's Reprefentatives, and
fhould have been their Protestors, they bribed ;
and
CATVs LETTERS.
and the People were betray'd and fold by their
Tribunes.
Such is the Misfortune of Mankind, and fb
uncertain is the Condition of humane Affairs,
that the very Power given for Protection, con-
tains in it a fufficient Power to deftroy, and fb
readily does Government flide, and often ftart
into Oppreilion ! And only by watching and
retraining Power, is this monftrous and dread-
ful Tranfition prevented. For this good Pur-
pofe, we have Parliaments, to whom our Mi-
niters are accountable, and by whom the Ad-
miniftration is fiipported, and irs Limits and
Power fixed. And to our having Parliaments,
it is owing that we are not groaning under the
fame vile Vaffalage with the Nations round
about us : They had once rheir Parliaments
as well as we* but in the Room of Parliaments,
their Goveraours have fubftituted Armies, and
confequently formed a Military Government,
without calling it fb ; but whatever it is called,
that Government is certainly and neceffarily a
Military Government, where the Army is the
ftrongeft Power in the Country : And it is
eternally true, that a Free Parliament and a
Standing Army, are abfblutely incompatible 3
and can never fubiift together.
By Parliaments therefore Liberty is preferved,
and whoever has the Honour to lit in thole
Affemblies, accepts of a raoft facred and im-
portant Truft ; to the Difcharge of which, all
his Vigilance, all his Application, all his Vir-
tue, and all his Faculties, are neceflary ; and
he is bound by all the Confederations that can
affect a worthy Mind, and by all the Tics that
can
's LETTERS.
can bind a humane Soul, to attend faithfully
and carefully upon this great and comprehensive
Duty: A Duty, which, as it is honeftly or
faithlefly executed, determines the Fate of
Millions, and brings Profperity or Mifery upon
Nations.
Whatever has happened in former Reigns,
we have Reafbn to hope, that no Men come
now into Parliament with an execrable Inten-
tion to carry ro Market a Country which has
truiled them with its All ; and it would be ri-
diculous to throw away Reafon upon fuch
Banditti, and publick Enemies to humane So-
ciety. Such Men would be worfe than Canni-
ba/s 9 who only eat their Enemies to fatisfy their
Hunger, and do not fell and betray into Servi-
tude their own Countrymen, who truft them
with the Protection of their Property and Per-
fbns : But as I have heard that fome Men
formerly, to whom this important Truft has
been committed, have been treacherous enough,
through Negligence, to facrifice their Duty to
Lazinefs or Pleafure, I fhall endeavour to (hew
the Deformity of fuch Conduit..
The Name of a Member of Parliament, nas
a great and refpeclful Sound, and his Situation
is attended with many Privileges, and an
eminent Figure ! All which make Men ambi-
tious of acquiring a Seat there, tho' I am told,
fome of them have fcarce ever appear'd there.
The Glory and Terror of the Name was
enough for them ; which Glory they tar-
nifhed, and converted into their Crime and
their SJiame, by neglefting the Duty which
was
Giro's LETTERS.
was annexed to it, and alone produced i?.
Small and ridiculous muft be the Glory of that
General, who never attends the Duties of War,
and is always abfent upon the Day of Battle ;
or of a Minifler, who, while he fnould he
making Difpatches, or concerting Schemes for
the Publick, is wailing his Time ail Ombre, at
C h efs , or w 5 th a M i ft re fs ,
It would fcarcc be believed, if it had not
been felt, that the Infenfibiiitv of Men as to
all that is Good and Honourable, fhould go fa
far as to carry the Directors and Guardians of
the Publick to a Cock March, a Race, or a
drunken Bout, when a Queftion has been upon
the Stage, which h- C ncerned the very Being
of ihe Publ'ck. 1 hi , Paii.on for Pleafure, is
Ihvnndy prepofterous upon fuch Orca 'ons,
and to follow it is cruel; cruel and difloyal
to our Country, and even to our ielves : All
our Happim-fs, .and C- fluently all our rea-
fonable *, arc .rained in the General
Happmefs ; and when "hat is gone, or leilened
through r,ur Neglecl:, ve need not be (urprixed,
but may thank our fdves, if in the publick
Misfortunes and Cu r Jc v/e find our own.
When a pernicious Queftion has been car-
ried, it is a poor Apology, to alledge, and
had better be left unalledged, that I was not:
there. Why were you not there ? Was it not
your Duty to be there ? And were you not
bound by the folemn and awful Trull you
undertook, to have been there ? Had you been
there, perhaps it would not have been carried,
perhaps not attempted or if both, you would
have acquired your own Soul, and had the ho-
nourable
's LETTERS,
liourable Teftimony of your Country, and of
a grnd Conicience.
Every Body knows, that in the Penfionary
Parliaments, in Chiles the Second's Time, the
Senion was almoil always drawn- out into a te-
dious Length, on purpofe to tire the Members,
and drive them all out of Town, except the
trufty Creatures of the Court, who were in
Parliament with no other View than to make a
Penny of their betrayed Principles, and to pick
the Publick Purfe, for the Promife of going
Shares with thofe who fet them on. Were not
the abfent Members anlVerable, in a great De-
gree, for the Treachery of thele ftaunch and
patient Parricides, by leaving them an Oppor-
tunity to commie it, when they knew they
would commit it ? When a Man leaves his
Wife with a known Ravifher, and his Money
in the Hands of a noted Thief, he may blame
himfelf if he fuffers Lofs and Dishonour.
Members of Parliament are fet in a high
Place, as Publick Stewards and Guards (the
belt and only fure Guards that a free Country
can ru-.ve) to watch for the Publick Welfare,
to fettle the Public!-: Expences, and to defend
Publick and Private Property From the unclean
and ravenous Hands of Harpies ; and they are
obliged by every Motive that can oblige, to
adhere to their Station and Truft: When the
major Part neglect or defert ir, who knows but
in Times to come, there may be always enough
remaining to give ir up, and be remaining for
that very End? He who does not prevent Evil
when he may, does in effect commit it, by
leaving others to do fo, who he cannot be fure
will not do it. J
238 CMfO's LETTERS.
I have heard that feme of thefe Truants from
Parliament have boafted that they never voted
wrong: But how often have they been out of
the way, when they fhould have voted right,
and oppofed voting wrong? And is not this
Omiflion of voting well, the next Crime to
voting ill ? And where it is habitual, is it not
worfe than even now and then voting ill ? He
who commits but two Murders, is left guilty,
as to the Community, than he who permits
twenty which he might have hinder'd ; and he
who robs ten thoufand Pounds from the Pub-
lick, is a more innocent Man, than he who
fuffers it to be robbed of an hundred thoufand :
Or if he who does not prevent a great Evil, is
lefs guilty in his own Eyes than he who actual-
ly commits a lefs ; the Publick, which feels the
Difference between Ten and Twenty, muft
judge far otherwife, and confider him as the
more pernicious Criminal of the two, as they
who are Traytors within the Law are the moft
dangerous Traytors of all.
How ridiculous is it to take a great deal of
Pains, and to fpend a great deal of Money to
come into Parliament, and afterwards come
ieldom or never there, but keep others out, who
would perhaps give conftant Attendance? It is
foolifh to alledge, that the Adverfary is fo
flrong, that your Attendance will be ufelefs;
for it has rarely happened, that any dreadful
Mifchief has been carried in a full Houfe, or
indeed attempted , but Opportunities have al-
ways been taken from the Abfence of the
Country-Members : Betides, how often has it
happened, that one extravagant Attempt ^has
given
C^TO'sLETTERS. 139
given a fteady Majority to the other Side ?
The Penfionary-Parliament it felf, in Charles
the Second's Time, turned upon that corrupt
Court : King James's firft Loyal and Pailive
Obedience Parliament did the fame, when he
declared for Governing by Armies ; and in
King ttflltam's Time, the Anti Court Party,
who for many Years together could fcarce ever
divide above Eighty or Ninety, yet grew fo
very confiderable, upon the Attempt for a
Standing Army, that the Court, for feveral
Years after, could not boaft of a much greater
Number of Followers; and tho' I ccnfefs this
produced many real Mifchiefs to the Publick,
yet the Courtiers had no one to blame but
themfeives for it. How abfiird is it for Men
to bring themfeives into fuch a Dilemma, as
either to fubmit to certain Ruin, or, in fbme
Inftances, to hazard their Lives and Eftates to
get rid of it, by an unequal Struggle; when
both may be eafily prevented, by doing what
they have promifed to do, and what is their
Duty, and ought to be their Pleafure to do,
and what may be done without further Ex-
pence, than making an honed life of two
Monofyllables ?
The Notions of Honour generally enter-
tained, are ftrangely wild, unjuft, and abfurd.
A Man that would die rather than pick a pri-
vate Pocket, will, without bludung, pick the
Pockets of a Million : And he who would
venture his Life to defend a Friend, or the Re-
putation of an Harlot wh > has none, will
not lofe a Dinner, or a merry Meeting, to
maintain the Wealth and Honour . his
Country}
2 4 o Giro's LETTERS.
Country. There have been Gentlemen of this
Sort of Honour, who really wifhed well to
the Publick ; bur yet, rather than attend to a
Debate of the utmoflConfequence to the Pub-
lick, would with infinite Pun6r.ua!nefs meet a
Company of Sharpers, to throw away their
Elates at Seven or Eleven. So much ftronger
is pernicious Cuftotn than publick Virtue and
eternal Reafoo, which alone ought to create
and govern Cuiiom and (b much to the pub-
lick Sham and Mister-tune are fjch wicked
Cuftoms, from the Influence of which, even
wife Men are nor entirely exempted ! So weak
and wild a Thing is the Nature of Man !
It is obferv'd of Cuto the younger, that he al-
ways cttmfi ft ft ; the Scntit* find left it la ft. Pom-
fey and his Faction, finding that he would ne-
ver be perfwaded, nor frighten'd into their ^ex-
ecrable Defigns ;uinir. their Country, contriv'd
a tboufand treacherous Devices to keep him out
of the Wuy : But he f/i 1 /' rheir ill Arts, and dif-
appo5p. fr .' j n them. He laid he entered upon the
Bufmefs of the State, as the Ruiinefs of every
honelt Man that he confiderd the Publick as
the proper Obv?# of his Care, Zeal and Attend-
ance, and n r as a Bank for his own private
Wealth, era Source of perfbffal Honours ; that
it was a hideous Reproach for Men who are
guided by Rc-aton, and by it fuperior to^ all
other Cre;.:fi'.n-s to .; -.elefs Care of the Society
to which belong, than fuch Infects as Bees
and A : .. i'ives and common
Stvtvs would never prefer piiyate In-
tereft or P that of the publick. and
that lioiiu of thofe Confiderations (hould ever
with- hold
CATO's LETTERS.
with-hold him from attending faithfully the
nate.
Here is a virtuous and and illuftrlous Exam-
ple, which I would leave upon the Minds of
my Readers, and particularly recommend to
thofe who may moft want it. When defer had
by all manner of wicked Ways, by Violence,
by Fraud, and by Bribery, procured the Go-
vernment of Ganl and lllyricum for five Years,
wjth an Army of four Legions, with which he
afterwards enflav'd Rome itfelf; Cato could not
reproach his own Heart, that he had been ab-
fent^when that fatal Law pafs'd : He opposed
it with all his Zeal and Eloquence, and with
the Hazard of his Life, and told thofe who
made it, what they afterwards fadly felt, that
Ikey were -placing an anrfd Tyrant in their Citadel.
Confider for God's Sake, Gentlemen, the Ex-
tent and Sacredneii of your Truft ; Ycur Coun-
try and Conilitution are in your Hands : One
unjuft, one ra(h Law, may overturn both at
once, and you with them, and cancel all Law
and all Property for ever and one good and
wife Law may fecure them to your late Pofte-
rity. Can it be indifferent to you, whether the
-one or the other of thefe Laws paffes ? And if
it is not indifferent, will you avoid attending ?
Be but as ailiduous againft Evil as others have
often been for it, and you have a fair Chance to
prevent it for Ages. Why (hould not Honour,
Virtue and good Conference, be as aftive
and zealous as Falfhcod, Corruption and guilty
Minds? Confider the Ir.juftice, the Barbarity,
the Treachery, and the terrible Coniequcnces
of Sloath and Abfcnce. Liberty, when once
VOL. III. L I ft
Ci r* s\9 T IP 'T* *T"* T? T* O
^4 / 5 LETTERS.
loll, is fcarce ever recovered, almod as rarely as
humane Life, when it is oncecxtinguifh'd. -
I am, 6cc.
S I
{Intend in this, and my next Letter, to write
a Diflertationupon Libels, which are Liber-
ties a {Turned by private Men, to judge of and
cenfure the A6iions of their Superiors, or fuch
as have Poffeflicn of Power and Dignities.
When Perfons, formerly of no Superior Merit
to the reft of their Fellow-Subje&s, came to be
poflefs'd of Advantages, by Means which, for
the moil part, they condemned in another Si-
tuation or Fortune, they often have grown, up-,
on a fudden, to think themfelves a different Spe-
cies of Mankind ; they took it into their Heads
to call themfelves the Government, and thought
others had nothing to do but to lit ftill, aCr. a
they bid them, and follow their Motions
were unwilling to be interrupted in the Progrei
of their Ambition, and of making their privat
Fortunes by fuch Ways as they could btit and!
fooneft make them ; and confequently hav<|
cali'd every Oppofition to their wild and ra-
venous Schemes, and every Attempt to prcferve
the People's Right, by the odious Names of
Sedition and Faction, and charged them whh
Principles and Practices inconfiftenr with the
Safety of all Government,
This
CATO's LETTERS. 143
This Liberty has been approved or condemn-
ed by all Men, and all Panies, in proportion
, as^ they were advantaged, or annoy'd by it :
When they were in Power, they were unwil-
ling to have their Aftions (canned and cenfur^d,
and cry a out, that fuch Licence ought not to
be borne and tolerated in any well-conilituted
Commonwealth ; and when they fuffer'd under
the Weight of Power, they thought it very
hard not^to have been allowed the Liberty to
utter their Groans, and to alleviate (heir Pain,
by venting fome part of it in Complaints ; and
it is certain, there are Benefits and Mifchiefs on
both Sides the QuelKon.