The Online Library of Liberty

A project of Liberty Fund, Inc.

• Advertisement to the Reader.
• To the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, Sherifs, and Common Council of London.
• The Preface.
• The Life of James Harrington.
• The Mechanics of Nature:
• The Grounds and Reasons of Monarchy Considered: and Exemplify’d In the Scotish Line, Out of Their Own Best Authors and Records.
• The Commonwealth of Oceana. to His Highness the Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland.
• The Introduction, Or Order of the Work.
• Oceana.
• The Preliminarys, Shewing the Principles of Government.
• The Second Part of the Preliminarys.
• The Council of Legislators.
• Oceana: the Model of the Commonwealth of Oceana.
• Anno Dom.
• Anno Domini.
• Anno Domini.
• Epitome of the Whole Commonwealth.
• Libertas. the Proclamation of His Highness the Lord Archon of Oceana Upon Promulgation of the Model.
• The Prerogative of Popular Government.
• Epistle to the Reader.
• The First Book, Containing: a Full Answer to All Such Objections As Have Hitherto Bin Made Against Oceana.
• The Preface.
• Chap. I. Antient and Modern Prudence.
• Chap. I.: Whether Prudence Be Well Distinguish’d Into Antient and Modern.
• Chap. II.: Whether a Commonwealth Be Rightly Defin’d to Be a Government of Laws and Not of Men, and a Monarchy to Be the Government of Som Man, Or a Few Men, and Not of Laws?
• Chap. III.: Whether the Balance of Dominion In Land Be the Natural Cause of Empire?
• Chap. IV. Chap. IV.: Whether the Balance of Empire Be Well Divided Into National and Provincial; and Whether These Two, Or Any Nations That Are of Distinct Balance, Coming to Depend Upon One and the Same Head, Such a Mixture Creates a New Balance.
• Chap. V.: Whether There Be Any Common Right Or Interest of Mankind Distinct From the Parts Taken Severally; and How By the Orders of a Commonwealth It May Be Best Distinguish’d From Privat Interest.
• Chap. VI.: Whether the Senatusconsulta, Or Decrees of the Roman Senat, Had the Power of Laws?
• Chap. VII.: Whether the Ten Commandments Were Propos’d By God Or Moses, and Voted By the People of Israel.
• Chap. VIII.: Whether a Commonwealth Coming Up to the Perfection of the Kind, Coms Not Up to the Perfection of Government, and Has No Flaw In It.
• Chap. IX.: Whether Monarchy Coming Up to the Perfection of the Kind, Coms Not Short of the Perfection of Government, and Has Not Som Flaw In It. In Which Is Also Treated of the Balance of France; of the Original of a Landed Clergy; of Arms, and Their Ki
• Chap. X.: Whether a Commonwealth That Was Not First Broken By Her Self, Was Ever Conquer’d By the Arms of Any Monarch?
• Chap. XI.: Whether There Be Not an Agrarian, Or Som Law of Laws of That Nature, to Supply the Defect of It In Every Commonwealth: and Whether the Agrarian, As It Is Stated In Oceana, Be Not Equal and Satisfactory to All Interests.
• Chap. XII.: Whether Courses Or a Rotation Be Necessary to a Well-order’d Commonwealth. In Which Is Contain’d the Courses Or Parembole of Israel Before the Captivity, Together With the Epitome of Athens and Venice.
• The Second Book; Or, a Political Discourse Concerning Ordination: Against Dr. H. Hammond, Dr. L. Seaman, and the Authors They Follow.
• Advertisment to the Reader.
• Order of the Discourse.
• A Political Discourse Concerning Ordination.
• The Introduction, Or First Chapter.
• Chap. II.: That the Citys, Or Most of Them Nam’d In the Perambulation of the Apostles Paul and Barnabas, Were At That Time Under Popular Government. In Which Is Contain’d the Administration of a Roman Province.
• Chap. III.: The Deduction of the Chirotonia From Popular Government, and of the Original Right of Ordination From the Chirotonia. In Which Is Contain’d the Institution of the Sanhedrim Or Senat of Israel By Moses, and That of Rome By Romulus
• Chap. IV.: The Deduction of the Chirothesia From Monarchical Or Aristocratical Government, and of the Second Way of Ordination From the Chirothesia. In Which Is Contain’d the Commonwealth of the Jews As It Stood After the Captivity.
• Chap. V.: Whether the Chirotonia Mention’d In the Fourteenth of the Acts Be Indeed, As Is Pretended By Dr. Mammond, Dr. Seaman, and the Authors They Follow, the Same With the Chirothesia, Or a Far Different Thing. In Which Are Contain’d the
• Advertisement to the Reader, Or Direction to the Answerer.
• An Answer to Three Objections Against Popular Government, That Were Given Me After These Two Books Were Printed.
• The Art of Lawgiving: In Three Books.
• The Order of the Work.
• The First Book.
• The Second Book.
• The Third Book.
• The First Book, Shewing the Foundations and Superstructures of All Kinds of Government.
• The Preface. Considering the Principles Or Nature of Family Government.
• Chap. I.: Considering the Principles Or Balance of National Governments; With the Different Kinds of the Same.
• Chap. II.: Shewing the Variation of the English Balance.
• Chap. III.: Of Fixation of the Balance, Or of Agrarian Laws.
• Chap. IV.: Shewing the Superstructures of Governments.
• The Conclusion: Observing That the Principles of Human Prudence Being Good Without Proof of Scripture, Are Nevertheless Such As Are Provable Out of Scripture.
• The Second Book, Containing the Commonwealths of the Hebrews; Namely, Elohim, Or the Commonwealth of Israel; and Cabala, Or the Commonwealth of the Jews.
• The Preface, Shewing That There Were Commonwealths Before That of Israel.
• Chap. I.: Shewing That Israel Was a Commonwealth.
• Chap. II.: Shewing What Commonwealth Israel Was.
• Chap. III.: Shewing the Anarchy, Or State of the Israelits Under Their Judges.
• Chap. IV.: Shewing the State of the Israelits Under Their Kings, to the Captivity.
• Chap. V.: Shewing the State of the Jews In the Captivity; and After Their Return Out of It; With the Frame of the Jewish Commonwealth.
• Chap. VI.: Shewing How Ordination Was Brought Into the Christian Church, and the Divers Ways of the Same That Were At Divers Times In Use With the Apostles.
• The Conclusion: Shewing That Neither God, Nor Christ, Or the Apostles, Ever Instituted Any Government Ecclesiastical Or Civil Upon Any Other Principles Than Those Only of Human Prudence.
• The Third Book, Containing a Model of Popular Government, Practically Propos’d According to Reason, Confirm’d By the Scripture, and Agreable to the the Present Balance Or State of Property In England.
• The Preface. Containing a Model of Popular Government, Propos’d Notionally.
• Chap. I.: Containing the Civil Part of the Model, Propos’d Practicably.
• Chap. II.: Containing the Religious Part of This Model, Propos’d Practicably.
• Chap. III.: Containing the Military Part of This Model, Propos’d Practicably.
• Chap. IV.: Containing the Provincial Part of This Model, Propos’d Practicably.
• The Conclusion: Shewing How the Model Propos’d May Be Prov’d Or Examin’d; and Giving a Brief Answer to Mr. Wren’s Last Book, Intitl’d, Monarchy Asserted Against Mr. Harrington’s Oceana.
• A Word Concerning a House of Peers.
• Six Political Tracts Written On Several Occasions.
• Valerius and Publicola: Or, the True Form of a Popular Commonwealth Extracted Ex Puris Naturalibus.
• To the Reader.
• To the Parlament of the Commonwealth of England, &c. the Humble Petition, &c.
• The Petitioner to the Reader.
• A System of Politics Delineated In Short and Easy Aphorisms. Publish’d From the Author’s Own Manuscript.
• Chap. I.: Of Government.
• Chap. II.: Of the Matter of Government.
• Chap. III.: Of the Privation of Government.
• Chap. IV.: Of the Form of Government.
• Chap. V.: Of Form In the Civil Parts.
• Chap. VI.: Of Form In the Religious Part.
• Chap. VII.: Of Form In the Military Part.
• Chap. VIII.: Of Form In the Legal Part.
• Chap. IX.: Of Form In the Judicial Part.
• Chap. X.: Of the Administration of Government, Or Reason of State.
• Political Aphorisms.
• Seven Models of a Commonwealth: Or, Brief Directions Shewing How a Fit and Perfect Model of Popular Government May Be Made, Found, Or Understood.
• The First Part.
• Divers Models the First Model of Popular Government Propos’d. the Commonwealth of Israel.
• A Second Model of a Commonwealth Propos’d.
• A Third Model of a Commonwealth Propos’d. the Commonwealth of Sparta.
• A Fourth Model of a Commonwealth Propos’d. the Commonwealth of Athens.
• A Fifth Model of a Commonwealth Propos’d. the Commonwealth of Rome.
• A Sixth Model of a Commonwealth Propos’d. the Commonwealth of Venice.
• A Seventh Model of a Commonwealth Propos’d. the Commonwealth of Holland.
• The Second Part, Proposing a Model of a Commonwealth Fitted to the Present State of This Nation.
• Conclusion; Or, the Use of These Propositions.
• The Ways and Means Wherby an Equal and Lasting Commonwealth May Be Suddenly Introduc’d, and Perfectly Founded, With the Free Consent and Actual Confirmation of the Whole People of England.
• The Humble Petition of Divers Well Affected Persons, Deliver’d the 6th Day of July, 1659, With the Parlament’s Answer Therto.
• Appendix, Containing All the Political Tracts of James Harrington, Esq; Omitted In Mr. Toland ’s Edition of His Works.
• Pian Piano: Or, Intercourse Between H. Ferne, D. D. And J. Harrington, Esq; Upon Occasion of the Doctor’s Censure of the Commonwealth of Oceana.
• Epistle to the Reader.
• Intercourse Between H. Ferne, D. D. And James Harrington, Esq; Upon Occasion of the Doctor’s Censure of the Commonwealth of Oceana.
• The Queries I Shall Interweave With the Doctor’s Answer Unto Each of Them, Returned Unto Me With This Preamble.
• The First Query. How Much, Or In What the Author of Oceana Is Mistaken, to Think the Commonwealth of the Hebrews Appliable to His Purpose.
• The Second Query.
• The Third Query.
• The Fourth Query.
• The Fifth Query.
• The Sixth Query.
• The Seventh Query.
• The Stumbling-block of Disobedience and Rebellion, Cunningly Imputed By P. H. Unto Calvin, Remov’d, In a Letter to the Said P. H. From J. H.
• A Letter Unto Mr. Stubs, In Answer to His Oceana Weighed, &c.
• Politicaster: Or, a Comical Discourse In Answer to Mr. Wren ’s Book, Intituled, Monarchy Asserted, Against Mr. Harrington’ S Oceana.
• Pour Enclouer Le Canon.
• A Discourse Upon This Saying: the Spirit of the Nation Is Not Yet to Be Trusted With Liberty; Lest It Introduce Monarchy, Or Invade the Liberty of Conscience.
• A Discourse Shewing, That the Spirit of Parliaments, With a Council In the Intervals, Is Not to Be Trusted For a Settlement; Lest It Introduce Monarchy, and Persecution For Conscience.
• A Parallel of the Spirit of the People With the Spirit of Mr. Rogers; and an Appeal Thereupon Unto the Reader, Whether the Spirit of the People, Or the Spirit of Men Like Mr. Rogers, Be the Fitter to Be Trusted With the Government.
• A Sufficient Answer to Mr. Stubb.
• A Proposition In Order to the Proposing of a Commonwealth Or Democracy.
• The Rota: Or, a Model of a Free State, Or Equal Commonwealth.

EPISTLE to the READER.

WHOSOEVER sheds man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God made he man. If this rule holds as well in shedding the blood of a Turk as of a Christian, then that wherin man is the image of God is REASON. Of all controversys those of the pen are the most honorable: for in those of force, there is more of the image of the beast, but in those of the pen there is more of the image of God. In the controversys of the sword, there is but too often no other reason than force; but the controversy of the pen has never any force but reason. Of all controversys of the pen next those of religion, those of government are the most honorable, and the most useful; the true end of each, tho in a different way, being that the will of God may be don in earth as it is in heaven. Of all controversys of government, those in the vindication of popular government are the most noble, as being that constitution alone, from whence all we have that is good is descended to us; and which, if it had not existed, mankind at this day had bin but a herd of beasts. The prerogative of popular government must either be in an ill hand, or else it is a game against which there is not a card in the whole pack; for we have the books of Moses, those of the Greecs and of the Romans, not to omit Machiavel, all for it. What have the asserters of monarchy; what can they have against us? a sword; but that rusts, or must have a scabbard; and the scabbard of this kind of sword is a good frame of government.

A MAN may be possest of a piece of ground by force, but to make use or profit of it, he must build upon it, and till it by reason; for whatever is not founded upon reason, cannot be permanent. In reason there are two parts, invention and judgment: as to the latter, in a multitude of counsillors (say both Solomon and Machiavel) there is strength. Nay as for judgment, there is not that order in art or nature that can compare with a popular assembly. THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE IS THE VOICE OF GOD. Hence it is that in all well-order’d policys the people have the ultimat result: but unless there be som other to invent, a popular assembly can be of no effect at all but confusion. Invention is a solitary thing. All the physicians in the world put together, invented not the circulation of the blood, nor can invent any such thing, tho in their own art; yet this was invented by one alone, and being invented is unanimously voted and embrac’d by the generality of physicians. The plow and wheels were at first, you must think, the invention of some rare artists; but who or what shall ever be able to tear the use of them from the people? hence, where government is at a loss, a sole legislator is of absolute necessity; nay where it is not at a loss, if well model’d as in Venice, the proposers, tho frequently changeable, as in that case is necessary, are very few, as the counsillors, the savi, the provosts. Wherever a commonwealth is thus propos’d to, the balance or popular assembly will do her duty to admiration, but till then never. Yet so it has bin with us of late years, that altho in royal authority there was no more than the right of proposing, and the king himself was to stand (legibus & consuetudinibus quas vulgus elegerit) to the result of the people, yet the popular council has bin put upon invention, and they that have bin the prevailing party have us’d means to keep the result to themselves, quite contrary to the nature of popular administration. Let one speak, and the rest judg. Of whatever any one man can say or do, mankind is the natural and competent judg, in which is contain’d the very reason of parlaments; thro the want of understanding this came in confusion. Man that is in honor, and has no understanding, is like the beasts that perish. Nor can we possibly return to order, but by mending the hedg where it was broken. A prudent, intire and fit proposition made to a free parlament, recovers all. To them who are of the greatest eminency or authority in a commonwealth, belongs naturally that part of reason which is invention; and using this, they are to propose: but what did our grandees ever invent or propose, that might shew so much as that themselves knew what they would be at? and yet how confidently do they lay the fault upon the people, and their unfitness, forsooth, for government: in which they are wondrous wise! for, this I will boldly say, Where there was an aristocracy that perform’d their duty, there never was, nor ever can be a people unfit for government; but on the contrary, where the aristocracy have fail’d, the people being once under orders, have held very often. But while they are not under orders, if they fail it is not their fault, but the fault of the aristocracy; for who else should model a government but men of experience? there is not in England, I speak it to their shame, one Grandee that has any perfect knowledge of the orders of any one commonwealth that ever was in the world. Away with this same grave complexion, this huff of wisdom maintain’d by making faces. The people cannot do their duty consisting in judgment, but by virtue of such orders as may bring them together, and direct them; but the duty of the aristocracy consisting in invention, may be don by any one man, and in his study; and where is that one man among all the grandees that studys? they are so far from knowing their own duty, that a man for proposing that in which none can find a flaw, has don enough to be ridiculous to them, who are themselves ridiculous to the whole world, in that they could never yet propose any thing that would hold.

BUT if this amounts to a demonstration, it amounts to a clear detection of your profound grandees, and a full proof that they are phanatical persons, state jesuits, such as have reduc’d the politics to mental reservation, and implicit faith in their nods or nightcaps.

GOD, to propose his commandments to the people of Israel, wrote them on two tables; the Decemviri to propose their commandments to the people of Rome, wrote them on twelve tables; the Athenians propos’d in writing, sign’d with the name of the particular inventor; after this pattern do the Venetians, as was said, the same at this day. But no goosquill, no scribling: your grandees are above this.

MOSES, who was the first writer in this kind, shall be pardon’d; but Machiavel, the first in later times that has reviv’d his principles, or trod in his steps, is deservedly pelted for it by sermons. They are not for the Scripture, but the cabala.

I WILL tell you a story out of Boccalini: Apollo having spy’d the philosopher and great master of silence Harpocrates in the court of Parnassus, us’d such importunity with him, that for once he was persuaded to speak; upon which such apparent discovery was made of the hypocrite, and the gross ignorance he had so long harbor’d under a deceitful silence, that he was immediately banish’d the court. Were there cause, I could be modest; but this virtue, to the diminution of sound and wholsom principles, would be none: wherfore let a grandee write, and I will shew you Harpocrates.

THUS having sufficiently defy’d Sir Guy, I may with the less impeachment of reputation descend to Tom Thum. Not that I hold my self a fit person to be exercis’d with boys play, but that som, who should have more wit, have so little as to think this somthing. A good ratcatcher is not so great a blessing to any city, as a good jugglercatcher would be to this nation. Now because I want an office, I shall shew my parts to my country, and how fit I am for the white staff, or long pole of so worshipful a preferment.

Ridiculus ne sis, esto.