Cato’s Letters, vol. 2 June 24, 1721 to March 3, 1722 (LF ed.)

Volume 2 of a four volumes in 2 set. Almost a generation before Washington, Henry, and Jefferson were even born, two Englishmen, concealing their identities with the honored ancient name of Cato, wrote newspaper articles condemning tyranny and advancing principles of liberty that immensely influenced American colonists. The Englishmen were John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon. Their prototype was Cato the Younger (95-46 B.C.), the implacable foe of Julius Caesar and a champion of liberty and republican principles. Their 144 essays were published from 1720 to 1723, originally in the London Journal, later in the British Journal. Subsequently collected as Cato’s Letters, these “Essays on Liberty, Civil and Religious” became, as Clinton Rossiter has remarked, “the most popular, quotable, esteemed source of political ideas in the colonial period.” This new two-volume edition offers minimally modernized versions of the letters from the four-volume sixth edition printed in London in 1755.
Cato’s Letters, or Essays on Liberty, Civil and Religious, and Other Important Subjects. Four volumes in Two, edited and annotated by Ronald Hamowy (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1995). Vol. 2.
Copyright:
The copyright to this edition, in both print and electronic forms, is held by Liberty Fund, Inc.
People:
- Author: Thomas Gordon
- Author: John Trenchard
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Table of Contents
- Table of Contents
- VOLUME TWO
- NO. 34. SATURDAY, JUNE 24, 1721. Of Flattery. (Gordon)
- NO. 35. SATURDAY, JULY 1, 1721. Of publick Spirit. (Gordon)
- NO. 36. SATURDAY, JULY 8, 1721. Of Loyalty. (Gordon)
- NO. 37. SATURDAY, JULY 15, 1721. Character of a good and of an evil Magistrate, quoted from Algernon Sidney, Esq. (Gordon)
- NO. 38. SATURDAY, JULY 22, 1721. The Right and Capacity of the People to judge of Government. (Gordon)
- NO. 39. SATURDAY, JULY 29, 1721. Of the Passions; that they are all alike good or all alike evil, according as they are applied. (Gordon)
- NO. 40. SATURDAY, AUGUST 5, 1721. Considerations on the restless and selfish Spirit of Man. (Gordon)
- NO. 41. SATURDAY, AUGUST 19, 1721. The Emperor Galba’s Speech to Piso, with an Introduction. (Gordon)
- THE SPEECH OF GALBA TO PISO
- NO. 42. SATURDAY, AUGUST 26, 1721. Considerations on the Nature of Laws. (Gordon)
- NO. 43. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1721. The natural Passion of Men for Superiority. (Gordon)
- NO. 44. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 1721. Men not ruled by Principle, but by Passion. (Gordon)
- NO. 45. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1721. Of the Equality and Inequality of Men. (Gordon)
- NO. 46. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1721. Of the false Guises which Men put on, and their ill Effect. (Gordon)
- NO. 47. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1721. Of the Frailty and Uncertainty of human Judgment. (Gordon)
- NO. 48. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1721. The general unhappy State of the World, ftom the Baseness and Iniquity of its Governors in most Countries. (Gordon)
- NO. 49. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 21, 1721. Of the Power of Prejudice. (Gordon)
- NO. 50. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1721. An Idea of the Turkish Government, taken from Sir Paul Ricaut. (Gordon)
- NO. 51. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1721. Popularity no Proof of Merit. (Gordon)
- NO. 52. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER II, 1721. Of Divine Judgments; the Wickedness and Absurdity of applying them to Men and Events. (Gordon)
- NO. 53. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 1721. Dr. Prideaux's Reasoning about the Death of Cambyses, examined; whether the same was a Judgment for his killing the Egyptian God Apis. (Gordon)
- NO. 54. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1721. The Reasoning of Dr. Prideaux about the Fate of Brennus the Gaul, and of his Followers, examined; whether the same was a Judgment for an Intention to plunder the Temple of Delphos. (Gordon)
- NO. 55. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1721. The Lawfulness of killing Julius Caesar considered, and defended, against Dr. Prideaux. (Gordon)
- NO. 56. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1721. A Vindication of Brutus, for having killed Caesar. (Gordon)
- NO. 57. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1721. Of false Honour, publick and private. (Gordon)
- NO. 58. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1721. Letter from a Lady, with an Answer, about Love, Marriage, and Settlements. (A Woman, Trenchard, and Gordon)
- POSTSCRIPT
- NO. 59. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1721. Liberty proved to be the unalienable Right of all Mankind. (Trenchard)
- NO. 60. SATURDAY, JANUARY 6, 1722. All Government proved to be instituted by Men, and only to intend the general Good of Men. (Trenchard)
- NO. 61. SATURDAY, JANUARY 13, 1722. How free Governments are to be framed so as to last, and how they differ from such as are arbitrary. (Trenchard)
- NO. 62. SATURDAY, JANUARY 20, 1722. An Enquiry into the Nature and Extent of Liberty; with its Loveliness and Advantages, and the vile Effects of Slavery. (Gordon)
- NO. 63. SATURDAY, JANUARY 27, 1722. Civil Liberty produces all Civil Blessings, and how; with the baneful Nature of Tyranny. (Gordon)
- NO. 64. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1722. Trade and Naval Power the Offspring of Civil Liberty only, and cannot subsist without it. (Trenchard)
- NO. 65. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1722. Military Virtue produced and supported by Civil Liberty only. (Gordon)
- NO. 66. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 1722. Arbitrary Government proved incompatible with true Religion, whether Natural or Revealed. (Gordon)
- NO. 67. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1722. Arts and Sciences the Effects of Civil Liberty only, and ever destroyed or oppressed by Tyranny. (Gordon)
- NO. 68. SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 1722. Property and Commerce secure in a free Government only; with the consuming Miseries under simple Monarchies. (Gordon)