Cato: A Tragedy, and Selected Essays

Freeholder 12 ( January 30, 1716)

1. “With the care, therefore, and the courage that you have displayed from the beginning, take your decision upon the salvation of yourselves and of the Roman people, upon your wives and children, your altars and hearths, your shrines and temples, the buildings and homes of the entire city, your dominion and your freedom, the safety of Italy and upon the whole Republic.” Cicero In Catilinam IV.24. 2. January 30 is the anniversary of the execution of Charles I in 1649. Freeholder, No. 12 Monday, January 30, 1716 Quapropter, de summâ salute vestrâ, P. C. de vestris conjugibus ac liberis, de aris ac focis, de fanis ac templis, de totius urbis tectis ac sedibus, de imperio, de libertate, de salute patriae, deque universâ republicâ decernite diligenter, ut instituistis, ac fortiter. Cicero.1 This day having been set apart by publick authority to raise in us an abhorrence of the Great Rebellion, which involved this nation in so many calamities, and ended in the murder of their Sovereign; it may not be unseasonable to shew the guilt of rebellion in general, and of that rebellion in particular which is stirred up against his present Majesty.2 That rebellion is one of the most heinous crimes which it is in the power of man to commit, may appear from several considerations. First, as it destroys the end of all government, and the benefits of civil society. Government was instituted for maintaining the peace, safety, and happiness of a people. These great ends are brought about by a general conformity and submission to that frame of laws which is established in every community, for the protection of the freeholder 12 221 innocent, and the punishment of the guilty. As on the one side men are secured in the quiet possession of their lives, properties, and every thing they have a right to: so on the other side, those who offer them any injury in these particulars, are subject to penalties proportioned to their respective offences. Government therefore mitigates the inequality of power among particular persons, and makes an innocent man, though of the lowest rank, a match for the mightiest of his fellow-subjects; since he has the force of the whole community on his side, which is able to controul the insolence or injustice of any private oppressor. Now rebellion disappoints all these ends and benefits of government, by raising a power in opposition to that authority which has been established among a people for their mutual welfare and defence. So that rebellion is as great an evil to society , as government itself is a blessing. In the next place, rebellion is a violation of those engagements, which every government exacts from such persons as live under it; and consequently, the most base and pernicious instance of treachery and perfidiousness. The guilt of rebellion increases in proportion as these engagements are more solemn and obligatory. Thus if a man makes his way to rebellion through perjury, he gives additional horrors to that crime, which is in itself of the blackest nature. We may likewise consider rebellion as a greater complication of wickedness than any other crime we can commit. It is big with rapine , sacrilege, and murder. It is dreadful in its mildest effects, as it impoverishes the publick; ruins particular families; begets and perpetuates hatreds among fellow-subjects, friends, and relations; makes a country the seat of war and desolation, and exposes it to the attempts of its foreign enemies. In short, as it is impossible for it to take effect, or to make the smallest progress, but through a continued course of violence and bloodshed; a robber or a murderer looks like an innocent man, when we compare him with a rebel. I shall only add, that as in the subordination of a government the King is offended by any insults or oppositions to an inferior Magistrate ; so the sovereign Ruler of the universe is affronted by a breach of allegiance to those whom he has set over us; Providence having delegated to the supream Magistrate in every country the same 222 selected essays 3. Extremely wicked or criminal. power for the good of men, which that supream Magistrate transfers to those several officers and substitutes who act under him, for the preserving of order and justice. Now if we take a view of the present rebellion which is formed against his Majesty...