An Enquiry into the Causes of the late Increase of Robbers/Preface

THE

PREFACE.

There is nothing o much talked of, and o little undertood in this Country, as the Contitution. It is a Word in the Mouth of every Man; and yet when we come to dicoure of the Matter, there is no Subject on which our Ideas are more confued and perplexed. Some, when they peak of the Contitution, confine their notions to the Law; others to the Legilature; others, again, to the governing or executive Part; and many there are, who jumble all thee together in one Idea. One Error, however, is common to them all: for all eem to have the Conception of omething uniform and permanent, as if the Contitution of England partook rather of the Nature of the Soil than of the Climate, and was as fixed and contant as the former, not as changing and variable as the latter.

Now in this Word, The Contitution, are included the original and fundamental Law of the Kingdom, from whence all Powers are derived, and by which they are circumcribed; all legilative and executive Authority; all thoe municipal Proviions which are commonly called The Laws; and, latly, the Cutoms, Manners, and Habits of the People. Thee, joined together, do, I apprehend, form the Political, as the everal Members of the Body, the animal Oeconomy, with the Humours and Habit, compoe that which is called the Natural Contitution.

The Greek Philoophy will, perhaps, help us to a better Idea: for neither will the everal contituent Parts, nor the Contexture of the whole, give an adequate Notion of the Word. By the Contitution is, indeed, rather meant omething which reults from the Order and Dipoition of the whole; omething reembling that Harmony for which the Theban in Plato's Phædo contends; which he calls ἀόρατόν τι κὶ ἀσάμάτον, omething inviible and incorporeal. For many of the Greeks imagined the Soul to reult from the κρασις or Compoition of the Parts of the Body, when thee were properly tempered together, as Harmony doth from the proper Compoition of the everal Parts in a well tuned muical Intrument: In the ame manner, from the Dipoition of the everal Parts in a State, aries that which we call the Contitution.

In this Dipoition the Laws have o coniderable a Share, that, as no Man can perfectly undertand the whole, without knowing the Parts of which it is compoed, it follows, that, to have a jut Notion of our Contitution, without a competent Knowledge of the Laws, is imposible. Without this, the reading over our Hitorians may afford Amuement, but will very little intruct us in the true Esentials of our Contitution. Nor will this Knowledge alone erve our Purpoe. The mere Lawyer, however kilful in his Profesion, who is not vered in the Genius, Manners, and Habits of the People, makes but a wretched Politician. Hence the Hitorian, who is ignorant of our Law, and the Lawyer who is ignorant of our Hitory, have agreed in that common Error, remarked above, of conidering our Contitution as omething fixed and permanent: for the exterior Form of Government (however the People are changed) till, in a great Degree, remains what it was; and the ame, notwithtanding all its Alterations, may be aid of the Law.

To explain this a little farther: From the Original of the Lower Houe of Parliament to this Day, the Supreme Power hath been veted in the King and the two Houes of Parliament. Thee Two Houes have, each at different Times, carried very different Weights in the Balance, and yet the Form of Government remained till one and the ame: So hath it happened to the Law; the ame Courts of Jutice, the ame Form of Trials, &c. have preerved the Notion of Identity, tho' in real Truth, the preent Governing Powers, and the preent legal Proviions, bear o little Reemblance to thoe of our Ancetors in the Reign of King John, or indeed in later Times, that could any Lawyer or Stateman of thoe Days be recalled to Life, he would make, I believe, a very indifferent Figure in Wetminterhall, or in any of the Parts there adjacent.

To perceive the Alterations in our Contitution, doth, in fact, require a pretty jut Knowledge both of the People and of the Laws: for either of thee may be greatly changed, without producing any immediate Effect on the other. The Alterations in the great Wheels of State above-mentioned, which are o viible in our Hitorians, are not noticed in our Laws, as very few of the great Changes in the Law have fallen under the Eye of our Hitorians.

Many of both Kinds have appeared in our Contitution; but I hall at preent confine myelf to one only, as being that which principally relates to the Subject of the following Treatie.

If the Contitution, as I above aserted, be the Reult of the Dipoition of the everal Parts before mentioned, it follows, that this Dipoition can never be altered, without producing a proportional Change in the Contitution. 'If the Soul,' ays Simmias in Plato, 'be a Harmony reulting from the Dipoition of the corporeal Parts, it follows, that when this Dipoition is confounded, and the Body is torn by Dieaes or other Evils, the Soul immediately (whatever be her Divinity) mut perih.' This will be apparent, if we cat our Eyes a Moment towards the animal Oeconomy; and it is no les true in the political.

The Cutoms, Manners, and Habits of the People, do, as I have aid, form one Part of the Political Contitution; if thee are altered therefore, this mut be changed likewie; and here, as in the Natural Body, the Diorder of any Part will, in its Conequence, affect the whole.

One known Diviion of the People in this Nation is into the Nobility, the Gentry, and the Commonalty. What Alterations have happened among the two former of thee, I hall not at preent enquire; but that the lat, in their Cutoms, Manners, and Habits, are greatly changed from what they were, I think to make appear.

If we look into the earliet Ages, we hall find the Condition of this Third Part to have been very low and mean. The highet Order of this Rank, before the Conquet, were thoe Tenants in Socage, who held their Lands by the Service of the Plough; who, as Lyttleton tells us, 'were to come with their Plough for certain Days in the Year, to plow and ow the Demene of the Lords;' as the Villains, aith the ame Author, 'were to carry and recarry the Dung of his Lord, pread it upon his Land, and to perform uch like Services.'

This latter was rightly accounted a lavih Tenure. The Villains were indeed conidered in law as a kind of Chattle belonging to their Maters: for though thee had not the Power of Life and Death over them, nor even of maiming them with Impunity, yet thee Villains had not even the Capacity of purchaing Lands or Goods; but the Lord, on uch Purchae, might enter into the one, and eize the other for his own Ue. And as for the Land which they held in Villenage, tho' Lord Coke ays, it was not only held at the Will of the Lord, but according to the Cutom of the Manor; yet, in ancient Times, if the Lord ejected them, they were manifetly without Remedy.

And as to the former, tho' they were accounted Freemen, yet were they obliged to wear Fealty to their Lord; and tho' Mr. Rapin be mitaken, when he ays they could not alienate their Land, (for before the Statute of Magna Charta, Chap. 32. they could have given or old the whole, but without any Alteration of the Tenure) yet was the Etate of thee but very mean. 'Tho' they are called Freemen,' ays Lord Coke, 'yet they ploughed, harrowed, reaped, and mowed, &c. for the Lord;' and Bracton, Dicuntur Socmanni eo quod deputati unt tantummodo ad culturam.

Beides uch as were bound by their Tenures to the Service of Agriculture, the Number of Freemen below the Degree of Gentry, and who got their Livelihood in the Mercantile or Mechanical Way, was very inconiderable. As to the Servants, they were chiefly bound by Tenure, and thoe of the lower Sort differed very little from Slaves.

That this Etate of the Commonalty is greatly changed, is apparent; and to this Alteration many Caues in ubequent Ages have contributed.

Firt, The Oath of Fealty, or Fidelity, which of old Time was adminitered with great Ceremony, became afterwards to be omitted; and though this Fealty till remained incident to every Socage Tenure, yet the Omision of the Form was not without its Conequences; for, as Lord Coke ays, peaking of Homage, Prudent Antiquity did, for the more Solemnity and better Memory and Obervation of that which is to be done, expres Subtances under Ceremonies.

2dly, Whereas in the antient Tenures the principal Reervation was of peronal Services from the inferior Tenants, the Rent being generally trifling, uch as Hens, Capons, Roes, Spurs, Hawks, &c. afterwards the Avarice or Necesity of the Lords incited them to convert thee for the mot part into Money, which tended greatly to weaken the Power of the Lord, and to raie the Freedom and Independency of the Tenant.

3dly, The dimembering Manors by Leaes for Years, as it flowed from the ame Sources, o it produced the ame Effects. Thee were probably very rare before the Reign of Edward I. at which time the Statute of Gloceter ecured the Etate of this Tenant.

4thly, The Etate of the Villain or Copyholder eems clearly, as I have aid, to have originally been holden only at the Will of the Lord; but the Law was afterwards altered, and in the Reign of Edward IV. ome of the bet Judges were of Opinion, that if the Copyholder was unlawfully ejected by his Lord, he hould have an Action of Trepas againt him at the Common Law.

From this Time the Etate of the Copyholder (which, as Briton tells us, was formerly a bae Tenure) began to grow into Repute, and, though till ditinguihed in ome Privileges from a Freehold, became the Posesion of many opulent and powerful Perons.

By thee and uch like Means the Commonalty, by Degrees, hook off their Vasalage, and became more and more independent on their Superiors. Even Servants, in Proces of Time, acquired a State of Freedom and Independency, unknown to this Rank in any other Nation; and which, as the Law now tands, is inconistent with a ervile Condition.

But nothing hath wrought uch an Alteration in this Order of People, as the Introduction of Trade. This hath indeed given a new Face to the whole Nation, hath in a great meaure ubverted the former State of Affairs, and hath almot totally changed the Manners, Cutomers, and Habits of the People, more epecially of the lower Sort. The Narrownes of their Fortune is changed into Wealth; the Simplicity of their Manners into Craft; their Frugality into Luxury; their Humility into Pride; and their Subjection into Equality.

The Philoopher, perhaps, will think this a bad Exchange, and may be inclined to cry out with the Poet,

Sævior armis Luxuria incubuit. Nullum crimen abet, facinuque libidinis, ex quo Paupertas Romana perît.

Again,

Prima peregrinos obcæna pecunia mores Intulit, & turpi fregerunt sæcula luxu Divitiæ molles.

But that Politician finds many Emoluments to compenate all the moral Evils introduced by Trade, by which the Grandeur and Power of the Nation is carried to a Pitch that it could never otherwie have reached; Arts and Sciences are improved, and human Life is imbellihed with every Ornament, and furnihed with every Comfort which it is capable of tating.

In all thee Asertions he is right: but urely he forgets himelf a little, when he joins the Philoopher in lamenting the Introduction of Luxury as a caual Evil; for as Riches are the certain Conequence of Trade, o is Luxury the no les certain Conequence of Riches: nay, Trade and Luxury do indeed upport each other; and this latter, in its Turn, becomes as ueful to Trade as Trade had been before to the Support of Luxury.

To prevent this Conequence therefore of a flourihing Commerce is to tally to change the Nature of Things, and to eparate the Effect from the Caue. A Matter as imposible in the Political Body as in the Natural. Vices and Dieaes, with like phyical Necesity, arie from certain Habits in both; and to retrain and palliate the evil Conequences, is all that lies within the Reach of Art. How far it is the Buines of the Politician to interfere in the Cae of Luxury, we have attempted to hew in the following Treatie.

Now, to conceive that o great a Change as this in the People hould produce no Change in the Contitution, is to dicover, I think as great Ignorance as would appear in the Phyician who hould asert, that the whole State of the Blood may be entirely altered from poor to rich, from cool to inflamed, without producing any Alteration in the Contitution of the Man.

To put this in the clearet Light: There appear to me to be Four Sorts of Political Power; that of bodily Strength, that of the Mind, the Power of the Pure, and the Power of the Sword. Under the Second of thee Diviions may be ranged all the Art of the Legilator and Politician, all the power of Laws and Government. Thee do contitute the Civil Power; and a State may then be aid to be in good Order, when all the other Powers are ubervient to this; when they own its uperior Excellence and Energy, pay it a ready Obedience, and all unite in Support of its Rule.

But o far are thee Powers from paying uch voluntary Submision, that they are all extremely apt to rebel, and to asert their own Superiority; but none is more rebellious in its Nature, or more difficult to be governed than that of the Pure or Money. Self-opinion, Arrogance, Inolence, and Impatience of Rule, are its almot ineparable Companions.

Now if thee Asertions are true, what an immene Accesion of this Power hath accrued to the Commonalty by the Increae of Trade? for tho' the other Orders have acquired an Addition by the ame Means, this is not in the ame Proportion, as every Reader, who will revolve the Propoition but a Moment in his own Mind, mut be atified.

And what may we hence conclude? Is that Civil Power, which was adapted to the Government of this Order of People in that State in which they were at the Conquet, capable of ruling them in their preent Situation? Hath this Civil Power kept equal Pace with them in the Increae of its Force, or hath it not rather, by the Remisnes of the Magitrate, lot much of its antient Energy? Where is now that Power of the Sheriff, which could formerly awaken and arm a whole County in an Intant? Where is that Pose Comitatus, which attended at his Beck? What is become of the Contitutions of Alfred, which the Reader will find let forth at large in the following Treatie? What of the antient Conervators of the Peace? Have the Jutices, on whom this whole Power devolves, an Authority ufficient for the Purpoe? In ome Counties, perhaps, you may find an overgrown Tyrant, who lords it over his Neighbours and Tenants with depotic Sway, and who is as regardles of the Law as he is ignorant of it; but as to the Magitrate of a les Fortune, and more Knowledge, every riotous independent Butcher or Baker, with two or three thouand Pounds in his Pocket, laughs at his Power, and every Pettyfogger makes him tremble.

It is a common and popular Complaint, that the Jutices of Peace have already too much Power. Indeed a very little is too much, if it be abued, but, in truth, this Complaint proceeds from a Mitake of Buines for Power: The Buines of the Jutice is indeed multiplied by a great Number of Statutes; but I know not of any (the Riot Act perhaps excepted) which hath at all enlarged his Power. And what the Force of that Act is, and how able the Magitrate is, by means of the Civil Power alone, to execute it in any popular Commotion, I have myelf experienced. But when a Mob of Chairmen or Servants, or a Gang of Thieves and Sharpers, are almot too big for the Civil Authority to uppres, what mut be the Cae in a editious Tumult, or general Riot of the People?

From what hath been aid, I may, I think, conclude, that the Contitution of this Country is altered from its antient State.

2dly, That the Power of the Commonalty hath received an immene Addition; and that the Civil Power having not increaed, but decreaed, in the ame Proportion, is not able to govern them.

What may and mut be the Conequence of this, as well as what Remedy can be applied to it, I leave to the Conideration of others: I have proceeded far enough already on the Subject, to draw ufficient Ill-will on myelf, from unmeaning or ill-meaning People, who either do not foreee the michievous Tendency of a total Relaxation of Government, or who have ome private wicked Purpoe to effect from public Confuion.

In plain Truth, the principal Deign of this whole Work, is to roue the CIVIL Power from its preent lethargic State. A Deign which alike oppoes thoe wild Notions of Liberty that are inconistent with all Government, and thoe pernicious Schemes of Government, which are detructive of true Liberty. However contrary indeed thee Principles may eem to each other, they have both the ame common Interet; or rather, the former are the wretched Tools of the latter: for Anarchy is almot ure to end in ome Kind of Tyranny.

Dr. Middleton, in his Life of Cicero, hath a fine Obervation to my preent Purpoe, with which I will conclude this Preface.

'From the Railleries of the Romans,' (says he) 'on the Barbarity and Miery of our Iland, one cannot help reflecting on the urpriing Fate and Revolutions of Kingdoms: how Rome, once the Mitres of the World, the Seat of Arts, Empire and Glory, now lies unk in Sloth, Ignorance and Poverty; enlaved to the mot cruel, as well as to the mot contemptible of Tyrants, Supertition and Religious Impoture; while this remote Country, anciently the Jet and Contempt of the polite Romans, is become the happy Seat of Liberty, Plenty, and Letters; flourihing in all the Arts and Refinements of Civil Life; yet running perhaps the ame Coure, which Rome itelf had run before it; from virtuous Indutry to Wealth; from Wealth to Luxury; from Luxury to an Impatience of Dicipline and Corruption of Morals; till by a total Degeneracy and Los of Virtue, being grown ripe for Detruction, it falls a Prey at lat to ome hardy Oppresor, and, with the Los of Liberty, loing every thing ele, that is valuable, inks gradually again into its original Barbarim.'