OF THE NUTRITION, AND PROCREATION OF A
COMMONWEALTH.
[Sidenote: The nourishment of a commonwealth consisteth in the
commodities of sea and land.]
The NUTRITION of a commonwealth consisteth, in the _plenty_, and
_distribution_ of _materials_ conducing to life: in _concoction_, or
_preparation_; and, when concocted, in the _conveyance_ of it, by
convenient conduits, to the public use.
As for the plenty of matter, it is a thing limited by nature, to those
commodities, which from the two breasts of our common mother, land and
sea, God usually either freely giveth, or for labour selleth to mankind.
For the matter of this nutriment, consisting in animals, vegetals, and
minerals, God hath freely laid them before us, in or near to the face of
the earth; so as there needeth no more but the labour, and industry of
receiving them. Insomuch as plenty dependeth, next to God’s favour,
merely on the labour and industry of men.
This matter, commonly called commodities, is partly _native_, and partly
_foreign_: _native_, that which is to be had within the territory of the
commonwealth: _foreign_, that which is imported from without. And
because there is no territory under the dominion of one commonwealth,
except it be of very vast extent, that produceth all things needful for
the maintenance, and motion of the whole body; and few that produce not
some thing more than necessary; the superfluous commodities to be had
within, become no more superfluous, but supply these wants at home, by
importation of that which may be had abroad, either by exchange, or by
just war, or by labour. For a man’s labour also, is a commodity
exchangeable for benefit, as well as any other thing: and there have
been commonwealths that having no more territory, than hath served them
for habitation, have nevertheless, not only maintained, but also
encreased their power, partly by the labour of trading from one place to
another, and partly by selling the manufactures whereof the materials
were brought in from other places.
[Sidenote: And the right distribution of them.]
The distribution of the materials of this nourishment, is the
constitution of _mine_, and _thine_, and _his_; that is to say, in one
word _propriety_; and belongeth in all kinds of commonwealth to the
sovereign power. For where there is no commonwealth, there is, as hath
been already shown, a perpetual war of every man against his neighbour;
and therefore every thing is his that getteth it, and keepeth it by
force; which is neither _propriety_, nor _community_; but _uncertainty_.
Which is so evident, that even Cicero, a passionate defender of liberty,
in a public pleading, attributeth all propriety to the law civil. _Let
the civil law_, saith he, _be once abandoned, or but negligently
guarded, not to say oppressed, and there is nothing, that any man can be
sure to receive from his ancestor, or leave to his children_. And again;
_Take away the civil law, and no man knows what is his own, and what
another man’s_. Seeing therefore the introduction of _propriety_ is an
effect of commonwealth, which can do nothing but by the person that
represents it, it is the act only of the sovereign; and consisteth in
the laws, which none can make that have not the sovereign power. And
this they well knew of old, who called that Νόμος, that is to say,
_distribution_, which we call law; and defined justice, by
_distributing_ to every man _his own_.
[Sidenote: All private estates of land proceed originally from the
arbitrary distribution of the sovereign.]
In this distribution, the first law, is for division of the land itself:
wherein the sovereign assigneth to every man a portion, according as he,
and not according as any subject, or any number of them, shall judge
agreeable to equity, and the common good. The children of Israel, were a
commonwealth in the wilderness; but wanted the commodities of the earth,
till they were masters of the Land of Promise; which afterward was
divided amongst them, not by their own discretion, but by the discretion
of Eleazar the Priest, and Joshua their General, who, when there were
twelve tribes, making them thirteen by subdivision of the tribe of
Joseph, made nevertheless but twelve portions of the land; and ordained
for the tribe of Levi no land; but assigned them the tenth part of the
whole fruits; which division was therefore arbitrary. And though a
people coming into possession of a land by war, do not always
exterminate the ancient inhabitants, as did the Jews, but leave to many,
or most, or all of them their estates; yet it is manifest they hold them
afterwards, as of the victors’ distribution; as the people of England
held all theirs of William the Conqueror.
[Sidenote: Propriety of subject excludes not the dominion of the
sovereign, but only of another subject.]
From whence we may collect, that the propriety which a subject hath in
his lands, consisteth in a right to exclude all other subjects from the
use of them; and not to exclude their sovereign, be it an assembly, or a
monarch. For seeing the sovereign, that is to say, the commonwealth,
whose person he representeth, is understood to do nothing but in order
to the common peace and security, this distribution of lands, is to be
understood as done in order to the same: and consequently, whatsoever
distribution he shall make in prejudice thereof, is contrary to the will
of every subject, that committed his peace, and safety to his
discretion, and conscience; and therefore by the will of every one of
them, is to be reputed void. It is true, that a sovereign monarch, or
the greater part of a sovereign assembly, may ordain the doing of many
things in pursuit of their passions, contrary to their own consciences,
which is a breach of trust, and of the law of nature; but this is not
enough to authorize any subject, either to make war upon, or so much as
to accuse of injustice, or any way to speak evil of their sovereign;
because they have authorized all his actions, and in bestowing the
sovereign power, made them their own. But in what cases the commands of
sovereigns are contrary to equity, and the law of nature, is to be
considered hereafter in another place.
[Sidenote: The public is not to be dieted.]
In the distribution of land, the commonwealth itself, may be conceived
to have a portion, and possess, and improve the same by their
representative; and that such portion may be made sufficient, to sustain
the whole expense to the common peace, and defence necessarily required.
Which were very true, if there could be any representative conceived
free from human passions, and infirmities. But the nature of men being
as it is, the setting forth of public land, or of any certain revenue
for the commonwealth, is in vain; and tendeth to the dissolution of
government, and to the condition of mere nature, and war, as soon as
ever the sovereign power falleth into the hands of a monarch, or of an
assembly, that are either too negligent of money, or too hazardous in
engaging the public stock into a long or costly war. Commonwealths can
endure no diet: for seeing their expense is not limited by their own
appetite, but by external accidents, and the appetites of their
neighbours, the public riches cannot be limited by other limits, than
those which the emergent occasions shall require. And whereas in
England, there were by the Conqueror, divers lands reserved to his own
use, besides forests and chases, either for his recreation, or
preservation of woods, and divers services reserved on the land he gave
his subjects; yet it seems they were not reserved for his maintenance in
his public, but in his natural capacity. For he, and his successors did
for all that, lay arbitrary taxes on all subjects’ land, when they
judged it necessary. Or if those public lands, and services, were
ordained as a sufficient maintenance of the commonwealth, it was
contrary to the scope of the institution; being, as it appeared by those
ensuing taxes, insufficient, and, as it appears by the late small
revenue of the crown, subject to alienation and diminution. It is
therefore in vain, to assign a portion to the commonwealth; which may
sell, or give it away; and does sell and give it away, when it is done
by their representative.
[Sidenote: The places and matter of traffic depend, as their
distribution, on the sovereign.]
As the distribution of lands at home; so also to assign in what places,
and for what commodities, the subject shall traffic abroad, belongeth to
the sovereign. For if it did belong to private persons to use their own
discretion therein, some of them would be drawn for gain, both to
furnish the enemy with means to hurt the commonwealth, and hurt it
themselves, by importing such things, as pleasing men’s appetites, be
nevertheless noxious, or at least unprofitable to them. And therefore it
belongeth to the commonwealth, that is, to the sovereign only, to
approve, or disapprove both of the places, and matter of foreign
traffic.
[Sidenote: The laws of transferring propriety belong also to the
sovereign.]
Further, seeing it is not enough to the sustentation of a commonwealth,
that every man have a propriety in a portion of land, or in some few
commodities, or a natural property in some useful art, and there is no
art in the world, but is necessary either for the being, or well being
almost of every particular man; it is necessary, that men distribute
that which they can spare, and transfer their propriety therein,
mutually one to another, by exchange, and mutual contract. And therefore
it belongeth to the commonwealth, that is to say, to the sovereign, to
appoint in what manner all kinds of contract between subjects, as
buying, selling, exchanging, borrowing, lending, letting, and taking to
hire, are to be made; and by what words and signs they shall be
understood for valid. And for the matter, and distribution of the
nourishment, to the several members of the commonwealth, thus much,
considering the model of the whole work, is sufficient.
[Sidenote: Money the blood of a commonwealth.]
By concoction, I understand the reducing of all commodities, which are
not presently consumed, but reserved for nourishment in time to come, to
something of equal value, and withal so portable, as not to hinder the
motion of men from place to place; to the end a man may have in what
place soever, such nourishment as the place affordeth. And this is
nothing else but gold, and silver, and money. For gold and silver,
being, as it happens, almost in all countries of the world highly
valued, is a commodious measure of the value of all things else between
nations; and money, of what matter soever coined by the sovereign of a
commonwealth, is a sufficient measure of the value of all things else,
between the subjects of that commonwealth. By the means of which
measures, all commodities, moveable and immoveable, are made to
accompany a man to all places of his resort, within and without the
place of his ordinary residence; and the same passeth from man to man,
within the commonwealth; and goes round about, nourishing, as it
passeth, every part thereof; in so much as this concoction, is as it
were the sanguification of the commonwealth: for natural blood is in
like manner made of the fruits of the earth; and circulating, nourisheth
by the way every member of the body of man.
And because silver and gold have their value from the matter itself;
they have first this privilege, that the value of them cannot be altered
by the power of one, nor of a few commonwealths; as being a common
measure of the commodities of all places. But base money, may easily be
enhanced, or abased. Secondly, they have the privilege to make
commonwealths move, and stretch out their arms, when need is, into
foreign countries: and supply, not only private subjects that travel,
but also whole armies with provision. But that coin, which is not
considerable for the matter, but for the stamp of the place, being
unable to endure change of air, hath its effect at home only; where also
it is subject to the change of laws, and thereby to have the value
diminished, to the prejudice many times of those that have it.
[Sidenote: The conduits and way of money to the public use.]
The conduits, and ways by which it is conveyed to the public use, are of
two sorts: one, that conveyeth it to the public coffers; the other, that
issueth the same out again for public payments. Of the first sort, are
collectors, receivers, and treasurers; of the second, are the treasurers
again, and the officers appointed for payment of several public or
private ministers. And in this also, the artificial man maintains his
resemblance with the natural; whose veins receiving the blood from the
several parts of the body, carry it to the heart; where being made
vital, the heart by the arteries sends it out again, to enliven, and
enable for motion all the members of the same.
[Sidenote: The children of a commonwealth colonies.]
The procreation or children of a commonwealth, are those we call
_plantations_, or _colonies_; which are numbers of men sent out from the
commonwealth, under a conductor, or governor, to inhabit a foreign
country, either formerly void of inhabitants, or made void then by war.
And when a colony is settled, they are either a commonwealth of
themselves, discharged of their subjection to their sovereign that sent
them, as hath been done by many commonwealths, of ancient time, in which
case the commonwealth from which they went, was called their metropolis
or mother, and requires no more of them, than fathers require of the
children, whom they emancipate and make free from their domestic
government, which is honour, and friendship; or else they remain united
to their metropolis, as were the colonies of the people of Rome; and
then they are no commonwealths themselves, but provinces, and parts of
the commonwealth that sent them. So that the right of colonies, saving
honour and league with their metropolis, dependeth wholly on their
licence or letters, by which their sovereign authorized them to plant.
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