Part 23 (2/2)
”THE WORK OF A PARLIAMENT--FOURTHLY,
”Is this: If there be occasion to raise an Army to wage war, either against an Invasion of a Foreign Enemy, or against an Insurrection at home, it is the work of a Parliament to manage that business for to preserve Common Peace.
”And here their work is three-fold:
”_First_, To acquaint the People plainly with the cause of the War, and to show them the danger of such an Invasion or Insurrection. And so from that cause require their a.s.sistance in person, for the preservation of the Laws, Liberties and Peace of the Commonwealth, according to their engagement when they were chosen, which was this: _Do you protect our Laws and Liberties, and we will protect and a.s.sist you._
”_Secondly_, A Parliament is to make choice of understanding, able and public-spirited men to be Leaders of an Army in this case, and to give them Commissions and Power, in the name of the Commonwealth, to manage the work of an Army.
”_Thirdly_, A Parliament's work in this case is either to send Amba.s.sadors to another Nation which has invaded our Land, or that intends to invade, to agree upon terms of peace, or to proclaim war; or else to receive and hear Amba.s.sadors from other Lands for the same business, or about any other business concerning the peace and honor of the Land.
”For a Parliament is the Head of a Commonwealth's Power; or, as it may be said, it is the great Council of an Army, from whom originally all Orders do issue forth to any Officer or Soldier. For if so be a Parliament had not an Army to protect them, the rudeness of the people would not obey their proceedings; and if a Parliament were not the representative of the People, who indeed is the body of all power, the Army would not obey their orders.
”So then a Parliament is the Head of Power in a Commonwealth. It is their work to manage public affairs in times of War and in times of Peace; not to promote the interests of particular men, but for the Peace and Freedom of the whole Body of the Land, viz., of every particular man, that none be deprived of his Creation Eights, unless he hath lost his Freedom by transgression, as by the Laws is expressed.”[200:1]
With this admirable summary of the functions of a Parliament, our author brings his consideration of their work to a conclusion, and somewhat later proceeds to consider the source and function of a true Commonwealth's Army, which he evidently regards as a necessary evil, capable of much harm as well as of some good. He says:
THE RISE OF A COMMONWEALTH'S ARMY.
”After that the necessity of a People in a Parish, in a County and in a Land, hath moved the People to choose Officers to preserve common peace, the same necessity causeth the People to say to their Officers--_Do you see our Laws observed for our common preservation, and we will a.s.sist and protect you._
”These words, _a.s.sist_ and _protect_, implies the rising of the People by force of arms to defend their Laws and Officers, who rule well, against any invasion, insurrection or rebellion of selfish Officers or rude people: yea, to beat down the turbulency of any foolish spirit that shall arise to break our common peace. So that the same Law of Necessity of Common Peace, which moved the People to choose Officers, and to compose a Law to be a Rule of Government: the same Law of Necessity of Protection doth raise an Army. So that an Army, as well as other Officers in a Commonwealth, spring from one and the same root, viz., from the necessity of Common Preservation.”
AN ARMY IS TWO-FOLD: VIZ., A RULING ARMY, OR A FIGHTING ARMY.
”A Ruling Army is called Magistracy in times of Peace, keeping that Land and Government in Peace by Execution of the Laws, which the Fighting Army did purchase in the field by their blood out of the hands of Oppression. All Officers, from the Father in a Family to the Parliament in a Land, are but the heads and leaders of an Army; and all people arising to protect and a.s.sist their Officers, in defence of a right-ordered Government, are but the body of an Army.
And this Magistracy is called the Rejoicing of all Nations, when the foundations thereof are Laws of Common Equity, whereby every single man may enjoy the fruits of his labor, in the free use of the Earth, without being restrained or oppressed by the hands of others.
”Secondly, A Fighting Army, called Soldiers in the Field, when the necessity of preservation, by reason of a foreign invasion, or inbred Oppression, doth move the people to arise in an Army to cut and tear to pieces either degenerate Officers, or rude people, who seek their own interests, and not Common Freedom, and through treachery do endeavour to destroy the Laws of Common Freedom, and to enslave both the Land and the People of the Commonwealth to their particular wills and l.u.s.ts.... The use or work of a Fighting Army in a Commonwealth is to beat down all who arise to endeavour to destroy the Liberties of the Commonwealth. For as in the days of the Monarchy an Army was used to subdue all who rebelled against Kingly Propriety, so in the days of a Free Commonwealth, an Army is to be made use of to resist or destroy all who endeavour to keep up or bring in Kingly Bondage again.... Therefore, you Army of England's Commonwealth, look to it. The Enemy could not beat you in the field, but they may be too hard for you by Policy in Counsel, if you do not stick close to see Common Freedom established. For if so be that Kingly Authority is set up in your Laws again, King Charles has conquered you and your posterity by policy, though you seemingly have cut off his head. For the Strength of a King lies not in the visible Appearance of his Body, but in his Will, Laws, and Authority, which is called Monarchial Government. But if you remove Kingly Government, and set up true and free Commonwealth's Government, then you gain your Crown and keep it, and leave peace to your posterity: otherwise not. And thus doing makes a War either lawful or unlawful.”
Then follows this bold, manly challenge of the conduct of the Grandees of the Army:
”AN ARMY MAY BE MURTHERERS AND UNLAWFUL.
”If an Army be raised to cast out Kingly Oppression, and if the Heads of that Army promise a Commonwealth's Freedom to the oppressed people, in case they will a.s.sist in person and purse, and if the people do a.s.sist and prevail over the Tyrant, those Officers are bound by the Law of Justice (who is G.o.d) to make good their engagements. And if they do not set the Land free from the branches of the Kingly Oppression, but reserve some part of the Kingly Power to advance their own particular interest, whereby some of their friends are left under as great slavery to them as they were under the Kings, those Officers are not faithful Commonwealth's Soldiers, they are worse Thieves and Tyrants than the Kings they cast out, and that Honor they seemed to get by their Victories over the Commonwealth's Oppressor, they lose again by breaking Promise and Engagement to their oppressed friends who did a.s.sist them.
”For what difference is there between a professed Tyrant, who declares himself a Tyrant in words, laws and deeds, as all Conquerors do, and him who promises to free me from the power of the Tyrant if I'll a.s.sist him; and when I have spent my estate and blood, and the health of my body, and expect my bargain by his engagements to me, he sits himself down in the Tyrant's Chair, and takes the possession of the Land to himself, and calls it his and none of mine, and tells me he cannot in conscience let me enjoy the Freedom of the Earth with him, because it is another man's right.”
HIS ACCOUNT OF HIS OWN CIRc.u.mSTANCES.
”And now my health and estate is decayed and I grow in age, I must either beg or work for day-wages, which I was never brought up to, for another; when the Earth is as freely my Inheritance and Birth-Right as his whom I must work for. And if I cannot live by my weak labors, but take where I need, as Christ sent and took the a.s.ses Colt in his need, there is no dispute, but by the Kings and Laws, he will hang me for a thief.”
THE TRUE FUNCTION OF A COMMONWEALTH ARMY.
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