from whom all the generations of the world are descended; we (I say) ought to acknowledge that no nations are wholly aliens and strangers the one to the other; and not to be less charitable than the person introduced by the comic poet, Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto. Now if there be such a tacit league or confederation, sure it is not idle; it is against somewhat, or somebody who should they be? Is it against wild beasts? or the elements of fire and water? No, it is against such routs and shoals of people, as have utterly degenerate from the laws of nature; as have in their very body and frame of estate a monstrosity; and may be truly accounted (according to the examples we have formerly recited) common enemies and grievances of mankind; or disgraces and reproaches to human nature. Such people, all nations are interessed, and ought to be resenting, to suppress; considering that the particular states themselves, being the delinquents, can give no redress. And this, I say, is not to be measured so much by the principles of jurists, as by lex charitatis; lex proximi ; which includes the Samaritan as well as the Levite; lex filiorum Adæ de massâ unâ; upon which original laws this opinion is grounded: which to deny (if a man may speak freely) were almost to be a schismatic in nature. [The rest was not perfected.] PREFACE. WHEN the King of Scotland became King of England, with prospect of a line of successors to whom both crowns would naturally descend, the time had come for effecting such a union between the two countries that they should become as one, and never again be provoked to separate. It was an object in which both were equally interested. In such a union Bacon saw the removal of the one blot in the tables of England. Unassailable thenceforward except by sea, of which she was mistress, and prolific of a breed of men whose natural strength and courage made them a match for any, her natural advantages would be then complete. In advising the House of Commons to begin at once, as the first step towards a perfect union, by naturalising the whole Scotch nation, he concluded (after reviewing the objections and comparing the inconveniences on one side and on the other) by referring to the two great benefits which would be gained by thus "knitting the knot surer and straiter between the two kingdoms by the communication of naturalisation." Those benefits were Surety, and Greatness: Surety, because it would take away from foreign enemies their means of approach: "And for Greatness, Mr. Speaker, I think a man may speak it soberly and without bravery, that this kingdom of England, having Scotland united, Ireland reduced, the sea provinces of the Low Countries contracted, and shipping maintained, is one of the greatest monarchies, in forces truly esteemed, that hath been in the world. For certainly the kingdoms here on earth have a resemblance with the kingdom of Heaven; which our Saviour compareth, not to any great kernel or nut, but to a very small grain, yet such an one as is apt to grow and spread; and such do I take to be the constitution of this kingdom; if indeed we shall refer our counsels to greatness and power, and not quench them too much with the consideration of utility and wealth. For, Mr. Speaker, was it not, think you, a true answer that Solon of Greece made to the rich King Croesus of Lydia, when he showed unto him a great quantity of gold that he had gathered together, in ostentation of his greatness and might? But Solon said 6 to him, contrary to his expectation, Why, Sir, if another come that hath better iron than you, he will be lord of all your gold.' Neither is the opinion of Machiavel to be despised, who scorneth that proverb of state, taken first from a speech of Mucianus, that monies are the sinews of war; and saith 'There are no true sinews of war, but the very sinews of the arms of valiant men.’ 66 Nay more, Mr. Speaker, whosoever shall look into the seminaries and beginnings of the monarchies of the world, he shall find them founded in poverty And therefore, if I shall speak unto you mine own heart, methinks we should a little disdain that the nation of Spain, which however of late it hath grown to rule, yet of ancient time served many ages, first under Carthage, then under Rome, after under Saracens, |