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Utopia 1516 Utopia DISCOURSES OF RAPHAEL HYTHLODAY, OF THE BEST STATE OF A COMMONWEALTH Henry VIII., the unconquered King of England, a prince adorned with all the virtues that become a great monarch, having some differences of no small consequence with Charles the most serene Prince of Castile, sent me into Flanders, as his ambassador, for treating and composing matters between them. I was colleague and companion to that incomparable man Cuthbert Tonstal, whom the King, with such universal applause, lately made Master of the Rolls; but of whom I will say nothing; not because I fear that the testimony of a friend will be suspected, but rather because his learning and virtues are too great for me to do them justice, and so well known, that they need not my commendations, unless I would, according to the proverb, “Show the sun with a lantern.” Those that were appointed by the Prince to treat with us, met us at Bruges, according to agreement; they were all worthy men. The Margrave of Bruges was their head, and the chief man among them; but he that was esteemed the wisest, and that spoke for the rest, was George Temse, the Provost of Casselsee: both art and nature had concurred to make him eloquent: he was very learned in the law; and, as he had a great capacity, so, by a long practice in affairs, he was very dexterous at unravelling them. After we had several times met, without coming to an agreement, they went to Brussels for some days, to know the Prince’s pleasure; and, since our business would admit it, I went to Antwerp. While I was there, among many that visited me, there was one that was more acceptable to me than any other, Peter Giles, born at Antwerp, who is a man of great honour, and of a good rank in his town, though less than he deserves; for I do not know if there be anywhere to be found a more learned and a better bred young man; for as he is both a very worthy and a very knowing person, so he is so civil to all men, so particularly kind to his friends, and so full of candour and affection, that there is not, perhaps, above one or two anywhere to be found, that is in all respects so perfect a friend: he is extraordinarily modest, there is no artifice in him, and yet no man has more of a prudent simplicity. His conversation was so pleasant and so innocently cheerful, that his company in a great measure lessened any longings to go back to my country, and to my wife and children, which an absence of four months had quickened very much. One day, as I was returning home from mass at St. Mary’s, which is the chief church, and the most frequented of any in Antwerp, I saw him, by accident, talking with a stranger, who seemed past the flower of his age; his face was tanned, he had a long beard, and his cloak was hanging carelessly about him, so that, by his looks and habit, I concluded he was a seaman. As soon as Peter saw me, he came and saluted me, and as I was returning his civility, he took me aside, and pointing to him with whom he had been discoursing, he said, “Do you see that man? I was just thinking to bring him to you.” I answered, “He should have been very welcome on your account.” “And on his own too,” replied he, “if you knew the man, for there is none alive that can give so copious an account of unknown nations and countries as he can do, which I know you very much desire.” “Then,” said I, “I did not guess amiss, for at first sight I took him for a seaman.” “But you are much mistaken,” said he, “for he has not sailed as a seaman, but as a traveller, or rather a philosopher. This Raphael, who from his family carries the name of Hythloday, is not ignorant of the Latin tongue, but is eminently learned in This document appears in the Compendium: Chapter 1 Illustration for the 1516 first edition of Utopia Annotation: Thomas More’s Utopia was composed as a humanist critique of early modern European society, using satire to expose corruption, inequality, and the moral failures of politics in Tudor England and beyond. Framed as a dialogue describing an imaginary island, the work explores communal property, religious toleration, rational law, and civic virtue, inviting readers to question whether such ideals are achievable or even desirable. Its lasting influence lies in shaping political philosophy and social criticism—coining the very concept of “utopia”—while teaching readers to weigh ideal theory against human nature, power, and moral responsibility rather than accept reform schemes uncritically. Sections: DISCOURSES OF RAPHAEL HYTHLODAY, OF THE BEST STATE OF A COMMONWEALTH OF THEIR TOWNS, PARTICULARLY OF AMAUROT OF THEIR MAGISTRATES OF THEIR TRADES, AND MANNER OF LIFE OF THEIR TRAFFIC OF THE TRAVELLING OF THE UTOPIANS OF THEIR SLAVES, AND OF THEIR MARRIAGES OF THEIR MILITARY DISCIPLINE OF THE RELIGIONS OF THE UTOPIANS Author: Thomas More — Hans Holbein the Younger 1527 Transcript Source: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2130/2130-h/2130-h.htm the Greek, having applied himself more particularly to that than to the former, because he had given himself much to philosophy, in which he knew that the Romans have left us nothing that is valuable, except what is to be found in Seneca and Cicero. He is a Portuguese by birth, and was so desirous of seeing the world, that he divided his estate among his brothers, ran the same hazard as Americus Vesputius, and bore a share in three of his four voyages that are now published; only he did not return with him in his last, but obtained leave of him, almost by force, that he might be one of those twenty-four who were left at the farthest place at which they touched in their last voyage to New Castile. The leaving him thus did not a little gratify one that was more fond of travelling than of returning home to be buried in his own country; for he used often to say, that the way to heaven was the same from all places, and he that had no grave had the heavens still over him. Yet this disposition of mind had cost him dear, if God had not been very gracious to him; for after he, with five Castalians, had travelled over many countries, at last, by strange good fortune, he got to Ceylon, and from thence to Calicut, where he, very happily, found some Portuguese ships; and, beyond all men’s expectations, returned to his native country.” When Peter had said this to me, I thanked him for his kindness in intending to give me the acquaintance of a man whose conversation he knew would be so acceptable; and upon that Raphael and I embraced each other. After those civilities were past which are usual with strangers upon their first meeting, we all went to my house, and entering into the garden, sat down on a green bank and entertained one another in discourse. He told us that when Vesputius had sailed away, he, and his companions that stayed behind in New Castile, by degrees insinuated themselves into the affections of the people of the country, meeting often with them and treating them gently; and at last they not only lived among them without danger, but conversed familiarly with them, and got so far into the heart of a prince, whose name and country I have forgot, that he both furnished them plentifully with all things necessary, and also with the conveniences of travelling, both boats when they went by water, and waggons when they travelled over land: he sent with them a very faithful guide, who was to introduce and recommend them to such other princes as they had a mind to see: and after many days’ journey, they came to towns, and cities, and to commonwealths, that were both happily governed and well peopled. Under the equator, and as far on both sides of it as the sun moves, there lay vast deserts that were parched with the perpetual heat of the sun; the soil was withered, all things looked dismally, and all places were either quite uninhabited, or abounded with wild beasts and serpents, and some few men, that were neither less wild nor less cruel than the beasts themselves. But, as they went farther, a new scene opened, all things grew milder, the air less burning, the soil more verdant, and even the beasts were less wild: and, at last, there were nations, towns, and cities, that had not only mutual commerce among themselves and with their neighbours, but traded, both by sea and land, to very remote countries. There they found the conveniencies of seeing many countries on all hands, for no ship went any voyage into which he and his companions were not very welcome. The first vessels that they saw were flat-bottomed, their sails were made of reeds and wicker, woven close together, only some were of leather; but, afterwards, they found ships made with round keels and canvas sails, and in all respects like our ships, and the seamen understood both astronomy and navigation. He got wonderfully into their favour by showing them the use of the needle, of which till then they were utterly ignorant. They sailed before with great caution, and only in summer time; but now they count all seasons alike, trusting wholly to the loadstone, in which they are, perhaps, more secure than safe; so that there is reason to fear that this discovery, which was thought would prove so much to their advantage, may, by their imprudence, become an occasion of much mischief to them. But it were too long to dwell on all that he told us he had observed in every place, it would be too great a digression from our present purpose: whatever is necessary to be told concerning those wise and prudent institutions which he observed among civilised nations, may perhaps be related by us on a more proper occasion. We asked him many questions concerning all these things, to which he answered very willingly; we made no inquiries after monsters, than which nothing is more common; for everywhere one may hear of ravenous dogs and wolves, and cruel men-eaters, but it is not so easy to find states that are well and wisely governed. As he told us of many things that were amiss in those new-discovered countries, so he reckoned up not a few things, from which patterns might be taken for correcting the errors of these nations among whom we live; of which an account may be given, as I have already promised, at some other time; for, at present, I intend only to relate those particulars that he told us, of the manners and laws of the Utopians: but I will begin with the occasion that led us to speak of that commonwealth. After Raphael had discoursed with great judgment on the many errors that were both among us and these nations, had treated of the wise institutions both here and there, and had spoken as distinctly of the customs and government of every nation through which he had past, as if he had spent his whole life in it, Peter, being struck with admiration, said, “I wonder, Raphael, how it comes that you enter into no king’s service, for I am sure there are none to whom you would not be very acceptable; for your learning and knowledge, both of men and things, is such, that you would not only entertain them very pleasantly, but be of great use to them, by the examples you could set before them, and the advices you could give them; and by this means you would both serve your own interest, and be of great use to all your friends.” “As for my friends,” answered he, “I need not be much concerned, having already done for them all that was incumbent on me; for when I was not only in good health, but fresh and young, I distributed that among my kindred and friends which other people do not part with till they are old and sick: when they then unwillingly give that which they can enjoy no longer themselves. I think my friends ought to rest contented with this, and not to expect that for their sakes I should enslave myself to any king whatsoever.” “Soft and fair!” said Peter; “I do not mean that you should be a slave to any king, but only that you should assist them and be useful to them.” “The change of the word,” said he, “does not alter the matter.” “But term it as you will,” replied Peter, “I do not see any other way in which you can be so useful, both in private to your friends and to the public, and by which you can make your own condition happier.” “Happier?” answered Raphael, “is that to be compassed in a way so abhorrent to my genius? Now I live as I will, to which I believe, few courtiers can pretend; and there are so many that court the favour of great men, that there will be no great loss if they are not troubled either with me or with others of my temper.” Upon this, said I, “I perceive, Raphael, that you neither desire wealth nor greatness; and, indeed, I value and admire such a man much more than I do any of the great men in the world. Yet I think you would do what would well become so generous and philosophical a soul as yours is, if you would apply your time and thoughts to public affairs, even though you may happen to find it a little uneasy to yourself; and this you can never do with so much advantage as by being taken into the council of some great prince and putting him on noble and worthy actions, which I know you would do if you were in such a post; for the springs both of good and evil flow from the prince over a whole nation, as from a lasting fountain. So much learning as you have, even without practice in affairs, or so great a practice as you have had, without any other learning, would render you a very fit counsellor to any king whatsoever.” “You are doubly mistaken,” said he, “Mr. More, both in your opinion of me and in the judgment you make of things: for as I have not that capacity that you fancy I have, so if I had it, the public would not be one jot the better when I had sacrificed my quiet to it. For most princes apply themselves more to affairs of war than to the useful arts of peace; and in these I neither have any knowledge, nor do I much desire it; they are generally more set on acquiring new kingdoms, right or wrong, than on governing well those they possess: and, among the ministers of princes, there are none that are not so wise as to need no assistance, or at least, that do not think themselves so wise that they imagine they need none; and if they court any, it is only those for whom the prince has much personal favour, whom by their fawning and flatteries they endeavour to fix to their own interests; and, indeed, nature has so made us, that we all love to be flattered and to please ourselves with our own notions: the old crow loves his young, and the ape her cubs. Now if in such a court, made up of persons who envy all others and only admire themselves, a person should but propose anything that he had either read in history or observed in his travels, the rest would think that the reputation of their wisdom would sink, and that their interests would be much depressed if they could not run it down: and, if all other things failed, then they would fly to this, that such or such things pleased our ancestors, and it were well for us if we could but match them. They would set up their rest on such an answer, as a sufficient confutation of all that could be said, as if it were a great misfortune that any should be found wiser than his ancestors. But though they willingly let go all the good things that were among those of former ages, yet, if better things are proposed, they cover themselves obstinately with this excuse of reverence to past times. I have met with these proud, morose, and absurd judgments of things in many places, particularly once in England.” “Were you ever there?” said I. “Yes, I was,” answered he, “and stayed some months there, not long after the rebellion in the West was suppressed, with a great slaughter of the poor people that were engaged in it. “I was then much obliged to that reverend prelate, John Morton, Archbishop of Canterbury, Cardinal, and Chancellor of England; a man,” said he, “Peter (for Mr. More knows well what he was), that was not less venerable for his wisdom and virtues than for the high character he bore: he was of a middle stature, not broken with age; his looks begot reverence rather than fear; his conversation was easy, but serious and grave; he sometimes took pleasure to try the force of those that came as suitors to him upon business by speaking sharply, though decently, to them, and by that he discovered their spirit and presence of mind; with which he was much delighted when it did not grow up to impudence, as bearing a great resemblance to his own temper, and he looked on such persons as the fittest men for affairs. He spoke both gracefully and weightily; he was eminently skilled in the law, had a vast understanding, and a prodigious memory; and those excellent talents with which nature had furnished him were improved by study and experience. When I was in England the King depended much on his counsels, and the Government seemed to be chiefly supported by him; for from his youth he had been all along practised in affairs; and, having passed through many traverses of fortune, he had, with great cost, acquired a vast stock of wisdom, which is not soon lost when it is purchased so dear. One day, when I was dining with him, there happened to be at table one of the English lawyers, who took occasion to run out in a high commendation of the severe execution of justice upon thieves, ‘who,’ as he said, ‘were then hanged so fast that there were sometimes twenty on one gibbet!’ and, upon that, he said, ‘he could not wonder enough how it came to pass that, since so few escaped, there were yet so many thieves left, who were still robbing in all places.’ Upon this, I (who took the boldness to speak freely before the Cardinal) said, ‘There was no reason to wonder at the matter, since this way of punishing thieves was neither just in itself nor good for the public; for, as the severity was too great, so the remedy was not effectual; simple theft not being so great a crime that it ought to cost a man his life; no punishment, how severe soever, being able to restrain those from robbing who can find out no other way of livelihood. In this,’ said I, ‘not only you in England, but a great part of the world, imitate some ill masters, that are readier to chastise their scholars than to teach them. There are dreadful punishments enacted against thieves, but it were much better to make such good provisions by which every man might be put in a method how to live, and so be preserved from the fatal necessity of stealing and of dying for it.’ ‘There has been care enough taken for that,’ said he; ‘there are many handicrafts, and there is husbandry, by which they may make a shift to live, unless they have a greater mind to follow ill courses.’ ‘That will not serve your turn,’ said I, ‘for many lose their limbs in civil or foreign wars, as lately in the Cornish rebellion, and some time ago in your wars with France, who, being thus mutilated in the service of their king and country, can no more follow their old trades, and are too old to learn new ones; but since wars are only accidental things, and have intervals, let us consider those things that fall out every day. There is a great number of noblemen among you that are themselves as idle as drones, that subsist on other men’s labour, on the labour of their tenants, whom, to raise their revenues, they pare to the quick. This, indeed, is the only instance of their frugality, for in all other things they are prodigal, even to the beggaring of themselves; but, besides this, they carry about with them a great number of idle fellows, who never learned any art by which they may gain their living; and these, as soon as either their lord dies, or they themselves fall sick, are turned out of doors; for your lords are readier to feed idle people than to take care of the sick; and often the heir is not able to keep together so great a family as his predecessor did. Now, when the stomachs of those that are thus turned out of doors grow keen, they rob no less keenly; and what else can they do? For when, by wandering about, they have worn out both their health and their clothes, and are tattered, and look ghastly, men of quality will not entertain them, and poor men dare not do it, knowing that one who has been bred up in idleness and pleasure, and who was used to walk about with his sword and buckler, despising all the neighbourhood with an insolent scorn as far below him, is not fit for the spade and mattock; nor will he serve a poor man for so small a hire and in so low a diet as he can afford to give him.’ To this he answered, ‘This sort of men ought to be particularly cherished, for in them consists the force of the armies for which we have occasion; since their birth inspires them with a nobler sense of honour than is to be found among tradesmen or ploughmen.’ ‘You may as well say,’ replied I, ‘that you must cherish thieves on the account of wars, for you will never want the one as long as you have the other; and as robbers prove sometimes gallant soldiers, so soldiers often prove brave robbers, so near an alliance there is between those two sorts of life. But this bad custom, so common among you, of keeping many servants, is not peculiar to this nation. In France there is yet a more pestiferous sort of people, for the whole country is full of soldiers, still kept up in time of peace (if such a state of a nation can be called a peace); and these are kept in pay upon the same account that you plead for those idle retainers about noblemen: this being a maxim of those pretended statesmen, that it is necessary for the public safety to have a good body of veteran soldiers ever in readiness. They think raw men are not to be depended on, and they sometimes seek occasions for making war, that they may train up their soldiers in the art of cutting throats, or, as Sallust observed, “for keeping their hands in use, that they may not grow dull by too long an intermission.” But France has learned to its cost how dangerous it is to feed such beasts. The fate of the Romans, Carthaginians, and Syrians, and many other nations and cities, which were both overturned and quite ruined by those standing armies, should make others wiser; and the folly of this maxim of the French appears plainly even from this, that their trained soldiers often find your raw men prove too hard for them, of which I will not say much, lest you may think I flatter the English. Every day’s experience shows that the mechanics in the towns or the clowns in the country are not afraid of fighting with those idle gentlemen, if they are not disabled by some misfortune in their body or dispirited by extreme want; so that you need not fear that those well-shaped and strong men (for it is only such that noblemen love to keep about them till they spoil them), who now grow feeble with ease and are softened with their effeminate manner of life, would be less fit for action if they were well bred and well employed. And it seems very unreasonable that, for the prospect of a war, which you need never have but when you please, you should maintain so many idle men, as will always disturb you in time of peace, which is ever to be more considered than war. But I do not think that this necessity of stealing arises only from hence; there is another cause of it, more peculiar to England.’ ‘What is that?’ said the Cardinal: ‘The increase of pasture,’ said I, ‘by which your sheep, which are naturally mild, and easily kept in order, may be said now to devour men and unpeople, not only villages, but towns; for wherever it is found that the sheep of any soil yield a softer and richer wool than ordinary, there the nobility and gentry, and even those holy men, the abbots! not contented with the old rents which their farms yielded, nor thinking it enough that they, living at their ease, do no good to the public, resolve to do it hurt instead of good. They stop the course of agriculture, destroying houses and towns, reserving only the churches, and enclose grounds that they may lodge their sheep in them. As if forests and parks had swallowed up too little of the land, those worthy countrymen turn the best inhabited places into solitudes; for when an insatiable wretch, who is a plague to his country, resolves to enclose many thousand acres of ground, the owners, as well as tenants, are turned out of their possessions by trick or by main force, or, being wearied out by ill usage, they are forced to sell them; by which means those miserable people, both men and women, married and unmarried, old and young, with their poor but numerous families (since country business requires many hands), are all forced to change their seats, not knowing whither to go; and they must sell, almost for nothing, their household stuff, which could not bring them much money, even though they might stay for a buyer. When that little money is at an end (for it will be soon spent), what is left for them to do but either to steal, and so to be hanged (God knows how justly!), or to go about and beg? and if they do this they are put in prison as idle vagabonds, while they would willingly work but can find none that will hire them; for there is no more occasion for country labour, to which they have been bred, when there is no arable ground left. One shepherd can look after a flock, which will stock an extent of ground that would require many hands if it were to be ploughed and reaped. This, likewise, in many places raises the price of corn. The price of wool is also so risen that the poor people, who were wont to make cloth, are no more able to buy it; and this, likewise, makes many of them idle: for since the increase of pasture God has punished the avarice of the owners by a rot among the sheep, which has destroyed vast numbers of them—to us it might have seemed more just had it fell on the owners themselves. But, suppose the sheep should increase ever so much, their price is not likely to fall; since, though they cannot be called a monopoly, because they are not engrossed by one person, yet they are in so few hands, and these are so rich, that, as they are not pressed to sell them sooner than they have a mind to it, so they never do it till they have raised the price as high as possible. And on the same account it is that the other kinds of cattle are so dear, because many villages being pulled down, and all country labour being much neglected, there are none who make it their business to breed them. The rich do not breed cattle as they do sheep, but buy them lean and at low prices; and, after they have fattened them on their grounds, sell them again at high rates. And I do not think that all the inconveniences this will produce are yet observed; for, as they sell the cattle dear, so, if they are consumed faster than the breeding countries from which they are brought can afford them, then the stock must decrease, and this must needs end in great scarcity; and by these means, this your island, which seemed as to this particular the happiest in the world, will suffer much by the cursed avarice of a few persons: besides this, the rising of corn makes all people lessen their families as much as they can; and what can those who are dismissed by them do but either beg or rob? And to this last a man of a great mind is much sooner drawn than to the former. Luxury likewise breaks in apace upon you to set forward your poverty and misery; there is an excessive vanity in apparel, and great cost in diet, and that not only in noblemen’s families, but even among tradesmen, among the farmers themselves, and among all ranks of persons. You have also many infamous houses, and, besides those that are known, the taverns and ale-houses are no better; add to these dice, cards, tables, football, tennis, and quoits, in which money runs fast away; and those that are initiated into them must, in the conclusion, betake themselves to robbing for a supply. Banish these plagues, and give orders that those who have dispeopled so much soil may either rebuild the villages they have pulled down or let out their grounds to such as will do it; restrain those engrossings of the rich, that are as bad almost as monopolies; leave fewer occasions to idleness; let agriculture be set up again, and the manufacture of the wool be regulated, that so there may be work found for those companies of idle people whom want forces to be thieves, or who now, being idle vagabonds or useless servants, will certainly grow thieves at last. If you do not find a remedy to these evils it is a vain thing to boast of your severity in punishing theft, which, though it may have the appearance of justice, yet in itself is neither just nor convenient; for if you suffer your people to be ill-educated, and their manners to be corrupted from their infancy, and then punish them for those crimes to which their first education disposed them, what else is to be concluded from this but that you first make thieves and then punish them?’ “While I was talking thus, the Counsellor, who was present, had prepared an answer, and had resolved to resume all I had said, according to the formality of a debate, in which things are generally repeated more faithfully than they are answered, as if the chief trial to be made were of men’s memories. ‘You have talked prettily, for a stranger,’ said he, ‘having heard of many things among us which you have not been able to consider well; but I will make the whole matter plain to you, and will first repeat in order all that you have said; then I will show how much your ignorance of our affairs has misled you; and will, in the last place, answer all your arguments. And, that I may begin where I promised, there were four things—’ ‘Hold your peace!’ said the Cardinal; ‘this will take up too much time; therefore we will, at present, ease you of the trouble of answering, and reserve it to our next meeting, which shall be to-morrow, if Raphael’s affairs and yours can admit of it. But, Raphael,’ said he to me, ‘I would gladly know upon what reason it is that you think theft ought not to be punished by death: would you give way to it? or do you propose any other punishment that will be more useful to the public? for, since death does not restrain theft, if men thought their lives would be safe, what fear or force could restrain ill men? On the contrary, they would look on the mitigation of the punishment as an invitation to commit more crimes.’ I answered, ‘It seems to me a very unjust thing to take away a man’s life for a little money, for nothing in the world can be of equal value with a man’s life: and if it be said, “that it is not for the money that one suffers, but for his breaking the law,” I must say, extreme justice is an extreme injury: for we ought not to approve of those terrible laws that make the smallest offences capital, nor of that opinion of the Stoics that makes all crimes equal; as if there were no difference to be made between the killing a man and the taking his purse, between which, if we examine things impartially, there is no likeness nor proportion. God has commanded us not to kill, and shall we kill so easily for a little money? But if one shall say, that by that law we are only forbid to kill any except when the laws of the land allow of it, upon the same grounds, laws may be made, in some cases, to allow of adultery and perjury: for God having taken from us the right of disposing either of our own or of other people’s lives, if it is pretended that the mutual consent of men in making laws can authorise man-slaughter in cases in which God has given us no example, that it frees people from the obligation of the divine law, and so makes murder a lawful action, what is this, but to give a preference to human laws before the divine? and, if this is once admitted, by the same rule men may, in all other things, put what restrictions they please upon the laws of God. If, by the Mosaical law, though it was rough and severe, as being a yoke laid on an obstinate and servile nation, men were only fined, and not put to death for theft, we cannot imagine, that in this new law of mercy, in which God treats us with the tenderness of a father, He has given us a greater licence to cruelty than He did to the Jews. Upon these reasons it is, that I think putting thieves to death is not lawful; and it is plain and obvious that it is absurd and of ill consequence to the commonwealth that a thief and a murderer should be equally punished; for if a robber sees that his danger is the same if he is convicted of theft as if he were guilty of murder, this will naturally incite him to kill the person whom otherwise he would only have robbed; since, if the punishment is the same, there is more security, and less danger of discovery, when he that can best make it is put out of the way; so that terrifying thieves too much provokes them to cruelty. “But as to the question, ‘What more convenient way of punishment can be found?’ I think it much easier to find out that than to invent anything that is worse; why should we doubt but the way that was so long in use among the old Romans, who understood so well the arts of government, was very proper for their punishment? They condemned such as they found guilty of great crimes to work their whole lives in quarries, or to dig in mines with chains about them. But the method that I liked best was that which I observed in my travels in Persia, among the Polylerits, who are a considerable and well-governed people: they pay a yearly tribute to the King of Persia, but in all other respects they are a free nation, and governed by their own laws: they lie far from the sea, and are environed with hills; and, being contented with the productions of their own country, which is very fruitful, they have little commerce with any other nation; and as they, according to the genius of their country, have no inclination to enlarge their borders, so their mountains and the pension they pay to the Persian, secure them from all invasions. Thus they have no wars among them; they live rather conveniently than with splendour, and may be rather called a happy nation than either eminent or famous; for I do not think that they are known, so much as by name, to any but their next neighbours. Those that are found guilty of theft among them are bound to make restitution to the owner, and not, as it is in other places, to the prince, for they reckon that the prince has no more right to the stolen goods than the thief; but if that which was stolen is no more in being, then the goods of the thieves are estimated, and restitution being made out of them, the remainder is given to their wives and children; and they themselves are condemned to serve in the public works, but are neither imprisoned nor chained, unless there happens to be some extraordinary circumstance in their crimes. They go about loose and free, working for the public: if they are idle or backward to work they are whipped, but if they work hard they are well used and treated without any mark of reproach; only the lists of them are called always at night, and then they are shut up. They suffer no other uneasiness but this of constant labour; for, as they work for the public, so they are well entertained out of the public stock, which is done differently in different places: in some places whatever is bestowed on them is raised by a charitable contribution; and, though this way may seem uncertain, yet so merciful are the inclinations of that people, that they are plentifully supplied by it; but in other places public revenues are set aside for them, or there is a constant tax or poll-money raised for their maintenance. In some places they are set to no public work, but every private man that has occasion to hire workmen goes to the market-places and hires them of the public, a little lower than he would do a freeman. If they go lazily about their task he may quicken them with the whip. By this means there is always some piece of work or other to be done by them; and, besides their livelihood, they earn somewhat still to the public. They all wear a peculiar habit, of one certain colour, and their hair is cropped a little above their ears, and a piece of one of their ears is cut off. Their friends are allowed to give them either meat, drink, or clothes, so they are of their proper colour; but it is death, both to the giver and taker, if they give them money; nor is it less penal for any freeman to take money from them upon any account whatsoever: and it is also death for any of these slaves (so they are called) to handle arms. Those of every division of the country are distinguished by a peculiar mark, which it is capital for them to lay aside, to go out of their bounds, or to talk with a slave of another jurisdiction, and the very attempt of an escape is no less penal than an escape itself. It is death for any other slave to be accessory to it; and if a freeman engages in it he is condemned to slavery. Those that discover it are rewarded—if freemen, in money; and if slaves, with liberty, together with a pardon for being accessory to it; that so they might find their account rather in repenting of their engaging in such a design than in persisting in it. “These are their laws and rules in relation to robbery, and it is obvious that they are as advantageous as they are mild and gentle; since vice is not only destroyed and men preserved, but they are treated in such a manner as to make them see the necessity of being honest and of employing the rest of their lives in repairing the injuries they had formerly done to society. Nor is there any hazard of their falling back to their old customs; and so little do travellers apprehend mischief from them that they generally make use of them for guides from one jurisdiction to another; for there is nothing left them by which they can rob or be the better for it, since, as they are disarmed, so the very having of money is a sufficient conviction: and as they are certainly punished if discovered, so they cannot hope to escape; for their habit being in all the parts of it different from what is commonly worn, they cannot fly away, unless they would go naked, and even then their cropped ear would betray them. The only danger to be feared from them is their conspiring against the government; but those of one division and neighbourhood can do nothing to any purpose unless a general conspiracy were laid amongst all the slaves of the several jurisdictions, which cannot be done, since they cannot meet or talk together; nor will any venture on a design where the concealment would be so dangerous and the discovery so profitable. None are quite hopeless of recovering their freedom, since by their obedience and patience, and by giving good grounds to believe that they will change their manner of life for the future, they may expect at last to obtain their liberty, and some are every year restored to it upon the good character that is given of them. When I had related all this, I added that I did not see why such a method might not be followed with more advantage than could ever be expected from that severe justice which the Counsellor magnified so much. To this he answered, ‘That it could never take place in England without endangering the whole nation.’ As he said this he shook his head, made some grimaces, and held his peace, while all the company seemed of his opinion, except the Cardinal, who said, ‘That it was not easy to form a judgment of its success, since it was a method that never yet had been tried; but if,’ said he, ‘when sentence of death were passed upon a thief, the prince would reprieve him for a while, and make the experiment upon him, denying him the privilege of a sanctuary; and then, if it had a good effect upon him, it might take place; and, if it did not succeed, the worst would be to execute the sentence on the condemned persons at last; and I do not see,’ added he, ‘why it would be either unjust, inconvenient, or at all dangerous to admit of such a delay; in my opinion the vagabonds ought to be treated in the same manner, against whom, though we have made many laws, yet we have not been able to gain our end.’ When the Cardinal had done, they all commended the motion, though they had despised it when it came from me, but more particularly commended what related to the vagabonds, because it was his own observation. “I do not know whether it be worth while to tell what followed, for it was very ridiculous; but I shall venture at it, for as it is not foreign to this matter, so some good use may be made of it. There was a Jester standing by, that counterfeited the fool so naturally that he seemed to be really one; the jests which he offered were so cold and dull that we laughed more at him than at them, yet sometimes he said, as it were by chance, things that were not unpleasant, so as to justify the old proverb, ‘That he who throws the dice often, will sometimes have a lucky hit.’ When one of the company had said that I had taken care of the thieves, and the Cardinal had taken care of the vagabonds, so that there remained nothing but that some public provision might be made for the poor whom sickness or old age had disabled from labour, ‘Leave that to me,’ said the Fool, ‘and I shall take care of them, for there is no sort of people whose sight I abhor more, having been so often vexed with them and with their sad complaints; but as dolefully soever as they have told their tale, they could never prevail so far as to draw one penny from me; for either I had no mind to give them anything, or, when I had a mind to do it, I had nothing to give them; and they now know me so well that they will not lose their labour, but let me pass without giving me any trouble, because they hope for nothing—no more, in faith, than if I were a priest; but I would have a law made for sending all these beggars to monasteries, the men to the Benedictines, to be made lay-brothers, and the women to be nuns.’ The Cardinal smiled, and approved of it in jest, but the rest liked it in earnest. There was a divine present, who, though he was a grave morose man, yet he was so pleased with this reflection that was made on the priests and the monks that he began to play with the Fool, and said to him, ‘This will not deliver you from all beggars, except you take care of us Friars.’ ‘That is done already,’ answered the Fool, ‘for the Cardinal has provided for you by what he proposed for restraining vagabonds and setting them to work, for I know no vagabonds like you.’ This was well entertained by the whole company, who, looking at the Cardinal, perceived that he was not ill-pleased at it; only the Friar himself was vexed, as may be easily imagined, and fell into such a passion that he could not forbear railing at the Fool, and calling him knave, slanderer, backbiter, and son of perdition, and then cited some dreadful threatenings out of the Scriptures against him. Now the Jester thought he was in his element, and laid about him freely. ‘Good Friar,’ said he, ‘be not angry, for it is written, “In patience possess your soul.”’ The Friar answered (for I shall give you his own words), ‘I am not angry, you hangman; at least, I do not sin in it, for the Psalmist says, “Be ye angry and sin not.”’ Upon this the Cardinal admonished him gently, and wished him to govern his passions. ‘No, my lord,’ said he, ‘I speak not but from a good zeal, which I ought to have, for holy men have had a good zeal, as it is said, “The zeal of thy house hath eaten me up;” and we sing in our church that those who mocked Elisha as he went up to the house of God felt the effects of his zeal, which that mocker, that rogue, that scoundrel, will perhaps feel.’ ‘You do this, perhaps, with a good intention,’ said the Cardinal, ‘but, in my opinion, it were wiser in you, and perhaps better for you, not to engage in so ridiculous a contest with a Fool.’ ‘No, my lord,’ answered he, ‘that were not wisely done, for Solomon, the wisest of men, said, “Answer a Fool according to his folly,” which I now do, and show him the ditch into which he will fall, if he is not aware of it; for if the many mockers of Elisha, who was but one bald man, felt the effect of his zeal, what will become of the mocker of so many Friars, among whom there are so many bald men? We have, likewise, a bull, by which all that jeer us are excommunicated.’ When the Cardinal saw that there was no end of this matter he made a sign to the Fool to withdraw, turned the discourse another way, and soon after rose from the table, and, dismissing us, went to hear causes. “Thus, Mr. More, I have run out into a tedious story, of the length of which I had been ashamed, if (as you earnestly begged it of me) I had not observed you to hearken to it as if you had no mind to lose any part of it. I might have contracted it, but I resolved to give it you at large, that you might observe how those that despised what I had proposed, no sooner perceived that the Cardinal did not dislike it but presently approved of it, fawned so on him and flattered him to such a degree, that they in good earnest applauded those things that he only liked in jest; and from hence you may gather how little courtiers would value either me or my counsels.” To this I answered, “You have done me a great kindness in this relation; for as everything has been related by you both wisely and pleasantly, so you have made me imagine that I was in my own country and grown young again, by recalling that good Cardinal to my thoughts, in whose family I was bred from my childhood; and though you are, upon other accounts, very dear to me, yet you are the dearer because you honour his memory so much; but, after all this, I cannot change my opinion, for I still think that if you could overcome that aversion which you have to the courts of princes, you might, by the advice which it is in your power to give, do a great deal of good to mankind, and this is the chief design that every good man ought to propose to himself in living; for your friend Plato thinks that nations will be happy when either philosophers become kings or kings become philosophers. It is no wonder if we are so far from that happiness while philosophers will not think it their duty to assist kings with their counsels.” “They are not so base-minded,” said he, “but that they would willingly do it; many of them have already done it by their books, if those that are in power would but hearken to their good advice. But Plato judged right, that except kings themselves became philosophers, they who from their childhood are corrupted with false notions would never fall in entirely with the counsels of philosophers, and this he himself found to be true in the person of Dionysius. “Do not you think that if I were about any king, proposing good laws to him, and endeavouring to root out all the cursed seeds of evil that I found in him, I should either be turned out of his court, or, at least, be laughed at for my pains? For instance, what could I signify if I were about the King of France, and were called into his cabinet council, where several wise men, in his hearing, were proposing many expedients; as, by what arts and practices Milan may be kept, and Naples, that has so often slipped out of their hands, recovered; how the Venetians, and after them the rest of Italy, may be subdued; and then how Flanders, Brabant, and all Burgundy, and some other kingdoms which he has swallowed already in his designs, may be added to his empire? One proposes a league with the Venetians, to be kept as long as he finds his account in it, and that he ought to communicate counsels with them, and give them some share of the spoil till his success makes him need or fear them less, and then it will be easily taken out of their hands; another proposes the hiring the Germans and the securing the Switzers by pensions; another proposes the gaining the Emperor by money, which is omnipotent with him; another proposes a peace with the King of Arragon, and, in order to cement it, the yielding up the King of Navarre’s pretensions; another thinks that the Prince of Castile is to be wrought on by the hope of an alliance, and that some of his courtiers are to be gained to the French faction by pensions. The hardest point of all is, what to do with England; a treaty of peace is to be set on foot, and, if their alliance is not to be depended on, yet it is to be made as firm as possible, and they are to be called friends, but suspected as enemies: therefore the Scots are to be kept in readiness to be let loose upon England on every occasion; and some banished nobleman is to be supported underhand (for by the League it cannot be done avowedly) who has a pretension to the crown, by which means that suspected prince may be kept in awe. Now when things are in so great a fermentation, and so many gallant men are joining counsels how to carry on the war, if so mean a man as I should stand up and wish them to change all their counsels—to let Italy alone and stay at home, since the kingdom of France was indeed greater than could be well governed by one man; that therefore he ought not to think of adding others to it; and if, after this, I should propose to them the resolutions of the Achorians, a people that lie on the south-east of Utopia, who long ago engaged in war in order to add to the dominions of their prince another kingdom, to which he had some pretensions by an ancient alliance: this they conquered, but found that the trouble of keeping it was equal to that by which it was gained; that the conquered people were always either in rebellion or exposed to foreign invasions, while they were obliged to be incessantly at war, either for or against them, and consequently could never disband their army; that in the meantime they were oppressed with taxes, their money went out of the kingdom, their blood was spilt for the glory of their king without procuring the least advantage to the people, who received not the smallest benefit from it even in time of peace; and that, their manners being corrupted by a long war, robbery and murders everywhere abounded, and their laws fell into contempt; while their king, distracted with the care of two kingdoms, was the less able to apply his mind to the interest of either. When they saw this, and that there would be no end to these evils, they by joint counsels made an humble address to their king, desiring him to choose which of the two kingdoms he had the greatest mind to keep, since he could not hold both; for they were too great a people to be governed by a divided king, since no man would willingly have a groom that should be in common between him and another. Upon which the good prince was forced to quit his new kingdom to one of his friends (who was not long after dethroned), and to be contented with his old one. To this I would add that after all those warlike attempts, the vast confusions, and the consumption both of treasure and of people that must follow them, perhaps upon some misfortune they might be forced to throw up all at last; therefore it seemed much more eligible that the king should improve his ancient kingdom all he could, and make it flourish as much as possible; that he should love his people, and be beloved of them; that he should live among them, govern them gently and let other kingdoms alone, since that which had fallen to his share was big enough, if not too big, for him:—pray, how do you think would such a speech as this be heard?” “I confess,” said I, “I think not very well.” “But what,” said he, “if I should sort with another kind of ministers, whose chief contrivances and consultations were by what art the prince’s treasures might be increased? where one proposes raising the value of specie when the king’s debts are large, and lowering it when his revenues were to come in, that so he might both pay much with a little, and in a little receive a great deal. Another proposes a pretence of a war, that money might be raised in order to carry it on, and that a peace be concluded as soon as that was done; and this with such appearances of religion as might work on the people, and make them impute it to the piety of their prince, and to his tenderness for the lives of his subjects. A third offers some old musty laws that have been antiquated by a long disuse (and which, as they had been forgotten by all the subjects, so they had also been broken by them), and proposes the levying the penalties of these laws, that, as it would bring in a vast treasure, so there might be a very good pretence for it, since it would look like the executing a law and the doing of justice. A fourth proposes the prohibiting of many things under severe penalties, especially such as were against the interest of the people, and then the dispensing with these prohibitions, upon great compositions, to those who might find their advantage in breaking them. This would serve two ends, both of them acceptable to many; for as those whose avarice led them to transgress would be severely fined, so the selling licences dear would look as if a prince were tender of his people, and would not easily, or at low rates, dispense with anything that might be against the public good. Another proposes that the judges must be made sure, that they may declare always in favour of the prerogative; that they must be often sent for to court, that the king may hear them argue those points in which he is concerned; since, how unjust soever any of his pretensions may be, yet still some one or other of them, either out of contradiction to others, or the pride of singularity, or to make their court, would find out some pretence or other to give the king a fair colour to carry the point. For if the judges but differ in opinion, the clearest thing in the world is made by that means disputable, and truth being once brought in question, the king may then take advantage to expound the law for his own profit; while the judges that stand out will be brought over, either through fear or modesty; and they being thus gained, all of them may be sent to the Bench to give sentence boldly as the king would have it; for fair pretences will never be wanting when sentence is to be given in the prince’s favour. It will either be said that equity lies of his side, or some words in the law will be found sounding that way, or some forced sense will be put on them; and, when all other things fail, the king’s undoubted prerogative will be pretended, as that which is above all law, and to which a religious judge ought to have a special regard. Thus all consent to that maxim of Crassus, that a prince cannot have treasure enough, since he must maintain his armies out of it; that a king, even though he would, can do nothing unjustly; that all property is in him, not excepting the very persons of his subjects; and that no man has any other property but that which the king, out of his goodness, thinks fit to leave him. And they think it is the prince’s interest that there be as little of this left as may be, as if it were his advantage that his people should have neither riches nor liberty, since these things make them less easy and willing to submit to a cruel and unjust government. Whereas necessity and poverty blunts them, makes them patient, beats them down, and breaks that height of spirit that might otherwise dispose them to rebel. Now what if, after all these propositions were made, I should rise up and assert that such counsels were both unbecoming a king and mischievous to him; and that not only his honour, but his safety, consisted more in his people’s wealth than in his own; if I should show that they choose a king for their own sake, and not for his; that, by his care and endeavours, they may be both easy and safe; and that, therefore, a prince ought to take more care of his people’s happiness than of his own, as a shepherd is to take more care of his flock than of himself? It is also certain that they are much mistaken that think the poverty of a nation is a means of the public safety. Who quarrel more than beggars? who does more earnestly long for a change than he that is uneasy in his present circumstances? and who run to create confusions with so desperate a boldness as those who, having nothing to lose, hope to gain by them? If a king should fall under such contempt or envy that he could not keep his subjects in their duty but by oppression and ill usage, and by rendering them poor and miserable, it were certainly better for him to quit his kingdom than to retain it by such methods as make him, while he keeps the name of authority, lose the majesty due to it. Nor is it so becoming the dignity of a king to reign over beggars as over rich and happy subjects. And therefore Fabricius, a man of a noble and exalted temper, said ‘he would rather govern rich men than be rich himself; since for one man to abound in wealth and pleasure when all about him are mourning and groaning, is to be a gaoler and not a king.’ He is an unskilful physician that cannot cure one disease without casting his patient into another. So he that can find no other way for correcting the errors of his people but by taking from them the conveniences of life, shows that he knows not what it is to govern a free nation. He himself ought rather to shake off his sloth, or to lay down his pride, for the contempt or hatred that his people have for him takes its rise from the vices in himself. Let him live upon what belongs to him without wronging others, and accommodate his expense to his revenue. Let him punish crimes, and, by his wise conduct, let him endeavour to prevent them, rather than be severe when he has suffered them to be too common. Let him not rashly revive laws that are abrogated by disuse, especially if they have been long forgotten and never wanted. And let him never take any penalty for the breach of them to which a judge would not give way in a private man, but would look on him as a crafty and unjust person for pretending to it. To these things I would add that law among the Macarians—a people that live not far from Utopia—by which their king, on the day on which he began to reign, is tied by an oath, confirmed by solemn sacrifices, never to have at once above a thousand pounds of gold in his treasures, or so much silver as is equal to that in value. This law, they tell us, was made by an excellent king who had more regard to the riches of his country than to his own wealth, and therefore provided against the heaping up of so much treasure as might impoverish the people. He thought that moderate sum might be sufficient for any accident, if either the king had occasion for it against the rebels, or the kingdom against the invasion of an enemy; but that it was not enough to encourage a prince to invade other men’s rights—a circumstance that was the chief cause of his making that law. He also thought that it was a good provision for that free circulation of money so necessary for the course of commerce and exchange. And when a king must distribute all those extraordinary accessions that increase treasure beyond the due pitch, it makes him less disposed to oppress his subjects. Such a king as this will be the terror of ill men, and will be beloved by all the good. “If, I say, I should talk of these or such-like things to men that had taken their bias another way, how deaf would they be to all I could say!” “No doubt, very deaf,” answered I; “and no wonder, for one is never to offer propositions or advice that we are certain will not be entertained. Discourses so much out of the road could not avail anything, nor have any effect on men whose minds were prepossessed with different sentiments. This philosophical way of speculation is not unpleasant among friends in a free conversation; but there is no room for it in the courts of princes, where great affairs are carried on by authority.” “That is what I was saying,” replied he, “that there is no room for philosophy in the courts of princes.” “Yes, there is,” said I, “but not for this speculative philosophy, that makes everything to be alike fitting at all times; but there is another philosophy that is more pliable, that knows its proper scene, accommodates itself to it, and teaches a man with propriety and decency to act that part which has fallen to his share. If when one of Plautus’ comedies is upon the stage, and a company of servants are acting their parts, you should come out in the garb of a philosopher, and repeat, out of Octavia, a discourse of Seneca’s to Nero, would it not be better for you to say nothing than by mixing things of such different natures to make an impertinent tragi-comedy? for you spoil and corrupt the play that is in hand when you mix with it things of an opposite nature, even though they are much better. Therefore go through with the play that is acting the best you can, and do not confound it because another that is pleasanter comes into your thoughts. It is even so in a commonwealth and in the councils of princes; if ill opinions cannot be quite rooted out, and you cannot cure some received vice according to your wishes, you must not, therefore, abandon the commonwealth, for the same reasons as you should not forsake the ship in a storm because you cannot command the winds. You are not obliged to assault people with discourses that are out of their road, when you see that their received notions must prevent your making an impression upon them: you ought rather to cast about and to manage things with all the dexterity in your power, so that, if you are not able to make them go well, they may be as little ill as possible; for, except all men were good, everything cannot be right, and that is a blessing that I do not at present hope to see.” “According to your argument,” answered he, “all that I could be able to do would be to preserve myself from being mad while I endeavoured to cure the madness of others; for, if I speak truth, I must repeat what I have said to you; and as for lying, whether a philosopher can do it or not I cannot tell: I am sure I cannot do it. But though these discourses may be uneasy and ungrateful to them, I do not see why they should seem foolish or extravagant; indeed, if I should either propose such things as Plato has contrived in his ‘Commonwealth,’ or as the Utopians practise in theirs, though they might seem better, as certainly they are, yet they are so different from our establishment, which is founded on property (there being no such thing among them), that I could not expect that it would have any effect on them. But such discourses as mine, which only call past evils to mind and give warning of what may follow, leave nothing in them that is so absurd that they may not be used at any time, for they can only be unpleasant to those who are resolved to run headlong the contrary way; and if we must let alone everything as absurd or extravagant—which, by reason of the wicked lives of many, may seem uncouth—we must, even among Christians, give over pressing the greatest part of those things that Christ hath taught us, though He has commanded us not to conceal them, but to proclaim on the housetops that which He taught in secret. The greatest parts of His precepts are more opposite to the lives of the men of this age than any part of my discourse has been, but the preachers seem to have learned that craft to which you advise me: for they, observing that the world would not willingly suit their lives to the rules that Christ has given, have fitted His doctrine, as if it had been a leaden rule, to their lives, that so, some way or other, they might agree with one another. But I see no other effect of this compliance except it be that men become more secure in their wickedness by it; and this is all the success that I can have in a court, for I must always differ from the rest, and then I shall signify nothing; or, if I agree with them, I shall then only help forward their madness. I do not comprehend what you mean by your ‘casting about,’ or by ‘the bending and handling things so dexterously that, if they go not well, they may go as little ill as may be;’ for in courts they will not bear with a man’s holding his peace or conniving at what others do: a man must barefacedly approve of the worst counsels and consent to the blackest designs: so that he would pass for a spy, or, possibly, for a traitor, that did but coldly approve of such wicked practices; and therefore when a man is engaged in such a society, he will be so far from being able to mend matters by his ‘casting about,’ as you call it, that he will find no occasions of doing any good—the ill company will sooner corrupt him than be the better for him; or if, notwithstanding all their ill company, he still remains steady and innocent, yet their follies and knavery will be imputed to him; and, by mixing counsels with them, he must bear his share of all the blame that belongs wholly to others. “It was no ill simile by which Plato set forth the unreasonableness of a philosopher’s meddling with government. ‘If a man,’ says he, ‘were to see a great company run out every day into the rain and take delight in being wet—if he knew that it would be to no purpose for him to go and persuade them to return to their houses in order to avoid the storm, and that all that could be expected by his going to speak to them would be that he himself should be as wet as they, it would be best for him to keep within doors, and, since he had not influence enough to correct other people’s folly, to take care to preserve himself.’ “Though, to speak plainly my real sentiments, I must freely own that as long as there is any property, and while money is the standard of all other things, I cannot think that a nation can be governed either justly or happily: not justly, because the best things will fall to the share of the worst men; nor happily, because all things will be divided among a few (and even these are not in all respects happy), the rest being left to be absolutely miserable. Therefore, when I reflect on the wise and good constitution of the Utopians, among whom all things are so well governed and with so few laws, where virtue hath its due reward, and yet there is such an equality that every man lives in plenty—when I compare with them so many other nations that are still making new laws, and yet can never bring their constitution to a right regulation; where, notwithstanding every one has his property, yet all the laws that they can invent have not the power either to obtain or preserve it, or even to enable men certainly to distinguish what is their own from what is another’s, of which the many lawsuits that every day break out, and are eternally depending, give too plain a demonstration—when, I say, I balance all these things in my thoughts, I grow more favourable to Plato, and do not wonder that he resolved not to make any laws for such as would not submit to a community of all things; for so wise a man could not but foresee that the setting all upon a level was the only way to make a nation happy; which cannot be obtained so long as there is property, for when every man draws to himself all that he can compass, by one title or another, it must needs follow that, how plentiful soever a nation may be, yet a few dividing the wealth of it among themselves, the rest must fall into indigence. So that there will be two sorts of people among them, who deserve that their fortunes should be interchanged—the former useless, but wicked and ravenous; and the latter, who by their constant industry serve the public more than themselves, sincere and modest men—from whence I am persuaded that till property is taken away, there can be no equitable or just distribution of things, nor can the world be happily governed; for as long as that is maintained, the greatest and the far best part of mankind, will be still oppressed with a load of cares and anxieties. I confess, without taking it quite away, those pressures that lie on a great part of mankind may be made lighter, but they can never be quite removed; for if laws were made to determine at how great an extent in soil, and at how much money, every man must stop—to limit the prince, that he might not grow too great; and to restrain the people, that they might not become too insolent—and that none might factiously aspire to public employments, which ought neither to be sold nor made burdensome by a great expense, since otherwise those that serve in them would be tempted to reimburse themselves by cheats and violence, and it would become necessary to find out rich men for undergoing those employments, which ought rather to be trusted to the wise. These laws, I say, might have such effect as good diet and care might have on a sick man whose recovery is desperate; they might allay and mitigate the disease, but it could never be quite healed, nor the body politic be brought again to a good habit as long as property remains; and it will fall out, as in a complication of diseases, that by applying a remedy to one sore you will provoke another, and that which removes the one ill symptom produces others, while the strengthening one part of the body weakens the rest.” “On the contrary,” answered I, “it seems to me that men cannot live conveniently where all things are common. How can there be any plenty where every man will excuse himself from labour? for as the hope of gain doth not excite him, so the confidence that he has in other men’s industry may make him slothful. If people come to be pinched with want, and yet cannot dispose of anything as their own, what can follow upon this but perpetual sedition and bloodshed, especially when the reverence and authority due to magistrates falls to the ground? for I cannot imagine how that can be kept up among those that are in all things equal to one another.” “I do not wonder,” said he, “that it appears so to you, since you have no notion, or at least no right one, of such a constitution; but if you had been in Utopia with me, and had seen their laws and rules, as I did, for the space of five years, in which I lived among them, and during which time I was so delighted with them that indeed I should never have left them if it had not been to make the discovery of that new world to the Europeans, you would then confess that you had never seen a people so well constituted as they.” “You will not easily persuade me,” said Peter, “that any nation in that new world is better governed than those among us; for as our understandings are not worse than theirs, so our government (if I mistake not) being more ancient, a long practice has helped us to find out many conveniences of life, and some happy chances have discovered other things to us which no man’s understanding could ever have invented.” “As for the antiquity either of their government or of ours,” said he, “you cannot pass a true judgment of it unless you had read their histories; for, if they are to be believed, they had towns among them before these parts were so much as inhabited; and as for those discoveries that have been either hit on by chance or made by ingenious men, these might have happened there as well as here. I do not deny but we are more ingenious than they are, but they exceed us much in industry and application. They knew little concerning us before our arrival among them. They call us all by a general name of ‘The nations that lie beyond the equinoctial line;’ for their chronicle mentions a shipwreck that was made on their coast twelve hundred years ago, and that some Romans and Egyptians that were in the ship, getting safe ashore, spent the rest of their days amongst them; and such was their ingenuity that from this single opportunity they drew the advantage of learning from those unlooked-for guests, and acquired all the useful arts that were then among the Romans, and which were known to these shipwrecked men; and by the hints that they gave them they themselves found out even some of those arts which they could not fully explain, so happily did they improve that accident of having some of our people cast upon their shore. But if such an accident has at any time brought any from thence into Europe, we have been so far from improving it that we do not so much as remember it, as, in aftertimes perhaps, it will be forgot by our people that I was ever there; for though they, from one such accident, made themselves masters of all the good inventions that were among us, yet I believe it would be long before we should learn or put in practice any of the good institutions that are among them. And this is the true cause of their being better governed and living happier than we, though we come not short of them in point of understanding or outward advantages.” Upon this I said to him, “I earnestly beg you would describe that island very particularly to us; be not too short, but set out in order all things relating to their soil, their rivers, their towns, their people, their manners, constitution, laws, and, in a word, all that you imagine we desire to know; and you may well imagine that we desire to know everything concerning them of which we are hitherto ignorant.” “I will do it very willingly,” said he, “for I have digested the whole matter carefully, but it will take up some time.” “Let us go, then,” said I, “first and dine, and then we shall have leisure enough.” He consented; we went in and dined, and after dinner came back and sat down in the same place. I ordered my servants to take care that none might come and interrupt us, and both Peter and I desired Raphael to be as good as his word. When he saw that we were very intent upon it he paused a little to recollect himself, and began in this manner:— “The island of Utopia is in the middle two hundred miles broad, and holds almost at the same breadth over a great part of it, but it grows narrower towards both ends. Its figure is not unlike a crescent. Between its horns the sea comes in eleven miles broad, and spreads itself into a great bay, which is environed with land to the compass of about five hundred miles, and is well secured from winds. In this bay there is no great current; the whole coast is, as it were, one continued harbour, which gives all that live in the island great convenience for mutual commerce. But the entry into the bay, occasioned by rocks on the one hand and shallows on the other, is very dangerous. In the middle of it there is one single rock which appears above water, and may, therefore, easily be avoided; and on the top of it there is a tower, in which a garrison is kept; the other rocks lie under water, and are very dangerous. The channel is known only to the natives; so that if any stranger should enter into the bay without one of their pilots he would run great danger of shipwreck. For even they themselves could not pass it safe if some marks that are on the coast did not direct their way; and if these should be but a little shifted, any fleet that might come against them, how great soever it were, would be certainly lost. On the other side of the island there are likewise many harbours; and the coast is so fortified, both by nature and art, that a small number of men can hinder the descent of a great army. But they report (and there remains good marks of it to make it credible) that this was no island at first, but a part of the continent. Utopus, that conquered it (whose name it still carries, for Abraxa was its first name), brought the rude and uncivilised inhabitants into such a good government, and to that measure of politeness, that they now far excel all the rest of mankind. Having soon subdued them, he designed to separate them from the continent, and to bring the sea quite round them. To accomplish this he ordered a deep channel to be dug, fifteen miles long; and that the natives might not think he treated them like slaves, he not only forced the inhabitants, but also his own soldiers, to labour in carrying it on. As he set a vast number of men to work, he, beyond all men’s expectations, brought it to a speedy conclusion. And his neighbours, who at first laughed at the folly of the undertaking, no sooner saw it brought to perfection than they were struck with admiration and terror. “There are fifty-four cities in the island, all large and well built, the manners, customs, and laws of which are the same, and they are all contrived as near in the same manner as the ground on which they stand will allow. The nearest lie at least twenty-four miles’ distance from one another, and the most remote are not so far distant but that a man can go on foot in one day from it to that which lies next it. Every city sends three of their wisest senators once a year to Amaurot, to consult about their common concerns; for that is the chief town of the island, being situated near the centre of it, so that it is the most convenient place for their assemblies. The jurisdiction of every city extends at least twenty miles, and, where the towns lie wider, they have much more ground. No town desires to enlarge its bounds, for the people consider themselves rather as tenants than landlords. They have built, over all the country, farmhouses for husbandmen, which are well contrived, and furnished with all things necessary for country labour. Inhabitants are sent, by turns, from the cities to dwell in them; no country family has fewer than forty men and women in it, besides two slaves. There is a master and a mistress set over every family, and over thirty families there is a magistrate. Every year twenty of this family come back to the town after they have stayed two years in the country, and in their room there are other twenty sent from the town, that they may learn country work from those that have been already one year in the country, as they must teach those that come to them the next from the town. By this means such as dwell in those country farms are never ignorant of agriculture, and so commit no errors which might otherwise be fatal and bring them under a scarcity of corn. But though there is every year such a shifting of the husbandmen to prevent any man being forced against his will to follow that hard course of life too long, yet many among them take such pleasure in it that they desire leave to continue in it many years. These husbandmen till the ground, breed cattle, hew wood, and convey it to the towns either by land or water, as is most convenient. They breed an infinite multitude of chickens in a very curious manner; for the hens do not sit and hatch them, but a vast number of eggs are laid in a gentle and equal heat in order to be hatched, and they are no sooner out of the shell, and able to stir about, but they seem to consider those that feed them as their mothers, and follow them as other chickens do the hen that hatched them. They breed very few horses, but those they have are full of mettle, and are kept only for exercising their youth in the art of sitting and riding them; for they do not put them to any work, either of ploughing or carriage, in which they employ oxen. For though their horses are stronger, yet they find oxen can hold out longer; and as they are not subject to so many diseases, so they are kept upon a less charge and with less trouble. And even when they are so worn out that they are no more fit for labour, they are good meat at last. They sow no corn but that which is to be their bread; for they drink either wine, cider or perry, and often water, sometimes boiled with honey or liquorice, with which they abound; and though they know exactly how much corn will serve every town and all that tract of country which belongs to it, yet they sow much more and breed more cattle than are necessary for their consumption, and they give that overplus of which they make no use to their neighbours. When they want anything in the country which it does not produce, they fetch that from the town, without carrying anything in exchange for it. And the magistrates of the town take care to see it given them; for they meet generally in the town once a month, upon a festival day. When the time of harvest comes, the magistrates in the country send to those in the towns and let them know how many hands they will need for reaping the harvest; and the number they call for being sent to them, they commonly despatch it all in one day. OF THEIR TOWNS, PARTICULARLY OF AMAUROT “He that knows one of their towns knows them all—they are so like one another, except where the situation makes some difference. I shall therefore describe one of them, and none is so proper as Amaurot; for as none is more eminent (all the rest yielding in precedence to this, because it is the seat of their supreme council), so there was none of them better known to me, I having lived five years all together in it. “It lies upon the side of a hill, or, rather, a rising ground. Its figure is almost square, for from the one side of it, which shoots up almost to the top of the hill, it runs down, in a descent for two miles, to the river Anider; but it is a little broader the other way that runs along by the bank of that river. The Anider rises about eighty miles above Amaurot, in a small spring at first. But other brooks falling into it, of which two are more considerable than the rest, as it runs by Amaurot it is grown half a mile broad; but, it still grows larger and larger, till, after sixty miles’ course below it, it is lost in the ocean. Between the town and the sea, and for some miles above the town, it ebbs and flows every six hours with a strong current. The tide comes up about thirty miles so full that there is nothing but salt water in the river, the fresh water being driven back with its force; and above that, for some miles, the water is brackish; but a little higher, as it runs by the town, it is quite fresh; and when the tide ebbs, it continues fresh all along to the sea. There is a bridge cast over the river, not of timber, but of fair stone, consisting of many stately arches; it lies at that part of the town which is farthest from the sea, so that the ships, without any hindrance, lie all along the side of the town. There is, likewise, another river that runs by it, which, though it is not great, yet it runs pleasantly, for it rises out of the same hill on which the town stands, and so runs down through it and falls into the Anider. The inhabitants have fortified the fountain-head of this river, which springs a little without the towns; that so, if they should happen to be besieged, the enemy might not be able to stop or divert the course of the water, nor poison it; from thence it is carried, in earthen pipes, to the lower streets. And for those places of the town to which the water of that small river cannot be conveyed, they have great cisterns for receiving the rain-water, which supplies the want of the other. The town is compassed with a high and thick wall, in which there are many towers and forts; there is also a broad and deep dry ditch, set thick with thorns, cast round three sides of the town, and the river is instead of a ditch on the fourth side. The streets are very convenient for all carriage, and are well sheltered from the winds. Their buildings are good, and are so uniform that a whole side of a street looks like one house. The streets are twenty feet broad; there lie gardens behind all their houses. These are large, but enclosed with buildings, that on all hands face the streets, so that every house has both a door to the street and a back door to the garden. Their doors have all two leaves, which, as they are easily opened, so they shut of their own accord; and, there being no property among them, every man may freely enter into any house whatsoever. At every ten years’ end they shift their houses by lots. They cultivate their gardens with great care, so that they have both vines, fruits, herbs, and flowers in them; and all is so well ordered and so finely kept that I never saw gardens anywhere that were both so fruitful and so beautiful as theirs. And this humour of ordering their gardens so well is not only kept up by the pleasure they find in it, but also by an emulation between the inhabitants of the several streets, who vie with each other. And there is, indeed, nothing belonging to the whole town that is both more useful and more pleasant. So that he who founded the town seems to have taken care of nothing more than of their gardens; for they say the whole scheme of the town was designed at first by Utopus, but he left all that belonged to the ornament and improvement of it to be added by those that should come after him, that being too much for one man to bring to perfection. Their records, that contain the history of their town and State, are preserved with an exact care, and run backwards seventeen hundred and sixty years. From these it appears that their houses were at first low and mean, like cottages, made of any sort of timber, and were built with mud walls and thatched with straw. But now their houses are three storeys high, the fronts of them are faced either with stone, plastering, or brick, and between the facings of their walls they throw in their rubbish. Their roofs are flat, and on them they lay a sort of plaster, which costs very little, and yet is so tempered that it is not apt to take fire, and yet resists the weather more than lead. They have great quantities of glass among them, with which they glaze their windows; they use also in their windows a thin linen cloth, that is so oiled or gummed that it both keeps out the wind and gives free admission to the light. OF THEIR MAGISTRATES “Thirty families choose every year a magistrate, who was anciently called the Syphogrant, but is now called the Philarch; and over every ten Syphogrants, with the families subject to them, there is another magistrate, who was anciently called the Tranibore, but of late the Archphilarch. All the Syphogrants, who are in number two hundred, choose the Prince out of a list of four who are named by the people of the four divisions of the city; but they take an oath, before they proceed to an election, that they will choose him whom they think most fit for the office: they give him their voices secretly, so that it is not known for whom every one gives his suffrage. The Prince is for life, unless he is removed upon suspicion of some design to enslave the people. The Tranibors are new chosen every year, but yet they are, for the most part, continued; all their other magistrates are only annual. The Tranibors meet every third day, and oftener if necessary, and consult with the Prince either concerning the affairs of the State in general, or such private differences as may arise sometimes among the people, though that falls out but seldom. There are always two Syphogrants called into the council chamber, and these are changed every day. It is a fundamental rule of their government, that no conclusion can be made in anything that relates to the public till it has been first debated three several days in their council. It is death for any to meet and consult concerning the State, unless it be either in their ordinary council, or in the assembly of the whole body of the people. “These things have been so provided among them that the Prince and the Tranibors may not conspire together to change the government and enslave the people; and therefore when anything of great importance is set on foot, it is sent to the Syphogrants, who, after they have communicated it to the families that belong to their divisions, and have considered it among themselves, make report to the senate; and, upon great occasions, the matter is referred to the council of the whole island. One rule observed in their council is, never to debate a thing on the same day in which it is first proposed; for that is always referred to the next meeting, that so men may not rashly and in the heat of discourse engage themselves too soon, which might bias them so much that, instead of consulting the good of the public, they might rather study to support their first opinions, and by a perverse and preposterous sort of shame hazard their country rather than endanger their own reputation, or venture the being suspected to have wanted foresight in the expedients that they at first proposed; and therefore, to prevent this, they take care that they may rather be deliberate than sudden in their motions. OF THEIR TRADES, AND MANNER OF LIFE “Agriculture is that which is so universally understood among them that no person, either man or woman, is ignorant of it; they are instructed in it from their childhood, partly by what they learn at school, and partly by practice, they being led out often into the fields about the town, where they not only see others at work but are likewise exercised in it themselves. Besides agriculture, which is so common to them all, every man has some peculiar trade to which he applies himself; such as the manufacture of wool or flax, masonry, smith’s work, or carpenter’s work; for there is no sort of trade that is in great esteem among them. Throughout the island they wear the same sort of clothes, without any other distinction except what is necessary to distinguish the two sexes and the married and unmarried. The fashion never alters, and as it is neither disagreeable nor uneasy, so it is suited to the climate, and calculated both for their summers and winters. Every family makes their own clothes; but all among them, women as well as men, learn one or other of the trades formerly mentioned. Women, for the most part, deal in wool and flax, which suit best with their weakness, leaving the ruder trades to the men. The same trade generally passes down from father to son, inclinations often following descent: but if any man’s genius lies another way he is, by adoption, translated into a family that deals in the trade to which he is inclined; and when that is to be done, care is taken, not only by his father, but by the magistrate, that he may be put to a discreet and good man: and if, after a person has learned one trade, he desires to acquire another, that is also allowed, and is managed in the same manner as the former. When he has learned both, he follows that which he likes best, unless the public has more occasion for the other. The chief, and almost the only, business of the Syphogrants is to take care that no man may live idle, but that every one may follow his trade diligently; yet they do not wear themselves out with perpetual toil from morning to night, as if they were beasts of burden, which as it is indeed a heavy slavery, so it is everywhere the common course of life amongst all mechanics except the Utopians: but they, dividing the day and night into twenty-four hours, appoint six of these for work, three of which are before dinner and three after; they then sup, and at eight o’clock, counting from noon, go to bed and sleep eight hours: the rest of their time, besides that taken up in work, eating, and sleeping, is left to every man’s discretion; yet they are not to abuse that interval to luxury and idleness, but must employ it in some proper exercise, according to their various inclinations, which is, for the most part, reading. It is ordinary to have public lectures every morning before daybreak, at which none are obliged to appear but those who are marked out for literature; yet a great many, both men and women, of all ranks, go to hear lectures of one sort or other, according to their inclinations: but if others that are not made for contemplation, choose rather to employ themselves at that time in their trades, as many of them do, they are not hindered, but are rather commended, as men that take care to serve their country. After supper they spend an hour in some diversion, in summer in their gardens, and in winter in the halls where they eat, where they entertain each other either with music or discourse. They do not so much as know dice, or any such foolish and mischievous games. They have, however, two sorts of games not unlike our chess; the one is between several numbers, in which one number, as it were, consumes another; the other resembles a battle between the virtues and the vices, in which the enmity in the vices among themselves, and their agreement against virtue, is not unpleasantly represented; together with the special opposition between the particular virtues and vices; as also the methods by which vice either openly assaults or secretly undermines virtue; and virtue, on the other hand, resists it. But the time appointed for labour is to be narrowly examined, otherwise you may imagine that since there are only six hours appointed for work, they may fall under a scarcity of necessary provisions: but it is so far from being true that this time is not sufficient for supplying them with plenty of all things, either necessary or convenient, that it is rather too much; and this you will easily apprehend if you consider how great a part of all other nations is quite idle. First, women generally do little, who are the half of mankind; and if some few women are diligent, their husbands are idle: then consider the great company of idle priests, and of those that are called religious men; add to these all rich men, chiefly those that have estates in land, who are called noblemen and gentlemen, together with their families, made up of idle persons, that are kept more for show than use; add to these all those strong and lusty beggars that go about pretending some disease in excuse for their begging; and upon the whole account you will find that the number of those by whose labours mankind is supplied is much less than you perhaps imagined: then consider how few of those that work are employed in labours that are of real service, for we, who measure all things by money, give rise to many trades that are both vain and superfluous, and serve only to support riot and luxury: for if those who work were employed only in such things as the conveniences of life require, there would be such an abundance of them that the prices of them would so sink that tradesmen could not be maintained by their gains; if all those who labour about useless things were set to more profitable employments, and if all they that languish out their lives in sloth and idleness (every one of whom consumes as much as any two of the men that are at work) were forced to labour, you may easily imagine that a small proportion of time would serve for doing all that is either necessary, profitable, or pleasant to mankind, especially while pleasure is kept within its due bounds: this appears very plainly in Utopia; for there, in a great city, and in all the territory that lies round it, you can scarce find five hundred, either men or women, by their age and strength capable of labour, that are not engaged in it. Even the Syphogrants, though excused by the law, yet do not excuse themselves, but work, that by their examples they may excite the industry of the rest of the people; the like exemption is allowed to those who, being recommended to the people by the priests, are, by the secret suffrages of the Syphogrants, privileged from labour, that they may apply themselves wholly to study; and if any of these fall short of those hopes that they seemed at first to give, they are obliged to return to work; and sometimes a mechanic that so employs his leisure hours as to make a considerable advancement in learning is eased from being a tradesman and ranked among their learned men. Out of these they choose their ambassadors, their priests, their Tranibors, and the Prince himself, anciently called their Barzenes, but is called of late their Ademus. “And thus from the great numbers among them that are neither suffered to be idle nor to be employed in any fruitless labour, you may easily make the estimate how much may be done in those few hours in which they are obliged to labour. But, besides all that has been already said, it is to be considered that the needful arts among them are managed with less labour than anywhere else. The building or the repairing of houses among us employ many hands, because often a thriftless heir suffers a house that his father built to fall into decay, so that his successor must, at a great cost, repair that which he might have kept up with a small charge; it frequently happens that the same house which one person built at a vast expense is neglected by another, who thinks he has a more delicate sense of the beauties of architecture, and he, suffering it to fall to ruin, builds another at no less charge. But among the Utopians all things are so regulated that men very seldom build upon a new piece of ground, and are not only very quick in repairing their houses, but show their foresight in preventing their decay, so that their buildings are preserved very long with but very little labour, and thus the builders, to whom that care belongs, are often without employment, except the hewing of timber and the squaring of stones, that the materials may be in readiness for raising a building very suddenly when there is any occasion for it. As to their clothes, observe how little work is spent in them; while they are at labour they are clothed with leather and skins, cut carelessly about them, which will last seven years, and when they appear in public they put on an upper garment which hides the other; and these are all of one colour, and that is the natural colour of the wool. As they need less woollen cloth than is used anywhere else, so that which they make use of is much less costly; they use linen cloth more, but that is prepared with less labour, and they value cloth only by the whiteness of the linen or the cleanness of the wool, without much regard to the fineness of the thread. While in other places four or five upper garments of woollen cloth of different colours, and as many vests of silk, will scarce serve one man, and while those that are nicer think ten too few, every man there is content with one, which very often serves him two years; nor is there anything that can tempt a man to desire more, for if he had them he would neither be the, warmer nor would he make one jot the better appearance for it. And thus, since they are all employed in some useful labour, and since they content themselves with fewer things, it falls out that there is a great abundance of all things among them; so that it frequently happens that, for want of other work, vast numbers are sent out to mend the highways; but when no public undertaking is to be performed, the hours of working are lessened. The magistrates never engage the people in unnecessary labour, since the chief end of the constitution is to regulate labour by the necessities of the public, and to allow the people as much time as is necessary for the improvement of their minds, in which they think the happiness of life consists. OF THEIR TRAFFIC “But it is now time to explain to you the mutual intercourse of this people, their commerce, and the rules by which all things are distributed among them. “As their cities are composed of families, so their families are made up of those that are nearly related to one another. Their women, when they grow up, are married out, but all the males, both children and grand-children, live still in the same house, in great obedience to their common parent, unless age has weakened his understanding, and in that case he that is next to him in age comes in his room; but lest any city should become either too great, or by any accident be dispeopled, provision is made that none of their cities may contain above six thousand families, besides those of the country around it. No family may have less than ten and more than sixteen persons in it, but there can be no determined number for the children under age; this rule is easily observed by removing some of the children of a more fruitful couple to any other family that does not abound so much in them. By the same rule they supply cities that do not increase so fast from others that breed faster; and if there is any increase over the whole island, then they draw out a number of their citizens out of the several towns and send them over to the neighbouring continent, where, if they find that the inhabitants have more soil than they can well cultivate, they fix a colony, taking the inhabitants into their society if they are willing to live with them; and where they do that of their own accord, they quickly enter into their method of life and conform to their rules, and this proves a happiness to both nations; for, according to their constitution, such care is taken of the soil that it becomes fruitful enough for both, though it might be otherwise too narrow and barren for any one of them. But if the natives refuse to conform themselves to their laws they drive them out of those bounds which they mark out for themselves, and use force if they resist, for they account it a very just cause of war for a nation to hinder others from possessing a part of that soil of which they make no use, but which is suffered to lie idle and uncultivated, since every man has, by the law of nature, a right to such a waste portion of the earth as is necessary for his subsistence. If an accident has so lessened the number of the inhabitants of any of their towns that it cannot be made up from the other towns of the island without diminishing them too much (which is said to have fallen out but twice since they were first a people, when great numbers were carried off by the plague), the loss is then supplied by recalling as many as are wanted from their colonies, for they will abandon these rather than suffer the towns in the island to sink too low. “But to return to their manner of living in society: the oldest man of every family, as has been already said, is its governor; wives serve their husbands, and children their parents, and always the younger serves the elder. Every city is divided into four equal parts, and in the middle of each there is a market-place. What is brought thither, and manufactured by the several families, is carried from thence to houses appointed for that purpose, in which all things of a sort are laid by themselves; and thither every father goes, and takes whatsoever he or his family stand in need of, without either paying for it or leaving anything in exchange. There is no reason for giving a denial to any person, since there is such plenty of everything among them; and there is no danger of a man’s asking for more than he needs; they have no inducements to do this, since they are sure they shall always be supplied: it is the fear of want that makes any of the whole race of animals either greedy or ravenous; but, besides fear, there is in man a pride that makes him fancy it a particular glory to excel others in pomp and excess; but by the laws of the Utopians, there is no room for this. Near these markets there are others for all sorts of provisions, where there are not only herbs, fruits, and bread, but also fish, fowl, and cattle. There are also, without their towns, places appointed near some running water for killing their beasts and for washing away their filth, which is done by their slaves; for they suffer none of their citizens to kill their cattle, because they think that pity and good-nature, which are among the best of those affections that are born with us, are much impaired by the butchering of animals; nor do they suffer anything that is foul or unclean to be brought within their towns, lest the air should be infected by ill-smells, which might prejudice their health. In every street there are great halls, that lie at an equal distance from each other, distinguished by particular names. The Syphogrants dwell in those that are set over thirty families, fifteen lying on one side of it, and as many on the other. In these halls they all meet and have their repasts; the stewards of every one of them come to the market-place at an appointed hour, and according to the number of those that belong to the hall they carry home provisions. But they take more care of their sick than of any others; these are lodged and provided for in public hospitals. They have belonging to every town four hospitals, that are built without their walls, and are so large that they may pass for little towns; by this means, if they had ever such a number of sick persons, they could lodge them conveniently, and at such a distance that such of them as are sick of infectious diseases may be kept so far from the rest that there can be no danger of contagion. The hospitals are furnished and stored with all things that are convenient for the ease and recovery of the sick; and those that are put in them are looked after with such tender and watchful care, and are so constantly attended by their skilful physicians, that as none is sent to them against their will, so there is scarce one in a whole town that, if he should fall ill, would not choose rather to go thither than lie sick at home. “After the steward of the hospitals has taken for the sick whatsoever the physician prescribes, then the best things that are left in the market are distributed equally among the halls in proportion to their numbers; only, in the first place, they serve the Prince, the Chief Priest, the Tranibors, the Ambassadors, and strangers, if there are any, which, indeed, falls out but seldom, and for whom there are houses, well furnished, particularly appointed for their reception when they come among them. At the hours of dinner and supper the whole Syphogranty being called together by sound of trumpet, they meet and eat together, except only such as are in the hospitals or lie sick at home. Yet, after the halls are served, no man is hindered to carry provisions home from the market-place, for they know that none does that but for some good reason; for though any that will may eat at home, yet none does it willingly, since it is both ridiculous and foolish for any to give themselves the trouble to make ready an ill dinner at home when there is a much more plentiful one made ready for him so near hand. All the uneasy and sordid services about these halls are performed by their slaves; but the dressing and cooking their meat, and the ordering their tables, belong only to the women, all those of every family taking it by turns. They sit at three or more tables, according to their number; the men sit towards the wall, and the women sit on the other side, that if any of them should be taken suddenly ill, which is no uncommon case amongst women with child, she may, without disturbing the rest, rise and go to the nurses’ room (who are there with the sucking children), where there is always clean water at hand and cradles, in which they may lay the young children if there is occasion for it, and a fire, that they may shift and dress them before it. Every child is nursed by its own mother if death or sickness does not intervene; and in that case the Syphogrants’ wives find out a nurse quickly, which is no hard matter, for any one that can do it offers herself cheerfully; for as they are much inclined to that piece of mercy, so the child whom they nurse considers the nurse as its mother. All the children under five years old sit among the nurses; the rest of the younger sort of both sexes, till they are fit for marriage, either serve those that sit at table, or, if they are not strong enough for that, stand by them in great silence and eat what is given them; nor have they any other formality of dining. In the middle of the first table, which stands across the upper end of the hall, sit the Syphogrant and his wife, for that is the chief and most conspicuous place; next to him sit two of the most ancient, for there go always four to a mess. If there is a temple within the Syphogranty, the Priest and his wife sit with the Syphogrant above all the rest; next them there is a mixture of old and young, who are so placed that as the young are set near others, so they are mixed with the more ancient; which, they say, was appointed on this account: that the gravity of the old people, and the reverence that is due to them, might restrain the younger from all indecent words and gestures. Dishes are not served up to the whole table at first, but the best are first set before the old, whose seats are distinguished from the young, and, after them, all the rest are served alike. The old men distribute to the younger any curious meats that happen to be set before them, if there is not such an abundance of them that the whole company may be served alike. “Thus old men are honoured with a particular respect, yet all the rest fare as well as they. Both dinner and supper are begun with some lecture of morality that is read to them; but it is so short that it is not tedious nor uneasy to them to hear it. From hence the old men take occasion to entertain those about them with some useful and pleasant enlargements; but they do not engross the whole discourse so to themselves during their meals that the younger may not put in for a share; on the contrary, they engage them to talk, that so they may, in that free way of conversation, find out the force of every one’s spirit and observe his temper. They despatch their dinners quickly, but sit long at supper, because they go to work after the one, and are to sleep after the other, during which they think the stomach carries on the concoction more vigorously. They never sup without music, and there is always fruit served up after meat; while they are at table some burn perfumes and sprinkle about fragrant ointments and sweet waters—in short, they want nothing that may cheer up their spirits; they give themselves a large allowance that way, and indulge themselves in all such pleasures as are attended with no inconvenience. Thus do those that are in the towns live together; but in the country, where they live at a great distance, every one eats at home, and no family wants any necessary sort of provision, for it is from them that provisions are sent unto those that live in the towns. OF THE TRAVELLING OF THE UTOPIANS If any man has a mind to visit his friends that live in some other town, or desires to travel and see the rest of the country, he obtains leave very easily from the Syphogrant and Tranibors, when there is no particular occasion for him at home. Such as travel carry with them a passport from the Prince, which both certifies the licence that is granted for travelling, and limits the time of their return. They are furnished with a waggon and a slave, who drives the oxen and looks after them; but, unless there are women in the company, the waggon is sent back at the end of the journey as a needless encumbrance. While they are on the road they carry no provisions with them, yet they want for nothing, but are everywhere treated as if they were at home. If they stay in any place longer than a night, every one follows his proper occupation, and is very well used by those of his own trade; but if any man goes out of the city to which he belongs without leave, and is found rambling without a passport, he is severely treated, he is punished as a fugitive, and sent home disgracefully; and, if he falls again into the like fault, is condemned to slavery. If any man has a mind to travel only over the precinct of his own city, he may freely do it, with his father’s permission and his wife’s consent; but when he comes into any of the country houses, if he expects to be entertained by them, he must labour with them and conform to their rules; and if he does this, he may freely go over the whole precinct, being then as useful to the city to which he belongs as if he were still within it. Thus you see that there are no idle persons among them, nor pretences of excusing any from labour. There are no taverns, no ale-houses, nor stews among them, nor any other occasions of corrupting each other, of getting into corners, or forming themselves into parties; all men live in full view, so that all are obliged both to perform their ordinary task and to employ themselves well in their spare hours; and it is certain that a people thus ordered must live in great abundance of all things, and these being equally distributed among them, no man can want or be obliged to beg. “In their great council at Amaurot, to which there are three sent from every town once a year, they examine what towns abound in provisions and what are under any scarcity, that so the one may be furnished from the other; and this is done freely, without any sort of exchange; for, according to their plenty or scarcity, they supply or are supplied from one another, so that indeed the whole island is, as it were, one family. When they have thus taken care of their whole country, and laid up stores for two years (which they do to prevent the ill consequences of an unfavourable season), they order an exportation of the overplus, both of corn, honey, wool, flax, wood, wax, tallow, leather, and cattle, which they send out, commonly in great quantities, to other nations. They order a seventh part of all these goods to be freely given to the poor of the countries to which they send them, and sell the rest at moderate rates; and by this exchange they not only bring back those few things that they need at home (for, indeed, they scarce need anything but iron), but likewise a great deal of gold and silver; and by their driving this trade so long, it is not to be imagined how vast a treasure they have got among them, so that now they do not much care whether they sell off their merchandise for money in hand or upon trust. A great part of their treasure is now in bonds; but in all their contracts no private man stands bound, but the writing runs in the name of the town; and the towns that owe them money raise it from those private hands that owe it to them, lay it up in their public chamber, or enjoy the profit of it till the Utopians call for it; and they choose rather to let the greatest part of it lie in their hands, who make advantage by it, than to call for it themselves; but if they see that any of their other neighbours stand more in need of it, then they call it in and lend it to them. Whenever they are engaged in war, which is the only occasion in which their treasure can be usefully employed, they make use of it themselves; in great extremities or sudden accidents they employ it in hiring foreign troops, whom they more willingly expose to danger than their own people; they give them great pay, knowing well that this will work even on their enemies; that it will engage them either to betray their own side, or, at least, to desert it; and that it is the best means of raising mutual jealousies among them. For this end they have an incredible treasure; but they do not keep it as a treasure, but in such a manner as I am almost afraid to tell, lest you think it so extravagant as to be hardly credible. This I have the more reason to apprehend because, if I had not seen it myself, I could not have been easily persuaded to have believed it upon any man’s report. “It is certain that all things appear incredible to us in proportion as they differ from known customs; but one who can judge aright will not wonder to find that, since their constitution differs so much from ours, their value of gold and silver should be measured by a very different standard; for since they have no use for money among themselves, but keep it as a provision against events which seldom happen, and between which there are generally long intervening intervals, they value it no farther than it deserves—that is, in proportion to its use. So that it is plain they must prefer iron either to gold or silver, for men can no more live without iron than without fire or water; but Nature has marked out no use for the other metals so essential as not easily to be dispensed with. The folly of men has enhanced the value of gold and silver because of their scarcity; whereas, on the contrary, it is their opinion that Nature, as an indulgent parent, has freely given us all the best things in great abundance, such as water and earth, but has laid up and hid from us the things that are vain and useless. “If these metals were laid up in any tower in the kingdom it would raise a jealousy of the Prince and Senate, and give birth to that foolish mistrust into which the people are apt to fall—a jealousy of their intending to sacrifice the interest of the public to their own private advantage. If they should work it into vessels, or any sort of plate, they fear that the people might grow too fond of it, and so be unwilling to let the plate be run down, if a war made it necessary, to employ it in paying their soldiers. To prevent all these inconveniences they have fallen upon an expedient which, as it agrees with their other policy, so is it very different from ours, and will scarce gain belief among us who value gold so much, and lay it up so carefully. They eat and drink out of vessels of earth or glass, which make an agreeable appearance, though formed of brittle materials; while they make their chamber-pots and close-stools of gold and silver, and that not only in their public halls but in their private houses. Of the same metals they likewise make chains and fetters for their slaves, to some of which, as a badge of infamy, they hang an earring of gold, and make others wear a chain or a coronet of the same metal; and thus they take care by all possible means to render gold and silver of no esteem; and from hence it is that while other nations part with their gold and silver as unwillingly as if one tore out their bowels, those of Utopia would look on their giving in all they possess of those metals (when there were any use for them) but as the parting with a trifle, or as we would esteem the loss of a penny! They find pearls on their coasts, and diamonds and carbuncles on their rocks; they do not look after them, but, if they find them by chance, they polish them, and with them they adorn their children, who are delighted with them, and glory in them during their childhood; but when they grow to years, and see that none but children use such baubles, they of their own accord, without being bid by their parents, lay them aside, and would be as much ashamed to use them afterwards as children among us, when they come to years, are of their puppets and other toys. “I never saw a clearer instance of the opposite impressions that different customs make on people than I observed in the ambassadors of the Anemolians, who came to Amaurot when I was there. As they came to treat of affairs of great consequence, the deputies from several towns met together to wait for their coming. The ambassadors of the nations that lie near Utopia, knowing their customs, and that fine clothes are in no esteem among them, that silk is despised, and gold is a badge of infamy, used to come very modestly clothed; but the Anemolians, lying more remote, and having had little commerce with them, understanding that they were coarsely clothed, and all in the same manner, took it for granted that they had none of those fine things among them of which they made no use; and they, being a vainglorious rather than a wise people, resolved to set themselves out with so much pomp that they should look like gods, and strike the eyes of the poor Utopians with their splendour. Thus three ambassadors made their entry with a hundred attendants, all clad in garments of different colours, and the greater part in silk; the ambassadors themselves, who were of the nobility of their country, were in cloth-of-gold, and adorned with massy chains, earrings and rings of gold; their caps were covered with bracelets set full of pearls and other gems—in a word, they were set out with all those things that among the Utopians were either the badges of slavery, the marks of infamy, or the playthings of children. It was not unpleasant to see, on the one side, how they looked big, when they compared their rich habits with the plain clothes of the Utopians, who were come out in great numbers to see them make their entry; and, on the other, to observe how much they were mistaken in the impression which they hoped this pomp would have made on them. It appeared so ridiculous a show to all that had never stirred out of their country, and had not seen the customs of other nations, that though they paid some reverence to those that were the most meanly clad, as if they had been the ambassadors, yet when they saw the ambassadors themselves so full of gold and chains, they looked upon them as slaves, and forbore to treat them with reverence. You might have seen the children who were grown big enough to despise their playthings, and who had thrown away their jewels, call to their mothers, push them gently, and cry out, ‘See that great fool, that wears pearls and gems as if he were yet a child!’ while their mothers very innocently replied, ‘Hold your peace! this, I believe, is one of the ambassadors’ fools.’ Others censured the fashion of their chains, and observed, ‘That they were of no use, for they were too slight to bind their slaves, who could easily break them; and, besides, hung so loose about them that they thought it easy to throw their away, and so get from them.” But after the ambassadors had stayed a day among them, and saw so vast a quantity of gold in their houses (which was as much despised by them as it was esteemed in other nations), and beheld more gold and silver in the chains and fetters of one slave than all their ornaments amounted to, their plumes fell, and they were ashamed of all that glory for which they had formed valued themselves, and accordingly laid it aside—a resolution that they immediately took when, on their engaging in some free discourse with the Utopians, they discovered their sense of such things and their other customs. The Utopians wonder how any man should be so much taken with the glaring doubtful lustre of a jewel or a stone, that can look up to a star or to the sun himself; or how any should value himself because his cloth is made of a finer thread; for, how fine soever that thread may be, it was once no better than the fleece of a sheep, and that sheep, was a sheep still, for all its wearing it. They wonder much to hear that gold, which in itself is so useless a thing, should be everywhere so much esteemed that even man, for whom it was made, and by whom it has its value, should yet be thought of less value than this metal; that a man of lead, who has no more sense than a log of wood, and is as bad as he is foolish, should have many wise and good men to serve him, only because he has a great heap of that metal; and that if it should happen that by some accident or trick of law (which, sometimes produces as great changes as chance itself) all this wealth should pass from the master to the meanest varlet of his whole family, he himself would very soon become one of his servants, as if he were a thing that belonged to his wealth, and so were bound to follow its fortune! But they much more admire and detest the folly of those who, when they see a rich man, though they neither owe him anything, nor are in any sort dependent on his bounty, yet, merely because he is rich, give him little less than divine honours, even though they know him to be so covetous and base-minded that, notwithstanding all his wealth, he will not part with one farthing of it to them as long as he lives! “These and such like notions have that people imbibed, partly from their education, being bred in a country whose customs and laws are opposite to all such foolish maxims, and partly from their learning and studies—for though there are but few in any town that are so wholly excused from labour as to give themselves entirely up to their studies (these being only such persons as discover from their childhood an extraordinary capacity and disposition for letters), yet their children and a great part of the nation, both men and women, are taught to spend those hours in which they are not obliged to work in reading; and this they do through the whole progress of life. They have all their learning in their own tongue, which is both a copious and pleasant language, and in which a man can fully express his mind; it runs over a great tract of many countries, but it is not equally pure in all places. They had never so much as heard of the names of any of those philosophers that are so famous in these parts of the world, before we went among them; and yet they had made the same discoveries as the Greeks, both in music, logic, arithmetic, and geometry. But as they are almost in everything equal to the ancient philosophers, so they far exceed our modern logicians for they have never yet fallen upon the barbarous niceties that our youth are forced to learn in those trifling logical schools that are among us. They are so far from minding chimeras and fantastical images made in the mind that none of them could comprehend what we meant when we talked to them of a man in the abstract as common to all men in particular (so that though we spoke of him as a thing that we could point at with our fingers, yet none of them could perceive him) and yet distinct from every one, as if he were some monstrous Colossus or giant; yet, for all this ignorance of these empty notions, they knew astronomy, and were perfectly acquainted with the motions of the heavenly bodies; and have many instruments, well contrived and divided, by which they very accurately compute the course and positions of the sun, moon, and stars. But for the cheat of divining by the stars, by their oppositions or conjunctions, it has not so much as entered into their thoughts. They have a particular sagacity, founded upon much observation, in judging of the weather, by which they know when they may look for rain, wind, or other alterations in the air; but as to the philosophy of these things, the cause of the saltness of the sea, of its ebbing and flowing, and of the original and nature both of the heavens and the earth, they dispute of them partly as our ancient philosophers have done, and partly upon some new hypothesis, in which, as they differ from them, so they do not in all things agree among themselves. “As to moral philosophy, they have the same disputes among them as we have here. They examine what are properly good, both for the body and the mind; and whether any outward thing can be called truly good, or if that term belong only to the endowments of the soul. They inquire, likewise, into the nature of virtue and pleasure. But their chief dispute is concerning the happiness of a man, and wherein it consists—whether in some one thing or in a great many. They seem, indeed, more inclinable to that opinion that places, if not the whole, yet the chief part, of a man’s happiness in pleasure; and, what may seem more strange, they make use of arguments even from religion, notwithstanding its severity and roughness, for the support of that opinion so indulgent to pleasure; for they never dispute concerning happiness without fetching some arguments from the principles of religion as well as from natural reason, since without the former they reckon that all our inquiries after happiness must be but conjectural and defective. “These are their religious principles:—That the soul of man is immortal, and that God of His goodness has designed that it should be happy; and that He has, therefore, appointed rewards for good and virtuous actions, and punishments for vice, to be distributed after this life. Though these principles of religion are conveyed down among them by tradition, they think that even reason itself determines a man to believe and acknowledge them; and freely confess that if these were taken away, no man would be so insensible as not to seek after pleasure by all possible means, lawful or unlawful, using only this caution—that a lesser pleasure might not stand in the way of a greater, and that no pleasure ought to be pursued that should draw a great deal of pain after it; for they think it the maddest thing in the world to pursue virtue, that is a sour and difficult thing, and not only to renounce the pleasures of life, but willingly to undergo much pain and trouble, if a man has no prospect of a reward. And what reward can there be for one that has passed his whole life, not only without pleasure, but in pain, if there is nothing to be expected after death? Yet they do not place happiness in all sorts of pleasures, but only in those that in themselves are good and honest. There is a party among them who place happiness in bare virtue; others think that our natures are conducted by virtue to happiness, as that which is the chief good of man. They define virtue thus—that it is a living according to Nature, and think that we are made by God for that end; they believe that a man then follows the dictates of Nature when he pursues or avoids things according to the direction of reason. They say that the first dictate of reason is the kindling in us a love and reverence for the Divine Majesty, to whom we owe both all that we have and, all that we can ever hope for. In the next place, reason directs us to keep our minds as free from passion and as cheerful as we can, and that we should consider ourselves as bound by the ties of good-nature and humanity to use our utmost endeavours to help forward the happiness of all other persons; for there never was any man such a morose and severe pursuer of virtue, such an enemy to pleasure, that though he set hard rules for men to undergo, much pain, many watchings, and other rigors, yet did not at the same time advise them to do all they could in order to relieve and ease the miserable, and who did not represent gentleness and good-nature as amiable dispositions. And from thence they infer that if a man ought to advance the welfare and comfort of the rest of mankind (there being no virtue more proper and peculiar to our nature than to ease the miseries of others, to free from trouble and anxiety, in furnishing them with the comforts of life, in which pleasure consists) Nature much more vigorously leads them to do all this for himself. A life of pleasure is either a real evil, and in that case we ought not to assist others in their pursuit of it, but, on the contrary, to keep them from it all we can, as from that which is most hurtful and deadly; or if it is a good thing, so that we not only may but ought to help others to it, why, then, ought not a man to begin with himself? since no man can be more bound to look after the good of another than after his own; for Nature cannot direct us to be good and kind to others, and yet at the same time to be unmerciful and cruel to ourselves. Thus as they define virtue to be living according to Nature, so they imagine that Nature prompts all people on to seek after pleasure as the end of all they do. They also observe that in order to our supporting the pleasures of life, Nature inclines us to enter into society; for there is no man so much raised above the rest of mankind as to be the only favourite of Nature, who, on the contrary, seems to have placed on a level all those that belong to the same species. Upon this they infer that no man ought to seek his own conveniences so eagerly as to prejudice others; and therefore they think that not only all agreements between private persons ought to be observed, but likewise that all those laws ought to be kept which either a good prince has published in due form, or to which a people that is neither oppressed with tyranny nor circumvented by fraud has consented, for distributing those conveniences of life which afford us all our pleasures. “They think it is an evidence of true wisdom for a man to pursue his own advantage as far as the laws allow it, they account it piety to prefer the public good to one’s private concerns, but they think it unjust for a man to seek for pleasure by snatching another man’s pleasures from him; and, on the contrary, they think it a sign of a gentle and good soul for a man to dispense with his own advantage for the good of others, and that by this means a good man finds as much pleasure one way as he parts with another; for as he may expect the like from others when he may come to need it, so, if that should fail him, yet the sense of a good action, and the reflections that he makes on the love and gratitude of those whom he has so obliged, gives the mind more pleasure than the body could have found in that from which it had restrained itself. They are also persuaded that God will make up the loss of those small pleasures with a vast and endless joy, of which religion easily convinces a good soul. “Thus, upon an inquiry into the whole matter, they reckon that all our actions, and even all our virtues, terminate in pleasure, as in our chief end and greatest happiness; and they call every motion or state, either of body or mind, in which Nature teaches us to delight, a pleasure. Thus they cautiously limit pleasure only to those appetites to which Nature leads us; for they say that Nature leads us only to those delights to which reason, as well as sense, carries us, and by which we neither injure any other person nor lose the possession of greater pleasures, and of such as draw no troubles after them. But they look upon those delights which men by a foolish, though common, mistake call pleasure, as if they could change as easily the nature of things as the use of words, as things that greatly obstruct their real happiness, instead of advancing it, because they so entirely possess the minds of those that are once captivated by them with a false notion of pleasure that there is no room left for pleasures of a truer or purer kind. “There are many things that in themselves have nothing that is truly delightful; on the contrary, they have a good deal of bitterness in them; and yet, from our perverse appetites after forbidden objects, are not only ranked among the pleasures, but are made even the greatest designs, of life. Among those who pursue these sophisticated pleasures they reckon such as I mentioned before, who think themselves really the better for having fine clothes; in which they think they are doubly mistaken, both in the opinion they have of their clothes, and in that they have of themselves. For if you consider the use of clothes, why should a fine thread be thought better than a coarse one? And yet these men, as if they had some real advantages beyond others, and did not owe them wholly to their mistakes, look big, seem to fancy themselves to be more valuable, and imagine that a respect is due to them for the sake of a rich garment, to which they would not have pretended if they had been more meanly clothed, and even resent it as an affront if that respect is not paid them. It is also a great folly to be taken with outward marks of respect, which signify nothing; for what true or real pleasure can one man find in another’s standing bare or making legs to him? Will the bending another man’s knees give ease to yours? and will the head’s being bare cure the madness of yours? And yet it is wonderful to see how this false notion of pleasure bewitches many who delight themselves with the fancy of their nobility, and are pleased with this conceit—that they are descended from ancestors who have been held for some successions rich, and who have had great possessions; for this is all that makes nobility at present. Yet they do not think themselves a whit the less noble, though their immediate parents have left none of this wealth to them, or though they themselves have squandered it away. The Utopians have no better opinion of those who are much taken with gems and precious stones, and who account it a degree of happiness next to a divine one if they can purchase one that is very extraordinary, especially if it be of that sort of stones that is then in greatest request, for the same sort is not at all times universally of the same value, nor will men buy it unless it be dismounted and taken out of the gold. The jeweller is then made to give good security, and required solemnly to swear that the stone is true, that, by such an exact caution, a false one might not be bought instead of a true; though, if you were to examine it, your eye could find no difference between the counterfeit and that which is true; so that they are all one to you, as much as if you were blind. Or can it be thought that they who heap up a useless mass of wealth, not for any use that it is to bring them, but merely to please themselves with the contemplation of it, enjoy any true pleasure in it? The delight they find is only a false shadow of joy. Those are no better whose error is somewhat different from the former, and who hide it out of their fear of losing it; for what other name can fit the hiding it in the earth, or, rather, the restoring it to it again, it being thus cut off from being useful either to its owner or to the rest of mankind? And yet the owner, having hid it carefully, is glad, because he thinks he is now sure of it. If it should be stole, the owner, though he might live perhaps ten years after the theft, of which he knew nothing, would find no difference between his having or losing it, for both ways it was equally useless to him. “Among those foolish pursuers of pleasure they reckon all that delight in hunting, in fowling, or gaming, of whose madness they have only heard, for they have no such things among them. But they have asked us, ‘What sort of pleasure is it that men can find in throwing the dice?’ (for if there were any pleasure in it, they think the doing it so often should give one a surfeit of it); ‘and what pleasure can one find in hearing the barking and howling of dogs, which seem rather odious than pleasant sounds?’ Nor can they comprehend the pleasure of seeing dogs run after a hare, more than of seeing one dog run after another; for if the seeing them run is that which gives the pleasure, you have the same entertainment to the eye on both these occasions, since that is the same in both cases. But if the pleasure lies in seeing the hare killed and torn by the dogs, this ought rather to stir pity, that a weak, harmless, and fearful hare should be devoured by strong, fierce, and cruel dogs. Therefore all this business of hunting is, among the Utopians, turned over to their butchers, and those, as has been already said, are all slaves, and they look on hunting as one of the basest parts of a butcher’s work, for they account it both more profitable and more decent to kill those beasts that are more necessary and useful to mankind, whereas the killing and tearing of so small and miserable an animal can only attract the huntsman with a false show of pleasure, from which he can reap but small advantage. They look on the desire of the bloodshed, even of beasts, as a mark of a mind that is already corrupted with cruelty, or that at least, by too frequent returns of so brutal a pleasure, must degenerate into it. “Thus though the rabble of mankind look upon these, and on innumerable other things of the same nature, as pleasures, the Utopians, on the contrary, observing that there is nothing in them truly pleasant, conclude that they are not to be reckoned among pleasures; for though these things may create some tickling in the senses (which seems to be a true notion of pleasure), yet they imagine that this does not arise from the thing itself, but from a depraved custom, which may so vitiate a man’s taste that bitter things may pass for sweet, as women with child think pitch or tallow taste sweeter than honey; but as a man’s sense, when corrupted either by a disease or some ill habit, does not change the nature of other things, so neither can it change the nature of pleasure. “They reckon up several sorts of pleasures, which they call true ones; some belong to the body, and others to the mind. The pleasures of the mind lie in knowledge, and in that delight which the contemplation of truth carries with it; to which they add the joyful reflections on a well-spent life, and the assured hopes of a future happiness. They divide the pleasures of the body into two sorts—the one is that which gives our senses some real delight, and is performed either by recruiting Nature and supplying those parts which feed the internal heat of life by eating and drinking, or when Nature is eased of any surcharge that oppresses it, when we are relieved from sudden pain, or that which arises from satisfying the appetite which Nature has wisely given to lead us to the propagation of the species. There is another kind of pleasure that arises neither from our receiving what the body requires, nor its being relieved when overcharged, and yet, by a secret unseen virtue, affects the senses, raises the passions, and strikes the mind with generous impressions—this is, the pleasure that arises from music. Another kind of bodily pleasure is that which results from an undisturbed and vigorous constitution of body, when life and active spirits seem to actuate every part. This lively health, when entirely free from all mixture of pain, of itself gives an inward pleasure, independent of all external objects of delight; and though this pleasure does not so powerfully affect us, nor act so strongly on the senses as some of the others, yet it may be esteemed as the greatest of all pleasures; and almost all the Utopians reckon it the foundation and basis of all the other joys of life, since this alone makes the state of life easy and desirable, and when this is wanting, a man is really capable of no other pleasure. They look upon freedom from pain, if it does not rise from perfect health, to be a state of stupidity rather than of pleasure. This subject has been very narrowly canvassed among them, and it has been debated whether a firm and entire health could be called a pleasure or not. Some have thought that there was no pleasure but what was ‘excited’ by some sensible motion in the body. But this opinion has been long ago excluded from among them; so that now they almost universally agree that health is the greatest of all bodily pleasures; and that as there is a pain in sickness which is as opposite in its nature to pleasure as sickness itself is to health, so they hold that health is accompanied with pleasure. And if any should say that sickness is not really pain, but that it only carries pain along with it, they look upon that as a fetch of subtlety that does not much alter the matter. It is all one, in their opinion, whether it be said that health is in itself a pleasure, or that it begets a pleasure, as fire gives heat, so it be granted that all those whose health is entire have a true pleasure in the enjoyment of it. And they reason thus:—‘What is the pleasure of eating, but that a man’s health, which had been weakened, does, with the assistance of food, drive away hunger, and so recruiting itself, recovers its former vigour? And being thus refreshed it finds a pleasure in that conflict; and if the conflict is pleasure, the victory must yet breed a greater pleasure, except we fancy that it becomes stupid as soon as it has obtained that which it pursued, and so neither knows nor rejoices in its own welfare.’ If it is said that health cannot be felt, they absolutely deny it; for what man is in health, that does not perceive it when he is awake? Is there any man that is so dull and stupid as not to acknowledge that he feels a delight in health? And what is delight but another name for pleasure? “But, of all pleasures, they esteem those to be most valuable that lie in the mind, the chief of which arise out of true virtue and the witness of a good conscience. They account health the chief pleasure that belongs to the body; for they think that the pleasure of eating and drinking, and all the other delights of sense, are only so far desirable as they give or maintain health; but they are not pleasant in themselves otherwise than as they resist those impressions that our natural infirmities are still making upon us. For as a wise man desires rather to avoid diseases than to take physic, and to be freed from pain rather than to find ease by remedies, so it is more desirable not to need this sort of pleasure than to be obliged to indulge it. If any man imagines that there is a real happiness in these enjoyments, he must then confess that he would be the happiest of all men if he were to lead his life in perpetual hunger, thirst, and itching, and, by consequence, in perpetual eating, drinking, and scratching himself; which any one may easily see would be not only a base, but a miserable, state of a life. These are, indeed, the lowest of pleasures, and the least pure, for we can never relish them but when they are mixed with the contrary pains. The pain of hunger must give us the pleasure of eating, and here the pain out-balances the pleasure. And as the pain is more vehement, so it lasts much longer; for as it begins before the pleasure, so it does not cease but with the pleasure that extinguishes it, and both expire together. They think, therefore, none of those pleasures are to be valued any further than as they are necessary; yet they rejoice in them, and with due gratitude acknowledge the tenderness of the great Author of Nature, who has planted in us appetites, by which those things that are necessary for our preservation are likewise made pleasant to us. For how miserable a thing would life be if those daily diseases of hunger and thirst were to be carried off by such bitter drugs as we must use for those diseases that return seldomer upon us! And thus these pleasant, as well as proper, gifts of Nature maintain the strength and the sprightliness of our bodies. “They also entertain themselves with the other delights let in at their eyes, their ears, and their nostrils as the pleasant relishes and seasoning of life, which Nature seems to have marked out peculiarly for man, since no other sort of animals contemplates the figure and beauty of the universe, nor is delighted with smells any further than as they distinguish meats by them; nor do they apprehend the concords or discords of sound. Yet, in all pleasures whatsoever, they take care that a lesser joy does not hinder a greater, and that pleasure may never breed pain, which they think always follows dishonest pleasures. But they think it madness for a man to wear out the beauty of his face or the force of his natural strength, to corrupt the sprightliness of his body by sloth and laziness, or to waste it by fasting; that it is madness to weaken the strength of his constitution and reject the other delights of life, unless by renouncing his own satisfaction he can either serve the public or promote the happiness of others, for which he expects a greater recompense from God. So that they look on such a course of life as the mark of a mind that is both cruel to itself and ungrateful to the Author of Nature, as if we would not be beholden to Him for His favours, and therefore rejects all His blessings; as one who should afflict himself for the empty shadow of virtue, or for no better end than to render himself capable of bearing those misfortunes which possibly will never happen. “This is their notion of virtue and of pleasure: they think that no man’s reason can carry him to a truer idea of them unless some discovery from heaven should inspire him with sublimer notions. I have not now the leisure to examine whether they think right or wrong in this matter; nor do I judge it necessary, for I have only undertaken to give you an account of their constitution, but not to defend all their principles. I am sure that whatever may be said of their notions, there is not in the whole world either a better people or a happier government. Their bodies are vigorous and lively; and though they are but of a middle stature, and have neither the fruitfullest soil nor the purest air in the world; yet they fortify themselves so well, by their temperate course of life, against the unhealthiness of their air, and by their industry they so cultivate their soil, that there is nowhere to be seen a greater increase, both of corn and cattle, nor are there anywhere healthier men and freer from diseases; for one may there see reduced to practice not only all the art that the husbandman employs in manuring and improving an ill soil, but whole woods plucked up by the roots, and in other places new ones planted, where there were none before. Their principal motive for this is the convenience of carriage, that their timber may be either near their towns or growing on the banks of the sea, or of some rivers, so as to be floated to them; for it is a harder work to carry wood at any distance over land than corn. The people are industrious, apt to learn, as well as cheerful and pleasant, and none can endure more labour when it is necessary; but, except in that case, they love their ease. They are unwearied pursuers of knowledge; for when we had given them some hints of the learning and discipline of the Greeks, concerning whom we only instructed them (for we know that there was nothing among the Romans, except their historians and their poets, that they would value much), it was strange to see how eagerly they were set on learning that language: we began to read a little of it to them, rather in compliance with their importunity than out of any hopes of their reaping from it any great advantage: but, after a very short trial, we found they made such progress, that we saw our labour was like to be more successful than we could have expected: they learned to write their characters and to pronounce their language so exactly, had so quick an apprehension, they remembered it so faithfully, and became so ready and correct in the use of it, that it would have looked like a miracle if the greater part of those whom we taught had not been men both of extraordinary capacity and of a fit age for instruction: they were, for the greatest part, chosen from among their learned men by their chief council, though some studied it of their own accord. In three years’ time they became masters of the whole language, so that they read the best of the Greek authors very exactly. I am, indeed, apt to think that they learned that language the more easily from its having some relation to their own. I believe that they were a colony of the Greeks; for though their language comes nearer the Persian, yet they retain many names, both for their towns and magistrates, that are of Greek derivation. I happened to carry a great many books with me, instead of merchandise, when I sailed my fourth voyage; for I was so far from thinking of soon coming back, that I rather thought never to have returned at all, and I gave them all my books, among which were many of Plato’s and some of Aristotle’s works: I had also Theophrastus on Plants, which, to my great regret, was imperfect; for having laid it carelessly by, while we were at sea, a monkey had seized upon it, and in many places torn out the leaves. They have no books of grammar but Lascares, for I did not carry Theodorus with me; nor have they any dictionaries but Hesichius and Dioscerides. They esteem Plutarch highly, and were much taken with Lucian’s wit and with his pleasant way of writing. As for the poets, they have Aristophanes, Homer, Euripides, and Sophocles of Aldus’s edition; and for historians, Thucydides, Herodotus, and Herodian. One of my companions, Thricius Apinatus, happened to carry with him some of Hippocrates’s works and Galen’s Microtechne, which they hold in great estimation; for though there is no nation in the world that needs physic so little as they do, yet there is not any that honours it so much; they reckon the knowledge of it one of the pleasantest and most profitable parts of philosophy, by which, as they search into the secrets of nature, so they not only find this study highly agreeable, but think that such inquiries are very acceptable to the Author of nature; and imagine, that as He, like the inventors of curious engines amongst mankind, has exposed this great machine of the universe to the view of the only creatures capable of contemplating it, so an exact and curious observer, who admires His workmanship, is much more acceptable to Him than one of the herd, who, like a beast incapable of reason, looks on this glorious scene with the eyes of a dull and unconcerned spectator. “The minds of the Utopians, when fenced with a love for learning, are very ingenious in discovering all such arts as are necessary to carry it to perfection. Two things they owe to us, the manufacture of paper and the art of printing; yet they are not so entirely indebted to us for these discoveries but that a great part of the invention was their own. We showed them some books printed by Aldus, we explained to them the way of making paper and the mystery of printing; but, as we had never practised these arts, we described them in a crude and superficial manner. They seized the hints we gave them; and though at first they could not arrive at perfection, yet by making many essays they at last found out and corrected all their errors and conquered every difficulty. Before this they only wrote on parchment, on reeds, or on the barks of trees; but now they have established the manufactures of paper and set up printing presses, so that, if they had but a good number of Greek authors, they would be quickly supplied with many copies of them: at present, though they have no more than those I have mentioned, yet, by several impressions, they have multiplied them into many thousands. If any man was to go among them that had some extraordinary talent, or that by much travelling had observed the customs of many nations (which made us to be so well received), he would receive a hearty welcome, for they are very desirous to know the state of the whole world. Very few go among them on the account of traffic; for what can a man carry to them but iron, or gold, or silver? which merchants desire rather to export than import to a strange country: and as for their exportation, they think it better to manage that themselves than to leave it to foreigners, for by this means, as they understand the state of the neighbouring countries better, so they keep up the art of navigation which cannot be maintained but by much practice. OF THEIR SLAVES, AND OF THEIR MARRIAGES “They do not make slaves of prisoners of war, except those that are taken in battle, nor of the sons of their slaves, nor of those of other nations: the slaves among them are only such as are condemned to that state of life for the commission of some crime, or, which is more common, such as their merchants find condemned to die in those parts to which they trade, whom they sometimes redeem at low rates, and in other places have them for nothing. They are kept at perpetual labour, and are always chained, but with this difference, that their own natives are treated much worse than others: they are considered as more profligate than the rest, and since they could not be restrained by the advantages of so excellent an education, are judged worthy of harder usage. Another sort of slaves are the poor of the neighbouring countries, who offer of their own accord to come and serve them: they treat these better, and use them in all other respects as well as their own countrymen, except their imposing more labour upon them, which is no hard task to those that have been accustomed to it; and if any of these have a mind to go back to their own country, which, indeed, falls out but seldom, as they do not force them to stay, so they do not send them away empty-handed. “I have already told you with what care they look after their sick, so that nothing is left undone that can contribute either to their ease or health; and for those who are taken with fixed and incurable diseases, they use all possible ways to cherish them and to make their lives as comfortable as possible. They visit them often and take great pains to make their time pass off easily; but when any is taken with a torturing and lingering pain, so that there is no hope either of recovery or ease, the priests and magistrates come and exhort them, that, since they are now unable to go on with the business of life, are become a burden to themselves and to all about them, and they have really out-lived themselves, they should no longer nourish such a rooted distemper, but choose rather to die since they cannot live but in much misery; being assured that if they thus deliver themselves from torture, or are willing that others should do it, they shall be happy after death: since, by their acting thus, they lose none of the pleasures, but only the troubles of life, they think they behave not only reasonably but in a manner consistent with religion and piety; because they follow the advice given them by their priests, who are the expounders of the will of God. Such as are wrought on by these persuasions either starve themselves of their own accord, or take opium, and by that means die without pain. But no man is forced on this way of ending his life; and if they cannot be persuaded to it, this does not induce them to fail in their attendance and care of them: but as they believe that a voluntary death, when it is chosen upon such an authority, is very honourable, so if any man takes away his own life without the approbation of the priests and the senate, they give him none of the honours of a decent funeral, but throw his body into a ditch. “Their women are not married before eighteen nor their men before two-and-twenty, and if any of them run into forbidden embraces before marriage they are severely punished, and the privilege of marriage is denied them unless they can obtain a special warrant from the Prince. Such disorders cast a great reproach upon the master and mistress of the family in which they happen, for it is supposed that they have failed in their duty. The reason of punishing this so severely is, because they think that if they were not strictly restrained from all vagrant appetites, very few would engage in a state in which they venture the quiet of their whole lives, by being confined to one person, and are obliged to endure all the inconveniences with which it is accompanied. In choosing their wives they use a method that would appear to us very absurd and ridiculous, but it is constantly observed among them, and is accounted perfectly consistent with wisdom. Before marriage some grave matron presents the bride, naked, whether she is a virgin or a widow, to the bridegroom, and after that some grave man presents the bridegroom, naked, to the bride. We, indeed, both laughed at this, and condemned it as very indecent. But they, on the other hand, wondered at the folly of the men of all other nations, who, if they are but to buy a horse of a small value, are so cautious that they will see every part of him, and take off both his saddle and all his other tackle, that there may be no secret ulcer hid under any of them, and that yet in the choice of a wife, on which depends the happiness or unhappiness of the rest of his life, a man should venture upon trust, and only see about a handsbreadth of the face, all the rest of the body being covered, under which may lie hid what may be contagious as well as loathsome. All men are not so wise as to choose a woman only for her good qualities, and even wise men consider the body as that which adds not a little to the mind, and it is certain there may be some such deformity covered with clothes as may totally alienate a man from his wife, when it is too late to part with her; if such a thing is discovered after marriage a man has no remedy but patience; they, therefore, think it is reasonable that there should be good provision made against such mischievous frauds. “There was so much the more reason for them to make a regulation in this matter, because they are the only people of those parts that neither allow of polygamy nor of divorces, except in the case of adultery or insufferable perverseness, for in these cases the Senate dissolves the marriage and grants the injured person leave to marry again; but the guilty are made infamous and are never allowed the privilege of a second marriage. None are suffered to put away their wives against their wills, from any great calamity that may have fallen on their persons, for they look on it as the height of cruelty and treachery to abandon either of the married persons when they need most the tender care of their consort, and that chiefly in the case of old age, which, as it carries many diseases along with it, so it is a disease of itself. But it frequently falls out that when a married couple do not well agree, they, by mutual consent, separate, and find out other persons with whom they hope they may live more happily; yet this is not done without obtaining leave of the Senate, which never admits of a divorce but upon a strict inquiry made, both by the senators and their wives, into the grounds upon which it is desired, and even when they are satisfied concerning the reasons of it they go on but slowly, for they imagine that too great easiness in granting leave for new marriages would very much shake the kindness of married people. They punish severely those that defile the marriage bed; if both parties are married they are divorced, and the injured persons may marry one another, or whom they please, but the adulterer and the adulteress are condemned to slavery, yet if either of the injured persons cannot shake off the love of the married person they may live with them still in that state, but they must follow them to that labour to which the slaves are condemned, and sometimes the repentance of the condemned, together with the unshaken kindness of the innocent and injured person, has prevailed so far with the Prince that he has taken off the sentence; but those that relapse after they are once pardoned are punished with death. “Their law does not determine the punishment for other crimes, but that is left to the Senate, to temper it according to the circumstances of the fact. Husbands have power to correct their wives and parents to chastise their children, unless the fault is so great that a public punishment is thought necessary for striking terror into others. For the most part slavery is the punishment even of the greatest crimes, for as that is no less terrible to the criminals themselves than death, so they think the preserving them in a state of servitude is more for the interest of the commonwealth than killing them, since, as their labour is a greater benefit to the public than their death could be, so the sight of their misery is a more lasting terror to other men than that which would be given by their death. If their slaves rebel, and will not bear their yoke and submit to the labour that is enjoined them, they are treated as wild beasts that cannot be kept in order, neither by a prison nor by their chains, and are at last put to death. But those who bear their punishment patiently, and are so much wrought on by that pressure that lies so hard on them, that it appears they are really more troubled for the crimes they have committed than for the miseries they suffer, are not out of hope, but that, at last, either the Prince will, by his prerogative, or the people, by their intercession, restore them again to their liberty, or, at least, very much mitigate their slavery. He that tempts a married woman to adultery is no less severely punished than he that commits it, for they believe that a deliberate design to commit a crime is equal to the fact itself, since its not taking effect does not make the person that miscarried in his attempt at all the less guilty. “They take great pleasure in fools, and as it is thought a base and unbecoming thing to use them ill, so they do not think it amiss for people to divert themselves with their folly; and, in their opinion, this is a great advantage to the fools themselves; for if men were so sullen and severe as not at all to please themselves with their ridiculous behaviour and foolish sayings, which is all that they can do to recommend themselves to others, it could not be expected that they would be so well provided for nor so tenderly used as they must otherwise be. If any man should reproach another for his being misshaped or imperfect in any part of his body, it would not at all be thought a reflection on the person so treated, but it would be accounted scandalous in him that had upbraided another with what he could not help. It is thought a sign of a sluggish and sordid mind not to preserve carefully one’s natural beauty; but it is likewise infamous among them to use paint. They all see that no beauty recommends a wife so much to her husband as the probity of her life and her obedience; for as some few are caught and held only by beauty, so all are attracted by the other excellences which charm all the world. “As they fright men from committing crimes by punishments, so they invite them to the love of virtue by public honours; therefore they erect statues to the memories of such worthy men as have deserved well of their country, and set these in their market-places, both to perpetuate the remembrance of their actions and to be an incitement to their posterity to follow their example. “If any man aspires to any office he is sure never to compass it. They all live easily together, for none of the magistrates are either insolent or cruel to the people; they affect rather to be called fathers, and, by being really so, they well deserve the name; and the people pay them all the marks of honour the more freely because none are exacted from them. The Prince himself has no distinction, either of garments or of a crown; but is only distinguished by a sheaf of corn carried before him; as the High Priest is also known by his being preceded by a person carrying a wax light. “They have but few laws, and such is their constitution that they need not many. They very much condemn other nations whose laws, together with the commentaries on them, swell up to so many volumes; for they think it an unreasonable thing to oblige men to obey a body of laws that are both of such a bulk, and so dark as not to be read and understood by every one of the subjects. “They have no lawyers among them, for they consider them as a sort of people whose profession it is to disguise matters and to wrest the laws, and, therefore, they think it is much better that every man should plead his own cause, and trust it to the judge, as in other places the client trusts it to a counsellor; by this means they both cut off many delays and find out truth more certainly; for after the parties have laid open the merits of the cause, without those artifices which lawyers are apt to suggest, the judge examines the whole matter, and supports the simplicity of such well-meaning persons, whom otherwise crafty men would be sure to run down; and thus they avoid those evils which appear very remarkably among all those nations that labour under a vast load of laws. Every one of them is skilled in their law; for, as it is a very short study, so the plainest meaning of which words are capable is always the sense of their laws; and they argue thus: all laws are promulgated for this end, that every man may know his duty; and, therefore, the plainest and most obvious sense of the words is that which ought to be put upon them, since a more refined exposition cannot be easily comprehended, and would only serve to make the laws become useless to the greater part of mankind, and especially to those who need most the direction of them; for it is all one not to make a law at all or to couch it in such terms that, without a quick apprehension and much study, a man cannot find out the true meaning of it, since the generality of mankind are both so dull, and so much employed in their several trades, that they have neither the leisure nor the capacity requisite for such an inquiry. “Some of their neighbours, who are masters of their own liberties (having long ago, by the assistance of the Utopians, shaken off the yoke of tyranny, and being much taken with those virtues which they observe among them), have come to desire that they would send magistrates to govern them, some changing them every year, and others every five years; at the end of their government they bring them back to Utopia, with great expressions of honour and esteem, and carry away others to govern in their stead. In this they seem to have fallen upon a very good expedient for their own happiness and safety; for since the good or ill condition of a nation depends so much upon their magistrates, they could not have made a better choice than by pitching on men whom no advantages can bias; for wealth is of no use to them, since they must so soon go back to their own country, and they, being strangers among them, are not engaged in any of their heats or animosities; and it is certain that when public judicatories are swayed, either by avarice or partial affections, there must follow a dissolution of justice, the chief sinew of society. “The Utopians call those nations that come and ask magistrates from them Neighbours; but those to whom they have been of more particular service, Friends; and as all other nations are perpetually either making leagues or breaking them, they never enter into an alliance with any state. They think leagues are useless things, and believe that if the common ties of humanity do not knit men together, the faith of promises will have no great effect; and they are the more confirmed in this by what they see among the nations round about them, who are no strict observers of leagues and treaties. We know how religiously they are observed in Europe, more particularly where the Christian doctrine is received, among whom they are sacred and inviolable! which is partly owing to the justice and goodness of the princes themselves, and partly to the reverence they pay to the popes, who, as they are the most religious observers of their own promises, so they exhort all other princes to perform theirs, and, when fainter methods do not prevail, they compel them to it by the severity of the pastoral censure, and think that it would be the most indecent thing possible if men who are particularly distinguished by the title of ‘The Faithful’ should not religiously keep the faith of their treaties. But in that new-found world, which is not more distant from us in situation than the people are in their manners and course of life, there is no trusting to leagues, even though they were made with all the pomp of the most sacred ceremonies; on the contrary, they are on this account the sooner broken, some slight pretence being found in the words of the treaties, which are purposely couched in such ambiguous terms that they can never be so strictly bound but they will always find some loophole to escape at, and thus they break both their leagues and their faith; and this is done with such impudence, that those very men who value themselves on having suggested these expedients to their princes would, with a haughty scorn, declaim against such craft; or, to speak plainer, such fraud and deceit, if they found private men make use of it in their bargains, and would readily say that they deserved to be hanged. “By this means it is that all sort of justice passes in the world for a low-spirited and vulgar virtue, far below the dignity of royal greatness—or at least there are set up two sorts of justice; the one is mean and creeps on the ground, and, therefore, becomes none but the lower part of mankind, and so must be kept in severely by many restraints, that it may not break out beyond the bounds that are set to it; the other is the peculiar virtue of princes, which, as it is more majestic than that which becomes the rabble, so takes a freer compass, and thus lawful and unlawful are only measured by pleasure and interest. These practices of the princes that lie about Utopia, who make so little account of their faith, seem to be the reasons that determine them to engage in no confederacy. Perhaps they would change their mind if they lived among us; but yet, though treaties were more religiously observed, they would still dislike the custom of making them, since the world has taken up a false maxim upon it, as if there were no tie of nature uniting one nation to another, only separated perhaps by a mountain or a river, and that all were born in a state of hostility, and so might lawfully do all that mischief to their neighbours against which there is no provision made by treaties; and that when treaties are made they do not cut off the enmity or restrain the licence of preying upon each other, if, by the unskilfulness of wording them, there are not effectual provisoes made against them; they, on the other hand, judge that no man is to be esteemed our enemy that has never injured us, and that the partnership of human nature is instead of a league; and that kindness and good nature unite men more effectually and with greater strength than any agreements whatsoever, since thereby the engagements of men’s hearts become stronger than the bond and obligation of words. OF THEIR MILITARY DISCIPLINE They detest war as a very brutal thing, and which, to the reproach of human nature, is more practised by men than by any sort of beasts. They, in opposition to the sentiments of almost all other nations, think that there is nothing more inglorious than that glory that is gained by war; and therefore, though they accustom themselves daily to military exercises and the discipline of war, in which not only their men, but their women likewise, are trained up, that, in cases of necessity, they may not be quite useless, yet they do not rashly engage in war, unless it be either to defend themselves or their friends from any unjust aggressors, or, out of good nature or in compassion, assist an oppressed nation in shaking off the yoke of tyranny. They, indeed, help their friends not only in defensive but also in offensive wars; but they never do that unless they had been consulted before the breach was made, and, being satisfied with the grounds on which they went, they had found that all demands of reparation were rejected, so that a war was unavoidable. This they think to be not only just when one neighbour makes an inroad on another by public order, and carries away the spoils, but when the merchants of one country are oppressed in another, either under pretence of some unjust laws, or by the perverse wresting of good ones. This they count a juster cause of war than the other, because those injuries are done under some colour of laws. This was the only ground of that war in which they engaged with the Nephelogetes against the Aleopolitanes, a little before our time; for the merchants of the former having, as they thought, met with great injustice among the latter, which (whether it was in itself right or wrong) drew on a terrible war, in which many of their neighbours were engaged; and their keenness in carrying it on being supported by their strength in maintaining it, it not only shook some very flourishing states and very much afflicted others, but, after a series of much mischief ended in the entire conquest and slavery of the Aleopolitanes, who, though before the war they were in all respects much superior to the Nephelogetes, were yet subdued; but, though the Utopians had assisted them in the war, yet they pretended to no share of the spoil. “But, though they so vigorously assist their friends in obtaining reparation for the injuries they have received in affairs of this nature, yet, if any such frauds were committed against themselves, provided no violence was done to their persons, they would only, on their being refused satisfaction, forbear trading with such a people. This is not because they consider their neighbours more than their own citizens; but, since their neighbours trade every one upon his own stock, fraud is a more sensible injury to them than it is to the Utopians, among whom the public, in such a case, only suffers, as they expect no thing in return for the merchandise they export but that in which they so much abound, and is of little use to them, the loss does not much affect them. They think, therefore, it would be too severe to revenge a loss attended with so little inconvenience, either to their lives or their subsistence, with the death of many persons; but if any of their people are either killed or wounded wrongfully, whether it be done by public authority, or only by private men, as soon as they hear of it they send ambassadors, and demand that the guilty persons may be delivered up to them, and if that is denied, they declare war; but if it be complied with, the offenders are condemned either to death or slavery. “They would be both troubled and ashamed of a bloody victory over their enemies; and think it would be as foolish a purchase as to buy the most valuable goods at too high a rate. And in no victory do they glory so much as in that which is gained by dexterity and good conduct without bloodshed. In such cases they appoint public triumphs, and erect trophies to the honour of those who have succeeded; for then do they reckon that a man acts suitably to his nature, when he conquers his enemy in such a way as that no other creature but a man could be capable of, and that is by the strength of his understanding. Bears, lions, boars, wolves, and dogs, and all other animals, employ their bodily force one against another, in which, as many of them are superior to men, both in strength and fierceness, so they are all subdued by his reason and understanding. “The only design of the Utopians in war is to obtain that by force which, if it had been granted them in time, would have prevented the war; or, if that cannot be done, to take so severe a revenge on those that have injured them that they may be terrified from doing the like for the time to come. By these ends they measure all their designs, and manage them so, that it is visible that the appetite of fame or vainglory does not work so much on there as a just care of their own security. “As soon as they declare war, they take care to have a great many schedules, that are sealed with their common seal, affixed in the most conspicuous places of their enemies’ country. This is carried secretly, and done in many places all at once. In these they promise great rewards to such as shall kill the prince, and lesser in proportion to such as shall kill any other persons who are those on whom, next to the prince himself, they cast the chief balance of the war. And they double the sum to him that, instead of killing the person so marked out, shall take him alive, and put him in their hands. They offer not only indemnity, but rewards, to such of the persons themselves that are so marked, if they will act against their countrymen. By this means those that are named in their schedules become not only distrustful of their fellow-citizens, but are jealous of one another, and are much distracted by fear and danger; for it has often fallen out that many of them, and even the prince himself, have been betrayed, by those in whom they have trusted most; for the rewards that the Utopians offer are so immeasurably great, that there is no sort of crime to which men cannot be drawn by them. They consider the risk that those run who undertake such services, and offer a recompense proportioned to the danger—not only a vast deal of gold, but great revenues in lands, that lie among other nations that are their friends, where they may go and enjoy them very securely; and they observe the promises they make of their kind most religiously. They very much approve of this way of corrupting their enemies, though it appears to others to be base and cruel; but they look on it as a wise course, to make an end of what would be otherwise a long war, without so much as hazarding one battle to decide it. They think it likewise an act of mercy and love to mankind to prevent the great slaughter of those that must otherwise be killed in the progress of the war, both on their own side and on that of their enemies, by the death of a few that are most guilty; and that in so doing they are kind even to their enemies, and pity them no less than their own people, as knowing that the greater part of them do not engage in the war of their own accord, but are driven into it by the passions of their prince. “If this method does not succeed with them, then they sow seeds of contention among their enemies, and animate the prince’s brother, or some of the nobility, to aspire to the crown. If they cannot disunite them by domestic broils, then they engage their neighbours against them, and make them set on foot some old pretensions, which are never wanting to princes when they have occasion for them. These they plentifully supply with money, though but very sparingly with any auxiliary troops; for they are so tender of their own people that they would not willingly exchange one of them, even with the prince of their enemies’ country. “But as they keep their gold and silver only for such an occasion, so, when that offers itself, they easily part with it; since it would be no convenience to them, though they should reserve nothing of it to themselves. For besides the wealth that they have among them at home, they have a vast treasure abroad; many nations round about them being deep in their debt: so that they hire soldiers from all places for carrying on their wars; but chiefly from the Zapolets, who live five hundred miles east of Utopia. They are a rude, wild, and fierce nation, who delight in the woods and rocks, among which they were born and bred up. They are hardened both against heat, cold, and labour, and know nothing of the delicacies of life. They do not apply themselves to agriculture, nor do they care either for their houses or their clothes: cattle is all that they look after; and for the greatest part they live either by hunting or upon rapine; and are made, as it were, only for war. They watch all opportunities of engaging in it, and very readily embrace such as are offered them. Great numbers of them will frequently go out, and offer themselves for a very low pay, to serve any that will employ them: they know none of the arts of life, but those that lead to the taking it away; they serve those that hire them, both with much courage and great fidelity; but will not engage to serve for any determined time, and agree upon such terms, that the next day they may go over to the enemies of those whom they serve if they offer them a greater encouragement; and will, perhaps, return to them the day after that upon a higher advance of their pay. There are few wars in which they make not a considerable part of the armies of both sides: so it often falls out that they who are related, and were hired in the same country, and so have lived long and familiarly together, forgetting both their relations and former friendship, kill one another upon no other consideration than that of being hired to it for a little money by princes of different interests; and such a regard have they for money that they are easily wrought on by the difference of one penny a day to change sides. So entirely does their avarice influence them; and yet this money, which they value so highly, is of little use to them; for what they purchase thus with their blood they quickly waste on luxury, which among them is but of a poor and miserable form. “This nation serves the Utopians against all people whatsoever, for they pay higher than any other. The Utopians hold this for a maxim, that as they seek out the best sort of men for their own use at home, so they make use of this worst sort of men for the consumption of war; and therefore they hire them with the offers of vast rewards to expose themselves to all sorts of hazards, out of which the greater part never returns to claim their promises; yet they make them good most religiously to such as escape. This animates them to adventure again, whenever there is occasion for it; for the Utopians are not at all troubled how many of these happen to be killed, and reckon it a service done to mankind if they could be a means to deliver the world from such a lewd and vicious sort of people, that seem to have run together, as to the drain of human nature. Next to these, they are served in their wars with those upon whose account they undertake them, and with the auxiliary troops of their other friends, to whom they join a few of their own people, and send some man of eminent and approved virtue to command in chief. There are two sent with him, who, during his command, are but private men, but the first is to succeed him if he should happen to be either killed or taken; and, in case of the like misfortune to him, the third comes in his place; and thus they provide against all events, that such accidents as may befall their generals may not endanger their armies. When they draw out troops of their own people, they take such out of every city as freely offer themselves, for none are forced to go against their wills, since they think that if any man is pressed that wants courage, he will not only act faintly, but by his cowardice dishearten others. But if an invasion is made on their country, they make use of such men, if they have good bodies, though they are not brave; and either put them aboard their ships, or place them on the walls of their towns, that being so posted, they may find no opportunity of flying away; and thus either shame, the heat of action, or the impossibility of flying, bears down their cowardice; they often make a virtue of necessity, and behave themselves well, because nothing else is left them. But as they force no man to go into any foreign war against his will, so they do not hinder those women who are willing to go along with their husbands; on the contrary, they encourage and praise them, and they stand often next their husbands in the front of the army. They also place together those who are related, parents, and children, kindred, and those that are mutually allied, near one another; that those whom nature has inspired with the greatest zeal for assisting one another may be the nearest and readiest to do it; and it is matter of great reproach if husband or wife survive one another, or if a child survives his parent, and therefore when they come to be engaged in action, they continue to fight to the last man, if their enemies stand before them: and as they use all prudent methods to avoid the endangering their own men, and if it is possible let all the action and danger fall upon the troops that they hire, so if it becomes necessary for themselves to engage, they then charge with as much courage as they avoided it before with prudence: nor is it a fierce charge at first, but it increases by degrees; and as they continue in action, they grow more obstinate, and press harder upon the enemy, insomuch that they will much sooner die than give ground; for the certainty that their children will be well looked after when they are dead frees them from all that anxiety concerning them which often masters men of great courage; and thus they are animated by a noble and invincible resolution. Their skill in military affairs increases their courage: and the wise sentiments which, according to the laws of their country, are instilled into them in their education, give additional vigour to their minds: for as they do not undervalue life so as prodigally to throw it away, they are not so indecently fond of it as to preserve it by base and unbecoming methods. In the greatest heat of action the bravest of their youth, who have devoted themselves to that service, single out the general of their enemies, set on him either openly or by ambuscade; pursue him everywhere, and when spent and wearied out, are relieved by others, who never give over the pursuit, either attacking him with close weapons when they can get near him, or with those which wound at a distance, when others get in between them. So that, unless he secures himself by flight, they seldom fail at last to kill or to take him prisoner. When they have obtained a victory, they kill as few as possible, and are much more bent on taking many prisoners than on killing those that fly before them. Nor do they ever let their men so loose in the pursuit of their enemies as not to retain an entire body still in order; so that if they have been forced to engage the last of their battalions before they could gain the day, they will rather let their enemies all escape than pursue them when their own army is in disorder; remembering well what has often fallen out to themselves, that when the main body of their army has been quite defeated and broken, when their enemies, imagining the victory obtained, have let themselves loose into an irregular pursuit, a few of them that lay for a reserve, waiting a fit opportunity, have fallen on them in their chase, and when straggling in disorder, and apprehensive of no danger, but counting the day their own, have turned the whole action, and, wresting out of their hands a victory that seemed certain and undoubted, while the vanquished have suddenly become victorious. “It is hard to tell whether they are more dexterous in laying or avoiding ambushes. They sometimes seem to fly when it is far from their thoughts; and when they intend to give ground, they do it so that it is very hard to find out their design. If they see they are ill posted, or are like to be overpowered by numbers, they then either march off in the night with great silence, or by some stratagem delude their enemies. If they retire in the day-time, they do it in such order that it is no less dangerous to fall upon them in a retreat than in a march. They fortify their camps with a deep and large trench; and throw up the earth that is dug out of it for a wall; nor do they employ only their slaves in this, but the whole army works at it, except those that are then upon the guard; so that when so many hands are at work, a great line and a strong fortification is finished in so short a time that it is scarce credible. Their armour is very strong for defence, and yet is not so heavy as to make them uneasy in their marches; they can even swim with it. All that are trained up to war practise swimming. Both horse and foot make great use of arrows, and are very expert. They have no swords, but fight with a pole-axe that is both sharp and heavy, by which they thrust or strike down an enemy. They are very good at finding out warlike machines, and disguise them so well that the enemy does not perceive them till he feels the use of them; so that he cannot prepare such a defence as would render them useless; the chief consideration had in the making them is that they may be easily carried and managed. “If they agree to a truce, they observe it so religiously that no provocations will make them break it. They never lay their enemies’ country waste nor burn their corn, and even in their marches they take all possible care that neither horse nor foot may tread it down, for they do not know but that they may have use for it themselves. They hurt no man whom they find disarmed, unless he is a spy. When a town is surrendered to them, they take it into their protection; and when they carry a place by storm they never plunder it, but put those only to the sword that oppose the rendering of it up, and make the rest of the garrison slaves, but for the other inhabitants, they do them no hurt; and if any of them had advised a surrender, they give them good rewards out of the estates of those that they condemn, and distribute the rest among their auxiliary troops, but they themselves take no share of the spoil. “When a war is ended, they do not oblige their friends to reimburse their expenses; but they obtain them of the conquered, either in money, which they keep for the next occasion, or in lands, out of which a constant revenue is to be paid them; by many increases the revenue which they draw out from several countries on such occasions is now risen to above 700,000 ducats a year. They send some of their own people to receive these revenues, who have orders to live magnificently and like princes, by which means they consume much of it upon the place; and either bring over the rest to Utopia or lend it to that nation in which it lies. This they most commonly do, unless some great occasion, which falls out but very seldom, should oblige them to call for it all. It is out of these lands that they assign rewards to such as they encourage to adventure on desperate attempts. If any prince that engages in war with them is making preparations for invading their country, they prevent him, and make his country the seat of the war; for they do not willingly suffer any war to break in upon their island; and if that should happen, they would only defend themselves by their own people; but would not call for auxiliary troops to their assistance. OF THE RELIGIONS OF THE UTOPIANS “There are several sorts of religions, not only in different parts of the island, but even in every town; some worshipping the sun, others the moon or one of the planets. Some worship such men as have been eminent in former times for virtue or glory, not only as ordinary deities, but as the supreme god. Yet the greater and wiser sort of them worship none of these, but adore one eternal, invisible, infinite, and incomprehensible Deity; as a Being that is far above all our apprehensions, that is spread over the whole universe, not by His bulk, but by His power and virtue; Him they call the Father of All, and acknowledge that the beginnings, the increase, the progress, the vicissitudes, and the end of all things come only from Him; nor do they offer divine honours to any but to Him alone. And, indeed, though they differ concerning other things, yet all agree in this: that they think there is one Supreme Being that made and governs the world, whom they call, in the language of their country, Mithras. They differ in this: that one thinks the god whom he worships is this Supreme Being, and another thinks that his idol is that god; but they all agree in one principle, that whoever is this Supreme Being, He is also that great essence to whose glory and majesty all honours are ascribed by the consent of all nations. “By degrees they fall off from the various superstitions that are among them, and grow up to that one religion that is the best and most in request; and there is no doubt to be made, but that all the others had vanished long ago, if some of those who advised them to lay aside their superstitions had not met with some unhappy accidents, which, being considered as inflicted by heaven, made them afraid that the god whose worship had like to have been abandoned had interposed and revenged themselves on those who despised their authority. “After they had heard from us an account of the doctrine, the course of life, and the miracles of Christ, and of the wonderful constancy of so many martyrs, whose blood, so willingly offered up by them, was the chief occasion of spreading their religion over a vast number of nations, it is not to be imagined how inclined they were to receive it. I shall not determine whether this proceeded from any secret inspiration of God, or whether it was because it seemed so favourable to that community of goods, which is an opinion so particular as well as so dear to them; since they perceived that Christ and His followers lived by that rule, and that it was still kept up in some communities among the sincerest sort of Christians. From whichsoever of these motives it might be, true it is, that many of them came over to our religion, and were initiated into it by baptism. But as two of our number were dead, so none of the four that survived were in priests’ orders, we, therefore, could only baptise them, so that, to our great regret, they could not partake of the other sacraments, that can only be administered by priests, but they are instructed concerning them and long most vehemently for them. They have had great disputes among themselves, whether one chosen by them to be a priest would not be thereby qualified to do all the things that belong to that character, even though he had no authority derived from the Pope, and they seemed to be resolved to choose some for that employment, but they had not done it when I left them. “Those among them that have not received our religion do not fright any from it, and use none ill that goes over to it, so that all the while I was there one man was only punished on this occasion. He being newly baptised did, notwithstanding all that we could say to the contrary, dispute publicly concerning the Christian religion, with more zeal than discretion, and with so much heat, that he not only preferred our worship to theirs, but condemned all their rites as profane, and cried out against all that adhered to them as impious and sacrilegious persons, that were to be damned to everlasting burnings. Upon his having frequently preached in this manner he was seized, and after trial he was condemned to banishment, not for having disparaged their religion, but for his inflaming the people to sedition; for this is one of their most ancient laws, that no man ought to be punished for his religion. At the first constitution of their government, Utopus having understood that before his coming among them the old inhabitants had been engaged in great quarrels concerning religion, by which they were so divided among themselves, that he found it an easy thing to conquer them, since, instead of uniting their forces against him, every different party in religion fought by themselves. After he had subdued them he made a law that every man might be of what religion he pleased, and might endeavour to draw others to it by the force of argument and by amicable and modest ways, but without bitterness against those of other opinions; but that he ought to use no other force but that of persuasion, and was neither to mix with it reproaches nor violence; and such as did otherwise were to be condemned to banishment or slavery. “This law was made by Utopus, not only for preserving the public peace, which he saw suffered much by daily contentions and irreconcilable heats, but because he thought the interest of religion itself required it. He judged it not fit to determine anything rashly; and seemed to doubt whether those different forms of religion might not all come from God, who might inspire man in a different manner, and be pleased with this variety; he therefore thought it indecent and foolish for any man to threaten and terrify another to make him believe what did not appear to him to be true. And supposing that only one religion was really true, and the rest false, he imagined that the native force of truth would at last break forth and shine bright, if supported only by the strength of argument, and attended to with a gentle and unprejudiced mind; while, on the other hand, if such debates were carried on with violence and tumults, as the most wicked are always the most obstinate, so the best and most holy religion might be choked with superstition, as corn is with briars and thorns; he therefore left men wholly to their liberty, that they might be free to believe as they should see cause; only he made a solemn and severe law against such as should so far degenerate from the dignity of human nature, as to think that our souls died with our bodies, or that the world was governed by chance, without a wise overruling Providence: for they all formerly believed that there was a state of rewards and punishments to the good and bad after this life; and they now look on those that think otherwise as scarce fit to be counted men, since they degrade so noble a being as the soul, and reckon it no better than a beast’s: thus they are far from looking on such men as fit for human society, or to be citizens of a well-ordered commonwealth; since a man of such principles must needs, as oft as he dares do it, despise all their laws and customs: for there is no doubt to be made, that a man who is afraid of nothing but the law, and apprehends nothing after death, will not scruple to break through all the laws of his country, either by fraud or force, when by this means he may satisfy his appetites. They never raise any that hold these maxims, either to honours or offices, nor employ them in any public trust, but despise them, as men of base and sordid minds. Yet they do not punish them, because they lay this down as a maxim, that a man cannot make himself believe anything he pleases; nor do they drive any to dissemble their thoughts by threatenings, so that men are not tempted to lie or disguise their opinions; which being a sort of fraud, is abhorred by the Utopians: they take care indeed to prevent their disputing in defence of these opinions, especially before the common people: but they suffer, and even encourage them to dispute concerning them in private with their priest, and other grave men, being confident that they will be cured of those mad opinions by having reason laid before them. There are many among them that run far to the other extreme, though it is neither thought an ill nor unreasonable opinion, and therefore is not at all discouraged. They think that the souls of beasts are immortal, though far inferior to the dignity of the human soul, and not capable of so great a happiness. They are almost all of them very firmly persuaded that good men will be infinitely happy in another state: so that though they are compassionate to all that are sick, yet they lament no man’s death, except they see him loath to part with life; for they look on this as a very ill presage, as if the soul, conscious to itself of guilt, and quite hopeless, was afraid to leave the body, from some secret hints of approaching misery. They think that such a man’s appearance before God cannot be acceptable to Him, who being called on, does not go out cheerfully, but is backward and unwilling, and is as it were dragged to it. They are struck with horror when they see any die in this manner, and carry them out in silence and with sorrow, and praying God that He would be merciful to the errors of the departed soul, they lay the body in the ground: but when any die cheerfully, and full of hope, they do not mourn for them, but sing hymns when they carry out their bodies, and commending their souls very earnestly to God: their whole behaviour is then rather grave than sad, they burn the body, and set up a pillar where the pile was made, with an inscription to the honour of the deceased. When they come from the funeral, they discourse of his good life, and worthy actions, but speak of nothing oftener and with more pleasure than of his serenity at the hour of death. They think such respect paid to the memory of good men is both the greatest incitement to engage others to follow their example, and the most acceptable worship that can be offered them; for they believe that though by the imperfection of human sight they are invisible to us, yet they are present among us, and hear those discourses that pass concerning themselves. They believe it inconsistent with the happiness of departed souls not to be at liberty to be where they will: and do not imagine them capable of the ingratitude of not desiring to see those friends with whom they lived on earth in the strictest bonds of love and kindness: besides, they are persuaded that good men, after death, have these affections; and all other good dispositions increased rather than diminished, and therefore conclude that they are still among the living, and observe all they say or do. From hence they engage in all their affairs with the greater confidence of success, as trusting to their protection; while this opinion of the presence of their ancestors is a restraint that prevents their engaging in ill designs. “They despise and laugh at auguries, and the other vain and superstitious ways of divination, so much observed among other nations; but have great reverence for such miracles as cannot flow from any of the powers of nature, and look on them as effects and indications of the presence of the Supreme Being, of which they say many instances have occurred among them; and that sometimes their public prayers, which upon great and dangerous occasions they have solemnly put up to God, with assured confidence of being heard, have been answered in a miraculous manner. “They think the contemplating God in His works, and the adoring Him for them, is a very acceptable piece of worship to Him. “There are many among them that upon a motive of religion neglect learning, and apply themselves to no sort of study; nor do they allow themselves any leisure time, but are perpetually employed, believing that by the good things that a man does he secures to himself that happiness that comes after death. Some of these visit the sick; others mend highways, cleanse ditches, repair bridges, or dig turf, gravel, or stone. Others fell and cleave timber, and bring wood, corn, and other necessaries, on carts, into their towns; nor do these only serve the public, but they serve even private men, more than the slaves themselves do: for if there is anywhere a rough, hard, and sordid piece of work to be done, from which many are frightened by the labour and loathsomeness of it, if not the despair of accomplishing it, they cheerfully, and of their own accord, take that to their share; and by that means, as they ease others very much, so they afflict themselves, and spend their whole life in hard labour: and yet they do not value themselves upon this, nor lessen other people’s credit to raise their own; but by their stooping to such servile employments they are so far from being despised, that they are so much the more esteemed by the whole nation. “Of these there are two sorts: some live unmarried and chaste, and abstain from eating any sort of flesh; and thus weaning themselves from all the pleasures of the present life, which they account hurtful, they pursue, even by the hardest and painfullest methods possible, that blessedness which they hope for hereafter; and the nearer they approach to it, they are the more cheerful and earnest in their endeavours after it. Another sort of them is less willing to put themselves to much toil, and therefore prefer a married state to a single one; and as they do not deny themselves the pleasure of it, so they think the begetting of children is a debt which they owe to human nature, and to their country; nor do they avoid any pleasure that does not hinder labour; and therefore eat flesh so much the more willingly, as they find that by this means they are the more able to work: the Utopians look upon these as the wiser sect, but they esteem the others as the most holy. They would indeed laugh at any man who, from the principles of reason, would prefer an unmarried state to a married, or a life of labour to an easy life: but they reverence and admire such as do it from the motives of religion. There is nothing in which they are more cautious than in giving their opinion positively concerning any sort of religion. The men that lead those severe lives are called in the language of their country Brutheskas, which answers to those we call Religious Orders. “Their priests are men of eminent piety, and therefore they are but few, for there are only thirteen in every town, one for every temple; but when they go to war, seven of these go out with their forces, and seven others are chosen to supply their room in their absence; but these enter again upon their employments when they return; and those who served in their absence, attend upon the high priest, till vacancies fall by death; for there is one set over the rest. They are chosen by the people as the other magistrates are, by suffrages given in secret, for preventing of factions: and when they are chosen, they are consecrated by the college of priests. The care of all sacred things, the worship of God, and an inspection into the manners of the people, are committed to them. It is a reproach to a man to be sent for by any of them, or for them to speak to him in secret, for that always gives some suspicion: all that is incumbent on them is only to exhort and admonish the people; for the power of correcting and punishing ill men belongs wholly to the Prince, and to the other magistrates: the severest thing that the priest does is the excluding those that are desperately wicked from joining in their worship: there is not any sort of punishment more dreaded by them than this, for as it loads them with infamy, so it fills them with secret horrors, such is their reverence to their religion; nor will their bodies be long exempted from their share of trouble; for if they do not very quickly satisfy the priests of the truth of their repentance, they are seized on by the Senate, and punished for their impiety. The education of youth belongs to the priests, yet they do not take so much care of instructing them in letters, as in forming their minds and manners aright; they use all possible methods to infuse, very early, into the tender and flexible minds of children, such opinions as are both good in themselves and will be useful to their country, for when deep impressions of these things are made at that age, they follow men through the whole course of their lives, and conduce much to preserve the peace of the government, which suffers by nothing more than by vices that rise out of ill opinions. The wives of their priests are the most extraordinary women of the whole country; sometimes the women themselves are made priests, though that falls out but seldom, nor are any but ancient widows chosen into that order. “None of the magistrates have greater honour paid them than is paid the priests; and if they should happen to commit any crime, they would not be questioned for it; their punishment is left to God, and to their own consciences; for they do not think it lawful to lay hands on any man, how wicked soever he is, that has been in a peculiar manner dedicated to God; nor do they find any great inconvenience in this, both because they have so few priests, and because these are chosen with much caution, so that it must be a very unusual thing to find one who, merely out of regard to his virtue, and for his being esteemed a singularly good man, was raised up to so great a dignity, degenerate into corruption and vice; and if such a thing should fall out, for man is a changeable creature, yet, there being few priests, and these having no authority but what rises out of the respect that is paid them, nothing of great consequence to the public can proceed from the indemnity that the priests enjoy. “They have, indeed, very few of them, lest greater numbers sharing in the same honour might make the dignity of that order, which they esteem so highly, to sink in its reputation; they also think it difficult to find out many of such an exalted pitch of goodness as to be equal to that dignity, which demands the exercise of more than ordinary virtues. Nor are the priests in greater veneration among them than they are among their neighbouring nations, as you may imagine by that which I think gives occasion for it. “When the Utopians engage in battle, the priests who accompany them to the war, apparelled in their sacred vestments, kneel down during the action (in a place not far from the field), and, lifting up their hands to heaven, pray, first for peace, and then for victory to their own side, and particularly that it may be gained without the effusion of much blood on either side; and when the victory turns to their side, they run in among their own men to restrain their fury; and if any of their enemies see them or call to them, they are preserved by that means; and such as can come so near them as to touch their garments have not only their lives, but their fortunes secured to them; it is upon this account that all the nations round about consider them so much, and treat them with such reverence, that they have been often no less able to preserve their own people from the fury of their enemies than to save their enemies from their rage; for it has sometimes fallen out, that when their armies have been in disorder and forced to fly, so that their enemies were running upon the slaughter and spoil, the priests by interposing have separated them from one another, and stopped the effusion of more blood; so that, by their mediation, a peace has been concluded on very reasonable terms; nor is there any nation about them so fierce, cruel, or barbarous, as not to look upon their persons as sacred and inviolable. “The first and the last day of the month, and of the year, is a festival; they measure their months by the course of the moon, and their years by the course of the sun: the first days are called in their language the Cynemernes, and the last the Trapemernes, which answers in our language, to the festival that begins or ends the season. “They have magnificent temples, that are not only nobly built, but extremely spacious, which is the more necessary as they have so few of them; they are a little dark within, which proceeds not from any error in the architecture, but is done with design; for their priests think that too much light dissipates the thoughts, and that a more moderate degree of it both recollects the mind and raises devotion. Though there are many different forms of religion among them, yet all these, how various soever, agree in the main point, which is the worshipping the Divine Essence; and, therefore, there is nothing to be seen or heard in their temples in which the several persuasions among them may not agree; for every sect performs those rites that are peculiar to it in their private houses, nor is there anything in the public worship that contradicts the particular ways of those different sects. There are no images for God in their temples, so that every one may represent Him to his thoughts according to the way of his religion; nor do they call this one God by any other name but that of Mithras, which is the common name by which they all express the Divine Essence, whatsoever otherwise they think it to be; nor are there any prayers among them but such as every one of them may use without prejudice to his own opinion. “They meet in their temples on the evening of the festival that concludes a season, and not having yet broke their fast, they thank God for their good success during that year or month which is then at an end; and the next day, being that which begins the new season, they meet early in their temples, to pray for the happy progress of all their affairs during that period upon which they then enter. In the festival which concludes the period, before they go to the temple, both wives and children fall on their knees before their husbands or parents and confess everything in which they have either erred or failed in their duty, and beg pardon for it. Thus all little discontents in families are removed, that they may offer up their devotions with a pure and serene mind; for they hold it a great impiety to enter upon them with disturbed thoughts, or with a consciousness of their bearing hatred or anger in their hearts to any person whatsoever; and think that they should become liable to severe punishments if they presumed to offer sacrifices without cleansing their hearts, and reconciling all their differences. In the temples the two sexes are separated, the men go to the right hand, and the women to the left; and the males and females all place themselves before the head and master or mistress of the family to which they belong, so that those who have the government of them at home may see their deportment in public. And they intermingle them so, that the younger and the older may be set by one another; for if the younger sort were all set together, they would, perhaps, trifle away that time too much in which they ought to beget in themselves that religious dread of the Supreme Being which is the greatest and almost the only incitement to virtue. “They offer up no living creature in sacrifice, nor do they think it suitable to the Divine Being, from whose bounty it is that these creatures have derived their lives, to take pleasure in their deaths, or the offering up their blood. They burn incense and other sweet odours, and have a great number of wax lights during their worship, not out of any imagination that such oblations can add anything to the divine nature (which even prayers cannot do), but as it is a harmless and pure way of worshipping God; so they think those sweet savours and lights, together with some other ceremonies, by a secret and unaccountable virtue, elevate men’s souls, and inflame them with greater energy and cheerfulness during the divine worship. “All the people appear in the temples in white garments; but the priest’s vestments are parti-coloured, and both the work and colours are wonderful. They are made of no rich materials, for they are neither embroidered nor set with precious stones; but are composed of the plumes of several birds, laid together with so much art, and so neatly, that the true value of them is far beyond the costliest materials. They say, that in the ordering and placing those plumes some dark mysteries are represented, which pass down among their priests in a secret tradition concerning them; and that they are as hieroglyphics, putting them in mind of the blessing that they have received from God, and of their duties, both to Him and to their neighbours. As soon as the priest appears in those ornaments, they all fall prostrate on the ground, with so much reverence and so deep a silence, that such as look on cannot but be struck with it, as if it were the effect of the appearance of a deity. After they have been for some time in this posture, they all stand up, upon a sign given by the priest, and sing hymns to the honour of God, some musical instruments playing all the while. These are quite of another form than those used among us; but, as many of them are much sweeter than ours, so others are made use of by us. Yet in one thing they very much exceed us: all their music, both vocal and instrumental, is adapted to imitate and express the passions, and is so happily suited to every occasion, that, whether the subject of the hymn be cheerful, or formed to soothe or trouble the mind, or to express grief or remorse, the music takes the impression of whatever is represented, affects and kindles the passions, and works the sentiments deep into the hearts of the hearers. When this is done, both priests and people offer up very solemn prayers to God in a set form of words; and these are so composed, that whatsoever is pronounced by the whole assembly may be likewise applied by every man in particular to his own condition. In these they acknowledge God to be the author and governor of the world, and the fountain of all the good they receive, and therefore offer up to him their thanksgiving; and, in particular, bless him for His goodness in ordering it so, that they are born under the happiest government in the world, and are of a religion which they hope is the truest of all others; but, if they are mistaken, and if there is either a better government, or a religion more acceptable to God, they implore His goodness to let them know it, vowing that they resolve to follow him whithersoever he leads them; but if their government is the best, and their religion the truest, then they pray that He may fortify them in it, and bring all the world both to the same rules of life, and to the same opinions concerning Himself, unless, according to the unsearchableness of His mind, He is pleased with a variety of religions. Then they pray that God may give them an easy passage at last to Himself, not presuming to set limits to Him, how early or late it should be; but, if it may be wished for without derogating from His supreme authority, they desire to be quickly delivered, and to be taken to Himself, though by the most terrible kind of death, rather than to be detained long from seeing Him by the most prosperous course of life. When this prayer is ended, they all fall down again upon the ground; and, after a little while, they rise up, go home to dinner, and spend the rest of the day in diversion or military exercises. “Thus have I described to you, as particularly as I could, the Constitution of that commonwealth, which I do not only think the best in the world, but indeed the only commonwealth that truly deserves that name. In all other places it is visible that, while people talk of a commonwealth, every man only seeks his own wealth; but there, where no man has any property, all men zealously pursue the good of the public, and, indeed, it is no wonder to see men act so differently, for in other commonwealths every man knows that, unless he provides for himself, how flourishing soever the commonwealth may be, he must die of hunger, so that he sees the necessity of preferring his own concerns to the public; but in Utopia, where every man has a right to everything, they all know that if care is taken to keep the public stores full no private man can want anything; for among them there is no unequal distribution, so that no man is poor, none in necessity, and though no man has anything, yet they are all rich; for what can make a man so rich as to lead a serene and cheerful life, free from anxieties; neither apprehending want himself, nor vexed with the endless complaints of his wife? He is not afraid of the misery of his children, nor is he contriving how to raise a portion for his daughters; but is secure in this, that both he and his wife, his children and grand-children, to as many generations as he can fancy, will all live both plentifully and happily; since, among them, there is no less care taken of those who were once engaged in labour, but grow afterwards unable to follow it, than there is, elsewhere, of these that continue still employed. I would gladly hear any man compare the justice that is among them with that of all other nations; among whom, may I perish, if I see anything that looks either like justice or equity; for what justice is there in this: that a nobleman, a goldsmith, a banker, or any other man, that either does nothing at all, or, at best, is employed in things that are of no use to the public, should live in great luxury and splendour upon what is so ill acquired, and a mean man, a carter, a smith, or a ploughman, that works harder even than the beasts themselves, and is employed in labours so necessary, that no commonwealth could hold out a year without them, can only earn so poor a livelihood and must lead so miserable a life, that the condition of the beasts is much better than theirs? For as the beasts do not work so constantly, so they feed almost as well, and with more pleasure, and have no anxiety about what is to come, whilst these men are depressed by a barren and fruitless employment, and tormented with the apprehensions of want in their old age; since that which they get by their daily labour does but maintain them at present, and is consumed as fast as it comes in, there is no overplus left to lay up for old age. “Is not that government both unjust and ungrateful, that is so prodigal of its favours to those that are called gentlemen, or goldsmiths, or such others who are idle, or live either by flattery or by contriving the arts of vain pleasure, and, on the other hand, takes no care of those of a meaner sort, such as ploughmen, colliers, and smiths, without whom it could not subsist? But after the public has reaped all the advantage of their service, and they come to be oppressed with age, sickness, and want, all their labours and the good they have done is forgotten, and all the recompense given them is that they are left to die in great misery. The richer sort are often endeavouring to bring the hire of labourers lower, not only by their fraudulent practices, but by the laws which they procure to be made to that effect, so that though it is a thing most unjust in itself to give such small rewards to those who deserve so well of the public, yet they have given those hardships the name and colour of justice, by procuring laws to be made for regulating them. “Therefore I must say that, as I hope for mercy, I can have no other notion of all the other governments that I see or know, than that they are a conspiracy of the rich, who, on pretence of managing the public, only pursue their private ends, and devise all the ways and arts they can find out; first, that they may, without danger, preserve all that they have so ill-acquired, and then, that they may engage the poor to toil and labour for them at as low rates as possible, and oppress them as much as they please; and if they can but prevail to get these contrivances established by the show of public authority, which is considered as the representative of the whole people, then they are accounted laws; yet these wicked men, after they have, by a most insatiable covetousness, divided that among themselves with which all the rest might have been well supplied, are far from that happiness that is enjoyed among the Utopians; for the use as well as the desire of money being extinguished, much anxiety and great occasions of mischief is cut off with it, and who does not see that the frauds, thefts, robberies, quarrels, tumults, contentions, seditions, murders, treacheries, and witchcrafts, which are, indeed, rather punished than restrained by the severities of law, would all fall off, if money were not any more valued by the world? Men’s fears, solicitudes, cares, labours, and watchings would all perish in the same moment with the value of money; even poverty itself, for the relief of which money seems most necessary, would fall. But, in order to the apprehending this aright, take one instance:— “Consider any year, that has been so unfruitful that many thousands have died of hunger; and yet if, at the end of that year, a survey was made of the granaries of all the rich men that have hoarded up the corn, it would be found that there was enough among them to have prevented all that consumption of men that perished in misery; and that, if it had been distributed among them, none would have felt the terrible effects of that scarcity: so easy a thing would it be to supply all the necessities of life, if that blessed thing called money, which is pretended to be invented for procuring them was not really the only thing that obstructed their being procured! “I do not doubt but rich men are sensible of this, and that they well know how much a greater happiness it is to want nothing necessary, than to abound in many superfluities; and to be rescued out of so much misery, than to abound with so much wealth: and I cannot think but the sense of every man’s interest, added to the authority of Christ’s commands, who, as He was infinitely wise, knew what was best, and was not less good in discovering it to us, would have drawn all the world over to the laws of the Utopians, if pride, that plague of human nature, that source of so much misery, did not hinder it; for this vice does not measure happiness so much by its own conveniences, as by the miseries of others; and would not be satisfied with being thought a goddess, if none were left that were miserable, over whom she might insult. Pride thinks its own happiness shines the brighter, by comparing it with the misfortunes of other persons; that by displaying its own wealth they may feel their poverty the more sensibly. This is that infernal serpent that creeps into the breasts of mortals, and possesses them too much to be easily drawn out; and, therefore, I am glad that the Utopians have fallen upon this form of government, in which I wish that all the world could be so wise as to imitate them; for they have, indeed, laid down such a scheme and foundation of policy, that as men live happily under it, so it is like to be of great continuance; for they having rooted out of the minds of their people all the seeds, both of ambition and faction, there is no danger of any commotions at home; which alone has been the ruin of many states that seemed otherwise to be well secured; but as long as they live in peace at home, and are governed by such good laws, the envy of all their neighbouring princes, who have often, though in vain, attempted their ruin, will never be able to put their state into any commotion or disorder.” When Raphael had thus made an end of speaking, though many things occurred to me, both concerning the manners and laws of that people, that seemed very absurd, as well in their way of making war, as in their notions of religion and divine matters—together with several other particulars, but chiefly what seemed the foundation of all the rest, their living in common, without the use of money, by which all nobility, magnificence, splendour, and majesty, which, according to the common opinion, are the true ornaments of a nation, would be quite taken away—yet since I perceived that Raphael was weary, and was not sure whether he could easily bear contradiction, remembering that he had taken notice of some, who seemed to think they were bound in honour to support the credit of their own wisdom, by finding out something to censure in all other men’s inventions, besides their own, I only commended their Constitution, and the account he had given of it in general; and so, taking him by the hand, carried him to supper, and told him I would find out some other time for examining this subject more particularly, and for discoursing more copiously upon it. And, indeed, I shall be glad to embrace an opportunity of doing it. In the meanwhile, though it must be confessed that he is both a very learned man and a person who has obtained a great knowledge of the world, I cannot perfectly agree to everything he has related. However, there are many things in the commonwealth of Utopia that I rather wish, than hope, to see followed in our governments.

Laws Divine, Moral, and Martial 1612 For The Colony in Virginea Britannia. Lawes Divine, Morall and Martiall, &c. Alget qui non Ardet.Res nostrae subinde non sunt, quales quis optaret, sed quales esse possunt. Printed at London for Walter Burre. 1612. To the Right Honorable, the Lords of the Councell of Virginea. Noblest of men, though tis the fashion now Noblest to mixe with basest, for their gaine: Yet doth it fare farre otherwise with you, That scorne to turn to Chaos so againe, And follow your supreme distinction still, Till of most noble, you become divine And imitate your maker in his will, To have his truth in blackest nations shine. What had you beene, had not your Ancestors Begunne to you, that make their nobles good? And where white Christians turn in maners Mores You wash Mores white with sacred Christan bloud This wonder ye, that others nothing make Forth then (great L.L.) for your Lords Saviours sake. By him, all whose duty is tributary to your Lordships, and unto so excellent a cause. William Strachey. To the constant, mighty, and worthie friends, the Committies, Assistants unto his Majesties Councell for the Colonie in Virginea-Britannia. When I went forth upon this voyage, (Right worthy Gentlemen) true it is, I held it a service of dutie, (during the time of my unprofitable service, and purpose of stay in the Colonie, for which way else might I adde unto the least hight of so Heoricke and pious a building) to propose unto myself to be (though an unable) Remembrancer of all accidents, occurrences, and undertakings therunto, adventitiall: In most of which since the time our right famous sole Governour then, now Lieutenant Generall Sir Thomas Gates Knight, after the ensealing of his Commission hasted to our fleete in the West, there staying for him, I have both in the Bermudas, and since in Virginea beene a sufferer and an eie witnesse, and the full storie of both in due time shall consecrate unto your viewes, as unto whom by right it appertaineth, being vowed patrones of a worke, and enterprise so great, then which no object nor action (the best of bests) in these time, may carry with it the like fame, honour, or goodnesse. Howbet since many impediments, as yet must detaine such my observations in the shadow of darknesse, untill I shall be able to deliver them perfect unto your judgements why I shall provoke and challenge, I do in the meane time present a transcript of the Toparchia or State of those duties, by which their Colonie stands regulated and commaunded, that such may receive due checke, who malitiously and desperately heretofore have censured of it, and by examining of which they may be right sorie so to have defaulked from us as if we lived there lawlesse, without obedience to our Countrey, or observance of Religion to God. Nor let it afflict the patience of such full and well instructed judgments, unto whom many of these constitutions and Lawes Divine or Marshall may seeme auncient and common, since these grounds are the same constant, This document appears in the Compendium: Chapter 2 Title page of William Strachey's edition published in London in 1612 Annotation: A strict legal code imposed on the colony of Jamestown by the Virginia Company of London during a period of crisis and instability. Enforced under the leadership of Sir Thomas Dale, the laws established a harsh, military-style regime intended to restore order, discipline, and productivity among struggling settlers. The code prescribed severe punishments—including death—for offenses such as theft, desertion, blasphemy, or failure to work, while also mandating religious observance and obedience to authority. It tightly regulated daily life, reflecting the colony’s desperate need for survival following famine, disorder, and high mortality. Its purpose was to impose strict control and ensure the colony’s survival by transforming Jamestown into a disciplined, quasi-military outpost capable of sustaining itself and fulfilling the company’s expectations. Author: Sir Thomas Dale — Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger Transcript Source: https://www.virtualjamestown.org/exist/cocoon/jamestown/laws/J1056 Asterismes, and starres, which must guide all that travell in these perplexed wayes, and paths of publique affairs; & whosoever shall wander from them, shall but decline a hazardous and by-course to bring their purposes to good effect. Nor let another kind quarrell or traduce the Printing of them to be delivered in particular to officers and private Souldiers for their better instruction, especially unto a Company for the grievous, unsettled and unfurnished, since we know well how short our memories are oftentimes, and unwilling to give stoage to the better things, and such things as limit and bound mankind in their necessariest duties. For which it transcends not the reach of his understanding, who is conversant, if but as for a festivall exercise, (every privy Moone) in reading of a booke, that records and edicts for manners or civill duties, have usually beene fixed upon ingraven Tables, for the Commons daily to over-looke: a custome more especially cherished by those not many yeeres since in Magnuza who have restored (as I may say) after so great a floud and rage of abused goodnesse, all Lawes, literature and Vertue againe, which had well night perished, had not the force of piety and sacred reason remaining in the bosomes of some few, opposed itselfe against the fury of so great a calamity, of whom it is an undenyable truth, that the meanes and way whereby they reduced the generall defection, was by printing thereby so houlding uppe those involved principles, and Instructions wherein (as in a mirror, the blind and wandering judgement might survaye, what those knowledges were, which taught both how to governe, and how to obey, (the end indeed of sociable mankinds Creation) since without order and government, (the onely hendges, whereupon, not onely the safety, but the being of all states doe turne and depend) what society may possible subsist, or commutative goodnesse be practised. And thus lawes being published, every common eye may take survey of their duties, and carrying away the tenour of the same, meditate, & bethinke how safe, quiet, and comely it is to be honest, just, and civill. And indeed all the sacred powers of knowledge and wisedome are strengthened by thse two waies, either by a kind of divine nature, which his happy creation hath blessed him with, the vertue whereof comprehendeth, foreseeth and understandeth the truth and clearenesse of all things: or by instruction and tradition from others, which must improve his wants, and by experience render him perfect, awaking him in all seasons a vigilant observer of civill cautions and ordinances, an excellent reason in forcing no lesse unto the knowledge of him that will shine a starre in the firmament, where good men move, and that is, that no man doth more ill them hee that is ignorant. For the avoiding of which, and to take away the plea of I did not know in him that shall exorbitate or goe aside with any delinquencie which may be dangerous in example or execution, albeit true it is how hee is indeede the good and honest man that will be good, and to that needeth fewe other precepts. It hath appeared most necessary unto our present Ethnarches Deputy Governor Sir Thomas Dale knight Marshall, not onely to exemplifie the old Lawes of the Colony, by Sir Thomas Gates published & put in execution by our Lord Generall Laware during his time one whole yeere of being there, but by vertue of his office, to prescribe and draw new, with their due penaltyes, according unto which wee might live in the Colony justly one with another, and performe the generall service for which we first came thither, and with so great charges & expences, are now setled & maintained there. For my paines, and gathering of them, as I know they will be right welcom to such young souldiers in the Colony who are desirous to learne and performe their duties, so I assure me, that by you I shall bee encouraged to go on in the discharge of greater offices by examining and favouring my good intention in this, and in what else my poore knowledge or faithfulnesse may enable me to be a servant in so beloved and sacred a businesse. And even so committing to your still most abstract, grave and unsatisfied carefulnesse, both it and myselfe, I wish returne of seven fold into such his well inspired bosome, who hath lent his helping hand unto this new Sion. From my lodging in the Black Friers, At you best pleasures, either to returne unto the Colony, or to pray for the successe of it heere. William Strachey. Articles, Lawes, and Orders, Divine, Politique, and Martiall for the Colony in Virginea: first established by Sir Thomas Gates Knight, Lieutenant Generall, the 24. of May 1610. exemplified and approved by the Right Honourable Sir Thomas West Knight, Lord Lawair, Lord Governour and Captaine Generall the 12. of June 1610. Againe exemplified and enlarged by Sir Thomas Dale Knight, Marshall, and Deputie Governour, the 22. of June. 1611. Whereas his Majesty like himselfe a most zealous Prince hath in his owne Realmes a principall care of true Religion, and reverence to God, and hath alwaies strictly commaunded his Generals and Governours, with all his forces wheresoever, to let their waies be like his ends, for the glorie of God. And forasmuch as no good service can be performed, or warre well managed, where militarie discipline is not observed, and militarie discipline cannot be kept, where the rules or chiefe parts thereof, be not certainly set downe, and generally knowne, I have (with the advise and counsell of Sir Thomas Gates Knight, Lieutenant Generall) adhered unto the lawes divine, and orders politique, and martiall of his Lordship (the same exemplified) an addition of such others, as I have found either the necessitie of the present State of the Colonie to require, or the infancie, and weaknesse of the body thereof, as yet able to digest, and doe now publish them to all persons in the Colonie, that they may as well take knowledge of the Lawes themselves, as of the penaltie and punishment, which without partialitie shall be inflicted upon the breakers of the same. 1 First since we owe our highest and supreme duty, our greatest, and all our allegeance to him, from whom all power and authoritie is derived, and flowes as from the first, and onely fountaine, and being especiall souldiers emprest in this sacred cause, we must alone expect our successe from him, who is onely the blesser of all good attempts, the King of kings, the commaunder of commaunders, and Lord of Hosts, I do strictly commaund and charge all Captaines and Officers, of what qualitie or nature soever, whether commanders in the field, or in the towne, or townes, forts or fortresses, to have a care that the Almightie God bee duly and daily served, and that thy call upon their people to heare Sermons, as that also they diligently frequent Morning and Evening praier themselves by their owne exemplar and daily life, and dutie herein, encouraging others thereunto, and that such, who shall often and wilfully absent themselves, be duly punished according to the martiall law in that case provided. 2 That no man speake impiously or maliciously, against the holy and blessed Trinitie, or any of the three persons, that is to say, against God the Father, God the Son, and God the holy Ghost, or against the knowne Articles of the Christian faith, upon paine of death. 3 That no man blaspheme Gods holy name upon paine of death, or use unlawful oathes, taking the name of God in vaine, curse, or banne, upon paine of severe punishment for the first offence so committed, and for the second, to have a bodkin thrust through his tongue, and if he continue the blaspheming of Gods holy name, for the third time so offending, he shall be brought to a martiall court, and there receive censure of death for his offence. 4 No man shall use any traiterous words against his Majesties Person, or royall authority upon paine of death. 5 No man shall speake any word, or do any act, which may tend to the derision, or despight of Gods holy word upon paine of death: Nor shall any man unworthily demeane himselfe unto any Preacher, or Minister of the same, but generally hold them in all reverent regard, and dutiful intreatie, otherwise he the offender shall openly be whipt three times, and ask publike forgivenesse in the assembly of the congregation three several Saboth daies. 6 Everie man and woman duly twice a day upon the first Towling of the Bell shall upon the working daies repaire unto the Church, to hear divine Service upon pain of losing his or her dayes allowance for the first omission, for the second to be whipt, and for the third to be condemned to the Gallies for six Moneths. Likewise no man or woman shall dare to violate or breake the Sabboth by any gaming, publique, or private abroad, or at home, but duly sanctifie and observe the same, both himselfe and his familie, by preparing themselves at home with private prayer, that they may be the better fitted for the publique, according to the commandements of God, and the orders of our Church, as also every man and woman shall repaire in the morning to the divine service, and Sermons preached upon the Saboth day, and in the afternoon to divine service, and Catechising, upon paine for the first fault to lose their provision, and allowance for the whole weeke following, for the second to lose the said allowance, and also to be whipt, and for the third to suffer death. 7 All Preachers or Ministers within this our Colonie, or Colonies, shall in the Forts, where they are resident, after divine Service, duly preach every Sabbath day in the forenoone, and Catechise in the afternoone, and weekely say the divine service, twice every day, and preach every Wednesday, likewise every Minister where his is resident, within the same Fort, or Fortresse, Townes or Towne, shall chuse unto him, foure of the most religious and better disposed as well to informe of the abuses and neglects of the people in their duties, and service to God, as also to the due reparation, and keeping of the Church handsome, and fitted with all reverent observances thereunto belonging: likewise every Minister shall keepe a faithful and true Record, or Church Booke, of all Christenings, Marriages, and deaths of such our people, as shall happen within their Fort, or Fortresses, Townes or Towne at any time, upon the burthen of a neglectfull conscience, and upon paine of losing their Entertainement. 8 He that upon pretended malice, shall murther or take away the life of any man, shall bee punished with death. 9 No man shal commit the horrible, and detestable sins of Sodomie upon pain of death; & he or she that can be lawfully convict of Adultery shall be punished with death. No man shall ravish or force any woman, maid or Indian, or other, upon pain of death, and know ye that he or shee, that shall commit fornication, and evident proofe made thereof, for their first fault shall be whipt, for their second they shall be whipt, and for their third shall be whipt three times a weeke for one month, and aske publique forgivenesse in the Assembly of the Congregation. 10 No man shall bee found guilty of Sacriledge, which is a Trespasse as well committed in violating and abusing any sacred ministry, duty or office of the Church, irreverently, or prophanely, as by beeing a Church robber, to filch, steale or carry away any thing out of the Church appertaining thereunto, or unto any holy, and consecrated place, to the divine Service of God, which no man should doe upon paine of death: likewise he that shall rob the store of any commodities therein, of what quality soever, whether provisions of victuals, or of Arms, Trucking stuffe, Apparrell, Linnen, or Wollen, Hose or Shooes, Hats or Caps, Instruments or Tooles of Steeles, Iron, &c. or shall rob from his fellow souldier, or neighbour, any thing that is his, victuals, apparell, household stuffe, toole, or what necessary else soever, by water or land, out of boate, house, or knapsack, shall bee punished with death. 11 Hee that shall take an oath untruly, or beare false witnesse in any cause, or against any man whatsoever, shall be punished with death. 12 No manner of person whatsoever, shall dare to detract, slaunder, calumniate, or utter unseemely, and unfitting speeches, either against his Majesties Honourable Councell for this Colony, resident in England, or against the Committies, Assistants unto the said Councell, or against the zealous indeavors, & intentions of the whole body of Adventurers for this pious and Christian Plantation, or against any publique booke, or bookes, which by their mature advise, and grave wisedomes, shall be thought fit, to be set foorth and publisht, for the advancement of the good of this Colony, and the felicity thereof, upon paine for the first time so offending, to bee whipt three severall times, and upon his knees to acknowledge his offence and to aske forgivenesse upon the Saboth day in the assembly of the congregation, and for the second time so offending to be condemned to the Galley for three yeares, and for the third time so offending to be punished with death. 13 No manner of Person whatsoever, contrarie to the word of God (which tyes every particular and private man, for conscience sake to obedience, and duty of the Magistrate, and such as shall be placed in authoritie over them) shall detract, slaunder, calumniate, murmur, mutenie, resist, disobey, or neglect the commaundments, either of the Lord Governour, and Captaine Generall, the Lieutenant Generall, the Martiall, the Councell, or any authorised Captaine, Commaunder or publike Officer, upon paine for the first time so offending to be whipt three severall times, and upon his knees to acknowledge his offence, with asking forgivenesse upon the Saboth day in the assembly of the congregation, and for the second time so offending to be condemned to the Gally for three yeares: and for the third time so offending to be punished with death. 14 No man shall give any disgracefull words, or commit any act to the disgrace of any person in this Colonie, or any part thereof, upon paine of being tied head and feete together, upon the guard everie night for the space of one moneth, besides to bee publikely disgraced himselfe, and be made uncapable ever after to possesse any place, or execute any office in this imployment. 15 No man of what condition soever shall barter, trucke, or trade with the Indians, except he be thereunto appointed by lawful authority, upon paine of death. 16 No man shall rifle or dispoile, by force or violence, take away any thing from any Indian comming to trade, or otherwise, upon paine of death. 17 No Cape Marchant, or Provant Master, or Munition Master, or Truck Master, or keeper of any store, shall at any time imbezzell, sell, or give away any thing under his Charge to any Favorite, or his, more then unto any other, whome necessity shall require in that case to have extraordinary allowance of Provisions, nor shall they give a false accompt unto the Lord Governour, and Captaine Generall, unto the Lieuetenant Generall, unto the Marshall, or any deputed Governor, at any time having the commaund of the Colony, with intent to defraud the said Colony, upon paine of death. 18 No man shall imbezzel or take away the goods of any man that dyeth, or is imployed from the town or Fort where he dwelleth in any other occasioned remote service, for the time, upon pain of whipping three severall times, and restitution of the said goods againe, and in danger of incurring the penalty of the tenth Article, if so it may come under the construction of theft. And if any man die and make a will, his goods shall bee accordingly disposed; if he die intestate, his goods shall bee put into the store, and being valued by two sufficient praisers, his next of kinne (according to the common Lawes of England) shall from the Company, Committies, or adventurers, receive due satisfaction in monyes, according as they were praised, by which meanes the Colonie shall be the better furnished; and the goods more carefully preserved, for the right heire, and the right heire receive content for the same in England. 19 There shall no Capttain, Master, Marriner, saylor, or any else of what quality or condition soever, belonging to any Ship or Ships, at this time remaining, or which shall hereafter arrive within this our River, bargaine, buy, truck, or trade with any one member in this Colony, man, woman, or child, for any toole or instrument of iron, steel or what else, whether appertaining to Smith Carpenter, Joyner, Shipwright, or any manuall occupation, or handicraft man whatsoever, resident within our Colonie, nor shall they buy or bargaine, for any apparell, linnen, or wollen, householdstuffe, bedde, bedding, sheete towels, napkins, brasse, pewter, or such like, eyther for ready money, or provisions, nor shall they exchange their provisions, of what quality soever, whether Butter, Cheese, Bisket, meal, Oatmele, Aquavite, oyle, Bacon, any kind of Spice, or such like, for any such aforesaid instruments, or tooles, Apparell, or householdstuffe, at any time, or so long as they shall here remain, from the date of these presents upon paine of losse of their wages in England, confiscation and forfeiture of such their monies and provisions, and upon peril beside of such corporall punishment as shall be inflicted upon them by verdict and censure of a martiall Court: Nor shall any officer, souldier, or Trades man, or any else of what sort soever, members of this Colony, dare to sell any such Toole, or instruments, necessary and usefull, for the businesse of the Colonie, or trucke, sell, exchange, or give away his apparell, or household stuffe of what sort soever, unto any such Sea-man, either for money, or any such foresaid provisions, upon paine of 3 times severall whipping, for the one offender, and the other upon perill of incurring censure, whether of disgrace, or addition of such punishment, as shall bee thought fit by a Court martiall. 20 Whereas sometimes heeretofore the covetous and wide affections of some greedy and ill disposed Seamen, Saylers, and Marriners, laying hold upon the advantage of the present necessity, under which the Colony sometimes suffered, have sold unto our people, provisions of Meale, Oatmeale, Bisket, Butter, Cheese &c, at unreasonable rates, and prises unconscionable: for avoiding the like to bee now put in practise, there shall no Captain, Master, Marriner, or Saylor, or what Officer else belonging to any ship, or shippes, now within our river, or heereafter which shall arrive, shall dare to bargaine, exchange, barter, truck, trade, or sell, upon paine of death, unto any one Landman member of this present Colony, any provisions of what kind soever, above the determined valuations, and prises, set downe and proclaimed, and sent therefore unto each of your severall ships, to bee fixed uppon your Maine mast, to the intent that want of due notice, and ignorance in this case, be no excuse, or plea, for any one offender herein. 21 Sithence we are not to bee a little carefull, and our young Cattell, & Breeders may be cherished, that by the preservation, and increase of them, the Colony heere may receive in due time assured and great benefite, and the adventurers at home may be eased of so great a burthen, by sending unto us yeerely supplies of this kinde, which now heere for a while, carefully attended, may turne their supplies unto us into provisions of other qualities, when of these wee shall be able to subsist our selves, and which wee may in short time, be powerful enough to doe, if we wil according to our owne knowledge of what is good for our selves, forbeare to work into our owne wants, againe, by over hasty destroying, and devouring the stocks, apu authors of so profitable succeeding a Commodity, as increase of Cattel, Kine, Hogges, Goates, Poultrie &c. must of necessity bee granted, in every common mans judgement, to render unto us: Now know yee therefore, these promises carefully considered, that it is our will and pleasure, that every one, of what quality or condition soever hee bee, in this present Colony, to take due notice of this our Edict, whereby wee do strictly charge and command, that no man shall dare to kill, or destroy any Bull, Cow, Calfe, Mare, Horse, Colt, Goate, Swine, Cocke, Henne, Chicken, Dogge, Turkie, or any tame Cattel, or Poultry, of what condition soever; whether his owne, or appertaining to another man, without leave from the Generall, upon paine of death in the Principall, and in the accessary, burning in the Hand, and losse of his eares, and unto the concealer of the same foure and twenty houres whipping, with addition of further punishment, as shall be thought fitte by the censure, and verdict of a Martiall Court. 22 Ther shall no man or woman, Launderer or Launderesse, dare to wash any uncleane Linnen, drive bucks, or throw out the water or suds of fowle cloathes, in the open streete, within the Pallizadoes, or within forty foote of the same, nor rench, and make cleane, any kettle, pot, or pan, or such like vessell within twenty foote of the olde well, or new Pumpe: nor shall any one aforesaid, within lesse than a quarter of one mile from the Pallizadoes, dare to doe the necessities of nature, since by thse unmanly, slothfull, and loathsome immodesties, the whole Fort may bee choaked, and poisoned with ill aires, and so corrupt (as in all reason cannot but much infect the same) and this shall they take notice of, and avoide, upon paine of whipping and further punishment, as shall be thought meete, by the censure of a martiall Court. 23 No man shall imbezzell, lose, or willingly breake, or fraudulently make away, either Spade, Shovell, Hatchet, Axe, Mattocke, or other toole or instrument uppon paine of whipping. 24 Any man that hath any edge toole, either of his owne, or which hath heeretofore beene belonging to the store, see that he bring it instantly to the storehouse, where he shall receive it againe by a particular note, both of the toole, and of his name taken, that such a toole unto him appertaineth, at whose hands, upon any necessary occasion, the said toole may be required, and this shall he do, upon paine of severe punishment. 25 Every man shall have an especiall and due care, to keepe his house sweete and cleane, as also so much of the streete, as lieth before his door, and especially he shall so provide, and set his bedstead whereon he lieth, that it may stand three foote at least from the ground, as he will answere the contrarie at a martiall Court. 26 Every tradsman in their severall occupation, trade and function, shall duly and daily attend his worke upon his said trade or occupation, upon perill for his first fault, and negligence therin, to have his entertainment checkt for one moneth, for his second fault three moneth, for his third one yeare, and if he continue still unfaithfull and negligent therein, to be condemned to the Gally for three yeare. 27 All overseers of workemen, shall be carefull in seeing that performed, which is given them in charge, upon paine of such punishment as shall be inflicted upon him by a martiall Court. 28 No souldier or tradesman, but shall be readie, both in the morning, & in the afternoone, upon the beating of the Drum, to goe out unto his worke, nor shall hee return home, or from his worke, before the Drum beate againe, and the officer appointed for that businesse, bring him of, upon perill for the first fault to lie upon the Guard head and heeles together all night, for the second time so faulting to be whipt, and for the third time so offending to be condemned to the Gallies for a yeare. 29 No man or woman, (upon paine of death) shall runne away from the Colonie, to Powhathan, or any savage Weroance else whatsoever. 30 He that shall conspire any thing against the person of the Lord Governour, and Captaine Generall, against the Lieutenant Generall, or against the Marshall, or against any publike service commaunded by them, for the dignitie, and advancement of the good of the Colony, shall be punished with death: and he that shall have knowledge of any such pretended act of disloyalty of treason, and shall not reveale the same unto his Captaine, or unto the Governour of that fort or towne wherein he is, within the space of one houre, shall for the concealing of the same after that time, be not onely held an accessory, but alike culpalbe as the principall traitor or conspirer, and for the same likewise he shall suffer death. 31 What man or woman soever, shall rob any garden, publike or private, being set to weed the same, or wilfully pluck up therin any roote, herbe, or flower, to spoile and wast or steale the same, or robbe any vineyard, or gather up the grapes, or steale any eares of the corne growing, whether in the ground belonging to the same fort or towne where he dwelleth, or in any other, shall be punished with death. 32 Whosoever Seaman, or Landman of what qualitie, or in what place of commaund soever, shall be imployed upon any discovery, trade, or fishing voiage into any of the rivers within the precincts of our Colonie, shall for the safety of those men who are committed to his commaund, stand upon good and carefull guard, for the prevention of any treachery in the Indian, and if they touch upon any shore, they shal be no lesse circumspect, and warie, with good and carefull guard day and night, putting forth good Centinell, and observing the orders and discipline of watch and ward, and when they have finished the discovery, trade, or fishing, they shall make hast with all speed, with such Barke or Barkes, Pinisse, Gallie, Ship. &c. as they shall have the commaund of, for the same purpose, to James towne againe, not presuming to goe beyond their commission, or to carry any such Barke or Barkes, Gally, Pinnice, Ship. &c. for England or any other countrey in the actuall possession of any Christian Prince, upon perill to be held an enemie to this plantation, and traitor thereunto, and accordingly to lie liable unto such censure of punishment (if they arrive in England) as shall be thought fit by the Right Honourable Lords, his Majesties Councell for this Colonie, and if it shall so happen, that he or they shall be prevented, and brought backe hither againe into the Colonie, their trecherous flight to be punished with death. 33 There is not one man nor woman in this Colonie now present, or hereafter to arrive, but shall give up an account of his and their faith, and religion, and repaire unto the Minister, that by his conference with them, hee may understand, and gather, whether heretofore they have beene sufficiently instructed, and catechised in the principles and grounds of Religion, whose weakenesse and ignorance herein, the Minister finding, and advising them in all love and charitie, to repaire often unto him, to receive therin a greater measure of knowledge, if they shal refuse so to repaire unto him, and he the Minister give notice thereof unto the Governour, or that chiefe officer of that towne or fort, wherein he or she, the parties so offending shall remaine, the Governour shall cause the offender for his first time of refusall to be whipt, for the second time to be whipt twice, and to acknowledge his fault upon the Saboth day, in the assembly of the congregation, and for the third time to be whipt every day until he hath made the same acknowledgement, and asked forgivenesse for the same, and shall repaire unto the Minster, to be further instructed as aforesaid: and upon the Saboth when the Minister shall catechise, and of him demaund any question concerning his faith and knowledge, he shall not refuse to make answere upon the same perill. 34 What man or woman soever, Laundrer or Laundresse appointed to wash the foule linnen of any one labourer or souldier, or any one else as it is their duties so to doe, performing little, or no other service for their allowance out of the store, and daily provisions, and supply of other necessaries, unto the Colonie, and shall from the said labourer or souldier, or any one else, of what qualitie whatsoever, either take any thing for washing, or withhold or steale from him any such linnen committed to her charge to wash, or change the same willingly and wittingly, with purpose to give him worse, old and torne linnen for his good, and proofe shall be made thereof, she shall be whipped for the same, and lie in prision till she make restitution of such linnen, withheld or changed. 35 No Captaine, Master, or Mariner, of what condition soever, shall depart or carry out of our river, any Ship, Barke, Gally, Pinnace &c. Roaders belonging to the Colonie, either now therein, or hither arriving, without leave and commission from the Generall or chiefe Commaunder of the Colonie upon paine of death. 36 No man or woman whatsoever, members of this Colonie shall sell or give unto any Captaine, Marriner, Master, or Sailer, &c. any commoditie of this countrey, of what quality soever, to be transported out of the Colonie, for his or their owne private uses, upon paine of death. 37 If any souldier indebted, shall refuse to pay his debts unto his creditor, his creditor shall informe his Captaine, if the Captaine cannot agree the same, the creditor shall informe the Marshals civill & principall officer, who shall preferre for the creditor a bill of complaint at the Marshals Court, where the creditor shal have Justice. All such Bakers as are appointed to bake bread, or what else, either for the store to be given out in generall, or for any one in particular, shall not steale nor imbezzell, loose, or defraud any man of his due and proper weight and measure, nor use any dishonest and deceitfull tricke to make the bread weigh heavier, or make it coarser upon purpose to keepe backe any part or measure of the flower or meale committed unto him, nor aske, take, or detaine any one loafe more or lesse for his hire or paines for so baking, since whilst he who delivered unto him such meale or flower, being to attend the businesse of the Colonie, such baker or bakers are imposed upon no other service or duties, but onely so to bake for such as do worke, and this shall hee take notice of, upon paine for the first time offending herein of losing his eares, and for the second time to be condemned a yeare to the Gallies, and for the third time offending, to be condemned to the Gallies for three yeares. All such cookes as are appointed to seeth, bake or dresse any manner of way, flesh, fish, or what else, of what kind soever, either for the generall company, or for any private man, shall not make lesse, or cut away any part or parcel of such flesh, fish, &c. Nor detaine or demaund any part or parcell, as allowance or hire for his so dressing the same, since as aforesaid of the baker, hee or they such Cooke or Cookes, exempted from other publike works abroad, are to attend such seething and dressing of such publike flesh, fish, or other provisions of what kinde soever, as their service and duties expected from them by the Colony, and this shall they take notice of, upon paine for the first time offending herein, of losing his eares, and for the second time to be condemned a yeare to the Gallies: and for the third time offending to be condemned to the Gallies for three yeares. All fishermen, dressers of Sturgeon or such like appointed to fish, or to cure the said Sturgeon for the use of the Colonie, shall give a just and true account of all such fish as they shall take by day or night, of what kinde soever, the same to bring unto the Governour: As also of all such kegges of Sturgeon or Caviare as they shall prepare and cure upon perill for the first time offending heerein, of loosing his eares, and for the second time to be condemned a yeare to the Gallies, and for the third time offending, to be condemned to the Gallies for three yeares. Every Minister or Preacher shall every Sabboth day before Catechising, read all these lawes and ordinances, publikely in the assembly of the congregation upon paine of his entertainment checkt for that weeke. The Summarie of the Marshall Lawes. Yee are now further to understand, that all these prohibited, and forefended trespasses & misdemenors, with the injoyned observance of all these thus repeated, Civill and Politique Lawes, provided, and declared against what Crimes soever, whether against the divine Majesty of God, or our soveraigne, and Liege Lord, King James, the detestable crime of Sodomie, Incest, Blasphemie, Treason against the person of the principall Generals, and Commaunders of this Colonie, and their designs, against detracting, murmuring, calumniating, or slaundering of the Right Honourable the Councell resident in England, and the Committies there, the general Councell, and chiefe Commaunders heere, as also against intemperate raylings, and base unmanly speeches, uttered in the disgrace one of another by the worser sort, by the most impudent, ignorant, and prophane, such as have neither touch of humanitie, nor of conscience amongst our selves, against Adultery, Fornication, Rape, Murther, Theft, false witnessing in any cause, and other the rest of the Civill, and Politique Lawes and Orders, necessarily appertaining, & properly belonging to the Government of the State and Condition of the present Colony, as it now subsisteth: I say ye are to know, that all these thus joyned, with their due punishments, and perils heere declared, and published, are no lesse subject to the Martiall law, then unto the Civill Magistrate, and where the Alarum, Tumult, and practise of arms, are not exercised, and where these now following Lawes, appertaining only to Martiall discipline, are diligently to be observed, and shall be severely executed. 1 No man shall willingly absent himselfe, when hee is summoned to take the oath of Supremacy, upon paine of death. 2 Every Souldier comming into this Colonie, shall willingly take his oath to serve the King and the Colonie, and to bee faithfull, and obedient to such Officers, and Commaunders, as shall be appointed over him, during the time of his aboad therein, according to the tenor of the oath in that case provided, upon paine of being committed to the Gallies. 3 If any Souldier, or what maner of man else soever, of what quality or condition soever he be, shal tacitely compact, with any Sea-man, Captain, Master, or Marriner, to convay himselfe a Board any shippe, with intent to depart from, and abandon the Colony, without a lawful Passe from the Generall, or chiefe commander of the Colonie, at that time, and shall happen to bee prevented, and taken therwith, before the shippe shall depart out of our Bay, that Captaine, Maister or mariner, that shall so receive him, shall lose his wages, and be condemned to the Gallies for three yeeres, and he the sworne servant of the Colony, Souldier, or what else, shall bee put to death with the Armes which he carrieth. 4 When any select, and appointed Forces, for the execution and performance of any intended service, shall bee drawne into the field, and shall dislodge from one place unto another, that Souldier that shall quit, or forsake his Colors, shall be punished with death. 5 That Souldier that shall march upon any service, shall keepe his Ranke, and marching, the Drum beating, and the Ensigne displayed, shall not dare to absent himselfe, or stray and straggle from his ranke, without leave granted from the cheefe Officer, upon paine of death. 6 All Captaines shall command all Gentlemen, and Common Souldiers in their Companies, to obey their Sergeants, and Corporals, in their offices, without resisting, or injuring the said Officers, upon paine, if the injurie be by words, he the offender shal aske his Officer pardon in the place of Arms, in the mead of the troopes. If by Act, he the offender shall passe the pikes. 7 That Souldier that in quarrel with an other shall call upon any of his companions, or Countrimen to assist, and abette him, shall bee put to death with such Armes as he carrieth. 8 Hee that shall begin a mutiny, shall bee put to death with such Armes as he carrieth. 9 Where a quarrell shall happen betweene two or more, no man shall betake him unto any other Arms then his sword, except he be a Captaine or Officer, upon paine of being put to death with such Armes as he shall so take. 10 If a Captaine or Officer of a Companie shall come where two or more are fighting with their drawne swords, so soone as hee shall cry Hold, and charge them to forbeare, those that have their swords in their hands so drawne, shall not dare to strike or thrust once after upon paine of passing the Pikes. 11 That Souldier that having a quarrell with an other shall gather other of his acquaintance, and Associates, to make parties, to bandie, brave second, and assist him therin, he and those braves, seconds, and assistants shall passe the Pikes. 12 He that shall way-lay any man by advantage taken, thereby cowardly to wound, or murther him shall passe the Pikes. 13 If any discontentment shall happen betweene Officers, or Souldiers, so as the one shall give words of offence, unto the other, to moove quarrell, the Officer or Souldier shall give notice thereof, to his Corporall, or superior officer, and the Corporall, or superior officer, shall commit the offender, and if it happen between Commanders, the officer offended shall give notice to the Generall, or Marshal, that he may be committed, who for the first offence shall suffer three daies imprisionment, and make the officer wronged, satisfaction before his squadron to repaire him, and satisfie him, without base submission, which may unworthy him to carry Armes. And the officer, or Souldier so offended, having satisfaction offered, shall with all willingness receive it, for which both producing it to his Officer, and accepting of satisfaction, hee shall bee reputed an officer, or souldier well governed in himselfe, and so much the fitter to be advanced in Commaund over others, and if any shall upbraid him, for not having sought a savage headlong revenge against his fellow, the officer or souldier so upbraiding, shall bee punished and make satisfaction as the first offender, and if any shal so offend the second time he shall suffer ten nights lying head and heeles together, with Irons upon the guard, and have his entertainment checkt for one month, and make satisfaction to the officer or souldier, as before remembered, and for the third offence, hee shall bee committed to the Gallies three yeeres. And if upon the first offence given by any officer or souldier, unto any other, in words as aforesaid, and the other returne injurious words againe, they shall both be taken as like offenders, and suffer like punishment, saving that he who gave the first offence, shall offer first repaire unto the offended, which he the offended shall accept, and then shal hee proceed to returne the like satisfaction unto the other, and if any shall bee obstinate in this point of repaire, and satisfaction, hee shall suffer sharpe and severe punishment, until hee shall consent unto it, the words or manner of satisfaction, to be given unto the Party, or parties offended, shall be appointed by the chiefe officer of the Company, under whom the officer, or souldier shall happen to bee, with the knowledge of the provost Marshall, provided, that if the Officer or souldier shall desire it, hee may appeale unto the cheife officer of the Garrison, or unto the Marshall, if hee shall be present to Judge of the equity of the satisfaction. And if any Lanceprizado, Corporall, or other officer, shall happen to bee present, or shall take knowledge of any such offence offered of one partie, or Quarrell sought and accepted of more parties, he shall presently cause the partie, or parties so offending to bee committed to prison, that due execution may follow, as is formerly provided. And if any Lanceprizado, Corporall, or superior officer shall neglect his or their duty, or duties heerein appointed, by not bringing the offender, and their offences, to the knowledge of the superior office, that satisfaction as aforesaid, upon the fault committed, may orderly follow, the officer so offending, shal for his first omission, negligence, and contempt, suffer ten daies Imprisonment, for the second twenty, and for the third losse of his place, and to bee put to the duty of a Centinell: And if any officer or Souldier shall be present when two or more shall draw weapons, with intent to fight, or shall fight, they shall presently doe their best to part them, and if he be an officer he shall commit them, or put them under safe guard to bee committed, and if hee bee a private souldier, hee shal give notice to the provost, marshall, or unto the first officer that he shal meet with, of the parties offending, who shall presently take order, that they may be apprehended, and committed to the Provost Martialcy, and if any officer or souldier, shall happen to see any officer or souldier so fighting, and shall not doe his best to part them, without favouring one part or other, hee shall bee punished at the discretion of the officer in chiefe, and the punishment shall extend to the taking away of life, if the cause shal so require, and if any officer, or souldier shall know of any purpose in any to fight, and shall not stay them, or discover them to such officers, as are competent to stay them, but that they goe to fight, and doe accordingly fight, that officer, or souldier shall bee taken, and shall bee punished cleerely and in the same sort, as the offence deserveth punishment betweene them fighting. 14 That officer, or Souldier that shall challenge another to fight, and hee that shall carry any Challenge, knowing it to be a Challenge, and hee that accepteth any such Challenge with a purpose and returne of answere, to meete the saide Challenger to fight with him, in this case they shall all three be held alike culpable, and lie subject to the Censure of a Martiall Court. 15 That officer who shal command the guard and let such Challengers and Challenged, passe the ports, upon his knowledge to fight, shall be casseird, and if the officer be under the degree of a Captaine, hee shall bee put to doe the duty of a Centinell. 16 No officer shall strike any souldier, for any thing, not concerning the order, and duty of service, and the publique worke of the Colony, and if any officer shall so doe, hee shall bee punished as a private man in that case, and bee held unworthy to command, so perverting the power of his place and authority. 17 No man shall be Captaine of the watch at any time, under the degree of an Ensigne. 18 He that shall take the name of God in vain or shall play at Cards or dice, upon the Court of guard, for the first time so offending, he shall bee committed to prison, there to lie in Irons for three daies, for the second time so offending, hee shall bee whipt, and for the third time so offending hee shall bee condemned to the Gallies for one yeere. 19 Hee that shall absent himselfe from the Court of Guard, uppon his watch above one houre without leave of his Corporall or superior officer, shall for his first time so offending, at the relieving of the watch bee committed to prison, and there to lye in Irons for 3. dayes, for the second time he shall be committed to prison and there lye in irons for one weeke, and have his entertainement checkt for one weeke, and for the third time, hee shall be committed to the Gallies for sixe moneths. 20 He that shall swagger, and give injurious words upon the court of guard, for the first offence, hee shall aske forgivenesse upon his knees, of the officers, and rest of the Guard, before the Captain of the watch at that time: for his second time so offending, he shall bee committed to the Gallies for one yeere. 21 He that draweth his sword upon the Court of Guard, shall suffer death by the Armes which he weareth. 22 Hee that should draw his sword in a towne of Garrison, or in a Campe shall lose his right hand. 23 That souldier that shall goe out of the Fort, Towne or Campe, other then by the ordinary guards, issues, waies, or ports, shall suffer death by the Armes which he carrieth. 24 He that shall abuse and injure the Serjant Major, the provost Marshall, either by word, or deede, if hee bee a Captaine, hee shall be casseird, if a Souldier he shall passe the pikes. 25 When the Officer or Souldier shall have committed any Crime, or have made breach of the publique Lawes, his Captaine shall commit him unto the serjeant Major, who having taken his examination, shall send him to the Provost Marshall, committed unto prison, that he may bee brought to be censured by a court Marshall. 26 No Souldier shall withstand or hinder the Provost Marshall, or his men in the execution of his office, upon paine of death. 27 All Captaines, Lieutenants, Serjeants, and Corporals, shall be diligent at convenient times, to traine and exercise their Companies, & shall have a care of their Armes, as they tender their entertainment, and upon paine of casseiring, and other corporall punishment, as shall be inflicted by vertue of a Marshall court. 28 No man shall goe twelve score from the quarter, his colours, towne or fort, without leave of his Captaine, upon paine for the first time of whipping, for the second offence to be committed to the Gallies for one yeare, and for the third offence to suffer death. 29 No man shall sell, give, imbezzell, or play away his Armes, or any part thereof, upon paine of death. 30 No common Souldier shall sell, or make away any of his apparell, which is delivered unto him by the Colonie, or out of the store, upon paine of whipping. 31 No man shall depart from his guard without leave of his officer, upon paine of punishment: and who so shall be set Centinell, shall not depart from it, untill he be relieved, nor sleepe therof upon paine of death. 32 No man shall offer any violence, or contemptuously resist or disobey his Commaunder, or doe any act, or speake any words which may tend to the breeding of any disorder or mutinie in the towne or field, or disobey any principall Officers directions upon paine of death. 33 He that shall not appeare upon the guard, or not repaire unto his colours, when the Drum upon any occasion shall beate either upon an Alarum, or to attend the businesse which shall be then commaunded, shall for his first offence lie in Irons upon the court of guard all one night, and for his second be whipt, and for the third be condemned to the Gallies for one yeare. 34 That Souldier who fighting with an enemie, shall lose his Armes, or runne away cowardly, or yeeld himselfe but upon apparant and great constraints or without having performned, first the part of a good souldier, and an honest man, shall suffer death with the armes which he carrieth. 35 That Souldier that shall let go any caution delivered upon a treatie, or any prisoner of warre by his negligence, shall be punished with death. 36 No Souldier shall let goe any prisoner of war, which he hath taken without consent of his Captaine, who shall advertise the chiefe Commaunder, upon paine of being committed to the Gallies for one yeare. 37 That Souldier which upon an assault, or taking of any towne, that shall not follow his colours, and the victory, but shall fall to pillage for his private profit, after the place taken, shall suffer death with the armes which he weareth. 38 No Souldier may speake or have any private conference with any of the salvages, without leave of his Captaine, nor his Captaine without leave of his chiefe Officer, upon paine of death. 39 When the Marshall or Governour of a towne, shall demaund a Souldier that hath made breach of these lawes, that Captaine or any other that shall conceale him, or assist him to flie away, shall bee punished with the punishment which the fact of the said fugitive deserved. 40 That Captaine that shall ipso facto, find any Souldier breaking these fore declared lawes and ordinances, of whatsoever company he shall be, he shall commit him to the Provost Marshall to be punished according as the offence committed commeth under the construction of the Martiall law in that case provided. 41 No Souldier shall unprofitably waste his pouder, shot, or match, by shooting it idly away, or at birds, beasts, or fowle, but shall give an account unto his Corporall of the same, who shall certifie his Captain upon peril for his first fault so committed, to be committed to prison, there to lie in Irons head & heeles togither eight & forty hours, for the second to the condemned sixe moneths to the Gallies, and for the third offence to be condemned two yeares to the Gallies. 42 All Captaines, Officers, and common Souldiers, or others of what condition soever, members of the Colonie, shall doe their endeavours to detect, apprehend, and bring to punishment all offenders, and shall assist the officer of that place for that purpose, as they will answere the contrary at our Marshall court. 43 All other faults, disorders, and offences that are not mentioned in these Lawes, Articles, and Orders shall be & are supplied in the instructions which I have set downe, and now shall be delivered unto every Captain, and other Officer, so farre forth as the infancie, and as yet weake condition of this our present Colony will suffer, and which shall be punished according to the generall custome, and therfore I commaund all men to looke to their charges, and him that hath no charge to looke to his owne carriage, and to keepe himselfe within the bounds of dutie, for the discipline shall be strictly kept, and the offenders against the lawes thereof severely punished. 44 Whosoever shall give offence to the Indians in that nature, which truly examined, shall found to have beene cause of breach of their league, and friendship, which with so great travaile, desire, and circumspection, we have or shall at any time obtaine from them without commission so to doe, from him that hath authoritie for the same, shall be punished with death. 45 Whosoever shall wilfully, or negligently set fire on any Indian dwelling house, or Quioquisock house or temple, or upon any storehouse, or garner of graine, or provision of what quality soever, or disvaledge, ransacke, or ill intreat the people of the countrey, where any warre, or where through any march shall be made except it be proclaimed, or without commandement of the chiefe officers shall be punished with death. 46 Whosoever shall not do his endeavour and best to regaine & recover his colours, if by hap it fall into the Indians hands shall lie subject to the censure of a Marshall court. 47 Whosoever shall faine himself sick, upon the point of fight, or when any worke is to be done or slip away from the service of either, shall be punished by death. 48 Whosoever shall raise any question, brabble or braule in the watch, or Amboscado, or in Scout, or Sentinel in any other effect, or make any noise or rumor where silence, secrecie, and covert is to be required, shall be punished with death. 49 Whosoever shall not retreat when the drum or trumpet soundeth the same, whether it be upon any sallies, made out of any town or fortres, or in skirmish, or in any incounter, shall be punished with death. 50 It now resteth, that all Captaines and supreme officers, whether governor in towne, fort or fortes, or Captaine of companies shall be advised to do their indevors joyntly, and to agree in one accord, that the true and never failing Justice, may be executed with all integrity of all these foredeclared lawes, according to the dignitie, power, and censure of the Martiall court, that by the exemplar lives, and honourable practises of all that is good & vertuous, all things may be governed in good order, as no doubt, our Right Honorable Lord Generall doth assure himselfe, that all good and upright men that have the feare of God, and his service, and their owne honour in regard, will demean themselves no lesse, then according to the dignity of their place, and charge of their command, the united powers of his Lordships knowledge, being so full of approved noblenesse, and the well knowne, and long time exercised grounds of Piety, as without question he cannot but desire rather a little number of good men, obedient & tractable, submitting to good order & discipline, then a great armie, composed of vitious prophane, quarrellous, disobedient, and ignoble persons, wherefore in his Lordships behalfe, I must intreat all Governors, Captains, Officers, and Soldiers, and neverthelesse do injoyne, ordaine and command them to carry themselves in their severall duties and charges, according to the intention of his Lordship, declared by these present Ordinances. 51 Every Captaine shall cause to be read all these lawes which concerne martiall discipline, every weeke upon his guard day, unto his company upon paine of censure of a Martiall court. Instructions of the Marshall for better inhabling of the Colonell or Governour, to the executing of his or their charges in this present Colony the 22. of June. 1611. Albeit the zeale which I beare unto this businesse that we have all now in hand touching the subsistance of this plantation, might justly take up all my spirits, and would require a large and passionate explanation of mine owne thoughts and promptnesse to gaine & possesse the hearts of all understanding, noble and religious spirits therunto, yet I must crave pardon (considering at this time many present impediments) if I wrap up any impatient desires & good affection hereunto, to all such unto whom these necessarie effects of my dutie and office shall appertaine, and must be declared in few words and advises, appertinent yet (if not essentiall, as heat to bloud, to the advancement hereof) my desire then by these is chiefly to let all the worthier & better sort to understand, how well it shall become their Honors, birthes, breedings, reputations & faithes, to do their bests, and emulously to actuate in this worke, the upmost of their cleerest powers of body and mind, where the travaile of both is so deerely valued, and highly interpreted by al good and wise men, who knowing the grounds of all goodnes, cannot but know this, how this hazardous voyage (as yet in her earely daies, reflecting onely the comfort of faire hopes) is undertaken by you, more to honour God, your country, & to profit your knowledges, then for any other ends of profit, which speakes for you (in despight of envie and calumnie) that you have mindes much in love with vertue, & are right noble and worthy instruments, to be imployed in so sacred and heroicke a cause, if it were well knowne heere, the care that is had of this plantation in England, and the travel that is taken therein, and the fire that doth not only burne in the generall body of our deare countrymen, to the encouragemet & joy one of another amongst themselves, but flames out (even to the view of strange nations, as well our neighbours, as far remote) for the furtherance & advancement of this honorable enterprise, there is no man here would thinke that this my induction, had either fashion or purpose of a complement. If the wisest man that ever spake or writ (except him that was both God & man) summed up all the reckonings of worldly felicities in these two words Laetari & benefacere, imploying a cheereful mirth with well doing (from which it cannot be severed) who hath more cause to be cheerfull, and inlie glad then you that have the comfort of so great weldoing, to which no other may be compared? for what weldoing can be greater then to be stocks & authors of a people that shall serve and glorifie God, which is the end of all our Creation, & to redeeme them from ignorance and infidelity, to the true knowledge and worship of God, whereby you are made partakers of this promise, that they which lead others into Righteousnesse, shal shine like the starres in the firmament, wherein be right well assured, that your happinesse is envied by many a right knowing, and excellent vertuous man in England, who cannot happly by reason of their imployments and callings, bee partakers of that Comfort heere, as they are by their Endeavors there at home. I shall not need to advise any Colonel, or Governor here for the present how to carry himself, for each mans owne experience here hath made him out go al use of my admonition, which my affection wold willingly else afford if there were cause. Only to discharge my service to god whose souldier I doe now professe my selfe imprest, in this so glorious and great a cause of his, my duty to my Soveraigne Liege Lord and King, & to his Highnesse my Royall Prince and Master, to my Country and the expectation of many Honorable select, painful, and Religious adventurers, Patrones of this businesse, I have conceived no whit impertinent to deliver and publish to every imminent officer in this Colony heere present, and for the direction and guiding of such who may heereafter arrive heere such and so many few in structions as may the better inable them to execute their charges, no whit doubting, but every Colonell, Governour Captaine, and other Officer may sufficiently understand his and their duties, as they are Souldiers, but happily not yet as they are, or may be Coloni, members of a Colony, which compriseth and involveth here, as well as all the industrious knowledges & practises of the husbandman & of his spade, as of the Souldier, and of his Sword, since as Monie is the paiment & wages of the one, so of the other are the fruits of the earth the tillage and manuring of the Land, and in very truth of more necessity & use shall we heere be of the latter then of the other, whether of you be comprehended the souldier himselfe or his Salarie, since more easie it is to make a Husbandman a Souldier, then a Souldier a husbandman. And indeed the necessity of our subsisting, and the very daunger which our enemies of this Country can any way put us unto (our Companies and people well commaunded) requiring the choise rather of the one then the other. These being then the ends and intents of this work, and so understood, by every supreme and chiefe commander, I refer him to these following instructions. All Governors of Town or Towns, Fort or Forts, shall be ready (when so be it they shall be summoned thereunto) to take their Oaths of Allegeance unto his Majestie & of faithfulnes unto such his majesties Lieftenant, or to his Deputy or Deputies (authorised by Commission to command over and within the precincts of this whole Colony, or Colonies, by the Tenor of which Oathes they shall solemnly attest to perform all Integrity, uprightnesse, Justice and sincere administration of the discipline and Lawes in all causes and cases, for the good of the Colony or Colonies, provided and declared, and shal indevor the best they may, with all carefulnesse to advance the dignity, and subsistance of the same, as well by giving often in charge, and taking no lesse in to their owne care, both the particular preservation of all such helpes of what condition soever (especially of cattell, and all kinde of such breeders) which mayest soones redound unto the utility, and profit of the same, as by rendring the provisions of the store, and the well husbanding of the same, be they of what severall quality soever. Nor is he meanely to be watchfull, and jealous over his own waies and carriage in all particulars, makeing profession, and practise of all vertue and goodnes for examples unto others to imitate, it being true that examples at all times prevaile farre above precepts, men beeing readier to bee led by their eies, then their eare, for seeing a lively pattern of industry, order and comlinesse, wee are all of us rather swayed unto the same by a visible object, then by hearing much more in wel instructed Arguments. Every such Governor therefore shall make it his first duty to resort dayly and usually to the divine Service, next to put in execution the Lawes duly against offenders, and withall cherish and reward the well deserving, and lastly with all worthines & circumspection, abeare himselfe unto and towards his Garrison, intreating all men as well strangers as others, with al Grace, humanity, and sweetnes of a noble nature, & manlinesse, unto all which I hartily advise, and withall injoyne every such Governor of Town or Townes, to be most indulgent, and carefull to performe, as hee will answer the contrary (beside with the losse of his own Honor with such other penalties, as the neglect of so behoofefull and necessary businesse in him, may draw upon the Colony. Further he ought to be most vigilant, circumspect, and provident for the conservation, defending, & keeping the Town or Fort, for & unto his Majesty, wherin he is placed cheefe commander, & therfore ought the more duely to strengthen his Judgement, and remember his reputation, that he fall into neither of those extreames, which the needy and prodigall are most what culpable of, the one wasting the stocks, commodities and provisions of the store, by which he must subsist, and the other by being ravenous and corrupt in himselfe become likewise enforced to tolerate the same in his inferior captaines, and so leave the poore Souldier and Labourer, miserably pilled, oppressed, and starved. Further he ought to provide that the companies be trained, and that they may bee made ready for the publique service, and for that the condition of this country doth require rather shot then other Armes, either for offence or defence, and time being pretious with us in respect of our dayly labours and works abroad belonging to our subsisting, in so much, as a small portion therof may bee affoorded and allowed unto such exercising and training, therefore it is appointed by the Marshall, that the Captains that shall have the Guard, during their time of Guard (their people as then being exempted from their dayly labour and work abroad) and their Officers shall teach every Souldier to handle his peece, first to present it comely, and souldier like, and then to give fire, by false firing, and so to fall his Piece to the right side with the nose up, & when their souldiers are hardy and expert in this, they shall set up a convenient mark fast by the court of Guard, at which every Souldier shall twice discharge his peece, at the releeving of the watch, morning and evening, and he that shall shoot neerest the Governor shall do wel to allow some addition of victuals, or pay, or some prize of incouragement, that every one may therby emulously contend to do best: Concerning the training, and cleanely exercising of their Armes, & their postures, the captains shall have order and directions for the same under the Marshals hand which they shall put in Execution during the time of their Guard. 41 It is also required that the Governor never lie out of his Towne or Fort whereby hee may the better keepe good espiall upon all officers, that they perform their several duties each one in his place especially in good observation of the watch & Guard, for the more confident securing the charge committed to him: Hee shall not suffer in his Garrison any Souldier to enter into Guard, or to bee drawne out into the field without being armed according to the Marshals order, which is, that every shot shall either be furnished with a quilted coate of Canvas, a headpeece, and a sword, or else with a light Armor, and Bases quilted, with which hee shall be furnished: and every Targiteer with his Bases to the small of his legge, and his headpeece, sword and pistoll, or Scuppet provided for that end. And likewise every Officer armed as before, with a firelocke, or Snaphaunse, headpeece, and a Target, onely the Serjeant in Garrison shall use his Halbert, and in field his Snaphaunse and Target. The Governour shal have a Principall care, that he use his Garrison to the dayly wearing of these Armors, least in the field, the souldier do finde them the more uncouth strange and troublesome. Lastly the Governor shall have a singular care to put in execution all such Orders and Instructions as shall bee delivered unto him from the Generall, or his deputie or deputies, concerning the imployments of his Garrison upon such manuall works and duties, as shall be thought necessary and convenient for the better subsisting both of the Laborer, and the Garrison committed unto him: In which is not to bee forgotten the chary conservation of powder, and munition, which will the better inhable him for the defence of his Charge. The Governor shall be better instructed by taking notice of the Lawes published, that these following abuses are provided for, impious and malicious speaking against the holy and blessed Trinity, Blasphemy, and taking Gods holy name in vain, traiterous words against his majesties person, or Royall Authority, unreverent Demeanor towards the Ministers and preachers of the same, the detestable crime of Sodomie, incest, theft, murther, false witnessing, treason against the person of the Generall, and principall Commaunders of this Colony, and their designes, against Detraction, Murmuring or slaundering of the Right Honourable, the Councell resident in England, and the Committies there, the Generall Councel and Subalternate Commanders, heere, as also against intemperate raylings & base unmanly speeches uttered in the disgrace one of another, all which the Marshall Law, as well as the Civil Magistrate is to punish, but these which concerne in particular the military Discipline, to inable your judgement for your sentence to be required, that it may with greater cleerenes, and understanding, called to censure offences in the Marshal court be delivered, I have abstracted, as followeth 1 Conference with the enemy, without leave or warrent, from the Lord Generall, Lieutenant Generall, Marshal, or chief & principal command for the present. 2 The designes, enterprises, and estate of the Colony, revealed to what enemy soever, by privy messengers, or missives, or otherwise in what sort soever. 3 The not present advertising, & giving notice unto a cheefe Commaunder, of such things as any man knoweth intended any way, or by any body, for the domage, mischiefe, or ill of the Colony, or the concealement in any one of any matter of importance, and moment for the good of the Colony. 4 Running unto the enemy, or intending, and plotting to runne albeit prevented. 5 Of any one taken prisoner by the enemy, having meanes to escape, & not returning to the Colony againe, unlesse hee have given faith. 6 Of attempting commotion, giving occasion of sedition, or Muteny in the Colony, or seducing any labourer or souldier from their duty, divine, civill, or martiall, or from their appointed works and labours. 7 Of disclosing or giving the word unto the enemy, or unto any other, where it ought not to be given. 8 Of receiving, or protecting any Indian, stranger, or suspected spie, or supposed enemy, into house, or any covert, without making it knowne to the General, or chiefe officer, and without leave from him so to do. 9 Suspitious and privily entring into the Campe Town, or Fort, or going out by any other waies and issues, then those which are accustomed, as over the Ramparts, Pallizadoes, Trenches, &c. 10 Of doing any act, or contriving any practise, which may prejudice the service of his Majesty commanded for the good of the Colony, by the Generall, or chiefe Officer. 11 Of breaking the Truce, or peace at any time concluded with the Indian, without leave & warrent expresly given, by him who hath power so to doe. 12 Of pillaging, or violently forcing from any Indian to friend, without leave. 13 Of ransacking, ransoming, or violently outraging, and dispoiling the Country people, or making war upon them, be it in body or goods, unles they be declared enemies, & warrant given to make prise of. 14 Of laying violent hands on his Captaine or other superiour officer, and generally uppon any one whatsoever, to whom duty & obedience is due, especially if it be in the executing of his Office. 15 Of him who shall see his superior, or chiefe officer in danger, and shall not doe his indeavour to rescue and relieve him with all his force, and power. 16 Of him who shall violently or hardly intreate, or kill his souldier, without good, & lawfull occasion, or that he have deserved to be so intreated, not to satisfie his owne pleasure and appetite, to punish in colour, and revenge, thereby thinking to make himselfe more redoubted, a brave man, & to be feared, remembring well, the life of a souldier, or a laborer, belongs to none to take away, but to the Lord Generall, Lieftenent General, Marshal, or their deputy or deputies. 17 Of killing any one, except it be in his own defence. 18 Of striking or fighting with an other man, having a quarell unto him, and not holding his or their hands when an officer or third party comes between and cries, Holah. 19 Of making debate, raising question, or laying his hand on his sword, and drawing it in the Court of Guard, in Ambush, or other place, where he ought to be modest, peaceable, silent, & keep himself in covert. 20 Of assaying or indevouring by bravery, & chiefly by trechery, to outrage or injury any one without a cause, in deed or in words, privately behind his backe like a slie coward, or openly to his face, like an arrogant ruffian, since words are the parents of blowes, & from quarrels infinite disorders, and mischiefes gather head whether in Campe, Towne, or Fort. 21 Of revenging a new wrong, or old injury, by any course, contrary to the peace of the camp or Colony. 22 Of running where any quarrell is a foote, and companies gathered together, furnished with other Armes then his sword. 23 Of taking away any money in bravery, wonne from another, or gotten by play otherwise without the will and consent of him, from whom he wonne it, or cheating or cosenage in play. 24 Of not repairing to the place of Armes, or Colors at the publique beating of the Drum. 25 Of wilfully firing any place, without order from the superior officer. 26 Of sacriledge or taking any goods out of Churches, or Temples, be they sacred or prophane, without license from the chiefe commander. 27 Of a souldier enrowling himself in two companies at one time. 28 Of going out of one company into another, without leave of his Captaine. 29 Of absenting himselfe from the Campe, towne, or fort, without permission of a superior officer. 30 Of him that shall receive his pay, and shall go away without speaking a word, it is a case capital, and worthy of death. 31 Of suborning souldiers the one from the other, which is an evill example, and which doth draw many inconveniences with it. 32 Of quarrels, debates, and revenge. 33 Of failing to go, or refusing to follow, where his ensigne shall march, or else where that he shall be commaunded by those who have authoritie so to commaund without enquiring the cause. 34 Of abandoning his ensigne without leave or going from the place assigned him, be it in fight, in the court of guard, Centinels, or other part, not brought of by those who placed him there, or others having the same authority. 35 Of a Souldier not doing his endevour to recover his ensigne, if the enemie have taken it. 36 Of being wanting at his watch, upon his time appointed, or of going of the Guard without leave, albeit under a colour of espie. 37 Of being found sleeping in Centinell, or of him who placed upon some Guard or watch by his negligence hath given meanes to the enemie, to do some spoile in the campe, towne, or fort, and to surprise them at unawares. 38 Of running away from the battell, conflict, or assault, &c. and of him that marcheth too slowly, or maketh delaies in any other sort. 39 Of a Souldier faining himselfe sicke, when any service is to be performed. 40 Of yeelding unto the enemy, a place which he hath in gard, without doing first his duty to the uttermost, & be not constraind unto it, according to the quality of the same, & the state whereunto he shall be drawn. 41 Of being appointed to defend a breach, trench, or passage, comitted unto his charge, & do forsake it altogether, without being forced thereunto by the enemy. 42 Of entring into any place taken by force, & pillaging the same, not following his colors, or forsaking the same, without a publike proclamation, made by the chiefe commander, that it shal be lawful so to pillage. 43 Of a souldier being found unfurnished of his armes, and of such furniture, as he is appointed to weare and ought to have, by losing them in play, or in cowardly runing away, or otherwise by his default or negligence. 44 Of a souldiers going from his quarter, town, or fort, without he have leave from a superior officer. 45 Of a souldier advancing himselfe, to go before the troopes, be it to come first to his lodging, of for any other occasion, or wandring heere and there, and stragling when he should march. 46 Of not retiring so soone as the drum or trumpet shall sound retreat, whether it be comming out of any towne, or skirmish, or any other fight. 47 Of speaking loud, or making a noise in the battel or any other place, where silence is to be used, except those who have power to command. Instructions of the Marshall for the better inhabling of the Captaine of the watch, to the executing of his charge in this present Colony. the 22. of June. 1611. Sithence, as in every living creature, there be many and sundry members, & those distinct in place and office, and all yet under the regiment of the soule, and heart, so in every army, commonwealth, or Colonie (all bodies a like compounded) it cannot be otherwise for the establishment of the same in perfect order and vertue, but that there should be many differing parts, which directed by the chiefe, should helpe to governe and administer Justice under him. And if it be thus in this civill Audit, & courts of a well setled State, much more sure as it required, to be in their beginnings, and no lesse shall we read, how that first & great commander over the Colony of the children of Israel, conducting them from Ægypt to make their plantation in the land of Promise, appointed Captains over Tribes and hundreds for the wars, and Elders to sit upon the bench (whilest unto himselfe all great causes were brought, whether martial, or civil to direct and determine it otherwise being impossible, so many and infinite occasions both being to be thought upon, and requiring judiciall audience, should ever come by one man (of how indefatigable a spirit soever) to be decided or determined. Out of this example commended unto us by the holy writ, it may wel be, that many Officers are still continued in all united societites, religious and wel governed: having then thus religion, beside prescription and reason, (which mine owne breeding hath taught me how to make the best use of) to be my guids in this new settlement, and in this strange and heathenous (contending with all the strength and powers of my mind and body, I confesse to make it like our native country, I am not a little careful to adhere & take unto mine owne endevours, as many furtherances, as may helpe to worke out with me the ends of this great imployment, which hath now possessed and furnished all states of Christendom with discourse and expectation what may be the issue thereof, & to what perfection so great, & frequent levies of monies, & annuall transportations for these foure yeares of men, and provisions, may bring this English plantation unto. And as I have constituted subalterne officers according both to the ancient & moderne order of the wars, and well approved the government & magistracy, resembling and maintaining the lawes of England, so I have taken paines to present so many & such instructions to such speciall officers (whom our necessity teacheth to establish amongst us) as may most neerest concerne them for the present, (leaving our yet I confesse many appertinent ones) which the time & our earely daies here of settlement may not yet admit of. Let me advise therfore every officer now established, to hold it a service of duty faithfully to execute such orders and instructions, as I have made it my mindes labour to expresse and draw out for him: and amongst the rest (our no little safety consisting in our watch & guard as wel by day as night, we being set down in a stranger land, savage, and trecherous, and therfore many sodaine and barbarous accidents to be feared, I have as followeth extracted the duty of the captaine of the wrath an office not meanly appertaining and necessary unto this Colony, and whose ignorance, and supine negligence may much indanger the safetie thereof. That Captaine who is Captaine of the watch, must have a speciall care of the safeguard and preservation of the Towne or Fort committed to his charge, and of the lives and goods of the soldiers, and Inhabitants, that through his defect, negligence, or Ignorance in his charge, he gives not the opportunity to the enemie to execute any of his deseignes, for the indamaging of the place or the Inhabitants: Now for the more faithfull executing of his charge, he shall doe well to take notice, that being the chiefe commander of the watch, he is to answere for all Disorders, Misrules, Riots, Tumults and what unquietnesse soever, shall happen in the Towne or Fort, and that if any of these shall fall out to be, he is to commit the parties so offending, to the Provost Marshall, making the Governour there-with acquainted, that the offender may receive such punishment, as his fault shall deserve, of what quality soever he be. At the setting of the watch, he is to repayre to the place of Arms, with his Gorget about his neck, if his company have not the Guard, there to be present with the Sargeant Major, at the drawing of the Billets for the Guards, that he may the better know the strength of his watch, and how the companies are disposed upon their Guards. He is to remaine from the setting of the watch upon the main court of Guard, or Guard appointed for him & his Rounders, that if any occassion present it selfe wherin his endeavour is to be used, hee may be the readier found to receive the chiefe Officers direction, or to reforme any abuses that shall come to his knowledge, by the misdemeanors of any to bee found in the campe, towne or fort. The Ports being shut, and the word delivered out from the Governor, he is to see that al his Gentlemen, appointed for his assistants, doe come upon their guard, where he is so to order it that by drawing of Billets according to their lots, they may execute their rounds, whither first, second; third, &c. and after the Corporalls have set our their centinells, hee is to passe from his court of guard, with three or foure of his assistants, and so to make the round about the campe, towne, or fort, from guard to guard, receiving from every Corporall the word of the guet, that their be no error, or abuse, by variety of word: after which he is to goe into the court of guard, to see that such officers, rounders, and soldiers, apoynted for that guard, bee there present upon their guard, then hee shall search the peices whither they be charged with Bullet, and that the soldiers bee furnished with poulder and match for the better defence of the guard, committed to his charge, so commanding and injoyning every officer, and soldier to execute his duty, for ther better security of the campe, towne, or fort: hee shall depart to the next guard there to doe the like, and so from guard to guard, until he hath visited all the guards and centinells of his watch, giving in charge to the officers of each guard to send forth their rounders, according to their order and directions. Further hee shall command all disordered people untimely (sitting up late in usuall assemblies, whither in privat meetings, publike tap-houses or such like places) unto their rests, for which he shall cause all fire and candles to bee put out and raked up in the towne, and such night-walkers, or unruly persons whome hee shall meete in the streets, he shall either send to their lodgings, or to the Provost Marshall, according as their misdemeanour shall require. Hee being returned to his owne court of guard shall see his rounders set forth every one according to his order of Billet, from houre to houre, and he shall informe him-selfe from these rounders which walke their rounds, two howers before day breake, whither the Captaines and their guards, and their companies bee in armes according to their duties: if they bee not hee shall walke a round towards the morning unto those Guards, and cause them to be put in armes, and shall informe the governour of those Officers neglects, that they may receive punishment: after this at the discharge of the watch, hee is with his guard to attend the Serjeant Major for the safe opening of the Ports. At the opening of the Ports, hee shall cause the people to stay that are to goe out of the Towne, a pretty distance from his guard, that they may give no incombrance to his guard, untill such time, as he hath sent out certaine Serjeants to discover forth right, and upon each side, as farre as the limmits of that fort are prescribed: At the returne of the Serjeant, hee shall cause those of the Towne to goe out leisurely and without thronging or confusion, and those without to come in, in like manner, warning the Gards to stand in armes one houre after. From thence hee shall returne to the maine Guard or place of armes to assist the Serjeant Major for the disposing of such men as are appoynted unto their severall busines and workes of the Colony for the whole day following: and likewise to see that those Captaines, who have the Guard, do put in execution the commandements of the Marshall for the trayning and disciplining of their men for the better inabling them to the service of the Colony. After which he shall do well to present himselfe before the Governour, or chiefe Officer, to understand his further commaunds. It shall bee his duty the time beeing come, when the general morning worke is to be left off, to cause the Drum to beate, and with his Guard of Rounders to assist the Captaines or Capt. to bring the laborers into the Church to heare divine service, which beeing ended hee is to returne to the maine Court of Guard, there to be present for the ordering of all matters whatsoever to happen, during his time of being Captaine of the watch, and when it shall so fall out that the Indians do at any time come in way of trade or visitation unto the Camp, towne or fort, he shal leave order with the Guards that they suffer not them to enter before such time as they have made him acquainted first of their beeing there, who shall informe the Governor to know his pleasure, which beeing understood hee shal so accomplish, at al times, appointing Guards uppon such Indians, that they do not steale any of our Tooles, Axes, Howes, Swords, Peeces or what thing else; and that none of our people talke publickely or privately with them, or that they truck or trade with them, or doe any other unorderly Act, without leave granted for the same from the Governour, or chiefe Officer, the omission of which duty, will be required at his hands. Hee must likewise take notice of all such breaches of the publique Lawes and Articles, as shall bee committed in the time of his Guard, and accordingly command such persons to the Provost Marshall, as shall bee found trespassers and breakers of the said Lawes and Articles. At the time or houres appoynted for the afternoone worke of the Colony, every labourer to his worke, and every crafts man to his occupation, Smiths, Joyners, Carpenters, Brick makers &. He shall cause the drumme to beate againe, to draw and call forth the people unto their labour, when againe the worke on all hands towards night being to bee left off, hee is to cause the drumme likewise then to beate, and as before assist the Capt: with the whole company to bring them to evening prayer. If it shall so bee that hee bee Capt. of the watch upon Sonday, it shall be his duety to see that the Saboath be no waies prophaned, by any disorders, gaming, drunkennes, intemperate meeting, or such like, in publike or private, in the streetes or within the houses. It shall be his duty halfe an hour before the divine service, morning & evening, to shut the Ports and place Centinels, and the Bell having tolled the last time, he shal search all the houses of the towne, to command every one, of what quality soever (the sick and hurt excepted) to repaire to Church, after which he shall accompany all the guards with their armes, (himselfe being last) into the Church, and lay the keyes before the Governor. If at any time any alarme be taken, he is to strengthen himselfe from the maine court of gard, taking a compenent proportion of that guard, for the securing of his person, and so to repaire to the place where the alarme was given, to enforme himselfe by what means the alarum came, causing his rounders to command all guards to be in armes for the readier execution and resistance of any perill, and conservation of their charge, and if he find the alarum to be truly given, and that the enemy approch the Fort, towne, or campe, he is to send to advertise the Governor or chiefe officers to know his directions for the assembling of guards, and ordering and drawing a force for the better prevention of the enemies designes. Lastly, when the guard is set, and another Captaine hath the watch, hee shall present himselfe before the Governor or chiefe Commander, to give account unto him of all such accidents, trespasses and neglects, as have been committed during the time of his watch. Thus to conclude, though his office amongst many others be a chief and principall office, and there be many weighty and frequent duties required in this great duty of the Captaine of the watch, yet these are the most essentiall and necessariest which I can yet advise, the neerest to concerne us. Instructions of the Marshall, for the better inabling of a Captaine, to the executing of his charge in this present Colonie. June the 22. 1611 The Captaine that will honestly and religiously discharge himselfe, and the duty entrusted to him, shall doe well to conceive of himselfe, as the maister of a family, who is at all times so to governe himselfe, as knowing assuredly that all the crimes and trespasses of his people under him shall bee exacted at his hands, not onely by his superior officer and Judge here, but by the great Judge of Judges, who leaves not unpunished the sinnes of the people, upon the Magistrates, in whose hands the power and sword of Justice and authority is committed, to restraine them from all delinquences, misdeeds and trespasses. And moreover since the Captaine is to know, that not onely the command of their civill duties is at his directions, for which he is to answer, but likewise al their actions and practises which shall breake forth in them, contrary to the divine prescriptions of Piety and Religion: their perjuries, blasphemies, prophanenesse, ryots, and what disorders soever, and generally all their breaches of both the sacred Tables, divine, and morrall, to GOD and man, and in this place most especially, where the worke assumed, hath no other ends but such as may punctually advance the glory, and propagation of the heavenly goodnesse, for which so many religious lawes and ordinances are established, and declared, all tending to the subsisting of a Colony, the first seed-plot and settlement of such a new temporary kingdom and state, as may reduce, and bring poore misbeleeving miscreants, to the knowledge of the eternall kingdom of God (therefore by him first shut up in misbeliefe, that in due time, when it should so please him, hee might againe on them shew mercy) It is carefully therefore by each Captaine to be considered, how pretious the life of a poore souldier is, but how much more pretious his soule, and that he make conscience how he expose the first to apparant ruine and mischiefe, or suffer the other to run on into headlong destruction: for the first let his wisedom, knowledge, and circumspection be ever awake, and ready how to imploy, and when and with what assurances, regards and cautions, either left to his owne power, or prescribed him by vertue of these from the Marshall, and for the other, let him first be mindfull to give witnesses in his one life, how carefull hee is to please God, who must blesse all that he undertakes, and walke himselfe in a noble example of Justice and truth; which doth not onely enforce a reputation and respect from other men, but an imitation and following of the like by other men: And unto this may the diverse and frequent changes and strictnesse of the place where we are, and the hardnesse of the many with whom he shal have to do, with other changes & difficulties be motives sufficient to perswade him, in which yet let him remember this, that it is in vaine in such place as heere, to pretend onely to bee vertuous and religious, except a man bee vertuous and religious indeed, and that vertue extend it selfe to example. But since I assure my selfe that of this advice no Capt. voluntarily imploying himselfe in such a busines as this is, and onely for the businesse sake, hath any need, I commend him to the following instructions. Every Captaine shall (if conveniently hee may) present himselfe before his Colonel or Governor, once a day, to understand his commands, the which hee must bee carefull, neither to exceed at any time, nor bee defective in their full accomplishment, albeit he shall have a shew and presentment at any time of a better advantage, since concerning his imployment hee may bee ignorant of the chiefe commaunders ends. Hee shall doe well to have a speciall eye and regard over his company, that they as well breake not the publique lawes, and Orders prescribed them, but also performe all dueties and services unto which they shall bee for the present commaunded, the which that hee may with the better aptnesse and conveniency draw them unto, it shal be his duty to have knowledg, and take notice of every one of his under Officers, offices and duties; that he may the readier reforme faults committed, eyther by negligence, or ignorance, and at the time of watch he shall send his Serjeant to the Serjeant major for the word, and if he have the watch himselfe, hee shall after the word given out, call upon his court of guard, all his company (unlesse his Centinels) and assembled together, humbly present themselves on their knees, and by faithful and zealous prayer unto almighty God commend themselves and their indeavours to his mercifull protection. After prayer, either the Captaine himselfe, or some one of his under officers, shall accompany the Centinell to the place of Guet, after which he shall search all the pieces upon the court of guard, that they be charged with bullet against the Captaine of the watch or Serjeant Major shall come to visit them, and also that they be furnished with Poulder and Match, for the discharge of their duties, during the time of their watch and ward: and it is his duty, after that the Serjeant Major or Captaine of the watch have made their round some time after midnight to walke his round, to see that his Centinels do hold good watch in their guet, & that all things be quiet and peaceable, and no disorders in the towne, and that if alarum be given, he give order to his Centinels to take it with al secrecy, without any tumult or noise made, for the exact performace whereof, he must have especiall care that he weaken not his guard, by giving leave unto any of them to be absent from the guard, but upon just and lawfull cause, & reason to be allegded: likewise he is to appoint certaine gentlemen for rounders in his company, the which are to make their said rounds from houre to houre, according to the directions of the Captaine of the watch. Further, about two houres before day, the Captaine shall put on his armes, and cause all his company to arme themselves, and so to stand in armes until one houre after the discharge of the watch in the morning, which time expired, he shall returne with his company unto the court of guard, and there, with publike praier, give unto almighty God humble thankes and praises, for his mercifull and safe protection that night, and commend himselfe and his, to his no lesse mercifull protection and safegard for the day following. And because that, during the watch, that time is appointed for the exercising of his men, and fashioning them to their armes, he shall set up a convenient marke by his court of guard, where hee shall teach his men the exercise of their armes, both for the comely and needful use thereof, as the offensive practise against their enemies, at which marke his men shall discharge their pieces twice, both morning and evening, at the discharge of the watch, having procured from the Governor some prize of incouragement due unto him that shall shoot neerest, then he shall file and ranke, & exercise his men in such military actions, actions, according unto such forme and exercise, as he shall receive from the Marshall, not forgetting by the way, that all the Courts of guard, and all the members of the watch and ward, are under the command of the Capt. of the watch. Further, the Captaine is to make it his especial duty to have religious and manly care over the poore sick soldiers or labourers under his command, for which cause he shall visite such as are sick, and provide so that they bee attended, their lodgings kept sweet, and their beds standing the same height from the ground which is provided for in the publique Injunctions, as likewise hee shall call for such things for them out of the store, or from the Phisitions or Surgeons chest, as the necessitie of their sicknesse shall require. Further he is to know, because we are not onely to exercise the duty of a Souldier, but of the husbandman, and that in time of the vacancie of our watch and ward wee are not to live idely, therfore the Captaine sending his Serjeant to the Serjeant Major for the word, shall likewise give in charge unto his Serjeant to make demand of the Serjeant Major, what service, worke, and businesse he hath in charge, from the Governor, to command him and his men to goe uppon him the next morning, after notice whereof, he shall so provide, that he and his men be ready at the relieving of the morning watch, the Drum summoning him there-unto to effect the same, for which he shall bring his men unto the place of Armes, by the maine Court of guard, where the Serjeant Major, or the Captaine of the watch, shall conduct them to the place of the subsisting businesse, providing them such labouring and needfull Instruments or tooles, as the worke for the present shall require, in which worke the Captaine himselfe shall do exceeding worthily to take paines and labour, that his souldiers seeing his industry and carefulnesse, may with more cheerfulnesse love him, and bee incouraged to the performance of the like in that businesse whereupon they are imploied, contrariwise himselfe taking his ease, and injoying them to toile and worke, may breed both a weariness of the businesse in the imployed, and give a way unto much hatred, and contempt unto himselfe. Now concerning the tooles and instruments, and the furnishing his soldiers therewith, the Captaine shall send his Serjeant to the store to make demand thereof, and leaving a note under his hand for the receipt of the same, thereby charging him-selfe to the redeliverie of them againe at the finishing of the worke. The companies thus furnished, and being assembled in the place of armes, the Serjeant Major or Captaine of the watch, upon their knees shall make their publike and faithfull prayers unto almighty God for his blessing and protection to attend them in this their business the whole day after succeeding, which being done, the Serjeant Major or Captaine of the watch shal extract out of the companies howsoever devided, and deliver unto every Maister of the worke appointed, his propper and severall Ging, to take their wayes thereunto, where the said Maisters and overseers of such workes shal be present with them to labour, and hold to labour such his Ginge untill 9. or ten of the clock, according unto the coldnesse or heat of the day, at which time he shall not suffer any of his company to be negligent, and idle, or depart from his worke, untill the Serjeant Major, of Capt. of the watch causing the drum to beat shall fetch them in unto the Church to heare divine service, which beeing effected, every man shall repaire to his lodging, to provide himselfe of his dinner, and to ease and rest himselfe untill two or three of the clocke in the after-noone, acording to the heat and coldnesse of the day, at which time the drumme beating, the Capt: shall againe draw forth his company unto the place of Armes aforesaid, to bee disposed of as before uppon their worke until five or six of the clocke, at which time the drumme beating as before, at the command of the Sarjeant major or Capt: of the watch, they shalbe by one of them brought in againe unto the Church to Evening prayer, which beeing ended they shall dismisse the company; those that are to set the watch, with charge to prepare their Armes, the others unto their rests and lodgings. All these duties the Captaine must not be ignorant nor negligent to put in execution, as being duties which will be exactly required at his hands by the Marshall, as also so to behave himselfe that he may be as well beloved as obeyed of his souldiers, that thereby they may as well know, how to obey, as he to command, and that he endevour by all meanes to conserve his men, as annoy his enemy, & painefully to execute with al diligence such matters as he is injoyned by his superiors, and to have no apprehension of feare, but of shame and infamie. Instructions of the Marshall for the better enabling of a Lieftenant to the executing of his charge in this present Colonie June the 22. 1611. When the Captaine is present he is to be assisting to his Captaine, in providing that all directions that are commanded by the Superior Officer, as well his Captain as other, be put in execution, that the company be well and orderly governed, and such duties duly and dayly performed as are injoyned by the Governor or chiefe officer: and likewise that the duties of the inferiour officers or Soldiers be no lesse diligently and sedulously discharged, for he being, as is said, a helpe, and aide unto his Captaine, is therefore accountant to and with his Captain for such omissions, disorders and neglects, as the company shall be found faulty in. He ought faithfully to informe his Capt: of all abuses, disorders, neglects, and contempts that shall happen in the company, of what nature or condition soever they bee. If his Captain shal at any time demand his opinion in any matter of consequence, he shall faithfully and sincerely deliver it, but not presume to advise his Capt: undemanded, unles it be upon extraordinary occasion of present and imminent perill. It shalbe his duty in all quarrels, braules, debates, and discontentments of his soldiers to accord and agree them without partiallity, and with the least troubling of his Cap. with the same, & if he cannot with his curtesies, and gentle interposition worke them into peaceable agreement, hee shall them acquaint his Captaine, and afterwards faithfully put in execution his Captaines directions. He ought to traine & exercise the company that they may be expert in the use of their armes when they shall be commanded to publike service. He ought likewise to see that the inferiour officers be duly obei'd the one by the other without singularity or contradiction, & the soldiers obey them all in generall, each one according to his place. By his care every Squadron shal have his armes serviceable and cleane, and at the setting of the watch that they be provided of pouder, match, and bullet, for the defence of the guard, and if the company be unfurnished to advertise his Captaine, or send his Serjeant to the munition Maister, that order may bee presently taken for the supplie thereof. Hee shall doe well, if conveniently he may, morning and evening (or at least once a day) to present him-selfe before his Captaine, to know his commands, and to informe his Captaine of the state of his Companie. It shalbe his duty to have care that the company bee ready (as is exprest in the Captaines duty) to go forth and attend the daily businesse, and publike labour appertayning to the Colonie, which shalbe commaunded by the chiefe officer, In which hee shall have a hand in executing, and an eye in over-seeing , that every one take his due paines, and not loyter, and idlely mispend the time appoynted unto the dispatch of such businesse. Hee is to have a hearty and religious care that the souldiers doe not make breach of the lawes, and duties, divine, civill, or martiall, injoyned them to observe upon so necessary reasons and strict penalties, but that he informe, correct and punish to the utmost of his authority limited, the trespassers of the same, or the omission of any duty whatsoever, with the approbation of his Captaine. Hee is not to make it his least care to over-see and take charge of the lodging and bedding of all in generall in his company, that according to publike edict the preservation of their healths be provided for, and that one point of slothfullnesse in the common soldier prevented, and met with, of lying upon or to neere the ground, which neglect in the officer hath bin the losse of many a man. For his order of command and march in the field, and quartering he shal be appoynted the manner thereof by the Marshall, when occasion of service shall so require, like-wise the order of trayning and exercising his Captaines company he shall have under the marshalls hand. Hee is amongst other his duties most carefully, like a charitable and wel instructed Christian, mercifull and compassionate, make often and daily survey of such of his company as shalbe visited with sicknesse, or wounded by any casualty of warre, gunpoulder, or other-wise, in which hee shall take such order that the lodgings or such as shalbe so sicke or hurt, be sweet and cleanely kept, them-selves attended and drest, and to the uttermost of his power to procure either from the store, or Phisition and Surgeons chest, such comforts, healps, and remedies, as may be administred and applied unto them, and to have care that they be not defrauded of those meanes and remedies which are for them delivered out of the said store or chests. And for that this officer is in the abscence of his Captaine to be called unto the Marshall Court as his deputie, for the better inhabling or his judgement, when his opinion is to be required in the censure of offences and crimes of what quality soever, which shalbe brought thither to be sentenced, I refer him to the abstract of the lawes in breefe anexed unto the duty of his Capt. Instructions of the Marshall for the better enabling of an Ensigne to the executing of his charge in this present Colonie, June the 22. 1611. It is requisite for every soldier to stand upon his credit and reputation, proposing unto himselfe that there can be no lesse equall, or to be compared with dishonour, & sure in matters of armes and their execution, what dishonour can bee greater then the losse of the ensigne, for which it ought to be committed to the charge of a right valiant, and well governed soldier, who may not leave nor loose it, but where the losse of his life shall quit him of that duty. So farre as toucheth his command, or government in the company, he is to know that he hath no command where his Captaine or Lieftenant are present, but in their absence I referre him to the duty of the Capt: which he is to execute as religiously, painfully, and circumspectly as the Captaine: he beeing answerable unto his Captaine for all defects, neglects, disorders, and contempts of duties, in his company whatsoever. In the government of his company he is to be asistant unto his superiour officers, in teaching and inabling all his inferiours, every one his perticular duty, with faire perswasion and all gentlenes, and sweetnes of command, and if any thing shall happen, either disorders or neglects of duties, it shall be fit for him to advertise his superior officers that redresse may be had, for he hath no power of himselfe in their presence to punish, correct, or do any act of executions upon his companions. When the time of exercise and training shalbe of the companie, he shall be there ready and assistant unto his superiour officer (if so be it his colours be not drawne forth) for the better furtherance of him in the so training, and disciplining of the men. Hee shall see all commands of his superior Officers put in execution, and not stand ignorantly in defence (as some have) and it is the property of the ignorant so to do, that he is tyed to no other duties, but to the carrying of his colours. For no inferior officers duty, whether Sargeant or corporalls, but he is to performe and execute (if they shall be by any disaster, defeate, or visitation of sicknesse disabled personally to discharge it themselves) being so commanded by his Superior officers, during the time of guard, yea the duty of the Centinell he is to undergoe, and from which neither the Captaine nor Lieftenant are exempted upon urgent occasion. In the hapning of any dispute, quarrell, or debate amongst the soldiers, the same being brought to his knowledge, he shall do his best to end and compound, whose authority & perswasions, if they shal not be powerfull enough to reconcile & set at one, he shal then informe his Lieftenant, or Captaine: that order with the most speed & convenience, may be taken therein. He shall hold it his duty to visit the sick or hurt in his company, and to his power of them take the same care, and make the same charitable provision for, as is injoyned both the Captaine and Lieftenant. It is his duty to command the Corporalls to bring their squadrons to his lodging, who shal conduct them to his Lieftenant, and they both conduct them to their Captaine, at the beating of the Drum, whither for any manuall labour and worke, for the Colony, or whither to bee lead unto the Church at any time to heare divine service. He is to visit the armes of the Company, and at the setting of the watch to take care, and so at all time, that they be not unserviceable, and if any want bee then of match, poulder, or bullet, or what else defect, hee is to advertise his Superior Officers, that they may then and at all other times bee supplied and amended. To bee breefe hee is an assistant to the Lieftenant in the same nature that the Lieftenant is to the Captaine, and may not by any meanes intrude into the command of the one or other, they being present. In the absence of he Captaine, and Lieftenant (when hee is then to bee Captaine of the watch) I referre him to the duty of the sayd Captayne of the watch. For his Order of march, and flying of his collours, and his carriage in the field, and upon service, he shalbee ordred and instructed by word of mouth from the Marshall, when occasion shalbe offered. Thus mutch is needfull for him to know touching his command, and his carriage to his officers and company, so far forth as hee and they are soldiers, and as the necessity of this present state and condition which we are in doth require. But concerning the publike and dayly manuall businesse which appertaine to our setling there as Planters of a Colonie, he is to make it his duty, to be a diligent not onely over-seer, but labourer, himselfe accompanying therein, and seconding the example of his Captaine, and industrious Lieutenant, that the necessary and daily taskes of such workes and husbandry (without which we cannot here keepe footing, nor possibly subsist) may be in due time accomplisht and brought to passe. Instructions of the Marshall for the better enabling of a Serjeant to the executing of his charge in this present Colonie, June the 22. 1611 That Captaine who shall dispose of a Halbert, by vertue whereof a Serjeant is knowne, ought to make choise of a man well approoved, that hath passed the inferior grades of a resolute spirit, quick apprehension, and active body, for it is a place of great paines and promptitude, and that Serjeant who will be able to execute his duty in sinceritie and uprightnesse, must not be slack to punish where it is deserved, nor over rash to abuse his authority, unbefitting an officer of such moment. This officer hath in the absence of his superior officers the command of the company, to see them doe their duties, and observe lawes and orders in all things, and punishment of them by his Halbert, or otherwise in his discretion, for defect or negligence in any part of order. This officer is to attend upon the Serjeant Major for the word upon the shutting in of the Ports, at the Governors lodging or place of armes, according as the Serjeant Major shall appoint, then he is to give the word to his Captaine, Lieftenant, and Ensigne, and unto his corporall or corporalls having the guard. Hee must see the Soldiers of his company furnished and provided with munition, as shotte, poulder, and match, at the setting of the watch. Hee is to call, or cause to bee called the Corporalls roule, to see who are absent or negligent in the discharge of their duties. Hee is to see each souldiers armes cleanly kept, and serviceable, and if default be, he is to reproove the corporall for his negligence in the over-sight of that dutie, and to punish the souldier. Hee must see the souldiers practise their armes, and therefore it is requisite that he kwow the use of all sorts of armes himselfe. If the watch be set by squadrons, he shall leade that squadron, that is to watch to the Parado, and there draw Billets for his guard, and from thence lead them to the guard. He shall see the setting out of the Centinels, and after shall have care that silence and good order be kept upon the guard, and that no man depart from the guard without the leave of him, or his corporall, and that no man be absent above one halfe houre, having a special regard that hee weaken not his guard, by giving leave unto above two at a time to be absent, least he disable himselfe in the performance of that duty of trust and charge which is committed unto him of the guard. Hee shall see that his corporall or corporals, do put his or their squadrons into armes, two houres before the relieving of the watch, who shall so abide in armes, at least one whole houre after. If the watch be set by whole companies, it is his duty to place every souldier in his order, and to see them march in ranke and file, and himselfe being eldest Serjeant to march upon the right point in the vaunt-guard: if he be the yongest he is to march upon the left point in the rere-ward, each taking care of halfe of the company, unlesse when more companies march together, they be appointed any other place by a superior officer. When the Serjeant is appointed to lead out any shot, he shall goe upon the side of the utmost ranke, and see that they take their levell, & give fier, and do all things with comlinesse and leisure, & so likewise in the retrait. A Serjeant of each company, presently after the discharge of the watch shall bee in the place of armes, or market place, to attend the Captaine of the watch to the opening of the Ports, that they may be imploied by him, for the discovery without the forts, or any ambushes or attempts of the enemy, with such guard as hee shall appoint them, the Captaine of the watch having caused all those of the towne, about, to go forth, to forbeare and stay untill the said Serjeants returne, which Serjeants are to command those that are comming in, to stay untill those in the towne are comming forth, & and then they shal discover right forth before the Port, and to both sides of the Port, so farre until the discoverers of the other forts meete where they end; the discoverers being returned, those of the towne shall be suffered to passe out leisurely, & after those being without shal come in as leisurely, without throng or crowd, that they be the better discerned by the guard what they are. The Ports beeing open, the Serjeants shall returne to their guards, where they shall instruct their souldiers in the practise of their armes, and shall shew them the ready use of them, and do their indeavours by their best meanes, to incourage the towardly, and instruct the ignorant. If upon his guard, in the absence of his superior officer, any soldier of his guard shall offend, hee shall eyther punish him by his Halbert, or if the qualitie of the offence so deserve, he shall disarme him, and keepe him prisoner upon the guard, untill the watch bee relieved, and then hee shall bring him to his superior officers, that he may receive condigne punishment according to the condition of his offense. The Serjeant ought to know every souldier, and to take notice of their particular lodgings, and to make it a point of his duty to see that they keepe their lodgings cleane, and that their beds doe stand a yard above the ground, to have an eye into their diet, their thriftinesse and conversation, to advise them to the best, whereof he is to make report unto the Captaine or chiefe officer, that they may receive estimation for good, and punishment for evill behaviour. He is to informe himselfe of the sick, or hurt, in the company, and to visit them once a day, and to inquire whether they bee not defrauded by the Phisitons and Surgeons, of such necessary helps as are delivered unto them, for their preservations and recoveries, and to informe his Captaine of the negligence and abuse of such, who should in that case deale unjustly with them that their dishonesty may receive due punishment. He is likewise to addresse himselfe unto the Serjeant Major and Store-maister, for the supplying of his company with munition, and victuals, upon any occasion: and concerning the munition, he is to have a principall care, that the souldier doe not spend it away in vaine, but onely at such times as they are appointed for exercising and training. He is likewise to take notice of all defects and abuses in his company, and to enforme his superiour officers, that they may be redressed, and justice take place. He shall with great diligence attend the commands of his Captaine, and of the Serjeant Major, and at all times put them in present execution, rebuking such as do amisse, shewing them their faults, and teaching them by a good example in himselfe, to tread in the way of all civilitie and goodnesse. If any debate shall happen betweene souldier and souldier, hee having knowledge thereof, shall doe his indeavor to agree, and reconcile them, that it come not to his superior officers, and if through obstinacie hee cannot agree them, hee shall commit them, or informe his superior officers, who may take order therein. He is to provide that none of the company be absent when the Drum shall call them forth to worke, in which workes he is to be a president himselfe, both by labouring in the same, and calling upon others to doe the like. He is to goe to the Store, to take out such Tooles, as are required for the workes in hand, and there to under-write unto the booke of the store-Maister, or unto a note to be filed, thereby charging himselfe to be accountable for the said tooles, when the worke shall be performed, over which he is to have a regard, that they be not neglectfully layed up, spoyled nor broken without examining by what meanes they came so broken, that the wilfull breaker thereof may receive punishment, and the said toole or tooles so broken, withall the pieces, he shall bring unto the store, to shew the same for his better discharge. Instructions of the Marshall for the better enabling of a Corporall unto the discharge of his duty in this present Colonie, June the 22. 1611. The Corporall is in grade and dignity above the private soldier, and therefore care ought to bee had in the choosing of this officer, for that it is an office of good account, and by neglect of this duty, many inconveniences may come upon a camp, towne, or fort, therefore it is fit that hee surmount and excell his inferiors in valour, diligence and judgement, and likewise in the practise and use of all sorts of armes, whereby he may the better bee enabled to instruct and teach this squadron committed to his charge. The Corporall ought (having the third part of the company given him in command) to sort and assist them in their quartering or lodgings, to have a care that they be cleane and sweet, and that their beds in the same bee laide three foote from the ground, hee is to carry a hand over their dyet, thriftinesse, and conversation, and to advise and instruct them at all times to demeane themselves as good Christians ought to do, and to make report thereof unto his Captaine or chiefe officer, that from them they may receive credit and estimation for good behaviour, and punishment and disgrace for their misdemeanours. Hee is to have a speciall care of their Armes to see them duly furnished and kept in order, and when the Drum beateth to bee in a readinesse at the Colonies, and if any bee absent, hee shall make it knowne to his Serjeant or superior officer. When he marcheth, hee is to lead a file, hee ought to bee daily conversant with his little company committed unto his charge, and the company beeing in the field, to lodge with them, and provide to his power for their wants, and to instruct and teach them how to use and handle the weapon they carry: Likewise, to remember well how each one is armed and appointed when hee receiveth him into charge, then to see no part of his furniture or armes bee broken or spoiled, but to have care that they bee preserved cleane and service-able. Hee ought to have a vigilant eye upon the good behaviour of his company, not suffering them to use any unlawfull and prohibited games, nor that they give them selves to excesse of drinking, surfitting and ryot, but that they bee conformable to all the Martiall lawes: that they likewise make spare of their pay and victuals, the better to furnish themselves in comely and decent manner, with apparell and other necessities fitte and requisite for them, wherein the Corporall ought to use his utmost endeavour. In presence of his Captaine, or superior officer, he is to take uppon him no more then the condition of his office doth require, but diligently to attend and execute what they shall command, that his example may serve for a President to the rest of his squadron. At the setting of the watch hee is to see that they be furnished with poulder, Bullet and match, and that their armes be service-able and soldier-like. If the company watch by squadrons, he and his squadron shall be brought by the Serjeant unto the place of watch, and from him receive the word and directions, in what maner, and where he shall place his Centinels, whether by day or night, which hee is to see performed. When the Corporall with his squadron shall bee brought to the place where he and they shall watch, he and they must provide eft-soones for wood and fyring upon the guard, that beside for their owne comfort, they may have fire ready alwayes upon the guarde to light their match upon any proffered occasion. Hee is to cause silence to bee kept uppon the court of guard, and to guarde, and to governe the watch, so that the labour bee equally divided of his squadron, either in watch, worke, or service, and to take care in all respects, that they performe the duties of good and honest soldiers. His Centinels being placed, hee is to let none passe without the word, unlesse it bee the Captaine of the watch, or Serjeant Major, unto whom (after hee shall have perfect knowledge of them,) hee is to deliver the word at their first round, but before the delivery of the word, hee shall take the Captaine of the watch and Serjeant Major alone within his guard, the corporall beeing accompanied with halfe a dozen of shot with Match in Cock, to have an eye over the rest of the rounders that accompany the Captaine of the watch or Sarjeant Major, and not to suffer the rounders to come within the centinell, & if at any time of the night after their first round, the Serjeant Major or Captaine of the watch shall goe their round, as it is their duties, then they are to give the word to the Corporal, unlesse they mistrust and doubt the memory of any Corporall: the Corporall is not to goe out single to take the word of any round but to take two, or three, or more of his guard with him, and if it shalbe a round of more then two, then hee shall draw out all his men in his guard in their armes, the Corporall shall at no time (to receive the word) passe beyond the Centinell, but make him that hath the word to come forward within the Centinell, and shall cause the rest to stand without the Centinell, and those that are out by the Corporall for his guard shall keepe their eies and armes in a readinesse over him that is to give or take the word of the Corporall, untill such time as the Corporall be satisfied of him. He must make good his guard untill he bee releived the which hee shall the better doe if hee keepe his men together upon the guard; he must visite the Centinels sometimes unawares to them, and must be ready to go to them at the first call. He shall put his men in armes two houres before the discharge of the watch, so to remayne one houre after. Hee shall warne his Centinells to make no alarum but upon just cause, and then with as much silence as may be, and in like silence hee must advertise the Captaine of the watch, and the next guards unto him, and so without notice or signe of confusion from one guard unto another. If upon his guard any of his soldiers shal misdemeane himselfe, or offend in any of the publique lawes, divine, civill, or martiall, he shall bring him to his superior officer, then upon the guard, that he may receive punishment. His duty is to provide that none of his Squadron, be absent, when the drumme shall call to any labour, or worke, or at what time soever they shall be commanded thereunto for the service of the Colonie, in the performance of which said workes he is to be an example of the rest of his Squadron by his owne labouring therein, and by encouraging and calling upon others at any time negligent, idle and slothfull, that thereby giving encoraging to his superior officers he may be held by them worthy of a higher place. Hee must likewise receive such instruments and tooles, as spades, shovels, axes, &c. imployed in the worke, from his Sarjeant to dispose, and to deliver the same unto the labourers with all the care he may, to his utmost, that none of them be broken, lost, or wilfully spoiled, without drawing the parties so breaking, loosing and wilfully spoyling the same into punishment; and after the worke done he shall gather the said tooles in againe and re-deliver them up unto his Sargeant, all, and the same, who is to be accountable unto the maister of the store unto whose booke he hath underwritten for the receipt of them. And by reason he is well knowing of every man in his Squadron, and thereby cannot but misse the pretence of any man from any duty whatsoever, sooner then haply the superior officers may, his care shall bee to attend his squadron to the usuall workes and day-labours, and unto frequent prayers, and the devine service at all times, and uppon all the dayes in the weeke, giving due notice unto his superior officer, of the neglect of eyther duties in their kinde, that reformation may follow. He shall not suffer any gaming, heare any prophane lewd speeches, swearing, brawling, &c. or see any disorder whatsoever uppon his court of guard, or else-where, without present information given thereof unto his superior officer, that the offenders may be duly punished. Hee shall take notice of all bands and proclamations published by the Generall, procuring a copie of the same from the Provost Marshall, the same duly to bee read unto his squadron, that they may be made the perfecter in the knowledge of them, and thereby learne the better to forbeare the trespassing in forbidden things, remembring the penaltie of the same, and execute things commanded, considering the reward thereof, whether in Campe, Towne, or Forte, Field or garrison. Hee shall read, or cause to bee read, the Souldiers dutye, every time of his guarde in some convenient time and place, during the same, thereby to remember them the better of their generall duties. Instructions of the Marshall for the better enabling of a privat soldier, to the executing of his duty in this present Colonie. June 22. 1611 It is requisite that he who will enter into this function of a soldier, that he dedicate himselfe wholly for the planting and establishing of true religion, the honour of his Prince, the safety of his country, and to learne the art which he professeth, which is in this place to hold warre, and the service requisite to the subsisting of a colonie: There be may men of meane descent, who have this way attained to great dignity, credity, and honor. Having thus dedicated himselfe with a constant resolution, he ought to be diligent, carefull, vigilant and obedient, and principaly to have the feare of God, and his honor in greatest esteeme. In making choyse of his familiar acquaintance, let him have care that they be of religious and honest conditions, not factious nor mutenous murmurers, nor evill languaged and worse disposed persons: his choyse beeing made he is to carry him selfe discreete, temperate, quiet and friendly, withholding himselfe from being to lavish of speech, for such as take liberty unto themselves to talke licentiously, to slander, raile, and backbite others, do usually make bankrout of their friends, of estimation, and of their own peace and quiet of conscience. He must be carefull to serve God privately and publiquely; for all profession are thereunto tied, that carry hope with them to prosper, and none more highly then the souldier, for hee is ever in the mouth of death, and certainly hee that is thus religiously armed, fighteth more confidently and with greater courage, and is thereby protected through manifold dangers, and otherwise unpreventable events. He must bee no blasphemer nor swearer, for such an one is contemptible to God and the world, and shall be assured to be found out and punished by the divine Justice: whereof we have instant examples. He must refraine from dicing, carding, and Idle gaming: for common gamsters, although they may have many good parts in them, yet commonly they are not esteemed according to their better qualities, but censured according to their worst, procuring enemies, questions, brawles, and a thousand following inconveniences. He must not set his minde over-greedily upon his belly, and continuall feeding, but rest himselfe contented with such provisions as may be conveniently provided, his owne labour purchase, or his meanes reach unto: above all things he must eschew that detestable vice of drunkennesse; for then a man is not apt nor good for any thing, and by that beastly disorder, many great armies have miscarried, and much disquiet and tumults raised in campe, and civill townes, whereupon doth fall the sword of Justice upon their necks, which in that case they have compelled to be drawne. Chastitie is a vertue much commended in a souldier, when uncleannesse doth defile both body and soule, and makes a man stinke in the nostrils of God & man, and laith him open to the malice & sword of his enemy, for commonly it makes a man effeminate, cowardly, lasie, and full of diseases, & surely such who have unlawful women stil trudging about with them, or in whom custome hath taken away the sence of offending in that kind, commonly come to dishonorable ends. He is tyed in his entring or inrowling into any company, to take his oath of faithfulnesse, and sincere service to his Prince, Generall and Captaine: to be conformable to the lawes provided for the advancement for the intended businesse, and for the cherishing of the good therein, and punishment of the evill. He must be true-hearted to his Capt. and obey him and the rest of the officers of the Campe, Towne, or Fort, with great respect, for by the very oath which he taketh hee doth binde himselfe and promise to serve his Prince, and obey his officers: for the true order of warre is fitly resembled to true religion ordeined of God, which bindeth the souldier to observe justice, loyaltie, faith, constancie, patience, silence, and above all, obedience, through the which is easily obteined the perfection in armes, and is as a meanes to atchieve great enterprises, through never so difficult: certainly, who wanteth the vertue of obedience and patience, though never so valient otherwise, yet is he unworthy of the same name. A souldier must patiently suffer the adversities and travailes which do fall out in the courses and chances of warre: he must not be over-greedy, nor hasty of his pay, albeit he may stand in some want thereof, but must with a chearfull alacrity shew his constancy, avoyding by al possible meanes, rebellions and mutenies, which most upon such pettish occasiones are runne into: by no meanes must hee bee a pertaker with such mutiners, for the end of such is sharpe and shamefull death. If in Skirmishes Incounters, or surprise of towne the enimies be vanquished, let him set all his care and diligence in execution of the victorie with his Armes, & not in rifling and spoiling for trash, for so he shal be accounted an unruly free booter, beside innumerable are the disorders and mischefes which do happen by ravenous Pillagers, many times to the dishonor of the action, and to the losse of their lives, therfore he shall pursue the victorie until the enimy be wholy ended & and the place fully caried and possessed, the Guards placed, and liberty granted from the chiefe Commander to sack & spoile, wherein by any meanes let him avoid murther and crueltie, and violation of women, for those are odious to God and man, rather in such cases let him shew himselfe pittiful and mercifull unto the vanquished, rather defending the sillie women and Children then procuring their hurt and damage, for in so doing it will be right acceptable to God and his Commanders. Such Armes as he is apointed to serve with, whither Musket, Caliver or Target, let him be very dilligent to use all his industrie to excell in the use of them, for therby he may conserve his owne life and his fellows, for the which purpose he shall call upon his Serjeant and his Corporall to instruct him therein, untill hee come unto perfection. He must learne the severall sounds of the Drumme, whereby hee may obey that which he is commanded; for the Drum often-times is the voice of the Commander, hee shall carefully note and marke the signes made by the Captaine and officers, without talking or pratling unto his next companions: for that is unbefitting a Souldier, and makes him uncapable to heare what is given in command. In skirmishes and incounters he shal be resolute and valiant, for that souldier which is timorous and fearfull can never bring his heart to any hearty enterprise, nor dareth to attempt any hotte, bold, or audacious charge or service, by reason of his cowardly spirit and feare. Hee must bee carefull to bee alwayes vigilant and ready, beeing placed for a Centinell, or in the Court of guard, where he shall not put of his armes, untill hee have leave from the Captaine: for therein consisteth the security of the Campe, Towne, or Fort. Hee shall doe well to keepe his fidelity unspotted to his Prince and Generall, although his sufferings may bee intolerable and infinite, and shall not flye unto the enemy: for to bee branded with infamie of a traytor is a fowle and odious offence, and rigorously punished among all nations, and never yet traitor came to good end; of which we have examples infinite. Hee must not bee shifting from company to company, but serve in the company where hee first began, and if at any time hee shall depart for his preferment, let him demand the good liking of his Captaine, who if hee shall denie it him in such a case, it shall bee imputed no offense in him to appeale unto the Generall or chiefe officer. At the sound of the Drumme, for the setting of the watch with his armes being fix and serviceable he shall repaire to his colours, and it shall be commendable in him by the way to call upon his Corporall, so that all the Squadron meeting together at the Corporals lodging may attend the Corporall unto the colours, and if he be unprovided of munition he shall acquaint his Corporall therewith, who shall see him furnished. When the company or squadron march to the guard he shall hold that order in which he was placed by his Serjeant, marching in a comely and gracefull manner, and being armed at the place of guard he shall pose his armes according unto the Corporalls direction, and behave himselfe in all his actions as befitting a religious Soldier in that holy place of guard, without doing any act of prophanenesse, disorder, or ought els, tending to the pollution of the same either in word or deed. When his Corporall shall appoint him forth for Centinell, he shall souldier his peice, both ends of his match being alight, and his peice charged, and prined, and bullets in his mouth, there to stand with a carefull and waking eye, untill such time as his Corporall shall relieve him, and to let no man passe nor come up to him, but to force him to stand, and then to call his Corporall. He must harken diligently and looke well about him from his place of Centinell for the approch of any about the Camp, Towne, or Fort, or the dich thereof, or if he heare any noyse, to call his Corporall to advertise him of the same. He must have a speciall care that he sleepe not upon his Centinell, nor set his armes out of his hands: for therein he maketh himselfe subject for any passenger by to take away his life, beside the generall inconvenience that may come upon the Camp, Towne, or Fort. His Corporall having releived him and brought him to the guard, he shall do well to read the Lawes and ordinances for the government of the Camp, Towne, or Fort, constituted and prescribed by the Marshall, the better to enable him memory for the exact observance of those lawes whereby he shall not only avoyd the trespassing against the same, but also get the reputation of a well ordered and governed soldier. Such gentlemen or others, as are appointed by their Captaine for rounders, and approoved by the Serjeant Major or Captaine of the watch, amongst them those rounders that are appointed to attend the Captaine of the watch on his guard are to receive their directions from him, as Likewise those of the companies upon the guards for their order of rounding, according to the time of the night in what hower they shal make their Rounds. The Rounders from the guard, from the Captaine of the watch, are to visit the Centinells, and Courts of guards, making their rounds upon the rampart, harkning and listening and looking over into the ditches, if they can heare or see, or discover any troopes, or men neere the town, taking care besides that there be good watch kept both by the Centinells, and upon the court of guard, and if any noyse or tumult be neere the rampart, they may step downe and informe themselves of it, and bring the trespassers to the next guard, committing them there untill after the round made they have acquainted the Capt. of the watch of such disorders. The rounds from the Ports are to round the streets to take in charge that no disorders, breaking up, or fiering of houses of ye store, or roberies, magazin, riots or tumult in Taphouses, or in the streetes, or in privat houses at houres untimely be committed, and the offenders to bring the next guard, and to informe the Captaine of the watch; All rounders are to be subject and obedient unto the Captaine of the watch and his commands during his time of watch. Two houres before day he must be ready in armes with his peice charged & provided, & a match alight at both ends and bullets in mouth, there to attend the command of the Corporall untill further directions be given, and at the time appoynted for the exercise of his armes, he shall be tractable and obedient to his officers executing such commands as they shall impose upon him, that he may be the better trained and inhabled to offend his enemy, and to defend himselfe. He shal be carefull to observe al words of command, postures and actions, according to the order of training published by the marshall. The exercise being ended and the prise won and lost he shall pose his armes at the court of Guard, and ther give diligent attendance that he be at no time absent from his Guard, above one houre, without leave from his Officer, and that not without leave of his Officer. The watch being relieved and he free from the guard he is to dispose of the rest of the time for his owne perticular use untill next morning at the discharge of the watch: when at the call of the drumme, he shall attend at his corporalls lodging ther to receive such instrument, or toole as the busines of that day shall require, from whence he shall march to the place of armes or maine court of guard; there to be disposed of by the captaine of the watch for that day service of the Colonies, in which he shall doe his best indeavour like a painfull and industrious servant of the Colonies to discharge his duty for the furtherance of his worke, and incouragment of such who shall be the more stirred up by his example of goodnes, to the imitation of the like: and thus doing, he shall give cause unto the Generall, unto his Captaine, and chiefe officers, to take notice of his painfulnesse, who may according to his desert in time give him advancement for the same. He shall continue at his worke untill the drumme beate, and that his Captaine, his officers or overseers of the worke, give order unto a cessation for the time, and for the same purpose attendeth to lead him in, whom he shall orderly and comely follow into the Camp, Towne or Fort, by his said Captaine, officer or overseer him meeting, to be conducted unto the church to heare divine service, after which he may repayre to his house or lodging to prepare for his dinner, and to repose him untill the drumme shall call him forth againe in the afternoone, when so (as before) he shall acompany his chiefe officer unto the field, or where els the work lieth, and there to follow his easie taske untill againe the drumme beat to returne home: at which time according as in the forenoone, he shall follow his chiefe officer unto the church to heare divine service and after dispose of himselfe as he shall best please, and as his owne businesse shall require; with this caution carefully to preserve the toole or Instrument with which he wrought to serve his turne againe the next day as he will answere the contrary upon the perill prescribed. Concerning his order of march and carriage in the field when occasion shall present it selfe, he will easily acquire and learne the same by experience, provided that he be carefull to march, ranke, and file, and not straggle, or be disobedient unto proclamation of the General for therein consisteth the principall part of his duty, untill when I leave him with this caveat, that he diligently marke, consider and remember the orders, which the higher officers do observe, in ordering their files and rankes, and surveying their squadrons of footmen, and to the placing of the great Artillery in the march and setled campe, and the plot of the quartering, according to the disposition of the ground where the campe shall then be, with the manner of entrenching, placing of Ordinances & Guards for the defense of the same, that in the knowledge and execution of these duties, the Generall having understanding of his promptitude and diligence may conferre upon him, and call him unto place of preferment and commaund. That there be no neglect found in him, in his marching to the Guard or Field, and that in the same he doe not forget or leave behinde him any peece or parcell of his Armes appointed him by the Marshall for his owne defence, or offence of the enemie. A Praier duly said Morning and Evening upon the Court of Guard, either by the Captaine of the watch himselfe, or by some one of his principall officers. Merciful Father, and Lord of heaven and earth, we come before thy presence to worship thee in calling upon thy name, and giving thankes unto thee, and though our duties and our verie necessities call us heereunto: Yet we confesse our hearts to be so dull and untoward, that unlesse thou be mercifull to us to teach us how to pray, we shall not please thee, nor profit our selves in these duties. Wee therefore most humbly beseech thee to raise up our hearts with thy good spirit, and so to dispose us to praier, that with true fervencie of heart, feeling of our wants, humblenesse of minde, and faith in thy gracious promises, we may present our suites acceptably unto thee by our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. And thou our Father of al mercies, that hast called us unto thee, heare us and pitie thy poore servants, we have indeed sinned wonderously against thee through our blindnesse of mind, prophanesse of spirit, hardnesse of heart, selfe love, worldlinesse, carnall lusts, hypocrisie, pride, vanitie, unthankfulnesse, infidelitie, and other our native corruptions, which being bred in us, and with us, have defiled us even from the wombe, and unto this day, and have broken out as plague sores into unnumberable transgressions of all thy holy lawes, (the good waies whereof we have wilfully declined,) & have many times displeased thee, and our owne consciences in chusing those things which thou hast most justly & severely forbidden us. And besides all this wee have outstood the gracious time and meanes of our conversion, or at least not stooped and humbled our selves before thee, as wee ought, although we have wanted none of those helpes, which thou vouchsafest unto thy wandering children to fetch them home withall, for we have had together with thy glorious workes, thy word calling upon us without, and thy spirit within, and have been solicited by promises, by threatenings, by blessings, by chastisings, & by examples, on all hands: And yet our corrupted spirits cannot become wise before thee, to humble themselves, and to take heede as we ought, and wish to do. Wherefore O Lord God, we do acknowledge thy patience to have beene infinite and incomparable, in that thou hast been able to hold thy hands from revenging thy selfe upon us thus long, & yet pleasest to hold open the dore of grace, that we might come in unto thee and be saved. And now O blessed Lord God, we are desirous to come unto thee, how wretched soever in our selves, yea our very wretchednesse sends us unto thee: unto thee with whom the fatherlesse, and he that hath no helper findeth mercy, we come to thee in thy Sons name not daring to come in our owne: In his name that came for us, we come to thee, in his mediation whom thou hast sent: In him O Father, in whom thou hast professed thy selfe to be well pleased, we come unto thee, and doe most humbly beseech thee to pittie us, & to save us for thy mercies sake in him. O Lord our God our sins have not outbidden that bloud of thy holy Son which speakes for our pardon, nor can they be so infinite, as thou art in thy mercies, & our hearts (O God thou seest them,) our hearts are desirous to have peace with thee, and war with our lusts, and wish that they could melt before thee, and be dissolved into godly mourning for all that filth that hath gone through them, and defiled them. And our desires are now to serve and please thee, and our purposes to endeavour it more faithfully, we pray thee therefore for the Lord Jesus sake seale up on our consciences thy gracious pardon of all our sinnes past, and give us to feele the consolation of this grace shed abroad in our hearts for our eternall comfort and salvation: and that we may know this perswasion to be of thy spirit, and not of carnall presumption, (blessed God) let those graces of thy spirit, which doe accompanie salvation, be powred out more plentifully upon us, encrease in us all godly knowledge, faith, patience, temperance, meekenesse, wisedome, godlinesse, love to thy Saints and service, zeale of thy glory, judgement to discerne the difference of good & ill, and things present which are temporary, and things to come which are eternall. Make us yet at the last wise-hearted to lay up our treasure in heaven, and to set our affections more upon things that are above, where Christ sits at thy right hand: And let all the vaine and transitory inticements of this poore life, appeare unto us as they are, that our hearts may no more be intangled and bewitched with the love of them. O Lord, O God, our God, thou hast dearely bought us for thine owne selfe, give us so honest hearts as may be glad to yeeld the possession of thine owne. And be thou so gracious, as yet to take them up, though we have desperately held thee out of them in times past, and dwell in us, and raigne in us by thy spirit, that we may be sure to raigne with thee in thy glorious kingdome, according to thy promise through him that hath purchased that inheritance for all that trust in him. And seeing thou doest so promise these graces to us, as that thou requirest our industrie and diligence in the use of such meanes as serve thereto (good Lord) let us not so crosse our praiers for grace, as not to seeke that by diligence, which we make shew to seeke by prayer, least our owne waies condemne us of hypocrisie. Stirre us up therefore (O Lord) to the frequent use of prayer, to reading, hearing, and meditating of thy holy word, teach us to profit by the conversation of thy people, and to be profitable in our owne, make us wise to apprehend all oportunites of doing or receiving spiritual good, strengethen us with grace to observe our hearts and waies, to containe them in good order, or to reduce them quickly, let us never thinke any company so good as thine, nor any time so well spent, as that which is in thy service, and beautifying of thine Image in our selves or others. Particularly we pray thee open our eies to see our naturall infirmities, and to discover the advantages which Satan gets thereby. And give us care to strive most, where we are most assaulted and damaged. And thou O God, that hast promised to blesse thine owne ordinances, blesse all things unto us, that we may grow in grace & in knowledge, and so may shine as light in this darke world, giving good example to all men, and may in our time lie downe in peace of a good conscience, enbaulmed with a good report, and may leave thy blessings entailed unto ours after us for an inheritance. These O Father, are our speciall suits, wherein wee beseech thee to set forth the wonderful riches of thy grace towards us, as for this life, and the things thereof, we crave them of thee so farre as may be for our good, and thy glory, beseeching thee to provide for us as unto this day in mercy. And when thou wilt humble or exalt us, governe us so long, and so farre in all conditions and changes, as we may cleave fast unto thee our God unchangeably, esteeming thee our portion & sufficient inheritance for evermore. Now what graces we crave for our selves, which are here before thy presence, we humbly begge for all those that belong unto us, and that by dutie or promise wee owne our praiers unto, beseeching thee to be as gracious unto them, as unto our own souls, and specially to such of them, as in respect of any present affliction or temptation may be in speciall neede of some more speedie helpe or comfort from thy mighty hand. Yea our Lord God we humbly desire to blesse with our praiers the whole Church more specially our nation, and therein the kings Majestie our Soveraigne, his Queene and royall seede, with all that be in authoritie under him, beseeching thee to follow him and them with those blessings of thy protection and direction, which may preserve them safe from the malice of the world, and of Satan, and may yeeld them in their great places faithfull to thee for the good of thy people, and their owne eternall happinesse and honour. We beseech thee to furnish the Churches with faithfull and fruitfull ministers, and to blesse their lives and labours for those mercifull uses, to which thou hast ordained them, sanctifie thy people O God, and let them not deceive themselves with a formalitie of religion in steed of the power thereof, give them grace to profit both by those favours, and by those chasticements which thou hast sent successively or mixedly amongst them. And Lord represse that rage of sinne, and prophanesse in all Christian states which breeds so much Apostacy and defection, threatning the taking away of this light from them: Confound thou O God all the counsel and practices of Satan and his ministers, which are or shall be taken up against thee, and the kingdome of thy deare sonne. And call in the Jewes together with the fulnesse of the gentiles, that thy name may be glorious in al the world, the dayes of iniquity may come to an end, and we with all thine elect people may come to see thy face in glorie, and be filled with the light thereof for evermore. And now O Lord of mercie, O Father of the spirits of all flesh, looke in mercie upon the Gentiles, who yet know thee not, O gracious God be mercifull to us, and bless us, and not us alone, but let thy waies be knowne upon earth, & thy saving health amongst all nations: we praise thee, and we blesse thee: But let the people praise thee O God, yea let all the people praise thee, and let these ends of the world remember themsleves and turne to thee the God of their salvation. And seeing thou hast honoured us to choose us out to beare thy name unto the Gentiles: we therefore beseech thee to bless us, and this our plantation. which we and our nation have begun in thy feare, & and for thy glory. We know O Lord, we have the divel and all the gates of hel against us, but if thou O Lord be on our side, we care not who be against us. O therfore vouchsafe to be our God, & let us be a part and portion of thy people, confirme thy covenant of grace & mercy with us, which thou hast made to thy Church in Christ Jesus. And seeing Lord the highest end of our plantation here, is to set up the standard, & display the banner of Jesus Christ, even here where satans throne is Lord, let our labor be blessed in laboring the conversion of the heathen. And because thou usest not to work such mighty works by unholy means, Lord sanctifie our spirits, & give us holy harts, that so we may be thy instruments in this most glorious work: lord inspire our souls with thy grace, kindle in us zeal of thy glory: fill our harts with thy feare, & our tongues with thy praise, furnish us all from the highest to the lowest with all gifts & graces needful not onely for our salvation, but for the discharge of our duties in our severall places, adorne us with the garments of Justice, mercy, love, pitie, faithfulnesse, humility, & all vertues, & teach us to abhor al vice, that our lights may so shine before these heathen, that they may see our good works, & so be brought to glorifie thee our heavenly Father. And seeing Lord we professe our selves thy servants, & are about thy worke, Lord blesse us, arme us against difficulties, strength us against all base thoughts & temptations, that may make us looke backe againe. And seeing by thy motion & work in our harts, we have left our warme nests at home, & put our lives into our hands principally to honour thy name, & advance the kingdome of thy son, Lord give us leave to commit our lives into thy hands: let thy Angels be about us, & let us be as Angels of God sent to this people, And so blesse us Lord, & so prosper all our proceedings, that the heathen may never say unto us, where is now your God: Their Idols are not so good as silver & gold, but lead & copper, & the works of their own hands. But thou Jehovah art our God, & we are ye works of thy hands: O then let Dagon fall before thy Arke, let Satan be confounded at thy presence, & let the heathen see it & be ashamed, that they may seeke thy face, for their God is not our God, themselves being Judges. Arise therfore O Lord, & let thine enemies be scattered, & let them that hate thee flie before thee: As the smoke vanisheth, so let Satan & his delusions come to nought & as wax melteth before the fire, so let wickednes, superstition, ignorance & idolatry perish at ye presence of thee our God. And wheras we have by undertaking this plantation undergone the reproofs of the base world, insomuch as many of our owne brethren laugh us to scorne, O Lord we pray thee fortifie us against this temptation: let Sanballat, & Tobias, Papists & players, & such other Amonists & Horonits the scum & dregs of the earth, let them mocke such as helpe to build up the wals of Jerusalem, and they that be filthy, let them be filthy still, & let such swine still wallow in their mire, but let not ye rod of the wicked fal upon the lot of the righteous, let not them put forth their hands to such vanity, but let them that feare thee, rejoyce & be glad in thee, & let them know, that it is thou O Lord, that raignest in England, & unto the ends of the world. And seeing this work must needs expose us to many miseries, & dangers of soule & bodie, by land & sea, O Lord we earnestly beseech thee to receive us into thy favour & protection, defend us from the delusion of the divel, the malice of the heathen, the invasions of our enemies, & mutinies & dissentions of our own people, knit our hearts altogether in faith & feare of thee, & love one to another, give us patience, wisedome & constancy to goe on through all difficulties & temptations, til this blessed work be accomplished, for the honour of thy name, & glory of the Gospel of Jesus Christ: That when the heathen do know thee to be their God, and Jesus Christ to be their salvation, they may say, blessed by the King & Prince of England, & blessed be the English nation, and blessed for ever be the most high God, possessor of heaven & earth, that sent them amongst us: And heere O Lord we do upon the knees of our harts offer thee the sacrifice of praise & thanksgiving, for that thou hast moved our harts to undertake the performance of this blessed work, with the hazard of our person, and the hearts of so may hundreds of our nation to assist it with meanes & provision, and with their holy praiers, Lord looke mercifully upon them all, and for that portion of their substance which they willingly offer for thy honour & service in this action, recompence it to them and theirs, and reward it seven fold into their bosomes with better blessings: Lord blesse England our sweet native countrey, save it from Popery, this land from heathenisme, & both from Atheisme. And Lord heare their praiers for us, and us for them, and Christ Jesus our glorious Mediator for us all. Amen.

George Wallace Inaugural Address for Alabama Governorship January 14, 1963 Inaugural Address for Alabama Governor Thank you Governor Sparks, Governor Patterson, Governor Barnett, Governor Dixon, Governor Folsom, Lieutenant Governor Hardwick, Lieutenant Governor Ellis, Lieutenant Governor Inzer, Lieutenant Governor Boutwell. Ladies and gentlemen, also members of the Alabama Legislature and the Alabama Judiciary and members of the Alabama Congressional Delegation, members of the Alabama Legislature and distinguished guests and fellow Alabamians, before I begin my talk with you, I want to ask you for a few minutes' patience while I say something that is on my heart. I want to thank those home folks of my county who gave an anxious country boy his first opportunity to serve in state politics. I shall always owe a lot to those who gave me that first opportunity to serve. I will never forget the warm support and close loyalty of the folks at Sutton's, Store and Haigler's Mill, Eufaula, Beat 6 and Beat 14, Richards Cross Roads and Gammage Beat, at Baker Hill and Beat 8, Comer, Spring Hill, Adams Chapel and Mount Andrew, White Oak, Baxter Station, Clayton, Louisville and Cunningham Place, Hornes Crossroads, Texasville and Blue Springs where the vote was 304 Wallace and 1 for the opposition and the dear little lady whom I heard had made that one vote against me by mistake because she couldn't see too well and she had pulled the wrong lever. Bless her heart. At Clio, my birthplace and where I finished high school and Elamville. I shall never forget them. And may God bless those good people forever and I shall forever remember that Election Day morning as I waited, and suddenly at 10 o'clock that morning, the first return of a box was flashed over this state. It carried the message: Wallace 15; opposition 0. And it came it came from Hamrick Beat at Putman's Mountain where live the great hill people of our state. May God bless the mountain man. His loyalty is unshakable. He'll do to walk down the road with. I hope you forgive me these few moments of remembering but I wanted them and you to know that i shall never forget. I wish I could shake hands and thank all of you in the state who voted for me and even those of you who did not, for I know you voted your honest convictions, and now we must stand together and move this great state of Alabama forward. I would be remiss this day if I did not thank my wonderful wife and fine family for their patience, support, and loyalty and there is no man living who does not owe more to his mother than he can ever repay, and I want my mother to know that I realize my debt to her. This document appears in the Compendium: Chapter 22 George Wallace Giving his Inaugural Address for Alabama Governor — January 14, 1963 Annotation: George Wallace delivered his inaugural address as governor of Alabama, declaring his opposition to federal civil rights efforts and racial integration. The speech is most remembered for Wallace's pledge of "segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever," which became one of the defining statements of the era of Massive Resistance to desegregation in the American South. The address symbolized the conflict between state resistance to integration and the expanding federal enforcement of civil rights protections during the broader Civil Rights Movement. Author: Portrait of George Wallace, Governor of Alabama ca. 1962 Transcript and Video Source: https://digital.archives.alabama.gov/digital/collection/records/id/468/ This this is the day of my inauguration as Governor of the state of Alabama and this day I feel a deep obligation to renew my pledges, my covenants with you, the people of this great state. General Robert E. Lee said that duty is the most sublime word in the English language and I have come increasingly to realize what he meant. I shall do my duty to you, God helping, to every man, to every woman; yes, to every child in this state. I shall fulfill my duty toward honesty and economy in our state government so that no man shall have a part of his livelihood cheated and no child shall have a bit of his future stolen away. I said to you that I would eliminate the liquor agent in this state and that the money saved would be returned to our citizens. I'm happy to report to you that I am now sending orders for several hundred one-way tickets and stamped on the of them are these words: "For liquor agents, destination out of Alabama". I'm happy to report to you that the big freewheeling, cocktail party boys have gotten the word that their free whiskey and boat rides are over, that the farmer in the field, the worker in the factory, the businessman in his office, the housewife in her home have decided that the money can be better spent to help our children's education and our older citizens, and they have put a man in office to see that this should be done. And I can assure you that it will be done. And as I promised you in this campaign, no more liquor drinking in your governor's mansion. I shall fulfill my duty in working hard to bring industry into our state, not only by maintaining an honest, sober, and free enterprise climate of government, in which industry can have confidence, but in going out and getting it, so that our people can have industrial jobs in Alabama and provide a better life for their children. I shall not forget my duty to our senior citizens so that their lives can be lived in dignity and enrichment of the golden years nor to our sick, both mental and physical, and they will know we have not forsaken them. I want the farmer to know and to feel confident that in his state government, he has a partner who will work toward helping him raise his income and increase in his market. And I want the laboring man to know he has a friend who is sincerely striving to better his field of endeavor. I want to assure every child that this government is not afraid to invest in their future through education, so that they will not be handicapped on the very threshold of their lives. Today, I have stood where once Jefferson Davis stood and took an oath to our people. It is very appropriate that from this cradle of the confederacy, this very heart of the great anglo-saxon southland, that today we sound the drum for freedom as have our generation of forebears before us done time and again down through history. Let us rise to the call of freedom-loving blood that is in us and send our answer to the tyranny that clanks its chains upon the South in the name of the greatest people that have ever trod this earth. I draw the line in the dust and toss the gauntlet before the feet of tyranny and I say - segregation now, segregation tomorrow, and segregation forever. The Washington D.C. school riot report is disgusting and revealing. We will not sacrifice our children to any such type school system and you can write that down. The federal troops in Mississippi, Governor Barnett, and Governor Johnson, and distinguished citizens from that state could better be used in guarding the safety of the citizens of Washington D.C. where it is even unsafe to walk or go to a ball game, and that in the nation's capital. I was safer in a B-29 bomber over Japan during the war in an air raid than the people of Washington are walking in the White House neighborhood. A closer example is Atlanta, Georgia. The city officials fawn for political reasons over school integration and then build barricades to stop residential integration. What hypocrisy. Let us send this message back to Washington by the representatives who are here with us today, that from this day we are standing up, and the heel of tyranny does not fit the neck of an upright man, that we intend to take the offensive and carry our fight for freedom across this nation, wielding the balance of power we know we possess in the southland, that we, not the insipid block voters of some sections will determine in the next election who shall sit in the White House of the United States. But from this day, and from this hour, and from this minute, we give the word of a race of honor that we will tolerate their boot in our face no longer, and let those certain federal judges put that in their opium pipe of power and smoke it for what it is worth. Hear me, southerners. You sons and daughters who have moved north and west throughout this nation, we call on you from your native state soil to join with us in national support and vote, and we know wherever you are, away from the heart of the southland, that you will respond, for though you may live in the farthest regions of this vast country, your heart has never left Dixieland. And you native sons and daughters of all New England's rock-ribbed patriotism, and you study natives of the great midwest and you descendants of the far west flaming spirit of pioneer freedom, we invite you to come and be with us, for you are the southern mind and the southern spirit and the southern philosophy. You are southerners, too, and brothers with us in our fight. What I have said about segregation in the race for governor goes double this day, and what I have said,, too about some federal judges goes triple this day. Alabama has been blessed by God, as few states in this nation have been blessed. Our state owns 10% of all the natural resources of all the states in the country. Our inland waterway system is second to none and has the potential of being the greatest waterway transport system in the entire world. We possess over 30 minerals in usable quantities and our soil is rich and varied, suited to a wide variety of plants. Our native pine and forestry system produces timber faster than we can cut it and yet we have only pricked the surface of the great lumber and pulp potential. With ample rainfall and rich grasslands for our livestock industry, it is in the infancy of a giant future that can make us a center of the big and growing meat packing and prepared food industries and food marketing. We have the favorable climate, streams, woodlands, beaches, and natural beauty to make us a recreational mecca int the booming tourist and vacation industry. Nestled in the great Tennessee Valley, we possess the rocket center of the world and the keys to the space frontier. For the trade which they develop in Europe built the great port cities of the East Coast, our own fast developing port of Mobile faces as a magnetic gateway to the great continent of South America, well over twice as large and hundreds of times richer in resources, even now awakening to the growing probes of enterprising capital, with a potential of growth and wealth beyond any present dream, for our poor development and corresponding results throughout the connected waterways that thread our state. And while the manufacturing industries of free enterprise have been coming through our state in increasing numbers, attracted by our bountiful natural resources, our growing number of skilled workers and our favorable conditions, their present rate of settlement here can be increased from the trickle they now represent to a stream of enterprise and endeavor, capital and expansion that can join us in our work of development and enrichment of the educational future of our children, the opportunities of our citizens, and the fulfillment of our talents as God has given them to us. To realize our ambitions and to bring to fruition our dreams, we as Alabamians must take cognizance of the world about us. We must redefine our heritage, re-school our thoughts in the lessons our forefathers knew so well, in order to function and to grow and to prosper. We can no longer hide our heads in the sand and tell ourselves that the ideology of our free fathers is not being attacked and it's not being threatened by another idea, for it is. We are faced with an idea that if a centralized government assumes enough authority, enough power to dictate, to forbid, to require, to demand, to distribute, to edict, and to judge what is best and enforce that judgment upon us, its citizens, from one impeachable authority, then it will produce only good and it shall be our father and our God. It is an idea of government that encourages our fears and destroys our faith, for where there is faith, there is no fear, and where there is fear, there is no faith. In encouraging our fears of economic insecurity, it demands we place that economic management and control with government. In encouraging our fear of educational development, it demands we place that education and the minds of our children under management and control of government, and even in feeding our fears of physical infirmities and declining years, it offers and demands to follow us through it all even unto the grave. It is a government that claims to us that it is bountiful as it buys its power from us with the fruit from its appropriation of the wealth that free men before it have produced and builds on crumbling credit without responsibility to the debtors - our children. It is an ideology of government erected on the encouragement of fear and fails to recognize the basic law of our fathers that governments do not produce wealth. People produce wealth - free people - and as those people become less free as they learn there's little reward for ambition, that it requires faith to risk and they have none, as the government must restrict and penalize and tax incentive and endeavor, and must increase its expenditure of bounties, then this government must assume more and more police power, and we find we are becoming government-fearing people, not god-fearing people. We find we have replaced faith with fear and though we may give lip service to the Almighty, in reality government has become our god. it is therefore a basically ungodly government and its appeal to the pseudo-intellectual and the politician is to change their status from servant of the people the master of the people, to play a being God, without faith in God and without the wisdom of God. It is a system that is the very opposite of Christ, for it feeds and encourages everything degenerate and base in our people as it assumes the responsibilities that we ourselves should assume. Its pseudo-liberal spokesman and some Harvard advocates have never examined the logic of its substitution of what it calls human rights for individual rights, for its propaganda play upon words has appeal for the unthinking. Its logic is totally material and irresponsible as it runs the full gamut of human desires, including the theory that everyone has voting rights without the spiritual responsibility of preserving freedom. Our founding fathers recognized those rights, but only within the framework of those spiritual responsibilities. But the strong, simple faith and sane reasoning of our founding fathers has long since been forgotten as the so-called progressives and liberals tell us that our constitution was written for horse and buggy days. So were the Ten Commandments. Not long ago, men stood in marvel and awe at the cities, the buildings, the schools, the Autoubahn that the government of Hitler's Germany had built, just as centuries before, they stood in wonder at Rome's building, but they could not stand, for the system that built them had rotted the souls of the builders, and in turn, rotted the foundation of what God meant that men should be. Today that same system on an international scale is sweeping the world. It is the changing world of which we are told. It is called new and liberal. It is as old as the oldest dictator. It is degenerate and decadent. As the national racism of Hitler's Germany persecuted a national minority to the whim of a national majority, so the international racism of the liberals seek to persecute the international white minority to the whim of the international colored majority so that we are footballed about according to the favor of the Afro-Asian bloc. But the Belgian survivors of the Congo cannot present their case to a war crimes commission, nor the Portuguese of Angola, nor the survivors of Castro, nor the citizens of Oxford, Mississippi. It It is this theory of international power politics that led a group of men on the Supreme Court for the first time in American history to issue an edict based not on legal precedent but upon a volume, the editor of which has said our constitution is outdated and must be changed and the writers of which some have admittedly belong to as many as half a hundred communist-front organizations. It is this theory that led this same group of men to briefly bear the ungodly core of that philosophy in forbidding little school children to say a prayer, and we find the evidence of that ungodliness even in the removal of the words "In God We Trust" from some of our dollar bills which was placed there like evidence by our founding fathers as the faith upon which this system of government was built. It is a spirit of power thirst that caused a president in Washington to take up Caesar's pen and with one stoke of it, make a law, a law which the lawmaking body of Congress refused to pass, a law that tells us that we can or cannot buy or sell our very homes except by his condition, and except at his discretion. It is a spirit of power thirst that led that same president to launch a full offenses of 25 000 troops against the university in his own country and against his own people when this nation maintains only six thousand troops in the beleaguered city of Berlin. We have witnessed-- We have witnessed such acts of "might makes right" over the world as men yielded to the temptation to play God, but we have never before witnessed it in America. We reject such acts as free men. We do not defy, for there is nothing to defy since as free men we do not recognize any government's right to give freedom, or deny freedom. No government erected by man has that right. As Thomas Jefferson has said, "The god who gave us life gave us liberty at the same time. No king holds the right of liberty in his hands". Nor does any ruler in the American government, whether he be in Montgomery or Washington, D.C. We intend, quite simply, to practice the free heritage as bequeathed to us as sons of free fathers. We intend to revitalize the truly new and progressive form of government that is less than 200 years old, a government first founded in this nation simply and purely on faith, that there is a personal god who rewards good and punishes evil, that hard work will receive its just desserts, but ambition and ingenuity and incentiveness and profit of such are admirable traits and goals, that the individual is encouraged in his spiritual growth, and from that growth arrives at a character that enhances his charity toward others, and from that character and that charity, so is influenced business and labor and farmer and government. We intend to renew our faith as God-fearing men, not government-fearing men, nor any other kind of fearing men. We intend to roll up our sleeves and pitch in to develop this full bounty that God has given to us to live full and useful lives and in absolute freedom from all fear. Then can we enjoy the full richness of the great american dream. We have placed this sign both have been placed "In God We Trust" here at this state capitol on this inauguration day as physical evidence of determination to renew the faith of our fathers and to practice the free heritage they bequeathed to us. We do this with a clear and follow knowledge that such physical evidence is evidently a direct violation of the logic of that Supreme Court in Washington D.C., and if they or their spokesmen in this state wish to term this defiance, I say then let them make the most of it. This nation was never meant to be a unit of one but a united of the many. That is the exact reason our freedom loving forefathers established the state, so as to divide the rights and powers among the many states, ensuring that no central power could gain massive government control. In united effort, we were meant to live under this government, whether Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Church of Christ, or whatever one's denomination or religious belief, each respecting the other's right to a separate denomination, each by working to develop his own, enriching the total of all our lives through united effort. And so it was meant in our political lives, whether Republican, Democrat, Prohibition or whatever political party, each striving from this separate political station, respecting the rights of others to be separate and work from within that political framework, and each separate political station making its contribution to our lives. And so it was meant in our racial lives, each race within its own framework has the freedom to teach, to instruct, to develop, to ask for and receive deserved help from others of separate racial stations. This is a great freedom of our American founding fathers. But if we amalgamate into the one unit as advocated by the communist philosophers, then the enrichment of our lives, the freedom of our development is gone forever. We become therefore. a mongrel unit of one under a single all-powerful government, and we stand for everything and for nothing. The true brotherhood of America, of respecting the separateness of others and united in effort has been so twisted and distorted from its original concept that there is small wonder that communism is today winning the world. We invite the Negro citizens of Alabama to work with us from his separate racial stations as we will work with him to develop, to grow in individual freedom and enrichment. We want jobs and a good future for both races. We want to have to physically and mentally sick of both races, the tubercular and the infirm. This is the basic heritage of my religion of which I make full practice, for we are all the handiwork of God. But we warn those of any group who would follow the false doctrine of communistic amalgamation that we will not surrender our system of government, our freedom of race and religion, for that freedom was won at a hard price and if it requires a hard price to retain it, we are able and quite willing to pay it. The liberals' theory that poverty, discrimination, and lack of opportunity is the cause of communism is a false theory. If it were true, the South would have been the biggest single communist bloc in the western hemisphere long ago. After the great War Between the States, our people faced a desolate land of burned universities, destroyed crops and homes, with manpower defeated and crippled, and even the mule, which was required to work the land, was so scarce that whole community shared one animal to make the spring farm. There was no government handout, no Marshall Aid plan, no coddling to make sure that our people would not suffer. Instead, the South was set upon by the vulturous carpetbagger and federal troops. All loyal Southerners were denied the right to vote at the point of a bayonet so that the infamous, illegal 14th Amendment might be passed. There was no money, no food, and no hope of either. But our grandfathers bent their knee only in church and bowed their head only to God. Not for one single instant did they ever consider the easy way of federal dictatorship that amalgamation in return for fat bellies. They fought. They dug sweet roots from the ground with their bare hands and boiled them in the old iron pot. They gathered poke salad from the woods and acorns from the ground. They fought. They followed no false doctrine. They knew what they wanted and they fought for freedom. They came up from their knees in the greatest display of sheer nerve, grit and guts, that has ever been set down in the pages of written history, and they won. The great writer Rudyard Kipling wrote of them that "There in the Southland of the United States of America lives the greatest fighting breed of man in all the world." And that is why today I stand ashamed of the fat well-fed whimperers who say that it is inevitable, that our cause is lost. I am ashamed of them and I am ashamed for them because they do not represent the viewpoint of the majority of Alabamians or the people of the Southland. And may we take note of one other fact, with all the trouble with communists that some sections of this country have. There are not enough native communists in the South to fill up a telephone booth and that is a matter of public FBI record. We remind all within the hearing of this Southland that a Southerner, Peyton Randolph, presided over the Continental Congress in our nation's beginning, that a Southerner, Thomas Jefferson, wrote the Declaration of Independence, that a Southerner, George Washington, is the father of our country, that a Southerner, James Madison, authored our constitution, that a Southerner, George Mason, authored the Bill of Rights and it was a Southerner who said "Give me liberty or give me death", Patrick Henry. Southerners have played such a most magnificent part in erecting this great divinely inspired system of freedom - (video cuts out)