第74章 OF THE NUTRITION AND PROCREATION OF A COMMONWEALTH

In the distribution of land,the Commonwealth itself may be conceived to have a portion,and possess and improve the same by their representative;and that such portion may be made sufficient to sustain the whole expense to the common peace and defence necessarily required:which were very true,if there could be any representative conceived free from human passions and infirmities.But the nature of men being as it is,the setting forth of public land,or of any certain revenue for the Commonwealth,is in vain,and tendeth to the dissolution of government,to the condition of mere nature,and war,as soon as ever the sovereign power falleth into the hands of a monarch,or of an assembly,that are either too negligent of money or too hazardous in engaging the public stock into long or costly war.

Commonwealths can endure no diet:for seeing their expense is not limited by their own appetite but by external accidents,and the appetites of their neighbours,the public riches cannot be limited by other limits than those which the emergent occasions shall require.

And whereas in England,there were by the Conqueror diverse lands reserved to his own use (besides forests and chases,either for his recreation or for preservation of woods),and diverse services reserved on the land he gave his subjects;yet it seems they were not reserved for his maintenance in his public,but in his natural capacity:for he and his successors did,for all that,lay arbitrary taxes on all subjects'land when they judged it necessary.Or if those public lands and services were ordained as a sufficient maintenance of the Commonwealth,it was contrary to the scope of the institution,being (as it appeared by those ensuing taxes)insufficient and (as it appears by the late small revenue of the Crown)subject to alienation and diminution.It is therefore in vain to assign a portion to the Commonwealth,which may sell or give it away,and does sell and give it away when it is done by their representative.

As the distribution of lands at home,so also to assign in what places,and for what commodities,the subject shall traffic abroad belonged to the sovereign.For if it did belong to private persons to use their own discretion therein,some of them would be drawn for gain,both to furnish the enemy with means to hurt the Commonwealth,and hurt it themselves by importing such things as,pleasing men's appetites,be nevertheless noxious,or at least unprofitable to them.And therefore it belonged to the Commonwealth (that is,to the sovereign only)to approve or disapprove both of the places and matter of foreign traffic.

Further,seeing it is not enough to the sustentation of a Commonwealth that every man have a propriety in a portion of land,or in some few commodities,or a natural property in some useful art,and there is no art in the world but is necessary either for the being or well-being almost of every particular man;it is necessary that men distribute that which they can spare,and transfer their propriety therein mutually one to another by exchange and mutual contract.And therefore it belonged to the Commonwealth (that is to say,to the sovereign)to appoint in what manner all kinds of contract between subjects (as buying,selling,exchanging,borrowing,lending,letting,and taking to hire)are to be made,and by what words and words and sign they shall be understood for valid.

And for the matter and distribution of the nourishment to the several members of the Commonwealth,thus much,considering the model of the whole work,is sufficient.