And when we think of the freedom, almost unchecked, of the literature of the century now closing, of the impunity with which speculation attacks the very roots of all our political and theological traditions, and compare this state of liberty with the servitude of literature in the three preceding centuries, when it rested with archbishop or Commons or Lords not only to commit writings to the flames but to inflict cruelties and indignities on the writers, we cannot but recognise how proportionate to the advance we have made in toleration have been the benefits we have derived from it. Possibly this toleration arose from the gradual discovery that the practical consequences of writings seldom keep pace with the aim of the writer or the fears of authority; that, for instance, neither is property endangered by literary demonstrations of its immorality, nor are churches emptied by criticism. At all events, taking the risk of consequences, we have entered on an era of almost complete literary impunity; the bonfire is as extinct as the pillory; the only fiery ordeal is that of criticism, and dread of the reviewer has taken the place of all fear of the hangman.
Whether the change is all gain, or the milder method more effectual than the old one, I would hesitate to affirm. He would be a bold man who would assert any lack of burnworthy books. The older custom had perhaps a certain picturesqueness which was lost with it. It was a bit of old English life, reaching far back into history – a custom that would have been not unworthy of the brush of Hogarth. For all that we cannot regret it. The practice became so common, and lent itself so readily to abuse by its indiscriminate application in the interests of religious bigotry or political partisanship, that the lesson of history is one of warning against it. Such a practice is only defensible or impressive in proportion to the rarity of its use. Applied not oftener than once or twice in a generation, in the case of some work that flagrantly shocked or injured the national conscience, the book-fire might have retained, or might still recover, its place in the economy of well-organised States; and the stigma it failed of by reason of its frequency might still attach to it by reason of its rarity.
If, then, it were possible (as it surely would be) so to regulate and restrict its use that it should serve only as the last expression of the indignation of an offended community instead of the ready weapon of a party or a clique, one can conceive its revival being not without utility. To take an illustration. With the ordinary daily libels of the public press the community as such has no concern; there is no need to grudge them their traditional impunity. But supposing a newspaper, availing itself of an earlier reputation and a wide circulation, to publish as truths, highly damaging to individuals, what it knows or might know to be forgeries, the limit has clearly been overstepped of the bearable liberty of the press; the cause of the injured individual becomes the cause of the injured community, insulted by the unscrupulous advantage that has been taken of its trustfulness and of its inability to judge soundly where all the data for a sound judgment are studiously withheld. Such an action is as much and as flagrant a crime or offence against the community as an act of robbery or murder, which, though primarily an injury to the individual, is primarily avenged as an injury to the State. As such it calls for punishment, nor could any punishment be more appropriate than one which caused the offending newspaper to atone by dishonour for the dishonour it sought to inflict. Condemnation by Parliament to the flames would exactly meet the exigencies of a case so rare and exceptional, and would succeed in inflicting that disgrace of which such a punishment often formerly failed by very reason of its too frequent application.
APPENDIX
AFTER the conspiracy, known as the Rye House Plot, to kill Charles II. and his brother, the Duke of York, the University of Oxford ordered the public burning of books which ran counter to the doctrine of the Divine right of kings. As the decree is a literary and political curiosity of the highest order, and not easily accessible, I here transcribe it from Lord Somers'
Tracts
. The authors whose books were condemned are sometimes referred to quite generally, so that some are difficult to identify, but the following appear to be the principal ones that incurred the fiery indignation of the University: – 1. Rutherford's
Lex Rex
; 2. G. Buchanan's
De Jure Regni apud Scotos
; 3. Bellarmine's
De Potestate Papæ
, and his
De Conciliis et Ecclesiâ Militante
; 4. Milton's
Eikonoklastes
, and his
Defensio Populi Anglicani
; 5. Goodwin's
Obstructours of Justice
; 6. Baxter's
Holy Commonwealth
; 7. Dolman's
Succession
; 8. Hobbes'
De Cive
and
Leviathan
.
The Judgment and Decree of the University of Oxford, passed in their Convocation, July 21, 1683, against certain pernicious books, and damnable doctrines, destructive to the sacred persons of princes, their State and Government, and of all Human Society.
"Although the barbarous assassination lately enterprised against the person of his sacred majesty and his royal brother, engages all our thoughts to reflect with utmost detestation and abhorrence on that execrable villainy, hateful to God and man, and pay our due acknowledgments to the Divine Providence, which, by extraordinary methods, brought it to pass, that the breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the Lord, is not taken in the pit which was prepared for him, and that under his shadow we continue to live and to enjoy the blessings of his government; yet, notwithstanding, we find it to be a necessary duty at this time to search into and lay open those impious doctrines, which having been of late studiously disseminated, gave rise and growth to those nefarious attempts, and pass upon them our solemn public censure and decree of condemnation.
"Therefore, to the honour of the holy and undivided Trinity, the preservation of Catholic truth in the Church, and that the king's majesty may be secured both from the attempts of open bloody enemies and machinations of treacherous heretics and schismatics, we, the vice-chancellor, doctors, proctors, and masters regent, met in convocation, in the accustomed manner, the one and twentieth day of July, in the year 1683, concerning certain propositions contained in divers books and writings, published in the English and also in the Latin tongue, repugnant to the Holy Scriptures, decrees of councils, writings of the fathers, the faith and profession of the primitive Church, and also destruction of the kingly government, the safety of his Majesty's person, the public peace, the laws of nature, and bonds of human society, by our unanimous assent and consent, have decreed and determined in manner and form following: —
"The 1st Proposition. – All civil authority is derived originally from the people.
"2. There is a mutual compact, tacit or express, between a prince and his subjects, that if he perform not his duty, they are discharged from theirs.
"3. That if lawful governors become tyrants, or govern otherwise than by the laws of God and man they ought to do, they forfeit the right they had unto their government. —
Lex Rex
;
Buchanan, de Jure Regni
;
Vindiciæ contra tyrannos
;
Bellarmine, de Conciliis, de Pontifice
;
Milton
;
Goodwin
;
Baxter
;
H. C.
"4. The sovereignty of England is in the three estates, viz., Kings, Lords, and Commons. The king has but a co-ordinate power, and may be overruled by the other two. —
Lex Rex
;
Hunter
, of a united and mixed monarchy.
Baxter, H. C. Polit. Catechis.
"5. Birthright and proximity of blood give no title to rule or government, and it is lawful to preclude the next heir from his right and succession to the crown. —
Lex Rex
;
Hunt's Postscript
;
Doleman's History of Succession
;
Julian the Apostate
;
Mene Tekel
.
"6. It is lawful for subjects, without the consent, and against the command, of the supreme magistrate, to enter into leagues, covenants, and associations, for defence of themselves and their religion. —
Solemn League and Covenant
;
Late Association
.
"7. Self-preservation is the fundamental law of nature, and supersedes the obligation of all others, whensoever they stand in competition with it. —
Hobbes' de Cive
;
Leviathan
.
"8. The doctrine of the gospel concerning patient suffering of injuries is not inconsistent with violent resisting of the higher powers in case of persecution for religion. —
Lex Rex
;
Julian Apostate
;
Apolog. Relat.
"9. There lies no obligation upon Christians to passive obedience, when the prince commands anything against the laws of our country; and the primitive Christians chose rather to die than resist, because Christianity was not settled by the laws of the Empire. —
Julian Apostate.
"10. Possession and strength give a right to govern, and success in a cause, or enterprise, proclaims it to be lawful and just; to pursue it is to comply with the will of God, because it is to follow the conduct of His providence. —
Hobbes
;
Owen's Sermon before the Regicides, Jan. 31, 1648
;
Baxter
;
Jenkin's Petition, Oct. 1651
.
"11. In the state of nature there is no difference between good and evil, right and wrong; the state of nature is the state of war, in which every man hath a right to all things.
"12. The foundation of civil authority is this natural right, which is not given, but left to the supreme magistrate upon men's entering into societies; and not only a foreign invader, but a domestic rebel, puts himself again into a state of nature to be proceeded against, not as a subject, but an enemy, and consequently acquires by his rebellion the same right over the life of his prince, as the prince for the most heinous crimes has over the life of his own subjects.
"13. Every man, after his entering into a society, retains a right of defending himself against force, and cannot transfer that right to the commonwealth when he consents to that union whereby a commonwealth is made; and in case a great many men together have already resisted the commonwealth, for which every one of them expecteth death, they have liberty then to join together to assist and defend one another. This bearing of arms subsequent to the first breach of their duty, though it be to maintain what they have done, is no new unjust act, and if it be only to defend their persons, is not unjust at all.
"14. An oath superadds no obligation to fact, and a fact obliges no further than it is credited; and consequently if a prince gives any indication that he does not believe the promises of fealty and allegiance made by any of his subjects, they are thereby freed from their subjection; and, notwithstanding their pacts and oaths, may lawfully rebel against, and destroy their sovereign. —
Hobbes' de Cive
;
Leviathan
.
"15. If a people, that by oath and duty are obliged to a sovereign, shall sinfully dispossess him, and, contrary to their covenants, choose and covenant with another, they may be obliged by their later covenants, notwithstanding their former. —
Baxter
;
H. C.
"16. All oaths are unlawful and contrary to the Word of God. —
Quakers.
"17. An oath obligeth not in the sense of the imposer, but the taker's. —
Sheriff's Case.
"18. Dominion is founded in grace.
"19. The powers of this world are usurpations upon the prerogative of Jesus Christ; and it is the duty of God's people to destroy them, in order to the setting Christ upon His throne. —
Fifth Monarchy Men.
"20. The presbyterian government is the sceptre of Christ's kingdom, to which kings, as well as others, are bound to submit; and the king's supremacy in ecclesiastical affairs, asserted by the Church of England, is injurious to Christ, the sole King and Head of His Church. —
Altare Damascenum
;
Apolog. Relat. Hist. Indulg.
;
Cartwright
;
Travers
.
"21. It is not lawful for superiors to impose anything in the worship of God that is not antecedently necessary.
"22. The duty of not offending a weak brother is inconsistent with all human authority of making laws concerning indifferent things. —
Protest. Reconciler.
"23. Wicked kings and tyrants ought to be put to death; and if the judges and inferior magistrates will not do their office, the power of the sword devolves to the people; if the major part of the people refuse to exercise this power, then the ministers may excommunicate such a king; after which it is lawful for any of the subjects to kill him, as the people did Athaliah, and Jehu Jezebel. —
Buchanan
;
Knox
;
Goodman
;
Gibby
;
Jesuits
.
"24. After the sealing of the Scripture-canon the people of God in all ages are to expect new revelations for a rule of their actions (
a
); and it is lawful for a private man, having an inward motion from God, to kill a tyrant (
b
). – (
a
)
Quakers and other Enthusiasts.
(
b
)
Goodman.
"25. The example of Phineas is to us instead of a command; for what God hath commanded or approved in one age must needs oblige in all. —
Goodman
;
Knox
;
Napthali
.
"26. King Charles the First was lawfully put to death, and his murderers were the blessed instruments of God's glory in their generation. —
Milton
;
Goodwin
;
Owen
.
"27. King Charles the First made war upon his Parliament; and in such a case the king may not only be resisted, but he ceaseth to be king. —
Baxter.
"We decree, judge, and declare all and every of these propositions to be false, seditious, and impious; and most of them to be also heretical and blasphemous, infamous to Christian religion, and destructive of all government in Church and State.
"We further decree, That the books which contain the aforesaid propositions and impious doctrines are fitted to deprave good manners, corrupt the minds of unwary men, stir up seditions and tumults, overthrow states and kingdoms, and lead to rebellion, murder of princes, and atheism itself; and therefore we interdict all members of the university from the reading of the said books, under the penalties in the statutes expressed. We also order the before-recited books to be publicly burnt by the hand of our marshal, in the court of our schools.
"Likewise we order, that, in perpetual memory hereof, these our decrees shall be entered into the registry of our convocation; and that copies of them being communicated to the several colleges and halls within this university, they be there publicly affixed in the libraries, refectories, or other fit places, where they may be seen and read of all.
"Lastly, we command and strictly enjoin all and singular, the readers, tutors, catechists, and others to whom the care and trust of institution of youth is committed, that they diligently instruct and ground their scholars in that most necessary doctrine, which, in a manner, is the badge and character of the Church of England, of submitting to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether it be to the king as supreme, or unto governors as unto them that are sent by him, for the punishment of evil d