The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift/Volume 3/The Examiner, Number 38
NUMBER XXXVIII.
THURSDAY, APRIL 26, 1711.
Indignum est in ea civitate, quæ legibus continetur, discedi a legibus.
I HAVE been often considering how it comes to pass, that the dexterity of mankind in evil, should always outgrow, not only the prudence and caution of private persons, but the continual expedience of the wisest laws contrived to prevent it. I cannot imagine a knave to possess a greater share of natural wit or genius, than an honest man. I have known very notable sharpers at play, who, upon other occasions, were as great dunces as human shape can well allow; and I believe, the same might be observed among the other knots of thieves and pickpockets about this town. The proposition however is certainly true, and to be confirmed by a hundred instances. A scrivener, an attorney, a stockjobber, and many other retailers of fraud, shall not only be able to overreach others much wiser than themselves, but find out new inventions to elude the force of any law made against them. I suppose the reason of this may be, that as the aggressor is said to have generally the advantage of the defender, so the makers of the law, which is to defend our rights, have usually not so much industry or vigour, as those whose interest leads them to attack it. Besides, it rarely happens that men are rewarded by the publick for their justice and virtue; neither do those who act upon such principles expect any recompense until the next world: whereas fraud, where it succeeds, gives present pay; and this is allowed the greatest spur imaginable both to labour and invention. When a law is made to stop some growing evil, the wits of those whose interest it is to break it with secrecy or impunity, are immediately at work; and even among those who pretend to fairer characters, many would gladly find means to avoid, what they would not be thought to violate. They desire to reap the advantage, if possible, without the shame, or at least without the danger. This art is what I take that dextrous race of men, sprung up soon after the revolution, to have studied with great application ever since; and to have arrived at great perfection in. According to the doctrine of some Romish casuists, they have found out quam propè ad peccatum fine peccato possint accedere; they can tell how to go within an inch of an impeachment, and yet come back untouched. They know what degree of corruption will just forfeit an employment, and whether the bribe you receive be sufficient to set you right, and put something in your pocket besides: how much to a penny you may safely cheat the queen, whether forty, fifty, or sixty per cent, according to the station you are in, and the dispositions of the persons in office below and above you. They have computed the price you may securely take or give for a place, or what part of the salary you ought to reserve; they can discreetly distribute five hundred pounds in a small borough, without any danger from the statutes against bribing at elections. They can manage a bargain for an office by a third, fourth, or fifth hand; so that you shall not know whom to accuse: they can win a thousand guineas at play in spite of the dice, and send away the loser satisfied. They can pass the most exorbitant accounts, overpay the creditor with half his demands, and sink the rest.
It would be endless to relate, or rather indeed impossible to discover, the several arts, which curious men have found out to enrich themselves, by defrauding the publick, in defiance of the law. The military men, both by sea and land, have equally cultivated this most useful science: neither has it been altogether neglected by the other sex; of which, on the contrary, I could produce an instance, that would make ours blush to be so far outdone.
Besides, to confess the truth, our laws themselves are extremely defective in many articles, which I take to be one ill effect of our best possession, liberty. Some years ago the ambassador of a great prince[1] was arrested, and outrages committed on his person in our streets, without any possibility of redress from Westminster-hall, or the prerogative of the sovereign; and the legislature was forced to provide a remedy against the like evils in time to come. A commissioner of the stamped paper was lately discovered to have notoriously cheated the publick of great sums, for many years, by counterfeiting the stamps, which the law has made capital: but the aggravation of his crime, proved to be the cause that saved his life; and that additional heightening circumstance of betraying his trust, was found to be a legal defence. I am assured, that the notorious cheat of the brewers at Portsmouth, detected about two months ago in parliament, cannot, by any law now in force, be punished in any degree equal to the guilt and infamy of it. Nay, what is almost incredible, had Guiscard survived his detestable attempt upon Mr. Harley's person, all the inflaming circumstances of the fact would not have sufficed, in the opinion of many lawyers, to have punished him with death; and the publick must have lain under this dilemma, either to condemn him by a law ex post facto, (which would have been of dangerous consequence, and form an ignominious precedent) or undergo the mortification to see the greatest villian upon earth escape unpunished, to the infinite triumph and delight of popery and faction. But even this is not to be wondered at, when we consider, that of all the insolences offered to the queen since the act of indemnity, (at least that ever came to my ears) I can hardly instance above two or three, which by the letter of the law could amount to high treason.
From these defects in our laws, and the want of some discretionary power, safely lodged, to exert upon emergencies; as well as from the great acquirements of able men to elude the penalties of those laws they break, it is no wonder that the injuries done to the publick are so seldom redressed. But besides, no individual suffers by any wrong he does to the commonwealth, in proportion to the advantage he gains by doing it. There are seven or eight millions, who contribute to the loss, while the whole gain is sunk among a few. The damage suffered by the publick, is not so immediately or heavily felt by particular persons; and the zeal of prosecutions is apt to drop and be lost among numbers.
But imagine a set of politicians for many years at the head of affairs, the game visibly their own, and by consequence, acting with great security; may not these be sometimes tempted to forget their caution, by length of time, by excess of avarice and ambition, by the insolence or violence of their nature, or perhaps by a mere contempt for their adversaries? may not such motives as these put them often upon actions directly against the law, such as no evasions can be found for, and which will lay them fully open to the vengeance of a prevailing interest, whenever they are out of power? it is answered in the affirmative. And here we cannot refuse the late ministry their due praises; who, foreseeing a storm, provided for their own safety by two admirable expedients, by which, with great prudence, they have escaped the punishments due to pernicious counsels, and corrupt management. The first was to procure, under pretences hardly specious, a general act of indemnity, which cuts off all impeachments. The second was yet more refined: suppose, for instance, a counsel is to be pursued, which is necessary to carry on the dangerous designs of a prevailing party, to preserve them in power, to gratify the unmeasurable appetites of a few leaders civil and military, although by hazarding the ruin of the whole nation; this counsel, desperate in itself, unprecedented in its nature, they procure a majority to form into an address, which makes it look like the sense of the nation. Under that shelter they carry on their work, and lie secure against afterreckonings.
I must be so free to tell my meaning in this; that among other things, I understand it of the address made to the queen about three years ago, to desire that her majesty would not consent to a peace, without the entire restitution of Spain: a proceeding, which, to people abroad, must look like the highest strain of temerity, folly, and gasconade. But we at home, who allow the promoters of that advice to be no fools, can easily comprehend the depth and mystery of it. They were assured by this means to pin down the war upon us; consequently, to increase their own power and wealth, and multiply difficulties on the queen and kingdom, until they had fixed their party too firmly to be shaken, whenever they should find themselves disposed to reverse their address, and give us leave to wish for a peace.
If any man entertains a more favourable opinion of this monstrous step in politicks, I would ask him, what we must do in case we find it impossible to recover Spain? Those among the whigs, who believe a God, will confess that the events of war lie in his hands; and the rest of them, who acknowledge no such power, will allow, that fortune has too great a share in the good or ill success of military actions, to let a wise man reason upon them, as if they were entirely in his power. If Providence should think fit to refuse success to our arms, with how ill a grace, with what shame and confusion shall we be obliged to recant that precipitate address, unless the world will be so charitable to consider, that parliaments among us differ as much as princes; and that by the fatal conjunction of many unhappy circumstances, it is very possible for our island to be represented sometimes by those, who have the least pretensions. So little truth or justice there is in what some pretend to advance, that the actions of former senates ought always to be treated with respect by the latter; that those assemblies are all equally venerable, and no one to be preferred before another; by which argument, the parliament that began the rebellion against king Charles I, voted his trial, and appointed his murderers, ought to be remembered with respect.
But to return from this digression; it is very plain, that considering the defectiveness of our laws, the variety of cases, the weakness of the prerogative, the power or cunning of ill-designing men, it is possible that many great abuses may be visibly committed, which cannot be legally punished; especially if we add to this, that some inquiries might probably involve those, whom upon other accounts it is not thought convenient to disturb. Therefore it is very false reasoning, especially in the management of publick affairs, to argue that men are innocent, because the law has not pronounced them guilty.
I am apt to think it was to supply such defects as these, that satire was first introduced into the world; whereby those, whom neither religion, nor natural virtue, nor fear of punishment, were able to keep within the bounds of their duty, might be withheld by the shame of having their crimes exposed to open view in the strongest colours, and themselves rendered odious to mankind. Perhaps all this may be little regarded by such hardened and abandoned natures as I have to deal with; but, next to taming or binding a savage animal, the best service you can do the neighbourhood, is to give them warning either to arm themselves, or not come in its way.
Could I have hoped for any signs of remorse from the leaders of that faction, I should very gladly have changed my style, and forgot, or passed by, their million of enormities. But they are every day more fond of discovering their impotent zeal and malice: witness their conduct in the city about a fortnight ago, which had no other end imaginable, beside that of perplexing our affairs, and endeavouring to make things desperate, that themselves may be thought necessary. While they continue in this frantick mood, I shall not forbear to treat them as they deserve; that is to say, as the inveterate, irreconcileable enemies to our country, and its constitution.