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CHAPTER IV.

Political Pamphleteers.

PUBLICITY AND PARTY SPIRIT.

O many people there is a certain wild joy in rushing into printer's ink in the support of one cause and the damning of another. You see it in the “Letters to the Editor” in any newspaper, especially one of the “Eatanswill Gazette" type. The psychology of the Press may be understood better through its correspondence columns than any other part of the sheet. Letters to the editor simply vibrate with energy and emotion. They are never dull, but stimulate or sting according as the sentiments tickle or tingle the reader.

The ingenious authors of these vigorous newspaper epistles should not be criticised too severely. They are simply letting off steam and doing no real harm to anybody—the editor sees to that, with the spectre of a possible libel action always hovering before him; and, anyway, they are helping to keep the printer's devil out of much mischief that otherwise might happen. Far from condemning them, perhaps we ought to treat them with a degree of regard, for are they not the descendants of the line of distinguished pamphleteers who, before newspapers were, gallantly stepped into the public service with pen and paper, and served with wit and style, in the defence of our precious lives and liberties? The pamphleteers of old were the journalists of their day and generation. The few pages of reading matter made a good medium of propaganda, and a most effective one. The very character of it is such that "he who runs may read." The pamphlet caught the fleeting fancy of the hour, and so served its purpose.

Politics owes its greatest debt to the printing press; and to no form of it more than to the humble pamphlet, the handy substitute for the ponderous tome. Political

pamphlets of a kind were known to the Greeks and Romans, but it was not until the reigns of Elizabeth and James I. that they came into vogue in England; and even then they were mostly translations from German and French, and were thus early known as news-books," and were circulated by what were called "Mercury Women," who resembled the winged-feet messenger of the classic gods in no other way but name. Here was distinctly the beginning of the

modern newspaper.

Pamphlets, although a very favourite medium for religious controversy, where they were better known as tracts, in the seventeenth century began to contribute more than ever to the formation of public opinion on politics. How wide an influence they wielded may be judged from one of the collections in the British Museum covering from 1640 to 1661-there are no less than 22,255 pamphlets, bound in 2,008 volumes, shown for this period of twenty-one years, and all referring to the Civil War, the Commonwealth, and the Restoration. Such figures are eloquent of the political party spirit which became rampant at this time, a spirit which pamphlets fostered so vigorously.

The Divine Right of Kings.

It is a very remarkable fact that one of the first pamphleteers of eminence in our English history was one against whose office perhaps more pamphlets have been written than on any other political subject, namely, no less an exalted person than King James I., by whose accession to the throne Scotland became united to England.

It is to this "most high and mighty prince" that the translators of the English Bible dedicate their work, opening in this strain: "Great and manifold were the blessings, most dread Sovereign, which Almighty God, the Father of all mercies, bestowed upon us the people of England, when first he sent Your Majesty's Royal Person to rule and reign over us." The appearance of His Majesty

is likened to "The Sun in his strength"; and in the concluding paragraph "the Lord of heaven and earth" is called upon to bless His Majesty "with many and happy days, that, as his heavenly hand hath enriched Your Highness with many singular and extraordinary graces, so You may be the wonder of the world in this latter age for happiness and true felicity." It is curious to note that the divines honoured their earthly king with a full array of the capital "H," whilst the King of Kings they recognised with the small "h" only.

There can be no doubt as to where this sacred and royal person stood in regard to his political convictions, about which he wrote in two or three treatises. One of these was "True Law of Free Monarchies or the Mutual Duty betwixt a free King and his Subjects." Therein he laid it down that the duty of a ruler was plainly set forth in Scripture, and proceeded to say: "He is master over every person, having power over life and death. For though a just prince will not take the life of any of his subjects without a clear law, yet the same laws whereby he taketh them are made by himself or his predecessors." King James's law of a "Free Monarchy" really means a monarchy free to do exactly what it pleases. In a speech to Parliament he went still further : 'Kings are justly called gods," he said, “for they exercise a manner of resemblance of Divine power upon earth. For if you will consider the attributes of God, you shall see how they agree in the person of a king. God hath power to create or destroy, make or unmake at His pleasure, to give life or send death, to judge all and to be accountable to none. And the like power have kings. They make and unmake their subjects; they have power of raising up and casting down; of life and death; judges over all their subjects and in all cases, yet accountable to none but God."

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The son who succeeded him as Charles I. carried the divine right of kings to an even higher point-but he lost

his head! One divine, Sibthorpe by name, in a sermon before the judges at Northampton, actually preached that rulers must be obeyed "whether the prince be a believer or an infidel, whether he rule justly or unjustly, courteously or cruelly. If princes command anything which subjects may not perform because it is contrary to the laws of God or nature or impossible, subjects are bound to undergo punishment without either resistance or reviling, and so yield a passive obedience where they cannot exhibit an active one."

No wonder we had a civil war; and in that great struggle the pen of the pamphleteer played its part as much as the cannon of Cromwell.

Pioneers of Political Publicity.

The great trinity of master pamphleteers, who have enriched English literature as well as done great service to English politics, is that comprising Milton, Defoe, and Swift. The most noble of them, John Milton, was indeed the prince of political pamphleteers; and, in fact, to put it in modern terminology, he became the trusted publicity agent of the Cromwellian Government. We need not linger on Milton and his grand literary achievements, of which the chief is 'Paradise Lost," as we are only concerned here with his political career. That he had a genuine interest in politics other than the vapoury fancies of a poet was well demonstrated when he was in Italy. He intended going on to Sicily and Greece, but, as he wrote: "The melancholy intelligence which I received of the civil commotions in England made me alter my purpose; for I thought it base to be travelling for amusement abroad while my fellowcitizens were fighting for liberty at home." And it is worthy of mention that whilst he was brought into the society of the great minds when in Italy, he was in danger of being arrested by the papal police because the English Jesuits had taken offence at his free utterances on religious matters.

Milton, on his return to home, became the Latin secretary to the Council of Cromwell's Government, Latin then being the language of diplomacy. It was part of his duties to help the struggling Commonwealth by his literary vigilance— examining suspected papers, interviewing authors and printers, and writing pamphlets in defence of the cause against Royalist intrigues. Moreover, he was the licenser and superintending editor of the Mercurius Politicus, a newspaper which appeared twice a week.

The first ventures in pamphleteering of this poet-patriot were of a religious character. And then came the finest of all his pamphlets, "Areopagitica," which, published in 1644, is a classic in the English language. It was deliberately published, unlicensed and unregistered, as a protest to Parliament against the government control of printers and booksellers. "As good almost kill a man as kill a good book," he said. "Who kills a man kills a reasonable creature; but he who destroys a book kills reason itself, the image of God. Many a man lives a burden to the earth; but a good book is the precious life-blood of a master spirit, embalmed and treasured up on purpose to a life beyond life." It was a magnificent treatise on the liberty of the Press. It gave utterance to some gems of eloquence. "Who ever knew Truth put to the worse in a free and open encounter," and "Give me liberty to know, to utter and to argue freely, according to conscience, above all liberties."

The plea for unlicensed printing was followed by excursions into the political arena. "The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates" followed a fortnight after the head of King Charles I. was struck from the body, and was a bold declaration that Milton was one with the public against the throne. Men were born free, he declares, in the image of God; but wrong and violence entering in from Adam's sin, they contracted to protect each other from mutual injury. The administration of public affairs is entrusted