Government was instituted for the Purposes of
common Defence; and those who hold the
Reins of Government have an equitable natu-
ral Right to an honorable Support from the
same Principle "that the Labourer is worthy
of his Hire": But then the same Community
which they serve, ought to be the Assessors of
their Pay: Governors have no Right to seek
and take what they please; by this, instead of
being content with the Station assigned them,
that of honorable Servants of the Society, they
would soon become absolute Masters, Despots
and Tyrants. Hence as a private Man has a
Right to say, what Wages he will give in his
private Affairs, so has a Community to deter-
mine what they will give and grant of their
Substance, for the Administration of publick
Affairs. And in both Cases, more are ready
generally to offer their Service at the proposed
and stipulated Price, than are able and willing
to perform their Duty.
In short, it is the greatest Absurdity to sup-
pose it in the Power of one or any Number of
Men, at the entering into Society, to renounce
their essential natural Rights, or the Means of
preserving those Rights; when the grand End of
civil Government from the very Nature of its
Institution, is for the Support, Protection and
Defense of those very Rights: The principal
of which as is before observed, are Life, Liberty