BENEDICT DE SPINOZA: Theological-Political Treatise

Theological-Political Treatise
monarch. 5 But once they had deposed him, they could do no less than
change their form of state. However, after spilling a great deal of blood,
they succeeded merely in installing a new monarch 6 with a di¡erent title
(as if the whole thing had been about nothing but a title). The new ruler
could remain in power only by destroying the entire royal line, and by
killing the friends of the king or those suspected of his friendship, and
starting a war in order to put an end to the inactivity of peaceful times,
which a¡ords an opportunity for murmurings of discontent to arise. He
contrived to turn the thoughts of the common people away from the
execution of the king by keeping them intent and occupied with new
challenges. 7 By the time the people realized that they had done nothing
for the safety of their country except violate the right of a legitimate king
and change everything for the worse, it was too late [to correct the
damage]. Consequently, as soon as they had the chance, they decided to
retrace their steps, and did not rest until they saw everything restored to
its former state.
[9] Someone may perhaps put forward the example of the Romans to
show that a people can easily remove a tyrant from their midst. But
actually I think that this example fully con¢rms our position. Admittedly,
the Roman people could much more easily get rid of a tyrant and
change their form of government [than the English], with the right of
choosing the king and his successor residing in the hands of the people,
and they themselves (a notoriously rebellious populace) not yet
having learned to obey kings. Indeed, of the six kings they had in earlier
times, they slaughtered three. Yet all they achieved thereby was to
choose many tyrants in place of one, and these kept them in ceaseless
wretched strife in foreign and civil wars until ¢nally, the form of state
once again became monarchical except only, as in the case of England,
for the change of name.
[10] As for the States of Holland, they did not, to our knowledge, ever
have kings but only Counts, to whom the right of government was never
5 Spinoza is referring to the English Civil War and the dethroning of King Charles I (reigned:
1625^49).
6 I.e. Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of England.
7 Spinoza is referring here to the First Anglo-Dutch War (1652^4) which he is suggesting Cromwell
started in order to distract the attention of the English from their internal politics.
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