Politics and Science: Francis Bacon and the True Greatness of States

Author(s): Markku Peltonen

Source: The Historical Journal, Vol. 35, No. 2 (Jun., 1992), pp. 279-305
Published by: Cambridge University Press
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The Historical Journal, 35, 2
(1992),
pp.
279-305
Printed in Great Britain
POLITICS AND SCIENCE: FRANCIS
BACON AND THE TRUE GREATNESS OF
STATE S*
MARKKU PELTONEN
University of Helsinki
ABSTRACT. The main aim of the article is to question the widely held view that Francis Bacon's
different
writings form a single great project. His numerous writings on the greatness of states were
not part of his scientific programme. Since Bacon's scientific writings do not provide us with the
context in which we should place his texts on the greatness of states, the attempt is made to place them
in their contemporary political context. These texts, it is argued, addressed the issue of the union of
England and Scotland as well as the question concerning England's possible intervention in the
European war in early I620s. Several scholars have also claimed that, in accordance with Bacon's
scientific project, his idea of the greatness of states was an essentially modern programme.
Nevertheless, the article attempts to show that as far as his writings on civic greatness are concerned
Bacon's moral and economic ideas, could be
classified
as classical republican. James Harrington's
analysis of Bacon offers a historical point of departure for reading of his writings on the true greatness
of states.
One of the central issues in recent scholarly work on Francis Bacon has been
the unity of his different writings. It has often been insisted that Bacon's
separate works are governed by a high degree of internal consistency and that
they form a single great project. A central argument underlying this
contention is the alleged link in Bacon's writings between science, wealth and
civic greatness. This line of reasoning is clearly endorsed by those scholars who
regard Bacon's project essentially as a modern one. Howard B. White, for
example, found out that 'Bacon's writings seem to abound in contradictions'.
But since he did 'not suppose that a great writer would make contradictions ',
he decided that his main duty was to try 'to resolve
'
them. To substantiate his
claim White argues that Bacon's concept of the greatness of states forms a
significant part of his whole project. Although he admits that Bacon relied
heavily on Machiavelli, White emphasizes that Bacon departed radically from
Machiavellian concepts as far as science and the navy were concerned. Bacon's
'imperialism' was 'the imperialism of Baconian science'. Even more
importantly, Bacon's 'imperialism ' was naval and hence commercial
279
*
I am much indebted to Quentin Skinner both for general encouragement and for reading
and commenting on earlier drafts of this article. I would also like to thank Stuart Clark, Anne
Finell, Erkki Kouri, M. Grazia Lolla, Ad Putter, Johann Sommerville and Matti Viikari for their
help.
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280 MARKKU PELTONEN
'imperialism'. White insists that naval power means 'much of the modern
world': 'monarchical honour' is replaced by 'mercantile honour' and 'the
virtues of the community' are replaced by 'the virtues of the private man'.1
Essentially the same argument has recently been reiterated by a number of
commentators. According to Charles Whitney, Bacon's 'absolutely modern'
project comprised the new science as well as imperialist political aspirations
and was linked with emerging capitalism.2 Similarly, Jerry Weinberger
declares that Bacon was virtually the 'founder of the modern project' - a
project which embraced the new learning as well as Bacon's idea of empire.
Weinberger, therefore, contends that Bacon's texts are independent of their
restricted historical context; they form an example of classic texts making
sense on their own and having a transhistorical audience. As Weinberger puts
it, 'Bacon need not be studied in the terms of some narrow historical context,
because he gives an account of our modern history's nature'.3
The basic agreement amongst scholars on the close link between Bacon's
scientific and political pursuits is further extended to those commentators who
do not see anything particularly modern in Bacon's project. Rather than being
a modern project, it was, according to Julian Martin, the venture of 'a Tudor
statesman'. Whereas the other commentators argue that science had the
priority in Bacon's scheme, shaping also his concepts of law and politics,
Martin turns this contention upside down and insists instead 'that Bacon's
legal and political career was crucial in the creation of his natural philosophy'.
But as far as the internal consistency of Bacon's different texts is concerned
Martin completely agrees with White. According to Martin, Bacon's plans
and proposals were devoted to the 'single end' of' enhancing the powers of the
State'. His diverse schemes shared 'the same structure, the same techniques,
and the same terminology'.' The formation of 'an imperial Britain', Martin
tells us, was 'Bacon's passion and his great project'. Although the legal reform,
'
Howard B. White, Peace among the willows: the political philosophy of Francis Bacon (The Hague,
I 968), pp. I, 2,
7,
II, I
7,
58, 6I-2, 64-5; idem, 'Bacon's imperialism', American political science
review, CII (I958), 489, 48i. See also Jurgen Klein, Francis Bacon oder die Modernisierung Englands
(Hildesheim, i987); Harvey Wheeler, 'The constitutional ideas of Francis Bacon', The Western
political quarterly, IX (1956), 927-36; Christopher Hill, Intellectual origins of the English revolution
(Oxford, i965), pp.
85-I
30; W. H. Greenleaf, Order, empiricism, andpolitics. Two traditions of English
political thought I500-I700 (Oxford, i964), pp. 206-32; Jukka Kanerva, Matkaan! Tutkimus Francis
Baconin poliittisesta ajattelusta
UJyvaskylh,
I 985). For greatness see also Oskar Kraus, Der
Machtgedanke und die Friedensidee in der Philosophie der Englander. Bacon und Bentham (Leipzig, I926)
and Hellmut Bock, Staat und Gesellschaft bei Francis Bacon: Ein Beitrag zur politischen Ideologie der
Tudorzeit (Berlin, I937).
2 Charles Whitney, Francis Bacon and the modernity (New Haven, I 986), pp. I 0, I I, I 7, 50-4, I 67,
I97-8, see also e.g. pp. 99, I04, I57, I62. Cf. Greenleaf, Order, empiricism, andpolitics, pp. 20I-3.
'
Jerry Weinberger, Science, faith, and politics. Francis Bacon and the utopian roots of modern age. A
commentary on Bacon's Advancement of learning (Ithaca, I 985), pp. I 9-2 I, 28, 29, I 28, I 32-3, I 39, cf.
pp. 25-6; Francis Bacon, The great instauration and New Atlantis, ed. J. Weinberger (Arlington
Heights,
ig80),
pp. vii, xviii. For the transhistorical nature of Bacon's writings see also White,
Peace among the willows, p. I I.
Julian Martin, 'Knowledge is power': Francis Bacon, the state, and the reform of natural philosophy,
Ph.D. dissertation, Cambridge University (i988), pp. I,
3-4.
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BACON AND GREATNESS OF STATE 28I
the strong monarchy and the reformed natural philosophy were grand
schemes in themselves, they 'were but means towards this political goal'.'
Although the account of Bacon's thought which links science, commerce,
and the greatness of states closely together has gained such a wide acceptance,
there are good reasons to challenge it. First, in treating science as an integral
part of true greatness, scholars have overestimated the unity of Bacon's
thought. He never mentioned science in his writings concerning true greatness.
There was a rhetorical similarity between the propagation of the augmentation
of learning and civic greatness but they stood in diametrical opposition as far
as the qualities which they necessitated were concerned.6 It is arguable that
the attempt to excavate the hidden consistency underlying the seeming
contradictions between different works of Bacon is an anachronistic
undertaking imposing our values on Bacon's writings. Furthermore, in
emphasizing the role of commerce in Bacon's concept of greatness, scholars
have overlooked the fact that Bacon clearly distinguished the pursuit of wealth
and riches from the quest for true greatness. It is, consequently, the central
contention of the present essay that it is misleading to see greatness, commerce,
and science as constituting a single project. Bacon's different writings did not
form a consistent and coherent system. His scientific writings do not provide
us with the context in which we should place his texts on the greatness of states.
It is rather within the contemporary political context that I will attempt to
locate these texts. Finally, I would like to propose that the conclusion,
motivated by the alleged connection between science, commerce and
greatness, according to which Bacon's idea of the true greatness of states is an
essentially modern project, is a seriously misleading one. Instead of perceiving
the birth of modernity as the intellectual context in which we should interpret
Bacon's writings on true greatness, we should see him as a classical republican
in his moral and economic thought. The Machiavellian tradition provides us
with the ideological context of Bacon's writings on the greatness of states.7
5 Martin, 'Knowledge is power', pp. I 64, 204-5. Cf. Charles Webster, The great instauration. Science,
medicine, and reform 1626-i660 (London, I975), pp. 34I, 420-65, chapter i. For greatness and the
strong monarchy see also Theodore K. Rabb, 'Francis Bacon and the reform of society', in Action
and conviction in early modern Europe, eds. Theodore K. Rabb, and Jerrold E. Siegel (Princeton,
I969), p. I82.
6 Cf. in general, Ian Box, 'Bacon's Essays: from political science to political prudence', History
of political thought, iII (I982), 3 I-49; Virgil K. Whitaker, 'Bacon's doctrine of forms: a study of
seventeenth-century ecleticism', The Huntingdon library quarterly, xxxiii (1970), 209-I6; Mark S.
Neustadt, The making of the instauration: science, politics, and law in the career of Francis Bacon
(Ph.D. dissertation, The Johns Hopkins University, I987).
7
Bacon's general debt to and connection with Machiavelli as well as their common
preoccupation with the theme of greatness have been recognized by most commentators. It is,
however, arguable that scholars have tended to concentrate mainly on producing complete lists
of Bacon's Machiavelli-citations, and by doing this they have separated particular passages from
their meaningful contexts and failed to produce interpretations which see Bacon as a follower of
a tradition rather than as a borrower of few separate ideas. Napoleone Orsini, Bacone e Machiavelli
(Genova, I936), especially pp. 50-2. This is the source of virtually all of the later studies at this
point. See also J. W. Allen, English political thought 1603-i644 (London, I938), pp. 32, 58-9; Felix
Raab, The Englishface of Machiavelli: a changing interpretation 1500-I700 (London, I964), pp. 73-6;
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282 MARKKU PELTONEN
Scholars like Charles Webster and Christopher Hill have interpreted Bacon
essentially from the mid-seventeenth century puritan scientific point of view.
I would like to suggest, however, that James Harrington's analysis of Bacon
offers a more historical point of departure to the reading of Bacon's writings
on the true greatness of states.8
Although Bacon mentioned the theme of greatness or some of its specific
issues in various writings, the idea emerged most clearly in several papers
which clustered together round two particular points of time. The first phase
when Bacon showed great interest in the greatness of states occurred during
the first decade of the seventeenth century. The first mention was in A brief
discourse touching the happy union of the kingdoms of England and Scotland, published
in I603. The same theme also appeared in his argument in Calvin's case in
i6o8. The two most important papers on greatness from this period are,
however, Bacon's speech in the House of Commons on I7 F'ebruary I606/7,
and the unfinished essay Of the true greatness of the kingdom of Britain, both of
which are interrelated: some of the discussions of Bacon's speech found their
place, in an expanded version, in the unfinished paper.9 Finally, a few years
Paolo Rossi, Francis Bacon: from magic to science (London, I 968), pp. I i o-I 5; Lisa Jardine, Francis
Bacon. Discovery and the art of discourse (Cambridge, I974), pp. i66-8; Jonathan Marwil, The trials
of counsel. Francis Bacon in 1621 (Detroit, 1976), p. I07; White, 'Bacon's imperialism', pp. 473-6;
Vincent Luciani, 'Bacon and Machiavelli', Italica, XXIV
(I947),
26-40; Efraim Liljeqvist, Om
Francis
Baconsfilosofi
med sdrskild hdnsyn till det etiska problemet (Uppsala, I894), pp. 334-5; Kraus, Der
Machtgedanke, pp. I 9-3 I .
8 For the characterization of classical republicanism I have relied heavily on J. G. A. Pocock's
writings, The Machiavellian moment. Florentine political and the Atlantic republican tradition (Princeton,
I975); Politics, language and time. Essays on political thought and history (London, I971); 'Historical
introduction', in The political works of james Harrington, ed.
J.
G. A. Pocock (Cambridge, I977), pp.
I-I52; 'The Machiavellian moment revisited: a study in history and ideology', Journal of modern
history, LIII (I98I), 49-72; 'Virtues, rights and manners, a model for historians of political
thought', Political theory, IX (i 98 I), 353-68; Virtue, commerce, and history. Essays on political thought and
history, chiefly in the eighteenth century (Cambridge, I985). I am also indebted to Zera S. Fink, The
classical republicans. An essay in the recovery of a pattern of thought in seventeenth century England (Evanston,
I945); Blair Worden, 'Classical republicanism and the puritan revolution', in History and
imagination. Essays in honour of H. R. Trevor-Roper, eds. Hugh Lloyd-Jones, Valerie Pearl, and Blair
Worden (London, 198I), pp. I82-200; Quentin Skinner, 'The idea of negative liberty:
philosophical and historical perspectives', in Philosophy in history. Essays on the historiography of
philosophy, eds. Richard Rorty, J. B. Schneewind, and Quentin Skinner (Cambridge, I984), pp.
I93-221; John Robertson, The Scottish enlightenment and the militia issue (Edinburgh, I985), and to
the relevant articles in The languages of political theory in early-modern Europe, ed. Anthony Pagden
(Cambridge, I987).
9 The dating of Of the true greatness of the kingdom of Britain (hereafter cited as TGKB) has been
a subject of scholarly dispute. James Spedding thought that it was written in i 6o8 on the grounds
of an entry in Bacon's notebook, Commentarius solutus, see The works of Francis Bacon, eds. James
Spedding, Robert Leslie Ellis, and Douglas Denon Heath, 7 vols. (London, I858-9), VII, 40-3
(hereafter cited as Works). Although
i6o5
has also been suggested, Jonathan Marwil has
attempted to show that Bacon wrote the paper as early as I603. The evidence is inconclusive for
either of these dates, and the issue does not seem to be of great importance. Whatever the exact
date of the composition of the paper was, it is scarcely less interesting to ask what its political
context was. Spedding surmised 'that Bacon considered it an essential point of policy to provide
the people and the House of Commons with some matter of interest or ambition which they might
pursue with the government, and not against it'. Marwil, on the other hand, argues that the
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BACON AND GREATNESS OF STATE 283
later, in i 6I2, Bacon published the second edition of his Essays, where the last
essay was entitled Of the greatnesse of kingdomes. Apart from the last piece, all
these writings in their own ways directly addressed the issue of the union of
England and Scotland. Discourse touching the union belongs to the group of tracts
on the union of which there were more than twenty written between I603 and
i605.10 Bacon's argument in Calvin's case, as well as his long speech in the
Commons in February I606/7, were directly concerned with one of the most
central issues of the union, the naturalization of Scots in England. Of the true
greatness of the kingdom of Britain was thematically linked with Bacon's par-
liamentary speech and should be seen, if not strictly as a tract on the union,
then as a treatise where the qualities of the (united) kingdom of Britain are
scrutinized from a particular point of view."
The union of England and Scotland was a major issue in the English
political debate between I603 and i6o8. Although James' project of union
resulted in failure, it aroused a wide public discussion,12 and it helped to raise
a number of important themes in English political discussion. One of these
topics was civic greatness. According to the Scot Robert Pont, '[t]he first fruit
springing out of this roote [of union] ... is the enlarging of the empire'; it is, he
added later, foreigners, who would fear 'the greatnes and augmentation of the
Britons'.13 John Hayward declared that one of the chief advantages achieved
by the union was the 'enlargement of dominion '.14 When James visited Oxford
in August I605, the university organized academic disputations in different
fields of learning to do honour to the learned king. The last of these
disputations was on moral philosophy, and the topic was '
[w]hether it be more
to defend, or enlarge the boundes of an Empire or
Kingdome?'15
Bacon's
tracts on the greatness of states in the period between I603 and I6o8 were
composed as direct responses to the general debate of the union or to its
particular issues.
10 HIS 35
context of the paper was James' accession; the treatise was meant to commend Bacon to James.
The fact that the paper is clearly related to Bacon's speech in parliament on the question of
naturalization and the fact that Bacon chose to speak about the greatness of Britain link the paper
more specifically to the general context of the Anglo-Scottish union. From this point of view the
date of the composition of the treatise could have been from I603 to i6o8.
10 See Bruce J. Galloway, The union of England and Scotland i6o i6o8 (Edinburgh, I986), pp.
30-57; The Jacobean union. Six tracts of I6o4, eds. Bruce R. Galloway and Brian P. Levack, Scottish
History Society, fourth series, xxi (I985).
"
Cf. JoelJ. Epstein, 'Francis Bacon and the issue of union, I603-I608', The Huntington library
quarterly, xxxiii (I970), I3I, n. 26, where TGKB is related to the issue of the union.
12 See Galloway, The union of England and Scotland; The Jacobean union; Brian P. Levack, The
formation of the British state. England, Scotland, and the union
i603-I707
(Oxford, I987).
13 Robert Pont, 'Of the union of Britayne', in The
Jacobean
union, pp. I 7, 20. Cf. also e.g. John
Russell, 'A treatise of the happie and blissed union', in The
Jacobean
union, p. i I6.
14 John Hayward. A treatise of vnion of the two realmes of England and Scotland (London, I604), pp.
3-6.
15 [Anthony
Nixon],
Oxfords triumph: in the royall entertainment of his moste excellent maiestie, the
queene, and the prince: the 27. of August; I605 (London, I605), sig. C4v-D2V. Cf. G. B. Harrison, A
Jacobean journal. Being a record of those things most talked of during theyears i603-i606 (London,
I94I),
pp. 223-30, where the field and the topic of the last disputation is left unrecorded.
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284 MARKKU PELTONEN
The second period, when Bacon was deeply preoccupied with the values of
great states, occurred towards the end of his life. During the years following his
impeachment in I62I, one of the major political issues in England was the
question concerning England's possible intervention in the European war. In
I62 I James still hoped to solve the Bohemian crisis by negotiations, but when
Charles and Buckingham returned from their hazardous trip to Madrid in
October I623, they made a vigorous attempt to change the course of English
foreign policy from the peaceful lines of James to more martial ones. This
made the possibility of war more imminent, and it also brought about various
kinds of
literary responses.
6
After his
impeachment,
Bacon never
gave up
the
hope of being able to return to the court and to politics. The aftermath of the
Spanish match offered him perhaps the best opportunity to attempt his
political comeback. In I622, during the period of rapprochement with Spain,
which engendered endeavours to promote the reconcilement of Catholics and
Protestants, Bacon composed his incomplete An advertisement touching an holy
war, where he discussed in dialogue form the possibility of a common attack
of Christians against the Ottomans.'7 But during the autumn of I623 he
turned back to the possible war with Spain and wrote several pieces of advice
to Buckingham. '[T]he King', he noted, 'will put a hook in the nostrils of
Spain, and lay a foundation of greatness here to his children in these west
parts. "8 In the following winter, during the parliament session, he composed
two papers on the war with Spain."9 In the course of the autumn of I623 he
also published the extended Latin version of the Advancement of learning
-
De
augmentis,20 where the only deficient field of the art of government of which he
presented an example was the extension of empire. The treatise in the De
augmentis found its place almost in verbatim translation in the final edition of
Bacon's Essays published in I625. He had not only revised the essay from the
I 6 I 2 edition so that it had more than doubled in length, but had also changed
the title to Of the true greatnesse of kingdomes and estates.
At the beginning of Of the true greatness of the kingdom of Britain Bacon defined
the topic of his essay by pointing out that although the territorial size of
kingdoms is easy to measure, 'the just measure and estimate of the forces and
power of an estate is an exceedingly difficult task.2' If the appraisal of the
greatness of a state was an intricate business, the actual attainment of
greatness was scarcely a less difficult task to accomplish. Bacon opened Of the
true greatnesse of kingdomes and estates with a particular emphasis on the rare
occurrence of those statemen who could 'make a Small State Great .22 But he
16
See in general Thomas Cogswell, The blessed revolution, English politics and the coming of war,
i62i-i624 (Cambridge, i989); idem, 'England and the Spanish match', Conflict
in early Stuart
England. Studies in religion and politics
I63-I642,
eds. Richard Cust and Ann Hughes (London,
i989), pp. I07-33. 17 Works, VII, pp. 3-36; Cogswell, The blessed revolution, pp. 38-9.
18 The letters and the life of Francis Bacon, ed. James Spedding, 7 vols. (London, I86 I-I 874), VII,
p. 445, cf. p. 446. Hereafter cited as Letters. 19 Letters, VII, pp. 460-5, 469-505.
20 The translation was under way as early as the summer of i622, see Bacon to Father
Redemptus Baranzano, 30.6.I622, in Letters, vii, pp. 375-7.
21
TGKB,
in Works,
vii,
p.
47.
22
Of the true greatnesse of kingdomes and estates, in Francis Bacon, The essayes or counsels, civill and
morall, ed. Michael Kiernan (Oxford, i983), p. 89. Hereafter cited as TGKE, and Essayes.
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BACON AND GREATNESS OF STATE 285
considered himself capable of advising on this topic, since, as he explained, he
had 'long-continued experience in business of estate, and much conversation
in books of policy and history'.23 Bacon wrote to Buckingham in Madrid in
April I623 in order to recommend his services: 'My good Lord, somewhat I
have been, and much have I read; so that few things which concern states or
' 24
greatness,
are new cases unto me .
Because of the difficulties of estimating greatness, 'immoderate opinions'
about greatness were often circulated. He, who regarded Spain in I624 as too
mighty an enemy for England, fell into this error; he, Bacon argued 'is no
good mintman, but takes greatness of kingdoms according to their bulk and
currency and not after their intrinsic value'.25 There were four wrong points
of greatness. The first was a common complaint against those who attached
too much importance to large territory.26 '[I]t is a maxim in state', Bacon
maintained in I624, 'that all countries of new acquest, till they be settled, are
rather matters of burthen than of strength '.27 In discussing the second
erroneous point he embraced the typical Machiavellian conception that
strongholds and fortresses were not useful.28 Moreover, in popular discourses
too much weight was ascribed to 'treasure or riches'.29
As we have seen, an important argument for the modernity of Bacon's
'imperialism' was constituted by the claim that it was commercial
'imperialism'. It is, of course, true that in some of his writings Bacon did not
consider the growth of wealth as a menace, but quite on the contrary espoused
the pursuit of gain. Since one of the principal causes for sedition was poverty,
the best remedy to prevent it was to abolish poverty and want mainly by
increasing commerce.30 It was idle to speak of abolishing usury; 'that Opinion
must be sent to Utopia'.31 In his essay Of empire Bacon pointed out that if the
merchants of a kingdom 'flourish not, a Kingdome may have good Limmes,
but will have empty Veines, and nourish little'.32
However, when we turn to Bacon's writings on true greatness, we can see
him putting his whole emphasis on the corrupting nature of riches. With his
characteristic categorical style Bacon insisted that 'no man can be ignorant of
the idolatry that is generally committed in these degenerate times to money, as
if it could do all things public and private '.33 Already in the Christmas revels
for the Court in I 594 he distinguished sharply between virtue and wealth; the
fifth counsellor advocating virtue advised the prince to 'advance men of virtue
10-2
23
Considerations touching a war with Spain, in Letters, VII,
p.
469.
24
Bacon to Buckingham I8.4.I623, in Letters, vii,
p.
424.
25
Considerations touching a war with Spain, in Letters, vii,
p.
469.
26 TGKB, in Works, VII, p.
48.
27
Considerations touching a war with Spain, in Letters, VII,
p.
496.
28
TGKB, in Works, VII,
p.
48. 29 TGKB, in Works, vii,
p.
48.
30
Of seditions and troubles, in Essayes,
p.
47; Apophthegms, in Works, vii, p. i6o.
31 Of usurie, in Essayes, p. I26; Usury and the use thereof [I623], in Letters, vii, pp. 4I5-I9,
especially p. 416.
32 Essayes, p. 62. See in general also The case de rege inconsulto [25.I.I6I5/I6], in Works, vii, p.
702. For a succinct account of Bacon's economic thinking from a liberal point of view see Hill,
Intellectual origins, pp. 96-8; White, Peace among the willows, pp. 40-3. For a criticism see Rabb,
'Francis Bacon and the reform of society'. " TGKB, in Works, vii, p.
55-
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286 MARKKU PELTONEN
and not of mercenary minds'.3 Riches were nothing but a hindrance to a
virtuous man. 'I cannot', Bacon opened his essay Of riches with a phrase which
James Harrington would make great use
of,
'call Riches better, then the
Baggage of Vertue '.3 Although Bacon conceded that riches 'add true
greatness' with certain conditions,36 on the whole he stressed the polarity of
virtue and honour against riches. Hence, the fourth fallacious point of
greatness was to ascribe too much to 'the fruitfulness of the soil, or affluence
of commodities'.
3
Just as in the case of private men, Bacon contrasted
'merchant-like' states with 'magnanimous' states, and informed his audience
in a law-case that since the laws of England 'looketh to the greatness of the
kingdom' England was not a 'merchant-like' state, and it did not ponder on
'husbandlike considerations of profit'.38 '[W]e', Bacon advised the
Commons,
'shall refer our counsels to greatness and power, and not quench them too
much with consideration of utility and wealth '.39 The outcome of wealth and
opulence was the same in case of the private man and the commonwealth. The
corruption effected by riches resulted in feebleness and incapability to
accomplish any honourable task. In Of the true greatness of the kingdom of Britain
Bacon pointed out that 'excess of riches, neither in public nor private, ever
hath any good effects; but maketh men either slothful and effeminate, and so
no
enterprisers'.40
Instead of committing the '
popular' error of ascribing too much '
to treasure
or riches in the balancing of greatness', the question should be examined 'by
reason and examples'. Bacon did not claim any originality in this issue, but
admitted that he was following a well-trodden path of 'the sounder sort of
judgements'. 41 Reason and examples demonstrated that there was a close link
between true greatness and poverty. ' [Y]ou', Bacon wrote in Of the true
greatness of the kingdom of Britain, 'shall scarcely find any of the great monarchies
of the world, but have had their foundations in poverty and contemptible
beginnings'. And he told exactly the same idea to the Commons in I607:
'whosoever shall look into the seminary and beginnings of the monarchies of
the world, he shall find them founded in poverty'. Great states had acquired
empire through the hardness and scarceness of means; they 'had no other
wealth but their adventures, nor no other title but their swords, nor no other
3 Gesta Grayorum, in Letters, i, p. 339.
35
Essayes, p. I09. James Harrington, The common-wealth of Oceana (London, I656), p. I45. For
Bacon cf. also Sylva Sylvarum, in Works, ii, p. 672.
36 TGKB, in Works, vii, pp. 58-6I. The most important of these conditions was the
Machiavellian idea that money should be 'so disposed, as it is readiest and easiest to come by for
the public service and use', p. 59; cf. Machiavelli, The discourses, ed. Bernard Crick, translated by
Leslie J. Walker (Harmondsworth, I970), bk. ii, ch. I9, p. 335.
37 TGKB, in Works, VII, p. 48.
38 The case of the post-nati, in Works, VII, pp. 664-5; Lowe's case of tenures, in Works, vii, p. 548. Cf.
History of the reign of Henry VII, in Works, VI, pp. 95-6. See however The case de rege inconsulto, in
Works, VII, p. 702, where Bacon declared that 'the eye of the law of England ever beholds the
King's treasure and profit as matter of state, as it is indeed; - they are the sinews of crown'.
39 Bacon in parliament I7.2.I606/7, in Letters, In, p. 323, cf. p. 3I3.
40
TGKB, in Works, VII,
p.
59
41
TGKB, in Works, VII,
p.
55.
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BACON AND GREATNESS OF STATE 287
press but their poverty'." Bacon gave two reasons why poverty was preferable
to riches. Hardship and scarceness acted as an incentive to conquests and wars.
'For except there be a spur in the state that shall excite and prick them on to
wars, they will but keep their own, and seek no further.' Poverty was the most
forcible stimulus to a new war.43 Moreover, while riches corrupted the
essential qualities of greatness, poverty maintained the same; whereas private
wealth made people effeminate, the people living in poverty had the proper
capacities for true greatness.44
But Bacon made a much more vigorous commitment to these values. He
insisted not merely that money and riches are at best indifferent and at worst
by corrupting virtue highly inimical to the attainment of greatness, but also
that the pursuit of true greatness was a different project from the quest for
wealth and happiness. After presenting the four wrong and the six true points
of greatness he reminded his reader in Of the true greatness of the kingdom of Britain
that certain issues were not treated in the treatise since they did not form a part
of the proposed topic. Bacon was careful to emphasize that his theme was 'the
amplitude and growth of states' and not 'their preservation, happiness, and
all other points of well-being'.45 In De augmentis he argued that there were
three political duties. '[H]appiness and prosperity' of state formed one while
'the extension of empire' formed another - the only one which Bacon was
going to describe in detail. Prosperity was not a part of true greatness; they
were two different projects.46
The other and even more general argument for the unity of Bacon's thought
and for the modernity of his account of the true greatness of states rested on
the conjectured connection between science and greatness. It is undoubtedly
true that the themes of greatness and advancement of learning had certain
things in common. The aim of both consisted in an extension of power. True
greatness dealt with 'the extension of empire', while the end of natural science
was to 'extend the bounds of human empire'. 47 Moreover, Bacon sometimes
found parallels between navigation and science: 'the thorough passage of the
world ... and the advancement of sciences are destined by fate, that is, by
Divine Providence, to meet in the same age'.48
Nevertheless, already in his scientific writings there is evidence which casts
doubt on the attempt to relate Bacon's scientific and political aspirations as
42
TGKB, in Works, VII,
pp.
55-7,
cf. p.
59; Bacon in parliament I7.2.I606/7, in Letters, III, pp.
324-5-
43 TGKB, in Works, VII, p. 59. Closely related to this is Bacon's argument that 'a just fear will
be a just cause of the preventive war', Considerations touching a war with Spain, in Letters, vii, p. 473.
44
Advancement of learning, in Works, III, p. 275; TGKB, in Works, VII, p. 57; Bacon in parliament
I7.2.I606/7, in Letters, III, p. 324.
45 TGKB, in Works, vii, p. 49; cf. TGKE, in Essayes, p. 97. lines 261-3.
46 De augmentis, vii, iii, in Works, V, p. 79.
47
New Atlantis, in Works, III, p. I56. Cf. Novum organum, I, cxxix, in Works, Iv, p. I I4; Instauratio
Magna, in Works, IV, p. 2I; cf. Bock, Staat und Gesellschaft, pp. 42-3, 44.
48 Novum organum, I, xciii, in Works, iv, p. 92; cf. ibid. I, cxiv, in Works, Iv, p. I02; Valerius
Terminus, in Works, III, p. 223; Advancement of learning, in Works, III, pp. 476-7, also p. 340.
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288 MARKKU PELTONEN
closely as many scholars have done. In his short account of the greatness of the
Tudor period, Bacon distinguished between conquests and industries.49 More
importantly, having concluded his extensive portrayal of sciences Bacon
paused at the end of the Advancement of learning to ponder upon the conditions
of his own time which made the third visitation of learning much easier and
which made it possible to surpass the achievements of the ancients. If one of
the underlying features was the progress of navigation, another reason was
that the learned of his own time had more time to spend on their studies than
their ancient colleagues who were 'employed in civil business [negotium] ': the
Greeks because of 'their popular governments' and the Romans because of
'the amplitude of their dominions '50 Apart from contradicting the first book
of the Advancement of learning, where he defended learning by stressing inter alia
the traditional humanist belief in the close proximity between learning and
active life, Bacon here argued that one has to choose between the advancement
of learning and the greatness of one's state.
To confirm this point we have to turn to the qualities and values underlying
the advancement of sciences and the pursuit of true greatness. The kind of life
and the kind of qualities Bacon proposed in his writings on the greatness of
states mark a sharp contrast with the qualities and values inherent in the
promotion of sciences as well as the quest for wealth.5' In one of the most
central six true points of greatness Bacon argued that it consisted in ' the valour
and military disposition of the people it breedeth: and in this, that they make
profession of arms'.52 The same line of thought was even more extensively
explored in the
29th essay. Bacon started his analysis by asserting that 'above
all, for Empire and Greatnesse, it importeth most; That a Nation doe professe
Armes, as their principall Honour, Study, and Occupation'. Without military
disposition there was no quality which could bring about greatness: Romulus
gave a present to the Romans 'That, above all, they should intend Armes;
And then, they should prove the greatest Empire of the World .53 Bacon
summarized his whole argument by emphasizing that 'no Nation, which doth
not directly professe Armes, may looke to have Greatnesse fall into their
Mouths '.54
There were two distinct aspects in Bacon's concept of valour and warlike
disposition. First, the people must have courage and a warlike spirit. Like tiny
grains of mustard seed there were states which had the appearance of small
states, but yet were apt to grow, by virtue of the warlike and courageous spirit
of the people.55 Comparing Spanish and English forces Bacon wrote that 'the
Spaniard's valour lieth in the eye of the looker on; but the English valour lieth
4 The history of Henry VIII, Edward VI, Queen Mary and part of the reign of Queen Elizabeth,
in
Works,
VI, p. i9; cf. Reading on statute of uses
[I600],
in Works, vii, p. 4I6.
5 De augmentis, viii, iii, in Works, vi, p. I I0. I have modified Spedding's translation. See the
original in Works, I, p. 827; Advancement of learning, in
Works, III, p. 476.
51 Cf. in general Box, 'Bacon's Essays', p. 4I. 512 TGKB, in Works, VII, p- 48.
5 TGKE, in Essayes, p. 95. The same story was used by Thomas Digges, Foure
paradoxes,
or
politique discourses (London, I604), p. io8. See Livy, i, xvi. 6-8.
5
TGKE, in Essayes, pp. 95-6.
5
TGKE, in Essayes, p. go.
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BACON AND GREATNESS OF STATE 289
about the soldier's heart'. 56 But it was not enough to possess the spirit. Bacon
firmly endorsed the idea that a thought without an ensuing act was completely
useless. '[A]ll our discourses', he wrote, are 'but the better sort of dreams; for
good wishes, without power to effect, are not much more.'57 Courage and
military disposition were 'but Habilitations towards Armes', but 'what is
Habilitation', Bacon rhetorically asked, 'without Intention and Act? '58
Military virtue was completed by concrete warlike ability and the art of war.
To emphasize the import of his argument Bacon contrasted valour with the
number of soldiers. Paraphrasing Virgil, he pointed out that 'It never troubles
a Wolfe, how many the sheepe be '.59 Moreover, he proceeded to contrast 'the
principal strength of an army' - courageous and stout infantry - with
strongholds, arsenals and artillery. 'All this', Bacon argued, 'is but a Sheep in
a Lions Skin, except the Breed and disposition of the people, be stout and
warlike '60 Finally, Bacon deplored the importance of money in the war. Jerry
Weinberger has argued that contrary to classical doctrine, Bacon regarded
money as a crucial element in warfare; it was 'a perfect substitute for arms'.
Consequently, 'the solution to the problem of universal empire', we are told,
'is not to bend the desire for wealth to the proper health of arms; rather it is
to bend the use of arms to the proper pursuit of wealth, which only the new
learning can make possible.'61 It is, of course, possible to find prima facie
evidence (although Weinberger fails to cite it) in support of this claim.
Teaching George Villiers how the king could avoid civil war Bacon wrote that
'money... is the sinews of war'.62 In i620 Bacon introduced a draft of a
proclamation for summoning a parliament and wrote that 'moneys being the
sinews of war' ' no man is so ignorant' as to think that a successful war could
be waged without 'some large and bountiful help of treasure '63 But when he
set his pen to compose his treatises on true greatness Bacon impetuously
denounced this line of thought and adopted the completely opposite stand.
According to Bacon money was helpful in warfare only if one's enemy had
the same amount of valour, since 'the better monied state will be the better
able to continue the war, and so in the end to prevail '.64 In the case of foreign
56
Considerations touching a war with Spain, in Letters, VII,
p.
499. The mental capacity Bacon once
defined: 'Magnanimity no doubt consisteth in contempt of peril, in contempt of profit, and in
meriting of the times wherein one liveth. ' Mr. Bacon's discourse in the praise of his sovereign, in Letters,
I, p. I 26.
5 Advertisement touching an holy war, in Works, vii, p. I 8; Of great place, in Essayes, pp. 34-5.
5T TGKE, in Essayes, p. 95. 5 TGKE, in Essayes, p. 9I.
60
TGKE, in Essayes, p. 9I; TGKB, in Works, vii,
pp.
59, 48; Considerations touching a war with
Spain, in Letters, VII, p. 494; cf. The case of the post-nati, in Works, viI, p. 66I.
61
Weinberger, Science, faith, and politics, p. 128, in general pp. 125-31.
62
Bacon to George Villiers, n.d., in Letters, VI,
p.
46.
63
Draught of a proclamation for a parliament I8. IO.I620, in Letters, vii, p. 126. At the beginning of
the draft Bacon flatly contradicted his stated principles of true greatness. He wrote that greatness
based on wars and conquests was 'swelling greatness' and claimed that the right kind of greatness
consisted 'in the plantations and improvements of such parts of our dominions as have in former
times been more desolate or uncivil, and in the maintaining of all our loving subjects in general
tranquillity and security, and the other conditions of good government and happy times.'
64
TGKB, in Works, vii,
p.
58.
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290 MARKKU PELTONEN
war, however, this happened extremely rarely; it was only in civil wars that
money played a crucial part. '[C]ivil wars cannot be between people of
differing valour', and therefore 'Pecuniae sunt nervi belli civilis' - Money is the
sinews of civil war.65 In every other case money yielded to valour. In Of the true
greatnesse of the kingdomes and estates Bacon squarely denied his own argument of
the proclamation draft. 'Neither', he maintained, 'is Money the Sinewes of
Warre, (as it is trivially said) where the Sinewes of mens Armes, in Base and
Effeminate People, are failing.'66 It is in this context that we have one of
Bacon's best known references to Machiavelli. 'Neither', he told the
Commons, 'is the authority of Machiavel to be despised, who scorneth the
proverb of estate taken first from a speech of Mucianus, that Moneys are the
sinews of Wars; and saith there are no true sinews of wars but the very sinews
of the arms of valiant men. '67 When Bacon set forth the same maxim in Of the
true greatness of the kingdom of Britain, he added that Machiavelli had perceived
the truth of it with 'his eyes in his own times and country'. The Florentine had
witnessed how an ill-provided French army made 'their passage only by the
reputation of their swords by their sides undrawn, through the whole length
of Italy' without encountering any resistance, in spite, or rather because, of
the fact that Italy was 'at that time abounding in wealth after a long peace'.
'But', Bacon concluded, 'it was not the experience of that time alone, but the
records of all times that do concur to falsify that conceit, that wars are decided
not by the sharpest sword but by the greatest purse. '68 The Roman empire was
not destroyed by 'some constellation or fatal revolution of time', but by the
effeminacy of their former valour.69
Since military disposition and the actual art of war were indispensable for
every state which aimed at greatness, warfare lay at the heart of Bacon's
concept of true greatness. If a state wanted to become great it had of necessity
to wage wars. 'For it is necessary', Bacon announced, 'in a state that shall
grow and inlarge, that there be that composition which the poet speaketh of,
Multis utile bellum. '70 From the importance of war it followed that peace
-
a
continuous peace at least
-
was inimical to true greatness. A long period of
peace destroyed all the qualities and values of a military disposition. Since
valour, the indispensable quality of greatness, was closely connected with
warfare, its direct opposite - effeminacy - was the quality of a declining state
and was closely linked with peace. Bacon once reminded the judges of the
King's Bench that England was not an 'effeminate' state, but its laws gave
priority to arms and military service.71 This sharp dichotomy of true greatness
65
TGKB, in Works, vii,
p.
56.
66
TGKE, in Essayes, p. 9I; cf. Lowe's case of tenues, in Works, viI, p. 548.
67
Bacon in parliament I7.2.I606/7, in Letters, III,
pp.
323-4.
68
TGKB, in Works, VII,
pp.
55-6.
69
TGKB, in Works, vii,
p.
53.
70
TGKB, in Works, VII,
p.
59.
71
Lowe's case of tenures, in Works, vii,
p.
548; see also The case of the post-nati, in Works, vii, pp.
664-5; On the fortunate memory of the Queen Elizabeth, in Works, VI, p. 307; Of vicissitude of things, in
Essayes, p. 175; Considerations touching a war with Spain, in Letters, vii, p. 483; TGKB, in Works, vii,
p. 55; Notes of a speech concerning a war with Spain, in Letters, VII, p. 463; Draught of a proclamation for
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BACON AND GREATNESS OF STATE 291
and peace increased, first of all, the contrast between true greatness and
commercialism. Since warlike disposition was the necessary quality of a truly
great state, effeminacy was the natural quality of a merchant-like state.
England was not, Bacon emphasized, a 'merchant-like' state, pondering on
the 'husbandlike considerations of profit', but a state which pursued true
greatness and regarded military disposition as its essential quality.
More importantly, since peace was inimical to true greatness, the notion
that the most crucial quality for a great state was a warlike nature clashed
directly with Bacon's idea of the advancement of learning.72 In the famous
letter sent with a part of Instauratio magna to Toby Matthew Bacon described
himself: 'Myself am like the miller of Huntingdon, that was wont to pray for
peace amongst the willows; for while the winds blew, the wind-mills wrought,
and the water-mill was less customed. So I see that controversies of religion
must hinder the advancement of sciences. '7 While true greatness demanded
a warlike disposition and consequently also wars, science made its advancement
only in peace. Since Bacon conceived science as a co-operative, international
enterprise discarding political boundaries, it required universal peace. 'Nor is
mine a trumpet', said Bacon in his call for the co-operative advancement of
science, 'which summons and excites men to cut each other to pieces with
mutual contradictions, or to quarrel and fight with one another; but rather to
make peace between themselves, and turning with united forces against the
Nature of Things, to storm and occupy her castles and strongholds, and extend
the bounds of human empire. '74 Whilst revealing the similitudes between the
pursuit of the advancement of science and the quest for true greatness, this
passage shows the irreconcilable gap between their methods. The chief aim of
both enterprises was the enlargement of power, and the former could be
expressed in the military terms of the latter. But these analogies fail to bridge
the gap between the acquisition of an empire through warfare and the
advancement of science through permanent peace.
Towards the end of the Advancement of learning Bacon argued that one of the
reasons why his own times were so conducive to learning was 'the present
disposition of these times at this instant to peace'.7 Two years later in I607
he expressed the same firm belief that his own age would witness the
advancement of learning, since '
[t]he balance of power' in Europe would
maintain peace which 'is fair weather for the sciences to flourish'.76 Although
this was a shortsighted forecast, he repeated essentially the same argument in
a parliament, in Letters, vii, p. 124; Memorial of Henry Prince of Wales, in Works, vi, p. 328; Gesta
Grayorum, in Letters, I, p. 333. 72 Cf. Liljeqvist, Om Francis Baconsfilosofi, p. 335.
7 Bacon to Toby Matthew, IO.IO.I609, in Letters, iv, pp. 137-8.
7 De augmentis, iv, i, in Works, IV, pp. 372-3.
"
Advancement of learning, in Works, III, pp. 476-7; cf. however, Of the interpretation of nature, in
Letters, III, p. 86.
76 Thoughts and conclusions, in Benjamin Farrington, The philosopy of Francis Bacon: an essay on its
development from 1603 to 1609 (Liverpool I964), pp. 94-5; original, Works, III, p. 613.
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292 MARKKU PELTONEN
the De augmentis in I623.77 Bacon's expressed belief in the advancement of
science through universal peace illustrates extremely well how far away from
each other were his search for the progress in science and his idea of true
greatness. Science was an international pursuit, progressing only in universal
peace. The quest for greatness was its diametrical opposite; it was a purely
national undertaking demanding not only a warlike disposition, but
continuous wars.
Although valour, courage and a warlike spirit were by far the most essential
characteristics of a state which aimed at empire, these qualities could hardly
be maintained and their ultimate object scarcely accomplished without the
other qualities enunciated in Of the true greatness of the kingdom of Britain. The
very first in the list of the six true qualities, and the only one which is treated
in detail, was 'a fit situation'.78 This consisted of three aspects, all of which
were perfectly applicable to the kingdom of Britain (although the unfinished
treatise ends before Bacon reached the section of application). The region of
a great monarchy should be 'of hard access', but at the same time 'in the
midst of many regions'. Finally, the region needed to be 'maritime'.79 This
property brings us to another practical quality of a truly great state. It was
crucial, Bacon maintained, that a state possessed 'the commandment of the
sea '.8 The importance laid on the navy has been interpreted as a significant
factor in the modern Baconian 'imperialism'. It is arguable, however, that
Bacon's emphasis on the commandment of the sea points less at commerce
and more at warfare. What he chiefly had in mind was, as he explained in Of
the true greatnesse of the kingdomes and estates, that many times ' Sea-Fights' have
determined the whole course of a war. Furthermore, a state which commanded
the sea, could decide whether to fight a war or not.8'
The third indispensable practical feature for a great state was a large
population. Although the valour of soldiers was more important than their
number, it was extremely difficult to achieve durable success without a large
population. '[T]rue greatness', Bacon pointed out, 'consisteth essentially in
population and breed of men', and he employed the same principle in his
comparison of Spanish and English resources. 82 One of the methods of
increasing the population was to send out colonies. When he was offering
advice about colonies Bacon directed his attention to the practical and
empirical problems.83 But in his writings concerning true greatness he
De augmentis, viii, iii, in Works, v, p. I I0. 78 TGKB, in Works, vii, p. 48.
T TGKB, in Works, vii, p. 62. 80 TGKB, in Works, vii, p. 49.
81 TGKE, in Essayes, pp. 97-8; Considerations touching a war with Spain, in Letters, vii, pp. 499-500;
Notes of a speech concerning a war with Spain, in Letters, vii, p. 464. It is of some importance to notice
that those authors, who emphasized the maritime situation for commercial reasons, derived their
discussion in most cases from Aristotle's Politics vii, 6, 1327aI l-28, where both aspects of the
maritime situation - defence and transportation - are equally emphasized.
82 TGKB, in Works, VII, p. 49; TGKE, in Essayes, p. 94; Considerations touching a war with Spain,
in Letters, VII, p.
499;
cf. e.g. Observations on a libel
[1592],
in Letters, i, p. 159.
83 Bacon to the Earl of Essex, n.d. [March 1599], in Letters, II, pp. 129-33; Bacon to Robert
Cecil, n.d. [I602], in Letters, III, pp. 5o-I; Bacon in parliament, 17.2.I606/7, in Letters, iII, pp.
312-13; Certain considerations touching the plantation in Ireland, in Letters, IV, pp. I I6-26; Bacon to
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BACON AND GREATNESS OF STATE 293
broadened his perspective, regarded colonization as a means of increasing the
number of inhabitants and presented Rome as the best example of this
policy.84 The second procedure in attaining a large population was to form
leagues with other states. The example of Rome had taught this traditional
lesson. She became great partly because she was so conducive to having other
states as its allies. According to Bacon, Rome was the only state which had
made the right kind of alliances; in her leagues Rome was always 'the formost'
and left 'it to none Other to have the Honour '.85 The failure of forming any
lasting alliances was one of the weaknesses of Spain. 'I see,' Bacon claimed,
'much matter of quarrel and jealousy, but little of amity and trust towards
Spain, almost in all other estates.'86
The most important method of increasing the number of inhabitants was,
however, to admit strangers. This line of thought appeared first in I603 in
Bacon's discourse on union where he declared: 'So likewise the authority of
Nicholas Machiavel seemeth not to be contemned; who enquiring the causes
of the growth of the Roman empire, doth give judgement, there was not one
greater than this, that the state did so easily compound and incorporate with
strangers '*87 A few years later in parliament, whilst defending the natural-
ization of the Scots, he attempted to prove 'a position of estate, collected out
of the records of time' that the union of the kingdoms must be fortified by a
further union of naturalization by presenting the example of Rome and
Sparta.88 Naturalization had been opposed amongst other things by the
argument that England could not sustain such a surcharge of people. Bacon
answered to this with a rhetorical question: what is the most dangerous effect
of this surcharge? 'Look into all stories', he argued in his own reply, 'and you
shall find it none other than some honourable war for the enlargement of their
borders, which find themselves pent, upon foreign parts; which inconvenience,
in a valorous and warlike nation, I know not whether I should term an
inconvenience or no'. 89 In i6o8 Bacon delivered his argument in Calvin's case
and urged that the Scots born afterJames' accession to the English throne were
naturalized Englishmen by the law of England. In one of his proofs Bacon
declared that those states which had been fit for the empire, 'have been ever
George Villiers, n.d., in Letters, vi, pp. 49-52; Bacon's speech to Sir William Jones, in Letters, vi,
p. 205; Bacon in parliament, 3.2.I620/I, in Letters, vii, p. 175; Ofplantations, in Essayes, pp. Io6-8.
84 TGKE, in Essayes, p. 94; The case of the post-nati, in Works, vii, p. 66i. Cf. D. B. Quinn,
'Renaissance influences in English colonization', Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, xxvi
(I 976),
73-93,
and N. Canny, 'The ideology of English colonization: Ireland to America', William
and Mary quarterly, 3rd. ser. xxx
(1973),
575-98, for the English debate of colonies and its
renaissance background.
85 TGKE, in Essayes, p. 96; Discourse touching the union, in Letters, III, pp. 93-5; A draught of a
proclamation, in Letters, III, pp. 235-6; Certain considerations touching the plantation in Ireland, in Letters,
iv, pp. II6-17.
86 Considerations touching a war with Spain, in Letters, vii, pp. 50o-i; cf. Notes of a speech concerning
a war with Spain, in Letters, VII, p. 462, and especially p. 464.
87
Discourse touching the union, in Letters, III, p. 96, see also p. 95.
88
Bacon in parliament 17.2.I606/7, in Letters, III, p. 319. 89 Letters, III,
p.
313-
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294 MARKKU PELTONEN
liberal in point of naturalization'. And since England was a 'magnanimous
nation', the law of England opens 'her lap to receive in people to be
naturalized'.90 The same argument found its way to Bacon's treatises on true
greatness. Since Sparta did not naturalize foreigners it could be seen that after
'they had embraced a larger empire, they were presently surcharged'. But
Rome, by virtue of its policy of naturalization became ' the greatest
Monarchy' 91
A central argument for the connection between Baconian science and his
writings on the greatness of states is the claim that his idea of true greatness
constitutes an essential part of the alleged voyage to the New Atlantis. It has
been claimed that the society described in Bacon's utopia not merely
represents the ideal society of his scientific writings but is also the embodiment
of his idea of a truly great state. According to White it was through
'imperialism' that the modern utopia of the New Atlantis was to be reached.
Weinberger and Whitney embrace the same view, while Martin maintains
that the New Atlantis is a description of Bacon's 'vision of an imperial
monarchy sustained by natural philosophy'.92 Nevertheless, I find it difficult
to endorse this thesis. The values and qualities emphasized in the New Atlantis
stand in complete contrast to those lying at the heart of true greatness.93 The
island of Bensalem is of'solitary situation', and the Europeans of the story who
took rescue there wondered how Christianity had reached 'so remote' an
island 'divided by vast and unknown seas' from the rest of the world.94 As we
have seen, one of the features of the fit situation of a great state was that it was
'seated in no extreme angle, but commodiously in the midst of many regions'.
Bacon illustrated this by the examples of Babylon and its successors which
were situated 'in the very heart of the world'.9'
Secondly, the society of Bensalem is abundantly described as having
reached the ultimate state of happiness. The travellers agreed that ' there was
no wordly thing on earth more worthy to be known than the state of that
happy land' and they called it 'this happy island ,96 The lawgiver of Bensalem
- Solamona - ' was wholly bent to make his kingdom and people happy'. And
when deciding the laws of the island he recalled 'into his memory the happy
and flourishing estate wherein this land then was', and how 'rare fertility of
soil' it contained. His only intention was, therefore,
' to give perpetuity to that
which was in his time so happily established'.97 In his treatises on true
greatness Bacon had ranked
'
the fruitfulness of the soil' among the erroneous
points of greatness and had defined that his theme did not include
'
happiness,
and all other points of well-being'. Neither the happiness, nor the fertility of
soil in Bensalem conformed with the attributes of true greatness.
90
The case of the post-nati, in Works, vii, pp. 664-5, see also p. 66i.
91
TGKB, in Works, vii, pp. 52-3; TGKE, in Essayes, pp. 93-4.
92
White, Peace among the willows, p. 9I; Martin, 'Knowledge is power', pp. 206-12; Weinberger
(ed.), The great instauration, p. xviii; idem, Science, faith, and politics, pp. 132-3; Whitney, Francis
Bacon and modernity, p. I98. 9' Cf. Box, 'Bacon's Essays', 43.
9'
New Atlantis, in Works, III, pp. 136, 137. 9' TGKB, in Works, vii, pp. 63-4.
96 New Atlantis, in Works, iII, pp. 136, 139.
9'
New Atlantis, in Works, iII, p. 144, cf. p.
149.
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BACON AND GREATNESS OF STATE 295
Moreover, in the course of the story of the New Atlantis we are reminded
several times of the crucial historical fact that the inhabitants of Bensalem did
not admit many strangers into their island. One of the first pieces of
information the travellers were told was 'our rare admission of strangers '.98
Since Bensalem was able to maintain itself 'without any aid at all of the
foreigners', king Solamona enacted 'amongst his other fundamental laws'
strict prohibitions 'touching entrance of strangers'.99 This was a diametric
opposite to what Bacon argued in his writings on true greatness. It was one of
his most crucial arguments that those states which had been fit for empire, had
been liberal in granting naturalization.
Julian Martin has attempted to show that in the story of the New Atlantis one
of the methods of gaining a large population - colonization - is present.
According to him, Solamona pointed out that 'many ships would be best
employed not only by fishing and trading, but also " by sailing into some small
islands " and
putting
them
"
under the crown and laws of this State .
"'
This
Martin takes as an endorsement of a colonizing policy, and it, therefore, forms
a significant argument for linking the New Atlantis with true greatness. It is, of
course, true that colonies were an important feature of Bacon's idea of true
greatness. But Martin's quotations are taken out of their context and his
explication is a serious distortion of Solamona's message. The passage reads:
There reigned in this island, about nineteen hundred years ago, a King, ... his name
was Solamona: and we esteem him as the lawgiver of our nation. This king... was
wholly bent to make his kingdom and people happy. He therefore, taking into
consideration how sufficient and substantive this land was to maintain itself without
any aid at all of the foreigner; being five thousand six hundred miles in circuit, and of
rare fertility of soil in the greatest part thereof; and finding also the shipping of this
country might be plentifully set on work, both by fishing and by transportations from
port to port, and likewise by sailing unto some small islands that are not far from us,
and are under the crown and laws of this state; and recalling into his memory the
happy and flourishing estate wherein this land then was, so as it might be a thousand
ways altered to the worse, but scarce any one way to the better; thought nothing
wanted to his noble and heroical intentions, but only (as far as human foresight might
reach) to give perpetuity to that which was in his time so happily established. Therefore
amongst his other fundamental laws of this kingdom, he did ordain the interdicts and
prohibitions which we have touching entrance of strangers; which at that time (though
it was after the calamity of America) was frequent; doubting novelties, and commixture
of manners.'01
The argument of the whole passage is, of course, that Solamona was making
the fundamental laws of Bensalem, and since he regarded Bensalem as a
wholly self-sufficient, happy society, it was safest neither to admit strangers nor
even to conduct any trade with them. Part of the argument aimed at showing
that Bensalem was really self-sufficient was constituted by the fact that even
if it did not have any foreign trade it could still maintain its shipping, since this
was necessary for fishing and transportations to different parts of the island
98
New Atlantis, in Works, iii, p. I136. JNew Atlantis, in Works, iII, p. 144.
100
Martin, 'Knowledge is power', p. 206.
101
New Atlantis, in Works, iII, p. I44-
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296 MARKKU PELTONEN
and finally to sail to the small islands which belonged already to Bensalem.
The significance of these islands in the argument is clearly linked with the
maintenance of shipping, not - as is the case of colonies in Bacon's writings on
true greatness - with the attainment of a large population. This latter principle
is in fact denied in the same passage. Moreover, contrary to Martin's
implication the small islands were already under Bensalem's suzerainty; they
were part of Bensalem's society, not targets for future colonies.
The final and most crucial difference between Bensalem and a truly great
state is that the history of the former is practically completely devoid of the
chief ingredient of the latter - war. The only occasion in the course of the story
of Bensalem where this issue is raised is the reign of King Altabin. This
coincided with the efflorescence of the great Atlantis (that is America) and the
mighty and proud kingdom of Coya sent a great expedition to Bensalem. The
island society was saved by its king, Altabin, described as 'a wise man and a
great warrior'. Showing his talents in the art of war, Altabin cut off the land-
forces of Coya from their ships, entrapped both with overwhelming forces and
enforced them 'to render themselves without striking stroke'. But when the
navy as well as the land forces of Coya were at his mercy, Altabin contented
himself 'only with their oath that they should no more bear arms against him'
and 'dismissed them all in safety'.102 Partly because the great Atlantis was
destroyed by 'the Divine Revenge' less than a hundred years after this
occasion, and mainly because the Bensalem society was organized as a self-
contained unit, we are not told of any other warlike incidents. This society
governed both by internal and external peace and tranquillity is in marked
contrast with the state which aimed at true greatness. The crucial quality of
the latter was military spirit and warlike disposition and to accomplish its
desired end it had to conduct continuous wars. The exclusion of itself from the
rest of the world into peaceful perpetual existence is hardly compatible with
the state which searched for true greatness by martial enterprises.
If true greatness was to be achieved by a large population exhibiting valour
and warlike spirit in martial enterprises, the question can still be raised, how
can we guarantee not merely a predictable occurrence but also a more lasting
existence of these values. It is this issue which Bacon treated toward the end
of Of the true greatnesse of the kingdomes and estates and to which he devoted the
two last points of true greatness in Of the true greatness of the kingdom of Britain.
In the former he offered a practical solution to the problem. The people, he
pointed out, must not 'be too much broken of it [danger], if they shall be
preserved in vigour'. In order to preserve their military disposition the people
should continuously be employed in warlike exercise. Bacon boldly declared:
'No Body can be healthfull without Exercise, neither Naturall Body, nor
Politique: And certainly, to a Kingdome or Estate, a Just and Honourable
Warre, is the true Exercise. A Civill Warre, indeed, is like the Heat of a
Feaver; But a Forraine Warre, is like the Heat of Exercise, and serveth to keepe
102
New
Atlantis, in
Works, iii, p. 142.
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BACON AND GREATNESS OF STATE 297
the Body in Health: For in a Slothfull Peace, both Courages will effeminate,
and Manners Corrupt.'103
In Of the true greatness of the kingdom of Britain, Bacon concentrated on the
social and political factors underlying a warlike disposition and consequently
true greatness. Although some scholars have argued that for Bacon the strong
monarchy guaranteed the coming of true greatness, Bacon himself was almost
completely silent upon the role of the king. In his writings concerning true
greatness, there is no mention either of the king's power or his necessary
qualities and characteristics.'04 In the first place, it was the business of
'Counsellours and Statesmen' to 'make a Small State Great'.105 Furthermore,
the main emphasis in his treatises on true greatness is placed on the virtues and
qualities of the people. The omission of the king's role and the bestowal of a
prominent part to the people in the attainment of true greatness led Bacon to
emphasize the active role of the people. This becomes particularly apparent in
his discussion of the social and political elements behind true greatness. It is
especially here that he endorsed some of the central notions of classical
republicanism. One of the solid and principal points of greatness was 'that
every common subject by the poll be fit to make a soldier, and not only certain
conditions or degrees of men .106 The practical dimension of this principle had
much in common with the idea of a large population. The great number of
inhabitants was itself negligible, if the majority of them failed to act as soldiers.
But the idea had also its ideological dimension.
By stressing that every subject should act as a soldier, Bacon was embracing
the classical concept of the armed citizen. He agreed with 'the general opinion
of men of best judgement in the wars' and pointed out that the infantry
constituted the nerve of an army - it was 'the principal strength of an
army'107 Moreover, although it was crucial that the people were warlike, and
exercised arms as their principal duty, it was even more important to avoid the
use of a professional army. Bacon could argue that the people had to 'professe
Armes, as their principall Honour, Study, and Occupation', but he also
stressed that they must never become 'Professed Souldiers '.108 If a state relied
on 'Mercenary Forces', it would never achieve long-lasting greatness.109 To
act as a soldier was a way in which a subject took part in the public life of his
political community and, therefore, contributed positively to the common
good and the achievement of true greatness. By identifying courage with the
people Bacon endorsed the republican idea that the crucial part of the active
role of the people was their martial character. Warfare was the area where the
103
TGKE, in Essayes,
pp.
95, 97. The maxim appeared the first time already in Observations on
a libel, in Letters, i, p. 174.
104
The issue of king's power occurred towards the end of TGKE where Bacon remarked that
'it is in the power of Princes, or Estates, to adde Amplitude and Greatnesse to their Kingdomes'.
This was done 'by introducing such Ordinances, Constitutions, and Customes, as we have now
touched'. Essayes, p. 99. 105 TGKE, in Essayes, p. 89.
106
TGKB,
in Works, VII,
pp.
48-9.
107
History of the reign of Henry VII, in Works, vi, p. 95; TGKE, in Essayes, pp. 92-3.
108
TGKE, in Essayes, p. 95; De augmentis, VIII, iii,
in Works, v, p. 84.
109
TGKE, in Essayes, p. 92; De augmentis, VIII, iii, in Works, v, p. 8i.
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298 MARKKU PELTONEN
people demonstrated their public spirit - valour. The powers of fortune were
exceptionally great in wars. But only the effeminate states were under her
spell, and those states which had a warlike populace and a strong military
discipline could overcome fortune."0 Bacon completely approved of Xeno-
phon's saying that 'we have now but those two things left, our arms and our
virtue; and if we yield up our arms, how shall we make use of our virtue?""
The final feature of Bacon's analysis is his social argument that the society
should be organized in a way which would enable the people to perform their
military role. To ensure that the people were capable of cultivating valour,
certain material conditions should be met. Bacon opened his analysis by
stressing that sedentary and in-door arts were not conducive to a military
character. Instead most of the people should be representatives of manly arts
like smiths, masons and carpenters. This argument by itself was a reiteration
of a commonplace, derived essentially from Vegetius, that certain professions
made better soliders than others simply by increasing strength and capacity of
enduring pain and hardship."2
But this argument carried with it two closely related but distinct ideological
aspects. First, it led Bacon to emphasize the relatively free position of
farmers. To guarantee that the community had a good infantry and that the
subjects were able to carry arms, a large 'middle people' were required, men
'bred not in a servile or indigent fashion, but in some free and plentiful
manner '."l This was secured by inhibiting the growth of the nobility whilst
at the same time ensuring that farmers could maintain the ownership of their
land. In his famous example of Henry VII's land policy, Bacon made a
comparison of England with France and Italy. In the latter there were only
either 'noblesse or peasantry' and, therefore, a good cavalry but not a real
infantry. Since in England, however, due to the prudent landpolicy of Henry
VII the plough was kept 'in the Hands of the Owners and not mere Hirelings',
she had a proper infantry. It was essential that the nobility did not 'multiply
too fast', because that would entail the transformation of 'the Common
Subject
' from free farmer to 'Base Swaine ' and to 'the Gentlemans Labourer '.
In his natural analogy Bacon pointed out that 'if you leave your staddles too
thick, you shall never have cleane Underwood, but Shrubs and Bushes'.114 If
a state wanted to become great, it should be organized in a way which would
110
Of the colours of good and evil, in Works, vii,
p.
79; Character of Julius Caesar, in Works, vi, p.
344.
...
Advancement of learning, in Works, iII, p. 3 I 3. For Bacon's source see Emil Wolff, Francis Bacon
und seine Quellen (Berlin, 1913), II, pp. 27-8. Cf. Considerations touching a war with Spain, in Letters, vii,
pp.
482-3, 495.
112 Vegetius, The fovre bookes ... contayninge a plaine forme and perfect knowledge of martiall
policye ... Translated by
John
Sadler (London, 1572), I, 7, fo- 3r-v-
113 History of the reign of Henry VII, in Works, VI, p. 95; cf. e.g. Machiavelli, The art of war, in The
chief works and others, translated by Allan Gilbert
(3
vols., Durham, N.C., i965) II, pp. 598-9, 602,
625.
114 History of the reign of Henry VII, in Works, vi, p. 95, in general pp. 93-5; TGKE, in Essayes,
pp. 92-3.
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BACON AND GREATNESS OF STATE 299
enable its people to perform their main function - the participation in military
affairs - and this could be achieved, if the people could retain their freedom
through owning their farming land. Underlying Bacon's argument was the old
Roman and Machiavellian idea of free and sturdy farmers forming the
backbone of the militia. Not only did James Harrington ground his social
analysis in the Oceana on Bacon's interpretation, but Bacon's Of the true
greatnesse of the kingdomes and estates provided together with Machiavelli the
whole point of departure of the book."5
The second ideological feature of Bacon's analysis derives from his claim
that sedentary and in-door arts 'have, in their Nature, a Contrariety, to a
Military disposition'. Instead of being hardworking, warlike people were 'a
little idle'. It followed that if the people were to retain their military
disposition and fulfil their duty as active members of their community they
should abstain from a direct involvement in economic life. Bacon thus
accepted a central social argument of the Machiavellian tradition: the citizens
must be economically independent and they must not be involved in economic
activities. He recognized the fact that 'the Ancient States of Sparta, Athens,
Rome, and others' had solved the problem by using slaves in 'those
Manufactures'. The economic independence of the people in the ancient
societies was based on the full-scale exploitation of slavery. This solution was
not, however, applicable in the Europe of his own times, since 'the Christian
Law' prohibited slavery, and Bacon had to invent another solution. The only
one he could think of was to leave 'those Arts chiefly to Strangers '*116
Finally, in the fourth and last point of true greatness, concerned with the
qualities of the people, Bacon addressed the government of the community.
True greatness, he maintained, 'consisteth in the temper of the government fit
to keep subjects in heart and courage, and not to keep them in the condition
of servile vassals '.117 Bacon thus drew a sharp distinction between the 'servile'
people and the people capable of achieving true greatness not merely in the
material but also in the political area. He attributed to the organizing of the
government the main responsibility for avoidance of the servitude of the
people. Defending the naturalization of the Scots, Bacon told the House of
Commons that Scots were like Englishmen. One of their chief common traits
was that they were 'not so tractable in government'. But this quality was 'a
thing incident to all martial people', as was evident 'by the example of the
Romans'. They were like 'fierce horses'
-
they were 'of better service than
others, yet are they harder to guide and manage'.
118
Although Bacon did not elaborate the particular issue of servitude in his
unfinished tract of the true greatness of Britain, the same issue and polarity
appeared in his other writings. In An advertisement touching an holy war he pointed
out that the slavery of the people could be equated with tyranny while its
opposite consisted in nobles, gentlemen and freemen."9 But what did Bacon
115
The common-wealth of Oceana, sig.
Br-v, pp. 39-40. 116 TGKE,
in
Essayes, p. 95.
117
TGKB, in Works, vii, p- 49-
118
Bacon in Parliament
I7.2.I606/7,
in
Letters, iii,
p.
3I5.
119 Works, VII, p.
22.
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300 MARKKU PELTONEN
mean by 'freemen'? In A brief discourse touching the union of England and Scotland,
he noted that laws which formed a principal part of the union fell into three
parts: laws, manners, and freedoms. Although in Calvin's case in r6o8 Bacon
was to argue that the liberties of the Romans were 'the devices commonly of
popular or free estates' and, therefore, 'unfit for monarchies' which granted
unconditional citizenship,'20 he employed exactly the same Roman liberties in
A brief discourse to define the freedoms of the Englishmen. According to Bacon,
the Romans had had four particular liberties. The first one,
'Jus
Connubii', was
out of use in Bacon's time, since marriage was open between diverse nations.
But the other three had still an accurate equivalent in England. The right of
citizenship,
'Jus
Civitatis', answered to naturalization. The last two were the
most interesting, however. While the Romans' liberty
'Jus
Suffragii'
' answereth to the voice in Parliament, or voice of election of such as have voice
in Parliament', the Roman
'Jus
Petitionis answereth to place in counsel and
office'.'2' Bacon defined the basic political capacities of the Englishman,
sitting in parliament and giving counsel, with the help of Roman liberties.
What was Bacon doing in this argument? The interpretation of the Roman
policy of naturalization as the proper pattern for the Anglo-Scottish union and
the definition of the fundamental spheres of the political activity of the
Englishman with the help of the Roman model, furnished Bacon with an
argument against those who expressed fears for Scottish participation in
English offices. This was one of the most heated political issues associated with
the union, and many an Englishman was apprehensive that Scots would fill
their vacant offices.'22 By showing that the capacity to bear office and have
voice in parliament belonged to the liberties which were granted in the act of
naturalization, Bacon was able to argue that the bestowal of these freedoms
followed from the complete union.'23 Expressing the same ideas in the House
of Commons for the defence of the general naturalization of Scots in England,
Bacon informed his colleagues that ' all ability and capacity is either of private
interest of meum and tuum, or of public service', and proceeded to point out that
public service 'consisteth chiefly either in Voice, or in Office'.124 It was a
central feature of the English political system that the people retained their
fundamental capacity to take part in the political life of their community.
Although the Roman liberties were crucial for Bacon's general argument in
favour of the union, they carried with them a contention of a wider ideological
importance. It was only through the exhibition of the people's virtue that true
greatness could be attained and this entailed a community where the political
conditions for their participation in the public life of their community were
fulfilled. This belief clearly emerged in Of the true greatnesse of the kingdomes and
estates where Bacon emphasized the importance of a large population. As far
120 Works,
vii,
p. 649.
121
Discourse on the union of the kingdoms, in Letters, in, p. 97; cf. The case of the
post-nati,
in
Works,
vii, p. 66i. 122 Levack, The formation of the British state, p. 6o,
in
general pp. 59-62.
123
Essentially the same argument was used e.g. by Thomas Craig, De unione regnorum Britanniae
tractatus, ed. C. Sanford Terry (Edinburgh, I909), pp. 329-53, especially pp. 330-I, 344, 351-2,
437_45.
124 Bacon in parliament 17.2.I606/7, in Letters, III, p. 309.
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BACON AND GREATNESS OF STATE 30I
as a large population was concerned, the Romans provided the best model to
be imitated; they not only granted foreigners the rights of commerce, of
marriage and of inheritance, but they also gave them the right of voting, and
the right of bearing office. Since they so generously conferred these basic
political capacities to foreigners, the Romans 'grew to the greatest
Monarchy'."25 The lesson Bacon drew from the Roman example was obvious.
The most fundamental requisites for performing one's public duty, for
preserving and even enhancing the common good and thus for advancing the
true greatness of one's community were to have a voice in parliament and a
place in council.
It is of some importance in this context to note that although Bacon was, of
course, a loyal supporter of the English monarchy he was sometimes ready to
acclaim republican governments. In his essay Of nobility he maintained that in
republics the counsellors were not selected on the basis of lineage but of merits.
In republics 'Mens Eyes are upon the Businesse, and not upon the Persons; Or
if upon the Persons, it is for the Businesse sake, as fittest, and not for Flags and
Pedigree'. The idea of meritocracy materialized in republics; 'the Switzers
last well', argued Bacon, because 'Utility is their Bond, and not Respects'. For
similar reasons '[t]he united Provinces of the Low Countries, in their
Government, excell'.126 The idea underlying the emphasis of participation
and meritocracy was to the effect that the common good must be placed before
everything else. This belief recurred throughout Bacon's writings. Although in
normal circumstances the law 'chargeth no man with default where the act is
compulsory and not voluntary', necessity was no excuse, 'if the act that should
deliver a man out of the necessity be against the commonwealth'. A private
man must, in other words, possess the willingness to place the public good
above his own private interests. 127
Bacon was well aware of the fact that there was inevitably a conflict between
the private and public good. In his essay Of the true greatnesse of the kingdomes and
estates, he argued that many counsellors gained favour in ways which deserved
' no better Name then Fidling', because these arts were ' gracefull to themselves
onely' and not 'to the Weale and Advancement of the State which they
serve'*128 Instead of trifling away one's life in duels, a man must offer and
sacrifice it 'to honourable services, public merits, good causes, and noble
adventures', since only those who 'Sacrifice themselves, to Death or Danger,
for the Good of their Countrey' win exceptionally great honour.'29 When the
125
TGKE, in Essayes, p. 94; De augmentis, viii, iii, in Works, v, p. 83.
126
Of nobility, in Essayes,
p.
41. See also TGKE, in Essayes, p. 92. Cf. Thomas Digges, Foure
paradoxes, pp.
89-go.
127
Maxims of the law, in Works, vii,
pp.
343, 345. Cf. De augmentis, vii, i, in Works, v,
pp.
7-15;
A view of the
differences
in question betwixt the King's Bench and the Council in the Marches [ I 607], in Letters,
III, p. 379; Character of Julius Caesar, in Works, VI, pp. 34I-5.
128 Essayes, pp.
89-go.
Cf. Advancement of learning, in Works, in, pp. 278-9, 310; Offortune, in
Essayes, p. 123. Orsini, Bacone e Machiavelli, pp. 109-17. See, however, Of wisedomefor a mans selfe,
in Essayes, pp. 74-5.
129
Charge touching duels, in Letters, IV,
p.
401; Of honour and reputation, in Essayes, p.
i65.
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302 MARKKU PELTONEN
Earl of Essex was about to leave for Ireland in I599, Bacon wrote to him
saying 'how great the honour is, to keep and defend the approaches or avenues
of this kingdom, I hear many discourse'; then he went on to maintain that the
enemy Essex was going to meet - 'being but a rebel and a savage' - did not
diminish the honour of the service, since, as Bacon put it, 'I see the justest
triumphs that the Romans in their greatness did obtain ... were of such an
enemy as this; that is people barbarous and not reduced to civility'.130
Seventeen years later Bacon employed the same scale of values in advising the
future Duke of Buckingham. 'I do not see', he wrote, 'but you may think your
private fortunes established; and therefore it is now time that you should refer
your actions chiefly to the good of your sovereign and your country', because
' men are born ... not to cram in their
fortunes,
but to exercise their virtues
131
The art of self-advancement - the architecture of fortune - was, therefore, ' an
inferior work'; the people, in other words, must set their private good aside
and dedicate themselves to the common good.'32
In De augmentis Bacon criticized those writers who devoted their attention to
extolling the achievements of the Roman empire and who considered them
unsurpassable. Instead of simply admiring the past accomplishments the
attention should be directed to the future. 'But what avails this consideration
[of the extension of an empire]', he lamented, 'seeing that the Roman is
supposed to have been the last of earthly monarchies'. 133 Although Bacon
seems here to depart from the Machiavellian tradition, this is not necessarily
the case. What was at stake in this passage - which might very well be an
allusion to Machiavelli - was not the means and methods of the acquisition of
civic greatness, but simply the degree of confidence in the actual attainment
of this greatness. The classical republicans supposed that because of the
ultimate similarity of human nature, ancient history had an important lesson
to teach, and the purpose of the admiration of the Roman republic was to seek
practical guidance. Bacon completely approved of this general implication. It
was from history, he maintained, that practical lessons for political life could
be drawn. Although it was, as he put it, possible that 'the conclusion of
experience from the time past to the time present will not be sound and
perfect',134 in general, precedents of former ages could be employed since
'states and commonwealths have common accidents'.'13 When revealing his
idea of true greatness to the Commons, Bacon contended that 'the time past
is a pattern of the time to come'.'36 '[S]ome schoolmen', he urged in I624,
'
(otherwise reverend men, yet fitter to guide penknives than swords)' were of
130
Bacon to the Earl of Essex, n.d. [1599], in Letters, ii, p. 131.
131
Bacon to George Villiers, 12.8.I6I6, in Letters, vi, p. 6.
132
Advancement of learning, in Works, iii, p. 456. Cf. De augmentis, vii, ii, in Works, v, p. i8; Of
honour and reputation, in Essayes, p.
i65.
133 De augmentis, viii, iii, in Works, v, p. 87; cf. TGKE, in Essayes, p. 99.
134
Considerations touching a war with Spain, in Letters, vii, p. 495.
135
Reading on the statute of uses, in Works, vii,
p.
407. See in general Stuart Clark, Francis Bacon:
the study of history and the science of man. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Cambridge (1970).
136
Bacon in parliament, 17.2.I606/7, in Letters, iII, p. 311.
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BACON AND GREATNESS OF STATE 303
no ' authority ... against all the precedents of time '137 In case of true greatness
it was especially the Roman history which offered the best example for
imitation. It was best, claimed Bacon, to dismiss the induction by enumeration
in favour of the superior single example provided by Rome. 'Aristotle', he
pointed out, 'it is said, wrote a book in which he gathered together the laws
and institutions of two hundred and fifty-five cities; yet I have no doubt that
the customs and example of the single state of Rome are worth more than all
of them combined, so far as military and political prudence are concerned. 138
The ideological context of Bacon's writings on the true greatness of states is
not to be sought from the 'immediate context' provided by his scientific
schemes and aims, nor from modern imperialism. By relating them to the
classical republican vocabulary, we are able, I think, not only to understand
what Bacon was arguing in his writings, but also to perceive one particular but
significant instance of how this vocabulary emerged in early modern English
political discourse.
By way of concluding this essay, I would like to propose that in addition to
the fact that the search for unity in Bacon's different writings is an
anachronistic task, it is also a misplaced one. In other words, what I wish to
suggest is that there is a simple explanation for the incoherence and disunity
of Bacon's different works. Instead of seeing him as a thinker for whom
coherence was the greatest virtue, we should perhaps perceive him as a
rhetorician.'39 Not only did Bacon devote a considerable space to rhetoric in
his encyclopaedia of learning
-
the Advancement of learning
-
but his major
spheres of activity were, of course, law and politics, which were governed by
rhetoric. Although in his scientific enterprise Bacon made some remarks about
including politics under the umbrella of the new science, he generally ranked
politics within the domain of rhetoric. '
[I] t is eloquence', he maintained,
'which prevails most in action and common life."40 But neither his eloquent
skills nor his rhetorical attempts were restricted to politics and law. John F.
Tinkler has recently shown how in the History of the reign of Henry VII Bacon
carefully employed the humanistic, rhetorical techniques.'4' In his scientific
137
Considerations touching a war with Spain, in Letters, viI,
p.
477.
138
The refutation of philosophies, in Benjamin Farrington, The philosophy of Francis Bacon, p. I I5;
I have modified Farrington's translation, see the original, in Works, III, p. 569. Cf. Advancement of
learning, in Works, III, p. 335; Charge touching duels, in Letters, Iv, p. 404. See in general Kuno Fischer,
Francis Bacon of Verulam. Realistic philosophy and its age (London, 1857), p. 288.
139 Cf. Marwil, Trials of counsel, especially pp. 57-8, 66-70, 94-7, 105, 123-4, 134-5, 173.
140 De augmentis, vi, iii, in Works, Iv, p. 455. For Bacon's conception of rhetoric see e.g. Karl R.
Wallace, Francis Bacon on communication and rhetoric or: the art of applying reason to imagination for the
better moving of the will (Chapel Hill, 1943); idem, 'Bacon's conception of rhetoric', in Historical
studies of rhetoric and rhetoricians, ed. Raymond F. Howes (Ithaca, 1961), pp. 114-38; John L.
Harrison, 'Bacon's view of rhetoric, poetry and imagination', The Huntington library quarterly, xx,
(1957),1I07 -25.
141 John F. Tinkler, 'The rhetorical method of Francis Bacon's History of the reign of Henry
VII', History and theory, xxv (I987), 17-34. For a different interpretation see Edward I. Berry,
'History and rhetoric in Bacon's Henry VII', in Seventeenth-Century prose. Modern essays in criticism,
ed. Stanley E. Fish (New York, 197 1), pp. 28 1-308. It is worth noting that in Certain considerations
touching the plantation in Ireland, in Letters, iv, p. I20, Bacon used the common argument of
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304 MARKKU PELTONEN
writings, too, Bacon has been shown to act as a forensic orator defending
learning and accusing his predecessors, as a demonstrative orator extolling
science and as a deliberative orator demonstrating the utility and benefit of
learning and experimental method.'42
The consequence of these elements in Bacon's writings is obvious. Once we
recognize the rhetorical aspects in Bacon's thought, it becomes less significant
to attempt to explain the apparent contradictions in his works by uncovering
their hidden unity. Since it was the main aim of an orator to try to persuade
and convince his auditors, it was traditionally maintained that he had to vary
his arguments and language according to his audience. Bacon completely
agreed with this view. The level of argument depended on the kind of end one
wanted to accomplish. As Bacon put it paraphrasing Aristotle - 'we ought not
to require either demonstrations from orators or persuasions from mathemati-
cians. 143 In the field of rhetoric it was of crucial importance to accommodate
one's arguments and persuasions to the audience. '[I]f a man', Bacon
explained, 'should speak of the same thing to several persons, he should
nevertheless use different words to each of them. 144 Whereas demonstrations
of science were universally true, persuasion was the main aim of a rhetorician,
and he, therefore, had to employ the language and the arguments which were
most appropriate to the occasion and which could most easily move his
audience.'45 By using his talents, an orator could make objects of his delivery
to have contrary features; 'the persuader's labour', illustrated Bacon, 'is to
make things appear good or evil. '146
In the course of this study we have noted several instances where Bacon was
ready to argue in complete contrast to what he maintained elsewhere.
Sometimes he claimed that money was the sinew of war, but in his writings on
the greatness of states he vehemently denounced this line of thought.
Sometimes Bacon argued that the laws of England aimed at filling of the king's
treasure, and in other judicial speeches he insisted that the English laws
looked not for the profit but for the greatness of the state. In The case of the post-
nati, Bacon saw the liberties of Rome as being those of a popular government,
inappropriate to English circumstances, but when he was defining the
freedoms of the Englishman, he regarded exactly the same republican liberties
as perfectly valid instances to illustrate those of his own country. A further
example is provided by Bacon's remarks about the different ways men could
win honour and esteem. In his scientific writings he placed the scientist at the
deliberative rhetoric declaring that
'[a]ll
men are drawn into actions by three things, - pleasure,
honour, and profit.'
142 John M. Steadman, 'Beyond Hercules: Bacon and the scientist as hero', Studies in literary
imagination, iv (1971), 3-47;
cf. Margaret L. Wiley, 'Francis Bacon: induction and/or rhetoric',
Studies in literary imagination, IV (1971), 65-79, who found extensive similarities between rhetoric
and Bacon's new induction.
143 De augmentis, in Works, Iv, p. 434. Aristotle, Nicomachean ethics, 1094b26-8.
144 De augmentis, in Works, Iv, pp. 457-8.
145
Advancement of learning in Works, III, p. 41 1.
146
Of the colours of good and evil, in Works, vii, p. 77.
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BACON AND GREATNESS OF STATE 305
top of the hierachy of glory. But when he directed his words to an audience
concerned with civil business, Bacon modified his priorities of honourable
pursuits, and did not make any mention of scientists.'47 Likewise, it is arguable
that we do not necessarily have to try to see science and greatness as parts of
a coherent system. They were two different projects, and to maintain them with
different or even contrary arguments does not signify a failure to achieve
consistency, since that was not necessarily Bacon's aim. It was perfectly
admissible for a rhetorician to use different arguments and express a different
set of values in different contexts.
147
Valerius Terminus, in Works, iII, p. 223; Of the interpretation of nature, in Letters, iii, p. 84; Of
honour and reputation, in Essayes, p. I64. It is worth pointing out that Bacon was ready as the
occasion required to change even the hierarchy of honourable civil actions. An
offer
to the king of
a digest to be made of the laws of England, in Letters, vii, p. 358; Observations on a libel, in Letters, i, p.
157.
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