Table Of ContentJO H N LOjCKE
TWO TRACTS
ON
G O V E R N M E N T
PHILIP ABRAMS
Fellow of Peterhouse and Lecturer in Economics
in the University of Cambridge
Why should John Locke, at the age of
thirty, have written two defences of
authoritarian government? Having written
them, why did he arrange to have them
suppressed?
The two tracts illustrate a vital stage in
Locke’s philosophical development. They
had their origin as a reply to a pamphlet of
1660 which urged that religious ceremonial
usage depended on personal conscience.
They are Locke’s first attempt at sustained
political and ethical argument. The first
tract refutes the arguments set out in the
1660 pamphlet, while the second deals with
the general practical problem of govern
ment.
Dr Abrams has analysed, through
Locke’s correspondence, the background
to the writing of the tracts, and the reasons
for their being suppressed. He has, further,
considered their position in the develop
ment of Locke’s philosophy as a whole,
tracing the re-emergence of some of Locke’s
opinions in more mature works. The
results of this analysis call for a thorough
re-appraisal of Locke as the Great English
Liberal.
Jacket design by Michael Harvey
JOHN LO CKE
TWO TRACTS ON G O VER N M EN T
JOHN LOCKE
TWO TRACTS ON
GO VERN M EN T
EDITED
WITH AN INTRODUCTION, NOTES
AND TRANSLATION
BY
PHILIP ABRAM S
Fellow of Peterhouse and Lecturer in Economics and
Politics in the University of Cambridge
CAMBRIDGE
AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS
1967
Published by the Syndics of the Cambridge University Press
Bentley House, 200 Euston Road, London, N.W. 1
American Branch: 32 East 57th Street, New York, N.Y. 10022
© Cambridge University Press 1967
Library of Congress Catalogue Card Number: 66-19603
Printed in Great Britain
at the University Printing House, Cambridge
(Brooke Crutchley, University Printer)
TO
PETER LASLETT
CONTENTS
Foreword page ix
INTRODUCTION
I John Locke as a conservative 3
II The context of conservatism: John Locke in 1660 30
III The politics of conservatism: The besieged city 63
IV Continuities: The Tracts and Locke’s later works 84
Editorial Preface: Notes on the Texts, Translation, Footnotes
and References 112
THE TEXTS
First ‘Tract’ 115
The Preface to the Reader 117
Question: Whether the Civil Magistrate may lawfully
impose and determine the use of indifferent things in
reference to Religious Worship 124
Second‘Tract’ 183
An Magistratus Civilis possit res adiaphoras in divini
cultus ritus asciscere easque populo imponere? Affir
matur ( 185
Translation 210
Appendix I: Supplementary papers: The Locke MSS and
the sources of Locke’s thought 242
Appendix II: Bibliography: (a) Locke and Bagshaw;
(b) Indifferent Things; (c) Order; (d) Secondary
works 2 5 o
Index 261
FOREWORD
This volume is the first English publication of John I^ocke’s
earliest writings on politics.* It contains the texts of these works,
one in English, the other in Latin, with a translation of the Latin
document, notes on the texts and their intellectual and political
environment, and an introductory essay.
The writings deal with a question of religious toleration: the
question whether freedom of practice should be allowed in indif
ferent matters of ceremony and ritual or whether governments had
the authority to impose a set form. Although this issue appeared to
be the ‘ Great Question ’ of the age to Locke and his contemporaries
in the winter of 1660-1, it is hardly compelling today. Such
interest as the two works have now springs rather from the fact
that the issue forced Locke to take up a number of more funda
mental problems concerning the nature of government. By the
time he had finished he had committed to paper an elaborate and
quite rigorous statement of a complete political philosophy. Even
were this philosophy not strikingly at odds with that implicit in
his later writings, these first works would therefore deserve some
scrutiny.
Locke gave no title to his papers on indifferent things. Their
only heading is a statement of the problem to be discussed. Some
convenient short title was required and I have named them Locke’s
Tracts on Government. Their polemical character, their similarity of
form with the Two Treatises, and their underlying concern with
questions of law and obligation will, I hope, justify this choice.
I should like to thank those who have helped me: first my wife
for help so tireless and varied that the book is almost as much
hers as mine; then St Antony’s College, Oxford, and Peterhouse,
Cambridge, for time and stimulation; Peterhouse, again, for a
historical education; the Faculty of Economics and Politics at
Cambridge for a timely grant; E. J. Kenney for the care and
scholarship he devoted to rescuing me from many difficulties
* An Italian edition appeared in 1961: C. A. Viano, John Locke: Scritti Editi
e Inediti sulla Tolleran^a, Taylor Torino, Collezione di Filosofia, Documenti e
Ricerche.
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