"That the continued care of his Majesties justices of the peace for the county of Devon, for the safety of his Majesties sacred person, the preservation of the publick peace, and advancement of true religion, may be fuller known and have a better effect, I do hereby order and require all the clergy of my diocess within the county of Devon, deliberately to publish this order the next Sunday after it shall be tendered to them.* 66 Hugo Vaughan, Cler. Pacis Com. præd." "THO. EXON. In 1684, Locke was by an illegal order of the King deprived of his studentship at Christ-church. The account given in Mr Fox's history is as follows: "Among the oppressions of this period, most of which were attended with consequences so much more important to the several objects of persecution, it may seem scarcely worth while to notice the expulsion of J. Locke from Christ-church College, Oxford. But besides the interest which every incident in the life of a person so deservedly eminent naturally excites, there appears to have been something in the transaction itself characteristic of the spirit of the times, as well as of the general nature of absolute power. Mr Locke was known to have been intimately connected with Lord Shaftesbury, and had very prudently judged it advisable for him to prolong for some time his residence upon the Continent, to which he had resorted originally on account of his health. A suspicion, as it has been since proved unfounded, that he was the author of a pamphlet which gave offence to the Government, induced the King to insist upon his removal from his studentship at Christ-church. Sunderland writes, by the King's command, to Dr Fell, Bishop of Oxford, and Dean of Christ-church. The Reverend Prelate answers, that he has long had an eye upon Mr Locke's behaviour; but though frequent attempts had been made (attempts of which the Bishop expresses no disapprobation) to draw him into imprudent conversation, by attacking in his company the reputation, and insulting the memory, of his late patron and * If such principles were generally prevalent, the Letters on Toleration were indeed necessary. friend, and thus to make his gratitude, and all the best feelings of his heart, instrumental to his ruin, these attempts all proved unsuccessful. Hence the Bishop infers not the innocence of Mr Locke, but that he was a great master of concealment, both as to words and looks; for looks, it is to be supposed, would have furnished a pretext for his expulsion, more decent than any which had yet been discovered. "An expedient is then suggested to drive Mr Locke to a dilemma, by summoning him to attend the College on the 1st of January ensuing. If he do not appear, he shall be expelled for contumacy; if he come, matter of charge may be found against him, for what he shall have said at London, or elsewhere, where he will have been less upon his guard than at Oxford. Some have ascribed Fell's hesitation, if it can be so called, in executing the King's order, to his unwillingness to injure Locke, who was his friend; others, with more reason, to the doubt of the legality of the order. However this may have been, neither his scruples nor his reluctance was regarded by a Court which knew its own power. A peremptory order was accordingly sent, and immediate obedience ensued. Thus while, without the shadow of a crime, Mr Locke lost a situation attended with some emolument and great convenience, was the University deprived of, or rather thus, from the base principles of servility, did she cast away, the man, the having produced whom is now her chiefest glory; and thus to those who are not determined to be blind, did the true nature of absolute power discover itself, against which the middling station is not more secure than the most exalted. Tyranny, when glutted with the blood of the great and the plunder of the rich, will condescend to hunt humbler game, and make the peaceable and innocent Fellow of a College the object of its persecution. In this instance, one would almost imagine there was some instinctive sagacity in the Government of that time, which pointed out to them, even before he had made himself known to the world, the man who was destined to be the most successful adversary of superstition and tyranny." On a careful examination of the whole case, and with the light* since thrown upon it, it appears that Locke was not * Oxford and Locke, by Lord Grenville. expelled by the University of Oxford; he was deprived of his studentship by the Dean and Chapter of the College to which he belonged. If, however, we acquit the University of any direct share in the transaction, we may not unfairly conclude, from the spirit and temper then prevalent at Oxford, that the University was accessory to that disgraceful deed. The famous Oxford decree, it must be remembered, had passed on the very day of the execution of Lord Russell. The divine rights of Kings, and the indiscriminate obedience of subjects, were the favourite tenets of the University, which, by a solemn decree, condemned as impious and heretical the principles upon which the constitution of this, and of every free country, maintains itself. The deprivation of Locke was, strictly speaking, the act of the Dean and Chapter of Christ-church, courting, and almost anticipating, the illegal mandate of the Crown, and is not to be described as an actual expulsion from the University of Oxford. It is true, Lord Sunderland, in his letter to the Bishop of Oxford and Dean of Christ-church, signifies the King's commands for the immediate expulsion of Mr Locke, as one who had belonged to the Earl of Shaftesbury, and had behaved himself very factiously and undutifully towards the Government. The Bishop also, in his answer, uses the word expulsion, incorrectly certainly, but what better phrase could he have selected to flatter a despotic Court, which had determined to punish all whom it chose to consider as its enemies? Correspondence between the Earl of Sunderland and the Bishop of Oxford respecting Mr Locke : "MY LORD, TO THE LORD BISHOP OF OXFORD. "Whitehall, Nov. 6, 1684. "The King being given to understand that one Mr Locke, who belonged to the late Earl of Shaftesbury, and has upon several occasions behaved himself very factiously and undutifully to the Government, is a student of Christ-church; his Majesty commands me to signify to your Lordship, that he would have him removed from being a student, and that, in order thereunto, your Lordship would let me know the method of doing it. "I am, my Lord, &c. SUNDERLAND.” TO THE RIGHT HON. THE EARL OF SUNDERLAND, "RIGHT HON. "Nov. 8, 1684. "I have received the honour of your Lordship's letter, wherein you are pleased to inquire concerning Mr Locke's being a student of this house, of which I have this account to render; that he being, as your Lordship is truly informed, a person who was much trusted by the late Earl of Shaftes bury, and who is suspected to be ill-affected to the Government, I have for divers years had an eye upon him, but so close has his guard been on himself, that after several strict inquiries, I may confidently affirm there is not any one in the College, however familiar with him, who has heard him speak a word either against or so much as concerning the Government; and although very frequently, both in public and in private, discourses have been purposely introduced, to the disparagement of his master, the Earl of Shaftesbury, his party, and designs, he could never be provoked to take any notice, or discover in word or look the least concern; so that I believe there is not in the world such a master of taciturnity and passion. He has here a physician's place, which frees him from the exercise of the College, and the obligation which others have to residence in it, and he is now abroad upon want of health; but notwithstanding that, I have summoned him to return home, which is done with this prospect, that if he comes not back, he will be liable to expulsion for contumacy; if he does, he will be answerable to your Lordship for what he shall be found to have done amiss; it being probable that though he may have been thus cautious here, where he knew himself to be suspected, he has laid himself more open in London, where a general liberty of speaking was used, and where the execrable designs against his Majesty, and his Government, were managed and pursued. If he does not return by the 1st day of January next, which is the time limited to him, I shall be enabled of course to proceed against him to expulsion. But if this method seem not effectual or speedy enough, and his Majesty, our founder and visitor, shall please to command his immediate remove, upon the receipt thereof, directed to the Dean and Chapter, it shall accordingly be executed by My Lord, your Lordship's TO THE BISHOP OF OXFORD. J. OXON." "Whitehall, Nov. 10, 1684. "MY LORD, 66 Having communicated your Lordship's of the 8th to his Majesty, he has thought fit to direct me to send you the enclosed, concerning his commands for the immediate expulsion of Mr Locke. SUNDERLAND.' "TO THE RIGHT REVEREND FATHER IN GOD, JOHN LORD BISHOP OF OXON, DEAN OF CHRIST-CHURCH, AND OUR TRUSTY AND WELL-BELOVED THE CHAPTER THERE. "Right Reverend Father in God, and trusty and well-beloved, we greet you well. Whereas we have received information of the factious and disloyal behaviour of Locke, one of the students of that our College; we have thought fit hereby to signify our will and pleasure to you, that you forthwith remove him from his student's place, and deprive him of all the rights and advantages thereunto belonging, for which this shall be your warrant; and so we bid you heartily farewell. Given at our Court at Whitehall, 11th day of November, 1684. 'By his Majesty's command, SUNDERLAND." TO THE RIGHT HON. THE EARL OF SUNDERLAND, PRINCIPAL SECRETARY OF STATE. RIGHT HON. "November 16, 1684. "I hold myself bound in duty to signify to your Lordship, |