Anthony: You have been brought here for a purpose, the most
important task of your lives.
Cooperate, not make me destroy.
Welcome to the Static Podcast.
I'm your host, Anthony T.
And this is episode 111.
Thank you for joining me on this Tuesday, April 2nd, 2024.
Hope you had a great Easter holiday.
Now, this week, I want to get back to the way I intended to start, started
this podcast out, which is educational purpose of knowing how our government
should work and how we discern what we hear in the media and what politicians
are telling us from actually the way this is supposed to actually run.
And I think everybody can take a break from what's going on in the media and
what they're drilling into our head the whole time and all the craziness
that's going on in the world right now.
So this will be a little change of pace today.
So today I'm going to be reading an article out of the New American Magazine.
The article's title is Algernon Sidney, Martyr for Liberty.
The English statesman whose writing so strongly influenced the founding fathers
is now all but forgotten in America.
He shouldn't be.
And I feel this is perfect for a nice rainy day here on the
East Coast, a little chilly.
It's like you could throw on your slippers, sit down on your couch with your
reading sweater, and sit back and enjoy.
Now this article is written by Joe Wolverton II.
You can find this in the New American Magazine, the March 25th issue.
It's in the Past and Perspective section.
So here we go.
Can you believe that a man who Thomas Jefferson said wrote the best elementary
book of the principles of government that our youth should read as soon as
their minds are sufficiently matured is all but forgotten by Americans today?
Can you believe that a book that Thomas Jefferson identified as one of the
primary sources for the principles of the Declaration of Independence is not found
in the home of every American patriot?
Can you believe that a book that Jefferson and James Madison Mandated
that every incoming student at the University of Virginia had to read before
matriculating is a book nearly no one in America today has even heard of.
Can you believe that the book which cost the author his head is known
to most, is unknown to most U.
S.
history professors and teachers today?
Can you believe that a man revered by the Founding Fathers as an honor
Honorary American and a martyr of Republican government, and after whom
towns and universities were named, is now almost completely unheard of.
How is that possible?
How can such a man be unknown to Americans today, regardless of how it happened,
it happened, and it is just plain wrong?
We can begin righting the wrong by restoring to the American people
the knowledge of the patron saint of republicanism, of the good old
cause, Colonel Algernon Sidney.
Aside from sacred texts, it's hard to find words more powerful than those written
by Algernon Sidney, 1623 to 1683, at the time of the War for Independence.
Sidney was the world's most celebrated martyr for free speech.
Today he is forgotten by the very people whose freedom and
form of government he inspired.
While millions of Americans can recall and discuss the most minute details from
the Harry Potter book and movie series, or can relate intimate details of the
lives of the Kardashian family, the name Algernon Sidney is never mentioned in
our homes, even among those claiming to be advocates of Republican government
and experts in American history.
Remarkably, Colonel, Sidney's name and fame were once so universal
that the editor of the first edition of Sidney's Discourse Concerning
Government wrote in its introduction, It is not necessary to say anything
concerning the person of the author.
And Thomas Jefferson said Sidney was so universally acclaimed that
it would be superfluous and even presumptuous for an individual to
add his feeble breath to the gale.
Today, It is not only necessary, it is urgent as the gale is
reduced to the less than a breeze.
Unbelievably, there has not been a new edition of Discourse Concerning
Government printed in England since 1772 or in France since 1796.
And prior to Liberty Fund's edition in 1996, The last U.
S.
edition was published in 1810.
This is how complete the Establishment Dominatio Memorae, Condemnation of
Memory, against Algerton, Sydney has been.
As for biographies of Colonel Sidney, there has never been
a comprehensive one published.
Jonathan Scott's work is the closest we've come, and that work is more a histo
histo historiography of Sidney's times and his influence than a proper biography.
I am happy to announce, however, that I am currently working on a biography
of Algren in Sydney, and it should be ready for publication on the
anniversary of his martyrdom in 2024.
Until that large work is ready for publication, what follows is a brief
biography of a man whose influence on the government of the United States and on
the men who framed it is beyond measure.
Algernon Sidney was the second son of Robert Earl of Leicester
and Lady Dorothy Percy, daughter of Henry Earl of Northumberland.
His great uncle on his father's side was the heroic and talented Sir Philip
Sidney whom Queen Elizabeth I called the jewel of her times and whose life
was famously described by Scottish poet Thomas Campbell as poetry put into action.
The exact date of Algernon's birth is uncertain, although most scholars
now agree that it was some time on or about January 15, 1623, the date
recorded of a payment made to a midwife for attending to Sidney's mother,
Dorothy herself, a descendant of a historically pertinent Percy family.
English politicians and diplomats Sir William Temple described Algernon's
father as a man of profound learning and truthfulness, a sentiment echoed
by English stateman Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon and others.
Under his father's guidance, was Algernon received a comprehensive
classical education, fully embracing and utilizing these opportunities.
From a young age, he displayed exceptional talent and wit, as
noted in a letter from his mother.
Algernon is much commended by all that come from you, for a huge
deal of wit and much sweetness of nature, she wrote to her husband.
At about age 10, Algernon joined his father and elder brother on
a diplomatic mission to Denmark.
Four years later, they went to Paris, where Algernon's interest in
politics began to develop amid the reign of Louis VIII and Cardinal
Richelieu's formidable rule.
He later studied in Rome, absorbing the legacy of figures
such as Brutus and Cicero.
At 19, through his father's influence, Algernon commanded a
troop of horses in Ireland under his brother to quell Irish insurgents.
However, military life wasn't his true calling.
Upon returning from Ireland, he boldly supported the Parliament
and the people against King Charles I in the English Civil War.
In 1644, he became a captain in the Parliamentary Cavalry and was soon
promoted to Lieutenant Colonel.
He demonstrated bravery during the Battle of Marston Moor, Where he was severely
injured and nearly captured, only to be saved by a soldier who refused any reward
or recognition for his act of valor.
Sidney's life and this anonymous soldier's heroism showcased the
transcendent nature of human kindness and courage regardless of social status.
Recovering quickly, Sidney led a regiment of horses under Sir Thomas Fairfax and
Oliver Cromwell, bearing the motto, The Sacred Love of Country Gives the Impulse.
By the, by age 24, he was in the House of Commons, and he was soon appointed
Lieutenant General of Horses in Ireland.
and Governor of Dublin Castle.
Later, he was made Governor of Dover Castle.
In 1648, he was selected as a commissioner for King Charles I's trial.
After attending initial sessions, though, he withdrew, opposing the
proceedings based on principle, as revealed in a letter in which
he challenged Cromwell directly.
Despite opposing the trial, Sidney believed Charles had abused his power
and that his disposition was necessary.
Deposition was necessary.
He saw it as a warning against tyranny, aligning with the belief
that monarchy should give way to a government by the people.
Refusing to support Cuomo, an increasingly tyrannical regime, Sidney spent some
time in retirement, partly at Pennhurst in Kent, and partly in The Hague, where
he befriended statesman John DeWitt.
During this time, he laid the groundwork for his discourse concerning government.
Returning to Parliament, he was assigned as peace mediator
between Sweden and Denmark.
Watching England's political shift from afar, he resolved to serve only if the
government upheld Republican principles.
However, with the restoration of the monarchy under King Charles II, he
refused to engage with a government he viewed as treacherous and tyrannical,
declining offers for personal gain.
On August 30th, 1660, Sidney wrote a letter expressing his resolve to To
not return to England under conditions that would compromise those principles.
I confess we are naturally inclined to delight in our own country and
I have a particular love of mine.
I hope I have given some testimony of it.
I think that being exiled from it as a great evil and would redeem myself from it
with the loss of a great deal of my blood.
But when that country of mine, which used to be esteemed a paradise, is now
like to be made a stage of injury, the liberty of which we hoped to establish,
oppressed luxury and lewdness set up in its height instead of the piety, virtue,
sobriety, and modesty by which we hoped God by our hand would have introduced.
The best of our country made prey to the worst.
What joy can I have in my own country in this condition?
Whilst I live, I will endeavor to preserve my liberty.
Or at least not consent to destroying of it.
I hope I shall die in the same principles in which I have lived and will live
no longer than they preserve me.
To conclude, the tide is not to be diverted nor to oppress delivered, but God
in his time will have mercy on his people.
He will save and defend them, and avenge the blood of those who in their pride
think nothing is able to oppose them.
Happy are those whom God shall make instruments of his
justice in so blessed a work.
It is this spirit and this commitment to the cause of God and of liberty
that guaranteed that Algren and Sidney would be removed from the
reading list in American schools.
Sidney's letters were praised for their eloquence and sentiments and
reflect his steadfast commitment to liberty and integrity.
That courageous commitment was never more evident than in an episode
during his exile when Sidney visited a university in Copenhagen and wrote
the following motto in Latin, In a guestbook, a phrase boldly declaring
his fearless resistance to tyranny.
I can't read that, that's in Latin.
Translated into English, Sidney's inscription read, This hand, enemy
to tyranny, by the sword seeks calm, peaceful, peacefulness under liberty.
Remarkably, the latter half of that inscription remains the state motto
of the state of Massachusetts.
Sidney's refusal to return to England without compromising his values is rare.
Led him to spend many years on the continent.
He lived in various German cities and in Rome where he faced financial
difficulties and familial estrangements.
Eventually, he found refuge in a villa of Belvedere near Frescati,
Italy, where he devoted himself to study and solitude, finding peace
in nature, reading, and reflection.
It was during this period that Sidney penned his book, Court Maxims, a work
that took aim at King Charles II and encouraged the Dutch to lend their support
to the Republican cause against him.
Court Maxims comprises 15 dialogues featuring discussions between
the Republican character Unimus and the royal courtier Philithes.
Within these dialogues, they delve into Maxims promoting political
absolution including statesmen Maxims.
Maxims.
Statements such as monarchy is the best form of government and monarchy
ought to be absolute and hereditary.
Unumis, represented by Sidney, fervently upheld the doctrine of a higher law, a
concept previously championed by Cicero.
He steadfastly argued that if rules were To undermine the well being
of their subjects, they should no longer be regarded as benevolent
figures, such as fathers or shepherds.
Terms associated with love and kindness, but rather as malevolent figures
akin to thieves, wolves, and tyrants, the most hostile of adversaries.
In the Ninth Dialogue, Sidney explains through the character,
Unimus, the essence of the law consists solely in the justice of it.
If it is not to be just, it is not law.
The justice of it depends upon the end.
If it conduces not to a good end, it cannot be just.
Laws are made for the right regulations and preservation of
societies, and to obviate offenses tending to the disturbance thereof.
Those acts or decree which tend, tend not there unto have no justice
in them, nor in any respect deserve the name, Or power of laws instead of
landmarks to warn and prevent danger.
They become snares to catch and destroy men unawares.
Is it any wonder in the age of planned demics that such plain and powerful
prose would be kept from the American people, a people raised on such works
as our founding fathers, Where would never fall for such quote unquote
snares as COVID 19 lockdowns and the economic fallout that followed them.
Despite enjoying this tranquil life, Sidney felt the need
for a more active role.
He left Italy, traveling through Switzerland to Brussels, but faced
constant danger from Royalist forces.
His steadfastness to the parliamentary cause made him a target for assassination
attempts and his effort to volunteer for military service in Hungary.
We're thwarted by British intervention.
This relentless persecution highlighted his unyielding commitment
to his principles, making him a symbol of incorruptibility.
Even as Sidney's life neared its end, he faced continued challenges and opposition.
He bravely attempted to run for Parliament in Guildford, Surrey, With the support of
William Penn, but he faced resistant and unfair practices that led to his defeat.
After a dissolved parliament and new election, Sidney tried again for a
seat, this time in Bamber, Essex.
Despite Penn's strong backing, the election ended ambiguously and Sidney's
candidacy was eventually dismissed.
The hostility against Sidney persisted with accusations linking him to various
plots against the government and even a baseless charge of riot involvement.
Feeling unsafe in England, he planned to return to the continent and even bought a
property in France under a friend's name.
However, his aspirations for peaceful retirement went unfulfilled.
In 1681, Sidney was involved in drafting a response to the
King's Declaration criticizing Parliament's repeated dissolutions.
This document, revised by Sir William Jones and Lloyd John Somers, was
later published under the title, A Just and Modest Vindication of the
Proceedings of the Two Last Parliaments.
During this period, Sidney also completed the Discourses Concerning
Government, a testament to his unwavering commitment to liberty.
As political tensions heightened with the proposal of a Catholic successor
to the throne, Sidney and his allies, including Duke of Monmouth, Earl Essex,
and William Lord Russell, formed a secret council to oppose this succession.
Though many council members faced tragic fates, their efforts laid
the groundwork for the eventual Glorious Revolution of 1688.
Sidney's involvement in these political maneuvers led to his arrest in 1683.
He was charged with high treason, and his trial was a notorious
miscarriage of justice led by the infamous Judge George Jeffries.
Despite a lack of concrete evidence in violation of requirements for
prosecuting someone for treason, Sidney was found guilty largely based on
his own writings about government and liberty, writings which were illegally
seized and used by the government in its prosecution and persecution of him.
At one point in the trial, Geoffrey's chastised Colonel Sidney saying, I pray
God work in your temper, work in you a temper fit to go unto the other world,
for I see you are not fit for this.
Sixty years old, cold, emaciated from nearly half a year's imprisonment, Colonel
Algernon Sidney pulled up the sleeve of his prisoner's tunic, exposing his arm
to Jeffrey's and replied with dignity and defiance, My Lord, feel my pulse.
I bless God I never was in better temper than I am now, he added.
After the miscarriage of justice and haughty display of judicial
tyranny, Sidney was sentenced to execution by beheading.
On the scaffold, his dignified and resolute demeanor was evident.
There he offered a prayer, and given the popular modern trend to identify everyone
from Enlightenment period as some sort of deist or closeted atheist, republishing a
part of his final word is appropriate here if for no other reason than to restore the
affirmation of his Christianity and that of those who revered him so profoundly.
Sidney said, The Lord sanctified these, my sufferings unto me and thou.
I fall as a sacrifice unto the idols.
Suffer not idolatry to be established in this land.
Bless thy people and save them.
Defend thine own cause and those that defend it.
Stir up such as are, stir up such as are faint.
Direct those that are willing.
Confirm those that wave.
Give wisdom and integrity unto all.
Order all things so as may most redound unto thine own glory.
Grant that I may die glorifying thee for all thy mercies, and that at the last
thou hast permitted me to be singled out as a witness of thy truth, and even
by the confession of my opposers for that old cause in which I was from my
youth engaged, and for which thou hast often and wonderfully declared thyself.
Amen.
Those are not the words of a deist.
Those are the words not only of a Christian, but of a man with confidence
before the throne of Christ that he had done that which pleased his Lord.
I invite you to re read those words and see if Sidney's prayer is not
in every syllable appropriate and applicable to the condition of the United
States, their people and government today, 340 years after being written.
The injustice of Sidney's trial and execution was not forgotten.
for listening.
Within a few years, the Glorious Revolution brought about significant
changes in England's political landscape.
William and Mary's ascension to the throne under a Declaration
of Right, which echoed Sydney's ideals, marked a new era of liberty.
One of the first acts was to annul Sydney's conviction, a posthumous
acknowledgement of his enduring contribution to the cause of freedom.
Sydney's life Principles, discourses, and death had an even greater
impact on the American war for independence of 1775 to 1783 than
on the glorious revolution of 1688.
In fact, our revolution can be seen as the natural progression and
culmination of what began in England.
Of the impact of that influence on the written works produced by our
Founding Fathers, Harvard University historian Bernard Bailyn stated
about all, above all, they referred to the doctrines of Algernon Sidney.
Read that again, above all.
It is in America, more than anywhere else, that Sidney's legacy truly resonates.
Here, his cherished ideal of a republic is no longer just a dream, but a
tangible reality, offering its immense benefits to all within its reach.
This makes his unwavering commitment to liberty, his belief in a republic, and
his trust in the people's ability to govern themselves all the more relevant.
Sidney's writings and examples significantly guided and motivated
the founding figures of our country contributing in unmatched
measure to the creation of the institutions we cherish today.
As historian Alan Craig Houston observed, to the colonists, the single
most important fact about Sidney's life was the matter of his death.
By his unselfish devotion to liberty, Sidney set a standard
against which against which men repeatedly measured themselves.
By his martyrdom, he graphically demonstrated the evils of unchecked power.
Colonial Americans also read the discourse concerning government, which
care and, with care and precision.
They cited Sydney on a wide range of its issues, from the corruption
of men, to the rule of law, and from the representative nature of
government to the right of revolution.
Sydney's martyrdom was the most powerful mouthpiece Powerful piece of
evidence that could have been given to verify the truth of his writings.
As the later, as the latter preached, so the former graphically demonstrated
the consequences of permitting one man to enjoy arbitrary and unlimited power.
Had Sidney not been a martyr, it is unlikely the discourses would have been
so widely read in 18th century America.
He had not written the discourses, on the other hand, it is unlikely his death
would have received the attention it did.
Sadly, after winning and securing their independence from England, Americans
found increasingly less use for the revolutionary principles set forth
in discourses concerning government, and the book and its author were
quickly erased from our cultural memory and from our history lessons.
Today, we find ourselves once again facing the abolition of our liberty by
tyranny, so perhaps it's time we dust off the old worn copy of discourses.
And start studying the words of Algren and Sidney's once again.
That man definitely needed a round of, deserved a round of applause
for sticking to his principles.
A lot of people don't do that nowadays, as we can see the state of our country here.
But again, yeah, we forget these things.
We have you're told the founding fathers were racist and they had slave owners.
But the Founding Fathers were very well read men.
They read people like this.
They read, they read, they understood from England.
And the monarchy, what tyranny was like.
Now this guy, Sidney, only had a king to fight.
We have a president.
We have a congress that is not our, not representative of us.
Now you can see the judicial system being used as a tool for them.
So it's not easier for us.
They gave us this government, the Founding Fathers, as a checks and
balance, and somehow it got co opted, and now it's just more for us to fight.
Instead of a king, we have three entities to, to fight against now.
And just like Sydney, the signers of the Declaration of
Independence, Gave up their lives.
A lot of them were persecuted, lost money, lost their wealth,
lost families all to this.
To regain liberty is not easy.
It takes blood, because once it's history, people do not want to relinquish power,
and you have to take it back from them.
Especially tyrannical governments.
And I'm afraid the author of this article is right.
As people know more about Harry Potter and the Kim Kardashians than
the establishment of this great nation, and the Founding Fathers,
and gentlemen like Algernon Sidney.
We know more, and that's what they want.
They want to keep you distracted so you don't know what your rights are, or what
liberty is, or The role government should play a very minimal part in your life.
The government will find any excuse to try to put these people in a bad
light, and have you not believe them.
Just look at the Second Amendment.
When the Second Amendment was added in the Bill of Rights, it wasn't for hunting.
Everybody hunted back then.
Everybody had a gun.
A gun was a tool.
Everybody hunted, everybody hunted game, everybody had a gun.
It wasn't for hunt, it wasn't for, you know, a different time, they said.
It was to protect yourself from a tyrannical government
or from an invading country.
And now they have you believe that, oh, it's, you know, it was for, it's,
they meant it as a different way.
No, they didn't mean it as a different way.
Everybody had guns.
Everybody hunted.
That was understood.
It was to be able to protect yourself from tyrannical governments or Outside
countries and little by little they chip away at your liberties saying
oh, it's for the common good and if you look what's going on around you
the Government is everywhere in your life from your schools from your
medicine from work from everything you do invade it infected your lives
they have some Control over some part, if not majority of your life somehow.
And to pay, make matters worse, you pay them an absorbent
amount of taxes for this.
For this.
Everyone I spoke to so far, it's tax season.
Most of my co workers, people I know, everybody has to pay extra this year.
Nobody is getting a refund.
And one last main point I would like to make about this whole episode and what's
going on is, Sydney had somewhere to go.
He went to Brussels, or he, there were still other countries
where you can escape to.
Hence the establishment of the United States of America.
People left England because they were being persecuted religiously.
And after that, everyone, it was still the land of the free, it
was still some sort of republic.
Now, we have nowhere to go.
You have no other country to, to, to run away that's like America anymore.
All these countries are corrupted, basically almost
tyrannical, there's nowhere to go.
That's it.
So if this country falls, which is kind of already fell of what's going
on already there's nowhere to go.
Your only choices are roll over and take it or fight back.
And the fight back portion is going to be very hard now.
So the book mentioned in this article by Algernon Sidney is Discourses
Concerted Concerning Government.
So you could get that read it.
I think that's gonna be next on my reading list.
So that's all for me today.
I'm your host, Anthony t.
This is Static podcast.
You could reach me@staticpodcast.net.
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Freedom of speech as we see is very important.
This man, Algernon Sydney gave his life for it because he didn't,
you know, that's, that's the last like guns they want to take.
And then the next thing we can see speech being curtailed every day a little bit.
So.
Thanks for joining me and I hope to see you next week.