90
A Croquet Match
C HA R LOT T E HO GAN
The scene: it is 1776, in a field somewhere in England, with many sheep surrounding.
Mr. Hobbes and Mr. Locke are busy at croquet, and are discussing the news that the
colonist “Americans” have sent a Declaration of Independence to King George III.
Hobbes: I daresay! Those Americans! What nerve they have claiming to be
their own country! They have not a single right in performing such a
preposterous act against our King! A King, by nature, has ultimate control!
“God Himself, by the mouth of Samuel, sayeth: . . . ‘you shall be his
servants.’… Here is confirmed the right that sovereigns have, both to the
militia and to all judicature, in which is contained as absolute [a] power as
one man can possibly transfer to another” (XX.16).
Locke: I say, there, Thomas, what makes you think the Americans, as strange
and savage as they are, are so wrong in claiming some grievances against
the His Majesty the King? Why should a King not be confronted when he
is acting unfairly? After all, a ruler needs “the consent of the society, over
which no body can have a power to make laws, but by their own consent,
and by authority received from them” (XI.134). How then, can someone be
loyal to a king who makes laws that are not authorized by society?
Locke swings and sends a ball straight through the third metal loop. Hobbes steps
up to take a stroke.
C O R E J O U R N A L V. X X
91
Hobbes: Well, I understand that “so unlimited a power [as Sovereign power]
may [incite] many evil consequences, [but] the consequences of the want
of it, which is perpetual war of every man against his neighbour, are much
worse” (XX.18). The Americans will soon find out that complete chaos and
Anarchy will follow their folly decision to break away. Hah! If they can
even do that!
His ball flies through the fourth loop. Locke looks puzzled.
Locke: We “ought, in the first place, to distinguish between the dissolution of
the society and the dissolution of the government” (XIX.211). Society and the
Sovereign are entirely different entities. Replacing King George’s rule is
not related to degradation of society, rather, the degradation of the
relationship between society and government. Anarchy must not necessarily
ensue, as the laws of society hold true no matter the type of Sovereign.
Locke pauses a moment to send his ball through the fourth hoop—it settles just
beyond Hobbes’—before resuming his speech.
They sent His Majesty such a long list of grievances, you know, that if they
are found to have some just cause, they should be given a chance. Perhaps
they could use their prior complaints to instate a more suitable governing
body than the monarchy we currently use.
Hobbes: Long list of grievances, fooey! (He knocks his ball through the next hoop.)
Men will find anything to blame for their troubles. It never even occurred
to them that they could be at fault for their misfourtunes! “All men are by
nature provided of notable multiplying glasses (that is their passions and
self love), through which every little payment appeareth a great grievance”
(XVII.20). Surely you have seen your neighbors and friends react similarly
to slight inconveniences. What His Majesty has done to the Americans is
not nearly as bad as having no government at all to protect our property!
92
C H A R LOT T E H O G A N
Locke: I do quite agree that people can think their own predicaments are
much worse than any others, if their trust is betrayed just a few times, I
have not much sympathy, as “great mistakes in the ruling part, many wrong
and inconvenient laws, and all the slips of human fragility will be born of
the people without mutiny or murmur. But [if ] a long train of abuses,
prevarications and artifices, all tending the same way, make the design
visible to the people, and they cannot but feel what they lie under, and see
whither they are going,” it is quite appropriate to dismiss the present ruler
(XIX.225). The Americans, indeed, have gotten much abuse that we have
not seen here in England, the King being very secretive.
As for property, that is precisely the reason we’ve agreed to the social
contract, and ultimately “why [we] choose and authorize a legislative, that
there be laws made, and rules set, as guards and fences to the properties of
all members of society”(XIX.222). This is why I don’t believe the Americans
will resort to Anarchy. We simply need government! Life without it would
be an impossible struggle. On this point we agree.
Hobbes: You’ve sent my ball halfway to Spain! (grumbling) Indeed, the state
of nature would be quite a terrible thing. Yet, I just don’t understand why,
after going to all the trouble to formulate a government to make laws and
to protect our property, anyone on Earth would want to give that up.”
With soft cries of ‘shoo, shoo’, Hobbes nudges away a small flock of sheep that had
approached his ball with some curiosity. He hits again, and his ball lands yet closer
to the playing area near the stake.
Locke: “Which is best for mankind, that the people should always be exposed
to the boundless will of tyranny, or that the rulers should be sometimes
liable to be opposed?” (XIX.229) In fact, I believe such an opposition to be
quite healthy.
As for creating the best kind of Government that will not be subject to all
sorts of resistance, it would probably be wise to formulate one that perfects
93
C O R E J O U R N A L V. X X
itself over time, with rulers that make laws “only for the good of the society,
as it ought not to be arbitrary and at pleasure, so it ought to be exercised by
established and promogulated laws; that both the people may know their
duty, and be safe and secure within their bounds, and not to be tempted, by
the power they have in their hands, to employ it to such purposes” (XI.137).
As if to drive home his point, he once again strikes his ball, which hits the stake
with a ‘whack’. He has won the game. Hobbes catches up with him and offers his
handshake of congratulations.
Hobbes: “Wheresoever you break off the chain of a man’s discourse, you leave
him in a presumption of it will or it will not be, or it has been or it has not
been. All of which is opinion” (VII.2).
John, how I would like to believe that my own opinion is the truth of the
matter. I cannot bring myself to believe such a thing, however, as you have
offered a clear solution to my misjudgment that the dissolving of government would result in Anarchy.
Locke: (patting his partner’s shoulder) Thomas, my good friend, this has been
an excellent game of croquet, and I am glad that my reasoning has struck a
chord in your thoughts. Shall we play again? Next time, I would very much
like to discuss the difference between a monarch and a tyranny.”
Fin
SOURCES
Hobbes, Thomas. Levathian. Indianapolis: Hackett, 1994.
Locke, John. Second Treatise of Government. Indianapolis Hackett, 1980.