VAIN and groundless as these Fears were, yet the Clamours industriously raised from them were so strong, that a great Officer in the State thought fit to oblige his Enemies by giving way to them: and tho' a =Motion= made in the House of Commons for repealing these two Clauses had just been rejected; yet upon making the same in the House of Lords, with his Consent, the thing was done. WHETHER private or public Considerations had the greater Share in bringing about this Compliance, I will not determine. Such =Counter-Steps= will happen in a Government, where there is too much of =Faction=, and too little of a =Public Spirit=. This I very well remember, that a learned Prelate, now dead, who had more of =Political= than of =Christian= Zeal, and was one who made the loudest Noise about the =Quarantaine= Bill, frankly owned to me in Conversation, that tho' the Directions were good, yet he and his Friends had resolved to take that Opportunity of shewing their Disaffection to the =Ministry=. BUT after all, it contributed not a little to the carrying this Point, that the Plague was now ceased at =Marseilles=, and a Stop put to its Progress in the =Provinces=. And I cannot but take notice that this last good Service was done by the same Method, which, tho' in a more moderate way, I have here proposed. For it is well known that the Regent of =France= did at last set Bounds to the Contagion by =Lines= and =Barriers= guarded by Soldiers: which wise Resolution saved not only his own but other Countries from the spreading of a Disease, which seems to have been of as violent a kind as ever was brought into =Europe=. HOWEVER, if there were any Severity in Orders of this kind, every Man ought to consider himself as a Member of the Society; by the Laws of which as he receives many Advantages, so he gives up somewhat of his own private Rights to the Public: and must therefore be perfectly satisfied with whatever is found necessary for the common Good; altho' it may, on particular Occasions, bring upon him some Inconveniences and Sufferings. Salus Populi suprema Lex est. Does any body complain of ill usage upon his House being ordered to be blown up, to stop the Progress of a Fire which endangers the whole Street: when he reflects that his Neighbour, who by this means escapes, must have suffered the same Loss for his sake, had it so happened that each had been in the other's Habitation?