Algernon Sidney

Algernon Sidney (1622-1683), English statesman and writer, a leader of the Whig opposition to King Charles II. Sidney was born at Penshurst, Kent, the son of Robert Sidney, Earl of Leicester. He was active on the Parliamentary side during the English Civil War, serving on the council of state in 1652, but retiring from public affairs in 1653 in protest against the usurpation of power by Oliver Cromwell. In 1659 Sidney was again placed on the council of state, and carried out a number of diplomatic missions. After Charles II was restored to the throne in 1660, Sidney lived in exile on the Continent. Returning to England in 1677, he intrigued with the French ambassador for the establishment of an English republic. He then joined a group of Whig leaders who allegedly planned to overthrow Charles, and he was accused of complicity in the so-called Rye House Plot. Convicted of treason on the basis of doubtful evidence, he was executed on December 7, 1683. Sidney's writings, especially his posthumously published Discourses Concerning Government (1763), form an important part of the literature on the lawfulness of resistance to tyranny.