‘How sweet the Air of a Commonwealth is beyond that of a Monarchy!’ proclaimed Marchamont Nedham in the 11 July 1650 editorial of the newsbook MercuriusPoliticus, marking the serial's fifth issue. A republic, the editorial affirms, liberates the people and invigorates the polity where monarchy, a stagnant, empty institution undeserving even of a name, can offer only misery and torpor: ‘Is it not much better then to breath [sic] freely, and be lively, upon a new score of Allegiance, than pine, and fret, and fume, in behalf of the old Non-entity, till wit, Soul, and all be drowned in Ale and Melancholy?’ The opening editorial establishes a context for reading the news, which in the ensuing pages includes accounts of current and potential future attempts to overthrow the English republic and install Charles II as King of England.

From its inception on 13 June 1650, the government-sponsored newsbook Politicus promoted the republican regime and elucidated its merits. In this fifth issue, beyond the declaration that republics nourish and monarchies strangle liberty there is little attempt to provide a detailed or comparative analysis of the nature and properties of either system of government. Classical republicanism makes a brief appearance in references to Charles II as ‘Tarquin’, the line of tyrannical kings overthrown by Brutus and Collatinus before the establishment of the Roman republic, and the application of the term in the absence of definition or elucidation suggests an expectation of familiarity with the classics on the part of the reader. As this issue of Politicus demonstrates, however, efforts to cultivate or reinforce pro-republican and anti-monarchist sentiment did not necessarily involve extended reflection upon classical or modern political theory: reiterating the mantra that republics were free and monarchies oppressive could be considered sufficient. Moreover, the short shrift given to formal explications of political theory did not mean the merits of various systems of government went unexplored. In place of formal or academic discussion, the presentation of news and editorial commentary on news items expounded upon the significance of the republic and danger of monarchical reimposition.