POLITICAL FORMS AND FORCES. 633 



otherwise almost wholly dependent on past public opinion. The ruler, 

 in part the organ of the wills of those around, is in a still greater de- 

 gree the organ of the wills of those who have passed away ; and his own 

 will, much restrained by the first, is still r&ore restrained by the last. 



For his function as regulator is mainly that of enforcing the in- 

 herited rules of conduct which embody ancestral sentiments and ideas. 

 Everywhere we are shown this. Among the Arafuras, such decisions 

 as are given by their elders are " according to the customs of their fore- 

 fathers, which are held in the highest regard." So is it with the Kir- 

 ghiz : " The judgments of the bais, or esteemed elders, are based on the 

 known and universally recognized customs." And in Sumatra "they 

 are governed in their various disputes by a set of long-established cus- 

 toms (adat), handed down to them from their ancestors. . . . The 

 chiefs, in pronouncing their decisions, are not heard to say, ' So the law 

 directs,' but ' Such is the custom.' " 



As fast as orally-preserved custom passes into written law, the 

 political head becomes still more clearly an agent through whom the 

 feelings of the dead control the actions of the living. That the power 

 he exercises is mainly a power which acts through him, we see clearly 

 on noting how little ability he has to resist it if he wishes to do so. 

 His individual will is practically inoperative save where the overt or 

 tacit injunctions of departed generations leave him free. Thus, in 

 Madagascar, " in cases where there is no law, custom, or precedent, 

 the word of the sovereign is sufficient." Among the East Africans, 

 " the only limit to the despot's power is the ada, or precedent." Of 

 the Javans, Raffles writes, " The only restraint upon the will of the head 

 of the government is the custom of the country, and the regard which 

 he has for his character among his subjects," In Sumatra the people 

 " do not acknowledge a right in the chiefs to constitute what laws 

 they think proper, or to repeal or alter their ancient usages, of which 

 they are extremely tenacious and jealous," And how imperative is 

 this conformity to the beliefs and sentiments of progenitors is shown 

 by the fatal results apt to occur from disregarding them. " ' The 

 King of Ashantee, although represented as a despotic monarch, . . , 

 is not in all respects beyond control.' He is under ' an obligation to 

 observe the national customs, which have been handed down to the 

 people from remote antiquity ; and a practical disregard of this obli- 

 gation, in the attempt to change some of the customs of their fore- 

 fathers, cost Osai Quamina his throne.' " Which instance reminds us 

 how commonly, as now among the Hottentots, as in the past among 

 the ancient Mexicans, and as throughout the histories of civilized peo- 

 ples, rulers have engaged, on succeeding to power, not to change the 

 established order. 



Doubtless the proposition that the political head, simple or com- 

 pound, is in the main but an agency through which works the force 



