344 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Even apart from such evidence, there is ample reason to infer that 

 the council of war originated the consultative body, and gave outlines 

 to its structure. Defense against enemies was everywhere the need 

 which originally prompted joint deliberation. For other purposes 

 individual action, or action in small parties, might suffice ; but for 

 insuring the general safety combined action of the whole horde or 

 tribe was necessary ; and to secure this combined action must have 

 been the first motive for a political gathering. Moreover, certain con- 

 stitutional traits of early assemblies, among the civilized, point to 

 councils of war as having initiated them. If we ask what must haj)- 

 pen when, in a tribe, the predominant few debate military measures 

 in presence of the many, the reply is that, in the absence of a developed 

 political organization, the assent of the many to any decision must be 

 obtained before it can be acted upon ; and the like must at first hap- 

 pen when many tribes are united. As Gibbon says of the Diet of the 

 Tartars, formed of chiefs of tribes and their martial trains, " the 

 monarch who reviews the strength, must consult the inclination, of an 

 armed people." Even if, under such conditions, the predominant few 

 could impose their will upon the many, armed like themselves, it would 

 clearly be impolitic to do so, since success in war would be endan- 

 gered by dissension. Hence would arise the usage of putting to the 

 surrounding mass of armed men the question whether they agreed to 

 the course which the council of chiefs had decided upon. There 

 would grow up a form such as that which had become established for 

 governmental purposes at large among the early Romans, whose king 

 or general asked the assembled burgesses or " spear-men " whether 

 they approved of the proposal made ; or like that ascribed by Tacitus 

 to the primitive Germans, who, now with murmurs and now with 

 brandishing of spears, rejected or accepted the suggestions of their 

 leaders. Moreover, there would naturally come just that restricted 

 expression of popular opinion which we are told of. The Roman bur- 

 gesses were allowed to answer only "Yes" or *''No" to any question 

 put to them ; and this is exactly the simple answer which the chief 

 and head warriors would require from the rest of the warriors when 

 war or peace had to be determined upon. A kindred restriction 

 existed among the Spartans. In addition to the senate and coordinate 

 kings, there was "an Ekklesia, or public assembly of citizens, con- 

 vened for the purpose of approving or rejecting propositions sub- 

 mitted to them, with little or no liberty of discussion" a usage quite 

 explicable if we assume that in the Homeric Agora, from which the 

 Spartan constitution descended, the assembled chiefs had to gain the 

 assent of their surrounding followers before important actions could 

 be undertaken. 



Concluding, then, that war originates political deliberation, and 

 that the select body which especially carries on this deliberation first 

 takes shape on occasions when the public safety has to be jn'ovided 



