CONSULTATIVE BODIES. 345 



for, we shall be prepared the better to understand the traits which 

 characterize the consultative body in later stages of its development. 



Already Ave have seen that at the outset the militant class was of 

 necessity the land-owning class. In the savage tribe there are no 

 owners of the tract occupied, save the warriors who use it in common 

 for hunting. During pastoral life, good regions for cattle-feeding are 

 jointly held against intruders by force of arms. And, where the agri- 

 cultural stage has been reached, communal possession, family posses- 

 sion, and individual possession, have from time to time to be defended 

 by the sword. Hence, as was shown, the fact that in early stages the 

 bearing of arms and the holding of land habitually go together. 



While, as among hunting-peoples, land continues to be held in com- 

 mon, the contrasts which arise between the few and the many are 

 such only as result from actual or supposed personal superiority of 

 one kmd or other. It is true that, as pointed out, differences of wealth, 

 in the shape of chattels, boats, slaves, etc., cause some class-differentia- 

 tions ; and that thus, even before private land-owning begins, quantity 

 of possessions aids in distinguishing the governing from the governed. 

 When the pastoral state is arrived at and the patriarchal type estab- 

 lished, such ownership as there is vests in the eldest son of the eldest ; 

 or if, as Sir Henry Maine says, he is to be considered trustee for the 

 group, still his trusteeship joins with his military headship in giving 

 him supremacy. At a later stage, when lands come to be occupied by 

 settled families and communities, and land-ownership gains definite- 

 ness, this union of traits in each head of a group becomes more marked ; 

 and, as was shown when treating of the differentiation of nobles from 

 freemen, several influences conspire to give the eldest son of the eldest 

 superiority in extent of landed possessions, as well as in degree of 

 power. Kor is this fundamental relation changed when a nobility of 

 service replaces a nobility of birth, and when, as presently happens, 

 the adherents of a conquering invader are rewarded by portions of the 

 subjugated territory, granted on condition of continued military ser- 

 vice. Throughout, the tendency continues to be for the class of mili- 

 tary superiors to be identical with the class of large land-owners. 



It follows, then, that, beginning with the general assemblage of 

 armed freemen, all of them holding land individually or in groups, 

 whose council of leaders, deliberating in presence of the rest, are dis- 

 tinguished only as being the most capable warriors, there will, through 

 frequent wars and progressing consolidations, be produced a state in 

 which this council of leaders becomes further distinguished from the 

 rest by the larger possessions, and consequent greater powers, of its 

 members. Becoming more and more contrasted with the general 

 mass of armed freemen, the consultative body will tend gradually 

 to subordinate it, and, eventually separating itself, will become inde- 

 pendent. 



