352 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



god, and where he continues to be elective, the power of the consul- 

 tative body is apt to override the royal power, and eventually to sup- 

 press it. The tirst to be named is that of Rome. Originally " the 

 king convoked the senate when he pleased, and laid before it his ques- 

 tions ; no senator might declare his opinion unasked ; still less might , 

 the senate meet without being summoned." But here, where the king, 

 though regarded as having divine aj^proval, was not held to be of di- 

 vine descent, and where, though usually nominated by a predecessor, 

 he was sometimes practically elected by the senate and always sub- 

 mitted to the form of popular approval, the consultative body pres- 

 ently became supreme. " The senate had in course of time been con- 

 verted, from a corporation intended merely to advise the magistrates, 

 into a board commanding the magistrates, and self-governing." Af- 

 terward "the right of nominating and canceling senators, originally 

 belonging to the magistrates, was withdrawn from them " ; and, final- 

 ly, " the irremovable character and life-tenure of the members of the 

 ruling order, who obtained seat and vote, was definitely consolidat- 

 ed " : the oligarchic constitution became pronounced. The history of 

 Poland yields another example. After unions of simply-governed 

 tribes had produced small states and generated a nobility, and after 

 these small states had been united, there arose a kingship. At first 

 elective, as kingships habitually are, this continued so never became 

 hereditary. On the occasion of each election out of the royal clan, 

 there was an o^^portunity of choosing for king one whose character the 

 turbulent nobles thought fittest for their own purposes ; and hence it 

 resulted that the power of the kingshij) decayed. Eventually 



Of the three orders into which the state was divided, the king, though his 

 authority had been anciently despotic, was the least important. His dignity was 

 unaccompanied with power; he was merely the president of the senate, and the 

 chief judge of the republic. 



And then there is the instance furnished by Scandinavia, already 

 named in another relation. Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish kings 

 were originally elective ; and, though, on sundry occasions, hereditary 

 succession became for a time the usage, there were repeated lapses into 

 the elective form, with the result that predominance was gained by 

 the feudal chieftains and prelates forming the consultative body. 



The second element in the triune political structure is thus, like 

 the first, developed by militancy. By this the ruler is eventually sep- 

 arated from all below him ; and by this the superior few become 

 integrated into a deliberative body separated from the inferior many. 



That the council of war, formed of leading warriors who debate in 

 presence of their followers, is the germ out of which the consultative 

 body arises, is implied by the survival of usages which show that a 

 political gathering is originally a gathering of armed men. In har- 



