211 



first secession ; and in the compromise by wliich this was settled, the 

 office of the tribunate of the people was established. This consisted, at 

 first, of two tribunes of the people, elected by the plebeians, whose per- 

 sons were made sacred from arrest or outrage of any kind, and in whom 

 was vested the power to veto any act of the consuls or other officers, or 

 any legislation proposed ; so that the power was, in fact as well as in 

 theory, vested in them of stopping the wheels of government entirely. 

 The number of the tribunes was afterwards increased, but this institution 

 also continued throughout the whole history of the republic. 



Comment upon these constitutional arrangements is unnecessary. "We 

 have here the sovereign powers of the government distributed, not 

 merely among different officials and departments acting concurrently, 

 but independently, in various officers and ai?semblies, opposed, and gen- 

 erally hostile to each other. And yet this constitution — than which, ac- 

 cording to modern theories, nothing could be more absurd — was, in fact, 

 the most successful in its operation that history has presented us with ; 

 and to it we owe the achievements of the Romans during the most suc- 

 cessful part of their history, and ultimately the conditions of modern 

 civilization. 



§11. Historical Genesis of the Doctrine of Absolute Sovereignty. 



The genesis of this theory is readily accounted for by the historical 

 events out of which it grew. In the struggle between the kingly power 

 and that of the feudal lords, in the Middle Ages, the former naturally 

 came to be regarded as the last refuge of personal security, and the only 

 hope of organized social life ; and out of this arose an almost universal 

 sentiment in its favor, which found its expression in the modern doctrine 

 of sovereignty ; and this doctrine either in its original form, as applied to 

 a single monarch, or, in a secondary sense, as applied to other forms of 

 government, has come to be so generally received in the political philoso- 

 phy of Europe, that the term itself, in popular use, carries with it the 

 connotation of being an absolute, despotic power, or right. And this 

 notion, intensified by the events of the great English Civil War, and of 

 the French Revolution, continues to prevail in Europe, and especially in 

 England, and also to a considerable extent in this country. 



Hence, obviously the doctrine is simply the exaggerated expression of a 

 sentiment, just and natural in itself, in the form of an absolute proposi- 

 tion, and in this form it is obviously untrue. It is, indeed, sufficiently 

 manifest that the power of government must be great; and we may even 

 say with Hobbes : Non est super terram potestas guce comparetur ei. But 

 that it is, or should be, either unlimited or irresponsible, or that it should 

 be any greater, within the limits of our power to restrict it, than neces- 

 sary for the efficient performance of its functions, does not follow ; nor is 

 it possible to conceive of any argument tending to establish such a con- 

 clusion. 



