(JUVKUN.MKNT 



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relation to tin- subject matter with which it is con 

 cerned. i- in die long-run, and continually tends 



to IM-, ili.' expre ion nf (In 1 will of the. ilciiniii.-iiii 

 pnuer in the state. The expression may !< ditli 

 mil. owing l(> I'"' complexity of the constitution 

 <r tin- number lit constituent parts among which 

 tin- power is distributed, or owing, as ofti-n 

 happen-, to tln> i-\i-ti-iii-i' of artificial restriction- 

 designed to allord opportunities for delay. Again, 

 tin- will of the real rulers may be in a state of 

 acquiescence, and the arriving at any decision in 

 favour of change may be impeded in many ways, 

 as by the inlliience of custom and tradition, the 

 reluctance felt alout disturbing an existing dele- 

 gation of power, or the feeling that responsible 

 and removable governors can safely be trusted. 

 After making all deductions it seems clear that 

 _'o\ eminent is in fact an expression of the wishes 

 of those who have the ultimate dominion, and 

 that in free communities its course and even its 

 form are determined by the general will of the 

 people. The forms of government are, however, 

 in some degree determined by accidental circum- 

 stances, such as the survival of institutions which 

 have become obsolete, or which have been adapted 

 to existing needs though their original object has 

 come to an end. The possible variations in the 

 form of government are almost countless, but it is 

 .-till convenient to adopt to some extent the ancient 

 methods of classification, according as the rule of 

 the state is given to the one, the few, or the many. 

 Another method of division is based on the dis- 

 tinction between those states in which the gover- 

 nors and governed have apparently been opposed 

 to each other, and those in which the contest 

 between prerogative and popular liberty has ended 

 in national self-government. 



Plato and Aristotle distinguished governments 

 as true or pure when power is given and used 

 for the good of the subject, and as false or per- 

 verted when it is maintained for the private inter- 

 e-t of the ruler. Among such true forms they 

 counted monarchy or royalty, in which one ruled 

 for the good of all, and aristocracy or the rule of 

 a class, equally acting in the common interest ; 

 lie-ides these rare and ideal forms they found an- 

 other pure form in the mixed or constitutional 

 government, which was the favourite 'polity ' of 

 the Greek states when placed under favourable 

 circumstances. It must be remembered, however, 

 that their arguments are made difficult of applica- 

 tiou to modern times by the facts that the states 

 were very small, and that the great bulk of the 

 population was enslaved ; the last circumstance 

 gave a disproportionate importance to the military 

 <-|;iss, on which the existence of society depended, 

 -o that the ancient 'polities' were in practice 

 dominated by an armed middle class, taken collec- 

 tively as representing the whole people. Hence it 

 was expressly laid down in the Aristotelian Politics 

 < lib. iii. chap. 7), that 'in a constitutional govern- 

 ment the fighting-men have the supreme power, 

 and the armed men are the citizens.' In the same 

 I -lace will IKJ found an account of the perversions of 

 tine government. 'Tyranny,' or desiM)tism, is a 

 monarchy having in view the interest of the master 

 of the state. Oligarchy, of which there are many 

 varieties, exists when a small class, generally con- 

 >i-ting of the rich, has the whole government' in its 

 ]>ower. In Aristotle's view the rule of a wealthy 

 class was of the essence of an oligarchy. Demo- 

 cracy, or the rule of the many, was mi the same 

 principle identified with government in the interests 

 of the needy. The author of the Politics does not 

 seem to have lelieved tlwit a wealthy community 

 could l>e a democracy, or to have conceived the 

 idea of representative government or of a democracy 

 in the modern sense of the term. The democracy 



l,y him wax obviously of an unstable 

 and temporary character, ready to Miller a further 

 perveisimi towards ochlocracy or a mere mob-govern- 

 ment, ending in unan-hx ami the eventual inteqxxu- 

 tion of a despotic or military form of government. 



Aristotle distinguished five kinds of monarchy 

 among the true or legitimate systems. The lii-t 

 was the Spartan form, or that which existed 

 in Crete, the power of the kings in each cane 

 being strictly limited by the constitution. Next 

 came the despotic form of monarchy, such as 

 was found in the Asian empires, differing only from 

 tyranny because the barbarians, 00 slaves by 

 nature, were perfectly willing to obey. The third 

 was the Dictatorship, which in Greece was not 

 hereditary, but which has always tended in modern 

 times to OMOOM so. Another kind might be called 

 the Heroic form, the kings in ancient times having 

 been ' priests, and judges, and warriors, and having 

 a supreme authority in all things.' Last in the list 

 was the absolute kingship, ' exercising an universal 

 power, like that of the state over the public pro- 

 perty, or that of the master over a household ' 

 (Arist. Pol. iii. chap. 15 ; Jowett's Introd. Ixv. ). The 

 last-described monarchy is certainly a separate form 

 of government, but it was obviously liable to pass 

 at any moment into a tyranny, unless a succes- 

 sion of disinterested ' benevolent despots ' could le 

 found. It should be observed that Aristotle did 

 not think that any monarchy ought to be heredi- 

 tary, and that he considered absolute monarchy to 

 be contrary to the law of nature. His summary of 

 the causes which had induced the transition from 

 the old kingship to the modern republic is full of 

 interest and information. The reason, he says, 

 why ancient governments were monarchies is that 

 in early times there were only a few good men who 

 could confer benefits, and so they were made into 

 kings. The reason, he adds, why democracies are 

 now necessary is that all men are ' pretty much on 

 an equality ; he is referring, of course, to the free- 

 men who had the franchise and a capacity for office. 

 ' When good men increased in number, royalties 

 passed into aristocracies. These degenerated into 

 oligarchies. Oligarchy passed into " tyranny," and 

 tyrannies became democracies, for the rich became 

 fewer and fewer, and the poor more and more 

 numerous ; and democracy seems to be the only 

 form of government any longer possible, now that 

 cities are increased in size.' He shows, however, 

 his personal preference for the mixed constitution 

 or ' polity,' as probably the best form of government 

 after the ideal ' rule of the best, 'or 'aristocracy' 

 in the highest sense of the term. The stages 

 through wliich oligarchy usually passed are summed 

 up as follows : at first there is a high qualification 

 for office, and then as vacancies in office occur, a 

 scheme of co-optation is devised : afterwards hered- 

 itary succession is introduced, and finally a few 

 powerful families set up an absolute and arbitrary 

 rule. Democracy in the same way has several 

 stages from that in which all men are equal in cir- 

 cumstances and power, if such an ' Utopian parity 

 were possible, to the stages when a small qualifi- 

 cation is im{K)sed, when every one takes a share in 

 the government, and lastly, when law ceases and 

 the government is carried on by the decrees of the 

 transient majority. 



Plato constructed an ideal state, an aristocracy 

 in which philosophers were kings, and thought 

 that of inferior governments there were only four 

 worthy of notice, though, doubtless, there were 

 many intermediate forms both among Greeks and 

 barbarians. He calls the first Timocrocy, being 

 a constitution of the fashionable Spartan type, in 

 which the powers of the kings and classes of citizens 

 were limited bv strict discipline, and the govern- 

 ment was conducted on ' principles of honour,' 



