23 



on the pleasure of a King. The national tribunal was 

 composed of men drawn from the same caste. It is 

 easy to see that the political institutions of a country 

 will be of the lowest order when administered by men 

 whose station and pay depend on a head, himself the 

 weak issue of hereditary descent; or a bold adven- 

 turer, whose ambition is for conquest, whose pleasure 

 is blood. Egypt, therefore, with all her numerous 

 population, her learning, her resources, was wanting 

 in that widely diffused idea of justice and utility which 

 alone stems the torrent of luxury and arrests national 

 crimes. She therefore declines and makes way for 

 Greece. 



Greece makes one step in the system of government. 

 She establishes a guard upon the power of public sta- 

 tion. Solon, regarding taxation as the most dangerous 

 of all authority, provided a check in the ratification of 

 the people (Aristot. de. Rhet.) but that people were a 

 lawless rabble, with no check upon themselves. He 

 instituted lawgivers; but they administered the law. 

 (Plut. in Solon.) He forbade the acquisition of lands 

 by purchase or gift, and confined its acquirement to 

 inheritance and marriage: — Thus he encouraged popu- 

 lation, but crippled commerce, a necessary means of its 

 support. The right of citizenship was dependent 

 sometimes on proof of descent through two generations, 

 (Heeren); sometimes on the fact that one was a for- 

 eigner of influence. In this way the most valuable 

 privilege which can be conferred by a State, was in- 

 fluenced by fortune, not public services, or private vir- 

 tues. With respect to representation, .instead of the 

 only safe rule, that a few good and wise men should be 

 selected to represent the mass, that mass itself, with all 



