SOVEIŒIGNTÏ. 45 



sovereignty, and, as they arc called iu the holy Book, " the minis- 

 ters of his kingdom."* It is m this sense that Saint Paul instructs 

 us that " there is no power but of God, that the powers that bo 

 arc ordained of God."f 



Waiving, then, all secondary questions concerning the form of 

 ]iower and the seat of power. Father Hyacinthe remarked only 

 two great facts which have the importance of principles : sover- 

 eignty may exist outside of the nation and be exercised over it, 

 or it may exist in the nation and be exercised by it. The first 

 case is that of (Hi absolute prince ; the second, that of a sovereifjn 

 2)eoplc.'] 



1. Tlie Absolute Prince. 



In considering the origin of society from an abstract 

 point of view, in the order of ideas, I have fonnded it 

 on a formal or implied compact among the fathers of 

 families — that is, according to the langnage of the 

 Koman law, among those who are either actually at the 

 liead of a family, or Avho, having come of age, have a 

 right to become such. This is the order of ideas. But 

 the facts of history do not always tally with political 

 metaph3'sics ; and wlion I come with you to examine 

 the real origin of nations, I find no trace of any such 

 compact. What we most commonly find in place of it, 

 is what has been called " the law of the hero." Instead 

 of nations constituting themselves, I behold mighty and 

 predestinated individuals who create nations, giving 

 birth to them, so to speak, from their own great souls. 



The masses, at the beginning, and, it may be, always, 

 need some one's wonder-working finger to be laid upon 

 their breast, in order to call into animation the sleeping 

 spark. Such is a Hercules or a Theseus, slaying mon- 

 sters, dispersing robbers, by their strength and valor 

 becoming the liberators of oppressed families and the 



* Wiedom, vi. 5. t Romans, xiii. 1. 



