IX GOVERNMENT 395 



decrees) and a right of property in that which ho 

 possesses (chap. viii.). His previous possession, 

 which was bare usurpation, is thus changed into 

 right. In this way members of the community 

 become mere depositaries of the public property, 

 the private right of ownership being subordinate 

 to the supreme right of the community (chap. ix.). 

 The general will is the source of authority; 

 whoever refuses to obey its behests is to be 

 coerced into obedience by the whole body 

 " which means nothing more than that he shall 

 be forced to be free " (chap. vii.). As will be seen 

 on turning to the extracts from the " Philosophical 

 Rudiments " given above (p. 388, note), most of this 

 is Hobbism pure and simple. The fundamental 

 principle of the Rousseauite, as of the Hobbist, 

 polity is the omnipotpmfp. of the State : its boasted 

 liberty is a grant from the sovereign despot, whose 

 absolutism is sugared over by the suggestion that 

 each man has an infinitesimal share in it. And, 

 if any one of the sovereign people should be as 

 blind to the benefits of this sort of free bonds- 

 manship and coerced brotherly love as the 

 " Needy knifegrinder " was, his " incivism " is to 

 be cured by physical treatment : " On le forcera 

 d'etre libre." 



The despotism of the "general will" (volonte 

 gfaJmle} being thus established, how is the sove- 

 reign to make his commands known ? This is a 

 point about which it is surely necessary to be very 



