396 GOVERNMENT !x 



clear. Unfortunately, Rousseau leaves it not a 

 little obscure. He commences the second chapter 

 of his second book by declaring that the general 

 will is that of the body of the people ; that, as 

 such, the declaration of it is an act of sovereignty, 

 while the declaration of the will of a part of the 

 people is merely an act of administration. Yet, in 

 a note, we are told that for the "will" to be 

 " general" it need not be unanimous, only all the 

 votes must be taken. How the expression of will 

 which is not unanimous can be other than that of 

 a part of the people, does not appear. But full 

 light is thrown upon Rousseau's real meaning in 

 the second chapter of the fourth book. Following 

 Locke's dictum that nothing can make a man a 

 member of a commonwealth " but his actually 

 entering into it by positive engagement and ex- 

 press promise and compact " (" Civil Government," 

 122) he tells us that 



the only law which, by its nature, requires unanimous assent, 

 is the social compact : for civil association is the most voluntary 

 of all acts : every man being born free and master of himself, no 

 one, under any pretext whatever, can subject himself without 

 avowal of the act. 



Those who do not assent when the social con- 

 tract is made remain strangers among the citizens ; 

 but after the State is constituted, residence with- 

 in its bounds is to be taken as assent to the 

 contract. 



