GOVERNMENT. 
Joss indeed, must be proportionate to the circumstances 
ofthe case ; but no case can be figured, where it ought 
to amount'to absolute authority on the part of the con- 
‘or; ‘that is, to slavery on the part of the people. A 
arnaptives taken insactual war may be reduced to that 
- unhappy state, where the law of retaliation, and only 
where such law demands it; but no national offence 
ean‘infer the punishment of national slavery. tis pos- 
sible to imagine cases, where ret the future may 
require the conquered to submit to the government of 
the con 3 but such government cannot be /egiti- 
mate, unless it be as free as is compatible with that se- 
curity. : 
| Tt would seem, therefore, they argued, that the doctrine 
of the consent of the people, as forming the only founda- 
tion for legitimate government, requires only to be suf- 
ficiently explained, in order to be acknowledged. 
| This consent they conceived to be of two kinds. 
First, that which is implied in consequence of certain 
acts of the people; and, second, that which is direct, 
and expressly conventional, 
» First, The greater part of the governments, as well 
ancient as modern, to which the epithet of legitimate 
can with any propriety be appli » have been of the 
_ first description.. They have all been originally con- 
stituted, and afterwards exercised, in consequence of the 
implied consent of the people ; an implication by no 
means doubtful in its nature, or feeble in its convention- 
al effects ; but, on the contrary, more erally, as well 
as more powerfully binding, perhaps, a that consent 
which is direct and express. ; 
- These governments have been the same in their ori- 
gin, and similar in the first periods of their progress ; 
but, for the most — sufficiently varied in subse-~ 
and concluding eras of their history. At first, 
e savage who roamed the desert, was at once. the: fa- 
ther and supreme civil governor of his family.. Conve- 
nience, and the ties of blood, soon united a certain num- 
ber of families into a tribe, village, or horde... The same 
natural sentiment of confidence and phe: which had 
i led the children of a family to admit the father’s 
authority, impelled the several families of the same tribe 
or village to admit, in time of peace, the authority of those 
individuals amongst them — were most celebrated for 
wisdom and) experience; and, in time of war, of that 
single individual who was, most renowned for his mar- 
tial skill and. achievements,. But as war among rude 
nations (alas! in more civilized periods also) ever occu- 
pies much more of the public attention than peace, and 
as, from its nature, there can be only one supreme leader 
at a time, sufficient opportunity is then afforded him of 
acquiring a greater share of public respect, and of being 
sega as of greater national importance, than. those 
individuals in whose authority he; is only a sharer in 
time of peace. Hence the consideration which the leader 
or king, in civilized as well as in rude periods, acquires 
over the other individuals of the visa administration, 
whether that consist of a senate, (as it comes afterwards 
to be termed,) a popular assembly, or both. This leader 
or king, as well as the other members of the civil ad- 
ministration, are not, in the earlier periods of the his- 
tory of golenteeasorrts expressly elected by. the 
concurring voice, by the majority, or by any other avow- 
edly conventional act of the people. Their experience, 
their wisdom, and their virtues—such virtues as men in 
those ruder periods can understand and admire—invest 
them with authority, aud render them the natural ob- 
jects of respect and obedience. - The le: soon per- 
ceive the beneficial effects of submission, and, by a thou- 
VOL. X. PART I, ; 
8415 
sand differentiacts, testify their concurrence in a govern- Govern. 
ment so naturally formed, and so advantageously admi- 
nistered.. As the king, or any of the other rulers, dies, 
or from any other cause becomes unfit for discharging 
the duties of his station, another, of similar accomplish- 
ments, succeeds him by the same natural means, and 
receives the same natural obedience. For obvious rea~ 
sons, the successor is commonly the immediate descend 
ant, or intimate friend, of the deceased, unless a striking 
deficiency of capacity disqualify him. As the ideas, 
however, of property extend and improve, and as other 
alterations take place in the progress of society, men 
come to acquiesce in that hereditary succession to civil 
authority for which kings and rulers now begin to 
struggle. The le perceive its tendency to ex- 
clude rival and tumultuary pretensions to power, and, in 
this respect, soon actually experience its advantageous 
uences. Their original acquiescence is confirmed 
by their voluntary obedience, and their acknowledgment 
of the legitimacy both of the constitution, and of the 
administration, of the government, is sufficiently decla- 
red by their reiterated acts of co-operation, as well in 
forming as in executing the laws, and in modifying, 
when necessary, the form itself of the civil polity. 
But this natural and just order of things 1s too often 
interrupted and broken. Usurpation may either occu 
py the place-of those rulers, whether supreme or sub+ . 
ordinate, whom alone the people acknowledge as lawful ; 
or tyranny may characterise the conduct of those rulers 
themselves. In both cases, the administration of go- 
vernment, and, as an usual, or rather almost necessary 
consequence, the form of government itself, have un- 
deniably become il/egitimate; and the people, if they 
can yet command sufficient force, or whenever they 
choose to risk the attempt, may, with perfect justice, 
endeavour to displace and punish the usurper.and 
tyrant. Should they neither command sufficient force, 
nor choose to risk the attempt, the government of the 
usurper may become legitimate, by the justice with which 
it is afterwards administered, and by reiterated acts of 
sufficiently implied consent on the part of the people; 
but that of the ¢yrant can never become so. He may 
hold his,people in a precarious subjection, if they choose 
to remain in his territory, by the principle of fear; but 
none of his enactments, or of their involuntary compli- 
ances, can ever render his authority legitimate, or de-« 
rive the: people of the right to, displace and punish 
him when they can, and to substitute another governor, 
as, well as to appoint another form of government more 
equitable:and friendly to liberty. 
Second, That.consent of the people; they further 
maintained, which is direct and expressly conventional, 
although by no means of such frequent, occurrence in 
the history of civil government as the former species of 
consent, is yet sufficiently, frequent to prove its exist- 
ence, and give an idea of its nature. Among: rude 
tribes, we find instances of general assemblies of the 
people, met for the express purpose of electing. their 
rulers by a majority of suffrages.. The great civil, ma- 
i of several of the states of Greece, and particu- 
larly the archons and other civil officers of Athens, tos 
gether with the consuls and most of the, other»magis- 
trates of Rome, were appointed. periodically: by the-act 
- i mene a ancient colonies also, whe-« 
r they rn aren i rom Greece, Rome, or Carthage; 
thought best ; the cay: cag mother countries, claims 
ing no authority over fe but only soliciting from their 
ri) , x 
ment. 
