SOVEREIGNTY. 



the great advantage of the ftate and people who liave fub- 

 mitted to him. How noble a fight is it, fays the admirable 

 Vattel, to fee a king of England acquaint hi? parliament 

 with all his principal operations ; afliire that body, the re- 

 prefentatives of the nation, that he propofes no other end 

 but the glory of the ftate, and the happinefs of his people ; 

 and affeflionately thank all who concur with him in fuch 

 falutary views ! Certainly a monarch, who makes ufe of 

 this language, and proves his fincerity by his conduft, is, 

 in the opinion of the wife, the only great man. But for a 

 long time a bafe flattery has, in moft kingdoms, caufed 

 thefe maxims to be forgotten. A crowd of fervile courtiers 

 without difficulty perfuade a proud monarch, that the na- 

 tion was made for him, and not he for the nation. He foon 

 confiders the kingdom as his patrimony, and his people as a 

 herd of cattle, from which he may obtain riches, and dif- 

 pofe of them fo as beft to anfwer his views, and gratify his 

 paflions. From thence arife thofe fatal wars, undertaken by 

 ambition, reftleflhefs, hatred, and pride : from thence thofe 

 oppreflive taxes, diffipated by luxury, or fquandered Upon 

 miftrefles and favourites < from thence, in fine, are important 

 potts given by favour, while public merit is neglefted, and 

 every thing that does not immediately interett the prince, 

 abandoned to minifters and fubalterns. Who can obferve, 

 in this unhappy government, authority eftablifhed for the 

 public welfare ? A great prince will be on his guard, even 

 againft his virtues. Let us not fay, with fome writers, that 

 private virtues arc not the virtues of kings ; the maxim of 

 fuperficial politicians, or of thofe who are very inaccurate 

 in their expreflions. Goodnefs, friendfliip, gratitude, are 

 ftill virtues of the throne ; and would to God they were to be 

 always fo ! But a wife king does not, vrithout difcernment, 

 give himfelf up to their impreffions. He cherifhes them, 

 he cultivates them in his private life ; but in ftate-affairs he 

 littens only to juilice and found politics. And why ? be- 

 caufe he knows that the government was trufted to him only 

 for the happinefs of fociety ; and that, therefore, he ought 

 npt to confult his own pleafure in the ufe he makes of his 

 power. He tempers his goodnefs with wifdom. He gives 

 to friendfhip his domettic and private favours ; he dittributes 

 potts and employments according to merit ; public rewards 

 to ferviccs done to the ftate. In a word, he ufes the public 

 power only with a view to the public welfare. All this is 

 comprehended in the fine faying of Lewis XH., " A king 

 of France does not revenge the injuries of a duke of Or- 

 leans." 



A political fociety is a moral pcrfon, as it has an under- 

 ftanding and a, will, of which it makes ufe for the conduft 

 of its affairs, and is capable of obligations and laws. 

 When, therefore, a people confer the fovercignty on any 

 one perfon, they inveft him with their underllandintr and 

 will ; and make over to him their oblig.itions and rights, 

 fo far as relates to the adminillration of the affairs of ftate, 

 and the exercife of the piibhc authority ; tlius the fovcreign, 

 or conduftor of the ftate, becoming the fubjcft, in which 

 refide the obligations and rights relative to government, in 

 liim is found the moral pcrfon, who, without ablblutely 

 ceafing to exitt in the nation, afts from thence forwards 

 only in and by him. Such is the origin of the reprefenta- 

 tive charafter attributed to the fovereign. He reprefents 

 the nation in all the affairs it was capable of managing 

 as fovcreign. It does not dcbafe the dignity of the grcateil 

 monarch to attribute to him this reprefcntative charafter ; 

 on the contrary, nothing can make him fhine with greater 

 luftre : for by this means the monarch unites, in his own 

 perfon, all the raajcfty that belongs to the entire body of 

 the nation. 



The fovereign, thus clothed with the pubhc authority, 

 with every thing that conftitutes the moral perfonality of 

 the nation, is under the obligations of that nation, and in- 

 vefted with its rights. 



Every thing that concerns the general duties of a nation 

 towards itfelf, particularly regards the fovereign. He is 

 the depofitary of the empire, and of the power of com- 

 manding whatever relates to the public welfare : he ought, 

 therefore, as a tender and wife father, and as a faithful ad- 

 niiniftrator, to watch for the nation, to take care of pre- 

 ferving it, to render it more perfed, to better its ftate, and 

 to fecure it, as much as he is able, from every thing that 

 threatens its fafety, or its happinefs. 



The prince derives his authority from the nation ; and it 

 is exaftly equal to what they have entrufted him with. If 

 the nation has fimply and ftridly invefted him with the fove- 

 reignty without limitation, or divifion, he is fuppofed to be 

 invefted with all the prerogatives, without which the fove- 

 reign command, or authority, could not be exerted in the 

 manner moft conducive to the pubhc welfare. Thefe are 

 called regal prerogatives, or the prerogatives of majejly. 



But the fovereign power is limited and regulated by the 

 fundamental laws of the ftate : thofe laws fhew the prince 

 the extent and bounds of his power, and the manner in 

 which it ought to be exerted. The prince is, therefore, 

 ttriftly obliged not only to refpeft, but alfo to fupport 

 them. The conftitution and the fundamental laws are the 

 plan on which the nation has refolvcd to endeavour the ob- 

 taining of happinefs : the execution is entrufted to the prince. 

 If he rehgioufly follows this plan ; if he regards the funda- 

 mental laws as inviolable and facred rules, and knows that 

 the moment he deviates from them, his commands become 

 unjuft, and are no lefs than a criminal abufe of the power 

 with which he is entrufted. He is, in virtue of this power, 

 the guardian and defender of the laws ; and being obhged 

 to punifh any one who fliall prefume to violate them, he him- 

 felf ought not to trample them under his feet. 



While the laws of a fociety, over which a fovereign pre- 

 fides, fubfift, he ought religioufly to maintain and obferve 

 them. Tliis is no lels his true intcreft than hie duty. But 

 in explaining this fubmilTion of tlic prince to the laws, Vattel 

 obfervcs, that he is above all civil penal laws. The majefty 

 of a fovereign will not fuffer his being punifiied like a pri- 

 v.^te perfon ; and his employments are too fublime to admit 

 of his being troubled, under the pretence of a fault that 

 does not direftly concern the goverimient of the ftate. His 

 perfon, therefore, fliould be regarded as inviolable. Never- 

 thelefs, this high attribute of fovereignty is no reafon why a 

 nation fhould not curb an infupportable tyrant, call him 

 even to an account, refpefting in iiis perfon the majefty of 

 his rank, and withdraw itfelf from liis obedience. To thii 

 mdifputable right a powerful republic owes its birth. The 

 tyranny exercifed by Philip II. in the Netherlands, excited 

 thofe provinces to rife : feven of them, clofely confederated, 

 bravely maintained their liberties, under the conduft of a 

 hero of the houfe of Orange ; and Spain, after feveral vain 

 and deftruftive efforts, acknowledged them fovereigo and 

 independent ftates. If the authority of the prince is limited 

 and regulated by the fundamental laws, the prince, on 

 leaving the bounds prefcribed liini, commands without any 

 right, and even without a jutt title : the nation, then, is not 

 obliged to obey him, but may refill his unjuft euterprizcs. 

 As foon as he att.tcks the conftitution of the ft.ite, the 

 prince breaks the contraft which bound the people to him ; 

 the people became free by the atl of the fovereign, and ice 

 nothing in him but an ufurper who would load them with 

 oppreflion. This truth is acknowledged by every fenfible 



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wTiter, 



