POLITICAL ORGANIZATION IN GENERAL. 253 



agents, severally coercing grades below, are themselves 

 coerced by grades above ; and even the highest ruling agent 

 is enslaved by the system created for the preservation of his 

 supremacy. In ancient Egypt the daily life of the king was 

 minutely regulated alike as to its hours, its occupations, its 

 ceremonies ; so that, nominally all powerful, he was really less 

 free than a subject. It has been, and is, the same with other 

 despotic monarchs. Till lately in Japan, where the form of 

 organization had become fixed, and where, from the highest 

 to the lowest, the actions of life were prescribed in detail, the 

 exercise of authority was so burdensome that voluntary re 

 signation of it was frequent: we read that &quot;the custom 

 of abdication is common among all classes, from the Emperor 

 down to his meanest subject.&quot; European states have ex 

 emplified this re-acting tyranny. &quot; In the Byzantine palace,&quot; 

 says Gibbon, &quot; the Emperor was the first slave of the cere 

 monies he imposed.&quot; Concerning the tedious court life of 

 Louis XIV., Madame de Maintenon remarks &quot; Save those 

 only who fill the highest stations, I know of none more un 

 fortunate than those who envy them. If you could only 

 form an idea of what it is 1 &quot; 



So that while the satisfaction of men s wants is furthered 

 both by the maintenance of order and by the formation of 

 aggregates large enough to permit extensive division of labour, 

 it is hindered both by great deductions from the products of 

 their actions, and by the restraints imposed on their actions 

 usually in excess of the needs. And political control in 

 directly entails evils on those who exercise it as well as 011 

 those over whom it is exercised. 



444. The stones composing a house cannot be otherwise 

 used until the house has been pulled clown. If the stones 

 are united by mortar, there must be extra trouble in destroy 

 ing their present combination before they can be re-combined. 

 And if the mortar has had centuries in which to consolidate, 

 the breaking up of the masses formed is a matter of such 



