POLITICAL HEADS CHIEFS, KINGS, ETC. 361 



succession was so far settled that minors reigned, fell under 

 the control of those who had become chief ministers. Long 

 before Childeric, the Merovingian family had ceased to govern. 

 &quot; The treasures and the power of the kingdom had passed into the 

 hands of the prefects of the palace, who were called mayors of the 

 palace, and to whom the supreme power really belonged. The prince 

 was obliged to content himself with bearing the name of king, having 

 flowing locks and a long beard, sitting on the chair of State, and repre 

 senting the image of the monarch.&quot; 



481. From the Evolution-standpoint vrc are thus enabled 

 to discern the relative beneficence of institutions which, con 

 sidered absolutely, are not beneficent; and are taught to 

 approve as temporary that which, as permanent, we abhor. 

 The evidence obliges us to admit that subjection to despots 

 has been largely instrumental in advancing civilization. 

 Induction and deduction alike prove this, 



If, on the one hand, we group together those wandering 

 headless hordes which are found here and there over the 

 Earth, they show us that, in the absence of political organiza 

 tion, little progress has taken place ; and if we contemplate 

 those settled simple groups which have but nominal heads, 

 we are shown that though there is some development of the 

 industrial arts and some cooperation, the advance is but 

 small. If, on the other hand, we glance at those ancient 

 societies in which considerable heights of civilization were 

 first reached, we see them under autocratic rule. In America, 

 purely personal government, restricted only by settled customs, 

 characterized the Mexican, Central American, and Chibcha 

 states; and in Peru, the absolutism of the divine king was 

 unqualified. In Africa, ancient Egypt exhibited very con 

 spicuously this connexion between despotic control and social 

 evolution. Throughout the distant past it was repeatedly 

 displayed in Asia, from the Accadian civilization downwards ; 

 and the still extant civilizations of Siam, Burmah, China, and 

 Japan, re-illustrate it. Early European societies, too, where 

 not characterized by centralized despotism, were still cha- 



