第 2 节
作者:着凉      更新:2021-02-19 19:25      字数:9320
  Chief。 I do not affect to give any simple explanation of the
  subjection of the various assemblages of kindred to forms of
  power of which the patriarchal power of the head of the family is
  the type。 Doubtless it is partly to be accounted for by
  deep…seated instincts。 But Mr Morgan's researches seem to me to
  have supplied another partial explanation。 He has found that
  among rude and partially nomad communities great numbers of
  kindred; whom we should keep apart in mind; and distinguish from
  one another in language; are grouped together in great classes
  and called by the same general names。 Every man is related to an
  extraordinary number of men called his brothers; to an
  extraordinary number called his sons; to an extraordinary number
  called his uncles。 Mr Morgan explains the fact in his own way;
  but he points out the incidental convenience served by this
  method of classification and nomenclature。 Though the point may
  not at first strike us; kinship is a clumsy basis for communities
  of any size; on account of the difficulty which the mind; and
  particularly the untutored mind; has in embracing all the persons
  bound to any one man by tie of blood; and therefore (which is the
  important matter) connected with him by common responsibilities
  and rights。 A great extension and considerable relaxation of the
  notion of kinship gets over the difficulty among the lower races;
  but it may be that; among the higher; Patriarchal Power answers
  the same object。 It simplifies the conceptions of kinship and of
  conjoint responsibility; first in the Patriarchal Family and
  ultimately  in the Clan or Tribe。
  We have next to consider the epoch; reached at some time by
  all the portions of mankind destined to civilisation; at which
  tribal communities settle down upon a definite space of land。 The
  liveliest account which I have read of this process occurs in an
  ancient Indian record which has every pretension to authenticity。
  In a very interesting volume published by the Government of
  Madras; and called 'Papers on Mirasi Right' (Madras; 1862); there
  are printed some ancient Memorial Verses; as they are called;
  which describe the manner in which the Vellalee; a possibly Aryan
  tribe; followed their chief into Tondeimandalam; a region roughly
  corresponding with a state once famous in modern Indian history;
  Arcot。 There the Vellalee conquered and extirpated; or enslaved;
  some more primitive population and took permanent possession of
  its territory。 The poetess  for the lines are attributed to a
  woman  compares the invasion to the flowing of the juice of the
  sugar…cane over a flat surface。 ('Mirasi Papers;' p。 233。) The
  juice crystallises; and the crystals are the various
  village…communities。 In the middle is one lump of peculiarly fine
  sugar; the place where is the temple of the god。 Homely as is the
  image; it seems to me in one respect peculiarly felicitous。 It
  represents the tribe; though moving in a fused mass of men; as
  containing within itself a principle of coalescence which began
  to work as soon as the movement was over。 The point is not always
  recollected。 Social history is frequently considered as beginning
  with the tribal settlement; and as though no principles of union
  had been brought by the tribe from an older home。 But we have no
  actual knowledge of any aboriginal or autochthonous tribe。
  Wherever we have any approximately trustworthy information
  concerning the tribes which we discern in the far distance of
  history; they have always come from some more ancient seat。 The
  Vellalee; in the Indian example; must have been agriculturists
  somewhere; since they crystallised at once into
  village…communities。
  It has long been assumed that the tribal constitution of
  society belonged at first to nomad communities; and that; when
  associations of men first settled down upon land; a great change
  came over them。 But the manner of transition from nomad to
  settled life; and its effects upon custom and idea; have been too
  much described; as it seems to me; from mere conjecture of the
  probabilities; and the whole process; as I have just observed;
  has been conceived as more abrupt than such knowledge as we have
  would lead us to believe it to have been。 attention has thus been
  drawn off from one assertion on this subject which may be made; I
  think; upon trustworthy evidence  that; from the moment when a
  tribal community settles down finally upon a definite space of
  land; the Land begins to be the basis of society in place of the
  Kinship。 The change is extremely gradual; and in some particulars
  it has not even now been fully accomplished; but it has been
  going on through the whole course of history。 The constitution of
  the Family through actual blood…relationship is of course an
  observable fact; but; for all groups of men larger than the
  Family; the Land on which they live tends to become the bond of
  union between them; at the expense of Kinship; ever more and more
  vaguely conceived。 We can trace the development of idea both in
  the large and now extremely miscellaneous aggregation s of men
  combined in States or Political Communities; and also in the
  smaller aggregations collected in Village…Communities and Manors;
  among whom landed property took its rise。 The barbarian invaders
  of the Western Roman Empire; though not uninfluenced by former
  settlements in older homes; brought back to Western Europe a mass
  of tribal ideas which the Roman dominion had banished from it;
  but; from the moment of their final occupation of definite
  territories; a transformation of these ideas began。 Some years
  ago I pointed out ('Ancient Law;' pp。 103 et seq。) the evidence
  furnished by the history of International Law that the notion of
  territorial sovereignty; which is the basis of the international
  system; and which is inseparably connected with dominion over a
  definite area of land; very slowly substituted itself for the
  notion of tribal sovereignty。 Clear traces of the change are to
  be seen in the official style of kings。 Of our own kings; King
  John was the first who always called himself King of England。
  (Freeman; 'Norman Conquest;' I。 82; 84。) His predecessors
  commonly or always called themselves Kings of the English。 The
  style of the king reflected the older tribal sovereignty for a
  much longer time in France。 The title of King of France may no
  doubt have come into use in the vernacular soon after the
  accession of the dynasty of Capet; but it is an impressive fact
  that; even at the time of the Massacre of St。 Bartholomew; the
  Kings of France were still in Latin 'Reges Francorum;' and Henry
  the Fourth only abandoned the designation because it could not be
  got to fit in conveniently on his coins with the title of King of
  Navarre; the purely feudal and territorial principality of the
  Bourbons。 (Freeman; loc。 cit。) We may bring home to ourselves the
  transformation of idea in another way。 England was once the
  country which Englishmen inhabited。 Englishmen are now the people
  who inhabit England。 The descendants of our forefathers keep up
  the tradition of kinship by calling themselves men of English
  race; but they tend steadily to become Americans and Australians。
  I do not say that the notion of consanguinity is absolutely lost;
  but it is extremely diluted; and quite subordinated to the newer
  view of the territorial constitution of nations。 The blended
  ideas are reflected in such an expression as 'Fatherland;' which
  is itself an index to the fact that our thoughts cannot separate
  national kinship from common country。 No doubt it is true that in
  our day the older conception of national union through
  consanguinity has seemed to be revived by theories which are
  sometimes called generally theories of Nationality; and of which