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