第 6 节
作者:
公主站记 更新:2021-04-30 17:05 字数:9322
right or authority to govern; is a question of ethics。 Whether a certain territory and its population are a sovereign state or nation; or notwhether the actual ruler of a country is its rightful ruler; or notis to be determined by the historical facts in the case; but whence the government derives its right to govern; is a question that can be solved only by philosophy; or; philosophy failing; only by revelation。
Political writers; not carefully distinguishing between the fact and the right; have invented various theories as to the origin of government; among which may be named I。 Government originates in the right of the father to govern his child。 II。 It originates in convention; and is a social compact。 27 III。 It originates in the people; who; collectively taken; are sovereign。 IV。 Government springs from the spontaneous development of nature。 V。 It derives its right from the immediate and express appointment of God; VI。 From God through the Pope; or visible head of the spiritual society; VII。 From God through the people; VIII。 From God through the natural law。
I。 The first theory is sound; if the question is confined to the origin of government as a fact。 The patriarchal system is the earliest known system of government; and unmistakable traces of it are found in nearly all known governmentsin the tribes of Arabia and Northern Africa; the Irish septs and the Scottish clans; the Tartar hordes; the Roman qentes; and the Russian and Hindoo villages。 The right of the father was held to be his right to govern his family or household; which; with his children; included his wife and servants。 From the family to the tribe the transition is natural and easy; as also from the tribe to the nation。 The father is chief of the family; the chief of the eldest family is chief of the tribe; the chief of the eldest tribe becomes chief of the nation; 28 and; as such; king or monarch。 The heads of families collected in a senate form an aristocracy; and the families themselves; represented by their delegates; or publicly assembling for public affairs; constitute a democracy。 These three forms; with their several combinations; to wit; monarchy; aristocracy; democracy; and mixed governments; are all the forms known to Aristotle; and have generally been held to be all that are possible。
Historically; all governments have; in some sense; been developed from the patriarchal; as all society has been developed from the family。 Even those governments; like the ancient Roman and the modern feudal; which seem to be founded on landed property; may be traced back to a patriarchal origin。 The patriarch is sole proprietor; and the possessions of the family are vested in him; and he governs as proprietor as well as father。 In the tribe; the chief is the proprietor; and in the nation; the king is the landlord; and holds the domain。 Hence; the feudal baron is invested with his fief by the suzerain; holds it from him; and to him it escheats when forfeited or vacant。 All the great Asiatic kings of ancient or modern times hold the domain and govern as proprietors; they have the authority of the father and 29 the owner; and their subjects; though theoretically their children; are really their slaves。
In Rome; however; the proprietary right undergoes an important transformation。 The father retains all the power of the patriarch within his family; the patrician in his gens or house; but; outside of it; is met and controlled by the city or state。 The heads of houses are united in the senate; and collectively constitute and govern the state。 Yet; not all the heads of houses have seats in the senate; but only the tenants of the sacred territory of the city; which has been surveyed and marked by the god Terminus。 Hence the great plebeian houses; often richer and nobler than the patrician; were excluded from all share in the government and the honors of the state; because they were not tenants of any portion of the sacred territory。 There is here the introduction of an element which is not patriarchal; and which transforms the patriarch or chief of a tribe into the city or state; and founds the civil order; or what is now called civilization。 The city or state takes the place of the private proprietor; and territorial rights take the place of purely personal rights。
In the theory of the Roman law; the land owns the man; not the man the land。 When land was transferred to a new tenant; the prac… 30 tice in early times was to bury him in it; in order to indicate that it took possession of him; received; accepted; or adopted him; and it was only such persons as were taken possession of; accepted or adopted by the sacred territory or domain that; though denizens of Rome; were citizens with full political rights。 This; in modern language; means that the state is territorial; not personal; and that the citizen appertains to the state; not the state to the citizen。 Under the patriarchal; the tribal; and the Asiatic monarchical systems; there is; properly speaking; no state; no citizens; and the organization is economical rather than political。 Authorityeven the nation itselfis personal; not territorial。 The patriarch; the chief of the tribe; or the king; is the only proprietor。 Under the Graeco…Roman system all this is transformed。 The nation is territorial as well as personal; and the real proprietor is the city or state。 Under the Empire; no doubt; what lawyers call the eminent domain was vested in the emperor; but only as the representative and trustee of the city or state。
When or by what combination of events this transformation was effected; history does not inform us。 The first…born of Adam; we are told; built a city; and called it after his son 31 Enoch; but there is no evidence that it was constituted a municipality。 The earliest traces of the civil order proper are found in the Greek and Italian republics; and its fullest and grandest developments are found in Rome; imperial as well as republican。 It was no doubt preceded by the patriarchal system; and was historically developed from it; but by way of accretion rather than by simple explication。 It has in it an element that; if it exists in the patriarchal constitution; exists there only in a different form; and the transformation marks the passage from the economical order to the political; from the barbaric to the civil constitution of society; or from barbarism to civilization。
The word civilization stands opposed to barbarism; and is derived from civitascity or state。 The Greeks and Romans call all tribes and nations in which authority is vested in the chief; as distinguished from the state; barbarians。 The origin of the word barbarian; barbarus; or 。。。。。。。。; is unknown; and its primary sense can be only conjectured。 Webster regards its primary sense as foreign; wild; fierce; but this could not have been its original sense; for the Greeks and Romans never termed all foreigners barbarians; and they applied the 32 term to nations that had no inconsiderable culture and refinement of manners; and that had made respectable progress in art and sciencesthe Indians; Persians; Medians; Chaldeans; and Assyrians。 They applied the term evidently in a political; not an ethical or an aesthetical sense; and as it would seem to designate a social order in which the state was not developed; and in which the nation was personal; not territorial; and authority was held as a private right; not as a public trust; or in which the domain vests in the chief or tribe; and not in the state; for they never term any others barbarians。
Republic is opposed not to monarchy; in the modern European sense; but to monarchy in the ancient or absolute sense。 Lacedaemon had kings; yet it was no less republican than Athens; and Rome was called and was a republic under the emperors no less than under the consuls。 Republic; respublica; by the very force of the term; means the public wealth; or; in good English; the commonwealth; that is; government founded not on personal or private wealth; but on the public wealth; public territory; or domain; or a Government that vests authority in the nation; and attaches the nation to a certain definite territory。 France; Spain; Italy; Holland; Belgium; Denmark; even Great 33 Britain in substance though not in form; are all; in the strictest sense of the word; republican states; for the king or emperor does not govern in his own private right; but solely as representative of the power and majesty of the state。 The distinctive mark of republicanism is the substitution of the state for the personal chief; and public authority for personal or private right。 Republicanism is really civilization as opposed to barbarism; and all civility; in the old Sense of the word; or Civilian in Italian; is republican; and is applied in modern tiles to breeding or refinement of manners; simply because these are chara