第 12 节
作者:公主站记      更新:2021-04-30 17:05      字数:9321
  lakes;  bays; and the seaboard within its territorial limits; as  appertaining to its domain?  Here are rights that it could not  have derived from individuals; for individuals never possessed  them in the so…called state of nature。  The concocters of the  theory evidently overlooked these rights; or considered them of  no importance。  They seem never to have contemplated the  existence of territorial states; or the division of mankind into  nations fixed to the soil。  They seem not to have supposed the  earth could be appropriated; and; indeed; many of their followers  pretend that it cannot be; and that the public lands of a nation  are open lands; and whoso chooses may occupy 69                                              them; without leave  asked of the national authority or granted。  The American people  retain more than one reminiscence of the nomadic and predatory  habits of their Teutonic or Scythian ancestors before they  settled on the banks of the Don or the Danube; on the Northern  Ocean; in Scania; or came in contact with the Graeco…Roman  civilization。
  Yet mankind are divided into nations; and all civilized nations  are fixed to the soil。  The territory is defined; and is the  domain of the state; from which all private proprietors hold  their title…deeds。  Individual proprietors hold under the state;  and often hold more; than they occupy; but it retains in all  private estates the eminent domain; and prohibits the alienation  of land to one who is not a citizen。  It defends its domain; its  public unoccupied lauds; and the lands owned by private  individuals; against all foreign powers。  Now whence; if  government has only the rights ceded it by individuals; does it  get this domain; and hold the right to treat settlers on even  its unoccupied lands as trespassers?  In the state of nature the  territorial rights of individuals; if any they have; are  restricted to the portion of land they occupy with their rude  culture; and with their flocks and herds; and in civilized  nations to what they 70                      hold from the state; and; therefore; the  right as held and defended by all nations; and without which the  nation has no status; no fixed dwelling; and is and can be no  state; could never have been derived from individuals。  The  earliest notices of Rome show the city in possession of the  sacred territory; to which the state and all political power are  attached。  Whence did Rome become a landholder; and the  governing people a territorial people?  Whence does any nation  become a territorial nation and lord of the domain?  Certainly  never by the cession of individuals; and hence no civilized  government ever did or could originate in the so…called social  compact。
  71 CHAPTER V。
  ORIGIN OF GOVERNMENT…CONTINUED。
  III。 The tendency of the last century was to individualism; that  of the present is to socialism。  The theory of Hobbes; Locke;  Rousseau; and Jefferson; though not formally abandoned; and still  held by many; has latterly been much modified; if not wholly  transformed。  Sovereignty; it is now maintained; is inherent in  the people; not individually; indeed; but collectively; or the  people as society。  The constitution is held not to be simply a  compact or agreement entered into by the people as individuals  creating civil society and government; but a law ordained by the  sovereign people; prescribing the constitution of the state and  defining its rights and powers。
  This transformation; which is rather going on than completed; is;  under one aspect at least; a progress; or rather a return to the  sounder principles of antiquity。  Under it government ceases to  be a mere agency; which must obtain  72                                     the assassin's consent to be  hung before it can rightfully hang him; and becomes authority;  which is one and imperative。  The people taken collectively are  society; and society is a living organism; not a mere aggregation  of individuals。  It does not; of course; exist without  individuals; but it is something more than individuals; and has  rights not derived from them; and which are paramount to theirs。   There is more truth; and truth of a higher order; in this than in  the theory of the social compact。  Individuals; to a certain  extent; derive their life from God through society; and so far  they depend on her; and they are hers; she owns them; and has the  right to do as she will with them。  On this theory the state  emanates from society; and is supreme。  It coincides with the  ancient Greek and Roman theory; as expressed by Cicero; already  cited。  Man is born in society and remains there; and it may be  regarded as the source of ancient Greek and Roman patriotism;  which still commands the admiration of the civilized world。  The  state with Greece and Rome was a living reality; and loyalty a  religion。  The Romans held Rome to be a divinity; gave her  statues and altars; and offered her divine worship。  This was  superstition; no doubt; but it had in it an ele… 73                                                ment of truth。  To  every true philosopher there is something divine in the state;  and truth in all theories。  Society stands nearer to God; and  participates more immediately of the Divine essence; and the  state is a more lively image of God than the individual。  It was  man; the generic and reproductive man; not the isolated  individual; that was created in the image and likeness of his  Maker。  〃And God created man in his own image; in the image of  God created he him; male and female created he them。〃
  This theory is usually called the democratic theory; and it  enlists in its support the instincts; the intelligence; the  living forces; and active tendencies of the age。  Kings; kaisers;  and hierarchies are powerless before it; and war against it in  vain。  The most they can do is to restrain its excesses; or to  guard against its abuses。  Its advocates; in returning to it;  sometimes revive in its name the old pagan superstition。  Not a  few of the European democrats recognize in the earth; in heaven;  or in hell; no power superior to the people; and say not only people…king but people…God。  They say absolutely; without any  qualification; the voice of the people is the voice of God; and  make their will the supreme law; not only in politics; but in  religion; philosophy; morals; science; and the 74                                                arts。  The people  not only found the state; but also the church。  They inspire or  reveal the truth; ordain or prohibit worships; judge of  doctrines; and decide cases of conscience。  Mazzini said ; when  at the bead of the Roman Republic in 1848; the question of  religion must be remitted to the judgment of the people。  Yet  this theory is the dominant theory of the age; and is in all  civilized nations advancing with apparently irresistible force。
  But this theory has its difficulties。  Who are the collective  people that have the rights of society; or; who are the sovereign  people?  The word people is vague; and in itself determines  nothing。  It may include a larger or a smaller number; it may  mean the political people; or it may mean simply population; it  may mean peasants; artisans; shopkeepers; traders; merchants; as  distinguished from the nobility; hired laborers or workmen as  distinguished from their employer; or slaves as distinguished  from their master or owner。  In which of these senses is the word  to be taken when it is said; 〃The people are sovereign?〃  The  people are the population or inhabitants of one and the same  country。  That is something。  But who or what determines the  country?  Is the country the whole territory of the globe?  That  will 75      not be said; especially since the dispersion of mankind and  their division into separate nations。  Is the territory  indefinite or undefined?  Then indefinite or undefined are its  inhabitants; or the people invested with the rights of society。   Is it defined and its boundaries fixed?  Who has done it?  The  people。  But who are the people?  We are as wise as we were at  starting。  The logicians say that the definition of idem per  idem; or the same by the same; is simply no definition at all。
  The people are the nation; undoubtedly; if you mean by the people  the sovereign people。  But who are the people constituting the  nation?  The sovereign people?  This is only to revolve in a  vicious circle。  The nation is the tribe or the people living  under the same regimen; and born of the same ancestor; or sprung  from the same ancestor or progenitor。  But where find a nation in  this the primitive sense of the word?  Migration; conquest; and  intermarriage; have so broken up and intermingled the primitive  races; that it is more than doubtful if a single nation; tribe;  or family of unmixed blood now exists on the face of the earth。   A Frenchman; Italian; Spaniard; German; or Englishman; may have  the blood of a hundred different races coursing in his veins。   The nation is the people 76                          inhabiting the same country; and united  under one and the same government; it is further answered。  The  nation; then; is not purely personal; but also territorial。   Then; again; the