thus prevent the results of unjust intention or perverse will in him.

941, The Senate are in the Condition, both of Governors, and Governed: they are Subjects of the King, and Rulers of the People. For them, the Government combines the conditions of Order and Freedom, at least to some extent; for they are, in some respects, not only free to act for themselves, but also to act for others, and to exercise a share of command over others. They are not irresistibly controlled by the will of the King, for they have the power of resisting it, and even, in some degree, of controlling it.

942. But the People, who are thus subject to the King and the Senate combined, are they free agents, such as their moral nature requires them to be?—If the sway possessed by the King and the Senate be exercised mildly and temperately, the People may be, for a long time, free, so far as almost all the purposes of Morality require. Under the paternal sway of good and kind men, acting without check, as King and Senators, the subjects have the means of acting as good children. But such a sway cannot answer all the purposes of Morality. Men cannot feel themselves free, when their freedom depends upon the arbitrary will of others. They are not free, if their freedom may be taken from them to-morrow, without their having any power of resistance. They are not free, if they have no security for their freedom; no means of asserting and defending it, should it be assailed or infringed; in short, they are not free, if they have not some Political Rights; some Rights in relation to the Government. And not being free, their moral career cannot be complete. They cannot carry on their moral and intellectual culture, in the hope of bringing intc intelligible harmony with themselves all the circum. stances of their condition; for there is one element

of their condition, the Government, on which they have no power of acting, and which does not allow itself to be scrutinized and understood. They cannot go on constantly and indefinitely in the realization of their moral ideas; for when they would extend this realization from private to public life, they find themselves stopped by the impassable barrier which separates them from the ruling classes.

943. Thus, without Political Rights securing the Liberty of the people at large, Government incompletely attains that Combination of Order and Freedom which is requisite as the Condition of man's moral being. For this purpose, besides the Checks and Balances which a Senate may offer to the injustice or imprudence of a King, there must be some security of Popular Rights, some protection of the Liberty of the Subject. The Monarchy must not only be balanced by an Aristocracy, but must also recognize a Democracy.

944. Thus the State, in order to answer its purposes completely, must contain a combination of Monarchy, Aristocracy, and Democracy. The Aristocracy stands for order, and the Democracy for Freedom in the Combination: the Monarchy gives unity to the Combination. The Aristocracy stands for Order; for the Sovereign Power cannot subsist except it be supported by the natural Aristocracy of the Community; if not by the Aristocracy of Birth and Wealth, by the Aristocracy of Prudence and Force. The Aristocracy represents the actual Past; the events which have taken place and left their effects: the Democracy represents the actual Present; the events which the powers of men, acting freely, are bringing into being. Monarchy is an Ideal Power which binds together these elements; acts for the State in present history, and is the source of the Order and Justice which the State must realize.

945. Thus, these three kinds of Government

must be combined in the Idea of a State; and they have, in general, been mixed together, in the States which have best answered their moral purposes. But yet, from various circumstances, one or another of these elements may become so obscure, as to seem to lose its nature; and still, the Government may have a long and tranquil existence. If a State be established by actual contract among a number of men meeting as equals, it has no past, and need have no Aristocracy. For the moment, the Aristocracy and the Democracy are identified. Every man is at the same time Governor and Subject, bound to Order, and possessed of Freedom. And if the Constitution be wisely framed, such a condition of things may long continue. The natural tendency of the progress of time is to generate an Aristocracy; but this tendency may be counteracted by the activity of the Democracy. Again, the Democratic element may be so feeble that the nation may be entirely governed by the past;-by an ancient Aristocracy, or an ancient line of Monarchs. Where Freedom is thus extinguished, the State as we have already said, answers its moral ends imperfectly. Again; the Monarchical element may be enfeebled in various ways: as by dividing the executive from the judicial character; by presenting the State itself, not the King, as the source of Justice, and by distributing the Sovereign Executive Power. The Executive Power may be held but for a short time, as by Consuls or Presidents for a year, or a few years. By such means, Democracy may be established, with very small evident mixture, either of Monarchy or Aristocracy.

946. In nations which have subsisted for many centuries, the Aristocratic element is generally conspicuous and powerful, having on its side accumulated property, the habit of command, superiority of culture; and in its favour on the other side, the habit of respect for historical families, and of obedience to

existing authority. But on the other hand, where there is a germ of freedom to begin with, there are strong influences on the Democratic side. For the influence of the past becomes constantly weaker by the lapse of time; and the balance, which at first was kept steady by the weight of old families, is disturbed by the rise of new men, who grow in wealth, or in some other form of power. And as

the love of power on the one side, so the love of freedom on the other, may become a craving for more. -Thus there are tendencies which may produce a struggle between Aristocracy and Democracy; such a struggle has taken place in most old countries, and has occupied many centuries.

947. In the contest between Aristocracy and Democracy, the Aristocracy represents the Principle of Order; for the authority of the existing laws is the inheritance of the past, and belongs to the heirs of the past. But the Principle of Order may also be embodied in a line of Kings, as well as in families of Nobles; or in the two conjointly. In this case, the Monarchy derives its force from the actual past, as well as from the Idea of a National Will and a National Justice. On the other hand, where the people have already acquired Political Rights, the Democracy represents, not only the Principle of Liberty, but the Principle of Order also; for they assert their Rights, as fixed by existing Laws. Hence we do not find in the History of Nations, the Cause of mere Order and of mere Liberty opposed to each other. The Democratical party assert the necessity both of Order and of Liberty: the opposite party, whether Monarchical or Aristocratical, respect Liberty, so far as it is established by Law. Yet still there is an opposition; the one party make a stand for Order combined with Liberty, as it is by Law established; the other party contend for an extension of Liberty, which they hold to be reconcileable with

Order. The one is the Cause of Authority, the other of Relaxation. The one Party are a Conservative Party, who contend for the position of equilibrium of Order and Liberty, which already exists: the other are a Movement Party, who seek a new position, in which a larger share of Liberty enters.

948. The forms which such struggles take, and the means which are employed in them, are very various. Popular Rights are embodied and protected by Laws, which give to the people security of person and of property; by a share in the election of Magistrates; by Magistrates who are the special defenders of such Rights (as the Roman Tribunes of the Plebeians); by men of the People holding Magistracies ; by the People having a share in making the Laws; and the like. The Assemblies, whether Senates or General Assemblies, in which such questions are discussed and decided ;-in which Laws are passed, Magistrates elected, the National Acts determined upon;-are the especial scenes of the struggles of Parties either of the Conservative and the Movement party, which universally exist in such cases; or of Parties, which, without being guided by any fundamental Principle, have for their object Power; namely, the Power of directing the national acts. If such Assemblies be moderately numerous, and if the citizens who take part in them, really aim at Order, Liberty and Justice, the balance of the Constitution may long subsist. And if, on the increase of wealth and intelligence in the People, a large share of Popular Rights is pressed for, the Conservative Party may, by yielding slowly and yet holding steadily, find the new position of equilibrium which is suited to the new condition of the community.