15.All this,however,is but conjecture:In the proposition itself neither this,nor any other restriction is expressed.It is delivered explicitly and emphatically in the character of an universal one.`In ALL OF THEM',he assures us,`this authority,'(the supreme authority)`is placed in those hands,wherein,according to the opinion of the founders of such respective states,these "qualities of wisdom,good ness,and power,"are the most likely to be found.'In this character it cannot but throw a singular light on history.I can see no end,indeed,to the discoveries it leads to,all of them equally new and edifying.When the Spaniards,for example,became masters of the empire of Mexico,a vulgar politician might suppose it was because such of the Mexicans as remained unexterminated,could not help it.No such thingit was because the Spaniards were of `opinion'or the Mexicans themselves were of `opinion'(which of the two is not altogether clear)that in Charles Vth,and his successors,more goodness (of which they had such abundant proofs)as well as wisdom,was likely to be found,than in all the Mexicans put together.The same persuasion obtained between Charlemagne and the Ger man Saxons with respect to the goodness and wisdom of Charlemagne:between William the Norman and the English Sax ons:between Mahomet lid and the subjects of John Paleologus:between Odoacer and those of Augustulus:between the Tartar Gingiskan and the Chinese of his time:between the Tartars Chang-ti and Cam-ghi,and the Chinese of their times:between the Protector Cromwell and the Scotch:between William IIId and the Irish Papists:between Caesar and the Gauls:in short,between the Thirty Tyrants,so called,and the Athenians,whom our Author seems to have had in view:to mention these examples only,out of as many hundred as might be required.
All this,if we may trust our Author,he has the `goodness'to believe:
and by such lessons is the penetration of students to be sharpened for piercing into the depths of politics.
16.So much for the introductory paragraphThe main part of the subject is treated of in six others:the general contents of which are as follow.
17.In the first he tells us how many different forms of government there are according to the division of the antients:which division he adopts.These are three:Monarchy,Aristocracy,and Democracy.
18.The next is to tell us,that by the sovereign POWER he means that of 'making laws'.
19.In a third he gives us the advantages and disadvantages of these three different forms of government.
20.In a fourth he tells us that these are all the antients would allow of.
21.A Fifth is to tell us that the British form of government is different from each of them;being a combination of all,and posses sing the advantages of all.
22.In the sixth,and last,he shews us that it could not possess these advantages,if,instead of being what it is,it were either of those others:
and tells us what it is that may destroy it.These two last it will be sufficient here to mention:to examine them will be the task of our next chapter.
23.Monarchy is that form of Government in which the power of making Laws is lodged in the hands of a single member of the state in question.
Aristocracy is that form of Government in which the power of making laws is lodged in the hands of several members.Democracy is that form of government in which the power of making laws is lodged in the hands of `all'of them put together.These,according to our Author,are the definitions of the Antients;and these,therefore,without difficulty,are the definitions of our Author.
24.`The political writers of antiquity,'says he,`will not allow more than three regular forms of government;the first,when the sovereign power is lodged in an aggregate assembly,consisting of all the members of a community,which is called a Democracy;the second,when it is lodged in a council composed of select members,and then it is styled an Aristocracy;the last,when it is entrusted in the hands of a single person,and then it takes the name of a Monarchy.All other species of government they say are either corruptions of,or reducible to these three.'
25.`By the sovereign power,as was before observed,is meant the making of laws;for wherever that power resides,all others must conform to,and be directed by it,whatever appearance the outward form and administration of the government may put on.For it is at any time in the option of the legislature to alter that form and administration by a new edict or rule,and to put the execution of the laws into whatever hands it pleases;and all the other powers of the state must obey the legislative power in the execution of their several functions,or else the constitution is at an end.'
26.Having thus got three regular simple forms of Government (this anomalous complex one of our own out of the question)and just as many qualifications to divide among them;of each of which,by what he told us a while ago,each form of Government must have some share,it is easy to see how their allotments will be made out.Each form of Government will possess one of these qualities in perfection,taking its chance,if one may say so,for its share in the two others.
27.Among these three different forms of Government then,it should seem according to our Author's account of them,there is not much to choose.
