ern, will he find the great principle of popular representation, which underlies all free government, so fully carried out, and completely embodied into the whole structure of government; in almost no other, such unlimited freedom of speech, and the press; in no other, such entire absence of all church, or other religious establishments, prescribed by law-such entire freedom of all men to do as they please in matters of religious belief and worship; in no other, such entire exemption from military establishments, and a standing army; in no other, the rights of citizens, without distinction of persons and classes, so fully and effectually secured.

Résumé.-We have, in the preceding pages, as was proposed, passed in brief review the leading features of some of the more prominent forms of government, as developed among the chief historic nations of ancient and modern times. Everywhere we find the three great elements of all government-monarchy, aristocracy, democracy-more or less fully developed, more or less in conflict with each other, more or less checking and balancing each the other. We find the simplicity and unity of patriarchal rule the germ, doubtless, whence all civil governments originally sprang-tending naturally to the concentration of power in the hands of one; in other words, to monarchy: and this we find the predominant element, as we might expect, in the earlier and oriental governments. As we pass on down the line of nations and of ages, we find this monarchical power more and more limited and circumscribed by the power of chiefs and nobles; the aristocratic element thrusting itself into prominence; at times displacing even the kingly power altogether, as in Sparta, and the Roman Republic. In the progress of time, the popular will learns its strength, and asserts its rights; the democratic

element comes into view as an important factor; wages, for a time, unequal strife with the antagonist forces of kingly and aristocratic power; gains for itself, in the end, important rights and privileges, as in the long-continued struggle between the plebeian and patrician classes in Rome; and, finally triumphant, secures for itself charters, and constitutions, and laws, guarding forever its liberties against all aggression, as in England.

One thing is noticeable in this brief outline of the history of civil government, the entire absence of that most important feature of all free governments — the representative principle-in all the ancient systems, with the exception, perhaps, of the Hebrew; and even in that, the principle, if recognized, was not very clearly defined. The systems of Solon and of Lycurgus are ignorant of it. In Rome, it was the very thing wanting to secure the rights of the people, and put an end to the incessant conflicts of plebeian and patrician factions. It is only in the history of the English constitution that we find this great principle first distinctly brought forward, as the basis of just legislation.

Nor can I forbear to mention yet another thing, - the close resemblance, in many respects, between the ancient Hebrew Commonwealth and our own. The Institutes of Moses give us the first truly free and republican state, of which history retains any record. Ages passed away before another appeared worthy to be compared with that, — ages of conflict and turmoil, and manifold but too often futile experiments. Not from Athens, Rome, or Sparta, have we derived the essential principles of our constitution. The cradle of American liberty was rocked, not in ancient Greece, or sunny Italy, but in the deserts of Arabia, and at the frowning base of Horeb.

CHAPTER III.

DUTIES OF THE SUBJECT TO THE STATE.

WE have already defined the state to be any community dwelling together, and organized for the purpose of civil government. We have found it, as an institution, closely analogous to, and probably originating in, the system of parental government in the family; we have seen it to be founded, immediately and primarily, on the consent of the governed, regarded as contracting parties, freely entering into and abiding by certain arrangements for the general good; mediately and ultimately, on the social nature of man, and so, on the will of God, as the author of that nature. The way is thus prepared for the consideration, in the present chapter, of the duties which this relation imposes upon the subject, or citizen, to the state of which he is a member, and the government under which he lives.

These duties are various; prominent among which may be named the duty to respect and honor, to obey, to support, and to defend the government whose protection he enjoys.

1. RESPECT.-It is incumbent on every citizen to respect and honor the state and its constituted authorities, — to treat with becoming deference its laws, its established forms and usages, its magistrates and officers, whether executive, legislative, or judiciary. It is only through these, its laws, its usages, its constituted authorities, that the state, as such, comes into practical relation to the citizen, as such. To honor these, is to honor the state; to dis

honor these, is to cast contempt upon the whole institution and fabric of civil government.

These laws, forms, and constituted authorities, demand respect, as being in themselves the expression of the popular will, and the popular sovereignty. That will and sovereign power, find their material embodiment and expression in these forms, just as the thought, or feeling, that agitate and lie hidden in the breast, find their utterance and expression in the spoken word. The laws of the state, its established usages and institutions, its appointed officers, are to me the visible representation and the uttered voice of the state itself. I am bound to respect them, as I respect the majesty and collected wish and power of the whole people. If it is fit and proper that I should respect and honor any individual man, as such, and for what he is in himself, much more that I should honor the collective wisdom and dignity and worth of the whole nation,—that is, the constitution, laws, and officers, which represent and embody these.

Especially is this duty incumbent on those who live under a free and republican government. There is, if I mistake not, in the very nature of such institutions, that which makes it the special and imperative duty of their subjects to cherish towards them sentiments of respect. A free, and especially a republican government, is peculiarly exposed to danger, from the prevalence of erroneous views and sentiments among the people; peculiarly dependent on their respect, and earnest, honest attachment. In a monarchical, and especially a despotic government, there is comparatively little danger from this source. There are elements of power in such a government which can command, if not the love, at least the respect of the subjects. The pomp of royalty; the splendor of the throne; the power of military forces; the prestige

of kingly birth and name; the associations of the past, and the visible majesty and strength of the present, these all speak to the senses of the common mass, to the dullest understanding, and make themselves respected and feared.

In a republican state, these elements are wanting. There is no royalty; no splendor of court and throne; no ancestral honors; no regal dignity of birth and lineage; no standing army, to enforce obedience and command respect. The foundation of every free government is laid in the hearts of the people. The pillars of the republican state are the virtue, intelligence, and loyalty of her sons. She is strong only as they stand around her in their united strength reverent, filial, and firm in her defence. When they become disaffected and disloyal, the state is in peril; when they withdraw their respect and confidence, it falls; -the fair fabric, reared with so much care, and treasure, and toil, the goodly temple of liberty, lies in ruins. No accumulation of physical resources can save it; no multiplied strength of numbers, and of sinewy arms, or of military weapons, can save it from such a fate, when once the respect and attachment of the people for their civil institutions is gone. The love of law and order, and of our own forms of government, as such, this is our strength, our safety, our right arm of defence. A despotism, or limited monarchy, almost any other form of government, — may continue to subsist without this element; a republic, never.

2. OBEDIENCE. One of the first and most imperative duties of the citizen to the state of which he is a member, is to obey its just laws and requirements. Whatever reasons there are for the existence of the state, and of such a thing as civil government, be those reasons more or less numerous and weighty, the same, and with equal force, are to be urged in favor of obedience to that government,