58 ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF GOVERNMENT.

of Great Britain is an aristocratic government, though the form is monarchical. A democratic government is one in which the people have a controlling influence. In this sense, ours is a democratic government, though the form is republican.

The greatest distinctions in government arise from the different parties in whose hands power is placed. In a democracy, it is directly in the hands of the people; in a republic, it is indirectly in their hands, though they depute it to others. Those governments in which the influence of the people preponderates, are called popular; those in which the people have little or no influence are despotic.

CHAPTER XXI.

Origin and History of Government.

THE necessity of Government must have been discovered in the first human family. If a child is not restrained, he will run into the fire, leap out of the window, break the furniture, injure his companions, or set the house on fire; he must therefore be governed. The larger children must be prevented from striking and wounding the younger ones; from taking away their food, &c. These too must be governed.

Without government, a family would be in a state of confusion and anarchy; its necessity therefore must have been discovered by Adam and Eve. The first government must consequently have been family government, and this doubtless suggested

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the patriarchal form, which must have soon followed. When Adam became a great grandfather, with numerous descendants around him, he was likely to have an authority founded in reverence and affection, and this would lead him to be regarded, and applied to by the people, as a judge, a counsellor, and, in short, a ruler. Probably Adam was the first patriarch, and the first political chief.

In the first ages of the world, the people were chiefly husbandmen, as they had flocks, with which they wandered from place to place. As each party separated from the rest, they were likely to take some experienced man with them, who would be their patriarch.

When the tribes increased and extended their limits, and the ties of blood were forgotten, they were likely to meet and contend for the mastery. In these struggles, the strong, the daring, or the skilful warrior was likely to become the leader, and at length to receive or usurp authority. It is probable that Nimrod, the mighty hunter, was one of those who became the head of his tribe, and, at length, laid the foundations of Babylon.

He was, doubtless, a very ambitious man, and extended his domain over various countries on and around the plain of Shinar. He thus established an empire and became a despotic sovereign. In order to increase his authority, and to place his throne on a strong basis, he taught the people to consider him as ruling by divine right, and at last claimed their worship of himself as a divinity. He also, no doubt, made the monarchy hereditary in his family.

The example of Nimrod seems to have been

60 ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF GOVERNMENT.

followed by all the sovereigns of Assyria, during its continuance of 1700 years. The power of the emperor or king was always absolute, and his claim to divine authority was ever maintained. No instance is recorded in which the right of the sovereign to reign was questioned, nor are we told of a single individual in these ancient days, who ever conceived the idea that the people had any right to govern themselves. Even when the government was just, and consulted the happiness of the people, it flowed only from the mercy of the sovereign.

The despotic system of this first empire appears to have been followed throughout the rest of Asia, and to some extent in Egypt; and we observe no traces of any other ideas of government than that of un'limited power in the hands of a king or chief or the priests, except among the Hebrews. Persia, a vast empire, that rose upon the ruins of the Assyrian empire, adopted the same despotic form of government, and the emperor ruled in the same arbitrary manner. He had unlimited power over the people. If the king was supposed to be bound to govern wisely and righteously, his people were equally bound to serve him as subjects and slaves.

THE government of the Hebrews has been called a theocracy, which means a form of government which assigns all the power to God; he being, in fact, the proper king. In the first place, this government was under Moses, the legislator; then under Joshua, his successor; then under judges, and then under kings and high-priests. In all these cases, God was acknowledged to be the true king of the nation-but it was only under Moses that he was regarded as dwelling, person

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POLITICAL SYSTEM OF THE HEBREWS.

ally, among the people. Afterwards he was considered as ruling through the judges or kings, who were to look to him for advice or counsel, and who were to be appointed by him.

When David became king, God ordained that the monarchy should be hereditary in his family. His successors practically altered the government, and, instead of acknowledging God as king, they seemed to throw off his authority, and to rule according to their own will.

They would not submit to the restraints which had been observed by former rulers, and which operated like a constitution to limit the power of the kings, and to protect the people. They therefore not only fell into idolatry, but they were guilty of cruelty and oppression. The country was accordingly subject to great miseries, and at last the nation was scattered.

In whatever point of view we regard the Hebrew system of laws, as established by Moses, they are most remarkable. This people had lived for several centuries in Egypt, where there was an universal belief in many gods, and where idolatry was the universal practice of the people. The government, too, was despotic, placing absolute power in the hands of the kings and priests.

Yet, immediately on leaving Egypt, we find the people receiving from Moses a creed, both civil and religious, entirely distinct from that of the Egyptians, and unlike any other which had ever existed. It must be recollected that Moses lived about 1500 years before Christ, which was a thousand years before Confucius, the lawgiver of China, and 800 before Solon, the Grecian lawgiver.

The great idea of the Mosaic institutions was