PHI LOS 0 P H Y . - Classic Works of Apologetics Online

.f),jpin fI.f ,-~ivil Gavtrnmtnt.
'-I ~
807
quest, mutual defence, common distress, or more ac.
cidental coalitio~s, might produce this effect.
II. A ':'l.~:)~d source of personal authority, and
which might easily eX!~!1d, or sometln.cs perhaps supersede,
th~ patriarchal, is that, which results from
military arrangement. In wars, either of aggression
or defence, manifest necessity would prompt those
who fought on the same ~ide to array themselves under
one leader. And although their leader was ad.
vanced to this eminence for the purpose only, and
during the operations of a single' expedition, yet his
authority would not always terminate with the reasons
for whicll it was conferred. A warrior who
hath led forth his tribe against their enemies with repeated
success, would procure to himself, even in the
deliberations of peace, a powerful and permanent influence.
If this advantage were added to the authority
of the patriarchal chief, or favoured by any pre.
viou 5 distinction of ancestry, it would be no difficult
undertaking for the person who posse~sed it to obtain
the alnlost absolute direction of the affairs of the
C(lmmll!lity, especially if he \vas careful to associate
to himself proper auxiliaries, and content to practise
the obs"jous art of gratifying or removing those who
opposed his pretensions,
But, although we may be able to comprehend how
by his personal abilities or fortune one man may ob.
tain the rule over many, yet it seems more difficult
to explain how empire became hereditary, or in what
manner sovereign power, which is. never acquired
without great merit or management, learns to de.
scend in a succession, which has no dependence upon
any qualities, either of understanding, or activity.
The cau~es which have introduced hereditary dominion
into so general a reception in the world, are
principally the following-the influence of association,
which communicates to the son a po~ tion of the same
respect which was wont to be paid to the virtues or sta.
tion .of the father-.the mutual jea10usy of other com.
petitors-th~ greater envy, with which all behold the
exalt~tion of an equal, than the continuance of an ac.