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

Duty of SuomissiolJ tltplaitlld. "1
~antageous, or because he has all opportunity of en •
. tering into a better. This law of contracts is univer.
sal: and to call the relation between the sO-vereign
and the subjects a contract, yet not to apply to it the
rules, or allo\v of the effects ()f a contract, is an arbi.
trary usc of names, and an unsteadiness in rea~orJngt
,,·hicl1 can teach nothing. ResisL~nce to the encroachftl
wnt:; of the supreme magistrate lIlliy be justified upon
this principle; recourse to arms, for the pl!rpose of
bringing about an amendment to the constitution.,
never can. No form of government contains a proyif;ion
for its o\vn dissol1:1tion; and few governors wil·~
.consent to the extinction, O!" even to any abridgment
:(Jf their OWIl power. It does not therefo.re appear,how
despotic government~ can ever, in consistency with
the obligation of the subject, be changed, or·mitigated.
D2~potism is the constitution of many ~tates: and
whilst a despotic prince exacts from his subjects the
most rigorous servitude, according to this account,
he is ol)i y holding them to their agreement. A pea.
pIe may vin