propose his own scheme. Those Governments, of whose beginning we have certain accounts (as of Venice, Swifferland, Holland, and others) can give us no light in the present Question,. because we find them composed of Perfons, who were before Members of another State: For,' as Sir William Temple obferves,' we no where read where the Orders of any Government have been agreed on by mutual contract, by great numbers of Men meeting together in a natural state.' And he judiciously adds, ‘That this account which fome give of the Original of Government,. • feems calculated for that given by old Poets of the Original of Man; whom they raise out of the ground by great numbers at a

⚫ time in perfect stature and strength. Whereas if we deduce the, races of Mankind in the feveral parts of the World (as we must) from Generation, and at the fame time imagine numbers of. ⚫ them meeting to agree on any Civil Conftitutions, they must ⚫affemble not as fo many fingle heads; but as fo many heads of • Families, and confequently as Perfons who have already some authority over fuch numbers as their Families are compofed of.. And from this authority, may, perhaps, be deduced the truest Original of Civil Government; which, by the means of fucceeding agreements and accidents, may have branched into the various forts of it, which have since appeared in the World.

But to deliver my Opinion more particularly in this point. We may suppose that in the first ages after the Flood, a Father not only governed his Children while they were unable to govern themselves; but when they arrived at years of difcretion, affumed an authority of a different kind over them and their posterity, for

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the maintenance of Peace and Order. And that this authority met with a tacit affent; by fome it was readily fubmitted to from a fenfe of Duty and Gratitude; by others, from an opinion of his greater Wisdom and Experience: or if any one offered to revolt from it, he was easily restrained by the concurrence of the reft to fupport it. When any Son separated from his Father's house, and fought out a distant habitation, from a Subject he became a Prince, and exercifed the fame jurifdiction over his own Family that he had fubmitted to in his Father's: and when he died, left it to one of his Sons; or perhaps the eldest (as of greatest Riches and Experience) generally affumed it. This was the first and most natural Government, under which Families grew into Kingdoms. And this account is the more probable, as it seems favoured by that given in Scripture of the Ifraelites, Ishmaelites, Edomites, Moabites, and feveral other Nations. And from this fountain we may derive thofe many petit royalties, which were found in Gaul, Britain, and other barbarous Nations, before they were fubdued by the Romans; and which still subsist uncultivated People of Africa and America.

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When the Father or other head of the Family was by nature incapable to govern, it is to be fuppofed another assumed his Province, or was elected to it. Or where he exercifed his Government with rigour or injustice, it is probable, the Family thought of expedients to restrain him, and invented rules by which he fhould govern with more Moderation for the future. Or elfe they entirely withdrew their Obedience to him, and transferred it to another of greater Wifdom, Valour, or Juftice: for as the

Opinion of thefe or the like Qualities firft drew a voluntary fubmiffion to Fathers of Families, fo where they were found to fail in them, it gave it to others and thus fometimes a Superiority in: Nature acquired a Man a Superiority in the State.

Another way by which Government might begin (or rather by which Paternal Government might be altered and improved) is exprefs Contract: for as Mankind increased, Pride, Luft, and Avarice increased with them, and expofed them to Violence and Injustice and although paternal rule was fufficient to restrain the members of the fame Family from mutual injuries, yet was it not fufficient to protect them against the injuries of one more numerous and powerful. Therefore the weaker Families, being sensible of the dangers to which they were expofed, might agree together to submit the direction of their affairs to one Common Authority; that fo by a union of Strength and Counsel they might be a match for their Neighbours; each head of a Family resigning his particular dominion to share in the Common Safety and Protection. Such a Government begun by the Agreement, and devifed by the Policy of Man, may properly be called artificial, in contradistinction to that natural paternal sway, to which Men were ufed from their cradles, and to which they fucked in Obedience with their milk.

A third Original of Government (or which may more properly be called an acceffion to it) was Conqueft; when any Family or Nation took captive part of another, or fubdued the whole. In which case the vanquished either became Slaves, and were treated

at the pleasure of the Conquerors; or elfe were admitted to the condition of Subjects, by enjoying the Benefit and Protection of Law.

These are the fources from which probably all Governments did originally flow: but it is fcarce credible, that any are now fubfifting exactly on the fame foundations, on which they were at first established: changes in state are almost as common as those in the Seasons, or those in the Tempers of Mens Bodies, or Difpofition of their Minds: and every age furnishes us with instances, where the Weakness or Tyranny of Magistrates, or the Intereft or Ambition of Subjects, have been the fubverfion of old, and the beginning of new Constitutions.

And here it is not improper to remark, that although we have affigned fome other principles of the Original of Government, yet it is Contract alone that is the only just foundation of it, and the cement by which the constituent parts of it are united. For though Paternity or Conqueft may in fact have given occasion and opportunity to exercise a civil authority, yet they are far from giving a Right to it: that can be derived only from the confent of the party governed; for no Man can claim either a Divine or Natural Right to controul another; since God hath neither expressly declared by Revelation, or by any means marked out or designed any particular Perfons for Governors, but hath made all Men by Nature Equal.

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The Power which a Parent is entitled to, is very different from that of a Magiftrate, and falls far fhort of it in its nature, duration, and extent. The Care and Custody of his Child continues while he is not capable of taking care of himself, but ceases when he is. He may then claim a reverence from him, but cannot exact obedience. He has a right, during his childhood, to inform his Mind, and direct his Actions; but never has any power over his Life, his Liberty, or Poffeffions, which are the proper objects of Civil Authority. And it is abfurd to fay that the act of Generation can give him any fuch power, for then there would be as many Sovereigns as Fathers; nor could the Mother be justly excluded from her fhare in the Government.

If a Parent has no Plea to fuch an Authority, much less has a Conqueror; for no man has a right to govern another because he is stronger. If force were any title, the Brute Creation might put in a just claim to the Dominion of Mankind. If the Conqueror's cause is unjust, he has violated the Laws of Nature, and therefore the conquered party is under no obligation to fubmiffion, but

may lay hold of the first opportunity to revenge himself, and to repay force with force. If the Conqueror's caufe is just, he has then a power over the conquered party, exceeding a legal Authority; for the last being the aggreffor, he has a right to use him as he pleases; he is his Slave, and not his Subject.

Are then no Governments to be esteemed lawful but what were first begun by confent of Magistrate and People? Yes, certainly; for although, in the most regular formation of a State,

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