第 7 节
作者:公主站记      更新:2021-04-30 17:05      字数:9321
  nd is applied in modern tiles to  breeding or refinement of manners; simply because these are  characteristics of a republican; or polished 'from 。。。。。; city'  people。  Every people that has a real civil order; or a fully  developed state or polity; is a republican people; and hence the  church and her great doctors when they speak of the state as  distinguished from the church; call it the republic; as may be  seen by consulting even a late Encyclical of Pius IX。; which some  have interpreted wrongly in an anti…republican sense。
  All tribes and nations in which the patriarchal system remains;  or is developed without transformation; are barbaric; and really  so regarded by all Christendom。  In civilized nations the  patriarchal authority is transformed into 34                                           that of the city or  state; that is; of the republic; but in all barbarous nations it  retains its Private and personal character。  The nation is only  the family or tribe; and is called by the name of its ancestor;  founder; or chief; not by a geographical denomination。  Race has  not been supplanted by country; they are a people; not a state。   They are not fixed to the soil; and though we may find in them  ardent love of family; the tribe; or the chief; we never find  among them that pure love of country or patriotism which so  distinguished the Greeks and Romans; and is no less marked among  modern Christian nations。  They have a family; a race; a chief or  king; but no patria; or country。  The barbarians who overthrew  the Roman Empire; whether of the West or the East; were nations;  or confederacies of nations; but not states。  The nation with  them was personal; not territorial。  Their country was wherever  they fed their flocks and herds; pitched their tents; and  encamped for the night。  There were Germans; but no German state;  and even to…day the German finds his 〃father…land〃 wherever the  German speech is spoken。  The Polish; Sclavonian; Hungarian;  Illyrian; Italian; and other provinces held by German states; in  which the German language is not the mother…tongue; are excluded  from 35      the Germanic Confederation。  The Turks; or Osmanlis; are a  race; not a state; and are encamped; not settled; on the site of  the Eastern Roman or Greek Empire。
  Even when the barbaric nations have ceased to be nomadic;  pastoral; or predatory nations; as the ancient Assyrians and  Persians or modern Chinese; and have their geographical  boundaries; they have still no state; no country。  The nation  defines the boundaries; not the boundaries the nation。  The  nation does not belong to the territory; but the territory to the  nation or its chief。  The Irish and Anglo…Saxons; in former  times; held the land in gavelkind; and the territory belonged to  the tribe or sept; but if the tribe held it as indivisible; they  still held it as private property。  The shah of Persia holds the  whole Persian territory as private property; and the landholders  among his subjects are held to be his tenants。  They hold it from  him; not from the Persian state。
  The public domain of the Greek empire is in theory the private  domain of the Ottoman emperor or Turkish sultan。  There is in  barbaric states no republic; no commonwealth; authority is  parental; without being tempered by parental affection。  The  chief is a despot; and rules with the united authority of the 36 father and the harshness of the proprietor。  He owns the land and  his subjects。
  Feudalism; established in Western Europe after the downfall of  the Roman Empire; however modified by the Church and by  reminiscences of Graeco…Roman civilization retained by the  conquered; was a barbaric constitution。  The feudal monarch; as  far as he governed at all; governed as proprietor or landholder;  not as the representative of the commonwealth。  Under feudalism  there are estates; but no state。  The king governs as an estate;  the nobles hold their power as an estate; and the commons are  represented as an estate。  The whole theory of power is; that it  is an estate; a private right; not a public trust。  It is not  without reason; then that the common sense of civilized nations  terms the ages when it prevailed in Western Europe barbarous ages。
  It may seem a paradox to class democracy with the barbaric  constitutions; and yet as it is defended by many stanch  democrats; especially European democrats and revolutionists; and  by French and Germans settled in our own country; it is  essentially barbaric and anti…republican。  The characteristic  principle of barbarism is; that power is a private or personal  right; and when democrats assert that the elective fran… 37                                                        chise is a  natural right of man; or that it is held by virtue of the fact  that the elector is a man; they assert the fundamental principle  of barbarism and despotism。  This says nothing in favor of  restricted suffrage; or against what is called universal suffrage。   To restrict suffrage to property…holders helps nothing;  theoretically or practically。  Property has of itself advantages  enough; without clothing its holders with exclusive political  rights and privileges; and the laboring classes any day are as  trustworthy as the business classes。  The wise statesman will  never restrict suffrage; or exclude the poorer and more numerous  classes from all voice in the government of their country。   General suffrage is wise; and if Louis Philippe had had the sense  to adopt it; and thus rally the whole nation to the support of  his government; he would never have had to encounter the  revolution of 1848。  The barbarism; the despotism; is not in  universal suffrage; but in defending the elective franchise as a  private or personal right。  It is not a private; but a political  right; and; like all political rights; a public trust。  Extremes  meet; and thus it is that men who imagine that they march at the  head of the human race and lead the civilization of the age; are  really in principle retrograding to the 38                                         barbarism of the past; or  taking their place with nations on whom the light of civilization  has never yet dawned。  All is not gold that glisters。
  The characteristic of barbarism is; that it makes all authority a  private or personal right; and the characteristic of civilization  is; that it makes it a public trust。  Barbarism knows only  persons; civilization asserts and maintains the state。  With  barbarians the authority of the patriarch is developed simply by  way of explication; in civilized states it is developed by way of  transformation。  Keeping in mind this distinction; it may be  maintained that all systems of government; as a simple historical  fact; have been developed from the patriarchal。  The patriarchal  has preceded them all; and it is with the patriarchal that the  human race has begun its career。  The family or household is not  a state; a civil polity; but it is a government; and;  historically considered; is the initial or inchoate state as well  as the initial or inchoate nation。  But its simple direct  development gives us barbarism; or what is called Oriental  despotism; and which nowhere exists; or can exist; in Christendom。   It is found only in pagan and Mohammedan nations; Christianity in  the secular order is republican; and continues 39                                                and completes the  work of Greece and Rome。  It meets with little permanent success  in any patriarchal or despotic nation; and must either find or  create civilization; which has been developed from the patriarchal  system by way of transformation。
  But; though the patriarchal system is the earliest form of  government; and all governments have been developed or modified  from it; the right of government to govern cannot be deduced from  the right of the father to govern his children; for the parental  right itself is not ultimate or complete。  All governments that  assume it to be so; and rest on it as the foundation of their  authority; are barbaric or despotic; and; therefore ; without any  legitimate authority。  The right to govern rests on ownership or  dominion。  Where there is no proprietorship; there is no dominion;  and where there is no dominion; there is no right to govern。   Only he who is sovereign proprietor is sovereign lord。
  Property; ownership; dominion rests on creation。  The maker has  the right to the thing made。  He; so far as he is sole creator;  is sole proprietor; and may do what he will with it。  God is  sovereign lord and proprietor of the universe because He is its  sole creator。  He 40                   hath the absolute dominion; because He is  absolute maker。  He has made it; He owns it; and one may do what  he will with his own。  His dominion is absolute; because He is  absolute creator; and He rightly governs as absolute and  universal lord; yet is He no despot; because He exercises only  His sovereign right; and His own essential wisdom; goodness;  justness; rectitude; and immutability; are the highest of all  conceivable guaranties that His exercise of His power will always  be right; wise; just; and good。  The despot is a man attempting  to be God upon earth; and to exercise a