privileges throughout Europe, except in England, where they have become little more than a
historical form. All this, in most countries, is very recent, and has much to do with the rise of
dictatorships, since the traditional basis of power has been swept away, and the habits of mind
required for the successful practice of democracy have not had time to grow up. There is one great
institution that has never had any hereditary element, namely, the Catholic Church. We may
expect the dictatorships, if they survive, to develop gradually a form of government analogous to
that of the Church. This has already happened in the case of the great corporations in America,
which have, or had until Pearl Harbor, powers almost equal to those of the government.
It is curious that the rejection of the hereditary principle in politics has had almost no effect in the
economic sphere in democratic countries. (In totalitarian states, economic power has been
absorbed by political power.) We still think it natural that a man should leave his property to his
children; that is to say, we accept the hereditary principle as regards economic power while
rejecting it as regards political power. Political dynasties have disappeared, but economic
dynasties survive. I am not at the moment arguing either for or against this different treatment of
the two forms of power; I am merely pointing out that it exists, and that most men are unconscious
of it. When you consider how natural it seems to us that the power over the lives of others
resulting from great wealth should be hereditary, you will understand better how men like Sir
Robert Filmer could take the same view as regards the power of kings, and how important was the
innovation represented by men who thought as Locke did.
To understand how Filmer's theory could be believed, and how Locke's contrary theory could
seem revolutionary, we have only to reflect that a kingdom was regarded then as a landed estate is
regarded now. The owner of land has various important legal rights, the chief of which is the
power of choosing who shall be on the land. Ownership can be transmitted by inheritance, and we
feel that the man who has inherited an estate has a just claim to all the privileges that the law
allows him in consequence. Yet at bottom his position is the same as that of the monarchs whose
claims Sir Robert Filmer defends. There are at the present day in California a number of huge
estates the tide to which is derived from actual or alleged grants by the king