there, and there only, where men have surrendered this right to the community or to the law.
Absolute monarchy is not a form of civil government, because there is no neutral authority to
decide disputes between the monarch and a subject; in fact the monarch, in relation to his subjects,
is still in a state of nature. It is useless to hope that being a king will make a naturally violent man
virtuous.
"He that would have been insolent and injurious in the woods of America would not probably be
much better in a throne, where perhaps learning and religion shall be found out to justify all that
he shall do to his subjects, and the sword presently silence all those that dare question it."
Absolute monarchy is as if men protected themselves against polecats and foxes, "but are content,
nay think it safety, to be devoured by lions."
Civil society involves the rule of the majority, unless it is agreed that a greater number shall be
required. (As, for example, in the United States, for a change in the Constitution or the ratification
of a treaty.) This sounds democratic, but it must be remembered that Locke assumes the exclusion
of women and the poor from the rights of citizenship.
"The beginning of politic society depends upon the consent of the individuals to join into and
make one society." It is argued--somewhat half-heartedly--that such consent must, at some time,
have actually taken place, though it is admitted that the origin of government antedates history
everywhere except among the Jews.
The civil compact which institutes government binds only those who made it; the son must
consent afresh to a compact made by his father. (It is clear how this follows from Locke's
principles, but it is not very realistic. A young American who, on attaining the age of twenty-one,
announces "I refuse to be bound by the contract which inaugurated the United States" will find
himself in difficulties.)
The power of the government by contract, we are told, never extends beyond the common good. A
moment ago I quoted a sentence as to the powers of government, ending "and all this only for the
public good." It seems not to have occurred to Locke to ask who was to be the judge of the
common good. Obviously if the government is the judge it will always decide in its own favour.
Presumably