BOOK III PART II
of society. Government, therefore, arises from
the same voluntary conversation of men; and it
is evident, that the same convention, which es-
tablishes government, will also determine the
persons who are to govern, and will remove all
doubt and ambiguity in this particular. And
the voluntary consent of men must here have
the greater efficacy, that the authority of the
magistrate does at first stand upon the founda-
tion of a promise of the subjects, by which they
bind themselves to obedience; as in every other
contract or engagement. The same promise,
then, which binds them to obedience, ties them
down to a particular person, and makes him
the object of their allegiance.
But when government has been established
on this footing for some considerable time, and
the separate interest, which we have in sub-