There is, however, it would seem, clearly implied in the statement that "to secure these rights governments are instituted among men," the statement that governments are universal, that they begin with and continue through human existence,--that government is, as Calvin said, of "not less use among men than bread and water, light and air, and of much more excellent dignity," and therefore the prime necessity of human life,--and that there is a universal right of all men, all communities, all states and all nations, to such government as will secure these rights; for the rights which are to be secured being universal, government, which is the instrumentality for securing them, must also be universal. Having thus declared governments of a kind suitable to secure the unalienable rights of the individual to be a universal right, and having by implication declared that it is not essential in all cases that governments should be instituted by the people governed, and that therefore there may be cases in which governments may justly be instituted by an external power, the Declaration proceeds to lay down as a universal proposition that all governments,--existing, as they do, solely for the purpose of securing to each and every individual his and their unalienable rights,--do, universally, whether instituted by the consent of the governed or not, "derive their just powers from the consent of the governed." The expression "deriving their just powers from" is generally read as if it were "by," and the expression "the consent of the governed" as if it were "the will of the majority." Both of these readings are so plainly inconsistent with both the text and the context as to be clearly inadmissible. If the words are taken in their usual and proper meaning and read in the light of the context and the surrounding circumstances, it seems at least reasonable to conclude that the expression "deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed," is and was intended to be an epitome of the two fundamental principles of the law of agency, brought over into the English law from the Roman. These principles are: "_Obligatio mandati consensu contrahentium consistit,"_ a translation of which is, "The powers of an agent are derived from the consent of the contracting parties," and "_Rei turpis nullum mandatum est_," a translation of which is "No agent can have unjust powers." If this interpretation be correct, the expression "that to secure these rights governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed" means that there is no universal absolute right of communities, states, or nations, to institute their own governments, but that every government, however instituted, is universally the agent of the governed, to secure to every individual, every community, every state, and every nation governed, his and their unalienable rights of life, liberty and the