Though no man need enter a political society against his will, yet
when, by consent given either expressly or tacitly, he has entered it,
he must submit to the form of government established by the majority.
There is, however, one form of government which it is not competent
even to the majority to establish, and that is Absolute Monarchy,
this being "inconsistent with civil society, and so being no form
of government at all." Locke ridicules the idea that men would ever
voluntarily have erected over themselves such an authority, "as if,
when men quitting the state of nature entered into society, they agreed
that all of them but one should be under the restraint of laws, but
that he should still retain all the liberty of the state of nature,
increased with power and made licentious by impunity. This is to think
that men are so foolish, that they take care to avoid what mischiefs
may be done them by pole-cats or foxes, but are content, nay, think it
safety, to be devoured by lions." In these and some of the following
strictures, he seems to have in view not only the ruder theories of
Filmer and the absolutist divines, but also the more philosophical
system of Hobbes.
But, supposing a government other than an Absolute Monarchy to have
been established, are there any acts or omissions by which it can
forfeit the allegiance of its subjects? To answer this question, we
must look to the ends of political society and government. Now the
great and chief end which men propose to themselves, when they unite
into commonwealths, is "the mutual preservation of their lives,
liberties, and estates, which I call by the general name, property."
A government, therefore, which neglects to secure this end, and still
more a government which itself invades the rights of its subjects,
is guilty of a breach of trust, and consequently may be lawfully set
aside, whenever an opportunity occurs. Hence the community itself must
always be regarded as the supreme authority, in abeyance, indeed, while
its fiduciary properly and faithfully executes the powers entrusted to
him, but ever ready to intervene when he misuses or betrays the trust
reposed in him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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