9. If in any State the whole power were _free_ in the hands of one man, there we might look to see made good the _dictum_ of the judicious Hooker (_Ecclesiastical Polity_, bk. i., s. x., n. 5): "To live by one man's will became the cause of all men's misery." In a monarchy untrammelled by senate or popular assembly, it were well that some of the sovereign power should remain _latent_, and that His Majesty should rule in accordance with certain laws, not within his royal pleasure to revoke. 10. The State and the power of the State, apart from the polity, is of God. (s. iii., n. 14, p. 318.) The State under this or that polity and this or that ruler, is also of God. But, apart from the polity, the State is of God _antecedently_ to any determination of any human will: because, willy nilly, man must live in civil society and God commands him so to do. But the State under _this_ polity and _this_ ruler is of God _consequently_ to some determination of human volition. In this consequent sense we write _Victoria Dei gratia_. 11. There is little use in the enquiry, Which is the best polity? There is no polity which excels all other polities as man does the rest of animals. We judge of polities as of the various types of locomotives, according to the nature of the country where they are to run. Aristotle tells us that if we meet with a Pericles, we shall do best to make him our king, and hand over all our affairs to him. (Ar., _Pol_., III., xiii., 25: cf. Thucydides, ii., 65.) Otherwise, "for most cities and for most men, apart from exceptional circumstances, or a condition of ideal perfection, but having regard to what is ordinarily possible," he recommends a moderate republic under middle-class rule. (Ar., _Pol_., VI., xi., Ed. Congreve.) This he calls _par excellence_ "a polity," [Greek: politeia]. _Democracy_, [Greek: deimokratia] with Aristotle, always means that perversion of democracy, which we call _mob-rule_. (Ar., _Pol._, III., vii., nn. 3, 5.) 12. In the English monarchy the whole majesty of the State shines forth in the Single Person who wears the Crown. The Crown is the centre of loyalty and gives dignity to the government. The Crown is above all parties in the State, knows their secrets, their purposes when in office as well as their acts, and is able to mediate, when party feeling threatens to bring government to a standstill. The British Crown has more weight of influence than of prerogative. [Footnote 21] [Footnote 21: Written in the month and year of jubilee, June, 1887.] _Readings_.--St. Thos., 1a 2æ, q. 105, art. 1, in corp., ad 2, 5; Ar., _Pol_., III., xv.; _ib_., III., xvi., nn. 5-8; _ib_., VIII. (al. V.), xi. nn. 1-3. SECTION V.--_Of the Divine Right of Kings and the Inalienable Sovereignty of the People._