e happy medium at
which the government, while not failing in strength, is yet properly
submissive to the sovereign.

The sovereign may, in the first place, entrust the government to the
whole people, or the greater part of them; this form is called
democracy. Or it may be placed in the hands of a minority, in which case
it is called the aristocracy. Or it may be concentrated in the hands of
a single magistrate, from whom all the others derive their power; this
is called monarchy.

It may be urged, on behalf of democracy, that those who make the laws
know better than anybody how they should be interpreted and
administered. But it is not right that the makers of the laws should
execute them, nor that the main body of the people should turn its
attention from general views to particular objects. Nothing is more
dangerous than the influence of private interests on public affairs. A
true democracy, in the rigorous sense of the term, never has existed and
never will. A people composed of gods would govern itself
democratically. A government so perfect is unsuited to men.

There are three forms of aristocracy: natural, elective, and hereditary.
The first is only adapted to simple people; the third is the worst of
all governments; the second is the best of all. By the elective method,
probity, sagacity, experience, and all other sources of preference and
public esteem afford guarantees that the community will be wisely
governed.

The first defect of monarchy is that it is to the interests of the
monarch to keep the people in a state of misery and weakness, so that
they may be unable to resist his power. Another is that under a monarchy
the posts of honour are occupied by bunglers and rascals who win their
promotion by petty court intrigue. Again, an elective monarchy is a
cause of disorder whenever a king dies; and a hereditary monarchy leaves
the character of the king to chance, which, as everything tends to
deprive of justice and reason a man trained to supreme rule, generally
goes astray.

The question as to whether there is any sign by which we can tell
whether a people is well or ill governed readily admits of a solution.
What is the surest token of the preservation and prosperity of a
political community? It is to be found in the population. Other things
being equal, the government under which, without extrinsic devices,
without naturalisation, without colonies, the citizens increase and
multiply, is infallibly the