the executive department; and it is worthy of notice that
while this department of government is in general becoming less
tyrannical and relatively weaker with reference to the legislative
department, it is also becoming more complex: as tyranny recedes,
complexity advances. There is no point better sustained in history than
the general fact that, as government increases the multiplicity of its
machinery, it gradually relaxes its interference with the private rights
of individuals.

After man has laid aside his primitive habits of selfish isolation, and,
though still rude and untutored, has come, through the mere increase of
numbers, into a more compact form of society, the government, however
circumscribed as to territorial limits, assumes a despotic and
intermeddling character. Such was the government of the feudal lords
during the middle ages, and of the kings at a still later day. Laws were
made for the regulation of dress, as to quality and cut for particular
classes, and the number of garments which any person might have in a
year. Citizens were not allowed to keep certain kinds of furniture; and
the dishes they might have for dinner and supper respectively were
definitely and rigidly prescribed. The wages of the laborer were fixed
by law to the great advantage of the lordly employer: this, however, was
a very natural sequence to the abolition of villanage or vassal
servitude. The law made service at particular trades compulsory; and
decided where certain kinds of manufacturing should be carried on; and
how an article should be made, and how sold when made. This interference
affected every department of the individual's private life. Religious
interference need only be mentioned; it is well known. As Buckle
declares, in speaking of the interference of governments, 'It may be
emphatically said that they have taxed the human mind. They have made
the very thoughts of men pay toll.' Queen Elizabeth was a very great
sovereign, but she meddled with very small matters. She disliked the
smell of woad, a plant used for blue dye, and thereupon prohibited its
cultivation. She was displeased with long swords and high ruffs, and
commissioned her officers to break the swords and abate the ruffs. None
of the nobility dared marry without her consent; no one could travel
without her permission. Foreign commerce was subject to her capricious
will. The star chamber, the court of high commission, the court martial,
the warrants of t