Auguis's edition of the Social Contract, pp.
xxiii, xxiv.

[241] _Gouvernement de Pologne_, v. 246.

[242] Of course no such modification as that proposed by Comte
(_Politique Positive_, iv. 421) would come within the scope of the
doctrine of the Social Contract. For each of the seventeen Intendances
into which Comte divides France, is to be ruled by a chief, "always
appointed and removed by the central power." There is no room for the
sovereignty of the people here, even in things parochial.

[243] There was one extraordinary instance during the revolution of
attempting to make popular government direct on Rousseau's principle,
in the scheme (1790) of which Danton was a chief supporter, for
reorganising the municipal administration of Paris. The assemblies of
sections were to sit permanently; their vote was to be taken on
current questions; and action was to follow the aggregate of their
degrees. See Von Sybel's _Hist. Fr. Rev._ i. 275; M. Louis Blanc's
_History_, Bk. III. ch. ii.

[244] This was also Bodin's definition of an aristocratic state; "si
minor pars civium caeteris imperat."

[245] _Politics_, III. vi.-vii.

[246] _Esprit des Lois_, II. i. ii.

[247] Rousseau gave the name of _tyrant_ to a usurper of royal
authority in a kingdom, and _despot_ to a usurper of the sovereign
authority (_i.e._ [Greek: tyrannos] in the Greek sense). The former
might govern according to the laws, but the latter placed himself
above the laws (_Cont. Soc._, III. x.) This corresponded to Locke's
distinction: "As usurpation is the exercise of power which another
hath a right to, so tyranny is the exercise of a power beyond right,
which nobody can have a right to." _Civil Gov._, ch. xviii.

[248] III. iv.

[249] III. vi.

[250] III. v.

[251] _Cont. Soc._, IV. viii.

[252] _Cont. Soc._, IV. viii. 197-201.

[253] This is not unlike what Tocqueville says somewhere, that
Christianity bids you render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's,
but seems to discourage any inquiry whether Caesar is an usurper or a
lawful ruler.

[254] _Cont. Soc._, IV. viii. 203. As we have already seen, he had
entreated Voltaire, of all men in the world, to draw up a civil
profession of faith. See vol. i. 326.

In the New Heloisa (V. v. 117, _n._) Rousseau expresses his opinion
that "no true believer could be intolerant or a persecutor. _If I were
a magistrate, and if the law pronounced the penalty of death against
atheists, I would beg