nt of its own.
We may, therefore, conclude from mathematical reasoning that an
unlimited monarchy, though advantageous for small states, is not a safe
form of government for a large or populous country, inasmuch as the
people do not derive much benefit from the sovereign; the mutual
attraction, which ought to exist in a flourishing state between the
ruler and the ruled, is weakened; and the isolation of the monarch
tends to make him still more despotic. As a practical example of the
truth of the foregoing statement, I may mention the present condition of
Russia, which shows that the result of an unlimited monarchy, in a large
and unwieldy social circle, is such as we should have reasonably
expected from mathematical investigations.

Invariably, under the circumstances which I have described, the country
will become disorganized; the sovereign will cease to have any power
over the people, and the country will become a chaos, without order,
influence, or power.

When the centre of a conic section moves along the axis of the curve to
infinity, banished by the mutual consent of the individual particles
which compose the curve, or the nation, a figure is formed, called a
_parabola_. This is the curve which the most erratic bodies in the
universe describe in space, as they rush along at a speed inconceivable
to human minds, and are supposed to produce all kinds of mischief and
injury to the worlds whose courses they wend their way among.

This curve, then, represents the position which the nation assumes when
the constituted monarchy, the centre of the system, has been _banished
to infinity_. A revolution has occurred; the monarch has been dethroned;
and it is not hard to see that the same erratic course which the comet
pursues in its flight, is observable with respect to the social system
which is represented by a parabola. We observe with eager scrutiny the
wanderings of these erratic comets. They appear suddenly with their
vapoury tails; sometimes they shine upon us with their soft, silvery
light, brilliant as another moon; sometimes they stand afar off in the
distant skies, and deign not to approach our steady-going earth, which
pursues its regular course day by day, and year by year. Then, after a
few days' coy inspection of our planet from different points of view,
they fly to other remote parts of the universe, and do not condescend to
show themselves again for a hundred years or so. Such is the erratic
conduct of a