neighboring nations. The only landholders were the kings, the nobles, and a few privileged foreigners. Those who owned a house and a few acres of land, could enjoy all the privileges of nobility; and the peasantry and commercial class were interdicted by the Diet in 1496, from becoming proprietors of land, or possessors of church preferment. The barons and nobles, from early time, generally possessed immense tracts of land, which were divided among them in their military conquests, and were partially and poorly cultivated by their slaves. These servile, miserable tenants, ignorant of agriculture and commerce, in the absence of their lords, who were generally engaged in foreign wars, wandered over the immense territories of their masters, cultivating large and unfenced fields for a short season, and then abandoned them for other lands supposed to be more fertile, and requiring less labor. This state of husbandry, of course, was unfavorable to the soil, and unproductive to the owner. There being no intermediate class of yeomanry between the nobles and the slaves, such a system of land-law would operate prejudicially to the interests of both. It seems to be essential to the stability and prosperity of any government, that every citizen and subject should have an allodial fee or permanent interest in the soil; or, at least, should have the right of owning lands according to his means. These principles of landlaw, are the ligaments which bind together the body politic by the strongest of all ties-self-interest. And every government, ancient and modern, has flourished or decayed in proportion as the people have been protected in their free enjoyment of equal rights of prosperity.*

*Fletcher, 52, 53; Sullivan's Lectures on Feudalism; Guizot, III., 359; Guizot, IV., Lectures, 6-11; Guizot, I., Lecture 4; Alison, I., 349.

General Principles of Government-Different Forms of Government-Selfgovernment-Centralization of Government-Rights of the People— Government of Poland previous to the reign of the Piasts-The Government of Poland during the reign o the Piasts-The Government under the Jagellons-Government of the Elective Kings-The Present Government of Poland.

SECTION I.

GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF GOVERNMENT.

GOVERNMENT is that control which is exercised over the actions of men, as individuals, societies, communities, or states, for the mutual benefit of the human family. When applied to states, it controls the administration of public affairs, according to the principles of an established constitution, known as the fundamental law of the nation-aided, explained, and enforced by a code of written laws, or by long-established and well-known usages and customs; founded on the settled principles of right and wrong, called the common law; or it may be administered, as in some countries, by the arbitrary edicts of the sovereign.

Government, in its nature, is that order among rational creatures, which is regarded as heaven's first law; and produces or

contributes to all the benefits of individual, social, and national existence. A nation is like a large family, where all the inhabitants are related in one and the same common interest, and in harmony with their individual interests; where all are connected in feeling and blood, and amenable to the same supreme power and government, which acts as the common parent of every individual.

The necessity of government is found in the nature and constitution of man. Without the controlling power and salutary restraints of government, founded on just and useful laws; interest and selfishness, the nursery of all vices, would be the dominant principle of every man's actions, regardless of the rights of others. It is necessary, therefore, to have some restraint imposed upon every man; some power which shall direct and restrain his actions; impelling him to what is right and deterring him from what is wrong; and the only power which can do this is government. Hence, it is both the natural and moral duty of every one, to cheerfully and quietly submit to all just and useful restraints; and surrender to the general government, in common with all others, so much of his natural rights as may be necessary for its support and the general good of all. Such a partial surrender of human rights to the general government, instead of being a sacrifice, is a positive advantage; so long as the concession is made for the common weal and mutual protection of all who participate in the government. With the exception of those powers and rights which are thus surrendered to government, every man is his own governor, and independent sovereign; and is at liberty to act as he pleases, subject only to the government of his Divine Sovereign.

The necessity for government is so intimately connected with

the constitution, wants, and happiness of man, that we find it has existed in all ages of the world in some form; and the same principle pervades the whole human family at the present day. In every part of the world inhabited by human beings, however savage or civilized, they all have their kings, rulers, or chiefs, under some form of government. Nor is this all-pervading law restricted to the human family; but extends through all creation, animate and inanimate, mortal and immortal. That order, which is said to be the first law of heaven, is worthy of universal dominion among the human race. Man, having been created a social being, cannot live alone; and society is, therefore, his natural state of existence; and government is the controlling principle of civil society.

Every government is dependent for its stability on the selfgovernment of each subject-the army and navy-government patronage-decentralization or its universal prevalence among the people and the patriotism of the masses. It is the duty and privilege of each citizen to govern himself with justice and propriety, subject to, and in conformity with, those rights which he has voluntarily surrendered to the general government; and, where self-government prevails in its purity, the business of state government is secure and easy. The great rule of self-government is, to govern ourselves so as to secure the greatest amount of happiness during our entire existence in time and eternity, regardless of all temporary enjoyments which conflict with this principle; and this rule is complied with only when we obey the will of God. Self-government is the principal distinguishing feature between savage and civilized nations. Where citizens govern themselves with propriety, very little remains for the general government to do; except to carry on the ordinary affairs committed

to the trust of the rulers. Self-government embraces all the elementary principles of national government; and the latter is founded on the former, and cannot long exist without it. The analogy between the will, the intellectual powers, the conscience and moral feelings of the individual on the one hand—and the sovereignty or executive power, the legislative, the judicial and the fraternal powers of the national government on the other, are so clear as to leave no doubt of their intimate and indispensable connection. The decentralization of government so as to diffuse its privileges and responsibilities equally through all the provinces and parts of the nation, has always been a desideratum in political science, and never attained, except in England and America. In the United States, this principle universally prevails more completely than in any other nation ancient or modern; and England ranks next in this particular. The great evil of concentrating the entire government in the hands of the few at the capital of the country, has always been severely felt in ancient as well as modern nations; and has always been one of the most fatal rocks on which nations have been wrecked. It was highly ruinous in Greece, Rome, and Poland; and has ever been the great bone of contention between urban and rural society. It has cost France centuries of war and millions of treasure; and is still the great obstacle which that nation has to surmount in its march of democracy. Russia relies solely on her powerful army and liberal government patronage; without the self-government or patriotism of her subjects. The Polish government most unfortunately was destitute of self-government, patriotism, decentralization, or a powerful army-except temporarily under the most skilful generals-while her government patronage was the exclusive property of the nobility.