Page:The American Democrat, James Fenimore Cooper, 1838.djvu/16

10 A despotism is a government of absolute power, in which the entire authority is the possession of the prince. The term "despot," as applied to a sovereign, however, is not properly one of reproach. It merely signifies a ruler who is irresponsible for his acts, and who governs without any legal restraint on his will. The word "tyrant" had originally the same meaning, though, in a measure, both have become so far corrupted as to convey an idea of abuses.

A limited monarchy is a government in which the will of the sovereign is restrained by certain provisions of the state, that cannot lawfully be violated. In its true signification, the word monarch means any prince at the head of a state. Monarchs are known by different titles; such as emperors, kings, princes, grand dukes, dukes, &c. &c.; but it is not now common to apply the term to any below the rank of kings. The title of sovereign is of more general use, though properly meaning the same thing as that of monarch.

A republick is a government in which the pervading acknowledged principle is the right of the community as opposed to the right of a sovereign. In other words, the term implies the sovereignty of the people, in lieu of that of a monarch. Thus nations which have possessed kings, dukes, and princes at their heads, have been termed republicks, because they have reserved the right to elect the monarchs; as was formerly the case in Poland, Venice, Genoa, and in many other of the Italian states, in particular. Even Napoleon continued to style France a republick, after he had assumed the imperial diadem, because his elevation to the throne was sanctioned by the votes of the French nation. The term, in his case, however, was evidently misapplied, for the crown was made hereditary in his family, while the polity of a