When a government through its own iniquity ceases to exist, we must, to
establish a new government on a true and just basis, go back to the
origin of Civil Authority. No one argues now for the Divine Right of
Kings, but in studying the old controversy we get light on the subject
of government that is of all time. To the conception that kings held
their power immediately from God, "Suarez boldly opposed the thesis of
the initial sovereignty of the people; from whose consent, therefore,
all civil authority immediately sprang. So also, in opposition to
Melanchthon's theory of governmental omnipotence, Suarez _a fortiori_
admitted the right of the people to depose those princes who would have
shown themselves unworthy of the trust reposed in them." (De Wulf,
_History of Medieval Philosophy,_ Third Edition, p. 495.) Suarez'
refutation of the Anglican theory, described by Hallam as clear, brief,
and dispassionate, has won general admiration. Hallam quotes him to the
discredit of the English divines: "For this power, by its very nature,
belongs to no one man but to a multitude of men. This is a certain
conclusion, being common to all our authorities, as we find by St.
Thomas, by the Civil laws, and by the great canonists and casuists; all
of whom agree that the prince has that power of law-giving which the
people have given him. And the reason is evident, since all men are
born equal, and consequently no one has a political jurisdiction over
another, nor any dominion; nor can we give any reason from the nature of
the thing why one man should govern another rather than the contrary."
(Hallam--_Literature of Europe_, Vol. 3, Chap. 4.) Dr. Murray, in the
essay already quoted, speaks of Sir James Mackintosh as the ablest
Protestant writer who refuted the Anglican theory, which Mackintosh
speaks of as "The extravagance of thus representing obedience as the
only duty without an exception." Dr. Murray concludes his own essay on
_Resistance to the Supreme Civil Power_ by a long passage from
Mackintosh, the weight and wisdom of which he praises. The greater part
of the passage is devoted to the difficulties even of success and
emphasising the terrible evils of failure. In what has already been
written here I have been at pains rather to lay bare all possible evils
than to hide them. But when revolt has become necessary and inevitable,
then the conclusion of the passage Dr. Murray quotes should be endorsed
by all: "An insurrection render