| Title: | Elective monarchy |
| Original Title: | Monarchie élective |
| Volume and Page: | Vol. 10 (1765), p. 637 |
| Author: | Louis, chevalier de Jaucourt (biography) |
| Translator: | Victor Genecin |
| Subject terms: |
Political government
|
| Original Version (ARTFL): | Link |
| Rights/Permissions: |
This text is protected by copyright and may be linked to without seeking permission. Please see http://quod.lib.umich.edu/d/did/terms.html for information on reproduction. |
| URL: | http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.did2222.0001.691 |
| Citation (MLA): | Jaucourt, Louis, chevalier de. "Elective monarchy." The Encyclopedia of Diderot & d'Alembert Collaborative Translation Project. Translated by Victor Genecin. Ann Arbor: Michigan Publishing, University of Michigan Library, 2011. Web. [fill in today's date in the form 18 Apr. 2009 and remove square brackets]. <http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.did2222.0001.691>. Trans. of "Monarchie élective," Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, vol. 10. Paris, 1765. |
| Citation (Chicago): | Jaucourt, Louis, chevalier de. "Elective monarchy." The Encyclopedia of Diderot & d'Alembert Collaborative Translation Project. Translated by Victor Genecin. Ann Arbor: Michigan Publishing, University of Michigan Library, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.did2222.0001.691 (accessed [fill in today's date in the form April 18, 2009 and remove square brackets]). Originally published as "Monarchie élective," Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, 10:637 (Paris, 1765). |
Elective monarchy. The name for a government in which one cannot become king except by election; this doubtless is a very legitimate way of acquiring sovereignty, since it is based upon the consent and free choice of the people.
The election of a monarch is that act by which a nation designates the one whom it judges to be the most capable of succeeding the dead king and governing the state; and, as soon as that person has accepted the people’s offer, he is vested with sovereign power.
We can distinguish two types of elective monarchies: in one, the election is totally free; in the other, the election is restricted in some way. In the first type, the people choose as king the person they believe best; in the second, the people are limited by the constitution to electing as their sovereign a person from a certain nation, a certain family, a specific religion, etc. Cicero tells us that, among the ancient Persians, no one could be elected king who had not been educated by the Magi.
Is it not true that a nation that has the privilege of elevating one of its citizens to the monarchy, and, in particular, a nation that will continue to be subject to the laws of nature, has the right to say to that citizen, upon his election, the following words?
“We are very happy to place the royal power in your hands, but, at the same time, we urge you to observe the covenants that we have made with you, and, as these tend toward the maintenance of a system of mutual assistance that is so perfect that no one will lack, if at all possible, everything necessary and useful, we enjoin you to use your best efforts to conserve this order and to give us the means to maintain it, and to encourage us to apply those means. Reason has prescribed this rule for us, and we beg you to remind us of it ceaselessly. We confer on you the power and authority of the laws over each of us. We make you the instrument and the herald of our laws. We undertake to help you, and to join you in restraining any one of us who would be so senseless as to disobey. You must understand, at the same time, that if you yourself were to go so far as to impose on us some burden that is contrary to our laws, those laws would decree your fall from all power and authority.
“We judge you capable of governing us, we surrender ourselves confidently to the orders of your councils: this is the first homage that we render to the superior talents that nature has given you. If you are faithful to your duty, we will cherish you as a gift from heaven and respect you as a father. This will be your reward, your glory, and your greatness! It will be your good fortune to deserve that several thousand mortals — your equals — will be tenderly concerned about your life and safety!
“God is supremely beneficent: he made us to be social creatures. Keep us, therefore, in the society that we have chosen. As God is the mover of all of nature, which he maintains in admirable order, be you the mover of our polity: by doing so, you will seem to imitate the Supreme Being. For the rest, remember that in whatever concerns you personally, you have no rights or powers beyond those held by the common people, because you have no greater needs, and you experience no other pleasures, than they do. If we should conclude that a member of your family is capable of succeeding you in the office that you hold, we will certainly give great weight to the fact that he is related to you, but only after we have freely chosen him, and not because of any pretention to kingship on your family’s part.”
No surrender, no ancient right of ownership, can pre-empt the truth of this perpetual edict, nor unleash a sovereign who has been elected under these conditions. To do so, indeed, would deprive him of the privilege of having the power to be a supreme benefactor and of resembling a divine being. From this account, let all judge the usual form of governments!