![became available. These objects made possible some methods and operations that
improved the dynamic behavior of web pages. In most cases, the code would roam
about using the basic program constructs of JavaScript. A walk through some of the
objects and associated methods and properties (or attributes) available by default with
JavaScript will help you understand the basic functionality that the library could
provide. This will make you understand how JavaScript contributed to solving common
web development problems (and helps even today). The most basic validations were
easily achieved by these components provided by JavaScript.
The Window Object
There is a mother object—window—that contains everything in it a developer might
need. A window object represents an open window in a browser and provides a
number of methods pertaining to an open window. This object, just like a normal class
object, encapsulates a number of member functions or methods, properties, and a
number of child objects as well. The child objects, which we discuss in the next
section, in turn encapsulate some other functionality and ensure keeping JavaScript code
readable and maintainable (as in the case of all other languages following the object-
oriented programming [OOP] philosophy or paradigm). Before turning to the child
objects, however, let’s consider some common window object methods and attributes.
Methods
Some extremely common methods, accompanied by a brief description, in addition to
the common problems they solve, are stated in the succeeding text.
alert(): The common problem that this alert method is used to
solve is to display some message upon some validation error,
let’s say, or some happening of interest to the end user currently
viewing the web page you have created. You could pass on some
string—simple or composite—to the alert method, and the
method would treat all such valid strings alike.
setTimeout(): This method is used to delay the start of some
method. Using the setTimeout method, you could add some delay
to the response that was to be conveyed to the end user viewing
your web page. This is particularly useful in those cases in which
you know beforehand the expected time that a certain method
will take to execute, so you could queue the next method after a](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/74963-250415103409-f3c0f876/85/Practical-jQuery-1st-Edition-Mukund-Chaudhary-25-320.jpg)
![by the system of military organisation which was joined to it. It
strove for a long time in a continual state of decay, but always
defending itself. The moment at last arrived when the struggle
ceased; neither the skill and sagacity of despotism, nor the stolid
imperturbability of subjection, any longer sufficed to hold up this
great body. In the fourth century it was rented and dismembered
on all sides; the barbarians poured in at all points; the provinces no
longer made any resistance, or concerned themselves with the
general destiny. It was then that a singular idea came into the
heads of certain emperors; they wished to make an experiment
whether hopes of general freedom, a confederation or system
analogous to what we at the present day call the representative
form of government, would not better defend the unity of the
Roman Empire than the despotic administration. Here is a rescript
of Honorius and Theodosius the younger, addressed in the year 418
to the Prefect of Gaul, the sole object of which was to endeavour
to establish a sort of representative government in the south of
Gaul, and by its assistance to still maintain the integrity of the
Empire:—
'Rescript of the Emperors Honorius and Theodosius the younger,
addressed in the year 418 to the Prefect of the Gauls sitting in
the town of Arles.
'Honorius and Theodosius, Augusti, to Agricola, Prefect of the
Gauls.
'In consequence of the very satisfactory exposition that your
Magnificence has made to us, among other information greatly
to the advantage of the republic, we decree, with the purpose
of giving them the force of law in perpetuity, the following
dispositions, to which the inhabitants of our seven provinces
[Footnote 4] will pay due obedience, they being such as they
themselves might have wished and demanded.](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/74963-250415103409-f3c0f876/85/Practical-jQuery-1st-Edition-Mukund-Chaudhary-29-320.jpg)
![[Footnote 4: The Viennoise, the first Aquitaine, the
second Aquitaine, the Novempopulanie, the first
Narbonnaise, the second Narbonnaise, and the province
of the Maritime Alps.]
Inasmuch as persons in office, or special deputies, frequently resort
to your Magnificence on affairs either of public or private utility, not
only from each of the provinces, but also from every town, either
to render accounts, or to treat of matters having reference to the
interest of the proprietors, we have considered that it might be
turned to good account and great advantage if, at a certain epoch
in every year, dating from the present, there should be an assembly
of the inhabitants of the seven provinces held in the chief city—that
is to say, in the town of Arles. By such an institution, we have
equally in view the providing for individual as well as general
interests. In the first place, by the most notable inhabitants
meeting together in presence of the prefect, if the public order
should not induce his absence, the best possible information will be
obtained upon every subject under deliberation. Nothing that is
discussed and decided, after mature deliberation, will remain
unknown to any of the provinces, and those persons who have
taken no part in the assembly will be equally bound to follow the
same rules of justice and equity. Furthermore, by ordaining that an
assembly be held every year in the city of Constantine, [Footnote
5] we believe we shall promote not only the public good, but also
social relations. The city is so advantageously situated, strangers
frequent it in such numbers, and it enjoys so extended a
commerce, that everything that grows, or is manufactured
elsewhere, is brought thither.
[Footnote 5: Constantine the Great had a singular
affection for the city of Arles. It was he who established
in it the seat of the Gaulish prefecture. He also wished
that it should bear his name, but usage was more
powerful than his inclination.]](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/74963-250415103409-f3c0f876/85/Practical-jQuery-1st-Edition-Mukund-Chaudhary-30-320.jpg)
![All the famous productions of the rich East, spicy Arabia, mild
Assyria, fertile Africa, beauteous Spain, and valorous Gaul,
abound in that place with such profusion, that all things
admired for their magnificence in the various parts of the world
seem the products of its soil. Besides, the junction of the Rhone
with the Tuscan Sea draws near, and renders almost neighbours,
the countries which the first traverses, and which the second
bathes with its sinuosities. Thus, since the whole earth places at
the disposal of this city all its most estimable possessions, since
the individual productions of all countries are there transported
by land, by sea, by the course of rivers, by means of sails, oars,
and wagons, will not our Gaul perceive the benefit of the order
that we give to convoke a public assembly in that city, where all
the enjoyments of life, and all the facilities for commerce, are
found concentrated by, as it were, the especial gift of God?
'The illustrious prefect, Petronius [Footnote 6] with a
praiseworthy and most reasonable purpose, issued orders at a
previous date that this custom should be observed; but as its
fulfilment was interrupted by the confusion of the times, and
the reign of usurpers, we have resolved to restore it to vigour
by our authoritative prudence. Therefore, your Magnificence
Agricola, our dear and well-beloved cousin, conforming yourself
to our present ordinance, and the custom established by your
predecessors, will cause the following dispositions to be
observed in the provinces:
[Footnote 6: Petronius was prefect of the Gauls between
the years 402 and 408.]
'Let intimation be given to all persons honoured with public
functions, or proprietors of domains, and all the judges of the
provinces, that they must assemble in council every year in the
city of Arles, in the interval elapsing between the ides of August
and those of September, the actual days of meeting and of
sitting being fixed at pleasure.](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/74963-250415103409-f3c0f876/85/Practical-jQuery-1st-Edition-Mukund-Chaudhary-31-320.jpg)
!['Novempopulanie and the second Aquitaine, as the most distant
provinces, may, if their judges are retained by indispensable
duties, send deputies in their place, according to custom.
'Those who shall fail to appear at the prescribed place and time
shall pay a fine, rated to the judges at five pounds of gold, and
to the members of the curiæ [Footnote 7] and the other
dignitaries, three pounds of gold.
[Footnote 7: The municipal bodies of the Roman towns
were called curiæ, and the members of those bodies,
who were very numerous, curiales.]
'We design by this measure to confer great advantages and an
important boon on the inhabitants of our provinces. We are
likewise assured of adding to the embellishment of the city of
Arles, to the fidelity of which we owe much, according to our
brother and patrician. [Footnote 8]
[Footnote 8: Constantine, the second husband of
Placidea, whom Honorius had taken for a colleague in
421.]
'Given on the 15th of the calends of May, and received at Arles
the 10th of the calends of June.'
The provinces and towns refused the boon; no deputies were
named, no one would go to Arles. Centralisation and unity were
contrary to the primitive nature of that society; the spirit of locality,
of municipality, was displayed in full force, and the impossibility of
reconstituting a general society or country was clearly evidenced.
The towns shut themselves up within their walls, and looked not
beyond their own affairs; and the Empire fell because no one would
be of the Empire, because the citizens would no longer concern
themselves with anything but their own city. Thus, at the fall of the](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/74963-250415103409-f3c0f876/85/Practical-jQuery-1st-Edition-Mukund-Chaudhary-32-320.jpg)
Practical jQuery 1st Edition Mukund Chaudhary
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- 5. Practical jQuery 1st Edition Mukund Chaudhary Digital Instant Download Author(s): Mukund Chaudhary, Ankur Kumar ISBN(s): 9781484207871, 1484207874 Edition: 1 File Details: PDF, 5.88 MB Year: 2015 Language: english
- 8. Practical jQuery Copyright © 2015 by Mukund Chaudhary and Ankur Kumar This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. Exempted from this legal reservation are brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis or material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. Duplication of this publication or parts thereof is permitted only under the provisions of the Copyright Law of the Publisher’s location, in its current version, and permission for use must always be obtained from Springer. Permissions for use may be obtained through RightsLink at the Copyright Clearance Center. Violations are liable to prosecution under the respective Copyright Law. ISBN-13 (pbk): 978-1-4842-0788-8 ISBN-13 (electronic): 978-1-4842-0787-1 Trademarked names, logos, and images may appear in this book. Rather than use a trademark symbol with every occurrence of a trademarked name, logo, or image, we use the names, logos, and images only in an editorial fashion and to the benefit of the trademark owner, with no intention of infringement of the trademark. The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms, even if they are not identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not they are subject to proprietary rights. While the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication, neither the authors nor the editors nor the publisher can accept any legal responsibility for any errors or omissions that may be made. The publisher makes no warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein. Managing Director: Welmoed Spahr Lead Editor: Louise Corrigan Technical Reviewer: Jose Dieguez Castro Editorial Board: Steve Anglin, Mark Beckner, Gary Cornell, Louise Corrigan, Jim DeWolf, Jonathan Gennick, Robert Hutchinson, Michelle Lowman, James Markham, Susan McDermott, Matthew Moodie, Jeffrey Pepper, Douglas Pundick, Ben Renow-Clarke, Gwenan Spearing, Matt Wade, Steve Weiss Coordinating Editor: Jill Balzano Copy Editor: Michael G. Laraque Compositor: Spi Global Indexer: SPi Global Artist: SPi Global Cover Designer: Anna Ishchenko Distributed to the book trade worldwide by Springer Science+Business Media New York, 233 Spring Street, 6th Floor, New York, NY 10013. Phone 1-800-SPRINGER, fax (201) 348-4505, e-mail orders- ny@springer-sbm.com, or visit www.springeronline.com. Apress Media, LLC is a California LLC and the sole member (owner) is Springer Science + Business Media Finance Inc (SSBM Finance Inc). SSBM Finance Inc is a Delaware corporation. For information on translations, please e-mail rights@apress.com, or visit www.apress.com. Apress and friends of ED books may be purchased in bulk for academic, corporate, or promotional use. eBook
- 9. versions and licenses are also available for most titles. For more information, reference our Special Bulk Sales– eBook Licensing web page at www.apress.com/bulk-sales. Any source code or other supplementary material referenced by the author in this text is available to readers at www.apress.com. For detailed information about how to locate your book’s source code, go to www.apress.com/source-code/.
- 10. We would like to dedicate this book to all those who believe in honesty and hard work.
- 11. Contents at a Glance About the Authors About the Technical Reviewer Acknowledgments Introduction Chapter 1: Evolution of jQuery Chapter 2: Getting Started with jQuery Chapter 3: Traversing DOM with jQuery Chapter 4: DOM Manipulation with jQuery Chapter 5: Events in jQuery Chapter 6: Real World Events in jQuery Chapter 7: Animation in jQuery Chapter 8: Ajax with jQuery Chapter 9: Creating Plug-ins with jQuery Chapter 10: Integrating Plug-ins with jQuery Chapter 11: Using jQuery Frameworks Chapter 12: Testing jQuery with QUnit Index
- 12. Contents About the Authors About the Technical Reviewer Acknowledgments Introduction Chapter 1: Evolution of jQuery Traditional JavaScript Basics The Window Object Child Objects Old School Challenges Challenges Pertaining to the Window Object Challenges Pertaining to the Document Object Challenges Related to the Globals Need for a Revolution Who Was the Revolutionary? Why jQuery? Minimal and Easy Coding Readable/Clean Code Easy CSS Handling Animation Methods Intuitive Function Calls Summary Chapter 2: Getting Started with jQuery Document Object Model (DOM) Downloading and Setting Up jQuery Downloading from the Official Web Site Including jQuery from a CDN
- 13. Clone from GitHub jQuery Fundamentals jQuery Syntax Document Ready Event jQuery noConflict() Method jQuery Selectors Working with jQuery The Problem Statement The Anonymous Function Preloading Images with jQuery each() in jQuery Summary Chapter 3: Traversing DOM with jQuery Selecting Elements with CSS Selectors Type Selector Universal Selector Attribute Selector Class Selector ID Selector Pseudo Class Selector Relationship-Based Selectors Using jQuery Selectors Type Selector Universal Selector Attribute Selector Class Selector ID Selector Pseudo Class Selector Other jQuery Selectors Traversing DOM with jQuery Traversal Methods The Curtain Raiser jQuery Methods for DOM Traversal Caching Selector and Chaining Methods Selector Caching Chaining
- 14. jQuery Filtering The .eq() Method The .filter() Method The .first() Method The .last() Method The .has() Method The .is() Method The .not() Method Summary Chapter 4: DOM Manipulation with jQuery Editing Appearance with jQuery CSS Methods Obtaining CSS Properties Setting CSS Properties Setting Multiple CSS Properties Editing/Changing an Element’s Attributes, Contents, and Position Editing Attributes Editing Contents Creating and Inserting New DOM Elements .append() vs. .appendTo() Inserting New Elements in Specific Locations Putting the Methods to Work Removing and Cloning DOM Elements Working with Dimensions jQuery width() and height() Methods jQuery innerWidth() and innerHeight() Methods jQuery .outerWidth() and .outerHeight() Methods Summary Chapter 5: Events in jQuery Introducing Events Browsers and Events Event Listeners and Event Handlers The Event() Method in jQuery
- 15. Binding Events Unbinding Events Events Propagation and Events Bubbling The Event Capturing and Event Bubbling Models The W3C Event Model Callback Action in Event Summary Chapter 6: Real World Events in jQuery Common Gotchas in Event Handling Handling Dynamic Elements Handling jQuery Animation Buildup Preventing Event Propagation and Bubbling Handling the Event Queue How Handling Works in a jQuery Event Queue The jQuery queue() Method Building a jQuery UI Accordion Using the jQuery UI Accordion Customizing an Accordion Validating Form Elements Using the Validate Plug-in Validating Form Elements Using Customized jQuery Summary Chapter 7: Animation in jQuery Life Without jQuery jQuery’s animate() Fading in jQuery Using the fadeOut() Method Using the fadeIn() Method Using the fadeTo() Method Using the fadeToggle() Method Sliding in jQuery
- 16. Using the slideUp() Method Using the slideDown() Method Using the slideToggle() Method Toggle() in jQuery Creating a Basic Light Box Controlling Animation Behavior Smoothing Your Animations Using the fx Object to Control Frame Rate Turning Off Your Animation Creating a Basic Image Slider Summary Chapter 8: Ajax with jQuery Introducing Ajax How Did Ajax Originate? The Technologies That Make Up Ajax Ajax Using jQuery The Nuts and Bolts of Ajax in JavaScript The jQuery Approach Introducing JSON Understanding JSON Parsing JSON with JavaScript Using the jQuery Alternative to JavaScript Ajax and JSON Usage Example Summary Chapter 9: Creating Plug-ins with jQuery What Is a Plug-in? Plug-in Best Practices Private Variables Public Variables Parameters Plug-in Writing Guidelines
- 17. Do You Really Need the Plug-in? Reuse What Already Exists Preserve the Reference to jQuery Do Not Unnecessarily Modify Objects Ensure Chainability Creating a Form Validation Plug-in Creating an Accordion Plug-in Summary Chapter 10: Integrating Plug-ins with jQuery Plug-in Repositories The jQuery Registry The NPM Open Source Package Repository The GitHub Repository Integrating Plug-ins Downloading and Saving Do a Test Run on Some Simple Elements Include the Plug-in File in the script Tag The Dilemma—in the Head or at the End of the Body Keep the Code Clean Plug-in Customization Minifying Code for Distribution Compression vs. Minification What Does Minified Code Look Like? There Is More: Uglification and Beautification Summary Chapter 11: Using jQuery Frameworks JavaScript and jQuery Frameworks Bootstrap AngularJS Components in jQuery jQuery UI Drag and Drop Using jQuery UI
- 18. Autocomplete Datepicker jQuery Mobile Some Cool Features of jQuery Mobile Ajax Navigation System Pop-ups in jQuery Mobile Summary Chapter 12: Testing jQuery with QUnit QUnit as a JavaScript Framework Introduction to Unit Testing The Need for Unit Testing Why QUnit? Getting Started with QUnit QUnit Syntax Styling the Test Result Writing the First Test Case Commonly Used QUnit Methods Testing DOM Manipulation Refactoring Code A Simple Refactoring Moving Ahead in Refactoring Writing Another Test Case on the Refactored Code Summary Index
- 19. About the Authors Mukund Chaudhary is enamored of technology and keeps himself up-to-date through avid reading. In his leisure time, he can be found reading articles on current affairs and technologies alike. A perfectionist, he is a product manager by profession and is quite strict when it comes to delivery deadlines. He feels that 24 hours in a day are sufficient, provided a person has plans that are correct and clear. Ankur Kumar is a software engineer by profession and an adventurer by nature. He is a person who reads people’s faces by instinct. He believes that being honest and true to oneself works wonders. He also believes that knowledge is relative in this world, and
- 20. that it is no big deal to accept that learning never stops as long as a person is alive. Ankur has worked on open source web technologies for a major part of his professional career. He offers thanks to the Almighty “for making us what we are and showing us the way ahead!”
- 21. About the Technical Reviewer Jose Dieguez Castro is a senior system administrator, working currently as a freelance consultant, who has worked in a wide range of projects—from small to large infrastructures, in the private and public sectors. When asked about his specialty, he answers: “Get the job done.” He also likes to think of himself as a developer, who cares too much about software libre. Photography, sports, music, and reading are his preferred ways of freeing his mind from work. He can be reached at jose@jdcastro.eu.
- 22. Acknowledgments I take this opportunity to express my gratitude to everyone who supported me at all times. I am thankful to the editors for their aspiring guidance, invaluably constructive criticism, and friendly advice. I sincerely thank everyone, including my parents, my better half, friends, and teammates, who gave their suggestions for improving this book. Special thanks to my grandfather, the late Kameshwar Chaudhary, who always inspired me to write. —Mukund Chaudhary I take this opportunity to thank the Almighty, as well as the extremely careful support staff at Apress, which was there at all times to guide us in the right direction. I particularly acknowledge the editors, who took great pains to understand my intent, and the way they managed the activities pertaining to giving this book its current form. Although thousands of miles away, I always received abundant assistance from them. I also received enormous support from my parents all the while I was writing. Special thanks to my wife, Neha, who was patient enough to let me focus on providing quality content for this book. —Ankur Kumar
- 23. Introduction This book aims to provide information to developers who have worked on JavaScript and wish to gain hands-on experience with jQuery. It starts by reviewing some JavaScript concepts and forges ahead to establish the need for a standard framework. This need is addressed by this book, which explores jQuery as a JavaScript framework and covers further developments, with the aim of helping readers to become familiar with the way problems are solved using jQuery. Practical demonstrations are offered throughout the book, and the same examples are used across multiple demonstrations to ensure that readers receive a multidimensional view of the subject matter. The book concludes by providing information on how to test applications written in jQuery or JavaScript.
- 24. CHAPTER 1 Evolution of jQuery The first and foremost question that web developers about to start working on jQuery face is, Are JavaScript and jQuery related, or are they two completely different entities altogether? Although we could simply reply, yes, they are related, and move on, we will attempt in this chapter to introduce jQuery and its evolution from JavaScript. By the end of this chapter, we hope to have explained the following: How JavaScript is used to solve common web development problems The most common challenges that web developers face Changing times and, hence, technology The mastermind behind jQuery Why jQuery is an important component of web development Traditional JavaScript Basics The evolution of web technology saw a transition from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0. The impact of this change was expected to alter the way web-based applications—essentially web sites—would replace desktop-based applications, both in terms of the functionality they provided, as well as their look and feel. By this time, and due to this objective in their development plans, web developers were strongly feeling the need to add dynamic behavior to their static web pages. JavaScript was the only savior, according to the old school of web development. For each and every dynamic behavior to be performed on a web page, JavaScript code had to be written. The job of the web developer was facilitated by JavaScript, because the code worked fine. A JavaScript developer now had the freedom to use some default objects that
- 25. became available. These objects made possible some methods and operations that improved the dynamic behavior of web pages. In most cases, the code would roam about using the basic program constructs of JavaScript. A walk through some of the objects and associated methods and properties (or attributes) available by default with JavaScript will help you understand the basic functionality that the library could provide. This will make you understand how JavaScript contributed to solving common web development problems (and helps even today). The most basic validations were easily achieved by these components provided by JavaScript. The Window Object There is a mother object—window—that contains everything in it a developer might need. A window object represents an open window in a browser and provides a number of methods pertaining to an open window. This object, just like a normal class object, encapsulates a number of member functions or methods, properties, and a number of child objects as well. The child objects, which we discuss in the next section, in turn encapsulate some other functionality and ensure keeping JavaScript code readable and maintainable (as in the case of all other languages following the object- oriented programming [OOP] philosophy or paradigm). Before turning to the child objects, however, let’s consider some common window object methods and attributes. Methods Some extremely common methods, accompanied by a brief description, in addition to the common problems they solve, are stated in the succeeding text. alert(): The common problem that this alert method is used to solve is to display some message upon some validation error, let’s say, or some happening of interest to the end user currently viewing the web page you have created. You could pass on some string—simple or composite—to the alert method, and the method would treat all such valid strings alike. setTimeout(): This method is used to delay the start of some method. Using the setTimeout method, you could add some delay to the response that was to be conveyed to the end user viewing your web page. This is particularly useful in those cases in which you know beforehand the expected time that a certain method will take to execute, so you could queue the next method after a
- 26. Discovering Diverse Content Through Random Scribd Documents
- 27. At this era there was no country—that is to say, the country had no resemblance to what it is at present; it was cultivated—that was necessary; but it was not inhabited. The rural proprietors were the inhabitants of the cities; they went out to look after their farms, and they often kept a certain number of slaves upon them; but what we at present call the country, consisting of a scattered population, in isolated abodes, or in villages, strewed over the whole soil, was a thing altogether unknown to ancient Italy. When Rome extended, what were her proceedings? Peruse her history, and you will see that she conquered or founded towns; it was against towns she fought, or with towns she made treaties, and also into towns she sent colonies. The history of the conquest of the world by Rome, is the history of the conquest and founding of a great number of cities. In the East, the extension of the Roman sway does not quite bear this character; the population was there distributed differently from the western: being under another social system, it was much less concentrated in towns. But as it is only with the European population that we are interested, what was passing in the East is of little importance. Confining ourselves to the West, we everywhere discern the fact that I have pointed out. In Gaul, in Spain, we meet with nothing but towns; at a distance from them, the territory is covered with marshes and forests. Examine the character of the Roman monuments, of the Roman roads. We find great roads leading from one town to another; that multitude of small roads which now intersect the country in every direction had no existence. There was nothing resembling that countless throng of small monuments, villages, country-houses, churches, dispersed over the land since the middle ages. Rome has transmitted to us only colossal monuments impressed with the municipal character, suited for a numerous population collected at one point. Under whatever aspect the Roman world may be considered, this almost exclusive preponderance of cities, and the consequent non-existence of a country, socially speaking, will be found. This municipal character in
- 28. the Roman world evidently rendered the unity and social bond of a great state extremely difficult to establish and maintain. A municipality like Rome had been able to conquer the world, but it was not so easy a task to govern and organise it. Thus, when the work seemed consummated, when all the West, and a great part of the East, had fallen under the Roman sway, we find this prodigious accumulation of cities, of small states instituted for isolation and independence, disunited, detached from each other, and slipping the noose, as it were, in all directions. This was one of the causes which led to the necessity of an empire of a more concentrated form of government, and one more capable of holding elements so slightly coherent in a state of union. The empire endeavoured to introduce unity and connection into this scattered society. It succeeded to a certain extent. Between the reigns of Augustus and Diocletian, a civil legislation was developed, coincidental with that vast system of administrative despotism which spread over the Roman world a network of functionaries upon a hierarchical form of distribution, closely linked amongst themselves, and to the imperial court, and solely employed in giving effect to the decrees of power in society, and in rendering available to power the tributes and capabilities of society. Not only did this system succeed in rallying and compressing together the elements of the Roman world, but the idea of a despotism, of a central power, penetrated the minds of men with a singular facility. We are astonished at beholding in this ill-united collection of small republics, in this association of municipalities, a reverence for the imperial majesty, sole, august, and sacred, prevail with such rapidity. The necessity of establishing some common bond between all these portions of the Roman world must have been extremely urgent when the modes and almost the sentiments of despotism found so ready an acceptation in the minds of men. The Roman Empire was sustained against the dissolution which was threatened from within, and against the barbaric invasions from without, by these principles, by its administrative organisation, and
- 29. by the system of military organisation which was joined to it. It strove for a long time in a continual state of decay, but always defending itself. The moment at last arrived when the struggle ceased; neither the skill and sagacity of despotism, nor the stolid imperturbability of subjection, any longer sufficed to hold up this great body. In the fourth century it was rented and dismembered on all sides; the barbarians poured in at all points; the provinces no longer made any resistance, or concerned themselves with the general destiny. It was then that a singular idea came into the heads of certain emperors; they wished to make an experiment whether hopes of general freedom, a confederation or system analogous to what we at the present day call the representative form of government, would not better defend the unity of the Roman Empire than the despotic administration. Here is a rescript of Honorius and Theodosius the younger, addressed in the year 418 to the Prefect of Gaul, the sole object of which was to endeavour to establish a sort of representative government in the south of Gaul, and by its assistance to still maintain the integrity of the Empire:— 'Rescript of the Emperors Honorius and Theodosius the younger, addressed in the year 418 to the Prefect of the Gauls sitting in the town of Arles. 'Honorius and Theodosius, Augusti, to Agricola, Prefect of the Gauls. 'In consequence of the very satisfactory exposition that your Magnificence has made to us, among other information greatly to the advantage of the republic, we decree, with the purpose of giving them the force of law in perpetuity, the following dispositions, to which the inhabitants of our seven provinces [Footnote 4] will pay due obedience, they being such as they themselves might have wished and demanded.
- 30. [Footnote 4: The Viennoise, the first Aquitaine, the second Aquitaine, the Novempopulanie, the first Narbonnaise, the second Narbonnaise, and the province of the Maritime Alps.] Inasmuch as persons in office, or special deputies, frequently resort to your Magnificence on affairs either of public or private utility, not only from each of the provinces, but also from every town, either to render accounts, or to treat of matters having reference to the interest of the proprietors, we have considered that it might be turned to good account and great advantage if, at a certain epoch in every year, dating from the present, there should be an assembly of the inhabitants of the seven provinces held in the chief city—that is to say, in the town of Arles. By such an institution, we have equally in view the providing for individual as well as general interests. In the first place, by the most notable inhabitants meeting together in presence of the prefect, if the public order should not induce his absence, the best possible information will be obtained upon every subject under deliberation. Nothing that is discussed and decided, after mature deliberation, will remain unknown to any of the provinces, and those persons who have taken no part in the assembly will be equally bound to follow the same rules of justice and equity. Furthermore, by ordaining that an assembly be held every year in the city of Constantine, [Footnote 5] we believe we shall promote not only the public good, but also social relations. The city is so advantageously situated, strangers frequent it in such numbers, and it enjoys so extended a commerce, that everything that grows, or is manufactured elsewhere, is brought thither. [Footnote 5: Constantine the Great had a singular affection for the city of Arles. It was he who established in it the seat of the Gaulish prefecture. He also wished that it should bear his name, but usage was more powerful than his inclination.]
- 31. All the famous productions of the rich East, spicy Arabia, mild Assyria, fertile Africa, beauteous Spain, and valorous Gaul, abound in that place with such profusion, that all things admired for their magnificence in the various parts of the world seem the products of its soil. Besides, the junction of the Rhone with the Tuscan Sea draws near, and renders almost neighbours, the countries which the first traverses, and which the second bathes with its sinuosities. Thus, since the whole earth places at the disposal of this city all its most estimable possessions, since the individual productions of all countries are there transported by land, by sea, by the course of rivers, by means of sails, oars, and wagons, will not our Gaul perceive the benefit of the order that we give to convoke a public assembly in that city, where all the enjoyments of life, and all the facilities for commerce, are found concentrated by, as it were, the especial gift of God? 'The illustrious prefect, Petronius [Footnote 6] with a praiseworthy and most reasonable purpose, issued orders at a previous date that this custom should be observed; but as its fulfilment was interrupted by the confusion of the times, and the reign of usurpers, we have resolved to restore it to vigour by our authoritative prudence. Therefore, your Magnificence Agricola, our dear and well-beloved cousin, conforming yourself to our present ordinance, and the custom established by your predecessors, will cause the following dispositions to be observed in the provinces: [Footnote 6: Petronius was prefect of the Gauls between the years 402 and 408.] 'Let intimation be given to all persons honoured with public functions, or proprietors of domains, and all the judges of the provinces, that they must assemble in council every year in the city of Arles, in the interval elapsing between the ides of August and those of September, the actual days of meeting and of sitting being fixed at pleasure.
- 32. 'Novempopulanie and the second Aquitaine, as the most distant provinces, may, if their judges are retained by indispensable duties, send deputies in their place, according to custom. 'Those who shall fail to appear at the prescribed place and time shall pay a fine, rated to the judges at five pounds of gold, and to the members of the curiæ [Footnote 7] and the other dignitaries, three pounds of gold. [Footnote 7: The municipal bodies of the Roman towns were called curiæ, and the members of those bodies, who were very numerous, curiales.] 'We design by this measure to confer great advantages and an important boon on the inhabitants of our provinces. We are likewise assured of adding to the embellishment of the city of Arles, to the fidelity of which we owe much, according to our brother and patrician. [Footnote 8] [Footnote 8: Constantine, the second husband of Placidea, whom Honorius had taken for a colleague in 421.] 'Given on the 15th of the calends of May, and received at Arles the 10th of the calends of June.' The provinces and towns refused the boon; no deputies were named, no one would go to Arles. Centralisation and unity were contrary to the primitive nature of that society; the spirit of locality, of municipality, was displayed in full force, and the impossibility of reconstituting a general society or country was clearly evidenced. The towns shut themselves up within their walls, and looked not beyond their own affairs; and the Empire fell because no one would be of the Empire, because the citizens would no longer concern themselves with anything but their own city. Thus, at the fall of the
- 33. Roman Empire, we find again the same fact that was observable at its commencement—the predominance of the municipal form and spirit. The Roman world returned to its first condition: towns had formed it; it was dissolved, but the towns remained. It is the municipal system that the ancient Roman civilisation bequeathed to modern Europe; in a very irregular and weakened form, and doubtless very inferior to what it had been in the early times, but still the only real constituted system which had alone survived all the elements of the Roman world. When I say alone, I am wrong. Another fact, another idea, equally survived—namely, the idea of the Empire, the name of the emperor, the maxim of imperial majesty, and of an absolute, sacred power, attached to that name. These are the elements that Roman civilisation transmitted to the European civilisation; on one hand, the municipal system, its customs, rules, and precedents, containing the germ of liberty; on the other, a uniform and universal civil legislation, coupled with the idea of the absolute power and the sacred majesty of the imperial name, containing the principle of order and subjection. Influence Of The Church. But at the same time a very different society, founded upon totally distinct principles, animated by other sentiments, and one destined to infuse into the modern European civilisation elements of quite a different nature, had arisen in the bosom of the Roman society— namely, the Christian church. I speak peculiarly of the Christian church, and not of Christianity. At the end of the fourth, and commencement of the fifth century, Christianity had ceased to be simply an individual creed; it had become an institution, and had taken a constituted form; it had its own government, a body of clergy, a hierarchy arranged for the different clerical functions, revenues, means for independent action, and rallying-points
- 34. suitable to a great society, provincial, national, and oecumenical councils, and the custom of deliberating in common upon the affairs of the society. In a word, Christianity at this epoch was not merely a religion, it was a church. If it had not been a church, it is impossible to say what might have happened to it amid the fall of the Roman Empire. I confine myself to purely human considerations; I put aside every element foreign to the natural consequences deducible from natural facts; and I believe that if Christianity had been, as in the early times, only an individual belief, sentiment, or conviction, it would have sunk under the ruins of the Empire, and the invasions of the barbarians. It succumbed at a later date in Asia and in the north of Africa, under an invasion of the same nature, an invasion of Moslem barbarians, even when it was in a state of institution, when it was an established church. Much more might the same result have occurred at the fall of the Roman Empire. There were at that time none of the means in existence by which at the present day moral influences are established or offer resistance independently of institutions, none of the means by which a mere truth or idea acquires an empire over the minds of men, governs actions, and determines events. Nothing existed in the fourth century to give to personal ideas and sentiments such a sway. It is clear that a society powerfully organised and vigorously governed was needed to struggle against so destructive a crisis, and to arise victorious from so fearful a conflict. It is not therefore too much to affirm that, at the end of the fourth, and beginning of the fifth century, it was the Christian church which saved Christianity; it was the church, with its institutions, its magistrates, its temporal power, which strove triumphantly against the internal dissolution which convulsed the Empire, and against barbarity which subdued the barbarians themselves, and became the link, the medium, the principle of civilisation, as between the Roman and barbarian worlds. Hence it is the state of the church rather than of Christianity, properly so called, in the fifth century, which ought to be investigated, in order to discover in what Christianity has from
- 35. that period aided modern civilisation, and what elements it has introduced. An inquiry necessarily arises, What was the Christian church at that epoch? When we consider, under a merely human aspect, the different revolutions which have been accomplished in the development of Christianity, from its origin to the fifth century, taking it only as a society, and not as a religious creed, we find that it has passed through three stages essentially distinct. In the earliest period, the Christian society presents itself as a simple association arising from a common creed, from common sentiments; the first Christians congregated in order to enjoy amongst themselves an interchange of the religious emotions and convictions common to all their breasts. There was no settled system of doctrines, of rules, or of discipline, or no body of persons invested with authority. There is no doubt that in every society that exists, however newly- born or feebly-constituted it may be, a moral power is perceptible, animating and directing it. So in the different Christian congregations there were men who preached, taught, and morally governed the rest, but no superior, or no discipline, was regularly instituted; the primitive state of the Christian society was simply an association of persons drawn together by an identity of creed and sentiment. In proportion as it progressed (and very speedily, for the marks are traceable in the earliest records), a system of doctrines, of rules, of discipline, and of functionaries or magistrates, was brought out. Of the magistrates some were called presbuteroi, or ancients, who became the priests; others episkopoi, or inspectors, or watchers, who became bishops; and others diakonoi, or deacons, charged with the care of the poor and the distribution of alms.
- 36. It is almost impossible to determine the precise functions of these different magistrates; the line of demarcation was probably very vague and fluctuating, but at all events the institutions had a commencement. This second epoch, however, had a predominant feature, which consisted in the control, the preponderance belonging to the body of the faithful. It was they who decided both as to the choice of dignitaries or magistrates, and as to the adoption as well of systems of discipline as of doctrine. The Christian people were not as yet separated from the government of the church. They did not exist apart from or independently of each other, and the Christian people continued to exercise the principal influence in the society. In the third era everything was changed. A clergy was formed distinct from the people, a body of priests having riches, jurisdiction, a constitution of their own, in a word, a complete government, being in itself a regular society, furnished with all the means of existence independently of the society for whose behoof it was intended, and over which it extended its influence. This was the state in which the Christian church appeared at the commencement of the fifth century, and in the third stage of its constitution. The government was not completely taken out of the hands of the people, or separated from them; a system prevailed which is without any parallel, especially in religious affairs; but in the relations between the clergy and the flocks of the faithful, the clergy ruled almost without control. The Christian clergy had, besides, another means of influence of a different character. The bishops and clerks became the chief municipal magistrates. We have seen that the municipal system was, properly speaking, all that remained of the Roman Empire. From the annoyances of despotism, and the ruin of the towns, it came to pass that the curiales, or members of the municipal bodies, fell into despair and apathy. The bishops and the body of priests, on the contrary, being full of life and zeal, naturally offered themselves to guard and direct affairs. It would be wrong to
- 37. reproach them with officiousness, or to tax them with usurpation; they merely obeyed the natural impulse of events. The clergy alone were morally strong and animated, and it became powerful; the result is a law of the universe. All the legislation of the emperors at that epoch bears marks of this revolution. In the codes both of Theodosius and Justinian we find a great number of regulations which remit municipal affairs to the clergy and the bishops. I will quote some of them. 'Cod. Just. 1. i. tit. iv. de episcopali audientia, § 26.—With regard to the annual affairs of the cities (whether they refer to the ordinary city revenues, resulting either from funds arising from the city property, or from individual gifts or legacies, or from any other source, whether deliberation is required touching the public works, or magazines of provisions, or aqueducts, or the maintenance of baths or of harbours, or the construction of walls or towers, or the repairing of bridges and roads, or lawsuits in which the city may be engaged, on account of public or private interests), we ordain as follows:—The very pious bishop, and three men of good fame amongst the chief men of the city, shall assemble together; they shall examine every year the works that have been performed, and they shall take care that those who conduct them, or have conducted them, do measure them with precision, give in accounts of them, and make it clear that they have fulfilled their engagements in the administration, whether it be of the public monuments, or of the sums appropriated to provisions and baths, or of what is expended for the repair of roads, aqueducts, or any other work. 'Ibid. § 30.—With regard to the guardianship of young people, of the first or second age, and of all those to whom the law assigns curators, if their fortune does not exceed 500 aurei, we ordain that the nomination of the president of the province shall not be waited for, as it might give rise to heavy charges, especially if the said president did not reside in the city where
- 38. the guardianship is required to be provided. The nomination of the curators or tutors shall therefore be made by the magistrate of the city, in concert with the most pious bishop, and other persons invested with public functions, if the city possess several. 'Ibid. 1. i. tit. lv. de defensoribus, § 8.—We will that the defenders of the cities, being well instructed in the holy mysteries of the orthodox faith, be chosen and instituted by the venerable bishops, the clerks, the notables, the proprietors, and the curiales. As to their installation, it shall be referred to the glorious power of the Prefect of the Pretorium, in order that their authority may gather more solidity and vigour from the admissory letters of his Magnificence.' I might cite a great number of other laws illustrative of the fact everywhere displayed, that between the Roman municipal system and the municipal system of the middle ages an ecclesiastical municipal system interposed; that the preponderance of the clergy in city affairs succeeded that of the old municipal magistrates, and preceded the organisation of the modern corporations. Thus, by its own constitution, by its action on the Christian population, and also by the part it bore in civil affairs, the Christian church exercised prodigious means of influence. From that epoch, therefore, it operated powerfully on the character and development of modern civilisation. I will endeavour to sum up the elements it has infused into it. In the first place, an incalculable benefit resulted from the existence of a moral influence and force, of a force which simply rested on moral convictions, persuasions, and opinions, in the midst of that deluge of physical force which poured upon society at that epoch. If the Christian church had not been established, the whole world had been overborne by pure physical force. It alone exercised a moral power. It did more: it sustained and spread the idea of a
- 39. rule or law which was superior to all human laws; it maintained, for the safety of humanity, that fundamental doctrine that there is above all human laws a law, which, according to the spirit of times and manners, is sometimes called reason, and sometimes Divine will, but which, at all periods, and in all places, is the same law under different designations. The church, then, originated a great fact—namely, the separation of the spiritual from the temporal power. This separation is the source of liberty of conscience; and it rests upon no other principle than that which serves as the base of the most unrestricted and extended liberty of conscience. The separation between the temporal and spiritual powers is founded upon the principle that physical force has no right or influence over the minds of men, or over conviction and truth. It results from the distinction established between the world of thought and that of action, between circumstances of an internal and those of an external nature. So that this maxim of liberty of conscience—for which Europe has struggled and suffered so much, and which has prevailed only so lately, often against the exertions of the clergy—was laid down under the name of a separation between temporal and spiritual power in the earliest stages of European civilisation; and its introduction and maintenance was owing to the Christian church being compelled, by the necessity of its situation, to defend itself against the barbarism of the times. The Christian church, therefore, shed upon the European world in the fifth century three essential blessings—the recognition of a moral influence, the upholding a divine law, and the disjunction of temporal and spiritual power. But even at that period all its influence was not equally salutary. So early as the fifth century, some evil principles made their appearance in the church, which have played an important part in the development of our civilisation. Thus there arose within it at that era the doctrine of the separation of the governing and the
- 40. governed, the attempt to establish the irresponsibility of rulers to subjects, to impose laws, to control opinion, and to dispose of men, without the consent of the governed, or regard being paid to their reason and inclination. It likewise strove to infuse into society the theocratic principle, to seize upon temporal power, and to exercise exclusive domination. And when it failed in fully accomplishing this design, it allied itself with temporal princes, and supported their absolute power at the expense of the liberty of the people, in order that it might obtain a share for itself. Such were the principal elements of civilisation that Europe drew from the church and the Empire in the fifth century. It was in this state that the barbarians found the Roman world when they came to take possession of it. In order to comprehend all the elements which were included and mingled in the cradle of our civilisation, there remains nothing but the barbarians to contemplate. It is not with the history of the barbarians that we have to concern ourselves, for relation is not our province. We are aware that, at the epoch in question, the conquerors of the Empire were almost all of the same race, all Germans, except some Slavonic tribes, as the Alani, for example. We are likewise aware that they were all pretty nearly in the same state of civilisation. Some difference might exist amongst them, according to the greater or less degree of contact into which they had respectively come with the Roman provincials. Thus there is no doubt that the Goths were more advanced and milder in their manners than the Franks. But considering things in a general point of view, and with reference to their results upon ourselves, this early diversity amongst the barbaric tribes in civilisation is of no importance. It is the general state of society amongst the barbarians that it behoves us to ascertain; and this is a subject which is involved in considerable difficulty. We can understand with comparative ease the Roman municipal system and the Christian church, because their influence is perpetuated even to our own days, and we
- 41. discover traces of them in a multitude of actual institutions and circumstances, affording us a thousand means of identifying and explaining them. But the manners and the social state of the barbarians have completely perished; we are reduced to the necessity of evoking them either from the most ancient historical monuments, or by an effort of the imagination. There is a sentiment, a fact, which we must impress upon our minds, in order to have a true idea of what a barbarian was, and that is the feeling of individual independence, the joy he experienced in casting himself, in the fulness of his strength and freedom, into the midst of worldly vicissitudes—the pleasure to him of activity without labour, the charm of an adventurous career, full of uncertainty, inequality of fortune, and danger. This was the predominant sentiment of the barbarian state, the moral craving which urged these human masses to movement. At present, in a society so regular as that into which we are wedged, it is difficult to imagine the extent of dominion which this sentiment exercised over the barbarians of the fourth and fifth centuries. There is only one work which in my opinion presents this character of barbarism in its full strength—namely, 'The History of the Conquest of England by the Normans,' by M. Thierry; it is the only book in which the motives, the longings, and the impulses, which are the springs of actions in men when in a social state bordering upon the barbaric, are perceived and brought out with true Homeric vividness. Nowhere do we perceive so well what a barbarian is, or in what his life consists. Something also of the same is found, though, according to my ideas, in a far inferior degree, and in a much less simple and truthful manner, in Mr. Cooper's romances of the North American savages. The existence of the American savages, the ties and the sentiments which they bear with them in the midst of the woods, recall to a certain extent the manners of the ancient Germans. Of course these pictures are somewhat idealised and poetical, the dark side of barbaric life and manners being studiously glossed over. I speak not only of the ills provoked by these manners in the social state, but also of the inward and individual
- 42. state of the barbarian himself. In this furious craving for personal independence there was far more grossness and animalism than we would conclude from the work of M. Thierry; there was a degree of brutality, frenzy, and sullen apathy, which is not always faithfully given in his account. Nevertheless, when we regard things fundamentally, we are convinced that, in spite of this alliance of brutality, materialism, and boorish selfishness, the desire for individual independence is a noble moral sentiment, which derives its strength from the moral nature of man; it consists in the gratification of feeling as a man, in the consciousness of personality and of human free-will in its fullest development. The German barbarians introduced this feeling into the European civilisation; it was unknown to the Roman world, to the Christian church, and to almost all the ancient civilisations. Liberty in those ancient civilisations meant political, municipal liberty. Men were not engaged in a strife for personal liberty, but for their liberty as citizens; they belonged to an association, to it they were devotedly attached, and for it they were prepared to sacrifice themselves. It was the same in the Christian church: there prevailed within it a sentiment of strong regard for the Christian corporation, of devotion to its laws, and an ardent desire to extend its empire; or rather the religious sentiment caused a reaction in the minds of men, which was displayed in an inward struggle to subdue individual liberty, and to give blind submission to what faith decreed. But the feeling of personal independence, the taste for liberty making itself apparent at all moments without other design sometimes than that of proving itself—this was a sentiment unknown to the Roman society and to the Christian church. It was imported and fixed by the barbarians at the birth of modern civilisation, and it has performed too important a part, and produced too many happy results in connection with it, to be omitted as one of its fundamental elements. There is a second fact, a second element in civilisation, that we likewise draw exclusively from the barbarians. It is the military
- 43. chieftainship, the tie that was formed between individuals as warriors, and which, without destroying the liberty of each, without destroying, except to a certain extent, the equality which almost completely existed amongst them, introduced a graduated subordination, and gave a beginning to that aristocratic organisation which at a later date expanded into the feudal system. The groundwork of this relation was the attachment of man to man, the fidelity of one individual to another, without any outward compulsion, and without any obligation founded on the general principles of society. In the ancient republics, no man was of his own accord specially attached to any other man; all were bound to their city. With the barbarians the social bond was formed amongst individuals, in the first place by the relation of the chief to his companion, when they lived in a banded state traversing the face of Europe, and later by the relation of suzerain and vassal. This second principle, which has also had an important effect on modern civilisation, this devotedness of man to man, comes to us from the barbarians, and from their manners it has passed into ours. Was I wrong, then, in stating at the commencement that modern civilisation was at its very origin as varied, agitated, and confused as I endeavoured to represent it in the general picture which I gave of it? Do we not discover at the dissolution of the Roman Empire almost all the elements which meet in the progressive development of our civilisation? Three perfectly different societies are found at that period; the municipal society, the last remnant of the Roman Empire, the Christian, and the barbarian society. We find these societies very differently organised, based upon perfectly distinct principles, and inspiring men with opposite sentiments: we perceive the longing for the most absolute independence by the side of the most complete subservience; military chieftainship ranged with ecclesiastical domination; the spiritual and temporal powers in activity on every side; the canons of the church, the studied legislation of the Romans, and the almost unwritten customs of the barbarians—everywhere a mixture, or rather a co-existence, of races, tongues, social situations, manners, ideas, and feelings, all
- 44. the most contrary to each other. This I adduce as a satisfactory proof of the accuracy of the general character under which I have laboured to present our civilisation.
- 45. This confusion, diversity, and strife, have doubtless cost us dear; they have retarded the progress of Europe; to them are owing the storms and agonies to which she has been a prey. Yet I am not of opinion that we should regret them. To nations, as well as to individuals, the opportunity of the most varied and complete development, of pushing onwards in all directions, and to an almost indefinite extent, compensates by itself alone for all the sacrifices it may have cost to obtain the faculty of enjoying it. Upon a comprehensive view, this agitation, violence, and laboriousness, have availed more than the simplicity with which other civilisations are marked, and the human race has thereby gained more than it has suffered. We have now traced in its general features the state in which the fall of the Roman Empire left the world, and the different elements which were in turmoil and commixture, germinating European civilisation. Henceforth we shall see them advancing and acting. In the next lecture I shall endeavour to show what they became, and what they effected, in the epoch that we are accustomed to call the times of barbarism—that is to say, the period during which the chaos of the invasion lasted. Lecture III. First Ages Of Civilisation. I have brought forward the fundamental elements of European civilisation by tracing them in its very cradle, at the moment that the Roman Empire fell. I have endeavoured to point out how great was their diversity, how constant their strife, and that none of them succeeded in gaining a mastery over our society, or at least in ruling it so effectually as to subject or expel the others. We have seen that in this consists the distinctive character of the European civilisation. We now come to its history, at its first start, in the ages
- 46. that it is usual to designate 'the barbarous.' At the first glance that we cast upon this epoch, it is impossible not to be struck with a fact which seems in flat contradiction to what I have just advanced. In investigating the opinions that have been formed upon the antiquities of Europe, it is surprising to observe that the different elements of our civilisation—the monarchical, theocratical, aristocratical, and democratical principles—all lay claim to the original proprietorship of the European society, and all pretend that they have lost exclusive empire by the usurpations of contrary principles. If we turn to all that has been written, and listen to all that has been said, on this subject, we shall find that all the systems by means of which our groundworks are sought to be displayed or explained, maintain the exclusive predominance of one or other of the elements of European civilisation. Thus there is a school of feudal advocates, the most celebrated of whom is M. de Boulainvilliers, who asserts that after the fall of the Roman Empire, the conquering nation, subsequently formed into a nobility, possessed all power and rights, that society was its lordship, that kings and people have despoiled it, and that, in fact, the aristocratic organisation was the primitive and veritable constitution of Europe. Alongside of this school we find that of the monarchists, amongst whom is the Abbé Dubos, who maintain, on the contrary, that the European society belonged to royalty. They say that the German kings inherited all the rights of the Roman emperors, that the ancient populations—the Gauls amongst others—appealed to them, that they alone ruled legitimately, and that all the acquisitions of aristocracy are mere encroachments upon monarchy. A third school presents itself, that of liberals, republicans, democrats, as you may choose to style them. If we follow the Abbé de Mably, we shall conclude that the government of society was handed over, from the dawning of the fifth century, to a system of free institutions, to assemblies of free men, to the people properly
- 47. so called; that nobles and kings have enriched themselves with the spoils of primitive liberty, which shrunk under their attacks, but nevertheless reigned before them. And above all these monarchical, aristocratical, and popular pretensions, rises the theocratic claim of the church, which says that, by virtue of her very mission and divine title, society belonged to her, that she alone had any right to govern it, and that she alone was the legitimate queen of the European world, reclaimed by her labours to civilisation and truth. Thus we are placed in a peculiar position. We imagined that we had demonstrated that none of the elements of European civilisation has had exclusive sway in the course of its history, but that they have existed in a constant state of vicinage, of amalgamation, of strife, and of activity; and at our very first step, we find this directly contrary opinion maintained, that at its birth, in the bosom of barbaric Europe, some one or other of these elements had sole possession of society. And it is not in a single country, but in all the countries of Europe, that the advocates for the different principles of our civilisation have put forward their irreconcilable pretensions, under forms and at periods somewhat variable. The historical schools that we have just characterised are not confined to one country, but are met throughout Europe. This fact is important, not in itself, but because it brings to light other facts which hold a material place in our history. Two important particulars are started by this simultaneous advocacy of the most incongruous pretensions to the exclusive possession of power in the first ages of modern Europe. The first is the principle or idea of political legitimacy, which has enacted a prominent part in the drama of European civilisation: the second is the actual and veritable character of the state of barbarian Europe of that epoch, with which we have specially to concern ourselves at this period of our inquiry.
- 48. I shall proceed to draw these two particulars from obscurity, and to sever them in succession from the contest of allegations which I have previously mentioned. What do the different elements of European civilisation—the theocratical, monarchical, aristocratical, and popular—claim when they assert themselves the first possessors of society in Europe? Is it not that each proclaims itself to be solely legitimate? Political legitimacy is evidently a right based on antiquity and duration. Priority of time is invoked as the source of right, as the proof of the legitimacy of power. And here I beg attention to the fact, that this pretension is not confined to one particular system or element of our civilisation, but that it spreads over all. We are accustomed in modern times to consider the idea of legitimacy as involved in only one system—the monarchical—which is a great mistake, for it is at issue in all the others. We have already seen that all the elements of our civilisation have endeavoured to monopolise it; and if we cast a look forward into the history of Europe, we shall see the most varied social forms and governments equally in possession of this character of legitimacy. The Italian and Swiss aristocracies and democracies, the republic of San Marino, like the greatest monarchies of Europe, have styled themselves, and have been esteemed, legitimate; they, exactly like the others, have founded their claim to legitimacy upon the antiquity of their institutions, upon the historical priority, and upon the prolonged duration, of their system of government. If we go beyond Europe, and carry our observation to other times and countries, we encounter on all sides this idea of political legitimacy, and find it clinging to some portion of the ruling government, to some of its institutions, forms, or maxims. There is no country or time in which a certain portion of the social system, of the public powers, has not bestowed upon itself, and had recognised as inherent in it, this character of legitimacy derived from antiquity and stability.
- 49. And what is this principle! What are its elements? How came its introduction into European civilisation? All systems of power are, at their origin, mixed up with force. I do not mean to say that they are all based upon force alone, or that if they had not originally had other titles than force, they would have been established. They most certainly needed others; powers are established in accordance with certain social wants, and with reference to the state of society, to manners and opinions. But we cannot avoid perceiving that force has sullied the foundation of all the systems of power in the world, whatever may have been their nature and form. But every one repudiates this origin, all the systems of every description deny it, and there is none that will consent to spring from force. An invincible instinct apprises governments that force does not confer right, and that if their claims rested upon that alone, right could never be deduced. For this reason, when we recur to ancient times, and unmask the different systems and powers abandoned to violence, all hasten to exclaim, 'I was earlier, I subsisted previously, and by virtue of other titles; society belonged to me before this state of violence and strife in which you discover me; I was legitimate; my just prerogatives were contested and wrenched from me.' This single fact demonstrates that the maxim of force is not the groundwork of political legitimacy, and that it reposes upon some other base. What is the effect of this formal repudiation of force by all the systems? Their acknowledgment that there is another legitimacy, the veritable foundation for all others, the legitimacy of reason, justice, and right. Such is the origin to which they are all eager to cling. And because they discard force as their initiatory element, they are driven to assert themselves robed with a different title, quoting their antiquity. The main characteristic, then, of political legitimacy, is to deny force as the source of power, and to allege it as cohesive with a moral idea and force, with the idea,
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