And its aim is not so
much to throw all possible obstacles in the way of a powerful violator
of popular rights by his arbitrary influence upon the government, as
rather to cloak it over under the illusion of a right of opposition
conceded to the people.
Resistance on the part of the people to the supreme legislative
power of the state is in no case legitimate; for it is only by
submission to the universal legislative will, that a condition of
law and order is possible. Hence there is no right of sedition, and
still less of rebellion, belonging to the people. And least of all,
when the supreme power is embodied in an individual monarch, is
there any justification, under the pretext of his abuse of power,
for seizing his person or taking away his life (monarchomachismus
sub specie tyrannicidii). The slightest attempt of this kind is high
treason (proditio eminens); and a traitor of this sort who aims at the
overthrow of his country may be punished, as a political parricide,
even with death. It is the duty of the people to bear any abuse of the
supreme power, even then though it should be considered to be
unbearable. And the reason is that any resistance of the highest
legislative authority can never but be contrary to the law, and must
even be regarded as tending to destroy the whole legal constitution.
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