And hence it may be held that the
formalities accompanying them have only been put forward in order to
give these deeds a look of punishment from the accompaniment of a
judicial process, such as could not go along with a mere murder or
assassination. But such a cloaking of the deed entirely fails of its
purpose, because this pretension on the part of the people is even
worse than murder itself, as it implies a principle which would
necessarily make the restoration of a state, when once overthrown,
an impossibility.
An alteration of the still defective constitution of the state may
sometimes be quite necessary. But all such changes ought only to
proceed from the sovereign power in the way of reform, and are not
to be brought about by the people in the way of revolution; and when
they take place, they should only effect the executive, and not the
legislative, power. A political constitution which is so modified that
the people by their representatives in parliament can legally resist
the executive power, and its representative minister, is called a
limited constitution. Yet even under such a constitution there is no
right of active resistance, as by an arbitrary combination of the
people to coerce the government into a certain active procedure; for
this would be to assume to perform an act of the executive itself.
Pages:
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165