The latter constitute the nobility, whose members are
distinguished from the common citizens who form the mass of the
people. The rank of the nobility is inherited by male descendants; and
these again communicate it to wives who are not nobly born. Female
descendants of noble families, however, do not communicate their
rank to husbands who are not of noble birth, but they descend
themselves into the common civil status of the people. This being
so, the question then emerges as to whether the sovereign has the
right to found a hereditary rank and class, intermediate between
himself and the other citizens? The import of this question does not
turn on whether it is conformable to the prudence of the sovereign,
from regard to his own and the people's interests, to have such an
institution; but whether it is in accordance with the right of the
people that they should have a class of persons above them, who, while
being subjects like themselves, are yet born as their commanders, or
at least as privileged superiors? The answer to this question, as in
previous instances, is to be derived from the principle that "what the
people, as constituting the whole mass of the subjects, could not
determine regarding themselves and their associated citizens, cannot
be constitutionally determined by the sovereign regarding the people.
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