CHAP. II. GOVERNMENT. II. THE government of the society thus constituted CHAP. was vested in an absolute monarch. The opening of the chapter on government employs the The King. boldest poetical figures to display the irresistible power, the glory, and almost the divinity of a king." He was subject, indeed, to no legal control by human authority; and, although he is threatened with punishment in one place, and spoken of as subject to fine in another, yet no means are provided for enforcing those penalties, and neither the councils nor the military chiefs appear to have possessed any constitutional power but what they derived from his will. He must, however, have been subject to the laws promulgated in the name of the Divinity; and the influence of the Bramins, both with him and with his people, would afford a strong support to the injunctions of the Code. Like other despots, also, he must have been kept within some bounds by the fear of mutiny and revolt.d a Chap. VII. 1-13. C Chap. VIII. 336. b Chap. VII. 27-29. In the "Toy Cart," a drama written about the commencement of our æra, the King is dethroned, for tyranny, by a cow BOOK I. Admini stration of the government. The object of the institution of a King is declared to be, to restrain violence and to punish evildoers. "Punishment wakes when guards are asleep." "If a King were not to punish the guilty, the stronger would roast the weaker like fish on a spit." "Ownership would remain with none; the lowest would overset the highest." The duties of a King are said generally to be, to act in his own domains with justice, chastise foreign foes with rigour, behave without duplicity to his friends, and with lenity to Bramins." He is respectfully to attend to the Bramins, and from them to learn lessons of modesty and composure; from them, also, he is to learn justice, policy, metaphysics, and theology. From the people he is to learn the theory of agriculture, commerce, and other practical arts." He is to withstand pleasure, restrain his angry passions, and resist sloth. He is to appoint seven ministers, or rather counsellors, (who seem to be of the military class,) and to have one learned Bramin distinguished above them all, in whom he is to repose his full confidence. He is to appoint other officers also, among whom herd; e Chap. VII. 13-26. 8 Chap. VII. 43. f Chap. VII. 32. II. the most conspicuous is the one called "the Am- CHAP. bassador," though he seems rather to be a minister for foreign affairs. This person, like all the others, must be of noble birth; and must be endued with great abilities, sagacity, and penetration. He should be honest, popular, dexterous in business, acquainted with countries and with the times, handsome, intrepid, and eloquent. The army is to be immediately regulated by a commander in chief; the actual infliction of punishment by the officers of justice; the treasury and the country by the King himself; peace and war by the Ambassador." The King was doubtless to superintend all those departments; but when tired of overlooking the affairs of men, he might allow that duty to devolve on a well qualified prime minister. His internal administration is to be conducted by a chain of civil officers, consisting of lords of single townships or villages, lords of ten towns, lords of 100, and lords of 1000 towns. These are all to be appointed by the King, and each is to report all offences and disturbances to his immediate superior. The compensation of a lord of one town is to be the provisions and other articles to which the King is entitled from the town; that of a lord of ten villages two ploughs of land; the lord of 100 is to I. BOOK have the land of a small village; and of 1000, that of a large town.* Revenue. These officers are all to be under the inspection of superintendents of high rank and great authority. There is to be one in every large town or city; and on them it depends to check the abuses to which the officers of districts (it is said) are naturally prone.' The country is also to be partitioned into military divisions, in each of which is to be a body of troops, commanded by an approved officer", whose territorial limits do not necessarily correspond with those of any of the civil magistrates. The revenue consists of a share of all grain and of all other agricultural produce; taxes on commerce; a very small annual imposition on petty traders and shopkeepers; and a forced service of a day in each month by handicraftsmen." The merchants are to be taxed on a consideration of the prime cost of their commodities, the expenses of travelling, and their net profits. The following are the rates of taxation : — On cattle, gems, gold, and silver, added each year to the capital stock, one fiftieth; which in time of war or invasion may be increased to one twentieth. k In the first case the compensation is derived from the small fees in kind, which still form the remuneration of the village officers; in the other three cases, it consists of the King's share of the produce of the land specified. 1 Chap. VII. 119–123. A Ch p. VII. 137, 138. m Chap. VII. 114. II. On grain, one twelfth, one eighth, or one sixth, CHAP. according to the soil and the labour necessary to cultivate it. This also may be raised, in cases of emergency, even as far as one fourth; and must always have been the most important item of the public revenue. On the clear annual increase of trees, flesh meat, honey, perfumes, and several other natural productions and manufactures, one sixth.° The King is also entitled to 20 per cent. on the profit of all sales." Escheats for want of heirs have been mentioned as being his, and so also is all property to which no owner appears within three years after proclamation. Besides possessing mines of his own, he is entitled to half of all precious minerals in the earth. He appears, likewise, to have a right of pre-emption on some description of goods.' r q It has been argued that, in addition to the rights which have just been specified, the King was regarded in the Code as possessing the absolute property of the land. This opinion is supported by a passage (VIII. 39.) where he is said to be "lord paramount of the soil;" and by another, where it is supposed to be directed that an occupier of land shall be responsible to the King if he fails to sow it. (VIII. 243.) In reply to this it is urged, that the first quota Chap. VII. 127-132. ↑ Chap. VIII. 30. P Chap. VIII. 398. |