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Show 62 ON THE SLAVERY AND CoMMERCE time, when, all being equally free, there was not a lingle perfon, whofc affifl:ance he could command ? Add to this, that, in a fbte of univerf.1l liberty, force had been repaid by force, and the attempt had been fatal to the ufu rper. As empire then could never have been gained at firil by compu!Jion, {o it could only have been obtained by cot!ftnt; and as men were then going to make an important facrifice, for the fake of their mutual happinefs, fo he alone could have obtained it, (not whofe ambition had greatly difl:inguifhed him from the rcfi) but in whofe ovfldom, jujlice, prudence, and virtue, the whole community could confide. To confirm this reafoning, we fhall appeal, as before, to facts; and fhall confult therefore the hifl:ory of thofe nations, which having jufllcft their former !late of t?zdependent jociety, were the very people that efiabl~ fhed jubordination and government. The c6mmentaries of Crefar afford us the following ;ccounts of the ancient Gauls. When any of their kings, either by death, or .depofi tion, made a vacancy in the regal office, OF TilE HUMAN SPECIES. office, the whole nation was immediately convened for the appointment of a fucceffor. ~n . thefe national conventions were the regal offices conferred. Every individual had a voice on the occalion, and every individual was free. -r:he perfon upon whom the gener~ l approbatiOn appeared to fall, was immedzately advanced to pre-eminence in the .fl:ate. He was uniformly one, whofe actions had made him eminent; whofe conduct had gained him previous applaufe; whofe valour the very alfembly, that elected him had themfelves witnelfed in the field; who{; pruden~e, wifdom and juflice, having ren1d e· red hzm .l ignally fcrviceable ' had ende d are 1~m to hzs tribe. For this reafon, their kmgdoms ~ere ~ot hereditary; the fon did not always lllhent the virtues of the fire . and they were determined that he alan~ flJOuld poffefs authority, in whofe virtues they could confide. Nor was this all. So fenfible were they of the important facrifice they had made; fo extremely jealous even of the name of fuperiority and th t th 1· · power, ah .e y 1m1ted, by a variety o·f 1a ws, t h e aut onty of the very perfon, whom they had |