GOVERNMENT, in general, is the po lity of a state, or an orderly power con stituted for the public good.
Civil government was instituted for the preservation and advancement of men's civil interests, and for the better securi ty of their lives, liberties, and proper ties. The use and necessity of govern ment is such,. that there never was an age or country without some sort of civil authority ; but as men are seldom unani mous in the means of attaining their ends, so-their difference in opinion, in relation to government, has produced a variety of forms of it. To enumerate them would be to recapitulate the history of the whole earth. But they may, in general, be re duced to one of these heads ; either the civil authority is delegated to one, or more, or else it is still reserved to the whole body of the people ; whence arises the known distinction of government into monarchy, aristrocacy, and demo cracy. See ARISTOCRACY, CONSTITUTION, DEMOCRACY, &C.
A mixed government is composed by the combination of the simple forms of government, which have already been, or will hereafter be, described ; and, in whatever proportion each form enters into the constitution of a government, in the same proportion may both the advantages and evils, which have been attributed to that form, be expected. The government of England is unques tionably a mixed government, though by some writers it is denominated a limited monarchy. It is formed by a combina tion of the three regular species of go vernment ; the monarchy residing in the King, the aristocracy in the House of Peers, and the republic being repre sented by the House of Commons. The
perfection intended, and, with regard to the United Kingdoms, in a considerable degree effected, is, to unite the advan tages of the several simple forms, and to exclude the inconveniences. "For, as with us," says Sir William Blackstone, " the executive power of the laws is lodged in a single person, they have all the advantages of strength and dispatch that are to be found in the most 'absolute monarchy ; and as the legislature of the kingdom is entrusted to three distinct powers, entirely independent of each other : first, the King; secondly, the Lords, spiritual and temporal, which is an aristocratical assembly of persons se lected for their piety, their birth, their wisdom, their valour, or their property ; and, thirdly, the House of Commons, freely chosen by the people from among themselves, which makes it a kind of de mocracy; as this aggregate body, actuat• ed by different springs, and attentive to different interests, composes the British Parliament, and has the supreme disposal of every thing, there can be no inconve nience attempted by either of the three branches, but will be withstood by one of the other two ; each branch being arm ed with a negative power, sufficient to repel any innovation which it shall think inexpedient or dangerous." See Mo NATICH r.