MONARCHY, a government, in which the supreme power is invested in • single person. There are several kinds of mo narchies, as where the monarch is invest ed with an absolute power, and is account able to none but God. It is an error to suppose, that a despotic or absolute mo narch is a solecism in politics, and that there can be none such legally ; for the contrary is true, and that in different parts of the world, and from various prin ciples. In China it is founded on pater nal authority, and is the basis of the go. vernment ; in Turkey, Persia, Barbary, and India, it is the effect of religion ; and in Denmark, the king is legally absolute, by the solemn surrender which the peo ple made to his predecessor of their li berties. Another kind of monarchy is, that which is limited, where the supreme pow er is virtually in the laws, though the ma jesty of government and administration is vested in a single person. Monarchies are also either hereditary, where the re gal power descends immediately from the possessor to the next heir by blood; or elective, where the choice depends upon all who enjoy the benefit of free dom, or upon a few persons in whom the constitution vests the power of election. The dangers of monarchy are, tyranny, into which it is liable to degenerate ; ex pense; exaction ; military domination ; unnecessary wars, waged to gratify the passions of an individual ; risk of the cha racter of the reigning prince ; ignorance in the governors of the interests and ac commodation of the people, and a conse quent deficiency of salutary regulations ; want of constancy and uniformity in the rules of government ; and, proceeding from thence, insecurity of person and property. The advantages of this mode of government are, unanimity of council, activity, decision, secrecy, dispatch ; the military strength and energy which re sult from these qualities of government; the exclusion of popular and aristocrati cal contentions; the preventing/ by a known rule of succession, of all compe titors for the supreme power ; and there by repressing the hopes, intrigues, and dangerous ambition- of aspiring citizens.
An hereditary monarchy is allowed to be decidedly better than one that is elec tive. A crown, says the late learned Dr. Paley, is too splendid a prize to be con ferred on merit. The passions or inte rests of the electors exclude all consider ation of the qualities of the competitors. Among the advantages of an hereditary monarchy, we must not forget, that as plans of national improvement and re form are seldom brought to maturity by the exertions of a single reign, a nation cannot attain to the degree of happiness and prosperity to which it is capable of being- carried, unless an uniformity of councils, a consistency of public mea and designs, be continued through a succession of ages. The benefit may be expected where the supreme power descends to the same race, and where each prince succeeds in some sort to the aim, pursuits, and disposition of his ances tor, than if the crown, at every change, devolve upon a stranger, whose first care will commonly be to pull down what his predecessor had built, and to substitute systems of administration, which must give way to others of the succeeding so vereign. See Paley's " Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy."