2. A government of more than one may either consist of one homogeneous body, or (changing the phrase) of one body all whose members are appointed in the same way ; or it may be mixed, compound, or consist of heterogeneous parts.
When the members of the one govern ing body, if hereditary, are a decided minority of the state, or, if deriving their powers from without their own body, they so derive them from a portion of the state which is yet a decided minority, the government is called by the names aristocracy and oligarchy. There is a difference in the use of these two terms which it is impossible to mark exactly. But it may be said roughly that the term oligarchy is used where the minority is very small, and the term aristocracy where it is not. The latter term also would be always employed where the members of the governing body derive their powers from without, or where the body is elective.
When again the members of the one governing body either themselves consti tute, or derive their powers from, a por tion of the state which is a decided ma jority, the government is called a demo cracy.
3. Before proceeding any further, we may remark that the forms of govern ment of which we have now spoken, namely, absolute monarchy or despotism, aristocracy, oligarchy, and democracy, are commonly called (as being govern ments of one person, or of one homo geneous body) pure forms of government, in contradistinction to the mixed forms, which yet remain to be considered. The division of forms of government into pure and mixed is a complete division, which the common division into mo narchy, aristocracy, and democracy is not.
4. A mixed form of government is one compounded of the whole or of any two of the three elements which exist se parately in the three pure, forms of go vernment, and also of individuals or bodies deriving their powers from different portions of the state, even though each of these different portions is a decided majority of the state. It is not neces sary to enumerate all the mixed forms of government which arise from all the possible combinations. Besides that all the possible combinations may be easily seen, some of them produce forms of go vernment which have never existed, and which consequently are no objects of interest. It will be sufficient then to
speak of those combinations, or rather of those classes of combinations, with which men are familiar, and for which common speech supplies names.
The mixed forms of government which occur may be divided into two classes, according as an hereditary chief does or does not enter into their composition.
Governments which contain an here ditary chief united either with an aristow cratic and a democratic body, or with an aristocratic body by itself, or with a de mocratic body by itself, are generally called monarchies. They are also called limited monarchies, as if to distinguish them from the governments of one only, to which, as we have said, the name monarchy more appropriately belongs, but to which, without the epithet absolute being prefixed, it is seldom or never As regards the governments of which an hereditary chief forms no part, it will be convenient to observe at the beginning, that the combinations of an elective chief with one or more democratic bodies are the only combinations which possess any interest for men ; if indeed, judging from the past, we may not also say that they are the only ones which are practicable. And having premised this, we may say that the governments into the compo sition of which an hereditary chief does not enter are generally called republics, or representative governments (the relation of the democratic body or bodies in the government to the portion or portions of the state that appoint them being known by the name representation), or again, pure representative governments, as if to distinguish these from the forms of go vernment in democratic body is united either with an hereditary chief and aristocratic body together, or with either of these by itself.
Thus far we have been employed in enumerating the forms of government. In our mode of enumeration we have been guided entirely by the terminology in common use, and have not sought to twist the names which men commonly apply to different forms of government, so as to make them suit a fanciful division.