REPUBLICS, Duration of. It is not e to set down in each case precisely the length of years that the various republics have ex isted. Among historians there are differences, in most instances, as to the dates of beginning and ending. Some authorities date from the physical overthrow of a monarchy or other form of government preceding; others from the beginning of the struggle for popular rights; others from the adoption of a constitu tion, and so on. Some accept as the end the accession of king or emperor, or the actual establishment of a new form of authority, while others hold that the republic really became non existent before those events occurred to finally and formally mark its disappearance. Fre quently the birth or the death of a republic has been a gradual development extending over many years, so that it is almost impossible to fix the exact time when it was fully fledged, or, on the other hand, had passed away com pletely. Some republics, noticeably those of South America and Central America, have had interrupted careers, republican rule in them be ing frequently suspended for a few months or even years, while dictators have held power, although in form, at least. it has been prac tically continuous. Others have begun as mem bers of a republican federation and later have been established entirely independent. Vene zuela, Colombia and Ecuador were originally united in the one republic of Colombia; Guate mala, Honduras, Nicaragua and San Salvador were first members of a federal union. It is a disputed question whether such republics should be considered as dating from the beginning of the federation or from the beginning of their individual independence. In the appended table the former view is generally taken; ap proximately, then, the duration of life of the world's republics is as follows: Israelitish Commonwealth 1491-1095 B.C. 396 years.
Grecian republic 700-146 B.C. 554 years.
Carthage 850-146 B.C. 704 years.
Rome 535-29 B.C. 506 years.
Lombard Communes 1183-1530 .347 years.
Genoa 1000-1802 802 years.
Venice 600-1796 1196 years.
Amalfi 900-1135 235 years.
Free Cities of Germany 1241-1630 389 years.
Hamburg 1630-1919 289 years.
Lubeck 1630-1919 289 years.
Bremen 1630-1919 289 years.
Frankfort 1630-1810 180 years.
Iceland 928-1261 333 years.
The Netherlands ' 1609-180.5 196 years.
French Republic I 1792-1804 12 years.
French Republic II 1848-1852 4 years.
French Republic III 1871-1919 ' 48 years.
San Marino 885-1919 1034 years.
Andorra 790-1919 1129 years.
Switzerland 291-1919 628 years.
Liberia 820-1919 92 years.
Orange Free State 854-1919 65 years.
South African Republic 849-1903 54 years.
United States of America . 776-1919 143 years.
Mexico 824-1919 88 years.
Venezuela 819-1919 100 years.
Colombia 819-1919 100 years.
Ecuador 819-1919 100 years.
Peru 821-1919 98 years.
Bolivia 825-1919 94 years.
Paraguay 811-1919 108 years.
Argentine 810-1919 109 years.
Uruguay 825-1919 94 years.
Chile 810-1919 109 years.
Guatemala 823-1919 96 years.
Honduras 823-1919 96 years.
Ni 823-1919 96 years.
San Salvador 823-1919 96 years.
Costa Rica 821-1919 98 years.
Brazil 889-1919 30 years.
Hayti 804-1919 115 years.
San Domingo 844-1919 75 years.
Cuba 903-1919 16 years.
Hawaii 894-1919 25 years.
Panama 903-1919 16 years.
Portugal 911-1919 9 years.
China 911-1919 8 years.
Russia 917-1919 2 years.
Of these 48 republics 33 were in existence in 1912. Taken altogether history shows that these nations have been as stable, prosperous, in fluential and powerful under republican forms of government as under monarchial or other form. No dynasties can compare in years of existence with the 12 centuries of Venice, the 11 centuries of Andorra and the 10 centuries of San Marino. Few can show longer life than the republics of Israel, Carthage, Greece, Rome, Genoa, Switzerland and the Hanse cities of Germany. The ancient republics of Greece, Carthage, Rome, Lombardy, Venice and Genoa were the greatest nations of their times. In art, literature, law, commerce — all that goes to make up the best of modern civilization, they led the world for more than 1,000 years, and left a heritage of good for all mankind com ing after them, such as can be credited to no monarchy. The death of those that have gone
out of existence was not, as is claimed by some, due to defects peculiar to the republican form of government. It came about naturally from the condition of things in the civilization of the earlier centuries. Men were warlike in those days, unrestrainedly contentious and regardless of the rights of others; public and private affairs were in the bands of the turbulent ; class distinctions were sharply defined. Under such conditions all governments were, for the most part, short lived. Monarchies and oligarchies suffered as well as others. One after another they rose and disappeared, and none of them, until comparatively recent centuries, endured as long as the republics that were contemporary with them or that succeeded. The older re publics deteriorated in public spirit toward the end; they were torn by internal dissensions; they became the prey of extravagance, dissolu tion and idle wealth within their borders, while jealous neighbors constantly sought to plunder and destroy or subjugate them. But these were dominant evils of the day in all lands and it stands to the credit of republican institutions that, despite disintegrating forces constantly at work, they existed long and splendidly. In modern times the story has been much the same. Only Great Britain and two or three smaller monarchies can show results comparable with contemporary republics, and in those countries constitutions have given the people almost as much voice in public affairs as in a republic. Even in South America and Central America, where government is still more or less chaotic and uncertain, the republics are an improvement upon the despotic rule of Spain which they suc ceeded. The first French republic was undis guised anarchy; the second was merely in com parison a temporary flurry, but the third suf fered in no wise in comparison with the most brilliant decades of the French kingdom or empire. The United States of America, under republican form of government, in all that goes to make up a great nation, has advanced to the forefront of world powers. Brazil has been as well governed in the decade and a half of its republican existence as it was even under the last Dom Pedro, most beneficent and most dem ocratic of monarchs. The lesson to be drawn from the history of these republics is that men are able to govern themselves well. The dan gers and evils that may threaten the republic have always been and are now the dangers and the evils inherent to the period, and threatening to any government, republican or otherwise. The elasticity of republicanism, permitting of easier adaptation to changing conditions and readier conformity to the needs of the people, gives it an advantage over the more rigid mon archy. That the general trend of the 19th cen tury was toward republicanism cannot be ques tioned. Nearly half the republics that history tells of were started then and all of them are now in existence. At the beginning of 20th . the 20 century more than one-half of the territory that is included in the civilized world belonged to republics and fully one-third of the population all the civiliffied countries lived under re, icr rule. See Rmitanac; Rostunics, Tug Y or, Bibliostraphy.—Adams, John, 'Contribu tions of Government of the United States of America' (Philadelphia 1797); Aulard, F. V. A., 'Histoire Politique de la revolution franc raise' (Paris 1901)j Fisher, H. A. L., 'The Republican Tradition in Europe' (New York 1911) • Jarvis, W. C., The Republican' (Plain.
Mass., 1820) • Milton, John, 'A Free Com monwealth' (1826); Scott, John, 'The Re public as a Form of Government' (London 1890); Vizetelly, E. A., Franca' (London 1912); Woolsey, K. T., 'Republics Versus Women' (London 1903).