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[381] government. Where shall he look to find security and protection for his life, security and protection for his personal liberty, security and protection for his property, security and protection for his safety and happiness? Only to his state government. The powers which the state government possesses for the security of his life, his liberty, his property, his safety, and his happiness, are ‘just powers.’ They have been derived from the unconstrained consent of the governed, and they have been organized in such form as seem most likely to effect these objects. Is the citizen's life in danger from violence? The state guarantees his protection, and it is its duty to rescue him from danger and obtain redress from the offender, whether an individual or a foreign nation. Are the freedom and personal liberty of the citizen in danger from unlawful arrest and imprisonment? The state guarantees both, and it is its duty to secure and preserve his freedom. Is the property of the citizen in danger of a violent and unjust seizure and unlawful detention or destruction? The state governemnt guarantees his title, restores the property, or obtains damages. Is the personal property of the citizen in danger of robbery or abduction? The state government throws over it the shield of its protection, and regards the burglar and the robber as the enemies of society. It is unnecessary to proceed further with this enumeration. The duty of the state government is to give to its citizens perfect and complete security. It is necessarily sovereign within its own domain, for it is the representative and the constituted agent of the inherent sovereignty of the individuals. For the performance of its duty of protection it may unite with other sovereignties; also, for better safety and security to its citizens, it may withdraw or secede from such union. It will be seen that the entire order of the state government is founded on the free consent of the governed. From this it springs; from this it receives its force and life. It is this consent alone from which ‘just powers’ are derived. They can come from no other source, and their exercise secures a true republican government. All else are usurpations, their exercise is a tyranny, and their end is the safety and security of the usurper, to obtain which the unalienable rights of the people are sacrificed. The ‘just powers,’ thus derived, are organized in such form as shall seem to the governed to be most likely to secure their safety and happiness. It is the governed who determine the form of the government, and not the ruler nor his military force, unless he comes as a conqueror to make the subjugated do his will. The object or end for which
1881.
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