PART II.-STATE GOVERNMENT AND

INSTITUTIONS.

"The next removal must be to the study of politics: to know the beginning, end, and reasons of political societies; that they may not, in a dangerous fit of the commonwealth, be such poor, shaken, uncertain reeds, of such a tottering conscience, as many of our great counsellors have lately shown themselves, but steadfast pillars of the State.-MILTON.

"To examine the Union before we have studied the States, would be to adopt a method filled with obstacles."-DE. TOCQUEVILLE.

"An Athenian mother said to her son, 'Do not engage in public affairs; for if you do what is just men will hate you, and if you do what is unjust the gods will hate you.' This the son rebutted by the following retort: 'I ought to enter into public affairs; for if I do what is unjust men will love me, and if I do what is just the gods will love me.'"

PART II-STATE GOVERNMENT.

CHAPTER XXIV.

ORIGIN OF SOME UNITS OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT.

1. Importance of Studying Historic Originals. In order to understand intelligently the Virginia county, it is necessary to consider briefly its English original, and to notice some other units of local government both in Europe and America, viewed in the light of their historic origin. No just idea of any system of government can be had without a knowledge of the sources from which it came, and the essential changes that have occurred from time to time.

2.

Germanic Origin of English Units. Our Germanic ancestors from the shores of the Baltic Sea-the Angles, Saxons, Frisnians, and Danes-when they came over and conquered the Britons, brought with them their social and political institutions and customs of government, which they set up and enforced, wherever they established themselves. Everything was based upon the organizations of clans and tribes.

3. The Earliest Types of Government Known. —All primitive or barbarous races of men, in all time, the world over, so far as is known, have been at some time organized into tribes, composed of clans, which in turn were made up of family groups. Hence we find the family as the earliest type of government, under the rule of the oldest living male ancestor, who combined the powers of patriarch, priest, and ruler.

4. Early English Types.-The clans in England became townships, and the tribes became counties, at first called shires. Originally the names township and county meant groups of people; but in time they came to mean divisions of territory occupied by people. For example, in England, Essex, Wessex, Middlesex,. and Sussex, originally meant, "East Saxons," "West Saxons," "Middle Saxons," and "South Saxons;" and so Norfolk and Suffolk, settled by the Angles, meant "North folk," and "South folk."

5. England Pieced Together. There was no kingdom of England at this time, only independent clans and tribes, each managing its own affairs after the Germanic customs that had prevailed for centuries. The shires or counties in time became little kingdoms ruled by an ealdorman, or "elder man." In the desperate struggles for survivorship some of the little kingdoms became united, and in the end Ecgberht, King of the West Saxons, became overlord of all England, and the shires became the "shares" of those who ruled under him. Thus the kingdom of England was pieced together out of separate and independent communities, just as Massachusetts and Virginia were pieced together out of many separate settlements in America, and the United States was formed out of inharmonious and jarring fragments.

6. Government of the English County.-Before the union under one king the shires had conducted their own self-government, much as the American colonies had done before the establishment of the Union. But the English shires retained their county government for full 300 years after the kingdom came into being. A few words about the English county government will lead to a better understanding of county government in the Virginias.

7. Government of the Shire.-The shire was governed by the shire-mote, that is, the "county-meeting." It had both legislative and judicial powers, just as the General Assembly

of Virginia had in the beginning. After the conquest by William of Normandy the French name "county" came into use in place of shire, and the shire-mote became known as the county court, the forerunner of our own county courts. English county had its sheriff, coroners, and justices.

The

8. First Counties in Virginia.-In the beginning members of the General Assembly in Virginia were elected from the various towns, hundreds,* and plantations; and local affairs were conducted in these communities. But the necessity for a uniform and exact unit of representation and administration in local government soon became apparent. Accordingly, fifteen years after the calling of the first General Assembly (1619), the colony was divided into eight shires (1634), "to be governed as shires in England:" nine years later (1643), the counties were formed; so that the name shire has fallen into disuse. At the time of the beginning of the Commonwealth in England under Cromwell, Virginia had thirteen counties.

9. New England Township and Virginia County Compared. -In New England the township became the unit of representation in the legislature and the area of local administration, instead of county as in Virginia. The genealogies of both Puritans and Cavaliers read much alike. Both came from the excellent stock of the middle classes in England. But aristocracy, that is, government in the hands of privileged classes to the exclusion of the common people, grew up in Virginia; while democracy, that is, government in which the people collectively legislate and choose executive and judicial officers in primary assembly, prevailed in New England. Counties exist in New England, it is true; but they exist chiefly for judicial purposes. The affairs of local government are managed by the townships. In the Virginias the magisterial district corresponds in a measure, in extent of territory at least, to the

* Hundred. A subdivision of a county, at one time common in England for administrative and military purposes. The subdivision was used for a time in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and Delaware. It is still in use in Delaware. Traces of its existence are found among all Germanic peoples.