with stating my doubts upon some of the author the ancient were acquainted with an hereditary nobility so has formally declared na but we are ignorant how they acquired it and what were their only the chiefs were selected from among the ex the author could have twenty other passages from containing the word but he will nowhere find proof of the existence of an hereditary nobility he must content himself with the value of the words and these were the that the have found m their language to indicate institutions and customs for whidi they had no appropriate terms because they bad nothing like them in their policy by turns three kinds of persons by the word st men who had about them a troop of voluntary companions devoted to their fortunes and attached to them merely by affection and by an oath not by any obligation of birth d the chiefs elected to administer justice in the districts the chiefs elected again to command a party of the colony or the entire colony in an expedition none of these could their to their children by hereditary right of what then did the nobility consist in this early state of society so little removed from a of nature a simple personal a great fame acquired by superior courage distinctions exist not in a state of nature but they do in the constitution of men at first and strength were the grounds of a man s merit or rather the man himself in the dark ages without these qualities he was as it were degraded from manly condition while those who possessed them in a great degree attracted the esteem and admiration of their equals and governed some by of love and others by that of fear the were the among the the words which the god a male a man the best man and the noble and virtue have sprung from the same root shows us among the f and among the nations of the north the same origin of nobility afterwards the greatness of the father procured esteem for his children it is thus according to a young man whose father had acquired much glory could obtain after him the rank of prince that is to say could place himself among the principal men of the colony this is an from fact and not from right birth could only be an advantage not a � t t see german from la title the of a kind of and not a power when it is said that an hereditary nobility exists in a country we figure to ourselves privileged families ruling over those of the and the slaves but how could this kind of nobility establish themselves in a nation where all the lands were in common all the all the citizens so jealous of their independence that they themselves on not attending at the meeting of the general to pass laws to protect liberty such people know nothing of nobility as we understand it they have illustrious and powerful families they have noble personages but no hereditary nobility things continued in this state among the primitive race until privileges becoming attached to the titles of property in certain families custom introduced hereditary advantages granted to the faithful followers of the king mr appears to me to make an criticism upon a passage of and to give an unlikely explanation to the subject of the title of and of noble he subjects to have been the common name of all the of the great and that the were those whom he calls the but if he had more attentively considered the authorities which he in support of his opinion he would have seen how opposite they were in all barbarous the men or were free men whom the king had elevated to rank for their fidelity and the the free men the citizens and the people i perceive that is already too long and that i have not yet given the necessary development to this discussion nor alleged proofs which it would be easy to this reflection me besides that it is impossible to give a complete account of this important work within the space to which i am confined i shall again make some observations on other which appear to me not from error relative to the of the from military service to the election of counts from the nobility to the of the name r� the transition of royal justice to the assistant judges of the i am surprised that the author has not made mention of a particular right of the royal power in the administration of justice at this epoch i speak of the by which the king could remove any man be he who he might from his ordinary judges and or all sentences and tiie laws themselves at his will � bell f � etc � see � sen fr torn etc etc m has declared with a very sincerity that the extent of his has not permitted him to the whole and that he has found himself constrained sometimes to rely on those which have been maintained by others he has derived considerable assistance from the writings of the but he has also met with contrary opinions he a judicious mind which knows how to keep itself on its guard against systems but whatever may be the wisdom and of an historian it is to refer to sources and to consult both the text and the original we perceive that m has read the of barbarous laws and other documents of the of the middle ages but at a time when customs had so much importance the code is to be looked for in the habits of the people and it is then above all that as m has justly observed laws must be by history perhaps he has not sufficiently by the resources which could be furnished him in of and 