INFLUENCE, AUTHORITY, ASCENDANCY

OR ASCENDANT, SWAY.

Influence, from the Latin influo to flow in upon or cause to flow in upon, signifies the power of acting on an object so as to direct or move it; authority, in Latin auctoritas, from auctor the author or prime mover of a thing, signifies that power which is vested in the prime mover; ascendancy or ascendant, from ascend, signifies having the upper hand; sway, like our word swing and the German schweben, comes in all probability from the Hebrew n to move, signifying also the power to move an object.

These terms imply power, under different circumstances influence is altogether unconnected with any right to direct; authority includes the idea of right necessarily superiority of rank, talent, or property, personal attachment, and a variety of circumstances give influence; it commonly acts by persuasion, and employs engaging manners, so as to determine in favor of what is proposed: superior wisdom, age, office, and relation, give authority; it determines of itself, and requires no collateral aid: ascendancy and sway are modes of influence, differing only in degree; they both imply an excessive and improper degree of influence over the mind, independent of reason; the former is, however, more gradual in its process, and consequently more confirmed in its nature; the latter may be only temporary, but may be more violent. A person employs many arts, and for a length of time, to gain the ascendancy; but he exerts a sway by a violent stretch of power. It is of great importance for those who have influence, to conduct themselves consistently with their rank and station; The influence of France as a republick is equal to a war.' BURKE. Men are apt to regard the warnings and admonitions of a true friend as an odious assumption of authority; Without the force of authority the power of soldiers grows pernicious to their master.' TEMPLE. Some men voluntarily give themselves up to the ascendancy which a valet or a mistress has gained over them, whilst the latter exert the most unwarrantable sway to serve their own interested and vicious purposes; By the ascendant he had in his understanding, and the dexterity of his nature, he could persuade him very much.' CLARENDON. France, since her revolution, is under the sway of a sect whose leaders, at one stroke, have demolished the whole body of jurisprudence.' BURKE.

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Influence and ascendancy are said likewise of things as well as persons: true religion will have an influence not only on the outward conduct of a man, but the inward affections of his heart; Religion hath so great an influence upon the felicity of man, that it ought to be upheld, not only out of a dread of divine vengeance in another world, but out of regard to temporal prosperity.' TILLOTSON. That man is truly happy in whose mind religion has the ascendancy over every other principle; If you allow any passion, even though it be esteemed innocent, to acquire an absolute ascendant, your inward peace will be impaired.' BLAIR.

POWER, STRENGTH, FORCE, AUTHORITY, DOMINION.

Power, in French pouvoir, comes from the Latin possum to be able; strength denotes the abstract quality of strong; authority signifies the same as in the preceding article; dominion from dominus a lord, signifies the power of a lord or the exercise of that power; force, from the Latin fortis strong, signifies the abstract quality of strength.

Power is the generic and universal term, comprehending in it that simple principle of nature which exists in all subjects. Strength and force are modes of power. These terms are all used either in a physical or moral application. Power in the physical sense respects whatever causes motion; Observing in ourselves that we can at pleasure move several parts of our bodies, which were at rest; the effects also that natural bodies are able to produce in one another, occurring every moment to our senses, we both these ways get the idea of power.' LOCKE. Strength respects that species of power that lies in the vital and muscular parts of the body;

Not founded on the brittle strength of bones. MILTON. Strength, therefore, is internal, and depends upon the internal organization of the frame; power, on the external circumstances. A man may have strength Our strength is proportioned to the health of the body, to move, but not the power if he be bound with cords. and the firmness of its make; our power may be increased by the help of instruments.

Power may be exerted or otherwise; force is power exerted, or active; bodies have a power of resistance while in a state of rest, but they are moved by a certain force from other bodies;

A ship which hath struck sail, doth run,

By force of that force which before it won. DONNE.

The word power is used technically for the moving force; By understanding the true difference betwixt the weight and the power, a man may add such a fitting supplement to the strength of the power, that it shall move any conceivable weight, though it should never so much exceed that force which the power is naturally endowed with.' WILKINS.

In a moral acceptation power, strength, and force, may be applied to the same objects with a similar distinction, thus we may speak of the power of language generally, the strength of a person's expressions to convey the state of his own mind; and the force of terms as to their extent of meaning and fitness to convey the ideas of those who use them. In this case it is evident that strength and force are here employed as particular properties, but strength is the power actually exerted, and force the power which may be exerted.

Power is either public or private, which brings it in alliance with authority. Civil power includes in it all that which enables us to have any influence or

Hence thou shalt prove my might, and curse the hour, Thou stoodst a rival of imperial pow'r. POPE.

Power

Sub

Authority is confined to that species of power which is derived from some legitimate source; Power arising from strength is always in those who are governed, who are many; but authority arising from opinion is in those who govern, who are few.' TEMPLE. exists independently of all right; authority is founded only on right. A king has often the power to be cruel, but he has never the authority to be so. jects have sometimes the power of overturning the government, but they can in no case have the authority. Power may be abused; authority may be exceeded. A sovereign abuses his power, who exercises it for the misery of his subjects; he exceeds his authority, if he deprive them of any right from mere caprice or humor.

Power may be seized either by fraud or force; authority is derived from some present law, or delegated by a higher power. Despotism is an assumed power, it acknowledges no law but the will of the individual; it is, therefore, exercised by no authority: the Sovereign holds his power by the law of God; for God is the source of all authority, which is commensurate with his goodness, his power, and his wisdom: man, therefore, exercises the Supreme authority over man, as the minister of God's authority; he exceeds that authority if he do any thing contrary to God's will. Subjects have a delegated authority which they receive from a superior; if they act for themselves, without respect to the will of that superior, they exert a power without authority. In this manner a prime minister acts by the authority of the king to whom he is responsible. A minister of the gospel performs his functions by the authority of the gospel, as it is interpreted and administered by the Church; but when he acts by an individual or particular interpretation, it is a self-assumed power, but not authority. Social beings, in order to act in concert, must act by laws and the subordination of ranks, whether in religion or politics; and he who acts solely by his own will, in opposition to the general consent of competent judges, exerts a power, but is without authority. Hence those who officiate in England as ministers of the gospel, otherwise than according to the form and discipline of the Established Church, act by an assumed power, which, though not punishable by the laws of man, must, like other sins, be answered for at the bar of God.

It lies properly with the supreme power to grant privileges, or take them away; but the same may be done by one in whom the authority is invested. Authority in this sense is applied to the ordinary concerns of life, where the line of distinction is always drawn, between what we can and what we ought to do. There is power where we can or may act; there is authority only where we ought to act. In all our dealings with others, it is necessary to consider in every thing, not

the authority to do. In matters of indifference, and in what concerns ourselves only, it is sufficient to have the power to act, but in all important matters we must have the authority of the divine law: a man may have the power to read or leave it alone; but he cannot dispose of his person in all respects, without authority. In what concerns others, we must act by their authority, if we wish to act conscientiously; when the secrets of another are confided to us, we have the power to divulge them, but not the authority, unless it be given by him who entrusted them.

Instructors are invested by parents with authority over their children; and parents receive their authority from nature, that is, the law of God; this paternal authority, according to the Christian system, extends to the education, but not to the destruction of their offspring. The Heathens, however, claimed and exerted a power over the lives of their children. By my superior strength I may be enabled to exert a power over a man, so as to control his action; of his own accord he gives me authority to dispose of his property; so in literature, men of established reputation, of classical merit, and known veracity, are quoted as authorities in support of any position.

Power is indefinite as to degree; one may have little or much power: dominion is a positive degree of power. A monarch's power may be limited by various circumstances; a despot exercises dominion over all his subjects, high and low. One is not said to get a power over any object, but to get an object into one's power: on the other hand, we get a dominion over an object; thus some men have a dominion over the consciences of others.

And each of these must will, perceive, design,
And draw confus'dly in a different line,
Which then can claim dominion o'er the rest,
Or stamp the ruling passion in the breast. JENYNS.

POWERFUL, POTENT, MIGHTY.

Powerful, or full of power, is also the original meaning of potent; but mighty signifies having might. Powerful is applicable to strength as well as power : a powerful man is one who by his size and make can easily overpower another and a powerful person is one who has much in his power; It is certain that the senses are more powerful as the reason is weaker.' JOHNSON. Potent is used only in this latter sense, in which it expresses a larger extent of power;

Now, flaming up the heavens, the potent sun
Melts into limpid air the high raised clouds.

THOMSON.

A potent monarch is much more than a powerful prince; mighty expresses a still higher degree of power; might is power unlimited by any consideration or circumstance; He who lives by a mighty principle within, which the world about him neither sees nor understands, he only ought to pass for godly.' SoUTH.

A giant is called mighty in the physical sense, and that genius is said to be mighty which takes every thing within its grasp; the Supreme Being is entitled either Omnipotent or Almighty; but the latter term seems to convey the idea of boundless extent more forcibly than the former.

or

EMPIRE, REIGN, DOMINION. Empire in this case conveys the idea of power,* an exercise of sovereignty; in this sense it is allied to the word reign, which, from the verb to reign, signifies the act of reigning; and to the word dominion, which signifies the same as in the preceding article.

Empire is used more properly for people or nations; reign for the individuals who hold the power: hence we say the empire of the Assyrians, or of the Turks; the reign of the Caesars or the Paleologi. The most glorious epoch of the empire of the Babylonians is the reign of Nebuchadnezzar; that of the empire of the Persians is the reign of Cyrus; that of the empire of the Greeks is the reign of Alexander; that of the Romans is the reign of Augustus; these are the four great empires foretold by the prophet

Daniel.

All the epithets applied to the word empire, in this sense, belong equally to reign; but all which are applied to reign are not suitable in application to empire. We may speak of a reign as long and glorious; but not of an empire as long and glorious, unless the idea be expressed paraphrastically. The empire of the Romans was of longer duration than that of the Greeks; but the glory of the latter was more brilliant, from the rapidity of its conquests: the reign of King George III was one of the longest and most eventful recorded in history.

Empire and reign are both applied in the proper sense to the exercise of public authority;

The sage historic muse Should next conduct us through the deeps of time, Show us how empire grew, declin'd, and fell. THOMSON.

Dominion applies to the personal act, whether of a sovereign or a private individual: a sovereign may have dominion over many nations by the force of arms, but he holds his reign over one nation by the force of law;

He who, like a father, held his reign,

So soon forgot, was wise and just in vain. POPE. Hence the word dominion may, in the proper sense, be applied to the power which man exercises over the brutes, over inanimate objects, or over himself; but if empire and reign be applied to any thing but civil government, or to nations, it is only in the improper sense thus a female may be said to hold her empire among her admirers; or fashions may be said to have

their reign. In this application of the terms, empire is something wide and all-commanding;

Let great Achilles, to the gods resign'd,
To reason yield the empire of his mind. POPE.
Reign is that which is steady and settled;
The frigid zone

Where for relentless months continual night
Holds o'er the glittering waste her starry reign.
THOMSON.

Dominion is full of control and force; By timely caution those desires may be repressed to which indulgence would give absolute dominion.' JOHNSON.

PRINCE, MONARCH, SOVEREIGN,
POTENTATE.

Prince, in French prince, Latin princeps, from primus, signifies the chief or the first person in the nation; monarch, from the Greek povos alone, and pxǹ government, signifies one having sole authority; sovereign is probably changed from superregnum; potentate, from potens powerful, signifies one having

supreme power.

Prince is the generic term, the rest are specific terms; every monarch, sovereign, and potentate, is a prince, but not vice versa. The term prince is indefinite as to the degree of power: a prince may have a limited or despotic power; but in its restricted sense this title denotes a smaller degree of power than any of the other terms: the term monarch does not define the extent of the power, but simply that it is undivided as opposed to that species of power which is lodged in the hands of many: sovereign and potentate indicate the highest degree of power; but the former is employed only as respects the nation that is governed, the latter respects other nations: a sovereign is supreme over his subjects; a potentate is powerful by means of his subjects. Every man having independent power is a prince, let his territory be ever so inconsiderable; Germany is divided into a number of small states which are governed by petty princes; "Of all the princes who had swayed the Mexican sceptre, Montezuma was the most haughty.' ROBERTSON. Every one reigning by himself in a state of some considerable magnitude, and having an independent authority over his subjects is a monarch; kings and emperors therefore are all monarchs; The Mexican people were warlike and enterprizing, the authority of the monarch unbounded.' ROBERTSON. Every monarch is a sovereign whose extent of dominion and number of subjects rises above the ordinary level; The Peruvians yielded a blind submission to their sovereigns.' ROBERTSON. He is a potentate if his influence either in the cabinet or the field extends very considerably over the affairs of other nations; How mean must the most exalted potentate upon

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earth appear to that eye which takes in innumerable orders of spirits.' ADDISON. Although we know that princes are but men, yet in estimating their characters we are apt to expect more of them than what is human. It is the great concern of every monarch who wishes for the welfare of his subjects to choose good counsellors: whoever has approved himself a faithful subject may approach his sovereign with a steady confidence in having done his duty: the potentates of the earth may sometimes be intoxicated with their power and their triumphs, but in general they have too many mementos of their common infirmity, to forget that they are but mortal men.

ABSOLUTE, DESPOTIC, ARBITRARY,
TYRANNICAL.

Absolute, in Latin absolutus, participle of absolvo, signifies absolved or set at liberty from all restraint as it regards persons; unconditional, unlimited, as it regards things; despotic, from despot, in Greek deGOT a master or lord, implies being like a lord, uncontrolled; arbitrary, in French arbitraire, from the Latin arbitrium will, implies belonging to the will of one independent of that of others; tyrannical signifies being like a tyrant.

Absolute power is independent of and superior to all other power: an absolute monarch is uncontrolled not only by men but things; he is above all law except what emanates from himself;

Unerring power!

Supreme and absolute, of these your ways
You render no account. LYLLO.

When absolute power is assigned to any one according to the constitution of a government, it is despotic. Despotic power is therefore something less than absolute power: a prince is absolute of himself; he is despotic by the consent of others.

In the early ages of society monarchs were absolute, and among the Eastern nations they still retain the absolute form of government, though much limited by established usage. In the more civilized stages of society the power of despots has been considerably restricted by prescribed laws, in so much that despotism is now classed among the regular forms of government; Such an history as that of Suetonius is to me an unanswerable argument against despotic power.' ADDISON. This term may also be applied figuratively; Whatever the will commands, the whole man must do; the empire of the will over all the faculties being absolutely overruling and despotic.'

SOUTH.

Arbitrary and tyrannical do not respect the power itself, so much as the exercise of power: the latter is always taken in a bad sense, the former sometimes in an indifferent sense. With arbitrariness is associated the idea of caprice and selfishness; for where is the individual whose uncontrolled will may not oftener be

POSITIVE, ABSOLUTE, PEREMPTORY.

Positive, in Latin positivus, from pono to put or place, signifies placed or fixed, that is, fixed or established in the mind: absolute (v. Absolute) signifies uncontrolled by any external circumstances; peremptory, in Latin peremptorius, from perimo to take away, signifies removing all further question.

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Positive is said either of a man's convictions or temper of mind, or of his proceedings; absolute is said of his mode of proceeding, or his relative circumstances; peremptory is said of his proceeding. Positive, as respects a man's conviction, has been spoken of under the article of confident (v. Confident); in the latter sense it bears the closest analogy to absolute or peremptory: a positive mode of speech depends upon a positive state of mind; The diminution or ceasing of pain does not operate like positive pleasure.” BURKE. An absolute mode of speech depends upon the uncontrollable authority of the speaker; Those parts of the moral world which have not an absolute, may yet have a relative beauty, in respect of some other parts concealed from us.' ADDISON. A peremptory mode of speech depends upon the disposition and relative circumstances of the speaker; The Highlander gives to every question an answer so prompt and peremptory, that scepticism is dared into silence.' JOHNSON. A decision is positive; a command alsolute or peremptory: what is positive excludes all question; what is absolute bars all resistance; what is peremptory removes all hesitation: a positive answer can be given only by one who has positive information; an absolute decree can issue only from one vested with absolute authority; a peremptory refusal can be given only by one who has the will and the power of deciding it without any controversy.

As adverbs, positively, absolutely, and peremptorily, have an equally close connexion: a thing is said to be positively known, or positively determined upon, or positively agreed to; it is said to be absolutely

necessary, absolutely true or false, absolutely required; it is not to be peremptorily decided, peremptorily declared, peremptorily refused.

Positive and absolute are likewise applied to moral objects with the same distinction as before: the positive expresses what is fixed in distinction from the relative that may vary; the absolute is that which is independent of every thing: thus, pleasure and pains are positive; names in logic are absolute; cases in grammar are absolute.

ROYAL, REGAL, KINGLY.

Royal and regal, from the Latin rex a king, though of foreign origin, have obtained more general application than the corresponding English term kingly. Royal signifies belonging to a king, in its most general sense; regal, in Latin regalis, signifies appertaining to a king, in its particular application; kingly signifies properly like a king. A royal carriage, a royal residence, a royal couple, a royal salute, royal authority, all designate the general and ordinary appurtenances to a king;

He died, and oh! may no reflection shed

Its pois'nous venom on the royal dead. PRIOR.

Regal government, regal state, regal power, regal dignity, denote the peculiar properties of a king; Jerusalem combin'd must see

My open fault and regal infamy. PRIOR.

Kingly always implies what is becoming a king, or after the manner of a king; a kingly crown is such as a king ought to wear; a kingly mien, that which is after the manner of a king;

Scipio, you know how Massanissa bears

His kingly post, at more than ninety years. DENHAM.

EMPIRE, KINGDOM.

Although these two words obviously refer to two species of states, where the princes assume the title of either emperor or king, yet the difference between them is not limited to this distinction.

* The word empire carries with it the idea of a state that is vast, and composed of many different people; that of kingdom marks a state more limited in extent, and united in its composition. In kingdoms there is a uniformity of fundamental laws; the difference in regard to particular laws or modes of jurisprudence being merely variations from custom, which do not affect the unity of political administration. From this uniformity, indeed, in the functions of government, we may trace the origin of the words king and kingdom: since there is but one prince or sovereign

ruler, although there may be many employed in the administration. With empires it is different: one part is sometimes governed by fundamental laws, very different from those by which another part of the same empire is governed; which diversity destroys the unity of government, and makes the union of the state to consist in the submission of certain chiefs to the commands of a superior general or chief. From this very right of commanding, then, it is evident that the words empire and emperor derive their origin; and hence it is that there may be many princes or sovereigns, and kingdoms, in the same empire.

As a farther illustration of these terms, we need only look to their application from the earliest ages in which they were used, down to the present period. The word king had its existence long prior to that of emperor, being doubtless derived, through the channel of the northern languages, from the Hebrew in a priest, since in those ages of primitive simplicity, before the lust of dominion had led to the extension of power and conquest, he who performed the sacerdotal office was unanimously regarded as the fittest person to discharge the civil functions for the community. So in like manner among the Romans the corresponding word rex, which comes from rego, and the Hebrew to feed, signifies a pastor or shepherd, because he who filled the office of king acted both spiritually and civilly as their guide. Rome therefore was first a kingdom, while it was formed of only one people: it acquired the name of empire as soon as other nations were brought into subjection to it, and became members of it; not by losing their distinctive character as nations, but by submitting themselves to the supreme command of their conquerors.

For the same reason the German empire was so denominated, because it consisted of several states independent of each other, yet all subject to one ruler or emperor; so likewise the Russian empire, the Ottoman empire, and the Mogul empire, which are composed of different nations and on the other hand the kingdom of Spain, of Portugal, of France, and of England, all of which, though divided into different provinces, were, nevertheless, one people, having but one ruler. While France, however, included many distinct countries within its jurisdiction, it properly assumed the name of an empire; and England having by a legislative act united to itself a country distinct both in its laws and customs, has likewise, with equal propriety, been denominated the British empire.

A kingdom can never reach to the extent of an empire, for the unity of government and administration which constitutes its leading feature cannot reach so far, and at the same time requires more time than the simple exercise of superiority, and the right of receiving certain marks of homage, which suffice to form an empire. Although a kingdom may not be free, yet an empire can scarcely be otherwise than despotic in its form of government. Power, when extended and ramified, as it must unavoidably be in an empire,