Thurles, Ireland.
* * * * *
Minor Queries with Answers.
_"Vox Populi Vox Dei."_--Lieber, in the last chapter of his _Civil
Liberty_, treating of this dictum, ascribes its origin to the Middle Ages,
acknowledging, however, that he is unable to give anything very definite.
Sir William Hamilton, in his edition of the _Works_ of Thomas Reid, gives
the concluding words of Hesiod's _Works and Days_ thus:
"The word proclaimed by the concordant voice of mankind fails not; for
in man speaks God."
And to this the great philosopher adds:
"Hence the adage (?), 'Vox Populi vox Dei.'"
The sign of interrogation is Sir William Hamilton's, and he was right to
put it; for whatever the psychological connexion between Hesiod's dictum
and V. P. V. D. may be, there is surely no historical. "Vox Populi vox Dei"
is a different concept, breathing the spirit of a different age.
How far back, then, can the dictum in these very words be traced?
Does it, as Lieber says, originally belong to the election of bishops by
the people?
Or was it of Crusade origin?
America begs Europe to give her facts, not speculation, and hopes that
Europe will be good enough to comply with her request. Europe has given the
serious "V. P. V. D." to America, so she may as well give its history to
America too.