II. CENTRAL AMERICA: Guatemala; Hondu- ras; San Salvador; Nicaragua; Costa Rica, 118 IV. AMERICAN REPUBLICS (Continued). 1. SOUTH AMERICA: Venezuela; Colombia; Ecuador; Peru; Bolivia; Paraguay; Argen- INTRODUCTORY. Ir is usual to classify governments under three typesgovernment by one person, government by a few privileged persons, and government by the people; or, in a word, governments are either Monarchic, Aristocratic, or Democratic. The extreme poles of government are, therefore, pure despotisms on the one hand, and pure democracies on the other. Between these two extremes are found most of the extinct and existing forms of government. In history, nearly all governments, not monarchical, are termed Republics. Sparta, during her independence, especially while under the rule of the Magistrates and Senate; Athens, just after the times of Solon; and the Italian republics, notably those of Venice and Genoa, were so thoroughly governed by the aristocracy, that by some writers they have been excluded from the rank of republics; still, in this treatise they are regarded as republics. It is worthy of note also that republics are of two types centralized and non-centralized. When the general government represents the sovereignty of the people, independent of local governments, and when the power of the whole nation - -as in case of France and the republics of South America - is exercised by a general government, we have what is termed a centralized republic. But when the general government-as, for instance, that of the Greek republics, the free cities of Germany, and the United States is restricted constitutionally so as not to control or interfere in certain respects with the local governments of the several states, and when the voice of the different states is necessary in order to accomplish certain measures in behalf of the general government-then the republic is termed non-centralized. |