Power has three forms - force, authority and opinion. All the evolution of nations and of societies is fundamentally an ascension on the scale of these, from the first to the last. First came the state of violence, rising slowly out of its pure form in the savage tribes and groups. Then comes the rule of authority, begotten of force. And all rends to, or is at, the sway of opinion, this word meaning, of course, «popular will», «democracy». (The persistence of monarchy, authority's best (...), is [...]).

All this evolution represents the gradual approach to the government of the nation by the nation. It begins virtually at an anarchical or semi-anarchical state of things: it is the empire of force, the government of the weak by the strong and of the strong by the stronger. The state of society is then one of [...] stife (if this word may here be used), one of latent or every-day war. Then gradual integration begins; first it is potential. The selection of the fittest begins to split the tribe or nation (no matter how it is called) into two parts. Monarchy and aristocracy are born. This means that force is transformed into authority. Transformed: - be the word noted, for it must not be forgotten - and this is of sovereign importance - that the original basis of authority is force; nor could there be any other basis, any other origin to authority -; authority could not become authority in any other way.