HE that will, with any clearness, speak of the dissolution of
government, ought in the first place to distinguish between the
dissolution of the society and the dissolution of the government. That
which makes the community, and brings men out of the loose state of
Nature into one politic society, is the agreement which every one
has with the rest to incorporate and act as one body, and so be one
distinct commonwealth. The usual, and almost only way whereby this
union is dissolved, is the inroad of foreign force making a conquest
upon them. For in that case (not being able to maintain and support
themselves as one entire and independent body) the union belonging
to that body, which consisted therein, must necessarily cease, and
so every one return to the state he was in before, with a liberty to
shift for himself and provide for his own safety, as he thinks fit, in
some other society. Whenever the society is dissolved, it is certain
the government of that society cannot remain. Thus conquerors'
swords often cut up governments by the roots, and mangle societies
to pieces, separating the subdued or scattered multitude from the
protection of and dependence on that society which ought to have
preserved them from violence.
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