room for any particular will ("there is no particular application that
alters the universality of the law"). Conditions are then rigorously
the same for all members of the Government, since they are all equal
before the law regulating the allocation of magistracies and since it
is that law itself, so to speak, that assigns them particular offices.
So whether it is a question of limiting the number of occasions on
which the people need to adopt particular views, or the risk of
partiality in the distribution of offices, lot is the right selection
method for democracy because it allocates magistracies without the
intervention of any particular will. Furthermore, Rousseau adds, the
condition of the citizens in a democracy is such that we can
disregard the objection to the use of lot (selection of incompetent or
unworthy citizens): "Selection by lot [Velection par sort] would have
few disadvantages in a true democracy where, all things being
equal, both in mores and talents as well as in maxims and fortune,
the choice would become almost indifferent."90
Elections, by contrast, are suited to aristocracy. "In an aristocracy
the Prince chooses the Prince; the Government preserves itself, and
it is there that voting is appropriate."91 In an aristocracy, election
presents no danger, since by definition the body that does the
selecting (the "Prince" or "Government") is not the same as the one
that makes the laws. When the Government chooses magistrates
from among its number, it may resort to elections, which necessarily
imply particular views and intentions. Here, there is no risk of those
particular views affecting the creation of laws - especially the
electoral law - since legislation is in any case in other hands. A
footnote by Rousseau confirms this interpretation. In an aristocracy,
he points out, it is vital that the rules governing elections remain in
the hands of the Sovereign. "It is of great importance that laws [i.e.
decisions by the Sovereign] should regulate the form of the election
of magistrates, for if it is left to the will of the Prince [the
government], it is impossible to avoid falling into a hereditary
aristocracy."92 If those who have the power to choose the magistrates
also have the power to decide how the magistrates will be
chosen, they will decide on the method most favorable to their
interests - in this case, heredity. On the other hand, aristocracy is the