There was indeed one notion in the light of which the respective merits of lot and election must have appeared widely different and unequal, namely, the principle that all legitimate authority stems from the consent of those over whom it is exercised - in other words, that individuals are obliged only by what they have con sented to. The three modern revolutions were accomplished in the name of this principle. This fact is sufficiently established for there to be no need to rehearse the evidence at length here Let us look at a few illustrative examples. In the Putney debates (October 1647) between the radical and conservative wings of Cromwell's army, which constitute one of the most remarkable documents on the beliefs of the English revolutionaries, the Levellers' spokesman Rainsborough declared: