Hi!
I thought i'd better post this in OI because the book isn't leftist
Can anybody perhaps enlighten this sentence of On Liberty by Mill, talking about the earliest rulers:
They consisted of a governing One, or a governing tribe or caste, who derived their authority from inheritance or conquest, who, at all events, did not hold it at the pleasure of the governed, and whose supremacy men did not venture, perhaps did not desire, to contest, whatever precautions might be taken against its oppressive exercise.
I don't know what is meant with the part in bold.
I'd be really grateful