《论美国的民主·卷二·四部·第七章·承前续论》第2节
The circumstance which most contributed to secure the independence of private persons in aristocratic ages, was, that the supreme power did not affect to take upon itself alone the government and administration of the community; those functions were necessarily partially left to the members of the aristocracy: so that as the supreme power was always divided, it never weighed with its whole weight and in the same manner on each individual. Not only did the government not perform everything by its immediate agency; but as most of the agents who discharged its duties derived their power not from the State, but from the circumstance of their birth, they were not perpetually under its control. The government could not make or unmake them in an instant, at pleasure, nor bend them in strict uniformity to its slightest caprice--this was an additional guarantee of private independence. I readily admit that recourse cannot be had to the same means at the present time: but I discover certain democratic expedients which may be substituted for them. Instead of vesting in the government alone all the administrative powers of which corporations and nobles have been deprived, a portion of them may be entrusted to secondary public bodies, temporarily composed of private citizens: thus the liberty of private persons will be more secure, and their equality will not be diminished.
注释摘要
托克维尔在这一段里集中回答了一个实践难题：既然贵族社会已经不可能重建，我们又该用什么来替代它曾经提供的对个人独立的保障。他并没有把贵族制度理想化，而是从功能角度分析它为什么会起到约束中央权力的作用——关键在于权力不是从一个中心均匀地扩散出去的。在贵族时代，最高权力并不试图包揽一切治理和行政事务，那些职能有一部分天然地落到了贵族成员手里。这就造成了一个外在于…