Perhaps, there could have been no better form of government than absolute Monarchy for disciplining the uncouth and uncivilised people who had emerged out of barbarism.
John Stuart Mill rightly said, “Despotism is a legitimate mode of government for dealing with barbarians, provided the end be their improvement and the means be justified by actually affecting that end.”
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Absolute Monarchy possesses the merits of strength, vigour, energy of action, promptness of decision, unity of counsel, continuity and consistency of policy.
Undivided counsel, promptness of decision and a consistent policy are the essential requisites of a good and efficient administration, particularly during periods of national crises and emergencies.
Monarchy, therefore, comes as a beneficial antidote to chaos or a weak government. History is full of examples when the rule of one has been reimposed as a means of protecting the interests of the people at large from the rapacity of the few. The English supported their strong Tudor kings, “to be their protection against the lawlessness of the armed nobility.”
As all the powers of government, executive, legislative, judicial and military; are concentrated in the Monarch, he is able to keep a greater uniformity of purpose in the State. A sagacious king having sturdy commonsense can easily secure the best advice and acts upon it with confidence.
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His policy is more stable and consistent than the shifting policy of the assembly in a democratic government. An assembly is usually guided by sentiments and is swayed by the arguments of the politicians.
Moreover, a Monarch generally takes a very high view of his duties. He is free to select his officials according to his own pleasure and make them work according to his directions. As the officials can be held to strict accountability, they run the administration to the best of their ability and capacity.
The absolute Monarchies of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, says Bryce, “saw many reforms in European countries, which no force less than that of a strong monarchy would have carried through.”