DESPENSER, HUGH LE

Eng. chief justiciar; killed at Hvesham, 1265. d 1326), Eng. courtier; summoned to Parliament, 1295; he became favorite of Edward II. after Gaveston’s death; Earl of Winchester, 1322; incurred enmity of baronage; hanged. iyrannos) implies absolute but nece arily bad rule; modern use of word a umes a democratic or republican} standpoint, and writers distinguish be-| tween ordinary despotism, by inference} bad, and rule of ‘benevolent despot.’ A despotism, however benevolent, destroys initiative in the body of the people, and the continuance of such rulers cannot be guaranteed. In modern times y founded despotisms have supposed to be most been brought down— (e.9.) Turkey, 1908; China, 1912; and buada, 1917. Under a parliamentary régime the danger of despotism resides not in autocratic power of princes, but in the enormous growth of bureaucracy, and in the tyranny of party machinery.