# The Spirit of Laws (1758)/Book XIX

BOOK XIX. Of Laws in Relation to the Principles which form the general Spirit, the Morals and Customs of a Nation.
CHAP. I. Of the Subject of this Book.
Book XIX. Chap. 1, & 2.THIS subject is of a great extent. In that crowd of ideas which present themselves to my mind, I shall be more attentive to the order of things, than to the things themselves. I shall be obliged to wander to the right and to the left, that I may search into and discover the truth.
CHAP. II. That it is necessary People's Minds should be prepared for the Reception of the best Laws.
NOTHING could appear more insupportable to the Germans than the tribunal of Varus. That which Justinian erected amongst the Lazi, to proceed against the murderers of their king, appeared to them as an affair the most horrid and and barbarous. Mithridates haranguing against the Romans reproached them more ​Book XIX. Chap. 2, & 3.particularly for their formalities of justice. The Parthians could not bear with one of their kings, who having been educated at Rome, rendered himself affable and easy of access to all. Liberty itself has appeared insupportable to those nations who have not been accustomed to enjoy it. Thus a pure air is sometimes disagreeable to those who have lived in a fenny country.
Balbi, a Venetian, being at Pegu, was introduced to the king. When the monarch was informed that they had no king at Venice, he burst into such a fit of laughter, that he was seized with a cough, and had much ado to speak to his courtiers. What legislator could propose a popular government to a people like this?
CHAP. III. Of Tyranny.
THERE are two sorts or tyranny; the one real, which arises from the oppressions of government; the other is seated in opinion, and is sure to be felt whenever those who govern, establish things shocking to the turn of thought, and inconsistent with the ideas of a nation.
Dio teils us, that Augustus desirous of being called Romalus; but having been informed, that the people feared, that he would cause himself to be crowned king, he changed his design. The old Romans were averse to a king; because they could not suffer any man to enjoy such power: these would not have a king, because they ​Book XIX. Chap. 3, & 4.could not bear his manners. For though Cæsar, the Triumvirs, and Augustus, were really kings, they had preserved all the outward appearance of equality, while their private lives were a kind of contrast to the pomp and luxury of foreign monarchs; so that when they were resolved to have no king, this only signified that they would preserve their customs, and not take up those of the African and eastern nations.
The same writer informs us, that the Romans were exasperated against Augustus for making certain laws which were too severe; but as soon as he had recalled Pylades the comedian, whom the jarring of different factions had driven out of the city, the discontent ceased. A people of this stamp have a more lively sense of tyranny when a player is banished, than when they are deprived of all their laws.
CHAP. IV. Of the Central Spirit of Mankind.
MEN are influenced by various causes, by the climate, the religion, the laws, the maxims of government, by precedents, morals and customs; from whence is formed a general spirit which takes its rise from these.
In proportion, as in every nation any one of these causes acts with more force, the others in the same degree become weak. Nature and the climate rule almost alone over the savages; customs govern the Chinese; the laws tyrannize in Japan; morals had formerly all their influence at Sparta; maxims of government, and the ancient simplicity of manners, once prevailed at Rome.
CHAP. V. How far we should be attentive left the general Spirit of a Nation should be changed.
Book XIX. Chap. 5.IF in any part of the world there had been a nation whose inhabitants were of a sociable temper, open hearted, pleased with life, possessed of judgment, and a facility in communicating their thoughts; who were sprightly, agreeable, gay, sometimes imprudent, often indiscreet; and besides had courage, generosity, frankness, and a certain point of honor; no one ought to endeavour to restrain their manners by laws, unless he would lay a constraint on their virtues. If in general the character is good, the little faults that may be found in it, will be of small importance.
They might lay a restraint upon women, make laws to correct their manners, and to limit their luxury: but who knows but that by this means, they might lose that peculiar taste which would be the source of the riches of the nation, and that politeness which would render the country frequented by strangers?
It is the business of the legislature to follow the spirit of the nation, when it is not contrary to the principles of government; for we do nothing so well as when we act with freedom, and follow the bent of our natural genius.
If an air of pedantry be given to a nation that is naturally gay, the state will gain no advantage from it, either at home or abroad. Leave it to do frivolous things in the most serious manner, and with gaiety things the most serious.
CHAP. VI. That every Thing ought not to be corrected.
Book XIX. Chap. 6, & 7.LET them but leave us as we are, said a gentleman of a nation which had a very great resemblance to that we have been describing, and nature will repair whatever is amiss. She has given us a vivacity capable of offending, and hurrying us beyond the bounds of respect: this same vivacity is corrected by the politeness it procures us, inspiring a taste for the world, and above all, for the conversation of women.
Let them leave us as we are: our indiscretions joined to our nature, would make the laws which should constrain our sociable temper, not at all proper for us.
CHAP. VII. Of the Albenians and Lacedœmonians.
THE Athenians, this gentleman adds, were a nation that had some relation to ours. They mingled gaiety with business; a stroke of raillery was as agreeable in the senate, as in the theatre. This vivacity, which discovered itself in their councils, went along with them in the execution of their resolves. The characteristic of the Spartans was gravity, seriousness, severity, and silence. It would have been as difficult to bring over an Athenian by teazing, as it would a Spartan by diverting him.
CHAP. VIII. Effects of a sociable Temper.
Book XIX. Chap. 8, & 9.THE more communicative a people are, the more easily they change their habits, because each is in a greater degree a spectacle to the other; and the singularities of individuals are better seen. The climate which makes one nation delight in being communicative, makes it also delight in change; and that which makes it delight in change, forms its taste.
The society of women of spoils the manners, and forms the taste; the desire of giving greater pleasure than others, establishes the ornaments of dress; and the desire of pleasing others more than ourselves establishes fashions. The mode is a subject of importance: by giving a trifling turn of mind, it continually encreases the branches of its commerce.
CHAP. IX. Of the Vanity and Pride of Nations.
VANITY is as advantageous to a government, as pride is dangerous. To be convinced of this, we need only represent on the one hand, the numberless benefits which result from vanity; from thence arises luxury, industry, arts, fashions, politeness, taste: and on the other, the infinite evils which spring from the pride of certain nations, laziness, poverty, a universal neglect, the destruction of the nations which have accidentally fallen into their hands, as well as of their ​Book XIX. Chap. 9.own. Laziness is the effect of pride; labour a consequence of vanity: the pride of a Spaniard leads him to refuse labour; the vanity of a Frenchman to know how to work better than others.
All lazy nations are grave; for those who do not labour, regard themselves as the sovereigns of those who do.
If we search amongst all nations, we shall find that for the most part, gravity, pride, and indolence go hand in hand.
The people of Achim are proud and lazy; those who have no slaves hire one, if it be only to carry a quart of rice a hundred paces; they would be dishonoured if they carried it themselves.
In many places people let their nails grow, that all may see they do not work.
Women in the Indies believe it shameful for them to learn to read: this is, say they, the business of the slaves, who sing their spiritual songs in the temples of their pagods. In one tribe they do not spin; in another they make nothing but baskets and mats; they are not even to pound rice; and in others they must not go to fetch water. These rules are established by pride, and the same passion makes them followed.
CHAP. X. Of the Character of the Spaniards and Chinese.
Book XIX. Chap. 10.THE characteristics of the several nations are formed of virtues and vices, of good and bad qualities. From the happy mixture of these, great advantages result, and frequently where it would be least expected; there are others from whence great evils arise, evils which one would not suspect.
The Spaniards have been in all ages famous for their honesty. Justin mentions their fidelity in keeping whatever was intrusted to their care; they have frequently suffered death rather than reveal a secret. They have still the same fidelity for which they were formerly distinguished. All the nations who trade to Cadiz, trust their fortunes to the Spaniards, and have never yet repented it. But this admirable quality joined to their indolence, forms a mixture from whence such effects result as to them are the most pernicious. The people ot Europe carry on in their very sight all the commerce of their monarchy.
The character of the Chinese is formed of another mixture, directly opposite to that of the Spaniards. The precariousness ot their subsistence, inspires them with a prodigious activity, and such an excessive desire of gain, that no trading nation can confide in them. This acknowledged infidelity has secured them the possession of the trade to Japan. No European merchant has ever dared to undertake it in their name, how easy soever it might be for ​Book XIX. Chap. 11, & 12.them to do it from their maritime provinces in the north.
CHAP. XI. A Reflection.
I HAVE said nothing here with a view to lessen that infinite distance, which there must ever be between virtue and vice. God forbid, that I should be guilty of such an attempt! I would only make my readers comprehend that all political, are not moral vices, and that all moral, are not political vices ; and that those who make laws which shock the general spirit of a nation, ought not to be ignorant of this.
CHAP. XII. Of Customs and Masters in a despotic State.
IT is a capital maxim, that the manners and customs of a despotic empire ought never to be changed; for nothing would more speedily produce a revolution. The reason is, that in these states there are no laws, that is, none that can be properly called so, there are only manners and customs; and if you overturn these, you overturn all.
Laws are established, manners are inspired; these proceed from a general spirit, those, from a particular institution: now it is as dangerous, nay, more to overturn the general spirit, as to change a particular institution.
There is less communication in a country where each, either as superior or inferior, exercises or suffers an arbitrary power, than there is in those where ​Book XIX. Chap. 12, & 13.liberty reigns in every station. They do not therefor so often change their manners and behaviour. Fixed and established customs have a near resemblance to laws. Thus it is here necessary that a prince or a legislator should less oppose the manners and customs of the people, than in any other country upon earth.
Their women are commonly confined, and have no influence in society. In other countries where they live with men, their desire of pleasing, and the desire men also have of giving them pleasure, produce a continual change of customs. The two sexes spoil each other, they both lose their distinctive and essential quality; what was naturally fixt becomes quite unsettled, and their customs and behaviour change every day.
CHAP. XIII. Of the Behaviour of the Chinese.
BUT China is the place where the customs of the country can never be changed. Besides their women being absolutely separated from the men, their customs, like their morals, are taught in the schools. A man of letters may be known by his easy address. These things being once taught by precept, and inculcated by grave doctors, become fixed, like the principles of morality, and are never changed.
CHAP. XIV. What are the natural Means of changing the Manners and Customs of a Nation.
Book XIX. Chap. 14.WE have said that the laws were the particular and precise institutions of a legislator, and manners and customs the institutions of a nation in general. From hence it follows, that when these manners and customs are to be changed, it ought not to be done by laws; this would have too much the air of tyranny: it would be better to change them by introducing other manners and other customs.
Thus when a prince would make great alterations in his kingdom, he should reform by laws what is established by laws, and change by customs what is established by customs; for it is very bad policy to change by laws, what ought to be changed by customs.
The law which obliged the Muscovites to cut off their beards, and to shorten their cloaths, and the rigour wirh which Peter I. made them crop even to the knees, the long cloaks of those who entered into the cities, were instances of tyranny. There are means that may be made use of to prevent crimes, these are punishments: there are those for changing our customs, these are examples.
The facility and ease with which this nation has been polished, plainly shews that this prince had a worse opinion of his people than they deserved, and that they were not brutes though he was pleased to call them so. The violent measures which he ​Book XIX. Chap. 14.employed were needless; he would have attained his end as well by milder methods.
He himself experienced the easiness of bringing about these alterations. The women were shut up, and in some sort slaves; he called them to court; he sent them silks and stuffs, and made them dress like the German ladies. This sex immediately relished a manner of life which so greatly slattered their taste, their vanity, and their passions, and by their means it was relished by the men.
What rendered the change the more easy was, their manners being at that time foreign to the climate; and their having been introduced amongst them by conquest, and by a mixture of nations. Peter I. in giving the manners and customs of Europe to an European nation, found a facility which he did not himself expect. The empire of the climate is the first, the most powerful of all empires.
He had then no occasion for laws to change the manners and customs of his country; it would have been sufficient to have introduced other manners and other customs.
Nations are in general very tenacious of their customs ; to take them away by violence is to render them unhappy: we should not therefore change them, but engage the people to make the change themselves.
All punishment which is not derived from necessity, is tyrannical. The law is not a mere act of power; things in their own nature indifferent are not within its province.
CHAP. XV. The Influence of domestic Government on the political.
Book XIX. Chap. 15, & 16.THEchanging the manners of women had, without doubt, a great influence on the government ot Muscovy. One thing is very closely united to another: the despotic power of the prince is naturally connected with the servitude of women, the liberty of women with the spirit of monarchy.
CHAP. XVI. How some Legislators have confounded the Principles which govern Mankind.
MANNERS and customs are those habits which are not established by the laws, either because they were not able, or were not willing to establish them.
There is this difference between laws and manners, that the laws are most adapted to regulate the actions of the subject, and manners to regulate the actions of man. There is this difference between manners and customs, that the first principally relate to the interior conduct, the others to the exterior.
These things have been sometimes confounded. Lycurgus made the same code tor the laws, manners, and customs; and the legislators of China have done the same.
We ought not to be surprized, that the legislators of China and Sparta should confound the laws, ​Book XIX. Chap. 16.manners, and customs: the reason is, their manners represent their laws, and their customs their manners.
The principal object which the legislators of China had in view, was to make the people live in peace and tranquillity. They would have people filled with a veneration for one another, that each should be every moment sensible how greatly he was indebted to others, and that there was not a subject who did not in some degree depend on another subject. They therefore gave rules of . the most extensive civility.
Thus the inhabitants of the villages of China, observe amongst themselves the same ceremonies, as those observed by persons of an exalted station: a very proper method of inspiring mild and gentle dispositions, ot maintaining peace and good order amongst the people, and of banishing all the vices which spring from an asperity or temper. In effect, would not the freeing them from the rules of civility, be to search out a method for them to indulge their faults at ease?
Civility is in this respect of more value than politeness. Politeness slatters the vices of others, and civility prevents ours from being brought to light. It is a barrier which men have placed in themselves to prevent the corruption of each other.
Lycurgus, whose institutions were severe, had no regard to civility, in forming the external behaviour: he had a view to that warlike spirit which he would fain give to his people. A people who were ever correcting, or ever corrected, always instructing, or always instructed, endued with equal ​Book XIX. Chap. 17.simplicity and rigor, atoned by their virtues, for their want of complaisance.
CHAP. XVII. Of the peculiar Quality of the Chinese Government.
THE legislators of China went farther. They confounded together their religion, laws, manners, and customs; all those were morals, all these were virtue. The precepts relating to these four points were what they called rites; and it was in the exact observance of these that the Chinese government triumphed. They spent their whole youth in learning them, their whole life in their practice. They were taught by their men of learning, they were inculcated by the magistrates; and as they included all the ordinary actions of life, when they found the means of making them strictly observed, China was well governed.
Two things have contributed to the case with which these rites are engraved on the hearts and minds of the Chinese; the one, the difficulty of writing, which during the greatest part of their lives wholly employs their mind, because it is necessary to prepare them to read and understand the books in which they are comprized; the other, that the ritual precepts having nothing in them, that is spiritual, but being merely rules of common practice, they are more adapted to convince and strike the mind than things merely intellectual.
Those princes who instead of governing by these rites, governed by the force of punishments, wanted ​Book XIX. Chap. 17, & 18.to accomplish that by punishments, which it is not in their power to produce, that is, to give habits of morality. By punishments a subject is very justly cut off from society, who having lost the purity of his manners, violates the laws; but if all the world were to lose their moral habits, would these re-establish them? Punishments may be justly inflicted to put a stop to many of the consequences of the general evil, but it will not remove the evil itself. Thus when the principles of the Chinese government were discarded, and morality lost, the state fell into anarchy, and revolutions were seen to take place.
CHAP. XVIII. A Consequence drawn from the preceding Chapter.
FROM hence it follows that the laws of China are not destroyed by conquest. Their customs, manners, laws, and religion, being the same thing, they cannot change all these at once; and as it will happen, that either the conqueror or the conquered must change, in China it has always been the conqueror. For the manners of the conquering nations not being its customs, nor its customs its laws, nor its laws its religion, it has been more easy for them to conform by degrees to the vanquished people, than the vanquished people to them.
There still follows from hence a very unhappy consequence, which is, that it is almost impossible for Christianity ever to be established in China. ​Book XIX. Chap. 18, & 19.The vows of virginity, the assembling of women in churches, their necessary communication with the ministers of religion, their participation in the sacraments, auricular confession, extreme unction, the marriage of only one wife, all these overturn the manners and customs of the country, and with the same blow strike at their religion and laws.
The christian religion by the establishment of charity, by a public worship, by a participation of the same sacraments, seems to demand, that all should be united; while the rites of China seem to ordain that all should be separated.
CHAP. XIX. How this Union of Religion, Laws, Manners and Customs, amongst the Chinese was produced.
THE principal object of government which the Chinese legislators had in view, was the peace and tranquillity of the empire: And subordination appeared to them as the most proper means to maintain it. Filled with this idea, they believed it their duty to inspire a respect for fathers, and therefore assembled all their power to effect it. They established an infinite number of rites and ceremonies to do them honor when living, and after their death. It was impossible for them to pay such honors to deceased parents, without being led to honor the living. The ceremonies at the death of a father were more nearly related to religion, those for a living father had a greater relation to the laws, manners, and customs; however these were only parts of the same code, but this code was very extensive.
​Book XIX. Chap. 19.A veneration for fathers was necessarily connected with a suitable respect for all who represented fathers, such as old men, masters, magistrates, and the emperor. This respect for fathers, supposed a return of love towards children, and consequently the same return from old men to the young, from magistrates to those who were under their jurisdiction, and from the emperor to his subjects. This formed the rites, and these rites the general spirit of the nation.
We shall now shew the relation which things in appearance the most indifferent, may have to the fundamental constitution of China. This empire is formed on the plan of the government of family. If you diminish the paternal authority, or even if you retrench the ceremonies, which express your respect for it, you weaken the reverence due to magistrates, who are considered as fathers; nor would the magistrates have the same care of the people whom they ought to consider as their children; and that tender relation which subsists between the prince and his subjects, would insensibly be lost. Retrench but one of these habits, and you overturn the state. It is a thing in itself very different whether the daughter-in-law rises every morning to pay such and such duties to her mother-in-law: but if we consider that these exterior habits incessantly revive an idea necessary to be imprinted on all minds, an idea that forms the governing spirit of the empire, we shall see that it is necessary that such, or such a particular action be performed.
CHAP. XX. An Explication of a Paradox relating to the Chinese.
Book XIX. Chap. 20IT is very remarkable that the Chinese, whose lives are guided by rites, are nevertheless the greatest cheats upon earth. This appears chiefly in their trade, which in spite of its natural tendency, has never been able to make them honest. He who buys of them, ought to carry with him his ow weights, every merchant having three sorts, the one heavy for buying, another light for selling, and another of the true standard for those who are upon their guard. It is possible, I believe, to explain this contradiction.
The legislators of China had two objects in view; they were desirous that the people should be submissive and peaceful, and that they should also be laborious and industrious. By the nature of the soil and climate, their subsistence is very precarious; nor can it be any other way secured, than by the assistance of industry and labour.
When every one obeys, and every one is employed, the state is in a happy situation. It is necessity, and perhaps the nature of the climate, that has given to the Chinese an inconceivable greediness for gain, and laws have never been made to put a stop to it. Every thing has been forbidden, when acquired by acts of violence; every thing permitted, when obtained by artifice or labour. Let us not then compare the morals of China with those of Europe. Every one in China is obliged to be attentive to what will be for ​Book XIX. Chap. 21, & 22.his advantage; if the cheat has been watchful over his own interest, he who is the dupe ought to have thought of his. At Sparta they were permitted to steal; in China, they are suffered to deceive.
CHAP. XXI. How the Laws ought to have a Relation to Manners and Customs.
IT is only singular institutions which thus confound laws, manners, and customs, things naturally distinct and separate: but though they are things in themselves different, there is nevertheless a great relation between them.
Solon being asked if the laws he had given to the Athenians, were the best, he replied, "I have given them the best, they were able to bear." A fine expression, that ought to be perfectly understood by all legislators! When Divine Wisdom said to the Jews, "I have given you precepts which are not good," this signified that they had only a relative goodness; which is the sponge that wipes out all the difficulties that are to be found in the law of Moses.
CHAP. XXII. The same Subject continued.
WHEN a people have pure and regular manners, their laws become simple and natural. Plato says that Rhadamanthus, who governed a people extremely religious, finished every ​Book XIX. Chap, 23, & 24.process with extraordinary dispatch, administering only the oath on every accusation. But says the same Plato, when a people are not religious, we should never have recourse to an oath, except he who swears is entirely disinterested, as in the case of a judge and a witness.
CHAP. XXIII. How the Laws are founded on the Manners of a People.
AT the time when the manners of the Romans were pure, they had no particular law against the embezzlement of the public money. When this crime began to appear, it was thought so infamous, that to be condemned to restore what they had taken, was considered as a sufficient disgrace: for a proof of this, see the sentence of L. Scipio.
CHAP. XXIV. The same Subject continued.
THE laws which gave the right of tutelage to the mother, were most attentive to the preservation of the infant's person; those which gave it to the next heir, were most attentive to the preservation of the estate. When the manners of a people are corrupted, it is much better to give the tutelage to the mother. Amongst those whose laws confide in the manners of the subjects, the guardianship is given either to the next heir, or to the mother, and sometimes to both.
​Book XIX. Chap. 24, & 25.If we reflect on the Roman laws, we shall find that the spirit of these was conformable to what I have advanced. At the time when the laws of the twelve tables were made, the manners of the Romans were most admirable. The guardianship was given to the nearest relation of the infant, from a consideration that he ought to have the trouble of the tutelage, who might enjoy the advantage of possessing the inheritance. They did not imagine the life of the heir in danger, though it was put into a person's hands who would reap advantage by his death. But when the manners of Rome were changed, its legislators changed their conduct. If in the pupillary substitution, say Caius and Juilinian, the testator is afraid, that the substitute will lay any snares for the pupil, he may leave the vulgar substitution open, and put the pupillary into a part of the testament, which cannot be opened till after a certain time. These fears and precautions were unknown to the primitive Romans.
CHAP. XXV. The same Subject continued.
THE Roman law gave the liberty of making presents before marriage; after the marriage they Were not allowed. This was founded on the manners of the Romans, who were led to marriage, only by frugality, simplicity, and modesty; but who might suffer themselves to be ​Book XIX. Chap. 25, & 26.seduced by domestic cares, by complaisance and the happiness of a whole life.
A law of the Visigoths forbad the man giving more to the woman he was to marry than the tenth part of his substance, and his giving her any thing during the first year of their marriage. This also took its rise from the manners of the country. The legislators were willing to put a stop to that Spanish ostentation, which only led them to display an excessive liberality in acts of magnificence.
The Romans, by their laws, put a stop to some of the inconveniencies which arose from the most durable empire in the world, that of virtue; the Spaniards by theirs, would prevent the bad effects of a tyranny, the most frail and fleeting, that of beauty.
CHAP. XXVI. The same Subject continued.
THE law of Theodosius and Valentinian drew the causes of repudiation from the ancient manners and customs of the Romans. It placed in the number of these causes the behaviour of a husband who beat his wife, in a manner that disgraced the character of a freeborn woman. This cause was omitted in the following laws: for their manners were in this respect changed: eastern customs had banished those of Europe. The first eunuch of the empress, wife to Justinian II, threatened her, says the historian, to chastise her in the same manner as children are punished at ​Book XIX. Chap. 27.school. Nothing but established manners, or those which they were seeking to establish, could raise even an idea of this kind.
We have seen how the laws follow the manners of a people: let us now see how the manners follow the laws.
CHAP. XXVII. How the Laws contribute to form the Manners, Customs, and Character of a Nation.
THE customs of an enslaved people are a part of their servitude; those of a free people are a part of their liberty.
I have spoken in the eleventh Book of a free people, and have given the principles of their constitution: let us now see the effects which follow from this liberty, the character it is capable of forming, and the customs which naturally result from it.
I do not deny that the climate may have produced great part of the laws, manners, and customs of this nation; but I maintain that its manners and customs have a close connection with its laws.
As there are in this state two visible powers, the legislative and executive, and as every citizen has a will of his own, and may at pleasure assert his independence; most men have a greater fondness for one of these powers than for the other, and the multitude have commonly neither equity nor sense enough, to shew an equal affection to both.
As the executive power, by disposing of all employments, may give great hopes, and no fears, every man who obtains any favour from it, is ready ​Book XIX. Chap. 27.to espouse its cause; while it is liable to be attacked by those who have nothing to hope from it.
All the passions being unrestrained, hatred, envy, jealousy, and an ambitious desire of riches and honors, appear in their full extent: were it otherwise, the state would be in the condition of a man weakened by sickness, who is without passions, because he is without strength.
The hatred which arises between the two parties will always subsist, because it will always be impotent.
These parties being composed of freemen, if the one becomes too powerful for the other, as a consequence of liberty, this other is depressed; while the citizens take the weaker side, with the same readiness as the hands lend their assistance to remove the infirmities and disorders of the body.
Every individual is independent, and being commonly led by caprice and humour, frequently changes parties; he abandons one where he lest all his friends, to unite himself to another in which he finds all his enemies: so that in this nation it frequently happens that the people forget the laws of friendship, as well as those of hatred.
The sovereign is here in the same case with a private person, and against the ordinary maxims of prudence, is frequently obliged to give his confidence to those who have most offended him: and to disgrace the men who have best served him; he does that by necessity which other princes do by choice.
As we are afraid of being deprived of the blessing we already enjoy, and which may be disguised and misrepresented to us; and as fear always enlarges ​Book XIX. Chap. 27.objects; the people are uneasy under such a situation, and believe themselves in danger, even in those moments when they are most secure.
As those who with the greatest warmth oppose the executive power, dare not avow the self-interested motives of their opposition, so much the more do they increase the terrors of the people, who can never be certain whether they are in danger or not. But even this contributes to make them avoid the real dangers to which they may in the end be exposed.
But the legislative body having the confidence of the people, and being more enlightened than they, may calm their uneasiness, and make them recover from the bad impressions they have entertained.
This is the great advantage which this government has over the ancient democracies, in which the people had an immediate power; for when they were moved and agitated by the orators, these agitations always produced their effects.
But when an impression of terror has no certain object, it produces only clamours and abuse; it has however, this good effect, that it puts all the springs of government in motion, and fixes the attention of every citizen. But if it arises from a violation of the fundamental laws, it is sullen, cruel, and produces the most dreadful catastrophes.
Soon we should see a frightful calm, during which every one would unite against that power which had violated the laws.
If when the uneasiness proceeds from no certain object, some foreign power should threaten the state, or put its prosperity or its glory in danger, their little interests of party would then yield to the ​Book XIX. Chap. 27.more strong and binding, and there would be a perfect coalition in favour of the executive power.
But if the disputes were occasioned by a violation of the fundamental laws, and a foreign power should appear; there would be a revolution that would neither alter the constitution nor the form of government. For a revolution formed by liberty becomes a confirmation of liberty.
A free nation may have a deliverer; a nation enslaved can have only another oppressor.
For whoever has a power sufficient to dethrone an absolute prince, has a power sufficient to enable him to become absolute himself.
As the enjoyment of liberty, and even its support and preservation, consists in every man's being allowed to speak his thoughts and to lay open his sentiments; a citizen in this state will say or write whatever the laws do not expresly forbid to be said or wrote.
A people like this being always in a ferment, are more easily conducted by their passions than by reason, which never produces any great effects in the mind of men; it is therefore easy for those who govern, to make them undertake enterprizes contrary to their true interest.
This nation is passionately fond of liberty, because this liberty is true and real; and it is possible for it, in its defence, to sacrifice its wealth, its ease, its interest, and to support the burthen of the most heavy taxes, even such as a despotic prince durst not lay upon his subjects.
But as the people have a certain knowledge of the necessity of submitting to them, they pay from the well founded hope of their soon paying them no ​Book XIX. Chap. 27.longer; their burthens are heavy, but they do not feel their weight: while in other states the uneasiness is infinitely greater than the evil.
This nation must therefore have a fixed and certain credit, because it borrows of itself and pays itself. It is possible for it to undertake things above its natural strength, and employ against its enemies immense sums of fictitious riches which the credit and nature of its government may render real.
To preserve its liberty, it borrows of its subjects; and its subjects seeing that its credit would be lost, if ever it was conquered, have a new motive to make fresh efforts in defence of its liberty.
This nation inhabiting an island is not fond of conquering, because it would be weakened by distant conquests: especially as the soil of the island is good; because it has then no need of enriching itself by war; and as no citizen is subject to another, each sets a greater value on his own liberty, than on the glory of one, or any number of citizens.
Military men are there regarded as belonging to a profession which may be useful, but is often dangerous; and as men whose very services are burthensome to the nation: civil qualifications are therefore more esteemed than the military.
This nation, which liberty and the laws render easy, on being freed from pernicious prejudices, is become a trading people; and as it has some of those primitive materials of trade, out of which are made such things as from the artist's hand receive a considerable value, it has made settlements proper to procure the enjoyment of this gift of heaven in its fulled extent.
​Book XIX. Chap. 27.As this nation is situated towards the north, and has many superfluous commodities; it must want also a great number of merchandizes which its climate will not produce: it has therefore entered into a great and necessary commerce with the southern nations; and making choice of those states whom it is willing to favour with an advantageous commerce, it enters into such treaties with the nation it has chosen, as are reciprocally useful to both.
In a state, where on the one hand the opulence is extreme, and on the other the taxes are excessive, they are hardly able to live on a small fortune without industry: Many therefore under a pretence of travelling or of health, retire from amongst them, and go in search of plenty, even to the countries of slavery.
A trading nation has a prodigious number of little particular interests; it may then injure or be injured, an infinite number of different ways. Thus it becomes immoderately jealous, and is more afflicted at the prosperity of others, than it rejoices at its own.
And its laws, otherwise mild and easy, may be so rigid with respect to the trade and navigation carried on with it, that it may seem to trade only with enemies.
If this nation sends colonies abroad, it must rather be to extend its commerce than its dominion.
As men are fond of introducing into other places what they have established amongst themselves, they have given the people ot their colonies the form of their own government; and this government carrying prosperity along with it, they have formed great nations the forests they were sent to inhabit.
​Book XIX. Chap. 27.Having formerly subdued a neighbouring nation, which by its situation, the goodness of its ports, and the nature of its products, inspires it with jealousy; though it has given this nation its own laws, yet it holds it in great dependance: the subjects there are free, and the state itself in slavery.
The conquered state has an excellent civil government, but it is oppressed by the law of nations; laws are imposed by one nation on the other, and these are such as render its prosperity precarious, and dependent on the will of a master.
The ruling nation inhabiting a large island, and being in possession of a great trade, hath with extraordinary ease grown powerful at sea; and as the preservation of its liberties require that it should have neither strong holds, nor fortresses, nor land forces, it has occasion for a formidable navy to preserve it from invasions; a navy which must be superior to that of all other powers, who employing their treasures in wars at land, have not sufficient for those at sea.
The empire of the sea has always given those who have enjoyed it a natural pride; because thinking themselves capable of extending their insults wherever they please, they imagine that their power is as boundless as the ocean.
This nation has a great influence in the affairs of its neighbours; for as its power is not employed in conquests, its friendship is more courted, and its resentment more dreaded, than could naturally be expected from the inconstancy of its government, and its domestic commotions.
Thus it is the fate of the executive power to be almost always disturbed at home and respected abroad.
​Book XIX. Chap. 27.Should this nation on some occasions become the center of the negotiations of Europe, probity and good faith would be carried to a greater height than in other places; because the ministers being frequently obliged to justify their conduct before a popular council, their negotiations could not be secret; and they would be forced to be, in this respect, a little more honest.
Besides, as they would in some sort be answerable for the events which an irregular conduct might produce, the surest, the safest way for them, would be to take the straightest path.
If the nobles were formerly possessed of an immoderate power, and the monarch had found the means of abasing them by raising the people; the point of extreme servitude must have been that between humbling the nobility, and that in which the people began to feel their power.
Thus this nation have been formerly subject to an arbitrary power, on many occasions preserves the stile of it, in such a manner, as to let us frequently see upon the foundation of a free government, the form of an absolute monarchy.
With regard to religion, as in this state every subject has a free will, and must consequently be either conducted by the light of his own mind or by the caprices of fancy; it necessarily follows that every one must either look upon all religion with indifference, by which means they must be led to embrace the established religion; or that they must be zealous for religion in general, by which means the number of sects must be encreased.
It is not impossible but that in this nation there may be men of no religion, who would not ​Book XIX. Chap. 27.however bear to be obliged to change that which they would chuse, if they cared to chuse any; for they would immediately perceive that their lives and fortunes are not more peculiarly theirs than their manner of thinking, and that whoever would deprive them of the one, might, even with better reason, take away the other.
If amongst the different religions, there is one that has been attempted to be established by methods of slavery, it must there be odious; because as we judge of things by the appendages we join with them, it could never present itself to the mind in conjunction with the idea of liberty.
The laws against those who profess this religion could not however be of the sanguinary kind; for liberty can never inflict these sorts of punishments: but they may be so rigorous as to do all the mischief that could be done in cold blood.
It is possible that a thousand circumstances might concur to give the clergy so little credit, that other citizens may have more. Therefore instead of a separation, they have chose rather to support the same burthens as the laity, and in this respect, to make only one body with them: but as they always seek to conciliate the respect of the people, they distinguish themselves by a more retired life, a conduct more reserved, and a greater purity of manners.
The clergy not being able to protect religion, nor to be protected by it, only seek to persuade: their pens, therefore, furnish us with excellent works in proof of a revelation, and of the Providence of the Supreme Being.
Yet the state prevents the sitting of their assemblies, and does not suffer them to correct their own ​Book XIX. Chap. 27.abuses; it chuses thus, through a caprice of liberty, rather to leave their reformation imperfect, than to suffer the clergy to be the reformers.
Those dignities which make a fundamental part of the constitution are more fixed than elsewhere; but, on the other hand, the great, in this country of liberty, are nearer upon a level with the people; their ranks are more separated, and their persons more confounded.
As those who govern have a power which, in some measure, has need of fresh vigor every day, they have a greater regard for those who are useful to them, than for those who only contribute to their amusement: we see therefore fewer countries, flatterers and parasites, in short fewer of all those who make their own advantage of the folly of the great.
Men are less esteemed for frivolous talents and attainments, than for essential qualities; and of this kind there are but two, riches, and personal merit.
They enjoy a solid luxury, founded not on the refinements of vanity, but on that of real wants; they ask nothing of nature but what nature can be bestow.
The rich enjoy a great superfluity of fortune, and yet have no relish for frivolous amusements: thus many having more wealth than opportunities of expence, employ it in a fantastical manner: in this nation they have more judgment than taste.
As they are always employed about their own interest, they have not that politeness which is founded on indolence; and they really have not leisure to attain it.
The æra of Roman politeness is the same as that of the establishment of arbitrary power. An ​Book XIX. Chap. 27.absolute government produces indolence, and indolence gives birth to politeness.
The more people there are in a nation who require a circumspect behaviour, and a care not to displease, the more there is of politeness. But it is rather the politeness of morals than that of manners which ought to distinguish us from barbarous nations.
In a country where every man has in some sort a share in the administration of the government, the women ought scarcely to live with the men. They are therefore modest, that is, timid; and this timidity constitutes their virtue: whilst the men without a taste for gallantry plunge themselves into a debauchery which leaves them at leisure, and in the enjoyment of their full liberty.
Their laws not being made for one individual more than another, each considers himself as a monarch; and indeed the men of this nation are rather confederates than fellow subjects.
As the climate has given many persons a restless spirit and extended views, in a country where the constitution gives every man a share in its government and political interests, conversation generally turns upon politics: and we see men spend their lives in the calculation of events, which, considering the nature of things and the caprices of fortune, or rather of men, can scarcely be thought subject to the rules of calculation.
In a free nation it is very often a matter of indifference whether individuals reason well or ill; it is sufficient that they do reason: from hence springs that liberty which is a security from the effects of these reasonings.
​Book XIX. Chap. 27.But in a despotic government it is equally pernicious whether they reason well or ill; their reasoning is alone sufficient to shock the principle of their government.
Many people who have no desire of pleasing, abandon themselves to their own particular humour; most of those who have wit and ingenuity are ingenious in tormenting themselves; filled with a contempt or disgust for all things, they are unhappy amidst all the blessings that can possibly contribute to their happiness.
As no subject fears another, the whole nation is proud; for the pride of kings is founded only on their independence.
Free nations are haughty; others may more properly be called vain.
But as these men who are naturally so proud, live much by themselves, they are commonly bashful when they come among strangers; and we frequently see them behave for a considerable time with an odd mixture of pride and ill placed shame.
The character of the nation is more particularly discovered in their literary performances, in which we find the men of thought and deep meditation.
As society gives us a sense of the ridicules of mankind, retirement renders us more fit to reflect on the folly of vice. Their satyrical writings are sharp and severe, and we find amongst them many Juvenals, without discovering one Horace.
In monarchies extremely absolute historians betray the truth, because they are not at liberty to speak it; in states remarkably free, they betray the truth because of their liberty itself, which always produces divisions, every one becoming as great a slave to the ​Book XIX Chap. 27.prejudices of his faction, as he could be in a despotic state.
Their poets have more frequently an original rudeness of invention, than that particular kind of delicacy which springs from taste, we there find something which approaches nearer to the bold strength of a Michael Angelo, than to the softer graces of a Raphael.
End of the First Volume.
* ↑ They cut out the tongues of the advocates, and cried: Viper don't hiss. Tacitus.
* ↑ Agathias, lib. 4.
* ↑ Justin 1. 38.
* ↑ Calutanias litium. ibid.
* ↑ Prompti aditus, nova cemitas, ignotœ Pathis virtutes, nova vitis. Tacitus.
* ↑ He has described this interview which happened in the year 1596, in the Collection of voyages for the establishment of an India Company, Vol. 3. part 1. p. 35.
* ↑ Fable of the bees.
* ↑ The people who follow the Khan of Malacamber, those of Camatara and Coromandel, are proud and indole t; they consume little because they are miserably poor; while the subjects of the Mogul. and the people of Indostan, employ themselves and enjoy the conveniencies of life like the Europeans. Collection of Voyoges for the Establishment of an India Company. Vol. 1. p. 54.
* ↑ See Dampier, Vol. 3.
* ↑ Edifying Letters, 12th Collect. p. 8c.
* ↑ Lib. 43.
* ↑ By the nature of the soil and climate.
* ↑ Du Halde, Vol. 2.
* ↑ Du Halde.
* ↑ Moses made the same code for laws and religion. The old Roman, confounded the ancient customs with the laws.
* ↑ See Du Halde.
* ↑ See the Classic books from which father Du Halde gives us some excellent extracts.
* ↑ It is this which has established emulation, which has banished laziness, and cultivated a love of learning.
* ↑ See the reasons given by the Chinese magistrates in their decrees for proscribing the Christian religion. Edifying Letters, 1-th Collect.
* ↑ Lange's Journal in 1721, and 1722, in Voyages to the north, vol. 8. p. 363.
* ↑ Of Laws, 1. b. 12.
* ↑ Of Laws, 1. 12.
* ↑ In simplum.
* ↑ Livy, 1. 38.
* ↑ Institut. Lib. 2. tit. 6. §. 2. Ozel's compilement, at Leyden, in 1658.
* ↑ Institut. 1. 2. de pupil. subsit. §. 3.
* ↑ The form of the vulgar substitution ran thus; If such a one is unwilling to take the inheritance, I substitute in his stead, &c. the pupillary substitution; If such a one dies before hr arrives at the age of puberty, I substitute, &c.
* ↑ Lib. 4. tit. 1. §. 5.
* ↑ Leg. 8. cod. de Repudiis.
* ↑ And the law of the 12 tables. See Cicero's 2d Philippic.
* ↑ Si verberibus quœ ingenuis aliena sunt, afficiente probaverit.
* ↑ In Nov, 117. c. 14.
* ↑ Ch. 6.