For, if there is, in each State, only one good system, the people that is in possession of it should hold fast to this; but if the established order is bad, why should laws that prevent men from being good be regarded as fundamental? Besides, in any case, a people is always in a position to change its laws, however good; for, if it choose to do itself harm, who can have a right to stop it?
The second relation is that of the members one to another, or to the body as a whole; and this relation should be in the first respect as unimportant, and in the second as important, as possible.Each citizen would then be perfectly independent of all the rest, and at the same time very dependent on the city; which is brought about always by the same means, as the strength of the State can alone secure the liberty of its members.From this second relation arise civil laws.
We may consider also a third kind of relation between the individual and the law, a relation of disobedience to its penalty.This gives rise to the setting up of criminal laws, which, at bottom, are less a particular class of law than the sanction behind all the rest.
Along with these three kinds of law goes a fourth, most important of all, which is not graven on tablets of marble or brass, but on the hearts of the citizens.This forms the real constitution of the State, takes on every day new powers, when other laws decay or die out, restores them or takes their place, keeps a people in the ways in which it was meant to go, and insensibly replaces authority by the force of habit.I am speaking of morality, of custom, above all of public opinion; a power unknown to political thinkers, on which none the less success in everything else depends.
With this the great legislator concerns himself in secret, though he seems to confine himself to particular regulations; for these are only the arc of the arch, while manners and morals, slower to arise, form in the end its immovable keystone.
Among the different classes of laws, the political, which determine the forms of the government, are alone relevant to my subject.
6.To be general, a will need not always be unanimous; but every vote must be counted: any exclusion is a breach of generality.
7."Every interest," says the Marquis d'Argenson, "has different principles.The agreement of two particular interests is formed by opposition to a third." He might have added that the agreement of all interests is formed by opposition to that of each.
If there were no different interests, the common interest would be barely felt, as it would encounter no obstacle; all would go on of its own accord, and politics would cease to be an art.
8."In fact," says Machiavelli, "there are some divisions that are harmful to a Republic and some that are advantageous.
Those which stir up sects and parties are harmful; those attended by neither are advantageous.Since, then, the founder of a Republic cannot help enmities arising, he ought at least to prevent them from growing into sects" ( History of Florence , Book vii).
9.Attentive readers, do not, I pray, be in a hurry to charge me with contradicting myself.The terminology made it unavoidable, considering the poverty of the language; but wait and see.
10.I understand by this word, not merely an aristocracy or a democracy, but generally any government directed by the general will, which is the law.To be legitimate, the government must be, not one with the Sovereign, but its minister.In such a case even a monarchy is a Republic.This will be made clearer in the following book.
11.A people becomes famous only when its legislation begins to decline.We do not know for how many centuries the system of Lycurgus made the Spartans happy before the rest of Greece took any notice of it.
12.Montesquieu, The Greatness and Decadence of the Romans , ch.i.
13.Those who know Calvin only as a theologian much under-estimate the extent of his genius.The codification of our wise edicts, in which he played a large part, does him no less honour than his Institute.Whatever revolution time may bring in our religion, so long as the spirit of patriotism and liberty still lives among us, the memory of this great man will be for ever blessed.
14."In truth," says Machiavelli, "there has never been, in any country, an extraordinary legislator who has not had recourse to God; for otherwise his laws would not have been accepted:
there are, in fact, many useful truths of which a wise man may have knowledge without their having in themselves such clear reasons for their being so as to be able to convince others" ( Discourses on Livy , Bk.v, ch.
xi).
15.If there were two neighbouring peoples, one of which could not do without the other, it would be very hard on the former, and very dangerous for the latter.Every wise nation, in such a case, would make haste to free the other from dependence.The Republic of Thiascala, enclosed by the Mexican Empire, preferred doing without salt to buying from the Mexicans, or even getting it from them as a gift.The Thiascalans were wise enough to see the snare hidden under such liberality.
They kept their *******, and that little State, shut up in that great Empire, was finally the instrument of its ruin.
16.If the object is to give the State consistency, bring the two extremes as near to each other as possible;allow neither rich men nor beggars.These two estates, which are naturally inseparable, are equally fatal to the common good; from the one come the friends of tyranny, and from the other tyrants.It is always between them that public liberty is put up to auction; the one buys, and the other sells.
17."Any branch of foreign commerce,"
says M.d'Argenson, "creates on the whole only apparent advantage for the kingdom in general; it may enrich some individuals, or even some towns;but the nation as a whole gains nothing by it, and the people is no better off."