edition and
demolishes the idol which he has made, when he considers it no longer in
conformity with the interests of Heaven, which he speaks of as he
pleases, and which never speaks but in behalf of his interests. No doubt
it will be said, that the sovereigns, knowing all the advantages which
religion procures for them, are truly interested in upholding it with
all their strength. If religious opinions are useful to tyrants, it is
evident that they are useless to those who govern according to the laws
of reason and of equity. Is there any advantage in exercising tyranny?
Does not tyranny deprive princes of true power, the love of the people,
in which is safety? Should not every rational prince perceive that the
despot is but an insane man who injures himself? Will not every
enlightened prince beware of his flatterers, whose object is to put him
to sleep at the edge of the precipice to which they lead him?

CLI.--RELIGION FAVORS THE ERRORS OF PRINCES, BY DELIVERING THEM FROM FEAR
AND REMORSE.

If the sacerdotal flatteries succeed in perverting princes and changing
them into tyrants, the latter on their side necessarily corrupt the
great men and the people. Under an unjust master, without goodness,
without virtue, who knows no law but his caprice, a nation must become
necessarily depraved. Will this master wish to have honest, enlightened,
and virtuous men near him? No! he needs flatterers in those who
approach him, imitators, slaves, base and servile minds, who give
themselves up to his taste; his court will spread the contagion of vice
to the inferior classes. By degrees all will be necessarily corrupted,
in a State whose chief is corrupt himself. It was said a long time ago
that the princes seem ordained to do all they do themselves. Religion,
far from being a restraint upon the sovereigns, entitles them, without
fear and without remorse, to the errors which are as fatal to themselves
as to the nations which they govern. Men are never deceived with
impunity. Tell a prince that he is a God, and very soon he will believe
that he owes nothing to anybody. As long as he is feared, he will not
care much for love; he will recognize no rights, no relations with his
subjects, nor obligations in their behalf. Tell this prince that he is
responsible for his actions to God alone, and very soon he will act as
if he was responsible to nobody.

CLII.--WHAT IS AN ENLIGHTENED SOVEREIGN?

An enlightened sovereign is he