ible
to imagine a more completely central government than that which existed
in France under Louis XIV.; when the same individual was the author and
the interpreter of the laws, and the representative of France at home
and abroad, he was justified in asserting that the State was identified
with his person. Nevertheless, the administration was much less
centralized under Louis XIV. than it is at the present day.

In England the centralization of the government is carried to great
perfection; the State has the compact vigor of a man, and by the
sole act of its will it puts immense engines in motion, and wields or
collects the efforts of its authority. Indeed, I cannot conceive that
a nation can enjoy a secure or prosperous existence without a powerful
centralization of government. But I am of opinion that a central
administration enervates the nations in which it exists by incessantly
diminishing their public spirit. If such an administration succeeds
in condensing at a given moment, on a given point, all the disposable
resources of a people, it impairs at least the renewal of those
resources. It may ensure a victory in the hour of strife, but it
gradually relaxes the sinews of strength. It may contribute admirably
to the transient greatness of a man, but it cannot ensure the durable
prosperity of a nation.

If we pay proper attention, we shall find that whenever it is said
that a State cannot act because it has no central point, it is the
centralization of the government in which it is deficient. It is
frequently asserted, and we are prepared to assent to the proposition,
that the German empire was never able to bring all its powers into
action. But the reason was, that the State was never able to enforce
obedience to its general laws, because the several members of that great
body always claimed the right, or found the means, of refusing their
co-operation to the representatives of the common authority, even in the
affairs which concerned the mass of the people; in other words, because
there was no centralization of government. The same remark is applicable
to the Middle Ages; the cause of all the confusion of feudal society
was that the control, not only of local but of general interests, was
divided amongst a thousand hands, and broken up in a thousand different
ways; the absence of a central government prevented the nations of
Europe from advancing with energy in any straightforward course.

We have shown that in