prince does not bring a
despotic state nearer its ruin than indifference to the public
good does a republic. The advantage of a free state consists in
this, that its revenues are in general better administered; and
even where this is not the case, it has at first the advantage of
not being governed by court favourites. But, on the other hand,
the corrupting power in a democracy, when once brought into
action, erelong becomes more dissolving than in a despotism; for
instead of paying court merely to the friends and relations of
the prince, it becomes necessary to provide for the friends and
relations of the multitude who have a share in political power.
All is then lost. The laws are eluded in a more dangerous manner
than by the violence of a despot; for they are so by the
interests of the changing many, not the passions of one, whose
position at the head of the state being fixed and unchangeable,
gives him a lasting interest in its preservation."--C. 4.

How many reflections does this passage, written in France above a
century ago, awaken in the breast of a British citizen at this
time!--"Si monumentum quaeris, circumspice!" So true it is, that real
political truth belongs to no age or locality--"non alia Romae, alia
Athenis;" it is of eternal application, and is destined to receive
confirmation from the experience of men, and the lessons of history,
to the end of the world.

"Powers," says Montesquieu, "which owe their greatness to
commerce, may exist long in mediocrity, but their grandeur can
never be of long duration. The reason is, that they rise to
greatness by little and little, without any one being aware of
their growth, as they have done nothing which attracts attention,
awakens alarm, or indicates their power. But when it has risen to
that point, that no one can avoid seeing it, all the surrounding
nations secretly endeavour to deprive the great commercial state
of advantages which they all envy, and which have taken them, as
it were, by surprise."--C. 4.

Few persons who contemplate the present state of the British empire,
its astonishing rise to greatness in the space of less than a
century--the general, it may be said universal jealousy with which it
is regarded, and the perilous pinnacle on which it now stands, will
deny the justice of this observation. May the remark, as to