Part 12 (1/2)
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 a.s.semblies, and does not suffer them to correct their own abuses; it chooses 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 const.i.tution 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 such as are useful to them than for those who only contribute to their amus.e.m.e.nt: we see, therefore, fewer courtiers, 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 bestow.
The rich enjoy a great superfluity of fortune, and yet have no relish for frivolous amus.e.m.e.nts; thus, many having more wealth than opportunities of expense, employ it in a fantastic 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 era of Roman politeness is the same as that of the establishment of arbitrary power. An absolute government produces indolence, and this gives birth to politeness.
The more people there are in a nation who require circ.u.mspect behavior, and 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 const.i.tutes 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 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 const.i.tution 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 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: hence springs that liberty which is a security from the effects of these reasonings.
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 that government.
Many people who have no desire of pleasing abandon themselves to their own particular humor; and most of those who have wit and ingenuity are ingenious in tormenting themselves: filled with contempt or disgust for all things, they are unhappy amidst all the blessings that can possibly contribute to promote their felicity.
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 appear 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 ridicule of mankind, retirement renders us more fit to reflect on the folly of vice. Their satirical 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, everyone becoming as great a slave to the 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.
1 They cut out the tongues of the advocates, and cried, ”Viper, don't hiss.”-Tacitus.
2 Agathias, lib. IV.
3 Justin, lib. x.x.xVIII.
4 ”Calumnias litium.”-Justin, lib. x.x.xVIII.
5 ”Prompti aditus, nova comitas, ignotae Parthis virtutes, nova vitia.”-Tacitus.
6 He has described this interview, which happened in 1596, in the ”Collection of Voyages for the establishment of an India Company,” vol. iii. part I. p. 33.
7 Book LIV. 532.
8 Fable of the Bees.
9 The people who follow the khan of Malacamber, those of Carnataca and Coromandel, are proud and indolent; they consume little, because they are miserably poor; while the subjects of the Mogul and the people of Hindostan employ themselves, and enjoy the conveniences of life, like the Europeans.-”Collection of Voyages for the Establishment of an India Company,” vol. i. p. 54.
10 See Dampier, vol. iii.
11 ”Edifying Letters,” 12th collect. p. 80.
12 By the nature of the soil and climate.
13 Lib. XLIII.
14 Du Halde, vol. ii.
15 Du Halde.
16 Moses made the same code for laws and religion. The old Romans confounded the ancient customs with the laws.
17 See Du Halde.
18 See the cla.s.sic books from which Father Du Halde gives us some excellent extracts.
19 It is this which has established emulation, which has banished laziness, and cultivated a love of learning.
20 See the reasons given by the Chinese magistrates in their decrees for proscribing the Christian religion. ”Edifying Letters,” 17th collect.
21 See book IV. chap. iii., and book XIX. chap. xii.
22 See book XXIV. chap. iii.
23 Lange's Journal in 1721 and 1722, in ”Voyages to the North,” vol. viii. p. 363.
24 Plutarch, ”Life of Solon.” 9.
25 ”Of Laws,” lib. XII.
26 Ibid. XII.