Book XI.
Chap. 6.it was composed of several bodies, that depended each on their particular province; it is because the capital towns were strong places, defended by their natural situation, and not garrisoned with regular troops. Holland for instance, is still safer than Venice; she might drown, or starve the revolted troops; for as they are not quartered in towns capable of furnishing them with necessary subsistence; this subsistence is of course precarious.
Whoever shall read the admirable treatise of Tacitus on the manners of the Germans[1], will find that it is from them the English have borrowed the idea of their political government. This beautiful system was invented first in the woods.
As all human things have an end, the state we are speaking of will lose its liberty, will perish. Have not Rome, Sparta, and Carthage perished? It will perish when the legislative power shall be more corrupt than the executive.
It is not my busines to examine whether the English actually enjoy this liberty, or nor: Sufficient it is for my purpose to observe, that it is established by their laws; and I inquire no further.
Neither do I pretend by this to undervalue other governments, nor to say that this extreme political liberty ought to give uneasiness to those who have only a moderate share of it. How should I have any such design, I who think that even the excess of reason is not always desirable, and that mankind generally find their account better in mediums than in extremes?
Harrington in his Occana has also inquired into
- ↑ De minoribus rebus principes consultant, de majoribus emnes; ita famen ut ca. quoque quorum penes plebem arbitrium est, apud principes pertractentur.
