This has also been found true in America; the despotic empires of Mexico and Peru were near the Line, and almost all the little free nations were, and are still, near the Poles.
3. — Of the Climate of Asia The relations of travellers c inform us " that the vast continent of the north of Asia, which extends from forty degrees or a Du Halde, vol. i. p. 112. c See " Travels to the North," vol.
& The Chinese books make mention viii.- the "Hist, of the Tartars"; and of this. Ibid. Du Halde, vol. iv.
THE SPIRIT OF LAWS 265 thereabouts to the pole, and from the frontiers of Muscovy even to the eastern ocean, is in an extremely cold climate; that this immense tract of land is divided by a chain of mountains which run from west to east, leaving Siberia on the north, and Great Tartary on the south; that the climate of Siberia is so cold that, excepting a few places, it is unsusceptible of cultivation; and that, though the Russians have settlements all along the Irtis, they cultivate nothing; that this country produces only some little firs and shrubs; that the natives of the country are di- vided into wretched hordes or tribes, like those of Canada; that the reason of this cold proceeds, on the one hand, from the height of the land, and on the other from the mountains, which, in proportion as they run from south to north, are levelled in such a manner that the north wind everywhere blows with- out opposition; that this wind, which renders Nova Zembla uninhabitable, blowing in Siberia makes it a barren waste; that in Europe, on the contrary, the mountains of Norway and Lapland are admirable bulwarks, which cover the northern countries from the wind; so that at Stockholm, which is about fifty-nine degrees latitude, the earth produces plants, fruits, and corn; and that about Abo, which is sixty-one degrees, and even to sixty-three and sixty-four, there are mines of silver, and the land is fruitful enough."
We see also in these relations " that Great Tartary, situated to the south of Siberia, is also exceedingly cold; that the coun- try will not admit of cultivation; that nothing can be found but pasturage for flocks and herds; that trees will not grow there, but only brambles, as in Iceland; that there are, near China and India, some countries where there grows a kind of millet, but that neither corn nor rice will ripen; that there is scarcely a place in Chinese Tartary at forty-three, forty-four, and forty- five degrees where it does not freeze seven or eight months in the year, so that it is cold as Iceland, though it might be imagined, from its situation, to be as hot as the south of France; that there are no cities, except four or five towards the eastern ocean, and some which the Chinese, for political reasons, have built near China; that in the rest of Great Tartary there are only a few situated in Buchar, Turkestan, and Cathay; that the reason of this extreme cold proceeds from the nature of the nitrous earth, full of saltpetre and sand, and more particularly 266 MONTESQUIEU 266 MONTESQUIEU from the height of the land. Father Verbiest found that a cer- tain place, eighty leagues north of the great wall, towards the source of Kavamhuran, exceeded the height of the sea near Pekin three thousand geometrical paces; that this height d is the cause that though almost all the great rivers of Asia have their source in this country, there is, however, so great a want of water that it can be inhabited only near the rivers and lakes."
These facts being laid down, I reason thus: Asia has prop- erly no temperate zone, as the places situated in a very cold climate immediately touch upon those which are exceedingly hot, that is, Turkey, Persia, India, China, Corea, and Japan.
In Europe, on the contrary, the temperate zone is very ex- tensive, though situated in climates widely different from each other; there being no affinity between the climates of Spain and Italy and those of Norway and Sweden. But as the climate grows insensibly cold upon our advancing from south to north, nearly in proportion to the latitude of each country, it thence follows that each resembles the country joining it; that there is no very extraordinary difference between them, and that, as I have just said, the temperate zone is very extensive.
Hence it comes that in Asia the strong nations are opposed to the weak; the warlike, brave, and active people touch imme- diately upon those who are indolent, effeminate, and timorous; the one must, therefore, conquer, and the other be conquered. In Europe, on the contrary, strong nations are opposed to the strong; and those who join each other have nearly the same courage. This is the grand reason of the weakness of Asia, and of the strength of Europe; of the liberty of Europe, and of the slavery of Asia: a cause that I do not recollect ever to have seen remarked. Hence it proceeds that liberty in Asia never increases; whilst in Europe it is enlarged or diminished, ac- cording to particular circumstances.
The Russian nobility have indeed been reduced to slavery by the ambition of one of their princes; but they have always discovered those marks of impatience and discontent which are never to be seen in the southern climates. Have they not been able for a short time to establish an aristocratic govern- ment? Another of the northern kingdoms has lost its laws; but we may trust to the climate that they are not lost in such a manner as never to be recovered.
d Tartary is, then, a kind of flat mountain.
THE SPIRIT OF LAWS 267 4. — The Consequences resulting from this What we have now said is perfectly conformable to history. Asia has been subdued thirteen times; eleven by the north- ern nations, and twice by those of the south. In the early ages it was conquered three times by the Scythians; afterwards it was subdued once by the Medes, and once by the Persians; again by the Greeks, the Arabs, the Moguls, the Turks, the Tartars, the Persians, and the Afghans. I mention only the Upper Asia, and say nothing of the invasions made in the rest of the south of that part of the world which has most frequently suffered prodigious revolutions.
In Europe, on the contrary, since the establishment of the Greek and Phoenician colonies, we know but of four great changes; the first caused by the conquest of the Romans; the second by the inundation of barbarians, who destroyed those very Romans; the third by the victories of Charlemagne; and the last by the invasions of the Normans. And if this be rightly examined, we shall find, even in these changes, a general strength diffused through all the parts of Europe. We know the difficulty which the Romans met with in conquering Eu- rope, and the ease and facility with which they invaded Asia. We are sensible of the difficulties the northern nations had to encounter in overturning the Roman empire; of the wars and labors of Charlemagne; and of the several enterprises of the Normans. The destroyers were incessantly destroyed.
5. — That when the People in the North of Asia and those of the North of Europe made Conquests, the Effects of the Conquest were not the same The nations in the north of Europe conquered as freemen; the people in the north of Asia conquered as slaves, and sub- dued others only to gratify the ambition of a master.
The reason is, that the people of Tartary, the natural con- querors of Asia, are themselves enslaved. They are inces- santly making conquests in the south of Asia, where they form empires: but that part of the nation which continues in the country finds that it is subject to a great master, who, being despotic in the South, will likewise be so in the North, and exer- 268 MONTESQUIEU cising an arbitrary power over the vanquished subjects, pre- tends to the same over the conquerors. This is at present most conspicuous in that vast country called Chinese Tartary, which is governed by the emperor, with a power almost as despotic as that of China itself, and which he every day extends by his conquests.
We may likewise see in the history of China that the em- perors e sent Chinese colonies into Tartary. These Chinese have become Tartars, and the mortal enemies of China; but this does not prevent their carrying into Tartary the spirit of the Chinese government.
A part of the Tartars who were conquerors have very often been themselves expelled; when they have carried into their deserts that servile spirit which they had acquired in the climate of slavery. The history of China furnishes us with strong proofs of this assertion, as does also our ancient history./^ Hence it follows that the genius of the Getic or Tartarian na- tion has always resembled that of the empires of Asia. The people in these are governed by the cudgel; the inhabitants of Tartary by whips. The spirit of Europe has ever been contrary to these manners; and in all ages, what the people of Asia have called punishment those of Europe have deemed the most outrageous abuse.^ The Tartars who destroyed the Grecian Empire established in the conquered countries slavery and despotic power: the Goths, after subduing the Roman Empire, founded monarchy and liberty.
I do not know whether the famous Rudbeck, who in his " Atlantica " has bestowed such praises on Scandinavia, has made mention of that great prerogative which ought to set this people above all the nations upon earth; namely, this country's having been the source of the liberties of Europe — that is, of almost all the freedom which at present subsists amongst man- kind.
Jornadez the Goth called the north of Europe the forge of the human race.^ I should rather call it the forge where those e As Vouty V, Emperor of the fifth concerning the manner of thinking dynasty. among the German nations in respect f The Scythians thrice conquered to the cudgel; let the instrument be Asia, and thrice were driven thence. what it will, the power or action of Justin, lib. II. beating was always considered by them g This is in no way contrary to what as an affront.
I shall say in book XXVIII. chap. xx. h " Humani generis officinam."
THE SPIRIT OF LAWS 269 weapons were framed which broke the chains of southern na- tions. In the North were formed those vaHant people who salHed forth and deserted their countries to destroy tyrants and slaves, and to teach men that, nature having made them equal, reason could not render them dependent, except where it was necessary to their happiness.
6. — A new physical Cause of the Slavery of Asia, and of the Liberty of Europe In Asia they have always had great empires; in Europe these could never subsist. Asia has larger plains; it is cut out into much more extensive divisions by mountains and seas; and as it lies more to the south, its springs are more easily dried up; the mountains are less covered with snow; and the rivers being not so large form more contracted barriers.* Power in Asia ought, then, to be always despotic: for if their slavery was not severe they would make a division incon- sistent with the nature of the country.
In Europe the natural division forms many nations of a moderate extent, in which the ruling by laws is not incom- patible with the maintenance of the state: on the contrary, it is so favorable to it, that without this the state would fall into decay, and become a prey to its neighbors.
It is this which has formed a genius for liberty that ren- ders every part extremely difficult to be subdued and subjected to a foreign power, otherwise than by the laws and the advan- tage of commerce.
On the contrary, there reigns in Asia a servile spirit, which they have never been able to shake oflf, and it is impossible to find in all the histories of that country a single passage which discovers a freedom of spirit; we shall never see anything there but the excess of slavery.
7. — Of Africa and America This is what I had to say of Asia and Europe. Africa is in a climate like that of the south of Asia, and is in the same servi- tude. America,; being lately destroyed and re-peopled by the » The waters lose themselves or erap- America are called by the Spaniards orate before or after their streams are " Indies Bravos," and are much more united, difficult to subdue than the great erayThe petty barbarous nations of pires of Mexico and Peru.
1 270 MONTESQUIEU nations of Europe and Africa, can now scarcely display its genuine spirit; but what we know of its ancient history is very conformable to our principles.
8. — Of the Capital of the Empire One of the consequences of what we have been mentioning is, that it is of the utmost importance to a great prince to make a proper choice of the seat of his empire. He who places it to the southward will be in danger of losing the north; but he who fixes it on the north may easily preserve the south. I do not speak of particular cases. In mechanics there are frictions by which the effects of the theory are frequently changed or retarded; and policy has also its frictions.
BOOK XVIII OF LAWS IN THE RELATION THEY BEAR TO THE NATURE OF THE SOIL I. — How the Nature of the Soil has an Influence on the Laws THE goodness of the land, in any country, naturally es- tablishes subjection and dependence. The husband- men, who compose the principal part of the people, are not very jealous of their liberty; they are too busy and too intent on their own private affairs. A country which over- flows with wealth is afraid of pillage, afraid of an army. " Who is there that forms this goodly party? " said Cicero to Atti- cus; a " are they the men of commerce and husbandry? Let us not imagine that these are averse to monarchy — these to whom all governments are equal, as soon as they bestow tranquillity."
Thus monarchy is more frequently found in fruitful coun- tries, and a republican government in those which are not so; and this is sometimes a sufficient compensation for the incon- veniences they sufifer by the sterility of the land.
The barrenness of the Attic soil established there a democ- racy; and the fertility of that of Lacedsemonia an aristocratic constitution. For in those times Greece was averse to the government of a single person, and aristocracy bore the near- est resemblance to that government.
Plutarch says & that the Cilonian sedition having been ap- peased at Athens, the city fell into its ancient dissensions, and was divided into as many parties as there were kinds of land in Attica. The men who inhabited the eminences would, by all means, have a popular government; those of the flat, open country demanded a government composed of the chiefs; and they who were near the sea desired a mixture of both.
a Lib. XVII. b " Life of Solon."
2 72 MONTESQUIEU 2. — The same Subject continued These fertile provinces are always of a level surface, where the inhabitants are unable to dispute against a stronger power; they are then obliged to submit; and when they have once sub- mitted, the spirit of liberty cannot return; the wealth of the country is a pledge of their fidelity. But in mountainous dis- tricts, as they have but little, they may preserve what they have. The liberty they enjoy, or, in other words, the government they are under, is the only blessing worthy of their defence. It reigns, therefore, more in mountainous and rugged countries than in those which nature seems to have most favored.
The mountaineers preserve a more moderate government, because they are not so liable to be conquered. They defend themselves easily, and are attacked with difficulty; ammuni- tion and provisions are collected and carried against them with great expense, for the country furnishes none. It is, then, a more arduous, a more dangerous, enterprise to make war against them; and all the laws that can be enacted for the safety of the people are there of least use.
3. — What Countries are best cultivated Countries are not cultivated in proportion to their fertility, but to their liberty; and if we make an imaginary division of the earth, we shall be astonished to see in most ages deserts in the most fruitful parts, and great nations in those where nature sems to refuse everything.
It is natural for a people to leave a bad soil to seek a better, and not to leave a good soil to go in search of worse. Most invasions have, therefore, been made in countries which nature seems to have formed for happiness, and as nothing is more nearly allied than desolation and invasion, the best provinces are most frequently depopulated, while the frightful countries of the North continue always inhabited, from their being al- most uninhabitable.
We find by what historians tell us of the passage of the peo- ple of Scandinavia along the banks of the Danube that this was not a conquest, but only a migration into desert countries.
These happy climates must, therefore, have been depopu- I THE SPIRIT OF LAWS 273 lated by other migrations, though we know not the tragic scenes that happened.
" It appears by many monuments of antiquity," says Aris- totle,^ " that the Sardinians were a Grecian colony. They were formerly very rich; and Aristeus, so famed for his love of ag- riculture, was their law-giver. But they have since fallen to decay; for the Carthaginians, becoming their masters, de- stroyed everything proper for the nourishment of man, and forbade the cultivation of the lands on pain of death." Sar- dinia was not recovered in the time of Aristotle, nor is it to this day.
The most temperate parts of Persia, Turkey, Muscovy, and Poland have not been able to recover perfectly from the dev- astations of the Tartars.
4. — New Effects of the Fertility and Barrenness of Countries The barrenness of the earth renders men industrious, sober, inured to hardship, courageous, and fit for war; they are obliged to procure by labor what the earth refuses to bestow spontaneously. The fertility of a country gives ease, effemi- nacy, and a certain fondness for the preservation of life. It has been remarked that the German troops raised in those places where the peasants are rich, as, for instance, in Saxony, are not so good as the others. Military laws may provide against this inconvenience by a more severe discipline.
5. — Of the Inhabitants of Islands The inhabitants of islands have a higher relish for liberty than those of the continent. Islands are commonly of small extent; d one part of the people cannot be so easily employed to oppress the other; the sea separates them from great em- pires; tyranny cannot so well support itself within a small com- pass: conquerors are stopped by the sea; and the islanders, being without the reach of their arms^ more easily preserve their own laws.
6. — Of Countries raised by the Industry of Man Those countries which the industry of man has rendered habitable, and which stand in need of the same industry to c Or he who wrote the book " De d Japan is an exception to this, by its Mirabilibus." great extent as well as by its slavery.
2 74 MONTESQUIEU provide for their subsistence, require a mild and moderate gov- ernment. There are principally three of this species: the two fine provinces of Kiang-nan and Tsekiang in China, Egypt, and Holland.
The ancient emperors of China were not conquerors. The first thing they did to aggrandize themselves was what gave the highest proof of their wisdom. They raised from beneath the waters two of the finest provinces of the empire; these owe their existence to the labor of man. And it is the inexpressible fertility of these two provinces which has given Europe such ideas of the felicity of that vast country. But a continual and necessary care to preserve from destruction so considerable a part of the empire demanded rather the manners of a wise than of a voluptuous nation, rather the lawful authority of a mon- arch than the tyrannic sway of a despotic prince. Power was, therefore, necessarily moderated in that country, as it was formerly in Egypt, and as it is now in Holland, which nature has made to attend to herself, and not to be abandoned to negligence or caprice.
Thus, in spite of the climate of China, where they are natu- rally led to a servile obedience; in spite of the apprehensions which follow too great an extent of empire, the first legislators of this country were obliged to make excellent laws, and the government was frequently obliged to follow them* 7-. — Of human Industry Mankind by their industry, and by the influence of good laws, have rendered the earth more proper for their abode. We see rivers flow where there have been lakes and marshes: this is a benefit which nature has not bestowed; but it is a bene- fit maintained and suppHed by nature. When the Persians^ were masters of Asia, they permitted those who conveyed a spring to any place which had not been watered before to en- joy the benefit for five generations; and as a number of rivu- lets flowed from Mount Taurus, they spared no expense in directing the course of their streams. At this day, without knowing how they came thither, they are found in the fields and gardens.
Thus, as destructive nations produce evils more durable than ePolybius, lib. X.
1 THE SPIRIT OF LAWS 275 themselves, the actions of an industrious people are the source of blessings which last when they are no more.
8. — The general Relation of Laws The laws have a very great relation to the manner in which the several nations procure their subsistence. There should be a code of laws of a much larger extent for a nation attached to trade and navigation than for people who are content with cul- tivating the earth. There should be a much greater for the lat- ter than for those who subsist by their flocks and herds. There must be a still greater for these than for such as live by hunting.
9. — Of the Soil of America The cause of there being such a number of savage nations in America is the fertility of the earth, which spontaneously pro- duces many fruits capable of affording them nourishment. If the women cultivate a spot of land round their cottages, the maize grows up presently; and hunting and fishing put the men in a state of complete abundance. Besides, black cattle, as cows, bufifaloes, etc., thrive there better than carnivorous beasts. The latter have always reigned in Africa.
We should not, I believe, have all these advantages in Eu- rope if the land was left uncultivated; it would scarcely pro- duce anything besides forests of oaks and other barren trees.
10. — Of Population in the Relation it hears to the Manner of procuring Subsistence Let us see in what proportion countries are peopled where the inhabitants do not cultivate the earth. As the produce of uncultivated land is to that of land improved by culture, so the number of savages in one country is to that of husbandmen in another: and when the people who cultivate the land culti- vate also the arts, this is also in such proportions as would re- quire a minute detail.
They can scarcely form a great nation. If they are herds- men and shepherds, they have need of an extensive country to furnish subsistence for a small number; if they live by hunting, their number must be still less, and in order to find the means of life they must constitute a very small nation.
Their country commonly abounds with forests, which, as 276 MONTESQUIEU the inhabitants have not the art of draining off the waters, are filled with bogs; here each troop canton themselves, and form a petty nation.
II. — Of savage and barbarous Nations There is this difference between savage and barbarous na- tions: the former are dispersed clans, which for some particu- lar reason cannot be joined in a body; and the latter are com- monly small nations, capable of being united. The savages are generally hunters; the barbarians are herdsmen and shep- herds.
This appears plain in the nortli of Asia. The people of Si- beria cannot live in bodies, because they are unable to find subsistence; the Tartars may live in bodies for some time, be- cause their herds and flocks may for a time be reassembled. All the clans may then be reunited, and this is effected when one chief has subdued many others; after which they may do two things — either separate, or set out with a design to make a great conquest in some southern empire.
12. — Of the Law of Nations amongst People who do not culti- vate the Earth As these people do not live in circumscribed territories, many causes of strife arise between them; they quarrel about waste land as we about inheritances. Thus they find frequent occa- sions for war, in disputes in relation either to their hunting, their fishing, the pasture for their cattle, or the violent seizing of their slaves; and as they are not possessed of landed prop- erty, they have many things to regulate by the law of nations, and but few to decide by the civil law.
13. — Of the Civil Laws of those Nations who do not cultivate the Earth The division of lands is what principally increases the civil code. Amongst nations where they have not made this divi- sion there are very few civil laws.
The institutions of these people may be called manners rather than laws.
Amongst such nations as these the old men, who remember THE SPIRIT OF LAWS 277 things past, have great authority; they cannot there be dis- tinguished by wealth, but by wisdom and valor.
These people wander and disperse themselves in pasture grounds or in forests. Marriage cannot there have the securi- ty which it has amongst us, where it is fixed by the habitation, and where the wife continues in one house; they may then more easily change their wives, possess many, and sometimes mix indifferently like brutes.
Nations of herdsmen and shepherds cannot leave their cat- tle, which are their subsistence; neither can they separate themselves from their wives, who look after them. All this ought, then, to go together, especially as, living generally in a flat open country, where there are few places of considerable strength, their wives, their children, their flocks, may become the prey of their enemies.
The laws regulate the division of plunder, and give, like our Salic laws, a particular attention to theft.
14. — Of the political State of the People who do not cultivate the Land These people enjoy great liberty; for as they do not cul- tivate the earth, they are not fixed: they are wanderers and vagabonds; and if a chief should deprive them of their liberty, they would immediately go and seek it under another, or re- tire into the woods, and there live with their families. The liberty of the man is so great among these people that it neces- sarily draws after it that of the citizen.
15. — Of People who know the Use of Money Aristippus being cast away, swam and got safely to the next shore, where, beholding geometrical figures traced in the sand, he was seized with a transport of joy, judging that he was amongst Greeks, and not in a nation of barbarians.
Should you ever happen to be cast by some adventure amongst an unknown people; upon seeing a piece of money you may be assured that you have arrived in a civilized coun- try.
The culture of lands requires the use of money. This culture supposes many inventions and many degrees of knowledge; 278 MONTESQUIEU and we always see ingenuity, the arts, and a sense of want mak- ing their progress with an equal pace. All this conduces to the establishment of a sign of value.
Torrents and eruptions have led to the discovery that metals are contained in the bowels of the earth.o When once they have been separated, they have easily been applied to their proper use.
16. — Of Civil Laws amongst People who know not the Use of Money When a people have not the use of money, they are seldom acquainted with any other injustice than that which arises from violence: and the weak, by uniting, defend themselves from its effects. They have nothing there but political regulations. But where money is estabHshed, they are subject to that injus- tice which proceeds from craft — an injustice that may be exer- cised in a thousand ways. Hence they are forced to have good civil laws, which spring up with the new practices of iniquity.
In countries where they have no specie, the robber takes only bare movables, which have no mutual resemblance. But where they make use of money, the robber takes the signs, and these always resemble each other. In the former nothing can be concealed, because the robber takes along with him the proofs of his conviction; but in the latter it is quite the contrary.
17. — Of political Laws amongst Nations who have not the Use of Money The greatest security of the liberties of a people who do not cultivate the earth is their not knowing the use of money. What is gained by hunting, fishing, or keeping herds of cattle cannot be assembled in such great quantity, nor be sufficiently preserved, for one man to find himself in a condition to corrupt many others: but when, instead of this, a man has a sign of riches, he may obtain a large quantity of these signs, and dis- tribute them as he pleases.
The people who have no money have but few wants; and these are supplied with ease, and in an equal manner. Equala It is thus that Diodorus tells us the mountains. Aristotle concurs in this shepherds found gold in the Pyrenean idea, but Strabo treats it as a fable. — THE SPIRIT OF LAWS 279