h " Introduction to the History of Eu- France was never so populous as at that rope," chap. v. of France. This is ob- time, she did not possess twenty millviously a numerical blunder, since, ions. — Voltaire. according to the Census of 1751, and 44 MONTESQUIEU all parts. Europe, separated from the rest of the world by relig- ion,c by vast seas and deserts, cannot be repaired in this manner.
26. — Consequences From all this we may conclude that Europe is at present in a condition to require laws to be made in favor of the propagation of the human species. The politics of the ancient Greeks inces- santly complain of the inconveniences attending a republic, from the excessive number of citizens; but the politics of this age call upon us to take proper means to increase ours.
27. — Of the Law made in France to encourage the Propagation of the Species Louis XIV appointed particular pensions to those who had ten children, and much larger to such as had twelve.^ But it is not sufficient to reward prodigies. In order to communicate a general spirit, which leads to the propagation of the species, it is necessary for us to establish, like the Romans, general rewards, or general penalties.
28. — By what Means we may remedy a Depopulation When a state is depopulated by particular accidents, by wars, pestilence, or famine, there are still resources left. The men who remain may preserve the spirit of industry; they may seek to re- pair their misfortunes, and calamity itself may make them be- come more industrious. This evil is almost incurable when the depopulation is prepared beforehand by interior vice and a bad government. When this is the case, men perish with an insensi- ble and habitual disease; born in misery and weakness, in vio- lence or under the influence of a wicked administration, they see themselves destroyed, and frequently without perceiving the cause of their destruction. Of this we have a melancholy proof in the countries desolated by despotic power, or by the excessive advantages of the clergy over the laity.
In vain shall we wait for the succor of children yet unborn to re-establish a state thus depopulated. There is not time for this; men in their solitude are without courage or industry. With land sufficient to nourish a nation, they have scarcely enough to c Mahommedan countries surround it d The edict of 1666 in favor of maralmost on every side. riages.
THE SPIRIT OF LAWS 25 nourish a family. The common people have not even a property in the miseries of the country, that is, in the fallows with which it abounds. The clergy, the prince, the cities, the great men, and some of the principal citizens insensibly become proprietors of all the land which lies uncultivated; the families who are ruined have left their fields, and the laboring man is destitute.
In this situation they should take the same measures through- out the whole extent of the empire which the Romans took in a part of theirs; they should practise in their distress what these observed in the midst of plenty; that is, they should distribute land to all the famiUes who are in want, and procure them ma- terials for clearing and cultivating it. This distribution ought to be continued so long as there is a man to receive it, and in such a manner as not to lose a moment that can be industriously em- ployed.
29. — Of Hospitals A man is not poor because he has nothing, but because he does not work. The man who without any degree of wealth has an employment is as much at his ease as he who without labor has an income of a hundred crowns a year. He who has no sub- stance, and yet has a trade, is not poorer than he who, possessing ten acres of land, is obliged to cultivate it for his subsistence. The mechanic who gives his art as an inheritance to his children has left them a fortune, which is multiplied in proportion to their number. It is not so with him who, having ten acres of land, divides it among his children.
In trading countries, where many men have no other subsist- ence but from the arts, the state is frequently obliged to supply the necessities of the aged, the sick, and the orphan. A well- regulated government draws this support from the arts them- selves. It gives to some such employment as they are capable of performing; others are taught to work, and this teaching of it- self becomes an employment.
The alms given to a naked man in the street do not fulfil the obligations of the state, which owes to every citizen a certain sub- sistence, a proper nourishment, convenient clothing, and a kind of life not incompatible with health.
Aurengzebe, being asked why he did not build hospitals, said, ** I will make my empire so rich that there shall be no need of 26 MONTESQUIEU hospitals." e He ought to have said, I will begin by rendering my empire rich, and then I will build hospitals.
The riches of the state suppose great industry. Amidst the numerous branches of trade it is impossible but that some must suffer, and consequently the mechanics must be in a momentary necessity.
Whenever this happens, the state is obliged to lend them a ready assistance, whether it be to prevent the sufferings of the people, or to avoid a rebelHon. In this case hospitals, or some equivalent regulations, are necessary to prevent this misery.
But when the nation is poor, private poverty springs from the general calamity, and is, if I may so express myself, the general calamity itself. All the hospitals in the world cannot cure this private poverty; on the contrary, the spirit of indolence, which it constantly inspires, increases the general and consequently the private misery.
Henry VHI,^ resolving to reform the Church of England, ruined the monks, of themselves a lazy set of people, that en- couraged laziness in others, because, as they practised hospitality, an infinite number of idle persons, gentlemen and citizens, spent their lives in running from convent to convent. He demoHshed even the hospitals, in which the lower people found subsistence, as the gentlemen did theirs in the monasteries. Since these changes, the spirit of trade and industry has been established In England.
At Rome, the hospitals place everyone at his ease except those who labor, except those who are industrious, except those who have land, except those who are engaged in trade.
I have observed that wealthy nations have need of hospitals, because fortune subjects them to a thousand accidents; but it is plain that transient assistances are much better than perpetual foundations. The evil is momentary; it is necessary, therefore, that the succor should be of the same nature, and that it be ap- plied to particular accidents.
e See Sir John Chardin's " Travels f See Burnet's " History of the Rcforthrough Persia," vol. viii. mation."
BOOK XXIV OF LAWS IN RELATION TO RELIGION CONSID- ERED IN ITSELF, AND IN ITS DOCTRINES I. — Of Religion in General AS amidst several degrees of darkness we may form a judgment of those which are the least thick, and among precipices which are the least deep, so we may search among false religions for those that are most conformable to the welfare of society; for those which, though they have not the efifect of leading men to the felicity of another life, may contribute most to their happiness in this.
I shall examine, therefore, the several religions of the world, in relation only to the good they produce in civil society, whether I speak of that which has its root in heaven, or of those which spring from the earth.
As in this work I am not a divine but a political writer, I may here advance things which are not otherwise true, than as they correspond with a worldly manner of thinking, not as con- sidered in their relation to truths of a more sublime nature.
With regard to the true religion, a person of the least degree of impartiality must see that I have never pretended to make its interests submit to those of a political nature, but rather to unite them; now, in order to unite, it is necessary that we should know them.
The Christian religion, which ordains that men should love each other, would, without doubt, have every nation blest with the best civil, the best political laws; because these, next to this religion, are the greatest good that men can give and receive.
Mr. Bayle has pretended to prove a that it is better to be an atheist than an idolater; that is, in other words, that it is less a " Thoughts on the Comet."
27 28 MONTESQUIEU 27 28 MONTESQUIEU dangerous to have no religion at all than a bad one. " I had rather," said he, " it should be said of me that I had no existence than that I am a villain." This is only a sophism founded on this, that it is of no importance to the human race to believe that a certain man exists, whereas it is extremely useful for them to believe the existence of a God. From the idea of his non-existence immediately follows that of our independence; or, if we cannot conceive this idea, that of disobedience. To say that religion is not a restraining motive, because it does not always restrain, is equally absurd as to say that the civil laws are not a restraining motive. It is a false way of reasoning against religion to collect, in a large work, a long detail of the evils it has produced, if we do not give at the same time an enu- meration of the advantages which have flowed from it. Were I to relate all the evils that have arisen in the world from civil laws, from monarchy, and from republican government, I might tell of frightful things. Were it of no advantage for sub- jects to have religion, it would still be of some, if princes had it, and if they whitened with foam the only rein which can re- strain those who fear not human laws.
A prince who loves and fears religion is a lion, who stoops to the hand that strokes, or to the voice that appeases him. He who fears and hates religion is like the savage beast that growls and bites the chain which prevents his flying on those who come near him. He who has no religion at all is that terri- ble animal who perceives his liberty only when he tears in pieces and when he devours.
The question is not to know whether it would be better that a certain man or a certain people had no religion than to abuse what they have, but to know what is the least evil, that religion be sometimes abused, or that there be no such restraint as religion on mankind.
To diminish the horror of^ atheism, they lay too much to the charge of idolatry. It is far from being true that when the ancients raised altars to a particular vice, they intended to show that they loved the vice; this signified, on the contrary, that they hated it. When the Lacedaemonians erected a temple to Fear, it was not to show that this warlike nation desired that he would in the midst of battle possess the hearts of the Lacedae- monians. They had deities to whom they prayed not to inspire THE SPIRIT OF LAWS 29 them with guilt; and others whom they besought to shield them from it.
3. — That a moderate Government is most agreeable to the , Christian Religion, and a despotic Government to the Ma- hommedan The Christian religion is a stranger to mere despotic power. The mildness so frequently recommended in the gospel is in- compatible with the despotic rage with which a prince punishes his subjects, and exercises himself in cruelty.
As this religion forbids the plurality of wives, its princes are less confined, less concealed from their subjects, and conse- quently have more humanity: they are more disposed to be di- rected by laws, and more capable of perceiving that they cannot do whatever they please.
While the Mahommedan princes incessantly give or receive death, the religion of the Christians renders their princes less timid, and consequently less cruel. The prince confides in his subjects, and the subjects in the prince. How admirable the religion which, while it only seems to have in view the felicity of the other life, continues the happiness of this!
It is the Christian religion that, in spite of the extent of the empire and the influence of the climate, has hindered despotic power from being established in Ethiopia, and has carried into the heart of Africa the manners and laws of Europe.
The heir to the Empire of Ethiopia b enjoys a principality and gives to other subjects an example of love and obedience. Not far thence may we see the Mahommedan shutting up the children of the King of Sennar, at whose death the Council sends to murder them, in favor of the prince who mounts the throne.
Let us set before our eyes, on the one hand, the continual massacres of the kings and generals of the Greeks and Romans, and, on the other, the destruction of people and cities by those famous conquerors Timur Beg and Jenghiz Khan, who ravaged Asia, and we shall see that we owe to Christianity, in govern- ment, a certain political law; and in war, a certain law of na- tions— benefits which human nature can never sufficiently ac- knowledge.
b " Description of Ethiopia," by M. Ponce, Physician. " Collection of Edi- fying Letters."
30 MONTESQUIEU It is owing to this law of nations that among us victory leaves these great advantages to the conquered, life, liberty, laws, wealth, and always religion, when the conqueror is not blind to his own interest.
We may truly say that the people of Europe are not at present more disunited than the people and the armies, or even the armies among themselves were, under the Roman Empire when it had become a despotic and military government. On the one hand, the armies engaged in war against each other, and, on the other, they pillaged the cities, and divided or con- fiscated the lands.
4. — Consequences from the Character of the Christian Religion, and that of the Mahommedan From the characters of the Christian and Mahommedan re- ligions, we ought, without any further examination, to embrace the one and reject the other: for it is much easier to prove that religion ought to humanize the manners of men than that any particular religion is true.
It is a misfortune to human nature when religion is given by a conqueror. The Mahommedan religion, which speaks only by the sword, acts still upon men with that destructive spirit with which it was founded.
The history of Sabbaco,c one of the pastoral kings of Egypt, is very extraordinary. The tutelar god of Thebes, appearing to him in a dream, ordered him to put to death all the priests of Egypt. He judged that the gods were displeased at his being on the throne, since they commanded him to commit an action contrary to their ordinary pleasure; and, therefore, he retired into Ethopia.
5. — That the Catholic Religion is most agreeable to a Monarchy, and the Protestant to a Republic When a religion is introduced and fixed in a state, it is com- monly such as is most suitable to the plan of government there established; for those who receive it, and those who are the cause of its being received, have scarcely any other idea of pol- icy than that of the state in which they were born.
When the Christian religion, two centuries ago, became unc See " Diodorus," lib. II.
THE SPIRIT OF LAWS 31 happily divided into Catholic and Protestant, the people of the North embraced the Protestant, and those of the South ad- hered still to the Catholic.
The reason is plain: the people of the north have, and will forever have, a spirit of Hberty and independence, which the people of the south have not; and, therefore, a religion which has no visible head is more agreeable to the independence of the climate than that which has one.
In the countries themselves where the Protestant religion became established, the revolutions were made pursuant to the several plans of political government. Luther having great princes on his side would never have been able to make them rehsh an ecclesiastical authority that had no exterior pre-emi- nence; while Calvin, having to do with people who lived under republican governments, or with obscure citizens in mon- archies, might very well avoid establishing dignities and prefer- ments.
Each of these two religions was believed to be perfect; the Calvinist judging his most conformable to what Christ had said, and the Lutheran to what the Apostles had practised.
6. — Another of Mr. Bayle's Paradoxes Mr. Bayle, after having abused all religions, endeavors to sully Christianity: he boldly asserts that true Christians can- not form a government of any duration. Why not? Citizens of this profession being infinitely enlightened with respect to the various duties of life, and having the warmest zeal to fulfil them, must be perfectly sensible of the rights of natural defence. The more they believe themselves indebted to religion, the more they would think due to their country. The principles of Christianity, deeply engraved on the heart, would be infinitely more powerful than the false honor of monarchies, than the humane virtues of republics, or the servile fear of despotic states.
It is astonishing that this great man should not be able to distinguish between the orders for the estabUshment of Chris- tianity and Christianity itself; and that he should be liable to be charged with not knowing the spirit of his own religion. When the legislator, instead of laws, has given counsels, this is 32 MONTESQUIEU 32 MONTESQUIEU because he knew that if these counsels were ordained as laws they would be contrary to the spirit of the laws themselves.
7. — Of the Laws of Perfection in Religion Human laws, made to direct the will, ought to give precepts, and not counsels; religion, made to influence the heart, should give many counsels, and few precepts.
When, for instance, it gives rules, not for what is good, but for what is better; not to direct to what is right, but to what is perfect; it is expedient that these should be counsels, and not laws: for perfection can have no relation to the universal- ity of men or things. Besides, if these were laws, there would be a necessity for an infinite number of others, to make people observe the first. Celibacy was advised by Christianity; when they made it a law in respect to a certain order of men, it be- came necessary to make new ones every day, in order to oblige those men to observe it.d The legislator wearied himself, and he wearied society, to make men execute by precept what those who love perfection would have executed as counsel.
8.-r-0f the Connection between the moral Laws and those of Religion In a country so unfortunate as to have a religion that God has not revealed, it is necessary for it to be agreeable to moral- ity; because even a false religion is the best security we can have of the probity of men.
The principal points of religion of the inhabitants of Pegu e are, not to commit murder, not to steal, to avoid uncleanliness, not to give the least uneasiness to their neighbor, but to do him, on the contrary, all the good in their power. With these rules they think they should be saved in any religion whatso- ever. Hence it proceeds that those people, though poor and proud, behave with gentleness and compassion to the unhappy.
9. — Of the Essenes The Essenes f made a vow to observe justice to mankind, to do no ill to any person, upon whatsoever account, to keep faith with all the world, to hate injustice, to command with d Dupin's " Ecclesiastical Library of tributed to the establishment of the East the 6th century," vol. v. India Company," vol. iii. part I. p. 36.
e " Collection of Voyages that con- / " History of the Jews," by Prideaux.
THE SPIRIT OF LAWS 33 modesty, always to side with truth, and to fly from all unlaw- ful gain.
10. — Of the Sect of Stoics The several sects of philosophy among the ancients were a species of religion. Never were any principles more worthy of human nature, and more proper to form the good man, than those of the Stoics; and if I could for a moment cease to think that I am a Christian, I should not be able to hinder myself from ranking the destruction of the sect of Zeno among the misfortunes that have befallen the human race.
It carried to excess only those things in which there is true greatness — the contempt of pleasure and of pain.
It was this sect alone that made citizens; this alone that made great men; this alone great emperors.
Laying aside for a moment revealed truths, let us search through all nature, and we shall not find a nobler object than the Antoninuses; even Julian himself — ^Julian (a commenda- tion thus wrested from me will not render me an accomplice of his apostasy) — no, there has not been a prince since his reign more worthy to govern mankind.
While the Stoics looked upon riches, human grandeur, grief, disquietudes, and pleasures as vanity, they were entirely em- ployed in laboring for the happiness of mankind, and in exer- cising the duties of society. It seems as if they regarded that sacred spirit, which they believed to dwell within them, as a kind of favorable providence watchful over the human race.
Born for society, they all believed that it was their destiny to labor for it; with so much the less fatigue, their rewards were all within themselves. Happy by their philosophy alone, it seemed as if only the happiness of others could increase theirs.
II. — Of Contemplation Men being made to preserve, to nourish, to clothe them- selves, and do all the actions of society, religion ought not to give them too contemplative a life.?
The Mahommedans become speculative by habit; they pray five times a day, and each time they are obliged to cast behind them everything which has any concern with this world: this g This is the inconvenience of the doctrine of Foe and Laockium. Vol. II.— 3 34 MONTESQUIEU forms them for speculation. Add to this that indifference for all things which is inspired by the doctrine of unalterable fate.
If other causes besides these concur to disengage their affec- tions; for instance, if the severity of the government, if the laws concerning the property of land, give them a precarious spirit — all is lost.
The religion of the Gaurs formerly rendered Persia a flour- ishing kingdom; it corrected the bad effects of despotic power. The same empire is now destroyed by the Mahommedan religion.
12. — Of Penances Penances ought to be joined with the idea of labor, not with that of idleness; with the idea of good, not with that of super- eminence; with the idea of frugality, not with that of avarice.
13. — Of inexpiable Crimes It appears from a passage of the books of the pontiffs, quoted by Cicero,^ that they had among the Romans inexpiable crimes: » and it is on this that Zozymus founds the narration so proper to blacken the motives of Constantine's conversion; and Julian, that bitter raillery on this conversion in his Caesars.
The Pagan religion, indeed, which prohibited only some of the grosser crimes, and which stopped the hand but meddled not with the heart, might have crimes that were inexpiable; but a religion which bridles all the passions; which is not more jealous of actions than of thoughts and desires; which holds us not by a few chains but by an infinite number of threads; which, leaving human justice aside, establishes another kind of jus- tice; which is so ordered as to lead us continually from re- pentance to love, and from love to repentance; which puts between the judge and the criminal a greater mediator, be- tween the just and the mediator a great judge — a religion like this ought not to have inexpiable crimes. But while it gives fear and hope to all, it makes us sufficiently sensible that though there is no crime in its own nature inexpiable, yet a whole criminal life may be so; that it is extremely dangerous to affront mercy by new crimes and new expiations; that an h Lib. II. of " Laws." quod expiari poterit publici sacerdotes « " Sacrum commissum, quod neque expianto." expiari poterit, impie commissum est; THE SPIRIT OF LAWS 35 uneasiness on account of ancient debts, from which we are never entirely free, ought to make us afraid of contracting new ones, of fining up the measure, and going even to that point where paternal goodness is limited.
14. — In what Manner Religion has an Influence on Civil Laws As both religion and the civil laws ought to have a peculiar tendency to render men good citizens, it is evident that when one of these deviates from this end, the tendency of the other ought to be strengthened. The less severity there is in religion, the more there ought to be in the civil laws.
Thus the reigning religion of Japan having few doctrines, and proposing neither future rewards nor punishments, the laws to supply these defects have been made with the spirit of severity, and are executed with an extraordinary punctuality.
When the doctrine of necessity is established by religion, the penalties of the laws ought to be more severe, and the magistrate more vigilant; to the end that men who would otherwise become abandoned might be determined by these motives; but it is quite otherwise where religion has estab- lished the doctrine of liberty.
From the inactivity of the soul springs the Mahommedan doc- trine of predestination, and from this doctrine of predestination springs the inactivity of the soul. This, they say, is in the de- crees of God; they must, therefore, indulge their repose. In a case like this the magistrate ought to waken by the laws those who are lulled asleep by religion.
When religion condemns things which the civil laws ought to permit, there is danger lest the civil laws, on the other hand, should permit what religion ought to condemn. Either of these is a constant proof of a want of true ideas of that harmony and proportion which ought to subsist between both.
Thus the Tartars jinder Jenghiz Khan,/ among whom it was a sin and even a capital crime to put a knife in the fire, to lean against a whip, to strike a horse with the bridle, to break one bone with another, did not believe it to be any sin to break their word, to seize upon another man's goods, to do an injury to a person, or to commit murder. In a word, laws which renj See the relation written by John Duplan Carpin, sent to Tartary by Pope. Innocent IV in the year 1246.
36 MONTESQUIEU der that necessary which is only indifferent have this inconven- ience, that they make those things indifferent which are abso- lutely necessary.
The people of Formosa believe k that there is a kind of hell, but it is to punish those who at certain seasons have not gone naked, who have dressed in calico and not in silk, who have presumed to look for oysters, or who have undertaken any business without consulting the song of birds; whilst drunken- ness and debauchery are not regarded as crimes. They believe even that the debauches of their children are agreeable to their gods.
When religion absolves the mind by a thing merely acci- dental, it loses its greatest influence on mankind. The people of India believe that the waters of the Ganges have a sanctify- ing virtue.^ Those who die on its banks are imagined to be exempted from the torments of the other life, and to be en- titled to dwell in a region full of delights; and for this reason the ashes of the dead are sent from the most distant places to be thrown into this river. Little then does it signify whether they had lived virtuously or not, so they be but thrown into the Ganges.
The idea of a place of rewards has a necessary connection with the idea of the abodes of misery; and when they hope for the former without fearing the latter, the civil laws have no longer any influence. Men who think themselves sure of the rewards of the other life are above the power of the legis- lator; they look upon death with too much contempt. How shall the man be restrained by laws who believes that the great- est pain the magistrate can inflict will end in a moment to begin his happiness?
15. — How false Religions are sometimes corrected by the Civil Laws Simplicity, superstition, or a respect for antiquity have some- times established mysteries or ceremonies shocking to modes- ty: of this the world has furnished numerous examples. Aris- totle says in that in this case the law permits the fathers of families to repair to the temple to celebrate these mysteries for k " Collection of Voyages that Con- / " Edifying Letters," collect. 15.
tributed to the establishment of the East m " Poht." lib. VII. cap. xvii.
India Company," vol. v. p. 192.
THE SPIRIT OF LAWS 37 their wives and children. How admirable the civil law which in spite of religion preserves the manners untainted!
Augustus « excluded the youth of either sex from assisting at any nocturnal ceremony, unless accompanied by a more aged relative; and when he revived the Lupercalia, he would not allow the young men to run naked.
16. — How the Laws of Religion correct the Inconveniences of a political Constitution On the other hand, religion may support a state when the laws themselves are incapable of doing it.
Thus when a kingdom is frequently agitated by civil wars, religion may do much by obliging one part of the state to remain always quiet. Among the Greeks, the Eleans, as priests of Apollo, lived always in peace. In Japan,o the city of Meaco enjoys a constant peace, as being a holy city. Re- ligion supports this regulation, and that empire, which seems to be alone upon earth, and which neither has nor will have any dependence on foreigners, has always in its own bosom a trade which war cannot ruin.
In kingdoms where wars are not entered upon by a general consent, and where the laws have not pointed out any means either of terminating or preventing them, religion establishes times of peace, or cessation from hostilities, that the people may be able to sow their corn and perform those other labors which are absolutely necessary for the subsistence of the state.
Every year all hostility ceases between the Arabian tribes for four months: the least disturbance would then be an im- piety./* In former times, when every lord in France declared war or peace, religion granted a truce, which was to take place at certain seasons.
17. — The same Subject continued When a state has many causes for hatred, religion ought to produce many ways of reconciliation. The Arabs, a people addicted to robbery, are frequently guilty of doing injury and injustice. Mahomet enacted this law: 3 "If any one forgives N Suetonius, in " Augusto," cap. xxxi. p See Prideaux, " Life of Mahomet," o " Collection of Voyages made to es- p. 64.
tablish an India Company," vol. iv. p. q Koran, book I., chapter " of the 38 MONTESQUIEU the blood of his brother/ he may pursue the malefactor for damages and interest; but he who shall injure the wicked, after having received satisfaction, shall, in the day of judgment, suffer the most grievous torments."
The Germans inherited the hatred and enmity of their near relatives: but these were not eternal. Homicide was expiated by giving a certain number of cattle, and all the family re- ceived satisfaction: a thing extremely useful, says Tacitus, be- cause enmities are most dangerous among a free people.-y I believe, indeed, that their ministers of religion, who were held by them in so much credit, were concerned in these reconcilia- tions.
Among the inhabitants of Malacca,* where no form of recon- ciliation is established, he who has committed murder, certain of being assassinated by the relatives or friends of the deceased, abandons himself to fury, and wounds or kills all he meets.
1 8. — How the Laws of Religion have the Effect of Civil Laws