" Quand on m'a remis ceux que fat eleves, ils avoient Vhabitude de porter en hirer des gillets, des doubles paires de bas, des grands manchons, etc. L'aine, qui aroit huit ans, ne descendoit jamais un escalier sans s'appuyer sur le bras d'une ou deux personnes. On obligeoit des domestiques de ccs enfans a leur rendfe les services les plus vils: pour un rhume, j)our tt,ne Ifgere incommodite, ces domestiques passoient sans cesse les ntiits, etc."
Leqons d'une Gouvemante a ses Eleves, par Mde. de Sillery Brulart Cci-devant Comtesse de GenlisJ, Tome II, 10 PRIVATE LIFE OP A PRINCE.
Madame de Genlis, a woman of uncommon talents, though lierself infected with a considerable number of errors corrected these defects in the young princes. But few princes have the good fortune to be educated by a person of so much independence and firmness as Madame de Genlis, and we may safely take our standard for the average calculation, rather from her predecessors, than herself. Even were it otherwise, we have already seen what it is that a preceptor can do in the education of a prince. Nor should it be forgotten that the children under her care, were iiot of the class of princes who seemed destined to a throne.
CHAP. III.
PRIVATE LIFE OF A PRINCE.
Principles by which he is influenced — irresponsibility — impatience of control — habits of dissipation — ignorance — dislike of truth — dislike of justice. — Pitiable situation of princes.
Such is the culture; the fruit that it produces may easily be con- jectured. The fashion which is given to the mind in youth, it ordinarily retains in age; and it is with ordinary cases only that the present argument is concerned. If there have been kings, as there have been some other men, in the forming of whom par- ticular have outweighed general causes, the recollection of such exceptions has little to do with the question, whether monarchy be, generally speaking, a benefit or an evil. Nature has no par- ticular mould in which she forms the intellects of princes; monarchy is certainly not Jure divino; and of consequence, what- ever system we may adopt upon the subject of natural talents, the ordinary rate of kings, will possess, at best, but the ordinary rate of human understanding. In what has been said, and in what remains to say, we are not to fix our minds upon prodigies, but to think of the species as it is usually found, s But, though education for tlie most part determines the cha- racter of the future man, it may not be useless to follow the disquisition a little further. Education, in one sense, is the affair of youth; but, in a stricter and more accurate sense, tlie educa- tion of an intellectual being can terminate only with his life. Every incident that befals us, is tlie parent of a sentiment, and either confirms or coimteracts the preconceptions of the mind.
Now the causes that acted upon kings in their minority, con- tinue to act upon them in their maturer years. Everything is carefully kept out of sight, that may remind them they are men. Every means is employed which may persuade them, that they are of a different species of beings, and subject to different laws of PRIVATE LIFE OP A PRINCE. 1 1 existence. " A king," such at least is the maxim of absolute mo- narchies, "though obliged by a rigid system of duties, is accountable for his discharge of those duties only to God." That is, exposed to a hundred fold more seductions than ordinary men, he has not, like them, the checks of a visible constitution of things, perpet- ually, through, the medium of the senses, making their way to the mind. He is taught to believe himself superior to the restraints that bind ordinary men, and subject to a rule peculiarly his own. Everything is trusted to the motives of an invisible world; which whatever may be the estimate to which they are entitled in the view of philosophy, mankind are not now to learn, are weakly felt by those who are immerged in splendour or affairs, and have little chance of success, in contending with the impressions of sense, and the allurements of visible objects.
It is a maxim generally received in the world, "that every king is a despot in his heart," and the maxim can seldom fail to be verified in the experiment. A limited monarch, and an abso- lute monarch, though in many respects different, approach in more points than they separate. A monarch, strictly without limitation, is perhaps a phenomenon that never yet existed. All countries have possessed some check upon despotism, which, to tlieir deluded imaginations, appeared a sufficient security for their independence. All kings have possessed such a portion of luxury and ease, have been so far surrounded with servility and false- hood, and to such a degree exempt from personal responsibility, as to destroy the natural and wholesome complexion of the human mind. Being placed so high, they find but one step between them and the summit of social authority, and they cannot but eagerly desire to pass that step. Having so frequent occasions of seeing their commands implicitly obeyed, being trained in so long a scene of adulation and servility, it is impossible they should not feel some indignation, at the honest firmness that sets limits to their omnipotence. But to say, " that every king is a despot in his heart," will presently be shown to be the same thing, as to say, that every king is, by unavoidable necessity, the enemy of the human race.
The principal source of virtuous conduct, is to recollect the absent. He that takes into his estimate present things alone, will be the perpetual slave of sensuality and selfishness. He will have no principle by which to restrain appetite, or to employ himself in just and benevolent pursuits. The cause of virtue and innocence, however urgent, will no sooner cease to be heard, than it will be forgotten. Accordingly, nothing is found more favourable to the attainment of moral excellence, than medita- tion: nothing more hostile, than an uninterrupted succession of amusements. It would be absurd to expect from kings the recol- lection of virtue in exile or disgrace. It has generally been observed, tliat, even for the loss of a flatterer or a favourite, they speedily console themselves. Image after image so speedily succeed in their sensorium, that no one leaves a durable impres- 12 PRIVATE LIFE OF A PRINCE.
sion. A circumstance which contributes to this moral insen- sibility, is the effeminacy and cowardice which grow out of perpetual indulgence. Their minds irresistibly shrink from pain- ful ideas, from motives that would awaken them to effort, and reflections that demand severity of disquisition.
What situation can be more unfortunate, than that of a stranger, who cannot speak our language, knows nothing of our manners and customs, and enters into the busy scene of our affairs, with- out one friend to advise with or assist him? If anything is to be got by such a man, we may depend upon seeing him instantly surrounded with a group of thieves, sharpers, and extortioners. They will impose upon him the most incredible stories, will overreach liim in every article of his necessities or his commerce, and he will leave the country at last, as unfriended, and in as absolute ignorance, as he entered it. Such a stranger is a king; but with this difference, that the foreigner, if he be a man of sagacity and penetration may make his way through this crowd of intruders, and discover a set of persons worthy of his con- fidence, which can scarcely in any case happen to a king. He is placed in a sphere peculiarly his own. He is surrounded with an atmosphere, through which it is impossible for him to discover the true colours and figure of things. The persons that are near him, are in a cabal and conspiracy of their own; and there is nothing about which tliey are more anxious, than to keep truth from approaching him. The man, who is not accessible to every comer, who delivers up his person into the custody of another, and may, for anything that he can tell, be precluded from that very intercourse and knowledge it is most important for him to possess, Avhatever name he may bear, is, in reality, a prisoner.
Whatever the arbitrary institutions of men may pretend, the more powerful institutions of our nature, forbid one man to transact the affairs, and provide for the welfare of millions. A king soon finds the necessity of intrusting his functions to the ad- ministration of his servants. He acquires the habit of seeing with their eyes, and acting with their hands. He finds the necessity of confiding implicitly iu their fidelity. Like a man long shut up in a dungeon, his organs are not strong enough to bear the irra- diation of truth. Accustomed to receive information of the feel- ings and sentiments of mankind, through the medium of another, he cannot bear directly to converse with business and affairs. Whoever would detach his confidence from his present favourites, and induce him to pass over again, in scrutiny, the principles and data which he has already adopted, requires of him too pain- ful a task. He hastens from his adviser, to communicate the accusation to his favourite; and the tongue that has been accus- tomed to gain credit, easily varnishes over this new discovery. He flies from uncertainty, anxiety, and doubt, to his routine of amusements; or amusement presents itself, is importunate to be received, and presently obliterates the tale that overspread his mind with melancholy and suspicion. Much has been said PRIVATE LIFE OF A PRINCE. 13 of intrigue and duplicity. They have been alleged to intrude themselves into the walks of commerce, to haunt the intercourse of men of letters, and to rend the petty concerns of a village with faction. But, wherever else they may be strangers, in courts they undoubtedly find a congenial climate. The intrusive tale- bearer, who carries knowledge to the ear of kings, is, within that circle, an object of general abhorrence. The favourite marks him for his victim; and the inactive and unimpassioned temper of the monarch, soon resigns him to the vindictive importunity of his adversary. It is in tlie contemplation of these circumstances, that Fenelou has remarked, that " kings are the most unfortunate and the most misled of all human beings."* But, in reality, were they in possession of purer sources of in- formation, it would be to little purpose. Royalty inevitably allies itself to vice. Virtue, in proportion as it has taken possession of any character, is just, consistent, and sincere. But kings, de- bauched from their birth, and ruined by their situation, cannot endure an intercourse witli these attributes. Sincerity, that would tell tliem of their errors, and remind them of their cowardice; justice, that, uninfluenced by the trappings of ma- jesty, would estimate the man at his tnie desert; consistency, that no temptation would induce to part with its integrity; are odious and intolerable in their eyes. From such intruders, tliey hasten to men of a pliant character, who will flatter their mis- takes, put a varnish on their actions, and be visited by no scruples in assisting the indulgence of their appetites. There is scarcely in human nature an inflexibility that can resist perpetual flattery and compliance. The virtues that grow up among us, are cultured in the open soil of equality, not in the artificial climate of greatness. We need the winds to harden, as much as the heat to cherish us. Many a mind, that promised well in its outset, has been found incapable to stand the test of perpetual indulgence and ease, without one shock to waken, and one calamity to stop it in its smooth career.
Monarchy is, in reality, so unnatural an institution, that man- kind have, at all times, strongly suspected it was unfriendly to their happiness. The power of truth, upon important topics, is such, that it may rather be said to be obscured, than obliterated; and falsehood has scarcely ever been so successful, as not to have had a restless and powerful antagonist in the heart of its votaries. The man who with difficulty earns his scanty subsistence, cannot behold the ostentatious splendour of a king, without being visited by some sense of injustice. He inevitably questions, in his mind, the utility of an officer, whose services are hired at so enormous a price. If he consider the subject with any degree of accuracy, he is led to perceive, and that with sufficient surprise, • "Lei plus malheureux et les plus accugles de tons les homines." Telemaque, Lit. XIII. More forcible and impressive description is scarcely aiipvhere to be found, thjm that of the evils inseparable from monarchlcsJ government, contained in this and the following book of Fenelon's work.
14 PRIVATE LIFE OF A PRINCE.
that a king is nothing more than a common mortal, exceeded by many, and equalled by more, in every requisite of strength, capa- city, and virtue. He feels therefore that nothing can be more grotmdless and unjust, than the supposing that one such man as this, is the fittest and most competent instrument for regulating the affairs of nations.
These reflections are so unavoidable, tliat kings themselves have often been aware of the danger to their imaginary happiness with which they are pregnant. They have sometimes been alarmed with the progress of thinking, and oftener regarded the ease and prosperity of their subjects as a source of terror and apprehension. They justly consider their functions, as a sort of public exhibition, the success of which depends upon the credulity of the spectators, and which good sense and courage would speedily bring to con- tempt. Hence the well known maxims of monarchical govern- ment, that ease is the parent of rebellion; and that it is necessary to keep the people in a state of poverty and endurance, in order to render them submissive. Hence it has been the perpetual complaint of despotism, that "the restive knaves are overrun with ease, and plenty ever is the nurse of faction."* Hence it has been the lesson perpetually read to monarchs: *' Render your subjects prosperous, and they will speedily refuse to labour; they will become stubborn, proud, unsubmissive to the yoke, and ripe for revolt. It is impotence and penury alone, that will ren- der them supple, and prevent them from rebelling against the dictates of authority, "f It is a common and vulgar observation that the state of a king is greatly to be pitied. "All his actions are hemmed in with anxiety and doubt. He cannot, like other men, indulge the gay and careless hilarity of his mind; but is obliged, if he be of an honest and conscientious disposition, to consider how neces- sary the time, which he is thoughtlessly giving to amusement, may be, to the relief of a worthy and oppressed individual; how many benefits might, in a thousand instances, result from his in- terference; how many a guileless and undesigning heart might be cheered by his justice. The conduct of kings is a subject for the severest criticism, which the nature of their situation disables them to encounter. A thousand things are done in their name in which they have no participation; a thousand stories are so dis- guised to their ear, as to render the truth undiscoverable; and the king is the general scape-goat, loaded with the ofiences of all his dependents."
No picture can be more just, judicious, and humane, than that ■which is thus exhibited. Why then should the advocates of anti- monarchical principles be considered as the enemies of kings? They would relieve them from " a load would sink a navy, too • Jaue Shore, Act III.
+ "Si vous mettez les peuples dam Vabondance, ils ne travailleront plm. Us deviendront Jiers, indocilei, ei feront toujours prits dfe revoUer: tl n'y OP A VIRTUOUS DESPOTISM. 15 much honour,"* They would exalt them to tlie happy and enviable condition of private individuals. In reality, nothing can be more iniquitous and cruel, than to impose upon a man the un- natural office of a king. It is not less inequitable towards him that exercises it, than towards them who are subjected to it. Kings, if they understood their own interests, would be the JSrst to espouse these principles, the most eager to listen to them, the most fervent in expressing their esteem of the men who undertake to impress upon their species this important truth.
CHAP. IV.
OF A VIRTUOUS DESPOTISM.
Supposed excellence of ihu form of government controverted—from the narrowness of human powers. — Case of a vicious administration — of a virtuous administration intended to be formed. — Monarchy not adapted to the government of large states.
There is a principle, frequently maintained upon this subject,t which is entitled to impartial consideration. It is granted, by those who espouse it, " that absolute monarchy, from the imper- fection of those by whom it is administered, is, for the most part, productive of evil;" but they assert, "that it is the best and most desirable of all forms under a good and virtuous prince. It is exposed," say they, "to the fate of all excellent natures, and, from the best thing, frequently, if corrupted, becomes the worst.'* This remark is certainly not very decisive of the general question, so long as any weight shall be attributed to the arguments, which have been adduced, to evince what sort of character and disposi- tion may be ordinarily expected in princes. It may however be allowed, if true, to create in the mind a sort of partial retrospect, to this happy and perfect despotism; and, if it can be shown to be false, it will render the argument for the abolition of mo- narchy, so far as it is concerned, more entire and complete.
Now, whatever dispositions any man may possess in favour of the welfare of others, two things are necessary to give them validity; discernment and power. I can promote the welfare of a few persons, because I can be sufficiently informed of their circumstances. I can promote the welfare of many in certain general articles, because, for this purpose, it is only necessary, o que lafoiblesse et la misere qui les rendent souples, et qui les empSchent dt roister d Vautorite" Telemaque, Liv, XJII, • Shakespere: Henry the Eighth, Act III.
♦ Sec Tom Jones, Book XII., Chap. XII.
16 OF A VIRTUOUS DESPOTISM.
that I should be informed of the nature of the human miiid as such, not of the personal situation of the individuals concerned. But for one man to undertake to administer the affairs of millions, to supply, not general principles and perspicuous reasoning, but particular application, and measures adapted to the necessities of the moment, is of all undertakings the most extravagant and absurd.
The most simple and obvious system of practical administra- tion, is for each man to be the arbiter of his OAvn concerns. If the imperfection, the narrow views, and the mistakes of human beings, render this, in certain cases, inexpedient and impractica- ble, the next resource is to call in the opinion of his peers, persons who, from their vicinity, may be presumed to have some general knowledge of the case, and who have leisure and means minutely to investigate the merits of the question. It cannot reasonably be doubted, that the same expedient which is resorted to in our civil and criminal concerns, would, by plain and imin- structed mortals, be adopted in the assessment of taxes, in the deliberations of commerce, and in every other article in which their common interests were involved, only generalising the de- liberative assembly, or pannel, in proportion lo the generality of the question to be decided.
Monarchy, instead of referring every question to the persons concerned or their neighbours, refers it to a single individual, placed at the greatest distance possible from the ordinary mem- bers of the society. Instead of distributing the causes to be judged, into as many parcels as convenience would admit, for the sake of providing leisure and opportunities of examination, it draws them to a single centre, and renders enquiry and examina- tion impossible. A despot, however virtuously disposed, is obliged to act in the dark, to derive his knowledge from other men's information, and to execute his decisions by other men's instru- mentality. Monarchy seems to be a species of government pro- scribed by the nature of man; and those persons, who furnished their despot with integrity and virtue, forgot to add omniscience and omnipotence, qualities not less necessary to fit him for the office they had provided.
Let us suppose this honest and incon-uptible despot to be served by ministers, avaricious, hypocritical, and interested. What will the people gain by the good intentions of their mo- narch? He will mean them the greatest benefits, but he will be altogether unacquainted with their situation, their character, and their wants. The information he receives, will frequently be the very revei-se of the truth. He will be taught that one individual is highly meritorious, and a proper subject of reward, whose only 'merit is the profligate servility with which he has fulfilled the purposes of his administration. He will be taught that another is the pest of the community, who is indebted for this report, to the steady virtue with which he has traversed and defeated the wickedness of government. He will mean the gieatest benefits OF A VIRTUOUS DESPOTISM. 17 to liis people; but, -when he prescribes something calculated for their advantage, his servants, luider pretence of complying, shall, in reality, perpetrate diametrically the reverse. Nothing will be more dangerous, than to endeavour to remove the obscurity with which his ministers surround him. The man, who attempts so hardy a task, will become the incessant object of their hatred. However incorruptible may be the justice of the sovereign, the time will come when his observation will be laid asleep, while malice and revenge are ever vigilant. Could he vmfold the secrets of his prison-houses of state, he would find men com- mitted in his name, whose crimes he never knew, whose names he never heard of, perhaps men whom he honoiired and esteemed. Such is the history of the benevolent and philanthropic despots whom memory has recorded; and the conclusion from the whole is, that, wherever despotism exists, there it will always be at- tended with the evils of despotism, capricious measures and arbitrary infliction.
"But will not a wise king provide himself with good and virtuous servants?" Undoubtedly he wall effect a part of this, but he cannot supersede the nature of things. He that executes an office as a deputy, will never discharge it in the same spirit, as if he were the principal. Either tlie minister must be the author of the plans which he carries into effect, and then it is of little consequence, except so far as relates to his integrity in the choice of his servants, what sort of mortal the sovereign shall be found; or he must play a subordinate part, and then it is impossible to transfuse into his mind the perspicacity and energy of his master. Wherever despotism exists, it cannot remain in a single hand, but must be transmitted whole and entire through the progressive links of authority. To render despotism auspicious and benign, it is necessary, not only that the sovereign should possess every human excellence, but that all his officers should be men of penetrating genius and unspotted virtue. If they fall short of this, they will, like the ministers of Elizabeth, be sometimes specious profligates,* and sometimes men, who, however admi- rably adapted for the technical emergencies of business, consult, on many occasions exclusively, their private advantage, worship the rising sun, enter into vindictive cabals, and cuff down new- fledged merit.+ "Wherever tlie continuity is broken, the flood of vice will bear down all before it. One weak or disingenuous man will be the source of unbounded mischief.
Another position, not less generally asserted than the desirable- ness of a virtuous despotism, is, " that republicanism is a species of government practicable only in a small state, while monarchy is best fitted to embrace the concerns of a vast and flourishing empire." The reverse of this, so far at least as relates ta • Dudley, Earl of Leicester.
t Cecil Earl of SaUsbury, lord treasurer; Howard, Earl of Nottingham, lord admiral, &c.
17.— VOL. II. c IB OF COURTS AND MINISTERS.
monarcliy appears, at first sight to be the truth. The competence of any government cannot be measured by a purer standard, than the extent and accuracy of its information. In this respect monarchy appears in all cases to be wretchedly deficient; but, if it can ever be admitted, it must surely be in those narrow and limited instances, where an individual can, with least absurdity, be supposed to be acquainted with the affairs and interests of the -whole.* CHAP. V.
OF COURTS AND MINISTERS.
Systematical monopoly of confidence, — Character of ministers and their dependents. — Duplicity of courts. — Venality and corruption, — Uni- versality of this principle.
We shall be better enabled to judge of the dispositions, with which information is communicated, and measures are executed, in monarchical countries, if we reflect upon another of the ill consequences attendant upon this species of government, the exist- ence and corruption of courts.
The character of this, as well as of every other human institu- tion, arises out of the circumstances with which it is surrounded. Ministers and favourites are a sort of people who have a state prisoner in their custody, the whole management of whose tmder- standing and actions they can easily engross. This they com- pletely efiect with a weak and credulous master, nor can tlie most cautious and penetrating entirely elude their machinations. They unavoidably desire to continue in the administration of his functions, whether it be emolument, or the love of homage, or any more generous motive, by which they are attached to it. But, the more tliey are confided in by the sovereign, the greater will be the permanence of their situation; and, the more exclu- sive is their possession of his ear, the more implicit will be his confidence. The wisest of mortals are liable to error; the most judicious projects are open to specious and superficial objections; and it can rarely happen but a minister will find his ease and security, in excluding, as much as possible, other and opposite advisers, whose acuteness and ingenuity are perhaps additionally whetted, by a desire to succeed to his office.