More than one people are desirous of new constitutions. The English
would have no objection to a change of ministers once in every eight
hours, but they have no wish to change the form of their government.
The modern Romans are proud of their church of St. Peter and their
ancient Greek statues; but the people would be glad to be better fed,
although they were not quite so rich in benedictions; the fathers of
families would be content that the Church should have less gold, if the
granaries had more corn; they regret the time when the apostles
journeyed on foot, and when the citizens of Rome travelled from one
palace to another in litters.
We are incessantly reminded of the admirable republics of Greece. There
is no question that the Greeks would prefer the government of a Pericles
and a Demosthenes to that of a pasha; but in their most prosperous and
palmy times they were always complaining; discord and hatred prevailed
between all the cities without, and in every separate city within. They
gave laws to the old Romans, who before that time had none; but their
own were so bad for themselves that they were continually changing them.
What could be said in favor of a government under which the just
Aristides was banished, Phocion put to death, Socrates condemned to
drink hemlock after having been exposed to banter and derision on the
stage by Aristophanes; and under which the Amphyctions, with
contemptible imbecility, actually delivered up Greece into the power of
Philip, because the Phocians had ploughed up a field which was part of
the territory of Apollo? But the government of the neighboring
monarchies was worse.
Puffendorf promises us a discussion on the best form of government. He
tells us, "that many pronounce in favor of monarchy, and others, on the
contrary, inveigh furiously against kings; and that it does not fall
within the limits of his subject to examine in detail the reasons of the
latter." If any mischievous and malicious reader expects to be told here
more than he is told by Puffendorf, he will be much deceived.
A Swiss, a Hollander, a Venetian nobleman, an English peer, a cardinal,
and a count of the empire, were once disputing, on a journey, about the
nature of their respective governments, and which of them deserved the
preference: no one knew much about the matter; each remained in his own
opinion without having any very distinct idea what that opinion was; and
they returned without having come to any general conclusion; every one
praising his own country from vanity, and complaining of it from
feeling.
What, then, is the destiny of mankind? Scarcely any great nation is
governed by itself. Begin from the east, and take the circuit of the
world. Japan closed its ports against foreigners from the well-founded
apprehension of a dreadful revolution.
China actually experienced such a revolution; she obeys Tartars of a
mixed race, half Mantchou and half Hun. India obeys Mogul Tartars. The
Nile, the Orontes, Greece, and Epirus are still under the yoke of the
Turks. It is not an English race that reigns in England; it is a German
family which succeeded to a Dutch prince, as the latter succeeded a
Scotch family which had succeeded an Angevin family, that had replaced a
Norman family, which had expelled a family of usurping Saxons. Spain
obeys a French family; which succeeded to an Austrasian race, that
Austrasian race had succeeded families that boasted of Visigoth
extraction; these Visigoths had been long driven out by the Arabs, after
having succeeded to the Romans, who had expelled the Carthaginians. Gaul
obeys Franks, after having obeyed Roman prefects.
The same banks of the Danube have belonged to Germans, Romans, Arabs,
Slavonians, Bulgarians, and Huns, to twenty different families, and
almost all foreigners.
And what greater wonder has Rome had to exhibit than so many emperors
who were born in the barbarous provinces, and so many popes born in
provinces no less barbarous? Let him govern who can. And when any one
has succeeded in his attempts to become master, he governs as he can.