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Rh preservation of political liberty by the separation of political powers did not commend itself to his mind. Dormant under the Consulate and the Empire, the influence of Montesquieu arose to renewed and more powerful life at the Restoration, and was, during the first half of the nineteenth century, the inspiration of all constitutional monarchists, both in France and in other European countries.

The influence of Montesquieu on methods of study was as important, though not as immediate, as his influence on the course of political thought. Of the historical and comparative method, in their application to Law and Politics, he was, as has been justly remarked, rather a precursor than a founder. His apreciation of the historical method was imperfect, and his application of it defective. It was not until the expiration of a century after his death that the importance and significance of either the historical or the comparative method was fully realized. But in the meantime his central doctrine, that the true spirit and meaning