Page:Montesquieu - The spirit of laws.djvu/131

Rh an owner for the space of a year. Privileges annexed to fiefs give a power that is very burthensome to those governments which tolerate them. These are the inconveniences of nobility, inconveniences however that vanish when confronted with the general utility which results from it: but when these privileges are communicated to the people, every principle of government is broke through to no manner of purpose.

In monarchies a person may leave the bulk of his estate to one of his children; a permission improper in any other government.

The laws ought to favour all kind of commerce consistent with the constitution of this government, to the end that the subjects may, without ruining themselves, be able to satisfy the continual cravings of the prince and his court.

They should establish some fixed regulation, that the manner of collecting the taxes may not be more burthensome than the taxes themselves.

The weight of duties produces labor, labor weariness, and weariness the spirit of indolence.

REAT is the advantage which a monarchical government has over a republic: as the state is conducted by a single person, the Rh