Page:Montesquieu - The spirit of laws.djvu/232

180 Might not our missionaries have been deceived by an appearance of order? Might not they have been struck with that continual exercise of a single person's will, an exercise by which they themselves are governed, and which they are so pleased to find in the courts of the Indian princes; because as they go thither only in order to introduce great changes, it is much easier to convince those princes that there are no bounds to their power, than to persuade the people that there are none to their submission ?

In fine, there is frequently some kind of truth even in errors themselves. It may be owing to particular, and perhaps very singular circumstances, that the Chinese government is not so corrupt as one might naturally expect. The climate and some other physical causes may, in that country, have had so strong an influence on the morals, as in some measure to produce wonders.

The climate of China is surprizingly favourable to the propagation of the human species. The women are the most prolific in the whole world. The most barbarous tyranny can put no stop to the progress of propagation. The prince cannot say there like Pharaoh, Let us deal wisely with them lest they multiply. He would be rather reduced to Nero's wish, that mankind had all but one head. In spite of tyranny, China by the force of its climate will be always populous, and will triumph over the tyrannical oppressor.

China like all other countries, that live chiefly upon rice, is subject to frequent famines. When Rh