Page:Montesquieu - The spirit of laws.djvu/24

xx He next proceeds to vindicate what he has said on celibacy; but as another writer who has done justice to this work, has set the ill consequences attending the celibacy of the clergy in a stronger light, than it would perhaps have been prudent for any gentleman in France to have done, we shall beg leave to insert a paragraph or two from him.

"The doctrine of the perfection of celibacy, says he, has produced the same destructive effects, in Europe, as the heat of the climate, the jealousy of commanders, and the slavery of the women have produced in Asia. According to the most exact observations, a state that suffers neither pestilence, nor war, nor famine, doubles the number of its inhabitants every sixty years. This being granted, every kingdom which contains an hundred thousand monks, loses every sixty years, two hundred thousand men, and a much greater number if an hundred thousand monks are always kept on foot. Thus suppofing that they have had in France since the year 1640, two millions of souls who have taken the vow of celibacy, this kingdom Rh