Page:Montesquieu - The spirit of laws.djvu/262

210 provinces should be composed half of Chinese and half of Tartars, to the end that the jealousy between the two nations may keep them within bounds. The courts of judicature are likewise half Chinese, and half Tartars. This is productive of several good effects. 1. The two nations keep one another in awe. 2. They both preserve the civil and military power, and one is not destroyed by the other. 3. The conquering nation may spread itself without being weakened and lost. It is likewise enabled to resist civil and foreign wars. The want of so wise an institution as this, has been the ruin of almost all the conquerors that have existed.

HEN a conquest happens to be vastly large, it supposes a despotic power: and then the army dispersed in the provinces is not sufficient. There should be always a trusty body of troops around the prince, ready to fall instantly upon any part of the empire that might chance to waver. This military corps ought to awe the rest, and to strike terror into those who through necessity have been intrusted with any authority in the empire. The empire of China has always a large body of Tartars near his person, ready upon all occasions. In India, in Turky, in Japan, the prince has always a body-guard, independent of the other regular forces. This particular corps keeps the dispersed troops in awe. Rh