Page:Montesquieu - The spirit of laws.djvu/341

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HE royal authority is a great spring that ought to move easily and without noise. The Chinese boast of one of their emperors, who governed, they say, like the heavens, that is, by his example.

There are some cases in which a sovereign ought to exert the full extent of his power; and others in which he ought to reduce it within its proper limits. The sublimity of administration consists in knowing perfectly the proper degree of power, that should be exerted on different occasions.

The whole felicity of our monarchies consists in the opinion people have of the lenity of the government. A wrong-headed minister always wants to remind us of our slavery. But granting even that we are slaves, he ought to endeavour to conceal our miserable condition from us. All he can say or write, is that the prince is uneasy, that he is surprised, and that he will set things to rights. There is a certain ease in commanding; the prince ought only to encourage, and leave the menacing part to the laws.

HE utility of this maxim will appear better from the inconveniency attending the Rh