Page:Montesquieu - The spirit of laws.djvu/442

390 Islands are commonly of a small extent; one part of the people cannot be so easily employed to oppress the other; the sea separates them from great empires; so that they cannot be countenanced by tyranny: conquerors are stopped by the sea, the islanders themselves are not involved in conquests, and more easily preserve their laws.

HOSE countries which the industry of men has rendered habitable, and which stand in need of the same industry to provide for their subsistence, require a mild and moderate government. There are principally three of this species, the two fine provinces of Kianguan and Tchekiang in China, Ægypt, and Holland.

The ancient emperors of China were not conquerors. The first thing they did to aggrandize themselves, was what gave the highest proof of their wisdom. They raised from beneath the waters two of the finest provinces of the empire; these owe their existence to the labour of man. And it is the inexpressible fertility of these two provinces which has given Europe such ideas of the felicity of this vast country. But a continual and necessary care to preserve from destruction so considerable a part of the empire, demanded rather the manners of a wife, than of a voluptuous nation; rather the lawful authority of a monarch, than the tyrannic power of a despotic prince. Power was Rh