Page:Montesquieu - The spirit of laws.djvu/497

Rh Having formerly subdued a neighbouring nation, which by its situation, the goodness of its ports, and the nature of its products, inspires it with jealousy; though it has given this nation its own laws, yet it holds it in great dependance: the subjects there are free, and the state itself in slavery.

The conquered state has an excellent civil government, but it is oppressed by the law of nations; laws are imposed by one nation on the other, and these are such as render its prosperity precarious, and dependent on the will of a master.

The ruling nation inhabiting a large island, and being in possession of a great trade, hath with extraordinary ease grown powerful at sea; and as the preservation of its liberties require that it should have neither strong holds, nor fortresses, nor land forces, it has occasion for a formidable navy to preserve it from invasions; a navy which must be superior to that of all other powers, who employing their treasures in wars at land, have not sufficient for those at sea.

The empire of the sea has always given those who have enjoyed it a natural pride; because thinking themselves capable of extending their insults wherever they please, they imagine that their power is as boundless as the ocean.

This nation has a great influence in the affairs of its neighbours; for as its power is not employed in conquests, its friendship is more courted, and its resentment more dreaded, than could naturally be expected from the inconstancy of its government, and its domestic commotions.

Thus it is the fate of the executive power to be almost always disturbed at home and respected abroad. Rh