The Spirit of Laws (1758)/Book XVII

by Montesquieu

BOOK XVII.
How the Laws of political Servitude have a Relation to the Nature of the Climate.

CHAP. I.
Of political Servitude.

Book XVII.
Chap. 1, & 2.POLITICAL servitude does not less depend on the nature of the climate, than that which is civil and domestic, and this we are going to make appear.

CHAP. II.
The Difference between Nations in point of Courage.

WE have already observed that great heat enervates the strength and courage of men, and that in cold climates they have a certain vigor of body and mind which renders them capable of long, painful, great, and intrepid actions. This remark holds true not only between one nation and another; but even in the different parts of the same country. In the north of China^[1], people are more couragious than those in the south; and those in the south of Corea^[2], have less bravery than those in the north.

We ought not then to be astonished that the effeminacy of the people in hot climates, has almost always rendered them slaves; and that the bravery Book XVII.
Chap. 3.of those in cold climates has enabled them to maintain their liberties. This is an effect which springs from a natural cause.

This has also been found true in America; the despotic empires of Mexico and Peru were near the Line, and almost all the little free nations were and are still, near the Poles.

CHAP. III.
Of the Climate of Asia.

THE relations of travellers^[3] inform us, "that the vast continent of the north of Asia, which extends from forty degrees or thereabouts to the Pole, and from the frontiers of Muscovy even to the eastern ocean, is in an extremely cold climate; that this immense tract of land is divided by a chain of mountains which run from west to east, leaving Siberia on the north, and Great Tartary on the south; that the climate of Siberia is so cold, that excepting some places it cannot be cultivated, and that though the Russians have settlements all along the Irtis, they cultivate nothing; that in this country there grows only some little firs and shrubs; that the natives of the country are divided into wretched colonies, like those of Canada; that the reason of this cold proceeds on the one hand from the height of the land, and on the other, from the mountains, which, in proportion as they run from south to north, are levelled in such a manner, that the north wind every where blows without opposition; that tins wind which renders Nova Zembla uninhabitable, blowing in Siberia makes it Book XVII.
Chap. 3.a barren waste; that in Europe, on the contrary, the mountains of Norway and Lapland are admirable bulwarks which cover the northern countries from the wind; so that at Stockholm, which is about fifty nine degrees latitude, the earth produces plants, fruits, and corn; and that about Abo, which is sixty one degrees, and even to sixty three and sixty four, there are mines of silver, and the land is fruitful enough."

We see also in these relations, "that Great Tartary, which is to the south of Siberia, is also exceeding cold; that the country cannot be cultivated; that nothing can be found but pasturage for their flocks and herds; that trees cannot grow there, but only brambles, as in Iceland; that there are near China and India, some countries where there grows a kind of millet, but that neither corn nor rice will ripen; that there is scarcely a place in Chinese Tartary at forty three, forty four, and forty five degrees, where it does not freeze seven or eight months in the year, so that it is as cold as Iceland, though it might be imagined from its situation to be as hot as the south of France; that there are no cities except four or five towards the eastern ocean, and some which the Chinese, for political reasons, have built near China; that in the rest of great Tartary, there are only a few situated in Buchar, Turquestan, and Cathay; that the reason of this extreme cold proceeds from the nature of the nitrous earth, full of saltpetre, and sand, and more particularly from the height of the land. Father Verbiest found, that a certain place eighty leagues north of the Book XVII.
Chap. 3.great wall towards the source of Kavamhuram, exceeded the height of the sea near Pekin three thousand geometrical paces; that this height^[4] is the cause that though almost all the great rivers of Asia have their source in this country, there is however so great a want of water, that it can be inhabited only near the rivers and lakes."

These facts being laid down, I reason thus. Asia has properly no temperate zone, as the places situated in a very cold climate immediately touch upon those which are exceeding hot, that is Turky, Persia, India, China, Corea, and Japan.

In Europe, on the contrary, the temperate zone is very extensive though situated in climates widely different from each other; there being no affinity between the climates of Spain and Italy, and those of Norway and Sweden. But as the climate grows insensibly cold upon our advancing from south to north, nearly in proportion to the latitude of each country; it thence follows that each resembles the country joining to it, that there is no very extraordinary difference between them, and that, as I have just said, the temperate zone is very extensive.

From hence it comes, that in Asia the strong nations are opposed to the weak; the warlike, brave, and active people touch immediately on those who are indolent, effeminate, and timorous: the one must therefore conquer, and the other be conquered. In Europe, on the contrary, strong nations are opposed to the strong; and those who join to each other have nearly the same courage. This is the grand reason of the weakness of Asia, and of the strength of Europe; of the liberty of Europe, Book XVII.
Chap. 3, & 4.and of the slavery of Asia: a cause that I do not recollect ever to have seen remarked. From hence it proceeds, that liberty in Asia never increases, whilst in Europe it is enlarged or diminished according to particular circumstances.

The Russian nobility have indeed been reduced to slavery by the ambition of one of their princes; but they have always discovered those marks of impatience and discontent which are never to be seen in the southern climates. Have they not been able for a short time to establish an aristocratical government? Another of the northern kingdoms has lost its laws; but we may trust to the climate that they are not lost in such a manner as never to be recovered.

CHAP. IV.
The Consequences resulting from this.

WHAT we have just said, is perfectly conformable to history. Asia has been subdued thirteen times; eleven by the northern nations, and twice by those of the south. In the early ages it was conquered three times by the Scythians; afterwards it was conquered once by the Medes, and once by the Persians; again by the Greeks, the Arabs, the Moguls, the Turks, the Tartars, the Persians, and the Afghans. I mention only the upper Asia, and say nothing of the invasions made in the rest of the south of that part of the world, which has most frequently suffered prodigious revolutions.

In Europe, on the contrary, since the establishment of the Greek and Phoenician colonies we Book XVII.
Chap. 4, & 5.know but of four great changes; the first caused by the conquest of the Romans; the second by the inundation of barbarians who destroyed these very Romans; the third by the victories of Charlemain; and the last by the invasions of the Normans. And if this be rightly examined, we shall find, even in these changes, a general strength diffused through all the parts of Europe. We know the difficulty which the Romans met with in conquering Europe, and the ease and facility with which they invaded Asia. We are sensible of the difficulties the northern nations had to encounter in overturning the Roman empire; of the wars, and labours of Charlemain; and of the several enterprizes of the Normans. The destroyers were incessantly destroyed.

CHAP. V.
That when the People in the North of Asia, and those of the North of Europe have conquered, the effects of the Conquest were not the same.

THE nations in the north of Europe conquered as freemen; the people in the north of Asia conquered as slaves, and subdued others only to gratify the ambition of a master.

The reason is, that the people of Tartary, the natural conquerors of Asia, are themselves enslaved.

They are incessantly making conquests in the south of Asia, where they form empires; but that part of the nation which continues in the country, find that they are subject to a great master, who being despotic in the south, will also be so in the north, and exercising an arbitrary power over the conquered subjects, pretends to the same over those who are Book XVII.
Chap. 5.the conqueros. This is at this day plainly seen in that vast country called Chinese Tartary, which is governed by the emperor with a power almost as despotic as that of China itself, and which he every day extends by his conquests.

We may likewise see in the history of China, that the emperors^[5] sent Chinese colonies into Tartary. These Chinese are become Tartars, and the mortal enemies of China; but this does not prevent their carrying into Tartary, the spirit of the Chinese government.

A part of the Tartars who have conquered, have very often been themselves driven out; when they have carried into their deserts that servile spirit which they had acquired in the climate of slavery. The history of China furnishes us with great examples of this, as does also our ancient^[6] history.

From hence it proceeds that the genius of the Getic or Tartarian nation, has always resembled that of the empires of Asia. The people in these are governed by the cudgel; the people in Tartary by long whips. The spirit of Europe has always been contrary to these manners; and in all ages what the people of Asia have called punishment, the people of Europe have called the most outragious abuse^[7].

The Tartars who destroyed the Grecian empire, established in the conquered countries, slavery and despotic power; the Goths conquering the Roman Book XVII.
Chap. 5, & 6.empire every where founded monarchy and liberty.

I do not know whether the famous Rudbeck, who in his Atlantica has bestowed such praises on Scandinavia, has made mention of that great prerogative which ought to set this people above all the nations upon earth; namely this country's having been the source from whence sprung the liberties of Europe, that is of almost all the freedom which at present subsists amongst mankind.

Jornandez the Goth has called the north of Europe, the farmer^[8] of the human race. I should rather call it the farmer of the instruments which broke the chains forged in the south. In the north were formed those valiant nations, which sallied forth and left their countries to destroy tyrants and slaves, and to teach men, that nature having made them equal, reason could not render them dependent except where it was necessary to their happiness.

CHAP. VI.
A new physical Caue of the Slavery of Asia, and of the Liberty of Europe.

IN Asia they have always had great empires; in Europe these could never subsist. Asia has larger plains; it is cut out into much more extensive divisions by mountains and seas; and as it lies more to the south, its springs are more easily dried up; the mountains are less covered with snow; and the rivers being not^[9] so large, form smaller barriers.

Book XVII.
Chap. 6, & 7.The power in Asia ought to be always despotic: for if their slavery was not severe, they would soon make a division, inconsistent with the nature of the country.

In Europe the natural division forms many nations of a moderate extent, in which the government of the laws is not incompatible with the maintenance of the state: on the contrary, it is so favourable to it, that without this the state would fall into decay, and become inferior to all others.

It is this which has formed a genius for liberty, that renders every part extremely difficult to be subdued and subjected to a foreign power, otherwise than by the laws and the advantage of commerce.

On the contrary, there reigns in Asia a servile spirit, which they have never been able to shake off; and it is impossible to find, in all the histories of this country, a single passage which discovers a free soul: we shall never see any thing there but the heroism of slavery.

CHAP. VII:
Of Africa and America.

THIS is what I had to say of Asia and Europe. Africa is in a climate like that of the south of Asia, and is in the same servitude. America^[10] being destroyed and lately re-peopled by the nations of Europe and Africa, can now scarcely shew its true genius; but what we know of its ancient history is very conformable to our principles.

 

1. Du Halde Vol. 1. p. 112.
2. The Chinese books make mention of this, ib. Vol. 4. p. 448.
3. See travels to the North, Vol. 8. the Hist. of the Tartars, and Du Halde Vol. 4.
4. Tartary is then a kind of a flat mountain.
5. As Voury V. emperor of the fifth Dynasty.
6. The Scythians three times conquered Asia, and were three times driven from thence. Justin, 1. 2.
7. This is no way contrary to what I shall say in the 28th book chap. 23. concerning the manner of thinking among the German nations, in respect to the cudgel; let the instrument be what it will, the power or action of beating, was always considered by them as an affront.
8. Humani generis efficinam.
9. The waters lose themselves, or evoporate before or after their streams are united.
10. The petty barbarous nations of America are called by the Spaniards Indios Bravos, and are much more difficult to subdue than the great, empires of Mexico and Peru.