Rousseau_contrat-social
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Simple government is better in itself, just because it is simple. But<br />
when the executive power is not sufficiently dependent upon the<br />
legislative power, i.e., when the prince is more closely related to the<br />
Sovereign than the people to the prince, this lack of proportion must be<br />
cured by the division of the government; for all the parts have then no<br />
less authority over the subjects, while their division makes them all<br />
together less strong against the Sovereign.<br />
The same disadvantage is also prevented by the appointment of<br />
intermediate magistrates, who leave the government entire, and have the<br />
effect only of balancing the two powers and maintaining their respective<br />
rights. Government is then not mixed, but moderated.<br />
The opposite disadvantages may be similarly cured, and, when the<br />
government is too lax, tribunals may be set up to concentrate it. This<br />
is done in all democracies. In the first case, the government is divided<br />
to make it weak; in the second, to make it strong: for the maxima of<br />
both strength and weakness are found in simple governments, while the<br />
mixed forms result in a mean strength.<br />
8. THAT ALL FORMS OF GOVERNMENT DO NOT SUIT ALL COUNTRIES<br />
LIBERTY, not being a fruit of all climates, is not within the reach of<br />
all peoples. The more this principle, laid down by Montesquieu,[E2] is<br />
considered, the more its truth is felt; the more it is combated, the<br />
more chance is given to confirm it by new proofs.<br />
In all the governments that there are, the public person consumes<br />
without producing. Whence then does it get what it consumes? From the<br />
labour of its members. The necessities of the public are supplied out of<br />
the superfluities of individuals. It follows that the civil State can<br />
subsist only so long as men’s labour brings them a return greater than<br />
their needs.<br />
The amount of this excess is not the same in all countries. In some it<br />
is considerable, in others middling, in yet others nil, in some even<br />
negative. The relation of product to subsistence depends on the<br />
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