Rousseau_contrat-social
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of the people, on the other hand, acts only when concentrated: when<br />
spread abroad, it evaporates and is lost, like powder scattered on the<br />
ground, which catches fire only grain by grain. The least populous<br />
countries are thus the fittest for tyranny: fierce animals reign only in<br />
deserts.<br />
9. THE MARKS OF A GOOD GOVERNMENT<br />
THE question "What absolutely is the best government?" is unanswerable<br />
as well as indeterminate; or rather, there are as many good answers as<br />
there are possible combinations in the absolute and relative situations<br />
of all nations.<br />
But if it is asked by what sign we may know that a given people is well<br />
or ill governed, that is another matter, and the question, being one of<br />
fact, admits of an answer.<br />
It is not, however, answered, because everyone wants to answer it in his<br />
own way. Subjects extol public tranquillity, citizens individual<br />
liberty; the one class prefers security of possessions, the other that<br />
of person; the one regards as the best government that which is most<br />
severe, the other maintains that the mildest is the best; the one wants<br />
crimes punished, the other wants them prevented; the one wants the State<br />
to be feared by its neighbours, the other prefers that it should be<br />
ignored; the one is content if money circulates, the other demands that<br />
the people shall have bread. Even if an agreement were come to on these<br />
and similar points, should we have got any further? As moral qualities<br />
do not admit of exact measurement, agreement about the mark does not<br />
mean agreement about the valuation.<br />
For my part, I am continually astonished that a mark so simple is not<br />
recognised, or that men are of so bad faith as not to admit it. What is<br />
the end of political association? The preservation and prosperity of its<br />
members. And what is the surest mark of their preservation and<br />
prosperity? Their numbers and population. Seek then nowhere else this<br />
mark that is in dispute. The rest being equal, the government under<br />
which, without external aids, without naturalisation or colonies, the<br />
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