10.15. 15. New Methods of preserving a Conquest.
When a monarch has subdued
a large country, he may make use of an admirable method, equally proper
for moderating despotic power, and for preserving the conquest; it is a
method practised by the conquerors of China.
In order to prevent the vanquished nation from falling into despair,
the victors from growing insolent and proud, the government from
becoming military, and to contain the two nations within their duty, the
Tartar family now on the throne of China has ordained that every
military corps in the provinces should be composed half of Chinese and
half Tartars, to the end that the jealousy between the two nations may
keep them within bounds. The courts of judicature are likewise half
Chinese and half Tartars. This is productive of several good effects, 1.
The two nations are a check to one another. 2. They both preserve the
civil and military power, and one is not destroyed by the other, 3. The
conquering nation may spread itself without being weakened and lost. It
is likewise enabled to withstand civil and foreign wars. The want of so
wise an institution as this has been the ruin of almost all the
conquerors that ever existed.