Though all governments have the same general end, which is that of preservation,
yet each has another particular object. Increase of dominion was the
object of Rome; war, that of Sparta; religion, that of the Jewish laws;
commerce, that of Marseilles; public tranquillity, that of the laws of
China:
[4]
navigation, that of the laws of Rhodes; natural liberty, that
of the policy of the Savages; in general, the pleasures of the prince,
that of despotic states; that of monarchies, the prince's and the
kingdom's glory; the independence of individuals is the end aimed at by
the laws of Poland, thence results the oppression of the whole.
[5]
One nation there is also in the world that has for the direct end of
its constitution political liberty. We shall presently examine the
principles on which this liberty is founded; if they are sound, liberty
will appear in its highest perfection.
To discover political liberty in a constitution, no great labour is
requisite. If we are capable of seeing it where it exists, it is soon
found, and we need not go far in search of it.
