11.7. 7. Of the Monarchies we are acquainted with.
The monarchies we are
acquainted with have not, like that we have been speaking of, liberty
for their direct view: the only aim is the glory of the subject, of the
state, and of the sovereign. But hence there results a spirit of
liberty, which in those states is capable of achieving as great things,
and of contributing as much perhaps to happiness as liberty itself.
Here the three powers are not distributed and founded on the model
of the constitution above-mentioned; they have each a particular
distribution, according to which they border more or less on political
liberty; and if they did not border upon it, monarchy would degenerate
into despotic government.
