17.6. 6. A new physical Cause of the Slavery of Asia, and of the Liberty
of Europe.
In Asia they have always had great empires; in Europe these
could never subsist. Asia has larger plains; it is cut out into much
more extensive divisions by mountains and seas; and as it lies more to
the south, its springs are more easily dried up; the mountains are less
covered with snow; and the rivers, being not so large, form more
contracted barriers.
[8]
Power in Asia ought, then, to be always despotic; for if their
slavery was not severe they would soon make a division inconsistent with
the nature of the country.
In Europe the natural division forms many nations of a moderate
extent, in which the ruling by laws is not incompatible with the
maintenance of the state: on the contrary, it is so favourable to it,
that without this the state would fall into decay, and become a prey to
its neighbours.
It is this which has formed a genius for liberty that renders every
part extremely difficult to be subdued and subjected to a foreign power,
otherwise than by the laws and the advantage of commerce.
On the contrary, there reigns in Asia a servile spirit, which they
have never been able to shake off, and it is impossible to find in all
the histories of that country a single passage which discovers a freedom
of spirit; we shall never see anything there but the excess of slavery.
Footnotes
[8]
The waters lose themselves or evaporate before or after their
streams are united.
