18.5. 5. Of the Inhabitants of Islands.
The inhabitants of islands have a higher relish for liberty than those of
the continent. Islands are commonly of small extent;
[4]
one part of the people cannot be so easily
employed to oppress the other; the sea separates them from great
empires; tyranny cannot so well support itself within a small compass:
conquerors are stopped by the sea; and the islanders, being without the
reach of their arms, more easily preserve their own laws.
Footnotes
[4]
Japan is an exception to this, by its great extent as well as by
its slavery.