*them best; while the body of the nation is composed of slaves, and lives in perpetual servitude.

66

"With these laws, the Malays are restless, fond "of navigation, war, plunder, emigrations, colo"nies, desperate enterprises, adventures, and gallantry. They talk incessantly of their honour, " and their bravery, while they are universally regarded, by those with whom they have inter"course, as the most treacherous, ferocious peo

ઃઃ

ple on the face of the globe; and yet, what ap❝peared to me extremely singular, they speak the "softest language of Asia. What the Count de "Forbin has said, in his Memoirs, is exactly true, "and is the reigning characteristic of all the Malay "nations. More attached to the absurd laws of "their pretended honour, than to those of justice "or humanity, you always observe, that among "them, the strong oppress the weak: their trea"ties of peace and friendship never subsisting be"yond that self-interest by which they were in"duced to make them. They are almost always "armed, and either at war among themselves, or "employed in pillaging their neighbours *."

The remains of this feudal policy are also to be found in Turkey. The Zaims and Timariots, in the Turkish Empire, are a species of vassals, who posses landed estates upon condition of their upholding a certain number of soldiers for the service

*Les voyages d'une Philosophe.

of the grand seignior. The Zaims have lands of greater value than the Timariots, and are obliged to maintain a greater number of soldiers. The estates of both, are, in some cases, held during pleasure, and in others hereditary. It was com puted, in the last century, that the whole militia maintained in this manner, throughout the Turkish empire, amounted to an hundred thousand men *.

In the history of the ancient Persians, during the wars which they carried on with the Roman emperors, we may also discover some traces of a similar constitution of government; for it is observed that this nation had no mercenary troops, but that the whole people might be called out to war by the king, and upon the conclusion of every expedition, were accustomed to return, with their booty, to their several places of residence t.

When a great and polished nation begins to relapse into its primitive rudeness and barbarism, the dominions which beloged to it are in danger of falling asunder; and the same institutions may become necessary for preventing the different parts of the kingdom from being separated, which had been formerly employed in order to unite the several members of an extensive society. This was the case among the Romans in the later periods of the empire. When the provinces became in a great measure independent, and the government was no

*See Ricault's State of the Ottoman Empire.
Herodian. hist. lib. 6.

longer able to protect them from the repeated invasions of the barbarians, the inhabitants were obliged to shelter themselves under the dominion of particular great men in their neighbourhood, whom the emperor put in possession of large estates, upon condition of their maintaining a proper armed force to defend the country. Thus, in different provinces, there arose a number of chiefs, or leaders, who enjoyed estates in land, as a consideration for the military service which they performed to the sovereign. The Abbé Du Bos has thence been led to imagine that the feudal policy of the German nations was copied from those regulations already established in the countries which they subdued *. But it ought to be considered, that the growth and decay of society have, in some respects, a resemblance to each other; which, independent of imitation, is naturally productive of similar manners and customs.

*Histoire critique de l'etablissement de la monarchie Françoise dans les Gaules.

CHAP. V.

THE CHANGES PRODUCED IN THE GOVERNMENT OF À PEOPLE, BY THEIR PROGRESS IN ARTS, AND IN POLISHED MANNERS.

SECTION I.

Circumstances, in a polished nation, which tend to increase the power of the Sovereign.

THE advancement of a people in the arts of life,

is attended with various alterations in the state of individuals, and in the whole constitution of their government.

Mankind, in a rude age, are commonly in readi ness to go out to war, as often as their circumstances require it. From their extreme idleness, a military expedition is seldom inconvenient for them; while the prospect of enriching themselves with plunder, and of procuring distinction by their valour, renders it always agreeable. The members of every clan are no less eager to follow their chief, and to revenge his quarrel, than he is desirous of their assistance. They look upon it as a it as a privilege, rather than a burden, to attend upon him, and to share in the danger, as well as in the glory and profit of all his undertakings. By the numberless acts of hotility in which they are engaged, they

are trained to the use of arms, and acquire experi ence in the military art, so far as it is then understood. Thus, without any trouble or expence, a powerful militia is constantly maintained, which, upon the slightest notice, can always be brought into the field, and employed in the defence of the country.

When Caesar made war upon the Helvetii they were able to muster against him no less than ninetytwo thousand fighting men, amounting to a fourth part of all the inhabitants *.

Hence those prodigious swarms which issued, at different times, from the ill cultivated regions of the north, and over-ran the several provinces of the Roman empire. Hence too, the poor, but superstitious princes of Europe, were enabled to muster such numerous forces under the banner of the cross, in order to attack the opulent nations of the east, and to deliver the holy sepulchre from the hands of the infidels.

The same observation will, in some measure, account for those immense armies which we read of in the early periods of history; or at least may incline us to consider the exaggerated relations of ancient authors, upon that subject, as not entirely destitute of real foundation.

These dispositions, arising from the frequent disorders incident to a rude society, are of course

*De bell. Gall. lib. 1.