It has been said that the letter kills, but that in the spirit there is life. It is decidedly the contrary in the book of Montesquieu; the spirit is diffusive, and the letter teaches nothing.
False Citations In The "Spirit Of Laws", And False Consequences Drawn From Them By The Author.
It is observed, that "the English, to favor liberty, have abstracted all the intermediate powers which formed part of their constitution."
On the contrary, they have preserved the Upper House, and the greater part of the jurisdictions which stand between the crown and the people.
"The establishment of a vizier in a despotic state is a fundamental law."
Montesquieu.
A judicious critic has remarked that this is as much as to say that the office of the mayors of the palace was a fundamental office. Constantine was highly despotic, yet had no grand vizier. Louis XIV. was less despotic, and had no first minister. The popes are sufficiently despotic, and yet seldom possess them.
"The sale of employments is good in monarchical states, because it makes it the profession of persons of family to undertake employments, which they would not fulfil from disinterested motives alone."