SKETCH V.

Great and Small States compared.

Neighbours, according to the common faying, must be fweet friends or bitter enemies patriotism is vigorous in small states; and hatred to neighbouring states, no less fo: both vanish in a great monarchy.

Like a maximum in mathematics, emulation has the finest play within certain bounds it languifheth where its objects are too many, or too few. Hence it is, that the most heroic actions are performed in a state of moderate extent: appetite for applause, or fame, may subsist in a great monarchy; but by that appetite, without the support of emulation, heroic actions are feldom atchieved.

Small ftates, however corrupted, are not liable to defpotifm: the people being clofe to the feat of government, and accustomed to see their governors daily, talk familiarly of their errors, and publish them

them every where. On Spain, which formerly confifted of many small states, a profound writer (a) makes the following obfervation. "The petty monarch was "but little elevated above his nobles: having little power, he could not com

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mand much respect; nor could his no❝bles look up to him with that reverence "which is felt in approaching great mo"narchs." Another thing is equally weighty against despotism in a small state: 'the army cannot easily be separated from the people; and for that reafon, is very little dangerous. The Roman pretorian bands were billeted in the towns near Rome; and three cohorts only were employ'd in guarding that city. Sejanus, prefect of these bands under Tiberius, lodged the three cohorts in a spacious barrack within the city, in order to gain more authority over them, and to wean them from familiarity with the people. Tacitus, in the 4th book of his Annals, relates the ftory in the following words.

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"Vim præfecuræ modicam antea, intendit, difperfas per urbem cohortes una in ca"ftra conducendo; ut fimul imperia ac

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(a) Dr Robertfon.

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ciperent,

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ciperent, numeroque et robore, `et visu, "inter fe, fiducia ipfis, in cæteros metus, crearetur *."

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What is faid above, fuggefts the caufe of a curious fact recorded in ancient history, “That of many attempts to ufurp the fovereignty of different Greek republics, very few fucceeded; and that no ufurpation of that kind was lasting." Every circumftance differs in an extenfive ftate: the people, at a distance from the throne and having profound veneration for the fovereign, confider themfelves, not as members of a body-politic, but as fubjects merely, bound implicitly to obey: by which impreffion they are prepared beforehand for defpotifm. Other reafons concur the fubjects of a great state are dazzled with the fplendor of their monarch; and as their union is prevented by

* "He extended the power of the prefecture, by collecting into one camp thofe pretorian co"horts which were formerly difperfed all over the "city; that thus, being united, they might be 66 more influenced by his orders, and while their "confidence in their power was increafed by the "conftant view of their own numbers and ftrength, "they might at the fame time ftrike a great terror " in others."*

VOL. II.

M m

diftance,

distance, the monarch can fafely employ a part of his fubjects against the rest, or a ftanding army against all.

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A great ftate poffeffes one eminent advantage, viz. ability to execute magnificent works. The hanging gardens of Babylon, the pyramids of Egypt, and its lake Meris, are illuftrious examples. The city of Heliopolis in Syria, named Balbek by the Turks, is a pregnant instance of power and opulence of the Roman empire. Even in the ruins of that city, there are remains of great magnificence and exquifite tafte. If the imperial palace, or the temple of the Sun, to mention no other building, were the work of any European prince exifting at prefent, it would make a capital figure in the annals of his reign. And yet fo little was the eclat of thefe works even at the time of execution, that there is not a hint of them in any hiflorian. The beneficence of fome great inonarchs is worthy of ftill greater praise. In the principal roads of Japan, hot baths are erected at proper diftances with other conveniencies, for the ufe of travellers. The beneficence of the Chinese government to those who fuffer fhipwreck, gives a more advantageous

advantageous impreffion of that mo→ narchy, than all that is painfully collected by Du Halde. To verify the obfervation, I gladly lay hold of the following incident. In the year 1728, the fhip Prince George took her departure from Calcutta in Bengal for Canton in China, with a cargo L. 60,000 value. A violent ftorm drove her afhore at a place named Timpau, a great way weft from Canton. Not above half the crew could make the fhore, worn out with fatigue and hunger, and not doubting of being maffacred by the natives. How amazed were they to be treated with remarkable humanity! A mandarin appeared, who not only provided for them victuals in plenty, but alfo men fkilled in diving to affift them in fishing the wreck. What follows is in the words of my author, Alexander Wedderburn of St Germains, a gentleman of known worth and veracity, who bore office in the fhip. "In a few days we recovered L. 5000 in "bullion, and afterward L. 10,000 more. "Before we fet forward to Canton, the "mandarin our benefactor took an exact

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account of our money, with the names "of the men, furnifhed us with an ef