o the legislative power. As
a popular assembly is not always enlightened, though the general will
when properly ascertained, must be right--the service of a wise
legislator is necessary to draw up laws with the sovereign's approval.

The legislator, if he be truly wise, will not begin by writing down
laws very good in the abstract, but will first look about to see whether
the people for whom he intends them is capable of upholding them. He
must bear in mind many considerations--the situation of the country--the
nature of the soil--the density of the population--the national history,
occupations, and aptitudes.

Among these considerations one of the most important is the area of the
state. As nature has given limits to the stature of a normal man, beyond
she makes only giants or dwarfs, there are also limits beyond which a
state is, in the one direction, too large to be well-governed, and, in
the other, too small to maintain itself. There is in every body politic
a maximum of force which cannot be exceeded, and from which the state
often falls away by the process of enlarging itself. The further the
social bond is extended, the slacker it becomes; and, in general, a
small state is proportionately stronger than a large one.

It is true that a state must have a certain breadth of base for the sake
of solidity, and in order to resist violent shocks from without. But, on
the other hand, administration becomes more troublesome with distance.
It increases in burdensomeness, moreover, with the multiplication of
degrees. Each town, district, and province, has its administration, for
which the people must pay. Finally, overwhelming everything, is the
remote central administration. Again the government in a large state has
less vigour and swiftness than in a smaller one; the people have less
affection for their chiefs, their country, and for each other--since
they are, for the most part, strangers to each other. Uniform laws are
not suitable for diverse provinces. Yet diverse laws among people
belonging to the same state, breed weakness and confusion, for a healthy
and well-knit constitution, in brief, it is wiser to count upon the
vigour that is born of good government than upon the resources supplied
by greatness of territory.

The greatest good of all, which should be the aim of every system of
legislation, may, on investigation, be reduced to two main objects,
_liberty_ and _equality_: liberty, because all dependence of ind