tholic church, that pride is the
last sin which can be conquered in the human heart.

One remarkable instance will illustrate the manner in which
Montesquieu supported the opposite principles, that institutions are
moulded by the character and circumstances of nations, not the
moulders of them. It is well known that primogeniture, though neither
the law of succession in the Roman empire, nor originally of the
nations of Northern Europe, in whom the _allodial_ customs at first
generally prevailed, came to be universally introduced with the feudal
system, and the thorough establishment of a military aristocracy in
every country of Europe. But, strange to say, there are some places
where the rule is just the reverse, and the _youngest_ son succeeds to
the whole movable estate of the father, as is still the custom of some
boroughs in England.[3] Montesquieu ascribes, and apparently with
reason, these opposite rules of succession to a similar feeling of
expedience and necessity in the different circumstances in which the
same race of Northmen were placed in different periods of their
progress. The succession of the youngest son to the father's estate
was the bequest of the patriarchal ages, when the youngest son
generally remained last at home with his aged parent, his elder
brothers having previously hived off with their herds and flocks. He
therefore naturally succeeded to the movables of which he was alone in
possession, jointly with his father, at the latter's death.

On the other hand, the descent of the whole landed estate to the
eldest son, to the exclusion of his younger brothers and sisters, was
naturally suggested by the settlement of a brave and martial race of
conquerors in extensive districts gained by their valour, and which
could be maintained only in the lands they had won by the sword. To
divide the estate in such circumstances of peril, was to expose it to
certain destruction; unity of operation in all its forms, one head,
one castle, was as indispensable as one general to an army, or one
sovereign to a kingdom. The old maxim, "divide et impera," was
universally felt to be of fearful application. Empires, duchies,
principalities, earldoms, baronies, private estates, could alone be
preserved entire, amidst the general hostility with which all were
surrounded, by descending to a single occupant. That occupant was
naturally the eldest son, the first-born of the family, the first who
arrived at man's estate,