ot in himself, that a husband can find the instruments of
his despotism; as diamond cuts diamond so must the woman be made to
tyrannize over herself. To know how to offer the ear-rings in such a way
that they will be returned, is a secret whose application embraces
the slightest details of life. And now let us pass to the second
observation.

"He who can manage property of one toman, can manage one of an hundred
thousand," says an Indian proverb; and I, for my part, will enlarge upon
this Asiatic adage and declare, that he who can govern one woman can
govern a nation, and indeed there is very much similarity between these
two governments. Must not the policy of husbands be very nearly the same
as the policy of kings? Do not we see kings trying to amuse the people
in order to deprive them of their liberty; throwing food at their heads
for one day, in order to make them forget the misery of a whole year;
preaching to them not to steal and at the same time stripping them
of everything; and saying to them: "It seems to me that if I were the
people I should be virtuous"? It is from England that we obtain the
precedent which husbands should adopt in their houses. Those who have
eyes ought to see that when the government is running smoothly the
Whigs are rarely in power. A long Tory ministry has always succeeded an
ephemeral Liberal cabinet. The orators of a national party resemble the
rats which wear their teeth away in gnawing the rotten panel; they close
up the hole as soon as they smell the nuts and the lard locked up in the
royal cupboard. The woman is the Whig of our government. Occupying the
situation in which we have left her she might naturally aspire to the
conquest of more than one privilege. Shut your eyes to the intrigues,
allow her to waste her strength in mounting half the steps of your
throne; and when she is on the point of touching your sceptre, fling her
back to the ground, quite gently and with infinite grace, saying to
her: "Bravo!" and leaving her to expect success in the hereafter. The
craftiness of this manoeuvre will prove a fine support to you in the
employment of any means which it may please you to choose from your
arsenal, for the object of subduing your wife.

Such are the general principles which a husband should put into
practice, if he wishes to escape mistakes in ruling his little kingdom.
Nevertheless, in spite of what was decided by the minority at the
council of Macon (Montesquieu, who had