'
'Not so,' says HAMET; 'for there is yet much for a prince to do, after
the best system of laws has been established: the government of a nation
as a whole, the regulation and extent of its trade, the establishment of
manufactories, the encouragement of genius, the application of the
revenues, and whatever can improve the arts of peace, and secure
superiority in war, is the proper object of a king's attention.
'But in these,' said ALMORAN, 'it will be difficult for two minds to
concur; let us, then, agree to leave these also to the care of some
other, whom we can continue as long as we approve, and displace when we
approve no longer: we shall, by this expedient, be able to avert the
odium of any unpopular measure; and by the sacrifice of a slave, we can
always satisfy the people, and silence public discontent.'
'To trust implicitly to another,' says HAMET, 'is to give up a
prerogative, which is at once our highest duty and interest to keep; it
is to betray our trust, and to sacrifice our honour to another. The
prince, who leaves the government of his people implicitly to a subject,
leaves it to one, who has many more temptations to betray their interest
than himself: a vicegerent is in a subordinate station; he has,
therefore, much to rear, and much to hope: he may also acquire the power
of obtaining what he hopes, and averting what he rears, at the public
expence; he may stand in need of dependents, and may be able no
otherwise to procure them, than by conniving at the fraud or the
violence which they commit: he may receive, in bribes, an equivalent for
his share, as an individual, in the public prosperity; for his interest
is not essentially connected with that of the state; he has a separate
interest; but the interest of the state, and of the king, are one: he
may even be corrupted to betray the councils, and give up the interests
of the nation, to a foreign power; but this is impossible to the king;
for nothing equivalent to what he would give up, could be offered him.
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