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Title:  An essay on the history of civil society: By Adam Ferguson, ...
Author: Ferguson, Adam, 1723-1816.
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pretensions of those who would rule; and where the love of equality, and the sense of justice, have failed, they act on motives of faction, emulation, and envy. The exiled Tarquin had his adherents at Rome; but if by their means he had recovered his station, it is probable, that in the exercise of his royalty, he must have entered on a new scene of contention with the very party that restored him to power.IN proportion as territory is extended, its parts lose their relative importance to the whole. Its in∣habitants cease to perceive their connection with the state, and are seldom united in the execution of any national, or even of any factious, designs. Di∣stance from the seats of administration, and indif∣ference to the persons who contend for preferment, teach the majority to consider themselves as the subjects of a sovereignty, not as the members of a political body. It is even remarkable, that enlarge∣ment of territory, by rendering the individual of less consequence to the public, and less able to in∣trude with his counsel, actually tends to reduce na∣tional affairs within a narrower compass, as well as to diminish the numbers who are consulted in legi∣slation, or in other matters of government.THE disorders to which a great empire is ex∣posed, require speedy prevention, vigilance, and quick execution. Distant provinces must be kept in subjection by military force; and the dictatorial powers, which, in free states, are sometimes raised to quell insurrections, or to oppose other occasional evils, appear, under a certain extent of dominion, at all times equally necessary to suspend the disso∣lution of a body, whose parts were assembled, and must be cemented, by measures forcible, deci and secret. Among the circumstances, therefore, 0