BOok IV.
Chap. 6.ruption of our modern times[1]. A very honest legislator has formed a people, to whom probity seems as natural as bravery to the Spartans. Mr. Pen is a real Lycurgus; and though the former made peace his principal aim, as the latter did war, yet they resemble one another in the singular way of living to which they reduced their people, in the ascendant they had over free men, in the prejudices they overcame, and in the passions they subdued.
Another example we have from Paraguay. This has been the subject of an invidious charge against a society, that confiders the pleasure of commanding as the only happiness in life: but it will be always a glorious undertaking to render government subservient to human happiness[2].
It is glorious indeed for this society to have been the first in pointing out to those countries the idea of religion joined with that of humanity. By repairing the devastations of the Spaniards, she has begun to heal one of the most dangerous wounds that the human species ever received.
An exquisite sensibility to whatever the distinguishes by the name of honour, her zeal for a religion which is far more humbling in respect to those that hear than to those that preach it, have set her upon vast undertakings, which she has accomplished with success. She has drawn wild people from their woods, secured them a maintenance, and clothed their nakedness; and had she only by this means improved the industry of mankind, it would have been sufficient to eternize her fame.
