The Political Testament of Cardinal Richelieu: The Significant Chapters and Supporting Selections

II. Reason Should Guide the Governing of a State (Complete)

CHAPTER 11 REASON SHOULD GUIDE THE GOVERNING OF A STATE ~ Commonsense leads each one ofus to understand that man, having been endowed with reason, should do nothing except that which is reasonable, since otherwise he would be acting contrary to his nature, and by consequence contrary to Him Who is its Creator. It further teaches us that the more a man is great and conspicuous, the more he ought to be conscious of this principle and the less he ought to abuse the rational process which constitutes his being, because the ascendency he has over other men requires him to preserve that part of his nature and his purpose which was specifically given to him by Him Who chose him for elevation. From these two principles it clearly follows that if man is sovereignly reasonable he ought to make reason sovereign, which requires not only that he do nothing not in conformity with it, but also that he make all those who are under his authority reverence it and follow it ,I REASON SHOULD GUIDE religiously. This precept is the source of another, which teaches us that since we should never want the accomplishment of anything not reasonable and just, neither should we ever want the accomplishment of anything without having it carried out and our commands followed by complete obedience, because otherwise reason would not really reign sovereign. The practice of this rule is quite easy because love is a most powerful motive in winning obedience, and it is impossible for subjects not to love a prince if they know that reason is the guide of all his actions. Authority constrains obedience, but reason captivates it. It is much more expedient to lead men by means which imperceptibly win their wills than, as is more the practice, by those which coerce them. If it is true that reason ought to be the torch which lights the conduct of both princes and their states, it is also true that there is nothing in nature less compatible with reason than emotion. It can so blind a person that itmakes the shadow seem like the substance, and a prince must above all avoid acting upon such a basis. It would make him doubly odious, since it is directly contrary to what distinguishes man from the animals. One often has to repent at leisure what emotion has hastily engendered, but such results never occur when action springs from reasonable consideration. It is for such reasons necessary to back one's decision with a firm will, because this is the only way to make oneself obeyed, and just as humility is the first foundation of Christian perfection, so GOVERNING OF A STATE 73 obedience is the most important part of the subjection so necessary to the well-being of states, which, if it is defective, cannot flourish. There are many things which by their very nature are difficult neither to order nor to carry out, but it is necessary to will them efficaciously, that is to say, with complete fumness and lasting attention, and so that after the execution has been ordered, severe punishment falls on any who disobey. Those tasks which appear the most difficult, even almost impossible, seem so only because of the lack of determination with which we view them and command their execution. And it is true that subjects will always religiously obey when princes are firm and relentless in their commands, from which it follows that if states are poorly governed princes are all the more responsible for it, since it is certain that their weakness and indifference are the cause of it. In a word, just as to will firmly and to do what one wills are the same thing in a true prince, so too to will weakly or not to will at all are alike in the opposite sense in that nothing is ever accomplished. . The government of kingdoms requires a manly bearing and an inflexible will, contrary to indecision which exposes those who are its victims to the schemes of their enemies. It is necessary, in all cases, to act with vigor, principally because even if the outcome of an undertakingis not good, at least we can know that having omitted nothing which could have made it succeed we can spare 74 REASON SHOULD GUIDE ourselves the shame of responsibility although we cannot avoid the evil of a real misfortune. Even when one...