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340 ON THE RISE, PROGRESS, ETC.people, the limits between the legislative and the executive,and so forth, discussed so practicallyas in Geneva. It pre'sented the curious spectacle of a small, almost the smallestfree state of Europe, preserving in the midst of the greatmonarchies by which it was surrounded, so striking a resemblance to the republics of antiquity, as to furnish acommentary on them, such as the whole continent besidescould not supply. But there is another point on accountof which it is still more remarkable, viz. the interference ofseveral of the greater states, especially of France, with itsinternal affairs, and the manner in which that interferencewas conducted. Almost all the ministers who had chargeof the foreign affairs of FranceFleury and Choiseul underLewis XV. Vergennes and Necker under Lewis XVI.took a very great and active interest in the politics ofGeneva; but ^notwithstanding the immense disparity ofstrength, their interference was always cautious and respectful, to a degree which could have been necessary onlytowards a much more important state. And even when, inextreme cases, it became unavoidable for the support of oneor other of the parties, that troops should be advanced uponGeneva, still its independence was never violated. Indeedthe eighteenth century may claim as a phenomenon peculiarly its own, the instance of an army furnished by threepowers, France, Sardinia, and Switzerland, and assembledbefore the gates of a town, not for the purposes of conquest,but solely with a view of restoring by its presence the tranquillity of the town No itself. political system which hasnot for its foundation a sacred respect for property and a desire to maintain the balance of power can present such scenes !Whilst these repeated disturbances, and the cautious interference of the great powers which they produced,to gaveGeneva an importance in the eyes of Europe which noother state of the same rank could boast, they were also thecause of its becoming the centralpoint of speculationsthe ontheory of government. It affords a striking example the ofpower which the freedom of a republican constitutionpossesses to awaken a spirit of general inquiry, while it atthe same time shows that the spirit thus roused will naturally attach itself to the subject of politics, should these liemore immediately within its reach.