SECT. III.] POLITICAL CONDITIONS. 359 



stood the observation of Brooke, 1 as regards the Chinese, that 

 they exhibit in their character all the signs of having lived in 

 a despotic and densely populated country, whilst it may be 

 easily detected in the character of the Malay, that they be- 

 longed to a favoured climate which neither forced them to 

 labour nor to control their passions. The latter observation 

 cannot, however, be applied to all Malays, for many of the 

 Malay tribes live under despotic governments. These occupy 

 a higher position in civilization, 2 and also exhibit the effects 

 of despotism upon the national character, as may be seen in the 

 Javanese. 



We thus find that the first steps towards civilization can 

 neither be taken nor maintained by primitive nations without 

 the intervention of an energetic despotism; for all liberty which 

 is to benefit social development must be directly proportional 

 to the moral restraint which society imposes upon itself, be it 

 by the power of public opinion, a feeling of honour, education, or 

 religious conceptions. But such a moral restraint diminishes 

 in proportion as a people approaches the primitive state. Under 

 such circumstances, despotism acts beneficially, though it may 

 rest only on conquest or the assumption of power to which the 

 people submit either from fear or in expectation of greater secu- 

 rity for life and property. It is in rich countries especially where 

 despotism is first developed and long maintained : great fertility 

 of the soil, also produces an indolent people little inclined to 

 make great efforts for their political liberty. Crawfurd 3 well ob- 

 serves that the uniformity of the seasons and of the natural pro- 

 ducts, contribute much, in combination with the social condition 

 in tropical regions, and especially in the East Indian Archipelago, 

 to produce mental indolence all which explains the remarkable 

 fact that there is no instance of a free constitution in the torrid 

 zone among peoples which possess any civilization. Closely con- 

 nected with the above facts, is the circumstance that the in- 

 habitants of rich countries are rarely courageous and brave ; 

 they are effeminated partly by their mode of life, and partly by 

 the influence of despotism. 4 



1 " Narrative of events in Borneo and Celebes," i, p. 11, 2nd edit., 1848. 



2 Crawfurd, " History of the Indian Archipelago," iii, p. 4, 1820. 



3 Loc. cit., ii, p. 37. 4 Falconer, p. 186. 



