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Legislators Desire to Mold Mankind
Now let us examine Raynal on this
subject of mankind being molded by the legislator:
"The legislator must first
consider the climate, the air, and the soil. The resources at his
disposal determine his duties. He must first consider his
locality. A population living on maritime shores must have laws
designed for navigation.... If it is an inland settlement, the
legislator must make his plans according to the nature and
fertility of the soil....
It is especially in the
distribution of property that the genius of the legislator will
be found. As a general rule, when a new colony is established in
any country, sufficient land should be given to each man to
support his family....
On an uncultivated island that you
are populating with children, you need do nothing but let the
seeds of truth germinate along with the development of reason....
But when you resettle a nation with a past into a new country,
the skill of the legislator rests in the policy of permitting the
people to retain no injurious opinions and customs which can
possibly be cured and corrected. If you desire to prevent these
opinions and customs from becoming permanent, you will secure the
second generation by a general system of public education for the
children. A prince or a legislator should never establish a
colony without first arranging to send wise men along to instruct
the youth...."
In a new colony, ample opportunity
is open to the careful legislator who desires to purify the
customs and manners of the people. If he has virtue and genius,
the land and the people at his disposal will inspire his soul
with a plan for society. A writer can only vaguely trace the plan
in advance because it is necessarily subject to the instability
of all hypotheses; the problem has many forms, complications, and
circumstances that are difficult to foresee and settle in detail.
Clark Simmons, Webmaster
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