Book XIX.
Of Laws in Relation to the Principles Which Form the General Spirit, Morals, and Customs of a Nation
14. What are the natural Means of changing the Manners and Customs of a Nation. We have said that the laws were the particular and precise institutions of a legislator, and manners and customs the institutions of a nation in general. Hence it follows that when these manners and customs are to be changed, it ought not to be done by laws; this would have too much the air of tyranny: it would be better to change them by introducing other manners and other customs.
Thus when a prince would make great alterations in his kingdom, he should reform by law what is established by law, and change by custom what is settled by custom; for it is very bad policy to change by law what ought to be changed by custom.
The French revolutionary abolition of the corps intermédiaires has become our accepted political science: "Modern education means handing down the customs of the minority, and rooting out the customs of the majority." Chesterton
ReplyDeleteAll made easier in an increasingly childless culture. It is easy to be tolerant of that which does not concern him.