§ XXVII
The Examination of Counsel
The king must scrutinize his right to war, distrust flattering ministers, seek contrary reasons, and listen to wise counselors without prejudice.
When war was under consideration, did you first examine your right—and have it examined—by the most intelligent people and those least inclined to flatter you? Did you mistrust the advice of certain ministers who have an interest in drawing you into war, or who at least try to flatter your passions so they can get from you the means to satisfy their own? Did you look for every reason that could be against you? Did you listen favorably to those who examined those reasons thoroughly?1 Did you give yourself time to learn the views of all your wisest counselors, without prejudicing them first?2
The Illusion of Personal Glory
The king is warned against pursuing war for personal glory, which is a false fatherhood that makes his people miserable, and against the pretext of convenience that leads to endless conquest.
Haven't you looked at your own glory as a reason to take action, for fear of living your life without distinguishing yourself from other princes? As if princes could find any real glory in disturbing the happiness of the people they ought to be fathers to! As if a father could be considered admirable for actions that make his children miserable! As if a king had any glory to hope for other than in his virtue—that is, in his justice and in the good government of his people! Haven't you believed that war was necessary to acquire strongholds that suited your convenience and would secure your borders?3 What a strange rule!4 By the logic of mere convenience, you'll advance step by step all the way to China.5
True Security Through Justice
The king is reminded that true security comes from justice, not from seizing neighbors' lands, and that making neighbors distrustful undermines his own safety.
As for the security of a frontier, you can find it without taking what belongs to others.6 Fortify your own strongholds, and don't seize those of your neighbors. Would you want a neighbor to take from you everything he thought convenient for his own security? Your security is not a title of ownership over what belongs to others.7 True security for you is to be just: it is to keep good allies by upright and moderate conduct; it is to have a numerous people, well fed, firmly attached to you, and well disciplined. But what8 is more contrary to your security than making your neighbors feel they can never find any with you, and that you're always ready to take from them everything that suits you?9
Read the original French
Quand il a été question d'une guerre, avez-vous d'abord examiné et fait examiner votre droit par les personnes les plus intelligentes et les moins flatteuses pour vous? Vous êtes-vous défié des conseils de certains ministres qui ont intérêt de vous engager à la guerre, ou qui du moins cherchent à flatter vos passions, pour tirer de vous de quoi contenter les leurs ? Avez-vous cherché toutes les raisons qui pouvoient être contre vous ? Avez-vous écouté favorablement ceux qui les ont approfondies? Vous êtes-vous donné le temps de savoir les sentiments de tous vos plus sages conseillers, sans les prévenir?
N'avez-vous point regardé votre gloire personnelle comme une raison d'entreprendre quelque chose, de peur de passer votre vie sans vous distinguer des autres princes ? comme si les princes pouvoient trouver quelque gloire solide à troubler le bonheur des peuples, dont ils doivent être les pères! comme si un père de famille pouvoit être estimable par les actions qui rendent ses enfants malheureux ! comme si un Roi avoit quelque gloire à espérer ailleurs que dans sa vertu, c'est-à-dire, dans sa justice et dans le bon gouvernement de son peuple ! N'avez-vous point cru que la guerre étoit nécessaire, pour acquérir des places qui étoient à votre bienséance, et qui feroient la sûreté de vot^e frontière ? Etrange règle ! par les convenances, on ira de proche en proche jusqu'à la Chine.
Pour la sûreté d'une frontière, on la peut trouver sans prendrë le bien d'autrui. Fortifiez vos propres places, et n'usurpez point celles de vos voisins. Voudriez-vous qu'un voisin vous prit tout ce qu'il croiroit commode pour sa sûreté? Votre sûreté n'est point un titre de proijété pour le bien d'autrui. La vraie sûreté pour vous, c'est d'être juste : c'est de conserver de bons alliés par une conduite droite et modérée : c'est d'avoir un peuple nombreux, bien nourri, bien affectionné et bien discipliné. Mais qu'y . a-t-ii de plus contraire à votre sûreté que de faire éprouver à vos voisins qu'ils n'en peuvent jamais trouver aucune avec vous, et que vous êtes toujours prêt à prendre sur eux tout ce qui vous accommode ?
Notes
- 1 ↩French 'les' points back to 'raisons' in the previous sentence; rendered explicitly as 'those reasons' for clarity across sentence boundaries.
- 2 ↩'sans les prévenir' is taken as not prepossessing/biasing the counselors beforehand (by signaling your leanings), not as failing to warn them of danger.
- 3 ↩Source has corrupt "vot^e"; read as "votre" (your). "Places" rendered as "strongholds" (fortified towns). "Bienséance" here means convenience/advantage, not mere manners.
- 4 ↩Source surface is mixed: normalized/raw give English "rule" while token surface is French "règle". Sense is the same: a strange rule of conduct.
- 5 ↩"Convenances" continues the critique of "bienséance": mere advantage or fitting convenience as a pretext for endless expansion.
- 6 ↩Source surface 'prendrë' read as 'prendre' (to take).
- 7 ↩Source surface 'proijété' read as 'propriété' (ownership / property right).
- 8 ↩Source sentence is truncated mid-phrase ('Mais qu'y .'); almost certainly the opening of 'Mais qu'y a-t-il', continued in the next sentence.
- 9 ↩Source surface 'a-t-ii' read as 'a-t-il'. This sentence continues the truncated opening in s6; 'aucune' understood as 'aucune sûreté' from the preceding argument.
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