CHAP. V.: Of the Inhabitants of Islands.
THE inhabitants of islands have a higher relish for liberty than those of the continent. Islands are commonly of a small†613 extent; one part of the people cannot be so easily employed to oppress the other; the sea separates them from great empires; tyranny cannot so well support itself within a small compass; conquerors are stopped by the sea; and the islanders, being without the reach of their arms, more easily preserve their own laws.