For determining the meaning of our own Constitution in a momentous requirement without precedent, American authority and example are enough; but I would not have you forget that the conclusion on which I rest is grandly sustained by France. Here I shall be brief. I cannot begin with a higher name than Montaigne, who, though never defining a Republic, let drop words which, coming from such a master, are invaluable:-- “Popular rule seems to me the most natural and equitable.” “Equality is the first part of equity.”[161] In the same spirit, Montesquieu, while failing to supply a precise definition, helped to elevate the idea of republican government, when he declared “virtue” its inspiration, and that virtue is the love of equality.[162] A kindred thought is expressed by a publicist of our time, in a remarkable study on Montesquieu, when he says, that “the true principle of democracy is justice.”[163] But justice is equality. Contemporary with Montesquieu was the Marquis d’Argenson, a minister of Louis the Fifteenth and the friend of Voltaire. In a work written as early as 1739, but not seeing the light till 1764, some time after his death, when it was attributed to Rousseau, this remarkable character gives utterance to words worthy of perpetual memory:-- “It is only necessary to lay aside the most stupid prejudice, to admit that two things are chiefly to be desired for the good of the State: one, that all the citizens shall be equal among themselves; the other, that each shall be the son of his works.”[164] A government where these two things are assured would be a Republic indeed. Voltaire, though not professing to define a Republic, taught its dependence _upon equality_:-- “Civil government is _the will of all_, executed by one or by many _in virtue of laws for which all have voted_.” “The republican is undoubtedly the most tolerable of all governments, because it is that which brings men most nearly to natural equality.”[165] In another place the same illustrious teacher said:-- “The people never desire, and never can desire, anything but Liberty and Equality.”[166] Advancing in time, the Republic becomes more manifest. Omitting the fervid words of Jean Jacques Rousseau, I adduce Condorcet, whose consecration to truth was sealed by a tragical death:-- “I have ever thought that a Republican Constitution, _having Equality for its basis_, was the only one in conformity with Nature, with reason, and with justice,--the only one which could preserve the liberty of the citizens and the dignity of the human race.”[167] Belonging to the ancient system of France, and, like Lafayette, with the rank of Marquis, Condorcet, again like Lafayette, not only accepted the Republic, but declared its true basis.