Those fertile regions are plains where nothing can be contested against him who is strongest, so one submits to him ; and once his subject, the spirit of freedom can never return ; country property is security for loyalty. But in mountainous regions, one can preserve what one has, and one has little to preserve. Freedom, in other words the government one enjoys, is the only good worth defending. It is therefore more prevalent more in mountainous, difficult regions than in those which nature seems to have favored more.

Mountaineers preserve a more moderated government because they are not so exposed to being conquered. They defend themselves easily, and are difficult to attack ; munitions of war and food are gathered and brought against them at great expense, and the countryside furnishes none. It is therefore more difficult to wage war on them, and more dangerous to undertake it ; and all the laws made for the security of the people are less applicable there.