What is the relationship between virtues and institutions?

For Montesquieu, virtue was used in order to define principles and foundations of government. While
institutions in this context were the form of government discussed in his Spirit of the Laws article.
Specifically, for him, there were three types of governments- republican governments (democratic or
aristocratic form), monarchies, and despotisms. In detail, democracy here is when the body of the
people is possessed of the supreme power while aristocracy is when the supreme power is lodged in the
hands of a part of the people.

Herein, comes the relationship between virtues and institutions. For Montesquieu, virtue is necessary in
a republic and a monarchy. Specifically in a democratic form of republican government, the people are
sovereign. In this form, the people’s suffrages is ought to be public- considered to be its fundamental
law. Political virtue is the principle of democracy. He defined it as the “the love of the laws and of our
country”. Also in this form, when virtue is banished, ambition invades the minds of those who are
disposed to receive it. In here, if the government will cease to function, the last remnants of virtue will
disappear, and democracy will be replaced by despotism.

In an aristocratic form of republican government, one part of the people governs the rest. The virtue
here is moderation which leads those who govern in an aristocracy to restrain themselves both from
oppressing the people and from trying to acquire excessive power over one another.

In a monarchy, virtue here is the desire to win honor and distinction. In addition, the chief task of the
laws in a monarchy is to protect the subordinate institutions that distinguish monarchy from despotism.
To this end, they should make it easy to preserve large estates undivided, protect the rights and
privileges of the nobility, and promote the rule of law. They should also encourage the proliferation of
distinctions and of rewards for honorable conduct, including luxuries.

Lastly, in a despotic government, virtue is not necessary but the instillation of fear. Virtue should not
occur to a despot's subjects, since persons capable of setting a value on themselves would be likely to
create disturbances. Fear must therefore depress their spirits, and extinguish even the least sense of
ambition. Their portion here, like that of beasts, is instinct, compliance, and punishment, and any higher
aspirations should be brutally discouraged.