ments on the late troubles
in the Eastern States. So far as I have yet seen, they do not appear
to threaten serious consequences. Those States have suffered by the
stoppage of the channels of their commerce, which have not yet found
other issues. This must render money scarce, and make the people uneasy.
This uneasiness has produced acts absolutely unjustifiable: but I hope
they will provoke no severities from their governments. A consciousness
of those in power, that their administration of the public affairs has
been honest, may, perhaps, produce too great a degree of indignation:
and those characters wherein fear predominates over hope, may apprehend
too much from these instances of irregularity. They may conclude
too hastily, that nature has formed man insusceptible of any other
government than that of force, a conclusion not founded in truth
nor experience. Societies exist under three forms, sufficiently
distinguishable. 1. Without government, as among our Indians. 2. Under
governments, wherein the will of every one has a just influence; as is
the case in England, in a slight degree, and in our States, in a
great one. 3. Under governments of force; as is the case in all other
monarchies, and in most of the other republics. To have an idea of
the curse of existence under these last, they must be seen. It is a
government of wolves over sheep. It is a problem, not clear in my
mind, that the first condition is not the best. But I believe it to be
inconsistent with any great degree of population. The second state has
a great deal of good in it. The mass of mankind under that enjoys a
precious degree of liberty and happiness. It has its evils too: the
principal of which is the turbulence to which it is subject. But weigh
this against the oppressions of monarchy, and it becomes nothing. _Malo
periculosam libertatem quam quietam servitutem_. Even this evil is
productive of good. It prevents the degeneracy of government, and
nourishes a general attention to the public affairs. I hold it, that a
little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the
political world, as storms in the physical. Unsuccessful rebellions,
indeed, generally establish the encroachments on the rights of the
people, which have produced them. An observation of this truth should
render honest republican governors so mild in their punishment of
rebellions, as not to discourage them too much. It is a medicine
necessary for the sound health