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 of government.

[2] The latter part of this letter is in cypher; but appended to
the copy preserved, are explanatory notes, which have enabled us
to publish it entire, except a few words, to which they afford no
key. These are either marked thus * * *, or the words which the
context seemed to require, inserted in italics.

If these transactions give me no uneasiness, I feel very differently at
another piece of intelligence, to