This dim understanding further appears, in that after all the political
discussion which has been, the success of republican institutions is
still appealed to, as vindicating the reign of justice and benevolence
in the public mind; mankind have within so much of the divine, are so
self-disposed to do right, that they do not need much control, but may
pretty safely be left to their own guidance. Nor is it left to the
mere demagogue to talk thus.

Doubtful it may be, whether it should be called dimness of
understanding, or rather perverse ingenuity, that men reason thus, when
the facts are: So general is the disposition to abuse power, that
wherever it is accumulated, it will surely be abused; accordingly it
must be distributed as equally as possible. If government be made the
business of one part of the community--one tenth, or one hundredth, or
one thousandth--that part will inevitably exalt self, at the cost of
the others. So strong is self-love, turned towards temporal interests,
so acute to discern what tends to the one desired end, and so sure to
bend every thing that way, that men's temporal interests are pretty
safe in their own hands, and safe no where else. Now the legitimate
end of civil government being, to secure the temporal welfare of _all_,
_all_ must have a share in it, or the excluded portions must find their
rights neglected.

It may have favored the common mistake, that the leaders in successful
republican movements have so often shown a heroic self-devotion and
disinterestedness--men like Luther, and Washington. But these are the
exceptions, the rare gems of humanity. If they were the fair
specimens, their work would never have been needed. Then we might
leave to a class the regulation, whether of our spirituals or
temporals, with the like advantage, that we leave the making of our
watches or our shoes to their respective trades. But the indistinct
apprehension, why the advantages of the division of labor fail in the
matter of government, accords well with the observation, that
republican principles make slow progress in the world, are held in
gross inconsistencies; and the most zealous assertors thereof in one
department, are oft found most strenuously opposed in others.

It is thus that we are so slow to conform to one rule, our arrangements
for spiritual instruction; for preserving health; for preventing crime;
for cheaply, expeditiously, and satisfactorily settling disputed
claims; for