eing the most odious of all tyrannies
is what a Republican would boast of; as soon as tyranny becomes odious,
the principal step is made towards its destruction. Reflecting on the
degraded state of the mass of mankind, a philosopher will lament that
oppression is not odious to them, that the iron, while it eats the soul,
is not felt to enter into it. 'Tout homme ne dans l'esclavage nait pour
l'esclavage, rien n'est plus certain; les esclaves perdent tout dans
leurs fers, jusqu'au desir d'en sortir; ils aiment leur servitude, comme
les compagnons d'Ulysse aimaient leur abrutissement.'

I return to the quotation in which you reprobate Republicanism. Relying
upon the temper of the times, you have surely thought little argument
necessary to content what few will be hardy enough to support; the
strongest of auxiliaries, imprisonment and the pillory, has left your
arm little to perform. But the happiness of mankind is so closely
connected with this subject, that I cannot suffer such considerations to
deter me from throwing out a few hints, which may lead to a conclusion
that a Republic legitimately constructed contains less of an oppressive
principle than any other form of government.

Your Lordship will scarcely question that much of human misery, that the
great evils which desolate States, proceed from the governors having an
interest distinct from that of the governed. It should seem a natural
deduction, that whatever has a tendency to identify the two must also in
the same degree promote the general welfare. As the magnitude of almost
all States prevents the possibility of their enjoying a pure democracy,
philosophers--from a wish, as far as is in their power, to make the
governors and the governed one--will turn their thoughts to the system
of universal representation, and will annex an equal importance to the
suffrage of every individual. Jealous of giving up no more of the
authority of the people than is necessary, they will be solicitous of
finding out some method by which the office of their delegates may be
confined as much as is practicable to the proposing and deliberating
upon laws rather than to enacting them; reserving to the people the
power of finally inscribing them in the national code. Unless this is
attended to, as soon as a people has chosen representatives it no
longer has a political existence, except as it is understood to retain
the privilege of annihilating the trust when it shall think proper, and