ſhaken together in one bottle, and left in repoſe; the firſt will riſe to the top, the laſt ſink to the bottom, and the ſecond ſwim between.
Our countrymen will never run delirious after a word or a name. The name republic is given to things, in their nature as different and contradictory as light and darkneſs, truth and falſehood, virtue and vice, happineſs and miſery. There are free republics, and republics as tyrannical as an oriental deſpotiſm. A free republic is the beſt of governments, and the greateſt bleſſing which mortals can aſpire to. Republics which are not free, by the help of a multitude of rigorous checks, in very ſmall ſtates, and for ſhort ſpaces of time, have preſerved ſome reverence for the laws, and been tolerable; but there have been oligarchies carried to ſuch extremes of tyranny, that the deſpotiſm of Turkey, as far as the happineſs of the nation at large is concerned, would perhaps be preferable. An empire of laws is a characteriſtic of a free republic only, and ſhould never be applied to republics in general. If there ſhould ever be a people in Poland, there will ſoon be a real king; and if ever there ſhould be a king in reality, as well as in name, there will ſoon be a people: for, inſtead of the trite ſaying, "no biſhop, no king," it would be much more exact and important truth to ſay, no people, no king, and no king, no people, meaning by the word king, a firſt magiſtrate poſſeſſed excluſively of the executive power. It may be laid down as a univerſal maxim, that every government that has not three independent branches in its legiſlature will ſoon become an abſolute monarchy; or, an arrogant nobility, increaſing every day in a rage for ſplendor and magnificence, will annihilate the people, and, attended with
