LETTER XXIII.
RECAPITULATION.
My dear Sir,
AS we have taken a curſory view of thoſe countries in Europe, where the government may be called, in any reaſonable conſtruction of the word, republican; let us now pauſe a few moments, and reflect upon what we have ſeen.
Among every people, and in every ſpecies of republics, we have conſtantly found a firſt magiſtrate, a head, a chief, under various denominations indeed, and with different degrees of authority, with the title of ſtadtholder, burgomaſter, avoyer, doge, confalloniero, preſident, ſyndick, mayor, alcalde, capitaneo, governor, or king: in every nation, we have met with a diſtinguiſhed officer: if there is no example in any free government, any more than in thoſe which are not free, of a ſociety without a principal perſonage, we may fairly conclude, that the body politic cannot ſubſiſt without one, any more than the animal body without a head. If Mr. Turgot had made any diſcovery, which had eſcaped the penetration of all the legiſlators and philoſophers, who had lived before him, he ought at leaſt to have communicated it to the world for their improvement; but as he has never hinted at any ſuch invention, we may ſafely conclude that he had none; and therefore, that the Americans are not juſtly liable to cenſures, for inſtituting governors.
