Page:John Adams - A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America Vol. I. (1787).djvu/237

berty, and happens to have bad cup-bearers, and grows drunk with an unmixed draught of it, beyond what is neceſſary, it puniſhes even the governors, if they will not be entirely tame, and afford a deal of liberty, accuſing them as corrupted, and leaning towards oligarchy. Such as are obedient to magiſtrates are abuſed, as willing ſlaves, and good for nothing. Magiſtrates who reſemble ſubjects, and ſubjects who reſemble magiſtrates, are commended and honoured, both in public and private; in ſuch a city they of neceſſity ſoon go to the higheſt pitch of liberty, and this inbred anarchy deſcends into private families. The father reſembles the child, and is afraid of his ſons. The ſons accuſtom themſelves to reſemble the father, and neither revere nor ſtand in awe of their parents. Strangers are equalled with citizens. The teacher fears and flatters the ſcholars, and the ſcholars deſpiſe their teachers and tutors. The youth reſemble the more advanced in years, and rival them in words and deeds. The old men, ſitting down with the young, are full of merriment and pleaſantry, mimicking the youth, that they may not appear to be moroſe and deſpotic. The ſlaves are no leſs free than thoſe who purchaſe them; and wives have a perfect equality and liberty with their huſbands, and huſbands with their wives.—The ſum of all theſe things, collected together, make the ſouls of the citizens ſo delicate, that if any one bring near to them any thing of ſlavery, they are filled with indignation, and cannot endure it; and at length they regard not the laws, written or unwritten, that no one whatever, by any manner of means, may become their maſter. This is that government ſo beautiful and youthful, whence tyranny ſprings. But any thing in exceſs, in animal or vegetable bodies,

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