other. This is a natural and unavoidable effect of doing all things in one aſſembly, or collecting all authority into one center. When magiſtrates and people meet in one aſſembly, the former will for ever do as they pleaſe, provided they proceed with any degree of prudence and caution.
The conſequence was, that the annual reviews were a farce; only in a very few inſtances, for egregious faults, were any excluded: and the two councils became perpetual, and independent of the people entirely. The illuſions of ambition are very ſubtle: if the motives of theſe magiſtrates, to extend the duration of their authority, were the public good, we must confeſs they were very ignorant. It is moſt likely they deceived themſelves as well as their conſtituents, and miſtook their own ambition for patriotiſm: but this is the progreſſive march of all aſſemblies; none can confine themſelves within their limits, when they have an opportunity of tranſgreſſing them. Theſe magiſtrates ſoon learned to conſider their authority as a family property, as all others in general, in ſimilar circumſtances, ever did, and ever will.
They behaved like all others in another reſpect too: their authority being now permanent, they immediately attack the ſindics, and transfer their power to themſelves.
The whole hiſtory of Geneva, ſince that period, follows of courſe: the people, by their ſupineneſs, had given up all balances, and betrayed their own privileges, as well as the prerogatives of their firſt magiſtrates, into the hands of a few families.
The people of Geneva, as enlightened as any, have never conſidered the neceſſity of joining with the ſindics, nor the ſindics that of joining the
