ble) to debate on Affairs of Government. Tho' they may be occasionally alarmed and misled on slight Occasions, yet their mature and collective Judgment on important Subjects, will seldom be erroneous. On this Foundation, Montesquieu's Remark is solid: "Tell me not, that such a People will sometimes reason ill:" 'Tis sufficient, "that they reason.[1]"
The Guilt and ill Consequences, then, arise from the malevolent Clamours of the Capital, transmitted thence to the Provinces. These Clamours, though not of Power to seduce an honest People into actual Sedition, are yet often sufficient to alarm and divide them.[2]
Much Caution, therefore, ought to be used by the Inhabitants of the Country, how they give Credit to the political Rumours of the Town; which are seldom spread without Design; and are in general spread most industriously by the Malevolent. They who act on good Prin-
