p.

13

How could those distinguished men overlook the fact,
that all men are made with like passions; that men of all
classes, whether kings, nobles, priests, or working men,
have the same love of power and property, the same ambi-
tion, the same selfishness, the same jealousies; in short,
the same disposition to rise above their fellows, by advance-
ment in wealth and power, and the same depravity or want
of good principles to control their passions? All history
testifies that the people, when they possess uncontrolled
power, often use that power as tyrannically as kings and
nobles. Their tyranny, if not as steady, is usually more
violent and inexorable than that of kings, as their passions
are under less restraint from honour, education, or responsi-
bility, and exasperated or stimulated by numbers.

From an inattention to this truth, that all men would
be kings if they could, and tyrants if they durst, our patri-
otic fathers, while they have fortified the constitution
against the introduction of kings and nobles, have not suf-
ficiently guarded it against an abuse of power by the peo-
ple. Hence the frequent outbreakings of popular tyranny;
the people, or portions of them, rising in multitudes, above
all law, and violating the rights of property, and personal
safety.

In connection with this subject, we may advert to a
remarkable example of the influence of names or words, on
the mass of people who have not discriminating or just
views of men, and of the nature and tendency of political
measures. The use of the word republican has, by its
own magic, revolutionized public sentiment in this country.
So popular is a republican government in this country, that
the man who aims at office, or the printer who aims at ex-