3520. GOVERNMENT, Inattention to.—
If once the people become inattentive to the
public affairs, you and I, and Congress and
Assemblies, Judges and Governors, shall all
become wolves. It seems to be the law of
our general nature, in spite of individual exceptions;
and experience declares that man is
the only animal which devours his own kind;
for I can apply no milder term to the governments
of Europe, and to the general prey
of the rich on the poor.—
To Edward Carrington. Washington ed. ii, 100.
Ford ed., iv, 360.
(P.
1787)
