University of Virginia Library

4975. MANKIND, Government of.—

Men, enjoying in ease and security, the full
fruits of their own industry, enlisted by all
their interests on the side of law and order,
habituated to think for themselves, and to
follow their reason as their guide, * * * [are] more easily and safely governed than
with minds nourished in error, and vitiated
and debased, as in Europe, by ignorance, indigence,
and oppression.—
To William Johnson. Washington ed. vii, 292. Ford ed., x, 227.
(M. 1823)