University of Virginia Library

6582. PEOPLE, Errors of.—

The people
are the only censors of their governors; and
even their errors will tend to keep these to
the true principles of their institution. To
punish these errors too severely would be
to suppress the only safeguard of the public
liberty.—
To Edward Carrington. Washington ed. ii, 99. Ford ed., iv, 359.
(P. 1787)