University of Virginia Library

6256. OPINION (Public), Indian.—

I am
convinced that those societies (as the Indians )
which live without government, enjoy
in their general mass an infinitely greater
degree of happiness, than those who live under
the European governments. Among the
former, public opinion is in the place of law,
and restrains morals as powerfully as laws
ever did anywhere.—
To Edward Carrington. Washington ed. ii, 100. Ford ed., iv, 360.
(P. 1787)