7401. REPUBLICS, Size of.—
I suspect
that the doctrine, that small States alone
are fitted to be republics, will be exploded by
experience, with some other brilliant fallacies
accredited by Montesquieu and other political
writers. Perhaps it will be found, that to
obtain a just republic (and it is to secure our
just rights that we resort to government at
all) it must be so extensive as that local
egoisms may never reach its greater part; that
on every particular question, a majority May
be found in its councils free from particular
interests, and giving, therefore, an uniform
prevalence to the principles of justice. The
smaller the societies, the more violent and
convulsive their schisms.—
To M. D'Ivernois. Washington ed. iv, 114.
Ford ed., vii, 4.
(M.
Feb. 1795)
