8413. TERRITORY, Republicanism and.—
The late chapter [478]
of our history * * *
furnishes a new proof of the falsehood of
Montesquieu's doctrine, that a republic can
be preserved only in a small territory. The
reverse is the truth. Had our territory been
even a third only of what it is, we were gone.
But while frenzy and delusion, like an epidemic,
gained certain parts, the residue remained
sound and untouched, and held on
till their brethren could recover from the
temporary delusion.—
To Nathaniel Niles. Washington ed. iv, 376.
Ford ed., viii, 24.
(W.
March. 1801)
