_Malo
periculosam libertatem quam quietam servitutem_. Even this evil is
productive of good. It prevents the degeneracy of government, and
nourishes a general attention to the public affairs. I hold it, that a
little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the
political world, as storms in the physical. Unsuccessful rebellions,
indeed, generally establish the encroachments on the rights of the
people, which have produced them. An observation of this truth should
render honest republican governors so mild in their punishment of
rebellions, as not to discourage them too much. It is a medicine
necessary for the sound health of government.
If these transactions give me no uneasiness, I feel very differently
at another piece of intelligence, to wit, the possibility that the
navigation of the Mississippi may be abandoned to Spain. I never had any
interest westward of the Allegany; and I never will have any. But I
have had great opportunities of knowing the character of the people
who inhabit that country; and I will venture to say, that the act which
abandons the navigation of the Mississippi, is an act of separation
between the eastern and western country.
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