there is not to be found, in any library, ſo many accurate ideas of government expreſſed with ſo much perſpicuity, brevity, and preciſion.
LETTER XXV.
DR. FRANKLIN.
My dear Sir,
AS it is impoſſible to ſuppoſe that Mr. Turgot intended to recommend to the Americans a ſimple monarchy or ariſtocracy, we have admitted, as a ſuppoſition the moſt favourable to him, that, by collecting all authority into one center, he meant a ſingle aſſembly of repreſentatives of the people, without a governor, and without a ſenate; and although he has not explained, whether he would have the aſſembly choſen for life, or years, we will again admit, as the moſt benign conſtruction, that he meant the repreſentatives ſhould be annually choſen.
Here we ſhall be obliged to conſider the reputed opinion of another philoſopher, I mean Dr. Franklin: I ſay reputed, becauſe I am not able to affirm that it is really his: it is, however, ſo generally underſtood and reported, both in Europe and America, that his judgment was in oppoſition to two aſſemblies, and in favour of a ſingle one, that in a diſquiſition like this it ought not to be omitted. To be candid with you, a little before the date of Mr. Turgot's letter. Dr. Franklin had arrived in Paris with the American conſtitutions, and among the reſt that of Penſylvania, in
which