made by angels, nor by horſes, but by men. The voice of the people is as much the voice of men, as the voice of a prince is the voice of a man; and yet the voice of the people is the voice of God, which the voice of a prince is not. The government of laws, ſaid Ariſtotle, is the government of God. In a monarchy, the laws, being made according to the intereſt of one man, or a few men, muſt needs be more private and partial than ſuits with the nature of juſtice; but in a commonwealth, the laws, being made by the whole people, muſt come up to the public intereſt, which is common right and juſtice—and if a man know not what is his own intereſt, who ſhould know it? and that which is the intereſt of the moſt or greateſt number of particular men, being ſummed up in the common vote, is the public intereſt.
Sidney ſays, "Liberty conſiſts ſolely in an independency on the will of another; and, by a ſlave, we underſtand a man who can neither diſpoſe of his perſon or goods, but enjoys all at the will of his maſter." And again, "As liberty conſiſts only in being ſubject to no man's will, and nothing denotes a ſlave but a dependence upon the will of another; if there be no other law in a kingdom but the will of a prince, there is no ſuch thing as liberty."
Mr. Turgot might have perceived in theſe writers, that a government of laws and not of men, was intended by them as a deſcription of a commonwealth, not a definition of liberty. There may be various degrees of liberty eſtabliſhed by the laws, and enjoyed by the citizens, in different commonwealths; but ſtill the general will, as well as the general intereſt, as far as it is underſtood by the people, prevails in all that can
