century; that of Romulus laſted but two centuries and a half; but the Teutonic inſtitutions, deſcribed by Cæſar and Tacitus, are the moſt memorable experiment merely political, ever yet made in human affairs. They have ſpread all over Europe, and have laſted eighteen hundred years. They afford the ſtrongeſt argument that can be imagined in ſupport of the point aimed at in theſe letters. Nothing ought to have more weight with America, to determine her judgment againſt mixing the authority of the one, the few, and the many, confuſedly in one aſſembly, than the wide-ſpread miſeries and final ſlavery of almoſt all mankind, in conſequence of ſuch an ignorant policy in the ancient Germans. What is the ingredient which in England has preſerved the democratical authority? The balance, and that only. The Engliſh have, in reality, blended together the feudal inſtitutions with thoſe of the Greeks and Romans; and out of all have made that noble compoſition, which avoids the inconveniences, and retains the advantages, of both. The inſtitutions now made in America will never wear wholly out for thouſands of years: it is of the laſt importance then that they ſhould begin right; if they ſet out wrong, they will never be able to return, unleſs it be by accident, to the right path. After having known the hiſtory of Europe, and of England in particular, it would be the height of folly to go
