Cool Thoughts on the Present Situation of Our Public Affairs - 7
Considering all Circumstances, I am at length inclin’d to think, that the Cause of these miserable Contentions is not to be fought for merely in the Depravity and Selfishness of human Minds. For tho’ it is not unlikely that in these, as well as in other Disputes, there are Faults on both Sides, every glowing Coal being apt to inflame its Opposite; yet I see no Reason to suppose that all Proprietary Rulers are worse Men than other Rulers, nor that all People in Proprietary Governments are worse People than those in other Governments. I suspect therefore, that the Cause is radical, interwoven in the Constitution, and so become of the very Nature, of Proprietary Governments; and will therefore produce its Effects, as long as such Governments continue.----And, as some Physicians say, every Animal Body brings into the World among its original Stamina, the Seeds of that Disease that shall finally produce its Dissolution; so the Political Body of a Proprietary Government, contains those convulsive Principles that will at length destroy it.
I may not be Philosopher enough to develop those Principles, nor would this Letter afford me Room, if I had abilities, for such a Discussion. The Fact seems sufficient for our Purpose, and
