Unrestrained power is a great corrupter of virtue, of itself; while the liabilities of a restrained authority are very apt to keep it in check.

At least, such is the fact with us monikins--men very possibly get along better." "Let me tell you, Mr.Downright, you are now uttering opinions that are diametrically opposed to those of the world, which considers virtue an indispensable ingredient in a republic." "The world--meaning always the monikin world--knows very little about real political liberty, except as a theory.

We of Leaplow are, in effect, the only people who have had much to do with it, and I am now telling you what is the result of my own observation, in my own country.
If monikins were purely virtuous, there would be no necessity for government at all; but, being what they are, we think it wisest to set them to watch each other." "But yours is self-government, which implies self-restraint; and self-restraint is but another word for virtue." "If the merit of our system depended on self-government, in your signification, or on self-restraint, in any signification, it would not be worth the trouble of this argument, Sir John Goldencalf.

This is one of those balmy fallacies with which ill-judging moralists endeavor to stimulate monikins to good deeds.

Our government is based on a directly opposite principle; that of watching and restraining each other, instead of trusting to our ability to restrain ourselves.