Page:Armatafragment00ersk.djvu/74

 ¬a strumpet when her reputation is invaded, but the appeal to it only serves to make her prosti- tution more notorious, and the libeller, when punished, an object of compassion. ¬" When any palpable imperfection exists in a government, it becomes the hotbed of sedition; and it is the more impolitic to suffer it to con- tinue when its great leading principles, like those of Armata, are so perfect. — Where a ty- ranny indeed exists, or any government, how- ever composed, whose interests are different from those of the people, no reformation could be hoped for with their consent, because they could not be reformed without the surrender of in- jurious powers which they won id have a cor- rupt advantage in preserving; but in a country like this, that has opened her arms to receive you, where there is but one sentiment of public spirit and virtue pervading alike the public councils which from defective forms may re- quire reformation, and those who seek to reform them, there can be no difference in opinion ex- cept ¬