Page:John Adams - A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America Vol. I. (1787).djvu/103

Rh the eigniory, was originally compoed of the doge and ix counellors; to thee were added ix of the grand council choen by the enate, and called the avii or ages; then five more for land affairs, and then five for ea affairs, in the room of whom, five young noblemen are now choen every ix months, who attend, without a vote, for their education; to thee were added the three chiefs of the criminal court, from a jealouy of the power of the college, which is both the cabinet council, and the repreentative of the tate, giving audience and anwers to ambaadors, to agents of towns, and generals of the army; receives all petitions, ummons the enate, and arranges its buines.

There is one intance of a doge's concerting a conpiracy, to hake off the controul of the enate; but as it was an old man of fourcore, whoe young wife, on whom he doted, was not treated with ufficient repect by the nobility, we need not wonder, that he had not ene enough to think of introducing a regular, well-balanced contitution, by a joint concurrence of the people, and the nobility: the whole plan was to maacre the grand council; and although he engaged in his deign ome of the highet officers, and a large party, the plot was dicovered, the doge himelf tried, condemned, and beheaded, as o infamous a piece of mad villainy jutly deerved.

A punctual execution of the laws, is no doubt eential to the exitence of this tate, and there are triking intances of perons punihing their nearet relations, with the mot unrelenting everity; without this, the doge on one hand, or the people on the other, would oon think of a union againt the ruling nobility. The aritocracy is always agacious, and knows the neceity of a rigorous impartiality, in order to preerve its power,