Page:John Adams - A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America Vol. I. (1787).djvu/240

202 thoe who mount up to tyranny invent the celebrated tyrannical demand of the people, certain guards for their perons, that the aitance of the people may be ecured to them. The people, afraid of his afety, but ecure as to their own, grant them. Then thoe who have ubtance, and the crime of hating the people, fly; and if any one of them is caught, he is put to death. This preident of a city, thus not behaving like a truely great man, tumbles down many others, and its in his chair a conummate tyrant, intead of a preident of the city. Conider now the happines of the man and the city in which uch a mortal aries: in the firt days, he miles, and alutes every one he meets, ays he is no tyrant, promies many things, both in private and in public, frees from debts, ditributes lands, both to the people in general and thoe about him, affects to be mild and of the patriot pirit towards all. But when he has reconciled to himelf ome of his foreign enemies, and tranquillity is retored, he raies wars, that the people may want a leader, and that, being rendered poor by the payment of taxes, they may be under a neceity of becoming intent on a daily utenance, and les ready to conpire againt him. If he upects any of them, who are of free pirits, will not allow him to govern, in order to have ome pretext for detroying them, he expoes them to the enemy. On thee accounts, a tyrant is always under a neceity of raiing war. While he is doing thee things, he mut become more hateful to his citizens: ome of thoe who have been promoted along with him, and are in power, peak but freely, both to him and among themelves, finding fault with the tranactions. It behoves the tyrant then to cut off all thoe who are of a more manly pirit, if he means to govern, till he leave no