Page:John Adams - A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America Vol. I. (1787).djvu/58

20 of the inquiition, &c. They mut be natives and reidents, worth a thouand ducats, and mut have no concern in commerce, manufactures, or trades; and, by a fundamental agreement among all the merindades, ail their deputies to the junta general, and all their regidores, indics, ecretaries, and treaurers, mut be nobles, at leat knights, and uch as never exercied any mechanical trades themelves or their fathers. Thus we ee the people themelves have etablished by law a contracted aritocracy, under the appearance of a liberal democracy. Americans, beware!

Although we ee here in the general government, and in that of every city and merindad, the three branches of power, of the one, the few, and the many; yet, if it were as democratical as it has been thought by ome, we could by no means infer, from this intance of a little flock upon a fe impracticable mountains, in a round form of ten leagues diameter, the utility or practicability of uch a government in any other country.

The dipoition to diviion, o apparent in all democratical governments, however tempered with aritocratical and monarchical powers, has hewn itelf, in breaking off from it Guipucoa and Allaba; and the only preervative of it from other diviions, has been the fear of their neighbours. They always knew, that as oon as they hould fall into factions, or attempt innovations, the court of Spain would interpoe, and precribe them a government not o much to their tate.