Page:Notes on the State of Virginia (1802).djvu/180

166 and dominion to thoſe who hold them; diſtinguiſhed too by this tempting circumſtance, that they are the inſtrument, as well as the object of acquiſition. With money we will get men, ſaid Cæſar, and with men we will get money. Nor ſhould our aſſembly be deluded by the integrity of their own purpoſes, and conclude that theſe unlimited powers will never be abuſed, becauſe themſelves are not diſpoſed to abuſe them. They ſhould look forward to a time, and that not a diſtant one, when corruption in this, as in the country from which we derived our origin, will have ſeized the heads of government, and be ſpread by them through the body of the people; when they will purchaſe the voices of the people, and make them pay the price. Human nature is the ſame on every ſide of the Atlantic, and will be alike influenced by the ſame cauſes. The time to guard againſt corruption and tyranny, is before they ſhall have gotten hold on us. It is better to keep the wolf out of the fold, than to truſt to drawing his teeth and talons after he ſhall have entered. To render theſe conſiderations the more cogent, we muſt obſerve in addition.

5. That the ordinary legiſlature may alter the conſtitution itſelf. On the diſcontinuance of aſſemblies, it became neceſſary to ſubſtitute in their place ſome other body, competent to the ordinary buſineſs of government, and to the calling forth the powers of the ſtate for the maintenance of our oppoſition to Great-Britain. Conventions were therefore introduced, conſiſting of two delegates from each county, meeting together and forming one houſe, on the plan of the former houſe of burgeſſes, to whoſe places they ſucceeded. Theſe