Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 9.djvu/400



HERE are certain maxims of state, founded upon long observation and experience, drawn from the constant practice of the wisest nations, and from the very principles of government, nor even controlled by any writer upon politicks. Yet all these maxims do necessarily presuppose a kingdom, or commonwealth, to have the same natural rights common to the rest of mankind, who have entered into civil society: for, if we could conceive a nation where each of the inhabitants had but one eye, one leg, and one hand, it is plain, before you could institute them into a republick, that an allowance must be made for those material defects, wherein they differed from other mortals. Or imagine a legislature forming a system for the government of Bedlam, and proceeding upon the maxim that man is a sociable animal, should draw them out of their cells and form them into corporations or general assemblies; the consequence might probably be, that they would fall foul on each other, or burn the house over their own heads. Of