The writings of George Washington; being his correspondence, addresses, messages, and other papers, official and private, selected and published from the original manuscripts; with a life of the author, notes and illustrations. By Jared Sparks.

434 LIFE OF WASHINGTON [1787.
to dream of a despotic power in America. It has been
said and believed, that a small party, in despair of
better things, actually meditated such a project, and
turned their eyes to some of the royal families in Europe for a sovereign suited to control the jarring elements of republicanism in the United States. However
this may be, it is certain that no imagined remedy could
have been more severely reprobated by Washington.
We have seen with what a stern rebuke the proposal
to be a king was met by him, even when he literally
had the power of the nation in his hands. From the
beginning of the revolution to the end of his life, he
was an uncompromising advocate for a republican system. In the abstract he regarded it as the best; and
he had faith enough in the virtue of the people, and
in the efficacy of their former habits, to convince him
that it might be successfully established. At all events,
he was for having the experiment thoroughly tried; an(]
his whole conduct proves, that, in regard to himself,
he was ready to risk his reputation, his property, and
his life, if necessary, in a cause so momentous to the
welfare of his country and to the social progress of
mankind.
He did not go to the convention unprepared for
the great work there to be undertaken. His knowledge of the institutions of his own country and of its
political forms, both in their general character and minute and affiliated relations, gained by inquiry and long
experience, was probably as complete as that of any
other man. But he was not satisfied with this alone.
He read. the history and examined the principles of
the ancient and modern confederacies. There is a
paper in his handwriting, which contains an abstract
of each, and in which are noted, in a methodical order,
their chief characteristics, the kinds of authority they