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.

226 WASHINGTON'S WRITINGS. [1796.
tain there will always be enough of that spirit for
every salutary purpose. And, there being constant
danger of excess, the effort ought to be, by force of
public opinion, to mitigate and assuage it. A fire not
to be quenched, it demands a uniform vigilance to
prevent its bursting into a flame, lest, instead of
warming, it should consume.
It is important, likewise, that the habits of thinking
in a free country should inspire caution, in those intrusted with its administration, to' confine themselves
within their respective constitutional spheres, avoiding
in the exercise of the powers of one department to
encroach upon another. The spirit of encroachment
tends to consolidate the powers of all the departments in one, and thus to create, whatever the form
of government, a real despotism. A just estimate of
that love of power, and proneness to abuse it, which
predominates in the human heart, is sufficient to satisfy us of the truth of this position. The necessity
of reciprocal checks in the exercise of political power,
by. dividing and distributing it into different depositories, and constituting each the Guardian of the Public Weal against invasions by the others, has been
evinced by experiments ancient and modern; some
of them in our country and under our own eyes. To
preserve them must be as necessary as to institute
them. If, in the opinion of the people, the distribution or modification of the constitutional powers be in
any particular wrong, let it be corrected by an amendment in the way, which the constitution designates.
But let there be no change by usurpation; for, though
this, in one instance, may be the instrument of good,
it is the customary weapon by which free governments are destroyed. The precedent must always
greatly overbalance in permanent evil any partial or
transient benefit, which the use can at any time yield.