What can this fable be applied to but the exceeding blindness and
stupidity of that part of mankind who wantonly and foolishly trust their
native rights of liberty without good security? Who often choose for
guardians of their lives and fortunes, persons abandoned to the most
unsociable vices; and seldom have any better excuse for such an error in
politics than, that they were deceived in their expectation; or never
thoroughly knew the manners of their king till he had got them entirely
in his power: which, however, is notoriously false; for many, with the
Doves in the fable, are so silly, that they would admit of a Kite,
rather than be without a king. The truth is, we ought not to incur the
possibility of being deceived in so important a matter as this: an
unlimited power should not be trusted in the hands of any one who is not
endued with a perfection more than human.