WearesurprisedatthepunishmentoftheAreopagiteforkillingasparrowwhich，toescapethepursuitofahawk，hadtakenshelterinhisbosom。SurprisedwearealsothatanAreopagiteshouldputhissontodeathforputtingouttheeyesofalittlebird。Butletusreflectthatthequestionheredoesnotrelatetoacriminalsentence，buttoajudgmentconcerningmannersinarepublicfoundedonmanners。
Inmonarchiesthereshouldbenocensors；theformerarefoundedonhonour，andthenatureofhonouristohavethewholeworldforitscensor。Everymanwhofailsinthisarticleissubjecttothereproachesevenofthosewhoarevoidofhonour。
Herethecensorswouldbespoiledbytheverypeoplewhomtheyoughttocorrect：theycouldnotprevailagainstthecorruptionofamonarchy；
thecorruptionratherwouldbetoostrongagainstthem。
Henceitisobviousthatthereoughttobenocensorsindespoticgovernments。TheexampleofChinaseemstoderogatefromthisrule；butweshallsee，inthecourseofthiswork，theparticularreasonsofthatinstitution。