part in this respect.* The danger of large capital cities grows generally out of centralization and over-governing, from which no country in the world is further removed than America.

Secondly. Danger arises from the entire separation and opposition of different forces or powers in the government. But the constitutions of the states of America are not grounded at all on such pretended philosophical, but in reality empty and useless abstractions. On the contrary, the different forces of the governmental machine properly act upon, work into, and restrict one another.

Thirdly. No overthrow of the Constitution is to be feared from the president. The mode of his election, the brief duration of his term of office, the absence of a standing army, the impossibility of his expending large sums of money as he pleases, his wholly insignificant personal property, the example of his great predecessors, the admiration felt for them, the general character of the people, &c. &c., make it plainly impossible for a president, until he has effected an entire overthrow of the existing state of things, to erect himself into a king or a tyrant. What a clamor was raised in this respect against Jefferson and Jackson; and how insignificant it was found to be! So that, as we have seen, there is much more reason for asking if the president does not possess too little power, than there is for complaining of his inordinate influence. It is true, however, that if the democrats had not combated and overthrown the doctrine of the beneficial effects of gaining large surpluses by means of high duties, and then expending them in alleged improvements, or assigning them to this or that bank, the influence of the executive would have become too great, and that too in a very injurious manner.

Fourthly. That the Senate may be able to found an oligarchy, has not occurred to any one; and such others as may desire to form a dominant power of the wealthier and more distinguished members of the community, will certainly get no further at present than to complaints of the preponderance of the opposite tendency. Where there is no acknowledgment of hereditary prerogatives, and where a constantly recurring division of property takes place, it is hardly possible for a lasting and dangerous aristocracy to be established.

Fifthly. The stronger tendency alluded to is particularly exhibited in the House of Representatives. But their strength rests not on their own power; on the contrary, it would instantly be changed into weakness, should they venture to come forward in

It is remarked as a fault, that the representatives at Washington do not enter into society with many cultivated men, but each goes away as he came. Yet too much influence possessed by the residents of the place, is more to be feared than too little.

dependently, and step, without regard to the people, beyond their legitimate sphere. The Constitution must be administered according to its spirit; and the literal claims of each part of the government must not be pushed to extremes. Should the president interpose his veto or remove functionaries without the most weighty reasons, should the Senate inconsiderately or through party spirit refuse its sanction, or the House of Representatives withhold absolutely necessary supplies, they all, under the shield of the letter of the Constitution, would destroy its spirit, life, and action.

Sixthly. It is certain that the Union is threatened by no substantial danger from without; neither the Indians, nor Mexico, nor Canada, nor Europe, could overcome it. There remains then only one, and the most serious cause of apprehension; that

Seventhly. The superior power and self-will of the individual states may lead to a dissolution of the Union. However, the disputes respecting the tariff and nullification have so plainly shown what errors the federal and state governments have to shun, that in case of similar dangers they will certainly hasten to bring matters to a proper accommodation.

The conflicting aims and interests of the several states, are most frequently adduced as the daily increasing cause of an impending dissolution of the Union. But here too a closer examination would dissipate many apprehensions. Thus, as I have observed, the population, might, and right of the Western states in the valleys of the Ohio, Missouri, and Mississippi, are increasing at a rate that is recognised as natural by all. Besides, the East has need of the West-and vice versa (e. g. for importation and exportation); and it would be very foolish for those who are becoming the stronger to deprive themselves of the aid of the weaker, or for the latter, out of pure envy and vexation, to convert the former into enemies. Neither does the contrast between producing and manufacturing states afford any reason for a separation; on the contrary, if rightly considered, it will be seen to constitute a ground of union. Their mutual wants impel them to each other; they cannot dispense with one another; and it would be a sin and a shame attended with the bitterest punishment, if they should continue to quarrel on subordinate matters, such as import duties, and refuse after the plainest experience to come to an agreement.

The most important and dangerous difference is that between the North and the South,-not so much in respect to climate and products, as in reference to slavery. But should the North, in a false enthusiasm for general views, destroy the great Union; the severance would not only lead to all the evils enumerated, but

would deprive them of all power to interfere for the abolition of slavery. If this interference continues mild and moderate, if the existing difficulties are acknowledged,-the South, on the other hand, will have no reason to rise up in arms against well meant philanthropic theories. They must not forget, too, that times of necessity and peril may come, when their only help may be found in their white brethren of the North.

In opposition to the circumstances enumerated, and which seem to have a greater or less tendency to produce a separation, there are others to be adduced which facilitate the maintenance of the Union in all its integrity. Canals, railroads, and steamboats are not merely material, but also spiritual means of connection; and the constant locomotion of the Americans, and the numerous intermarriages between natives of different sections of the country, work to the same end. Moreover, the entire population of this great Union, in language, sentiments, manners, opinions, and dispositions, are much more homogeneous and accordant than in many European countries, for instance in Russia, Austria, and England. The constitutions do not hold states and individuals aloof from each other, but encircle them with a powerful and salutary political bond; and even dogmatic differences, in consequence of the perfect freedom of religious opinion, have almost lost their decomposing power, and become subordinate to the precepts of peace and love.

Nothing upon earth remains unchanged during the lapse of centuries. But is the temporal therefore nothing on earth, because it can never be designated as eternal ? If time has speedily destroyed the fairest blossoms and the noblest fruits of so many nations, this should afford us less cause for malicious censure than for melancholy sympathy and salutary self-knowledge. A contemplation of the American forms and of the changes that have taken place in so many particulars, must lead to the supposition that they have been continually tinkering at their Constitution also, and have adopted into it one alteration after another. Yet history shows directly the reverse. Almost all the changes proposed since 1787, have been rejected; and America is, in comparison with the European states (its movements and progress notwithstanding), the most quiet, most steadfast, and most conservative of all. And even should important changes become necessary in future, it would be wrong to behold in them nothing but mischief; such things are mischievous only when men are obstinately bent on retaining what is useless, or heedlessly introduce what is new and untried. The country is fortified against the latter danger, by the provisions of the constitution and the character of the people; and with the weight which democracy possesses, the former is little to be feared.

But here again break forth the loudest remonstrances, the bitterest censures, the most contemptuous scorn. This very democracy is in Europe inconceivable to the learned, a terror to the timorous, unseemly to people of quality, and to the rulers (from kings to secretaries) an abomination. One after another, they join in a rambling fugue to swell the chorus of complaint. "There," say they, "the will of the majority decides; and the majority are always ignorant, stupid, and passionate, compared with the cultivated minority. Instead of the multitude's looking up to the latter, and submitting to them with reverence; those of the higher class are compelled to look down, and subject themselves to peasants and tradesmen. These ignorant persons make all sorts of foolish laws, and fancy that they and the like of them are fit to rule and govern. Truly distinguished men are odious to these presumptuous and scarcely middle-rate people; and above such mediocrity no one can or is permitted to raise himself. He who knows his own value and perceives the wretchedness of this state of things becomes wearied of such doings, withdraws from the contest in disgust, and leaves the decision of affairs to those who should have been excluded even from the debates upon them. Hence weakness of the authorities, insolence, indecorum, and impunity for crime. Universal suffrage affords no guarantee for good elections; because flatterers, brawlers, and charlatans are ever most in favor with the multitude. For the highest and noblest pursuits of life-for art, science, refined manners, and intellectual intercourse, democracy has neither sense nor feeling. The diversity of physical and intellectual power and development is not acknowledged; and with this murder of individuals, the state also is robbed of its highest strength and vitality. Every one who acknowledges the principles of the Holy Alliance and of the congresses of Laybach and Troppau, will grant that the United States have always been in a state of tumult and anarchy, and are so still."†

To these and similar charges and complaints it may be answered: If universal contentment, untiring activity, and uninterrupted progress, are tokens of sound health,-where do these appear in more vigor and fullness of life than in the United States? Among so many millions there are scarcely a few peevish individuals who (if it came to the point) would exchange their beloved Constitution for any other whatever. In Europe on the contrary, where do we find this contentment, this love for what is possessed, this enthusiasm for the existing state of things? Not only is censure expressed secretly or openly, but efforts are directed to its subversion; and hardly one of the European govThis charge has been sufficiently refuted in other places. Webster, i. 248.

ernments is free from a fever of anxiety produced by malcontents who, rightly or otherwise, are seeking to introduce new constitutions and administrations, or to abolish those that exist. From Maine to Louisiana, order and obedience to the laws prevail in America, and that too without military force or compulsion; while solitary exceptions receive their just punishment, without the employment of any disproportionate and over-costly apparatus. The most momentous elections, the most numerous assemblies go off quietly, without the use of other weapons than words and arguments; while on the continent of Europe (through the fault both of the rulers and the ruled) nothing even distantly resembling these acts of the people is possible, without the intervention of policemen and soldiers for the preservation of order. If freer England rejoices in undisturbed movements, the military force which she opposes in Ireland to a single man, in order to keep up the ancient oppression of a whole people, exhibits such a crying wrong and a condition so morbid and unhappy, that her writers should be the last to storm and rail against the republics of America. How many Irish find here the aid and safety which the mother country has always unwisely and cruelly denied!*

Of course there are many things that the people do not understand, and others which they cannot directly carry into effect; but the Americans have made no claim, as is done for instance by the mob of Paris, to be able to understand and accomplish every thing. On the other hand, there are also many things incomprehensible and unintelligible to the so-called cultivated class; hence there is no reason for deifying a few individuals, and condemning the masses in a lump. Only in the United States are all suitably represented, and not a single part, as for instance the clergy, the nobility, the rich, the landholders, &c. Political equality in America diminishes all dissatisfaction in regard to other existing inequalities; whereas in most countries there is no other equality than that of the non-possession of rights, which cannot possibly produce equal satisfaction. In the United States, the majority that always decides in elections is a true one: not so in Germany, France, England, &c. Accordingly, when the governments of these countries are obliged to submit to certain untrue, factious majorities, they often act contrary to the interests of the whole people.

It is not true that the Americans never look upwards, refuse to trust in genuine wisdom, and pay less regard to real statesmen than to mere brawlers and charlatans. They know that a democracy can only be secured by a general cultivation and enlightenment of the mind. Nor is there any where so general, efficient, and influential a political education and activity, as in the United *It should be mentioned, and with praise, that a different course has lately been adopted.