carried through the senate of the United States in the little compass of four hours; the three readings of the bill being forced onward, one after another, with all the rapidity of guilt; and when the two or three really wise and practical statesmen who at that period happened to be in the senate, and who foresaw the ruinous consequences of that miserable measure, requested the government party to pause, until they could obtain some correct information as to its probable effects upon the mercantile and agricultural interests of the country, they were answered, that the American senate wanted no political information; that its collective wisdom was fully adequate to provide laws for promoting the welfare of the Union; and accordingly, the American senate, in its collective wisdom, did, in the space of four hours, take up, consider, and pass into a law, an act laying a perpetual embargo on all the commerce of the United States.

Above all, the seat of government being fixed at Washington, gives full play and opportunity for the exercise of Virginian influence to acquire complete ascendency over the other portions of the Union. Virginia is the largest of all the United States: its laws, forbidding real property to be attached for debt; the custom of leaving the landed estates of the family to the eldest son, in hereditary succession; the power of voting in proportion to the number of negro slaves upon each plantation, (the slaves amounting to about half the population of the state;) the proprietary qualification of a considerable freehold required in every white voter; together with some other circumstances in their state, constitution, laws, and customs, all confer upon the Virginians very great political advantages, and enable them to act in a compact body, for the purpose of perpetuating their dominion over the middle and northern States, throughout which they encourage the prevalence of democracy by every means in their power, while they do not suffer it even to exist within the precincts of their own State: for, by excluding all freemen who have no freehold, from voting; by themselves possessing votes, according to the number of their slaves; by transmitting their landed property in hereditary succession; and by freeing themselves from the embarrassments attending the subjection of their lands to attachment for debt, the planters of Virginia have erected themselves into a feudal aristocracy of untitled and unblazoned peers, and manage their affairs so adroitly as to give laws to the rest of the Union.

By the esprit du corps, which actuates every Virginian landholder, and by the constitutional policy which blends together the executive and legislative, and in some measure the judicial departments and functions of Virginia, that State is enabled to spread the web of influence over all the elections, as well state as federal, in the Union, so as to secure the appointment of proper personages, to be guided and directed by the master-hand of its leading politicians; whence the congress-men generally, and a majority of the state legislatures, have long been induced to vote and pass laws in conformity with the political views of their Virginian' lords. Well might the Virginian landholders, therefore, so strenuously insist upon continuing the seat of government at Washington, lest their influence over Congress should be counteracted and defeated by the superior intelligence, activity, and virtue always to be found in large Vol. XIV. N. S.

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and populous cities. Nay, it would not be so easy, after a while, to induce very unqualified men to sit in Congress, if the seat of government. were fixed in any civilized place, and the members were constantly liable to be assailed for their incapacity by the superior sense and spirit of the inhabitants of the metropolis; and consequently a wiser order of beings would be selected to take upon themselves the very important charge of legislating for millions of their fellow-men.' pp. 145-8.

The Virginian aristocracy will, no doubt, make the best use they can, while it lasts, of this guardianship of the Republic which, it seems, they have assumed. And it may be difficult to guess the probable duration of the nonage of the ultramontane nations; but sooner or later, unquestionably, the western settlers will deem themselves to have attained to man's estate, and will make an effort to manage their own affairs; and perhaps, not their own affairs merely, but those also of their less robust and less numerous fellow citizens towards the east.

The actual results of those great experiments in government, which have been tried, and which are now in operation in America, deserve the particular attention of our political theorists. We make room for the following rather long quotation, on account of its pertinence to some popular opinions in this country.

The frequent recurrence to the people, by the frequency of elections, is a radical imperfection which pervades all the American constitutions, both state and federal. It has a direct tendency to make the representatives too local in their policy, and to induce them rather to aim at pleasing their own immediate constituents than to advance the general good of the nation at large; a measure which sometimes requires an apparent sacrifice of the local interest of the peculiar district which they represent. When once seated in Congress, the members should recollect that they represent the United States as one great empire, and not merely the little district of any particular state, whether of Virginia, or of Rhode Island, of New York, or of Delaware. A triennial election is quite frequent enough for the general government of so extensive a country, and such a rapidly increasing population. This frequency of election, however, is praised as the consummation of political excellence, by many writers and speakers on the art of government; yet it seems to have an immediate tendency to throw great obstacles in the way of national improvement and prosperity. The elections, both of senators and representatives, as well in the general as in the state governments, recur too often, particularly of the lower branch of the legislature. South Carolina and Tennesse are the only two states in the Union whose representatives are elected for so long a term as two years; in Connecticut and Rhode Island, the elections are semi-annual; in all the other states, yearly.

The almost necessary consequence of these frequent elections is, that the representatives feel themselves too dependent upon the will of their constituents; whereas they ought to be left entirely free to exercise

the power delegated to them, at their own discretion, and to the best of their judgment, for the good of the country at large. The people also are incessantly exposed to corruption, amidst the perpetual intrigue and turmoil of frequently recurring elections; whence incapable members are too liable to be returned to the legislature. It is a notorious fact, that in many districts of the Union, unless a representative follows and obeys the current opinions, prejudices, and passions of the day, he will not be re-elected, owing to the running of the popular tide against him, whatever may be his other qualifications. Add to this, that in consequence of the short period of public service, it is not easy to investigate and annul spurious elections, before the session itself be at an end; whence there is a danger, that if a return can be obtained, no matter by what improper means, the irregular member, who takes his seat of course, shall hold it quite long enough to answer all his purposes of legislation. What is this in effect, but offering a high bounty by law, for the employment of electioneering intrigue and fraud, in order to obtain a return? Such a system, having an unavoidable tendency to bewilder and corrupt the people, and to induce them to elect unworthy representatives, almost ensures the production of a legislature, not the best qualified by talents, learning, wealth, probity, and character, to discharge so solemn and important a duty, as that of framing laws for the well-being of an extensive, powerful, and fast-growing commonwealth.

A great part of every year, in every place throughout the Union, is literally consumed in cabals and intrigues, carried on between the candidates of the several parties and the people, in order to prepare and accomplish all the various manœuvres of electioneering tactics, which are put in constant requisition, by the frequent recurrence of elections for representatives, both of the separate and of the United States. Whence, a large portion of the time which the people ought to employ in productive industry, is expended in prosecuting the unprofitable trade of politics. The experience of history shews, that the democratic forms of government are also in themselves liable to these inconveniences; namely, that they are too tedious in coming to any public resolution, and seldom sufficiently alert and expeditious in carrying their resolutions into effect; that as various minds are successively employed,. they are necessarily wavering and unsteady, and scarcely ever persevere to the accomplishment of the measures which they resolve to pursue; that they are often involved in factions, which expose the nation to be made the instrument, if not the victim, of foreign powers. Now, frequent elections cannot fail of rendering a government too dilatory in its resolves; because, under such circumstances, no prudent administration would ever venture upon any important national measure, until it had felt the pulse, not only of the legislature, but of the people also.

The experience of history equally proves, that the great body of the people, in every country, are prone to be too much elated by temporary success, and too much dejected by occasional misfortune. This disposition alone renders them perpetually wavering in their opinions about affairs of state, and prevents the possibility of their ever long continuing steadily fixed to any one point. And as the House of Representatives is chosen

by the voice of the general people, a choice so often renewed, almost ensures the legislature to be as wavering and unsteady in their councils, as the people themselves are in their sentiments. And it being impossible to carry on the public affairs of the executive government without the concurrence of the lower house, the administration is always obliged to comply with the notions of the leading members of that house; and, consequently, obliged to change its measures as often as the populace change their minds. Whence, it is impossible to lay down, and steadily prosecute, any plan for the gradual development of the national resources, and the gradual growth of the country, in prosperity, wealth, power, and influence.

Besides, in all democratic governments, faction is continually springing up from the delusions perpetually played off upon the collec tive wisdom of the multitude. While the essential principles of human nature remain the same, as they ever have been, there always will be, in every country, and under every possible form of government, many unquiet, turbulent, and unprincipled spirits, who can never be at rest, whether in or out of power. When in possession of the government, they require every one to submit entirely to their direction and control: in words, they profess to be the exclusive champions of liberty; in action, they are the veriest tyrants imaginable. When out of power, they are always working and intriguing against the government, without any regard to truth, justice, or common honesty, or the welfare of their country. In popular governments, where the election of representatives too frequently recurs, such pernicious men have too many opportunities of mischief, in working upon, deceiving, and corrupting the minds of the people, in order to inflame them against those who have the management of public affairs for the time being; and thus, eventually, are enabled to ripen the discontents of the deluded multitude into violent and seditious movements. Such are some of the evil consequences invariably resulting from the too frequent recurrence of elections, which also (it may be remarked) necessarily incapacitates the representative from acquiring an adequate acquaintance with the public business and real interests of his country, owing to the short duration of his term of service.

There are likewise some other imperfections grafted into the system of election throughout the States, which deserve notice. The voting by ballot, instead of riva voce, is accounted a wonderful improvement; whereas it excludes the open, wholesome influence of talent and property at the elections; and encourages a perpetual course of intrigue and fraud, by enabling the cunning demagogue to impose upon the cre dulity of the weak and ignorant. Indeed, the frauds practised by the substitution of one set of ballots for another, in every electioneering campaign throughout the country, are in themselves innumerable and 'shameless; and the success of elections, generally, depends on the adroitness of intrigue exhibited by the more active political partizans. pp. 116–120.

The American executive government is still compelled, like a galley-slave, to row in irons: it remains, with few amendments, under the disadvantageous bondage of those practical absurdi

ties which were the first crude product of the early revolutionary agitation. The shallow, illiberal philosophy of Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Paine, is woven into all the institutions of the United States; and it is, perhaps, too congenial with the habits and sentiments of the people, to be soon thrown off or corrected. So long, however, as this vulgar and vulgarizing phi losophy continues in credit, it must not only cripple the Govern ment, but in great measure preclude from the national character all those elevated qualities which make the difference between a complete Poor Richard' and a true gentleman. Almost the whole system of American politics, especially what relates to its two great features, parsimony and popular jealousy, may be traced up to some of Franklin's showy maxims, which were so well adapted to tickle the ear of the populace by uniting in pithy apophthegms the pleasure of wit with the pleasure of axiomatic truth. Thus, for instance, what can be at once more sure and more pleasant than the saying, that no wise man will give twopence for what may be had for three half-pence? On the strength of so clever a canon, applicable as well to the State as to the shop, the American people bless their own shrewdness as often as they recollect the excellent bargain they have made with their public servants, and that they have a three-penny president, a two-penny vice-president, and penny-farthing judges!

It is deemed,' says Mr. Bristed, to be a marvellous improvement in the modern system of political economy, to mete out a meagre subsistence to the public servants of a country, and to calculate, to a single dollar, the exact amount of bodily and mental labour, for which a given salary is to be equivalent. Accordingly, there is not a sufficient stipend allowed to any American public officer, whether executive, or judicial, or ministerial, or naval, or military, to enable him to support the decent exterior of a gentleman. The President of the United States himself receives only a little more than five thousand pounds sterling a year; the Vice-President, and Secretary of State, about one thousand sterling per annum; and the inferior government officers, in due descending proportion. And the officers of the separate States are worse paid than those of the United States.

This doctrine, also, is a theoretic illusion, and a practical evil; for in every civilized, opulent, and thriving society, a certain magnificence of expenditure is an indispensable part of official greatness; and, if the high places of the state do not afford sufficient means to maintain their possessor with due dignity, they are necessarily left to the acquisition of minds of an inferior order. Whence, the most important offices are Slikely to be filled by persons-of subordinate talents; and men of genius, being virtually excluded from the helm of government, are tempted to oppose and disturb a system, which might, under a more liberal order of things, have relied upon them as its surest bulwarks of support; and, above all, this mistaken policy actually prevents the development of great talents on a large scale, by withholding all opportunities of national